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telomeke · 9 months

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THE SIGN EPISODE 3 – NONG KHAI, NAGA FIREBALLS AND THE DANCE OF ADVERSARIES

Only watched Ep.3 last night and it was a trip in more ways than one; this is another one of those BLs where the hand of the Tourism Authority can be seen heavily pulling the strings, and in this episode it was plugging for Nong Khai – which is especially relevant to the naga mythology underlying The Sign.

The province of Nong Khai is far to the northeast of Thailand, separated from Laos by the mighty Mekong River; its capital city is also called Nong Khai.

Nong Khai is famous for a number of festivals, including the Rocket Festival and the Naga Fireball Festival. The Rocket Festival is referenced in the subtitles at Ep.3 [2/4] 14.41 but this is incorrect, because Tharn's grandmother mentions the date as "the 15th day of the 11th waxing moon" (the Rocket Festival takes place earlier in the year).

This date (a full moon night) is actually the Naga Fireball Festival, when the phenomenon of fireballs launched from the Mekong is supposedly at its peak. (There is as yet no formal scientific explanation for the fireballs, and locals believe they are spat out by the great naga or Phaya Naak who resides in the Mekong.)

‌This is of course the same festival that Phaya, Tharn, Yai and Sand go to watch at Ep.3 [3/4] 2.18 .

And this date (วันออกพรรษา/wan ok phansa) is also the last day of the three-month Buddhist Rains Retreat (พรรษา/phansa, sometimes also called Buddhist Lent). The first day of Phansa (in the eighth month), marks the official start of the rainy season – Phansa is the Thai version of the Buddhist celebration known more generally as Vassa elsewhere, and the word is derived from the Sanskrit varsha (which means rain).

In The Sign this celebration of Phansa is significant because the word is a cognate with the วรรษา/wansa of Tharn's formal first name Wansa and the name of his previous female naga self Wansarat, which are both also derived from the Sanskrit varsha (see this link here for more elaboration). 👀

Anyway, this means that kid Phaya was actually drawn to the Naga Fireball Festival (not the Rocket Festival) and was presumably called into the Mekong by a naga. And he was saved from drowning by a reincarnated naga (Tharn) on the last day of the season that shares Tharn's name.

And thereafter, Phaya would always dream of Wansarat on the date of the Naga Fireball Festival (the 15th day of the waxing moon in the 11th month, also the last day of Phansa/Wansa).

This is why his visit back to Nong Khai coincided with the festivities we see onscreen – he was there to investigate these links to the date and festival.

So far The Sign has been fairly faithful in its visual nods to the naga and garuda mythology that underpins the narrative. There's been a lot of blue and green (very marine colors) associated with nagas Tharn and Wansarat. And there are references to red and the element of fire calling out to garuda Phaya. This scene is an example:

In the scene above the red light on one side is contrasted with the blue-green one on the other, and mirrors the dance of the fiery garuda and the water-dwelling naga. Phaya has just been rescued from the Mekong by Tharn, and he is shivering in a blue-green t-shirt (which is the naga's color, not his).

(above) Sparks erupt behind the garuda Phaya as he seeks to recover his life-force after his near-drowning; the light on his person (as he is facing naga Tharn) is of a cooler tint though

(above) Naga Tharn is also sopping wet but totally at ease; he is also bathed in warm tones as he faces the flaming presence of garuda Phaya

This scene after Phaya's near-drowning is also one of several where we see a swing (e.g., Ep.3 [2/4] 17.02, Ep.3 [2/4] 19.02, Ep.3 [3‌/4] 10.03 and Ep.3 [3‌/4] 11.07). I may be over-reaching here, but for Thai people this may be calling to mind the Giant Swing in front of Bangkok's Wat Suthat, which was once used in an annual Hindu Brahmin ceremony (now discontinued) that was held to mark the moment when the nagas of mythology abandoned their mountain stronghold on land (their coils maintaining stability) and moved instead to their permanent, watery homeland.

Noting that the nagas are shapeshifters, the green-eyed Wansarat enticing Phaya into the water is also likely to be a malevolent naga that has assumed Wansarat's form, seeking to drown Phaya (we've seen glowing green eyes before, on the naga that Phaya saw when he struggled with the Ep.1 water challenge, and also in the greenery of the garden at the bar/restaurant where the boys go to drink).

And in another nod at the naga/garuda conflict, when the abbot Luangpor lights two candles at Ep.3 [2/4] 28.36, the rumbling stormclouds outside (that are harbingers of rain) promptly extinguish the flames before speaking ominously with him.

Nagas, because of their association with all things water, are also custodians and dispensers of rain in Thai mythology. Thus the voice that speaks to Luangpor from the clouds must be that of a vengeful naga, and he has underscored his displeasure with garuda Phaya by snuffing out the flames of the candle (fire being associated with garudas in The Sign).

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So one more little salute to the naga and garuda can possibly be read in the matching shirts that Phaya and Tharn don when they visit Wat Phra That Bung Puan at Ep.3 [3‌/4] 11.13:

The warm tones (garuda colors) of the matching shirts contrast with the blue-greens (naga colors) of their shorts/jeans. Meanwhile, the swirling graphics on their tops are likely a reference to the naga fireballs, which reminds us that even though the nagas and garudas are supposed to be at odds, the fireballs are one area of overlap with the flames of the garuda – a kinship also echoed by the matchy-matchy going on with the outfits here (and the premise that Tharn and Phaya are a forbidden but fated naga/garuda pairing). 😍

The culture of Nong Khai also explains why there is so much naga imagery in this episode – a lot of it is to do with the festival of the Mekong naga and its fireballs. But the garuda (Phaya's earlier incarnation) is still referenced in the visuals of Ep.3 – directly at Ep.3 [3‌/4] 15.08, but more indirectly elsewhere.

The many establishing shots of the temple finials called chofa (e.g., at Ep.3 [2/4] 8.19, Ep.3 [2/4] 19.53, Ep.3 [2/4] 23.10 and Ep.3 [3‌/4] 6.52) are actually a visual reference to the garuda:

This kind of chofa (with the curved profile reminiscent of a raptor's beak) is called the pak kruut or garuda tip chofa. There are several other kinds, including a naga finial, but the ones we see here in the establishing shots of the abbot's temple are of the garuda type and are a sly, less in-your-face wink at the garuda (at least compared to the abundance of naga imagery).

Anyway the trip ends with Tharn attempting to distance himself from Phaya because he doesn't want to jinx another of his loved ones (although what that means for Yai and Sand seemed a little rude for Tharn to suggest! 🤣).

True to his naga form a lonely Tharn seeks refuge in the watery realm – his condo pool:

But the flaming red swim briefs about his loins are in the color of the fiery garuda, and belie his divided loyalty.

So when Phaya goes to confront Tharn at the rooftop gym, the dance of the naga and garuda, historical enemies, goes into full swing. Unlike their other physical encounters down at sea level (e.g., the open water challenge of Ep.1 and the Mekong rescue) here garuda Phaya is up in the sky, as close to the sun as he can be, and here he's in his element.

And when the two tussle (as would be expected of a naga and garuda), of course it would be Phaya coming out on top. It's his realm, and his turn, after all:

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The naga and garuda are ever-present in The Sign. I'm sure there will be more of this to come!

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#the sign #the sign the series #nong khai #naga #garuda #thai mythology #the sign tharn #the sign phaya #babe tanatat #billy patchanon

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mukkuruingly · 7 months

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OK after reading some fan reports, I'm did what I could to compile and summarize them all. So here it is...

THE KAMEN RIDER BLADE 20TH ANNIVERSARY LIVE SHOW (stage play): a summary

Screencaps of my summary in the cut below for Spoilers

- King got released somehow and starts causing havoc as well as stole some cards from BOARD (Tiger included)

- Steals Hajime's Mantis card and unseals him

- Hajime reunites with Tachibana and the narrator reveals that they have gotten along much better within 20 years (Hajime even apologized to Tachibana for the trouble)

- Hajime (in Joker form) and Tachibana fight King and Mantis. Mantis attacks Tachibana but was shielded by Hajime, and ends up getting sealed

- Also we get to hear Mantis talk for the first time and he's like disappointed that Hajime is holding back on being Joker during their newest flight but King just goes" lol anyway (interrupts their fight)"

- Mutsuki as Leangle then comes to help

- Turns out Mutsuki was in Tibet and works under Tachibana as a researcher

- Tachibana mentions his research is going well, then retreats as Mutsuki goes to take care of King

- Mutsuki then has to fight Tiger under King's control

- scene changes to Mantis Undead

- Kenzaki finally appears, immediately recognizes Hajime isn't present thru his Joker senses, and demands Mantis to tell him what happened to his friend

- THEY FIGHT and Kenzaki transforms to Blade

- (OP points out that even as a Joker Undead, Kenzaki still fights with precision as he does back then when he was human)

- Mantis then explains that there's someone else whos the one who unsealed King and is the mastermind of what's happening

- Mantis is defeated and Kenzaki seals him

- scene changes, returns to Mutsuki vs Tiger

- Tiger suddenly stops and reaches out to Mutsuki, trying to resist the brainwashing

- Mutsuki hears Shima's voice and takes Tiger back to him (regaining her sense before willingly being sealed again)

- He then faces King and finally transforms to his own King Form

- (OP notes that everyone was screaming and sobbing when this happened, same with Kenzaki's first appearance in the stage show where it's described that he has a Terrifying and Intimidating presence the moment he walks in from the Audience aisle and to the stage.... omg...)

- ANYWAY MUTSUKI OVERPOWERS KING and manages to retrieve Hajime's card

- Unfortunately Mutsuki can't take his King Form's power for too long and was quickly reverted to base Leangle

- Before King would attack Mutsuki, time immediately freezes

- Kenzaki arrives using the Scarab card!!!! And tells Mutsuki he's doing great so far 🥹🥹🥹🥹

- King moves again, and Kenzaki tells Mutsuki to unseal Hajime

- REUNION HAPPENING

- Hajime thanks Mutsuki (Which OP notes is rare to hear especially hearing him call Mutsuki by his first name instead of his Rider name)

- Mutsuki was told to retreat while Hajime and Kenzaki face King

- Hajime: I will not waste the feelings of my friends!

