#but I think its true in kimis case

[raikkonens]

college!kimi (and some seb) hcs

he's studying mechanical engineering with a desire to work in motorsports (obv)

he's not super into school but there are fun parties with free alcohol so

he's extremely smart and finds his classes kinda boring bc the concepts come so easily to him (idk how realistic this is bc mech engineering sounds crazy hard but can we just pretend?)

he shares a dorm with some crazy german kid named sebastian

seb is studying to be an environmental engineer (obv)

the two of them don't hang out much during the week (different classes/schedules) but party together on the weekend

with a little alcohol, kimi really opens up and goes wild (the first time seb saw him like that he couldn't believe it. he took so many pictures and videos that night so he wouldnt forget)

but by the end of a party, kimi is usually blacked out on the sofa while seb is singing and dancing with a group of girls he befriended earlier in the night

occasionally seb has people over, in which case kimi will sleep on the sofa in the common room (he can sleep anywhere, it doesn't matter to him)

kimi never really has anyone over. on the rare occasion that he hooks up with someone college-aged, he'll take them back to his room and seb will say something stupid like "threesome anyone??" before grabbing a book and leaving

kimi's more into older men (his thermodynamics professor is the only reason he doesn't fall asleep in class) so he'll usually insist that they go back to their place instead of the dorms

older men like him because he's got a cute face and is a bit shy and mysterious (and yes that may be true but more than that, kimi's just quiet. he doesn't feel the need to speak all the time)

he doesn't have many girls in his classes but the engineering building is next to the film building, so when gets out of his classes, he sees some girls leaving their film classes

they're cute but he has no idea how to approach them

plus he thinks that they probably think he's weird, and that when they look at him and giggle in their groups, they're probably laughing at him (this is completely false, of course. like the older men that kimi hooks up with, they think he's cute and shy and mysterious)

if he's not in class, sleeping, or studying, he's probably at the gym

the campus gym is open 24 hours so kimi goes at odd hours (super early or super late)

he went on a saturday at 8 am once and.........never again

he has to get a place off campus next year and will probably ask seb to be his roommate again. he's pretty much the only person that kimi can stand to be around for more than a few hours, despite the fact that they're opposites

and of course, reference pics!! here's them as freshmen (in this au they're sophomores but i like these pics. they scream "fresh out of high school and very lost")

and seb <3 this hair....its giving golden retriever

[noglorysavehonor]

Just read the book If You Could See The Sun by Ann Liang.

I liked it a lot, especially considering it's not really my genre! It was almost everything I wanted out of a Gen Z, class-conscious, YA straight romance book. As someone who isn't Chinese, but has had many Third Culture friends, I really enjoyed reading its exploration of the Chinese / Third Culture Kid experience.

I do think for the author's first novel it's a very strong work. The characterization and growth of the protagonist was strong, and felt emotionally authentic. The exploration of class and race and culture shock is well-integrated to the plot, and feels neither grimdark nor saccharine... the people just feel like people, not paragons or villains. I think both of these areas were real accomplishments!

My main critiques are about the ending, which IMO is also always the hardest part to pull off. It also means I can't easily talk about my feelings in detail without spoilers, so I'll put em under a readmore.

Overall, for my tastes, I'd give the book a B (85/100). But if a YA romance set in an international highschool in Beijing with class consciousness and mild supernatural elements sounds like your kind of book, I strongly recommend it. I knew going in that it's not my normal thing, and I enjoyed it anyways!

Okay, my (long) thoughts on the ending under the cut:

[Before I start, in case you're a megafan (or the actual author herself??): These critiques come from a place of love and respect; I Am Not A Hater. I just have strong personal opinions about what I want to see in a story ending, and wanted to express them while analyzing how the book didn't fulfill them. My opinions are not facts, art is subjective, etc. ANYWAYS.]

My biggest complaint is pretty common with the way straight romances are often portrayed, and is a major pet peeve of mine:

The payoff of a romance, for me, is hearing the other person say what they like about the protagonist!

Henry's interest in Alice is always implied, of course, but there's never a scene where he outright says every single little thing he adores about Alice (flustering her terribly in the process!) Instead, the payoff of the romance is watching him flex his richboy power to help her (which is great, and I don't begrudge it) and then the kiss.

The kiss is...it's fine. I understand making it the center piece. But I wish it had more to back it up.

I think this sort of approach to writing romance is based on the idea that... you want to leave the romantic lead vague so that the reader can fill in what elements they'd like best. But for me, I want the complete opposite approach. I want to know exactly what these two people are like, and exactly why they like each other!! The whole pull of romance media is seeing two weirdos fit each other perfectly!!

First-person romance especially is so good when we finally get to hear how the protagonist is being interpreted by outside viewers. Which the novel does explore, a bit, with her Study Machine nickname! But I was so sad when it didn't give Henry the chance to explain himself and let us understand him better.

That would have allowed us to reread the whole book while understanding what Henry's moments of bare affection are about! That sense of dramatic romantic irony is so delicious and makes romance stories so re-readable! AND- wouldn't it have been wonderful to watch Alice try her best to deflect and argue Henry out of every positive trait he lists?? To get almost ANGRY that he dares to love her as a flawed person, not just for her successes!!!

AUGH.

Anyways sdkdflkjsd those are my Romance Critiques. (I had the same major complaint with Kimi no Na wa, too...)

My other main critique is: It feels like her characterization as being strongly self-analytical fell off at the end.

I think the best way of pointing it out is the scene in which she lies to her Baba about the true nature of the Beijing Ghost app without feeling a shred of guilt. It felt a little odd given her characterization of strong guilt and filial piety in the rest of the book.

Plus, it's a tough pill to swallow that... she had this entire major thing going on in her life, and she's just not ever going to open up about it with her family, who clearly deeply love her. I recognize that it would be pretty hard to do so given her family dynamic and potential legal consequences. But still, I'd at least like an acknowledgement that it's a sucky position for her to be in, to have to lie (for the rest of her life?) about that.

And while she does recognize that she's been chasing what other people find valuable and not considering what she wants... and she also realizes that if she, as a kid of a poor family, is offered A Million Yuan to do a crime, that's deeply coercive and she shouldn't be held completely at fault while the rich person gets off scotch free (we LOVE the class consciousness!!!)...

I guess I would have loved to see her put two and two together and recognize that Airington is genuinely a bad place for her to be. That she is destroying her health, committing a HUGE amount of crime, and has ZERO social life, all so she can fit to a mold that wasn't meant for her, and kicked her out as soon as her desperation became too evident.

Which, like, she got a chance to call the school out for those things, which is awesome! Very necessary catharsis! And she was close to realizing this stuff, like in the hotel scene where she can't bring herself to enjoy the socialization. She just doesn't make much more progress past that point.

TL;DR: I think overall there's an understandable desire to speed up the narrative once we're past the big climax, but I feel like it went by so fast that important threads of character development lost their chance to reach satisfying conclusions. So a lot of things I personally wanted to see happen in the romance and her own personal growth never got shown.

(Maybe at some point I'll write down my whole visualization of how I would rewrite the ending to address all these things. Listen. The Fanfiction Instinct is upon me. Which means I liked the book! I only ever want to remix stories I really enjoyed! It's a compliment! slkdfjdslkjf)

[f1-disaster-bi]

"Let me in, please." Vampire!Seb and Simi? 👀

Oooo 👀

Kimi knew something was wrong when Sebastian didn't show up for their run.

It was part of their routine ever since Sebastian had retired and needed to fill his days. Kimi looked forward to their runs and their stop at the little coffee stand where the workers knew them both by name by now. They had planned to meet today because Kimi had been out of town with his nephew at a karting event.

So when Sebastian didn't show up, Kimi knew something was wrong. As much as Sebastian hated technology, he would have called or text Kimi if he was sick or running late.

Still, Kimi gave him thirty minutes before grabbing their usual coffees to go and heading towards his boyfriends house.

It still felt weird to refer to Sebastian as his boyfriend. Maybe it was age or the fact that they had been dancing around this for so long that it felt as if they'd been together for longer than four months. Either Kimi wouldn't change it for the world.

As he drove, Kimi tried to call Sebastian, his phone ringing through the car but it was never answered. Each unanswered call making Kimi tightened his fingers around the steering wheel as all the worst case scenarios ran through his head.

And all he could think about was if he had told Sebastian he loved him the last time they spoke in case the worst scenario was true.

Sebastian's home was eerily quiet as he pulled up.

His car was parked in its usual spot, and the gravel around it was disturb in a way that made Kimi stop when he got out. There was dark patches on the ground, growing steadily as they reached the door and it looked like blood.

His heart was in his throat as he rushed to the door. He felt his stomach churn at the smears of dried blood on the door frame, and with a held breath, he pushed the door open.

The house too quiet.

Not even Bruno came to greet him.

"Sebastian?" Kimk yelled, peaking into different rooms, panic setting in with each empty room until he was heading up the stairs, "Sebby?"

He reached for the bedroom door and something slammed against it, making him jump.

"Go away", Sebastian voice sounded pained and hoarse from the other side.

"Sebby, are you sick? I can help", Kimi reassured, trying for the handle but it wouldn't budge.

"Sick...." Sebastian chuckled, a broken sound, "Just....just leave Kimi"

"No, I'm not leaving you, Seb" Kimi insisted, jiggling the handle, "Let me in, whatever it is I can help"

"No one can help me"

"Sebastian, let me in, please"

Kimi hated begging but this was freaking him out. Everything was telling him to run but this was Sebastian. His Sebastian. The man he had loved for almost a decade.

"I'm not leaving until you do"

There was silence for a moment before the door started to crack open and the man standing before him was the same but different.

It was as if someone had smoothed out all of Sebastians edges, and he felt dangerous. Kimi didn't know why unil Sebastian stepped forward enough for him to see his face.

His eyes were red, bright like fresh blood, and when he smiled he had fangs.

"Still think you can help me?", Sebastian laughed, a broken thing, "I'm a fucking monster Kimi"

Kimi considered him for a moment. He had always heard the stories, they all had. It was a widely accepted and little acknowledged fact that vampires walked among them. Kimi had never met one until now.

He stepped forward slowly, not wanting to startle Sebastain, and cupped his face until he could look into the others eyes.

