#it may play out differently in the next ep but we'll see

[icouldhyperfixatehim]

poor mork getting punished for the crime of being in a hypervigilant state he hasn't dealt with :( like i get it yadda yadda the conventions of the form but idk i'd have liked to see a different path taken. day's had a great self acceptance journey (loved the white cane finally making its appearance and being referenced in tandem with day's preoccupation with how people perceive him), and the way he's grown to accept support from others while managing his own independence has been really lovely. but it would have been nice to see mork get his parallel there, to be able to move through some of the steps of healing with others to lean on while he does it, not just being cast out on his own. mork's not really had a problem with independence, he's had a problem with dependence - letting other people take care of him and bear his weight, letting needs be filled by people/things that aren't him or in his control, "my sister killed herself because i didn't answer a call". i would have rather seen him have an equivalent moment to someone clearing rocks from the path in front of him so that he could climb to healing. not just sort of sending him off to a mountain on his own.

[buddiebeginz]

I think it’s kind of funny that everyone assumes Eddie will have to be dragged from the closet kicking and screaming before he’ll confront his sexuality when my man was in the army. He actively chose to leave his wife and stay surrounded by predominantly men. It’s also like a thing that a lot of men have have had sexual experiences with other men in the military, many who won’t go on to identify as lgbtq but will likely just chalk it off as stuff that happened in service.

It's just funny that we were all looking at Buck and his life experiences and going yup that man is not straight and he’s definitely fucked some guys yet according to everything we’ve learned in the past two eps (counting the trailer for the next one) Buck has no real experience with guys.

I think it’s highly possibly Eddie had an experience or two in the army he also could have liked some boys his own age when he was younger but felt like he couldn’t be open about it. Given Eddie's family and cultural background it may have made accepting his sexuality harder and maybe he just felt like that was not an option.

When we’ve heard him talk about his relationship with Shannon it’s always seemed like he got married out of obligation and because he thought that’s what you're supposed to do more than anything else. I’ve always felt like he loved Shannon but wasn’t in love with her. All his relationships with women have felt like he was just going through the motions. With Ana I think he felt like he hadn't dated in a while and needed to get back out there and also felt obligated to maybe find a new mom for Chris but when things started to get too real he started to have panic attacks.

My head canon has always been that Eddie is gay and I also believe he's been aware to some degree of his feelings for Buck at least since season 3 after he changed the will. The will scene has always read like a love confession to me. It's always felt like the only way Eddie felt he could tell Buck. I'm not sure exactly how aware Eddie is of his feelings or his sexualty and however cognative he is of those things I do think he assumes Buck is straight. So it's going to be really interesting to see how he reacts in the next ep.

I do feel like we're going to be surprised by something in the upcoming ep since we're getting a break in between this ep and the next one. I think it's possible we'll get some kind of acknowledgement of the guys feelings for each other even if it's something as simple as just maybe Eddie outside of Buck's door after he finds out Buck is bi and we see a bunch of different emotions play out on his face. Even that would still be a huge step for Buddie imo.

[squeakygeeky]

Laws of Attraction Ep 1

Let's goooooo!!! I'm a huge fan of JamFilm and a huge fan of cross-genre romance (where the other genre isn't just set dressing for the romance, but the romance is still holding it together) so I am excited. I'm expecting something like Manner of Death, although not so spicy. I thought To Sir With Love was pretty much perfect for what it was (a soapy period drama) so I'm excited to see what exactly this is and just how soapy it will be.

I love a cinnamon roll, but it's a lot of fun seeing Film play an unscrupulous lawyer (Chan) this time. He is my babygirl already. Jam's character just kicked a guy who went absolutely sailing over Chan's head in an absurd manner and now they're making eyes at each other. I am going to have a lot of fun here.

Tin has a lovely family and is all about honesty. Oh no, this adorable niece is functionally his adopted daughter. Aaaand she's dead. I can understand a child actor being unable to stay still enough in a shot but they really should have cut out the bits with her eyes obviously moving. He's been raising her since she was a babyyyyyy.

Saved from a plant! Stuck on a button! The camera is not shying away from the fact that Film is taller. Okay, now the truth is out. I like 'initial attraction > actually you are trash' as a starting point for this, I assume we'll be getting 'we are forced to work together' next episode.

The kidnapping scene is a memory? Interesting. Chan is a Fallen Idealist and we are clearly going to find out later how he got that way. He's so punchable but has the 'go ahead and punch me, I'll probably like it' vibe that must be especially infuriating for Tin.

Of course, some of the slimy evil may be front, since Chan clearly suspects that there's more going on here. Chan is so unhinged but in what direction? This man has Schemes and one of them involves getting Tin naked in the creepiest way possible, so be prepared for that if you haven't actually watched this yet (but I assume it's as a means to manipulate him and not actual assault). I still love him though, the man even babygirls himself so I don't have to put in all the work.

This show is probably going to replace my entire personality, that's not an apology, just a warning. So far it feels like everything I wanted it to be. Definitely not a typical BL vibe but also still a show that is meant to be Entertaining above all.

Translation note: the word for aunts/uncles younger than your parents differs by side of the family but not by gender, which is why Tin keeps getting called 'auntie.' And the same word if for grandchild/niece/nephew so that's an issue as well. I feel like the translators got a transcript but not the actual video? But I'm just glad I'm not waiting a week for subs.

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (07/07/24)

didn't post yesterday cause was busy all day (against my will) new season starting tho so that's fun, even if I'm not watching a ton this time around, also the end of this new serialization round I'm on vacation for the next couple weeks so hopefully I find the time to catch up/finish some stuff but I also got the ff14 expansion I want to play through so we'll see

green - new series/new to me

Anime

Plus-Sized Elf Ep1

I completely missed the announcement that this was gonna be a short anime so I was surprised when I saw the lenght was only 11 minutes, it's fine tho, it fits the manga and makes it more easily digestible. Anyway, that was alright, nothing too impressive and a lot of still panning shots as you'd expect from an adaptation like this. I was surprised by the full on uncensored tiddies tho. What really carries shows like this is the voice cast and Itou Ayasa did a solid job I think. Not expecting a lot out of this, but since it's short it should be a nice little appetizer before I watch Samurai on fridays

The Elusive Samurai Ep1

wow wow wow WOW Like what else can I say but that? I wasn't too hopeful for the anime from the pvs we saw before, they looked good, yes, but it felt like something was missing, to me. All those doubts are completely dispelled now however. Ep 1 was nothing short of incredible, like it's hard to even find the words to explain just how good it was, you gotta see it to understand. Everything was great. Both OP and ED had good visuals and songs. The OST and voices were great, and the animation was really solid too. There was a chance to have some sakuga during a certain scene, and they didn't do it, but it still looked good, if they keep that throughout the whole show then it should be fine. My favourite part was the colours tho, it looked beautiful and there were a lot of great shots like the ones below, among many others. It's just refreshing to see such creative use of colours, like some shots looked good enough to be in a movie adaptation instead of a TV anime

But anyway, I've been reading the manga since day 1 so it's crazy to see it get such a great adaptation. Matsui truly is built different. Me and my buddy mega were discussing were the anime is gonna end, since it's confirmed 12 episodes, and I'm fairly sure it's gonna be on chap 58 for various reasons. We'll see how the pacing for the new few eps goes tho, it may not get quite that farhard

Manga

Hima-Ten! Ch1

That was... ok. As I mentioned before I read the author's previous work as it came out years ago, and it was a ping pong series. I figured this was going to be sports based too, so I was surprised when they released the synopsis and I found out it was going to be a rom com. I'll start out by saying I'm not too big on romance stuff. Like I love Blue Box but it took a while for me to warm up to it and even then it lacks a lot of the issues I usually have with that kinda stuff.

Back to this series tho, my biggest complaint about chapter 1 was setting up this secondary girl (the black haired one in the pic below) and making it clear that the MC even has a crush on her, just for the main girl to show up and, obviously, win him over eventually. I mean the damn summary for the series on M+ ends with "Say hello to some company president girl x house-cleaner boy romantic comedy hijinks!", so there's not much room to wonder about what'll happen.

Other than that it was a nice chap 1. The art has improved so much that it's like a completely different artist (tho there's still some recognizable bits from his old stuff) and this new style is super cute, I actually really like it. The interactions between the mains were fun and the expressions were good too, it really is just that nagging point I have with it. We'll see how the next few chaps go I guess but not expecting much tbh

Dandadan Ch159

while this was inevitable and I knew it was a matter of time til it happened it really took me by surprise to see it happen now. Ofc I could see the build up in the few pages before it but still I don't remember if I've talked about this arc so far but it's been pretty cool, basically jumanji but instead of the game coming out they go inside the game. It's had a buncha cool ideas and the new chara with powers is a nice guy too

[xian1na]

buncha words 'bout some spring animes #3

Still here, still watching, still writing. Can't believe it's May already. I remember having this weird feeling last time I was watching seasonal anime - that I can't wait for the next episode to come out but once it does, I realise how time flies. It's almost scary! Many of the series that have only just come out are already at the halfway point. ...But let's not think about the inevitablility of time passing and instad talk about them animes. Enjoy!

Hell's Paradise (ep. 5) - After episode 4 I was a bit wary of where Sagiri's plot was going but episode 5 assuaged my worries somewhat. I used to get very annoyed whenever an action show would introduce A Sexist character. Why aren't the female characters just allowed to be badass without anyone putting them down, I was thinking to myself. Why can't I just have a nice escapist fantasy? But somehow I don't mind it here. I'm not sure why - whether it's because I changed or because (so far) Jigokuraku handled this subject better, or at least differently than other series I've watched. We'll see what comes next. As for the rest of the episode, I feel like the series is still at the phase of setting things up and I really hope the plot moves forward next time. Nurugai is Very Good.