- YEAH HAJIME CONSIDERS MUTSUKI AND TACHIBANA AS HIS FRIENDS TOO 🥹🥹🥹

- THEY FIGHT KING

- OP: King then starts to sound like a conspiracy theorist (regarding the mastermind of their unsealing) before being defeated and sealed

- Kenzaki wonders what King meant and if it's related to them being Joker again (referencing THE ZI-O EPS)

- Before Kenzaki could leave Hajime, he was ambushed....

- SURPRISE it's *ANOTHER BLADE*

- Kenzaki worriedly thought it was Amane at first but Hajime quickly sensed Another Blade's presence is neither human or Undead

- Another Blade attacks and it was enough to cancel both Kenzaki's and Hajime's transformation reverting them back to their human form

- Another Blade says they will be the new embodiment of chaos and destruction, to which Hajime states he won't let them destroy the world

- Mutsuki and Tachibana finally reappears, and reuniting all 4 riders

- they're all happy to see each other... even Hajime is smiling 🥹

- All 4 transform and face Another Blade together

- BLADE BRAVE plays and the 4 riders reenact the poses in the opening theme yoooo

- there's a bit where Hajime would say the "I'LL BEAT YOU UP" line again from the original show and that got the audience to laugh fhfjdkk (how could you not tho 😂)

- gonna keep the climax brief but yeah it's the Big FIGHT scene

- Tachibana and Mutsuki manage to seal the remaining Undead

- then EVERYONE shifts to their King Form (and Wild Chalice) to stop Another Blade

- There's a lot of cool stage effects going on too

- Kenzaki makes the finishing blow after receiving three other cards from his friends

- I forgot to mention but only Kenzaki and Hajime remember everything that happened in Zi-O before the reset. Tachibana and Mutsuki are absolutely clueless and are lost when Hajime mentioned about it. And it's only now they learned about Another Blade's existence.

- Mutsuki brings up his worries about new enemies beyond what they know but Kenzaki reassures him it'll be alright and that they can handle it together

- Tachibana then tells Kenzaki that he's still finding a way to turn him back into a human which Kenzaki appreciates and thanks him (still showing his respect to him as his senior at work) 🥹🥹🥹

- Hajime then says he'll wait forever among the humans (OP notes his voice is gentler just like in the finale ep) to which Kenzaki replies that someday the battle will end for sure...

- ELEMENTS plays as the 4 raise their fists together just like in the 2nd OP 🥺

- Kenzaki leaves first disappearing behind the smoke

- Tachibana and Mutsuki leaves

- Hajime was the last to leave but also the slowest, as he lowers his head before making his exit from the stage

- While Hajime leaves, Kenzaki's silhouette in the smoke remains and he's facing Hajime's direction before completely disappearing (OP mentions the lighting used for the smoke is colored gold...... LIKE THE COLOR OF THE GINGKO LEAVES AT THE PARK DURING THE BENCH SCENE FHDJNFKLK)

- once everything is dark, two colored silhouettes appeared: red and blue

- the blue one confirms that the Battle Fight will resume as two Undeads are still active

- the red one then says that they'll continue to observe as they hope to restore harmony to the world

- though made vague in the stageshow, OP points out that these two are actually the final bosses from the Blade novel

- THE END

#Kamen Rider Blade #kamen rider #i am absolutely losing my mind about thid #im so glad i never changed my icon because blade will always be in my heart #what the heck why is Kamen rider blade #kenzaki and hajime ah #anyways enjoy gang and perish with me and other fellow fans

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butt0nzz66 · 4 months

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Part 2 theories

So like everyone I have been brain rotting over part one and the trailer for part 2! I am firmly in the living for the season camp, although would never so no to more Polin lol.

As an anxious girlie (who is equal parts dreading and excited for the LW fallout) that preview gave me heart palpitation's 🫡. So I have been scouring all four corners of the web for spoilers and I have a theory for part 2, leave now to not be spoiled!

I don’t think this clip from the promo is the mirror scene and they are faking us out…. Shocking I know.

So we also see this dress here:

Which some internet sources report is from episode 5 when Colin has a major bust up with Portia and then he takes Pen to see their new house. At which Pen is very emotional because nobody has ever stood up for her before and they ahem… finish what they started in the carriage. 😱😱

Also before anyone says I know the hair is different, however you show me anyone who’s hair stays perfectly in place after having their shit rocked by their sexy pirate fiancé who just ripped ya mum a new one.

This is all supposedly before their wedding and before Colin discovers LW and I don’t think the mirror scene will happen before this point. Which would also make sense as the most anticipated scene I don’t think Netflix would want to spoil it in the trailers, baring maybe the carriage scene which was also noticeably absent from all P1 promo (maybe even more anticipated seeing as it doesn’t happen in the book and is only referenced as boob man Colin’s fantasy (can you blame him)). As well as the connotations of what the mirror scene represents, it doesn’t make narrative sense to put it before she reveals every part of herself to him and he reaffirms that he adores every part of her. At the very least I am manifesting this because I’ll cry if it is before 🙃.

So that being said I think this is a fake out showing their first time in their new home in ep 5 that ISNT the mirror scene which would come in maybe ep 7 or 8 following LW Fallout.

So thanks for coming to my ted talk or better described as a theorising ramble so I don’t loose my actual marbles over the next 4 weeks (I’m at a big old age of 8 and twenty and I can’t be doing with this stress hun okay I have a full time job and responsibilities, I can’t be obsessing like I’m 16 again).

Basically I see you Netflix and if I’m right you are honour bound to let meeeee seeeeee now or pistols at dawn! Or if someone has seen it just dm me a thumbs up so I can at least be smug for the next 25 days.

Thoughts, comments, concerns come freak out with me .

#polin #bridgerton s3 #bridgerton spoilers

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1moreff-creator · 11 months

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Happy Birthday Arei Naegishi!

I am so bad at remembering birthdays I almost missed this one. But it's still the third in my time zone, so I'm still gonna do it! Arei's our birthday girl, and the best character ever (<- her opinion) gets a birthday post too! Spoilers below the cut as always.

-Arei's backstory was revealed in CH 2 EP 5. She was bullied heavily by her sisters, Fuyuko and Natsuko, and we see an example of them doing so by forcefully cutting part of the right side of her hair. You can even see, to this day, she seems to have more hair on her left than on her right. She also mentions "If [she] had to go to the hospital once or twice, then it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience for [her sisters]." Which, uh, huh. That's... quite awful. The point is that Arei hated her life back then, and rightfully hated her sisters as well.

-Despite that, it seems Arei tried to be kind for the longest time. She's far from an innately cruel person, but eventually, she felt the only way out was turning the table on her sisters and starting to bully them. Her secret is "Blackmailing, rumors, lying, stealing, slander. You did everything you could to ruin your sisters' lives" and she confessed that she framed them for everything she could to get them unlawfully sent to reform school. This included planting things in their bags and lying to authorities, as well as driving her mother's car into a ditch and blaming it on her sister drunk driving. Okay so bullying is maybe an understatement but the idea stands.

-And it worked! She managed to get them sent to reform school, and her life improved drastically. Morally dubious queen shit, etc. However, this made her develop a harmful ideology that being kind is a weakness and will get you treated badly. Which is why she acts unnecesarily mean during the killing game.

-However, deep down, Arei is still nice. She doesn't really like doing the things she does, she just feels they're necessary for her to survive. Even right before her secret reveal, she was trying to justify her actions to herself, saying it's normal for people to be like her:

Arei (laughing nervously): You [David] do want to hear my secret after all. As I guessed, everyone has that burning curiosity inside of them to hear bad things about other people. It's not just me.

-Which is why Eden's existence led her to a breakdown. Because Eden is nice and kind and is exactly the type of person Arei thinks would be destroyed in """the real world.""" And yet, Eden keeps going, she's still nice. Eden is what Arei wishes she could have been, she sees her past Arei in current Eden. Which is why she bullied her originally; to "teach her how the world works." Because Arei doesn't want to do real harm, so it's better if she does it than someone else later down the line.

-That doesn't go well. She breaks down in front of David, who comforts her quite successfully... so much so that she seems to forget she wanted to talk to David about his secret oops.

-This is what leads to her apologizing to Eden and promising to be her friend and a better person... and then she died. Well, under the most common interpretation.

-Her birthday lands on November 3rd, just three days after Ace's. This coincides with:

+Fountain Pen Day (Min reference?)

+National Sandwich Day.

+National Homemaker Day.

+Jellyfish Day. (?)

+Give Someone a Dollar Day (??)

+Love Your Lawyer Day (???????)

Among other things. I still have no idea where these come from.

-The roman numeral assigned to her in the LGI MV is IV (4), a number associated with death because yeeeeaaaah... This is: "right now, why do you cry?"

Ignoring the intentional mistranslation, this is probably just referencing Arei's breakdown in the playground.

-Color Theory (I'm sorry but I'm done linking that post) assigns her... well, I believe dark blue, so I'm going with that. This is cry, big and the Mandarin laugh (哈哈哈) in the rain scene.

(The good thing about having done this fucking video is that I have all the damn screenshots you could ever ask for in relation to it)

"Cry" for the same reasoning as her numeral. "Big" in this context is "proud", which fits. And the laugh is long to explain, but basically it's the "applause crew" (Cheery David, Xander, Hu, Arei) overwhelming David. Watch that part of the video for a better explanation.

-Arei had an FTE with J, which she starts off by tickling her, later claiming she would, uhm.

Arei: I'll tie you down and force you to wear maid dresses and bunny suits until you change your mind! [About acting girly]

Arei what. This screenshot feels like it should be fake what do you mean it's canon. It's great, don't get me wrong, it just feels extremely outta pocket. Listen, I (aro/ace) don't feel qualified to unpack whatever the fuck is going on here, I'm just gonna leave this to the shippers.

-What I will unpack is the other stuff in the FTE related to Arei. Which is-

Arei: C'mere! I'll tickle you until you laugh so hard that your heart stops! Then I'll defibrillate you and tickle you some more! Tickle tickle tickle!

I said the OTHER stuff

-Mainly, that she feels like being the favorite child would be great (you can figure out why yourself I imagine), and she likes acting girly.

