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charmspoint · 4 years ago

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37 for the fic writer questions!

Ask meme here

37. Talk about your current wips

This is great I was thinking of listing out everything im working on these days anyway n now i get an excuse. For quite a few of these I cant talk about them actually cuz they are event stuff but imma list em anyway.

(This got long so im putting it under keep reading)

Lets! Categorize!

A) Ready to post!

Here we have my ShinKami bb fic: No Escape (coming out tomorrow) and my DabiHawks bb fic: Red string of death (coming out sunday) - obvs cant say much until they are posted, lets just say that for shinkami we are gettin some horror and dabihawks gets double banger of soulmate au x reincarnation au but like angsty

B) Currently in editing

Pieces for: DabiHawks metamorphos zine, LOV found family zine and villain/vigilante deku zine - since they are zines i feel like its a big no no to talk about them so we goin down

C) Currently writing

A secret santa piece and a piece for todobaku bb - one of these is actually cute couple things and the other is be dumping magic and horror on to a shipping fic again i obviously have a thing for that the more i think about these

D) Currently planing

Shinsou bigbang! (Do NOT judge me for how many events im in) anyway im super looking forward to this i feel like i have such a great idea n mmm we arent even to partnering up yet so i zip

DabiHawks secret admierer au - something i can talk about :0. This was one of my pitches for the metamorphos au n i got attached. The basic premise is: no powers high school au, local bad boy band member Touya is pining hard after straight A good boy Keigo and in atempt to confess his feelings he leaves a love song in his locker. The problem? Dabi is super fucking edgy and so is his song and upon reading it Keigo is 100% Dabi wants him dead. Shennaniganse ensue. LOV is there giving Dabi increasingly bad love advice, Rumi is there mostly to laugh her ass of and then do dramatic reading of the song, im gonna write actual songs for it!!! Anyway just lil slice of life school comedy, im not always about horror and angst belive it or not. Im looking forward to this one it should be fun!

All the beautiful things we are (All the dangerous things we will become) - another chuuya gen fic!! This one featuring Kouyou (n maaaaaybe Kyouka) in some good ol sibling bonding. Set earlier then The suffocating quality of your dying breaths, its basically kouyou taking chuuya under her wing and some good sibling bonding that will probably feature some good ol exploration of gender expression and just kouyou wrestling a brat into a suit. I just want some good chuuya n kouyou n some decent chuuya experimenting with dressing up n darn it ill make it myself

There are a few more that are in my notes as possible ideas but these are the ones im sure ill write so i dont wanna promise anything i wont do

E) On hiatus

TodoBaku murder mystery - my original idea for the todobaku bb, i wanted to challenge myself n write something i never did before but then college slapped me n ye i went back into the comfort zone. I still wanna do this one someday, probably over summer. Basic concept: normal life au, Enji Todoroki is found dead in his bed and detective! Bakugo is on the scene trying to determin did any of the family members, gathered that night to celebrate their mother returning from a hospital, have anything to do with it while trying super hard not to fall for the one Todoroki that keeps sticking his nose where it doesnt belong. Featuring: literally everyone having a motive and Bakugo being done with the family drama, Dabi being in a gang and acting like he owns the place, and ice skater Shouto both too dumb and too smart for his own good. We will see does anything come of it.

Season of rain - omegaverse light fic where i, an asexual, look at a trope purely made for kink and go 'what if for me tho?'. I call it light cuz i wont be writing any sex but u know me its heavy on angst. Featuring: Deku squad as a ship, omega sho n izu, alpha uraraka n beta iida n tsuyu. Dealing with such topics as: postpartum depression, sexisam, fear of alphas, arranged marriges, pack dynamics, betas having an actual role and importance, maneging poly reletionships, me harping on about how ideal number of parents is actually more than two and that if there were three genders standard reletionships would be expected to be a x b x o not just a x o. Aka me putting way too much worldbuilding into a kink trope. Basic premise: seeing as shouto turned out to be an omega, instead of training him to be a hero enji signs him of to enter a quirk marrige when he gets older just like rei. Years later shouto has just gotten out of a divorce and with a whole baby in tow is taken in by dekusquad. Hurt comfort ensues as they slowly work shouto into their dynamic and make him feel safe and loved again. Honestly i just want to give this one more time n attention that i have rn so its waiting for summer