Oshi No Ko (ep. 4) - I won't be a stinker this time, I quite liked this episode. We got to see Aqua acting and I got this great idea for battle-shounen like manga about acting, where the main character has to analyse their surroundings and gather data about their fellow actors to know how to rile them in front of the camera, so that they act well. (I'm going to pitch this to President of Anime whenever I get the chance.) I'm curious how will that reality TV show that Aqua got hired to act in go. As for the school plot... I don't watch many idol shows but I recall 'school of idols' is a recurring theme. Will Oshi No Ko subvert it somehow or play it straight? No idea. I'd assume the former if not for plethora of colour-coded female characters we've met already. I appreciate this series' commentary on show-business harsh truths a lot but it somehow doesn't feel grounded in reality because of the visuals, particularly character designs. And I REALLY hope there'll be more male characters in the main cast, although judging by the opening, that might not be the case.

Tengoku-Daimakyou (ep. 5) - We focus more on Maru and Kiruko this time, which is good because They Are Great. By the way, I've been reading a little about this series' production and I was surprised to learn that it's really speeding through the manga - but does it so well that it doesn't feel rushed or anything like that. It doesn't happen often in anime, I think. I'll probably read the manga once the series ends just to see how does the story unfold there (and to see all the quality K&M content that's been cut from anime). Also I absolutely need to cite one sentence from ANN's weekly review of T-D because it was simultaneously the best and the worst sentence I've read in a review in a while: "And while Maru's boner gets in the way of their hug, we can see that it's not getting in the way of their friendship." Absolute perfection.

Skip and Loafer (ep. 5) - I've already written how I appreciate what they do with Egashira in this series and episode 5 fleshes her out even more. I think my favourite moment was after Egashira's and Mitsumi's clash with the third-years in the gym - how Egashira made sure to remember the names of the students who were rude to them, while Mitsumi remembered the name of the one who helped them. It's a very telling character moment for them both. Skip and Loafer is really growing on me, it might even end up as my favourite series of this season. I'm literally feeling happier after watching every episode, it's that powerful.

My Love Story with Yamada-kun ar Lv999! (ep. 5-6) - As I thought, the matter with Runa is solved pretty quickly and she's already Akane's bestie in episode 6. That's pretty good in my opinion. Even if Runa's change of heart may be a bit sudden, I don't think she'd make a compelling long-term antagonist. That 'gamer guy' from episode 5 gave me massive creeps and there was some great direction in that scene in the toilet. I like that even though ultimately nothing bad happened, the guys from the guild immediately went to the rescue because they knew the potential danger. Then episode 6 is back to usual shenanigans and I thought it was very funny. And one important note: Kouki Uchiyama's acting when Yamada was talking to Eita right after waking up was Extremely Good.

And in the backlog section:

The Witch from Mercury (season 1, ep. 7-9) - You know guys... maybe it's because the Internet was screaming about Prospera lately (I didn't catch any spoilers, thankfully) but I'm starting to get a feeling she might be a bad guy! On a serious note, it's very interesting how Prospera is contrasted with Delling and papa Jeturk (whatever his name is, I don't even care). All three of them are shitty parents but whereas Delling and Jeturk are very openly shitty in how demanding, strict and cold they are towards their children, the way Prospera treats Suletta is just chilling. Only three episodes left in season 1, I have no idea what might happen in the finale but I'm definitely looking forward to find out.

Spy x Family (ep. 6-7) - As I knew that The Face was coming, I actually appreciated The Punch more - that was a real good piece of animation. Damian's developing crush on Anya (including the special romanticised version of her in his eyes) and Loid suspecting that Becky obviously must be plotting a political sabotage or something because he just doesn't get kids were hilarious. Also, I totally forgot about Yor's and Anya's time together (or maybe it wasn't in the manga, though I think it was). It was great! I'm not going to be original by saying that Yor often feels a bit secondary in this family, so it was real nice seeing her getting more screentime. Next episode Yuri will show up - I think his visit was the last thing I've read in the manga, so I have no idea what happens next.

Aaand that'd be the end of this week's musings and ramblings. I start a new job on Monday but I think I should be able to keep up with all the shows. At least I must find some time for more Skip and Loafer. Hope you enjoyed reading and see ya!

[black-arcana]

EPICA: 'We Already Started Working On New Music'

EPICA guitarists Mark Jansen and Isaac Delahaye spoke with Guitar Interactive at this year's Download festival in the United Kingdom about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to 2021's "Omega" album. Mark said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We already started working on new music. I don't know, actually, the status of every bandmember, because everybody is now in their own home studios making music. So I know that I am; I know [Isaac] is, because he talked about it. But I don't know from everybody. I don't know, for example, Rob, if he has already [written] some songs. But personally, it's going well, and I'm in a flow of inspiration."

Added Isaac: "Well, I have a two-and-a-half-year-old, so my flow of inspiration is not really one hundred percent. But, yeah, I'm working on a couple of ideas, and, actually, for the next album I thought I kind of have to… You always wanna reinvent yourself; don't do the same thing. So I'm still scanning, like, what can I do to break out of the usual way of writing? If something happens with that or not, we'll see. But I just like to think it over and see what else I can do with those seven strings. So that's happening right now. Then after the festivals, we have some writing camps where we all get together and start to [put all the pieces] together, work on each other's ideas."

A couple of months ago, EPICA frontwoman Simone Simons told Czech Republic's Backstage TV about the band's plans for a new LP: "After this year, all the festivals, we're gonna start writing a new record… All the bandmembers start writing songs in their home studio by themselves, but I haven't heard any of those songs yet… When inspiration strikes, we just start writing. But we're gonna schedule writing sessions. And we're all excited to write a new record."

Regarding how the songwriting works in EPICA, Simone said: "Well, it's mostly that first they have some music, some demos, and then I start to come up with vocal lines for that. That is mostly how it goes. The guys start writing the songs and then they give me a listen so I can already come up with vocal lines and then they can continue writing the songs to support the vocal lines. Sometimes songs are written really fast; sometimes it takes long. And inspiration can strike at the weirdest times. So it's good that we always have the phone that we can quickly record melodies, whether it's for vocals or like a guitar riff or anything. Everybody has a home studio, so it's very practical to quickly record ideas. And then we get together. Because we live in four different countries; we don't live in the same village. And then we actually sit together and finish writing the songs."

EPICA played two shows as the support act for METALLICA — on May 17 at Stade De France in Paris, France and on May 28 at Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, Germany. EPICA was added to the METALLICA bill as the replacement for FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH.

Last November, EPICA released "The Alchemy Project" through Atomic Fire Records. The EP was co-written and performed with diverse guests ranging from extremists like FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, Niilo Sevänen (INSOMNIUM) and Björn "Speed" Strid (SOILWORK) along with melodic masters like Tommy Karevik (KAMELOT),keyboard legend Phil Lanzon (URIAH HEEP) and Roel Van Helden (POWERWOLF) to a once-in-a-lifetime song with Simons, Charlotte Wessels and Myrkur.

Just one day after the release of its anniversary reissues "We Still Take You With Us" and "Live At Paradiso", EPICA celebrated 20 years of existence live last September at 013 in Tilburg, Netherlands, the same place where they played their first show (supporting ANATHEMA) back in 2002.

EPICA was formed by Jansen after leaving AFTER FOREVER in 2002, and the band quickly gained attention outside their home country, taking big steps towards becoming the leading symphonic metal superpower they have long proven to be. After their ambitious debut "The Phantom Agony" (2002) and the surprisingly eclectic sophomore work "Consign To Oblivion" (2005),the road took them to new heights via their first concept masterpiece "The Divine Conspiracy" (2007) and their global breakthrough "Design Your Universe" (2009). 2012's opus "Requiem For The Indifferent", 2014's bedazzling "The Quantum Enigma" and "The Holographic Principle" (2016),cemented their reputation as not only one of the hardest-working metal bands in the business but also as one of the best. With "Omega", the final part of the metaphysical trilogy they began with "The Quantum Enigma", they reclaimed the throne without so much as the blink of an eye, amassing three million-plus streams during the first week of the album's release.

[feuqueerfire]

Alice is Borderland S1 & S2 Live Blogging

I don't actually know that much about this show except it's like playing deadly (video) games? And Keita Machida from Cherry Magic is in it

Season 1

Ep 1 (May 20)

so did they go into a parallel world through the bathroom stall?

oooh game arena okay

oh she called those lasers the borderline

did this woman do this before or something? she seems to know things and be quite matter of fact

as expected, the girl who came the latest and was the most scared and innocent-seeming died first, especially after the Chotaro TODO guy was like don't worry! play with us and nothing will happen!

lol this puzzle is too much also I don't get it why are those 2 rooms a no-go? - oh i see, that's where they came from before or something

ooh, a survivor

i mean he died but you know, survivor of the games for a while

oh, are those red lasers killing everybody whose visa ended today?

that's pretty cool, I wanna watch another ep but also want a nap hmm

Ep 2 (May 20)

Did not nap, and went to my driving lesson, here's to another episode

cool, beautiful girl with a dead/murdered father

oh she was just also in the bathroom when the power went out and then nobody was there when she came outside

okay but so she got here 3 days ago and there were other people here since before then too so ? hmm ig instead of the guy's theory that the electromagnetic stuff takes out everybody in the city, it's rather that these specific people get taken to a different parallel city? when the power goes out

okay they're also discussing possibilities about time moving differently or VR

Club = team, diamon = wits, spades = physical strength, heart = betrayal and playing with people's hearts. larger number means more difficulty

rip the first game was a 3 and this is a 5

oh nice shot of us learning to find a safezone in the building and the shot keeps going up and up to show how large the building is

oof the guy has turned to God, I think his mother who he gave money to also bought into some religious cult since she kept asking for money to cleanse Tokyo

Shibuki is such a troublemaker lol now she's tryna turn Chota against Arisu and Kurube

horseman

i did expect the real estate guy who was hanging around to die but not so soon oof

oh actual boobs?

