#i think my characters will have a sudden case of traumatic amnesia

[awed-frog]

I love your 'love tropes everywhere' tag! And right now something came to my mind (Sorry I can't look it up by myself right now, but) might it be that most of these love tropes aren't recognized as such because of the music? At least I can't remember any "lovely" music in DeanCas-scenes, if you understand what I mean.

Hey! Thank you - that’s one of my most depressing tags, but it also makes it so clear what they’re doing with Destiel, doesn’t it?

(Sigh.)

As for the music - that’s a very interesting theory, but unfortunately, music is something I mostly know nothing about, so I don’t know if I can answer your queston. My opinion on that - and I presume that in this case, you’re wondering specifically about the parallels highlighted by this post - is that music can influence the way you view a scene, because even I know that, but I wonder if it can truly override our collective #NoHomo mindset. As I explained here, even for me, someone who grew up with a borderline hippy family reading weird books and watching weirder movies, both IRL and (often) on screen a gay couple is not a couple until they cross some line - and that line is much higher than it is for a straight couple. It’s unfair, but it’s apparently how brains work. For instance, yesterday a Facebook contact I haven’t seen in forever and ever posted a new picture - you could see these two guys, okay, arms around each other, some kind of beach in the distance - and there you see it again - if my friend had been with a girl, I would have assumed, 100%, that that was a romantic partner - a girlfriend or a wife - because something in the picture was very intimate and soft and that’s not how you pose with friends. But since they were two men, and I’d never heard anything about him being gay or bi, I just - I don’t know. You think best friend, you think jokey picture, like those best men playing bridesmaids and screaming at the ring. And whenever this happens, I’m not happy with myself - I tsk and roll my eyes and everything else - but our brains have this weird way of functioning statistically in how we see the world (in movies, 99% of couples are straight and 99% or bros are just friends, so that’s what you see) and then ignoring statistics as soon as there’s a rational decision to be made (a lot more people are killed in traffic and changing light bulbs than they are in terror attacks, and yet it’s the bombs we fear). So in the case of Dean and Cas I’m not exactly sure that even music can change anything, if simply because everything else really didn’t (all those I need you and breaking mind control spells and mixtapes and the platonic staring - if this had been a man and a woman, everybody to the Moon and beyond would have accepted it as canon asap). 

I mean, Sam and Jess were a couple, and this is the data our brains have been given - they were in love, they lived together, they went to parties and whatever - this means that what they’re doing with them - Sam seeing Jess by the side of the road, Lucifer pretending to be Jess, Sam rushing to save Jess from the fire and everything else - that’s not subtext - it’s text, and it supports the coherent and honest narrative we’ve seen from the very first episode. For those mythological creatures, the ‘casual viewers’, there’s no ambiguity there, no math to do in their heads. They’ve been told straight out that Sam loved Jess in a ‘I want to have babies with you’ way, so when Lucifer slips into her skin the situation is abundantly clear. Dean and Cas, on the other hand - what is missing, and mostly the reason I’m so angry, is that there is absolutely nothing textual there. Everything we have about them are things that can either be read both ways, or are so ‘unimportant’ that a normal viewer wouldn’t even notice them. This means that when Lucifer pretends to be Cas, the situation is very different (maybe not for us, but for a ton of people out there). And, frankly, not even Céline Dion could change this - after seeing the media’s reaction to the mixtape, for instance, it was clear to me that the next season could open with a montage of Dean teaching Cas how to dance with My Heart Will Go On blaring from some jukebox and it still wouldn’t be enough.

(Ugh.)

And the thing is, part of me understands this reluctance or obliviousness we’re seeing about realizing Destiel is a thing, because there is no reason, none, not to insert it in the text. If they want to preserve some UST and general misery, which is always a good idea, they could still have Dean talk to Jody - they had the perfect opening this season in her You can tell me anything speech - or, whatever, they could have filmed the magnificent episode someone (sorry, I never remember who) wrote here on tumblr about a case featuring some ex boyfriend of Dean’s. Seriously, it’s not that difficult.

(But, yeah.)

So, I’m sorry - the only thing I can offer here is that I checked out the first parallel (because I can’t bear to rewatch that last episode, and I do remember Casifer talking to Dean wasn’t framed in any particularly romantic way).

When Sam sees Jess in Bloody Mary, the background music is The Rolling Stones’ Laugh I Nearly Died, which starts well before that scene and seems to be more about Sam’s feelings of guilt and ‘unmooredness’ than his everlasting love for Jess. Jess appears during the guitar solo and disappears over the last refrain - I’m so sick and tired / Trying to turn the tide, yeah / So I’ll say my goodbye / Laugh, laugh / I nearly died. As for the Destiel scene that was heavily paralleled to that one, well - it’s neatly done, isn’t it, because in this case, Dean sees Cas right at the beginning of the episode (Sam and Jess, that was the very last scene) and, again, the scene is framed by a classic rock song, The Animals’ We Gotta Get Out of This Place. Now, the interesting thing is that the Destiel scene is played in a much more insistent way - that song is way more romantic, for starters (‘Cause girl, there’s a better life for me and you), and when Dean sees Cas, the lyrics go Now my girl you’re so young and pretty / And one thing I know is true, yeah / You’ll be dead before your time is due, I know it. The second thing is that Dean, unlike Sam, acts upon this vision - he stops the car, drives back, gets out, and looks around, whereas Sam simply stared in awed desperation at Jess before the screen went black. And, third point: when we saw Jess, that was filmed from Sam’s point of view, but when we saw Cas, that wasn’t Dean’s point of view - it was the external narrator’s (so to speak), and that generally means what we’re seeing is objective reality. Now, I’m not saying that’s yet another indication that Dean loves Cas (or maybe a little bit) - I think what’s happening here is that Cas, unlike Jess, was not dead, and that Dean actually had a glimpse of him walking along some road - maybe not the one he was driving on, but that scene - and this is confirmed by how it was filmed - was real. Dean saw Cas, and Cas saw Dean. That wasn’t a vision. As to what it means, subtextually, if anything - I am reminded of that Fanfiction thing where the two girls playing Dean and Cas were a couple in real life. External narrators and objective reality outside the theatre’s stage usually means, this is actually true, pay attention - but, again, it’s subtext, so, whatever.  

Anyway, if you’re interested in this I can recommend TV Tropes, which is devouring Supernatural with a vengeance (see for instance their Ho Yay! page, which features many examples of barely subtextual homoerotic moments).

(By the way - I rewatched bits of Bloody Mary to find that Jess scene and there he was, baby Dean waking Sam up from a nightmare and saying, ‘Sooner or later we’re going to have to talk about this’ - and that’s another example of viewer bias, isn’t it, because when I first started to watch the show, I didn’t really like Dean and mostly saw him as some insensitive fuckboy - and yet I bet there were plenty of little moments like that one which already contradicted this alpha male façade Dean was trying to cling on to. I guess I just didn’t see them, not until later, because I’d already decided in my mind what this character was like. 

Brains are funny things, aren’t they?)

[augustdreams]

Why maladaptive daydreaming (MaDD) should be classified a dissociative disorder

Contents:

Maladaptive daydreaming summary

Dissociative disorders summary

Diagnostic criteria

Conclusion

(~1100 words)

What is MaDD?

Maladaptive daydreaming (stylised as MaDD to avoid confusion between MDD (major depressive disorder)) is a disorder in which a person involuntarily daydreams, or daydreams in a way that harms their life. They do not have the ability to stop whenever they please, which is what makes it different from immersive daydreaming. It is not officially recognised by psychologists/psychiatrists as a diagnosable disorder, however online communities have come together to share their experiences with it and more research is being done each day.

Dissociative disorders:

The types of dissociative disorders formally recognised already are as followed:

Dissociative amnesia

Dissociative identity disorder

Depersonalisation-derealisation disorder

Dissociative fugue

In this "essay", I'll be going into each disorder and relating the diagnoses to maladaptive daydreaming disorder, drawing similarities and discussing differences. Before that, I'd like to explore the broader symptoms of dissociative disorders.

Here is a list of symptoms that are usually looked for when diagnosing an individual (severity will fluctuate):

Feeling disconnected from self

Problems handling emotions

Sudden/unexpected shifts in mood

Depression

Anxiety

Feeling as though the world is distorted/not real

Cognitive problems (e.g. memory, concentration, etc.)

Feeling compelled to behave in a certain way

Identity confusion

How MaDD can be linked to each of these:

When daydreaming, a lot of MaDDers will feel a disconnection from the real world, sometimes zoning out to the point that they no longer register external stimuli. Confusion regarding identity can of course be felt while daydreaming, as some MaDDers have parames, which are usually idealised versions of themselves. Not all MaDDers have these characters, however, instead daydreaming only of original and/or fictional characters. In this case, identity confusion will occur when an individual comes out of their daydreaming, adjusting to the real environment.

Symptoms like depression, anxiety, and inability to handle emotions can come across in two forms when daydreaming. The first is that an individual can be highly empathetic (due to either personality or trauma) and can experience all of their paras' feelings themselves while daydreaming. The second is when daydreams may become intrusive and hard to manage, in which case individuals may imagine highly traumatic or triggering situations that can affect their mood severely and quickly, usually causing anxiety (and even panic attacks) that can last hours.

Feeling as though the world is not real is a very self-explanatory symptom, as it is the basis of the disorder to create an alternative world. The key difference here I'd like to make is that people with MaDD recognise that the world they are in is not real. The reason I am mentioning this symptom is because we experience out paracosms as though they ARE real, feelings our paras' emotions and sometimes having our stories progress without our instruction. Cognitive problems are a HUGE issue with maladaptive daydreaming disorder (hence "maladaptive"). Maladaptive daydreaming can cause executive dysfunction and major concentration problems.

Dissociative amnesia:

Amnesia can be categorised into four forms: localised (an individual will temporarily forget the details of an event), selective (patchy or incomplete information), generalised (an individual will have trouble remembering details of their life), and systematised (very specific memory loss). I've seen posts where users express not being able to remember much of their own lives, in turn allowing their brain to remember more information about their paracosm. This would be categorised as generalised amnesia, though it isn't a universal MaDD experience to my knowledge, as I see it talked about only rarely.

