#sadly the source for this is a song written by AI

[joeythefrog]

Jack: how the hell you spell union? Davey: u-n-i-o-n Jack: oooh fancy pants rich mc'gee over here, fuck you

[saltiestcoconut]

fic writer ask! 15 to 20 pls c:

Oh wow 15 to 20 nice thanks nonny how can I possibly say no to such politeness?

Shoving all that under a read more to not clutter the tl <3

15. How do you come up with titles for your fics/chapters?

I usually give my fic a placeholder name first just so I don't have unnamed document 37 as the title of the doc I'm writing a fic on

Sometimes I never change the title because either I forget or I just don't finish it but I do try to give it a proper title at some point

If the fic is part of a collection then I just assign a one word title that describes the fic and call it a day since the title itself isn't that important I just need something to put as a header

And yes sometimes I use song titles or lyrics for fic titles just like everyone else lmao

16. At what point in the process do you come up with titles? 

Like I said in the previous question I come up with a placeholder name at the beginning and change it at the end but sometimes I title fics in the middle when it comes to me like a flash of divine inspiration 

17. What's something you've learned about while doing research for a fic?

I don't do research for my fics because I'm very lazy lmao

But but but 

I did a little bit of research on fireflies a few weeks back to make sure the fireflies in my fic Luminous was at least plausible (never mind the fact that it was based on a video game and the fic was published a year ago) did you know fireflies are associated with passionate love in Japanese poetry? And that they were believed to be the altered souls of soldiers who died in war? Feel free to take all that with a grain of salt tho I couldn't exactly find more sources to back it up but eh it's an amazing coincidence given what goes down in Luminous lmao

18. What's one of your favorite lines you've written in a fic? 

Sadly my favorite line is nsfw so due to paranoia I won't share it here (maybe I'll share it in a separate post who knows) but I can share my second favorite

"What are you doing?" he asked, likely a reflex than a genuine desire to know what Ai was obviously doing. "... Getting to know Yusaku," Ai said.  Yusaku's eyes darted from Ai to the hospital staff, not daring to say anything lest he make the situation worse than it already was.  "Are you now? Seems like you're getting a little too friendly." Ai turned his head towards Yusaku. "Hello, person I've never met before. I'm Ai."  "... Yusaku."  "Oh really. That's a nice name. It's like two opposites coming together, amazing." No one pointed out that Ai couldn't possibly know his name's meaning unless he had seen it written out before.

19. Give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs

Oh no I've run out of WIPs outside aiyusa month— SIKE! Here's something from a wip no one except me and a friend will understand

"No! I still don't know why you all do this for fun, you're all insane! Why don't you ride some d*—"  Playmaker lifted a hand. "You're not allowed to say that here, Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't that type of franchise."  "Yeah! We're a shoujo franchise, we have a reputation to maintain!" Ai chimed in. "That's bullshit! Gintama is shoujo too!"  "I couldn't tell from how foul your language is."

20. What's a favorite title for a fic you've written?

Don't Talk to Me Past Midnight easily 

Fun fact it originally started as a joke/placeholder title poking fun at my unfortunate habit of being more loose lipped between 1-2 am and the fact that I wrote that fic in the middle of the night for some reason or another (I was probably depressed and taking friends request to write out my feelings) but it was such a banger title that fit the fic I kept it when I published it  

Feel free to send me an ask!

[entity9silvergen]

I recently asked reddit for some LGBT history from countries other than the US. Here’s what I got:

Germany

The Weimar Republic was surprisingly accepting of "alternative lifestyles."

During the Weimar Republic, Germany had a pretty active LGBTQ scene, with some major films and songs being produced, despite it still being illegal at the time. However, there was also a push to decriminalize homosexual behavior which sadly wasn't passed as the Nazis came to power.

This was based of two factors: after WW1 the authoritarian culture of Prussia sorta received a long overdue pushback. People were kinda sick of it, especially since these losers led them into a seemingly pointless war to begin with. Second: A LOT of men died in WW1 - and the army did not exactly prefer LGBT people. So with a lot of regular folks dead, the percentages of the total populace was sorta shifted. This also pushed the women's rights movements at the time for a similar reason.

Magnus Hirschfeld was helping trans people transition, crossdressers get crossdressing 'licenses', and generally advocating for and helping the LGBT community in the early 1900s in Germany. Nazis ended up raiding and burning down his research institute.

Hirschfeld was a gay polyamorous man. He was one of the first advocates for trans and gay rights but his work was destroyed by the Nazis.

The institute he headed even did the first modern gender affirming surgeries. The institute was destroyed and many people who were there (including the first known person to undergo complete MtF surgery) were killed by the nazis and the place was little more than bombed out ruins at the end of the war.

More information on the institute

Pre Nazi interwar Germany (Weimar Republic)  was pretty open when it came to not only sexuality, but also gender identity. The Nazis put a stop to that & tried to destroy any & all research into either, but, for a brief moment, it was there.

Russia

Pretty sure all Russian LGBT history was erased before we even had a written language, but Russia almost got gay marriage legalized in the first soviet constitution (didn’t happen bc Stalin)

The early soviet period (pre-Stalin) is sometimes called “the first sexual revolution” as opposed to America’s “sexual Revolution” of the 60’s. Broad women’s suffrage, female employment and education, parental leave, advancement of GSM rights & decriminalization of abortion. This unfortunately did not stand the test of time & reactionary sentiment.

Additional Source

UK/ Britain/ England 

The lead singer of Judas Priest is gay. The commenter’s father thought it was kinda funny because it didn’t match with his biker aesthetic, but the commenter doesn’t think he considered how much leather he wears on a daily basis

Hell bent for Leather was a track off Killing Machine. It was written by lead guitarist Glenn Tipton (who is straight), but it's fun to find alternative meanings in Priest songs. A second commenter likes to pretend a lot of the lyrics Halford sings are gayer than they actually are.

A couple people mentioned how uncomfortable it was seeing Ru Paul interact with British drag queens because he barely knows anything about British culture.

Ru Paul got angry that a British drag queen hasn’t seen the Golden Girls because “it’s gay culture” and then not five minutes later someone had to explain to him who Alan Turing was.

Alan Turing, who was an incredibly noteworthy figure (He made the Enigma codebreaker machine, which broke the code that was used by Nazis during the war and basically sped up the war by a significant margin. He also set the foundations for artificial intelligence, one achievement he was named for: the Turing Test), was homosexual and prosecuted multiple times because of it

Shakespeare was probably bisexual (some of his sonnets had homoerotic subtext/were sent to a younger man). Plus, Hamlet is gay as fuck. 

Sonnet 46 was very gay. Here’s a link!

King James 1st was corrupt and used his position to promote his gay lover to higher positions than he should've gotten. 

The 13 year old king James 6th of Scotland and 1st of England fell in love with a 37 year old catholic Franco Scottish man. The king gave the older man so much free shit that other lords started getting salty and his lover ended up converting to Presbyterianism out of loyalty to his young lover. He also fell in love with a man who ''was noted for his handsome appearance as well as his limited intelligence.'' 

Clearly James was into himbos, and women too.

He had a secret tunnel connecting his bedroom to George Villiers’s bedroom.

His relationship with Villiers was basically common knowledge and a source of much amusement and mockery. He also once said that his relationship with Villiers was equivalent to the relationship that Christ had with John the Baptist

Much more recently, there's obviously JKR and the banning of puberty blockers and Margaret Thatcher opposing LGBTQ+ rights by passing a law meaning you couldn't 'promote homosexuality'. 

Prince Philip was a racist twat (and probably a huge homophobe knowing him).

Gay marriage only became legal in 2014.

The Wolfenden Report was published in 1957, and it recommended the decriminalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults. It was a huge topic of public debate, and ultimately led to the Sexual Offences act of 1967, which legalized sexual acts between consenting men aged 21 or over in England and Wales (sexual acts between women were never explicitly criminalized). Scotland decriminalized sex between men in 1980, and Northern Ireland in 1982. 

For a totally batshit real-life bit of gay history, check out the show A Very English Scandal. It's about a politician, Jeremy Thorpe, who put a hit out on his former lover who was threatening to go public with the fact they had had a relationship. 

Austria

Gay marriage was legalized in Austria about 3 years ago. The worst thing is that it'd have staid illegal if the Supreme Court wouldn't have jumped in and declare it to be unconstitutional.

Austria did have something called "partnership" which was where gay couples could officially register with the state as couples but not receive any of the benefits of married het people

They still have super backwards Transphobic laws requiring for example "real life experience" to get even diagnosed. Basically you're forced to be and live as feminine/masc as possible and a doctor them judges if you're femme or masc enough. It's torture

Australia had widespread, over 60% approval of gay marriage for well over a decade before the government legalized it. The governments were actually going against the people for a very long time by denying it.

Taiwan/ Hong Kong/ Mainland China

When Taiwan recently legalized gay marriage, their official statement was something along the lines that they were casting off Western-imposed values and returning to their own traditional values and the entire western lgbt community ridiculed them in a "if that's what you need to tell yourself" sort of way but it's actually the truth. 

Prior to western colonization, the Imperial Chinese attitude toward sexuality was not dissimilar to Greco-Roman attitudes in that a man must marry a woman to beget legitimate heirs but whatever else he does on the side is his own business. It wasn't until Victorian colonizers came along and imposed homophobic attitudes on China that China started treating gays like abominations. In Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China, as indeed most of the world, homophobia is a western value imposed by colonizers.

