#hes so unbearable in the 90s anime

[mikoriin]

my unpopular sailor moon opinion is that i am ANTI SEIYA lmao like get away from her she got a man!!! old school mamousa stan here definitely mhm

[mothwingwritings]

Boyfriend To Death/The Price Of Flesh Sleeping Headcanons 🌙💤🛌

Hello everyone! In between fics I have been working on some headcanons, like this one, for your reading pleasure. :) It's some bedtime/sleeping arrangement scenarios feat. you and our favorite murderous companions. <3 It’s dedicated to all the sleepy individuals out there that just want to hit the hay and snooze the day away-I feel you and you are valid. Also there is a bonus plushie headcanon for each character because why not! If you don’t have at least stuffed creature on your bed, this is your sign to love yourself. Go acquire a friend and snuggle up with him, I demand it. ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

DUE TO THE NATURE OF THESE HEADCANONS AND THE SOURCE MATERIAL, 18+ ONLY PLEASE!

Warnings: abuse/abusive relationships, noncon/dubcon, forced cuddling, forced interaction, forced relationships, implied kidnapping, being held against your will, reader is threatened and hurt, mentions of/implied sex, very lightly edited.

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Ren/Fox🦊

·         Exceptionally clingy when he sleeps. Honestly like a suction cup. Regardless of if he’s the little or big spoon, he’ll be latched to you the whole night. Wiggle and complain as much as you like, he’s not relinquishing his hold.

·         Even if you two are just taking a little nap together, he always has to have some kind of skin contact with you. Holding hands, cuddling, a limb draped over you, something.  He needs the reminder that you are there and that you aren’t going anywhere, he can’t sleep peacefully without it.

·         He’s warm. Too warm, really. Uncomfortably warm. In winter this poses no problem, but during the summer it’s nearly unbearable. You need to crank the AC to keep yourself from melting into a puddle of sweat, but the added cold only makes him cling to you tighter, increasing the heat. He doesn’t seem to mind the warmth at all and takes offense if you try and voice your irritation, giving you an earful (if not worse) over how you need to be more grateful for the affection he douses you with, warning that if you don’t watch yourself, next time it snows you’ll be camping outside with nothing but the clothes on your back. We’ll see how much you miss his warmth then.

·         He’s a night owl, but he also somehow always wakes up before you do. It’s not uncommon for you to be awoken by an eager beastkin shoving a homemade breakfast in your face, excited to start his day with his love by sharing breakfast in bed with you and watching anime. <3

·         Though sometimes he gets a little too excited in the morning, and if that’s the case you’ll be waking up to a very handsy man pawing at you, kissing any and every place his lips can reach, pressing himself against you so you can feel just how excited he is. It’s a good thing you are in bed because by the time he’s done you’ll be so worn out you’ll need some more rest. ^^;

·         Also, he is an avid fan of plushies. If you also collect them your bed is going to be 90% plushies and he is 100% going to use that as an excuse to be squeezed on the bed with you as close as physically possible so as you all can have room. None of them are allowed on the floor, no man is left behind, and he’ll make sure you all fit whether it is comfortable or not.

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Lawrence🌿

·         Lawrence is the exact opposite of Ren when it comes to contact. Though he may fall asleep with you in his arms (or vice versa), he very quickly grows uncomfortable with the prolonged contact, his body used to being the sole person in his bed. Very shortly after he falls asleep, he will unconsciously push you away to try and create distance. No matter how much he may yearn for your contact in his waking hours, he has no control over his subconscious actions. Often times the shoving is much rougher than it needs to be, abruptly (and painfully) waking you up in the process.

·         However, this does not deter him from making you sleep with him. Even if he ends up damn near shoving you off the bed, he wants you to be close to him for as long as and as much as possible.

·         Lawrence is basically nocturnal, and even if you are also a night owl there are bound to be some times when your sleep schedules don’t fall in line with each other. He gets a little excited when you fall asleep when he is awake, taking pleasure in watching you as you slumber. The way you lay near him, completely unguarded and quiet, only the slow rise and fall of your chest denoting that you are alive at all… It does something for him. More than once you’ve woken up to him standing over you, face flushed and tears in his eyes as he’s pumping his dick to the sight of your passed out form. If you wake before he can finish himself, he’s gonna use you to complete the job.

·         In fact, he just likes to stare at you while you sleep in general. He doesn’t have to feel anxious or worried of how you may perceive his gawking if you aren’t aware it’s happening to begin with. It’s a nice chance to really take in and appreciate your beauty without facing any backlash, and it comforts him to know you trust him enough to fall that deeply into slumber in his presence.

·         Doesn’t really get the point of plushies and never really had a strong attachment to stuffed animals as a child, so he doesn’t have any of his own and has no desire to own any. He thinks it’s cute that you like them though, and won’t deny you if you want to take one or two to bed with you. If you gift him one, he’ll be flustered but thankful, hugging it when he is unable to hug you. The little friend is a perfect cuddle buddy for when your sleep schedules don’t align and he doesn’t want to disturb you once you have fallen asleep.

·         Just be mindful that if he gets agitated or you piss him off, he’ll definitely destroy your beloved stuffies, tearing them to shreds with either his bare hands or any of the gardening  tools he has lying around. He’ll instantly feel bad if you begin to cry over it, but at that point it’s too late. It’s best to stop the tears before he turns the assault towards you.

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Strade🔪

·         Strade is all over the place when he sleeps. It doesn’t matter how big the bed is or how little space you take up in it, his presence is unavoidable. You can try and create as much distance as physically possible, scrunching yourself up in a corner in hopes that he doesn’t come in contact with you, and you’ll still end up with him sprawled all over you come morning.

·         He’s also loud. Snoring, grunting, talking in his sleep, he’s so noisy it’s a wonder you can get any sleep at all. You get used to it after a while (you don’t have a choice), but each time he nudges you in his sleep or wakes you up with a particularly loud snore, it’s all just another unpleasant reminder you are stuck with him, unable to find tranquility even in your dreams.

·         He has a tendency to latch on to and keep a close hold of whatever is closest to him while he sleeps. The moment he looks even slightly drowsy you try and stay away from him, not thrilled with the prospect of being smashed up against him for hours on end while he’s pleasantly off in dreamland. Were it anyone else or any other situation, you may find the clinginess endearing, but with Strade it’s just extremely uncomfortable and confusing. You spend the whole time unsure if you want him to wake up and let you go (and thus have to deal with an alert and active monster) or if you want to remain silent and just put up with it, thankful for the rare moment of peace.

·         He sleeps the best after successfully finding and securing a new victim, the gusto and energy that he puts towards spending time with his new ‘friend’ leaves him completely spent by the end of the day. A tired Strade is usually a good thing for you-if he’s worn out, he’s less likely to bother or hurt you. However the opposite is also true, if he hasn’t been able to blow off steam in a while he’ll grow antsy and restless, and he’s bound to make his lack of sleep and overall disgruntlement your problem. Regardless, you won’t get much sleep either way, as you find no contentment in either situation.

·         Though they aren’t really his thing, he is amused by your plushies. While he can see the appeal of them, the only real interest he takes in them is how you react to them. Which ones are your favorite, do you favor one character or animal over another, do you prefer the big and fluffy or small and squishy? Most importantly though, he wants to know how deeply your fondness for them extends and how/if he can use that as a persuasive tool against you in the future. Should they prove to be a promising means of coercion, prepare for quite a few new plush friends to keep you company in the future. :)

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Celia👩‍💼

·         She’s an early riser. Not necessarily because she wants to so much as it’s engrained in her from years of putting in overtime at her corporate job. If you try and pull her back into bed she’ll gripe at you, but is secretly happy that you are willingly making yourself a scapegoat for her laziness. Though on days she absolutely has to get up early, you best be getting up right alongside her to help her get ready for the day or you will be deeply regretting it. She always takes precedence, you can sleep more when she leaves.

·         She’s on edge most of the time and is overall a very light sleeper. If you snore or toss and turn too much, she’ll get pissed off and roughly shove you awake, grumbling obscenities while complaining about how annoying you are being. If she can’t sleep, she certainly isn’t going to let you sleep either.

·         Even if you aren’t a noisy or restless sleeper, she’ll still find constant things to gripe about regarding your sleeping arrangement. Either you take up too much room, or you are encroaching on her personal space, or you have some other sleeping habit she finds grating that you have no control over because you are unconscious when you do it. She doesn’t ever seem overly pleased to share sleeping space with you, and you often wonder why she doesn’t just banish you to the couch or some other place to get your rest.

·         And yet, she never does make you sleep elsewhere.  In fact, it only makes her MORE pissed off if you suggest it, taking it as a personal offense that you don’t want to spend time with her. She won’t admit it to you, but the act of sleeping near someone she doesn’t positively loathe or who isn’t trying to use her in some way is one of the few things that really brings her peace. Even if it’s against your will, having you in bed with her soothes her. It’s honestly the best sleep she has had in ages.

·         She’s not a huge cuddler, but she does like physical confirmation that you are near. Often times she’ll reach out in the night to grab your hand or drape her arm across your body, never smothering, but just enough contact to assure that you are still by her side.

·         She staunchly refuses to have any stuffed animals in her bed, telling you she finds them childish and stupid (whether she actually feels this way or is just pissed you are trying to bring things into her bed that take up even more space is debatable). If she finds any plushies you are hiding she will most likely throw them away on sight. You may be able to get away with a little one, but that’s only if she doesn’t find it or is feeling extremely benevolent.

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Derek🦂

·         The only time Derek shows any kind of ‘affection’ is when he sleeps. Like Strade, he likes to secure himself to things while he slumbers, and if he doesn’t fall asleep with an item (you) already in his arms at some point in the night, he will subconsciously grab onto something (also you) and not relent until he wakes the next morning.

·         The way he clings to you can almost be considered sweet. Wrapping his arms around you securely, burying his face into your chest or the crux of your neck as he snuggles up against you as close as physically possible, it makes you momentarily forget what a monster the man beside you actually is. It’s almost as if he’s a child huddled up close to a parent, seeking comfort from the things that go bump in the night.  The spell is broken if he happens to be awoken during one of these cuddle sessions, and he’ll take out his embarrassment over the situation by treating you even crueler than he typically does.

·         One of the few niceties he allows you is sleeping in his bed as opposed to the floor-but it comes at a price.  It’s an honor to be able to sleep next to him nightly in his huge, plush, expensive bed, an honor far too good for the likes of you. He expects to be compensated for his generosity, so you’d best be ready to do any and everything he asks or desires at the drop of a hat, no matter how degrading or agonizing it may be. If you want to keep this privilege while preventing as much suffering as possible, you’ll do as he says. (Then again, it’s not like he really needs your active participation to force what he wants out of you, but he does like when you obey him ‘willingly’ and has a tendency to be a smidge less cruel when you follow his instruction).

