#anyway. WHAT WILL I DO. AM I REALLY GONNA GET A THIRD CD. WHAT WILL BE THE NEW RELEASES.

[technolilly]

IN A GETAWAY CAR

OH OOOOHHH

NO THEY NEVER GET FAR

OH OOOOOOOOOHHHH

NO NOTHING GOOD STARTS IN A GETAWAY CAR

[trashexplorer]

BLCD Review: Unmei no Tsugai ga Omae da Nante

Title: Unmei no Tsugai ga Omae da Nante (運命の番がお前だなんて)

Author/Artist: Haruta

Release Date: 2021/06/25

Cast: 

Okitsu Kazuyuki x Masuda Toshiki

Taito Ban

Tsuchida Reiou

Kobayashi Kousuke

Matsuura Yoshiyuki

Tanaka Tomomi

Watanabe Yoshimi

Synopsis: Free-spirited omega Shishikura and straight-laced alpha Kotani have disliked each other since middle school, so neither are pleased to learn they will both be working at the same company. Shishikura is even less thrilled when he discovers that he and Kotani are a fated pair! The two men take verbal swipes at each other every chance they get, yet still wind up in bed together again and again. Both chalk it up to biology and refuse to admit that deeper feelings might be involved, and Shishikura begins looking into other potential marriage partners. Will this tsundere couple ever get their act together, or will destiny be derailed by their own stubbornness?

Review Proper

Finally, the thing I mistook for Yukyuu Omega is here. *exhale*

If y’all know me, you’ll know that I absolutely abhor omegaverse (you can thank Kurui Naku Ban Beta, Sayonara Alpha, and Erito for that). Literally everything you could do in an abo has already been done. I don’t see a point in making more of these. Mangakas: Okay, let’s do domsub instead But hey, am I not a Okitsu whore? No. Anyway, even though I was excited about listening to this, I knew I was going to hate Kotani because he was an asshole. 

There’s only one thing worse than an abo.

AN ABO WITH AN ASSHOLE CHARACTER.

But, in spite of myself, I actually enjoyed this. 

I’m having a moral crisis, help.

JK. Unmei no Tsugai doesn’t sell itself as a serious plot, so it shouldn’t be taken seriously either. Unlike our deep try-hards. I mean, it’s your pretty run-of-the-mill dumbass gets an excuse to fuck the asshole, falls in love with him, the asshole becomes more of an asshole, the dumbass drags a third party to make him jealous, the asshole becomes more of an asshole, poor third party gets led on and dumped, and the dumbass and asshole finally gets together without the asshole even apologizing, medetashi, medetashi. But the way that Haruta wrote and movic set it all up was fantastic. 

Now this is how you do comedy. I initially had some doubts ‘cause the narration in the first track was kind of strange lmao. It went from medieval style to traditional Japanese and it was narrated by someone who sounded like a news broadcaster wth. Is this a densetsu??? The CD later turned out to be a whole vocal flex for Massuu and Okitsu ‘cause goddamn. 

Massuu, for starters, used a tone slightly above his Hirokuni but slightly smoother. I haven’t read the manga before, so I wasn’t sure how things were going to go, so I was very surprised that he pulled his shounen (aka his Kirishima) voice later! I loved it. His changes were dynamic, chaotic, and very fitting for Shishikura. AND! AND! JESUS CHRIST HIS SEXAY MONOLOGUES!!! HELLO??? WAS HE PAID EXTRA??? Y’ALL GOTTA HEAR ALL THE BEDROOM SUBJUGATIONS!!! I didn’t know he had that in him tbh. I was just blown away. He has never bottomed this chaotically before, if I recall correctly. It’s evident that he had a lot of fun recording this (as did Okitsu as per the cast talk) and I love that! It makes me wish this had a second volume so we could hear more of this kind of Massuu.

Onto Okitsu,

Y’all already know what I’m gonna say. 

Is my bias over Okitsu making me like this? Who knows? But it’s undeniable that my man has, once again, slayed this role. I won’t talk about his perfect performance much ‘cause I’ve already run out of praises years ago, so just know that if you’re not an Okitsu bitch by now, you’re really missing out lmao.

ALSO

I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT WE’VE WITNESSED OKITSU PLAY TWO BETAS, A PRETEND OMEGA, AND NOW FINALLY AN ALPHA!!! We don’t count the disrespect that was Shounen no Kyoukai

-Chesk, 25, hates abos but will listen if Okitsu’s in it

Anywho, these two also had great chemistry with each other. They’re more or less in sync during their mattress mambos, so I really wasn’t spazzing out during Smoky Nectar. I was thinking maybe I was asking for too much. 😂 Idk what to feel, knowing that this is Fatgum x Kirishima

In conclusion, get this. Get this if you’re a fan of the series and abo in general. And if you dislike abo like me, this still is worth getting if you’re an Okitsu/Massuu stan. If you want to see just what makes voice actors good, you’ll be in the right place. As for those who want to read the manga along with the BLCD, it is doable, but bear in mind that there is added and cut dialogue. I only have the magazine releases, and I’ve noticed that the narrations are rearranged, so do try buying the tank if you can (reading the Chrima release with it is doable too tho). Gosh, I really wish this wasn’t an abo lmao. Anyway, I’m afraid there aren’t a lot of gag abos like this out there, so I wouldn’t be able to recommend anything similar. Go Kashikomarimashita: Destiny and Re:birth for more Okitsu tho

[tutuandscoot]

Um so even the word Sochi gives me an instant panic attack. I’m on the record as having difficulty watching the programs, knowing how hard that time was for these previous bbys who I just wanna protect from all evil. But I also recognise that without Sochi trauma we would not have had the GLORY that was Prince, Latch, SFTD and MR, aka the greatest sporting come back in the history of sport. Would Pyeongchang even have happened without the cluster leading up to Sochi? If it had all ended well there, they would either have retired for good OR continued on to the next Olympics and also won. Great, but also, same same. Without Sochi there wouldn’t have been the disillusionment, the time away, then realising they missed it and each other, working out how to do things differently, the rise of PC into the vacuum left by TS - and the subsequent (hilarious) narrative that TS couldn’t possibly beat them, that theory blown away by their total command of the ice rink when they returned, their complete BDE despite everything being against them. That majestic arc, the thing that sent me tumbling down into this rabbit hole, begins at Sochi. So - if you don’t want to lean in too heavily to Sochi to protect people (TS, me?!), or you don’t think it warrants the time, then that’s ok. But if you are looking for the grit in the oyster, the second Act plot twist that has people stamping their feet in a standing ovation by the end of the third Act, then THAT is Sochi.

Oh hell no the damn Sochi clusterfuck is getting the attention it deserves. I’m going to remain as objective as I can but the fact is the form was in the board for those Olympics:

-Systematic Russian doping

-The OBVIOUS fix in the ladies event

-any other events with fishy results

I don’t trust the US and Russia with anything and 70 years of history on all matters of geo politics leaves little to the imagination.. yes.. as inconsequential as an ice dance event seems.. the Olympics have always been and always will be a political tool- I don’t see that changing.

Of course TS, the humble darlings that they are maintain they were beaten fairly by DW.. I personally don’t agree with it- they are light years behind the artists that TS are- (DW are like a child’s pain by numbers kit, TS are TESSA AND SCOTT). I can’t speak on skating skills but they have never done it for me (I find them so monotonous) and despite what TS feel about esp The Seasons I adore both programs- they didn’t need some war horsey gimmick- they just DANCED.

Anyway. Yes I am covering Sochi in depth. I don’t feel like it’s ever been covered properly- only skimmed over and TS probed for comment about corruption but really I truly believed they never considered it/let it affect them/maintained they weren’t the best on those days 🙄🙄🙄. Therefore they can’t be the ones to recognise the very likely hood something fishy was up.

Sorry gonna rant for a sec: it’s not even THAT DW beat them.. it’s the way the scoring played out.. THAT MANY POINTS BEHIND?? A full 2 POINTS in each segment.. BULLSHIT, so I do find it totally plausible that DW may have eeked out a win without ‘tampering’ (I honestly don’t know how but since they had done it in the past) but not by that much with TS skating as well as they did. It was the exact same thing that happened with the ladies but in reverse: Make up a ‘deduction’ (in the body of the program) for TS, then overblow DW later in the event, where as in the ladies- underscore/conservatively score Yuna- then later on knowing how much they had to give for her to be able to catch up in the FP, WAY overblow Sotnikova. TS skated near flawlessly in the FD- with exquisite musicality, pure emotion and the deepest edges you’ve ever seen outside of a CD, give them a world record.. WOOPS, give DW a WR by more than two points. Completely ignore a dogs breakfast quality combo from Sotnikova, again overblow the score, then give half of Yuna’s elements lvl 3s. The most upsetting thing is both TS and Yuna knew.. you could see it. Maybe not exactly, but they knew. That’s the saddest thing that on some level you knew they weren’t playing the same game..

Then there’s the whole thing with Marina which unfortunately the majority of content on that is the stupid damn reality show which I give almost no credit to because the editing is worse than the cats movie.. completely unreliable and character damaging to esp Scott. (Theres a couple of voice clips from them tho that give some pretty raw insight that I’m gonna use)

On the positive side- as you said. Would the comeback had been as great and emotional as it was without how Sochi ended up? It’s the same way I think about her injuries and how that nearly destroyed them. How many other people (in this case teams) could come back from those things?? Really?? (I’m thinking sui/han as the only others). As I said in yesterdays (other) long rambling emotional vomit post, the freaking work they did that made them capable of coming back from these let downs. That is the damn redemption arc. And sorry coz I so rarely let out my petty bitch side.. take PC as a comparison.. maintaining they ‘lost’ in PYC simply because of a costume malfunction (which hunny.. make sure your damn costume does up.. that is no one’s fault but your’s) and without that they would’ve won and deserved to win and Beijing was the gold they rightly deserved and should’ve had 4 years earlier…. Them sitting there in the PYC green room begging for TS to mess up and swearing when they didn’t.. ughhh..you could not have a more stark contrast- TS didn’t feel they deserved gold in Sochi and instead framed it as they won the silver and they are so proud because it represents all they overcame to stand on any step of that podium, and then in pyc they could look down at the second place step knowing this time they were better than that and they deserved to be standing on top of the world.

So yeh don’t you worry.. I’ll remain civil and objective to the facts- I won’t be shitting on other teams like I (rarely/occasionally do here) but it’s a thorn in my side too.

This chapter will be the beginning of our hero’s’ redemption arc.

(Hope I haven’t given too much away)

Also.. the VM/DW retirement that was the main thing that gave PC the rise they had… “VACUUM” is the exact word I’ve used..

[thunderslumbers]

Playlist Passing By || Kusuo Saiki x Gn!Reader Drabble

warnings: N/A

word count: 848

summary: You hand Saiki a playlist and run off somewhere, as he listens to the songs he comes to a realization, your confession.

pronouns: NO PRONOUNS USED

author's note: no way rené's posting omg /s anyways, I really hope I've characterized Saiki properly (〃ノ∇ノ) even with the little dialogue included in this drabble + this was inspired by my music lover Saiki hcs

☆︎ a guide to reading Saiki's dialogue; 'this sentence is false.' = Saiki thinking "this sentence is false" = Saiki speaking, using his telepathic ability ☆︎

"He knew all about how you thought of him, and it was gentler, softer, less abrasive than your other "competitors"

Throughout the school day Saiki can practically feel your near-constant stare burning through him, even without his abilities. You're giving him no chance to peek through your mind, your thoughts slowing to almost Nendo's level or racing like Akechi's.

The end of the day comes by, and you ask him to stay behind in the classroom for a few minutes. When he begrudgingly stays, he sees you struggling with your bag, and you pull out a CD pushing it into his hands and rushing out the classroom, a warmth on your face his pyrokinetic ability can sense.

He doesn't hear from you after, and he doesn't see you with the other group of his "friends" at the school gate. Upon asking Kaido says you went home to study for a few tests coming up, 'an obvious lie. but if they don't wanna talk I won't force them to.' he thinks.

As he walks home, the taste of coffee lingering in his mouth from Café Mami, he remembers about the disc. "how am I even gonna listen to it?" he says out loud to himself. Once he gets home and rummages around he promptly finds a CD player stuck behind his father's empty boxes of Gundam figurines

Thank god for the headphone jack on the CD player. As he flops down on his bed and loads it in he can hear the whirring of the disc as it spins, seeing the smiley faces and flowers you drew in marker blur. The first song fades in,

"Mrs. Magic, to and fro // Please give me one last show // Loosen my mind from within // Before it starts to wear and thin"

The instrumental of the song is peaceful, and the hazy-esque singing brings an air of drowsiness to Saiki, making him feel like he's sinking into his bed. Before he can really get into it, the song fades out and the next slides in after. Maybe the songs you loaded in the disc won't be so bad.

"...That you made with plastic power // Your rhinestone eyes are like factories far away // Here we go again // That's electric-tric-tric-tric-tric.."

An energetic song, a catchy beat and a fun chorus almost makes Saiki wanna tap his foot along to the beat. He catches every instrumental piece of the song and takes note to check the song out again.

He looks over the CD case, and sees a folded note with all the songs and what they mean to you. The same doodled flowers and smiley faces are drawn into the paper, and for a second he catches himself thinking how cute the amount of effort you put into a playlist for him— before stopping himself and focusing again on the music.

"...It will take a while // To make you smile // Somewhere in these eyes // I'm on your side"

By the third song in, Saiki digs into the meaning of the mellow songs, some of the bullet points in the notes explaining how they remind you of himself, and others thinly veiled under the guise of music recommendations. In reality, these songs all had to do in some shape or form with the concept of love or admiration.

He knew how you masked your crush on him with the thoughts of a close friendship, how your body would unnaturally tense when you reprimanded yourself for your wandering mind and when you yearned a little too much. He knew all about how you thought of him, and it was gentler, softer, less abrasive than your other "competitors"

As he lay, the sun setting over the suburban neighborhood. The songs still played. And he kept thinking about it all, why all the songs you had burned onto the disc made him feel nauseous (in a good way?) when he connected their meaning to you. He let out a sigh and shifted, letting a song ring out into the emptiness of his room, Disconnecting the headphones and putting them down somewhere on his bed.

"...While the others talk // We were listening to lovers rock // In her bedroom, in her bedroom // And if you start to kiss // And the record skips // Flip it over and sit a little closer"

Alright, maybe his imagination wandered when this specific song played. The thought of you playfully teasing him after a party, tipsy and happy, being teenagers and fooling around made Saiki feel what he thought he never would've.