Bonus history: there is an actual saying in Arabic that was in widespread use across the Middle East and North Africa for thousands of years from classical antiquity until European colonization. The saying goes "Women are for babies, [young men] are for fun."

The commenter specifies that this means “college-aged twinks,” not children

Another commenter speculates about when homophobia arose in China and how. They also add that in Rome, bottoms were stigmatized. 

There’s a story of Emperor Ai of the Han dynasty & him cutting off his sleeve for his boyfriend

There is also a god worshipped in Taiwan, the Rabbit God Tu'er Shen, whose domain is managing love and sex between same-sex attracted people. He is meant to be the incarnation of a soldier from the 17th century, who fell in love with an imperial inspector and spied on him bathing, and was tortured and killed by that official because he was offended by the spying. A villager from the soldier's hometown dreamed that Tu'er Shen appeared to him and said that because his crime had been love, he had been appointed to manage the affairs of gay people. The villagers erected a secret temple to the soldier, and people have been praying to him ever since.

South Africa

South Africa became the first nation in the world to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution. It was also first country in Africa to legalize same sex marriage in 2006. What really set them back for so long was apartheid.

There is some speculation that that Shaka Zulu was gay since he never took any wives

South Africa's post Apartheid constitution was the first in the world to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1996.

South Africa was also the 5th country in the world and only country in Africa to legalize same sex marriage in 2005.

Even before that the Constitutional Court ruled that sexual orientation was not relevant when deciding child custody in 2002.

Transgender folks have been allowed to change their sex in the population registry since 2003.

Conversion therapy is not illegal yet and public opinion still needs some work.

Spain

In Spain gay marriage was legalized in 2005, now they are considered one of de gay-friendliest countries in the world. The commenter is a lesbian and has never been closeted or directly experienced discrimination for being a lesbian.

In July 2005, Spain became the third country in the world to explicitly legalize gay marriage, after a thirty-year struggle following the fall of Franco's dictatorship, during which most activism was carried clandestinely (as it was illegal).

From 2007 onwards, Spanish [binary] trans people can legally correct the name and sex fields of their IDs and currently, there's a push for a law that would allow for legal recognition of non-binary Spaniards.

Despite the dictatorship in the 60s, there were cinemas that specialized in gay meet ups. Trans women also had ways to get passports so they could go to the US for surgery.

Ireland

In Northern Ireland, same sex marriage only became legal in 2020 and the leader of the most popular party is homophobic transphobic racist and sexist af. In fact, the majority of the party are but some of the quotes from the biggest party leader are depressing.

Same-sex marriage was only legalized in Ireland in 2015. Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993. 

When Ireland legalized same sex marriage by popular vote in 2015, it was still something you got horribly bullied for in schools if you were out. Queer people got an apology from the Taoiseach in 2018, for the suffering and discrimination we faced from the State prior to the legalization of homosexuality.

In the case of trans rights, in 2015 the Gender Recognition Act was signed into law. It allows legal gender changes without the requirement of medical intervention or assessment by the state as long as you are over the age of 18. 

Ireland has fines and jail time for anyone found guilty of attempting conversation therapy. 

Ireland has seen a lot of progress in LGBT rights in the last 6 years but even up to the 2000s, citizens left their family members and friends to rot for being LGBT+. It still happens all over the country, especially in circles that are still fanatically Catholic. As the Catholic Church has lost the iron grip on the country, people have become more accepting of the LGBT+.

India

The Kamasutra(ancient text on sexuality etc.) has an entire chapter dedicated to homosexuality

The Arthashastra, a 2nd century BCE Indian treatise on statecraft, mentions a wide variety of sexual practices which, whether performed with a man or a woman, were sought to be punished with the lowest grade of fine. While homosexual intercourse was not sanctioned, it was treated as a very minor offence, and several kinds of heterosexual intercourse were punished more severely.

Sex between non-virgin women incurred a small fine, while homosexual intercourse between men could be made up for merely with a bath with one's clothes on, and a penance of "eating the five products of the cow and keeping a one-night fast"

Milk, curd (cheese), ghi (clarified butter), urine, and dung are the five products of a cow

The commenter adds that this is not a terrible punishment.

The Mughal Empire mandated a common set of punishments for homosexuality, which could include 50 lashes for a slave, 100 for a free infidel, or death by stoning for a Muslim

On 6 September 2018 the Supreme Court of India invalidated part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code making homosexuality legal in India

Prior to the British colonization of India homosexuality was not all that looked down upon when compared to what happened when the British took over and instituted anti gay laws.

The Hijra (literally means third gender) were seen as normal and have been accepted since long before Christ, as evidenced by the Karma Sutra. The British took videos of them to take back to demonstrate how the Desi were “barbaric”.

Bonsia

In Bosnia, there was a one pride parade that ended with religious extremists ruining it and the police not doing anything. It was supposed to be 5 maybe 3 days long but ended in like 1 or 2.

The Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe mapped out the entire night sky with only his eyes. It laid the foundations of many later scientists, such as Isaac Newton. He was a very rich nobleman, so much so that he owned 1% of Denmark's money. He had a pet dwarf that apparently could see the future, which sounds pretty gay. He was also part of the Elefant Ordning, which consisted of rich and strong Danish men.

Philippines 

Despite many attempts to legalize same-sex marriage, the Philippines still didn't budge. Being gay in itself is legal, but same-sex marriage still isn't.

Philippines ,the most Catholic Country in Southeast Asia, has held the largest Pride Parade in Southeast Asia.

Serbia

Serbia didn't have history from about 16th century to 1800's when the 1st revolt happened and failed till 1813's... Then yet another in 1830's for semi independence from Turks, and full in 1836

During the last lingering Ottoman rule over autonomous Serbia, Serbia was one of the very first few countries to have legal mostly everything... it then got removed with like 3 constitution changes and then it didn't move forward for a looong time

Switzerland

Would you have thought that small, conservative Switzerland was a center of the international gay community during the mid-20th century? The magazine "Der Kreis"- the circle - was the only queer magazine in the world that kept publishing during WWII. It was edited in Zurich and distributed internationally, which often meant illegal smuggling, even into nazi Germany. The magazine's annual ball was attended by hundreds of gay men from all over Europe each year. The whole thing was kept strictly secret from the public, though it was known and tolerated by the police.

The Kreis club disbanded in 1967, as repressions grew heavier after a number of murders in the scene had caught the public's attention. By then, other European and American groups took its place, publishing their own magazines.

They made a movie about it.

More info about Der Kreis

As of today, Switzerland doesn't allow gay marriage. A country-wide referendum will be held this fall on gay marriage.

The commenter speculates that gay marriage will be legalized.

A few people expressed surprise that Switerland is socially conservative and several people explained that women’s right to vote was only place in the 70s.

There’s a movie about it

Turkey

A Muslim Persian (born in modern day Turkey) philosopher/mysticist named Mewlana who is known for his sayings on acceptance and love for one another was gay! He had exchanged letters with his instructor Shams and wrote homoerotic poems to him! In Turkey this is ignored by many due to the country's stance on homosexuality

More information

Norway

The commenter’s hometown and the neighboring town arranged their first pride parade/event in 2017, which is a big deal for a small place and one of the local priests went livid and went straight to the newspaper and social media to condemn it. A local rapper wrote a short and to the point article in the newspaper calling him out for all kinds of things which was a great read. Then to top it off, the priest arranged for a "Jesus Parade" in protest to be held the day before the pride parade. Only like five people walked in it, not including the priest of course because he happened to be on vacation in Spain that week. The pride parade itself was a success though! It's become an annual event. Covid has put some breaks on it though, but they're making a documentary this year about the pride celebrations.

Hungary

Hungary has no same sex marriage or transition rights

Police are unkind to protestors

During “commie times,” being queer was illegal so queer people went to the gulag

Belgium

Same sex marriage was legalized in Belgium in 2003 (right after the NL who were the first in the world). The commenter says that same-sex marriage has always felt possible and she is confused about other countries’ actions.

Poland

Polish president on public assembly: 'LGBT is not people, this is ideology'.

Denmark

WHO took their sweet time declassifying being transgender as a mental illness, so Denmark got sick of waiting and became the first country to stop classifying it as an illness.

Australia

In Australia same-sex marriage wasn't legal until 2017.

Portugal

Portugal is know for having one of the most (if not THE most) peaceful revolutions in history back in the 60's, with only 4 deaths total.

Canada

Operation Soap.

Mexico

To learn more, watch Dance of the 41 on Netflix.

Netherlands

NL was one of the first countries to legalize gay marriage in 2001

Sweden

In Sweden they used to classify Homosexuality as a disease during the 20th century so in protest people would call in too gay to work.

New Zealand

When same sex marriage was legalized, the parliament broke into song.

The song

Other

Homosexuality is illegal in 73 countries, some by death or life in prison.

Only one country in Asia has legalized same-sex marriage: Taiwan

FNAF is older than same-sex marriage in the US

Condor Operation

I think this is some important stuff so please reblog so more people can see! And, if you would like to add to or correct anything here, feel free to do so!

[hinatsu23]

List of songs from PotO 1990

I have just watched the PotO TV miniseries adaptation of 1990 !