·         He usually forces you to either sleep nude or in some very compromising/uncomfortable/embarrassing negligee that covers so little you mine as well BE naked. He’s a blanket hog too, and has a penchant for cranking up the AC at night, leaving your only source of warmth to be curling up beside him. You try and fight it at first, but you inevitably give in when the chill gets to be too much (also you aren’t too keen on getting ill in his presence, swallowing your pride is worth it if you can avoid more suffering).

·         He will mercilessly make fun of and belittle you for any stuffed animals you may have or try to sleep with. He’ll infantilize you, asking if you need a binky to go with your stuffy, or tease that he’ll need to put you in diapers so you don’t accidentally shit the bed. However, even with all the constant mocking, he does find it kinda hot when you try and use the plushies as a shield, doing your best to conceal your sniveling face and exposed body behind the fluffy creature as he plows into you ruthlessly. The toy does a shit job shielding you, but it is hilarious to watch you try and hide yourself behind them.

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Mason🐻

·         Despite everything, he’s actually probably the nicest of the lot to sleep with. He’s warm and soft, and when he holds you it’s comforting and shockingly soothing. It’s disconcerting how easily you melt into the same person that caused you so much trauma and torment, haunted by the fact that the arms that now wrap snuggly around you were not so long ago the greatest threat to your life. You don’t know whether you should be more disgusted with him for holding you with such familiarity or yourself for enjoying it as much as you do.

·         The man can sleep almost anywhere. After years of surviving out in the wilderness he has honed his body to handle tough climates and all manner of conditions, granting him the ability to thrive in less than favorable environments. The man could probably fall asleep in the middle of a torrential downpour with nothing but a rock bed beneath him and come out of it completely rested.

·         You aren’t expected to immediately be able to rough it. He realizes this way of life is all fairly new to you and that getting used to nights out in the wilderness has its own learning curve. Because of this, he’s actually surprisingly accommodating about the whole thing. When you camp, he makes sure to bring his best tent and sleeping bag for you to use, even though it’s a hassle to drag around and he himself has long since forgone the need for it. Though it’s nearly impossible to find comfort enough to sleep while stranded deep out in an unfamiliar forest, surrounded by nothing but the pitch black of night, all manner of voracious wild animals, and a serial killer, he does his best to make sure you are adequately cared for and as content as you can possibly be.

·         However you best not slack with your survival instincts, this coddling is only a limited time deal. You proved yourself to him once by pulling through his trial, but that doesn’t mean you have a free ride forever. He’ll pamper you a bit in the ‘honeymoon’ phase, but if you grow complacent and begin to let him down… It isn’t going to be a smooth or happy time for either of you. Its best not to betray his expectations, if you do something overly stupid or otherwise show your survival was just a fluke… your sleeping arrangement is going to be the least of your concern.

·         He finds your affinity for stuffed animals a bit juvenile, but also slightly endearing. He can’t deny how cute you look when you are curled up in his bed, nestled amongst various furs and blankets, clutching tight to your favorite plushie while you rest. He enjoys that sight so much that he decides to make you his own plushie for you one day as a gift.

·         It was a strange little lumpy creature he cobbled together from various fabric scraps and other soft, but unidentified, material, all sloppily hand sewn with little black buttons for eyes. It was a true amalgamation of mismatched cloth and stuffing, and to be honest… You weren’t really sure what it was supposed to be. A bear, maybe? Or a raccoon? Regardless, you take it without question, and once he sees it’s been accepted he’s quick to discard your previous plush. He’s accepting of this hobby to a degree-you can have ONE. And since you were smart and picked the better of the two, you don’t need the ratty old one to cling to for company anymore. You have him and you have his gift, everything else is frivolous.

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[synergysilhouette]

"Batman: Caped Crusader" review

Binge-watched this show, and I wanted to be one of many people to share my thoughts on this--plus I was spurred on by getting a wish of mine granted from the show. Make sure to check out the show if you can!

The animation is beautiful--I know this is a weird comparison, but soemthing about the animation reminds me of 2010s Scooby Doo animated films, and I kind of adore that.

The voice acting was...fine--I can't tell if it was poor performances or poor direction; Hamish's Bruce Wayne sounds too raspy/rugged some of the time, like he's still playing Batman, and many of the other actors felt like they were just reading lines rather than performing lines, not enough emotion. IDK if they're more used to live-action work, but voice-acting is a different ballgame, since your voice is all you have to convey the character. A lot of performances fell flat for me, but it wasn't 100% unbearable, just underwhelming. I have some people I'd recommend instead (both familiar to the role and otherwise), but I don't wanna start anything.

LOVED Harley (but not her costume)--Jamie Chung had one of the better performances in the group, and I really LOVED the angle they did for Harley; I feel like the media often flanderizes her as the goofy crazy chick, so seeing her actually utilize her psychology skills (like I've been asking for!) is so satisfying. That said, the outfit has GOT TO GO. Gold and black is gorgeous, but it ples in comparison to her black and red look. And a weird nit-pick; when I first saw the stills, I was under the impression she was wearing a carnival-esque mask rather than face paint, and I find that idea a lot creepier. I wish we'd gotten more of Harley's antics--and even seeing her get close to Bruce in the way she did with Barbara and Renee--before revealing her as a big bad to the public. And I appreciate that she isn't 100% evil; she is doing what she believes is a noble cause, just doing it in an illegal and unethical way. I needed a backstory!

Not enough Batman--Maybe it's just me, but it definitely felt like there were some episodes where Bruce and Batman were supporting characters and more focus was on the GCPD. While I don't mind it too much, I enjoy superhero shows for the superheroes, not the heroes; this is why I had a love/hate relationship with "Gotham."

Batman (and Bruce) isn't quite likeable enough--In earlier incarnations, Batman was more kind and caring before becoming more emotionally closed off with time, but here he's that way from the get-go. Not to mention that Bruce Wayne puts on a facade around everyone, even people he trusts (he probably did that anyway; I can't remember), and his session with Harleen really frustrated me because I don't expect his walls to come down immediately, I don't expect them to be this high this early. I wanted him to be a bit warmer and transparent, rather than curt and cold like he's usually seen in the show. I feel like this is an issue often seen in comics, too; people prioritize Batman's "coolness" and thus push his feelings to the wayside.

Using underrated and familiar villains--I'm sure the real experts are gonna chew me out for this one, but as someone who got into comics in the 2010s and didn't catch up on the acclaimed 90s series, it was fun to see villains I loved and villains I didn't know; one of the best things a popular property can do is use underrated characters, since it helps the show feel original and fresh (thus why "Teen Titans" is so enjoyable; the whole franchise is underrated).

Too modern for the 1940s--I can't put my fingers on it exactly, but the vibes feel too modern; I assume the 1940s was for aesthetics, but since everything else feels updated (from the way people talk to Harley and Renee seemingly being open about their feelings for each other), I don't think it was a wise choice to have it both ways. I see no reason not to have it in modern-day, but I suppose you'd have to get more creative with technology.

Barbara and the Robins--First off, I should've gambled with someone that Jason would be a redhead; I'd have made SO MUCH money. Secondly, I'm not crazy about how all four kids are orphans; If I recall correctly, both Carrie and Stephanie's parents were alive when they joined the Batfamily. In any case, I'm confused on why Barbara is significantly older than them when they're all supposed to be within the same age bracket (I think; someone has told me otherwise since posting this, so I could be wrong). Not to mention, a part of me worries that because of the quartet's young ages and Barbara getting so much screentime as a lawyer, we won't get any of them as Robins or Batgirls unless something drastic happens, and/or we get a time jump.

Overall, I think my biggest gripes are the voice acting and how Batman/Bruce Wayne is written. That said, I enjoyed the show overall. IDK why HBO Max dropped it. Hopefully season 2 will introduce Poison Ivy, Catman, Tim Drake, Ghostmaker, and Gardener, since the finale already showed us a certain someone who IS coming to Gotham.

[m1d-45]

hey (with the utmost affection for you)

what do you think about the creator being weak to plushies aka the different companions/animals associated with characters? just felt like i wanted to nom some of them so hard rn,,,, they're so unbearably cute. Pers? Rosseland? Colleis bunny thingy, GUOBAAAAAA oh and and baron bunny and scaras cat sprite [heart eyes] they're so squishable and nommable that I want to keep them forever and ever and just treat them all well tbh

it would give rise to some super weird and mostly funny dynamics. your followers/acolytes know how to temper their envy for how you seem so keen on babying them when they're right there...... the sillies

I'm thinking rosseland in your lap, guoba on top of your head, and baron bunny and collei's bunny sleeping on each of your sides. Just genshin character companion appreciation rn ☹️

- marcotte anon

ENTIRELY valid about all of this

brief note that while baron bunny is an explosive amber made, i’m like 90% sure cuilein anbar is something collei made and keeps for personal comfort and hence something im not going to touch, but other than that..

imagine it extends to most animals near them, which i say just because of diluc’s bird. “can you send this letter quickly” sorry, their divine highness has taken him. no more bird.

you visit inazuma and are near constantly followed by butterflies (gorou has a field day when you visit watatsumi). xiangling invites you to wanmin, but you spend most of the time talking with guoba instead. amber ends up making you a non-explosive baron bunny, which you keep close for the extent of your trip to mondstat.

in fontaine, aside from the fact that melusines adore you—their father did too—the various inventors there have certainly received news of your preferences. it doesn’t matter much, though, since when rosseland butted into your leg, you quickly forgot about the clockwork toys you were trying to be given. you picked him up and walked toward where lyney and lynette were calling for him, but when you tried to give him back, he simply curled around your neck, purring. you ended up staying for dinner, after which freminet shyly offered you pers. with a bit of prompting, he told you about all the upgrades hes made over the years, and you listened long after the sun set.

[chrisevansispapi]

Squabble

Warning: arguing,some love languages are shown,implied smut.

Summary: Reader and Ransom has a new home and they want a baby to come along with it

——

When we arrived to the driveway, Me and Gideon slowly came out and saw the beautiful home, “Everybody’s waiting inside even Giddy’s nanny”Ransom informed me,as he carried the bags and still managed to open up the front door.

We got inside seeing the spacious and will lit foyer,Ransom gave the bags to the staff, Gideon slowly woke up from the bright lights of the chandelier.

“Morning Gideon!”Ransom picked up his son and got ahold of your hand, “Daddy,Momma…nice wayts(lights)” Ranskm lead me to the master bedroom,which was amazing,there was a walk-in closet where all my clothes went and Ranny’s too.

