#which im assuming will happen at the beginning of the ep

[rafyki]

I'll just focus on this thank you 🥲

[hellion-child]

ok after seeing gifs and having the time to think about the episode itself some more, i have some thoughts. about how poorly it was done, abrupt, and like a slap in the face, etc. i still hate the notes of biphobia in it but also i can Forgive the biphobia if they also take the time to address the biphobia, yknow?

pls keep in mind that this is partly my interpretation, partly my fix-it/make-it-make-sense, partly my criticism. also im not a writer, im a bitch w brain damage to the communication part of their brain who refuses to shut the fuck up lmao this shit is hard for me to write out

so its the 6 month anniversary date and tommy is all in, hes exactly what we were shown him to be: fucking smitten. he gives his boyfriend an (i assume expensive gift?) (idk bball ticket prices) anniversary gift. buck doesnt have a gift for him, but like thats not the end of the world, right? its only 6 months, after all. but this moment should be the beginning of tommys insecurities. the ending of the honeymoon stage. a teeny tiny niggle of maybe buck isnt as invested in this relationship as tommy thought?

maybe thats just a fleeting insecurity that is immediately fueled by the hot chick. again, hate to lean into the biphobic stereotypes. as a bisexual, fucking hate it. buck unconsciously going to use his phone to take the picture and hot chicks "trying to get my number" comment. the way buck doesnt just say "actually im here with my boyfriend" (and buck doesnt have to say it, he can come out to who he wants to, when he wants to, when hes comfortable to. im firm on this but i can also acknowledge that it can also feed into tommys insecurities) this shouldve been when tommys insecurities start coming in and they shouldve shown it. show us the way tommy might use his cool confidence as a mask to hide his vulnerability!!

instead of bringing up abby now, let tommy sit on this feeling. hell, show us that hes feeling this way and hates it. we know hes all for clear communication, and has come a long way with himself. hes confident and comfortable. so show us him struggling with feeling insecure about buck possibly not being as invested as he is. eg with the one sided-gifting, tommy always showing up for buck and we havent been shown buck reciprocating (which means fuck-all with this show but could be used rn to further the angst), the reminder buck is new to dating men etc

they couldve shown us tommy talking to hen or chim about feeling insecure about bucks baby bi status and "being his first but not his last" and hating that he feels that way. that hes doubting buck like this. they gave us this man who worked hard to be where he is, why couldnt they take one fucking scene to show this to us?? its pretty common, actually, for a LI to talk to one of the 118 without the LIs partner being there. but not this LI? ok.

and bcos of how shitty tommy feels about it all, that is why he, uncharacteristically, does not talk about it with buck. tommy is still processing this internally and isnt comfortable bringing it up to buck. but we know buck, hes good at picking up on when something is wrong. maybe he asks and tommy brushes it off. maybe buck says nothing yet and just feels a little, wrong-footed maybe? a little insecure himself? something he has been working on in himself for a long time now and doesnt want to put on tommy.

and that leads to the abby of it all. for the bare minimum of fucking continuities sake, they were never engaged lmao just together a long time during a difficult time for both of them (tommy closeted and abby w her mothers decline) maybe they were talking marriage. i wanted this to come up in another scene (maybe even another ep). i think it makes more sense, for buck to straight up say in this conversation that yeah, he is The Himbo.

tbh, play into the absurdity of it all, classic 911 style. like, this convo happens when one is heading to work or something?? so the only time they have is to think "huh, what are the odds??" and awkwardly laugh about it. set it up that they dont have the chance to really think about the implications until later, when theyre apart.

later comes. and now, they are both spiralling. theyre both feeling insecure in their relationship, for different- and unknown to the other!!- reasons. this is when miscommunication takes over and both parties are hurt and confused and brings them to the point of being unable to have that mature, adult conversation about their issues

buck still goes to maddie, and josh still gives his lovely speech. now bucks feeling better about tommys past (also when maddie makes her "turned them gay" comment buck corrects her and fucking says hes bisexual) wouldve been great to see tommy talk to someone too, about him and abby and abby and buck. also fill in some of them plot holes while they are at it lmao

tommy talking to bobby, preferably. bcos he wasnt Captain Dad when tommy was there, they were never close. and they mention how tommy only referred to abby as "his gf" and she never had the time or interest to meet the 118 or visit the station idk and tommy didnt push for it either. give their relationship some nuance and clarity i guess!! and back up joshs great speech with some of how tommy felt back in those days! really take the time to fill all of this out, yknow?? and maybe talking with bobby about their shared past helps tommy feel a bit more secure with buck right now and ready to talk about it with him.

and now we get to the break up. now that these cracks are shown and seemingly repaired. they both try to talk about their insecurities, but it just goes wrong. buck spooks tommy with the moving in and marriage talk, tommy hurts buck with the "im ur first not ur last."

except this time tommy isnt saying it like a its a fact, instead he says that he fears that hes bucks first but not last. but buck takes that badly (understandable), like tommy hasnt been as invested in this relationship since he apparently has been waiting to break up for 6 months? and if so then why act like he was all in? etcetc

and tommy, yeah tommy has some shit to work thru still, but its also the way buck is talking of moving in and marriage and forever, his impulsiveness has tommy questioning again if they are really on the same page here. i can see tommy getting stuck on the "move in with me" bcos why would tommy leave his larger home to move into bucks loft? has buck even thought about this at all? hell, while they discuss abby, u could have buck, in an attempt to reconnect and reassure his trust in tommy, talk about mistakes hes made with exes (obvi example, what happened with taylor). and instead of reassuring tommy, it does the opposite (tbh im not a big fan of that, bringing up bucks past mistakes. but also it kinda does balance out tommys treatment of abby and continue bucktommys tit-for-tat sharing, yknow? except this time it goes wrong)

basically, theyre both trying to communicate and work thru these insecurities, these fucking hurdles, but theyre both too hurt and scared in this moment and we are watching them both try to make sense of it all and work it out, and we know they both want to but in this moment they just, cant. emotions are high and it gets a little mean (from both sides! not just tommy saying "i was never ur last", let buck do more than just be broken up with), the break up happens, tommy leaves.

(and then they cry and pine and get angry and try to move on and they cant and then somethings brings them back together (CTH!! 🚁💥🏥) and now they are in a better place to communicate and work thru these issues and kiss and make up and maybe at some point during all this theres a discussion or two about biphobia)

thanks fer reading this fukcing novel lmao i just feel that, if they had taken the fucking time to let this storyline fucking breath (god, let any of them breath this season, fuck) and put some fucking effort into it, i would not be so upset. maybe they had intended to portray some of this in that episode, if so they did it fucking terribly

anyway. again, im not very good at this but i love talking about and reading other ppls thoughts!! if someone feels they could write something more coherently, god. pls do lmao (also pls tell me if theres a typo or word or sentence that just makes no sense, i triple checked but aphasia is a cunt lmao)

[anthroposeen]

tmagp 21 relisten notes

happy end of hiatus! beware of tmagp 21 and light tma spoilers below the cut!!

scene:

this is a continuation of the night of episode 20! so all of the events occurring in this episode are happening directly after the events of episode 20 with very little skipping forward

celia:

- we open with her trying to cheer sam up after their intervention of sorts in ep 20. shes concerned that hes upset over her and alice not wanting to be involved with his investigations and reacting poorly to him bringing up quitting

- she suggests that sam can stay at the OIAR while trying to make change from the inside

- when sam asks her about whats been bothering her, she says she has a "complicated immigration status" and this would stop her from taking jack with her.

- ive taken it as canon that celia is from the tma universe, but this is another clue towards that conclusion. this also implies that shes discovered a way to take her back to her original dimension, or at least knows enough about that process to decide she cant take jack back with her. but staying with him (in this universe) means she has some complicated decisions to make (im assuming this is partially about her struggles with teleporting)

sam:

- hes worried that alice is right about the morality of them working for the OIAR -> he can accept that the organization is evil, but he cant let himself go on knowingly administering evil

- his main motivation to stay instead of seeking out a different (less prestigious) job is his desire to not disappoint his parents (i think a lot of sam's motivations will be centered around him meeting expectations, getting attention, and proving people wrong)

- he maintains that he will quit once/if he gets enough information to convince him to leave. this is a pretty interesting thing for him to say, considering hes only been drug deeper into the job the more info he gets.