It was very lovely and I really liked all the traditional french songs incorporated inside !! (also cherik ahah)

Sadly the songs are quite hard to find back or even to identify,, So I decided to try to regroup them and type them if possible in that post so maybe it can help some people fr some phan creations or even just sing them along the movie huhu ~ (also that way i can escape the stress of my oral in few hours,,)

Moreover, while I searched for the songs, I noticed the movie tended to modify/altern the lyrics most of the time, so I wrote the one sung in the movie by preference and the original is quoted so you can search for the original lyrics by yourself.

Sadly as I’m only French, I tried my best for the Italian operas’ ones but it’s very difficult for me to tell if some lyrics were added/removed bc of sound quality so sorry for the mistakes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There's a song or two sadly i couldn't identify so if you have any clues about them let me know ! ✨ (also very sorry on word its very clean but on tumblr somethings went berserk and the look isn’t changeable im so sorry it looks sometimes yurk like ;;)

Finally if you want english translation for the French songs I can provide some just ask me even tho it won't be perfect as English isn’t my native language tho (for Italians ones well too bad I don’t speak it but they’re easy to find online!)

(The songs are in order of apparition)

  Song of Christine Daaé in the Attic w/ all the objects (inspired by "Auprès de ma Blonde")

“Elles viennent de chez mon père

Les lauriers sont fleuris

Tous les oiseaux du monde

S'en vont y faire leurs nids

Auprès de ma blonde

Qu'il fait bon, bon bon, bon bon

Di lala di li, La lilili la

Elle chante pour les filles

Qui n'ont point de mari

Ne chante pas pour moi

Car j'en ai un joli

Auprès de ma blonde

Qu'il fait bon, Lala ladi

Auprès de ma blonde,

La da dilili hon hon hon

Auprès de ma blonde

Qu'il fait bon dormir !”

 Song of Christine Daaé wondering around the theater - first time Cherik sees her (Inspired by Laissez-moi planter le mai, only few lyrics)

“ -does some Aah/Lala/Dululu-

En riant, tout en riant

Laissez-moi- (dululu ..)

Moi qui suis gentil galant

Bergère il faut aimer

En riant, tout en riant

Laissez-moi planter le mai

Moi qui suis gentil galant ”

 Faust by Charles Goudot : Act I - End of 1st scene, start of 2nd  - Rehearsal of Faust (Récitatif & Duo)

“ (Faust)

Maudite sois-tu, patience!

A moi, Satan! à moi!

 (Méphistopheles)

Me voici ! – D'où vient ta surprise ?

Ne suis-je pas mis à ta guise ?

L'épée au côté, la plume au chapeau,

L'escarcelle pleine, un riche manteau

Sur l'épaule ; – en somme

Un vrai gentilhomme!

("A moi!" echoing a bit until the scene is over)”

  Norma by Vincenzo Bellini : Sediziose voci di guerra – 1rst Carlotta disaster (Italian)

“ (Norma)

Sediziose voci, voci di guerra

Avvi chi alzarsi attenta

Presso all'ara del Dio?

V'ha chi presume

Dettar responsi alla veggente

Norma, E di Roma affrettar il fato arcano?

Ei non dipende, no, non dipende

Da potere umano.”

 Sonnambula by Vincenzo Bellini – Lesson w/ Cherik (Italian) I have heard it was this song but I really don’t know which one is it from the opera sorry

 La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi : Libiamo nè lieti calici (Brindisi) – 2nd Carlotta’s disaster (Italian)

“(Alfredo)

Che suscita l'amore, Poiché quell'occhio al core Onnipotente va. Libiamo, amore, amor fra i calici Più caldi baci avrà. (Everyone) Libiamo, amor fra i calici Più caldi baci avrà. (Violetta) Tra voi, tra voi, saprò dividere Il tempo mio giocondo; Tutto è follia, follia nel mondo Ciò che non è piacer. Godiam, fugace e rapido È il gaudio dell'amore; È un fior che nasce e muore, Né più si può goder. Godiam c'invita, c’invita un fervido Accento lusinghier. (Everyone) Godiam la tazza, la tazza e il cantico La notte abbella e il riso; In questo paradiso Ne scopra il nuovo dì. ”

 Le Fiacre by Jean Sablon – First song sang in the bistrot by a woman

“ Un fiacre allait, trottinant, Cahin, caha, Hu, dia, hop là ! Un fiacre allait, trottinant, Jaune, avec un cocher blanc.

Derri��r' les stores baissés, Cahin, caha, Hu, dia, hop là ! Derrièr' les stores baissés On entendait des bai-baisers.

Puis un' voix disant : " Léon ! Cahin, caha, Hu, dia, hop là ! Puis un' voix disant : " Léon ! Pour ... causer, ôt' ton lorgnon !"

Un vieux monsieur qui passait, Cahin, caha, Hu, dia, hop là ! ”

 (There’s a song while Philippe is talking but I have no clue what it could be)

Also there’s another song right after Cherik saying “I’ve never seen such perfection” I have nooooo idea what it could be but I was able to catch some lyrics (only the start bc the rest is inaudible w/ the charas voices on top of it)

“ Et que le diable emporte

Si je n’ai jamais su comment !

(S’il n’a jamais su comment !)

La deuxième et la première

Ainsi que la quatrième,

Elles pleurent

(Elles pleurent)

Je les pleure également !

Au-delà de la septième plaie(?)”

 And then I don’t hear anything oops

 Chevaliers de la Table Ronde – Last song before the Epic Opera Battle (I could catch only a line and the final one bc voices again but it seems that before the final line, the lyrics aren’t the same as what’s written online)

“(Man)

Allons soyons humble,

Chacun et portais-je

Ma vie prendre mes deux poussières ( ?? it makes no sense but i hear half of what theyre saying)

 (…)

  Sur ma tombe, je veux qu’on inscrive

« Ici-gît le roi des buveurs »

 (Everyone)

Sur ma tombe, je veux qu’on inscrive

« Ici-gît le roi des buveurs »

 (Man)

« Ici-gît ! »

 (Everyone)

« Ici-gît ! »

 (Man)

« Ici-gît ! »

 (Everyone)

Dans la tombe !

 (Man)

« Ici-gît le roi des buveurs 

Ici-gît ! »

 (Everyone)

« Ici-gît ! »

 (Man)

« Ici-gît ! »

 (Everyone)

Dans la tombe !

 (Man)

« Ici-gît le roi des buveurs »

 La fille du régiment by Gaetano Donizetti : Par le rang et l’opulence… Salut à la France – Christine vs Carlotta song

“Sous les bijoux et la dentelle, ah je cache un chagrin sans espoir

Sans espoir, sans espoir, sans espoir, sans espoir… A quoi me sert d'être si belle,

Lui seul, il ne doit pas me voir. (Carlotta then Christine)

Lui seul, il ne doit pas me voir.

Oh toi qui je fis ravir, Dont j’ai partagé le destin… Je donnerais toute ma vie

Pour pouvoir vous serrer la main ! Je donnerais

Je donnerais toute ma vie

Pour pouvoir vous serrer la main !

(Carlotta leaves)

Je donnerais toute ma vie

Ah, pour pouvoir vous serrer la…

Pour pouvoir vous serrer

La main…”

 Laissez-moi planter le mai – Flashback of Christine and Philippe’s childhood

“Hier matin je m’y levais

Laissez-moi planter le mai

Vers le bois je m’en allais

En riant, tout en riant

Laissez-moi planter le mai

Moi qui suis gentil galant

Hier matin.. ”

 Faust by Charles Gounod : Act II Scene 5 (Ainsi que la brise légère) – Christine’s disaster

“(Everyone) Ainsi que la brise légère Soulève en épais tourbillons La poussière de les sillons,

La poussière de les sillons, Que la valse nous entraîne ! Faites retentir la plaine                                                                                    De l'éclat de vos chansons ! De l'éclat de vos chansons !

(Faust) La voici ! ... C'est elle ! ...

(Méphistophélès) Eh bien, aborde-la !

(Siebel) Marguerite !

(Méphistophélès) Plaît-il ?

(Siebel) Maudit homme ! encor là ! ...

(Méphistophélès) Eh quoi, mon ami ! vous voilà ! ... Ah ah ! Vraiment ! mon ami ! vous voilà !

(Faust) Ne permettrez-vous pas, ma belle demoiselle, Qu'on vous offre le bras pour faire le chemin ?

(Marguerite) Non, monsieur ! je ne suis demoiselle, ni belle- !”

 Faust by Charles Gounod : Act V scenes – Final song w/ Cherik interfering (Mix of several scenes)

“ (Act I Scene 2)

(Méphistophélès)

Je puis contenter ton caprice.

Je puis contenter ton caprice.

 (Faust)

Et que te donnerai-je en retour ?

(Méphistophélès) Presque rien ! Presque rien ! Ici, je suis à ton service, Mais là-bas, tu seras au mien !

(Faust) Là-bas ? ...

(Méphistophélès) Là-bas... Allons, signe ! Eh quoi ! ta main tremble ! Que faut-il pour te décider ? La jeunesse t'appelle ; ose la regarder !

