#lol nakamura post is the most popular one

[juniperhillpatient]

Hi @juniperhillpatient I’ve got another ask for ya (I hope these aren’t getting too annoying)

So I (re)read the first chapter of “the devil you know” and I have some speculations about the killer. So when On Ji texted with the killer (under the guise of Aang) we see that killer impersonated Aang in the text conversation. Not perfectly, but enough to be a believable to his girlfriend. The staying behind to to help a kitten was indicative of this.

Which would imply that the killer is someone who knows Aang and On Ji personally? Or at least know’s of them enough to impersonate Aang. Which would imply the killer is one of the core friend group. But it could also be someone who is merely an acquaintance in the school. Like Mai or Ty Lee, or Zuko.

Digression but I was feeling bad for On Ji up to the point when she began to disparage Azula. My sympathy withered with her. Kidding (for the most part)

Katara also spoke about how the killer was not more than 5 feet in height. Telling us that Ozai was not the clear cut killer himself. Could it have been Mai or Ty Lee in either of those costumes? Who then hid them at the Nakamura forest house.

And what the heck is Chan’s corpse doing in Sokka’s car?

Anyway, I don’t expect an answer to any of the speculations (much more fun that way) but mystery is beginning to eat me alive.

Also, the notion of Azula and Katara living through this together as the “final girls” is a romantic one indeed. But, so too is the notion of Azula and Katara dying in each other’s arms. Tragedies and decisions…

An amazing first chapter! I’m looking forward to the next!

Thank you so much, you are always so supportive & I love getting ask from you! If I take a long time to answer that’s just a me thing it’s not just you.

I am LOVING the speculation & I of course can’t answer any of the questions but I will say you are asking many of the right questions & fixating on the right details 🫢

Also I’m pretty sure you’re not the only one who stopped caring about On Ji when she was rude about Azula 😂 I assume people who read my stuff love Azula by default lol

But to be fair to On Ji, Azula is basically the weird girl. The status she has is because of her wealth & her father’s power but she, Zuko, & Mai are all social outcasts. Ty Lee is not - she’s popular - & we’ll get more into that & how it affects the group too!

Now to your questions - of course I can’t actually answer but you’re right to point out two really big things.

1. The killer knows things about the main characters & their lives & personalities. That’s pretty important.

2. The killer is not huge. This definitely points toward the Ozai being framed possibility considering he is described as a towering figure. But by who & why? Someone with the means to get into that lake house & strategically place evidence where Zuko & Azula were sure to find it which also means someone who knew the party was happening.

Sorry maybe I’m giving away stuff but I’m really excited about this fic & I’m sooo excited seeing your speculation!

I was going to fully complete writing this fic before posting more to ensure there are no plot holes or logical inconsistencies & that I can go back & add foreshadowing as I go buuuut. I’m having a hard time not posting to be honest!

Right now chapters 1-6 are done & I’m about 9k into chapter 7. But chapter 8-10 are pretty heavily outlined sooooo…. At this point I’m heavily tempted to post chapter 2 soon & break my promise of finishing the fic first 😅

Anyway thank you so much for the thoughts & speculation I love it ❤️

[sweetmaririn]

(170604) (x)

[blueberry-4]

Some Okajima hcs

📸My biggest and favorite hc I have of him is that he has a secret feminine side. Go look at this post for more detail of this hc: https://blueberry-4.tumblr.com/post/679749553295081472/random-okajima-hc-i-thought-of-today

📸He used to have hair a little longer when he was young but because she got bullied for expressing his feminine side, he shaved it off before junior high to look and act more masculine (I’ll explain the last two hcs for another post.)

📸I feel like he has bad luck with animals. They all just sense his “pervy” nature and just either threaten him or straight up attack him depending on the animal. He’s like “oh come on!! Seriously??”

📸He opposes using his phone camera because he thinks it isn’t practical in the freelance industry. He uses one camera only and he calls it his child.

📸I like to think that he has a collection of cameras in his room somewhere and names each of them but his one he uses all the time, he doesn’t need to give it a name. Just “my child”. He likes to use retro like cameras too like Polaroids

📸He got jealous of how popular Maehara was with the girls (well he calls himself that in reality lol), Okajima started to know what kind of cologne he wears, what he puts in his hair to make it look good when Okajima grows it out in the future, and the products he uses to get his face fresh clean.

📸He likes everybody in his class. But he really likes Kurahashi, Hayami and Kataoka the most of the girls. He can’t even chose between them of which girl he wants to have a chance with.

📸Because those three girls are different from each other, I feel like he doesn’t have a particular type. His “perverted” nature prevented him from really liking a certain type of girl and to be all about looks rather than personality.

📸We got Maehara who’s good at coming up with excuses in desperate situations, and Okajima who is good at distracting people (for obvious reasons lol).

📸He’s the resident memer of the class along with Nakamura. He’ll make references to popular memes during a conversation and half the time, the class understands it. Him and Nakamura battle it out which age of memes are better. Okajima thinks old is gold, but Nakamura thinks otherwise

📸Because he loves photography, he doesn’t find himself using photography talk in front of his friends until they say “Okajima, translation please?”

📸He has a bunch of aesthetic Polaroid pictures on his bedroom wall that he took when he was in the Photography club. On another wall of his room, are pictures of each of his classmates. Of course he’s learned to ask permission to take pictures of them first.

📸He has a picture of everyone in E class including Korosensei next to his bed. It’s safe to say that they were the best classmates he’s ever had and he cares for them. And the best teacher ever in the world

[jostenneil]

Hello! I saw your post about the well-written female characters so i would like to know if you have more suggestions? Any genre would do! Thank you! ( ◠‿◠ )

sure! i am going to assume you'd still like it to be anime / manga since that's what the original post centered on as well

ooku by yoshinaga fumi (manga) → this series basically operates by a reworking of jp history wherein the shogunate is largely female and served by harems of men, due to a disease several decades prior that nearly wiped out men and left women needing to fill their roles in society. the way it subverts gender roles and explores how women act when they saturate positions of power is pretty engrossing to read about!