- sam volunteers to help celia and jack with "anything" -> im willing to bet this will come back to bite him on the ass in the future, and i wonder what favor celia will be asking him to complete. i wonder if shes willing to take him up on the offer even if it puts him in danger

alice:

- though the incident is read from sam's desk, alice is the one who found it and started it up. im betting that she was poking around his cases to see if there were any corresponding to TMI or their conversations

- "You bastard. You wanted him to read this, didn’t you? Just slipped it into his caseload, all subtle like and waited for him to hear it. Well not this time [...] Colin was right about you. What do you want? Hmmm? Who’s in there?" this is a huge reveal in terms of what alice believes in. in ep 20, she shoots down sam and colin trying to explain that the computers are listening and communicating with them, but now it sounds like she fully believes in it after all

- i think that she either pretended to not believe in it to encourage sam and colin to drop it, or that she really did think they were crazy and took to investigating sam's workload to see if he was right. either way, she seems fully convinced now, and has gone so far as to attribute this behavior to fully sentient people, seeing as how she asked who was in there.

lena:

- she's suspicious of alice using sam's computer, and doesn't believe that theres been more technology issues. according to her, the system has worked better in colin's absence, so he was likely trying to sabotage jmj

- she's worried about gwen being late from her assignment, but pretends to not be concerned around alice

gwen:

- right as ink5oul traps her, she is compelled to begin a statement (which sounds to be corruption-aligned). she was claimed by error and ink5oul allowed her to run away. we can assume gwen was able to escape them both, but i wonder if her attachment to error will cause problems with future externals (will it stop her from interacting with them or will this provide her with the protection shes been wanting?)

ink5oul:

- not only can they tattoo people with ink created by their own skin/blood, they can also manipulate the tattoos of others! very cool character/monster design

- once interrupted by error, they originally try to fight over who is 'claiming' gwen, but they back off and let error take her. the way they interact with error implies that theyve seen other avatars before

error:

- the tape recorder click seems to be an indication of them entering the scene, and of things shifting to follow tma world building conventions

- they compel gwen to begin a statement, and warn ink5oul from touching her, claiming her as theirs

- "they are all mine", i think this is referring to the OIAR as a whole, especially considering alice has already had an encounter with one of error's potential victims

incident:

narrated by chester at sam's terminal, about the magnus institute (TMI)

- the incident is in the form of a letter/email sent from the co-treasurer of TMI to other members of the institute.

- TMI was planning on having an exhibit at a dome built to instigate a grand ritual in the year 2000. this ritual was based in the hopes of using the transmutative powers of the dome to harness the power of the turn of the millennium.

- mr. leonardo argues that the date (2000) and location of the dome and ritual are ineffective. he believes that the date shouldn't be decided based on cultural significance, it needs to be decided based on astrological significance. since the concept of the new year and turning of the millennium depends on the calendar used, its subjective and less stable than using a date determined by the movement of the stars, which every culture holds as a constant.

- he also believes that the dome will not be a secure location to bring about this ritual for universal transmutation because it will not have a balance between optimism and fear. he thinks that the dome would sponsor more energy for fear than optimism, due to socio-political changes and public interpretation of the dome.

- on top of the dome not supporting balance, mr. leonardo also proposes that the ground its built on is impure. he found the site to have a horrible smell and the workers to be uninterested, dirty, and ill (much of this part of the incident lends itself to the corruption)

- the foreman of the site said he wasnt sure how long the structure was expected to stay up, that it could stand the test of time or fall apart within a year.

- during his investigation of the site, mr. leonardo also witnessed a man's doppelgänger be pushed from the earth of the construction site. the new man was older (symbolizing the future), and looked sickly. the younger man tried to scream, but was taken into the earth by his copy.

- this case as a whole is interesting because mr. leonardo is not supporting the dome for its power leaning toward fear over optimism. he seems to genuinely want balance between these powers, so the purpose of the TMI ritual was not to pull through one power. the focus is on successfully attainting a universal transmutation

glitches/lies:

- "yeah/yes" alice, lying about sam consenting to her using his computer

- "ill let him know when he gets back" alice

- "only about your caseload" lena, lying about not being worried about gwen

extra comments:

- im unsure if this is just a personal interpretation or maybe unintentional from the sound editors, but it really did sound like chester was significantly less robotic in tone as that incident ended

- the water sound effects as gwen was chased by ink5oul were really well done, all of the sound design done this episode was just so incredible!! the chase scene was so clear and i loved the added background music/instrumentals

- once gwen drops her phone into the water, our next audio-on is the tape recorder click!

- the tape recorder physically biting ink5oul was very funny, i think its fun to introduce them as kinda sentient/physical beings, but it also rides the line to comedy a bit too much to be scary here

- im unsure of when the police report from episode 18 took place, and that will be a major decider in this theory being relevant, but i think error is the entity that has been influencing corpses to talk. it's victims are compelled to share stories in tma's statement format, and the elements of their stories are pretty aligned with the tma fears as well. it seems to be targeting the OIAR staff, since one of its statements has been in their caseloads, alice met one of the victims, and now its stopped gwen from getting ink5ouled. Im unsure why or how it knows the OIAR is important if its from the tma universe. it could be sensing celia, whos also from its dimension, or maybe it still holds a connection to jmj (who are definitely sentient)

- this incident also explains why the protocol was used against TMI! the fire that destroyed the institute happened right before they would have been able to execute the ritual for transmutation

[stripysockstumb]

TMP EP 1

.Gewn, Alice, Lena (boss), teddy (just got another job), colin (IT), and sam

.FREDY, search engine for looking for incidents

.Already mentioned ‘dolls watching’ and ‘dolls, human skin’ the Stranger????

.The universe that the entities got pulled through to??

.MARTIN VOICE/Alex (NORIS)

.FREDY started reading out certain statements in different voices around a year ago

.There are 3 voices

.Alice has named them NORRIS, CHESTER, AUGUSTUS

.NORIS and CHESTER are the most common

.Assuming this is the statement format

.Statement 1: checking in red by NORIS

.Statement reading less robotic voice, more Martin

.Could be the Burried?? Cemetery mentioned

.The Stranger? Dead dude skin/ voice

.Defo the stranger

.Taken over the dead husbands body, ‘it’

.Statement ends

.The enitites sound the same

.Partial reanimation crossreference

.Gewn seems to have a LOT of experience, sus

.Gwen and Lena in office

.Audio interference and different audio quality

.Interference by the eye???????

.Giving Elias

.Manipulation 10000

.Gwen wants Lenas job

.Lena warning Gwen about trying to take her job because of what it ‘entailes’ sus

.Colin is defo hiding something, kinda a scary dude, could be an avatar, he is trying to fix the system eg.FREDY

.Is this recorded through security cameras????? The audio keeps being different

.Also recorded by the pc cameras??

.No one realy likes colin

.Alice and Sam know eachother from uni, she got him the job

.Introducing the idea that everyone who works there has had an ‘encounter’ which leads them there

.JONNNNNN/john/ CHESTER

.YES YES YES YES YES I MISSED HIS ANOYING VOICE OMG

.Statement, Magnus Institute Ruins

.Statement made on April 10th 2022 3.31pm

.Manchester???? Not our version of the institute

.No pictures of it suprise suprise

.‘Realy weird place’ yeah no shit honey

.No pictures are uploading (just like the ‘real’ statements, they wouldnt be able to be uploaded onto the computer), she is realy paranoid after going there

.Was a fire about 20 years ago (so in 2000 ish)

.‘Got a realy cool vibe’ offices, old furnishings, the feeling that ‘doors would randomly shut even through most of the doorframes are empty’ ALRIGHT HELEN CHILL

.No old papers????? All files gone????? SUSPICIOUS Old graffiti???

.Symbols on the walls, stains, from a ritual??? Could be an alternate universe Institute where the Desolation managed to complete their ritual??

.The photos have disappeared off her phone

.She found an empty box with symbols on it, picture wont upload or format

.‘Photographic distortion’

.Getting threats from random people on the internet about the box she took

.Anonymous dms coming in

.‘Image removed by moderator’ she finally managed to upload a photo of the symbols at 2.01am but it was taken down

.‘Canaries should stay above ground’ the mod of the chat is incredibly sus

.People saying the picture was ‘gross’ before it was taken down????

.‘Are those eyes’

.Was potentially a gore pic about eyes

.She was banned from the chat room

.She real dead

.The thread was then locked by the moderator

.Statement ended

.No one has heard of the Magnus Institute except maybe Sam?

.Listening through a phone??

.Sam is thankful for the job, something to focus on? What happened to him

.Gwen is his ex?? Or Alice??

.Alice doesn't believe the cases are real, apparently the pay is good

.‘To new beginnings’

.Colin trying to ‘find’ someone???? He knows something, he could be talking about the voices in the server??

Overall an amazing start to the new show, so many mysteries already and im so so so exited to hear the third voice and see if its Jonah/Elias, also to find out which universe we are in and the timelines matching up with og Magnus Archives!!

[thegeminisage]

wow it is star trek update time. last night we watched ds9's "blood oath" and tng's "journey's end," which is one of the strongest quality ricochets we've had yet.

blood oath (ds9):

okay, so the summary said "three klingon legends" but what i didn't realize is that they were all REAL KLINGONS FROM THE ORIGINAL SERIES

i have to pain this picture for you, whoever is reading this. the three klingons in this episode appeared in "errand or mercy" "the trouble with tribbles" and "day of the dove." like, they really came back to reprise their roles almost 30 years later. i'm going to paste a picture but uhtw 60s blackface

now, if you're a tos viewer, you may recognize that fella in the middle as also having played the titular squire of gothos in. "squire of gothos." now, as an episode, i find "squire of gothos" to be pretty mid, but there is one specific scene that really did something for me. to me? it did something TO me. what it did to me was send me off the fucking deep end, i wish i could convey the depths of my madness with human words

(still screenshot grabbed from this infinitely more amazing gifset, give it up for @maulthots for enabling me, no literally please go through her gif tag and reblog her gifs)

anyway, before my good and wonderful friend so kindly made this gifset for me, i did maybe sit in front of my pc and replay the clip upwards of [mumble] times a day because i was very, very unwell. when i watched this scene for the very first time what happened to me in that single instant was the bone-deep realization that james t kirk (tos and aos) ate fascists on tarsus iv, probably, and he'd fucking do it again because nobody tastes better than a fascist! i wrote an entire fanfic about it, sorry for the spoilers.