(From Act I Scene 2 to Act III Scene 4)

(Marguerite)

Ah ! je ris de me voir, Si belle en ce miroir ! Est-ce toi, Marguerite ? Est-ce toi ?                                                                                                       Réponds-moi, réponds, réponds, réponds vite ! Non ! non ! – ce n'est plus toi ! Non ! non ! – ce n'est plus ton visage ! C'est la fille d'un roi, C'est la fille d'un roi,                                                                                         C'est la fille d'un roi,                                                                                         Qu'on salue au passage ! – Ah, s'il était ici ! ... S'il me voyait ainsi ! Comme une demoiselle, Il me trouverait belle.

Comme une demoiselle, Il me trouverait belle.

Comme une demoiselle, Il me trouverait belle. Achevons la métamorphose ! Il me tarde encor d'essayer Le bracelet et le collier ! Dieu ! c'est comme une main qui sur mon bras se pose !

Ah, ce n'est plus ton visage, Non ! c'est la fille d'un roi, Qu'on salue au passage.

(From Act III Scene 3 to Act V Scene 4)

(Méphistophélès)

(Le geôlier) dort, – voici les clefs, il faut Que ta main d'homme la délivre !

(Faust) Laissez-nous !

(Méphistophélès) Hâte-toi ! – Moi, je veille au dehors !

(From Act V Scene 4 to 5)

(Faust) Mon cœur est pénétré d'épouvante !

O torture ! O source de regrets et d'éternels remords ! C'est elle ! La voici, la douce créature, Marguerite ! Marguerite !

 (Marguerite) Ah c'est la voix du bien aimé ! A son amour mon cœur s'est ranimé.

(Faust) Marguerite !

(Marguerite) Au milieu de vos éclats de rire, Démons qui m'entourez, j'ai reconnu sa voix !

(Faust) Marguerite !

(Marguerite) Sa main, sa douce main m'attire ! Je suis libre, il est là, je suis libre,

Il est là, je l'entends, je le vois !

Oui, c'est toi ! je t'aime ! Oui, c'est toi ! je t'aime ! Les fers, la mort même Ne me font plus peur, Tu m'as retrouvée, Tu m'as retrouvée,

Me voilà sauvée ! C'est toi bien, je suis sûre !

(Faust) Cherik

Oui, c'est moi, je t'aime !

Oui, c'est moi, je t'aime ! Malgré l'effort même Du démon moqueur, Je t'ai retrouvée !

Je t'ai retrouvée ! Te voilà sauvée

Te voilà sauvée

C’est moi, Viens, viens sur mon cœur !

(From Act V Scene 5 to 6)

(Méphistophélès)

Alerte ! alerte ! ou vous êtes perdus ! Si vous tardez encor je ne m'en mêle plus !

(Marguerite) Mon Dieu, protégez-moi !

(Faust) Both Viens !

(Marguerite) Mon Dieu, je vous implore !

(Faust) Both Fuyons ! Peut-être il en est temps encore !

(Marguerite)

Anges pure, anges radieux, Portez mon âme au sein des cieux ! Dieu juste, à toi je m’abandonne ! Dieu bon, je suis à toi, pardonne !

Anges pure, anges radieux, Portez mon âme au sein des cieux !

(Faust) Cherik

Viens, suis-moi, je le veux !

(Marguerite)

Anges pure, anges radieux, Portez mon âme au sein des cieux !

 (Méphistophélès)

Hâtons-nous !

(Marguerite)

Dieu juste, à toi je m’abandonne !

(Faust) Both but Cherik is clearly dominant

Viens, suis-moi !

(Marguerite)

Dieu juste, à toi je m’abandonne !

(Faust) ^^^

Viens, suis-moi, suis-moi !

(Marguerite)

Dieu bon, je suis à toi, pardonne !

(Faust) ^^^

Viens, je le veux !

*(Marguerite) Anges pure, anges radieux,

(Faust) ^^^

Viens, viens, quittons ces lieux !

(Marguerite) Portez mon âme au sein des cieux !

(Faust) ^^^

Déjà le jour envahit les cieux !

(Marguerite)

Anges pure, anges radieux, Portez mon âme au sein des cieux !*

*(Marguerite)

Dieu juste, à toi je m’abandonne !

(Faust)

Viens ! Viens !

Viens, c’est moi, c’est moi qui te l’ordonne !

(Marguerite) Dieu bon, je suis à toi, pardonne !

Anges pure, anges radieux,

(Faust)

Viens, viens, quittons ces lieux !

(Marguerite)

Portez mon âme au sein le ciel !

(Faust) Both but clearly Cherik at the end

Déjà le jour envahit les cieux !* ”

(* = They sing it almost at same time so I tried to write it in the order they sing it but yeah as well a nightmare to follow as to type it down while listening to their wonderful voices at least ten times)

I hope it will be helpful or will serve anybody !

[texastheband]

Size does matter

By Lena Corner Taken from I-D Magazine - May 1999, Issue #186 ‘Skin & Soul’

After the rebirth of cool that was White on Blonde, Texas are finally ready to capitalise on their credibility. And for Sharleen Spiteri, this time it's personal...

Armed with a wedge of crisp tenners ready to blow at the bar, it's impossible to deny a slight tinge of disappointment when Sharleen Spiteri's choice of beverage turns out to be a cup of tea. Ask what she's doing at the weekend and she talks excitedly about staying in to await delivery of a new fridge. Getting on a domestic roll, she waxes lyrical about the draught excluders she's just fitted in her new Primrose Hill home. "I think I'm turning into my mum," she concludes.

Sharleen Spiteri may be a woman who stands accused of many things, but domestic obsession isn't one of them. She's been criticised for trying to add credibility to her soul-tinged radio-friendly rock by aligning herself with the likes of Rae and Christian and the Wu-Tang Clan. When she employed Juergen Teller to shoot the cover of Texas' 1997 album White On Blonde, it was said she brought him in an attempt to re-invent herself as a moody, hip and highly marketable frontwoman. Even her choice of boyfriend, Arena Homme Plus editor Ashley Heath, who she's been seeing for years, has been called her svengali figure, a calculated move to position herself within the sphere of all things cool. "I've never ever seen it written where someone's gone, 'Yeah Sharleen's alright, she knows what she's doing'," she says. "But it's like fuck them, who cares? Everyone seems to forget that I used to be a hairdresser, I used to do shoots constantly and teach all over the world. I was very much part of the whole industry before I was ever in a band, then suddenly it got to this point where everyone was saying Texas are trying to re-invent themselves. People want a story though, they want to invent something." When Sharleen first appeared on the cover of i-D back in March'97, readers wrote in to complain: why should we want to feature someone like Spiteri? She was old news: her debut single, I Don't Want a Lover, hit number eight way back in '89. Her records shifted millions and she'd spent far too much time at the top of the charts. In 1997, Texas were one of the most played acts on British radio. Mass market, stadium-sized exposure - how uncool is that? "I don't want to make cool music," she retorts angrily. "What is cool music? It might be cool today but it's not going to be cool tomorrow. People still talk about ‘I Don't Want A Lover’ and that was ten years ago; to me that's far cooler than writing some fucking stupid song that sold 20 copies. It's like, don't waste my time, pretentious fucks. I'm not interested in being trendy. I went through all that when I was 16. It seems it's more important nowadays to be into the right music, wear the right trainers, sit in the right bars and have the right furniture. It's too much effort, I'm too old and it's too boring." Hence her fad for draught, excluders. There was a time, though, when Sharleen did care what people thought and she'd sit through interviews desperately trying to be liked. Even so, after the third Texas album, Ricks Road, the backlash kicked in. People lost interest, the press wrote her off and Spiteri took it all very personally. The whole experience left her feeling crushed and betrayed, she says. For a while Texas plugged away on the European tour circuit; they went "where the love was". But when the tour ended in '95, Spiteri had had enough and took off to Paris for a year to live with her mate. For a while it was touch and go. But today she's got an Ivor Novello award for 'outstanding body of work' sitting on her mantelpiece and a four million-selling comeback album. Finally she realised it was time to stop caring what people thought. "We really fought to make that album," Sharleen admits. "A lot of people thought Texas had split up - some didn't know we'd ever existed - but we made a record because we believed in our ability to keep it going, we kept our values and rode it through. When people aren't interested, you really have to fight for what you believe in; we did and to come through the other end was the biggest gift anyone could ever have given us. All those people who went out and brought that record was the biggest compliment anyone could ever pay us." At the end 1997, Texas played at the Hogmanay party in Edinburgh. With the castle as a backdrop and a sky exploding with fireworks, the curtain came down on what Sharleen describes as an unbelievable, fantastic year. That moment, playing to a rapturous New Year's audience, marked the end of the White On Blonde era and two days later, still riding on the buzz, she sat down with co-writer Johnny McElhone in her Glasgow recording studio and tried to do it again. The Hush, their fifth album, is the result. "This is the Texas album we've been building up to throughout our entire history," she says. "I really do believe we've nailed it."

