#i wish we could have gotten just ONE filler episode of them!!!

[fatalwhims]

a helping hand

Vash learns that Wolfwood has never had his picture taken before and he decides to do something about it.

Or - my little head cannon of how the group photo in ep 12 came to be!

I finally wrote something about the damn picture that ruined me. I just love the tristamp gang!!

Read on AO3.

[east-polaris]

Some thoughts on the last few Magnus Protocol episodes as I’ve just now gotten caught up

SPOILERS!! Obvi

- feels rather cruel to have Alice be shaken up by her experience with The Horrors and worried that she’s going to get hurt by interacting with them and then give her a statement about someone who was shaken up by their experience with The Horrors and then died because of their interaction with them

- also return and voice of Ink5oul! Hey girlie!

- the fact that Madame E’s last video was just titled “help” made me giggle at first but then o thought about it more and. This is a person who uses excessive words on everything she says. Her vocabulary is loaded with filler and slang, so for this video to just have a one word title? Yeah you know shits about to go down

-Gwen girlie I hate to agree with Lena but they are Calle externals for a reason

- I am so curious about what’s going on with Celia. Like did she just wake up on a railroad track like an old times super villain put her there?

- And where does Celia keep disappearing to? She missed her date with Sam, she had to run out on her child, what’s going on?

- The statement in 17 is wild I was so confused at the beginning and I’ll be honest I’m still not sure what was happening there

- I know for a fact that people have pointed this out already but Jon and Martin?? In the therapy waiting room? Little Jon and Martin as a treat?? I hope it was them god knows they need the therapy

- MAGNUS INSTITUTE MENTION 🚨‼️🚨‼️

- this statement reminds me of when Jon said man I wish we had that guy who could take peoples bones out and Melanie said you’ll never guess who were keeping in the basement

- shout out to that housekeeper for getting the hell out of there I respect her for that

- making eye contact while falling down the stairs and breaking all your bones sounds very impressive and also hilarious someone please animate that

- CELIA HELLO??? Is this conformation that she’s from the other dimension??

- haha jmj error

- also WHAT JMJ ERROR

- I like to imagine that a jmj error happens when Jon Martin and Jonah are arguing about which case to give them

- “no Jonah you can’t give her that one that’s way too similar to what she went through she’ll freak out” “exactly we can watch her fear” “no you elitist prick that’s so rude cut it out or I’ll kill you again”

- why is Celia saying she’s seen Colin?

- Teddy is being so suspicious why is he saying everything like he’s looking from side to side shiftily the whole time

- Lena you can’t call a child an it that’s rude

- unless she knows something that we don’t…

- can’t believe they started to open up to each other and it went horribly wrong

- I don’t think we’ve ever heard Sam like that before, like I couldn’t tell who it was for a second

- actually, i couldn’t confidently tell you that we’ve ever heard someone laugh that hard in the entire podcast

- can you really blame him though? “Monsters are working for our government organization and one of them is Barney.” Wild.

-I do hope he apologizes though cause that wasn’t really cool of him

- Also is that our first f-bomb of the season?

- GEORGIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE

- I think that Georgie might also be from the other dimension. Why else would she be so concerned about the government stalking her? That does beg the question, where is Melanie?

Thank you for listening to me ramble I had a lot on my brain

[transmascutena]

these are the episodes that have the fairy tale prince story at the beginning: 1, 3, 8, 13, 16, 31, 33 (the visuals are different here, and i think the voice is too, but i'm not certain), 35 (starts out the same but goes on to show what really happened as revealed in the previous episode.)

lots of rambling about this with no real conclusion under the cut:

i've always kind of assumed it was a little arbitrary when they chose to reuse this scene, and usually it feels like it's simply there to take up more time in the episode, hence why it's there in some of the more filler-y ones (even though i hate using that term for the show.) of course the repitition in itself is thematic, but why at these specific times? obviously it has to be in the first episode, and it makes sense to have it in the third as well, to remind people and to show its importance, but also because utena's desire to be a prince is more relevant than usual in that episode, and is the first time we really see it outside the context of the dueling game. it makes sense that the recap episodes have it too, 13 because it is a recap and utena's backstory is important, and 33 because both the story and that episode are very important for utena's arc. 33 is especially interesting because it's the first time the scene changes, reflecting that utena might be starting to think about it differently. or think about it less, maybe, since the visuals of it are missing. and then the last time we see it in 35 makes a lot of sense too, since we've just gotten the true story which recontextualizes the whole thing.

this just leaves us with 8, 16, and 31. all of which are nanami episodes. if they wanted the story repeated to the audience more times, why not have it in episodes centered more around utena? like 9, the first time we get more context to utena's backstory? or 11 and 12. maybe 25, where akio reveals that he is the prince? or 30 where utena starts to question her devotion to the prince? why in nanami's episodes?

the first two are the body swap episode and the cow episode, and those could be written off as needing more scenes to pad the time out, and it not mattering too much since they're the sillier ones anyway. but her tragedy? i feel like there has at least has to be thematic relevance in that one. although, it does have several other scenes that seem to just be taking up time, like the one where we have to look at touga standing in the shower for a full 18 seconds. you could say these are all episodes that explore the theme of princehood, but i think that's a little bit of a stretch, and is only be true because it's a theme that shows up in every single episode of the show in some form anyway. these are not particularly special as far as that goes. as an example, i think it's a way more prevelant theme in episode 6 than it is in episode 8, both of which are first arc nanami-adjacent episodes. i can't see much reason for one to have it over the other than just. filler. but i want to read more into it so badly.... is it just that nanami and utena are parallel to each other? but then, not all the nanami episodes have it. is it in the cow episode because the cowbell and the ring are parallels? i think they could be, in the same way that people have pointed out the parallel to the earrings, but an even more obvious parallel is between utena's ring given to her by akio and nanami's own dueling ring given to her by touga, and we don't get the prince story in episode 10. does it mark episodes particularly important to nanami's arc? ehhhh, i could see that for cowbell of happiness and her tragedy, but curried high trip is not anywhere near as important as, say, the egg episode, or, again, episode 10.

i really wish i could come to a conclusion other than "it's there to fill up time" because that's so boring, but i can't really find much evidence to support any other reading. if you have other thoughts on this, please share them with me

[shannonallaround]

Knuckles Show Thoughts

This is just an overview but here we go. Spoilers ahead.

Parts were a fun experience. I cringed so much during this show though

Really liked all the ex-GUN bad guys 😈

Genuinely enjoyed the first two episodes for the most part—particularly the evil humans trying to get Knuckles, and Knuckles' interactions with the other Wachowskis.

We didn't get enough of the Wachowskis 🥲🥲🥲

Pachacamac—WHAT THE HECK. I mean it was funny in principle, but also so weird??? I didn't know how to feel about that. I'm just gonna say that Knuckles was meditating and that's what he experienced, and Wade's vision was a fever dream. Wades bowling alley vision was so cringe.

I loved Wade's mission-impossible vision of himself that was hilarious and awesome 😂 Honestly that whole episode was just fun and cool.

KNUCKLES GLIDING WAS COOL

The writing quality REALLY dropped in the third and fourth episodes. They felt like filler and much more amateur in terms of acting direction and pacing. It felt like the human actors were asked to improv, but they were given way too little direction within which to improv, and then their stuff wasn't cut or edited through enough afterwards. The pacing was very off as a result, especially in the third one.

Genuinely hated Wade's sister for the entirety of the 3rd episode. However, I think a lot of her character's despicableness was again a symptom of too much improv and not enough thinking through her character's behavior in advance by the writers.

I totally thought Wade's sister was gonna end up having lied about her position in the FBI, or was gonna end up being a janitor there or something, because she wanted to impress her family and suffers from the same self-doubt Wade does. I think that actually would have been way cooler for her character growth.

The one part I truly loved in the 3rd episode was the Jewish folk music during the epic fight around the candles! :D That was by far the best part of the episode.

Wade's mom really grew on me by the end. I like her a lot.