what does squire of gothos and tarsus iv have to do with ds9? well first of all every star trek episode is secretly about tarsus iv so jot that down

but secondly, i've watched this clip so many times i have to hide my face when this man shows up in trouble with tribbles. now, i'm not so good with faces, but i KNOW THAT VOICE. but i know him AS the squire of gothos. i frequently forget entirely that he also plays a klingon, so i didn't recognize his name. so when i heard the squire of gothos's voice come out of a random klingon's mouth in ds9 my immediate kneejerk reaction was "no i am hearing things that can't be--" BUT IT WAS. i PAUSED the episode so i could look iy up, realized that the guy in the drunk tank was kor or "do you have a tongue you will be taught to use it" fame, and then to my eternal glee, kang shows up next

i remembered reading once that kang came back later and i was like ??? no one comes back later on tos BUT HE DID! I JUST HAD TO WAIT FOR IT!!!!! mystery finally solved...........

once i recognized them this episode was a blast. absolutely loving these 100 year old klingons getting ready for a rip roaring rampage of supercentenarian revenge. i was VERY sad that they died at the end but at least presumably they all died together (didnt see the last one go down but im just assuming he lived long enough to eat the albino's heart and then die)

(the albino is a really funny concept by the way like he's not even albino he's just a white klingon)

other notable things about this episode: firstly, quark hiding behind odo at the beginning. classic. secondly, dax actually being a good fighter ?!?!?! and finally, a true passing of the bechdel test where dax asked kira some alarming and upsetting questions about killing people and kira immediately took her aside and MADE her talk. i love. Women. and also women who murder people. i support womens wrongs.

i even love that the ONE time sisko doesn't back up one of his people it's for a good reason (doesn't want the 27yo reincarnation of his father figure to die on a klingon suicide mission)

10000/10, absolutely stellar ep, zero complaints

journey's end (tng):

oh boy.

just about the coldest bucket of fucking water...

you know, we tried to give this episode the benefit of the doubt actually. we were like "maybe this was progressive in 1994. i mean they ARE saying that moving these guys forcibly would be bad" and i mean like what would we know about what was progressive in 94? we were 5. so we checked and um i don't think anybody liked it in 1994 either

devastating that THIS has to be a wesley episode bc i wanted a better sendoff for my boy. "i had a vision and now i'm leaving starfleet" and yes they said the word vision in the most derogatory way possible. jesus christ

TRAVELER ALIEN RACEFAKING? HE PRETENDED TO BE NATIVE AMERICAN TO GIVE WESLEY THE VISION? and then he was like haha don't you know all that stuff is fake. (picard earlier in this episode "i am sooo respectful of your beliefs")

furthermore when picard was like "oh yeah this guy blames me for the crimes of my colonizer ancestor" girl at no point did he say that. idk if white people should go around accusing other white people of white guilt so i don't say this lightly but jesus christ captain picard can you tone it the fuck down buddy

i came across a gifset today of picard from season 5 (idr the episode) going "starfleet doesn't want officers who blindly follow orders sayign you're just following orders has been used to justify too many tragedies in our history" and then smash cut to this episode where he's like "well i tried but yeah i'm gonna have to move you sowwy :/" like good lord.

anyway it's a bummer these last few eps of tng have been less than great bc ik tng is capable of good episodes and i was hoping this series would go out on a high note. but it's going to end the same way it began with us waiting for something good to happen and throwing popcorn at picard

TONIGHT: ds9's "the maquis part i" and tng's "firstborn." i am Braced. for trouble.

[misarem]

Umineko Episode 6 Thoughts or Where I Actually Lock In

Okay so im cursing myself at how long its been since the last one. After making it thru ep 6 i got to the end not feeling that.. elucidated on the whole thing even tho everyone says ep 6 is like the final stop biggest hint youre going to get on this mystery. Which genuinely left me feeling kinda sad and a bit stupid lmao. I could not tell what I wasn’t getting and the phrase “without love, it cannot be seen” being waved in front of my face did not help like I was being TAUNTED. To the point where I found groups that were into the game and actually talked through my ideas, refined my thoughts, looked back on many MANY parts of the story and slowly I’ve come to a conclusion I’m actually sorta confident in. So! After so long i think its time for me to take my sherlock hat off and just keep going with this game. But not before my little journal on this absolutely ridiculous but amazing episode. Spoilers below for the episode itself and what i think the answer to the central mystery of the entire game is which I will be immediately going into before talking abt some other points as well as Erika again because I'm contractually obligated to. this will be a longer one

So after everything. After butting my head against the wall every time Zepar and Furfur told me without love it can’t be seen. After pouring over text LPs and reading this episode twice and having people help refine my thoughts. What I think happened was. 1967. November 29th. A baby is born on Rokkenjima and taken in by Kinzo Ushiromiya, still deep in his mourning of the Golden Witch Beatrice. As this baby grows up, Kinzo shapes their identity under his upbringing and they grow up with a very stunted sense of self. EIther as some sort of disguise or to give themselves more fulfillment, they assume the identity of a young maid named Shannon and a younger servant named Kanon. This helps them navigate their life on Rokkenjima fine until the larger Ushiromiya family enters the picture, specifically Battler, Jessica and George, whose love for them begins to pull their identity apart. After a conversation with a 12 year old Battler about the kind of woman he likes, and getting even closer with George and Jessica in the years after, this person is at a crossroads on whos wishes get to be fulfilled: Shannon’s, Kanon’s, or Beatrice’s, and this all comes to a head on October 4th, 1986, where they facilitate a series of murders as an internal competition and as a demonstration to the person who affected them the most: Battler Ushiromiya.

….I THINK. I didn’t have the epiphany I thought I would have, more like a slow slow realization when I began to piece together the early-suggested possibility that Shannon was behind the appearances of Beatrice that Maria sees, the weird status of Kanon’s body at the end of almost every twilight, how Kanon had to bail Battler out in the first place, and the Love Duel itself, Shannon, Kanon and Beatrice all being on equal footing within it, and why Shannon and Kanon’s (and Beatrice’s) love had to be mutually exclusive in the first place. Plus more little details like the 19 paces coinciding with the perceived 19 people on the island (family + Beato) and the 19 years since the master of the game had been born, the narration and several characters like Featherine saying that the solution to the previous question or to the logic error could be the key to the whole mystery and is a part of Beato’s heart (her identity). George’s reminiscence of Battler and Shannon as a 12 year old with Beato’s own reminiscence of it coinciding with it. The fact that Battler has literally never seen Kanon and Shannon in the same room and the mystery of how Battler saw Beatrice after the murders of the fourth game. But I think that Shannon, Kanon, and Beatrice are all identities of one person, the 16th person after subtracting Kinzo, Kanon and Shannon from the initial 18, and that their disguises and faked deaths are the key to solving not just the logic error room, but the entire game and magic as a whole. Granted I don’t have *everything* figured out with this yet but I feel like I have my foot in the door finally.

Just starting with the logic error room, we know that Erika and Kanon entered and Batler left, the chain was reset when Erika entered, yet by the end of Erika’s search, Kanon was nowhere in the guestroom. Airtight locked room murder, practically no way to get out of this one, at least through the door. And for good measure, Hideyoshi, George, Nanjo, Kumasawa and Shanon are in the next room over while *everyone else* is in the cousins’ room, and during the escape, the seals to the doors of these rooms are intact. Genuinely the only in that I had on this one at first was the “everyone else” wording with Kanon’s status as furniture as my teeny little screwdriver I was trying to pry this thing open with. Of course the furniture thing is mostly a metaphor for the crested servants’ character arcs, and Genji is considered a person who would be included as “everyone else” but it was a start. Incidentally, my attempts before this episode had me reassessing the idea that Shannon could have disguised herself as Beatrice for Maria from the earlier episodes, and it was like I needed something to bridge these two ideas. And the fact of Kanon coming to save Battler being confirmed in red makes it seem useless to try to figure out how he got out of the cousins' room, but figuring that out was an important first step to my reasoning, as it helped me begin forming the idea that, somehow, to have been out of the cousin’s room, he would have had to be somehow less than one, to not be his own person, to not be included in “everyone else”. And taking this to the guestroom, it eventually dawned on me that, if *he* wasn’t his own person, and his love for Jessica couldn’t exist if Shannon was going to be with George, then maybe these two got in the way of each other because they were the same person, and if this was true, Kanon could escape the guestroom by discarding the disguised and identity of ‘Kanon’, removing him from the guestroom, since it was never specified that nobody was in there, only that Kanon wasn’t. ‘Shannon’ in the next room over could have gotten out through the window, since the status of the seals on the window is a hole that is pointed out in the episode, but Dlanor forbids it from being used, I think because bringing it up without solving Kanon’s identity would be solving the mystery incorrectly or at least out of order.

From here, you can take this to many of the other murders in Question arcs. I think I pointed out that Shannon’s body was hidden from George by Hideyoshi in episode 1, but rereading made me realize that not only had Battler not properly seen it either, but if Kanon was at the scene too, following my theory, the body could not have been Shannon’s. Whose it was I’m not sure. If Kumasawa got into her closet for this that would be funny. If they had a body prepared then sure. But this in conjunction with Kanon’s death not being seen by Battler later leaves this person without the identity of Shannon OR Kanon, free to run around the mansion murdering as they please. Even better if they are prepared to disguise as Beatrice as well, as this would have allowed them to have Maria turn around so they could kill Genji, Nanjo, and Kumasawa without harming her, and when the 4 others would come in and investigate, this person would slip out and kill Natsuhi. For Eva and Hideyoshi, since it was Kanon (and Genji who came upon the crime scene), I think it’s possible that the chain being locked was a lie on Genji and Kanon’s part.