Dissociative identity disorder:

This is a disorder in which two or more altars ("personalities") co-exist within a body. Lack of diagnostic criteria can lead to diagnoses like OSDD, which I won't discuss as I'm trying to keep this simple, but if you're interested in this topic, it's worth looking into! DID involves amnesia when altars aren't situated at the front (or "fronting"), meaning being in control of the body. While individuals with MaDD don't have this fronting experience, there are similar symptoms experienced by both disorders, like having people in our heads who have their own pattern of perceiving, relating to and thinking about themselves in their world; feeling detached from ourselves; sometimes having vivid flashbacks of our paras' pasts (for people with DID, these flashbacks would be memories belonging to other alters or memories that had been hidden by gatekeeper alters), especially trauma, which can induce anxiety; and mood swings brought by our paras' feelings.

Depersonalisation-derealisation disorder:

Of each of these disorders, I think depersonalisation is the most similar to MaDD. Depersonalisation includes feeling detached from one's own life and feelings. People with this disorder typically feel distant and emotionally unconnected to themselves. They can have problems with concentration and memory. They may feel 'spacey' (which definitely relates to MaDD, as our daydreams often feel like an altered state of consciousness), and they can experience time distortion (VERY popular in MaDD) e.g. not recognising how much time has passed, thinking an hour has passed when it's only been ten minutes, etc..

In severe cases, it's said that people with this disorder do not recognise themselves in mirrors. If this is considered severe, then just how bad is MaDD? I have seen people on this platform discuss being surprised seeing their face and not their parame's in mirrors. I've seen others say that they don't register that they are looking into a mirror. It's worrisome, and a reason maladaptive daydreaming should be considered more serious.

Dissociative fugue:

Also known as psychogenic fugue, this is a disorder in which an individual suddenly forgets their identity and creates a new identity and life for themselves. While MaDDers don't forget their original identity, they can temporarily be less conscious of it while daydreaming, and the ability to create new identities and characters comes very easily to us.

Conclusion:

Maladaptive daydreaming is composed of many more symptoms than just daydreaming excessively, and considering how many of these symptoms match up to that of dissociative disorders, it can be theorised that this disorder may just be able to fall into this category. However, not enough researchers are looking into maladaptive daydreaming disorder, with many still debating if it's a disorder at all. My personal judgement is that it could definitely be labeled as such, however I am in no way a professional, and I do not know enough about other's experiences with the disorder to come to a complete conclusion. I think it could be considered a subtype of depersonalisation, but I would love to hear the opinions of others. If you have your own thoughts that you are willing to share, feel free to add them to the comments/reblog.

Sources:

x, x

[mobius-prime]

213. Sonic the Hedgehog #145

Shadows of Hope

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Ron Lim Colors: Jason Jensen

I've pointed out misleading cover pages before, but it's been a while since we've seen one. This issue's cover page makes it seem like Shadow is gonna beat up Sonic or something, but in reality they never even come face to face within this issue, so I don't know what the cover artist was thinking. Shadow isn't interested in antagonizing Sonic as of yet - instead, he's been coming to Knothole for several weeks in a row, watching Hope Kintobor from the bushes near where she likes to hang out. That's not creepy at all! A mysterious robed figure, in turn, has been spying on Shadow all this time, referring to him as "it" and wondering what "its" purpose here is. Of course, we know why he's been watching Hope - because she looks very much like Maria. Shadow is surprised by a sudden flash of light behind him, and turns to find the mysterious stranger looking down at him.

…dude, what the hell? I'm sorry, but did you really think that your plan of lassoing the literal ultimate life form with a $2 roll of twine you got from Home Depot would be a good idea? Shadow is similarly baffled by the sheer audacity of this figure, and leaps forward to attack, but suddenly finds himself being teleported away by another flash of light, and Hope finds herself also being caught in the light. The three end up in a hidden facility somewhere, where the figure kicks Shadow off him and slams a glass door shut, locking him in a pod. Shadow has a few quick flashbacks, first to the nutrient pod he first awoke in when he was created by Gerald, and then the healing pod the Bem put him in after his tangle with the Biolizard. The figure removes their hood to reveal themselves to be none other than Locke, who has captured Shadow for the purpose of using him to find his missing family, the other members of the Brotherhood. He's really just kind of a piece of garbage in this issue, even more so than usual - asking if Shadow knows what it's like to lose everything, and when Shadow angrily replies that he's never had anything in the first place, replying with a callous "That's not surprising." Seriously, dude? Apparently, the reason he isn't surprised is because according to his scans, Shadow is neither "biological, mineral, nor vegetable," which makes absolutely no sense. Like… he's not a robot, dude, he's a biological creature like any other, just with some unusual origins. I chalk this up entirely to Penders just not knowing anything about Shadow's history or circumstances, because as I've mentioned before, he's almost bizarrely proud of how he's never played a single Sonic game while writing these comics.

Anyway, it's not even clearly explained why Locke seems to think that Shadow of all people can help him locate the missing members of the Brotherhood, nor why he thinks kidnapping him is an acceptable thing to do toward that end.  Hope steps forward at this point, scolding Locke for enacting this terrible, terrible plan, and when Locke turns around to pull a "you're just too young to understand my wise adult ways" on her (keep in mind she's like at least fourteen by this point), Shadow's PTSD kicks into high gear.

Shadow starts beating the everloving crap out of Locke, who at first tries to fight back with some Chaos powers of his own but is ultimately overwhelmed by Shadow's sheer strength in his frenzy. Shadow is on the verge of actually killing Locke when Hope yells for him to stop, saying she thought he was better than that and that he's scaring her. This appears to snap Shadow out of his flashback, and he recognizes once more where he is.

So this is the beginning of a series of really weird issues in the comic, led primarily by Penders. I'm not sure exactly what his angle was here, but after everything that came before, it seems he's decided to take a break from focusing on his favorite echidna in favor of a few other characters - namely, Shadow, Locke, and Evil Sonic. Evil Sonic and Locke are his own creations, so I guess I can't really fault him for whatever he decides to write about them, but I'm not really a fan of the way he writes Shadow. Shadow is easily my favorite character in the entire Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, across all canons (though his iteration in the games is my favorite), and I'm very particular about how he's portrayed. He can be a bit of an anti-hero at times, a bit brooding and sometimes violent, but in the end he's much more hero than anything else. He's not some vicious killer edgelord, he's a confused and traumatized individual just trying to figure out where he fits in the larger scheme of things. This is something that becomes abundantly clear if you play through Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Shadow the Hedgehog in order, as those three games contain the bulk of his character development. Interestingly enough, while Shadow's amnesia is a big part of the story of the latter two games and has a huge impact on how his story goes, Shadow doesn't appear to have amnesia at all in the comics. Instead, his main motivation is finding out exactly why Gerald created him in the first place. It's a bit of a bizarre turn from the games and anime, as while the motive is similar, it makes a lot more sense in the games and anime due to his amnesia, which makes him far more suggestible to those trying to manipulate him. I don't know, I can't even point to one specific thing about the way he's portrayed in the comics that bothers me - all I know is that it's different from the games in a way that just rubs me wrong, and makes me feel like Penders kind of missed the point of Shadow's character development in the first place.

As for Locke, suddenly making him out to be this callous bad guy who forcefully kidnaps others to study their biology for his own purposes is really jarring considering his deathbed redemption speech not two issues ago. Like, I know that all takes place in the future so he hasn't gotten that redemption yet, but if anything that just goes to show how weird and out of order everything in the comics lately feels. I really feel like Penders actually should have stuck to focusing on Knuckles, since at this point he's made him into such an author's pet that he seems to be horribly rusty at writing literally anyone else in the comic. On the other hand, I suppose it's valid to argue that the quality of Penders' work has been declining for quite some time now, first with the entirely-too-long Green Knuckles Saga and followed up immediately by Mobius 25 Years Later. Honestly, most of my defenses of his work have fallen flat ever since the cancellation of the KtE spinoff a while back, which if you ask me was the main point in time where his writing abilities actually got a chance to shine. In these last couple eras, he's gotten his head so far stuck up his own ass that he's lost sight of what things readers actually find interesting in these comics. I suppose it's fitting, then, that in the next fifteen issues we'll be witnessing the final death throes of Kenders' writing in the Archie preboot, in an era of flux where no one really knows what kind of story they're going for anymore.

Training Day

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Al Bigley Colors: Jason Jensen

Oh, speaking of a story that doesn't really go anywhere, we've got one here! I'm not being facetious here either - the "plot" of this story is just that Eggman has some data files on why he hates the Freedom Fighters, and does a little presentation for his army of mindless swatbots informing them of the dangers of several key players in particular. Of course, he covers Sonic first as his most hated enemy, then talks about how Tails is dangerous due to his precociousness and expertise with machinery. Knuckles is up next despite not being a member of the Freedom Fighters proper, and finally we end with Amy of all people. Not to insult Amy of course, as she's quite a bruiser in her own right, but I mean… why not cover someone like Bunnie, who has power enough to wreck an entire battleship loaded with nuclear missiles?

I only include this picture to sort of show that at least, as I've mentioned before, the comics actually do Amy proper justice as a character - she's the definition of a kickass girly-girl, a perfect demonstration of the idea that being feminine doesn't make you weak. The tarot card thing is a new one for the comics, but that's actually established backstory for her in the games, for those who don't know - the whole reason she met Sonic in the first place in Sonic CD was because she did a tarot reading for herself and the cards told her to go meet the love of her life in a specific location, which just so happened to be where Sonic was on his latest adventure. Ultimately, this story doesn't really tell us anything we didn't already know apart from that, so we can safely move on, as it distinctly smacks of filler.

Harbinger

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Dawn Best Colors: Jason Jensen

Knothole is experiencing a moment of calm, and thus Tails lounges in his room engrossed in a book about the history of technology on Mobius. No one is aware that some distance from the village a huge explosion has just gone off, because why would they be aware? It happened several hundred miles away! Sonic and his friends (minus Tails) are spending their free time playing idle games, with Sonic and Ash becoming overly competitive over their game of darts while the girls in the room giggle knowingly at their bristling and strutting. Tails becomes intrigued by something-or-other that he read in his book and decides to go ask Rotor about it, only to find him already preoccupied with something else.

