#the only alternate medium I would accept for night flowers. is a musical.

[obstinaterixatrix]

the thing about story mediums is that I don’t consider myself having ‘control’ per se over the best medium for a story. if it comes out better in writing that’s how it’s meant to be, if it comes out better in visuals that’s how it’s meant to be. sometimes there’s overlap like drawing comics or writing scenes but there’s A Reason it ends up one way or another. that’s just how the story comes out.

[purintarts]

Planning the wedding (RFA+Minors)

YOOSUNG

He'll sit down with you at a cafe while planning with you over cakes and coffee

He'll recommend you the contacts he found or known from his research

Yes, he did research

You two will discuss both of your research for the halls, wedding outfits, food and guest lists

"This hall is great since it's big enough and cheap"

"But is it good though?"

"Don't worry about it MC, I had look through the reviews and all of them is positive"

Probably won't hire a wedding planner since he feels that planning it on your own together creates a deeper bond and teamwork

Wherever you go, he will be there

"We're in this together" he always said

The wedding would be small with only the family, friends and co-workers

He managed to get a dog to bring the rings

Serious Yoosung is hot Yoosung and it's a different serious when he was working

He was passionate to make this thing work and look like your dream wedding

You guys managed to quite a sum of money for the house since the cost of the wedding wasn't that expensive

He felt so proud when he sees the outcome from your teamwork

ZEN

Sponsors

So many sponsors

There were quite a lot of people who wanted to sponsor the wedding

From halls to cakes to flowers- anything that could be market on

At first he didn't want to take any of the sponsors since he wanted to work for it himself

But when he saw how your eyes sparkled at one of the big famous wedding dress brand in the country who wanted to sponsor the outfits

He had to give in for that one

Hired a wedding planner since he would be busy before the wedding starts to gain more money

He didn't want to tire you out by planning alone

So the wedding planner would come on set in between takes to get his thoughts

When he has an off day, he'll make sure to get most things done within the day

"I'm sorry I can't be with you at all times"

"It's okay Zenny, I'll get you all to myself during the honeymoon"

"A-ahh... babe... I'm having perverted thoughts now"

"Save it for the honeymoon"

The wedding was medium sized with family, friends and co-workers

One of his actor friends became the emcee while one of his idol friend volunteered to sing for the first dance

Zen felt glad he accepted the wedding gown sponsor since you look perfect in the dress

For working so hard, the company gifted him tickets for the honeymoon

The CEO gave the tickets with a wink

Fantastic

JAEHEE

The wedding was planned perfectly

You both know what you wanted so all that's left is to get it

Hired a wedding planner to save time and it's faster

It will be small with only the family and closest friends

Wedding gown shopping!

You both chose something that reflects yourself

"Should we make those photo slides?"

"I see why not"

You two will cuddle on the couch while deciding on which cake flavour to choose to the colours

"Let's make it 7 layers with 7 colours"

"Rainbow cake?"

"Yes!!"

She'll get stressed if it's not going to plan but so you have to console her

But things turned out perfect at the end

JUMIN

Money isn't an issue that's for sure

You didn't dream of an extravagant wedding but Jumin couldn't help it

Hired one of the best wedding planner in town

He wanted to buy your wedding gown overseas but you beg to differ

"What if there are alternations to be made? We won't make it in time and waste time on the flight"

"...very well"

Still from the best shop in the country

It was rushed and a shot gun wedding

There were rumours 'Han Jumin knocked her out and she's pregnant'

And you were.... with food

Jumin had cleared out his schedule after lunch for the whole week to settle everything

You feel bad since he'll work in the mornings, plan the wedding in the afternoon and at night he'll be in the office to clear his documents

"Jumin, I can handle this one. We can decide it now and I'll just send in the orders when I go"

"No, it's alright, I shall come"

"But you're so busy! You hardly sleep Jumin"

"I won't sleep either after the wedding since we're going to our honeymoon"

that earned you blushing

"I have to settle things before I go for the long break, I'll be fine"

The wedding was big but Jumin tried to keep it small as possible with family, friends and close business partners.

