#sad songs and fast songs and the anime theme song

[blueish-bird]

subjecting my CSM playlist to the mortifying ordeal of being known!

[ayabeanworks]

Title: Can I meet you again?

Synopsis: AU in which Geto does not defect, but you do instead.

Character: SaShiSu x reader

Series: Let's Meet in the Spring (SaShiSu x reader)

Notes: Literally just heavy angst & sadness. Mentions of death, murder, suicide and reincarnation. Heavy themes. Lots of swearing. Spoilers for JJK season 2 (anime).

Part 2 available here!

Prequel available here!

AU sequel available here!

The songs I had playing while writing this was: - Hero by Alan Walker (Probably played this one the most that it's at the top of my repeated songs Spotify list ☠️) - Apollo (Eurovision ver) by Timebelle - Dancing With Your Ghost by Sasha Sloan

"Oh?"

Shoko stared at you as you waved at her with a bright smile, brows raising in surprise as she took out a new smoke in the Shinjuku smoking area.

You made your way over to her, finding that she wasn't pushing you away. It was good to see a friend after a while, but you weren't too sure if you had that privilege anymore.

For you, you were testing the waters.

"Hey, Shoko." You took out a lighter from your pocket, one-handedly opening it for her to light her cigarette.

"Fancy seeing you here. You need something from me?" She glanced into your direction, taking a shallow inhale and extending her exhale.

You hummed in reply. "Just testing my luck."

"So, just to be sure, are the claims false?"

"Unfortunately, they're true." You could only bring yourself to shrug lightly, looking ahead. From your peripherals, you could see her taking out her phone to call the others.

"Just to be sure again: why?"

"I want to create a world where jujutsu sorcerers don't have to struggle." You didn't elaborate.

"Wow, that's funny!" Shoko laughed lightly, but there really wasn't anything humourous behind it. It was as if she was contemplating asking more. After all, everyone and everything struggles, so what is this righteous talk from you?

"Do you think I'm wrong?" You asked, hearing the faint ringing of her phone as she waited for one of the others to pick up.

"Right or wrong, it was dumb." Shoko didn't even hold back on her words, making you genuinely laugh at how frank she was, regardless had you been granted a bounty.

"Gojo, Geto, [name]'s here with me in Shinjuku." Gojo seemed to say something on the other side, but Shoko retorted, "No way! I don't wanna die." She hung up after conveying her message.

"So, what will you do now?" She turned to you, exhaling a puff of smoke into a ring above her head.

"I don't know. I might see you around, I guess." You took a step forward, facing her. "See you later, Shoko." You knew Gojo and Geto would be here at any moment, but you didn't know if you wanted to face them.

Shoko didn't say anything in response, just watching as the ashes fell from the cigarette between her fingers.

You didn't see, but it was the first time Shoko has made an expression where she was at a loss of what to do.

And, that was the last time you saw Shoko.

"WAIT, [NAME]!" Satoru bellowed out to you as you walked away, in front of the KFC you all used to go to until recently.

He caught up pretty fast...where's Sugu? You sensed his curse energy, but you weren't sure where it was. As for Satoru, he was only a few metres away from you down the slope of the street.

You sighed inwardly, ready to face him. "'toru."

The nickname you usually call him by hurt him more this time around as he registered how unaffectionate your voice was, contrary to the usual. It was devoid of any emotion. Like you didn't care about what you left behind. Like you didn't care about him.

"Explain yourself, [name]!" He demanded, sunglasses further down his nose as he watched you with wide eyes full of emotions of all kinds, but you mainly picked out disbelief and anger.

"There's nothing else to say. You've heard from Shoko." You stated, watching the twitch in his face as he evaluated your dismissive answer.

"So you'll kill anybody who makes life hard for Jujutsu sorcerers? Both sorcerers and non-sorcerers?" Satoru's voice rose in anger.

After all, you did kill an elder a week ago. It was the one that'd been annoying you since forever, the one who tried to get you purposely killed each and every time you went on a mission. Killing him was much easier than you had imagined, though.

"Well, if natural selection isn't going to do anything, I might as well do it instead." You crack a light joke, but your words were serious.

"That's not what I'm asking! I thought you were against killing if there was no meaning to it?!"

"There's a meaning behind everything. A purpose, even."

"No there isn't! You want to make a world where Jujutsu sorcerers don't suffer? That's impossible!"

"Satoru's right, [name]." Geto spoke from behind you, his voice wafting through the air as he went to stand closer to Gojo as he faced you. "There's a purpose to everything, but there's a better way of doing things than say, homicide. Especially for us in the Jujutsu world."

You wanted to scoff. But, you couldn't, because you used to be that way, too. But everything ate away at you, and you just weren't the same person anymore with the same aligning morals. You chose to go down the path you've decided to go down, even if it meant deserting everything you knew before.

"Is it really impossible?" Your voice was light, but the lilt in it was undeniably laced with seriousness. "I wouldn't do this if there was a shred of impossible in it."

The alarm on their faces was really something.

"[name]...you'll need to fight us if you keep going down this path." Suguru spoke his words deliberately, slowly, like he was getting a child to listen to him. He was careful.

Satoru clenched his teeth and fists. He wanted to say that it was impossible yet again, that when you fight them, you'll lose. But, you knew that. You knew, so why?

"Wow, I'll get to fight the 2 strongest sorcerers!" You clapped your hands together once, a smile on your lips, one that didn't reach your eyes. "Maybe so, but you're not my targets. There's some smaller fish compared to you I must get rid of first."

"Why?" Geto voiced both Gojo and his thoughts, a quick glance at Satoru knew he wasn't going to be able to hold a proper conversation without shouting.

"Why?" You echoed his question. "Well, for starters, we're treated like shit, in both worlds regardless sorcerers or non-sorcerers. Do you remember? The elder I killed, he was truly one who deserved to die. The number of times he ignored protests, warnings and more...killing off our sorcerers one by one, do you really believe someone like him being alive is worth all that struggle? For him, he deserves to die for that alone."

Geto was about to open his mouth after a thought, but you interrupted him. "Also, he was a paedophile so he deserves everything that's come his way. The world needs none of those disgusting pigs."

You couldn't forgive him. You couldn't forgive such a disgusting creature existed. When you found out the information coincidently, you knew you had to do something about it.

The anger in your eyes was juxtaposed by the small smile on your lips, one that was almost proud of what you did.

Satoru couldn't contain himself any longer, "Yeah, he was a fucking piece of shit, but killing him? That's made you one of the sorcerers we've got to kill! You're to be executed on sight! You're a hypocrite, [name]. Are you trying to get all the sorcerers you want to protect to come kill you?"

You watched him as he heaved a breath, his eyes feeling heavy on your form as he tried to convey his distraught to you about the whole situation.

You barked out a laugh, a hand landing on your hip as you stared at him, no trace of the smile on your features anymore.

"Hypocrite?" The question lay on the tip of your tongue, before you let out a low chuckle, feeling your throat go dry. "Perhaps you're right; I am. I am a hypocrite who wants death as much as those geezers who send us out to kill ourselves."

"Oh, and you forgot one detail. I don't care about sorcerers and non-sorcerers at all. They're equally as bad as each other. The only difference is that sorcerers have the power to wield cursed energy and use it to destroy curses made up from the normie's emotions." You gave him a half lie. It was easier to push him away. Push him away so he won't be able to break the armour you've put up.

"And what of him dying? Are the elders going to retire themselves? Or will they KILL us sorcerers first?" Your voice became an octave higher as you emphasised words that made you emotional.

"After I kill them, you can then reform the society as you wish. You could probably kill them yourself, 'toru, but you won't take that step. That's why I'll take that step instead." You give him a crooked smile, "There's nothing here worth living for."

"Nothing worth living for?" Satoru repeated your words, taking off his sunglasses, watching you with his blue eyes, and you could see the monstrous waves of emotion behind them. "Are you fucking blind?"

Suguru glanced over at Gojo, hoping he didn't have to inject himself in between to stop it from escalating further.

"No, I am not fucking blind, Satoru!" A chip from your facade broke off, revealing a mess of emotions in the split second your voice broke. "Do you understand how suffocating it is living in this world? Where all your friends die in front of you, or there's a chance they'll die on their next mission? Where the strongest wins - and in this world, if the curses aren't the strongest, the sorcerers at their highest standing are!"

"You know I--" He began, but you cut him off.

"I know you hate them as much as I do! But I'll do whatever it takes to get rid of them, even if it means forsaking you all to do it." You almost sound like you're pleading by the end, your eyes starting to tear up.

"And after. When they're gone, you can reform the system, and control it in the way that works best for this generation." You force a smile to your lips, but it doesn't reach your eyes. "Someone has to be the bad guy, and I'm willing to play the role, even if I may die in the process."

"[name], this can be done differently--"

"I'm tired, Satoru. I've tried. I've tried, and I'm tired. Why don't you understand that?" You whisper, shaking your head. "Do you know how many times I've tried talking to the higher ups, or anybody for that matter? No, you don't. You've been on missions this whole time, so you don't know. Even Suguru doesn't know the full extent of it. Shoko knows a bit, but she's not one who can do much about it."

Suguru and Satoru were silent for a moment, their eyes on you as your expression gave away everything you wanted to say.

"I won't be there, but it's a sacrifice worth making if you all aren't in danger. I don't care about anything else." Your words were soft, soft enough for them to hear you, soft enough for you to hope to convince yourself it was the right way and you didn't make the wrong choice.

Satoru and Suguru were the strongest duo. But, before they were, they were your best friends, along with Shoko. But now? Were you still able to call them your best friends? Did you even have that privilege anymore?

But, this is the path you took. Even if it meant abandoning those that you held dear, it was all for them. The real truth to your purpose and change of heart was to make a world easier for them, and for you, and for everybody who came after you. You didn't want anyone else to experience what you have, and you were going to do whatever you can to make that a reality.

You didn't give a flying fuck about anything else other than your best friends, if you were being honest. If it meant that you won't be by their side anymore, it was a sacrifice you were willing to make.

"So, I won't stop. This world is absolutely fucked. Why save something that can't be saved no more? I'd rather go down fighting. Morals be damned."

Your eyes glistening with tears unshed, you press your lips into a genuine smile. The last genuine smile before giving them a wave, "I guess this is goodbye. The next time I see you, 'toru, Sugu, we'll be enemies."

You turned on your heel, ready to leave, but you felt the curse energy expand from behind you, like they were readying to attack.

But, you kept walking, and nothing happened.

Satoru's outstretched hand fell back down to his side as he swore a string of curses, the pain on his face evident as he watched your figure disappear in the crowd of people.

Suguru had half a mind to get one of his curses to follow you, but he knew you well enough that the curse would be killed the minute you felt his cursed energy, so he didn't even bother.

His clenched his hand into a fist, a bitter taste in his mouth. He remembered back to when he was in a similar situation to you, but you and the others managed to get him out of it. He felt saved, but now, seeing it happen to the very person who helped him, made him shatter inside.

Why did you help him, when you couldn't even help yourself with your own words? Why didn't you let them help you? Why didn't you let them know you were having a hard time? That this was what you were contemplating?

He would have listened. They would have listened. They always would.

He felt a cold shiver go down his spine as he watched the endless stream of pedestrians, ones he used to call 'monkeys' in his head, but when letting go of that thought, you were at the forefront of his mind. It was you who grabbed his hand, you who brought him back.

It was you.

But he wasn't able to bring you back. He wasn't able to bring back the one who had nowhere else to go. The one who didn't know what to do with their emotions. The one who got lost.

But would he really call you lost when you knew what you wanted to do, where you wanted to go?

Suguru knew you weren't malicious. At least, not originally. The essence of you, he knew, was someone who cared greatly. One who had their heart on their sleeve when talking about anything and everything, especially with them. He didn't worry about you because you were always ok. But, there were things you didn't tell them and they didn't know, because you never let that part see the light of the day.

The only thing that Suguru felt in his chest, was regret. Regret so raw he felt cold and numb.

Satoru muttered another string of curses, turning on his heel, "Let's go, Suguru." His voice was small, and he didn't want to say any more.

He pondered all the possibilities of you. But he couldn't make himself understand you like you understood him. Which is what made it even more painful.

"I'm not as strong as you." Were words you once said to Satoru.

A forgotten conversation, one you started when he had come into your room even though the light was off, finding comfort in your presence. He wanted to sleep in the same bed or at least the same room, but you were still awake, sitting up in your bed and watching the stars and sky from your window.

Satoru didn't say anything as he climbed into your double bed, comfort filling his whole being from your calming scent alone. He wouldn't admit it, but it was one of his favourite places to be when he had turmoil in his mind.

"Yeah, you're weak." He mumbled, his face squished against the pillow as he faced you.

He could see the illuminated outline of your features from the moon, finding them captivating as he watched you with half-lidded eyes.

No, you're strong, were the real words he wanted to say. But, he had always called you weak, so he was going to continue. What harm was there?

You turn your head slightly, gazing at him with a soft smile. It was like you knew what he wanted to say, but didn't hold anything against him for saying the opposite of what he truly felt.

"You're right," You whispered. "I'm weak."

You went to close the curtains, slipping back into bed with Satoru as you closed your eyes, ignoring the gaze on you as you drifted off to sleep.

Satoru had a feeling those words were in reference to something else, but he had no idea what. He felt an invisible wall between you and him from the interaction just now, one that shouldn't be there lest he had his infinity on. But he never did unless in certain situations.

"You're plenty strong, [name]." He whispered this, bringing his finger to tap your forehead, before he also went to sleep.

You weren't asleep yet, so you heard his comment. It warmed your heart, the freezing depths of it wanting to thaw. It made you want to spill the inner turmoils of your mind, but you were scared it would taint the bright sun that is Satoru.

Satoru's a lot sweeter than he lets on, you let a small smile grace your lips as you face him to sleep.

Thinking back to that conversation, Satoru leaned back in the chair of your room, wondering where it all went wrong.

Were you trying to reach out to him back then? Or were you asking him for some form of confirmation? Were you trying to let him know you were not alright? What did you want?

He wasn't as good at reading emotions like Suguru was, but he knew something was wrong when something was wrong. He just didn't know how to approach it.

He wondered, if he had indulged you that time, would you have let him in?

"You had another fight with the elders, huh." Suguru stated, seeing your current state. He sat where the vending machines were, having just taken a seat after taking a shower. The can of green tea he had in his hands was opened and given to you, "Drink up."

You held an angry expression prior to this, but being with Suguru made you calm down. You took the green tea and took a small sip, savouring the bitter flavour. It was refreshing.

You handed it back to Suguru, "Thank you." He took it back and took a large gulp, feeling it cool down his body.

"You wanna tell me what happened?" Suguru prodded. He knew something was up. Normally you'd be more like Satoru when you came out pissed from the elders meetings. But this time, you were quiet, more like you were seething, like a volcano about to erupt.

You stared at the ground, wondering what you should start with. You felt that all the words exchanged between you and the elders wasn't listened to, wasn't taken into account. It was like talking to a massive brick wall, one that you had no way to get through to.

"I..." You started, but your throat clammed up. You stopped, waiting for the words to come naturally. When your throat finally decided it was ready to talk, your voice was a whisper. "If the elders disappeared, would this all end?"

Suguru's gaze landed on you, knowing full well what you were thinking. He gave you the green tea again. You took it, and another sip.

"If the elders disappeared, others would take their place."

Suguru could feel something was wrong. The atmosphere was different with you, just like how it was different for him a year ago after the star plasma vessel mission. He could sense it in his very being, something was wrong.

"If the others took their place, would they act the same as the ones now?" You chuckled to yourself, but your voice dropped an octave, "Jujutsu society is trash."

There was a slight panic that welled up inside Suguru, reminding himself of the emotions he himself went through not too long ago.

He could see himself in you, and he hated it. Not the one who had helped to bring him out of it, the one who reached out their hand to bring him back to the light. Not you.

"[name]. You don't hate all sorcerers, do you?" His voice was calm, probing for information for your current state of mind.

Back then, he was on the verge of deciding whether to continue as someone who protected the weak, or someone who didn't care for the weak. And now, you were going through something similar. He wanted to bring you back to him, to the one you saved.

After a moment, you shook your head. "I don't. I just...hate how the elders are sending out young sorcerers to their deaths. I hate how there are young Jujutsu sorcerers being taken away from their families so they can train to be another one of us disposables. I hate how no matter what, the top dogs in this world are absolute trash, who need to be burned at the stake. And don't get me started on curses. They're the worst. I hate them. I hate them so much for taking away so much from everyone. From sorcerers, from non-sorcerers..."

A pregnant pause.

