#this is actually a p good introduction to the characters and their dynamics

[district4loading]

My Introduction

MASTERLIST

Hi guys!! As promised, this post will basically just tell you a little bit about me.

First of all, I post nsfw things so please do not interact with them if you are under the age of 18.

Like it says in my bio, use any pronouns for me I don't mind at all. Be nice, if you don't like what I write or how I write there's no need to be mean just block me. However, constructive criticism is welcome because I want to improve my writing. If you want to call me anything just call me "Jay" or “district.” I made my user "district4loading" because Sana's the fourth member in age order.

I thrive off of validation so please do not hesitate to ask a bunch of questions, headcanons or request. Especially hc's for twice members, they're fun. When requesting someone you want me to write about don't be afraid to give me scenarios too if you have an idea in mind. Also feel free to dm me! I don't bite!

Another thing, if you want to ask me about something other than fan fictions that perfectly fine, I love interacting with people. So if you wanna talk about new releases in kpop, my opinions on certain groups or just me in general go for it!!!

My ult bias is Sana so you'll see me writing about her mainly, so if you love her too you should follow. I view Sana as a bottom so thats what i'll write her as. However, if you'd like me to write her as a top/switch I won't mind it.

My ult group is Twice, I love them so so so so so much and I bias misamo + Nayeon. I'll write for any member though!

I also stan groups like kiss of life (I bias Julie and Belle), XG (I bias Maya and Jurin), NMIXX (I bias Sullyoon) and Triples (no established bias yet cause I just started stanning). I don't see myself writing for them but I will post pics of them and talk about their new releases. That doesn't mean I won't, ask and you shall receive! I'm also open to writing for other girl groups that I don't stan but it might take a minute.

What I WILL write:

Nsfw

Sfw

Fluff

Angst (break ups, cheating, toxic love, relationship problems etc)

Threesomes (idk about anything more than that though cause I don't think my writing is that good)

Age gap relationships (where everyone is at least 18 ofc)

Female idol x Female idol, Female idol x Female reader, Female idol x Gender neutral reader, Female idol x Male reader

G!P

Name calling (Sir, Daddy, Princess, Good girl)

Bratty sub x sadist dom dynamics

Punishment

Bondage

What I MIGHT write:

Anal (Sorry, i'm just not into it but if that's what you want just ask)

Cnc

Male idols (Nothing against them, I actually like some boy groups i'm just not into men. You can try convincing me but I doubt it'll work lol)

Male idol x Female idol

What I WON'T write (please don't request it or try to convince me otherwise):

Rape

Incest

Scat

Water sports

Anything NSFW where an idol or reader is UNDER 18

Male idol x Any Reader

This should go without saying but everything I write is FICTION, none of it is real nor does it accurately portray any idols character at all.

Also plz don’t plagiarize my stuff.

(I'm posting this for now but things will be added when I think of more)

[youcouldmakealife]

jumping in while you're answering asks with a burning question. have you ever been surprised by reader reaction to a character? or are you generally pretty spot on when anticipating how a character will be received when you introduce them? or is that something you don't really think about either way?

Some of my more divisive characters have surprised me with said divisiveness. Like, some haven't -- David was divisive at the beginning, and I think I'd describe him as the most beloved character in the entire 'verse now, but that was so tied up in his narrative arc. If David was easy to like, well -- the whole point is that he wasn't. But definitely some reactions have surprised me, maybe not in their actual content, but in their vehemence? Georgie's been a fascinating one for me over the years, because he's been p much the same for me all along, but have been are whole ass journeys in how he's being received, and it's interesting to see where and why that changes. (To go to the last ask I received, character perspective is a BIG part of that)

By the time the character arrives as a series main character, they've already had their introduction somewhere else, at least in all the most recent series, so by then I'm less likely to be surprised (though like...please never stop dragging me for not realising Bryce Marcus was a sweet baby at the time IJ(aoe) began, I deserve all the mockery I get for that.) But I don't necessarily know what's going to click with people when I introduce them, or even necessarily who's going to click with me.

Some it's love at first sight, some it takes a few parts, some there might be discrepancies between me and the readers (and that goes both ways; some characters you guys like more than I do, at least in terms of 'would I immerse myself in this person for an extended time' like level, which is a test every POV character has to pass with me for obvious reasons; I may like them plenty, but just for a visit, not to stay).

Writing, for me, is always a learning process: learning about the characters, situations, dynamics as I go and then deepening them; I've weaponized the fact I'm deeply curious against myself, which is good, because I'm an inveterate procrastinator and nothing would ever get finished if I didn't need to know how things go

[virginiawoolfcub]

Thought that instead of posting pictures of ballet dancers and swans I should actually...post some writing. So here’s an excerpt from The Cygnets.

---

Finally, we arrived at the studio, a simple brick building like the others on the block. The only thing different about it was the interlocking B’s on the door.

Valentine unceremoniously pushed open the door and we followed him inside and up the stairs to the top.

“Wow,” I said, “Lebedeva sure likes being high up.”

“She told me once that she spent her childhood in a shitty damp half-basement in Moscow,” Olga explained. “It traumatized her. She still never goes to the basement if she can help it, that’s why Val has free reign over her wine cellar.”

I filed that information away for future reference as we reached the changing rooms. Valentine veered left into the men’s room, and Olga and I went into the women’s room opposite.

It was a long rectangular room, with one long wall lined with makeup tables and lighted mirrors and the other with a warmup barre and several windows, blackout curtains drawn over them for our privacy. Along the short wall next to the door were lockers, each labeled with a student’s name, and along the opposite wall stood several changing booths with privacy curtains. Olga ducked into one of these to change, and I busied myself with putting on the layers of padding I wore inside my pointe shoes. First I put medical tape around my little toe, taping it down against my foot. Then I put two small gel caps over my first two toes, a layer of thin gauze over my toes, and a larger gel cap over that. Having done that, I put on a pair of nylon stockings - dance tights weren’t cheap, so I saved mine for shows - and took my old pointe shoes out of my bag.

“You can’t wear those,” Olga said, coming over to my makeup table by the door. “Lebedeva won’t let us start the new year with old shoes, she says it’s bad luck.”

“These are the only ones I have,” I said. Back home I had made one pair of pointe shoes last for at least a year and a half, often two years at a time - these ones still had at least a few good months left in them. 

“Check your locker,” Olga said. I opened the door of the locker bearing my name, making a mental note to buy a lock later, and found several boxes printed with the all-caps Bloch logo, and at least a dozen packs of high-quality dance tights, along with bobby pins and hair elastics.

It felt like Christmas morning. I carefully took out one of the boxes and opened it to reveal perfect brand-new shoes. Olga smiled.

“Take a picture,” she said. “This is the last time they’ll ever look that nice.”

“I know,” I said, crossing the room to the door. When I slammed the toe of one of the shoes in it, Olga jumped.

“Jesus! You know, I’ve got a hammer in my bag, I would’ve let you borrow it if you’d asked.”

I shrugged. “I’m used to doing it this way. It’s faster.” I continued pounding the shoes until both toes were soft and moldable, then sat down to shape them to my feet. 

Valentine poked his head into the room. “What on earth are you two doing in here?” he asked.

“Julia was breaking in her shoes,” Olga said. “Literally.”

Valentine raised his eyebrows and crossed the room to perch on the windowsill. He lit a cigarette and offered the pack to Olga, who shook her head as she hammered the toe of one of her new shoes.

“Are you sure you should?” she asked. “I mean, Lebedeva is going to run us hard, you want your lungs at full capacity.”

“My lungs haven’t been at full capacity in years,” Valentine said, grimacing as he stubbed out his half-finished cigarette. “I just needed a nicotine hit anyway,” he added. “Withdrawal headache.”

“I keep telling you, get a patch,” Olga said.

“I’m allergic to the adhesive.”

“You’re a hypochondriac, is what you are. What about a vape?”

Valentine recoiled. “Do you really think I want to be known as the sort of person who vapes?”

“Lebedeva vapes,” Olga pointed out, pulling a sewing kit out of her bag.

“When Lebedeva vapes it looks mysterious and glamorous, like she’s a disgraced Russian countess or something. I would just look like an asshole. Julia, your stitching on those shoes is absolutely god-tier, any chance you’d help me with my shoes?”

I set aside one finished shoe and picked up the second one. “Sure. You just need elastics, right? That’s like three minutes of work, I’ll do them after I finish mine.”

“Bless you,” Valentine said and ducked out of the room to get his shoes.

While he was out, I asked Olga the question that had been on my mind since I met them. “So are you and Val...how long have you known each other?”

“We’re very much not dating,” Olga said. “Val’s gay and I’m...eh. Doesn’t matter. We met two years ago, we both moved in with Lebedeva early. Well, he was already there when I arrived, I don’t know when he actually moved in. We just...got on, from the start. Lebedeva says it’s like we’re tuned into the same weird radio frequency.” She snipped the thread on one shoe and pulled out a lighter. “Need some help cauterizing your ribbons?” she asked. “I’m very good at it.”

“Sure,” I said and handed my shoes over, getting up to get a pair of soft shoes from my locker. When I came back, Olga handed me my pointe shoes, the ends of the ribbons now perfectly sealed off.

“Thanks,” I said, sitting down on the floor to try on my shoes just as Valentine returned with his. “Sorry,” he said. “I forgot my locker combination.” He returned to his perch on the windowsill.

I stitched the elastics on my shoes, then repeated the process for Valentine’s. When I handed them back, he put them on and went to the barre to stretch. “Thank you so much,” he said. “When I do them they start fraying after like a day.”

“No problem,” I said, putting on my own shoes and sinking into a split on the floor. Olga went to the barre too, and bend backwards so far that her ethereal-blonde ponytail brushed the floor.

“That’s just creepy,” Valentine said. “Spines should not do that.”

Olga straightened up, then folded forward, nose to her knees. Valentine shook his head. “Weirdo.”

We spent another hour or so stretching in near-silence (aside from occasional loud pops from our joints) before other students started filtering in and Valentine left, blowing us a kiss on his way out.

Pip sat at the makeup table furthest from the door to stitch her pointe shoes and pulled a pale pink lipstick out of her bag.

“Where did you get that?” Kate, another one of the new students, asked. “I thought MAC discontinued that color years ago.”

“I have my ways,” Pip said. “It was my mother’s signature color, and when she heard they were discontinuing it she bought up our local shop’s entire remaining stock. Then a few years ago she had some kind of mental break, stopped wearing makeup and jewelry and dyeing her hair, and fucked off to some kind of yoga retreat in India, so now I’m stuck with enough of this stuff for three lifetimes.” She quickly applied the lipstick and pursed her lips. “It’s kinda grown on me though.”

“It suits you,” I said. It did - the floral pink popped against her creamy skin and dark curls.

“Thanks,” Pip said, sewing a ribbon onto one of her shoes. 

[kikuism]

mariam!!! okay now that tumblr unearthed that lost ask i also need to know what 3 songs you'd choose for each of your characters!! :'0 🎶

hello jenna!! 🤍🤍🤍 so so so sorry for the late response!! but in this time i've really gotten to think about which songs fit my ocs hghfhf i really had to use my brain cells for this bc you know i .... don't listen to english/lyric songs but at the same time i didn't want to just put instrumental/anime music for them 😔 this is like....new territory for me. so without further ado....

kiku: no introduction needed!! keywords: spring, pining, forbidden love.

reflection — mulan 1998: god. this is the kiku song. is anyone surprised??? Every single lyric just hits. i scream. “can it be i'm not meant to play this part? / now i see that if i were truly to be myself, i would break my family's heart.” SCREAM. “somehow i cannot hide who i am, though i’ve tried” i'm sobbing.

bloom — the paper kites. p i n i n g .... pure sweetness.

renai circulation — kana hanazawa: i haven't watched monogatari but this song is everywhere and everyone knows it. it just sounds so cute and the lyrics are So kiku....about feeling all 'fuwa fuwa' when your crush looks/smiles at you. and there's this lyric: ‘i know that the me that's inside of you isn't as big as the you that inside of me”, like, oh my god.

bonus: i love the way—from the something rotten! musical. kiku is both of the characters here 😌📚💕

and finally, spring by max richter....this is how kou makes kiku's heart feel :")

kou: the hardest one to find songs for. i guess it's just hard to find songs about....[gestures vaguely] gentle wise philosophical souls. kou is like....an ancient, loving olive tree.

constellations — the oh hellos: this is a song about how nothing is set in stone, how we try to find meaning in our experiences, how our perceptions of the word are constantly changing and falling apart, like tectonic plates, like constellations. kou is someone who muses a lot about the world and his experiences with it, especially as a blind person.

while my guitar gently weeps: from what i have read about this song, apparently it is about the universal potential of all of us to love and be kind, and how, for some people, that potential is still sleeping. being the philosophical healer that he is, i like to think kou muses on these things too.