-We also learn she categorizes people based on how she likes to bully them. "Cool and suave wannabe boys" like J (as in, she acts like a boy who tries and fails to be cool and suave), "spineless pushovers" like Levi (she "uses as maids"), "adorably sweet people" like Eden (she """likes""" to make them cry), and the people who don't like her, which would presumably include her sisters, as she says she likes to destroy these people's lives. Foreshadowing!

Fun facts!

-She likes gossip and dislikes being ignored.

-Her subtitle quote in the cast page is "If I tell you a secret, will you promise to keep it?" Which is insane foreshadowing given the chapter she (allegedly) died in.

-Her secret quote is "Because that’s what friends do", which she said to Eden in the trial flashback. The quote associated to her in Mai's page is "She doesn’t like it when her friends fight." Friendship is evidently something of a running theme.

-She likes "cute" food (?), her favorite color is azure (because she's blue), her favorite ice cream flavor is birthday cake flavor (oh, fitting!). Her least favorite color is green because it "looks like puke", which... I wonder if it has something to do with being bullied by her sisters given the apparent hospital visits.

-Her name in Kanji is written 投石【なげ・いし】亜鈴【あ・れい】. Cool! Don't know what any of that means.

-Like most of the cast, her hair color is natural and she's American.

-She's ambidextrous! The only ambidextrous person in the cast, in fact, and the only one apart from Teruko to not be a righty.

Finally songs!

+Candle Queen by Ghost & Pals (literally her song, don't @ me)

+Those Who Carried On by Ghost & Pals (it's sorta a similar attitude to how she felt about Eden, do you see my vision?)

+SCAPEG∞AT by Ghost & Pals (I will make you all listen to Ghost & Pals!)

+Perfectly Sweet by Vane Lily

+Karma by CreepP

+Bad B!tch Magic by HalaCG + others

+i DO what i WANT by KIRA

+Aishite by Kikuo

+It's Not My Fault by DECO*27 (listen Milgram had to bleed into these eventually)

+Teen Idle by Marina and the Diamonds (again I think it works)

+Pyrite Girl by RIProducer / RIP (I think it works kinda at least)

And Happy Birthday! Hope you enjoy some birthday cake ice cream, girl! Go do it!

#drdt #danganronpa despair time #drdt spoilers #arei nageishi #character birthday

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dk-wren · 9 months

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Buddy Daddies Week - Ep. 1-4 Rewatch

Welcome to Day 2 of my Buddy Daddies Celebration Week! Today, I present to you some of my thoughts and musings from my rewatch of the whole series. Today will focus on episodes 1-4, with my thoughts and reactions for the remaining episodes being posted throughout the rest of the week.

For some reason (I honestly don’t know why), I was very adamant that the main timeline would eventually cross paths with the prologue and we’d see those events again or perhaps it would be referenced in a later episode. Obviously, it never did. And so thinking about it now, if I had to place where the prologue happened, I would guess between episodes 5 and 6 (I know this isn’t necessarily anything new or groundbreaking. This is just me going through my thoughts).

I was originally thinking sometime between Episode 4-6 since Rei had slowly begun his process of opening himself up to loving and taking care of Miri, or accepting that he is her papa. Episode 4 was my starting guess because that’s where we’re introduced to Miss Anna, and Miri actually starts attending daycare. Additionally, Rei is still a little reserved or closed off at this point. However, based on the first scene of ep. 5 and Kazuki’s financial gymnastics, it seems like it’s been awhile since their last mission. Which to me, wouldn’t make sense for them to go on the prologue mission between these two episodes. Rei’s walls start to come down some more in ep 5, and Kazuki and Rei both agree that they kinda need to take on a few more jobs to make a living. With Miri getting mad at Kazuki and fully letting him know how much she loves Rei, I feel anything after ep 6 would make the prologue mission feel out of place in terms of Rei’s behavior. Additionally, by this point it seems like Rei had slowly begun to help out more around the house and with Miri. Therefore, with Rei and Kazuki needing to complete the mission they were on in the prologue, but Rei seemingly not as observant or involved with taking care of Miri, that is why I am placing the events of the prologue between episodes 5 and 6.

The way the kitty just snuggles up next to Rei! She knows she’s safe and protected next to him (and maybe that he’s always been a good person who is capable of loving another!!!)

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Rei seems to have some understanding of Christmas, did he celebrate this when he was younger? Since that seems highly unlikely, did he just pick up on it and learn over time? Or did Rei experience his first true Christmas living with Kazuki?!

Random thought of the episode…is this their truck? Where do they park it/store it since we only see it on missions?

Love how Miri's priorities are cake first, finding papa second

Is it bad that it took me reading someone’s post on here to realize Kazuki and their target, Atsushi Hayami, were meant to look similar? Like I see it now, but on a first watch, I was completely oblivious to it.

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This opening!!! I remember watching this scene for the first time and just thinking to myself, yep, that’s a four year old. And Kazuki, this man is already questioning everything. But also, despite being the one who is more prepared to be a father, I like how this scene shows how there are things that Kazuki is learning and may not have considered without experience

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I don’t know a whole lot about name honorifics or modifies in Japanese, but I love how after Rei rejects “Papa” Kazuki still tries to keep it a family name with “Uncle” (before settling with “Rei-kun” for this episode and part of the following one).

Based on his reaction, I get a feeling this was the first time Kazuki made Rei french toast. If so, I wonder if Miri asked for Kazuki to make it or if he just decided that’s what would be for breakfast

Out of context, this scene is still pretty funny, like Miri managed to destroy their apartment in probably a few hours at most. When I watched this clip the first time, I always thought when Rei said “cover” (at least, according to the translation), he was talking to Kazuki. As in, to keep Miri distracted, they told her they were playing hide and seek, with Miri hiding and they would be the ones to find her. After watching the episode, I picked up that Rei was meant to be directing that comment at Miri, which I love how seriously he says it like its an actual critique. Just goes to show I guess how much Rei has grown over the course of the show in his approach to playing with/talking to Miri.

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Moment of appreciation for this iconic scene!

I feel like I should have taken this post credit scene more seriously when it came out because wow did it do a good job of formally introducing Ogino and just what would be in store when this fun little family comedy took a turn

How do I hug little Rei while simultaneously punch Shigeki?

I really enjoy how despite Kazuki trying to get Rei to take on the title “papa” or “uncle” in the previous episode, both he and Miri respect that he doesn’t want to be called either name and generally will use “-kun” instead

Even though up until this point, Rei hasn’t been actively shown to take the lead in caring for or wanting to keep Miri, I love how he can already see right through Kazuki’s stance that they should return Miri to her mother

I’d argue this exchange just goes to show how much Miri already loves and accepts Rei as her papa, even if he does not actively return the gesture. She wants to know where he is and when Kazuki says he doesn’t know, she actively goes out to try and find him. Then, she comforts him in ways she’s probably familiar with: staying by his side and by saying the smile spell

This man is a hitman and (as we learn in a later episode) used to do gaming all-nighters, but is absolutely dead after playing for no more than a few hours with Miri. Another very accurate portrayal of how draining spending time with children can be, in terms of keeping up with their energy level

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Based on the brief background given about Misaki and the impressions at least I took away from this episode, I wonder if this is what Misaki told Miri about who her father was and why he was not present in their lives

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Nothing to add, just gonna leave this scene here.

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While I totally understand Kazuki and Rei’s reactions, and empathize with the messes Miri is accidentally creating, it says a lot about Miri in how she wants to spend time with both of them and/or help out with chores

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One of my favorite, small moments, is the two times in this episode where music is playing as Kazuki and Miri start walking in one direction, with Rei heading the other way, only for the music to cut abruptly and show Rei forced to go wherever the other two are headed

As Miri is figuring out daycare herself, I think it’s sweet how her future friends, Kotori and Hinata, are the ones to somewhat explain why they don’t want to play with Miri (and why the other children feel the same way)

This post credit scene or the one from ep 4 is probably my favorite. Just another example of Miri showing how much love she has for her two papas. I also can’t help but wonder how many items in Miri’s room were chosen by her (aside from toys and decor) and how many were chosen by Kazuki and Rei? Also, how long did this take them? And please tell me that Kazuki dragged Rei with him as they went furniture shopping.

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Also, if Miri only got her room at the end of the episode, where did she sleep the two nights they went shopping? Because in the beginning of the episode, Miri is still seen sleeping on the couch, but both times all of their shopping bags are covering the area where the sofa is. I think I’m looking to hard into this…

Thank you again for your support and for reading this post!

I hope you enjoyed reading some of my thoughts and random questions I had while rewatching this show (which I decided to edit down since this post would have gotten really really long otherwise-debating if I wanna post my full, unedited thoughts though at a later point). I think they do a good job of capturing the way my brain normally works, so yeah...

Anyways, hope to see you again tomorrow!

-Dakota Wren

#buddy daddies #buddy daddies anime #buddy daddies anniversary #dk wren's bd celebration week #buddy daddies rewatch #Youtube

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olivieraa · 6 months

Text

one of my fave eps of anime tbh

I think absolutely everything in this episode was perfect

Shizuo is not used to people challenging him. They usually just attack him, sometimes accidentally, and it sends him into a rage. So when Rocchi basically comes in all "hey we have to fight", Shizuo is calmly like "...yeah sure ok"

Which leads to Shizuo actually bringing one of his victims to a doctor. Shizuo, who normally knocks people into the sky and walks away

Admits, in a different way, that he actually sorta likes Rocchi

Thinks about Izaya for a moment cause Izaya happens to be someone he cant stand. Beautiful

Tells Tom that Rocchi took 4 punches from Shizuo to take him out, thus making Rocchi Shizuo's toughest ever opponent, cause most are out in one

Admits he's jealous cause he doesnt have a woman to bandage him up when he's hurt

And then Rocchi is nothing but respectful of Shizuo aftewards

But the whole fucking ep was so good. Rocchi is gentleman incarnate, Shizuo just chatting and chilling, he never gets to do that. Shiki being respectful to Celty. And then the little girl that comes in and tazers Shizuo and he's just like :/ hilarious scene

I remember the joyous feeling I got once I finished this ep. As someone who had labelled their fave show as Durarara based on season 1 alone from 2011, I was always thinking it was close to perfect but there's a chance I could find better

Season 2 came, started off confusing af, which is a DRRR thing anyway, but then sucked me back in, I felt so much overall, and then this ep solidified it for me

And the fact that, my only true beef ever with this show, is that the Index anime that I cant stand, couldn't be more opposite to DRRR in every way, like, in EVERY WAY, but they keep referencing it in this show and I'm like OF ALL THE ANIMES TO REFERENCE??? Its still confused me to this day, its like Index stands for everything DRRR doesn't, its so weird

But that's... that's it. Perfect show

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miyamiwu · 1 year

Text

Link Click Season 2 – Everything We Know about Agents and their Abilities

This post will contain spoilers

This is a sequel to my season 1 summary of their abilities, so I’ll be referencing to some stuff there. And since season 2 is still ongoing, this post will be updated after I watch every new episode. Be sure to check the latest version of the post before reblogging.