"I hate this world that has curses." Your voice cracked at the end of it as you leaned down, head in your hands as you stared at the ground, a broken whisper of self-awareness, "I hate how I've begun thinking this way."

Suguru didn't know when he had held his breath. Your confession was so raw. You had every right to be angry and frustrated at the system which Jujutsu was. He had also held the same thoughts.

"Sugu..." There was a heartbreaking whine to your voice, one that sounded as if you were on the verge of crying. "I hate this."

An embrace, so gentle, so tender, so soft, enveloped you as his larger body wrapped around yours. You could smell the soap he used as he pushed your face into the crook of his neck, his larger hand stroking your hair as you finally let the tears fall, a broken sob reverberating through your body as you held onto him like he was your lifeline.

"[name], I'm here." He soothes, head gently resting against yours. He closed his eyes, pulling you in closer when he felt you trembling. This was the exact same thing you did for him before, one that soothed him and his tumultuous heart.

The only difference is, you were smaller than before, too. Were you eating properly? You were skinnier. Did you get enough sleep? There were bags under your eyes. Did you take a break? He didn't see the last time you took a break.

You pulled away after a while, eyes puffy and face covered with snot. Suguru didn't even flinch as he grabbed the towel sitting next to him, wiping off any excess liquid from your face. It was gentle, and it reminded you he was the most gentle out of the three, and he'd been in a similar position to you at this moment in time. When you looked up to meet his eyes, you decided, you didn't want to burden him with your thoughts of hate - one time was enough.

"I'll always be here if you need me. You can come to me anytime." His hand went to your cheek and his thumb wiped at the area of your cheekbone. Just like his tender hugs, this was so, so soft that it made you want to cry again, making you nearly regret the decision in your heart.

You could only lean into his hand and give him a nod, eyes closing as you felt fatigue come down on your body, making it feel heavy. You didn't even know you fell asleep so fast that Suguru had to catch you, hauling you up so he could carry you back to your room.

This was the only time you revealed your true thoughts to Suguru, and the only time he has ever seen you this way.

Maybe this was the start of it? Suguru's thoughts when he woke up were clear in his mind. The dream he had was something that really happened, and it hurt him he wasn't able to help you during your hardest moments like you did for him.

He had slept in your bed for the night, finding that he missed you and the comfort you brought him. Your scent was calming to him, and it will forever be a saviour to his soul.

A week before killing the elder, Shoko had found you passed out in the infirmary, half of your body on a chair, and half of it off and on the ground.

She raised a brow at your position, wondering if you were tired and just fell asleep. On closer inspection, she could see the dark circles under your eyes, the thinning of your cheeks, and realised you've lost a lot of weight. The bottle on the chair were a bunch of sleeping pills, open and spilled, indicating you had taken some just prior.

If she wasn't worried about you before, she was definitely worried now.

And when you woke up, you were just like normal, which made Shoko question whether you were just overworked. She did know you fought a lot with the elders and were sent on difficult missions because they were out to get you. So with this information in mind, she was sure you were in need of a proper break, away from everything and everyone.

Which was why she advocated for you to get a break, away from Tokyo, to an island resort with lots of sunshine. A proper 4 day break. Of course, she got Satoru to pay for it since he was loaded and actually owed [name] for a previous thing.

But, the aftermath that came from that was the death of the elder 3 days after coming back.

Did that moment of clarity cause everything to happen? When you were on break, was that when everything went out of control? Was that when you decided this was the path you wanted to take?

You had looked completely back to normal after coming back that the worry Shoko and the boys held for you was almost like a false alarm - but they didn't realise that that in itself was the real alarm.

You were happy - or at least, you were smiling like you did before. It was wonderful to see you back to your regular self, something everyone mutually agreed on by the other sorcerers.

Until you murdered the elder, that is.

That was your first step into the world of depravity, away from the world of Jujutsu, and closer to the world called Hell.

[name]'s heart was soft. It was originally that way, and as you traversed through life, fell and got back up, your heart became stronger. However, it was just an outer layer, like a piece of armour for your fragile heart. You would pretend things were fine until it wasn't, even if you wore your heart on your sleeve, letting the people around you know what you thought, even if they thought you were joking.

It was almost too sudden when you realised all the armour around your soft heart had shattered to pieces.

It was like you lost a part of you that day, and you didn't know what could fix you. You didn't know if you could be fixed. So, you did the only thing you could do.

Pick up the pieces and do your best to put it back together, create a wall for your heart before it gets pierced again.

But before you were able to, a gunshot would shatter your glued armour, shattering in your hands, and your heart was laid bare, bleeding out without any way to stop.

And you wished and wished, for someone to reach out their hands to you and drag you out of your ocean of misery. But, nobody could reach deep enough, and you couldn't reach because you had no strength left to.

You couldn't reach out anymore. No matter how much you wanted, the same fate would await you, and you'd fall into such despair again.

You were tired. You were so, so, so tired.

The ones who made you like this, were ironically the ones who could take you out.

"____." You give them one last smile, a genuine one, as you feel the tears coming down your face, bringing your blade to your neck, before slicing and ending your own life.

You didn't want to die at the hands of your best friends. Not because they're your best friends, but because they would bear the burden of having killed you, and you didn't think they'd be able to take that, especially at the ripe age of 19. So, you'd rather do it for them, making it easier. After all, it would've been close to impossible going up against two of the strongest sorcerers.

You could only hear screams at you from the distance as the pain numbed your mind and body. Geto & Gojo were both screaming your name as they sprinted to you, their panicked shouts becoming background noise as they held onto your body, lifting you up to bring you to Shoko.

Your eyes could only see the terrified blue eyes from Satoru as he carried you on Geto's curse. He seemed to be wanting the curse to go faster, but Geto could only reply in an equally as panicked tone, saying this was his fastest one and that they're going as fast as they could to Shoko.

Your eyes are too beautiful to be panicking, you wanted to say. But, you couldn't. Blood had gotten into your oesophagus, making you struggle to breathe as you coughed and suffocated on your own blood.

"[NAME]! ARE YOU WITH ME?! STAY AWAKE!" Satoru's frantic shouts were barely ringing in your ears, but the creases on his face shouldn't have been there. They were going to give him wrinkles.

With one of the last ounces of your strength, you lifted your hand up to cup his cheek, then gently smooth the line between his brows, giving a weak smile.

Satoru let out a choked sound similar to a sob, understanding exactly what you were doing and what you wanted to say. He held your wrist, supporting you in whatever way he can as he could feel your body heat leaving you. Suguru placed a hand on your cheek, stroking the area under the eye, just like he always did.

It made you feel nostalgic, but you could barely see his expression, since tears had blurred your vision. You wanted to reach for Suguru before you had no more strength, so you gently moved your raised arm in that direction. Satoru, knowing exactly what you were doing, guided your hand to Suguru, who took your hand gently, holding it preciously between his two hands.

"Let's get you home, [name]." Were the last words Geto said to you. By 'home', he meant with them, back to Jujutsu, so they could forget everything that happened and start over. It would just be like those happy days, back when there was nothing to worry about.

In your state, you couldn't make out everything he was saying, but you knew they were kind words by his intonation and the caress he held for your bloodied hand.

You only gave them a smile, one that was apologetic, as you felt your consciousness fading away. The tears that blurred your vision finally fell, and the slight squeeze of your hand in Geto's made him realise that was it.

For you, it was time to sleep. It was a time for you to finally rest your tired mind and body, away from this world, and away from all those that you loved.

Suguru looked over at Satoru, who was biting his lip almost bruisingly as they trembled. With his sunglasses off, he could see everything in detail, including the way your cursed energy stopped, from when your body heat disappeared, and he couldn't feel you anymore. You were a hollow shell of a body now, and the last thing you left them was an apologetic smile on your face.

Away from the battleground, Shoko looked out the window, a pang of sadness hitting her all at once when she realised the screams belonging to Geto & Gojo resonated through the forest. She could barely just hear them, but she knew, the dread that filled her veins was apparent. She knew.

She closed her eyes, taking out the cigarette between her lips as she exstinguished it, her arm covering her eyes as she leaned back in her seat, silent tears falling down her cheeks.

"Quite sad, really. None of you realised [name] suffered this much." Kenjaku sowed the top of your head back together after revealing some information you kept hidden to Suguru & Satoru, and about your last moments and thoughts.

Seeing the despair and shock on their faces was intoxicating, especially when it came to the body he borrowed. Kenjaku knew the amount of love that had been given to the original owner of his current body, and using that, he could disarm even the strongest of sorcerers in the modern day.

It was a pity you were dead, but if you were alive and not dead, Kenjaku wouldn't have been able to take over your body now, would he?

It was especially sweet because the body hadn't even been cremated and still looked the same as it did 10 years ago. And those two who had been responsible for it were standing in front of him, in Shibuya station during Halloween.

Even better because you had died in their arms, so seeing you alive as Kenjaku was more of a sick joke than anything, but he loved that expression on the ones who had essentially allowed you to be this way.

"If only the people around them were able to reach out a hand before their descent into madness, none of this would have happened." Kenjaku ran a hand through your hair.

Satoru let out a low growl from his throat as he watched whoever was in your body use it, control it, and pretend to be you. No one could be you. You were gone. You were gone 10 years ago. And he knew - he knew you were not in front of him.

You died in his arms.

So there was absolutely no way that could be you. Absolutely not!

But, his six eyes said otherwise. It was you. Everything was you. It was the same you who died in his arms 10 years ago, the same you who gave him one last smile before leaving the earth.

It tore him to pieces inside.

Suguru put out an arm in front of Satoru, eyeing the cursed user in your body. He was pretending to be calm, but the way his hands and jaw clenched at the blatant disrepect Kenjaku had for your body was digusting. How dare he exhume your grave and take your body from it?

He felt a cold, almost murderous feeling bubble up inside him as he readied himself for combat.

That was not you. And it couldn't be, even if Satoru's six eyes recognised you to be alive. You weren't alive. You had been lost long ago, and whoever was in front of them was an imposter.

"[name]! How long are you going to let this little bitch take over your body?" Satoru finally burst, pissed at the prospect of someone disrespecting you.

Your hand, reacting almost instantaneously, went straight for the top of the head, right where Kenjaku's brain was. It stabbed straight through the cranium, a crunch eliciting a scream from Kenjaku himself as the brain was stabbed, wounding his real body. Kenjaku used your other arm to stop your attack on his weak point, feeling the blood pour out.

For a moment, it was silent except the light splatter and pitter patter of blood from your body. Suguru and Satoru stared at what happened in front of them, shocked that what Gojo said had ellicited such a response.

Kenjaku pulled your assaulting hand away, holding it in a death grip with the one he could control. The blood dripped down his face as he used his reverse cursed technique to heal the head wound, cracking the sides of his neck after he healed your head and his brain.

"Wow, I can't believe [name] went straight for the kill." Kenjaku laughed to himself. "But that's all there is to it. The soul and body are one, aren't they? Don't think this will happen again." He chuckled and waited for the hand to calm itself.

"Oh, and did you know [name] wrote a letter to each of you? Including Shoko. They knew they'd die so they hid it away in the school. I think they hid it somewhere important for each of you. Even they don't quite remember." Kenjaku couldn't quite recall what the contents of the letters were as the memory itself was fuzzy. He wanted to see it as their strong friendship strained due to his taking over of [name]'s body.

He wondered why this specific memory was blurred out, and he couldn't recall anything from your memories about this specific thing?

It was like you were deliberately making sure you didn't remember it, and deleted the memory from your head so no one could find the letters.

A letter? The strongest duo's eyes narrowed at the imposter in their dead best friend's body, wondering if it's a part of their tricks. But it was also hard to not believe them, since they look like you. And everything about you, they would believe.

Because you were the type of person who would write letters to them.

"I don't know what they say, but they've been there since before [name] died." Kenjaku tapped his temple, "If you can get out of here, I implore you to find them."

That pissed the two off. Kenjaku was implying they wouldn't get out of this alive, or at least, to see the letters that were supposedly left for them. It pissed them off to no end, and they prepared to battle, not wanting to take part of his nonsense any longer.

Dear Satoru,

I'm glad to have met you. I love you. I love Suguru. I love Shoko. I love everyone. We had so many fun times, and it was the best time of my life. Everything was so bright, cheery and brought me so much happiness, I can't even tell you the extent of it.

I hope you don't mind this letter. If you've found it after I've defected or after I'm dead, I can't express with words how much doing this pains me. If I can't use my words, I have to use my actions, right? I hope you don't forgive me for what I've done. It's unacceptable and you have every right to hate me. I've killed innocent people for the purpose of my goal. Horrible, right? I really hope you won't forgive me.

But I know you. You will. You're just that kind of person.

I'll miss your bright blue eyes and white hair. I'll miss your loud and boisturous personality. I'll miss how your heart races every time I hug you. I'll miss you nuzzling into my head when we hug. I'll miss the soft 'sweet dreams' you say every time you carry me to bed after I fall asleep studying. I'll miss when you take photos of me everyday. I'll miss your annoyingness. I'll miss your teasing words every day. I'll miss your blushing cheeks when you're embarrassed. I'll miss your comical, over the top reactions. I'll miss you eating a whole bunch of sweets in one setting. I'll miss the crepe shop we'd often go to. I'll miss how you make me feel safe. I'll miss your voice. I'll miss you.

If reincarnation exists, I want to meet you again. I want to see your smile again. I want to call you 'toru again. I want to give you the biggest hug, and feel the thrum of your heart racing. Then, I'll give you a kiss on your head, just like you always do to me before I sleep.

You're strong, 'toru. Make sure to stay safe and be careful. I don't want to meet you on the other side so soon. Grow up to be even stronger, and reform Jujutsu's society. I know you can do it!

By the way, I left your favourite recipe of the sweets you liked that I made. That way, you can enjoy them anytime.

Love, [name].

P.S. Don't eat so many sweet things at once!!! I don't want you getting cavities!!!

Dear Suguru,

You were the first one to notice anything going on, and for that, I'm grateful. I'm sorry I brushed you off so coldly. I didn't know how to ask for help. I wish I'd have listened to your heartfelt words to rely on you a little more.

If you see this, I've probably already defected or I'm dead. But I just want you to know, I love you. I want to see you again. I miss you. I want to hug you and let you know everything I'm thinking. I want you to give me one of your strong hugs, knocking the air out of me. I also equally want your soft, tender hugs, as you whisper comforting words to me. I want to hear your voice again. I want to run my fingers through your hair again and question why you only use soap on it. I want to cook with you again. Have late night discussions. Cuddle. Piggyback rides. Kisses on the cheek. Allowing me to latch onto you like a koala when I'm cold since you run hot. I miss our times together. I miss you.

If reincarnation is real, we will definitely meet again. I want to see you smile from the bottom of your heart, and enjoy the most delicious food! And, if no curses are in that world, then you'll finally have a food you don't like - I'll be willing to lend an ear so you can whisper it to me! I want to cup your cheeks and tell you you've done well, for enduring during tough times and standing right back up. I want to finally give you a piggyback ride, since I was never able to fulfil that wish here. I want to be able to call you Sugu again.

Stay strong, Sugu. Make sure to stay safe. Since I know you hate the taste of curses, I've left the key to my safe with candies that are really good at cleansing the palette. Don't ever let these get into 'toru's hands or else you'll never see them again. I got these custom made just for you, and I've left a note with instructions on where to get it and what special order it was. I was supposed to give it to you sooner, but I left before then. Hope you enjoy them!

Love, [name].

P.S. Please take care of yourself!!! And don't use soap on your hair!!! Use proper shampoo and conditioner since your hair's so pretty!!!

Dear Shoko,

I'm sorry you probably had to see my dead body.

If I had spilled my heart out to you about my troubles, I wonder if it would've helped? I kept things bottled up for too long and it's become like this. I'm sorry I wasn't able to keep our promise. We didn't get to go to Disneyland like we promised all those months ago - the tickets are just sitting somewhere rotting away. I really wanted to go with you, Sugu and 'toru. It would've been great fun, and we would've made so many memories.

I miss your voice, Shoko. I miss your laugh. Your insults. Your frankness. Your weirdness. Your chillness. You. Heck, I even miss your scent of smoke. I miss you so much. I want to see you.

Can I meet you again? In a world without curses, where we don't need to risk our lives and watch our loved ones die. If I ever get reincarnated, can you find me? Or I can find you? I want to enjoy our times together again, feel the breeze against our skin, sing joyfully, joke around, play around, and take many photos together. That's the only way I want to spend it - and I want it so much you don't even know. In that kind of world, we can finally be happier. We can finally smile geniunely. I'll be able to finally see you again.