telephone number — junko ohashi: ahhh japanese city pop....i love this song, it's so cheesy and sweet. kou loves loves loves talking to kiku on the phone, even more so since he can't see him,,and he loves his voice so much and he's always waiting for him to call :')) 'don't forget my telephone number, i want you to dial it anytime you're worried' ☎️💕

mull of the mountains: a lovely celtic harp! this piece is just so peaceful and tender and soothing. this is the energy kou gives off 🤍

naomi: overachiever, eldest daughter, no-nonsense. sharp, cold, elegance.

therefore i am — billie eilish.

oh no! — marina and the diamonds: the naomi song....omg. “don’t do love, don't do friends, i'm only after success” hello??? and i love the duality of confidence and anxiety in this song. “i know exactly what i want and who i want to be / i know exactly why i walk and talk like a machine” and “one track mind, one track heart / if i fail i'll fall apart”.

caprice no. 24 — paganini: this is a piece renowned for its difficulty....i always imagine naomi trying to play it. and its sharpness reminds me of her too.

aida: disney princess, wants so much more than this provincial life, adventure in the great wide somewhere....

when will my life begin? — tangled ost: the perfect song for aida! she's bored by the routine in her life and craves something new and exciting. she does make the most out of each day but also she just wants something new, you know?

belle — beauty and the beast ost. aida walking around the village in the early morning to buy ingredients for breakfast...

what the hell — avril lavigne: “all my life I've been good, but now i'm thinking what the hell, all i want is to mess around.” WOW. aida is such a goody two shoes who sets an example of how others should act but sometimes it's like. aren't you tired of being nice? don't you just want to go apeshit? i just think it's really funny. these feelings surface especially after she meets the world's #1 troublemaker, kaname.

kaname: gaslight gatekeep girlboss. eat the rich.

bad guy — billie eilish.

royals — lorde: “i've never seen a diamond in the flesh”, “we aren't caught up in your love affair”, “we’ll never be royals, it don't run in our blood”. kaname also definitely turns up her nose at the lavish decadent lifestyles of the wealthy.

anklebiters — paramore: 'someday you're gonna be the only one you've got' okay! scream.

buddy, ryo — devilman crybaby ost.

shou: gothic, weird, eerie. like a wisp of dark darting between the trees....not really of this world...

control — halsey.

seven devils — florence + the machine.

meet me in the woods — lord huron: this song is delightfully gothic and creepy and otherworldly. just like shou is, constantly straddling the line between this world and the world of the dead.

little dark age — mgmt.

hajime: the knight in the knight-and-prince dynamic. has the unfortunate dilemma of crushing on said prince.

tongue tied — grouplove: something about being in love with your best friend 😳😳

somebody else — the 1975.

king and lionheart — of monsters and men.

zen: extremely bisexual. he's just here for a good time not a long time. he's the complete opposite of kiku in that he revels in his lavish decadent lifestyle and wouldn't have it any other way.

how to be a heartbreaker — marina. this is his anthem tbh....zen doesn't know the meaning of commitment. he loves playing around,,,breaking hearts,,,,but what's going to happen when he actually catches feelings??

young and beautiful — lana del ray. everyone loves zen....but will they still love him even when he's no longer young and beautiful? i like to think it's an insecurity of his. also #doriangray vibes....

god, i hate shakespeare — something rotten! ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS EVER JGJDKSJGJ this is scandalous of me to admit as an english major.......anyway this is absolutely zen energy. bizarrely, i like to imagine this is a dialogue between zen and kiku hghfhgj

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Season 3 Retrospective

After having passed the season 2 test with flying colors, I had no doubt that season 3 would be good. The show had figured out the rhythm and style of the characters and all the relationship dynamics. The only question mark was how the show would handle Jake and Amy as a couple in season 3. And it wasn't a big question mark because Schur has a great track record handling office romances in P&R and The Office. And the same has been true for B99. For me, season 3 is not quite as good as seasons 1 and 2 but its only a hair behind. I think season 3 has a few less laugh out loud episodes but it does have episodes with a lot of heart.

I think they did a creditable job of handling the cliffhanger. The fact that there was so much build up to the New Captain being Bill Hader, only for him to die less than halfway through the episode was hilarious. That definitely threw me off. I heard that Schur and Goor were thinking of making Jake and Amy and on and off couple throughout the season, but I'm really glad they established them as being pretty solid in the first two episodes. They basically do all the things that usually happen over the course of the season. They went on a date, had sex, broke up, got back together, were blackmailed into breaking up etc... all in the space of the first 2 eps. Then over the course of the season they delivered the relationship with a lot of heart without removing the goofball essence of Jake and the nerdiness of Amy. Also, Holt and Gina in PR was a fun little subplot where got us more of Wuntch and Holt sparring and that is always welcome.

For me, the strength of this season lay less in the humor and more in the heart and warmth of the relationships. This is shown throughout in small and big storylines. Sometimes its just in a one off storyline such as the one between Holt and his sister Debbie and him building that fort so they could talk and share after he spent the episode trying to drive her away. Certainly an episode like Karen Peralta is one I love because how sweetly it portrays the mother-son relationship. Katie Sagal is genuinely wonderful as Jake's mom and Whitford is a hood back as Jake's dad. I appreciate that they didn't straight up make Roger Peralta a straight up ass, but actually showed that a person can try to make up for his past mistakes and also I liked that Jake does not immediately welcome him back with open arms and that he has to earn his place back in Jake's life. Also more depth is given to Jake and Holt and how Jake gave up his dream serial killer collar to get Holt back. Also showed Jake's responsible side when dealing with the birth of his goddaughter in Ava. That was another sweet episode.

The show also started doing arc episodes as season finales. This was combined with the introduction of the memorable Jason Mantzoukas as Adrian Pimento. At first, I wasn't sure if that character was working because he has such a wild and chaotic energy to him, but after an episode or so, I really started to enjoy him. Certainly he and Rosa made for a much more fun couple than her and Marcus. And he also led into the Jimmy Figgis arc which was the last 4 episodes of season 3 followed by the first 3 episodes of season 4. It led to the best cliffhanger of the show in my opinion because it definitely left me very curious about how season 4 would start. However, I am still not sure why Figgis threatened Jake and Holt specifically and not any of the others. If Bob had told Figgis about the investigation, then surely Rosa would have been threatened as well. If word got out from the goons at the hospital, then he would have known that most of the precinct was in on it.

There are also some hilarious episodes. Yippie Kayak is my favorite Christmas Episode of the show. Its a damn funny Die Hard spoof episode and it also deepens Jake and Charles' bond with Jake saving Charles and letting him have the big hero moment. Ava is is both hilarious and sweet. Halloween III is a lot of fun and started to get into the formula that the future seasons would follow regarding multi character team ups. Paranoia and Bureau was fun with the Bachelor/Bachelorette parties and heist aspects of the respective episodes. New Captain, The Funeral, and The Oolong Slayer are a hoot with extensive use of Wuntch and the Vulture against Holt and Jake. The only reason season 3 ranks a smidge lower than seasons 1 and 2 is that there aren't as many all time classic episodes in season 3. But I can't think of a single one that I thought was just meh. I really enjoyed all of them For me, season 3 is a 8.5/10 Now onto season 4.

[sdktrs12]

Random but if I had to rank the seasons of good girls it would definitely be s 1, 2, 3 and season 4 being like my least favorite season to watch actually the worst imo lol (sry) would love to know how you would rank the szns?

Hey anon! Thanks for the question (and your ranking is totally valid lol)!

My personal ranking would be -

1. Season Two - I loved the shift in Brio's dynamic this season and the back and forth power struggles. Also really loved the girls getting into the swing of crime and struggling with their individual moral/personal dilemmas.

2. Season One - The first season! It introduced us to all the wonderful characters we know and love (and hate)! I really enjoyed the girls introduction to crime and all the highs (and lows) they experienced first navigating it.

3. Season Four - Not my favorite, but it had it's moments. I loved the idea of funneling the funny money through Boland Bubbles/Sweet P's, and I would've enjoyed the show exploring those further. I also really enjoyed the flashback episodes.

4. Season Three - Least favorite season for me, the pacing was all over the place and plot lines that should have been fleshed out were dropped for others that were dragged out incessantly. I did like the (little bit) of Annie development that (kind of) continued into the next season.

Season Two especially will always hold a special place in my heart (my favorite episode out of all seasons is 2x05) because it's the reason I decided to start watching in the first place.

The final two seasons didn't do much for me personally (although there were a few things I did enjoy, as mentioned above), so they're both pretty much tied for last.

Thanks for stopping by to chat!

[whenimgoodandready]

(patriotic music plays) In 1777, Lafayette was commissioned by General Washington to lead his troops in the American Revolution which led them to victory! This alliance between the French and Americans was what brought the holiday, The French-American Friendship Week🇫🇷🇺🇸. (record scratch) Okay, so it’s not a legit holiday cuz it was strictly made up for plot purposes on the show, but the events did happen as Americans and French are allies. History repeats itself so let’s see if our French heroes can ally with the American heroes in this very first Miraculous World trilogy of traveling:

Miraculous World

•New York – United HeroeZ-We start with a big damn intro that Thomas was probably inspired by other movie productions such as the “20th Century Fox” with its spotlights, “Universal” with its globe and even “Disney” with its Enchanted Castle. They even had an orchestra with the “Miraculous Ladybug” theme song playing (they went all out!). With the millions this show made it’s no surprise am I right or am I right!? Huh? Huh? Huh? HUH!? There’s a lot that went on in this special, and I know you’re all informed by it, even with the side stories, but I’m not gonna type all that went on and just put in the Pros and Cons so it can be faster. Let’s go:

Pros:

•The Space Powerups-Meet Cosmobug and Astrocat! Finally! We got to see their space forms and they looked pretty alright. Except they never really went to space and I would’ve preferred they did while battling some alien akuma, but it was still nice to see it. I liked Ladybugs space look best.

•The Native American Miracle Box-The final treat of the special and we see another miracle box and it’s guardian! Our first look is the Eagle miraculous which is a talon necklace that has an eagle like Kwami named Liiri who grants the user the power of liberation (which can be used for both good and evil). This was given to Sparrow who got promoted from sidekick to an independent hero! Congrats Sparrow! Fellow miraculers, I give you, Eagle! (trumpets sound). There was no eagle in the Native American zodiac, but I guess it’s part of the five pack and not the main duo like the Chinese Miracle box with its zodiac. There’s always the basic 12 zodiacs, the five elements and the two most important good/bad luck miraculouses. The guardian for the Native American miracle box was a chief like man who was stern, protective, and serious, but with a sense of understanding as he allowed Sparrow to keep their miraculous and start a new generation of supers with the rest thanks to Uncanny Valley.

•New York Heroes/Villains-Get this folks, Majestia, that superwoman Alya is a huge fan of, is real! Yeah! And Knightowl, Principal Damocles hero, is real too! Yeah! There’s barely any fiction in the Miraculous Universe and all we see, is real! These supers are amazing! There’s other heroes too, such as Snowflake, a snow elemental hero, Hurricane, a weather hero, Doorman, a portal traveler, Victory, a patriotic hero and Hot Dog Dan!? (record scratch). He’s uh, uhhhhhhh, a temporary power bestower through magic hot dogs?.............riiiiiiiiiight (clears throat). They’re enemies are a pirate themed technopath named Techno-Pirate (we already have Captain Hardrock for that, but I guess this is their American equivalent of it, so okay. (mutters under breath disappointedly) Wanted something more unique, but okay). Unlike the French heroes, the United Heroez don’t fall under the cliche of secret alter egos bulls*** and everyone in New York knows who they are (even the villain). I guess it’s cuz they’re mostly composed of courageous and righteous adults whereas Team Miraculous, are a bunch of insecure and awkward teenagers. Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! Not giving teens a bad name! The sidekicks of Majestia and Knightowl are Uncanny Valley, a robot girl, and Sparrow, a gadget wielding/combatant masked hooded youth, respectively. They’re the only ones who have to hide their identities (minus Knightowl for spoilers below) cuz they’re just children, but still badass cuz Aeon (aka Uncanny) figured out who Ladybug and Cat Noir were and reunited them to help save New York and Sparrow earned their wings to fly solo as a real hero.

Cons:

•Mr.Pigeon-(face palms) Hawk Moth, do you seriously want your wife back? Or are you just f**king stupid!? 51 TIMES!? (groans loudly and exasperated) You ARE mad and desperate! I understand it’s a kids show and some would find it funny that he keeps showing up, but older kids (and adults), would not! It’s no wonder we’ll be getting a new Hawk Moth in the future. One that actually creates formidable villains and not constantly recycles their old ones!

