#guy has some seriously concerning foreshadowing going on

[runabout-river]

Thoughts on JJK chapter 243 (Spoilers)

Can you believe that some people seriously say that JJK is predictable???

Anyway, Gege subverted the BoBo theory by cutting right to the end and finishing the Takaba "fight" with 4 chapters. The end of the last chapter did feel like this one would be the finale (so Gege is consistent in his writing) but I believed in the BoBo theory too when I heard it 😤

Kenjaku and Takaba make their duo sketch and it was funny to read but I personally never watch this type of (Japanese) show so it was a little left field for me.

There were also these three judges(?) who I'm reasonably sure are real people. Like, look at that face! It has way too much detail and that guy has 5x more of a nose than Gojo.

I'm going to take these tidbits of information as true for Kenjaku's character. That guy lacks a backstory, so now he (or she) grew up without a father and (s)he doesn't eat anything that someone else has touched. Canon

Is this true foreshadowing or is Gege playing with our expectations again? As far as Gojo was concerned, they had to have him go solo but for the rest 🤔 And for Kenjaku too they went one after the other but at least here it seems to have worked

And on the sign the woman is holding: Take your stitches off is just the SFW version of take your clothes off but more morbid because it's Kenjaku 😂

In 4 chapters only, Gege created a brand-new relationship dynamic between Takaba and Kenjaku. It's really impressive actually and adds so much to Kenjaku's character. The last time we saw him this personable was with the Disaster Curses and that's been a long time

Now right here comes the fucking twist!

The good guys made the right play! Their plan succeeded! Kenjaku lost his head! (And somehow he still has air from somewhere to talk)

But this feels so early that I have doubts that it really happened like this. It feels like Kenjaku's story still needs to be told and that he should've had an actual fight before he died.

So some thoughts:

Kenjaku is only a brain. Can his brain be transferred to a new body like this?

What if Takaba doesn't want his new buddy to die? What if he puts Kenjaku's head in a glass cylinder and walks off with him and as long as he's funny Kenny lives on?

Who tf is going to inherit his will? Kenjaku has absolutely no one around him to do that for him. It's not Choso, he wanted to kill that son, so could it be Yuji?

I doubt that it's Yuji. He's too unpredictable except Kenjaku meant his will being passed on more as a bomb that will go off and not a person to finish his plans

Could Kaori, Yuji's mother, or maybe even his father come back into play here? Or maybe another offspring from him.

If Kenjaku is really dead right now, then the backstory that's missing of him will most likely come with a flashback or a Kenjaku centric chapter where we'll hear his thoughts about everything

Toji didn't kill Geto in HI because he didn't know what would happen with the curses he kept in his body. That circumstance is back again, so it could happen that an unbelievable amount of curses are going to get loose

I just wrote my theory on a potential short term revival of Nanami. At the end, on why that wouldn't happen at this time, I said that he wasn't needed because 90% of the good guys don't have anything to do right now. They only had 3 villains! Not even fodder was there to fight! But with the potential of hundreds of curses roaming free and a new villain, Nanami might get needed in the future

In the end, Gege does his own unbelievably unpredictable things and I'm all here for it.

[clinically-obssessed]

A New Interpretation of the Puzzle Pieces Song

It's been over a year since I actually watched the episode the Puzzle Pieces song comes from, but it came up on my Spotify yesterday, and listening to it again I realized just how messed up it is. I think the song is foreshadowing Roman's break from the group in a big way. Though on a surface level it seems like it reinforces the group's friendship and helps them talk through their problems, a closer reading reveals the cracks beneath the facade and how Roman in particular is being ignored.

To begin with, the song is started off by Roman, who is responding directly to the conflict between himself and Logan. The lyrics are related clearly to the immediate situation before them, and Logan's initial interjection ("Another song? Really?") demonstrates that the conflict between them has not yet been resolved (which is, of course, the purpose of the song). However, Patton and Virgil immediately jump in and start talking about their own problems, distracting from the original conflict and drawing all of the attention to themselves. After each of their verses, Roman gives a spoken expression of pity, showing that the two have successfully deflected the attention to themselves. I'm sure you guys have met those people who have to make every problem pertain to them somehow. If you ever talk about something you've dealt with, they'll start talking about how they had to go through something even worse. That's the vibe I'm getting from this song's structure.

Next, we come to Roman's part, which he prefaces by asking permission to join in. It's his song; he started it to address his own conflict, and the others have completely taken over and made it about them. He then tries (albiet in a tactless manner) to express his frustration with the group "not getting" him, likely a response to the fact that they've commandeered his song and paid little attention to what he was trying to say. Thomas, Virgil, and Patton then start psychoanalyzing him. They blame his feelings on the fact that he is feeling "low" rather than entertaining the possibility that they could be at fault too. This, of course, only serves to exacerbate Roman's frustration. This, too, can be understood more clearly when you think about your own life. Have you ever gotten into an argument with someone and, rather than respond to what you are actually saying, they just start talking about you as a person? We've all met armchair psychologists, and they can be really annoying because they never seem to listen. That's what's going on with Virgil, Patton, and Thomas - they have already decided that Roman's attitudes toward them are a result of some deeper psychological state and not because of their own failure to listen to him.

Finally, I want to address three passive-aggressive remarks from the trio of terror which highlight their devaluation of Roman.

"In almost any case, we embrace you" - The way "almost" is emphasized in this sentence draws attention to the fact that the group's acceptance is conditional, and there are exceptions. If someone said this to me, my first thought would be "almost any case? What does that mean?" Of course, in real life, almost every relationship will be conditional (would you still be friends with someone if they murdered your family?), but you wouldn't feel the need to emphasize that unless you wanted them to watch their behavior. Roman hasn't done anything seriously worthy of scorn, so they mustn't be too concerned with him violating those conditions, unless either they have much more strict & overreaching requirements of Roman than they are suggesting or they simply want him to believe he should not speak out about his feelings.

"No one hates you" - "Not hate" and love are two very different things. It reminds me of when people say "Yeah, I can tolerate your sexuality, but don't do it around me." It has that connotation of grudging pseudo-acceptance. Yeah, Roman, we think you're an annoying sad-sack, but at least we don't hate you.

"Everybody has flaws, but with no you at all, I'm incomplete" - The phrasing of this is ambiguous. Is "everybody" referring to Roman or Thomas? I think the most obvious interpretation is that "everybody has flaws" refers to Roman's supposed negative emotions, but the second half of the sentence is referring to Thomas on the whole, which implies that "everybody" could also be referring to Thomas. If read this way, it seems like a real backhanded compliment, as he is essentially calling Roman a flaw. It's how you'd expect him to talk about the Dark Sides.

Now, this more cynical reading of the song is clearly not the interpretation most people (myself included) would have on the first listen. Someone who disagrees with this interpretation could argue that the song really is supposed to be uplifting and resolve some of the tension between the characters. There are a few major points of objection that I anticipate:

The song is not Roman's specifically and was always intended to be about all of the characters. The strongest evidence for this is that at the end of Roman's first verse, he states that "we lash out at our loved ones / disregarding our bond's sanctity", a line which suggests that the song's overall topic is about friendship and working through emotions that may challenge it. Read in this light, it is practically an invitation for the others to chime in with their own verses pertaining to that topic. However, I would point to the centrality of Logan's objections to and within the song (as Logan's conflict with Roman was the original thing that triggered it) as evidence that really it is supposed to be about the direct conflict between Roman and Logan. Furthermore, the fact that Roman is the only character who asks permission to sing is a deliberate detail that demonstrates his own feelings of ostracism, even though he is the one who started singing in the first place.

The other characters are right about the reason behind Roman's lashing out. After all, the beginning verse of the song frames the issue as one that is about "lashing out at loved ones" because "the problems at play are not all plain to see," which encourages a more psychological reading of Roman & Logan's conflict. When he objects to their characterization of his actions as a consequence of his sadness, he responds with typical tough guy responses because he is trying to save face. With that being said, I am still inclined to see it as a way for the others to avoid admitting wrongdoing and sweep his feelings under the rug. It is undoubtedly true that Roman said what he did because he feels bad, but the reason he feels bad is not obscure at all because he says it outright - it is because he feels like the others don't get him. Rather than engage seriously with this point, however, the others immediately become defensive. Though he formulated it in a way that comes across as arrogant ("I'm just too fab for you fools"), what he said is not a grave insult. The other three deliberately focus on the first part rather than his real point ("I feel like you don't get me"). Furthermore, the initial statement that the problems at play are not all plain to see may not refer to the fact that they are not clear to Roman himself, but rather that the rest of the group fails to see them.

The three "passive aggressive" statements are being read uncharitably and are simply responses to what they perceive to be Roman's issue. The others seem to believe that Roman thinks they are out to get him, and that is why they say that they embrace him and no one hates him. The flaw being referred to in the final quote is Roman's flaw of being overly paranoid, and the second part of the lyric is intended to reinforce that Roman is still part of the group. At best, though, this still demonstrates that the others are not listening to Roman. His issue is not that he thinks they hate him, it's that he feels misunderstood, and Virgil, Patton, and Thomas seem to have overreacted. The inclusion of "almost" is still weird. The line could easily have been "No matter what you say, we embrace you" or "No matter what the case, we embrace you." The qualifier of "almost" did not have to feature at all, but the delivery of that lyric places so much emphasis on that particular word.

To sum it all up, I think the song "Puzzle Pieces" is foreshadowing a greater conflict between Roman and the rest of the group, perhaps even suggesting that he will duck out. Though it has a seemingly innocent and wholesome theme about friendship and acceptance, a closer look reveals that these are being used to cover up the flaws within the dynamic and avoid seriously confronting Roman's feelings.

[mephiles-the-jester]

rewatching wreck it ralph the worldbuilding is actually insane for how many worlds there are to build i love it,,time for some random thoughts while i watch the movie in a single post

i like felix and ralph,and i think with the scene in the hallway on its own people can see felix not liking ralph but when you see him next to the nicelanders its clear he really does want to let ralph into the anniversary party when he comes,he doesnt want to tell him to leave despite how everyone doesnt want him there, i think inversely to how ralph finds it difficult to break from being the 'bad guy', felix finds it difficult to break from being the 'good guy',, or smth like that idk,,,

other thing, i love how the movie treats vanellope,like she's a child and so silly but shes also a strong parallel to ralph and it takes her seriously for it, i don't know why ive noticed that but its really cool to think about. it might be a while since ive watched movies with a child protagonist like her but i noticed it and i appreciate how shes not written off as just a child ralph just relates to, because she gets what its like for ralph and she knows it

no huge thoughts on felix and calhoun i love them both,also god i with that were me,,,(both of them)

also ive been thinking this for years and i must come out and say it now that i have the chance,,but king candys warning to ralph i think is the movie's best example of how much it succeeded with its storytelling and with both its princess vanellope reveal and its turbo motivation reveal. because vanellopes glitch getting the game put out of order when players see it, and her not being able to escape the cabinet being unplugged are,,like actual concerns if she was a regular racer,like if she wasnt a princess and an actual game anomaly than that scenario might happen, because she really cant escape the game when the cybugs do come, and she does retain her glitch ability when she enters the roster,,. and it makes ralph destroying her kart more sad than infuriating because you know as much as him and that he wants to keep her out of danger, and despite king candy being an antagonist,the audience isnt told why he truly doesnt want her in the race, and he gives a realistic explanation to ralph of a series of events that could threaten vanellope, and mislead the audience while giving foreshadowing. after all, turbo does have experience glitching a game into getting unplugged,,so,,,

also while writing this ralph telling king candy that the players will love vanellope and king candy going "and if they dont",,,im gonna hit that candy cane stripped ass mf 12 yards across a willy wonka world of imagination,,,with glasses

damn this movie look gorgeous the scene of ralph talking to gene with the orange out of order sign is beautiful,,

i think when i first watched the movie i thought it was unfair that vanellope had a built in power up in the form of glitching around when she gets added to the roster,but candlehead can turn cherries nearby into bombs so ill accept that,,i would play a real game of this tbh

i love turbo and ralph/felix recognising the other immediately since they were literally neighbours when turbo was plugged in, and you can even notice it in the salmon castle when king candy cane recognise ralph despite the audience getting the vibe that he just stays in sugar rush,(he has to because he probably has his disguise only in that game)

vanellope keeping her glitching is great for the disability allegory of her character, becoming a princess doesnt magically solve what happened to her code being disconnected like that and thats fine, she just becomes an absolutely busted racer that all the players are gonna use and i love that for her

the characters who got their game unplugged being invited to a bonus level is so funny,they dont even have to deal with copyright its perfect

in conclusion: wreck it ralph i think has become a favourite movie of mine

[llycaons]

ep12: why doesn't anyone ever gif the manure scene?

I had such a great time watching this episode. it may be one of my favorites. it's funny. there's important relationship beats between the wens and wwx. there's drama. there's foreshadowing. the kids are not having a good time, but it's not so dire as to be painful to watch. lwj being wounded adds a flair to his character. and it has some nice wwx moments

he says this, and I believe he means it. he just can't help himself I fear

STAY AWAY FROM HER

ohhh bundled herbs from the ceiling

maybe one of the first Great Wei Wuxian Moments. god this was so funny. starting with the smirk at lwj like 'look what I'm about to do baby' such a showoff. and then the stretching. sob. I can't believe more people weren't in love with him

I read somewhere that wwx reciting the lan rules was like an injoke to the rest of the kids - they all shared this experience together than wen chao didn't. it's a reminder of a happier time, a reminder that they're all in this together. it makes jc roll his eyes, but jzx fights a smile

see, wwx complained about CR being strict and unfair, and it was, but they weren't at risk of this kind of physical violence or threats against their family. the food was apparently good. the lans were highly respected and the students learned important lessons about cultivation. although it seemed stressful at the time, it was probably the last extended period of time they were all safe and in a stable position. I mean, compared to being at the mercy of wen chao? man's a maniac. in CR they got to go to lantern festivals and weren't locked in their quarters

he's just very funny in this pose. and then they get called for MANURE DUTY and they're all like

THEY'RE ALL SO UPSET. LWJ IS SO MAD. HELP. wwx is like 'oh my god lan zhan. omg im sorry baby I never planned on this' lmao it's just manure. these rich guys could do a lot worse. it doesn't even smell that bad. and yeah I know I said in the past wwx is a sweetheart guy well now I think he's a baby guy

this visual is so funny

wwx standing up for himself 🥰🥰🥰🥰 god he is so badass he just grabbed that whip out of thin air. that would be a defining scene for a minor character but he does cooler shit on a daily basis so it's just a footnote

JZX STANDING UP FOR WWX! I seriously think in an AU where things didn't go to shit, they would have gotten along after growing up a bit

lwj was so ready to go into that dungeon with him but wwx refused...