I bought some smokes for you and it's in my safe. Suguru has the key. Take some of the candies too, they might help in cleansing your palette every now and then.

I love you.

Love, [name].

P.S. Too much smoking isn't good for you!!! Please quit or at least do it a little less!!! I worry for your lung health...

Trembling hands read their letters as they were found around Jujutsu High school. It had your cursed energy as a seal, but the minute it was touched by any of the three, the seal would break. The letter itself was blank, with a couple of pages for each of them. The words appeared once they injected their cursed energy into it.

Words written by you appeared on the page, covering all the pages given for each letter. As the trio read the letters you had kept hidden from them, they couldn't help but let their unshed tears fall.

They were all known as strong sorcerers who don't cry. But, you brought them to their knees with your sincerity, and you were lost too soon. It was the last thing they had from you, and the warmth in every word of those letters struck a chord deep in their hearts, remembering 10 years ago and the day you had died.

"I kept [name]'s room clean," Suguru started, his eyes glossy. He had already cried, but every time he wanted to read the words off the letter, he was ready to cry again. He didn't want to. "Everything's the same."

It was as if they went down memory lane. Nothing had changed in your room. It was just as Geto said, it was exactly the same.

Whenever Geto had some time, he would clean your room, just like how he knew you would like it. It was something he sometimes did if he stayed over to help you study or just to hang out. So, he knew where everything was.

Immediately going to the safe, he put in a random number, guessing your birthday, then he used the key entrusted to him and unlocked it.

"What a bad password..." Geto couldn't help but laugh lightly, but his laughter died in his throat when he opened the safe.

The first thing the three of them saw was a couple of picture frames, each of them with pictures of the four of them that they remember taking when they were younger. The photos where all of them were happy, grinning and had no care in the world, it made their throats dry, clamming up uncomfortably.

Geto picked up the picture frames, taking a closer look at them with Shoko.

"Oh, look, there's more." Gojo peered in, seeing the promised recipe, bag of lollies, Disneyland tickets and smokes from each of their letters. He took them out and handed them what was gifted.

As they examined the items, Gojo read the recipe, a page written neatly by you. It was as if he could imagine you sitting in your room, writing it just for him while you tasted the different variations that you recommended in the recipe.

Geto put the photos face down, falling flat on his back on your bed as his arm covered his eyes.

Shoko stared at him for a moment, deciding to join him by doing the same thing. Your bed was only a double bed (you had requested a bigger bed for your first paycheck) and didn't have that much space for the three of them, much less four.

Seeing the two of them do the exact same thing, Satoru joined them, but instead, he sat up against your headboard, laying his legs in a cross legged position.

He fipped the picture frames back up, a bittersweet smile on his lips as he basked in the silence and warmth of your room he was so familiar with.

He closed his eyes, and like the others, thought of you.

Would it have been different had you told them everything you were feeling? If you talked through exactly what was causing you grief, and what could be done about it? Were they not enough to help you back up? Would you have felt so suffocated that you chose to die? Would you have still died in their arms? Would Kenjaku have still taken over your body? Still left them behind?

They say sorcerers don't die without regrets.

And they knew if they died, their one and only regret would be you.

At a certain crepe shop, Gojo Satoru waited for his crepe, one he decorated with strawberries, whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate. It was one he used to frequent with his old friend, and he'd come here every week with them to buy a crepe. It wasn't the order he normally went with, but today, he felt nostalgic.

It had been so long since the last time he had visited the crepe shop with you, but it remained fresh in his mind even after reincarnating many times over. What timeline was he in now? He counted 7. That was 7 lifetimes without you. Suguru & Shoko were also counting, and they did whatever they could to find out where you would be. But, each and every one after their first, you were nowhere to be found.

Suguru & Shoko would sometimes come to the crepe shop, but they were also busy making a living in a world without curses. The tragedy from their first life remained fresh in their current ones, holding them so strongly they didn't want to give up.

But unknown to them, you were right under their nose all along, and you frequently went to that same crepe shop at times just before or after they were there, a mysterious force pushing you to the place.

It was at one time, where Satoru thought he saw you, that it reignited the flame that had been dormant for so long, to finally see you, after so many timelines and lifetimes apart.

Your voice, followed by your laughter, and your hand. He had you memorised, and he was so thankful for his good memory that recognised you. It was the closest he got, and when he heard you, saw a part of you, he was sprinting, but you had already disappeared onto the train, and the last thing he saw was the back of your head.

It was brief, but it was enough for his mind to go overdrive and let the others know his findings, that it was possible for them to find you this lifetime, and the crepe shop was the biggest key to it all.

And, when they cracked the code and finally found you, all the memories, feelings and thoughts from their original life came back to them, allowing them to finally see you in a world without curses, even if they had to wait 7 lifetimes.

If they had to put it into years, those 7 lifetimes were equivalent to over 600 years of not seeing you.

But, this lifetime, they finally found you.

Over 600 years in the making, and you also found them.

A/N: I CRIED WRITING THIS. It hurt me 😭 here's part 2!

There's also somewhat of a prequel as well from Geto's POV if you were interested!

Here's also an AU in an alternate timeline with information that takes place directly after the original timing here.

If y'all want some fluff here's the masterlist for the rest of the series 🕊️

[barrenclan]

HI i just finished reading the comic and it's so so incredible!!!! your art is gorgeous and your work with the story is completely unmatched <3

I've been listening to the song Butcher Vanity by Vane Lily a lot and it strikes me as a Deepdark song!

Thank you! I'm so glad you like the comic. I agree, Deepdark's desire to kill and eat and never stop consuming is what defines him. I'll use the chance to share a PMV by my pal Katti, the creator of The Exiled comic who made a really excellent PMV with the song :)

I think someone else had the same idea as well, it looks like it's already been suggested before :) but yes it does fit very well! Any song about a land/town/etc that's been cursed and rotten forever works great.

Tell me now of the very soul that look alike, look alike Do you know the stranglehold covering their eyes? If I call on every soul in the land, on the moon Tell me if I'll ever know a blessing in disguise

The curse ruled from the underground, down by the shore And their hope grew with a hunger to live unlike before

I never knew this song was from the Justice League movie?? Wow, that's wild. It is a good song for PATFW as a whole.

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed Everybody knows the war is over Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That's how it goes Everybody knows

I have! In fact, the song "Hellfire" is the character theme song for Cootstorm. I made a drawing of it awhile ago.

Did you know that in fact someone made an animated video with Rainhaze to this very song? It's really cool, you should check it out!

Yeah, it's pretty Rainhaze! Especially in his post-Asphodelpaw murder manic phase.

If you knew what I knew, if you saw what I see You’d look through illusions, hallucinations, and lucid dream And I know that meaning can be such a pretty thing to keep But I got facts and I’m not afraid to use ‘em, take the good with the bad, take off the back you make a new front Some days I'm glad that I am a madman and I’d rather be that than An amicable animal, mild-mannered cannibal

Aww wait :(

Looks like the cat did a number on you Vienna, oh He took a brick off the side of the stoop Poor vienna It'll be over soon Your mamas waiting for ya But you're not coming home

Your mamas been so worried Cause you never came home Beneath the ground you're buried In memoriam

Yes I think it could be! Even more, I think it's exemplary of Deepdark's general charisma and desire to recruit people into Defiance, reminiscent of his speech from Issue 28.

You and me should go outside And beat 'em, beat 'em, beat 'em, beat 'em, beat 'em All pathetic flag waving ignorant geeks And we'll eat 'em, eat 'em, eat 'em, eat 'em, eat 'em

Come join the cause, come join the cause Who wants to come with me and come join the cause? Hide in the sky, hide in the sky Who wants to come with me and hide in the sky?

Oh, my mom loves this album, I grew up listening to it. This does remind me a bit of them, how sweet and sad.

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes Let them know you realize that life goes fast It's hard to make the good things last You realize the sun doesn't go down It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do you realize That you have the most beautiful face? Do you realize?

What a unique take on their relationship! I do like the theme of Ranger guiding Rainhaze's hand, and the parent-child energy is very interesting for them. Interesting take on Mordred, for that matter.

Guileless Son, I'll shape your belief And you'll always know that your father's a thief And you won't understand the cause of your grief But you'll always follow the voices beneath

Loyalty Loyalty Loyalty Loyalty Loyalty Loyalty Loyalty only to me

[minus-world-of-love]

Fall themed ask game? Fall themed ask game!

🍁: What are your favorite things about this season, and what are your F/O's?

🌧️: What's your favorite/ideal way to spend a rainy day together?

🎞️: If you have movie nights, what kind of films do you enjoy watching with your F/O?

���️: If dressing up in costumes for Halloween, what would your costumes be? Do you two do matching costumes?

🎃: How would carving pumpkins with your F/O go? What do you think their's would look like?

🕯: Who’s more likely to stay up later at night while the other's fast asleep?

🕷️: As it gets colder and more bugs enter your home, who's the one that deals with them?

🥧: What are you and your F/O's favorite Fall sweet treats? (Bonus: if homemade, do you make them together?)

🧦: Who puts their cold hands/feet on the other when cuddling? Unannounced, even?

🌬️: Does your F/O enjoy the cooler weather, or will they miss the warmth of Summer?

🪟: When on public transport, like on a bus or a train, who usually hogs sits by the window?

🔥: Who gets colder easier? And who warms them up?

📀: What songs would be on a Fall themed playlist for your self-ship?

🌄: If you were picking out each other’s outfits for the day, what would your F/O pick for you, and what would you pick for them?

🧥: When outside together on a chilly day, who offers their jacket when the other gets cold?

👻: What are your F/O's and your thoughts on ghosts? Do either of you believe in them or not?

🍊: What does your F/O smell like? Are there any scents you specifically associate with them?

🐌: Do you get along well with your F/O's family?

🌻: Who holds the umbrella for the other when walking in the rain?

🧸: When one of you is feeling down, how does your F/O cheer you up, and how do you cheer them up?

☕️: What are you and your F/O's favorite hot drinks?

🍂: Who's more likely to collect pretty autumn leaves and gift them to the other when on a walk together?

🪐: What small quirks does your F/O have that you love, and what quirks do you have that your F/O loves?

🍯: Between the two of you, who has the bigger sweet tooth?

🌰: What are your favourite hobbies/indoor activities to do together?

⛺️: Do you and your F/O enjoy going on camping trips together? Have either of you gone on a camping trip before?

🦇: What animals do you associate with your F/O, and which ones do they associate with you?

🌙: Do you remember your first Halloween with your F/O? What was it like and what did you do?

💭: If you've ever had a dream(s) about your F/O before, do you remember what happened in them?

📺: Who is more likely to cry when watching sad scenes in movies/TV shows?

🧡: Since it’s a funny and somewhat heated topic, do you think your F/O would enjoy candy corn?

🌾: On a date to the farmers market, what sort of things do you and your F/O buy?

🦔: If you and your F/O have kids, what's your favorite activity to do with them around this time of year?

🫶: What’s something you find the most comforting about your F/O and your ship with them?

🍄🤎: Free pass to gush about anything you want!

[tokuvivor]

Due to circumstances beyond the control of any others, @violetganache42 and I are splitting duty on this week’s highlights post (Competition Night edition). She did it for the shorts and episodes, I’m doing it for An Extremely Goofy Movie.

So without further ado, here we go.

“Polar Trappers”:

We bring ‘em back alive

@puffyducks: bro where is pabo

Donald hunting a penguin, which is now illegal to do so

Not the kid!

The baby penguin’s tear becoming a massive snowball

“Need 4 Speed”:

QUACK PACK (Again!)

Disney Ducks meet The Fast and the Furious

@spamtoon: huey you guys aren't in phineas and ferb

Daisy appearance!

The idea of Comet Guy Night

@ducklooney and puffy going off about humans being in the Duckverse

Us calling Donald and the authorities to kill Rocky the Rocket Throttle

From Negaduck ass car to Ratcatcher

@writebackatya: "This is like the Family Guy of the Duckverse"

Ludwig appearance!

puffy: "where's dick dastardly"

Puffy, Missy, and I using 90s slang

Daisy seeing the triplets in the race:

RIP ethnically stereotyped racers

WriteBackAtYa: "DuckTales 2017 needed a car race episode"

Violet: "Would Huey and Launchpad be commentators?"

WriteBackAtYa: "Yes Always"

Violet: "SOLD!"

Ludwig's toy kangaroo winning the race

@tealottie: erection joke

“The Missing Links of Moorshire!”:

Webby giving Scrooge semi-permanent hearing loss

Launchpad: "This lake will be used for the swimming portion of the competition."

Huey: T_T

Violet: "Cue theme song!"

Missy betraying Della with Daisy

Tony the Tiger?!

The entire coin toss scene 🤣

Us praising Glomgold

Missy commenting how Scrooge and Glomgold can't tuck their tails for golfing

The audio glitching like CRAZY

Fluttershy and Bubbles the Kelpies

Webby: "Talking animals wearing clothes?! :D"

@fantasticenthusiasttale: "Webby…"

Violet, internally:

"Bologna. Trampoline."

THE MUSIC USED FOR THE MONTAGE!

Louie yoinking money out of Glomgold's sweater pocket

Emo Dewey

"You people are no fun."

Webby: "Not everything has to be a life lesson."

Violet:

Violet pretending to be turned to stone by the Medusa Mist (as I like to call it)

Launchpad ending the episode with a life lesson… before trying to devour golf balls

“Dog Show”:

puffy: "you know who else is an orphan"

Dreamy: "Everyone in this shit is an orphan"

The dog show people being dogs

Goofy literally begging

Pixar ball

Mickey unleashing his inner dog

An Extremely Goofy Movie

Calling out all the characters from the previous movie as they show up

The fact that Pete is celebrating his own son leaving💀

How is Goofy single?

Goofy having major rizz (this point comes up quite a bit during the movie, and for good reason)

Max’s character development from A Goofy Movie being undone

Sad Goofy☹️

HDL mention!

Bradley Uppercrust III

@kaitosduckmania: “god this shit is so pretentious LMAO”

Will: “I want this review on the back of the DVD”

Max/Roxanne vs. Max/Bradley on Tumblr

Beret Girl!

Puffy: “you know who ELSE is called tank”

Violet: “MY MOM”

Puffy: “they’re snapping at us…MENACINGLY”

Bradley having the same VA as Johnny Bravo (also, The Man with the Yellow Hat)

Max’s horrified face when he sees that he and his dad are in the same class

Bobby wearing pink panties/briefs

Hidden Mickey

Goofy’s mispronunciation of the word “trigonometry”

Puffy: “the WHAT decimal system”

Sylvia being adorable

Goofy does a Donald-esque voice

Kai: “WHAT THE FUCK GOOFY YOU CAN MAKE THAT VOICE?”

Will: “Max’s whole character is that he doesn’t want to be like Goofy but like he is so much like his father that he doesn’t even know it”

More cheese pull (pizza in the last movie, nachos in this one)

BONGO MUSIC

PJ has rizz, too

Goofy and Sylvia dancing to Shake Your Groove Thing

Papa Dog

Us dumping on the inherent cult-like nature of fraternities, sororities, and the National Honor Society

The German judge low-balling everyone

Dreamy: “Is this the olympics all again”

Puffy: “this is MY olympics”

Max shooting down Goofy in the worst way possible

Goofy’s weed/acid trip dream (plus the Goofy holler!)

More Goofy sadness

Meta humor about almost everyone wearing gloves

Missy betraying Daisy with Sylvia

CHEATING!!!!!

PJ flying off

Dreamy: “He went to visit Della”

“Mud! My only weakness!”

Will mentioning that the scene with the X crashing down was removed from the broadcast version of the movie after 9/11 (which we completely understand, because holy shit)

Also, sort of a Hindenburg reference

Goofy graduating! (And then telling Max he was getting a job at the school)

Sylvia having the same VA as Emma Glamour

Spam floating the idea of Max vs. Gosalyn for the X Games

Disco end credits!

Also, that was a goofy movie. Extremely, even.

[viviennevermillion]

Welcome to my newest AU: Lost but everyone who ever stepped foot on the island has some type of usable magic power from that moment on. Rules for this is every power has a drawback and it only activates at a critical moment to their character arc. Here's what powers I assigned them:

Jack Shephard: Can heal people using his own life force. He can only give up to 50% of his own life force to do this, if the injury can't be healed by that, he can't save a person. Jack's power doesn't activate until way into Season 6 because he didn't have faith in the island.

Kate Austen: Has the same power as Blake Belladonna in RWBY. Both are characters who are established as people on the run because of their past. Their powers reflect that. Whenever Kate is attacked, if she reacts fast enough, she can leave behind a shadow of herself to take the hit for her.

