#they were both good don’t get me wrong but vol.2 just hit different

[sunnibits]

just finished watching kill bill for the first time I loved the part where women do violence

[ac-liveblogs]

The tl;dr on Trigun Stampede is that it’s a good show, but*

This is the show that I watched on a whim bc I thought Vash was cute and it consumed my brain for the next three months. I do not regret that decision. 

Heading into Trigun, I knew jackshit about it. I think the only character I could’ve recognised prior to this was 90s Vash (whose design I didn’t and still kind of don’t like!). I was too young for Adult Swim in the… very brief period of time that it was actually airing on Cartoon Network in Australia and I’m not sure if Trigun was even on it anyway, so I had absolutely no expectations walking in. 

Obviously, the most notable thing about this show to a newcomer is the animation. It’s been interesting watching RWBY vol 9 and Stampede back to back, let’s say that much. It’s stellar. I think this is one of the prettiest shows I’ve watched in a very long time, and the combat animation is fluid, energetic and full of so much personality. I was still deciding how I felt about the show right up until episode 3 - Millions Knives’ debut - and as soon as I saw the attack on Jeneora I was hitting up my WatchPal to recommend it. I think you can definitely see where Studio Orange cut corners - some locations can feel very empty - but for what they actually want you to focus on, the show looks great.

Episode 4’s reveal of Wolfwood’s Punisher (and what it can do) lives in my head rent-free to this day, and quite frankly episode 12 is one of my favourite fight scenes in pretty much anything. A lot of love and attention to detail goes into these fights, and the choreography is fresh and exciting. Vash shooting at Nai resembling a 3rd-person shooter was so much fun. WatchPal was very patient with me constantly asking to pause, rewind, watch that scene again, pick out this or that detail. Sorry dude. Worth it to see how terribad a fighter Nai actually is, though, shit’s hilarious. I think that even if you don’t care for the plot, this show is worth watching just for the fight scenes and set pieces. 

I think no one’s going to argue the plot is rushed, but what’s there is solid and interesting. This world is absolutely fascinating, and I had a lot of fun speculating on what was happening or what Nai’s goals were. The most fun I had was picking out the biblical themes (which I surprisingly know more of than I thought I did) and working out who was what was where and why, and I’ll be very curious to see where that all goes. I’m also an obnoxious Final Fantasy 7 purist, so I was obviously enjoying the heavy-handed pro-environmentalism themes and psychological horror elements. Nai was right until he was wrong. I’ll be… interested to see how this all resolves next season, because I’m not sure I’m meant to think Vash is right, exactly. 

Vash is an enjoyable MC, though he’s kind of a woobie, huh? I watched Badlands Rumble in the middle of all this and was shocked at the difference in characterisation (incidentally, not a good movie!) He was definitely a lot goofier in eps 1 and 2, but things took a real turn in episode 3 that he never quite cheered up from so I’m hoping to see him in his natural habitat once things chill out. “He’s both the hero and the heroine” is a phrase that’s stuck with me since I learnt the screenwriter apparently said it, and it’s certainly made the way he’s written incredibly interesting to dissect symbolically.

Picking apart symbolism in this show is one of my favourite things to do with it.

Surprisingly, I think William Conrad is one of the more interesting characters in the show. I’m so fascinated by the logic behind everything he’s done. I want more of this dude, I thought Meryl was gonna murk him and was pleasantly surprised when she didn’t.

I like Wolfwood. I like narrative foils and homoerotic subtext. I think Wolfwood is potentially really interesting and didn’t get to shine in Stampede, but he’s got at least one whole season ahead of him and I am already predicting that Trimax is going to make me exceptionally mentally unwell about him. I can pick ‘em. I can sense it. I can smell blood in the water. I am also saying, right now and for posterity, that Wolfwood is going to die. He’s gonna die in Stampede, he’s gonna die in Maximum, he probably died in the 90s. Sorry. It’s gonna happen.

If this weren’t a 12 episode series and it would’ve been unsatisfying for it to happen here, I would’ve expected him to die redeeming himself after betraying Vash in July. Now we’re past his Judas phase, I’m wondering what the New Biblical Imagery he’s going to pick up to replace it will be bc as is, uh... dude by all means should probably just power walk really fast in the other direction and never be seen or heard from again.

Nai is a really fun and sympathetic villain right up until he's fun and an absolute monster, and I respect his deranged manner and willingness to wrangle that twincest subtext as close to actual text as he could possibly get it. I am SO curious how much of that was in the original because jesus christ. I felt bad for the guy and agree with him to a certain extent, but my feelings about Nai’s handling are going to have to wait until I see how Vash’s arc continues and what happens to Plants going forward. Vash doesn’t seem particularly motivated to change the status quo at this stage which is... interesting. We’ll see what happens.

I was very lukewarm on Meryl until eps 10-12. Now it’s the Zazie-Meryl Power Hour. As soon as I realised they were parallels my brain woke up. While I’m really ??? unsure about Wolfwood’s trajectory going forward, I am very excited for Meryl’s. It also helps she turned into a chain-smoking disaster senpai in the timeskip. She’s Mary Magdalene also. That’s really cool. I felt really smart when I figured out that really obvious connection, finally, in episode 11. (I know some bible but not that much bible.)

I… I don’t get points for figuring out which two biblical figures Vash is representative of. No one does. I do get points for noticing he yanked Wolfwood’s entire colour scheme when he started trying to kill Nai, though. That was cool. That fight was so fucking cool. 

Trigun Stampede is a really fun show.

*But. 

It is a show absolutely hamstrung by its episode count. When you’re dealing with either 12 or 24 episode seasons you’re inevitably going to run into problems when you’re not working with original material, and Stampede was having serious problems fitting in all the plot points that it needed to before the finale. This show’s pace is absolutely breakneck with absolutely no room to breathe, and in the end that means the main cast’s relationships suffer for it. I was very disappointed to find that I really liked Roberto in the episode that he died, and that was episode 10. 

Episodes 10-12 leaves the implication of shenanigans and much stronger relationships than we got. That’s a real shame because the show roughly broke into Vash-Wolfwood, Vash-Nai and Meryl-Roberto with very little crossover - I know Vash/Meryl is a classic, but she ended up having more chemistry with Wolfwood, and any semblance of party dynamic evaporated once we got to Home. And speaking of Home, that lack of space between episodes and the necessity to explain Vash and Nai’s backstory ended up with us teleporting in and out, and the rest of the trip to July getting crammed off-screen. Integral scenes are missing - I had to consult a more knowledgeable coworker about the missing pieces of Wolfwood’s backstory so I could get his rough timeline (and age) actually explained to me, and I did find myself wanting to explore this world a lot more than we had time to do. 

Like. Seriously. What the hell is up with Legato. Who are you. How are you doing that. Why are you here. Why is your hair blue.

The photo of the group in episode 12 in particular really makes me feel like there’s a lot we missed out on without a couple of breather episodes here and there. I think with the exception of Vash and Nai, whose relationship is quite interesting and intense, I enjoyed the concepts of the characters more than the actual execution. However, I’m also 100% sure that Nai and Vash was the Absolute Main Focus of this season, so, I can let this go if season 2 delivers. 

Sorry Vashwood, you’re very fun in theory and I like you a lot, but we’re kind of pulling at threads here. Trimax is apparently gonna be an Experience though. 

I try to take the circumstances of a work’s creation into account when I talk about it, and between a 12 or 24 episode series I understand why Studio Orange chose 12, but Stampede really needed 15 or 16 to shine with the narrative it wanted to tell. I also understand why Stampede chose to seed future plot points that went absolutely nowhere this season - Wolfwood’s beef with Livio, Legato and Elendira being prime examples (christ this guy is gonna be busy in season 2), and the trip Home specifically after the Sand Steamer feels a bit pointless at this stage - but I can’t help but wonder if that time would have been better spent elsewhere. 

Although, a lot of fans couldn’t even deal with Milly’s absence even though it took about 5 seconds for me, someone who confused Trigun with Cowboy Bebop until quite recently, to work out what Meryl’s rough character arc was and why Milly was absent (but pretty clearly coming back later in very predictable way), so maybe Studio Orange was being wise by assuring, uh, certain fans they hadn’t forgotten or maliciously chosen to delete these characters. 

I’ve heard Trigun wasn’t as popular in Japan as it was in the West, so maybe that 12 episode pick was playing it safe, but since S2 has been greenlit and Stampede seems to have been a pretty big success, hopefully Orange can spring for 24 episodes this time and make this show really shine.

Anyway, I’m gonna read the manga now.

[jonathanbiers]

longtime reader first time anon! in regards to the "steve doesn't know what a bisexual is" thing, I'm honestly going back and forth about whether ANYONE in a small town in the mid-eighties would be super familar with the concept — as a bisexual myself I am wondering. researching it hasn't come up with much, because while we know bisexuality was definitely developing as its own movement in queer urban spaces, how much of that permeated middle america?

hi, first of all i’m??? so flattered that you’ve read my stuff and stuck around to read more but anyway, getting to the subject of the discussion,

i mean i live in a small town but it’s not the 80s anymore and i was not alive then, so my perspective is still limited. but it’s definitely feasible to me that he’d be aware of the concept of bisexuality, whether or not he had the vocabulary for it.

but correct me if i’m wrong, we have evidence of him having an idea of the concept of bisexuality in the show when he reassures robin that vickie could still be interested, even if she had a boyfriend? and that smile at the end of vol 2 when he sees them interacting. that’s a “go best friend” smile if i’ve ever seen one, he sees her hitting it off. he knows she has a chance, even after they saw her kissing a guy

and if that’s not enough, david bowie was huge at the time and also known for liking both. this would definitely be talked about in a small town like that, even if it’s just to be derogatory(which lets be real it would) which makes it very hard for me to believe he’s never been exposed to the concept even if he’s repressed his own feelings, which is basically what you’re talking about in the third ask. i hope you don’t mind me condensing them all into one post btw jajdhjdnf

also speaking of your third ask, i’ve lived that too!! this discussion is not about me but i wanted to throw it in there. and my experience is obviously different, but. i spent a good chunk of my self discovery journey identifying as a lesbian when i was, in fact, a transmasc dealing with comphet all along. i repressed the fuck out of my attraction to guys even when i didn’t yet realize i was one. that’s a very very real thing. even while doing things that were (for me) a very obvious sign of attraction. also, if you’re a longtime enough reader to have been around before i abandoned the multi chapter steddie fic that i just haven’t deleted yet, that’s pretty much where i was going to go with that just for the record. him realizing he felt the attraction all along and just repressed it because of (he wouldn’t know the vocabulary but) comphet. not some weird “what do you mean, both?” robin handfeeding him the dictionary definition of bisexual thing that happens way to often in fics to even be funny anymore

which brings me to your second ask. who decided that robin ��trips and stutters around pretty girls” buckley and eddie “super super senior dnd nerd plays his guitar so much he learns master of puppets in a couple of weeks” munson are the experts on queer history and would be the ones to explain to poor little dumb baby steve that he’s attracted to both like he’s not a big boy with more emotional intelligence and depth than A LOT of main male characters out there, and who can figure shit out his damn self? please. robin is…robin, we love her, but she’s not giving me “goes to gay bars in indianapolis” vibes. who’s taking her to these, anyway? she can’t drive. she’s underage. definitely not giving me “has a fake id” vibes, either. try and convince me robin “or rather my mouth moves faster than my brain” buckley could get past a club bouncer. and eddie, bless his heart(affectionate), whether you’re a virgin eddie truther or not, is not some sex god who knows everything about being gay and swoops in to share this privileged knowledge with steve. those fanfics, while a fun fantasy at first, are something i’m sick and tired of seeing at this point. and yet the damage is seemingly done, the fandom has just come to that consensus at this point.

[maneskinrollercoaster]

~ You Don’t Even Have Fucking Balls To Choose The One You Love ~

Pairing: Damiano David x Victoria De Angelis

Word count: 1754

Warnings: a bit of swearing and a slight angst but apart from that none

Summary: One little kiss leads to something unexpected.

It all started with an innocent kiss. They’ve just won Eurovision and all the excitement and adrenaline was too much. His soft lips met hers harshly and she wrapped her hands around his neck. Both surprised pulled away from each other and started laughing, not thinking much of what just happened between them and quickly ran to others, jumping from happiness.

Their lips met again a month later after they all went off the stage in Poland, both sweaty and exited from their performance, blood rushing in their veins. No one was surprised really, it was well known that between these two there was always a spark of chemistry that none of them could deny. Little did they know that this spark will evolve in something much more than just innocent kisses.

One night he entered her room silently, in a rush of anxiety and woke her up gently, trying not to scare her.

What’s going on, Damiano? She said and sat on the bed looking a him with a worried expression.

He looked pale, without any colors on his face, eyes watery and his hands shaking.

I’m scared, Vic. What if all this is too good to be true? What if everything we’re doing is gonna end in a blink of an eye? He said and Vic not saying anything pulled him closer in a warm hug, wrapping her arms around his neck.

That night he stayed in her bed and both of them, not really knowing why, got lost in each other, trying hard for everyone not to hear their moans and fell asleep with their naked bodies tied together in a warm hug.

It kept on happening more often during the tour. In a rush of adrenaline they would lock themselves in a fitting room behind the stage and have sex to make all the stress vanish.

Fans saw something was happening and the two of them knew that their unusual relationship is being slowly revealed to the world. All the stage glances, naked pool pictures and all the interactions they had with each other suddenly became visible for the internet. They didn’t care though, still enjoying each other’s company and support.

The truth was, they’ve always been the closest with each other. They just clicked from the beginning and enjoyed spending time together, even after recording. They often stayed up all night talking about their favorite bands, singing their favorite songs or just chatting about everything and nothing. And because their chemistry was so good and their friendship so strong, they didn’t see anything bad in their small sexual secret.

Not until Damiano’s girlfriend started having doubts about his loyalty. Don’t get her wrong though, Giorgia loved Damiano and she would never even think of thinking of the idea of Damiano having an affair. But all the instagram edits, all the YouTube videos and all the ambiguous pictures of him and Victoria, made her have second thoughts, whether Damiano is truly dedicated to her and only her.

So when she brought it up, Damiano only then realized, what he was doing. He never was the one to cheat but suddenly he found himself cheating on Giorgia with Vic, which was never meant to happen. After all, they’ve been together for four years and he never wanted to hurt her, let alone cheat on her.

So he lied.

Nothing is between us, amore. Are you crazy? You know that this whole chemistry thing is just for show. Also it’s hard not to suspect anything when we’re trying to keep our relationship private. Damiano said and quickly wrapped his arms around Giorgia to assure her of his lie.

She loved him so she believed him. But she wasn’t stupid though and noticed something was different about Damiano. Since winning Eurovision they haven’t been intimate with each other as they used to be before. All they really did was kissing and cuddling but sex almost vanished.

So he lied again.

I’m so sorry, babe. I’m so stressed with all the tour and recording the new album is taking a lot of time. I didn’t realize that I’ve grown distant with you. Let me fix that. He said and kissed her gently.

That night, Damiano tried to cover up his lies and cheating, with sex, which by the way wasn’t all that great for him. The truth was, all he thought about was Victoria and their little secret.

Time passed by and both of them grew closer and closer with each other, slowly catching feelings and making it obvious that something is in the air. It was harder for them to cover it up so around boys they’ve acted as if they were together. Ethan and Thomas didn’t mind, as much as they felt bad for Giorgia, they loved seeing Damiano and Victoria so happy.

The whole band with some of their friends went on a vacation to Bali. Beautiful views, crystal clear water, amazing weather, and everything would be perfect if not the fact that Damiano brought Giorgia with him. He couldn’t do anything about it though, he didn’t want her to suspect anything and it would look stupid if everyone took their closest people and he wouldn’t take his girlfriend.

Victoria couldn’t stand it. All the kisses, all the hugs and their constant laughter. Damiano looked completely lost in Giorgia and Vic’s heart ached at the sight of them having so much fun together. She wanted to be on her place after all and that’s when she realized that she’s head over heels in love with Damiano.

They couldn’t avoid it - you would say. But Victoria really thought at first that their relationship was strictly sexual and everything else between them was just a friendly love. Turns out she was wrong and her feelings for him were strong and sincere.

She told him then.

I can’t hide it anymore Dami. I can’t hide that I’m in love with you. She said and he looked at her with surprised expression.

Damiano knew his feelings and he knew he felt the same, but admitting it to Victoria and more importantly, to himself, hit him harder than he thought it would. He just then realized that he has to choose between staying with Giorgia and hurting Vic, which would possibly cause making things worse for the band, or staying with Victoria and hurting Giorgia, who after all, always been there for him for the past four years. Pretending wasn’t an option anymore.

I love you, Vic. And I don’t know how, but we will get through this together. He said and hugged her the tightest he could, afraid that she will slip through his fingers sooner than he thought.

Days went by and their new album Teatro D’Ira vol 2 was ready to be released. Many songs were about Victoria and her being more and more involved in their relationship, couldn’t stand a fact that Damiano would spend every night at Giorgia’s place. She couldn’t even begin to imagine him telling her that the songs are about her, lying in her face.

So one day she asked him.

Did you tell her, Dami? Victoria asked, entering the studio where Damiano was preparing instruments.

He promised Victoria that he will talk to Giorgia and end things with her as soon as it’s possible. He tried to avoid it, buying Victoria little gifts and filling her ears with sweet words and I love you’s but he knew that she isn’t dumb and that sooner or later she will demand explanations.

Tell who about what? He played dumb and he couldn’t believe that now he’s lying to Vic too.

Her cheeks turned red from anger and her eyes wide opened, gave him a death stare, not wanting to believe his confusion.

Are you kidding? Still nothing, he looked at her with a fake surprise on his face. Giorgia? About us? Don’t play stupid Damiano, you know exactly what I’m talking about! She raised her voice and Damiano gave up.

I didn’t. I’m sorry. You need to give me some more time. She just got out of the hospital, I can’t just go and slap her in the face with the fact that i cheated on her.

Her going out of the hospital is not an excuse! You were supposed to tell her a long time ago and yet you didn’t. Why? Victoria didn’t care if they will argue at this point, she wanted to get the answers and she wasn’t leaving anywhere without them.

Damiano didn’t know what to say. He was a coward, and after a long time he finally admitted it. He was too scared to tell Giorgia, he didn’t want to hurt her and for the first time in his life, he didn’t have the courage to tell someone how he really feels.

You know what, forget it. You don’t even have fucking balls to choose the one you love! Victoria shouted and stormed out of the studio, shutting the door the loudest she could.

She wasn’t the one to get hurt ever but she’s really fallen for Damiano and over the time their bond got stronger. She really felt like he was her soulmate, someone she was always looking for. But now she was crying over a guy for the first time in her life which she promised herself that’s never going to happen.

The tension between them was obvious. Thomas and Ethan could see that something is wrong, but not wanting to make things worse, they let them be. The concerts were less charismatic and their energy wasn’t showing that much, which made fans suspect too.

But the thing that happened next blew everyone away.

I wanna be your slave I wanna be your master. Damiano whispered to the microphone and quickly walked up to Victoria, pulling her in for a passionate kiss.

