#i will forever love you chika

[kaiser1ns]

i always said that i wanted to nom nom on his cheeks because he is my little nom nom takiishi nom nom chika ! he is so beautiful and pretty, so so cute i wish i could just nom nom him all day ♡

[masshiromarshmallow]

[hiro-doodlez]

Happy Valentines!! Since it's that sad boy time of year for me (for reasons my aroaceness will explain) I have 2 books about being on the aroace spec that I think anyone looking for, uhh validation would enjoy!! Theyre a joy to read and very very comforting on bad days!! More about them under the cut :3

LOVELESS

Loveless is a novel that tells Georgia Warr's story of finding out she's the A in the LGBTQIA+ community. This book has so many quotes that make me just want to cry, like WHY are you this good.. please mx alice oseman STOP THIS ATTACK ON MY HEART “In the end, that was the problem with romance. It was so easy to romanticize romance because it was everywhere. It was in music and on TV and in filtered Instagram photos. It was in the air, crisp and alive with fresh possibility. It was in falling leaves, crumbling wooden doorways, scuffed cobblestones and fields of dandelions. It was in the touch of hands, scrawled letters, crumpled sheets and the golden hour. A soft yawn, early morning laughter, shoes lined up together by the door. Eyes across a dance floor. I could see it all, all the time, all around, but when I got closer, I found nothing was there.” my fav quote: “I'm at uni for three months and suddenly I'm not straight any more.” “I used to dream of a spellbinding, endless, forever romance. A beautiful story of meeting a person who could change your whole world. But now, I realised, friendship could be that too.”

IS LOVE THE ANSWER?

Is love the answer? Is a manga following a girl named Chika figuring out she's (aro)ace. The entire thing has AMAZING art and just some of the most.. i feel you buddy lines i've ever read. For example: "I see. I just haven't met "the one" yet... yeah. I'm sure that's all it is." "I'm asexual. That's what I am. There might be other possibilities. Maybe a year from now I might identify differently. But right now, that's what feels right to me."

[liquidstar]

half of chika's screentime is going "KAGUYA I LOVE YOU SO MUCH YOURE MY BEST FRIEND YOURE MY EVERYTHING YOURE SO CUTE AND PRETTY AND AMAZING AND I LOVE YOU FOREVER PLEASE DONT EVER DATE ANYONE PLEASE BREAK UP WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND AND DATE ME PLEASE MARY ME I LOVE YOU" and kaguya is still like "shes trying to steal my boyfriend."

[hiraethwa]

one summer day

09 disconnect. where an unbridgeable distance stretches between you and ushijima

<< 08 to be human. | >> 10 epiphany.

pairing: ushijima wakatoshi x reader a/n: a short one now, the next one is like 5k words hehe - ave word count: 1.8k warnings: angst! miscommunication tags: @lemurzsquad @daisy-room @integers -- (inbox me if you want to be added to the tag list)

you surprised yourself with the creativity of your own excuses to avoid wakatoshi. group study? you can’t, you need to practice for orchestra. lunch? chika from orchestra wanted to go over some pieces with you. walking you home from school? eita’s got it, you have homework to go over together anyway.

as oblivious as ushijima is at times, you are quite sure he is onto you avoiding him. 

you can’t go on like this forever, you had decided back then. it’s one thing when the person you are in love with doesn’t see you that way — you expected nothing from him in that way, but it's another thing completely when he didn’t tell you that they lost in nationals.

he can’t go on expecting you to open up to him when he won’t do the same. when he won’t treat you as a close friend like you do with him. he knows your secrets but what do you know of his? 

it’s a purely give and take friendship, and you realize how ironic it is, being the one to cut it off, considering he is the one who only gives and you are the one who only takes from him. how can you give if he does not want to take?

you have accepted that it was a one-sided pining, but you thought you were friends. and selfishly, you wanted to be the person he turns to when life knocks him down. you wanted to mean something to him, even if that meant just friends. what does he think of you if you weren’t worth his honesty? what is your worth in his eyes then? you didn’t want to know.

how am i supposed to live knowing the answer to that when i started living because of you?

and so like a coward, you ran. 

at times like this, you are grateful for the fact that you are not in the same class as ushijima. 

semi became your shield, the wall between the two of you. the morning after you stayed over at ushijima’s dorm, you had run into tendo and semi while leaving. 

“this never happened,” you told them before heading home. and semi, having guessed for a while of your feelings towards ushijima, hurried to catch up with you. he had noticed the anguish carved into the lines of your face. 

you kept your silence, but he pestered you until you broke. you cried, squeezing your eyes shut at a feeble attempt to keep your tears in. your silent sobs wracking your frame that felt so small in his arms. and all he could do was hold onto you tightly, rubbing your back to comfort you.

your voice came out in a broken whisper, “semi, it hurts.”

that kicked his protectiveness over you into overdrive. “what did that bastard do?” 

you only shook your head quietly, tears soaking his jacket as you held onto him like your life depended on it.

at the slightest discomfort you show in ushijima’s presence, semi would usher you away, or stop him from approaching you. after three weeks of tension and hostility between the two, or more like hostility on semi’s part and confusion from ushijima, you relented. 

you didn’t want to be the cause for a fight in the volleyball team, and with semi’s hotheadedness, it was more than likely to occur in your absence. 

“it’s not his fault, semi.” you started, hugging your knees. that day, you found yourself sitting on the little concrete ledge outside the classroom with him to hide from ushijima. 

“he used you and you’re saying it’s not his fault?”

“what– no! it wasn’t anything like that!” you had fumbled with words at his misunderstanding. 

“i just don’t think he care about–” you shook your head. “he doesn’t treat me as a friend. not in the same way i do. and i don’t understand why. why he bothered being there for me if he doesn’t see me as a friend.” why he put my heart back together just to be the one to shatter it. you blinked rapidly, willing your tear ducts to listen to you. 

“oh, y/n. well he’s a shithead for that.” he nudged you with his shoulder. “say the word and i will punch him for you.”

“as if you would win that fight,” you sniffled, letting out a small laugh at his attempt to cheer you up. 

“oi, how could you say that? i am on your side here.” he squatted in front of you pouting. “c’mon we need to get back to class”

he offered you a hand as he rose. “thanks eita” you grabbed his outreached hand and dusted yourself off. 

back to the trenches you went. life goes on. you had once thought that you would rather have all of him as he is right now platonically than romantically, but life has a strange sense of humor. it hurt and hurt and hurt. and oh gods, will it ever stop?

“do you want to talk to him?” semi had asked you only once, a few days after he found out what happened between the two of you. you had only shaken your head and muttered something about “not wanting to find out”. he dropped the topic after that, respecting your decision, but still running interference whenever ushijima comes up. 

for your sake, he didn’t try to push you to do anything you were uncomfortable with, even if the situation was slowly deteriorating and quickly spinning out of control. what he didn’t tell you was ushijima’s growing irritability showing through at practice to the point that coach washijo told him to get his shit together. 

the curt and polite captain had descended to snapping at the younger players a handful of times when his patience ran thin. with the compounding factor of you avoiding him like a plague, his controlled composure is slowly reaching its limit. 

ushijima did not understand what he could have done to have you keep your distance from him. he was frustrated that he could not even try to talk to you with semi stopping him at every opportunity. what had he done so wrong that you are refusing to speak to him?

unable to figure out the problem on his own, he had spoken to tendo to get his opinion on the matter. tendo had suggested that perhaps it is the fact that you had stayed over in the same bed as him, which is something only two people in a relationship do, despite being only friends, and that he had tarnished your honor. 

then one day at practice, tendo announced that he had a good idea to get you alone with ushijima to talk things through, and so the plan was hatched. 

as tendo knocked on the door and pushed it open, he sees you for the first time in a few weeks, frozen like a deer caught in headlights. tendo had managed to squirrel the location of the classroom where the orchestra practice was held out of semi, and is now requesting the president for permission to speak with you privately. 

the short haired girl hesitates, but ushijima steps forward, “please, it is important.” at his words, she appears stricken, and torn between agreeing to their request and respecting yours. she knows that you have been avoiding him. hell, the whole year knows. 

she relents under pressure. ushijima is cognizant of his good looks, and his effect on girls in general. he knows of the fans he has garnered through his time in shiratorizawa, and strongly dislikes that most of them come to support him at games because of his looks, and not his skills. he has heard the whispers and the stares and his fair share of oh, he’s so hot’s and the i wish he’s my boyfriend’s throughout the years. but sometimes, it comes in handy, like right now.

his eyes stay on you, noting the resignedness on your face as you gently put the violin down on your seat that was right in front of the conductor. the glare you throw towards the short haired girl from earlier makes him chuckle under his breath. 

you march out towards a secluded archway, not bothering to check if he is following, but of course he is. he follows you closely, eyes taking in your moving form with detail. from the extra inch that your hair had grown in the last month and the specific ash brown of your hair that he had missed finding strands of on his clothes to your head moving side to side, looking at everything but him. 

“what did you want to talk about?” you waste no time in getting straight to the point.

he has to admit that it hurts for you to treat him like some stranger you had to deal with and go back to whatever you were doing, but if tendo is right, he deserves it. 

“i wanted to apologize.” he says, watching the fire in your eyes flicker before you looked away, feigning nonchalance.

“what for?” you shove your trembling hands deep into your pockets, far, far away from his watchful eyes. you hate it. you hate the way he sees through you so easily. 

ushijima hesitates then, hoping to the gods who are listening that tendo is right, “for having you stay over and share the bed with me even though we are not a couple.”

“i’m sorry, what?” you let out a laugh of disbelief. all the different directions you had thought this conversation would go, all of them ending in either tears or shouting, you did not see this one coming. “you thought i what?”

you lick your parched lips, “you thought i was avoiding you for something as insignificant as that?” all your overthinking and sleepless nights for him to come to this conclusion?

his eyebrows furrow at your words. “that is not the reason you–”

“absolutely not.” you cut him short, teeth gritted at your own foolishness, of secretly hoping he would come to the realization on his own, and maybe, maybe you can go back to how things were. 

noticing your kouhai poking her head out from the classroom back down the hallway, you take that as your cue to leave. “now if you will excuse me, i need to get back to practice.”

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[azumasoroshi]

suzume no tojimari spoilers ! hi guys im Insane

literature analysis brain is going haywire so here’s a bunch of incoherent ramblings some themes motifs and symbolism i love in this movie because AAAAAAA

Love and Sacrifice.

