#fanservice looks real different these days

[jasper-unofficial]

As a PPW enjoyer (a couple who vehemently refuse to post their hangouts outside their work for fear of fan service) and emotional rationaliser (I've seen in some tags that you rationalise your emotions) What is your thoughts on fan service in the thai bl industry?. We got some couples just posting pictures of their hangouts to some couples living together and filming their intimate moments. Fan service spectrum is very broad in the industry.

my overall and perhaps controversial opinion about fanservice is that anyone who gets upset by it cares too much about something they have no business being that invested in. like, listen, i'm a gay guy. i don't think there is anyone in this world who is more hopeful that as many men as possible are queer. yet fanservice, even if we assume the most "extreme" versions of it (which i don't think exist but i'll touch on that later), does not bother me in the slightest. it is just something that the actors do and any adult fan who throws a tantrum over the fact that two strangers aren't actually dating "like they were promised" is, at best, really fucking silly. at worst, in urgent need of a hobby and some boundaries.

generally, fanservice exists in two categories: what happens on stage and what happens off stage.

i think a fantastic example of a category five on-stage event is forcebook at LOL2025 - the songs that they chose and the conversation they chose to have on stage both days was a fucking masterclass in mixing their real-life relationship into the plotline of their on-stage performance and all i can do is applaud them. because it was a performance (also known as something you shouldn't expect to reflect reality in the first place) and is honestly exactly the kind of performance i want from concerts like LOL.

when it comes to off-stage fanservice, i think joong is an excellent example of what actual fanservice (as opposed to people genuinely being close and hanging out together) looks like. there is a clear visible line between joongdunk's sincere relationship and anything that's being played up with a wink. all the manufactured moments and over-the-top statements and silly fanfiction on twitter-dot-com - isn't it actually always so clear when something is fanservice because it's either not that serious or is in a specific context? that's literally always been the case, as long as i've been in this fandom, and that's gonna be seven years in two months.

see, i don't like this idea that actors not forcing themselves to hide the fact that they are hanging out or living together is anywhere near the realm of fanservice. you might have mistook me being able to rationalise my feelings with a desire to repress them. i know why i am so touchy about people throwing around the word "fanservice" whenever the actors so much as breathe in the same direction. it is because of ppw or, if we are being entirely honest, pond, who is the only one out of the two who is bothered by the accusations. but i think that's an entirely valid feeling, which is why i hold hands with it instead of chasing it away.

it is fucking crazy that people genuinely think two guys who work together all the time can't just become close. we all have different working conditions but the vast majority of people have gone to school. which means most of us know what it's like to be placed in the same environment with the same people over and over. you do form connections. most of the time. genuine connections. that's just how that works. especially if you want to put effort into the relationship, which is also not bizarre at all when you are going to spend a lot of time with a person, especially in the context of a profession that benefits from being comfortable around and trusting your work partner. most of them are actually just friends and wanting to share that isn't fanservice - it's just them living their lives.

basically, fanservice is a silly manufactured little thing that pops up every now and then in very clear fashion to make fans awwww and the only thing that pisses me off about it is people who either take it extremely seriously or, on the flip-side of that, do not take anything seriously for fear of it.

[caustic-tea]

Mappa knew what they were doing

[joyswonderland1108]

"Jikookers want what we have" a tragicomedy in 84 acts.

Ah yes. The cult has spoken again. That group of people so devoted to fanfiction they forgot they're not the actual authors of BTS' lives. I was just minding my own business scrolling on X and then i saw screenshots where they uttered the iconic phrase once more : "Jikookers want what we have"

And my immediate reaction is: You have what exactly?

Please, i beg, enlighten me. Educate me. Shine your flashlight of delusion upon my humble soul.

Do you mean:

The ability to look at two men in the same room and immediately start spinning a three-season k-drama script about a "secret marriage" that somehow survived a full military enlistment gap and multiple obvious real-life interactions that contradict your entire fantasy?

The audacity to claim that literally everything Jikook do is either "fanservice", "coincidence" or "they were forced to do it by the company" .. but when tk breathe the same air, it's "soulmate proof" and "date night"?

The unique talent of opening your eyes, seeing Jikook's entire interactions unfold like the final scene of a romantic film, and still going, "Nope. That's just brotherly love. Jungkook actually flew to that city for someone else."?

And let’s not forget the true crime-level sleuthing they do with pixelated photos and background objects. Like that time they saw a Christmas tree with the Wooga squad and immediately declared, “That’s it. That’s Jungkook. He was there.” Just.. a tree. A tree. Not a hand. Not a sleeve. Not a voice. A TREE. And the confidence? Unmatched.

Or when a blurry reflection shows up in a spoon, and suddenly it’s “Jungkook was clearly there. That’s his left earlobe from 2019, I would know it anywhere.” Girl..

They’ve mistaken staff members, shadows, pets, and possibly furniture for Jungkook. At this point, if someone breathes near a member of the Wooga squad, they’re like, “He’s there. He's hiding behind the lamp. That lamp is his disguise.

🧍‍♀️Be serious.

You have what? A religious devotion to editing Jikook clips and pics out of existence OR turning them into.. something else so you can post your 8-second gifs as a "proof"?

A Photoshop degree in manufacturing matching accessories that they never actually wore? A deep-rooted fear of 4K footage? A library full of plotlines that have not been updated since 2019?

Because baby, while you're out here reading a version of events that got invalidated faster than a Weverse life replay gets deleted, we're over here crying, throwing up, and questioning our own existence watching actual moments of intimacy, care, tension, fondness, push-pull dynamics, micromovements, looks that scream "I dare you to say that in public", and lips that do not lie.

Your people are defecting babes. They're not even silent about it. We've seen it. "I feel sad, i can't breathe, i will take a break because i don't know if i believe in them any longer after this", "Okay but if MY ship did what THEY did i'd be in a coma"

Exactly. You'd be in a coma. Meanwhile Jikookers are here with two IV bags of emotional damage and still managing to function (barely).

Let's talk about how your entire structure collapses when:

Jungkook calls Jimin "Jimin-ssi" with that look.

Jimin calls Jungkook "Baby" on camera.

Jungkook tells Jimin he gives him butterflies.

Jimin calling Jungkook "Hyung" with the most teasing smugness known to mankind and Jungkook malfunctions on the spot.

Jungkook sits and stares at Jimin content during his lives without blinking.

Jimin sings Jungkook's solo, doing his moves the way a man who memorized it for "reasons" would.

Meanwhile you're out there hanging your entire thesis on "they once went to the same restaurant with different people on different days but what if they actually met up?"

We don't want what you have.

WE DO NOT WANT UNHINGED THEORIES AND PERMANENT COPIUM.

What we do want is peace, peace from you twisting Jikook's actions like it's your career.

Peace from you posting "this proves nothing" under every video that shows more chemistry than a K-drama final kiss.

Peace from you crying "company script" every time Jungkook chooses to speak about Jimin with his entire chest and a suspicious sparkle in his eyes.

Let me be clear:

We don't want what you have because.. There's nothing there to want. It's like going to a buffet and finding a single ice cube and being told "this is a gourmet".

So no. We’re good. We’re full.

We're over here eating with trembling hands, yes, but we’re EATING.

Stay in your cave of denial where 2017 screenshots are still considered "recent," and please stop acting like we’re jealous of a headcanon when we’ve got receipts, replay buttons, and regret.(because the intensity of it all is emotionally destructive and yet we keep coming back).

Thank you for your time.

Back to your regularly scheduled delusion.

