#but also. there are some clips in this vid where the VA is playing a more optimistic / innocent sounding character

[cynicallyscorned]

made a video reference the other day for his voice claim. this is what cynic sounds like!

don't rb / art cred.

[justmaiidraws]

What’s kind of scary is that in the Donnie clip and the short vid of the behind the VA’s- is that the people are asking Donnie for a selfie and I see some background characters recording him- even though Donnie’s running for his life and all- from the robot

It’s like- The people in New York don’t see the brothers as LITERAL kids- but as like idols or celebrities- you already see the mob in the FIRST ever teaser— they’re kind of not acknowledging that part-

Also the part in the promo clip where rod said "the orange one is my favorite." I know it’s probably played for a joke- or he didn’t know his name- but STILL!

It kind makes me think that- are the mutants actually accepted by society? To the humans really see them as well- people?

Or just- people that saved New York for them, and only accepted to walk around in public

Kind of more de-humanizing them than ever-

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Doria was introducing Kim & Kris to others as her dear close friends by u/AM_Rike

Doria was introducing Kim & Kris to others as her dear close friends Read/Watch this video with a bucket nearby. The massively plastic surgeried up lawyer, Gina Zapanta, who was a sponsor of this gala & who invited Doria, also invited a middling level influencer buddy from Louisiana, Jenn Palpallatoc to this fundraising event. Jenn gives a lengthy and excessively gushing account of the invitation, the gala and the weekend, noting the party was held at Henry Winkler’s house, and it was Doria who introduced Jenn to Doria’s dear, close friends Kris and Kim, which was Jenn’s dream come true. That is how Jenn says Doria was introducing them. The evening later included some Harkle favorites of hanging at the Beverly Hills Hotel/Polo Club and going to In-N-Out (where they‘ve memorized Harry’s animal-style order since he eats there so frequently). It’s excessive fan-girling, but it’s note-worthy that KJ & KK are allowing Doria to play gatekeeper to them and are fine with her introducing them as her dear close friends. For those who haven’t read Bower’s book, Doria spent much of her adult life sitting on her stoop in a house coat (pajamas) smoking weed (which was illegal) all day long. She is Hot Pocket trash along levels you can’t imagine unless you grew up in a trailer park. Doria being a gatekeeper for Ricky & Julien at Sunnyvale seems infinitely more believable. And yet, this happened, according to the fawning Jenn. Maybe Meghan really is spending her days filming competitions with the Kardashian girls to see whose va-jay-jay smells the best, since that is the quality entertainment level we are talking about here. If the proper UK authorities don’t strip the titles after hearing about this, they deserve to have this kind of Kardashian trash mongering grafted into their royal lineage. Does MI-6 even exist? *** Update: when I tried to paste the link to this video, which I literally just watched right before drafting this post, it is now gone. That means Jenn took it down. It seemed innocuous enough as it was Jenn putting on her makeup while recounting her dreamy LA weekend trip. The video was longish and had cutaways to both still photos and video clips along with captions, so Jenn put some time and effort into this project. She also gushed about Bezos & Lauren Sanchez and explained how Fonzy’s daughter had cofounded this charity and how she missed Gina’s birthday the week before, blah, blah, so it was newsy. But she spent most of the time on how Meghan Markle’s lovely, down to earth mom Doria introduced her to her idols so she could get her pics with them. I have to wonder if it was Meg’s people who asked Jenn to remove the video? And if so, why? It’s removed from her main IG page and the IG video page. Did anyone else watch this before it vanished? Any thoughts on why this was made to disappear? It was pretty long and detailed for an IG vid. Here’s some of Jenn’s pics from the night: https://ift.tt/ogJtjzT Gina Z likes to do her vids while doing skin care as well. How could any professional take this woman seriously as a lawyer? https://ift.tt/3trW0L2 post link: https://ift.tt/UFnjkrS author: AM_Rike submitted: August 29, 2023 at 05:08AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

[vy-tachibana]

Ensemble Stars! Episode 1 Reaction

So with the recent Enstars!! english release a couple weeks ago, there are a lot of us new enstarries entering the fandom. Most of which have either a)never watched the anime/have very little background knowledge of the lore from the first game (!) or b)didn’t even know that the game (!!) is basically the sequel of the anime and first wave of the game(!) in terms of timeline and main characters and all that. From what I understand, the original Enstars! was a gacha card and otome (not really a dating sim though) game only and then it was relaunched as Enstars!! and added a rhythm portion to the game. The gacha/otome portion of the game is known as Enstars!!Basic while the rhythm game portion is known as Enstars!!Music. Also, the first wave of the franchise has a spinoff called Ensemble Girls (which also underwent a ! termination and rerelease/brand to !!) At least this is from what I know so far, correct me if I’m wrong or missing anything.