Obviously, but like the different kinds of love and devotion and how they’re never perfect and sometimes self-destructive but they’re so powerful and just waughhh. It was so important to me how after exploding at her Tamaki (suzume’s aunt, ik im not the only one who forgets names) was like “you know I don’t feel that way all the time, right?” like not denying that yes, she has felt exhausted of taking care of Suzume and sometimes wished she didn’t have to take care of her, trying to be the parental figure she needs while also trying to not encroach on her sister’s memory. It means so much to me that she didn’t deny those feelings but instead told Suzume that it’s not how she always feels, because loving someone means sacrifice and ewughghgghfgfh im not putting this into words well but htrggfhgf.

and ALSO the reciprocation of kindness with daijin - as thanks for the taste of freedom at last, and wanting to be with someone whom you love but not really comprehending that what they want (that “suzume doesn’t love me” killed me) and how by the end daijin helped her pull souta out and sacrificed himself for suzume because he really loved her ggrgfggfhfnfnch

And just. everyday love. This is kind of a mix of themes and motifs but every time we flashed back to the memories of whatever abandoned place they were in - the simple “good morning”s and “be back soon” and “it’s so hot”s made me choke up. the mundane love of Chika and Suzume in their newly found friendship, Rumi’s kindness in picking Suzume up off the street and her love for her children, Serizawa’s platonic love for Souta letting him drive these two crazy women with crazy beef for 7 hours across Japan, there’s just so much expression of love and the hardships people go through because of it and rhgrjgrjhgdhgjhb

Mourning and Closure.

Makoto Shinkai himseld said that he wanted to write a story about “mourning deserted places” (at least according to Wikipedia) so this one is all but textual but like yeah. the motif of opening/closing/locking doors and locking the bike and things like that? AaAAaAaa

To close the gates, you need to imagine the emotions of people who once lived there - i can only imagine what Souta was thinking in the abandoned bathhouse area, but hrhggejghw the school and the amusement park and the shots we got of normal life in tokyo before the worm revealed itself in the climax, it just. really speaks to the beauty of everyday life. im a sucker for that kind of stuff as both a psychology major and just a weird person who thinks “man i wonder what happened to this person for the past 22 years of their life that led them to be here with me in this moment” whenever i pass someone in the grocery store. Hodaka could let japan be flooded in weathering with you because of his love for hina, but suzume’s whole arc was learning about the common people and living their lives and embracing all the kindness they had to offer to herself and others and it really hits that like. of course she can’t just let tokyo get destroyed to save Souta, every person in all of tokyo is just like Rumi and Chika and Serizawa and they’re all people who love and are loved. She finds herself in Souta’s place as one who stretches himself thin between being a gate closer and studying to be a teacher because he loves life as well, and-

oops i forgot i was talking about mourning and closure

anyway the doors keep getting reopened because the grief never fully goes away and the worm of “calamity” is letting yourself be consumed by the grief and destroying the people around you and not being able to move on, and it comes from the Ever-after becomes ever-after is a place where time doesn’t exist and you wish you could be there forever because it’s where you can relive the events of your past, it’s where you can live in denial that time moves forward and you have to move with it, it’s where Suzume goes after her mother dies because she wants people to stop giving her condolences and just give her her mom back. “Ever-after” in itself is a “happily ever after” - a place where mortals aren’t meant to go, no matter how beautiful it looks. Souta goes there too because he is the catalyst Suzume needs to go back and face Ever-after - and it’s no longer beautiful, but it’s torn apart by grief and everything is in flames. The idea of a keystone as well, locking the memories and hurt away, is one that Suzume removes to relive her memories and puts back in place when she’s ready to move on. htrhgfhgfghfghf. she won’t let souta be the keystone because she refuses to move on without him.

Also both Souta and his grandfather tell Suzume to just forget everything she’s seen, but it’s too late for that because connections aren’t so easily forgotten. Even when Tamaki couldn’t remember telling Suzume she’d be her new mother, that doesn’t change that she cared for her for the next 12 years anyway. Suzume visits Chika and Rumi by the end, and obviously she’s never forgotten her mother, both because her chair was still in her room by the start of the movie and because she looks like her by the end. Even though relationships change, they’re never forgotten in the movie, and I think that’s beautiful, really.

(also cool detail: 12 years ago is when the tsunami that killed suzume’s mother struck. the movie came out in 2023, and the touhoku earthquake/tsunami that inspired this film was in 2011. nice)

Reality vs Fantasy

The scenes where Suzume goes out into public again following stopping the worm from destroying Tokyo were especially poignant to me. This girl’s been going on a fantastical adventure with her talking chair and talking cat, meeting nice people and making friends, excited at the idea that she’s doing something important, but after Souta’s gone she shuts down. Her feet are bloodied, her clothes are destroyed, and people keep giving her strange looks and calling her homeless because she may have stopped the worm but even without being consumed by grief, it still isn’t pretty or picturesque. Standing out in Japanese society is discouraged, as most of us are well aware, but she’s been doing nothing but that with all the running around and talking to chairs and flying through the sky she’s been doing. Without a concrete goal in mind, without Souta as company, she’s alone in the world of adulthood and has no one to tell her what she should do, no Souta to guide her through Tokyo. And without that confidence or charm, people don’t come to her aid like they did before. It’s only once she finds her resolve to save Souta, quite literally walking in his shoes/footsteps, that the next helpful stranger (Serizawa) comes in.

She could imagine those abandoned places as alive, but the truth is that they were abandoned and will stay that way - none of them miraculously revived by the end, unless something happened in the credits that I couldn’t see through all my tears. Reality will not bring those places back, but what really matters is how we carry the memories of those places with us? I think. man maybe it’d be easier to write this post if i had actually seen the end credits

this post is really fucking long so im calling it here 😭 makoto shinkai has done it again. goddammit

[umemiyan]

(𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙒𝙄𝙇𝙇 𝙉𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆) 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙄𝙉.

𝗬𝗔𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗢 𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗢 𝗫 𝗔𝗙𝗔𝗕!𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗥. ⌇ 18+ only, mdni / angst / toxic and undefined relationship(s) / unrequited(?) love / unprotected piv / idk i had a random vision and i wanted to write about this weird cycle of yearning for people who don't want you

You know he’s thinking about Chika even when his hot breath flutters across your neck. His mind drifts when he kisses the skin there, hips pumping inches into a cunt that weeps for him despite it, and he throbs when a hand claws over the tattoo that binds him to another. 

If you weren’t privy to the truth, you’d be easily fooled into believing that his passion is directed at you, the one he fucks with fervor into the mattress like a lover. You’d think he’s giving you everything with the intent to receive it in return, suffocating you with his lips and stuffing you full of cum so that he may fill and exist within you in every possible way. But your well of stupidity doesn’t run that impossibly deep—at least you don’t think so.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…”

You still give him everything, though.

It’s a twisted wish fulfillment of sorts. Endo takes you in the same manner Takiishi takes him in his dreams—consuming him in the passionate flames he forever yearns to see burning behind those desolate eyes; always burning for someone else, just like Endo is in this moment. And you let him, succumbing to the never-ending cycle of wanting for someone who wants for something else, a chain of shackles that binds everyone together, a merry-go-round where nobody ever gets where they’re wanting to go. The only option is to break free or jump off, but most misplace the key or lack the equilibrium to land on their feet.

“Please don’t stop—”

You wonder why he doesn’t simply turn you over so that he may avoid the image of your face, but you are reminded of how he has made it a point to revere your beauty at times, tossing you a compliment that rings with legitimacy. He throws you scraps that feel sincere, that invade your chest with a hope that always has you coming back for more. You suppose it’s all he knows, after all, but you can’t keep yourself from wondering if the way he squeezes your hand or leans into your touch on occasion is because of you, or because he’s imagining someone else in your place. Does he shoot you a particular smile because his heart senses you give the love it’s always wanted, or because being riddled with charm is his natural disposition? You’re too afraid to find out.

This will do well enough in the meantime because ignorance is bliss, and he warms your insides with kisses full of tongue and an orgasm that suddenly floods your cunt in short bursts. His pleasurable grunts and moans paint a certain picture of appreciation for your body and soul, and although it is dangerous to indulge in such delusion for the umpteenth time, you choose to bask in it long enough to cum around his cock before it’s finished pulsing inside you. 

Yamato presses his body so tightly to yours it feels as though he’s attempting to climb inside you, and you’d regrettably allow him if that’s what he truly wanted. Sweat and yearning glue you together into a wretched mess that both of you are far too accustomed to, and there appears to be no end in sight, yet the way he sweeps his lips across your collarbone and up your throat makes it all worth it. You almost don’t even mind if he ends up in bed with someone else later tonight.

Would someone like Chika ever be capable of providing such tenderness? You feel resentment bubbling up in your gut, but also a sense of triumph at how you’re the one on your back in Yamato’s bed, giving him pleasure and overflowing with his seed. He buries himself in your neck while your hips ache and one of your hands comes up to rest in his waves of dark hair, adoring. Surely it’ll eventually be enough to make him realize he’s had what he’s needed all along, and that his restless quest to stoke another’s fire is no longer necessary.

But haven’t you been following him down that very same path?

[justanisabelakinnie]

Maturity is realizing that Hatsune Miku is not "overrated" in the slightest and deserves every inch of hype she gets.

Sorry but if you're one of those people who thinks that Miku is "overrated" then you're a loser sorry. 🤷🏾‍♀️ Are there other Vocaloids that I wish got more attention, such as Mayu? Yes. But Miku is a legend and will forever be That Bitch, if you're not Bad Bitch enough to appreciate her then just stay in your lane and don't even call yourself a Vocaloid fan lol. Not to mention with how male-centric almost every single fandom is I'm not about to start complaining that a female one in this particular fandom is the popular one getting all of the attention lol, even if there are other female characters I wish got more love(such as, again, Mayu! Galaco! Seeu! Merli! Chika!). Miku deserves ALL the hype, whine about it all you want, it doesn't stop being true XD.

[cherrylng]

MUSE X MOVIE [STYLE Series #004 - Muse (August 2010)]

A love story between a vampire and a human, the Twilight series is having a huge ripple effect! The key to this film, which triggered the explosion of Muse's popularity in the US, is the author's ‘love for Muse’. Text by Naoto Mori

"I'd like to thank the talented musicians who inspired me, especially Muse, from whose songs the sentiments, scenes, and synopsis of this novel were born. Without their extraordinary talent, this novel would not exist."

