#kts Very Different Vibes from turn A

[whilomm]

finished Turn A and really loved it, after a couple of days decided to start reconguista in G, and like an hour in this bitch comes back in all dolled up

YOU WILL NEVER BE HIM

[fakeosirian]

these are the voyages...of the uss anubis!

aka my very self-indulgent ds9-era (but heavily inundated with aos plotline inspo?? somehow??) house of anubis star trek au

started out as mashing together two things i enjoy like barbie dolls, but eventually it turned into half a plotline (for just season 1, roughly), so here you go!

Captain/CO: Joy!...until The Incident Acting Captain/CO: Nina!...after The Other Incident First Officer/XO/Science Officer: Fabian Chief Medical Officer: Mara Chief Engineer: Patricia Pilot: Jerome Operations: Alfie Communications: Amber Security/Tactical: Mick

[for later bits: Joy becomes Captain again with Nina as her XO, Eddie replaces Mick on Security/Tactical, Fabian becomes XO again after Nina leaves, Willow's the ship counselor, and KT would be a special consultant type diplomat/scientist brought on the ship long term (idk haven't thought this far ahead tbh)]

(VERY LOOSE) PLOT SUMMARY FOR S1-ISH:

Fabian, Joy, and Patricia are friends from the Academy. One brutal introductory Astrophysics class later, they were inseparable, even though Patricia was on the Operations track, Fabian had his eye on the Sciences, and Joy wanted Command. (They were vaguely aware of/classmates with the others – Mick, Amber, and Mara were a comparable trio, and Alfie and Jerome were (in)famous around campus. Nina, notably, was studying to be a Federation ambassador, but things went a bit…sideways for her. More on that later.)

Fast-forward a few placements later, and they’re full-fledged officers awaiting their next assignments. Fabian worked his way through the ranks on a few different science vessels and hopes for a department head placement on an exploratory ship. Joy’s put in her dues as a tactical officer on border patrol ships, getting promoted to XO on her previous posting and hoping her intelligence work for a certain Admiral Rodenmaar will get her a favorable consideration for a command position. Patricia was forced to make a track shift from Security to Engineering after…an incident…at the Academy, but she surprised herself with how good she ended up being at it. Despite her hot temper, she impressed her chiefs at each of her assignments; she’s not asking for a promotion, but she’s been told it’s a firm possibility, depending on who her captain is.

While catching up on Spacedock One, Joy is…excited, but tight-lipped about why. They don’t have to wait long for an explanation; their assignments come down. Lieutenant Commander Fabian Rutter, USS Anubis, Science Officer. Lieutenant Commander Patricia Williamson, USS Anubis, Chief Engineer. Captain Joy Mercer, USS Anubis, Commanding Officer. She’d handpicked them for her senior staff, their first opportunity to all serve on a ship together, and an exploratory vessel, at that. (Fabian and Patricia never get a good explanation for how she shot up in the ranks so quickly, and despite the Anubis’s slightly dubious reputation as “cursed,” a lucrative placement. The last time they’d spoken (after some periods of total communication blackout while she was on assignment for Admiral Rodenmaar), she’d just been promoted to Commander. That had been quick, but not entirely unexpected – she’d sailed right over Lieutenant senior grade to Lt. Cmdr. in years past, and it was clear she had a special (classified) assignment lined up that called for the pips. But Captain? She’d be among the youngest in the fleet.)

What’s more: Joy wants Fabian to be her first officer. He’s hesitant – he took some command classes back in the day, but he doesn’t have the certification. Problem easily solved, Joy says: she has a sitting of the Bridge Officer’s Test scheduled for him before they leave drydock. Apparently, this can’t be argued. (Ultimately this test would end up looking a lot vibes-wise like the Senet game from season 2, but instead of peaking and resolving mounting tension between them, it’s sort of the reverse. He passes, just barely, but they argue during the test over his decisions (or lack thereof), and in light of her odd career moves, Fabian starts to get a bad gut feeling about all of this.)

At the same time, Nina is hitting a quarter-life crisis. Turns out she’s not cut out for diplomacy – she didn’t assume that lying was part of the job description, but apparently it comes up – and while she had training comparable to that of Starfleet Academy back on Trill (she’s an unjoined Trill btw), actually getting into Starfleet as an officer would be a huge hassle. She knew she wanted to do something big with her life, but it was becoming increasingly clear that the path towards it (whatever it was) would not be straightforward, if passable at all.

And then the ship she’s on crashes. On the ship was another Trill, a joined, elderly woman named Sarah Neris, who is fatally injured in the crash. It’s not ideal to do delicate procedures in a literal crash site, but Nina is the only unjoined Trill on board and aid is too far away to reach them in time for the symbiont to survive. Feeling the pull of fate, Nina volunteers to take the symbiont. The procedure is a success, the Neris symbiont accepts her, and Sarah offers her some ominous parting words: beware the black bird.

(One snag: the Neris symbiont also sustained injuries in the crash. The doctor was certain it won’t reject her in future, but her ability to communicate and properly join with it is limited while it heals. She’s warned she may experience some “psychological disturbances,” but they’ll clear up in time. It’s not comforting.)

The Anubis is given its shakedown mission. It’s very top-secret, hush-hush, all under orders of a mysterious board (it’s just the Society, basically). Patricia catches Joy on a call with a panel made up of Admiral Rodenmaar and Commodores Sweet and Andrews, and she confronts her over the secrecy. She admits she wishes she could tell her more, but the Admiralty have been burned in the past regarding the subject of their mission. The intelligence risk is too high. Patricia doesn’t like this, but she doesn’t want to argue with Joy.

Intros to the rest of the senior staff. Mission goes well until suddenly it isn’t. They do damage control, but Joy is summoned back to Headquarters in San Francisco.

Something something equivalent scene to Joy “being kidnapped” while Nina petitions her place in Starfleet in front of a panel. Lies by omission about how long she’s been joined – her lying is still really bad, FWIW, but the Society is in need of a stooge, and the Neris symbiont apparently has a Starfleet history that Nina’s able to access well enough to come off competent/help her along credentials-wise. (Have Nina hold some sort of equivalent rank from her work on Trill to make this less ridiculous. I’m going for ST09core set post-Bermantrek, but this is still a bit much.) Without asking for it, she’s promoted to Acting Captain Nina Neris, USS Anubis, effective immediately, and is sent to meet her senior staff.

Patricia’s…not pleased, and accuses Nina of being involved in Joy’s absence. Fabian protests, in this AU less because he disagrees with Patricia (because at this junction he doesn’t), but more because hey, maybe antagonizing the new captain is a bad idea? Nina takes his defense of her as more personal than it was intended, though, and despite his own sinking dread, Fabian decides to try and work with her until he’s able to get a better read on the situation.

Given a diplomatic mission to get everyone settled/take advantage of Nina’s existing skills – it’s feels like “busywork,” but after the disaster that was the Anubis’s first mission, none of the crew (besides Patricia) are complaining. During this mission, Nina gets disturbing dreams passed to her via the (still healing) symbiont, and after a bonding moment during the mission proper, she confides in Fabian about it. (Bonus: something about the mission itself is triggering the dreams, which are actually warped memories of Sarah’s time in Starfleet.)

One of the details strikes Fabian as uncomfortably like something odd he noticed during the mission preceding Joy’s disappearance. He elects to look through the Federation database, but when he tries, he gets an information security lockout that can’t be overridden by his rank or his status as XO. At the same time, Patricia’s been trying to get in contact with Admiral Rodenmaar without much luck. She does get in contact with a new desk jockey back at Headquarters, Jason Winkler; he’s receptive to her inquiries at first, sensing something “out of order,” but he ceases communication rather abruptly.

And that’s when they’re assigned a mission that looks even more dangerous than the last.

After that, it’d proceed similarly to S1 in that the missions are triggers for further memories (especially as the symbiont heals) while at the same time being unwitting contributors to the Society’s greater aims (I’m thinking something similar to the DS9 plot surrounding genetically modified humans and Section 31? That’s as close to ‘immortality’ and sussy secret society stuff as you get with standard Star Trek lore). To get around the information block, Nina and Fabian need to get Amber in on it (and hope she doesn’t spill the beans). Patricia becomes increasingly hostile to Nina (and as a result Fabian, who she perceives as a “traitor” who was “got by them too”), especially once she comes in contact with a “Section 31 agent” (Rufus, lying) who encourages her to pass on classified details of the Anubis’s mission plans, past and future.

Comes to a head when Rufus is captured by Starfleet Security en route to a meeting Patricia arranged with Nina accompanying her. More cagey, but ultimately they end up exchanging information and joining the same side (against the Admiralty). This is straight up mutiny, though, so they have to be careful about how much they give away. They continue completing missions that seem increasingly interrelated with the addition of the Neris symbiont’s new memories and Rufus’s information.

Finally, it comes to a head when they’re sent to retrieve a “lost, damaged shuttle” with strict orders not to engage with it (past tractoring it into their shuttle bay) or allow anyone in or out. As far as they’re told, there isn’t anyone on it. They do not believe this. Cue Fabian doing some sensor shenanigans, and he detects one faint life sign; against orders, they open the shuttle, and inside is Rufus. He escaped successfully (maybe Sibuna fed him some info to help out earlier?), but not undamaged, and now they’re really flirting with a court martial.

Rufus directs them to a planet that would “answer all of their questions” – this is where it goes a bit Into Darkness (sorry, it’s fitting, unfortunately) and Victor shows up with a Big Boy Ship at their destination to try and get them to leave. Joy’s on the ship, too, begging them to stop interfering, lest horrible consequences befall them. Turns out Rufus wants to revive a cell of frozen survivors from the Eugenics Wars, not for his own personal army, but to extend his own life. (He doesn’t really trust people to follow his directions, but he does trust their blood to keep him alive longer.)

Nina is forced to follow Victor’s orders (it’s clear he knows about their meddling, but he’s giving them a not-so-subtle “chance” to avoid serious consequences by going with his lead at this final stand against an obvious mutual enemy); once all is said and done, Rufus’s ship exploded and him assumed dead, Nina is demoted to XO, Fabian retains his rank and department head title but loses XO, and Joy is reinstated as Captain.

None of them quite know what to believe – Joy is extremely tight-lipped for her part, entirely unwilling to talk about the Admiralty and her time away. Patricia mostly buys that Rufus was a bad guy, and she’s happy to have achieved her goal (get Joy back), but things still don’t smell right. Fabian, Nina, and Amber feel similarly, but they’re more relieved they didn’t lose their careers (or lives). That doesn’t keep the tension between Joy and Nina from immediately boiling over into something that will be…a problem.

Potential backfill plot points: getting Alfie involved (being in charge of Ops, it’d be natural to want him helping out on sensor problems/transporter stuff/excavating info from computer systems), revealing more of Sarah’s past with Victor and Rufus (since she does have one, and on the Anubis, too! But I kind of like having that as a long-term thing instead of a “resolved in s1 equivalent” thing due to the lore complications), plotline for Mara/Jerome/Mick to get involved in (could go with a romance plotline, but tbh I like the idea of them either having mundane ship operations issues (since the rest of the senior staff is…busy…) or even being suspicious of their coworkers/commanding officers and doing an investigation of their own on the side).

i'll come back and do a s2-esque (and s3) plotline at some point and link it at the bottom of this post

[charlie-pippin-faraday]

HOA girls + wedding dresses

Alright, please don’t judge me too hard for all this. So after doing those fabina headcanons yesterday I kind of got into a bit of a wedding mood, as I am subject to do from time to time. I just love weddings like a LOT. And after looking at dresses for Nina, I decided I’d pick out dresses (or like a few options) for all of them. Do they need a spouse for this exercise? Nope! Absolutely not. In fact, most of them don’t. The only important ones are Patricia is marrying Eddie and Nina is marrying Fabian, but the rest of them you can envision whoever you please, it’s not important to me. They don’t need a spouse, I’m here to pick dresses based on what would look good on them, because they all deserve to look beautiful. I’m making every decision based solely on the girls alone

I’m going to start off with the one I have spent by far the most time thinking about

Patricia

Those of you who have been following my wedding fic know I picked this out long ago, and I have meticulously planned this wedding as if it were an actual wedding. If you want the details, please go check out the fic :) In short, she’s got a lacy, trumpet-style dress, sweetheart neckline. This is the dress, end of story, no one is allowed to dispute me. And her wedding color is dark purple

Nina

I like something that looks along the lines of this. Doesn’t have to be this exact one, but I like the A-line and it’s very essential that it have long lacy sleeves. Her wedding color is red

Mara

I couldn’t find one I was super in love with, but I really like the halter top style for her. Also I just now realized that I’m pretty sure the model in this photo is the same as the one in Nina’s dress photo. Wedding color: orange probably

Amber

This is the one I had the hardest time with. She would be so unbelievably picky. I found two that I liked for her, even though they are drastically different. The first one kind of jumped out at me and said “oh this has Amber vibes” but maybe that’s just the pose of the model. You can decide which one you like best. Either way, I have to add that it’s very important to note that in my head Amber wears a tiara with whatever dress she wears. Her wedding color: pink

Joy

Joy is very short and petite, so she needs something that’s not gonna drown her in fabric. I like the sheath style for her: long, simple, fairly straight, not a lot of extra fabric going on here. I also like the satin for her. There were a few I liked, but ultimately I’m going with this one as the winner, I think she’d rock it. Her wedding color: gold

KT

For whatever reason, she just screamed short dress. So, I’ve chosen a tea-length dress, and when I came across this one, I went YES, this is the one. Idk why, it just vibes with me. It’s very cute and fun. Her wedding color: teal

Willow

Essentially, this turned into me googling for the world’s sparkliest wedding dresses. She absolutely needs to have some kind of ballgown, possibly a princess style, and it needs to have a LOT of sparkles and sequins. Once again, I couldn’t decide what I liked best, so I attached multiple options. These are all in fairly similar styles, you can decide which one you like the best. Her wedding color: yellow

Again, this is all just for a bit of fun. Feel free to tell me which dresses you like the best or what you would’ve done differently :)

[chaosmax]

No screenshots bc DVD at home and amz.n doesn’t allow screenshots--

Diva/Aigami!Dub :“When the pharaoh leaves this world, the power of the Plana will be granted. But shall he ever return, this power will be recanted....[the power to remake the very fiber of reality. I will use this powr to avenge him [Shadi]]”

Diva/Aigami!Sub: “Evil souls will transform into light, and the door to a new dimension will open. The people who have noble souls will create a new orderly world of light.”