Saiki was alright with your attraction to him, how you would think about inching closer to him but holding back knowing he liked his space. When you would invite him to study at Café Mami but ordering dessert instead and make small talk. Your uncanny way of knowing when he needed to de-stress and get away from it all after dealing with your chaotic friend group, dragging him off with a white lie and sharing assorted candies that you now carried in your bag after finding out he was practically addicted to sugar.

Maybe you weren't so bad to hang around, and Saiki would finally admit to himself that he genuinely enjoyed your company.

┅︎┅︎┅︎┅︎┅︎┅︎┅︎┅︎┅︎┅︎

a list of the songs mentioned: Mrs. Magic -Strawberry Guy // Rhinestone Eyes -Gorillaz // Space Song -Beach House // Lovers Rock -TV Girl

[imgonnapanic]

Third gym squad with a theater kid s/o:

Kuroo Tetsurou

Tbh, he knew what he was signing up for when he started dating you.

He’s just not used to it, because he doesn’t have many extroverted friends who aren’t annoying pieces of-

I can envision you both going on the hub to watch pirated musicals. Hamilton, Heathers, Dear Evan Hansen, you name it.

He loooves your singing voice, even if it’s your nervous purposely bad one.

You love the musicals that include allll the good stuff (trauma, death, tragedy, etc.)

Or the iconic ones. You can’t forget about those.

So you’re less-than-thrilled when your school chooses “Honk! The Musical” for this years play.

It’s a spin off of the ugly duckling that no one has heard of.

And when you come up to Kuroo sulking about this boring play you’re emotionally obliged to do, he can’t help but laugh a little.

But his laughter stops when he sees your eyes down at your shoes.

And then he shuts the fuck up because you’re actually upset.

After assuring that you will still be Broadway material even if you’re dressed up as a goose, you feel a little better.

In the two weeks leading up to auditions, Kuroo is starting to get caught humming “A Poultry Tale” at practice.

I mean, his Spotify feed went from Kendrick Lamar to Legally Blonde within one month of dating you, so cut the guy a break.

The day of auditions, you’re a bundle of nerves as you go over the dumb song again and again.

And Kuroo is like “calm down babe you’re gonna do great.”

That sure did a ton.

“Shut up Heather”

...

“Sorry Heather”

He’s also a bundle of nerves at practice, though. He just couldn’t let you see it.

By now, all of the Nekoma team knows you’re auditioning today, and the minute he walks in he just holds up a hand.

“They’re auditioning as we speak”

He’s not surprised when you get the lead.

He looks like the cat who ate the canary he’s a little amused when he figures out the lead is named “Ugly” but by now he has learned to keep it on the inside.

Your schedule is now jam packed, but that’s okay, because Nationals are also coming up for Kuroo and needs to put in some extra hours at the gym anyways.

You better believe two months later Kuroo is making his entire team buy a ticket.

Kuroo didn’t even get to see you on opening night because of dress rehearsals, but that’s okay.

He cleared his entire schedule that day and now has time to wallow in his own excitement and buy you some flowers.

He’s there with the squad team at 6PM sharp, dressed up, and trying to keep his dignity.

When you first walk on stage, the team snickers a little bit at your costume, but Kuroo was completely enraptured by your singing voice, your blocking, your makeup, everything.

This was much better than the demo CD that they had given you.

Afterwards, he gives you your flowers and is glued to your side for the rest of the night, babbling about how proud he was of you, and how talented you are, Nekoma team be damned.

Tsukishima Kei

Tsukki-poo already had a soft spot for the arts before he met you.

Not that he would tell anyone, ever.

When you started dating him though, it gave him an excuse to share his favorite soundtracks.

“you can hit that note, you know.”

*cue the arguing about how you aren’t Barbara Streisand*

When you two are walking through the hallway with him and you see the poster reading “Auditions for Karasuno High School’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ are open!” You start freaking out.

You love that movie! And Kei tolerates it!

Kei honestly thought you would be Ariel/Prince Eric when he first heard you singing “Part of Your World”

Like, you have the voice of a fucking lark. The directors have to be batshit crazy not to cast you.

In his humble opinion.

So he’s a bit taken aback when you get the role of Flounder, but he’s very proud anyways. Especially after you explain that there’s musical numbers that you’re in that aren’t in the movie.

He just hates your director for no reason now.

Practicing your lines with him in your free time becomes almost inevitable because you both have nothing else better to do.

And he can see how into it you are.

And let me just say that you are killing it.

Seriously. You have no problem getting into character, and Kei doesn’t say this much but-

It’s fucking adorable, okay? He has little goth moths in his stomach.

And he can’t wait to see the show, because then he can show you off.

That doesn’t mean he likes the other first years prying at your progress.

Hinata’s incessant questioning about theater anatomy and the memorization of your lines gets really annoying.

Even for someone with a normal temper like you-

“Yes it’s called the right wing. NOT wing spiker. Yes they’re off book. Now will you shut your trap already?”

Dress Rehearsals come, and you’re spinning around his room, face morphing from complete concentration to happy, go-lucky Flounder.

You, Kei, and Yamaguchi (your little third wheel-) all know the soundtrack pretty much up and down, left and right, backwards and inside out.

He still shivers remembering the time you just walked into his house not registering that Flounder’s makeup looks kind of scary up close-

All of his pride was sacrificed that day. All of it.

On the morning of opening night, Kei was walking you to the school, pretending to be bitchy about it being on a Saturday.

“C’mon, what am I supposed to do all day?”

As luck would have it, he’s stuck sitting next to one Hinata Shoyo. Lovely.

So he sat down next to him, and ignored him the whole show. I mean, it worked, he shut up after thirty seconds.

After the show, Kei has to wait a bit for you to take your makeup off, but when you come running out, he can’t hold back a tiny grin.

“That was good. I’m proud of you.”

And then he took you to dinner because singing makes a bad bleep hungry 😌

Bokuto Kotarou

Listen, you’re loud, Bokuto’s loud-

So basically you two are on a mission to not annoy Akaashi for as long as you can before inevitably getting yelled at for your affection and love and shit.

Now, both of you would love for this to be possible.

But the Frozen soundtrack makes it too difficult.

Especially when you can edit the lyrics just to piss off Konoha.

“Turn away and slAm the door *on Konoha”

“The wind is howling like the storm inside *of Konoha”

The possibilities are endless, really.

The game changer is when you two are belting out the song where Elsa and Anna are arguing.

And you accidentally hit the “I-i-I CANNNNT”

Akaashi is like for the love of GOD just audition for the play.

He quickly realizes that his suggestion was not a good idea.

Since guess what the musical is.

You’re auditioning as a joke, okay? You love Frozen, but this is a Fukurōdani Academy level play.

You didn’t expect to land the role of Olaf.

Your director sat you down and bluntly told you that he thought that you had the charisma and energy to be Olaf, but he knew that you were auditioning for a joke.

He needed you to be committed.

And hell yeah, you were gonna be committed.

At first, Bokuto was super proud of you! His s/o as a lead role? So impressive!

You even taught Bokuto your choreography for “In Summer”

He only retained half of it, but eh.

He’s a volleyball player. He tried.

As rehearsal times became longer and longer, Bokuto was a little upset at himself because he didn’t realize how committed you were until it hit him in the face.

Akaashi is there to get him out of his funk when you aren’t, though.

“They feel the same way when you need to be in the gym longer. It’s just a part of having a passion. Just utilize your time with them wisely.”

This bitch knows full well Bokuto doesn’t do ‘wise’ though, so he also sets to him a little more.

Dress rehearsals start, and Bokuto is always waiting for you to come out of the auditorium to ride the bus home.

You’re just bubbling over with stories about the magic of being on stage.

The lights, the microphones, the costumes, just talking about it makes you nostalgic already.

On opening night, Bokuto and Akaashi are there in the front row, going through the program.

“There’s y/n!!!!”

And you can’t see him because of the blinding spotlight, but you can hear Bokuto cheering for you after you finish “In Summer”

Afterwards he gives you a big hug, and you guys go home and watch Frozen.

Akaashi Keiji

When you start dating Akaashi in your second year at Fukurōdani, you’ve been on stage for the last ten years of your life.

Singing, acting, dancing, you love it all.

You’re even considering making it your career.

Akaashi doesn’t know much about theater at all, but he makes sure to do his research since it’s such a big part of your life.

The company you take acting classes with is having their winter show soon, and you couldn’t be happier when you figure out it’s ‘Into the Woods.’

Akaashi makes the mistake of asking the plot of the story.

“So basically there are these two infertile bakers with dead parents and there’s this witch that’s old and wrinkly and she comes to their house because fifty years ago the bakers dad stole her veggies and took the magic beans that made her look old and wrinkly-“

(A/n: this isn’t even half the plot)

He decides he’ll figure it out when he sees the play.

Akaashi knows that it’s a difficult one, though.

Sondheim doesn’t fuck around.

So you shouldn’t be beating yourself up about cracking on some of the high notes and screaming into your pillow.

He feels like an idiot every time you ask him to give you constructive criticism.

He doesn’t know what to say. “That was good” is obviously not what you want to hear.

When the date of your audition rolls around, he has early morning practice.

So he sends you a text saying how far you’ve come already and he’ll be proud even if you end up being a tree and break a leg (he’s very proud of that part. Theater lingo with Akaashi 101)

He’s very pleased to hear through your extremely fast and animated chattering that you killed it.

You were going to be Jack from “Jack and the Beanstalk.”

He’s still not sure how that correlates with infertile bakers, but he’ll go with it.

You also have a notoriously hard solo, “Giants in the sky.”

Akaashi is very impressed.

All you two do is practice that song, until Akaashi is half sure he could sing the song if he really gave an effort.

(He tries seriously one time. He can’t sing. To save his life. Sorry Keiji and RIP y/n’s ears.)

“Maybe you’re just not a soprano?”

“I’ll leave the limelight to you.”

Rehearsals always leave you drained. There are so many dance numbers in the play that you have to go over.

And songs, oh god, the songs are pieces of work.

But you wouldn’t trade it for the world, so Keiji stays close, and is endlessly supportive.

You sent him a picture of your Jack costume, and Keiji is like that is kind of adorable ngl-

He walks into the auditorium you’re performing in, and even he’s nervous to be in there. It’s huge.

But when you walk on the stage, and start belting, all the breath leaves his lungs.

Oh. Ohhhhhhh. He understands the plot now.

[everything-laito]

if I don’t have tendinitis by the end of writing this series, I am officially immortal. anyways here’s the long awaited Laito and Cordelia analysis: Part I

Hi, Corn here! Holy shit I’ve been wanting to write this for forever now; idk how long this series will be but uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I’m gonna wing it.

Lemme get something REAL clear before I begin. Because for some fucking reason I still see people trying to say that Cordelia did not molest/rape/etc Laito. Cuz she did. It’s called grooming and manipulation, sweetie. And I’ll explain that too. 

Also, I’m not defending or justifying Cordelia’s actions (there’s a difference between explaining why something happens and defending it. For example, we know racism is harmful and awful, but explaining what it is and why it happens isn’t defending it). I also don’t defend Laito’s nonconsensual or abusive actions either on here, I also wanna clarify that. I just merely explain his theorized rationale and psyche.

God I don’t even know where to start, or where this is exactly going to end, but my god, time to pop off. I’m going to divide this into sections as well. 

Also I think this is usually a given with all the Laito stuff I put on here, but, spoilers ahead! And trigger warnings galore! Pedophilia/rape/abuse/grooming/depression/anxiety are the ones I can think of now, but all of those are really a given on this blog. Just wanna emphasize it because I’m gonna go deep into em. 

As always,,,,, rant under the cut~!

Section 1: Before the Storm (insert Life is Strange joke here)

There’s quite a bit of back and forth about where Cordelia started doing this. I just finished Dark Fate and the conversation between the triplets caught my eye. Laito mentions in his Dark Fate Ecstacy Epilogue that implies Cordelia wasn’t abusive at first. It’s revealed how Karlheinz used Cordelia just for his Adam and Eve experiment to create a new human race, which is why he blatantly ignores her after courting her and making her have kids that she didn’t even wanna have. Which is. Yikes. I’d say that’s a form of coercive pregnancy abuse.

The conversation turns to Laito who then says that Cordelia lost her mind due to of sexual frustration and then hurt the triplets. Sexual frustration is a real and common thing, but I’m gonna explain the potential logistics of this being turned into abuse. 

Sexual frustration in general can be described as a sense of “dissatisfaction stemming from a discrepancy between a person’s desired and achieved sexual activity” (source). I know it’s from Wikipedia but the phrasing of that definition is just too perfect. (also Wikipedia’s good just to get the basics from ;) ) Sexual frustration can happen from physical, mental, emotional, social, religious, or spiritual barriers. Everyone has some kind of ideal sexual activity, whether it be innate and or learned (like getting used to sexual acts over time, whether that be from a traumatic or consensual experience). However, I can safely say that Cordelia has high libido, regardless of the reason. 

Oxytocin, my absolute favorite hormone to talk about, is huge in this case. Touch starvation (what I’d say most of us are going through now because of quarantine) also depends on oxytocin level. We’re social creatures, and we need touch in some way. Having sexual needs is also not a thing to be shameful of (if you do have them), since that is also very human and very biological. Oxytocin is needed for so many things! From social bonding, sexual bonding, reproduction in general, and general emotional wellbeing. Everyone has different levels of oxytocin needs. With a lack of oxytocin, whether it causes sexual frustration or touch starvation (or both), it can create fear, anxiety, and or depression. This has to do with my favorite part of the brain, the amygdala. It’s this lil almond shaped part (hence, amygdala, which is Latin for “almond”) is responsible for empathy, your fight and flight response, as well as SO many other things. I’ll talk more about the amygdala later, because I’m getting off track. 

Back to the logistics of oxytocin deficiency and abuse. Basically, I didn’t initially think that touch starvation or sexual frustration could get so bad that someone would resort to abuse. Haven’t found anything that supports that either. However, since it is linked to depression and stress, I do believe Cordelia would have other underlying psychological issues that made her response to depression and stress just so much worse. It’s kind of obvious that Karlheinz absurd her, and when someone goes through a traumatic episode, there’s different coping mechanisms or different emotions are triggered. Maybe even before Karlheinz she had issues, but we will never know. I just know that Cordelia seems susceptible to some kind of manic episodes, such as mood swings and intense behaviors. 