Overall I enjoyed the last two episodes. THE BAD GUY LORE WAS SO INTERESTING. It was really cool worldbuilding! I wish we could have gotten more of that. The bad guys talking to each other about their motivations relating to GUN was one of the neatest parts of the series and it lasted for about 5 minutes.

I really liked hating Wade's dad (as I was supposed to). I was very suspicious of him from the beginning and honestly did not want him to have a redemption arc, and I was not disappointed. Westley my beloved he was fantastic.

LOVED how Knuckles secretly knew about the bad guys' plan to have Wade betray him through using Wade having him use his earpods that was so genius and made me happy

The rings becoming an endless loop void thing was cool.

Knuckles' fire abilities were not nearly as cool to me as they probably were supposed to be. I get they were a reference, but it changes things a lot in this universe lore-wise and I'm not sure I like that.

The ending was kinda cool, but it felt very rushed. Wish we could have seen that cool battle mec for longer, and that guy could have been a direct opponent for longer. And Knuckles passing out was angsty and dramatic! But it felt like that moment deserved a lot more time.

KNUCKLES' ARC WAS NOT FINISHED. Whyyyyyy did we not get a scene at the end where Maddie, Sonic, and Tails are frantically looking for Knuckles and they're super worried about him?? Knuckles should have come back to them all freaking out that they can't find him anywhere and it's been like THREE DAYS, and he goes up to Maddie and humbly explains to her where he's been (helping Wade) and that he's sorry he's left, but that he realized that he had somewhere to return to. That he has a home. That the Wachowskis are his new home. And he is sorry; he will go back to being grounded. And there should have been a sweet sibling moment and momma moment between them all where they hug or something ahhhh. Again, WHY did we not get this??? I must write a scene to fix it.

More about the previous point because I'm not done. In the first Sonic film, the climax of Sonic's arc was when Tom said "he was my friend", but the actual completion of that arc was when Tom and Maddie invited him to live with them and be their kid. With Knuckles, we only got the climax of his arc (Wade saying he had a home) and not the conclusion (returning to his family and home). We were cheated!

WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THE GUY KICKED ONTO THE MUSHROOM PLANET IN EP. 1?

[cosmicjoke]

I hope you don't mind me sending another ask! Haha. I just love reading your thoughts :) No pressure to answer everything I send

What do you wish we had gotten more of in AoT?

Could be related to Levi, but could also be more generally related to other characters and/or world-building as well.

Personally, I wish we had gotten more Levi and Mikasa interactions, as well as more Ackerman lore in general and more about the Underground and Levi's childhood (super excited for the Bad Boy volume). I would have also loved more character-focused chapters/episodes amidst all of the plot-driven chapters—like seeing how Hange and Levi grieved Erwin and the rest of the Scouts after reclaiming Wall Maria. It would have also been interesting to see some of the Levi and Zeke interactions during their month together in the forest

Hi again, and no worries at all about the asks! I like receiving them, truly.

I'm actually really satisfied with AoT. I know a lot of people always find one or two things that they didn't like, or that they complain about. Obviously, since it's such a plot heavy story, with a lot of overarching themes, there wasn't a lot of time for, as you said, "character" moments, or I guess what some might call filler episodes. Although I feel like we did get plenty of moments which told us a lot about who every character was. Isayama has a lot of subtlety in his writing, and I think you really have to pay attention to understand what's going on and what's being said. But it's also not ambiguous, really, if you do pay attention.

With that said, I would love to have seen more background on a lot of the different characters, for sure. I understand why it wasn't possible, though, again due to the complexity of the plot and the possibility of distracting from that by spending too much time delving into things like backstory, etc...

I've read some fantastic fanfic that really delves into what Levi's life was like when he first joined the Scouts, and I think that would have been really cool to get to see more how Levi adjusted to such a different life from what he'd known. People talk a lot too about wanting more background on Hange, and that would have been nice to get as well. Getting more background on Erwin too, or any of the more minor supporting cast, like Mike or Nanaba or Petra, etc.... I know a lot of people aren't happy with the way Historia's ending happened either. I think a lot of those complaints come from people expecting Eren to be the father of her child, and then being pissed when that didn't pan out, so they accuse her arc of being unfinished. But I think it felt pretty complete. What else were we supposed to find out about her?

I guess that's what fan fiction is for, though, haha. Getting to explore different scenarios and aspects which weren't covered in the actual story.

With that said, I feel like we're extremely lucky to be getting an extra story about Levi. One thing I would really have loved to see was more of everyone's lives after the war. But of course, that's post main canon, and the story could have gone on indefinitely if that were the case, haha. But I'm hoping we get to see a little of Levi's life with Gabi, Falco and Onyankopon, along with more on his childhood, obviously. Either way, I'm just grateful to be getting anything extra at all from Isayama. I don't understand people who are complaining about it. Like, damn, he doesn't owe any more content to us, but he's got an extra story he wants to tell about one of the most important characters in the whole thing, and people are STILL whining that it's not what they want. People are so ungrateful sometimes.

[carnalapples]

Happy DADWC! Can I get "An Inquisition banner, mended many times over"?

Happy Friday! Little bit of a filler episode with some Inquisition members for @dadrunkwriting

WC: 1400

There are Inquisition banners everywhere in the Hinterlands. One sits in the center of the Redcliffe Square, and Linnea watches it flutter in the breeze, the cloth snapping tightly each time the wind picks up. The stitching has come loose near the edge, a thin ribbon of fabric jerked around violently by the wind, but no one comes to fix it. Linnea feels a strange kinship with this banner, pulled this way and that each day. The Inquisition is not going to help them. Especially not with Ashna Trevelyan at its head.

Free allies, indeed. They’re going to be under their watch with no freedom at all, she’s sure of it. 

Trevelyan is sitting in the shade of a tarp, pulled between two rotting floorboards, as she works at the stitches, her lips pressed together tight. Lady Trevelyan, that’s always what they called her when she was acting up. Linnea refused; it went against the whole point of the Circles, although it doesn’t really matter now. And she looks like a lady now, hard at work at her needlepoint. 

Or not. Trevelyan frowns at the fabric and forces the thread through like she’s stitching up a patient, no real art to it. There’s a tension in her limbs that feels uncomfortably familiar. She’s about to leave when the woman looks up, and she fights the urge to groan. 

“Hey,” Trevelyan offers, fidgeting with the needle between her fingers. Linnea nods back neutrally. She tries her best, anyway. 

“So, you’re going back soon?”

She adds another stitch to the stark black line appearing across the cloth, a visible scar. “We’ll go back with you all. There’s time.”

“We can pack it up on our own,” she says lightly.

“I know. But Cassandra insisted. And it

“That cozy with her, huh?”

Trevelyan sets the needle down, glancing up at her fully for the first time. “She’s kind.”

“If you say so. Comfy little Chantry job, I guess you get used to it.” Now that she has the chance to size the older girl up, it’s like she’s got no control over it. If only things could be easy for once.

Trevelyan blinks. “Yeah. It’s great. Did you need something, or…”

Didn’t even want to come over here, she thinks, but she smiles thinly. “Just catching up. Herald,” she says slowly, and when she leaves, she’s sure both of them are breathing sighs of relief. 

Three days later, they’re all set to leave—but Linnea catches the banner out in the square, dark line of stitches down the edge, but unfinished, one small flap still loose. She huffs. Really. Not her problem, they’ve got an early start in the morning.

But in the morning, the banner is mended, and Trevelyan’s lightly fingering the edge with a furrowed brow.

///

Cullen sits in the middle of his cot, frowning down at the cloth as he pushes the needle in and pulls it out. His hands shake most at the end of the day, and he pricks his finger on the next stitch. A drop of blood wells up against his pale skin. He lets it bead up for a second, watching it bloom. He slips his finger into his mouth then, thinking of the Inquisitor. He doesn’t know why he makes these connections, but he wishes they would stop. Or not. It is much more pleasant to think of Lady Trevelyan than other things. 