•Unnecessary Drama-So the plot said Marinette “convinces” Gabe (he had villainous intentions) to let Adrien go to New York, but Ladybug told Cat Noir to stay in Paris to watch out for any akumatizations while she’s “away”......well, we know that’s gonna be an issue, but there was no need. Adrien thought he had a plan to solve this by using his Akuma Alert app to check up on any danger in Paris and fly back quickly as Astrocat to signal Ladybug with this tiny black cat alarm she left him to come and help. Really? That’s the drama Hawkdaddy put in to spice up the special? Why couldn’t Ladybug just download the same app and use the Horse miraculous, which grants the power of teleportation, and fix the possible emergency herself!? If anything, she didn’t need to tell Cat to do jacks***! I understand the Akuma Alert back in “Riposte” cuz that happened during the show where the Parisians were getting accustomed to these attacks, but now, after what’s been a year already (in-universe), you’d think Marinette/Ladybug would be prepared to have that app like Adrien/Cat Noir, but no! She didn’t! Instead, we get this ridiculous, utterly ridiculous little black cat gadget that’s used for a dumb joke! Did Astruc not remember what he did on the show in the past seasons? Look back on your work, honey! IT’S CALLED RESEARCH! Ugh!

•New York stereotype-Like I mentioned up there with the United Heroez, Hot Dog Dan iiiiiiiiiiiiis not the most useful of supers cuz he sounds too stereotyped what with the setting being in New York where you can find a hot dog vendor (there’s even a hero named Captain Redlight who controls the traffic signal lights!) and he uses his powers for fun. That’s not all! Alya romanticized the theme of New York for Marinette and most of the time, we don’t picture that when we think of The Big Apple. When most Americans think of New York, they think crime, honking traffic jams, (911), big corporate businesses and the whole, “Hey! I’m walking here!”. Guess since this is a kids show, they didn’t wanna plant that idea in their young developing minds and just put in the “fun” aspects of New York! I get it. Don’t poison their heads.

That was our first Miraculous World special people. It was “interesting” and I’m sure you’ll agree with it too. I’m gonna elaborate more on the pros and cons of this and then mention the side stories in it. Now that we’ve seen the Native American miracle box, I think we’ll be seeing the American one next. Possibly in the Brazil special. Wonder how they’ll work with that since we have people and an object for our signs. Hmmmmm. I was real glad to see Sparrow cuz we all thought they’d be a scrapped character from the Quantic Universe, but no! They exist! (this was so much better then Felixs introduction). Mercury was even there too! Wow! We got to see the concept art come to life with members of the Quantic Kids! (wonder if Kid Mime might show up later?). Perhaps the whole United Heroez team is what inspires future Ladybug to create her own future Miraculous Justice League from “Timetagger”! What really surprised me was the LGBT Representation! The reveal that Knightowl was a woman along with Sparrow being a girl and that she (Knightowl) and Majestia are life partners with Aeon and Jess (Sparrow) being their children! For the longest time, we the fans thought Knightowl and Sparrow were male when in fact, they’re female! Nice twist there Astruc! The Knightowl and Sparrow are actually legacy heroes where the sidekick would take over for Knightowl and find a new Sparrow all with regardless of their race/gender/sexual orientation. I like that. What I didn’t like was the whole Mr.Pigeon running gag (it’s actually becoming a literal gag! >:P) there’s gonna be a moment where he’ll get called out on it, wait for that! However, it transitioned from overused creators favorite to super anarchy and nuclear war! What a dramatic climatic change! Like I mentioned, Ladybug didn’t really need to involve Cat in the whole emergency situation, but just to emphasize the trust issues between them and input drama into the special (ignoring the plot holes), Astruc gave us a near death scene with poor Uncanny Valley and thank God she was a robot or Cat would’ve gotten a can of whompa** from Majestia. Knightowl wanted to confiscate the dynamic duos miraculouses, but I don’t think they had any jurisdiction to do so. They’re an American super and they’re Parisian supers. However, since this does take place after Season 3, and Ladybug is now the guardian, it’s her choice whether they should or not and her idea was just for the two to run. This also brought the headscratcher of fans on how Ladybugs powers work? She said her “Miraculous Ladybug” power only works on a specific villain and not all villains (like the sentimonster that was shown during Techlonizers attack). Does her power not bring back the dead (that aren’t robots?), can it only fix a cataclysm power from Cat Noir? (shrugs). Unlike “Syren”, Cat quits for real this time! (for about 5mins) It hurt Marinette/Ladybug thinking she was all alone now. A Yang without her Yin. Not a good sign. What Marinette/Ladybug needs to understand is that Cat has a double life too, she shouldn’t assume it would be a breeze for him to watch Paris by himself and that he might have friends and family he can’t explain why he can’t do this and that and make up insane excuses like she does all the time. This wouldn’t be “Miraculous Ladybug” if we didn’t have shippers trying to make Adrienette happen, Alya tries to get Marinette to confess and Nino tries to get Adrien to open up. They get double ship help from Aeon and Jess, but even with the Americans allied with the French on this, Hawk Moth still co*kblocked it. Course with all the major plots involved, they added in several sub plots just to expand the special and fill the gaps such as Ms.Bustier revealed to be pregnant (who’s the daddy?), Ms.Mendeleiev trying to win over the class, Adriens Bodyguards fear of heights and Sabrinas love interest. The special foreshadowed that Marinette/Ladybugs conflict for Season 4 will be learning to move on (same w/ Adrien/Cat Noir) now that it’s strongly implied that Adrigami and Lukanette are canon. See ya all in 2021!

[standardlovers]

Ranking Phineas And Ferb Songs

1. Do Nothing Day, no complaints, it's really calming, it makes me really relaxed and steady, reminds me to take time in life for moments where nothing is happening, 10/10

2. Quirky Worky Song, absolute tune, great for quirky working it's right in the title, it's the type of song that if it played in public a lot of people would know it but not know where they know it from, 9.7/10

3. When We Didn't Get Along, really this is THE break up song, i just feel it in my soul, it really captures some raw emotions of abandonment as well as the sadness and mourning what it lost, even a lil bitterness abt peter the panda, 9.7/10

4. Fabulous, every moment in this song makes me feel alive, it really hits and takes me back, i love it i have a fun lil dance i do everytime i listen to it, 9.4/10

5. Perry The Platypus/Perry Theme, really this song gives us a nice beat, brings great introduction to a clear change between Perry's character filling a role between pet and agent, i just think this is kinda a perfect song for a spy 9.3/10

6. There's A Platypus Controlling Me, love the unity of this song, the coming together and the recognition of oppression and propaganda 9.2/10

7. Busted, i feel like we all know what there is to say about busted, that choreography! the respect i have for this song? astronomical! 9/10

8. I'm Linadana And I Wanna Have Fun, it holds the late80's-early90's energy we really needed to see reflected in the show, it has a good rhythm and really it's only not higher cause of how good the ones above it are 9/10

9. Disco Miniature Golfing Queen, honestly i just feel the need to get dressed up and throw on some rollerblades, dance with a gold club i love this song i love this energy 8.7/10

10. Come Home Perry, this feels heavy, it's a strong song and it is quite tragic, i feel like the show really lacks if we don't have perry there, it is hard to see them miss him, 8.6/10

11. Ain't Got Rhythm, really i love this song so much, i love the vibes the energy the ex rocker working at a library vibes, it makes me think of jon archivist so, 8.3/10

12. My Nemesis, really this song is a jazzy kinda calm, it's soothing but it's got a beat, generally fun to listen to, fun to have as background music but not overwhelmingly brilliant, its hard not to love it tho 7.9/10

13. Gitchee Gitchee Goo, great song really a classic , deeply romantic but, when it says that gitchee gitchee goo means "i love you" then says that he says "i gitchee gitchee goo you too" he's saying "i i love you you too" and it bothers me, 7.4/10

14. Today's Gonna Be A Great Day/Theme Song, honestly it's a really good song i think it goes off so hard and gets everyone singing but im disappointed people stop singing after the P&F bit, i think we should sing the full song, 7/10

15. Little Brothers, this hits both for the sense of sentiment and also comedy as the listing the basic traits required to be a 'little brother' it really is a song that feels like it comes from a place of love, 7/10

16. My Goody Two Shoes Brother, it's very musical theatre, it sits right in my chest when i hear it it's good but really my love for Dr Doof just takes over whenever he bursts into song, a 6.8/10

17. Truck Drivin Girl, honestly i love this song just for the whole dynamic of Candace and Dad, i think they're cool i think they vibe with each other and just i love them interacting it's so fun and catchy, 6.8/10

18. My Undead Mummy And Me, really this just brings me to a state of unavoidable nostalgia, i feel like i need to be in the mood for this song but if im in the mood it undoubtedly slaps 6.7/10

19. Ready for the Bettys, i loved this song, i still love this song it's upbeat, it makes me feel included in something, i really can't explain why it's not in the top half other than the fact in my soul i know this song is a 6.5/10

20. Let's Take A Rocketship To Space, this feels so cool, it reminds me of a gentle cold breeze, it should be higher but my chest feels tight when i listen to it and the "it's a final frontier baby" just does not sit right when you hear it, 5.7/10

21. You Snuck Your Way Right Into My Heart, really the song itself isn't bad, i just don't think id be a fan of love händel if they made a full album, 5/10

22. I Love You Mom, really this song leaves much to be desired, there's nothing really wrong with it but there's nothing really right either, maybe it's considering the issues we know exist between Candace and Mother but yeah no thanks, 4.4/10

23. He's A Bully, there's not much wrong with this song, it's just not my style? it doesn't hit the way you would want it to, so it does have to settle, 4/10

24. E.V.I.L B.O.Y.S, honestly this song slapped but feels overplayed, underwhelming, it doesn't give me anything to work with and the lyrics kinda flop and could not be listened to outside of the context of the show unless you heavily relate to Candace, 4/10

25. Chains on me, the lyrics are very good i think it's very well written but the actual presentation of the song isn't my favourite, 3.9/10

26. Queen of Mars, i don't Hate it but i wouldn't listen to it often, makes me feel sad abt Candace really, it hurts my feelings, are you okay Candace :-( 3.8/10

27. S.I.M.P (Squirrel In My Pants), really i don't vibe with this song at all, i was hoping it would be a lot more candace but it just doesn't feel authentic it does not spark joy, 3/10

28. Summer belongs to you, feels DCOM, very high school musical with a hint of a BoM beat and im just not a big fan, 2.6/10

29. Backyard Beach, this should definitely be higher but i can't get behind it idk why i just can't really back it up i'm not a fan, it's only saved by my love for ferb cause he's the singer of this one, 2/10

30. Phinedroids and Ferbots, bad it's not a good song, it feels so forced, i don't enjoy the experience of listening to it at all? 1/10

[ihavethoughtsplural]

Blood and Chocolate: An Adaptation in Name Only

Previously: Section 0 - Introduction

Section 1 – The Book

Preface: The 1997 novel Blood and Chocolate is DENSE.  The paperback only spans 264 pages, but the story follows the coming of age of a dynamic and flawed female protagonist, encompasses ancient werewolf legends and laws, goes in depth into lycanthropic politics, and also features a love triangle, a teenage soap opera, a forbidden romance, and a goddamned murder mystery.

Summary: Vivian Gandillon is a 15-year-old werewolf.  A year after her father was killed in the fire that destroyed their home, Vivian is lost and grieving while her leaderless pack falls apart in the Maryland suburbs that they fled to.  Aiden, a tall, gentle human classmate attracts her attention and presents Vivian an escape from the tangled, animalistic world of werewolves.  Keeping her lycanthropy secret, Vivian begins to date Aiden, defying the laws of her people.   Vivian is pressured to break things off by her mother, her five delinquent age-mates, and the would-be leader, Gabriel. Gabriel, a 24 year-old welder, is attractive, intimidating and the object of intense romantic competition.  He, more than any other, tries to convince Vivian that her dalliance with a human is dangerous, eventually revealing that he speaks from painful personal experience. The story twists and turns, tearing Vivian and Aiden apart while pulling Vivian and Gabriel together.  In the end, through many trials, Vivian discovers that she can’t escape either her human or her animal nature, and must embrace both.  

Themes: Vivian’s central character arc finds her struggling with what she wants as opposed to what she needs.  At the opening of the novel, Vivian wants to escape the violent chaos of her pack, with its painful history and uncertain future. She finds that escape in Aiden, with his Beaver Cleaver family, his lovably quirky friends, and his sweetness and simplicity.   However, when the time comes to reveal the hidden aspects of her identity, Aiden can’t handle it.  Despite his supernatural curiosity, he cannot accept the supernatural when it presents itself to him.  His rejection sends Vivian into a tailspin of self-destruction that only ends when she accepts the love that Gabriel is offering, a love that honors all of what she is.  To ultimately find happiness, Vivian had to give up what she wanted and embrace what she needed. In addition to this, there is also a great deal of time in the novel spent contrasting the human and the animal sides of Vivian’s nature.  Her two suitors Aiden and Gabriel represent, respectively, the human and the animal. Scenes of Vivian socializing with Aiden and his human friends are juxtaposed with scenes of Vivian’s werewolf pack brutally vying for dominance.  The very title of the book is a reference to this dichotomy, Blood – representing Vivian’s animal desires, and Chocolate – representing Vivian’s human longings.   Throughout the novel, Vivian swings between these two extremes, at one point drinking herself into a heartbroken stupor over Aiden, then blacking out and waking up in her bed next to a severed hand. She tries, in her romance with Aiden, to balance her human and animal sides, but she only achieves that balance with Gabriel, a partner who also exists in the grey area between man and beast.

