#my reviews are just 'this script is bad but he makes it good. here's a gut-wrenching observation from the pit of my grief. he's pretty <3'

[jadeluz-official]

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice review - Beetlebabes Galore 

My rating: 8.7/10 

As far as sequels go, this one pays great homage to the original. More spoiler review under the cut. 

The Good

There's some great things about this film, BJ chasing Lydia down, Delores chasing Beej down, Wolf chasing everyone down, it kinda felt like a wacky hunger games. Of course there were problems with pacing, but it's just as gross and crude, if not more than the first movie. 

The wedding. God the wedding is so bonkers and pretty. I wish it just went on for a little longer. I know MK was running low on time at that point but the visuals with the church are so pretty. The blue/green atmosphere is something else. 

We get confirmation that Lydia is BJ's "love of his life" and fully intends to marry her again pretty early in the film. God Beej was such a loose canon in here and it was so fun to see him again. Every single scene he's trying to win her over, and Lydia's just not having it haha. This whole movie was such a shipfest and you can honestly leave the ending up to interpretation. I personally think they're married - they don't need rings. That scene where they end up in the bed was enough confirmation for me. 

The parallel with Astrid and Jeremy floating and Beetlebabes floating was my favorite thing the whole movie. Jeremy lets Astrid fall and won't help her back up but Beetlejuice makes sure he has a firm hold on Lydia. There's something about manipulation and revenge with Beej/Delores & Rory/Lydia too. Beej is coming from a place of genuine, disgusting love. Everyone else is doing it for their own gain. 

Wolf was also so fun to watch. He's a great addition to the BJ franchise as like a cop/criminal duo with him and BJ. I would've loved to see more of them interacting. Astrid's dad was also a total sweetheart. I wish he had just a little more time in the film. 

The Bad

I will say, the ending was very dissatisfying for BJ. He had done everything asked again, and Lydia signed an actual contract for the marriage this time. He saved Astrid from the Afterlife and saved Lydia from a doomed marriage. But hey, at least we got a hand kiss and that's all I needed LMAO 

Delores. Everything about her felt like an afterthought. We don't really see her much after she smashes Lydia's photo. She's made to be this huge threat and we don't really get to see it. There was a lot of missed potential drama with BJ and Lydia putting on the rings (which were cut, damn it all). I do like how they smashed Rory and Delores together with the sandworm though, girl was definitely thinking about going for him 😂

Astrid. She wasn't a bad character but she wasn't great. She was just very naive and I had a hard time liking her character. The Deetz are the opposite of naive, so it just felt off to me. And especially because Delia bites the bullet by venomous snake bites. It just felt like they were dumbed down just a tad too much. Lydia was the only one who kept a strong head the whole film. 

The tone of the film vs the trailers. In the trailers, we see a very serious nature about the film. Whereas in film, there's so many plots going on in such a small timeframe, it's a little hard to take anything seriously. And speaking of cut, the editing crew makes a hard zoom onto the ring on the floor and never does anything with the shot. There's def some editing issues/plot issues that got cut or scrapped. We'll have to see when the official script releases.

So....

It's a mess. But it's a fun mess. The visuals are beautiful, the characters are fun. It's such a fun rollercoaster of emotions. I'd definitely go see it again.

[autumnleaf1111]

𝙸𝚏 𝚋𝚜𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚜𝚎𝚝:

The “Chuuya shoots Dazai” scene

༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒

Chuuya: this is probably the gayest scene we’ve done… Asagiri! What are even doing anymore!?

Asagiri: making the audience suffer— I MEAN, we need drama.

Dazai: uh huh…

Fyodor: nah fam, y’all two have done gayer shit.

Yosano: “you used corruption believing in me? How beautiful…” you two made that scene so much gayer than it was intended.

Ranpo: WHERE IS ED?!?!?!

Nikolai: Yo, Fedya! You got the garlic breath and pecans?

Fyodor: yup! You got the knives and water?

Nikolai: mhm!

Yosano: tf is yall about to do…?

Fyodor: Dawg, Our business, is our business so kindly kys.

Ranpo: DID NO ONE HEAR ME?!?!

Dazai: yall here sum’ ?

Chuuya: Nah, I think I still got some water in my ear from when we were supposed to drown me and Fyodor.

Higuchi: I can smack your gay ass upside the head if you need?

Chuuya: where tf did you come from?!

Higuchi: My dead mother, NOW WHY THE FUCK DID YOU TAKE MY SHERBET?!?!

Gin: uh, that was me, my bad fam.

Higuchi: I’m telling your brother you have a boyfriend.

Gin: BRO WHAT?! IM INTO GIRLS TF

Higuchi: get me new sherbet then

Gin: no, tf? It’s like 3 bucks, you’re not broke.

Mori: both of you stfu before I take away your crowns.

Gin: whatever

Higuchi: *rolls eyes*

Fukuzawa: Mori, your daughter is trying to break into the alcohol room again.

Mori: Motherfuck— ELISE ELORI ANYA, WHAT DID WE TALK ABout………slowly fades from the room

Kunikida: has anyone seen Katai? We were supposed to go to the new cafe later but I can’t find him.

Nikolai: I saw him by the cameras, I think he was trying to fix it or smth, idfk

Kunikida: Thanks Kolya—

Fyodor: Oi! Watch it Kunikida, only I can call him Kolya.

Kunikida: I get it Fyodor, you’re in love with Nikolai but that doesn’t mean you need to be such a simp.

Fyodor: I am not—

Chuuya, Dazai, Yosano, Higuchi, Gin: Yes you are.

Kunikida: you’re lucky he’s not paying attention, as usual.

Fyodor: alright stfu. Kolya, let’s head out for now, we still got an hour before we gotta be back.

Nikolai: ‘ight, Let’s get boba!

Fyodor: whatever you’d like, Kolya!

Dazai: Nah…they’re so gay for each other, yet too stupid to realize it.

Yosano: you can’t be talking, you’re just as stupid.

༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒

Scene: Dead Apple, Chuuya’s gotta put his face in Dazai’s crotch—

༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒

Chuuya, reviewing the script: *murmurs* then you lean your head close in Dazai's lap— I NEED TO DO WHAT?!?!

Dazai, sitting across from Chuuya: nah, wtf, BRO?!?! ASAGIRI, IM COMING FOR YOU TOMORROW.

Chuuya: There's no way I'm doing that! It's ridiculous!

Dazai: I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to do acting with you.

Chuuya: we are gonna be laughing the whole time— what is Asagiri trying to accomplish?!

Yosano, sitting beside Asagiri, handing him a container of random foods: thank you for doing this, they need to get their feeling together, so if this doesn’t work, I’m locking them in a closet until they talk shit out.

Asagiri, sipping on his soda: so, who should we do next?

Yosano: hm… how about my idiot brother Ranpo and his “best friend” Poe, they are so in love it’s unbelievable.

Asagiri: wait— they aren’t already together?!

Yosano: Nope! Sadly.

༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒

Scene: Nikolai frees Fyodor and Dazai, then calls Fyodor his best friend.

༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒

Fyodor: holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!

Sigma: Bro, you good?

Fyodor: fuck, fuck, FUCK—

Sigma: Uh— Fyodor? Yo! Russian rat bitch, Are you okay?

Chuuya: no, he’s not

Sigma: Why? Tf did Dazai do to him?

Dazai: I didn’t do shit!

Sigma: then why is dawg freaking out like his favorite drag queen just died?

Chuuya: you remember the part where Nikolai held his hands?

Sigma: yeah? Why?

Dazai: well, considering it wasn’t in the script, Fyodor wasn’t expecting his crush to grab his hands so now he’s freaking out.

Nikolai: is Fedya okay?

Dazai: oh he’s fine, he’s just having a gay panic right now.

Nikolai: uh, why?

Chuuya, trying not to laugh: Bro, Nikolai, you grabbing Fyodors hands wasn’t in the script so of course he’s flustered by you, you make him blush all the time.

Nikolai: I make Fedya blush?

Dazai: Every time you get close to him he blushes and is nicer to you than the rest of us, I think Fyodor has a crush on you, Nikolai. I know you like him too.

Chuuya: Dawg, don’t even try to deny it Nikolai, I’ve seen you two have a cuddle session in the break room, you and Fyodor may not be together but you are definitely in love.

Nikolai: ok look, yes, I’m in love with Fedya, but like hell I’m gonna say somthing. I’d rather not ruin what we have now.

Sigma: I’ll lock you two in a closet until you talk about your feelings.

Nikolai: uh— no?!

Chuuya: Nikolai, Fyodor is your best friend and you’re in love with him, he’s in love with you, it’s not that hard to figure out, so tell him you love him.

Nikolai: you have no room to talk, Chuuya, you’re also in love with your best friend.

Chuuya: SHH, he’s literally right there!

Sigma: I’m gonna lock you and Dazai in a closet to talk about your feelings, as well.

Chuuya: no, I’m good

༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒

Scene: Tecchou fighting Kenji

༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒

Kenji: Man, when we finish filming the show, I hope that Jouno gets to live in the end, then you two can have a lovers kiss!

Tecchou: Wait what—

Jouno:What?!

Kenji: oh, c’mon! You two have so much chemistry on screen!

Jouno: Kenji, there are no feelings involved for me and Tecchou, the show isn’t even a love story!

Kenji: With the way Asagiri has everyone acting in this, it’s basically a BL

Tecchou: Kenji, why do you know what BL is, aren’t you 10 or something?

Kenji: I’m 14, not 10, but still, even off cameras you two act like a married couple.

Jouno: we don’t act like a married couple.

Kenji:I could convince Asagiri to have you two adopt me in the show later…

Tecchou: No—

Jouno: just drop it, he’s not letting this go.

Tecchou: Whatever, let’s go back to the dorms.

Jouno: Mkay

༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒

Scene: none, just them being dumbasses

༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒༒

Higuchi, kicks the break room door open: if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.

Everyone:…

Higuchi: Damn, all y’all hoes depressed.

Q: you didn’t clap either.

Higuchi: SHUT THE FUCK UP—

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elise, trying to go with Dazai when he left the Mafia

Dazai:you can’t go…

Elise, still trying.

Dazai: no…I’m sorry, you can’t go.

Elise: fuck you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gin, sitting on the steps to her apartment.

Some lady walking by: and they were roommates.

Gin: oh my god they were roommates.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elise: CHUUYA! Is that weed?!?!

Chuuya: no— it’s a crayon—

Elise: I’m calling the police!!!

Elise, types 911 on the microwave waves and they answer.

Chuuya:….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dazai: you either buckle down and do your work or you’ll end up at McDonalds.

Q: we going to McDonalds if it don’t do my work?!

Dazai: No?!?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kajii, poor a box of cereal in a bowl but lemons come out.

Kajii: welp, when life gives you lemons.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chuuya: Q, let me see what you have!!!!

Q: A KNIFE!!!!

Chuuya: NO!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[hqlmsbury]

A good girls guide to murder tv show review

Haven’t been on here in a hot sec but I just really feel like venting about this show. I LOVE the books they are incredible and pip and Ravi are SOSO special. The tv show had all the capabilities to be a great adaptation, I don’t mind minor changes that make it easier for first time viewers but a lot of it rubbed me the wrong way. Here are some of my thoughts so spoilers ahead!

• nats character. What in the actual world made them decide to merge Nat with (Chloe? I think was the name) Andies other best friend. It changed Nats ENTIRE character. It lost that interest factor which made it seem like Nat really could be the bad guy, it felt unnecessary and disappointing to her character

• my pipravi moments. Why was there not one single Pipravi moment that was the same in the books. Literally not one. Pip doesnt share her location so Ravi has to go to Cara at the end. Ravi doesn’t go into Becca’s house at first because he’s scared, rightfully so but Ravi would never have endangered Pip like that! Ravi wanting to move away immediately after they figured out sals innocence???? The moments they got lacked the essential chemistry that all those little moments had. There was no reason for Pip to go into Becca’s house alone Ravi easily could’ve went with her just like in the book and we could’ve gotten the “real men wear floral while trespassing” line. Those small but important moments that make the characters and the relationship.

• Pip was not as smart as in the books. I sort of understand why they made it seem that way as they had to progress the show quicker but I think certain things were handed to her. Finding Howie was one of those scenes why was it so quick, easy, and almost painless. And later on he’s barely mentioned at all. Where was the blackmailing?!?!