These are the words of Stephenie Meyer, the American author of the Twilight series, the international bestselling teen romance novels about vampire boys and human girls (from the acknowledgements to the second novel in the series, New Moon). She is an avowed fanatic of Muse and is now a cheerleader for the cultural quota. Originally a housewife in Arizona, when she suddenly wrote her debut novel at the age of 30, she was inspired by the dreams she had and the songs of Muse and other popular rock bands. Their music functioned as a literal ‘muse’ (Greek goddess of the arts). Meyer herself wrote in her acknowledgements for the final film in the series, Breaking Dawn:

"Thank you, my beloved band. Muse is really an appropriate name, as you have been an important inspiration for this saga!"

For example, in Japan, Chika Umino's manga Hachimitsu to Clover was based on two albums, Hachimitsu by Spitz and Clover by Suga Shikao, and Meyer seems to have drawn inspiration for the colour and atmosphere of her world from the songs of Muse. On her official website, she presents a ‘playlist’ of songs that have specifically inspired her. You have to go directly to the site for more details, but some excerpts include ‘Time is Running Out’ from the first film in the series. In the second film, there's ‘Hyper Music’ and ‘Apocalypse Please’. The third album, Eclipse, has six songs, including ‘The Small Print’, ‘New Born’ and ‘Hysteria’, and is particularly Muse-intensive! The final album includes a cover of ‘Can't Take My Eyes Off You’ (Frankie Valli's 1967 hit), which is not included on the album. Incidentally, other bands that stand out are Coldplay, Travis, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance…… and so on.

This playlist could be called an album of images of Twilight by the author Meyer, but Muse also participated in the soundtrack of the film adaptation series that started in 2008. The first film, Twilight, featured the song ‘Supermassive Black Hole’. At this point, Muse was still using pre-existing songs, but for the second film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Muse provided a ‘New Moon Remix’ of ‘I Belong to You’. For the third film, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, they wrote a new song, ‘Neutron Star Collision (Love is Forever)’, which became the first single from the soundtrack. Finally, Meyer and Muse had an official collaboration through the film!

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is directed by David Slade (a Brit, of course), who has been working on music clips for Muse for some time. He was chosen to direct the Twilight series, which shares a common motif with the Sam Raimi-produced vampire horror film 30 Days of Night, which was a No.1 hit in the US. The Muse-Meyer-Slade connection, then, is completely predestined. In this sense, the film version of Eclipse, which brought their creative meeting to fruition, may be called a monumental film.

Slade's clip for Bliss, shot long before his directorial debut, had the feel of a sci-fi short film starring Matthew Bellamy, but the Muse clips shot by other directors are also filled with a magnificent and fantastical sense of beauty. Muse's sound world must have a tremendous power to evoke images for creators of film and literature. For example, the clip for ‘New Born’ was also directed by Slade, and the song was used so memorably in the ending of the 2003 French splatter horror film ‘Haute Tension/High Tension’ that it was the talk of the town among film buffs at the time.

Now, it's time for a delusional analysis. Why is Meyer so firmly attracted to Muse? What is the connection between Twilight, their music, and their creations?

The following quote from Meyer may help to decipher this. In an interview published on the official website of the Japanese edition of Twilight by Village Books, she was asked, "Do you read other vampire novels?" She replied: "No, I've actually never read any vampire novels. (It's the same) with films."

Yes, Twilight can be categorised as a gothic horror genre, but it is not a heavyweight, authentic one. It is based on a Romeo and Juliet-type boy-meets-girl story, to which the vampire legend has been introduced as a sweet European taste. The ideal balance of romantic and gothic flavours is the sound world created by Muse in Meyer's mind.

In line with the Twilight story, Meyer is the American ‘normal girl’ heroine Bella and Muse is the ‘ideal prince’ Edward from a foreign country (England). Their music and characters (mainly Matthew) provide the ‘eternal maidens’, symbolised by Meyer, with a kind of royal shoujo manga fantasy, just as Queen did in the 1970s.

One last little tidbit, by the way. Here's an interesting remark from Robert Pattinson, the pretty boy actor who plays Edward in the film. He wants Gus Van Sant, the director behind ‘My Own Private Idaho’ and ‘Elephant’, to direct the final film, ‘Breaking Dawn’. Sullen!!! Well, the style of the series so far will be too artistic to stand out, but it's likely to produce a standout masterpiece. I'd love to see it!

In the first film, ‘Twilight’, ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ is played during a baseball game between vampire Edward, played by Robert Pattinson, and his family. Vampires, who never age, fly up and down the mountain.

For the second film, ‘New Moon/Twilight Saga’, Muse provided the ‘New Moon Mix’ of ‘I Belong to You’. Unfortunately, it is only used in the film for a short time, when Bella is seen off by her father and gets into the car, so check it out carefully!

At the suggestion of director Catherine Hardwicke, Ms Stephenie Meyer, the author of the original novel, also makes a cameo appearance in Twilight! She plays a customer at the diner where Bella goes with her father and orders a vegetarian sandwich. She is only in the film for a brief moment, so check it out!

The original series of four books, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, which sold explosively. Acknowledgements by Stephenie Meyer can be found here. The original Japanese translation is available from Village Books, translated by Ami Obara.

‘Lords of Dogtown’ Sony Pictures Entertainment

Directed and executive produced by Catherine Hardwicke, director of Twilight: First Love, this is the true story of the ‘Z-Boys’ who revolutionised skateboarding in the 1970s in Venice Beach, aka Dogtown, on the west coast of the USA. The film stars Emile Hirsch and also features the late Heath Ledger.

‘The Golden Compass’ Happinet

The first solo fantasy film from Chris Weitz, director of New Moon, tells the story of Lyra, a 12-year-old girl who, after the disappearance of her best friend and uncle, sets off on a journey with a compass that shows her the truth and her alter ego dæmon. Based on a fantasy novel by British children's author Philip Pullman.

‘Hard Candy’ Geneon Entertainment

In this first feature from David Slade (Eclipse), 32-year-old photographer Jeff brings home Haley, a 14-year-old girl he met on a dating website, only to have her punish him for it. This thriller was inspired by the Japanese ‘oyaji-hunting’. Slade's fresh sense of imagery is on full display.

‘30 Days Of Night’ Pony Canyon

Vampire action film directed by David Slade, which debuted at No. 1 in the US. The film depicts an epic battle between a group of vampires who attack a town where the sun doesn't rise for 30 days, and a young sheriff played by Josh Hartnett. Based on a comic book by Steve Niles (written) & John Templesmith (illustrated).

‘High Tension’ Asmik

An extremely brutal, bloody splatter movie from the director of French horror hopeful Alexandre Azizi comes HIGH TENSION. When a schoolgirl leaves the city to visit her best friend's family home, she sees a chainsaw-wielding killer slaughtering the family and stands up to save her best friend, but what follows has surprising consequences……

‘My Own Private Idaho’ Kadokawa Pictures

One of Gus Van Sant's best-known films, in which Mike, a narcoleptic played by the late River Phoenix, and Scott, a man of wealth played by Keanu Reeves, who both make a living as male prostitutes, embark on a journey in search of their identities. His latest film, Restless (2011), also stars Japan's Ryo Kase.

‘Hyper Music’ A simple piece of work, with dynamic camerawork capturing the aggressive performance scenes of the three musicians. I sigh at the power of how they disappear at full speed towards the end.

‘Feeling Good’ Taken on set at the same time as ‘Hyper Music’, which became both A-sides.The contrast between the monstrously distorted faces of the people and the performance amidst the dancing flower petals is typical of Slade.

‘Bliss’ A spectacular piece in which Chris and Dom watch Matthew fall through a hole in a huge structure, like a future space station, to nowhere. Truly a Muse!

‘New Born’ This is one of Slade's best efforts, made on a tight budget and in a tight time frame. Filmed in Prague, the scenes of the three performing under the control of the girl's psychic powers are powerful.

Translator's Notes: I never watched the movies but I have read all of the Twilight books. I was a teenager back then who voraciously read through any books just out of that need to get through the boring tedium of school. It was an okay-ish read for the first 3 books, up until I finally reached Breaking Dawn. And honestly? The last book would've been better off never having that subplot about Jacob and Esme. Even teenage Cherry read that whole subplot and went "WTF????" It was just that memorably messed up and I don't even know how the film cast even powered through that part of the story.

Also, I wasn't surprised by My Chemical Romance being part of Meyer's playlist. What I didn't expect was that Coldplay was included as well. So... I guess if Meyer had liked Coldplay far more, who she dedicated the books to and the story itself would've carried very, very different contexts and plots????

[thrilling-oneway]

Alright sappy post incoming...

4 years ago today my friend made me download sif because my ds died when we were playing miitopia and he wanted to play a game with me. He'd been trying to get me to download it for like two years and I finally gave in, but told him I'd delete the game after we were done. I forgot.

The next day I played it a bit just to see if I had any interest in keeping it and. Well I was absolutely captivated. It wasn't actually my first gacha or rhythm game but the card arts were really pretty and the songs really captivated me. I still remember my first beatmap (Strawberry Trapper) and my original favourite song (GENKI ZENKAI DAY! DAY! DAY!).

I...actually didn't watch the anime in full until late last year and through this year but I did watch an abridged cut of sunshine's dub not long after getting into the game (rip forever LLSunshine dub but only the good parts). I found out the plot via the wiki and watched loads of youtube videos about love live and basically had a chika discovers μ's moment with this franchise. To say it changed my life is an understatement.

Love live helped me with my depression (also likeeee it was 2020 lol) a lot which is a weird thing to say but if any of my project sekai followers are reading this all that hope and joy shit they say about mmj is true. It also helped me come to terms with my queerness because i was 14 and had a load of issues and had never really seen something like love live. i mean i came right out the she ra fandom into this LOL but it was like. woah. riko reads yuri. and she just does. mind blowing shit. also helped me realise i was transmasc somehow but that's a whole different can of worms.

love live has genuinely been a life changing franchise for me and i wouldn't be the person i am today without it. it feels weird to say that about a franchise like don't bow down the corporate overlords and that but ive seen so many people say the same thing. like whether it's just the music or the profound lessons about regrets and youth and being alive that the anime teaches you this franchise is one that leave a mark on so many people.

i wasn't gonna write something like this until next year for my 5th lovelive-versary but then aqours announced they would be doing their final live and i have. so many feelings about it it's hard to put into words. aqours changed my life. saved it maybe. but as i said already this franchise has had such an impact on my life but i have to give aqours in particular so much credit. the anime taught me so much, their music resonated with me not necessarily on a personal level all the time but i feel every word even if it's coming out of the mouths of anime characters. i can't go to beaches anymore without writing aqours in the sand, even if i look like a fucking weirdo doing it. it's the best i can do to a thank you since i'll never be able to see them irl.

i wouldn't be where i am now, running a dumbass project sekai trivia blog and treating it like a job if i didn't get into love live. i wouldn't have met people through prsk if it wasn't for love live first. so on and so forth this franchise has given me so much.

anyway that's enough sap. watch love live.