Highs: These are the aspects of the novel have captivated my imagination and kept this book in my collection for so long.

o   Werewolf Society:  It’s a damn shame that Klause hasn’t written more stories within this framework, because it is absolutely ripe for exploration and development.  The enormous potential here is one of the primary reasons why this book has held my fascination for so long and why I have written so much (published and unpublished) fanfiction for it.

o   Flawed Characters: No one who’s read the book will tell you that Vivian is perfect or even likeable 100% of the time, but it fits with her characterization as a grieving, lost teenager and serves to make her all the more like an actual person.  Most of the characters are like that, with their good qualities balanced or sometimes overwhelmed by their less savory sides.  It makes the fictional world feel richer and more realistic, despite the supernatural elements.

o   Consequences: The characters in this novel make real, awful mistakes, and they face lasting consequences for them.  One of Vivian’s mistakes – maiming Astrid while defending her mother, directly leads to Vivian’s ex, Rafe, getting sucked into Astrid’s revenge plot, leading to Vivian being framed for murder and the eventual executions of both Rafe and Astrid, during which Vivian is accidentally shot by Aiden.  

CONSEQUENCES!   They make the story more believable, more suspenseful, and this novel, with its cast of flawed characters, would not have worked without them.

o   Assertive Female Protagonist: Vivian is refreshingly frank about her desires, which is very noticeable in her courtship with Aiden.  Aiden assumes that he has to advance their physical relationship slowly so as to not frighten or offend Vivian, while Vivian urges him on.  She doesn’t hesitate when going after what she wants, and she’s not ashamed of her sexuality.  It’s a welcome change from the restrictions that western society places on female desire, and I’d like to see more characters like her.

Lows:  Blood and Chocolate is far from perfect, but, in my opinion, there are three glaring flaws in this book, and I would be remiss if I didn’t address them.

o   The Esme Question: The first point is one that, once seen, cannot be unseen. Vivian’s mother, Esme, is one of the women competing for Gabriel’s affections at the beginning of the novel.  It is established that they go on dates (“Saw your mother go into Tooley’s bar with Gabriel last night.” p. 18), but Klause is not explicit about how far their relationship has gone.  This ambiguity leaves open a potentially disturbing possibility:  

It is canonically possible that Gabriel had a sexual relationship with Esme and then moved on to sexually pursue her daughter, Vivian.

Personally, I can reasonably believe that Gabriel and Esme never progressed beyond idle flirting because:

a.       Vivian strikes me as the type of person who would mark her mother’s sexual partners as “off limits”.

b.       Up until just past the Ordeal scene, both Esme and Astrid are still fighting over Gabriel, implying that neither of them had really “won” him.  

c.       The possibility outlined above seems like it would be a bridge too far to be included in a YA novel, especially in the 90′s.  

Your mileage may vary.  I’ve seen reviews of the book whose negative ratings hinge on the fact that Gabriel dated Esme at all, irrespective of whether their relationship was sexual or not.  Honestly?  I can’t blame them.  If the mere existence of this possibility squicks you out, then it’s likely going to sour the ending and ruin the rest of the book for you.

o   The Age Differences: The second point is the least defensible. At the end of the novel, Vivian is 16 and Gabriel is 24.  That minor/adult 8 year age gap constitutes a “yikes” in my part of the world.  Klause skirts this by establishing that werewolf society has some stark differences with human society, namely that a 16 year old female is considered an adult by werewolf law.  This is still a rather uncomfortable detail to be included in an American YA novel, and the older I get, the more uncomfortable it becomes.

In addition to the Vivian/Gabriel age gap, there is the even wider Astrid/Rafe age gap. Rafe is Vivian’s ex and age mate, although there are reasons to assume that he is slightly older than her.  This places him somewhere in a probable 16-18 age range. He is canonically younger than 21, which makes him, according to werewolf law, not yet an adult.  Astrid has a son who is also Vivian’s age, which places Astrid somewhere in her late 30’s to mid 40’s.  In the book, Astrid and Rafe have a sexual relationship.

To be fair to Klause, this is framed in the novel as being toxic and ultimately destructive to both Astrid and Rafe.  Near the end of the story, Rafe finally realizes that Astrid has been taking advantage of him, turning Rafe, in my opinion, into a tragic victim of manipulation.  

Let me leave this segment with a PSA:

If you’re reading this and you’re underage, please don’t enter into a “relationship” with an adult.  The adults in these scenarios in the real world are predators, and they’re preying on your inexperience and naïveté.  They know that you probably won’t recognize relationship red flags and they think they can pressure you into doing unsafe and unhealthy things in the name of “love”. Stay safe, kids!

o   Sexual Harassment:   My third and final low point is one that I have very mixed feelings about.  As a result, this is the longest segment of this post, so strap in. In the novel, many of the interactions between Vivian and male characters are inappropriately sexual.  The most egregious offenders are the Five, Gabriel, and Aiden’s father. The Five, Vivian’s male werewolf peers, are crass, rude and arrogant.  Led by Rafe, they display a lot of entitlement for Vivian’s affections.  The most pointed (and gross) of these displays happens on p.41:

“You’re not Princess Wolf now,” Rafe growled behind her.  “Wait too long and we’ll take what we want.” 

That?  Yeah, that’s a direct rape threat!  Rafe also goes on to grope Vivian at her birthday party.  He’s a peach!   Gabriel’s harassment mostly takes the form of unwanted advances.  It peaks after the Ordeal, the battle royale where Vivian accidentally wins the right to be Gabriel’s mate.  In the aftermath, Gabriel corners Vivian in her kitchen, forces a non-consensual kiss on her and declares his intentions to court her.   Aiden’s father is notable in the contrast he provides.  Vivian only interacts with him once, when Aiden invites her to a family cookout. During this scene, he repeatedly leers at her, makes suggestive comments and on p. 79:

Vivian could hear the innuendo in Mr. Teague’s voice.  It made her skin crawl.

However, if you compare Mr. Teague’s harassment to Gabriel, the Five and others, you’ll find that there is a significant difference in Vivian’s reaction.  Vivian isn’t afraid to bite back at the Five’s harassment – scoring vivid revenge for Rafe’s groping when she injures his genitals.  She tries to do the same to Gabriel when he forces a kiss on her, but he relents on his own.   We see a similar dynamic when Esme snaps at Bucky, another male werewolf, who catcalls her in a bar.  This forms a pattern which suggests that forceful sexuality is a feature of werewolf culture.  Vivian confirms this the first time that she and Aiden kiss on p. 51:

“He was gentle.  She hadn’t expected that.  Kisses to her were a tight clutch, teeth, and tongue.”

And this is where my mixed feelings come in. I don’t condone the harassment that Vivian experiences, but I understand why Klause wrote it.  Any author writing inhuman characters can’t simply tell us that they are inhuman, they have to show it.  The forceful sexuality of the werewolf characters in this book is one way that Klause clearly shows that they are NOT human and serves as a contrast to the human characters.   But where does Aiden’s dad fit into this?  His harassment is milder than the Five’s or Gabriel’s, but it disgusts Vivian in a way that the other harassment didn’t.  Why?  Sexual harassment seems to be a constant feature of her pack life.  This isn’t even the only time that an older man leers at her – on p. 115, in the same scene where Esme gets catcalled:

Some of those male eyes strayed to Vivian, too, and she preened at the thought of being a threat.

That’s a far cry from the skin-crawling disgust she felt with Mr. Teague, but it’s basically the same offense.  What’s different?  We find it in a conversation with him on p. 74:

“I would think a girl like you would go out with someone older.” He winked at Vivian. Like someone your age?  Vivian thought, repelled by the man’s lack of loyalty to his son.

Vivian’s disgust stems from the fact that the man flirting with her is her boyfriend’s father.  She’s shown to welcome sexual attention from other older men, and she has no problems handling more overt harassment, but the paternal disloyalty sickens her. The overt sexual harassment is there, and if it makes it impossible for you to enjoy the book, I don’t blame you.  Your feelings are valid, and I’m not going to tell you that you’re wrong.  Personally, I understand the authorial reasoning behind its inclusion, and its utility as a characterization tool, so it doesn’t prevent me from enjoying the story. Your mileage may vary.

Verdict: The 1997 novel Blood and Chocolate is flawed, but fascinating.  It sets multifaceted characters into a tantalizing world of men and monsters, where the line between good and evil is blurred into nonexistence.  It is, despite its problematic elements, my favorite book.

Next: Section 2 - Adaptation Challenges

[kpopfanfictrash]

Shanna, I came home after work and huddled in bed to read the first chapter of raising the barre, and it did not disappoint!! I find your writing to be so soothing, and I’ll be the first to admit that re-reading your stories is something of a comfort to me these days. I don’t know much about dance, but I’m super excited to learn about it as the story unfolds. Reading this first installment about her beginning her first year of college had me sooo nostalgic. You really nailed that feeling of leaving-for-college-I’m-so-intimidated-by-everyone-here-i-hope-people-like-me-i-hope-to-measure-up feeling perfectly! And the bit about crying when her parents left… I low key cried my first night sleeping in my dorm🥺🥺 hahaha and the way you introduced all the characters has me soo excited to see how the dynamics between them all play out, especially with the sabrina. I’m also LOVIN mc… I see her as a bit of an underdog- starting dance at a later age and without all the social and financial advantages as some dancers like sabrina. And that introduction with jimin tho!! “he wore a jean jacket, white te-shirt and golden sunglasses perched on his head, despite being indoors.” I’m swooning while hollering🥵🥵 I LIVE FOR the way you write jimin!!! I know they’re rivals, but there’s this hint of an underlying level of tension… and I can’t wait for it to just s n a p. “On a scale of model to mug shot, your ID was definitely on the latter end.” 😂😂High key my favorite part HAHAHAH couldn’t give our girl a decent student ID pic huh??? And “You don’t like him. He’s an ass. Yeah, he does.” HAHAHA it’s ok, chim-booty has my head turning too 👀👀 And one last thing. I’m def side eyeing this finn dude… “Men don’t use manuals. We don’t believe in them, much as we don’t believe in cleaning, cooking, or coming in second.” Excuuuuuse me, if I am y/n, you best believe this man aint comin anywhere in or around me. And “it’s not not like he’s super manly. I mean, he wears tights.” Ok he be straight up R U D E. Cus first of all, we don’t stand for toxic masculinity in this household. Second, I’m not your mother ergo I’m not doing your chores FOR you. And third, the sex JUST started becoming good?!?! Finn needs to shape up or ship outttt!!🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️ And that cliffhanger tho!!! I can't wait to see how their partnership pans out!!! Overall, I’m LOVING the start to this series and can’t wait to see how it unfolds!! Thank you for blessing us with your writing. I am eternally grateful. Pls accept all my love 💜💜💜💜💜

LOLL THANK YOU, BABE! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the first chapter :)) I’m very excited to post the chapters to come!! And phew, you hit on some important points! Although, gotta give Finn a break about that sex LOL I feel like this is the most realistic I’ve been in a fic about ACTUAL first sexual experiences lmaooo but also  👀 much tension in the room, you’re right!! we’ll see what happens.... THANK YOU FOR READING and such a kind message! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe :)

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

AAAAAhhhhh! After 10,000 years, I’m free! Time to watch more Ranma 1/2! We’re getting ready for the middle part of what I guess you could call the Kodachi introduction arc, and like I intimated last time, she’s not exactly my favorite character. That said, I am interested to see how this can play out over the course of two episodes, so next paragraph I’ll have watched the episode.

Uh, so, I don’t think an episode has surprised me by being this much better than I was expecting so far in this rewatch. Like I said before, low expectations, but I really enjoyed this one. The episode starts with Akane and Ranma heading to school on the day before the marital arts match, only for Kodachi to show up and attack Akane.

This has nothing to do with the match, though. She literally just came by to see Ranma, who she has fallen completely in love with, but decided to attack Akane on-sight because why not. After Akane literally throws her at Ranma, he is suddenly confronted by our old friend Tatewaki Kuno, who is surprised to hear of Kodachi’s affection for this rapscallion. After a few seconds of thought, he makes it clear Ranma has his permission to date her, but when Ranma snaps about now being asked about this, Kodachi gets sad, feeling like maybe Ranma hates her.