damn we keep getting instances of women sleeping with people to get ahead, especially ones who are seen as unreliable (Chota's mother) and untrustworthy (Shibuki). also lol I just remembered the girl that Kurube was making out with had a boyfriend. why do the male characters get laws and backstories and for female characters it's just their sexuality lol

man i love unlikely group of people coming around to help each other in life and death so much we'll see how many of them survive this round

oh he really let him die interesting

a swoooooooord

oh wtf horse man got here quick is there more than one of em

there issss more than one of them okay

the climber girl is so cool beloved <3

the taggers were also in game yaaa it's like when people were wondering whether the masked men in Squid Game were also playing a different sort of game

oh? answer? the beach

Ep 3 (May 20)

Watching this a few minutes after finishing ep 2, ah been a few weeks since I binged something intensely

very intense music for that doodle

ooh in addition to phones, also weapons? and VR

fun instrumental music too

makes sense that it's a 7 of Hearts (betrayal and playing with people's hearts) when it's just the 4 of them playing. kinda like ep 6 squid game marble game

I'm slightly confused by this game. so you don't wanna abe found by the wolf and you'll become the next wolf if you're found but the person who is wolf at the end is the winner right? so won't the lambs wanna be found and wolf won't want to seek? or is it like they'll tall try to make eye contact with the wolf so that they're the wolf like some sort of reverse hide and seek where the wolf wants to hide

Shibuki picks up on it quickly as expected

woahh friendship is magic moments flashback from Arisu

oh it's interesting that by the time Arisu wants to give the wolf back, Chota literally drags Shibuki away with her mouth shut (he must be strong as hell despite his injury) and Kurube also doesn't speak because they both don't want it anymore

They're "hiding well so that the sheep don't find" them

what the fuck do they actually die for real? isn't this too early in the game for all of them to die it feels incorrect wtf i feel like I've seen kurube around for season 2 stuff maybe? is this a dream or something wtf

Ep 4 (May 20)

Man I have things to be doing but these people know how to end the episodes so that I keep clicking on the next one

oh I heard her say "they accept me as I am" about the mountains and father and my first thought was oh? is she gay?

oof we're getting how her backstory went sour too

ah her father went missing and now is suspected to have committed suicide? I guessed he died after falling from the mountains or something but this is more interesting

she kind of slightly reminds me of First from JaFirst

lmfao a trio of guys who stuck together for 4 games and even saying "having friends is the difference between winning and losing" really rubbing it into Arisu's face you fools, I don't expect more than 1 of them to survive

ah it's so fucked up like okay 1 of them survived and it's the unlikely one and the starting position was the goal damn

Ep 5 (May 20)

I've actually not done any work today and it's 10:30pm. I took a long break between ep 4 and 5 and hoped I would've done some work in between but alas.

ooh this Beach is like the weird strange highly-controlled rebels or governments or organizations in dystopian YA novels

oh there's like hundreds of people at the beach wtf

the blonde guy from the horseman tag is here too and seems to have a subplan within the Beach? okay interesting. also the beach people have weapons and he had a taser, I originally thought he'd acquired it by himself but I wonder if it's from The Beach

okay it makes sense that they're meeting so many people from previous games at the Beach (like the blonde guy and the guy Arisu saved both from the tag game) because I was like how can there be this many beach people but we only met like 2 thus far but nah we just didn't know the others were also in the beach. anyway, I think this guy will maybe die but the girl Kuina will live

oh i see just flipping the switch while the door is open doesn't mean you're giving an answer - it's your chance to see if it's correct or not but if not, you just choose one of the other 2 as the answer

how would Ann know the answer?

oh bruh i definitely should've guessed the "touch bulb to see if it's hot" thing that's like easy science and doable as a viewer, online the other tests

all the weapons people sharing a look when Hatter says he'll have to replenish his visa soon okay

Hatter is so gross and self-absorbed, I wonder if he's gonna die really soon lol

was that zoom out of the beach supposed to show us something about where they are or anything? it's lost on me unfortunately

Ep 6 (May 20)

fuck I really should just be doing work but here I am aghhh

so did he just make up the thing about being able to leave? I did wonder if maybe that way of escape wasn't accurate but that they had been given wrong info, not that they had manufactured the info

wait but even if he does steal the cards then what? he's gonna have to keep going to games to renew visa/get 10 of hearts right? and won't the beach people just kill him there? or he's gonna steal it but keep it a secret ig be a little double agent

oh wtf Ann is digging through a dead woman's brain to find a GPS there

actually I'm off-put by how much skin and butt and boobs we're seeing of women and none of men like either do none or do both. this show really does just assume the audience is cishet man i guess

oh Hatter died for real which is expected but who knows if it's from the game or if the militants took him out

i like how the blonde guy looks like an elf sort of

damn elf guy really betrayed Arisu for no damn reason T.T unless he's just ? pretending somehow who fucking knows even let's not think and just see where this goes

ooh a drawing of a deer aka where the safe is. but also yknow now I'm reminded of the drawing that elf guy found in the horse mask's pocket during tag

there really is no need for sexual assault like why does this show just treat women like that

woah elf man is ruthless fr

oh ho ho 10 of hearts among all the beach players woahhhh nice

omg this is so fun they're gonna have to for real burn somebody but a bit toooo fun, how will I go to bed after this instead of watching next ep

Ep 7 (May 20)

Ah fuck, I'm here at 12:15 AM (so technically may 21) instead of doing my work

chaooooosssssss

this is genuinely so fucked up they're just killing everybody and burning them in the fire but none of those killed are the witch, just innocents

oof Kuina volunteering to fight the sword man girl don't die pls

this running around the complex while trying to escape but only to be gunned down by the militants brings back memories of the recurring nightmares from my childhood where the gunda with guns would break in and we'd be forced to run all throughout the quarters to try to escape

oh we're getting backstory of the sniper mans (Niragi) also he's so beautiful he reminds me a bit of taeyong when he's in his childhood bullied attire and actually quite a bit like Kai (he reminds me a bit of Yoongi as this beach sniper version of himself)

ah kuina trans woman! shitty childhood but she did it

okay fuck so i was thinking that we always get some backstory before a character dies, so when we got Nigari's story I was like is he gonna die? but thought maybe not yet but then he did die and now kuina also got to tell her backstory so agh she's probably gonna die soon too

oh bald guy has this sort of body posture because of sitting on his computer all the time? of his wording about freedom even through death and this land or whatever is so good honestly. "for me, I have no past" but if he kills kuina I'll slaughter him myself

not Arisu fighting for life and strength again cuz of his flashback to a trio moment T.T

omg did kuina beat him?? don't die don't die don't die pls

oh they're insinuating that the stoic new number one leader is the witch?

ohh he's called Hatter because he was a hatter. and he and stoic new number one knew each other

this episode is so fun because we have so much chaos and so much backstory for side characters

oh Ann really ot whacked so quick

Favourite episode so far

Ep 8 (May 20)

Fuck it, I'll watch the last ep of the season too. how the fuck am i supposed to not?

oooh dead Momoka and her friend (Asahi) were taking recordings/vlogs? I hope they show what the two of them were always secretively talking about

oh come onnn i wanna know

so stoic man Aguni is not the witch? well he did kill Hatter okay

what's Aguni's motive? just kill everybody so that they don't hope of leaving the place? cuz he knows it's bogus?

bro didn't they have 15 minutes at the end of last episodes, what time do we have left now

was Hatter's gun empty? i thought it kinda looked like that when shooting but wasn't sure

oh what the hell Asahi is the dealer? so is that the thing they were talking about on the vlogs like "the man" and took them to "the place"

lmfao seeing the elf man do nothing but just watch from the balcony above everybody and see his reactions occasionally is so funny like oh. that's us the viewers

oh aguni going to agun/fire with nagiri omg

bro why is the sword tattoo man's words so beautiful and haunting it really does read like the way of somebody who belongs to a cult though

okay okay okay let's see what the recordings have

ooh so those mask people during taggers were also dealers

bets? oh it's D:

oh the game masters are even more fucked up here than in squid games fr these poor girls and the game masters' laughter while they're dying like i think the fact that it's so casual and crowded and not even given all the attention unlike squid games which had these horrific games as an Event makes it worse too

it's like 2am and I'm the only one awake in the house so this stuff is making me really scared

omg all the game masters are dead too? laser burns

oh the drawing that blond elf found has come to use

ohhh finding all the numbered cards means those people who aren't game masters but above dealers all died. so they were also in the game in a way

I like how the blond elf man's expressions are always of mild curiosity and a hint of smile. evil man I kinda like you

oh the executive Mina D:

that was fucking insane

Overall:

I think this is a fun show with cool games, intense moments, and some fun characters (specifically Kuina, followed by cool climber girl and Arisu. I also like scary elf man - Chota).

I binged the whole 8 eps in 14-ish hours, which I haven't done in a long time, so that shows just how engaging this was! Something that helped with that though was that the show wasn't very deep, it didn't take much thinking, some characters were good but I wasn't invested in them. So this surface level enjoyment + the threads of anticipation made me able to binge the show quickly without having to really sit with it for a few hours. Which is fine, just a contrast to something like Squid Game which I love so dearly and really burrowed into me.

Also, I finished watching this at like 2AM and the last 2 episodes had me frightened at the end when I had to go to the bathroom and then sleep lol

Rating: 7/10

Season 2

Starting this the next evening and I also haven't done any work since finishing season 1, just hung out with my friend. It is what it is.

