#japanese showbusiness

[thethera-rossa]

[dojae-huh]

I started getting into Wish after some reluctance but now I enjoy them thoroughly to the point where I watch all of their content. Their content is still at the point where they are getting use to the camera? In a sense that they have a bit of difficulty coming up with topics all the time but I am fine with that because I enjoy their personalities. The Japanese members feel very chic(?) in a way that the Korean members are more softer. As for performing, they are pretty engaging, but my only main issue is Yushi’s facials? Now I am coming from the view of a Yushi and Riku biased person, but i don’t know if its only me but Yushi has inconsistent facials when performing, which at a base is alright but you can kind of tell if hes in a good mood that day? Wish is a song with lots of smiling or energetic facials and sometimes he doesn’t perform to that standard. Other than that I can see why he is the center, he has a charm to him that draws your eyes to him but I feel like he would need to be more consistent in other areas to reach his full potential. My favourite member to watch is Riku, he’s always high energy and fun while performing. I don’t know if you watch all their performances but if you do, do you think theres a stark difference?

I recently realised how Weekly Idol and similar programmes with funny games are essential to idol groups. They allow idols to show themselves and interest a potential fan into paying more attention. Even if a song or a face hooks in an MV or on a music show, the resistance to get into a new group is still big afterall.

Wish are quickly gathering fans, albeit Japanese and Korean for now. I've translated some comments under their YT videos, they get many people in their 20-s and 30-s who watch them to get a dose of cuteness and relax after work, heh. The fans also like the editing, they praise NCT Wish media content team all the time for speed and amount of work they do.

I do watch content and performances, however, I don't pay close attention to Yushi. I only notice he is a good dancer for the team's level. I will look into his facials now that you brought the topic up. Yushi was chosen as the centre because he is the main dancer, and was introduced early. He seems to progress in singing, if he puts energy into learning how to sing properly, he may become a very strong neo.

The issue of inconsistency is probably due to his introverted nature. He is more of a "go with the mood" person like Yuta, so he seems unpredictable. One minute he is shy and quite, another minute he is bold and mischiveious. Riku, on the other hand, has relatives who work in showbusiness. Seems like he was taught how to behave in public. He pays a lot of attention to working for the camera and delivering during performances. He wants to be a maknae, but he is mature mentally, he fits his age.

Wishies are getting the hang of producing content very quickly, their easiness with fanservice helps them. I hope they will continue with their tv-mini-dramas, it's good entertainment.

The members seem at the stage of being awkward with each other still. Particularly with Jaehee, who was added as the last one. Their web of friendships is in the process of being formed. I think it adds to the "difficulty" you've mentioned.

Riku is the mother of the group, but he is different from Doyoung. Doyoung gravitates towards the role, Riku is pushed into it instead, it's like he feels the need to fill in the role because someone has to. I wonder if he has younger siblings.

For now it is: Yushi and everyone (Yushi and Sakuya are roommates), Shion and Yushi (trained together), Shion and Riku (roommates, similar age), Riku and Ryo (seems to click), Riku and Jaehee (Riku is the most welcoming, they gravitate towards hyung-dongsaeng, probably are language pals). Sakuya and Ryo are bound together by age and training period, but there is some mismatch of characters they have to navigate around.

The Japanese are cheeky. Maybe because they moved abroad at a young age. Most Japanese never leave the country (only around 15% travel). In general, foreigners who you can meet outside of tourist groups don't represent the norm for their respective country. With a few exceptions of those countries where taking a leap year and travelling is in the culture. And border cities. In addition, SM selects the bright ones, those who stand out during evaluations.

Speaking of Jaehee. Once he gets over the stage of "wow, I can't believe it is happening", he will be noisy and entertaining. He is afraid to let loose currently, but he is funny, there is an actor in him.

[neutrallyobsessed]

I've had an idea for a ship: Trucy/John Marsh. They both have a lot in common (Both work in showbusiness, have very complicated family issues, were adopted by legal experts.) and I can see them getting along very well. What do you think?

I think that I'll keep shipping Trucy with Klavier, but I do have an idea of my own~:

i didnt have much of an idea of how to introduce the concept to the masses for a while until now uwo. as an argentinian, it'd be very funny to call this ship pearohn lol, but i guess it'd be better to stick to the nrmy formula of keeping it japanese so i'll call this one AizaHaru

my only justification is they're both really short adults lmao (i say this as very short adult btw ;p)

ps: i do think Trucy and John could get along, being showbiz co-workers, but she's too genki and he's kinda jaded for it to work romantically, that's why i think it'd go better with Pearl's more calm yet possitve nature plus she can handle agaisnt a Moozilla type monster rather well, if I do say so myself~~

[shigerunakano]

藤原竜也と富山

映画「鳩の撃退法」の「北陸に住む藤原竜也」という微細な表現は「素人」には思いつくまい。そこが重要。クオリティーとはそのようなものである。藤原竜也はいう。「それなら俺の地元にもある」。配給制は偉大なり。有意かつ確かな情報として藤原竜也は埼玉県秩父市に住む中学生だった頃に、池袋を歩いていたところをスカウトされ、６０年代アングラ演劇の雄、蜷川幸雄の舞台「親毒丸」のオーディションに合格。異色のデビューを果たす。当時は若者文化が大いに盛り上がったし、アメリカンカジュアルという斬新なビジュアルが世間の話題となった。しかしながら地方性の強い本作で主演を張る今作での彼は、明らかに“海外の事情に疎い”。井戸端会議と呼ぶべきミステリー展開にも振り回されるばかりで女性への生成（ドゥルーズ）を果たしたかのようである。彼の故郷である埼玉県は、依然として凄まじいまでの��テンシャルを���持したまま発展を続けており、戦後の南関東の歴史は国民にとって産業的モニュメント、もっと言えば単なる歴史上の寓話となりつつあるし、団塊世代が引退する時代には「新鮮な昭和」が叫ばれたりもした（「ALWAYS　三丁目の夕日」における堀北真希の印象的な美貌）。しかし90年代の夢はあくまでも複雑なものであり、むしろ恐ろしく苦い。神経症の規定にも関わるが、オタクと呼ばれる購買層がゲンロン元代表の東浩紀に向けてきたのは彼の世代の親との向き合い方に他ならず、それは私の目には暗黙の形ではあってもはっきりと認められるものなのだ。昭和の自民党政治は極限性のかたまりと呼ぶべきものだ（死者たちのこだまを聞け）。しかしながら昭和について考えるだけの余裕と時間。それから禁煙と分煙。この世にはたしかに、それらがあるし、藤原竜也の住む世界に人はたくさんいる……。心のかたち、人のかたち。演歌の心。

-彼は焼け野原に然なり蘇りし者なり。デスノートで生類は殺せずども-

[natromanxoff]

(x)

Freddie: I do not care how they remember me

• FRIENDS of rock superstar Freddie Mercury gathered this week at his London home after reports that the Queen singer is suffering from AIDS.

• Despite official denials, what is certain is that one of rock's legends is seriously ill. His latest interview was with Showbusiness Editor DAVID WIGG. Here, Freddie talks movingly about his fears, his loneliness... and death.

BEHIND the image of rock's mischievous joker and his extravagant behaviour, Freddie Mercury is a sensitive man who confided to me innermost feelings.

Freddie told me, in the last interview he gave before retreating behind the high walls of his London home: "I don't have any real friends. I don't think I do. I discard them.

"People tell me that they're friends, but there we are. I don't believe them.”

I suggested he was perhaps frightened of people getting close to him.

“Yes and no. I’m not afraid of them, but it is frightening. That’s the difference. Sometimes, I think when they get too close, they seem to destroy me.

"I’m very sceptical and I have deliberately made fewer and fewer friends as my life has gone on.”

After a run of disastrous, tempestuous relationships around the world, surely there had come a time when he just wanted to share his life with someone?

"Yes, but nobody to share their life with me. It's not easy living with me. After all these years, I just think I’m not a very good partner for anybody.

“Because audiences love me it’s hard for them to believe that somebody like Freddie Mercury could be lonely.”

HE CONFIDED: “In fact, my kind of loneliness is the hardest to bear. Loneliness doesn’t just mean being shut away in a room by yourself. You can be in a crowded area and still be the loneliest person, because you don’t really belong to anyone.”

And if he has chosen to be alone, how would he like to be remembered?

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t really think about when I’m dead or how they are going to remember me. I don’t really think about it. It’s up to them. When I’m dead, who cares? I don’t.

“When you think about someone like me and my lifestyle, I have to go round the world and live in hotels and that can be very lonely. and But that’s my life. I chose it.”

When I asked him what his attitude to life had been, he replied: “Having a good time, to be honest. At one time it was very serious and I was caught up in […]. I thought, this is the way a star behaves and whatever. Now I don’t give a damn.”

But there must have been bad times when he has needed to turn to someone and talk about personal problems. Who is that one person I asked?

“True. I have a lot of mirrors!” came his laughing reply. “I don’t have anyone actually. I don’t have that many people I can turn to.”

The one love of his life and the only person he trusts is Mary Austin, a quiet 36-year-old.

She has remained loyal to him for years, even after the break-up of their seven-year affair in 1977.

She now has a young son by an interior designer and Freddie, having become his godfather, adores the toddler.

“Mary’s been a girlfriend of mine for a long time. Even though we’re not together, I have built […]. She has gone through just about everything. She has the depth and quality actually to adapt to me and talk to me about very serious things. Otherwise, I just fend for myself and I cross my hurdles in my own way.”

SINCE he was struck down by illness this year, Freddie has led a more reclusive lifestyle. Apart from the odd trip to Switzerland and collecting Japanese art and porcelain he buys in London, he has rarely ventured from his £4 million Kensington home.

Mary, who acts as his personal assistant, visits him daily from the London apartment he bought […]

[risukadarlin]

[dear♥vocalist evolve] vol. 5: momochi - track one

1; helix

masterpost

                                                                                          ✿

So annoying…

Again?

Turn it off…

Hurry up and stop it.

Huh? It’s mine?

Oh, you’re right.

I have a meeting about the new song.

Breakfast?

I don’t need any.

I’m not hungry.

I’m going to smoke and then shower before I go.

Ahh, it looks hot today.

I don’t want to go outside.

Yes, do it.

Tell them to pick me up outside the entrance in 30 minutes.

I’ll die if I have to walk to the station in this heat.

So annoying.

The sheet music is finished.

What do we even need to have a meeting about?

I’m sick of it.

What?

Huh? When did that come off?

Where’s the back?

It should be somewhere around here.

You look for it.

Thank you.

You want one too? Why?

What the hell?

You like it when we match?

Just how much matching stuff do you want us to have?

Get as many piercings as you want, then.

Okay then.

I’ll buy you the jewellery on the way home.

I have to go to Shibuya after this anyway.

But… Prepare yourself.

Cartilage piercings hurt a loooooot more than lobe ones.

What’s wrong?

Are you scared now?

So you don’t want one?

Okay.

Then wait with baited breath for me to come home.

                                                                                          ✿

So… I wanted the main single to be Japanese style rock this time too.

Everyone loved the Katari-dori remake from last year’s album.

Yes, the Fes went really well too!

I think Cheers would love more songs like that.

You think so?

I’m glad!

I’m happy you all like my ideas.

I’m free whenever! 

But we have to work on the second track too, so I think we should start recording as soon as possible.

Yes, the PR department said we have time off during the Bon festival, but…

We still don’t really know if that’ll happen.

You’re right…

Ever since the Survivals started, we haven’t really been able to have vacation at this time of year.

Then let’s start recording after the holidays.

You all want to be able to rest during Obon at least, right?

You can go on vacation or visit your parents.

Huh? Me?

Ah, I don’t know.

Everywhere will be full by now.

Huh? Pft…

Ninjas?

Oh no. You all believed that?

It’s not like I’m not related to ninjas if you go far enough back.

I don’t really know much about it myself, to be honest.

Management put that on the website without my permission.