Dark Fate confirms that Karlheinz most likely used this, and used Cordelia due to her Founder blood and that her psyche was “optimal” to eventually have the triplets kill her. Karl can see the future and past etc, I believe that was confirmed in Lost Eden too. Anyways, all of this paves the way to what Cordelia did to the triplets.

Section 2: The Beginning

There’s been quite a bit of back and forth between when did Cordelia start sexually abusing Laito? We know that Kanato and Ayato were abused when they were young, but there’s no flashbacks in Laito’s routes that depicts him being a child (to my knowledge). Not saying Laito wasn’t abused when he was a child, but I can assure you that the first time Cordelia had explicit sex with Laito was when he was older. 

Special thanks to @vampiretsuki​ and @amiecris​ for helping me think this through on Zara’s server! 

There hasn’t been any flashbacks that specifically show us the first time that happened. However, I believe that there was a flashback in HDB that shows one of the first times. Here’s a scene from Laito’s Dark Epilogue:

Cordelia: ー Laito…Laito… Laito: …Hm? Is something the matter? Cordelia: I have a favor to ask. It just isn’t enough. You can do it, right Laito? Laito: You really are something…So that’s why you came to me again? Cordelia: Fufufu…That’s right, Laito. Come on, quickly… Laito: …Guess it can’t be helped. I’ll love you plenty. Cordelia: Aah…My cute Laito~ I love you. I really do. Laito: I can do it…right? Cordelia: Of course, Laito. Now, quickly…

First of all, ew. Second of all, Laito’s diction implies that this was maybe the second or third time this occurred. He asks a question, and ends it with “again.” We know by this that it is not the first time, but the question also means that Laito might not have expected to occur again. His tone also implies some surprise to it, at least in my ears. His other question, “I can do it, right?” screams hesitance to me. If this scene took place down the line, or after many times he did this with Cordelia, I don’t believe he’d be some level of surprised or hesitance. 

Now, you may be thinking, “Oh! What about Ayato and Laito’s Versus II CD?! Didn’t it mention that Laito wasn’t in the triplet’s shared bed 9/10 times?!” And yeah, if you remembered that, kudos to you! Yes, you’re totally right. I thought this was some inconsistent writing, but I don’t believe so. I believe Cordelia was grooming Laito as a kid. For some reason, grooming never came to my mind, it was Tsuki who mentioned grooming, and Cris also backed that notion up. It’s not confirmed if Cordelia planned to do this to Laito in the beginning (which I doubt, I think she sexually exploited him on a whim due to sexual frustration and because Karl wouldn’t; and the suitors she had wasn’t “enough” for her) but I think it’s implied that it happened (from the earlier excerpt). As for grooming, here’s an excerpt from the VS II CD:

Ayato: You weren’t even there 9 out of the 10 times. Laito: So you knew, Ayato-kun. Ayato: … Laito: You know, I have been thinking how I came to be the person I am today. I am still wondering why wasn’t it Ayato-kun or Kanato-kun.

God that’s so SAAAD! This is why Laito being groomed from a young age would make sense. It would also make sense as to why he was so dismissive and hesitant to help Ayato out. In Ayato’s flashbacks, Laito is there, but doesn’t interfere when Cordelia gets into the picture. Laito tends to run away from his problems, and this manifests even when he’s a kid. To further the support of the claim, it’s definitely not farfetched that Cordelia would do something to a child, especially her own child. She used Kanato for his singing voice when she was having sex..... yikes. That’s another form of sexual exploitation. So uh, let’s dive right into see what grooming does,,,,, *opens another private window* Here’s the source I’ll be using too. 

Grooming is a process that is typically used to sexually exploit children. Ewewewewewewew. It can be a quick or gradual process. It’s basically harnessing the trust in children utilizing constant contact. There’s not much explicit evidence describing this with Cordelia, but if Laito wasn’t sexually exploited when he was younger in the fashion he was “used” to when he got older, again I do think he was groomed. It would make sense as to why he either avoided conflict with Cordelia as a child. Either that was his own disposition (which to a degree I think it is), or maybe he was confused about Cordelia’s actions towards his other brothers, since he “loved” Cordelia. Young Laito typically fell silent when Cordelia entered the room, which again could be because of his disposition, fear, or he knows not to say much in front of her. 

During the grooming process, a child can result in not being able to see coercion and deception. In general, kids 7 years old and under biologically are not able to differentiate persuasion from their own decisions, which results in the laws surrounding advertisements catering to children. Fun fact. I know we’re dealing with vampires and so their brains might not work like that, but from what I’ve seen, they’re pretty human. Also, we’re still not sure about their ages or how vampire biological ages work, but bear with me on this. 

Another stage of grooming involves cutting off the child’s support system, whether it be family, friends, etc. I made a comment in an analysis that Laito doesn’t have a support system, and at the very least, his brothers. But even that is pretty weak. You know how it’s mentioned how Laito wasn’t even in bed with Ayato and Kanato most of the time? That’s probably due to Cordelia weakening Laito’s bonds with them. Furthermore, on the website I’m using to get information from, it says this:

Control and alienation is exercised in the following ways:

[more bullet points here]

- creating conflicting feelings of love and hate, protection and exploitation, guilt and innocence, entitlements and duties.

OOOOOHHHHHH BBBBBOOOOOYYYYYY!!!!! Ayato and Kanato say that they fucking hate Cordelia. But... Laito’s the only one that says he “loves” her. He also says that he hates her. So, from this, I think it might be safe to say that Cordelia groomed Laito as a child, and continued to use those tactics when he was older.

Well, I’m gonna end it here for part one. That was quite the ride, but I hope you enjoyed nonetheless! Next part, we’ll be getting into Laito when he’s older and the effects it had on him, along with some other crazy dark sides of psychology. I still won’t be answering many of my inbox questions until this huge analysis is finished, sorry! I kinda wanna focus on this first. But feel free to hit me up with any questions! I’ll still get to them :)

Any Cordelia/Laito questions will most likely be answered in this series, just a heads up. But if you have any questions pertaining to Cordelia/Laito right now or after the series, feel free to hit me up still! Any clarifying questions for this post or anything in general are always encouraged as well if you’re confused or want me to elaborate on something :)

Part two is planned to be up next week! See ya then ;) -Corn

[somerpmemes]

Betty Starters

Change as needed

“I don’t know if people are gonna come.”

“It’s gonna be good, we’re gonna be lit.”

“Fucking late, bitch.”

“It’s mad crowded.”

“We could’ve gone somewhere less extra.”

“But time is an illusion anyways, dude.”

“Ain’t no one here.”

“You know the new word of mouth is the internet, right?”

“What you be filming?”

“Who steals a backpack from a skate park anyways?”

“I don’t trust the government, you do?”

“Let’s go catch that bitch!”

“Regroup? We haven’t even grouped yet?”

“I need to go get high, so I’m gonna go do that.”

“I’m known for not losing shit, but I’m here losing shit.”

“You don’t even know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“It’s not my fault if my “let’s skate” and my “let’s smash” vibes got some overlap.”

“I guess they didn’t change the doorknob after all.”

“You don’t need water, it’s a myth.”

“Wait, ___, strategy!”

“Damn we’re like Dora and the explorers, dude.”

“It’s not my call. What am I supposed to do?”

“I told you, I don’t want people in my stuff.”

“What’s a grown-ass man doing eating an ice cream cone anyways?”

“I can’t help but be a little bit protective of you.”

“I don’t need you to protect me, you’re not my dad.”

“I’m already over it.”

“You said zen. This was not zen.”

“Damn that kinda sucked.”

“I just have so much shit coming at me from all sides, ___. I just really don’t need it from you too, okay?”

“Can you please just talk to me?”

“Being inside this, this is fucking scary.”

“You’ve never seen Bambi?”

“The round, circular, shiny thing, right? That’s a CD.”

“Wait, you have Camp Rock? Why do you have Camp Rock?”

“Dip a pancake in the ketchup.”

“Diners always got the longest menus.”

“Smoking, you pass out before you die.”

“What if, like, old people get slower as they get older so instead of slow motion it’s old motion?”

“Confidence, you have it, you got this.”

“Damn, you got internet addiction like a motherfucker, yo.”

“Hey, let’s get bubble tea after this.”

“Not everything has to be a banger.”

“That didn’t explain anything.”

“I saw this car the other day, and it looked like you.”

“Pretend you’re my friend and introduce yourself.”

“Are you doing this for attention? You look crazy.”

“The popo never look up, bro.”

“There’s never a wrong idea in the brainstorming phase.”

“I googled you.”

“People say things to the camera that they’d never say to your face.”

“Do you have tattoos?”

“I don’t think you should worry about it right now.”

“Look, look, look, I know that you hate me, I get it, okay?”

“I’m starting to suspect you don’t think this situation is serious.”

“What’s a better way to repair a friendship than by doing drugs together?”

“These are grade A, natural mushrooms. A vegan gave them to me, you know they care about what they put in their body.”

“You guys wearing bras?”

“The twin ESP thing isn’t real?”

“You can’t blame yourself for this. It’s not your fault.”

“I’ve been craving pierogis all day.”

“I wanna be on your level, bro.”

“I don’t know because I don’t understand time right now.”

“Your happy trail, it’s not happy.”

“I like the floor, it’s good for my spine.”

“If you wanna love the vagina, you best love the heart too.”

“You see that this shit is fucked up, right?”

“I said “we’re good”, so we’re good.”

“This is just, like, some third grade shit.”

“He’s my boy but that doesn’t mean he’s not a fucking dick.”

“Damn son, I just wanna fucking kill you right now.”

“My first kiss was a tree.”

“I get it, you’re a rat.”

“Dude, are you high?”

“I know I need to be better and I know I need to relax.”

“We can’t just be fighting people’s dads like that.”

“I just need you to be honest with me, yknow?”

“You seem to, like, withhold a lot of information.”

“I’m, like, the only nice drug dealer you’re gonna meet.”

“Basic bitches might skate too, you don’t know.”

“My living situation is a little sus at the moment.”

“Will you help me? Like, I can’t do this without you.”

“I’m broken, ___.”

“Just take my phone away so I don’t text him back.”

[aethelflaedladyofmercia]

A while back I was doing prompts based on this 100 Ways to Say I Love You post. @rudyrose365 had requested three different prompts and as you can see, the first one has gone wildly out of control. I was briefly tempted to do all three in one story, but thankfully talked myself out of it.

(The following people expressed interest in my earlier post saying this was coming: @akinmytua2 @n0nb1narydemon @losyanya - hope you like it.)

1. Pull over, let me drive for a while (2,000 words)

Driving south across England, long after sunset, Aziraphale saw Crowley’s head nodding heavily.

Two days after the world hadn’t ended, they’d driven to the far north for a picnic, blanket spread on a grass-covered cliff overlooking the ocean, watching the sun slowly sink and the first stars come out. Almost, but not quite, saying all the things they hadn’t said for six thousand years.

The words were close. They both knew it.

But neither quite knew how to take the secret they’d kept hidden for so many centuries and release it to the world. Neither of them was ready to open the door to all the emotion – and all the pain – that came with that admission.

And so they had a picnic, watched a sunset. Smiled. Let their fingers brush when they both reached into the basket, and didn’t flinch away from it. And that was enough for now.

But it was many, many miles back to London, and now and again the demon’s hand rose up and rubbed at his eyes behind the dark glasses. He shook his head, sniffed sharply, and kept on driving.

“Crowley, are you alright?”

“M’fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“It’s just…you seem…”

“I told you. It’s fine.”

Another mile in silence.

“I can put on some music if you like.”

“Nah. It’s all Queen. Need to get some new CDs.”

“I can stand a little modern nonsense if it will help –”

“Aziraphale, stop worrying about me.”

Three miles. They went quickly – the Bentley was, as always, driving at speeds that would make the most reckless human driver turn pale and opt for public transportation – but even Aziraphale could see that the headlights were wavering back and forth across the center line, that they weren’t taking the turns as smoothly as they should.

“Crowley, dear. Pull over. Let me drive for a while.”

“What?”

“You’re exhausted. You’re in no state to be driving. I’ll manage. You close your eyes and rest for a bit.”

The car actually started to slow down, not because Crowley was planning to stop, but because he was too shocked to continue forward. “Angel. You’re joking.”

“Why would I joke about something like that?”

“You don’t know how to drive!”

“Neither do you!”

“I don’t –” Crowley did something with the pedals and the shifting stick and suddenly the Bentley was going even faster than before. “I bloody well know how to drive! Do you think this is easy?”

“Just about every human has it figured out. It can’t be that hard.”

“Can’t be that…this is a vintage car, Aziraphale. You’d probably just wreck it.”

“I would not!”

“And anyway, how am I supposed to relax while you’re…grinding the gears and careening into…into cattle or whatever it is you’ll do.”

“Have some faith, Crowley.”

“Oh, faith, that’s rich.”

“I didn’t mean –”

“Just shut up,” he growled.

The Bentley’s passengers settled into silence again. But at least the argument had woken Crowley up a little.

More time passed, long minutes and short miles, the peace and warmth of the afternoon broken. Now and again they raced under lights, casting Crowley’s face a sickly yellow in the fluorescent glow.

“How long has it been since you slept?” Aziraphale finally asked.

“Don’t fuss, Angel. I don’t need to sleep.”

“But you do sleep. Habitually. So how long has it been?”

“Last time was…six or seven days…before Warlock’s birthday.”

“Crowley!” He twisted in his seat, trying to glare at the figure next to him, but the black lenses stayed on the road for once, and the face gave nothing away. “That’s nearly two weeks!”

“Told you. I don’t need –” But he was betrayed by an enormous yawn.

“That’s it. Pull over.”

“I told you, Aziraphale, I don’t –”

“Pull over now.” He raised one hand, ready to snap his fingers.

“Oi!” Crowley swatted his hand away. “Don’t go messing with my engine. It’s delicate!” But he immediately began to slow down, muttering about ruthless tyranny, until the Bentley rolled to a stop beside a wide empty field.

Aziraphale immediately threw his door open and stepped out. “Come here, Crowley.”

“Not gonna let you drive, whatever you –”

“I said, come here.” He opened the boot of the car and started moving aside the picnic supplies. There wasn’t much left from the meal; Aziraphale had been very thorough.

“There’s half a bottle of wine, I think,” Crowley grumbled. “But that’s not going to make my driving any better.”

But what Aziraphale pulled out was the thick tartan blanket they’d used for the picnic spread. He bundled it up and tucked it under one arm.