Ransom was trying to make the little boy laugh, “you want a little sister?” Ransom tickled Giddy, “you want a black eye?” I said mocking his tone,Gideon laughed at me and his daddy’s banter, “Giddy can’t even speak properly yet,think about babies when he can talk,alright?” I grab Gideon from him and took a tour around the house.

———

I was now in Ransom's SF90 on the way to the mall, “Can you just take into consideration a new cutesy baby in the new house?”Ransom drove to the parking lot, “Giddy is still a baby,Ransom… He’ll get jealous” I got out of the car and so did Ransom.

Ransom slammed the car door and turnt around,I walked with him in silence, “Let’s go to Baby Gap” I spoke out,breaking the unbearable silence, “okay”Ransom turned to his phone.

“That’s it? You’re being mean because I’m not ready for another child?—fine,I’ll go on my own,if you want to give me petty silent treatment” I walked into Baby Gap leaving him.

Baby Gap was so colorful and filled with every animal prints, reminded me of Gideon, I grabbed everything I wanted to put on Giddy and paid for it with Ransom's AmEx card.

My phone rang and it was Giddy’s nanny on facetime, “Sonia…Hi,What’s wrong?” I asked her, “Mrs.Drysdale,Gideon is not eating or drinking milk” Sonia was showing me Gideon who was crying his throat out. “I’m on my way,Sonia—Don’t worry” I hung up and ran as fast as I can to Ransom.

“Giddy’s crying non stop and not eating,let’s go” We ran to the car and drove 90 m/h.

———

I was now holding Gideon’s still panting body, “shh mommy’s here” I rub his back as his eyelids were now falling down, I lay him down on mine and Ransom's bed, "sleep tight" I tucked him in the duvet.

"That's why I don't want another one just yet,Can you handle two of that?" I was now sitting on the bed,Ransom just looked at me with his puppy dog eyes, "Come here" I pat down beside me, He sat down plopping his bulky body on the bed, I lie down beside him.

I draped my arm over his shirtless body, "Soon, just not now, a'ight?" I kiss his cheek, "Hmm" He cups my face with his one hand and presses his lips on mine.

"let's go have some fun in the office" Ransom winks at me, "mmmkay" I kiss him one more time before calling Sonia to watch Gideon in Our room.

[altruistic-meme]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

hi dear!!! i definitely don't mind AT ALL i love getting questions!!!! i probably have answered this question before, but this is one of those things that's subject to change pretty often as i find new characters and they take over from older ones :] so i will probably never give the exact same answer twice dksvjsdfh

ok ok that said, let me see... in no particular order:

Damianos of Akielos (Book: Captive Prince trilogy) quite literally THE man of all time. THE man of my dreams. he is such a beautifully written character who is so complex and interesting to read!! he is so gentle and caring despite his size, and he has a confidence i can only aspire to.

Neil Josten (Book: All For The Game trilogy) unhinged maniac 🧡 no but genuinely he is such a good main character. everything about him and his narration pulls you in to the story. he is the most unreliable narrator. his perspective is so skewed. also my namesake!!

Nakahara Chuuya (Anime/Series: Bungo Stray Dogs) i may or may not have somewhat of an obsession with him right now. he is literally so pretty that i throw my phone. but also he is so unbearably human in an incredibly tragic way, and he is that way because he actively chooses to be. he is a high ranking member of the mafia and he loves dogs and he promised his dying friend that he would save someone else and he is so loyal and bright. i am going to stop while im ahead bc 90% of my thoughts right now are about Chuuya so i could genuinely go on forever.

Victor Nikiforov (Anime: Yuri!!! ON Ice) he is so sad

Hinata Shoyo (Anime: Haikyuu!!) he is just so fucking BRIGHT!!! unlike Victor, Hinata is the exact opposite of me in almost every sense. it is so hard for me to watch anyone else when he's on the screen. he is just joy and energy incarnate and i want to be his friend so bad.

Spiderman (TV Show/Movie/Comic) this is a cheat because it's just. every iteration of spiderman. i love him. just your friendly neighborhood spiderman!! i have such a soft spot for Miles Morales' spiderman in particular due to the spiderverse movies, but i also really loved all of the live action spiderman movies. and we can't forget the tv show!!!

Prince Wilhelm (Show: Young Royals) fucking babygirl. yet another sad wet cat of a character who i project onto immensely. he is just so complex and interesting and so real and flawed and just. listen. having the weight of the world rest on your shoulders as you struggle with trying to make friends and fight your anxiety and handle your mother all by yourself is something i have dealt with too. i can't put into words all my thoughts about him right now, but rest assured there are More.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (Book: How to Train Your Dragon series) don't get me wrong, i love the movie version of him as well, but they are such different characters. and the book version of Hiccup has an incredibly special place in my heart. httyd is such a comfort read for me, and it was huge for me getting to grow up with Hiccup. he is just a fucking little guy and he goes through so much. but he keeps going. he didn't deserve any of it and he fights so hard to make sure no one else has to go through it like he did. gods i love him.

Charlie Spring (Comic: Heartstopper) same as with Hiccup, i love him in the show as well but to me the characters are so different and i just relate so much more to the comic version of him! he is a mess and i love him and relate to him. i wish i had what he has. i am also so proud of how far he has come!! and he reminds me to be proud of myself, too. also see; sassy motherfucker.

Kenai (Movie: Brother Bear) a strange choice, maybe, but this movie means SO much to me. it is a huge comfort movie. and Kenai, by virtue of being the main character, clearly gets the leg up as the favorite. but it's so amazing seeing him grow as a person (or. well. bear). he's funny, he tries so hard, he wants so much. and he's just a kid!! he learns so much!!

there are definitely some patterns in my favorite characters that i am going to choose not to look too closely at :') i have so many characters i adore. this was so hard ;;;

[silusvesuius]

hold on i'm about tos tart spitting facts right now, My nelvas in t*lltale twd setting i was thinking about for a bit; as i said........... they have a perfect imbalanced dynamic dats fun to play with so they obviously would do 'Good' in a zombie apocalypse too......UUUUUUUUUUUU 😭UUWAH😭WWWWWWA😭AHHHHHHHH NELVAAS anyways:

i just spent minutes writing a calmer caption for this but tumblr threw that take away so we're left with what we have above. anyways i wrote most of this riding a high. 🤗

first off talvas always gives me spiraling med student vibes so that's what he is. he's like ~24 as i always label him, so probably getting a masters. that won't matter soon though lol. something to do with surgery so that it's convenient to the setting and his 'role' in a group. (logically it would make more sense for him to be into engineering and such, but that's not alldat interesting for this or any setting at all imo)

and then obviously neloth wud be a professor perhaps or just someone talvas sees on the regular for educational purposes. i'm just gonna say he's pushing 70 but still not retired for some reason (he's a Tryhard). i honestly get the feeling he would carry the same level annoyance people get from Larry of s1 except he doesn't really start fights + has no actual 'good' reason to be that unbearable unlike Larry, who did have crumbs of a tragic past/loss. he's big on researching stuff at his own alone time and has an extensive record of abusing and testing on animals i BET! but it gets covered up pretty easily, or no one really wants to get into that debacle with him. everyone knows that if he could he'd test on people too.

i'm not gonna start making up entire lifestories rn so let's get to the zombie part. they obviously end up together involuntarily, talvas isn't really overjoyed but doesn't detest it either, since he respects neloff deeply and trusts his judgement (sometimes). neloth just keeps him around because he knows he can't just be walking around free at his old age in an apocalyptic world and needs a meat-shield with him at all times, especially someone young that has more energy/physical abilities than him. but obviously talvas is not always able to be big help to him just cause he's pretty "Soft" and wasn't ever prepared for anything like this. he's still stressing over his finals or soemthing bruh. they develop a strong 'bond' @ some point just cause neloth isn't liked by anyone and nobody is actually willing to stick with him thru it all but talvas. just bc it's easy for him to cling onto someone that reminds him of the normal past. when neloth realizes that someone is willing to look past his nasty behavior or practices, or is just afraid to voice their own opinion, he starts being pretty open with that person (talvas in this case), a form of trust. it's not just cause talvas is a lil bitch, but also cause he himself shares some opinions that neloth has on other people's lives/their worth/morality. it's something that would stick out from his personality in any setting at all but here it's even more important from all the deaths happening around them, especially when they're grouped up with other people. their apocalypse journey is just 90% talvas trying to do damage control and apologizing for neloth's behavior by saying he has a (NPD) diagnosis he has never taken care of before the whole zombie thing happened so u should be patient with him

so obvi the best part of this all would definitely be seeing how they would gel with a group of other survivors. it's funny too because talvas is literally always the only reason nobody throws neloth out to die or just blows his head off clean bc they had enough. talvas takes on the role of a medic like Katt in s1, and is 'high ranking' just cause of that. neloth is a 1000001% even more capable of taking on that role, but i just Know......he would just refuse to do it cus he doesn't feel like it. he'd probably try and separate himself from the group or any discussions they might have because he doesn't value anyone's opinion on anything at all. the only thing keeping him in a group would be talvas begging him to stay (neloth not being able to separate from him for reasons listed above) and him finding something to do to keep himself occupied. and Happy at that 😍 it goes like this: (talvas voice) hey remember your wife that turned last week so we had to put her down ? Yes about that i;m sorry to bring her up, Yeah stop crying i'm sorry, anyways as i was saying.. Sir neloth dug her out of that grave and is currently ripping of her skin tidbits to lab test them, just thought you should know.. don't tell him i told you anything please he'll get really mad at me okay . also your son that you didn't have the heart to put down and just left him for us to deal with? Tied to a bed, he already turned so it's no big deal, sir neloth broke his jaw off so he can't do anything to you if you feel like seeing him. Sir neloth chops his limbs off to see what happens sometimes. it's smells like crazy in there tho so wear this mask if you wanna go in, just warning you.

can't say there'd be an apparent motive that others see in his experimental, kinda unethical, ventures, but talvas assures everyone that there is one. nobody knows. But honestly neloth is too smart of a guy to just be testing on people out of pure curiosity, it might be him trying to blow out his ego to an unimaginable degree by trying to figure out how the whole infection works, how to stop someone from turning or how to cure someone who's been bitten. tasks very ambitious but keeping him busy and away from everyone else. he mostly only communicates and shares 'secrets' with talvas because talvas has faith in him and doesn't see anything wrong with what he's doing. bonus: the whole group hates neloth even more because he keeps using the generator power to have talvas shave his head even though that should be his last priority. neloth is in seventh heaven the whole time (not showing it) just cause his dream of getting to experiment on people without being thrown in jail became true

cute fact: if they ever got into a St. John's dairy type situation and were confronted with the fact that they committed cannibalism.... they rly wouldn't gaf especially neloth. i can see talvas turning to look at him just to see how he feels (and form his opinion on the situation around his reaction) and neloth is just chilling getting his stomach full. talvas wud be disgusted by the food but then eat regardless. feels Funny for the remainder of his life after that. it really doesn't bother neloth tho. i had other situations in mind for them but they slipped out of my mind for now lmfao

neloth would have the most insane plot armor of all time to the extent that even though he's always working closely with the undead he'd never get bitten or just get killed. his ego is shielding him from everything because he values his life so much that it works in his favor. talvas latches onto that plot armor just because he's the 'closest' person to neloth but he's too nice of a person to actually survive for a very long time. he'd get Bitten😂😂😂😂 #FlyHigh but actually the nicest thing(s) neloth has ever done for him would happen after that occurrence... i feel like they'd hide that fact from everyone as a team and neloth would try to do something about it. but talvas dies anyway bye king. love you

wait Update: i forgot i wanted to write down some of this here as a bonus too. skyrim would still be in warfare but it just gets paused for zombies. i really want (we all want something don't we damnn) for elenwen and all her thalmorlings to be stuck together with some imperials in a military base perhaps. doesn't matter. just leading up to the fact that thalmor would have free reign to commit cannibalism (not every single one of them is into the idea but they're not that disgusted by it) while the imperials just try to survive on actual supplies. Elenwen: Back on summerset isles we were always taught not to waste 🤓🤓. they have the most civil agreement where the thalmor would promise not to eat any imperials if they let them eat outsiders as they pleased.

