#soulful encounters

[random-xpressions]

I think we only encounter those souls who are needed for our evolution on earth. Some may be bitter experiences. But how could we not speak of those sweet heaven-like experiences where even passing by them would feel like you have walked past a colorful garden full of fragrances. Or like large trees providing a cooling shade and shelter, or an oasis in the desert, or a fine breeze on a midday of summer. Were it not for being a nuisance, I would have held them by their skirt as they are about to leave, just to enjoy their presence around for a little while more...

Random Xpressions

[caitchercatlady]

Ranking Asian Dramas of 2024: Spring

Welcome to part two of the Asian Dramas of 2024 series. This post will focus on shows that I finished to completion in the spring season. Let's reintroduce ourselves to the ranking system.

Where’s the Replay Button?

They Got the Bag

Good For What it Was

Wanted to like but it has eh?

Why did I even Finish this?

And let's move onto the dramas, shall we? (Note: I did add a few shows that I watched recently that I missed from the winter post, so please forgive my inconsistency here.)

Soulful Encounters (Premiered Jan 31; Why Did I Even Watch This?)

Not to sound sarcastic, but I have a feeling that this show was supposed to be about…something, but the show completely forgot what. Who are these characters again?

Deep Night (Premiered Mar 7; Wanted to like but it has eh?)

I was so close in putting this show in the why did I even finish this tier because that was the question I asked myself with each new episode I clicked on. I did start this show when it first aired, but I put it on hold for a while because I really couldn’t stand Khemtid’s personality and brattiness. I grew to fall in love with Shogun Paramee right when I first saw him because he’s adorable as hell, but Khemtid is such a poorly written character that it drives me up the wall. Furthermore, this story is supposed to show a different side to the Thai sex industry, but all it does is put it in a 50 Shades of Grey light, which only makes me feel really gross as a person who agrees that people in sex work deserve all equal rights. How Khemtid treats Wela like his personal toy all because his mom owns the Deep Night Club is disturbing to me. Wela should’ve stood up to him more instead of falling in love with him after the first three episodes. And then for Khemtid to pull the hypocrite card on his own mother proves that whoever wrote Khemtid in his way had absolutely no idea what they were doing. The acrobatics were pretty impressive (I’m not gonna lie) and whenever Shogun was in a suit, I melted like the dickens.

Secrets of the Shadow Sect (Premiered Mar 12; Where’s the Replay Button?)

While I would say this series deserved to be less and longer episodes considering how well the events of each episode go together, this was a solid concrete series that had a plot and stayed with it until the very end. It also helped me find my ultimate Chinese actor crush, Lin Ze Hui. Seriously, he puts every other historical fantasy male lead to shame with how handsome he looks. The best part of the series other than the romance is definitely the soundtrack. It’s theme songs have been stuck in my head for almost a month since the series started, and both of them are just as glorious as the first listens. My only wish was that the ending was more concrete, but I guess that’s the curse of short series, huh?

One Day in Shimokitazawa (Premiered Mar 17; Why did I Finish This?)

This short movie wasn’t bad. It was pretty chill, which might have been the point, but the plot of the whole Ghost Record thing doesn’t really go anywhere. From what I’ve researched, I can’t tell if this was an original drama or based off of something else, but I wish this drama had more plot or something.

Jazz for Two (Premiered Mar 26; Why did I Finish This?)

I came into this because it was a BL and I needed more Korean BLs in my complete list. I continued watching this for Hangyeom because HE IS THE GOODEST BOI! The show overall was not as interesting as I wished it was. Taeyi and Seheon were just not that interesting, and each episode is full of those obvious romance tropes that stopped being funny or shocking decades ago.

Among the Cloud (Premiered April 3; Why Did I Even Finish This?)

I know why I did. Because it’s short. Out of all the short Thai GL I’ve watched, Irene is the most annoying FL I’ve ever met. I know it’s done on purpose, but I’m supposed to think that’s cute? I can’t even. I don’t blame Tia for not liking her at first at all. In fact, it should’ve stayed that way.

Memory in the Letter (Premiered April 6; Wanted to Like, but it has eh?)

Start of the series was very strong, but they lost me in the last two episodes.