With the other, he reached for Crowley’s hand, slid the palms together, let their fingers interlock. Crowley jumped at the contact, but didn’t pull away. Even with the glasses, Aziraphale could see the question in his eyes.

“Follow me.” He led Crowley through the hedge and out into the field, further and further until the lights of the road were a distant memory. The darkness was complete, nothing but grass, the smell of earth, and all the stars above them. Aziraphale let go of Crowley’s hand and spread the blanket out, shaking it a few times before letting it fall to the grass. Then he stepped onto it and sat down, leaning back, propped up by his own arms. “Well, come on.” He patted the space to his left.

“Um. Aziraphale. What.” Crowley seemed at a loss for words.

“Come here. You’re too tired to drive, and I can’t, so we aren’t going anywhere for a couple of hours.” He waved his arm at the sky. “Which one is Alpha Centauri?”

“Oh. You want to stargaze.” Slowly, almost as if he were afraid, Crowley circled around behind Aziraphale, then finally stepped onto the blanket and sat beside him. “But. Um. You can’t see Alpha Centauri. Not from here.”

“That’s a pity.” He watched Crowley settle. The demon still seemed tense, uncertain. “Can you tell me which ones you helped build? Do you remember?”

“Remember?” A lopsided grin. “You think I can forget something like that?” When he reached up to pull his glasses off, Crowley’s hand was shaking. Not just with the cold, Aziraphale thought, though the wind had picked up, enough to feel a chill through his clothes. Crowley tossed the glasses aside and scanned the night sky with unfiltered eyes. “Over there, you see that one?”

“Which one? That bright one?” Aziraphale pointed.

“No, not…That’s Jupiter, don’t you know anything?” He slid a little closer to Aziraphale. “Look where I’m pointing. Over here.” His left index finger jabbed the sky. “The sort of reddish one.”

Aziraphale shifted, closing the rest of the distance between them, so that their shoulders brushed. He raised his right hand and pointed, so that their fingers nearly touched. “That one.”

“Yes, that’s it. Red supergiant, five or six hundred light years away. That one was fun. It’s gonna blow, you know.” He gave Aziraphale that grin, usually reserved for when he had a really awful idea that would almost certainly get them both in a great deal of trouble. “In another, oh, four thousand years, give or take. And when it does, it’s going to be so bright you’ll be able to see it, day or night, burning away in the sky.”

“How very like you.”

“Well, it was one of the last ones I worked on.” He sniffed, scanning the sky again. “Most of mine aren’t really visible from Earth, or aren’t part of a constellation. Just sort of there, lost in the crowd. Like me, really. No name. No value.”

“I never thought of you that way,” Aziraphale whispered, moving his left hand to cover Crowley’s on the blanket beside him. It was very cold.

“I know.” Then he stiffened, as if realizing what they’d said. “Yeah, Angel. I know.” He tilted his head, leaned it against Aziraphale’s shoulder. “But I’d been, you know, making waves. Asking questions. Talking to the wrong people. I could see the way things were going. So I set that one up as a little surprise. To make sure they couldn’t forget I was there.” He chuckled. “Set the fuse too long, though. But, hey, if the world keeps not ending, maybe it’ll still have a chance.”

“I’d like to see that,” Aziraphale said, turning his face just a little, to rest his cheek against Crowley’s hair. It tickled against his face and throat as Crowley moved, shivering in the night air.

“Oh, it’s gonna be something. Even you won’t be able to miss it.”

Before he could think it through – before he could talk himself out of it – Aziraphale unfurled his wings, one wrapping around behind Crowley, the other crossing over both their laps. “There. Is that better?”

Crowley startled, nearly pulling away. “Uh. What. I.” He stared at the white feathers before him as if he’d never seen them before, and his fingers hovered over the leading edge of the wing, unsure where to touch.

“You were cold.”

“Yeah, but. I mean. You didn’t have to…”

“Crowley.” Aziraphale placed a hand on Crowley’s cheek, turning that face back towards him, until he could see those eyes again. The pupils were wide in the dark. “My dear fellow. I can drive while you rest. I don’t mind giving you a little warmth when you’re cold. And whatever foolish schemes you have, I will happily join you in them. We’re on our own side now. Isn’t that what it means?”

“Is it?” His stare was more intense than Aziraphale had ever seen it. But the angel didn’t pull away from it. Not this time. Not ever again.

“Was there something else you had in mind?”

Later, they could never agree who leaned in first.

The first kiss was more a smashing of lips and teeth, noses hitting each other and bouncing off.

The second rather missed the target entirely.

On the third try they managed to find each other, lips gently pressed together. Aziraphale’s hand slid around to the back of Crowley’s neck, holding him in place as they kissed, again and again, lips parting bit by bit, slowly exploring the sensations they discovered.

One of Crowley’s arms looped around his waist, hot as the sun, pulling him closer. The fingers of the other hand traced down into Aziraphale’s coverts, sending warm shivers up his wing.

The angel gasped, head jerking back.

“Ssorry,” Crowley hissed, pulling his hands away. “Too fast?”

“Yes. No. I mean, I was just…” Too many new things all at once, his heart felt ready to burst, his mind in a whirl trying to make sense of it all. It was wonderful. It was terrifying. “I suppose. A little.” He couldn’t bring himself to meet Crowley’s eyes. “I can…try a little faster. Let me just…prepare myself first…”

“Hey.” A finger brushed his chin, slowly lifting Aziraphale’s face until he could see the golden eyes shining like stars in the dark. “There’s no rush.”

Crowley leaned forward and brushed a gentle kiss on Aziraphale’s cheek, then rested his forehead on Aziraphale’s brow.

“Thank you,” the angel whispered, though he wasn’t sure why. Tension drained out of him, leaving only a warm glow.

“Don’t thank me,” Crowley growled, though it sounded playful. “Just…never mention driving the Bentley again.”

Aziraphale laughed. “Well. If that’s off the table, I’m going to insist you get some sleep.”

“What, here? In the middle of a field?”

“Yes.” Taking Crowley’s shoulders firmly, the angel guided him down until his head rested in Aziraphale’s lap, wings draped over to cocoon him. “Right here. I’ll keep watch.”

Golden eyes slowly blinked, and not just from exhaustion. “Are you...sure?”

“Crowley. I am very sure. I have never been more sure of anything. Now get some sleep.”

With a slow smile, Crowley shifted, wrapping his arms around Aziraphale pulling tight against his belly. “Alright,” he agreed with another yawn, and his eyes stayed shut this time. “I’ll rest. But if this is a plan to steal my Bentley, you’re a more clever bastard than I suspected.”

“Yes dear,” Aziraphale said, hand drifting down to run through the shock of red hair. “I love you, too.”

He gasped at his own words, but Crowley didn’t even stir.

Aziraphale leaned down. “Er, Crowley?”

“Nh.” No other response.

His fingers combed through Crowley’s hair again. “Never mind. I’ll tell you in the morning.”

Thank you for reading! For the record, no, this did not go as expected, but I like it anyway!

[darkestwolfx]

Volcano - Re-Review #40

So, I’ve said it before but I’m afraid this actually is the really short review I didn’t want to have to deliver.

My internet is really dying on me now, and I don’t have the time today to faff around with waiting for it to respond, so I apologise. On the positive side, there will be another fic tomorrow (it’s another irrelief prompt, and I’ve got my earmuffs at the ready this time - someone out there among you will know what that means), so can I be forgiven?

Anyhow, episode review;

Seems like a busy day for the Tracy’s... a Tuesday by any chance? (Anyone want to pick out what episode that reference is from?)

“Sending situation details.”

“Cross it off the list.”

“Wrapping things up with the shipping collision.”

“Scott, be a dear.”

Definitely a Tuesday.

And a nice case of cry wolf it seems. Even so, it’s nice to meet a man of science who isn’t like Fischler, for once. I can do without seeing him again for a while.

“Hello Doctor Questa, has it been a year already?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Every year I pick up your distress call, and every year the same thing happens. Nothing.”

“I refuse to let you brush me off again. Let me speak to your supervisior. I’m going over your head this time, young man.”

“You asked for it.”

Ha, yeah, he did. Grandma. I feel like she’d make a really fair supervisor.

“Doctor Questa, did you ever hear the story of the boy who cried wolf?”

“Fourth law? I thought Newton only had three?”

Yeah, I’m with you there too, Scott. I was only taught the three.

“It looks like you’re gonna’ have to walk there.”

“I can drop Brains off on my way.”

The clue about the lack of landing should have been there in the use of “drop”, literally.

There’s Scott’s excellent balance on display again. Someone’s going to fall and break a leg (or worse) one of these days...

The RAD! I don’t really know how it fitted inside Thunderbird One, but hey, let’s save that for when I have more time to make a valid case. Iceland looks quite nice this time of year.

“The things I do for science.”

Yes, tell me about it! I’m up to my ears in environmental science right now. This is my break! It’s quite an entertaining one actually. At least it’s not Fischler, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

“Every time you’ve been wrong.”

“Since when was science just about being right?”

Uh... since Fischler entered the industry?

“Let me call a ride and get us out of here.”

I thought Grandma said you’d have to walk, Brains, remember?

“What matters now is saving lives.”

“You mean we’re going to stop the volcano from exploding?”

Yes, Brains, yes you are.

“It’s finally happening, after all these years!”

Um... maybe don’t sound quite so happy about a volcano exploding?

So, is Brains’ uniform more orange or brown in people’s opinions? I’ve always thought it looked orange in TAG, but in TOS ‘Thunderbird Six’ his sash colour was brown.

And look at these lovely robots! They deserve to have each other for friends. MAX playing music as well was just completely classic and MAX following whilst Brains was like “let’s go home”. It would have been lovely to see more of these two, they made a good duo.

“Fritzy seems very nice... but she’s much too old a model for you.”

It’s like parenting, isn’t it? Or gene selection.

I love how we got a robot love story though which just about pushed the boundaries.

“Locals? What locals?”

“Those locals!”

Treating them a little like outsiders there, ey?

So, now we move onto one of my favourite parts of this episode. The guy with the catch phrase, “And I’m Jeff Tracy.” I thought it was meant to be “and I’m the Queen of England”, but maybe that wouldn’t have been as fitting. So here is a lovely little hot spring resort. How nice.

And here is why you should Brains! Volcano! Run for your lives (again)!

Virgil absolutely made this episode for me! Thanks to @flyboytracy​ for these awesome gifs, they make my day every time.

I’ll fill in the blanks here;

“Hi. I’m from International Rescue.”

No, you’re not, but he is one of Jeff Tracy’s sons. I wish that had been added somehow.

“Oh my!”

Yeah, because Virgil doesn’t even need words to say how awesome he is, he just has to point out of a window and be all like, ‘You were saying?’

I just love how he does that.

So, I probably don’t really have time, but I’m adding the trivia anyway, because I know it interests some of you (and if it interests no one just tell me to stop including it).

So, inspiration or possible sources for this episode could come from three pieces of traditional work. The first is this image, released in the comics as a special news report written by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. The full story was never expanded upon within the comics or as an episode, but the news reported detailed bystanders views of Thunderbird One undertaking some kind of rescue before fleeing the scene, the rescue being (by rumour) to rescue the scientists who had been studying the volcano. 

The second was this one;

A special short story release which focussed on a rescue mission surrounding volcanos on the Ring of Fire. This is also possible source material for where the very first episode of TAG took it’s title from. Similar content to the book can be seen in that episode too, but only so much for the setting. As for the volcanos (which were absent in ‘Ring of Fire’), it seems they were instead moved to this episode. Many also thought that this book was written as the expansion that never come to the news report above. That was never confirmed, and the authors were different, but elements were remarkably similar. So it’s far to say that if this book wasn’t an expansion of that report, it was definitely inspired by it. Goodness I feel like I’m tagging works over on AO3 with all this talk of expansion and inspiration.

The third was this video - yes, video. I still have my video player set up and working thank you very much. Not everything got transferred to DVD in the fading days of VCR and this is one of them, along with many Carlton works actually. You may know them better for releasing many videos that featured under the content umbrella of ‘BBC Videos’, however with the rise of DVD’s, the BBC took over selling their own content under ‘BBC DVD’s’, just like they now have ‘BBC Books’. Carlton were known for releasing many old BBC (and ITV) classics, such as Thunderbirds, Star Hill Ponies, Toy Box... many of these were picked up by ITV and BBC and transferred to DVD, but sadly this one was missed.

CD-Rom is another thing which is dying out now - I still have my CD player, just saying, and it has an IPod nano connector (something which I’m aware is also dying out, but my technology lives really well, I don’t know what I do because I’m not a technological expert, but I did have m,y last mobile for 8 years, once again just saying - and moving away from garbled, rushed trivia about me).

The issue which stops CD-Rom surviving is that it doesn’t play on many general CD players, because it needs hard drive space. Old computer monitors used to have CD-Rom drives in built, so you could listen to music, play games and copy data onto disks. They have mostly died out and so the only form this game survives in, is little chunks people have filmed and uploaded to youtube. The quality isn’t great on many of the recordings, but at least they’re there in some form. Give it another 20 years... Preserve what you have is my message from all of this.

But yes, so this was about Thunderbird Two going to a rescue at a volcano! Low and behold, what have we just watched?

And, to finish off, because my break is definitely over, a little more behind the scenes specials! The making of this episode was actually really intriguing to look at.

P.S. I was typing quickly so any errors are my own and I apologise (again).

P.P.S. I am just going to leave this absolutely awesome here for you to all ogle. Look at that little bell! Do you think there’s room in the tool belt to have nicked it (because yes, Parker Class #101 would have taught those skills), because Gordon ends up with a very similar looking one... just putting it out there. And now I have, anyone want to write me a fic featuring the life of said bell?