I looking a bit at reddit and I spoiled myself about the ending reason of why they're in the game just a bit. Apparently they're in limbo (accidentally got spoiled) and there's a meteor that hit Tokyo and the writer was confussed if the bathroom scene in ep 1 s1 happened of not (this was spoiler that I sought out). So I guess they're all already dead from the meteor? Let's see I suppose

Ep 1 (May 1)

interesting parallel to Arisu playing the video game at the start of S1 Ep 1 as the killer and now running

King of Spades - just shooting at everybody

insane car chase and crash

The Tatta or whatever guy keeps hesitating, it feels like he's gonna die in the game they play or something

Ep 2 (May 2)

the king of clubs was a rockstar in the original world?

it's a life or death game for the citizens/kings as well so they're not quite the game masters

butt man is showing a lot of butt fr

it's dumb that this fight between Arisu and Usagi is taking up so much random screentime

bro why the fuck is the 100 point guy just walking out of range of the pole bro what if somebody just runs and battles you bruv, he should at least have been given 600 points so that he has a chance cuz man I'm thinking he's gonna die like so soon

damn are they gonna make us sympathetic to Nigari and then kill him off or are they gonna make the characters sympathetic to Nigari and give him a reason to betray them, which he will so that he lives

this must've been so intensive to shoot without ever showing this man's dick

man wouldn't it be fucked up if they all somehow survive except Tatta who has 10k points and didn't volunteer to be brave by going to the opposition pole

nah Arisu even told Tatta that he loves his positive attitude bruh no way Tatta's gonna make it out alive right

bro you did fucking try to rape her last season you fuck

bro Nigari is weak and dying and Usagi is strong and fast and capable, are we really doing this right now again?! i looooooooove the "bad guy tries to rape girl and she's saved by main guy love interest" trope it's so good every time and never boring and never annoying and never unnecessary

agh they're stopping in the middle of the game rip

Ep 3 (May 21)

I'm gonna stop watching this as soon as the game ends and whoever needs to die dies. they keep ending episodes on cliffhangers, so I can't rely on myself to stop when an episode ends

lol Tatta backstory, he's boutta die frfr rip

oh my god Tatta really fucked up a guy

okay so Tatta will sacrifice himself for the team to make up for his past mistakes?

on a reddit thread, I read a comment that Usagi was badass in s1 but had some damsel-in-distress moments in s2 and I guess randomly having to be rescued by Arisu here is one of them

is Arisu tricking the king of clubs by sweet-talking him, does Arisu know that he has more points or something like is another player gonna pop up hold hands and together they'll beat Kyuma like what's going on with this handshake and intensive talking

ohh Tatta sacrificing a hand just like he disfigured that guy's hand back then but he probably will also die bc of all this fucking bloodloss

hm Kyuma said so they finally lost, so that means they've been playing before? But they said this is the first time they're playing the king of cards or whatever right.

oh if someone wins all the games, then they just become a citizen

Kyuma's death is very christlike

oof Tatta's death has been foreshadowed for a while but still it's a rip

jack of hearts

damn they're really set for life with this game and food lol

so is the jack of hearts a random player or a citizen, I wonder?

I like this evil fake-nice girl she's terrible she's evil she's a killer. idk if she's too obvious as the jack or not though

poor bullied guy though first he got beat up by the bully -> then got told to kill the bully off by someone else -> then thought he was being recruited into a team but is getting killed by them oof

i like the girl in red but she chose the wrong fucking group to ask as 2nd choice T.T

the jack of hearts troop all ended up killing each other ah

the crying overall dude being the jack would be wild lol he's the only non-suspicious one left (well the abused girl also)

pls elf man whose name i can never remember is so funny "looks like I'm screwed"

Ep 5 (May 21)

Not only did I not stop in the middle of last ep, I'm also continuing to watch the next ep agh it's 11pm when will I actually figure things out

oh hoooo so the 2 most suspicious ones are gonna die this round? and I'm guessing that elf man just gonna guess correctly

okay interesting outcome but the endless talking and explaining is like bro dialogue

i don't get Banda and suit man's convo like "why are you in this country and here playing this game" like huh? cuz you don't wanna die i guess

bro when elf man walked out by himself i thought for a second that he was Jack since the other two didn't walk out with him like what

aw Kuina is also leaving, so we really just gonna get Arisu and Usagi? be serious

this filming of a settlement reminds me of dystopian novels for real, specifically The Knife of Never Letting Go and Station 11

ooh the fireworks?

man fuck she really died before we got to hear about the fireworks?

oh alive Aguni

Ep 6 (May 21)

man fuck I missed my Memrise streak cuz I was too preoccupied with this show agh and also obviously haven't done any action work rip yet here I am starting a new 1h+ ep at 12am

was the high school girl flashback the girl who was shot at previously or this new girl who is with Aguni

oh the girl with Aguni I guess

wtf is that shot we get to see up her skirt or what

i wonder if we'll get to have the lovely trope of new girl wants male character's attention and then her and usagi will have a little fight off because ofc, esp since she used to be boy crazy. prove me wrong pls

that's so fucked, I forgot kids could be here

lmfao plsss Aguni also used Arisu as bait, first elf dude and now this. these Beach executives will forever use Arisu as this

Oh, I just understood what is meant by "limbo" right now. i was like how did everybody die but only these people are here and they're playing games for what reason but I'm guessing all the people who were able to go to heaven or hell just got sent there, which is why everybody disappeared. however a certain percent were in limbo and their behaviour in the games will determine whether they go to heaven or hell afterward?

Time really is strange here how is every building covered with this much moss and tress and vines

I kinda don't get this game, like if the challengers become queen team and then queen team wins, do the challengers on that team win or lose? like can't they all just tag each other and become queen team so that they're all queen team by that round and win? i guess then they haven't defeated the queen and so they haven't progressed?

oh i see, so people do stay with the queen but they have to keep playing with the queen

Ep 6 (May 21/22)

Idk what to call this date cuz it's 1AM on May 21 but I haven't yet slept or taken break from binging

Also this is the longest episode yet ah 75 minutes

the queen of spades death of jumping is quite pretty

man I feel like I should like this couple more but I just don't care yknow

oh diamonds is wit. have we played a diamonds before?

bruh number 2 is king of diamonds? so we have mira and number 2 who are higher members, though mira is def higher than #2

horrifying sulfuric acid deaths like what happened to 1 laser shot quick deaths bruv

bro this explanation of how elf dude chose the number is so dumb

oh elf dude was a doctor? but why are we getting his backstory now is he gonna actually die this round wtf um

oh true number 2 could know momoka was a dealer and the witch

oh, mira says "at last it's our turn" so is she also a face card citizen?

finally an end of an episode that I can actually finish watching on ah it's already 2am again rip

Ep 7 (May 22)

2 episodes left, it's 5pm the last day of the long weekend, still haven't done any homework/chores but i did do a lot of driving okayy hope it's a satisfying and fun ending

queen of clubs (team) kuina and ann my girls yayy

now why are my girls saying "just a few more games, we'll make it to the end" that just speaks trouble

oh deadly dodgeball

okay at least they survived this yes cool girls leaving as the blimps are aflame behind them

okay sad we won't get King of Hearts but think we might get queen of hearts since that hot air balloon is still up. i wonder if it'll be Mira

what the fuckkkkk Niragi elf dude can't die by his hands right? like he survived everything by himself and nearly died so many times no way Niragi of all fuckers is taking him out

this gun-off between Niragi, elf man and Arisu is so boring goddamn just kill Niragi why are we fucking having this long ass convo be serious

is Niragi's shot really killing Chishiya >:((( agh he deserves a more interesting death than to die by Niragi's hand and then this fucking monologue

bro wtf so did Chishiya die after that monologue and then what? it's just him closing his eyes and then immediately us getting fucking Niragi monologue? but no right like we didn't actually see his proper dead body right he wasn't still and non breathing?

Kuina saving Ann yes girlfriends

bro the blimp isn't fucking down yet don't celebrate so quick aksl;dfj

omg fireproof king of spades

why can't someone scale the walls and try to just shoot him in the head

fuckkkkk Heya and Ann within a few seconds of each other D:

sorry Aguni just punching and dragging the king of spades and throwing him around is killing me so bad he's so funny and then he just keeps

bro where's fucking Usagi with her gun or smth why does she keep getting fucking injured every time except like the queen of spades thing

nooooo Kuina tooo my beloved the stabbings D: and Usagi too?

nah did Aguni miss D:

i need king of spades ripped apart limb from limb for real for real seriously

oh brother Aguni is actually invincible lmfao

damn they really blew up that bomb huh

so will the blimp finally come down or nah is the king of spades still alive wtf

damn wtf does the king of spades mean by "sorry. that was the only way i knew how to save you" as his dying words

Aguni's mission to kill king of spade fulfilled and Hatter finally came to him in a hallucination to dissuade him from killing himself

noooo Ann and Kuina sharing dying promises of being friends if they meet again T.T

I wonder why Aguni-Heya and Ann-Kuina's deaths and relationships are all more important and touching than Arisu crying over Usagi's injured body like why do i not give a single shit

oh okay Chishiya elf dude isn't quite dead yet

Arisu's reiterations that he's gonna protect Usagi are so boring like bro you and your friend group are protecting each other, that's what y'all do. When Usagi was protecting him during the queen of spades game or whatever it wasn't like she kept saying yeah I'll protect you! the fuckass hero having to protect the female love interest all the time and repeatedly talking about it is fucking annoying

as expected, Mira is the queen of hearts

Ep 8 (May 22)

an hour 20 minutes longest episode, hope it answers everything pls

Aguni, Kuina, Chishiya, and Nigari are still alive and waiting

damn are these 2 the only competitors

why is Mira stalling so hard man

Is Mira lying or is this the truth about 1000 years into the future and VR? I feel like on reddit someone was like "at least it wasn't stupid VR"

oh lol she was kidding x2

oh Mira created 7 of Hearts, so did the face cards create the games

hmm is this "it's all in your head and you're creating memories, Arisu" this correct, no right? like me knowing the answer about limbo and meteor hitting Tokyo is making all this a bit anticlimactic and meandering

oh interesting very elaborate mind games

actually not that interesting,this boring mindgame is being stretched out so much. talk less stupid stuff and do more or talk about real actual things nowwww we're legit at the halfway mark of episode

Arisu and Usagi love confessions and romance so boring goddamn

ohh so the last time they cleared all the games, that's when the face card masters cleared all their games and chose to become citizens

denies: Aguni, Heya, Kunai, Chishiya (lol his I think), Niragi, Usagi, Arisu

accepts: the pair from Jack of Hearts,

aw, Aguni and Heya :<

ahhhhh Kunai holding Ann's hand and saying let's go back together

so are they assuming they get to go back to their own world now? if they decline?