Gray Shelter (Premiered April 11; They Got the Bag)

Now THIS is how you make real drama. Raw real drama. It’s a BL that’s less on the romance and more about how the two manage to survive in their god awful circumstances. It sent shivers up my spine every episode.

Under the Gun (Premiered April 12; They Got the Bag)

I really wished that this drama was longer because this read like an adorable yet dramatic romance manga. I wanted to see more about the gambling and I wanted to see more interactions with the main couple to see how the end would’ve panned out. However, for what it is, it is still a highly recommended drama to watch. The acting is fire. The cinematography is high quality. The story is still well written regardless of length.

JK to Roppozensho (Premiered April 19; They Got the Bag)

Ace Attorney except it’s a female teenaged genius lawyer who focuses less on winning the case and more about serving justice for those in need. This drama is mostly episodic in term of story structure, there is an overarching personal story in which our main character, Miyabi, is also trying to learn about what happened to her mother years ago when she disappeared. As a character, yes, Miyabi is immature but she’s also a teenager, so of course, she’s going to jump into cases in one specific mindset, but it’s thanks to her lawyer grandfather and her mentor’s teachings that Miyabi learns to see the case from all angles in order to find the truth. This show feels like a modern and less actiony Sukuban Deka, but the cases are so interesting to watch that I was invested from beginning to end.

Walk With You (Premiered April 23; Wanted to like, but it has eh?)

The story is average (I started not to like it anymore towards the end), but not bad, but whoever did the audio and music mixing for this show, I hope their life is miserable as mine was having to up and down my volume.

Shinsengumi: When I Bloom With You (Premiered April 25; Wanted to like but it has eh?)

I found the original manga, which was written by the legendary Osamu Tezuka and published in 1963. Shinsengumi is about revenge and how that applies to fighting against corruption during the end of the Edo and start of the Meiji Restoration eras of Japan. The manga is only five chapters long, so it doesn’t really show much, so when I started watching this drama, I was surprised how bromancy and borderline gay the characters were made out to be. I know this drama added a lot of things in order to make the 20 episode run time make sense, but that’s where the problem kinda lies. The show presents a lot of material, but the story barely exists until the second half when we finally get a Mulan-style we’re off to fight now arc. Unlike Mulan, this show’s battle arc feels less inspiring than the extremely short manga. I wanted to like this for the character interactions, but even when I do like them, they feel out of place for a war-torn Tokyo.

Wandee Goodday (Premiered May 4; Where’s the Replay Button?)

Wandee and Yak are my second favorite gay couple this year compared to Yuichiro and Hajime. For a fake dating/friends with benefits thing going on, they seem to be too in love, and they are just so goddamn adorable around each other.

Design You Beside Me (Premiered May 5; Good for What it Was)

If you’re in for the cozy part of a GL drama, this is definitely for you. The stakes are not that high, and for a short drama, it’s a nice change of pace. If plot is what you’re looking for, you’re not going to find that here.

The Story of Suzhou (Premiered May 23; Good for What it Was)

Had this story only been about Yiran making fans for people, I would’ve been completely satisfied. Xiaofeng was completely useless. To give it credit, I love how each episode has a differently filmed intro. The sites of China are gorgeous! I also love how you actually watch the how the fans are made process. Not only do you get to see beautiful designs, but you also learn the history of why the designs exist

My Moo My Boo (Premiered May 29; Good for What it Was)

Episode 6 could’ve used some audio mixing improvement because you shouldn’t be able to hear the wind unless it’s necessary, too, and in this case, it wasn’t. Otherwise, the GL was cute and cozy. Pretty typical.

[cryptocism]

kon just has that alice in wonderland character type: unreasonably suited to wander into Situations

[quietyearning]

Knowing someone goes beyond surface details. It's the shared stories, the hidden fears, the dreams in their eyes. Peeling back the layers, unraveling their soul, discovering a world within.

[turbo-virgins]

Low key very tired of people responding to veilguard criticism with something along the lines of “lol these people have no media literacy, didn’t you understand what the game was telling you??” Yes, yes I understand what the game was trying to tell me. That doesn’t mean I have to like it or the way the writers went about it.