My parents just run a normal kimono shop.

Maybe? Hahaha…

Please just keep this between us, though.

Management keeps telling me not to say anything about it too, so…

That’s showbusiness, isn’t it!

I don’t want to cause any trouble for anyone…

Right, I have something to do, so I’m going home now, okay?

I’m sorry, can you ask them to book the studio for after vacation?

Yes, you guys too!

Have a good holiday!

Visiting my parents, huh?

Must be nice, being so carefree.

Looks really fun…

                                                                                          ✿

Okay, here I go.

I told you, didn’t I?

It hurts more than your lobe.

Make sure you clean it every day, okay?

Especially now it’s summer.

But you never really go outside anyway.

Not in summer or in winter.

I guess it doesn’t matter.

Anyway, see how it looks in this mirror.

How is it?

You happy?

Ah, but, you wanted to match with me, right?

You’re not quite there yet, then.

Hmm, should I?

Maybe if you’re a good girl, I’ll do your next one too.

Really?

Good luck, then.

Hm? Oh, I’m supposed to have time off starting this weekend.

What?

You’re not going to tell me you want to go somewhere, are you?

Everywhere is busy during Obon.

And I have a release coming up.

Don’t ask for impossible things.

Then it’s fine.

I planned to stay at home the whole time anyway.

Also, this has nothing to do with Obon, but…

Don’t you have to visit your parents?

Do your parents not say anything about the fact you never leave here?

Hmm, I see.

So if I abandon you, you’ll be 100% completely alone?

Knowing you, you don’t have any friends, right?

Serves you right.

What? You’re telling me you’re fine with that?

You’re way too relaxed about the idea.

Don’t get too conceited.

I don’t belong to you or anything, okay?

I told you before, didn’t I?

I don’t love you and I don’t want you by my side.

Did you forget that already?

Then --

Hm, I see.

Then try your best.

Clinging to me and trying to please me is what you do best, after all.

But you feel loved as long as you’re with me, right?

You’ve never been loved before so you don’t really understand what love is, do you?

Did that kiss make you feel loved?

But I’ll never love someone like you.

Hm? Even if you don’t say it out loud, I know eeeeverything you’re thinking.

[xuxunette]

About Zhang Zhehan and his blacklisting

Although a long time slash fan, I don't watch a lot of tv/series and got sucked into Word of Honour probably only because my country was still in quarantine at the time of its diffusion. Then, I began reading Tian Ya Ke and fell in love with priest's writing: a unique blend of fast-paced, off-the-cuff humour and high brow literary references that subverts expectations from the traditional wuxia genre at every turn of phrase, not only in subject matter but also in style. I decided to translate it because it was just too brilliant not to share, and also as a personal challenge. The above is to say that I'm not really invested in "fandom" and rarely ever browse corresponding media, which explain why I learned about what happened to Zhou Zishu's actor, Zhang Zhehan, only a few days ago (check controversy section on his Wikipedia page). My view on the matter is that his being black-listed by the Chinese government is to be directly tied to the September 2nd communiqué from the Chinese media censorship bureau that tightens state control on the showbusiness industry and the content it produces. The 9/2 communiqué condemns, amongst other things, representations of "effeminate men" and promise strict crackdowns on "immoral" public figures (stars who don't have appropriate political opinions, "vulgar" internet celebrities, immoral personal conducts, etc.). With the content of that communiqué in mind, it is then easy to recognise the Chinese government modus operandi: they made an example out of Zhang Zhehan before making its policy official to strike fear first. Indeed, Zhang Zhehan fits the bill perfectly: vaguely sulfurous personal life with allegedly many girlfriends, has exposed his relatively luxurious lifestyle on social media, is apparently friend with controversial Japanese people, AND has starred in a show where the sexual orientation of the character he plays is questionable, while simultaneously being famous enough to send a strong signal that nobody is untouchable.

To convince you of this, consider that the photo used to indict him as "un-patriotic" date from 2018. Besides a renewed sense of horror at what a government can do to an individual who clearly didn't see it coming since the rules didn't exist (and even though I don't consider myself a "fan" of Zhang Zehan), the ramifications of that communiqué are many. I'll speak on one of the issues close to my heart and which is relevant to this translation. The use of the term "effeminate" — 娘炮, lit. "girl(y) gun" — in the official communiqué as a derogative term to categorize certain people the government deem improper is deeply offensive to me. Not only because it is insulting to LGBT or non-LGBT people who choose to look a certain way, but because it implies that there is something fundamentally wrong with feminity, with womanhood. The censorship bureau went ahead with that communiqué while the Chinese Women's Journal has denounced the use of the term as derogative to women back in 2017. To me, this exemplifies the current outright macho atmosphere of Chinese governance, and how it is wholly contemptuous of the female voice. It nauseates me, and I'm further convinced that the crackdown on danmei material that has already taken place/will continue as a consequence of the 9/2 communique is fundamentally an issue of sexism. Indeed, as with so-called "effeminate" idols, the BL/danmei's explosion with its alternative representation of masculinity is entirely generated by a female fanbase and the male stars it has propelled to stardom unabashedly surf on female purchasing power — make-up endorsed by Zhan Zhehan has reportedly sold out in hours. (Tangentially, Zhang Zhehan's manager, Zhao Wei, is a successful woman who has likewise been deleted from the public eyes. Another fact that must have pissed off the Chinese government: a man working for a woman!)

At the root, BL/danmei as a genre is made by women for women. It features characters that speak to the female sensibilities, intellectual inclinations, romantic and sexual imagination. It is a genre that produces brilliance and outright crap alike, with content that sometimes shocks even me. But it is a genre that represents women's desires in a world dominated by representations of male wants. Although I'd be the first one to point out the cynic realities of fan culture in China, stifling women's right to buy views of pretty men in make-up when you are basically contractually obligated to wear make-up if you were born with a vagina on this earth, whether in China or in the West — how droll is that? Stifling women's right to produce and buy content with two dudes getting it on, when you can't escape cleavage/legs shots in ads that are aimed at producing erections every two minutes of content viewed on the net/tv, even when you live in China — how droll is that? In short, although I do not currently live in China, my ovaries of which I am not ashamed are offended by the Chinese government's language and new direction. And I'm glad I've picked up this translation, to share a little gem that is part of the female imagination.

[commentaryvorg]

Digimon Savers Commentary Episode 8 - Yoshino Gets Her Cinderella Story?! Chrysalimon‘s Shadow

In this episode, Yoshino goes undercover, pretending to date a famous singer who happens to be a childhood friend of hers, in order to investigate suspicions of him using a Digimon to cheat his way to the top of the charts.

First off, I just want to state for the record that I do not approve of what this title is trying to imply, like this is Yoshino meeting a Prince Charming and finding ~true love~ and living happily ever after or whatever the heck. That is not even remotely what this episode is actually about and has never been implied to be something Yoshino especially cares about, thank you very much.

We open with Yoshino running down a street being chased by paparazzi. Meanwhile Masaru is eating alone at a nearby ramen restaurant (geez, Masaru, isn’t that a bit mean to Agumon, forcing him to just helplessly watch from his Digivice while you eat food?). I guess Masaru is still somewhat being the POV character for this Yoshino-focused episode, and so the writers want to introduce us to this situation through his eyes.

A TV at the restaurant is reporting that the famous singer Neon Hanamura has been spotted with a young woman. Which, like, geez, that should be absolutely none of the media’s business? I gather that a specific kind of idols in Japanese showbusiness have contracts in which they are not allowed to have romantic partners, but I don’t think Neon is supposed to be that kind of idol. So, sure, people would gossip, but there should not be live newscasts about the fact that, gasp, he might have a girlfriend.

(Also, you know, the media is being heteronormative and amatonormative to be heavily implying that him being seen with a woman must mean he’s dating her, as if he couldn’t possibly have female friends or something, but then that’s just life, isn’t it.)

Anyway, the young woman in question is Yoshino, of course.

Later, as Yoshino enters the DATS control room for her usual shift, Miki and Megumi have put their PawnChessmon up to staring judgementally at her. (Agumon and even Gaomon and Kamemon are there too, though on their part I imagine it’s more out of curiosity as to what the PawnChessmon are up to than anything else.)

Megumi:  “What’s the meaning of this?”

Miki:  “How did you, the meekest of us all among DATS members…”

Megumi:  “…Manage to snag Hanamura Neon?”

Miki and Megumi themselves then confront Yoshino about this, as if it’s any of their business. These two are minor characters who won’t get much development, and it makes me rather miffed that the scant characterisation they are getting right now is them being very Stereotypical Women, caring primarily about hot guys and romance and being jealous of and attacking their fellow female co-worker for daring to have “snagged” the celebrity they like despite how “meek” she supposedly is. (She isn’t even that meek, girls! She deals with Masaru and Tohma on a daily basis.)

I’d like to remind everyone that Miki and Megumi are the lead technicians at DATS who are always running all the scanning and comms and information stuff for missions, which must be a pretty highly-skilled job, and one that’s vitally important even if it’s not the most glory-filled role. Because this current portrayal of them is not making them seem like that, and they deserve better.

Masaru:  “Who cares who she goes out with. It’s not like that’s complicating the missions.”

Masaru is extremely good and also extremely me when it comes to any fiction ever. Who gives a damn about romance when they’ve got Digimon to fight, seriously.

(I’m not going to go on about this too much because it really doesn’t make a difference either way, but I just want to throw out there that Aro Masaru is a headcanon that makes an incredibly large amount of sense.)

Megumi:  “We’ve been getting phone calls one after another since morning!”

Miki:  “We’re also getting loads of hate mail from Neon’s fans!”

This is a fair point, if this situation has been giving these two an annoying extra workload to deal with. But if that’s their main concern, they should have mentioned that first, and they should also not be acting like this is Yoshino’s fault for happening to be dating a guy who’s famous.

Tohma explains that the latest news report about this confirmed several details about Yoshino, including the place where she works. You’d think that last part would be confidential, since DATS is a secret government organisation. I guess the knowledge of who works in this building is publicly available and it’s just what DATS actually does that’s kept a secret? “Digital Accident Tactics Squad” could mean a lot of things; people who hear about it probably assume it’s some kind of cyber-security team or something.

(Though I wonder what people looking at the official records would make of the fact that there’s currently two fourteen-year-olds – one a child genius with a degree, perhaps, but also one who is still in school like normal – working for them. Maybe that part is kept under wraps.)

Satsuma shows up and quells Miki and Megumi’s continuing frustration at Yoshino by explaining that DATS is currently investigating a Digimon signal coming from Neon’s apartment building that they suspect is connected to him. Yoshino is actually getting close to him as part of an undercover investigation. Why the two tech ladies didn’t already know about this, I have no idea. (Really, the writers should have had Miki and Megumi know about this from the start, and then we wouldn’t have had to do this whole tiresome jealous-women-putting-down-another-woman thing here.)

Satsuma:  “DATS’s second division scouted the area secretly…”

This is a rather throwaway mention of apparently more divisions to DATS that is never going to get expanded upon. I presume what we’re meant to take from this is that our branch of DATS has another group of staff who also know about Digimon and can help with scouting and information gathering, but who don’t have Digimon partners and so can’t get involved in the big fights. Not that this is going to come up again, so don’t bother thinking about it too much.

(That job is also basically the sort of thing Miki and Megumi do – behind-the-scenes stuff that doesn’t actually require a Digimon partner – even though those two do have Digimon partners that just never seem to battle.)

Masaru:  “So he’s harbouring a Digimon…”

Yoshino:  “We’re not certain about that yet.”

Yoshino is quick to jump in to defend Neon and not let him be instantly written off as a criminal, for reasons we will get into soon.

Masaru:  “But if there’s a Digimon signal, we should just step in and arrest it right away.”

Good old Masaru, always trying to go for the most straightforward approach. Why don’t they just rush straight in there and fight the Digimon, if they know there’s a Digimon in that building somewhere?