Sharleen describes it as sensual, a collection of moods, hence the title. They spent weeks planning the running order; it's a record, she reckons, that will take your imagination to all sorts of different places when you put it on in your bedroom. Namechecked influences remain the classic Texas roll call: "You can hear the Roxy Music influences," she says. "Abba and the Human League all mixed in with The Beatles, Marvin Gaye, AI Green and Ann Peebles." The result is pure, polished summer-tinged pop with Spiteri's syrupy, smooth vocals stronger than ever, delivered lying as usual on her back. For the album's artwork, this time Sharleen chose Gucci campaign photographer Luis Sanchez and headed out to Miami Beach where she languished in the sea for something more seductive than the pared down White On Blonde sleeve. "It was a case of let's go to the other end of the spectrum," she says, "the complete opposite of what Juergen Teller would do. He's very stripped down, very in your face. But because it's called The Hush, we wanted something shiny and glamorous. I've always loved the Roxy Music sleeves, classic late '70s album covers. It was more on that tip." The source of inspiration for one track entitled The Girl actually came from Lauryn Hill. It refers to that rare thing: a woman with money and power, with the conviction to use it exactly the way she wants to. "She's stuck to her guns and I think that's what it's all about," Sharleen says. "I'm so aware a lot of people are quite prepared to sell their soul to get what they want, but I'm not and I don't think Lauryn is either. I look at men's magazines and see all these girls on the cover; you simply cannot get on one unless you're prepared to get your tits out and so many people do. It's inspiring seeing the way Lauryn Hill does it. And then she gets called an awkward bitch for it. It's so difficult if you're a woman and you've got an opinion. It's not considered an opinion, it's a fucking attitude problem and I find that very frustrating." Inevitably Spiteri with her natural, androgynous good looks and flair for throwing together Prada with trainers has had countless offers to strip down and 'do something sexy'. But their idea of sexy, she says, is very different from her own. "Sexy is really all about imagining as opposed to seeing. That's why I love working with Juergen; his whole thing is about catching a real moment, something that you actually would do like sit in the bath. If it's all there in your face you don't even see it. But once you've shown it, you've shown it and you can't go back on it. I think it's laughable - if that's where the male sex are supposed to be at, it's very sad. Why do they have to have everything in pictures to understand how things work?" At school, Sharleen was one of those girls who were approached by the boys - but sadly never for anything she had to offer. "I'm not an archetypal beauty. Everything's a mess, my nose is all bent," she says. "It was always, Sharleen, you know your mate, sort us out a date.' I was like a pimp at school. At the time it was like, 'You bastard', but it was actually a really good way to accept the way I am." In those days, Spiteri was convinced she was going to grow up to be a designer. She gave up her Saturdays to study fashion at Glasgow School Of Art, landing her first-ever discount card for the local art supplies shop. She spent countless nights cutting and embellishing outfits, standing on the kitchen table while her long-suffering mum pinned up her latest creation at two in the morning. It's not surprising then that when Muiccia Prada approached her to model for the Miu Miu line, Spiteri turned her down flat. "You're not going to get me stuck with one designer," she says. "I love clothes too much." Back in '89, sporting tomboy denims and a Siouxie Sioux haircut, Spiteri modelled herself on Patti Smith. She made great music, she wasn't gorgeous and she wasn't blonde something to aspire to. But two years ago at the Q awards, Spiteri's mentor came crashing off her pedestal. "She did this whole thing: 'If these are all the people I've influenced then fuck it'. I thought, 'You rude cow'. PJ Harvey gave her the award - if I'd been presenting it I'd have belted her. To have been doing this for so long and to be so lucky to be doing it, she should frigging know better and she should be glad if she's influenced anyone." Since that moment, Spiteri's stopped playing Smith's music. "All I hear when I put her records on is just a really angry person. It's not good vibes to be giving out, it's like what on earth have you possibly got to be angry about?" To this day, Spiteri remains eternally, sweetly grateful for her ten years in Texas, even those spent wallowing in the European pop wilderness. "I'm always very careful what I wish for," she says. "And I never tell anyone because they'll never come true." Texas, she thinks, was something that was always meant to happen, even though when she was first asked to sing she thought it was a wanky chat up line. She carefully avoids tempting fate; insisting on being the last to walk out on stage and always locking away the first pressing of every Texas record because superstition tells her to. She refuses to court fame for fame's sake. "It's easy to be invisible if you want to be," she says. Once a crazed Biblewielding lunatic forced his way into her dressing room in France. Even though he was ousted before he got to say his piece, it was an incredibly frightening moment for her. At 32, she's thinking about having kids; attention like that isn't what she needs. Chances are, The Hush will do a White On Blonde and sell and sell, especially if Chris Evans takes it on as a personal crusade, as he has before. Next month Texas release the single In Our Lifetime. "The whole sentiment behind it is about finding yourself in a situation that's totally meant for you and taking it," Sharleen says. "You only get one chance, it's that once in a lifetime situation; you've got to grab it with both hands and never let it go." The tale of Texas possibly? The story of the girl who ditched a glittering career in hairdressing to join a band on a whim and who persevered in the face of endless criticism. Spiteri pauses for a moment. "Oh yes," she says. "I've never thought of it like that."

The Texas single, In Our Lifetime, is out on April 19 on Mercury, followed on May 10 by The Hush LP.

[burnouts3s3]

Sweet Blue Flowers, an anime review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.) Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price for Season (MSRP): 38.12 USD Animation Studio: J.C. Staff Licensed and Localized by: Nozomi Entertainment, a studio of Right Stuf Inc. Audio: Japanese Audio with Subtitles available Length per Episode: 25 Minutes on average. 21 Without Intro and Ending song. Number of Discs: 3 DVD Discs in total.   Episodes per Disc: 3 or 4. Also on: Amazon Video and Crunchyroll, a subscription based service that allows streaming for shows. Free streaming is available with ads. Bonus Features: Clean opening, TV spots, character art gallery, and original U.S. trailer. How much I paid: Nothing. I viewed it on Crunchyroll. Number of Episodes: 11 Episodes Price per Episode: 3.50 USD on physical. 1.99 if bought digitally. My Personal Biases: I actually saw Sweet Blue Flowers a while back but never reviewed it. I like other shows in the Shoujo Ai genre such as Mai Hime, Mai Otome, Maria Watches over Us, Strawberry Panic and yes, even Kannazuki no Miko/Destiny of the Shrine Maiden.   My Verdict: Beautiful. Heartwarming. Cute. Incomplete. Like most anime adaptations based off a manga, Sweet Blue Flowers makes the mistake of trying to adapt directly from the source material. Unfortunately, with already slow pacing halting to a standstill, most viewers may not have the patience to sit through Sweet Blue Flowers. Add to that Akira’s development happening later in the series, and you have a beautiful but unfinished story that’s told. Give this one a shot and read the rest in the manga.   Warning: SPOILERS Sweet Blue Flowers, an anime review

When the term adaptation comes to mind, the team working behind the project has to make a decision on how closely to adapt from the source material. Too often, many creative teams take the source material as a bible and shoot from there, not realizing the act of translating from one medium to another means certain elements get lost in the shuffle and things that worked in the manga do not work on the screen. While long running Shounen titles such as Naruto, Bleach, Dragonball Z, One Piece, Fairy Tail, Black Clover, My Hero Academia, Yu Yu Hakusho, Hunter x Hunter, and others benefit from direct page to screen adaptation, Shoujo Ai or Yuri series usually have to operate on not only a limited budget but a limited run time as well. And doing a direct adaptation of a long running manga for 12 episodes can usually result in disaster. Someone once said “You can make a good adaptation out of anything, but sometimes you have to rip its guts out.” This is why series like Kannazuki no Miko/Destiny of the Shrine Maiden worked (in spite of itself, I’ll remind readers and fans of the show) since it added characterization and plot elements that wasn’t in the original source material and wasn’t directly adapting it (Thank God!). Meanwhile, a show like Sasameki Koto/Whispered Words stumbles because it’s trying so hard to do a direction 1 for 1 adaptation from manga to screen that newcomers who weren’t familiar with the manga got bored. (You want to know how badly Sasameki Koto did as an anime in terms of sales and viewership? The anime series bombed so badly, it isn’t even localized in the States and was rumored to kill the Yuri genre for the next few years.)   And unfortunately, trying too hard to adapt directly from the source material is the main thing that kills Sweet Blue Flowers. Akira Okudaira, who is an entering high school student into Fujigaya Girls Academy, becomes reacquainted with her childhood friend Fumi Manjōme whom she has not seen for ten years. Fumi is attending Matsuoka Girl's High School where she quickly becomes friends with a handsome third-year student named Yasuko Sugimoto. Akira joins her school's drama club with her friend and classmate Kyōko Ikumi, who is in love with Yasuko, though Yasuko turns her down. Yasuko and Fumi become a couple, and Fumi comes out to Akira who is at first unsure on how to act, but still tries to support Fumi's new relationship. The main focus centers on Fumi. Fumi, despite being the taller of the two girls, is a shy unsure introvert unsure of her own sexuality and sexual orientation. She deals with heartbreak after heartbreak, seeing girls she has crushes on, such as her biological cousin which she had a fling with to Yasuko, an older girl who might or might not have sexual feelings with her. Fumi’s day to day strife and her coming to terms with her sexuality is one of the more interesting struggles of a lesbian character having to see play on screen. It’s subtle but tangible. Every so often, you see the shifts in movements and physical ticks that show off how uncomfortable Fumi is and certain scenes where characters are simply talking idly hit like a truck. As I go back and re-watch the series, I lot of things that flew over my head the first time started making sense. For example, I actually related to the character of Yasuko Sugimoto, thinking she made a good pair with Fumi, only to realize on subsequent viewings that Sugimoto was actually using Fumi for her own emotional growth. It’s an interesting take on abusive/toxic relationships; Sugimoto doesn’t intend to cause harm but her own immaturity and impulsiveness end up causing harm anyway.   So when Sugimoto asks to come back to Fumi after Sugimoto hastily broke up with her and Fumi flat out rejects her, it’s just the best feeling in the world. Fumi has actually grown in her own way and found confidence in herself without needing to be in a relationship. The biggest casualty of the show is Akira. While she’s present and does have character, her development is sidelined since it comes much later in the series. As such, it’s weird how the show keeps coming back to her as though she were an important figure when the show itself covers more about the relationship between Fumi and Sugimoto. Based on the show’s advertisement and introduction, you��d expect Akira to be a bigger part of the show. So it’s unfortunate she’s pushed to the background for the Sugimoto and Fumi relationship. Worst yet, since the chapters in question were rather short and minimalist, the anime had to pad out certain scenes to stretch them out. For example, Fumi has a conversation about how to use her phone. This plays no major role whatsoever in the plot of the episode. The final episode ends on Christmas Eve as Akira and Fumi spend time looking at their old elementary school. It is at that point Fumi realizes she’s been in love with Akira this whole time. But before the two can pursue their eventual relationship, the anime series ended. Yuri adaptations do not tend to sell well and with the lackluster sales and ratings, Sweet Blue Flowers, the anime, was cancelled while the rest of the story continues on in the manga. Ken’ichi Kasai’s direction is subtle but powerful. Fumihiko Takayama’s writing takes the best of the manga and explodes it onto the screen. Takefumi’s Haketa’s music will move your heartstrings. But, the story is sadly incomplete. Unfortunately, there a little to no extras in the DVD/Blu-ray Release. Just the Opening and Ending song with no text. CAVEAT: I don’t hate Sweet Blue Flowers; it’s just that adapting a manga this slow and this subtle was always going to be an uphill battle. Add to that the short amount of content (11 episodes, not even 12!) and the high price tag, as well as Akira not getting the screentime she does in the manga, I’m going to definitely have to say wait for a drop in price point. (Again, Yu Yu Hakusho 20 bucks for 28 episodes. I can get 39 episodes of DBZ for 20 bucks. Sweet Blue Flowers is 38 dollars for 11 episodes.) As an adaptation, Sweet Blue Flowers not only does justice to its source material but at times transcends it to give the fans what they want. But, taken as its own work, taken as a simple 11 episode series, taken as meant for people who are ‘not’ fans or familiar with the source material, I can only assume they would be left with a feeling of “that’s it”? Verdict: Wait for a sale or watch it on Crunchyroll. If you’re truly interested in the story, try the manga instead.