Tails suggests the three of them pile into the Tornado and check it out, but Rotor says they should at least take along Sonic and Bunnie for some muscle just in case. Tails gets weirdly offended by this, prompting Rotor to give us an explanation of the roles each Freedom Fighter plays in the group for whatever reason, including listing off himself and Tails as the tactical support and Sally as their leader. I mean, it's accurate at least? Tails heads out to find Sonic as Ash stomps out of the hut in a huff, with Mina trailing him and complaining that he's only upset because he and Sonic were deliberately antagonizing each other. He finds the others still hanging out in the game room, and is initially offended that they didn't invite him until Sonic mentions offhandedly that he knocked at Tails' door several times to no answer since Tails was so caught up in his reading. Tails explains the situation to everybody, and soon everyone, including Tommy, is ready to head out in the FFS and check out the disturbance, while Sally comes over to see them off.

I mean, Sonic's got a point, Sally - he's been on a million missions before with little more than a few scratches here and there, what makes this one any different? Oh, severe trauma, right. The story concludes with a final page showing a familiar pair of air shoes stepping into a ruined facility, their owner pleased at finding the location of some kind of prototype that he learned of in Gerald's old encrypted data files…

[jbhenwiler]

SU Fanfic: Redemption from a Dark World Day 1

REDEMPTION FROM A DARK WORLD

A STEVEN UNIVERSE FANFICTION TOLD AS A SCREENPLAY-PROSE HYBRID

This story is set about 6 months after the events of "Steven Universe: The Movie"  My Original Character for this fanfiction, just as Spinel was designed to emulate self-harm and abandonment-related mental disorders, is made to be a "poster child" for PTSD.  (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)  I hope you enjoy my "Fusion" of the prose and script styles of writing!  (Yes, I know I have problems switching between past and present tense... it's something I couldn't muster the effort to fix.) ====================================

---------------------------------DAY I

   A skinny body lay on the sandy beach in the afternoon.  It was a 21-year-old man dressed in tattered jeans and a ripped T-shirt.  He has short brown hair and pale skin.  Despite appearing to have been washed up from the ocean, his skin and clothing were perfectly dry.  A teenager and a group of mysterious beings approached the man who was still as if dead.  A darkish pink greatsword lay at the man's side.

Steven: (Checks the man to see if he is breathing) Oh thank goodness, he's alive.

Pearl: How did a human wash up here anyway?  The tides should have carried him further west.

Garnet: And for that manner, look at his clothes.  They're dry.

Steven: You're right.  That's kinda weird.

Pearl: (Notices the sword) Wait a minute... That sword...

Steven: What is it Pearl?

Pearl: That design style is Bismuth's signature look.  Only she would make a sword like that.  But I don't remember Bismuth ever making a sword for a human other than Connie...

Steven: In any case, he's out cold.  We should move him to a safer place.  Let's take him back to the house.

   At that point Amethyst arrived, having come from the fry stand, holding a paper bowl of fries covered in Fire Salt.

Amethyst: Yo, check out the dead body!

Steven: Amethyst, that's not funny.  And besides, he's alive.

   Garnet picked up the human effortlessly and began carrying him back to the beach house.  Steven, Amethyst, and Pearl followed her.

   At the beach house, Garnet laid down the still-unconscious man on the couch in the living room.  The man let out a sigh and his left arm jerked a little bit.  Pearl brought in the sword and set it down on a nearby table.

Steven: Even moving him didn't wake him up.  What exactly happened to him?

Amethyst: Just look at his shredded clothes, man.  Whatever he went through, it wasn't good.

Just then, the man stirred.  His eyes tightened up, then shot open.

???: ROSE!!

   Everyone jumped back at the man's sudden outburst, then everyone's face lit up with shock when they realized just what he had yelled out.

Pearl: Rose... who?

???: (Looks around the room) What happened?  Where am I?  Where's Rose Quartz?  (Looks at Pearl) And why did you change forms?

   Everyone is confused.

Steven: You're in Beach City.  Pearl's looked like this for a while, and how do you know my mom?

???: Beach City?  No, that's impossible.  Beach City's gone.  It was destroyed during the first day of the Second Gem War.

   Everyone is shocked and confused.

Steven: What are you talking about?

Garnet: (Appears to be thinking [Using her Future Vision])  Hmm...

Pearl: What is it Garnet?

Garnet: From what he's saying, and what my Future Vision's ability to read timelines is telling me... This man may be from a parallel universe.

???: Parallel... Universe?

Steven: What's the last thing you remember?

???: (Appears to be straining himself with thought) I...  Can't remember much... I think my name is... David?

Steven: It's OK, David.  You don't have to try too hard to remember.

David: Actually, something's coming back to me...  I fell off a cliff... I remember Rose trying to grab my hand but I slipped.  I fell into a river, my head hit a rock, and then I blacked out.  I guess that's how I got here somehow.

Amethyst:  So you were carried by a river into an alternate timeline?

Pearl: It's the only somewhat logical explanation we have.

Steven: Going back to the question you haven't answered yet... David, how do you know my mom?

David: Your... Mom??  You mean, in this timeline Rose had a son!?

Steven: (Lifts up his shirt) See?  That's mom's Gem.

David: (Stares at the Gem) So her Gem's in your body... That means she had to give up her form to make you... Yep.  That sounds like her alright.

Pearl: You mentioned a Second Gem War.  What exactly happened in your timeline?

David: (Straining himself again) Urrgh...

Steven:  Don't push it too hard, David.

Pearl: If I know anything about human amnesia, it's that the memories will come back with time.

Amethyst: Anyway, kid you look starving!  Here, try these fries.

Pearl: Amethyst don't you dare!  You know how humans react to high amounts of Fire Salt!  He'll end up burning down the house!

Amethyst: Aww, can't you take a joke?  Anyway, David, was it?  Let's get you some food that WON'T turn you into a fleshy flamethrower.  Come on!

   David and Amethyst begin to leave the house to go to the fry stand, but Pearl stops them.

Pearl: Amethyst wait!  David's clothing is all torn up, and come to think of it, he smells horrible.  He shouldn't be out in public like that; it would draw too much attention.  Wait here, I'll get some of Greg's old clothes.

Amethyst: Do you really think Greg's clothes will fit him?  The kid's really scrawny.

Steven: He's too tall to fit in my clothes so they'll have to do.  I think dad left some shirts and jeans in the closet from when he was living with us after his leg broke.

Pearl: David, wait here. (Goes to the closet and begins digging through it)

   David suddenly hunches over and collapses onto the couch.  Steven rushes to his side and the others follow suit.

Steven: David!  What's wrong?

David: I'm... Remembering something.  I think it's how I met Rose.

   Everyone gathered around.

David: I remember what happened to Earth in my timeline.  The Second Gem War wasn't a war.  It was a calamity for Earth and its people.  The Crystal Gems were grossly outnumbered.  The Diamonds themselves led a relentless assault on Beach City.  Rose and the others had no choice but to flee for their lives.  There were no human survivors of the attack, and Beach City was razed to the ground.  The Crystal Gems went into hiding and... Humanity was subjugated within days.  The Diamonds decided humans would make a good slave species.  This thankfully meant we weren't wiped out... But in our opinions it was a fate worse than death.  We were lower than the Pearls, assigned to Gems for forced labor, entertainment, and the unlucky ones were forced to fight to the death for the amusement of the elite Gems.

   Everyone looks horrified.

Steven: What was your job?  What did they make you do?

David: ..............................  Nothing, at first.  I was kept in a cage for about a year until Yellow Diamond herself came to requisition me for a job.  (David's face falls with sorrow as his memories slowly seep back into his mind.   His hand slowly goes to the bottom of his torn-up shirt, and with shaking hands, pulled it up.)

   Scattered all over David's torso, in a terrifying crisscross of flesh, were scars.  Crowning them all was a large, thick scar smack-dab in the middle of his chest.  Pearl's hands went to cover her mouth in an expression of horror, and even Garnet looked shaken.

David:  I was a living practice dummy for Yellow Diamond's soldiers.  That's... That's what they made me do.

Pearl: By all accounts you should be dead...  Only one thing could have saved you, and that's--

David: Rose Quartz.  She and Pearl happened to be in the area on a scouting mission.  By the time she found me... (Points to the chest scar) I was just impaled on a Quartz soldier's blade.  I remember the Quartz saying, "I love the sound they make when you skewer them."  I started going cold...

Steven: What happened after that?

David: Keep in mind... I was blinded by pain at that point...  What I do remember is Rose immediately jumping into action.  She poofed the soldier with her sword, which caused the sword inside me to poof too, and I began to bleed out rapidly.  I remember... Rose being physically restrained by Pearl so she wouldn't shatter the Quartz soldier.  My senses were failing me... But I remember Pearl telling Rose to focus on healing me rather than killing the Gem who attacked me.  Her rage immediately turned to sadness.  She crouched down and put me on her lap, then the tears started falling.  She... Wasn't just crying to heal me.  She was genuinely concerned for my life, the life of a human she just met.  It... Captivated me.  My stab wound started tingling and my ruptured heart started closing up, which was a very strange feeling.  Last thing I remember before finally fainting from blood loss was, heh... Rose flipping me over so she could cry her healing tears on the exit wound on my back.  ...I think that's all I can remember for now.

Pearl: That's... Terrible!  You're so lucky to be alive...

   David got up from the couch, and Steven, who was actually shedding his own tears a bit, rushed up and hugged David.

Steven: It's OK, you're safe now.

David: (While being hugged) Huh... That's uncanny.  That's exactly what Rose was saying as she was healing me.  You sure that's not your Gem talking?  (Steven giggles at this and he wipes his eyes)

Pearl: Anyway... Let's get you out of those rags.  Here.  Go into the bathroom to change.  You should definitely bathe too.  There's soap and shampoo in the medicine cabinet.

David: Thanks, Pearl.

   David took an oversized white t-shirt and jeans (Plus a belt to make the jeans fit) and went into the bathroom.  The sounds of water running can be heard from the bathroom.