HELLO ANIMATRONIC DOG!!!!!

you can't tell in a screenshot, but these walls are shaking as wwx pounds them in a way that makes it clear they're cheaply made and very thin irl. this adds to the charm I think

wq showing up to jc's prison/house and all either of them care about is wwx but then jc is like 'ummmm lady wen are you okay 🥺" and wq is like 'im fine gtg' it's so funny

WEN NING!!!!! HERO!!! I love seeing how early wn and wwx's bond became very strong. bc wwx and wen ning are both people who do the right thing no matter what authority tells them not to

Hellfire Palace....cool name

it is so sad to see wwx pretend like his injuries and mental trauma are nothing but even sadder is seeing jc yelling at him for not taking it seriously enough? dude, I think he knows how horrific it just was. HE WAS THERE. and if he won't take it seriously, doesn't that mean you just want to keep a closer eye on him instead of adding to his stress? god he sucks so bad as a caretaker and emotional support. I swear. I know jc cares about wwx but he constantly disregards his suffering even when he knows it has to be bad. there's being emotionally constipated then there's just being extremely emotionally neglectful of someone who you're supposed to care about. fucking jzx showed more defense and concern for wwx than jc did this episode

here's wwx holding jc back as wc threatens LP. he does the same for lwj, way later on

wen ning standing up to his sister!!! go wen ning!!!!

NHS EPIC FAINTING MOVE!!! love how we are never told how he gets back to qinghe. we just don't see him after this for a while and then he's back home. how? who knows. its nhs

WANG LINGJAO MY HORRIBLE QUEEN

um okay this is so funny. you can see lwj in pain trying to walk, wwx is watching with his heart clearly aching, wuji is going all gently. romantic moment incoming. but the thing is...everyone in this scene is just wandering very slowly in circles. wwx and jc are just standing there. lwj could also just be standing still like wwx is. there is no need to walk anywhere legend <3

jc going 'stop helping people!' kind of makes sense from the paranoid mind of a 16 year old boy, but in a moral, personal, AND political sense it doesn't. wwx sees someone he clearly cares about in need and wants to help them, and it's a sect heir! of course this is a good idea! jc knows that wwx won't walk away from something important to him, and it's just wrong to ignore him anyway when he could be disabled for life

jc seems to grasp at straws to keep wwx from leaving him. he leans on 'he doesn't like you' and 'focus on our family instead' even tho they are literally just standing there and I def think part of it is jealousy. he can tell wwx likes lwj and he's uneasy about wwx being pulled in another direction. also, panicked about their home being invaded and wanting all the support he can get. but wwx stands firm. there is something that needs doing! he will do it! I always liked this about him

oh, wwx removing jc's hand from his arm. the symbolism...

when he said this the first time I lose my mind, I was like "that's what YOU'RE always doing you dork!!!" on my first watch I hadn't known how the general caretaking dynamic would be between them and I still quite like wwx looking out for and protecting lwj. this is something they share, and something wwx mentions about wq too, early on

I just think this is a sweet and genuine smile

[bugsbenefit]

i know people talked about this before but it just struck me how odd this shot here is with the Lynx in the background. the possibility that the blue and yellow could be related to Mike and Will is already very much Out There but this is sooo

because the framing here is odd as hell

we start with the Lynx logo (in full dark red) coming into view as the bus drives off (which is prominently only coloured in blue and yellow). literally the silver cat showing up as blue and yellow leave (for the west. okay no, we have no way of knowing in what direction the bus is driving here, but... i wouldn't be surprised if it WAS west) and this is already... interesting regarding the events of s4

but then the shot pans over and we actually get a good read on the Lynx as it nudges itself right in the big free space between Lucas and Mike. we're supposed to catch it here, especially since Robin realizes Lynx is related to the Russian in code the next episode. this is a big "Look here everyone. it's always been right there!". on a rewatch this is going to catch people's eye and make the presence the operation has in the mall feel more real

but then the camera keeps panning and starts moving back to focus on Mike (he did just get dumped which he looks... uhm... annoyed, a little upset and majorly confused by? really not going to analyze how Mike reacts to that breakup bc that is it's own can of worms). but this also cuts Lucas and Will out of the shot and hides the Lynx directly behind Mike. and i mean directly, it's super clean

and just... the way they positioned this is such intentional camera work. they didn't just move closer to Mike, they moved the camera in an arch to change the angle and shift what's actually behind Mike. they could have easily shot it while keeping the Lynx between Mike and Lucas with a much more standardly used zoom or dolly shot. especially since we were already meant to notice the company logo there’s no reason to hide it again

a lot of characters have some pretty cool foreshadowing moments but this is such a weird shot i'm inclined to throw it in the pot of "definitely means something". it took more effort to film this with the Silver Cat positioning itself right behind Mike than it would have if they kept it to the side of him. this was a conscious decision. and usually we get payoff for moments like this. s3 especially plays a lot around with angles and camera swings like this

as an example: the scene of Will feeling the UD on his neck as they walk up the hill where he appears to be completely alone for a few seconds since they hide all other present people behind Will to show how alone he actually is with his struggles. but this is also present in all other seasons, ST just really likes foreshadowing and reflecting people's mental state with phrases and set design placed behind them. like the poster of the nude-ish model behind Nancy as she strips and a poster of Edgar Allan Poe's poem "Nevermore" as Nancy notices Barb isn't at school. words behind Max's introduction about how she's the first girl Dustin has a crush on. the small text reading "Henry" next to Will's neck in s4 before we learn that it actually Was Henry all along. a classic one with the Freddy Krueger claw in the movie store behind Max right before she gets vecna'd etc. etc. TLDR: ST is Big on how it positions it's characters in regards to the backgrounds, Especially if there's Words there (also not even mentioning how movie posters are placed behind characters as foreshadowing as well)

so. the Lynx right behind (and it's really Directly behind) Mike is just... odd? it's so out of place. Mike has NOTHING to do with the Russian Code in s3. had that logo been hidden behind Dustin, Robin, Steve or even Erica it would have been neat foreshadowing. but Mike? he's one of the characters that's the furthest removed from the Russian plot in s3. hiding it behind Will would have also been neat since the Silver Cat most likely stands in for Vecna anyways so literally placing that behind Will's head would be really cool foreshadowing. and hell, even hiding it behind Lucas could have made sense as foreshadowing for s4, with him feeling put on the spot by Vecna and time running out with Max's life on the line

in short. the looming threat of the Lynx behind Any Other party member than Mike would have made sense storywise. which is why i'm so confused by this choice here

words and phrases in the background of ST have pretty significant meaning, especially when they're "interacting" with the main cast visually in some way normally. but the Lynx here is even more significant because we're canonically Supposed to be paying attention to it. and whatever this is trying to say in regards to Mike, we most definitely haven't seen it yet. Mike is probably the party member that's the furthest removed from Vecna, at least physically and not on an intellectual plans crossing level. he literally swerved all direct confrontations until now somehow. the closest he got was when possessed Billy tried to bash his head in and when he was camping out next to a hella possessed Will. but otherwise? Will literally Feels Vecna's presence and has a connection with him. Lucas, Max, and Dustin have an entire plotline in s4 About dealing with and running from Vecna. but Mike got out of all of that. no kidnapping, no psychic connection, and actually ditching town an hour before the murder spree and townwide witch hunt kicks off with Chrissy's body being found. just the regular encounters with Vecna (in various physical manifestations) the whole party is present for and also all while Vecna doesn’t reveal himself yet

Mike got dealt some really bad cards on the show. seeing Will's body, watching El die, being IN the lab massacre, getting attacked by Billy more than once, hunted by The Meat Monster, having a random agent die in the back of a van with him, almost watching El die again, etc. but the one thing Mike is actually lucky with is not having to directly face Vecna

until now at least. s5 is most definitely going to put Mike and Will especially center stage. specifically Because they avoided the Vecna plot in s4

so whatever the Lynx placement in s3 is actually supposed to mean here, we didn't get to see it yet since Mike managed to swerve actually being in a position where Vecna showed up pretty well as of now. however, when we Do finally have to go there in s5... well, i'm curious if the framework here is also going to be an aspect of this shot that's going to make more sense on a rewatch and in hindsight post s5

[megumis-lashes]

Do you think you can do a Yuji Itatori like reader with the Public Safety Division 4? Either romantic or platonic is fine. If not then just Denji is fine, if this is ok with you.

Yuji Itadori! Reader w/ Public Safety Division 4!

Characters: Aki Hayakawa, Power, Denji, Angel Devil, Kobeni Higashiyama, Himeno

Genre: Lighthearted! Headcannon format

Word Count: 850

Contains: slight late manga spoilers/foreshadowing (tried to avoid major spoilers), mentions of death, mentions of anxiety?, gender-neutral reader, and its a combination of both romantic and platonic headcanons

An: This is fine!! I included whoever else I felt I could write decently for! Thanks for requesting and I hope you like it! ^^

Aki Hayakawa

alright so he'd be a bit thrown off by your energetic nature

as a coworker, he'd try his best to tolerate it and work well with you, even though it was a bit outside of his comfort zone

once he gets to know you better, he'll open up some more about his past and goals

sees you as someone who's easy to talk to and is kind, so once the boundaries are down he's a lot more likely to loosen up

will definitely rant about work and the stress he's under, happy that you'll listen to him

as a friend or lover, if you're a devil hunter like him, he will try to convince you to quit whenever the pressure starts to get to him

very disapproving of your impulsive and careless nature, will reprimand you for putting others before yourself

really.. just give him affection and support, he sure needs it

can get really hung up on fearing about your death or how you'll react to anything that could happen to him at work, or if you found out about his secrets

Power

returns your energy wholeheartedly!

you guys either work really well together or it becomes a kind of competition

pranks! definitely, the type to play around and not take anything seriously

just as reckless as you are so don't expect her to lecture you, expect the both of you to get lectured by Aki lol

very energetic, will want to play games with you to bond, as opposed to talking

very.. hands-on ig, will be down to participate in whatever shenanigans you get up to

would love to go out and try human activities! shopping piques her interests so maybe buy matching outfits!

in the rare times she does get serious, she'll talk about how she fears her death and how you'll have to find her in reincarnation

overall down to have someone she can mess around with, but also rely on!

Denji

another one who wholeheartedly returns your energy!

was kinda thrown into the whole devil hunter world very suddenly, so he relates to your tendencies to get brought into things without fully understanding

another pranker! You, Power and Denji are truly a menace for Aki to deal with

reckless but still has an inkling of concern for you when times get tough, will talk about the whole devil hunter world and how new and confusing it can get

gets along very well with you, especially if you're talking about love interests or what you find attractive in a person

will either simp with you or for you lmao

give him life experiences! he missed out on a lot so he'd love to go new places with you!

might ask you to teach him some stuff he would learn in school, but you both end up confused and ask Aki for help in the end

Overall just someone who could use the extra guidance and support! wants to experience life and appreciates your presence very much so!

Angel devil

back to introvert territory

Angel won't replicate your energy, at least not that much in the beginning

your loud and daring personality is much different than his

he's very aloof, but you tend to break that daydreaming with how boisterous you can be

if you're patient with him and get him ice cream, then he'll consider you a friend!

still not the most energetic, gets very scared to be around you in case he touches you accidentally

words of encouragement are the next best thing! likes listening to you talk about your day

as a devil, he doesn't understand humans too well and thinks your rash behavior is a little dumb

overall thankful that you're willing to spend time with him despite what he is

Kobeni Higashiyama

initially, she's very off-put by your energy and recklessness

she's basically the embodiment of anxiety so she's constantly rambling off her concerns for you and how you always scare her

but at the same time, she admires your courage and how much you try to help other people instead of focusing on yourself

would appreciate it if you listened to her ramblings, instead of brushing her off like many people do

would probably talk with you about quitting

she doesn't want you to risk your life just how she doesn't want to stay

Over time, she would adjust to your energy but overall still constantly concerned for you!

Himeno

Himeno is the 'live your best life' kinda girl so she definitely loves your energy and recklessness

will reciprocate this energy immediately! loves to see it in people

she also admires your courage and strength!

hopes she can be as effective at helping people as you are, or at least as willing

definitely talks to you about quitting, how the career isn't safe and her concerns for your life

if you share your concerns about her bad habits with smoking and such, she'll try to limit how much she smokes around you

doesn't want to be a bad influence but also loves the chaos of it all!

overall just a fun girl to hang with, will reciprocate your energy everywhere and loves to go out

I haven’t read csm in a few months so hopefully these aren’t too out of character 🤞🏻

[duffy-is-daydreaming]

Aquato Family Frights (aka Halloween Circus rambles)

So this idea ended up being very popular in the Discord (seriously thank you guys that made my whole day 💙) and I decided to post it here! I was thinking about Aquatos being spooky and remembered the annual Halloween haunt at the fairgrounds near my childhood home, and what came out of the mix was a scenario in which the Aquato Family Circus collaborates with a Halloween fair to make a very immersive haunted circus attraction. Yes I know it is not Halloween season at all but as far as I’m concerned it is always the season for Halloween headcanons.