[marshmallowgoop]

I hope it's okay if I reblog this again with some additional info that I found thanks to your help!

For anyone else interested in textless openings and endings, I've now been able to put together a sort of guide for which ones you should be able to find. The main sources are the limited edition Best of Detective Conan albums listed above, as well as the limited edition Mai Kuraki x Detective Conan Collaboration Best 21 album, which I do think has clean OPs/EDs included on the DVD, since "non-telop" in this context probably refers to no onscreen text, lyrics, logos, etc.? But I haven't purchased the album yet, so I can't personally 100% confirm at the moment.

[EDIT: I have now purchased albums! Mai Kuraki x Detective Conan Collaboration Best 21 does indeed include a DVD with textless OPs and EDs. However, for songs that were also used as movie endings, only the clean movie ending is included. So, textless versions of show Endings 12 ("always") and 55 ("Togetsukyō ~Kimi Omou~") are not available on the DVD. A clean ED 12 is also not included on The Best of Detective Conan 2.]

Apart from that, as mentioned in the original ask, some of FUNimation's earliest English-language volumes include textless versions of OPs 1 and 3 and EDs 1, 3, and 4, but clean versions sadly weren't included on any of the seasonal sets; MagicBox has written about specifics here. Their releases also covered up 'til OP 4 (omitting OP 2), and while their openings do all have Case Closed or Detective Conan logos included, they're otherwise textless.

The same goes for the German dub openings—there are logos but no credits or lyrics. Crunchyroll Germany currently has episodes up 'til OP 15 available for streaming (omitting OPs 2, 3, and 6), and they've even released a video of all the German-dubbed openings on YouTube (but there are watermarks here that you won't actually find on Crunchyroll):

I also discovered that (non-rental versions of) Part 6 of the original Japanese DVDs do seem to include textless versions of a handful of openings and endings! For that one season, those videos were apparently the bonus instead of the postcards that are usually included with non-rental copies of those DVDs.

That's probably enough rambling, though! Lists are under the cut!

OPENINGS

1. Mune ga Dokidoki (FUNimation, German dub)

2. Feel Your Heart

3. Nazo (FUNimation, Part 6-5)

4. Unmei no Roulette Mawashite (FUNimation, German dub)

5. TRUTH ~A Great Detective of Love~ (German dub, Part 6-1)

6. Girigiri chop (Part 6-3)

7. Mysterious Eyes (German dub)

8. Koi wa Thrill, Shock, Suspense (German dub, Part 6-4)

9. destiny (German dub, Best 2)

10. Winter Bells (German dub, Best 2, Mai Kuraki)

11. I can't stop my love for you♥ (German dub, Best 2)

12. Kaze no Lalala (German dub, Best 2, Mai Kuraki)

13. Kimi to Yakusoku Shita Yasashii Ano Basho Made (German dub, Best 2)

14. START (German dub)

15. Hoshi no Kagayaki yo (German dub)

16. Growing of my heart (Mai Kuraki)

17. Shōdō

18. 100 Mono Tobira

19. Kumo ni Notte

20. Namida no Yesterday

21. Glorious Mind

22. Ai wa Kurayami no Naka de

23. Ichibyōgoto ni Love for you (Best 4, Mai Kuraki)

24. Mysterious (Best 4)

25. Revive (Best 4, Mai Kuraki)

26. Everlasting Luv (Best 4)

27. MAGIC (Best 4)

28. As the Dew (Best 4)

29. SUMMER TIME GONE (Best 4, Mai Kuraki)

30. tear drops (Best 4)

31. Don’t Wanna Lie (Best 4)

32. Misty Mystery (Best 5)

33. Miss Mystery (Best 5)

34. Kimi no Namida ni Konna ni Koi Shiteru (Best 5)

35. TRY AGAIN (Best 5, Mai Kuraki, Detective Conan Edition CD)

36. Q&A (Best 5)

37. Butterfly Core (Best 5)

38. Greed (Best 5)

39. DYNAMITE (Mai Kuraki)

40. WE GO

41. Nazo

42. Hane

43. Sekai wa Anata no Iro ni Naru

44. Ikusen no Meikyū de Ikusen no Nazo o Toite

45. Lie, Lie, Lie

46. Everything OK!! (Detective Conan Edition)

47. Countdown (Detective Conan Edition)

48. Timeline

49. Barairo no Jinsei (Detective Conan Edition (This also includes textless ED 59.))

50. ANSWER

51. Makka na Lip

52. JUST BELIEVE YOU

53. ZERO kara Hajimete (Detective Conan Edition)

54. YURA YURA

55. SLEEPLESS

ENDINGS

1. STEP BY STEP (FUNimation)

2. Meikyū no Lovers

3. Hikari to Kage no Roman (FUNimation)

4. Kimi ga Inai Natsu (FUNimation)

5. Negai Goto Hitotsu Dake

6. Kōri no Ue ni Tatsu Yō ni

7. Still for your love (Part 6-2)

8. Free Magic (Part 6-6)

9. Secret of my heart (Mai Kuraki, Part 6-7)

10. Natsu no Maboroshi

11. Start in my life (Best 2, Mai Kuraki)

12. always (only a textless version of the Movie 5 ED is included in The Best of Detective Conan 2 and Mai Kuraki x Detective Conan Collaboration Best 21)

13. Aoi Aoi Kono Hoshi ni (Best 2)

14. Yume Mita Ato de (Best 2)

15. Mushoku (Best 2)

16. Overture (Best 2)

17. Ashita o Yume Mite (Best 2)

18. Kimi to Iu Hikari (Best 2)

19. Nemuru Kimi no Yokogao ni Hohoemi o

20. Wasurezaki

21. June Bride ~Anata Shika Mienai~

22. Sekai Tomete

23. Thank You For Everything

24. Kanashii Hodo Anata ga Suki

25. Mō Kimi Dake o Hanashitari wa Shinai

26. Shiroi Yuki (Mai Kuraki)

27. I still believe ~Tameiki~

28. Sekai wa Mawaru to Yū Keredo

29. Yukidoke no Ano Kawa no Nagare no Yō ni

30. Summer Memories (Best 4)

31. GO YOUR OWN WAY (Best 4)

32. Koigokoro Kagayaki Nagara (Best 4)

33. Doing all right (Best 4)

34. Hikari (Best 4)

35. Hello Mr. my yesterday (Best 4)

36. Tomorrow is the last Time (Best 4, Mai Kuraki)

37. Jūgoya Crisis ~ Kimi ni Aitai ~ (Best 4)

38. Tsukiyo no Itazura no Mahō (Best 4)

39. Pilgrim (Best 5)

40. Your Best Friend (Best 5, Mai Kuraki)

41. Kanashii Hodo Kyō no Yūhi Kirei da ne (Best 5)

42. Overwrite (Best 5)

43. Koi ni Koishite (Best 5, Mai Kuraki)

44. Hitomi no Melody (Best 5)

45. Kimi no Egao ga Nani Yori mo Suki Datta (Best 5)

46. Ima Aitakute… (Best 5)

47. RAIN MAN (Best 5)

48. Muteki na Heart (Mai Kuraki)

49. Kimi e no Uso

50. Unmei no Roulette Mawashite

51. Futari no Byōshin

52. SAWAGE☆LIFE (Mai Kuraki)

53. YESTERDAY LOVE (Mai Kuraki)

54. Yume Monogatari

55. Togetsukyō ~Kimi Omou~ (only a textless version of the Movie 21 ED is included in Mai Kuraki x Detective Conan Collaboration Best 21)

56. Kamikaze Express

57. Sadame

58. Aozolighter (Detective Conan Edition)

59. Kimi to Koi no Mama de Owarenai Itsumo Yume no Mama ja Irarenai (Detective Conan Edition (This also includes textless OP 49.))