[scarefox]

Haven't watched anything KristSingto recently but he's right

You can think of fanservice what you want. But the moment you want to police or censor it, it turns into something really problematic. And this stance comes from 2 or even 3 different oppinioned sides but they ironically melt into the same outcome.

But at the end of the day most people forget / ignore, regardless of anything, fanservice still helps normalising public queer affection. And let's be real, most of the stuff in those stage and event shows are that... a show or even a performance! Do you protest at your local theater when they have queer characters kissing? Do you notice how this sounds in a sentence? Yes actors are real people and not characters but especially BL actors & idols still perform stage shows and kind of have a public enertainer persona. You notice how different they are on stage vs. in their personal live streams + nowadays most actors are even very honest about just doing fs for show & fun and often genuine (platonic) affection towards their acting partner but don't pretend to be actual dating (and the ones who do will most likely not lightheartedly come out with it like that... apparently there are exceptions but I have not enough insight on them to judge). You should watch some serious interviews or live stream (translations) of your favs now and then maybe to learn more about them and the industry, they are more than just pretty faces... Actors in just my bubble who talked open about the fanservice topic as far as legally possible at least: JamesSu, Perth Nakhun and I guess we can count Pavel and Nut as well.

What fans make out of it is a whole different story.... and one of the reasons people want to shut down fanservice as a whole. But imagine how lighthearted, fun and easy going this whole thing could be if we didn't had all these toxic naive fans who think every interaction is proof of actors dating (or worse: cheating) in RL. That mindset of "we are BL fans of course we are delulu" is not a joke anymore among some of them. They srsly take pride in that... babes you are part of the problem, stop encouraging it!

Then on the other side, being critical of some of the practices of the industry is one thing but it should not lead into backwards queer censoring... but that's what some are swaying to with their "real people queerbait" agenda or getting the cringes when (samesex) people interact romantically or erotically during live events (that's a bit of a you thing my dears. not necessarily in a queerphobic way but in a purity / shy way and that is a you problem to deal with not anyone elses problem)....

And a lot of people don't even understand or get what most people criticise about fanservice and just jump onto the ban-fanservice train. Without understanding the nuances nor the actual industry circumstances. Like one main argument here isn't even true. Lot of people assume actors get forced into fs. Which is not true (source: one of Perth Nakhuns Q&A vids, the 2. vid i think). BL actors usually know what they get into by entering the industry, decide with eo how much they want to do. Now that can still cause internal personal conflicts like one going over board or not playing enough but that's human miscommunication. Or companies can still be bastards but it's unfair to generalise it over the whole industry when we nowadays have companies who give their actors that freedom.

There are still some points to criticise, definitely. Like I personally dislike how MCs and sponsors sometimes treat actors during events or how fans scream at every little move or glance like crazy.... But the topic is a bit more nuanced (as always in this world) than how most people look at it. I just mean it really always sticks out when you talk with people about their reasons why they are anti fanservice that they just repeat after another with no sources or without actual up to date information or only look at it from one side.

I personally am in the middle. I only like fs when the actors have fun with it and are transparent about it. In the end it comes down to actors consent what they want to give to the audience (reason why it annoys me when people write "i feel like i am interrupting something here / am intuding their privacy" the actors consented! they want you to watch if you want to see it! consent babes! it is fine)

(when i see someone coming in with "but Krist is a homophobe" I will bite you. I am not even his fan and already researched what happened back then when I first saw those accusations when I got into BL 2021ish. It is really not that hard to look up the source and reports of people who were live pressent at the time to understand what went down back then. Ya know instead of believing rumors that twist and lie for rage bait)

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Are You Sure?! - Episode 1 Observations

Jimin and Jungkook in the same car together was the gift that kept on giving. Besides how at ease they were with each other, the banter made it all so much better. Because even then, they had a huge smile on their face. I know it's easy for me (and others) to call Jungkook a brat (he can be), but Jimin is no better and sometimes he likes to push Jungkook's buttons to get a reaction out of him.

Yes, that is definitely how a dongsaeng should talk to his hyung. That dynamic was either all over the place or completely absent. It felt more like they were both on equal footing and sometimes it should shift but I couldn't sense any of that more traditional age based relationship they are supposed to be having.

And all this for to me say that I have this tiny desire to witness a real argument. We know how they deal with conflict within their relationship through the retelling of their rainy day fight, but that was ages ago. They are more mature now, with their relationship in a different stage and that brings other issues to the surface. The short and heavily edited conversation about the lack of quality time was a small window into that. Both were laughing and indeed in wasn't a serious conversation, but it did confirm once again how needy and attached Jungkook is. And that doesn't exist in a vacuum. It can show through more cute/funny "moments" on camera, but we all know there's many ways for that to manifest.

What I'm trying to say is that as much as I emphasize that all I want is to enjoy KM, the truth is that it doesn't only include cute moments. I enjoy when they argue or when one is not in the mood or maybe bored, etc. Or when they disagree. It's a mark of authenticity there in terms of how they agree to come across on screen as individuals, but also it's the complexity of their relationship, regardless of its nature.

Often, the issue was (and still is) with the difficulty of putting Jikook in a box. To clearly define their relationship and dynamic. As opposed to other ships which a lot of the times heavily rely on fictional tropes and it's easily noticeable in ships across k-pop fandoms. The behavior might have variations, but the fans are set with their definition of what that pair is like. The bigger part of its component remains the same due to circumstances, personality, type of content, etc.

Even with the BTS fandom/solo stans and all factions of micro-fandoms, they can't really pinpoint jikook and tend to take the fanservice route (which is a confirmation in itself of what they actually see, but I digress). They're not the bickering duo, the married couple or any other trope-like dynamic. With AYS and having access to Jikook in a format that allows us to take a closer look at less interrupted interactions, it becomes even more difficult to pin them down. Which, if not an indication of an actual romantic relationship (the shipping perspective), at least it clearly shows a life spent together outside cameras that seeps in at every turn. At a complaint, a commentary, a familiar touch.

To be continued...

[slaaverin]

The way I laughed when I saw this post:

https://x.com/btsdeblueprint/status/1904540673518505984?s=46

And the comments/citations 😅😂. But when we tell them that for Jimin they said we exaggerate, that it is not that deep to change the color in the GCF.

It always baffles me how people are okay to say that Jungkook have a HUGE crush on Namjoon that he wants to marry him bla-bla-bla BUT the moment there is something about Jimin and Jungkook it’s “brother love”.

For me it’s because they don’t have the fear when they see Namjoon and JK together, they don’t feel like they could be a real couple, they laughed about it because they don’t really believe it (or do they?). But the fear of something being real like the possibility of being a couple, is something that they feel when they see Jimin and Jungkook together. They see it too! But it doesn’t match with the Ideal image they have of Jungkook which case in point is Fuckboy; heterosexual man; that could maybe fall in love with a fan girl (their dream).

But still, it baffles me 🤦‍♀️

What do you think of it?

Oh and Hi sorry I just rambled a lot, by the way love your blog and sorry for my English.

Have a nice day💜

Thanks for your lovely ask and your kind words 🥰💜

Omg this post..I mean it is indeed cute but the double standard is astonishing.

GCF Saipan was the same. The way it was structured and the lyrics choice clearly highlighted Jimin but then tkkers were still saying "the camera focused on Tae! He's in love with him" like please 😂 same for Namjoon.

The fandom is allergic to jikook.

I mean they must see the same thing as we do? But then probably find a way that makes sense to them to entirely dismiss it as fanservice/forced/bro behaviour.

Because I guess the alternative would rattle so many core beliefs, it's too uncomfortable to even look at.