Trying to avoid her wrath, Ranma runs and hides behind Akane, pointing out that he is her fiance, which would put a hamper on dating. When Akane confirms this, new stakes are given to their upcoming fight: if Kodachi wins, she gets Ranma. Kuno is totally down with that, since with Ranma out of the way, he sees himself easily winning Akane’s (and Ranma’s) affection.

It’s as Kodachi runs off, laughing, that Kuno finally reveals why he jumped into this conversation in the first place: Kodachi is his little sister. He’s aware that she has quite a few terrible qualities, and so warns Akane that she is likely to cheat quite a bit before and during their fight. As he walks away, Ranma and Akane reel from this family revelation, and Ranma notes that he can actually see the resemblance now.

From there, we cut to Akane practicing that night in the dojo with Ranma. She’s clearly gotten a lot better, though makes it clear the new stakes have nothing to do with why she wants to win so badly. Just as Akane notes that she hasn’t had Ryoga’s assistance in training for the last few days, or seen P-chan, the piglet runs into the room, carrying evidence that he’d been in Hiroshima and Kyoto. (Fun fact: my best friend went to Hiroshima while she was studying abroad there!)

There’s some banter over Ryoga’s reappearance, but then Akane trips on a tool, injuring her ankle in the process. It’s bad enough that Kasumi makes clear there’s no way she can play in the match, which means they need a substitute to avoid giving up. They consider that they’d need to find someone with great marital arts skills, who is really acrobatic, and looks like a girl. All eyes go to Ranma just as Ryoga enters the room, having once again used Soun Tendo’s hot bath to change back to human, and throws cold water on Ranma.

He offers to train Ranma through the night, though it’s clear quickly that Ranma’s general skills do transfer pretty well. The only big hurdle is that in Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts, the fighters aren’t allowed to deal direct blows, only use their themed weapons to fight. Akane observes at first, but they both tell her to go and get some sleep, which she ends up agreeing to. Once she’s gone, Ryoga gets serious in fighting, and reveals why he’s really doing this: he wants Ranma to lose. If he does, Ranma has to date Kodachi, which leaves Akane open to date him. He’s not trying to spar with Ranma, he’s trying to injure him bad enough that he can’t fight.

Akane wakes up the next morning and quickly hears the fight is still going on, heading into the dojo to find they’re going at it, though they’re both clearly exhausted. Oh, and the dojo is wrecked. Ranma is delirious from lack of sleep, and almost falls for a thumb tack in the hand trap from Kodachi when they go to the match at her school. Meanwhile, Ryoga is amazed to find that he’s managed to get from Akane’s house to the school without getting lost, and chalks the miracle up to the power of love. There’s another trick from Kodachi in the dressing room, and Ryoga is hit by random cold water while trying to get to the gymnasium, leading to Kodachi kidnapping him for some scheme.

Soon, it’s time for the match to begin, and Kuno is watching in the stands, ready to root for his sister for what he admits is the first time ever. Kodachi descends from the ceiling in a wedding dress while having rockets fired at her new opponent, all very on-brand for her. Ranma is asked what his name is, and he just gives them his real name, to Akane’s confusion. The Kuno’s both just take this as Ranma somehow having the exact same name as, well, Ranma, and some of their classmates in the crowd notice that they do look alike, pondering on how they’re connected.

The fight goes to start, but Kodachi begins by dazing Ranma with a twirly ribbon and an onslaught of black roses, then uses that opening to attach a chain to Ranma’s wrist. On the other end of that chain is P-chan, which Kodachi thinks will ensure she ends the match. But we don’t get to see that yet, because that’s for next episode!

So, a lot of thoughts, actually. First things first, I feel like this is the first episode of the series so far that’s really gone whole-hog into what a lot of people think of as the series’ main premise. For this whole set-up, Kodachi loves uncursed Ranma but hates Akane and cursed Ranma, Kuno loves cursed Ranma and Akane but hates uncursed Ranma, and Ryoga loves Akane and hates Ranma whether he’s cursed or not. This creates a network of alliances that all work against Ranma and Akane’s wishes. He doesn’t want to date Kodachi and Akane wants to get a victory for her school after Kodachi unfairly beat up the actual gymnastics team.

It all feels very farcical, in a good way. Throughout this rewatch, there have been times when the humor doesn’t really land for me, usually because it just gets too silly for me, if that makes any sense. But this worked perfectly, it was all very character driven while also being deeply ridiculous. Things like Kuno having the sense of mind to see that his sister is a weird one while not being cognizant of his own strangeness kind of brought it to earth in a way, and it was all just a good time.

I also quite enjoyed a lot of the animation, the changes to character designs, and the general dynamics on display. There was something weirdly smooth to how Ryoga entered Akane’s room and put his arm around Ranma’s shoulder that just felt cool to watch. The facial expressions in that scene, and throughout, were also in top form. The way he goes from clearly coming in with an ulterior motive, to revealing what he’s really up to, it all felt a little more devious than we get from Ryoga, but in a good way.

I’m not usually a big fan of leotards, but, uh, Ranma and Akane can both really rock them. (I’d also love to see uncursed Ranma in one, I’m sure his butt would look just as good.) Akane showed up to the match dressed like a ringside coach, and it just radiates powerful butch lesbian energy. The referee to the match is also dressed in a pretty masculine way, and similarly gives off wonderful vibes. Just a really aesthetically pleasing episode for me.

The pacing was also really tight. A lot of stuff got packed into the episode’s runtime, and I’d love to compare it to this section of the manga to see if that’s because it’s a particularly dense storyline or because they made the decision to just stuff the episode with as much manga as they could. We’ll get to my rating after the Character Spotlight, but this is just a treat of an episode, and one I have to say again that I wasn’t anticipating in the slightest. Major kudos to everyone who worked on this episode.

Okay, so, now let’s do a Spotlight on Kodachi. The big reason I held off on doing one last week is that her last name hadn’t been revealed, and her Kuno-ness is kind of a big part of who she is, I didn’t want to wait for the next time I decided to give her a Spotlight to cover that part of her.

Alright, so, as usual, let’s start with voice actors. In English, she actually had three different VA’s over the course of the series run. I’ve actually decided that, going forward, with cases like these I’m just going to focus on who the current voice actors are, and talk about the new ones when they appear. Her first actress in my native tongue is Teryl Rothery, who is actually more well known for her live-action work. She appears to play a main character in Stargate SG-1, which I have never seen, and has filled the role of Jean Loring in Arrow. (Which I have seen, but never noticed that Ray Palmer’s ex-wife was in the show in the seasons I saw of it.) In Japanese, she’s portrayed by Saeko Shimazu, who has actually played a role in every Rumiko Takahasi anime adaptation from that era, so that’s neat.

They definitely play the character a little differently. Shimazu is genuinely fantastic at playing Kodachi as the well known anime archetype of the Ojou. The way she does Kodachi’s laugh might be the best Ojou laugh I’ve ever heard, and she’s generally good playing the character oddly seriously. Like, if you didn’t know Kodachi was a dangerously violent person, her voice acting would just make you think she’s a soft spoken, very feminine girl. It fits her whole aesthetic really well, honestly. Rothery went in a very different direction. I feel like it’s hard to think of Kodachi as anything other than a villain in her voice, she’s more clearly malevolent, like a Sailor Moon villainess. Her version of the laugh is a lot more unhinged sounding, for lack of a more appropriate word.

That kind of leads into one thing I was kind of surprised to notice. It feels as though the Dub and Sub versions of this character differ quite a bit. In the English Dub, they frequently use words like ‘crazy’, ‘unstable’, and ‘mad’ to describe Kodachi, and in a way it kind of dominates her characterization. I’ll talk more about that in a minute, but I’ll say for now I had to sigh at those bits. But imagine my surprise to see the Sub instead talk about her being ill-mannered, stubborn, tenacious. As far as I can recall, they didn’t use any mental health-related words, instead just focusing on the idea that she will do anything to get what she wants.

This creates two fairly radically different versions of the character, at least for me. And I actually greatly prefer what I’m finding in the Sub. Kodachi there is played much more as a dark mirror to her brother. Ranma might say they’re the same, but they clearly aren’t. Kuno is a jerk, and doesn’t seem to take the objects of his affection’s input. But he also, at the very least, sees himself as honorable, a man of culture, and doesn’t seem like the type to cheat in a competition.

Kodachi has no such scruples. She is utterly ruthless, while also sadistically delighting in causing pain to other people. She is, in a way, defined by the fact that she is constantly trying to cheat, to get any victory she can, even while acting as though there’s nothing wrong with what she does, that’s she’s just a beautiful girl doing what she has to. The way they each fall in love with a different form of Ranma, while hating the other, is also a nice touch.

That was all a lot of nice stuff I said, but sadly it’s alls I gots for ya. Going back to the whole ‘crazy’ thing, that’s definitely the thing that, at least growing up, dominates her character. As far as I can recall, the fandom generally thinks of her as the ‘craziest’ of all the main cast, and that’s...not very good? I feel like, at least among some sectors of culture, we’re trying to be more aware of other people and trying to take in feedback, and ableism feels like one of the last big areas where a lot of people, even those who are otherwise far left, struggle to get past their prejudices. I’m including myself in there, I screw up all the time. But yeah, I think we need to kind of think a lot more about the ‘crazy’ tropes in media, especially the ones that associate with violence and evil characters. So far at least, I don’t really have a lot to dig into with Kodachi especially, but it’s something I’ll have in mind going forward.

The other area I feel like I have to rain on this Spotlight a little is just what Kodachi brings to the dynamic of the show. Which is mostly...not a lot. Of all the main characters who are a part of the primary love dodecahedron, she is the one who feels like could generally just not exist without impacting anything. She basically just does what Kuno does, but in the opposite direction. Ranma is going to end up with a lot of suitors, and someone else generally fills the role of ‘violent and amoral’ much better than Kodachi, plus she’ll be appearing pretty soon from where we are now. At least as of now, Kodachi is a character I find doesn’t hurt the show at all, but also doesn’t particularly make it better.

If it wasn’t clear from all the gushing before, I really liked this episode. But how much? Where does it fall among the ranks of all the episodes I’ve seen thus far? After some careful consideration, I think I’m actually going to put this at the number two spot. It really was that good, I have very little bad to say. The only reason it didn’t take the top spot is that I just love episode 7 too much. That makes the current standings:

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

This has been a really fun one! Next time, we’ll be covering lucky episode number 13, “A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!”, which will also be the ending to this little arc. I’m excited to join you then, and see if that episode fulfilled the promise in this episode’s set-up! See you all then!

[reviewer-bot32]

Just for the heck of it, I’ve decided to post my favorite ships on my blog, in case anyone cares. :P

Pearlshipping: I can’t say I’m much of a Pokemon fan, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Gen 4. It was a game I grew up with and was my introduction to RPG gameplay. I got into the anime a few years ago when I tried to binge it all. I gave up. However, since then I have watched the entire diamond and pearl saga and I just really love these two. I think the anime did a good job of balancing out their focus and having them share the spotlight. I’m currently doing a watch through of the subbed version and I would definitely recommend it as the superior. Not really for shipping reasons, I just think things come across a lot more natural sounding. In any case, I’m glad I got to see these two grow and support each other.

Dipcifica: My story in this case is the standard one. I didn’t expect it and it had me pleasantly surprised. I loved it’s irony in the context of everything that came before and I was bummed that it wasn’t followed up on in the series proper. I guess I can say that I wasn’t expecting a substantial payoff, simply because I got into Gravity Falls very late in the game (I watched for the first time during the wait for the finale). I will say that I’ve been kind of frustrated that this happened at all. As much as I love this ship, it does bother me that it has all this untapped potential that was brought to our attention only once, and than it presents a much more interesting arc than Dipper’s crush on Wendy. Heck, having it happen after all the stuff with is also a missed opportunity. How much more interesting would it have been to have this dynamic juxtaposed with Dipper’s hopeless crush on Wendy. Something that presents him with a genuine romantic connection against his superficial romantic feelings for Wendy, which only harms his, already, genuine connection with her.

...okay. I think that’s enough rambling. Let’s just move on.

Starco: Oh boy, this one is... complicated. I feel like everyone know that at this point. I’ll start by saying that I stopped watching Star vs. the Forces of Evil shortly after Battle for Mewni. In fact, I’ll tell you I stopped right in the middle of the episode Club Snubbed. I don’t want to knock anyone who likes the direction the show went in, but when I realized the direction they were going, I stopped watching. I knew that, despite the obvious endgame, Starco wasn’t going to happen until the show concluded. Now, I have kept up with what happened on the show, through tumblr, just to make that clear, I’m not completely clueless as to how everything goes down. But, let’s try to keep things focused on what bothered me. First off, I’m someone who wants to see more romance in stories, what I’m tired of, is romantic arcs. To me, it comes off as if the writers are too afraid to actually bring up discussion about romantic relationships. And in this case, Star and Marco relationship, romantic or otherwise, was the emotional core of the first two seasons. That was what the show expected us to care about above anything else, the heavier plot was relegated to other characters, with Star and Marco only intervening on the occasion. Season 3 felt like it was telling me that the plot was what I should have been paying attention to this whole time, even though the main characters are only heavily involved now, and all the plot stuff I did care about was resolved in Battle for Mewni. Now, even Star and Marco’s dynamic is being thrown to the wayside, so what do I have left to care about? 