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 11

and here we have to conclusion to the shadowplay arc...

clearly prowl hasn't seen national treasure smh

prowl, what exactly is confusing you about ‘secret government-sanctioned brainwashing facility’

the fact that prowl was willing to go so strongly against his morals to protect chromedome...oof bro 

so the senator is basically professor x and all the outliers are mutants. got it

senator shockwave was just a sexy thot who wanted justice....poor guy

so there ARE gloves on cybertron...am I to just assume that the doctors don't like using them for some reason????? I mean tbf I've known a few medical professionals who don't wear gloves during certain procedures, like giving shots which, imo, yikes I would never, even simple vaccines can cause bleeding, but to each their own...are ppe rules not strict on cybertron, or is there a low risk of infection transfer due to the nature of cybertronian diseases? ah, the real questions 

anyways. I should stop going on extremely off-topic medical rants

I relate to tailgate in his tendency to misspell. these liveblogs would be unreadable if it weren't for spellcheck

ouch, the fact that cd ‘never really forgave’ prowl for leaving the heist party w/out a word, even tho it turns out prowl stormed off w/a final request to keep cd safe and out of it all....cd and prowl are just a big tragic trainwreck huh

its interesting that skids used to be religious, when it seems like he isn't now. Wonder What Could Have Caused That Shift In Ideology! Hm!

oh my god I love how ironfist’s fanboy ranting about the primal vanguard is cut short just as he’s saying ‘a bomb disposal kit once used by-’ bc its like Oh I bet he was about to mention tailgate, yknow, the guy who (claims he) was the primal vanguard’s bomb disposal guy...that's such a great little detail

the stuff we hear from roller about senator shockwave is super interesting - it sounds like he’s been pretty aware of the state of society for a while, and has been trying to combat it from the inside...which isn't going so great, it seems, considering the state of society at the time. 

also the whole ‘modifying people to hold the matrix (sometimes without their consent?)’ thing he’s got going on is. interesting. again, is there any sort of ethics laws on cybertron, seriously guys,

oof, op cares so much abt senator sw :( they were in love okay 

red alert :( 

rodimus is such an interesting character AUGH the fact that he takes red alert’s potential suicide to be a personal failing on his part as a captain...which, yknow, that idea has merit considering rodimus’s part in the whole overlord thing, as well as rodimus having told red alert that ‘everyone thought he was losing it.’ yeahhhhh, that's not quite the approach to take w/someone clearly suffering from a paranoid breakdown

poor magnus has no idea about all the overlord stuff, which is what triggered red alert’s breakdown 

tho, magnus, idk that putting red alert in a cryofreeze chamber or w/e is the solution here. although maybe they’re all just at a loss bc cybertron’s only mental health specialist is current hanging out comatose in a bar

are we supposed to (retrospectively) read into rodimus and drift’s agreement to put red alert in storage as a way of covering up the overlord stuff? did they deduce that he figured out about overlord and that's what caused his breakdown? rodimus seems genuinely distressed about the whole cold storage situation, but is there more to it than ‘I failed as a captain bc this guy had a breakdown under my command’? I genuinely do not remember a lot about the overlord plot bc I was so confused the first time I read it and the second time I was too busy being extremely sad, so.

genuinely shocked that cybertron even has ‘health and safety inspections.’ it just figures that the one ratchet conducted wasn't an actual inspection, but an excuse to prepare for some good ole fashioned heisting

man I love a good heist/break-in

ok so skids rlly is just here for his grappling hook hvbhksddfjbjkdf my man

UH OH SENATE GOONS. never good

whoa, cybertronians have glenohumeral joints?? tho, ratchet says ‘glenohumeral socket,’ which doesn't exist in humans - we have a glenoid cavity/fossa/socket that articulates w/the head of the humerus to form the glenohumeral joint, so, close enough

anyways, that sure was a nonsequiter. ratchet busting out his lock picking skills is dope. do they teach that sorta stuff in cybertronian medical school? maybe its in place of the patient confidentiality lesson

seriously, ratchet sure knows a lot about bombs for a doctor. maybe they also cut out the courses on ppe and patient consent to make room for the cool stuff like BOMB CLASSES

op really DOES like jumping off stuff, doesn't he 

oh no senator :( 

JK HERES OP BUSTIN THRU A DUDES CHEST 

oh no roller :( 

‘remember me how I was’ NOOOO IM GONNA FUCKING CRY. SW AND OP MAKE ME SO SAD. GOD 

op yeeted that matrix bomb like he was trying to make a touchdown or...something. not sure why I chose football, the only sport I dislike, as my metaphor here 

lol it blew up a police station, nice

god, that reveal that the institute that we saw last issue was just one of many....and the one we saw was strikingly awful enough, so the fact that there's a ton more like that....oof

also, again, super interested in the fact that cd was involved in this arc where they see how scary and evil the institute is and then ended up working for the institute - well, the ‘new institute’ - later on

I'm weeping at the ‘big reveal’ for tailgate being that orion pax is optimus prime....its so funny that he didn't know that so it was a huge twist for him and absolutely nobody else hvbakdjhfbksjdf I love tailgate

also. is that the picture somebody drew of op for tg lmao

:D and then skids manages to wake rung up!!! all by getting his name wrong lmao. tho, maybe all the storytelling helped!

oh shit its zeta (prime?), here to talk to op, presumably about becoming the next space pope

HHHHHHHHHHHHHH GOD THAT REVEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!! BROOOOO the senator shockwave reveal slapped me right in the FACE the first time I read this, and that's saying something bc I seriously only understood like 40% of the shadowplay story my first readthru. but the shockwave reveal still had me SHOOK like oh god that was so fucking brutal. jesus

like the fact that the emotionless decpeticon shockwave used to have a completely different look and personality is already crazy enough, but then the tie-ins of empurata and shadowplay? brutal and amazing

like, this is the kinda retrospective backstory stuff that I love. it gives a lot of cool depth to both the characters and the world. I feel like it really helped cement concepts like empurata and shadowplay in the world 

and just, AUGH The Reveal still gets me...im pretty sure in my first readhtru I only picked up the fact that the senator PURPOSELY hasn't been named during this issue, and I was kinda ready for some sort of reveal but also figured it could be someone I didn't know bc of my limited tf lore knowledge, but even I knew who shockwave was and phew that blew me away 

that full-page art spread is fuckin banging also 

anyways, shadowplay arc! I really enjoy this arc and all its genre-hopping goodness, and the framing device of the characters telling a story is a lot of fun. plus we get to see a lot of cool backstory for many characters, and got tons of great worldbuilding for jro’s pre-war cybertron. 

I understood a lot more of the story upon my second (and now third) readthru of the series, which was super rewarding bc the first time I wasn't able to follow a lot of stuff (1st readthru I tended to assume that me being confused about something was due to my lack of previous knowledge of lore/story, so I didn't often analyze stuff seriously, or even employ critical thinking skills lmao). 

also some gnarly stuff went on w/the red alert b-plot, which we’ll pick up with later....

[twilightknight17]

Goodbyes! Endings! Fish! Yelling!

This ending wraps up better than the original, but still leaves some things.

There is so much in this game that one loop is absolutely not enough to see and do it all.

Where last we left our intrepid idiot, he was buying flowers for his White Day dinner date.

Surely I will be allowed to leave the mall and sell my stuff and visit the Velvet Room. After all, what if I spent every last yen on items to use against the final boss? I would have no money for flowers!

But no. I am imprisoned in the mall and Morgana somehow pays for the flowers. Hanasaki has no comment on this except to wish me luck on my date. Wow.

Sojiro, who the heck do you know that your name got us a table at a fully booked formal restaurant??

Okay so this isn’t the Skytree restaurant, but SOJIRO??

....yep. That’s me. Even when someone else’s wishes mean destroying my heart. Probably hypocritical to say that while I’m on a date, though.

So it feels like there’s more people you can talk to on the last walkaround. Not just your confidants, but random people in the street, and other named characters. Mika’s at Seaside Park, Takakura, from Haru’s social link, is in Kichijoji, Dietman Matsushita is in the Scramble, the little girl from Takemi’s social link is in Yongen with her dad...

.......you’re so poetic, Yusuke. That’s lovely.

Finally, an ad perfectly tailored to me.

Maruki’s friend is in Kichijoji, and wants to know if we’ve heard from him. We have not. We are not friends. But apparently he’s still alive, which... hm.

I’m tired of his crazy stuff, sir. I just want to see my friends and go on a roadtrip in peace, thank you.

I’d never noticed before that Morgana’s eyes glow if you use third eye.

.......

So if you go to the jazz bar, you can basically have the conversation with the manager from Proof of Justice.

He’s surprised when Akira says he doesn’t know, because he never saw Goro with anyone else. He’s also worried, because he hasn’t seen Goro in a while, and wants Akira to tell him to stop by. Akira is briefly melancholy, thinking to himself, “But Akechi is already...” But then he finds Goro’s glove, still safely in his pocket, and reminds himself that their fight isn’t over yet. The jazz manager says he’s looking forward to seeing you both come in together again.

It is, Morgana! I really want this sofa. This is my sofa. It was made for me; just look at it!

ARSENE. IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, I’M SORRY FOR FORGETTING YOU IN LOCKDOWN. IT WOULD TAKE TEN HOURS TO REVERT TO A PRIOR SAVE AND COME BACK. LAVENZA GAVE ME A KEY AS A GIFT BUT WON’T LET ME IN. IT’S NOT MY FAULT.

....is this why Ryoji’s Arcana is Fortune? XD

So you can talk to a random idol singer from a Mementos mission in Akihabara and

what the fuck is this. what bonus does this give me?

Sumire is not present for the final walkaround, which is...weird. No relationship trinket? That’s disappointing. Especially considering I got a gift from some random idol.

And now it’s time for the ending. The kids are worried about being watched/pursued by the suspicious black car, which honestly, I’ve had enough suspicious black cars in relation to Persona to know that whoever this is, is not good news, police or not. ;)

But instead of sabotaging their car, don’t worry, a taxi is here to take Akira to the train station while his friends distract the men in black!

......did you dye your hair??

Anyway Akira has no sense of self-preservation because here he goes getting in a car alone with this guy.

We are not friends. I am not fistbumping you.

He does drop Akira off safely. Akira’s friends swing by for one last speedy goodbye and then are off again on a merry chase, and Akira goes home alone except for Morgana, which I have...several feelings about. The game goes out of its way to demonstrate that Goro is still alive even if Akira misses seeing him, because the whole world is based on what each person sees and feels, and Akira fucking feels in his heart that Goro is still alive and will come back to him one day.

Time to open up the other save and burn two weeks to see the Palace failure condition!

...I still sort of want to do this over and rescue Arsene. It’s not like I have much else to do these days. I just want my unholy powerhouse Arsene for NG+...

Heck.

Anyway, I’ve also learned that having two weeks to burn with no other responsibilities is great for grinding stuff for the awards. I spent like a week straight at the fishing pond and have become a Fishing God. Did you know that there’s an even bigger fish than the Guardian? Fishing pond guy was like, “In this weather, you might see...him.”

Look at this ridiculous fucking fish. XDDDD

I also went to the batting cages and I still suck at batting, but I made it eventually. The home run award is terrifying.

Okay, still a few days left, lets go play billiards, since I never went and did that during the game. I guess I’ll pick up this billiards book this guy recommends, too. I dunno why I need to be better at billiards, though, it just gives everybody social link poi--

....what the fuck is this??? This only unlocks after you read the book? You can guarantee a knockdown if you have max technical rank?? You need at least four days, 2 books, and a really expensive pool cue for this??? Akechi’s only response to you pulling off some ridiculous curved shot is, “That was pretty good”???? I made it through the whole game thinking billiards was just some way to increase everyone’s social link at once????? Aaaaaaaah??????

Morgana gets very upset the closer you get to the deadline. “We HAVE to go to the Palace tomorrow!” Okay, but have you considered...going to the temple for meditation?

...oops. He’s already mad. X’D Meditation?

Now, now, honey, don’t worry, we can technically still go tomorrow afternoon and just send the calling card when we get back. It’s fine. Today I’m gonna hang out with Shinya. Everything is under control.

....Akira, NO.

Anyway, for all of Goro’s grumpiness, he doesn’t turn down an invitation to the jazz club. Hey, it’s only fair, darling, you took me out for drinks the night before the interrogation room.

It’s only right that I return the favor the night before I betray you in return.

You showed me this place, dingus. XD

...I am. Sorry, Goro.

Akira goes to sleep the evening of 2/2 wondering if he made the right decision. That’s the problem, ‘Kira, you didn’t make a decision at all.

“I wanted you to accept my reality of your own free will.”

DON’T LIKE THAT.

Lavenza trying to reach him and just...fading away is painful.

I will say without hesitation that this is the worst ending. To copy-paste what I said elsewhere:

Akira's sleeping in the attic. Presumably for months, given the cobwebs. Where are his friends? Fallen back into their own dreams? Did they just give in without him, forget about him, never wonder where he went, because they have what they wanted? And Goro didn't even have a dream, so he's presumably left alone in a world that he can't stand but can't do anything about because it's permanent now. Maruki can't even give him Akira, because Akira's asleep, and Goro probably feels betrayed anyway. Akira's going to sleep forever, forgotten by everyone who was supposed to care about him. Even if he regrets choosing the dream world in that ending, at least he's there.

I think what's throwing me off is Maruki's absolute insistence on not changing Akira and Goro's cognition without their consent. Putting Akira to sleep feels like a loophole, but if he really believes that Goro is just a creation of his power, maybe Akira's consent is the only one that actually matters to him.

He's only ever really concerned with asking Akira. He even says on 2/2 that he knows Goro's not going to be fazed by the idea of his life being in danger. But if Akira agrees to stay in the fake reality, Goro's happy along with the rest of them, even though there's no way he agreed with Akira's decision. Maybe Maruki's willing to alter Goro to match Akira's wishes because he thinks he's not the real one. As long as Akira wants the real Goro, he doesn't have to worry about being overwritten. But if Akira's sleeping...

Maruki’s so kind, isn’t he?

The true ending feels so much more like it would lead into Scramble than vanilla. Still being chased by the police? Yeah. Everyone splitting up and therefore being out of touch for months? Yep. Seeing Joker in the window? Meta-space is still there and ready to warp into a Jail at the slightest nudge. I don’t understand Atlus’s writing decisions.

That whole thing with Goro does mean they owe us an actual sequel. The game literally says their fight isn’t over.

Beating the game means everyone is in the Thieves Den now, so we get some lovely interactions like Sojiro contemplating the Mona copter, and Makoto warning Ann not to tell Goro that she thinks Loki looks like a zebra.

Also that idol CD is some kind of ridiculous bubblegum idol pop song on my music player now. For one coin. Oh my god.

