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#her expressions are so good during the assassination sequence too <3
sinisterness · 1 month
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"From father's schematics, the palace is heavily fortified, though maybe not impregnable for me--"
During Katarina's preparations for assassinating King Jarvan III, and once she learns from Lux that he will not be at the execution personally, and instead within the palace, it was simply a matter of estimating which safe room the King would be placed in when Lux causes a distraction to save 'her prisoner.'
"At any sign of imminent threat... Jarvan is rushed to the nearest of his safe rooms hidden across the city. Which I know now will be in the palace itself."
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Finding the secret room within the king's chambers, Katarina hid behind the chair and awaited the king to enter. There was always a chance that he wouldn't be brought to this one, but her assumptions of the guard's thought processes are all spot-on. With her equipment with her in case she survives the king's guards afterwards for a quick escape from the capital,
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she waited for the king to lock himself into his own doom.
Additionally while we're here, within the Mageseeker's games second-final level is a partially burned note;
Thorn, Your service to the Pale Woman and our family has been unimpeachable. There is just one final task for you before you may leave that so-called "Great City": You shall aid the Sinister Blade in... [indecipherable] While it is highly improbable that she will succeed–let alone survive–luck has favored her foolishness before. She MUST NOT return to Noxus. You shall return in her stead. Do what you will with the light mage. She has served her purpose. [The signature is obscured, but a stamp of a rose seems to be visible on the blackened edge of the page.]
I believe this was for Jaredan, who shot the raptor knight Katarina was using to escape Demacia, followed her return to Noxus Prime, and was also the 'guard' who allowed Lux into the Arcane Registry (rooky mistake introducing himself with his real name - as Soreana later writes to him again and addresses him as Jaredan too)
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sambart93 · 6 years
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Messiah: Genya no Koku [Movie Review]
Another quick review I wanted to do. So I got to see this twice and I got to theorise with one of my friends after both reviewings and we were both going crazy with fanfic ideas after this. 
In true Messiah style, I watched this and fell right back into the hell pit that is Messiah. I love this series. I don’t think I’ll ever leave it. But that’s what DV does to you xD
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Official Site here Press/Pics/Videos 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
The Story
The story is set just after Tsukuyomi where Itsuki agrees to trading himself in so they could get Ariga back. During the transfer, Ariga makes it back to HQ safely but Itsuki, along with Saryut, goes missing. They have been captured by the real Nightmare and he makes them do a little treasure hunt before they can escape his clutches. Meanwhile the rest of the boys, including Suku, try to track them down, and save them. But past actions make a reappearance.
We also have a side story of Sakura having to protect a Prince with the help of his shady bodyguard. And they also end up being connected to the main plot.
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Entering SPOILER TERRITORY!
*This is a huge series so I don’t recommend you jump into this one without scene the previous work from it*
Spoiler Story
So Itsuki and Saryut wake up in Nightmare’s Lair and they are trapped inside with a bunch of people who, one way or another, want to take revenge on either Itsuki or Saryut. So they attempt to kill them but obviously our boys are more than capable and handle the entire situation on their own. But they keep one of them alive. However, Nightmare kills the man’s daughter for failing to kill Itsuki and Saryut and for siding with our boys. Itsuki and Saryut stop the man from committing suicide and persuade him that ‘you should take revenge on Nightmare because he’s the one that killed your daughter, not us.’ So Nightmare lets them move from room to room, but in each room is a hint or a scene that reminds Itsuki/Saryut of something terrible they’ve done in the past. And they cannot move onto the next room without facing what happened and explaining that terrible scene/situation.
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While they are trying to get out of there, Sakura (on one side), and Suku & Doctor X (on the other side) are trying to find their boys. Eventually they find the same trail and the same hints, end up meeting up, and they momentarily join forces so they can get their boys back.
We also have this Prince who Hinamori and Kogura are in charge of protecting a prince, but after being caught transporting the Prince to safety, shots are fired and the Prince runs away, even leaving his bodyguard behind. Turns out the Prince is also wanting revenge of Itsuki (for killing/assassinating his father) and that Nightmare had invited him to watch their stream (of them going through the rooms), and he eventually makes his way to the location of the boys.