As we know in Episode 2, Kanon’s corpse disappears after his death to the confusion of almost everyone, but this is because the body, as Shannon, is in Kinzo’s study “informing him of the murders” which after learning of Kinzo’s pre-game death means she can be doing whatever she wants. Since Kanon never shows up again, she operates as she needs to until she dies with George and Gohda. I think Shannon struggled with killing both of them. It seemed like there was a genuine struggle to even get the door open and overpower George and Gohda, so her and George could have killed each other, or she kills herself after killing George in mourning, because the final twilight is complete, or because she believes Genji or Rosa will take care of the rest. If Shannon was alive, Rosa stopping Battler from disturbing the body and then chasing everyone out would work for that, but Battler also witnesses like, the viscera of her head spilling out of the hole in it, which could constitute as a body check..? Maybe there’s some fuckery with how this Shannon looks to us and to the people inside the story, and that’s how she bypasses Battler’s body check? idk this one isn’t so solid but Kanon’s missing body is so damning to me. Battler does see Beato and Kinzo at the end and this could have been the culprit as Beato. Battler doesn’t get a good look at her and only sees Kinzo’s back as well. And the magic stuff at the end of every episode in my interpretation is Battler having died and the anti-magic, objective perspective being removed. So idk still working on that one lmao

The biggest thing for Episode 3 is the locked room chain, and having two of the servants being assumed identities really helps. Kanon’s body is ‘found’ in the chapel, a very remote part of the island, so his body is hard to confirm. On the other hand, Shannon is ‘found’ in the parlor, the easiest room to operate from and one that the adults were likely to break the locked room status of by shattering the window. Because Battler sees none of these bodies, the true nature of Shannon and Kanon's status is never confirmed, and it can be assumed that the culprit, having (momentarily) discarded Kanon and Shannon, once again has free reign over the mansion. This comes into play after Eva’s murders take the group into the mansion, starting with Rosa and Maria’s deaths as its unlikely the culprit would kill Maria this early. Kyrie kills Hideyoshi here, briefly surviving a shot to the stomach and either trying to hit Eva or retaliating against her where it would hurt (unwittingly damning her own daughter so yknow that’s not horrible at all). Back when I was a Kyrietrice truther (how I miss those days) I thought she survived much longer and killed George and Nanjo, but it turns out Battler checking her corpse in the metaworld means that Battler confirmed her death in the game too so bleh. But I think the culprit killed George and laid him in the parlor, possibly leading him in as Shannon. From here I think she writes the 8 digit code, plays dead as the survivors come in and while they’re distracted (Eva, Jessica and Nanjo are caught up in a fight while Battler overtly is checked out of the situation, not looking closely at the corpses at all), she sneaks out, only to be caught and shot at by Eva, which is what blinds Jessica. The shot isn’t immediately fatal but ‘Shannon’ is bleeding out fast and before she dies, she finds and kills Nanjo, “revives” Kanon, as Beatrice puts it, and leads Jessica out to where they will rest for the remainder of the game.

Chapter 4 is weird, it feels impossible to substantiate anything concrete when the whole island is a huge catbox to Battler, cooped up in the guest house, until after almost all of the murders are committed. WIth Shannon/Kanon in the dining hall with everyone, the best I can work out right now is the first six are shot down by them, the rest escape but are killed as well, at some point in between the 8th and 10th killings, ‘Kanon’ is discarded, making him the ‘9th death’, George and Jessica are killed, not before Jessica sees the dead bodies, is chased to her room and works out that if she gets caught, she’ll probably end up like the rest of them, which she tells Battler. At some point, Kyrie manages to get to a phone and call Battler before being killed. The most concrete thing I can deduce is that the hostage group was potentially never in the dungeon, the status of the dungeon’s existence in that space being up in the air, Kanon’s body is not at the bottom of the well that Battler cannot access, when Beatrice shows up to Battler at the end of the 4th and is spurned by Battler not remembering his sin, she finds a way to die as Shannon and be found.

Very hazy still obviously but idk how else Kanon escapes. Honestly "these clues and circumstances make one body unaccounted for so they can go do whatever" feels sorta cheap which makes me second guess all of this, obv theres some tricks to the locked rooms themselves still but I didn't anticipate that one possible theory would clear up so much. And I don't know why Jessica and George are killed either, sure their love is complicated for a reason but it makes me curious what conditions the culprit has to put themselves in to be able to kill them. This also relies on the cooperation of some adults and Nanjo. Even tho I believe he’s nice I think Nanjo isn’t difficult considering he lies about Kinzo’s death for so long, and I feel like it wouldn’t be.. too hard to get any of the adults in on it if related to the inheritance? They do all need a lot of money right now. I still think some of Eva and Hideyoshi’s ep 1 behaviors are suspicious and it would be really funny and interesting if Kyrie was fuckin shit up. To me. 

Overall if this is what the twist is, I think it's neat since Kanon and Shannon have been among my favorites from the beginning and the idea of them being so closely tied to the thematic core of the story is exciting. My idea of magic is so heavily informed by Ange’s story, it makes me wonder, since the Beato we saw in 67 seemed to live in a great deal of emotional neglect, neglect of her own self rather than of “Beatrice” (probably her mother lol), if this culprit is the same in that she was born from Kinzo and a Beato, likely the 67 one, and their personhood was ignored for the sake of Kinzo having Beato again, maybe “Shannon” and “Kanon” are similar to how Maria summons Sakutaro or Ange summons the sisters, and she summons the servants as a way of enriching her sense of self? Would be sort of interesting but it also feels like its crossing over into like DID territory and after playing like 2 danganronpa games worth of poorly handled stuff like that I dont know. I do kinda feel sad for Jessica not really getting to be with Kanon. They constantly get the short end of the stick, obviously because their love hasn’t developed like George and Shannon’s did over the past few years or even how Battler and Beatrice’s did over the past 5 games, but their love is so full of potential, and I love both of them so much. I’d love to just see them happy together but its not Jessica’s fate sadly lmao.

If we’re to believe that it was Battler’s sin that influenced all of this, I do find it to be really interesting how Battler tends to parallel Kinzo, as another extension of the idea that Kinzo keeps this very harrowing grip on all aspects of Beatrice’s/the culprit’s life. That Battler echos Kinzo’s yearning for the old Beatrice isn’t even solely tragic for Battler’s situation, it also has a lot of terrible implications for what we haven’t seen of Kinzo yet, if Battler’s projection of Beatrice as his former lover onto a girl who sees him as her father is any indication of what Kinzo was like. At the very least, I still love Battler and I think he differs from Kinzo by holding onto the love he had for his family. Even after six games, he’s still just as disgusted at the murders, especially so here, and the portrayal of the mothers of the Ushiromiya family in Battler’s game shows that Battler’s capable of a great deal of reflection and understanding, something that’s hard to believe Kinzo was ever willing to offer. For the sin itself it feels like it’s between Battler being like his grandfather, him neglecting the culprit in some way or him denying magic to her and by extension, her way of like and her worldview, like what we saw with young Ange and Maria.

My last thought on this theory is that it makes so much of the love game in ep6, specifically Zepar and Furfur’s commentary, incredibly funny with how on the nose it is, and shifting from the perspective of the elder Beato who doesn’t get it to that of Kanon and Shannon who are painfully aware, is very eye opening to how heavy handed their dialogue is. Yet another moment of the writers desperately trying to guide you to the heart of the mystery which is comforting as a staple of this whole story. 

Looking back at the last post, it is funny how little I had to say about Erika Furudo then. She’s like my second favorite character now, as horrible as she is, and everything she does is in line with how she acted in ep5 (with one caveat we’ll get to), but just way more severe and like mask off about her cold-hearted rejection of emotional truths and desire for complete domination and control of what is accepted as the objective truth which is. very entertaining! Obviously saying a ton about the more clinical, quote unquote “intellectual” camps of mystery readers and writers and about how objective truth really is, which is all incredibly important to understanding the overall mystery, almost like a what not to do when playing Umineko.

But just focusing on Erika herself, she just feels so steeped in every detective trope you’ve ever heard of, and in a story that takes the time to build such nuanced dynamics and relationships between characters, the way she operates can be so two-dimensional it’s actually delightful to watch. Even when she’s given a backstory, it almost feels pre-packaged and thrown in to hastily give her depth and personal relation to truth on a conceptual level, as she is a detective, altho I don’t know if it’s completely hollow. Her back and forth with Dlanor is neat and her final response to it is an early tell that her refusal to recognize the emotions behind people’s truths is a fatal flaw of hers, probably caused by her falling out with her boyfriend. And with the whole game trusting you to see the emotions in everything and to not be cold and clinical in your assessment of the story, I can’t wholly believe she’s completely flat as a character, altho the commentary is still very unsubtle so idk fully. It’s not like bullshit characters can’t be meaningful, and I think there is a level of tragedy in the way she was fashioned on the game board as Bernkastel’s piece, trapped in the position of servitude to Bern, constantly emulating her callousness and seeking her approval, as if she’s like an author insert begging not to be removed by the author herself. 