asahinagu by kozaki ai (manga/film) → the dynamics between the girls in this are so endearing and inspiring! the protag is a timid girl who decides to join the naginata club (think japanese fencing) when its strongest member saves her from a pervert, as a way to build up her own confidence and strength. it's rly nice to see that she isn't bullied into "manning" up, rather the positive but stubborn reinforcement of her teammates pushes her to change

tokimeki tonight by ikeno koi (manga/anime) → follows the daughter of a vampire and werewolf who has the odd power of being able to change into a carbon copy of anything she bites lol! ranze has to navigate a normal life around this ability, all while falling for a human pretty boy, despite the fact that she's not allowed to fall for a human. great shenanigans, later serious arcs that are engrossing and divine, and ranze is just a rly easy to love character whom i think a lot of girls can relate to

emma by mori kaoru (manga) → good one if you're a fan of historical romance novels, although not as much wish fulfillment. follows two protags, emma and william, who fall in love in victorian england despite class differences. emma's a maid while william's part of the gentry, and obv, that complicates things. really love this one bc i think it grounds itself in a lot of realism. emma's a very well built protag, and it's interesting to see the interplay between her desire to be with william and her recognition of society's reality

skip beat by nakamura yoshiki (manga) → i mean, ok. this is a no brainer, but i'll put it here anyway since it's been running so long, there's bound to be newer audiences unaware of it. kyoko imo is one of the most awe-inspiring shoujo protags at present. she's stubborn and relentless in terms of work ethic but also very humbled by the fact that she's a newcomer to the entertainment industry with much left to learn in order to succeed. the slow burn between her and ren is Agonizing and why i ended up dropping the manga, but nonetheless, she's a wonder to watch evolve

guardian of the spirit by uehashi nahoko (novel/anime) → the protag, balsa, sets out to atone for eight deaths by deciding to save eight lives. she becomes bodyguard to a prince in the process, who's targeted for murder by his dad. balsa's very much the maker of her own life and someone who stands by her decisions regardless of others' influence, which i rly appreciate! it's also rare to see a female warrior protagonist so that's nice too lol

eureka seven (anime) → [plays days by flow and cries] i watched this over a decade ago so my memory is shite but eureka and anemone are my complicated DAUGHTERS whom i would die for please just take my word for it. it's crazy that eureka is kinda the forgotten mecha series on the western side of things bc it became so popular in japan there's like multiple animes and movies and everything idek

the ancient magus' bride by yamazaki kore (manga/anime) → aside from the fact that the anime for this is gorgeously animated and has one of the best osts i've ever heard, chise is a really unique protagonist to watch grow. she's a bit subdued in demeanor due to prior trauma from people treating her poorly due to her lack of control over her magic, but being under elias's (the ancient magus) tutelage allows her to build confidence, control, and a love for the world that she nearly lost due to people rejecting her

claymore by yagi norihiro (manga) → haven't read this in years so my memory's hazy but if you're a fan of berserk or the dark fantasy genre in general, and would like a full female cast, hello! also fun little piece of trivia but when claymores reach like peak power the feeling is likened to a "climax" and the series posits that only women were good at this so. male claymores are no more. idk it's just hilarious to me like yes men are bad at sex!

oresama teacher by tsubaki izumi (manga) → by gsnk's mangaka! about a girl gang leader who gets expelled and has to restart at a new school where a teacher encourages her to head the public morals club, which aims to reform delinquents and improve the school's enrollment figures since it's doomed with drop outs. super funny and from what i remember not rly romance focused so if you're looking for a female mc with slightly different priorities and a less standard personality in terms of shoujo, it's pretty neat

[fumiko-matsubara]

Chiba Ryuunosuke ー The calm type of social butterfly?

So yesterday, Zaina and I had a fairly long talk about how Chiba is a lot more social and friendly than he appeared to be despite being a supposed introvert.

And no, I am not just talking about him being comfortable in his own friend group, which is a very normal thing among introverted people. In fact, if you actually read the manga and some of the extra materials Matsui had released post-AssClass, most of the students you see him interacting with the most are the ones who are outside of his friend group... well, that is if you consider his friend group being him and the art trio even though there are hardly any scenes of them actually interacting in canon but ahehe.

Zaina pointed out to me, or rather stated an unpopular opinion about how Group 2 is like the kids have their seperate group of friends instead of them being a whole friend group, which is a popular take in the fandom, and I completely agree with her. Because think about it, we have the Art trio (Sugaya, Mimura, and Okajima), Hayami is friends with Touka and possibly even Hinano as well, Fuwa has Ritsu and Hara initially, and Nakamura just goes to whatever friend group she sees and dives right in.

As for Chiba (take this with a grain of salt as this is purely based from how I generally understood his character in the manga), I believe that he has almost the same case as Nakamura whereas instead of forcing himself into random friend groups like she does, he gets pulled into different friend groups because he had gained the trust of the rather many people he had interacted with before.

I'm basing this assumption from some of the kids I've seen him interacting with in the mangaー Hinano, Maehara, Sugino, Okano, Isogai, Kimura, Okajima, and Karma to name a few. As for the extra materials like the albums and the novel parts of the lesson books (korotan and korosuu), there was Nakamura, Nagisa, and Takebayashi as far as I still vaguely remember.

I find it so interesting that despite the little screen time he had even in the manga, he still managed to be seen interacting and maybe even becoming friends with at least one member from each group, the most being in Group 1 (5 out of 7 members) which is also the group that has most of the class extroverts.

This pretty much supports my headcanon about how Chiba finds it easier to get along with people who are more talkative than he is instead of people who are quieter than him, because he doesn't feel pressured to hard carry a conversation, which is something he understandably struggles with for someone whose only source of social interaction growing up was with his family, as I have previously talked about in here.

This also explains why he struggled to get along with Hayami outside of school even though they worked so well together whenever they get paired up for training and such.

And no, I am not saying that Chiba is an extrovert. He still is not despite what I have said, not even an ambivert actually. He's just a very social introvert. Not exactly loud nor very talkative, but he finds it easy to approach anyone who is willing to look past his supposed unapproachable appearance and just talk to him without prejudice. He's not the type to unnecessarily bring attention to himself when in a group, definitely not lol. But he's the kind of social introvert who prefers to be in a friend group with extroverted people and would already be contented with just watching his loud friends having fun.

How do I say this? He likes the commotion without wanting to cause said commotion lol.

Chiba is also canonically empathetic, observant, and quietly looks after people. This was evidently shown in the Takaoka arc when he asked Hinano regarding her feelings about the situation despite the very welcoming front Takaoka had firstly shown to the class on his first day, which shows that despite Hinano's fixation towards Karasuma being considered as mere fangirling that can be brushed off, Chiba still pays attention enough that he'd consider her feelings for something as supposedly simple as substitute teaching. (The anime adaptation completely omitted this scene by the way, hence why it may be unfamiliar to some of you).