James "Sawyer" Ford: The angrier he gets, the more damage his punches do. On the other hand, if he gets genuinely sad and devastated, his physical abilities are significantly stunted and damage is almost non-existent.

Charlie Pace: Can focus on a person and play or sing a song that reflects their true nature. This can be used to gather information about them. He can only do this once per person.

Claire Littleton: She can sense danger, even when there otherwise isn't any indication of it.

Hugo "Hurley" Reyes: Can speak to the dead. Activates off-island.

Sun-Hwa Kwon: Can accelerate the growth of plants and the natural healing process of animals and people. She has to know and understand the species to do this.

Jin-Soo Kwon: Can communicate with the ocean to go with the "son of a fisherman" theme. If his head is underwater the ocean tries to kill him tho.

John Locke: Is the only one who doesn't have a power. He's like Mirabel Madrigal. He's deeply important to the story but he has 0 magic. He himself and other characters throughout the story think that he does during varying points of time but it's always the MiB messing with him. He realizes this at the end. Can you tell I like angst yet?

Michael Dawson: Can create a magic shield using his own stamina. Shield disappears when his stamina runs out.

Walter "Walt" Lloyd: Astral Projection. Self-explanatory.

Vincent: Ages normally and can die of old age but is otherwise virtually indestructible. Usually animals don't get any powers but Vincent's was given to him by Jacob directly to assist the survivors.

Sayid Jarrah: Can burn a person with his touch when he wants to. Doing this inflicts an equal amount of emotional pain to him as the physical pain he causes. I like angst.

Shannon Rutherford: Can master any skill within 30 minutes if she puts her mind to it. Never figures this out because she has been told that she's useless all her life and believes it. Only uses this once when she translates French but thinks those are lucky guesses.

Boone Carlyle: Blood-bending. Mostly gave this to him because everytime he angrily stares at someone you can tell that his blood is boiling. Never uses this once during his lifetime though.

Rose Henderson Nadler & Bernard Nadler: Have a soul link with one another. They can always tell how the other is feeling and neither of them can die while the other still lives as long as they're on good terms. Virtually indestructible unless you kill them at the exact same time but why the fuck would you.

Ana Lucia Cortez: Pyromancy. Fits her vibe. Also bound to stamina.

Elizabeth "Libby" Smith: Can read people's emotions.

Mr. Eko: Precognition. Can tell what he needs to do when and can anticipate things a couple seconds before they happen.

Benjamin Linus: Everytime he lies (to convince someone of his lie, sarcasm not included), it slightly alters reality in an unexpected way to make his lie appear like the truth. This is how Anthony Cooper gets to the island after Ben tells John about the magic box. The result of his lies is always unexpected and can backfire. He can't make something specific happen intentionally. His power activated during the purge.

Juliet Burke: Ice-bending. This has nothing to do with her character but I've previously seen Elizabeth Mitchell in Once Upon A Time and The Santa Clause and both times she plays a character that has something to do with winter. Also bound to stamina.

Ethan Rom: Superhuman strength. Self-explanatory. It actually takes multiple shots from 6 guns to take him down in this AU.

Harper Stanhope: Can see people's time of death over their head. Was very confused that Juliet's said 1977 and Ben's was way past his normal life expectancy.

Goodwin Stanhope: Idk what his power is but it's certainly not danger sense. 💀

Roger Linus: Can sense fear. Terrible power for a terrible man. I love Ben, I promise. I also love angst tho. The moment Ben killed him was the only time he didn't sense any fear from him, which scared the shit out of him.

Desmond David Hume: Activates his power after the events of "The Constant". Can see glimpses of people's past and future upon touching them. Can only do this once per person.

Frank Lapidus: Always lands safe. Literally always lands on his feet like a cat. Also applies to planes / helicopters he flies.

Charlotte Staples Lewis: Can speak any language after hearing it spoken once. Growing up with this was very confusing off-island.

Miles Straume: Reading the final thoughts of the dead. Self-explanatory.

Daniel Faraday: Stopping time for up to an hour. After using this power, he can't use it for 24 times the amount of time he stopped time for. Only can use it in present time.

Illana Verdansky: Able to tell when people lie.

Danielle Rousseau: Her bullet or arrow always hits the target unless the target specifically blocks it.

Alexandra Rousseau: Can make herself invisible. Used for stealth.

Karl Martin: Can accelerate his speed. Bound to stamina.

Mikhail Bakunin: Telepathy.

Eloise Hawking: Chain Reaction. Once a day for 5 minutes she can see the effects of every action of hers she thinks about.

Charles Widmore: Can take a glimpse at people's destiny. Only can do this once per person.

Richard Alpert: Can't be killed by anything ever. Can't even die of natural causes. Can't die.

[people-can-be-tamed]

Simon Headcanons !

He has the most colorful, most TACKY clothing ever. Socks, shirts, pyjamas, you name it. You'll find at least ONE shirt with glitter on it that says something like " ♥ 𝔾𝕚𝕣𝕝 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 ♥ "

He has a fast metabolism, so he's a pretty light dude.

Has tried Horace's cooking before. Much to his displeasure, he actually likes it.

^ However, he has also had to help him clean stains in the kitchen. No matter how many times he tells Horace to be careful, the dude just keeps making messes...

Has made people pity him multiple times. Especially Horace. He's acting so sad and once you give in he's internally like "sucker."

Not too big of a fan of books, but he has read a few more psychological themed ones.

^ Adding onto this, he especially reads books and gets information on body language and the like. You can't manipulate people when you don't know what you're doing.

Though animal taming is his job, he usually stays away from animals. Not to say he doesn't like them; if he isn't in a rush, he'll pat a stray dog or cat.

Can drive, but only does so when strictly necessary. If he's in a car with someone else, he's always in the front seat, never the back. He says he just "likes the front seat" and no one really questions it.

He actively spends time with Regina to make him look less suspicious. However, he is quick to awkwardly deny any claims about them being "best friends". He doesn't want to be grouped with people like her. Besides, that spot is reserved for Horace.

He kind of hates sweet things. (Wonder how that relates to his past)

His favourite season is either autumn or spring.

He never really liked the beaches. As a kid he enjoyed them more, though.

He doesn't have a specific music taste. If he likes a song, he likes a song, it doesn't matter what genre.

^ Will NOT listen to rap or country music though.

If Horace makes a genuinely funny joke, he waits till he's alone to actually laugh.

Will probably add more in the future :3

[popculturebuffet]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Review and Analysis: This Films What Makes Me Feel Alright

Hello all you happy turtles! It's time to grab some pizza and party sized cool ranch doritos and pull your old high school sketchbooks out of some ancient backback in your closet, it's time to talk TMNT: Mutant Mayhem. As a massive TMNT nerd who was beyond hyped for this film coming from the powerhouses of both Point Grey Pictures and one jeff rowe, how did the film stack up? How did it spin kick on it's own? And why did they think Bebop nipple piercings were a good idea? All this and more under the cut, with FULL SPOILERS so if you haven't seen the film, you've been warned.

A New Coat of Ooze: Mutant Mayhem's story of how it came to be is oddly familiar: a massive movie company who has an iconic IP has no idea how to use said IP on it's own, and taps creators who have had some recent noticable and well loved succeses to make them a hit.

If that sounds familiar.. it really should as it was sony's creative desperation to get something spider-man centric only they would get profit from out that lead to Into the Spider verse and i'ts sequel. So it's funny and endearing to me that a film that wouldn't of gotten away with it's utterly unique and grungy art style without spider-verse.. happened for pretty much the exact same reasons.

Like with spidey, Paramount.. really didn't know what to do with TMNT for a while. And it's weird because when they first aquired the heroes in a halfshell from mirage, they had a pretty solid plan: the 2012 show, while messy as it went on, started out really promising and was a huge hit. The IDW comics prior to it were a massive hit for the company and are STILL around today, having outlasted other long term idw liscenses like transformers and having kept a consistent continuity for a decade while also leaving room for crossovers with ghostbusters, the mighty morphin power rangers, the goddamn batman and now street fighter.

So what went wrong? Simple.. they tried WAY too hard to mimic the transformers formula with their theatrical film, Ninja Turtles, not only not getting that audiences were tired of "Micheal Bay makes a weirdly sexual comedy about your childhood and it may have robots", but what really made the franchise work. The sequel from what i hear is slightly better but it just wasn't enoguh. Not helping is they quickly lost their shit on the tv front, as after the 2012 series concluded, they launched the creative, hilarious, and gorgeous Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.. which proceded to last only two seasons because it wasn't an instant hit, aka the same issue most nick shows fell into, not helped by the fact that Nick also seemed to pick up Cartoon Network's bad habit of hating action shows. We DID at least get a really good Rise film that gave the series a nice epilogue, but it's still sad it sputtered out so fast.

So Paramount turned to something they really weren't using.. their film animatoin department.

Paramount Pictures Animation is neat to look into as it had a steep rise.. then fell right off a cliff. It was a bit spottier at first, producing two of the charlie brown films, Bon Voyage Charlie Brown (And don't come back) and my beloved Race for Your Life Charlie Brown... mostly for this theme song.. okay ENTIRELY for the theme song.

And scattered experiments like Cool World, which was so good Ralph Bakshi punched a man over what they'd done to his idea, Bebe's Kids, and Beavis and Butthead Do America.

It wasn't till the late 90's and the nick boom they really started seeing success with the rugrats movies, jimmy neutron, spongebob and even the failures like Hey Arnold and Wild Thronberries were still neat. And yes i'd like to talk about any and all of these films at some point, they made up my childhood etc etc.

Eventually they got a cushy partneriship with dreamworks, still releasing the ocasional original effort like Rango, Barnyard and TinTin (The last of which I WILL be covering next august, I simply didnt' have room in pirate month this year. Once dreamworks left.. it seemed like Paramount genuinely had no clue what to do with the animation divsion. We had things like Sherlock Gnomes or Wonder Park, and the ocasoinal spongebob movies but it's clear that with Nick constantly cutting itself off at the knees they had no idea what to do. The closest they got was the turdtastic loud house movie and the totally awesome Rise of the TMNT films on netflix, but they just had no idea what they were doing. I mean it's telling that their trying to get extra paw patrol tickets by promiting a double feature with saw X. I.. I wish that was just some stupid joke I made as it's comedy gold. Eventually they came across an idea: Stay the course in focusiong on ips they own.. but bring in someone who knows what their doing to create something truly jawdropping.

So for Mayhem Parmount brought in two proven successes. The first were producers Point Grey Pictures, helmed by friends, writing partners and permenant teenagers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Rogen has made quite the name for himself as a producer. While Point Grey started as mainly a way for Rogen to produce comedies starring himself and a pre-outing as a sex monster james franco, over time Rogen has proven to be REALLY good at making adaptations, with point grey having had a hand in both the Boys, which I haven't seen but seems to be a MASSIVE improvment over the original comics , which isn't hard but it's still nice they tried, and Invincible, one of the best superhero shows PERIOD and a fantastic adaptation that changes what needed it, moves around pieces and ultimatley creates something really special. So tapping him to adapt a big property like this was a no brainer. He even had animation experince thanks to Sony Pictures Sauage party and while this was Point Grey's first family production, it's clear it wasn't too hard for Rogen to adapt. As for their director they picked a hell of one: Jeff Rowe. For those not familar with him Rowe helmed the Mitchells vs the Machines, sony's first post spider-verse success and the film that helped codify the 2d on 3d style that spider-verse made popular and peanuts pioneered. And it was clearly just ont hes trength of word of mouth alone as Rowe went right from machines to mayhem and only got better. From interviews, the two worked really well together: Rogen was hands on but didn't make the mistakes lord did of being way TOO hands on, simply pitching neat ideas, adding to the film and clearly being heavily involved, while still letting Rowe steer the ship. Rowe in turn learned to have a good work life ballance and give his employees one, preventing the kind of nightmarish working conditions present on other flims such as, sadly, Across the Spider-Verse.

For the direction of the film Rowe was a fan of the franchise as a kid, specifically the toys. He recalled a really sweet story about he and his dad spent a saturday trying to find Tokka and Rahzar and really loved the toys designs and uniquely grungy astetic. As such Rowe really didn't lean into or heavily research the rest of the franchise. Which set off my alarm bells when I read it in a review close to release: after all a LOT of bad adaptations come out of the person adapting it not giving one iota of a shit about the source material. Eventually though I realized I was .. over panicking. What jeff meant was more "I don't want to be overly reverent to the material and see what we can do on our own with the basic concept' rather than "THE TURTLES ARE GOD YOU FOOLS GODS. GODS I SAY!". There are still little nods in there and bits taken from other series; There's a mention of the turtles taking in a knicks game (something that happened in out of the shadows), April's design borrows heavily from her design from Rise while still being unique, Donnie has glasses like the bay movies, there apparently was a miyamoto usagi sticker on a notebook (thanks tv tropes for noticing), and there's a TON of refrences to the 87 continuity as it's clearly the one rowe knew best. And while I do get a LITTLE tired of that being the one continuity most creators seem to lean on the most, I don't hate it and plan to binge the whole giant thing soon I just feel there's a LOT more turtles to pull from, paticuarlly the idw comics, the nods are neat stuff like them having their belts form that series, the various obscure mutants. The Ninja Rap even shows up. Rowe and Rogen clearly love them some turtles.. they just wanted to do something new with it and I completely love and respect that. The biggest swing and the one that's paid off the most was leaning on the teenage aspect. Rowe and Rogan were baffled that no other version of the franchise had done the obvious: Have actual teens voice the turtles. There are reasons for that: For the various tv shows it's simply easier to know the va's wont' age out of the roll, and to the 2012 and rise series credits, they both still tried to make the turtles feel younger and had va's that still made them sound sorta like teens, paticuarlly rise... but it's not at all a bad concept and i'm shocked it took this long for someone to try it.

Another aspect was having the boys all record in one booth. Rogen had the idea.. but Rowe had to explain that it'd be a sound mixing nightmare.. but eventually agreed to it when they tested it out and he saw how much having the four actors playing the turtles riffed off each other and just how much material they got out of the boys adlibs. It adds a natural feeling to the boys conversations: it feels like four teens riffing who just happen to be turtles. It was indeed an audio nightmare.. but the nightmare was worth it and Rowe was greatful and apologetic to his sound crew.

The final bit was simply taking from teen movies, the film even outright has the boys watch Feris Buller's Day Off, which gives me one of my faviorite lines in the film, courtesy of Raph: "Being in high school means you can hyjack a parade whenever you want. "

There's more to get into as we go but with the film opening decently and paramount being so confident in the film pre-release they announced a two season tv show and a sequel, the future looks bright for the green machines. So now we've seen how the pizza gets made let's see how it came out

Perfectly Sketchy: Rogen and Rowe's "Teenage Energy" philosphy went into the design. Rowe wanted to find a unique look for the film, but it was a bit of a puzzler at first: There's SO many incarnations of the tmnt, which one do you pick for this? Do you go with the mirage comics, the 87 cartoon? 2003? the next mutation if you huffed some paint? In the end Rowe decided

Instead he made a brilliant decision: if the film was going to feel teenagery, then why not have it look like the sketches teenagers make in their notebooks? It's an idea that just oozes brilliance and still fits the franchises history like a razor decked claw glove. Part of what made the early comics stand out was it's sketchy, frank miller-esque style, and the toys stood out for largely echoing that as much as you could in three dimensions at the time. So it still fit.. but did something entirley new with it. As as a result the film has a look that simply nothing else has: porportions on most things are off, the backgrounds arne't hugely detailed , did you when you were a teen?, but still pop gloriously, and the characters all have SOMETHING that would be off model anywhere else. One of the thugs in the turtles first act of vigilnate justice, for instanc,e has a weirdly crooked head with indents. It's a look that's perfectly stylitic, fits the series history, and it's a kind of weird that perfectly complintes a series that was already having our heroes fight space dinosaurs by the third issue. I especially love how the shurikens are not even yet still throw perfectly and Mikey's hey arnold head. It's a look that pops with creativity and the crew really took to playing with. It's a style that will, much like spider-verse lead to this, undoubtly lead to more unique swings and I cannot wait to see what people come up with as a result

Protecting a World that Hates and Fears Them

The film's core comes from a rather genius decision to simply pick apart a key part of the franchise... the fact Splinter keeps the boys isolated from humanity for most of their lives and encourages them to stay hidden. Now credit where it's due some continuties justify it well enough: sometimes splinters hiding from shredder, or already had a sweet rent free sewer apartment he set up for no reason, trying to find his lost son and complete his family while avoiding a mutated alley cat or simply was waiting till the boys could defend themselves. They often have a lot of enemies... but even that shouldn't mean they can't get an education or have friends. April and Casey stick by them no matter what. They should be able to at least try for a normal life or the idea of them WANTING more than hidnig all the time should really come up more. The only ones that have really tapped into this are the IDW continuity which is just now having the boys integrate post armageddong game, out of the shadows which from what i've read has a throughly intresting subplot about the boys wanting to become human and leos' resistance to the idea (which also makes him come off as a bit of a jackass honestly as it's not his choice and "We're turtles end of story" is not an excuse). We've had the turtles say move into an apartment but this is the first to just flat out ask: why CANT the boys at least try to live with humanity instead of under them? And if so why did splinter keep them apart?