She’d like Griffon Wing; he’s not really sure why, but he’s sure she’d find something enjoyable about the place. Cullen himself has been struggling to see past the sand that winds up in every crevice of the world and the insects that have gotten very creative about sneaking into the keep. 

But in the morning, the sunrise is like nothing he’s seen before. Like he’s waking up to a whole new world every morning.

“Knock, knock,” Rylen calls out, his hand hovering over the open door. Cullen snorts. 

“Yeah?”

“You want me to get one of the recruits to work on that?”

Cullen blinks down at the banner. Is there really any point left in working away at it until all his fingers go numb?

“No,” he says. “I’ve got it.”

“Yes, sir.” He narrows his eyes at Rylen, who grins shamelessly. “What?”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing’s going on. Not used to the respect, are you?”

“Not from you,” he drawls. Rylen scoffs. 

“Shove off mate, I respect you plenty. Don’t go fishing for compliments, now.” He comes closer to sit on the stool by the cot, which Cullen quickly clears of stray needles. “I, uh. Wanted to check in about it.” He gestures to the door, and Cullen hesitates, before shaking his head. It’s not so much a good day as an average one. There’s not much to hide.

“I’m okay. Today’s a good day.” It’s a stretch, and Rylen’s unimpressed look tells him he feels it too, but he doesn’t press.

“Alright, then.” He leans back, watching as Cullen threads the needle that’s slipped. It’s harder with him watching, but he doesn’t look too closely at his shaking hands or offer to help. “I was wondering,” he asks suddenly, and Cullen nearly drops the needle with a sigh. “Do you still think it’s possible? For anyone to quit?’

That stills him. He looks at Rylen, somewhat avoiding his gaze, eyes tracing the flaming sword with a gash through it, lined with red thread.

“I do,” he says firmly, surprising the both of them. He clears his throat. “Do you think you…”

“Not yet,” he says. “Too many Venatori around here, and—I don’t think I’m ready. Yet.” He scratches at his jaw, stubble overgrown. “But someday. Maybe.”

Someday has gotten Cullen through more than he knows.

///

“Seeker, what do you have there?” The satisfied lilt to Varric’s voice tells Cassandra that she’s not going to live this down for at least a week. Not for the first time, she wonders, why did it have to be Varric?

“The banner was torn.” It lies in her lap, along with a spool of green thread that is wholly unsuited and really only serves as a reminder of the Breach. But it was all Ashna had, and Cassandra cannot pretend to care enough to make the girl search out something else. 

“Sure, but it adds character, doesn’t it?” Again, to be caught in one of these practices that is a remnant of her former life is bad enough. For it to be Varric who catches her is intolerable. “Sometimes I forget you’re a princess.”

“There is no version of events in which I am a princess, Varric.”

“That’s cause you’re not thinking creatively, Seeker. You could be a princess if you spun it the right way.”

“No thank you. Princesses lead horrible lives,” she says flatly. They are forced to marry, and they have to deal with politicians, and often, they die, violently and pathetically, this last point of which haunts her more than it should. Varric shrugs.

“Suit yourself.” Cassandra snags the thread on some edge, and it snaps. She growls under her breath. “Though you look like you could use some help with that, at least.”

She blinks. “You sew?”

“Hawke couldn’t keep a pair of trousers intact for the life of her,” he says mournfully. “Perfectly good clothes, gone in a week.”

Cassandra smooths the edge of the banner, trying not to let her curiosity show. “And you were the one to fix these things.”

“I had people for that.” He sighs. “But not enough people to keep up with that woman. You know, she once nearly split her shirt open and flashed the whole of Hightown? Now that was a story!” He shoves his hands back in his pockets and rocks back on his heels, the picture of innocence. “But I’m sure you don’t have the time for it.” 

Infuriating man. Infuriating thread. Why does the Inquisition need banners at all? They will hear of their deeds in Varric’s stories, to be certain. 

“Until I finish this, I have nothing but time. I would… like to hear this story.”

“One one condition.” He holds up one finger in the air, taunting. “You agree that the statute of limitations has run out. It did all happen five years ago, of course.”

Cassandra looks down at the fabric, where the thread has gotten hopelessly tangled. It’s a lost cause.

But she does want to hear about Hawke.

[photogirl894]

Although I do have faith that the writers will make an amazing conclusion to tbb, I do wish we got more seasons and time with them. First of all, it would mean more Bad Batch content and I would love that. But additionally, I think it would have been helpful to have more time so they could have some more emotional beats maybe? My primary problem was that the first time I saw the batch, it was in their show. Which isn’t bad, but I didn’t get a complete feel for the baseline for the characters presented in season 7 of the clone wars. So my baseline personality for Crosshair was affected by the chip, and when I kept asking my brother “wait, why is he being like this? Is this because of the chip?” he just responded “No, Crosshair is just an asshole and always has been.” This was the response that I got every time I questioned about how the other batch members reacted to his behavior and what not, so eventually I ended up believing him until I got to see the Bad Batch Arc in season 7 of The Clone Wars. That’s when I got to see Crosshair’s baseline personality and how he truly does love his brothers, and it was such a dramatic difference from the “Crosshair is a jerk to everyone, even his brothers, because he is a natural born asshole” persona that my brother kind of got me to believe was the true him.

I guess that might be more of a “me” problem lol, but it would have been nice to see a bit more of them and their dynamic before the fallout of order 66. Heck, if having filler means some more time for the batch to have more emotional moments and getting used to being people and not just soldiers, then give me that freaking filler! I love this show, I just wish that we could get some more official content and that it wasn’t ending soon.

Believe me, anon, I wish for so much more, too. I know the creators only wanted 3 seasons, but it just doesn't feel like it was enough...though honestly, they could give us another 15 seasons and I'd still say it wouldn't be enough! I could watch the boys for the rest of my life.

Also, I'm sorry your brother misled you about Crosshair's true personality. I do feel like we've gotten a lot of his old self in season 3 and it's been super nice to see that side of him again, the side that truly cares about his brothers (and now sister) and is capable of being compassionate towards others, too.

I know there's only so much they can fit in 20-some minutes and for a number of episodes, which does make it that certain things get left out like more emotional moments, but I do feel like there's still been plenty of emotional moments throughout the show. The ones people seem to want are a little more in the range of fanfiction-type expectations, like the boys all sitting down and discussing their feelings, etc. That's mostly not what they do. We can make them as emotional together as we want in fanfiction, but that doesn't mean we're gonna see it officially in canon, as nice as it might be.

Overall, I'm not ready to say goodbye 🥺

[doctorwholover01]

So. I really don't know how I feel. I just feel numb. Mourning the loss of three thing being TWD, a show that dicked me about for 8 years but still helped me a lot. Carol, a character like no other that I will love until the end of my days who deserves the world and so much more and so much better. And Caryl, the ones who have helped me more than anything, who's ending again deserved so much more they should of gotten so much more. I think that's why I feel more numb than I'd thought. The I loves yous scene I'm ngl I felt like needed so much more. But it's more than I expected. But I still feel so unsatisfied. Out of all the characters, Carol and Daryl were the only ones, the only ogs left, that never got their happy ending which hurts more than anything. And still to the very last moment it makes no sense on why Daryl left the kids. Left Carol. After saying to Judith during the EP he wasn't going anywhere. But off he goes. The diolouge at the lake the I'm proud of you it made me hurt, she needed to hear that from him. The rest of it. It felt like a filler. Saying it'll be good for them if Daryl leaves, that Daryl wishes Carol goes with her, she looked upset about the job she is in but doesn't go. Makes no sense. Caryl still needed to be fixed as much as we got the i love you scene they were still broken. On several occasions they could of spoke this episode, during Daryl giving blood, while waiting for Judith to wake up from Tomi fixing her up. Even just a separate moment just one. For a talk to fix things.

I will miss Caryl so much, miss Carol and Daryl so fucking much. This numb feeling is not what I thought would be what I was left with but I can't stop crying because it hurts. For more reasons than more.