Like I said, she exhibits almost all the same behaviors she did in the last episode, just more brutally here. It’s almost like after failing to beat Battler at the end of episode 5, she’s trying to prove with everything she has that she really is a completely deplorable person, which she does when she fucking kills 5 people in what was supposed to be a non-tragic game, and she does this using the one thing that makes her different from last time: her lack of detective authority. Not only is is a cool trick that runs alongside her casting off the image of a noble seeker of the truth so she can debase herself in order to chase down a more twisted conclusion, it speaks a lot to her own capabilities that even without the privileges of a detective in a classic mystery story, she’s still able to bend the Ushiromiya family to her will and think miles ahead of Battler, making her all the more terrifying. Another thing that makes her different here is that she’s not just trying to solve the murders anymore, she is actively trying to catch Battler in a logic error, trapping him in the broken rules of his own game forever, and once she convinces him to give her seals to a few of the rooms, she does this incredibly easily, guiding Battler to his own damnation in what is, in my opinion, the best battle between the human side and witch side in the entire game thus far. It is absolutely fucking insane the lengths Erika goes to in order to completely destroy Battler. Her command of the game from the very start as if she had planned every mode both of them were going to make is just diabolical and after being a bit desensitized after the past 5 chapters of killings, her BEHEADING five people including a mom in front of her 9 year old daughter just to fuck up Battler’s game genuinely made me sick. And this is all heightened by how well written, translated, and voiced Erika is throughout the entire chapter. Before I got into Umineko, I’d seen videos of the <OH VERY GOOD> scene completely out of context, and slowly I was drawn into wanting to play the game by the voice acting, the incredible music and tantalizingly rich atmosphere that I would have readily indulged in a full game of. But knowing the context of the scene now, how it acts as the final nail in the coffin of Battler and as the peak of Erika’s twisted level of ecstasy as she gleefully destroys this family, not just for domination of the truth but for the joy of revenge against Battler for denying her that ecstasy in the last game. It is just such an incredibly gripping stretch of scenes so fucking good oh my god.

All of this leads to the wedding of Erika and Battler, which really is the most deplorable action of Erika’s in this whole episode. Just the most disgusting subtext going on here that if you’ve read the novel I don’t even have to spell out. Just the depths she plummets to so she can exercise complete control over Battler. In stark contrast to the way Beatrice let Battler into her game, granting him the tools to understand her and to shed light on the mystery of her existence, finally granting her fulfillment, Erika is an intruder into Battler’s game in every sense of the word, and it’s Bern that created this monster in the first place to further toy with the lives of the Ushiromiya family, not completely different from how it was Kinzo's upbringing that made the adults of the Ushiromiya family who they were, leading to how theyr raised their own kids. Luckily Beatrice is the one who steps in at the last moment to save Battler here, exposing the one thing Erika cannot control: the emotions that are inherent to the facts of the murders. She cannot fathom that the solution to the murder isn’t some one million iq 4D chess move of Beatrice's and after an epiphany about the nature of multiple truths that not only feels kinda fake but is something Battler had come to 3 whole episodes ago with Virgilia and the Braun tubes, Beatrice and Battler’s final red truth shoots her down. Troll officially slayed don't be like Erika Furudo kids. Also there’s only 16 people on the island now! Hopefully you paid attention to Zepar and Furfur earlier. It is actually a funny wink wink nudge nudge that Beatrice entering the chapel to save Battler from the marriage runs parallel to Kanon entering the guest room. As if Ryukishi isnt already on his hands and knees tears in his eyes screaming and begging and groveling for the reader to understand whats going on here.

But yea Erika is a fascinating case study on the nature of truth, its objectivity and how it should be pursued. “True” does not always equal “right”, and the pursuit of objectivity can do immeasurable and irrevocable harm to innocent people just trying to find happiness in their own lives. I didn’t even mention her beefing with a literal 9 year old over a beginner magic trick, but it's clear here that her values run opposite to the games and the writers have a very very fun time criticizing those values through her. I learned this from a YouTube comment but apparently in some WTC bonus material, Rika from Higurashi mentions deep sea fish as omens of misfortune, which absolutely evokes the image of Erika washing up on the shores of Rokkenjima, foreshadowing the ensuing disaster. But after everything, as astute as she is as a riddle solver, she really has not even gotten out of the shallow end in terms of what the heart of a mystery really is, how trauma makes people act and why people are even driven to do the things that they do, ultimately looking like a fish out of water against this very magical setting. Get it like solitary deep sea fish honk honk

Other thoughts. I’m so happy to see Ange again! If the meta aspects of this story weren’t obvious enough, her and Hachijo/Featherine have the most overt reader/author relationship, and it’s funny how Ange’s risen to Battler’s status of reader insert but in a different way. Battler and Beatrice have a combative, opposing relationship but the way she presents the murders to Battler and beckons him to figure them out very much reflects the writers’ desire for the reader to recognize their fiction. On the outside, it seems tricky but is actually very nurturing. Now, this late in the story, Ange and Featherine have a much more outwardly respectful relationship, likened to a miko and her guardian, although there is a little seedling of toughness that Featherine seems to hold for Ange, probably because of the latter’s stubbornness about some aspects of the story, with Ange also harboring contempt for Featherine sensationalizing her trauma with the message bottles. Funny inversion with Battler and I like the continued commentary on true crime. I also think Ange’s pursuit of the truth and trouble with emotions as Featherine’s reader slightly echoes Bern’s other piece, Erika, although to a much, and I cannot stress that Ange is not anywhere near as flawed as Erika, MUCH lesser extent, and Ange clearly has a higher chance of actually coming to an understanding at the end of the episode, plus its more understanding of Ange to want some power over the narrative as someone whose life was nearly ruined by it, rather than a piece who was just dropped in without any other relation to the Ushiromiya’s, despite being at the mercy of her master. Hate M Zakky guy plotting to kill her at the end altho I figured he sniped those Sumadera henchmen for her earlier and its not surprising but. le sigh

And because you know I have to always bring up Kyrie. That scene with her and Jessica was. Amazing. When Jessica's eyes glazed over and prison strip started playing I lost my mind. Genuinely such a compelling backstory for Kyrie and I love Jessica’s challenge to it, and her finishing line that, as much as Kyrie has been both empowered and terrorized by her jealousy, it does not make her a noble person, and this idea that trauma doesn’t automatically make you virtuous, I believe, will probably be very pertinent to the ultimate mysteries of the story. Besides that, one detail I caught is Kyrie talking about having worked up the nerve to kill Asumu over many many years, and she calls it a miracle that some other force took her the moment that she would have. Earlier this episode, and it’s been echoed in the previous ones, Featherine mentions that magic, as something limited by human ability, is the power to follow through with or get away with it. It really makes me think that. Kyrie could have just. Killed Asumu and is using magic to exonerate herself fdsfdsfds. I mean I’m always biased to my idea of murderer bastard Kyrie and the mountain of circumstantial evidence I thought I had with that and I do think its really funny!!! That she’s the only adult who seems to know how to handle the WInchesters well enough to do it one handed in her cg AND her portrait (og and pachinko not ps3). But hey idk. Every time she makes that closed eyes open mouth portrait it makes me think that she might not be any more savvy than the other adults about whats going on so

Overall probably my favorite episode so far! It's like 6 > 4 = 3 > 1 = 2= 5. Similar to 4, it's not consistently the strongest but it has some of the highest highs and that's really what makes a piece of writing for me sometimes. And now that I'm on the cusp of the answers of the """answer""" arcs, I'm very excited for my personal documentation of my experiences with the game to pay off

[malevolentcast]

Hello once again, let me check my notes for my next list of questions. (lol im so sorry lol) 1) Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but in some of the commentaries/Q&As you've mentioned that Arthur Lester was a character whom you've had created for a while now before inserting him into Malevolent. I was wondering if you've had to (or plan on) changing up any of his already thought out past/history when making him the main character of Malevolent? Or has his previously built character/story stayed the same and you're just picking and choosing which aspects (and when) to incorporate them into the Malevolent story? 2) I have hopes that we'll get content of John and Arthur seeing a movie at some point (which may answer this question if nothing interrupts their show LOL) BUT, would John be the type of character to talk through a movie and react to everything happening on screen? Or would he be the type to stay quiet and hush anyone who tries to interrupt his movie experience? (I would assume the former just for Arthur's sake at least lol) 3) How often do you add/change little details, sfx, dialogue etc. from the Patreon released chapters to the Public release? I know in my chapter listens, at the beginning especially, there are significant differences (and in some cases entirely newly recorded line delivery?) I know there was a remastered release of Season 1 (and 2??) at some point, but after that do you normally just leave the chapters as is and string them together or do you sometimes add a couple more tweaks before releasing them publicly? 4) Ep 29 was fantastic with it's soundscaping! (and in general lol) So Im curious, and i cant recall if its been answered before, but what would you say was the most challenging soundscape for you to do to get to the point where you were satisfied with how it sounded? Are you the type that once its finished and out in the world it's considered done or are you the type that will go back and add more touch ups over time? (idk how public release stuff works so i imagine doing the latter would be a hassle) and I once again would like to thank you for your patience and kindness answering my novel of questions for you each time i send them in!

1) yes and the latter, the character was originally named Cobalt and was much angrier at the world.

2) tbd

3) after part 2 nothing but the music is changed. From season 3 on nothing is changed save one minor swap I did for chapter 144 and I wonder if anyone (yourself included) would notice or remember. I released 145 and when the public release went live I changed 144 minority and replaced it. Muhahaha

4) if I wasn’t lazy/busy it’d be the latter. I’d say the car at the end of 28 was tough.

Thank you!

