#the first half is quite slow and character focused and the second half all plot and action

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Bleeding Heart

book 2 in a YA urban fantasy duology

where a plague caused people to suddenly gain magic based on playing card suits & giving them animalistic traits, where a group of trained Empowered are trained to defend people against evil magic

a power hungry organisation with eldritch ink monsters are trying to gain power and get control over the awakened suits & the main crew have to work together to strengthen their magic and defeat them, to save their city and all of magic

queer, bi, acespec and aro MCs

[frayed-at-the-seams]

My top BL dramas with sex scenes.

Basically my fave sex scenes and why.

- Unknown.

Starting slow. Real slow burn found family drama but when they get together, the scenes are sexy. It’s all about consent, it’s between two people who love each other and it’s a real build up of what has been years of pining. Not a full sex scene, it almost gets there, but what we see is amazing.

The couple itself is really sweet and the plot is well paced and slow burn is burning. The drama as a whole was great and I loved how the characters grew and developed.

However, drama has violence, child homelessness, drug addiction, child abuse, gang violence, and kidnapping.

Available on Viki or KissKH.

- Blueming.

This drama was lovely. With a real lovely slow burn romance that builds to an artistically filmed sex scene. While you don’t see much, just silhouette, you know what they’re doing. It’s intimate and so loving and more of an art scene than just sex. That’s one of the things I love about this drama. There is a real sense of intimacy and love between the characters. If you want to film a sex scene that doesn’t detract from the plot, then this is how you do it. It fit so well and was so visually aesthetic that it was my favourite part of the drama.

Available on KissKH and Bilibili.

- The Eighth sense.

Another beautifully shot scene. This one was intimate and fun and loving. The two characters laughing and just enjoying being by themselves without any pressures. It establishes a real bond and love between them that persists through later struggles in the show.

The scene is filmed beautifully too. The camera placement and cinematography makes it more than just a sex scene. It ties it all in with the character development and the plot, giving it a real intimate and unique feel to it.

One of my fave shows of all time.

Available on Viki, and KissKH.

- Between Us.

The side story to Until We Meet Again but about the second couple from that show, Between is about Win and Team. The drama is more about overcoming ptsd and trauma with love and support. There is one sex scene that fades to black before the proper scene but there’s enough shown that I have included it in this list.

The filming of this drama was engaging and worked with the characters. The plot focused more on the developing relationship of the characters and their own personal growth in response to their relationship than it did on any physical aspect to it. It is a wholesome drama that can be watched without having watched the first drama.

I have rewatched this a few times.

Available on YouTube and Bilibili.

- Love in the air.

This drama is split in two. The first half is the main couple, a typical top and sub bottom type. The second half is a Dom bottom with a pleaser top. Both couples’ chemistry is on fire and their scenes are very sexy. (I was so surprised by their scenes the first time I watched it. I was not expecting them to be so explicit).

But other than the scenes the drama itself deals with some good character development. Especially with the second couple where it explores a character with SA trauma and his subsequent trust issues.

For a drama that at first looks seems cliche and full of tropes (which it is) it actually explores them while also making some of it quite easy to watch. It doesn’t lessen the darkness of some scenes but it doesn’t overly explore it either. The viewers know what goes on without having to see the scenes in full detail. I liked this style of filming though a few of the sex scenes were no necessary to the plot.

Available on Viki, YouTube (but censored) and KissKH.

- Only Friends.

I am building up to the messy dramas slowly.

This drama though. This one is for the ones who love soap operas. There’s cheating, betrayal, sex in weird places, recording and taping without consent, alcohol and drug abuse, fist fights, and manipulation.

Basically a group of friends get caught in the messiest drama ever. There’s lots of sex and lots of character development, not always for the better. There’s three main ‘couples’ and they are all involved with each other in a messy way.

Let’s just say that watching this weekly was like watching a bit of a train wreck and seeing who are the survivors.

Well acted, very well filmed but chaotic as hell. It will make you laugh, make you angry and might even make you cry.

In all of it the lesbians are the least dramatic characters.

Available on KissKH and Bilibili.

- 4 Minutes.

If you thought the drama above was messy, this was worse but in a different way.

This drama has you second guessing everything. With a complicated slightly sci-fi plot line, the sex scenes as used more to show power and influence and control between characters than they are to show romance.

There’s so much going on with the viewer guessing character motivations and plots that the sex scenes get pushed to the side quickly. They’re there, and very explicit (especially the first one) but plot wise they are nothing more than a basic shock or display factor.

Either way, those actors did a good job. I had trouble watching them cause they felt too explicit.

Also especially here for Bible having a bottom era.

The show was well filmed too, even if I was confused by everything half the time.

Despite the confusion and the ending with way too many unanswered questions, I did really enjoy the show and the sex scenes did make sense in the plot. They were also filmed really well and I loved the lighting.

Available on KissKH.

- Kinnporsche.

Came out before 4minutes but with Bible playing a top character this time (the duality of this man). This show I both love and hate. Open ending, too many side plots that weren’t explained, lots of unanswered questions. Every relationship was toxic in some way. Anyway, I loved it. Great lighting, well filmed and stylised. Amazing acting.

Though the sex scenes, especially between Kinn and Porsche, were too frequent and in too many weird places. (They’re exhibitionists. You gather that after the first time). They were well done scenes.

However, this drama is not for the faint of heart. There’s dubious consent, freaky kinks, kidnapping, bdsm (between Vegas and Pete and there was no communication during it but it was such a well filmed scene), manipulation, violence, death, torture, kidnapping, and abuse.

This drama was definitely for the depraved. (Me and others like me).

We’re never going to get a season 2 and I am so sad about that.

Available on Viki, and KissKH.

Here you go you depraved souls. I mostly watch dramas for the plot. I can’t help it when dramas like KP happen to have sex as their plot.

Oh well.

Enjoy.

[remnantsofthepast-if]

What exactly you didn't like in new da, if you don't mind asking? <3

Oof, where to start? There're quite a lot of things, not gonna lie, but most of them are spoilers so I'm going to stick to the non spoilery ones.

Let me begin by saying that I do like the game despite its clear flaws, and I understand that it must have been a tricky development with covid happening in between and a lot of important people who worked on previous games leaving. As a (somewhat of a) developer myself, I sympathise with that, but as a consumer I have to judge the end result I bought, and after waiting for a decade I just expected something more than what we got.

Putting my opinion under the cut because I get passionate about it. Hope you have time to spare, lol!

For starters, this game gets rid of the Keep and only has three choices to import. While most of the things in the Keep are not really important (especially since the game takes place in the north), that's already a bad start and rises serious concerns, mainly with the returning characters.

It also butchers half of the already existing lore, and contradicts another bunch of events that happened in previous games, like the Well of Sorrows. Harding talks about how the Inquisitor went to the altar of Mythal (which only happens if the Inquisitor drank from the Well), but then, during a conversation between Taash and Emmrich, they talk about how Morrigan turned into a dragon during the events of DAI (which only happens of she drank from the Well)

The pacing of the first half of the game is excruciatingly slow. There are a lot of parts that are there only to lengthen the game unnecessarily, and it can get very boring very fast.

The dialogues are... okay-ish, I guess? It's very obvious that they wanted to be socially correct. Way too much, in fact. They seemed so focused on being inoffensive that there’s little real conflict between characters or in the plot. There's a part where two characters apparently argue? Except that there's no real argument. I only knew because the game told me, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed because again, nothing really happened. And they were completely fine with one another after one conversation two minutes later.

All the companions feel rather dull to me, and some are incredibly annoying. For example, there was a series of quests regarding Solas that I enjoyed at lot, and the companions would get together to comment on it. It was a serious and very interesting subject, but then one of the characters would jump out of the blue to (try to) make some witty remark that only managed to take me out of the story.

Plus, the childish dialogue most of them have (all of them, really) doesn't help at all. Another problem of being socially correct in a game that's supposed to be dark. Most of the time, conversations with them feel more like talking to teenagers than adults.

And don't even get me started on how awful Taash's character is... And no, the problem is not their gender identity, but how it was handled. This ask I got about Albert/Lavina describes perfectly my problem with Taash.

Also, and this only happens with the spanish translation, why the fuck did they translate Harding's name? Why is the text calling her Encaje instead of Lace!? God, that pissed me off so much I ended up changing the text to english, lmao!

Lastly, what they did to some of the returning characters... Poor Isabela, smh. Thank goodness Morrigan doesn't have that big of a role, and that there's zero mention of the Warden and Hawke.

---

It's not as bad as I read in early reviews (thankfully!), and I'm still having fun with it. But I expected to get so invested that I'd end up making several runs like in previous games. Now I'm only playing once and probably forget about it for a long while. Hopefully when (if) I replay it I won't ditch it like I ditched my second run of MEA.

Anyway, TLDR: Mediocre at best. Good individual game, but pretty bad sequel. The only good thing this game does as a sequel is give those Inquisitors who romanced Solas a happy ending. That's pretty much it.

The name "Dragon Age" weights heavily on it. Probably the reason why I'm judging it so harshly.

Thanks for the ask, btw! That was entertaining xD Shame on me for spending more time writing this than a chapter of my story, lol!

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

It's been a while since I've posted any sort of character analysis, and I'm bored, so... here we are! I was mildly inspired by this post, but I've had the following on my mind especially since this video came up in my YouTube recommendations a while back.

Can we talk about how STUPID the chronal accelerator is? I hope that the Overwatch Declassified book sheds some more light on it, but I don't think the narrative teams across the franchise's lifespan ever really put much thought into it.

In Reflections, Lena wears her chronal accelerator out by zipping all over King's Row.

Notice how there's still a slight blue glow. So, does it have enough power to keep Lena anchored in time but not enough to let her control her "own personal timeline"? I honestly don't mind that as an aspect/caveat to the chronal accelerator. I promise I'll get back to this point.

In Alive, Lena uses her chronal accelerator to recall JUST before the bullet that killed Mondatta hit her.

One could argue that she anticipated Widowmaker's shot and got lucky. Still, this scene is set in slow motion. Is it purely to make it more dramatic, or does Lena perceive everything around her to be slower as she controls her own personal timeline? I think the latter would make her more interesting as a character, because it would mean that she had more than a split second to decide to dodge the bullet, only adding to her survivor's guilt.

Okay, deep breaths. We're treading into what I would argue are the most annoying portrayals of the chronal accelerator.

I'll get the first bit out of the way: London Calling has a lot wrong with it as a story. I've given my complaints on this blog before, but I'll give a recap. No offense to Mariko Tamaki, but her experience of writing for Marvel and DC comics is apparent. They tried to lean into the superhero aspect of "Tracer", and it misconstrues Lena as a character here and there.

As for the chronal accelerator, it starts electrocuting Lena after Widowmaker slams her into a wall at the end of Alive. After Lady's funeral, Lizzy follows Lena home and sees her being electrocuted half-to-death on the sidewalk, and they use parts sent by the one and only S. Paceape to repair it. Lena doesn't hear Winston's warning that the fix is temporary, and she blinks all the way to Iggy with no hiccups. Then, as she snatches Iggy from Kace, she says "Just need the chronal accelerator to hang in there for... got ya!" and it suddenly starts electrocuting her again. Obvious inconsistency there, as Lena shouldn't have known the chronal accelerator was about to electrocute her when it was most convenient for the plot, but why are THESE parts from Winston temporary? She gets them right after Mondatta's assassination, and she doesn't get electrocuted before then. She speaks about Winston as if they're not in regular contact, and Winston simply mails her parts on occasion.

Why did Babs Tarr draw her like this? Why is it that these parts are suddenly temporary? Winston would know that Lena uses her chronal accelerator REGULARLY. She prefers to use it over taking the tube, for example. All of a sudden, his parts can't handle a short walk to the Underworld? The writing did BOTH of them dirty in this comic. I can't lie.

Now, onto the thing that frustrates me the most: the Doomfist Origin Story. Remember my point about it being interesting concept for Lena to be able to slow down her perception of time? I feel like, with this origin story, they focused so much on portraying Akande as the cold and calculated warrior that he is that they made Tracer look ESPECIALLY inept.

It would've made more sense for Akande to study the fighting patterns of Genji. He very clearly dislikes Asa Yamagami in that one OW2 interaction he has with Genji. Surely, a light bulb would've gone off like "Ah, this cybernetic ninja fights quite like a student of Asa Yamagami. I might be able to predict his next move."

Time to bring this essay full circle! Remember my point about Reflections kind of implying an interesting concept of the chronal accelerator having just enough power to keep Lena anchored but not enough for her to control her own timeline?

Rewatch the Doomfist Origin Story. Seriously, look at how much Lena is blinking here. I think it would've been more fitting for Lena's character if her overconfidence led to her burning her chronal accelerator out and leaving her defenseless, frozen like a deer in headlights. It would also fit Akande's character, as he would know that Lena would eventually tire herself out (maybe not to the extent of her life support device giving up on her, but my point stills stands). Akande would still be able to destroy Lena's chronal accelerator, presuming that it would take her out of the fight for good, and the plot would move on the same way.

Now, I don't know how to end this, so I'm just going to say that Lena "Tracer" Oxton is my original character. I'm taking her from Blizzard's grasp. No one understands her like I do. 😔

[unnursvanablog]

I certainly didn't think my first kdrama of 2024 would be Marry My Husband - it wasn't even on my to watch list but the hype on the kdrama side of tiktok and tumblr. And I needed some romcom pick me up in the darkness that succumbs me in January with the romcom queen Park Min Young.

I saw that Park Min Young was doing another office romcom and I wanted to check it out but then I saw that she was dying of cancer and I thought to avoid it because I truly don't enjoy that in my kdramas. But as I said I kept hearing good things and I was feeling a bit down and wanted a cute romcom to cheer me up and here we are.