What really hit me in this panel (It's seriously just one panel lol), was that Chiba was so casual when he asked Hinano about it. As in, you could tell he probably doesn't want this to be made a big deal of, let alone accidentally bring unnecessary attention to Hinano. Because I assure you, if he instead pulled her in and whispered to her, people around them will find it suspicious at how they are huddling together and will make a big deal out of it then (reminder: more than half of Class E are ridiculously nosy).

Chiba clearly knows that and definitely doesn't want that to happen to Hinano, of all people. Especially considering what happened later in the chapter or, what nearly happened to Hinano only because she decided to be loud about it. Yikes.

I know a lot of people like to use what Chiba had subtly done for Karma in the finals arc as a popular example, since it's also one of the only scenes that had made it to the anime adaptation. But I decided to give more light to what he had done for Hinano because it fully showcases how observant and caring he is and at the same time, taking more of his surroundings into consideration.

Zaina also added how while he's the type to quietly enjoy the commotion his extroverted friends do whenever they have fun, whenever he feels that someone is likely feeling left out, he'd be also the type to try including them in and making sure that they feel belonged. Because I don't know about y'all, but unless they deserved it, I strongly believe Chiba wouldn't want people to go through what he did growing up.

Now the question is, how does Chiba get along so well with plenty of people?

Honestly, if you looked past his appearance, which inadvertently does make him seem very quiet and gloomy, Chiba has always been a friendly and happy kid. The independent, mature, and serious side of him is mostly showcased whenever he's in "work mode", which is pretty telling that he clearly knows when to take things seriously and when to have fun. Chiba is known to be very calm and gentle among the class, which is definitely the big part of his personality that drew non-judgemental people towards him (this was stated in the korosuu, @clownao please confirm this unless I'm remembering it wrong T-T).

Unless you're one of the many people who stubbornly refuses to approach him due to his appearance, Chiba's personality is what makes him naturally likeable, especially with his classmates. Like who wouldn't want to be friends with someone who's just as unconditionally kind as he is?

And to think that he still managed to turn out like this despite the social bullying he had went through growing up 💔

Just so you know, I am completely basing this from the screen time he had in the series (anime, manga, and the extra materials), as in what was shown canonically. For all we know, he's probably friends with everyone in the class and that Matsui just didn't bother showcasing them all since Chiba is just a side character who doesn't have to have many screen time.

People just either avoids him, don't bother talking to him, or straight up just wants to be his friend.

There are no other options outside of the given three :D

[dreaming-of-assclass]

Hey! I think this question might be kinda dumb LOL but I'm new to your blog and I saw you referring to groups? Like Group 1-4? I'm assuming that they're the cliques of Class 3-E that have been categorized, but if you could explain it to me I'd appreciate it! Like is this official or mainly decided by the fandom, and if it's fandom-made, how did the groups get decided on? I'm curious! Thank you in advance 💕

Hi!! Omg no problem at all! And welcome to my blog!! I hope you’re enjoying it so far UwU 💕

The groups 1-4 are based off the groupings of students in the Kyoto Trip episodes. But they’re like the general friend groups of 3-E anyways, even if there are a lot of overlaps still.

So yeah it’s canon haha, but every group is very endearing to the fandom. Some have their favorites and like to focus on a certain group, like me for example. I always talk about how Group 4 are my babies. I’d say the group I see content of the most on tumblr is probably 3 or maybe 2.

Now here’s the fun part hehe. I wanted to make a post like this a while ago and now I get an actual chance.

The (Unofficial) Guide to Friendship Groups in 3-E

Group 1: Isogai, Kataoka, Maehara, Okano, Kimura, Kurahashi, Yada

I always associate this group with being the “popular kids” although that’s not super curious

They’re the closest to being that type of group. But really, I’d say they’re just the friendliest and most...proactive group? They’re assertive and make plenty of plans/ideas for assassinations.

They’re close with each other as like a clique, but all of them hang out with a fair amount of the class, especially the girls.

I feel like...the class reps, Maehara, and Okano are closer...and then Yada and Kurahashi tend to branch off more and hang with other people too.

Kimura is sort of the odd one out ngl, and it’s canon that he hangs out more with other guys in the class. But he sits near most of Group 1, so who’s to say they’re not close, right? He seems to be tightest with Okano and Yada, and he crushes on Kurahashi hehe.

Oh yeah. This group is made of some of the top athletes in the class. Physically, they’re def the strongest imo. We love the jocks

Group 2: Chiba, Hayami, Okajima, Sugaya, Mimura, Nakamura, Fuwa, Ritsu?

Mostly made up of background kids, but nonetheless entertaining

The Artsy Kids™️

They’re scattered across the middle of the classroom but seem to sit near each other generally. I’d say their shared interests bring them closer though

I compare this group to like a standard friend group I’d see in school. They’re like the squad who sticks together from freshman year until past graduation haha.

The boys alone are my favorite part of this group lmao. They’re just chaos, and I love that they had a pre-established friendship from 2nd year, then Mimura fits right in UwU

Art trio kind of have their own thing going on ofc. And Fuwa interacts with them. Chiba is besties with them. We have sniper duo. What’s nice is that 90% of the group has been showin interacting and having friendships. That sadly can’t be said for some others T_T

I’d say the odd ones out are Nakamura and Ritsu lmao. The former doesn’t have a ton of moments or established friendships, and she’s not particularly artsy. And Ritsu...I can’t remember how she joined lol.

Ngl I think this group has the most interesting and creative talents and ways that they contribute to assassination. But they’re generally more supporter types, the ones who hype up the assertive kids.

Group 3: Terasaka, Hazama, Yoshida, Muramatsu, Hara, Itona, Takebayashi

We have the delinquents squad~ No just kidding, I think of them as just the ones who don’t fit in as well in the setting

They took the longest to get used to the class and get along with everyone

They look tougher than they actually are honestly. Muramatsu and Yoshida are soft punks. Terasaka is a big teddy bear deep down, etc.

I think they have the tightest bond amongst all the friend groups. Like...they’re basically a mini found family in 3-E lmao. They’ve been through a lot together, and just are super close.

They immediately open their arms to Itona and take them in after his whole...um, situation. He’s basically the baby of the group lmao.