• going of the last point why did Naomi tell Pip about Maxs secret instagram, again it made it seem like pip could not figure it out herself, there was no sneaking around and logging into Naomi’s computer. It was all handed to her

• the girl in Mr. Wards attic. Why did she know who she was lol? I think it unfairly made it look like Mr. Ward was more evil than he really was. In the book he really did think it was Andie and that he was helping her. Keeping this girl “trapped” in his attic because he told her he killed Sal was also an unnecessary part of the story.

• having Victor Amobi be suspected?!?!? What in the world was that. It added drama that was completely unnecessary to the story, Victor is such a great character and he is so special to Pip in the books. I feel adding that was something they tried to do to “spice things up” when sticking to the original storyline would’ve been a much better path.

• Barney’s death. I can’t recall if it was ever mentioned Becca was the one who killed Barney but again where was that suspenseful feeling? And also this was a purposeful kill when in the books Becca actually did release Barney and he was killed on accident.

• a couple of little things. I felt like the actors they cast for Pips friend group looked way older, however Asha who plays Cara grew on me and I really enjoyed her as Cara.

If they make a second season I will watch it and hope for better and hopefully they get more funding and Holly is more involved with the script. These are only a few of the things I was disappointed about because overall I don’t think it did the books justice at all. I enjoyed pip as Emma and think Zain did a good job with Ravi considering the script they had.

[ponett]

I have now finally seen the Mario movie. It was Pretty Good. Here are my wordy thoughts on it. (I am going to spoil the entire movie. Duh.)

In many ways, the Mario movie does what I wish the first Sonic movie had done. They just took the characters and the premise and the world from the games, and made it a straightforward animated adventure movie. It's bright and colorful and remixes things JUST enough to include fun elements from multiple games, and it doesn't make Mario get adopted by James Marsden or whatever. It even has the music!

That's all you really need, right? Right...?

I'll get this out of the way up front. Chris Pratt was fine. He's fine

If anything, it really feels like they did the movie a disservice by letting us hear so little of the Mario voice in the previews. It took one scene for Pratt to disappear into the role for me. It was totally fine. If anything, I found Charlie Day's normal voice coming out of Luigi WAY more distracting, even if I did like him in the role.

Everyone else was pretty good, for the most part. Jack Black was obviously very good as Bowser, but I'm biased. Seth Rogen does the Seth Rogen laughs as Donkey Kong, but I thought DK was fun, too. (I liked his little rivalry with Mario where he was just constantly giving him shit.) The only casting choice I truly hated was Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong. I hated every line that came out of his mouth. He sounds atrocious. Just the worst. I swear to fucking god if they do a DKC movie and we have to hear him for 90 minutes

I did think Peach was lacking, but that was on the script, not Anya Taylor-Joy's performance. It's cool to see Peach fight, but it's one of those all too common instances where the writers put so much effort into making the main girl kick ass and be an effortlessly confident girlboss that they forgot to give her an actual personality. Not that I'd point to Super Princess Peach and its mood swing superpowers as positive representation or anything, but there's a happy middle ground, surely. Shrek was 22 years ago, just having the princess do flying kung fu kicks isn't enough.

Okay. With the voices out of the way, let's talk about the big picture:

It's way better than the words "Illumination Mario movie" implied, and I mostly enjoyed my time with it. The spirit of Mario is there 100%. But I'd also describe it as "ruthlessly efficient."

This was perhaps the main complaint critics had, and they were absolutely right. People have responded to these totally average reviews with "Well, what did you expect? Shakespeare?! It's MARIO!!" Like, yes, I would prefer it if the movie I paid to see had writing that was good instead of bad. What a shocker. My issue isn't that it's not "high-brow" enough. The problem is that it feels mercenary. It feels like an editor went through and deleted almost every line of dialogue that isn't some form of exposition, at the expense of the pacing. Any scene that's not a montage or some sort of action is kept as short as they could make it, with barely any room for embellishment, character interaction, or anything other than the bare minimum word count to hit all the typical Save the Cat Hollywood screenwriting 101 story beats to the letter. There aren't even as many jokes as you might think (and the ones that are there are extremely hit or miss, including a lot of the slapstick with Mario himself).

Mario and Peach's little arc together in the front half of the film is probably the worst example of this pacing. Even having read reviews that complained about how fast Peach goes from meeting Mario (by her admission the first other human she's ever met) to deciding to train him as the new savior of the Mushroom Kingdom, I was SHOCKED at how fast it was. They don't even lampshade it.

Peach takes Mario straight into the big training sequence where he learns how to use mushrooms and jump over platforming obstacles. Peach is apparently already a hypercompetent platforming pro and a great fighter, so there's no clear reason why she's taking the time to train this random guy to be half as good as her when the world is in danger. Then they set off on their adventure, Toad joins them, and we get a VERY brief travel montage. It's about thirty seconds total - just long enough to give Peach a line about how she wants to protect this beautiful world of hers to try and give her some stakes. We get the genre-mandated nighttime campfire heart to heart, which is exactly long enough to have Mario say he misses Luigi and to have Peach give the two sentence summary of her origin story and not a second longer. Then they reach the Kongs, and their big journey is complete. (They barely interact for the rest of the movie.) So much of the movie is like this - always ready to get on to the next scene as soon as a new one starts.

I'm not criticizing the script because I expect The Super Mario Bros. Movie to be a prestige drama - although there are certainly halfhearted attempts at a dramatic arc. The stuff with Mario's family was a fun enough idea, but again, ruthless efficiency. We get one quick scene with them at the start to give Mario some pathos, because I guess Save the Cat said he's gotta have some pathos. And then Mario gets his dad's approval amidst the action of the final battle in Brooklyn to resolve his arc, just so the movie can end as quickly as possible once Bowser is defeated. (Despite now having the approval of their family and their community back in Brooklyn, Mario and Luigi move to the Mushroom Kingdom off-screen without a single word dedicated to this decision, because that's where they live in the games.)

Look. I am not comparing it to The Godfather. Don't give me that shit. I am not asking for an extra half hour to explore Mario and Luigi's childhood trauma. I am not asking for the complex inner workings of the Mushroom Kingdom monarchy. I know this is gonna be a basic Hero's Journey adventure for kids. It just feels like it's turning down so many opportunities to have a little fun with the characters, to let them interact and play off of each other, to let there be some adventure on this adventure. This is the first time we've gotten to see these characters interact with fully voiced dialogue in a very, very long time! "Yeah, it's not High Art, but it's FUN!" Stories are fun! Character interactions are fun! The script could be having so much more fun!! It is adamantly against making the Story parts of this story-driven movie any more Fun than they functionally need to be!!!

Mario, Peach, and Toad's journey to find the Kongs is shorter than the training montage that precedes it. After the opening, Bowser mostly just sits in his castle and waits for the third act to start. Luigi's there, too, but he only gets one scene with Bowser and then the movie mostly forgets he exists until the climax. He doesn't even get to try and sneak out of Bowser's castle and get up to hijinx. He's just there to be a motivation for Mario, so he sits in a cage for half the movie. It's the bare outline of a script with action scenes added in.

Aside from the fact that it's Jack Black singing as Bowser, I feel like this overly-efficient script might be part of the reason why the "Peaches" scene stands out so much. It's a moment that didn't strictly need to be there to keep the plot moving or to provide an action setpiece. It's not even a reference to another Mario thing. It's just a fun and memorable little character moment that's there for its own sake. That's what the movie needed more of. To stop and smell the roses more often. To play in the space.

To be clear, this isn't a unique problem with this movie. Critics have been noting for years that second acts are disappearing from big Hollywood movies in favor of the Act I plot setup and the Act III action, even though Act II is supposed to be where you get to explore your actual premise. And lots of animated movies give me this exact same vibe of being too "screenwriterly," or feeling like they had an executive breathing down their necks and demanding changes based on focus testing. But these common issues are why I come away mostly feeling like the movie is on the better end of "average," rather than totally blowing my mind. You have seen this movie many times before, just not with Mario in it.

And, of course, there's the music. The score by Brian Tyler based on various classic Mario and Donkey Kong tunes (frustratingly all attributed to Koji Kondo) is absolutely beautiful, but it's unfortunately frequently overshadowed by the licensed music. Everyone already complained about things like the use of Take On Me in place of a lovingly arranged DKC medley, but it feels illustrative of the tug of war the movie is caught in the middle of, between wanting to be a lavishly faithful Mario movie and wanting to be a generic tentpole animated adventure movie. Every single licensed song used is the most obvious, overused song they could have picked for the scene. It reeks of cynical executive meddling and it took me out of the movie every time.

But there really was a lot of care and love put into this movie - more than probably any other video game movie ever made, not that that's a high bar. I don't want to underplay that too much amidst all my complaints spurred by the absolutely insane response to the reviews.

Aside from the countless background references that people will be picking apart for years, touches like the Captain Toad tune playing in the background of Toad's introduction or the Mario Kart 8 menu music playing in the kart garage really help bring it to another level of authenticity. I also enjoyed seeing some more obscure Mario enemies that felt like they were picked more for being fun to animate than for being nostalgic and marketable. No matter how many times I sarcastically pointed to the screen and deadpanned "reference. reference." I am not immune to noticing these things and smiling. I am not immune to the DK Rap. These alone don't make the movie good, but it's nice to have a video game movie that feels like it was made by people who like video games.

Most importantly, the animation is great throughout. It's leaps and bounds ahead of other Illumination work, and it's the best the Mario cast has ever looked. They even made Donkey Kong handsome, somehow. They're all so squishy and expressive, and they move so fluidly - especially in the action scenes. I particularly liked the more kinetic ones like the aerial Banzai Bill chase and the Mario Kart sequence. Truly, the Mad Max-inspired car battle on Rainbow Road where Mario literally does the speedrun shortcut is this movie firing on all cylinders.

Other, more hand-to-hand fights nail the Popeye-esque vibe Mario should be going for. He's an underdog who gets the shit kicked out of him by bigger, stronger opponents until he gets his signature powerup and turns the tables on them. My favorite animation of all probably came from the use of Cat Mario to turn the tide in the DK fight. They had so much fun making Mario move like a cat. Again, it feels like a choice made because it'd be fun to animate rather than just a nostalgia move.

It's that animation and that attention to detail that carry the film, really. They elevate it from mediocrity into being a fun watch for a fan like me, albeit one I couldn't help but pick apart with Anthony as we watched it at home. I'm glad I saw it, but there's a lot of room to improve with the inevitable sequel. I hope they do. I can't deny that I had fun with the movie, but I hope next time that fun is partially because of the script instead of in spite of it.

Stray thoughts:

Overall, I would say I enjoyed the movie a lot more than Sonic 1, but probably not as much as Sonic 2. Not that these movies need to be pitted against each other.

I hated the Luma. I hated how hilarious they clearly thought the Luma was. They have the fucking Luma break the fourth wall to end the movie and start the credits. This is going to be a deep cut for fans of bad animated films, but the whole time I was just thinking of the little fish from Romeo & Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss who's just the director's kid saying random nonsense. You know I'm right

I rolled my eyes at the "our princess is in another castle" joke and several other jokes that would have been dated in a gamer webcomic 20 years ago but I guess they had to be there

How much of Brooklyn did Bowser's giant floating castle take out? We know 9/11 happened in this universe because the Freedom Tower is there, hasn't New York been through enough

I can't believe there's a Diskun easter egg

The dog is the most Illumination character design in the movie. It felt like it wandered on set from The Secret Life of Pets

Mario being a gamer and playing Kid Icarus of all things just made me remember this tweet:

Yes Anthony did get mad at me for being thirsty for Bowser

[coricomile]

I think Mos and Bank have good chemistry. And I do feel for Bank, who openly cried on a livestream because of the poor reception of Sunset x Vibes until Mos pulled him away. I'm sure his manager wasn't thrilled, and I can only imagine how hard he's going to be hit when this show gets eaten alive in final reviews, because it's bad.

They put their all into it, but no one could make this work.

The wardrobe and accessories in a show that is focusing on accessories are hideous. Bank is pretty, but not pretty enough to fix a bad script, bland relationship dynamics, and truly hideous styling.

We got endless montages of Sun being objectively bad in his brand new role as president of a failing company by taking his boyfriend out to scenic locations. Lin is also a rich boy heir, and it was mentioned once and never again, but "oh no this is so expensive" first date and the lying about being rich boys are just.... there. And Sun was rewarded for being a supremely bad boss while Chan did everything in his stead.

Sam and Yoh had potential to actually do the poor boy/rich boy dynamic promised from Lin and Sun, but that also fell flat because there wasn't enough time given. Why do they even like each other? Who knows. Sam just looks extra hot with a half updo and no glasses.

