#but saying that makes me feel like those creepy weeb anime boys who try to explain perving on a child by saying she's technically 200

[newobsessioneveryweek]

A little redraw for @apollosgiftofprophecy she's been deprived for too long

🫴🏻✨

Here's the Original

Which do you prefer? I think Commodus looks wayyy more sinister in this version and Lester looks more... Scared :(

The song I imagine playing in the background of this scene is "Bad Blood" by Taylor Swift 😄 it just fits

[em-be-lievable]

Number 1, platonic Remy/Dee/Virgil

HECK YEAH PLATONIC BAAAAABBBBSSSSS!!

I’ll freely admit: I got a little carried away with this one. It’s not fluff, but I couldn’t get the idea of these three morons getting themselves into mischief out of my head. 

Writing Prompt 1: “You my die doing this, let me grab my camera.”Words: 2800+Warnings: Urban Exploration AU- Slight horror themes, and really dumb decisions being made

Urban exploration is arguably the stupidest way they could choose to spend their time, in Virgil’s anxious opinion.

But the fear didn’t stop it from being fun- or a great way for him to go tagging without being alone in sketchy places at night. So whenever Virge’s dumbass friends- Dee and Remy, wanted to go explore an abandoned building he was always right there with them.

It was one such evening that Virgil got a text from Remy about another spot he wanted to check out. Well, it was less a text about the spot, and more of a ‘be ready bitch we’ll be there in ten’ warning- but they’d been friends long enough for Virgil to know what that meant.

Virgil quickly gathered up his respirator mask, and duffle bag of paint before heading out just in time for Remy to start laying on the horn of his car. Virgil rolled his eyes, lugging his bag as Remy rolled down the window and shouted over Dee.

“Get in bitch, we’re going exploring!”

“Sup fuckers.” Virgil chuckled, throwing his bag in the back seat before clambering in after it and closing the door. “Where are we heading?”

Dee was in the front passenger seat, rifling through his own backpack- a ratty thing decorated in little green x’s with buttons saying stuff like ‘Ghosts are real’ and ‘The truth is out there.’ “The old middle school on Cherry Street.” The youngest of the trio rambled. “The ghost hunting forum on Reddit stated it as the twenty second biggest hotspot in the state.”

Virgil rolled his eyes at that, a fond smile forming on his lips. Dee had always been like this, obsessed with ghosts and ghost hunting, since they met him. He entered high school when Remy was a junior, and Virgil was a sophomore. They really felt for the little weirdo, an eager kid who would ramble on about his hyper-fixations to the point of alienating everyone around him. He’d talk for hours about his own ‘ghost hunting adventures’ to the point you couldn’t really tell what was factual and what was a bit of a tall tale. But he was entertaining to the older boys, and genuinely fun to hang around. So, they adopted him in their rag-tag group of degenerates who hung out in abandoned buildings for one reason or another.

“Oh yeah? Have you been there yet Remy?” Virgil hummed making contact with the eldest boy in the rearview mirror.

“Nah gurl. I was waiting until the scouts and shrikes died down. If I run into another UrbanX junkie or amateur graffiti artist I’mma freakin’ lose it.”

“I’m an amateur graffiti artist.” Virgil chuckled, raising an eyebrow at Remy who smirked back.

“Yeah gurl, and you’re also an insufferable, moody emo.”

“Oh fuck you too asshole.” Virge laughed, as Remy winked and blew a kiss at him through the mirror.

“Love you too boo~”

That was Remy’s thing. He was the very UrbanX junkie he loathed. If he was going to explore a place he wanted to be the only one in there at the time. For a time he wouldn’t even let Virgil join him- until he got caught in a scary situation where the house wasn’t exactly vacant. Since then they all vowed never to go in alone. And Virgil was down with that- fuck being in a creepy house alone at night. Plus, if there were three of them it made it a lot harder for cops to track them all down.

And if there was one thing Virgil hated than being in creepy condemned houses alone at night- it was the fucking cops.

It didn’t take long to make it to the old middle school, especially when they were joking and shit-talking each other the whole way there. Throwing the car in park a little bit of distance from the building, the three boys got out of the car turning to each other with wicked grins.

“Alright, you babes know the drill. If the cops come we split up and meet at the park.”

“Yup.”

“Got it!” Dee beamed brightly, rummaging through his bag and pulling out his EVP recorder, and a Spectrum night-vision camera. “I’m gonna fucking get something tonight, the forum said this place was haunted as shit.”

Remy and Virgil both rolled their eyes, “Babe, the only thing you’re gonna get is the hiss from Virgil’s stupid spray cans.”