(P.S. It also has several musical theater stage plays that focus on the different groups. The only reason I know this is because Yoshihiko Aramaki (actor) plays Ritsu. Also, I’m pretty sure Kitamura Ryou (Arashi’s VA) also plays the onstage version of Arashi as well, but I haven’t watched any clips yet so not 100% sure of this fact. There are also mangas and novels but this is all wayy too much for a new fan, complete overload. So we’re focusing on the anime and other connected lore.)

I’m including myself in the new category since I barely know any lore besides what’s been covered in the main story in the game and anything I do know is what I absorbed via osmosis posts made by mutuals or vids that I happened to come across over the past couple years. Surprisingly I never watched the anime (even though I tend to watch a lot of music/idol or sports genre titles) and well, since I’m playing the game, I decided to brush up on some of that missing lore knowledge by sitting down and watching. And I figured it would be fun to make a made - in - real - time reaction post, especially for other people that don’t have time (or accounts, vpns, virus protection, etc.) to watch the anime.

Note: I can’t guarantee I’ll include all the details since this is literally just me reacting and some things other people find important, I won’t. Also, take some of my comments with a grain of salt since it’s personal opinion and not everyone would share it. This also isn’t like a serious analysis or anything, probably more on the memey side since I’m making this for fun.

With that said, let’s start:

wait is that Sakamoto Maaya’s voice in the intro???

hold up pause gotta check this

yepp Sakamoto Maaya voices Anzu, wow I love this already

Anzu is basically the heroine of the anime/the otome game default protagonist/produce/player stand-in (like Yuu in Twst, Komori Yui in Dialovers, Haruka Nanami in Utapri). She’s not faceless though and I think she had some lore to her. Her younger stepbrother is the protagonist of Ensemble Girls (aka player stand-in)

She used to be part of Kimisaki academy (setting for Ensemble Girls) before transferring to Yumenosaki academy (setting for Ensemble stars). Her brother did the opposite (Y -> K) so they did like a switcheroo.

Damn Anzu is literally so pretty

Cue cliche idol character introduction where protag runs into them practicing/performing/sing and you get that 🌟💥💫🪄💖✨

so i guess that Trickstar is gonna be the main protagonist group since the general rule of thumb is whoever the otome protag runs into either first or last will be the main character/true end route (Anzu is a TrickstarP confirmed?)

Subaru falling on top of Hokuto and basically pinning him to the floor while he argues and sits up just a bit so they’re basically nose to nose. This is why people ship you too. There is no heterosexual explanation for how casual this interaction was

Also, sorry but any time I hear Kakihara Tetsuya’s voice (Subaru’s VA) in any anime, all I can picture is Natsu from Fairy Tail since that was one of the anime I watched religiously as a kid

Subaru is literally the person that can talk in emojis irl which freaks everyone out

Hokuto’s voice sounds very familiar but idk off the top of my head who the VA is

wait is that Makki’s VA from yowapeda voicing Makoto??? cuz if so, wow. Makki AND Jinpachi (voiced by Kakihara Tetsuya) in the same group. Goals.

bro Kaji Yuuki voicing Mao. Trickstar is literally just full main protag energy from voice alone

why was their “Welcome to the academy” extra af. there was no need for the several spins towards Anzu plus all the 🌟💥💫🪄💖✨. this isn’t a ballet. these losers literally did a whole mini choreo (you can’t tell me this wasn’t somehow planned, that was wayy too in sync) and posed at the end. god i love them

Stars Ensemble is the opening is such a banger. I love that song. Literally kept redoing it in game until i got S+ on easy and normal

insert cliche reasoning for a reverse harem situation (she’s the only student in the production course so she doesn’t have her own classroom yet meaning that she’ll be joining the idol class and Yumesaki’s idols are all guys cuz if you want to be a girl idol youd be goin to Kimisaki)

so is Subaru’s gimmick that he gives everyone a two syllable nickname?

okay so Yumesaki isn’t actually an all boys school but the focus is on training male idols. that means their might be some girls doing normal courses that are hidden throughout the school like mythical creatures. 

