#would’ve loved to see this in the remake style

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Many Tiny Idiots, Some Irreverent Hotness & an Engagement

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Oct 2024 Week 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

Fourever You (Thai Thurs YT) ep 4 of 16 - OK so Hill has really been trying to pick him up from the beginning? I don’t understand why there’s any doubt around girls at all. He Gay everyone. Why is Tatch (2 Moons Ambassador) the only seme in Thai BL history allowed to actually just say "I don’t date women.”

Why is that so hard?

This show is definitely frustrating me, but I must admit that it’s the one I look forward to the most each week.

Love Sick 2024 (Thai Sun iQIYI) ep 6 of 15 - I am now only watching the uncut version, and I gotta say it makes all the difference. Please don’t watch the cut version of this show if you can possibly help it. It’s like cliff's notes of cliff's notes. I love the tiny side couple of tough kid + the dork of the music club. Ah the beach sequence. Condenced WAY DOWN, I see. We lost one of the most iconic lines in all BL but i think everything is improved by how much tighter the plot is in the remake (6 episodes became 1!). So I’m enjoying it. Weirdly, I'm not sure I would be enjoying it, if I hadn’t seen the original.

Is anyone watching this on iQIYI who hasn't seen the original? Just out of curiosity. Tell me how it's going for you, would ya? 

I'm doing a face-off style watch along of this new version versus the original 2014-2015 version.

Kidnap (Fri YT) ep 8 of 12 - I don’t entirely get it. They were apart for approximately 11 minutes. I would’ve thought GMMTV would’ve drawn it out for longer and more angst. Smiley face kiss was cute, but the star of this ep was that gorgeous pale blue waffle sweater on Q. What a great color for Leng! 

Jack & Joker (Thai Mon IQIYI) ep 7 of 12 - I do like that we’re seeing an honest exploration of poverty and hopelessness. I’m not sure how I feel about it inside my BL, tho I’m willing to persavere for this pair.

Battle of the Writers (Sun YT) ep 12 end - Someone said recently "just imagine what TutorYim could do with an actual script." And you know what? I agree. Because they sure as shit haven’t gotten one yet. And it’s getting quite frustrating. I’m having JaFirst flashbacks. Frankly, 2024 has been a year of unmitigated BL nonsense narratives. And I’m tired of it. I know it’s bog standard for the genre, but it feels like there’s been more than normal faff this year.

Summary 

An incredibly convoluted, disjointed, and badly-paced drama that is about(?) some writers writing a thing and some boys who knew each other when they were kids, lots of pretty sexy times, and not much else. The visuals are gorgeous, the side couples are overly appealing (with little to no screen time), the dubbing and sound is absurdly bad, and the fantasy novel (play within a play) makes no sense whatsoever while also managing to be the show that we all actually wanted to see instead of what we were given. 6/10 

In conclusion, I have no interest in attempting to understand or revisit this show, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend it, but if you have nothing better to do…… the sex is good (frankly I have exes that satisfy all the same criteria). So there it is: this show is like a bad but still hot ex.  

Every You Every Me (Thai Mon Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - Nice to see Fiat in something again. Namping is very angel baby.�� This episode made me think that this pair would do a great Thai remake of Love Tractor, and now that’s pretty much all I want in life. I enjoyed wardrobe in this episode. It looks like we get the same characters next week. Cool. 

Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) ep 6 of 10 - I guess everyone is messy slutty bisexual in this show? Do I care? Not even slightly. BLabies, I don’t think I’m gonna make it. I might have to drop this one.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

See Your Love (Taiwan Weds Gaga) ep 1-2 of 13 - I adore it, what a wonderful meet cute. I love a Taiwanese BL that starts with a gratuitous kidnapping, some chasing, and a bit of a fight sequence. We in OLD fashioned territory. 

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YT) ep 5 of ? - I continue to enjoy it very much.

My Damn Business (Korea Sat YT) eps 4 of 7 - Oh! Is the sleazy boss gonna turn out to be actually a sleazy player? That would be an interesting twist.

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (Korea Thurs Gaga) eps 3 of 8 - I’m really not a big fan of my pain coming from Korea. I’m getting a whiff of To My Star 2 from this one. And that does not make me happy. I know: high quality high angst yada yada blah blah blah. But also unnecessary pain? No thank you. 

First Note Of Love (Taiwan Mon Gaga) ep 12 end - Of course, I love the part where Reese and Orca spoke each other’s languages.

Conclusion

Had this been produced a mere 3 or 4 years ago, I would’ve been quite enamored. But by comparison to what we’ve been getting, this is a lackluster offering. A has-been musician and a much younger composer meet, fall in love, and attempt to rectify his stalled musical career. Cute side couple of a Thai popstar + his Korean manager. Everyone is very fine and it was a fine show. I wasn’t disappointed, but I wasn’t impressed either. 8/10 

Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues Netflix?) 6 of 10 eps - It was a fun little confession and climax, there was crying, and a bridge kiss (been a while) all of this appeals to me even if they are tiny idiots (in the immortal words of @heretherebedork )

Eccentric Romance (Korea Weds Viki) eps 5-6 of 12 - More tiny idiot boyfriends who don’t realize they’re boyfriends. That’s it, that’s all that’s happening. Ostensibly there’s some kind of murder. But it seems to be acting more like set dressing than plot.