It was truly elegant and fairytale like

707

You didn't thought there was going to be a wedding but Seven proved you wrong

He wanted a wedding, to exchange vows properly

It was small and private with only the close people around him

It was simple so you didn't have to plan much

so you didn't hire any wedding planners

But that doesn't mean it's cheap either

He wanted you to at least wear your dream wedding gown and a nice venue

"Since I can't give you a big wedding, I want you to at least have a perfect one. This is after all the only one event we'll have in our life"

Unlike how he always joke about, the wedding was sweet, innocent and just... perfect

He takes it very seriously down to the core

Make sure security is tight and everything is safe

He carried a gun in his tux just incase but you didn't know that

"I want to do this properly" is what he kept saying

You didn't know it but he had rewritten his vows over 100 times

When you thought he was working over time in his office

He's actually re-writing his vows and he tried his best to dispose the rejected ones without you noticing

He said that he wanted to keep a low profile wedding

But the fireworks definitely gave it away

"FINALLY MARRIED" *insert his emoji glasses emoji here*

V

He'll follow you to every meeting with the wedding planners

Because of his artsy background, he had a lot of friends

Artistic friends

That ended you up with a beautiful fondant cake, fantasy like hall and wonderful music

Instead of picking a gown, you got yours custom made from scratch

"Umm.. I can just pick one that's ready.."

"Nononono you're V's bride, you can't"

"...okay"

He had hired his friend to be his photographer (we all know who he is, he's invited to every RFA party and he did it for free)

He's very lenient and agrees to whatever decision you made

Sometimes, you felt like you had decided most of the things according to your preferences while he just agrees

"Jihyun, this is both of our wedding. You can't just let me decide everything"

"But I like your idea"

"But I need yours too"

"MC, the only thing I care about it is to make you as my legal wife. Plus, we have the same taste anyways"

"That's true. But you need to choose!"

"I already did"

"What is it?"

"You"

Talking about cheesy

But the wedding was fantastic and medium sized with family and friends (he has a lot of friends)

SAERAN

He never thought about weddings or marriage before

So when it came down to weddings, he was blank

you told him you didn't need a ceremony but he beg to differ

Especially when he passed by a wedding gown shop and imagined you in it

"I want to see you in a wedding dress walking down to marry me"

All he wanted was to let it be small and private

He literally followed you everywhere and make research about the wedding

He didn't like meeting all these people but he pushed aside his dislikes for it

Stressed out when he had to be in a room full of strangers

So he kept the meetings short by preparing the materials and keeping on point

It was really a small wedding with your closest family and friends

It was simple wedding at the wedding chapel

It was worth it

VANDERWOOD

There wasn't supposed to be a wedding, hell you didn't even think he would proposed

One thing led to another and you were at a wedding chapel with him

There was no planning

"I want to marry you, and I want to marry you now"

It was unlikely of him to be so out of character but you complied

You bought a white dress that you could find in less than an hour

He put on one of his suits

You were wed

That night while you lay side by side, he apologized

"I'm sorry for not giving you those dream weddings"

"It's okay... as long as I'm with you"

"I still feel bad but its just that...life is short, I don't want to miss it... especially with you"

[flyrtreynolds]

Noisey: Is Okay Kaya Living in Pop Music's Future?

Noisey published an abridged version, condensing down the lead so that it read more generic, in my opinion. Here’s my first draft, which I’m more attached to.

Pictures taken by the wonderful Lauren Geisswein 

The San Damiano Mission, like many houses of worship these days, is rolling with the punches. With the encouragement of the Diocese of Brooklyn, two friars have come up with a “novel approach” to cure the dwindling followership of the over-100-year-old Catholic church located between Williamsburg and Greenpoint, mainly consisting of hosting concerts and hucking booze during off-service hours. Thus what once had a congregant of god-fearing Slovak immigrants at the turn of the 20th century now has a Resident Advisor page. 