Because I’m not dedicated enough to make a huge list of sub and dub comparisons of DSoD I’m going to be using this one line to illustrate my general thoughts on the matter. I do want to preface this post by saying I’m in no way trying to rip on the dub or vice versa. There are some things from the sub I like better and some from the dub I like better (for real, hilarious lines like ‘You fight me with fruit’ and ‘perfectly coiffed hair’ would only happen in the dub & I love it xD and even more powerful ones like ‘You set me up... But I knew you’d set me up.’) Also, given accessibility for many people, dubs are honestly necessary, not everyone can read subtitles. It doesn’t always mean they’re being that lazy English speaker (tm) who can’t be bothered. I will also say I don’t know too much about the dubbing process and what goes on, if the dubbing writers get to see a full translation of the original script, if they get to talk to Japanese people during the process, if the VA’s get to read the original script as well, etc. So keep that in mind.

However-- This scene itself is one of the perfect reasons why when analyzing lore stuff of any artistic creation that gets localized, I use the original Japanese first and foremost. I think people that only see the dub sometimes forget that a lot can be altered in the translation or give off a totally different vibes because LANGUAGE IS COMPLICATED.

Both versions are sort of saying the same thing, but given how word diction works and how it’s phrased if you only watch one version you can get totally different vibes from the same scene that hasn’t really been censored in any way. (As for once, DSoD had no censorship between versions) Order, diction, what is said and what is left out and emphasis can make the same idea/sentence have many different meanings in English and different things can be inferred from what is said and what is not.

The Dub line here is very vague, it says the power of the Plana and talks about how it can rewrite reality-- but what that truly means is left pretty open-ended. It’s far less explained what the Plana as a whole is shooting for and more so focuses on Diva’s personal vengeance.  This can make the plots of the Plana seem kind of foolish and confusing because it's far less concrete-- it makes them harder to sympathize with because we don’t understand really what they are after and why--we see Diva’s desire for revenge at that moment and that’s about it (which he later lets go too, so).

The Sub line is still pretty vague because the Plana is a soft magic system, but it is also used more in an example and says exactly what can be accomplished with its power. This one is saying that everyone evil (unknown if that includes people that aren’t outright evil but aren’t Plana members) will be changed into light and a new dimension/world will open and in that new world the Plana will be able to create a utopia, (which makes a lot of sense given how many Buddhism motifs and ideas are alluded to by the Plana it’s not a 1:1 with it, but there are a lot of simularatires).  Through this version it’s not all about revenge as the end goal, it’s to achieve things thing that has both been promised to them and also this mission that has been entrusted to the Plana to create this new world free from Earthly suffering. This is far more understandable and easier to sympathize with because we actually understand it better. Or at least know more what it is about. There’s a concrete A -> B.

But not only the Plana members, but it also makes everyone’s else’s actions more powerful-- we know better what the Plana is capable of and thus when Yugi turns down the offer to join it’s much more powerful. But that’s a post for another day.

Back to the main point, this doesn’t mean the Sub is # better than the dub in every way fite me -- ugh no. It just means it often elaborates more which in some cases can make it more compelling (though of course the Sub has its weaknesses as well and so does the manga, which of course, the movie was following the manga continuity). And at the end of the day, because the movie was made in Japan in Japanese even though the translation process has room for error in itself as you often can’t get across the exact meaning you want (or certain cultural things are a given in one culture and not the other) it is closer to what KT & the other staff intended than a dub which has passed production hands several times. In many cases the sub and dub of yugioh are so different you have to treat them as separate entirely.

This isn’t to say people can’t enjoy dubs or draw upon them for fanwork or their own personal viewing/reading of the content, of course not (personally I take a mixture of both). I guess all I’m saying is it frustrates me when there are as big gaps as there are and different vibes between the versions that people will do things such as write off Kaiba’s actions in DSoD as “lmao so stupid what a sore loser lmao he’s never gonna win give it up bro”  or knock Diva only down to “petty/revenge dude who wants revenge (tm)” when there are so many more layers that were meant to be present, but got altered and the vibe the work as a whole changes just by a bit of a language barrier and how specific and finicky word choice is.

[honestlyjustanidiot]

1, 3, 7, 12, 16, 19, 21, 23, 24, 27, 30, 32, 35, 36, 39, 42, 44, 47, 48, 51, 53, 55, 59, 63, 64, 67, 70, 72, 73, 77, 79, 81, 84, 88, 90, 91, 94, 96, 99 hope you’re bored !

1: 6 of the songs you listen to most? - according to receiptify some of my top songs currently are: Slow Burn by Kacey Musgraves, Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood, Rainbow by Kacey Musgraves, Whiskey Nose by The Silver Bars, Love On The Line (Call Now) by Her's, Tonight Belongs To You from The Prom (film version)

3: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17. - Many girls were medically certified as "hysterical" or "of unsound mind" or even "morally degenerate", and the baby would be forcibly removed and brought up in the workhouse.

7: What’s your strangest talent? - genuinely don't know, don't even think I have any talents apart from being good at a couple of sports

12: Ever stuck a foreign object up your nose? - yeah no

16: Simple but extremely complex. Favorite band? - it's a tie between Marian Hill or Her's. It always used to be Marian Hill but recently I fell in love with Her's music just from my sister playing her friend's music in the house. I highly recommend both bands and both have very different vibes.

19: What does your URL mean? - that am just a bit on an idiot tbh

21: Who is your celebrity crush? - Lauren Jauregui, Alycia Debmam-Carey, Amalia Holm. Too many to choose from.

23: How do you vent your anger? - sometimes I journal and get out everything I want to say, sometimes I work out and work through the anger physically which always makes me feel better even if it's just a quick jog or something. I used to have a specific set of 3 songs I would listen to in a certain order to calm me down and then make me happy.

24: Do you have a collection of anything? - I don't but my housemates joke that I collect medical tape (microporous, zinc oxide, kt etc) because I'm always getting small injuries that can be treated and prevented at home lol

27: What’s a sound you hate; sound you love? - Hate the sound of people eating or making noises from their mouth. Love the sound of a crowd at a match or the general sound of Roses (our inter-uni varsity competition)

30: Stick your right arm out; what do you touch first? Do the same with your left arm. - a wall to might right and a textbook from first year to my left

32: What’s the worst place you have ever been to? - York uni lol

35: To you, what is the meaning of life? - to increase the entropy of the universe. To me I think it's just to love in whatever form that is, with hobbies, careers, people, animals, natire, literal anything

36: Define Art. - to me art is the beauty you find in something. Anything can be art. A painting, sure, but also the way a flower blooms, or the way heart works in intricate detail, or the view of the earth from space. Anything you think beautiful I think is art to you

39: What time is it? - quarter past 11 at night

42: Do you like the smell of gasoline? - oddly yeah and I shouldn't because it might be carcinogenic

44: What was the last film you saw? - actually think it was The Prom on netflix lol

47: Do you have any obsessions right now? - not that I can recall?

48: What’s your sexual orientation? - bi

51: Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong? - I have been known to but I'm trying to get better at moving on for myself

53: Do you save money or spend it? - save it

55: Love or lust? - love

59: Where were you yesterday? - my parents house

63: What is your secret weapon to get someone to like you? - idk?

64: Where is your best friend? - in their parents house in a different town

67: What were you doing last night at 12AM? - sleeping lol

70: Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend? - absolutely

72: You are at the doctor’s office and she has just informed you that you have approximately one month to live. a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die? b) What do you do with your remaining days? c) Would you be afraid? - a) I'd tell the people I love the most so they have time to plan and adjust. B) have as much fun as I can. C) probably yeah

73: You can only have one of these things; trust or love. - trust

77: How can I win your heart? - make me laugh, show me you want me, and show me you're a good person and you'll have me falling at your knees

79: What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far? - to stick it out with my best friend despite other people have too many opinions about us

81: What would you want to be written on your tombstone? - couldn't pay, got taken away

84: What is a saying you say a lot? - don't threaten me with a good time

88: If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be? - there's a few people but see the grudge question for why I won't be answering that

90: One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren’t really doing anything, they’re just standing around your bed. What do you do? - push one over, see what happens, film it and send to my best friend

91: You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What is that power? - super healing maybe

94: You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who would it be? - Lauren jauregui

96: Do you have any relatives in jail? - not anymore lol

99: If the whole world were listening to you right now, what would you say? - I would say I would like to date a certain person and also tell them to vote for a certain person in the SU elections lol

[carebooks]

alright i watched the whole third season of House of Anubis

I first have to say how much I enjoyed the leads: Eddie and KT. They have such a good chemistry and they’re honestly hilarious together. As I mentioned before, I did ship them together when I was younger and first watched the show but with watching it again, I would keep them as friends. Best friends. (especially since KT is hella gay I don’t care what anyone says) They totally give me Cloak and Dagger vibes, especially in terms of partnership. At the start of the show, they were alone, they had no one to confide in, no one to be with, Eddie was torn about letting Sibuna know about Nina, still not over Patricia. KT just lost her grandfather and came to England on a quest with some key and vague warnings, she was hella confused but still did so out of loyalty to her grandfather (this baby is too precious and good for this world, i swear). And next thing you know, fate and Osirian visions bring them together. They form a partnership, they snoop around the Gatehouse, they form a bond. And I love it so much. What I love especially, is that at the end, when the sinners are everywhere and even the Sibuna members are taken as sinners, it’s down to Eddie and KT, just like the beginning. Sure, they get help from Willow and Harriet, but they lose Willow pretty quickly, and right at the end, Harriet sacrifices herself so they can get the other key and lock away the evil for good. And together, Eddie and KT join the keys and lock the evil as one. They started together, and they ended it together, and I think that was really poetic. I know that the Osirian and the Chosen One are meant to be the pair and the Ying & Yang, but in this particular case, Eddie and KT were a bond formed by friendship and hardship rather than destinies planned or written in the stars by the gods, yes fate brought them together, but only because they knew they could only accomplish their tasks with each other. I especially loved when they took down Ammut, and Robert tried a last ditch attempt to get KT to feel guilty over doing this, telling her that he would die if Ammut was locked away. It brings in KT’s loyalty to her family, even when it’s bad, but then Eddie yells during the commotion, “Don’t trust him, trust me!” And I think it really brings a full circle what a great partnership and bond they have.

Other than that, it’s really just random stuff I liked

i liked that Willow could sense bad vibes that Robert had whenever he was around Anubis House, as well as sensing the bad vibes that sinner!Victor and sinner!Patricia gave off. I kinda wished they could’ve looked more into that. Like she was naturally sensitive to these things or something.

Her relationship with Alfie was a nice touch, seeing him with someone who liked the same things that he did was real cute. Especially seeing them happy.

Victor and Sweet playing that card game gave me life.

Joy’s new attitude and look were certainly appreciated

While I preferred the Jerome that developed in S2 and won Mara over (especially over the course of the first season and second, i mean talk about a slow burn done right) and rather he didn’t cheat on her and Willow, the Joy+Jerome ship wasn’t terrible. I much prefer the developed S2 Jerome, I’ve said this twice now, but again, it wasn’t terrible. (but real talk? KT and Joy should’ve happened)

Amber being the one to bring Sibuna and the pair Eddie & KT together because *Amber Millington voice* “Hello people! Isn’t it obvious? Work together.”

Like that girl knew what was up. Well, she did invent Sibuna, not surprised.

Alfie was perfection this season, leave him be. Also, highlights of him:

“Crypts are for dead people!” “I’m afraid of everything.” “Guys, go! Get out of here! Sibuna! SIBUNNAAA!!”

I already talked plenty of Eddie and KT being the best, so yeah. But imma do it again anyway.

I have a theory that Eddie focused his primary Osirian instinct of being protective over the Chosen One to being protective over KT. Like he reffocused his powers to someone else for the time being. Nina wasn’t there, and when KT showed up in his vision it was almost like the house was telling him “You need to help her now. Keep her safe.” And I really like that.

It was especially shone a lot through out the season, and the last episodes too. 

When sinner!Patricia and sinner!Fabian had KT and wanted to exchange an artifact that Eddie had discovered, she told him to run and get away, like they did when Alfie told them to leave him behind. And he says, “That was Alfie, this is you.”

And when Eddie, KT, Willow and Harriet went to get the sun key from Caroline, and she managed to take KT and Willow and turn them into sinners, Eddie says, “Not KT,” very worriedly. Later on he’s hard on himself, “I can’t believe they got to KT.”

It was interesting that half the season was awakening the man in the tank and the other half was releasing evil into the world. Like a different feel for half the season, not many shows do that.

I kinda despise the fact that the things I didn’t like are probably going to be longer.

Let’s go paragraph first so, how about that plot? First off, the whole thing is very weird for Sibuna. The first two seasons were about riddles and thinking things through. They were real mysteries. In this, it was more direct, they had an obvious problem, they had to stop the bad guys from waking up a bad guy, and then literal evil converted their own friends against each other. It sounds super interesting for a Vampire Diaries or Teen Wolf or even My Babysitter’s A Vampire plot line (or just one episode) since those shows were more active based. This season barely had any hidden things or riddles, and half of it had Sibuna paranoid and working against each other which I’m sure no one really loved. Not to mention that the action mainly happened at the Gatehouse rather than the actual Anubis House, the center for two of the last mysteries. Now I know, I know, the new season couldn’t just be a copy, and having a third mystery with hidden compartments over the house would certainly be a lot for Robert and Louisa. But I mean, didn’t Het Huis Anubis have four seasons? They couldn’t just do their version of that? I’m guessing that they did something different (I really hope so, because if not, this is embarrassing)

things i did not like at all about this season

the fact that they twisted Mara’s character up in their new ‘messed up girl obsessed with a boy’ like Joy in S2. just- why?

the fact that they undid a bunch of Jerome’s development.

or how about the fact that all Jerome got to do this season was be part of a love triangle cheat fest and then a love drama with Joy. In S1 he shoved himself into Sibuna and Rufus and it was bad for him, but he was involved. And S2, he was just amazing, they managed to connect his family and his family troubles with something that Sibuna would’ve needed for the Mask of Anubis: the Frobisher Gem. It all came together perfectly.

we didn’t get anything of Mr. Sweet telling Eddie about his Osirian thing or their family history.