Ashes to ashes - a dabihawks (maybe) post war au fic that was supposed to focus on Dabi facing what he has done and who he has become and the almost imposible process of changing yourself for the better when you spent all your life chasing one thing, on one side and on the other; Hawks recovering fron trauma caused by almost being killed, dealing with his newly growing wings causing him pain and being afraid he'll never fly quite the same again and trying to find connections among other heroes just cuz i say he needs friends. Both of them are dealing with very mixed emotions about each other and they work through them seperatly and together, trying to set everything that happend into a perspective and figure out where to go from there. I havent decided do they actually get back together or not by the end of it all. I was planing this and then hori dumped dabis crazy ass on me n now im mostly waiting to see what he does with him so i know what to do with him in the end, smh hori making my life hard :/

#anon #lucy rants #LUCY RANTS A LOT #gjfggf sorry

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nosunlite · 7 years ago

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ap top 25 list: 2k17, a month late

The AP “Audio Popularity” Poll was Ben’s way to get us all to make a list and talk about our favorite songs of the month, back when we were all living in the same house. He describes it here. I have since cut back to doing it every year, with the ever shifting goal of defining “audio popularity” and “favorite” and “best”.

This year’s list, 5 years after Ben’s death, my main goal is to identify 25 awesome tracks that I’d love to talk to Ben about. They are my favorite 25 songs of the year, a focus on new discoveries (tho a few songs from last year’s list show up), songs that I surely would’ve dubbed for Ben back in the day.

25. the rats: the rats’ revenge

60’s punk rager - an era we did not ever go deep into, but now it’s time to eat up those Back from the Grave comps.

24. fluf: stuffed animal

Not their typical noise-grunge, which Ben yeah loved (he lived Sub Pop inexplicably into the 2010s), but a Sebadoh-esque minimal gem.

23. LNZ: blondehairdown

The most quoted song of 2k17 for me. Ben was always into weird local rappers no matter where he was. Sharing this internet-destroying monstrosity with him would be a conversation for thee ages!

22. new kingdom: terror mad visionary

tom waits as MC sounds like a thing ben would love or hate (he rejected lots of undie rappers for their not slamming hard enough) but this stuff is so pirate-vocalled that i’d love to have asked him what was going on here.

21. octa#grape: dirigibles

The most soul-junk of galaxalag’s new group, spinning all sortsa weird beats into their calm noise.

20. wovenhand: golden blossom

16 hp was a shared favorite, and i’d love to go thru these new DEE albums with ben.

19. slim cessna’s auto club: commandment 3

Seeing these guys live was a total revival that was up Ben’s alley. Dwight Pentecost and his doubleneck guitar with hologram switching from Sacred Heart to Marian Immaculate Heart. Munly looking like a straight up ghoul man, gathering us into a circle, and chiding me for screaming the lyrics too loud. Slim just hamming it up preacher style. Rebecca wielding all sortsa kitchen sinks and keeping it together. They encored to “Commandment 3” in a karaoke choreograph line dance. One of the few shows I’ve seen that really produced a spectacle within a minimalist framework.

18. kleenex girl wonder: dont wait up

An alternative bee-thousand.

17. puff pieces: competition

The local DC stuff always seems to be ahead of the rest.

16. arroyo deathmatch: swimming the witch

They acoustic thrash their folk without guitars and just uke! This one sprays rap tropes and references all over the Crassy gender politics. Joyous bleakness!

15. the out_circuit: come out shooting

A wonderful sequel to our favorite Frodus “Year of the Hex.”

14. ramshackle glory: punk is the worst form of music, except for all the others

Anarcho politics and emotions, what drew me into punk.

13. a fistful of dynamite: smoke it, like a cigarette

More acoustic thrash folk with an even worse vocalist. “Write my own favorite songs/ write my own singalongs...you think this is bad? Well it just gets more rough!”. The world’s worst snare sound. Charmed!

12. shellac: riding bikes

He was an albini fan, and we would definitely have spent time jamming his new ones. And what an epic this one is.

11. bradley hathaway: the world is screaming

I could see ben finding it utterly pretentious, but bradley straddles that line of being so serious but also so reckless, so honest and so charming to me. His new album is the best, riotous blasphemy as prayer, but this one does the post rock building ben taught me to dig.

10. lou barlow: try 2 b

Our indie legend put out a great one (years olde already?), oh well, it slams lo-fi.

9. the beakers: 4 steps towards a cultural revolution

Ben downplays a lot of thee weird punk, but weird punk from his beloved Seattle scene? He’d dig! This out Ubus David Thomas. Ultra.

8. ps eliot: the cyborg

Reminds me of so much of the stuff on the ktru tapes, but this struck me very hard this year.

7. lifter puller: mission viejo

Most of their weird stuff has more to discuss, i guess, with the spoken stories and nonsense arrangements, but this is just an indie rock emotion block of thee highest order.