The crowd went crazy, they were screaming, crying and taking pictures, throwing things on the stage like flowers and clothes but Victoria and Damiano forgot about everyone around. It was only them, kissing on the stage and millions of butterflies flying in their stomachs. The feeling was indescribable, finally being able to do it in front of the fans, but Vic felt even more special because in that moment she knew that Damiano stated his feelings towards her.

It took me a while but the truth is that I would always choose you. He said, leaning his forehead against hers and they both smiled, enjoying each other’s presence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello everyone!

Just a little disclaimer, this one shot is not by any means meant to send hate towards Giorgia or anything like that. It’s also not meant to harass Victoria and Damiano, it’s a pure imagination for all those who like to see some Damoria content.

I hope you enjoyed reading! ❤️

Tag list: [ @teenyweenynightghost , @superchrystaldrug , @unitersmoonshine ]

[dialovers-translations]

DIABOLIK LOVERS MORE BLOOD Vol.6: Sakamaki Kanato [Track 5+6]

Original title: 罠 & 恐怖

Source: Diabolik Lovers More, Blood Vol. 6: Sakamaki Kanato [CD not owned by me]

Audio: Here & here

Seiyuu: Kaji Yuki

Translator’s note: I have to say, I’m starting to get a little tired of the endless sequences of aggressive blood sucking with very little plot to it. I get that Kanato is an angry lil boi but it feels like the CD isn’t really providing us with much plot. Not to say that the first set of Do-S Kyuuketsu CDs were overflowing with plot and character development, but they still had a different vibe to them. Hopefully we get a little change of pace soon with maybe some feels/angst from Kanato? Show us that he is capable of feeling another emotion other than sheer RAGE, Rejet. xD

Track 1+2 ll Track 3+4 ll Track 5+6 ll Track 7+8 ll Track 9+10

→  LIKE MY TRANSLATIONS? SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI!

Track 5: Trap

*Rustle rustle*

“Haah...I knew it. This was a trap, wasn’t it? Fufu...Fufufu...Hahaha...Who is it...Who are you working with? ...Where is this piece of trash, enjoying the show from the sidelines...!?”

*Cling*

“Oi...! Where are you...!? Let us out of here...!! Right now!!”

*Clatter clatter*

“I don’t mind taking this measly worm’s life in return...! Haah...But if I do that, you will be in trouble, no!?

The ferris wheel starts shaking.

*CLATTER CLATTER*

*THUD*

“ーーUgh! ...What was that just now...? Was that their answer...perhaps?”

*Creaaaak*

“Fuck...The ferris wheel is...tilted to the side!”

Kanato looks over to you.

“Heh. You’re now pinned underneath me, huh? ...Ugh, my body aches. In this position...”

*Rustle rustle*

*Cling*

“...However...It allowed me to move closer to you. The entangled chains became undone by the impact from the blow as well. Like this, I can suck from other parts of your body as well.”

He takes in your scent.

“Haahー ...I can pick up the rich fragrance of blood. Your heart’s beating loudly...Mmh. I can clearly tell now. I suppose this is what they would call ‘a blessing in disguise’? (1) Fufu~ Although for you, I’m sure this is the start of misfortune and despair.”

*Cling cling*

“Now that the ferris wheel is tilted, I have a good view of what’s below us. ...I wonder how this works? It’s almost as if only this cart we’re riding in is slanted, on the brink of falling down.”

*Creaaaak*

“There’s a window underneath you...and I’m riding on top of you. In other words, if the glass were to break, you’d tumble straight down to the ground, no? Fufu...~ 

Your eyes widen in horror. 

“Oh? What’s wrong? Are you scared? ...Even more scared than you are of me? Hmー I don’t like the sound of that.”

 *THUD*

“Fufu~ You want to know what I’m doing? Honestly, this is exactly why I can’t stand idiots. You have a pair of eyes for a reason, don’t you? I’m trying to break the glass by hitting it.”

*THUD*

“Fufufu...~”

*THUD*

“Hm~ I guess it’s tempered glass, as to be expected.”

*THUD THUD*

“It won’t break so easily. In that case, I could put in a bit more strength by using both hands to easilyーー”

You beg him to stop.

“Huh? ‘Stop’? But why? Since you seem scared of heights, I was thinking that by breaking the glass, your fear would reach its peak and you might just be able to overcome it~? Fufu...Fufufu...”

*THUD*

“Fufu...I love seeing your face scrunched up in horror like that...Makes me wonder what would happen if I were to hit the glass and shake the cart at the same time...~”

Track 6: Fear

*SHATTER*

“...Hah~? ...Fufu~ It finally shattered a little. However, this glass is quite difficult to break. What a pain...Its stubbornness is on par with yours. Cough, cough...I’m feeling parched again...”

*Cling*

“I’m sure that if I were to slit your throat with one of these shards of glass...and gulp down the fresh blood gushing out, this thirst would settle at least a little, no?”

You shiver.

“Fufu...Fufufu...”

*Rustle*

“And your neck just so happens to be positioned perfectly in front of me. Almost as if your body is begging me for it. Fufu...Fufufu~”

*Sluuuurp*

“Mmh...Hm~”

*Sluuuurp*

“Your blood seems to be calling me. ‘Please drink me more’, that’s what it’s saying. Mmh...”

*Sluuuurp*

“Nn...I can’t hold back...”

You look at Kanato in fear.

“Fufufu...Are you scared? Rest assured. If you were to die, it would affect me negatively as well, so I won’t cut you with this glass shard right now. If I plan to kill you, I should at least show you off a little more first, don’t you think? You feel the same, don’t you?”

*Cling cling*

“Mmh...”

*THUD*

*RATTLE RATTLE*

“Oh come on, don’t make a fuss. You’re such a handfuーー”

*THUD*

“Ah...Aah...The glass cut you a little because you kept on moving around. There’s blood dribbling down...! What a waste...! Mmh...”

Kanato quickly laps up the blood.

*Gulp*

*Sluuuurp*

“Haah...Your blood is spreading through my body...”

*Sluuuurp*

“But...In the end...It just doesn’t satisfy me...Unless I get to drink it after piercing your skin with my fangs...”

He bites you.

*Sluuuurp*

*Gulp gulp gulp*

*Sluuuurp*

*Gulp*

“Haahn...Mmh...”

*Sluuuurp*

*Gulp gulp*

“Mmh...Nnhーー!!”

*Cling cling*

“Haah...!! God...Why...!? What is this...!? I keep on chugging, but it’s never enough...!  What is happening...!? I’ve drank so much of your blood, yet...!! ...Hey! Tell me what’s going on!!”

*THUD*

“There’s something off about this...! Mmh...”

*Sluuuurp*

*Gulp gulp*

“Haah...I can’t believe it...This satisfaction...”

*Gulp*

“Usually your blood would take me captive...But now it’s almost as if I keep on slipping from its grip...Even though you’ve got that dreamy look in your eyes, telling me you’re enjoying it thoroughly...Ugh!!”

*THUD*

“Aah...This pisses me off...It’s messed up! Is all of this happening because some other person sucked your blood? ...Or perhaps the drug I was given is to blame? ...It might actually be both. ...Fuck! Aah...It grinds my gears...”

He continues aggressively sucking your blood.

*Sluuuurp*

“Ugh...Mmhph...ーー!”

*Sluuuurp*

“Argh...”

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

Translation notes

(1) In Japanese, the idiom goes 不幸中の幸い or ‘fukō-chū no saiwai’ which literally means ‘a blessing amongst bad luck.’

[lady-griffin]

I Entered a Dangerous Dungeon

Acchan’s Story

Acchan’s story was very touching and sad. I thought the anime did a great job adapting her POV chapters concisely into this episode.

I love the scene of Acchan reading Past Katarina’s last text message and breaking down crying.

That got me right in the feels.

One slight criticism, is that in the Light Novel we learn that because of Past Katarina, Acchan has made many friends and is able to live on without her best friend. Because of the positive impact Past Katarina had on her life and how much she changed it for the better. 

So, while in the anime, Acchan does say she will live on without her best-friend, I feel like it doesn’t come across as strongly as it did in the Light Novel.

That being said. I thought Acchan’s story went really well with the flow of the episode.

In LN Vol.2 her POV honestly felt disruptive and broke the flow of the story for me. So definite kudos to the anime for fixing that.

The text message scene got me, but so did Past Katarina’s funeral.

It’s easy to forget, with Katarina’s silliness, density and antics, that she died tragically young in her former life. 

So well done on the anime’s part for hitting me right in the heart with that reminder.

--

Sadness and friendship aside. I like how Fortune Lover appears in Katarina’s Past Life.

The poster on Acchan’s wall gives the impression that Prince Geordo and Prince Alan are the two main love interests or the more primary capture-targets. 

As they are more front and center than Keith and Nicol.

But since this is Katarina’s story, Keith takes precedent over Alan because of his closer proximity and relationship to Katarina.

There’s also something I really like about Past Katarina struggling to succeed in the Prince Geordo route in the game and technically dying because of it. 

It feels like her new life is good karma or the universe trying to make it up to her…so to speak

As in Katarina’s new life she easily wins over Prince Geordo without even trying and by being herself. Hell, she doesn’t even notice that he’s in love with her or that anyone else is. 

I’m probably looking way more into that detail than is actually needed, but I just like that small detail to Katarina and Geordo’s relationship.

The Exam Plot

Sophia want to see Katarina after her sad dream (memories) was very sweet and touching. I just love their friendship and how it has cross time, worlds and lives. It’s beautiful.  

I don’t think the Exam Plot is from the Light Novels (6-9) and it wasn’t in the manga or Light Novels (1-5). 

So, kudos to the Anime for introducing this exam plot and exploring more of the academic life for Katarina and her friends.

I loved their school uniforms for the exam.

It was nice seeing them in the same outfits and they all look pretty damn good in them. 

I don’t know why I really like their uniforms so much, but I really do. I just really do.

As much as I love their day-to-day outfits, I would not be mad if this was their school uniform and what we saw them in for the majority of the time. 

But that’s probably just me. 

Katarina is 100% right about the insanity of this exam.

--

But thanks to this crazy exam we got to see more magic and it was great.

I’ve always felt like the Light Novels and the Manga didn’t elaborate or explore on this being a magical world and the fact that all of our main characters have magic (at least in the First Year/Game Arc). The later novels (3-5) do elaborate a bit further. 

In Fortune Lover, it’s clear that magic was just a mechanic in the game to explain why all these characters were in the same school and a slight twist to making Maria different and special, as well as make Fortune Lover different from other Otome games.

And if I’m not mistakes Katarina even says the same thing about Fortune Lover. 

Fortune Lover gave a limited view of this world. Even when it came to Maria Campbell’s life and background, but the actual Hamefura story explores the world to a much greater extent.

So, it always seemed liked a wasted opportunity not to do the same with magic.

As it never really felt that magic matters for certain characters at all. 

For example in the Light Novels’ Character Profiles -- Sophia is said to have Earth magic and Raphael is said to have Light Magic…

But clearly that doesn’t really matter, because the anime (and maybe manga) can easily change their original types of magic to Wind Magic (I’m assuming it was Raphael who used that wind-tunnel to save Sophia and Katarina). 

HOWEVERE, there does seem to be a mistake in Sophia’s profile as it’s just Katarina’s in regards to her likes, dislikes, etc. 

Sophia’s Profile in Vol.5 (english-translation) is more than likely wrong in regards to her magic. Which might mean Raphael’s magic in his profile is also wrong. 

So, we should take that into consideration. 

My point being that I’m very happy that the anime is taking different route with how it handles magic in comparison to the LN/Manga. 

It’s been a huge improvement.

--

Katarina is so fucking dumb (I love her). 

Not only does she push the red button on the floor without even thinking about it for even a second, but in addition, her contributing to the group with her earth-bump was hilarious and adorable. 

Plus, her picking the most poisonous mushrooms that ever existed was just so stupid and so amazing.  

I also love how both Mary and Sophia are pretty fucking dumb when it comes to Katarina (and really only when it comes to her).

Mary is fully prepared to eat deadly mushrooms as long as Katarina is the one who prepares them and Sophia just hops right on board.

And Sophia was really the only who was genuinely complimenting Katarina for her earth-bump move in the exam. Which is just so sweet and also so dumb.

I love the three of them so goddamn much + Maria being the only one of the girls not willing to the deadly mushrooms. 

While I am a bit disappointed that Katarina’s videogame knowledge wasn’t of any use to her in the exam, I did genuinely love Geordo pushing her towards the the path they decided to take. 

I also enjoyed Alan saving Mary and her slighty blushing and him looking slighty embarassed as well. 

I will say I was disappointed that we only really saw the boys be capable during the exam, not any of the girls. Except for when Sophia helped Nicol locate Katarina…but still.

And of course, Katarina found the magic-stone because she needed a tool to help her gather mushrooms. That’s 100% Katarina. Though, a part of would have prefer it if Katarina was very knowledgable about plants in general and knew that those mushrooms were deadly. (either way it works for me)

And the one councilmember in her head (happy) seeing a lizard as food was fucking fantastic. 

I love the noble girls being jealous of Katarina and talking about her. 

It’s nice seeing them before the big accusation scene happens. Just by showing the noble girls being mad and jealous of Katarina feels more organic to the story.

Plus, Maria noticing the Dark Magic behind Katarina. 

I’m very happy with the past two ‘filler’ episodes building up to the two big climatic scenes and events.

--

The main problem I had with this episode is that - 

The Exam Makes No Sense…

I know that not unusual for anime or plenty of other stories, but the exam really makes no sense.

Aside from one group, basically everyone else is basically set up to fail. Right?

If you find the magic stone than you pass. If you don’t find the (one) magic stone, then you fail. 

The exam isn’t really testing what they’ve learned or improved upon. 

It’s more based on luck and the amount of magical power one has. 

Which seems unfair, as we know that a good portion of the magic population is closer to Katarina’s level of power than Keith’s, at least in LN, but maybe it’s different in the anime (or maybe I read the LN wrong).

I guess it’s possible that even though the team that finds the magic stone automatically passes, the other teams can pass based on how they navigated through the ruins...maybe. That would make more sense.

Though, it’s very possible that Alan, Mary, and Maria didn’t pass the practical exam because they weren’t on Katarina’s team.

And while I doubt that will be addressed later in the anime - If Alan, Mary and Maria actually failed the practical exam then that would be a great reason for why they arrived late during the accusation scene.

They weren’t there because they had to retake the practical exam or do another one.

So, even if the anime doesn’t say that’s the reason, that’s going to be my headcanon for right now.

ALSO

The teachers literally split the top students of the entire grade into two separate groups…

I’m not exaggerating. 

The students who get picked to be on the Student Council (the harem) are the ones who ranked the highest in the evaluation exam at the beginning of the school year.

First Year Rankings

1. Geordo Stuart (Canon) 2. Maria Campbell (Canon) 3. Alan Stuart (Canon) 4. Keith Claes (non-canon) 5. Mary Hunt (non-canon) 6. Sophia Ascart (non-canon)

We don’t actually know the rankings of Keith, Mary and Sophia but since they’re also on the student council, we know that they must be ranked 4-6. We just don’t know the exact order. .

Having the highest ranked students in two groups, basically feels like setting up all the other students for failure.

Then you have Katarina who is right smack in the middle of the rankings (#80) as part of one of the two groups.

That gives me the impression that Geordo and Keith basically demanded that Katarina be on the same team they are on, not realizing the other was doing the same.

Which is par for the course.

As all the members of the harem (minus Maria), threatened the teachers that if Katarina didn’t get permanent permission to be allowed in the Student Council chambers, then they would all resign from the student council (Manga/LN).

I know I’m thinking about this too much. 

And that of course the main characters are going to be together, because they’re the main characters. But still...

Really with just one or two lines from the teacher would have at least solved one of the illogical problems here.  

Teacher – “We have place several of these stones in the labyrinth, your goal is to find one of them. If your team leaves the dungeon without finding a stone, your team fails.”

Or something to that affect...

As much as I love Geordo and Keith being exasperated by Katarina and protecting her.

This also could’ve have been a nice opportunity to introduce Katarina’s non-council friends. Rather than us just seeing them right before she gets accused of bullying. 

But again, it does make more sense to have the main characters to be teamed up together...because they are the main characters. I just can’t help but point out the logistical problems for this exam.

Though maybe the anime will build off what’s been established in this episode...maybe.

--

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode. 

I was hit in the feels right away, laughed so hard, and it was just a lot of fun.

And of course, I was very happy to see the anime is adding its own stuff to the story and elaborating beyond the Light Novels and Manga.

[tiramisiyu]

【未定事件簿】 Tears of Themis: “Romantic Rail Getaway” Zuo Ran Route, Day 3

Translation Masterlist | Themis Event Masterlist

Zuo Ran Route: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

Videos, where applicable, are hyperlinked on the headings in the post.

See under cut!

Part 1 – Kelosi Plaza – “Ruminating Over Kelosi City”

Kelosi City

According to everyone, Kelosi City was Rumbaliya’s famous capital of cuisine.

Many local specialty restaurants were scattered here, with the scent of food filling every part of the city.

Zuo Ran considerately looked for a travel guide to introduce us to Kelosi City.

With the travel guide’s patient, enthusiastic explanations, this capital of cuisine developed a detailed form in my heart.

Travel Guide: Ah, esteemed guests, welcome to Kelosi City.

Travel Guide: This is the Cuisine Arc opened in the romantic and artistic Rumbaliya, the islands that control the tastebuds and spirit!

MC: (An introduction method that’s full of artisticness… this must be one of the special characteristics of Kelosi City.)

MC: Mister Guide, could you give us a more detailed introduction?

Travel Guide: Of course, my esteemed guests.

INTERROGATION START

Special Attractions

MC: Could you give us a detailed recommendation of some special attractions here?

Travel Guide: Yes, I sincerely recommend you two to go see the Cuisine Museum and the Green-Shaded Castle.

Travel Guide: Those are our landmark attractions in Kelosi City.

Cuisine Museum

MC: The Cuisine Museum?

Travel Guide: Oh, that’s a museum that displays all sorts of cuisine-themed information.

Travel Guide: In the museum, the two of you can get a more detailed understanding of the developmental history of the Capital of Cuisine, Kelosi City.

MC: Is that so… I bet that when checking out the museum, it’ll be easy to get hungry.

Green-Shaded Castle

MC: What kind of place is the Green-Shaded Castle?

Travel Guide: The Green-Shaded Castle is a castle that’s been surrounded by green radish and flowers. Visitors have said that that place is as beautiful as a fairytale paradise.

Travel Guide: Esteemed guests, I highly recommend the two of you go there to see.

Travel Guide: Not only can you taste fantastical foods in the castle, but you can also enjoy an aristocratic service.

MC: (An aristocratic service and fantastical foods?)

MC: (What would those feel like? I’m suddenly feeling curious!)

Popular Foods

MC: Could you recommend the most popular foods here for us?

Travel Guide: The three major delicacies of Kelosi City, cheese mushroom vol-au-vents, pigeon meat pie, and beet lobsters.

Travel Guide: If you haven’t tried these three dishes, then you haven’t truly come to Kelosi City.

Cheese Mushroom Vol-au-Vents

MC: I kind of want to try cheese mushroom vol-au-vents.

