#don't miss

[hyog-blog]

Joy of Life (Season 1+2)

Watched two seasons back to back, and I've gotta say - this is definitely one of the best cdramas ever made! Everything is top-notch: storytelling, acting, character development, plotting and backstabbing, amazing background music and OSTs, stellar cast, aesthetics, loads of drama AND humor, and just enough romance to make it all even more yummy.

Fan Xian is definitely one of my most favorite characters in terms of brain, sass, charisma, foxiness, sprinkled with even more intelligence and a bit of a hero complex that he denies having, but the story kind of pushes him towards 'doing the greater good' with whatever means that are available to him.

The whole show is a yummy collection of delicious morally grey characters - the Emperor is cunning to the point it gets scary, but you still have to respect the guy because he's so good at what he does (later in S2 he becomes more of an obvious bad guy, but still spectacularly genius). Chen Ping Ping is truly the King of Plotting - some of his schemes started as soon as the ML was born! That's how good he is. But no matter what manipulative shenanigans are happening in the show, he always ends up on FX's side, even if he uses the boy like a pawn most of the time. He has a mentor/teacher kind of aura and FX learns a lot from him. Papa Fan is one of the most devoted daddies in the series (especially towards FX) he's the only father figure that is not trying to use him in his schemes, which is endearing, really. Prime Minister Lin was also amazing in his ability to read through the lines of what the Emperor was saying/doing and what he was actually trying to accomplish.

Let's not forget about all the comedy! The show would have ended up being dramatic AF without all the hilarious moments and relationships between the characters. The first season was a bit more lighthearted in this regard, but season 2 still has loads of funny scenes, which come as a very welcome relief.

As for the girls, Fan Xian is a real ladies' man and there are lots of gorgeous women all around him in the show (they say in the book it's an actual harem with no 'buts'), still, you can feel in the drama as well - he has different kinds of relationships with various women and all are quite interesting with lots of chemistry. I think he got it from his mom - she left behind a harem of her own. Everyone is now doting on Fan Xian (and using him in their schemes as well).

If you're wondering whether to watch this show - please do! it's a proper wuxia with lots of palace schemes and machinations, but so well-written that it's never boring to watch.

[euesworld]

"I could kiss you a thousand times, I could kiss you until you are mine.. if I could seal your fate with a kiss, I would kiss you until you feel bliss. If I could kiss you miss, I wouldn't miss.. I would kiss your face until you could taste it. Never erase it, this bliss in a kiss.. kissed until you hated it. I could kiss you until you got butterflies, until you flew up into the sky to join the sun.. cause just like Icarus, I fell in love."

I fell in love with you so softly that I joined the heavenly hues - eUë

[bethfuller]

limited perception.

find me on instagram!

[joffyworld]

narijoff

Okay fine I'll hear you out

[layton-heritage-posts]

DONALD TRUMP GOT SHOT AT!!!

Do you think Professor Layton took the shot or why are you sending me this???

[fineapple20]

Portraits

Retouched this set from last year, because it was haunting me laying there 80% finished

[frosthetix]

some dudebros: tom hardy must be held at gunpoint to still be doing these sony venom movies

tom hardy: WRITES the movie, PRODUCES the movies, repeatedly states how much venom and eddie means to him, reads all the comics, #1 veddie shipper

[beebeedibapbeediboop]

Observing

[frenchublog]

[egophiliac]

WAIT when did he get FANGS

[unsung-idiot]

something something what goes around comes around

(i rewatched take back the falls and uh yeah... my hand slipped lol)

[missmisnomer]

it's always a good day to wake up and choose violence

More Rise silliness [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]

[holdoncallfailed]

SPILLED.

[bixels]

It's crazy how Dungeon Meshi's manga can feel more cinematic and emotional than the anime to me, even when they're practically the same. Compared to the anime, this moment is such a heartbreaking gut-drop. The way Kui uses negative space and flat compositions to create a sense of horrific stillness is so key.

The way the text (Senshi's monologue) is sequestered to an empty corner of a panel or huddled away from the edge of its text box is not only a great way of showing Senshi's headspace (fearful, isolated, dissociating), but creates a visual representation of pause, as if you hold your breathe after each line. The first panel puts us directly in Senshi's perspective too (compared to in the anime, which puts us as an outside observer over Senshi's shoulder). The detail of the door and bricks so effectively implies that he stared at it for so long, waiting and hoping, that its image is burned in his memory. The wood grain, the brick arch, the number of rivets. The lack of dialogue in the second panel shows a moment of realization too –– "he's dead" (also a great example of the Kuleshov effect). And it's that pause that creates a beat and sets a great rhythm to his headspace, like a music rest: "He never came back." (oh god.) "I'm all alone." Finally, the third panel's negative space, cropping Senshi, shows how truly alone he feels. Without his family, the world ceases to exists. Under shock, he traps himself in a 1-foot radius, too scared to even perceive a world outside its boundaries; a world that can hurt him, kill him, make him disappear with it. There is only his body, the stone beneath his feet and against his back, his thoughts, and that awful bowl of soup.

Even though they're a series of flat images, there's an implicit reading of silence in Senshi's realization and horror. Kui influences your experience to slow down and take your time.

Compare this to the anime, which fills every shot with dialogue. The pacing is fast; we never get to sit in silence like we do with the manga. The horizontal frame allowed the boarders to add Senshi, turning the composition into an over-the-shoulder shot, which takes us out of Senshi's POV. They also added a zoom-out in shot one, which adds unnecessary energy to a very somber scene. The tightening on Senshi as a close-up reaction shot also dulls the moment. In the original panel, Senshi stares ahead at the empty space to his left as a shadow surrounds his mind. It not only shows how Senshi's senses are dulling and his world is shrinking (setting up panel three), but shows how terrified Senshi is of what's in front of him, how the air itself becomes pitch black and opaque, how Senshi is surrendering himself to fear. The pacing is understandable and necessary; this episode packed a lot of story content together. It's just a shame because it really (imo) deflated one of the most nauseating moments in Dungeon Meshi.