"You are not a monster"

[biglisbonnews]

Kimi-Chan in Tokyo, Japan In Tokyo’s upscale Azabu-Jūban district, a sculpture of a young girl, called Kimi-chan, bears a tragic backstory. “The Red Shoes” is a popular children’s song known for its hauntingly bittersweet melody and lyrics. Written in 1922 by Ujo Noguchi and Nagayo Moto’ori, the song tells the story of a girl who wore wearing red shoes and was “taken away by a stranger” in Yokohama. (It is unrelated to the Danish fairy tale of the same name.) Although the first part makes it sound like it’s about abduction, the singer goes on to wonder if the girl’s eyes have turned blue in the stranger’s country, concluding the song by stating “I think of her whenever I see red shoes and strangers.” Strangers, in this case, refers to foreigners; Yokohama was a port city that thrived from trade with America back then. Reportedly, the song was based on a true story of the writer’s acquaintance. According to that, a single mother named Kayo Iwasaki moved to Hokkaido in 1903 with her daughter, Kimi Sano, but their life there turned out to be so hard that she could no longer raise the girl on her own. Eventually, she decided that she had to leave Kimi in the care of American missionary Charles W. Huett and his wife, who promised to take her back to the United States and raise her there. However, what awaited the girl was a tragedy. Before the Huetts could sail for America, Kimi caught tuberculosis and had to be taken in at an orphanage in Azabu, where she died shortly after at the age of nine. Kayo never found out about her daughter’s death, believing for life that Kimi grew up to be a fine lady and had a good life abroad. The story came to light in the early 1970s when newspapers published it as told by Kimi’s younger half-sister Sono. It stirred hearts, and quickly became a sensation across the country. But it also ignited a still-ongoing debate on whether Sono’s claims are legitimate or not. Some, including the songwriter’s son, argue that “The Red Shoes” is largely fictional and so, to a degree, is the story. Whatever the case is, the untold story of Kimi and the bittersweet song that she supposedly inspired remain popular. In 1989, the district of Azabu commemorated the unsung “girl with red shoes” by installing a statue of Kimi-chan on the edge of a small public park. In 1979, a statue inspired by the ”girl wearing red shoes” was erected in Yamashita Park in Yokohama, commemorating its association with the song. A smaller copy of the statue was also installed at Yokohama Station a few years later. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kimi-chan

[ear-worthy]

Five Best Podcasts Of 2022 To Make You A Better Person

Podcasts can impact our lives in many ways. Some listeners want to escape and be entertained with audio fiction such as Case 63. Some listeners want to laugh and forget their student loans, healthcare co-pays, and escalating rent with a comedy podcast such as How Did This Get Made. Still others, want to be learning things with a podcast like Stuff You Should Know.

Podcast listeners are an aspirational bunch. They view life as an ongoing, immersive inquiry in which they learn how to adjust the parameters of the experiment. In short, podcast listeners want to be better people, and they turn to their most familiar and useful resource — podcasts.

Now, the five podcasts here are not happiness podcasts or self-help podcasts. Why, you say? Happiness is a highly personal endeavor, as is helping yourself. Being a better person has a social and interpersonal focus. In short, your human community is better of with you than without you.

All The Wiser

In its four seasons, All The Wiser has talked with people who have experienced life’s most challenging events and come out stronger for it. The podcast’s episodes unleash that existential question we all ask ourselves when hearing or reading about someone’s misfortune. How would I handle that?

Here is a brief list of some of the guests over four seasons on All The Wiser. An NFL player suffering from ALS, a man who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge and survived, a woman who had a brain stem stroke and lost the ability to talk and hear, a woman who lost both her legs due to a bout of bacterial meningitis, an ESPN reporter who suffered locked-in syndrome for four years, and a man who was burned over 75 percent of his body.

During the four seasons of the podcast, host Kimi Culp has talked to people about addiction, mental illness, transphobia, sex trafficking, school shootings, and suicide. You’d think these episodes would be downers. But the opposite is true. These episodes are life-affirming, inspirational, motivational, and uplifting.

Listening to All The Wiser encourages you to be a better person.

All The Wiser has an “if they can do it, so can I” vibe. In addition to the inspiring stories, credit for the show goes to host and creator Kimi Culp. Her experience includes work as a producer for NBC, ABC, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Culp began the podcast in April 2019 with a former NYC firefighter who survived 9/11 only to be struck by a 20-ton bus when running as a triathlete. Her fourth season just began with a fascinating interview with Amanda Knox, who spent four years in an Italian prison before being exonerated.

While the structure of the podcast is relatively straightforward, it’s obvious that Culp has put a lot of thought into what she wanted this podcast to be. To do.

Culp calls All The Wiser a “one-for-one charitable podcast.” there is a $2,000 donation made to a non-profit based on the guest after every episode. For example, with the Amanda Knox episode, $2,000 was donated to The Frederick Douglass Project for Justice.

Talk about being a better person.

There is so much to commend with this podcast. But listening is not an act of mercy. Instead, through empathetic interviewing and compelling storytelling, listeners can draw psychic energy from tales of people who have taken the worst life can throw at them, and still manage to adapt and overcome.

Check out All The Wiser. It’s one of those podcasts that can help you overcome the barriers that life builds in your path.

All In The Mind

The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) podcast All In The Mind is one of the best such podcasts I’ve encountered.

The show’s host is Sana Qadar, who was apparently born to host a podcast. It has to be genetic. She’s just too good to have learned the skills intrinsic to podcast hosting — a resonant voice soaked with empathy and a desire to inform, and a cadence that sounds like each spoken word is carefully curated before being uttered.

Qadar is an award-winning podcaster and journalist whose work has featured on the ABC, BBC, SBS, Al Jazeera, and NPR to name a few. Most recently she was acting Deputy Editor, Multicultural at ABC Life, and co-hosts the SBS podcast Eyes on Gilead, which won a 2019 Australian Podcast Award for Best Fancast.

All In The Mind doesn’t have a novel structure or memorable narrative flow. But it’s so good at delivering fresh insights into each episode topic. In addition, Qadar acts as the narrative glue here, giving voice to well-chosen guests and then summarizing their conclusions. It also helps that the production quality and sound design on the podcast are exemplary. Kudos to the people behind the microphone.

All In The Mind does possess a wandering eye that focuses on a wide range of topics that loosely fit under the typical “psychology” umbrella.

For example, the episode ‘I’m going to cook my baby’ looked at dolls and how they can tell us a lot about how kids see the world — especially when it comes to race. In the episode, one American researcher spent months watching pre-schoolers play with dolls, and what she observed shocked her.

The episode also answers this question. Did you know the very first study of children and their thoughts about dolls actually changed the course of American history?

Can you change your personality? looks at a wish many people make. I wish I could change my personality? Many people do, according to studies cited in the episode, and we would like to — become more extroverted, more agreeable and more conscientious.

The episode poses two critical questions. What does the evidence say about whether people do change? And can you tweak your personality deliberately?

You’ve got the music in you is the most recent episode at the time of this review. In this episode, All In The Mind explores how music affects us from the womb through the rest of our lives — and what new research tells us about its measurable impact on our mental health.

Plus, the ‘plink’ test — how our musical memories can identify a track from just a sliver of song, and the power of music to shape our emotions.

Too often, we read an article or listen to a short podcast about “life hacks,” as if success in life can be distilled into “Marie Kondo-like” rules. The ABC All In The Mind podcast is not about giving us the right answers, but helping us to ask the right questions.

It’s asking those hard questions that can make us a better version of ourselves.

The Nutrition Diva

Today, there are three topics to avoid in polite conversation — politics, religion and now nutrition. In our diet-obsessed culture, nutritional controversies abound. Is gluten bad for me? Should I eat like prehistoric society? Coconut milk? Almond milk? Fat-free or whole milk? Gliding through these tremors of nutritional controversy is Monica Reinagel, the host of the Nutrition Diva podcast. Since 2008, Reinagel has hosted this podcast, guiding us through the shifting sands of nutritional dogma. The Nutrition Diva is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips (QDT) network of podcasts, including 15 other short, action-oriented shows about topics that range from parenting to budgeting your money. To its credit, QDT has been one of the most successful organizations at monetizing digital content — podcasts, videos, e-books, websites — and The Nutrition Diva happens to rank consistently in the top ten of the iTunes health podcast ratings.

As of December of this year, Reinagel and the podcast are close to an eye-popping 700 episodes, which is an achievement for longevity in the podcast world. Monica Reinagel is the perfect host for this podcast for several reasons. First, she’s eminently qualified, being a licensed nutritionist. Second, she is a well-known author of such books as The Inflammation-Free Diet Plan and is a leading proponent of IF Ratings, which measure the inflammation capacity in each food. Third, she’s been highly sought after by the media as a nutritional expert, appearing on the Dr. Oz Show, CBS News, The Today Show and in 2011 becoming a regular contributor to The Huffington Post. Fourth, Reinagel is a classically trained singer and has performed at several opera houses, including the Baltimore Opera Company, as a soloist. How does her vocalist skill impact her podcast credentials? Simple, her voice is like expensive bourbon — smooth, creamy, herbal and oaky. In fact, Reinagel can be just as compelling reading street addresses from a phone book as she is narrating her podcast. Each podcast — about ten minutes in length — deals with a specific topic that Reinagel often receives from her listeners. Moreover, she’s at her best when sorting out nutrition fads from solid advice. For example. Reinagel has tackled the gluten-free controversy with her usual aplomb, arguing that there is scant evidence that gluen is bad for most people who don’t have celiac disease, while freely admitting that a gluten-free diet can help with sustained weight loss, simply because a lot of foods that have gluten — cookies, cakes, white breads, etc — are also high in calories and saturated fat. She’s also taken on the unpasteurized milk craze and spent two episodes of the health halo surrounding bee pollen. Recently, Reinagel discussed resistant starch and how chilling rice properly cut reduce calories. With her expertise in nutrition, Reinagel also links cooking with good nutritional habits. A recent episode, for example, discusses how to use a slow cooker and an episode last year talked about cooking vegan.

What makes this podcast especially helpful is wide-angle view of nutrition, tackling everything from bone broth to zinc lozenges and melatonin as a sleep aid to energy versus nutrient density. There’s no topic out of Reinagel’s field of vision and that keeps her podcast fresh week after week.

Reinagel at her best when she

There are hundreds of excellent health and fitness podcasts in the audio universe. What makes The Nutrition Diva so special because host Reinagel refuses to allow her listeners to be seduced by social media nonsense, conveniently crafted theories, and conjecture disguised as fact. She’s not selling a lifestyle, a diet, specially prepared food menus.

Instead, Reinagel helps her listeners use science to discover a healthier life and be a superior version of themselves.

Preconceived

As a podcast, Preconceived exists to question the current state of affairs. Why are we groomed to accept norms as they are? Are we all destined to go to school, find a stable job, get married, have kids, then enjoy our retirement and older age? Do we hold certain beliefs because we value them, or because someone else told us to?

By challenging the paradigms that shape our world view, we discover what we want and why life is worth living. Yes, agency can be overwhelming.

“But when we simply ask the question ‘why’, we are free to take control and live our most authentic lives,” explains Zale Mednick, the podcast’s host, who is a Canadian ophthalmologist with an eye and ear for insightful interviews.

In an interview wirrg Mednick earlier this year, he discusses how preconceived notions hurt us and damge our connection to others.

“Echo chambers and social media have made it easier than ever to not think differently, and to just follow the status quo. I’ve been discouraged at times by the response to certain episodes I’ve recorded. I posted the episode regarding Transgender Athletes with Joanna Harper on our YouTube channel. I thought Joanna spoke very articulately and presented a balanced viewpoint on what many consider to be a controversial topic. Some of the comments to the video were hateful and rude to Joanna, and it was clear that those writing the comments hadn’t even listened to the episode; they just saw the subject line and started typing away.”