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In a horrible twist though, when Saryut and Itsuki make it to the last room, they’re both knocked out. Saryut knocks of Itsuki after making a deal with Nightmare behind Itsuki’s back. And Saryut is then knocked out by Nightmare. When the Prince makes it to the location, he revenge shoots Itsuki (who has a bag over his head), but turns out it was his bodyguard who Nightmare had wrapped in Itsuki’s clothing and put a bag over. Nightmare enjoys that fact that he tricked the Prince to kill his only true friend and is reveling in the fact that the Prince has now actually fall into a Real Nightmare (the entire theme of the movie is that death is not the nightmare, living is the real nightmare).
Itsuki wakes up after being knocked out and Nightmare reveals himself. He was actually the guy they decided not to kill right at the very beginning! He just pretended to be someone else. Itsuki wants to know why. Nightmare reveals that he is actually the Prince’s older brother, and that when Itsuki killed their father, their father actually had all his child heirs and child relatives locked up; with his dying breath their father had hit a switch that gassed and killed all the children. Nightmare’s daughter was one of them. So he wanted revenge on Itsuki.
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Although Itsuki does blame himself for all those children dying (and still has PTSD/nightmares/flashbacks from it), it’s actually revealed that the father/King was using the children for his own sick experiments --> he wanted to create people who couldn’t feel any pain (turns out Saryut’s group was helping to conduct those experiments). And when Itsuki found the King, he actually decided not to shoot because the King was threatening to turn the switch on (to gas the children) if Itsuki did shoot. But the guards in the palace came bombarding in and one of those gun shots hits the King. So as a last ‘I will not go down alone’ sick selfish way, he pressed the switched and killed them all. 
However, it is very important to note that only the audience knows the truth. Itsuki never reveals to Nightmare, to Saryut, nor to anyone what really happened. He just purely and honestly feels it was his fault all those children died.
So now that Nightmare has Itsuki alone, and Nightmare himself was one of the past experiments (and successful) who can feel no pain, he asks Itsuki to fight him til one of them dies. Unfortunately, Nightmare gets the upper hand because of his lack of feeling, and just before he shoots Itsuki flat in the face, Ariga walks in!
Ariga literally woke up, quickly found out what happened, and got his ass over to save Itsuki! Together they kill Nightmare and walk away, with 2 or 3 bullets in them each xD but thank god they survived!
Suku also finds Saryut in the very first room Itsuki/Saryut woke up in and helps him out. Saryut asks why someone like Suku wanted to help save him, claiming that Suku usually doesn’t care for anyone else. Suku replies ‘because it would be so boring without you,’ and they leave.
That’s all the main points!!
Comments
☆ I absolutely loved the plot of this story! I loved all the twists! I absolutely loved this trapped building/room theme! I absolutely LOVED the twist with the Nightmare reveal, switching Itsuki for his bodyguard, the Prince shooting his bodyguard, Ariga running in at the last final minute. Every single reveal was amazing and I was just like ‘OMG!!!’
☆ I absolutely loved how Hinamori and Kogure’s friendship and trust grew! There were so many scenes and moments in this movie that they kept hidden from Ichijima! They were both like ‘lets not tell Ichijima,’ many times. Their friendship is getting so good!
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☆ I absolutely loved seeing this vulnerable side of Suku. He’s trying not to care for Saryut but it’s so obvious that he does care! Even Doctor X says ‘it’s unlike you to care about/trying to find someone,’ and he always claims ‘I’d be bored if he wasn’t around’ or something like that but YOU CARE! YOU CARE!!!
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☆ There’s a scene where Hina and Kogure are in a dark piping room, and I just saw the sexual tension go everywhere!! There’s one moment 
☆ Unfortunately, I figured out straight away who Nightmare was. But this was from pure luck and pure random thoughts. Because you don’t hire Namioka Kazuki for a simple role! He never has a simple role! He is such a popular and well known actor! As soon as he popped up as this ‘poor guy wanting revenge’, my brain instantly went ‘Namioka never plays small roles. He always has a main role. He always plays a bad guy too,’ so when it’s revealed that he’s Nightmare, I was like ‘I KNEW IT!!’
☆ I adored the opening scene where we had a badass female murdering some mad scientist. It did give many fangirls hope that we were going to have a badass female (finally) in Messiah. But alas she ends up committing suicide in the end, and Hina and Kogure find her body.