Hara is of course the Mom Friend but I like to think she’s less so with this group. They treat her more like a close friend rather than someone who needs to take care of them.

Terasaka is their leader just for face. Hazama is the badass who’s actually running things. She has the one braincell always.

Takebayashi is an on-off member for me ngl. I think he’d hang out with them a lot outside of school, and see them as his close friends. But in school, he’s most likely to branch off and hang out with other kids.

A pretty skilled group, nice balance of talents. Almost all of them can cook extremely well, holy shit.

Group 4: Karma, Sugino, Nagisa, Kanzaki, Okuda, Kayano

MY BABIES! My precious children. I unashamedly have such a bias for them.

Ok so...every other group I mentioned so far have a lot of stuff in common, pre-established friendships, close seating, etc

Group 4 has like...none of this lmao.

They’re the wild cards of the class. How did they even get together as a solid group oh my god

I mean...basically Nagisa, Sugino, and Kayano got close by sitting together. Nagisa invited Karma, an old friend. Sugino invited Kanzaki, his crush. And Kayano invited Okuda out of friendliness. And from there...

They are the group of hidden talents/“blades” and I love them for it.

What’s nice about this group in contrast to the others is that it’s clear the guys are tight, and the girls are very close, and it’s decently mixed. They’re just so adorable.

The type of group who don’t hang out as often in class...but would go on a random train trip on the weekends if they’re all free.

They’re spontaneous, ok?

Made up of academic nerds, except for Sugino, but it’s ok. We still love you

I hope this helped a bit, sweetie!! Welcome again to the blog 🥰

[beevean]

Hey Beev, what music style do you think better represents Classic Sonic's character as a whole? (This is for the final section of that old Forces' Classic Sonic music post I was working on months ago, and I'd like to add even more of your input, haha.)

Oh wow! Interesting question, and thank you for asking me :D

The music in the Classic era was just as diverse as it is now and it’s hard to pick a singular style. Not counting the minor games, as interesting to analyze they’d be, we have:

Sonic 1: a very mellow OST, somewhat jazzy (most obvious with Spring Yard), and more “cinematographic”, at least in the intention of Masato Nakamura - most famously, Scrap Brain sounds like a fast version of the credits of the Blade movie, the timpani being the more obvious similarity. Sadlly, with the exception of Green Hill, this OST tends to be overshadowed by what will come next.

Sonic 2: it’s the same composer, but this OST is much more lively, with a better soundfont, longer tunes and absolutely wicked basslines - just compare Green Hill to Emerald Hill, or the two Special Stages themes. There are also many more genres now: salsa, jazz, country, arabic, orchestral, nightmare...

Sonic CD JP: now this is a doozy. Naofumi Hataya and Masafumi Ogata took inspiration from the club genre of the era to create a more “modern” soundtrack, one that would appeal the American public (ha) - fast-paced, full of unintelligible samples (preceding Hideki Naganura’s work by at least a decade), straight up dipping into the New Jazz Swing genre, it sounds nothing like the first 2 games or everything else from this era, but it’s so fondly remembered that Mania’s OST is clearly inspired by this one.

Sonic CD US: this is, much like the actual game, Sonic 1 on steroids. It’s a very atmospheric OST, with less catchy tunes than the original counterpart, but more “ambient”, with wailing guitars, female choirs and peculiar drums - the two Collision Chaos themes are my favorite example to show the polar opposite approaches of the two OSTs. Also, it’s the first Sonic soundtrack that used real instruments, making it a precursor to Adventure’s.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles: it’s hard to peg a single style for this OST, as it goes in all kinds of directions, and of course it’s longer than 1′s and 2′s put together. I would say that the two halves have different styles: Sonic 3 is very much the lovechild of Michael Jackson and Brad Buxter(with a little help of some guy named Jun Senoue), and it shows; Sonic & Knuckles takes inspiration from Sonic 2, but generally less jazzy and more intense - some tracks really sound like they’re begging to be played by a real guitar.

Sonic 3D Blast: we’re starting to approach the end of the ‘90s, and therefore the end of the Genesis era. Why are we even considering this game? Because this OST is basically the fondation for Sonic Adventure’s brilliant soundtrack, as the sheer amount of reused tracks prove. Jun Senoue and Tatsuyuki Maeda pushed the limits of the console to make a truly memorable OST for such a forgettable game. While there aren’t many obvious genres, overall it does sound like a nice mix of Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles (helped by some of the best sounds the Genesis could produce): Senoue brings back the energy of the former, Maeda the intensity of the latter.

And I’m not even considering Richard Jacques’ work, which was the living incarnation of the late ‘90s!

So... which is the style that fits Classic Sonic better? 

The big love letter to the Classic series that is Mania used CD as an inspiration, and while Mania’s OST is excellent and one of my favorites... I don’t automatically associate New Jazz Swing with Classic Sonic. Before Mania, it was only in one game, the odd one in the bunch too.

3D Blast is my favorite Genesis soundtrack, and as I said it combines the best of two worlds (plus it’s just full of bangers), but it influenced the next era more than the Classic one. The same could be said for the American OST of CD - and besides, tracks like this are nothing like Sonic anyway.

Sonic 1 is the first one and all, but that mellow style fits that particular game more than Classic as a whole, I think the closest OST to this style was Advance 1, actually - another slow-paced, simple game.

So the choice is narrowed down to the ultra-popular Sonic 2 and the refined Sonic 3 & Knuckles. And I’ll be honest, while I think S3&K has higher “highs” compared to S2... my brain immediately jumps to the latter. When I think of Classic Sonic, I think of Genesis brass (the real deal, not that fake synth they used in Forces), twang basses, a swingy rhythm (too many to choose lol), and tons of energy.

Only one Classic track in Forces came close to this description. The others sound more like either a pale imitation of Sonic 1 or modern tracks with a bad soundfont, and that’s when they’re not a complete insult (no i won’t link to it you know what i’m talking about :V).

I can’t wait to read your analysis, and I hope I’ve been of help ^^

[ichika27]

Chuubyou Gekihatsu Boy

I watched an episode of this every week alongside watching ‘Mairimashita! Iruma-kun’ but I didn’t think I’d like it so much that I wasn’t able to do individual episode posts like I did the latter.

I only heard about this anime’s existence on tumblr, got intrigued and found out it was originally a Vocaloid song that got an LN and now an anime adaptation and quickly watched it cause Muse Asia also uploads it on their yt channel.