Travel Guide: Esteemed lady, you truly do have taste.

Travel Guide: Cheese mushroom vol-au-vents mixes cheese with fresh mushrooms to make a special sauce, which is then stuffed into puff pastry and baked into a delicacy.

Travel Guide: Anyone who has tasted it will indulge in the richness of the cheese and the deliciousness of the mushrooms, to the point of being unable to free themselves.

MC: (That intense? Then I have to try it later!)

Pigeon Meat Pie

Zuo Ran: I’ve heard of pigeon meat pie before. This is a famous traditional dish of Rumbaliya.

Travel Guide: Mister, you’re right. I personally believe that this dish is the best for representing Rumbaliya’s local flavor!

Travel Guide: From the outside, it doesn’t look that different from typical savoury pies, but the meat filling is made from fresh, tender minced pigeon meat.

Travel Guide: When the taste of pigeon and the crispy savoury pie blend together, it becomes an incomparably enjoyable dish.

MC: (Whoa… I feel like this will definitely be delicious!)

Beet Lobster

MC: Is the beet lobster dish made from cooking the beets and lobster together?

Travel Guide: Esteemed lady, you are underestimating this dish too much. Kelosi City’s beet lobster dish is not this simple.

Travel Guide: For this dish, you must select the most tender beets, mince them, then add them into different seafoods including oysters and clams to simmer them into a sauce.

Travel Guide: When the seafood beet sauce is paired with the butter-fried lobster and taken to the table…

Travel Guide: The umami tastes of the seafood sauce and lobster work together, blending beautifully. Now this is the best taste.

MC: (Wow, I want to taste the beet lobster right now!)

INTERROGATION END

Travel Guide: Esteemed guests, feel free to ask anything else you want to know about.

MC: There’s nothing else – we now basically know what we need to, thank you.

Travel Guide: No problem, it’s my pleasure to answer your questions.

--

After bidding farewell to the travel guide, I turned on my phone and opened the trip map, looking up the locations of the attractions that the travel guide had mentioned.

MC: Hm… the Cuisine Museum and the Green-Shaded Castle seem to be in the same block…

MC: Lawyer Zuo, we can check out both places together later!

Zuo Ran: Sure. After seeing the museum, we can look for a place to eat… after, we can go to the Green-Shaded Castle.

MC: Okay, that’s perfect timing for tasting the dishes that the trip guide recommended!

 Part 2 – Cuisine Museum

[Gameplay]

 Part 3 – Green-Shaded Castle

[Gameplay]

 Part 4 – Kelosi Gourmet Area – “Restaurant Crisis”

MC: What exactly does the “fried air” mentioned in the info packet taste like…

After walking out of the Cuisine Museum, I was still discussing with Zuo Ran about the fun, creative cuisines that we had just seen in the museum.

MC: Fried moss, giant anglerfish braised noodles, lobster cuttlefish stew… I feel like they’re very particular dishes.

Zuo Ran: I found a local specialty restaurant…

Zuo Ran: The main hit at that restaurant is recreating the dishes at the museum while balancing the classic dishes of Rumbaliya.

MC: Lawyer Zuo, let’s go to that restaurant then?

My eager voice piqued a smile in Zuo Ran’s eyes.

Zuo Ran: Sure, I’ll call a cab.

--

Local Specialty Restaurant

Very soon, we arrived at the specialty restaurant Zuo Ran mentioned.

This restaurant was clean and organized, and the prices could be called fair.

Thus, we simply ordered some more local recommended dishes, experiencing the sumptuous happiness of cuisine.

However, this happiness ended right when we were paying the bill…

MC: No way, why are they making us pay this much money?! Boss, did you get it wrong?

Restaurant Boss: I’m willing to swear to God that the prices I’ve calculated are correct.

Zuo Ran: The unit prices on the receipt don’t match with the prices on the menu.

Restaurant Boss: What’s indicated on the menu is only the prices of the dishes themselves…

Restaurant Boss: But, please understand that there are also service fees, materials costs, processing costs, and so on that need to be added on in calculation.

MC: These additional costs were not explained in advance. We will not pay them!

Restaurant Boss: Oh! My God, I’m willing to guarantee that each cost charged by our restaurant is reasonable.

MC: Is the individual calculation of service fees, materials costs, and processing costs also reasonable?

Restaurant Boss: I really can’t believe that you’d actually bring up such a foolish question.

Restaurant Boss: If they are not calculated individually, how could we provide a more considerate service for guests?

MC: You’re obviously collecting fees at random and tricking customers!

[Gameplay]

Zuo Ran: We have already called the police. I recommend you keep your excuses just now for the police.

Restaurant Boss: Ugh, goddammit! Why can’t I get through with you?

The restaurant boss clearly couldn’t refute what I’d said, but he still remained stubbornly unreasonable.

Restaurant Boss: Hurry and pay up, then get out of my restaurant!

Restaurant Boss: If you stay in my restaurant for one more minute, I don’t know what I’ll end up doing.

--

Thusly, we were roughly chased outside by the boss.

Good thing the police came in time. Only then did the chaos stop.

After mediation, the restaurant boss was willing to collect payment based on the prices on the menu. Only with this did Zuo Ran and I manage to accept the results.

MC: … That restaurant boss went overboard!

MC: (If we were in Stellis City, I would definitely sue him into bankruptcy!)

Zuo Ran: I’m sorry, I didn’t think that restaurant would be like this…

He had just spoken, the sharp voice of a woman interjected from the roadside.

???: Look at these pitiful foreigners. Only you would go eat at those sorts of places.

The meaning behind these words was obvious. I couldn’t resist walking up to chat with her.

MC: May I ask, what were you… just talking about?

Local Resident: Ugh, a pitiful foreigner would actually ask this sort of question. I’m willing to bet that you haven’t come to Rumbaliya before.

MC: … It is indeed our first time here.

Local Resident: So what you’ve experienced is very typical – just as ordinary as the taste of the apple juice that Aunt Susanna makes next door to me.

MC: (This description…)

MC: My apologies, could you tell me about this in more detail?

Local Resident: Oh! I really can’t believe that you really don’t know nothing at all.

Local Resident: Alright then, I’ll tell you both out of the goodness of my heart.

--

INTERROGATION START

Problem with Local Specialty Restaurants

MC: Do… only foreign visitors patronize that restaurant?

Local Resident: That restaurant was a very popular major restaurant ten years ago.

Local Resident: Sadly… after foreign visitors like you started coming more and more, the restaurant prices became more and more expensive.

Local Resident: Heavens, God knows that I used to like their pigeon meat pie the best.

Past Prices

MC: Which also means… the prices at this restaurant used to be very normal?

Local Resident: Oh, of course. I really miss those old days.

Local Resident: In the past, the prices at this restaurant were cheap and the dishes delicious, and there weren’t any of these random service fees at all.

MC: (For real? This restaurant used to be so conscientious?)

Restaurant Boss

Zuo Ran: Has the boss of this restaurant changed before?

MC: (Makes sense… if the restaurant boss changed, it is indeed possible for prices to rise.)

Local Resident: I swear to God that the boss of this restaurant has never changed before.

Local Resident: Ugh, that fellow is pretty much like this because of greed, and only increased the prices because he wanted to make more money.

Local Resident: There are lots of visitors who don’t mind spending more, so these kinds of people end up succeeding.

Local Resident: What’s even more awful is how those bosses will directly raise the price, doubling the prices and selling them to foreign visitors.

Local Resident: The hearts of those detestable guys are as black as the soup in cuttlefish braised noodles!

MC: …

MC: (Though I don’t want to admit it, it looks like we really were tricked this time…)

INTERROGATION END

 Local Resident: Oh God, I got held up for so long with you…

Local Resident: My beloved Randy is still waiting for me to taste his apple pie.

Though I didn’t know who Randy was, it was obvious that this lady didn’t want to chat anymore with us about this.

MC: My apologies, we won’t hold you up anymore.

After hastily ending the conversation, Zuo Ran and I strolled along the bustling Kelosi Local Customs Road.

Unintentionally matching each other, we sunk into silence, feeling like there was something stifled in our hearts…

Heavy and gloomy, making us lose our desire to sightsee.

 Part 5 – Kelosi Local Customs Road

[Gameplay]

 Part 6 – Scenic Location Complication

Kelosi City Block

MC: …

The sky was gradually darkening, and the bustling, lively city was also gradually being dyed in the colours of quietude.

Only my depressed mood kept turning over and over, unconnected to this peace.

That restaurant boss’s unreasonable attitude kept appearing before my eyes.

--

[Flashback]

MC: These extra costs you’re talking about are all unreasonable. We will not pay them!

Restaurant Boss: Oh! My God, I’m willing to guarantee that each cost charged by our restaurant is reasonable.

MC: Is the individual calculation of service fees, materials costs, and processing costs also reasonable?

Restaurant Boss: I really can’t believe that you’d actually bring up such a foolish question.

Restaurant Boss: If they are not calculated individually, how could we provide a more considerate service for guests?

MC: You’re obviously collecting fees at random and tricking customers!

Zuo Ran: We have already called the police. I recommend you keep your excuses just now for the police.

Restaurant Boss: Oh, goddammit! Why can’t I get through with you?

The restaurant boss clearly couldn’t refute what I’d said, but he still remained stubbornly unreasonable.

Restaurant Boss: Hurry and pay up, then get out of my restaurant!

Restaurant Boss: If you stay in my restaurant for one more minute, I don’t know what I’ll end up doing.

[Flashback end]

--

Thinking about the restaurant boss’s attitude, arrogant despite being in the wrong as he shooed Zuo Ran and I out of the restaurant, I felt a headache.

Even worse, what happened after we left the restaurant told us that reality was far crueler than we had imagined.

MC: I thought that tricking guests was an outlier case, rather than being common.

Zuo Ran: It takes more than one cold day for ice to freeze three inches thick.

Zuo Ran: For the restaurant boss to be able to say these things, it indicates that he has long been used to using these despicable methods to trick foreign visitors.

MC: Yeah, those locals who chatted with us also said…

MC: “Some bosses will directly raise the price, doubling the prices and selling them to foreign visitors, who don’t know better anyways.”

MC: “That boss is comparably alright. There are even worse ones” – things like that…

Zuo Ran: Rumbaliya is a popular tourist destination and there’s significant traveler movement. Those who have been taken advantage of, yet don’t want to trouble others, will often choose to bear it in silence.

Zuo Ran: Those crooked businesses focus on this, and thus can act unscrupulously…

Zuo Ran: In addition, there are places where regulatory authorities haven’t done enough. Over time, these cases intensify more and more.

MC: I can’t just leave it alone like this! I’ll definitely expose these unreasonable random fee collection cases and stop these vile actions.

MC: Otherwise, every tourist who comes to Rumbaliya will run into what we encountered today!

The more I spoke, the angrier I got, my tone inevitably taking on an impatient mood.

Zuo Ran reached over and held my hand. That moment, some sort of feeling was transferred to me, from the warmth of his palm and through the fingers.

I suddenly stopped speaking, feeling like my heart had been immersed in a clear spring.

Zuo Ran: I understand what you are feeling. Your anger is not only because of what happened today; it’s also because you’re even more worried that something like this will keep happening…

Zuo Ran: And more people will be like us and encounter unfair treatment like this.

Zuo Ran: Don’t worry, I’ll help you.

Each one of Zuo Ran’s words were thorns that stuck in my throat.

He was like a clear spring soaking me. There was nothing I could hold back before him, and he could see through each one of my thoughts.

MC: … Lawyer Zuo, let’s think up of a way to collect evidence and solve this issue together.

Zuo Ran: Mhmm, let’s do it together.

Zuo Ran: Although… no need to be rush too much. We should think of a method slowly.

Zuo Ran: I’ve already sealed up today’s restaurant receipt as evidence.

Zuo Ran: Tomorrow, the train will arrive at James River station. As we sightsee, we can keep our eyes open for similar cases.

MC: Mhmm, as soon as we run into similar situations, we’ll retain the evidence!

Zuo Ran: Excellent. Our evidence will become a stepping stone to knock down the random fee collection cases.

The warmth transferred by his palm became warmer, like it was giving me a source of encouraging and confident power.

It irrepressibly gave rise to a belief – as long as I was with Zuo Ran, then anything I did would be successful.

That’s right, it must be this way.

[f4liveblogarchives]

Fantastic Four Vol 1 #200

Mon Aug 26 2019 [01:59 AM] Wack'd: Alright, here we go. [01:59 AM] Wack'd: FANTASTIC FOUR VOL 1 NO 200: [02:00 AM] Bocaj: WILL IT BE BETTER THAN AVENGERS 200?? [02:00 AM] Bocaj: HOW CAN IT NOT BEEEEE? [02:00 AM] Wack'd: I just skimmed it and an alien does actually forcibly impregna--nah I'm just kiddin' [02:01 AM] Wack'd: So Doom's throwing himself a little pity party and Reed's like "uh, maybe we hang back a minute?" [02:02 AM] Bocaj: hah [02:02 AM] Wack'd: But Ben is, of course, not having it [02:03 AM] Wack'd: Uh...Ben aided in the destruction of his clone by.......?????

[02:04 AM] Wack'd: His memory doesn't take long to revise itself, does it [02:04 AM] maxwellelvis: By being friends with Reed Richards, I assume? [02:05 AM] Bocaj: Being adjacent [02:05 AM] Wack'd: Oh, in the Saul Goodman meaning of culpability whereby any wrongdoing that sufficiently scars you justifies all your actions [02:05 AM] Wack'd: Sure [02:06 AM] Wack'd: Anyway Doom uses a force field in his suit to shove the Four back to buy himself time to see to his clone's body [02:07 AM] Wack'd: ...they were on a balcony

[02:09 AM] Wack'd: Ben does his usual thing of trying brute force and Reed does his usual thing of randomly guessing why that won't work and being right and Ben does his usual thing of grumbling about it [02:09 AM] Wack'd: Wondering if this is a "Reed and Doom aren't so different" moment or just reenforcing the status quo

[02:10 AM] Wack'd: "Leading an armed insurgency into the UN is the same as giving them a present and offering to depose myself, right?"

[02:11 AM] Wack'd: So the mob's gotten bigger [02:12 AM] Wack'd: I like that Zorbo's got a superhero build and bone structure and literally every other Latverian is still drawn like an extra from a Universal Frankenstein picture

[02:14 AM] Wack'd: Doom siccs a tornado on his subjects [02:14 AM] Wack'd: Coulda done that last issue when the protest started but I guess now he's got nothing left to loose [02:16 AM] Wack'd: Then he takes his personal jet, his statue, and "equipment" he's kinda cagey about to the UN [02:17 AM] Wack'd: Daredevil's gonna sue someone

[02:17 AM] Wack'd: Maybe he'll hire that Matt Murdoch guy. I've heard good things [02:19 AM] Wack'd: Meanwhile, the Four escape. Reed slithers through the door's keyhole at great personal risk because touching anything will vaporize him [02:19 AM] Wack'd: They really should just get a fucking sonic screwdriver [02:19 AM] maxwellelvis: It's Operation! The Wacky Doctor Game! [02:20 AM] Wack'd: heheheh [02:20 AM] Wack'd: So Reed, Sue, and a miraculously-okay Zorbo search for and find Doom's secret plans [02:21 AM] Wack'd: While Ben and Johnny free Alicia [02:21 AM] maxwellelvis: Doom's plan, more or less: 1 2 3 [02:22 AM] Wack'd: Sure [02:22 AM] maxwellelvis: More or less. [02:22 AM] maxwellelvis: There wasn't a panorama of that scene I could grab. [02:22 AM] Wack'd: This is a pretty good moment

[02:23 AM] Wack'd: Minus Johnny's cool-guy posturing at the end there [02:24 AM] maxwellelvis: While also trying to play it cool about how little action he's been getting lately. [02:24 AM] Wack'd: Maybe if he tried asking out someone who wasn't afraid of fire [02:25 AM] Wack'd: ...whatever happened to Valeria from the 5th Dimension? Did they break up in Johnny's solo book or did Marvel just kinda forget about her [02:28 AM] Wack'd: So the short answer is Johnny's solo has been over for three years by this point! And yeah after that everyone just forgot her [02:29 AM] Wack'd: Hell Marvel Wiki doesn't mention any followup on their relationship in Johnny's solo book, so [02:29 AM] Wack'd: Into the ether with her [02:30 AM] Wack'd: Anyway--Chapter 2! We're back to doing chapters now! Exciting! [02:31 AM] Wack'd: The Four and Doom have both arrived in NY. Reed and Johnny are fighting Doom directly while Sue and Ben head to the UN [02:32 AM] Wack'd: Sorry, Johnny overdoes it against some areal missiles and retreats back to the Pogo Plane [02:32 AM] Wack'd: Time for the highly-anticipated Reed/Doom cage match [02:33 AM] Wack'd: Not like this is a team book or anything

[02:34 AM] Wack'd: There's a quick recap before the fight and it's retconned the college actually condemned Doom's experiment to go to the netherworld [02:35 AM] Wack'd: Thus ending one of my favorite dumb bits of comic book lore, which is that Doom got a grant for that [02:36 AM] Wack'd: Round one goes to Doom! Reed tries to dismantle Doom's suit and gets electrocuted [02:37 AM] Wack'd: Probably should've remembered he tried that on a robot two issues ago and got the same result [02:38 AM] Wack'd: Round two! Reed's been lured into the MURDER ROOM! Mechanical tendrils, lasers, robots! [02:38 AM] Wack'd: In keeping with Doom's "fair play" policy, all the traps have solutions, but eventually Reed will be worn down and miss a step and get, presumably, murdered [02:39 AM] Bocaj: Wherein Doom is a Saw [02:39 AM] Wack'd: Meanwhile, in the UN [02:40 AM] Wack'd: It occurs, perhaps too late, that it's probably a bad idea to send a giant-size statue of yourself as a gift to the people planning to vote you out of their organization for war crimes

[02:41 AM] Wack'd: Also: wouldn't be a commemoration of the long, proud history of Fantastic Four without some racial/nationalistic caricatures, I guess [02:41 AM] maxwellelvis: Now, these are his Servo-Guards, right? [02:42 AM] Wack'd: These are humans I'm pretty sure based on the last few issues [02:42 AM] maxwellelvis: I just assumed with how tight to the face those nose things are [02:42 AM] Wack'd: Doom doesn't design for comfort [02:42 AM] maxwellelvis: And the identical sunken cheeks on all of them. [02:43 AM] maxwellelvis: It's one of those things like Psycho-Man's mask [02:43 AM] maxwellelvis: At one point in the 80's the inker forgets that it is a mask and just draws him as a very ugly man. [02:43 AM] Wack'd: In fairness that's a lot of Fantastic Four baddies [02:44 AM] maxwellelvis: I know. It's just those sorts of coloring errors bug me. [02:44 AM] Wack'd: So it turns out Doom is planning on doing something to the UN with this statue and that massive hall of mirrors that's also a solar power center from back in 196 [02:44 AM] Wack'd: Bet you forgot about that thing, didn't you? [02:45 AM] Wack'd: So Doom is about to Do the Thing when Reed surprises him by having broken out of the Murder Room [02:45 AM] Wack'd: (He slipped inside the nozzle of a gas gun and exploded out of its ammo tank) [02:46 AM] Wack'd: Wouldn't be a commemoration of the long, proud history of Fantastic Four without Reed pulling a solution out of his ass that the narrative expects us to believe he had planned from the very beginning

[02:47 AM] Wack'd: How did he fit that through the nozzle of a gas gun, anyway [02:47 AM] maxwellelvis: "Wasn't easy" [02:49 AM] Wack'd: Reed tries to convince Doom to give up on petty revenge and join the good guys [02:50 AM] Wack'd: But Doom retorts that he's not interested in revenge, he genuinely believes he deserves power, because the murder of his mother proved to him that everyone who's not him is a "superstitious, frightened pack of cloddish morons" [02:52 AM] Wack'd: Doom manages to activate his statue which hypnotizes all the UN delegates into attacking Sue, Johnny, and Ben [02:52 AM] Wack'd: And Doom and Reed finally spend a few pages punching each other a lot, which is what we all wanted, I guess [02:54 AM] Wack'd: "I DON'T CARE ABOUT PETTY REVENGE! ALSO, ADMIT YOU WRONGED ME!"