Episode 1

(1)

Right after "Qiao Ling" stabs Lu Guang in the season 1 recap at the start of the ep, the scene then changes to that of Lu Guang in a forest, followed by a dying Cheng Xiaoshi with his head being held in someone's hand (probably Lu Guang's).

As present-time Lu Guang watches "Qiao Ling" confront Cheng Xiaoshi in the living room, Cheng Xiaoshi's voice is then heard saying in the background, "Lu Guang, if death cannot be avoided…"

The scene then changes to that of a bloody left hand with a black watch (presumably Lu Guang's hand). And behind this hand is Cheng Xiaoshi, wearing his yellow and blue jacket, lying on the ground.

We are then brought to the present-timeline, with Lu Guang thinking "… then it might be better to face it now."

(2)

With Red-eyes having to ask about Cheng Xiaoshi’s powers, it is confirmed that they did not see what CXS saw while the latter was in the photo in their confrontation in S1E11. This disproves my S1E11 #2 inference.

(3)

Red-eyes was able to point out Cheng Xiaoshi’s lie easily.

Episode 2

(1)

Red-eyes can control a person to do things beyond what is possible for a human to do on their own. An example of this is how they had Liu Min dislocate the cricoid cartilage in his neck in a short time.

(2)

The Red-eyed kid whom Qian Jin gave the photo to has pointed bangs. This is presumably Li Tianchen. (From hereon, if I say only “Red-eyes,” then it’s unknown if it’s Li Tianchen or Li Tianxi)

(3)

Red-eyes can remotely control others after gaining a photo of them.

(4)

Red-eyes’ power is also related to photos. And either Red-eyes themselves have the ability to take other people’s abilities, or they know of a way to take it (perhaps through a tool, a ritual, or through someone or something else)

Episode 3

(1)

Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang don’t have to clap their hands to enter a photo. They can just hold hands normally.

(2)

Li Tianchen was the one who gave the photo to Lu Guang.

Episode 4

(1)

Li Tianchen was the one who took Liu Min’s phone.

(2)

The Red-eyes kid who called Qian Jin has a phone number of 184-897-5497.

(3)

During the call, Red-eyes didn’t talk, just breathed heavily. Yet somehow, Qian Jin seemed to have gotten their message, for he later replies with “You are really a madman…”

(4)

The one on the phone is later revealed to be the Li Tianxi, the girl on the photo that was given to Lu Guang.

(5)

Li Tianxi is mute.

(6)

As shown in S1E3 #1 and S1E7 #4 (refer to my season 1 summary), an agent acting as someone else does not inherit the physical limits of the person they become. This is further shown in this episode when the doctor checks Cheng Xiaoshi’s pulse. Instead of detecting Tianxi’s pulse, they detected Cheng Xiaoshi’s.

(7)

The one who went to the police station and claimed to be a witness is Li Tianxi.

#shiguang dailiren #link click #时光代理人 #link click season 2 #link click spoilers #link click season 2 spoilers #miyamiwu.info #miyamiwu.src

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night-faye · 2 months

Note

Glad you’re enjoying all this ^_^ don’t worry about straining your eyes, by the episode doesn’t mean every episode, you actually can’t miss the change ;) Between whatever the OP before episode 8 was and those at the end, it’s in the last frame. A couple more trivia for you :D Sorry I keep referencing Macky’s episodes LOL esp this one but S3 Ep 4 that screenshot where he dumps the Skeleton Key in the grass and walks off is reminiscent of the scene where Wukong first leaves his staff in the pilots and walks off. And between two storyboard artists, we’ve seen Red Son being drawn in gender nonconforming fashions, using all pronouns and I quote, “Red Son cannot be contained by one measly gender and will be taking all the genders.” The characters are also given their own Pokemon Team by the artists ;) and although they aren’t stated to have confirmed ages so the fans are able to see them however, they are stated outside of the show to be seen as certain ages. Pigsy is 43, Tang is 41, Mei is 23, and MK is at least 18 but fandom mostly places him at 21. MK has also been thought of as going by He/They pronouns and was shown with the transgender flag. Wukong in JTTW is one of four celestial primates who is described as “knows transformations, recognizes the seasons, discerns the advantages of earth, and is able to alter the course of planets and stars.” While Macaque is "a sensitive ear, discernment of fundamental principles, knowledge of past and future, and comprehension of all things." And his name comes from the saying "a secret is not safe between six ears" or "the dharma is not to be transmitted to the sixth ear" which has sneaky dialogue potential. I love playing around with it. Also, the characters are merged with other JTTW characters of similar names. That goes for the entire Brotherhood + Macky, who is merged with the Macaque King who is presented as female in the English translation. This is where the “Great Sage Informing Wind” title comes from for Macky in fics + the wind and shadow magic people sometimes tie together with him. Altho you don’t see his six ears in the show, we get a lot of references through the mech, how sound effects him, and his…unique ability to react as if having heard into the future. You’ll see in the special. But his model sheet does show him with six ears if you ever wanted to know. But fandom draws him with rainbow colorful ears based on another show that has these monkeys :D Lego’s Chinese TikTok (official one) refers to him as “handsome max charisma villain” + mandarin dub calls him “phantom lord” LOL. In a game, he’s very tsundere about admitting he has a monkey king poster in his room. In S4 we like to say he’s homeless. I’m still struggling to verify if it was a show producers tweet I read about him forgetting to pay rent and losing the dojo. Mei’s placeholder name was “mary sue” and it makes me cry, why they do my girl like that 😭 Time passes differently in the Celestial Realm, so a few hours or days on Earth can be weeks or years up there. Might've been why Wukong was rushing in S2 yet seems to have been gone for months :) Lmao, I gotta catch up to where you're at. I've been slowly writing these up since Pitiful Creatures. Ah, it seems you've seen how MK parallels Mei leaving in S3 here! Fun times for everyone ^_^

Aye aye cap'n I'll keep my eyes peels. about to go into nine so should be fun! (I missed it on eight because I wasn't looking)

A couple more trivia for you :D Sorry I keep referencing Macky’s episodes LOL

Never apologize for referencing Macky episodes. I wanna go insane over this monkey

esp this one but S3 Ep 4 that screenshot where he dumps the Skeleton Key in the grass and walks off is reminiscent of the scene where Wukong first leaves his staff in the pilots and walks off.

👀

And between two storyboard artists, we’ve seen Red Son being drawn in gender nonconforming fashions, using all pronouns and I quote, “Red Son cannot be contained by one measly gender and will be taking all the genders.”

THAT IS SUCH A MOOD!!!! HOLY SHIT! Red Son I feel you so hard

The characters are also given their own Pokemon Team by the artists ;)

If Macky doesn't have my (second behind squirtle) fave Mimikyu I will riot

and although they aren’t stated to have confirmed ages so the fans are able to see them however, they are stated outside of the show to be seen as certain ages. Pigsy is 43, Tang is 41, Mei is 23, and MK is at least 18 but fandom mostly places him at 21.

Noted noted noted :)

MK has also been thought of as going by He/They pronouns and was shown with the transgender flag.

👀

Wukong in JTTW is one of four celestial primates who is described as “knows transformations, recognizes the seasons, discerns the advantages of earth, and is able to alter the course of planets and stars.” While Macaque is "a sensitive ear, discernment of fundamental principles, knowledge of past and future, and comprehension of all things." And his name comes from the saying "a secret is not safe between six ears" or "the dharma is not to be transmitted to the sixth ear" which has sneaky dialogue potential. I love playing around with it.

Yeee I knew this. hehehehe. I am going to have such fun with this hehehe

Also, the characters are merged with other JTTW characters of similar names. That goes for the entire Brotherhood + Macky, who is merged with the Macaque King who is presented as female in the English translation.

Oh fascinating!

This is where the “Great Sage Informing Wind” title comes from for Macky in fics + the wind and shadow magic people sometimes tie together with him. Altho you don’t see his six ears in the show, we get a lot of references through the mech, how sound effects him, and his…unique ability to react as if having heard into the future. You’ll see in the special. But his model sheet does show him with six ears if you ever wanted to know. But fandom draws him with rainbow colorful ears based on another show that has these monkeys :D Lego’s Chinese TikTok (official one) refers to him as “handsome max charisma villain” + mandarin dub calls him “phantom lord” LOL. In a game, he’s very tsundere about admitting he has a monkey king poster in his room.

>*Taking notes very quickly*<

In S4 we like to say he’s homeless. I’m still struggling to verify if it was a show producers tweet I read about him forgetting to pay rent and losing the dojo.

WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME? LMAO

Mei’s placeholder name was “mary sue” and it makes me cry, why they do my girl like that 😭

JUSTICE FOR MY GIRL

Time passes differently in the Celestial Realm, so a few hours or days on Earth can be weeks or years up there. Might've been why Wukong was rushing in S2 yet seems to have been gone for months :)

Time passes differently you say 👀 oh I could Do Things With That

Lmao, I gotta catch up to where you're at. I've been slowly writing these up since Pitiful Creatures. Ah, it seems you've seen how MK parallels Mei leaving in S3 here! Fun times for everyone ^_^

I'm in pain :)

#lmk #faye watches lmk #lmk asks #lmk anon #faye answers

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confluencechimera · 5 months

Note

Top 5 Earthspark episodes?