Satsuma, Kudamon and Tohma explain that this fancy apartment building where Neon lives is very hi-tech with an advanced security system, which apparently means they’ll be kicked out if they try to break in. This is a pretty flimsy explanation to try and justify this episode focusing more on the undercover stuff – surely, as an official government agency, DATS could use their authority to have the building’s security staff let them in anyway?

Miki and Megumi are still being eye-rollingly jealous and asking why it couldn’t be them pretending to date Neon for the investigation. (It wouldn’t be both of you, ladies; you realise that amatonormativity dictates that only one of you would get to date him. Would you rather be jealously sniping at each other?) But it turns out there’s a specific reason Satsuma chose Yoshino for this mission.

Yoshino:  “Neon is my childhood friend.”

…Which is maybe not the best reason, since having a prior connection with him is liable to cloud her judgement about things. But at least it’ll make Neon less likely to suspect that she’s only dating him to investigate him, since they already knew each other and it’s natural that they might reconnect like this. And, you know, it also makes him more likely to actually want to date her if they have this prior connection, as opposed to some random woman throwing herself at him like he probably gets all the time.

Yoshino:  “We were in the same class in elementary school.”

Megumi:  “It’s the first time I’ve heard that.”

Miki:  “Why did you keep quiet about something that important?”

Masaru:  “Is it really that important?”

No, it isn’t! Thank you, Masaru! It is so refreshing to have him here as the only sane voice among this gossipy celebrity romancey nonsense. (Well, I imagine Tohma might be kind of exasperated by this whole business as well, but if so, he’s too polite to actually comment.)

Yoshino:  “He’s completely different than before. He was shorter than me, and he was fat. When he debuted, I didn’t recognise him at all.”

Some interesting and very relevant tidbits about Neon’s character. He’s managed to change his appearance entirely since then to become thin and pretty – and his strawberry-blonde hair is probably dyed, too – as if he wanted to distance himself entirely from the kid he used to be to make himself more popular and liked.

During this conversation, the DATS members have moved outside to chat by the waterfront, and so Neon happens to drive by in his sports car and spot Yoshino. (Which is a bit of a random coincidence, but I guess he probably knows the area she works in and could have popped by in the hope of seeing her?)

Yoshino:  “Hitoshi!” [she waves and runs over to greet him]

Miki & Megumi: “Hitoshi?”

Neon:  “I told you not to call me by my real name.”

Another fun tidbit about Neon: that’s a stage name. He has a perfectly ordinary run-of-the-mill Japanese name that apparently not even his more dedicated fans know, if Miki and Megumi didn’t, and he doesn’t want people to know it. He is absolutely trying to distance himself from the ordinary unpopular kid he used to be.

(Let’s talk about his surname as well, which I’m certain is not part of his stage name. Neon is the third character I have encountered in Japanese media with the surname Hanamura, making it the most common Japanese surname I’ve encountered among fictional characters, and I believe this is because all three of the Hanamuras I’m familiar with have that surname for the same reason. Hanamura means “flower village”, which is probably one of the most homely, country-bumpkin, least-glamorous-sounding surnames a Japanese person could have. Apparently, Japanese writers like to give this name to characters who try to appear more cool and glamorous than they actually are, as a little nod to the fact that they’re really not fooling anyone as much as they like to think.)

Yoshino:  “What does it matter?”

Neon:  “You haven’t changed at all.”

I enjoy Yoshino refusing to back down on using his real name and insisting that it doesn’t matter. She sees him as a person and as the childhood friend he once was, rather than as a polished perfect celebrity… and it seems he’s kind of okay with that? Maybe on some level he appreciates having someone see him that way, and that’s why he’s dating her, even if he still doesn’t want his fanbase at large to know about that other side of him.

Apparently Neon was only passing by, because he leaves without much further conversation.

Megumi:  “What’s that?”

Miki:  “They’re lovey-dovey for each other.”

They… really weren’t being lovey-dovey at all, Miki? Actually, I think it’s possible this is a sub mistranslation, and she’s actually remarking in surprise that they’re not lovey-dovey, which would fit better with Megumi also seeming bewildered by the encounter.

Masaru:  “Is this really a mission?”

Masaru is still having none of this boring romancey nonsense that seems to have nothing to do with punching any Digimon in the face, and I still very much approve.

Meanwhile, Tohma, who has been paying attention to the important things, kicks a can at a photographer who was hiding in some nearby bushes watching this go down. The photographer scampers away, hopefully missing out on his “scoop” for now.

Masaru:  “But Yoshino…”

Yoshino:  “No, he’s a nice guy. There’s no way he can do anything bad.”

Yoshino still seeing Neon – Hitoshi – as the childhood friend he once was to her and not as a celebrity is the reason she’s being so insistent that he isn’t necessarily the one harbouring a Digimon.

Tohma narrows his eyes at this comment. Seems he can tell that her judgement might not be entirely impartial on this mission.

Later that night, Yoshino and Neon are on a date in his apartment… though it doesn’t appear to be a very romantic one. They’re just eating dinner together, no candlelight, no wine, none of those things that are especially romance-coded beyond the eating dinner part. It could quite easily be read as friends hanging out and nothing else.

Yoshino:  “The carrots. I was just thinking that you’re finally able to eat them now.”

Neon:  “Huh?”

Yoshino:  “Whenever we had carrots for lunch, you’d always leave them behind and the teacher would get so mad about it.”

Neon:  “Whenever you were on-duty, you’d purposely give me a heap of them.”

Yoshino:  “I was exercising parental love because I wanted you to eat healthy and get bigger.”

Yoshino was such a mom friend! And she’s also still being quite the mom friend now, since she brought this up like she’s proud of him for getting better at this. See, it really doesn’t read to me like Yoshino actually has any romantic feelings for Hitoshi here at all – she still cares about him, but in that same platonic way that she used to when they were kids. The mass media and Miki and Megumi and everyone have just assumed that because this famous guy is being seen with a girl, it must be a romance.

Maybe Neon does see Yoshino in something of a romantic way, and maybe Yoshino is willing to let him assume that this is a slowly-blossoming romance so that she can get close to him more easily for the sake of the investigation, because people are just going to assume that anyway. (What do you mean, people can perfectly well hang out and have dinner regularly with platonic friends, even when those people are adults and celebrities, lol no that never happens.) But… there isn’t actually very much romance in this relationship at all.

Yoshino:  “I remember you were never able to do anything on your own…”

Neon:  “Thanks for the meal.”

It’s interesting how Neon doesn’t respond to Yoshino’s comment about this and cuts off the conversation there, even though he was willing to respond to the thing about the carrots. It seems like the part of his past where he was weak and helpless is something he’s much less happy to remember and think about.

Neon:  “I have work to do.”

Yoshino:  “Hey, show me your work.”

Yoshino manages to make this sound reasonably like she’s curious and interested to learn more about her friend/date’s life, and not that she wants to know because she’s investigating him for illegal activity.

Neon:  “I can’t. I won’t be able to come up with a good phrase if I’m distracted.”

Yoshino:  “Oh, but…”

Neon:  “That’s how it is. So you can’t come into my room, okay?”

Neon’s excuse is… less convincing, but still reasonable enough that Yoshino can’t exactly conclude he’s definitely hiding something just from that.

So Neon disappears into his room – behind a totally-not-suspicious metal door – while Yoshino pulls her Digivice out of her bag and starts to get to her work. It’s pretty interesting how she’s able to switch so seamlessly from happily reconnecting with an old friend into investigating whether that friend is actually doing something illegal (and having reconnected with him under false pretences for this purpose). Though I wish there was a bit more insight into what’s going on in her head here.

Meanwhile, Masaru and Chika are watching a presumably-not-live interview with Neon on their home TV.

(Well, Chika is watching it; Masaru is wandering past in his pyjamas while chugging an entire bottle of milk. Can we talk about that? I gather it’s a pretty big cultural meme in Japan that drinking milk will supposedly help kids grow taller, so this is definitely a holdover from when Masaru was smaller and wanted to grow up Big And Strong as fast as he could.)

In the interview, Neon is being asked about his girlfriend. He’s not denying that she’s his girlfriend, so apparently he does see it that way (or at least he’s okay with the media seeing it that way and doesn’t want to bother to correct them), but he’s also telling them to leave her alone because she’s an ordinary person. I approve.

Chika:  “Neon is so cool!”

Masaru:  “What part of him?”

Chika:  “Obviously, the part where he tries so hard to protect his girlfriend!”

And I also approve that this is the part of him that Chika appreciates the most. Good job, Chika.

Chika:  “I’m sure that some day now, there’ll be someone who’ll cherish me just like him.”

Some day now? Geez, Chika, you literally turned eleven last episode, you are still a bit young for meaningful long-lasting romantic relationships just yet. How did you end up with such a stereotypical view of these kinds of things when your brother and surrogate-father-figure is Masaru of all people.

Agumon apparently spilled the gossip that Neon’s girlfriend is Yoshino, so Chika wants to take the opportunity to have Masaru get Neon’s autograph for her.

Masaru:  “No!”

Chika:  “Why?!”

Masaru:  “Look, Chika, you wouldn’t like it if other people were prying about who you like or date, right? It’s the same with Yoshino. That’s to say nothing of the fact that you’re demanding his autograph just because he’s a celebrity…”

Masaru is being so good! This is him trying to be the father figure, giving Chika fatherly advice (that his dad would be doing in his place if only he were here), and it’s good advice! He’s asking Chika to consider others’ feelings and to see people as people first and foremost. The latter is something Masaru instinctively does himself – see him not even giving a damn about Agumon’s species when they first met – which is also why he is so not bothered by this whole celebrity dating thing. I love Masaru.

Chika:  “Masaru-niichan, you’re stingy.” [she starts to tear up and walks away]

Masaru:  “Hey, Chika, wait!”

Agumon:  “You made her cry.”

Don’t let this get to you, Masaru, you were being a good dad! It’s not your fault that Chika decided to care more about the celebrity nonsense and not consider that you had a very good point.

(Maybe if it’d actually been her dad saying this, she’d have listened more. It seems her big brother doesn’t have quite the same authority in her eyes, because she doesn’t see him as filling the father role, no matter how much Masaru might want it to be that way.)

In his secret room, Neon is commanding his Keramon, because of course it really is him with the Digimon. Keramon is a kind of Digimon that specialises in manipulating data and controlling things through the internet… which apparently requires it to, uh, bite wires? Sure.

Neon chuckles evilly as it does so, which is a bit over-the-top of him, but he is not nearly as much of a flat-out cartoon villain as this is making him out to be, as I will get into soon.

This is the first time we’ve seen a human outside of DATS really seem to know what they’re doing when it comes to commanding a Digimon – the robbers with Drimogemon barely knew what was going on and only accidentally stumbled into the whole thing. But this still isn’t at all the same kind of situation as with the DATS members and their Digimon partners, because Keramon still isn’t speaking. It’s just giggling mindlessly and doesn’t really seem like a person, just like almost any other Digimon that DATS has been pursuing.

Keramon’s meddling causes very noticeable red electricity to come from the roof of the building Neon lives in, which, if DATS hadn’t picked up on this already, would definitely be a sign that something shady and probably-Digimon-related is going on here. A promotional video of one of Neon’s songs then pops up on every single electronic screen in the city, which, again kind of a pretty big hint that the one responsible is Neon himself, or at least a very crazed fan of his. I can only assume that Neon has been using more subtle tactics to increase his popularity up until this point – DATS detected the Digimon signal here a month ago – but that his increased fame as a result is getting to his head and making him feel untouchable enough to be acting a lot more reckless.

(The promotional video itself is kind of silly: just a looped two seconds or so of Neon singing, with no audio or voiceover or anything. I guess doing it this way maybe makes it seem more likely to be some kind of random system glitch that will incidentally make more people notice him, rather than that someone is very consciously trying to illegally advertise him everywhere?)

Masaru sees the broadcast too, even though he turned his TV off, and rushes outside to see the red electricity in the sky and the entire city having the same problem.