During the year, episodes of note included reimagining marriage, life extension, beauty myths, and the effect of birth order.

Mednick continues: “I think one of the biggest problems in society is that we don’t listen enough. People are often so set in expressing their opinions, that it feels like they aren’t hearing what is being said to them. When observing conversations, whether on the news or in our own lives, it can feel like people aren’t really listening, but just waiting for their turn to interject with what they think.”

For all the stubbornness out there, there are people who do want to listen, have honest conversations, and just be better people.

Profoundly Pointless

You know that you’ve succeeded in podcasting when you can record and then release an 85-minute episode when the subject matter is boredom. That’s right. Profoundly Pointless founder and host Nick VinZant introduced boredom expert James Danckert to discuss all aspects of boredom.

Was the episode boring, you want to know?

Absolutely not.

VinZant, who’s been doing this gig since 2018, is adept at turning water into wine. The episode fascinated me and other listeners, and I came away with a different perspective of boredom.

Danckert, the expert, explains in the episode: “…when you suggest that boredom serves a functional sort of purpose in our lives, you’re also sort of hinting at the fact that it might indeed have an evolutionary history. If boredom is functional, then presumably it was selected for and if it was selected for evolution, then presumably, we can see it in other animals. And you can, so anyone that’s owned a dog knows that dogs get bored, right? You come home, and you’ve got one of your shoes torn up while the dog was bored. And so we tore up your shoe, we didn’t have any malice in it. But scientifically, we’ve also sort of demonstrated this”

That’s why Profoundly Pointless is all about. Delivering answers to listeners about the dumbest questions possible. Want to know what a cigar blender does? VinZant has an episode for that. Cosmetic chemist? Swordsmith? Pizza acrobat? Intimacy coach?

Profoundly Pointless has answers for its growing roster of listeners. We were able to catch up to Nick and ask him a few questions about himself and the podcast.

In this world today, we hide under our weighted blankets with our earbuds in, so we don’t hear a discordant tone that ruptures our carefully sculpted worldview.

Profoundly Pointless isn’t political at all, but it does sonically draw its listeners into a universe where what people do in life is different. It’s exciting. Exhilarating.

[kyogos]

kimi:) for the driver opinion

Raikkonen is a very underappreciated driver by fans. Maybe not by general audience or older fans, but I will say within the fandom and among newer fans

Going back to Ferrari in 2014 was a mistake in my opinion. Not because I don’t think he was good enough, but because he was better than just a number 2 driver. But lets go back to the start

He joined F1 with Sauber in 2001 after just 23 races in lower series. 23 races. He would never get a super licence these days, and he almost didn’t back then either. But when he tested for them, he was lapping half a second quicker than their regular driver (who’s name escapes me). Not bad for a very inexperienced driver. He finished his debut season 10th in the standings. not bad for a rookie in a Sauber

I think he was very unlucky to not win a title with McLaren, especially in 2005 - .12 podiums in 19 races. Or even 2003 - 10 podiums in 16 races. I will never forget Japan 2005 where he went from P17 to P1. Simply incredible and I think that really solidified him as a good racer for people. 

2007 was very overshadowed by Hamilton v Alonso and the spygate drama. But he genuinely had a very impressive season and fully deserved the title. 12 podiums, 6 wins. Even though he came 3rd in 2008 and no one remember his season, again he had 9 podiums. But (imho) by this point he was already being shuffled out the door by Ferrari (but thats for another time)

2009 was a very strange year and Ferrari were far from good, but Kimi still managed to get 5 podiums, including a race win. And then he just...left. And I was very sad. Similar to Alonso, he likes racing, regardless of what it is. He just isn’t necessarily good. He spent 2 years doing Rally and just living his best life.

And then 2012. Lotus. God it was like he had never been away. 7 podiums and a race win. In what was essentially a midfield car. Iconic. I think his time at lotus really proved he was a great driver to everyone who still had doubts; dragging that shitbox into points and podiums. (2013 was also a pretty good season; 8 podiums and a race win; until he had back surgery and missed the last 2 races)

And then we have the shit years at Ferrari. I’m not calling him shit, not at all. I’m calling Ferrari shit. Ferrari simply do not deserve rights. We’ll skip 2014 because that was just a shit show

Raikkonen was signed as a number 2 driver. Which is whatever, it happens even if I don’t always like it. But the way he was treated by the team was appalling. He was (and still is) their last World Champion and they treated him like a glorified traffic cone for an inferior driver. (Okay maybe that bit is my bias but he was treated like a traffic cone)

The fact he only got one win in those 5 years is appalling imo. He’s a world class racer, a natural talent, and only one win. And looking at that, it sounds like he’s just bad. But it’s not, because he could have won so many more races had he been treated at least close to fairly. And when he got pole at the teams home race, his team mate was less than graceful about it (Italy 2018). But he didn’t bitch about it (and continues to have nothing but praise for his ex team mate). The mans a true team player in a sport that doesn’t value it these days

I think his off track personality puts (newer) fans off, and because of these recent years being treated like a traffic cone and then driving in a midfield shitbox, people just don’t understand how good he is. 

He might not be a total great like Hamilton or Alonso. But he’s a solid, reliable talent. Its very rare he makes mistakes, even now at the ripe old age of 40 after 18 seasons. I wish more people would watch his older races in a good car when he was treated like a driver because I promise you, he is a talent. 

I will die mad about his lack of titles and the treatment he faced at Ferrari during both stints

tl;dr This man is a good driver, an extremely good driver and no one recognises this. He’s either the walking meme or “that guy with the bad attitude”. This is a Raikkonen appreciation blog

[maranello]

Thoughts from technical analyst Giuliano Duchessa after the Australian GP, on longtime Ferrari insider Leo Turrini’s blog: 

Why Ferrari has a clear advantage 13 aprile 2022

The dawn of Melbourne has shown some interesting things that the first two appointments have to some extent masked by some unfavorable episodes.

Ferrari has an advantage in knowledge of its car that is not always quantifiable. Some choices, risky for others, have not frightened the Maranello technicians. One of them, above all, is the technical acceptance of porpoising, or some of the problems that can result from it, in order to maintain high performance in medium-fast corners.

Problems that are of a purely physical nature, i.e. affecting the driver's driving or concentration. Then there is the risk of eating the rear tires too soon. Something that - you will remember - happened to Mercedes in Bahrain, forced to repeated pit stops.

The set-up chosen by Leclerc and his engineers has paid off, frankly beyond expectations. A little more load at the back, certainly as much load as possible at the front and a few more HP [reportedly 5 HP] to try to distance or defend themselves — if necessary — from Verstappen's DRS in the 18 seconds of the fast section, the one opposite the finish line.

In order to put more load in front, you have to be able to afford it, in terms of budget. That is, so that the overall balance does not suffer. This was Red Bull's limit, and by the way, it was what the old SF21 could never do.

Christian Horner's car was simply too worse than expected to be true, a bit too close to Mercedes (especially with Perez) than to Ferrari.

Does that explain a Mercedes improvement?

No. Both Russell and Hamilton did a very good race with the material at hand. However, they didn’t get close to the Ferrari, Mercedes would have finished at 50 seconds without the neutralizations. Max — just to say — at 25 or 30 seconds. So the RB18 has taken a step backwards, we think on this occasion, net of the "unacceptable reliability", words of the world champion.

The developments that Red Bull will bring - in theory at Imola - will help it 100% because we're talking about a weight saving with ballast-load-consumption balanced a bit better. Something close to 2 tenths. Ferrari will respond by trying to lower the car even more when an evolved base under development arrives. What worries the opponents is that the F1-75 is still travelling higher off the ground, which suggests that it has unexplored setup possibilities should it resolve. The lower the single-seater is, the better the efficiency on the straight, plus it is finally possible to soften the suspension in favor of the slow.

We move forward with the certainty that Ferrari knows its car better than anyone. An invisible and uncopiable advantage, even for Newey.

Ferrari can prepare the car well because they know what to expect, as was the case with the long-awaited SF70H, but this time they will also have the power... in a targeted manner, when needed.

Of course, the road is long and today’s evaluations can change compared to Melbourne, I remember Kimi giving 20 seconds to Alonso and Hamilton in 2007, but then Mclaren reacted immediately. So, be careful, but I never thought that Albert Park was a track that is not very indicative, for sure it has always shown who has a good front end.

Finally, I would like to add that the beloved Imola ⁠— after years of undeserved oblivion ⁠— has finally ended the wait for what it deserves: a great public, and a Ferrari that arrives as a winner.

[hakutaichou]

[JP] Love and Producer: Pronouns + Speech Style Analysis

This post is about what pronouns and speech style the bois used in JP version. Unlike Chinese/Mandarin and English, in Japanese, there’re many honorifics used by different people's personalities with many formal and informal social situations.

Japanese grammar, as a whole, tends to function on hierarchy; honorific stems are appended to verbs and many nouns, primarily names, and in many cases one word may be exchanged for another word entirely with the same verb or noun meaning, but with different honorific connotations. (Wikipedia)

Prepare your snack and drink, this is gonna be a very long post.

P.S I’m using Gavin vs Shaw battle in episode 6 because they cursing each other using their “speech style”.

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First of all, let’s arrange some of JP word speech based on the bois...

“CEO Victor”

�� (Ore) = I

私 (Watashi) = I [Formal]

おまえ (Omae) = You

きみ (Kimi) / あなた (Anata) = You [Formal]

バカ (Baka) = Dummy

来い (Koi) = Come here

“Prof. Lucien”

僕 (Boku) [Lucien] / 私 (Watashi) [Ares] = I

きみ (Kimi) [Lucien] / おまえ (Omae) [Ares] = You

馬鹿 / ばか (Baka) = Silly

おいで (Oide) = Come here

“Captain Gavin”

俺 (Ore) = I

自分 (Jibun) / 僕 (Boku) = I [Formal]

おまえ (Omae) = You

馬鹿 (Baka) = Silly

来い (Koi) = Come here

“Idol-Hacker Kiro”

オレ (Ore) [Kiro] / 俺 (Ore) [Helios] = I

キミ (Kimi) [Kiro] / おまえ (Omae) [Helios] = You

ばか (Baka) = Silly

こっちに来て (Kochi ni kite) = Come here

“College Student Shaw”

俺 (Ore) = I

アンタ (Anta) = You

バカ (Baka) = Silly

来いよ (Koi yo) = Come here

...

Can you see it, the different words with same meaning that used by each of the bois?

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[Character Personality Description from Evol x Love JP Official Website]

CEO Victor is Huarui (LFG) Group’s CEO. He started Huarui in college, and climbed to the top of financial world in eight years. He’s also the investor of MC’s Company and the one who holds its fate. His personality is decisive and strict. He thinks rules is above all else than emotion, and he acts only for the benefit of the company. He hates spending time and money meaninglessly. He looks cold at first glance, but he also has a gentle side, such as approaching the weak things.

