#literally overture is what my mind would look like if you could see an illustrated version of it

[flintwoodandco]

tagged by @nymphadoraholtzmann and @hexmionegranger to make a playlist of my url!!! thank you!!!

oh boy here goes (*Spotify Link*)

Faded - Alan Walker

Laughter Lines - Bastille

I Won’t Let Go - The Brothers Bright

Novocaine - Fall Out Boy

Ten Feet Tall - Passion Pit

Warrior - B.A.P.

Overture - DeVotchKa

Oh, Death - Jen Titus

Desperate Measures - Marianas Trench

Arsonist’s Lullaby - Hozier

Nausicaa Requiem - Joe Hisaishi

Despacito - Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee

Complicated - Fitz and the Tantrums

Old Friends - Howard Shore

well this is a hot mess...why does my url have so many o’s sigh

tagging!!! @mxrcusflint, @lepetitcomte, @2muchtroubleforyou, @rowle, @scourgify, @audreyweasley, @parvatpatil, @oliverwvvd, @thosebizzareserpents, @ohturntan, @unknown-authoress, @finniganthomas, @puceyadrian, @ff-sunset-oasis and whoever else wants to do this!!!

[afreakingdork]

Review: March Comes In like a Lion (Seasons 1 and 2)

What a wild ride this has been. It’s funny seeing the posters side by side because they really illustrate how I feel about seasons 1 and 2 of this series. To me, season 1 felt disjointed and season 2 just made me feel so good and light even while it was dunking me straight into emotional turmoil. The thing is, one cannot exist without the other and I’ll tell you why: 

I struggled at first to even finish season 1. I started once many years ago (I’m not even sure when) and gave up after about 2 episodes because I just couldn’t get my self synched with what was happening. When I started again a few months ago, I felt like every episode was a slog. I wasn’t sure why I even kept watching, honestly. The aesthetics were beautiful and haunting. The imagery reminded me of both Hyouka and Flowers of Evil. I could tell Rei was going through some really dark emotions, but I also wasn’t sure what was going on. There would be flashes and abrupt shifts away from the topic. It seemed to capture the sensations of depression really well, but also not in a way that translated to also telling a story to which, I think, it also had a duty to do. It seemed like Kyouka had sexually abused Rei at some point based on the flashes of her character straddling him and even after finishing both seasons, I’m not sure if that was the case. The dark and brooding artistically-charged emotional overtures of Rei are then just super-cut with intensely fluffy slice of life-esque sequences that gave me emotional whiplash. The show goes from Rei self-isolating to Nikaidou teaching the two younger Kawamoto sisters how to play shoji with animated cats. I remember trying to recall this information to my partner and not being able to explain it adequately because I just hadn’t even had enough heart in the series to learn the characters’ names. I felt bad, but I didn’t know what else to do. The show was fine, entertaining enough, but I just felt lackluster about what was happening. I applaud that they actually used the word depression when discussing Rei’s dark periods. I don’t know much, but I do know that mental health is extremely stigmatized in Japan and it was refreshing to hear it just laid out. However, I can honestly say that Shimada is what turned the show around for me. His introduction and the charisma of a beaten down exhausted pro just really resonated with me. By the time they were doing the train sequence in that final episode of season 1, I felt like everything was just too open ended and I had to go on because I had finally remembered Rei’s name. 

Everything turned around as I started to watch season 2. They pretty much immediately dove into a bullying arc with Hina and the whole series turned around for me. I was absolutely invested in everything that was happening and it was so heart wrenching and realistically portrayed. I found myself unable to pull away as Hina led the episodes and explained how her classroom dove into a dark black swirling pool of hateful energy. Suddenly, the artistic sequences now seemed succinct. Each portrayal of an emotion made my heart tighten and I could perfectly see how each character saw what was happening around them. It felt too good to be true. Even when a brand new character took over, I’m talking about Yamazaki in "Silver Wings," I had a moment where I was like, ‘What do I care about this guy? Why are we interrupting the narrative for him?’ By the end of his chapter, I was ashamed I ever felt that way. For once the narrative was larger than Rei and, while we knew Yamazaki through the lens of Rei, we didn’t know Yamazaki’s feelings during his match with Nikaidou. This is where I say that the doldrums of season 1 are absolutely necessary to get to the greatness of season 2. Rei was closed in season 1, he had met the Kawamoto family, but he was still deeply in the thralls of his depression. This is represented by what we see. Everything is disjointed because that’s how Rei feels. The Kawamoto family is disrupting his otherwise miserable mindset with their warm feelings. He actually says something along those lines and how he is afraid that if he stays in that warm house for too long, that he doesn’t feel like he will ever be able to leave. The episodes that focus on anything outside of Rei’s perspective are basically non-existent in that first season because Rei can’t see anything outside of himself. By the end of season 1, everyone has wedged a crowbar in the closed door of Rei’s heart and is craning it open by season 2. We get to see all these other people and perspectives because narratively, Rei has taken the blinders off and is not oblivious to the world around him. In a grand storytelling sense, this must have been the author’s intention. It’s almost a travesty to break this show up into seasons because the narrative is on such a grand scale, you can’t even begin to fathom the scope until you are at least 30 episodes deep. It’s downright genius storytelling and I will forever be grateful that I never stopped watching so that I could get to the point where I am now. I’m absolutely going to read the manga so I can see this story through to it’s true end. 

Verdict: 

P.S. I didn’t want to interrupt my grand explanation, but I think it’s so incredible how the timeline is also realistically portrayed. Take Chiho, for example, she was bullied so violently that she had to be committed. Several months down the line, she hasn’t recovered from this trauma. Even seeing her close friend who never bullied her, Hina, can only be done in a short spurt because emotionally she is still healing and will be for an unforeseen amount of time. I just can’t applaud this realistic representation of mental health enough. It’s treated with such delicacy. 

P.S.S. Why is everyone so mean to Shimada!? He’s so sweet and he’s working so hard. All the outreach he does for the elderly community back in his home town and even just for the shoji community is mind boggling on top of the severe and debilitating gastritis that he has. I remember thinking when he was going up against Yanagihara, that even though I liked Yanagihara, I’d just invested too much of my heart into Shimada to be able to root for anyone else. This show loves proving me wrong because I was completely swayed to Yanagihara and literally pushed back a deadline so that I could watch the finale of their match. I’m so glad he’s the eternal Kishou, I’m sorry Shimada!!! 

P.S.S.S. The revelation that Souya is partially deaf was so stunning to me that I actually had to stop watching and take a walk. It is incredibly genius. I never saw it coming a million miles away. The comparison to when you’re a prodigy at something that people are able to look the other way when it comes to idiosyncrasies is mind boggling. I was right there with Rei as I watched Souya come down from being a shoji deity to being a regular person and it was such a delight to watch my perspective change along with the characters. It’s an incredible hand that crafts a story that can sway a reader so accurately. 

P.S.S.S.S. 

IT WAS CALLED MARCH TOWN THE WHOLE TIME!? I shit you not, I had just told my partner around episode 20 of season 2 that while the show had skyrocketed in quality, I couldn’t figure out why the hell ‘March’ comes in like a lion! I’m so mad at the reveal.