It's airing but...

The Hidden Moon (Sat WeTV) 10 eps - Supernatural romance (my ghost boyfriend trope) by Violet Rain (I Feel You Linger). A man is hired to write an article about an old mansion. He sees the ghosts of people who died at the mansion, falls in love with one of them. Was substantially recast. I loved IFYLITA except the ending so I think I'll let this one run it's course you can tell me if it's work tracking down... if they managed to land it. I have my doubts.

In case you missed it

Mew & Tul legit engaged.

Love in the Big City (Korea Viki) 8ep - Vicki dropped them all at once which means I did what I do under such circumstances and skipped to watch the final episode. (I am well aware that this makes me a monster. ) Anygay, that told me that I’m not gonna be bothering to watch the series. Now y'all can tell me how amazing it is and what I’ve missed and blah blah blah. But I’m comfortable with my choice. It’s ICRY 2.0 + HIV. And I’m not willing to play its literatti game. At some point I might watch it on fast-forward for the sex scenes, but I’m not at that point yet. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

Still Coming:

10/27 Perfect 10 Liners (Thai Sun YouTube?) 24 eps! - New directing yet another university BL with engineers + their mentees. Based on a Jittirain novel. with a massive cast and massive run time. We will be watching this until APRIL of 2025!

ForceBook playing the same old characters = enemies to lovers tsunder/sunshine jock/nerd thing.

PerthChimonSanta are doing the cohabitation cool guy/dork trope.

JuniorMark are doing popular sunshine meets lonely sad boy (the only interesting pair IMHO).

I think Blue Canvas of Youthful Days has started on iQIYI but I only get it on Viki and that doesn't drop for a few days, plus...... CBL......? Not sure I'll report on this one unless it's really good.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

From Uncle Unknown which is truly terrible but this was so SO funny. I'm still chuckling when I think about it.

The first representation of shipping in a BL that I actually enjoyed. Also Dat's clear approval of being shipped didn't hurt. (Judge)

(lask week)

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many at-ings.

[strong-with-the-sarcasm]

Part 20: I speak in tongues

"I'm not like you, I speak in tongues. It's a different language to those of us, who’ve faced the storm against all odds and found the truth inside." -can u see me in the dark? by Halestorm, I Prevail

Regent Masterlist Part 19 AO3 Mundane Macabre (Main)

When Ellie first began traveling, she’d (rightfully) assumed that she would never stop being surprised by humankind. Humans are curious creatures, capable of both kindness and cruelty in equal measure. 

(The Fentons were prime examples of cruelty)

(Cruel towards the living, dead and those who lie in between.) 

(Their children suffered, maybe even more than the ghosts they tried to hunt) 

With time, Ellie had decided to create her alter ego of Wraith, the quiet being of shadows that was just eerie enough to pass as something other regardless of what form she was in. Wraith was Ellie’s favorite mask to slip on, to hide from the living world as she tried to help where she could. 

Ellie Nightingale was a nomadic medium with a preference for punk rock, bleached hair and her leather jacket. 

Wraith was the opposite in ways that mattered, was created to help with the violence the halfa was witness to, fists bruised and weapons bloody. 

Ellie was not. 

Perhaps she’d broken herself into too many pieces, too many identities, for a solid visage to form. Cracked like a mirror, dirty and covered in old marker messages from friends long gone. Messages she’d carry with her no matter what name she went by, or style of hair, leather jacket or denim- halfa or not. 

That’s what made her unique. 

(Clone.) 

(Failure.)

(Danielle.)

(Ellie.) 

(Wraith.) 

Vlad had been her origin story, her beginning, but he was no longer her master. Slave to no one, daughter of nobody. 

But she was a sister to good people. 

Sometimes Ellie caught herself thinking ‘what would Danny do?’ when confronted with an extraordinary problem, trying to channel his brilliance despite their distance. He might not consider himself very intelligent, but Danny was the cleverest (and kindest) person she’d ever met. He loved her, his clone made as a violation of his bodily autonomy and by his fruitloop of a godfather. 

(Superman had not treated his clone the same.) 

(She understood his feelings of violation) 

(Kon was a living being and needed support too.) 

However, Jazz was her idol. 

Many people would’ve written off the woman as a know-it-all golden child, but those in the inner circle knew the truth. Jazz was the first child of the Fentons, who had nobody but herself to teach or to guide her. When Danny was born, Jasmine devoted everything to caring for him, to raising him as their parents should’ve. 

(His first words, his first steps)

Jasmine Fenton was a woman who loved fiercely and so, so very deeply that she’s willing to sacrifice her own wellbeing to ensure the happiness of the ones lucky enough to be given her love. 

With the rise to Regency and the subsequent downfall of her progenitors, Jasmine Fenton was left to rot in the basement with Danny’s grave, just like the yellow flowers she so fondly left in memorial. 