It's part of what really grounds the boys in this incarnation and makes them feel so damn real. The other of course was the decision to have actual teens play them and riff off each other. We get them making unteiotnally douchey digs at each other, such as the other three mocking Leo attempting a batman voice, casually talk about how they'd like to meet drake or have brunch with tom brady, which leo no you can do better man, or do some goofy shit while april marvels at their stupidity.. and then double down when told it might make people like them less. By making the biggest attempt so far to make the turtles FEEL like teens instead of young adults, an evolution the franchise has been undergoing since the 2012 cartoon and honestly reaches it's apex here, it makes us feel for them that much more; These are just kids who simply want to be loved and accepted, like any teenager. That awkwardness, wanting to fit in, wanting to simply belong.. it's one of the most painful parts of a teen and transplanting that to the tutles wa sa brilliant move. One of the earliest scenes is what sells this the most: the boys going to see Ferris Buller's Day off.. and just wondering what it'd be like to be normal. That lost shot of them sadly returning to the sewer... looking on screen at something they only wish they could have... it's so heartbreakingly beautiful.

The reasons WHY Splitner restricts their time in the outside world and refers to humans as "the demon scum of the earth. They lust to destroy that which is diffrent than them"

Giving Splinter a deep fear of humans is a brilliant move. It's something that really coudln't be done in most incarnations as he's been the pet of a martial arts master who treated him well, said martial arts master living in a sweet sewer apartment after being clumsily blamed for murder, got reincarnated as a rat after dying in ancient japan, a martial arts master who turned his back on his heritage because his clan let his family die, became a movie star, fucked a spider lady, had said spider lady put him in gladatorial games, then got depressed after becoming a rat but gladly adopted his sons. Here they strip that away and we're left with a splinter who was just a rat who was yelled at by other animals, shooed by humans just for trying to survivie and whose only friend was a cockroach.. who he ended up eating after humanity killed the poor guy. Finding the boys also abandoned in the sewers and covered in ooze, as oozual, not only made him into a rat man.. but also gave him the one thing he never had: a family. We also get a REALLY adorable montage set to de la soul's eye know that makes me REALLY glad the copy right hurdles around them are gone so we don't have another spider-man no way home situation because the song both slaps and has a nice soothing tone that really fits. We'll get more into the music on i'ts own later, I just really love this montage.

It also makes what follows..

We see that Splinter GENUINELY tried to go out into the world.. and the result was humanity throwing things at him despite carrying 4 small children and said children nearly being hit by a car. It's a really unsettling sequence. While yeah everyone going "rat man" and throwing things is a bit on the nose... given how a LOT of humanity acts to LBGTIQ+ persons, People of color, diffrent religions I could go on but i'm depressed enough as is, it's not really that much of a stretch that they'd throw things at a rat just trying to show his sons the world. It reminds me a LOT of the x-men and it's honestly weird to me that the othe rbiggest mutant franchise int he world HADN'T taken a page from them sooner.

It gives the film nuance: Splinter IS objectively prejudiced, leo even says so directly, but you can see how those prejudices formed and why he's so terrified for his own kids. He's worried a world that hates and fears them will also hate and milk them.. a runner that while awkwardly phrased, I don't think Seth or Jeff have heard of the term milking before, is hilarious, especially the usual refrain of "we don't even have nipples. " He just wants them safe and happy and you can tell he really does love them. He taught them the martial arts to protect them.. and the how is also really clever and a really fun idae: instead of "I learned it from a book" Or "I happened to be owned by a ninja master" or "I was reincarnated" we instead get him teaching them.. via martial arts films, instuctional videos, and the ocasional youtube thing. I love it because it honestly makes way more sense than it should as shown in the animation: splinter watched the films, learned the movements himself and then taught the boys. It's also a nice bit of meta text as Jackie Chan himself is a practicing martial artist who makes martial arts films and did his own stunts. One of his films is apparently even in the montage. It's one of my faaviorite takes of the film.

One of my faviorite scenes is Splinter's biggest pet the dog moment: the pizzza party. Splinter brings in a bunch of pizza hut pizzas

It's neat because it both clearly misses the point, Splinter really dosen't seem to get that simply bringing down a bunch of pizzas to have a human style prom and having kelvin captain kirk cutout won't fill the void inside. I mean I could think of a lot of uses for a chris pine cutout, i'm not saying it's a bad gift and it's sweet he's trying SO HARD to get his boys to open up and Jackie Chan just nails the dad energy on this one. It's just clear that they don't want to stay there there whole lives as safe as that is.

What brings it to it's head is one of the films more brilliant decisions. Originally, while I haven't found many specifics the film had other antagonists: Baxter Stockman was originally the boys teacher (they went to school during the course of this film in this draft) and became the fly again, while Shredder was TCRI"s heavy in earlier drafts. Both were nixed, the former likely due to abandoing the school plot and the latter for the entirely on the mark decision that it was just too much. Shredder.. is THE arch enemy to the turtles. The one constant in every universe. So it makes way more sense to save him for a sequel and let someone else take the reigns. As Rowe has teased Shredder's going to be a bit of a wakeup call: just as the boys think they have it figured out .. in comes shredder to kick their asses. Which really has happened A LOT across the franchise, with it being a regular tradition that the shredder beats the shit out of the turtles the first time they fight. Even in IDW where they do rally and turn the fight on it's head.. he still easily handles them all one on one before they rally as a team. It makes sense to save their ultimate test for a sequel while still giving them one hell of a trial by fire

Instead we got Superfly, who better fit into the fantastic racisim narritive. If the boys want to get love and acceptance by fighting for a world that hates and fears them x-men style.. it only makes sense they have a magneto on that other end.

Like Magneto Superfly has a tragic backstory behind his hatred of mankind.. Superfly was the creation of Baxter Stockman and what they did with Baxter both completely floored me.. and drove me to tears. Instead of what he is normally, either a put upon target coerced into villany who strikes back at both the turtles and those who wronged him, or a narcsitic monster who will gladly do whatever he wants and kill anyone in his way, here... Baxter is just a deeply lonely old man who just wants a family. At worst he steals from TCRI.. but given we see their a horrifying company who wants the mutants as weapons and will gladly torture teenagers for a buck, it's not hard to side with him. It's really nice ot see a heroic baxter.. and sad to see him go so quickly.

It puts Superfly's hatred in perspective: like splinter he saw just what huamanity does and how his kind is treated and grew up having to raise his younger siblings. Like Splinter he seems to really love them. And like splinter his attempt to take his siblings topside.. went horribly wrong with them being chased by an angry mob for just..c oming to a snack bar. But it's right after that we get the clear diffrence: Splinter just ran in fear and while he trained the boys ot protect themselves, he just wants a line between himself and humanity. Superfly.. wants them all to pay. He wants to mutate the world that killed his dad and drove him and his siblings into hiding. The only way they can be accepted.. is if humanity is mostly gone and what's left are enslaved.

IT's that sadistic streak that ultimately defines him as a villian: the turtles just want to be accepted, splinter just wants to be loved, the rest of the mutant "cousins" just want a home and have been indocrinated and browbeaten into thinking there isn't another way. Superfly.. wants things his way: he wants blood, he wants revenge and if anyone stands in his way no matter their age or being his family he will kill them. It's that anger inside that makes him a true monster.

And that extends to his own family. Superfly's an abusive parent to Splinters flawed but loving one: The rest of the mutants turn stone quiet when he subtly/notsubtly threatens the turtles if they happen to disagree, and during the chase not only are they all desperate to get the thing back but Wingnut in paticular gets the most telling line

Wingnut: Superfly's almost here and he's not going to be as nice about this! Leo: You're not being nice! Wingnut: He'll be less nice!!

While the other mutants SEEM jazzed during the bowling alley scene, it's very clear later none of them were that enthused about the idea. Both sets are afraid to speak to their parental figure.. but the diffrence is clear in motion: the boys hide from splinter because they know he'll say no, it's a standard teenage thing and as seen with the pizza party when Splinter finds the various knick knacks they've picked up on their heroic journey, his response is to try to bring the surface to the sewer. It's awkward as hell and dosen't remotely work.. but it's still a sweet gesture and you still feel bad for him when the boys quickly leave to finish their half assed plan. Splinter ultimately wants what's best for his kids and even if he's not always right in carrying that out, I never doubted he actually loved his children.

This all brillantly comes to a head towards the end: While Splinter plans to just.. isolate the turtles after their nearly milked, the one time he seems GENUINELY angry the whole film, he still wants to save April, the one good human, who warned him the boys were in danger in the first place.

This leads to a touching bit in itself: the boys COULD fight the other mutants, their trying to do a genocide after all.. but instead the boys.. just talk them down. I mean i'm used to this kinda thing by now, most animation these days is about forgivness, but it still works: earlier when meeting each other the turtles gladly bonded with their cousins, who i'll talk about in more detail later: Mondo and Mikey were both chill, raph finally found some people who liked to hit stuff, presumibly while blasting Limp Bisikit, it was really sweet. THeir relutance to stop them added a nice dimension to things: they UNDOUBTLY want to stop superfly's plan.. but they genuinely like their cousins and see them as good people in a bad situation. Likewise the cousins are utterly destraught at the fight afterwords and miss the turtles. These are simply at the end of the day teens 20 somethings and whatever scumbug is who just wanted to not be chased iwth torches.

So it's utterly heartwarming when the turtles and splinter simply offer their home. They may not have humanity.. but they'd have each other. It's also YET ANOTHER idea that seems obvious in retrospect but most turtle series never really thought of: why.. can't other mutants stay with them? They usually order suplies and stuff descretley anyway or in this case take them out of nescsity, if they can afford pizza for 5 people reguarly, why NOT let other smove in. I mean I get it meta wise, you dont' want to overcrowd things. But it's a nice thought i'm glad gets realized: that the boys aren't alone and now have a whole new family to lean on.

And of course Superfly can't take that. To him there's only one way to go: never stop making them pay. I'll also say I like just how poweful superfly is: he's got strength inunerablity, and super smarts, which I thought was a nice touch. I assumed he woudln't have baxter's intellegence and I'm glad to be wrong. He's only stopped and only then breifly by sheer numbers.

What follows is a LITTLE on the nose, with superfly just.... saying outight he and splinter aren't so diffrent, down to both having said "You'll be safe if you just LISTEN TO ME".

That part.. dosen't quite work for me. What does work is the animation on splinter during the struggle between everyone else and superfly.. the dawning realization of what he is as Superfly states the obvious and his determination as soon as Superfly says "the diffrence is i'm not a punk". Superfly just wants to get revenge on a world that hates and fears him.. Splinter just wants his sons to be happy. And he finally realizes that even if there's a lot of risk involved, they DESERVE to live out there with everyone else. There is something better than hiding or murder.

I also like how Superfly.. drops the pretense: once his plans done he just goes on a massive kaiju attack: I also like how fucking horrific his form is: the whale part's a bit goofy at first.. but then you see how much STRENGTH that gives him as he destroys it. Even if we get the ocasional joke (I didn't need that horse is gold), for the finale Superfly is just a nightmarish, imposing threat that threatnes to run our heroes lives and also maybe end them. The glee he takes in crushing the boys alive... it's fucking terrifying.

I also love the bit of the boys panning... seeing all the destruction.. and seeing the media blame them too. Their trying to HELP people.. and get blamed. I'd suggest moving to krakoa but a lo tof shit has went down and living with one old man full of fear and regret is what started this whole caper. And the boys.. fight on anyway because it's the right thing to do. Despite all the hate... someone has to stop superfly. And in doing so.. April makes sure they get the glory and praise they deserve anyway.

Finally I love splinter's turnaround right before the final fight... where he admits he was wrong.. but hasn't FULLY turned around on humans. He's simply realized he can't let his baggage with humanity weigh down his sons. And it pays off brilliantly during the time square fight, as when Splinter is downed.. someone helps him up. And what I love is that while it COULD just be someone who saw April's newscast clearing the turtles and other mutants.. it's left ambgious. As far as we know it was just a nice guy and gal helping an old man up regardless of if he was a giant rat or not. It dosen't paper over all the films flaws with the rat man mob scene but it does help quite a bit.

The film brillantly tackles prejudice and I like how unlike most films.. there's no easy answers. Our boys have to do something big and loud to get accepted and it's not guaranteed to shield them, as seen with the stingers. THey find friends , activites and get what they want.. but it's likely not the end.. but that's okay. The important thing is for the first time the turtles are out of the shadows and into the sun. And it suits them. Seriously this last twist was brilliant and i'm shocked it took a tmnt this long to just.. let them be public since 87, and since media has evolved, it means when we get to the series we can actually explore what that means: how will they adapt? will everyone accept them? will april realize Leo is into her and it wasn't just a friend thing? there's a lot of questions I can't wait to be answered.

Change is Constant

I didn't have a good segway so.. CHARACTERS! MY WHEELHOUSE. LET'S GO.

Starting with the boys, their more of a package deal here. They still have unique deisgns, takes on the cores of their personalities, all you'd expect from a good tmnt adaptation.

What changes it up a bit is the recording together: while most sets of turtles have great chemistry, this one.. really feels like their brothers thanks to the shared recording: they talk over one another, dunk on each other and goof around. This has always been a thing, and part of the franchises charm, but how they do it here feels more real, helped by the fact they clearly took some adlibs in. Both the BTS bit where they try to comfort Donnie only to both mangle the lyrics and writhe in pain and the bit with the new york accents both sound like the boys just started riffing on the prompt given, didn't stop and they rolled with it because it was comedy gold. It also means a LOT more pop culture refrences.. but it works. It dosen't feel like too much

Admitely I don't know how current the refrences are to ACTUAL teens, but they work well enough and don't feel like their horribly date the film. Plus it'd be.. weird to have a turtles work that didn't reflect it's era in some way, as all 4 cartoons and most films and comics reflect their time either in writing or in the general vibe.

The downside to this is the turtles indvidual personalities, while present.. get kinda underplayed. Leo and Raph make it out fine enough: After the radience that was Rise Leo and ben schwartz being at his peak slacker doofus (while also still being badass), we're back to Leo being Teachers Pet. But thankfully like the 2012 film they play with it: like that Leo his brother's don't really respect him as a leader, but rather than the usual raph snarling at him like wolverine, here it's more just their his brothers, they woudln't respect him anyway and benig their dad's mouthpiece just makes them ignore him harder. He's the dutiful son but he's simply outnumbered. Raph dosen't get a ton of spotlight, but gets enough to be a fun little murder baby and probably my faviorite of the 4. Instead of the usual brooding loner, sometimes ultra violent sometimes just sassy, often both, here he's more an obnoxious older brother who picks on leo the most, is happy to do dangerous stunts and badly needs therapy. He's essentially Reese from malcom in the middle as a ninja turtle. He still loves his brothers and loves a good scrap, but he's got some issues to adress.

Mikey and Donnie likewise aren't bad but kinda one note: Mikey gets it the worst: he's a bit goofy.. but since they ALL are this incarnation it dosen't stand out as much. He gets some nice bits and one hell of a impariment shot, but not much else.

Donnie fairs better, but suffers from the unintended consequences of a good choice. As part of grounding things a bit, Donnie isn't a super genius. He's just a snarky little otaku who does really like tech, but on the resonable level of a teenage boy. As a result he dosen't get as much to do as most donnies as he's not hotwiring shit as often or making super lasers. It works for me, it's intresting to have a donnie whose just a normal kid who happens to be really nerdy, but it means plotwise he dosen't have as much to do as Raph as the ringleader to the boys mischief or Leo as the leader of the band during hero stuff. I get why: they only had a hundred minutes and it's remarkable they crammed as much in as they did, but it's something I really hope the series can course correct. I don't mind the boys riffing and hope it continues, but I also hope we get them more as their own people too.

As a final note I love Leo's crush on April. IT feels like a better realized version of the Donnie one from 2012. Instead of waffling over wether april notices or just dosen't want to turn him down which..