Boy, the opening’s especially late in this one; we’re almost halfway into the episode. Like a lot of Digimon openings, this one contains shots of each of the main characters with their partners’ different evolution stages – all the ones above Adult still silhouetted for now – so, since this is a Yoshino episode, here’s hers.

Next we see, Masaru is rushing into the DATS control room… which means he apparently ran all the way from his house to DATS in the middle of the night. As it turns out, the DATS building can actually be seen from the street outside Masaru’s house…

…but by that I mean that his street is on a hill that overlooks a good portion of the city, and the DATS building is way off in the distance. That is a pretty long way for him to have run all the way there on foot. And yet that also seems like precisely the kind of thing Masaru would do anyway.

DATS is having the same problem as the rest of the city. Tohma even calls this Neon’s “promotional video”, so apparently this random silent two-second loop is somehow supposed to be some kind of official promotion that was made for other purposes and is simply now being illegally broadcasted everywhere. So much for my thoughts that Neon’s deliberately trying to make it look like a weird glitch; that would have made more sense.

On hearing that the team have been trying to contact Yoshino but haven’t got hold of her, Masaru rushes out again (without any orders to do so), this time to Neon’s apartment building. Always taking the straightforward approach, because he’s Masaru.

Meanwhile, Yoshino and Lalamon are investigating. Lalamon mentions that she can’t sense anything from inside Neon’s room, but that it could be because there’s some kind of screen blocking any signals from getting out. Though I’d have thought that the room having the only metal door in the corridor would also have been a hint to that, Lalamon.

Just as Yoshino’s about to open the door to see inside for herself despite Neon telling her not to, the doorbell rings, because Masaru has made it here. (So, uh, Yoshino has apparently been standing in this corridor barely doing anything for the entire time it took Masaru to run all the way to DATS and then to here. But, uhh, don’t think about that too much, because the writers probably didn’t either, and so this is not supposed to be any kind of meaningful indication of her competence or lack thereof.)

Masaru rings the doorbell again as Yoshino is on her way to answer it, several times. He is definitely the sort of person to impulsively keep ringing it incessantly rather than being patient. This is a fact that makes me happy.

Unfortunately, he’s prevented from ringing it even more by a security guard who’s come to ask him what he’s doing here. Which, uh, sure is some very hi-tech security that this building has – a single guard who only stops Masaru once he’s at someone’s front door. Though maybe this can be passed off as an unintentional side-effect of Keramon’s meddling in that it’s also temporarily disabled the building’s electronic security system in the process, and that’s the only reason Masaru got this far.

The security guard wants to arrest Masaru for breaking and entering, while Masaru just wants to know if Yoshino is in there and if she’s safe, so in his determination to check on her, he… throws the security guard to the ground, presumably knocking him out for a while. Masaru, no, this is not helping.

Yoshino finally opens the door.

Masaru:  “Good, you’re okay!”

This is the first thing Masaru says, because the main reason he came here was to check on Yoshino. DATS said they couldn’t get hold of her – for all he knew, something bad had happened to her and she needed help. Despite the unlawful entry and assaulting a security guard, he meant well.

Having heard the commotion, Neon also comes to the door, and Masaru immediately lunges to grab him by the collar.

Masaru:  “Don’t play dumb! This was all part of your scheme!”

Neon:  “Wh-What are you doing? Who are you?!”

Masaru:  “What are you plotting, using that Digimon?!”

Neon:  “What are you talking about?!”

Masaru:  “Don’t act like you don’t know!”

Chill, Masaru. Your straightforward approach is really not helping here, at all. This is not the main reason he came here, but since he’s here and the guy who at this point is pretty obviously the culprit using a Digimon is right there, why wouldn’t he try to confront the guy and demand to know what’s up? Subtlety is not at all Masaru’s thing.

Luckily, Yoshino is here to slap some sense into Masaru. Literally. He kinda needed that.

Yoshino:  “How dare you suddenly intrude into other people’s houses! How about you consider *not* being a nuisance to others for a change!”

Masaru:  “What?!”

Yoshino:  [to Neon] “I’m sorry about this.”

This is probably partly drawing from her genuine sentiments about Masaru’s attitude here, but a lot of this is about keeping up the act in front of Neon. She doesn’t want him to realise that Masaru is working with her in investigating him, so she’s trying to make it seem like Masaru is just some guy she knows (Masaru appeared to know her, so she can’t hide that) who often makes a nuisance of himself like this, and there’s nothing more to it than that.

Yoshino then says goodbye to Neon with a kiss on the cheek (again, still not really all that romantic, this relationship), which a photographer who’d also managed to break in happens to get a shot of. I guess the red electricity coming from this building tipped him off to a potential scoop happening with Neon here, though he has some interesting priorities if he thinks getting the gossip on Neon’s girlfriend was the best he could do here. There is clearly something more interesting than just romance going on with Neon right now, dude.

Masaru follows Yoshino to the elevator as she leaves. (I guess the elevator still works despite Keramon’s electronic weirdness. Or maybe that all stopped when Neon left his room.)

Masaru:  “Hey, wait! I said wait! What was that for?”

Yoshino:  “You’re ruining my undercover investigation.”

[the elevator door closes without Masaru]

Masaru:  “What the hell, I was just worried about her.”

I very much appreciate that Yoshino comes out of this situation as the one who had things completely under control and did not need Masaru rushing in to “save her”. Masaru meant well – again, DATS HQ couldn’t contact Yoshino, so for all he knew she was in trouble bad enough that she couldn’t get out of it herself – but he also should have trusted her more! As Masaru can often do, his charging in recklessly has thrown spanners into a much more carefully-laid plan. Yoshino can go share her frustrations with Tohma on that one.

Meanwhile the security guard has regained consciousness and wants some words with Masaru. Oh dear. (The scene cuts off with Masaru trying to flee, so we don’t see how this ends, but if he did get caught I guess we can assume that DATS steps in and uses their authority to attempt to smooth this over. Smoothing things over is kind of half their job, after all.)

The next day at DATS, the team are discussing what to do about Neon, having implicitly decided that the culprit is obviously him.

Tohma:  “We should approach Hanamura Neon’s residence straight away.”

Satsuma:  “Yes.”

Masaru:  “So we’re breaking in?!”

Masaru, no, don’t sound so excited about that, that’s exactly what you did yesterday and it did not go well.

Yoshino:  “Wait, please! We still don’t have any evidence!”

Yoshino still doesn’t want to believe that her childhood friend, that sweet shy kid that she had to mom over to get him to eat his carrots, could be willingly using a Digimon to break the law. At this point, after last night’s stunt, she’s got to be thinking that really, who else could it be, but she still doesn’t want to admit it, so she’s trying to delay by arguing that they technically don’t have anything to conclusively prove it.

While it’s neat that this episode showcases Yoshino doing an undercover investigation, showing off some of her talents in less big-fighty and more subtle logistical stuff, it’s a bit disappointing that it ultimately doesn’t matter overall. They’re cornering Neon now not because Yoshino’s investigation has found anything conclusive, but rather because Neon just happened to get reckless enough to pull something as obvious as last night’s stunt, which he would have done anyway even if Yoshino hadn’t been investigating him. It’s a shame.

(Though it’s possible that Yoshino’s investigation didn’t find much for all this time out of her not actually trying that hard, because she was letting her personal feelings get in the way and just didn’t want to prove that her friend was a criminal. So there’s that.)

Neon’s work schedule, which apparently DATS can just access, has him busy with an interview tonight at midnight, so DATS is going to sneak in and apprehend the Digimon in his apartment while he’s out. (So much for that security system meaning they couldn’t just do that before, huh?) Satsuma puts Tohma in command of this, rather than Yoshino, probably for good reason.

Tohma:  “I have a request. Please take Yoshino off the investigation.”

Yoshino:  “Tohma?”

Tohma:  “It’s taboo for her personal feelings to get involved in this case.”

Tohma has noticed what Satsuma has also presumably been thinking and encourages him to go all the way with it, and Satsuma agrees to this. Which is probably fair.

(Though, Tohma, you may not want to speak too soon on the whole personal-feelings-about-a-case thing; it’ll be your turn for that next episode.)

I should also note that Tohma has been explicitly placed in command of this operation, and Masaru didn’t complain. He’s okay with taking orders from Tohma now! Tohma can deal with all the complicated planning stuff, that’s fine, just so long as Masaru gets to fight something!

The operation seems reasonably well planned-out: Masaru and Agumon are approaching up the building’s stairs, while Tohma and Gaomon are abseiling down from the roof to break in through the window. A pincer attack, more or less!

And Miki and Megumi are also providing support a little more directly, from some kind of DATS tech van that’s parked outside. Hey, remember how these two women are actually highly competent and skilled technicians who do a lot more than whine about another girl getting the hot guy? Yeah.

From their van, they notice that Yoshino, despite her orders to sit this out, is entering the building on her own. They ask Tohma what they should do, but it turns out Tohma already predicted Yoshino might do this and simply planted a hidden microphone on her beforehand to make the best use of it. A bit underhanded, but still, nice one, Tohma. This might even be the real reason he asked her to be taken off the mission at all.

Tohma:  “If you want to deceive your enemies, you must first deceive your friends, as they say.”

I like this line a lot. He is very, very good at this. This is one of the parts of Tohma being extremely skilled at careful planning that doesn’t come across like the writing is trying to artificially force the genius thing and that I can just be properly, legitimately impressed by. Which is good, because it’s perhaps the most important part.

Lalamon:  “Yoshino, is this really okay?”

Yoshino:  “Yeah. I want to settle this personally.”

Yoshino’s not even doing this in an attempt to defend Neon and prove that he’s totally not the culprit despite all the circumstantial evidence pointing straight to him. She just wants to know, and see for herself, and if it really is him, confront him about it rather than being left out of this whole situation even though she’s the one it matters the most to.

She approaches the metal door with the secret room behind it, only for Neon to open it, despite that his schedule said he wouldn’t be here.

Neon:  “I’ve realised lately that there were some people snooping around me. That’s why I made up a fake schedule and waited.”

Yeah, I wonder whose fault it could possibly be that he realised people were onto him, Masaru. Without that, he’d probably still not have known, because Yoshino’s investigation may not have uncovered much, but she was doing a perfectly good job of keeping it subtle.

Neon:  “To think that you were one of them…”

And this confirms that he didn’t know that Yoshino was one of the people investigating him until she showed up here just now. His eyes narrow as he says this, since he probably feels kind of understandably betrayed.

Yoshino:  “It’s prohibited to give a Digimon refuge!”

Yoshino completely dodges the issue of how she feels about betraying and lying to him and shifts straight into her usual spiel about DATS’s rules. It’s exactly like she did with Masaru and Agumon in the beginning, and despite the fact that she must have once had her own personal feelings about the whole work-for-DATS-or-lose-Lalamon thing.

I said earlier that it’s a shame that we don’t see much of how Yoshino feels about deceiving her old friend like this. I’m not entirely sure whether it’s actually meant to be the point that she never really shows it, but it’s certainly a lot more interesting to assume that it is.

Neon:  “Don’t order me around!”

Neon snaps this out viciously, very unlike his usual demeanour. He’s no longer that weak kid who couldn’t do anything on his own and needed someone like Yoshino to guide him; now he’s the one who controls things and calls the shots.

Keramon emerges – and Yoshino and Lalamon pretty much freeze up in fear. Granted, Keramon is a whole lot bigger than a person, but Yoshino is bound to know that it’s still a Child-level just like Lalamon and not too much of a threat. But she panics at the sight of it anyway. And I’m pretty certain that this is absolutely meant to be the point here.

Neon must have really got to the point of feeling untouchable if he’s deliberately showing off his illegal Digimon to the person whom he knows is investigating him for that (and has her own Digimon for defence), but then we already knew from last night’s stunt that he was getting pretty gloatingly reckless. He also probably doesn’t know how evolution levels work – or about evolution at all – and so he’s assuming that a small cute flower thing like Lalamon couldn’t possibly be a match for Keramon and therefore he’s got the upper hand here.