Maybe no act the church has booked thus far exemplifies that change more than Kaya Wilkins, also known as Okay Kaya. Beneath a mural of angels ascending to heaven — the venue’s Romanesque decor remains very much intact — and bathed in blue light, the stoic and willowy 27-year-old singer hums out a bawdy question to a room full of her faithful adorees:

Do you dance like you fuck? Or do you dance like you make love?

With it, some of the crowd noticeably withers with delight in the pews. I can’t help but view the declaration of such candid words in this setting as a metaphor for the 27-year-old’s best work. Within the timeless format of a pop song, she can place a blunt truth that turns the experience on its head, making it both refreshing and more relatable.

Would you come with me to get an IUD? She coos on the first line of “IUD,” the lead single off her upcoming debut, Both.

Maybe, if you come with me, I will let you come in me.

This candor doesn’t immediately shine through in her persona offstage, however. I learn this the afternoon before the San Damiano show, talking with the songwriter, model, and actress in her cozy (New York tongue for “tiny”) Greenpoint apartment, pleasantly aglow with some springtime sun. Kaya—whose real name is Kaya Wilkins—sits perched on top of her bed, cross legged, talking in small pours, allowing her thoughts to slowly fill the glass. Her demeanor is dulcet and reflective, traits you wouldn't necessarily associate with someone who’s often in front of a camera.

“I think I’ve always had trouble communicating,” she says amid a soft smile, admitting that she’s still getting the hang of interviews. “I found mediums to express what I was feeling.”

Those mediums have grown steadily since her move to New York from her birthplace Norway eight years ago. In addition to her music career, which started with an Arthur Russell-inspired Soundcloud mix of her redolent vocals and has blossomed into a rep as one of the city’s more honest singer-songwriters, she also has her long-time modeling gig that’s recently placed her on high-profile runways around the world. Then there’s her acting work, which started with a flash of brilliance in last year’s Thelma, a Norwegian film about a student who struggles with her feelings for another woman (played by Kaya) and the supernatural powers that get intertwined in them.

But these successes haven’t necessarily come naturally to Kaya; with each new artform, she says, comes a growth period when she must discover where her identity fits into things. Whether it’s flooding a church nave with placid truths, rocking “silk skunk” (a real thing, yes) in a Calvin Klein campaign, or auditioning for a role without much prior acting experience, the underlying strategy of it all is to let her personality be the catalyst for the creativity. “I don’t know how I could get away with it otherwise. I don’t have the skills necessarily, but I do have me,” she explains. “I’m sure of my own voice, my style. And that feels good cause I’m insecure about everything else.”

Like many of us, finding her voice has been a journey for Kaya, one that can be traced back to her childhood in a small peninsula community outside of Oslo. There, in a cottage-like house only 10 minutes from the beach, she grew up with her mother and three brothers (her American father, a former marine that was stationed in Oslo at one point, raised her other two brothers in Boston). She has warm memories of summers there, swimming and playing in her mom’s garden, where she would match her clothing to the purple and yellow flowers that adorned it. She found the frigid winters to be bleaker, however, and the area’s homogeneous community to be problematic in relation to her ambiguity, both in identity and appearance (her mom is white and father black).

So she turned to art, at least in part inspired by her mom who worked as a proofreader by day and a painter by night and was just as likely to play Prince around the house as she was a Swedish jazz singer or Cypress Hill. Kaya would twiddle around with a guitar and sometimes play with her older brother’s metal band, but her first obsession became movement after a dance instructor in high school showed her examples of famous performers who “moved funny,” a descriptor she would often get in ballet classes. She realized she could use her uniqueness as an advantage, turning her small gestures, deemed awkward before, into innovative moves.

While we talk, I can see some of these gestures in her hands, which she nimbly tilts and curls through the air while describing things, like she’s peeling back an invisible curtain to examine them. “I just love to feel connected...like, ‘Oh someone is doing something that doesn’t have as many rules,’” she says of finding her creative niche.