The way they treated KT when they thought she was evil. It was so messed up, honestly, that poor baby. (though I did appreciate that the other residents noticed, like at breakfast when she sat down and no one looked at her, and he said, “Good morning, KT.” and he just noticed something was wrong. And then Joy and Mara noticed. I just really feel like that was the moment where Jerome and Joy coulda been more involved with Sibuna again- wait what am I saying)

No, when they and Patricia and Alfie were at the Gatehouse and they tried to warn them about the ceremony is when JOY AND JEROME SHOULDA GOTTEN INVOLVED IN SIBUNA AGAIN. Or like, at least be more aware, I mean come on?? Joy, you’re better than this. And Jerome, you’ve seen enough weird stuff to know when it’s Sibuna-related and usually that means deadly-related so you’re whole having two girlfriends thing can wait for a while.

Caroline Denby sucked. (And Caroline Forbes from TVD is a fan favorite of mine and not to mention that MY NAME IS CAROLINE so imagine that).

the fact that we got rid of the real Victor was kinda just wrong for me. I mean, Victor has always been a pain in the ass with the kids, and he’s usually wanted what they were after as well but he’d never resort to murder or anything like that, so when he got turned into a sinner and lost his friggin soul (yes, they said that, this is true) we truly lost Victor and I didn’t like that at all.

Season 1 was all about a mystery but also partly conspiracy, there was a moment between all five of Sibuna where they got proof and realistic statements after Joy lied to them (at the insistence of her dad) they were starting to think that the mystery wasn’t real and almost backed out of the search. Remember? Nina said, “You guys aren’t giving up on me, right?” Anyway, that was that. It was all about finding more information about what really happened and what’s really going on. About finding answers.

Season 2 was darker, it was a race against time because unlike the mystery of the first season, this one was more about saving themselves. Nina’s life and her friends and Gran would’ve died, it’s a great motivator to go through the tunnels. And there were moments where we see just how serious this is, there’s one shot where Nina is in a dream sequence in the house and all her friends are running away from her, terrified. And even when Victor sees her, he backs away in fear and hides himself in his office and then in the mirror it’s revealed Nina’s dressed and appears as Senkhara. And then when Senkhara freezes Vera, Victor knows it’s time to back away, he’s scared, he’s worried, so we see him do what he has to do to get Vera back. And when he’s playing the game? With Sibuna as his game pieces on the huge board? When Alfie disappeared, he backed out, he knew when to stop and almost considered calling Mr. Sweet to do something about it.

Meanwhile, Season 3 was all dark evil stuff, run for your life or your literal soul will be taken. It’s the end of the world if they awaken this sleeping dude, we need heroes to stop the bad team. Oh no, he’s awake, now he’s going to unleash hell and evil and it’s the end of the world, only now everyone’s converted to the evil and it’s real bad, we need heroes desperately. 

This season might’ve been more dark or good vs. evil type of thing but it just didn’t feel right for HOA. The show has always been subtle, it’s quiet and the kids solve the mystery and they do everything very hushed and private, this season sort of felt like WHOAH PIE IN YOUR FACE GUESS WHAT IM A SIBUNA what with turning the whole school into sinners, I just didn’t like the whole school being this active. but that’s me personally. 

Robert Frobisher-Smythe being the one in the tank is ridiculous considering wE SAW HIS FRIGGIN GHOST AT THE END OF S1. And honestly, bringing him in and saying that he’s going to bring forth a darkness to make people evil and bring the apocalypse is just a really bland plot. It’s no mystery, it’s legit good guys vs. a villain. It’s a ‘save the world’ plot, yeah like we’ve never seen that before.

We love the mystery, where was it? oh right, nowhere.

When the four descendants of Robert’s expedition party were revealed: Patricia, Joy, Alfie and Jerome, there could have so much content.

The four of them speaking in unison while they sleep should’ve been used more.

Remember the childhood lullabies they were supposed to use to find a random artifact? Those lullabies were riddles and other than that cylinder that KT opened using her synesthesia, it was the only thing that made it feel like good old days of House of Anubis.

again, making Robert the man in the tank and then evil was just stupid. im not gonna approach the fact that he took the punishment meant for his expedition party and that’s why he’s cursed, and now he’s evil? oh gods

again, seeing the three OG Sibuna gang members evil and not on Sibuna kept killing me.

that ending bugged me

like oh no! everyone’s gone insane, we gotta shut this thing down before it devours more souls. TWO HOURS LATER and now it’s time to enjoy fireworks and Fabian and Mara and flirting and its so unnecessary, whyy??

Leave Mara with Jerome (in which he didnt cheat) and Willow is happy with Alfie and KT and Joy are out there being gay as hell. Those are the ships that shoulda happened.

Honestly, when I think back at S2 and Amber and Nina are there, it just brings back such good vibes. S2 really is the best season, but I stand by my love for Eddie and KT. Friendship goals AF. Like I said before, the third season was in your face, it was loud and it was telling everyone ‘end of the world’ and when you think about it, it’s perfect for the characters they introduced. S1 and S2 fit so well for Nina, because she’s like that, she’s quiet yet badass and is about riddles and mysteries. Meanwhile, Eddie is loud and wants to get this over with, LET’S BREAK INTO OUR TEACHER’S HOUSE BECAUSE I HAVE A HUNCH. YOU WANNA SEE THE SLEEPING MAN’S FACE, FABIAN? LET’S REMOVE THE GLASS. LET’S STEAL THE TANK WITH THE SLEEPING MAN IN BROAD DAYLIGHT.  LET ME JUST BARGE INTO VICTOR’S OFFICE TO TAKE YOUR KEY BACK, KT. LET’S DO WHATEVER IMPORTANT TASK OR MISSION WE NEED HAVE TONIGHT. LET ME BANG AGAINST PIPES AND BRICKS REALLY LOUDLY. And let me tell you, it just makes me laugh how into it he gets, like “why not?” it’s just so funny for some reason. Anyway, I think they decided to make this season fit what they wanted Eddie to be and that’s what they did. I loved Eddie’s performance, I loved him so much, I loved KT more. But I just didn’t love this season.

[themehconlanger]

A Short Look into Modern Standard Aptalyan Elvish

Now, before I get into all this, it is important to stress the variation in the Aptalyan Elvish Language. It is a very culturally important language for the Solar Confederacy, and thus is spoken wide. However, this has also led to weird dialects that had weird changes to grammar due to improper teaching. We will focus on the dialect of the capital mostly, leaving the Forest, Kathron, Ithrin, and Kwа̄llaran dialects/dialect groups mostly alone. I will also later make a much more broad look into the language, that will obviously be longer and more in-depth.

Phonology

Phonemic Inventory

The Phonology of the language is in certain points simple, in others complex.

The consonants are pretty much as described. However, there is a bit of complications due to the breathy consonants. These are, in my analysis, just a sonorant followed by /h/. These breathy consonants only come word internally in Standard Aptalyan Elvish, however they can appear word-initially in other dialects. And along with this not all phonemes can appear in all environments, but that will be elaborated upon in Phonotactics.

As would be expected, these phonemes are not present in every dialect, and some dialects have more phonemes or even have radically different expressions of the diaphonemes (for instance, the broad //j// is in almost all dialects /j/, but in many Forest Elvish dialects it’s /d/ in a lot of environments)

The vowels are pretty standard for the most part, the most interesting thing being the four vowel system, missing any kind of phonemic /u/ (though people will sometimes pronounce /o/ or /o:/ as [u] or [u:], particularly in unstressed syllables of Forest Elvish dialects)

However there is also a debatable phoneme /ă/. This only appears in words that have /ăNC/ at the beginning of a word. This phoneme is often elided when preceded by a word ending in a vowel, while words with /aNC/ don’t have the same thing happen. This vowel doesn’t exist in all dialects, those that don’t have it allow for word-initial NC clusters (for instance the Forest Elvish variant for the word /antielo/ is /ndielo/

Allophony

Elvish Allophony bleeds into Phonotactics and Morphophonology often, but there are some distinctly allophonic things.

As said earlier, there is a serious of breathy sonorants, which are in my analysis treated as an allophone of underlying /Ch/, due to their purely word-internal status and inability to form clusters.

Stops generally voice inbetween voiced sounds, while fricatives are less common to do so.

/kw/ causes consonants it is clustered with to also become labialized, and in some dialects actually loses its labialization and passes it on to the following consonant. 

/r/ inbetween vowels is a tap instead of a trill.

Phonotactics

The language has decently simple phonotactics, summarizable as (F)(C)(C)V(C). Clusters are allowed internally, only of two consonants, but never finally (though this does happen in some dialects). 

Generally, fricative-consonant clusters are the most common word-initially. This is due to the sound change that cause vowel loss between fricatives and other consonants. In fact, it is by far the most common cluster. Other initial clusters are rare but do happen. An example would be stop-consonant clusters. These come from older *hCC clusters, but the *h would be lost in such environments. Due to the relative uncommonness of this, clusters of this type are rare. In many dialects however some historic fricatives became stops in certain clusters (for instance, Standard Elvish /sfrato/ vs Kathron /sprato/). Some rules of phonotactics dip into Morphophonetics, and thus will be discussed there.

Stress

Stress is a bit confusing and hectic in Elvish, and is in part phonemic and in part not. I still need to work on how stress works a bit heh.

Morphophonology

This is partially a grammar thing, but we’ll put it here anyways,

In both derivation and inflection of words, you will come across many challenging clusters. However, these clusters are often changed by a set of morphophonetic rules.

Many of these are to do with Cr clusters. For intsance, sr always becomes thr in most dialects, while any nasal will turn into a stop before r (or l or ly for that matter). nl and nly will usually turn into ll and lly, shown most obviously in pluralization of nouns (the plural is generally -al, however sometimes the a in the suffix is deleted, this leading to many words ending in n changing it to just an l, and those in ny change the ny to llya). h behaves weirdly. Whenever it appears in an initial cluster it is generally lost, unless preceded by a sound in which it sometimes becomes k. Whenever it becomes a coda the preceding vowel is lengthened and the h is deleted. Following another consonant (except for the liquids) h will cause it to lengthen and then be dropped. 

Romanization

The Romanization is something I might need to redo, since it does have a few problems, but as of now this is what I have: 

As shown earlier, the main table has the specific phonemes and how they are written. However, instances show up in which it becomes more complicated. 

Whenever /c/ clusters with a stop (that isn’t p) or a fricative (that isn’t s) it becomes just a geminated cluster, instead of being written as <ty>, it is written as <tty>. A similar deal with /ɲc/, being written as <nty>.

Geminated /ɕ/ is written as <ssh>.

/kwt/ [ktw] is written <ktw>.

Grammar

Basic Summary

Elvish grammar is more on the analytic side of things, having much less morphology than many of the languages of my world (for instance look at the monstrous Dwarvish, Dzvrahhan, and  Rghvaz languages, filled with complicated morphology), It has SVO~SOV~OSV basic word order, with adjectives following nouns (the OSV order only happens when pronouns cliticize onto verbs), 

Pronouns

Personal

The personal pronouns have a bit of variance depending on dialect, and sometimes usage of one over the other is used to give off of a specific vibe. As usual, there is quite a bit of irregularity. Primarily the plural formed by -telet~talet. This is found nowhere else in the language and might be a holdover of ancient systems. The Accusative 1st Person Pronoun displays the rare -bra Accusative, found only in a small amount of Declined Nouns. It also appears that the original 2nd Person Pronoun was *sen, but to further distance itself from fnee, it shifted to san. The locative form maintaints this older *sen fully. 

Paranouns and 3rd Person Pronouns

The Paranouns are a set of 3rd Person pronouns that are often put after nouns to indicate their role in a sentence. Usage of the Ablative and Locative paranouns is essentia to Elvish grammar, and not using them in such circumstances would doubtlessly cause confusion. However with the genitive it is sometimes ommitted. The Nominative and Accusative are never marked accept for in complex clauses or for emphasis.

Though generally each noun has a gender assigned to it, usage of other genders can be used for implications, like praise or scorn. Using inanimate pronouns/paranouns was very rude and disrespectful, while usage of Holy pronouns/paranouns was often flattering.

Within these pronouns is a lot of suppletion and complicated patterns.

Now it would be good to mentions what these cases are and their purposes. 

The Nominative is for the subject of a sentence.

The Accusative is for the direct object.

The Genitive is for possession or relation.

The Ablative is for motion away from generally, but in Elvish it also marks purpose.

And the Locative is for locating things.

Nouns

Nouns are pretty simple. The most complicated part would of course be derivational morphology, but for inflectional morphology there is little. The only inflectional suffix that most nouns can take is one for plurality. However, a small set of “Declined Nouns” preserve the old system of case. These do follow vague patterns but the small amount of them just makes them deserve treatment as just irregular nouns.

Plurality and Number

The suffix for the Plural is a bit complicated, forming many declensions. The general idea is that it contains -(a)l in some way, though not always.

Most nouns belong to the First Declension Group. This one is you can usually tell by looks. It is easily explained by the table above, with some important notes: the -e subdeclension is extremely small, only consisting of a few words and thus could be considered just irregular.

The -V subdeclension causes lengthening of the preceding vowel.

Whenever the plural is formed, and the stem is monosyllabic and has a short vowel preceded by a nasal or fricative and followed by another consonant, this will lead to the vowel being deleted. In words that have this resulting in wordinitial NC cluster, the nasal has an a (which is often elided when preceded by a word ending with a vowel) added before it (this vowel deletion happens in all declensions and is not specific to one).

The 2nd Declension is less common than the 1st, but it is still pretty common. This declension is charactarized by two main traits: the plural suffix having a different vowel or a glide preceding the suffix, and in the A and O declensions shortening of long vowels in monosyllabic words. Whenever vowel deletion leads to the only syllable being the plural suffix of a 2nd Declension noun, the suffix lengthens (ex: sar (O Declension)>throol not *throl). All nouns ending in -s are in the 2nd Declension group.

The 3rd Declension Group is ultimately the Wild Card Group. It might make sense to split these up into their own declensions. It is as described, nothing too special to note.

Within the dictionary, each noun is noted with its declension and subeclension.

Adjectives

Adjectives are very simple, they agree with their head noun in plurality (most of the time) and are put after the noun. 