[bnnuy-wabbit]

HAAIIIIII you can call me Lago, im 21 (i dont know how EITHER), im just some guy*. this is my main blog and where i throw funny things that makes my brain produce juices and also random ass personal poasts.

one of those he/shes they never warned you about (pathogenic variant they have yet to make any vaccines to protect you from)

my art tag is #feral art tag.

there will be adult things in this blog because im an adult. follow at your own risk etc. were horny in here towards men occasionaly.

I'm brazilian. From Brazil. As in born here, living here and stuck here for the foreseeable future. é nois 🤙

Everybody says I'm really nice! I am Unable to hit people up first though, but if you'd like to be friends, send me an ask and I'll give you my discord!!!!

i have many interests (mostly music and nerd shit) and funny things that I'll be putting under the read more lest this post get Unbearably Big. There are flashing blinkies down there by the way.

OK SO INTERESTS. I like MANY things! and i have favorite things! I think it's really cool of me to have favorites. i decided I'm going to wear them on my sleeve. anyways Here's some things i Like.

MUSIC!!! its one of my favorite things ever. I play the guitar and a bit of bass. heres stuff in no particular order of favoriteness. Just stuff i care enough right now to remember.

Linkin Park (meteora, hybrid theory <3)

My Chemical Romance

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Mindless Self Indulgence

scalene

Rammstein

Ft-rj (listen to it or i am going to chase you with a broom)

francisco el hombre (i recommend the rasgacabeza album)

danny bond

2000-10s pop!!! fuck it, lady gaga, britney spears, kesha, katy perry, black eyed peas, that sorta jazz.

Every single Homestuck song there is. i have listened to all of them multiple times. My favorite albums are colours and mayhem and also the beforus fan album.

Dad rock (acdc, queen, talking heads, nirvana, judas priest, Some pink floyd etc)

Industrial and Adjacent. I've been listening to code:redcore a lot and some grammostola actaeon lately. processor also fucks.

OTHER THINGS I ENJOY

Eragon (the books)

Disco elysium.

ADVENTURE TIME. I AM OBSESSED.

How to train your dragon (the books. specifically.)

Animated movies!!! Specially the hand drawn ones.

My horrible little OCs (@honsebeasts just go there but also Beware.)

Worldbuilding. I do aliens and monster speculative biology. Most of my thoughts on it are on the Above mentioned blog though.

Real life physiology and anatomy also

MEN (and like 3 fictional women.)

HORSES!!!!!!!!!!!

stranger things

Pokemen (i do not know a single thing after gen 6 though.)

Dungeons and dragons, sometimes

Traditional art like watercolors and oil pastels

Drawing my blorbos in the same side facing pose or just standing there.

Drawing in General actually! Designing characters is my passion

Fictional fathers

sewing and felting and sculpting and painting and singing and playing

COLORS. i love colors. i love looking at them. i love playing with them. i would like to eat them if i could. i love warm palettes.

Hiveswap (pissing screaming CRYING)

MONSTERS!!!!!! They're really cool and gay and hot.

Portal (the games. all of them. glafos........ kissing her)

Half Life.

y2k and 80s-90s vibes. i think its awesome.

I am afflicted by the human condition and also a few other funnier conditions. my brain and my body dont work right.

If you want to know the brunt of the brain ones: autism adhd avpd. they all impact heavily how i interact with people with people. Sorry in advance if i can't keep conversation going.

I'm some sort of queer thing. If we need to get really specific, id say "bisexual aromantic bigender femme", mostly into men and butches, but Queer will do just fine. I'm a self entitled part time pretty fag and ugly dyke in my free hours. Intersex it turns out.

[the-monkey-ruler]

The Monkey King Conquers the Demon (1985) 金猴降妖

Director: Te Wei / Yan Dingxian / Lin Wenxiao

Screenwriter: Te Wei / Bao Lei

Starring: Li Yang / Tan Pengfei / Hong Rong / Wu Lusheng / Chariot / more...

Genre: Drama / Animation / Fantasy

Country/Region of Production: Mainland China

Language: Mandarin Chinese

Date: 1985 (Mainland China)

Duration: 90 minutes / 125 minutes (TV version)

Also known as: The Golden Monkey Conquers the Demon

IMDb: tt2572208

Type: Retelling

Summary:

It is said that Sun Wukong, Great Sage Equally Heaven, Zhu Bajie, the Canopy Marshal, and Monk Sha, Rolling Curtain General, protect Tang Monk from the west to learn Buddhist scriptures. After going through a lot of hardships along the way, they subdue countless demons and ghosts. On this day, the four masters and apprentices came to a barren mountain.

At this time, a young village girl came forward to ask for help, and Sun Wukong recognized with piercing eyes that it was the monster Bone Demon, and beat her away. However, Tang Sanzang, with his naked mortal eyes, blamed Wukong for harming his life, and Zhu Bajie fanned the flames, chanting the mantra so tightly that Monkey King was in unbearable pain.

After that, the White Bone Essence turned into a child and an old man to trick him, but Wukong saw them all and beat them away. Tang Seng was so angry that he drove away Wukong in a fit of anger, and thus fell into the trick of the monster...

This film is adapted from the story in the classic classic "Journey to the West", and won the 1986 China Film Golden Rooster Award for Best Animation Film; The 1985 Excellent Film Award of the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television; In 1987, he won the feature film award and the popular award at the Youth Animation Film Festival of the French Burpolas Cultural Club; 1989 Chicago International Children's Film Festival Animation Feature Film First Prize.

Source: http://chinesemov.com/1985/The-Monkey-King-Conquers-the-Demon.html

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmLXmXVx7Oo&ab_channel=HappyAcademy

[tenaciouspostfun]

Austen's Pride and Diary of A Madman.

Two Reviews of Two Great Shows.

By Robert M Massimi.

In a one night performance of this wonderful rendition of "Jane Austen" called "Austen's Pride" at the beautiful Carnegie Hall, it was filled with great stars both on stage and in the audience. The story for the most part remained the same, however, set to an orchestral backdrop, the actors sang and acted with script in hand. Directed magnificently by Igor Goldin, the story-line and actors, for the most part, moved graciously about the stage. The first act at one and a half hours was a tad to long, but its rapid fire second act at fifty minutes more than made up for it.

Two actors stood out tonight... Mamie Parris (Jane Austen) and Carson Elrod (Mr. Collins and Mr. Gardiner). The two can flat out act. Ms. Parris singing voice is something to witness! She is one of the best actors that I have seen in a long time! Her movements, the "business" that she give is outstanding!

While the cast is steep, Olivia Hernandez, Beth Leavel, Etai Benson, Delphi Borich and Michele Ragusa are all incredible actors and make this a musical to be seen.

Pleasurable too are the costumes that Becky Flaherty provided to us. Capturing the period piece, Flaherty's costumes were as elegant as they were insightful. In this period piece, we never left the time period that Flaherty provided us in dress.

In the choice of music Matt Perri too brings us back in time. The charming forceful vocalists belted out these incredible songs with gusto, and leaving the audience in rapture all evening.

I am not sure if this musical will come to Broadway, I think this show works better at the Park Avenue Armory, however. The big stage, the big audience area makes it a natural fit. The Armory fits this shows personality.

in capturing the spirit of "Jane Austen", "Austen's Pride" is sure to resurface somewhere, and it should. It is simply to good a show not to! I only hope that they bring back the cast, or most of it anyway because this is a classy hit!

....................................................................................................................

Diary of A Madman at The Russian Arts Theater and Studio.

At Pushkin Hall on the Upper West Side you will find an off off Broadway play that is just delightful! Gogol, who wrote "Diary of A Madman" was put forth on stage by The Russian Arts Theater and Studio.

Under the direction of Alekseyn Burago, this play captures the spirit of the book (which I also enjoyed immensely). Burago is particularly deft with showing us how the madman starts to spiral out of control. He shows us glimpses of the madman at first and then bringing his madness full force by the end of the show.

What better way to see this show in a warm, small theater that let's us sit in on this man who is running about, giving us insights into his crazy mind. The staging of this play too is warm, economical, and creative. This is what off off Broadway used to be! A person in the 80's and 90's could often find a hidden gem like this; not so much anymore.

Without a program I am at odds to tell you who from whom, but I will tell you the lead actor- the madman, turns in a performance for the ages! He is animated, deep and lite hearted all at the same time. The supporting cast too are excellent. As dogs, marionettes and various other roles, the support keeps us laughing, holding our breath and admiring the vast talents of these actors.

At two hour almost, it would have been better structured for an intermission. The theater was unbearably hot at certain points and it made it difficult to concentrate at times. An intermission would have given the audience a chance to really focus on just how insane this man became.

I look forward to visiting this theater in the future and get a chance to see some of the other great Russian writers of the past. Small, but cozy, this theater and theater company does it first rate!

Fine Art

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About the Creator

Robert M Massimi.

I have been writing on theater since 1982. A graduate from Manhattan College B.S. A member of Alpha Sigma Lambda, which recognizes excellence in both English and Science. I have produced 12 shows on and off Broadway. I've seen over700 shows

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Natalie Merchant.