She planned to pursue movement into the future, even pondering going to a “modern mime school” in Paris (“I was going to be like a clown basically”). But fate intervened, and she was discovered by modeling scouts, who encouraged her to take up the profession. After a year of trying to make it in London, she moved to NYC to make more money as an e-commerce model, posing as a “shell of a human” on retail websites like Ann Taylor’s LOFT.

It was during this period, feeling under stimulated, isolated and alone, that she decided to revisit music. She picked up a guitar and started recording short tunes to send to her friends and family back home. To get their attention, she would create rough covers of records by artists that differed wildly in tone than her, like Nate Dogg or the Curtis Mayfield-led Impressions. The songs came out soulful and slow moving, gorgeous recreations of upbeat jams. Eventually, combined with her original recordings, she had enough material to consolidate and post online.

“It’s something I just wanted to work on for a while. That’s all I know really,” she recalls of her first musical sketches. “It felt very necessary.”

What happens next Kaya finds strange to talk about, a familiar situation for seemingly any woman trying to break into the music industry. An A&R found her mix and approached her about management, promising to put out her work and introduce her to notable producers. She agreed, and together they released the songs that would announce her Okay Kaya project to the world, including the heart-tugging “Damn, Gravity,” a slowburner centered around love slipping through the fingertips produced by King Krule and Sampha collaborator Rodiadh McDonald. But the A&R also made strange requests, like pressuring her not to tell producers that she was in a relationship (Kaya has been dating songwriter Aaron Maine, also known as the singer Porches, for the past year). The process began to feel “grimy,” she says, and “really uncomfortable.” So she walked away, leaving behind both a deal with a prominent East Coast imprint and distribution through indie powerhouse XL Recordings. Suddenly the idea of an album seemed distant.

“It didn’t make me happy or even wanting to try for a minute. I think it took like three years for me to feel like I had my voice and...just going back to what I wanted to do.”

With “do,” she gestures her arms in upward circles, indicating the significance of the room surrounding us, where she recorded over half of Both, now set to be self-released on June 1 through her own label, Heavy Body Records. The apartment has become the epicenter of her work and a symbol of her newfound self-reliance in music. A small recording setup of a mic and mixer sits against the wall, next to a scribbled setlist for tomorrow’s show; a pile of clear garbage bags, full of merch Kaya designed with a friend, crams a corner. The soundtrack buzzing softly out of the speakers is made up entirely of women singers—Caroline Polachek, Nina Simone, Sibylle Baier—Kaya found inspiration in during the record’s writing process.

Both is a work of cogitation, poking at concepts and feelings Kaya has encountered in her journeys from Scandinavia to New York, the runway to the silver screen. “Emulate,” for example, examines the idea of projecting love and whether it leads to genuineness or manipulation, a question that lies at the heart of the two young women’s dynamic in Thelma. More directly, “Calendar Girl” was inspired by a time when Kaya felt it difficult to leave her apartment so she’d write simple tasks on a calendar—“walk around the block”—as motivation to break her self-confinement. Most of the arrangements that propel these thoughts, aside from a few co-produced by Maine, are her own.

Which brings us back to “IUD,” a single that many women have accepted as a righteous ode to self care amid the current tumultuous political environment. Kaya has a unique perspective on the situation, as she comes from a country that provides basic healthcare services, no questions asked. Thus, while talking about it, she’s able to underlie its significance and how foolish the alternative would be. “I just wanted to be transparent about it and be like, ‘This is happening. People need this.’”

It’s here that we possibly get a glimpse of the future. Kaya’s music, deeply personal in nature, is slowly becoming tangible outside of her own consciousness. In other words, her songs are no longer just her’s; she now shares them with others. We ponder this truth together in the kitchen, where we’ve moved so she could lean out the window and smoke a cigarette. The sound of hammering wafts up from a renovation on the first floor, placing our words to a grating rhythm. A table cloth of husky red roses, maybe a small ode to her mother’s garden back home, ties the room together.