6. defiance, ohio: calling old friends

A classic campfire singalong.

5. henry thomas: when the train comes along

Not Thomas’ most canonical or comp’d performance, but such a stomper. Ben got me into old timey music and the last cd’s he ripped from me were the pseudo-old-timey boxset from Fonotone.

4. ballydowse: sails

An albini-produced christian-anarcho celtic folk/punk group relying prominently on tuvan throat singing. And yet it took me til 2k17 to find it. Ben used to be after a Crashdog CD at Family Bookstore, but this stuff would’ve taken it to a whole nother level. The best band you don’t know!

3. snail mail: static buzz

Woulda been a ktru darling. Local bmore rock girl makes it big - new album gonna be on Matadork.

2. mike knott: double

We always ignored the mike knott stuff, but this year has been all about rediscovering the blonde vinyl roster, and that dip goes deep. This song is an undeniable one, whether live at Cornerstone or with the *gasp* secular Aunty Bettys playing it.

1. showbread: matthias replaces judas

This raw rock was the first new rekkerd i listened to after we found out ben had died, but a song that has only emerged more recently as a post-Pedro emotional cleansing monster. Ben loved “Every New Day” with the Reese Roper vocals, he’d love this too. & it’s the best song ever, so he’d better...

honorable mentions:

Blackbird Raum - Last Legs // Acoustic thrash folk! He’d be thrilled to see Wacko-Hed’s genre is alive ‘n’ well...

Double Dagger - The Lie / The Truth // Righteous at the drive-ining.

City of Caterpillar - A Little Change Could Go a Long Ways // One of the bands that indoctrinated me into punk rock seeing them live - i put off listening to their cd until recently. Ben would talk about how NoU did it better, I’m sure!

William Elliot Whitmore - cold and dead // Ugly blues voice on this Americana death tinged guy.

Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace of God / Fairytale of New York // We never talked about the Pogues. They hit most of the sweetspots for me emotionally and aesthetically. Ben loved Cordelia’s Dad, and this is their Dad.

Model Engine - Reeperbahn // Ah a CCM classic - I knew we had to listen to Black Eyed Sceva, but unsure how much play this one ever got in the CCM era.

Lift to Experience - to guard and to guide // They post rocked the map to Texas. I remember expecting to find this in the used CD store when I visited Ben at Rice. Now it’s been reissued and is weirder packaged and sounding than ever - really woulda liked to listen to this with him.

Flesh Eaters - Pray till You Sweat // Richard Hell in Violent Femmes skin godsend

EZT - Central Control // Some sorta Neil Young smog. Who knows.

close:

mike knott - rocket and a bomb; one way streets - we all love peanut butter; 3 mile pilot - house is loss; i hate myself - urban barbie, keep reaching for those stars; fistful of dynamite - tribute to castellana; arroyo deathmatch - as an instrument, all the best matadors are fascists, casting into the void; azealia banks - 212; lifter puller - star wars hips, plymouth rock, math is money, 4dix; ramshackle glory - face the void, eulogy for an adolescence shattered against elliot st. pavement; kleenex girl wonder - tendency right foot forward, the sound of paul, why i write such good songs; new kingdom - kicking like bruce lee; slim cessna - commandment 7, hold my head, he roger williams; aunt bettys - speeder mode; shellac - dude incredible; snail mail - thinning; 2 whole Fountainsun and Aesop Rock lps...

#showbread #matthais replaces judas #ap top 25 #best songs #songs I love #mike knott

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ozonecologne · 7 years ago

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Hey dude i dont know if u watched the video Born Sexy Yesterday by Pop Culture Detective (which is great imo btw) but i was thinking abt how far does Cas' (season 4 mainly) character would fit into this trope were he in a female vessel all along or if it applies even as it is in the show pls give me ur thoughts or someone else's

Oh, trust me, I’m very familiar with this. Good video. Put into words what I didn’t know I was feeling.

I’m for sure positive that other people have written about this before? Here are my thoughts on the matter.

If management knew what they know now about Castiel’s popularity and unique relationship with Dean and had decided at the start to keep Castiel in a female vessel, set up as a love interest to cater to viewership (which was largely in part due to Misha’s unique acting choices and his onscreen chemistry with Jensen and so could never really be recreated with anyone else, but I digress), YES I ABSOLUTELY THINK THEY WOULD BE GUILTY OF THIS. In some ways, they’ve already tried it, and failed.