Garnet: ...That timeline could very well have been ours.

Pearl: I know.

Amethyst: That is one broken human.  Imagine living like that.

Steven: How do you think he'd react if he knew mom's original form?

Garnet: (Checks Future Vision) Not well.  We should keep that under wraps for now.  We should also make sure the Diamonds don't show up, especially Yellow.  There's no telling how he'd react to their presence, whether the Diamonds are friendly or not.

Amethyst: Good point. He'd probably go to town with them with his sword.

Pearl: He's traumatized, not stupid, Amethyst.  I'm pretty sure he'd understand the futility of a direct physical assault on all three of them.

   A few minutes later, a fresh, clean David wearing comically large clothes walked out of the bathroom.

David: Uhh... How do I look?

Amethyst: You look--

Pearl: Amethyst, be nice.

Amethyst: You look a lot better, David.  Now let's get you those fries.

David: Ok...  (Still thinks he looks silly)

   David and Amethyst walked out of the house and started walking on the beach towards the boardwalk.

Amethyst: So... What was Rose like in your world?

David:  She did not take losing Earth well.  It was kinda like a personality disorder.  She would treat Gems, especially Homeworld Gems, like they were trash to be destroyed, while considering humans to be a sort of priceless treasure that had to be protected at all costs.  Rose was obsessed with protecting me, while Pearl decided that I needed to learn how to defend myself.

Amethyst: So she had Bismuth make you a sword.

David: Exactly.  Pearl taught me how to swordfight.  Rose wasn't too happy about it.  She didn't want me near any battles.  But Pearl insisted on it.  "You can't protect him from everything!"  She said.

Amethyst: Rose was treating you like her pet, basically.

David: ...Yeah, I guess that's right.  But it was definitely better than being sword fodder for Yellow.

Amethyst: ...That must have sucked.  Does it still... Hurt?

David: Not really.  But a lot of times I would have nightmares about getting attacked.  Rose would usually wake me up in the middle of them.  She was so focused on protecting me she would get all concerned even if I was being hurt in my dreams.  Now that I think about it, her constant worrying about me was really stifling.  Poor lady was doing her best to defend humanity when the whole planet fell out from under her.  It's the one thing she would never let me ask her.

Amethyst: What was exactly?

David: Why she was doing it.  No other Gem treated us humans that way.  Everyone else was perfectly happy with having us as slaves and didn't care what happened to us.  Rose cared so much that it hurt.  Sometimes Pearl would take me on walks away from the base just so she could sneak me away from her.  Speaking of which... (David's face becomes crestfallen) Rose must be worried sick about me...  Pearl probably thinks I'm dead, and Rose won't be having anything of it.  She's probably turning the world upside down looking for me.

Amethyst: What about me?  I mean, the other me.  You haven't mentioned her at all.

David: (Looks like he's thinking)  Rose mentioned an Amethyst... A couple times.  Unfortunately that's another thing she would never open up about.  She would always look sad when saying her name, though.  I hate to break it to you, but I don't think my Amethyst survived the Beach City Massacre.  Not even Pearl would talk about it.  It must have really hurt them to lose her.

Amethyst: Dang...  I hope I went out fighting.  I bet I was holding the last line of defense or something, buying Rose and the others time to get out alive.

David: ...Something like that.  Rose did also mention a human she was trying to escape Beach City with.  His vehicle was part of the escape plan.  Whatever happened to him wasn't pretty.  Rose keeps a picture of him and her together in a sort of shrine inside the base.  That and a broken guitar.  Some sort of musician I guess...

Amethyst: (If Gems could go pale she would be like a ghost right now) Hey, David?  Maybe you shouldn't talk about that with Steven or his dad around.  Just warning you.

David: You don't mean?

Amethyst: Let's just say that if that man hadn't met his fate... Rose might not have been around to save you.

David: (Grimaces) Yikes.

   They arrive at the fry stand.

Peedee: Welcome to Beach Citywalk Fries: Home of The Bits!

Amethyst: You know Steven doesn't eat fry bits as much as he used to right?  And he was basically the only guy eating them.

Peedee:  Not really.  Ever since the Off-Colors came to Little Homeworld nearby (David visibly tenses up) they've been interested in human foods.  And a lot of them learned that they were one of Steven's favorites so you bet they've become a hot item.  Anyway, what can I get for you?

David: (Whispers to Amethyst) What should I get?

Amethyst: (Whispers back) Fries and a Boardwalk Burger.

David: I'll have a fries and a Boardwalk Burger, please.

Peedee: What size fries?

David: Uhhh... Medium, please.

Peedee: That'll be $6.25.

David: (To Amethyst) Uhhh... Amethyst, I don't have any money.

Amethyst: Oh, right!  Hey, Peedee, just put it on the Universe tab!

Peedee: OK... But Greg better be coming by to pay up soon!  Dad's starting to get impatient and if this keeps up he won't let you keep doing this. (He goes into back to make the food)

Amethyst: So, David.  What's the food like over in Apocalypseland?  Cause the food here will blow your mind!

David: (Looks embarassed and somewhat sad)

Amethyst: Sorry, was that the wrong thing to say?

David: (Tearing up a bit) I miss my mom's cooking...

Amethyst: (Pats David on the back) Sorry, man.  Didn't mean to bring on the feels like that.  Look, here's your food.

   Peedee hands David his food and he and Amethyst find a bench to sit on.  David bites into the burger and looks delighted, the tears vanishing from his eyes.

David: I haven't eaten like this in forever!

Amethyst: You deserve it, bud.  By the time we're done with you, you'll be looking chunky in no time!

   By the time David was finished eating, the sun was beginning to set.

Amethyst: We should probably get back to the house.

   David and Amethyst walk across the beach towards the beach house.

Amethyst: Hey, kid, there's where we found you.

David: (Stops and stares intently at the body-shaped indentation in the sand, then walks over and begins searching the area)

Amethyst: Kid, I don't think anything else washed up with you.  We need to get home or Pearl's going to get all scoldy!

David: (Continues searching, now digging in the sand)

Amethyst: (Walks over) What exactly are you looking for?

David: (Looks at Amethyst, his eyes are tearful again) My picture of mom...  I always have it with me...  It wasn't in my old jeans pockets.  Wh-Where did it go? (Starts digging more frantically)

Amethyst: (Starts helping him look, but to no avail)  David, maybe we can pick up the search tomorrow.  It's starting to get dark.

David: (Wipes his eyes) ...OK.

   David and Amethyst arrive at home.

Amethyst: Yo, guys.  What's up?

Pearl: What took you guys so long?

Amethyst: Apparently Mr. Down in the Dumps here lost a picture of his mommy.

   Pearl and David both glare at Amethyst.

Amethyst: Sorry, went a little too far there.  Anyway, David is really worked up over it.  Maybe tomorrow we could form a search party and comb the beach for it?

Pearl: That's a wonderful idea.  Also, Greg stopped by, and we filled him in on what was going on with our new addition.  He's in the Galaxy Warp room with Steven and Garnet if you want to take David up to meet Greg.

David: Did you say Galaxy Warp?  (A mixture of fear and anger cross his face)  No, I won't go anywhere near that thing!

Pearl: Excuse me?

David: ...Sorry, I... Just have bad memories of those things.

Amethyst: Let me guess, Gems invaded Earth using them?

David: (Nods)  Any moment a Gem could pop out of one.  I... Can't stand being near them.

Amethyst: Well if you won't go to that party then we'll just have to bring the party to you!  I'll go get Greg and the others!  (She runs upstairs)

   Amethyst returns with Greg, Steven, and Garnet.

Greg: (Looks at his clothing on David)  Gee, am I really that big?

David: (Blushes) No, it's that I'm really small.

Greg: It's OK, you don't need to be humble around me.  Although I should probably take you out shopping for more fitting clothes.  Pearl told me all about you.  You've been through a lot haven't you?  (He sits down on the couch)

   Going through David's head are thoughts of this man.  He was certain of it.  This was the man Rose had been in love with when the Gems invaded.  He had come from a universe with Rose and without Greg and gone into one with Greg and no Rose.  Uncannily, it was as if the two of them were fated to be apart no matter what world they occupied.  This saddened David.

Amethyst: Whatcha brooding about, big boy?  Come sit down with Greggy here and talk.

   David sat down next to Greg on the couch.

Greg: So... What was your life like on your world?

David: ....... (Blushes and also looks sad)

Greg: ... That bad, huh?  What was Rose like?

Amethyst: She sussed over him constantly and treated him like a pet.

Pearl: Amethyst!

David: ...No, that's basically it.

Amethyst: Anyway, from the chat me and the kid had on the way to the boardwalk, his Rose was a little different from our Rose.

David: ...From what Pearl... My Pearl told me, Rose changed after the invasion.  She became extra-clingy and possessive.  I only knew that side of her, and the hyper-aggressive persona she took on in battle.  Pearl was her only tether to reason... Honestly, without her, Rose Quartz would probably have gotten herself shattered from running headlong into an impossible battle.  It would have been nice to see the side of her before the war... Before our world turned bloody... Before my family... (He suddenly sobs and tears up, burying his face in his hands)

Greg: Woah, woah, easy there.  It's OK.  We can't change the past, and we can't dwell on it for too long.  Anyway, where did you live before all this?

David: (Calms down as quickly as he broke up) ...I lived in a suburb outside of Empire City.  Henleaf Town, it was called.  It's all gone now... Replaced with one of... THEIR creations. (His face suddenly turns red with rage)  They put up a stadium where humans are forced to fight each other and... And... Sometimes they have to go up against actual MONSTERS!  (Suddenly stops and just sits there panting angrily)

Pearl: Corrupted Gems... They actually had humans fight them for... Entertainment?

Greg: (Is sweating nervously a bit) I'm really in over my head here, aren't I?  This guy needs help.

David: ...The Diamonds' cruelty knew no bounds...

Greg: Have you told him about the--

Everyone but Greg and David: SHHHHH!!!