Since he is Tsundere, the most perfect pronouns for him is “Ore and Omae”

Hakutaichou: “I’ll explain his speech analysis with Gavin...”

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Captain Gavin is a EVOL special officer. He ostensibly works at Loveland City Police Station as an ordinary police officer. He is a lone wolf and brave man. He has absolute trust in the person he admits. He has his own policy, and doesn’t mind being misunderstood by others. He has his own right and wrong views, sometimes he acts out of the rules of the world.

Same as Victor, Gavin’s pronouns is “Ore and Omae” which usually used by cold-ruthless-hold power character in otome world. but what makes their personality different is on their “Silly/Idiot” word.

Victor’s バカ (Baka) in “Katakana”, and Gavin’s 馬鹿 (Baka) in “Kanji”

Where’s the difference? its from their speech style, Victor said “Baka” with decisive personality, meanwhile Gavin said it with polite personality.

if you can't tell the difference, you can hear some dialog from both of them in Chapter 26-27 (Gavin talking to guard in facility vs Victor met Leto in cargo ship)

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Professor Lucien is an authoritative scientist in neuroscientist community. He is a Elite who has returned from studying aboard. He’s known to the public as a guest professor at Loveland University. He has an amazing memory, that he will never forget what he saw once, and his IQ and EQ are high. He treats everyone politely, which in turn makes people feel that there is a sense of distance. No one knows his true nature and purpose.

Lucien is a “yasashii” gentle person with mysterious aura, he always make a smiling face to everyone, but at the same times he’s emotionless boi and had a dark personality he hides from them. His pronouns is “Boku and Kimi”, which sometimes used by intelligent/educated-gentle character in otome world.

As if a kind man with a many hidden motive (from bad thing to possessive thing) who wanted his loved one to come closer to him, “Oide” is the most “Come Here” word that used by a same character type as Lucien.

When he acted as Ares, his pronouns changed to “Watashi/Boku and Omae” or “Watashi and Anata [Anime only]” because his personality also changed to ruthless-polite person, but sometimes turned back to his “Boku and Kimi” when talking to MC only.

Lucien/Ares to MC: You (Kimi), can’t hurt yourself.

Ares to BS Member: What do you (Omae) know?

If you need more references, there’re some of gentle mysterious characters who voiced by Lucien’s JP VA, Hirakawa-san which using “Boku and Kimi” or “Watashi and Anata” for their pronouns, like Saint-Germain from Code: Realize.

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Idol-Hacker Kiro is a super popular idol who has been active since childhood. He wasn’t easy on his way, but he got over it with an optimistic personality. He is as bright as the sun, attractive and straightforward personality. He is mischievous, childish, and smart. He likes a mediocre life, sometimes disguises himself to go to convenience stores, and walk around the city. In addition to his occupation as a idol, he also has multiple identities and his true purpose.

That’s why, Kiro’s “Come here” is “Kochi ni kite”, that words same as persuade people, even kids to come closer, not like “Oide” or “Koi”, you can feel the owner’s very warm tone from that words.

Plus because Kiro once lived in America, his pronouns (Ore and Kimi) using “Katakana” not “Kanji/Hiragana” like others.

*Katakana: one of japanese writing system, usually used to write words that come from foreign languages that have been absorbed into Japanese

Kiro: Always stay by my (Ore [Katakana]) side.

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But when Kiro become Helios, besides swapped personality from warm innocent to cold ruthless mode, his pronouns also changed to Victor and Gavin’s pronouns (Ore and Omae).

Helios: Leave the rest to me (Ore [Kanji])

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Shaw [Error 404: Not found]

Since Shaw’s encounter with MC are still few...I’ll analyzed him from main chapter side and some of Date only.

Because Shaw is a arrogant gangster with polite attitude person, his pronouns is “Ore and Anta”

俺 (Ore) is from his arrogant personality, meanwhile アンタ (Anta) is informal pronoun of あなた (Anata) from his polite one.

.

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[Extra]

“She/Her and He/Him”

There’s no specific “She/Her” and “He/Him” pronouns in Japanese. All of japanese people calling each other using their name (except: their mom, auntie, grandma, etc). What if we didn’t remember their name? you can use “You” for calling them. And if you want to talking about someone, you can use “Ano hito”, “Ano ko”, “Ano yarou” which have one main meaning is, “That person”.

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Back to the main topic. In Main Chapters, MC like to call every love interests with their name, not “You” in dialog script.

MC: Haku, Zen, Kira, Helios, Simon, Ares, Shou.

And MC sometimes using “Kare” instead the boys’ name in description, or her inner mind.

彼 / カレ (Kare) means He/Him, sometimes used for close relationship like “Boyfriend”.

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Besides using MC’s name, Victor, Lucien, Kiro, and Gavin also using “Kanojo” to calling MC, meanwhile Shaw in early chapter called MC as “Ano ko” (That Girl) before changed to “Kanojo” in Chapter 19+

彼女 (Kanojo) means She/Her, usually used for close relationship such as...“Girlfriend”.

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That’s why...In episode 6 (Chapter 11)

JP Shaw: Maa demo...honki de “Ano ko” wo mamoritai nara, anna tokoro totto yameru nda na.

[Real ENG] JP Shaw: Well... if you really want to protect “That girl”, you’d better leave that place (STF) immediately.

JP Gavin: “Kanojo” wo te o dasu na!

[Real ENG] JP Gavin: Don’t you dare to touch MY GIRL!

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[faeriejukyung]

hello mae!!!!

i've been following you for a long long time now and i (very very very badly) need some kdrama/anime/webtoon recs AND i trust your taste more than i trust my own SO

if you could tell us (me) some of your favourites, and any you recommend, i would be so so so grateful!

(especially if they are slice of life with a high school setting,,,, BUT ANYTHING ELSE WORKS TOO!!!!)

(anyway, i absolutely adore your metas too, you really said b i g b r a i n t i m e!)

i hope you're doing well and i wish you all the best!

(ALSO no pressure to reply!!!!! 💘💘💘)

AHH hello!!! firstly THANK YOU SM it makes me so happy to hear that you trust my taste + like my metas 🥺🥺🥺

secondly, you have come to the right place!! i actually have a list of slice of life kdramas/webtoons/animes i really really enjoyed <3

kdramas

if you’re looking for slice of life in a high school setting i really really recommend The Moment of Eighteen! it has really well written and fleshed out characters, and i think its a more character heavy than plot heavy drama!

i also really really love this another drama called Start-Up. It’s not really a high school drama, but it has such an upbeat and optimistic feel, i had to add it. actually, i think it’s one of my favorite dramas. It’s so so so inspiring!! tbh, as someone who’s on the left side of the political spectrum i’m really not too much into stuff that romanticizes capitalism, but this one gets me so emotional,, and it feels so inspiring, it makes me want to work hard for my dreams and achieve them, and it also makes me miss my friends kind of because the main cast has such a beautiful friendship :”) actually, i low-key want to write a short essay on how beautiful the 1st episode was and why it meant so much to me.

another kdrama i really love is Reply 1988! It’s very nostalgic and sweet, and it has everything, like it’s funny, it’s romantic, it’s very slice of life-y (?). i think you’ll enjoy this one the most.

and obviously True Beauty! i’m assuming you have watched it since you’ve been following me for some time!! but i’m mentioning it too, just in case hehe 

animes

i actually don’t watch a lot of animes, but Kimi Ni Todoke is literally my favorite anime along with one of my favorite peices of media of all times. it not only talks about romantic love but also friendship and paltonic love is also a huge theme in it. and isn’t that what life is about? friendship <3 it’s about love and friendship. everything about it is so soft...so tender..so . gentle.. yeah.. Crying..

i also really really love Jesus x Buddha/Saint Young Men ITS LITERALLY THE BEST THING EVER PLEASE WATCH IT I’LL PAY YOU TO WATCH it will fill your heart with so much warmth and happiness :( 

webtoons

since you’re looking for a slice of life thing, i think you should read Romance 101! instead of a high school setting its in a college setting, but its really really cute and light hearted! its my favorite currently!

Garden Club Detective Squad! its not really slice of life but its my favorite highschool webtoon currently!! it’s about kids solving a murder mystery, but its actually not very dark or scary like that? it’s also very very funny!! ALSO i’m hoping that it turns out to be wlw because the characters are like rlly queercoded and there was an indication of romance between the mc girl and her friend SO YEAH FINGERS CROSSED

i’ve recently started reading Act Like You Love Me, and while its also not in a high school setting, it’s genuinely SO funny. It’s light hearted and fun, and its literally so good i always wait so eagerly for each and every update of this webtoon.

this is it! i tried to keep it short because i didn’t want you to get overwhelmed (i obviously failed at that JSDSHS) but if in case you don't wanna go through my long paragraphs, i've also highlighted all the stuff i’ve recommended! i didn’t recommend a lot of stuff because i’ve noticed people get a bit overwhelmed after seeing long lists like that, and then its a hassle to shortlist stuff that you’re gonna watch. so i just wrote down some stuff that i like the best!! i’m giving you small pieces of my heart, i hope you like them <333

[bemused-writer]

I believe there was an ask that thinks domi is the one who gave noe blood?In chapter 8 ,noe thought about louise while showing some scenes of the manga ,so its confirmed that louise is the one who gave noe his blood?

It’s true I answered an Ask where I thought Domi must have been the one to give Noé her blood at the beginning of volume 2 over here but you make a very good point on the matter, Anon! I took another look at chapter 8 and found the panel you’re referring to:

All right, let’s take another look at this whole Louis vs Dominique situation because I’m not going to lie. I am beginning to become incredibly confused, which is exactly what Mochizuki was going for.

Throughout the manga, Mochizuki has been incredibly meticulous when she shows us a flashback. Since we only ever see Noé‘s thought process, flashbacks are important to give us insight into other characters.

This particular flashback is accompanied by Noé‘s narration, however, which really emphasizes what he’s talking about. First, when he talks about Louis being Domi’s brother, we see a picture of Dominique. Then, when he describes who Louis was and what kind of personality he had, we switch to images of what must be Louis himself. Very simply put, it wouldn’t make sense to show a flashback of Dominique when Noé is describing Louis. As such, we can now safely confirm (or as safely as you can confirm anything) that Louis was the person who gave Noé his blood at the beginning of volume 2, not Dominique.

This is further emphasized by this panel here:

I should have thought of this before, but “they” can only be referring to the village children Noé and co. played with, which means this happened before Louis died because when he became a malnomen he, you know, killed all the village children... *ahem* Also, Louis is holding a knife. I had said before that if Dominique ever took up carving then these scenes might be her, but so far we don’t have any conclusive evidence she did that, so I’m now thinking she likely never did even when she was imitating Louis.

So! The beginning of volume 2 was Louis. This means that when Dominique offered Noé her blood it really was Louis Noé was thinking about in that particular flashback.

Not too surprising; they used the same wording and they’re related.

Let’s continue onwards. The next confusing moment is the dancing scene.