Natalie Merchant was born in Jamestown, N.Y to Italian parents (real name Mercante before it was anglicized). When she was a child, her mother listened to music and encouraged her and her siblings to study music. As the years went on, she went with her mother to both classical and rock concerts. Her mother later married a jazz musician and as a result, that was the music she became to love the best.RMM

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[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Shadow Tide

https://www.patreon.com/empyreaniris?fan_landing=true

https://starr-fall-knight-rise.tumblr.com/post/182501791735/master-post

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jzEIdDAB4omdO2JcQVMObfrhLJ5kX4ONmSsLypM1ks0/edit?usp=sharing.

“Adam!”

“ADAM!”

He awoke to a distant muffled noise, an insistent sort of beeping that wouldn’t go away coupled with a sort of roaring like he was standing next to a blast furnace. At first he thought that might be the case as he was hot, and getting hotter, but in his addled state of mind he couldn’t think why he would be taking a nap next to a blast furnace.

Personally, it seemed like a very bad idea all things considered

“ADAM!” 

WARNING CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE: RESTART ENGINES

He was so dizzy, and the dizziness wasn’t going away, with every second it seemed to get worse as the heat rose.

“ADAM COME ON!” 

Was that Sunny’s voice, and she sounded in distress.

If there was anything in the universe that could get him to wake up, it was the sound of Sunny, a scared sunny, and that wasn’t something that tended to happen very often. Adam’s eyes flickered open, and when they did, he wasn’t entirely sure he could make out what was happening. Lights flashed in his vision, and beyond that, everything was spinning in a kaleidoscope of fire and earth.

His head churned.

What was.

WARNING CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE: RESTART ENGINES

VELOCITY: 120 MILES PER HOUR, ALTITUDE 300 FEET

Altitude?

Velocity?

Huh, that was odd, he was pretty sure terminal velocity was about 120 mph give or take wind resistance most of the time. He just wished the world would stop spinning and- damn it was hot.

90 FEET

Why was,

Oh shit!

Adam turned holding his arms out to either side, and pulling himself out of a tumbling spin, the ground was fast approaching, or less the ground and more a burning lava field shedding sparks into the air, some of them high enough to catch on his clothing as he fell. The heat was incredible.

The ground was approaching fast.

“ADAM!!!!!”

WIth a roar his engines caught.

He slowed.

And shouted in pain as the heat around his legs rose to unbearable heat, one of his pant legs caught fire, and then he was rocketing back into the sky on a trial of golden light. When he was finally high enough, he reached down and batted at his pant leg quickly putting out the flames before they could do any real damage. His heart was pounding in his chest, and his breath was coming in slow, ragged gasps.

As far as burns were concerned, he couldn’t be sure. His adrenaline was pumping so hard, he doubted he would have been able to tell, but at least the rest of him was in tact. 

He was just going to have to pray to the Architect that he was fine. If he came back  to the ship with a single scratch on him, Krill was probably going to beat him to death with a bedpan, which in his view was a pretty ignominious way to go.

He turned on the spot trying to find the facility from whence he had come, but he didn’t see anything, just lava fields in all directions. He must have been blown partially off course during his flight. Inside his helmet Fealty helpfully provided a map for him dragging it onto screen in the guise of a little cartoon wolf. The animation was kind of cute, and he had never seen fealty do that before.

It was a learning AI so he probably shouldn’t have been surprised.

Letting go of the map, the little animation turned to look at him, and in a way it seemed almost concerned, which was weird to say about an AI.

Then again he worked with the empyrean, and the ship seemed to be concerned about everything, so he supposed it wasn’t really a surprise.

“Vitals.”

The little cartoon ran off his HUD, but then returned with his request carrying an Icon in its mouth that looked like a little heart. Dropping the heart, it expanded into his vitals systems.

He was no doctor, that was for sure, but he was pretty sure  a heart rate of 180 was pretty normal for near death experiences.

His comms system crackled, and he thought he heard his name but the rest of the words were garbled.

“Whatever communication jammer the little monster Noctus had installed was working perfectly fine.

But still he had his map, and he followed directions the few miles back to the facility openly roasting in the burning atmosphere. He caught sight of the facility as a ugly hunk of towering metal in the distance, squatting like an ugly little rock troll over its lava river. On the top deck, he saw a flash of blue, and Fealty expanded the image to reveal Sunny standing on the top deck pacing manically back and forth. Didn’t take her long to see him, and when she did he could sense both relief, and rage in her body posture.

That was fair enough.

He landed on the deck, stumbling once, only to stumble straight into her upper set of arms. Arms which she used to grab him by the front of his armor, haul him into the air and shake him like a rag doll, “Can you stop almost dying FOR FIVE MINUTES!” Sunny didn’t shout much, in fact it was pretty rare.

However

Her aggression, while it was supposed to be startling or even frightening, was having the embarrassingly opposite effect on him. It was a real pity for her that beating the tar out of each other was considered an acceptable form of foreplay in her culture. And the fact she was lifting him, and half plated SE armor was…. Well he was surprised that was even possible.

Usually  the SE armor would require the use of a small crane to put it on unassisted.

Damn

Still he recognized the fear, concealed by the anger in her voice, and decided not to point any of that out.

CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE: POWERING DOWN

And then 

Everything shut off.

Including the SE exosuit.

Power rushed back into his own limbs. He grunted in surprise at the sudden crushing weight, and Sunny, realising something was wrong, set him down only to watch as he crumbled like a soda can under pressure.

“ADAM!” she shouted not for the first time that day.

Holy shit the armor was heavy, even half of it.

The SE suit was paired with the SE exoskeleton for a reason. A normal human body was not nearly strong enough to handle it on its own, of that fact he had no doubt.

He groaned, and Sunny ripped off the helmet.

Behind her Red walked up the stairs panting and wiping streams of sweat from his face.

Celex made contact just then mind to mind

“The vats are destroyed, though there is one little tiny problem.”

Adam didn’t like the sound of that, Celex sounded pretty casual, but he always sounded casual. He would probably manage to sound casual if he was on fire and the only thing Adam had was a ten gallon bucket of gasoline.

“Go on.”

“There were a lot of boid things in those vials.”

An image flashed in his head. He didn’t think it was intentional, but he thought he recognized the refinery room, now crawling with shadowy black entities in a state of hot pursuit.

“Might be a good time to start the shutt- mmmmm that is a problem.” he must have missed the peart where the shuttle was thrown into the laval flow. He doubted there was much left, and the chance of that being flyable was about the same chance that he would have of retiring to Bramble and living a nice secluded farm life growing corn.

Sunny lifted him partially up, “Adam, are you okay.”

“Yeah yeah, the heat shot my systems, I can’t move, but that’s kind of the least of our problems.”  maverick and Ramriez appeared just then, also panting and sweating. Maverick’s edges had  gone a bit fuzzy, and Adam thought he detected a subtle orange glow in her right eye.

“Get your weapons and cover that door.” He ordered.

Sunny needed no second prompting.

There must have been something ins his voice, because she took her spear in both hands twisting it apart. From either hip she used her second set of arms to withdraw two more weapons, which both expanded into short curved swords with glowing blue edges. When tapped together their tips crackled with energy. 

“Well hello there.” He muttered

Sunny glanced at him, “What?”

Right now probably wasn’t the time to reference Obi Wan and General Grievous so all he said was, “Sorry, nothing Just, can you put my helmet back on before the catwalk burns my face off.” 

Quickly sunny crouched down to do as he asked, which was right in time. The hot metal of the landing pad was nearly enough to start cooking his face raw, and he would rather avoid that as much as possible. 

He tried doing a system reboot.

It didn’t work

Probably the heat had fried something.

Which seemed weird as he had walked through boiling water in this suit before, then again the entire suit had been there, so the outside thermal layer had protected everything inside. Now that he was wearing only half armor, there was always a chance that some of the more delicate  systems had been compromised by the heat.

Sunny had stepped onto the top of the stairs, and behind her Ramirez posted himself up against the wall, using the railing to steady his energy rifle.

A dark Aura began to glow around maverick, and the shadow she cant on the landing deck was significantly longer than it probably should have been. Her right eye was glowing with a visible pinprick of orange light as she reached for her weapons.

“Coming your way.” Celex thought.

“Brace yourselves.” Adam called, voice muffled through the helmet.

Something rumbled under their feet.

But whatever sound there might have been was drowned out by the roaring of the leava beneath them.

It was silent for a moment, nothing but heat and sweat, leaving the three of them stuck in a tableau of silence.

And then.

The door at the base of the catwalk erupted open and Celex came charging out technicolor hair whipping behind him in a wild man. He turned as he raced up the catwalk and shot a burst of golden energy into the choke point just as darkness was beginning to bubble out of the doorway.

The light blasted them apart, but it didn’t last for long.

“What the hell!’ Ramirez shouted.

Adam tried to reboot his armor again.

But nothing.

Celex sent several more rapid fire shots into the open doorway and every time he caught them, but every time more and more appeared, until eventually one of the shadows was able to break out and race up the catwalk.

Sunny didn’t hesitate, lunging forward and slicing clean through its shadowy neck.

Sending it shead in one direction and its body in another where it dripped down into a large dark, tarry puddle. 

And with that one 

The floodgates were opened.

[thenightling]

Review of Interview with The Vampire episode 6:

I notice more and more that this show borrows from other vampire fictions, as if the show runner and his crew don’t really like the writing of Anne Rice and so seek out other vampires for inspiration.

The teenage Claudia concerned about still being a virgin is actually Jessica from True Blood.  Louis’s “Prescription” turn-of-the-century tinted sunglasses are clearly inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992 movie), and even, perhaps, the manga and anime, Hellsing. When Claudia wanted Charley to look up at her it was reminiscent of Dracula’s “See me.  See me now.” from Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992 movie).  Even the name Charley for the teenage boy Claudia was attracted to. Charley doesn’t exist in Anne Rice’s novels but he is the name of the teenage boy protagonist of the 1985 vampire movie, Fright Night. When Lestat and Louis claim they sell incinerators to explain away why they have one- that’s how Dracula hastily explained his box of soil in The Dracula Tape, when his luggage was searched.  He claimed he was a “portable closet” salesman and was showing the “Closets” capacity.  Also an incinerator is how the vampires got rid of the bodies of their victims in Whitley Strieber’s The Hunger (never mind that the smell of the burning corpses should be unbearable to someone with heightened senses.)  Even Lestat composing a song and having it made into a music box for Nicki (now spelt “Nicky” in the subtitles for some reason) was “borrowed” from Barnabas Collins and the music box he had made for Josette from Dark Shadows (original 1960s series). 

Now in episode 6 of Interview with The Vampire we have Lestat singing a new version of “Come to me” to Louis.  The lyrics and melody might be different but “Come to me” is the vampire love song from Fright Night (1985).  It’s sung by a man in the first movie and sung by Deborah Holland in the sequel,  Fright Night: Part 2 (1988). Each representing the vampire antagonist of the story and the lyrics of the original 1980s versions of the song are very vampiric and honestly superior to what was written for this show.  I happen to very much like Deborah Holland’s version of Come to Me.    