Now, I’ve done all my ranting, let’s try to say some positive stuff about this one. Honestly I find it very similar to Pearlshipping, in that throughout seasons 1 and 2 I thought that the focus was balanced out between the two of them really well. Also, while I had seen this character dynamic play out in Gravity Falls and Wander Over Yonder, I was really interested to see it in a potentially romantic context. So, in the end, this had a lot going for it. And I will definitely commend the show for making me care so much in the first place.

Jesslake: This one is relatively new, even though its whole story has been told. I don’t have a lot to say on this one, I just find it cut and wholesome. I will bring up that this one beats all the others in terms of being interpretive. The Infinity Train crew did a masterful job at keeping it vague enough that the romantic potential isn’t intrusive to those who don’t want to see things in that context. Hat’s off to them.

And, for the sake of having a fifth...

These four: All of them, they transcend all other relationships and I love them all.

[waitingtoexhale]

Queer Media One Tragic at a Time Has Reprogrammed My Brain

I find myself continually lowering my standards for the type of media I consume. Queer character? Check. Limited tragedy? Check. At least once instance of happiness? Check. Alright, that’s good enough for me. I LOVE THIS *insert media type here* SHOW, MOVIE, SONG! But, along with the good comes the bad and the ugly. Along with the brief instances of happy, complex, characters come the violence, the stereotypes, the woe. At this point, simply having a queer character that doesn’t die is the best I can hope for and that truly stresses me out. On a regular basis.

In Queer Youth Cultures, Karen said it perfectly, “I think there's a lack of homosexual characters who are presented in a positive and uplifting, or not even positive and uplifting but just represented on the screen or in the media in general. I guess it's a desire to have a voice. I know this sounds like pure shit, but it's a desire to have a voice, to feel that l'm being spoken for or even just represented. But that there's a voice up there that's representing, or at least trying to represent my own experience. I want to have a say in what's going on and I'm not willing to just accept the images that are represented in front of me as being the only possibility. I take it maybe beyond its limitations of what's there. I try to expand, try to just open it up to possible choices that exist for me that might not exist for the creators for that particular film or TV show. But I will be heard” (2008, p.175-176).

Shameless acceptance of the toxic gay dynamic:

While sexuality is particular to each individual, the social constructions of heterosexuality and homosexuality are cultural categories humans use to make sense of their sexuality (Queer Analysis, 2010, p.198). Shameless, an American comedy-drama television series based on a British show of the same name, stars Cameron Monaghan as Ian, a closeted teenage boy who realizes he is gay and navigates the complexities of his queerness as a social identity and Noel Fisher as Mickey, a closeted homophobic thug who upon realizing he is gay engages in a sexual relationship with the one other queer person he knows who also happens to be the kid he violently bullied. Ian and Mickey start as a toxic portrayal of settling and acceptability in its truest form. Ian is in a predatory relationship with an adult and still possess a great deal of internalized homophobia when he is essentially propositioned by Mickey and their turbulent relationship begins. Mickey is struggling between his desires as a closeted gay teen and his need to match the criminal ideals expected of his father and family name. They are an explosive pair that seem to cause each other physical pain and mental anguish, yet the fans are wholly supportive. Even when healthy potential partners are introduced, the toxic couple of Ian and Mickey are reunited time and time again because media has established a trope where queer characters are only allowed complicated togetherness. Queer characters are punished for choosing their queerness and therefore not allowed true love and happiness. Despite having this knowledge and nothing in common personally with these characters, I love this couple and I love this pairing, so I am part of the problem. I am a product of this generation of idolizing toxic behaviors between characters because unfortunately those are the only “happy” queer characters I have seen continually produced. I have settled into a pattern of accepting negative stereotypes as simply good enough. I have traded the simple fact that the queer character doesn’t die for the harsh reality of their lives.

Another sad queer lacking Glee:

When queer characters are introduced, there are a set number of personality types and lived experiences they are allowed to have. Take Dave Kurofsky from Glee who serves as the closeted homophobic bully who after being outed in the “On My Way” episode attempts suicide and is comforted by the out-and-proud effeminate Kurt, a previous victim of Kurofsky’s wrath. We get to observe the pointed shift in Kurofsky’s personality from homophobic bully to repentant closeted queer, but the lack of character development unfortunately makes it difficult to feel sorry for him as a character. Instead, as an audience, we are forced to revel in “media representations of queer culture as essentialist, marking out the dichotomies between male and female, heterosexual versus homosexual (Queer Youth Cultures, 2008, p.175). Kurofsky is unable to learn what it means to be a queer man and grow from his internalized homophobia because he is coming his existence and framing his life experiences through that of Kurt; this is apparent when Kurofsky is unable to dance with Kurt at prom because of the perception of gayness. We accept Kurofsky’s story as powerful and real and heartbreaking because it is, but at what point do content creators have an obligation to tell the story a different way, in a positive uplifting light?

Degrassi: The Next Generation of bury your gays tropes:

Degrassi: The Next Generation, a Canadian teen drama television series, made history for tackling the tough social issues affecting teens, but frequently not talked about. They embraced diversity in their casting and range of topics covered while spearheading a progressive movement of introducing characters traditionally absent from popular media. Adam, a trans male character played by a cis female actress is a well-rounded first introduction to many into the lives of trans youth. The audience is familiarized with concepts such as passing and outing as well as the complexities involved in sexuality vs gender. Adam, besides being inaccurately portrayed by a cis woman, which is damaging to the idea that trans folks are the gender they have identified with rather than their gender assigned at birth, provides a much needed avenue of representation for queer youth in popular media. Continuing with our previously identified tropes, as a result of Adam being happy, relatively healthy, and well-liked he has to die. Queer characters are not afforded regular happiness in media they are given a taste then sacrificed as tools of writing via violence, sacrifice, or martyrdom. Adam is not gay bashed or driven to suicide as other queer characters are, but instead tragically killed as a texting while driving PSA. This death is particularly hard felt because Adam was truly shaping out to be a normal high school kid facing the complexities of life and surviving, but the creators, once again, took a queer character as the source for a lesson in some predetermined idea that queer happiness is short lived and tragic regardless of circumstance. There is a need for punishment of their queerness.

Queer punishment, a Supernatural concept:

What do shipping, fandoms, and heteronormative dominant culture have in common? Queerbaiting. Queerbaiting, “a term employed by media fans to criticize homoerotic suggestiveness in contemporary television when this suggestiveness is not actualized in the program narrative” (Brennan, 2016, p.1). A concept typically negatively connoted is a primary tool of heteronormative culture ensuring queer culture remains as a subculture rather than its own, established independent source of media. Audiences, particularly queer individuals, are forced to imagine scenarios and worlds where their identities are represented and dominant. “By creating a fantasy space, queer youth have an environment where they are free to explore many possibilities” (Queer Youth Culture, 2008, p.174). From these creative worlds come the likes of couples like Dean and Castiel (#Destiel) from Supernatural. The creators introduce intimacy and connectedness; the couple is ideal and non-stereotypical or superficial. Unfortunately, our trend of no happy endings for queer media continues because despite the fan observations and urging this couple is never acknowledged or confirmed as such. They instead give several seasons of romantic teasing culminating in a teary subversive confession immediately preceded by death and not just any death, a death where Castiel, an angel character is drug to hell. The sub context is overwhelming in deciding queerness is so offensive that any acknowledgement to the sort should result in punishment akin to biblical reckoning.

Lingua Franca, the road to universal language and communication:

Even as queer media continually evolves becoming evermore accurate and inclusive the conditioning I have been subjected to, as a consumer of queer media, completely reprogram my brain. While watching something as relevant and present as Lingua Franca I am unable to completely enjoy the film as I am waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. Lingua Franca is a progressive film about a trans Filipina woman seeking a path to legal immigration in Trump’s America. The film is written, directed, and stars Isabel Sandoval an actual trans woman of color and therefore the portrayal is very real. As a film about a trans woman, the pace is melodic and light while the subject matter is focused on the life of Olivia rather than her transition or identity as a trans woman. While watching the film, I found it beyond refreshing that there were no invasive surgery questions or blatant misgendering by supposed loved ones. That being said, as a first watch through, it was anxiety inducing; the lack of discussion regarding Olivia’s trans identity led me to worry for her safety in a cis-heteropatriarchal world. When Olivia is engaging in her relationship with Alex I see the natural connections, simplicity, sensuality, and beauty, but I also worry about the potential for the violence I have come to expect when viewing true queer happiness. The scene where Olivia is outed by Alex’s friend shifted the entire tone of the film for me as I watched Alex spiral and truly cringed at the thought of watching another film showing an act of physical violence against a trans woman of color. While that thankfully did not happen, the fact that I remained restless throughout the entirety of the film waiting for it alludes to this reprogramming of sorts that has occurred. Creators show queer characters as poor unfortunate souls brought down by their queer identities therefore, I have come to expect and root for in some regards, a victim. There are limited instances when I can truly enjoy a queer film without a sinking feeling in my stomach waiting for the catch, waiting to exhale and simply experience queer joy.

[yue-muffin]

Time Raiders (2016)

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3

This hellsite turns the images into POTATO quality but ah well, here we go. Into the tomb!

P A R T T W O

He’s a puppy!! Everyone in the family wants to protect him from this business, but here Uncle Three goes ‘eh, might as well’. This boy has no idea what he’s doing. At least Zhang Qiling is here to protect him, because in what world does he not?

Lovely scenery!

Wu Xie…he’s such a nerd. But I relate, I would also use random facts I know from school to start a conversation, my mom probably hates me for it haha. It’s sort of obnoxious coming from some people (me…especially in undergrad). I love it when Wu Xie goes on a ramble tangent though.

We’re really going straight for the throat with the “lookin the mirror because you don’t know who you are” thing, aren’t we. Aw, then he gives a little pout.

These subs are really decent grammar-wise, but LOL at them just giving up on translating Zhang Qiling’s nickname: 闷油瓶 (sullen oil bottle), apparently referring to the way he doesn’t like to talk. It’s a cute nickname but it’s so hard to translate. Some have gone with Poker-face, which I think is the best one you can get in English.

HAHA WU XIE. This kid. I looked up 安静 and the dictionary gives me “quiet, calm, peaceful”. He’s not really quiet, he is rather calm in that he doesn’t flip out easily, but he has such puppy energy that it’s hard to use that descriptor for him. But confirmation that he thinks Zhang Qiling is a handsome man.

Aw, there’s our Wu Xie. It’s funny because he’s so annoyed with Zhang Qiling in the first volume of the novel when he doesn’t respond to Wu Xie’s attempts to be friendly, he always refers to him with a bit of scorn. But, well, it’s a super slow burn relationship (I’m talking platonic, since that’s fully canon and I can turn my shipping goggles off lol) and we don’t have that kind of time in live action adaptations. I do have to say, I like the drama and movie for changing that dynamic a little - if not, it detracts from Wu Xie’s image as an innocent, naive young man, probably.

Oh my fucking god his finger is on the trigger THIRD UNCLE WHY DID YOU BRING THIS KID WITH YOU. Well, that marks the first Zhang Qiling rescuing Wu Xie (from himself…this dumbass) of the movie haha.

Oh he took the bullet out ok that’s better. Ha! Wu Xie is a little imp still.

You just gave Zhang Qiling an heart attack, Wu Xie, hope you’re happy.  

This kid. If he wasn’t so stoic, he’d have rolled his eyes. You can just see it in his soul.

Oh ok, we’re getting a flashback to Third Uncle scolding Wu Xie that’s better. I thought he really was that irresponsible to just go “ok sure!”

He looks so sad. It’s the puppy eyes, I’m telling you. That’s how he always gets his way lol.

So he has a dream that weighs heavily on him, but is it worth risking your life in an actual tomb for?

Smooth, he redirects Zhang Qiling’s question right back at him - why do you want to go to the tomb? I love it, he’s still got that mouth on him.

Ooh so they did end up using the periodic amnesia part of his character. And his insecurities about whether he truly exists in the world.

These looks they give each other. They’re so soft. Aahh (shipper me is back). Aww. “Don’t worry, I’ll record them with my camera. You won’t be lost.” So there is a purpose for making photography part of his character. I like using the camera and mirrors as motifs.

“If I come or go, who cares.” I GUARANTEE YOU SOMEONE WILL.

More scenery for the record!