[02:56 AM] Wack'd: And so, Zorbo takes his rightful place as acting leader until elections can be set up. Sets Doom up with some mental health care too which is nice of him by 70s standards

[02:57 AM] Wack'd: It was nice of the UN to let Doom have his evil hypnotic statue back

[02:57 AM] maxwellelvis: And some attempted biblical symbolism from Marv [03:01 AM] Wack'd: Thus ends the first 200 issues of Fantastic Four [03:01 AM] Wack'd: Jesus fuck [03:01 AM] Wack'd: Cannot believe I read 200 installments of anything ever [03:03 AM] Wack'd: I will try not to take a multi-year hiatus again like I did around the time I hit 100

[tiramisu-translations]

[LoWN] Vol.1 Ch.1-2

What? That moment I stood still.

Ban Yeo Ryung saw me then asked.

“What’s wrong?”

Believe it or not, I’ve just realized another shocking fact and that made me freeze on the spot. My head was ringing as if I have been hit with a hammer on the back of my head. 

Slowly my face brightened. That’s it! I clenched my fists and shouted towards Ban Yeo Ryung. 

“Why did you confuse me like this!”

“Huh?”

Dumbfounded, Ban Yeo Ryung just agape her mouth. I pointed towards the school and spoke with enthusiasm. 

“No wonder my uniform was totally different! This school isn’t the school I’m supposed to attend!” 

“W-what?”

“The school I am supposed to attend is called ‘Dae Dam Middle School’! I’ve never even heard of Ji Jon Middle School. Even the buildings are completely different. This isn’t my school!” 

“Huh?”

Ban Yeo Ryung stared at me with confusion. I made a refreshing face as I saw students marching in to the Ji Jon school gate like colony of white ants. 

Of course, this was not my school! No wonder the uniform is different, this is not my middle school!

My mom probably got confused on the school and that’s probably why she brought back the wrong uniform. And this girl in front of my eyes, Ban Yeo Ryung, probably thought I would go to the same school as her because of my uniform. I turned my gaze to Ban Yeo Ryung and spoke. 

“Alright then, I’m going to go to my school! Since we’re neighbors let’s greet each other once in a while!” 

“Huh, D-Dani! Where are you going!?”

Startled Ban Yeo Rang grabbed my arms. What does she mean where am I going? Telling her straight off would be the best answer. 

“I’m going to my school, Dae Dam Middle School. This isn’t the place I should be attending.”

“What? What are you talking about. We already had our class placement together just a month ago!” 

When I heard that I froze for a moment. What? But I came back to my senses and laughed it off.

“No way. I think you are mistaken me for someone else. The entrance exam I took was for Dae Dam Middle School.” 

“What? There is no such school named that around here!”

“Yes, there is. You are probably just not aware of it.”

Ban Yeo Ryung, just because you don’t know that does not mean it doesn’t exist. 

I firmly told myself in thoughts and patted Ban Yeo Ryung’s shoulders. I felt as if I’ve became the most understanding person right now. Realizing that I do not need to attend to this school for the next 3 years of my life with these pure white uniforms filled my heart with relief. 

After patting Ban Yeo Ryung’s shoulders I smiled and turned away.

“Bye! I will be going to my school now!”

“Dani, wait!”

Whether there was the sound of desperation coming from Ban Yeo Ryung’s voice or not, I walked away from the school as if I was in the clouds. Might of been  Ban Yeo Ryung’s shout becoming more desperate, I felt some stinging gaze coming towards me. However I did not mind. Because they are not students from my school! It was then, while in my thoughts.

Bump, I bumped my head into something hard. I staggered back two steps. 

Because my gaze was on the ground, the first thing that came into my vision was a pair of shoes. If they were middle school students, it was pretty normal for them to wear sneakers. However, the shoes that I saw looked like student loafers¹. By the look of the feet size, it must be a male student. 

Compared to the girl’s uniform which was bright white from head to toes, boy’s uniform were dark. I slowly raise my gaze pass the dark uniform, then when I saw his face, oh my gosh, my mouth was agape. 

I don’t usually pay attention to people’s face. No matter how good looking a celebrity was, I was never speechless or anything. However, besides when I first saw Ban Yeo Ryung, this is the second time being speechless due to someone’s looks. 

When I came to my senses, I stepped back.

Why, why so early in the morning, am I keep seeing people like this? Just today, it was my second time looking at someone with such rare beauty. 

Dark hair like Ban Yeo Ryung’s, however the place where the sunlight touched gave off bluish hue. It was normal for Koreans to give off brownish hue when the hair reflected in the light, however Ban Yeo Ryung’s is purple and this person gave off bluish hue. They both have unusual color. Dark blue-black color is not a color that suits people well, but he was different. And his skin looked as if frozen and clear. 

His distinct eyes that was gazing low… I took a deep breath. 

Blue. Not even bluish-black. It was a clear blue like a deep ocean treasure or something. His nose stood tall, and looked as if I would get a cut if I touched them. 

Overall, he gave off a clean and neat image. He was like a still life drawn from oil painting, or maybe a black and white painting drawn from ink. While I was thinking such things, he squinted his eyes. I got startled. 

“Oh, my ba-, no wait, I’m sorry.” 

“No.”²

Reply came straight back. Just like his looks a cold reply, but did not sound offensive. 

He looked like the type who did not speak much. After glancing at me once, he turned around and disappeared from my view. 

Before he turned, I got the glance of his name tag that came in clear view due to the light reflecting on it. Yu Chun Young. The name sounded bit androgynous, but I thought it suited him well. 

Anyways, I felt a sudden fluster and rubbed by face. He looked really handsome. At least Ban Yeo Ryung was a girl, but this Yu Chun Young. He was a guy and tall at that too. He’s only in middle school, yet his height seemed to be around 175cm. When I bumped into him earlier, I definitely felt the height difference. 

This is my first time seeing a boy this handsome. I felt my heart beating fast. As I was reminiscing this feeling and try to get the last glimpse of him, that moment I heard a voice. 

“Hey, did you see that? That girl bumping into him!”

“No way, did she do that on purpose!?”

“Hey, you, come here!” 

W-What? I turned my gaze towards the voices. The voices belong to the girls in the same uniform as me. By the looks there was some 2nd and 3rd years too. What, why. I opened my mouth by this absurd situation. Are they really calling me out because I bumped into someone? What is this, some kind of novel? The most absurd thing about this situation was, it was not just two or three girls. It was about twenty female students. 

I held on to my backpack straps tightly as swarm of angry female students increased. One with a sharp eyes came closer to me and said, 

“Hey, you want to know what happens if you covet him?”

I never thought one can ruin their life by bumping into someone, but considering this situation, I thought that may be possible after all.

Suddenly, this situation reminded me of a scene. When you read web novels it’s common. You know, during the first day of school, female protagonist bumping into a handsome boy. And next thing you know, that boy is really popular within the school and that’s when the ordeal starts for the female protagonist! 

I almost let out a laugh and stopped thinking about this. Just by pure coincidence this was that similar situation. However, this is not a novel, nor am I a protagonist. Most importantly, compared to female protagonists, I have common sense. 

I held my backpack strap tightly once more and dashed at full speed to the bus stop. Unlike the female protagonist I have common sense and know how to take care of myself! First I need to get to Dae Dam Middle School, then I will think what to do afterwards! I dashed with all my might and the voices and the shouts were becoming further away. 

* * *

After running until my breaths ran out, the pretty girl I met this morning, Ban Yeo Ryung, was gone from my thoughts. Even the breathtakingly handsome boy Yu Chun Young was fading away from my mind too. 

Alright! I took a deep breath and stood in front of the bus stop. Maybe because I ran too fast too sudden, I had a slight headache. I placed one of my hand on my forehead and squinted my gaze at the bus routes directory.

There usually are bus stops in front of the most middle schools. Even the current bus stop is named “Ji Jon Middle School”. This was weird. From the moment I was born and up to 14 years of living in this town, I have never seen this bus stop name before-- was a thought that soon passed by. It already exists, what am I going to do about it. Anyways, I tried to search for the station of my middle school. Hmm. I stopped searching for a moment and the students of Ji Jon Middle School came to my trace of thought again.

What’s going to happen for them in the future. For example, when they go to high school and the teacher asks what middle school they came from.

“Which middle school did you come from?”

“J-Ji Jon Middle School!”

“Ah-HAHA! Ji, Ji, Ji… … Jon!! Did you say Ji Jon Middle School!?”

Just the name of that middle school is to die from embarrassment. A name you probably want to erase from your life later on.

Is what I thought. I shook my head. It’s not my problem, I’m not the one going there!

I kept searching through the bus route directory, however there was no “Dae Dam Middle School” stop. This this weird. I squinted my eyes and took a step back from the directory and looked around my surroundings. 

The surroundings were strange yet quiet. The shadows of the green trees planted on the sidewalk were stretching. I took out my cell phone from my pocket and checked the time.

9am. Surely if you were normal student, it was a time where all the students probably arrived at school. Students and not even any business employees were to be found on the streets. It’s been a while since I've seen the street so quiet. I felt a strange feeling and took a look around the streets and tirelessly walked away. 

I should go out to the street where there are more people and ask where Dae Dam Middle School is. I adjusted my backpack straps. Suddenly, the words of desperation Ban Yeo Ryung shouted at me lingered in my ear. 

“There is no such school named that around here!”

There no way there isn’t! Just a month ago there was and I was even there for the class arrangement. It wasn’t a weird building like the one I saw earlier, it was a normal building. I know I am forgetful sometimes, but there is no way I will confuse my own middle school name. 

However, the one thing that’s on my mind. In a place where ‘Dae Dam Middle School’ should be, there is ‘Ji Jon Middle School’ out of the blue. 

Whatever, I scratched the back of my head. I feel a bit insecure, but surely… but.

While thoughts in my head, I unwillingly stomp my way to Ji Jon Middle School. When I took a turn on the corner, suddenly a car parked on the sidewalk. As the quiet the street was, even the car moved quietly, not even the engine can be heard. Casually I turned my head towards the car, and I was in a shock to realize the car was a black limousine that I rarely saw in my life. 

The dark tinted windows of the limousine slid down slowly. A man with shades suddenly appeared between the gap. 

Surprisingly, he called out to me in a soft and courteous voice. Like the tone of someone in a customer service. 

“Are you happen to be a student of Ji Jon Middle School?”

“Yes, yes?”

The question caught me off guard. I immediately wanted to say I was not, however I think he confirmed his answer as he saw my uniform.

“Oh, then could I ask for guidance? It's the first time our young master is attending school by himself.” 

“What do you mean, who’s first time? Also, Joo In is with me.” 

A firm voice that came from the back seat interrupted the man’s voice. The voice was quiet, but I clearly heard it. Not because my ears were bright. The voice that came from the back seat left an impact.

———————————————————————————————————–

1. https://image.rakuten.co.jp/washington/cabinet/haruta/haruta4514.jpg 2. When he said “No” -- it meant like: “No worries”.

[Prev: Prologue + Chapter 1-1] [Next: Chapter 1-3]

[coffeebased]

I won’t be the first or last person to marvel at how quickly February whizzed past, especially in comparison to January’s gauntlet. To be completely fair to February, it had the ongoing COVID-19 international epidemic, as well as the ABS-CBN shutdown crisis, the anti-terrorism bill, the reminder that historical revisionism re: the Marcos dictatorship is alive and well… and those were just the actual headlines.

I must digress before I spiral.

I read 12 books in February, half of which were newly released in this month. I’ve split my post up into three parts like I did last month: one-shots, parts of series, and re-reads. It seems to be working well for me.

  Prosper’s Demon by K.J. Parker

The unnamed and morally questionable narrator is an exorcist with great follow-through and few doubts. His methods aren’t delicate but they’re undeniably effective: he’ll get the demon out—he just doesn’t particularly care what happens to the person.

Prosper of Schanz is a man of science, determined to raise the world’s first philosopher-king, reared according to the purest principles. Too bad he’s demonically possessed.

After I read Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City last year, I knew that I wanted more by Parker. I considered delving into his back catalog, which I still will probably do, but I saw that he was releasing a new book in Feb 2020, so I jumped on that first. Prosper’s is exactly up my alley, what with the discussions of morality and the greater good with demons, and quite a bit of engineering. I’d admired the voice of the main character in Sixteen because he was dry and very caught up in doing what needed to be done, and the main character has the same appealing values. It’s a short read, but it sticks in the teeth and fills the belly.

  Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher

Stephen’s god died on the longest day of the year…

Three years later, Stephen is a broken paladin, living only for the chance to be useful before he dies. But all that changes when he encounters a fugitive named Grace in an alley and witnesses an assassination attempt gone wrong. Now the pair must navigate a web of treachery, beset on all sides by spies and poisoners, while a cryptic killer stalks one step behind…

Kingfisher, also known as Ursula Vernon, tends to write capable and damaged characters falling in with each other and foiling plots. She also tends to write paladins very well, which is a personal delight. I always enjoy a Kingfisher story, because the characters do the sensible thing more often than not, and she deals with trauma very compassionately, from what I suspect is a personal viewpoint. Her books are also usually very funny, very disturbing, and no-nonsense, scratching that Terry Pratchett Witch itch when I miss him very much. Grace is along the same lines, with a good solid HEA that leaves everyone, including the reader, satisfied.

  Kindred, a Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy and illustrated by John Jennings

I lost an arm on my last trip home.

Home is a new house with a loving husband in 1970s California that suddenly transformed in to the frightening world of the antebellum South.

Dana, a young black writer, can’t explain how she is transported across time and space to a plantation in Maryland. But she does quickly understand why: to deal with the troubles of Rufus, a conflicted white slaveholder–and her progenitor.

Her survival, her very existence, depends on it.

This searing graphic-novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s science fiction classic is a powerfully moving, unflinching look at the violent disturbing effects of slavery on the people it chained together, both black and white–and made kindred in the deepest sense of the word.

Kindred, the novel, is on my Next 20s list. I had meant to read it before I read the GN, but picked up the graphic novel based on a friend’s recommendation. The graphic novel is searingly painful, and I enjoyed reading it, but there are parts of it that feel slightly disjointed. I’m not sure if it’s because of the time travel, or if it’s an adaptation problem. It made me want to read the novel immediately, which is what I am reading right now. I don’t think that I’ll be able to properly synthesise my thoughts about this book until I’ve read the original.

    Mirror: The Mountain and The Nest by Emma Rios and Hwei Lim

A mysterious asteroid hosts a collection of strange creatures – man-animal hybrids, mythological creatures made flesh, guardian spirits, cursed shadows – and the humans who brought them to life. But this strange society exists in an uneasy truce, in the aftermath of uprisings seeking freedom and acceptance, that have only ended in tragedy. As the ambitious, the desperate and the hopeful inhabitants of the asteroid struggle to decide their shared fate, a force greater than either animal or human seems to be silently watching the conflict, waiting for either side to finally answer the question: what is worthy of being human?

Recommended to me by a new friend who’d heard I was into sci-fi and graphic novels, who absolutely hit the nail on the head with this rec. The art is beautiful, dreamy, and layered, and it keeps you tied to the story as the authors build what is a magnificent construction in your head. The authors do some really lovely things with timeskips that I have no idea how to talk about without spoiling anything, and I only regret that we weren’t able to linger through the second volume. I’m don’t know why there isn’t more of Mirror, but I do appreciate how they tied everything up as well as they could in two volumes. Looking forward to more like this in the future.

  Heartstopper: Volume Three by Alice Oseman

In this volume we’ll see the Heartstopper gang go on a school trip to Paris! Not only are Nick and Charlie navigating a new city, but also telling more people about their relationship AND learning more about the challenges each other are facing in private…

Meanwhile Tao and Elle will face their feelings for each other, Tara and Darcy share more about their relationship origin story, and the teachers supervising the trip seem… rather close…?

You can read all of Heartstopper and its future updates here. Heartstopper is a lovely slice of life comic, PG13 at best, that really takes me back to my own mid-teens. The story is centered around the developing relationship of two young boys, Charlie and Nick, and it really deals with it respectfully. It tackles a lot of teen issues without being too preachy about it, which is probably the least inspiring thing I could have written about it, and integrates it deftly into the story. The art style is adorable and really complements the sweet story. This volume, just released this month, revolves around a class trip to Paris, and there are some shenanigans that you’ll have to read for yourself.

  Sixty Six Book 2 by Russell Molina and Mikey Marchan

Kuwento ni Celestino Cabal. Kabebertdey niya lang. Mayroon siyang natanggap na regalo na ngayo’y unti-unti niyang binubuksan. Ika nga ng matatanda, “Huli man daw at magaling, maihahabol din.”

The story of Celestino Cabal. His birthday has just passed. He received a gift that he now gets to open, bit by bit. As the old saying goes, “Better late than never.”

This is the synopsis of the first book. There isn’t an official synopsis for the second book online, and I hesitate to write my own. Sixty Six Book 2 was released during February Komiket, and since I had been waiting for it for a few years, I had to go to the event even though everyone’s been iffy about going into crowded spaces due to COVID-19. I was excited to read this but unfortunately, I don’t think it capitalised on the foundation set in Book 1. The artist was different, and I admired their work on a technical level, as well as their humorous use of WASAK as a sound effect. I don’t know if there’ll be a third book, but the author has made themselves a little leeway for that possibility at the end of this volume.

  Thank You, Jeeves, Jeeves #5 by P.G. Wodehouse

The odds are stacked against Chuffy when he falls head over heels for American heiress Pauline Stoker. Who better to help him win her over but Jeeves, the perfect gentleman’s gentleman. But when Bertie, Pauline’s ex-fiance finds himself caught up in the fray, much to his consternation, even Jeeves struggles to get Chuffy his fairy-tale ending.

This book was in my next 20s! So I’m accomplishing one of my 2020 reading goals, yay! But hot damn there is some racist language in this book. Every time I was finally sinking into the story boom! Racist language! And I know that it was because of the time it was published, like I know that academically, but oof. That aside, the story is solid. It’s a comedy of manners AND errors with Jeeves ex machina, as per usual, but this is the first full Jeeves novel I’ve read, the rest were short story collections, and it was good to see the characters take more space. It certainly made the comedic payoff a lot stronger.