YEAHHH LETS GO!!!

1. Age of Evolution Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 - they're considered one episode so I'm ranking them together too! IMO it's the best episode EarthSpark has to offer, it's absolutely the show firing on every cylinder. like, are we EVER going to get a better fight scene than Megatron and Optimus vs the Seekers??? I HIGHLY doubt it. this is peak EarthSpark to me

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2. What Dwells Within - prolly one of EarthSpark's other best episodes overall, there's some things about it that aren't perfect (the Dweller sorta comes outta nowhere, but it's a kids show, so not everything's gonna get explained, y'know? gotta remember the genre/target audience here.), but it's a very solid episode and a very very solid characterization for Starscream. very curious where they'll go from here with him

3. Classified - yeah, call me easy, the episode that focuses the most on the blorbo from my shows gets in here, but it's also because WE GOT SCHLODER IN THIS EPISODE FOR THE FIRST TIME TOO, and i love Schloder, he's so funny. but really this episode has so many great laughs in it, especially showing off OP's character. does anything beat this? dskjfkjd

4. Stowed Away, Stowaways - oooo this is a REALLY good ep for intrigue. honestly I kinda wished this ep was like two stretched out because a lot happens in it, but it's got some good plot. I think Battle of Witwicky (the episode after this one) has more of my favorite scenes out of the finale, but SAS has a very consistent feel through the whole thing that I appreciate a lot (ALSO, OPTIMUS REFERENCING MISSION IMPOSSIBLE IS EVERYTHING TO ME)

5. A Stygi Situation - so idk how this happened but I'm pretty sure this is the episode I come back to rewatching the most? I think it's just got a very easy, contained rewatchability to it, AND it's where Elita gets most of her screentime and I freakin love ES Elita. also, I really liked Grimlock's whole deal - I enjoyed the way they use him as an analogy for trauma. I hope they continue to do more stuff like that because it's very nicely done for kids to understand

#TYSM ELIJAHHHH you and meg both activated my autism so hard w your questions UGH <3 #sdfkjdskjas i moved classified up from 5 to 3 after i wrote everything out and reread my rankings here #but i cannot in good faith put it above AOE and WDW just bc i love op. those episodes are both sooo good.#asks #hexusproductions

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telomeke-bbs · 2 years

Text

BAD BUDDY RERUN SEASON – EP.3 (NOTES ON THE REWATCH)

As we move forward past Week 3 of the Bad Buddy rerun season on Channel GMM25, this write-up is a listing of my observations on the third episode of BBS. (Notes on Episodes 1, 2 and 4 are linked here: Ep.1, Ep.2 and Ep.4.)

Episode 3 starts with another scene out of sequence. We see a relaxed and unblemished Wai calmly talking with Pran as though the bus-stop brawl hadn't happened yet – but it already had, at the end of the previous episode.

(above) Wai before and after the bus-stop brawl

So once again (as with the end of Ep.1) the timeline shimmers like a bit of a mirage – but this scene does make sense if we view it as more of a preamble or a mini-ep within the episode not strictly anchored to the narrative chronology, kind of like a retro TV pre-opening sequence, but flashing backward instead of forward and setting the stage with exposition for what's to come.

This longish opening scene sets up quite a number of references for callbacks in the future. (Actually the whole episode does this.) We see Pran sketching a cartoon face with fierce-looking eyes, and we know who this must be (Pat's fierce eyes are referenced in Ep.1 [1I4] 5.20, Ep.10 [1I4] 12.22 and Ep.12 [3I4] 2.57, which is also a full-circle callback to Ep.1).

Pran's sketch is BBS letting us know that this is how he processes his thoughts and feelings – he doesn't talk about them with anyone, but he sketches out representations of them (meaning that Pat is vexing and dominating his mind right now).

And if it wasn’t clear before that Pran was already in love with Pat, the scene removes all doubt by showing us that he'd already fallen way back in high school, in the flashback immediately following Wai's question at Ep.3 [1I4] 2.00: "Have you not had a secret crush on anyone before?"

We also see more of Pran's propensity for denying his true feelings when he goes "That wasn't a smile" at Ep.3 [1I4] 5.04 in response to Wai's "When you fall for someone, your heart flutters. And when you think about it, you just can’t suppress a smile" (Ep.3 [1I4] 4.51).

Pran's flashback of Pat figuratively sacrificing himself (in the form of his student card) to make a guitar pick for Pran also foreshadows the other instances when Pat selflessly steps up on behalf of others (e.g., before and during the LogTech presentation later on in this episode, especially at Ep.3 [2/4] 7.15, and also when he sticks up for Wai against the gun-wielding rugbyman played by Kim Thitisan Goodburn in Ep.9 [3I4]).

And Pat's comment at Ep.3 [1I4] 4.34: "Stop looking at it" (his photograph) will get callbacks later:

At Ep.3 [3I4] 1.27 in the LogTech lift (when Pat says "You always look at me");

In Pat's theme Secret, whose lyrics describe Pat's point of view in their coming relationship – "So what if you catch me looking at you? Isn’t it you who look(ed) at me first?" (Ep.8 [3I4] 9.38); and

When they visit their old high school in Ep.10 (where Pat says "You're confessing that you always looked at me" at Ep.10 [3I4] 1.00).

When Pran accidentally finds himself at the same table with Pat at the wonton noodle stall, he overcompensates by making a show of checking that no one they know can see them together, giving off the vibe he'd rather be alone. Remembering that Pran's in love with Pat, we can see that he's keeping his emotions hidden while signaling their opposite to the world.

Pat, on the other hand, is quite happy to share the table and even gestures for Pran to sit down (Ep.3 [1I4] 6.20). He also smiles at him (Ep.3 [1I4] 6.30 – not very obvious to the viewer, since he's facing away from the camera, but you can just make it out. And Pran returns the smile too, if somewhat half-heartedly).

Pat is in his Tim Hortons t-shirt at the noodle stall – there's a smiley-faced cookie on the front, and a giant smile on the back.

This is a little ironic, in that it's Pran who's associated with smileys all the time – but they're never on his person (except this one time – yeah so I just noticed – in Ep.4 [3I4] 6.39, that will have significance in Ep.4). They're scattered all around his life (in his sketches, draped around his wall, on his bedside lamp, taped to his door, on his mobile phone, and on his doorhanger) – half-décor, half-hidden symbols of his inner feelings. Meanwhile it's Pat who (sometimes) has them on his clothes for all the world to see (not often though – we see them referenced here at Ep.3 [1I4] 6.17, at Ep.1 [3I4] 3.40 and at Ep.12 [4/4] 1.03 too).

Pat's White Castle t-shirt in Ep.7 [1I4] 13.56 also suggests a smile without actually showing one – the words on the back are "Say Cheese!"😁

Pran surrounded by smileys while Pat having them on his clothes kind of parallels how Pran disassociates himself from his emotions while Pat wears his openly on his sleeve (or his t-shirts 😉).

Pat's t-shirts that reference smiles are also a clue to the origins of Pran's obsession with smileys all around him. One way of reading it is that the smileys remind him of his sunshine boy Pat (who, after Pran's re-appearance in his life in Episode 1 is always smiling) – I think they do, and Pat's three t-shirts do reinforce this point.

But I don't think the reason for Pran surrounding himself with smileys is his romantic feelings for Pat, or at least it didn't start out that way. This is because we are shown that Pran had many smileys on the walls of his childhood bedroom even before they became friends:

I think the smiley faces on his bedroom walls demonstrated lonely little Pran's hunger to surround himself with company (he's an only child after all). This also explains why he followed Pat and Pa to the lake on their bicycles in Ep.1 – he was probably craving playtime with them. And after some time the smiley became the symbol for his ultimate companion – Pat – as well as an outward barometer for his hidden feelings (e.g., when he switches between smiley and frowny faces on sticky notes and his doorhanger).

The noodle dish Pat and Pran seem to love so much is the Thai version of wonton noodles, known as bami mu daeng kiao (บะหมี่หมูแดงเกี๊ยว).

Similar to the versions in Malaysia and Singapore, the wontons, noodles and choy sum greens (ผักกวางตุ้ง) are served with charsiu or mu daeng (หมูแดง, red barbecued pork), unlike the original Cantonese version in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, which typically does not come with charsiu. The bami part (บะหมี่) means (meat-based) noodles, and is a cognate with Indonesian bakmi and Filipino mami (etymologically derived from Hokkien/Teochew).

The kiao part (เกี๊ยว) means wonton dumpling, and is possibly a play on words. The khanom jeep that we saw in Ep.2 figured heavily in Bad Buddy's lexical games regarding courtship, as the word jeep means both to pleat (referring to the crimping of the dumpling wrapper) and also to flirt/court (explained here and here).

As kiao wontons are a close culinary cousin of khanom jeep, I'm tempted to read a connection here too, since the wontons and the wonton noodle stall figure so prominently in BBS. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), the word kiao (เกี๊ยว) that means wonton is almost exactly the same as another word meaning to flirt/court/woo – เกี้ยว, also pronounced kiao but with a different tone (the spelling is the same, except for the diacritic designating the tone).

So we can read Pat and Pran as possibly mock-flirting with wontons here, just as Pat was actually flirting with Ink using wontons at the same stall to make Pran jealous in Ep.7.

When Pat and Pran engage in all sorts of combative antics over their noodles though (e.g., chopstick fencing, grabbing kiao from each other, offering wontons – or courtship? – directly from an open mouth), they're re-living their childhood competitiveness once again, and for both of them there are undercurrents of romantic interest (although Pat would not have realized it).

But when the battling ends, Pat goes "That's it? You're no fun" at Ep.3 [1I4] 8.26, and this shows that their jousting was all for sport (a practice they'd been engaging in since childhood). And then he returns a wonton to Pran, further confirming that the games of one-upmanship were more for the interaction, not really about winning anything (and will have significance for the events of Ep.7).

Back at their student accommodation, Pat and Pran take the opportunity to relaunch more competitive rivalry when they race up the stairs (Ep.3 [1I4] 9.55). Pran displays his contrarian communication (as seen before at Ep.2 [1I4] 9.03, Ep.3 [1I4] 5.04 and Ep.4 [4/4] 17.08) when he says "Someone like me doesn’t need to compete for anything with you" – but then he does.