I do think it's going a little overboard on the clumsy trope, and I was going to comment on some of the other kdrama romcom tropes such as the bitchy second female lead and the lost first love and how it's somehow the male lead but then as the drama went on it came clear that there seems to be something else there and I hope that things will continue to develop in interesting ways and we get a slightly more depth to both him essentially being a gift from her dead dad and the second female lead getting some depth and interesting character arc because at the moment she is very much just the worst.

The story moves quite fast or it flows really well. It's lingering on the scenes that it needs to stop at to introduce some emotions to the story but it's not painfully slow. I hardly noticed how the times moves while watching the first four episodes. And it sure does have a nice hook to it with her trying to change her fate and her trying to get her shitty bff and her shitty husband to get married instead.

I adore a lot of the side characters already and the blossoming friendships that seem to be forming at the office. I do think that's very much needed for this type of story. It can give us a bit of a break from the main plot if it starts to lag or become a bit too repetitive or something in the second half.

I do love how much this story is just focused on Park Min Young's character and we have hardly gotten to the backstory or such about the male lead yet unless he interacts with her. And I hope the drama stays that way and doesn't sideline her towards the end.

Park Min-hwan is such a shitty character and it's a bit odd to see Lee Yi Kyung play him after seeing him in his loveable comedy roles but damn he is doing a good job here (and he is a much talented and interesting actors than the male lead imho) but I do find that character to be very amusing at times and interesting. I am never rooting for him, but I am often intrigued while he is on screen if that's the right way to put it.

One can't go wrong with Park Min Young in an office romcom (even if I gave up on her last two office romcoms but 🤷🏻). I do miss her fuller cheeks, it's sad to see how much weights she has lost, but she is such a warm charm to her and she has excellent chemistry with her co-stars. Overally the cast is quite adorable and seem to mesh well together and make the characters interesting or very likeable. All except the main male lead actually.

Na In-woo has never really impressed me in any of his roles. He is just sort of there being tall and handsome and not much else. And I get that his character is suppose to be a bit stiff and wear oversized cloths that don't really fit him. But he is just sort of blank for me here. He is just kinda okay. I don't find him that charming ether, which stiff actors such as Cha Eun Woo can often be. Which is a shame, but maybe he will prove me wrong as the drama goes on, but to me he is the weakest of the cast and the weakest link in the drama. Thankfully the drama is so focused on Park Min Young's character and not as much on him, because I found most of his solo scenes ether just a bit boring or almost… stalkerish.

I get that he is sort of there to help Kang Jiwo and all that, but does he really need to hover so much around her? I wasn't sure what his deal was until we saw that heart on his chest that he dad drew. But I still need the drama to do a bit more with that to really make me start liking him. Because it's odd to have a romcom where the romance is the least interesting part of it (to me).

[scalepsychosis]

This is not a dig at anyone but the amount of people who thought the first half of the season was better is WILD. Like did we watch the same first act?? The one with 500 new characters and 20 plot points and the bouncing around? I really felt that the season wasn’t anywhere close to season one until the second act when it slowed down and stabilized. Sure, the ending of the show didn’t really follow the act one plot points. But tbh, with the crunched time the writers had, I truly feel they made the right choices on what they decided to follow based on a logical priority list

What do I mean by that?

For example, many people are frustrated by how easily Caitlyn’s dictator arc was resolved and how she went back to being a good guy. And yes, I agree that it was a little too fast. HOWEVER, they only had so much time to resolve it, and they would have lost too much time focusing on that rather than the arcane plot line, which was the underlying thread for THE ENTIRE SHOW. Many of the plot points literally could not have been resolved as well without completely demolishing the pacing like they did for act 1.

When they slowed down and went ahead and resolved some things, we got some of the best moments in the show imo- s2 ep7 (in its entirety), jinx and VI’s reunion, victors exploration of Vander’s psyche, and oh my GOD the finale Jayce and Viktor scene (idc if you’re not in the show for the shipping, the scene was gorgeous, powerful, and heart wrenching). While some of the political points were thrown away a little too quickly, and I get that many people wanted the show to focus on that, in return we got the end to many other plot points that we’ve also been following from the beginning.

Idk I guess my point with all this is that everyone can and should take a step back from blind criticism or admiration of this last season because from a zoomed-out lens, it’s obvious that this season fell victim to a shortened run-time and that sacrifices had to be made. However, I think it’s also obvious that the writers made very intentional decisions about what to sacrifice in order to save the rest of the show. And it’s not bad writing for them to have sacrificed the parts YOU wanted to focus on.

Tl;dr- The first act of the season throws a bunch of shit at the wall that it, quite frankly, never had time to completely clean up. Acts 2 and 3 did a much better job of telling a well-paced and emotional story, even if it wasn’t telling the story you wanted to see

[veephoenix]

When a book does things to me, I write reviews. I've decided to share them here, too, in case anyone is interested in the stuff I read, my thoughts, and ramblings.

Book review: Under Your Scars by Ariel. N. Anderson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Heavy topics mentioned below (listed in the first paragraph) ‼️

Where do I even begin? Perhaps with the trigger warnings I clearly overlooked before diving into this book. While I'll avoid direct spoilers (there’s one, sorry), it’s important to mention that this book contains extremely intense scenes, including graphic violence, drug use, graphic murder, toxic and abusive relationships, terminal illness, Stockholm Syndrome, self-harm, suicide, rape, and explicit sexual content with certain kinks. With all of that, you can imagine just how brutal this story is. And to top it off, it doesn’t have a happy ending. Yet, despite everything, I still ended up reading it. Don’t ask me why or how I found this book—I just did.

Normally, I’m quick to steer clear when I encounter even a few of these trigger warnings. I haven’t had the best experiences with the Dark Romance genre lately, mainly because the stories didn’t meet my expectations. After reading *Under Your Scars*, I’m beginning to question what "Dark Romance" even means. Everything I’ve read before pales in comparison to this novel. It’s undeniably dark and tragic, and while it does contain romance, that's not the first word I would use to describe this story.

I spent days rambling about this book to my boyfriend and my friend Sarah, who both know how profoundly it affected me. Now, a few days after finishing it, I’ve decided I wouldn’t recommend this book. I loved it, but I’m left feeling so empty that I don’t know how I’ll ever move on. I’m not even sure how to feel about Christian, the main male character. All I know is that I fell for him just like Elena did, loving every virtue and flaw he had. I think I fell down the same rabbit hole as Elena because, by the end, I was fully on Christian’s side.

I needed to take a break a few days after reading the first half of the novel. I can’t remember the last time a book made it difficult for me to fall asleep, but this one did after I read chapter 20. Little did I know that the following chapter and the entire second half of the story would be even worse. I can't fathom how the author managed to write so much tragedy.

The best part of this book was definitely the romance, which, in my opinion, was truly well-executed. Many stories with romance leave me unsatisfied because the characters often get together near the end, leaving little time to see them in love and interacting as an established couple. Anderson gave us so much time with Elena and Christian in love that I spent half of my reading time with hearts in my eyes (the other half was spent with tears and sobbing). Although it’s not a slow burn at all, the book's length allows the romance to develop, and I got most of what I always want in a love story. Christian is the perfect lover, and the sexually explicit scenes—aside from a couple that felt unnecessary at the beginning—were not disappointing because they always contributed to the plot’s progression. I guess this is one of the advantages of self-publishing: you aren’t limited to a set page count, giving you the space to develop a love story as you see fit.

However, everything else felt quite rushed. I believe this story would have been better as a duology. The novella written after the novel could have served as an epilogue for a second book, especially considering that the first and second halves of *Under Your Scars* are quite different. The first part focuses on Elena’s life and job, her involvement in the drama with her boss, Christian, and her being stalked by a serial killer called The Silencer. The second part is more focused on Elena and Christian’s relationship and Elena’s traumas, set mostly away from the office. Two separate books would have also given readers a break to recover from all the horrors in this story.

I won’t rate a book based on its trigger warnings. Trigger warnings are there to help you decide if this book is for you or not. The plot is incredible—disturbing but amazing. Christian’s character is one worth exploring in depth because, my god, the complexity of this man is staggering, whether for good or bad. The love story between him and Elena is as tragic as it gets, but their love was honestly the only thing that drove the plot and kept its foundations together. Of course, Elena is gaslit, manipulated, and emotionally abused, and she falls into a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome. But she’s aware of it. In fact—**SPOILER ALERT**—it’s Christian who tells her. As twisted as it may be, the thing that kept me reading was their love and how they acknowledged how messed up they were individually and together.

The reason I lowered my rating for this book is mainly because of how the heavy topics were handled in the narration. At the beginning of the story, there’s a heavy scene of sexual assault described in just four or five paragraphs. I’m not saying we need these scenes to be written in detail—I don’t think I could stomach that—but there are better ways to portray such events than just summarizing something that, in real life, would leave anyone scarred and traumatized for life in a brief paragraph that feels cold and detached. However, Elena’s recovery after what happens to her in chapter 21 felt very realistic, and I was pleased with how the author approached it and how she portrayed Christian during this time. It was a crucial part for me, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Other aspects that could be improved are the way chapters are divided. There’s a chapter towards the end where something significant happens to Christian, and the situation is resolved within the same chapter, even though the event is too heavy to be wrapped up in just ten pages. (Again, the second half of the novel felt rushed.) Another issue is the manuscript of the hardcopy of the book. I understand this is a self-published novel, but that’s all the more reason to ensure that the story is presented in a readable format. The margins on the pages are slightly off, and the font size and line spacing are poor. This book could easily be 700-800 pages, but they squeezed it all into 400.

The most unrealistic aspect of the story, among many smaller details we have to overlook, is Caroline’s adoption. Even though the author acknowledged that it was implausible given Elena’s and especially Christian’s mental states, it really bothered me. I loved seeing them as parents, and Caroline was adorable—I’m glad I got to know her—but considering how little time Elena and Christian had been together and everything they’d been through, they are the last people who should be adopting a four-year-old.

As for the writing, it wasn’t particularly remarkable. It felt too generic at times, with some sentences that seemed straight out of a Wattpad story, which occasionally made it hard for me to stay engaged with the characters. But I won’t dwell too much on that and turn into a nitpicky literary critic because the storyline almost makes up for these shortcomings.

And as for the ending… I just refuse to accept it, so I'm not going to talk about it.

[cosmo-watches-movies]

The Four Feathers (2002)

Triggerwarning: War, Voilence, Suicide, Gore

Summary: In this war drama young British Officer Harry Faversham (Heath Ledger) refuses to go to war in Sudan. His fiancée and three of his friends each give him a white feather as a sign of his cowardice. After he learns that his three comrades have gotten in trouble during battle he sets out to get all three of them back home.

Spoilers beyond this

In this film Michael Sheen takes on the role of William Trench, one of Harry's friends. He’s the one who’s saved from imprisonment by Harry. I really don’t want to recite the whole plot of the movie, so in short, it’s an emotional story about, courage, loyalty, humanity and friendship, but very much a hollywoodized version of it.

I found this movie a bit hard to follow on my first watch through. Maybe this is another case of "Cosmo is too slow to follow movie", but the timeline in the first half didn't quite make sense to me. I could follow the plot a bit better the second time.

Anyway, focusing on the parts of the movie, that have William in it:

First of that big fight scene...holy shit. That was intense. I don't even really know what to say about this one. It starts slowly with one closed line of Mahdi riders attacking the british squad and escalates more and more until by the end people get shot left and right, bullets and debrie fly everywhere, it's complete chaos, nobody knows what to do, it's genuinly kinda scary. The dread, the fear, the horror, the sorrow, this had everything. William gets captured after the Mahdi triumph over the British, while Harry saves one of his other friends Jack (Wes Bentley), who accidentally blinded himself while shooting a gun. Harry is save at first, covering his identity to stay hidden among the enemy troups. But upon learning where his friend William is being held, he let's himself get captured aswell to get his friend out of military prison.

The whole prison thing is, as it’s supposed to be, grim, depressing and overall very horrible. The prisoners aren’t treated like people. During the day they are subjected to hard labour and during the night they are stuffed by the hundreds in small chambers, not being able to lay down. They don’t get sufficient food or water. In short it’s the kind of place you would rather not live at all than live there.

We follow the two characters over quite a period of time and you can watch Harry and William loose themselves more and more as time goes on. They eventually get out by taking a poison that makes them appear dead. And with help from his friend Abou (Djimon Hounsou), Harry fights of the four guards following them to get his friend out alive.

What’s a bit fucked about this is that William doesn’t know that the poison paralyzes them only temporarily. He thinks they’re ending it together. He does joke about it afterwards and it’s quite a sweet moment, but still wtf.

At his point he has no fucks left to give so i guess fair enough

Because I mentioned it in a previous post, there is shouting in this, but it's the really fucking painful kind, so it's very emotional and not something for me to chuckle about. (Yes, I will always point out when Michael gets to shout in a role, I just love it when he get's to act very emotional scenes. If you know his acting, you know what I'm talking about. Looking at you Nero) Anyway, obviously it’s not just Michael who's shouting in this, most of the main actors scream at some point, it’s a war movie after all.

I have to sidestep from my usual focus to say that Heath Ledger is a fucking menace in this. Everything he does is real. Every emotion, every action, every line. The character is badass and so is Heath Ledger. I’ve liked his acting since I was a teenager, he truly was an incredible actor.

As for Michaels acting, he goes all out as usual. Having to be held back when his comrade won’t come back to the safe lines; absolutely not having it, when Abou tells them a british officer told him to warn them that they would be attacked, but not telling which officer (it was Harry).

First of all this is the second time Michael's role had to drag someone to the front angrily, I see a very interesting trope developing. Second of all how the fuck did William even drag Abou like this in the first place? If Abou would've wanted to restist even the tiniest bit, William would not have been able to move him an inch. Man is a saint.

There's a visible break in William's character during his time in prison with Harry. He goes from a guy who still has hope and is cracking jokes to make light of the situation, to basically just a husk of a human being after being imprisoned for so long. He does a very good empty stare:

The fly was a paid actor

Harry and William spend a lot of screen time together and I think their dynamic is really great. It’s all very genuine. They have excellent chemistry. In general all the actors manage to capture this close brotherly bond, that is so important for the story very well, right from the beginning.