The series ended last week on it’s 11th episode (yeah, not even 12th which is sad cause I thought I still at least have a week before saying goodbye to this show) so now I thought of posting my thoughts on it. The few character screenshots I took were from the last episode as a result.

The Story:

Chuubyou Gekihatsu Boy’ is about Hijiri Mizuki, a transfer student, who got recruited by the school’s Hero Club much to her dismay. She wanted to live a peaceful life but the memebers of the club she got dragged into are all chuunibyou and they’re convinced she’s one of them. Now called ‘Pink’, she goes on various little misadventures with the gang as they fulfill certain request from many different people.

The Characters:

Hijiri Mizuki - Our heroine - called ‘Pink’ by the others, especially Noda. She reluctantly joins the Hero Club who would drag her along in their missions. She loves puzzles and want to live peacefully and is often exasperated with the weird antics of her clubmates. Being the only ‘sane, non-chuuni’ member of the club, she acts like the audience surrogate and is the POV character of the series. She may or may not have actual special powers.

Noda Yamato - the team leader and calls himself ‘Red’. The loudest and most enthusiastic member of the group who thinks of himself as a hero. He calls everyone by their color-based codenames that he assigned himself. He is very athletic (like really athletic) and uses his skills to help people. He’s kind and friendly but has trouble accepting a ‘no’ from people he wants to recruit in their club (like Mizuki and Futaba)

Takashima Tomoki - takes up the codename ‘Yellow’ and is a pretty boy who could’ve been popular with girls except even though he does have a bit of narcissistic streak, he doesn’t do well talking to real girls and has already devoted his heart, soul, and entire wallet to his waifu ‘Sora-chan’. He’s one of the least chuuni member of the group and can hold normal conversations with others unless it’s about his beloved Sora-chan then he won’t stop being a fanboy and would associate things with her. He’s nice and wouldn’t hesitate in joining whatever antics the other members get into and would go along with their fantasies.

Nakamura Kazuhiro - is dubbed ‘Black’ and the most in deep with his chuunibyou self. He calls himself and prefers to be called ‘Ryuushouin Touga’ and believes he’s reincarnated from a guy who was a half-demon, half-angel hybrid who has a strong power he must repress or it would mean chaos. The manner in which he talks, the way he describes anything, and his poses and what he trained his pet bird to say is a part of his chuunibyou self.

Tsukumo Rei - ‘Purple’. Thinks of himself as a schemer and would often act like he’s a badass and mysterious loner but in reality, he’s easily scared and he’s good at houseworkand cares about their cat Benjamin. He also enjoys being in the club despite his loner attitude (that is just a chuunibyou act). He can be easily persuaded to do things through either scaring him (like his what his sisters do) or through flattery (like telling him he’s totally the only one who can do this certain thing). He usually ends up arguing with Futaba once he joins in their group.

Mikuriya Futaba - ‘Green’. The last member to join in the Hero Club. He’s good at a lot of things and with his cool and aloof personality he easily became popular with girls at their school. He transferred from overseas and as such, he peppers his sentences with English words. He might not act like a chuunibyou but he has his own secrets. He does enjoy doing club activities though and would often get in an arguement with Rei.

My Thoughts:

Okay, so when I looked this up before when it’s still on it’s first week, everyone says it’s a ‘reverse harem’ as it does have the beginnings of one - lone female MC joining an all boy’s club and they’re all good-looking. I expected as such, too but as weeks passed by, I realized it’s not happening. The romance is nearly non-existence with the exception of a few ship tease scenes with a few characters but they’re not really put into focus. The entire show is them all building their friendship with each other especially in the case of Mizuki and Futaba who are both transfer students and the last to join the group. Also, Tomoki only loves Sora-chan lol.

I really liked this show though. Yeah it’s cringy when you watch them acting all weird but it’s not as bad as other shows which also relies on cringe comedy and the reason why is that, to me, what causes most of the ‘pain’ isn’t the embarrassing thing the characters do but the reaction from people around them. Seeing them humiliate themselves is painful and funny to watch but here, there isn’t that as many of the other characters outside the Hero club are used to their chuunibyou actions that they don’t really get a big reaction anymore except from Mizuki who is new.

Also, I expected them to fail or at least cause more trouble than they are able to help when fulfilling requests as in what happens to other shows with quirky characters but here, the only ones they trouble are themselves because they usually go too over the top. They don’t really cause much trouble with everyone else (except that one time at the temple and what I feel is irrational disapproval from the student council) and everyone in and out of their school is thankful for their existence and appreciates their help - I mean, it’s obvious with them getting a bunch of request asking for help from not just students but other people in town which wouldn’t continue if people viewed them as a nuisance which isn’t the case at all.

It’s really fun to watch though - their personality and the way they show their chuunibyou-ness is funny and seeing them slowly becoming real friends (with Mizuki and Futaba’s cases esp.) or showing that they really are friends despite the way they act (esp. in Rei’s case) is heartwarming. I wish I had friends like these in school back then, actually. I mean they’re accepting of how weird you are and overall they just have fun! Them also showing enthusiasm when people ask them for help and them wanting to be able to do so is also nice to watch.

It’s just really cute at times, too!! Futaba speaking in English can feel strange at times and the hints about Mizuki probably having real powers is interesting and Rei doing housework is cute. I’d watch a season 2 if they’d ever make one. There’d be an OVA next year, I hear so I’d probably make a post on that once I watch it.

The theme song is the Vocaloid song created by rerulili with the same name as the title of the show which is where the entire thing originated from but the ones singing are the voice actors for the Hero club (if you search it up on yt, someone had already posted the full version or you can listen to the original one sung by Kagamine Len or the various cover versions that accumulated for years sung by many utaite). The ending song is also a nice and more peaceful song compared to the upbeat OP.

It’s kinda sad this show doesn’t have many fans unlike many shows from this season. I also saw that there were those who dropped it after episode 1. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea but if you’re into comedy, friendship, and could tolerate chuunibyou weirdness then I recommend you try this show at least!

[misfit-among-the-angels]

Hey! :) cotton candy: three places you want to travel to? / rocky road: favorite songs at the moment? / chocolate chip: what's your most popular post? / key lime: where do you want to be right now?

Heyy!Cotton candy: three places you want to travel to?PragueMunichParis

Rocky road: favorite songs at the moment?The rising sun(you know, because of Shinsuke Nakamura, lol), Eponaby Eluveitieand Ravenblackby Edguy

Chocolate chip: what’s your most popular post?probably this one http://ddraconian-love.tumblr.com/post/161036202881/so-since-ive-reached-my-first-1k-followers-thank

Key lime: where do you want to be right now?In the forest or somewhere but not in Lithuania

Thank youu!