Pat clearly enjoys the activity – it was he who suggested that they race, and he also hoots with laughter as they sprint up to their apartments. And Pran continues the one-upmanship when he refuses to share the black inhaler, and changes the fist bump into a middle finger flip. But once safely inside his apartment – he beams with happiness at Ep.3 [1I4] 12.49, hungrily looking out the peephole for Pat at Ep.3 [1I4] 12.35.

"You always look at me."

Pran obviously enjoys the competitive interaction as much as his neighbor across the corridor; he just doesn't show it quite as openly.

Pat also voices his inner desires for Pran that he hasn't yet learnt to identify or understand when he says: "But if you miss me, don’t knock. Just come in" (at Ep.3 [1I4] 11.54). For Pran, so much in love with Pat, the suggestiveness of this comment cannot be lost.

And Pat will continue dropping (unconscious) hints like these all the way up to Ep.5, which explains why Pran will say at Ep.5 [4/4] 8.57 "Pat, you’ve got to stop doing this to me. We are not a thing", since he would have noticed all of Pat's intimations of deeper feelings even while Pat himself was unaware of their significance.

The tin can conversation (Ep.3 [1I4] 18.13) had me confused when I watched this episode the first time around – if Pran was so pissed, why would he then pick up the tin can after steadfastly ignoring all of Pat's phone calls?

It's only after it was revealed in Ep.12 that this was how PatPran as kids would talk to each other (not having access to mobile phones or landlines), did it finally make sense. Pat can tell Pran is angry and so is giving him space (not climbing across over to his room) – instead, he uses their childhood method of communication because he figures it's a good reminder of their longtime bond that Pran will not be able to ignore. And he guessed right (because he knows Pran so well). 💖

The LogTech lift squash (Ep.3 [2/4] 5.14) is BBS's nod to the BL trope where a couple squeeze together in an elevator (whether by design or accident).

This was called out in Ep.2 [4/4] after the condo viewing, and is also cheered on by the Soon Vijarn gang in the Reaction Video for this episode (linked here: REACTION [ENG/CH SUB] แค่เพื่อนครับเพื่อน BAD BUDDY SERIES EP.3 | ศูนย์วิจารณ์ EP.16.1, timestamp 23.24). When Director Backaof's buddies call out "Cherry Magic!", it's in reference to the sweet Japanese BL that made great use of this elevator trope too. 👍

At LogTech, it first looks like Pat is forced to squeeze into Pran's personal space, and we see that Pran enjoys it (despite himself) at Ep.3 [2/4] 5.34.

Pat then turns it into a goofy prank at 6.04, but I like to think that his being lost in the moment at 5.52 wasn't intentional, that it was really him being driven by his subconscious desires into savoring every precious moment of Pran's proximity (so the answer to his question at 5.22 "Do you think I want to (squash in this much)?" really is a resounding "YES!" 😊).

When Pat says to Pran "You always look at me" at Ep.3 [3I4] 1.27 though, a lot of the spice in their exchange is missing from the subtitles.

Pat doesn't repeat the more common word for look or see (มอง, pronounced mong) that he used in his preceding sentence "You should learn to see what’s around". Instead he uses the word จ้อง (pronounced jong), which means "to gaze/stare".

We know from Ep.3 [1I4] 4.34 (PatPran and the guitar pick) and Ep.10 [3I4] 0.45 (Pran reminiscing about Pat being punished for lateness while at their high school) that Pran loves gazing at his beloved, and BBS tells us that somewhere along the way Pat noticed it too. Here in the lift we see that Pran tenses up slightly at Ep.3 [3I4] 1.30, thinking that Pat has cottoned on to the meaning of his lovelorn looks.

But then Pat switches things up. The word จ้อง (jong) has several meanings, the most basic of which is "to gaze/stare." But it can also mean "to point a weapon" or "to monitor someone or something (especially with ill intentions) for the opportunity to strike at them" – see this Wiktionary link here. (Only Bad Buddy's Indonesian subtitles point out that จ้อง/jong has a double meaning in this scene, but it's simply translated as "to see/to search" and left at that, so the subtleties are not quite conveyed.)

This double meaning is why Pat goes on to call out Pran's jibes of "dog" and "jinx" – he's saying that Pran jongs him (or watches him, en ligne de mire, like a sniper) in order to lob insults at him. Pran then deflates backward onto the rear wall, relieved that Pat (though cross) has apparently not caught on as to why he's always being stared at:

But just a beat later, as Pran says "Well, it's true", they both awkwardly look at each other at the same time, as though acknowledging (and simultaneously proving too) that they're both experiencing matching impulses to jong each other (whether to stare at the other one, or to make a go for him). 👍😍

Pat's ambiguity on jong ("to gaze at") and jong ("to have someone in the cross-hairs") is also another example of him doing the bait-and-switch with Pran regarding their interpersonal dynamics. There will be many examples (including a few in this episode alone) where Pat sets up a reference to some kind of connection or closeness between them, only to subvert it with something else (written up here). More on this later. 😉

This line from Pat in the music shop hits very differently on the rewatch: "When you get into a competition with me, you take it very seriously" (Ep.3 [3I4] 3.59) – especially when you see how Pran is lost for words as he side-eyes Pat in response:

We now know that for much of Bad Buddy, competition is a stand-in for romance – so of course it's no small thing for Pran (who's deep in his unrequited crush for Pat here).

But when Chai suddenly appears and forces them to hide, it's another opportunity for Pat to crash into Pran's personal space, that he craves so much (however unconsciously). There is also a tiny, tiny detail in this scene that reveals the care taken by Director Backaof and the BBS team while painting the backdrop of the main story – Chai and his wife are expecting a baby, and as they approach the store we see her hand on her pregnant stomach, at Ep.3 [3I4] 4.22:

Later on, we will see her heavily pregnant in the hospital at Ep.10 [1I4] 18.55, and Dissaya will also mention their young child at Ep.12 [4/4] 5.11, all subtle markers of BBS's timeline. (This probably means the events at LogTech and the music shop are taking place late in PatPran's first academic year, while Pat's recovery from his gunshot graze will be in the middle of their second year.)

Chai has actually noticed – who couldn't? 🤣 – Pat and Pran trying to hide their lanky clown selves behind that small speaker/turntable, confirmed in Ep.10 [1I4]. But his wife thinks his dogged peering into the store is just him hankering after a guitar, and her words of dissuasion ("Let’s go. We’ve talked about this" and "I know you like it. But we discussed this") suggest that they need to be budgeting for pregnancy and baby expenses instead.

Chai then confirms the coming addition to their family at Ep.3 [3I4] 4.49 – he says something like "I want to buy it for our son" as they walk away (but this is only acknowledged in the Cantonese and Korean subtitles).

The scene at the music shop ends with the first reference in BBS of Pat's own personal foible (that will be popping up many times later in the series as well, all the way to Ep.12) – his love for Pran's scent (that he mistakenly attributes here to Pran's skill at churning out fragrant-fresh laundry 🤣).

I didn't notice it before, but Pat's comment "Do the laundry for me" at Ep.3 [3I4] 5.15 gets a callback in the very next scene at Ep.3 [3I4] 5.46 when Pran (while sketching ideas for the bus-stop design) mockingly says he's doing laundry, in response to Pat's question "What are you doing?".

So when Pat turns up to inspire Pran's design of the new bus-stop though, another exchange that lands with a different emotional weight on the rewatch is the following:

Pat: Are you as hard on your other friends as you are on me? Pran: I won’t be as hard on my friends.

Pran's reply above sounds like a sarcastic suggestion that he doesn't consider Pat a friend. He probably intended for it to sound that way too, and the hurt on Pat's face is visible at Ep.3 [3I4] 6.28.

But the truth behind Pran's words is actually predicated on the contrary. He's so hard on Pat and keeps pushing him away because he thinks of Pat as more than a friend, not less – he's doing all he can to run away from his romantic feelings. (This exchange in a sense also predicts what will happen after the Epic Rooftop Kiss at the end of Ep.5 – Pran goes the hardest he can when he physically runs away, partly because Pat has revealed his understanding that they're more than just friends when he replies "No" to the question "Do you want us to be friends?" 😢).

Back at the bus-stop though, we see Pat good-naturedly breaking down Pran's walls of hostility, and their initial testy exchange soon descends into some cheerful goofball roleplay, followed by a romp around the ruins. And then it all ends up in some heartfelt conversation side-by-side on the road.

As had happened with the tin cans, Pat is demonstrating here that he's aware his persistence and sincerity will eventually break down any barriers that Pran puts up, and he will apply this knowledge again and again with Pran, all the way up to and especially in Ep.6 (when it really mattered to the survival of their relationship).

When Pat says "They will (like it). Because I do" at Ep.3 [3I4] 12.24, the vibes he gives off are also subtly romantic – in Thai the verb chob (ชอบ, meaning to like) doesn't always need an object (see Pat's bedside confession about Ink in Ep.4 [4/4] for another example).

What Pat says here can also mean "They will. Because I like you." Director Backaof mentions in the Soon Vijarn Recap Video (linked here: RECAP [ENG/CH SUB] แค่เพื่อนครับเพื่อน BAD BUDDY SERIES EP.3 | ศูนย์วิจารณ์ EP.16.2, timestamp 23.52) that he shot the scene more than 10 times since Pat was only supposed to be having platonic feelings for Pran at this time, and Ohm's delivery was coming off more romantic than had been envisioned in the script.

But Ohm felt differently about the character, and ultimately what we see at Ep.3 [3I4] 12.25 (and elsewhere in BBS) is his portrayal of a Pat who always had some kind of butterflies for Pran (even if the gold-hearted dumbass wasn't able to identify or qualify what those feelings were before Ep.5 😂).

Thus Pran's half-hopeful, half-panicked sidelong glance at Ep.3 [3I4] 12.29 is even more weighted, since he's an expert at making and reading signs, and must have been picking up on all of Pat's unconscious signaling (which justifies his plea to Pat on the rooftop – "Pat, you’ve got to stop doing this to me" – at Ep.5 [4/4] 8.57 as well 👍).