[kaiser1ns]

TAKIISHI CHIKA IN CHAPTER 153

[muiltifandomnerd]

Adventures of Chika Hanabusa: The Restoration of Earth

Disclaimer: This book follows the events of Percy Jackson and Heros of Olympus fanfic, This fanfic will not include Trails of Apollo, The Kane Chronicles, and Magnus Chase.

Chapter 1: School Attack

Chika PoV

The alarm clock was going off and I quickly got out of bed. Today was Friday so I put on my green and white cheer uniform. The cheer uniform is a white pleated skirt with a green trim line, and the top is white with green spelling that says Oakwood Senior High School. I also pick up my scythe, which can transform into a pencil. I walked downstairs and saw my dad making scumble eggs and getting ready to work on the farm. My father is a buff Japanese guy who has scars around his arms, and he has a ponytail and a beard. He is wearing a farmer hat, flannel shirt, and jeans. His name is Isshin Hanabusa, and he use to be part of the Japanese military, but he decided to move to America to become a farmer. He met my godly mother, Demeter, at an agricultural convention and both fell in love with each other.

"How is your sleep, my precious princess? By the way, did you pack your scythe?" he asks as he hugged and kissed me on the cheeks. I’m very lucky to have a good dad, he taught me how to deal with the stresses of life and how to deal with the mythological world.

I hugged him back and kissed him on the forehead, "I did put my scythe in my pencil pouch in pencil form. Hey Dad, I’m happy that we get to have the farm and take care of animals. Once the game is over, I might make dinner later on.” I say as I winked at him.

He smile a calm smile and say in a soft voice, "Don't worry about dinner, I was thinking that we can have some food from Quickway Hibachi. Have fun at the game and maybe find a nice girl at your school.”

I blushed like crazy and say “Maybe, well anyway I must get going.”

“Don’t forget your pompoms and be a kickass cheerleader as always.” As he laughs while he hands me the pompoms.

“I will forever be a badass as always dad, maybe I could save a princess or a queen from danger. I can be like a superhero who can control plants or even the Earth.” I chuckle as I say that. I’m glad that my father accepted me as a lesbian demigod, I truly love him and I hope I can make him proud someday. I wonder if I can spend some time with my mother Demeter. I know that she's a goddess that must look after the Earth and feed all living things, someday I hope I can lighten her burden. I remember Demeter gifted me a scythe and told me the truth about what I am and hugs me very tightly and says she loves me and doesn't want me to be part of her world. She is still traumatized by how Hades just kidnaps her daughter and Zeus lets it happen. Mother doesn't love her brothers for what they did to her, and she will gladly sock all three of them in the face. Mother does get along with her sisters and always says nice things about Hera and Hestia to me and how all three of the girls are best friends. Mother also told me how she lived in Grandad Cronus's stomach and how she and her siblings defeated him in combat. Mother is very anxious for my safety, and she comes over from time to time and helps train me in case I have a huge prophecy. I'm the only one in the last thousand years to have a huge destiny for her kids, I guess she makes sure that none of her kids must deal with the mythological world or be pawns of other gods. I'm so glad that Mother is honest with me and lets me in her thoughts at times, hopefully, she is like this with my half-siblings. I wonder if I ever going to Camp Half-Blood or even Camp Jupiter.

I left my house, and I went to the bus stop. I get on my bus and it’s full of loud kids, I share a seat with an overweight kid who is growing a beard, his name is Dean Arlovski. Dean is not a bad kid and is always nice to me. He could have a crush on me because I do catch him staring at me a lot but I’m not sure, I may have to get a shirt that says I’m gay.

“I guess that today is a football game, you look nice in your cheer uniform. I hope you slept well. I’m curious, are you dating a football player.” Dean says in a shy, bumbling tone.

“Just because I’m a cheerleader doesn’t mean I date football players, I rather date volleyball players because they are just so awesome and cute. No offense Dean but you watched way too many high school movies, people are just way more than what activities they do. I do think that we should stop with the high school stereotypes, for example, I do karate on Mondays and Tuesdays, and I’m part of the environmental club. But those are just fun activities I do, my goal in life is to help improve the earth's ecosystem, travel the world, and analyze some wildlife." I say to him with an upbeat tone and I have to catch my breath.

“Those are very cool goals; I didn’t know that you have scientific goals.” He say in a surprised tone and had an excited smile and looking at me as if he made a scientific discovery that cheerleaders are more than just football players girlfriends.

The bus stops in front of my school which is a wide two-story building and the bricks were covered with white and green painting. I got into the school building and was greeted by a fellow cheerleader named Aisha, a curvy black girl who has a well-toned arm, I find pretty attractive.

"How was your sleep? I can't wait to pass the finals" Aisha yawned as she say that, she must have not slept well.

“Luckily finals are two months ahead, I got to go to my first period which is biology," I say in a high voice, which causes others to look at me weirdly. Curse my loud voice.

“I wish I had your enthusiastic nature. Btw I saw a scary regal-looking Latina who is trying to find you. She shares the first period with you, and I guess the counselor put you in charge of helping” Aisha says in a low, quiet voice.

"Oh, right I did volunteer, ok thanks I will find her," I say in an anxious tone, and my hands start shaking, I don’t want the new student to hate me, Relax Chika that’s just your anxiety talking, Chika take calm breaths I say to myself.

Just as I was about to run, The new student came behind me and say, “I guess you are my guide, I need to talk to you privately. My name is Reyna and I’m here to recruit you to Camp Jupiter.” Reyna says in a loud authoritative voice. Reyna is so pretty with her long braided dark hair, her nice, tanned complexation, and her dark eyes. She somehow makes a purple shirt and jeans look hot. I swear she looks like a queen who has been to wars with her toned arms and her legs have a lot of muscles hiding behind jeans. I notice she has a small facial scar as well; she could be a half-blood like me.

“Nice to meet you, my name is Chika Hanabusa and I will be your guide. You didn't tell me your last name but I'm pretty sure it's not important." I say while sweat is coming down my forehead while Reyna looks at me with the fiercest glare, I bet Reyna could literally stare at monsters and they start peeing their pants and ran from her. Chika, you must keep your cool in front of the attractive new student.

“It’s fine, I’m not comfortable with people learning my last name. I guess you are already aware of the fact that you are a half-blood. We must go before they appear." As Reyna finished her sentence, a group of huge burly men with big noise appear as the school rings, signaling first period. I know what these monsters are, they are the Laistrygonian Giants. One tried to punch me, but I ducked under the punch and give the undercut to the throat which caused him to hold his throat in pain. While he held his throat in agony, I took out my pencil and it transformed into a celestial bronze scythe. I sliced the giant head with my scythe, and I saw Reyna take out some gold sword and proceed to kill half the giants left and right. She cut these huge monsters like they were nothing, they were just lambs in a slaughter. Reyna must have killed monsters when she was kid, she makes like so easy.

As I was busy admiring her, the other giant front kicked me in the chest, and I was sent to the locker room. Oww, that hurts, luckily my backbones are fine and not broken. I moved out of the way while the giant charged toward the lockers, and I sliced him in the back with the scythe while his head is stuck in the lockers. I should have stayed focused on the enemies; I proceeded to dodge the blows of the two other giants and sliced both of their arms off. They screeched in pain and tried to tackle me to the ground, but I moved backward, and I jumped in the air and kicked both in the face and I used my scythe to slice across their necks and watch them down to golden dust. Reyna thrust her golden sword into the giant chest, and he shrieks in pain while he's turning to dust on Reyna's blade. The last giant managed to knock the scythe out of my hand and managed to bear hug me.

“You killed my brothers’ puny demigod, watch as I crush you with my holds. I am the strongest of my brothers, my name is Fraciso.” He says in a thick French accent while he’s laughing like one of those cartoony villains. Luckily, I managed to use my plant abilities to make the roots grow under him and tie around his body. The roots strangle his body and he cries in pain while I managed to free myself from his bear hug.

"I can't break out of these cursed roots, the roots are too strong. I can't believe I will be killed by plant roots." Fraciso says while he's trying to crawl against the constantly growing roots that become branches. I decided to just behead him with my scythe.

“There will be more monsters that will be coming. We will have to leave now; I will take you to camp. Don’t worry your father told me where you are, and he knows that you will come to Camp Jupiter” Reyna says as she takes her breath while she finishes off the last giant.

"Camp Jupiter is for Roam demigods, why am I going to Camp Jupiter," I asked in confusion.

"Because it's the closest to where we are at. Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter decide to work together to recruit more demigods and we are allowed to look for Greek demigods while Camp Half-Blood is allowed to find Roman demigods. Why you didn’t use your powers that much?” Reyna asked as she’s giving me a questioning look and analyzed what my response will be.

"I didn't want to use my powers that much because my powers are not suited for places like the school or the office. Had we been on the football field, I would have been spamming my plant powers to kill as many monsters as possible. Before we go to Camp Jupiter, I want to cheer in the football game and just finish up the school day." As I explained in a calm voice. My back still aches from the bear hug and the kick to the lockers.

“I’m afraid we can’t do that; you will put your mortal friends in danger. I got a Pegasus waiting outside for us. Your father already packed your clothes and other belongings” Reyna says in a regretful tone, her eyes look sympathetic at me, it’s like she’s saying that I’m sorry that your life is not normal anymore. I was preparing for the day to leave my regular life, but I wish I had more time, hurray now off to death quests. I didn’t bother to change out my cheer uniform and we just walked straight to the parking lot with a white stallion with wings and my dad just waiting on it.