Hokuto is the stereotypical ikemen class pres

Sagami is a teacher and he’s giving me Rintarou from Steins gate and Aizawa from BNHA vibes. especially with his messy hair, lab coat, loose fitting capri pants, and walking around in house slippers. also the scruff

why do they keep saying “transfer student” when she actually has a given name in the anime

Subaru can be bought with just a ten yen coin. loves money and shiny things

Hokuto running gags of giving konpeito candy and talking about his grandma

Literally how is Kiryu such a messy eater? gross. he’s moving down my ranking list of most to least fave characters just cuz of that. can’t stand messy eaters for the sake of a gag

Subaru literally is shameless about asking (begging) for money and Hokuto says he’s an idiot

Makoto is apparently one of those students who have already debuted as an idol but isn’t really working right now. apparently he’s got ✨trauma✨from this. is this the Izumi situation I keep hearing about???

“this school was created for idols, by idols” (a government for the people, by the people jkjk)

Oop drefes time. side note, Tetora as the MC is literally so cute. I love him, that is my son right there. you go bby

Tetora wants to be the manliest man of all time! said without toxic masculinity. so far. maybe. i could just be biased

okay so the school has random pop up event called Dream Idol Festival where idols (in training or already debuted) compete against eachother. I’m guessing this comes from the gacha card battling (!!Basic). It’s graded like normal school tests.

ranked from B1 to SS (B1, A1, S1, S2, SS) the higher your rank, the more privileges you get.

i’m sorry but who invented the names of the ranks? its kinda dumb. and like why are there literally three tiers with S in them????

Plot time: B1 shows are more true to the ideal of DreFes where people are free and doing what they like and just giving a good show/entertainment like entertainers should. Something happened (blatant foreshadowing lol) and any battles happening rank A1 and above are apparently more controlled/strict? To be disclosed.

I thought these battles were music related but I guess not. Oogami (the man, the myth, the furry who i think is being voiced by Ono Yuuki. at least it sounds like his voice) was introduced and started singing. so not that strange. but then Kiryu showed up and it turns out to be a physical fight to determine who is the strongest in the school. Kiryu is the reigning champion in Ryuu-Ou-Sen, aka is the strongest in the school.

Tetora is in the Karate Club who’s captain is Kiryu

i thought they meant the competition for “strongest” was metaphorical??? or powerful voices/songs??? isn’t this taking the free part a little bit too far???? i didn’t think they meant the literal physical strength. wow. caught me off guard.

move aside music genre, this is a fighting anime now

also, what is this FLCL? Oogami is blocking Kiryu’s kicks with his guitar (why is Kiryu not throwing any punches? not switching up your moves is literally beginner’s mistake of martial arts). that poor electric guitar. it looked expensive. this is making me cringe as much as seeing rock bands/singers smash guitars on stage. please. what did the instruments do to deserve this #stopinstrumentabuse

Kiryu just straight up launched Oogami off the stage with a single kick. He recovered with a 10/10 back flip and stuck the landing! (Bakuten is calling fo recruits) however, his landing pad was the unfortunate bystander, Anzu. and that’s a KO. down for the count on her part. my man Oogami is not the least bit sorry for knocking the poor girl out.

i bet anzu’s first day review is now a 0/10 would not do again

also Oogami is a cheater. he already got knocked off the stage but because he landed on his convenient cushion aka Anzu “it’s not the ground i touched so i’m not out” bitch, this ain’t the floor is lava. this is basically a martials arts match. if you’re out of the ring, you lose. stop cheating you cheater.

i’m gonna have to make a separate list of crimes committed by the Enstars cast, aren’t I?

glad the audience/crowd has the right reaction to the shameless lone wolf wannabe. boo!!

Dramatic Hokuto line “Don’t be a fool Ookami! Remember what’s important. Who our real enemy is.” And then dramatic gasp of realization by Oogami

oh now there’s students coming from nowhere that are acting like the military with how they are posing. so are these guys the disciplinary committee or the student council? it’s always one of these two that act like a military dictatorship

And the winner is the Student Council! how much money you wanna bet these guys are the main antagonists?

damn can Tori have any more of an obvious villain dialogue? calling everyone pigs. doing the old mental mind games. i bet he wants to watch the world burn. (also Murase Ayumu’s voice)

Wow Keito is the token megane club vice prez. if you don’t have one, you aren’t a true host club, i mean student council.

the students really said Scatter! The cops are here!

huh...oppressed musician/entertainment plot. akb0048 is this you? except with no like mechas and people dying and guns (there are swords though)

this specific drefes is called Ryuu-Ou-Sen btw and is apparently a karate club tradition to host but the student council did not give permission for it to be held for whatever reason.

Okay Keito’s a Zhongli kinnie confirmed. “I will have order” headass. at least he’s not doing any favoritism. even his groupmate is getting punished for breaking the rules. mans has no mercy and does not take prisoners.

also Eichi is not at school right now for whatever reason. Eichi is the stuco president

Trickstar again being the most Extra with a capital E. running away while carrying KOed Anzu on a stretcher that I have no clue where they got that from

Mao is apparently part of the stuco too but isn’t really enforcing the rules. or maybe he’s playing favorites. idk. but anyone he helped sneak them out so they didn’t get in trouble for seeing an illegal drefes.