(Ellie would forever grieve the loss of Jasmine Fenton, the mother she so desperately wanted.) 

Yet, the Lady Nightingale arose from the grave, ash and blood staining her name, a ghost in an inhuman shell, ready to remake the world should she have to burn it down. 

(Jazz carried so few regrets, but they weighed her down like anchors.) 

(One day they might drown her in the dark depths.) 

(Her template’s younger visage admist the spectral mist spoke volumes.) 

(Maybe one day the faces of the elder Fentons would fade away.)

(Ellie could only hope.) 

The Regent, despite having staked her territory in the Ridge alongside Phantom, was unofficially claimed as one of the Crime Alley’s own. Defending the working girls, helping kids with homework or getting them away from ner-do-wells, the Regent had not hesitated to reach out a helping hand even after being targeted by those who would break her will. 

Black Mask, for instance, had put a bounty on the woman’s head with an eagerness that disgusted many others. People knew what a man like him would do with powerful woman, what enjoyment he’d receive breaking her. 

It was also no secret how much the Mask wanted to get his hands on the Red Hood. 

The helmeted vigilante had been a frequent pain in the ass ever since his debut some years ago, destroying his black market operations and getting the Big Bat involved. Sionis wanted little more than to rip off the fucker’s head- helmet and all. 

However, Sionis had tried his hand at subtly for once- he’d hired freelance to take out Hood’s second-in-command while the guy had his guard down with his girlfriend, a pretty red-haired civilian Sionis wouldn’t mind a turn with. The idea was to throw Hood’s gang leadership into chaos so Black Mask’s men could sweep in. Jason Todd was high in the ranks that his death would do just that. 

Figures the guy would survive. 

Jason had been seen with his girlfriend in the Ridge only days after the failed assassination attempt, no worse for the wear. Red Hood had come sniffing around his operations, with Regent stalking his men and the Phantom destroying his latest shipment of merchandise. Though, with the under-the-table job he’d hired out for, Hood found nothing linking him to the attempt on his second-in-command. 

It was time to change tactics. 

The Regent was confirmed to be in a romantic relationship with Hood, if the various Gothamite twitter posts and the sub-reddit r/RedHoodRegent dedicated to commemorating their obvious status, was to be believed. 

There wasn’t many problems with targeting the older sword-wielding vigilante; unlike Robin, Regent didn’t have the Big Bat for backup, but did have the Phantom. The ghost-like meta (or actual ghost, Sionis wasn’t sure how much he believed the rumors) was the biggest obstacle between him and Regent. If Mask could distract (or get rid of) Phantom, then his men could sweep in and eliminate Regent when the vigilante inevitably falls to his numbers. Sure, Sionis was sure he would  lose quite a few men, but it's Gotham. The numbers can always be recouped later. 

Perhaps when Red Hood tries to save his girlfriend, Mask could finally get his hands on him. 

Two birds, one stone. 

Oh yes, Sionis liked this plan. 

He had some calls to make.

A/N: I'm back! This was supposed to be posted on my birthday back in August, but I wasn't in the best headspace for writing or even being on any social media. I have several pieces waiting in the wings to be finished and edited, but I'm back and ready to write again! (Famous last words.)

(To those who guessed Black Mask had something to do with the bomb, kudos.)

Also, for those who might be uncomforable with Sionis' thoughts about Jazz, just remember- he's a bad guy, deranged and over all not the kind of morally upstanding person you want in charge of anything. Things get really dark where it concerns Sionis and what he plans for the future. Just a warning, because those who've read my other works know my penchant for angst.

[scesketch]

Rant incoming wee woo wee woo

Hi Minecraft lovers… anyone else feeling a bit mocked? A bit made fun of? Bc this Minecraft movie we’re getting… this is not it.

First of all, purely from a storytelling perspective, they’ve mucked up right at the beginning with the main characters. Steve is the player character. He’s the vessel through which we (before creating our own skins, of course) experience the game. So WHO ARE THE RANDOS?? Who are we experiencing this story through? They’re all wildly different, don’t fit the Minecraft universe at all—it’s like they’re trying to remake Jumanji poorly. How are we supposed to connect with these people if we don’t know who they are??? Like imagine if they’d done this with the Mario movie. Everyone would’ve hated it. (Also movie Steve’s sweater is awful. Why does it have two collars? Just no.)

Secondly, you have THOUSANDS of talented animators and artists who make Minecraft videos and movies and music videos and shorts in the original style of Minecraft! They could’ve gone the route of the Lego Movie and used the original style and medium. Instead they’re doing live action, with hyper realistic textures on all the blocks and a world that looks nothing like the Minecraft we know and love. Who are they trying to cater to? People who love Jason Momoa’s biceps specifically? You can still cast him, he can voice act, why did we need him as a full live action human being when that just… isn’t Minecraft? This movie isn’t artistic. It’s not creative. And I feel so bad for the people that had to make it, and the people who didn’t get to because the executives greenlit a live action dumpster fire instead of something animated and interesting. In the day and age of things like Arcane and Spiderverse, this is just sad.