"No I'm not seeing anything! I can't hear you lalalalala 🙉🙈" lmao

It's really childish but well.

Yes I agree with you they must see other ships less threatening because not real, just for fun, unlike jikook who hit a little too close to home. But there are also unfortunately still some who think these other ships are real - not only tkkers - look at yoonminers for example you have people who are in DEEP and not for fun. They actually believe it. It baffles me to this day.

You know fans having this fantasy of Jungkook being this heterosexual man coming to ravish them, I just had that thought but maybe we should give people a break. After all that's the whole concept of being an idol, they make people think they are single and that they are their fan's boyfriends, they push for it in many ways and have done so for years. I guess for many people and especially young fans, it's very hard to question things that are presented to them in such light. I'm not entirely sure I blame them for not questioning the status quo. Idk maybe that's too much mental gymnastics for some.

For many it's pretty obvious that it is not the case, that it's only a fantasy sold for a long time for money, it's just them playing the game, and now that they get older things might be different in many ways, but still. Jungkook has never said anything "clear" about his sexuality. To understand a little bit you need to closely pay attention to him and his action/words for years.

When you have the whole picture it is indeed pretty clear that he is not heterosexual.

But really what I learned is that people really do not pay attention at all, or pay attention only to what interests them.

Many don't know half the things jikook have done over the years.

Jikookers have the whole relationship and hundreds of moments in mind that depict a whole love story and a lot of lore.

But most people aren't aware of that.

Most of the time they barely see it and immediately dismiss it.

Since many have come accross different narratives and brainwashing when it comes to jikook they already begin with a bias.

I love when people say "I saw this jikook moment and thought there was something that wasn't right, something off, I need to look further into it" and then they binge jikook stuff and discover that indeed they was more to it than they thought and most likely become a jikooker afterwards.

But it comes purely from the individual and his own intuition/sensations. It's often when people make very deep dives to make their own opinions that they begin to see it.

But before this it remains very surface level.

And you know what? I'm not even mad. Everything moves fast in this fandom. You have news almost every day. You have music to stream, votes to make, the last yoongi cat meme to like, so much content you can spend months and months watching everything.

So am I mad that people dimiss jikook like this? Yes. Many of them do not bear good will and are full of hate for them. I can't forgive it. But I also want to nuance it by thinking there are also people who are simply not as deep into it than us, people who take things at face value, people who need things spelled out for them, young fans, casual fans, desperate girls who would love a star they will never meet to be their boyfriends and can't afford to think even for a second that their idol is gay because they would be sad and feel lied to.

Honestly, it pains me, but I get it.

I'm trying to let go of my frustration because the difference of treatement of jikook in this fandom is hard to accept. But I guess things are not entirely black & white and I'm trying to understand why people have a different perspectives (not the haters of course, fuck them). Like these people in the post you shared.

My first instinct would be to rant too and be angry, but then I think it's better for me to let it go. I'll say to myself "Let them have their fun 🤷🏻‍♀️". If they want to think Joon & Jungkookie are romantic and totally ignore the elephant in the room who am I to ruin it for them.

Anyway, yeah, that's hard.

Maybe I'm trying to make sense of things that just don't make sense lol

Don't mind me

These kind of posts become funny and ironic for real.

"Remember when JK made a FULL GCF about Jimin and being completely in love with him over a gay song? Yeah, THAT was romance folks." 📢

Anyway, it's hopeless 😶‍🌫️

I'd leave them in their bubble, I'm good in my own with the lovely jikookers, at least we have interesting stuff to talk about

Thank you for your ask and take care 💜🫂🥰 (your english was perfect btw!)

[lizzie-queenofmeigas]

Klaus did not think of Caroline after he left Mystic Falls until he needed help to save his daughter. In his worst moments, being captured by Marcel he thought of Camille. This has nothing to do with Cami, but after Hayley died it was Hayley who he wished was around to aid him, because he did not know how to move forward. He could’ve thought of going to Caroline for advice as she was a parent too...but he didn’t. Caroline was an afterthought at the end of the day.

When Jackson died and Cami died Klaus told Hayley that their pain was not the same as the one person she shared a true connection with, was alive. Caroline was alive and kicking, that means that person was Camille. Camille was his person, Camille was who he longed for. The show told us that Cami was the woman Klaus loved til the end. Cami was the one he thought of when he needed to find control not to hurt Hope when the Hollow was in his head. Caroline talked him into going back home, he had just seen her again, but it was Cami who showed up in his mind. All of these things show that Cami was the one he loved most.

The point was to show that his love for Cami was stronger than anything he had with Caroline. He only looked at Caroline again in the last few episodes which can arguably be for fan service as he could’ve been spending those last few moments with his daughter instead, but that is also well after Cami is dead. When she was no longer an option.

Everything about Klaroline is fanservice and it hurts both Caroline and Klaus as characters. There were ways to make interactions between happen without hurting the characters, but that was not what the writers wanted. What they wanted was Klaus simping for Caroline because she is everyone's favourite self-insert.

Cami is different, because while she was also mistreated as a character, she's not anyone's self-insert, in fact so many people hated her for "getting in the way" of Klaroline. Cami as a character was consistent even as a hallucination from Klaus' mind. She was always this pragmatic, super-intelligent brave woman with a dark side.

And Klaus' connection with Cami was genuine, it was real.

[alpaca-clouds]

How did Digimon Xros Wars end up like this?

So, ever since I started posting more about Digimon Xros Wars several of my followers who either are not part of the Digimon fandom or dropped out of it before Xros Wars came out, have asked me this: "Why do you dislike Digimon Xros Wars so much?" Because I might have mentioned the fact that I have a large distaste for this show - while I fucking ADORE the manga. (For real, it is my favorite Digimon manga.) And the simple answer is:

Look, I absolutely disliked how Digimon Xros Wars treated its female characters, ESPECIALLY during the Death Generals arc. Especially in regards to the female Digimon. I think there is absolutely some nice fanservice you can have, but one, I do not like to see fanservice with very young kids, and two... what the fuck is up with Mervamon? I might remind you: Merva is the Etruscan goddess of Wisdom and War and medicine, who is very much not associated with sexuality in any way. (Minerva came from her - though obviously Merva or Menerva became Athena first.)

(And note, the Digimon New Century Artwork of Mervamon is a whole lot more tame than the art in the show was)

But there is also the other part. While I still do not know what fucking drama happened behind the scenes of this show, I do have some evidence that from all the shows of Digimon this one had the most behind the scenes drama. And frankly, with Toei being Toei, this is saying something.

I mean, from all I know, Digimon Adventure went through three (!!!) pre-production crews before finding one who was willing to put up with the entire thing. Digimon Adventure 02 was a crunch fest, which is very much showing. Digimon Tamers had a lot of conflict going on between the main writer and the producers. Digimon Frontier also had some writers vs producers conflicts. So yeah, Digimon tends to have Drama.

But... there is some evidence that Digimon Xros Wars had a lot more of that. And fucking hell, it annoys me that I do not know.

Now, for context: In the early 2010s I had three things: Basic Japanese skills, a friend who was fluent in Japanese, and no shame (I guess that is only two things then?). Oh, actually, there is third thing. I had a knack for finding the personal email addresses of famous people, and kinda famous people. Don't ask me, how I did it, but I did it rather well. Especially with folks working in anime/manga.

So, yes. I know a lot of drama that happened behind the scenes of a lot of anime simply because I asked the people involved and at least back in the day Japan was by far not as liberal when ti came to putting everyone under five layers of NDA as western media was.