Pearl: We should probably get to bed.  Greg, David's sleeping on the couch, so--

Greg: Yeah, I know.  Back to the van for me.  Hey, David?  I'll come by tomorrow afternoon and take you to get some better clothes.  See you later!  (Exit Greg)

Pearl: David... You should probably get to sleep.  I'll get some blankets and a pillow from the closet for you.  Steven, get changed for bed.  (Exit Steven and Pearl)

   David sits on the couch, still reeling a bit from his emotional outburst.

David: (To himself)  I shouldn't be so harsh.

Garnet: (Walks up to David and sits down next to him, and puts her hand on his shoulder)  You have every right to be the way you are.  Under your circumstances you could only do so much.  I won't pretend to have been through what you experienced.  You're human.  You have lower limits than a Gem would.  The fact that you're able to express your feelings instead of bottling them up is a great strength.  What's important is that here you have a group of people who will genuinely listen to what you have to say. Good night, David.  (Exit Garnet)

Pearl: (Brought in blankets and a pillow)  Sweet dreams, David.  (David shudders)

   David lay down on the couch and closes his eyes...

   TO BE CONTINUED...

[fightersforpeace]

Corona in Lebanon – how it affects people who lived through previous crisis and how they can cope

Interview with Nahla Harb, psychologist, and mediator, conducted by Christina Foerch Saab

Nahla Harb is a clinical psychologist and psychological therapist from North Lebanon. She is also a mediator and peace-builder. Nahla lived part of her youth during the Lebanese civil war. At first, she studied music and took up some courses in psychology, which she liked because psychology is “closed to science”. Now she works as a psychologist in North Lebanon and also engages in social and emotional learning in the Ministry of Education. She currently writes her Ph.D. about “Stakes of transitioning from trans-generational violence to non-violent resilience.”

I interviewed Nahla over the phone during the Corona crisis (Covid-19). I wanted to know from her, as she lived both through war and post-war times, how the Corona crisis affects the Lebanese people who were forced – and able – to overcome so many difficult times before this particular health crisis.

Nahla Harb: In Lebanon, we consider ourselves that we don’t need a psychologist. When I started my own therapy (during my studies), I realized that we need it, especially in a traumatic context. Lebanon is a context where we move from one crisis to another – we live in a constant crisis. Stability, as it is perceived in different countries, we don’t experience this since 1980. I can’t identify a period where there was stability. I can identify periods of severe or less severe crisis and periods that prepare for a crisis.

FFP: Since your Ph.D. is related to trans-generational trauma, do you think that the Lebanese people suffer from trans-generational trauma?

Nahla Harb: I guess that my generation suffers from trans-generational trauma. Trans-generational trauma can manifest itself as different forms of violence that our fathers and families before us had received and they passed them on without being aware of it. They were trying to protect us they passed their trauma on to us. Sometimes our reactions stem from all these past experiences the families’ past. Johan Galtung categorizes three categories of violence, and all three categories play a role in different generations: The structural violence could be reflected through many regulations that don’t promote equity or equal development in the region. This kind of structural violence has a lot of impact on families and my family is one of them. Structural violence limits you in your dreams and objectives.

Cultural violence – most of the times we don’t recognize it until we go through a crisis. 

Direct violence – the wars, domestic violence, violence at schools, violence among peers. I guess that different generations have passed on these categories of violence.

FFP: Lebanon hasn’t been hit by Corona as severely as other countries. But yet, the Corona crisis can have severe effects on the psychological well-being of the Lebanese as well as on refugee populations (Palestinians, Syrians) living in Lebanon. What is it like, for the Lebanese who have experienced the civil war on one hand, and for refugees, on the other hand, to live through such a health crisis?

Nahla Harb: The Coronavirus trauma came just after another economic and political trauma. The fact that it didn’t appear to be as severe in this country as in other countries – many countries went from stability to Corona crisis. In Lebanon, we went from a crisis and mass protests which started in October 2019 to the Corona crisis. The crisis in October was taking the country to uncertainty, but with a hope for a transition to a better future, through the revolution and the mass protests. Then, all of a sudden, everything froze, we went to a different direction of uncertainty. My friends who are the same generation as me and younger, they had high expectations (in this uprising) and they were calculating the sacrifice they were willing to do because they had hope that after this transition we would move to something better. When the Corona crisis came, they were disappointed, they had a high degree of deception, because another – huge, global – uncertainty has come along. 

Talking about the generation before my generation, I noticed that they went back to the survival strategies they used in wartime – they stood for hours to get bread and goods. It’s like they opened their past strategies, to list all the things they used to compile during the war crisis. Many verbalized it: “Oh, we’re used to that! Why do we need to go back to school? During the war, we didn’t go to school for long periods but we managed it before.” They passed difficult times and survived. Some others were really nervous and tired because they were afraid to live through such situations again.

It depends on what kind of roles they had in the past. If they were active, they had their strategies of survival and now they did it again. The ones who didn’t know what to do, they felt very insecure during this health crisis.

We are contacting Syrian refugees through schools. Some parts of the population are in denial and they say it’s a regular flue. I know that many of them are going back to Syria because Syria reported fewer cases of COVID-19.

FFP: The lockdown and hence the loss of control over your life, paired with multiple uncertainties (health uncertainty, an invisible threat, insecurity if the Lebanese state is well equipped to deal with the health crisis; then economic uncertainty, increasing poverty, the feeling of being “trapped” inside, the loss of a structure that leads you through the day….) – how does this mix of things affect people who have to cope with past traumatic experiences?

Nahla Harb: Those who are coping are the ones who have established a daily routine – those people are not feeling helpless. The uncertainty is decreased by a daily routine. You can anticipate what can happen and the level of anxiety and helplessness is less. 

Those who already feel helpless and didn’t manage to establish a daily routine are the ones who fear the unknown. They don’t have clear expectations. Their feeling of helplessness will increase. Trauma breaks the compass of the person.

Corona could affect people, especially refugees, on different levels: Their health and the health of their loved ones. It can awake existential questions: What if we die – who will care? They are already marginalized. It will raise the question of how to cope with this and what’s next? I noticed that many of them answered these questions with a shortcut: God will decide. 

It’s a way of delaying breakdown. For a period, they are less anxious, God will decide. But then, when there is a step to take, they enter a survival mode.

FFP: What are good coping mechanisms when experiencing a possible retraumatization due to the current health crisis? How can we strengthen people’s inner resources and resilience?

Nahla Harb: There are different categories.

Type One: Some of the Lebanese try to go through denial. They act as if it is not happening. This coping mechanism is amnesia, it decreases anxiety, but when they face an obstacle they have a huge anger problem.

Type Two is the humor: They try to decrease the impact of the crisis. They make jokes like this: “We have politicians that are worse than Corona.” It is a humor and they are observers, standing on the side.

Type Three is an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder/ character. People who are acting obsessively – they want to be perfect: They reserve the exact amount of things, hold others accountable who don’t observe the measures, etc… although this is not their role. Those people go by the book, but sometimes, at some extreme, they judge others if they don’t observe the measures.

Type Four is hysteria/mania – they go and binge shop. They stock huge amounts of goods they don’t need. 

As a coping mechanism, we should try to decrease helplessness. Simple routines are very important: sitting together at the table drinking tea, to sit and laugh together… And plan! It is important to visualize a plan for the future – there can also be different plans for the future. The sense of openness to having different scenarios for the future is important. We’re in a lockdown with narrow opportunities. In such a situation, it can help us to create, at least mentally, because then we are free, no one can block our minds! I want to highlight that for prisoners – especially for prisoners of war – the meaning of the openness of the mind and the freedom of ideas can help a lot in strengthening their resilience.

Look into the beauty of small things. We have a huge world crisis, but if my child smiles and laughs it is meaningful. I can see them growing up and measure them – cherish these small moments, even in difficult situations. This will help us a lot and give us a feeling that we don’t miss our life but we just live it differently. As long as we are healthy and safe, that’s important.

And for families who have Corona patients, it is important not to stigmatize them. It is not their fault, even if they didn’t respond to the instructions – such things happen. We need not stigmatize, but to love and support them. It could happen to anyone of us. No one knows when it will be our turn.

FFP: Nahla, thank you very much for your interview and your advice! Stay safe and healthy.

Article supported by IFA-ZIVIK

[thedatsuzokucollective-blog]

TOP 10 KOREAN DRAMAS

Korean dramas are commonly smaller than usual arrangement TV dramatizations of 16-24 scenes each. While there are an assortment of classifications of K-dramas, the key ones are romantic melodrama, romantic comedy and historical drama. K-dramas are certainly a key main impetus of the Korean Wave which has cleared the world. There are a considerable measure of Korean culture partners who are pulled in to the Korean culture by the K-dramatizations, and we’re one of them!

On account of the complete storyline, addictive generalizations and prominent celebrities that regularly star in these shows, it's no big surprise why k-dramas are picking up prominence around the globe. See below the top 10 Korean dramas:

1. The Producers

A nervy work environment romantic comedy, The Producers revolves around, relevantly, the producers working in KBS's assortment office, highlighting a group of cameo appearances from stars and a course of offhanded references to showbiz, celebrities, and industry hones. Kim Soo-hyun proceeds with his hot dash of hit activities as the blundering new kid on the block maker who's book-savvy and road dumb, while Cha Tae-hyun is his tainted veteran PD sunbae. Gong Hyo-jin plays a veteran PD whose thorny external shell shrouds a milder inward marshmallow, and IU adjusts the give a role as the haughty Kpop hotshot. Shows are delivered, slip-ups are made, and individuals begin to look all starry eyed at numerous circumstances over.

2. Sensory Couple

The story initiates with our two leads, Choi Mu Gak (Park Yoo Chun) and Choi Eun Seol (Shin Se Kyung), who are both tormented by family murders. Eun Seol, who gets hit by a car in the wake of seeing her parents' murder, experiences memory misfortune. She is stunned to find that she sees odd, drifting hues and shapes, which she later distinguishes as smells. Mu Gak is so torn by the wrongful demise of his sister that he loses rest and gets to be desensitized to all torment. Their lives in the long run impact as they unite to at last catch the "Bar Code" serial killer, who is associated with the murder of their relatives.