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they would have a vampire write a song called “Come to me” when two popular 80s Vampire movies had “Come to me” as the vampire’s main love song.

 And now they reveal that Rashid is a vampire via flashback to the 1970s. Way ahead of you, show.  I already figured out it’s Armand. 

Lestat literally threatening that he would kill them if they leave him and hacking off the finger of his mortal lover really rubs me the wrong way but I’m getting more and more numb to this show.

The flashback to the 1970s was probably the most Anne Rice-esque the show actually got to be.  When they start repeatedly calling the power of flight “Cloud gift” I was reminded how much I dislike the later books and the terms Anne Rice coined in the late 90s to early 2000s to try again shift the vocabulary of vampire fiction. I never liked the term “cloud gift.” Cloud Gift, Mind gift, and fire gift, all later novel terms for basic things like fight, telepathy, and pyrokinesis. Though based on how the cloud gift is described the correct term would actually be transvection.   

There’s something very cynical and mean about this show and the way the showrunner laugh-talks when he says “When you take him back when you know you shouldn’t.”  The way this showrunner acts about domestic violence really bothers me.

I get the impression this show runner has no real love for things Gothic.  He talks like a cynic, a mean one at that.   He doesn’t have any sense of romance.  And I don’t mean romance as in “love story” I mean romance as in the exaggerated and emotional drama that is Gothic fiction.  He’s too jaded to really seem to “get it.”  

Anyway, that’s pretty much all I can say for episode 6.  

[theawkwardanglophile]

TheAwkwardAnglophile’s Year in TV Shows: 2021

I had so much fun putting this together in 2020 that I decided to do it again, although I’m a little late in actually posting it. Oh well! This only includes shows that aired new content in 2021, or content that was new to me. Be warned: SPOILERS ABOUND! Here is the list in alphabetical order:

Behind the Attraction: I’m a Disney World fanatic, and was delighted to find this gem on Disney+ that went into the history and development of some of the most iconic rides ever.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: I MISS IT ALREADY. Their final season was so good, especially seeing Peraltiago as parents to adorable little Mac. But the series finale?? *chef’s kiss* I don’t think I’ve ever watched anything with THAT many callbacks crammed in. It was insane and chaotic and ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. One of the best finales ever! NINE NINE!

Call Me Kat: I’m going to go ahead and say this first: this show is nowhere near as good as Miranda, its British predecessor. But I have enjoyed it so far. I love Mayim Bialik’s quirky energy, which I’d missed since Big Bang Theory ended. All the characters are fun and interesting, and once they stopped trying to copy all of Miranda’s plots and came up with more original material, that’s when they really found their footing.

Derry Girls: An absolutely fascinating, hilarious surprise! I was so swept up in the culture and uniqueness of this show. I’ve never set foot in Ireland (although I would LOVE to), but I did go to high school in the ‘90s, so I appreciated the nostalgia.

Emily in Paris: Ok, I know. I KNOW. But it’s fun, colorful escapism for me, and I just really don’t care that’s it’s hated. Luc and Mindy are such fun characters, and Gabriel is GORGEOUS. Season 2 flowed really well, and I absolutely fell for Alfie.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: I enjoyed this so much more than I originally thought. I didn’t have much connection to Sam or Bucky from the movies, but through the medium of TV and the time for character development, I began to care for them. Probably my favorite scenes were when Sam and Bucky tossed around Cap’s shield outside the house, and our new Cap’s speech in the last episode. Oh, and of course, dancing Zemo!

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous: I really cannot say enough good things about this show! The animation is great, and the characters are fantastic. There is all the suspense, adventure, and feels you would expect from the movies. I hope there are more episodes to come!

Loki: Amazing, simply amazing. I loved Loki’s journey, and his dynamic with Mobius was pure gold. He Who Remains absolutely came in and stole the show in the last episode. Incredible performance. But I think my fave character is the TVA itself. What a brilliant aesthetic. I just wanted to roam around the TVA and explore, learning their systems. And, I’m also a little partial to it since I’ve been in its real-life location many times (the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta).

Lost in Space: STRESS. This show is pure stress, one high-stakes disaster after another, which obviously makes it interesting to watch. But STRESS. Their final season was probably not my favorite of the three, but they ended it well, and that’s all I can ask for.

Monsters At Work: Absolute marvelous perfection. Not kidding. You can tell how much care they put into crafting this. Wonderful callbacks, and I loved how they continued the Monsters Inc. story without having the focus completely on the main characters. We got to see a completely fresh perspective with wonderful new characters. Ben Feldman voicing our protagonist? Yes, please! I’ve hardly seen any buzz about this show, even when it first came out, and it’s SO worth the watch.

Motel Makeover: Don’t waste your time on this. It piqued my interest, this idea of renovating an entire retro motel, but the two designers are so obnoxious and their voices are nearly unbearable. That being said, I still ended up watching the whole dang thing, because I had to see the finished product.

Never Have I Ever: I really fell in love with this show! It was heartfelt and hilarious, and nearly every scene with Devi’s dad made me cry. I’m also 100% Team Ben.

Only Murders in the Building: Wow, this was so incredibly done. Steve Martin and Martin Short, are you kidding me? Obviously it was hilarious. I was completely sucked in. I should have been able to figure it out sooner than I did, but it’s not my strength. LOL I really love the opening title music and animation, too.

The Rookie: MY CHENFORD LOVING HEART!! They are my current top ship, and while I love all of the characters, Tim and Lucy are the main reasons I watch. I love them dearly, and it’s led me to writing more fanfic again and interacting with the wonderful fandom on here. Season 3 had some wonderful moments, and although season 4 hasn’t been the best, I’m still hopeful for more good content to come!

Star Trek: DIscovery: I feel like season 4 has been truly delivering. They have touched on grief, identity, belonging, mental health, in addition to all the action and adventure they normally have. There have been so many beautifully written lines that I lost count. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the season!

Star Trek: Lower Decks: So much fun. Just ridiculous amounts of fun. I love the core four, and my boy Tom Paris got to make an appearance, which was a delight!

Star Trek: Prodigy: I have been a Voyager fan literally since day one, and always loved the powerhouse that is Janeway, so having her back is wonderful. These new characters are intriguing, and the animation is GORGEOUS. Each episode just leaves me with loads more questions!

Supermarket Sweep: Always a fun, easy watch. I still have such a soft spot for the original, but Leslie Jones has grown on me a lot. Plus, there seem to be way more bonuses nowadays.

Superstore: They also had one of the best series finales ever! SIMMOSA! They got back together, and married, and it makes me happy even thinking about it now! Garrett’s final announcements over that montage was just perfection.

This Is Pop: A really interesting documentary diving into different topics in the music industry. Very enjoyable.

WandaVision: My FAVORITE Marvel thing EVER. It was a glorious TV viewing experience. I don’t even know how to fully put it into words. Everything about it was excellent. EXCELLENT. Plus, it gave us one of the beautiful lines I’ve ever heard uttered on TV, which I now have on a necklace, “What is grief, if not love persevering?”

What If...?: Out of the 4 Marvel shows I watched, this was my least favorite. But there were some good moments. The Captain Carter, Black Panther, and Thor episodes all stand out. But the Doctor Strange one? GEEZ, that was so heavy. That sat on me long after it aired.

Young Sheldon: Still overall, I love this show. However, it’s clearly starting to shift into the reality we were told about many times on TBBT, and I’m not sure exactly how I feel about it, or how they will actually play this out without losing some of the show’s best qualities. I’m also curious what happens with puberty hitting Sheldon and Missy, and the actors that play them. I did really like them bringing Howard back!

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: My heart! Season 2 took a lot of different turns, but I loved that! There were so many good episodes, and I was devastated when it was cancelled. Max hearing heart songs?! And as much as I love Simon, I was thrilled about Zomax getting back together. And then thankfully, we got Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas, which was pure joy (and tears, a lot of tears). I guess that is the final ZEP (is it??), but it was a perfect way to close out a show that means so much to me, and was cancelled WAY too soon.

And that’s it. But I’m always around to discuss and yell about these shows some more! Feel free to send an ask or message!

[animebw]

Short Reflection: Call of the Night

Genuine question: is the Monogatari series still relevant in today’s weebdom? I know when I started getting into anime back in 2017, it was still hot on everyone’s mind. But now that it’s finished airing, I wonder if Shaft’s decade-long arthouse supernatural romantic dramedy still holds the same pull it used to. Will weebs of today and tomorrow still hold it in high regard, or are we leaving it behind for greener pastures, preferably pastures with at least 90% less child molestation? Perhaps only time will tell. But one thing’s for sure: as long as longtime series director Tomoyuki Itamura is still putting out new work, the spirit of Monogatari will never truly die. And if you’ve been missing that magic in your life, then Call of the Night is here to fill the hole left by its absence. A vampire story set in the supernatural underbelly of ordinary society that’s sort of but not really about romance? Check. Dialogue that crackles with the snap of a writer perhaps a little too impressed with himself? Check. A trippy, gorgeous visual aesthetic that paints the normal world like you’ve never seen it before? Check. Problematic elements up the wazoo? Oh, you better believe that’s a check. Monogatari may be gone, but Call of the Night is proof that its spirit will live on for quite some time to come, for better or worse.

So, the story. Ko Yamori is an average fourteen-year-old kid, does well in school, gets along with people, perfectly normal and content. Until one day he just... isn’t. Suddenly, that normalcy he built his life around starts to feel suffocating and unbearable, the mores of normal life a prison he yearns to break out of. So, he does what any rebellious would do: he stars going out in the dead of night, wandering the empty city streets that were so full and bustling in the day. In this weird nocturnal universe, both familiar and alien, Yamori finds an escape from the pressures of society, a place where he can just exist. He also finds vampires. Or rather, he finds a vampire: the flighty, snarky Nazuna Nanakusa who eagerly pulls him deeper into the night’s siren call. She’s as much of an awkward mess as he is, albeit in different ways, but the two of them find an extremely powerful comfort in each other. And Yamori, feeling more alive at night than he ever did during the day, decides to become a vampire himself, an eternal denizen of the early AM alongside Nazuna. The catch? In order to become a vampire, Yamori has to be in love with Nazuna when she sucks his blood. And there are few things that Yamori feels less of a connection to than romance.