[leekimdramas]

May I Help You Review (Spoiler Free)

This is yet another tearjerker of a drama in 2022... We had Tomorrow, If You Wish Upon Me, and now this??

Baek Dong Joo just started to work as a funeral director when she discovered that she can see the dead for a few moments before they ascend.

However, her boyfriend is not so happy about her job, so he decides to break up with her via another person who happens to be our male lead Tae Hee.

This is yet another drama that started out great, I knew that I’m probably going to cry every week while watching it but it had so many fun moments.

The stories of the dead and their last wishes were interesting and kept me waiting for the next week.

Everything was great until we got into the drama with Tae Hee’s ex and his little brother.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed his backstory and how he came to work this job but the plot twists and the dark side of it weren’t that great.

It rather felt like a filler than anything else. That’s why I stopped carrying about a lot of stuff that is happening and even the main couple which was extremely cute wasn’t enough to keep my attention.

It lasted until episode 16 but I have to say, I really enjoyed the wrap-up. They did it with lots of my tears but it was a nice finish.

The main characters are not only adorable together but individually they’re very fun to watch too.

It’s also probably one of the healthiest relationships in dramaland, they communicate with each other so well and I could feel the chemistry between them.

Other characters like Dong Joo’s dad and uncle or Tae Hee’s uncle sometimes became scene stealers and were hilarious to watch!

I also wish we would have also gotten a bit more screen time with Dong Joo’s friend. Maybe instead of drama just show me how Dong Joo and Tae Hee are meeting with those two.

Overall, I think the drama should have focused on the fantasy part, the characters that they’re building, and not the unnecessary drama that lasts through half of it.

If not for my expectations for it to become better and my love for Hyeri, I might have dropped it somewhere in the middle but I’m pleased I stayed and saw the nice ending.

7/10

[its-so-kivi]

Mkay. #1

I feel like i’m deep into season one of my life right now, which is weird cause im 28. idk if it’s that it feels like season one or that I'm lying to myself so that way I can force some like dramatic finale and start off strong on season two. ANYWAY life has been giving like...filler episode lately and I hate that for me cause EW. that being said I honestly feel like I'm on the edge of some kind of like climax of something I can almost see something on the horizon. something that keeps me confused is wondering if I should start giving into my impassive choices ,quitting my job, starting a new one, going to New York for a bit, going to Sundance by myself. like the last time I made a huge jump in my life was moving to LA. even though I “planned” it out over a year it still was like a crack job of a plan ya know? and so I wonder what would happen if I just lived my life like that? I feel like all my LA friends kinda do that, and even though I'm not a follower! maybe I can be inspired to do the same...would it be more fun? would I be my true self? will I get discovered? but there is always the thought of where am I going to get the money for this? I’m like already broke....but...im sure I can be broke while in New York...or in a cabin in Salt Lake City . I feel like as I've gotten older I've either, gotten less bold or too responsible or both. I hate that. like I was suppose it to be in nyc tomorrow to see my friends band play a show there and I was going cause it was gonna be this whole like monumental thing for them and like legit almost everyone we know is gonna be there, but I was broke, and I wanted to go so bad that I sold my Starbuck stock. money that I've literally been sitting on for five years cause I couldn’t be bother to learn about stocks. I sold it. for a plane ticket. and not only did I get this money, but I also got paid after not working for a week thinking i’m gonna get like $50 bucks and get a check bigger than I expected which is great but....I like....dilly dally on finding a ticket...why? why?  I've bought plane tickets for trips in like 2 mins before why was I putting this off? maaaaybe because for the last like 5-6 months I’ve had my account go into the negatives a least three times EVERY month? or possibly because I've been so broke I legit couldn't pay for the bus fee to get to work. idk but I think deep in the back of my mind I wanted the tickets to go up and up so I could say “oh they got too expensive” like I wish I was there but I'm not to like torn up about it. also it kinda gives me the opportunity to go on the solo trip I wanted. but what if I save it? like I legit have had money all this month so what would happen if I hold onto it? like im a fun, cool, creative bitch but im tired of being broke dude....like this shit stop being inspiring after my first year here. and all I can think about is all the stuff I need for my acting career. new headshots, my actors access membership(that I haven’t had since my birthday in April) like I need that stuff too. part of me is like YOLO BITCH SPEND THAT SHIT!! and another is like sis get your headshots so you can win an Oscar. annnnyway im doing well and I hope you guys are too. :)

[graciegra]

Centaurworld S2

S1 wasn't my cup of tea but it teased a promising S2, with a darker setting (S1 already had dark themes) and a war. And we got that... kinda.

Short version, this season could had been 3 episodes long. The first one, Rider’s episode and the finale movie. The others weren't exactly filler but they amounted to nothing on the overall history, the Herd weren't that relevant this time, yeah thanks to them Horse learned the power of friendship but she learned that since S1.

Arcs that went Nowhere

To some degree, the Herd

Yeah we get their backstories but in a all flashbacks episode which was nice to explore Horse’s power but it amounted to nothing knowing why they were like that, it was not even character development or something that intense I was wondering why x character was like they are.

Becky Apples

Oh why Im witting this, idk she was teased as much more but meanwhile what we got was badass I don't see why she should have gotten this much attention when they will leave her a mystery I guess (she commits war crimes, I know she does, love you)

Rider

We got a whole season, some banger songs, a cute reunion but for what, meanwhile Rider got her own episode we barely got to know more about her (I do like we never learn any of the human’s names). Her side of the war should had more relevance and she should had met with Horse much sooner and the whole obligatory misunderstanding that get fixed 1 minute later failed to raise the stakes because we never saw Rider doubt Horse before, why now.

The Nowhere Nowhere

I liked what they tried to do, Im guessing the time and budget nation attacked and didn't let the staff keep the pace they planned. The finale was rushed but at the same time was slow. Horse vs Nowhere king headspace was good, same with Nowhere king motivations but it was presented weirdly. Also I wish we got more time on human world, see the war, how is the army, more of the General, make us like him, make Rider trust him more so she would doubt Horse, more.

Even with the out of order flashbacks, some things don't add up, the backstory is great its just the execution who failed the landing. Maybe Princess and Nowhere needed more interactions, some other small flashbacks to see them getting know each other, an event to trigger Nowhere doubts that pushes him to try to get his beast self, was the kingdom really alright losing the princess? How did she found out about them being the same person? Why no one stopped Nowhere when he was starting? Maybe add more hate from Nowhere to General, more baggage. BUT they did a great job wording and explaining how the characters aren't okay with certain things but they acknowledge where they came from.

She being the one to deal the final blow, that was great, I wish we could have gotten some minutes from her POV, not the romance but what she thought of this as a whole. She was the princess, she saw how the General tried to kill Nowhere, what he did to her kingdom... She is cool.

Anyway, the humans, horses and Waterbaby continue being the most interesting characters for me. Im glad it had a happy ending and Horse and Rider were reunited.