The Prim/Pim relationship with "I secretly loved you from afar, so I was a bitch" and Pim apparently having 0 experience with even kissing after coming out of a long term relationship (didn't want to have sex, got it, but I'm pretty sure she made out with her boyfriend at some point) gave nothing at all to the story other than filler.

The Naga fantasy plot was convoluted and made no sense because instead of spending time developing the lore and creating connections, there were 10 minute scenes of fucking on a pool table/gratuitous white paint splashing in the least subtle replacement for a cumshot/weirdly graphic blowjob sounds while focusing on Mos' back right before a massively important show.

I am here for the horny. It is my favorite. But if you're dedicating precious screen time to sex scenes, they should do something to advance either character development or the plot.

Vegas eats Pete out after torturing him and Pete likes it. Vegas wants to hurt him, but also wants to pleasure him. Pete breaks because of the contrast and starts to see Vegas as something other than just a monster. Using Bible again because dude does sex scenes right- Great and Thyme have cute, goofy sex in one timeline because they're high on adrenaline and budding feelings, and in the other timeline Thyme is cold and calculating and fucks Great in a specific way to (attempt to) humiliate him. Both scenes drive the plot forward. The sex is part of the development. Without those scenes, we lose incredibly important dynamics.

Sunset x Vibes just has pretty boys dry humping prettily. It doesn't develop the relationships or the plot and actually take away from what the story could be of given the proper room to breathe. And using Dancing With the Devil as background music makes 0 sense outside of giving a call back to Big Dragon. What devil? They just won a world award. This is a victory fuck.

Sunset x Vibes had the bones of an interesting story and plenty of time to explore it, but failed spectacularly on all counts.

[waitmyturtles]

Pain, Suffering, and Narratives in Some Asian Dramas/BLs (An Utterly Un-Scholastic, Highly Personal Big Meta)

I’ve been meditating on the topic of pain and suffering in dramas over the last few weeks, as conversations across Tumblr have been taking place regarding the success (or not) of the Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars episodes. I can’t help but connect these thoughts to some of the fabulous older shows I’ve been watching in my Old GMMTV Challenge watchlist project, where I’m catching up on older Thai BLs in order to better understand the fabulous works that we’re seeing airing now. This Big Meta in part comes out of my having just watched He’s Coming To Me and Dark Blue Kiss, but I was also very deeply inspired by a Japanese BL that many of us here have fallen in love with, Our Dining Table, that features a poignant moment recognizing that feeling pain is a necessity in feeling love for another person -- that accepting pain and suffering is a part of the life we decide to live, from an Asian cultural perspective.

I’m using some big generalities here, so let me explain where I’m coming from. During certain large portions of my life, I’ve explored either becoming a Buddhist, or at least practiced Buddhism, particularly Zen Buddhism. While the world of Western capitalism has unfortunately taken up the majority of my current time/life, I do still have a desire to learn more about the history of Buddhism and try to incorporate some kind of practice in my daily life.

The reason why I offer that caveat is that a core of teaching in at least the spaces of Buddhism that I’ve been privy to, is the recognition of pain and suffering in one’s life. Suffering is a core tenet of Buddhism, one of the Four Noble Truths, and one that a human being does good deeds or makes merit in light of (as we see quite often in our beloved BLs) in order to receive “good” karma for a happy existence in this life or the next. (Again, mad generalizations here, but you get the point.)

I’ve been thinking about this because I often wonder if us Western viewers (I count myself as one, as an Asian-American) are too demanding for linear, clean, direct, and/or happy communication, narratives, and endings, particularly in the realm of Asian BLs, in regards to either romantic love and/or love from one’s nuclear parents/family. I think about this very much in the context of the Asian BL genre, where queerness -- as accepted, OR NOT, in Asian societies, friend groups, and families -- may indicate an existence that is not necessarily a happy one. 

There are other issues by way of demands from fans that often determine the outcome of a BL script, such as shipper demands for overtly sexual content. What I’m proposing here is that, in my opinion, some of the best dramas/BLs from Asia are rooted in a reflection and acceptance of the tenets of suffering as a natural part of Asian life and, subsequently, Asian art. I further propose that because of that acceptance of suffering, that we — Western viewers — are often left potentially feeling unsatisfied or unfulfilled by a particular ending of a drama. I posit that the linear/binary/clear outcomes that Western audiences so often demand are limiting in comparison to the non-binary, non-linear journeys and conclusions of art that Asian filmmakers can reach in their work, vis à vis à general cultural understanding that pain and suffering are a part of daily life.

Before I give a drama example, let me use one from real life, that is so very often reflected in art: filial piety. I wrote about filial piety quite a bit in my reviews of Double Savage, a non-BL from Thailand that focused on the plight of a discarded son who was judged by his father as a jinx.

When I try to explain to Western friends that Asian parental love is very often conditional (I myself have experienced it, and my experiences mirror those of my friends), I experience a lot of denial.

“There is NO WAY your parents don’t love you.”  “There is NO WAY your parents will ever give up on you. Even if they treat you badly, they love you.”  “In the West, we ALWAYS end up loving our children. That’s what society demands of PARENTS. We’re CONDITIONED to be like that.”

A major cultural competency issue that Western therapists face with Asian clients is when Western therapists say to Asian clients who are having family issues, “why don’t you just talk to your parents about what you’re feeling?” Talking to Asian parents about a child’s feelings, in MANY instances, is not realistic. The language of that kind of emotion may not even exist. AND, there are unspoken social boundaries AGAINST children having those conversations with their parents in the first place. To have those conversations would very well ROCK the foundation on which Asian families are structured.

My parents may love me — the dad in Double Savage mayyyy have loved his son? — but an Asian parent like that, so rooted in their JUDGEMENT AGAINST an offspring, will often not budge. Time and time again, my Asian friends and family will talk about how they felt unloved as a child -- especially if their skin was darker, if their siblings were more successful in school, if they were a middle child, etc. VERY often, our Asian parents don’t know what us children do by way of work -- my parents don’t know anything about my work, for instance.

The Western perspective and social demands for a STYLE of loving one’s children in a very particular, involved, and empathic way -- those cultural expectations don’t necessarily exist in Asia. So we see parents like, say, Non’s father in Dark Blue Kiss; or Korn’s father in Double Savage; or ESPECIALLY Uea’s mom in Bed Friend, a fantastic example of an Asian parent who takes PERSONALLY every aspect of her son’s social and sexual “differences,” blames him for those differences, and accuses him of ruining HER life vis à vis how he was born to be the way that he is.

And yet, at least for Korn and Uea -- we see those children, for the majority of their dramas, continuing to devote themselves to their parents. Because filial piety -- the Asian cultural and social demand for RESPECTING one’s parents above all else -- is existent and EXPECTED of almost EVERY living Asian, no matter where you live on the continent or your various diasporas. 

The equation is: even if you suffer at the hands of your parents, even if you don’t receive unconditional love and empathy from your parents, you must sacrifice in order to respect and serve your parents. You can imagine how much therapy even one individual would need to process that -- if that individual even ALLOWED themselves to think about what was happening, which oftentimes doesn’t even happen. 

I’m not saying that filial piety EQUALS suffering. What I’m saying is that the practice of filial piety will almost always ASSUME a level of suffering that one must undertake to participate in the practice of honoring one’s parents.

Where I felt this *assumption* most strongly and recently was in my viewings of three Aof Noppharnach shows: He’s Coming To Me, Dark Blue Kiss, and Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars, but I think Double Savage and Bed Friend also fall into this category as well. Very quickly:

1) HCTM was rooted in storytelling around the practice of Thai-Chinese Buddhism. Thun’s suffering was apparent: he was fatherless, he was gay, and could see ghosts. AS WELL, Med’s suffering was that he didn’t know how he had died, and why he was being held in purgatory before moving on to his next life. 

2) Dark Blue Kiss was rooted in internalized homophobia. My big review of DBK is coming next week, but quickly, between the two main couples (PeteKao and SunMork), you had internalized homophobia playing various roles of emotional INTERPLAY, that AFFECTED the external emotional demonstrations of the character -- particularly in Pete, who was viscerally working on becoming a calmer person, but was triggered by Kao’s internalized homophobia to not be open about their relationship, and Pete’s jealousy subsumed him. DBK is the only show I’m mentioning here that has a clean happy ending for all couples involved, but more on that in a second.

3) OS2 x BBS x ATOTS, on the Pat and Pran side, was rooted in a clear but indirect conflict between Pat and Pran about openness and independence. If Pat and Pran had been open about their relationship (à la Pete and Kao) -- would Pat have needed to sound tough to his engineering friends that Pran *depended* on Pat to close loops? And on the Tian and Phupha side -- there is plenty we don’t know about Phupha’s past to make judgements, but I think it’s safe to say that he grew up in such a rural environment in Thailand as to make him assume that coming out and meeting his partner’s parents was an non-reality for the majority of their relationship, until the end of the OS2 series. The journey to get to the point of the ring was a tough one, particularly for Tian, who wanted more openness.

4) Both Double Savage and Bed Friend seem to end happily, especially for Uea and King in Bed Friend. But: Uea loses his parent. Yes -- he NEEDED to lose his mom, because of how toxic she was. But from an Asian family structure perspective -- he only has his sister by the end of that traumatic journey, which is not necessarily an IDEAL or complete ending. The bonds among Korn, Win, and Rung are permanently affected by the behavior of Korn and Win’s dad in Double Savage. The ending is a copacetic one -- they have survived, and will learn to survive together, after all the trauma they have lived through. But it’s not necessarily a HAPPY one. Both of these endings do not necessarily reflect the holistic ideal of the Asian family structure.

I emphasize all of this because, as I said earlier: I think a Western demand to CLOSE LOOPS in Asian dramas is unrealistic.

In Asian life (big generalization, but let me roll with it): you are angry at your parents, and you process it internally, very often without any help, and after a couple days, things go back to the way they were. The children do not demand change from their parents.

In OS2 x BBS, what I DIDN’T SEE -- and, from this framework, what I argue that I DIDN’T *NEED* TO SEE -- were any clarifying conversations between Pat and Pran about how either of them would CHANGE for their relationship. The biggest confession we got was Pat telling Pran, “without you, there is no me,” and Pran quietly agreeing (thank you to @lurkingteapot and @dimplesandfierceeyes for the incredible post on the improved translation of “I can’t live without you”).

But throughout the episodes, we saw their existence together, and arguably, their conditions -- how each of them has organized himself to comport to the other’s immediate needs. How Pran’s larger burden of keeping in the closet to keep his nuclear family structure stable kept them from being totally out, and how Pran designed fibs to be able to have at least one public demonstration of love between him and Pat on stage. They know they cannot solve intergenerational trauma in the span of a series. They’re still closeted two years later. And throughout all of this: how Pat digests Pran’s needs, and keeps his (Pat’s) own needs for openness at bay. We know he feels pain, too, when he makes his confession to Pran in Pha Pun Dao. We know he’s watching Pran as Pran hesitates to put on the bruise cream.

I feel that Pat’s acceptance of this existence is both heart-rending and utterly beautiful from the perspective of seeing Aof’s work as *Asian* art. I feel like, as an Asian, that I KNOW, that PAT KNOWS, what Pran has to lose. Pran has A LOT to lose. And so, Pat -- instead of demanding for outing and openness -- will hold what Pran needs him to hold. He knows when Pran is grumpy, and needs to be grumpy. And Pran’s got a lot to deal with. He’s got so much that he’ll need to go to Singapore, likely to get separation from his mother -- and that will result in him and Pat being separated (and I’m intentionally not analyzing Pran’s need for space from Pat here, but I think we can safely argue that, too, as Pat’s helpful attitude may smother Pran at times) (and there’s also the issue of the nuclear pain that Pat himself may feel at losing trust in his father for his father’s past foibles). 

After the OS2 episodes, I didn’t need to know THE REASONS, the stark REASONING for why Pran needed to go to Singapore -- because, indirectly, it was already very clear to me that these young men were already holding tremendous burdens. Singapore, for Pran AND for Pat, could have ultimately been a motivator for growth. But I don’t need to know this. All I know is that they continue to have various levels of pain that they will be dealing with in their nascent adult lives.