3. Pinocchio

At the point when a false media free for all leaves Gi Ha Myeong (Lee Jong Suk) without a family, he is received into the group of a granddad who supposes he is his dead child, Dal Po. Dal Po expect this commonly useful personality. Choi In Ha (Park Shin Hye) and her dad move in with In Ha's granddad after a frightful separation and discover Dal Po living there, however consent to keep the mystery for granddad's purpose. At the point when Dal Po finds In Ha's mom (Jin Kyung) is the columnist who led the assault on his family, he holds a genuine resentment against In Ha, his now successful niece. In any case, as they grow up next to each other, that inclination is relentlessly supplanted by another, one he doesn't set out to vocalize. At the point when In Ha chooses to emulate her mom's example and be a columnist, Dal Po is frightened, not able to confide in any correspondent after his disaster. This ends up being a hard move for In Ha, who is a Pinocchio - someone who hiccups when they lie. With an end goal to bolster her and inevitably discover equity for his family, Dal Po settles on a considerably harder choice, to end up distinctly a correspondent close by In Ha. Before long, they wind up at contending organizations, working on the narrative of the week, as well as together in equity for Dal Po's family and retaliation against In Ha's mom.

4.  Kill Me Heal Me

This comedy-melodrama acting cross breed demonstrate highlights Ji Sung as a chaebol agent juggling seven different identities, giving a really epic comedic (and dramatic) performance as the strait-bound prevailing persona tries to hold his wacky modifies under wraps. Actually, things go greatly amiss. Hwang Jung-eum plays the doctor who helps him recuperate the excruciating scars exacted by a traumatic past, and begins to look all starry eyed at him en route. Chaebol plots, control gets, family strife, and amnesia all apply, however the show is particular and the scenes are paced rapidly enough to skirt feeling like Cliche Central. The drama exceeds expectations in depicting the models and passionate complexities of its characters because of outstanding acting from Ji Sung and befitting troupes. Every one of Do Hyun's personalities speaks to an alternate some portion of him: anger, guilt, sadness, and so on that make them unmistakable and significant.

5. Mask

Mask is a melodrama about a lady named Byun Ji Sook (Soo Ae) whose family was profoundly in the red and being undermined by loan sharks. A man named Min Seok Hoon (Yeon Jung Hoon) who is frantic for more riches and influence then arranges a progression of occasions that permits Ji Sook to replace a rich lady named Seo Eun Ha who looks precisely like her. By marrying a rich beneficiary, Choi Min Woo (Joo Ji Hoon), and accepting the character of Seo Eun Ha, Ji Sook is given the chance to help her family. In any case, she is not set up for what Seok Hoon has in store for her.

6. School 2015

Proceeding with the School establishment, this arrangement unfurls when a victim of bullying all of a sudden turns into the It Girl when she's confused for the twin sister she never knew she had. Amnesia gives the reason as she sinks into the new persona, and overnight she picks up companions, a mother, and the love of two young men. In any case, her past begins to get up to speed with her when her previous domineering jerk exchanges to her school, and she needs to recover her character while sorting out the secret encompassing what happened to her twin. Who Are You: School 2015 demonstrates that it merits its prevalence with a remarkable mix of holding puzzle and delightful secondary school sentiment. Also the wonderful acting exhibitions from lead performing artist Kim So Hyun, who plays twin characters Lee Eun Bi and Go Eun Byul, and rookie actress Jo Soo Hyang, who plays fundamental rival Kang So Young. I'm thoroughly inspired with how the youth actresses convincingly channel their character's different personas, making them considerably more life-changing.

7.  You’re All Surrounded

Brother time between Lee Seung Gi and Cha Seung Won was typically incredible, yet even the side characters gave me warm fuzzies inside my heart. The chemistry of the focal cast gave this demonstrate a ton of room to conquer drawbacks. As a feature of the cast associations, I additionally appreciated the relationship between Seung Gi's Dae Gu and Go Ara's Soo Sun. The couple was permitted to create actually, and, notwithstanding Dae Gu's initial protestations that Soo Sun was an empty head, they had common regard and fellowship. Not to ruin anything, but rather I additionally cherished how the authors dealt with Dae Gu's love admission. They had a million chances to make him flee out of honorable stupidity, yet they picked to take the more subtle course, and the relationship worked better therefore of that decision.

8. Healer

Healer had a balanced thrown. Rather than concentrating on the primary leads with possibly maybe a couple fun side characters encompassed by one-dimensional filler characters, the world of Healer was full to the overflow with individuals you really wanted to love and think about. I can't pinpoint who my most loved character is. It's plainly Min Ja—until Young Shin's father makes me cry. Alternately small Healer flies up to spare the day. That is to say, my most loved part of the whole show wasn't even a romantic moment—it was that stunning training arrangement amongst Teacher and Healer in the abandoned building. As Healer/Jung Hoo/Bong Soo, he could pass on more feeling with the smallest little jerk of a facial muscle than numerous performers and on-screen characters do with an enormous shouting fit. That, as well as he acted with his whole body rather than simply his face. Maybe that is his theater foundation at work. Obviously, we can't discuss him without his leading lady. I haven't generally had solid emotions whichever way about Park Min Young previously, however I felt that she suited this part well, and the Jung Hoo/Young Shin couple was my most loved sort of OTP—one where I could perceive any reason why they needed to be as one, and I trusted the relationship advancement wholeheartedly.

9. City Hunter

Lee Min Ho plays Lee Yoon Sung, a man raised to render retribution on the administration authorities in charge of his father's death. He is instructed in America and afterward comes back to work in the Blue House where he can penetrate the system to discover the guilty parties. In the process he turns into the City Hunter, an unknown wrongdoing contender. Consider Batman, however without an outfit. He additionally becomes hopelessly enamored with a young lady who he adores yet needs to secure so he pushes her away is in run of the mill superhero design. It's an awesome story of love and revenge and the decision between the two. It had just enough of the immense kdrama adages we generally expect and adore, alongside some new plot turns. I was dazzled all through. Park Min Young is the ideal blend of quality and exquisiteness as Kim Na. The character Kim Na is skilled and dedicated and having a solid feeling of what's good and bad. She is an outstanding courageous woman. That, as well as she doesn't require Lee Yoon Sung to give her a makeover! I'm truly delighted in this leading lady. Prosecutor Kim Yong-joo, played by Lee Joon-hyuk, is the City Hunter's opponent in both wrongdoing battling and love. Like the City Hunter, he will probably reveal defilement and convey malicious government officials to equity, yet dissimilar to the City Hunter, he believes in doing it by the book. He tries to find the character of the City Hunter since he believes he is perilous. He is likewise the romantic adversary of the male lead, as both strive for the consideration of Kim Na. Once again this is like Batman, yet at the same time crisply. I'm truly delighted in this character, as he gave an incredible thwart to the lead and additionally extra gorgeous sight.

10.  Gu Family Book

A melodrama epic about the great trouble of Choi Kang Chi, conceived as a half-human-half-mythical creature, who experiences battles with a specific end goal to live more like a human than any other person in spite of not having the capacity to wind up distinctly human. He is the child of Gu Wol Ryung, the guardian of Jiri Mountain, and Yoon Seo Hwa, a normal human. Choi Kang Chi later was raised by adopted family. He grows up as a straightforward character who's brimming with interest and one day, he understands that he's a half-human-half-monster through a specific episode and begins carrying on with his second life. While experiencing the battles, he met Dam Yeo Wool who is an ace of martial arts and archery at young age and afterward, they both go fall in love for each other. The cinematography, sets and areas, the acting from a prevalent gathering cast of a significant number of Korea's finest entertainers, the haunting, poetic and savvy script composing, the excellent outfits, the stunning musical soundtrack, awesome hand to hand fighting, and impeccable course all consolidated to push this convincing show toward the highest point of my top picks' rundown. Regardless of the possibility that you are not customarily pulled in to historical era K-drama, simply try this one out I'm certain you'll be snared. Specifically, the initial two scenes are the absolute most stunning and amazingly sensational and enthusiastic television that I've ever seen in my life, and I cried hysterically at what happened to the characters of the guardians of the lead male character in this show, played by the superb and committed on-screen character Seung Gi Lee.

[reminiscingdreamer]

Thoughts on The Final Problem

This seems like a very popular topic here wow! When I went to explore Tumblr after watching the last episode of season 4, things were on fire; people were crying, rocking themselves, and/or mumbling logic/denial to themselves in the corner; and above, shining dimly, a phantasmal salvation hovered over people’s heads, created by the feverish dreams of thousands of disappointed fans. Wow, it’s amazing! I personally could only see the shadow of this salvation (aka the 4th episode), but some people seem to believe in it wholeheartedly. 

It appears the most popular theory for TFP is that it’s John’s nightmare sequence as he’s dying. Well, besides the fact that I don’t know why, if that was the case, John would imagine himself as a little girl, there’s also the fact that I don’t know why the producers would want to waste essentially an hour of viewers’ time if it served no purpose other than a deeper glimpse into John’s mind. TAB was different because it was meant as an aside and it’s clearly an aside. This is in the storyline proper. It’s meant to be canon.

I’m not looking to bash the episode or the people here, however. I just want a place to put down my thoughts about why I didn’t like TFP personally. Some people liked it and that’s fine. Some (maybe a lot) of people hated it and that’s fine too. Some people will read this and hate it/love it/meh it. Fine. Some people will ignore it and that’s fine too. It’s all… fine.

So where to begin? I’ll start with

General impressions

First thing I felt while watching was that TFP didn’t feel like Sherlock to me.  TFP felt more like the game, Amnesia: Justine with a hint of GLaDOs. If Sherlock was a straight line of film reel, TFP would be the tangled mess at the end. Of course, even before this, series 4 felt progressively stranger and stranger. TST still felt like Sherlock if a bit different somehow and TLD was kind of starting to push it a bit, but it was still okay. TFP blew up. 

When they mentioned a third sibling and Sherrinford, my first thought was that “someone’s been through AO3!” and when the episode ended, my first thought was, “someone’s been through AO3 and Tumblr and was desperately trying to avoid everything already predicted there in a desperate bid for a surprise ‘clever’ reveal!”