All right, for this one I actually opened the Japanese edition and used my limited Japanese reading skills to see if I could pick anything up. 8D What I can say here is that Noé does in fact say “君” or “kimi,” which translates to “you.” As such, I think we can safely say Noé said “You drummed it into me mercilessly so I’d be able to dance with you” rather than a more vague sentence without any pronouns. If anyone has better insight into this, please tell me because I’m far from an expert. Still, is the imagery of Louis or Dominique? The person is taller, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be Louis. Maybe Dominique had a growth spurt at some point. For now, I’m going to say that if Louis taught Noé to dance he wasn’t the only one doing so. Dominique definitely did some of the teaching. So, this scene is kind of cleared up.

I think that covers the bulk of the confusing scenes? We recently discovered Dominique dressed like Louis, but since then Mochizuki has given clearer indicators on who’s who in those instances. We saw when Dominique cut her hair and we saw when Noé told her he missed it when it was long.

And it’s not just a stylistic preference for Noé. I’m sure it was very painful to see Dominique do this to herself and to be constantly reminded of how Louis wasn’t actually there. This scene shows that while Noé missed (and misses) Louis terribly, he missed Dominique being herself just as much. He cares for her and likes the person she is.

This is important to make note of because Noé has thought of Louis at least once when he was with Dominique and now that I feel somewhat sure of this being the case, I believe Vanitas picked up on that and that is why he insulted Dominique the way he did. But Dominique isn’t just a stand in for Louis; they are both very important to him.

As for whether Noé reciprocates Dominique’s feelings or not, I’m just going to say at this point I have no idea. XD If he does, I doubt he recognizes he does. If he had feelings for Louis, I doubt he recognized those either.

Anyway, much as I’d like to say we’ve come up with the definitive answer this time around, I really doubt that’s the case. XD I have never flip flopped on a theory so frequently or so quickly before, but for now I feel relatively comfortable with this conclusion and that’s something, at least until Mochizuki gives us more evidence one way or another.

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression, radio version - Ep 23 - Fan comments, Child killer identity leak, Politician suggests shutting down politically biased content - March 2016.

Kaoru starts this episode by stumbling over the pronunciation of 'Expression' in 'The Freedom of Expression'. He introduces Joe, and Joe asks him about his recent activity since Budokan. He says he has been in the studio, working hard on the new single. Joe then asks whether his opportunities to speak with other people have reduced. They have reduced, says Kaoru. Joe tells Kaoru to call him if he gets lonely. Kaoru thinks this is a bad idea, because Joe would tell him to come out drinking.

Kaoru says that this week he would like to read out some more of the fan messages which were written in notebooks at the booth in Budokan. The first comment says 'Freedom of expression is a contitutional right, and must be respected, but determination is also needed. Its a brave thing to boldy speak out, despite knowing the drawbacks. I look forward to the future episodes'. Joe thinks it impressive to wait out in the cold for so long before the live, and then write this after coming in. Kaoru says this message gives him courage. Joe says, yes, its true that freedom of expression is written in the constitution, but with complacency, this right will become eroded. Vigilence is needed.

The next message says, 'It's said that Dir's live shows are all about expressing pain, but is it ok to say the live was 'fun'?'. Kaoru says there are two ways to look at this, fun for him, or fun for the audience. As for him, he feels very happy when he sees people coming to watch him, in both small and big venues, which is similar to fun. As for the audience...he recalls when the band were making Dum Spiro Spero, and the huge earthquake/tsunami happened in March 2011. They asked themselves whether they should quit this album, was it right to continue with it in those circumstances? But they came to the conclusion that it may give people hope, and help people to look forward if the album could be finished and released. It may be a trivial thing, but if it makes a positive difference in someone's life they (Dir) are happy. So in that sense, he thinks its totally ok to say lives are fun. It may seem odd that everyone leaves a live with a smile on their face, but when you think about it, that is a part of what makes us people. Joe says that just after seeing Dir en grey live for the first time at Budokan, he went to interview one of Kaoru's favourite manga artists, Urasawa Naoki, at Urasawa's own house. Urasawa is a huge fan of 60s and 70s rock, and has a big collection of vintage guitars in his house. Joe says their conversation naturally turned to, 'What is "rock"?'. Urasawa said it may be the idea of 'understanding'. For example, when rock star (Imawano) Kiyoshiro sang, 'Kimi no kimochi, boku ni wa wakaru/I understand how you feel'...that sense of understanding may be what rock is. That includes understanding feelings of lonliness, or of fun etc etc. 'Sharing' may not be quite the right word, but Joe says he felt this at Budokan, this sensation of understanding. Kaoru feels like its a sensation of becoming closer with each other. Joe says there may be people who feel 'fun' out of this, but it comes from a sense of understanding. After speaking to Urasawa, Joe realised that this is how he had felt at Budokan.

Next Kaoru moves on to read out some emails which the show has recieved. The first email is from a fan who was very impressed with the Budokan shows, and hears Arche in a different light since then.

The second email is from a fan who saw the two days at Budokan, but didn't see 'Day 3' (the show at Liquid Room a week later). Some fans who had gone to 'Day 3' had posted online that they thought THIS was the real finale to Arche. The fan was disappointed that they didn't get to experience this. Kaoru feels that at Liquid Room they played Arche in a new style, showing a kind of step forward into a new path.

Next Kaoru welcomes Hiranabe for the Tokyo Sports corner. Hiranabe says he had been very busy at work lately with the whole Kiyohara drug scandal. But the first story Hiranabe brings up this time is the news that the gossip magazine Shukan Post had published the place of living and other details about the child killer Shonen A/Boy A (Search: Kobe Child Murders). Joe says he rarely buys gossip magazines, but he did this time, and not only did he realise what a huge leak of information this was, he wondered why the magazine had published this. What was the point of making this into news? Hiranabe thinks this is a plan by the police. He says there is a trend of high profile criminals finishing their sentences, leaving prison and then writing a book, or appearing on tv and getting royalties or fame (Ten years after his release, 'Boy A' wrote a book detailing his crimes).The police don't like this trend, and there has been a slew of such cases where the police have made a fresh arrest after a book release or tv appearance. Kiyohara Kazuhiro is a good example, but other examples include businessman Ikawa Mototaka (arrested after releasing a book), and motorcycle gang leader Ishimoto Taichi. Hiranabe thinks the Shukan Post must be cooperating with the police over the publication of this information. There is no proof of this, its just his opinion. He also says he wonders how often 'Boy A' has to move house, which he probably needs money for. If his place of living is discovered he will have to move, and finding a new place will be hard. He must be getting some kind of support. Kaoru jokes that since he himself has also released a book, will the police be after him now? He wants someone to support him too. Joe wonders whether the police are intending to re-arrest 'Boy A' with this info leak, and whether there is someone somewhere assisting him to escape further.

Hiranabe's next news story is that Internal Affairs and Communications minister Takaichi Sanae had made the sugestion that broadcasters who repeatedly broadcast politically biased material could be taken off the air. Hiranabe asks, if broadcasters are shut down, what happens after that? You can't listen to the radio any more? For them, if this show got negative press, would they be taken off air? They all agree this would be pretty undesirable. Joe says that the minister might say that a move like this is permissible by law, but as for freedom of expression on radio stations for example, in Japan there is never any instruction from radio stations to take material off air or to take certain songs off air, it is down to individual radio programs to decide on this. In the USA they have station-wide policies when taking songs etc off the air, but in Japan it depends very much on each program, rather than the radio station itself. As a result, people on radio programs have to be very aware of the atmosphere around them. The Japanese are a culture whereby reading the atmosphere is very important. Its very different from America where the rules are often set down clearly. When the Japanese musician Aska was arrested, there was a time after this where his songs ceased to be played on radio, but there was no instruction about when it would be ok to start playing them again. People just though, 'Ah, he's been arrested, so we'd better not', and then after a while, gradually just started to think it would be ok to play them again. So with this kind of comment from Minister Takaichi, its possible people might just react in the same way, and read the atmosphere as appropriate. Joe also mentions that recently some tv announcers had be axed from a few channels. He thinks this is a result of pressure from political quarters, and if such things continue to happen, freedom of expression in Japan will get narrower. Hiranabe and Joe say it sounds like intimidation tactics are being implemented by the government. Hiranabe laments at how useless the main opposition party is against this, with their constant in-fighting over petty matters. The voters have no choice. Kaoru agrees with this. Joe asks Hiranabe what solution can be found to this. Hiranabe suggests forming the 'InterFM Party'. The others laugh at this, then suggest they could unite with the 'Tokyo Sports Party'.

To finish Kaoru says the TFoE stickers have been made already. He expains one more time that the stickers wil be revealed on the show's blog after they have been sent out to the winners of the Arche cover design contest. Joe suggests Hiranabe should get some stickers. Kaoru then plugs the Budokan bluray/DVD, upcoming new single and tour. He also reveals that his Offical Blog magazine TheTheDay will put out its first edition on the 11th of that month (11th March 2016), and will update every second and fourth friday. Finally,  Joe mentions how impressed he was with Hiranabe's energy as he entered the studio that day. He had arrived just in time, and says his driver had got lost on the way and made him late.

Songs - Dir en grey/Revelation of Mankind, New Order/Blue Monday.

[jessi-does-fandoms]

Ok I wanna talk about what we have to look forward to for transformers cartoons

thank you Kimi my good friend from Discord for this information.

yes its true Hasbro is working with Nickelodeon to produce a new transformers cartoon. I am honestly shocked that Nickelodeon will be airing it but I guess it makes sense. Nickelodeon has been very successful with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since 2012 the 2012 series was so successful and in my opinion the best TMNT series in general. Then we had Rise of the teenage mutant turtles which came out quite recently however it has not been shown on Nickelodeon for quite some time not even reruns have been shown as far as I know. Now I don’t know if the show is on a hiatus or its been canceled all I know is that its been moved to Nicktoons which is a separate Nickelodeon channel that mostly shows cartoons over any live action shows and occasionally shows reruns of older shows such as Danny Phantom, Invader Zim and Jimmy Neutron. over the years I’ve noticed a pattern A new show airs to Nickelodeon but when that show isn’t popular enough to stay on the main channel it moves to Nicktoons where it will air for one more season or gets canceled entirely and shows reruns. This could very possibly happen with this new Transformers series. The main shows that are the most popular on Nickelodeon are Spongebob (obviously) Loud House and a few live action shows so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens I really hope Nickelodeon doesn’t throw this new Transformers series under the bus like Cartoon Network did with Cyberverse where they show new episodes once and then never again just so they can show Teen Titans Go ALL DAY LONG. Nickelodeon has been similar in the past but they they will usually show new episodes on Saturday morning and then a few more times throughout the week. So there is hope that this could be a good thing for fans and could bring in a new generation of Transformers fans.