So... I guess the last thing I want to mention is Maruki. Because he’s a great character. I want to punch him more than I got to. But, and I’ve talked about this with a friend, I cannot wrap my head around how powerful he is. Takuto Maruki is a human being with a persona, just like the Thieves, and there is no explanation for how he got that strong. Yes, his persona is an elder god that evolves into some kind of creation deity, but it’s still just his persona. It’s not like Nyarlathotep acting as someone’s persona while still being a separate, ridiculously powerful entity. There’s no indication here that Azathoth or Adam are independent from their user. So I’m expected to believe that this man awoke to his persona and was able to use a power on-par with the God of Control...just from himself? No deity or monster backing him up? Really? I know he made a career studying cognitive psience, but this is...a little much. Having Nyar around would have cleared that up just from his general presence. XD

Anyway, I loved it. I loved absolutely all of it even if Okumura’s boss fight was a bitch. I think I’ve unfortunately made the decision to go back for Arsene, so I’m definitely going to play NG+ after I take a break to play something else first.

There’s three bonus bosses and the Reaper left to fight, after all. ;)

[tracingdreams]

Daiya no Ace: The Dramas #6 - A Billion Swings

An explanation… To keep my brain from rusting I started a project to translate the drama tracks that came with the character song CDs and other stuff relating to Daiya no Ace (because I love them and they’re all hilarious). My disclaimer - I am not a native speaker of Japanese, but I will do my best!

Character Song CD 07 - Yuuki Tetsuya Drama 01 Featuring Tetsu, Jun & Tanba

Scene: Jun has been practicing swings outside, and is just finishing. Tetsu is just beginning his. But as the evening goes on, it becomes clear that there’s probably a deeply ironic reason why the character song for Tetsu on this CD is called ‘Billion Swings’. Oh yeah, and Tanba’s in it too.

Translator’s Note: I felt like it was time to give some other characters some attention. Much love to the departed third years. Always in our hearts <3.

Jun (swinging his bat, he’s a bit tired by this point!): 498, 499, 500! Yeeeah!

Tetsu: Jun, have you finished your planned swings for the day?

Jun: Perfectly completed five hundred swings! I nailed it! What about you?

Tetsu: I’ve just started. I’ll just do it at my own pace.

Jun: I see. In that case, I’ll head up ahead of you. It feels really horrible being all sweaty like this.

Tetsu: Hurry up and take a bath before your body gets chills.

Jun: Yup. I’m gonna properly wash it all off and then come back. You’re a commuting student, don’t forget, so finish up sooner rather than later, okay?

Tetsu: Ok.

Jun leaves.

Tetsu: (to himself). Right, where was I. (deep breath). 97, 98, 99, 100

Tanba arrives at this moment.

Tanba: I can see you’re putting all your energy into it tonight, as usual.

Tetsu: Tanba? Well, I’m determined to do 500 swings a day. 300 at school and 200 at home. That’s been my daily goal ever since I came to this school.

Tanba: That attitude to swing your bat thoroughly without missing a single day…it’s absolutely fitting of our Captain.

Tetsu: What about you? Every night, without fail, doing your shadow pitching drill.

Tanba: I’m the player with the burden of this team’s ace number, that’s why.

Tetsu: Those are heartwarming words. Right. Throw to me, Tanba. I’ll watch your form.

Tanba: Really? You will?

Tetsu: Go ahead. Give it a go.

Tanba: (energised): Yosh! (he makes some emphatic pitching noises).

Tetsu: Mm. You’re not putting your weight forward enough.

Tanba: What about like this? (more noises).

Tetsu: That seems better. You’re bringing your arm down all the way.

Tanba continues the pitching noises.

Tetsu: That’s the way. And now, I’ll also resume my swings.

(there is a sudden clang on the track, as though Tetsu has just had a terrifying realisation. He’s clearly pulling a face of some kind, as Tanba comments)

Tanba: What’s up, Yuuki? You’re making a strange face? Could it be that you’re having some kind of inner struggle over your batting style?

Tetsu: I can’t remember how many times I already swung.

Tanba….! I see. Because you were kind enough to watch my shadow drill…I’ve got in your way, haven’t I?

Tetsu: No, it’s fine. I’ll just start again from the beginning.

Tanba: I’ll keep you company.

Tetsu: Yosh. 1, 2, 3, 4,

Tanba: (more emphatic pitching noises. Although I have to be honest, it sounds a bit like he is shouting, fish, fish, fish, so maybe he’s just thinking of his dinner.).

Some time passes.

Tetsu: 243, 244, 245, 246,

Jun returns at this point.

Jun: Ah, that was a good bath. Huh? Tetsu? Are you still at it?

Tetsu: Jun!

Tanba: Isashiki! Aren’t you bat-swinging today?

Jun: I’ve already completed today’s quota a while back. But Tetsu didn’t come to get a bath, which I thought was a bit odd.

Tetsu: I forgot halfway through what number I got to, so I had to start again from 1.

Jun: Yeah, but you’ve surely already completed more than your daily quota, right? What the hell time do you think it is?

Tetsu: No. I must not finish until I have clearly swung three hundred times.

Jun: You are way too serious about this. Tanba, what are you doing?

Tanba: Shadow drill. I just crossed the 50 mark.

Tetsu: I’m also very close now to three hundred. 247, 248, 249, 250

Jun: Tsk. I have to bow my head to Tetsu’s hard work. Ok. I’ll go get you a drink, shall I?

Tanba: That’s a good idea, I’ll contribute to that too.

Jun: Ok. Let’s see what change I have…

Tetsu: 251, 252, 253

Jun: Tsk, did I leave it in my room? Oi, Tanba?

Tanba: Right now I only have 54 yen on me.

Tetsu: 55, 56, 57

Jun: Hey! Tetsu, hang on a minute!

Tetsu: What’s up?

Jun: Your count suddenly jumped!

Tetsu: Did it?

Jun: You didn’t realise? What number did you think you got to?

Tetsu: (with certainty). 57.

Jun: (annoyed): Do you really think that you’d have shed so much sweat if you’d only swung 57 times?! What’s with that confident and unwavering reply?

Tetsu: (another clash as he has another horrified realisation). I lost track of my count again.

Tanba: I think you’ve most probably swung around about 250 times already.

Tetsu: Yosh. Then I’ll start again from the beginning.

Jun and Tanba are O.O.

Jun: Oi, you’re a commuting student, aren’t you? If you don’t take it easy you’ll be late tomorrow!

Tetsu: I’ve decided. No matter what, I WILL fulfil my day’s quota.

Jun: BUT!

Tetsu: 1, 2, 3,

Tanba: He’s really starting again from 1.

Jun: How many swings does he intend to do tonight, anyway?

Tanba: That’s the fourth hitter for you.

Jun: Grrrr….Oi, Tetsu! Stop swinging your bat, dammit!

Tetsu: But…

Jun: If you keep swinging like that on your own you’re just going to make the gulf between us even bigger! There is NO WAY I’m letting that happen! I’ll swing as well, dammit! I’m up for it! (this last is a war cry). 1, 2, 3,

Tanba: They’ve both gone back to swinging…

Tetsu: Yosh! Let’s all swing together!

Jun: Oi, Tanba, you take a bat as well!

Tanba: Huh? Me too?

Jun: Just because you’re a pitcher, you still get to bat, right?

Tanba: Y…yeah…

Jun: Right! Then let’s continue!

(all together) 4, 5, 6, 7

Tanba: (thinking): Is this individual practice session ever going to end??

[johannesviii]

Top 10 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 1999

A list with quite possibly the most embarrassing #1 yet, and considering some of the previous ones, that’s really saying something.

Also, a very, very long list of honorable mentions.

Disclaimers:

Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.

Of course there will be stuff in French. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.

My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.

I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.

This could have almost been a top fifteen, because holy f█cking shit look at this list of honorable mentions. I might eventually make a top 15 for some years (gosh I just finished my 2013 top and it’s a massacre of good songs, an absolute disaster, and I’m seriously considering making it a top 15 or 20 I swear), but for now, it’s still manageable.

Summer Son (Texas) - Why is this so hot. The lyrics aren’t even hot in the first place. What the hell.

That Don’t Impress Me Much (Shania Twain) - Not my favorite song from her but still very good. Fun fact, one of my English teachers was using songs as dictation exercises and that was the hardest one he ever used for that. I don’t think any of us got the Elvis line right. Also he’s solely responsible for me loving The Cure because the second song he used for this kind of exercise was Boys Don’t Cry. This has nothing to do with Shania Twain but I thought it was a fun little story to tell.

Jusqu’au Bout de la Nuit (Emile et Images) - Two French bands from the eighties team up and release a song which is composed of every single one of their hit songs from the eighties, with each chorus sung one after the other, and... it sounds great? And it charted?? My brother absolutely loved them, too. The only reason it’s not on the list is that it feels like cheating, in a way. I mean, half these songs could top some of my lists on their own. Putting them together is a dirty trick, guys! Oh well, I love you all anyway.

Baby One More Time (Britney Spears) - I really love this song and it was on the list at first, but overplay played a big role in its removal from it.

L’Ame Stram Gram (Mylène Farmer) - Has the privilege of being the first Mylène Farmer music video I ever saw in my life. Was incredibly confused but also fascinated. The song isn’t her best though, and she’s on so many of these lists that I claim self care on its removal from this one, especially because, uh... she’s still gonna appear on it anyway. Damn it.

Move Your Body (Eiffel 65) - I told you I loved stupid dance music didn’t I. Unfortunately things aren’t gonna get better as years pass. I just made a list (which is gonna be posted muuuuuuch later) where I put David Guetta six places higher than Adele. This isn’t a joke.

Save Tonight (Eagle Eye Cherry) - I genuinely love this song and it’s kinda sad I couldn’t fit it on any of the two lists where it was elligible.

La Manivelle (Wazoo) - This would NEVER have charted if La Tribu de Dana by Manau hadn’t been such an enormous hit the previous year. Not in a million years. And if it hadn’t, the world would have been a little less fun. So I’m glad. I love it and it was one of the last cuts from this list.

Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer) - Was also on the list at first. Was removed because it never ended on any compilation I made and that’s the only reason.

Well, that was long. Here’s the proper list.

10 - Crazy (Britney Spears)

US: Not on the list?? I was very surprised / FR: #14

So I dug up the first cd compilations I ever made for the previous list, and look what’s the first song on the third compilation I ever made!

Relistened to it, still love it to bits, put it on the list. Sorry Kiss Me.

9 - All Star (Smash Mouth)

US: #17 / FR: Not on the list

I know it’s impossible to listen to it with fresh ears after something like 15 years of memes. But it’s still damn good and a ton of fun to sing along with it.

8 - Ma Baker 99 (Boney M)

US: Not on the list / FR: #66

Where’s that photo of the cd compilation I mentioned in the previous list?

There it is.

Yep, it’s a remix, but it charted here, and it sounds and looks absolutely fantastic. I had never heard the original at the time for some reason, and that song sounded so badass. I could only understand isolated bits of the lyrics (like “she was the meanest cat in all Chicago town”, “the cops appeared too soon they couldn’t get away”, “she never could cry”) but it was enough to get a general idea, and that was back when I was starting to realise than most of the dance songs I enjoyed as a kid didn’t tell stories and weren’t about wizards and magic. So, a song about a mean woman who’s also a gangster?? I was like, wow, nice, a song I like with an actual story, give me twenty.

7 - Boom Boom Boom Boom (Vengaboys)

US: Not on the list / FR: #20

Told you I loved Vengaboys! It’s also on that third cd compilation I ever made!

Fun fact, at the time, for a while I didn’t know what the lyrics were and since I only knew a couple of words of English I was convinced a “broom” was somehow involved in the lyrics instead of a “room”.

6 - Souviens-toi du jour (Mylène Farmer)

US: Not on the list / FR: #73

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again ; I used to be a huge fan of her as a teenager and my brain somehow links her and her songs in general to some dark times in my life - and so, every single time she appears on one of my lists, I feel like I’m texting an unstable ex and that things will end horribly and I probably shouldn’t do that but, ugh, can’t help it, love her too much.

Ok so the first seconds are actually painful to listen to but holy shit, that’s a beautiful, beautiful song. When the chorus swells near the end, so full of hope and light? Amazing. Chills on my arms every single time. That’s from one of her best albums, too. I have nothing more to say about it.

5 - Better Off Alone (Alice Deejay)

US: Not on the list / FR: #30

I don’t have anything to say about this one apart from the fact one of my friends around 2005 thought the lyrics were “do you think you’re better? rofl lol” and I think that’s hilarious.

Moving on to- oh shit oh no not that song

4 - Je te rends ton amour (Mylène Farmer)

US: Not on the list / FR: #97

What I said in #6 also applies here and this song is so dark it feels even worse. That song used to be very important in my life. Bad memories, bad times. Really, really bad times.

So. Uh. This is a song about a woman in a painting, who’s despising her creator, and possibly (that’s very, very open to interpretation, here’s a translation) coming out of her frame to kill him. That’s quite possibly the weirdest story I’ve ever heard in a song, and I love it. And it sounds so sinister. God, the first notes. They are so ominous. And that brief moment of silence after the bridge, right before the guitar explodes again? Horrible chills. I’m not sure who killed who or what actually happened in the story but press F to pay respects.

Also the music video has nothing to do with the lyrics and it’s absolutely terrifying and I shouldn’t have watched this at 14 because it’s kinda burned into my mind now and it will never go away and you probably shouldn’t watch it either.

If it wasn’t so inextricably linked to bad memories, this song would be #2. I still love it and listen to it but I kinda jump like a scared rabbit whenever I hear it by surprise and it should come with its own trigger warning as far as I’m concerned.

3 - Narcotic (Liquido)

US: Not on the list / FR: #99

This is barely elligible. But I’m so, so glad it is. These chords right there? Love them. Love. Them.

Also here’s a fun story about this song and me. At first, I was like “oh wow, I can only understand one word out of five, but this sounds badass.” Then a couple of years later I was like “oh. Oh no. It’s about drugs.” And THEN a few years later I was like “oh shit oh no. It’s about sex.” But no, now that I can understand everything, it’s just a breakup song. It’s okay.

2 - Where I’m headed (Lene Marlin)

US: Not on the list / FR: #24

Ok so. Uh. I just realised this song was called Where I’m headed and not, as I believed for literally 18 years, “Pass By”. I had never checked. I have it on several tapes and several cd compilations, always labelled Pass By. It’s also called Pass By on the mp3 I still have in my playlist. I know I’m in the wrong here and probably never checked what the title was but I still feel like there’s been a glitch in the matrix. What happened.

Anyway. Fantastic song. Love it.

Now let’s embarrass myself beyond all hopes of redemption.

1 - Blue (Eiffel 65)

US: Not on the list (...yet. #49 in 2000) / FR: #2

So. Uh. Yeah.