While Dark Blue Kiss ULTIMATELY had happy endings -- how it got there was PAINFUL. Kao was ROOTED in fear that he would upend his family’s stability, while being the breadwinner. He was held back by extremely traditional role expectations of an older son. And he had no communication with his mother about straying from those roles. Pete’s dad served as the first -- and, I’d argue, maybe BL’s first -- paradigm-breaker as a parent, being SO open about his son’s queerness as to encourage healthy sex practices. But what I argue in this thesis is that up until the very last, bitter end, Kao was relegated to ASSUME that he would live in pain. His expectation was that Pete would ride with him. Pete couldn’t take it anymore and bubbled over. And Kao was forced to make a decision, for Pete’s sake, literally, to BE open, and to save the relationship. That shit ain’t easy.

Lots of folks who have read my posts on this site know that I appreciate a good Asian drama rooted in family and/or community trauma, like 10 Years Ticket. It’s the way in which Asian filmmakers depict this trauma that speaks very much to my life, my culture, and my viewpoint on what’s realistic in this world, and how that reality can be depicted in art. What I’ve found in watching Asian dramas is... I don’t always want clean endings. I don’t always want loops closed.

Sometimes, Asian kids can’t talk to their parents (Pran, Kao). If you grow up like that, you don’t immediately learn the language of intimacy for your family members, your friends, your lovers (Pran’s struggles after BBS/ep5, Thun’s coming out and not knowing the words for it). It might be EASY, or culturally UNQUESTIONABLE, to not argue with your parents about the ways in which they engage with their children (Korn, Win, Pran). Sometimes, to make a break in order to survive, you need to leave a toxic family member behind, which is NOT an ideal scenario (Uea). 

Sometimes, you lose the love of your life (Ueda-san in Our Dining Table). Sometimes, you fall in love with someone — and you find that you can’t *exist* without them (Pat to Pran). And you have to live with the pain. I might even posit that the risk of that pain makes the love you have, either for the person living or the person passed, that much more meaningful to you.

I watch Asian dramas because I don’t feel like Asian filmmakers are subject to the Western demand to clean up all emotionally questionable loose ends. This is not When Harry Met Sally. Harry and Sally should have only remained friends, and not gotten married -- even Nora Ephron and Rob Reiner knew that -- but they also realized that Western audiences would not accept such an ending.

“The script initially ended with Harry and Sally remaining friends and not pursuing a romantic relationship because she felt that was "the true ending", as did Reiner. Eventually, Ephron and Reiner realized that it would be a more appropriate ending for them to marry, though they admit that this was generally not a realistic outcome.”

If I don’t get clean clarity in Asian dramas, I’m okay with it. My mind switches to the pain POV, that relativity mindset. Everyday life in Asian cultures can handle the weight of the painful and sufferable unknown. And that’s why I love these shows. 

And, OF COURSE, not ALL Asian dramas are like this! Cherry Magic ended wonderfully. Old Fashion Cupcake ended beautifully. KinnPorsche ended sexily, if not a little confusedly (are they related? kinda? or not? whatever?). Minato’s Laundromat ended happily -- although we’ll see their relationship pain points in the upcoming second season. And we see relationship pain points in the ongoing drama of Shiro and Kenji’s relationship in What Did You Eat Yesterday -- all while they share their happy nightly meals together at their kitchen table.

Life is complicated. I posit that Asian dramas, for my taste, satisfaction, and cultural relativity, do a much better job at depicting that complicatedness than the West can ever do, and that’s why I stand so often on my soapbox to encourage Western viewers to understand these Asian cultural touchpoints more -- to learn about how we’ve accepted pain and suffering as an automatic given in our Asian lives, from our cultures, our spiritual practices, and from living amongst each other.

[absolutebl]

Hiii, I'm glad the ask box is open!

Idk if you already did a rec list on this, but can you recommend me old bls, like 90/2000s? I watched Seven days movies and its really good

Oh yay! Seven Days is the best. Actually, I have never done this. Here's a list of...

10+ BL's rated 7/10 or higher that aired prior to 2018

Just Friends?

Korea 2009 Gaga

This is Korea's first (kinda) upbeat version of a BL featuring already established boyfriends, one of whom is on military leave, trying to decide on coming out, family life, and the future. All of these are themes Korea will pretty much never tackle again, retreating as they would to their bubble. But what a fun little offering this little show was and is to this day. You should watch it.

Love Sick & Love Sick 2

Thai 2014 YouTube

This is one of those BLs that owes almost nothing to yaoi, although it started a number of tropes that are now endemic to Thai BL. What it is, instead, is a well scripted story of bisexual self-discovery and the inherent chaos of loving someone of the same gender for the first time, all wrapped up in hormones, existing relationships, and communication issues. It is high school queer angst at its messiest. Nothing is going to be easy for these boys because queer isn’t easy but also because life isn’t easy… welcome to adulthood sweethearts.

I'm actually considering a rewatch of these beginning of 2024 in honor of the 10 year anniversary if anyone wants to join.

Seven Days

Japan 2015 grey

The asker already mentioned it but still, never doubt my ability to recommend this show. One of the best live action yaois ever made, with perfectly structured angst, fantastic characters and acting, and no problematic tropes (rare in Japanese BL). The leads have excellent chemistry although it’s low heat there’s still some really cute mutual kisses.

Addicted: Heroin

China 2016 Viki

When Chinese BL was good it was very dirty good and when it was bad it was censored. This is the model for that statement: rich kid falls madly for the genius poor kid in his class, starts an aggressive pursuit, includes kidnapping for love, obsession, stepbrother trope, plus some cheating. I love this BL because of what I could have been. Just stop watching it after The Sex Scene. Okay?

SOTUS & SOTUS S & SOTUS Our Skyy

Thai 2016 YouTube

This is the BL that launched a hundred BLs. No literally, it was SOTUS’s international success that pretty much built the Thai BL industry into the juggernaut it is today. People have baggage around SOTUS, I have nostalgia. Trigger warning on bully hazing. Review and discussion here.

Make it Right 1 & 2 (but not Beach)

Thai 2016 YouTube (Cheewin warning)

What to say about this show, the origin of the Thai BL pulps? It’s objectively terrible, and not just the leads but the side couple too - yet I love it. I tend to call myself the “world’s foremost Make It Right apologist.” I recognize the issues but I find it utterly charming, especially Tee’s utter devotion to Fuse the baby bi disaster.

Long Time No See

Korea 2017 Gaga

Catfishing assassins on either side of a turf war who fall in love not knowing they are on opposite sides. Or do they? Good fight sequences, mature characters, high heat, very suspenseful, AND an HEA. If you like KinnPorsche or Kiseki you will LOVE this one.

HIStory Obsessed

Taiwan 2017 Viki

I weirdly love this but you should know what you are in for: that title. It has a stalking theme meets fated mates and quite a bit of dubious consent. Uke obsessed with seme to the point of losing himself and his identity dies after being rejected, and then has a chance to reboot his life. He decides to save himself by never falling in love. But destiny is a bitch, and this time the seme becomes obsessed with him. This one owes a lot to dark Chinese and Japanese BL, but kind of corrects for the expected sad dead finale by ending happily and playing with a ton of BL tropes. The leads have good chemistry, it's higher heat and the first time Taiwan starts to push that, and VERY DRAMATIC.

Some Others you might consider

Candy and Kiss - Japan 2015

Silhouette of Your Voice (Hidamari ga Kikoeru) - Japan 2017

Red Balloon - Taiwan 2017

(source)

[lovelynim]

Something to laugh about

Stars Align - Maki Katsuragi & Yuu Asuka

A/N: Second commission to none other than @wertzunge! I really need thank you for asking for such a sweet duo. I felt so nostalgic while reading their wiki pages and rewinding some of the anime's episodes, wahhh ~

Summary: Maki feels like there is something off about Yuu today, so he comes up with an unusual plan to lighten up his friend mood.

Word count: 2033 words

Maki spinned the pencil between his fingers. Legs crossed one over the other and his gaze lost in the distance. The open notebook in front of him failed to capture his interest a long time ago. 

Yes, he should be doing homework. Yes, he could easily solve those questions. No, there wasn’t really a good reason to daydream like that. 

Except that there was, indeed, a reason.

“Yuu,” Maki sighed, resting his head on his hand as he leaned a bit on the table, “are you really okay?”

“Mhm”, they nodded, smiling slightly before placing their pen down. “You worry too much, Maki, I’m fine.”

Yeah, he didn’t buy that.

Maki couldn’t exactly recall how they end up like this, just that he agreed to have Yuu over for a quick study session, do some lessons here and there and have dinner together. Simple as that, no sweat. But as soon as they got out of school, Maki felt that there was something wrong with them.

Yuu wasn’t really the talkative type, right, but they were less receptive than usual. While walking to his home, Maki noticed how his friend seemed a bit… gloomy. Despite the gentle smiles and the cheerful attitude, it felt off, like if something was out of its place.

And this sensation didn’t go anywhere anytime soon. When they got to Maki’s apartment, the little, but heavy sighs that came from Yuu didn’t go unnoticed. They were tired, maybe? No, it wouldn’t be something like that, Maki thought, focusing his eyes on a random spot on the wall while he tried to figure out what was wrong with Yuu.

“...”

Could it be related to something that happened in the club? Probably not, Maki thought, it wasn’t like any of the boys would pick on them. Besides, at school - at least, during the first classes - Yuu seemed to be doing fine. So whatever upset them, must’ve happened later on…

“...ki..?”

Perhaps… could he have said something that made Yuu upset? Maki closed his eyes shut, putting up some extra effort in recalling what they were talking about earlier, nearly reviewing the whole thing as if it was some kind of script, looking for that one line that could’ve saddened his friend. But… they were close, right? They would tell Maki if they said something bad or if anything didn’t land right in their head… so what could be it, after all?

“Maki!”

He jumped, hitting the table with his knee and letting out a loud, but quick cry right after. Maki fell onto his bed, wrapping his arms around his knee while trying to soothe the pain. “O-ouch… y-you scared me…” He whined, letting his head plop into the nearby cushion.

“I-I’m sorry, are you alright?” Yuu muttered, getting on their knees as they tried to get a clearer view of their friend, reaching out a hand - even if they were unsure of what they could even do in such a situation. “I didn’t mean to and-”

“I-it’s fine, hahah… It’s my fault, I didn’t mean to doze off like that,” Maki chuckled, ignoring the fainting pain as he sat back up. With his hands behind his back to give his body some support, Maki looked up, pondering for a second before looking back down to his friend. “Ahm, can you repeat yourself?”

“Ah, right,” Yuu nodded, looking down to their notebook and checking one of the notes, “I was asking if you managed to finish the exercise nº 3. The question seems a bit tricky and I couldn’t really figure it out.”

“Ohh, that, right,” Maki hummed, crossing his legs as he leaned back forward, taking his notebook with both hands before starting to go through the text once again. Word after word, his eyes scanned the page, hoping to make some sense out of that question and, of course, finding out the right answer by the time he got to the end of the page. 

However, as soon as Maki reached the question mark, he lifted his head and stared at Yuu, giving them a puzzled look. “Ah… I see why you couldn’t answer it.”

“Right?” Yuu nodded, letting out a light hearted giggle before looking down to their notebook. “Maybe my head is getting a little tired, I can’t seem to think properly anymore.”

“Hmm, we should take a break, probably,” Maki suggested, tapping the table with his finger while giving his own idea some more thought. This could be the chance he was looking for, he considered in a second analysis, to figure out what was wrong with Yuu. “We’ve been studying the whole afternoon, after all.”

“Mhm,” Yuu nodded, dropping their pencil on the table and letting out a small sigh. “Thinking about it, I’m indeed a little tired.”

Maki was about to close his notebook when those words reached him. His eyes widened and an idea formed in his mind. Indeed, this was the chance he was looking for. He just needed Yuu to take the bait…

“Oh? Are you?”

“A bit, yes,” Yuu continued, placing a hand on their shoulder as they moved it in circles, trying to stretch out their muscles after sitting for so long.

Maki stood up, walking around the table, slowly approaching the other. He had the perfect excuse and the perfect method in mind. “I know something that can help with that, Yuu.”

“Huh?” Yuu tilted their head, looking at Maki approaching. “And what is it?” 

“The guys taught me this method to relax in the club. It works wonders whenever someone is tense or tired, I never thought it would come handy outside the club, but here we are!” Maki beamed, trying to not raise the other’s awareness of his actual intentions. “Would you like to try it out, Yuu?”

Before Yuu had the chance to ponder the pros and cons, Maki had already sat by his side. There wasn’t much room left to think about it, but Yuu didn’t feel like they needed it anyway. “Right, let’s give it a try.”

They couldn’t help but to think it was a little weird that said “technique to help one relax” didn’t ring a bell. Yuu was always there to support the guys in the club and, even though they didn’t join every single activity, they would know about something like this. Maybe it's something they came up with when they weren’t around? Whatever it may be, Yuu thought, they knew they could trust Maki on these matters.