But oof.

  Die Vol. 2: Split the Party by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles

No one can escape DIE until everyone agrees to go home. Or rather, no one can escape DIE until everyone who is alive agrees to go home. The second arc of the commercial and critical hit of bleakly romantic fantasy fiction starts to reveal the secrets of the world, and our heroes’ pasts. Yes, they can’t escape DIE. They also can’t escape themselves. Collects issues #6-10 of DIE

CHARACTERISATION. There’s a lot more breathing space in this newly-released volume of Die and I live for that! The first volume was a lot of the characters running from one place to the next and we, as readers, were being given the sense of setting. But volume two, you can feel Gillen just finally branching out and hitting us with their joined histories. I want to see more of how these older players will be dealing with the actions of their teenage selves, and I think the third volume will really show what the comic’s capable of. I’m really looking forward to that.

  False Value, Rivers of London #8 by Ben Aaronovitch

Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner’s brand new London start up – the Serious Cybernetics Company.

Drawn into the orbit of Old Street’s famous ‘silicon roundabout’, Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant’s favourite son.

Because Terrence Skinner has a secret hidden in the bowels of the SCC. A technology that stretches back to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, and forward to the future of artificial intelligence. A secret that is just as magical as it technological – and just as dangerous.

The last Rivers of London book finished the first major arc of the series. It was a succession of explosions contained in a novel. So I was wondering what kind of tone Aaronovitch would be setting with False Value. Would it be all action, immediately? A filler story? I just wanted more Peter Grant. It could literally be an entire novel of Peter going to America to visit the Smithsonian museums and I would be on that.

False Value is a slow story but does a lot of table setting for the next arc. While the case of the book feels very small and contained, you can see that they’re being pulled into the larger world of magic. I did have a hard time with the first few chapters, but I’m not sure if this is a problem of the book, or because I sailed straight into it after the Jeeves book I had been reading.

I finished the book too quickly and now I have to wait for the next one. Bother.

    The Thief, The Queen’s Thief #1 by Megan Whalen Turner

The king’s scholar, the magus, believes he knows the site of an ancient treasure. To attain it for his king, he needs a skillful thief, and he selects Gen from the king’s prison. The magus is interested only in the thief’s abilities.

What Gen is interested in is anyone’s guess. Their journey toward the treasure is both dangerous and difficult, lightened only imperceptibly by the tales they tell of the old gods and goddesses.

It’s March now, so my friends and I are starting on the second book in our read-along of The Queen’s Thief. I wrote last month that I was worried about how my friends would take the series, but really I needn’t have thought about it at all. The book stands well on its own, and my friends all got into the story. I hesitate to say that they loved it because there are four more books in the series, but they were definitely into it. Some of them had a hard time sticking to the two chapters a day schedule because Turner’s prose really just pulls you in.

I still love Gen, and I’m excited to relive his character growth.

  The Farthest Shore, The Earthsea Cycle #3

Darkness threatens to overtake Earthsea. As the world and its wizards are losing their magic, Ged — powerful Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord — embarks on a sailing journey with highborn young prince, Arren. They travel far beyond the realm of death to discover the cause of these evil disturbances and to restore magic to a land desperately thirsty for it.

I’m reading Tehanu, the last book of the Cycle, now, and I’m scared of ending the series. It’s given me so much joy and peace these past few months. I slipped right into it after finishing The Farthest Shore, remembering that they overlap slightly, and that’s done a lot to soften the blow of the third book. Re-reading Farthest at this age, when things have been losing their colour and flavour, where I have to fight harder to keep myself honest and keep myself ‘good’, hits differently. I’ve been recovering, and the bitterness that Ged has over the loss of his mastery is too real to me. Of course, it’s a good book, but it hurts.

—

All right, that’s it for now. I’ll probably be popping in to post a little about Komiket and some other things I’ve been reading next week or so, so please keep a weather eye out for that next post!

February Reading Round-Up I won't be the first or last person to marvel at how quickly February whizzed past, especially in comparison to January's gauntlet.

[kanasmusings]

[Translation] Growth Drama CD Vol. 4 - Track 2

I will introduce this drama track with two words. That is, “Mamoru” and “guppy”.  Also, we get introduced to a new character, Mimira-kun who, albeit being faceless, is still part of the TsukiPro world~

Thank you again to Deea for sharing before I got my own CD~!! Please don’t ask her for them as per her request, thank you ^^

※ Please don’t re-post the English translations without permission. Please just like/reblog them instead ^^

Under the cut, enjoy!

Track 02: [ご機嫌な涼太くん] “Ryota-kun in a good mood”

[0:00]

  (pages flipping as Koki reads)

  RYOTA: Hm? (giggles)

KOKI: Hm…? (giggles)

KOKI: Ryo, is something wrong?

RYOTA: Eh?

KOKI: It’s just, you’ve been looking over here all this time that I was wondering if you needed something.

RYOTA: Ah… I… I was looking at Kou…?

KEN: AH!!! You weren’t aware?! You were staring! Totally staring!

MAMORU: I-it’s somehow… Like you two were transported to a world of your own…

MAMORU: Please remember that we’re here, too! We’re here too, Ryo-kun!

RYOTA: Huh? Obviously. We’re here as Growth, aren’t we?

KEN: Y-you say that but it’s like we were just air, y’know? Right, Mamoru!?

MAMORU: Yes, Ken-kun! Ryo-kun and Kou-kun were just staring at each other, giggling, and it was like we were intruding in their atmosphere!

RYOTA: You’re pretty noisy for someone who understands the situation.

RYOTA: I noticed that, too, you know.

KEN: Ah… Someone who was just smiling and giggling looking at Kou’s face is this cold when it’s towards us.

MAMORU: It happens a lot, I know, but Ryo-kun’s difference in treatment is killing the guppy in my heart slowly!

KEN: Don’t die, Mamoru’s guppy!!

KEN: Ah, by the way, a “guppy” is the name of a tropical fish. It seems like there’s a chance that they’ll die if you change the temperature just a bit and change behaviour by the intensity of its environment.

MAMORU: Ken-kun, thank you for the explanation!

KOKI: (chuckles)

KOKI: Um… Ryo, is there anything strange that’s going on?

RYOTA: Eh?

RYOTA: No, not at all. (smiles)

RYOTA: That white top suits you well~

RYOTA: The black jacket on top of that looks good, too, huh?

RYOTA: It emphasizes your waist well and I think that it looks pretty and elegant.

KOKI: Thank you. Then, maybe it’s my hairstyle…?

RYOTA: I really like that part of your bangs that stray a little bit when tucked behind your ear.

RYOTA: In one word, I’d say it’s “noble”. It suits you well~

KOKI: R-really…?

RYOTA: Yup. (smiles)

KOKI: U-um… Thank you.

RYOTA: Yeah~

MAMORU: THIS DIFFERENCE IN TEMPERATURE!! AHHH!! MY HEART’S GUPPY! MY GUPPY!!!

KEN: Don’t die, Mamoru’s guppy! SOMEBODY!! SOMEBODY, PLEASE SAVE HIM!!

RYOTA: Ah, I see.

KOKI: Hm?

RYOTA: I figured out why I was unconsciously staring at Kou.

MAMORU: And what exactly is that?!

RYOTA: It’s because Kou is shining today.

KEN/MAMORU: Huh?

RYOTA: You all know this, don’t you? That I like beautiful things.

RYOTA: Music, pictures, scenery, people, or whatever.

RYOTA: It’s fun looking at beautiful things, isn’t it?

RYOTA: It makes the heart at ease, doesn’t it? It’s even better if there’s a sense of cleanliness, too.

RYOTA: In that way, Kou is my ideal. Just that.

KEN/MAMORU: Ah…

RYOTA: Yes… Yes, that’s it.

RYOTA: Kou really hits every single one of my targets, huh.

RYOTA: I wonder why? Maybe it’s better if I didn’t have something he can target?

RYOTA: What’s this feeling of being targeted even though there’s nothing to target…?

RYOTA: Really… It’s getting scary. But his existence is healing.

RYOTA: (sighs) I’m so glad that Kou is Growth’s leader.

MAMORU: Ryo-kun is unusually in an interesting mode, huh…

KEN: In any case, you made it clear that Kou hit all of your “targets” today.

KOKI: Is it okay to think of it as a compliment…?

RYOTA: Of course! I’m aware of how much I love or dislike someone after all.

RYOTA: I think that it’s a great thing that I can notice that, too.

MAMORU: Well, that’s true.

KEN: You’re right.

KOKI: (chuckles) Well, Ryo’s shining to me, as well.

RYOTA: I’m… shining…?

KOKI: Yeah.

RYOTA: Well, that’s because it’s part of our job to present ourselves to people. I’m careful about my appearance.

RYOTA: Of course, I’d be in my best manners, too.

KOKI: True. In a way, it could mean like that. The reason why I look pretty to you might be because of the same reason.

KOKI: (smiles) But—

RYOTA: But…!?

KOKI: For me, you sparkling isn’t just limited to your outward appearance.

RYOTA: Eh…?

KOKI: Ryo is—

(someone knocks on the door)

STAFF: Pardon the intrusion! We’re so sorry for the wait, Growth.

STAFF: The studio is already prepared so please get ready to move.

KEN: Ah, yes~!

KOKI: Ryo, let’s continue this talk later.

RYOTA: A-ah—Y-yeah.

MAMORU: Alright~! Let’s do our best for work today then!

KEN: Yeah~!

RYOTA: Wait!

RYOTA: You two were just sitting around, weren’t you?

RYOTA: Your clothes are all wrinkled.

KEN: AH! Really?!

RYOTA: Really. Look right here and over here, too.

KEN: It’s true…

KEN: Oh, man. I hope it doesn’t stand out.

RYOTA: Why don’t you ask the costume department if they can lightly steam it for a bit?

KEN: You’re right. Thank you, Ryo. I’ll do just that.

RYOTA: Mamoru, too. Your necktie’s crooked. I’ll fix it for you. Come on.

RYOTA: Stand properly.

MAMORU: Ah, yes!

(Ryota starts fixing Mamoru’s tie)

RYOTA: Hm?

MAMORU: Ryo-kun… Right now, you were thinking that it’s similar to fixing the collar on a dog, weren’t you…?

RYOTA: Wow! I’m amazed you figured it out~!

MAMORU: I wish you denied that part though~

RYOTA: (chuckles) I’m just kidding.

RYOTA: I know that both you and Ken do your best so, if you only keep in mind what people think about you, it’d be a waste, you know?

RYOTA: There are people who look up to Growth’s Ken and Mamoru, too, you know?

RYOTA: You’ll do it properly, won’t you?

MAMORU: Yessir!

KOKI: (chuckles) We’re all ready, aren’t we? Now then, shall we go?

[06:35]

 STAFF: Now then, we’ll introduce today’s guests!

STAFF: First up are these people! With their unique world view and individualistic songs, harmony is their power.

STAFF: Please welcome everyone from Growth!

KOKI: Good afternoon!

Growth: Good afternoon.

STAFF: Hello! Welcome to Count-up TV!

STAFF: I think we’ll all be able to hear about their processes of music today.

KOKI: Yes. It’s a pleasure to be here.

STAFF: It’s a pleasure to have you here.

STAFF: The next guest is this person!

STAFF: He’s pretty famous with middle and high schoolers!

STAFF: He’s the frightfully amazing 16 year old who writes and makes his own songs, Mimira-san!

MIMIRA: Good evening~! I’m Mimira!

MIMIRA: I normally do net broadcasts so this is my first appearance on TV~!

MIMIRA: I’m very nervous but, I’ll do my best~! It’s nice to meet you~

STAFF: Yes, welcome! Alright then, let’s have a quick commercial before we proceed with the talk.

  (catchy music plays)

  MAMORU: (sighs) It’s finally… over… somehow…

RYOTA: (exhausted) Really…

RYOTA: I’m so glad that it’s somehow over…

KEN: I understand why Mamoru, the composer, is tired because it’s a music show where we talked about the song processes but, why is Ryo so tired, too?

RYOTA: I think it’s because of the nervousness about whether Mamoru would say some weird things…

MAMORU: Ah… (laughs with a very tired manner) I’m so sorry for making you worry.

MAMORU: It’s true that a TV broadcast has a different sort of nervousness from lives and events, huh…?

MAMORU: I somehow managed not to slip up because I kept looking at Ryo-kun next to me who was glaring at me.

MAMORU: That’s… what I want to think!

KOKI: (chuckles) No, I think you managed to talk about it properly rather than just “managing it somehow”.

MAMORU: Eh?! Really?

KEN: Yup, yup. I think so, too. I think the song’s themes and their highlights were pretty easy to understand.

KEN: I think we managed to show fine team play during this recording. I think we also managed to make people laugh at the appropriate times, too.

KEN: Good going, Mamoru~

MAMORU: I-I’m so glad…!

KOKI: (smiles) Great job, Mamoru.

KOKI: You did well. Didn’t he, Ryo?

RYOTA: You’re right. Well, I’d say it’s a passing mark.

MAMORU: Oh…! To think that the day Ryo-kun would say that would come…!

MAMORU: I’m so glad that I did image training of this moment with the Arainu-kun three days ago!

RYOTA: …!

KEN: I’m somehow torn between wanting to see you practice talking with a stuffed toy or if I’m glad that I didn’t see it.

RYOTA: It’s obviously gross so you should be glad you didn’t see it.

RYOTA: Ah, but, I guess it’s too late to say that since he talks often with the pachira.

KEN: That’s true.

MAMORU: Onii-san won’t hide his distress since I’m aware you see me do that often…

MIMIRA: Ah, Growth-san! Thank you very much for today!

MIMIRA: I’m Mimira, who was your co-guest today!

KOKI: Ah, likewise. Thank you very much to you, too.

MAMORU: Thank you very much!

RYOTA: Thanks.

KEN: Thanks for the hard work~!

MIMIRA: Thank you for your hard work, too!

MIMIRA: Uwah~ You’re all so beautiful up close! Your face is so small!

MIMIRA: Real celebrities are totally different, huh~!

MAMORU: Eh? Eh!? Eh…?! WHAT!!??

MIMIRA: Was it Koki-san and Ryota-san?

MAMORU: AHHH! Figured it was those two…! That’s obvious, huh…

KEN: (laughs)

MIMIRA: If it’s okay with you, can I take a picture with you to commemorate this day?

MIMIRA: Can we do a two-shot?

KOKI: Yeah.

RYOTA: I don’t mind.

MIMIRA: Yay~! Then, please excuse me~ There.

(Mimira approaches Ryo and Koki)

MIMIRA: Okay~ Please come closer.

MIMIRA: Say cheese~

(Mimira takes the picture)

MIMIRA: Woah~! It looks good! What do you think?

MIMIRA: Would it be alright if I uploaded it online later?

MIMIRA: I could edit or enhance it before I do though but…

KOKI: Ah, it’s no problem at all.

RYOTA: It’s fine with me, too.

MIMIRA: Yay~! Thank you very much!

MIMIRA: Alright~ I’ll add this to my memories of today just like with my first broadcast~

KEN: Ah, um… Mimira-kun?

KEN: That broadcast channel’s called “Mimira Channel,” isn’t it?

KEN: I’ve watched it before.

MIMIRA: Ohhh!! Really?! Thank you very much!

MIMIRA: I’m happy that you saw one of my videos…!

MIMIRA: Ah, can I ask you for your impressions? How was it?

KEN: It was interesting!

KEN: The episode I saw was the episode where you went to the bath house for the first time since you were born.

KEN: I’ve never been to one before, too, so while I was going “Oh~” when watching, I totally laughed a lot while holding my milk bottle.

MIMIRA: (laughs) That’s the one I uploaded the day after I went to the bath house, right?

MIMIRA: Compared to the organization of a TV broadcast, I usually do the filming and even editing on my own.

MIMIRA: I don’t even have a great script to follow and I mess up talking sometimes, too.

MIMIRA: Well, that kind of thing is one charm point, too~! Ehehe~

KOKI: That’s amazing. You think of the material and do the editing on your own?

MIMIRA: E-he~ Is what I’d like to brag but, the computer software really does help a lot.

MIMIRA: It’s not as difficult once you get used to it, sir.

MIMIRA: Doing things we love as long as we can is good, isn’t it~?

KEN: You’re light on your feet because you do it alone, too, huh.

MIMIRA: Yes, yes! It’s great that I can just do something interesting the moment that I think of it~

KOKI: I think that kind of behaviour is admirable, too.

RYOTA: After all, if you don’t know how to use an editing software, it really is meaningless, too.

MAMORU: Right, right~? I mean, even I can make a lot with just a music software, too.

MAMORU: Mimira-kun does the filming, recording, and editing, too. On top of that, you make music and you sing, too, don’t you?

MAMORU: You’re so talented, huh~

MIMIRA: (flustered) A-ah, no…! I- I just feel shy if you flatter me like that…!

MIMIRA: But… Thank you very much!

STAFF: Ah, Mimira-san! Your escort’s here already.

MIMIRA: Ah, yes! It’s that time already, huh…

MIMIRA: I’ll be on my way then. Thank you very much for today!

KOKI: Yeah, let’s meet again somewhere.

RYOTA: Someday for sure.

MIMIRA: Yes, surely! Thank you very much for the picture, too!

(Mimira leaves)

[13:23]

  KOKI: (chuckles)

RYOTA: That was quite a storm, huh~ Though, there was nothing bad in it.

KEN: Oh, the picky Ryo is saying something unusual~

RYOTA: Shut up.

MAMORU: That just shows how great Mimira-kun is at communicating and talking.

KOKI: Music, videos, and now even talking, huh.

KOKI: He’s really talented.

MAMORU: He called Kou-kun and Ryo-kun “pretty~!�� but, Mimira-kun’s pretty good looking himself, too~

MAMORU: Man~ Popular people sure have it all~

KEN: I felt he can handle it though~ To borrow Ryo’s words, he was “shining,” too.

MAMORU: I thought so, too! Maybe it’s the youth~

MAMORU: I feel like I was showered in sparkling beams just by talking to him.

MAMORU: His smile is sparkly, his aura is sparkly~! Ah~! So dazzling! Or something?

KEN: Exactly.

RYOTA: Kou’s not losing when It comes to being sparkling though.

KOKI: Me?

KEN: Why are you always so quick to turn it into a compliment competition?

RYOTA: That’s because you two kept complimenting him with “amazing~ amazing~” without restraint.

RYOTA: Kou’s beautiful, he can sing and dance, he’s smart, he’s good at cooking too so, he won’t lose.

KOKI: Ryo, I’m happy that you’re praising me but, I don’t think there’s any point in deciding “winners and losers.”

KEN: Exactly. In the first place, we weren’t comparing Kou and Mimira-kun anyway.

RYOTA: I know that but…

MAMORU: (chuckles) I guess we all just acknowledge that that’s how much you love Kou-kun.

KEN: Yeah, we do. It’s true that Ryo has been keeping an eye on Kou from the beginning.

MAMORU: Oh, really?

KOKI: But, I won’t really call it a friendly mood.