What made up the components of such detonation? Well first, 

Eurus

Kudos to this post for being the first, and only post, to come the closest about the hidden sister and even about the part where she’s rarely visited, although the proof for it felt like it stretched a bit. With that said, Eurus still felt like she came out of nowhere and her character is like the shock of being dunked in ice water, partly because while her existence might have been hinted at (and not even all that much and with a lot more evidence against her existence) what she’s like wasn’t.

Eurus is the big-fish-eater, the one smarter than even Mycroft. Now, the question is, did they put Eurus there because it made sense for her to be there and she really has been there all along working behind the scenes or did they run out of viable antagonists and so put her up so that she’d seem like the biggest threat by being someone even Mycroft fears? If there was going to be such a desperate grab for a new series antagonist to pit Sherlock against, they should’ve just kept Moriarty alive. It’d be a lot easier than whatever convoluted mess this turned out to be, but they missed the last road sign when instead of the pearl out of Thatcher’s bust, they had the AGRA stick instead.

Anyway, her existence aside, the part where Eurus could brainwash people so thoroughly was unbelievable, but her character itself was interesting. In the beginning, I got the sense she was the true psychopath dictated by pure logic that neither brother could be, try as they might. By the end of it, she’s shed in a sympathetic light.

… Look, I did feel something for Eurus, but why did they go and do that? She was just fine as she was. It was like a little jolt out of whatever immersive experience I had left for the show. It was like a last-second gambit to evoke pity on her and to forgive her and it was an abrupt bump in the road. The whole of the episode was dedicated to showing me how disturbed Eurus was and to serve as contrast against the Holmes brothers, which was what made her so fascinating. But no, she was just a misunderstood little girl trapped inside who killed people for some love and affection from Sherlock to make her manipulative and killing tendencies go away. Haaaa. 

By the end, the Holmes parents aren’t going to insist on taking their daughter, who they thought was dead, back home with them because obviously, shutting her away again is going to solve things.

They’re not going to try to teach her that it was wrong of her to have killed Victor and all those other people and to put her brothers and perfectly innocent men through such traumatic experiences; that it’s wrong of her to play with people like dolls just to get Sherlock’s attention.

And they’re not even going to discuss what happened, what Eurus did, Eurus herself, Sherlock’s past, and the consequences. Sherlock, Mycroft, and John weren’t scarred by the experience of having indirectly killed so many people, especially with their morality which was what made the whole thing harrowing in the first place, and Sherlock almost being forced to kill one of the people he cared about in an impossible situation. Trauma? What trauma? Everyone’s happy. Everything’s wrapped in ribbons, which leads to the next point.

The ending

I got the feeling that the show pushed waaay too hard for the happily ever after to the point it was almost bizarre. Why does it have to be happily ever after anyway? If happily ever after means so many things would be left open-ended rather than a, “You’ll see next season” then I don’t want a happy ending.

The trauma induced by Eurus I mentioned.

The thing about Sherlock’s confession to Molly was left unaddressed. She appears for a glimpse smiling at the doorway like everything’s alright. So is everything alright? Are they in a relationship now? Or was there heartbreak that Sherlock had to apologize for? Was there a lot of screaming, slapping, crying? Or was there discussion? It’s left completely in the air and it disoriented me.

Despite seeing John go through his ordeal after Mary dies, I never really got to see Sherlock go through any form of grief even though Mary was just as important to him as she was to John. Maybe part of how he coped was through the drugs but that felt like it was more over John than Mary so that problem was steamrolled over.

Mycroft

So this is the first time Mycroft played a visible and prominent role in the story and it was the chance to showcase his character. Now, I’m not saying this man can’t be human or deny he has emotions, but all along, I’m always told that Mycroft was the smart one between the brothers. Told, not really shown. I thought that this would’ve been a good opportunity to demonstrate Mycroft’s intellect and his status as warm-blooded-after-all by noticing the things Sherlock failed to (like with the non-existent explosives under Molly’s house) and being the one who would help John and Sherlock escape through this seemingly impossible situation. Or demonstrate what the trio could do by teaming up together. Or to see Mycroft and Sherlock reach an understanding. I would’ve liked to see Mycroft’s colder, more practical approach to the situation but showing he had a heart by making decisions that would’ve been out of his Iceman character. I'd like to see him try to go up against Eurus to not only demonstrate his own intellect, but Eurus's supposedly superior mind outside her bullshit brainwashing.

Instead I got to see Mycroft as a hot mess who didn’t really contribute to anything and he just breaks under the pressure. If he could run governments, I’d think he’d have ways to deal with stress and keeping calm. I know he cares a whole lot about Sherlock and the idea of him put in danger makes him panic and the whole situation he’s put in would make anyone panic really, especially if this is his first time in “field work”, but I feel like they missed a defining moment in his characterization if only he could pull himself together enough to think of a solution to at least get Sherlock out. Even a failed attempt would be fine! Eurus is supposed to be the big-fish-eater, but it’s a missed chance at illustrating Mycroft in a more in-depth way as someone other than a man defined only by his relationship with Sherlock. Disappointment.

Sherlock’s memory

Sherlock’s memory, which would’ve been a great gateway into slowly introducing aspects of Eurus and Eurus herself before her appearance to make it feel less like being thrown into a winter lake, was rewritten. 

These rewritten memories feel like some kind of fantasy. I know this show did incredible things with logic, asking me to kind of hang myself with my suspension of disbelief, but this cut the rope entirely. The memories felt too… big to have been simply forgotten and rewritten. I understand traumatic things could be repressed, but the thing is that repression or amnesia requires a certain amount of shock from a sudden, concentrated event like a natural disaster, or at least, that’s how I understand it. With Sherlock’s childhood, I don’t see it? I’m not saying Sherlock wouldn’t be scarred by this I mean, even if he’s considered the dullard of the siblings, I think he’d still be smart enough to know that his sister had murdered his best friend. But I mean, I don’t see how Sherlock could’ve been traumatized by it to the point of, not only amnesia, but rewriting his own memories, since this was over the course of a period of time.

And then they wanted to add how Mycroft had key words to check on Sherlock’s state of mind like some kind of directory? No. Way too unbelievable. And even if his memories were altered, reality wasn’t. So the Holmes parents should still have pictures with Eurus but a dog conspicuously missing from any of them, they should have some kind of grave or item of remembrance, and if Sherlock kept mentioning a dog, should get weird stares along with a host of other things an rewritten memories would bring. Point is, Sherlock’s altered memories would’ve been torn open like a hole in wet paper before he even reached teenage and smart and powerful as Mycroft is, there’s no way he could account for them short of burning all photos and altering his parents’ memories too, which he clearly did not.  

Sherlock

Sherlock has come a long way from the very first episode, ASiP. He’s gained an understanding of the people around him and of himself and watching him going through that character development while still keeping to who he was is amazing.

Come season 4 and it started to feel less like development and more like being slapped in the face with a fish, especially with the little bookend at the end with Lestrade telling that one guy that Sherlock was a good man, not just a great one, to which I rolled my eyes because at that point, it just felt plain corny as opposed to the weight of Lestrade saying the reverse in the first episode. Too heavyhanded. I know without needing this episode to tell me that Sherlock has standards and that he has a heart. I get it. No need to focus so much on it. Why not explore Mycroft instead? Y’know, the one other character without development? Or start wrapping up threads?

I probably still have more complaints about this episode, but it boils down to these things, pretty much. It was disappointing and disheartening. This isn’t even to mention all the thousands of little plotholes and inconsistencies. I’d gladly skip over the details if the story and characters were great. Too bad  it just so happens that TFP had neither.

[drink-n-watch]

Here we are, the penultimate episode, and I’m already a little sad. As much as I’m going to miss this surprisingly loveable little show, I think I might miss our after reviewing tradition even more. OK maybe not more, it really is a very sweet show, but just as much!

It’s been great! I hope you’ve felt as creatively free as I have!

Crow (crowsworldofanime.com) and I have been pretty united in out praise of Zombieland Saga so far but this was an odd episode. Let’s see if the trend can stay true to the end. Not that I’m teaching you guys anything but Crow is bold man.

Well, bold-ish…

this is meta, why is Zombieland showing me watching the show?

Straight off the bat, this episode was a bit of a gamble for Zombieland. Not that it’s unusual to have the before last episode take a tonal turn, it’s actually fairly common. However, this week’s Zombieland wasn’t only uncharacteristically sober, it reframed the main character into something that may not be as likable to the core audience. Effectively throwing out a lot of character clichés and even robbing Sakura of any real redemption arc. Any feelings about the narrative shuffle?

You’ve honed in on exactly the part of the episode that left me feeling uneasy — at least, emotionally jolted. Sakura’s despair and self-reproach are almost too familiar! And at the same time, those apparent failures in her life, and her reaction to them, robbed her of the ability to understand something important: That she really helped those old ladies. That she really had friends who rooted for her. The insight changed how we have to interpret the entire Sakura arc, and it also raises an important psychological “what if…” But let’s leave that for later.

sort of…

As soon as the episode started I got excited. Last week’s cliffhanger was one of the best I’ve seen in a while and I couldn’t wait to see how they were going to resolve it with so little time left. I never expected them to play it straight. Although, I’m not sure what I expected at all.

You and me both! The show’s conditioned me to expect subtle irreverence at every turn, but this time, they plowed straight ahead.

Sakura has lost her memories of being a zombie but remembers her life. Which turns out to be frustrating and unsatisfying. Moreover, her traumatic death is just the last straw in what she considers an utter failure of a life. Completely demoralized, Sakura more or less shuts down, and pushes everyone and everything else away.

she’s pretty much always like this

The opening scenes, with Sakura freaking out over the zombies, were a nice way to call back to episode 1 and bookend the series though. Even the visuals were parallel.

And, of course, she just had to meet Tae first! And Tae has such a gentle way of saying “Good morning!”

Saki looked so worried about Sakura and it was adorable!

All of their reactions were just heartbreaking!

agreed

I must say, that was an impressively down to earth portrayal of depression. It was a bit obvious, although I’m not sure they could have done otherwise considering the time constraints, but it was also unflinching. There was something weirdly admirable about Zombieland’s resolve to not just let Sakura magically snap out of it.