And then having it go from cute to "spiraling obessive dickhole", here April notices something's weird, but is clearly more intrested in the "giant talking turtles who can help my rep" thing and thus dosen't really pry. It only REALLY crosses into that at the end when he transparently asks her out.. and she waits till prom to ask "wait this is a friend thing right". But that could be nerves or her being just as scared of her feelings as he is with his. It also helps that while he's intrested in april romantically the two do bond: out of the four he' sthe most empathetic at her barf reputation, priortizes her not out of his crush but because she asked for their help and later works with her at her club. It's still somethign the series could work on, but for "a way to both mine jokes and get leo to go against his dad's wise council" it works fine. It's better than "how dare you ruin my ship you bastards" and "Mikey stop being a sex creep. "

So moving on to April herself, I mostly like this version. She's the third time this franchise has gone with a teen april and the third to have her POC. I've liked the turn to teen april as instead of being a big sister to the turtles, and essentially another authority figure when they already have their dad, she's on their level and it opens up fresh possiblities. Mayhem is the first with this take on april to have her be a reporter again, and it's honestly nice to see that work at a school level, having her TRIED to be on their equivleant of channel one.. and end up puking. And i'm not a barf joke man but walking back into the theater after a bathroom break to see her ralphing to "UnwritteN" may be one of my faviorite cinema moments of 2023, up there with walking back into Barbie to find she and ken now had cowboy outfits they'd apparently stolen.

I also love how it gives her a personal stake: she just wants to be loved same as the turtles and like them realizes this isn't WHY to do this. She also provides a nicely needed straight man to the goofier brothers without being reduced to the old sterotype of "Joy killing female foil. ", something her fellow teen aprils and most aprils in general have thankfully achieved. April is just a person and reacts with annoyance to the boys because their going on a 4 minute tangent saying new york sterotypes while mike does a rumpshaker.

We do have to unpack that mostly though and that comes from April being kind of a dick at time's. She's pressuery when the boys are undercover with SUperfly's gang.. even though she can HEAR what their saying.. and thus hear that he's clearly indocrinated the others and that the boys may not want to harm THEM. I get her not wanting Superfly to succeed, his plan is fucking horrible, but even for a teen it's weird she dosen't see the nuance. She can also be a bhit short with them, though the latter I acknolwedge in hindsight as being like the boys: she's a teenager and teens aren't perfect. This is still a great april and continues Ayo's streak this year of great voice acting roles.

The other mutants are great. I was worried: While the cast for them is fucking stacked and Seth called in a lot of his rolodex to fill it out, and himself as credit where it's due he tends to show up in shit he produces and bring his absolute best rather than showing up because he can, i've seen plenty of films fall flat because they tried to add too many characters from the source. Just this year I felt one of the biggest issues with Transformers; Rise of the Beasts is that they tried to jam so many autobots and maximals in, a total of 10 but didn't bother to give any of them but optimus, bee and mirage an actual character.

Here while the characters are one note, they have charming designs and work more as a unit like the boys, but are still friendly and likeable enough that your fond of them like the turtles and happy when they join the family. The breakout is easily natasha dimoscu's wingnut. I already loved wingnut, but this is easily the best verison: she's cheery kind and gets some great subtle jokes, the wifi one is fucking great as is her swiping Donni'es akira voices. All of them are pretty charming though. The only one to not really feel like a character is Hannibal frog, a sad waste of hannibal burgess, but everyone else gets something fun to do: Bebop and Rocksteady are rageholic morons who then get a sweet character arc as they realize their rage is because Superfly ENCOURAGED them to be constantly angry, and it's fun to see a version of them that's genuinely heroic. Not so fun is Bebop's pierced nipples.

I am genuinely baffled by this design choice. I don't doubt Bebop would get pierced nips, it' sin character. But why Seth thought anyone would want to see that, why he made HIS CHARACTER HAVE THEM, OR WHY HE MAKES IT SO PROMINENT will be a question that will haunt me for years to come. Or until we get creators commentary to explain why he hates viewers eyes. For the record I have nothing against nipple piercings, I just question why anyone thought giving them to Bebop was a good idea. OR their so large or

I also like Scumbug and i'm happy to see Splinter in his first relationship where his partner hasn't died horribly or put him in gladiator games. I did not need to see them make out with clone high level tounge. I"ll let this discord conversation with my good friend @kammieceleek handle the heavy lifting.

I mean their a cute couple but please, NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN NEVER

Anyways capping us off we have TCRI, who are decent enough. I like remaking them as this sort of paramilitary goon squad that shows the worst of humanity. Cynthia herself.. is fucking great. I like that to anyone familiar with Krang, it's DAMN obvious who she either is, or is a stand in for, with the name, apperance and Maya Rudolph somehow doing the Pat Fraley krang voice and tics while also doing a thick german accent. She's a brillaint combo of over the top hammy.. and an utterly sadstic monster, shocking the boys just for speaking, not carring that they don't really belong to her, and willing to kill them just to get her super weapons. She's what a remade krang should be: still over the top.. but also dead seriously terrifying. My only complaint is she's a bit OBVIOUS as a sequel hook. Like Rowe was really banking on that sequel and i'm never a fan of when films do this when they don't KNOW this story will continue. It is clearly, with the film slowly picking up more and more money and more than enough in merch, but he coudln't of known that.

So with that we just have one bit of buisness to wrap up

Yo Jeff Drop the Verse

The soundtrack for this flim is liquid gold. It's so good to my ears and full of such nice cuts. Guardians cemented my love of needle drops in film in tv: If you can pull it off well do it. And this film does it so damn good. The film skews to hip hop, likely due to wanting a "Tony Hawk Pro Skater" vibe, which really does fit teendom well. I will admit it's also pretty explicit here and there, so kids may be disapointed to find they can't stream these songs, but it's still a stacked selectoin

So before I break it down track by track, something I regret failing to do with spider-verse as like this reveiw it was massively behind, I whipped up a playlist as Parmount's own leaves out several tracks. While I get the what's going on bit being left out as that bit is a good suprise why it has'nt been added weeks out from the film I don't know. You can find it here

Ante Up is a song i've heard maybe once or two here, but is a perfect gag for the opening grocery run, while still showing off just what our boys can do.. even if their doing it for some party sized cool ranch doritos. Which is still a great reward.

Danke Scheon shows up in the clip of feris buller. This dosen't really count but I do think the film is a perfect fit, since John Hughes was an inspiration for this film, and it's an idealized version of the freedom the boys desperately want. Not a John Hughes film I was ever a huge fan of, but it works and that "You can hyjack parades whenever you want" joke is so damn good.

Now we come to a track I wasn't familiar with but is easily my faviorite now: Eye Know. I"m glad more films are using De La Soul's music, mostly because it makes ME want to know them better as I haven't heard much and even after really enjoying three is the number, thanks to the weird rights limbo it wasn't avaliable to stream ad nauseum when No Way Home came out. Thankfully just a few short months ago, the whole De La Soul catalogue is up. This song is a really gentle, really fun love song with one heck of a chorus, and it nicely meshes with Splitner raising his adorable little children. It's one of my faviorite scenes of the movie.

The next track is another perfect selection but for something more hilarious and badass: While Push It To the Limit verges on a parody of training montage music it works for one where we find out the turtles and splinter learned ninjitsu from movies,, instructional tapes and whatever they could scrounge up. HOw their learning is awesomely rediculous, so it needs backing that's cheestastic.

Love is an Illusion by Ronnie Walker was nice for Leo falling for APril. It's a really crisp, dreamy love song so it fits.

Okay look i'ts only there for a second, but I can't tell you how much I love Ninja Rap making a cameo on this soundtrack. The soundtrack is cheesy good and one of the more iconic ninja turtle songs for a reason. It's not as good as say Pizza Power or the various awesome theme songs, but it's goofy fun that fit the film it was in. It's also one of Vanilla Ice's better songs, though that isn't huge compettion especially since he made a weird as fuck sequel I still can't comprehend that was also compeltely ninja turtle free for some reason.

Cavern By LIquid Liquid is fun, a nice chill beat to meet turtles to.

Dance by ESG is already a fun song and fits the boys going full blast on their plan well. THat's.. about it. THankfully I have more for unwritten. I'm not a fan of Vomit humor most of the time unless you have a paticuarlly inspired twist like say. a mad scientest making everyone in the room vomit at a bar as a thought experiment leading to an image like this

That's just beautiful. But i'm just not a gross out guy, so this gag working for me was a lot... setting the most embarassing moment of April's life to FUCKING UNWRITTEN, a song I heard 998 times over the course of the 2000's as every fucking movie and tv show overused the hell out of this throughly mid song, it was transedeant. First and only good use of unwritten. Well done.

Now we come to what's easily the best musical bit of the movie. And it has some steep competition from Eye Know and another song we all know is coming, but the No Diggity Scene is just one of those sequences that once you see it you know "This shit is iconic". This is a scene that's now etched in tmnt lore and for damn good reason. It's also a brilliant way to get up to the chain to superfly and have a few weeks of sluthing and our heroes getting better pass as our heroes easily blaze through some goons and those shots of EACH turtle getting to burst in and lead the assault?

And look I admit this montage hits a sweet spot that was also started by guardians: setting an action montage to music that somehow fits despite having no right to. In this case a mellow smooth as hell jam perfectly complmenting some frantic action. So fucking smooth.

Wake Up in the Sky grew on me as let's face it, a song that has bruno mars saying fly a dozen times nad saying he's super fly works. I just don't like it a lot because trap is'nt something that fits me musically. I prefer more intricate beats or at least a really solid one thorugh the whole thing. The more relaxed beatwork here isn't for me, but I can't deny it fits Superfly's big debut well.

Fitting me much better is the use of Shimmy Shimmy Yay for the bowling scene. It's fucking great, a song that's never not awesome and that's also a bit low key while being way more my speed.

The use of BOTH major versions of What's Up? .. is an easy close second for best use of music int he film and one of the most brilliant masterstrokes. And this all comes to Seth Rogen. When the chase scene wasn't quite working, he suggested the slackcircus version of he man. It's also awsome in that the song's themes of isolation PERFECTLY fit what the mutants are going through. So not only did they manage to stick one of the best meme songs in human history in a feature film.. but they did so with it being ENTIRELY relevant. The switch from the 4 non blondes version to slackcircus is fucking genius and the song adds nice manic energy. It'll also hopefully give this song a rightful ressurgence as the heman cover is , while hilarious, also GENUINELY good. The original ain't too shabby either.

The boys version of butter is hilarious and got me to listen to the original which is alright. Mr. Lonely isn't a bad song, and perfectly fits Splinter's mope session.

Finally we have can I kcik it, an objectively awesome song. It fit the trailer perfectly and it fits our ending as our heroes are finally allowed to mingle with the surface adn get their happy ending beauitfully. A beautiful ending to a beautiful film.

So overall mutant mayhem is fucking awesome. If you haven't seen it after all this go see it, support the hard workers who made this film possible by supporting the ongoing strike and thanks for reading.

[miyakuli]

Twin Mirror

I don't nod this time

I'm no stranger to the studio's interactive adventures, and they often range from the very good (Life is Strange) to the more conventional (Tell me why). Unfortunately, this one falls into the lower category… and yet we're immersed in a thriller in which our main protagonist tries to solve murders, all with the help of his mind palace, which enables him to reconstruct scenes or anticipate actions. Sounds cool, doesn't it?! if only the script and gameplay had been better worked out…

❤ I'd like to praise the dubbing actors, who succeeded in making their characters far more lively and expressive than their animated models (we'll come back to the animation in another section). ❤ Some interesting staging ideas, though too few and far between. ❤ The scenes between Sam and his double personifying his reason are the most successful; we feel the security of this voice in his head in the face of an increasingly violent and sad society, but we also understand the social isolation he faces by literally remaining immersed in his thoughts. This was really the most pertinent point of the whole game.

+/- In line with my point above, the moments when we plunge into his mind palace are also intriguing, whether to reconstruct scenes, plunge back into his memories, or confront his doubts and fears….but they are few and far between and not sufficiently exploited, even though tackling this theme of the psyche could have led to situations far richer in emotion. +/- The soundtrack includes a few nice songs, but the soundscape is very empty. I don't know if it's to suggest the bleak vision the character has of the city, but it's boring. +/- The scenery is quite beautiful on the whole, with some very successful lighting effects, but not always very detailed, and the characters' animation and expressiveness are really too bland. +/- Some characters are endearing, but none are really developed (no time). For example, Joan, the mature kid with the strong character, I only met her briefly 3 times in the game without having the time to really create a bond with Sam. Anna, with whom we spend the most time, doesn't have the most evolved dialogues with him either (even though, given their shared past, there was room for more intimate moments). In short, they're all quickly forgotten.

✖ The game's biggest problem is its length. 5 short hours to rebuild relationships, investigate (and solve) the death of your best friend and, at the same time, introspect on yourself in the company of an imaginary twin? it's impossible to have time to develop anything. Everything moves too fast, and we never take the time to experience a scene or feel anything. ✖ In general, I have no problem with simplistic interactions between several cinematics. The thing is, these are far too long (and slow) and our actions are rather boring; dialogue and story choices are minimal and exploration never adds much. ✖ How predictable is your script, were the writers uninspired or what? (found culprit second 1)

I can't say I was bored by this game (I didn't have the time to feel it anyway in 5 hours xD), but I didn't really get to enjoy it because I felt a lot of laziness in its writing and gameplay. It started from a good premise, with some nice mental phases, and I think that with more time, we could have come up with something at least interesting. My spiritual twin would advise you to buy it on sale if you're really curious about playing it ;)

➡ My Steam page

[oc-tournaments]

ROUND FOUR - MATCH 2

SALVANAN vs NELSON MAXWELL

SALVANAN: @the-demoness-next-door

NELSON MAXWELL: @chimkinnugget

VOTE BASED ON THE INFORMATION BELOW CUT!!

Propaganda Content Warnings: Abuse, manipulation, suicidal thoughts for SALVANAN, missing children, loss of limb for NELSON.

SALVANAN:

PROPAGANDA: this poor man. buckle in, you have a LONG one coming. he's very old, he's the god of plants + the earth and he's great i love him but man i have not been nice to him. so. way early in his life, he had a very sweet boyfriend named azyll along w lots of mutual friends. except oops, sal developed chronic anxiety and depression and decided that he did not think he would be good for azyll and broke it off w him. it was amicable but it still sucks. fast forward a bit, one of the friends in their circle, jekath, is being manipulated and hurt for no reason and sal knows but for magic reasons he's incapable of telling anyone, just has to watch. and then he eventually has to watch jekath finally snap under the pressure and betray them all and go evil. no bueno. so he spends a long time feeling terrible and eventually he plans to just. yknow. off himself. but oh surprise this little boy named safari shows up in his garden! and he's like well shit guess im a dad now. and he loves this little boy very much. it's good times! except when he's a teenager two of the little boy's biological brothers drop him off a cliff and nearly kill him, which is, yknow, terrifying. that's his son! his son was almost murdered! no! bueno! anyway, azyll's mortal so eventually he dies of old age, now sal's even sadder. least he's still got his other friends and safari but Man. anyway fast forward again, whole world is at war. and his two best friends, arona and morana, both die in it. but if that was not bad enough, arona was killed by jekath. you know, the old friend that was abused and eventually betrayed them all. so the friend he felt like he failed has now murdered one of his best friends. and his other best friend is ALSO dead. things are just going Great. flash forward another little while and his goddaughter's husband, sibrum, goes evil against his will too. he's known sibrum since he was a kid so now he's got ANOTHER person he felt responsible for gone evil against their will. then sibrum's daughter dies. are you seeing a pattern yet. anyway, sibrum soon kills jekath so now sal feels like he's double failed both of them and also even MORE of his original friends are dead now. so he is trying So Hard to relax! but then safari is turned into a terrible person against his will too! and because they were so so close for so so long they end up in a toxic dynamic instead of cutting each other off. sal finally figures out how to break the spell on safari and it's all Okay Now (they're both traumatized and it's definitely not okay). he gets to relax for only a brief time before his other child's son, volta, has a villain arc too. and what happens? you guessed it! sal tries to stop him and help him and he's not able to. and feels like he failed someone AGAIN. yeah this just happens over and over through the course of his life. he's so tired and sad man

THEME SONG:

NELSON MAXWELL:

PROPAGANDA: Girlboss was on a camping trip with his son and two daughters, and randomly all three kids disappeared. He spent hours even DAYS searching for them until eventually he spiralled into madness, slowly losing his grip on reality until he lost his head when he was attacked by an animal, killing him instantly. He found himself in an empty void, his head replaced with a tv screen. He also lost a hand during the time searching for his kids.