(Kimiko I love you, continue voicing singing horses)

[lovecolibri]

SaL anon here my friend and, well, I for one am happy I watched the LS finale after the OG finale, at least the evening ended on a good note. So at the risk of really getting salty, let's talk about these two shows (when your up for it, I'd get it if your still didappointed). So I'll just say it, it's painfully obvious that Tim switched over to LS, not just because of how 911 OG has suffered but because I actually feel that the LS season as a whole was far better than OG's. No it's not perfect

there's still way too much Owen in relation to the other mains, but let's compare. The OG season intro was the blackout, not nearly as entertaining as it looked because we had to have copaganda. The LS season intro was the ice storm which not only distributed time across all the mains but had some beautiful, emotional moments plus set up future episodes. Most of the calls on OG were just there, like they didn't connect to anything really (probably because they were supposed to be  showcasing L but since so much of her time was cut they come off as pointless. On LS I felt like most of the calls either tied in with the plot or into a particular characters storyline, even if they were silly ones (Lou the Lizard was pure joy). While LS has a few "meh" episodes or storylines none were so divisive and made the audience incandescently mad as the crap OG pulled the season, particularly in relation to Buck. The introduction of a questionable guest storyline in LS  ended up being an actual delight that wasn't pushed down the audiences throat (meaning Wyatt being Judd's son). Meanwhile on OG we have the whole L debacle, for which the storyline (meaning setting her up as a LI) got cut when it was hated so she was just there taking up screen time. In fact LS in general wasted incredibly little time on guest stars while in OG, well you know. Finally, since this is getting long, there's the finale. LS ended with an emergency that fed into  storylines and wrapped them up with a truly happy ending, including the Tarlos engagement which had been but up all season. OG ended with nonsense/gross calls that went nowhere, barely wrapping up Eddie's storyline which is probably the only thing that kept most people watching all season, and a breakup that sooo much time was wasted to build toward when they literally could have had that storyline anywhere in the season because TayKay was the same!! I know we've compared kr's  version of 911 to CAM running RNM over and over again but the biggest similarity is one of the reasons this season is so bad, so much of it was just done for shock value, and usually lead nowhere. The L kiss was the biggest example, it didn't contribute anything to Buck's breakup. The whole Jonah torture scene was the same, as was the creepy rapist cult. The big 5b set pieces I guess were supposed go be dramatic, but they fell flat. Buck and Chim's fallout just got resolved ***oh no Tumblr ate the post!*** SaL anon here bestie and I think I ended up with 7 parts (though I might have mislabeled some) and definitely got yelled at by tumblr for posting too many asks in 1 hour (my cue i really was rambling at that point) so the last one might have indeed gotten eaten. Pretty sure I ended with the oft repeated sincere wish both kr and L be gone next season for all our sanity. But I'm happy to see your feeling the salt too, can't wait to hear your thoughts!!

Oh bestie, where do we start? I would like to point out for the record that I never thought we would get Buddie roommates, gay Eddie reveal, or explicate Buddie hints in this episode, so I’m not disappointed about speculation that didn’t come true. I know a lot of people can get their hopes up on speculation (I’m guilty sometime myself!) and then get disappointed when it doesn’t happen, but my disappointment is pretty much tied up in what a waste of time most of this episode felt like. Like, it was fine I guess for a filler episode, but a) the finale shouldn’t be a filler episode, and b) the finale that includes a missed opportunity wedding moment shouldn’t cram that moment into the last 3 minutes of a filler episode, in a montage split with everyone out doing different things! (Also Toni apparently officiated? But we hear NOTHING about that after her missing their wedding because she was not originally on board with her daughter marrying a woman?! How was that not bigger news?!) 

Anyway, my disappointment is about other things but first, for sparking joy, lets talk about LS! I have my gripes with the show which will probably come up later, but (sorry LS and LS fans) I’m not as invested in LS so I’m happier to just see where it goes and enjoy the good moments we get. Because overall it WAS a good season! I was ready to roll my eyes at the whole Wyatt storyline, but the moment he was introduced and was such a sweet young man and his appearance was handled so well, I was on board. And what a fun little arc it turned out to be! We got some really heartfelt moments for the Ryder family this season! 

As always, I want more/longer/in depth storylines and absolutely more balanced screentime in general in every episode for characters like Marjan, Nancy, Mateo, Paul, Carlos, and Grace, but this season definitely worked at giving them all moments to shine, and shine they did! They also really leaned into the “126 hangs” and showing the younger crew constantly in each other’s pockets which was really nice to see. I also didn’t totally hate Tommy’s storylines this season. They hinted at her starting to date and it felt like a huge HARD PASS, but they bumped it out a few weeks and the pacing felt right and when it came it was a disaster but in a gentle, human way and really set her up to be ready to move on. I know the Julius thing is divisive, but I saw it coming so I was already braced for impact and it honestly could have been worse so 🤷🏻‍♀️ We all know the whole Owen situation is what it is, but I didn’t like, hate him every second. I actually really enjoyed a lot of his scenes and the ones I didn’t were more just me rolling my eyes and then ignoring them or forgetting about them immediately, it didn’t totally kill my joy in the season, more like a minor annoyance I’ve (mostly) learned to live with as long as I don’t think about it too much and get riled up.

And Tarlos!! I had some different expectations for them, but honestly after struggling with the OG all season it was really nice to see them being so domestic and soft most of the time, and the angst we did get was always pushing the characters towards growth, both for themselves and for their relationship. The engagement was so well earned! I also love that we got to see TK go from someone was so nervous to tell his dad about proposing because he knew his dad wouldn’t agree and proposing in place he normally wouldn’t go (literally out of his comfort zone) only to get rejected and told he was being cheated on, to someone who proposed at 3:18 in the morning after waking the love of his life up because he literally could not wait another minute to tell Carlos he wanted to leave everything to his husband. No fear of rejection, no popping the question to try and salvage things when there was distance and trouble between him and his partner, no big build up to try and make everything perfect, just a quiet, personal proposal made entirely from an overflowing of love, safety, security, and JOY about the future. LOVE this for them. (Also Lou the Lizard WAS pure joy and probably traumatized Carlos for life 🤣) 

But overall it was a really strong season with a lot of delightful moments and I very much enjoyed myself and enjoyed watching each episode, even if I had almost no idea what was coming up after OG came back and my brain was busy with that mess. I will absolutely be watching this whole season again which I don’t think I can say about OG for the first time ever as I’m not one to skip scenes or episodes ever when re-watching things.

Anyway this bit already got long and the rest is…salt gremlin-y so it’s going under a cut. Also I have been working on this for ages after a very brain melting day at work so it’s barely edited and probably a mess and is definitely entirely too long. Enjoy!

Okay, I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt very “meh” about the calls this season. And I don’t know if it’s because usually they tied into what the mains were going through that episode, but most of the mains didn’t have a lot going on so we were missing that connection, or what, but they were pretty lackluster overall for me this season, especially in 5b. 5a at least had the hostage situation, the hospital call and that adorable wlw oil spill call to name a few.

The most egregious of course was the finale. The truck call gave us a reminder of Dosed but the truck going off the cliff ultimately amounted to nothing! They could have had the man get stuck in a tree while the people hounded him from below as the callback to 2x06 for all the effect that call ended up having. It felt more like something dramatic they could put in the trailer to hype the episode without actually having any baring on anything. The hair salon call could have gone at any point this season, or not at all! I’m still confused on how you’d get maggots from hair if they were getting it directly from the funeral home. It’s not like they were digging up bodies that were decomposing or anything! They use cadaver skin as a temporary covering before permanent grafts so like, WHY did we have to witness that?! And the amnesia couple, while very sweet, and actually having something to do with “starting over” and what love and partnership mean, also felt like WAY too much because of all the other calls! And they easily could have worked in a different way for Buck and Maddie to have that discussion, it didn’t need to be tied up in a call that needed set up, rescue, 2 scenes at the hospital, and a whole montage about their life story, in the finale that should have been focused on our mains. Then again, what else is new this season.

Honestly, 5x17 should have focused more on Eddie and the set up for the Jonah storyline and ended on the “Hen getting taken” cliffhanger (like seasons 2, 3, and 4 all ended on cliffhangers leading into the big story for the finale), and let the finale deal with the rescue and subsequent fallout. Because Buck brought up something very interesting that, not to brag, I totally called which was the LAFD raising questions about who talked to the press before the LAFD even had a chance to really start their investigation and determine what if anything needed to be public knowledge while the investigation was on-going. I have another ask or two about the breakup so I’ll go into my feelings about that more there and how it ties into this issue, but they could have made a little more of it to fill out the finale and lead to Buck’s arc next season, instead of random filler calls. But you’re absolutely right that this breakup could have happened at any point because it’s literally their first argument all over again, and she is exactly the same as she’s always been.