I mean, holy shit. Could you imagine this scene if Castiel were a woman? We’d literally have THIS. These two scenes are mirrors of each other: they illustrate how we handle identical situations involving characters of different genders (and slightly different experience levels, though Jo is still mostly a “kid” to both Sam and Dean, which is icky but whatever).

Despite the above mentioned scenario, I’m still not entirely convinced that the kind of male hero that fits the other half of this jacked-up sex puzzle is Dean Winchester. While Dean does have a complicated relationship with stereotypical masculinity, we never see him materializing a misogynistic fear of rejection or male inadequacy as a lover that you see described in the video. He’s not a Nice Guy That Needs To Be Given A Chance by the Right Girl. Dean is already a lady’s man, a cheeky and charming player that can talk his way out of (and into) pretty much anything, and particularly so in the earlier seasons pre-Castiel. He isn’t disenfranchised, he’s no Woody Allen. It’s the lack of genuine connection that bothers him; he gets ATTENTION in spades. His self-worth issues come from his own self image and his failure to meet harsh self-imposed expectations and anxieties, not from his [lack of] relationships with other people or his disempowerment at the hands of a woman. If a Born Sexy Yesterday fem!Cas entered his life, I can’t see him feeling better about himself just because he has her under his thumb.

But, you can never underestimate shitty networking. Dean can for sure be guilty of misogyny and grossness. We’ve seen it before, writers that oversimplify Dean’s character to a brute or a skeezeball for the lolz. It drives me bananas. So Dean could theoretically be written to fall into this trap, and it does hold some appeal for him, let’s admit. He can finally have a shoulder to cry on, someone that Really Understands Him. Choosing to implement that kind of relationship on Dean though would be to grossly betray the complexity of his character. The relationship is just not the same because of who Dean is. (That being said, they might have tried it anyway, and then I’d just end up disliking Dean.)

Even if all the components were all set up correctly, I think 11:23 - 12:33 in the video explains my thoughts on this really well. While yes, it is inherently skeevy to create a child-trapped-in-sex-doll-love-interest, it can actually be executed in a way that’s not entirely offensive. Castiel’s story in canon is ALL ABOUT self-discovery and making choices that shape him as an individual, and that cannot actually be done without some form of naïveté to begin with and overcome. His character is so treasured, I think, because he goes through this transformation.

But the reason that we’ve gotten the Castiel we have is that sexual tension was never supposed to be a part of his character. It was never a “distracting” factor.

Like I said, most of it has come from Misha and Jensen’s onscreen chemistry, which never could have predicted and happened entirely by chance of casting. If erotic tension were written into Castiel’s arc from the beginning, I dread to think that we might have lost some of that crucial character development that makes the character so beloved. The CW is almost increasingly misogynistic with their portrayal of women on Supernatural, and female love interests in almost EVERY piece of media are portrayed without much depth. Look at how Lisa got shafted. She was great! She was good for Dean! But she did not get the sort of spotlight she deserved and they did away with her after no time at all. With a few exceptions when she prioritized her child (conveniently, another male) she was almost always occupying that supportive and nurturing role that a woman is supposed to play to her male counterpart, and we never got to move beyond that with her. Would a female!Castiel have gotten the same treatment before her untimely demise?

(And it’s not just institutional misogyny at work here, either. It’s FANS. Female guest stars also get an incredible amount of hate. She definitely would have been written off faster to appease the angry mob.)

You know, people wonder why gay ships like Destiel can be so popular, but it’s exactly because of tropes like this that we gravitate towards them. Dean and Castiel - both written as Men’s Men - are equals. There is no power imbalance, despite Castiel’s inexperience. We are literally DESPERATE for three-dimensional love interests, and everyone loves a good love story.

Castiel’s character was only supposed to appear in a handful of episodes from the beginning. But his character was so compelling, so endearing and earnest and inspiring, that he was not only asked to stick around, he was REVIVED because the show started to tank without him. And all because he WASN’T written as a love interest. We turned him into because of who he has proven himself to be.

It was BECAUSE the sexuality element was ignored in the creation of this character that he’s done so well on the show. If that were altered, I don’t think she would have stuck around for nearly as long as he has. Unfortunate, but I am a cynical pessimist.