That’s another aspect that left me feeling so unsettled — and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It was too spot on. But given who Sakura is, and given what this show’s presented so far, I can think of only a handful of other shows that could trigger this kind of reaction.

this framing is brilliant

Equally laudable, in my opinion, was the grim repercussions on Saki, Junko and Lily who attempted to help.These situations don’t just affect one person, they affect everyone around as well. And they affected them all in different ways. This was far from a flattering depiction of Sakura but sometimes, when you fall far enough, you just don’t have the strength to empathise anymore.

I couldn’t believe how bad I felt for the others as they tried to help her! Especially Saki and poor Lily! For Lily to go from “Before you said you thought that star and my smile were cute!” to sobbing uncontrollably into her pillow drove home a critical point: That until now, these zombie idols have supported each other; and now that one of those pillars of support is crumbling, all of them are in turmoil.

and the repetition makes it truly special

Once again, Zombieland Saga is tackling a fairly serious and not at all funny subject openly and resisting the urge to turn it into farce. I really didn’t expect any of this when I started the show!

I remember the old M*A*S*H series. Great comedy for its time, but because of the comedic expectations, it had an opportunity to make powerfully dramatic points — as long as they didn’t do it too often. I get that vibe from this show!

You know what, I see it now. I loved M*A*S*H (use to watch reruns with my folks). That cutting sensibility is very much like Zombieland!

most of us feel this way

After having hurt the people closest to her (and having them retreat helpless, not knowing what to do), Sakura just aimlessly wanders the night ending up in a park.

Here we see the return of the creepy police officer. He didn’t really have much to do other than once again instill the feeling of déjà vue. But just like everything else this week, the familiar scene played out completely differently. The downtrodden and hurt Sakura was almost pleading to be shot. A sort of balm to her intangible pain. The entire thing was extremely unsettling and yet, oddly pretty.

I remember thinking it was tragically beautiful.

this scene was delicae, poignant and solemnly meaningful…

I should have realized it sooner of course. Sakura has always been a bit helpless after all. I should have seen that she was being set up as a damsel in distress. Still, such an unusual distress for anime.

In the end though, Sakura at her worst, brought our Kotarou at his best. Manager made his glorious entrance in the nick of time. Knocking out the cop (that poor guy has to have some long term brain damage by now) and swooping in to save the day.

Maybe that’s why he’s so creepy? One (or ten) too many blows to the head?

he’s had a few shocks

Manager has never been that great with words. It’s part of the gag. And although Zombieland played the scene seriously, he still wasn’t exactly inspiring. Sakura was more confused than motivated. This said, there was enough feeling, care and passion behind his words to at least give her something to latch onto!

May favourite line of dialogue was manager exclaiming “It doesn’t matter if you don’t have it, because I do!” The I’m good enough to make you good pep talk is not what we usually hear and I loved it. Would have worked on me! How about you?

It would have been so unexpected that it’d have a good chance at loosening my defenses. And did you catch how the show played with the trope of the voice of reason (the manager, in this case) storming off to let the main character wallow in a miserable soliloquy? Just as Sakura is descending into a self-loathing speech, Koutarou startles her with “Yeah, you thought I was done, huh?” Loved it. This show knows how to teeter right on the edge of melodrama!

surprisingly, that might be true

One of the few straight up jokes in this episode, was Yuguri dressing up in full geisha get up, and looking mightily impressive I might add, just to realize Sakura’s already left. I really would have loved to see Yuuri in that outfit longer. Any thoughts?

My first thought was the typical male response. I mean, Good Lord, she looked amazing! But then I had this sudden chill and realized that Yuguri had slapped before, and she could slap again! I was in fear for Sakura’s face!

I’m not thinking about anyone else’s face

This episode brought up a fascinating question: Just how profound an impact do our life experiences have on our hopes? In Sakura’s case, she weathered a seriously frustrating series of events. From an operant conditioning perspective alone, I can understand her reaction! But to be running out of the house, all excited to be back on track, and get killed? Jeesh!

But in her case, and apparently in her case alone, her amnesia was a complete blessing.

I still can’t get the image if Lily sobbing into her pillow out of my head. All of them are standing on such thin ice…

Saki is all of us

For me it was Saki. Frustrated, lost and a little scared Saki. First time we are seeing hr shaken up. If Saki can’t just make it all better and shrug it off, what are we going to do?

Seeing her check her thumb nail was such a perfect way to show her pain.

[ Did you want to mention anything about Koutarou’s conversation in the bar? In the comments on the ZLS 11 review on Random Curiosity, https://randomc.net/2018/12/13/zombieland-saga-11/, users Nene and Panino Manino had some really interesting theories…

This was a difficult episode to watch — and to review! Thanks for setting up the frame! ]

risk it, it’s worth it

Guys, this little bracketed text is in fact just meant for me. I’m leaving it in. I like seeing behind the curtain stuff on posts so I think you guys might enjoy it too. I also really like that Crow pays attention to his fellow bloggers and readers. He often points out comments or posts I have missed and I am very much richer for it.

You should go read Nene and Panino’s theories.I unfortunately don’t know enough to add anything interesting.

This said, manager’s bar scene was very intriguing. I didn’t originally comment on it in the post proper because I had so many things to get to, I didn’t want to overcrowd it but you know what – clarity has never been my brand.

flashback scene without warning or context!

There’s a reason your blog’s so popular! (dawwww)

These are my random takeaways from that scene. The village of Saga itself is responsible for the zombie phenomenon in some way, and Koutarou is not the only one who knows. He also plans to make it public at some point.

Koutarou himself has been around for a while. Since it’s very reasonable to think that he’s also not quite human, he could be hundreds of years old for all we know. This may be one of dozens of attempts to save Saga.

Maybe that’s why Saga’s still there at all?

this took a turn

The bartender seemed to have a very close personal relationship with Yuguri. Considering the family theme so far, I’m tempted to say he’s her dad.

Yuguri is a courtesan, which implies a lot of things. Although she is certainly charming and imposing, she has so far avoided being openly seductive or sexual. This could simply be because of the tone of the series but it may also have something to do with her life. Did she leave someone important behind?

I’m still wondering about the scar around her neck!

what do you mean just one episode left?

There cannot just be one episode left. We have so very much to explore still!

I’ll second that. It seems like this season has just given us a brief glimpse into a zombie world that’s coexisted with the human world — apparently for hundreds of years! Are there other zombies out and about? It seems they’ve kept themselves private, but I think you’re right when you say Koutarou wants to make it public — why else do something as obvious as an idol group?

And I’m just not ready to say goodbye to Franchouchou!

Despite using do many in the post, I actually still have a few screencaps left. I hope you enjoy them. This week was great for caps.

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Irina and Crow in Zombieland (Saga) ep11: It’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn Here we are, the penultimate episode, and I’m already a little sad. As much as I’m going to miss this surprisingly loveable little show, I think I might miss our after reviewing tradition even more.

[lilithgravesdiary-blog]

Free, Poisonous Candy!

Alright. This time let's talk about idiotic Visual Novels and generally art. I've been procrastinating on Play Store the other day looking for a visual novel with a deep story like Amnesia, Hakuoki and Mystic Messenger. All of a sudden I saw this title: "My Horse Prince". Even though my inner self had warned me time and again in the past, I couldn't help but be impressed by an impossible 4.8/5 popularity among its users. It's a girl in love with a human faced horse, huh? Okay I'll try not to think superficially and download the damn thing.

It was then when I was traumatized by lines such as "I hadn't had the chance to meet any good-looking guys", shallow dialogues and humor aimed for elementary schoolers. Meaningful conversations are, of course, nonexistent and even when something valuable is stated, it is never supported by good arguments. Then, certainly, there is the ridiculous waste of time while watching the horse/doofus being absurd and waiting for a damn bar to be filled before one can go on with the story.

But the thing that enraged me more than anything else were the idiots spreading 4/5 and 5/5 reviews accompanied by cheap ways to argue that the game does in fact offer something valuable. First of all, a 5/5 review isn't objective at all and if someone wants to support it, they should be able to argue strongly about it. Secondly, even if some reviews are only trolling, this doesn't make them less foolish. Because, as I mentioned, the humor only burns brain cells and besides, someone who sees too many of people's nonsense in the comments might actually start believing them -if this isn't the case already. Thirdly, it's rather pitiful watching people congratulating games ONLY BECAUSE they are inexpensive and giving a 1/5 review to other games whose developers DARE ASKING TO BE PAID FOR THEIR PROFESSIONAL WORK. The word 'quality' has been biased  so much, it can change an app's true reputation completely. And lastly, there is the 'hotness' factor. I mean, do I even need to explain myself? Of course I'm not denying that I am somewhat shallow myself, but to consider beauty a determining factor to advertise and base story plots on it could be considered a crime when it comes to justice. It's not a boring cliche at all to repeat that beauty is on the inside. The outside is mostly pure luck which is going to wither more and more as time passes. Mind and personality is what matters. For God's sake, I wanted to suggest Mystic Messenger to some friends but the horror of them seeing the shameful key phrase "Downloading a messenger app leads to chatting with hot guys?" made me rethink my options.

And something more; Dear artists, please stop promoting innocent and naive Main Characters whose beauty saves them from going unnoticed. And of course being sassy for no good reason and having a smart mouth which isn't smart at all is also bad news for society's progress. Stop stupid cliches to move the plot forward and don't be afraid to deal with taboos and darker themes every once in a while. If anything, this is what might make people think.

Perhaps all those people are in fact stupid and unable to find the true meaning of concepts like "fun", "quality" or "beauty". Perhaps there's some crowd psychology going on here causing the brainless masses to go along with the trend merely because the majority approves. Yes, democracy sucks and many comedies do too. Why? But of course because a lot of them refer to inferior people dealing with unfortunate situations so that the ordinary, average person watching them can feel better about themselves. They want to laugh and be happy and -God forbid!- never question a thing or two through more unpleasant genres of art. Congratulations, normal people! Through free, funny and aesthetically beautiful art, you've found the path to wisdom! And thanks democracy, for making the rest of us bare with them.