“Alright, turn your back to-” Maki stopped, with his hands already on Yuu’s shoulders, noticing the nearby table. He hit it himself not long ago and, considering his plan, it was likely that Yuu would end hitting it too. “Actually, let’s move a little away from the table.”

“Hm? Why do we need to move away from it?”

“Because, uh… you won’t be able to stretch properly, that’s why,” Maki lied with a plain face, hoping to sound convincing enough. Yuu gasped softly, letting out a small ‘oh’ as he accepted that explanation. So innocent, Maki smiled as this crossed his head, but it was all for the greater good, after all. “Ready?” He continued after they moved away like they were told to.

“Yes, Maki,” Yuu nodded, looking back forward after giving Maki a quick glance.

There, all set for his failess plan. Maki positioned himself behind Yuu, his fingers poised to strike. “Alright. One… two… three!”

“Ah!”

A surprised squeal escaped Yuu’s lips as ten fingers suddenly dug into their sides, wiggling and tweaking at the spot, sending something like an electric shock straight up to their brain. “M-Mahahaki! Wait, t-this tihihickles!” They giggled, shooting their arms down and pressing them against their torso, hoping that it would be enough to make the ticklish feeling come to a halt.

But Yuu knew, just like all the others in the club, that Maki was restless when he had a goal set inside his head.

“Hey ~” Maki sang teasingly, pinching the sensitive skin through the shirt, switching from wiggling his fingers to rapid pokes and then pinching wherever he could reach. “This is supposed to make you relax, Yuu. How come you got even more tense?”

“B-becahahause it ticklehehes!” Yuu laughed a bit louder when Maki’s hand found their way to the lowest pair of ribs. Their reaction, much to their demise, didn’t go unnoticed and Maki made sure to give said spot a couple more pokes, prodding playfully just to make Yuu’s laughter rise a notch.

The ravenhead smirked, satisfied with the results he got so far, but still determined to go on - after all, his ultimate goal wouldn’t be achieved by just this. “Sigh, it’s not my fault you’re so ticklish, Yuu! Here, let me switch spots…”

“M-Maki, nohoh!!” They giggled nervously, watching in horror as Maki wrapped one of his arms around their chest, pulling them into a hug, while his other hand began to claw and tickle his unprotected stomach. So mean! “P-plehehease! AhAHAha, n-not thehehre!”

“Huh? Why not? I switched spots because you said it tickled before,” he feigned ignorance, being thankful that Yuu couldn’t see the large smile that took place on his face, “I thought this would be better, Yuu…”

“I-It’s wohOHOhorse, MahAHAKI!” They laughed, scrunching up their shoulders as just Maki’s breath against their neck was enough to send an awful shiver down their spines. The combined assaults against their midriff and neck proved to be more than enough to turn Yuu into a mess of giggles and squeals. Their face quickly began to flush, turning into a light shade of pink. 

“Hmm, worse?” Maki hummed as if pondering about the newly received information. His fingers, however, didn’t stop moving for a single second. While one of his hands continued to tickle Yuu’s stomach mercilessly, the other one - that was wrapped around their chest - began to poke the sides of their chest, finding a way to tickle their highest ribs even with their arms tightly clasped to their torso. “So… should I stop? You didn’t say anything, so I just kept going.”

Those words made Yuu’s face turn into a brighter shade of red. They could feel the warmth of the flushed skin, with the blush spreading from their face all the way to the tip of their ears. With laughter pouring nonstop from their lips, Yuu simply nodded, embarrassed to have something like that pointed out.

“Alright, alright,” Maki cooed as the tickling came into an end, “sorry, I didn’t mean to overdo it.”

“N-no, hah…” Yuu sighed in relief, allowing themselves to lean against Maki’s body, “i-it was… fun, I guess.”

“Good,” Maki hummed, patting Yuu’s stomach as if praising them for taking the tickles, “I thought you could use a good smile.”

“H-huh?” They turned their head slightly, trying to look at Maki, “w-what?”

Maki raised his eyebrows, noticing he was caught red handed. No way out of this one, he supposed, “well, you seemed a bit down when we left the school and I thought there could be something troubling you,” he said, scratching his cheek as he tried to find the right words, “so I wanted to do something to cheer you up.”

“Maki…” Yuu muttered softly. An unknown, but warm feeling spread across their chest. “Thank you.”

“E-eh? No need to thank me or anything,” Maki giggled, “it’s too early for that, Yuu.” He added quietly, letting the silence fill the room as realization struck his friend.

“W-wait, I don’t n- aHAHAhA, M-Maki! WahAHahait, I wahahas tahahalking!” Before they could protest or say anything else, those nimble fingers went back to work.

Maki smiled, this time moving one of his hands to tickle Yuu under their arm and the other to squeeze his waist. He couldn’t help but to laugh along as their friend kicked and squirmed, but never tried to stop him. “Let’s keep going some more… just to make sure, okay? ~”

He could not know exactly what happened or what was making his friend sad, but he could make sure that Yuu knew he would be there for them no matter what. 

And to give them a good reason to smile and laugh again.

[room-surprise]

Dungeon Meshi Anime Review, Season 2, Episode 17 review

OH GOD OKAY here we go...

Once again, I am a broken record: good episode!

My two major complaints: The bit where Laios and Kabru stand around talking next to an off-screen, roaring, screaming monster seemed kind of silly in animation. In a comic it works, but they really should have animated them walking or stumbling away while delivering those lines, having them just stand there until the monster attacks them again is really goofy.

ALSO, something Trigger keeps doing that I am NOT a fan of, is throwing animated speed-line backgrounds behind characters when they're reacting to something. Sometimes these were in the original manga, other times they are NOT... and they break the immersion of the anime completely IMO.

The coloring in DM is so moody and wonderful, the aesthetic is generally grounded, so when suddenly the background is bright blue or lime green or pink and strobing, it's VERY jarring... and the joke DOES NOT NEED these effects in order to be funny! In fact I think it leeches some of the humor out of the jokes. Imagine if every time someone had a strong emotion in a classic Disney movie you'd get this:

This type of sudden background color change, strobing and speed lines are artifacts of older, cheaper anime, tricks that used to be done to hide the lack of budget, as a way to make a quick joke. It's now used as a shorthand to tell people a joke is happening.

But Trigger doesn't NEED to use these tricks, they're using them because "that's how you make sure the audience knows a joke is happening", but the jokes in Dungeon Meshi are so well written, you don't need to cue us with a visual laugh-track, Trigger!!!! ESPECIALLY when Kui didn't do it in the manga!!!

They've done it in other episodes, but I felt like they were particularly noticeable and bad in this one. Makes me sad because I feel it's dragging the anime down from the genuine peak of artistry that it's otherwise achieving.

As always, animation is fantastic. The stuff with chimera falin is obviously top notch, brutal and fast and amazing... But I also have to say that the Toshiro and Laios argument was animated INCREDIBLY well, with a lot of loving detail given to what is, ostensibly, just talking, something Trigger normally hates to animate.... But they put movie-quality work into that argument and it really paid off.

Honestly can't think of much to complain about. It's a solid adaptation of this part of the story, one of the biggest, coolest action sequences that we've all been waiting for.

Vocal performances were all great in both English and Japanese. Kabru's English voice actor did a great job, despite my misgivings about him in previous episodes. I hope he continues to improve.

A dub script change had Kabru think "He's excited" about Laios instead of "his pupils are dilated"... This isn't a terrible change, but a bit baffling. Saying his pupils are dilated tells viewers HOW Kabru knows Laios is excited, and indicates that he is using some kind of scientific criteria to measure it, it makes him sound smarter and more detached from what he's doing. Just saying "he's excited" doesn't tell us how Kabru knows... and it's a thought, not dialog, so it's weird for them to change it in the script, since there's no need to match mouth-flaps.

The sequence where Kabru strips off all his armor and does a surprise attack on Falin is still fantastic in this, though I am a little bit sad that they didn't find any ways to add any extra emphasis for it - in the manga it's drawn out a bit, to the point where you might miss what was happening on your first read... I think the amount of shots we got in the anime was the same as in the manga, but somehow it felt less impactful to me. Maybe pacing?

At any rate, it was an incredibly solid episode.

I already liked Toshiro, but seeing this part of the manga animated really made me like him more, I hadn't realized in the past just how damn romantic the twin bells thing was, but damn. Toshiro really has forgiven Laios by the time they part ways here, it's easy to forget that since Toshiro very much takes a back seat after this.

[skippyangel16]

The Couple Next Door my thoughts…

Link here for a ‘real’ review from that neck of woods👇

👏👏👏

👆This just about sums it up for me, a real review from a real paper not a paid promo success piece from Hello or channel 4 blowing its own trumpet. If you google the series IBMd has it rated 5.2/10 at the moment of writing. (Saying something is brilliant does not make it so, unless you want to brainwash. Kenneth springs to mind taking a whole year+ to talk up Belfast so he would finally get that Oscar for the not so outstanding Belfast 🙄)

The Guardian Nov 2023 promo it as The couple next door a sexy fantastic time …4 stars but then by the 3rd Dec it’s no longer raving about it with an honest review.👇

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/dec/03/the-couple-next-door-channel-4-swingers-thriller-review-slow-horses-3-arena-being-kae-tempest-the-doll-fctory?CMP=share_btn_link Barbara Ellen exert from review 3 Dec 2023 still the guardian…

Exert from link above by Barbara Ellen..

Well for me TCND started off with a ‘OMG not again!’ for the opening shot. I said to hubby ‘I hate it when they do that!’. The second scene supposedly set in Leeds wtf? Why didn’t they find a more convincing housing estate…then (Sam) Danny picking up the washing machine…dear god it made me cringe and that’s just for starters!

Sam…I could not get past his ‘Yorkshire’ accent?… well he did his best, it came through well some of the time. It’s sad but production were aware they were not going to predominantly film in Yorkshire or substitute location with a suitable comparison so why the need for him to do a Yorkshire accent? They could have set this story anywhere. Why not let Sam do his normal Scottish accent ? Far more sexy! Bad decision imo.

I could go on…especially the ladies dress code for a casual UK BBQ, LMAO. For sure my neighbour and I need to up our game at our next one! Seductive dresses, tits out and heels on! Husbands can’t wait…🤣

Does it appear Sam was hired for his body?…absolutely! Is he typecast as the guy who does sex?…looks like it. If he wanted to up his stakes as a good actor imo this was not the project. Can he do chemistry with anyone but Caitriona?… barely, but this was his best effort so far. Sex scenes and build up no 🔥 for me. I found it more cringe so fast forward came into play. Seems Sam is okay with full nudity and grinding again so can’t wait for OL S8! No need for J&C sex scenes to be PG…

Continuity, script, direction, production…dear god did outlander do it?

Out of all the actors Jessica De Gouw (Becka) stood out with a consistent performance.

Gripping? Nah, wanted to give up many times but finally got past ep 3 and pace seemed to increase so eventually got to the end which was then suddenly abrupt.

I wanted to like it, but for me it was blah…should have been amazing! Fail is more down to script, direction and production, had a giggle most of the way through at the script and said wtf and why a lot? ….🤷‍♀️still they all had fun making it and got paid!

For those who thought it enjoyable and hot I am really pleased for you! Sex for sex sake came to my mind, script all over the place one minute quite good another that’s shit.

For me in the words of a true Yorkshire man…

Maybe if I had a couple of wines with the cheese and knew it was not going to be a quality drama but a cheesy soap it would have gone down better.

Strikes me his fate in life is to be an alcohol god, that’s his true path…acting gave him his wife and family and that’s all he needs from it. It appears it’s not in his destiny for it to do anything more than that…🤷‍♀️JMHO

So if you haven’t seen it and want to then I suggest lots of wine and lower your expectations to a tv movie or soap and you will probably enjoy it and think it’s better than it was…🤪

[talesfrommedinastation]

My redneck neighbor Doug on 'The Solitary Clone'

Oh boy, a Daddy Warcrimes episode, happy happy joy joy!

Here it is, Doug's review of 'The Solitary Clone' or, as he calls it, 'Daddy Warcrimes Goes To Texas'.

Nothing much to say...enjoy, you lot. Doug liked this episode, but he likes Daddy Warcrimes the same reason I enjoy characters like the Joker and Daemon Targaryen: I AM NEVER BORED.