Like imagine some months after PN2 the Aquatos have started to make a low-level reputation in the local region because they’ve been sticking around in one place for a while and doing shows here and there in the area. And autumn rolls around and Augustus is doing a supply run in a nearby town, and he runs into one of the coordinators of this month-long Halloween event at the fairgrounds outside the nearest city. This guy offhandedly mentions that they have a circus-themed haunted house attraction that’s been getting less and less popular over the years, and Augustus immediately is like “Hey my whole family is an actual literal circus. Like we do this for a living and we know all the ins and outs, so if you need help reworking the attraction and making it more immersive then we would be more than happy to help.”

So they swap contact info and Augustus and Donatella end up going to meet with this guy and the other coordinators, and when they see that the Aquatos seriously know their stuff and can actually make it feel real, the manager of the whole thing is like “Idk what your schedule is for October but do you guys want to like?? come perform and stuff at the fair?? because we would love to have people like you and you could really make some money out of this”

More under the cut:

And of course the parents discuss it with the kids first (including Raz bc even if he’s not in the circus full time anymore he’s still one of them and they’re not going to exclude him from this opportunity), but there’s hardly any convincing necessary because these kids love Halloween. The idea of dressing up and using their talents to scare the shit out of people is the most delightful thing in the world to them, so it doesn’t take long at all for the whole family to meet the fair coordinators and work out the logistics.

They promote the hell out of it all through September, and of course Raz gets a bunch of people from the Motherlobe interested, including Lili and the interns. They too adore Halloween and have been dying to see the Aquatos fully in action, so they make a whole plan to visit the fair on Halloween night and see if Raz’s confidence that he can scare them out of their wits will pay off (spoiler alert, it totally does).

Come October, the haunted circus is back and better than ever. Augustus has a whole demonic ringmaster shtick (complete with subtle psychic flair, of course) and takes post at the entrance of the attraction to interact with the people in line and vaguely foreshadow what’s ahead of them. Dona is in the very next room dressed as a creepy living doll, dancing and singing around the stage with very elegant but very unsettling movements to set the mood. The overall lowkey beginning lulls the fairgoers into a false sense of security until they enter a mirror maze, wherein Dion and Frazie chase them around in full monster-themed cosmetics, letting out unholy screeches and laughter as they leap and bound after their targets. When the fairgoers finally get out of the room, they’re greeted by Mirtala and Queepie working as a team of undead children, stalking through the “backstage” segment that’s designed to be uncomfortably Wrong; shaking floors, swinging lights, crooked and broken beams, things like that. Finally the fairgoers approach what they think is the end, but it turns out to be a false exit, and waiting to use TK to block the way out and kill most of the lights is Raz, decked out as a ghost and pulling out all the stops to send the crowd scrambling through the curtains to find the real exit. When they finally make it outside, Nona is waiting to add the finishing “creepy old hag” touch, offering candy and ominous goodbyes as the thoroughly terrified fairgoers try to figure out who the fuck they just met.

Additional scenario rambles below:

The thought that makes me continuously lose my shit is of the interns getting past the beginning and entering the mirror maze, immediately having a dreadful sinking feeling that they may have underestimated the fear factor the Aquatos can bring, and then Gisu sees Dion slowly approaching from behind in the mirror and is like “.........hey babe.” And then he just fuckin cackles and breaks into a sprint and the entire group collectively starts screaming and running

Gisu reflexively shrieks and laughs when she’s consenting to being scared for fun and she cannot stop grinning for the entire experience. Meanwhile Adam is at the opposite end of the fear reflex spectrum and is attempting to hide behind a very entertained Morris, despite knowing that this will not be effective in any way whatsoever. He’s having fun deep down and will look back fondly on the event, he’s just not used to such an intense haunted house experience.

Morris himself is trying to lighten Adam’s mood by pointing out cool technical details of the sound effects and set design, and it kind of works until they get to the backstage segment. Morris is then constantly distracted by looking for his main man Queepie in the shadows, and his determination to get caught by the spooky baby is very counterproductive to Adam’s goal of not doing that.

Norma goes in like “I’m not afraid of Razputin and his weird family. I’m so tough and nothing they do can scare me.” And then Frazie drops from the ceiling in the mirror maze and lets out the unholiest sound, and Norma is struck with an emotion she can only describe as “fearing for my life but in lesbian”

Lizzie is vibing and having a great time getting spooked, and she fully plans to use the fact that Norma will not stop clinging to her for the remainder of the haunt as sisterly blackmail. Sam is also having a great time but in the sense that rather than avoid the scary acrobats, she tries to casually talk to them during the experience. It’s going great until they run into Raz when they least expect it, and Sam is so taken off guard that she just grabs Gisu’s hand and books it. Gisu will not let her live it down ever and neither will Raz.

Lili has never actually been in a haunted house before. As tough as she is, and as much as she enjoys being around the Aquatos, Augustus’ act does unsettle her quite a bit because she didn’t know he could Do That. Truman offers to go with her, and they end up having a fun bonding experience as the two of them make their way through the haunt together, encouraging each other and holding hands when necessary. By the time they get to the end, Lili is genuinely delighted by the experience, and while Truman is still shaken by the realization that the Aquatos can be fucking terrifying when they want to be, he’s mostly just excited to be spending time with his daughter.

Milla, Sasha, and Hollis all go in together, and while they’re definitely aware that the Aquatos are a tough bunch, they’re not expecting the incredible horror show awaiting them. However, they almost forget to actually go through the rest of the haunt because they’re all immediately mesmerized by Donatella. All of them are a little bit weak for Spooky Pretty Lady and they end up spending 15 minutes just watching her dance and sing. Dona finds this not only hilarious, but also incredibly endearing, and she feels very appreciated by the time the agents finally go into the next room. She resists the urge to laugh when she hears her son start shrieking like a banshee, followed by the sound of Sasha swearing loudly in German.

The Psychic Seven (except for Lucy obviously because she’s part of the attraction) all go to the fair together for a fun group outing. Compton elects to sit out the haunted house because it’s really not his thing, but Cassie stays out with him so he’s not all by himself, and they manage to sneak around to the end of the attraction and just vibe with Lucy until the others get out. Helmut makes a whole show out of defending Bob from the frights, but Bob is actually having a lot of fun and loves watching Mirtala and Queepie do their creepy kids gimmick. To everyone’s surprise, Otto is actually the most scared of all of them, and Ford can’t help laughing every time Otto starts yelling and grabbing someone’s arm because something mundane is spooking him again. As all of this is happening, Frazie telepathies Raz as soon as she notices Ford in the maze, and Raz just smiles, waiting in the shadows to make his move.

On that note, the Aquatos themselves are having the time of their lives. They haven’t had this kind of a crowd in years, and the kids are having fun together in a way that Augustus and Donatella haven’t seen in far too long. After every show night, they get hot chocolate and snacks (for free because they have the perks of working there) and sit by one of the fire pits to talk about their favorite moments of the night. Nona tells spooky folklore stories from Grulovia, Augustus adds his flair, and Dona cuddles her kids, both to keep them warm and indulge herself in the reminder that her family turned out alright after all.

A few days after the fair ends, when Augustus and Dona go into town together for groceries, someone actually recognizes them and asks if they’re performing anywhere else anytime soon. It isn’t until after the interaction has ended that the two of them stop, turn to look at each other, and realize that people are talking about the Aquato Family Circus.

[blueteller]

“Trash of the Count’s Family” Review Series: Chapter 4

Trash of the Count’s Family Manhwa: Chapter 4

We start off with a shot of the dark hole at the bottom of the "man-eating tree". Cale remarks that he'll probably need another 10 bags of bread. He's startled by a sudden sound coming from the tree and thinks that it's a bit scary. (I don't want to keep complaining about this, but seriously – it would have been more effective if the tree itself looked scary, you know!!) He decides to come back the next day.

Next, we see the adorable silver and red haired siblings happily munching on the bread Cale has given them. Cale starts thinking that it would be bad if the children went to the tree and stuck their hands down the hole for bread. He makes an excuse that he's concerned for himself, of course, but I think most of us doesn't buy that at all by this point. It's obvious he's just concerned for the kids and doesn't want them to get hurt. He tells them that if they want to get more bread tomorrow, they should stay quiet about this. Since he doesn't actually have a single thought about them spilling secrets, clearly he's lying. He's going to feed the kids to help them and keep them safe – not actually to keep them quiet. Siiiiigh, Cale you little tsundere, you...

He see him back at "the Fragrance of Tea with Poetry" place (I guess it's a book club of sorts? A library? Combined with a tea shop, maybe? I am not completely sure, to be honest...) speaking with Billos as he's heading out. (We get a "no-eyes" shot from Billos but it's not very terrible-looking as he's standing far away – let's give it a 1/5 awkwardness rating.) The image where Cale walks down the stairs looks frankly fabulous, and I adore how much detail was given to Cale's outfit. The author must really enjoy dressing him up, haha!

Cale compliments Billos' tea and says that the book was interesting. He casually comments that he liked how the main character's abilities are recognized as he grows (foreshadowing, anyone?? 🤔), and I get a feeling that Cale said that to Billos – the unappreciated bastard son of a powerful family – on purpose, setting up a tone for their interactions in the future. Cale asks Billos to reserve that book for him to read whenever he comes by, implying he will be visiting more often. Billos eagerly agrees. Cale says nonchalantly "sure, whatever" and leaves, like the true tsundere that he is.

I like how Billos is drawn. Although he's not ugly – he's kinda cute, even – you can tell why Cale compared him to a piggy bank. I really like his design.

Slightly later, Cale arrives at a bar. The owner greets him in an exaggerated manner, making it obvious to Cale that he's terrified. Apparently OG Cale had a habit of breaking things whenever he drank, as shown by the image of a broken bottle. Cale throws him a golden coin, asking for a bottle of "his usual" – smart move, as he doesn't know what exactly OG Cale usually drank. He also orders some roasted chicken, but tells him not to salt it.

Interesting detail on the part of the author of the novel: salt is actually harmful to cats, especially in large doses. We have no idea whether that applies in a fantasy setting. However, the fact that Cale/Kim Rok Soo remembers it and asks for no salt just in case speaks volumes of his attentiveness and care, as he's planning to feed the chicken to some cats and doesn't want to harm them by doing so. He is such a caring guy, he really has no idea ❤️

The owner asks Cale if he wants a seat. Cale doesn't respond. The owner anxiously hurries to fulfill Cale's order, and we're shown that other people in the bar are nervous as well – even some really buff guy!! OG Cale's reputation really is no joke! Cale notices how the gangsters and scammers are all avoiding his gaze, and starts thinking about OG Cale once more.

Usually, a "wealthy trash" such as OG Cale would have gotten along with such types of people. However, OG Cale was not one of them: in fact, he despised them and beat them up. The more we learn about OG Cale, the more suspicious his behaviour seems.

Cale takes his order and leaves, while everybody stares after him, as the bottle he bought is likely to be the most expensive alcohol in the shop. Cale drinks some as he walks down the street and can feel it warming him up. It isn't explained here, but in the novel we told that Cale's body has a high alcohol tolerance and only flushes easily due to his pale skin, making people believe that he's a lightweight. Which only serves to make all of OG Cale's wild drunk antics more suspicious.

Cale searches for something near the city gate. He comes across two kittens: smaller red one and bigger silver one. Thus, he knows that he found the scene described in "the Birth of a Hero", where Choi Han was said to twist his ankle while avoiding landing on one of the kittens. Cale comments how this is a world where coincidences play a big role, kind of breaking the 4th wall by telling the audience the same: pay attention to everything, as every detail WILL be important later on. Then he sees Choi Han, sitting nearby, leaning on the wall.

Choi Han's position looks suitably gloomy and dramatic, I'm not gonna lie; a fitting introduction for the "original" protagonist of the story. Cale sees his dark gaze and gets nervous. He's glad he drunk some alcohol before to calm his nerves. He really wants to make a good first impression on the OP protag who might beat him up. (Haha, Cale you cutie, why are you so adorable??) To do so, he feeds the young kittens with chicken, knowing about Choi Han's compassion towards small, harmless creatures. The silver kitten hisses at him, mistrustful. Cale pets it and tells it to eat to get better.

Acting casual, Cale adresses Choi Han, asking him if he's got anywhere to stay at, and if he's hungry. The scene is a bit shortened in the manhwa, as in the novel Choi Han also shows distrust at first, just like the kittens (making it clear that Choi Han at this point is in a similar position as the homeless kittens, the poor guy...). Here, we skip right to Cale walking over and saying his famous line: "Hey. Follow me. I'll feed you." As according to Cale, the best first impressions are made by providing delicious food. (As a food lover, I completely agree; food-included introductions are the best.)

The two shots of Cale and Choi Han at the end look very nice and dramatic, with the full moon in the background and sparks flying in the air – and NO, this is not BL thank you, I checked, yes I checked, for goodness' sake! There's no romance in this story, I SwEaR! 😂😂😂 Get your mind out of the gutter! Why can't we have a nice-looking bromance moment? This scene is basically Cale adopting 3 cats instead of 2. Or, more accurately, 2 cats and 1 puppy. Sorry, is that considered a spoiler? ...Eh, I don't care. We're introduced to my 4th favorite character, folks! Cale is the 1st, obviously. The other 2 are yet to be introduced.

So that is the end of the chapter, and oh boy, this one was great! Choi Han is here, folks, it's time for the story to truly begin! I surely am excited. This chapter was awesome to read.

Feel free to leave comments!