20 minutes left before credits ah will they wrap it up properly

ohh they were all there that day when the fireworks happened - but I'm assuming just the new players? and not the face cards bc they've been there since before?

and then got fucking blasted by meteors along with everybody else (or is it meteorites? what's the one where they actually hit the planet)

wait, so Arisu did live after the meteor explosion?

oh never minddd so the whole borderlands thing happened already? but in a single minute where Arisu died/was stuck in limbo?

so whoever died in the game also died in real life but if you made it through all the games then you did get to go back, though what happens to those who become face cards? Do they die irl too?

ohh so they're all getting to meet each other again at this hospital. Chishiya and Nagiri (why did this fucker not die man), Aguni and Heya, then I'm sure Arisu and Usagi will meet too

all their injuries irl are the same ones they got during the games

omgggg Ann?! I was like oh no Kuina gonna be by herself but nah Ann has also been resuscitated and Kuina's mom also here

I actually don't really get the time because it's been 2 days or a week and they're all just waking up, so did all of them briefly die or what? Like Ann was just resuscitated but it's been a few days. Maybe it's not that you have to die, just that you have to be unconscious?

also I justttt realized they don't have memories of the time lol before I was like oh? Why did Heya say she doesn't know Aguni? bruh my stupidity. I think it's cuz Nagiri and Chishiya spoke like they know each other

why is there Joker on the table

Okay, the conclusion did conclude and it also made general sense.

Overall:

This sequel was worse I think... but interesting it its own ways too. I liked getting more Kuina my beloved <3 and also Chishiya's parts were fun. The Jack of Hearts with Chishiya and team game with King of Clubs were pretty much the only engaging games, and number 2 with Chishiya was also alright. A whole bunch of games were boring and I was so meh about Arisu/Usagi like I just did not care and I feel like both characters became more boring this season?

Pretty interesting ending though, I kinda knew about it because of my spoiler consumption but yeah it made sense, though it's sad that they didn't remember each other.

Rating: 6.5/10

[taminoarticles]

— Tamino for CRUSH Fanzine, Issue 14 / 2018 (x)

Tamino (Habibi)

Photographed by Nicolas Wagner Interview by Ariel Kenig Styled by Marie Revelut Tamino is wearing Ann Demeulemeester

I'm crazy about him. His music is like a shock to the system. His name is Tamino, and I met him via CRUSHfanzine’s co-editor, Nicolas Wagner, who decided to shoot my new crush while he was in Paris. But Tamino is not only a crush. We could call it love, admiration — the ultimate crush. I am reminded of those rare times when discovering an artist forces you to compare his immensity to others. To err is human, I guess. And yet, when faced with two figures, two faces, two pyramids, the brain needs to differentiate shapes and shades in order to better recognize them. I met Tamino, asked him a few questions. I had a serious look on my face. It didn't last long. Not long enough. Here is my transcript…

“My paternal grandfather died when I was 5 years old. He lived in Cairo. I was always familiar with his songs, primarily via cassettes that my mother would play me when I was little. She thought it was very important that I know where I come from. It's a little strange to see him on YouTube. My dad takes care of those types of things, but it's not easy. My grandfather never really thought about his legacy. There are other singers, like Abdel Halim Hafez, who are still alive and are better known today than my grandfather. His music is everywhere. It would probably be a good thing if my family took steps to showcase this heritage. My grandfather was the first Egyptian singer to play electric guitar on stage. He listened to Elvis Presley… he wrote part of his music himself. As for myself, I write alone. And I do almost everything all by myself. I've been working with a producer whom I met two years ago, on an EP at first. We had such good chemistry that we re-recorded my song “Cigar” together. I told him about my video concept, of that skeleton that stars in the clip, and he produced the song with that idea in mind. That's what I like about him and the guy he's in a two-man band with: they think not only in terms of sound, but of entity. They want to capture the essence of an artist and take it to such-or-such particular idea they have of him, portray him in this or that way, and in my case, take the project to quite majestic heights. You may find it funny, but I don’t write “sad” songs. I mean, I'm not telling the story of a guy sitting alone on his bed with his guitar... I like more epic, more “regal” things. I love Belgian surrealism, that I connect in my work to more Eastern or romantic references. For me, it's a logical juxtaposition... I've not been to Egypt for five or six years, but I'm going back next week. I can’t wait. I like to go closer to the Red Sea, in the less touristy places. I don't have a TV, I don't read the press, and I deleted my Facebook account. I stay abreast of what's happening in Egypt via YouTube. It's strange for me to see that these wars that are rocking the Arab world have existed for thousands of years…

Facebook has too many distractions. I need to stay focused in some sort of flow, to work every day for a long time, whether I end up writing only two sentences or an entire melody. All in all, if you include all the projects and bands in which I participated, I must have written over a hundred songs. For my album, we recorded 18, of which we'll keep 11 of 12. Right now, we're working on mixing it. I studied at the Conservatory, in the popular music department, which gave me a lot of freedom. I worked on my Voice and I continue to maintain it. I am careful not to scream in bars when the music is too loud. It’s easy to end up screaming without even realizing... Although these days, I don't go out much... I don’t have the time. And I have no personal life! [Laughs.] It’s true, it's crazy. I am 21 years old. My life is a little different. You're never around, and when you come out, your friends are surprised: “What? I thought you were in a relationship, I thought you moved.” I don’t feel the age difference with the people I work with. When I was younger, I was very shy, and at the same time, I needed to express myself. It was a weird combination. Nowadays, I'm lining up the tour dates. Our last concert in Paris, at La Maroquinerie, was very moving. My two musicians cried in the middle of the concert. I was getting dewy-eyed myself. It was so intense, to be so well-received in another country. I was reminded of one of our first concerts in Belgium... I think the album will be both an extension of the EP and a synthesis between two themes: romance that can both lift you up and make you vulnerable because you can fall at any time, and indifference to life, in the meaning we give to it, our investment in it. Everyone has a dark side but… I don't know... I do not only write somber music, but I know myself a little bit, so… It's sometimes cumbersome... When you spend too much time looking in the mirror, you end up doing nothing... Sometimes, it's better to just “do,” and the song may tell you something about yourself. A song written in twenty minutes, without too much thinking. This earring? I found it in an old cupboard. It's my mother’s. I'm not sure that she ever wore it.

[thereallvrb0y]

Operation Ivy is a ska punk band born out of Berkeley, California in 1987 by Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, who later went on to form Rancid. The band existed for two years until they broke up, and in that time released one EP called Hectic, and one full length LP called Energy. Energy has since been remastered and can be listened to on Spotify and Apple Music, but I'm not sure if you can find Hectic anywhere. If you can, then it'll be sold for a shit ton of money by a collector somewhere.

Armstrong and Freeman had played together for a few years prior to forming the band. Armstrong (who, by the way, has no relation to Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong) recruited Jesse Michaels from North Berkeley to play with them, then soon after added Dave Mello to the lineup. Armstrong was guitar, Freeman bass, Michaels lead singer, and Mello drums.

The name "Operation Ivy" came from two thermonuclear bomb tests staged by the US government in the 1950s. It was around then, at the band's inception, that Tim Armstrong took his first stage name, Lint. Later he'd go by Tim Armstrong, and Tim Timebomb.

Their first show was at Mello's house, and their second at 924 Gilman Street. They played often there, and their second-to-last concert was also held there. Their first show there was as a supporting act for the band MDC, and they quickly became very popular at Gilman despite not being very well known outside of the Bay Area.

In 1988, they toured the US. They lacked a van (the idiots) and so traveled in a 1969 Chrysler Newport. They'd later estimate they traveled three thousand miles in the car, but Lawrence Livermore claimed they drove at least twice that. They spent six weeks on the road, sleeping where they could and sometimes being forced to sleep in the car if they couldn't find another place. The tour brought very mixed shows; some with only a few people, some full of fans.

Upon returning to the East Bay, they found their popularity had skyrocketed. A concert held at Gilman to welcome them back drew the largest crowd in Gilman's history. Livermore suggested they record a second EP after seeing the success of Hectic. The band disagreed, saying it was time to record a full album.

The recording time spanned from the winter of '88 into the spring of the next year. The band had wanted to record at an empty Gilman because,,, honestly why the fuck not? It's Gilman, it's an insanely important part of punk history. Radely Hirsch, the technician who'd manned Gilman's sound desk for a long ass time, was rather diagreeable with how the songs should be played. He wanted a cleaner sound on the bass, while Freeman wanted a different sound with a different amp. It took weeks to record a single song, because the band wanted to capture the same feeling that playing a show to a live audience at Gilman had.

So. They packed up their shit and moved to recording at the Sound and Vision recording studio in San Francisco. Producer Kevin Army assisted in the production, and the band quickly turned from frankly rather shit to one of the most famous bands of the late 1980s. In only a week, all nineteen songs on Energy had been tracked; the band members refused to stop for even food.

But as always, shit happens. The band was beginning to fracture a bit, with Armstrong turning to alcohol and getting drunk all the time. After a massive chewing-out by Livermore after an especially poor performance, he cut it out. But by then, other shit had begun to change. Gilman ended up closing down for a while due to loss of funds, but did end up reopening a bit later on.

May 28, 1989 was the band's last performance at Gilman. The show was both a concert and in support of Energy, and Op Ivy only played once more after that; at a party the following afternoon.