@sakuraazharuno @miuyuki-snowfall @thecreatorandcreation

@xxsmexyprincess6969xx @0lympian-c0uncil

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 13/07/2024 (Eminem/Big Sean/BabyTron, Quavo/Lana Del Rey)

Sabrina may have outperformed Sabrina recently but thankfully, Sabrina has taken the throne off of Sabrina for a sixth week at #1 for Sabrina above Sabrina’s last hit, dropping to #2 thanks to a boost above Sabrina for Sabrina, leaving Sabrina below Sabrina. “Espresso” is at #1 and welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

content warning: language, Eminem discourse

Rundown

And as always, we start our episode with the notable dropouts, songs exiting the UK top 75 - which is what I cover - after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. This week, we bid adieu to… okay, sorry, “Gata Only” by FloyyMenor and Cris Mj went from #76 to #75 to #76 in a three-week span as if they know the arbitrary restrictions I place on this series and want to pressure me into changing them. If that’s the case, what’s “read the FAQ” in Spanish? Besides that, we say farewell to a mix of older tracks and stuffed EDM collabs, as our full lists consists of: “places to be” by Fred again.., Anderson .Paak and CHIKA (which of course deserved more than five weeks), “Addicted” by Zerb, the Chainsmokers and Ink, “Yellow” by Coldplay, “Without Me” by Eminem and finally, “Prada” by casso, RAYE and D-Block Europe, which feels like it’s been here forever.

As for our returns, we see the Euros boost another football anthem back on the charts, namely the #8-peaking “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond. On the two non-consecutive weeks this song peaked, Mungo Jerry and T. Rex were #1 and that should give you enough context that I really don’t need to tell you it was 1971. Alongside it, “3 Lions” is up to #20 and “Mr. Brightside” is at #58 thanks to the band playing football matches at their shows in the lead-up to this track, but once again, I’ve talked about these football songs a while back. I can’t remember the episode but you can probably take an educated guess based on whatever football tournament was happening.

When it comes to notable gains, it’s a bit of an easier job, as there’s some straightforward pick-ups for “You & Me” by Disclosure featuring Eliza Doolittle at #66, “Miles on It” by Marshmello and Kane Brown at #60, “Evergreen” by Richy Mitch & the Coal Miners at #48, “Move” by Adam Port, Stryv and Malachiii at #46, Zach Bryan’s “Pink Skies” returning to the top 40 at #40 thanks to his new album but more on that later, “Kisses” by BL3SS, CamrinWatsin and bbyclose at #26, “Too Sweet” by Hozier at #13 and Kendrick Lamar returning to the top 10 at #9 with “Not Like Us”.

As for our top five, well, for our first full tracking week under a Labour government since 2010, we already know where Starmer’s cabinet stands on pop stars, with Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” at #5 swapping places with “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” by Billie Eilish at #4. One thing hasn’t changed, though, and that’s drinking habits, as Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” is steady at #3, and then of course, Sabrina: “Please Please Please” at #2 and “Espresso” at #1. Now for what should be an interesting and definitely varied set of new tracks.

New Entries

#73 - “28” - Zach Bryan

Produced by Zach Bryan

As I expected, I loved Zach Bryan’s newest album, The Great American Bar Scene, which released on July 4th - fittingly - and I delivered some longer thoughts in my listening log on RateYourMusic. The account name’s exclusivelytopostown if you wish to read any more, but to sum it up, it’s definitely more of a folk and heartland rock-influenced album, going from sounding like Springsteen to well, containing the Boss himself, and it fittingly has a more observational, on-the-road feel to it as we travel across America with Zach Bryan delivering relevant anecdotes surrounding his life that seem more distant than the self-titled. It’s still personal, it’s still got a warm, organic production, but there’s an undeniable swell to it all that makes the humble road trip feel a lot grander. I prefer the self-titled in terms of having more memorable, distinct songs but this is an excellent record in itself. Thankfully, one of my favourites was “28”, his only debut as the album bows in at #16 on the UK albums chart.

There are many topics that Bryan will delve into across the record but this one, in comparison, feels like a pretty straightforward love ballad, and a very sweet one at that. Bryan tells us stories about how he went to see her family on his 28th birthday and that was the first time his left felt full and that he was truly loved on his own birthday, having a family and home that he’s been searching for his entire life, caught in a place between home and somewhere distant and unfamiliar, but now he’s fell into what might be a new home for him, and the song celebrates how real that relationship feels. This is developed on in the second verse where Bryan finds himself in a very familiar lyrical space: the dive bar’s crowded with rich people, not at all like it was when he was younger, but the smoke seeping out is still the same, he’s still playing the guitar he was gifted at 14, and being with his new partner takes him back to that space he’s so familiar with. It’s a beautiful sentiment that the homes he created from a passage of specific, frequently recurring memories have been brought back to him by the way he feels with his partner. The organic recording with some distant guitar and an overwhelming bed of strings turns an intimate set of recollections to an honest-to-God ceremony and that little lyric change from “where your old man stayed” to “where your whole heart stayed” places a really neat little bow on everything. It may not be the deepest or most powerful cuts on the latest record, but it’s one that feels so universal without sacrificing the important details that make him such a loveable songwriter. It’s one of my favourite songs of the year, and the whole album’s worth checking out too.

#71 - “I Love You, I’m Sorry” - Gracie Abrams

Produced by Gracie Abrams and Aaron Dessner

Now we’re back in some territory that I’m less familiar with and also less appreciative to see on the charts, TayLorde Rodrigo… I mean, Gracie Abrams, daughter of J.J. This is another album cut from her breakout record that hit #1 a few weeks ago, with this being a sequel to another breakup track she released in 2020. I know I’ve often made comical comparisons to other artists when discussing Abrams’ particularly derivative style but I really liked “Risk” which is similarly plainly obvious on who it takes influence with so it really isn’t just that, and there’s some promise to that: it’s similarly structured to her “I miss you, I’m sorry” whilst taking a more wistful approach, a couple years later, on the breakup and acknowledging the weirdness of still being familiar to someone you slammed the door on despite loving, and being thankful that the ex-partner still keeps in touch, albeit the connection is dwindling. I was actually somewhat liking it, even if it borderlines on easy listening, until the bridge which seems to deflect some blame onto this partner for no reason in a really immature moment that feels out of place, and also has some really obvious takes from the Taylor department (no pun intended), even down to inflections and vocal delivery. The songwriting becomes basic and childish for what seems like a lashing out moment but doesn’t really need to serve that purpose in any way. The song is about frustration but a frustration that quietly bubbles down through life, why have that moment so far into the song? It just doesn’t work for me narratively even if the idea isn’t bad, and Dessner’s utterly unremarkable instrumental backing isn’t helping matters. It’s still okay, but with some very obvious flaws I can’t really get over.

#69 - “Bring Me Joy” - Rudimental and Karen Harding

Produced by Rudimental, Billen Ted and Slim Typical

I question who in Rudimental even contributes to these songs anymore. There are two other credited acts as producers here, and they are both DJ-producer duos who can do a perfectly good job by themselves or even together, but then add Rudimental, who are a trio and get top billing, and you’re telling me nine people produced this. You could argue that maybe one of them did and Rudimental is just the more recognisable name, but all three of the members are credited as writers, alongside salute who, if you don’t know, is also a DJ and producer, meaning 10 were involved in creating this song with Durham singer Karen Harding, who last appeared on the chart in 2015. Her debut single and biggest hit, “Say Something”, actually peaked at #7. The #1 was “Uptown Funk!”, of course. Maybe this new track will revive her hit-making career and you know what’s bizarre? How I can more obviously tell salute did work on this than any of the credited producers. Sure, it’s a drum and bass track, but it’s got a choir vocal, a gentler swell of pianos and the lead vocal filtered as an intro, it sounds more like it’s introducing a salute song than Rudimental’s until we get into the weirdly-mixed lead vocal and very unsubtle stutter that spirals into a frankly wank drum and bass loop. The song basically starts on 11 with all the details thanks to the nine people on the DAW, so any attempt at genuine bombast or relief in the drop feels like bashing in some horns to an already full orchestra. In fact, for what should be a rote, inoffensive track from an easily ignorable vocalist and completely competent producer teams, it’s surprisingly annoying with just how overly produced it is. The egregious implementation of that distorted male vocal clip is out of place, the effects added to Harding’s voice are grating and at times seemingly arbitrary, it’s just all a bit gross. I really like this genre and a lot of the time, will defend more mediocre drum and bass tunes because the drum patterns make me happy or the drop is exciting, but not even I can find much joy in this, which should be saying something.

#64 - “Apple” - Charli xcx

Produced by Charli xcx, A.G. Cook, George Daniel and Lotus IV

Once again, we go back to Charli’s BRAT, an album with more mainstream influence and longevity than I expected, as we get what is now our sixth debut from the record across multiple weeks. I believe this is what the gays call "being the moment." Charli has described this song as focusing on her very complicated relationship with her parents, using the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” saying as its main conceit and going for a perhaps more familiar synthpop backing whilst filtering her vocals out to muffle her voice slightly, as if she’s becoming separate from her family as she finds escapism by travelling away from a family she’s constantly comparing herself to. The apple could “turn yellow or green”, accentuating both how unpredictable growing up could be and how that connection could either still work into old age or rot over time, with the third verse having her dissect the apple, splitting what traits of her that she doesn’t appreciate between her parents. It’s a clever and really open concept for the song, and whilst I’m a sucker for honest detail, the analogy is more telling depending on how you interpret it than perhaps a more down to reality vent about what is probably a feeling that couldn’t be understood by an audience that’s not specifically her. With this, I still feel the escapism of the airport but also the disappointment when that turns into a stuttering, dark clog instead of a beautiful swell in that bridge where she promises, of course, that she’s going to “drive all night”, aimlessly, realising that even if she makes her branch of the tree, she can’t escape from her family as it’s part of her. It’s not my favourite mix on the album, it can feel a bit flat and rushed sometimes, but the instrumental outro with the mantra of “do you” really places into perspective her question of asking where you even go to feel like you’re not alone, because forming a yes-or-no question out of that forces you, and her, to reckon with the idea that you don’t actually go anywhere. You’re still you, and your experiences don’t take you elsewhere, they add patches of detail to your own person. And if I’m getting philosophical, that means the song’s good or I’m insane. Probably both, and I don’t need to tell you this, but it’s definitely worth checking out even if it’s not the most sonically distinct piece on the album - for a more revealing track, it doesn’t need to be.