#god i hope this made fuckin sense #replies #anon #text #destiel #castiel

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mysticdragon3md3 · 8 years ago

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thoughts during Yuri on Ice ep9

4:22 PM 2/3/2017 "If you're in trouble, just hug him"???? Yakov?????!!!??? I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Victor really doesn't think. From the very beginning, he was already proving that he doesn't really have a grasp of what a "coach" really is or supposed to do. Even as recently as ep7, Yuri still needed to explain---yell at Victor, what he should be doing as a coach. *sigh* If Victor's flighty brain didn't also make him so free-spirited and lovable, I'd hit him over the head with that Makkachin tissue box. I'm beginning to think Victor honestly believes that ice skating only functions with the ingredients of a skater on the ice and a coach on the side of the rink. He really thinks that Yuri just needs someone labelled a "coach" just standing at the sidelines while Yuri skates? Oh. My. Gawd. Yuri was just yelling at you an episode ago, that your job is to have faith in him and bolster his confidence. You can do that even while you're away from the actual stadium. Yuri even told you to go to Japan while he stays in Russia to continue performing. He can perform without you there physically! As long as Victor is there emotionally/spiritually for Yuri, he's fine. And yet, Victor hands off Yuri to Yakov, thus, severing Victor's emotional presence from Yuri. *sigh* Victor really doesn't think, does he? This lovable, idiotic fool...

Oh, wait. Victor does go on to say, "Even if I'm not here, I'll always be with you in spirit." But does Victor really understand that? Really? While he's handing Yuri's delicate heart off to Yakov's harsh demeanor...as "support"?? ~_~;

At least Yakov agreeing to take on Yuri, quells any suspicions that he might sabotage Yuri, to help advance Yurio. Not that the show has proven he's that dastardly, but without many gaps in his characterization filled in, the brain does tend to assume the worst. I like the idea of Yakov wanting Yuri to fulfill his potential just as much as Yurio, so that they can have a proper showdown without any interference tainting the expressions of their true skills. Like a martial arts anime or a sports genre manga.

It's strange for Emil to skate to the theme "Cyberpunk: I've ceased to be human". He's so cheerful and human-feeling. Does this mean he's going to super-focus on technical skating? It's strange that he'd throw away his emotions, when the series' themes thus far, have been advocating emotions as a strength, in skating. (I expect Seung-gil Lee to come up short, despite his technical skill, because he lacks emotion. He seems to serve as a contrast to the series themes.)

And now Sala is severing her emotional ties with Mickey. Everyone's getting separated from their emotional anchors in this episode. Victor and Yuri separated geographically and as skater-coach pair. Emil separated from his emotional strengths. and Mickey separated from his deluded purpose to protect Sala. Well, he's actually just attached to this image in his head he has of Sala, more than looking at the actual Sala, anyway. I've seen it all before in Revolutionary Girl Utena, where Kaoru Miki---"Miki". Coincidence? Anyway, in Utena, Kaoru Miki was trapped in his own "princely savior" complex (the entire Student Council all were, in that series), where he specifically only knew his own identity in relation to protecting his sister Kozue. So he subconsciously built her up as this perfect and pure treasure to be protected, always in danger of being the victim, so that his psyche could secure himself in the identity of the "rescuing prince". But in reality, his sister didn't need saving and wasn't pure, and was actually sometimes the victimizer, not the victim. But Miki couldn't see that, otherwise, he wouldn't know who he was. He wouldn't be able to maintain the Stronger identity and position of the rescuer. Maybe then he'd have to confront the fact that he was actually the rescuee, in need of saving. Maybe Sala's brother Mickey also can't deal with his Weakness.

"I was able to focus on skating and come this far because you were with me. Dont' leave me alone, please!" It's strange that Mickey's words to Sala sound more appropriate to the blubbering and weak-willed bouts we've seen more often from Yuri, at this point. Mickey's Weaknesses here seem most obviously intended as a contrast to how far Yuri has progressed in emotional Strength. I hope the rest of Yuri's scenes in this episode show him Stronger than Mickey with Sala in this scene.

Even now, Mickey is thinking only in terms of obtaining Sala's full focus. He's thinking of other types of men she might like and implying that maybe if his personality were like theirs, he could have kept her. Even though her need to be independent and to see him become Stronger by finding his own independence has nothing to do with her "falling out of love with him". He really isn't looking at her at all.

Or maybe Emil's unemotional skating program's title is supposed to demonstrate his ability to separate himself from his emotions (his characteristic cheerfulness) and still be able to be himself. Though all those falls he was taking, while Mickey was watching him, thinking Emil might be an example of what a "successful" man is, enough to get Sala's attention, showed the delusion Mickey was having, in the idea of following Emil's example (of cheerfulness). So if Mickey can't imitate Emil or any other man in order to get Sala back, what can he do? He must be so lost right now. And right before he has to skate!

He's skating to "Serenade for Two". Ouch. She's not even at rink side.