MAMORU: Eh?!

KEN: Oh~? Kou-sama felt that, too?

KOKI: (chuckles) How naïve do you really think I am?

KOKI: Of course I’d notice when I’m being loathed that much.

KEN: Oh, that’s right. I’d say it was more of a rivalry than a friendly feeling.

MAMORU: WHAT?!

RYOTA: W-wait, you two… Are you really bring that up here and now?

KEN: Isn’t it a topic that should be brought out now so that we can have a laugh at it together later~?

RYOTA: That’s true and all but…

MAMORU: Eh? Eh, what? I’m curious! I wanna know~!

MAMORU: Speaking of, I don’t think I’ve ever heard how Kou-kun and Ryo-kun met before.

MAMORU: Though, I’ve heard before that the difficult to approach “Aloof Prince” Kou-kun was approached by Ryo-kun and Ken-kun.

RYOTA: You remember that well, huh, Mamoru.

RYOTA: It’s exactly like that. Ken and I were the first to approach him.

RYOTA: I was curious about what kind of guy it was that they were giving special treatment to.

RYOTA: If I were to confess, I did it mostly with ill intent.

MAMORU: Ill intent…?

KOKI: I was an enemy to you then, huh?

RYOTA: I think you already know without my saying it but, it’s different now, okay?

RYOTA: But, in a place where the tickets to actually debuting were so little, seeing someone the agency treats so specially without hiding it really gives you a bad feeling, doesn’t it?

KEN: I still remember it even now.

KEN: How you glared—No, looked at Kou. I told you that you should try talking to him if you were that interested.

KOKI: Is that so?

RYOTA: You stood out after all. Even if I tried not to worry about it, you just plainly enter my sight.

RYOTA: That’s one reason why you were so special, too, though.

RYOTA: Well… I guess kids wouldn’t understand.

RYOTA: In any case, Ken told me that and I finally decided to talk to Kou.

  ==END==

※ Please don’t re-post the English translations without permission. Please just like/reblog them instead ^^

[mokkoriness]

Motto2 vol. 20 Saga (A9) x Ryosuke (Lolita23q) Interview

Photo credit: Fantasy Alice9

Despite there not being that much interaction between them to date, in actuality, Saga and Ryosuke knew of each other since over 10 years ago. Hearing them talk, in addition to having things in common such as both being bassists and composers, it appears they have many things they agree on, and they hit it off! At this rate, it appears that in 2017, both A9, who have returned to their roots, and Lolita23q, who have resumed band activities, will do something interesting...!!

Saga: I've known of Ryosuke for quite a long time ago.

Ryosuke: I've also known about Saga for a long time. Before A9 had started, I was in the vocalist Show's session band and I've also been their roadie. I've known Saga since he was in Delta Ark...

Saga: That's such a long time ago! (laughs)

Ryosuke: From the time there was that compilation album "HYSTERIC MEDIA ZONE 5"...

Saga: That's super old!! (laughs)

Ryosuke: But today is the first time actually having a proper talk with him.

Saga: Right. We've never had a proper chat since meeting each other, but I've been hearing things about Ryosuke from Show for a long time now. Like "He's a really good kid, has really good manners and is amazing at the bass too. He's a skilled kid".

Ryosuke: No, no. That's too kind (laughs).

Saga: Oh, my bad for calling you a kid (laughs).

Ryosuke: I'm the junior here, so that's completely fine. And also because I respect my seniors who are moving ahead.

Saga: Huh? When did you guys form again?

Ryosuke: Our first live was in November 2004.

Saga: We formed in the Spring of 2004.

Ryosuke: There's less than a year's difference of our current bands, but you also had a career before that... When I played for the first time at a live house, Saga and Show were already playing at Takadanobaba AREA1.

Saga: Memories of those times are starting to come back to me (laughs).

Ryosuke: That's why when Show and Saga formed alicenine., I thought "This is going to be one amazing band". I purposely said their band name from that time.

Saga: But we're pretty much from the same era, so why didn't we meet? We've only played a show with Lolita23q once.

Ryosuke: I think that's because ever since alicenine. formed, they shot straight up.

Saga: No, no, not at all. We joined a management company right after we formed, so there was the fact that we weren't so free to move as we wanted...... But now that we've gone independent, there's none of that anymore and it's easier to get things done. It's like the same goes for today, being able to collaborate with Ryosuke.

Ryosuke: I'm really glad that I can have a chat like this with Saga.

Saga: Although we never interacted in the public sphere, in 2012, when I heard that Lolita23q would go on hiatus, I was sad, as one would expect.

Ryosuke: Really?

Saga: Yeah. But I wasn't suprised. Because I really understand the difficulty in keeping a band going. And when it comes do doing it for over 10 years... right?

Ryosuke: Uh huh.

Saga: I don't know the specifics for you, but when you are active as a band, don't a whole range of obstacles come up? So I did feel that it was sad... but I also felt that it is what it is. That's why when I heard Lolita23q would be making a comeback, I was genuinely happy.

Ryosuke: Thank you very much.

Saga: I also want you guys to show the fans in the current Visual-kei scene who haven't seen Lolita23q before what's what.

Ryosuke: I do hope they come see us.

Saga: Lolita23q had left an impression on me from the very beginning. The impact from their artist photos each time is amazing.

Ryosuke: Yeah... Our lives depend on that.

Saga: BAN adds a nice touch to the band (laughs). He does his own thing. Even in the new artist photos, he does his own thing. That's also amazing.

Ryosuke: He has consistency in how he presents himself. I think that the artist photo up on our website right now is the coolest BAN.

Saga: I also think that the artist photo now is the best, even including all the artist photos in the past. You guys are shining the most right now.

Ryosuke: Really? Thank you very much. I was very particular about the composition, even in the smallest details. After the band went on hiatus, I studied a bit on design, so I made use of all the things I mastered in the artist photos, like proportions and balanced.

Saga: You always looked at things overall and produced the presentation of the band and such, right?

Ryosuke: I wouldn't got so far as to say I produced it, but I wanted to say that ever since back then, I was the main person behind the band's creative side. But in making our comeback, I think that working from behind the scenes is okay. Because I want to contribute the know-how and ideas I have to the band even more than before we went on hiatus.

Saga: You won't say "I'm the one doing it".

Ryosuke: No, I won't. I'd be happy if my work was needed by the people we work with or the members.

Saga: It's like you take a step back to look at things.

Ryosuke: That's right. I'm a band member, but I've also got a position like a kind of director. But I don't even want to say things like that.

Saga: Oh, really?

Ryosuke: I want to avoid giving off this cocky feeling. But I'm actually really interested in things like this.

Saga: You like looking at the overall picture?

Ryosuke: Yes. Or rather, doesn't it happen with our part (= bass)?

Saga: Well, yeah. That's how it ends up being (laughs).

Ryosuke: Right!

Saga: Well, in terms of where you stand in the band, you end up looking around you (laughs).

Ryosuke: It's just as you say. That's why I think that I'm the one who chose the bass.

Saga: But even though you're a bassist, don't you also have solo activities as WING WORKS, where you don't play bass, but instead sing, and produce eveything? By doing things like that, I think that you're a unique person, even in this scene. So what are you thinking when you do your activities? I've always been really curious. Like "I wonder if he is moving while thinking about many things while looking 2 to 3 steps ahead?".

Ryosuke: That's right. When I thought to stop the band the first time, I thought that I couldn't be in a band anymore.

Saga: Like perhaps you couldn't form a band better than Lolita23q?

Ryosuke: There was that, and I'm not denying the stance that the other members took after that2, but at the time, the CEO of the label we were under at that time gave me the advice "The road of music is [One band per lifetime]", and that had always stuck with me.

Saga: Yeah.

Ryosuke: That said, I was thinking about forming a new band at first, but I immediately thought that I couldn't be able to form a band better than Lolita23q. So if that was the case, I thought to do it alone.

Saga: I see.

Ryosuke: That and I really like MIYAVI, so I was influenced by him.

Saga: Oh, really?

Ryosuke: Yes. If I recall correctly, just around the time when Lolita23q went on hiatus and I was wondering whether to do go solo or not, that's when MIYAVI and bobo started their activities in his current style. I bought a ticket and went to see them live, but when he frst started doing his current style, there weren't any people in the audience.

Saga: You bought a ticket?

Ryosuke: Actually, I've been a big fan of his since Due le quartz. Ever since MIYAVI went solo, I've always bought tickets go see his milestone lives. By myself.

Saga: By yourself? Really?!

Ryosuke: Really. Every time I go see him, I always learn something and I think "I'll work hard so I can become like him". When he went solo, didn't -miyavi- always have this vigour when it came to activities? But when he first started the two-person style, there were so few people in audience it would be unimaginable these days. But the things he is doing is clearly progressing even further than what he had done up until then. That was the biggest thing that made me want to become a solo artist.

Saga: I see... So it was his influence. -miyavi- used to be in the same management company as us, so I saw things that were happening back then, and once when he went overseas, he came back as a different person. He would start speaking English out of the blue. At that time, the people arond him had questions marks about him, like "-miyavi-, what's wrong?" and "I don't know what you're trying to do".

Ryosuke: Oh.

Saga: In that kind of mood, he pushed forward on his own path, and pushed completely through... I think that inside of himself, he had discovered something amazing and returned to Japan, and is sticking to what he wants to do, even if under tough circumstances. I think that because he stuck to his guns, he's able to do what he is doing now. I mean, no one else is doing what he does.

Ryosuke: He is a one-of-a-kind of person.

Saga: He may have had a really rough period, the kind that Ryosuke was talking about earlier, but now he is playing solo shows at Makuhari Messe3. You only sing at WING WORKS lives, right?

Ryosuke: Yes. Actually, there are also some of my solo recorded songs that don't have any real bass sounds. I think that a synth bass would work better there. I make clear distinctions there (laughs).

Saga: I think that is perfectly fine to do. If it's not necessary for the song, then there is no need to put it in the song. Often, there are people who say things like "What a traitor", when a bassist puts his bass down and takes up the microphone. I hate those kind of people. It's nonsense.

Ryosuke: Saga, I wish you were there to say that to my fans right after I went solo (laughs).

Saga: (laughs). I mean, Ryosuke is still doing music. What I really understand from this conversation is that he didn't become a musician because he really wants to play the bass. That's not the order of events.

Ryosuke: That is completely true.

Saga: For example, if in your band, you we were to disregard the vocalist and start singing, you might face criticism. But he is doing solo activities prepared to take on the risks and taking responsibility for what he is doing. You are free to express what you want and how you want. Actually, anything goes.

Ryosuke: That's right. Even before that, there was a period where I was DJing, so I had no objections to standing on stage without a bass, and if I had to say which, the music I want to do with WING WORKS has complex basslines, so I thought it was only natural that I devote myself to singing, so I could produce something of high quality. If I had wanted to do punk music, I think I would be singing while playing the bass.

Saga: Yeah.

Ryosuke: But it's just that my roots are not punk music. That's why I made the instant decision of setting down the bass.

Saga: That was probably the obvious answer for you, right?

Ryosuke: It was.

Saga: It just so happens that the way for him to be himself turned out that way. But don't the people watching not know that? The true Ryosuke?

Ryosuke: Well, I've not been able to communicate that well.

Saga: So there is that kind of struggle.

Ryosuke: Yes. By the way, what are your musical roots, Saga?

Saga: My roots... Before I was introduced to the world of bands, I wanted to be a singer-songwriter. Rather than saying I was doing music because I wanted to play the bass, originally, I looked up to people who composed and sang songs. That is where my interest in music began.

Ryosuke: I see!! Why was that the case?

Saga: My mum and dad had CDs at home. Many of them were from their generation, like folk singers, and influential singer-songwriters, like Miyuki Nakajima. As I continued listening to those CDs, I myself wanted to become a person who composed and sang songs. So in order to become a singer-songwriter, I thought I better first learn the guitar, so I tried to learn the guitar. But then when I was in middle school, I saw a videotape of LUNA SEA, and then affected by the poison that is bands (laughs).

Ryosuke: Poison?! (laughs)

Saga: I made the mistake of discovering bands, and I was completely wrecked (laughs).

Ryosuke: The mistake?! (laughs)

Saga: I got on the wrong path of life because of rock music, and now here I am (laughs).

Ryosuke: I understand what you mean (laughs).

Saga: So to make it easier to form a band, I started playing the bass, thinking it the bass would be better... So the biggest part of my roots is the fact I like songs, and that I want to write good songs. Actually, I'm the type of person to not really be fussy about the instrument I play.

Ryosuke: Me too. That I play the bass is just by chance. Or rather, to me, the bass is no more than an output method for me to express myself. When I decided to learn how to play an instrument because I wanted to do music, it just so happened that the bass was the instrument that fit me the best. Actually, there is something that I really wanted to ask Saga.

Saga: What is it?

Ryosuke: Despite the numerous Visual-kei artists out there, there are very few bassists that are in the main composer position. Also, did you also once say that you like U2 and Aerosmith, and your roots are also American music and stadium rock?

Saga: Yes, that's right.

Ryosuke: Did you say that so that the audience could understand your music more deeply?

Saga: That's right. How should I put it... Even if you were to play the music that is your roots in the scene right now, the audience won't understand you well, or rather, the assumption is that the other members are playing your music. Since your musical roots are going through the filter that is the other members, I do wonder if this music is blending well into this scene. For example, by Show singing the songs, that feeling is neutralized well. I think that to have the fans accept this music in this way is also possible.

Ryosuke: The other day, Show had said to me "Since going independent, A9 will first put out music that is highly artistic". I did certainly think that "PRISMATIC" sounded like Maroon 5.

Saga: Yes, yes.

Ryosuke: So now that I've learned about Saga's musical roots, I can understand that. At the same time, I think that it's amazing because music with that perspective and that approach cannot be found anywhere else in the Visual-kei market. You did a tour in Spring for that release, and didn't you also do a live where you returned to yor roots this Summer?

Saga: That's right.

Ryosuke: Looking at A9 from then on, the mode is completely different to when they had made "PRISMATIC". Up until Summer, I guessed that at that rate, you would become the Japanese U2 or Radiohead, and I was looking forward to it. I really, really like "PRISMATIC".

Saga: Thanks (smiles).

Ryosuke: But... So why did you return to your roots? Isn't it only obvious that you could have kept on going in that direction?

Saga: We can, and we could if we wanted to. But... Looking back on our activities over the last 12 years, we had slowly begun to stray off the path and made new music, saying things like "Our last album was like this, so let's make the next one like this". As we were doing that, wouldn't that also mean that people would have this view of us, like "So A9 is this kind of band"? At the same time, we had also built up our own aesthetic; we had our own branding, or rather, there was this idea of what we should be like, or what we wanted to show. So when it came to making music that did not stray from that idea, it was a situation in where the broad scope of song arrangements was getting narrower. Because we made it a point to not use the methods that we had used before.

Ryosuke: I see, I see.

Saga: Having been doing that, when we were in our 12th year, it had felt like we had done all that we could do. We also had a clear understanding of what we were good at and what we weren't good at. So "PRISMATIC" is to A9, the musical approach that we are the worst at, and the thing we avoided the most to date. Just as I had thought, it's the type of song that is the most difficult for Show. "PRISMATIC" is the song we wrote using the last of the last of what we had, which we hadn't used before.

Ryosuke: I see.

Saga: By writing that song, we had nothing left. I had started to think that if I was to make any more music with a new approach, there was no longer a need to do it as A9.

Ryosuke: Is that so....

Saga: As I was thinking this, we ended up doing a live where we returned to our roots. What I thought after doing the live was that the songs we wrote at the time were a pure manifestation of what we were thinking, and we weren't held prisoner to what we had done in the past. Although we didn't have any musical knowledge, though low quality, the songs we wrote then were good. And at the same time, I wondered what it would be like if we wrote songs with that writing style. It made me want to try writing songs in the same way we did 12 years ago. Strictly speaking, although it would be impossible to do exactly the same thing, there are some things that we have picked up over the last 12 years. In particular, after making our major debut, we were in a blessed environment of having famous producers produce our songs, and we learned many things. There were many things that we had learned, having producers such as Hajime Okano, who also produced for L'Arc~en~Ciel, Akira Nishihira, and Satoru Hiraide, who also produced for UVERWORLD, produce our work.

Ryosuke: That is wonderful.

Saga: But at the same time, we also know that there is no correct answer when it comes to music. And depending on the producer, they might say the exact opposite.

Ryosuke: Right.

Saga: But that is something we learned only after having worked with many producers.

Ryosuke: It's like you came full circle in these 12 years.

Saga: Yeah. In the end, it's just a matter of whether it feels good or bad to that person. But it's only because we took the long way and came full circle that I've come to think that I want to value what I like and what I want to do with A9, and that I want to return to our roots, no matter what others may say. In that respect, we might be coming closer to our first releases... I would like to do music in the way we had done back then, without thinking about anything, but with the brain and body that I have now, in its 13th year.

Ryosuke: I see. It's kind of similar the mode that I'm in right now.

Saga: Yes, maybe.

Ryosuke: Now that we are active as Lolita23q once again, we're writing new songs now. There was blank for a few years, and although it does feel like we've gone back in time, I don't think I can be satisfied with just that. Looking at the times now, my feeling is that I want to show the people who have never seen us before something new.

Saga: Yeah. So you start full-scale activities from next year?

Ryosuke: Yes. We will return to our roots with the five official members.

Saga: "Returning to our roots" is a common phrase for Lolita23q and A9 in our 2017 activities.

Ryosuke: That's right. Let's do something together, as two bands that are in the same mode.

Saga: Since both of our bands are aiming for the same vector and have the same mood, it might be interesting if we could do something together. Let's have a party!

Ryosuke: Let's do it!!

Saga: But before that... let's go have a drink together. There's still plenty more that I want to talk about that we don't have time for here (laughs). There are also things that we can't talk about here (laughs).

Ryosuke: Let's do it (laughs)!!

1 A livehouse in Takadanobaba, Tokyo, and one of the "holy places" for Visual-kei bands. 2 After Lolita23q went on hiatus, some of the other members formed other bands. 3 A very large exhibition hall, which holds about 9000 people.

[sophygurl]

Wiscon 42 panel Lighter Side of the MCU

Okay, the rest of my panel write-ups are not going to be quite so dramatic as the Killable Bodies one thank goodness. And I’ll be typing the rest up in chronological order - excepting the ones I was on since I don’t take heavy notes for those, so will add a bit about them at the end. 

The first panel I went to was Lighter Side of the MCU

Reminder that these panel notes are only my own recollections and the things I managed to write down - my notes are incomplete and likely faulty in places. Corrections and additions are always welcome. Especially please do correct me if I get names or pronouns wrong! 

Also I name panelists as that’s publicly available information but not audience members unless requested by that person to have their named added. 

Panel description:

In 2017, the Marvel Cinematic Universe gave us 3 movies that were lighter, funnier, and a bit different from their normal fare: Guardian of the Galaxy Vol 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Thor: Ragnarok. All three of these movies felt like a year-long palate cleanser after the darker path the MCU has been on. However, with movies like Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War coming next, are we back to serious business, or is there still room to play? 

Moderator was Christopher Davis. Panelists were Jess Adamas, V. Greyson, and Carrie Pruett. 