#62 - “Lies Lies Lies” - Morgan Wallen

Produced by Joey Moi

Well, well, look who else released country music on the 4th of July, with a special live YouTube performance video to boot which I didn’t mention in the review but is also how “28” was premiered. Even for Morgan Wallen here, the songwriting is a bit dire, which is a shame because there’s a darker hinge to the guitars here that should lead to the forestry atmosphere the smokier sound and the cool whistling should succeed at conveying. Yet the chorus is so basic and pissy, as is the rest of this breakup song, delivered in a way that doesn’t justify any of the bitterness in the lyrics or the darker sound. He kind of just delivers it like “Last Night”, which also had its toxic relationship - where the woman is mostly blamed, but at least in this one he ended things (despite his persistence that he must be the one to do so). The difference is that “Last Night” is almost sing-songy, it’s a pop song more than anything and embraces it by going for trap drums and plastic silliness instead of going deeper into country cred for what is little more than an aesthetic for something that doesn’t pull on many of its songwriting tropes. It just ends up sounding ugly and flat for no purpose when a perfectly serviceable Maroon 5 song is hidden under there, and ends up looking pretty bad for Morgan Wallen. If your country song released on a patriotic day as what should surely be a gift for your fans given its lack of connection to an existing album and no reason to start another cycle is this ashamed of being a pop song, ridden in so much interpersonal hatred that’s still vague enough to consider itself universal, largely because you didn’t write one word of it, I would be reconsidering why I made country music in the first place. Or maybe that’s just how you celebrate the founding of your great country: singing about your ex-girlfriend’s lies and deceit, alcohol addiction and hating yourself. Hell, is that saying more about Morgan or the States?

#59 - “you look like you love me” - Ella Langley featuring Riley Green

Produced by Will Bundy

Thankfully, for a week weirdly full of country songs for the UK charts, we actually have more good than bad, with - interestingly - two relative newcomers in Ella Langley, who released her first record in 2023, and Riley Green who has had much success as a writer (hence his credit on this song) but not as much in his solo career until 2019 onwards. This duet tells the story of a lonely Ella Langley meeting passionately with a lover at a bar: “you look like you love me” seems like a very forward line for a one-night stand so whilst the life after this hook-up isn’t referenced and their drunkenness is emphasised throughout, there’s definitely still some reminiscing about this rendezvous. Langley uses a conversational delivery in the verses that feels very much like a traditional story-telling country songs, the kind that my dad used to like, but returns to an undeniable sing-a-long hook every time and it just feels like magic. Despite what could be a pretty chintzy instrumental considering the piano and acoustic pick-up but it just immerses you further in the story, with the awkward dead spaces in Riley Green’s verse that make it clear this isn’t as smooth of a hook-up as she remembers, the emphasis on little clothing details like boots and Green’s cowboy hat, the fact that she goes “alright now!” before the hoedown instrumental break, it’s all quite comical in its own cutesy way that I find really endearing. Vintage, sure, and perhaps a story that’s less believable to have happened in this day and age, but it doesn’t need to be to still be a fun little story delivered really excellently. I will say that Langley is clearly much more of a presence but thematically that makes a lot of sense, and it is refreshing to see a woman be the most prominent element of the highest debuting country song this week (outside of, well, we’ll get to it), that has a separate woman credited as a co-writer. It’s a cute, heartwarming little song that I think even those who write off country music on the charts will enjoy a fair bit.

#56 - “Pink Lemonade (Str8 Reload)” - LeoStayTrill and Mr. Reload It

Produced by Xeretto and VG$ Midnight

Whilst this is “Pink Lemonade (Str8 Reload)” by LeoStayTrill and Mr. Reload It. LeoStayTrill is a rapper from South London whilst Mr. Reload It is… not the producer or vocalist so who is Mr. Reload It? It took me little time to gather through social media that Mr. Reload It, real name Alex, is a content creator on TikTok who runs a show called Str8 Reload wherein rappers come in and freestyle, and the song had already finished without me realising I was really playing it by the time I had written all that out. LeoStayTrill appears to be a content creator on his own, and I skimmed through his TikToks that have nothing to do with the song but are featured with the sound in the background and hashtags proclaiming it’s the song of the summer. He appears to be a young guy still in education - sixth form maybe? - so I can’t really heavily criticise what is a pretty generic Tion Wayne-esque drill song with bad mixing, nothing flexes and a type beat as the instrumental. I was scanning through so many of his TikToks finding some extra context for his viral hit, but it seems like just shilling for it consistently will give you enough plays with a big following, and there are definitely some very catchy parts of his verses - ironically, all outside of the chorus - that I can understand the virality. One interesting thing I picked up on was that he was defiantly explaining to his followers a word that they had gotten wrong when reciting the lyrics, and jokingly claimed that he wished to delete the song because of this mondegreen until he brought out the original project file for the song to prove this. Nearly every single one of his TikToks had this song or its shitty Jersey club remix in the background, it was maddening. Wish you the best, man.

#32 - “Tough” - Quavo and Lana Del Rey

Produced by Cirkut and watt

If anyone was going to team these two disparate artists up, it was probably Andrew Watt, though the two appear to be friendly which makes sense given Lana’s affinity for hip hop, which is seldom implemented in her music but I enjoy when it is as it ends up surprisingly smooth, especially in cloud rap and trap territory. “Summer Bummer” with A$AP Rocky and Playboi Carti is one of my favourites from her. The conceit of this collab is somewhat comical: a country-influenced song where they both try and prove themselves as “tough” in different ways, with Lana using western cowboy imagery and Quavo harkening back to his days living impoverished in Atlanta, but together, they’re beautiful. It’s very cliché and silly but I can actually connect with that as just a matter of setting the stage for this upcoming Lana country album: suspension of disbelief is important in both country and rap, and especially pop, so I like when artists play around with unfitting narratives. Lana’s vocals are in their typical wispy rasp over the twiddling folksy guitars but Quavo comes in referencing the trap beat that drives into the song he just hopped on, and whilst I did laugh the first time, he adds a bit more emotive rasp to his voice that really works, especially in balance with the more melodic flows he’s able to temper the aggressive delivery with. I also like his informing of the posturing with what he’s genuinely been through, and those two different ideas of what “tough” is between them makes their surprisingly well-done harmonising very compelling. In fact, Lana adds more to Quavo’s posturing in her verse with Huncho himself prompting her lyrics in a cute back-and-forth that makes me believe these guys are actually dating, even though if that was the case, there may not be a mutual depth to how they feel about each other here. That bridge still has a lot of great swell and deviates from what could easily be a tedious novelty if not split apart by a gorgeous interlude that sounds perfect for walking down the aisle. I’m very surprised by the chemistry here, but the dialogue in the outro, whilst obviously corny, sounds like movie dialogue from a dated film, and the way you hear him pasing her the lighter and doing a typical Migos ad-lib injects a lot of Quavo’s personality into a Lana-led song. One of my favourite details is the crack in Lana’s voice where she admits for as much as Lana appreciates the grit and roughness of Mr. Quavious thanks to his upbringing, it’s that same upbringing that makes him tell her some truths a woman like Lana may not want to hear, and I find that a really subtle but effective way of painting the lovestruck soulmates with troubling, nuanced dots. I figured something like this, especially with Quavo releasing more singles than months of the year currently, would be a rushed, comical slap-dash collab but there is a lot more thought into this duet than I expected from even Lana who never really shined outside of her introspection that much. Brilliant song.

#29 - “Tobey” - Eminem featuring Big Sean and BabyTron

Produced by marvy ayy, John Nocito, Carlton McDowell, Daniyel, Eminem and Cole Bennett

As I said with the Zach Bryan review, full thoughts on the latest Eminem comeback, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace) are on my RateYourMusic page, and thankfully, this song kind of has no relevance to the existing plotline of that album. It’s always an unnecessary stress when a song hits the top 75 and I have to either explain away the conceits of a narrative- or theme-based record that I already wrote some thoughts down on, or end up diving in headfirst to a song from an album I haven’t gotten around to hearing so I can review the one song, but ending up a bit headless thanks to my lack of context. This is a weird case because it’s a pre-album single that was released in the midweek and despite the album having a clear plot and theme you can see even in its lead single, this song has nothing to do with it and this time, it’s on purpose? “Tobey” is one of a few songs on the back-end that show Eminem is still hungry without the Slim Shady persona, and this particular track is him stepping bar-for-bar with a newer cat in Big Sean and so new a cat he may as well be a kitty, BabyTron, of the Detroit ShittyBoyz scam-rap collective, known for his semi-witty punchlines and tight flows. That works a lot better for me when he has an actual groove, especially the constant punchiness of a Detroit trap track but here, we have a beat that I thought was interesting at first and becomes increasingly odd. It makes sense to me for a beat to have no steady percussion line and instead be full of cinematic strings and thwooping, bass-heavy movie trailer sounds - it’s Eminem, after all, I guess he’s catching up to his Christian stan NF - but it just never drops after all the build-up, and that piano line that is also very explicitly Detroit is a tedious loop that never changes but feeds tension into the beat without ever finding build-up, despite obvious lay-ups for that to happen. The verses transition not through smooth sequencing of instruments but through a cloudy void of blurry sound effects, as if the song was made for the music video and nothing else. There’s electric guitars added into the mix because, it’s either Em himself or his main man Luis Resto who are obsessed with adding those to the back of the beat for no reason, there are hi-hats during BabyTron’s verse that just skitter out of existence, and a mix of guitars with cavernous drums and warping synths during the latter two verses from Sean and Em that just drown out the two rappers without ever landing them on a true groove, which only really Eminem can play with in an interesting way. I know it’s Eminem so the beat should not be the focus but this is a bizarre, borderline just experimental beat that sounds kind of terrible most of the time but has so many fascinating bad decisions and moving parts that it’s hard to ignore.

Now for the rappers themselves, as you’d probably expect me to discuss more given again, it’s Eminem, he’s the only person with an interesting concept or flow here. He’s bitter and desperate to prove he’s in top fives - not that he should care but I’m not angry that he does, he’s a lyrical rapper from the 90s, caring about being the best is kind of his job - but unlike Kamikaze, he’s not lashing out at his own fans, he’s lashing out at so-called critics, including Melle Mel, who he very reasonably stamps out for the reason that whilst people prompted him not to respond to the man because he’s a pioneer - a grandmaster, if you will - of the genre, Eminem’s cemented his place just as much as he has and it would be a fair competition between legends. A weird beat always brings out awkward deliveries in Em, and he’s surprisingly not going for the easier, fast-paced deadpan talking both BabyTron and to a lesser extent, Sean, go for here, instead being all over the beat like he has eight legs spread out saying a different bar. It’s a cool approach that means he’s not always perfectly on beat but the beat’s weird, so let him be too, I actually find it much more compelling than BabyTron, who sounds like a bored child lost in the supermarket, even if there are some quotable lines and Detroit references that add a little more spice. Big Sean is selling his anger and hunger much more convincingly, even when faced against this Lovecraftian monster of a beat, and whilst I’m not necessarily invested in Sean because… of course not, his bars hit, his rhyme schemes are solid and he sounds on point the whole time, it’s a focused verse that really balances out Em’s verse. BabyTron is completely lost to that dynamic so the fact that he originated the main conceit of the song, the utterly stupid idea that since Tobey Maguire became Spider-Man after being bitten by a spider, BabyTron and Big Sean must have been bitten by a goats because they’re GOATs, and Eminem must have been the goat / GOAT that bit them. Yeah, there’s a reason why the song’s namesake didn’t deserve being brought up until the last minute. I know this was a hefty review for a pretty middling debut that won’t last, but this really feels like a can of worms hidden on the back-half of an album completely irrelevant to it, even though it was already released as a single and music video. Fascinating little track, honestly. I’m kind of glad we end the week with that nonsense.