Rancid's A Journey To The End Of The East Bay is about Op Ivy and is both a love letter to the band and it's many fans, and a story of band with lyrics such as, "Started in '87, ended in '89/Got a garage or an amp we'll play any time."

stop because this was genuinely interesting

[stanharu]

beastars episode 20 thoughts!

lots of mixed feelings about this one

this week's ep covers chapters 68, 70, 79, and 80. overall, it was fun to watch, and i enjoyed seeing some of my fave non-legosi and louis focused moments of this arc animated, but adaptation-wise i feel like this was one of the weaker episodes of this season.

im glad we got to see the side story about sheila and peach animated. i was really afraid it would get cut. i really enjoyed the shots of the wider world of beastars. though i do wanna mention that coming off of last week's ep, which was quite dark and explored how fucked up riz is, this week's ep starting with such a lighthearted story feels a lil offputting. the tones don't really match and im sure for bingewatchers it'll be really strange.

girls❤️

moving on, we finally get to see legosi's training! i really enjoyed this scene. gouhin unceremoniously throwing legosi off the balcony was really funny sjlkdjflgkdjf

next!!! the junoharu chapter!!! animated at last!!! this scene made me so happy. haru is so cute i took a million screenshots of her. though i will say it's been a common issue in this season that there are many small moments in the manga that just do not seem to have the same impact in the anime.

this scene would be another example of that, imo. i think it could've been played up a lil more

lastly, louis and the shishigumi visit the hyperdrug business. sadly, i was a bit disappointed with how the anime handled this scene. it felt like it was over too soon. i think there's similar issues with this scene as the salad scene a few weeks ago. in the manga we can see that louis feels a range of emotions at ibuki being considerate of him, but in the anime louis just seems kinda mad/annoyed by it.

i just feel like this moment did not hit as hard emotionally in the anime as it does in the manga. which makes me real sad bc i love this scene a lot. i wish the anime lingered a lil longer in this scene and played it up some more. also look at louis' baby hand compared to ibuki's dflsjdkljf

wow 😳

i think ibuki & louis' moment on the balcony did a lil better tho. also i rly like this shot

lastly... i want to express some concerns ive had that've been growing as the anime as progressed. as manga readers will know, there are a couple of key scenes between legosi and louis that have not happened in the anime yet. specifically chapters 66 and 75/76. i have a feeling these moments are gonna be squished together in the anime but the fact that both of these scenes are coming way later in the story than when they did in the manga worries me about how the anime may handle them, we're already running into some pacing issues. like, i honestly wouldnt have minded if the sheila and peach vignette got cut if it meant there'd be more time to do the legosi and/or louis focused moments right.

ive been marking which chapters the anime covers in each episode, and this week's episode pulls from chapters from 3 different volumes.

it's just a lil wild to me. and on the other side i've marked the giant chunk of volume 9 that's been skipped over for the past few weeks.

thats's like... half the volume.

not to mention that based on the previews for next week's ep it seems like the story is still marching steadily thru volume 10, chapters 75/76 whomst? also jpn fans have been speculating about an anime original scene between louis and ibuki based on one of the pics from the preview. which, given the pacing issues that've already been pointed out, worries me more about the stuff that's been skipped atm and the finale sjdflksjldkjf

idk, i may be thinking too much about all this and it'll work out somehow. im trying to hold out hope that studio orange will still be able to do these scenes justice, but we'll just have to wait and see.

[sol1056]

EPs: "we chose Netflix to explore things like sexuality" (nothing was explored or was explicit for even 2 seconds) "when they told us u cant kill Shiro, we knew we could push the reveal 4 later" (so nice of them to admit they stopped our rep just to be able to kill him) "when we found out about byg we knew we coulnt kill Shiro & we thought we'll find rep w another character. Then we learned we could go on w/ Shiro as the rep" (theres ANOTHER REP WE DIDNT GET?? Was it vague then erased? Whatt??)

I think these are two separate issues. One is related to who made VLD, and the other is related to the EPs’ ignorance of characterization. The second overlaps with a bunch of asks I’ve recently gotten about race and representation, so here I’m just keeping it to a general discussion of characterization, with Lance as example. And then about Shiro in particular, how the EPs’ statements reveal their lack of thought.

Behind the cut. 

remember where these people came from

The team behind VLD is almost entirely formerly Nickelodeon. DreamWorks wanted to break into television on a much larger scale, and since they almost always promote from outside the company, they lured over Margie Cohn from her position as a Nick VP. As VP/exec levels tend to do, Cohn brought a bunch of people with her.

One of those was Mark Taylor, who’d been involved in both AtLA and LoK. Taylor, in turn, brought JDS, LM, and I think one or two of the other producers. Taylor also probably brought over Hamilton, Chan, and Hedrick, as known entities with proven track records. 

These are people who — for for the last ten or more years — have swum in Nickelodeon’s considerably more conservative fishbowl. It’s entirely possible (given what people tell me about storylines in HTTYD, and DW’s open support of She-Ra) the former Nickelodeon team automatically downgraded DW’s “go ahead and explore these heavier/darker topics” to mean “maybe kinda mention in passing but don’t be too obvious about it.”  

Now, to be fair, the EPs may have pushed for more LGBT+ rep, and their obstacle might not have been DW, but Taylor. It’d explain how the EPs could praise everyone (read: DreamWorks staff) as supportive, yet allso complain about pushback (read: Taylor’s Nickelodeon-influenced sensibilities). Two different parties were calling the shots. 

It’s also possible what the EPs saw as ‘rep’ was still considerably toned-down from what DW execs (and the VAs) may’ve expected. After all, that one-minute scene in VLD might’ve required an act of god at Nickelodeon. VLD’s staff may have genuinely considered this scene landmark because even that tiny bit was far more than their previous employer would’ve allowed. 

Cue the victory lap and excited chatter, and seeming blindness to Korra being long since surpassed by Steven Universe, Young Justice, Bob’s Burgers, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, RWBY, Rick and Morty, Clarence, BoJack Horseman, Danger & Eggs, Big Mouth, and Summer Camp Island. Remember, it wasn’t until 2016 that Nickelodeon would have a married gay couple (in The Loud House), and they’re not even central characters. The VLD staff may’ve thought itself bold, and unprepared for the reality of modern (non-Nickelodeon) audience expectations. 

No, I don’t think that absolves them. It just seems the most reasonable explanation. That is, short of seeing the EPs as so utterly cynical they’d pump up the audience for what amounted to a nothingburger in light of what else popular media now delivers. 

and then there’s representation

VLD’s troubles can all be traced to one crucial detail: the EPs don’t understand that characters are the bedrock of stories. And as such, there are no shortcuts.

Ever had the misfortune to catch a home decorating show? Here we have a windowless basement: mock up a mantle from polystyrene, paint the walls gray, put up sconces with flickering lightbulbs… it’s still a basement. It’s just now desperately pretending to be something it isn’t. The bones of the structure are undeniably American Suburbia, not generic castle keep, and those bones are integral to how we experience the space.

The average person isn’t trained to be aware of those bones — the underlying architecture — and its subtle impact on our experience, just as most non-storytellers aren’t trained to see how and where and why characters create plot. I guarantee you, though, you will never mistake a late-century Kmart for the Centre Pompidou or the Forbidden City or Mount Vernon. Just as you would never mistake a beginner’s first novel for Lord of the Rings or Left Hand of Darkness. 

That is, the dressed stone isn’t paint and plaster; it’s a core element informing (even dictating) height, width, and depth of a space. Characterization is the same: it must be structural. In turn, characters inform the breadth and depth of the story. If your characterization is shallow, wild swerves and dramatic reveals can make the story fun, but they will never make it deep. 

I empathize with the (hopefully genuine) intent to avoid making Shiro’s sexuality a ‘reveal.’ The unfortunate truth is: waiting 60+ episodes to even mention in passing makes it a reveal. It wasn’t structural, or viewers would’ve been sensing it from the very beginning. 

This isn’t a haircut or a pair of jeans. It’s a person’s identity, and that has crucial impact on hopes, fears, desires, and needs. It doesn’t start only once the audience is let in on the secret; it was always there. It should’ve informed the character’s actions and reactions all along. 

If Lance is Cuban, and the story takes place in a quasi-future America, then to understand Lance’s perspective, we need to ask questions like: is Cuba still under embargo? Is it a free democracy now, or did Lance’s family flee at some point? Is he part of an exchange program, or is there a lottery that let him come to the US for his education? Did he leave his family behind? How young was he, when he left? What was his childhood like, and how does that differ from what he found in America? What was his parents’ relationship like, and how does that influence his expectations for friends and lovers? 

Was he fluent in English when he arrived, or did he only become fluent later? Does his Spanish have a noticeable accent, and if so, has he felt isolated from other Latinx at school? Or is he the only Latino at the Garrison? Is he proud of his heritage, or ashamed of it? Did he get bullied for being foreign, and how did that change what he says/does? Even if America is joyfully multi-cultural, he’d still be an immigrant or foreigner, and that’s a different experience from a non-white community that’s multi-generation American. What was his impression of his new life? What compared favorably (or not) to his childhood? 

It’s not just, “He’s a boy from Cuba.” You have to think about what it means to be ‘from Cuba’ and how this is different from, say, growing up next door to the Garrison (like Pidge probably did). If you put that much thought into it, if you talk to people who’ve lived that experience, if you push yourself to imagine as deeply as you can how Lance’s life would have shaped him? 

By the time you’re done, Lance would never need to say a word. 

His reactions, his assumptions, maybe a few mannerisms, his humor, a few throwaway comments about his family or things he did as a kid — and there would be Cubans in the audience going, “hey, wait a minute, he’s just like my cousin.” Or brother or uncle or friend. By the time someone asks at a panel? Half the audience would be saying, yeah, we were right, Lance is totally Cuban. 

Or you don’t think about it, and you use stereotypes in hopes that’ll do the work for you. As @sjwwerewolf commented:

Man, I’m ready to rant about Voltron. I’m Cuban. Lance, oh boy, Lance. From season 1 on, he has been written as a huge stereotype. The flirtatious, passionate comic relief character who’s dumb. Like. He’s literally Antman’s sidekick. That character. All you need to make him a full caricature is like, “I have a gangster brother.“ 

The stereotype is a shortcut. It’s slapping on behaviors without thought for a real person’s experiences or perspectives. VLD is, sadly, full of them: the Latino (wannabe) lover, the big guy who likes food (with only the slightest twist to have him actually good at cooking), the boyish-girl who’s a brain and likes computers more than people, etc. 

just pull shiro out of a hat

At some point early on, the EPs said (once again in an interview, not in the story) that VLD is a world without homophobia. The story itself contradicts that ideal, or at least, it emphasizes a certain level of heternormativity over an open embrace of diverse relationships. What’s in our face for six seasons is Lance’s lover-boy stereotype, Allura’s attraction to Lotor, Lotor’s attraction to Allura, Matt’s attraction to Allura, and so on… and the closest we get to anything resembling an alternate attraction is one blush from a servant in a flashback, and Kuron’s startled reaction to Keith’s return. 