And finally, the thing that unsettles me most: they’ve made the whole thing ridiculous. The freaking sheep. The llama. The piglins even. They look terrible and are almost definitely just comedic relief. Minecraft can be used for shits and giggles, yes, but Minecraft isn’t ridiculous—it’s HauntingTM. Where’s the C418? Where’s the render distance fog? Where’s the mournful groan of zombies you can’t see yet, somewhere deep inside a cave? They took one of the most melancholy games in existence and made it a weirdly 80’s-themed circus with no depth or intrigue. And it makes me, as a Minecraft player and fan, feel mocked. Bc I love Minecraft. The real Minecraft. But if this is how the world perceives my beloved block game, I dunno, man, I kinda don’t want them to know I like it, not because I’m ashamed, but because I feel deeply and intentionally misunderstood. Idk maybe I’m just autistic but this is getting to me in a way I didn’t expect, and I think it’s because something I love has been so ruthlessly cheapened. It’s so heartless. I can’t bear to look at it.

[goldensunset]

as with any thing i’m obsessed with i often daydream about what i personally would do if i got the chance to remake pla and make any changes i wanted

some things include:

•better graphics of course and like just bigger areas obv

•*gestures to both of volo’s designs* Something ahout those! lol

•also i’d remove his evil laughter at the celestica ruins lol. don’t give it away boy!!!!!! or at least turn it into a simple, moderately off putting chuckle

•make a Bad Ending cutscene for if you lose to volo. or at the very least a cut to black and a concerning sound effect of some sort and a game over

•otherwise i really can’t think of how i’d top his fight lol it was soooo good

•i would. change his dialogue right beforehand to make it a little more natural and logical. maybe even have him intimidatingly approach you as if he were trying to grab the plates from you until your lead pokémon jumps out to protect you. ik it would never happen like that in this series but like please it would be so good

•this is a big one- i’d make it so you really aren’t allowed to access any base camps in the wilds during the red sky exile sequence. giving you access to most things you had in jubilife anyway, plus you being allowed underneath the banner of the galaxy team, kinda cheapened it. me personally i will always choose not to use those during that part and only do things at cogita’s place. it would be suuuuper cool if like the guys at the camps like threatened you if you tried to approach!

•i think all wild pokémon should’ve taken on an aggressive nature during the red sky part. or more alphas. or like in my fantasy if you make one of them angry you start getting Chased all the way across the map, baby!!! like you’ve got a horde going after you! like it’s actively terrifying. either that or everyone gets a timid disposition because Nature is being Abnormal and they’re scared. k but like imagine the strange lightning suddenly coming down around you at random and striking random pokémon around you and they go insane. you never know when it’s gonna happen. watch out for that level 3 bidoof man!!!

•would’ve made the frenzied nobles a lil more Frenzied outside their battles. i’d love to be just wandering around the map and see them in the distance, visibly aggressively stomping around, and oh no is that thing coming this way? oh it better not be— like i want that thang to be Violent

•i know voice acting is never going to happen bc of being able to name your character etc and i get it but also like they could do it persona style right??? change the spoken dialogue ever so slightly from the text to be more generic and just use pronouns and such. listen we deserve to hear volo go insane

•find a way to fit the distortion world into the plot. no listen i don’t care how but just do it

•also make the stone portal a whole cave system like in the original gen 4! we deserve a dramatic ascent up the mountain. with!!! the mount coronet theme playing the whole time!!!!!

•i would’ve liked to battle volo more often throughout the story! but in a casual way such as not to build up suspicion for him or anything

•just uhhh. have the overworld music play more often and get interrupted by less stuff lol. also if at all possible do it sv style and have different battle tracks for each area that don’t break the immersion. no but like i know they’ve gotta be loyal to the sinnoh wild encounter theme ik…

might think of more later. but like this is what the inside of my brain looks like. no hate to the game as it is of course the entire reason i have so many thoughts like this is because i love it way too much. these are my fantasies

[f1nalboys]

ok i’ve collected my thoughts on evil dead rise so under the cut i will share them hehe!! THERE R SPOILERS UNDER HERE!!! i talk abt what i liked and didn’t like and i talk specifically abt scenes!!!! if y’all wanna talk to me abt it more feel free to send me an ask, i’m abt to nap cus of cramps but i will answer them when i’m up <3 lmk if u agree or not and what ur fave scenes were!!!

so

i didn’t hate it! i’d say overrall this is a high three or a very low 4, but i don’t think i’ll be rewatching this any time soon :/ i def prefer the 2013 remake but this was still enjoyable and i had a good time watching it!!!

i think the problem i had was i had seen the trailers (which were all clips basically? at least the official ones i found on tik tok were clips from the movie) and had spoiled major moments of it for myself. normally i’m okay with and love spoilers but i think i would’ve enjoyed this one in particular more if the few scenes had been a surprise to me!!