To tie the story together Harry gives each of the white feathers back to his friends eventually. In Williams case right after they find each other in prison. And this short scene is so, so sweet. At this point the meaning of the feather changes from cowardice to hope and friendship. They might not be safe yet, but from now on, be it freedom or death, they will go through this together. Love it.

Just realized after a second watch Williams hair is waaay longer when they escape the prison than it was in the battle scene. If I’m not totally farfetching, it’s reasonable to assume that, before Harry turned up, he was in prison for many, many months already. (Apart from the hundreds of stranger inmates and guards, whose language he probably doesn't even understand) Totally alone. Holy shit. I do not know how he survived that.

Before months and months of hard labour and being starved...

After months and months of hard labour and being starved...poor guy...(Kudos to the hair and makeup department tho)

In general this film is okay, even good if you like this genre. I just don’t enjoy war stories very much, so it’s not really for me. I didn't hate it though, quite the opposite really. Overall a emotional and dramatic film with good action sequences and suspense. I wouldn't say I need to watch it again anytime soon though, now that I know wether they make it or not. Spoiler: They do

[bolllywoodhungama]

Dunki Movie Review: DUNKI bears the Rajkumar Hirani stamp of filmmaking with the right message and emotions.

Dunki Review {3.5/5} & Review Rating

DUNKI is the story of four youths trying to fly abroad for a better life. The year is 1995. Army officer Hardayal Singh Dhillon aka Hardy (Shah Rukh Khan) arrives in Laltu, Punjab to meet Mahendar, who saved his life. He reaches his house and finds out that Mahendar is no more.  Mahendar lost a golden opportunity in sports while trying to save Hardy and then passed away in an accident. Hardy takes it upon himself to help Mahendar's family. Mahendar's sister Manu (Taapsee Pannu) asks Hardy to help her with wrestling. This is because she wants to go to the UK to earn and win back her house that her father had lost due to non-payment of a loan. An agent has assured her that she can be sent on a sports visa and hence, she wants to learn the basic techniques of a sport. Hardy teaches her wrestling. However, the agent usurps money from Manu, Balli Kakkad (Anil Grover), Buggu Lakhanpal (Vikram Kochhar), and others and runs away. With no other option, Manu, Balli, and Buggu approach Geetu Gulati (Boman Irani) for help. He runs an English-speaking institute and promises to help those trying to clear their IELTS exam. The trio along with Hardy enroll in his classes. Here, they meet Sukhi (Vicky Kaushal), and all five become close friends. They aim to reach the UK by hook or by crook. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Abhijat Joshi, Rajkumar Hirani and Kanika Dhilon's story is superb and very relatable, especially for those from the South Asian diaspora. Many people from this belt have faced issues with immigration and hence, they’ll connect with the plot. Abhijat Joshi, Rajkumar Hirani, and Kanika Dhilon's screenplay is a mixed bag. While some moments are emotional and hilarious, the script overall could have been much better, especially when it's penned by Abhijat and Rajkumar. Abhijat Joshi, Rajkumar Hirani and Kanika Dhilon's dialogues are witty at places but again, going by their previous work, the one-liners should have had far more punch.

Rajkumar Hirani's direction is simplistic. As always, he uses his laugh-cry-drama formula successfully. Hence, the film doesn’t ever get slow or boring. There’s no dull moment. The film starts in the present day and the way the dynamics are shown, one gets curious to know what must have happened with the characters. It also gives a déjà vu of the beginning of 3 IDIOTS [2009]. The scenes where Hardy and his team try to learn English and their visa interviews are worth watching. The intermission point is quite strong. In the second half, the scenes of Hardy in the UK court and the whole Saudi Arabia sequence turn out to be the best parts of the film. The ending is moving, and the stats mentioned are quite hard-hitting and depressing. Thankfully, the final scene is funny, and the film ends on a lighter note.

On the flipside, the writing is not up to the mark. The makers haven’t focused on the families and their sufferings. Viewers should feel that the characters had a strong reason to move to the UK. But this aspect was not properly touched upon. Secondly, the humorous scenes in the first half don’t bring the house down. The same applies to Manu’s fake marriage episode. And this was necessary as all previous works of Rajkumar Hirani wowed the audience. As a result, one can’t help but expect tremendously from his films. DUNKI is nowhere close to MUNNA BHAI, 3 IDIOTS, PK, etc, and hence, audiences will feel a bit dejected, despite the film’s strong points.

Speaking of performances, Shah Rukh Khan does well and brings alive the humour and emotions effectively. However, as an old man, he’s not quite convincing. Nevertheless, it’s heartening to see him shed his superstar aura and play a character role after witnessing him in massier avatars in PATHAAN and DUNKI. Taapsee Pannu is a revelation and delivers a smashing performance. She gets the nuances in the old-age scenes quite right. Vicky Kaushal rocks the show in a cameo. Anil Grover and Vikram Kochhar are lovely and lend able support. Boman Irani and Deven Bhojani (Puru Patel) are lovely. Others do well.

Pritam's music is not of chartbuster variety, but the songs are well-woven into the narrative. 'Lutt Putt Gaya' comes at a fine juncture and is pleasant. 'Main Tera Rasta Dekhunga' stands out. 'Nikle The Kabhi Hum Ghar Se', 'O Maahi' and 'Banda' are in sync with the film’s theme. Aman Pant's background score is appropriate.

Muraleedharan C K, Manush Nandan and Amit Roy's cinematography is breathtaking and gives the film a big-screen appeal. Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Ray's production design is authentic. Sham Kaushal's action is limited. Eka Lakhani's costumes are realistic and non-glamorous. Rajkumar Hirani's editing is slick.

On the whole, DUNKI bears the Rajkumar Hirani stamp of filmmaking with the right message and emotions as a backdrop. However, it is not as outstanding as his previous films as the writing plays spoilsport to a great extent. At the box office, it will turn out to be a mix bag.

[the-grand-author-ne]

That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime (Slime Incarnation) is doing a really cool thing that I would love to see more in anime and just shows in general.

Basically, due to the pandemic, production of the second half of the second season of the show was delayed, and season 2 part 2 won't be out until July. In the meantime, though, they're airing a spinoff called Slime Diaries. Slime Diaries is an official spinoff manga series made by the same author starring the same characters and set in the same time and place- technically the events of Slime Diaries are interspersed in the timeline of the second half of season one and the first half of season two of Slime Incarnation. So why, if this show is written by the same person and told from the same perspective, is it a spinoff? Because it's a different genre.

Slime Incarnation is an action drama anime following Rimuru, the protagonist, as he gets reincarnated into a strange new world, makes new friends, and works towards his goal of making a place where humans and monsters can get along and have fun together. Along the way he and his friends have to face various big threats to their livelihoods and each other, and are constantly being put in danger by the schemes of major political figures called the Demon Lords. Slime Diaries, on the other hand, is a slice of life anime that just slows down and focuses on the nation they're building, Tempest, and the personalities and motivations of all the characters that don't get quite enough time to shine in Slime Incarnation. This is, to put it simply, freaking brilliant writing. The action drama show gets to be fast paced and move on ahead with the main plot, and the slice of life gets to be quiet and happy and show us why the drama in the the other show MATTERS. Slime Incarnation is free to be non stop action and tense high stakes conflict while we are always thinking about what these characters have to lose if something goes wrong! It's incredible. Maybe not every show could get away with this kind of compartmentalization of narrative elements, but Slime Incarnation/Diaries is pulling it off flawlessly.

[itsclydebitches]

YYH Recaps: Episode 1, Surprised to be Dead

Hello, all you hypothetical readers! It's a beautiful spring day and I have a free afternoon ahead of me, so what better time to start another massive project while I guilty stuff my other WIPs deep into the depths of my hard drive? Yeah. Iffy life choices aside, someone mentioned a few weeks back that they'd love for me to recap a show I have more positive things to say about than negative (RIP RWBY) and ever since Netflix announced that their live-action adaptation of Yu Yu Hakusho is in the works, I've been itching for a re-watch of the anime. With the RWBY hiatus underway, it seemed like the perfect time to fulfill both desires.

Before we begin though, I'd like to touch on a few things that are going to influence this project.

First, YYH is near and dear to my heart. Written by Yoshihiro Togashi in the early 1990s and later adapted for an American audience by Funimation, I had the pleasure of experiencing this story five different ways: as a serialized tale in Shonen Jump, a binge read when I had the money to buy the manga, tiny snippets of the anime on Adult Swim late at night — don't tell my parents ;) — as an after-school treat on Toonami, and then years later as a re-watch when I introduced it to a friend (who, in turn, blessed me by having us watch Fullmetal Alchemist next). I used to keep a Hiei bookmark in everything I was reading, the spirit gun made it into our witch-wolf-space adventures on the playground (middle school was wild), and there was a long period of my life where I tried very hard to teach myself to stand with my hands behind my back, precisely as Genkai does. Spoiler alert: I failed. So to say I love the series is... a little bit of an understatement. I bring this up simply as a way of demonstrating that there's more than a bit of nostalgia attached to YYH for me and that will inevitably cloud my reading of it. How can it not? So that's just something to keep in mind as I work through a series that, like any having hit its 30th birthday, has its outdated, flawed, and other questionable aspects.

Second, but very much connected to the first point, is that these are pretty casual recaps. I summarize and extrapolate, focusing primarily on plot and dialogue (but with the occasional cinematography aspect tossed in). I'm not conducting research on the cultural history here — something that will come up at least once in this episode — I'm not arguing an overarching thesis, and I've never been someone who focuses on the author/production/trivia of a series. I'm here for the story as the story is presented to the viewer. If you've read my RWBY Recaps, this will function precisely the same way, with the only difference being I'm engaging with a finished text as opposed to an ongoing one, so there’s a lot less, “Maybe ___ will happen” theorizing going on. 

Third, I obviously recommend that you watch the show yourself (you can find it on YouTube!), but you don't have to know the series to follow along. As these massive paragraphs attest, I tend to be both detailed and verbose, so we'll be covering every major plot point — and most of the smaller ones too.

Finally, I'm working from the dub. I know, I know, the horror. But it's what I grew up on and, honestly, I think it's superior to the sub. YYH's dubbing is in a class all its own and to this day there are very few shows that compare to it. Trust me, it's a good call.

That's enough of the boring chit-chat though. Let's get started!

Our very first episode "Surprised to be Dead" opens on a crowded street. We see lots of traffic, people going about their business, and a pedestrian crossing sign that, crucially, turns red. This is our normality and, like in every genre story, you need to break that normality at some point so that the protagonists can go on their fantastical/supernatural/science fiction journey. YYH eases us into things by first breaking the normality of an everyday afternoon: there's a screech of tires, quick shots of a man pushing a child out of the way of an oncoming car, and then his back is hitting the windshield. We begin this story with a horrible — but otherwise mundane — car crash.

Now, these flashes alone have a fair bit to unpack. Despite later getting a brief shot of the man's scared face right before he's hit, the moment's focus is really on the child. He's the one foregrounded in the initial, slow-mo shot. He's the one who appears in color while the man is kept in shadow. This isn't just a hit, it's a rescue. The camera is also careful to follow the soccer ball this kid was playing with (more on that later in the episode), with it flying through the air as the man is hit and bouncing to a stop in the street, acting as the dramatic finish. It's childhood! It's innocence! It's play on a sunny afternoon! And it's all gone wrong.

This moment is chaotic and even a bit confusing. Not in the sense of what's happening — that is quite obviously a guy being hit by a car — but who the victims are, how precisely this came about, or even why we're meant to care about this beyond a generic capacity to feel for other human (fictional) beings... that's all removed. And it works. As the crash takes place, the camera pans across the stunned crowd and we, the viewer, become a part of that crowd. They don't know what precisely is going on either. We're all just horrified onlookers as a sudden tragedy takes place. We're all watching the same show.

So everyone realizes this guy has been hit. People are staring in shock and someone calls for an ambulance. We see the driver fall to his knees in the street, distraught, shakily saying, "I didn't mean to..." It's a very serious and emotional scene that —

— is immediately tempered by this guy waking up, complete with a cute 'pop!' sound effect when he opens his eyes.

This is YYH's brand, this Very Serious Circumstances skillfully interwoven with casual indifference/comedy. It's admittedly far from a unique brand, but it's an excellent choice given that this is the same attitude that will drive 99% of our protagonist's interaction with the world.

Speaking of said protagonist, our guy wakes up, opens his eyes, and realizes that he's floating. There's a great, disorientating shot from his perspective where everything is upside down, causing him to nearly fall out of the air. Well would you look at that, he's as confused as we are. It's our audience surrogate!

A narrator says, "And so it all begins. This boy's name is Yusuke, he's fourteen years old, and he's supposed to be the hero of this story. But oddly enough, he's dead."

Game of Thrones might have made it popular, but YYH did it better.

(Yeah, yeah, I know one death kick-starts the journey and the other is a shocking twist. Just let me have this.)

Now, it's a weird introduction, right? At least at the end. The announcement that change has occurred, a name, an age... that all checks out. But "supposed to be the hero"? What the hell is that “supposed to” mean? Our narrator gives us the easy, surface answer: "But oddly enough, he's dead." We're capitalizing here on the audience's expectation that death ends a character's journey and though they may have been a hero previously, they can no longer be one moving forward. That function within the story has passed. So it's this intriguing question of, "What kind of hero do you have when that hero is dead from the start?" but as we'll see soon, there's an additional meaning here of, "How can Yusuke be the hero?" As this premiere sets up, Yusuke doesn't act like the hero is “supposed to” act. 

Until he saved this kid.

But right now he's just confused: "Okay, this is weird. Stupid weird."

Two EMTs arrive on the scene and are hilariously useless. You know how in any medical drama a doctor will stop CPR after a couple of seconds because obviously you're not going to spend half the episode on realism? Well, that's this only a thousand times worse. One guy just looks at the kid and announces he's fine except for some bumps and bruises. Meanwhile, the kid is sobbing.