All VLD had to do was have Hunk mention his moms. Or Coran mention his late husband. Or Lance mention his sister’s wife. Something explicit to offset the heterosexual attractions going on. Frankly, for six seasons it was an open question whether homosexuality even existed in VLD: the absence of a negative is not proof of the presence of a positive. 

That absence means we really have no idea how being queer in VLD’s world would affect a character — and it would, have no doubt. Our sexuality affects every single one of us; it’s just that straight people have the benefit of seeing the roadmap of their sexuality played out in a million books, movies, and television shows. If you haven’t given thought to whether this is also true in your world, then you don’t really know how a character could discover, define, and map their sexuality, or how they’d quantify or qualify relationships that overlap their sexual preferences. You don’t understand the structure. 

That lack of thought means, nine times out of ten, the creator has said to themselves, “it’s easier to just say this character’s experience of their sexuality is exactly like the one I, as a straight person, vaguely recall having (that I never actually had to question because it was already mapped out for me, everywhere I looked).” That’s not a queer character. That’s a character with a label slapped on their forehead that says here be a queer character. It’s paint, because the structure underneath is straight person. 

Which means that of course the EPs could consider making someone else “the rep,” because they really seem to believe this is as easy as removing the label from Shiro’s forehead and sticking it on someone else. And it’s not. People don’t work like that. Sexuality is no more a simple paint-job than race, gender, culture, or dis/ability. Each of these things is etched on our bones, literally or metaphorically, and that changes us all the way through. 

The short version, then, is: no, we wouldn’t have gotten any other rep, just as we haven’t truly gotten any rep as VLD was delivered. Shiro has a label on his forehead, but unless and until the canonical story demonstrates this goes all the way down to his bones… he’s just a straight suburban basement with a mediocre paint job and some fake queer columns.

[musicoccurred]

Mixtapes

The mixtape, a word that is dependent on who's using it and when. I'm middle-aged and came up in the 80s and 90s so it means something different to me than a kid today or a band camp rapper. Having said that, let's take a look at the different usages of mixtape and see if we can crown a winner of the top type of mixtape.

For those of us with achy knees and patches of gray in our hair, a mixtape was, first and foremost, actually on a tape. Now there were themes involved just as there are now with some of the others I'll mention in a bit. For instance, every Sunday there was Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 radio show. I would often drop a blank cassette in my boom box and hit record. I would then go watch TV in the living room and keep an ear out for the telltale 'click' of the tape running out. I'd run back to my room, flip the tape, and hit record again. You have to understand, before the internet, geez that never not sounds old, the radio ruled. Even with albums, cassettes, and later CDs you still listened to the radio all the time. That's why I love XM so much, there's something about having someone curate music for you. And even today with every song available at the tap of a finger there's something awesome when your jam comes on the radio. It just hits different. I digress. So now at the end of the countdown you have the top 40 songs of the week, or however many you had enough tapes for... You can now make a mixtape of your favorite tracks. Radio also had "Request and Dedication" shows where you could call in and request a song and give a little dedication to your amore. You could record that and toss it at the beginning of the mixtape and good things happen. Another type would be artist specific. Say you were a Michael Jackson fan, you could take Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad and make a tape of your favorite songs from each. Another would be genre, when I was first getting into blues and jazz, I'd borrow tapes from my Mom and friends to make mix tapes. And last but not least, the mixtape for your love interest. These were the ultimate, you'd diligently record songs from the radio and mix in a song or two from either an artist she didn't know or an obscure song from a known artist to show you were a deep brother. You weren't done yet! You'd then work hard on the label and of course the note to go along with those 10 songs that perfectly sum up your feelings for that person. On a side note, I'd like to take this opportunity to say if you were the object of my unrequited affection and received one of these, I apologize. Unless you liked it, then, hey girl.

Next up we have the burned CD mixtape. It is the evolutionary cousin to the cassette mixtape. While it took a while for CD burners to become ubiquitous, they eventually showed up, primarily in PCs. What was lost in recording from the radio was picked up by being able to download from Napster and pass along. Additionally, you could write or draw on the CD itself and the labels, if you went that route, were larger for track listing and any other info you wanted to toss in there.

Now we're moving on to the streaming portion of the discussion:

Note: I'm using playlist and mixtape interchangeably here.

One step removed from the burned CD and what seems lightyears beyond the cassette technologically is the custom, personally curated playlist. This can be a playlist you do for yourself; I have several in Spotify. I will sometimes dump an entire artist's collection in there to shuffle, or perhaps include only the tracks I like best. I also have one for jazz and one for funk called 'greasy.' But in the spirit of this piece, I'm thinking of a playlist that you create for someone else and share the link with them. I actually like this, not only can you send them a custom mix of songs that can express how you feel about them, but you can update the playlist anytime. It can be romantic or simply sharing new tunes with a homie.

Next, we have the algorithmically created playlist. When you sign in Spotify (I'm assuming other services offer similar features) and you get the daily list or the multiple "just for you" selections, this is what I'm referring to. Spotify uses the data from your listening habits to create playlists with songs from artists they think you'll like. It's pretty accurate with a few swings and misses. I have to say I'm a fan of including these playlists as well as listing other artists similar to the one you're listening to. I've discovered so many new bands this way. Alternatively, there are playlists that are created based on other factors. I work out with playlists on Spotify and XM such as Hip hop workout or Lithium Workout. These are likely created based on a beats per minute count. Some don't really fit the workout but have a faster beat. Overall, I like this style of mixtape/playlist.

Finally, we have the artist mixtape. This is generally hip hop but isn't necessarily limited to any specific genre. I relate it to an EP being released prior to an LP back in the day. Some of these have very rapid turnarounds, like a day or two so sometimes the quality of the mix isn't that great but topically it's right on time.

So how do these rank in terms of which mixtape format is best? Let's find out!

5. Artist Mixtape - This may be one of those "not for you" cases but I'm not a fan of most of these I've heard. Some are pretty good, but most feel rushed or worse, don't have a cohesive feel to the tracks. The ability for artists to drop tracks near instantly is pretty amazing and I do like the idea of it. We'll see how that continues to develop.

4. Algorithmically created playlist - While I use these pretty much every single day, they lack the human touch - hello, algorithm - which is what makes the mixtape great.

3. Burned CD - I probably surprised you here with this at number 3. I do think it has a lot of strengths and is still a physical object that gives the human touch. But there were some issues. If you're old enough to have gone through the burned CD era, you'll know the pain of burning a CD for it to simply not work. Sometimes the person you gave it to had a CD player that wouldn't play those or you needed a CD -R or +R or RW, it was awful.

2. Personally curated playlist - While fully digital and not that personal this does have the ability to add and remove songs as you go. Plus, when you email the link to the person you can toss in a nice note about how you thought about them when making it.

1. Cassette - I mean come on, it's called a mixTAPE right? Clear winner here. Yeah, I'm old but there was something about it.

Epilogue:

I listen to either streaming music or records. I'm resisting the urge to get back into cassettes even though I have a couple decks and tapes. My cassette collection didn't survive growing up. Honestly, I have no idea where they went. I still have my CDs but before I would play a CD, I would stream it. There's something human about playing a record or a cassette. We are a touching, feeling creature and it means something to flip that tape over or to hold the liner notes on a record. I think that's lost on the younger folks. As everything is digitized and available on a screen it loses some of its meaning. I like buying concert tickets online but man, there's something about lining up at Macy's or JC Penney's or wherever your ticket office was and buying a physical ticket they handed you. When I have the option, even if it's a couple bucks more I still try to get physical tickets. In 20 years, I can look at that stub and remember the show, I can't do that with a barcode on an app.

What's your favorite format or mixtape/playlist?

-js

[luxlisbonblog]

10 Things you didn’t know about a DIY band Tour...

N.B Our UK tour starts very soon >>>>>GET YOUR TICKETS HERE

------------------------------------------

10 Things you didn’t know about a 100% DIY Band Tour…

On our tours we are the band, support band, promoter, booking agent, band manager, roadie, tour manager, financiers…you get the idea….all in one. No-one else is involved. So there’s alot to it and a few people have suggested I update a little thing about i wrote about it. Let's dive in! 

1. Recording songs to play

Of course the FIRST thing to do is to record some new songs to play! We'll have a new EP out very soon called 'Change (To Stay The Same). This is our latest single 'When You Need Somebody'.

2. Planning the tour dates

It takes a fair amount of time to research appropriate venues for each City, especially if we have never been. I’ll tend to try and take recommendations from our lovely fans in each City. The size, cost, facilities (stage, PA, projector/screen), proximity to the city centre.

Then we send out an email to our fans in nearby postcodes asking if they’d pay in advance for the show. If there are enough people to make it work - we’ll book the show. This is cool. 

We do all the booking, promoting etc ourselves, so then it’s a case of contacting the venues, finding suitable dates, booking, arranging payment, signing contracts, planning a tour schedule and listing and promoting all the shows - this needs a fair bit of website/graphic design huffing and puffing for a non-techie like me who doesn't know what he is doing. Youtube tutorials are your friend I find!

 3. Selling the Tickets

We setup our own site to sell the tickets ourselves rather than use a big ticket site.  

Basically this is because it is the only way to charge no ticket fees.

I detest them. And so do you. Urgh. They are the absolute worst part of the gig going experience in my book. Put you in a right bad mood. 

Also, doing it this way also means we can communicate with folks ahead of time, making sure they know all the songs by sending them over, even unreleased ones, when gig day comes. This helps the enormously we find.

4. The Soundperson

We can’t afford our own "Soundperson" to travel everywhere with us (this is a very important role - someone who controls the levels and the quality of the sound using the mixing desk while you are playing, some people call them the extra member of a band) - so we have to liase and talk to the Venue’s Soundperson as best we can. That means more conversations and making documents…like this one…

Because essentially we have quite a complex set up and bank of equipment to re-create our songs live. 