Neon:  “Right now, my name is known to everyone throughout the world!”

This sounds on the surface like generic evil gloating, but it’s a pretty meaningful part of Neon’s character just how desperately he wanted this. He wanted so badly to no longer be that weak unpopular fat kid – he wanted people to know him, and like him, and respect him, to the point that it didn’t matter if he had to cheat and fake it to achieve that.

Yoshino:  “Hitoshi, stop this!”

It’s also pretty ironic how Yoshino responds to this by calling him by his real name – the name that is not known to all those people around the world at all.

Keramon then grabs Yoshino by the neck, ouch, I do not blame her for completely freezing up and not being able to do anything in response. Lalamon, to her credit, seems to be about to try and defend her, but then Keramon’s other hand – about as big as Lalamon’s entire body – grabs Lalamon by the face as well, making her pretty helpless to do any kind of Nuts Shooting or Song Singing.

Masaru and Tohma have heard all of this commotion over the hidden mic planted on Yoshino, so they take this as their cue to break in and rush to help her.

There’s this fun shot of Tohma and Gaomon flat against the walls in the hallway, carefully surveying the situation ahead to see if it’s safe to move in, and then Masaru and Agumon just run straight past them without even thinking about it, because of course they do.

Hearing their approach, Keramon drops Yoshino and Lalamon, and evidently the signal-blocking metal door is no match for a Baby Flame.

Masaru:  “Hand over that Digimon quietly!”

Props to Masaru for seemingly getting into the police-esque spirit of things. You’d think he’d rather Neon didn’t give in quietly so that he gets to fight something, but hey, at least he’s talking the talk.

Neon:  “No way! Keramon is my partner!”

It’s completely unintentional that Neon happens to invoke the same word that the DATS members use for their own Digimon, but it is a neat parallel, since he’s been the human most consciously and willingly working together with a Digimon out of anyone we’ve seen outside DATS. It is still not quite the same thing as regular Digimon partners, though; as I mentioned before, Keramon is not acting like a person.

Neon:  “Thanks to him, my songs are played throughout the world! He’s making me famous!”

And of course this would be the reason why he feels he absolutely can’t give up Keramon – because he needs Keramon to make him famous. He needs to feel like people know him and like him and think he’s cool.

Masaru is having none of this, and he punches Neon right in the face. Which is not thoughtless violence, but rather an attempt to get through to Neon and snap him out of this delusion he’s wrapped himself up in.

Masaru:  “What’s this crap about him making you famous?! It’s not through your own efforts! If you wanted to change yourself through your music, then do it using your own merit!”

Masaru is so good! He can see straight away that what Neon is doing is completely missing the point of what he must actually want from this. Masaru himself can understand the feeling of wanting to make yourself bigger and better and stronger – albeit in a very different sort of way to Neon – and he knows that you’ll only truly be proud of yourself if you reached that goal by really putting in the effort and earning it. Taking a cheap shortcut like Neon is doing completely ruins the whole point and isn’t going to make anyone happy, least of all Neon himself.

Though as much as I love all of Masaru’s principled speeches and am not complaining to get another one here, it is a shame that this moment isn’t given to Yoshino instead. She would probably have a lot of feelings about what her old friend has been doing to artificially make himself more popular, and she deserves to be the one to get to express that here. She must have been happy at first to see he’d made something of himself, and hurt to realise that he’s become twisted into doing it in this dodgy way that’s completely missing the point of being genuinely liked, and of genuinely being someone who deserves that. Little Hitoshi was always someone who deserved to be genuinely liked, at least to Yoshino, but Neon maybe isn’t so much any more.

The moment is awkwardly interrupted by the sound of a camera. That photographer has finally realised that maybe there’s a more interesting scoop going on here than just who Neon’s dating and has got himself a shot in which Keramon and Agumon are fully visible. Oh dear.

The first person to rush out of the room to stop the photographer from getting away with that photo is Yoshino. This is the reason why she’s not there to take part in the fight that’s about to ensue.

So, yes, this episode, unlike episode 2, very much is Yoshino’s episode. Under different circumstances, perhaps it would have been appropriate and deserved for her to get the main starring role in the episode’s fight. But she doesn’t do so here, because she chooses to prioritise something else. She knows full well that Masaru and Tohma can handle the fighting part just fine, so instead she chooses to focus on stopping this photographer from getting away with and publishing a photo which could prove the existence of Digimon to the public. That’s kind of extremely important!

Yoshino is so good at her job not because she’s great at the fighting part, but because she knows that this kind of logistical thing is really the most important concern and is always focusing her efforts on that before anything else. I have a few issues elsewhere in this episode about Yoshino’s character not being used and explored as much as it could have been, but the fact that she doesn’t take part in the fight is emphatically not a problem here, because it’s not the point of her character. Her choosing to prioritise the reporter and take on the less-glory-filled but more important job is perfect for showcasing her character in an episode focused on her. Yoshino is great.

Neon:  “Everyone needs to quit making fun of me!”

Meanwhile, Neon is kind of losing it. This is probably still mostly in response to Masaru’s words to him, just with his emotions tipped further over the edge by the photographer showing up and making the situation even worse.

He didn’t properly engage with and take to heart what Masaru was trying to say to him at all – he just saw it as people making fun of him. Like everyone apparently always does, and always did.

Hitoshi used to be small, weak, unable to do anything on his own, and perhaps most relevantly, he was fat. It’s never explicitly stated anywhere in the episode, but he was almost certainly bullied, probably pretty badly. Maybe Yoshino never knew about it because he hid it from her, or maybe she knew about it but just didn’t want to bring it up because she knew it was tough for him to remember it. He certainly cut her off pretty quickly at the “you could never do anything on your own” comment, which may have been as close as she ever got to touching on it.

Neon is a bullied kid desperately trying to remake himself into someone whom nobody will ever make fun of again, someone who’s thin and pretty and has a cool name and sings great songs and doesn’t need anyone to tell him what to do, all qualities that will make him liked and popular and cool and that nobody would ever dream of picking on. He probably genuinely did earn it to begin with, because he wouldn’t have come this far in the month he’s had Keramon if he wasn’t already pretty good in the first place – but somewhere along the way he got so caught up in how good it felt to finally have everybody like him that he started shallowly, selfishly craving more of that without caring whether he’d earned it or not.

And that’s why Keramon is here. I’ve been pointing out all the little hints in previous episodes that the rampaging Digimon were brought here in response to humans having some kind of darker emotions, but this here is the clearest example of it yet. The series still won’t make this explicit for another few episodes, but on my first watch, this episode was the point at which I became sure of it.

At this outburst of Neon’s, this deep fury he has towards everybody who’s ever dared to make fun of him, Keramon glows with a dark sort of energy – the same dark energy that engulfed Drimogemon when it grew larger just as the robbers had a brief flash of murderous intent. Rather than growing larger, Keramon straight-up evolves into Chrysalimon. And yes, this is absolutely one of the non-partnered evolutions that makes perfect sense to be happening in this moment.

Its evolution also happened to break open a hole in the ceiling, so they’re battling it on the roof now, I guess. Neon’s secret room would have been a bit cramped for an Adult-level Digimon fight, to be fair.

Tohma briefly tries fighting Chrysalimon with Gaomon before realising he’s obviously outmatched like this and evolving him. Come on, Tohma, it’s Adult-level, do you not know how evolution levels work. You don’t need to punch something first before you can evolve your partner.

Gaogamon puts up a good fight for a bit, but then Chrysalimon throws a huge water tank at him, devolving him. Some kinda neat usage of the environment, I guess, though it’s a surprising amount of initiative that a mindlessly rampaging Digimon is showing to think to do that.

Masaru:  “Change places! Let’s go, Agumon!”

I really like how Masaru says this as he rushes in to take over from Tohma. He’s not trying to present himself as better than Tohma or steal the glory, even though Gaomon did lose; he’s just thinking of this as Tohma tagging out and him tagging in. Like teammates would do!

Chrysalimon attacks GeoGreymon by uprooting some gas pipes and pointing them at him, again some neat use of the environment. Because of protagonist power I guess, this isn’t enough to stop GeoGreymon like the water was with Gaogamon, and he overpowers it with a Mega Flame. Really what this should be is that the fire attack ignites the gas and makes Chrysalimon’s tactic backfire, but the animation makes it look less like that and more like the flame is just pushing back the gas in a good old beam war. I’m pretty sure that is not how it should work, even if this is a non-flammable gas.

Now, as much as I 1000% support Yoshino’s decision to stop the photographer rather than take part in this fight, a thing that would have been cool that the episode didn’t do would have been to intersperse scenes of her determinedly chasing the photographer down in between scenes of the fight, while Believer plays over both events. That’d have really got across the sense that what Yoshino is doing is actually just as triumphant and important to the success of this mission as the fight, if not more so, and not make her seem like she’s been shafted in the climax of her episode even though I firmly maintain that she wasn’t.

Instead, Yoshino is just shown wiping the photographer’s memories after the end of the fight. They’re still in that same corridor, too, so again with the forgetting that she should be doing things offscreen while time is evidently passing elsewhere.

She also isn’t shown actually taking the guy’s camera and deleting the photos, which really should be just as important as wiping his memories. It kind of ends up appearing as if the photographer wanders off without his memories but with the Digimon photos still on his camera for him to discover later. Which I admit does put a bit of a damper on my fierce insistence that Yoshino is being the most important and competent member of the team here, because it doesn’t seem like the writers actually cared about stressing that point quite as much as I do. But wiping the camera too is definitely what she’s supposed to have done, damn it, so we might as well pretend it’s what happened offscreen. Yoshino would not actually overlook that detail, even if the writers did.

Neon:  “What’ll happen to me? Will you erase my memory, like him?”

I suppose the reason for them writing it this way, having it happen in the very same corridor and having Yoshino not go on to fiddle with the camera for a while, is so that Neon can see it happen and have this moment of realising that his memory is about to be wiped.

In credit to Neon, he does appear to have calmed down from his outburst and pretty much accepted defeat. He’s probably realised that Masaru had a point (I love Masaru but it should have been Yoshino telling him that) and that he really shouldn’t have been cheating himself into more popularity like this.

Yoshino:  “Yeah.”

Neon:  “Even the memory of when we met again?”

Yoshino:  “Yeah.”

Neon:  “It’s a shame.”

Neon also does seem to still genuinely care about Yoshino, likely one of the only people who was nice to him and there for him during his bullied childhood. He must have been proud to meet her again and show her what he’d made of himself. He’s not even being mad at her about the undercover investigation, probably because he’s accepted that he was doing something way worse and so it’s kind of his fault she was investigating him.

Yoshino:  “Don’t worry. I’ll remember for the both of us.”

And Yoshino does seem sad about having to erase his memory, including of them meeting again, because she still did care about him and was happy to see him again, even if there probably weren’t any romantic feelings on her end. I imagine she’d have been happy to have reconnected with him normally and stayed friends with him if it hadn’t been for the whole Digimon mess.

The episode ends on a lingering shot of Yoshino staring silently into the sunrise, which is artsy and all, but I really wish we had a better idea of how she was feeling about all this. We know she cared about Hitoshi like a mom friend, was reluctant to admit that he could be a criminal and sad to have to erase his memory of them reuniting. But there’s a lot more about this – the whole lying to him while being undercover thing! How she felt about him going to illegal lengths for popularity once she realised he really was the culprit! – that just doesn’t get explored, when it could have been, and it’s a shame.

Overall thoughts

This is our first example of an episode that’s really deliberately focusing on Yoshino. And it’s… not as good as it could have been, and that plus the fact that there’s so few Yoshino-focused episodes to go around is also not great, I’ll grant you.