Conclusion

Well, it was a big debut week for country or country-adjacent tracks, and this rings well in our conclusion, as Best of the Week obviously goes to Zach Bryan for “28” whilst we have surprisingly close Honourable Mentions for the two duets: “you look like you love me” by Ella Langley and Riley Green and “Tough” with Quavo and Lana Del Rey. As for the worst, that also represents country as Morgan Wallen takes it handedly for the regretful “Lies Lies Lies”, whilst I suppose “Bring Me Joy” by Rudimental and Karen Harding ends up as the Dishonourable Mention. Whatever happens next week, apart from Eminem, I hope there’s not too much to write about because it’ll be a busy Friday for me. Knowing the charts, I won’t get that peace and Peppa fucking Pig will debut a couple songs. Regardless, thank you for reading, long live Cola Boyy, and I’ll see you next week.

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 119 Rundown

Kaguya-sama: Love is War: So this episode is fucking kickass, like I’ve been kinda mellow about my reactions to this series thus far but this season finale was hype as fuck. Just all the crazy shit people do to get Kagura smuggled out to the fireworks festival, Hayakasa is still best girl, Chika and Ishigami do their part and Miyuki is pretty badass weaponizing his usual mind game tactics and we even get a cameo from one of Chika’s ramen buddies, all of it’s pretty fantastic. It’s pretty funny how in the next part Miyuki thinks all the cool stuff he said came off as cringe because that’s definitely a matter of perspective and definitely a part of social anxiety but at the same time even the cringe versions of events he gives are still pretty cool, just more in an unhinged Jack Sparrow Guile Hero kind of way than the Shojo Manga Man way that Kagura saw them. Still you know how it goes, shenanigans and everything and we’re basically back where we started with a net no progress, like I like to think there’s at least some experience gained here but the nature of the show is fucking over any dynamic these two have that isn’t mind games. Still all that said it was pretty funny, I don’t know if I’ll be watching future seasons on the Custom Toonami Block specifically since it seems like a show that’s more fun to casually binge than do this sort of format for but we’ll see how it goes.

Inuyasha: So IMMEDIATELY after setting up the whole ‘Inuyasha is trapped in Jakotsu’s blade’ cliffhanger Inuyasha just gets cut a little and Wind Scars his way out, OHKOing Jakotsu but refusing to finish him off because killing a queer man that is yandere for you while he’s under a pile of rocks just doesn’t feel right I guess. Still Renkotsu comes and steals Jakotsu’s shard and kills him right after, then goes to fight Bankotsu because he’s pissed Bankotsu won’t share the shards and Bankotsu’s pissed Renkotsu keeps killing all his friends. Bankotsu even says he won’t use his weapon to fight Renkotsu and fucks him up just using Jakotsu’s hair pin which is pretty fucking dope. And just like that the Band of Seven has become the Band of One with a superpowered Bankotsu going to fight Inuyasha. Kikyo has a nice little talk with Hakushin about how even though he couldn’t be the perfectly selfless Saint everyone thought he was he did a lot of good for everyone and not wanting to die isn’t a sin but carrying grief in your heart isn’t healthy and he’s not really mad at everyone for using him but at himself for not living up to that heroic façade. She even gives him permission to quit being a saint and let go of the burden to set his soul at ease and it’s really pretty nice, probably one of Kikyo’s best moments given her own perspective on selflessness and death. But yeah with Hakushin gone, Mt. Hakurei transforms into a JRPG final boss arena and we’re ready for the final Inuyasha vs Bankotsu fight.

Yu Yu Hakusho: So we spend the first part of this episode going ‘Genkai’s really dead forever for reals guys, tournament’s over, no dragon balls or anything so home, show’s over’ then we cut to Toguro volunteering himself for ten thousand years in hell when according to his paperwork he should maybe go to the Moderately Bad Place instead of the Very Very Bad Place. And we get his full backstory which is basically the same as Jiren’s backstory in Dragon Ball Super except less terrible. Apparently all his students were murdered by a big demon and he was prompted to join the Dark Tournament just like he prompted Yusuke to and legitimately became cold and ruthless to rise to the challenge, then wishing to become a demon as a form of punishment and to double down on the path of strength he’d chosen. Basically everything in Toguro’s backstory goes ‘maybe he’s being an asshole but maybe also he has another motive’ and you can really go back and forth on each part of his motive about which of these are self-flagellation and which are corruption since it’s probably a mix of both. Even Toguro seems to be going out of his way to zig-zag the tropes as if someone understanding him in any way is a comfort he doesn’t want. Anyway Yusuke and co. are getting ready for the boat and oops Genkai’s alive again, I mean they are friends with the god of the dead and they did get jipped out of their prize for the tournament, seems like he shouldn’t be able to just… do that but here we are, we went through a lot of ‘she’s really dead super for reals this time’ for her to just come back but whatever. Just hope they do something cool with her in future arcs and this isn’t just something to not make Yusuke have to deal with loss.

Fate/Apocrypha: So now Yggy Mcbabyeater is very mad that the Bigger Cup got stolen and makes Vlad turn into Dracula against his wishes so he can fight despite his weird thing of not being able to fight outside his home turf and he kinda just… fuses with him which is apparently something people can do? So yeah now we have Yggycula as our big season-ending midboss and this just became Netflix Castlevania for a bit with everyone fighting him. They get interrupted though as all the Team Shirou Servants get hit with a case of ‘my master has just been poisoned’ on account of their masters just being poisoned, also Shirou has all their Command Seals now. Also Yggycula comes up to Shirou’s terf and Shirou just starts throwing knives at him like ‘bro you’re a vampire and you walked into a church, the fuck’d you expect’? And we go from Netflix Castlevania to Hellsing Ultimate briefly as Shirou does his best Father Anderson and melts the vampire. We got a little flashback for Shirou a little while ago about him being in the same Grail War as Mr. Yggy Babyeater and if I was paying attention or knew anything about Japanese history I’d have known Shirou was a Servant, not a Master from that though to be fair he does have a human alias and everyone’s surprised he’s still alive after the war like they think he’s just some dude, but yeah basically he seems to be what if Saber lost Shirou and went apeshit and also incarnated to loop the Grail War cycle like Gilgamesh because he’s also a Ruler from before this war started. Seems he was Irisviel’s Servant in this verse and we can’t have a universe where any of the homunculi girls aren’t angst fodder for their male leads so of course she died and now Shirou’s all ‘I’m just keep doing genocide until god strikes me down himself to tell me I’m wrong’ so good luck with that.

Speed Grapher: So they send a Euphoric who can make his tattoos come to life after Ginza who is not down for his superpowered bullshit and has already moved Saiga to a secondary location but she gets marked with his tiny middle finger spider tattoo, guess they put that one in the right place cause it’s a real fuck you to her for kicking his ass. Meanwhile Kagura uses the guy that’s been sexually harassing her in the sensual deprivation chamber to escape by offering herself to him if he lets her step outside and then immediately grabbing an axe and holding herself hostage so she can make her escape, some real character development from her taking charge of the situation, not a perfect plan but it gets the job done. Meanwhile her mom and Suitengu are legit getting ready to sign the paperwork to get married because despite Suitengu not breaking character and pretending to be a romantic he’s also not wasting time on this whole takeover plan. We also get a flashback of Shinzen first meeting her now Alzheimer’s-ridden mother and find out she was actually adopted by the modeling agency because her mom saw her getting harassed by an agent and picked her up on the spot. Though also there’s some magic gene splicing they did on her to make her more ‘perfect’ since she had like two genes out of place or something and the one who did it is Kagura’s dad/the doctor she loved. Really kinda paints a sympathetic picture of Kagura’s mom despite what a bitch she is, like she just wanted to be a model and got roped into an international magic gene therapy ring and became a loveless billionaire because the doctor that transformed her was murdered by a higher power and made to look like he ditched her and now as a result of the gene bullshit her daughter has a tumor that lets her give superpowers to rich assholes by letting them sexually assault her… god this plot is weird when I say it out loud. But yeah turns out Shinzen’s adopted mom got into a car accident on the night Shinzen was out seeing Mr. Dr. Kagura’s dad and got ditched because she was driving down the road REALLY pissed off and that may be why she has such a shitty memory and can barely walk or she could just be old or both idk. Funny thing is Suitengu and everyone talk about not knowing Shinzen’s mom was alive but like she has cameras and staff specifically assigned to her and takes her on walks and shit but guess she never specifically told him about it. Anyway Kagura breaks into her mom’s tower and finds her grandma’s room and Suitengu’s goons find her there. Shinzen backs off signing the marriage certificate because she wants her mom to see it which I’m not entirely sure if that’s out of love or spite for her being pissy about her first marriage attempt. She finds Kagura and Suitengu’s Team Rocket squad in Grandma’s room and is like ‘yo Suitengu wtf bro’ when Kagura starts talking about the eyes wide shut cult of superpowered billionaires he’s been running. She doesn’t seem to believe either of them and for some reason still thinks Suitengu’s just fucking Kagura on the side because she’s really fixated on that and gives him a gun to play Russian roulette with along with Kagura, giving them a 75% chance of survival but playing with their lives. Suitengu’s goons take the gun and try to shoot Shinzen with it but this is why you always fucking use your own guns because turns out there were no bullets and she just wanted them to pull the trigger as a show of faith and apology so she busts out a room full of dozens of kimono girls with automatic rifles because apparently she just had that at the ready at a minute’s notice at like 2am in her marriage certificate ceremony. Luckily Suitengu is Blood Sephiroth and is able to make a Blood Barrier out of blood strands and then turn them into tentacles to Elfen Lied the kimono girls, also killing the poor city worker who was there just because no one that sees his powers can live (except Kagura I guess cause he told his goons to close their eyes). He then uses the blood to do the blood bullet thing from Deadman Wonderland to kill Shinzen’s mom and then choke Shinzen herself out. Kagura desperately tells her mom that her dad didn’t abandon her and was just late and that he loved her even as he was dying and Shinzen dies happy knowing that. Suitengu also has Mr. Dr. Kagura’s Dad’s left arm for some reason so I guess he’s the original Euphoric and is made of a bunch of frakenstein’d body parts that give him blood powers or some shit since he does say “I’m the original’ when talking about Mr. Dr. Kagura’s dad and tells Shinzen that she was always really in the left arm of the man she loved even if it wasn’t him. So yeah now Suitengu’s going to marry Kagura to control the company which she’s like fourteen so that’s kinda fucked up, dunno how the media’s going to spin that one.