Which brings me back to Digimon Xros Wars. Because Digimon Xros Wars never got really licensed to Germany, and I never found the email address of Riku Sanjo. But... I do know enough to know that there was drama.

Let me go over: Back when Xros Wars started airing - back in those days when people still knew what the Nice Boat Meme stood for... Well...

Back in those days, they actually aired a documentary of the Making Of of Digimon Xros Wars. Which was fairly early during the production and airing. I am pretty sure that Making Of is by now Lost Media. At least I cannot find it for the love of God. But during that Making Of the people working on the show were hinting at what was going to happen - and even more importantly, there was this one shot during that documentary, in which we saw some stuff hanging in the background that sharp eyed watchers realized was a base plan for the full list of episodes. Basically: Rough stuff what was going to be introduced in the episodes in terms of Digimon and new kinds of Evolutions. And over the next few weeks people basically managed to optimize the screenshots enough to actually make out some of the stuff.

And those preductions were somewhat spot on till episode 26 - when it suddenly veered into a completely different direction.

Now, the airing of Xros Wars already had some irregularities. Like, the airing schedule was kinda chaotic, with the show missing at times a month in airing. (Obviously, the Tokushima earthquake happening during the airing did not help this at all, because this lead to a lot of TV scheduling changes too.) And there was another thing that happened - or rather didn't happen.

And there is also the fact that Tetsuya Endo was going to be the main director, while Sanjo was supposed to write. And of course this was supposed to have 54 episodes.

And, well... It is not quite clear what has happened. But there was some fall out behind the scenes. And it is fairly clear that the entire Death Generals Arc was not planned the way it was eventually executed. While obviously we do not know how it was planned originally - we only ever had the new evolutions and the Digimon that were supposed to be introduced - there is some evidence based on the Digimon who were supposed to feature that probably the anime was closer to what happened in the manga eventually. We know at least that around episode 30 a Tailmon was to be introduced as an important character. And based on the Appmon manga, it is fairly likely that the Mangaka had been given a cliffnotes version of the plot that was supposed to happen in the anime at some point early on. While it might not have gone exactly that way, chances are, there would have been a lot more parallels than what we got in the eventual anime.

Now, the big question is what led to that change?

So, here is the other thing. The one I brought up earlier on. Digimon Xros Wars has a surprising lack of merchandise.

Digimon is after all just a commercial for toys. Sure, I love Digimon, chances are you love Digimon, but like Transfomers, Pokémon and Yokai Watch, it is just a toy commercial given a story. Which makes it weird how little merchandise Digimon Xros Wars got. Like, we got the Xros Loader toy, sure, we got a couple key chains some figures and one line of Gatcha Pon, yeah. But other than that? Xros Wars barely had any merchandise. Compared to the other Digimon seasons. Most notably, the last bit of merchandise came out in March 2011, while the show aired till March 2012. So for the last year of airing this show it was aired without any merchandise being there to speak off that it could market. Which is weird, right? Given that selling toys is the only reason this show exists.

Now, based on the manga and everything, I am fairly sure that the Crossover (or Xros Over, Badum-Tss) was always planned to be a part of Xros Wars in some way, though maybe not quite as directly as it was eventually implemented. (I mean, there was enough drama connected to that, too, given that the voice actress of Guilmon did not want to reprise, while she definitely did eventually return to Digimon for the Adventure remake. I still don't know what was up with that.)

And yeah. It is just... a bit weird.

I cannot proof how much of the weird change of pace in Xros Wars was related to just the Tohoku Earthquake and it just changing stuff around. But given that for the Death Generals Arc the show has this very drastic change of tone from "something that still felt kinda like Digimon" to "something that feels like some Ecchi show using the Digimon brand made in the 1990s", I am fairly sure that there was some disagreement over the direction of the show at some point - and that this lead to some changes behind the scenes.

And I also do think that the reason that we never got any merchandise for the latter stuff has been related to this. Because if I am right, there were two problems: The merchandise did no longer fit with the new direction of the show (mainly it featured different Digimon), and there were probably then also delays in production of alternative merchandise related to the earthquake happening.

I am also very certain that Xros Hunters were never supposed to happen. And mind you: I kinda do like Xros Hunters, because that felt a lot more like "Digimon" to me than the Death Generals Arc did.

I am still dying to know what the exact issue was. Like, was there a disagreement about direction? Or was it mainly really something that resulted from the entire earthquake and how it switched around programming and tone of different media? But yeah, at the very least Xros Wars had a troubled production. Presumably party due to "creative differences", and partly due to just pure bad luck in regards to when it happened to be airing. (I mean, lets face it. Konaka noted it even himself: Had Tamers been a show created for Americas, they never could have pulled of the finale that accidentally involved D-Reaper destroying Tokyo's twin towers in 2001.)

[meraki-sunset]

ur doc is literally nothing but shitty davejade overrated ass fanservice galore where all of the usesless boring ass side characters that nobody cares abt are brought back to life for no legit reason other than fanservice istg, and there’s also no legit way for sprites to even “””god tier””” anyway since they’re literally just made to be sprites for the players and not just some living person or whatever plus davepeta x Jade is better anyway since jade canonically kissed nepeta so yeah/neg

Sup dude, how’re you doing? I think you may have gotten the wrong idea.

I actually really love canon, I love the original story and if I had the chance to change it I wouldn’t. And I’m really looking forward to reading the rest of Homestuck2

I made this AU for fun. You know what fun is, right? Yeah, this is a corny AU where I make the ships I like happen, background characters are back to life and people talk their problems out instead of fighting that much, because I like writing dialog more than choreographing battles Because that’s the magic of AUs, you make shit that didn’t happen in canon happen in a different timeline. Because it’s justified kinda by happening in a different universe.

You can absolutely despise my comic, everybody have pieces of media they hate. But you should also touch some grass my guy, these characters aren’t real. I love them and I share my feelings through them, but at the end of the day, they’re pixels on a screen and words in a file.

Internet content isn’t everything. Take care.

[the-eeveekins]

Why The Witch From Mercury is Important to Me

This will be a long, somewhat rambling and mostly personal thread. It's not about the show's quality or any issues I had about it (and YES, the show is flawed and has issues), but about why G-Witch's characters and themes were important to me and I think many others. Most of this I've already shared to a degree, but I wanted to expand my original thoughts, and put them all into one post.

I've been a Gundam fan for over 20 years, I got into the series with Wing on Toonami and have watched the vast majority of the animated series. As a woman, I longed for the day Gundam would have a female main character in the spotlight of a major show, but honestly at some point I'd given up on it. I just thought that if they hadn't done it by now, they never would.

Then, last March, they released this short 30 second trailer revealing The Witch From Mercury, and showing off Suletta and Aerial, and I was ecstatic! Finally, a female MC in a Gundam series, I was so excited for a new Gundam series for the first time since 00! I watched that short clip countless times over the months in anticipation of the series airing, I even grew addicted to the little song that plays during it.

Over time, the characters and key art were revealed and I saw some people float the idea that maybe Suletta and Miorine would be love interests. I didn't pay it any mind at the time. I was sure they'd milk their relationship for bait along the way, but there was no way they'd commit to Gundam's first female MC being gay. Even after the first episode aired I was still skeptical: There was the bait I was expecting, they're not seriously going to go through with it though.

And here we are, almost 10 months after G-Witch started airing, and Suletta & Miorine are married. It not only wasn't bait, but they committed to it in a way I never would have imagined coming from a franchise I loved like Gundam. It was done with care and respect for the characters, it didn't feel like it was exploitative or added just for fanservice, but was a very real relationship.