At least we got to see Maddie for the most part make her big decision on screen though I would have killed for a conversation with her and Sue about coming back. But I’m trying not to be salty about how little we saw of Maddie after Boston because I know they were likely working around JLH’s requested schedule, which she deserves. I just think there were a scene or two that they used her for that they maybe didn’t need to so she COULD be used in places where it made more sense. For example, her showing up to the hospital after Karen did and seeing her with Chim and when he asks where Jee is she says with Uncle Buck which then cuts to Buck watching Jee and seeing the news and leaving the message for tay kay.

Most of my disappointment comes from, as I mentioned, Henren’s big moment being a wordless montage in the middle of cuts to people doing other things, and the show teasing May and Eddie making big decisions, only for them to not actually SHOW US them making those decisions! *screams into pillow* Eddie and his arc carried 5b on it’s back, and has consistently been brought up on SM as one of the only things keeping people interested in 5b. So for him to barely have any time all episode, for them to not bring up what happened with his dad last week, or make a big deal about him being back on the team or talking to anyone about going back on the team, and for him to be relegated to the back of the group shot with his “replacement” (that was never needed) in front of him, really felt like a slap in the face. (At least we got Oliver Buck making heart eyes and smiling at having his partner back, I guess?)

The truck scene was…also a slap in the face making Chim be the one to stick up for the person who insulted him behind his back and was besties with Jonah, and it was a slap in the face to Buck saying he should be the one to lose his family if he steps out of line because they would rather have her, which is LITERALLY everything Buck is sensitive about made into a “joke” to keep shoving this character down our throats. The “families” montage at the end during the ceremony not only gave us NOTHING on the Buckely-Diaz family front (disappointed but not surprised), but also gave us Eddie sitting between Chim and some rando, and Buck next to L, and sitting at least 2 people away from Eddie, IF Ravi or L were next to Chim which I don’t think we even know for sure.

I wasn’t expecting any conversation about Buck and Chim’s relationship because, like the will, KR flat out said she thought those things were resolved and didn’t need to be brought up again. HOWEVER, as we have seen time and time again like with lots of people asking about Eddie’s recovery/PTSD, and Buck Begins, sometimes they do take dropped threads and bring them back up again so we might get some Chim/Buck fallout, especially if Buck is going to be going through it next season. So I don’t want to hear it that people who complained were wrong because some of these things DID come back up. They could, but only if Tim decides they’re important because KR doesn’t think they are 🤷🏻‍♀️

You’re soooo right about this being reminiscent of CAM and RNM with things being done for shock value and then never brought up again, and big things happening off screen that we’re told about later that we SHOULD be seeing. And god can you imagine if they HADN’T cut the L stuff after the backlash about the kiss?! They wanted to have them “poking” at each other all goddamn season while Buck was still with his gf, only for that to not have anything to do with the breakup?! Seriously they not only greenlight this whole thing, but wrote, and FILMED it and NO ONE along the way thought to say “maybe let’s not?” until they got the overwhelming backlash?! I mean, Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ.

This is far too long already and I desperately need to shut up but I am manifesting SO HARD that they decide to cut their losses and get rid of L over the hiatus in a single throwaway line like they did with Ali (no shade, she doesn’t deserve to be lumped in with L, I’m so sorry!) and then we never see or hear from her again. My cynical side says they cut as much as they did to keep ratings for this season but also to not give the GA anything MORE to hate about her so they could start fresh in season 6 when most of them have forgotten all about the kiss that amounted to nothing and just remember seeing her face and that she was “around”. So I’m bracing for that, BUT I am…absolutely being a petty ass bench about nearly every single specific thing AK teased about this season after 5x11 being cut. No sweet bonding moments with Chim, Bobby, Eddie, or Buck, no teaming up with Bobby to tease Buck, no rock, paper, scissors with her and Buck on a call, no “poking” with Buck, no talking about her family with the team, no big build up leading to something “big” in the finale, not even really anything about her story being left “open” to return next season because she HAD no story! She was just *there* at the end, which people have already talked about being super confusing because she was Eddie’s replacement so how is she there still if he’s back?

Anyway, on the bright side, we did get some really good, sweet, and heartfelt moments which I’m looking forward to sharing gifs of, and this season we at least got a LOT of phenomenal Eddie content in 5b (and they will hopefully keep that up), we got some surprising yet utterly delightful new friendships (or frenemies) with Eddie at dispatch (and Maddie in Boston), we got Hen and Chim besties, some VERY loud Buddie/Buckley-Diaz family stuff, Buck finally setting himself free from the red-headed leach sucking the light and life out of him (now he just needs to lose the loft, but on his OWN terms, not hers), and Ravi, as always, bringing a sparkle to every scene he's in. If ANYONE deserves to be named as part of the 118 family it’s him. That man has put in the WORK. And by WORK, I mean he has suffered as only family can make you suffer.

Cheers, bestie! Here's to a nice hiatus of songs and Buck/Eddie/Buddie feels and soon Malex feels as well!

[thetimelordbatgirl]

The fact they cat goddess created the gems just to basically see what would happen and never intervened when people kept using them for evil makes her seem like a maniac. The gems in general are wasted potential imo, i wish we had gotten more history on them, on how the music box was created and what lead up to them being using as a conquering tool, and why the temples we're created.. in particolar the fact that they need to be recharged feels kinda weird if they're made by a godlike being...

Honestly, the whole cat god aspect really just came out of nowhere. Like, they literally realized only in finale they never explained how the gems came to be, so they just shoved in a random cat god while also referencing Anne being high on dentist drugs saying Domino is a god, and called it a day. Like, some foreshadowing about this god would have been nice at least??? I'm sure we could have killed one filler episode to foreshadow cat god here, or just explained the box finally in an episode because it really only got explained in the damn finale.....

Honestly, if they need recharging, then damn, the cat god really failed to make good gems, huh? Then again, they themselves admitted they made the gems on a whim, so....

[lollreagan]

a fruits basket review: (s1-3 finished)

so this one surprising took me a while to complete. and usually i’m the type of person that lovessss a good romantic story and will binge it all in one go, but this one was difficult for me.

There were too many plot and filler episodes mixed between each other. this is probably what made the show hard for me to keep watching. especially season 1 and 2 were drawn out pretty long. i even told my sister that I though all of the major arcs could have been done in a 13 episode season instead, like how seaosn 3 was done. the pacing was perfect for season 3. season 1 and 2, not so much.

petition to have added more depth to the haru+rene story arch!!!!! i’m sorry to all of the kyo+tohru fans out there, but they were my favorite ship of the whole show. and i feel like once rene was released from the hospital, her and haru were basically forgotten. i would have liked to have known more about them, and not only that, but gotten to see their relationship blossom + fan service moments ofc. i really just wanted to see more of them, but didn’t.

why did momigi grow up. there was really no explanation except for the characters blatantly saying every 5 seconds “wow he really grew.” okay. but why?? i really didn’t understand the point except to maybe show that he could have a crush on tohru, which was only addressed in 3 episodes and then totally forgotten about. wish we could have seen how momigi felt that tohru and kyo ended up growing old together, but i guess i’ll have to make it up for myself.

tohru’s character development. oh my god this one pissed me off so much. yes, sweet little tohru. except that’s exactly why i hated her. i hated that they made her a literal mary sue. her only flaws were that she loved people unconditionally? cmon now. justice for tohru. they made everything that was dark about her mom or dad, and not really about her. she didn’t really start to change until middle of season 3, at the LITERAL END OF THE SHOW.

akito’s character. her character development was SOMETHING FINALLY DONE RIGHT. i hated her so much. i hated how she got away with the abuse and the trauma she caused all of the zodiac members. but this is what made her so powerful. she was finally something right in the story that made me want to keep watching. and she finally had an epiphany when she was talking to tohru that literally led her to free all of the zodiacs from their curses. talk about development. i just really hated how she ended up with shigure at the end of the show, but it was fitting for her. me hating her, with her being the antagonist of the show, is evidence that she was a well-written character.

my favorite characters:

haru

kyo

yuki

rene

the vice president!!! ( sorry i forgot his name)!

hatori

tohru

machi

overall, the pacing was a huge factor for me. it would be much higher on my list if it weren’t so slow at points. i literally took a 2 month hiatus between season 1 and 2 because it was just so hard to continue watching at the lack of character growth and the slow slow pace of the show. overall, 7/10

[duhragonball]

Mai was one of Emperor Pilaf’s henchmen from the first Dragon Ball arc.   The other one was a shina ibu dog named Shu, and their names were a play on shumai, a type of Chinese dumpling.  