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[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 292: You Say Jeans

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “well anyway here’s that Touya reveal I foreshadowed like a million years ago, viva la 2020.” Dabi was all “hello world, I’ve killed 30 people and today I’m going to explain to you all why” before he proceeded to explain ABSOLUTELY NOTHING but everyone was so distracted by his tale of child abuse and hero conspiracies that they didn’t much seem to notice. Can’t Ya See-Kun’s Shark Friend was all “IS THIS THE END OF HERO SOCIETY AS WE KNOW IT”, and Horikoshi was all “STAY TUNED”, and then Dabi set himself on fire and leaped off of Machia’s back like the chaotic evil, I-just-bleached-all-my-brain-cells weird little fire man he is, ready to burn everyone to crispy bits before they could even react properly to his whole big revenge speech. Fortunately he did not succeed on account of THE RETURN OF THE JING, THE JOAT, BEST FUCKING JEANIST, back from the dead by popular demand in what critics are calling “the best fucking comeback since Jesus himself.”

Today on BnHA: Best Jeanist snatches up Machia and the rest of the League with his fiber steel cables before you can say “more like BEAST JEANIST amirite.” Dabi gets all worked up and lights Hadou on fire which is a real JERK MOVE, and is all “THIS RIGHT HERE IS ALSO ENDEAVOR’S FAULT”, which, NOT SUPER CONVINCED ON THAT, BUT OKAY. Anyway so then he burns up all the cables holding him which is crazeballs btw, and then he and Shouto start fighting, and so basically the whole thing is a literal hot mess and we’ll see how that goes. Meanwhile Tomura wakes up and summons some Noumus, and poor Jeanist has to deal with those on top of the still-attempting-to-rampage Gigantomachia, and everyone else is all “we can’t help you on account of we’re all half dead”, and so it’s looking really bad. And then -- and I can’t stress enough how much I don’t even have the faintest idea how to segue into this next part -- the chapter ends with Mirio!?! just sort of POPPING UP OUT OF THE GROUND all, “SURPRISE, BITCH”, and it literally was so surprising that I am still just kind of speechless. WELL-PLAYED, I GUESS, lol wtf.

lol okay so the first page in the RHA scan is just the “three musketeers” movie promo image that we all already saw a few days ago. but it does confirm that (a) it is indeed a movie, and (b) that it’s set for a summer 2021 release! how exciting

okay so now back to our special Dabi edition of Making a Murderer

“ray of hope” oh hell yes. SAVE US MR. JEANIST

I guess he had a TV in his private hero jet or something?

gotta say, “dammit Dabi” does not even remotely sound like Authentic Best Jeanist Dialogue to me though. gonna need Caleb to see to this. well but what do you guys think? does Best Jeanist curse?? I personally feel like he’s one of those guys who NEVER EVER swears no matter what, except under the most hilariously trifling circumstances. like he’s eating an avocado one day and he accidentally stains the cuffs of his beloved jostume green and he’s all “FUCK”

btw how fucking rich is Best Jeanist though that he has his own fucking plane? the thought just suddenly occurred to me, you know? like even Endeavor, whose agency has its own on-site luxury apartment suites for all of his interns, still drives around in a dinky little car that Bakugou has declared to be too small. which, I guess we know why he felt that way now, seeing as the guy he previously interned with apparently gets around in Jeans Force One

anyway so back to the part where Jeanist shows up to save the day!! YEAH JEANIST WOOOOO

ILU JEANIST YOU REALLY ARE THE BEST!! HUGS AND KISSES!!!

lmao we just saw Gigantomachia take out like a hundred guys not ten chapters ago. and Best Jeanist shows up and takes him down in like two seconds. HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES LEAGUE OF VILLAINS. BET YOU’RE WISHING YOU’D TAKEN HIS QUIRK NOW, AFO. GET FUCKED YOU OLD SPUD

KACCHAN IS SO HAPPY TO SEE HIM AWW

SIDE NOTE, IIDA, YOU AND I ARE GONNA HAVE WORDS LATER ABOUT YOU ACTUALLY AGREEING TO PUT HIM BACK DOWN. YOU DO UNDERSTAND THAT THIS CHILD IS STILL DRIPPING BLOOD ALL OVER THE PLACE FROM HIS MULTIPLE STAB WOUNDS, RIGHT? WAY TO ASSERT YOUR AUTHORITY THERE. I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE CLASS PRESIDENT NOT THE CLASS CLOWN, COME ON NOW

LMAO DABI IS FRANTICALLY TRYING TO DO THE PLOT MATH

SHOULDA CHECKED MORE CLOSELY MY GOOD MARK. LOOKS LIKE YOU MISSED THE “MADE IN CHINA” STICKER ON THE BOTTOM. YOU HAVE BEEN BAMBOOZLED. OR ACTUALLY, I GUESS THE MORE ACCURATE WORD HERE IS JAMBOOZLED, AHAHAHAHA. JEANS

HOLY SHIT DABI

I legit almost thought that was Tomura for a second. you two look so alike now with the white hair and the crazy eyes

meanwhile, Shouto is still crying and it’s a lot to take, you guys. lotta feels

ffff come on Jeanist you better do something awesome again here, the mood of the chapter is starting to slip now

YES, GOOD, THAT’LL WORK

WELL YOU TELL ME, SPINNER. I GUESS THAT MEANS BEST JEANIST IS OFFICIALLY THE STRONGEST CHARACTER IN THE SERIES NOW. SORRY I DON’T MAKE THE RULES

ffff now Spinner is trying to wake Tomura back up. nah, how’s about we not do that

OH MY GOD HADOU YESSSS

MY GIRL OUT HERE WITH THE “NO THANK YOU” BOUT TO CURBSTOMP THE BIG BAD WITH HER QUIRK KSFHLKLK WHO HERE HAD “HADOU SAVES THE DAY” ON YOUR WAR ARC BINGO CARDS, YOU LOVE TO SEE IT!!

HEY!!!!

fucking son of a... fffkfkff... someone please reassure me that fire isn’t Hadou’s weakness. someone. anyone. also could someone please dial an ambulance and send them to Horikoshi’s house. but not just yet. first I’m gonna need you to wait about fifteen minutes or so while I take care of some things

well all right then, Dabi. so you wanna go on then and explain to us all how this, too, is somehow Endeavor’s fault?

oh I see, you’ve decided that since he’s responsible for “creating” you, everyone you hurt and kill is in truth really being hurt and killed by him! well now, that sure is convenient as fuck I guess

(ETA: that’s a nice effect with the panel sides getting all warped by Dabi’s quirk though, just noticed that.)

amazing how quickly you used up that sympathy card my guy. Shouto please kick his ass, I’m fucking done lol, you can all sort out the rest in therapy later

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE DIAL BACK DEKU’S EMPATHY STATS JUST A LITTLE BIT, HOLY --

“TODOROKI-KUN IS HURT THE MOST”, HE SAYS, WITH HIS ARM BONES SHATTERED INTO LITTLE TOOTHPICK-SIZED PIECES. I MEAN, HE’S PROBABLY TALKING MORE ABOUT MENTAL ANGUISH GIVEN THE CONTEXT HERE, BUT STILL. THAT’S ENOUGH HEROICS FROM YOU ALREADY FOR ONE DAY

NOOO JEANIST

LOTS OF SMOKE IN THE AIR RIGHT ABOUT NOW AND MY BOY’S STILL DOWN A LUNG. GOD DAMMIT

“if the number one suffers a total loss here, this country will fall to pieces” well okay, real talk though, I think the “country falling to pieces” part is pretty much unavoidable at this juncture. you all are just gonna have to try your best to pick up those pieces after the fact and see what you can do with them. if I were you I’d be less worried about the number one’s reputation and more concerned with the half-dozen child soldier interns who are still on the field and very much at risk of being burned to death should you suffer that “total loss.” please try to keep it together here for them

OH FOR FUCK’S

I really thought RockLockRock was gonna come into play here. USE YOUR QUIRK TO LOCK THE ROPES IN PLACE YOU DIP!! if he seriously just sits there and does nothing when his quirk could be the deciding factor I am cancelling his useless ass cute kid or no cute kid shfkjdls

(ETA: is he even there?? did he and Manual just hightail it out of there?? “well good luck, children.”)

also, we’ll put this aside for now to perhaps speculate about later, but what’s with Tomura remembering his dad’s house yet again in that far right panel?? and being itchy again?? I still have yet to fully work out the psychological mechanisms at work as far as his itchiness goes, so I’ll admit this is intriguing to me. it seemed like it was connected to his decay quirk, but then why is it acting up again now. what is this lol

yuh oh

forgot about these guys. looks like these heroes aren’t having such a fun time

oh fucksticks

excuse me ma’am but I don’t like this. you do know that my kids are all there, right. all burnt and impaled and broken-boned and the like. well except for Iida. he’s fine still. BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN I FEEL LIKE WATCHING HIM GET TORN APART BY FOUR HIGH ENDS, WTF

HORIKOSHI YOU MOTHERFUCKER I SWEAR TO GOD

god fucking... okay look. Horikoshi. you win, okay!? congratulations, you win, this is your show and we’re all just sitting here at your mercy. fine. go ahead and just kill off everyone ever, then!! what am I even gonna do about it. stop reading?? fuck

this whole thing really went from zero to fucked before I could even blink huh. I really thought this was gonna be a turning point chapter for the heroes. shows what I know I guess??

meanwhile this motherfucker is just SCREAMING

ngl, if I wasn’t currently terrified on account of things suddenly taking such a drastic turn for the worse, this would be the coolest fucking thing I’ve ever seen. Jeanist my man, I hype you up like it’s my job because you are the greatest fucking meme character in the history of time, but make no mistake, you are also highkey WORTH ALL THE HYPE AND THEN SOME

seriously, though. don’t fucking mind him you guys, he’s just standing here in the coolest pose of all time taking on Gigantomachia all alone with one fucking lung because the substance pumping through his veins is COLD-BLOODED LIQUID DENIM, and DENIM FEELS NO FEAR

Best Jeanist really needs to get his own theme song. -- oh my god I just finally thought of a title for this post. lmao and it’s the dumbest thing. omg

MEANWHILE THE TODOROKI BROS ARE OFF IN THEIR OWN DRAMATIC LITTLE FIRE WORLD

which one do you think is the Mario and which is the Luigi. well, but I mean, Dabi clearly thinks that he’s the Luigi though and that’s why he’s so mad. nobody wants to be Luigi. what a life

THAT’S IT, SHOUTO!! POINT OUT ALL OF HIS HYPOCRITICAL BULLSHIT, I WANT ANSWERS

JUST TO CLARIFY, IT’S THAT NATSU, NOT SOME OTHER NATSU!! SO WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF!!

OH, WELL IN THAT CASE

BUT OF COURSE. THAT WOULD MAKE IT ALL WORTHWHILE, holy shit. okay I’m just gonna go ahead and say it, Dabi is a piece of work. I really thought this arc would make him more sympathetic at long last, but it seems like it’s doing just the opposite?? this is like an anti-redemption arc. I don’t relish the thought of venturing into the fandom tags once I finish reading this lol

(ETA: well folks, I’ve done it. and actually it was pretty interesting because there are apparently like ten different things that people are mad about, and so it’s like. each post is a new adventure lmao.)

so Shouto is all “BRUH HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST IT” and Dabi is all “YES”, basically? like, he says he’s completely lost his feeling for anything. omg. but you were so sweet. how does that even happen

“finally I can kill you” okay for real what the heck is your damage bro?? can we not. I like Shouto just the way he is, un-killed

oh shit and now the Noumus are here

cue Bakugou diving in to save his mentor, STAB WOUNDS BE DAMNED!! actually it would make more sense for it to be Iida, but if Kacchan is really fixin’ to go full Shounen Dumbass here then he might as well go all out, y’know

-- unless of course, Deku decides to activate another quirk??

“last I checked, the main character of this series was still me” OH? WELL I SUPPOSE THAT IS TRUE, SO PRAY TELL, WHAT HAVE YOU GOT LEFT UP YOUR SLEEVE YOU SUICIDAL BRUSSELS SPROUT

fucking love how he’s all “HAHAHA WITH MY NEW QUIRKS I CAN STILL DO STUPID SHIT EVEN WITH MY ARMS AND LEGS GROUND TO A FINE POWDER” btw. what can I say. Deku gonna Deku

FMMFHDKUHK W H A T

HOLY SHIT. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. WHAT THE WHAT. QUE THE FUCK

(ETA: okay look, all the love in the world to the brave scanlators who take time out of their lives to translate the leaks every week just so we can read the chapter a couple of days early like the addicts we are. that said, translating Mirio’s signature “POWER!!” -- which was already written in English in the original scan -- to “POG-CHAMP” is just a whole new level of wtfuckery from them lmao. is the Lida person back at it again?? amazing.)

MIRIO!?!?! SHOWS UP TO SAVE THE DAY?!?! POGS HIMSELF UP OUT THE GROUND TO BEAT THE NOUMUS LIKE IT AIN’T NO THING. JUST LIKE WE ALL PREDICTED!? I’M SORRY, DID YOU NOT SEE THAT COMING?? YOU MEAN TO TELL ME YOUR DAILY HOROSCOPE FROM ASTROLOGY DOT COM DIDN’T HAVE THAT ONE IN THE CARDS?? WAS IT NOT OBVIOUS?? TODOROKIS PLUS BEST JEANIST EQUALS MIRIO??

hot damn. Tintin really saw the writing on the wall with the impending Dabi Discourse and was all “NOT SO FAST” lmao. “HERE’S A BRAND NEW THING FOR YOU ALL TO DISCOURSE ABOUT” MIRIO YOU WILD CHILD. YOU GLORIOUS THUG

MEANWHILE LET’S NOT FORGET WHAT MIRIO HAVING HIS POWERS BACK ACTUALLY IMPLIES. HOLY SHIT. SUDDENLY WE CUT BACK TO ALL MIGHT’S OFFICE, ALL THE WAY BACK AT UA. ERI BRANDISHES HER TOKOYAMI-GIFTED BUSTER SWORD, A DETERMINED GLEAM IN HER EYE. “I HEARD YOU WERE TRYING TO HAVE A GIRL POWER ARC WITHOUT ME.” OH. MY. GOD

[leamy-world]

Reaction to The Devil Judge (spoilers for ep. 9 & 10)

It’s been a while since i’ve last been on tumblr, but i got invested in this drama every week & the fandom’s analyses to not talk about it sometime! (Last time i was hooked, it was with Beyond Evil and i watched it by the time the finale already aired so i didn’t suffer from the weekly wait!)