The adjectives have the same declensions as nouns. However with a few caveats. Some adjectives (derived from nouns in the genitive (the most common), ablative (less common), and locative (pretty rare)) do not at all agree in number, staying the same no matter the plurality of their head noun.

Whole Reduplication of an adjective intensifies its meaning. ex: firim theermohon (angry person) firim theermohon theermohon (very angry person)

Verbs

Verbs are pretty simple, but they still have their complexities. They can come in 6~8 different forms, 4~5 of these finite and 2~3 of these non-finite. 

Non-Finite Verbs

The form listed in dictionaries is the infinitive. The infinitive is very easy to form, you just take the bare form and add -(a)n to it. Of course, there are many irregular verbs so this isn’t always the case but for all declensions of regular verbs it takes this suffix. The participle is kinda dying, and for those who still use it it is marked as aa-. All three Non-Finite forms heavily overlap in usage. The main difference is between the infinitive and the bare form. The bare form is basically the form you use as a subject, object, or as part of some auxiliary constructions. The infinitive is more often used in the other cases, like the Genitive, Ablative, and Locative. The Participle is usually used for modifying nouns, but the bare and infinitive forms in many dialects have started to also fill this role. 

It is important to mention that unlike in Indo-European Languages, the infinitive doesn’t carry a feeling of “in order to do x”. In this language it serves purely as a way to make a noun or adjective from a verb.

However, it is important to mention that the Bare Form is used in a few finite ways, particularly in the Imperative. The imperative has a sometimes used particle “neer” put at the end of the sentence, however, this is not always the case and neer is optional to most speakers (note, “neer” means fool, and technically it is a noun used in the vocative). There are also a few more particles that are used with the bare form to form certain verb meanings. Due to the fact that the bare form doesn’t inflect for any kind of aspect, these verb forms have no marking whatsoever for aspect.

Finite Verbs

Finite verbs are much more diversified than non-finite ones. They have 4~5 different aspects: Perfective, Progressive/Continual~Imperfective, Habitual (somewhat dying out), Prospective, and Terminative.

The Perfective is roughly analagous to the past tense, but is best described as treating an action as a complete whole. This tense is referred to as the “root” tense, due to it’s use in Elvish to establish specific concrete events. It is marked by either an -i or -e depending on the declension, though irregular verbs will treat it differently. Verbs with an -i perfective will cause palatalization on the end of the verb stem, which affects some but not all consonants. The primary changes being: k>ty and th>sh. However, verb roots ending in a vowel will generally overpower the suffix, and have the base and perfective forms be marked the same.

The Progressive~Imperfective describes an action as ongoing or as a somewhat incomplete action. This tense is referred to as the “soil” tense, due to its use for setting a background. This tense is usually marked by -(a)san, but there are a few caveats. Whenever it suffixes onto a stem ending in a nasal, the s turns into a t (though this is a general feature of the languages phonotactics/morphophonology you can find elsewhere).

The habitual marks an action as being a habit, something repeating but not entirely ongoing. It is referred to as the “job” tense (straying from the tree metaphors now). The habitual is variably marked as -tye or -sh, -tye for stems ending in consonants and -sh for those ending in vowels (or belonging to the second, third, and fourth declensiona). The -tye will cause assimilation of nasals to n, stops to t, and fricatives to t; except for p and f, which stay the same, and qu which does assimilate, but adds a w after the geminate ex: raaqu(an)>raattywe (in some speech the ttyw cluster has become kqu instead).

The Prospective marks an action as starting. This is referred to as the “seed” tense. This is either marked by -tyo or -sh, a very similar deal to the habitual (this being the driving cause for the death of the habitual aspect). Everything said about the Habitual applies here as well.

The Terminative marks an action as ending. This is referred to as the “death” tense. It is marked with -tyen, with the same rules applying from the last two aspects. In monosyllabic stems with long vowels, the vowel is shortened ex: raaqu(an)>rattywen.

(It is important to note that, despite these nature related grammar terms, the Elves are not a particularly natural people in tune with nature. To the contrary in fact, the Solar Confederacy has negatively impacted bio-diversity in the area. These terms simply come from Elvish Grammatical Tradition.)

Byebye

Anyways yeah that’s the basics and stuff that I don’t think will change too much. I will definitely come back to edit this later, since I am not sure about a few of the decisions I’ve made (and on top of that I am bad at explaining things). I have a few ideas that I like but upon further thought some of these ideas can’t really coexist or don’t make as much sense anymore with the historical context.

[rkevent]

MGA SEASON 5: THE GRAND FINALE STARTS NOW!

It’s the start of the end. After nearly two months of airing, the grand finale has finally arrived. At the start, there were 100 hopefuls, and now only 20 of the best contestants remain and fight for the title of winner. Only one group may take on that title and now it is time to see what they have to show us for it. The episode starts live at 9pm sharp and as the audience cheers live, so do the people at home.

“Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the grand finale of the Mnet Global Auditions Season 5!” It’s the assigned MC, Hong Jinwoo, who greets the public and, in return, they all cheer in excitement. “It’s been a long road here, but we got to learn a lot and see a lot during it. Many left us along the way, but they also left their impression in everyone’s hearts at home. Tonight, our 20 finalists will have to give their best and show what they got to be called the very best. Before starting, let us please greet our lovely judges!”

The man points over to the five chairs filled with known faces. With each name he mentions, the judge stands and greets the public around them. “Nova Entertainment’s CEO Hyun Bin! Royal Entertainment’s CEO So Jisub! KT Entertainment’s CEO, Katie Lee! TRC Entertainment’s CEO Tiger JK! And Sphere Entertainment’s CEO, Baek Jiyoung!” Beautiful text appears below their image to introduce themselves to whoever was watching, but these are figures anyone tuned in should already know.

“All of our finalists worked very hard during this week,” the MC continues. “Before they get on the stage, why don’t we show you what they were up to during practice? Check it out!” The man points to the camera and, while the images appear on the big screen on the stage for those watching there, the same scenes show on everyone’s TV screens at home.

It’s the same order people are used to. The building on the screen is that of Sphere Entertainment. Inside, there are only four contestants. It’s only them are the three coaches and… cupcakes. “It’s Jinwook’s birthday!” Jinki says as they each grab a cupcake for themselves and when the camera zooms on the birthday boy, candles fly around his head. But there isn’t much time for commemoration. Instead of jumping into an impromptu ‘Happy Birthday to You’ performance, KAND DANIEL decides to start things off. “Can I say something?” He asks, and his teammates allow him to.

“It’s about last round, and what the judges said.” A quick flashback shows their previous performance and a few of Tiger JK’s words to them. “We believed yours took a step away from what is normally thought of when people think of Sphere. You didn’t give us much more than what already came with the song.” The CEO says before it returns to the practice room. “Truthfully, I agreed with everything they said, and I worried about it all before performance day, too. I should’ve spoken up about it before, so I wanted to apologize for that.” DANIEL continues with a cupcake in hand. “It was my direction that put my trio team in danger and sent my teammate home, and I didn’t want that to be the case again. I want to do better this time!”

“I know I mentioned it last week, but what about a mashup?” His crowd doesn’t look too appeased, but the boy continues on. “Hear me out, okay! We can choose two songs with easier dances because I think everyone but WOOJIN will struggle learning two dances.” Jinwook cuts him off. “There’s something I’ve been working on, actually. We can use that so we already have a head start and don’t have to dedicate so much time to it if everyone wants?” With a newly found light, people finally seem to agree. “Yeah! That would be really cool!” DANIEL says. “It fits the Sphere concept if it was a Sphere idol that made it, right?”

From his corner, WOOJIN shoots them a question. “What are we going to do about choreography?” After a small pause, DANIEL suggests something. “It would be cool if we could include elements of choreography from the other dances too.” The dancer doesn’t look too convinced by his words. “Maybe, if you can learn the dances fast enough.” On the other side, JUHO speaks up. “DANIEL, we can learn the choreography together once WOOJIN has sorted out the parts. It might help things move faster if we can both help each other during the process.” With everything decided, the team gets to work.

While the team gets to work on sorting parts, WOOJIN steps off to learn the choreographies, as he had done in the weeks before. The rest of the team joins him later on and they all dance along to different songs, but the mashup itself is saved to be played only on their grand stage.

“To show what they prepared,” the MC appears on the stage and the quiet silence from the practice room changes into the cheering of the live audience, “please welcome our Team Hollywood!” The first four finalists make their way to the stage: KANG DANIEL, MIYAWAKI SAKURA, BAEK JUHO, and PARK WOOJIN. They stand there for a moment wearing brightly colored sunglasses. The stage is properly decorated with tropical vibes including blow-up palm trees.

They take off their glasses and put them in their pockets before the instrumental starts to play. It’s WOOJIN who starts singing the first lyrics, followed by DANIEL. With a mashup, it also allowed for him to intercalate his lines while JUHO sings the one from a different song. It’s SAKURA who comes in next to introduce yet another song, all tied in together. While he had already sung before, DANIEL also raps along with SAKURA. WOOJIN takes over the final dancer center and then the other members slowly sing the last few lines from DANIEL to JUHO, and then SAKURA. They hold their pose for a moment before reaching for their sunglasses, then putting them all back on in unison, turning and strutting back stage.

The camera moves into Nova’s practice room as the coaches are about to give their feedback following the last episode’s results. Sunmi is the first to talk as she scribbles on her notepad.“Okay, so not only where you guys clocked for the ambitious choreography it was also subpar of expectations. now not only do we need to meet expectations but we have to exceed them.” And despite ranking fifth last episode, instead of looking gloomy, the group seems determined to show they could be more impactful and do much better during the finals. After some time brainstorming, they decide to go with an angel and demon concept for their Nova performance. They settle for a remade version of Paradise Lost mixed with B.A.P’s 1004 hoping to highlight their strengths and choose to add an intro to develop a story. While it looks challenging to find a good way to make it all work, they can count with the coaches’ insights and experience. Sunmi helps with the skit and suggests choreography aspects, Sungyeol provides extra ideas for stage setups and effect and Seungwan mixes the song with her own flair to make it stand out.

During one of the practice sessions of 1004, YEWON pulls KENTA aside and apologizes to him. “I’m sorry too, that we didn’t do well. I don’t think there’s much we could’ve done better except gone for a different song, but… still. And I can understand why you were frustrated with me last week, but I hope you’ve changed your mind since!” He says. “I’m glad you get to have a bigger role in both of our songs. You’re too talented not to shine as much as you can on our last stage.” With this, they return to practice and the honest conversation proves to be a good remedy to improve their teamwork. With only two vocalists now, Seungwan continues sharing her expertise with JACKSON and KENTA, giving exercises and tips. “When practicing high notes, remember to use sounds that go outward. Ah!” She demonstrates as she gestures for them to repeat after her. "You may laugh, but that’s actually a good sound to make.” She smiles. “You can practice by being angry with me. I’m a big girl. I can handle it.” After some sessions, KENTA seems to project his voice better.

The contestants continue to receive the coaches' advice through the week and CHANGBIN approaches Seungwan to revise the lyrics he wrote. After studying it for a second, the coach informs she's going to consult some friends. It’s And*roma’s CHAEYOUNG who answers the phone and tells the boy to go over the rap so she could hear it, giving positive feedback to him. On the other hand, coach Sunmi doesn’t seem happy with their song choices when she returns to check their progress. “I’ve looked over everything and was filled in on your ideas and reasons behind them but I just wanted to let you guys know I feel like your first choice for Nova isn’t really a Nova song at all.” She says, but it seems too late to make drastic changes.  Although disagreeing with their choices, the coach still helps to choreograph the dance opening, making good use of the skillsets of the members so that the dance wasn’t too difficult and more creative.

An ominous instrumental starts and YEWON, KENTA and CHANGBIN are seen kneeling on stage with bibles open in their hands. They mouth something as if they were reciting hymns and keep a blank expression on their faces. Is JACKSON who appears behind them with a sinister look on his face and takes off his cloak before their song starts. KENTA also throws his cloak and Bible off to the side and reveals his all-black outfit before he gets center-stage and does a solo dance that looked like he was playing piano, the expression still strong. The other two left behind throw aside their Bibles and cloaks, then get into formation and JACKSON sings the first verse. KENTA shows his vocals and the group manages to keep up with the choreography. CHANGBIN opens the rap portion following the chorus, letting YEWON shine with her powerful rap before returning to showing what he was known for. JACKSON’s high notes create more impact when they sing the chorus again and church bells can be heard, the red fog becoming red as they transition to another song. The instrumentals give off a different vibe as YEWON dances. The whole stage lights up as KENTA sings and they lift the girl up. Another dance break is performed by the dancers, followed by rap and then high notes in the background. Toward the end, CHANGBIN and KENTA take off their black tops and reveal white clothes underneath. The instrumental ends the performance and fades out beautifully.

The camera zooms and the scene changes to the designated practice room inside TRC. With only four of them now, their spirits seem shaken as they gather for the first time to talk about their plans for the final. “Well, I was disappointed of course.” LEE CHAERYEONG says during her interview when asked about the results last week. “It hurt a bit. Is it bad that I took the words the judges said personally?” KANG HYUNGGU admits. However, the group looks determined to show a better side of themselves to the public and discuss different ideas they would like to incorporate into the performance. Coach Jinsoul points out they should keep their strengths in mind as they share their thoughts, and CHOI MINHO presents a rough copy of a mashup he’d had before to the others. There are disagreements about whether they should do it or not, but in the end, they agree with a mashup for TRC stage. Once again, they decide to join forces and work on the choreography together.  Another clip of HYUNGGU’s interview appears again. “We’ll prove to you that we’re not boring this week, judges.” The boy says with a serious expression.

Even when there’s visible progress, it’s Doyeon who notices something different in MINHO and approaches him later. The boy opens up about the loss of contestants that became friends and his current situation. “I know people are tired of hearing about it, yeah? That I’ve been on the show before… but it’s different this time. The pressure’s different. The stages are different. The people— I didn’t lose this many friends last time. Seeing ‘em get eliminated, it’s…” He tells her and the coach gives her piece of advice before joining the other coaches again and letting the male focus on practice. The coaches continue to give them some pointers through the day, especially on singing and stage presence. "Doyeon and Jinsoul did their best to guide our singing. They checked on us, kept our spirits up, but made sure to give us constructive criticism. The three of our coaches were so supportive and I think everyone needs that. Being on the MGAs or not.” MINHO tells the interviewer. HWANG YEJI is the next to share her thoughts on them. “Jinsoul was really very helpful and motivating when it came to my singing? She gave me such good advice and upped my confidence a lot. Doyeon was also very nice and helpful, she’s also so pretty, i’m shocked. Then SANA as well, I am really grateful to all their advice these two weeks.”