Chris talked about Thor: Ragnarok as having a shift from the other Thor movies, not just due to Taika Watiti’s influence but the writing and acting as well. 

Jess said people figured out that Hemsworth can do comedy and is not just ridiculously good looking, but also willing to make an ass of himself.

Jess and V. agreed that they almost can’t even remember Thor 2. Thor should be funny and silly - the comics are. There are still real feelings and relationships in there, but every scene looked like it should have been painted on the side of a van. 

Carrie said the movie found the right tone for including the Led Zeppelin song. The use of Bruce/Hulk in the movie also used more comedy than earnestness. She compared it to Deadpool as far as pointing out the ridiculous parts. 

She also talked about her desire for Darcy to interact with more MCU characters. 

V. talked about Kenneth Branagh’s Thor 1 and that she liked how serious it was. But she enjoyed the comedy of Ragnarok even more as a contrast. She brought up an article that talked about the Maori flavor of the comedy in the movie, the deprecating aspect and poking fun at the earlier movies (example: “the sun is going down”). 

Carrie liked the calling out of Loki as Odin as a reminder of how Thor 2 ended, but doing it in such a funny way.

Jess talked about Korg and the hilarity of how his revolution failed because he didn’t print enough pamphlets. She brought up the Grandmaster - Carrie asked who? - Jeff Goldblum - oh yea! (lol)

Chris discussed the heavy 80′s nostalgia and Jack Kirby aesthetic in the visuals and musical choices. For example, the Pure Imagination song while going through the tunnel.

Jess and V. joked about their husbands not getting why certain things were funny (IIRC this was because they weren’t as familiar with some of the references to earlier Marvel movies?).

Chris said that Goldblum was the perfect choice for that role. He asked the panelists what their favorite bit of his was.

V. said the meltstick part. Carrie added - accidental killing is hilarious. Jess brought up the part about Bruce looking for a button on the ship for a weapon and getting the song and lights - the discovery that it’s an orgy ship. Carrie added that Bruce’s whole life is a series of wondering how he got here. 

V. talked about the deleted scene of the Grandmaster engaging in tentacle porn. Chris said in Watiti’s director’s cut, he filks the Marvel logo at the start and it just goes from there.

Chris moved on to the Guardians movies - a part of Marvel that’s not well known outside of the deep fandom. This gave them more freedom in their choices. They mostly take place outside of the MCU world, but still did well.

Carrie compared Guardians to Deadpool 2 saying that there is such a thing as too many ironic music cues and Guardians had just enough while D2 went too far. 

Carrie also added that the Guardians/Thor part of Infinity War was the best part. The bit where Thor keeps calling Rocket a rabbit (I added from the audience that this somehow didn’t make Rocket mad) and Carrie agreed saying he really responded to Thor as an authority figure in ways that he usually doesn’t do with anyone.

Jess said that she has James Gunn issues and especially didn’t think Guardians 1 was that well written, but that G2 did a good job of balancing the serious with the funny. She was really resentful about crying at the end. She really bought the Peter/Yondu relationship. Jess tears up talking about the scene with Rocket at the funeral and how he noted that Yondu yelled a lot and was mean but that people still stuck with him. [I teared up a lil too, that part hit me hard]

Jess also added that the rainbow glitter aesthetic of the Guardians movies seems to be responding to the darker superhero greyscale we usually get.

Carrie said that they did good with the Ego stuff, as well. She knew that a twist was coming, but not what the twist was going to be. It called out toxic masculinity in a unique way. Kurt Russell was used well in the role. Peter has his own sexist issues, especially in G1 - which is not interrogated - but in G2 he’s clearly trying to be better than his dad. 

Jess said Russell was great in the role because the audience sees him as his oeuvre.

V. didn’t like G2 as much as G1. G1 had a lot of lampshading of Peter calling himself Starlord and the group the Guardians of the Galaxy. Also - so many Groot-based tears. She didn’t like the start of G2 with the team all fighting and being mean to one another. But G2 and Thor:R both used that rainbow glitter aesthetic well and showed that you can have serious issues going on even if it’s sparkly - things don’t have to be all grey with just some blue.

Chris brought up that lighter movies can still have some very serious issues and still be funny. The characters and relationships can grow and change, for example Thor finally acknowledging that Loki is going to keep tricking him. 

V. talked about how Spiderman: Homecoming’s humor is more of the #relatable type. Peter is “just like us” and we identify with him. 

Carrie said she has a complicated relationship with Spiderman. She saw the Toby Maguire movies before she got into comics and didn’t realize that Spiderman was supposed to be funny. Andrew Garfield did okay but still didn’t really feel like Peter. Tom Holland does Spiderman/Peter better. But the movie changed around some of the characters from the comics. Also - why is it appropriate for Tony to have this relationship with a high school student? On the other hand, Tony’s use as a side character is funny and done well.

Jess added that Tony makes terrible decisions but doesn’t realize it until someone else points it out to him - like, maybe don’t take a minor out of the country for combat-related reasons?

Jess went on to say that all Marvel movies have some humor, and it often is that relatable kind, but it also comes from the fondness for the characters and their relationships to one another. It’s not just references (V. - like The Big Bang Theory).

Jess talked about how Thor:R addresses colonialism and anti-colonialism while being funny. Spiderman:Homecoming culminates in a homecoming dance. Jess always wanted a Marvel high school movie. Also Michael Keaton did well in the role for similar reasons as Russell in G2. Both actors bring their career history with them into the role. 

V. talked about the humor of Spiderman in the pratfalls. Heroes already have such exaggerated physical movements, so this leads well to physical humor. Holland is a good physical actor in both senses.

Carrie lamented the lack of funny women in the MCU. (I spoke from the audience again pointing out MJ) 

Jess said that Gamora did not get a lot of comedy - a lot of her character is wrapped up in drama with Nebula. Mantis is a character we laugh at and she is not comfortable with that. Valkyrie gets to be funny. Cate Blanchett as Hela was very campy but in a straight-faced way. She does tell jokes, but they’re terrifying.

Carrie discussed the issues with Mantis a bit more. The jokes were mostly about her fitting the submissive Asian trope. Black Panther has women who got to actively do stuff and be funny! There should be more little sisters in superhero movies. Lupita  Nyong’o was used better as a funny character in BP than she was in more serious roles. Jess added that Okoyo was used in humorous ways too.

Carrie said BP was not just about found family, as many of these movies are, but is actually a family movie. 

Chris said that Hela got some of the best lines in Thor. Examples: “Whoever I am?” and the bit about the executioner to execute plans ... but also people. 

He added that BP did have a lot of humor. It also had a similar plot as Thor, but with a very different tone and narrative. 

Carrie said BP makes you care about Wakanda. Asgard feels more distant. While watching Infinity War, her concern was for Wakanda - why are they bringing the fight there?!

Thor:R builds on the other movies for it’s worldbuilding, whereas BP is introducing us to this world for essentially the first time. There is a sense of wrestling with what is the right thing to do. An audience member added - it’s a less mythical world. 

Jess talked about BP having lots of joy - you get the sense that the cast and crew just loved being there and making it what it was.

V. talked about Thor 1 having more of a fish out of water type humor. The humor in BP comes from investment in the character relationships.

An audience member brought up the M’Baku vegetarian joke. Someone (another audience member maybe?) brought up how the Grandmaster was queer-coded and a villain and funny but it was not offensive. 

Jess said that was just Goldblum being Goldblum. It also works because Watiti is queer, so he’s aware of the tropes and it’s not a mean-spirited laughing - we’re not laughing at the queer-codedness of the character. Contrast this to Mantis, where we are supposed to be laughing at the racial and sexist stereotypes.

Chris brought up that Mantis literally personifies emotional labor. 

An audience member said that the Grandmaster reminded them of Tim Curry’s characters - he’s using himself in the role, so we’re not laughing at someone’s depictions of an other.

V. said in Thor:R the gags are at everyone’s expense - it’s equal opportunity joking. We’re not just laughing at say, the one campy character in the entire movie. 

Carrie talked about not liking Drax as much in G2 because he was so mean to Mantis - we were expected to laugh at this one character. 

An audience member talked about Drax’s actor being hilarious. The MCU and DC are mostly white and male, so they appreciate when this is not the case. The Drax/Mantis issue would have been better if they’d addressed his crush on her. It felt like a third of movie was cut out because they skip right over his meanness to acceptance. Mantis is the first Asian character in the MCU.

Carrie said there is a representation problem. A friend of hers who is Asian said her kid told her she looks like Mantis, and she wasn’t sure how to deal with that. There were no other characters for the child to compare her to.

Jess said this was especially bad because outside of the Mantis thing, Drax is the best of them as far as emotional expression. 

Chris said - as a white dude named Chris, I’m getting lots of representation and I’m getting tired of it. (lol)

Valkyrie came up and someone said their headcanon was that she lived and took the half of the Asgardians who live off to safety. I shouted out from the audience that this was confirmed as canon. V. said her theory is that she took the sex space ship!

An audience member brought up how some people found Asgard as a flying disc in space as being more relatable than a non-colonized African country. This is partially because you have to set up the seriousness first and then introduce humor. Thor could be funnier right away because it was the third movie. 

V. said that both Thor and BP had interesting things to say about colonization and Chris laid it out as: Killmonger wants to start conquering and Hela wants to go back to doing it.

V. talked about BP as having to engage white Marvel fans, black audiences who aren’t as familiar with the comics, and of course the Venn Diagram of black fans of the MCU. Discussed the use of both Wakanda and Oakland scenes to accomplish this.

An audience member asked about the evolution of Hulk as a comedic character.

Chris said Ruffalo was able to pull off the humor well on Thor. The physical comedy of when he tried to pull the Hulk out and then splat! The movie used both Bruce and the Hulk for comedic effect. 

Carrie related back to the comment about starting off with the serious backstory and then adding in the humor - Bruce himself has learned to take himself less seriously over time.

Jess said that he does get to be funny here and there in the other movies, but it’s more of humor as coping mechanism. In Thor:R he gets to do more slapstick stuff. 

And that’s all I got! Overall this was a fun, funny panel which also hit on some serious themes in these lighter movies. 

[brentwatchesmovies]

Fall 2017 Update!

Hey, this blog still exists! It’s been about half a year since I’ve written anything up, and it’s been a bussyyyyy time in my life. Got married, started a new position and found out I’m going to be a father next spring! Amidst all of those changes, I’ve still somehow managed to see a bunch of movies over the last 6/7ish months. I wanted to do a kind of catch-up on here to make up for lost time, a kind of ‘speed round’ for the blog. I’ll still do my end of year top 8 early January I’m sure, but I wanted to get something up before then (and I’ll be honest, we ran out of work at my job today and they’re making us watch Hocus Pocus on a super small TV in the auditorium so I’m boooorrrred). So anyway, here’s some thoughts on a selection of movies I’ve caught over the last few months!

I wanted to write about this one from earlier in the year because I wrote about Director Nacho Vigalondo’s other film ‘Timecrimes’ way back in the day for the blog (check it out with the archives link above if you feel like it). This movie was a ride. From moment to moment, I had no idea where this movie was going next. Vigalondo makes movies that nobody else could, straight from his wild imagination. Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudekis are both great in their roles, especially the latter in a shockingly dynamic role that I won’t spoil here. There are a lot of gender politics at play in this one that I wasn’t expecting, but it makes for a poignant finished product that I’m super glad I caught in theaters. Check this one out at Redbox if you want a dark, funny and totally original, unpredictable experience.

What else could I say about this one that hasn’t been said by most critics and obviously the worlds box office. This movie clicked with seemingly everyone, taking the #1 spot at the box office for 2016 so far, surprising everyone. I had a blast with this movie, with it’s creative and beautifully shot action scenes and measured pace. Wonder Woman isn’t afraid to slow down and let its characters breathe a bit, creating one of the best relationships I’ve ever seen in a superhero movie between Steve and Diana. Gal Gadot is revelatory as Diana and Chris Pine is as good as ever. I’ve always been more of a Marvel fan, but I’m truly happy that the DCU finally got a win, and I hope they have plenty more to come.

I’ve been eagerly waiting for the latest from Edgar Wright and as expected, it did not disappoint. The guy is one of the most exciting new directors working right now, possibly the MOST exciting, and his latest is a pure blast of energy like only he can deliver. More akin to a musical than his usual dark action/comedies, he’s doing something different and more challenging with Baby Driver. He’s getting even better as an action director, and the editing especially in this movie deserves an Oscar. This is one of the most fun movies you’ll see all year, and I’ll recommend it to everybody I meet.

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that director Bong Joon-ho is one of my favorite directors working today. I wrote about The Host and Snowpiercer on here, and his latest might be my favorite work of his yet. His usual balancing act of tones is on display in Okja, a movie that is equal parts a Spielberg Amblin-era film with some Miyazaki, and a good amount of dark satire to top it off. It’ll make you second guess eating meat for a while after watching it. Okja also has one of the most bonkers, out-there performances of the year with Jake Gyllenhall’s psychotic TV nature-show host. This one is a Netflix exclusive, so definitely carve out some time for Okja.

The third attempt at Spider-Man finally nails the character like only Marvel studios could. Don’t get me wrong, I really love Raimi’s Spidey 1 and 2, but Tom Holland is the PERFECT Peter Parker AND Spider-Man. The movie is more of a coming of age story than a typical superhero movie, and it benefits from having a much smaller scale than a lot of the typical Marvel/superhero movies. It also benefits greatly from taking place in this universe Marvel has been crafting for almost 10 years now. It also has probably the best Marvel villain yet in Michael Keaton’s ‘Vulture’, a character as grounded and human as our heroes. It’s another great addition to the MCU, and I can’t wait to check this one out again.

The second to last one I wanted to write about is ‘It’, the surprisingly huge box office sensation. I didn’t expect much out of this movie for one reason or another. The trailers were effective, but I just expected a run of the mill jump-scare fest. I had also watched the original movie/miniseries awhile back and thought I knew what to expect. The movie definitely has plenty of jump scares, but I was surprised at how much heart the movie had. The cast of child actors were great across the board, and I was surprised at how emotionally engaged I was with their journeys through the movie. On top of that, all of the creepy clown stuff really worked for me, and Skarsgard killed in the role of Pennywise (no pun intended). I was surprised at how much I enjoyed It, and I’m stoked to see where the story goes next in part 2

I really can’t believe this movie exists in its current form. The fact that Marvel locked down Taika Waititi for a ‘Thor’ movie is ridiculous, and that he didn’t quit mid-production is even more shocking in this Hollywood climate. Thor Ragnarok is a breath of fresh air for not only the Thor series (yes it’s obviously the best of the three) but really, for Marvel as well. In my opinion, it one-ups Guardians vol. 2 (which isn’t on here but I really enjoyed) by being a straight-up delivery machine of fun and hilarious moments. Jeff Goldblum at his Goldblumiest, Waititi as the scene stealing ‘Korg’, and Thor actually being an awesome, badass character?! Yes!

That’s going to do it for this speed round on the blog! I just wanted to do a bit of a catch up on some of what I’ve been watching lately. I’ve seen a lot more than these, and will definitely write up more near the end of the year. Some of these might be on my faves list but most won’t be. If there’s something surprisingly absent from here, chances are it’ll pop up later this year. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this, and as always hit me up to talk about any of the above movies! I’ve been busy with my movie podcast ‘Director Showdown’ that I make with Adam Daufen, so go check that out on iTunes if you haven’t and thanks for reading!

[themyskira]

Amazons Attack! - part 2

Previously! Wonder Woman decided to work through her identity crisis by getting a civilian identity and a job as a field agent at the Department of Metahuman Affairs, where her job is to... arrest Wonder Woman. Her partner, Tom Tresser, likes Wonder Woman because she’s hawwwt and hates “Diana Prince” because she has the nerve to, like, expect to work with him on cases and give her opinions and things. Now Circe has kidnapped Tom and Wondy has unfortunately decided to save him.

Also, everybody considers Wonder Woman to be a loser C-grade superhero and it’s suuuuuuper hilarious.

Part 2: Wonder Woman vol. 3 #7 -- Jodi Picoult (writer) and Drew Johnson (artist)

Circe is lying in wait with the captive Tom Tresser at the Wonder Woman Museum -- the one that shut its doors a year ago because Wonder Woman is unpopular, lol. It’s an unbearably stuffy-looking place, all grand Grecian columns and pedestals and busts of Diana and statues of Diana and portraits of Diana, and I’m kind of taking offence at how crappy this museum looks because if I lived in the DCU, working at the Wonder Woman Museum would be a friggin dream job. Though I suppose this goes some way to explaining why the place went bust, if it was some kind of pretentious hall of worship.

While she waits, Circe monologues about how she hates how Diana is so perfect, because perfect people are boring, and she’s probably only being perfect so that everybody sees how perrrrrrfect she is, booooooo.

Tom doesn’t say anything as he is suspended from chains and bound with live snakes, because Circe is so damn extra.

Diana arrives and the huge Wonder Woman statue in the centre of the room slowly turns to look at her. The stone surface crumbles away, and Circe bursts out of it. It’s actually a pretty cool reveal, but I can’t stop thinking about the fact that all of a minute ago Circe was in a different room, monologuing and using her magic to scry on Diana. Meaning that the moment she saw Diana enter the building, she must have scurried to disguise herself as a statue just so that she could jump out at Diana as if this was some kind of freaky surprise party.

Circe wants to talk about how much she hates Diana. Yes, I know we just went through that two pages ago, bur apparently she’s got more to say on the subject. This time her gripe is the fact that everything Diana stands for is a lie, because Diana claims to fight for humanity but will never be human.

All this, by the way, is friggin hilarious, considering this story follows directly on from Allan Heinberg’s “Who is Wonder Woman?” arc, which ends with Diana and Circe reaching a kind of truce, acknowledging that they both share the same longing to be human (yes, I know, but we don’t have the time to get into that nonsense), and Circe extending a peace offering in the form of an on/off-switch for Diana’s powers so Diana can live as a human (UGH IT’S SO STUPID nope nope gotta move on) before they part on peaceful terms.

Granted, the conclusion to that story wouldn’t be published until after “Amazons Attack!” wrapped up, due to Heinberg flaking on the story. But “Amazons Attack!” had been in the planning stages since late 2006; surely a story outline would have been relevant information to pass onto the creators involved in order to avoid, well, silly continuity fluffs like this one.

Or maybe they did know and they just didn’t care.

Anyway, Circe goads Diana about killing Max Lord, Diana loses her temper and punches Circe in the face a lot, and Circe smirks.

“What are you going to do now, ‘Wonder Woman’? Kill me? The Wonder Woman I know would never let me off that easily. Maybe you’re no longer Wonder Woman, after all… Do you even know who you are?

Yeah, Picoult’s reaaaaally hitting us over the head with the identity crisis shit. It’s bad writing on its own, but, again, in the context of the Heinberg arc that came right before this one? The one where Diana moans about how she doesn’t understand humans and she wishes she could be human and she doesn’t know who she is on every. second. page? The one that’s literally titled “Who is Wonder Woman?”? This is a straight-up retread.