So here i am, this is mainly self-indulgent with essay-long interpretations of some scenes in a totally random order, but i’d love to interact with whoever reads this if they want to react!

I’m sorry for the potential awkward phrasings, english is not my first language!

- The recap was nicely done and tied everything together, it made me realize so many things happened since the beginning! The repetition didn’t make me skip it, the narration was dynamic & fun.

- The ‘power display’ & threat Yohan showed to Soohyun (by lashing out at Juk Chang and strangling him, as proxy for Soohyun, in front of her while staring at her) were something …! She answered in the same fashion, passing by him saying she will ‘arrest Juk Chang’. I wonder how their next encounters will unfold.

- Many people already pointed this out, but Soohyun’s decision to leave Elijah, a minor, alone in her car (with its doors open, daring to tell her to stay there when she has no other choice anyway) + stop the gang alone and unannounced off duty was irresponsible. Anyways, i wonder if she will interact again with Elijah because they were adorable, i would miss it!

- The conversation between Soohyun & Gaon at his apartment (ep. 10) was interesting on both parts: 

It sounded casual, but Soohyun wanted to see where he stood in the Kang family and make sure he wasn’t in Yohan’s plans (i hope she didn’t seriously mean the ‘weird’ comment about Elijah, it’d be sad since Elijah enjoyed her company!).

Gaon was anxious professor Min told her about their last conversation (i think she’ll talk to him in the next eps). He also indirectly defended the Kangs by associating himself with them (« I’m pretty sure i’m just as weird ») and voiced his concern about Yohan, speaking more to himself than following the conversation at hand. 

When Soohyun changed the subject with the ‘i’m jealous’ bit, maybe it was to brighten the mood with a light-hearted comment, hoping Gaon would follow. And by the look of her pause right after, it seemed she was also expecting GO’s ‘positive’ reaction to her jealousy, giving in to the kind of teasing/flirt they have in their friendship. But deep down, it was also to voice her true unease about Gaon’s involvement with Yohan she had since the beginning and ep. 8. 

It’s obvious to us she meant she was jealous of Yohan. And GO could’ve understood it this way too, since she confessed to him multiple times and her feelings must be known to him (i think he takes it as a ‘joke’ given how many times she confessed and each time when he was crying, so maybe he thought, very reasonably, it was to cheer him up? I also guess he’s too absorbed by his current worries about the Kangs and her potential suspicion, to notice her attempts). 

But instead of that, he’s not in the same line of thoughts at all and picks up on the « rich ��, musing on what makes one’s existence rich, thinking Soohyun was envying Yohan’s position and life and proving her he’s indeed in a whole different world, empathizing with Yohan. 

She then looked like her face fell, until her eyes lit up again when he was about to admit she was precious to him along with his family.

By the way, this scene picks up right where we were left off in ep. 8, when Gaon tends to his plants:

« - Are you back for good? - Not really. They need some looking after. - You should come back, not drop by. This is where you live. - Someone there needs some taking care of too. - Take care of your own self, please. - What about me? I’m living a shamelessly comfortable life. Soohyun. - Yes? - What are you thinking about? - Nothing. By the way, Gaon … » (i wonder what she was going to say!)

Lost in thoughts, Gaon’s mixed emotions when he said Yohan was not rich (« he’s not rich. If you get to know him, Kang Yohan is really poor. ») were very well depicted by Jinyoung’s acting: the soft voice and the ghost of a smile that convey understanding and endearment, leaning on his counter in a relaxed stance, but also at the same time the stare lost in the space, maybe to all the memories tied to the Kangs and Yohan, and the tension in his left lip corner by the end of his sentence which betray his sadness and empathy with Yohan’s life. After this, when he became aware of Soohyun’s gaze, it’s like his bubble popped. He looked surprised with his eyes widening, and was fidgeting a little, then changed the subject to himself.

And « I have you, Soohyun » sounded truly grateful but also sad and conflicted, GO lets his worries show when she’s gone, maybe wondering if they would be bound to be against each other one day as he continues to side with Yohan, menacing to jeopardize their friendship to the point of no return. In these kinds of stories you expect these kinds of twists, but i grew fond of the cast send help

- I loved how Yohan’s confession to GO about his brother was filmed: the camera faced head-on his pain, slipping unbeknownst to him through the façade he always showed to protect himself. But this time, despite his (late) attempts to dismiss these feelings both for him and Gaon to regain composure (the hand gestures to hide his tears, pretending to be tough with the  « there’s no such things as innocent people », drinking away his sorrow with a bitter laugh that rings hollow), all this façade fades out in front of Gaon literally by being blurred out in the shot, as if he clearly sees his pain through (his silhouette appearing clear-cut between Yohan’s gestures). I know it’s a pretty classic shot but it fit well with this scene. He clenches his jaw in the next shot, moved by Yohan opening up. 

- The dinner scene was really moving …! Especially when you put the colder tones the kitchen had when we first saw Yohan have dinner by himself next to this scene, full of light in contrast! I wonder when the OST playing will be released, it was so beautiful and reminded me of My Mister’s OST (especially Rainbow!). I look forward to the lyrics, because most of the time the OST gives more layers & depth to the story and the characters! (please don’t let it be about Yohan’s budding feeling of a true ‘home’ ;;) I didn’t realize it upon my first watch, but Gaon really took the cutlery hostage, it cracked me up!

- The parallels in this show will be the end of me: Yohan went from the « i’m so sick of this place » (ep. 5) to asking K to drive him « home » with a delighted smile. 

- I liked the parallel of Yohan’s reaction to GO/Sun-Ah sitting in his office chair, impeding on his space (he reminds SA to stay out of it, the first time politely, the second time almost grimacing, his jaw clenched: « Just because you’re the head of the OSC doesn’t mean you can barge in like this (…) So please stop barging in like this. », while he says nothing to GO)

- At the beginning of ep. 10, we have Yohan saying he doesn’t like «  hanging out with people » & by the end of it, Soohyun saying « My childhood’s best friend is hanging out with a rich guy ».

- These two episodes gave more insight and nuance into Sun-Ah’s character, which was very nice ; and also Cha Kyung-Hee’s comeback (and her last confrontation with Sun-Ah!!!!)

- The people following Juk Chang also targeted sexual minorities according to the subs i had, i wonder if it will be addressed again sometime in the drama. 

- I loved Elijah’s « hacking » technique scene, i felt proud too! I always look forward to her scenes (and Kkomi’s too haha)! And her reaching out Gaon’s shoulder for the first time ;;

- The ‘humans lose their minds when they think they’ve lost what they have’ ……… repeated twice by YH ………… It will hit hard and all those lines will come right back at us viewers, but i’m not prepared haha! And also for the ‘if you want revenge, don’t hesitate’, i hope it doesn’t foreshadow a future revenge Gaon will execute without hesitation aaaaaa

Also, what lawyer Ko said about himself in ep. 8 may apply to Yohan’s case by the end, will he atone for what he did someday? (« I’m no longer a lawyer. I’m just a criminal. When all this comes to an end, I’ll pay for what i did. »)

- I really loved Yohan’s efforts to take into consideration both Elijah’s (he refrained himself from acting rashly like the last time she went out and listened to her) and Gaon’s feelings (stopping him from endangering himself recklessly, not forcing him onto the revenge path lest he’d regret it afterwards, and helping him to face the truth rationally). 

- « She’s hungry for affection. No matter how much you hate the world and the people in it, you can never live alone. You always need someone to rely on. As long as you’re a human being. » Many people commented on it, Gaon must speak from his own experience and empathizes with both Elijah and Yohan’s situation. These two episodes showed how Gaon cares for the Kangs more openly, and i live for it! 

- Give me that domestic scene where Gaon plays cards with YH, the nanny and Elijah! And also more K and lawyer Ko scenes!

- Jinjoo’s and Gaon’s intervention in the trial were gold! And Satie’s Gnossiennes rearrangement playing in the background during Juk Chang’s speech, it’s the cherry on the cake haha

- By the way, there was also an arrangement of Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto no. 2 during the first charity event Yohan went with Jinjoo in the earlier episodes, it was also beautiful!

- GO’s Awkward Smile. I have no words, it is now forever imprinted on my mind.

Have a nice week and take care!

[everythingsinred]

Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: Natsume (pt. 25)

Hi there.

According to Wikipedia, the term "star-crossed lovers" refers to a couple "whose relationship is thwarted by outside forces". Furthermore, "such pairings are said to be doomed from the start". Often, the tragic end of these pairings can be seen from a mile away, even though the audience may hope and wish desperately for things to be different. In fact, the relationship between Romeo and Juliet is immediately revealed to end tragically, with both of them dead. It's just a matter of watching the heartbreak unfold.

The same is true here. Natsume and Mikan are "doomed" from the start. You hope and wish desperately that fate will be kind to them, that certain things will be different, that they can be happy, but it's not to be and you know it, deep down. All you can really do is watch the specific way it all goes up in flames. Now that we know they're both romantically involved, star-crossed to be separated, we're about to see a tragedy unfold. Let's suffer about it.

Chapter One Hundred and Forty

The school was being invaded, and the only one of Shiki’s conditions that the ESP could not accept was Mikan being out of his reach. In order to save the school, Mikan allowed herself to be put into the ESP’s custody under the condition that she cannot be harmed or manipulated.

But Chapter 140 doesn’t start by checking in on Mikan or even showing the others’ reaction to her absence. Not yet.

Just in case you didn't know how this would end to begin with, Higuchi will let you know now. It will not end well!

The chapter starts with a monologue from Ruka about the lengths Natsume would go to for Mikan, but also pleading for him not to go anywhere. This is unsubtle foreshadowing. We see a glimpse of the future, of Natsume’s presumably dead body, and the misery his death brings. We can see more evidence of what we already knew: Natsume thinks so little of himself that he’s willing to sacrifice anything for others, never considering that his absence will cause utter despair in the people he leaves behind.

At this point, it becomes even more obvious that the story will end with tragedy, and Natsume's probable death will be part of it.

We finally get to the real start of the chapter. It’s winter again. Ruka is musing on life at the academy without Mikan. They all talk about her often, even after months of not seeing her. They don’t even know where at the academy she is, or what she’s been up to.

Just for a glimpse. ;-;

He recalls Yuka’s funeral. The children were instructed to leave the area, but it was the last time they’d see Mikan, so they all stay. Natsume doesn’t even have an umbrella despite the rain. Mikan was then escorted from Yuka’s grave by the ESP. Her classmates want to know where she’s going, concerned that she’s in trouble. When the ESP threatens Shiki for not disciplining them, Mikan smiles and promises to see them again.

Fate does not smile upon them.

Natsume watches, and although they’re all surprised and concerned, he seems more so than anyone else. The last time he saw her there was a lot left unsaid. She had confessed her requited feelings telepathically and he’d had to say goodbye over and over and over. But Mikan hasn’t used up all of the telepathy stone quite yet, so he’s able to promise her that he’ll do everything he can to find her. She smiles, tears in her eyes, and that’s the last image of her he has for a while. He will find her. That’s his new mission, his new reason for living.

Back in the present, Natsume finally appears to join the group. He’s been missing, looking for Mikan. He spends most of his time running around campus trying to find her. The telepathy alice stone is the only tie they have to each other now. It’s all he has to go off of.

He smiles upon joining the group. Mikan isn’t there, but he’s still smiling. It might not be entirely genuine. He’s smiled like this before, to make Ruka feel better before the Z Arc. He has to have hope, too, because he can’t die before he finds Mikan. Submitting to the misery will only mar his chances.

Ruka knows that Natsume’s long absences are due to his search, that he spends hours and hours looking for her, calling for her, waiting for a response.

Yes, Shiki, and as a minor, he CANNOT consent to being a member of a group that has "war potential" because that's against international law and you should be charged with human rights' violations. Also, since he's a child, even being a criminal wouldn't justify this kind of punishment either, on account of him not even being a teenager yet.

Natsume is still a Dangerous Ability type. Shiki urges him to transfer out, but Natsume can’t. He has to stay, because as a DA type he can search in more areas that are off limits to normal students. In general, the DA class is more comfortable now that they’re under the management of the Middle School, not the ESP. Still, it’s described as a group “with war potential” and he wants to feel like he’s doing something to protect the people important to him rather than simply standing by. Natsume’s mindset of always having to protect people, to the extent that when he cannot protect people he feels useless and worthless, is damaging. He thinks he has to do these things, and although the narrative paints the DA class choosing to remain as them choosing to protect people, it’s kind of ridiculous that a school would put such a task on students’ shoulders in the first place. They’re the ones who should be protected, not the other way around. No matter who is in charge of the DA class, sending kids on dangerous missions where they could get hurt is still child abuse and endangerment.

In any case, he’s told it’s useless to try and find her, that the barrier hiding Mikan is too powerful, but he won’t listen. He won’t let anything anybody says get in the way. Just like he said when he first rebelled, no matter how much somebody tries to convince him not to, he’ll do whatever it takes to protect her.