Ok so this was posted on the official Transformers instagram page and this one is quite disappointing. We are getting an animated comedy series for Transformers BotBots yeah you heard me right BotBots as in the weird ass Transformers version of Shopkins with characters such as Hawt Diggity, Duderoni and my favorite BURGERTRON who honestly sounds like Megatron if he were to work at Burger King or eat a lot of fast food to the point he resembles most Americans (god that’s so mean). There are also many othe characters in the BotBots series that are based off of food, small machines and even bathroom products and toilet humor which is so terrible and a major low for Hasbro and makes Transformers look like a joke. Because it’s a comedy and is most likely aimed towards kids there will probably be toilet humor to go along with certain characters and that alone is probably going to turn TF fans away I mean if you’re into that kind of comedy I wont judge but I feel like this is a major let down. I for one would LOVE an animated series based on the MTMTE/Lost Light comics because my god they were amazing they could easily be made into an animated series aimed more towards teens and adults considering the comics were REALLY dark at times not something that would be shown on typical networks like Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network put it on Netflix get some good voice actors good animation and we could have an AMAZING Transformers series that kicks WFC in the ass I have actually talked to a few people about this talking about actors who could voice characters I made a joke about Whirl being voiced by Norm Macdonald the guy who voiced Norm the genie in The FairlyOdd Parents and Pigeon in Mike Tyson Mysteries the reason for this is because when I read Whirl’s dialogue I automatically think of Pigeon because Pigeon is a smartass and an asshole so is Whirl. Whirl just gives me Pigeon vibes case closed. I honestly wanna make a whole post on who I think would be great voice actors for a MTMTE/Lost Light animated series I may try to do that with the help of a good friend of mine. Anyway I have rambled long enough I apologize for such a long post this is why one of my friends calls me a female Swerve. Anyways what are your thoughts on these new TF series? Do you think this will bring in new fans?

[animegenork]

Fruits Baskets Final Season Episodes 2 & 3

What? No, I didn’t watch these on the Fridays of the weeks they came out. No, I wasn’t dying from school---

Anyway, back to the grind.

Episode 2

I swear the gif search function HATES me and what I’m trying to do---

Anyway.

I would like to make this very clear. Shigure is a little bit evil. A little bit. But it’s mostly from being twisted by the zodiac curse and his strange form of love. So if you wanted to punch him this episode, that’s good. He needs to be punched. A lot. Like a lot. God, he’s so evil. Moving on.

So the episode begins with young Akito asking Shigure if he loves her. This is, as we’ve seen, something that Akito fixates on, mostly due to her father accidentally warping her with the idea of being eternally loved by the zodiac members. He responds with a very earnest love confession that sort of explains why they spend so much time together, but it also confuses things a bit, at least at first. What with the zodiac spirit, it’s unclear how much of Shigure’s love is real and how much isn’t up to him. That may factor in to whatever the hell is up with him now.

Cut to Tohru working on graduation ceremony flowers and nearly asking Shigure about breaking the curse. Of course, she can’t, because it’s hard to bring up, and she’s only seen 2 sides of Shigure at most. Naturally, he already knows what she’s thinking about, because he’s Shigure. He’s just that good.

Tohru continues to struggle even at school, when she realizes that there’s so much she knows that she probably can’t talk about with Momiji or Haru or anyone else. And since the curse is this ever-present thing to them, she’s not even sure if they’ll believe her or how they’ll react. Rin is the exception to this, of course, since she was already looking for information on it.

There are some shenanigans with the Prince Yuki Fan Club, and Tohru and Kyo are left alone (probably on purpose) by Hanajima, Uotani, and company. But I’ll get back to that in a sec.

Yuki tries to help out other classes with things, but they won’t let him because... well, uh, they think he’s too busy... and he... isn’t... I’m sorry, that’s just so funny to me. So anyway, he runs into Machi, who is being all adorable and stubborn because she wanted to say hello and chased him all over the school to do so. It’s cute, because Yuki’s not used to that much effort being put in to something for his sake. I love Machi like that UwU

Back to Tohru and Kyo, they’ve been waiting for HOURS. Tohru decides to tentatively try out her Kureno talking point, but as soon as she brings up the curse maybe being broken, Kyo tells her that hypotheticals like that are pointless (this is implied paraphrase). He does this mostly because he’s in that pit of despair of “I’m never getting out of this” but also because he doesn’t want to give himself a false hope that might never come true. Tohru, however, becomes sad, because of course she wants to save him from having to be locked away like the previous Cat. So there’s a bit of moment where she’s about to cry.

And then Kyo *sniffle* gives her a flower to make her feel better. *sobs*

Technically speaking, this scene should’ve been in the last season or SOMETHING, I honestly thought they WEREN’T going to put my FAVORITE scene in the anime, and then they did. What’s cute about this scene is how torn up Kyo is from hurting Tohru’s feelings, and how almost desperate he is to make her feel better. It’s a sweet moment, if slightly awkwardly animated, but it’s a rare Tohru and Kyo moment where they don’t even say anything and you can SEE everything they want to say. Of course, they’re interrupted, because they always are (HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT LIKE NEVER HAPPENS WHENEVER YUKI AND TOHRU HAVE A MOMENT?), but hey, I got my fluff, I am fed.

There’s brief mention of Rin and how Tohru hasn’t seen her lately, and I hate it because I know where she is.

Anyway, now on to Shigure being Shigure.

He’s torturing his poor editor again, and he walks away from what appears to have been a heated conversation with... HIS PARENTS. THEY EXIST. I dunno what it is with rarely seeing zodiac parents (besides the obvious cases of Kyo and Momiji), but there you have it. We see then that there’s a big Sohma dinner outing with Akito there, so clearly Shigure planned that. His skills of perception and foresight are serious scary, and I really wonder how the hell he developed them.

There’s a flashback to before Tohru and Kureno’s revealing conversation, and we see that Shigure hates Kureno for being so close to Akito. Of course, Kureno makes it clear that Akito doesn’t love him, that she’s always wanted.... well, he doesn’t say, but I think all of us are familiar enough with how this anime works that we know who he means. But Kureno basically wants Shigure to stop being so cold to Akito, and this is because of how much he wants to keep her happy more than any personal feelings about Shigure.

This is where it gets a bit dicey. I’ve actually got a strange fondness for this scene, if only because it sort of but also not really gets to the heart of why Shigure is the way he is.

Shigure appears in Akito’s room, and she’s basically jealous that he was out with another woman. Then she brings up his sexual relationship with his editor (nonexistent), which is rather petty, but then, when was this duo not about pettiness? The implication Akito makes is that he sleeps with every woman he meets (explains a lot). She then mentions that Shigure slept with Ren, Akito’s mother (I’m not going to touch on how screwed up that is), which is why he’s living in a house away from the main estate. Shigure acts all cool and says that was a long time ago, he’s been punished, but Akito points out that he almost wanted to leave. Which... he did, but not for any lack of love on his part. And he says that. He recalls the conversation we see at the beginning, in which he tells her he cares about her more than anyone else. Understandably, she’s frustrated, and she asks why he always tests her.

It’s because she slept with Kureno. Petty, I know.

The phone conversation comes back. Everything you need to understand about Shigure is in one sentence: “I love her so much that sometimes I want to spoil her rotten, and sometimes I want to crush her into a pulp.” This is nearly verbatim of the manga translation I read a long time ago, and it’s always stuck with me. The thing is, Akito was always told she’s special and she can do with the zodiac as she pleases (which she says directly in this episode). It seems a part of Shigure didn’t like that that extended to those that weren’t him (Kureno), and his love for her warped and twisted into this kinda toxic relationship. (Kinda, she says, as if it’s not very.) This makes him want to be kind to her, but at the same time, he wants to be mean to her and show her how much pain she’s put him through, too. It’s pettiness at its extreme, but it’s somehow more believable than other forms of petty jealousy I’ve seen.

Oh yeah, and then they have sex.

Once again, there’s brief mention of Rin, perhaps she’s in the hospital, we don’t really know. But the main part of this all is Shigure remembering that before Akito was born/in his life, he had always been sort of waiting for her, which is mostly the zodiac spirit talking but is also interesting nonetheless. How much of Shigure’s love is influenced by the zodiac curse? How much of it is him? I don’t know if we ever find that out, because frankly, the curse did a lot of things to everyone involved, including him.

I still love Shigure, don’t get me wrong, but this is SUCH an interesting episode.

Episode 3

Precisely the gif I wanted. Hehehe.

IT’S A MACHI EPISODE! AND I LOVE HER, SO THAT’S ALRIGHT!

Still pissed about Kyo’s screentime being so awful lately. ads;fkjsad;fklsda

Some student council shenangians occur as always, and it’s revealed that Nao has a crush on someone, which is why he declared Yuki to be his rival on day one. Also, Kimi is a golddigger.

Some girls come in and gossip about Machi making a mess again with one of her outbursts, and they mention a rumor about her trying to kill her brother, which is why she lives alone. Kakeru looks quite displeased to hear this, and Machi walks in on the conversation and runs away, with Yuki wanting to go after her. 

Kakeru tells Yuki later that the rumor is “mostly true”--that is, that’s the story he’s been told as well. Of course, he’s wary to believe it, because while they’re not terribly close, he knows her a little better than the parents do. He then tells a story of seeing Machi making footprints in the snow, almost obsessively, and he’s not quite sure why she did it (but Kakeru has a Shigure streak, so I wonder if maybe he does know?).

So Kakeru decides to pull a sort of jerk move and visit Machi while with Yuki, and she tries to turn them away to no avail. Of course, Yuki isn’t put off by the mess, since he and Shigure used to live that way, so he’s all cheerful about it while Machi is dying in the corner. I will not talk much about the bra incident, but that was honestly the most hilarious few seconds.

Finally left alone, Machi asks why Yuki is there, assuming it’s about the rumor her classmates mentioned. She says she’s done trying to correct everybody, since no one ever seems to believe her anyway. (That is all too relatable, especially in high school.)

But Yuki doesn’t even mind. He asks something else instead: does she hate perfection? And she says yes. TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR.

Wait. My bad.

Anyway, Machi has a flashback to what I believe I’ve mentioned before, which is Machi’s mom forcing her to be perfect so that she could beat Kakeru in the succession war (England?) with her family. When that was called off, her mother would say right in front of her face (jerk) that Machi was boring. Machi asked her why she would say that when she was just trying to do what she was told. Her mother has the gall to be offended by the implication that it’s her fault (IT IS, YOU IDIOT--) and then turns around and says maybe she raised Machi wrong.

Here’s a hint: that’s not what you say to your CHILD.

Poor Machi didn’t know what to do with herself. What is she supposed to do if she’s just a “mistake” her mother made?

Yuki, in his cute way of knowing precisely what she means, tells her she’s worked hard to get where she is, and that he’s glad she’s here. She’s not used to compliments like that, and it’s a very sweet moment. That’s when she admits that she was just trying to take care of her brother, but her parents wrongly and automatically assumed she was jealous and trying to kill him (which says a lot about how god awful they are). And she’s finally able to let it out and cry with Yuki, who offers to go leave footprints in the snow with her.