Subaru may be an idiot, but he’s my idiot. Literally why is he so cute. would not be able to handle him in real life tho. too extroverted and too much energy. but as a character? i would wholeheartedly adopt him too. he is now also my son.

is Sagami-sensei a nurse? a teacher? both? is the only adult in this school or something? because one adult responsible for like what? 36+ kids does not sound very responsible

so if i didn’t already make a note. Anzu transferred into the Production department course but is the only student because it’s on a trial run right now

nvm about an earlier point. Sagami-sensei just said she’ll be the only girl academy student right now. so i guess even the normal course doesn’t have any girls.

this anime would not pass the bechdel test (get on Utapri’s level enstar. where’s my supportive girl best friend character. or maybe even a rival producer character. wait no. that would actually be kinda interesting. plus the first episode of enstars is trying to speedrun through a bunch of different tropes and genres anyway. give me a female rival producer that produces exclusively for Fine or something. but like maybe she can be deuteragonist. wants to see change viva la revolution. and is willing to also support anzu and work together with her. give me supportive femal rivals friendship)

Sagami-sensei basically said the academy has become stale because they focus too much on upholding traditions/rules. cliche line of “the MC of the reverse harem may (actually will be but gotta stay non-meta) be just what we need to break out of this funk/darkness/etc.” the chosen one, the destined one, jkjk

possible throw away character analysis/foreshadow line where Hokuto tends to take a lot of the group’s responsibility/won’t ask for help

and here’s another trope: character saying actual important stuff/revealing something to another character except that character is unconscious. hokuto is telling anzu he lied about how the academy is the great school that is to train boys into idols and support idols. it’s basically those that that stay at the top, remain at the top, and those at the bottom are outcasted. 

wow a school with a ranking system where those at the bottom have a very difficult time moving up the ranks and those at the top basically run the school/oppress everyone below them. where have I heard this before? (Baka to test, Classroom of the elite, Assassination Classroom, Gakuen Alice, Kakegurui, etc.)

also the ending scene of the rest of Trickstar coming in and and just staring at Anzu while she’s still not awake while Hokuto is talking. boys, that’s kinda really creepy. please cease and desist immediately.

like imagine being anzu and just waking up and hearing someone talking to you in exposition paragraph font. you roll over in your bed and the first thing you see are four high school pretty boys just staring down on you with serious looks on their faces. i would cry in both introvert and social anxiety. also would be very weirded out.

but anyways. hokuto also does the stereotypical “reverse harem MC you are what we need to start off this revolution. the first fired shot of this war.”

List of Perceived Crimes

Akehoshi Subaru shamelessly asking someone he just met for money like a roach

Kiryu Kuro being a messy eater (missed his mouth completely) and walking around with food all over his mouth

Everyone that was involved with the drefes breaking school rules and hosting an illegal fighting contest on school grounds (i’m pretty sure you could use loopholes though like just don’t call it a drefes because then you won’t need permission or just host it off school grounds. then again you need the drefes to be able to rank up so...)

Oogami Koga knocking someone out and having no remorse

Oogami Koga being a blatant cheater

Himemiya Tori calling people cattle and basically his entire dialogue this episode just being plain mean

Isara Mao showing favoritism/bending rules

Trickstar just being plain out creepy there at the end

Total Crime Count: 8

Final Thoughts

You know when something is so bad, it’s good? Yeah, that’s Enstars in a nutshell. Some things are just batshit insane. Especially with what I heard happens later on. But also, it’s a fun time as long as you don’t take anything seriously. At the very least, it’s entertaining. This episode hit the school life, music, idol, fighting, drama, reverse harem genres and a whole bunch of tropes that I am way too lazy to name. Also as much as I would like to say the oppression by the student council and giving out punishments for the drefes in the episode is a crime, if it was technically against school rules then I don’t think I can put it there. Rules are rules babe, sorry. (Definetely a crime in my heart though. I would like to see a good fighting sequence thanks. Also you made my son, Tetora upset. Not cool man, not cool.) I’m still not over how pretty Anzu is by the way.

Also for clarification, Enstars! follows the journey of Trickstar as the main protagonists with an emphasis on the school idol training plot while Enstars!! (Aka the game we’re all playing now) follows the journey of Alkaloid with the idol revamp and actually working in entertainment in ES square plot. Hence, !! Is the sequel of !