It’s certainly a unique take on the vampire mythos: what happens when a supernaturally beautiful undead and a confused aromantic delinquent decide to start hanging out? And while Call of the Night is certainly a horny show- if you’ve seen Monogatari, you know exactly the kind of lavishly detailed body part fanservice you’re in for- I appreciate how low-key it keeps most of its sexual elements. Sex is part of the equation, but rarely in a distracting way; the real appeal comes from the complicated emotions and relationships that grow among its cast. Nazuna and Yamori aren’t the only ones awake at night, after all, and as the show goes on, we meet a wide cast of characters with their own reasons to shrink from the light of day. Stress at work, alienation from classmates, the thrill of a new experience, wallowing in misery... the night in Call of the Night is at once a fully fleshed-out setting and the thematic crux behind its ruminations on society. Night is where people go to be free, to escape, to leave everything behind and start fresh. But it’s also where people go to sink, to succumb, to stagnate in an entirely new way. Sometimes, it’s all of those things at once. Who’s to say what drives people to leave the waking world behind?

And Call of the Night is at its best when it’s leaning into that ennui. As a grand metaphor for societal alienation, there is so much powerful and captivating about, well, the call of the night. It’s a beautiful portrayal of the myriad of reasons we seek to leave the familiar behind, and the unexpected discoveries we make when we step into the unknown, for good or ill. It’s wandering a place you’ve never been before and letting yourself just happen upon whatever comes your way. It’s discovering a new subculture and finding a community there among like-minded weirdos and outcasts. It’s the unexpected rush of danger when you realize that this new, exciting world has problems just as terrifying as the one you left behind. And it doesn’t hurt that the character banter is uniformly fantastic, the music is a lo-fi-beats-to-relax-to masterpiece, and the gorgeous color palette makes for the single most alluring nightscape I’ve ever seen. Seriously, the way Itamura brings life to the empty 2 AM streets and overexposed city lights is some absolutely mind-expanding shit. It makes me want to wander a city’s streets at night myself, experiencing the same entrancing pull as any of these wallpaper-worthy shots.

But like I said above, it wouldn’t be in the spirit of Monogatari if there wasn’t some cringe-ass problematic content amidst all this artistic genius. The most obvious issue is the giant, raging Oedipus complex this show has; it reeeeeeally likes to build sexual tension between the fourteen-year-old protagonist and the very adult vampire women in his orbit. It’s never specified exactly what age all the immortal bloodsuckers are, but they definitely all read mature in an often fetish-y way, Nazuna included. Which, you know, there’s always gonna be some unavoidable issues when you’re writing a story about a human in love with an ageless being who can live for hundreds of years, and vampire fiction isn’t exactly new to this territory. So on the one hand, I can’t really blame Call of the Night for wearing its onee-san kink so proudly on its sleeve. But by the time you reach the final arc and there’s an actual human woman putting the moves on Yamori, it starts to feel like author Kotoyama has some serious childhood issues he needs to work through.

That said, there’s another issue here that’s a lot more subtle, but also makes me a lot more uncomfortable. Let’s cut right to the chase: Call of the Night has a weird habit of bringing up something sexist and predatory that men do to women, but writing it in a scenario where it’s kind of the woman’s fault. The gyaru vampire has a stalker who literally tries to break down the door of the karaoke both she’s in, but he quickly realizes his mistake and it’s portrayed more as the gyaru’s fault for listlessly going through relationships and not giving them that much thought. There’s a subplot about someone taking sneak photos in a changing room, but it turns out it was just one of the girls taking photos of herself to try and boost her online popularity. The final arc kicks off with an attack from a savage vampire that has some very loaded imagery of him attacking and menacing Yamori’s female classmate Akira, but he’s dispatched with a peaceful goodbye and it’s implied he was led astray by a female vampire who turned him into a monster. Time and again, this show sets itself up to comment on misogynist attitudes and actions, but backs off from it and makes it all about some girl’s mistakes leading to this point. And I’m genuinely not sure if Kotoyama was doing this intentionally, didn’t realize the implications, or wanted to explore this theme but chickened out. Either way, it’s a weird noxious undercurrent that isn’t immediately obvious, but becomes impossible to ignore once you’re aware of it. I’m not asking the horny vampire show to be some grand feminist statement, but it would be nice if it didn’t feel so dumb about gender roles, especially since a big part of its finale explicitly calls attention to the limits of gender roles and the importance of moving beyond them, Kind of a mixed message, that’s all I’m saying.

But you know what? if I could stomach the worst of Monogatari’s missteps to enjoy that show on its own terms, I can stomach this. Call of the Night may have its missteps, but it’s one of the most engrossing shows I watched all season, as eclectic and singular as its older sibling before it. It’s a deliciously captivating look at what inspires people to throw off the shackles of conformity, and what new questions one finds to ponder after crossing to the other side. It’s an alluring show about the nature of allure itself, and it mesmerized me like few anime ever do. So why not answer its call yourself? You might just find something beautiful waiting beyond the boundaries of the ordinary. And I give it a score of:

7.5/10

Next time? The big masterpost of all the other anime I watched this season. See you then!

[hellokittysasuke]

all the mystery and terms that are just dropped around and youre waiting for some reveal or something... until half of it is never expalined and half is just dumped in exposition episodes by the scientist Ritsuko.

the first impact is literally never explained in the main series or end of eva, i stumbled upon it on the internet.

kaworu, a fan favourite character that youve been lead to believe has a very deep and impactful relationship with shinji... literally only appears for 20 min before he dies.

tge scene where his toji gets roped into being a pilot and gets stuck in a berserk eva is one of those occasions where you actually feel dread for the characters. when shinjis eva is literally ripping the other eva apart and crushing the entry plug in half with his friend inside and all he can do is watch...and thats when he thinks its just a human inside. thrn he finds out it was toji, his friend.. its genuinely horrifying, its shocking.

and then he somehow survives. it kind of ruins the impact

though in defense rei surviving wasnt really impractical because she did die..they just got a third clone to replace her and made it look like she survived.

and the last two episodes...a beast of their own. i liked the abstract animation and the various techniques used to represent the mental state of the characters. but they explain jackshit.

after kaji dies you really have no idea whats going on with the plot anymore. they show you shinjis mind but you dont know whats happening with the characters outside. and it ends like that, shinji accepts his existence and everybody congratulates him and its very wholesome but youre clueless as to what actually happened to the characters.

then it turns out youll have to watch end of evangelion for that, which again is superbly animated, the visuals are intense and haunting, the aesthetics are on point but nothings really explained.

i could really only get through the whole thing because i the overarching themes, the soundtrack, i.e. the creative choices, the artistic liberty resonated with my taste. its kind of impossible to get through it otherwise.

but you have to say certain parts are very well made. like asukas deterioration arc. very superbly put together for maximum horror.

the starting episodes are very structurally similar. repetitive. an angel attacks about quarterway through, they fight, fail, devise a plan, fight, win etc. with one or two variations thrown in. the angel possessed an eva, is capable of hacking into the magi, it sucked shinji in, it can split apart etc. even the animation sequence felt identical, alarms would blare, a repeated voice announcing an angel sighting, code blue, megaphones blaring for citizens to go into lockdown, an animation sequence of gates inside nerv locking down with red alarms as a background. ritsuko orders maya to analyze something, misato asks where shinji asuka and rei are etc. i liked that though. it was very...simple. combined with the 90s art style and the slice of life parts it gave it a certain charm.

evangelion is not very strong on plot. its not very clear and well planned out, and budgets and censorship and deviation from the manga make it kind of incomprehensible. as a whole its not very coherent, more to do with aesthetics and cool soundtracks and what looks the best just thrown in.

it endeavours to deconstruct the human psyche and the mecha and religous symbolism is just a way to get there. the daddy issues, the dead mothers and the psychological repression and denial can get a tad repetitive. and yeah...the characters never really mature. But personally their immaturity is what i like about them, i dont find them that irritating or unbearable and instead seem like relaistic tennagers with Issues tm.

this is just for the anime series though, which is very different from the manga. the anime is the original and more well known though, so much that fans only mention it and the rebuild movies in discussions. im reading the manga and i like it so far, its also supposed to flesh out characters like rei a bit more.

no lies this is actually a pretty good analysis. even if he hated eva all his points are valid and he did his research. anyways ill make a post about the parts i liked soon

[lilover131]

Syaoran and Kaito Analysis

So I’ve mentioned recently in a recent fanart and in my analysis of chapter 55, but I have noticed quite a few similarities between Syaoran and Kaito, and upon some observations, I have some theories, particularly in regards to how Kaito views Syaoran. I decided to delve into that a bit, so see under the cut for more! Warning: It’s long. I wrote a lot. >.<

 I have a lot to cover, so I thought it might be best to outline in the most simple way possible some things we already know about Kaito.

 ·         He was born gifted with incredible magic. His parentage is unknown and he was “alone for as long as he could remember”.

·         It’s unclear where Kaito originated from, but it seems he spent a majority of his life in England.

·         He has moon based magic and has a wide variety of talents, but specializes in time magic. It’s unclear if he already had a skill with time magic or if this was obtained after he met Momo. It seems implied that he made a magical contract with her and maybe gained his time abilities from this. But we do know he has the ability to fly, to locate objects, teleport, to talk to animals, and to make something vanish in a mere moment.  

·         He is also talented in housekeeping skills, such as sewing, cooking, etc.

·         He used to be very cold hearted and preferred spending time alone. Kaito changed considerably in personality at some point in his life. It is uncertain exactly what caused this change, but it seems likely that Akiho’s mother was the catalyst for this.

·         He is part of a very powerful group of magicians called as we know it ‘The Association’ and is revered as one of its most powerful with the title ‘D’. He recently betrayed them and left, taking Akiho with him.

·         He protects and seems to care for Akiho

·         He is preparing for an event labeled as “that time” and needs Sakura to create a specific card.

·         He is putting himself in extreme physical danger for his goals, seemingly for Akiho’s sake.

·         He has been noted as always smiling to ‘hide his pain’.

 So when I look at all of these facts about Kaito, I noticed something interesting. Syaoran too could be described by almost all of these things. You might think “Wait a minute Chrissy! Kaito and Syaoran are nothing alike!”, but please hear me out.

Syaoran too was born gifted with incredible magic. He also draws his power from the moon (a connection that has already been pointed out by CLAMP) and has a knack for household skills as well, being very independent from a young age. Like Kaito, he was cold hearted in his earlier years, preferred to be alone (according to Meiling in the original 90’s anime in episode 43), and had a drastic change in personality later on, particularly after meeting Sakura. Syaoran is part of a very powerful group of magicians as well, the Li clan, and is one of the strongest within it and destined to be the next leader. Similarly, Syaoran too is preparing for some kind of event, a future seen by his mother, and is doing everything to prevent this, even if it causes him physical harm (as we’ve seen with him struggling to conjure the Sakura cards). In order to keep Sakura in the dark as to not worry her, he has been using a smile to ‘hide his pain’.

Now you may be wondering “Okay, so they have a few things in common, but they are still completely different!”. And you would be right. They are two completely different people after all, but try to think of them as two sides of the same coin. This beckons another question: How did two people who are so similar turn out so differently?