More scenes of their practice time are highlighted, showing them tweaking and making adjustments for the choreography and lyrics. On Sunday, YEJI storms out of the practice room without explanation and surprisingly returns with food for everyone. “Is anyone hungry?” She asks and the team shares Korean BBQ to get some energy for the next round of practice. CHAERYEONG appears practicing her facial expressions after getting a few tips from the coaches. HYUNGGU brings another round of energy drinks and snacks as they discuss how to make the performance stand out, throwing more ideas for the stage and team name. “Lucifer,” HYUNGGU suggests once the concept of angels vs. demons comes up, but they settle with Sirius. "I think our creativity is overflowing this week and you’ll want more. I think we’ll get another episode then?” MINHO says shares in the middle of the week. “I personally think it looks promising. The song choices are more ambitious and interesting and their ideas are definitely bolder than what they prepared last week, so it has potential to impress the audience and the judges.” Doyeon gives her opinion. On the other hand, Jinsoul shares her concerns. “Honestly, I was worried about the song choice. There aren’t so many singers in our team, and since we had Nova as our other concept well… you know how their dancers are, but MINHO has a great tone when he’s singing, and they put together really interesting performances with a theme and a storyline and everything, so I think it’ll be good.”

The video comes to an end and the audience warmly welcomes the following group with louder cheers as they make their way to the stage. The girls are wearing elegant flowy white shirts and angel wings while the boys show a different side with their black and red suits, a glimpse of the concept they chose for the stage. “Shining bright!” HYUNGGU calls out and they all shout “We are Sirius!” in unison. After they’re done with introductions, they move to take their places. The lights dim and the stage is completely black, building the expectation for what’s coming.

When the beat starts playing, spotlights reveal the four sitting on contrasting sides of the stage in thrones. The left side is more ethereal while the right one shows the opposite vibe. White feathers trail behind the girls as they stand to walk to the center and black ones are left on the ground where the boy once was. When they meet center-stage, pyrotechnics are added and YEJI starts the song with clear vocals. As they dance and sing, the group also tells a story of demons trying to make the angels fall for them, a constant push and pull. HYUNGGU steps forward during his part, along with MINHO, as they offer roses to the girls, but they toss them aside. They showcase a self-choreographed routine and CHAERYEONG continues to prove she’s also a talented rapper. Who surprises is MINHO, singing the verse and showing a set of moves from MYNAME’s Paradise. The feathers, the red apple, the interactions, and facial expressions support the story they’re telling as the song progresses. YEJI sings the chorus and HYUNGGU is responsible for the adlibs, flames flaring up with each mention of fire and creating an intense atmosphere on stage. MINHO returns with a rap portion. Leading to the end of the performance, HYUNGGU sings and the boys reveal their intentions and replace the flower crowns the girls had for one with black roses. It’s MINHO who’s in charge of the last line.

Another company appears on the screen, this time it is KT. The four contestants sit together in the room and YUKHEI hands each girl a cup of coffee. The mood is clearly more subdued this time as things all turn towards the end. At least they appear focused on the mission and choose a song quickly. They’ll follow the story they started the previous week. SIA suggests the storyline and the rest help add onto it. NAKYUNG gives the idea of making the stage look like a secret hideout, YUKHEI adds the idea of using a couch and YURI of decorating the area with chain-link fences.

They still struggle a bit with some other sorts of details. A team name doesn’t come as easily so they decide to call for some help. The screen shows scenes of Eclipse of the KTWorld Concert, and the text below it says that the idol coaches couldn’t stop for help due to their schedules. Back in the practice room, the contestants are all crowded around SIA as she holds onto her phone in front of her face. They all sport their best begging faces and puppy eyes. On the other side of the line comes the voice of Minji who is illustrated by a picture of herself on the bottom of the screen.

As a savior, the idol suggests ‘Black Widow’ as the name for their group, and they all appear to agree with it. They all say their goodbyes and it shows the end of the day. On the morning after, YURI gets there the earliest. She has a number of cupcakes in front of her as well as some coffee orders beside her. SIA arrives after her, and YURI shouts out. “Happy birthday, SIA-unnie! I hope you enjoy it— I made the cupcakes fresh and frosted it, piped everything myself. But it was worth it for you!” The birthday girl looks surprised. “I- I didn’t realize you knew it was my birthday,” she admits. “You’re too good to me, you know that, YURI?” They hug each other before the screen changes back to the stage.

“And now,” the MC says, “let’s welcome our KT group, Black Widow!” The four make their way to the center before doing their group greeting. NAKYUNG is the one to start it. “When cupid fails, we are-” and then all the girls point their hands as finger guns at YUKHEI and he puts his hands up in a surrender pose “Black Widow.” Once they’re done with their individual introductions, they move over to their starting positions. Before any song can start, the stage goes dark.

A clip of their performance last week plays on the screen behind them showing all five of the original members. When the song dies off, JIEQIONG’s voice, the contestant eliminated last week, says “The story isn’t over.” From then, their song of the week starts to play. YURI starts by vocalizing over the instrumental, followed by a few lines from YUKHEI. SIA is the one who takes the actual first verse. The dance is a bit demanding to those not exactly trained in dancing, but they keep up. When it gets to the bridge, they repeat the same movement from their introduction, but this time with YURI singing in the middle. Before the song can pick back up again, NAKYUNG comes out with the highlighted short rap. They all turn their backs in the end and walk away.

The final place appears on the screen: Royal Entertainment. The last four finalists are sitting together trying to come up with ideas when the door opens and their coach, Cheri, appears with an ice cream cake in her hands. SUWOONG hurries over to help her with a smile. The smile quickly disappears when the cake tips over and falls to the ground. KYUNGSOO stretches his arms but stands too far to reach, HEEJIN and YOUNGJAE freeze in shock. Suddenly, Ella and Wonwoo walk in with a new cake and the contestants sport a new expression of shock.

They dig into their second cake, commemorating their win from the previous week. Despite the delicious lunch, the finalists are soon put to the test. To prepare themselves for their performance, Ella insists that they must practice their squats. Cheri instead suggests they should harmonize while doing squats to make sure they’ll be completely prepared when on the stage. The four proceed to do as they’re told, sweating while trying to sing. Once they’re done, SUWOONG throws himself on the ground. “Coach Ella just wants to see us suffer, doesn’t she?”

However, on the following day, SUWOONG is the one dragging KYUNGSOO behind the door on a sprint. “Quick, hide! I think that’s Cheri’s footsteps… shh!” They wait quietly, but the one who walks in is HEEJIN. He quickly recruits the girl to join them and soon there are three people trying to hide behind a door. “We’re going to get them back,” SUWOONG says “You do know you’re not exactly quiet, even when you try to be, right?” HEEJIN says, but they continue with the plan. When the door opens again, they shout a loud “Boo!” The one coming in is YOUNGJAE, who lets out a loud shriek while retreating to a corner of the room. “Don’t do that!” He whines while hitting SUWOONG’s chest. Soon, the boy is recruited as well, and the four of them wait for their coaches to arrive.

When the door opens again, they all shout once more. Both Ella and Cheri squeak. SUWOONG is laughing away while KYUNGSOO and YOUNGJAE walk over to check if the two are doing well. They apologize constantly afterward and then get back to practice. They are shown back doing squats, and maybe they feel some regret from pranking the coaches back. With this, the show is back live on the stage. The MC smiles at the camera before speaking. “Representing Royal, welcome the Royal Flush!” The contestants walk over to the center and start to introduce themselves. “We are Royal Flush!” They greet before bowing with unison. They introduce themselves individually before getting into their positions.

They’re either seated or lying down. The stage is decorated with beautiful flower sets and the camera zooms in on those before the song starts. KYUNGSOO is the first to sing, followed by SUWOONG. They go over their squat choreography as they had so intensely practiced before YOUNGJAE takes it away with their lines. HEEJIN is the one who delivers the high note, as expected from the chosen best singer on the early episodes. They all shout together and confetti shoots out from above them. With their final pose, the confetti continues to fall as if they were white petals, ending their stage.

It takes a few moments with them standing on their place before the camera moves to someone else, the MC. “Weren’t those some great performances?” The crowd cheers loudly. “Which one was your favorite?” They all shout different names, but it’s tough to point anything out with 3000 people present. “Well, but that wasn’t the end quite yet! Today, to make this finale special, the groups prepared two performances, each with a different concept. Would you like to know which ones they were assigned?” The audience replies with a loud ‘yes!’ and the man chuckles. “We’ll gladly show you… after the commercials! Don’t change your channel we’ll be right back!”

[rkariel]

❝ ( 김민지 ) ARIEL   —    3월         ✦

                                          ☽ ✧ ECLIPSE IDOL SCHEDULE : MARCH

처음에는   —

her confidence is at a moderate level considering that katie lee spoke of her high notes in a somewhat positive, at least it’s definitely not negative sort of way   —   she’ll take what she can get to be honest, especially from their ceo who seems particularly fond of tough love, almost ironic considering the symbol most associated with the company. but she does think people overlook how much love there is in the type of tough love katie lee shows them ( not to mention how traditional it is, if we’re being completely honest ), herself included 

being told to turn smiles into smirks is a bit more alarming than she would’ve thought   —   mostly because she is a very smiley performer. it’s what she struggles most and one of the reasons she thinks she isn’t that good at dancing   —   she would personally prefer to delve into a more fanservice-like performance, smiling and making cute gestures 

 hearing of a comeback date is exciting to say the least   —   it feels like a second debut considering their double concept and though they’re not shooting out of town for the mv this time, at least from what she can tell, she looks forward to what the visual boards will be, how the scenes will turn out, why the 8th turns out to focus more on acting and mastering their expressions. her passion for acting comes out more this month and she’s even more thrilled by what awaits them for the mv filming 

16  + 17일   —

going into the recording for chase me, she holds onto the words of katie lee and believes in herself when it comes to each note, each take. even when it earns approval, she asks for another attempt, and another, and another. no matter how many she’s asked to do first, once she gets it, she still thinks she can do better 

recording the next day for mayday and trust me go fairly similar but at a significantly faster pace and she’d wonder why if it wasn’t for the process everyone had gone through already with chase me. the tone is set, the vibe is different, the songs are night compared to what they’d recorded for their debut   —   her excitement starts to change little by little ; what do the aesthetics of the album look like, she realizes she hadn’t asked herself much about that yet, hadn’t made the connection that it could be horror themed 

18일   —

by choice, she’d kept her hair black for so long, wanting to preserve its condition especially after the process of keeping it red years ago. light shades of brown were easier to maintain but black was certainly the easiest, the healthiest option to focus on a full recovery from bleach and color. 

she didn’t think her hair would be kept black for every concept but part of her had hoped   —   this shade of brown does suit her rather well though and she’s pleased with it. curiosity strikes and she wonders who’ll have the first bolder color, what concept it would be for, whether or not they’d like it because she feels bad about haseul’s dislike for her short hair. even yeri, she thinks that the maknae looked so beautiful with blonde hair, it suits her personality, but it also suits the day side more. that thought leads her into an odd one and what she hopes wouldn’t happen   —   for all of them to go blonde at once. she might have to hold haseul’s hand in the salon if that happens. 

20일   —

from the moment she found out about it, she’s been itching to play. when she’s told she doesn’t have to, ariel refrains from laughing because she can’t wait to try. games like this are among her favorites, great for hands that are equally as restless as her mind. 

in the downtime of filming, she would often reach for haseul’s or blue’s hand, feeling particularly affectionate ( and still restless ) despite playing the game 

genuinely thinks it’s fun to be filming one of the commercials for the game and that it’s doubly as exciting to do so as eclipse, as one of the artists included in the game   —  that part is just surreal to her, their songs are part of a kt mobile game with their sunbaes like son dambi, chichi, and lc9 

22일   —

see solo here ! 

tl;dr   —   although she really likes the song and the styling for the mv, she worries about suiting the horror concept but finds comfort in the fact that it’ll attest to their versatility, their potential, and she’s particularly happy they’re all together like this so close to their 100th day 

24 + 25일   —

seeing the storyboards for the mv surprises her; she’s happy to have another opportunity to show off some acting and it seems really fun, but the horror concept. she gets hung up on it again for a moment but it’s subtle, that kind of creepy that slowly gives you goosebumps, that gradually gives rise to the chill up your back, and, admittedly, she thinks that type of scary is the worst kind   —   

turns out that makes it very fun to film and she’s apologizing to the male actor after thanking him, telling him that she and the girls aren’t normally this scary, but also she hopes he’s not actually scared ( but if he is, she’d feel a little proud at the same time ) 

her fondness of acting comes back to her and she hopes they get to film more mvs like this where they get to act out storylines and follow a central theme / plot 

love whisper had been cute and sweet but the story felt more so like a day with friends whereas this one is more mysterious 

more references !

current hair: long, straight / wavy, brown 

currently playing: chase me demo vers. 

                                                     ( just a little bit of your ♡  )   —  

can’t forget !

yeri’s 🎂🎁🎈

21st   —   wardrobe fittings at kt 

happy 100 days eclipse !!!!!!!!!!!!! 

teasers starting march 28th !! 