CW: Daddy Warcrimes do what he do and Doug narrates it. Need I say more? Oh and if you're from Texas, I apologize ahead of time. Doug shreds the Lone Star State something bad in here.

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

Oh boy, we arrive at some dry-ass dump. It’s gross and there’s corn and everyone seems a little off. Must be Oklahoma.

Wait, there’s peaky mountains, must be Texas. Didn’t know Texas was in Star Wars but whatever. 

Well, here’s the Empire, but wait! This dump is run by an angry lady with a bucket on her head dressed like a hippie beekeeper. I’ll call her Beekeeper Bitch.

Anywho, looks like Beekeeper Bitch is holding the government officials hostage today, which is what they do for fun in Texas I guess, besides make barbeques and do weird shit at football games. I hate A&M so much. 

Now, here’s Daddy Warcrimes, having a nice nap in what looks to be the broom closet at my job where the junior engineers always end up banging each other at least once a week. I’m surprised there’s no bleach in there. Jeez, Daddy Warcrimes, no blanket?

Poor Daddy Warcrimes, trying to make friends with the other dudes at lunch and no one wants to go near him because he was forced to sleep in the Dirty Shag Closet. At least the clone cafeteria has turkey legs like Ren Faire. I wonder if it’s because Daddy Warcrimes crashes where the younger employees screw each other all day and there’s stains on the walls no one wants to talk about. Oh well. 

Oh, now we gotta see MBA-Rob. No turkey legs for Daddy Warcrimes today. I hate this little asshole, of course he’s dicking around on his stupid assed phone while Daddy Warcrimes waits and fantasizes about killing and smoked meats.

No one will swipe right on you, Rob, you’re unemployed and gave your last girlfriend an itchy crotch. Or is it left? Up and down? How does that thing where you meet ladies work? 

32 rotations…wtf is this Waterworld shit? How come Daddy Warcrimes isn’t burned to a crisp? How did he survive on that dump? Damn, the man must be part roach, I guess, wow. 

Now he’s got his sweet Johnny Cash armor back on, just looking at him makes me wanna watch that western robot show with Ed Harris again. He’s hanging out in front of that script that possessed Linda Blair back in the day. Does Pazuzu exist in this universe?

Oh, shit, it’s Obi-Wan’s Boyfriend! What in the what what. Glad to see he’s still around! Where’s his gold armor? Did he get it after Obi-Wan…you know, that makes me too sad to think about. I’m sorry, Obi-Wan’s Boyfriend, that must have been rough on you. 

Well, looks like he and Daddy Warcrimes are off!  Where? They’re off on a charming romp to squash some rebellion!...wait, is this a good thing or a bad thing? Who are we rooting for? I’m confused. When did Star Wars get confusing? Am I old now?

Ya know who's not confused? Daddy Warcrimes! His job is pointing, shooting, killing. Which, I get, man. I worked in the oil industry. Speaking of which, they’re back in Texas, but where? Are they in Marfa? This looks like one of the shittier towns in West Texas, outside of El Paso. Are they making meth? Is the Empire the DEA? 

You know, this place is quite nice for someone like Daddy Warcrimes. Second amendment respected, the locals spoke in grunt, and smoked meats for everyone! Speaking of Texas, I wonder if there’s a Buc-ee’s inside, and the Empire wants to take over their jerky emporium, and that’s where this mess came from.

I miss Buc-ees, I could go with a hot brisket sandwich and some Beaver nuggets, get some red velvet fudge for later. 

No wonder Daddy Warcrimes is shooting everyone, the man is hungry! 

God, DAMN, Daddy Warcrimes waiting and staying perfectly still while he’s getting shot at and the TANK holy SHIT he is a BAD ASS but a BAD PERSON and I am CONFUSED BUT I LIKE IT? 

("Meat Muffin, you got a doctorate, diagnose me, what is this feeling where I’m confused but happy?"

"It’s just being happy, Doug, and my doctorate is not in psychology.")

And those crap robots are shooting at them again, but are these good guy robots? Didn’t we spend the last few years hating on them? Oh wait, they’re reprogrammed for defense…oh.

Have I ever told you how much I hate those damn things? They look like vacuum cleaners, if someone made art of a vacuum cleaner that they wanted to be human. Non sexy vacuum cleaners.

("Doug, when did you ever think vacuum cleaners were sexy?"

"Never, don’t know what you’re talking about.") 

Why does this feel like an FBI siege? Is this based on Waco? Shit man, I was in the navy when that happened. This ain’t good. This really is Daddy Wacrimes's Texan adventure, isn't it?

But what is good is Daddy Warcrimes and his GUN. Look at those trick shots like the man is yelling ‘SKEET’ and ‘PULL’ like you wouldn’t believe. I bet he’s the type of person who throws a tantrum at the ice cream store because his favorite flavor is ‘bullets’ and it ain’t on the menu.

Look at him and Obi-Wan’s boyfriend just going up and killing robots left and right. He ain’t good, but that ain’t bad. Which is…good or bad? Ah, whatever, I like this damn show. 

And there’s Beekeeper Bitch bitching at the Empire’s Bitch. Those couches look comfy. 

Daddy Warcrimes is coming your way! When she’s not wearing her helmet, Beekeeper Bitch looks just like my niece! Wow! Oh, now I don’t know, is she bad? Good? She wants independence for her people, maybe Obi-Wan’s Boyfriend and Daddy Warcrimes can listen to her? 

Oh, shut up, Empire Bitch, no one cares. ‘Execute her’ uh shut up, your hat sucks and don’t you know that Obi-Wan’s Boyfriend is a free-thinking MAN who might just up and take a DUMP on your LAWN. 

Well, no. Damn, Daddy Warcrimes, you cold-assed sonofabitch. 

‘Hang her body in the square’, what in the hell, this is dark, Dr Meat Muffin, are you letting your sweet girls watch this show? One of them’s a baby, I hope not. 

(I was 100% watching this with my 2 year old, it was on Disney, what do you expect- Dr. MM)

Welp, Daddy Warcrimes is back where he started, chilling in the cafeteria and his new best friend is his helmet. Wonderful. The helmet will at least make eye contact with him. 

Back to MBA-Rob being a dick to everyone and now Obi-Wan’s Boyfriend has run off. Probably to drink himself into a stupor and cry in a shower somewhere. I know I would, too.  

We really didn’t learn anything in this episode, did we? Well, I learned that Daddy Warcrimes is living a confusing life, never gets to eat and has to sleep in the Dirty Shag Closet. But at least he's got his helmet and his gun and MBA-Rob.

I know he’s bad, but he’s good at that, which is bad…but for me, it’s good?

[sohcah--toa]

bullet train/マリアビートル details ~

Hello!! I recently dug up the Bullet Train script (if you search it up, you should be able to find it relatively easily!! I'm not sure if it's completely reliable but it seems to be the first version) and listened to the soundtrack. (It's awesome, you should listen if you haven't already!!)

There's a lot of stuff here about マリアビートル, I hope you enjoy reading 🥳 (It's really ridiculous)

-- 1 ) LEMON'S CHILDHOOD // BACKGROUND(??)

I attached a photo for reference in the book!! :D (there's highlighter marks, I'm sorry) His backstory is tragic and aahh noo 🥹... I won't say much on it because we're all thinking the same thing. In the script, this is carried over when Lemon passes out because of the water. But apparently, in the final movie, this isn't shown a lot. In the book and movie, they aren't brothers and have a considerably colder relationship, so I can understand why the childhood scene in the cut is so much more wholesome. (Still supersuper cool though!!)

-- 2) "I'm forever blowing bubbles"

The original reason why this song was chosen for Bullet Train was because of Tangerine's West Ham United sticker (turns out, that's a football club). Hey!! But wait a minute!! There's a funny coincidence because Ladybug in the book was trying to become a football star. He has a quote that's like "my friend told me that someone like me could either become a footballer or a criminal, so I did both" and he says that his first crime was stealing a football.

The song delves into themes surrounding fortune as well!! I love their music selection 🙇‍♂️😤

-- 3) THREE ASSASSINS/グラスホッパー REFERENCES

Okay this part (in a way...) contains spoilers for Three Assassins, which is the first book of the "series"! ! The story revolves around a guy named Suzuki, who appears again in Bullet Train!! He kinda-sorta becomes friends with Ladybug and it's like 😊 they are so happy. To be completely honest, Suzuki's a bit traumatised but so is Ladybug, right?? Lovely friendship!!

It's also so interesting that he's reading a hotel buffet menu because his wife used to love eating at buffets and he adopted the habit of hoarding all the food as well. He's on the train to meet with his dead wife's family (which was extremely difficult for him after her passing).

-- 4) BULLET TRAIN REFERENCES IN THE MANTIS/AX

There's this other book in the series called The Mantis or AX for the Japanese version. This one isn't talked about a lot but if you like family stories, this book is so so soo good. It really pulled at my heartstrings when I first read it but I can't say too much without spoiling everything. Anyway, it makes a few references to Bullet Train and literally starts with the main character, Kabuto (an assassin), having a flashback to talking to Tangerine and Lemon during one of his missions, where they had the same target so they worked together. The Twins really respect him, actually, but find it funny that he's so careful around his wife (YES KABUTO, AN ASSASSIN, HAS A WIFE). Some characters reappear so.. :")) yay!!

-- 5) 777

Ladybug comes back!! He comes back in the latest book in the series; 777. So far, the Japanese reviews have been pretty positive and I think there's an English translation coming in November!! 🥳 I like how the title is 777; 7 like 7 tails in Nanao (七尾), car 7, his favourite number is 7 (if I recall correctly), 7 the "lucky number".

-- 6) THIS GUY

No one asked but I heavily dislike the Prince in the book. (to be honest, who doesn't...) He's just mean for no reason and likes ruining people's lives, makes fun of poor Ladybug (this really isn't that bad compared to the other stuff he does) and yeah, the list goes on. Also apparently he (heavily) tortures other schoolmates and it's not like he gets paid for it like the Twins or the other guys. He just does it for fun?? OK!! The premise of his character is amazing and it's great to see a villain that's actually just straight evil but since he's designed that way, we are validated when hating him ww. He talks about politics as well for some reason... keeps referencing historical tragedies.... man.

-- 7) ASAGAO/THE PUSHER

The Pusher is back too!! Weee~ (not really)

In the movie, it seems as though this entire part got cut out which, like, is reasonable. I attached a photo from the Grasshopper (2015) movie for reference hahaha. The guy in the black suit is the Pusher!! Yeah, he pushes people!! (not in the fun way!!)

He is in charge of protecting Wataru from the Prince's guy, although he's reluctant at first. He's obsessed with bugs and stuff. Whenever he opens his mouth, it's probably going to be about bugs. The Pusher's also strangely poetic. Maybe it's because he likes old bands like the Rolling stones? Oh!! And he gets mentioned in The Mantis.

And speaking of the Kimura family, Yuichi Kimura says something very true and it's:

"who do they gotta make the train toilets so nasty"

-- 8) LADYBUG IS COOL

This is very much a fact. In Mariabeetle, he gets kidnapped when he's 8 years old because he gets mistaken for a rich kid (after he lost a bet with his wealthy friend and had to wear his "rich person backpack"), then in the place he's being held captive, he escapes by HIMSELF since his dad isn't able to give the guys money for his son back (since they took the wrong person!!). But heyy he's resourceful and smart.

AND guess what?? He gets traumatised because there was this other boy being held but Ladybug didn't save him and it's haunted him ever since. This is also one of the reasons why he ends up helping the Prince even though he knows it won't do him any good.

Obviously, it gets worse from there. He makes it back to his family and they're pretty happy. Unfortunately, they're far from rich and Ladybug has to study extremely hard to get into a college. Spoiler alert, he doesn't. THE THING IS!! He studied so hard!! It's just that during his exam, some kid sneezed on his paper and he wiped it, smudging all his work and even his name!! Nanao! No!!

-- 9) TANGERINE BOOK RECS

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

"We perished, each alone."

-> He really loves that quote. A lot. Also he's a Virginia Woolf fan!!

2. Forbidden Colours - Yukio Mishima

-> He's also a Yukio Mishima fan... I wonder if he's ever read "The Sound of Waves". What would he think about it? Hahaha this will keep me up at night 😅 (<- SLANTED EMOJI!!)

3. The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea - Yukio Mishima

-> To talk about Article 41 of the Penal Code of Japan. (Mr Kotaro Isaka, the author, studied law, by the way!! It's interesting!!) However, here, Tangerine quotes Mishima on Article 41 ;)

4. Hemingway and Faulkner

-> Actually it's a collection so it's not really a book recommendation but these two people are real - Ernst Hemingway (the Old Man and the Sea guy) and William Faulkner. They didn't really get along, by the way, and even though they respected the other's work, they criticised more than praised. Sounds like the Twins.