Also the whole argument of “well, the dragon age fandom proved they couldn’t handle xyz controversial character/element of the story so that’s why veilguard had very little references to those things” kinda grinds my gears a bit. I don’t think it can be proven with 100% certainty what writing decisions were made based on past fandom reactions to the other games, but I do think it would be an incredibly shitty move to simplify or remove complexity from a story just because there might be a portion of the audience who doesn’t get it. “The fandom couldn’t even handle Vivienne” Yeah a good amount of people dismissed her as a selfish snooty bitch, but I didn’t and a lot of other people didn’t and to remove complex and interesting characters like her on the basis that enough people “won’t get it” just feels like a disservice to all of us.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

got a worm nibbling my brain. can someone help me find a piece of obscure media?

webcomic/indie comic from the 2010s. basically a sci-fi short story about a young girl (with red hair?) who was being raised by scientists as part of an experiment. she receives a haircut/has her head shaved, in preparation for her annual brain scan/testing. it is revealed that while her body is human, her "brain" is artificial, made of computer implants throughout her skull and spine. at some point her biological mother (also a scientist on the same campus?) encounters her and is repulsed, viewing her as a machine who has murdered her daughter.

it was very poignant and it bruised my heart and i can NOT find it anywhere

[ratwithhands]

I'm astounded by how many people were interested in the magical boy AU! So sorry for not updating on it, I really didn't think it was that interesting 👁👁💦

This is Emmet's warped uniform, essentially what his fighting form looks like after his soul stones lose sight of Ingo and attempt to work alone. To compensate for not having a battle partner, his weapons and attacks have gotten more aggressive to deal the damage he'd usually get as a pair. His clothes have also lost much of their brightness and charm, getting tattered and shredded, reflecting his own outlook on things trying to fight Team Plasma alone while maintaining his normal routine.

This was fun to sketch! I had a lot of fun with Emmet's coat (especially the coattails!), having it white on the outside and black on the inside added a contrasting backdrop for his body. The torn edges were cool too, I was trying to think of how I could make him look more malicious/unwelcoming and immediately thought back to Princess Kraehe, which is where the wing shape idea came from.

I drew Ingo's warped form several months ago, but now that I finished Emmet, I have to redo him 💀 He actually had two, since his were based on the level of his amnesia. His first one retains much more of his original uniform, morphed to match the clothing of the people around him, but his second one is a completely different outfit, the result of him relating more to his new roles and disconnecting from his past. These sketches are butt ugly since they were meant for drafting, but I'll post them now or they're going forever

The weapons used are a naginata and ōdachi, I might pick different ones later but they felt solid at the time. Hopefully he will be more fabulous after a rework ^^*

[thinwhitedoc]

SHERLOCK | Martin Freeman as John Watson

[happycrabitat]

A busy night in the hermit crab tank!

[harritudur]

Brief Encounter (1945), dir. David Lean

[mystickingstuff]

Dumb people in the streets really trying to tell me that a guy that fly from the heavens and drops in a bridge, saying he came to rescue the girl who changed his life and made his everlasting sadness vanish, who told her brother he was going to beat him and then leave, who eventually fulfilled that promise... Should not end up with her. That's insane.

I swear to God, I don't care about canon, about the author's dumb intentions...

I just needed to say... Soul Society is like a romantic fairy tail from the Prince's POV. Ichigo... My man... That was some real romantic thing to do.

[bluestarlett]

@sainteclectic death gods named psyche with incomprehensible horrors behind their mask and a weird human guy they’re obsessed with

[sainteclectic]

So forgive the effrontery, but I must beg you to humble me.

After humanity was created, they were missing something. They had the logic to make decisions and the emotions to motivate them, but they were lacking the free will to make those choices. So Psyche, the third Creator God, gave them autonomy. As a consequence, it lost theirs—or rather, gained too much, with all the lost souls housed inside their skull. Despite the cacophony of that and the other two Creator Gods, it tries to find beauty in humanity and the things they've created because of its gift.

[antigonick]

What would be the tragedy in living for a myriad? Ten thousand years to learn everything there is to know—to read everything that has ever been written... To study without fear of premature end of reckoning. What is the tragedy of time?

—Tamsyn Muir, Harrow the Ninth, in The Locked Tomb

[widowshill]

— And do you or do you not have difficulty remembering such simple instructions? — Only during thunderstorms, sir.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965) / DARK SHADOWS (1966)

[yourspaghettiisgettingc0ld]

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