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Two

Tsubasa is also opting to remain in the DA class. It’s easier to be in on the action that way, for one. He also wants to help Natsume because he’s concerned about his alice shape. Natsume and Misaki both tease him for this, and Tsubasa chases after Misaki. Natsume watches them wistfully. Tsubasa doesn’t even seem to realize how lucky he is. He can hug Misaki, tease her, apologize, talk to her, see her. Natsume misses Mikan and he’s jealous that Tsubasa is able to have with Misaki what he’d love to have with his own girl. So, naturally, he sets his hair on fire.

God, Tsubasa, have some sensitivity!

Back at the dorms, Yuu laments that Mikan won’t be allowed to attend the Christmas Ball, and it’s unlikely she’ll be allowed to graduate with them either. Hotaru comes up with the idea of sending Mikan Christmas presents, and everyone is immediately on board. They all try to come up with present ideas, but Natsume’s a step ahead, already making another alice stone for her.

Hotaru notices and immediately tears him apart for it. He knows the stone won’t make it through the examination, and the fact that even making alice stones takes a toll on his body will only make Mikan worry. In addition to all that, Mikan already has his alice stone, so there shouldn’t be any worries on the “love tradition” front.

Hotaru is Mikan’s best friend, someone who knows her pretty well and whose opinion Mikan cares about. This criticism wouldn’t hit as hard if it was some random person, or even just another kid in Class B. Because it’s Hotaru, he has to take it seriously. Hotaru is calling him out and he’s embarrassed and defensive, but she’s a step ahead of him, having thought of a much better present.

Natsume's like, "I'll be her prince!"

She gives him a story book, about Rapunzel. The story is similar to Mikan’s--a girl is trapped in a tower with no way to escape. She found a prince and they were able to escape together and live happily. All Mikan needs is to find her prince and the story would fit perfectly.

Natsume likes this story a lot. He wants to be Mikan’s prince. He has to be her prince. He doesn’t have a choice but to save her, because that’s all he’s living for. And letting Mikan know that a prince is on the way seems an important enough mission that everyone wants to help get Rapunzel through the examination. They will all send story books to make Rapunzel seem less suspicious. Of course that doesn’t stop Hotaru from claiming that the prince in her story is actually more useful than the one in Rapunzel, implying that Natsume is a subpar prince as well.

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Three

It’s time for the Christmas Ball. Mikan isn’t there, so Natsume is morose. Just like last year, he finds refuge in the tree. Last Christmas was pretty nice, all things considered, because he got to kiss Mikan.

It's just not fair. All he wants is a smooch. And to save her and keep her safe but. The kiss too.

At the time, he’d thought it was a one-off, his only chance. He was just going to kiss her real quick because he was convinced Ruka already had, and then when it was done he would run away and never do it again. She wouldn’t want to kiss him over Ruka anyway, right? But apparently Mikan loves him too, something he had never even considered a possibility, so maybe she’d want to kiss him again?

Except that Mikan isn’t around and the only way he can see if she wants to kiss him again would be if he found her.

How come everyone is calling him out so boldly lately? You guys DO realize his days are numbered, right? Not even double digits? So cruel.

Sumire is talking about dancing with him this year, but he’s only thinking about Mikan. Koko calls him out for it, saying there’s someone in the tree thinking about kissing. It was such a strong thought that it took Koko by surprise, even.

There’s a present exchange and Yuu again expresses sadness that Mikan isn’t with them, wondering if she’s spending Christmas all on her own. This spurs Natsume to get the hell out of there. He can’t sit around for too long, after all. He wants to find her and he won’t find her at the ball for sure.

He’s out looking for her, just like he does every day and every night. Shiki might be a hopeless romantic, or feeling guilty for having Mikan watch the ball on TV, so he loosens the barrier on Mikan enough for Natsume to be able to find her.

Shiki is also a NatsuMikan shipper... You a legend for that one, fam.

He hasn’t seen her in months, not even after searching every corner of the school over and over again, but tonight he has finally found her.

Conclusion

Although in many ways, Natsume's story was set up to be tragic from the beginning, these chapters establish for good that something horrible is coming, and we know that to be Natsume's death, in about a week. I'll talk more about the star-crossed lovers aspect in the upcoming parts. It's an aspect of their relationship that I find very interesting.

Thank you for reading this far!

Y'all have caught up to where I'm at, more or less. I won't post tomorrow because there'd only be a chapter of content to post and that's no fun. I'll spend the weekend getting ahead a bit and then on Monday I'll continue. In no time at all, we'll be wrapped up! It's all so exciting!

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[life-rewritten]

Lovely Writer Ep 1; An Introduction to Ambition, Masks and Secret Goals

We did it, guys! After trying hard to get back into this writing groove thing, I think I have found it, the show that will make me want to write. And we all say What??  Oh, my word was the first episode of Lovely writer so great. From the first moment the show starts, you can tell there's meta, it's calling out the BL industry; sarcastically, with comedy, shallowness, and yet there's this air of secrecy and depth to it. It's funny because the industry's problems made fun of are essentially going to be our big villain of the show, the thing that's going to try and rip our couple apart. So to see the first episode already lay a foundation for us to start realising the disconnect with what's being done on the surface vs what's being truly displayed secretly shows us already this show is playing with the ideas of masks and the lengths it would take to actually survive in this world/industry portrayed in the show. The thing as well is we are watching this show through the lens of Gene; he's also someone who's become very disconnected with how he feels about the problematic elements of this industry vs how people want him to think about it; they want him to thrive off it, to use it for his ambition, to use it to make himself known. So already, we are also introduced to the theme of ambition and the theme of secrets. The characters are acting in a way to get something done for them, and yet they're hiding their truths to please something; the industry, a person of power, or just something they want. And that's fascinating already to start with. That's already going to be fun to unpack and write about.

I just really love how deep this show is already becoming;  hidden with comedy and romance, we see depth, we see realism and calling out issues that we face in the real world concerning the BL genre, and still, we see yet, a love story brewing as well, it's a perfect combination. Or is it? And not to be so fully surprised, I did say that Tee is a great director, he made TharnType mean something to me, and that's because he hides his themes and his actual message behind layers and layers of subtext, he focuses on flaws of characters, but he makes them feel real, yet he also tackles real conversations about things that happen in real life and hides it behind a passionate romance and comedy. That's why this is so great for me. In already episode 1, Tee has shown up and done everything I knew he could do with Lovely Writer, and I am so freaking excited. The words are pouring out of me. Once the show started, I wanted to write, analyse and talk about this show.  I wanted to bring to the surface the meta, the subtext, the foreshadowings and the character depth. I am truly ready for this show, and I hope you all are too. So episode 1, how were we introduced to the themes of the show so far; well, let's find out.

An Introduction to Ambition, Masks and Secrets

So the show starts off as a typical romantic comedy Bl; at first, you are like, it's funny they keep mentioning these little truths about the genre and the industry. It makes sense; we're seeing the story through the eye of a frustrated writer in the industry who has to do a lot to be part of it, so it is funny but also surreal to see the issues being brought up about the industry. Because of this, you know this show is meta. It's taking its self not seriously, but it's actually serious below the surface. So immediately, my sensors start to ping, could there be more depth to this story, are there hints showing us what to look out for, is there more to what Tee wants to say with this show. And actually, the first thing is the introduction to Aey. They mention him at first during the casting call discussion; the way they introduce him is interesting to me because I know he's an obstacle to our story. He's a love rival, and he's sneaky.

Aey is an interesting villain if you wanna call him that. He's obviously going to be a barrier, and you know, his smile on his face seems like a mask, not particularly for evil, just something he has to use to get his way. Just like Nubsib, he's faking an image, and we see his real face in the bathroom, this episode. Especially when he looks through some comments and tweets, which I don't know what it's about because there were no subs, but I'm guessing either mentioned his sexuality or how cute how he and Nubsib will be together or something else that pokes at his insecurity. Right now, he's ambitious,  his thoughts are on succeeding, and so he acts docile, nice and friendly to get what he wants; however, we can see that the reason why he's right now trying to get Nubsib's attention isn't because of love; it's because of the job, of wanting to keep appearances, of knowing this would make him more successful, this will make them famous and please their growing shipping fandom.

That's the exciting thing; the question is, does he really like Nubsib or is he just faking it. Is there more to his connection with Nubsib? Also, just the fact that he's not a one-note character but he already seems to have layers is so exciting for me; this show is already doing what I hope it would do for me, it's being meta, secretive, smart, structured and still having comedy and romance on the surface. These characters all seem to have layers, truths hidden and interesting reasons for why they do what they do. That's fascinating to me. So because of that one scene where we see Aey almost break his mask and then go back to putting it on to please people and write on his social media, I'm already seeing the theme of ambition in this series. I see it in Gene, Nubsib (for Gene mostly), Aey, even Hin, who's a bit interesting with his own want to write and need to be noticed. Interesting.

The lengths our characters have to go through to achieve their ambitions might make them take on masks that they aren't particularly comfortable with, and also isn't an accurate display of their own values and truths but never the less they have to do this to achieve their ambition.

Gene: The Mask Of A Writer

We can see Gene isn't really a fan of BL writing and the tropes associated with it. In fact, he deplores it, he finds it hard to write about, and he doesn't think there's any substance to them. His focus is that what they portray is shallow, unimportant and toxic, just like how he sees the industry promoting them. It's why he's fine being an introvert; he feels safer in the confines of his home doing what he loves to do; writing, but he's decided, letting people in is not worth it. Mostly people from his industry who seem callous at times, greedy at best, and just corruptive. He disagrees with that and tends to want to distance himself from that. But what can he do? He wants to write, he wants to survive by doing what he loves to do, he wants to thrive in his job; however, he has to make sacrifices to get to that goal where he can comfortably write what he wants.

He's not really comfortable there, he wants to write something else (something with more depth, something with more understanding, something that makes him feel like him), but he can't, so he takes on a mask to keep on doing whatever he can for his ambition.  Writing is all Gene seems to have, from constantly being tired, irritated, and too focused on it to even take care of the state of his house, of himself, and of his relationships. Nothing is more important than writing. That's his ambition, what makes him happy, what makes him safe, what makes him comfortable. And that's very relatable; as an introverted writer my self, Gene finds an escape from the real world when he puts his mind at work, and he creates however slowly, the love and excitement he has for writing are being shadowed by the lack of belonging he feels for the genre he has to write about. The moral conflicts, the uncomfortable topics and just overall the shallow results of his stories. They don't mean anything to him, just a way for ends meet. And that must be incredibly frustrating and tiring. Yet Gene has to do it to get his ambitions done.

That's why it's funny/important that Nubsib is invading his space. Nubsib's presence is showing up and unravelling Gene's masks, his truths, his reality. Nubsib is pushing Gene out of his act and making him question his ambition and truth. But also, in a way, Nubsib is providing depth for Gene for this genre as he starts to be truly inspired by his unknown attraction and connection to Nubsib.

 The more the love becomes authentic, the more Gene starts to understand maybe why BLs might be written and why it might be loved by many fans because of that meaning of love that is portrayed when done correctly. So perhaps, Nubsib is making Gene realise more about the other side of things; maybe he offers a different perspective, especially since he's going to be one of those tropey BL characters.

Nubsib: The Mask Of A Lover

Nubsib is very much ambitious, he takes levels to make sure he gets to Gene, but also he hides his true self and wears a mask of two faces. Even his manager knows his real personality and says it; he's faking an image. He hides who he really is to Gene to come of nicer and sweeter, but also he does all of this to get his goal of making Gene trust him. Making Gene first think he's a good boy.  Now, of course, immediately, I notice his two-faced behaviour. I see red flags; this isn't a healthy way to pursue a lover; it's full of lies, secrets and not truly knowing the real person's character. So are we going to unveil more about his intentions, why he's so invested in Gene and what he gains from doing all this, this way? Why is he so ready to ensure this time, Gene doesn't escape or that he doesn't lose his chance to finally be with Gene.

Acting doesn't seem to be his agenda; Gene is, you know, which is why you can feel already from the bat that he knows Gene before. He's pretending they haven't met before/, or he's seen something in him that's made him want to be near him; that's fascinating and interesting, that's the lengths he's taking; to wear a mask to get what he wants. It's interesting because, in a way, his lying, manipulation and secrecy is the opposite of what his presence is going to be for Gene in the show. Remember, he's meant to add authenticity to Gene's life, and love, and vulnerability, and so it's worrying because it's almost like Gene is falling in someone who he doesn't even honestly know. But this is just episode 1; as much as yes Nubsib is manipulative and secretive, I think there are things we'll get to see about him that's still authentic, at least for now; one of the things that stay true is his feelings for Gene, that's what's driving him, and Gene who has been so devoid of that connection maybe that's why Nubsib has to find a way to break down his walls in that way. We can see it's not easy for people to see Gene's vulnerable side. Nubsib makes him vulnerable, and maybe Nubsib knows this about Gene if they have met before; maybe he knows this is the only he can maybe try to make Gene notice him since Gene is so quick to run back home and throw himself into his world of writing. But is it okay? No, it's still manipulative and deceitful, but I think it's going to have consequences. And I can't wait to see how that unfolds. You also see some parts of when his masks fall, and that's concerning Aey, which is funny because  I think they're the same type of people. This is why I'm intrigued by this show; they both will do whatever it is to get what they want.

Aey: The Mask Of An Actor

And then we have Aey; he's even more fascinating; he's pretending to like Nubsib for his own agenda. Even Nubsib can feel it. They've known each other for a while. They can read through each other's masks. That's why they have an interesting plot arc coming. The show does start by making note that he rarely would get a role this big because of his queer identity. Apparently, that's an issue/ problem with the industry (both in fiction and in reality, sadly). They think LGBTQ actors don't attract money if they're too 'queer',  so Aey is determined to get success, notice and fame. He's already found ways to get to this point by overhearing Nubsib when he finds out about the audition. Nubsib is already known and supported by people. Aey may be different. Maybe he's had to struggle to be noticed.