5. Demons - Fyodor Dostoevsky

-> "Crime is no longer insanity, but simply common sense, almost a duty; anyway, a gallant protest."

I think the author is a heavy Fyodor Dostoevsky fan, just because he also referenced his works in Three Assassins.

6. Crime and Punishment ;D

-> "Science now tells us, love yourself before all men, for everything in the world relies on self-interest."

(CONT'D) yeahh this book was referenced in Three Assassins and one of the characters is obsessed with it. Glad to see that Tangerine is a fan too hahahaha.

-- 10) LEMON IS AWESOME

Opinionated text here but Lemon is plain awesome.

"Between the principal's name and Doraemon's gadgets, it was blindingly obvious which one was more important."

To each their own and I know he's a criminal but he seems like he has no enemies. Sounds very wholesome.

-- 11) HORNET THE MVP

She's in Three Assassins AND the Mantis!! Hypercool. In both books, the Hornet is a team of a male and a female. The female is eliminated (this word choice ww) by Ladybug but the male is still up and kicking, though Ladybug feels bad about it. They use poison needles, like the movie, but they trigger anaphylaxis, which is a really dangerous allergic reaction that causes body shocks.

-- 12) SUZUKI: PHILOSOPHER AND ECONOMIST

"If people knew that they might be killed by someone tomorrow, economic activity would grind to a halt."

... well 😅 take from that what you will.

(that's Suzuki!!)

Cela dit... that's all.... so long, I'm sorry. But thank you so much if you read until the end!! I hope you at least found it a bit entertaining!! :"))

[posthungergamessyndrome]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Movie Review

I went to the opening night of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and since I had written all my reviews of the Hunger Games movies on my tumblr blog, I’d be remissed if I don’t do one for the prequel here. 

First I want to say that no matter how you feel about the prequel or even if you read it all or not,  sitting in the movie theatre in my district 12 shirt and TBOSAS cardigan and watch a new hunger games movie with other hunger games fans who were also all dressed up is so nostalgic and just bring me back to the times when we were thick into this franchise here on tumblr with the OG movies, and that alone was worth going to see this movie.

The showing I went to was a Panem Party, so they also had “merch” on our seats when we arrived, and it reminded me so much of the time when I went to the catching fire premiere in DC, and it's just amazing to have new hunger games merch in 2023.

I did purposely avoid all promos for this movie as much as I can because I wanted to go into it as spoiler free as possible, and I only read the book once and haven’t reread it since.

I did rewatch all the movies earlier this year but only rewatched mockingjay part 2 the night before, which I think was a good idea because I think a lot of the foreshadowing and parallels are with Mockingjay.

Before I go into spoilers in my review, I’d say overall it’s a good movie on par with the original trilogy. I think this prequel managed to do and succeeded in what other franchises failed to do when they tried to also revisit or expand their world. 

It delves into the world of hunger games without being redundant, it had a relevant story to tell outside of the trilogy but still very much connects to it, it gave us interesting characters  and while it gave a lot of new information about the world, it also left audience with questions and wanting more, but it in a good way.

When it comes to casting, I think they did another great job of casting the characters especially with young Snow. I think Tom Blyth was able to humanize Snow enough without - and I can’t believe I’m using this word again after all these years - woobifying him or making him overly sympathetic. 

I think both his acting and the script allowed audience to see him as a human being, which is kinda meta when in the movie Snow advocated for the tributes to be seen as human beings by the capitol enough to place bets on them and make them believe the tribute they got to know and root for will win, at the same time we as the audience was led to believe or hope or be deluded or gaslit or whatever you want to term it, that there’s good in young Snow and worth rooting for, which makes the moments where he shows no he’s not a good person and he chose to do the bad things was still shocking to the audience, even if we already knew how his story ends from the original trilogy. 

However, I do think what the movie failed to convey about his character is the bad choices he initially made weren’t because he ultimately didn’t have a choice or those are the only choices he can make in order to save sejanus, him and Lucy. 

Because in the book we were privy to his internal monologue, we know the bad choices he made were his own conscious choices, that he had every opportunity to be a good person but actively chose to not be one. 

But on the other hand that’s a natural consequence of a book to movie adaptation, we don’t get the internal monologue unless there’s a voice over, which I don’t think would have worked in this movie if they went that route. 

Although I do think it could have somewhat worked in the last scenes when he was talking to dr Gaul about what are the hunger games for and his future, coz the ending of this movie didn’t explain why the 10th hunger games wasn’t mentioned or known at all by the characters in the original trilogy. 

They could have done a montage of Snow erasing the footage of the 10th hunger games himself while we hear their conversation, and while he was staring at the screen it could even then transition to that last scene in the first hunger games movie where president snow was looking at katniss and Peeta returning to 12 and then turning around, and then the scene goes back to young snow as he exit the academy and to the last shot of him in the movie, which also was a nice parallel to katniss’ last shot in catching fire, along with the same movie score.

I do think Rachel Zegler was a great casting choice for Lucy Gray, however, I got to be honest, I found her musical numbers to be cringey. It’s like this movie is actually a hunger games musical but it’s only her character that’s singing for her character and plot development. She’s a great actress but she’s also very theatrical, which you might say makes sense coz Lucy Gray is a performer, but it was to the point I thought she was overacting in certain scenes that it really took me out of the film. 

But that said, Rachel and Tom had great chemistry, and the tension in the relationship really came through in the movie. I bought their relationship more in the movie than I did when reading the book. 

Their relationship in the book felt very insta love to me, like their tongues are in each others throat after meeting for three days. The movie made it a little bit more slow burn, that yes there might be initial attraction between them but snow was directly questioning her if she’s for real and she’s directly asking him if he can be trusted. Their one real kiss in the movie was earned instead of just kissing all the time like they did in the book.

There’s that real desire or they deluded themselves that they can be together but when hit with reality they ultimately choose themselves over the other. 

Sejanus was the character I was looking forward to the most and I wasn’t sure about Josh Rivera playing him, but he managed to pull it off okay.

For me, the real formative relationship Snow had that truly informs who he becomes is his relationship with sejanus, more so than his with Lucy. 

I’m not condoning anything he did towards Lucy, but it wasn’t unreasonable that in the end City Boy Snow didn’t choose to give up his lifelong ambition for a two-week situationship with a poor girl from another district that’s likely still hung up on her ex, and worst, to live in the woods. It was kinda expected, really. 

His relationship with sejanus however imo was far more meaningful and significant to him, because whether he admits to it or not, he did care about sejanus, even if he didn’t want to. Sejanus basically crept up on him and even though he rationalized in the book and maybe also in the movie that he was only protecting him because his mentors instructed him to or he needed to win the prize money, but ultimately he did care about what happens to sejanus and can’t help but save him from himself. That’s why Snow betraying sejanus and killing him in the end was truly the point of no return for Snow and what he did to Lucy just seals the deal. 

So I am glad the movie did spend almost the same about time developing that relationship with Sejanus and Snow, and not just with Snow and Lucy, though I still think they could’ve found a better actor for sejanus.

The relationship Snow had with Tigris was interesting as well, and I also think was more significant to his character development than his relationship with Lucy, but the movie did just gloss over it and only spent time on it at the beginning of the movie.

The biggest issue of the hunger games movies has always been pacing, but while this movie was long, the pacing was the best in this one. I already expected that they will cut a lot from the book even though it is the longest movie in the entire franchise, so the missing details wasn’t as big as a deal for me than it was in the og movies. I still think this should had been an 6-9 episode series, but as a stand alone movie, it works and I don’t truly miss the missing scenes from the book.

I did like the movie was divided in three parts, it helps with keeping up with the movie and storyline, especially for those that didn’t read the book. 

when I was reading the book, it didn’t really pick up for me until part 3, but I actually found the first two parts of the movie to be far more enjoyable to watch than the third part. Aside from Snow and Lucy, I think a lot of credit goes to the character of Lucky Flickerman, he gave the movie enough levity to help with the pacing of the film, and I like that he voices out what’s going wrong with the games like the audience would (those drones don’t work!).  

I think the arena scenes were done well, it conveyed the horror of kids killing kids without it looking like glorified violence. I do think the portrayal of what happens in the arena was much better than in the first movie, or honestly maybe even in catching fire as far as the emotional impact of the killings and deaths go. There were many moments I was horrified and looked away when a tribute gets killed. 

I do think the movie made the capitol students more self aware and empathetic towards the tributes than they were in the books. It wasn’t just sejanus that was conflicted about being a mentor, and I don’t remember the scene of the students rallying to get Lucy out of the arena happening in the book. 

Viola Davis as Dr. Gaul and Peter Dinkilage as Dean Highbottom were without a question great in their portrayal but honestly at the end of the day not the most memorable characters in the movie. Unlike woody harrelson, Elizabeth banks, Donald Sutherland, Stanley tucci, & other adult characters in the OG trilogy, who really made an impression with their character portrayals, aside from Jason Schwartzman, no adult character did the same in this prequel movie.

I often say Francis Lawrence is always on the nose with his direction and like to spoon feed the audience, but when it came to the lore of the hanging tree, that's where he finally chose to be subtle. instead of doing like a "Deathly Hallows" exposition of the origin of the hanging tree, it is the plot of the third act. So if you're just a casual fan, you'd think the only connection is Lucy sang it so Snow remembers when Katniss does in Mockingjay.

Instead, what Francis did is show the scenes from the lyrics of the hanging tree as part of the plot. "The dead man called out for his love to flee" that happened at the very first execution sejanus and snow saw in district 12, and snowballed to the rest of the movie until Snow and Lucy agreed to meet at the hanging tree the day the ran away, although at dawn, not at midnight.

The only heavy handed foreshadowing for me was the thing the Katniss plant, "it's too early for katniss" bit was a bit much. the subtle clues here and there for me was enough, with the meadow, the lake, the lake house, the jabberjays and mockingjays, the hanging tree... 

so yeah, I think that's pretty much it. If you read this far, especially if you're one of the OGs of the THG tumblr fandom, member of the Peeta Mellark Defense Squad, and everlark stan, thank you and if you're on tiktok want to talk prequel movie or discuss all things hunger games, hit me up!

[nayialovecat]

Wish Songs

Ok. Let me make it clear: I haven't watched the movie "Wish" made by Disney. I'm planning on doing it, but after seeing so many reviews and hearing plot summaries (including from my best friend, Titatotrix), I'm having a hard time getting around to it. However, I'm going to do it so that I can insult this film legally.

However, as part of getting used to the idea of ​​watching this animated crap, I started by getting to know the songs... and oh, these songs alone hurt me so much that I have to share it.

If by any chance there are Wish fans in the room, I'm sorry - but there is nothing good about this movie. Well, maybe one or two things. You'll see soon.

By the way, just by listening to the songs and analyzing the lyrics, music, framing, colours, and in combination this with the stories I listened to about the plot and the logical errors pointed out - I came up with a certain conspiracy theory (no, not that the script was written by AI, and the graphic design of the film was too - but that's a good conspiracy theory too.) However, I will present it in another entry - when I finally watch this damn movie. And for now, the songs.

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Welcome To Rosas

Oo, "The Family Madrigal" but worse. Well, the music is ok, but the whole thing is so... secondary idea. In other words, from the middle of the song, when I was just listening (not watching yet) to it, I felt like "this is the opening song, which makes a rude exposition sung by the young main character of the movie with the choir and (probably) choreography - WHAT DOES THIS REMINDER ME?".

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At All Cost

A love song at the beginning of the movie? Oh boy, one of them will turn out to be the bad guy here! (Reference to Frozen, in case anyone didn't catch it.)

This is a love song. Don't tell me otherwise. In addition, it's a very boring love song, where in the second verse (when Asha's vocals came in) I was like "is this still going on? why?". But it's a love song and it's one of Disney's worse and more boring love songs.

Wait... Isn't she minor and he isn't married? FFFFFFF!

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The Wish

Ok, this one is quite catchy and enjoyable, listening to it doesn't make me want to bang my head against the wall. Although Polish (my native) version is terrible both in terms of lyrics and performance.

Still, it's a pretty cool song that I haven't been able to get out of my head for a few days now and I've been humming the chorus. So taken out of the plot context and without the verses, it's pretty cool.