[rkxayah]

💎 LUXE VLIVE

↪ celebrating their 1st anniversary     content includes: q&a, peppero game, limbo, whisper challenge, reaction to their royal survival auditions (+ mini performances of them), break for snacks

confused part switch ver.: xayah (belting these high notes) as cheri cheri (accidentally spoiling miniskirt) as zoe zoe (seducing the nation) as ella ella (being a cutie) as yena yena (getting that swag) as xayah

“oh my goddess! hello, we’re luxe!” 

they all chant at once, bowing and waving at the camera. they’ve waited until quite a few hundred people have already tuned in, and for the first couple minutes they most greet fans and talk, explaining that they’re here for a longer vlive this time. it’s their first anniversary and they’ve prepared quite a few things! they will mostly be games, to make it entertaining to both the viewers and themselves. they don’t really get to just relax and talk to fans very often so this is a perfect opportunity to do so. 

they answer questions, but mostly talk about their feelings about their anniversary, express gratitude for all the love and support they received, both through successes and hardships. xayah is even more hyper and talkative than usual but she does her best not to cut anyone as they’re speaking, mainly just looking excitedly at the comments and waving at the camera from time to time. “thank you guys so much for staying with us all this time! and here’s to an incredible second year!” she says once her turn comes. besides their upcoming comeback, she doesn’t know what this year will have in store for them but hopefully it’s more about breaking barriers than being held back by bad news again.

the focus soon switches to games. they have prepared a few of them. the whisper challenge proves to be absolutely hilarious, not to mention chaotic (but not nearly as much as the confused part switch version will be). ella proves to be pretty good at this game, guessing the words and expressions easily which annoys xayah. “yah, you’re supposed to make it funny!” she calls out, and the others laugh at their bickering. it’s always like that with the two of them, but ever since they apologized to each other for fighting, it’s mostly harmless and of good fun. sure, they still can’t stand the other sometimes, but they’ve learned that these differences they have is what makes luxe... luxe. on the other hand of the spectrum, xayah fails miserably. it might have something to do with her level of korean, but she’s just incapable of reading lips in general. she screams incomprehensible and stupid things that have everyone broke into laughter. and let’s say the rest of the group isn’t that good either.

the peppero game proves to be quite something, too. yena acts as the referee, dividing the rest into two pairs. on one side, cheri and zoe and on the other, ella and xayah. there’s a fire in the maknae’s eyes as she looks at her rival. she wants to win no matter the cost. if it means pecking ella’s lips on live broadcast, she will. there’s a definite resolve in the dancer’s stare as well. they bite on each end of the stick, and soon enough they teeth are almost touching. they end up briefly pecking lips, and ella snatches the remaining pieces. it sends the comment section in a frenzy.

the limbo is a nice way to expose the girls who lack in the flexibility department. zoe and ella are definitely top notch due to their dance background, whereas xayah puts up a good fight too. she’s an athlete after all, and while it doesn’t always guarantee flexibility, she manages to scrape by.

after a brief intermission during which they eat snack, hydrate and chat among themselves and fans, it’s time for a surprise from the staff. had xayah expected anything, it would’ve been a delicious cake, but instead they’re met with playful smiles. they’re up to something, but what? “we thought we would have you go down memory lane and watch your royal survival auditions!” they announce, leaving the girls dumbfounded. “you’re kidding!” xayah responds, jumping to her feet and pointing an accusatory finger at them. she barely kept any memory of that... vaguely remembers dancing and rapping. after watching cheri’s audition, in which xayah can’t help but wonder why in hell their leader was put into the minor team after it, they suggest that they perform a snippet of it live, just to see how much they’ve improved over the past... two years, almost. zoe’s dancing was insanely good, and maybe it’s because their choreographies so far haven’t been very impressive in their complexity, but it’s the first time she realizes just how good zoe is. it’s even better now than it was back then, though she only does a small part of it. seolhyun’s audition was also dancing. the girl looks as good as ever, and when she mentions that she’s the only one among them who had never been in the minor team, xayah looks at her. “we know you were so jisub-nim’s pick, unnie~” she comments innocently, nudging at the other’s side.

yena, being loyal to her brand, had performed a very cute song which is so contrasting to what royal has her do now. she does say that it’s a chance she did full moon later on or the company would have not thought her capable of doing a sexy concept. “it seemed like he was only satisfied when i danced hip hop though, so why did he choose me?” she wonders out loud. but the answer is obvious: she definitely had the type of unique sexiness he was looking for. they each have their goddess concept, their own vibe. xayah finally sees her own audition. it was kard’s hola hola, and she performed part of the chorus and two rap verses. she danced along too, and so jisub did praise her boldness in choosing to show off more than one skill, as well as her stage presence. he thought she would be popular with the audience, and she was indeed. royal was always her top choice, even after going to kt, and he remembered that. it goes to say that sometimes it’s better to take an opportunity that differs from your original plan, because it can lead to exactly what you wished for in the end. if you keep waiting for it to fall from the sky...

they go into a deeper discussion about royal survival, how it went down for them, what they liked most, and how they do miss the other girls that were with them. times were different then. they had no idea what lay ahead, that six of them would debut less than a year later. and poor zoe who was sent home first couldn’t have fathomed being selected afterwards.

to conclude the vlive, they announce they’ll be performing confused. the song was indeed a bit left out when every night’s popularity picked up and pushed it aside. but it won’t be just a regular version. they’ll each be picking out a member’s name whose lines they will inherit, and perform it live to the best of their ability. cheri ends up getting zoe, xayah gets cheri, yena gets xayah, ella gets yena and zoe gets ella. it already doesn’t sound too good, but xayah assures everyone that she’s definitely main vocal material now. it convinces absolutely nobody, and especially not cheri who’s had to sit through xayah’s cover of her solo song, butchering high notes to the best of her ability.

it’s just as chaotic as fans expected it to be. cheri forgets dance moves every time she’s in the center, and accidentally spoils their upcoming choreography, but fans will only figure it out later on when the mv drops. yena takes her rapper persona very, very seriously. and xayah, well, she... sings to her heart’s content, taking revenge from all the singing lines royal has been denying her since debut. the reason is obvious. of course she’s not a main vocal, and not as good as yena or ella either, but when within her range she sounds decent, and at the very least stable while dancing. it’s not good, but it’s not bad either. still, she makes it memorable by belting out high notes with no shame at all, exaggerating her facial expressions as if she’s really into the zone.

who said they had to keep their goddess image off stage?

[rkjulia]

MGA: SEASON FIVE, ‘19! episode zero ⇢ the audition part three: the big interview

it is safe to say that this day wasn’t going as kokoro had expected, after all, she had found herself sitting in a chair with a make-up artist touching up her face and a hair stylist fixing the hair on her head. honestly speaking though, after all of that dancing, she probably needed it. but what was their motive exactly, and why did they need to touch up her make-up and her hair? kokoro had more or less just finished dancing, stepping outside of the audition room only to be swept up by a staff member who was directing her off to another part of the school building she had yet to go to. turns out, that she was going to be sitting in front of a camera for an interview. an interview, that was probably going to be in korean. and kokoro being japanese, would probably have no language support. the questions would probably be in korean and kokoro would probably end up stumbling over her words, without having any time to practice or think up her answers. there were bound to be other foreign contestants, she couldn’t possibly be the only one. kokoro continues to smile throughout the experience, with the make-up artist and hair stylist talking to her, although deep down, she finds herself internally panicking a bit, unsure of how she’s going to prepare.

relief washes over her though when she’s presented with some mock questions, at least now she knows what to expect in the real interview. the questions are pretty basic, stereotypical; audition show themed. what’s your name? where are you from? why do you want to be a star and so on. kokoro makes the effort to ask the staff member questions, just in case. about any other things she may ask and what she might do if she doesn’t understand the question due to the obvious language barrier. in her experience, it’s better to ask about things then to go head first into the real thing and make mistakes. not that kokoro asking questions helps, because the staff member brushes over things rather quickly. she soon finds herself sitting alone, waiting for the real thing.

kokoro pulls at the hem of her skirt, hands laced together in her lap. she finds this portion of her audition to be much more intimidating than the dancing process. her fear of the korean language and embarrassing herself would rear it’s head and reveal itself, and kokoro didn’t want to become a laughing stock on national television. not if it was going to be aired, not if her mother was going to see this and find out. she looks forward towards the camera and smiles, bowing her head. she could introduce herself in korean like a native, it had been practised and practised, said again and again. “hello everyone,” kokoro says brightly, her signature smile and eye-smile gracing the camera. “my name is kato kokoro and i am seventeen years old! it is nice to meet you!” the interviewer smiles, warmed by her infectious enthusiasm. now she has revealed her name, it’s evident that she isn’t korean. and that alone is a roadblock she has to overcome on the path to meeting her wildest dreams. 

“and kokoro, where are you from exactly?” the interviewer then asks, looking down at their notes before looking back up at kokoro. where are you from? she could say she’s from gangnam. that’s where she has been living since the start of the year; six months almost. gangnam was slowly but surely becoming home to her but kokoro knows that isn’t the answer they are looking for. they want the juice, the tea. "i was born and raised in tokyo, japan, but i moved to south korea early this year, in january.” kokoro explains. the interviewer nods, reviewing their notes once again. so far, so good. this wasn’t challenging kokoro too much. she had explained herself enough these past six months. these were things she understood and could talk about effortlessly.

"okay, kokoro-ssi, musically, who influences you?” boop. here goes nothing. kokoro knows that she had filled this out on her audition paperwork; there were a slew of artists and groups that kokoro looked up to, japanese, korean and western; she had a rather global music taste and now would probably be a good opportunity to express that. but how? it was probably evident that she was nervous. she subtly takes in a deep breath. word this correctly, kokoro, for the love of all things good. “i have a lot of musical influences!” kokoro expresses up front. rather than going out of her way to sound cool or well-spoken, kokoro would rather go ahead and be herself. “but i’m going to say my main musical influence is akb48, who are a japanese girl group. they’re sort of our national girl group, i guess!” kokoro then explains. looking back, what would of happened if kokoro actually ended up auditioning for akb48 and making it into the group? would she still be a kenkyuusei or would she be a full-fledged member by now? she figures she should mention some of the other groups she listed, rather than gushing about her favourite group back home.

"this year, i started listening to k-pop more. i like eclipse and k.arma right now. listening to k-pop has actually helped me with learning korean and i’ve also been able to make new friends through listening to k-pop!” there are some dips in her explanation, moments where she has paused for a second to think of what she has to say next and kokoro finds herself quietly apologising to the interviewer inbetween questions. but she speaks the truth, although she knew about k-pop back home, she had never really had the need to listen. she had her akb48 and her e-girls, why did she need another type of music? although now, kokoro found herself using the music to her own advantage, to communicate with others. it opened up conversation and helped kokoro learn to how to read. it was everywhere, k-pop idols were just as influential as j-pop idols.

and the interviewer returns to their notes, as kokoro sits tight and waits for the next question to be thrown at her. she looks down at her hands that are still laced together in her lap. “why do you want to be an idol, kokoro-ssi?” kokoro is a little startled by how hard-hitting the question is, they seem to be very upfront with their questions and what they want their contestants to share. but kokoro knows, deep down, way down, the answer to this question. she’s known it since she was a kid, back to when she looked up at j-pop idols in japan and dreamed of maybe standing on stage like them. back to when she aspired to audition for akb48, only to have that opportunity pulled right out from underneath her. “that’s an easy question!” kokoro beams, eyes turning into crescent moon shapes. "i want to become an idol because i want to make people happy." this question makes kokoro think though, that was one of the reasons kokoro had aspired to pursue a career as an idol in japan over doing things here in korea. the industries were vastly different. just because an idol, particularly in the likes of akb48, wasn’t the best at dancing and singing, didn’t mean she was any less of an idol. she had other redeeming qualities that made her favourable in the eyes of her fans and kokoro found that wholesome. here in korea though, talent and being the best of the best was the way things went here. it was the survival of the fittest. 

and kokoro wonders if that was an industry she would be able to survive in. “i would like to be able to spread joy around the world through music.” she continues to explain. “i want to do what i love for the rest of my life, or for as long as i could, at least.” kokoro says with a curt, cute shrug. they say that by doing something that you love, you’ll never work a day in your life and while the road to stardom was a long, difficult one, kokoro knew that if she could get herself onto it and get herself going, she would work hard until the very end. the interviewer smiles at kokoro and she finds herself smiling back. so, this interview wasn’t going as bad as she had thought. it seemed as though she found herself stumbling over her words when she overthought things. maybe she wasn’t as bad at korean as she though she was. “okay, kokoro-ssi, one more question before you go; what company are you aspiring to end up at?” the interviewer asks. kokoro too had put this down on her audition paperwork. coming to korea, kokoro hadn’t known too much about the big five companies in seoul and the roles they played, the groups that they housed. so kokoro had gone into this all rather blindly, picking based on where her new favourite girl groups were from.

“kt entertainment is my first choice,” kokoro says simply. “i personally really like the aesthetic of the company and i enjoy the music that has come from that company thus far.” that, and katie lee seemed like a pretty cool ceo, but kokoro wasn’t too sure how she should address the likes of katie lee in an interview, so she kept her name out of it. “my second choice is trc entertainment. it is, uh, a very different vibe to kt entertainment, for sure!” she chuckles a little, brushing her twin tails back over her shoulders. “trc seems to be a very cool, but challenging company to be under.” kokoro shrugs, not really sure how else to explain herself. kokoro liked kt entertainment because she could realistically see herself under the label, whereas trc entertainment was more so for the artists already there. that, and her potential to grow into an artist rather than an idol seemed to be a bit more evident, but that wasn’t the sort of thing kokoro wanted to admit in an interview. it wasn’t the time nor the place. the interview as far as kokoro knew had come to and end, and while she was relieved that she wouldn’t have to think of anything else to say, she was also a bit sad. kokoro wondered if she had said enough for what they were looking for.

the interview as far as kokoro believes, is now over. and while she is partially relieved that she is no longer required to think of anything else witty to say, she’s also wondering if she said enough. to kokoro’s surprise though, the interview isn’t over just yet. what else was she to say or do?