60. Sissy Sky

61. Sukoshi Zutsu Sukoshi Zutsu

62. Hoshiai

63. Reboot

64. Veronica

65. SWEET MOONLIGHT

So, I now know of ways to (probably) find textless versions of 36/55 openings and 37/65 endings, if I did my counting right 😅

Thank you again for your help! I had no idea where to even start looking for clean OPs/EDs, so I'm thrilled that I can pick up a nice chunk of them by just purchasing a few limited edition CDs. I hope these lists are useful for others who might be searching for textless openings and endings, too!

Happy New Year! I was wondering if you know where to find creditless openings and endings for DetCo? Aside from FUNimation's DVDs and the handful of German dub openings that are essentially creditless, I'm at a loss. While I do own many of the Japanese DVDs, none of them include clean OPs/EDs, though they are basically all old rental copies, so maybe they're missing extras that the regular volumes have? Do you know of any DVDs that do include clean OPs/EDs?

Actually, yes! As far as I know, even the non-rental versions of the show DVDs don’t contain creditless OP/EDs. However, the limited editions of some music CDs that have a DVD with them sometimes have them.

Limited edition CDs you should look into include:

The Best of Detective Conan 2

The Best of Detective Conan 4

The Best of Detective Conan 5

Mai Kuraki x Detective Conan Collaboration Best 21 (maybe? I don’t know what non-telop means)

TRY AGAIN

Everything OK!!

Countdown

These are the ones I could find for the moment, but there may potentially be others? Not sure.

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 1st December 2019

REVIEWING THE CHARTS SPEEDRUN – 1:20 (WR)

Top 10

For the eighth consecutive week, “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I is at #1.

Up a whopping 17 spaces off of the debut last week is “Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi hits number-two, becoming his fifth top ten hit in the UK.

At number-three, we have Stormzy’s big debut for the final single from his upcoming sophomore album, Heavy is the Head. With the album release, this can likely get to #1, but for now, “Own It” featuring Ed Sheeran and Burna Boy has debuted at number-three. It’s Stormzy’s 19th UK Top 40 hit and eighth placement in the top 10, Sheeran’s 53rd UK Top 40 hit (Jesus Christ – that might actually be an inaccurate figure since I manually counted) and 27th top 10, and Burna Boy’s highest-ever peaking song and both his third UK Top 40 and top 10 hit.

The two new top three entries sadly crush Dua Lipa’s hopes at a #1, as “Don’t Start Now” is down two spaces to number-four. Let’s hope the Christmas period isn’t too rough on this track.

Billie Eilish’s “everything i wanted”, is also down two off of the debut at number-five, fairing a lot better than I expected it to, to be honest.

Lewis Capaldi is two-for-two in the top 10, as “Bruises” is steady at number-six.

Unfortunately, Arizona Zervas is up to number-seven with the clunker that is “ROXANNE”... trust me, I’ll be covering this in about a month, although not to that much of an extent. My year-end worst list seems to be pretty small and uninteresting this year, actually.

“Memories” by Maroon 5 is down three spaces to number-eight. God, that sounded like an AI-written sentence.

At number-nine, we have Ed Sheeran’s pathetic “South of the Border” featuring Camila Cabello and Cardi B continuing to fall down two spaces this week.

Finally, at #10, finishing off the top 10, is “Down Like That” by KSI, Rick Ross, Lil Baby and S-X, becoming what I’m pretty sure is the first UK top 10 hit for all artists here, although I could be wrong about that. Congratulations, I suppose, although the song is far from great.

Climbers

I am my own best source when fact-checking what the BBC site says. I don’t go to the Official Chart Company’s UK Singles Chart, I don’t go to ACharts, I go to last week’s REVIEWING THE CHARTS, especially for situations like this, in which BBC messes it up so badly that I’m confused to how they messed it up in the first place. BBC says that “Pump it Up” by DJ Endor, is down nine to #29. The issue is that it is placed after #20, and #22 continues after it. After looking at my climbers section last week, I found that “Pump it Up” by Endor was already at #29... last week. So, “Pump it Up” by Endor is up eight spaces to #21... and “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles is up seven spaces off of the debut to #28. BBC got that one wrong, too.

Fallers

There are only a couple here. We have the unfortunate continuing fall for the great “Must Be” by J Hus down seven spots only on its third week down to #20, as well as a couple of massive songs that have probably had their on-demand streaming numbers cut. It sounds about time for “Ride It” by Regard featuring Jay Sean and “Circles” by Post Malone to be affected by that arbitrary chart rule and they have, as they’re now down 21 and 26 spaces respectively, at #25 and #35. Oh, and “Paper Cuts” by Dave continues to flop down 10 spaces at #40.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

We have a pretty plentiful number of drop-outs and, uncommon for the UK Top 40, two returning entries. The drop-outs are all reasonable and in order of their last chart position (For now, at least), we have “Buss Down” by Aitch featuring ZieZie getting its streaming cut from #21, Dermot Kennedy’s ballad “Outnumbered” finishing its run at #23, “Jerry Sprunger” by Tory Lanez featuring T-Pain flubbering off of the debut last week from #32 after Chixtape 5 fails to continue its hype beyond the first week, “Post Malone” by Sam Feldt featuring RANI dropping out from #34, “Follow God” by Kanye West embarrassing itself out from #36, “Opp Thot” by Poundz suffering from the amount of new and returning entries from #37 (This one’s the most likely to rebound), “Lover” by Taylor Swift dropping out from #38 despite returning last week and the release of the first dance remix, and finally, as expected from last week, “Take Me Back to London” by Ed Sheeran featuring Stormzy and remixed by Sir Spyro featuring Aitch and Jaykae, is out from #40. Hopefully, I never have to type that mouthful again. Our first returning entry is “Orphans” by Coldplay returning to #27 after dropping out from last week, thanks to the album release. Our second, well...

IT’S CHRISTMAS INNIT

It’s starting! We have a second returning entry this week in the top 40, and it’s “All I Want Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey at #34, which is making a play for #1 in the US. I’ve already reviewed the song last year, and I just love this song even more now, to be honest. That’s the only Christmas song in the top 40 (For now), but I figured I should just mention the other Christmas songs in the top 75. “Fairytale of New Yorks” by the Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl is back at #71, “Last Christmas” by WHAM! is at #43... and that’s all for now. We’ll definitely have more to fill out the new It’s Christmas Innit section next week.

NEW ARRIVALS

#39 – “Can’t Fight This Feeling” – Bastille featuring the London Contemporary Orchestra

Produced by Mara Carlyle and Hugh Brunt – Peaked at #4 in Scotland

It’s not exactly an unpopular opinion to admit that the original REO Speedwagon version of “Can’t Fight This Feeling” from 1984 is an incredibly well-written pop song, especially for the time, but real talk: I don’t like that version of the song at all. While I can’t deny the anthemic chorus, the song is such a slog at nearly five freaking minutes and it is exhaustingly dull. I was actually quite interested in hearing the full version of the cover, as the John Lewis Christmas advert always has a hit single to go along with it, in fact the next song I’ll be reviewing includes an artist who got their big break from John Lewis... and it’s only three minutes, and better yet, features the London Contemporary Orchestra in their first credited UK Top 40 appearance. I also like Dan Smith’s voice a hell of a lot more than I do Kevin Cronin’s. Notably, for a bit of trivia, this isn’t a John Lewis-exclusive single, as it features on a Waitrose advert as well. Huh. Anyway, is Bastille’s eighth UK Top 40 hit any good? Well, I feel it’s misleading to call it a Bastille song as this is very much Dan Smith crooning over an admittedly pretty gorgeous and busy orchestral rendition of the original Speedwagon single. Smith does sound overwhelmed in the mix by the strings at times, and the dude has a couple weak moments at times, especially during the verses, but he mostly holds his own and I’m always a sucker for some well-placed horns riffing out of nowhere. Even then, I don’t think the song is all that great, and nearly two minutes in, there’s a really abrupt, distorted string riff that clips heavily and it just sounds gross. Do I prefer it to the original REO Speedwagon song? Of course I do – it’s nearly half the length and I’m a fan of both Bastille and well... the Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack, as the tones of this instrumentation do resemble that at points (Which is never a bad thing). Oh, and I love the addition of the twinkly pianos at the end as a nice touch. Otherwise, it’s pretty good, but I don’t see it reaching the heights of the Lily Allen’s cover of “Somewhere Only We Know”, also from the John Lewis advert, that peaked at #1 in 2013. I guess it didn’t warm the cockles of my cockles.