☆ I love, love, love that they kept the bathroom for this movie too! We still have HQ at the bathhouse! And we still had some bathhouse scenes! There is a hilarious bathhouse scene with Kuroko, Ichijima and the bodyguard, Kuromatsu, just after they catch Kuromatsu betraying his prince somewhat. And Ichijima is not impressed and has this ‘-___-’ expression on his face while Kuromatsu is trying to defend himself. Also Kuroko splashes water in this scene and Ichi doesn’t flinch at all! I was giggling so hard at this scene! Also, while I don’t particularly like Ichi, I have to admit that the actor has kept his body in amazing shape! His chest and torso looked so damn good in that scene!!!! I was dying xD
☆ Apparently the Prince and the Bodyguard are going to stay in the series. But so far, I think they’ve had a lukewarm welcome. The Prince is a totally dick to his bodyguard, but all of a sudden cares for him at the end, and the bodyguard was very cold towards the Prince; for most of the film, he said ‘it’s just business’ but then he tries to save the Prince? So right now what we know about them is not much, and it’s also very all over the place. So we’ll see...
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☆ I absolutely adored some of the action scenes in this! I think the first fighting scene (Saryut and Itsuki VS the revengers), and the final scene with Itsuki/Ariga and Nightmare were very well shot!!
☆ I also, as I always do, loved the opening theme song and sequence!! I absolutely adored the colours and effects that they used this time around! 
☆ There are many moments in this movie where Itsuki and Saryut have to face what they and what their group have done to people. And I absolutely loved how both of them felt justified in their actions but where then condemning the other’s actions. There’s a beautiful moment/line from Saryut (to Itsuki) where he says ‘just because you were told to (do it), you think you’re in the right (for your actions)’ and it was a really powerful line and moment.
☆ I thought this one was such a good, high quality production. The colouring was great, the cinematography was great, the effects were great, the fighting scenes were great, some of the dialogue was gold. I thought this was probably the best produced Messiah movie we’ve had! Everything aesthetically pleased me!
☆ Speaking of effects!! Fucking Hinamori is BADASS. His very first scene is him and Kogure trying to meet the Prince and get him to safety but obviously terrorists turn up, and there’s also a sniper of a far off building. But Hinamori can find/see where the sniper is, so every time the snipe took a shot, Hinamori moved ever so slightly and DODGED the bullet! EVERY TIME he so easily and so smoothly DODGED the bullets! I absolutely LOVED this moment! I also loved his posture and body language as he dodged the bullets. Hina looked so fucking kool!!
☆ There’s another comedy gold scene, where Ichijima suggests something (not so nice), and Kuroko immediately got his green plastic slipper out and smacked Ichi over the head! Ichi’s hair spiked up but Ichi kept him ‘-_____-’ face and continued his lines. I was dying of laughter.
☆ Another adorable scene was right at the very end as Itsuki and Ariga walk/limp out, after killing Nightmare, and Itsuki had a very emotional moment towards the end and was in tears. So as they walked out, Ariga was like ‘by the way.... why are you crying?’ and Itsuki’s like ‘I ain’t crying!’ and it was such an adorable moment that I couldn’t help but giggle in happiness and amusement xD
☆ As I hadn’t seen the previous stage, it was so weird for me to see Kuroko as the leader and in Ichijima’s leader coat!
☆ Upon my first viewing, I had no idea Ruka (the Prince) was MALE until he took his turban off! He has very girly features that I thought for the first 30 minutes or so that he was actually a girl!! I was so surprise, I was like ‘a-WAH?!’ xD
☆ Ichi is still keeping secrets in this movie. Throughout there is a card with an ‘S’ on it, but even when Kuroko asks, Ichi just says ‘now isn’t the right time for people to know.’ UGHHHH fuck you Ichi!!!
☆ Towards the beginning of the movie, Itsuki has a dream where Ariga betrays him and points a gun to him and pulls the trigger. I was losing my shit in my seat the first time around!!
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FanFic Ideas!
Me and my friend had so many dang fanfic ideas going around while watching this!! But the main two I had:
☆ There is a scene where Hina and Kogure are in a dark, pipping area, and Kogure lightly comments ‘I hope Itsuki is okay...’, and I was immediately thinking ‘Hina get angry! Ask ‘Itsuki? What about me?’ and kiss him!!!’. They were SUPER close during that scene too. Also this scene is split into two parts in the movie; the first part, it’s still day time, but when we come back to this scene, it’s night, and my brain was like ‘I bet I can guess how they passed the time there mwahahaha’ xD
☆ Another scene is when Suku first finds out Saryut has been taken and is trying to find out where he is. Doctor X comments ‘it’s not like you to care about someone else’ and my brain was like ‘ARGHHHH THEY LOVE EACH OTHER!!!’. AND at the end when Saryut is like ‘why did you come and save me?’ and Suku replies ‘it’d be boring without you’, I was DYING in my seat!! ARGH!!!!