[rkmomo]

                       ⭐ STAR BRIGHT AUDITIONS ‘17 ⭐

NOW PLAYING: GLASS SHOES ( 0:25 - 0:36 )                             ICE CREAM CAKE ( 2:02 - 2:24 )                             CAUSE YOU’RE MY STAR ( 2:30 - 2:41 )                             GLASS SHOES ( 3:19 - 3:31 )                                aka a kt audition                                       ↪ performed and remixed by: HIRAI MOMO

                                                                                                                       outfit: 🍑 🍑 🍑

kt. her first audition ever and it was with kt.

it made her think about when she went back to japan. after spending two years in korea she told herself there was no way they’d actually want her. they were given the time and opportunities to find her, but eventually, she gave in to her father’s words. it was a fun time going back home. she got to spend time with her sister face-to-face which was much of a rarity. they didn’t even get to video call each other that often because of conflicting schedules. although good, it was also sad. home would always be home, but if her dreams meant having to go away then she was going to do it.

the first person she notified after getting the call was her ferret, cream puff, but after the celebration was done her sister didn’t let her down with a proper reaction over text. momo had always imagined audition with her favorite opening theme ( the one from powerpuff girls z ), but they told her to show two different talents. maybe singing and rapping would have been enough - but why not three?

no time was wasted before the girl was already sitting by her computer, searching for inspiration. the first song was picked because it had been stuck in her mind, and the others quickly came along as she thought of what would match the feeling she was trying to give off. she had been doing it for years. momo didn’t only make her own music but also found enjoyment in remixing popular songs together during her free time. they weren’t normally posted because of their short length, but it didn’t mean the talent wasn’t there. one minute. that would be perfect.

december meant it should be cold, but momo didn’t really care. the excitement in her heart sent adrenaline all over her body, filling her veins with warmth. people looked at her weirdly as she walked down the streets holding tightly to the sides of her body with all of her teeth showing in a smile. the nice lady who welcomed her said she could sit if she wanted to, but the girl didn’t have it in her to do it. her audition was only a few steps away, and she wasn’t going to be ready to rest until it was done.

they called her name not after too long. she hopped her way to the room but calmed her legs before going in. it was good to show excitement, but maybe not too much. her feet stopped where the marking told her the center was. like an owl, her head turned to scan the entire room before lowering her head in a bow. katie lee. her face twisted itself while her hair didn’t let them see it before her back was straight again. a dream come true. if katie lee was there then it was something important. she was important.

“hello! my name is hirai momo, i’m twenty years old and originally from kyoto, japan.” her words came out faster than she wanted them to. it was something that happened when she was excited, but once she noticed it the girl tried slowing them down. “i prepared something i edited myself, so hopefully you’ll enjoy it!” please do. her heart and soul had been laid in that 1-minute audio clip and she could only hope they wouldn’t crush them.

with a single head movement, the person in charge of pressing play let the audio start and momo quickly let out a deep breath. she tried making the transitions as smooth as possible, but there were parts she’d need to struggle with her breathing. the rapping, for example, was meant for two people to perform it, but there she was about to do it by herself.

빙글빙글 빙그르 빙그르 Toc toc Round and round, spin, spin, toc toc

빙글빙글 시계의 바늘이 Toc toc Round and round, the hands of the clock, toc toc

빙글빙글 빙그르 빙그르 Toc toc Round and round, spin, spin, toc toc

내 맘은 Up up up My heart goes up up up

it was a recent song, and the part chosen was something that could easily get stuck in your head for days. her main goal wasn’t exactly to make her audition haunt each one of the panel members to their dreams, but if it happened then it’d certainly be a plus! the start set the mood, and she was most certainly going for something on the cute side. maybe what was about to come didn’t exactly fit the bill, but removing the original instrumental from behind the rap and using something softer instead made it fit better.

Pops 내 입안에 녹아 내리는 중 Pops, it’s melting in my mouth, Putting so much in

잔뜩 넣어 내 입안이 녹아 내리는 줄 That it’ll feel like my mouth is melting down

Baby Boy 다른 남자들은 아무것도 몰라 Baby boy, other guys don’t know anything,

You’re so fine해서 안 튀는 옷만 골라 You’re so fine so only wear clothes that don’t make you stand out

Never get me wrong my boo

I have no 관심 in that bag I have no interest in that bag

지루한 월화부터 수목까지 Man I wanna pass From boring Mon-Wed, Thurs Man I wanna pass

날 보는 네 시선에 See some good vibe Your look toward me, I see some good vibes

기분 좋은 느낌이야 It’s a good feeling when

너와 눈이 마주치는 순간 My eyes meet yours

she didn’t have the time to stop in between parts, take a breath, and then continue to the next rap, but momo managed to make it happen. the song was much older than the first one so she had already partially learned the lyrics when it first came out. she had definitely practiced before coming even if there wasn’t much time given, but i wasn’t that big of a challenge to achieve. even if she was in kt she decided to audition with a song from sphere. it probably wasn’t that great of an idea, but once it was settled in her mind the girl couldn't imagine the song any other way. she’z was a very popular girl group so hopefully, they wouldn’t mind it too much.

새로운 세상에 눈을 뜬 거야 I’ve opened my eyes to a new world

널 알게 된 순간 The moment I met you

even if it was only two lines, it was sung softly as if it was the bridge of her short song. she used it to calm it down after the strong rap so the ending could have the impact that she wanted. it would be ideal to showcase all of her singing skills, but if it meant sacrificing a high note for the song to flow better then momo had no shame in doing it. they probably had the tapes of her screaming in the hongdae talent show, anyway - and if they didn’t then a quick search of her name online wouldn’t make it too hard to find.

빙글빙글 빙그르 빙그르 Toc toc Round and round, spin, spin, toc toc

빙글빙글 시계의 바늘이 Toc toc Round and round, the hands of the clock, toc toc

빙글빙글 빙그르 빙그르 Toc toc Round and round, spin, spin, toc toc

내 맘은 Up up up My heart goes up up up

it ended just like it started and momo couldn’t have been happier. it went exactly as she wanted. the faces of the panel didn’t give her any kind of vibe, which she saw as being better than looks of disgust or disappointment. she thought it was easier to hide what you liked than what you didn’t. with a bow, she thanked them for their time, leaving the room as she was told. all she could do was wait and that was definitely going to be something she’d do. all of her co-workers already knew about it, so whenever her phone received a notification they’d stop to look. she’d wait for it. she had already done it for so long.

[skshlomo]

WORLD CHAMPION BEATBOXER SK SHLOMO TALKS ABOUT HIS NEW VIRTUAL CHILDREN’S SHOW, FUNDRAISING FOR THE NHS, FAME AND LOSS

Thanks to Ox In A Box Magazine for this awesome interview with SK Shlomo

...Record-breaking beatboxer SK Shlomo is launching a huge project to help kids, and raise money for NHS Charities Together – teaming up with The North Wall Arts Centre, Pegasus Theatre, Cornerstone Arts Centre and over 80 other music venues and theatres to get families involved.

“KIDS ARE PROBABLY WILDER. THEY REALLY KNOW HOW TO ROCK OUT” SK SHLOMO

The critically acclaimed world-champion beatboxer who has collaborated with

Björk, Ed Sheeran and Lily Allen, played at Glastonbury Festival (official) and broken world records with his jaw-dropping vocal gymnastics, is bringing you

Homeskool Beatbox Adventures with Shlomo – a weekly livestreamed interactive show for kids and their families.

Every Thursday at 2pm families around the world can learn new vocal skills from SK Shlomo, and last week’s first streaming garnered an audience of around 30,000.

So who is SK Shlomo? Beatboxing since he was a child, aged 18 he started touring and was almost immediately propelled onto some of the biggest stages in the world from Edinburgh Fringe to Glastonbury, playing with the likes of Rudimental, Damon Albarn and Jarvis Cocker.

“IT’S OK TO FEEL SAD WHEN YOU LOSE SOMEONE, TO TELL PEOPLE THAT YOU AREN’T OK, AND TO TAKE SOME TIME OUT TO LOOK AFTER YOURSELF. BUT YES WE HAD SOME BAD NEWS THIS WEEK. WE LOST SOMEONE, SO IT IS A SAD TIME FOR LOTS OF PEOPLE.”

After having children aged 27, he changed his act to encompass a younger audience and Shlomo’s Beatbox Adventures For Kids was born which toured 160 shows last year, including a night at The Albert Hall, and was a massive success.

With a full 2020 summer tour planned, SK Shlomo has now turned his attention to live-streaming his act.

So are adults and children totally different audiences? “Children are much more honest if they don’t like something which helps fine tune what you do, and they really know how to let their hair down so kids are probably wilder,” he grins. “They really know how to rock out.

“FOR EVERY INCH YOU PUT INTO YOUR SHOW, YOU HAVE TO PUT THE SAME AMOUNT INTO SELF CARE”

“But the shows themselves aren’t that different. I take out the swearing but to be honest the virtual show is as much for parents as it is for their kids. It’s designed for families to do together, but the vibe is the same and I think that’s the secret to its success.”

And to perform? “Well you still have to have all your wits about you and I experience the same feeling of elation and exhaustion afterwards, but instead of going back to my dressing room afterwards and finding my way home, I just go out into the garden and play with my kids, which is quite surreal.”

And yet SK is still bemused about the show’s rocketing success: “Well it’s a bit like Joe Wicks isn’t it? It’s an historic moment. I think it’s about riding the wave and being in the right place at the right time.”

Not that this has always stood SK Shlomo in good stead. He’s been very open about his depression – taking two years off to deal with it.“

At the beginning I poured everything I had into my work and sacrificed everything else. It was a really unhealthy relationship and really affected my mental health,” he says.

“But now I know the signs and for every inch you put into your job or new show, you have to put the same amount into self care.“

I have no regrets. Everything that’s happened has made me who I am and got me here. I just have to look after myself.

”Having lost friends in the current pandemic, SK is currently extra vigilant. “It’s OK to feel sad when you lose someone instead of blaming yourself in some way, to tell people that you aren’t OK and to take some time out to look after yourself,” he says. “But yes we had some bad news this week. We lost someone, so it is a sad time for lots of people.”

“So this is a show about believing in yourself,” he adds. “Finding confidence in your own voice is extremely empowering. That’s even more important when so many of us are feeling disconnected – we don’t know how we can help the world. This project can bring people together, connect the world up and raise funds for the heroes on the frontline who we appreciate so much.”

Instead he wants to teach families in quarantine how to become Superstar Beatboxers and has set up a JustGiving campaign to try to raise £2500 for NHS Charities Together in the process.Each Thursday SK Shlomo will set families creative challenges to raise money by sharing performance videos of their new skills using the hashtag #beatboxadventures. 

Over the course of the six weeks, the Homeskool Beatbox Adventures community will create an anthem of their own, with its own music video featuring hundreds of families worldwide singing, beatboxing and performing together to celebrate music and to support the frontline workers on whom we all rely so much during this difficult time.

As for beatboxing he says: “It’s just the way I express myself and I’d really like to teach others. They don’t have to be the best in the world or always get it right, but this is about having some fun, learning something new and helping you to feel alive.

“I want my audience to make some noise and to really capture their imaginations.”So what can people expect? “I do a bit of virtuoso beatboxing and then break it down and get my audience to have a go and join in. People love it and the feedback has been amazing so we will see what happens this week!“

Other than that, when this is all over we will be back on the road to see everyone in Oxfordshire.”Shlomo will also be joined by one of his talented friends each episode including Bastille, KT Tunstall, Bill Bailey, Basement Jaxx, Jason Mraz and BBC Radio 1’s Dr Radha.

To take part, live every Thursday at 2pm, visit www.beatboxadventures.com

or via Facebook Live on SK Shlomo or The North Wall Arts Centre’s Facebook pages 

[recentanimenews]

INTERVIEW: The English Voices Behind the New "Fate/Stay Night" Movie

June 5th saw in the English dub premiere of Fate/stay night [Heaven's Feel] THE MOVIE 1.presage flower, and we took the opportunity to sit down with the English dub cast to ask a few questions. Bryce Papenbrook (voice of Shirou Emiya), Tony Oliver (ADR director and voice of Lancer), Cristina Vee (voice of Sakura Matou), Kyle McCarley (voice of Shinji Matou), and Kaiji Tang (voice of Archer) all sat down to share their thoughts on the film and the dubbing process that went into it.

  Spoilers for the first movie ahead!

  Tony Oliver

What makes Heaven's Feel different from the other routes?

Tony Oliver: What makes this a little different is that it's an expansion of the story. Where we had Unlimited Blade Works that followed Fate/Zero where we set up the story and laid out the characters in this universe, now the universe is getting bigger and starting to corrupt, and the outcomes... the consequences of what's come before in the previous two iterations are now being fleshed out in this one. Even though we're only a third of the way through, we're already seeing where it's taken some turns. So it's a little darker in that respect, and that's hard to believe but it is a little darker in the sense of where it's going, but also the characters are a little bit more fleshed out and we're seeing larger aspects of things we've seen before – only now we're seeing more dimensions of it. That's the difference for me.

  Cristina Vee: There's a lot more Sakura.

  Kaiji Tang: So, having previously been acquainted with the story elements of Heaven's Feel, I think the main difference is the tone and character relationships. In the two previous paths, the character relationships were much different. Like, for example, you saw during the mapo tofu scene that character and Shirou are going to have a bit of a different kind of on-screen relationship going forward. The plot of Heaven's Feel takes all the established lore and flips it onto its side, gives it a different perspective, and it's a lot more horror-elemented this time around. It's a lot darker and a lot creepier. It sort of gets more messed up as time goes along, so I'm really excited to see the next two.

  For Tony, you've been involved with this since the original anime in 2006 where you voiced Lancer. Has your opinion of the franchise changed over time?

TO: My opinion of the franchise has matured. When I first worked on it in the original, first of all, I didn't like my character very much. I mean, I loved playing him, but as a person I didn't think he was... I didn't like him very much. So I kind of felt a little standoffish and it was also a little more steeped in some of the high school lore, where they come from, which has never been my cup of tea in terms of shows. When I started directing in Fate/Zero, I got to be more intimate with it and got to see it in a larger perspective. And so in that respect, my opinion has changed quite a bit and it's expanded and it's grown to be my favorite franchise I've ever worked on. Particularly Fate/Zero really affected me a lot. It's grown and I've come to appreciate it more and more, the storytelling.

  Do any of you know anything from the other routes or past where the movie covered?

KT: Yes, absolutely, and I can't say anything without spoiling the rest of it. But on record, yes.

  Any favorite characters beyond the ones you all voiced?

TO: Directing it, the character relationships are what I liked the most. I really enjoyed for instance, in Fate/Zero, the relationship between Waver and Rider was the one that gripped my heart the most. In Heaven's Feel, the relationships are still evolving, so it's kind of hard to find the right one. Except for kind of the eternal relationship that's going on between Shirou and Rin, which seems to come up in every iteration in a different way. And I like that each time they're still trying to find out whether they like each other or not. (laughs) And it's like, you know, go ahead and date already for crying out loud!

  For Cristina, Sakura has had a pretty minor role in the other adaptations. How does it feel having her in the spotlight? Has your impression of her changed?