“Even then you’ll probably try to pass it off as a voice or whispering.” Virgil snickered, as Dee elbowed him in the side.

“Fuck you both. I’m gonna catch a ghost on tape and shove it up both of your asses.”

“Is that a threat or a promise?” Remy winked, as they finally encroached on the entrance to the school. “Oh look at all that graffiti- we’re gonna get jumped.” He snickered side eyeing Virgil who flipped him off.

“Yeah, by me. I’m gonna steal your whole anime figurine collection.”

“You lay hands on Gumi figure and I’ll personally hunt you down and then shit on your grave.” Remy hissed, Dee shaking his head.

“You’re both fucking weebs. Are we going in or not?”

“After you Miss Thang.” Remy purred, and Dee didn’t hesitate charing the way. The doors had been chained shut at one point by the city, but leave it to degenerates of explorers passed to have defiled that time and time again. Eventually the city just stopped trying to keep them out- it was just cheaper to let them have their way into the building than to replace the locks.

The building was musty, floors warped and walls cracked with chipping paint and litter scattered all around. It was probably a hazard to breathe the air, so Virgil halted their expedition for a moment to distribute respirators.

The entrance was already littered with tags and cringey nihilistic graffiti- Something that Virgil didn’t really find appealing. He was sure there’d probably be a better canvas for him deeper in, and the others were eager to press on; Dee in search of ghosts, and Remy in search of what was hidden in the dilapidated creases of the buildings fallen structure.

A couple minutes passed with little-to-no excitement, and the explorers quickly gained a little confidence to separate and investigate. Virgil was scoping the halls, trying to find a good place to desecrate with his own vision; when he came across a few nazi swastikas on an otherwise vacant wall.

Perfect. Not only was it a great place to put a tag, but he got to rip the satisfaction out of some elitist asshole’s grubby little hands.

He made quick work, pulling can after can out of his duffle bag and covering the disgusting symbols with his own ‘Anxiety’ tag. He got so zoned into his work that he stopped paying attention to where the others were going.

He was finally putting the finishing touches on his ace-flag colored masterpiece when he heard Dee shout from further down the hall.

“Guys! Come check this out!”

Virgil grabbed his duffle bag- abandoning the emptied cans on the floor and meeting up just in time with Remy to see what Dee was shouting about. The smallest boy standing in front of a decrepit red door, with a sign on it that had become unreadable and worn with the building’s age.

“It’s some kind of basement!” Dee started excitedly, “A couple of people on reddit talked about this- apparently nobody has been able to get in to investigate it yet!”

“Well, no time like the present gurl.” Remy grinned wickedly, pulling a black crowbar from his backpack. Virgil was starting to get a sinking feeling in that they shouldn’t go in the door. Dread pooled in his stomach as something whispered in the back of his head that the door was sealed shut for a reason, and that they shouldn’t be disturbing it.

However there was no arguing with Remy when he got that signature glint in his eye. When there was something someone didn’t want people to get into, Remy was there in a heartbeat. Especially when it came to his weird fascination with exploring abandoned buildings.

Ever the hipster, he wanted to be the first one to discover any place’s dark secrets.

The door cracked open with a swift move on Remy’s part- the taller boy actually being quite more muscular than his lanky frame let on. As the now busted door swung loosely, Dee shined his flashlight down a darkened staircase and marveled at how the light sunk in the darkness.

“Oh no, fuck that.” Virgil hissed, taking a step back. “I’m not going down there and getting my face eaten by a raccoon, hell no.”

“Wimp.” Dee snickered, earning a glare from Virgil.

“Shut up, you’re like 12.”

“I’m 14 dick eater!” Dee hissed back, Remy coming in between them.

“Girls, girls- you’re both beautiful. Can we focus on the task at hand?” He pointed his light down the stairs, illuminating the decrepit condition the boards that made them were in. “Those things don’t look like their gonna hold all this gorgeous without breaking. We should check to see if their in safe enough condition to climb down.”

“Well count me the fuck out. I’m not going down there- not today satan.” Virgil hummed, walking back to the wall and leaning against it. “You two go ahead and go. Send that bitch from the ring my regards as she murders you to death.”

“Ugh, finnee- I’ll do it.” Dee sighed, taking off his backpack and shoving it in Remy’s arms. “You two fat asses stay up here and blow each other or whatever.”

“Wait, you my die doing this, let me grab my camera.” Virgil chortled, pulling out his phone. As soon as he hit record, Dee turned around and flipped him off before carefully testing his weight on the stairs. It creaked a lot, but held fast, and slowly but surely he started to go down.

He made it about halfway down, when an animalistic growl pierced the silence; reverberating off the walls and sinking fear into the core of each of the boys.