things i loved: ELLIE!!!! holy shit, i truly think she stole the show. the difference in her as human vs as a deadite was so cool, i loved her mommy shtick she kept through out, and i think she was so eerie (i legit had a nightmare abt her killing me a few days ago before i had even watched the movie and that never happens) so!!!! i also liked the story and the change of setting, it being in an apartment and confined on that one floor (for the most part) was so interesting and i loved the difference in the book of the dead from the other movies AND the vinyl!!!! the gore was top notch and i saw lots of practical effects which will always make a movie at least 2 stars for me!! also the girl who played kassie was good AND she did her own stunt for the elevator scene which was so cool hehe. i liked the more subtle call backs to the past movies in the franchise more than the overt ones!!

i rlly liked the scenes of ellie in the hallway through the peephole and how there was blood dripping over it!!! i I LOVED THE SCENE WHERE ELLIE IS LAYING OK THE GROUND AND BRIDGET AND DANNY CRY OVER HER BODY BEFORE LAUGHING. it was such a good scene omg!!!! also the scene of bridget under the sheet floating down the hallway following danny and kassie GODDDDD!!!! and not to praise deadite ellie again but the way she moves was so cool hehe, i rlly liked how subtly off they all walked and how it felt like they were getting used to being in a body again!!!

i also loved the opening title card scene after the girl falls into the water!!!! seeing her rise up in a blasphemous way along w the title card and have it reflect in the water OH it was so good!!! and the scene where the girl is talking and saying the line of the book the other one is reading made me go 😦😦 so!!!

also im also glad they didn’t include a tree scene, but they payed homage w the elevator wires. that scene was unnecessary in the first movies and is one of my least fave parts of the franchise (especially with how Certain Fans treat it) so i’m glad they didn’t include it LMFAO

things i didn’t like: most of the acting 😔 i feel bad knocking the actors bc obviously i’m not one and idk how difficult it is, but the acting from the non-deadites really fell flat for me most of the time :/ the main girl, beth, was so close to mia in looks and attitude it just kept making me think of her which wasn’t good bc i prefer mia LMFAO 😔 the acting from bridget was rlly where i found the movie lacking though :/ some of the shots were def not my type of directing style but i know they’re all call backs to the franchise so i cant knock them too bad but the weird split screen stuff that happened (only 2 times???) was enough for me to text my friend and go “ew” LMAO. i also hated how under utilized the other characters were! the old man, the young guy who maybe had a thing with ellie, the 2 kids. it was rlly obvious they were there to boost the body count to me which sucked :(

also side note beth’s acting rlly annoyed me towards the end especially in the garage with the close ups of her face and her lip twitching but JDNWKDNWJ again thags a personal thing so i’m choosing to ignore it when i rate the movie

the baby stuff w beth was annoying as was the groupie thing but i think that’s just me so i didn’t count it against them hehe. the scene where all of the deadite are telling beth and kassie “dead by dawn” was so fucking cheesy i couldn’t find it in myself to be even a little unnerved which sucked bc i kind of loved the combining scene but it felt lack luster at the end… some of the character decisions were also so ridiculous and i KNOW it’s a movie but guys. stop leaving ur weapons embedded in them. TAKE THEM EITH YOU. PLEASE. i know it wouldn’t have helped but at the end why r u leaving it up to chance??? i also thought the ending scene was a little meh with her not noticing the blood filled parking lot until after she was in her car? idk and to add to that, the opening scene was kind of :/ but i liked the drone fake out they did

[influencermagazineuk]