5. Band Equipment and Setup

We have 4 vocal mics, 3 different guitars feeds, 3 seperate keyboards, a digital sampler and jamies drum kit to set up (as well as Trumpet, Saxophone, Violin and extra backing vocals when budget allows on bigger shows) - in addition to in-ear monitors radio feeds to hear what we are playing best we can. So 2 hours or so is needed to set up and test all of this (and there will always be a problem, you can bet your house on it!). 

There’s also bit and bobs of stage equipment like Tom’s Electronic Drums, Keys and Mic Stands, Spares, Projectors, whole sports holdalls of wires and adaptors of differing colours and uses (sometimes we need 50m+ to rig up the projectors at some reticent venues!) 

…and you can always bet on something going wrong. Tom’s trying to remember whether it’s the Red or the Green wire he shouldn’t cut here…

6. Projections and Visuals 

The projections and visuals we use (syncing up with the songs as we are playing them) are also a vital and non-negotiable part of our show.

Anyway…for each tour there are new visuals to prepare/amend. Chris Tongue from Dead Ready who does all our videos has already done the lion’s share here, but I also have to employ hours of some abysmally slow Final Cut Pro “skills” to adapt them for the live show. 

The hire and set up of the extra equipment required to make that happen can be tricky, as not an awful lot of bands use this sort of thing, but it’s cool. It’s worth it. 

For example, here is Charlotte with wor friend Daveyboy hovering and taking his projected bow! 

7. Lighting 

Sometimes there are also lights to consider, and as it is normally only for certain shows, and venues mostly don’t have specific lightpeople - hiring and liasing with a freelancer to handle that side of things. 

8. Merchandise

I guess there is research, design, finance, pack/price up and transport of the merchandise for the show too, where we'll set out our proveribal (and literal). Bit like this. 

More often we have to arrange to pay someone local to actually do the selling on the night too - we’re normally too busy packing up and down, but we try to man the stall ourselves when we can - it’s cool to meet everyone! 

We’re in negotiations to make this little guy our full time merch dude, but he is a bit reticent at this point. That’s Bruce the cat. He’s named after Springsteen, not Forsyth in case you were wondering. 

9. Rehearsal

We tend to tour in chunks. So some time may have passed since our last show. A rehearsal is needed! We take a good few days over it. Although it would probably take less time if we didn’t always devote the first day to 5 hours of “throwing rock shapes”. 

For bigger shows we also rope in some good friends to play extra parts with us, so we’ll need to rehearse with them too.

Alex on Sax (in a new song ‘When You Need Somebody’) :-

Elliot on Trumpet and Basia on Violin :-

 and Dickon, Rob and Ben from that band Careless Sons on BV's (who will also be supporting us on the tour on these dates below, thanks for info boyz :)

Decide the setlist. And away we go….It’s often a bit of a squeeze. 

10. Right...the Tour is on! - A typical day

9 = Wake in whatever accommodation we’ve arranged. Surrounded by equipment. It’s usually a Travelodge*. I think Charlotte is on commission or something :)

11 = Have now sourced and consumed a decent breakfast** - like this one at the Long Play Cafe in Newcastle. Ace Coffee. Average Ringo Starr Solo albums.

11.30 = Pack 2 Travelodge rooms of gear into 2 cars. This picture obviously isn’t outside a Travelodge. 

12ish = Set off a'driving. 

3ish = Arrive at Venue. Often venue has no parking. Unpack all gear onto pavement. 2 Drivers head off to find parking. 2 of us stay and move the stuff inside.

3.30 = 2/3 flights of stairs done. Gear is all in the venue.

3.35 = Set up. The stuff. Put on a cuppa. This’ll take a while.

4.30 = Deal with whatever problem has reared it’s head today. There is always one. Or nine. 

5 = Soundcheck. Looks a bit like this. 

6.15 = Remember that we haven’t eaten. Get that sorted. Gotta be back at the venue by 6.45.

7= Doors open. Nervous. It’s not always quite like this, but this was one of our our Scala Show. Deal with ticket/gueslist ‘issues’. Always fun. 

7.30 = First Act. Charlotte usually opens for us, playing her own songs. Normally 3 bands. Normal curfew 10.30ish. So 3 hours on call.

9.15pm Gig Time! Lux Lisbon Set time 1hr 25m

10.35pm =  Offstage. A total blur until about 11.45pm but during that time, chatting with folk, merch stuff, celebratory drinks, packing down what took us 3 times as long to set up earlier, reverse stairs trip, re-locating/driving back cars, loading up and setting of to next Travelodge will all have been ‘achieved’

Midnight-1am = Arrive at Travelodge, unpack gear into rooms again. Look forward to realising what essential piece of equipment we left behind in 6 or so hours time. 

And Breathe!

PHEW!

As I said at the start we are doing this all again in April 2017.

In Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Brighton and London.

Here is a little poster. It has information on it. Like a typical promotional poster. It’s self explanatory in almost all respects. OK, in all respects.

 >>>>>>>>AND YOU CAN GET YOUR TICKETS HERE

That’s enough of that now. 

Take care and as ever you can hit reply and I’ll answer any q’s. 

Stu (from that band Lux Lisbon). 

————-

*In the interests of 2016 BBC-esque balance….‘other budget hostelry option are available’. 

**Note: Essential. And enjoyable. I love a breakfast and very much subscribe this this Thomas Babington Macaulay quote -

“Dinner parties are mere formalities: but you invite a man to breakfast because you actually want to see him”

P.S Tell your pals. They can get our music free to DL/Stream here - http://luxlisbon.com/listen or point send them to our latest single (http://luxlisbon.com/whenyouneedsomebodyvideo)

Copyright © Stuart Rook All rights reserved.

[stanharu]

beastars episode 21 thoughts!

legosi and louis have finally reunited!!!

i have a lotta gripes with this episode, but i think overall it was still a very good episode. this week's ep covered chapters 75, 76, 81, and a lil bit from ch69. i was very excited & happy to see legosi and louis finally interacting, and finally seeing some of my favorite legosi & louis moments animated & fully voiced was also great.

the ep opens with an anime original scene of louis and ibuki discussing stolen goods in their supply chain. its very brief and seems to just be setup for legosi and louis' reunion in the BAM later in the ep, so i'll come back to this later.

i liked seeing this lil smoky deer form in legosis head when monologuing about his smell lol. usually this only happened when legosi was tracking haru's scent so im glad they did it for louis too lol. ot3 real.

i really liked the scene of legosi's training. the intense fight paired with legosi's matter of fact tone while narrating was great lol i really love his voice.

the tao & kibi moment in the hospital was great omg ;-; i loved it. no complaints only emotions and tears.

now. the moment we've all been waiting for. the long awaited lougosi reunion. i have mixed feelings about it bc during my first watch i was very excited to see the boys finally interacting, but also in the back of my mind i was filled with dread while coming to the realization that the anime had changed how they meet again. i was kinda right about the anime quishing together ch66 along with ch75/76, but really they only pulled some lines from 66 and put them into this anime original scene in the warehouse :'^)

i dont think this scene is bad tho, i still really enjoyed watching it. but im still disappointed that it's different from the manga djflksjldf. at the very least i wouldve liked if the anime kept their brief interaction from ch66 and letting louis stew in his feelings of seeing legosi buying meat for a couple eps. very sad we were robbed of that.

i liked this lil moment where theyre just looking at e/o and thinking a million things. something i've always loved about this part (in both the manga & the anime) is how legosi got a fur cut so the shishigumi wouldn't recognize him but louis recognized him immediately lol. the music for this part was really great too. and seeing legosi's tail get all waggy was So Cute.

i will say tho that louis' lack of expressiveness in this season continues to be an issue. in the manga we get to see how hurt louis is to see legosi in the BAM and how he's almost embarrassed at legosi's visible happiness at seeing him again after everything. in the anime louis seems rather stone faced for most of this scene. he just looks either angry/annoyed or kinda neutral. his expressions are very subtle, like you can tell he's holding back a bit but we're not getting the same range as manga louis.

i think louis' expressiveness is a lil better in the next part when legosi is eating with the shishigumi and the balcony scene, but still not the same range as manga louis.

it was really funny to me about louis eats the steak and then just looks legosi dead in the eyes while he chews. like louis is challening legosi and legosi is just confused about why he's doing something so ridiculous. i've always wondered what legosi was thinking in this moment lmao.

as for the balcony scene... i fuckin loved it lmao. the voice acting was phenomenal. my lougosi brain was in OVERDRIVE

legosi literally said 🥺 while hugging louis i cant 😭

louis 🥺🥺🥺💕

also i really enjoyed this lil bit of legosi playing with the banner strings out of shyness. very cute.

i also really like how the anime did this part. i gasped and i knew it was coming lmao.

while i think the legosi & louis centric scenes were pretty well done overall, some people have pointed out that the anime doesn't let some of the really important moments from it linger long enough to hit with as much impact as they do in the manga, and i have to agree. i think it's another consequence of adding so much anime original stuff & shuffling many scenes around. like, i think the anime did well, but as a manga reader i know these scenes could have been even better.

the last thing ill say about this part is that when legosi launched himself over the banners i literally laughed out loud

this is the funniest clip ever lmao

i thought the last part of the ep was good, tho im a lil sad we didnt get legosi growling in the anime lol. once again im so in love with pina's voice acting ❤_❤

legosi's talk with pina about riz is supposed to set up the moth scene, which is when legosi's fur grows back, but based on the previews for the next ep, im not sure if we'll even be getting it, which worries me @0@ the preview pics that were posted all show moments that happen after legosi grows his fur back in the manga but it doesnt look like his fur has grown back yet in the anime.

this change is super weird to me, idk why the anime would push the moth scene or legosi's fur growth back so late in this arc. based on how things have been going im afraid the anime may have legosi grow is fur back in a different way, and cut the moth scene, which will be super disappointing for me bc i really love the moth scene. im still gonna hold out hope for it not being cut tho. crossing my fingers!!