I'll admit, I was initially among those disappointed we didn't see a kiss or the wedding at the end, but my greatest fear was the ending would be as ambiguous as possible, or even worse, walk back what we'd seen, so as not to offend people. Instead we got the sister-in-law line, the matching wedding rings, how close they were and they way they looked at each other with love and talking about going home together. We didn't see them kiss or see the wedding, but we got to see them married, and I think that's incredible.

As a gay woman, and a Gundam fan of over 20 years, Suletta is an immensely important character to me. Suletta and Miorine's relationship, and it being a central focus of the story, is immensely important to me. They're things I dreamed of having in Gundam, but never really thought would ever happen. I've been so happy about them for a long time now, but these last two days I've been so unbelievably happy that I was given their story. I love them so much and I'm never going to forget these two.

And this ties into why I think G-Witch has been important to so many people, regardless of how they feel about it's quality, because of it's representation and themes. Suletta, the main character of the show, is a queer, neurodivergent, disabled woman of color. She was well written, and she got to have a happy ending married to the woman she loves, where she's thriving and happy despite her mobility. She's not treated with pity or remorse, and she's still pursuing her dreams of making a school.

And not just Suletta, there were so many characters belonging to different minority groups that got strong representation and happy, satisfying endings. If you're a woman, if you're queer, if you're a POC, if you're any sort of ND, if you're disabled, The Witch From Mercury not only gave you good representation, but also said you're deserving of love, empathy and happiness.

With regard to it's themes, I absolutely love how G-Witch stressed love, empathy, compassion, acceptance and forgiveness over hate, vengeance, punishment and karma. Suletta and Miorine made many mistakes during their journey that they could never take back, but they accepted each other, including their mistakes, and resolved to move on together and makes amends for them if possible. Suletta never got mad at Miorine, Prospera or Eri for the things they did to her and she never blamed them, all she did was understand and accept why they did the things they did, and move forward with her love for them. She accepts the people she loves, mistakes and all, because of her unrelenting love and compassion for them.

Even Prospera, the main antagonist, ultimately rejected revenge for the sake of saving her daughter. She was a less than stellar parent to Suletta, and her actions lead to a heavy death toll, but ultimately Suletta accepted her and her actions to save Eri. And rather than go for an easy karmic death, she was allowed to have a happy ending: Eri was saved, and she's living a peaceful life with her family. A life that was robbed from her 24 years prior.

And ultimately, those themes are why we had an ending where literally no one died, and nearly every character got to have a happy ending. Gundam has always said that violence is bad, but The Witch From Mercury was the first to say "Alright, then we'll solve the problem without violence." We got a big magic spell that was a Gundam Pride Parade in space, and combined with Miorine's actions, events were resolved peacefully.

That's why G-Witch is important to me. It gave me and many others representation in ways you almost never get from a major franchise like Gundam, and without feeling like it was doing it to just check boxes off on some executive's diversity list. It stressed themes of love, empathy and acceptance and rejected hate, revenge, karma and even death. And I think that's incredibly important in this day and age. Representation Matters. Love Matters.

I've been very emotional over this show the last two days because I've been loving it for a while now, and while I'm sad to see it end, I'm so grateful that it happened, flaws and all. I've been crying on and off since the last episode ended and I've had trouble sleeping, but I've been so unbelievably happy over what this one show did and how much it's meant to me. The characters may not be real, but the happiness Suletta & Miorine have brought me is very much real.

For me; Suletta, Miorine, and The Witch From Mercury were truly a blessing.

[femkon]

opinions i have that maybe u should share

this is fully bc i was having a convo in a group chat that i think more people should know about

dont ship real people. this originally came up in an irl convo with someone im kinda friends with, and somehow we started talking Abt stray kids or smth, and she said something about shipping two of them and i immediately locked in and started telling her to not do that bc its weird to ship real people, specially celebrities. u dont know their life or their feelings. its also disrespectful to the people u r shipping. what if they like someone else but cant express it bc "the yaoi!!!". and maybe they do like each other, good for u, but if they dont, what then? fanservice? being awkward? its also bad for ppl u know. i will make exceptions if both ppl like each other and know the other likes them (smth in my friend group rn), bc then they actually reciprocate. but if u have friends and ur like "kiss, kiss, kiss, KISS, KISS, KISS!!!" they might start to distrust u, and distance themself from the other so they dont get shipped. its just disrespectful if they're real people. fictional? go wild long as its legal and not toxic.

respect ppl's beliefs. the amount of times my friends and i have had to remind this one dude (who I will call ay) that other people have different religions and political views is wild. even if u don't agree, its not worth getting in a fight. everytime someone around me is like "the day trump got elected was the greatest day for america" I'm like, "maybe for some, but ppl have differing opinions" while I wish I could spread my beliefs, but its a bit risky currently.

if ur not part of a group, do not speak for them. for example, Ay once started talking about choosing between Kamala and trump, and when asked why he chose trump, he talked about how trans women are just trying to sneak into women's restrooms or attack children and blah blah blah, and my response was, of course, "what stops men from doing that now? if someone was dead set on attacking women in restrooms, why would they transition for that?" how does this relate to the topic u may ask, but I then went with, "and I'm sure some generally are women. you're not trans, how do u know they aren't women and don't believe themselves to be?because because holy shit shut ur mouth, ur not a trans woman. I'm not either, complete oppisite actually (ftm), so I wouldnt speak for trans women. that'd be weird.

how u present does not equal ur gender. i personally present kinda femininely because i dont have a binder yet and still have a good amount of fem clothes, plus, extremely masc clothes are kinda ugly as shit. so u would probably look at me and think fem or enby. but that doesnt make me less of a guy. how u present doesnt make u any less of ur preferred gender or pronouns!!! u dont need to fit into the box that has been set for ur possible gender, because thats not made for u!!! u need to be u, not what ppl think of u. do what u want as long as it doesnt harm other or urself. present however u wanna, u know what u r and thats good enough <3

ur allowed to be basic. i see posts that r like "ure just like ever other bitch" and so what? every other bitch is hot. they look good. i dont care if its mainstream or some random tiktok subgenre, it is the clothes I wanna wear. what is ur problem with me liking clothes? u dont have to be unique. u dont have to be smth completely new. be like every other bitch. or don'. I'm not u. u r. who cares what i think? its ur body, ur outfit, and ur choice. not mine.

u dont have to know who u r. no matter if ur old, young, middle-aged, male, female, or smth in-between, u dont have to know. that is completely fine. u can be unlabled. u can be queer. it is whatever feels right to u. and if u dont know what feels right, u have a while to figure it out. ot maybe u never do. thats fine to. ur still u, and that's what matters. as long as u can not stress over it, it literally doesnt matter. be u. whether u is in a label or not.

i have more of these, but I'm now rlly irritated thinking of this, so I'm gonna stop before I smash my school laptop against the wall

[scrumptiousstuffs]

I do think everything plays a part in gmmtv not appreciating First and Khaotung as much as their other artists. The marketability is definitely different with them. They are both introverts, they don't do much fanservice or follow trends and do frequent updates, although there's some improvement there, thanks to Joong lets be real. Let's look at JD, they are both very loud, extroverts who are happy to "sell" themselves and know how to make people pay attention to them. And they do fanservice a lot, do valentines day updates together, play along, etc. Gmmtv actually prefers that. And I also believe sadly the rumors of their girlfriends play a part too, it feels almost like a punishment. It's really odd that they just left them out completely from their schedules. And First in response keeps posting about his recent Korea trip while his 'alleged' girlfriend also posted from her trip to Korea a couple weeks. I'm not saying I believe all those rumors but fans are quick to find those things and I don't think gmmtv likes that. It's really sad because an actors personal life shouldn't be a factor in things like that but it seems like in this industry it's important because there's money involved, people are invested in the CPs and the fantasy of it all. FK reach a different kind of audience than JD or FB or PS. A quieter, more laid back group who are not the best with trending on sm, but it almost feels like FK themselves are not really into all those things either? And I keep seeing people mention they're not being chosen for brand deals cause they don't fit thai beauty standards, which is honestly hard to believe, like how? But they do have a bigger international fandom than local.