[cubedmango]

okay its naina losing her fucking mind and doing unnecessary amounts of Thinking hours again so heres every single shot from the trailer (not the voice lines bc theyre different sometimes) paired with which part of the manga its from + speculation and stuff ok enjoy

1:

4 shots from .... well.................. the very beginning aka chapter 1

im guessing this scene being extended means theres going to be a little more setting up of the magic besides just adachi going "so i have this now huh" but probably not drama/rd amounts where half of the first ep was Just setup. maybe a few mins at most ??

2.

also chapter 1. almost all of these are gonna be ch1 btw lol

also was anyone gonna tell me fujisakis hair isnt actually black or was i supposed to find that out for the first ever time yesterday

3.

ch1

p much the same im gonna assume

4.

ok this one im not super sure but i think its either somewhere in this section from ch1

or this part from ch 4

thought it might be him working overtime at first but theres ppl in the bg so it cant be that, and i cant rlly think of any other scene where he'd be making that kind of expression so .??? yeah

5.

ch1

Prelude to Elevator Scene........ also dont think anythings gonna be changed here (except their office building girl it looks fancey.... what happened to the windows tho)

6.

.................ch1

the icon. the moment. the visionary. i dont think any adaptation is legally allowed to change elevator scene so

7.

first one maybe ch5.4 . other three ch5.3

these guys exist. im here for animated udon where is she. end of comment

8.

back to ch1

really funny how they animated this bit . adachi u dramatic bitch never change please (also dont think anythings literally gonna change here)

9.

SHOCKING!!! CHAPTER 2!!!!!!!!!!! U READ THAT RIGHT CHAPTER TWOOO

HES WEARIN THE PJS..!!!! ok two things 1) this specific shot will probs cut to kurosawas side of things . maybe 2) im thinking ch1 and 2 might both be in ep1 which will be A First for any version but with the lack of any exposition and how fast ch1 ends im assuming theyll have ch2 for the second half of the ep

10.

ch1

theyre not even standing that close in the manga wh . two bros 5 feet apart come on

11.

end of ch1

its literally the same. also anime adachi w the cup looks unfairly cute what the fuck. anyways ep1 might not be ending on this iconic scene actually rip.... at least its still there

end of post. also bonus but adachi screaming at the end is probs not from this last scene but during the overtime scene . ok bye

[beardisable]

been rewatching the teasers for new context

"learn the history. find kill the founder" we didnt really learn much history in generation 1. this is... a call to action for US, for the next parts. to keep watching and figure out the lore. so in the end we can know enough to kill the founder....? SURELY HAHA

(the inaguration has its separate post here)

i dont think Connecting... has much? Its the tape we see in the ending with the showfall chime in the video, now we have confirmation the person recording and showfall are working together(prob the same corp anyways)

now Connected... (copied text from a comment lmao)

"Look into infinity" "One of many" "One of millions" you are not the first or the last to be chosen, you will join a cast

"You are now worthy" you have been chosen to join :)

"One to another One to yours One to another" not really sure about these? maybe "from one to another role"? feel free to rb/reply with ideas

The posters! it seems like we DO have contact with someone from actually the outside? who does know whats going on and tries to warn us? or is it another ploy by showfall/the founder to entice us into the mystery...

we see a figure block the screen for a moment, i find the white square instead of ranboos black box square Very interesting. i dont think its the founder bc it feels way too obvious to give out this easily? but i do think the white box might mean like. this person has been completely brainwashed and under control...

and then the message is taped over by ranboos missing posters, which we know now were made BY showfall media. 2 posters are torn, to show WATCH from the below poster. as it is the only message they agree with. keep watching!

Announcement this is the same guy that flashed by in the previous video

"all around THIS world" is pretty suspicious as i saw someone point out... are there other worlds?

This seperate person(?) is trying to contact us during this

"where is this signal going?" hmm... perhaps the outsider isnt even completely sure what they are doing? just trying to do SOMETHING to stop this, to stop us from watching and enabling the continuing of this

"Found them!" is interesting... its not in red so ill assume its by showfall? maybe sneeg and charlie have tried to escape before, but gotten caught again?

"is this working? i dont have much time. i dont know whats happening." AH so yes they are trying to do Something but not really sure what/how

"i dont know what you are" INTERESTING. this makes me wonder still if the outsider actually is free of showfalls influence, can they even understand we are the audience, or is it about something else...

"it already found him" i wonder if... ok maybe nonsense theory but maybe this video and its interruptions were made after the first stream was done..? the red text outsider got some access as Hetch/H "messed" with the systems, but had to cut it short when they got ranboo after all in the end?

"it got everyone, everyone but me. i have to save them, i have to stop this" OR or... the outsider is another person who managed to escape the... "draft"

also the announcer guys head keeps swiveling and goes featureless in the end like haha nice generation loss the social experiments episode 3 ending reference

The Hero ok so the obvious being the censor bar.. it was the black box all along, he was always doomed like that... i do wonder though if the switch between the pixel and irl is meant to show like... the blinking between control and concious decisions and stuff that we see a lot of with the mask

i cant figure out anything that can be recontextualized in the 2 trailers rn. maybe puzzler saying "your final game begins now" since its the second episode but... also he dies in the end of ep 3 so it was his final run of the show? (but also i dont think theyre dead so lmao idk)

i do find the lack of trailer 3 very interesting too... lulling us into a false sense of security that this 3rd one isnt a show and is real?

ok im. brain empty. if yall have comments on this let em rip id love to talk about this(once my cells regenerate)

[ropebunnykant]

hello hello. first of all how are you my love. secondly i've come here since it's always better to consult the experts of the matter. do we have any temporal infos about sand's bday im going insane i need to know this boy full chart

hiiiii i’m alright, still reeling from the ep today but skdkskd how are you? also love being considered an expert 🫡

and i’m so glad you asked bc i’ve been thinking about this right. so like every episode seems to take place over the course of a couple days but the space between episodes varies it seems? like we know ep1 is in august (which is interesting bc this is for their senior year project but the thai school year actually starts in may? tho maybe university is different idk) when in august? who knows, but we’ll say it’s mid-august since that’s when it aired

so we know episode one takes course over 1-2 weeks between the project assignment and then top being introduced and him courting mew which ends with him asking mew out publicly at the bar - this brings us to the end of august

ep2 picks up right where we left off and appears to follow the next weekish or at least couple of days since i assume the waterskiing thing they did happened a couple days after just based on the fact that it happens after sandray’s first hang and and their second one is the night of the waterskiing thing, and sand’s reaction to ray and the way he phrases their last interaction implies it wasn’t like a one day time skip if that makes sense, so my guess is it’s at least a couple days between - which could bring us to the beginning of september

ep3 picks up again kind of where we left off with sandray (though the bostonick montage implies a time skip but i’m assuming it’s just a montage of their last hookup until that day and nick says it’s been an everyday thing so that feels a safe bet sjdkekd) and ep3 again seems to have like a weekish for the timeline with all of them planning for the party and the sandray hookup having obviously been fairly recent and yada yada and it ends with the party, which brings us to early/mid september

ep4 once again starts where we left off (after the flashback) with ray taking mew home and AGAIN we can assume this is happening over the course of a week or so bc we get multiple different days with bigger events happening and it ends with ray in the bath deciding to move onto sand - bringing us to mid/late september

AND THIS IS WHERE IT GETS TRICKY! bc ep5 doesn’t follow the same pattern! it doesn’t pick up where we left off and it instead implies a time skip with sand helping ray at the beginning + then sand saying that ray’s tagging along AGAIN… which implies this has been happening for a couple days at least. SO. based on the montage at the beginning of the ep imma guess about a week has past since the end of ep4 and since the episode opens the day before sand’s birthday, that makes sand’s birthday end of september/beginning of october. also this episode is the only one that takes place over just one day after the initial montage! very interesting stuff especially since that ending kicks off the big drama we’ve been waiting for

anyways in conclusion: he’s a libra, thank you for coming to my tedtalk

[winderlylandchime]

1/2 and we are at 5x12 and just so you know: he sent a voice note to his friend and said ‘guess what the fuck they did? They had Brian propose. He proposed. And i still have yet to hear Blondie say that he loves him but yeah, he proposed’ all that was said with the same enthusiasm he has for anything Mel and Linds related.