“What the fuck was that?!” Virgil yelped, turning to Remy with wide eyes. The eldest boy looked frightened, but ever the brave asshat, tried to reason it away.

“Fuck, Dee- come back. There’s probably an animal or something down there.”

“Y-yeah, o-okay. I’m coming back up.” Dee stammered out, turning around carefully and starting his slow ascent up the stairs.

He placed one foot on the next stair, a loud groan from the wood protesting the silence.

All at once Dee fell face first onto the stairs, eyes going wide with fear as both his companions sprung into panic and action.

“Dee be fucking careful!” Virgil shrieked, as Dee started to frantically claw up the stairs.

“Something has my leg!” The youngest boy shrieked. As almost to emphasize this, he was yanked back, losing his grip on the first stair, and desperately cling to the next as whatever had him tried to drag him into the darkness.

“Oh fuck! Oh fuck oh fuck!” Remy started stuttering out in a panic, dropping to the floor and reaching down to Dee without touching the stairs. “Dee grab my fucking hand!”

Dee loosened his grip ever so slightly in an attempt to reach Remy, but was immediately yanked HARD down towards the basement. “SHIT SHIT SHIT- ITS PULLING ME DOWN GUYS FUCKING HELP!”

“Oh my god oh my god!” Virgil whimpered, attempting to step on the first stair but hesitating as an audible ‘crack’ came from the wood splintering under his weight. “Oh fuck what’re we going to do?!”

“Grab onto me, moron!” Remy hissed and Virgil sprung into action, getting a vice-like grip on Remy’s ankles, as the other pushed himself further down the stairs and wrapped his hands around Dee’s wrists.

Dee looked frightened to the point of tears as he let go. Remy could feel the strain of the thing that was trying to steal his friend down the steps- Whatever it was it was pulling HARD, and Remy was starting to sweat just with the effort of keeping him where he was.

“VIRGE, PULL US UP!” Remy barked frantically, his muscles burning as he yanked Dee forward.

Virgil immediately started to haul backwards, not letting himself think about how heavy they were, or how hard the thing at the bottom of the steps was pulling. His mind laser focused on pulling his friends up the stairs as adrenalin pumped through his veins.

God why couldn’t they have stayed at home and played video games like normal teenagers?!?

His feet started to slip, as the thing at the bottom of the stairs got the upper-hand in this human tug of war. Virgil panicked, using every thing he had to dig his heels into the hard floors and pull his friends back.

“FUCK OFF YOU DEMON DICKWAD!” Virgil practically screeched, giving a final strong-willed pull at Remy’s ankles.

All at once, the two other boys came flying towards Dee- the thing letting go and letting inertia take it’s reigns as they crashed into one another. As they piled up on top of each other there was a sinister echoing laugh as the red, basement door slammed shut. There was only a beat of reprieve before Remy grabbed his own bag and BOOKED IT back towards the entrance of the school.

“FUCK THAT FUCK THAT- LETS GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!”

Virgil had enough consciousness to grab Dee by the wrist and run like hell, following Remy’s flashlight out.

“Wait- my bag!” Dee yelped, but Virgil wasn’t stopping.

“FUCK YOUR BAG! LET WHATEVER THAT THING WAS HAVE IT!” Virgil huffed. He kept his eyes forward- to terrified at the thought of turning around catching a glimpse of whatever that thing was. Every atom of his existence had one purpose, and one purpose only: Getting as fucking far away from this hell hole as possible.

The three boys sprinted down the steps to the middle school and across the decrepit campus towards where they parked their car. As soon as they were piled in and the doors were shut, Remy tore out of the area, speeding wildly away from whatever the fuck that was.

A few moments passed as they collectively calmed down a little- The fear wearing off Remy enough for him to drive at reasonable speeds. Dee was shaking in the back seat, and Virgil was breathing heavily to stave off a panic attack.

“…Y-you guys, I th-think we need a dif-different hobby.”

Remy made eye contact with Dee as Virgil turned around to look at him. There was a beat, before Remy made a snort. The entire car bursting out in hysterical laughter at just the absurdity of the night. It was cathartic, the panic soon being replaced with relief as they were alive, and safe, and not anywhere near Cherry Street.

Remy pulled into a McDonalds, the crew getting some food and ice cream to calm their nerves. It had gotten late enough that the actual store-front was closed, so they parked near the drive through window and basked in the light of civilization- each too afraid of being alone right now but none of them wanting to admit it.

“Man, what do you think that was?” Dee hummed, shoving an oreo mcflurry into his face fast enough that Virgil got sympathy brain-freeze.