Well anons, clearly you lot have many opinions on this matter 😅. Rant away, my inbox is always open lmao.

I’ll agree that FK tend to attract the ‘quieter’ fans - in fact, some casual fans of FK actually said in a nice joking manner that during LOLFanfest 2025 Thai Soms tend to come and give out merch quietly to other fans and just scurry away without talking or interacting much 😂….

I always get the feeling GMMTV as a company don’t t know what to do with FK beyond their obvious acting talent- extrovert like JD (bless them, I do love their superbly unhinged fanservice hehe…) and PP/GF/PS/WE do better cause these artists self-promote themselves in very obvious manners. Even JimmySea who are a quieter CP promote themselves better? (Their brand exploded after Last Twilight ☺️)

Case in point….Joong and Fourth being talked on recently as young Thai stars that luxury brands should have on their radars. Dunk was also recently on the cover magazine/photoshoot for Rowena baggage (I’m pretty sure this is some fancy luggage brand 🤔)

I will also say some Soms are just too critical, almost to the point of hypocrisy? 2nd anon, unfortunately it’s true - some fans tagged the boys and brands when they blasted those brands. Like I say, I get it - you pay a lot of money to see the boys, but well, it doesn’t look good for the boys when these happened? (And it makes me wonder cause these brands also employ other boys from GMMTV like the recent Dunk MELA event, and previously Perth - we don’t see their fans criticising, or maybe I’m just not aware of them 🫣)

As for KT not being interested in fashion, oh I think he is. His style (and First) are actually quirky with a side of cuteness (but I don’t know whether their style speaks to Thai luxury brands). I personally like their styles (from the accessories they chose etc.) - an insider in the fashion industry maybe able to shed some light to this? Maybe the boys themselves don’t want to tie to specific brands cause it might mean they are restricted in what they could wear (i.e limiting their artistic sense?)

Although, I will say this - when FKT were younger they did some self-photoshoots (here, have some vampire looking Khaotung 😂) - I don’t think they do this anymore (not surprising, this take money and a lot of effort to coordinate, and I remember Mix said when he and Earth did their Songkran photoshoot, it was expensive!)

As for this trending business, it’s a double edge sword isn’t it? Personally, I think I will leave it up to the individuals to do what they want. I will say this upfront (I say this previously in a different ask) - I do not think CFC will get as much tweet as we did for THK though (we as a group are just not as organised as a lot of other fandoms hahah) - THK trended well largely in part due to the military precision of Joong Archen Trend official account (😂👌 - got to admire the tenacity of the person behind that account!)

But trending well doesn’t mean it’s a good series though, especially now when 1/2 of the tweets are meaningless affirmations or useless games that has nothing to do with the series itself. Whether trending well translates to the artists themselves getting jobs…well, I mentioned in the previous ask I find it interesting despite OF/THK considered a success - not all actors achieve the same level of exposure…

[meruhenshoujo]

I saw you reblog one of my posts and I went to check out your blog and I gotta ask: what’s the name of that kind of 80-90s style anime you post about often and what is it about? From the looks of your reblogs and posts it sounds super interesting 🩷

Hi! I tag meticulously, so you'll find the name of the show and characters and everything in the tags of each post! ;3; Unless I'm reblogging something I literally know nothing about, untagged posts are not the norm on my blog at all.

Most likely, you mean Idol Densetsu Eriko. ^^ It's a very popular eighties anime [mangaka like Togashi Yoshihiro referenced it in their works] that still gets aired today in Arabic-speaking countries and was also popular in several European countries, but sadly, was never dubbed into English. It's the last anime subtitled by Doll of Licca fansubs, the focus of which was old [often shoujo] anime. ^^ And what a final project it was!

[This image taken from this post by @yyh4ever.]

This is an idol anime, but a very down-to-earth one. No magical girl transformations. The closest thing to supernatural elements is when Eriko first performs, some cameramen see a "fairy light" glowing about her... and twice, you see her father's spirit, which his family seems to sense...

Oh, this isn't spoiling things, Eriko is a rich, naive, but honest and earnest heir to a wealthy family--her father, Tamura Yuusuke, runs Tamura Productions and her mother, Tamura Minako, is a retired singer. Eriko goes to a prestigious and strict girl's school that doesn't allow anything so salacious as makeup... she lives a charmed life and enjoys regular school days with her friends, girlish Asami and tomboyish biker Yasuko.

But in her very first episode, tragedy strikes. Eriko loses both her parents to a traffic accident--her father dies and her mother slips into a coma. Only fourteen springtimes young, Eriko is suddenly alone, apart from her family's loyal driver Karasawa and kindly maid Yuki.

Yuusuke, her father, was the younger, but more accomplished brother. Now that he's dead, his often overshadowed older brother, Kousuke, can rise to the top, claiming Tamura Productions and Yuusuke's fortune!

Eriko, having no other living relatives, it seems, ends up in the care of her greedy uncle, who immediately exploits Eriko's talents when he realizes what a good singer she is.

If you enjoy old shoujo anime with a plucky, idealistic protagonist who does her best to grin and bear whatever life throws at her and pushes onward even if her heart is breaking, who inspires others with her honesty and determination, you'll enjoy Eriko. You'll also enjoy Eriko if you like beautiful songs (the real-life Tamura Eriko who was herself only 15 when she recorded these songs, adding authenticity, although some have troubling lyrics... sigh, the 80's)! You'll also enjoy Eriko even if you dislike the idol industry (for better or worse, as sweet as the protagonist is, the world around her can be cruel--from paparazzi, scandals, and dirty old men who harrass young idols and face zero repercussions at all as their behaviour is both a public secret and made light of...)! If you love the sweetly nostalgic and sentimental, heartwarming stories in older anime, you'll love Eriko. If you love coming of age / end of childhood stories, you'll love Eriko. If you love well-written rivals and girls of opposite personalities with very different backgrounds becoming friends, you'll love Eriko and Rei (who is both a rival and something of a secondary protagonist in her own right--she gets a lot of focus episodes and backstory.)

Also, there are cute puppies. Pianissimo and Fortissimo do not speak, they have no great bearing on the plot, they are just adorable, furry little moral support and comic relief.

Dock points if you dislike mild fanservice of young characters (very brief panty shots [think 90's Sailor Moon with its many upskirt scenes], never gratuitous or the focus of scenes, but it's definitely there--Eriko's clothes are just short but otherwise mostly appropriate, Rei is the one in more sexualized and revealing clothes, although she's 16, so not a minor by many countries' standards, but by U.S. standards, she is--I'm warning just in case that's a dealbreaker for you!)

There might be some age gap romances too, I don't remember the age difference between one affianced rich couple, but it's overall light on romance and a lot of it is one-sided pining. I'm on the last two episodes and there has only been a single kiss between two characters close in age, pfft.

[lilac-melody]

Anyway, so this was basically Hiyori's anti-fan song and Nonfantasy 2.0.

Most of the song takes place in Hiyori's head- imagining herself as a peasant girl along with lipxlip's Juliettas.