"Well, at least one of them is," replies the other EMT, because I guess he can tell Yusuke is beyond hope without taking a pulse or anything? "I hate cleanup," he complains as they load his body onto a stretcher because that's? An empathetic response to have??

Honestly this scene is wild.

Yusuke is understandably upset that he's, you know, dead and all. He starts hounding the EMTs who, unable to hear him, just go about their business of taking the kid and his body to the hospital. "You think you can just do whatever you want because you have that stupid uniform on? You can't just write me off. Listen to me!" and Yusuke tries to punch one of the EMTs in the head, resulting in him floating right through.

What a great way to introduce your protagonist's personality. We see here that when things go wrong Yusuke's default emotion is anger and it starts creeping in even before he thinks the others are ignoring him: "Stupid weird." He has problems with authority — "You think you can just do whatever you want because you have that stupid uniform on?" — is used to others listening when he gets angry — "You can't just write me off!" — and is poised to use violence at the slightest provocation. Yusuke is a guy who, right now at least, is ready to punch first and ask questions later.

As Yusuke floats back up into the air and the ambulance drives away, he finally cools down enough to try and think his way out of this. "It's not like this is the first time you've been in a jam,” he thinks. Yusuke recalls that yeah, something was different about today...

...he actually went to school.

Catch me laughing that this idiot boy equates the weirdness of him dying with going to school. Good lord. 

Anyway, this jumpstarts our flashback. We open on a generic, anime middle school (that always feels like a high school to me) where the principal is calling for Yusuke through the loud speaker. Oooo someone’s in trouble! We follow a young girl up to the rooftop and she gets a classic hair-blowing-in-the-wind moment to  establish that she's our love interest. Meet Keiko Yukimura.

Keiko finds Yusuke hanging out and immediately starts lecturing him for trying to chew gum and refusing to wear the boys' uniform. "Oh, give me a break, Keiko. I look better in green." Note that it's here we learn her name and it's an easy, casual way to introduce it. I bring this up because Yusuke's introduction via our narrator is very much... not that. It's an on your nose statement about his name, age, and importance to the story, and if you're just starting the show in 2021, it might come across as a rather armature move. Like something out of a kid's show, perhaps. Yet here we see that this was a deliberate choice, considering that YYH is capable of introducing character information naturally when it wants to.

This moment also tells us that Yusuke cares a great deal about his image. More on that in a bit. Because Keiko isn't finished her list of grievances yet, going on to say that his attendance record has hurt their entire class, hurt her as class representative, and if he keeps going down this path he won't even graduate middle school. "Sometimes I think you don't care about anyone but yourself and then you don't even do that right!"

They're legit complaints. Too bad Yusuke is busy looking up Keiko's skirt.

Yeeeeah. Sadly, this is common for anime, particularly a 90s anime like YYH. Even presumably more progressive series like My Hero Academia feature characters like Mineta, whose entire personality is being a pervert, and the creation of abilities that "require" kids/young women to be scantily clad. See: Yaoyorozu. YYH is no different in this regard, with various forms of sexual harassment functioning as a shorthand for how much Yusuke secretly likes Keiko. "Boys will be boys," right? Obviously not. 

Like so many others series, the creators get away with it because they’re framing it as a bad thing. It's totally fine because look, Keiko slaps him! This is  teaching the viewer how wrong this behavior is. Never mind that this is clearly an established habit between them, that Yusuke laughs off Keiko's discomfort, and that the whole scene is meant to be funny for the viewer. That's the real purpose here; it’s not a PSA on harassment. 

That, and to establish the long-suffering love Keiko has for Yusuke in turn, largely stemming from a life-long friendship. "Dumb boy! He hasn't grown up a bit since he was four years old." We see that Keiko's early interactions with Yusuke have given her insight that others lack. As she heads down from the roof she runs into two girls hiding around the corner, too scared to come out lest "the great Urameshi" set his sights on them. Isn't Keiko terrified of what he might do to her? "Or worse, what others might say of it?" Like any classic high school middle school setting, one's reputation is king. Yusuke cares about how others see him — maintaining that tough boy attitude — and the girls care more about what the rest of the school might think of Keiko's interactions with him than the presumed harm Yusuke could do to her. They heard he can summon 2,000 men with just a whistle and that he "kills for fun!" But that means nothing in the face of people talking about you. Despite being one of the most popular girls in school, Keiko is the outsider here via her disinterest in what other people think.

The animation changes here, giving us a good look at how the girls picture Yusuke: tough, scowling, surrounded by shadows, and backed by an entire army.

In contrast, we've already seen what Yusuke is really like.

Keiko laughs the image off too. Yusuke is more like a "lamb" than a killer and besides, he couldn't order around two people, let alone two hundred. "He doesn't have many friends."

"That's not what I heard," says one of the girls. 

"Yeah," goes the other. "I think we would know." 

Again, rumors rule here, with whispers in the hall considered more reliable than someone who interacts with Yusuke on a daily basis. Keiko doesn’t have a hope of changing their minds. 

Oh, as a side note, I love that they gave Keiko Miyazaki-esque hair. It's very emotive.

Yusuke escapes outside where the principal is still calling for him to report to his office. He overhears a conversation around the corner and we cut to two boys, one of which is showing a wallet off to the other. He explains that some bully tried to rough him up, but he said he was Urameshi's cousin and the bully took off, dropping his wallet in the process. The guy's friend is impressed, but what is he going to do if Yusuke ever finds out he lied? Not to worry, he says, that "blockhead" would probably think it's true even if he did somehow hear.

Yusuke, obviously, does hear about this and he, also obviously, does not believe this guy is his cousin. He looms ominously and they scurry up against a wall, terrified and offering him the wallet as an apology.

"You think I want your money?" Yusuke yells.

YYH is, in many respects, a rather simple story, but I appreciate the hints of complexity in these otherwise straightforward interactions. It's not that this guy used Yusuke's name to steal a wallet, he used it as a form of protection against another bully — a far more sympathetic motivation. It's not that Yusuke's fearsome reputation has resulted in any genuine respect because once people think they're safe they reveal how little they think of his intelligence — he's a "blockhead." And Yusuke, though intimidating and violent, is not your average, schoolyard bully. He doesn't care about money, only the insult and the damage this guy using his name might have done to his reputation. There's a little more nuance here than you might otherwise expect.

Also, note how dark the boys' standard uniforms are and how much they blend into the rest of the world. Yusuke, as our protagonist, stands out in his bright clothing. He was right, he does look better in green!

So he's ready to clobber this kid when one of the teachers arrive: Mr. Iwamoto.

Iwamoto demands to know what's going on, but the boys are too terrified to rat Yusuke out. Noticing the wallet on the ground, he assumes that Yusuke was after their money, something that greatly offends him: "Whatever!" Iwamoto goes on to say that, "No good weeds like you should have been plucked a long time ago," making it clear that he considers Yusuke a hopeless case. The positive aspects that Keiko sees, as well as the complexity the viewer sees — to say nothing of his introduction of saving a kid — aren’t considered here.

Notably, Iwamoto exists in part to show us what Yusuke could become. Not a teacher (he's obviously not attending school enough for that!), but a cynical man who is cruel for cruelty's sake. Yusuke is already barreling down that path, ignoring Keiko's advice, terrorizing other students, trying to punch EMTs, etc. If his life (or afterlife...) hadn't changed through that accident, this is the kind of person Yusuke might have grown up to be, and we can see that clearly in the visual parallels between them. Dark haired men dressed in green who scowl with ease and toss out cutting insults. Yusuke is staring his future in the face.

For now he walks off with a final shot, "You shouldn't talk. It makes you sound stupid." This time Yusuke makes it to the school's entrance and tries to enjoy his second attempt at chewing gum, but someone hits him in the back of the head.

"Okay, somebody's DEAD — ah. Sorry, old man."

"That's Mr. Takenaka to you."

Our principal has finally left the office and hunted down Yusuke for himself! Putting this interaction immediately after the one with Iwamoto allows the viewer to compare them. Yusuke might be irreverent towards his principal, but it's clear there's still some kind of respect between them. Yusuke only starts threatening because he doesn’t realize who hit him and once he does realize it's Takenaka, he immediately apologizes. That "old man" comes across as a teasing insult and Yusuke allows himself to be briefly dragged back towards school, rather than throwing a now classic punch. In turn, Takenaka cares enough about Yusuke to try and keep him on the straight and narrow. He utilizes Yusuke's preferred language — violence — but in a casual way, nonthreatening way: slight hit to the back of his head, noogie, pulling him along by the ear. 

It's the sort of physicality we're used to seeing in media between a parent and child who are outwardly antagonistic, but actually share a deep bond. Takenaka is also careful to frame their return to his office as a "discussion," not a punishment, and offers Yusuke tea along with the conversation. Whereas Iwamoto considers Yusuke to be a "weed" that should have been plucked from their school long ago, Takenaka is determined to help Yusuke bloom.

If we're continuing the flower metaphor :D

Yusuke isn't in the mood to play along though. He gets away by using a fake ear, startling Takenaka when it unexpectedly pulls free. Yusuke escapes the school grounds and Takenaka, suffering a back twinge from his fall, can't chase after him. Poor guy. I understand that pain lol.

Yusuke heads home where we're introduced to his mother, Atsuko. Most notable in her first shot is the soft lighting that highlights her looks. We're not told how old she is here, but I believe she's around 28 — and she looks it, if not younger. Given that Yusuke is 14, that means Atsuko was a mom at his age. This is a quick and subtle way to tell us about Yusuke's home life. There are more overt details in this scene — it's at least lunchtime and Atsuko hasn't left her bed yet, she demands that Yusuke make her coffee instead of greeting him, it's all meant to imply (before we actually see) that she's an alcoholic — but her age is another way to highlight the broken household here. There's no partner in sight and she clearly had Yusuke as a teenager. He hasn't had a strong parental figure to take care of him. If anything, Yusuke is taking care of Atsuko here.

"Oh great, mother of the year!" basically sums things up.

Atsuko wants to know why Yusuke isn't in school and he says that everyone is pissing him off today, particularly with their preaching. "Dear, if you hate preaching so much you should live on your own... but you can't do that, can you?" Alongside a rough upbringing, Yusuke is suffering from the common problem of being trapped in a dead-end life. He hates his school, his town, and coming home to find his mom hungover. Yusuke has no prospects and, outside of one principal, no one who is actively working to help him find some. Even the little things he hates, like being preached to, are unavoidable because if you want to live on your own, that requires money. Good luck pulling that off as a middle schooler whose only skill is street fighting!

Yusuke walks off in a huff, literally shouting in a street about what a bad day he's having (and hilariously scaring off pedestrians in the process). His shout brings trouble though. A couple guys appear to ambush him, their boss close behind. The music increases the tension, Yusuke's expression is serious, and we even get a Dutch angle thrown into the mix. 

For any who don't know, the Dutch angle is a popular film technique to establish that something is wrong. There's tension in the scene, something uneasy is at play, and the world is now literally off center. It's perhaps most famously used in Do The Right Thing to establish the friction between an Italian-American pizzeria and the predominantly African American neighborhood it's based in.

But it's also used a great deal in horror as a way to say: yup, shit just got real. Scary real.

This Dutch angle introduces a character you may not appreciate at first, but absolutely should: Kazuma Kuwabara.

He's initially the comic relief and that's clear in his introduction. Within seconds we move from that intimidating arrival to, well, seeing him. To be clear, I've got nothing against redheads with big chins, but compared to Yusuke's design, Kuwabara is meant to be the funny looking one. His threat level plummets the moment we get a look at his face, especially in a series that will occasionally use looks as a (supposed) measure of intelligence. 

Also, Kuwabara is dressed in light blue so, like Yusuke, we know he's important!

Any assumptions that his appearance isn’t meant to imply a goofy, embarrassing personality are put to rest when Kuwabara starts rambling about how they last time they fought Yusuke just got a cheap shot in and he'll definitely win this time. Yeah, he won't. Yusuke is thrilled by this diversion though and we get a shot of him looking almost as creepy as Keiko's friends think he is. Whatever else might be said about Yusuke, he is absolutely a monster in a fight.

Which we see here. If anyone picked up the series without knowing this was a fighting anime, they'll realize it now. Yusuke's choreography is stylized to show off his skill: he disappears with a 'whoosh' and dark lines to suggest inhuman speed,

attacking Kuwabara with a knee to the face, utilizes flying kicks, lands perfect, precision punches, and ends it all with the toe-tip landing we've come to expect of all powerful fighters. Kuwabara never even got a hit in. 

Happy as a clam now, Yusuke wanders off whistling and Kuwabara's friends are left to pick up the pieces. AKA, his likely broken bones. I love that they're legit friends though and not just nameless goons for the sake of giving Kuwabara a small gang (though their names won't come up until later). "That makes 0 wins an 156 loses!" one of them cries, trying to get Kuwabara to stop ending up in the hospital, probably. We establish that Kuwabara is The Most Dramatic Ever when he pulls his broken body into a seated position, shouting, "No! I almost had him that time!"

Then he passes out.

Kuwabara, honey, you obviously did not almost have him, but god bless you for the outlook. The most optimistic thing on this Earth is a well-loved Golden Retriever, but Kuwabara comes in at a very close second.

With his dream to one day beat Yusuke in combat established, we cut to Yusuke wandering the street where the episode opened. "Okay, I'm remembering" he says in a voiceover. "After that I met the kid."

The soccer ball reappears as it rolls to a stop at Yusuke's feet. He grabs it and immediately starts yelling at the kid. Horrible protagonist, right? Well, Yusuke is trying to instill in him the danger of using this street as a playground, a worry the viewer already knows is 100% justified. “Listen, kid, that’s dangerous! There are cars going by that will splatter you into the pavement!” It's one of those quick moments where we get to enjoy Yusuke's duality: he's someone who is nearly making a toddler cry, but for rather understandable reasons. He's got the right idea, but needs to go about it in a more mature manner.