My heart might’ve burst during that, not gonna lie--

I think my favorite part of the episode is the next day, during a student council meeting. A new, perfect box of chalk is placed in front of Machi, and you can see in her eyes that the perfection is about to make her snap. Yuki, knowing this, calmly reaches over and breaks a piece of chalk, ruining the “perfection” of it. It’s very sweet of him and a very cute moment for both.

Then we cut to Tohru handing Kyo a flower, which is whiplash to the previous episode I’m glad we got.

The next sequence was a bit confusing at first, as I thought we’d sort of covered this already in season one, but we get to see Motoko. She’s called Yuki out in order to tell him that he made her high school days happier, and that she truly loved him. Motoko also hopes that Yuki himself will find happiness, which I think is a nod at her recognizing Tohru’s influence on him. It’s kind of cute, because even Yuki seems to appreciate her words, and we get to cut to a nice graduation song that actually kind of made me cry.

Motoko is still in a classroom when someone finds her. It’s Nao, and it appears that she was the girl he was in love with, which I LOVE. I HOPE HE OR SHE OR THEY ARE HAPPY TOGETHER OR EVEN APART, JUST THAT HE EVENTUALLY GOT TO TELL HER OR SOMETHING AND AHHHHHH. He tells her that goodbye is not the end, and it always leads to “nice to meet you,” which is sweet for both of them, considering her graduation and his being left behind.

Then we get to meet Hiro’s baby sister, Hinata, a true cutie pie. I think I cried here, too, for different reasons.

Finally, we see Kagura having picked up Rin’s diploma (YAY SHE GRADUATED YAYYYY), and wondering where she is despite her mother’s warnings not to investigate. Hatori and Shigure are a bit suspicious, too, and we see Akito with a pair of scissors.... OwO

[I know what happened and I hate it.]

I’m glad I could finally do these, it’s been a couple of weeks of hell, to be honest. Hopefully, Fruits Basket will be back at it again and I’ll have something more to wax poetic about, haha. Thanks for reading!

[slovenskojane]

Anime doesn't equal Japanese culture

I think we've heard this statement a lot. I mean, anime is just fiction and so it's free to mend reality to fit the story it's trying to tell. And some anime fans would be surprised to know that real Japanese people can act a lot differently than anime characters.

But...

... at least personally, I think this statement simply isn't true in some cases. Anime is indeed able to teach us something about the Japanese culture.

We have these:

Chihayafuru

Chihayafuru introduced me to the world of Karuta, a traditional Japanese card game, which is something I didn't even know existed. The anime (and manga) is featuring real shrines and places in order to make it feel as real as possible. It even made me watch a real queen match on YouTube because I fell in love with it. And not only that - it boosted the profile of competitive karuta in Japan and overseas.

Truly a masterful representation of Japanese culture.

Kono Oto Tomare!

This anime introduced me to koto - a traditional Japanese string instrument, which is something I, again, didn't even know existed, making me and millions of other fans watch real koto performances. And if it wasn't for this anime I'd completely missed it. Now, I can't stop listening to it. Goddammit, anime!

Tsurune

Putting KyoAni drama of just-friendship between cute anime boys aside, Tsurune introduced me to Kyudo - Japanese archery. Now, I'm not stupid and I knew what archery was before but I certainly didn't know that Japan developed its own traditions around a simple bow and arrow. And it certainly was fascinating seeing how competitions work and what goes into it and I'm thankful for that.

Barakamon

Barakamon isn't even trying to introduce you to the world of Japanese calligraphy. The story focuses heavily on character development and not on the traditional art itself but seeing the main character desperately trying to find his own style or teaching children how to write beautifully in order to win a school competition still managed to leave an impact on me and taught me something new about the Japanese culture.

And there are many more

Noragami, Kamisama Hajimemashita and Natsume Yuujinchou introduced me to the world of Youkai, Ayakashi and Japanese gods and while I know that the authors made their stories unique and they aren't 100% accurate to the real legends, they still count.

Kimi no Na wa shows a traditional shrine dance during which maidens make Kuchikamisake. Not to mention the hundreds of other anime which show a simple visit to a shrine like Hyouka.

Shougi - a Japanese strategic game similar to our chess is featured in a lot of anime - the most popular being Naruto.

And don't even make me talk about the food.

What I'm trying to say is...

...anime did introduce us to Japanese culture and while it isn't the best representation there is, we shouldn't take away the credit it deserves and appreciate it.

[arcanescholar]

Hard to Find the Right Words Ch. 2

Omori Post True Good Ending Spoilers. Chapter 1 here

Sometimes you just need to vibe with your friend(?)

The sun hung high and beat down with its telltale brutal heat with not a cloud in the sky to block its fury. Summer was starting to reach its full swing and god damn it she did not wanna put up with the judgy sky orb’s bullshit today. Ugh, riding out to the hospital on her bike at night trying to follow the ambulance’s route was a pain in the ass already that left her legs feeling way too damn sore, and piling on with this was just over kill damn it.

… Huh. Shit, that’s probably why her knees gave out back in Basil’s hospital room. Come to think of it, damn, she should’ve snagged some bandages while she was there, they were all in Sunny’s pocket-

She screeches to a halt, barely stopping herself from running smack into some younger elementary school kids that take one look at her haggard, emotionally exhausted expression and…

Scream.

Then run away, tripping over themselves because the scary nail-bat lady was here to eat their faces.

…

After a bit of fumbling, she yanks her phone out of her pocket and turns the busted front facing camera on to take a better look at her face…

She slept on a visitor’s couch last night, hadn’t had breakfast, just went through one of the most emotionally harrowing nights of her life, then one of the most emotionally harrowing mornings, and now just did what felt like a half and hour of hard pedaling to make it to her planned meet up with Kim cause her sense of time estimation fucking sucks.

“… I look terrible, ugh.”

First thing she’s gonna do, she thinks, is dunk her sore legs in a lake once she gets to the park, but before that, she takes off her jacket, tying the sleeves tight around her waist, leaving her in her favorite crop top to vent some heat off before getting back to pedaling.

The rest of the ride is a bit easier thankfully, a familiar coast through familiar streets and under familiar trees with familiar shade. She passes by the curb that the group first comforted her on along the way, past where she had her picture taken in her favorite coat and decided that she wanted to dye her hair pink one day, past where Kim first snagged her by the hand and dragged her along to meet the Hooligans-

Haahhh…

She coasts down a small hill, letting the bike carry her where it pleases for a bit, hair billowing behind her, standing up a bit on its aged frame and just letting the moment wash over her. She wishes she didn’t leave her headphones at home, this was a pretty perfect moment to just play something dramatic y’know?

But, the ride eventually comes to a stop, as she arrives at the park. The kids were already playing out in force, and that nice garbage collector lady was set up with her stand like always, but Aubrey didn’t have time to snag much extra cash, she was already late for meeting up with Kim by like ten minutes-

“Aubreeeeeey!”

Speak of the devil

“Hah… Hah… Hah…!”

Kim struggles over on her bike, panting for breath-

“Hey.”

“Sorry…! Mikhael- uh, the MAVERICK got in trouble with some girls he was supposed to pay cause he forgot he left his wallet at home so I had to bike back and forth to snag it for him, or else he would’ve followed me here whining the whole time! I’m not too late am I?”

“Nah, I just showed up too.”

“So, uh…! What did you wanna do?”

“…”

Aubrey turns without a word, stepping off of her bike and walking to the back of the park, shuffling her way across the verdant, well kept grass.

Come to think of it, there was way less trash around than before, and with how much she saw Sunny running around town…

Jeez, did he really pick up most of this with Kel? Damn pair of goody two shoes-

Is what she almost thinks, but, after the past few days, it’s kind of hard for her to really make fun of them for it. It’s honestly kind of impressive.

She remembers how many flowers were set up in Sunny’s hospital room in that moment while they waited for him to wake up… How many well wishes and thank you notes sprawled across the tables and some even on the floor itself because of how much space was taken up. For a boy that hadn’t shown his face in maybe four years, that looked like he hadn’t had a decent meal in just about as long, that seemed more like a mystery than an actual person, he really…

…

Was it really good? Was it something he did out of kindness? Was it one last hurrah to try to apologize for what he did to Mari? Aubrey can’t wrap her head around his headspace, and that thought is enough to make her punch her hand against a tree with enough force to shake its leaves… That or the breeze was really well timed-

“Aubreeeey…! I can’t help out if you don’t even talk to me y’know!”

Kim grumbles as she manages to catch up, walking alongside her best friend with the canopy of trees overhead shading them from the sunlight.

As Aubrey turns her head, she takes a moment to stare at her friend, watching the way the sunlight dances across her skin as it peeks out from the trees to light her up the way her smile lit up Aubrey’s worst days.

Kim’s expression was that perfect mix of annoyed and genuinely worried, the kind that makes you feel bad for bringing up a problem in the first place but yanks all your guts out onto the floor to get it settled already, her eyes resolute and determined to get to the bottom of what was happening. Was this her way of apologizing for leaving her behind with Sunny, Kel, and Basil at the lake…?

“… Hhhffffhhhit’sallfuckedup.” Aubrey finally groans, stepping forward into the hidden spot behind the park, the lake’s water glistening in the sunlight, the old statue’s flowers swaying in the breeze, and the same abandoned picnic basket and blanket. Someone really needs to clean that up damn it, but, the blanket makes for a nice place to sit kinda.

She dumps her bike off to the side with more force than she means to, Kim following suit. The pair share a quick look and a nod of understanding before popping off their shoes, their socks, rolling up pants legs in Kim’s case.

They walk together and sit by the edge of the lake, leaving the stuff they took off to the side, dumped carelessly in the grass, dunking their legs into the cool water with a harmonized sigh of relief, a mirrored gesture of leaning back to rest their palms against the grass before flopping onto their backs in near perfect sync, and finally taking in a deep breath to just bring themselves back into the moment.

Without a word, Kim pulls out her phone and a pair of headphones, offering one up to Aubrey that she takes with no hesitation, stuffing it into her ear and staring up at the clouds as music plays loud enough to hear but quiet enough to just let them… Vibe, is the word they’d both use for it.

For a few minutes they lay there, sharing a song, a mellow guitar and the tapping of a drumstick against a closed hi-hat washing over them.

The beach might be out of their reach right now, but sound waves’ll make a good substitute.

Kurayami de yorisou hibi

“… Sunny lost his eye.”

“Holy shit…”

Bokura ni wa beddo mo nai

“Dunno if Basil’s woken up yet either, but… Sunny told us, a little bit about what happened when Mari died.”

“…”

Nai kedo…

“… Sorry I’ve been so cagey and quiet and stuff lately.” She murmurs, rolling over onto her side to look at Kim more properly, her friend rolling over too, her glasses getting shoved slightly till she just takes them off and sets them off to the side.

“I dunno what’s goin’ on but it seems like it’s really heavy… After what went on with your mom and dad though? Feels like you can tell me… well… Just about anything right? After you shut us out and I had to call those three over to your place I started really worrying you were gonna dip back into a screwed up place again.”

“… Gonna be honest… I almost was.”

Kimi waaaa, ima tashika niii-

“But?”