These shots really drive home what he just said: the world is so big, what’s one person in light of it all?

…Never change Wu Xie, never change. This is why everyone wants to protect him, because he says things like this. You’ll protect him?? Haha I remember when he said something like this in TLT2. It was so endearing. But also you just want to die laughing. But that is what makes Wu Xie, Wu Xie. Even in the first book, he cared and worried about Xiaoge’s whereabouts whereas everyone else was like “nah, he’s probably fine”.

HAHA WAIT. Third Uncle you are responsible.

Is this a prison transport truck why can it lock someone inside so easily.

This is so funny.

Oh no it’s the foreigners!! “You’ll be safer in the truck” they said.

It’s Pangzi and Ah Ning!

I still really miss TLT2 Ah Ning, I can only imagine that one in my head now haha.

I don’t understand why she had to climb on the side of the truck just to sit on the hood. Also, wear something a little more protective in the chest area if you’re gonna go tomb raiding it drives me absolutely crazy that women must always be so underdressed just for that male gaze.

You’ve got some good reception considering where you are. Her accent doesn’t make my ears bleed which is a good thing.

Oh-hoho he’s catching onto your little spy cam! IMPOSSIBLE haha that’s everyone’s reaction upon seeing Zhang Qiling after xx years looking the exact same.

And we’re in! Cue the greedy tomb robbers who touch things and get into trouble the second they enter the place. No deaths yet though…still too early.

-DO YOU SPEAK ZHONGWEN (Chinese)?

-*whisper* Chinese.

-CHINESE.

?? I’M DYING. This part is such comedy gold.

Yup that’s Pangzi, I think I’ve heard this one in other DMBJ adaptations but I don’t remember which one.

I’m pretty sure the tomb needs a key…which you have, Third Uncle…

Don’t worry, Zhang Qiling is here to help! As always, he tends to trounce everyone with the most mundane items even though the enemy is carrying heavy duty weapons.

Is something to happen to the beams? First a bracket fell off, now the camera focused on it briefly.

This Zhang Qiling is so low-key funny even though he doesn’t intend to be. They really said “how can we show Zhang Qiling being even more badass” by having him use the cloth as a distraction, then have it fall over his shoulders when it lands.

I also like how he never has any stupid qualms about fighting a woman. Oh he spoke English! Haha. “Not bad.” “I know.”

This Zhang Qiling.

Ah Ning pulling that gun out of her sleeve was real badass. I love how she’s the only one who actually gets hand-to-hand fighting and everyone else in her team just shoots from afar. She’s the team leader and boy does she deserve it. You go, Ah Ning!

Haha they are pretty good! Even set a trap.

Oh, Wu Xie got out of the truck.

Again, kudos to this Wu Xie for actually recording the stuff he sees in tombs.

Why am I laughing so hard right now haha. Look at his hands patting Zhang Qiling’s. His hands are a lot thinner now that they’re right up next to each other.

So high tech what is this haha.

What is my name? Wu Xie did you think he was an imposter or-

Aw, helping him check for his amnesia acting up haha. This kid.

Look at this smile. How can you hate him, it’d be like kicking a puppy. But also, he says the darnedest things. And Zhang Qiling gives a little laugh and a smile! See?

Gotta snap a picture of the bf.

Aww, nice music to go with the “hey you’re alright, proper introduction time” part. And they share a laugh, too.

GUYS YOU HAVE A KEY FOR A REASON?? If the darn thing isn’t turning, maybe you shouldn’t force it and try another method??

Wow they really went for the gore on this movie. Even got some nice blood splats when the thing clamps close. That’s not horrifying at all, nope.

Haha first trap you, the cut off the arm with a guillotine!

As always, Zhang Qiling to the rescue! But yikes is that one heavy duty sword.

Was it smart to light the ball on fire. I see statues holding crossbows that is not a good sign. This is a pretty imaginative way to light up a room though!

I love this Zhang Qiling.

The female statue is rather good looking?? It’s a statue?? And it looks downright creepy, not beautiful or sexy.

Oh no. They touched stuff in the tomb.

It’s a guy who has been dead for hundreds of years. What did you expect it to look and sound like.

Oh fuck no the eyes moved I hate it when this happens!!

Do you also see all the wires rigged to it or is that just me. And they’re holding CROSSBOWS. Now the HEADS MOVED I CAN’T.

There’s no corpse in the coffin great. And now the puppets are playing instruments. This is not disturbing.

COVER YOUR EARS. It’s too late!! Now everyone’s hallucinating, great.

Oh, she’s pretty! But don’t trust her!!

But why did Wu Xie get trapped in that dream of his, while everyone else is hallucinating that they’re still in the tomb.

A decent CGI lion for once? As long as it just stands there it looks fine.

And there goes Zhang Qiling’s magic blood!

It’s super effective! Oh, so he has to spill some blood for each person who is effected by the illusion? Yeah, no one say Zhang Qiling doesn’t care. He’s willing to spill enough blood to pass out (Book 1/TLT1), for all these dumbasses who probably had no business being in a tomb anyways with how they go about it and get themselves into mortal danger.

Yes, Wu Xie, be the voice of reason and protect him from your uncle and his friends. He could’ve left you guys to go crazy if he really did have malicious intentions. But he cut himself to save you, geez. Show some appreciation.

This is a pretty fun trap, gotta say. Wu Xie figured out the rhythm.

Don’t lie, he was definitely worried about Wu Xie, but haha turns out he’s not completely helpless. Just compare picture 1 to picture 2 lol.

HA KNEW IT. THE CROSSBOWS ARE NEXT.

Haha I love it how Zhang Qiling always preferentially helps Wu Xie up or worries about him, to the point Pangzi in Reboot/Chongqi doesn’t even really comment on it anymore.

Someone’s gonna end up dead at some point I’m just waiting for that ball to drop.

HAHAHA I’m howling.

Everyone falls on their asses and crashes into stuff. Zhang Qiling falls into a crouch A+ landing. Wu Xie?

Of course Zhang Qiling catches him. There always has to be a scene where Zhang Qiling holds Wu Xie in his arms, no matter the adaptation, haha. Is this the one for this version?

Of course it’s insects.

I QUIT? Everyone is looking for a way out, ok, you literally cannot quit until you get out of here.

Oh ew the bugs are here of course.

Aww that’s the Wu Xie we know. He wants to save people, always.

THE BUGS CAN EAT METAL. That surpasses “flesh-eating” ok.

Aw, look at his face. Poor boy. I didn’t think I’d grow this fond of Lu Han!Wu Xie.

This is why one person from your family died a month when you were a kid. Welp, that’s one person down.

Zhang Qiling hurting himself again to save their butts. In this adaptation it doesn’t seem that his blood repels so much as hurts creatures outright though, which is far less useful than his evil creature repellant in the dramas.

Lol, dude he even had to help you get your feet up on that metal thing.

WU XIE TRIES OK. He tries really hard. But it’s his first time in a tomb and he’s got more guts than half the people here ok.

SO YOU DECIDE TO PLAY THE FLUTE??

Always record Zhang Qiling’s smiles ok. He was so worried Wu Xie was going to be mooched alive by the bugs. I guess that’s why he can’t have the bug repellant blood in this adaptation lol. If he did, it would’ve helped a lot.

Oh, sure, now the foreigners come in.

You. You might have blown up the only exit??

Good thing your brains, Wu Xie, showed up after all, huh.

Option 1: Dig a hole!!

Option 2: Smash your way through!

How is he doing this haha. Zhang Qiling is too OP.

Aww, see, this is why their relationship across the franchise is so good?? Zhang Qiling in the books especially is so much of a badass, he always is ok and always wins, but it doesn’t matter how many times he escapes death. Wu Xie always cares and worries about leaving without him.

What’s with the awful weather outside lol.

Next Up: more tomb shenanigans!

[dustylovelyrun]

Hello! Do you have any WIP(s) you're working on atm? If not, anything you're possibly brainstorming? Your bio said you're a writeblr, so I thought I'd ask :)

Oh, man. I definitely do!

I haven’t really posted much about them so far, outside of random last line tags and a moment of frustration about Derek’s placement in Supervillain AU. Right now, I have 34 wips that I’m actively working on, and there’s bound to be a lot more lost in the murky depths of my scraps folder because I wasn’t interested in them at the time. And still not, to be honest. That folder’s a certified nightmare.

And I’m - probably not going to throw them all out into the void of the internet. Not yet. I need to be able to refer to some of them by something, and a lot of them don’t have that.

But here’s some of the ones that do:

Pulse - This is a disaster. A beautiful disaster. Pulse is a name for about three different series that interconnect. One main, two side. All of them with different people, and different, but related, stories to tell.The main one is currently on it’s fourth draft. It follows the Adeyemi-Nakamura family after the disappearance of the youngest daughter, Nastunye Adeyemi, from an off-world boarding school that their family has been attending for over three centuries, and their search for answers. 

Some major themes: space travel, alien races, dark academia, main poc cast, found family, LGBTQ+ rep, neurodiversity, supernatural abilities, and probably some others I forgot. There’s a big cast. And I’ve estimated there to be around three books, so far, for the main one. We’ll see for the others.

_

Supervillain AU - This is also a disaster, but less. And it’s not actually an Au. It just really needed a name. It follows the story of four like-minded individuals that, in the throws of adversity and hatred, make a pact at a young age to become a group of supervillains, and gradually take over the world. It also follows a lot of the many, many strays they take in from similar scenarios, and the journey to living out their dream.

Some major themes: Found family, adversity, main poc cast, neurodiversity, physical disability, world domination (in the making), Gen Z Rage, injustice, characters fueled by Spite and Caffeine addictions, and probably some others that I forgot here, too. I’m good at that. There’s only one book, so far, but it’ll probably turn out to be a series somewhere down the line.

_

Switch - In the middle of open warfare, when the going gets tough, how do you stop a group of powerful individuals known to escape confinement without killing them? You switch who occupies which body, of course, and take advantage of the open confusion that comes with a new form, new powers, and the troubles that come with learning about them several years too late and maintaining much needed control. This story follows an already established group of supervillains struggling to adjust to their new forms and abilities, while simultaneously trying to maintain face and finish what they started. Oh, and going back into their own bodies would be nice, but that’s lower on their list of priorities.

Some major themes: superpowers, supervillains, main poc cast, body switch, poorly controlled superpowers, LGBTQ+ rep, shady agenda’s, corruption, grey morality, accidental-almost-homicide, and some very intentional homicide, and then some others that I’m probably missing. Again. I’ll get to it with the official introduction. Probably.

-

Moose - In a world where magic exists concealed in the shadows, and mundane populaces continue to grow, to fight, to destroy and to eradicate, six cousins are faced with the perilous task of finding safety for their ever dwindling numbers of fellow magic users. The land is near hospitable, the oceans are slick with muck and toxic, and the planet’s dying. But they need to find somewhere, and to find it fast. …What if they went up? This series closely follows these cousins and their harrowing journey to incorporate mundane technology with hyperactive and very explosive magical energy, evading government surveillance and evacuating their people, and the mental strain that such a large mission takes on a person.

Some major themes: magic, magical abilities, dying planets, main poc cast, LGBTQ+ rep, neurodiversity, physical disability, shady but well meaning cultist organizations, government surveillance, space ascension, mental break downs, miscommunications, space travel, hopefully legitimate science, and anything else I probably missed! 

_

Zombie AU - Following a group of diverse and unique individuals as they try to navigate a broken and abused world that’d enveloped them in the most unlikely of places. But nothing’s ever as simple as it seems, and they soon learn that one of the amnesiac protagonists might have more to tell, fragments and distortions in their memories that swirl and twist, bend and slowly start to form into a larger picture… and one that spells a far darker picture, with the infected perhaps being the least of their worries. 

Some major themes: zombie apocalypse, epidemiology, shady organizations, amnesiac protagonists, main poc cast, LGBTQ+ rep, physical disability, minor character death, and some other themes I’ve probably missed!

_

Hunter AU - Following Russian protagonist Alyona Barisova as she attempts to unravel the intricate mystery of her parents’ disappearances, three weeks prior, while balancing a hectic school life, an incompetent guardian that’s Trying Their Best, the secrets of her newfound heritage and coming to terms with her parents decision to hide it, and two of her classmates approaching her out of immense concern for how her ex-girlfriend, Zhanna Nuamova, has been acting lately.

Some major themes: paranormal, ghosts, hunters, incompetent impromptu guardians, lying to authorities (a lot), LGBTQ+ rep, physical disability, main poc cast.

_

Serpents and Fangs - Following a protagonist who became the very thing that he was fighting against - Ryeuladov. A species of violent, war mongering people who only sought to create havoc and mayhem throughout the world, and had a pretty progressive, slow acting venom that could turn enemies at their will. But it - doesn’t… seem nearly as accurate as they’ve been told. Actually seems a lot more… humane? Just? Fair? It follows the protagonist trying to navigate their new world as a member of the Ryeuladov and realizing that, sometimes, history isn’t always as accurate as it seems.