"To every girl, make sure you stay as far away as you can! Make sure you don't catch the infection." Hiyori looks like she's cringing so hard it's physically painful for her...and the lyrics right after are literally "get away from me!"

Followed by this we got the dream of her imagining Aizou and Yujiro doing princely things. The lyrics are as follows:

"This can't be! That's cheating! It's dishonest and unfair!! You don't take responsibility for their feelings for you!! Too much! It's dangerous! So risky and insane!! Cunning is the "power of idols" Still, I can't help it... I need to accept this is how it is."

And then she wakes up with a shocked and mildly terrified expression on her face.

While someone like Chuutan would be crying she woke up from her dream, Hiyori acts as a nice foil against that, knowing what they're really like and, unfortunately, working with them so often she has to see their princely persona and ends up dreaming about it against her will. (And come on, who doesn't have work nightmares?)

The next part of the song is basically Hiyori realizing that, hey, idols get depressed too, they're still people, and realizing that she can't really help them, because...well, I've already gone over lipxlip's relationship here, so if you want to read that, I'd go there afterwards.

This part I think is particularly important because it doesn't take place in her dreams. This is real life. Hiyori tries to offer something to cheer them up (ala some drinks they like). But they completely ignored her, as the lyrics say.

It's sad, but they just won't rely on her for their emotional baggage. You're doing your best Hiyori, just move on...

"Sometimes, their kindness can be a little scary"

I know this is part of Hiyori's dream, but honestly I'm not seeing how this is seen as "aww cute"...anyone showing an ounce of kindness to her, she gets flustered over. To me personally, this reminds me of this moment from HeroineDev...

She superficially fell for Asuka's kindness. And the relationship went absolutely nowhere. Much like how it would be (confirmed by Shito back in 2021 I think it was?) if Hiyori really had actually fallen for lipxlip.

Which, again, who doesn't have nightmares about work?

Afterwards we get more straight bait fanservice while Hiyori sings about how deceitful Aizou and Yujiro are to their fans because their princely persona isn't them. And then it ends off with her singing:

"It's so frustrating but... I'm just as excited as everyone else."

It could be read as "proof Hiyori's falling in love" if you're looking at it through a lhyo shipper lense, but if you're paying attention to the relationship between Hiyori and lxl as a whole, it could easily be seen as "idols are really cool", something that Hiyori has canonically said in the novels. She knows how hard they work and she knows they can charm anyone. That is what Hiyori is referring to.

She doesn't particularly want to be their fan, but she does want to support them. Much like how friends support each other, but still very different from the intimate ways Aizou and Yujiro support each other.

My point is actually proven correct ^ when we see the very next frames.

"This isn't something just anyone can do You need to put in the effort and hardwork."

Hiyori, who is a hard worker herself, admires their hard work and dedication to their fans...which is precisely why the song is her screaming at them for deceiving them lmao.

At the end of the day though, Aizou and Yujiro are still her friends, who get weirded out when she expresses her support towards them.

Or if she's just daydreaming.

The night and day difference between her imagining them doing fanservice in her mind and real life is really...something.

Look how utterly annoyed they look at her for zoning out.

This isn't a cute "I'm falling for my coworkers and daydreaming about them" scenario. This is her trying to imagine them as princes and them not knowing it.

Hiyori is their friend and suspectable to an active imagination. Not just in the MVs but in the novels as well.

And I think it says a lot about their relationship that all of the fanservice is strictly in Hiyori's perspective.

When lipxlip have a fanservice song, they either use Narumi Sena, or just a random girl. But when it's Hiyori imagining them doing the fanservice, it's all in her head. HeroIdol and Nonfantasy are literal proof of this.

It is extremely onesided.

Aizou and Yujiro care for Hiyori- this is undeniable. However, they do not like her in that way. Not only has Aizou canonically stated he doesn't get involved with girls outside of work, but they just don't see her in that light.

I mean, in every single lxl song that included Hiyori, like Kono Sekai or Last Stage, she's there for like 2 small frames and it's her being in the background or trying to stop them from fighting. They never once had a frame where they're talking to her and ignoring the other or venting to her.

She's their "work friend" who they've hung out with like twice outside of work. They only contact her in emergencies.

That's not to say they don't support Hiyori and her dreams, because they do. They support her in finding someone who will take care of her (ie: Nagisa) because they care about her, and they don't see her in that way.

And given that the time skip in HeroHei and Sukiuso shows Hiyori and Nagisa attending the same uni...yeah.

Also, I would like to point out that in HeroIdol, Hiyori thinks of herself as just a peasant girl among the (fake) princes. It's like a metaphor for saying "they're out of my league even though they're really awful". Not a good look for her or for lipxlip, honestly.

But in Herohei, she sees herself as a Cinderella who's worthy of being a heroine. Meanwhile, Sukiuso is about Nagisa saying she's better than Cinderella and she's always been a heroine.

TMK did all three MVs, and I think this was a deliberate choice to show everyone how unhealthy one would be, while the other blossoms naturally.

Not once has Hiyori imagined herself as a princess around lipxlip. Her insecurities come out when she's around them because they poke fun at her too often. (Beat they ass, Nagisa)

The Omoiai album, which is where HeroIdol came from, is about various different relationships. While Aizou and Yujiro's are familial, Hiyori's was a unique one. A, as I've said above, anti-fan song.

Which goes directly against Chuutan's fan songs.

I think it's important to have them both, and I like that we get the perspective of Chuutan, someone who genuinely sees them as princely, and Hiyori, who cringes when she sees their prince-sonas.

And it is important to note that we never get lipxlip's perspective- knowing they find their over excited fans annoying, and only see Hiyori as a friend. Otherwise she would be in more of their MVs and not just a background character.

I think too many people forget to realize that if they were going into a relationship, then we need them to say "yeah I'm falling for her" and not just Hiyori, when she's known to fall into little delusions. (And no, I don't mean that in a negative way)

IN SHORT: No, lhiyo is not canon, and this song was just an anti-fan song.

[muthaz-rapapa]

Mirai Days: MahoPre was better

I always thought that the terms "second season" and "sequel" could be used interchangeably.

But now I see why they shouldn't. In the case of Mirai Days, it's definitely more accurate to call it a second season of MahoPre rather than a full-fledged sequel.

A sequel would come with expectations to do better than its prequel and actually rise up to that challenge.

Season 2 (3, 4, 5, etc), on other hand, just continues from where the previous season stopped.

Of course, that's not to say the next season can't be better because that does happen for a lot of series.

But I dunno. Surprisingly, these 12 episodes got me doing the opposite of what it intended. I appreciated MahoPre a lot more because I found Mirai Days quite dull to sit through.

And it's weird because I wholeheartedly agree with Mirai Days' message to not be so trapped in the happiness of the past that you can't face the future.

The writers had a great idea to work off of with that moral. But the execution of it was poor and it kinda showed in how halfhearted everything felt in between the first and penultimate episodes (I say penultimate because half of ep 12 was just fanservice).

The production quality was all over the place (look at that screencap above, and it was for the finale too), the script was lacking in innovation and the plot basically lifted the format of the first season and condensed its story into one cour.

I can't be the only one who noticed, right?

For the first half of Mirai Days, Mirai and Riko were responsible for looking after Hisui just like they did they with baby Ha-chan.

Ire was the main antagonist for those six episodes, then got booted out by an even bigger villain (Chronosto) just like Dokurokushe and his minions got replaced by Deusmast and its kin.

At this point, Hisui disappears back into Ha-chan so that Ha-chan can finally enter the plot just like how Ha-chan evolved from her baby form to become Cure Felice and join Miracle and Magical in MahoPre.