“… But, I managed to realize some important stuff, I think. About… About Mari. About Sunny, Kel, Hero, you, all of our friends.”

Soba de…!

“… I missed them so much it hurt. I missed everything so much that it ached.”

Hohoemu

“And, when I couldn’t do anything about that ache, I turned that anger out on nearly everything around me. If it weren’t for you and the other Hooligans I think I would’ve turned out even worse…”

“Aubrey…”

Sawarasetari shinai

Kurutta koi to

Sashichigaete mo ii nda

Zenbu uketomeru

“… Sunny pushed Mari down the stairs of their home in the middle of a huge argument between them after he broke his violin.” She murmurs, tears starting to trickle down her face, cresting over the bridge of her nose and spilling onto the grass and dirt.

“Holy shit-“

“But… I… No matter what I do I just can’t think to be mad at him anymore.”

Beautiful morning with you

Itsuka, utaitai na

Beautiful morning with you

Kimi to hikari abite

“After I pushed Basil into a lake… Kicked off this whole mess of yesterday and today, I guess it made me realize how precious stuff is.”

“How do you mean?”

“That like… If Basil died right there… And Sunny with him? If he and Sunny drowned in the lake, even if I somehow ‘got away with it’, I’d… I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself.”

“…”

“When it happened I was so freaked out I couldn’t even move, let alone try to rescue him. My head twisted to all sorts of places, like, what should I do to get away if they both die. About how I’d have to run away from town, dye my hair a different color, get as far as I can and never look back.”

Sabishisa wa teguchi wo kae

“That’s… heavy.” Kim murmurs, finding it hard to bring herself to say anything else, but…

Maybe, in a moment like this, there’s nothing she could say. Nothing she could do, except be here in this moment to be someone Aubrey could talk to, reaching out in a moment of vulnerable affection to squeeze her close, one hand resting at the small of her back, and the other pressing against the back of her head, running her fingers through the girl’s hair…

Nando demo ai ni kuru

“So, I guess I get it now. Why he hid away in his home for so many years. Why he took so long to tell us until it exploded like that. Why they did something so… dumbfuck stupid like trying to make it look like Mari killed herself… I get it cause, I think I would’ve done the same thing if we weren’t lucky and had Hero there to save them both, and hating Sunny over it would make me a hypocrite.”

“And we both know how much you hate those…”

Kuru kedo

Futari ikudo to naku

“… I’m gonna try to be better than I was a few days ago. Better than I was a few years ago. Maybe this is just me trying to make excuses and wriggle my way out of the dumb stuff I’ve done but, I want to be there for them the way you were there for me. The way you and the others were, when I had nowhere else to go, so… Thanks Kim.”

“Heh… S’ what I’m here for Aubrey.”

Koko de unadzuite

The pair hold up their hands, and bump their fists in time with the song’s beat picking up, and just in time for-

“AH! There they are! Hahahaha, of course THE MAVERICK would know the right way-”

“Hey sis! Jeez, where were you two, we were wondering what happened!”

“Yeah! Did that smelly Kel and weird Mystery Boy with the knife do something to you after all?! I’ll give ‘em a dropkick that’ll send ‘em flying!”

“… sorry, t-that we weren’t there when… things went really bad…”

Furimuitari sinai

Sodatta ai ni!

Kizusuitatte ii nda

Mou

Modoranai

The Hooligans damn near bum rush the pair, dog piling on them both with muffled shouts in faux-protest as the group becomes a tangled mess of limbs, laughs, and little room for escape.

Beautiful morning with you!

Itsuka! Wakaritai na!

Beautiful morning with you

Bokura umarete kita koto!

“Hey, hey, Charlene brought some egg sandwiches from home that her mom made-” Angel grins at the top of the pile, resting on his side and supporting his head with his hand.

“M-mh… Um… I… had a feeling you missed breakfast again, so, I got worried… I was gonna bring them to the hospital but… when I called to ask where you were they said you were gone…” Charlene explains with her usual quiet voice, this time tinged with affection and worry as she… stands off to the side, feeling a bit too self conscious to dog pile but still holding both Kim and Aubrey’s hands.

“Yeah… After what happened with Basil by the lake and the stuff that went down at his place with him and the other guy, and that day you weren’t answering your door, all of us sorta got together and talked a bit…” Vance continued, directly hugging the pair of girls with a big, doofy grin.

“And of course, I, in my infinite wisdom as The Maverick made the wonderful declaration that we reaffirm our bond as the glorious, Hellacious Hooligans of Faraway Town! Our bonds of brother and sisterhood won’t be shaken like that again, this, I promise! What do you think ladies? Falling for me yet?~”

“shpk lke thhgh hhhhghnn nhhh whhll kll yu-”

“Hmmm? Say that again Aubrey?”

Vance shuffles off just enough to let the girls breathe again, the pair simultaneously sucking in a breath before shouting at the same time with big grins on their faces.

“”Speak like that again and we’ll kill ya!””

In the tackle-hugging dog pile rush, Kim’s headphones got unplugged, and the play button on the song got butt-pressed while it was auto based, but as the Maverick lets loose a yelp and topples off of the pile with only Charlene to catch him, with a laugh from the rest of the group, the rest of the song they were listening to finally gets to finish.

Promises like these might not always stand the test of time, Aubrey knew that for a fact. They can wither and fail and break and shatter in your hands faster than she can blink, but now…?

Beautiful morning with you

Itsuka, utaitai na

Beautiful morning with you

Kimi to hikari abite

Beautiful morning with you!

Isumo, kanjitai na!

Beautiful morning with you!!!

Kimi to, deaeta koto!

Now she kinda understands why Kel was so damn determined.

Even if it doesn’t last forever, even if it doesn’t work out, moments like this are worth fighting for.

She just wishes, in some part of her chest, that it hadn’t taken her so long to realize…

… … …

The hours pass, the sun raises as high as it can be before finally beginning its descent. The rest of Aubrey’s morning and afternoon was spent talking with her friends, practicing her bat swing on any random tree branches they could snap off and throw. Turns out Angel was nice enough to snag her bat for her on the way over too, and Bun-Bun…

Well, Charlene barely fit through the ladder hatch, but, Bun-Bun had a nice, temporary home at her place while Aubrey had to manage everything that happened last night and couldn’t go home to check on her and play with her. It’s a good thing she’s so gentle.

Against her better instincts, she uses her phone’s crappy, busted-ass camera to snag a picture here and there as they spend the day.

Angel and THE MAVERICK practicing dumb poses at each other, Charlene crouching nearby some flowers to see whether or not she wanted to pick them or leave them be to grow on their own, Vance and Kim getting into thumb wrestling matches to figure out how they’d split the last of their candy haul…

They were messy, unprofessional, usually badly focused, and the camera’s issues made it difficult as shit to call them anything close to “good”, but, they were hers…

And as the sun dredged low, and as the group had to split up to go back to their parents’ places for dinner time, that was good enough.

Kim and Aubrey are the last pair left alone once everything is said and done for the day, standing next to their respective rides as the distant laughs, jokes, and banter of the rest of the group echo out into the distance.

“… Hey Kim? ‘Fore I go… I just…”

“Yeah, Aubrey?”

“… Thanks. For spending time with me today. For the music and stuff too.”

“I had a feeling you forgot your headphones with everything that happened. Glad I turned out to be right!~”

“… Yeah…”

“Hey, one last thing before we split off for the day!”

“Huh- Eh?!”

With barely any time to react, Kim sweeps an arm around Aubrey, squeezing he close and tight while lifting her own phone up into the air, the relatively undamaged thing snapping a picture of Kim sticking her tongue out and Aubrey’s shocked, red faced blush at being hugged outta nowhere like that before Kim gives the barely taller girl a big squeezing hug, stuffing her phone into her pocket and damn near lifting Aubrey off the ground.

“Picture for picture, send me some of the stuff you tried to sneak pictures of!~ And... I’m not gonna make the same mistake of leavin’ you to deal with all that alone again, okay? I’m still not good at this kinda nerdy touchy feely feelings stuff, but…”

She pulls away, pushing up her glasses with one hand and scratching the back of her head with the other in an attempt to hide her blush at trying to throw up this kind of bravado outta nowhere-

“Th… The candy doesn’t taste right, if you’re not happy, or something!”

“… Kim that might be the cheesiest shit you’ve ever said in your life..”

“Hey-”

“But… Thank you. I think… I’ll be fine, just for now. If anything else comes up, I’ll tell you, okay? Right now, I gotta meet up with Kel and follow up with him on what we’re supposed to do next.”

“Best of luck with your mission, comrade.”

The pair smack their hands together for a firm high five before going their separate ways.

For now…

She had some god damn pizza to get, and a guy too lovably foolish to give up on people to share it with.

[kigozula]

Kim Possible: Fandom Challenge

1. Favorite Character: Kimberly Ann Possible. She is always my favorite character. Everything on her. Kim is an amazing idea.

2. Most Relatable Character: Ronald Stoppable. I always felt close to Ron in case of character traits. His humor and him being different always got my interest and I feel like that as well.

3. Most Underrated Character: I´m not sure, but I’d say Wade?? I mean, he is the organizer and plans everything. Without him there wouldn’t be that many missions, I guess. I also like him as a character. An amazing idea. 

4. Most Overrated Character: Boah… I have no idea to be honest. Is there even an overrated character? No, I don’t think so. They´re all wonderful!!

5. Least Favorite Character: I like everything and everyone in Kim Possible. If I had to list some, I never liked Camil Lion. But is she even relevant? I know it know: *Ron's mom.

In my teenage years I disliked Yori because I was jealous. Ron belongs to Kim. =´)

6. Favorite Canon Pairing: Kim & Ron of course.

7. Favorite Non-Canon Pairing: Mmmhh. I really don´t know. I never shipped anyone as I ship out two heroes in this show. So, to answer this: None. I don´t have any non-canon Pairings I really ship.  

8. Least Favorite Pairing: Canon Pairing?? None.

9. Favorite Part/Moment: SO MANY!! Dimension Twist was always so fun to watch. Its been years since I last watched this episode since we don’t have DVD´s… -_- This barely answerable. There are tons of good moments. Motor Ed has fun moments too.

10. Least Favorite Part/Moment: Bonnie kissing Ron. Don´t even need to think twice. A very shameful happening for this amazing show.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: I think we should appreciate Dr. Ann Possible – Kimi’s Mom. She is such an amazing person and mother. And a very elegant woman. Honestly, the whole Possible Family is so nice. 

The Villains. Yepp, definetely. All Villains are perfect. They all have their Stories and different character traits, it´s incredible!! And it gets better when all of them work together or gather in one place =DD. KP is the best show with the best Characters and Villains. I can´t even choose my favorite Villain. I think I go for the main one´s: Drakken and Shego. They are special indeed.  

Señor Senior Junior describes a part of my soul in my teenage years.=DD His dreams that never came true. I like him a lot too.

Motor Ed, oh man. This guy is another incredible idea. The whole episode is super fun with him. I really think he should have taken part in more epsiodes.

*edited