[immaletyoufinsihbutonew]

The “Yaoi” on Ice Discourse: Perspective of A Yaoi Fan

I am an avid fan of Yuri on Ice. It’s a great show from what I can see, and it does represent one gay relationship healthily in mainstream anime. I think it was incredibly created, and I really love it. But before I loved Yuri on Ice, I loved yaoi/yuri a whole lot more.That’s where the conflict starts. The main reason I didn’t jump on the fandom bandwagon was because there was this habit within the fandom to put the show on a higher pedestal in terms of representation. First off, there’s something fundamentally wrong with that. Yes, they did depict a healthy lgbt relationship, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the only method or depiction out there, and that’s where yaoi/yuri comes in.

When I started being a fan, I was really deep in my sexuality crisis, and it made me really suicidal. Yaoi/yuri not only potrayed the relationships I envisioned romantically, it answered some of the questions I couldn’t dare myself to ask. Like, if I came out and I was kicked to the curb, do I need to stay with the partner I gave up my family with because that’s ethical? Or, can I possibly be someone who is respected and seen as moral if I was lgbt? Some did a good job and some did a bad job, but at the end of the day, these series saved me as a person, and helped me become an open minded being.  To see a show that’s mainstream do that was really uplifting, but I wouldn’t  say that it was the only lgbt show that ever did that. And when people like me started to say that, we got back the yaoi/yuri is homophobic message. 

And when I got that, I was furious. Are you kidding me? The one thing that kept me from OD because of my sexuality crisis was now homophobic?  So I made a post on my side blog about it, and I got actual death threats from people who never knew me or my background. All you cared was that hypersexualized myself apparently. Yeah, those series are sexual and can be fetishizing with the wrong author, but it also answered questions that, in all honestly Yuri on Ice could never have done. I don’t blame fans completely, however. I think the connotation yuri/yaoi had was always negative. But I’m here to prove that it isn’t the case. Since I see most people calling out yaoi instead of yuri, I’ll use yaoi as an example. I’m going to be recommending series that I found helpful during my sexuality crisis, but only the yaoi end of the stick. If you want yuri reccs, please shoot me as message. Without further ado:

LGBT Friendly Yaoi ( Top Five, Not in Order) 

1) Soubi Yamamoto Films -  I feel like these films fit the taste of Yuri on Ice fans best. They are films that are absolutely stunning in art and style, and they are rich in depth and beauty. They also depict healthy LGBT relationships quite well, even though in all honestly, only 3 have come out. They don’t discuss hard hitting topics like homophobia or abuse that much, but they do discuss things like moving on in relationships and just a lot of very... human themes. And they don’t, or rarely talk about sexual behaviors if the sex isn’t your thing. 

Piece I would reccomend:  Kono Danshi, Ningyo Hiroimashita (very gorgeous, helped with insecurities and the fear of rejection from people I loved, doesn’t try to make any character feminine in order to fetishize) 

2) Orgretsu Tanaka Manga - the main complaint I see with Yuri On Ice fans is how they feminize the bottoms in order to fetishize gay relationships. This author is probably the best at denying that claim, and also one of my favorite manga, and I mean manga in general, artists of all time. They don’t shy away from topics like abuse and the causes of it, they don’t shy away from homophobia, and they don’t shy away from BDSM or anything that would be considered too taboo. In this author’s eyes, or pen, human beings are complex beautiful characters, and they don’t hesitate to show you that. Topics like abuse and homophobia are addressed and not romanticized. The abusive, homophobic people are still human and you can still see that, but their actions are never forgiven by this author.

Piece I would recommend:  Sabita Yoru Demo Koi wa Sasayaku (discusses homophobia and abuse without romanticizing it, if that’s what you’re looking for, very meaningful) (WARNING: ABUSE, HOMOPHOBIA)

3)  Shungiku Nakamura Works - to be honest, the reason I recommend any of her works is because she is one of the few authors who are actually popular in certain pockets of mainstream anime. Even though I find her pretty average in her more popular works, she does discuss things in her pieces that helped me as not just someone lgbt, but someone who was growing dependent on romantic relationships. She writes about topics that I wouldn’t normally bring up when discussing lgbt rights. She talks about the pining you felt towards a straight person, if you identified as someone who wasn’t. She talks about how homophobia can be tragic, and she describes the loss of love so touchingly. Her peices actually have anime adaptions, so if that’s more appealing to you compared to manga, go for it.

Piece I would recommend: (this is hard, because I personally identified with Hybrid Child, but when talking to my friends, they found The World’s Greatest Love better representation) I’m going with my gut instinct, and putting... both lol. Although I would say that Hybrid Child was richer in serious topics, and really helped me out. Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi (The World’s Greatest Love) was more for... feel good vibers. 

4) Harada - in the yaoi fandom, this author is NOTORIOUSLY known for writing psychological horrors. The last thing they fear is discussing controversial topics. Almost all the characters in their series do something fucked up, and the main goal is to see how fucked up can get. But what I really liked about Harada is that, when I was younger, I excused some of my not so amazing behavior on things like homophobia. I was very possessive of the people I couldn’t have and did a lot of shitty things. Harada showed me how that was dangerous. I’m not saying all people are like me, but Harada humanizes the worst kinds of people without romanticizing them. So I would totally recommend. Although I the recommendation I make is a little more vanilla compared to their other works, because I’m not gonna throw people in a ring of fucked up mentalities that quickly lol. This recommendation is probably the least happy recommendation of them all, but it’s realistic and it will gut you like a fish if you happen to think saying you crushed on your friend’s love interest in order for your friend not to go out with them. Because your friend was straight and you were attracted to them. (me)

Piece I would recommend: Yatamomo (WARNING: child abuse, rape, mental illness)

5) Historical Pieces - call this cheating, but I REALLY mean it. Historical pieces in any yaoi will give you a sense of the struggle in homophobia, or at least a decent lgbt relationship. I find that a lot of the male yaoi mangakas like to fall in this realm because it’s a way to prove to people that being gay wasn’t just a modern century thing, and it was a part of your lives, whether you liked it or not. There are literally so many to chose from. Brownie points for the ones that are tagged with tragedy, because those REALLY portray homophobia well.  