Zayn Malik, the famous singer and former member of One Direction, is rumored to perform with Pakistani band AUR in Los Angeles. Fans are excited about the possibility of hearing their favorite artists share the stage. Though there has been no official confirmation yet, social media is buzzing with speculation. Zayn is currently promoting his fourth album, Room Under the Stairs, during his world tour. Zayn Malik’s Upcoming Concert in Los Angeles Zayn Malik, the British singer widely known for his time in One Direction, is currently on a world tour to promote his fourth album, Room Under the Stairs. The album was released in May 2024 and has gained attention for its emotional lyrics and unique sound. Recently, fans began speculating that Zayn might share the stage with the Pakistani band AUR during his concerts in Los Angeles on January 29th and 31st, 2024. These rumors began when a fan page named ‘zayntrece’ posted about the possible collaboration. The post claimed that AUR would open the show for Zayn, sparking excitement among followers. Credits: Instagram Social Media Buzz and Fan Reactions As soon as the news spread, social media platforms were flooded with comments from fans. Many expressed excitement, while others felt envious that the collaboration might only happen in Los Angeles. One fan humorously commented, “This is making me jealous. LA people are so lucky. Zayn might sing live in Urdu, and AUR could perform Tu Hai Kahan. Why weren’t we in the UK? So unfair!” Another fan demanded confirmation, saying, “We need this to be true!” Some fans expressed disappointment that Zayn and AUR had not planned shows in the UK. A fan wrote, “Why didn’t they come here? We have so many Urdu-speaking fans who would’ve enjoyed the lyrics!” The excitement online highlights how much fans admire both Zayn Malik and AUR. The idea of blending Zayn’s soulful voice with AUR’s melodious music has captured the imagination of many. Past Collaboration Between Zayn Malik and AUR Zayn Malik and AUR previously worked together in 2023 when they released a remake of the hit song Tu Hai Kahan (Where Are You). This collaboration was praised by listeners worldwide, especially fans of South Asian music. The song showcased Zayn’s ability to connect with different cultures and styles. It also proved his talent for singing in multiple languages, as parts of the song were in Urdu. Fans loved hearing Zayn experiment with South Asian music, and the track gained millions of views online. Given their successful partnership, it is no surprise that people are excited about the possibility of seeing Zayn and AUR perform together live. Zayn Malik’s Musical Journey Zayn Malik rose to fame as a member of the popular boyband One Direction. After leaving the group in 2015, he started his solo career and quickly became a global star. His first solo album, Mind of Mine, was released in 2016 and featured hit songs like Pillowtalk. Since then, Zayn has released several albums, each showcasing his growth as an artist. His latest album, Room Under the Stairs, has been described as emotional and deeply personal. The album reflects Zayn’s thoughts and feelings, touching on topics like love, loss, and self-discovery. The ongoing tour for this album has already attracted large crowds, and fans are eager to see what surprises Zayn has planned for his concerts. About the Pakistani Band AUR AUR is a well-known music group from Pakistan. The band gained popularity for their heartfelt lyrics and soothing melodies. Their song Tu Hai Kahan became a massive hit, winning fans not only in Pakistan but also internationally. AUR’s music often focuses on themes of love and longing, making it relatable to many listeners. The band has a loyal fanbase, especially among South Asian audiences. Their collaboration with Zayn Malik in 2023 brought them even more attention. Fans admired how the two artists blended their styles to create a unique musical experience. The Excitement Around the Rumored Collaboration Fans are particularly excited about the idea of hearing Zayn sing in Urdu again. Many believe this would help connect cultures and introduce more people to South Asian music. If the rumors are true, the Los Angeles concerts could feature a mix of Zayn’s English songs and AUR’s Urdu tracks. This combination would create a memorable experience for fans. Unconfirmed Reports and Speculation Despite all the excitement, there has been no official statement from Zayn Malik or AUR confirming the collaboration. Credits: Instagram Representatives for both artists have remained silent, leaving fans to rely on social media updates and rumors. However, this uncertainty has not stopped people from talking about the possibility. Some fans have even started planning trips to Los Angeles in the hopes of witnessing the performance. Others are hoping the collaboration might be announced for more cities in the future. What This Could Mean for Music Fans A performance by Zayn Malik and AUR would highlight the growing popularity of South Asian music on the global stage. It would also show how music can bring people from different cultures together. For Zayn, this collaboration could strengthen his connection with South Asian fans, especially those who have admired his willingness to explore new styles. For AUR, performing alongside an international star like Zayn Malik could open doors to a wider audience. It could also inspire other South Asian artists to collaborate with Western musicians. Read the full article

[k00296662]

Final Brief

I had a great time on this project, and while I feel I could’ve done a bit more, particularly in terms of background art, I’m very happy with where this project ended up. It took us a while to get a solid idea, but once we had that we were ready to go. It was nice to have a group that valued everyone’s input.

I think the hardest part of this project was figuring out our story and script, at least for me. We went through a couple different ideas, some were too silly or needlessly complicated, but I’m happy with the story we landed on, even though it wasn’t my own idea. Splitting the group to come up with our own scripts based on the idea and deciding on the elements of each script we liked best was a really interesting experience. It gave the group a chance to see everyone’s vision, and thus I feel we had a stronger base when making our final script.

From there we each went and researched our assigned areas. While I looked at previous moon missions and the vehicles(the Lunar Module and the Lunar Roving Vehicle), I took notes on what i felt what relevant to the project. I also looked at a few books on filmmaking and the composition of shots, which I found helped me in the story boarding process.

Storyboarding would have to be my favourite part of this project. I really enjoyed getting the chance to take a script and visualise it. There were some areas that I didn’t know what to do with initially, but it was nice as different members of my group had different ideas, and together our storyboards made a, in my opinion, cohesive and interesting storyboard. That was nice to adapt in the style we chose when I was remaking the storyboard.

Concept work was also very enjoyable. I focused on the design of the character’s faces, the LRV/buggy and the mural in the cave. I really appreciated my teammates for all their hard work in their own areas, and especially enjoyed to see what they were coming up with. With slightly more time I would’ve loved to have worked on more backgrounds, but as it is, I’m happy with what I’ve produced.

The presentation was an area I feel I could’ve improved on, at least with myself. I was nervous and while I tried not to let that affect me, I feel I could’ve been more confident in my words and had more to say in my sections.

Overall though, I really couldn’t have asked for a better group to work with and I’m very happy with the project we’ve ended up with.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Bewitched (2005)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

During the Mid ‘00s, there was a brief trend of taking popular television series from the ‘60s and onwards and re-imagining/comedically interpreting them as films. Bewitched must be one of the worst examples. It’s unfunny, wastes the talents of its stars and squanders its potential.