Some major themes: adversity, violence, hate crimes, revenge, completely unfair and unjust government declarations, shady governments, inaccurate histories, stigma, LGBTQ+ rep, physical disability, found family.

_

SN - Three newly appointed mentors royally mess up, appointing six untrained, unqualified, and chaotic dynamic children to be protectors of their planet. Their galaxy. From unseen forces and threats that loom in the dark, and have to make up for it. Somehow. This follows their chaotic journey into making six hellbent children behave and learn, and the struggles that come with defending an entire galaxy from something that they can’t see nor prepare against; only act against.

Some major themes: main poc cast, LGBTQ+ rep, physical disability, from enemy to reluctant teammate to found family, found family, neurodiversity, aliens, space travel, and some others that I’ve probably forgotten because it’s 1:22 a.m and I want to s l e e p.

_

And there’s currently three being outlined - HCH, Game Freak, and “How to Break Your Local Holomek in Nineteen Short Days - An Instructional Guide by Kennedy Červeňák” - which I’m not going into much detail about because I sort of know what I’m doing with them, but they’re in that really awkward part where explaining it makes absolutely no sense. 

Which was also one of the reasons I posted so many wips for you to look at.

But, uh. Anyway. There’s a lot in this post, but…. there’s some of my wips. None of their names are actually their names - just references until I can think of one for them all (aside from Game Freak, that’s permanent), and none of them are actually au’s from something else, either - just badly named - but I hope that it answered your questions?

This was done very, very impulsively.

[momijis-sunglasses]

so in my post-first-two-episodes-of-furuba glow, I went home and watched the first episode of the 2001 anime again.

hoo boy.

it was FASCINATING.

it’s definitely become a little more common for the same story to receive multiple adaptations. but here we have two first episodes that cover the exact same chapter in the manga, end on the same story hook, and even have plenty of similar shots. but the overall impression and tone is incredibly different between the two. and it’s so revealing for why i’m optimistic about the new anime and have big issues with the 2001 adaptation.  

SPOILERS

-the 2019 anime has the huge benefit of knowing the entire story. starting out with a flashback to the bond first being created between god and the animals is a great idea. it gets a hint of the supernatural in there early for new viewers, and it’s giving you a visual metaphor (the ropes aka literal bonds) of one of the key themes of the series. the new anime is being made with the awareness of the rest of the series, and that’ll improve things so much. they’re already really teasing the hat, and even kyo’s beads. it’s nothing too overt, just little nudges at the viewer that serve as a fun thing for existing fans and ways to tease the mystery for new fans.

-the scene where Tohru first finds the house and meets Shigure have very, very similar scripts between both versions. and I wish I had the new version in front of me right now because I can’t provide specific examples of why this is -- but I was left with a much more natural impression from the new version. the directing is just better. I think the 2001 anime has the problem of being too abrupt constantly. it’s like nothing’s given room to breathe. in the new anime, there’s a really nice transition into a flashback (lots of flashbacks in this episode haha) using the wind chime at Shigure’s to one at Tohru and Kyoko’s apartment. and actually going into the apartment gives the whole flashback a better sense of place. this is also where it starts being really apparent how much more static the old anime is. i do think they generally did the best with what they had, but there are more pans over still frames and the characters expressions are usually flat. the new anime is 1000% more dynamic.

-which also contributes to the comedy! there’s the same funny “what do you have in there, a dictionary?”/”two dictionaries” gag in both, but it lands better in the new anime. it’s more background chatter than anything, actually, so it feels more like incidental funny dialogue. like these people just banter and bug each other on the reg. the 2001 anime makes everything more slapstick and over the top, and 2019 tones it back to something more naturalistic. which i’m happy about, because when i think fruits basket, i think dry humor more than anything.

-also! eric vale! i’ve never blamed him for this, but his performance is sooooo much better in the new anime. he was definitely a newer voice actor (like a lot of the cast) when the 2001 anime came out, but I blame a lot of the issues I had with his performance before on the voice directing. there are so many times in the old episode where Yuki sounds straight up creepy. i don’t know if they were going for mysterious, but they didn’t get there that’s for sure. he’s more regular and a bit suave in the new one, which makes sense for this part of the story. yuki’s just like.. a huge improvement between these two versions. I always felt like the director of the 2001 anime didn’t get Yuki at all. like he thought he was actually a prince and also just wanted to make a cool character so girls would swoon and buy merch or w/e. I just want Yuki to get his due as a character, dammit!

-if you haven’t watched the original in a while and have hulu or netflix, fire that shit up because the transition to school is sooooo bad. first the prince yuki fanclub and their weird chant thing... and then uo and hana’s introduction is also super abrupt and we’re just firing through these scenes real fast. the new one has the same events happen, but again, it’s more natural. no weird chant! the prince yuki club has just cornered tohru in a hallway and are berating her. a boy even walks past and is like, “yikes, bullying.” because it totally is! the timing on uo and hana to the rescue is a lot better. and i think because of that, it allows the comedy more time to develop so that’s it’s actually funny and not just confusing. also all three of them feel more like comfortable friends. like we’re witnessing their usual dynamic. since the 2001 director was always going for comedy, it almost feels more like an interrogation in the old version.

-THIS! CHANGE! IS SO IMPORTANT! so the 2001 anime races through tohru telling us why she’s living in a tent. lightspeed. we have time for the prince yuki fan club chant, but we can’t spend too much time establishing the drama of the situation. in the 2001 anime, we transition to a literal slideshow basically recreating panels from the manga while tohru monologues over it about how her mom died in an accident but she wound up with her grandpa and he asks her to go live with a friend for a while. we all know the story. the new anime, on the other hand, transitions to an actual flashback, not a still image, of tohru as a kid balancing a checkbook while she explains how her dad passed away and her mom had a tough time all by herself. it’s really sad! and it’s so much more effective to show her as an actual kid worrying about money stuff and making dinner. they also showed a heap of blood instead of a car hitting a wall to represent kyoko’s death, which... woof. and then we get an actual scene of her grandpa asking her if she can stay with a friend. which, again, gives us more time to actually feel the situation she’s in. but also works so well because he phrases it as an option for her. he says he’s worried she won’t be comfortable stuffed into a small house with a ton of people so she might be happier staying elsewhere for a while. and then tohru, OF COURSE, takes that consideration and goes to live in a tent. the transition (which is different between the two) to tohru cleaning up a storm at her job was also a moment of genuine, sweet comedy.

-yuki talking to tohru on the way home is kind of interesting, since the two adaptations treat it in kind of opposite ways? in the 2001 anime there’s that ~mysterious~ music while he tells her random zodiac facts and then silent tension (which I actually quite like) when he gives her that enigmatic “it’s not that i don’t like all cats” look. in the new one it’s a more normal conversation? like they’re just chatting. and then it turns when she realizes there’s something more to it and the music got pretty intense and there’s A Moment. i think it’s less outright sinister in the new one. seriously, i’m waiting for 2001 yuki to start monologuing about his master plan to take over the earth any time.

-shigure laughing at tohru’s tent is straight up funnier in the new one. the timing is better. also his continued laughter and yuki’s little “oh you’re done now?” was really well handled. that joke falls flat in the old version.

-and i don’t know how they do it because, again, these episodes have the same runtime and cover the same material, but this whole scene definitely feels like it takes it’s more time in the new anime. it’s not overstaying it’s welcome or anything. it’s punchy and funny and i loved seeing the characters play off each other. but even shigure opening the door to reveal the gross kitchen is given more of a beat to it, so you have a second to laugh. and him hearing the dog howling isn’t the most awkward thing you’ve seen anymore.

-since we’ve had more time to understand tohru’s situation and even her mom (kyoko is finally allowed to be herself and not Cliche Dead Mom!) through flashbacks in the new anime, tohru clawing at the dirt to get the picture of her mom is actually pretty heart-wrenching. you get it more. everything she has in the world is in that tent and she doesn’t have anything but pictures to remember her mom by. this is what i’m so excited about in the new anime. if you give more time to build motivations and drama, because you understand that’s important to storytelling, then the emotional parts will hit that much harder

-tohru telling shigure about the day her mom died! I've always loved this scene, because it's one of the few times Tohru actually opens up to someone (who's not Kyo :P)about feeling crappy. amazing what a fever can do. these two scenes are so interesting, because they're actually really similar. we get the exact same info, and some of the shots of tohru lying on the futon are basically identical. but once again, the 2001 anime does a lot more telling us what happened. some shots are obvious budget-saving measures, like an extended shot of the paper wall/door with tree shadows waving. (what room are they supposed to be in?? for some reason, I always thought that was the kitchen) (actually the reason was all the rats are behind that door) (you KNOW there are rats in that kitchen) the 2019 anime, on the other hand, goes back to those old reliable flashbacks. we get a repeated (and longer) shot of kyoko going out the door, and you realize as the scene goes on and tohru explains she didn't even wake up to see her leave that morning, that it's an imagined scene or a memory of another day. which is... oof. make me feel all those feelings, please. we also get more actual kyoko dialogue, which is always a good thing.

-I also love yuki showing up after she's fallen asleep, having overheard anything, and saying he could've left the sohma compound to live in a tent. uh, I mean, I love it in the manga and the new anime. I won't put this on the original production staff and more on the original English dub, but oh boy is yuki kind of petulant and whiny in that scene. he sounds very petty and jealous and I don't like it. he's definitely envious of her to a degree (and beating up on himself), but he's also pretty in awe I think. ANYWAY I felt the new dub fixed this, so I wasn't like, what's your problem, dude?

-yuki and the rats is still weird lol (honestly being able to "communicate" with their animal is dropped so damn fast in the manga. I only like it for the payoff of the birds running away from kureno.)

-actually, one of the only things I prefer in the 2001 anime is tohru waking up to her mom's photo right next to the futon. I love the idea of yuki setting it up there real quietly while she sleeps, knowing it's the thing she was most worried about. so cute! but one point for the new dub: i'm assuming tohru says "oka-san" when she wakes up. since it's three syllables and zoomed in on her mouth they've changed(?) it to "I miss you" in English and just stab me right through the heart why don't you!!

-it seems like everyone's saying this, but that staircase scene! it's not even really a scene. but I love it! a cramped little switchback-y staircase. this show is making me feel like i'm IN shigure's house. it's also shot cool, and the reveal of kyo in the tree is great. I love that it's not pointed out so obviously, and he's just there. (it'd be hard to miss him though)

-then of course we end on kyo jumping through the whole damn roof (he really blasts through it in 2019 haha) and everyone turning into animals. no huge differences, but I want to fast forward a little to talk about kyo. jerry jewell may be the member of the returning cast who sounds the most "similar" to his old rendition of the character, HOWEVER. there's a huge change in acting and vocal direction. it might seem like a small change, but it's not! it's really big! in the 2001 anime he jumps through that roof and says a punny line (it would take kyo 6 months to come up with that lbr) and rah-rah rages through the next few episodes when he's not acting sheepish. now he sounds much less like he's just angry and more like he BLURTS things. a thought comes into his head and BLURT it's out of his mouth. because of the increased range in emotional expression on all their faces, we can see that he seriously feels guilty and conflicted about being mean to tohru. like there is some depth there to be mined. it's so much more obvious that the people around him can easily push him to the point of blowing up, and that he doesn't feel in control of himself. I give major props to the animation team, the anime director, and the dub director (I would trust Caitlin Glass with my actual life at this point) for pulling this off. because it seems subtle! but it really is a big difference!

I used to be a pretty staunch believer that we DID NOT need another anime adaptation of fruits basket. I know a lot of people wanted it, but I really never did. I love the manga so much, and think it's masterfully done. after the original anime, I didn't want more of it. mostly, because I didn't trust anyone to do it right. a lot of the changes made by the original anime may seem "small" to many people, but what makes furuba so great to me IS all those tiny nuances. change a tiny detail, and you may have changed the whole feel of a scene or an important interaction. the manga is pretty quiet, for most of it's run. little moments build up to create a big, beautiful tapestry. so I was happy reading my manga over again and not worrying about anyone else ever touching it to bring it to moving color.

so i'd say I was likely to be a harsh judge. and I was really, REALLY impressed with what they accomplished. i'm sure there'll be some decision I disagree with later. they'll cut some scene I love or i'll disagree with the emphasis on something somewhere. but they've really built up a lot of goodwill with me. I LOVED watching these characters on screen and seeing them interact. seeing them all eat around the table together felt like coming home. like settling down for another furuba reread.

and it's all the stuff above that made me feel that way. seemingly little tiny details and differences. again, we're talking about the exact same story! it's told with almost the same lines and the same characters and many of the same jokes. but it really felt different, because of small changes. and a much better understanding of what furuba is.