CV: Yeah, it's been really awesome to play the character and see her grow from the little girl who was thrown into the pit of worms repeatedly and to now figure out, to see that she kind of has this, I don't know what's going to happen, but I know it's going to be scary because I just have a feeling that she's the type of character that has a really scary turn. It's always the quiet meek ones. She's very quiet and meek, so she's going to be very scary.

  Cristina Vee

It's something alright! Don't want to spoil anything!

TO: "I know something you don't know!"

  Stay off the wiki! (laughter)

  Bryce Papenbrook: I have not been spoiled either.

  Kyle McCarley: I just was. About ten minutes ago.

  KT: Oh yeah, who spoiled it for you?

  KM: A fan. I asked. I was like, "I want to know."

  (laughter)

  Any favorite routes out of the three?

KT: Favorite is still Unlimited Blade Works by a very narrow margin because Heaven's Feel is tremendous.

  TO: It's tough because they're kind of all my step-children. Zero, right now, is... it's not really a route... it's the basis, it's where it started and I thought the script was extraordinary and the story got to me. So Zero is my favorite out of all of them.

  BP: I don't know the end of this route, so how can I choose?

  Bryce Papenbrook

Now one for Bryce. What do you think of Shirou in Heaven's Feel compared to Unlimited Blade Works?

BP: Well, again, I'll still be diplomatic with my question. We haven't seen how this plays out, and at the end of the movie I was shocked. I have no idea what's going to happen in the second one, so how can I answer that question yet? But so far, what we've seen of Shirou, I mean, he's kind of shown in his relationship with Sakura, sort of like a very protective side, and I'm very interested to see where it goes.

  One more for you, has there been any scene voicing Shirou in this or Unlimited Blade Works that you found particularly difficult to do?

BP: I think one thing that's been very demanding is playing it very real. In the directing, Tony has always asked me to give him something that has a lot of emotion without a lot of volume. It's lines that are deep with a lot of feeling, without doing much. So it's challenging, it's playing the role almost as a real person in there, and it's kind of a different vibe than most anime have, so trying to play it that way has been challenging. And I've found that just technically, I've been a little quiet, and especially in Heaven's Feel I've found that I had to increase my volume without increasing it too much, so to say. So he could hear what I was doing, but not let it disappear.

  TO: Let me jump in on that, since these guys won't tell you this because they're humble, well kind of. (laughter) We're actors! But all of the parts they played are difficult in this. This is not your typical show where we're looking for a particular sound or a funny feel or something that's kind of surface for entertainment. The story calls for a lot of depth and a lot of depth of character, depth of the feeling. These characters are feeling nine things at once all in conflict, and we spend a lot of time what I call nuance chasing, just looking for that one little nugget that touches your heart. And it's really, really hard to do. What these guys do is really difficult. It's not just walking up and reading. So I'm gonna give them the props on that, because I do demand a lot, and the story demands a lot, and these guys are all up to it, and it's hard what they do, it really is.

  Another one for you, actually. How do you feel about how Lancer is treated in each route?

(laughter)

  TO: How is Lancer treated? Well, he dies early. In the game he does not; it's impossible to kill him in the game.

  In Grand Order, he's immortal.

TO: It's amazing. But in the show, except for that one iteration, Grand Order, where I actually got to kill Archer and last more than two episodes... (laughs) He's a character that's about chivalry and posturing and grand ideas, and those are always the most fun to kill early. So I think he gets treated fine, it's what he needs to be. Somebody's got to be that character, so it has to be him.

  KT: It's so weird that it's him, though, he's literally Irish Hercules. You'd think he'd be one of the last ones in every route.

  Yeah, he's one of the strongest, but...

TO: But everyone who's been morally pure have kind of been the ones who get messed up the most. Look what's happening to Saber.

  By the way, I loved seeing Saber Alter at the end of this one.

KT: Oh, Saber Alter, my favorite.

  TO: I love the fact that we have an actor who can handle that, so well.

  It's playing the same character in two different roles.

TO: Another thing that's hard to do.

  Which you've done for Lancer in Grand Order as a Caster, right?

TO: Yes. Well, he was a Caster, he's still the same character, he just had a different skill. And got to win.

  For once.

Is there anything you kept in mind, especially when you were directing? Anything from the original, anything that you really kept in mind through the whole thing?

TO: It's been important to all of us to maintain a consistency from story to story, so we do go back and revisit the characters. We go back to the original voice files and rematch. We remind ourselves what these characters are up to and what they've done before and do pay attention very much to the individual attributes that each character has. They do change a little from incarnation to incarnation, but the basis is very much the same, and it's just a matter of point of view, so we're very careful about that, remaining consistent across all of these various incarnations we see, and hopefully we didn't make any mistakes. And if we did, don't notice – please, thank you!

  (laughter)

  Kaiji Tang

One for Kaiji, what do you do to get into character as Archer?

KT: I guess my answer is a little weird because I'm very familiar with this character from the years prior of not only being familiar with character himself, but having played through a lot of the Fate stuff. I played through the original visual novel, all the way through, all three paths. I watched the original Studio DEEN anime. I've been an anime fan my whole life, so I've been very, very familiar with this character in particular. So when I got to read for him for the first time, it's a weird experience trying to come up with a character that you already know the foundation for. So it's like you don't want to lean too heavily on what's been done in the past, and at the same time you don't want to change so much that people are like "wait, that's a complete 180 from the character we're familiar with." So I guess it was a challenge in that I wanted to make something new with the old.

  ---

Skyler has been an anime fan since he first saw Naruto on Toonami in 2005. He loves action shows and strong character writing, and finds writing about himself in the third person awkward. Read more of his work at his blog apieceofanime.com and follow him on Twitter at Videogamep3.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[the-hindu-times]

September 2017 reviews roundup

The first day of the month, we headed down to Folkestone to see The Take Down at The Harp Club. A sunny Saturday, the following day, saw us turn down a celebrity football match at QPR to see a Starsailor in-store at Banquet before heading into central London for Kero Kero Bonito's roof top gig at Uniqlo, complete with a free bar. After being as equally impressed with Starsailor's set, we headed to The Borderline to watch them again before celebrating their new album release in a private bar in Soho with them and Mark Collins of The Charlatans. 

2 days later, we were back at Banquet Records for a Newton Faulkner performance just before Outside The Box Comedy Club at the Fighting Cocks with Brian Gittins, John Robins, Bobby Mair and many more. The next day saw Roddy Woomble at Rough Trade near Notting Hill, followed by Harry Hill, Tony Law and a full supporting bill for Gits & Shiggles at the Half Moon in Putney. 

The next day we saw Roddy Woomble and his band play again, at The Boileroom in Guildford. Although swapping the setlist around on this tour, it was seemingly shorter than the last headline show we'd seen at St Pancras’ Old Church. (click here for Roddy Woomble review.)

By Friday, it was time for one of the final festivals of the year, as we arrived at Hastings Pier for Embrace and Black Grape at Beano On The Sea. Unfortunately, the rain and the wind stopped the event from going ahead so we crossed over the road for ‘Let’s Hang On’ at The White Rock Theatre. Performing the songs of Frankie Vali & The Four Seasons, Dino Buttarazzi’s masterful guitar work was as impressive as Stephen James’ pitch-perfect vocal in these wonderfully arranged classics - a unique tribute, which didn’t just focus on the voices.

photo by TASHA LUCKHURST

The after parties at Beano On The Sea went ahead, as did the Saturday but we assumed correctly that Sunday’s rain and wind would not allow for it to take place again, so after another Roddy Woomble in-store at Banquet, we caught the Fun Lovin’ Criminals, KT Tunstall, Jake Bugg and Seasick Steve all before The Libertines’ headline set at On Blackheath. Despite the preconceptions of the crowd you’d usually expect the headliners to attract, this family-friendly festival was packed of kids’ activities with a friendly and welcoming vibe that warmed up the cold conditions.

The following day, I popped in to alt-J at Banquet’s show at the Hippodrome, before Derren Brown was in the West End the night after. After a nationwide tour, his ‘best of’ show 'Underground’ has found a new home at The Playhouse Theatre on the Embankment in London. Like a 'greatest hits’ album, there are a couple of exclusives but Derren is taking no punt on these additions - they are the highlights and what sews the show together. With Derren’s finest work being subjective, I felt that reliving any of his previous routines would diminish the surprise but even the bits I was most familiar with, I still didn’t see coming.Tonight made you doubt, question and wonder - it even made you doubt the question before wonder about the doubt – but in this roller coaster ride, whilst being uncertain of what just happened, the one constant we were convinced of was that we were truly amazed by a performer at the top of his game.

The touring production of the Tim Rice & Andrew Llyod Webber musical ‘Joseph’ reached Woking the day after. Starring 2009 'X-Factor’ winner namesake, Joseph McElderry, the roles taken up by famous faces are usually only there to bring in the numbers but Joe’s credibility alone would have been more than enough to warrant him being in the cast. Putting some lyrical character into his vocals, this added narrative may not have been acted out by previous leads. The songs themselves were often swung differently to how I remember them; with some odd tempo and time signature changes that weren’t present when I first saw the show, featuring Phillip Schofield. With various other appearances on reality TV shows, including winning 2011’s 'Popstar to Operastar’, helping Joe shift 550,000 albums of his own music in that same year, he was actually performing songs from his new LP 'Saturday Night’ at this very same theatre not long before this run began. Support on that night came from 'Any Dream Will Do’ and 'X Factor’ contestants, Keith Jack, Sam Callahan and Ben James-Elis, who was also back again; playing both Pharaoh and Issachar this evening. Straight out of Jersey Boys, Trina Hill’s powerful vocals, often layered with a tinge of tongue and cheek, gelled with Theatre veteran, Henry Metcalfe, whilst Richard J Hunt’s performance shone through with Tatenda Mademombe making his professional debut as a real one to watch.

Still complete with an elaborate set and lighting design, it seemed that a few scenes had been cut or changed since the original but whether it is as good as the 1991 West End revival is up to debate but it is certainly the perfect introduction for first time viewers, whilst the legend continues to move forward from its first showing in 1968.

The following afternoon, we made our first trip to Manchester for Ryan Adams, where I busked his songs outside beforehand, raising money for Make-A-Wish foundation, who Tasha will be running the London marathon for.

By Monday, we were back in London for a trip to the Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square for Paul Stone’s ‘The Vegas Magic Theatre’. Impressively clever as it was, it all felt a bit old hat but it was at least an opportunity to be transported back to the ‘90s or further. This was the case for opener, Nick Lewin, who’s accent was more confusing to work out than the tricks themselves. Still, a very good, solid, traditional magician all the same – a true Vegas headliner. Without giving too much away, Armando Lucero was a real highlight whilst Kris Kremo and Nathalie Enterline performed their street art, giving the illusion of a simple trial and era. Headliner, John Archer, was someone I remembered from ‘Penn & Teller: Fool Us’, who was the first magician to fool them on that prime time ITV show. With a ukulele routine going down better than support act, Dead Man’s Uke, John had even more to show off, whilst not even needing to perform his TV trick.

The next night we headed down to Bournemouth for Ryan Adams, with a disappointing performance from David Ford the night after at The Islington. The day after we, once again, went to see Ryan Adams – this time in Cambridge, with the same busking/raising money idea as previously.

Nearly a week later, we were at the Epsom Playhouse for Paul Zerdin:

After his TV debut on BBC’s ‘Tricky Business’, Paul Zerdin presented 'Rise & Shine’ on GMTV before winning 'The Big Big Talent Show’, followed by other TV appearances on 'Tonight at the Palladium’, 'The Generation Game’, 'Sooty & co.’ and 'The Prince’s Trust Gala Show’. This was all seemingly a build up to 2015’s 'America’s Got Talent’, which propelled him into the spotlight after winning the show. 

Now this Butlins’ entertainer is out on the road with his own show 'All Mouth’, and tonight in Epsom, after an introductory sketch, Paul introduced his support act, who had the sold out audience in hysterics. Some brilliant original material thrown in amongst seen before public domains, it was his stage presence and timing that made it work; with a perfect combination of comedy, magic and madness making this evening worth coming to just for him. The second half included some of Paul’s creations in the form of puppets, with some routines working better than others. Masks placed on members of the audience for some pre-scripted funnies weren’t as impressive as Nina Conti’s improvisation but were as good as 'Britain’s Got Talent’ finalist, Steve Hewlett, who all share this idea. 

It’s great to see ventriloquists out there with their own nights, rather just on mixed bills, and you can can catch Paul Zerdin live again in Surrey at Farnham Maltings on Fri 6th October and Horsham Capitol on Sun 15th October, along with a nationwide tour.

Feeder’s New Slang gig, in Kingston, the night after, saw them back on form before we were back in central London for The Gentlemen Cheater:

‘The Gentlemen Cheater’ is a one man show in every sense of the word; from greeting the public at the door to cueing his own music - proving to be the most difficult task of the evening. French magician and singer (something that will hopefully be brought into the act), Christian Gambin, frequents our capital to perform his close up magic to as few people as possible. This show comes from love; using the money from the big gigs and private events to conduct the most intimate experience – something he really wants to do.

With the initials of the show’s title being the exact mirror opposite to his own, that is exactly how the show is presented; with his audience sitting on the reverse side of the table whilst being on the complete other end of the spectrum in a mock card game against us. The idea of taking place around a poker table with more than a single group sitting per evening would work even better.

After a slick opening routine, it’s hard to keep track of all the following tricks that are thrown in; giving no time to be amazed before the next illusion is already underway. By the end, you find yourself forgetting the show’s narrative, and it feels like you’re just watching your mate showing you some slight of hand, as he’s gotten to know everyone in the room, comfortable enough to be thinking allowed.

With UK magicians worried they’ll have their toes stood on, Christian Gambin comes from Paris to London on the last Friday of every month to perform 'The Gentleman Cheater’ to a limited few at The Courthouse hotel, next to the Palladium at 7:30pm. The hotel itself doesn’t help promote the event, and with its extortionate hire coats, you should keep up to date with http://www.magicentertainmentlondon.co.uk in case a more suitable venue is found for the following dates:

2017: 27 October 24 November 29 December

2018: 26 January 23 February 30 March 27 April 25 May 29 June Standard tickets are £15, or you can guarantee a front row seat for  £49.50, or get 4 seats together for a bargain total of £55.00, which could well end being in the premium area.

Nic Bennett