Blue by Eiffel 65 was, for a long, long, LONG time, my favorite song ever.

See? This is one of my oldest lists of favorite songs.

Another one from several months later.

A cd compilation of my favorite songs ever, which I made around 2003 or 2004 as well, with a booklet with lyrics entirely copied by hand and with every page painstakingly illustrated with panels and characters from my favorite comic at the time, Horologiom.

You open the booklet, and look at that, Blue is the second song right after Children.

This silly song which lists blue things and has a nonsensical chorus and one of the dumbest music videos of the entire 90s was, indeed, for years, my favorite song ever. Why. How. Well, first, please remember I am, in fact, a sucker for dance music and electronic music ESPECIALLY when a piano is involved, but this isn’t at all why this song was special to me (and still is, actually).

As I already mentioned, music has colors to me and guess what’s the dominant color of this song? Yepppppp. This is one of the bluest songs ever made even if there’s a little black, yellow and green here and there - the only song I can think about right now which out-blues it is Derezzed by Daft Punk.

And I can’t even begin to explain how SATISFYING a blue song called “Blue” listing blue things and which has an extremely blue music video is.

I know. It’s an embarrassing #1 even for 1999. It took me a long time to post this list partly for this reason. But I wouldn’t be honest if it was placed at any other position. It’s stupid, it’s repetitive, it’s meaningless. I absolutely love it and I’ve loved it for twenty years.

Deal with it.

Next up: the year when I actually started to buy cds with my own money, with debatable results.

[unrighteousbooks]

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey

This is the third part of a long story. What follows was told to me by a customer, and the issues he discusses -- art and character -- are things that I, too, have been thinking about. I have been thinking about them enough that I went on what could be described as a pilgrimage, and I will discuss that in the fourth part of this story.

This, however, is his story. After he told me, I asked him to put it in writing. It is about someone named Bill and someone named Ted, and although I once met two men by those names (see the previous post) I am unfamiliar with the individuals he discusses here.

* * * * *

I grew up in the age of 8-track tapes. Remember 8-tracks? I saw one in your shop once, you know. One 8-track tape, just sitting on a shelf. Not important, I guess, but yeah. The great thing about 8-tracks was that you could play them in your car. I started buying 8-tracks long before I even had a car, just because I was looking forward to the day, when I'd be sitting there in my own car, looking cool, popping in a 8-track and cruising around town, and probably I'd have a really cool car, like a Plymouth Barracuda, or an AMC Javelin.

Anyway, 8-tracks: I had a whole cabinet full of them. Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Kansas, REO Speedwagon, Nazareth. But you know who I really loved? Ted Nugent. He was a fantastic guitarist. He was precise and lightning fast, and his songs had fun, catchy rhythms. Lots of the lyrics were crass and sorta vulgar, but you didn't care, because you knew it was all just a little silly. I mean, how can you get all worked up about a song called Cat Scratch Fever? You didn't expect anything thoughtful or eloquent from Ted Nugent. You just expected lots of energy and good guitar. That was Ted. You didn't take him seriously, because hey, he was just being Ted.

Meanwhile, there was also Bill.

Bill was Bill Cosby. He was a brilliant comedian, and the ironic thing is that great comedians are serious. Underneath all the jokes, there's something genuine. Good comics point out the strange things that we do without thinking, and they remind us that we're all kind of nuts. I had an 8-track tape of Cosby, too. Can't remember the name of it now, but he talked about the Revolutionary War, talked about Superman, talked about Noah getting instructions to build the ark... all kinds of stuff. Cosby was hilarious. He had these wonderful stories about his brother, and his parents, and then later on he had brilliant routines about being a father. A while after that, in the Eighties, he had a TV show. It was warm and funny and thoughtful. In the Eighties, TV didn't get much better than that show.

Now, I've never been particularly interested in celebrities, beyond the thing that made them celebrities. By that I mean, if someone was a good musician, I was interested in their music, but nothing else. I couldn't care less about what kind of exotic sports car they drove, or their supermodel spouse, or whatever. If I had paid a little more attention, maybe I wouldn't have been so disappointed later on. All I knew about Ted Nugent was his music. I started to lose interest because he started to get repetitive, and when the guitar didn't hold your interest, you noticed the lyrics more. And once you've heard the words to "Wango Tango," you can't unhear them. You're gonna wonder if the guy singing them has regressed to a mental age of 12 or 13. Even so, the crappy music he did later didn't erase the good music that he did earlier, right?

Here's the weird thing, though: Somewhere along the way, people started listening to what Nugent said, even when he wasn't talking about music. He was babbling nonsense about how war was coming to America, and how he'd would wind up dead or in jail if Obama got re-elected... weird, batshit-crazy gibberish. But apparently a lot of people thought he made sense, and conservatives started trotting him out for rallies and conferences. It was weird as hell.

And meanwhile, there's Cosby: Cosby, who seemed like the polar opposite of Nugent, until we found out that he'd been drugging and molesting women for decades. We'd been looking at his work as a comedian, and we thought we knew him. We felt betrayed when we found out that the actor had only been acting.

Bogus, right? Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. The short trip from being respected to being reviled. But that brings us to an important question: Can we separate their work from everything else? And is that even something that we should do?

Maybe we have to realize that art and artists are separate and distinct, and they have to be judged differently. A work of art -- whether it's a song, or a painting, or a monologue about giving your kids cake for breakfast -- that work can stand alone. You hear two songs by the same artist, and you love one and hate the other. That's OK. The existence of the lousy song doesn't change anything about the great one. Every work of art succeeds or fails on its own merits, and in that sense, art is simple.

Artists, on the other hand, are complicated. People are complicated. We have to judge artists the same way we judge everyone else. We'll find that they have virtues and faults, just like the rest of us. But once we've seen someone's dark side, it's not easy to ignore. I still have an old CD of Nugent's first album, but I can't listen to it anymore, because it just makes me sad to think about what he's become. The same with Cosby. I remember laughing so hard at some of his old routines, but if I listened to them now, knowing what I know, it wouldn't be the same.

What makes this even harder is that there's this little voice in the back of my head, asking: Is this fair to them? To Bill and Ted, I mean. See, when you admire someone, you don't want to know about their flaws. And when dislike someone, you don't want to know about their virtues. Once you decide you're ready to write someone off, the last thing you want to do is to admit that there might still be some good somewhere inside them.

That little voice keeps reminding me: You're not perfect either. I'd love to be able to say that I'd never done a bad thing in all my life, but I can't. If I'm going to be judged, I want to be judged on everything. Take the bad into consideration, because yeah, sometimes I've fucked up. But I think I've done a few good things, too, and if your verdict is going to be fair, you need to consider as much evidence as you can.

I don't mean that everybody gets a free pass, so long as they did something good at some point in their life. But I do think that if you want to know where someone stands, you need to be able to trace all their steps. The good, the bad, the ugly, and all the stuff in between... it's all part of the same journey.

* * * * *

After he told me this, I realized that there were certain ideas that I had been struggling with for a very long time. I began thinking about a particular story, and a particular person.

One reason that I love bookstores is that they are the perfect place to ponder ideas. Being surrounded by books inspires us to think beyond the here and now. In this instance, however, I realized that there would be a better place to think about the things I needed to consider. In this case, I needed only one book.

I grabbed the book, closed the shop, and headed out the door. I needed to visit a place called Graceland.

[lunawings]

Island Fiesta Event Report 9/7/2019

So I finally got to go to an Island Fiesta! The series I went for was King of Prism.

This post is going to be long (and includes a lot of sea animals) because I want to talk about the event experience in general for people who may be thinking of going in the future. If you just want to read about the dolphin show with Junta Terashima and Taku Yashiro skip to the end. 

So Attraction Fiesta, or Island Fiesta depending on where it takes place (https://atfes.com/), is a new sort of event that popped up a few years ago. Basically they will sell anime merch at some tourist attraction, causing a bunch of fans to buy tickets and hang out at said attraction/area and spend money for that day. They call it Island Fiesta when it takes place on Hakke Island in Yokohama. Or at least that’s the gist of what I have gathered?? Back when they first started doing it, I think it was only just merch? I usually try and talk myself out of going long distance to events just to buy things. But they have been adding more features, like collab food and riddle solving games. And then they started doing actual events with voice actors, including a dolphin prism show. 

DOLPHIN

PRISM 

SHOW

So that was basically that. I decided I NEEDED to make it out to one of these at some point. I’d been waiting a year or so for one of them to fall on a good weekend and one finally did. So off I went. 

I wasn’t sure how early I needed to get there in the morning for the merch line. At first I thought it may not be so bad, but then I realized.... King of Prism wasn’t the only thing that was gonna be featured. There were eleven other series to buy merch from that day... and we’d likely all be in the same line...................

I ended up getting there at 8:45 (it opened at 9:30), and got a ticket for merch that said 11:10. 

I thought this wasn’t so bad for coming “late”.

But I also mistakenly thought they would be letting small waves of people in every 10 or 20 minutes like other events I had been to. But no, they actually let in big groups of like 100 people an hour (the 11:10 block had numbers 1 to 100 or so and we were supposed to line up roughly in that order), so after lining up at 11:10 I did not get out until like.... 1:45-2ish.......... and most of that was standing outside in summer because September is still summer in Japan. (At least we were in the shade though.)

The event had a loose Halloween theme and the Kinpri boys were vampires. I only got one Shin, but it was the acrylic strap which was really good. TBH though I was actually a bit more excited about the Ace stuff I got. Because I’m not that big of a fan of the artwork they did for Shin this time, and this is my first Ace merch EVER. 

They actually had a trading area for merch, which is kinda rare. It’s much more common for events to forbid trading altogether. ( So usually we just have to make… sHaDy dEAliNgs… Which has never made sense to me. I’ll buy MORE if I think maybe I can trade it with people…) 

But when I went over to the officially sanctioned trading area it was kinda small and looked like the same people had been camping out there all day probably. Plus nobody had signs for what they wanted out and I am pretty self conscious about initiating trades out of the blue. I checked Twitter just in case but found only people who were looking FOR Shin (pulls collar) instead of wanting to spare him and quickly gave up.

(I th.. I think there may have been a shift in popularity since SSS but maybe I’ll discuss that later…)

So the atmosphere of this event was rather strange. 

The merch line/trading area was as crowded and hectic from very early morning onward as any big time anime event I have been to. 

But the rest of the park.... 

Was pretty empty. 

Well, okay, it got more full as the day went on. I took these photos around 9:30 - 10:30 am. (I happen to find empty amusement park photos more interesting than lively ones.) But still.

There was an interesting divide in the park patrons. On the one hand you had all the fangirls (+about 4 or 5 fanboys yes there were that few) wandering around with itabags, and then the regular families just enjoying an amusement park haha. Of the fangirls, there was also a divide between King of Prism and.... non. Because it was easily like 70% King of Prism. But I suppose a.) I notice Kinpri fans a lot easier (sometimes I’m not sure what someone is here for. then I notice a tacky flamingo on their bag and it’s like I GOT YOU) and b.) This day was the dolphin prism show so there was probably a significantly higher concentration of Kinpri fans this day than other days. But still. I’m not used to King of Prism being one of the big dogs. 

So, I couldn’t tell you what the second most popular series was since I didn’t really recognize any of the others. Although what I can tell you is that for whatever reason the Yumeiro Cast merch actually started selling out first. (The King of Prism stuff followed after.) 

They had some food collabs, but the Kinpri vampire pizza was already sold out by the time I got out of the merch line. (So I just got non-Kinpri pizza and thought about King of Prism while I ate it. My stomach didn’t know the difference.) None of the other collab food sold out I think. 

Now, about the attraction itself. 

The proper name for this place is Yokohama Hakkejima Sea Paradise. It’s a pretty interesting and quirky aquarium/theme park.

Coming up to this event I was a bit worried I’d have nothing to do all day since I was getting in early for merch but the dolphin show wasn’t until evening. I wasn’t planning on merch taking over two hours though, so I actually only barely had time to see most of the attractions and just breezed through the main aquarium. Still, it doesn’t take much time for me to look at a fish anyhow. (I just may have kinda wasted my all-access day pass is all.)

You can get up really close to dolphins and penguins and all sorts of animals and pet them because.... sure?? 

They also really like animals in tubes. Or you going through tubes to look at animals.

seal tube

(seal tube from above)

penguin tube (walk through a tube while penguins are over you)

penguin tube from above

dolphin tube (walk through a tube while dolphins swim over you)

view from manta ray escalator (you take an escalator while manta rays swim over you)

otter tube (the otters were able to cross over into the river exhibition next to them)

they didn’t really feel like ottering at the time though 

It’s not a Japanese aquarium without capybaras. 

(If you’ve ever been to a Japanese aquarium you’ll know that’s serious.)

They also had this section where you could like... catch fish or shellfish and then eat it right there??? Because.... Japan.

I didn’t do that part. 

But anyway. 

flamingos

and another fish tube 

So this was a pretty neat attraction with or without the King of Prism stuff. I kind of like it when my anime drags me to do neat things I would not have done otherwise. 

So after looking at fish and things, lining up for two hours for merch, and looking at fish and things some more, it was finally time for the 

dOlPHin priSM SHow

Much like for merch we lined up in accordance with the numbers on our tickets. There were no assigned seats but we all had to file into the stadium roughly in order.

My number was just about in the middle, meaning all of the good center seats were taken when I got in. So I decided to opt to sit a little off to the side in order to be closer. This was a good decision because I happened to choose the side they came out (and left from) which got a good scream out of me when I realized. 

Unfortunately I didn’t think to bring penlights. I didn’t see the Tweet saying they were allowed until I was already on the train the day before. But realizing I’d only need red and orange anyway, at least I was able to hit up the 100 yen store for some glowsticks. 

(It just didn’t occur to me that outdoor + daytime = penlights even though King of Prism. Being daylight it was hard to tell the difference between red and orange haha but oh well. It’s true doesn’t feel like a King of Prism event without them.)

Before the show began we were all given an introduction about manners for the show voiced by Kakeru and Shin, to which we all responded eagerly out loud as King of Prism fans always do. (Kakeru: Rule number one! Audience: ONE!!!!!!, Kakeru (something like): Don’t throw penlights, etc. Audience: OKAY!!!!!!!!! etc. I love this fandom.)

So this whole dolphin prism show thing started a year ago maybe? This is the third or fourth time they have done it. It’s always Junta Terashima and *insert other SePTENTRION member(s)* 

So this time it was him and Taku Yashiro, and it was Taku’s first time doing it. (So basically Vi Va Vacance! But the song they ended up playing for the dolphin show was Brilliant Oath. But they gotta promote the newest CD and all that.) 