Piece I would recommend: Est Em’s Carmen (truly tragic) (WARNING: homocide)

This took me awhile. Please don’t let this post flop lol. My main point is that yaoi isn’t just a 30 second clip of Boku No Pico. It’s a evolving genre that’s bustling with writers who experience their own struggles with homophobia. Love your genre, but please don’t shit on someone else’s to put yours on a higher pedestal. 

And these aren’t the only ones. You can explore yaoi/yuri as genre yourself, but please keep in mind that it’s a genre, not a whole entire piece. 

[mononohke-archive]

Anime Roundup Pt.2 - Fall 2016 [Spoilers]

More rambling~

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable [8/10]

Another season of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has come and gone, and it’s been quite a wild ride. Personally, I think it was about on par with the first season of JJBA. I liked it better than Stardust Crusaders because I liked the main characters better and the plot was not as much of a repetitive “monster of the week” affair, but unfortunately, it seems like they didn’t put as much effort into the animation and production values. This 39 episode season was also a full 11 episodes shorter than the two 25 episode seasons of SDC, despite the manga being slightly longer. It definitely felt a little rushed, and I’ve had my manga reader friends inform me that some of their favorite parts were cut out.

But there were a lot of things I really loved about DiU as well. Josuke quickly became my favorite Jojo after Joseph, and I like Jotaro more in this part than I ever did in SDC. The villain, Kira, is also one of my favorite characters period and so is Rohan Kishibe, played brilliantly by Takahiro Sakurai as usual. Many of the stands are hilarious and creative in this part too. I also loved the whole Scooby Doo-esque mystery of a serial killer in the town and the slice of life elements. The scale was brought down from “evil villains try to take over the world” to one serial killer who “just wants to live a normal life”... and kill women and take their hands to satisfy his compulsions, of course. It was a really refreshing change from the typical formula.

The only thing or character that I didn’t like is Koichi - partially because he gets more attention than Josuke, kind of like Polnareff in SDC (except much less likable) and partially because his voice actor, Yuki Kaji, is fucking annoying as him. Unfortunately, on top of that, he’s the character who spends most of his screen time yelling exactly what’s happening, like Polnareff and Speedwagon before him, except his voice is literally ear-splittingly irritating.

I sincerely hope that in the next part, they don’t take shortcuts like they did with this part. JJBA is one of my favorites, so I will still be waiting for it eagerly.

Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru [5/10]

I wasn’t expecting much from this anime and it still disappointed me lol. Touken Ranbu is basically a moe anime (but with a diversity in character designs that moeblobs wish they had), except the characters are male. Some of it was sort of mildly entertaining and cute, but for the most part, it was pretty boring.

... Maybe I’m just peeved because they didn’t focus that much on characters I personally find attractive, like Kogitsunemaru. You know the only reason I watched this show in the first place was because I’ve seen a ridiculous amount of yaoi for it on pixiv? The porn was nice, but I would never play the game itself, so I figured the anime would give me a little more insight into the characters and their relationships. The anime did, but it still failed at entertaining me.

So, yeah, this anime perfectly average and forgettable. Only watch if you’re super dedicated to the game.

Poco’s Udon World [9/10]

The biggest surprise of this season for me was this show. Yes, this show is my AotS (by about .2 points) over that other anime which got super popular and had a ton of praise. Well, we all go against the grain sometimes and this is my turn. Poco’s Udon World is an underrated masterpiece in my opinion. This show came off the heels of the much more popular Sweetness and Lightning, which came out the previous season. Both shows have a similar premise - a young man in his early 30s with black haired (voiced by Yuuichi Nakamura) becomes a single father due to sudden circumstances and has to take care of an adorable toddler-aged child. There are some key differences, of course, but they are still similar enough to be comparable.

Personally I think Poco’s Udon World is far superior (for reasons I will discuss), and it saddens me that it hasn’t got half the popularity of S&L. (Probably because there isn’t a cute waifu character as one of the mains, heh.) So what makes PUW so good to me? Well, besides all the cute and the incredibly heartwarming/touching nature of the show, it’s also just very well-written. The characters and their development, as well as a plethora of themes I don’t see being portrayed very often in anime or when they are brought up, are handled in ways that make me uncomfortable.

Here is just a short list of themes PUW manages to masterfully cover in a 12-episode, single cour season:

career vs family

career and family separately

fatherhood

grief and nostalgia

growing up

love

And those are just the main themes? There are other things that are covered on a more subtle level. See, I explained in my review of S&L that it was lacking an exploration of its themes and was constrained by its repetitive slice of life format. Most of the supporting characters were not very fleshed out either. PUW fixes all or most of these problems.

Every episode brings something new to the table and there is no set episode format. I also absolutely love that every character outside of Poco and Souta feels like they could be a real person, instead of being a plot device or 2-dimensional character. They all have lives outside of their interactions with the main characters, so that even when they don't get much screen time, they feel fleshed out. All of them represent a different sort of family or different sort of lifestyle or different sort of mindset, which you can easily compare to Souta's situation because they all serve as foils to him. A lot of supporting characters even get their own character development like Nakaji and Rin (Souta' sister).

And... okay, I want to analyze this show in-depth one day, but I need to rewatch it (maybe several times) before I do. Trust me, it’s cute and all, but it’s much more than that too. You might be surprised at how high it is on my Top 10 Anime of 2016 list.

Kiss Him, Not Me [7/10]

After watching two absolutely terrible otome/harem anime that really pissed me off (Uta no Prince Sama and Kamigami no Asobi), I went back on my decision to never watch an otome because this one was about a fujoshi and written by a yaoi mangaka. Somehow... it paid off. I came out of this pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this show.

Don’t get me wrong, there is still plenty that annoyed me (the fatshaming, how Serinuma’s voice changes, the shoujo cliches, etc), but overall I enjoyed it more than I disliked it. Although I was only rooting for two of the love interests, Mutsumi-senpai (who is mild mannered, friendly, genuine, liked her when she was fat) and Nishina (the gay option™, also a fujoshi and otaku who has a lot in common with Serinuma, also liked her even when she was fat), I didn’t really mind or hate the others either. All of them still treated her more respectfully than LIs in the other otome I watched.

The ending was brilliant too, and if they make a second season, I would still watch it for the characters and humor.