Durararax2: Tom takes over the narration and goes on about how everyone needs to chill the fuck out which is fair. Meanwhile Haruna and her teacher crush have turned the Saika army into an actual zombie apocalypse overtaking the town with the same infection types, like can’t believe that’s the most widespread threat with all the weird factions going on here. Izaya has a flashback of Shinra saying how even when Shizuo dies he’ll have a legendary legacy that may exceed his ridiculous exploits since people will be bound to talk about how strong he is. It seems like that ends up getting at the heart of Izaya’s character because that’s kind of what he wanted going into this war for Celty’s head. Meanwhile Shinra’s dad gives Celty her head back and her memory is wiped as expected and she advents like a god from the sky down to the city which is ridiculously cool. Chikage has a ridiculously convoluted plan to pretend to kidnap Masaomi just to get him and Mikado to fucking talk to each other meanwhile Mikado’s about to send Aoba to cap Chikage at the Dollars’ birthplace as Chikage and Namie doxx Masaomi, Mikado and Anri about their parts in leading these huge gang wars. Kujisaki and Varona end up fighting Izaya’s karate girl midboss like this is a scene out of Kill Bill (and Varona has the outfit for it, huh… may be onto something) while Izaya and Shizuo set out to have a Mastermind vs Supertank battle that puts every Batman vs Superman incarnation to shame. So in summary: shit’s about to go down for the tenth time, we really are getting to the endgame here.

[ryqoshay]

Putting on Hairs - Post Production: Death's Duet

Primary Pairing: ShizuKasu Rating: T? Words: 524 AU: Theater, Monsters, Cryptids Fandom: Love Live Nijigasaki Parent Fic: Putting on Hairs - Post Production Time Frame: Sometime after the main story Event: Promptober 2022 Event Source: Idol Fanfic Heaven channel on Discord Prompt: Duet Content Warning: Poetic discussions of death

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Author’s Note: Bonus 2nd entry for Oct 12th

Summary: Shizuku contemplates death and her status as a ghost

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Life has always been a dance And death has sung the tune But no dance can forever last And some may end too soon

A duet as old as time A cycle spinning free Life is fleeting and sublime And death eternal as can be

But can the voices sing as one Or dancers change their step? Has life's song now begun Can death dance…

Shizuku stared at the screen. What rhymed with step? Footstep? Doorstep? Misstep? No, those all were just other steps. Prep? No. Schlep? Also no.

What if she changed it to moves? She could rhyme that with groove, which often was used to mean or refer to dancing. But it also had a different feel than the rest of the poem. Hrm…

“Ne, Shizuko, I'm gonna start making din… oh, whatcha working on?” Shizuku heard her girlfriend move up behind her. “A new play? Reviewing something Chika wrote? Or are you writing something yourself?” Kasumi placed a hand on Shizuku's shoulder and leaned in toward the screen.

“I was actually taking a break from anything for the theater.” Shizuku said. “Just having a little fun with some personal writing.”

“Ah, I see.” Kasumi said and quickly read what was on the screen. “Uhm… I don't get it.” She scratched her head. “Does Shizuko wanna kill Kaumin and sing a duet with her ghost?”

“No. No.” Shizuku chuckled. “I am very much happy with Kasumi-chan being alive.”

“Oh.”

“But maybe someday…”

“Wait, wha?”

Shizuku laughed again.

“Shizuko~!” Kasumi pushed on Shizuku’s shoulder, moving her girlfriend around in the chair.

“Anyway, the poem was supposed to be about a duet between Live and Death.” Shizuku explained. “Sort of. I mean it starts out with Life dancing and Death singing, but then I was thinking about switching them to finish. Or maybe combining them in some way? You know, because I’m a ghost. I’m neither alive nor dead. I’m something else; undead, in colloquial terms.”

“Hrm…” Kasumi reread the words. “Ok, yeah, I can see that now. Say, isn’t your meter off there?” She pointed.

“It’s probably off in a few places.” Shizuku admitted. “It was just a little exercise to keep the creative juices flowing before I get back to my play.”

“So, you are writing a play.”

Shizuku nodded.

“Does Kasumin get a part?”

“There is a part I’m writing with Kasumi-chan in mind, yes.”

“Heehee… And Kasumin and Shizuko can be a couple on stage, right?” Kasumi accentuated her words by nuzzling her cheek against Shizuku’s.

“Hmmm… About that…”

Kasumi pouted. Shizuku laughed.

“Anyway, Kasumin’s hungry, so she’s gonna go make dinner.” Kasumi stood back up.

“Let me know if there’s anything you want me to help with.”

“Thanks, but Shizuko’s busy with making a new play, so Kasumin doesn’t want to interrupt too much.”

“You’re fine. I don’t mind being interrupted by Kasumi-chan.”

That comment earned the exact response Shizuku sought, a brilliant smile from her girlfriend. She flashed a smile of her own before returning to her laptop.

A duet with Kasumi-chan… Shizuku thought.

She hadn’t planned her new play specifically to be a musical, but would it be so bad to turn it into one? The theater was earning a reputation for musicals, after all. And in that case, Moya was to be the love interest of Otosu, so it would make sense for the two to have at least one song together.

However… Shizuku smiled as she remembered Kasumi’s concerns over being killed for a duet with death. It was a bit ironic considering what Shizuku had planned for the characters she intended for the two of them to play. But that did give her some new ideas.

With her creative motivation restored, Shizuku opened the document for her new original play, Detective Otosu, and got back to work.

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Author’s Note Continued: First off, Death’s Duet is an old MtG card and the first two lines of Shizuku’s poem are adapted from its flavor text.

And second, I honestly have no idea if a Detective Noir style play could work as a musical. I mean I also don’t see why not; surely it’s not the strangest thing to be musical’ized.

[alba8688]

Love hurts

Chapter 48 pt:2

Eddie saw Dani turn to look at him and he smiled trying to hide the tears from her and whisper I love you to her .

Eddie couldn't stand seeing Dani where she was because this was caused by both of them, not just her .

Why did she have to pay while he was out free ?

"Members of the jury, you have heard all of the testimony concerning this case. It is now up to you to determine the facts. You and you alone, are the judges of the fact. Once you decide what facts the evidence proves, you must then apply the law as I give it to you to the facts as you find them."

The judge gave everyone a break of 30 minutes.

Eddie and everyone stood up walking out of the court room out to the hallway to wait the 30 minutes to see what the jury decides.

Eddie was a mess. He was nervous. He was pacing around the hallway ,Steve kept telling him to sit down but Eddie wouldn't listen .

Liam was there too. He was nervous he couldn't hide it anymore .

Eddie watched everyone in their own conversation nervous as well .Nate was right next to him following Eddie around pacing with him .

Liam looks at Eddie then at Nate feeling a small bit of jealousy that his son likes to be with Eddie rather than with him .

Eddie saw him staring but he didn't care he was there all he wanted was Dani to be free .

That's all he ever wanted .

"Son, sit down please ." Uncle Wayne told him they were all nervous but they tried to be strong for Eddie and Mrs.Henderson.

Eddie sat down next to his uncle then Nate sat in his lap and Ozzy laid down in front of him .

"That kid loves you ." Uncle Wayne told Eddie

"I know I love him too ." Eddie said softly he did love Nate and he loved him a lot he didn't care he wasn't his real dad but he loved him just as he was his .

Eddie got distracted with Nate showing him there was a movie coming out of the plushies he had. He never understood why he liked these things. They were scary. I think he called his plushie Freddy and another one chika he had so many he would always carry some with him everywhere he went .

30 minutes had passed and they let everyone back inside the courtroom .

Eddie and everyone else taking their seats waiting .

Dani walked back outside cuffed like she was some kind of criminal he hated seeing her like that.

She sat down and turned to look at her family, smiling , always keeping her smile just for them not showing weakness .

Eddie felt he stopped breathing. She looked beautiful, her red hair fading and now you could see the brown of her hair coming out the same hair he knew and loved when he saw her in high school.

She was so beautiful .

"Will the defendant please rise?" The judge looks at Dani and Dani does as she is told .

Eddie feels his nerves starting up and he feels an arm around him and turns to see his uncle Wayne giving him a reassurance smile .

He smiled back at him. Then Turn his attention to the front watching his girlfriend waiting for her verdict .

"Danielle Ann Henderson, your teaching license would be suspended for four years and be glad it wasn't suspended forever ."Eddie feels shattered knowing Dani wasn't going to do what she loved for four years and it was all because of his fault .

"As for the jury, they reached their decision ." The judge gives the word to the jury and one of them stands up with a paper on their hands .

Eddie's heart starts beating even faster than before the moment of truth was here .

And he was praying something he never did before now he was praying he was a believer now and his faith was keeping him strong .

"Danielle Ann Henderson of Hawkins Indiana we have reviewed your case and we found you ." Eddie's heart stops for a moment when he hears the jury talk but then they stop like they are making everything more intense .

Eddie was about to pull his hair from the stress.He turns to look at Steve who looks as stressed as he is .

His leg is bouncing like crazy .

Mrs.Henderson is praying with her eyes closed .

Uncle Wayne holding Eddie's hand tight.

The tension was growing .

Eddie closes his eyes and waits for the jury to talk again.

"Danielle Ann Henderson we found you Not Guilty."

The crowd erupts in cheers .

Eddie opens his eyes fast .

He turns to look at his uncle who has a big smile on his face. Mrs.Henderson is crying .

Everyone is crying of happiness

Eddie jumps over the little wall separating him and Dani and spins her around to face him cupping her face and kissing her like there was no tomorrow .

She was free .

She was fucking free .

Finally she was going to be able to go home with him and Nate .

Finally all of this was over and they were putting everything behind them .

Finally Dani gets to go back where she belongs ,with Eddie .

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