I still firmly maintain that Yoshino not participating in the fight in her focus episode is not a bad thing, because she was prioritising going after the photographer and that is important and exactly the kind of thing she always worries about. The writers didn’t capitalise on and emphasise this as much as I wish they had, but the fact that they still made the conscious writing choice to have her do that at all gives it meaning relevant to Yoshino’s more underappreciated skills. It wasn’t just careless sexist “lol the girl doesn’t get to fight”.

We do also get to see a lot of Yoshino’s less flashy skills in this episode, with how good she is at doing this undercover investigation, and the way she covers up Masaru’s nonsense when he charges in and almost ruins it, and I appreciate that. She is still the most generally competent member of the trio despite not being the greatest at fighting or strategy, and definitely has the best interpersonal intelligence.

My main issue with Yoshino’s representation in this episode is that, her skills aside, we don’t get that much insight into her character and how she feels about all this. It should be pretty distressing to be deceiving and secretly investigating her childhood friend, ultimately learning that he’s a criminal, but we don’t see any of how this affects her. Maybe it’s the whole point that she doesn’t show any of how she feels about this and simply focuses on her DATS responsibilities, but I’m not convinced that’s deliberate, given what else we see (or don’t see) about Yoshino’s issues in the rest of the series.

The main reason I still enjoy this episode a fair bit anyway is that at least it shows off Savers’ generally strong character-writing with Neon’s character, if not Yoshino. There’s lots of little subtle bits that paint this clearly-deliberate picture of a bullied kid desperate to remake himself into someone that people like. That desire becoming fervent and dark enough that it brought a Digimon here is really fascinating to me; this is one of my favourite executions of the concept of Digimon being influenced by darker human emotions. It’s just a shame that it ultimately doesn’t matter that Neon is such an interesting character, because he’s never going to come up again.

(In fact, on my very first viewing of this series when I had no idea where things were headed, I genuinely thought this episode might be the introduction of Hitoshi as a new regular cast-member and was kind of disappointed when he was memory-wiped and that was the end of it. That’s how unnecessarily good of a job they did on his character in this episode.)

---

[Dub comparison]

[redspiderling]

You'll die on this hill huh? Blog for a racist, antisemite, transphobe, who supports paedophiles. Sorry but I don't think I can follow you anymore.

Hello to you too anon,

I don't even know how to unpack this. I'm so tired of having to answer to this fucking nonsensical narrative you guys have built. This is why if Scarlett ever went on social she'd just post a middle finger and then ghost all of you. Beyond that, it really pisses me off that you keep flooding my inbox with this bullshit. I don't come to your blog to tell you what to talk about anon. I see a lot of stupid things posted on here, but I don't go in people's spaces and say "you're stupid", because that's just not productive, and it's not nice.

But lets do this again anon, let's roll one last time, and then goodbye to you, have a nice life. Let's take it by subject:

Racist: Really? I googled racist Scarlett Johansson and literally nothing came up, other than the whitewashing accusations over her Ghost in the Shell casting. First of all, while the race of an android is something that we can go on about for a long time, and the casting of adaptations of Japanese content is another thing we can go on about for a long time (because e.g. a couple of years after GitS came out, nobody accused the actors or producers of Detective Pikachu for whitewashing, even though most of the actors on it were white), lets say I agree with you, that Scarlett shouldn't have been cast in that film. She apologised at the time, and said she wouldn't knowingly take away a role that was meant for a person from another race. After all, the role was meant to go to Margot Robbie initially, and when she dropped out due to scheduling issues, it went to Scarlett. So, the role of Major in Ghost in the Shell actually went from one white woman, to another white woman. Are you gonna go after the casting people for this, or are you gonna keep accusing Scarlett for accepting a role that she thought was meant for a white lead? You don't need to reply, it was a rhetorical question, I know you're not actually interested in figuring out how racism works in showbusiness. Lets keep going, let's say you don't believe her, and that it was entirely her fault, that at the time she took away a role that would otherwise have gone to a person of colour. Well, it's been 7 years since she was cast for that role. She's been in many, many films since then, and not once has she taken a role from a non-white person. I think 7 years is enough time passed to think this person has learned their lesson, and won't make the same mistake again.

Anti-Semite: ..................... Scarlett is Jewish, anon. She has family that died in concentration camps. See, this is how I know that you don't actually care about any of this, you just enjoy bitching on tumblr, so thanks for making my life easier. I guess I'd feel bad if I thought I actually made you uncomfortable.

Transphobe: We cannot actually know that? She hasn't made any anti-trans comments, but she hasn't supported the cause either so, who knows? Accepting the role in Rub and Tug was a mistake, and once she figured that out she admitted it, made an apology, and dropped the project. And don't make me go over the whole "I could be a tree" thing again. I can't deal. She was giving an interview for a pretentious French magazine, and the interviewer was going on and on about the art that is acting (and saying some pretty questionable things while at it), and when he asked her "what do you think is the job of an actor?" she replied that actors are people who emulate other people and can transform themselves to anyone or anything else. That was on a philosophical discussion about the actor's "job". She wasn't making a statement against trans people, in any way. She was a USB stick by the end of Lucy in 2014, she was just pointing out the obvious and then it was taken entirely out of context, and I swear my eyes will one day get stuck rolled at the back of my head, reading yet another tree "joke".

Supports paedophiles: No. What she's said is that she's known Woody Allen personally for 20 years, and that he's told her he didn't abuse his daughter, and that she believes him. That he isn't a paedophile. That is in no way "supporting paedophiles". Do I agree with this? No. I think Woody Allen is a questionable figure, at best, but I can sorta understand her position. I've said this before, I don't know how I would feel if a friend of mine was hated by the general public because he was accused of doing a horrendous crime that had actually never been proven (or disproven), and therefore I can't judge her for deciding to stand by him on this, I don't think I would have been able to do the same, but Scarlett has proven that she'll say what she believes and deal with the consequences. Fair enough.

That's it anon. Thank you for sitting around for one last rant. If Scarlett has been accused for some other shit while I was writing this, maybe for killing Kermit the frog, who knows at this point, please, don't slide in my inbox, I'm done with this and I'm certainly not above blocking. Go on and live your guilt free life, stanning white men who have done waaaay more questionable things than most female celebrities could ever hope to do in a lifetime, and yet get away from scot free for you to drool over without shame.

[thethera-rossa]

[dojae-huh]

hi! haven’t sent an anon in a year or two, but curious on why you think katseye won’t last when looking at the members?

also to answer your question from awhile ago, i had high hopes for both doyoung and jaehyun because i love doyoung and jaehyun’s voices a lot and i’m a big r&b fan. i was honestly very impressed by the route doyoung took with his sound, i loved every song and i felt like it really fit a story. my own life i could connect to these songs in a way of doyoung’s story to my own life story. it was emotional and beautiful to me.

jaehyun’s, i was super disappointed by, sadly. i loved his previous solo projects (try again, horizon , forever only) but i really didn’t like his specific vocal tone in roses or dandelion, i think he was trying for a different sound and my friend and i talked about it, it sounded like he was acting. so another jaehyun, which could be good for some! smoke was forgettable, and flamin hot lemon felt so simple. i did really like completely and can’t get you, which both felt like more complete productions to me with a lot of care in it. (completely as jaedo wedding song) so i only listen to those two.

another side note also.. i enjoy when you talk about wish a lot because they became my favorite unit with 127 when nasa released and i got into them. the neo team really seems to like them, but i’m really impressed by their hardworking spirit. i hope they go super far

They came from very different backgrounds, and they all have the same strength (dancing skill). If anyone of them becomes more famous, starts to get more attention from the media and brands, it is easy for discord to happen. They won in a tight competition thanks to themselves (an agency didn't raise them, they came prepared and polished), they have what it takes to do well alone. Of course, if they have a binding contract, it won't be easy to leave. Plus, they all seem to be young, so it can be OK for them to be in the group untill they are 22-23, while they get to know the showbusiness from within. Lastly... do we really trust Hybe and American companies to handle a gg well? Heh. The group well may start to struggle after 2-3 years if they won't have major hits. Right now they are a novelty and are supported by kpop-fans. However, new ggs are coming out every year for non-americans to care for long. And as far as I can see, Americans prefer vocally strong groups (that's why FLO are going up). While Katseye's first songs are targeting teenagers. I get a Disney channel mixed with NewJeans wibe. Commercial but without spice (Spice up your life!) or a secret formula (What's your ETA?). I mean, compare unremarkable "Touch" with "Black Mamba" or "Happiness", which were closely followed by "Next Level" and "Ice Cream cake". Oh, well, compare with the effect of a detonated bomb that was BP's "Boombayah". Who doesn't remember that floor caterpillar, heh.

Now, back to our peach garden with frolicking bunnies.

May I ask from which country you are? Do's album is pretty Korean-core (even if it has Japanese influence and Americanised songs), it is full of Korean sentimentality. It's remarkable it resonated with your own experience so closely.

"Forever only" is still in my top of Jae's songs as well. It has that honest appealing vibe.

Yeah, I like Jae's take in Roses. However, I do get what you are talking about. I also wrote in the past that Roses felt more like Jaehyun being a singer than himself (even though he participated in creating the song, heh). As for "Dandelion", isn't it the same tone as in "Horizon"? Feels pretty Jae-core to me, voice including.

Whishies have it good. They lucked out with teammates and with an easy to sell concept (who doesn't like cute and fuzzy kittens?). Their debut is a smooth-sail. The go to other countries and film a lot outdoor and on locations, the staff pumpers them. No pressure, no big breaks, no scandals, just favourite work and fun. And the creative team behind them is very strong. Neo centre really pours all its brain resources into new concepts for them. Just look at their debut album design ideas. Even other fandoms are envious.

I kind of think of them as a second aespa. SM got themselves a perfect match to an envisioned concept.

[whatever-lola-wants]

SPOOPY SEASON MOVIE  RECOMMENDATIONS

Hi. I watch tons of movies, and love horror that doesn’t rely too much on jump scares or CGI monstrosities running at the screen, so this list will be just movies with atmospheric horror, mindfucks, and animatronics/practical effects.

Hereditary (2018) Starts off as a family drama and quickly progresses to one of the most unsettling, emotionally disturbing, and straight up frightening movies of all time. There’s layers upon layers of diverse horror here. Expertly crafted slow burn. When there are visceral moments that are truly scary, they are earned. There are no gimmicks in the cinematography, no jump scares, just great shot composition and plenty of atmosphere with top notch acting. If you’re feeling adventurous, perhaps also check out one of its inspirations, Don’t Look Now(1973) based on a Daphne du Maurier story.

Starry Eyes (2014) - Awesome low-budget movie, an allegory for just how evil Hollywood is (but really, showbusiness in general), and an extended character piece. Brilliant script that progressively reveals so much about our protagonist as the movie goes on. She's a real person, not a character in a movie, and you empathize and are horrified with her. A slow burn with immense payoff. While Neon Demon is another movie with a similar premise, I like this one far more because of just how personal it is.

The Thing (1982) I’ve been waiting forever to gush about this. A true masterpiece. One of the best movies ever made, regardless of genre. Visceral and tense, with themes of paranoia, isolation anxiety, and the fear of societal and cultural change (the movie is from the 1980s after all), and some of the most creative, gross, downright beautiful animatronics and practical effects ever created. Characters act in a sensible manner according to the information they have. There are no “No! Don’t do that! Are you dumb?!” horror movie tropes here. The story follows a science team stuck in an Antarctic research station for the winter, with a nightmarish alien who lives to infect, assimilate, and assume the form of any living thing. Naturally, suspicion and paranoia run amok, as one or more of them might have already been taken over. “Man is the warmest place to hide”, indeed. Avoid the 2011 prequel at all costs.

Shin Godzilla (2016) A monster movie where the real monster is the bureaucracy. It’s a story told primarily through the lens of Japanese politics and culture and has plenty of satire and dark, quirky humor so it might not appeal to too many people who just want a run-of-the-mill Godzilla movie, but it has plenty of kaiju horror goodness, some very memorable scenes, and if you would only go into this movie with an open mind, you’ll know why this is the best Godzilla movie ever made.