And the ep starts with the fuckathon ‘i missed my boys! *points to the tv* LOOK HES FINALLY FUCKING THE RIGHT PERSON ON THE TABLE AND DOESNT HAVE TO IMAGINE HIM!’ Justin is about to name the house ‘fuck palace! *said with a big proud smile* (Justin calls it Britin) huh? Ohhhh like Brange- wait nevermind those two broke up. But you get my drift. That’s cute! I fuck with it. *moves his broken arm in air as he says* Britin. I like it’ and now we’re at the scene where everyone gets invitations *laughing like crazy and then stops* ‘The FUCK does Ben mean he wasnt gonna show Mike the invitation? Man fuck you both. Just last episode it was all friendly with Brian and now this? Man, fuck you Mike. You know, he speaks with a confidence of a much taller man..NOBODY TOLD HIM HE SHOWED UP TO THE HOSPITAL? MAN FUCK ALL OF YOU…okay, maybe I overreacted at Ben earlier’ and we are at the Mel/Linds scene where they think Brian wont care about Canada ‘i dont know what the fuck is going on but fuck both of them for that. He loves that kid.’ ‘EMMETT IS PLANNING THE WEDDING?! So this is really happening huh? BRIAN IS GETTING HIM THE FLOWERS! Ha take that mel! (Mikey walks into frame) ugh, you again. (brian says mikey always stood up for him) have we been watching the same show? (Mikey says Brian is a married man after the kiss) so he cant kiss his homies anymore? Once again marriage loses a point’ we are now at the scene where Justin gives Jen the invitation ‘please tell him he’s too young..or are we both not judging? (It shows Justin smiling) damn it, we’re not judging. YOURE GONNA BE BRIANS MOTHER IN LAW! If i get to see another prom type of dance, maybe i wont hate this wedding thing so much.’ And we are at the scene where the girls tell Brian/Mikey about canada ‘this is all shady. They did this with the custody and the award. CANADA?! Do they really think Canada is safer? I mean i get it looks safer but bro…don’t be dumb. Brian say no.’ ‘Who the fuck is saying Brian is okay with Gus leaving? I hate that everyone assumes he’s just okay with everything fucked up happening. (Brian says mel and linds are back together again) yeah, this week. (Mikey says brian was never much in gus’ life) Dude, i feel like there is a tree somewhere out there that you owe an apology to for wasting it’s oxygen. You can literally see it on Brian’s face that he hit below the belt.’ And we are at Britin scene again!! ‘LOOK AT THEM! If im honest, i don’t even care if those two leave but leave Gus here. Why is everyone just assuming that Brian doesn’t care? THANK YOU BLONDIE! HES NOT HIS DAD! (Justin says whats it gonna take to admit it, another bomb line) well he already admitted it AFTER HIS CANCER BUT THE WRITERS FORGOT ABOUT THAT.’ And we are at the Lindsay and Justin scene ‘aww Blondie got a review! NICE blondie is gonna be in galleries! NEW YORK? And what? he can’t paint In Pittsburgh? She wants him to move to New York? Isnt it enough she wants to move Gus to Canada? Unless if we move Brian there as well, its not fucking happening!’ ‘DREW! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? THATS NOT EMY! This is all bullshit’ and we are back with Mel/Linds and Brian/Mikey ‘this would make more sense at the beginning of the show. This is so dumb. Fucked people live everywhere. FUCK THIS. GUS STAYS EXACTLY BRIAN! Exactly Brian call them out! They just decided for you that youll be okay with it! Fuck them. EXACTLY BRIAN! Mel, youre running right now so fuck off. FUCK YOU MEL! Can she fuck off. HE HAS CARED ABOUT GUS SINCE THE START!’ *pauses tv* ‘i have not liked these two since the beginning. Which is the writers fault cause Mel and Brian had potential as friends when she cheated. BUT RIGHT NOW? I wanna fight them. *looks at me* HOLD ME BACK! Cause i will fight them!’

Aw he likes Britin! You can finally tell him the ship name.

Emmett doing the wedding planning is the one and only thing I like about the stupid wedding.

You can literally see it on Brian’s face that he hit below the belt. Thank you Gale! OH MY GOD YOU CAN TELL HIM GALE IS STRAIGHT! Or better yet, make him guess who’s gay and straight from the show (did he know Hal before watching?)

well he already admitted it AFTER HIS CANCER BUT THE WRITERS FORGOT ABOUT THAT. HOW FUCKING RIGHT YOU ARE BROTHER ANON.

Melanie and Brian would have been such good friends. How Lindsay treated both of them was unforgivable.

[foxtriestobiteandmaimandkilland]

ok before i forget and the episode comes out im gonna just write down 4 my own sake what i think is gonna happen on tonights owl house episode (well technically tonights but i think id rather think abt it as tmrws bc it comes out at like 3am so ill watch it in the morning).

anyways most likely it begins like exactly where we left off anddd the collectors new game is this like dream sequence type shit w im assuming either like fucking idk. luzs biggest fears or how the collector views luz. or like both ? idk. but like her biggest fears bc i mean she sees herself as literally as bad as belos so thats im guessing like everyone else also thinks the her being in his clothes type shit. and then also that one scene with her friends all in like their old clothes kinda echoing that one season 1 ep 2 scene. im guessing the reason theyre in each of those clothes is bccc errr. well theyre not from the same time that much is clear.  id like to say theyre from the worst times of their life or whatever but that doesnt make sense 4 gus bc grom wasnt like. bad 4 him ? unless theyre all being forced into kinda roles like luz is too ? but that seems like it only rlly makes sense 4 amity n hunter bc hunters in his golden guard uniform n amitys just in her. Default Boiling Isle clothes ig ? which i GUESS could be like when she was around her mum ??? but then why not go full out and give her the green hair again ???? im just confused abt that part honestly unless it was to do w just significant parts of luzs life but then again why the fuck is gus in his grom outfit. anyways im obsessing 2 much over that one scene. er. ok um. anyways luz does this whole dream sequence thing for someee reason anddd. well belos n raine have their like fight im guessing. maybe bc likeeee idk eda does smth and we get some raeda angst maybe ??? and then bla bla belos possesses the titan oopsie doopsie. wait. wait ni that wouldnt rlly make sense. bc like the titans kinda fucked up. and we saw he couldnt possess grimwalker corpses anymore bc they were all fucked up n rotted. and the titan is likeeee loadsssss older than caleb so that wouldnt make sense. unless its like he can possess the body but cant move it much rlly beyond like environmental horror. like a humphrey omori type deal. except big humphrey is dead. and bones. and fucking hates air conditioning. and is a puritan. anyways errr yeah and thennnn eda n king becomee fuckinnn rabid n shit. king looks much bigger in that one scene tho so maybe he like becomes So Rabid he gets all titany n shit or whatever idfk. errrr. idk what like the hexquad n co would do. bc theres no way toh team would have time to give them all their own dream sequence stuff. and it wouldnt make sense bc the collector only rlly has it out for luz bc hes jealous of her for being besties w king. so like. idk. maybe they just like vibe. or hhave a big heart 2 heart moment. errrr. kindaaa hoping honestly that huntlow doesnt get a big like wow rainbows hearts scene like lumity did because having their sorta quiet understanding of mutual feelings feels more fitting for them yknow. but i wouldnt complain if they got smth big n obvious i just think itd be more fitting if they got smth sorta quiet and subtle. errr and thennnnn err fuckinnn. everyone comes together to save the day and kill belos and let that old man fuckin die already. and thennnn luz decides like fuck it we got a portal who says u cant live in 2 realms at once eda did it why the fuck wont u copy her. anddd they all lived happily ever after the end. oh andddd eda n camila meet n they do NOT have a mum fight because they both LOVE each othe because they both love LUZ and they are both GRATEFUL that the other took CARE of her and the end. oh and hooty becomes door again. the end part 2. and then disney blows up and everyone cheers and the end part 3.

[s0lar-ch3ri]

certainly surprised by the auddent makeout session but im not complaining

yeah im thinkingg up angst and happiness

also do not worey for like chibo i have a plan for your patreon absence

yeah either jay pokes fun or its nicknames lol

dakota has pretzels number for no fucking reason

if someone tries to shut down the store permanently (which id say proba some villian has tried since ya know heroes frequent and shit) grizz handles it and its not pretty (murder and violence)

their weapons are also here and real and shit cause they never know when a break in may happen

its also not just gill. like will assumes he has as much brain as dakota and then he sees jays fucking glowing eye and even chip like use burning hands and what not

the bakery has a sign saying no hair no service (ref to the beginning eps of riptide with bald men evil shit)

chip lost his pinkie here too! not sure from what just uet, but his prosthetic was made by jay in her spare time

will (while not a fan of homework) is always very willing to help ollie with his, like vyncent

jrwi riptide bakery au except gillion tries to fight the dough when it rises because that’s Not Possible, jay gets bored waiting for things to cook and decides to Blast That Shit (with a flamethrower), and chip overshares to a random customer and gets the cops called on them for having a Small Boy In The Back Who Does Unpaid Labor For Us (ollie)

[jams-sims]

One thing I will say is that I like the fact when you pick a LI (for me it was Cas this ep). Gabe doesnt put up a fight and you activity say you'll see them tomorrow. Realistically there no reason why after Gabe hurts you. Would want to spend the night with him. (Not discounting anyone who is 100% into gabe). Realistically i would want to reconnect with later and have an actual talk that says "im truly sorry." And then you and Gabe work through his self hate.

I innocently don't have a problem with anything that happen in immortal desires. I wish and i fucking pray they give me that poly ending but I know they wont cause PB is boring.

But I wanted to talk about the chaeacter development between Gabe and Cas. Cas basically admits he didnt have anything it implyed that he was very lonely. That you being in his life maybe if he had friends he wouldnt have turned. Improvished, working a down in out job, of course he turns. His parents either abandon him or died.

As much of an asshole he is, he has been honest because he has had nothing for a long time.

Gabe- Gabe my poor baby boy. His story line is very tragic. Turned into a vampire and his family killed im assuming, it going to turn out that Lawyern killed his parents and turned him and Gabe doesnt remember. Cas say lawyern is manipulative. That some crazy shit that he would do. Gabe is written prefectly as a friend to lover. And I think he should be pushed as someone MC would want to help. Because honestly i love both and I think Gabe really needs the support and I like that.

He sad without it being to bad and when it does hit the woe as me levels. You have Cas and yourself there to put him in his place which make him readjust and I like that.

When he complain and Cas rips into them saying this is your fault you know better. Gabe doesnt fight it, and when you the MC reforces it he fully begins to reflect.