"Sala, are you watching me somewhere out there?" I expect to see a contrast with Yuri later skating and not thinking such things. Yuri should skate with full confidence that Victor's presence is with him. Yuri shouldn't look out, wonder, or hope that Victor is watching. He should feel with bulletproof certainty that Victor's spirit is with him. Mickey's purple costume reminds me so much of Yuri's "Yuri on Ice" costume, that it seems more obvious that Mickey is going to serve as a parallel contrast to Yuri later. If they're going to be equated in costumes, then their differences in actions should really stand out.

"I can tell, even when we're apart." Really? You sure don't act like it. But I guess Mickey is only really seeing the "Sala" in his head, and not the real Sala standing in front of him, anyway.

The thing I like about this whole "incest" motif between Mickey and Sala is that she actually tells him to stop obsessing with her, get a life, and let her have her own. So many anime use incest for fanservice and never once have I seen the sister forcibly, physically, make the brother stop letting this continue. If she's a tsundere, she'll get mad, but just kind of stay sprawled and limp, wondering what the heck her brother is doing. Like Bakemonogatari. Or more often, the sister is waaaaaay too handsy and the herbivore brother doesn't have the guts to shove her off of him, even though it makes him visibly uncomfortable. Like Bungo Stray Dogs. Or even more often, the series treats the incest pair like the canon OTP or at least the background pair to root for. The Irregular at Magic High School, .Hack//Legend of the Twilight, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjyo Tenge, etc. I once went to a anime convention panel where a Japanese panelist explained Japanese cultural reflections in anime, and he explained the ubiquity of incest as the desperation of heterosexual males to be near females, in their society of such strictly separated genders. "So having a girl in your house, so close to you everyday, is an exciting thought." Ug. Stop it. Good on Sala for grabbing Mickey by the chin and telling him to get a life and that she had a life outside of him! Personally, I chalk it up to the writer and director of "Yuri on Ice" being female, females who are probably just as sick of the incest trope as the rest of us otaku.

On the other hand, if Mickey does well, even while his costume draws a parallel with Yuri, then maybe the contrast will be of Yuri doing badly, while separated from Victor. O~O! ;o;! Nooooooooo!

"What should I do with my feelings?" I think it's really important that Mickey phrased this in a way that implies that he does realize there are other things he can do with his feelings besides being obsessed with his sister.

"I can feel lost love in Michele's skating." Don't look so happy to have a comrade in misery, Georgi. Mickey is "mellow" and sad right now. Ah, well. Maybe a few drunken drinks together and messy crying about their ex'es will finally get both of them over it. We can only hope.

"Sala, this is the last time that I skate for you." Wow. Mickey is accepting this "break-up" pretty quickly. Good for him. ^-^

"This is my real love. Farewell, Sala." So are they saying Mickey took breaking up his obsession with Sala well, because he's considering honoring her wishes to have him stop obsessing over her, as another expression of his love?

Oh wow. Sala is really crying. I guess she was the one who was more attached. Or maybe just attached enough to let it last this long. It's pretty healthy for her to have recognized the stagnancy, broken it off, and is already into her grieving phase. Even if she didn't want to be the object of her brother's obsession, I'm sure their bond was still the most important to her.

"That was the coolest program I've seen from you so far. You thought of me when you were skating right?" "I'm sorry for saying such mean things earlier. But I'm glad I did! We're better apart, after all!" Thank you, Yuri on Ice!!!! If this was any other series, the sister would have gone back to the brother, as if they were reuniting lovers. Thank you for maintaining the growth of the characters and a demonstration of superior emotionally healthy relationships! ^O^ Just because Sala wants to see Mickey do well and can feel happy that he thinks of her and loves her, doesn't mean that she wants to go back to being his obsession. In fact, those are the same reasons she wants him to be independent of her. And he just proved that learning to become independent makes him Stronger. He had the best program performance ever! It's just healthier for a person to not have illusion-based obsessions, and to be an independent person in a relationship, vs co-dependent.

And I guess if Mickey/Sala was representative of anything in this series, it was the dangers of co-dependency. Now, let's see our series’ main protagonist couple avoid that obstacle, by contrast.

What's with Seung-gil? He seemed so freaked-out right before he stepped onto the ice, and now the camera's first glimpse of his performance is of him falling? Why is he so freaked-out? Was he intimidated by someone? Not by Mickey's awesome performance, was it? Was Seung-gil so nervous because Mickey's program was flawless? If so, then it just might prove my theory that Seung-gil is supposed to represent the importance of emotion (emotional expression) during skating, by being too unemotional and failing.