Which is precisely what he attempts to do. Sort of. Yusuke changes gears, though whether it's a more "mature" route is certainly up for debate lol. He tries entertaining the kid instead, raising and lowering the soccer ball to reveal goofy faces.

When these fail to impress, Yusuke goes full out by stuffing the ball into his pants, pushing his nose up with a pair of chopsticks he got from god knows where, and generally just putting on a display.

So Yusuke cares very deeply about his reputation... but only when it comes to those who are an established part of his life. Keiko, Mr. Takenaka, and the other kids at school all need to maintain a particular image of Yusuke, one that he's carefully cultivated. But random pedestrians on the street? Who cares about them? Let them talk.

This shows us that Yusuke does indeed have priorities over his own, selfish goals. Namely, the happiness of some kid is more important to him than looking "cool" for a bunch of strangers. Lots of characters with Yusuke's surface attitude would sneer at the idea of degrading themselves for — their words — some brat. But Yusuke, as we constantly see, actually does have that heart of gold. “Well, if all else fails I can still make kids happy.”

Although... I'm not sure what to make of his display itself. I have the distinct sense that there's something prejudiced here that I'm not able to fully articulate, what with the chopsticks, slanted eyes, bald head, and the like, though to be entirely frank I don't have enough knowledge of Japan's history to say precisely what it might be. Or, really, whether it exists at all. Just something to chew on.

What I am sure about though is the importance of having the child label Yusuke as monster — "Yeah, monster! — but in a delighted manner. Yusuke is indeed some kind a monster, someone who disappoints adults and terrifies his classmates, a demon fighter on the streets too, but here that identity is reworked into something positive.

Having successful secured a laugh, Yusuke tells the kid — calmly this time — to go play elsewhere. The toddler stares up at him with the blank expression only kids can manage.

Well, kids and whatever headspace I'm in after writing these metas.

To absolutely no one's surprise except Yusuke's, the kid does not go elsewhere. Instead, he continues kicking the ball down the street, causing Yusuke to exclaim, “Dammit, what’s the use? The kid can get smashed by a car for all I care!” Liar, liar. 

The picture becomes desaturated as the kid kicks the ball and it flies into the street, time slowing down to show it landing precisely in the middle of the road. Yusuke again yells for him to stay put, but when has a toddler ever listened? He begins to walk into the road as our driver arrives, speeding, swerving, and paying more attention to the girl at his side than what's in front of him.

This time, we see the accident from the front with both Yusuke and the kid presented equally.

There's a cut to black and when we return we're in the present, Yusuke floating above the policemen now investigating the scene. “So that’s it? I’m roadkill?” As Yusuke realizes he's dead, specifically that he's a ghost, a voice goes,

"Bingo! Bingo! You win the prize!"

A woman has appeared who is quite obviously othered by the standards of the episode so far. Unlike the greens, blues, and browns of the series' modern clothes, she's dressed in hot pink kimono with blue hair to match. She's also, you know, floating on an oar.

“I didn’t expect you to figure it out so quickly," she says, referring to Yusuke's revelation that he's dead. Apparently, those who meet unexpected and/or violent ends tend to take some time coming to terms with their demise. It's a nice acknowledgment of Yusuke's intelligence in an interaction that's otherwise... not great for his self-esteem.

Meaning, this woman is about to drag him lol.

She introduces herself as Botan, pilot of the River Styx and guider of souls to the afterlife. You might also know her as the Grim Reaper.

(Hey, RWBY fans: I originally wrote that as Grimm Reaper 🤦‍♀️)

It's an claim Yusuke takes issue with because 1. Botan is too pretty to be the Grim Reaper and 2. If she was really some god of death she'd be taking this much more seriously, not laughing and saying, "Bingo!" For the audience this does two things. First, it acknowledges our own expectations and validates them. Yusuke's world isn't so far removed from our own that he takes Botan's looks and personality at face value, he also expected a skeleton with a scythe. So don't worry, all the weird stuff in this series is weird to our protagonist too. They'll be explanations. Or, even if there’s not, you’re not wrong for being surprised. 

Second, it sets up the very common theme in YYH of undermining those common assumptions again and again and again. We've already seen it with Yusuke, wherein characters who look and act a certain way are, supposedly, destined to be that person and nothing more. Yusuke is meant to be just a "weed," a dumb, violent, angry loser who goes nowhere in life... but we already know he's more than that. Botan is supposed to be scary and serious, but she says nah, I want to be cute and bubbly instead. No character in YYH embodies who they're "supposed" to be when you look past those surface characterizations. They play the part of archetypes — and do keep certain parts of their expected personalities — but they're also far more well-rounded than that. Which yeah, is something most people expect from any story nowadays, but YYH is particularly adept at making you think you're watching Simple Show A only to turn around and surprise you with More Complex Show B.

It's great, trust me.

So Yusuke is pissed that Botan isn't adhering to those expectations, in the same way that he works hard to validate others expectations of him. He doesn't know how to deal with someone challenging his world view yet. Rather than angering Botan though, she just nods and says that this response makes sense for him. “Rather than being scared, or surprised, you yell a lot and tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about." Taking out a notebook, she quickly summarizes everything we learned in the flashback — minus Yusuke's complexities: he's fourteen, in middle school, is ill-tempered, violent, hates authority, and is a horrible student.

Typically, Yusuke responds by getting angry and trying to snatch the booklet out of her hands, only for Botan to pull it out of his reach, laughing. The tables have turned! Rather than being surrounded by people who cower at Yusuke's imposed authority, he now finds himself faced with someone who laughs at his transparent attempts to take control of the situation.

Calming down, Yusuke wants to know if the kid he saved is really alright and Botan offers to let him see for himself. That offer produces Yusuke's first, genuine smile.

They fly to the hospital where a doctor is in the process of giving the kid a clean bill of health, his mother crying with relief. 

That's enough for Yusuke. “Alright, Botan, I’ve got no regrets, so you can take me to hell or wherever it is I’m going.”

That tells you all you need to know about Yusuke's self-worth, despite his bad boy attitude. His life is a dead-end as far as he can see and most of those around him haven't done anything to dissuade him of that idea. He says he doesn't care if the kid lives or dies, but then instinctively saves him. Post his death, Yusuke doesn't have anything he considers a regret, or anything he'd like to do before he leaves, like saying goodbye to a loved one. Oh, he's also pretty sure he's going to hell and has resigned himself to that without a fight.

Uplifting!

Botan just laughs though, saying that she's actually here to offer Yusuke an "ordeal" that could bring him back to life. See, he wasn't supposed to die today — let alone die saving a kid — and frankly they don't know what to do with him. It's another neat summary of what we've already learned: Yusuke is a far more complicated case than the afterlife assumed and now, when push comes to shove, deciding whether he belongs in heaven or hell is... muddled.

There's a fantastic story there about the problems with an afterlife that reduces a person's entire life to a few surface characteristics recorded in a book, refusing to acknowledge the context of their situation, or their capacity for change. “Run someone with your credentials a thousand times and they never would have saved a kid like that." Except, of course, Yusuke did save him, so those "credentials" are suspect, to say the least. However, YYH is not a story that explores these issues. Instead, I recommend you watch this!

Rather than being upset at the afterlife's low opinion of him (because let's be real, Yusuke shares it), he latches onto a little detail Botan let slip. If he wasn't supposed to die today... then was the kid?

Mmm... no. Actually, without the chaos of Yusuke jumping into the road, the driver would have swerved at the last second and the kid would have not only lived, but actually come out with one less scrape.

So Yusuke is obviously upset by this news! I would be too!! Holy shit, hang onto the "it's the thought that counts" message with everything you've got.

Also, don't think too much about the fact that the afterlife apparently knows exactly what will happen to people, down to how many cuts they accumulate in an accident. Also, don't think too much about where the afterlife foreseeing the crash begins and the unexpectedness of Yusuke interfering ends. That way lies madness. This will never come up again, so just let it go.

Sorry, 2013 me hijacked the post for a second.

As said, Yusuke is understandably upset by this revelation and as he fumes I'm reminded that this series likes to pull some amazing expressions.

Botan reiterates that it's all fine because Yusuke can come back to life. Weren't you listening? He should feel honored, in fact, considering that an offer like this only arrives every 100 years or so. Well, that explains why all of humanity isn't grappling with people coming back to life on the daily. One person every generation isn't going to cause much of a stir.

However, instead of jumping at the chance Yusuke announces that Botan is just like the teachers at school: she doesn't know what she's talking about. “You said yourself my life was kind of pathetic, right?” he says, going on to explain that everyone will be happier now that he's dead. His school won't have to deal with his behavior, Keiko won't have to nag him, and his mom will be able to party whenever she wants. It's a win-win for everyone involved. 

Hmm, this feels familiar. 

Don't worry, Yusuke doesn't need to experience a whole alternate reality to get the message.

“I’m sorry you feel that way at such an early age," Botan says and she is sorry, because despite her teasing nature that's a legitimately horrifying thing to believe. Yusuke won't budge though and after a little back-and-forth Botan leaves, telling Yusuke he should think it over while visiting his wake. She'll come back once he decides what to do.

“Do you have worms in your ears, lady? I did decide!” but Botan is long gone.

We cut to that night where Yusuke has indeed decided to attend his own wake. Maybe because of Botan's advice, maybe because he's just morbidly curious. We’re not given insight into the decision. 

Atsuko is a mess, to put it mildly, not dressed for the occasion and sitting slumped against the way, staring vacantly as the guests offer their condolences. Yusuke is surprised by the fact that his entire class is here, but quickly writes them off when he sees two of the boys laughing. I'm on the fence about this detail, which I'll unpack in just a second.

First though, Yusuke sees Keiko exiting the house, inconsolable in her grief. She collapses on the ground with her two friends trying to offer comfort, despite the fact that they had nothing good to say about Yusuke himself. Good on them.

Before he can think too long on this though, Yusuke is distracted by Kuwabara's arrival. Unlike Keiko's crying, he expresses his grief through yelling. Specifically, yelling at Yusuke. For dying. For daring to "run away." His own friends are physically holding him back as he charges into the wake, screaming, “Who am I gonna fight now, huh? Who am I gonna fight?" It's not really about the fighting, of course. At least, not the fighting alone. "You’re supposed to be here for me," Kuwabara finishes, the punch he's thrown at Yusuke's photo going limp and catching his first tear.

You know, for all the  goofy expressions, this show really is gorgeous. Just wait until we get to the fight animations.

Kuwabara's reaction is why I hesitate to write off the classmates like Yusuke has. Granted, we have no reason to believe that they care for him as Kuwabara does — they're nameless background characters defined only by their terror of "the great Urameshi" — but it's still a split second taken out of context. We don't know what they were laughing at, or if laughing is a part of their grief. God knows I personally laugh at the most inappropriate moments. If you tell me someone has just died there is a very good chance I will laugh awkwardly as I try to process that. It’s just a reflex. All of which I bring up not because these side characters are important, but because Yusuke's perception of his own worth is. The point of each of these moments is to show that those around him have always cared for him, even if Yusuke didn't notice. It's nice to think that extends to his classmates too. The variety likewise exists to show us how people grieve differently, with Kuwabara's friends not understanding that this is how he's working through the trauma: “This place is for mourning!” He is mourning, even if his way of mourning isn't as socially acceptable as Keiko's. So if screaming and throwing punches is valid, crying is valid, staring stoically in a drunk stupor is valid... why not laughter too?

Not likely, perhaps, but possible.

As an additional possibility to chew on, watching this premier again, it struck me how more emotional Kuwabara's scene is compared to Keiko's. Don't get me wrong, crying and calling Yusuke’s name gets the point across, but it's two seconds of generic grief compared to a much longer scene rife with intensity. When Kuwabara arrives the music swells and everyone is forced to pay attention to him. His grief is loud, violent, and given symbolism with his fist and the photo. There's more effort put into his reaction, frankly, so it wouldn't surprise me if fans started shipping them after this. That grief combined with an "enemies to lovers" possibility is a pretty potent mix. To be clear, Yusuke/Keiko is the (oh so obvious) canonical endgame and in the fandom Yusuke/Kuwabara can't compare to another slash ship that will turn up later, but this is a good example of how writers can craft some Very Gay Scenes without realizing it. When you have the girl crying prettily for a second and the guy absolutely losing his mind over Yusuke's death, questioning his purpose now, his support network, and then collapsing in grief... don't be surprised if your audience goes, "Oh hey, maybe they'd be a good couple instead."

But I digress.

The only people who are unquestioningly happy about Yusuke's passing are Mr. Iwamoto and his co-conspirator, Mr. Akashi. You know Akashi is another bad guy because he has bucked teeth and "ugliness" is an easy way to code for evilness. YYH is not immune to those mistakes :/

These two are really something else though, standing in the middle of a wake and claiming it's “too bad that car wasn’t big enough for them too," referring to Kuwabara and his friends. Wow! What stellar members of the academic community. Iwamoto goes on to say that Yusuke dying at least accomplished something good. Not, mind you, saving the life of a child, but rather looking good for their school's reputation. Akashi agrees, but says it's likely Yusuke only accidentally saved him while trying to steal the kid's lunch money. Remember, that accusation of theft is the one thing Yusuke has said outright that he does not do.

He's pissed listening to all this — wouldn't you be? — but knows by now he can't do anything about it. In another fantastic shot, Yusuke hovers his hand over Iwamoto's shoulder, desperate to grab him, when Takenaka's arrives there instead.

“What do you suppose is more disgraceful? That boy showing his misery, or your insensitive and idiotic words!”

HELL YEAH. You tell 'em, Mr. Takenaka.

Yusuke gets his third shock of the night at this passionate defense. Takenaka leaves the teachers to go pay his respects, but admits to Yusuke's picture that he just can't speak well of him. He was surprised to hear that Yusuke gave up his life for another and it's a fact that he acted selfishly. Though he doesn't say it in as many words, Takenaka explains that he's not grieving because Yusuke was a good person, but because it's so clear to him that he might have been. “Why didn’t you stay? You could have made something great out of yourself.”