Episode 3 ends with a scene that not only sets up future callbacks, but also goes full circle with callbacks to previous scenes, and is fully charged with meaning at almost every turn of phrase. When Pran's walls went up again after the LogTech budget cut, Pat stepped up his game and corralled his Engine gang into providing free labor to reconstruct the bus-stop, saving the day yet again for Pran.

This sparks a key shift in the paradigm for Pran, and we see it when he goes to say "Thank you" to Pat at Ep.3 [4/4] 6.54:

The line is a callback to three other instances that show Pran's reluctance to thank Pat:

Ep.1 [3I4] 2.26 – after Pat saves Pran from being beaten up by Korn, Mo and Chang;

Ep.3 [1I4] 9.15 – after Pat buys him wonton noodles;

Ep.3 [2/4] 4.29 – at the LogTech lift lobby.

In the first and third examples above, Pat actually reminds Pran to thank him (which we can possibly read as him needing Pran's validation in his life).

But in the corridor during the closing scene of Ep.3, Pran is on his own and there are no social pressures (or exhortations from Pat) motivating the voicing of his thanks here. Pran has had a change of heart, and instead of pulling away as he had been doing since Ep.2 [4/4] 3.42, he's showing himself now convinced of Pat's sincerity (because of his help with the bus-stop) and is willing to step forward and allow himself to get closer.

In doing this, Pran is actively defying one of his own long-held beliefs – that closeness with Pat will only end badly for him (see these links here and here for more explanation).

Whenever he'd tried getting close before, life found a way to smash him back down, hence his constant and conscious distancing from Pat. (The first two episodes of Bad Buddy were a demonstration of this – Ep.1 showed Pran allowing himself to be drawn closer to Pat, and Ep.2 saw him pulling away when he remembered his mantra of “Things don’t end well whenever I’m close to you”, repeated at Ep.1 [4/4] 3.28 and Ep.2 [3I4] 9.01.) Future episodes will deal with the consequences of Pran's move here in Ep.3 though, and not without drama.

Pat's question to Pran at Ep.3 [4/4] 7.02 – "Can we call it even now?" – is also callback. At Ep.1 [4/4] 9.52 and Ep.2 [4/4] 9.56 Pat references owing Pran for saving Pa at the lake, and for being the cause of Pran's high school transfer. Both times Pran rejects Pat's attempts to pay off the debt, preferring instead that they maintain their relationship that had always been based on some kind of scorekeeping (which ultimately manifests itself as a sort of rivalry, even while they're friends behind the scenes).

But here in the corridor Pran accepts that Pat's debt has been paid, at Ep.3 [4/4] 7.08. And this acceptance also means that he's ready to set aside the constant battling and rebalancing of the scorecard, take things to the next level, and replace the one-upmanship with something less fractious (if not romantic).

He confirms he's ready to abandon the rivalry, stop pushing Pat away, and move closer to him when he asks "Have you eaten?" at Ep.3 [4/4] 7.20.

It's a trope in Thai BL that food is often a stand-in for various forms of love and affection (and BBS plays with it when they flirt using dumplings and wontons, in the various mealtime scenes at the Siridechawat and Jindapat households, and elsewhere too). Pran's question/invitation here is actually loaded with meaning.

All around East and Southeast Asia "Have you eaten?" is used as an informal greeting – in Thailand, parts of Laos, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia too. "Have you eaten?" is not just about food, but is also an inquiry into the well-being of the person being greeted.

Pran asking "Have you eaten?" is really a demonstration of him opening up to Pat, showing concern for his (secret) beloved, and is also a request for more of his company.

Pat's response – a little taken aback at the tentative affection shown to him, from the previously prickly Pran, followed by his knowing smile and nods – shows that he fully understands the significance of Pran's gesture here. (For an exchange with similar vibes, take a look at Pat's response to Pran's gift of alcohol for Ming at Ep.12 [3I4] 13.42, where he also shows – wordlessly – his understanding of the cultural significance behind Pran's move there. Explanation linked here.)

The scene then takes a little detour when we see Pat return Pran's salvaged guitar, itself a symbol of the last part of Pran's fractured and unmended heart (his music-making ability), that is intertwined with his relationship with Dissaya, and will only see resolution in Ep.11. (For more explanation on Pran's healing in this respect, see these links here and here.)

The guitar will figure more prominently and with even more meaning in later episodes, but right now it's both an example of and metaphor for the acts of loving kindness that Pat has done (and will continue to do) for Pran. 😊 And its return also segues the narrative artfully into the next significant plot move.

We are brought to what I now believe is the crux of this whole scene (and perhaps the whole episode). When Pran says at Ep.3 [4/4] 8.36 "What a shame! We won’t get to compete in the Freshy Music Contest", we find out that Pat has actually engineered their return to the competition.

The music contest here is a metaphor for PatPran's own relationship dynamic since childhood, one based on trying to outdo each other (but motivated more by the opportunity for interaction, rather than actually winning anything).

Just moments before, we saw that Pran was willing to step away from competitive rivalry in search of a more conventional relationship with Pat (platonic or otherwise) – he's agreed that Pat has evened the score and paid off his debt (which should signal an end to their games).

But Pat now confirms that's not what he wants at all – by his own actions he tosses them right back into their familiar terrain of competing with each other (saying "We're back in the competition" at Ep.3 [4/4] 8.42).

And Pran realizes what's happening when he says: "You seem so happy when you get to compete against me" at Ep.3 [4/4] 10.19 – this is a rephrasing of and a callback to Pat's comment in the music store: "When you get into a competition with me, you take it very seriously" (Ep.3 [3I4] 3.59). This is Pran agreeing that the basis of their relationship (whether platonic, as it is now for Pat, or romantic, for both of them later) is the rambunctious rivalry that they know so well.

The exchange also basically lays the foundation for PatPran's own version of the getting-to-know-you, dating phase of their relationship in Ep.7, that will take the form of a strange competition on who confesses their love first.

The scene begins drawing to close with Pat's final retort before he retires to his apartment: "Also, I just like to see your face – when you lose" (Ep.3 [4/4] 10.27). He starts it out sweetly enough, but turns the "when you lose" part into a trashtalking punchline.

It's the final example in this episode of Pat doing the bait-and-switch with Pran (also seen at Ep.3 [3I4] 1.27 when he turns the "You always look at me" into a call-out of Pran's insults, and at Ep.3 [3I4] 12.24 when he messes with Pran's mind, however unconsciously, with his use of the word chob/ชอบ). There will be other examples in future episodes too.

This habit of Pat's – setting up an expectation, only to subvert it with something quite jarringly different – is also one of the reasons why Pran bolts after their kiss on the rooftop in Ep.5, because he'd learnt so many times that any initial proposition of Pat's, no matter how kindly or benign, should not be taken at face value as it could suddenly switch and leave him out in the cold. (More explanation linked here.)

The episode then closes with Pran retiring to his apartment – and just before he does so, he smiles wistfully at his watch, the symbol of his push-and-pull relationship with his beloved Pat, and flips his doorhanger to symbolize his happiness at finding himself back in the comforting dynamic of competition with Pat again. 💖

As dense with meaning as this last scene is, on the overall I cannot say that Episode 3 is one of my favorites. This is not because it isn't done well; if anything, Ep.3 is a victim of Bad Buddy's overall success (I think this applies to Ep.4 as well).

Part of the reason why BBS is such a satisfying piece of media to consume (queer/BL or not) is because the storytelling is so compact, tightly-woven and holistically interconnected. There is rarely anything up on screen that does not resonate with meaning (or is revealed to have deeper meaning later) because of parallels with and callbacks/connections to other lines, scenes or depictions elsewhere in the series.

It's hugely rewarding to the viewer every time one of these connections crackles into being in our consciousness, partly because it's all balanced out so masterfully. But the resolution of dramatic and other tensions in future episodes requires a great deal of setting up in earlier episodes, which is why Ep.3 has a bit of an inbetweener feel for me, given the extensive groundwork being laid.

Episodes 1 and 2 got to bristle with novelty when the storyline and characters were introduced, but Ep.3 and Ep.4 don't have that luxury. And yet they still have to shoulder a lot of the burden of seed-planting for future plot developments and story arcs. With only a couple of back episodes to lean on, the opportunities for any resolution of tension are far fewer (and it's too early to tie up loose ends anyway).

But while (or maybe because) Director Backaof and the BBS team make Episodes 3 and 4 work so hard in this respect, the payoff in later episodes is going to be mindblowingly good. 👍 Those of us doing the rewatch know this only too well. 😊💖

[Afterpost Edit: for notes on the rewatch of other episodes, see these links here: Ep.1, Ep.2, Ep.4 and Ep.5. 😊]

#bad buddy #bad buddy analysis #patpran #telomeke #bad buddy episode 3

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telomeke · 2 years

Text

MOONLIGHT CHICKEN – SOME PRELIMINARY RAMBLINGS ON POSSIBLE META

We're only two episodes in (soon to be three), but noting that Moonlight Chicken is an eight-parter – that means we're already a quarter of the way through. 👀

So (based on Director Aof's previous work, like Bad Buddy) I'm fully invested in believing that the first few episodes (at least the first two) are going to be reasonably heavy with planted elements that will reveal their true significance as the plot unfurls.

It's a bit of a guessing game at the moment what these elements are, but there are already some leading contenders. And how they'll be relevant to later plot developments remains to be seen, but we should be finding out pretty soon! 😍

Top of everyone's list so far has got to be the moon, of course. It's in the title of the series, in the theme song, it's the brand of Jim's favorite beer and it's the central element of the Mid-Autumn Festival (which is exactly when Jim meets Wen).

According to Chinese belief (remembering that Moonlight Chicken is set within a Thai-Chinese context), the moon is at its roundest and brightest on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The moon in Chinese culture and tradition is referenced in various ways, but its chief significance at the Mid-Autumn Festival is that it represents the concept of reunion, especially reunion of the family (paralleled by the belief of the moon returning to its fullest and most complete form at this specific time of the year). And I think this conception of the moon as a metaphor for idealized completeness (whether in home or family life, or even in your own heart) is especially relevant to Jim and Wen.