Yurio's statement is really surprising. He sees JJ and Yuri as his strongest competition. Almost takes the doubt out of Yuri's close-ups while he's nervous. But more like the audience knows he has earned more confidence, but Yuri himself doesn't know it.

Oh my gawd. Seung Gil is actually crying. I guess he's the type to stay stoic until the very last second.

Wasn't Victor supposed to choreograph Yurio's senior debut? I guess Yurio is ok with just the Agape program.

Are Yurio's jumps at the 2nd half of the program really low now?

Alright. that's better.

I want to say that Yurio gets really motivated when he's angry, but that didn't work out too well when he preformed Agape. But maybe it's only because Agape is the opposite of his nature. Maybe here, his anger will make the 2nd half of his program go even better.

I love seeing that focused expression on Yuri's face, like when he was preparing to skate against Minami. But during his stretches this time, he got distracted by Yurio superseding himself. I hope Yuri doesn't get mired in self-doubt in the middle of his Yuri on Ice program. Especially after all this inner monologue from Yurio, explaining that Yuri's program is already intimidating to Yurio's chances of getting into the Grand Prix.

I like how Yuri's lack of response to Yurio's brag about getting first place so far, made Yuri seem very focused and unfazed. But then the camera goes watery, like Yuri is going to cry and really is mired in self-doubt. I really expected some kind of inner monologue, where Yuri says he's either focused or crumbling. But there was nothing. I like that the direction is keeping us guessing. Now I really want to see how Yuri feels, through watching his performance.

I just realized that both Yuri and JJ are preforming to music composed just for them, to encapsulate themselves. But whereas "King JJ" makes JJ seem arrogant, "Yuri on Ice"'s somber, wavering, and frail, hopeful journey doesn't seem self-centered at all. It's just a story.

"I popped it." Is that bad or good? This is what I meant when I said before that this series doesn't do as well as other sports anime, when it comes to explaining the sport sufficiently, by the time of the performance, so we can understand the tension and stakes during the performance. Even with the reaction shots, it took the commentator explaining "His second jump turned into a single" for it to be clear that Yuri messed up.

"Until Victor came into my life, I could never openly say that I'd win gold, but I never skated with the thought in my mind that I'd lose anyway." There's something lost in the wording of Yuri's internal monologue. I guess I don't understand. Is he saying that Yuri's ambitions about skating were never strong enough to win gold nor to lose, as if he didn't have enough passion in his skating, before Victor appeared? Is he saying that Yuri always wanted to win, but never was ambitious enough for gold? Maybe never had the self-confidence to aim that high? Or that Victor made Yuri finally able to express aloud his pre-existing (maybe muffled) strong will to win? Then he says, "Truthfully, I wanted to win gold at last year's Grand Prix Final, too." So I guess...Yuri is saying that he always had a strong ambition to aim high, but it wasn't fully expressed until Victor boosted his self-confidence? Now we're getting all these flashbacks of Victor boosting Yuri's confidence, so that's a confirmation.

"I was able to come this far because Victor believed in me." And now we get an answer to Yuri's first line in his inner monologue: "I don't want them to think everything Victor's taught me has been a waste." So the thing Yuri feels that Victor taught him the most was belief in himself. Which is a nice call back to the opening theme's lyrics. ^-^

It's nice that Yurio is cheering for his rival to do well.

But I actually kind of like that Yuri messed up a little during the first half of his program. "Yuri on Ice" is supposed to represent his skating career, right? At the beginning, Yuri was making all these missteps because of his lack of self-confidence. So in the second half, which is supposed to express after Victor became his coach, it would be appropriate to show then, all the (bolstering) influences that Victor has had on Yuri.

It's funny. Yuri seems to preform better when he's huffy about something. Before, he was angry at Victor for not knowing that all he needed was for Victor to have more faith in him than Yuri had himself. Now he's huffy at the idea of Yurio demonstrating impressive stamina, when everyone keeps saying Yuri is supposed to be the one defined by stamina. "Idiot! I have more stamina than him!"

"Whether Victor were with me or not, it would still feel just as tough." "I'm the only one who can skate this program with this much appeal." I like when Yuri's inner monologe starts becoming more confident. ^_^ It's like when he first began to understand how to be in-character for his Eros program: His performance is going to suddenly become something amazing.

"I'm the one who loves this program victor and I made the most in the whole world!" There's a slight variation in the violins here that strikes well, while Yuri is thinking about his announced theme for the year: finding Strength through Love.