The Pilaf gang’s final appearance in the manga was when King Piccolo betrayed them and tossed them off their own airship.   They showed up again in a filler episode near the end of the Dragon Ball anime.   They didn’t appear again until the first episode of Dragon Ball GT, but the joke was that they were much older by that time.

Wow, I forgot how ragged Shu looked in GT...

The trio returned in the 2013 film Battle of Gods, but this time they were small children, which Pilaf explained was due to a wish they made on the Dragon Balls off-screen. 

I always assumed this was done as a direct response to their depiction in GT. Either they didn’t like the GT version, or they wanted to try something different to set this movie apart from GT.  In any event, the Pilaf Gang meets Goten and Trunks in the movie, and Trunks develops a romantic interest in Mai.   At first she tries to use this to her advantage, but by the end of the movie it’s implied that they might really be an item.

I mean, here they are, literally sitting in a tree.  This can only lead to K-I-S-S-I-N-G.  After that, who knows?  Love?  Marriage?  Could Mai end up pushing a baby carriage?   Quite likely.

The Trunks/Mai relationship carried on into Dragon Ball Super, but it never seemed to go anywhere.   For some reason, the Pilaf Gang seemed to be just... living in Bulma’s house for a while?  And I’m not sure anyone ever noticed that they were the same people from that first Dragon Ball arc.   The most serious development Trumai ever got in the show was when Future Trunks showed up, and it turned out he was in a relationship with the Mai of his own alternate timeline.

DBS went out of their way to make it clear that the two couples were not the same people, but alternate timeline counterparts to one another, but presumably this Future Mai had the same backstory up to a point.  She must have gotten de-aged by Pilaf’s wish on the Dragon Balls, and then survived the Androids Crisis.   The implication in the story was that Trunks and Mai seemed destined to end up together, since it happened in this other timeline.

From a fandom standpoint, a lot of people liked the Trumai ship, but it has plenty of critics.  For one thing, Mai was a lot cooler when she was a bad guy in the old days of Dragon Ball.   It feels like Toei flanderized her to make her a suitable love interest for Trunks.  Also, Trunks/Goten has been a popular slash pairing for many years, and some fans don’t like the implications of giving Trunks a girlfriend. 

But the biggest objection is that Mai is chronologically old enough to be Trunks’ mother.   You can de-age the character to make her look younger, but she still retains all of her memories and experiences from her adult life.  Future Blunks/Future Mai is one thing, because they’re both adults and they presumably met as adults, since we never saw her in DBZ.  But having Kid Mai get together with Kid Trunks is pretty awkward, to say the least.   She claimed to be 41 in Battle of Gods, but I’m pretty sure she’s even older than that.

Personally, I don’t have strong feelings about the matter, since Kid Trumai never seemed to go anywhere in the show, so it’s hard for me to get worked up over it.  It’s an example of Toei/Shueisha being really slapdash with characters’ ages and not thinking this sort of thing through.  My bigger problem with all of this is that they’ve brought this character back and have done extremely little with her, to the point where this shipping controversy is the most interesting thing about her.

[haikyuuhoo]

Contemporaneous - Chapter 1

Pairing: Atsumu x F!Reader

Summary: In which you are so incredibly lucky to exist at the same time as Atsumu Miya. Or, perhaps, it’s the exact opposite…

Words: 2.6k

Warnings: Swearing, inconsistent chronology (sorry I just liked it better that way), that’s about it so far

A/N: Okay, here’s ch. 1 finally! Mostly background, setting the stage, all that. Things will probably move quicker in upcoming chapters because I’m busy and have a hard time thinking of filler plot lol. Enjoy, please let me know what you think!

Prologue | Chapter 2

All of your best memories were with the twins.

Not like that was a hard thing to accomplish—pretty much all of your memories were with the twins.

The good memories, the bad memories, and all the ones in between. They were the biggest constant in your life and you felt so lucky to have them.

Sometimes you got emotional about it, and they teased you for it, but you wouldn’t have it any other way.

“H-Hey, why are ya crying?” Atsumu had asked one time at fifteen when the three of you sat outside of the 24-hour convenience store near your house at 2 in the morning, each of you holding your own popsicles you’d snuck out to get.

“I just love you guys so much,” you said with a sniffle, wiping your nose on the cuff of your sleeve.

Osamu grimaced, looking down at you. “Y-Ya don’t have to get all emotional about it. We’re kind of stuck with ya.”

You frowned, giving him a light punch in the shoulder. “Just say you love me too, dummy,” you huffed.

His eyebrows knitted together. “We love you,” he sighed before wrapping an arm around you to give you a side-hug.

Atsumu wrapped his arm around you as well and gave you a grin. “Yeah, but please don’t cry anymore. It’s kinda embarrassing,” he laughed.

“Oh, shut up,” you whined, though you felt comfort flood through you at the feeling of being sandwiched between your two best friends. “You know I get sentimental when I’m tired.”

“Doesn’t make it any less embarrassing,” Osamu mumbled, but a smile played on his lips.

You hummed and closed your eyes for a moment. “Well get used to it, you’re not getting rid of me.”

The twins were like your personal bodyguards. If someone messed with you, they messed with the Miya twins—and no one wanted to mess with the Miya twins. You first learned that when you were nine years old.

The air left your lungs, palms and knees scraping against the ground as you were pushed from the swing you’d been sitting on.

“You’re so lame!” one kid teased from behind you, shrill voice barely making its way to your ears as tears began to prick in your eyes.

“Yeah, where are your dumb friends? They must not like you if they aren’t even playing with you!” another said as the three kids who were picking on you moved to stand in front of where you still remained on your hands and knees, head hung in an attempt to hide the way you were crying.

Atsumu and Osamu had been punished for fighting during in class and the teacher made them stay inside for the first ten minutes of recess. You told them you’d wait for them by the swings; you didn’t really hang out with anyone else anyway. This group of kids didn’t like that though, telling you that the swings were their hangout spot during recess. You told them you’d leave after a couple minutes—you didn’t really want to just stand around and wait for the twins. What was the harm in swinging for a bit?

The harm was too great for the kids currently bullying you, apparently, and they decided to shove you off of the swings.

Your hands and knees burned from the scrapes you’d gotten, and you pushed your palms against your legs to try to make it stop stinging.

“Aww, are you crying?” the third kid laughed, and you looked up at them, face wet with tears.

“Oh my god, she is crying!”

A chorus of laughter sounded in front of you, making you cry even harder. Your face grew hot with embarrassment, tears leaving silvery streaks on your skin. And then suddenly, the figures of the three kids in front of you were shadowed as someone approached them from behind.

Two someones, in fact.

“Leave her alone,” Atsumu said, his voice causing a terror to run through the bullies in a way you didn’t think was possible for a nine-year-old.

The twins had a few bandages decorating their arms and faces, evidence of all the spats they got into with each other. But even after being kept in from recess they were already willing to fight again—just not with each other this time.

“You’re really pathetic,” Osamu continued, arms crossed over his chest as he gave the terrified kids an apathetic look.

“Yeah, get lost before I punch yer stupid face.” Atsumu stuck his tongue out, and somehow, the intimidation worked.

The bullies scurried off and Osamu helped pull you to your feet. “I’ll take ya to the nurse,” he offered, looking at the scrapes on your hands.

“And I’ll go beat them up,” Atsumu said, eyes still angry as he watched the kids run to the other side of the playground.

“No, it’s okay,” you sniffled, reaching up to wipe your eyes.