Shit, maybe Picoult really wasn’t given the rundown on Heinberg’s arc. Maybe she read those first four issues and was just working on the assumption that Diana’s identity crisis would be an ongoing theme, rather than a struggle that was to be resolved at the end of that story (whenever Heinberg got around to writing it).

Also, thanks to the clumsy wording (“What are you going to do ... kill me? The Wonder Woman I know would never let me off that easily”), Circe appears to be suggesting that the real Wonder Woman would never be so merciful as to simply kill. Where’s the bloodlust and extended torture, Diana?! You’re going soft, damn you!

Circe cackles and teleports away through a mirror, and Diana races to find Tom.

He’s in a bad way, but, even bleeding and delirious, he manages to be a sexist jerk.

Tom: [weakly] Wonder Woman?! Is this a dream? Can’t be— you never wear that in my dreams… Diana: No? What do I wear? Tom: Oh, I don’t know… dessert toppings, mostly. [Diana drops Tom with a loud thud]

Tom is losing a lot of blood, however, given her fugitive status, Diana decides “a hospital is too risky” and breaks into a veterinary clinic instead. I… don’t see which she couldn’t have just dropped him off at an emergency room or outside his headquarters, but… okay, then?

While he’s being patched up, Tom starts munching on a dog biscuit, because he hasn’t eaten since he was kidnapped. Which was all of an hour ago. Then, because he still hasn’t learned to shut his damn mouth, he tells Wondy that he’s “not used to getting rescued by girls”. He adds that he wishes he could work with her instead of his partner, who’s a “tool”.

Diana points out that he’s supposed to be arresting her, and he says that he’s a maverick who doesn’t play by the rules. Well, he says “I don’t always do what I’m told”, but same diff. (Last issue he told his tool of a partner that it doesn’t matter whether arresting Wonder Woman is right or wrong because it’s what they’ve been told to do, but I guess we’re just forgetting that.)

They decide to investigate the scene of Tom’s kidnapping together. While they’re in flight, Tom cradled in Diana’s arms, he asks her whether she only dates other people who can fly. Apparently he’s been doing a good deal of fantasising about banging Wonder Woman in mid-flight, and the problem he just can’t get around is the likelihood of her dropping her flightless partner in her throes of passion. And… he thought it was a good idea to share this with her.

Tom: So, uh, I guess you only date other people who can fly? Diana: What?!? Tom: I mean, say you’re hooking up with someone high above the stratosphere and you’re so overcome with passion that you drop them? That would be a terrible way to end a date… You do get overcome with passion, right?

Drop him, Diana. Drop. Him.

He follows up with a “We’re only human, I guess. Sorry— I mean, I’m only human”, just so that Picoult can mash that theme into our faces a little harder.

And now it’s time for some more classic champagne comedy!!

Diana: So what is the place again? It can’t really be a bar for super-villains? Tom: Well… no, not exactly. Wannabee [sic] villains— fans dressed as villains, actually. And they’re all really into Ashlee and Jessica.

wut.

The bar is filled with all kinds of hilarious colourful characters, including a drunk ape, a group of metahuman brainiacs arguing over Scrabble and a couple of costumed blokes making hack observations about Diana’s costume.

Dude 1: I don’t care what they say on television — Aquaman’s totally washed up. Dude 2: An’ Wunner Woman — how’s she fight crime in a freakin’ bikini wiffout it fallin’ off?

The female bartender immediately starts fawning over Diana, who asks if she’s seen Circe, offering this incredibly helpful description: “She’s, uh, tall… fairly attractive… until you get to know her, I guess.” Really, Diana. Really. Bright pink hair, black headdress, purple cape, propensity for siccing snakes on people and throwing around magic like it’s going out of style, and your go-to is “tall”?

Incredibly, the bartender knows who she’s talking about and directs her to the women’s bathroom — “Beware the smell.” As Diana leaves, a guy who looks suspiciously like the Scarecrow pounces on the jukebox, exclaiming joyously about Jessica and Ashlee Simpson. Comedyyyyyyy.

Diana confronts Circe in the bathroom and they fight, with Circe continuing to berate her about how she doesn’t really know herself. As they wrestle with each other, Catwoman walks in, mistakes the fight for an amorous embrace and apologises.

Selina: Oh, sorry. Didn’t know it was occupied. Next time, ladies, lock the door.

Ha ha! Such zaniness! Isn’t it hilarious that somebody would be so silly to think that Wonder Woman of all people would be interested in smooching ladies?!

Incidentally, there seem to be a lot of legit villains and criminals hanging out in this loser bar for villain cosplayers and wannabes. What possible reason could an immortal sorceress, one of Batman’s most enduring rogues and a crack cat burglar/antiheroine have for slumming it in a place like this?

Circe makes one last jab about Diana not knowing herself, before vanishing through a mirror, just in time for Diana to be ambushed by Sarge Steel and a team of heavily armoured DOMA agents. He thanks Tom for helping to apprehend Wonder Woman, explaining that they were able to track her through the locator chip in Tom’s uniform. Tom was not aware there was a locator chip in his uniform, and wants to know why they didn’t use it to find him earlier instead of leaving him in Circe’s clutches for “the past 24 hours”, and ohhhhh god lord, there is not a single part of this that lines up with the previous issue’s continuity.

Tom cannot have been held captive for 24 hours. Circe ambushed him when he stopped off while driving home from work in the evening. His capture was discovered that same evening and Diana was recalled to headquarters. After being briefed, she immediately figured out where Tom was, changed into her costume and flew to Tom’s rescue. She patched Tom up and they went directly to the bar, at which point it was still clearly dark and the moon was out. This has all happened in a single night.

Tom cannot have been tracked by a locator chip in his uniform, because Tom was not wearing a uniform. He was in his civvies when he was captured. By the time he was rescued, he wasn’t wearing much at all. I think he stole a lab coat from the vet’s. Tom shouldn’t be surprised that there was a chip in his uniform. He should be surprised that Sarge Steel is claiming to have tracked him through a device that is very obviously not on Tom’s person.

If DOMA was capable of tracking Tom all along, then why did Sarge Steel assign Diana to investigate and find him Tom hard way?

The second two points can technically be explained away by the fact that, as will be revealed in later issues, Sarge Steel is really Everyman in disguise and he’s working with Circe. But that doesn’t excuse such contemptuously lazy writing, because by having Steel/Everyman deliver and get away with such a pathetically flimsy lie, Picoult makes him, Tom, Diana and the entirety of DOMA all look stupidly incompetent.

Later, Steel visit Diana, who’s imprisoned in a high-tech underground cell. He tells her that the President of the United States is prepared to let her free in exchange for the schematics for the Purple Death Ray (an Amazon WMD, reluctantly developed and deployed during the OMAC crossover bullshit of the previous year). Then he flips a switch an electrocutes her, because he doesn’t have a moustache to twirl.

Meanwhile, Circe sneaks into Themyscira, and the eternal flame in Hippolyta’s tomb goes out.

Oh, Polly. You deserve so much better than to be pulled into this shithouse crossover.

[timespacehigurashi]

It’s done! I’ve read every single issue with Harley and Joker in it. Now, an article: Comics: Harley, Joker and abuse 2.0 *improved*

Friend: T_T Everybody on internet says I’m sick because I ship JxHQ

me: Let me explain the mess : ) book by book >.<

what’s mainstream and continuity? click here

If you want to know what N52 is click here

Friend: Why are people always talking about Snyder’s Joker or Morrison’s, etc?

Me: DC made it sure that the sacred continuity of the mainstream was kept, each writer had to work based on what his predecessors wrote but writers had different interpretations of the character so the characterization was different.

So sometimes we have an absolutely violent Joker, sometimes He’s a smart guy who tries to seem dumb or a man so crazy that couldn’t avoid the police.

Why Am I explaining this? because you have to understand that Joker at the time Harley was introduced in comic world was extremely violent and sadist. He spent the half of his time killing his own men. He wasn’t the character we knew in the tv show. Comic world is more raw, crude and bloody. Of course Harley changes her personality many times it depends on who wrote it.

Harley was written like Joker’s girlfriend in the series, now if you’re not familiar with batman comics that’s the most logic development but otherwise you understand that was a bold move cause Joker existed during 50 years before someone gave him a girlfriend but even more, he didn’t have a brother, a father, sons or a sidekick, nothing at all* and today someway we have big pictures of him kissing a girl and people pay for them LOL.

Harley was a new phase for Joker as a character cause she gives to him humanity what is good or bad, good if you want a more complete character, bad if you’re trying to use the cruelest, the grosser and the most important batman’s enemy to be creepy.

Batman - Harley Quinn (august, 1999. by Paul Dini): The canon origin for Harley in the mainstream (Mad love is from tv/ Batman the animated series continuity). They didn’t use the thing of abuse, no, they had an idea to keep it weird and dysfunctional: He tries to kill her and they had a twisted reason, It’s cause he loves her alike but different entirely to abuse. This was the strategy of the comics and was reflected everywhere

Comic Harley Quinn (2000-2004), comic Batman adventures (Tv continuity), comic batman, etc at least until 2007 BUT we have a couple of exceptions.

This picture by Guillen March (many batman comics) is a good brief of that tendency:

Mainstream:

-The code: Batman #570 (oct, 1999. part 1), Detective comics #737 (oct, 1999. part 2). This is what I was talking about batman and detective comics are combined though the numbers aren’t corresponding. It’s because the magazine detective comics began first. The story called “the code” was one of the most tender, funny stories. No trace of abuse.

Joker: It’s ok to call me Puddin’.

Some pages here

-Legends of the dark knight #126, detective comics #740 (both feb. 2000) by Gregg Rucka: you have to read them combined.  I think this was the most abusive you can find in comics and the next one of course. There isn’t anything implied you can see it and its very bad. Please notice the date, it was written almost at the same time that the fluffy “the code”

-Batman #573, shadow of the bat #93 (both jan, 2000) by Gregg Rucka: The majority of the images really showing abuse are from this one and the former.

Why the difference? The writers, whenever Gregg Rucka is the author Joker is abusive cause Rucka uses Harley like a sidekick no really his girlfriend and this writer’s Joker is every second shooting someone. BTW Rucka has said he didn’t like Joker and he wanted to kill him but DC didn’t let him.

Wait…what about “suicide squad”? Just now we aren’t talking about N52 universe (since 2011). Maybe you don’t know what’s that so we’ll cover it later.

-Harley Quinn (2000-2004 and Linked to Mainstream): They used the matter or Joker trying to kill her, no real abuse here and she tries to kill him too as revenge. This comic is important because after many of its ideas were applied in other comics (specially N52). In fact they created a development of character where she reached a kind of equality with Joker, maybe the first time they used a development of the subject in the world of comics but there wasn’t abuse.

well…in the episode 1 he hit her and kicked her but a)- This Harley is so strong could carry him in arms :S  and she did so :D b)- She threw him into a big neon sign for doing so.

After a second writer in HQ made up one of my favorite JokerHarley stories, and very funny. pages here.

-Batman adventures/Gotham adventures (1992-2004): The comic is directly linked to the cartoon, there’s not abuse at all they usually show their relationship as something funny and cute but they made some references after 1999 that I want to explain.

Gotham adventures #10 (march, 1999) and #14: One of my favorites stories because it was hilarious but shows a twisted but sweet relationship. They fight each other but writers tried to make it in both ways =_= yes, that was their solution

Curiously she didn’t mention that time he threw her through a window so no reference to mad love but the strange answer of Joker is a reference to the origin in the mainstream because if he wanted to kill her that was a sign he loved her O_O  Whatever, at the end she forgave him, just the reader could see he missed her but he wrote this on a photo.

“Harley baby, love you forever.” Link to see the picture

As result “Batman Adventures” is a continuity with the storyline of the TV show but without Mad Love.

A proof supports this opinion is “Harley Quinn and Batman #1″ (July, 2017) by Templeton, main writer in Adventures, the comic is new but with this panel here the writer was reminding us the state of the things in Adventures.

-The Joker - last laugh (oct, 2001): special, limited series. Joker thought he was going to die. Very cute story in that regard. here The last laugh

-Gotham Girls (dec. 2002): Special limited series 5 issues, really good but coming to business, at first glance it seems (because of the design and story) it happened in the continuity of Batman Adventures but there’s a trick. Gotham Girls wasn’t created as another chapter in Batman Adventures, but it is a comic sequel/adaptation of a series of animated shorts written by Paul Dini with the same name.

The series by Dini didn’t have references to Mad Love but the adaptation by Paul Storrie did have them.

The vol 3. shows harley’s story as in Mad Love, abuse included, they used some panels extracted from there.

-Harley and Ivy (2004): No real references. Limited series by Paul Dini

-Batman confidential (2007): Madmen and Lovers: Confidential has its own continuity and my favorite origin story, just fluff here.

https://timespacehigurashi.tumblr.com/post/126947551376/batman-confidential-episode-7-joker-and-harley

Mainstream:

-batman 663 (mar, 2007) by Grant Morrison: his style is absolutely different and he did a strange mess but his Joker wasn’t abusive, he was totally crazy and murderous, I meant MORE, and Harley worshipped him almost literally o.O but here they said clearly “he cared about her” and at the same time harley shot him down xD.

If you want to know more about Batman #663 here. It’s a comparison with its variant in N52 but just read the 663 part to get what happened.

-Detective comics 831 “kind of like family” (Dini, jun, 2007): Good story, no real mention of abuse, no exactly…but here Harley had made her mind about don’t be involved with him again and was reformed. A new character, the second ventriloquist, appeared and she is supposed to have a bad relationship with scarface that is her other personality…It doesn’t make sense…forget it. It’s a long talk and Dini himself “erased” it with his next work.

If you don’t read comics skip this (About Dini, Morrison and logic):

In first place this episode is dated jun, 2007 and 663 (Morrison’s) was in march, it’s confusing because the last time we saw Harley (2004 ending of “Harley Quinn”) she was in arkham and paul dini began from there writing a story about her getting out of Arkham and reformed (”kind of family” in June) BUT Morrison used the character BEFORE, in March and in Morrison’s she’s far away from sanity just a couple months of difference :-/ (*cough* continuity staggering *cough*)

It’s more or less that Dini ignored Morrison xD Well, in the continuity after a while when we saw Joker again he was his normal himself like nothing occurred (his face wasn’t damaged like It was in batman # 663) so everybody ignored Morrison and then DC tried to explain it saying what was writen after #663 corresponds to BEFORE in the time xDD (If somebody thinks I’m wrong expose it to me please.)  and BTW It’s impossible since a reference was made about this chapter (663) in Gotham sirens (2009), in other words Batman #663 by Morrison can’t be the future cause Gotham Sirens calles it the past.

-Detective comic 837 (Dini. oct. 2007): she’s living adventures, no comments

Then the order in the general story for Harley according to the mainstream is this:

-Gotham sirens (2009-2011) by Paul Dini (just first 11 issues minus the #8): In sirens this is a weird topic and long to explain. There’s one reference, a comment of P.I and selina, chapter 1.

selina :“he’ll be calling for your money the second he hears about it”

Ivy: “then you’ll be skipping out the door for another round of abuse, humiliation and regret”

This is a reference to the dynamic in “Harley and Ivy” the episode in the tv show where joker took adventage of her for her money, one could think when they said abuse, they were talking about brutality like mad love but it results that Dini likes to use “abuse” meaning distinct things in distinct works. o.O

In Sirens by Dini “abuse” is not what appeared in Mad Love but something slighter… more like He’s a jerk kind of thing.

Understanding this is a little difficult if you don’t follow Dini’s work but Sirens itself helps you providing some context

The ending of the chapter 6 is a second reference to “Harley and Ivy”. Both, the ending of the episode and the comic handled the matter lightly, treating it with humor,

In the original episode Harley isn’t an beaten wife but  the object of her love is inconsiderate and he wanted to steal her money too. Ivy called her a doormat.

So Selina and Ivy meant he takes advantage of her, however Sirens established Joker does care about her at the same time, in the chapter 5 Ivy said this:

Chapter 2 showed this one  here.

More context: Dini made up a background for Harley’s family was never written before. While Mad Love was tragic and the story of the downfall of a girl who would have been somebody Sirens is optimistic. Her family was so a disaster  that she’s happy with her new life and identity. It isn’t dark, they’re just disagreeable people.

Harley has daddy issues, no, seriously! Her father is …Joker.

Her father is a swindler who takes advantage of women and get their money :O So Harley is used to deal with liers on a daily basis and her family’s used to have relatives in jail. here

The writer is trying to compare her father with Joker, and her old life with her new criminal identity, saying “It isn’t so bad”. From Harley’s point of view at least Joker is a man of one woman and he doesn’t have kids from several mothers like Harley’s brother. For Dini usually the little domestic sins like infidelity are the worst.

Again another writer that is very different wrote the last arc of Sirens though sometimes wrongly attribuited to Dini. His story it’s darker and ignored the previous chapters, this time Ivy changed lines and said “he doesn’t love you” (chapter 24). Harley said “after all the abuse, betrayal and dirty tricks” (chapter 19) but they keep comparing harley/joker to Selina/batman and being kind of romantic. So what was that? : / What we saw after wasn’t an abusive relationship (He even called her Ms. Q once), they were a team but they were together doing horrible things, I mean, the guy was very nice and all but he was stabbing  orderlies. Here the reason Harley must not be with him is simpler, cause he does evil things :O

Some pages here here

And then again the weirdest twist in the final 2 chapters (2011) Ivy explained how Harley is very sick and they carried her obsession to proportions weren’t seen since her origin in 1999…ok, maybe Morrison’s Harley in 2007 maybe not.

Extra but canon too :-/

-Countdown to Final crisis (Dini, 2007-2008): Ultra crossover and a temporary event that stopped the normal progress of the continuity for a long while, maybe my least favorite story by Paul Dini (he was the main writer, like a director). Here…well…Harley became an amazon (you know, like wonderwoman. XP -_- ) because…she was reformed…no abuse here or signs of it are mentioned. (If you know of something just say it).

-Crossovers/several universes: Usually just fluffy things I haven’t found some abusive story in them but yes, there’re a one or two really creepy. Interestingly I don’t know about any universe where Harley is a boy but Joker was a girl 2 or 3 times O.o and always in love with another version of Harley…I guess AUs are fanservice XP.

-Batman Strikes! (2005): Linked to the cartoon “The Batman”, fluffy and cartoonish.

Well, that was PRE-N52…

Game based comic weren’t included cause those have their own continuity that isn’t accurate in regard to the games and the relationship is different between one and another

conclusion

Because of the amount of writers the relationship is never exactly the same and in the majority of the cases isn’t abusive besides being realistic one writer could have written the characters and their relationship different in different occasions  (that’s why you can find interviews where they say it’s abusive and he doesn’t care for her and then another where they say how much he loves her) and It’s not really possible put together all what was written and saying it’s the same character always (Joker changes and Harley too) sooo that’s why you don’t hate women if you ship it, thanks. :D

My God, I think I’ve read every single issue with harley and Joker but who knows there’re so many. @_.@

Perhaps I’ll write another article for N52, We’ll see.

If you have a question, just ask.

Although this is an article about Harley’s origin in N52 comparing it with Mad Love.

https://timespacehigurashi.tumblr.com/post/136218691876/harley-quinns-origin-in-n52