In the self-financed and -choreographed videos for “IUD” and “Dance Like U,” the second single off Both, Kaya presents her feelings as physical embodiments identical in appearance to herself. One twin is irritating and cumbersome, representing trauma and sadness; the other is gentle and understanding, symbolizing acceptance. The “weird sisters,” as Kaya has dubbed them, were born out of a simple concept—a dualism that could serve as an album’s core theme (hence the title Both) and an interesting visual driver. But first and foremost they’re pieces of her, now barer than ever.

So much on the horizon—the show tomorrow, the album drop, the press that will follow—will put those pieces on display. She admits she’s nervous.

“I have no idea what it’s going to be like,” she says with an exhale of smoke. Her tender smile returns as she remembers the most important lesson she’s learned thus far.

“But wait, who am I trying to be? I’m just trying to be me.”

https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/qvxxmd/okay-kaya-interview-future-of-pop-both-2018

[phoenixotaku1990animeversem-blog]

Series: Hana Yori Dango

Other Titles: Boys Over Flowers

Genre: Drama, Romance, School Life, Shojo

Series Run: 51 Episodes (aprox. 22 Min per)

Distributors: Viz Media, Discotek Media

Requested By: Janie

  I make no secret of the fact that I am a hopeless romantic who has a taste for the dromatic.  So, when the lady of my life requested that I review one of the few anime she has seen within the genre I was ecstatic.  Moreover, the fact that it is a shojo in a high-school setting made me wax nostalgic about our own romance so I was all-in.  While I don’t regret my gunge-ho approach to this series there were some moments that went way over the line of what was acceptable and made this an uncomfortable watch. But I will address that later in the review.

On a personal note, Dear I hope you like this one.

The Story

Hana Yori Dango is a school-life anime surrounding the exploits of Tsukushi Makino, a new student at Eitoku Academy who happens to be of lesser means. Desiring nothing more than a low-profile existence among the upper-crust of society Tsukushi’s world is turned upside down when she encounters an elite clique of popular men known as the F4. From here, she begins a chaotic, fish out of water story where the boys are constantly involved. In the midst of this, she manages to fall for two of the Flowers Four creating a romantic triangle with two distinct flavors.

The first relationship is your standard aloof love interest angle with Rui Hanazawa. I like the quiet, kind, artist, nature of the character and his dynamic when opposite Tsukushi elegantly done despite the lack of dialogue between them However, this ceases to be when their growing relationship is subvert by his returning flame, Shizuka Toudou. While Shizuka was a welcomed addition providing exposition on the F4’s history, a humanizing character for the group as a whole, and a sort of guide for Tsukushi she felt more like a protagonist in her own right rather than a supporting character. But, by far, the worst thing the writers of the anime could have done was use the sympathetic character to remove Rui as the love interest for the secondary alternative.

The secondary Romance begins with the leader of the F4. Tskasa Domyouji. To say that I despise this character is a gross understatement. His personality shifts between childishly lording his status over characters to picking on Tsukushi to being uncharacteristically nice to her. Worse yet he seems to have an almost incestuous fixation with his sister who happens to look like our main heroine. As if to feed into the creep factor he holds her down and nearly RAPES her in an early episode.

While he does mature throughout the series the and eventually becomes worthy of the love interest role the aforementioned moments irredeemably corrupted the character to such a degree that I cannot stand his on-screen prescience. Even after he redeems himself by softening up I still detest the character I am supposed to root for. In short I found him to be a pretty face with little more than a base understanding of social functions that was easily overshadowed by almost every other character.

this brings me to the side-characters which can be summed up in the phrase as bland as white bread. In fact, the only two character’s whose names I remember without consulting MyAnimeList ar Soujirou and Akira and their main functions were to act as the F4’s exposition and voices of reason. Otherwise, every other character in the series is a direct embodiment of their trope. The childhood friend is a cookie-cutter childhood friend. Tsukushi’s family seems to be the cliché poor family composed of the overbearing mother, the pathetic father, and the annoying little brother. After that every other character just blends into the background until they decide to cause trouble or just randomly speaks up. To remind Tsukushi of her place.