You could tell Junta and Taku only rehearsed this like right before, if.... at all....? (Probably not at all.) And there were a lot of parts nobody quite thought through. Haha it was so candid. But that’s how I like to see them. 

They started off the event by doing a King of Prism quiz. The audience could help out but it was mostly the two of them answering the questions A or B. 

One of the questions was if the number of likes on the mock social media merch below referred to Edel Rose’s debut or the number of “King of Prism elite”. 

Realizing the number was greater than the population of the world, they guessed correctly that it was Edel Rose’s debt. 

At one point they each had to fill in the line for the other’s character of what their proposal was in SSS episode 12. And then they each read their’s in character. 

Taku couldn’t read one of the kanji characters in Kakeru’s ahahahh..... (neither could I). He also almost misspelled “showtime” when signing an autograph. 

Speaking of which, after the quiz they both autographed the big uchiwa fans with A and B written on them that they had used to answer. But clearly nobody had though this through either, because the floor was wet so they couldn’t put anything down. So they had to like awkwardly put their scripts between their legs and fumble with their microphones while they tried to sign them. Junta kept apologizing about their awkward fumbling AS IF it was even possible for them to be wasting our time. They probably gave us like an extra 3 minutes with them so I thought it was beautiful hahaha..... 

(Photo from Junta Terashima’s official Twitter.)

Junta “won” the quiz, and his prize was two dolphins.

“Oh a pink one!!” (said kind of excitedly) “And a… normal one…” (said with the tone of “it’s what I… always wanted??”)

I guess he unloaded the “normal one” on Taku after the show.

(And then they kissed.)

Then after the quiz the actual dolphin show started. But this was also something nobody thought through. (I think they were at the back stage for previous events, but this time they were at the front?) Because both of them had to RUN when they realized they were about to get completely soaked with the first big dolphin jump. (They were both kinda like OH SHII-- and barely got out of the way in time.)

The dolphin show was set to Brilliant Oath like I mentioned before. It wasn’t really all that choreographed to match the music, but I imagine with dolphins that couldn’t be an easy thing to do anyhow. There were two moments that definitely seemed like they were probably intentional though: The big jump at the end, and when one dolphin brought a hula hoop ring to the stage right at “suki da yoooooo”. The rest of the show was probably no different than their usual dolphin show. But let me tell you, they sure did a whole lot of crazy flips and jumps. The combination of prism show x dolphins all of a sudden made a lot of sense. 

After the show Junta and Taku went to the back stage where the trainers were (”THE DOLPHINS ARE SO CLOSE” - Junta) and were given the opportunity to give them a hand signal to jump. 

They discussed what to say while giving the hand signal, and Taku jokingly suggested “We found natural gas!” 

In the end of course it was “Ready sparking!” and the audience participated as well. 

After the dolphins and trainers left, Junta and Taku came to the front again to wrap up the show. Junta let us know it was almost over, to which the audience of course let out a “whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat” and he was like “I love hearing that thank you.” 

He also joked that the show we saw was so good we may have released the seal on Shine. AND then when they were laughing about together he voiced Shin being like “No! Stop!” or something like that. It was so random and came so quickly from nowhere I couldn’t help but laugh. This may sound out of character for me, but when Junta Terashima is voicing Shin in pain but he has this huge smile on his face it just cracks me up. If you don’t understand, maybe you haven’t seen his smile. It’s amazing.

I also had no idea it was cool for him to just mention Shine like that. But then again, if they have Shine curry at AmoCafe then I guess it’s not officially classified as a a spoiler anymore. 

The show ended up being about an hour. Which was way longer than I thought it would be and incredibly worth the trip. 

I might have briefly caught Junta Terashima’s eye when they were leaving and/or entering the stadium. It’s fairly reasonable to think that I may have since they were right in front of me and a.) I’m a white girl in a sea of Japanese people and b.) I had a Shin doll in my boobs. (Okay tucked in my sweatshirt, not that risque, but still.) 

I know the chances of him both seeing me AND remembering me are pretty slim, but I really hope he did. Because the last time I saw him in person was at one of the greeting shows for SSS Part 1. Between then and now, a lot has happened. Part 4 came out, and I read an interview where he said he felt bad for Shin fans multiple times over what happened. 

I just want him to know that I’m still here and I’m still supporting Shin. 

What a day. 

PS. do seals always swim upside down or is this one just bored

[everything-laito]

Never expected the Laito vs Shin CD to be this deep on Laito’s side. Hi, I’m back at it again with another long rant.

Hiiii! It’s Corn here, with a long awaited analysis of the Laito vs Shin drama cd! 

I didn’t expect to like this pairing as much as I did, but honestly Shin’s abrasiveness brought more out of Laito than I expected. Maybe it’s also the combination of Laito struggling to keep himself restrained. 

If you wanna hear my shitpost 2 am reactions to this, here’s the link. I go back now and realize I forgot some stuff in my notes to put in there, but oh well haha. If you want me to release the ones I forgot let me know lololol, my 2 am ramblings are pretty funny in hindsight. Thank you to @/dialovers-translations for providing the translations to these CDs! If you want to check the CD out for yourself, here it is. And as always, if you want to add anything, feel free to! Huge analysis under the cut :)

So the CD starts off with Laito and Yui. They’re in public somewhere and Laito’s being… Laito. But he’s trying to be quiet which was off putting for me at first. Anyways, this takes place right after the Lost Eden ending. I will admit I haven’t played Lost Eden or has seen the translations yet (I like playing the games as I do) but I do know that in in some endings the Sakamakis (and Mukamis???? I think??? Not sure) inherit daddy ketchup’s power. (I think it’s all of them that do in their endings but correct me if I’m wrong). 

So we know that Laito doesn’t like violence from him saying it multiple times in past games, drama cds, etc. He also mentioned in Haunted Dark Bridal that he doesn’t like family politics and has no interest in having the throne/Karl’s power. So, safe to assume from the start he doesn’t like having this power. And oh boy he is NOT having it. 

In my notes of the first track I made a quip of that Laito’s been kind of a “wannabe romantic.” I know that’s not the best way to describe it, but he’s like “human girls like this right?” or “this is what you do in a relationship, right?” (And he either puts his own twist on it or it ends up being More Blood’s vampire ending). So in this he holds your hand, no tricks, no nothing. I know this is a result of Rejet’s writing change after HDB, but also I think it’s some development on Laito’s end too (either way, it’s cute as hell). I honestly took this as him trying to distract himself from the power he now has; one that he never wanted in the first place. And we know Laito: master of distracting himself from his own issues and other people. 

Laito: “Fufu…You’re shaking~ In that case, should we just dive down from here while I hold you in my arms? …We’ll reach the ground in no time, but it might be reaaaaaally scary.”

Laito: “I’m not going to jump down. After all, I’ve decided I won’t use these powers no matter what.”

Although it takes some deeper knowledge of Laito, he definitely is using the ol “making fun of things I’m insecure about = coping mechanism” plenty of people like to do. He’s teasing himself; making a little quip of it and then kinda turning serious, yet still remaining his “~playful Laito façade~” self. In my notes I say that I’m glad Rejet stuck by with Laito’s whole “I have no interest in these powers” kinda thing. I also think that it scares him, on top of the fact that he just doesn’t give a shit. Or him having the “I don’t give a shit” attitude is a cover up for that fear? We’re gonna go deeper into that, my fellow sinners. 

Before I get into that, I just wanted to point out yet another quote that follows the ones that I put. 

Laito: “Don’t look so puzzled. This is the human world, isn’t it? It would be odd. There’s no hidden meaning behind it. That’s all.”

I liked my note in response to this quote: “H A H don’t be so DAFT, Laito, you’re the KING of double meanings. I know this is a liiiieeeeee” and man, I gotta agree with my cryptid self. He’s using the fact that it’s the human world as an excuse for him to not use his powers. Which…. Is a valid excuse. But this is also Laito we’re talking about. And he just sucked your blood in public. And moaned. I can see right through you man. Laito without double meanings is just…. He can’t exist. There’s no way. Sure he’s developed but if he’s still sticking with his façade from time to time, it’s a safe assumption; deductively. 

As for Laito fearing his powers, it really starts to prove itself by Track 02. Shin finds him, attacks him with wolves, and Laito STILL doesn’t use his powers, even in self defense. For a man that has 0 self restraint typically,,,,,, he really can restrain himself for the most specific things. This further supports my claim that Laito’s scared of himself with these powers. He’s also just really dedicated to his morals, whether they’re falsified morals he created himself in self defense, or ones that go deep to his core (oh shit, another analysis idea???). 

Then… Laito got angry, and attacked Shin in the process (this happens in track 04. Shin steals Yui in track 03). Again, I know I just said he’s pretty dedicated to his morals. But it’s an oddly human thing to do; breaking your morals once in a while to achieve something. We’ve all done it at least once in our lives. Then Laito beats himself up over letting his angry emotions get to him. And we get such a moving scene.

Laito: “Ah…Fuck…! Why…! Why!? Why did I let myself fall for such an easy taunt!? …Bitch-chan? I’m weird, right now, aren’t I? Because of that guy’s powers…Aren’t I going crazy?”

Laito: “…!? I…I’ve been composed this whole time. Yet…Why do you tell me such a thing!? Just as I thought…You also think that I’m becoming weird! If not, you wouldn’t look at me with those eyes!”

Laito: “Don’t touch me…!! If you touch me…You’ll be corrupted as well.”

Laito: “Fufufu…Ahaha…! I’m not corrupted? No, haven’t you experienced it first-hand? That man’s sullied blood and powers are flowing through this body of mine. Even though I don’t need them…! Even though I never wished for them…! Why…!? Why did I have to get these things forced upon me!? Fuck!”

I know that Japanese doesn’t technically have swear words like we do. He says 「くそ」 (“kuso”) which is an interjection that describes something that’s outrageous. Which is why it gets translated into “damn!” “Shit!” “Fuck!” Based on the context and aggressiveness. But, Laito rarely ever says 「くそ」, and he said it a LOT in this CD. And that’s what really caught me off guard. 

So, SO much is said in those quotes I cannot even begin to fathom. So let’s break it down. 

Firstly, as I mentioned, He’s beating himself up (as well as gaslighting himself(?) Is that possible?) over breaking his own morals and not wanting to have these powers in the first place. And he uses Karl as a scapegoat, as he (and the other brothers) have a habit of doing. Also, he refers to his powers as “that guy’s powers.” He hasn’t even accepted that they’re his, and that’s also what’s really sad.

Then the second line. “I’ve been composed this whole time.” Well we, as Laito fans, know that what we usually see Laito is a façade. But this, right now, is raw Laito, baby. He then kinda gets a paranoia of some sort, trying to read your eyes (which is most likely sympathetic, not thinking he’s weird) in order to blame it on someone, or continuing to gaslight himself. And the third line… Wow that hit hard for me in the feels. You know how Laito usually says he wants to corrupt you? Steal your innocence? (Again, projection, from what Cordelia made him feel). This also further supports the notion that Laito doesn’t think that highly of himself (well, people who have some type of superiority complex do. And he definitely does, sometimes on Ayato levels) and also the fact that he still keeps that façade up. Probably to protect these inner feelings. Again, his statement about his composure says as much. 

It’s then implied that Yui tries to comfort him, saying that he’s not corrupted. He continues to not listen to her and kinda say his bottled up feelings. God that last quote, and the way he says it,,,, ugh god it’s so heartbreaking. As we previously knew, he didn’t want these powers at all. He never wanted to be in any part of Karlheinz’s games. He just wanted to live the way he wants to (even if it is,,,, an unhealthy mindset to live in). He says it in such a fearful and tragic way. Again, he’s afraid of himself with these powers. He’s trying to build back up his facade or adjust it in any way that he can to avoid it, but right now, it’s too much for him. 

Laito: “Bitch-chan, you see. As long as she has someone to make her feel good, she will make do with anyone. …Power does not matter. That’s what being a ‘Bitch-chan’ is all about, isn’t it?”

Shin: “Che! You’re just spouting random crap! You won’t deceive me.”

Laito: “Heh…There, there…Don’t glare at me like that..We’ve come all the way up here…It would be foolish to waste our time talking about power dynamics. Let’s enjoy ourselves…I don’t care about complicated stuff. To me, this is everything.”

I actually said something coherent enough in my 2 am notes in response to this to pretty much put it in here verbatim: 

Damn, this boy really just wants to vibe and avoid responsibility (I mean, don’t we all Laito) but he just has to face it. I kinda realize through this drama cd that Laito just… doesn’t wanna face complexity too. He doesn’t, never has. Violence is too complicated, getting involved with Cordelia and Ayato’s relationship by standing up for Ayato as a kid is too complicated, getting on Cordelia’s “good side” (which is uh,,,, awful) is too complicated. 

Putting up that whole perverted façade in order to hide from his own feelings; holy shit idk how I didn’t notice this blatantly before. I didn’t know it would take Shin to make me realize this. Laito never asked for any of this happening to him (none of the boys really did; at least for their pasts). Goddamn, when I try to look at the overly complex stuff, I miss the simple shit so easily. People in real life try to escape like this––using sex and pleasure––just like Laito. 

(Can’t believe I said that at 2 am omg) But, to add onto that, the whole “That’s what being a ‘Bitch-chan’ is all about, isn’t it?” Has SO much meaning to it. First of all, it’s a question. Which raises uncertainty about a subject. This subject is what being a ‘Bitch-chan’ is. It’s phrased in a desperate way that this is Laito’s way to ask you to help. And that’s huge. Also, I think it’s Laito’s way of saying to not judge him right now, and to still accept him for who he is. If he really thought that Yui was that “loose” of a woman with no standards, he wouldn’t have cared to say this, or implied his purpose: which is wanting to make Yui feel good. Which, I think in Laito terms, means “wanting to make Yui happy.” And he wants to continue to be there with her through this double meaning. And wow. That’s,,,,pretty poetic.

Last note; I know that Shin even said or implied (I’m too lazy to go back to the direct quote) that he was like “bruh get over yourself, these are your powers now, get used to it” (which set Laito off I believe). And going in, I didn’t think I’d get much out of this duo in terms of development, but WOW, there’s a chock full of stuff. 

If you’ve made it this far, congrats! Holy crap I think this is longer than the Hilde analysis. 

Thanks for reading as always! -Corn