After a series of box-office flops, Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrell) agrees to play the role of Darrin in a remake of the 1960s sitcom Bewitched. He insists on being the show's star, which means the producers must cast a nobody in the role of his witch wife, Samantha. Isabel Bigelow (Nicole Kidman), an actual witch, sees the role as an opportunity to step away from the world of sorcery she’s grown tired of but soon becomes displeased with her narcissistic co-star.

When in a leading role, Will Ferrell and his comedic style tends to be polarizing. Either audiences think he's a riot, or they can't stand him. In this case, neither camp will have any fun. It isn’t that he’s everdoing his schtick. Actually, the only laughs you get come when director Nora Ephron allows him to let loose. Even then, she lets him go on for too long half the time but he actually succeeds in generating chuckles, unlike the script Nora co-wrote with her sister, Delia Ephron. Steve Carell has a brief role and he’s annoying. Michael Caine as Isabel’s father is slightly amusing but nothing he does goes anywhere and the smiles you get when he's on-screen come from the actor’s charisma, not his lines. Isabel’s newfound friends (Kristin Chenoweth and Heather Burns) are useless, Jack’s sycophant producer Ritchie (Jason Schwarztman) is irritating. You don’t even get a funny talking puppet cat. If the movie had been funny, the gag where Isabel literally rewinds time would’ve been amusing. It isn’t, so all you can do is think about how stupid she must be for forgetting about this spell every other time.

I saved my complaints about the magic for now, because it’s what ultimately sinks the ship. Overall, the fact that Isabel can cast spells means NOTHING. While on TV, the production crew use special effects to make her “mother” Endora (Shirley MacLain) appear. Jack’s lack of charisma makes everyone hate him and love Isabel. She didn’t really have to audition for the role - she just gets the part because she can wiggle her nose. She doesn’t even want to use magic so she doesn’t except in a few scenes you could edit out or turn into fantasy/dream sequences. You could’ve made this movie as just two people on the set of a TV series but that would've forced Bewitched to ditch many of its favourite “gag”. See, Isabel was raised by witches and warlocks, so she has no idea what the Muggle world is like. In fact, she barely understands English. She’s so dumb she depends on her spellcasting to get through the day when she isn’t trapped in a standard, boring rom-com.

Bewitched throws enough darts toward its target to score a couple of hits. For viewers, they come at a steep price. On top of the poorly written and conceived story, the lousy direction, and the non-sensical or confusing aspects (I still can’t figure out if Carole Shelley’s character is Isabel’s real aunt coincidentally called Clara or a character from the show somehow brought to life), this is a romantic comedy that’s never the least bit romantic. Will Ferrell and Nicole Kidman have charm as individuals but there are no sparks between them. Bewitched deserves to be burned at the stake. (October 26, 2020)

[mxfishtastic]

Indeed! The artwork featured in the movie is ‘fucking beautiful’, featuring gorgeously painted backgrounds- often mixing in watercolors for more dramatic lighting! I simply adore it, you can even tell which parts of this frame were animated and how, as each part would’ve been done on a separate clear frame.

Notably the background is in an entirely different style- as it didn’t move and could get away with more complexity as it didn’t need to be animated so much - you may also notice a similar thing being used in the remake! Though in more subtle ways, such as the line art being purposefully uneven in the sprite art of most characters as they aren’t fully animated: only exceptions being the fully animated intro which has largely equal linework weight, since animating lineweight would make the animation look uneven at worse case, or be near impossible to animate at best case, and as previously mentioned due to the flop that was the original movie they wouldn’t have had the budget for this.

Then the waves would be animated on another layer over top, as a moving element. This is why they are more ‘flat’ and have less shading then the layer below.

The man of the hour, Giovanni Potage, was on top of this, though his lovely flowing locks were likely behind this cell to create the moving effects. You can even see the slight bleed of the inks bleeding into the partridge, if you zoom close enough! That slight fuzziness around the edges was from exactly that.

The text was most likely added in editing.

The Evil Merman (1989)

Totally real screen cap, source? Just trust me, trust me bro, trust 🙏

No you can't find the movie but IT TOTALLY EXISTS!!! TRUST ME!!!

[sunnysynthsunshine]

My Thoughts on the Saban/Toonmakers Moon pilot

Positives: 

banger theme song

some neat designs (the moon gliders, power ups, serenity and beryl’s outfits)

I liked the she-ra-esque approach they went for

the girls are pretty

the cast and crew looked like they had fun working on it 

Negatives:

very off-model animation

Usagi/Victoria isn’t a cry-baby and I liked that about her, it made her relatable, 

Usagi doesn’t have her trademark odango hair (her actress is pretty though)

Sailor Moon needs Tuxedo Mask’s rose to activate Moon Tiara Action, while in the anime she can do that on her own, the pilot implies that she needs her man to activate her power up

The Silver Millennium backstory: it’s not as tragic as it was depicted in the manga/anime 

some of the changes to the other sailor scouts were unnecessary tbh, 

(Sailor Mercury, while I like how her civilian form looks like Kimber from Jem, the other changes just don’t really fit her character, it’s fine if other people like her, but I’ll always see sailor mercury as blue haired Amy).