What we see in Episodes 1 and 2 is that their lives are still incomplete in some ways. Wen's home life is marked by emptiness, with his partner Alan most notable for his absence than anything else. The lack of even a household animal for companionship in the residence they share is made all the more stark when we see how naturally and immediately affectionate Wen is with Jim's pet cat at Ep.1 [2/4] 1.11. (Part of me wishes Jimbo was a rabbit though! Because in Thai and Chinese belief it's a rabbit that lives on the moon. 🐇🌙💖 You can see a bunny on Jim's beer can because of this.)

Jim, on the other hand, does have (found) family all around him – Saleng and Li Ming read like his surrogate children to me, and he's also somewhat of a patriarch to the neighborhood (everyone calls him Loong, meaning Elder Uncle). But Jim's is a one-parent family that is rambunctious, needy and sprawling, and in giving so much of himself he's finding it tough to cope alone (while at the same time mysteriously rebuffing all efforts to shift him away from his state of singlehood).

I think this point about the incompleteness of Jim's family life is also underscored right at the very start of Ep.1, when he steps out of his diner into the street at the end of the opening scene – in the forefront of the shot is a makeshift altar for Mid-Autumn offerings, which you can logically expect to be the focal point of a family's rituals during this season of reunion.

But Jim stands there alone, and contemplates the moon, the altar and the street with no one by his side. 😥

This moment of solitude is referenced yet again in the scene at Ep.1 [1I4] 11.58, when the kindly neighborhood auntie reminds Jim to pray at another moon festival altar, and then speaks of his (or his and Wen's? 🤔) future children – once again the idea of completing one's family is being evoked (with the subtext being that Jim's own family life has yet to achieve completeness).

I also think Auntie mistakes Jim and Wen for a couple, and Jim plays along by taking Wen's joss sticks from him to plant into the holder together (which is why Wen looks a little taken aback at his forwardness, but this moment nevertheless foreshadows their coming together later):

So far, so obvious. But for me the one element in Ep.1 that absolutely crackles with parallels and sparks of potential future significance was revealed at Ep.1 [2/4] 3.20, when Wen looks at Jim's DVD:

The subtitles are a bit of a mish-mash here, and do not match what Wen reads off the DVD cover.

The English title for this 1996 Hong Kong movie is Comrades: Almost a Love Story (and it's a much-loved classic of contemporary Chinese cinema). But its Thai name is very different: เถียน มี มี่ 3650 วันรักเธอคนเดียว, which translates to something like Tian Mi Mi 3650 Days of Love for You Alone. (The Thai title is what we hear Wen reading.)

The Tian Mi Mi part is actually a nod to the movie's Chinese title (甜蜜蜜, pronounced tián mì mì in Mandarin, and this means something like sweet as honey, i.e., very sweet). But it's not the literal meaning that's being referenced here – Tian Mi Mi is also the title of an iconic Mandarin pop song by the singer Teresa Teng, and indeed the extensive repertoire of the late Taiwanese chanteuse is heavily used in the movie Comrades: Almost a Love Story, not just as background music but also as a feature around which a lot of the plot revolves.

Significantly, Moonlight Chicken's own theme song is another of Teresa Teng's greatest hits – The Moon Represents My Heart (月亮代表我的心/yuè liang dài biǎo wǒ de xīn) and it's no coincidence that Moonlight Chicken's creators have chosen it.

youtube

Among all of Teresa Teng's recordings, The Moon Represents My Heart has also acquired an unexpected queer connection (see this explanation linked here). This surprising relevance to (Chinese) LGBTQ+ history and romance thus makes its use in this Thai-Chinese BL especially appropriate, in addition to the lunar reference. (Interestingly, the lyrics aren't so much about the reunion of loved ones, but more about the authenticity and unchanging nature of true love, with the moon here symbolic of that which is profound, constant and without guile.)

But the inclusion of The Moon Represents My Heart in this BL is also a nod to the songs used in Comrades: Almost a Love Story. I think they're making it clear that there will be other parallels between this movie and Moonlight Chicken, and so we should watch out for them too.

With that mandate in mind – Comrades: Almost a Love Story is about two very different individuals from mainland China (northerner Li Xiaojun and southerner Li Qiao) who move to vibrant 1985 Hong Kong in pursuit of their dreams for a better future. After a brief dalliance, their lives take them in different directions, and they only reunite, in New York City, after 10 years have passed. Their old feelings having remained true, and we are shown not just them getting back together, but also (in a flashback) that their pairing was always cosmically meant to be.

Moonlight Chicken's lunar symbolism at the Mid-Autumn festival (that of reunion) and its theme song are certainly called to mind by Xiaojun and Li Qiao's inevitable reunion at the end of the film. And the 10-year interval in their relationship explains why Comrades: Almost a Love Story's Thai title mentions 3650 days (approximately 10 years).

My Big-Brained Sweetheart (the other beloved BBS in my life) is watching along with me, and thinks that Wen's misreading of "3650 days" as "365 days" is signaling Moonlight Chicken's own trajectory for its two main protagonists – their proper coming together (or coming together again, if it is to be a reunion or reconciliation) may happen after a year, not ten. And I can't say I'm not intrigued by this idea.

So maybe they'll tie up Jim and Wen's story at the following year's Mid-Autumn Festival? With a resolution that calls to mind Li Qiao and Xiaojun's? The series' short run of only eight episodes means that this will precede 2023's actual festival by more than six months (taking Moonlight Chicken's timeline out from the past and into the future). Unless there's more of their story planned for broadcast when the Mid-Autumn Festival rolls around again in September 2023... 🤔

Anyway, that's not the only connection Jim's DVD movie has with Moonlight Chicken.

In Comrades: Almost a Love Story, the character of Li Xiaojun is played by the singer-actor Leon Lai (a superstar of the period). Leon Lai is better-known as Lai Ming (黎明) among Cantonese speakers (his surname is pronounced Lai in Cantonese, as it also is in his dad's Hakka dialect), but in Mandarin his name is pronounced Li Ming – and it's exactly the same name as that of Fourth's rebellious, restless character in Moonlight Chicken.

So Moonlight Chicken's Li Ming is named not after Li Xiaojun, but after the actor who plays him – I wasn't sure before, but now that the Mandarin subtitles are out I can confirm that this link is true. (There are many different Chinese characters that are phonetically rendered as li and ming – the only way to be absolutely sure of Li Ming's name is to see the actual characters themselves.)

But Leon Lai himself has acknowledged (in a Cantonese interview, cited on Wikipedia at this link here) that Xiaojun's story also parallels his own (they share the same surname 黎, and Leon was also uprooted from his Beijing birthplace in the north and moved to Hong Kong during his youth, when his Indonesian Hakka father shifted them there).

So Li Ming's story in Moonlight Chicken may well have parallels with Li Xiaojun's in Comrades: Almost a Love Story. I can certainly see how his yearning for a different life, possibly in the faraway west (when he was drawn to the Work/Travel scheme in Ep.2 [3I4]) could match how Comrades: Almost a Love Story's Xiaojun ends up in New York.

And there's still more. 👀

Li Ming's Chinese name (黎明) also plays off themes involving the moon, glinting with variously shaded meanings depending on how you illuminate it. This may have been why the writers chose to use Leon Lai's name instead of the character Li Xiaojun's – the layers of meaning are off the charts. 👍

The Li part of Li Ming (黎) on its own can mean muchness or plenitude, but it can also mean darkness or blackness. The Ming part (明) means brightness (and can mean both well-lit as well as intelligent, just like it does in English).

So one reading of his name is an abundance of brightness, but that's not the usual connotation. The words li ming together (黎明) actually mean dawn. Aside from signaling new beginnings, the dawn is logically (and poetically) also one time when the darkness of the night (li/黎) meets the brightness of day (ming/明). It is thus also a time when polar opposites (night and day, but also moon and sun) meet in a shared moment of reunion, echoing one of Moonlight Chicken's (possibly) central themes. 😍

This coming together of contrasts is also reflected in the Ming part of Li Ming's name. The character 明 (ming) that means brightness is itself made up of two characters that denote the two brightest elements in the sky – 日 (ri, that used to mean sun but is now more identified with day) and 月 (yue, that means month or moon – to refer to the moon formally it's usually combined with the character 亮/liang to form 月亮/yueliang, which is what we see in the Moonlight Chicken theme song title.)

So the Ming in Li Ming's name quite literally encompasses the conjoining of opposites (sun and moon) as well.

I've not fully decided who or what all this refers to yet, but a post by @respectthepetty (linked here) has more to say on the significance of the dawn in Moonlight Chicken and certainly helps point the way. 👍

For the moment though, the characters of Heart and Li Ming seem to me to be as much kindred as they are contrasting, despite their obvious differences in station. Both boys are trapped by circumstances in settings from which they long to break free – Heart within an oppressive, non-communicative family, and Li Ming in his uncle's world, where he feels he doesn't belong. In this, the plight of Li Xiaojun and Li Qiao as outsiders in Hong Kong and later New York also parallels Heart and Li Ming's fish-out-of-water situations.

And reading in tandem with parallels from Comrades: Almost a Love Story, Li Ming's name is undoubtedly signaling certain directions.

Both Heart and Li Ming are from different worlds (like Li Qiao's Guangzhou in the south and Xiaojun's Tianjin in the north, and also the dark night and bright day referenced in the dawn meaning of Li Ming's name).

But they are similar too, just as the sun and moon (that we can see in Li Ming's name) are both bright celestial bodies, and like how Li Qiao and Xiaojun are also bonded in their shared love for the songs of Teresa Teng. Like both sets of examples, (Li Qiao and Xiaojun, the sun and moon) it could be that Heart and Li Ming are destined to come together at some special point, in spite of their differences (as difficult or unlikely as this may be).

To escape the constraints of their vastly differing worlds, they'll need to find that secret third place (their own dawn) where their own union and new beginning can happen, and for their light to shine together. (I can see this perhaps applying to Jim and Wen too, so... nothing is confirmed! 😊)

Sorry to ramble, but they've given us a lot of food for thought. 🤔Now on to the rest of the show, and to see how much of this pans out (and how much will fall by the wayside). Episode 3 is taking us to Loi Krathong, so hopefully we'll get to see more of the Thai side of things as well. 🤩

#moonlight chicken #moonlight chicken meta

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