Yes he is a little holier than thou but that a easy fix and should be a important plot point for him.

[konaizumi]

A Tale of a Thousand Stars ep 8 thoughts/reaction

did i watch this episode secretly on my phone while i was in class bc i couldn’t stand waiting a whole hour to watch the new ep? maybe

tian visiting torfun’s memorial to leave flowers and tell her that he’s going to pha pun dao was sweet

also him and phupha missing each other again was just a really nice scene and phupha wondering who left her flowers

i have decided to forgive dr nam for last episode (the snooping not the flirting thing) bc i know he was just concerned about his friend and he didn’t intend for phupha to have that kind of reaction, but he still should’ve confronted tian directly before telling phupha

the way tian is looking at longtae in the beginning, seeing how supportive he’s being and knowing that he’s probably about to lose longtae as well

god this scene was so painful to watch, just knowing what was coming

but the editing that combines tian’s speech with phupha reading through the notebook

also, thank you to the writers for confirming that the tian/torfun similarities are bc he’s been reading the notebook and not because torfun’s spirit is possessing him, i didn’t think they would do that but nice to have confirmation

poor tian really did go there with the best intentions

oof, when the music goes silent when phupha interrupts his speech

also, i said this last week, but it should’ve been the rangers responsibility to tell everyone torfun had died and the fact that they didn’t only added to tian’s burden and the animosity aimed at him, and it annoyed me the way the rangers (perhaps unintentionally) let tian take on the full blame and didn’t admit that they had known about torfun’s death from the start

god and the way tian’s heart break is visible on his face as soon as phupha interrupts/confronts him and he realizes that phupha won’t be on his side

and mix’s acting in this scene (and the entire episode) is just so good, you can see the way he’s desperately trying to keep in together and not completely break down, and his heartbreak when he realizes he’s all alone

also, i made a longer post about how i understand phupha’s reaction, I think it’s pretty natural and that he’s not overreacting, however, i do wish he hadn’t confronted tian so publicly like that 

just everything about this scene is just so good in the most painful way, especially the sad orchestral version of the theme song

now i think this ep is too sad for me to say it’s my favorite, but from a narrative/cinematography perspective it is my favorite, it was just really well done

i was really hoping the kids would have a bigger role this ep and begin the forgiveness process for the rest of the village, so i was excited when Meejoo came but then p’aof decided to stab me directly in the heart when she asked what death is

(also im sorry but how old are these kids that she doesn’t know what the word death is?)

(also given that everything that happens in this ep happens within like a 30 hour period, i still hold hope for the kids forgiving next ep once they have some time to process)

at least they didn’t make me watch the scene where tian had to explain what death was, that would’ve killed me

i understand the villager’s reactions too, and i do kind of wish tian would just stay home and give them some time to grieve and process before trying to interact with them–i don’t blame tian for keeping the truth from them this long, but he does need to respect the pain they’re going through

also this scene with phupha really fucked me up, the way phupha remains stone faced even though he’s clearly in a lot of pain

“i wish i could return it to her” one of the things about this story that really fucks me up is that you can’t have both torfun and tian--torfun had to die for tian to live, and if torfun had lived then tian would have died and all the characters are in a way stuck with this moral dilemma of “choosing” between tian and torfun, even if the decision was already made for them, and tian has had to deal with this problem since the beginning and made his choice a long time ago that he would have preferred that torfun had lived instead of him bc he feels like she had more to live for and left behind more than he would’ve

also the scene is so much more painful knowing that just that morning phupha had finally said out loud that he wanted tian to stay

and i was really ton this scene between understanding phupha’s reaction and where he’s coming from but also being like “please stop talking to my son like that, he feels bad enough as is”

i have often had the emotion of “i want to walk through the screen so i can give this character a hug” and i have literally never felt it stronger than this episode of atots

also thank you to dr nam who told phupha not that he was wrong for his actions, but that he should’ve confronted tian differently, also for figuring out that tian wasn’t the driver

the fact that tian just walked through the tea field so he knows that either khama was lying to him or that longtae saw him in the field and hid from him

poor longtae tho, thought he knew what was coming then was hit with “im responsible for her death”

you know what? i didn’t realize khama would have such a recurring role from the first episode, but i really like him--he’s trying to do his best for the village and that isn’t always easy and he’s the first to try to think about tian’s perspective even when it’s clearly difficult for him

also i love khaotung, he does a really good job as longtae, and as much as i loved him as chonlatee, i prefer him in more mature roles like longtae or fong

did dr nam really think phupha would keep letting tian stay in his room?

it came as a surprise to likely no one but i am glad to have definitve confirmation that tian was in fact not driving the car

against my wishes, tul did not show up this episode to give tian a hug so i hope he’s in the next ep to provide some much needed emotional support

tian’s involvement in torfun’s death is also complicated because to say he had no responsibility in it would be wrong but to say he had full responsibility wouldn’t be right either, there was so much of the situation that was just due to chance, as it the case in any accident, so i appreciate the nuance of the narrative in that tian does take responsibility (even if he takes too much) but other characters like longtae argue that it’s not his fault, bc it’s easy from an outside perspective to say it’s not tian’s fault but it would be much harder to be in tian’s position and not feel responsible that his actions lead to torfun’s death

longtae is truly best boi

tian saying he’s okay with just longtae understanding him is so sad but at the same time it’s good that he’s not trying to force other people to understand or forgive him

now i really want to know what torfun’s wish is bc you know it’s going to be all meaningful and thematically relevant

istg if i had a fucking nickel for every time tian has tried to give me a heart attack

i spent the entirety of part 4 yelling at tian to just stop being stupid

like i get it, you don’t feel like you have the time to waste to go find phupha, but still

also im worried that maybe the reason he was so adamant about doing it himself and not finding phupha was because he didn’t feel like he could go to phupha or that phupha might not believe him

tian please just listen to longtae being the voice of reason

or at least send longtae back to the village to go get phupha if you’re this determined

as soon as he pulled out his phone i fucking knew the flash would go off bc tian can’t be smart without also being dumb

pls don’t hit my son he has a weak heart

longtae running away like “i didn’t sign up for this shit”

pls stop hitting my son

i was wondering how tian’s dad would become involved in the story again and tian name dropping him to escape being killed by poachers was not it

but sakda was clearly scared when tian first said the name so obvi they’re connected and i’m assuming the person who called tian’s dad was either sakda or one of the other men there which means that tian’s dad is doing illegal shit (surprise surprise)

tian i know you’re stressed but pls let rang provide first aid

that montage at the end tho really hit me

also the parallels between this scene and the one when tian fainted in the field, it’s literally the exact same scene but the roles are reversed

also the fucking post credits scene, the emotional whiplash, the pain from knowing phupha said this stuff literally hours before everything went wrong

the way i squealed when phupha said i do (and throught the rest of the scene), it was literally the sweetest thing, it might be my favorite phutian moment so far

so for the last two episodes, im assuming that tian’s dad coming to get him and the dad being involved in illegal stuff will be the main external conflict, i wouldn’t be surprised if next ep ended with the dad showing up and demanding to take tian back

also the next ep preview, khama telling tian to forgive himself, im weak

this episode just made me feel so much, the story is just so complex and nuanced, and the characters are real and messy, and pls more bl in the future that aren’t afraid to tell more serious stories (as much as i love the romcom style of most bls i would love some more variety)

[gizkasparadise]

Can you spoil what happened in todays ep of lovers in the red sky? I feel so bad for the ML after everything he's been through now he has to have this demon to take over his body and I assume killed some people based on last weeks trailer? I just hope there's no love triangle give ML a break lmao

sure, i'll do my best! tbh not a lot happens in terms of plot

spoilers for ep 3:

you're right in that ma wang!possessed ha ram kills some people, primarily the guards that are out looking for him. he does it in a way that's humanly impossible (draining the life out of them), which seems like it will be important for later

ma wang!possessed ha ram was after chun ki's eyes, but chun ki was protected by both samshin and ho ryung--a guardian spirit of the mountain and palace who is a super cool blue/white tiger slash little girl. they fight ma wang!possessed ha ram until he's unpossessed

ha ram collapses out of a tree lol and falls on chun ki in a Kdrama Post-Possession Sweaty Delirium. she Trope Piggybacks him to a Seclusion Hut and takes care of him overnight. when he wakes, he doesn't remember anything about what happened the night before

also when he wakes, chun ki is gone because she's gone to get him a doctor. her guardians (the headmaster and the chef) don't believe her reasons for why she's been out all night and essentially ground her by locking her in the shed, which is the standard punishment for all joseon-era drama misbehaving heroines on a time-sensitive mission

MEANWHILE the king is like send the most expendable son (see: the third one) out to look for my missing precious ha ram!! as ominous owls begin to stack up around the palace

so the third prince sets out to find ha ram

the second prince goes out to find clues about the "water demon" with the freaky deaky shaman lady. because. villains.

both of them make a crime scene guard's day very difficult

word gets out that ha ram's information broker alter ego (idr his alias right now, sorry) has gone missing, so his manservant has gone to search for him

ha ram Reminisces and Ruminates while he's left alone, and begins to remember the little girl he met in the peach blossom field and wonders why he associates her with the painter he just met

ha ram's man servant shows up, they both agree it's for the best that he's rescued by someone else.

chun ki shows up-- ha ram asks her for her name. in the background the third prince's search dogs appear to have caught ha ram's scent

END EPISODE

im probably forgetting stuff, but that's the Essence as far as i recall it!