In the context of the movie, this song makes no sense at all. And I know this without even watching the movie itself - I know this from the first song, which presents Rosas as a paradise on earth. WHAT IS TO CHANGE HERE? Seriously, am I the only one who feels like the main character is a spoiled brat who's angry that she didn't get what she wanted, so now she's bitching at everyone and has to fuck something up? (But more about this when I watch the movie and write down my conspiracy theory. Wait for it :3)

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I'm A Star

This song exists. This could even be a reason to want to scratch out your own eyes 'cause they bleed anyway. Ears too.

The lyrics are so stupid that all I heard was "blah blah cute talking animals, 'cause a princess has to talk to animals".

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This Is A Thanks I Get?!

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! The first lines of the text - where before was the king a self-absorbed narcissist? And what caused his reaction to the light show to be "someone is trying to betray me, so from now on I will be evil"?! Ok, this song is not only stupid, but also terribly done - in a completely different style, not keeping the atmosphere of the movie. I was counting on more songs in the rhythms of "Welcome to Rosas".

Apart from the plot - my first association: Maui and his song "You're welcome"? My second association when the chorus and choruses came on: that terrible song with reindeers from Frozen 2, which I stubbornly push out of my brain and pretend it doesn't exist. Disney, why, when you plagiarize your own works, choose something like this?

Let's get back to the plot of the song, 'cause this is where I started to wonder... Magnifico sings that he fulfilled 14 wishes in one year - how big is this damn city if he didn't exceed the limit by fulfilling 10-14 wishes a year? My point is... how many people turn 18 there every year? The city doesn't look like a metropolis with a million inhabitants! And there are quite a lot of unfulfilled wishes there! How come, I ask?

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Knowing What I Know Now

Yay! Finally! A villain song! And it's quite cool, seriously... catchy, rythmic, really nice. Although the Polish text version hurts a bit, especially with strange text connections.

Yes. This is a villain's song. And no one will convince me otherwise. Look at the colours. Look at the tone. Look at the manipulation of images and information by Asha, Star and that irritating goat. Look again at the colours. And then play "The Mob Song" from "Beauty and the Beast." I don't give a damn what the song is actually called - for me it's called "The Mob Song 2".

Don't believe me? Look at Asha's face in every other scene. This is not the face of the good character, but the face of Scar in the song "Be Prepared". Her way of scaring other reminds me of Mother Gothel from "Tangled" (Mother Knows Best). Damn, this is a villain song like no other! And I like it :3

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The Wish (Reprise)

It only exists to add choruses and 'cause they didn't feel like explaining why all these things were happening.

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Well, we've come to the end. Two relatively good songs, all the rest are autoplagiarisms or painful experiences for the ears and/or eyes.

You have the right to have your own opinion - this is mine. Please, respect it.

You can also guess from my comments what my conspiracy theory is - I honestly can't wait to present it, but this - in addition to watching this terrible movie - requires me to review a dozen other Disney films and take appropriate screenshots to my argument was coloured with illustrations. Lucky I have Disney+. Wait for this! I think it will be worth it!

[bearpillowmonster]

Transformers One Trailer

That new trailer and I have some thoughts? Surprisingly.

I don't normally watch trailers anymore and I've said why before but it basically boils down to they spoil too much too much of the time and what's the point if I'm sold anyway. Now Transformers One seems like a no-brainer, gives those fans a prequel origin sort of thing as well as an introduction for the newbies who only know the Bay and Rise and Bumblebee movies in animation no less so completely different. Then I saw the images of the designs and oh man0

It looks generic. Like I never watched Transformers Prime, it has its fans but I just do not like that art style and this started making me think of that, like it wasn't finished. I much would've preferred a 2D movie but 3D can be done, look at the War for Cybertron trilogy (which I've already talked about)

Nice and stylized, distinguished, scuffed metal, I wanna lick them. Anyways, that's a show though, it'd look good as a movie and heck, T-One looks good as a show but I don't know, is it just me? I also didn't finish the trilogy because the first one was good and I thought it'd only get better but reviews for the second one came out and they were bogus so I dropped it.

But then I watched the trailer-

And it looks better! Notice anything? They're all close up shots! And you mean to tell me this is the same movie>

Ugh. Visuals out of the way, cast. Why? We don't need all these celebrity voices and I'm someone who supports Peter Cullen just being Optimus all the time but I also understand that he's getting older just like Charles Martinet did with Mario leaving the character in a specific position but you didn't get Chris Pratt?? No I'm just kidding, we got Chris Hemsworth, and really, I can't even tell that it's him, I saw his name attached and I was like "Here we go again" and there are a few times where he had traces of that Cullen voice pattern and it's like an adolescent Optimus settling into his voice- wait am I complementing? Stop that.

Josh Cooley is directing and he's got a pretty decent track record with Pixar, we even see Keegan Michael Key again for whatever reason- oh, it's goofy, it's made for children

"But he says bad ass!" mehmehmehmehmeh, so do the other movies twit, somehow, someway, they get away with anything. He's gotta go and announce everything that's happening "I have knives?!" "I have machine guns in my butt?!" Stupid even for a kid, especially menaging Megatron, what'd you do to my angry baby? He's just reading the script, I know, which also isn't great. So, instead of just being a race of transformers, they're a race of robots that gain the ability to transform to save Cybertron. There's the generic nature again! I also don't see it in the trailer but with the toys, they have this weird thing where they use energy to summon their weapons? Bumblebee is fine with the "KNIVES" but

"I put my hand on a ba-all to see if I still bleeeeddd and nothing hurts anymore, I feel kinda freeeeee" What is that? Just give him an axe, he doesn't have to summon it and then attach it to a ball. But wait- the design is different here, what's going on? These toys don't match up with the movie. Like, look at Bumblebee before and after he transforms, he doesn't look like the toy does (I've used enough pictures, do some leg work) and Megatron...just looks like Megatron and I know these are movie toys, just look at Alpha Trion, so I don't know how much of it is an accurate conversion between the two and I normally wouldn't care but it's that ball that drives me bonkers.

BUT I will say that I support Scarjo playing- who is she playing? Because that's not Arcee. Elita One? Cool name, at least. Oh, she's an OG, we're good then. Lawrence is also a good one. Anyways, disappointed, we'll see.

[badsalmonella]

Media I tolerated for the 2023 cast of Camelot

I'm documenting these reviews for SCIENCE.

Ground rules: 1. I had to have watched this SPECIFICALLY for no reason other than a Camelot actor. Meaning no Phillipa's many great works aren't here. I just watched Hamilton because it was well made not specifically for her. (but like she WAS THERE and she ate it up so BONUS!) 2. I'm doing the bad ones for comedic purposes so I won't talk about Spain but like just know. I don't tolerate Spain. I. LOVE. SPAIN. Spain would blow all these entries out of the water. Don't just seek out Spain for the Danny Wolohan+ Andrew Burnap of it all frfr like it's just gOOD.😭

Under the Banner of Heaven

Verdict: ??/10

Definitely the most ""refined and pristine"" of the bunch I am about to talk about, I acknowledge this. But it turns out I didn't care about mormons when I saw Book of Mormon back in the day and went "eh." and I STILL DON'T CARE ABOUT THEM NOW. I unfortunately was not strong enough to finish this show. The first two episodes barely had Andrew Burnap and it was hard to continue knowing that there was some unsavvvvourrryyyy content waiting ahead of me. I'm always torn when talking about shows like this like what do you do when you know it's technically more competent but alsooo....it's more boring to you?

My whore levels: -ˏ͛⑅❒⌧⌧??/10

Someone (you know who you are) sent me this UNHINGED review for the show

and I went 'haha that's insane. that won't be me'. bad news folks.....it maybe might have been me. BUT ALSOOO all that progress would IMMEDIATELY undo because then the camera would zoom out and I'd be like 'ohhh.... oh no he does fit right in with these unsettling caucasians.... :/ Yeahh.............but then I'd see him in that blouuuuseeeee with that funky lil perrmmmm. 👀👀👀👀 all this to say. I am conflicted. I am confused. I am unwell. I want...a perm and a blouse?????

Broken Hearts Gallery

Verdict: 5/10

It's fine. It was alright. I'm not really a romantic comedy movie person so like I'm not the target audience but I mean this movie is doing what it says on the tin. Ya know? It's fine. Didn't offend me. Did what it had to do. Made me wish I was living an art life in New York City and Bernadette Peters was my boss.

My Whore Levels: 9/10

Honestly I love the glasses on Phillipa Soo, they got her in some fun outfits. I love the quirked up weirdo lesbian vibes. I love how she collects girlfriends like accessories. I would watch a movie about this character. Can I have a sequel??? There's a scene where she is mercilessly chopping a cucumber with a very sharp knife, it turns out my type is Phillipa Soo threatening murder I refuse to unpack that :)

One True Loves

Verdict: 0.5/10

Actually AWFUL. Like in a it barely feels like a movie kind of way. It's like it was made by someone they plucked off the street. Like the qualifications were 'have you seen a movie before???? okay cool then you can make one'. The worst editing I have seen in a movie in a long time. Holy shit. This movie costs 2$ LOOK AT THAT MOVIE POSTER!!!! If this were some random amazon prime movie with a bunch of nobodies I would understand BUT PHILLIPA SOO WAS IN THIS. THIS IS WHAT SIMU LIU ASKED TO BE IN AFTER DOING THE MCU. (not a joke)THE AUTHOR OF THE 7 HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO WROTE THE SCRIPT???? PHILLIPA PRODUCED THIS FILMMMMM. GIRLIE NOOOOOO💀💀💀 Also MASSIVE tonal problem. This movie is still sticking with me. Like I am GOOPED this was made. THIS APPARENTLY HAD A THEATRICAL RUN? and I know I said this before but HOLY SHIT I CANNOT BELIEVE BUZZFEED MAKES MOVIESSSSSS

My Whore levels: 2/10

They did my girl so dirty. This whole movie has the aesthetic of a high schooler's first photoshop project being a mood board inspired by a Taylor Swift song but all they use is the first 5 images you find on google search when you type in 'fall' and 'latte'. This movie told me "salt is spicy :(((" This is like if you could turn a cursive live, laugh, love sign into a look of a whole movie. They are dressing Phillipa Soo up like the most interesting thing she has to put on her dating profile is "I like reading :)". Two points though because for exactly one brief scene she was shoulder out, hair swooped dramatically and I whispered "slay".

Charmed (2018)

Verdict: 3/10

My worstie. My bestie. The beginning of the end. The moment that cemented that my bar was low. Honestly this would have been far and away the worst thing I watched for a Camelot cast member but One True Loves swooped in last minute and took home the gold(?) for being even more incompetent and even cheaper. I honestly have way too much to say about it though, which is proof that I somehow got emotionally invested. I'm convinced they had some sort of business deal struck with the Zara brand because everyone dresses like a business casual 35 year old woman on her way to the office (NO MATTER WHAT THEIR PERSONALITY IS THEY ALL DRESS LIKE THIS.) They must be getting awful direction or something because nooobody is doing a good job in the acting department (I'm typing this through tears. I'm choking and sobbing as I confess this to you all). There's DEFINITELYYYY a colourism problem. The show does NOT know how to utilize it's fun setting seriously for a show with witches you'd be SHOCKED how little magic is used in this show. THERE'S SO LITTLE WHIMSY!! and yet............I found myself bewitched (I'm sorry) by the show. I have given episodes rewatches. I have literally fallen to the floor, on all fours, WHEEZING, watching the bad credit card product placement in one of the episodes. My friend and I got to the episode where they say 'The curse is lifted! :) But the struggle continues' (the struggle....IS RACISM!!!) and our jaws DROPPED. A character projectile vomited on a man and he EXPLODED and all that were left were his boots in a smoking pile. It sucks but in a way I can't look away from. I wish there were ungodly amounts of seasons of this show. I wish Jordan Donica was trapped in a 13 season cycle of being this show's damsel in distress (no actually no I don't)

My Whore levels: I cannot share this number publicly💀/10

I'm not proud of the person I become when Jordan Donica is on screen in this show. YES they mostly dress him boring grey hoodies and jeans. YES He spends a whole season with his hair in the sad in between mid length stage that nobody likes being in (I stand in solidarity as a person who also likes keeping her hair short when it gets too long it's not great but it's part of the human experience) but damn dude that ain't stopping him from SERVING NORMIE CORE CUNT!!!!! Also because this relationship with me and Charmed is toxic every once in a while they would throw me the most delicious bone. Various suits in funky colours and long hair, ohhhh a bowler hat!!! The episode where he puts on a Shien punk leather outfit!! It's the small things, ya know? :) <333