“It was probably just some shady bitches pulling a prank.” Remy sighed, reason and logical thinking coming back to him. “If I ever find out who I’m gonna punch them in the mouth.”

“Yeah, what kind of assholes do that?” Virgil hummed around bites of fries. There was a quiet ping from his pocket, and the entire car turned to look as Virgil pulled his phone out of his sweatshirt pocket. There was a notification that his memory was now full.

“Oh, shit!” He gasped, “Awe man, I never stopped recording that video of you going down into that shit pit.”

“Really?” Dee beamed excitedly, “Wait, go back to the beginning! We can maybe see who the asshole who did that was.”

“Yeah, c’mon- I wanna see that douche bag’s face!” Remy egged on, and Virgil smirked- scrolling the video back to the point of Dee flipping him off.

The video was pretty dark- a lot of granular shit filling the screen as phone cameras have shit night time recording quality. But that didn’t stop the sinking feeling of dread that pooled into their stomachs as the video played out.

Right as Dee fell, there was a face in the darkness. And not the face of a prankster, or asshole who was doing it for kicks. No, no this was a sick, twisted, half-human grin staring back at them, giving them the sinking feeling of being watched. It was as if it could see them through the phone screen.

The boys sat there, in terrified silence as the information processed. Remy was the first to break it, clearing his throat and gripping the steering wheel.

“Sleepover at my place, yeah?”

“…Yeah, alright.” Virgil half mumbled, eyes still fixed on the screen. He really didn’t feel up to being alone right now, and he was sure none of them did.

As the car pulled out of the parking lot, there was a silence that fell over them. A mutual agreement flowing through the air as each of the boys agreed. No matter what, they were never going back to the abandoned middle school on Cherry Street again.

[paulisweeabootrash]

First Impression: Say “I Love You.”

Going forward, I will be adding a piece of information that should have been in these reviews from the beginning: how I'm watching them.  With the proliferation of different streaming platforms has come the advantage of a huge number of anime available but also the disadvantage of not necessarily knowing what is where.  Not to mention, plenty of things aren’t available on streaming, or have had multiple different releases (foreshadowing of a topic for later this month!) that need to be distinguished.  Today’s topic, though, is just something I've had sitting around on DVD for a while unopened after I bought it cheap used, although it’s apparently currently on both Crunchyroll and Hulu.

Say "I Love You." (2012)

Episodes watched: 4

Platform: DVD

Mei Tachibana is not a trusting or sociable person.  She has no friends; home and work are the only contacts in her cell phone.  She only grudgingly tolerates high school, which for her consists of being unaware of and disinterested in who her classmates are while putting up with their harassment and whispered mockery.  Outside of school, she works part-time at a bakery and otherwise keeps to herself at home.  When a classmate who constantly makes rude comments about all the girls tries to look up her skirt, she spins around to kick her harasser — and instead mistakenly kicks the harasser's friend who was trying to get him to stop.  That friend, Yamato Kurasawa, is her opposite, a popular (not as in high-status or trendy, but as in widely-liked) boy who seems to be extending to Mei the very genuine kindness she doubts anyone has.  The plot takes off at the end of episode 1 when he pretends to be her boyfriend to repel a bakery customer who is stalking her — complete with kissing her and saying he loves her.  "I protected you from a stalker by suddenly kissing you" seems like a... questionable action for a genuinely nice guy rather than a "nice guy" to take, but okay.

Although Yamato's behavior works at repelling the stalker (unfortunately, "I don't respect you but I respect that you "belong to" someone" is a cross-cultural phenomenon), Mei doesn't really know what to do with that experience, but accepts that Yamato has now sort of inserted himself into her life.  He starts to invite her to hang out with his friends, and she hits it off with them.  Mei even sticks up for one of those friends, Asami, against bullies mocking her appearance, and also turns out to be more perceptive about Asami and Nakanishi (the one who tried to look up Mei's skirt in the first place) having feelings for each other than they were (or were willing to admit, anyway).  However, she also learns from Asami that there are rumors that Yamato will kiss any girl without having feelings for her, which leaves Mei fuming about what she calls Yamato’s hypocritical behavior.  After Mei attempts to observe how he behaves with a girl rumored to be his first love, Yamato goes in for more unsolicited kisses and explains that different kisses convey a range of different feelings.