#36 – “Into the Unknown” – Idina Menzel and AURORA – from the Frozen II soundtrack

Produced by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez and Christophe Beck – Peaked at #55 in the US and #5 in South Korea

I don’t know or care about Frozen II. I am not a film person; I watch about five movies a year, and they typically aren’t boring Disney sequels that pose no interest for someone who has already seen the first film. I don’t think the sequel will ever reach the absolute phenomena that the original Frozen was because that era starting from 2013 is impossible to match, even for the monopoly that is Disney. This is Idina Menzel, or as most people know her, Elsa’s fourth UK Top 40 hit excluding those that she had as part of the Glee cast and AURORA’s second after the indie darling’s brief stint of fame she experienced due to covering the Oasis B-side from 1994 that was attached to a standalone single that peaked at #3 and got them sued by Neil Innes of Monty Python fame. AURORA’s version was featured in a John Lewis advert in 2015 and peaked at #11, and then she became a folktronica-influenced art pop songstress, who is still getting calls from companies to promote their products, despite the inaccessibility of her newer material. Regardless, this is “Let it Go” part two, or at least Disney’s attempt at one, and I have no idea what relevance this has to the film, but the song itself is okay, although it struggles, as do a lot of cinematic, orchestral show tunes, with structure and a lack of transitions that make the shifts in sections any less abrupt, as at times, it does feel like a certain string section is off-beat simply because you’re never prepared for what’s coming next. AURORA’s verse has a lot of odd empty space, and overall, her presence seems to kill the momentum of the song entirely, even if the chorus has a lot of swell despite some painful, dry mixing that Disney tends to have. Also, this will not be the next “Let it Go”. It’s way too disjointed and not nearly catchy enough, and nobody will be able to hit the belting notes these guys do in the chorus... except maybe Brendon Urie, who in fact did hit those notes in his inferior cover that debuted at #74 (Might be one of the first times since at least 2016 where both the US and the UK have had the same song twice on their charts). Weezer have a song on this soundtrack, too, called “Lost in the Woods”, and I kind of like it, to be honest, with some pretty cool, chugging guitar riffs and great harmonies from Cuomo in the pre-chorus. It’s kind of reminiscent fo the White Album, but I digress. “Into the Unknown” is listenable; next!

#35 – “French Kisses” – ZieZie featuring Aitch

Produced by Tré Jean-Marie

This might not be listenable, however. Aitch was the worst part of their last collaboration, “Buss Down”, which ironically dropped out this week (It’s almost like they called the Official Charts Company and asked them to switch the two out), with ZieZie being equally mediocre, although in his chorus, he was pretty cool, and in the verse, he was vile. I don’t have high expectations is what I’m saying. What a fitting producer for this song, though, and it’s ZieZie’s third and Aitch’s sixth UK Top 40 hit, so... eh? I actually quite like the vintage French vocal and string sample used here, but it’s abruptly drowned out by a bass-heavy Afroswing beat that sounds pretty okay but ZieZie doesn’t play it cool here, reaching into his relatively non-existent higher register in both the chorus and his verse, although admittedly that pre-chorus has some swagger. The post-chorus, on the other hand, has a nasal repetition of nonsense sounds, and Aitch just... Jesus, man, what the hell WAS that? He sounds half-dead, and his monotonous flow is continually harbouring on off-beat! His lyrical content is far from interesting either as he follows the main theme of the song, which is “I’ll give this girl French kisses and make her girl, “ooh-la-la”.” It’s a bit of a flimsy concept, and to quote a geography teacher, there isn’t enough place-specific detail to really excuse this dreck. This is pretty disposable.

#31 – “Loyal” – PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake

Produced by Dregotjuice, OG Parker and 40 – Peaked at #63 in the US and #19 in Canada

Alright, well, I’m surprised this debuted so high but I’m not surprised it’s here. I’ve only ever liked PARTYNEXTDOOR on uncredited guest appearances (“Ghost Town” by Kanye and “Ratchet Happy Birthday” by Drake) so that doesn’t exactly bode well for him. I assume this will be a very Views or More Life-type song, which also doesn’t bode well as those albums are some of Drake’s worst but obviously have a very large PARTYNEXTDOOR influence. I don’t have much hope for this, but it’s PARTYNEXTDOOR’s third UK Top 40 hit (First as lead artist), and God knows how many of those Drake has at this point. The song starts off well with some lo-fi keys that could make a very smooth R&B ballad... but then the snares come in and it’s obvious this is some garbage. PARTYNEXTDOOR sounds checked-out as does Drake, although at times PARTY decides to just belt and it sounds freaking awful. It’s almost hilarious, actually. To be honest, the synths paint a really pretty atmosphere behind the Young Thug impersonator with the out-of-place “Ayy” ad-libs and the 808s that cover any sense of lead melody. This barely has a groove or melody to catch onto, and Drake’s heavily Auto-Tuned which leads me to believe he just came into the studio for about five minutes whilst drunk. It sounds like both of these lads are drunk, actually. Honestly, I’ve been nice. This is disposable, mediocre garbage, although the outro does seem promising, with some nice strings and cute synths... but I doubt that’ll lead to anything good on the album, if it even does. I doubt PARTY has that foresight. God, this guy is really only good for uncredited backing vocals, huh?

#16 – “New Dior” – DigDat and D-Block Europe

Produced by RXR Music

Okay, this song debuting high shouldn’t be a surprise. D-Block Europe get this high purely off of YouTube and Spotify every few weeks, and they’ve gotten to their highest peak of #16 before with “Kitchen Kings” and even “Nookie” featuring Lil Baby. DigDat, on the other hand, has never reached this high with one of his three UK Top 40 singles, not even “Guten Tag” with Hardy Caprio, which I’m still impressed by and don’t think he’ll make anything as good as that anytime soon, especially not with these two hacks. Young Adz and... the other one have consistently proved to be some of the most untalented yet also the funniest duo from this crop of British rap of recent years. I can’t take these guys seriously, and I know they want me to. This starts as all D-Block Europe songs do, with some incoherent murmuring from Young Adz and nonsensical guitar strumming, but this one has a lot of momentum initially, with Young Adz’s comedic inflections in the chorus (Which is all he has: for once, he doesn’t provide a verse) failing to cover up the hilariously cheap producer tag... but Goddamn it, I like it. I’ll admit, this is a pretty decent song all things considered. First of all, Sean Donoghue, the mixer of this song, sorted out the issues D-Block Europe constantly have with vocal mixing, and to be honest, now that I’ve got to hear his voice a lot better, Young Adz may be more talented of a singer than I thought, although he sticks to a pretty monotone cadence here. In the post-chorus, Young Adz genuinely raps pretty well, and the 808 hits that pound through the beat are a cool addition, as are the yells that act as screaming ad-libs throughout the chorus. DigDat is on-brand, and by that I mean a misogynist and untrusting gangster, but he has two verses here, and they both detail his court case with his brother – not in great detail, but it’s really interesting how he depicts his materialistic mindset failing to let prison tame him. It’s kind of emotional, which is something I never expected D-Block Europe to be. Dirtbike LB is just extra weight as always, although his line about telling his mother that Percocets aren’t vitamins is kind of funny. For once, I think these guys have won me over... well, this song has. I still don’t think these guys are any good, and this may be a complete fluke, but I don’t care. This song is good.

#3 – “Own It” – Stormzy featuring Ed Sheeran and Burna Boy

Produced by Fred Gibson and Jay Weathers

Somehow, I have less hope in this song than I do D-Block Europe’s. Since I’ve already said everything else about this song in the top 10 section, I can skip the pre-amble and get this done pretty quickly. I like the sporadic vocal samples, they have a crowd cheering effect and a sound you can genuinely attribute to found footage rather than some sampled pack. Stormzy doesn’t sound great here, in fact, he sounds asleep and oddly distorted, clipping in the mix several times in the chorus. The synths here are airy and boring, the groove is stiff, the ad-libs are awkward and the beat cuts out for no reason when they come in. Burna Boy comes in with Stormzy on the chorus and for a random bridge / interlude, so I don’t know his purpose here and it makes the song feel very disjointed. The extra glittery synths in the post-chorus are really nice-sounding, and Ed Sheeran can sing better than any of these guys, so he somehow gets the crown of the best verse here, especially due to the harmonies with his multi-tracked vocals and Burna Boy’s. I don’t like Ed, but he definitely brought his talent here, even though his vocodered contributions on the chorus are pretty gross, in fact the mixing on the song entirely is pretty gross – and muddy. Everything sounds a lot more distorted and loud than it should. Is it disappointing? For Stormzy, yes, but for a Stormzy collaboration with Ed Sheeran and extra baggage Burna Boy, it’s about what I expected.

Conclusion

Well, Best of the Week goes to... DigDat and D-Block Europe. Colour me surprised, but “New Dior” is actually pretty good, and Honourable Mention goes to Bastille and the London Contemporary Orchestra for their improvement on the REO Speedwagon classic, “Can’t Fight This Feeling”. Worst of the Week is definitely going to PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake for “Loyal”, and Dishonourable Mention... uh, sure, ZieZie and Aitch. “French Kisses”. Follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank and I’ll see you next week!