In a way, he's doing all he can to ensure this works for him, but in order to do so,  he also wears a mask and hides who he really is to everyone. In fact, the reason why he's chosen for the role is because even though he is queer, he doesn't seem like it. This is what was said in the show. The only person who seems to see him truly is Mhok, and that's an exciting development being hinted at. There's someone again who is connected to unravelling his mask and knowing his genuine authenticity. I think this is a big theme surrounding romance in this show.  So Aey is going to be an interesting obstacle, just like Sib, everything that comes out from his mouth are lies to get what he wants, maybe even his smiles and fake niceties aren't truly his character; he seems devious (not in a negative way), he seems cunning, like he knows how to be one step ahead. This is probably what he's made himself become to be chosen, noticed and taken seriously. To get what he wants. This makes him a fascinating antagonist; I don't think he's a villain, just someone who has a fascinating character arc in the show. I can't wait to explore it.

Hin: The Mask Of A Follower

And then there's Hin. As much as he's chirpy and nice and friendly to Gene, he seems quite, I won't say jealous, but he does show he wants the chance and opportunities Gene has with writing. He asks the manager by text as the audition happens,  to read his book and let him know if it's possible for publishing. It seems he tends to be overlooked; he's curious, wide-eyed, always looking positive, but what if this is also just a mask? What if we're gonna see more to this arc too. It'd be interesting to see if he'll feel annoyed at Gene complaining about having the opportunity he has to write BLs, when others may not be chosen the same way. But that's just a theory about Hin. If all the other characters are just as ambitious in getting what they want, what's to say, Hin wouldn't be later. What role would he play during the show's ending, perhaps just a supportive friend, a guide to help Gene deal with whatever comes, but it is interesting to know he also wants to write. My first thoughts always point to negative with that because it suggests rivalry. And I think rivalry is also an interesting theme, an occurrence that happens in the industry. So maybe there's more to him, or perhaps not.

So yeh ambition and masks and the lengths the characters would go to fulfil what's important to them in this show have been built up already. Most of our characters all share similarities of having to become or do something that doesn't pertain to the truth of who they really are. They see no choice in the matter; they have to do this to survive or to be happy. This industry is a competition, it's harsh, and you need adaptability, tough skin and methods to survive and get what you want. Especially since Lovely Writer is about the Acting industry as well. These characters all have to be actors somehow, Gene has to pretend he cares about BL, so he sells and makes it big, Nubsib has to pretend he doesn't know Gene, so he can win Gene's heart, Aey has to pretend he cares about Nubsib, so he becomes famous and supported by his fandom, and maybe even Hin has to pretend he's okay with following after Gene, so he can find opportunities to learn more about the industry and also find ways to publish his book. An interesting theme that occurs in real life. Obviously, as Gene and Sib fall for each other, those ambitions come out to the surface, become obstacles in the making, and they have to choose to sacrifice some of it for their love and happiness. One way or another, there's a consequence to not being who you are; somehow, the truth always comes out.  Okay, let's do this show. Let's get to know these characters. I certainly can't wait.

[talkfantasytome]

Going to delete ask posts that directly linked other people's posts, based on this feedback and suggestion (which I thoroughly appreciate!), as I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone or directly tell a specific person they're wrong. I'll repost the general content, with a summary of what was asked, starting with this post.

Anon Ask: Some people are saying that SJM has confirmed Vassien by saying that she'd like to do retellings of firebird legends, swan lake, and Vasilisa the Beautiful, using some shots of her comments. What are your thoughts on this? And the time on facebook that Sarah said E\ain and Lucien have a lot of "tension, growth, and healing to be found (together)".

The most important thing to consider here is timeline. Both of the twitter shown were made in April of 2015. The first one is, honestly, fairly irrelevant. First of all, she's just saying fairy tales she might like to retell. And, for the record, she has also said she'd like to do a retelling of The Little Mermaid, yet often people disregard that as an argument for Gwynriel. So, either her comments on what she'd like to do a retelling of matter, or they don't.

And, if they're saying that those comments are foreshadowing a Vassa + Lucien book, then clearly The Little Mermaid comments are foreshadowing a Gwynriel book. And then...where's E\ain's?

E\ain is getting a book, so which fairy tale gets the short straw?

Or, maybe, the story won't be exactly like the fairy tale.

I do think that both of those comments are important, but Sarah said she wants to do a retelling.

That could literally mean anything. All that tells us is that she will take themes and ideas from the story. I'm not saying Vassa won't be important in a later book, but Sarah can retell the story any way. She could have Vassa betray E\ain, get Koschei to transfer the curse over to the middle Archeron, and now E\ain is the swan on the lake (cause, come on, E\ain's def. a bit swan-like), and Lucien has to rescue her. Or, maybe Jurian is the one that rescues Vassa while Lucien and E\ain deal with Koschei?

There are so many options in a retelling that to say SJM telling us she wants to do a retelling of these stories is a clear sign that Vassa + Lucien are endgame is, honestly, not a very critical analysis.

I'm going to address this tweet next:

This twitter exchange happed April 30, 2015. ACOMAF was published in May of 2016. This post can not be used as foreshadowing of Vassa + Lucien, because it happened before we found out E\ain and Lucien are mates. That "at some point further down the road" literally means "any time after book 1".

People keep using this tweet and presenting it as if Sarah's response came recently. They're spreading misinformation - it may not be purposeful, they may not have seen or noticed the date, but this twitter exchange can't be used as proof that Lucien's person has to be someone other than E\ain, because when it was made we did not know about the Lucien and E\ain possibility.

That doesn't mean it definitely is talking about E\ain, but my point is that this is not proof of Vassa + Lucien, of someone else + Lucien, because of when it was posted.

As for other comments on retellings Sarah would like to do - it's the same argument as the first one. Sarah said she wants to do a retelling of the firebird and swan like. We all know this. It's not new information. People who are saying Vassa + Lucien won't happen aren't ignorant of this fact. We're well aware, and we're also well aware of every other thing Sarah has said, mentioned, foreshadowed, and we're tying it all together. Focusing solely on stories Sarah has mentioned she'd like to retell - not confirmed she will retell - and ignoring everything else doesn't provide a solid analysis. You have to weave how those stories would fit into the grander scheme, and look at the other surrounding factors as well.

And, again, we need to remember that Sarah can do whatever the hell she wants in terms of the story and how she chooses to retell a fairy tale. I mean, how often is Little Red Riding Hood turned into a werewolf story? And sometimes even Red is the wolf?

Writers use fairy tales as a base, a foundation, but then they make it their own. No writer is going to tell the fairy tale exactly how it first was. They're going to adjust it...a lot...to make it their own story.

I'd also like to point out that both times she mentions Vasilisa, she says "Vasilisa the Beautiful". The first time she also said 'the Brave', but the second, solely 'Beautiful'. Vassa is beautiful, of course, but one of E\ain's defining characteristics is her beauty. Even in ACOSF it was again mentioned, discussed, about how her beauty made others hate her.

Could Vassa be Vasilisa...of course. However, I think people are a bit blinded by the similarities in names. Remember, Vasilisa the Beautiful wasn't the firebird - those are different stories. And, honestly, after doing a bit of research into the tale, I'm starting to get more and more sure of the thought that the character who would portray Vasilisa is E\ain.

I think I'm going to do a post on it...

In the later comment on retellings she'd like to do - which we know came after the first as the first came out in August 2015 and that story she's telling was given after the second set of books was confirmed - I also find it interesting that she said Vasilisa the Beautiful (specifically) and Swan Lake, subbing out the firebird.

Why would she do that? Perhaps because she's already brought in the firebird pieces she planned to bring in. We already know that retelling, and how it's come to play. Vassa is a firebird by the curse.

I'm not saying it couldn't end in a Swan Lake thing, as that is what the curse reminds me of. But, personally, I think the fact that she's saying Swan Lake now is also symbolic of something more, possibly another character getting trapped by Koschei.

As for the other piece you asked about, I don't have much to say about it, because it feels like the closest we'll come to an elucien confirmation.

That was also posted a while ago, back when ACOMAF came out. So, it's not like this is recent information Sarah is providing us. However, we know that Sarah can sometimes end up choosing endgame based on gut and things that just hit her. Cassian and Nesta - literally didn't know about them until she wrote them on the same page and was like "oh shit". So Sarah saying that she and Lucien didn't see E\ain coming...I'm sorry, but that feels almost more telling than even the next part of the sentence - where she says they have growing and healing to do together.

That's so huge. And we haven't seen that yet. We've only really seen the tension.

Sarah said this back when ACOMAF came out. And it was around writing or publishing ACOWAR that she got the okay for the second set of books (I think?). Which means she was likely thinking about the longer-term stories before that. Which would explain why we didn't get that growth and healing in ACOWAR.

Instead, she left them in a spot where it seemed like a possibility, and then for the later books has just added more tension. But that journey is still there. She's had it planned for so long. And yes, maybe she could change her mind, but we only know of two cases where she did just that:

Az and Mor

Nesta and Lucien

For Az and Mor it was because she decided to make Mor bisexual and unable to be in an emotional relationship with a male. This was due to complaints over diversity. It's the closest Sarah's probably come to 'fanservice' - except, admittedly, this is so not fanservice. Fanservice is doing something like, say, having Voldemort and Bellatrix have a secret love child despite the fact that Voldy never once came off as having any form of romantic or sexual feelings for her or anyone, ever. (Seriously, that guy was asexual and that is a hill I'll die on.)

Adjusting a character due to legitimate complaints and concerns on diversity, not just fanservice. It's more a full on social service, really, to try and provide that representation better. Yes, it wasn't done in the best way, but she did make an attempt.

The second one - Nesta and Lucien. That was her general plan, until she put Nesta and Cassian on page together. Then it all went out the window. Just like all of Nesta's thoughts when she saw Cassian. Just like Cassian's entire brain when he saw Nesta. 👀

And we get it, because we see it too.

So, while Sarah could have changed her mind about E\ain and Lucien, the only reasons she'd do that don't yet apply. She's already made a change for the diversity complaints, and I don't see her doing that with these two. As for finding out they actually belong with someone else when she sees them on page - well, that hasn't happened yet. She made the E\ain + Lucien decision after we see E\ain and Azriel interact, so clearly Az is not that for E\ain. And we've seen Lucien and Vassa on page together. There's nothing there except Lucien being pained about her curse - which, yeah, she's his friend. How often is one IC member described as looking pained for another? Or thinks about how much it hurt them to see their friend hurt?

But we know what it looks like when the chemistry is so undeniable it will adjust Sarah's plans. And if you're not sure - go back and read all the Nessian scenes in ACOMAF. And then see the one scene where Lucien and Vassa are on page together - I think you'll find there's another male there that, with Vassa, rings closer to the Nessian home.

There was no on page chemistry between Vassa and Lucien, and certainly not enough to change Sarah's mind. Which would also mean E\ain already wasn't meant for Az, which is likely why no one arguing for Vassa + Lucien seems to care as much about that, because most people who ship them are already dead set on E\ain + Azriel.

So, there you have it, my point of view/rant on those two pieces. But it's always important to look at the context of a post, and especially the "source material" people use to provide proof. It's why I tend to stick to the text where I can, and only use SJM statements that don't have an expiration date to their importance. SJM saying something about how she loves happily ever afters, for example, no expiration date. SJM telling us in 2015 that there is someone special for Lucien down the road - an expiration date after the first sign of a possible love interest for Lucien. Once E\ain was declared to be his mate, that statement became irrelevant, because regardless of whether it will be E\ain or not, you can no longer state that it's clearly hinting at someone else, since E\ain is a love interest for Lucien.

[revarova]

Whats your opinon of ant dragging jack to the eggpire? Its getting alot of foreshadowing from the things hes said in todays stream.

Jack Eggifold my beloved

Serious answer, I really like the idea of egg!jack, like, a lot

1) the potential. The Eggpire has a lot of potential for character development in general. In preys on people’s desires to manipulate them into joining it, like Bad wanting to save Skeppy, Ponk being upset over Sam, part of what make Antfrost interesting is that we don’t know why he joined the egg, or what it promised him. Jack could probably be convinced to join the Egg either through it promising revenge, or, it giving him a purpose and friends that won’t try to hurt or leave him. Or Ant could lock him in the box. After all, Jack is trying to recover. He’s still stuck on his unhealthy coping method of murder, but unlike last time, he’s not focused purely on tommy. He’s doing things like managing the hotel bc it makes him happy, not bc it helps his plans in the way it did when he first signed up. So, he might try to reject the egg, wanting to do things his own way. By locking him up and having him come out egg’d, it makes the Eggpire more of a threat. Because at the moment, people don’t really take it’s manipulation seriously. Some people forget that Bad and Ant are possessed, iirc Punz just joined bc he liked the vines, Ponk willingly sided with it, I’m not quite sure how much it affected Hannah yet, and Puffy and Sam broke free. By taking someone trying to be better, someone who canonically doesn’t like the vines, and having them be forcibly corrupted can show just how powerful the Eggpire truly is. Plus I feel like Egg!Jack would just have absolutely no filter in regards to telling others exactly how they’ve wronged him, and it could even lead to him wanting to murder people he’d never normally feel that hurt by due to the Egg manipulating him into believing those who accept Crimson are his only true friends. Like taking Tubbo stealing Manifork to an extremely personal level, and forgetting how Tubbo was always nice to him in favour of full-blown hatred. Or perceiving Niki not wanting to kill Tommy as betrayal, and she’s abandoned him once he was no longer useful to her, and she had more powerful friends to involve in her plots. We’ve had Doofenshmirtz, James, Aaron Burr, and Spinel, now give us I Can’t Decide by Scissor Sisters, Mr.Manifold. Let the boy go feral.