Suspiria (1977) Ballet dancer enrolls at a German dance academy to perfect her art and quickly discovers the place is not what it seems, and neither are the people. Yes, witches are involved. Word to the wise, giallo horror is a very specific subgenre which has a distinct “this can’t possibly be real” quality to everything from the characters to the dialogue to the gore. It’s not for everyone. Given that, I love Suspiria, I think it’s unique within the giallo sphere because of the supernatural elements, the beautiful cinematography and pretty colors (lol), the ludicrous displays of gore, the music, and would definitely recommend it. I’d actually recommend the remake Suspiria (2018) with Tilda Swinton too cause I like it for very different reasons, but that one is a classic case of overthinking things and I’m meh about certain subplots and the ending. But whatever. Make up your own mind.

Videodrome (1983) - Classic Cronenberg. Surreal, reality warping body horror (oh, and how.) with plenty of commentary on the nature of advances in technology, the nature of entertainment, and their effect on society. The premise and message are still relevant in 2020.

[closetofanxiety]

Is there any set of initials in wrestling more delightfully confusing than UWF? You had:

* The original Universal Wrestling Federation, which lasted from 1984 to 1986. It was formed by a group of wrestlers who left New Japan Pro Wrestling, including some truly big names: Akira Maeda, Satoru Sayama, Nobuhiko Takada, and more. This company pioneered the “shoot-style” of wrestling that would later flower into, among other things, MMA. 

* Bill Watts’ Universal Wrestling Federation, which was his attempt to take the old Mid-South territory national. Launched in 1986, he sold it in April 1987 to Jim Crockett Promotions. A casualty of the mid-1980s oil bust as well as competition from WWF and the NWA, it never really got off the ground despite an incredibly talented roster. 

* The new Universal Wrestling Federation, formed by some of the same people who had formed the original UWF in 1984. Most of them rejoined NJPW after the first UWF folded but, two years later, struck out again under the UWF banner. This time, it was even more heavily focused on shoot-style matches, with Minoru Suzuki, among others, getting his first major exposure of the group. Falling victim to the bursting of Japan’s economic bubble, as well as the internecine fighting that seems to characterize most Japanese wrestling companies, the new UWF folded in 1990.

* When God closes a door, he opens a window. In 1990, just as the third promotion to bear the initials UWF was closing its doors, a cocaine-dusted live wire named Herb Abrams was starting another one up. Because Bill Watts had never trademarked the name, Abrams - or “Mr. Electricity,” as he was called on UWF’s “Fury Hour” television show - was able to call his upstart promotion the Universal Wrestling Federation. Not content with being the owner, Abrams was also the head booker and the play-by-play announcer: a sort of mirror-image of Vince McMahon. The tales from Abrams’ wild money pit of a promotion are amazing, and would make the subject of a truly great book. Mr. Electricity died with his boots on, metaphorically: in the only appropriate way for a wrestling promoter to leave this earth, he expired from a cocaine-induced heart attack while naked, covered in Vaseline, and smashing furniture in his office with a baseball bat while a group of escorts watched. 

* After seven years and two previous incarnations, the Japanese UWF attained its final form in 1991 as UWF International, or UWFi for short. Led by Takada, this promotion reinvented kayfabe for a new era, insisting that its martial arts-style matches were all “real,” and deriding New Japan and All Japan as fake showbusiness nonsense. They even brought in old-school shooters Billy Robinson, Danny Hodge, and Lou Thesz to take various ceremonial positions to shore up their credibility. Of course, the matches were all worked, but this was as close as pro wrestling would ever come to what MMA later became. Initially successful, UWFi was best by financial troubles that prompted an ill-advised (but incredibly influential) invasion angle with New Japan, where most of the UWFi guys were jobbed out, just as the guys from Bill Watts’ UWF had been eight years earlier when they “invaded” the NWA. 

It’s been 23 years since a wrestling promotion has called itself the UWF. I assume whatever trademarks Mr. Electricity had are either lapsed or unenforceable. In this new boom-that’s-not-a-boom period for wrestling, who will be bold enough to assume this glorious mantle?

[blackkudos]

George Benson

George Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 21 as a jazz guitarist. Benson uses a rest-stroke picking technique similar to that of gypsy jazz players such as Django Reinhardt.

A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, playing soul jazz with Jack McDuff and others. He then launched a successful solo career, alternating between jazz, pop, R&B singing, and scat singing. His album Breezin' was certified triple-platinum, hitting no. 1 on the Billboard album chart in 1976. His concerts were well attended through the 1980s, and he still has a large following. Benson has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Biography

Early career

Benson was born and raised in the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the age of seven, he first played the ukulele in a corner drug store, for which he was paid a few dollars. At the age of eight, he played guitar in an unlicensed nightclub on Friday and Saturday nights, but the police soon closed the club down. At the age of 9, he started to record. Out of the four sides he cut, two were released: "She Makes Me Mad" backed with "It Should Have Been Me", with RCA-Victor in New York; although one source indicates this record was released under the name "Little Georgie", the 45rpm label is printed with the name George Benson. The single was produced by Leroy Kirkland for RCA's rhythm and blues label, Groove Records. As he has stated in an interview, Benson's introduction to showbusiness had an effect on his schooling. When this was discovered (tied with the failure of his single) his guitar was impounded. Luckily, after he spent time in a juvenile detention centre his stepfather made him a new guitar.

Benson attended and graduated from Schenley High School. As a youth he learned how to play straight-ahead instrumental jazz during a relationship performing for several years with organist Jack McDuff. One of his many early guitar heroes was country-jazz guitarist Hank Garland. At the age of 21, he recorded his first album as leader, The New Boss Guitar, featuring McDuff. Benson's next recording was It's Uptown with the George Benson Quartet, including Lonnie Smith on organ and Ronnie Cuber on baritone saxophone. Benson followed it up with The George Benson Cookbook, also with Lonnie Smith and Ronnie Cuber on baritone and drummer Marion Booker. Miles Davis employed Benson in the mid-1960s, featuring his guitar on "Paraphernalia" on his 1968 Columbia release, Miles in the Sky before going to Verve Records.

Benson then signed with Creed Taylor's jazz label CTI Records, where he recorded several albums, with jazz heavyweights guesting, to some success, mainly in the jazz field. His 1974 release, Bad Benson, climbed to the top spot in the Billboard jazz chart, while the follow-ups, Good King Bad (#51 Pop album) and Benson and Farrell (with Joe Farrell), both reached the jazz top-three sellers. Benson also did a version of The Beatles's 1969 album Abbey Road called The Other Side of Abbey Road, also released in 1969, and a version of "White Rabbit", originally written and recorded by San Francisco rock group Great Society, and made famous by Jefferson Airplane. Benson played on numerous sessions for other CTI artists during this time, including Freddie Hubbard and Stanley Turrentine, notably on the latter's acclaimed album Sugar.

1970s and 1980s

By the mid-to-late 1970s, as he recorded for Warner Bros. Records, a whole new audience began to discover Benson. With the 1976 release Breezin', Benson sang a lead vocal on the track "This Masquerade" (notable also for the lush, romantic piano intro and solo by Jorge Dalto), which became a huge pop hit and won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. (He had sung vocals infrequently on albums earlier in his career, notably his rendition of "Here Comes the Sun" on the Other Side of Abbey Road album.) The rest of the album is instrumental, including his rendition of the 1975 Jose Feliciano composition "Affirmation".

In 1976, Benson toured with soul singer Minnie Riperton, who had been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer earlier that year and, in addition, appeared as a guitarist and backup vocalist on Stevie Wonder's song "Another Star" from Wonder's album Songs in the Key of Life.

During the same year, 1976, the top selling album 'Breezin' was released on the Warner Brothers label featuring the Bobby Womack penned title track and the Leon Russell penned This Masquerade which is now a jazz standard. Both tracks won Grammy awards that year and the LP put Benson into the musical limelight both in the USA and in Europe. Ironically, Benson had been discouraged up until this time, from using his singing skills, mainly as the company decision makers felt he wasn't competent enough vocally, and he should stick to playing the guitar. It was here that he clearly proved them wrong.

He also recorded the original version of "The Greatest Love of All" for the 1977 Muhammad Ali bio-pic, The Greatest, which was later covered by Whitney Houston as "Greatest Love of All". During this time Benson recorded with the German conductor Claus Ogerman. The live take of "On Broadway", recorded a few months later from the 1978 release Weekend in L.A., also won a Grammy. He has worked with Freddie Hubbard on a number of his albums throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

The Qwest record label (a subsidiary of Warner Bros., run by Quincy Jones) released Benson's breakthrough pop album Give Me The Night, produced by Jones. Benson made it into the pop and R&B top ten with the song "Give Me the Night" (written by former Heatwave keyboardist Rod Temperton). He had many hit singles such as "Love All the Hurt Away", "Turn Your Love Around", "Inside Love", "Lady Love Me", "20/20", "Shiver", "Kisses in the Moonlight". More importantly, Quincy Jones encouraged Benson to search his roots for further vocal inspiration, and he rediscovered his love for Nat Cole, Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway in the process, influencing a string of further vocal albums into the 1990s. Despite returning to his jazz and guitar playing most recently, this theme was reflected again much later in Benson's 2000 release Absolute Benson, featuring a cover of one of Hathaway's most notable songs, "The Ghetto". Benson accumulated three other platinum LPs and two gold albums.

1990s to present

In 1990, Benson was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the Berklee College of Music.

To commemorate the long relationship between Benson and Ibanez and to celebrate 30 years of collaboration on the GB Signature Models, Ibanez created the GB30TH, a limited-edition model with a gold-foil finish inspired by the traditional Japanese Garahaku art form. In 2009, Benson was recognized by the National Endowment of the Arts as a Jazz Master, the nation's highest honor in jazz. Benson performed at the 49th issue of the Ohrid Summer Festival in North Macedonia on July 25, 2009, and his tribute show to Nat King Cole An Unforgettable Tribute to Nat King Cole as part of the Istanbul International Jazz Festival in Turkey on July 27. In the fall of 2009, Benson finished recording an album entitled Songs and Stories with Marcus Miller, producer John Burk, and session musicians David Paich and Steve Lukather. As a part of the promotion for his album Songs and Stories, Benson has appeared or performed on The Tavis Smiley Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

He performed at the Java Jazz Festival March 4–6, 2011. In 2011, Benson released the album Guitar Man, revisiting his 1960s/early-1970s guitar-playing roots with a 12-song collection of covers of both jazz and pop standards produced by John Burk.

In June 2013, Benson released his fourth album for Concord, Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole, which included Wynton Marsalis, Idina Menzel, Till Brönner, and Judith Hill. In September, he returned to perform at Rock in Rio festival, in Rio de Janeiro, 35 years after his first performance at this festival, which was then the inaugural one.

In July 2016, Benson participated as a mentor in the Sky Arts program Guitar Star in the search for the UK and Republic of Ireland's most talented guitarist.

In May 2018, Benson was featured on the Gorillaz single "Humility".

On July 12, 2018, it was announced that Benson had signed to Mascot Label Group.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed George Benson among hundreds of musicians whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Personal life

Benson has been married to Johnnie Lee since 1965 and has seven children. Benson describes his music as focusing more on love and romance, and eschewing overt sexuality, due to his commitment to his family and religious practices, with Benson serving as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Benson has been a resident of Englewood, New Jersey.

[tcm]

The Longevity of George Segal by Susan King

Newer generations of audiences primarily know George Segal as a sitcom actor who played the publisher of a fashion magazine on the NBC comedy series Just Shoot Me!, and for the past six seasons, the amiable grandfather always eager to give advice on ABC’s The Goldbergs. But to baby boomers, he was one of top leading men of the 1970s. He may not have reached the heights of Burt Reynolds, Paul Newman, Robert Redford or Al Pacino during the decade, but nobody could do romantic comedy better than Segal. He was charming, adorable, sexy and a bit world-weary. Sort of a neurotic New York Jewish Cary Grant with a fabulous head of thick air.