also he was forced into a marriage and like his wife left him and only gave him weekends with the kids so that's that

THEME SONG:

[petpetpinixy]

vocaloid songs i think are really really cool that you might not have heard

there's also UTAU, one SynthV, one VOICEVOX, and one CeVIO voice in this thread dont yell at me we're all friends here

idk what a genre is. i'm gonna tell you what i like about the song

MAN i love this song. i can't stop listening to it. i love the quieter vocals outside the chorus and the louder voclas in it & near the end. this song gets stuck in my head so often you have no idea

break bc long

TOXIC YURI TETO. also PLEASE check out jamie paige its music is so incredibly good. this song is so awesome and cool and AUAUGHH

Origin - 初音ミク https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm43596219

THIS SONG AAUUUGGGGHHH it's so full of light and hope and it's beautiful and everyone needs to listen to it. the vocaloid version is only on nicovideo (here's the self cover on youtube, it also has english subs). also the MV is beautiful (cw: small mention of suicide, it's nothing graphic but i feel like i should give a warning anyway)

this song. makes me cry every time i listen to it. it's also very full of light and hope. need me a community like this

this song is so cool. it makes me think about playing animal crossing late at night (sound wise, anyway. idk japanese so no clue what the song is about). until that second half and it just ?!!;):$:& WOAH. go listen rn

sooo a few of this person's songs used to be tagged backrooms, not sure why they aren't anymore but that's how i'm gonna sell it to you. it's cool liminal space/backrooms/whatever you wanna call it music! it's just as weird and slightly offputting as backrooms themed music should be. they have four songs i think fit this category, and you can probably tell by the thumbnails which ones they are. go listen if you like things a little weird (i think this MV needs a flashing and vertigo warning so. be warned)

WHY DOES THIS NOT HAVE MORE VIEWS HELLOOOOOO this gets stuck in my head constantly!!! please please go listen to it it's so cool and very much underrated

this song Also gets stuck in my head a lot. i get the feeling the lyrics are relatable but i don't have proof. the MV reminds me a lot of Slump. i'm underselling this one Please listen i love it so much

i love this one :] the chiptune(?) instrumental goes very well with adachi rei's voice. i wish i could think of more to say but i just Really Like It

(flash warning? it gets glitchy) alright alright i know this one is over 100k but it's one of my most favoritest songs ever in the world so whatever. look at her sing :] i love her. god this song is good

this one's fast paced and has a really cool tone shift at one point! i like it a lot (help me i'm running out of things to say)

https://youtu.be/y4GORKV_aOw?si=5PFrraW0xQ5GN0nE

GUYS. BGUYS. HAVE YOU HEARD OF WINTERMUTE?????? one of my favorite artists EVERRRRR. no one knows where they went unfortunately, but all their music is still up to listen to and it's all so good. here's one of my faves

https://youtu.be/Gd4eR3jYCdc?si=j8ao16jeAzW7Dukc

ohhhh my god. higma. higma i love you. i love this song and the MV so much. higma is amazing please go check them out

https://youtu.be/wDFynhbltHk?si=x7D_p6z-9MDFCnLe

(flash warning!!) i love vocaloid artists with black and white aesthetics they're always good. Kangoku Catastrophe by the same person is also fantastic. squeak freak.

https://youtu.be/heVsAZ6w1-s?si=cRjLgC10MzHyt0_-

this song, out of all the songs in the world, got me through a real rough patch. i was unmotivated and really sad, but this doggy and the catchy melody kept bringing me back and cheering me up. 732 views at the time of this thread. please go support this song

https://youtu.be/-rgRqU0ujSQ?si=XwHeCRUwk5cXE2t0

i also found this song during that rough patch. i really like the more subdued vocals and the fast pace. (possible flash warning? it's not awful but the picture blinks on and off sometimes)

https://youtu.be/WE3TWosFOCk?si=bJ9dWJHvLbGjtEAp

wow Another song from that time in my life. i think the rest of this thread is gonna be dedicated to the songs that got me back into vocaloid. this one's incredibly catchy and i've never gotten sick of it :]

https://youtu.be/WDxvgUiq7PE?si=OxIuVzMl3JN1hJmo

another one over 100k, but god what a lovely song. idk what it is, but those boops in the background sound so sad. i think this one especially kickstarted me into a full-time vocaloid listener

https://youtu.be/MGZokrLIniA?si=o9sp0_2aPeprC8vl

oh my god i didn't even realize this person made Mesmerizer!! (HUGE flash warning for that one). please listen to this song too it's awesome

https://youtu.be/4Egmp6MCmSg?si=yevFcjnkG2IPWJHy

(flash warning!) this one is so nostalgic sounding to me. i love the unresolved note the first chorus ends on. this song sounds like it needs a hug

https://youtu.be/CRmj1vJNR6A?si=NqasRAXRmEH1Z-Fs

i love me a song with drowned out vocals. this one's really relaxing :] i like it a lot

https://youtu.be/dMdYxvl-wMw?si=nXqmU_SLjlJXkuMC

(idk if i should give this one a flash warning, but it gets a little blinky. so be warned) a really good fast-paced one minute song. idk what else to say go listen

https://youtu.be/m3ganYA9_lc?si=npl_ActsG8TfO9eF

a slower paced, boopy song with a music box. i love it a lot

https://youtu.be/P3PrQCIanxw?si=YhaQFEcnEKOUGj9J

oh man, this song and it's MV. where do i even start? first of all: i think the song has some disturbing elements (maybe suicide, death, possibly miscarriage) and the MV is a little spooky and has some blood and violence.

but WOW this video. the song is weird and dissonant at times, the MV is beautifully animated, and it's 5 minutes long. i'm absolutely obsessed with it. please check this person out

https://youtu.be/DUpJgdGe1Pc?si=wZN8jgUGYeoEffGv

(flash warning!) last one. i'm cutting myself off before this thread gets too long (it's already too long). this song is sooooo catchy :] i luv u

SORRY FOR THE LONG THREAD. idek if this will reach that many people but i have over 500 songs in my playlist at this point and so many of them are underrated.

k byeeeee *explodes*

[beetlebugdash]

Miraculous awakening thoughts and live reaction! (Major spoilers!)

- holy crap we made it to a movie

- I'm so excited

- Remember back in season 2 (I think) that a live action movie was coming

- Good times

- Anyways this

- Netflix presents tears

- No magic

- JUMPS SCARE

- we've been known thanks for explaining

- Dark butterflies and angry? Wanna see the counterpart

- LADYBUG AND CAT NOIR

- stronger than death?

- THE CLASSIC MOVIE MUSIC

- PARIS!!??!)

- classic movie intro is classic

- PHOTOGRAPHER AND NEWSPERSON

- CROSSWINDS

- the road????

- Marionette wears a watch?

- I love her dad

- UNICORNBCAKES

- 10/10 diversity

- Daddy??? Ok Chloe

- Listen to my chest???? Idk what u mean

- YOU JUST GOTTA BELIEVE!!!!

- Christina that isn't your singing voice

- CHRISTINA HAS A GOOD VOICE

- love the painter's design

- It dosent sound like her

- DOG

- THE TEA SCENE FORM THE PV

- Lotta unique background character designs

- WHERE DID U GET THE BIKE

- iconic locations beauty

- THE SKETCHBOOK!

- ALSO ANIMATION IS GORGEOUS

- other friends???

- I wanna know

- Gabriel designs, you'll soon hate him

- Polka dot dress before ladybug

- Ooo sparkles

- ITS A FLOATING SKETCHBOOK

- fireworks ooooooo

- "Here's some perfume”

- YOU SPIN ME ROUND

- NATALIE And Gabriel

- TODD VOICE YAY

- Love that persons hair

- I thought Gabriel is never in public?¿

- Chloe's voice sounds odd?

- BWAHAHAHHAHA

- oh it's Gabriel agreste sweater

- A+ to alya

- "EAT BREAD WITH BUTTER"

- FINALLY GLASSES FLARE

- MEANT TO BE?

- recorder

- GYMNASTICS AU COME TRUE

- TRANSITION TO EMILIE

- ugh she looks so pretty

- Odd

- LUKA AND JULEKA

- Rude ugh

- Oh i hate Chloe

- AHAHAHA

- At least we know school layout kinda

- Little bit of luck? Yea here allergies

- Alegies or dust WE NEED TO KNOW

- IT THE SEASON 1 FINALE ALL OVER AGAIN

- CAT BOOK

- theyre trying to make everyone fall for Adrien

- ukulele music?

- NINO YEAAAA

- oooo amusement park

- Depressing Adrien

- Natalie I love

- I HATE GABRIEL

- i smell a sad song

- LONG HAIRED GABRIEL IS REAL????

- long entry hallways

- Wow Gabriel has very pretty nails

- HE HAS A WATCH TOO?

- EMILIE LORE?

- oh she was a performer omg

- HAPPY BIRTHDAY?????

- ooooooooooo

- nooroo????

- WOAH

- master fu knows whazzup

- This movie is going really fast an lots of jumps

- Oh plagg and tikki fight????

- Marinella????

- HIT BY A CAR?

- SCREAMING EXCHANGE

- GASP

- 10/10 BREAKS

- uh crazy man bye

- MASTER FU WHAT THE

- creepy hall? Sure!

- Poor Chloe

- Sabrina is a wingman OOO

- random window opening? Sure!

- CAT

- MIRACULOUS

- failed proposal?

- oh no first akuma attack

- WOA CREEPY

- well evil spirits

- Oooo a ladybug

- ooooooo

- “Who saves a life saves the world”

- IT'S LIKE THE ORIGINAL ANIMATION

- TIKKI!

- “GIRLS CAN WEAR PANTS” YES

- can you say kwami

- Tiny genie sure

- “I WET THE BED”

- REDEMPTION FOR THE CHRISTMAS EPISODE CAUSE TIKKI ONLY HAD 1 LINE

- THE THEME SONG? ¿

- "I'll hide in a tree"

- RAPPING TIKKI?

- BWAHAHAHA

- CONTINUITY!

- Aw marinette has doubts

- "Im out of patience"

- that poor security guard

- WHERE IS QUASIMODO WHEN U NEED HIM

- "first a song now a yoyo what's next a tea set???"

- CRASH

- oh hi cat noir

- bonjour

- "Do I know u?"

- A WATERMELON

- CAT NOURS SIDEKICK LOL

- omg cat noir will always me my fav

- CAT PUNS!!?!

- oh no cat noir

- RUUUUUUNNNNNNN

- "Not on the first date!"

- Omg I love him

- "Is that a watermelon"

- CANONBALL!

- SHERO

- wet haired cat noir

- 👍

- BON APPETITEEEEEE

- little Adrien lol

- cat noir outta breath lol

- 2-0 gargoyle

- GO FETCH PUPPY

- KITTY

- MIRACULOUS POWER

- "Thank goodness marinette is at home" lol

- oH NO NOT THE TAIL

- WO

- zag news LOL

- DON'T BE BEMUSED IT'S JUST THE NEWS

- THE MUSIC AHAHGAHAHAHHA

- oh no loose akuma

- master FU

- Miraculous: tales of watermelon and insane

- coooooooool

- Hawkwho?

- THE WINK

- TOGETHER!

- failure is not your enemy, fears are

- New cat singing voice

- I like this voice (no offence Bryce)

- oh I love this song

- Bounce from the clouds

- HEARTS CLOUD

- and moon cloud

- Oh it's a swan cloud

- Transitions are horrid

- rosemary?

- SHOSHOCHEF

- stinks

- PLAGG

- ewwwww

- THE BURN

- Natalie hears PLAGG LOL

- And cat puns!

- Hey he has picture in his room!

- PTFAFS

- "she knows her stuff" *proceeds to screem*

- PUSS IN BOOTS

- mic drop marinette out

- can't get rid of it lol

- haHaHA

- poop

- ugh fear

- NATALIE HAS A HOME OTHER THAN THE AGEESTE MANSION

- nooroo ily

- “I have nothing to loose” ADRIEN??

- HAWKMOTH SONG

- BEST SONG

- BEAUTY ANIMATION

- Shakespeare hawkmoth

- SO EVIL

- IS THIS KEITH?????

- THEY HAVE KEITH SINGING BUT NOT CHRISTINE UGH

- THE MIME

- HAWKMOTH HAWKMOTH HAWKMOTH

- THE TOPHAT

- HIGH NOTE WOOO

- Butt kicking girl superhero WOO

- how did u get some of those

- stealing money????????

- BOOM

- Dr love nino

- Roses means desperate

- I LOVE HIS APRON

- oh I love marinettes dad

- Dr love more like Dr not

- why did u look at her sketches

- man duck Gabriel

- THE WHILHEM SCREEM

- oh no poor nino

- POOR SABRINA

- 0.0

- oooo chaos

- Ironically I just saw a magician today

- I think?

- LEMME RIDE THE HORSES

- anxiety ridden Marinette

- ITS THE SONG!

- eh it’s ok I guess?

- Animation still looks cool

- Tikki scare is scary

- TIKKI SPOTS ON

- TRANSFORMATION IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PUBLIC

- creepy baby balloon

- what is with ladybug and cats voices

- STRONGER TOGETHER

- boo you Chloe

- LONG YIME NO SPEAK

- THE GARBAGE

- POOR NINO

- nino confession goes out the window

- POOR CAT

- At least their adding sounds to the bell like come on it is annoying

- WHY ISNT THAT FAMILY RUNNING?

- POP

- HAWKMOTH FACE

- BYE BYE LITTLE BUTTERFLIES

- PARTNERS

- OH THE SONG

- CROSSOINT MAN

- BUBBLER!

- MIRACULOUS!

- GYMNASTICS!

- THE CARS

- ICE CREAM PATROL!!!!!

- ITS THE LOVE SONG

- whoops

- I LOVE LADYNOIR

- this is the ladynoir I’ve been missing from the show

- THE OFFICIAL ART!

- ADULTS ARE HAVING A CONVERSATION!

- glow=danger?

- broken heart

- UGH YOU FOOL

- love song love song love song love song

- “I wouldn’t get close to anyone after my mom died” “I got close to you” AAAAAAAAH

- WHERE DID THESE TEARS COME FROM?¿

- oh i love them

- NO DONT GO

- OW

- JUST AN EMPTY HEART

- PLAGG

- ADRIEN STANDING UP TO HIS DAD!

- Follow your heart AND THEIR THE SAME PERSON!

- ow

- SCREW YOU CHLOE

- aw

- She wears a tank top?

- “I dreamed of calling Paris home” uh you live in Paris?????

- Where did they get the ladybug and cat noir shots?

- IM NOT CRYING YOU ARE!

- ITS A CHILDRENS MOVIE WHY AM I CRYING

- YO HAWKMOTH

- creepy eepy

- JEREMY ZAG!

- yOOooOooo

- wow this got dark quick

- CAT NOOOOOOOO

- dude look outside

- selfie it truly is gen z

- GO PLAGG

- LADYBUG NO

- FINALLY

- no don’t do this now

- stronger together????

- oh no

- Another fall for the Eiffel Tower yet this feels different

- CAT

- LADYBUG GO SAVE HIM

- oh no oh no oh no

- OH NO

- THE MIRACULOUS

- OH NO

- YEAAAAAA CAT

- ow

- flashback

- OH NO HIS MASK

- MARICHAT FOR DA WIN

- FINALLY

- O MY GOD

- MY LITTLE BOY

- FLASHBACK

- LITTLE ADRIEN

- THE MIRACULOUS BOOK

- love over death

- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

- Marinette watching like 🧍‍♀️

- oooooo pretty music

- master fu where did u come from

- ITS THE CREEPY GUY!

- LADYBUG LADYBUG (and cat noir maybe)

- ok that’s different

- ITS LIKE THE FANTASMIC SCENE

- aaaawwww it’s nearly over

- THE BALL

- VOLKSWAGEN

- Sabrina’s just like “meh”

- REVEAL?

- SNOW HEART IN TREE

- YEAAAA

- IS HE CRYING

- HES SO HAPPY

- MUSIC KNOWS HOW BIG IT IS

- KISS KISS

- THEY DID THAT FOR THE FANS

- post credit sequal?

- SEQUAL??????

- AND THE PRE MOVIE SCENES

- Overall: harsh transitions, hate ladybugs voice, and a bit rushed, and I despised the ending was anticlimactic with ladybug, but overall for a miraculous movie was alright it has amazing animation

- They somehow made it cater for both the old and longtime fans and young and newbie fans good job (for the most part)

- I don’t have a rating since it’s a stand alone movie so I’m just gonna go cry in the corner until season 6 or more ladynoir

[sorryicantquitequeeryou]

Finally watched Miraculous The Movie...