Yuri!!! on Ice [9/10]

How do I even begin to tackle Yuri!!! on Ice? This is the AoTS for sure (in general, not to me personally) and is by far the runaway smash hit in terms of both popularity and ratings. This anime is a game changer, to put it lightly. It did something no other popular anime has done before, and the praise is honestly well deserved. But, hey, remember that it’s still not perfect. In fact, up until the very last episode, I was debating on whether it deserved an 8 or a 9 on MAL. I settled on a 9 (a low nine by my standards) only because I cried a whole lot the last episode and realized that the overall impact of the show is bigger than my minor gripes. What are those minor gripes?

#1) Off-model/inconsistent animation. I will give a slight break to the animators because I know that animating ice skating is very complex and intricate, especially if you consider just how much ice skating there is in almost every episode. There are about a dozen ice skaters, each with two different 2-minute routines. Yes, many of them are reused multiple times, but regardless it’s still a lot of work. Unfortunately, YoI missed the chance to be stunning all the way through and join the other always-praised animation greats like Cowboy Bebop and much more recently, Mob Psycho 100. Only the first episode truly impressed me with how perfect and fluid the animation was, and I was dearly hoping that they would keep up that level of quality all the way through. Sadly they don’t, but we should all thank the writing of this show for being so damn good and making up for it. Besides, aside from a few, rather obvious off-model shots, it didn’t ever get too bad, not like Cheer Danshi!! from the Summer season.

#2) Slightly rushed pacing. Yeah, some of the events of this anime just go by too fast, especially the beginning few episodes where months pass between Victor arriving in Japan and Yuuri beginning his journey to the Grand Prix Final. It’s not really made clear to the viewers how much time has passed, and even I didn’t realize until I read a tumblr post on it. Originally, I wanted a whole other cour so that I could see the ice skaters interact more outside of work, but I think that would be too much as well. One more episode (a full 13 episode cour) would’ve been perfect, imo. Thankfully, we are getting another season, so there will definitely be more time to develop the other side characters and resolve some of the remaining threads! But seriously, I hope they do slow down a little bit in season 2.

Other than that...? Gripes so minor that they’re not even worth mentioning. The amount of good that YoI has done is overwhelming my comparison. I’ll just go through them like a list again because why not?

#1) Viktor and Yuuri’s relationship. A healthy canon gay interracial relationship in a non-yaoi anime. That is just shy of revolutionary in terms of LGBT representation in an anime. “We are born to make history”, indeed. Yes, some other anime have done it too like No.6 and Revolutionary Girl Utena. But was No.6, the other one where the main couple is M/M, popular like YoI is? Not particularly. Most of the viewership comes from yaoi fangirls or LGBT anime fans seeking an anime with a canon gay ship in it. What about Utena? Well, Utena didn’t have a happy ending, not for the canon lesbian character and not for the main F/F relationship of the show. Nothing is also explicitly stated like it is in YoI. Ofc, Utena by the very nature of the show, explicitly states very little but still. There’s also a goddamn kiss!

The best part of this is that Viktor and Yuuri is that, despite their happy ending, they don’t sacrifice depth or conflict between them and the drama doesn’t feel forced either. That balance is hard to achieve and it takes writing talent to pull it off. Every action and reaction feels natural and in-character. The writing featuring them is as good as any well-written romantic drama with a hetero couple! The other great thing is that even though Viktor and Yuuri’s relationship is incredibly important to the narrative and is the main relationship overall, romance is still not the primary genre. It equally shares genres with sports, comedy, and drama.

TL:DR; Their relationship is important. It sets a precedent that a gay couple can be the main couple of an anime and still be wildly successful. Now future manga and anime writers can take risks knowing that they won’t end up being financially compromised due the lgbtphobic culture of Japan.

2) Yuri on Ice perfectly balances its genres. This may not seem that important, but it kind of is and ties into the last point about how romance is not the main genre. If romance were the main genre, then this would be a yaoi/shounen-ai anime and it wouldn’t have gotten nearly as popular as it did. Yuuri’s evolution as an athlete and his desire to win the gold for the first time is just as important as his relationship with Viktor. Yurio, Viktor, and the other skaters’ relationships with each other and ice skating is also given a lot of attention. The love and dedication to ice skating in general is prominent and that passion has attracted the attention of countless professional ice skaters. (In fact, It’s like the anime singlehandedly brought attention to a niche sport that doesn’t get a whole lot of industry unlike American football and soccer/European football.)

There’s also a lot of comedy, which may be hit and miss for some people, but I found it pretty damn hilarious when it happens. Of all the sports anime I’ve seen, only a few others try others bringing in other genres. Most are pure sports because pure sports are usually the most successful (Haikyuu!! and Kuroko no Basket). So far for me, only YoI has successfully melded together all the genres it attempts.

3) Characters. It is said that sports anime highly depends on its characters to be good and set itself apart from other sports anime... and that’s pretty true. Most sports anime follow a rigid, predictable plot structure that doesn’t allow for much creativity on that front, so aside from technical aspects like the production values, the characters’ likability are the only things that it can rely on for originality. Of course, as I’ve already discussed, YoI blends genres and isn’t just pure sports so it has more freedom, but even it follows the same basic plot structure: main character is an underdog (they’re usually underdogs) who wants to win the finals.

So, what about the characters? Honestly, they’re fucking great. The problem with sports anime characters in most cases is that authors will fall back on tired stereotypes. Even the best of sports anime tends to have really obvious archetype characters you can recognize instantly. YoI doesn’t really have that. Yes, some of the characters do follow archetypes a litte, but even in the short amount of time they are given, they end up having miles more depth than the average sports anime character. It helps that we get to see them interacting with each other off the ice too. YoI is a character driven show much more than it is a plot-driven one. The plot is fairly simple, but the characters and their development are the most important part, particularly the main character, Yuuri Katsuki. He is relatable but also very believably talented and multifaceted. Viktor comes off as kind of a passive aggressive jerk at first, but he is one of the kindest and most caring characters in the show. Yurio comes off like an aggressive little brat (and he is still a little shit, I hope he gets more development in s2), but he’s genuinely a prodigy and he cares about Yuuri’s career. Listen, I could keep going and list another 5 characters that I like, but that’s not the point of this review.

That about covers the major things... I could go on, but then I might never shut up. To summarize, YoI is not perfect, but it is still so important for the gains in made for gay representation and besides that, it’s a rich, funny, heartwarming, and interesting portrayal of figure skating. I am sincerely looking forward to season 2 and hope that it’s just as good or even better than season 1.