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And that’s all! I’m super excited for the dvd and I hope many of you get a chance to watch this movie! It was great!
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[1] what a great idea of yours about mandy and curt being fellows in misery of sorts! which brings us to shannon, because she stayed by brian's side till the end but is sadly unexplored as a character (that makes sense though since she is binded to the 80s-brian who is, well, a sad affair). as for brian, yeah, he loses himself between money, fame, etc., but that's what makes me think he lacks something - curt for example held his own? which is fascinating on reflection for curt seems
[2] to be waaay more self-destructive, and yet! he’s just too winsome and radiant during that last talk with arthur. but that baby’s-on-fire sequence? never ceases to amaze me, i keep rewatching it and can’t get enough. so sensual, bestial, carnal, forbidden, dark and deep… arthur’s secret is revealed while brian’s following curt and leaving for good (“like a heifer to the slaughter”): both face an existential journey to an actual self,
[3] and though arthur’s is presumably more successful, brian’s is longingly tragic and thus more… powerful? or at least more interesting and profound for me, i love those who lose even if they do not arise. thank you so much for the nice chat, it matters a good deal to me! (and i’m sorry i’m on anon, i just don’t have a blog)))
(answer under the cut):
     I think when we go into deep analysis of Velvet Goldmine, it’s good to remind ourselves of its roots. VG was originally meant to be a David Bowie biopic of some sort, but Bowie heavily disliked the idea, so the plot was changed so it doesn’t play any of his songs and doesn’t speak about him… except, of course, it totally does.
     Velvet Goldmine is a story of its own right, but it’s also a glam rock fairytale, like using a myth to tell a real story, and that was how the characters were shaped. Brian Slade is basically David Bowie, with a little of Marc Bolan; Curt Wild is a mix between Lou Reed and Iggy Pop; Mandy Slade is basically Angela Bowie. I don’t believe that Bowie ever fell in love with neither Iggy nor Lou, but he did share a deep friendship with both of them (even if he and Iggy drifted apart later on life), and I think it’s pretty likely that sex may have happened between them (especially with Lou).
     And Bowie, obviously, did not pretend to be assassinated on stage to return on the 80’s with a new identity… but Bowie very much did turn his back on his early expression of bisexuality (and open sexuality, generally speaking) for a few years, in order to court the attention of the more conservative american fans. And during the conservative 80’s, I can see how such an attitude could feel like such a betrayal for a devoted gay fan, just as huge as Brian did in the film when he turned into Tommy Stone (basically Serious Moonlight Bowie).
     Anyway, this wall of text is just to say that I think that Shannon was heavily inspired in Coco Schwab, Bowie’s lifelong friend and personal assistant that was with him for most of his life. I’m a massive Bowie fan and I know a lot about him, but I know next to nothing about his relationship with Coco, except that they were very close and he had immense consideration for her. My impressions of her is that she’s a very discreet and loyal woman, which are the general impressions that Shannon give me in the film, but I know and understand very little about her personal goals and feelings.
     If I am to use this line of interpretation, I can say that Curt mirrors both of Iggy and Lou’s careers - for example, Iggy’s most acclamed works were on late 70’s, followed by a few lukewarm works on early 80’s, which are my impressions of Curt by the end of the film - he doesn’t appear to be a massive sucess per say, but he does’t seem to be in a decadent fall either. And Brian/Tommy mirrors early 80’s Bowie; massive commercial sucess, but considered a bit soulless and a sell-out for some people, famous and popular but also sort of empty.
     Forgetting for a minute the real life comparisions, yeeeah, I love the Baby’s on Fire sequence so much! Not sure if it’s my favorite in the film but it’s like top 3. It’s very sexy and downright sexual. And yes, the parallels between Arthur’s true identity coming to life to his homophobic parents and Brian’s very much real infactuation becoming crystal clear for his wife... it’s brilliant, it really is!
     Powerful is the word, ha! Like I said, we have very few insights in what Brian is really like, only getting snippets from Curt and Mandy (the people who presumably knew him better), and I sort of like it, I like how mysterious a figure he is to us. Makes him so much more attractive a character for me!
     Ha, you’re welcome! This is a lot of fun for me, I love to talk about this film. I wondered about that, but if you ever make an account here, do stop by to give a hello ~~
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