It was wild. Beautiful animation, amazing singing and they managed to fit so much story inside!

As a Miraculous fan that's been here since episode one... It was really weird to watch this. The differences in story, characters, backstory, as well as how the magic works. I was caught off guard so many times and felt anger, confusion, sadness for the things that were different. I was still able to enjoy it though as I kept reminding myself that this is a re-imagining of nearly the entire series. It's just like when you watch another new version of Spider-Man. The same story, but different. That's what the Miraculous movie is.

They had to change many things to make sure the movie could deliver the story they wanted to tell. While the characters felt different, I think they were all much more true to their feelings that they tend to hide or push down in the show.

The movie made everything feel SO fast... which makes sense considering the show loves to take it's time getting anywhere.

Without spoiling too much, it's a great watch. I do wish they got to sing their theme song properly in the movie or for Marinette to have a reprise of her song about not being Ladybug but with her feeling confident as Ladybug. Really, those are my only two qualms with it, since it was never going to be exactly like the show to begin with.

Fantastic job to everyone involved in making this a reality!! I'll be watching this again soon!

[alexseanchai]

ain't givin' in till I get enough (1049 words) by AlexSeanchai

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov

Characters: Victor Nikiforov, Katsuki Yuuri

Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, Victor Nikiforov is a Katsuki Yuuri Fan, Mutual Pining, Community: fan_flashworks, Community: fandom_empire, Community: ficlet_zone, Podfic Welcome

Summary:

Viktor Nikiforov 2014–15 Competition Programs

• SP: "Katie Wants A Fast One", Steve Wariner ft. Garth Brooks

• FS: "Standing Outside the Fire", Garth Brooks

• EX: "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)", Whitney Houston

Theme: Desire

('The River' is too sad and lonely a song for Viktor to want to skate to, however much it resonates. 'Where Your Road Leads' by Trisha Yearwood is not sad, exactly, but the problem is it's not lonely. There is probably a copyright issue with using the lyrics he transcribed from that video clip as his theme for the season, but fortunately there is a much more concise way to put it.)

[bahamutgames]

Eastward: Afterward Thoughts

Game: Eastward (September 16, 2021)

Console: PC (Via Xbox Game Pass)

Here I am once again. Crawling back here to give my thoughts on a game I played but having to share it in shame on a side tumblr no one follows instead of proudly in the open on a big ass twitter thread! How sad!

I was going to share my thoughts in a twitter thread, but after sharing my thoughts on Warioware: Get It Together, it seems like twitter has removed the way it keeps threads nice and tidy on the home page. Basically resulting in everyone having to see my thread about the game full force whether they like it or not. And I don’t want that because A) it’s annoying. And B) some games I talk about have huge spoilers. Like this game! So I figured until that little issue gets resolved I’ll just share my thoughts here... where no one visits... and no one follows... Just like the sad city of Potrock Isle, am I right fellow Eastward heads? (That’s what we call ourselves)

I suppose it’s for the best. As always, this is NOT a review! These are just my thoughts and feelings after finishing the game. If you’re interested in this game at all, please consider playing it! This should not be taken as a major critique of the game and will just be me spitballing my feelings.

SPOILER WARNING FOR EASTWARD AHEAD! I WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THE FINALE AND ENDING A LOT!!

Opening

So, I’ve had my eyes on Eastward for a while now. The only issue is that I knew it was going to be, for lack of a better term, a “Zelda Like”. Which is generally not a genre I like very much. But the art and sprites and general aesthetic of the game was SO amazing I absolutely could not keep away! And after an accident that lead to me buying gamepass for an extra month (it was an accident I swear) I figured I might as well go ahead and play Eastward. I did struggle a bit with the genre but I made it through and ultimately I had a pretty good time with it!

Stuff I liked

Where to begin? This game is AMAZINGLY CHARMING! Maybe one of the most charming games I’ve played in a while. It has, hands down, some of the most amazing sprite art I’ve ever seen in my life. This game looks SO good it’s nuts! Here’s some screenshots I took that look that hopefully can demonstrate even a little bit how good Eastward looks

The combination of 2D sprite art mixed with the more realistic lighting kinda makes my lizard brain go nuts. In short, the game looks REALLY FUCKING GOOD. Almost every little thing in this game is lovingly handmade by some of the most talented sprite artists I’ve ever seen. Animations are stunning, backgrounds are incredibly detailed and full of life. The visuals ROCK!

The music is also particularly really good and has a ton of fantastic songs that really stuck with me. It has a lot of nice fast paced music and a lot of slow and mysterious music. But it all really does feel like one OST, like all the songs really go together. It’s another aspect of the game that’s just amazing!

I also LOVE the story and characters! It has a lot of themes similar to Gurren Lagann. People live miserably underground. Someone has seen the surface but gets picked on cause they’re stuck underground. They reach the surface but shit’s fucked up there. But of course instead of Beastmen and Mechs. Eastward goes a bit more of a lowkey route with cities filled with people, beautiful nature, and an evil smoke spewing train controlled by a factory where they make humans... It’s a lot of crazy shit but I do love crazy shit like this in my stories. Figuring out the mystery behind Charon and the Human Factories and Sam was all really exciting and made for a really compelling story!

And of course the characters are what made the story so nice. Of course John and Sam are my absolutely favorites! They are SO cute! But even side characters like William and Daniel. Alva and Isabelle. They’re all super charming and everyone has a GREAT design. No one has a better design than John and Sam though.

The gameplay itself is also very good. Again I struggled a lot with it at some points. This is just not my speed. And I do think this would have been GOTY for all time if it was a turnbased RPG (I think a lot of games would be the best game ever made if they were turnbased JRPGs instead). But still I enjoyed it enough. Some combat was pretty fun, some of the bosses were very cool. And some of the puzzles were challenging but pretty fun to solve. I particularly liked cooking a lot of food with power+ properties and just crushing boss battles with all my strength!

And then the game itself is just filled to the brim with so much charming stuff. I love the weapons like the guns and bombs, I love the you use a frying pan instead of a sword. The save points are fridges you freeze your memories in. I love that you can cook, and gather ingredients and try to make new recipes and season them with different spices to get different buffs. I love the super unique and cool enemy designs. I love how charming and memorable and unique every single NPC in the game is. No repeating NPCs as far as I can remember. Everyone is unique. Some games have bonus card games or sports minigames. But Eastward has a full blown roguelike RPG in it! I didn’t beat it, but it’s there and it’s SUPER charming!

So, yeah! This game is REALLY good! Easily one of if not the best looking game I played last year. Amazing soundtrack, fantastic story and characters. It’s all really good! It’s clearly a game that a TON of work went into. I can tell tons of talented people poured their soul into this game. Down to the website where they have cute little clay figures of some characters! It’s made with love.

Stuff I didn’t like

However, just like any other game. Eastward isn’t perfect. I could go on about little things. I think some of the dungeons are really infuriating. Old Town in particular was a real headache for me. I think WAY too many of the enemies towards the end of the game charge you then run away so you can’t hit them, it’s so annoying and time consuming. I think the game can be a little too raunchy and edgy at times in ways that aren’t really fun? Sometimes it is. But not all the time. I think the game can be TOO detailed sometimes and it actually makes figuring out where to go a little difficult.

But no, I COULD go on about smaller stuff like that. But I think I mostly just want to talk about the finale and ending. While this game was great, and stays consistently quirky and charming until the very end. With amazingly high quality sprite art and music until the very last drop. But honestly, I think this game totally loses focus towards the end. Particularly, the moment you reach Ester City, Eastward almost completely lost me.

I saw others saying it was the Monkollywood Train. And while that section wasn’t that great. With a forced stealth section that goes on a little too long. And being a really random scene. I actually thought Monkollywood was fine and honestly, the weirdness of that area didn’t feel out of place from the rest of the game. I guess Ester City also isn’t out of place. But it certainly is where the game loses itself in my opinion.

So the whole story up to that point was about finding out what was going on with Charon and the Human Factories and the origin of Sam. And I like that a lot. And I liked that once you reach New Dam City, it’s about living life and running jobs through the city. I liked that a lot. It was different from the main goal but it still related to Charon right? But once you hit Ester City, man. It suddenly becomes all about the tower. And time travel. And time loops. And I honestly kind of forgot Charon and the Human Factories were still what was happening. The whole game suddenly becomes about Alva and Isabelle. Which is fine. But like, it’s about them for most of the finale. And they’re not even there for most of that finale!

And then suddenly we jump back to the human factory and charon out of nowhere! I do think the final dungeon being inside Charon was great. And it’s not that I think the whole Ester City stuff was bad necessarily. But it absolutely was BORING as hell and slowed my playthrough to a crawl. It feels like they suddenly through a bunch of plot elements in I was too stupid to understand. And sadly I feel like this kind of carries into the whole ending. It feels like NOTHING gets answered or explained.

That’s not entirely true. We do see what becomes of some characters. And I don’t think the game needs to answer everything to be good. I think it’s good to leave some mystery. But. What became of Charon? The human factories? What was Sam exactly??? Did we save the world? Is everyone dead? I assume not based on the ending but like... What happened? I don’t understand anything that happened! I feel like this is maybe my fault and Ester City was so boring that I struggled to pay real attention to the finale so I couldn’t understand it. I honestly feel like the ending would have been better if when John sees Sam again, Sam just drops the big lead she’s holding and the game just ends right there. Like you already didn’t show enough of the ending, you might as well show even less and make that shot give me some clue in to what happened to John and Sam afterward.

And just in general. I didn’t like the final boss. I thought it was upsetting how the whole finale of the game randomly became quickdraw minigames. I know they were prepping you for it the whole way through with minigames but I wanted the final boss to be a real fight! I cooked all this food with power+ seasonings! And I didn’t really get to use it!

Final Thoughts

It’s hard to explain. The whole game still feels fine. I still like it. I still think it’s incredibly charming. I still think it’s one of the nicest looking games ever, I still think it’s absolutely worth your time even if you don’t like this genre! But I can’t help but feel like the ending was massively rushed. Like it needed more time? Or that it needed more planning. If the ending just worked a little better with the rest of the game I think this would have been perfect. The game had small pacing issues the whole way through though, so maybe I should have seen it coming. But still! It’s sad!

Regardless, Eastward is an amazing game that clearly had a lot of love poured into it. So I don’t regret playing it. And I think I might honestly want to cosplay as John eventually. I still think John and Sam are amazing protagonists (I was waiting the WHOLE game for her to call him dad UGH... maybe that’s just me.) Eastward was absolutely worth my time and I’m glad I played it even with the underwhelming finale. I’ll certainly be interested in any follow ups they make for the game in the future. We’ll see.

===

Thank you for reading! It’s been a while since I’ve written up an afterthoughts on tumblr. But it’s looking like I’ll be doing this here for a while since I kinda can’t on twitter at the moment. It’s a little harder for me to keep my thoughts confined over here so it makes writing these posts more difficult. But I’ll do my best, because I love talking about video games!

As always you can follow me on twitter to keep up with me, my art, and my game playing habits! That’s it for now! Go out and play a game you wouldn’t normally try!

[specialability]

2022 listening

I don't usually do this, but I'm going to make a music of 2022 list. It's funny, my spotify top 100 and my actual music app (musicolet for android, highly recommend) are very different so there's no point in posting either of them. There were a lot of individual songs, but I am still the kind of person who listens to albums from back to front. Going roughly from most recent to least...

spotify playlist (I tried to make a bandcamp playlist but it wouldn't work. :( if the album is available on bandcamp there is a link in the text)

Redcar les adorables etoiles by Christine and the Queens

I found Christine through the COLORS music channel on youtube. She is apparently a mega-star in France but I don't know how many people have heard of her over here. She sings in both English and French with a David Bowie / Annie Lennox electropop + funk style that I adore. Her previous album "La vita nuova" was full of quite sad raw lyrics, but the theme of this album is more romance. "My birdman" gets stuck in my head regularly.

Andor Original Soundtrack (Vol.1-3) by Nicholas Britell

I could gush all day about this show, but the soundtrack alone is very very good. Deep orchestral stuff with lots of hidden motifs and themes. Sometimes soundtracks for very good shows, which fit the show perfectly, are meh on their own, but this one really holds up. It's worth saying: none of the usual star wars themes or references appear in this album at all. If you listen to the main title theme in Vol. 1 and like it you will probably like the whole thing.

Awakening:Sleeping by MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS

A Japanese band that I believe had one or two anime songs at least a decade ago and has since became more indie. I was super happy to buy all their albums on bandcamp after having pirated them a decade or more ago. They started out with shoegaze / heavy alt rock instrumental, balls to the wall fast guitar and drums, added more vocals and went a bit more pop with their 2018 album No New World and have come back to a happy balance of both. "No need ft. Keita Ebina" is a great sample of the raw feeling that I love from them that feels like they're just on the edge of going out of control.

Profound Mysteries I-III by Royksopp

Royksopp said they were going to retire and I was sad I'd never see them in concert. Then they came back and released a ton of songs and went on tour but it's covid. Infuriating! But seriously it's kind of scary how some of these tracks are so Royksopp they could have been tracks from an album that came out years ago. There's definitely some more pop-y tracks and less of the hard electronica I really like, but there is a range of styles throughout. If I had to pick one it might be "Impossible" with old collaborator Alison Goldfrapp on lyrics.

Palaces by Flume

I discovered Flume only relatively recently despite him being completely in my taste (dance / house). His 2016 album Skin is almost wall to wall bangers and this 2022 album is similarly packed with tracks that can totally stand on their own. I was listening to "Say Nothing (ft. MAY-A)" on repeat for a while.

Be Here Soon by iamamiwhoami

Another artist I'm kinda shocked I haven't run into before. This is a video concept album so it's worth watching the videos on youtube to get the full experience. Her 2014 album Blue, which was also a video album, got indie-famous and Be Here Soon feels very much like a natural maturing from that. In the genre of "female singer-songwriters with idiosyncratic voices and not scared to get weird" an obvious comparison being Kate Bush or Bjork. "Zeven" is catchy while also (seemingly) being about OCD.

Pang by Caroline Polachek

I think she is pretty famous by now, but I first came across her via her cover of Breathless by the Corrs. She has a strong pop voice with a bit of that "weird girl" edge that keeps it interesting. And, of course since this is me, quite a bit of synth/electronica. This came out in 2019 but I only listened to it this year so it counts. She has a new album coming out in 2023 which a bunch of singles have already come out for. She also did a song with Flume up there in Palaces called "Siren". "Hit me where it hurts" is the one I was listening to on repeat.

The Green Knight Original Soundtrack by Daniel Hart

The movie was kinda eh, but back in January I got a lot of mileage out of this album. I feel like I don't know enough about medieval music to say whether it's truly historically accurate, but choral Christmas hymns sound different when sung in middle English with a slightly ominous tone and sparse strings in the background. There are some tracks that seem Jóhann Jóhannsson inspired like "Rest them Bones".

YESTERDAYS PAIN / CUT THE ANCHOR by LORN

Man I love LORN. Every single track he puts out is an instant classic for me. This mini-album is only three tracks but I could listen to it over and over. Music for when out walking on a cold dark night. Atmospheric dark electronica. Random snatches of lyrics. Depression music. "YESTERDAY'S PAIN" is so dense it will suck you in.

Dawn FM by The Weeknd

I don't think listing this is going to get me any hipster points, but I just really like his music. It is very clear where his influences lie and since I love electronic music and synth-pop too it's all good. I also appreciate that the album has a theme of decay and death that runs through all the music videos as well. The "Take My Breath" extended remix on Youtube is my favourite track.

Shin Megami Tensei V Original Soundtrack by Tsukasa Masuko, Shoji Meguro, Ryota Kozuka, Toshiki Konishi

Have I gushed about this game enough? No? Well here's something interesting I didn't notice until after I played Shin Megami Tensei 1, but the first CD in the album is string orchestra remakes of the original game's also amazingly excellent soundtrack. An old school synth sensibility, a mix of electronic and orchestral, atmospheric, dark and the occasional fast rock piece like the Da'at Battle theme, which you listen to a zillion times in the game and yet it still gets me pumped up. If you know me you know I love Etrian Odyssey's soundtracks by Yuzo Koshiro and I think this album is up there with those for me. "Spiral" by Ryota Kozuka is the track for the last area of the game and it is appropriately overwhelming and lofty. When I got into the area I seriously stopped and listened to it for a while because it blew me away.

Some bonus:

Nova/Moth by Burial + Four Tet

Looking at your pager by KH

Cybercism by OGRE