The focus on the pauper-versus-prince wealth disparity that persists throughout the series is a glaring weakness in storytelling. While this is a universal plot element that transcends its medium it actually weakens the relationship building aspect of the show. Combine this with the night-and day dynamic between Tsukushi and Tsukasa and the viewer gets a dysfunctional relationship that feels forced and unrealistic. Sure, one might see it as a clear case of opposites attract but, Boys Over Flowers executes this poorly.

Thus I come to the shows worst flaw of this entire narrative. its execution If the story of an independent woman finding herself in a high-society prep school featuring a cast of bishounen men is familiar to you have likely seen a reverse-harem anime in the last 20 years. While the show’s formula is well-trotted ground for many anime fans at this point the story’s progression is painfully slow providing the viewer with very little pay-off. For any romantic plot steady character growth and interaction is key. Hana Youri Dango’s characters grow at a snail’s pace making its run a slog to get through.

Style:

Alongside the painfully weak story Hana Yori Dango suffers from an eye-ruining animation style that seems to be a halfhearted attempt to simply colorize the cells of the original manga. While the muted colors and stark background would have translated well to the manga format the same cannot be said for animation. In fact. I found the lack of vibrancy and life in some scenes to be somewhat distracting at times. Aside from that character movements seem a bit stiff which forces some of the dialogue-heavy moments feel more like poorly animated GIFs rather than properly animated sequences. But, discounting my nitpicking, I feel that character and background designs are beautiful when assessed separately as portraiture.

Sound Design:

Much to my delight, Hana Yori Dango scores highest in the category of sound design. Unfortunately, this applies to the series’ soundtrack rather than its vocal performances. While they can be taken separately, I feel the two are inexorably linked and aides the viewer in suspending their disbelief. For their time, the talent did a passable job of bringing the characters to life. But, it is important to remember that the 90s were an awkward time for anime dubs and this anime suffers greatly from the growing pains of the time. Thankfully the music does a great job of distracting us from the flawed delivery.

For the most part, the music of Hana Yori Dango does quite a bit to amplify the high-society feel of the show. The opening and ending themes are light and airy J-pop pieces that connotes a relaxed and energetic tone. This does a great job of setting the tone as a slice of life piece. Intermittent pieces like Tomaso Abononi’s Symphony No. 5 adds depth to the upper-class feel of Eitoku Academy. Together, classical and popular styles fill the gap created by poor voice acting. Sadly, it isn’t enough.

I watched the series in its English dub as distributed by Viz Media as instructed by the one who requested this review. While it was nice to hear popular 90s era voice actors like Micheal Adamthwaite and Stephen Park in the roles of Tsukasa Domyouji and Rui Hanazawa I feel that Kelly Sherodin was completely miscast as Tsukushi. This led to my great dismay as her pronunciations of the name Rui as Luis grated on my ears. Alongside this, some dialog was stiff and stilted leading to an overall flat delivery. The lack of compelling delivery forces me to dislike the dub but only slightly.

Recommendations:

I do not usually give my recommendations separate from my conclusion but since the following are TV dramas rather than anime I feel obligated to break form and inform you as to the existence of two great shows.  If you wish to see this concept done  properly I point you to the Taiwanese Drama Meteor Garden as I believe the acters Vic Zhou and Jerry Yan provide the best characterizations of the two male leads.  While the Karean variant has its merits, I find it slightly less appealing.  Still, feel free to check both out for yorself as this is a matter of preference to me.

Final Thoughts:

In conclusion I feel that Hana Yori Dango suffers from a lack of proper execution. But, it is still a salvageable piece. In many ways it is the progenitor to great series in its genre and I encourage fans of pieces like Ouran High School Host Club to check this out, The dub is currently licensed by Viz Media and is available at Rightstufanime. Please feel free to enjoy Boys Over Flowers and stay tuned here for more reviews.

Anime Review: Boys over Flower Series: Hana Yori Dango Other Titles: Boys Over Flowers Genre: Drama, Romance, School Life, Shojo Series Run: …