At this point, at the end of ep. 2, I’m feeling two things.  First, I’m annoyed at Yamato’s pushiness which seems to be a romantic trope in a lot of anime.  Second and more so, though, I’m intrigued by how relatable this is because I think I recognize the feelings of both of the main characters, as should many who remember their early romantic relationships.  "I can't tell if this person is flirting or just being nice to me: the show" is maybe too harsh a description, but only a little, because I’ve had these exact crushes.  I remember having had Mei's feelings, mistaking the pleasure or gratitude at someone being nice to me for love.  I remember having had Yamato's feelings, mistaking being attracted to or intrigued by someone for love (he certainly doesn't know her well enough by the end of the first two episodes for it to be much of anything else).  Neither is a good basis for a relationship, and I fear based on the fact that reviews on MyAnimeList include lines like "it doesn't try to break any boundaries" and "very little character development" that the show will neither show conflict due to this nor show clearly Mei and Yamato growing from crushes to love.  Now, I'm in no way scolding the author for this on some kind of moral basis.  Crushes are a legitimate part of life, and a solid basis for a drama set in a high school.  I'm just saying, my experiences prime me to brace for a trainwreck in this situation and pulling off a believable happy resolution will require some character development.

But I’m optimistic because I kept watching to the end of the disk: we get, if not development, at least some more interesting dimensions to our characters soon enough.  As Yamato reveals some backstory to Mei, and as we the audience hear the perspectives of other characters, it starts to look like the two of them are not opposites but instead two different kinds of shy/unassertive people: Mei withdraws from others to the point of hostility, while Yamato becomes a people-pleaser and, in his own words, a “chameleon”, to a fault.  As they falteringly start to date, the show is certainly not just "the hot guy" and "the loner" implausibly getting together, as the negative reviews characterize it.  Mei is struggling to navigate not just having some kind of trusting relationship with someone but also the difference between her cautious and "proper" expectations of a romantic relationship and the way Yamato and other “popular” students separate affection and sex from love.  She still thinks he is devaluing what a romantic relationship is supposed to be like, but from his point of view, his behavior seems to flow understandably from a sort of strategic doormat-ness.  Yamato and Mei are still viewed by other characters as just "the hot guy" and "the loner", however, and have to deal with people trying to break them up — one a girl with whom Yamato has had pity sex, the other a boy who’s just... an utter asshole — but thankfully it doesn't seem to be setting those characters up as season-arching villains or something, which could get tedious or derail believable relationship development.  So although I still have those feelings about the plausibility of their relationship going in an overall happy direction, I suspect those reviews are selling it short and intend to finish the season at least (there's a second season and a spinoff, too, apparently)...  Not a ringing endorsement, but let's see where it goes.

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W/A/S:  2 / 2 / ...4?

Weeb: Except for the occasional Japanese trope like misunderstanding a nosebleed as proof of being aroused, this show is probably not just understandable but downright relatable for those who have navigated, or had friends who had to navigate, broadly cross-cultural high school experiences like forming relationships, either friendly or romantic, and dealing with the circulation of rumors.

Ass: Minor and played in a way that, in context, shows off the POV of creepy men as creepy instead of being fanservice.  Most sexual content is (as I feel like I say a lot here) just teenagers talking in a way that is pretty believable, and none is explicit.

Shit (writing): An accurate shit score really should be assessed at the end for this one, because it depends on how the story arc goes, I think.  It's good so far but could go off in several different good or bad directions.  I feel like there could've been more development of Mei's slow-growing ability to trust people, because her warming up to Yamato's friends by early ep. 2 or explicitly stating that Yamato makes her trust people more by the end of ep. 3 seems a bit rushed.  But since I'm not familiar with the source material, for all I know, it could've just been the least-bad way to reduce it to a 13-episode season.

Shit (other): The opening theme is very pleasant, and the animation accompanying it is well-drawn but low-movement — something that continues throughout the whole show.  Most shots are very static, with a single barely-moving human against static background.  There's the occasional individual screwed-up looking shot of a character's face (usually when trying to reduce detail when they're far away), but it mainly stays consistent and faithful to a distinctively shoujo art style, with much more attention, it seems to me, paid to making faces detailed and realistic than other styles.  I also just want to take a moment to appreciate the scene in ep. 1 that perfectly illustrates the feeling of being shaken out of your own thoughts.  After a montage of shots showing her lonely morning commute, Mei is standing on the platform at a train station, staring off into the clouds in the distance and trying to ignore a group of her schoolmates giggling at her, the background music swelling like something dramatic is about to happen... only to be interrupted by the arrival of her train.

Content: No note needed.

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Stray observations:

- Yamato asks enthusiastically to come with her when she gets a haircut, then comments that he and Mei seem to have similar taste in clothes and that he's disinterested in the women who hit on him frequently... in an American show, these details would be alarm bells that Yamato is gay, not further highlighting that he's interested in Mei as a person, which is what I think it's supposed to do here.

- Why the hell does the DVD reset the language to the default English dub every time I finish an episode?