“Yeah, you’ll just get in trouble again, dummy,” Osamu reasoned with his twin.

Atsumu sighed and turned to you, shoulders slumping when he really took a good look at you. “’M sorry we weren’t here,” he said as the two of them started walking you back to the building so you could get your cuts cleaned up.

“‘S okay,” you said again.

“No it’s not! They’re dumb for picking on ya,” Atsumu argued. He let out an annoyed grunt when the three of you got inside. “Wish they’d get kept in from recess for being idiots…”

Being a family friend also meant that you got along with the twins’ parents too—especially their mom. She treated you as if you were her own daughter, and sometimes she joked that she wished you were because the twins were so hard to handle.

You were so close with them that sometimes you would go over to their house even when you knew the twins were at volleyball practice.

When you were twelve, she’d decided you were probably old enough to watch one of the shows she enjoyed, and so you started going over to their house after school to watch TV dramas with their mom while you waited for them to come home from practice.

“Y/N,” Atsumu whined one day as soon as he saw the two of you. He hadn’t even taken his shoes off and he was already complaining. This was the fourth day in a row they came home to find you watching television with their mom. “What’re ya doing? Yer supposed to be our friend!”

“Shut up,” Osamu mumbled, taking his shoes off and removing his jacket. “You’re so embarrassing.”

Atsumu frowned, eyes going wide as if he was pleading with you to come hang out with them instead.

“‘Tsumu, you just got home. We’re almost done with this episode, and then I’ll come hang out!” you reasoned with him.

He huffed, finally reaching down to take off his shoes. “Sometimes I feel like ya like her more than me,” he grumbled, earning him a smack on the back of his head from his brother.

“Keep up the attitude and she will start liking Mom more,” Osamu hissed.

You were always at their games. And when I say always, I mean always. You were the loudest member of the cheering section, and there were countless times when you didn’t even have the voice left to congratulate them on their victories.

One thing you never did, though, was boo them. They were your best friends—and you were close with the rest of the team too—so you never had the heart to boo them when they messed up.

Atsumu confronted you about it once when you were seventeen—they hadn’t even lost—after he’d had a tough game.

“Y/N,” he said, face stuck in a frown as he approached you.

You gave him a grin, wrapping your arms around him as you pulled him into a hug. “Congrats, ‘Tsumu!”

“Don’t congratulate me,” he hissed, stiffening in your hold.

You frowned and pulled away from him. “Why not? You won.”

“Because I sucked. You should have booed me.”

You rolled your eyes, waving a hand dismissively. “You’re so dramatic. Everyone messes up, ‘Tsumu. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“It was close! I could have cost us the match!” he argued.

Now it was your turn to frown at him. “So you botched a few serves, it’s not a big deal. Your sets were great. Besides, I’m not gonna boo my own team, Atsumu—” He grimaced at the sound of his full name. “—and I’m most certainly not going to boo you.”

“Losers don’t need applause.”

You scoffed. “You aren’t a loser! I swear sometimes you’re so hard on yourself for no reason. People have bad games. I’m not going to ridicule you for it.”

“You should!”

Your jaw clenched. You hated when he did this to himself.

“I deserve ta be booed, ta be yelled at, ta be told what a piece of trash I am because I almost screwed this up for us!”

“It’s not going to make you better, you dumbass!” you finally shouted, shoving his chest.

Atsumu stumbled backwards a few steps, heartrate increasing. He couldn’t tell whether it was from the adrenaline of the game, his disappointment in himself, or your actions. You’d never pushed him like that. Sure, you bickered and things of that nature, but this time you seemed genuinely angry.

“You’re one of the hardest working people I know and seeing you put yourself down like that when all you had was one bad set makes me want to punch you in the face!” Your heart was pounding, the sound deafening you as your hands clenched into fists at your sides. “I don’t give a shit about those people in the stands, they don’t really care about you. I’m your best friend! I’m not supposed to beat you down, I’m supposed to pick you back up!”

His mouth opened and closed a few times, words getting caught in his throat as he tried to gather his thoughts.

You pushed past him with a scowl. “I’m gonna go congratulate ‘Samu. Don’t talk to me until you’ve got your shit together.”

Osamu had been standing with Aran, Suna, and Kita by the entrance to the gym. They’d been chatting, but it had gotten cut short in favor of watching your interaction with the setter.

Osamu was in shock. He’d never seen you like that, which was saying something considering how long he’d known you, and it was kind of refreshing to see his brother get put in his place like that.

“That was kinda hot,” Suna said absentmindedly, eyebrows raised in amusement.

The gray-haired twin turned to glare at his friend. “Say that again and I’ll punch you.”

“Osamu,” Kita scolded.

“Sorry, Kita-san.”

Of course, with years and years of memories and friendship with the twins, you couldn’t help but think it was more than luck that brought you together. And even though you believed the three of you were fated to be together, as you got older something just felt different.

The summer before you started high school you had started to think that maybe you were fated to be more than just friends with Atsumu when feelings for him started to blossom. You tried to ignore them, far too shy and inexperienced in the ‘liking boys’ department to know how to deal with this new sensation.

You tried not to let it change your friendship with him, but there were times when you’d feel your face grow hot or your stomach flutter when you were around him.

At first, you didn’t like this feeling at all.

The twins had always been your comfort—your safe space. And now you were nervous to even be around Atsumu. But at the same time, all you wanted to do was be around him.

You hated it.

You hated the way you immediately perked up at the sound of them coming home when you should have been watching TV with their mom, now too distracted to even pay attention to the end of the show.

You hated the way you wanted to comfort Atsumu in a way that was so much more than friendly when he was beating himself up.

And you loathed the way you felt jealousy bubble in your veins at the thought of Atsumu liking someone else.

So you did your best to push the feelings away when you were around them.

But when you were alone, they all tumbled out, and you decided to take up journaling as an attempt to deal with the feelings. You felt embarrassed, as a teenage girl does, to have a journal filled with all of these thoughts, so whenever you were finished writing you hid it in your sock drawer lest one of the twins find it and tease you about it for weeks.

When you started high school and the twins joined the volleyball team, they were instant phenoms. And in turn, they garnered a lot of attention—especially from girls.

It upset you, if you were going to be honest with yourself. Not only because you couldn’t really hang out with your friends in the halls or during lunch without being interrupted by their gang of fan girls, but also because you despised the girls who flung themselves at Atsumu. It killed you to see them batting their long eyelashes and talking to your best friends with their cute voices, all while you sat to the side like some kind of unwanted piece of stale bread. And it especially killed you when Atsumu started returning their affections.

It scared you. It all scared you. The feelings, the girls, high school—you were terrified. You didn’t want to ruin things between the two—three—of you with your feelings, but the girls made you so insecure. So instead, you wrote in your journal.

You wrote down all of your feelings for three years.

You didn’t speak a word of them to anyone, no less the twins.

And there was a page you came back to almost every day, even though you had written it during your first year:

 The odds of existing are slim,

so the odds of you and I existing at the same time

must be next to impossible,

and I think that’s beautiful.

 Maybe the universe does work in my favor after all

because I got the chance to get to know you.

 You stared at the page, not even realizing tears were forming in your eyes until one fell and landed on your hand that pressed down on the page. It was a habit to hold it open, but it wasn’t even necessary anymore—you’d opened your journal to this page enough that it stayed open on its own.

When you’d written it, it was a happy thought. But now, three years later, it didn’t feel so happy. Atsumu was getting busier and busier with volleyball, and that meant he only got better, and when he got better his fanbase grew.

You were starting to feel like a second choice.

Scratch that, you were starting to feel like a tenth, twentieth, fiftieth choice.

You craved the attention he gave those girls. You wanted him to grin at you like that. You wanted to be more than just his best friend.

But you felt like you were running out of time.

It was ironic, considering you believed the universe brought the three of you together with the intention of you being side by side forever.

Maybe, after all this time believing it, you were finally starting to realize that you were wrong.