And then the rest is history. They defeat the evil boss (Deusmast/Chronosto) for good, go through a temporary separation (6 years in MahoPre, maybe 5 minutes in space??) but reunite in the end.

Honestly, doing something similar isn't a bad thing but like I said with the updated transformation sequences, it can come off as uninspired if it's too much the same.

Moreover, Mirai Days didn't have what MahoPre did which was all the heartwarming moments and development that were spread out across 50 episodes, making the overall viewing experience of the first season feel more fulfilling.

I think Mirai Days could've benefited by showing more of the girls' growth into adults but in a different way than OtonaPre where the Yes5 girls were already established in their adulthoods.

For example, instead of having Riko take off from teaching to be full-time magical girl for a few weeks, they could've explored the difficulties of her being a teacher in real time instead of in flashbacks.

Mirai as well. It seems college is almost inconsequential for her. She's shown to be attending as she's expected to for her age but we never get any idea into what her major is or what her dreams are now that she's 20. That was one of the flaws of her character during the first season but could be forgiven since she was only 13 at the time.

Now, well, it's nice the best qualities of her haven't changed but you still gotta show more changes than just getting older, y'know.

(I'm not going to include Ha-chan in this discussion cuz she's a mother friggin' goddess so she can do whatever the hell she wants 😂)

As for Mirai and Riko's relationship which is the main selling point of this show, they could've kicked up some drama there as well. With scheduling conflicts, work/school-life balance, different careers or goals leading to different lifestyles (that cause those scheduling conflicts), etc. I find that much more interesting to delve into than watching the same old formula that we already get in the main tv series (btw, just wanted to say that KimiPre is very good so far 😉).

Admittedly, that might take time away from the magical girl part which I know we must keep because it's still Precure, after all. But you can certainly think of more creative ways to portray that without compromising the newer aspects of a new story.

I mean, one of the reasons I liked OtonaPre so much was how the writers were able to integrate Precure duties back into the Yes5 (and Splash Star) girls' responsibilities without completely disrupting their own lives.

In Mirai Days, the Maho girls pretty much had to drop everything to chase down monsters so the outcome became predictable and therefore, was no longer exciting.

Yea, we did get bits of slice-of-life here and there but I stand by my argument because scraps aren't enough for me.

Then there's the new cast, who were quite underused.

Sometimes the antagonist is what makes a story. Since the girls were probably not going to contribute anything drastic to the plot on their own, you'd have to rely on an outside factor to come in and shake things up a little.

Ire could've been that, a complex villain (way more than Chronosto, that's for sure). He already had a somewhat sympathetic motive to drive him towards malevolent deeds and could've been been set up for redemption but it seems the writers lost interest in him and took the easy route with the more generic villain.

Next is Hisui. Even if she is meant to be Ha-chan's successor in the future, they could've done a bit more with her as well. Fleshed her out into someone more distinct of Ha-chan.

But nope, she was mostly there to be Ha-chan's temp placeholder and to prove that Ha-chan can reincarnate like Mother Rapapa did, that's all.

So I'm not sure why they wanted to promote her so bad at the beginning when her character is just standard at best and barely memorable at worst.

Finally, for all the razzle dazzle explosions in the finale, it was rather narmy.

Even more cringey than "Sapphire Smartish" which on the bright side, wasn't shown but on the down side, wasn't shown so we don't get an upgraded Sapphire attack, aww 🥺

But yea, I dunno. Maybe because I'm watching Precure on a regular basis that I no longer find the magical part of the magical girl genre special anymore.

So it's becoming harder for me to be impressed or pleased with most of what the studios put out these days. Especially if the producers choose guaranteed profit through fanservice and favoritism (yea-huh ⤴️) over potentially better storylines.

At least I'm handling the disappointment better than I would have two years ago but...it's still sad knowing I'm always going to expect disappointment going forward ☹️

Anyways, overall, Mirai Days wasn't terrible. It was just passable.

If you enjoyed it, great!

But if you didn't, that's fine. It's not the end of the world.

Can we expect more adult Precure seasons in the future after this, though?

Well, I certainly hope so. Mirai Days may have been a miss for me but that doesn't mean others won't be a hit so it all depends on how Toei approaches their next projects in this area of the franchise.

Precure is currently the biggest active magical girl series in the world. It would be a waste if they didn't take it as far as it can go.

[storkmuffin]

Hello again! I really love picking your brain and hearing your perspective on Seonghwa since he is one of the most interesting idols I’ve ever experienced so any and all information you have harbored and would like to share, I would love to read about!

His onstage persona and offstage persona are so different, which I am sooo glad you brought up along with the voice change. That’s originally why I mentioned why I’m in the in between about him and being actually queer or not since I know at the end of the day to some degree he has a job to maintain and popularity is part of that. He also comes across very clever so maybe the cynical reasoning has some weight to this discussion in terms of standing out. I guess I am just genuinely curious about the general perception of Seonghwa especially in Korea versus their very large international base of fans that feen off of the mlm fan service. How Seonghwa presents himself is very intriguing and makes me naturally curious of who he is since it seems like he has many interesting layers.

I’m getting off topic but he has also posted tidbits of the community like flags and such but I wish idols in general could be more open about their support or truly being in the community rather than leaving crumbs for people to make assumptions but in the same breath I understand and respect their boundaries of privacy since so much of themselves is up for display to the public so keeping what part of their life that they can to themselves is completely understandable.

To sum it up, I think Seonghwa is a very very intriguing person to be in the spotlight and I really love his progression and can’t wait to see what the future beholds for him and his members! Thank you for openly sharing your opinion and answering my questions so thoroughly! I hope I didn’t impose at all and I look forward to you posting more about Seonghwa!

I really appreciate the chance to go off about Ateez! It's not an imposition !!

Paying attention to kpop is basically like choosing to follow a sport, for Koreans. Kind of how if you're a men's baseball team fan, you will probably have no idea wtf is going on in the women's volleyball world, right? Just like sports, there are going to be people who become 'breakout stars' and become famous with the general public- Suzy comes to mind.

Ateez, as a band, has gotten mainstream news coverage for their Billboard success and being invited to perform at important American festivals and stuff, but the Korean general youtube public will put comments underneath those news clips going, Who the heck is this? By contrast, everyone knows who Yunchan Lim the pianist is, even if they don't really listen to classical music.

Because of this, I don't know if there IS a 'general perception' of Seonghwa or what he's doing. Seonghwa is a major deal to the fans of Ateez that will compete to the death to go to the fan meetings or concerts or music show recordings, but he's not a generally famous person.

The MLM fanservice is considered just the for-girls version of having the very slender girl pop singers wear super tight short skirts and doing twerking movements for their male fans. It's catering to the twin and contradictory needs of the boy idol fandom: they want to see the boys 'doing' romance and flirting, but not for real (bc homophobia), and not with women (bc it breaks the self-insert fantasy). It's sort of the compromise the industry came up with, to have the guys play at romantic connection with each other. My general impression is that previous generations of pop idols didn't like that this was being asked of them but from 4th Gen onwards, either they started looking for people who would tolerate it or the performers just accepted this as part of the job. The public narrative is that because the 'most perverse' women fans who spend the most money on Idols want this weird thing, the performers have to take it on as a cost of doing business, but everyone in every boy band is a super straight guy who wants to marry a woman and have 2.5 kids. It's a 2-for-1 attack, actually, of homophobically erasing queer signalling and queer people being in the arts or public figures AND misogynistically expressing contempt for women who like content that isn't catering to straight men.