Segal starred in such comedies as 1970’s WHERE’S POPPA? (the funniest scene is when Ruth Gordon pulls down his pants and bites him on the tuchus) and THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT, THE HOT ROCK (‘72), BLUME IN LOVE (‘73) and A TOUCH OF CLASS (‘73), for which he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor and his costar, Glenda Jackson, took home the Best Actress Oscar.

Segal, now 85, told me during an interview I did with him in 2011 for the Los Angeles Times at the famed eatery Musso & Franks that he had “no notion I was going to take a comedy direction.” In fact, one of his first major stage roles was in 1956 in Jose Quintero’s legendary off-Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, starring Jason Robards in his signature role of Hickey.

And when he began in features in the early 1960s, Segal starred in such dramatic fare as 1965’s SHIP OF FOOL; Mike Nichols’ superb WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (‘66), for which Segal earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actor; the 1966 thriller THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM and that same year, CBS’ broadcast of Arthur Miller’s DEATH OF A SALESMAN.

Segal was also a popular guest on daytime and evening talk shows where he got to demonstrate his goofy charming side. He’d always bring out his banjo and sing the 1909 song “The Yama Yama Man.” Housewives and mothers—mine included—fell in love with him.

And so did director Jack Smight, who, Segal noted, thought he would be perfect for his 1968 dark comedy NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY. Segal was pitch perfect as Morris Brummel, a tough-nosed New York detective out to kill a flamboyant serial killer (Rod Steiger) with major mother issue.

Hollywood realized they had a romantic leading man on their hands.

The depth and breadth of Segal’s talent—both comedic and dramatic—can be seen in Bryan Forbes’ searing 1965 World War II drama, KING RAT. Segal plays one of the 10,000 American, Australian and British prisoners at a Japanese POW II. But Segal’s Captain King is a ruthless hustler who runs the black-market operation in the camp. Segal’s skill is also present in Robert Altman’s underrated CALIFORIA SPLIT (‘74), a comedy with dramatic overtones with Segal and Elliott Gould as gamblers who bond over the gambling tables.

Segal is in full flower as a romantic leading man in Paul Mazursky’s comedy BLUME IN LOVE. He plays a divorce attorney who falls in love with the beautiful Nina (Susan Anspach), marries her, cheats on her then tries to win her back after they divorce. The film also stars Marsha Mason in her film debut and a delightful Kris Kristofferson.

At the time of my interview, Segal and the late Mazursky were still the best of friends and met for breakfast several times a month. “I just saw him this morning,” he noted. “I meet these geezers at the Farmer’s Market. We usually talk about showbusiness, the old days and what’s happening now.”

Segal didn’t turn his back on dramas in the 1970s, as witnessed with Irvin Kershner’s superb 1970 dramedy LOVING, in which he plays a commercial artist living in the suburbs with his wife (Eva Marie Saint) and their kids while not dealing very well with a mid-life crisis.

Segal also starred in Sidney Lumet’s 1968 dramedy BYE BYE BRAVERMAN, a box-office flop the filmmaker didn’t like: “It should have been a soufflé, but it turned out a pancake.” The film about four Jewish intellectuals—Segal, Jack Warden, Sorrell Booke and Joseph Wiseman—that travel to a friend’s funeral in a cramped Volkswagen Beetle, may not have excited the critics either, but it’s a wonderful opportunity to catch an early comedic turn by Segal as a public relations writer. Time singled out Segal: “As the story’s central character, actor Segal shows flashes of a comic talent hitherto unexplored by Hollywood.”

By the end of the 1970s and early 80s, Segal’s career slowed because his films weren’t burning up the box office. “Most of us get about 10 years at best [at the top],” Segal confessed. “As you get into playing father roles, the parts dry up because, I don’t mean to say it’s a sex thing, but you have that testosterone vitality. But there are certain actors, like Jack Nicholson, who crested and just kept going. I am in another group, whatever that group is, but I have been tremendously lucky. You just have to keep bellying up to the table.”

[gontagokuhara]

you should tell us abt ur fangan kids!

ive been meaning to answer this but itz long so i wanted to put it under a cut!!

hibiki (he/they) is the ultimate demolitionist! i cant draw but his design and whole aesthetic is literally just. minecraft creepercore. they’re 4′10″, they wear full-eye black contacts bc Crepper Aesthetic, and he just. likes to blow shit up. he’s the rival in my group killing game and i love him SO much

yuri (he/him) is 100% my kinnie oc as the ultimate camp counselor. despite being very good at what he does (duh), he hates it. the responsibility of having to maintain the fun and safety of a bunch of kids is shaving years off his lifespan. and, amazingly for him, he immediately gets assigned Group Dad against his will during the killing game. he also carries at least four fanny packs at all times, each containing snacks and capri suns, first aid supplies, arts and craft supplies, and a fucking tazer (which he usually threatens to use against hibiki). 

kimi (she/her) is the ultimate candy maker! her entire aesthetic is cotton candy, in which her hair is dyed blue and pink, she likes soft, puffy clothing, and she’s just a really sweet (ha) person in general! she gets along with most all of her classmates bar a few. she has lesbian disease also

miyah (she/her) is the ultimate witch, which sounds really cool, until she opens her mouth and you realize she’s the crystal-wielding, essential oil-drinking, anti vax queen you were warned about. she’s very sweet and very soft spoken, and genuinely tries to be kind to everyone, but she’s very much a you love her or hate her kind of personality.

koya (they/them) is the ultimate swashbuckler! swashbucklers are a hero archetype defined by flamboyant movement, sword-wielding, chivalry, and daring adventures. koya is a sea-faring spirit, and they fill their time in the killing game enthralling the others with stories of grandeur and convincing all of their classmates that they are a legit pirate. koya is a liar, they exaggerate…a lot, but their intentions are not malicious and their tales just come out a bit more romantic than they actually happened. they’re very charming and laid back, and they’re definitely the sort of heartthrob character that everyone wants to smooch. 

chieko (they/them) is the ultimate girl gang leader, and they are also ultimate lesbian. they’re sort of isolated from the rest of the group due to their talent being considered scary, and their very intense and intimidating appearance and personality. they’re major concern is to escape the killing game and find their way back to their girls (they say as much, which makes everyone VERY suspicious!) but they wouldnt hurt anyone and they end up becoming best friends with yuri and masako (who i’ve lovingly dubbed the parent squad of this class)

speaking of masako (she/they), she is the ultimate investigative journalist, and this killing game’s trial helper! she is very well traveled, and takes what she does very seriously. they are completely and utterly devoted to the truth, good or bad, they will find the truth. they absolutely detest koya for this reason; even little lies absolutely grind masako’s gears. she also is very distrustful, and she doesn’t trust anyone at the onset of the killing game. it takes her a long time to warm up enough to the protag to share her findings during investigations, and she often comes across as somewhat of a rival during trials due to her critical nature and the way she very blatantly does not trust those around her. nevertheless, later on she is (against her will) forced into the Parent Squad with chieko and yuri, and though she doesn’t trust anyone else, she will do everything in her power to keep more killings from happening. 

daichi (he/him) is the ultimate superhero, and he was the first dr oc i actually made!! he’s very much a pretty boy (fluffy blonde hair, pink eyes, freckles, he’s just Cute) and he and hibiki start dating during the killing game! he’s sort of a bastard and won’t give anyone a straight answer on what his superpowers actually are, but despite his kind, cheeky nature, he feels a deep sense of responsibility and guilt over not being able to do anything about the killing game. he is one of the more likely people to go snooping for the mastermind, and he’s gotten in physical fights more than once with people he deems suspicious. 

hirohito (he/him) is the ultimate joggler and he’s the greatest character of all time. what is joggling, you ask? don’t worry, he’ll tell you. i came across this while looking for talent ideas, and i laughed so hard i cried when i conceptualized this fiend. he’s very much the token joke character, he’s a hot head, and he’s kind of a dick, but the idea of hope’s peak allowing the ultimate person who can juggle and jog at the same time into their doors is just too hilarious to pass up. protag joggler 4 life

speaking of people who are kind of dicks, meet yuuto (he/him), the ultimate dancer. he’s such a hot head. he hates the most of his classmates out of any other character, including the mastermind. he’s dating the protag, who is one of like…four people he actually likes in his class. yuuto takes his talent very seriously, and spends hours every day working to maintain his status as the best of the best. his talent comes before everything else (or, at least, it did), but if his talent comes first, then the people he cares about take up every other place on the list. he doesn’t tolerate many people, but those he does, he is fiercely loyal towards. he would kill and die for the people he cares about. he is 5′2″ of pure kickass, and he will throw everything he has into defending the people he loves. i lvoe him.

michiko (she/her) is the ultimate influencer (yeah. i know). she’s an internet personality who has followings on instagram, twitter, youtube, tiktok, et cetera. she is also one of my earlier oc designs, and i’m kind of attached to her lol. she’s very naturally magnetic and has a lot of friends among her classmates, but she does have a tendency to get hung up on things like follower counts, conventional beauty, and wealth. she has a huge (mutual!) crush on koya, she’s best friends with hibiki, and she has an intense fear of swimming pools (her hair is dyed, and chlorine is way bad for dyed hair)

leeanne (she/her) is the only non-japanese character, and i. she’s a mess. she’s the ultimate theatre kid, and she’s basically every broadway tumblr user when h*milton was super popular. she complains about musical bootlegs, becries her classmates for not knowing anything about the musicals she stans, and she’s just. lord. obviously she’s a joke character, and she’s honestly a caricature of the kind of shit i got up to (to a degree! don’t call me out sdkjdsjbd) when i was 15 years old. suffice to say, none of her classmates like her very much

tomoya (he/him) is the obligatory ultimate ???, and also our trial ruiner! he earns the distrust of his entire class by keeping his talent a secret and then having it revealed by masako, and as a result he is very outcasted and lonely among his peers. he’s a naturally very reserved person, and his situation lends him to feeling very lonely. most of the class suspect him to be the mastermind – whether they’re right or not, only time will tell. 

katsumi (she/her) is 1/3 of what i’ve dubbed the Showbiz Squad as the ultimate pageant queen! she’s been participating in and winning beauty pageants since she was very young, and she’s won all the way up through the pageant ranks. as one would expect she’s very beautiful, and she’s also very bright and charismatic, which lends itself well to gaining allies in the killing game. she is by and large very fake, though, and she operates as a mini antagonist for various reasons. 

hikaru (he/him) is another third of the Showbiz Squad, as the ultimate game show host! he’s very ostentatious and charismatic; he’s always ‘on,’ always playing the gracious, enthusiastic host. there’s always a smile and a flashy, charming quip in his mouth, so he can wear very gratingly on the less enthusiastic and personable kids. he definitely would be a tumblr sexyman if he were an actual dr character {sweating emoji]. despite the crowd he seems to gather wherever he goes, no one knows much about him; and he likes to keep it that way. 

and finally, the last third of the Showbiz Squad, and also the protagonist: hachi (he/they), the ultimate child star! as their talent would indicate, hachi was a child star, and he absolutely detests the showbusiness world as a result. he really dislike pretty much…everyone who represents that part of his past (katsumi, hikaru, and michiko are prime examples) and his least favorite thing is getting the question: “omg where you in ___?” they’re very emotionally and physically fatigued by all the bullshit going on around them, so they come across as fairly apathetic to most people. but in actuality, hachi is someone who craves stability and kindness, and their extremely blunt, extremely annoyed exterior hides a very soft, compassionate interior. i absolutely adore this character :D

and umm thats it for my kids! i (for the most part?) have all of the killers/victims worked out, i have my mastermind all planned, but i’m still working on a setting/obligatory extra mono-creature/how this group falls within the dr canon. i love talking about these guys so if ur interest in them pwease send me asks/messages about them 🥺