This is really where their differences in personality shine through, but part of it I believe is due to their backgrounds as well. For example, Kaito was picked up by the Association at a young age due to his skills with magic and was taken in to “use that magical power to accomplish their own tasks”. Based on their record of not having a great reputation, according to Eriol, and their treatment of Akiho by assisting her Clan in turning her into a magical device, it seems likely that Kaito was not treated kindly by anyone in the Association. In fact, he was probably left alone nearly all of the time unless his strengths were needed, and took care of himself in the remainder of that time. He was surrounded by people but still completely alone, and he preferred to be this way. This cold background of his really prevented him from being able to open up his heart to anyone. But he does seem to be much different around Akiho.

Syaoran, on the other hand, was surrounded by loving and caring family members. Although he preferred to be alone in his earlier years, he wasn’t actually alone at all. His mother was protective of him (like cutting his hair until he was strong enough to protect himself from things like scissors near his neck), and his sisters adored him and undoubtedly showered him with love at every opportunity. But even with that love from them, he was still somewhat cold hearted (though not as much as Kaito) until he met Sakura.

Their backgrounds do differ from each other, but I think the biggest difference in them of all is how they handle their feelings. When Syaoran first started to realize his feelings for Sakura, he struggled quite a bit and was in a great amount of denial, even physically running away at times when confronted with them. It was when he finally came to terms with his heart and confessed his feelings to Sakura that he underwent a great change and became the Syaoran we know today.

So what about Kaito?

Well, Kaito I believe is in that same stage of denial where he is refusing to come to terms with his feelings, whatever those may be. It’s clear that he cares about Akiho, but when she or Momo try to have a serious discussion with him or get him to talk about those feelings, he goes out of his way to change the subject (or once with Momo, actually fled at the first opportunity, which is just like Syaoran used to do!). It is something he is clearly uncomfortable with, and I think that is because it is unfamiliar territory for him. He is used to not feeling anything at all, so having to actually think about his feelings and reasons for doing things is unbearably frightening. He can handle any magical opponent any day (except Sakura of course), but being open and honest about his feelings? That’s another battle entirely that he doesn’t know how to handle without his magic to use as a crutch.

Momo mentioned in chapter 39 how Kaito had made a great deal of changes, all so that Akiho could live comfortably and pleaded internally “peer deep inside your heart. And don’t avert your eyes”. This was said again in chapter 51 when she stated “I implore you Yuna D. Kaito. Listen…to your heart”.

In the very next chapter, it is none other than Syaoran who has a discussion with Sakura about how his mother had told him “If you possess great magic power…when you feel pounding and stirring in your chest…you shouldn’t ignore it. You need to listen to your intuition. I think that goes for everyone, magic or no magic. I don’t think anyone should turn a blind eye to their own heart”. We also know that in that same conversation with his mother, thanks to the mini chapter provided with the special edition of volume 9, that Yelan said to him then “If there’s something you want to accomplish, then training with your spells is surely important, but...more than anything else, you have to face your heart”. She went on to tell him how important it was to listen to his heart and that “If you lie to yourself, you will sadden the person who loves you so dearly”. 

And that, my friends, is the major reason for Syaoran and Kaito being so different despite their many similarities. One listens to his heart while the other adamantly turns away from it. This leads me to my next topic (thank you for anyone who has read this long into it. I appreciate it!), and that is in regards to Kaito’s feelings about Syaoran.

I have noticed that Kaito in general tends to act quite differently in regards to Syaoran than he does anyone else. It starts at the very first time they met, when they made their introductions. Despite working so diligently to keep himself hidden from Akiho and Sakura, he did the complete opposite with Syaoran. He had to have known that being able to sense his magic and being given his name and title, that Syaoran would go and research who he was. He wanted Syaoran in particular to know who he was, which I believe is also why he allowed him to speak with Eriol initially. I say allowed, because we know he clearly had the potential to cut off communications at any point in time, and he only stepped in to shut this down when Eriol started talking to the others (Kero and Yue). He clearly wanted to control what information people knew about him, and Eriol crossed a line. He also put spells on Syaoran that would not allow him to communicate with others about him, so again showing he wanted him to know about him, but not to be able to tell anyone else about him, especially Sakura.

Another occasion I found intriguing was chapter 34 in the scene with the pool. Kaito stopped time, but for some reason, allowed Syaoran to move freely as well. Why is this? He could have easily frozen Syaoran too, but he made a conscious decision to allow Syaoran to move.

Then we come to perhaps the most telling scene so far, which is the battle he and Syaoran had in chapter 41 and 42. In a moment where he could have easily stopped time and rewound so that Syaoran never approached him, he instead decided to have a full discussion with him and even go as far as to engage in battle with him in stopped time. In this ‘discussion’, he stated several facts that he knew about Syaoran, who was pointedly not responding to them and seemed solely focused on Sakura. Some of the details about him were probably common knowledge to the magical world, but some of them seemed oddly personal, such as him being a ‘diligent student’, as if to show he had been watching him for quite some time.

Something about the interaction was different than others. It was as if he was observing Syaoran in that moment to see how he would react to hearing certain things. He then mentioned after seeing Syaoran use the Sakura cards how rewriting a contract once written takes a toll on even the strongest magician and he said “Is this all…for Sakura too?”. I think what he was trying to say here is that he recognizes the efforts he’s making for Sakura and may even feel a connection to him because of his own efforts for his own wish.

In chapter 42, continuing on with this conversation, Kaito seemed ready to turn back time the moment he realized they were no longer alone and that Sakura was able to move, but he still had more to say. Syaoran reacted to Sakura calling out for him, and it was at this moment that Kaito said “You certainly are honest, aren’t you? One look at your face, and I know exactly what you’re thinking” (even Eriol made several comments about Syaoran’s honesty in the original series). Once again, he’s showing here that he’s observing Syaoran, but why? For what reason does he bring this up? I think he says this because it is something so foreign to him and fascinates him. Kaito is so used to hiding his feelings and being unable to express them, but Syaoran is the complete opposite in the fact that he can so easily show his feelings and it is not his nature to conceal them. Kaito followed this by bringing up that Syaoran had suppressed that honesty when he came to Japan, which we know was through his fake smiles (something he is all too familiar with). Yue also said to Syaoran in chapter 27 that he had been hiding behind a smile and ordinarily was much more unrestrained in how he expressed his emotions, no matter what that emotion may be.

I wonder if Kaito said this because he wondered “how is it that he’s able to be so honest?” or maybe he was trying to show that he understood his reasons for hiding behind a smile, pointing out the similarities between them; that they were not so different despite having different goals. Kaito’s next comment in particular is probably what caught my attention the most. He divulged the detail about how Syaoran suppressed his honesty particularly to try and prevent the future that his mother saw. Even Syaoran seemed surprised by this, and he had good reason to be! This was likely a very personal moment, one he hasn’t even told Sakura about yet, and this implies that he might have been there when this particular moment happened. It makes sense too, considering Akiho had stated in her very first appearance that she was in Hong Kong just before coming to Japan, meaning she and Kaito were certainly there at the same time Syaoran was, at least for a brief time. This means he probably saw all the effort he was putting in for Sakura’s sake and maybe this resonated with him. I think maybe he also saw how his older sisters, even though they had no magic of their own, are treated with respect in the Li clan, unlike Akiho with her own. Kaito has only ever known a world where those who are strong are used and those who are weak are deemed worthless (like Akiho), but yet Syaoran lives in a world where both live harmoniously. Sakura’s world in Tomoeda is the same as well and filled with kindness, far different from any other experience Kaito has had, and this must have been quite the culture shock! But more importantly, Syaoran and Sakura have all the things that he and Akiho never had.

Another interesting thing to note here is that Kaito was supposedly expelled from the association about a year ago due to stealing a powerful magical instrument that was forbidden to be taken (which we now know to be Akiho herself). And guess what else happened about a year ago? About a year ago, Syaoran went back to Hong Kong to handle his ‘important things’. Coincidence? Well, famously CLAMP series often say there is no such thing as coincidence...only hitsuzen. 

Just as he is about to send another attack at Syaoran, he talks about how he and Syaoran both do not have the power of divination, but that “it is for the strong to decide…what the future holds in store for us all”. I think what he meant here is “Neither of us know how this is going to turn out, but the both of us are working hard for our own goals, so may the best man win”. However, before he could go any further, Sakura used TRANSFER to switch places, and he is both surprised by this, but quite quickly decides to end things and rewind time at this moment, indicating that he had not really wanted to engage with Sakura at all at this point in time. He had even stated at the beginning of chapter 42 that he had intended to keep her frozen and only have Syaoran able to move, meaning this whole situation had only been kept going for this long so that he could talk to Syaoran.

After rewinding time and talking to Akiho later that evening, he mentioned how Parent’s day was “quite illuminating”. This could have been said about his newfound knowledge of Fujitaka, but I also believe he learned quite a bit from Syaoran as well.

Now we finally get to the more recent chapters, like 54 and 55. While sitting together at the botanical garden, Kaito puts yet another spell on Syaoran to force him to smile against his will to avoid any suspicion. I feel like this was not just to keep the peace but also somewhat of a way to toy with and tease Syaoran. What better way to get under the skin of someone so honest and open with their feelings than to force them to hide these under a smile unwillingly? I think this was the mischievous side of Kaito showing and almost like a big brother teasing a little brother, but unfortunately for him, he pushed things too far with this, and not only did Sakura notice something was wrong, but this allowed the spell to be broken, and Syaoran wasted absolutely zero time saying the things he had been suppressed in saying before.

Cue to chapter 55, our most recent chapter. Sakura has managed to keep herself from being frozen in time, and she starts off with a few basic questions. The first one was if he knew about her being able to use cards. Kaito answered simply “Yes”. But when asked about if he knew about Syaoran, he gave two very specific details about him, particularly that he knew he was a gifted sorcerer and that he was the next head of the Li clan”. He could have just answered yes, the same way he responded in regards to Sakura, but instead he seems to have wanted Sakura to know in that moment that he knows a lot of information about Syaoran and not just that he can use magic. The two then exchange meaningful looks, and it’s right after this that she looks over to Syaoran and Akiho, looking almost worried. Now, it’s not clear what they were both thinking in this moment, and it’s possible that I am overthinking this one, but I find it fascinating that his answer was so detailed here, and I don’t feel like that was for nothing. Ohkawa has always been very thoughtful about the words she writes in her scripts, and I think this is no exception.

Anyways, I feel like we’ll get more definitive answers in the future, but I’m incredibly intrigued to see if there are any further and more concrete connections between them. I feel like CLAMP has done quite a bit to point out similarities between the two, and it should be a wild ride from here on out!!