Normally, "Why didn't you stay?" is just something for the living to grapple with, as the dead obviously don't have any say in what happens to them. But Yusuke does. It's here that the lighting grows soft again and Yusuke considers Takenaka's words. Keiko and Kuwabara grieve for who he was, but Takenaka grieves for who Yusuke could have been — someone that might still exist if Yusuke decides to undergo this ordeal.

Atsuko adds fuel to the emotional fire, breaking down and hiding her face in her knees.

Finally, the kid Yusuke saved arrives with his mother. Because yes, Yusuke saved him in every way that matters, considering no one else knows — or will know — that he'd have lived anyway. I like that the show doesn't allow that knowledge to undermine the emotion of their arrival, or what Yusuke’s act meant to them. 

The mom tells her son to pay his respects and the kid thanks Yusuke for saving him, and for "making faces." He clearly doesn't get what's going on here. This is confirmed as the two leave and he asks his mom if he can play with Yusuke again tomorrow. “I know some people sounded angry at him, but he’s really nice!" 

They're probably just crying because they want to play with him too, he thinks, which just makes his mom join in. Everyone is crying in this club tonight.

Those words are the cincher for Yusuke and with a brief montage of all the grief he's witnessed, he makes his decision.

We cut to later that night where Yusuke floats above the city, admiring the moon. Botan reappears and he asks, “Have you ever not known about something that seemed obvious to everyone else?” Yes, everyone has experienced that at one point or another. She asks if he's made his decision and Yusuke agrees to try and come back to life.

Emotional revelations out of the way, we're allowed another tone shift as Botan yells with joy, speeding off and causing Yusuke to grab hold of the end of her oar, lest he be left behind. Cranky as always, he demands to know where they're going. "To the spirit world, of course!" They're off to see someone who can explain the ordeal and give Yusuke the tool needed to complete it. Just hang on and enjoy the ride.

Thus ends our very first episode! Ah, the nostalgia. This is part one of a four arc series, with the anime cutting out a lot of the filler stories found at the start of the manga — a smart decision, I think. They primarily do the work of teaching Yusuke what he learned at the wake, so if you can accomplish that as quickly as the adaptation did, all the better. Especially since Yusuke needs to grow a great deal beyond the basic understanding that people might, sort of care for him, and that work will occur primarily through a job he's going to take on. The series isn't really about his death and it's not about an attempt to come back either — it's about what happens once you get that second chance. So this is the setup, but it's important setup all the same.

No need to skip ahead though. I've blathered enough for one recap. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you when the writing gods next bless me with energy! 💜

[justiceraffles]

"Hey, what if MK was a horribly written telenovela with a poorly conceived mystery storyline that's tied together in the most precarious of ways with nonsensical plotpoints and was also endgame Hakukai" So here's the start to my Hakukai longfic! I have a lot of things to say about this story so I'll just ramble about it at length beneath the cut if anyone's interested in my nonsense notes. Otherwise,

Read Here

I've been working on this thing on and off for a year and a half now, it lives rent free in my head every day and has been editted, restructured, and rewritten a lot. I've been very apprehensive about sharing it. ...To be honest, I still am! It's a chaotic story where I just allowed myself to write the most self-indulgent thing I could muster. This entire plot is an amalmagation of random things and ideas I like. It feels like a niche concept that is very messy and ???¿¿¿¿??? why did I make this

But, I guess that also makes it a very "me" story, so having fun with it and writing something that just brought me joy is what matters most, ultimately.

(aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)

I'm very thankful to everyone who has read the outline and concept for it or just listened to me ramble about the incoherent plot and characters or cheering me on when I've been kinda anxious about it— it's thanks to that support despite this being such a specific and ¿¿¿ idea that I've found the courage to actually share it. I'm very grateful and I hope you guys can enjoy something in it o)-(

So, about the fic,

It's a story about Hakuba! I think we are all well aware that jokes about his long absences and infrequent appearances are very commonplace (where in the world is hakuba saguru??? TT) and it unfortunately leads to him being forgotten and overlooked often. The initial concept that inspired this fic was "Hey, what if Hakuba stopped showing up for real?" and explore the implications this would have on the MK storyline (and Kaito, by extension). I wanted to make a plot where he was allowed to be the protagonist of his own story, highlight his worth as a detective, his role in the main narrative, and the depth of his relationship with Kaito. It's a Hakuba Saguru Appreciation fic, first and foremost!

So, the romance itself is very slow burn. There is a lot of plot, because I have a lot of fun with ridiculous, contrived stories haha. It takes a while for the story to be fully set up, and Kaito doesn't make a proper, official appearance until the end of Chapter 2.

Chapter 1 is rather lengthy and sets the context and plot from Hakuba's POV, Chapter 2 focuses on establishing where his relationship with Kaito (as well as Aoko and Akako) stands at the moment, and Chapter 3 onward starts seeing the first proper developments in the relationship.

It's a bit rocky at first and they have a lot of ups and downs but I promise they work it out (I promise!!! I swear!!!) I tried my best to maintain a balance between the fluffy and angsty moments, but I have to admit it's quite dramatic at parts lol I enjoy stupid, trashy drama a lot sometimes— this is the reason I'm calling it a bad telenovela.

Despite the fact that this is very plotty, their feelings for each other are the guiding force behind the storyline, and their relationship does take center stage later on. The romance is in no way secondary, it just takes a long while to fully develop. They most definitely get a happy ending, but you can expect this to be 95% pining.

The story starts out some years after the current events in the MK manga. Pandora hasn't been found yet, and KID is still active. On the other hand, the DC canon is used very loosely; the conflict has long since been resolved. The BO was taken down years before the start of this story.

The two plots aren't too deeply intertwined here, they just intercept at parts. References to DC events appear here and there and some elements and character interactions overlap, but they tend to be minor for the most part. This is primarily a MK story and I wasn't too worried about completely integrating both plotlines (or staying 100% accurate to the DC plot, for that matter).

Of course, because this is MK-centric, Aoko and Akako are involved with the overarching story and have major roles to play.

In terms of DC characters, Masumi, Shiho, Heiji and Shinichi play semi-prominent roles in the story. I've tagged Masumi from the getgo because she appears in the first chapter, but I'll add the others when I get to the little arcs they show up in. Save for some specific contributions they have, they aren't too deeply involved with the overall plot progression, but the interactions Hakuba has with them are important for his character development and his better understanding of his relationship with Kaito. Basically each of these characters gets some sort of little story arc in which they interact with/help Hakuba in some way. I arbitrarily chose who I wanted him to interact with, lol.

Speaking of arbitrary decisions— Miss Masumi!!!! She's the first character that shows up in this and interacts with Hakuba. I understand this is probably a strange choice. Because I really wanted to flesh out Hakuba's detective methods and life in London a little more, I decided to use the very what if headcanon of Hakuba's maternal family and the Sera family being acquainted with each other. Like I said before, I didn't really want to connect DC and MK plots thoroughly, so the Akai family plotline isn't at all relevant here beyond a couple of passing mentions. I was mostly interested in Hakuba having an MI6 connection without the need of using another OC and I just wanted to imagine what a hypothetical dynamic between him and Masumi would be like.

And then, OCs. There's a couple of OCs with pretty major roles here as well. Really major— probably in equal measure to Aoko and Akako. I apologise in advance! I really needed them to properly build the detective/mystery aspect of the plot, and the more I wrote, the more they became involved with the story and relationship progression TT I really enjoyed writing them a lot, and I'm satisfied with how they turned out here. I understand OCs with prominent roles aren't everyone's cup of tea, though. Even though I enjoyed writing them, I'm a little self-conscious about how relevant they ended up being when they were originally just going to be there as a plot device to kickstart things ;;; Hopefully someone can find enjoyment in them nonetheless. They are most heavily involved with the story after the midpoint, but they appear all throughout.

I'm really nervous about the choices to have Masumi and major OCs in this story...I understand it is likely these things will make this story a little too niche. But!!!!!!!!! Again!!!!!!!!!!!!! Having fun with it is what matters most Raffles!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get that through your thick skull!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, please expect the most convoluted explanation to Pandora. There is a lot of made up lore I had a blast writing but it's all probably needlessly complicated.

In summary, it's a detective story starring Hakuba that somehow ended up reading like a dramatic post-breakup/getting back together soap opera.

A significant portion of this has been prewritten, so my (ideal) plan is to have weekly or biweekly updates (but hmmmm let's see how long that lasts until I decide to scrap and rewrite everything out of embarrassment— this is very likely, I second-guess myself a lot)

I keep dragging it through the mud, but I've actually had a blast writing it, even though there's A Lot going on and I'm not very confident in it being decent enough to share.

With all that, I hope someone else can maybe find some enjoyment reading it.

[elpercotreviews]

Reviewing My Anime 10/10's *Relatively* Spoiler-Free

Note: What I rank a 10/10 is very specific and obviously very subjective to my own. Something can only be a 10/10 if I already consider it a 9/10 AND I must have rewatched it. I am someone who typically does not rewatch/reread anything, unless it's something I truly absolutely enjoy. With that being said, because of the requirements, I only have 4 animes that I rank 10/10, and tbh only one of those animes would get that ranking from the general anime audience. The rest are SO SO SO specific to my particular tastes that I would be absolutely stunned if someone also had the same four as me, because the requirement is so specific. Imma make another post eventually for my 9/10's because I think that list makes a lot more sense for a general anime audience lmaooo.

Soooo, in order of least personal to most personal (although obviously they're all personal to me lol) we have:

1. Psycho-Pass

Recommended for people who: are really into that dark dystopian future society vibes, are fans of Ghost in the Shell, like detective/crime stories

Okay, for a few people, this one actually probably makes some sense. At the moment, it has an 8.37 on myanimelist which means this anime is super well liked. I've watched this anime twice, first the original and then the second time I watched the director's cut (yes that exists lol). Overall, I'm a huge fan of the entire Psycho-Pass anime series as a whole. I've watched all three seasons, as well as two of the movies. I didn't watch any of the Sinners of the System ones cuz tbh I literally couldn't find an english sub of that anywhere, it just doesn't exist lol. I think it's okay cuz the ratings for the Sinners of the System trio of movies seems meh. I've actually watched Psycho-Pass the Movie like three/four times LMAO but that's simply cuz a movie is obviously much quicker to watch than an entire anime season. Like just objectively, the Psycho Pass series as a whole is very inconsistent in quality due to the fact that it's all original, so they do technically just make up everything as they go lol. Season two is all right (I think it gets more hate than it should), three is good but season one by far is the absolute best in the entire series. I'd argue the movie is technically my absolute favorite out of the whole IP, but I actually give the movie an 8/10. The movie, because of being obviously way shorter, simply does not have the deep controversial and philosophical lines of thought that season one has. It lacks that extra depth that would make me put it anything higher than an 8. The two main characters have good chemistry as a crime-fighting duo and the main villain's rivalry/relationship with the male lead is super compelling. The female lead is meant to be relatively naive/more on the innocent side which works with the plot as it allows the show to naturally explain and give more exposition as to the actual world and rules of Psycho-Pass without having it seem so ham-fisted or just throwing info to the audience.

2. Violet Evergarden

Recommended for people who: cry to sad movies, like gorgeous animation, are very empathetic, like vignette-esque storytelling

All right if you even remotely consider yourself an avid anime fan, then this anime is probably also somewhere on your 10/10 list or at least an anime you consider to be "very good." That is, unless you are that very vocal minority who simply really just REALLY do not like this anime for some god forsaken reason. However, in my honest opinion, I think an anime like this just really doesn't sit well with ... how do I put this blunty ... people who do not give a fuck about other people or anyone else's feelings but their own. Basically, IF YOU ARE SELFISH, A NARCISSIST, EGOTISTICAL, OR ANY SORT OF COMBO OF THOSE THREE, YOU WILL NOT LIKE THIS ANIME. And if you do, you probably don't think you're any of those things. Because of the anime's very premise, I find it very difficult to see a very self-centered/heartless person particularly enjoying this anime. The whole premise of this anime is that the main character who, because of her upbringing, doesn't understand feelings/emotions, especially the concept of love, grows as a human and slowly begins to learn what love is. The show does this by showing multiple sets of characters meant to represent different types of love (romantic, familial, platonic, etc). The vocal minority of people I've seen give Violet Evergarden bad ratings all typically argue that although beautiful, the anime doesn't have any substance/doesn't really mean anything. If that's honestly all you got after watching the entire show, then you deadass just don't get it, and you probably will never ever get it. If you've seen or heard of Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song, than just know that these two animes are VERY very similar in vibe despite being technically different genres. However, I personally found the themes and concepts in Vivy are done much more masterfully in Violet Evergarden which I think is due to Vivy's heavier focus on a story-driven overarching plot/action as opposed to Violet Evergarden's focus more on emotional impact/an episodic format. I've watched the entire series and I've rewatched the main show twice. TBH you can probably skip the gaiden movie AKA the one set at the girl's academy it was highkey pointless. Compared to the opera episode they added as a "special", the gaiden movie was still good but I wish resources were dedicated to something that actually added to the story. ALSO YES I KNOW ITS A GAIDEN AKA A SIDE STORY AKA FILLER SO YES NO DUH IT DIDNT ADD ANYTHING, BUT STILL. As for the main show, I think I cried for three episodes (the one about the playwright/author I forgot lol, the mother and daughter, and the soldier). On my rewatch, I didn't cry but I still deeply cared for and related to the characters. Violet Evergarden is a beautiful anime with a beautiful story.

3. ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu Ka

Recommended for people who: like bread and bakeries, don't mind a very chill and slow-paced story, like stories about political intrigue and hidden agendas

Based on a relatively short manga, ACCA: 13 follows the main character Jean Otus as he performs his job of auditing the 13 districts of his country Dowa, while rumors and politics brew in the background that threaten to entangle Jean into a complicated plot. To be honest, I think properly reviewing this anime is impossible for me, because I just can't really explain the vibes of this anime besides "chill" and "intriguing." I think trying to explain anything more than the basic premise I just wrote would spoil a lot of what ACCA is, because it's plot is actually relatively quite simple and straightforward. Compared to Psycho-Pass which has a relatively good cult following, and Violet Evergarden which is universally praised, ACCA is an anime that I've yet to personally meet anyone who has ever even heard of it LMAOO. And almost everyone I know watches anime, so that's saying something oof. ACCA is made by Madhouse, which if you don't know, is a super well known anime studio, producing big hits such as Death Note, Hunter x Hunter, One Punch Man, etc. That's why I'm surprised that ACCA has flown just SO under the radar, but that may be due to the overalls nature of the anime itself. ACCA is an anime where all the characters hold their card close and no one seems to really share their real thoughts. One main criticism the anime has is the lack of deeper connections to characters and that for a main character, Jean Otus is very bland. To be honest, I think that's a very fair criticism and I can understand why this would prevent people from rating this anime higher than an 8 or 7. Due to the very nature of the anime and its plot, I do agree that there is a huge cast of colorful characters that we unfortunately don't really get to know more about. To be honest though, I don't mind this because I feel that's honestly quite realistic, especially factoring in Jean's job. All these places he's going and all these people he's meeting, it's literally just his job. He's not on vacation, these people aren't his friends, so the anime has no real reason to dwell much longer on places past its specific episode. Just like in real life, you encounter so many people and go past so many places that you probably won't ever see again. So for me personally, I didn't mind that the anime didn't explicitly show much about the backstories or lives of the cast, save for the very main characters (as their backstories were plot relevant). I think as viewers of not simply an anime, but a whole other world, I think it should be satisfactory to inherently understand that these are whole "people" who have entire lives that we are not exactly privy to. So although admittedly our understanding of many of the characters was all around quite shallow, I think that works for the scope of the anime, which was relatively simple and focused on just Jean living his life and the political plot stirring in the background until it was brought forward in the second half of the anime. Also I love Jean Otus. I actually completely absolutely adore him. He is literally my profile pic for myanimelist LMAO. I think calling him "bland" is fair from other people's perspectives, especially as the supposed main character of an ANIME, but I feel that if ACCA was in a different format like a novel, I think his personality would have been less criticized. Like I said, I love him soo much. I don't find him bland at all, but actually very interesting and highkey attractive LOL (if only he'd quit smoking but it's part of his charm 😞). Yes for an anime "protagonist," he is quite underwhelming especially compared to others, but I think that makes him very charming!!! Like all he wants to do is just chill, vibe, and do his job lmaooo. I think as a person, he’s very charismatic, and in the world of ACCA the rest of the characters see that as well. Because like, if he really were such a bland person, why would so many people like him and actually trust him lol? As for why it’s technically my favorite anime of all time (my ultimate one is a movie), I can’t give super detailed reasons why to be honest. I just really like the overall vibes of the anime itself, and I think the anime is just super unique and original. I’ve watched a ton of anime over the years, but I’ve genuinely seen nothing like ACCA in the slightest. I mean, just look at the recommended animes on the myanimelist. The recommended animes are all stuff I’ve also personally really liked (like fugou keiji unlimited and the great pretender) but yeah there’s just truly nothing that’s close to what ACCA is, and because of that, it reminds my absolute favorite anime show. I’ve seen the dub and the sub, even though I am a vehement dub hater lmaooo (except for very few circumstances, and this also applies to all non-English media, not just anime). There was only one thing in the entire show that slightly confused me/ seemed slightly unbelievable and I won’t spoil but it had something to do with the overall timeline of some events, but it doesn’t detract from the story at all. Oh and the art style! I really love the art style of the anime. It stays pretty true to the manga, but is also just an overall kind of art style I really like. I really enjoy the more like 2d/flat/drawn art style versus really clean and really detailed stuff, and I’m typically not a big fan of very obvious use of CGI (unless done tastefully like in Demon Slayer). All the backgrounds in ACCA have this painted/drawn style and the anime itself has this like muted(?) filter over it that makes the anime seem like someone’s drawings just put up on display in a way that’s really refreshing and nice. I highly recommend this story for anyone who wants a breath of fresh air and to get away from the typical action-packed high energy of big name anime.

4. From Up on Poppy Hill

Imma make a whole separate post JUST for this movie so I can explain why I love this movie so so much. And honestly, Imma need a whole separate post in the first place to address the elephant in the room when it comes to this movie (if you’ve seen it, then you know what I’m talking about). And if you’ve haven’t seen the movie, maybe you’ve heard about one of its controversial themes. I’m not gonna say what it is, cuz I KNOW it’ll be super off-putting for a lot of people, but please omg just hear me out. I just love this movie so so much. I’ve seen it like 7 times and counting. I have it downloaded on my computer and on a flash drive. I’ve watched the sub AND the dub however I’ve stopped watching the dub because it makes me sad every time I hear Shun’s voice actor ;-; This movie is legit an honest-to-god comfort movie for me that I could watch over and over and I’ll fall in love with it again each and every time. And once again IMMA MAKE A WHOLE SEPARATE POST BECAUSE I SWEAR PEOPLE ARE GONNA BE LIKE “Yo ain’t this the movie with the -----” and it’s like PLEASE LET ME EXPLAIN. The vibes of this movie, the themes it addresses (yes even THAT theme), the music, the art, the characters, is perfectly presented in a way that I will never stop watching this movie. The only other film that has come close to the amount of times I’ve watched From Up on Poppy Hill would be Legally Blonde lmaooooo. 

[nzvalley]

Rewatching some Star Trek: Enterprise

It’s been a long time since I have done one of these posts. What I kind of expected to happen did happen: once I hit season 3 and saw the network meddling, Trip/T’Pol, and the radical shift in tone of the series, it was hard to keep going. But I’m hoping to power through this season, and get to the much improved fourth season.

Just to remind anyone who is here for the first time. I’m doing a rewatch/analysis around the Archer/T’Pol friendship/partnership/relationship, based on my favorite episodes. I will be focusing on them, because that’s the aspect of the show in which I’m more interested.

Catch up on my previous rewatch posts here!

There will also be spoilers, not just for this episode but for the whole show.

Twilight (3x08)

Even though this is easily the shippiest episode for Archer/T’Pol, this isn’t one I automatically turn on when I’m doing a rewatch.

In part, it’s just too sad to rewatch frequently. Partly because it gets total forgotten with no impact on canon. It’s also just an annoying reminder of when the show and these characters were in a much better place.

However, it’s a really great episode overall and for Archer/T’Pol. It reminds the audience of how devoted T’Pol is to Archer specifically, calling back to T’Pol’s speech to Archer before following him into the Expanse. It feels out of place to the rest of the season, like it could have been written before the network mandates.

Just next episode (“Similitude”) we get a T/T’P plot that is equally a standout episode, but which is fully in everybody’s memories and has lasting impacts on the season. This contrast illustrates the suddenly differing priorities of this season.

Up until now, it’s worth reminding, the backbone of the show was how the relationship between Archer and T’Pol (and Shran!) shaped the formation of the Federation. But even in the worst of times, there seems to be a contingent in the writers room who still felt as strongly about Archer/T’Pol as they did in the first two seasons.

The start hooks you in immediately, with Archer’s confusion mirroring our own. Archer stumbles (shirtless!) into Captain T’Pol’s bridge. Seeing T’Pol commanding in her own right is so cool.

After the frantic and engaging teaser, we get a massive time jump. A gray-haired Archer wakes and makes his way through a home he doesn’t remember. He finds a devoted… caretaker… whose effort he can’t fully appreciate yet.

The altered dynamic immediately apparent between Archer and T’Pol, and the obvious changes in her look and demeanor, set the tone for the rest of the episode. Jolene Blalock is amazing as usual. She can play any version of T’Pol. There are great performances throughout, especially by Jolene and Scott.

Pretty much everything in this episode, barring the initial crisis itself and T’Pol’s accident, aren’t canon. As far as I can tell, not even the main two remember the alternate timeline, except maybe on an unconscious level. It’s one of those stories that gets completely stricken from the record, which is why it’s hard to fully appreciate.

Archer saving T’Pol at his own expense reminds the audience of how much he cares. Although it gets erased T’Pol repays that sacrifice in turn, devoting her life to his care.

Phlox’s dedication to finding a cure for Archer, and his overall concern, is another aspect of this episode that’s awesome. For me, the trio of Arhcer/T’Pol/Phlox was always the most interesting.

This episode shows one nearly concrete future where the Xindi win, showing how fragile the mission remains. The slow reveal of how complete the Xindi victory was, and the fragility of their settlement, is nice. This storyline was ahead of its time. Just a few years later BSG told a similar story, though much better and in a much-expanded manner.

Jolene does a good job, but has to explain so much story in so little time. This story seems like it should have been given more time to breathe, like it should’ve played out over 3 or 4 episodes. At least one more!’

T’Pol and Soval always have great scenes.

T’Pol: I won’t leave them. Soval: Them? Or Him?

T’Pol reiterates her choice of Archer and the humans over her own species, much as she did when initially choosing to join the mission to the Expanse.

T’Pol reveals she knows Archer’s deepest secrets now, even the proposal that was rejected because Margaret Mullen didn’t want to become a Starfleet widow. Has T’Pol made herself into a kind of Starfleet widow?

“Our relationship has… evolved over the years.”

Future Phlox is looking sharp. T’Pol’s hope about the treatment shines through.

Captain Tucker! Malcolm’s goatee!

Given the seeming romantic bias of the writer, it’s not all that surprising Trip/T’Pol sours pretty quickly in this timeline. Not only did T’pol and Trip’s dalliance fall apart, but they have seemingly stayed apart for years. T’Pol and her concern continues to follow Archer.

I may have missed similar instances before, but T’Pol’s casual, intimate, comforting touch in private is so cute. And a great visual indicator of how much T’Pol has grown. Archer seems on the verge of broaching the topic of the intimacy when he starts, “If this works…”

T’Pol once again turns down a chance to leave Archer’s side, even after he has seemingly healed.

Phlox: I understand I may have a passenger on my voyage home T’Pol: I’m remaining at the settlement for the time being. He may need my help during his recovery. Phlox: Have you told the Captain how you feel about him? It’s obvious you’ve become quite attached.

The blitz of exposition from Phlox and T’Pol to Trip about changing the past… there’s just so much going on in this episode. This story needed at least one more episode… Or maybe this could have been the plot to an Enterprise movie. Which still could work, given that the narrative necessitates the actors be older for most of it.

General Shran!

The bridge is gone. There are so many intense and devastating moments here… and then it all gets totally erased! Ugh.

Archer remains self-sacrificing to the end, deciding to just blow himself up if that’ll destroy the parasites. Ultimately saving the timeline through the same impulse that set it astray in the first place. He tries to get Phlox and T’Pol to save themselves, but they remain as steadfastly loyal as they have ever been. I love these three so much!

All three die carrying through the mission to the end. Phlox, then T’Pol, then Archer. Archer and T’Pol fall together and are laying together when this timeline comes to and end. The closest the ship ever came to being canon… and poof it’s gone.

There’s a tag at the end that’s real, with T’Pol admonishing Archer that he should have left her in the hallway accident that initially debilitated him. This calls back to her similar claim after her experiences on the Selaya. Archer, who has been isolating himself and becoming more ruthless, reverts back to his old self when it comes to T’Pol.

T’Pol: You could have been seriously injured. I told you to leave me behind. Archer: Fortunately, I don’t take orders from you. T’Pol: I believe you wanted to see this? Archer: Rosemary’s Baby? T’Pol: You were obviously looking forward to it. And since you’re not going to be able to attend tonight… Archer: Thanks.

T’Pol is always there for her Captain, whatever the situation! But the second half of the scene kind of ruins the sentiment. For as good as the rest of the episode is, this end scene is muddled in terms of what tone the writer was going for. I don’t think the actors quite got it either. It seems like Archer repays T’Pol’s kindness by being a brat. And when he drops a ‘nurse’ line… do they remember on some level? Or was that just for the audience? Either way, it’s a weirdly comedic end to a heart-wrenching and emotional episode.

[unnursvanablog]

My Dearest / kdrama review.

This is just my opinions on the kdrama My Dearest pretty much spoiler free.

What both stunned and impressed me the most about the kdrama My Dearest, right at the very start, was how focused it was on the ordinary people and how they deal with war. And what the war does to them. It makes it less of a war epic and more of a human tale of self-preservation and hope at a trying time. which I found to be quite a fresh approach to this kind of historical drama, although many will no doubt find it rather slow and dry in its execution and style.

The story is ruthless in its realism and harshness with how it seems to paint the world. The narrative is very willing to comment on several aspects within society that it tells it's tale, the nobility and their uselessness, the lack of care that a certain position within society seems to push into you for the people that live around them, as well as society's attitude towards women in wartimes and just their position in society both outside of that as well. The way it uses these elements to shape itself, the details it shares throughout the story is very tangible, interesting but also poignant. It is incredibly well thought out and effective within the narrative to stir up further emotions both with the characters and the viewers.

These are not the heroes that poems are sung about, but seem to be more everyday heroes of the common folk. Most of their influence is not great within the grand scheme of things, but it is the people who knew them who will always remember them with kindness and love. They are the ones who will tell the stories about them until they disappear from human memory and are forgotten.

At some point, despite their intelligence and strength, as the war and the hardships seem to tighten more and more around them, the characters seem to wear down a bit. But they never lose who they are, their will to fight but how they go about fighting, how they deal with situations changes a little. All that happens very slowly and works very realistically within the story. It's a really well-handled look at character, as well as how normal people deal with such situations.