2) plotline stuff? Supposedly there’s a big event tying together all the arcs, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the Egg hatching. (Or, well, blooming. It’s a flower guys) In order to do that, they’d need everyone to be tied into the egg, for or against it. And Egg!Jack can help with that. He could drag others to it, maybe leading to an Egg’d Tubbo or even-more-against-the-egg Foolish or Purpled Lore (cause they’re still technically friends in canon). Maybe he’d try to get Niki to join, and she’d have a “this isn’t the friend I know!” Moment, and voice her concerns to the Syndicate, combined with Techno’s previous investigation, leading to full-blown opposition. Or people staying at the hotel could get egg’d, maybe Eret comes by for taxes and the Eggpire finally gets him after they’ve gone on about it for so long.

3) Red and black is a bangin colour scheme

4) I know Ant calling Jack ‘my beloved’ was a meta thing bc he was presumably the person Jack was trying to call earlier however i also just think it’d be funny if it continues in canon. Like they’ve got an Eggpire meeting and they’re discussing their plots and Ant just goes “my beloved could you plant some more seeds in Snowchester” and Jack just goes “yea sure” and the others are ??????

5) I’d have a bunch more songs to add to my dsmp jack playlist

[machinations-ii]

Debut Album of The Strokes' Is This It and Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights.

TURN ON THE BRIGHT LIGHTS

New York City was in transition in 2002, the devastation of 9/11 still lingered but a new sense of goodwill and compassion flowed through the city with dozens of bands reanimating a faded glory that had come to define the Giuliani era. Arriving after several well-regarded EPS that honed Interpol's Sonic and sartorial sense, it's possible no album captured this moment as vividly as their debut turn on the bright lights. Interpol took shape at NYU in the late 1990s where the band formed partially as a result of mutual fashion appreciation. Frontman Paul banks had come across bassist Carlos dangler in their dorm wearing skin tight black clothing and a giant crucifix. Meanwhile guitarist daniel kessler had already gotten to know Dengler in a world war 1 class after approaching him with a compliment about his shoes, and the trio eventually found replacement drummer Sam Fogerino while he was working in a used clothing store. Soon after coming together, the group started to jam at Funkadelic studios, PDA was already in embryonic form by then. After hustling in the NYC circuit and recording here and there, a chance meeting with Emma Pollock of the Delgado's led to the release of an Interpol EP in 2000 on the esteemed chemical underground label. On the heels of the EP success and in the midst of the post strokes gold rush in New York City, Interpol scored a deal with Matador Records then home to bands like Belen Sebastian, yo a tango, and pavement. Chris Lombardi of Matador claimed that he was most impressed by the business-like manner with which the band conducted themselves the suits first and foremost. Interpol decided to record turn on the bright lights at producer Peter Quedas's home studio in Bridgeport Connecticut to avoid all of the temptations New York City had to offer a hot young band while Cadis has gone on to produce the national, Frightened Rabbit, and Yan C, his most recent credit prior to turn on the bright lights was engineering the get up kids on a wire. Sessions were contentious Carlos D had wanted more keyboards, more nights on the town, and the title of the record to be celebrated baselines of the future. If banks had his way, PDA wouldn't have even made the record. However Quedas protested and told him that's their hit single, which it was. Quedas was not enthused with the new, until the final mix which had him in tears. But for all the seriousness and grandeur of turn on the bright lights moments of humor abounded. The spoken intro of Stella was a diver and she was always down; was recorded while banks was ad-libbing with ice in his mouth “this one called Stella was a diver she's always down”. Anchored by Carlos D and Fogerino’s hulking rhythm section, Banks created it in New York City recognizable to its citizens but in cryptic indelible lyrics. “The subway was a porno”, “relationships were a bracelet” and “they had 200 couches for you to sleep” when it all felt like too much. Beginning with a crowd stoking instrumental that would foreshadow runs opening for U2 and the Cure, turn on the bright lights resulted in music of unusually sweeping and grandiose gestures that felt foreign to rock music in general at the time but especially to indie rock. It's hard to imagine the transition towards the post-punk bombast of Arcade Fire, The Killers, and the National without Interpol opening the lane first. While local papers would occasionally snark at them as fashion victims and post-punk dilettante, critical acclaim for turn on the bright lights was overwhelmingly positive. The brilliance of turn on the bright lights is all the more apparent 19 years later a beacon that continues to shine radiantly during its city's darkest moments. IS THIS IT

Fueled by hype that was extraordinary even by the standards of the British press, The Strokes became instant superstars in the UK long before their fellow Americans heard “is this it” thirty-six stylish lo-Fi down-and-dirty minutes of unwholesome Downton Blues that evoke The Velvet Underground, The Ramones, television, and countless others who will firm New York City as the epicenter of punk rock cool, the strokes debut was already in stores in the UK for months before its eventual American release mere weeks after the September 11th attacks. Is this it subsequently took on an unintended resonance and became a sentimental document of a New York City that would no longer exist after Rudolph Giuliani, gentrification, and the war on terror. The Strokes may not have saved rock and roll themselves but The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, the killers, and the Arctic Monkeys likely wouldn't exist without “is this it”. while several members of The Strokes have been playing together since high school in a project called “just pipe” the band truly took shape after guitarist Albert Hammond jr. joined the group he and singer Julian Casablancas attended the same Swiss boarding school and reconnected after Hammond returned to New York City and serendipitously moved across the street from Elite Model Management which just so happened to be owned by Casablancas’ father. Contrary to the stereotype of The Strokes as a prefab overnight success, the group struggled throughout the late 90s playing to empty rooms before their demo got the attention of Rough Trade ANR man Jeff Travis, nor were they predator naturally cool from the start. before The Strokes first gig Hammond claims the band was so nervous they watched the Eddie Murphy movie Bowfinger to calm themselves. Preliminary sessions for is this it were recorded with Gil Norton best known for his work with the Pixies but also Foo Fighters “ultra slick the color in the shape” for the album itself The Strokes would reunite with Gordon Raphael who previously produced the modern age EP. The unorthodox production of “is this it” was the result of Raphael using a minimal number of microphones and following Casablancas says requests to have it sound like your favorite blue jeans not totally destroyed but worn in comfortable. According to Raphael an A&R guy named Steve obelisk II held is this it most unprofessional sounding music that he has never heard. The strokes declined the invitation from MTV to play alongside the vines in the hives at the 2002 Video Music Awards. The band didn't want to be lumped in to quote the new rock revolution it consisted of mostly bands with the word the and a plural noun in their names. Casablancas told MTV I'm not going to do a band off with them and strokes manager Ryan gentle said “that was pretty much the last time we were played on MTV”. The infamous bare-bottom on the international release of is this it is that of photographer Colin lanes girlfriend, however concerns about whether conservative chain stores like Target and Walmart would carry the record but The Strokes to switch to the American cover shot of a subatomic particle in a bubble chamber Casablancas is rumored to have liked it even more than the original. A more crucial alteration from the international version involves the removal of its own, New York City cops all involved agreed that a chorus of New York City cops they ain't that smart would be considered in poor taste after 9/11 even if the song was written years previous by removing the song from the US release of is this it there's not a single song in a Strokes album that has mentioned New York City by name. Well The Strokes achieved a level of popularity rivaled by few American bands in the 21st century is this it was considered a commercial disappointment in its time it peaked only at number 33 on Billboard while lead single last night topped out at number five of the modern rock chart with some day stalling at Number 17. Long story short, these two albums (and arguably two of the best rock albums of all time) had left a dent in my

life for it defined my teenage years when I had nothing, lost, and frustrated with my life. It reminded me the melancholic time that I had in the past. So I'll leave you guys with a lyrics from each album and try to find the song that corresponds to it :). "I have 7 faces, and I know which one to wear" "Soma is what they would take when hard times opened their eyes and saw pain in a new way"

[you-cant-spell-subtext-without]

11x17: Red Meat Analysis (or, how can I make every episode Destiel even if Misha isn’t in them)

I have feelings about this episode, and I needed to therapeutically analyze them for REASONS, so here we go.  Script bytes included with my emphasis.

***It is important to note that, despite this being a generally MOTW/brother-focused episode, Dean is so focused on getting Cas back at this point in the season that he doesn’t even want to go on the hunt to begin with (despite just two episodes back pushing Sam to do it in Beyond the Mat):

DEAN 

All right, well, we make a call and we put somebody on it.

SAM

Yeah, but... [He sighs, closes his laptop and looks at Dean]. We'll get him back.

DEAN

How?

SAM

I... I don't know. But we'll figure it out. Meantime, we got to get out of here. Clear our heads. I mean, this is a case. Let's do what we do. Let's work it.

***Since no good deed goes unpunished, Sam’s attempt to clear Dean’s head leads to him almost dying and then (TW) Dean’s grisly faux-suicide attempt in order to get to a reaper to bargain for Sam’s life (really this entire episode should have a TW before the content) (*really the entire show should have a TW before the content).

Anyways, enter Billie, our queen of foreshadowing, who says:

BILLIE 

Just savoring this. Though I have to say of all the ways I thought you'd go... heart attack, some fang, choking on a burger while binge-watching “Charles in Charge”...

***So, you know, both things he goes through in the thing that must not be named, the first being Billie’s actual attempt to kill him, and the second being what kills him for good.  Dammit, Bilie.  I equally adore and detest you and your accuracy.  Are you secretly a prophet?  

Dean continues to plead with her:

DEANS SPIRIT [sadness and desperation in his eyes]

I'm asking you... I'm begging you, please. Bring him back. Bring him back and take me instead.

***So as we know, the doctor revives Dean and Sam ends up being alive and everything is fine for everyone.  Well, everyone EXCEPT Michelle, one of the newlywed victims, who loses her husband (Corbin - he becomes a werewolf - Sam has to shoot him).  At the end of the episode, Dean is trying to comfort her ->

DEAN 

Michelle, this is gonna be very hard. But you will be okay. And, eventually... eventually you'll get back to normal.

MICHELLE [sighing]: 

No, I won't.

Michelle smiles gently at Dean, and then turns away, as tears spill.

MICHELLE 

They said I could leave... [she sighs] an hour ago. But... where am I even supposed to go? After everything we survived together... [turning back to Dean] I watched the man I love die. There's no normal after that.

***Later, Dean and Sam leave the hospital, despite the prior exchange, Dean remains aloof/casually optimistic about Michelle’s state.

DEAN 

So, that's it, huh? Two quarts O-neg, and you're good to go.

SAM 

[sighing as he walks gingerly down the steps]: How is she? Ooh.

DEAN 

She's strong. She'll be all right. Those stitches gonna hold?

ANALYSIS: I had some issues to work through on my first viewing of this scene.  It made me feel icky-weird - like, why is my baby Dean being so dismissive?  Why isn’t he taking what she said seriously?  She’s hopeless and devastated - and while Dean is pretty rough around the edges at times, he’s not callous.  He wouldn't just dismiss Michelle’s feelings, especially since she played an integral role in helping him and they really connected on some level during the episode.  Saving people is what Dean loves to do, how is leaving Michelle alone in her despair and grief saving her? 

As everything tends to, this hit different on the rewatch - my assessment - Dean’s attitude in this scene does not come from his lack of sympathy for Michelle, but a lack of true understanding - because what she is feeling he cannot possibly comprehend at this point in the show.  He hasn’t yet really, and I mean REALLY watched the person he loves most in this world die in the same sense that Michelle just did.  Yes, at one point in this particular episode Sam dies, and I’m sure that people draw that parallel as “the point” in this story arc (and then go on to do more than that but we do not allow that crap here), but Sam is Dean’s brother, and it’s just not the *same* parallel.  AND that wouldn’t explain Dean’s attitude - his nonchalant, off handed comment that Michelle will be okay (I don’t think this statement reads as a “cover” of any concerns he actually has, I truly think he thinks she will be okay), so while he went through watching someone die who has been through everything with him, someone he loves deeply as his family, it’s not really the same as watching your soulmate, the person you love romantically die.  Yes - Cas is “missing” because of Lucifer but he is not dead, there is still hope (and while Dean lost Cas back in Season 7, I don’t believe he was quite *there* with his feelings for Cas then to understand what Michelle is going through).  Dean simply cannot fathom the feeling of despair Michelle is feeling at this point.

But he will.  And he will also experience what Michelle did.  I wonder if he thought back to that conversation when it happened to him.

I present to you for consideration the following two images.

11x17:

13x01:

***By the way, Dean’s spirit and Billie have another exchange in this season after Cas’s death in 13x05:

BILLIE

That doesn’t sound like the Dean Winchester I know and love. The man who has been dead so many times but it never seems to stick. Maybe you’re not that guy anymore, they guy who saves the world, the guy who always thinks he’ll win no matter what. You have changed. And you tell people it’s not a big deal. You tell people you’ll work through it but you know you won’t, you can’t and that scares the hell out of you. Or… am I wrong?

DEAN

What do you want me to say? Doesn’t matter. I don’t matter.

BILLIE

Don’t you?

DEAN I couldn’t save Mom. I couldn’t save Cas. I can’t even save a scared little kid. Sam keeps trying to fix it, but I just keep dragging him down. So I’m not going to beg. Okay, if it’s my time, it’s my time.

BILLIE

You really believe that. [Dean shakes his head yes] You wanna die.

***There is the despair.  Dean has changed.  There is no normal after Cas is gone.

I know, I know I am “making it all about the angel,” and forgetting that technically Dean lost Mary in the Season 12 finale and he is feeling defeated by the world and can’t get a win.  I get that.  I understand your point.  It isn’t JUST the loss of Cas that brings this level of increased pain to the same words he uttered in 11x17.  I appreciate your viewpoint.

But, I want to also present for your consideration the third image aka the final chapter in the lesson of despair (right after a certain episode with a certain name).

15x19:

And that, my friends, is why I have feelings about Red Meat.