JJ is the only one not watching Yuri's performance. Even though everyone else is captivated by the 2nd half of his program. I wonder what that says about JJ and how it's going to be built upon later in the series. (Just saying he's self-centered is too easy. I mean, he is. But there can still be more than that.)

Aw, Yuri touched the ground. But the direction tried to deflate it with the side comments from Mila. "When you think of how it could've been with Victor here, you really want to see that, right?" This show keeps doing this thing every once in a while, where emotional response and anticipation from the audience are advocated as more important than technical performance. But it's hard for me to completely buy that, when so much more of the series (screentime) has been dedicated to showing them work out and practice so that they can nail the technical aspect. Only very rarely, like when Minami skated or Yuri skated during the all-Japan competition, did the series mention that enthralling the audience's emotions, as a performer, was more important than technical execution. Sure, they threw in Seung Gil to exemplify how technical merit without emotion can't win, but I don't think that theme was emphasized enough in relation to the whole sport or to contrast Yuri specifically. Yuri and Seung Gil only had 1 interaction so far: when Yuri was one of the few to see Seung Gil cry, while he passed by him. I don't know. As a sports anime, this show just isn't as effective for me. I still prefer to watch it as a character study. That, this series does well.

I wonder what Yakov would say if Yuri told him aloud that Victor's coaching style is just like Yakov's? LOL Maybe then Yakov might start to accept Victor as a coach instead of just "playing coach". At least Yakov knows Yuri never practiced for failed jumps because of Victor's old habit to do the same.

Aw! ^u^ Yuri is so huggy! ^.^!

"I'm no prince. I'm already a king!" Yeesh. Talk about a complete foil to Yuri's characteristic unconfidence!

And here we get that other layer besides the arrogance he's been superficially portrayed with so far. It's good to hear JJ thinking of his family, girlfriend, and country, while he skates.

"This isn't enough love!" So if JJ is Yuri's true foil in the series, and his definition of "love" is getting cheers from the audience...I guess that contrasts with Yuri expressing "love" as support from his closer circle of family and friends. Interesting. Let's see where this goes.

It's kind of weird how instantly enthusiastically Sala always jumps to any guy who isn't her brother. Says a lot about how much he smothered her. -.-;

"Is this a hugging competion?" Oh, Emil... ^_^ Poor Seung Gil and Yurio. LOL But I thought Yuri confirmed that he has progressed to the next stage, just barely above Mickey, because of he placed 2nd at the Cup of China. Why is he practically saying farewell to everyone, like he was the one leaving? ...Unless this shows his character growth, by Yuri saying "bye" to everyone else who isn't advancing, or rather, just everyone who shared this experience of the Rostelecom Cup with him. Saying bye more to the Rostelecom Cup, than to people? Maybe? Well, Victor did say to hug when he was stressed. ^o^ "I'm this close to the peak of my competitive figure skating career. I really want the gold now. The Grnad Prix Final will be my last chance." Yeesh. So final! So the hugging really was about Yuri thinking his career is near its end and he won't be able to be there again. o_o

End credits over the last scenes? A mid-season break for a short 12 episode series? o.o???

Aw, birthday pirozhki! ^.^ How does Yurio know Yuri's birthday? Is it on their official public stats? Wow, Yurio really is playing to the rival-friend motifs. Or maybe he just wants to see Yuri say that his grandfather's food is better than the Katsuki's? LOL Naw. It's even better. He just wanted to show off his grandfather's katsudon pirozhki to someone! Particularly to someone who knows a good katsudon. ^_^

Oh, good. The fluffy one survived.

There's the hug he really wanted.

Oh, don't say it's like a marriage proposal. In an airport? Do you know how cliche that is?! This is much better than that old cliche. ^-^ "I wish you'd never retire." Now that sounds more like a marriage proposal. ^_^

7:05 PM 3/7/2017 The problem I have with this show, is that I don't care about the characters---Well, until Yuri reappears on screen. I can't take my eyes off his performances. But the series takes so much screentime on other characters, that just haven't had the time for me to build any significant attachment to. So I find myself not caring.

The whole reason I've been postponing finishing this series, is because it takes so much time for me to write reactions and watch at the same time. But because I don't care enough for all these side characters (and caring about characters is *really* important to me, even more than plots), I didn't want to just zip through watching YOI without remembering my emotional reactions. If I didn't jot them down as they happened, then I know I'd look back on this series and not really care overall, because my horrible memory wouldn't remember being effected by this series. But I know I care about Yuri, and Victor is a lot of fun, so I don't want to finish this series, thinking that it was the same as if I didn't watch anything.

#md3 watches yuri on ice

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