The characters do feel sharp and manage to be both a fresh take on the traditional characters that we get in a Korean historical dramas, but at the same time they have quite a bit of the characteristics that we are used to seeing; Jang-hyun may come across as smug and aloof, and Gil-chae may come across as snobbish and somewhat self-interested. But there's a lot more to them and their flaws are very presant within the story. Overall there are plenty of multi-layered characters that make My Dearest a rather worthwhile and heart-wrenching watch. Everyone has something to say in their own way and all have some point to emphasize within the story. The story touches your heart from beginning to end if people just allow themselves to enter this cruel, realistic world with these characters as a guiding light.

The plot itself goes through its ups and downs, and it does hit a bit of a lull within the second half where the story tends to repeat itself quite often. Characters almost miss each other a few times over the course of few episodes in order to create tension and longing within the viewers, and since the story is already slow by nature it might make some people really struggle. It makes it seem like the story has lost steam and doesn't really pick up fully until right near the end. But if the characters manage to grab you and make you completely fall for them in the first half of the story, it's perfectly tolerable.

The story never seems to fall into being too epic or too grandiose in its approach to the narrative, as some costume dramas tend to do to make their heroes seem bigger. Much rather My Dearest seems so focused on being realistic and grounded in reality like it has a bit of an obsession with the human spirit and the lengths to which people will go to survive. It run through the very heart of the series. And the love story, which is really successful on its own, reflects that. It's very slow and down to earth and it's quite unusual for a kdrama in lots of ways.

The story takes its time, sometimes excessively so, and repeats itself a bit too often, but even if it takes the story a good while it manages to underline every point that the drama set out to make really well. The story always seemed to know what it wanted to say. And the humanity that this series carries with it and manages to reflect within the narrative does make you cry many times. It's gorgeous, it's heartwarming and filled with hope for brighter days that is always enveloped by a little bit of sadness.

[prioritysope]

Cheating

Reader: Female

Character: Oikawa Tooru

Rating: Explicit

Chapter: 13/26

read the prologue first!

"What do you want to see, Kawa?" Gaby asked with a small smile on her lips. She sat down on the couch, quite close to Oikawa. She was only wearing a somewhat transparent robe and Oikawa only had gray sweatpants, with his torso totally exposed.

Tooru grimaced, pretending he was thinking.

"You have long told me to see Boku No Hero Academia with you, I think it's time to please you." He murmured, placing her left arm around Gaby's shoulders so that he was closer to her body.

Everything was very quiet. Oikawa managed to understand the plot of the anime, not that it was so difficult to understand. He played with Gaby's loose hair while he watched television in full concentration. Surprisingly, they were both focused. Less in the parts that Bakugou Katsuki came out. Gaby was a bundle of small cries and sighs of a teenage girl in love.

"Simp." Tooru whispered, laughing at the brunette's reactions to a simple character. He admitted that Bakugou was so well drawn and looked extremely attractive.

Gaby simply ignored him, while continuing to comment on any of the characters.

"Did Deku really hold onto All Might's leg? All for talking to him." Tooru spoke again, letting out another laugh.

"It's quite funny the faces that he does just because he did not close his mouth and eyes." Gaby answered, following his laugh and giving him a couple of hits on his thigh.

----

It's only been an hour and a half since they started watching anime, and they were already on episode five. Gaby was very entertained, and being a total simp. Which made Oikawa desperate, even though he knew he didn't have to get jealous over a stupid 2D character. However, hearing her talk so much about each character and sometimes blurting things out in a double sense, made him want to fill that little mouth with his cock, so that she would shut up for a while.

He didn't wait long to take her by the neck, squeezing it a little to make her look into his eyes.

Tooru didn't wait long to take her by the neck, squeezing it a little to make her look into his eyes. With his other hand, he pulled Gaby up onto his lap. Still her right hand on her neck, he brought her face closer. Her lips inches away. After a few minutes, he planted her lips on hers in a hungry kiss. He loosened her hand from her throat, lowering her to her chest, squeezing one breast. Oikawa left a hard slap on Gaby's ass.

She let out a loud whimper, holding on to Tooru's broad shoulders.

"Please, Kawa." She whispered. Feeling her heart beat slamming against her rib cage. Her whole body falling into some kind of trance of the thicker the veil of arousal clouding her brain becomes.

"Atta girl." Tooru sighed and leans back with a soft sigh falling past those plump limps and for some reason, the way he pulls the soft flesh in between his teeth easily elicits a single whimper from her throat. "Tell me what you want, come on, little cutie." He encourages her and caresses her naked thighs with his thumbs; his delicate touch drives Gaby mad to the point of insanity.

Gaby let her fingers find home in his brown curls.

"Right now, I want to suck your cock." She whispered against his plump lips, giving a short kiss.

"Then, get on your knees." Oikawa demanded, releasing the brunette's body and putting his hands on the sofa.

However, it was kinda crazy how her pussy was clenching around nothing. All because of Oikawa's dominating attitude. She was fascinated by that side of him. Gaby sighed, getting off Tooru's lap. She knelt between his legs. Oikawa opened his legs a little more and she took the elastic of the sweatpants next to the boxers, while Oikawa lifted his pelvis a little, to make it easier for her. His hard cock slammed into his abdomen, swollen and a little pre-cum spilling from the tip.

"Don't drool, pretty one." Tooru teased, placing his right hand on Gaby's cheek, caressing it with his thumb. "I can see how you want me, princess." He removed his hand from her, laying it back on the couch.

Gaby tensed her thighs, rubbing it together in a attempt to alleviate the arousal pooling in her panties.

She took his dick, beginning to slowly masturbating it, without taking her eyes off the brunette. Gaby gave Tooru a flirtatious smile before running her tongue from the base to the tip of it, giving circle movements. Her free hand rested on his thigh as Oikawa hisses with a sharp breath. With a hand against the base, pulling back to work him with a few strokes and stopping only when his cock is sticky and slick with her spit. Tooru rolls his eyes when she pump him shallowly, sliding her toungue over the dripping slit. "Feels good, Daddy?"

Oikawa's face darkens scarily fast, fingers digging into her hair at the new title for him. It sparks something, spreading like wildfire in his brown eyes and Gaby knew she have him right where she wanted. Gaby had never called him like that, but the heat she's feeling at the moments haves her overwhelming.

Tooru's fingers dig loosely into her hair but his other hand guides his cock towards her mouth, slapping it over her lips. "Open up."

A small smile appears on Gaby's lips before she opens her mouth, totally happy to receive his thick cock in her mouth. Shocks of pleasure invaded her body, from head to toe, at the authority dripping from his tone.

Gaby twitch with every thrust, choking on a few gags whenever he strays too deep and nudges the back of her throat. She lowered her hands down Oikawa's thighs, bringing them to her own lap. Over the robe, she pressed against her clit, desperate for friction in that area. "Don't you dare," Oikawa grinds out, fucking in hard, "Put those hands where I can see them."

Tooru drew back, leaving his gentle side for a brutal one, using her throat at his own pleasure, taking some of the air out of her lungs. It was hard to keep her eyes open, especially when he's adamant on rolling to the back of her skull as he keep using her throat.

"There you go, pretty girl." He grunts, burying himself in your mouth. Gaby swallow, choking on a gag as he forces himself deeper, until her lips stretch around the base and your nose brushes in his pelvis.

Gaby tries to hold herself steady– curling her finger toes against the floor at her thighs where he'd told her to keep them. Tooru chuckle her every cry–prying open her jaw with the thick shape of his cock but the moans are what finally send him over the edge.

"That's it. Take it." Oikawa barks, panting. His hands curls around her head, hair tight in his grip when he wrenches it back and he leans his back against the sofa. "Don't you dare spill any of it, do you hear me?"

Gaby's mouth is too full to speak but she go lax in response, looking up at him with teary eyes and a nod. After a few more thrust he spills, burying as deep as possible. He pulses hot over her tongue, deep enough for her to miss the taste but when Oikawa pulls out in rapid succession it's to let the rest splatter over her face.

She keeped her tongue out obediently, eyes falling shut when Tooru finally finishes with a shaky groan. He pulls away a few seconds later, chest heaving lightly as he tucks himself back into his sweatpants, wipping away the mess painted across Gaby's face. "My good girl." He breathes, smiling softly.

"Is that all you got, Daddy?" Gaby whispered, raising an eyebrow. She wanted Oikawa to give his all.

Tooru laughed at her rhetorical question. He took her again by her neck, bringing their faces closer. Their lips totally brushing. "Do you still want me to fuck you?" He said on hers lips, before kissing her roughly, but quickly. "What a cockhungry slut, aren't ya?"

He signals Gaby with his fingers to get up and he do the same. His hands went to rest on her waist, beginning to leave wet kisses down her neck and shoulders. As she could, he helped her to remove her robe, leaving only her panties. One of his hands traveled over the brunette's breasts, ending up in her underwear. Two of his fingers slid down her wet folds, making gentle circles on her clit and then going to her entrance, giving a little bit of pressure. After a couple of seconds, he inserted one of his fingers first, causing Gaby to squirm a bit, feeling Oikawa's bare chest on her back.

"Kawa–" Gaby whimpered softly.

He teases the spot– doesn't stop his slow, coaxing motions. "So wet," he purrs into her ear, huffing out a laugh when her moans reverberates through him, "So tight, too."

"Tooru!" The plea of his name is mindless, wrung free from the overwhelming need that cascades over Gaby. Oikawa holds her steady, even when her entire body trembles and threatens to drop when he finally slips another finger into her dripping cunt, still giving wet kisses down her neck.

"I'm gonna stuff this pretty little cunt of yours to the brim with my cock." He whispered, curling his fingers. Gaby's legs are already shaking, half of the time it would have normally taken and he supposes that's all he needs to know.

"Pretty please, Daddy!" She grinds out, a bitter noise spilling from your clenched teeth. It was embarrassing how quickly he drags her to the edge, pumping his fingers a few more testing times just to feel way her cunt tightens, walls fluttering around them when prods at the spot that makes her eyes sting. "Fuck me senseless."

"So I want you lying on the dining room table, legs spread for me." Tooru ordered, his voice completely husky as he spanked her ass, after removing his fingers from inside her. Those two fingers, he brought them to his mouth, moaning at the taste of her. "You taste so good, pretty one."

Gaby just nodded, to finish removing her panties and go quickly to the dining room table, leaning on it and spread her legs. She could feel the wetness of it on her thighs, which made her feel somewhat embarrassed. Oikawa took off the sweatpants along with the boxers, leaving them next to the other clothes that were on the floor. He walked slowly towards her, a somewhat sadistic smile on his lips.

Tooru took her right leg, resting it on his shoulder. From her place, he could see her entire body. That body that drove him completely crazy. He could have her like this every day and never get tired. It was like an addiction, but a good one. Oikawa with his left hand aligned the tip of her cock at her entrance while his right hand squeezed the thigh of the leg that was raised, burying his fingers a little. With a single thrust, he thrust inside her. The tight walls of her pussy, gently molded to her size. If not because he had self-control, he would bealready thrusting into her instantly without mercy; however, he doesn't want to hurt her either.

"Kawa-" She moaned softly again.

"Don't worry, baby." He leans in to give her kisses all over her face, ending on her lips. "I'll take good care of you." He groans against her ear at the tighness of her dripping cunt.

She cling to him as best as she can, a warbled moan of Oikawa as he begins rolling his hips into her, nipping at her ear. He pushes himself up, pounding into the wet heat with a force that makes her yelp, scrambling and raking nails down his back. The red welts rise immediately, tearing a groan free from him.

"So good, Tooru." She whined, high and heedy. Her head falls back, neck craning when she push up to meet him, rolling her hips as best as she can. Oikawa drops to her shoulder, panting hot into her ear as faint groans slip free and go straight to your core. "So good- I can't."

He loves seeing her become a nonsense babbling mess from his cock. Gaby let out a row of moans and little cries, telling Tooru how much he's stretching her insides.

"You're doing so well, taking my fat cock like a good girl. You got this." He praise her, bringing his left hand to her cunt, to give gentle caresses in circles to her neglected clit.

With every inch, she felt herself growing more and more breathless; the feeling of being stuffed so full completely overwhelming her and while she's trying her best to keep her noises and cries down, Oikawa cannot get himself to look away from the spot where their bodies are connecting.

"I wanna completely destroy this cute cunt of yours, pretty girl." He grunts pulling his cock out a little bit to observe her juices coating his skin in the prettiest shades of white.

Gaby sob at his words, pleasure from the stretch sending her into a haze of pure ecstacy and she found herself struggling to form a proper sentence. It takes him a couple of seconds to bottoming her out again. Both of them groaning and moaning at the feeling of Oikawa's cock grazing the entrance of her womb and Gaby can't help but clench around him even more.

Tooru's thrust are harsh, they're rough and fast; with every single snap of his hips, he elicits a loud moan and makes sure to graze the entrance to her womb all while nudging their noses; a gesture so soft compared to the harshness of his fucking.

"That's it, baby." He smiles and looks at her. "Be a good girl and cum all over my cock, hm? I know you can do it." And by the time those words manage to reach her foggy brain. she's already arching her back as a huge wake of pleasure hits Gaby in the best yet worst way possible.

However, Oikawa is just as close to finish too.

His movemenst have grown sloppier, less controlled; his moans louder, grunts deeper, growls heavier. He's barely talking to her anymore as the pleasure takes over every single one of his nerves and his cock starts throbbing more and more with every single one of his thrust.

"Daddy, please cum inside of me. I need you to breed me." Her words are slurred and barely coherent.

She tries her best to watch the way his cheeks blush even harder as he bites hips lips, spurting his creamy cum inside of her tight walls with a row of soft grunts and heavy breaths.

"You were so good for me, baby." He said, massaging the skin of her thighs in his big hands. Later he pulls out, watching how a little bit of his cum comes out of her cunt.

He starts caressing her tummy softly, his calloused hands giving goosebumps over Gaby's skin and easily fills her chest with that certain warmth.

"What if we take a shower together?" Gaby offered with a tired smile.

Oikawa gave her a soft kiss, nodding after pulling away from her.