(Sailor Venus, while Minako is a bit air-headed, she still cares about fighting and saving the galaxy, balancing that with her love for showbiz and performing, her ToonMakers/Saban Moon counterpart sounds like she cares more about partying than fighting)

(Sailor Jupiter, is mostly fine, but that hair, I know in the video her actress said the wigs were badly made, but yeah, if her animated hair was similar to Hotaru’s (who has a similar style) it would’ve worked a bit better)

(Sailor Mars, is mostly fine, but I miss the hot headed and snarky attitude that her manga/anime self had, it’s like ToonMakers/Saban Moon has more Sailor Jupiter traits than Sailor Mars traits)

Luna.... why the colour change and it feels so different in this version, the pgsm version of Luna is more believable and she’s a plush toy!!

and finally while it is interesting that there’s these hidden “american remakes” of anime in the 90s if Saban/ToonMakers Moon had gotten greenlit we wouldn’t have gotten to see the original anime in all it’s glory, anime would’ve taken longer to get more popular in the west and the 90s anime was also a lot more feminist in it’s messages, while Saban/ToonMakers Moon was definitely diverse and experimental with some creative potential, over all I’m happy that we just got the dubbed anime in the end even if it had it’s own changes

that said...I am very happy that it was finally found and that the cast and crew that Raven interviewed sounded like they had a good time producing it, it’s interesting to see all the links that it had with other cartoons and animators at the time  like (Dan Povenmire, creator of Phineas and Ferb) and (Patricia Alice Albrecht, the late voice of Pizzazz from Jem and the holograms).

American Sailor Moon could hypothetically work nowadays with how popular shows like Power Rangers and Voltron have become but they’d need the right cast and crew to make it actually work this time with animation that’s on model and details a bit more accurate to the source material.

links to Ray Mona’s videos on the subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdYD5StqHxk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L67YFwnQCQ

[x0401x]

Absurdly overdue, but at long last, I have worked up the will to watch the VE movie. And I gotta say, I actually liked that the pacing wasn’t as choppy and the storyline isn’t as incoherent as in the anime series. I loved Yuris’s story. It was the highlight of the whole movie for me, if I’m being very honest, and I remember a lot of Anons saying the same thing back when the title had just been released. Another highlight is that my headcanon that Gil and Dietfried’s dad would be voiced by either Nakata Jouji or Hayami Shou was spot-on. It’s all about being a Fate Series fanfic even when it isn’t. 👌

The rest of this movie, though... it did horribly in the romance department, but the glaring amount of sheer dedication poured into it makes me wish we could’ve seen that story with characters other than Gil and Violet. I keep thinking that it could’ve been Luculia and Spencer instead, with the same plot, except familial in nature instead of romantic. It would’ve been a thousand times more interesting than Luculia’s episode in the show.

There was just a lot of detail and thought put into the course of events and how one thing leads to the other in this movie, even though sometimes things happened inexplicably. Like Gilbert teleporting from his home to the grape plantation during the few minutes that Hodgins and Violet were talking to each other, and then back to his home in the apparently short meantime that they were looking for him. A good half of the movie was a nice watch, and it’s a pity to see it wasted on so many cold takes about Gil and his relationship with Violet.

Also, I feel kinda bad for this, but I cry-laughed REALLY hard when Gil and Violet were running towards each other at the end. I literally don’t remember the last time my stomach and cheeks hurt so much. On one side, we’ve got Gilbert rolling off the cliff like a huge sack of shit, and on the other, we have Violet slowly emerging from the sea full-on Godzilla style. I fucking lost it, y’all.

So yeah, I did like the parts of the movie that weren’t about GilVi, and all the while, I was hoping we can one day get a remake where this story is recycled to give Luculia the awesome backstory she deserves. But boy, did a lot of stuff rub me the wrong way in this thing. Mainly related to Gil, of course.

I couldn’t stand the way he abandoned everyone and everything, and then didn’t even bat a lash at his best friend and older brother when they came to see him after so many years. Or how the movie backpedals real hard at Violet’s character development. Or that Violet’s friends and family don’t seem to miss her much and her absence is accepted rather fast.

I hated that Gil and Dietfried’s roles reversed completely. That Gil only went after Violet once Dietfried guaranteed he’d be free of his duties as heir of the Bougainvillea. That Violet didn’t say she loved him in the end. All of this and a lot more.

But I had already read about what would happen as soon as the movie came out in Japan. I knew very well what to expect, so it didn’t bother me as much. I just get amused at the huge discrepancy between novel!Gil, who says he isn’t worthy of Violet despite the fact that there’s literally no one better than him for her in canon, and anime!Gil saying it, with it being completely true this time. I can’t deal with how hysterical that is.

One thing that bothers me, though, is that the anime seems to have ended on a rather dull note. That last scene where Violet is walking through a dark road completely alone felt very lonely and quite depressing. Compared to the novel’s counterpart, the last page of volume 2, where Violet is walking next to a rail road towards a glorious sunrise, it’s really clear how both have completely opposite vibes. The books are full of hope and positivity, of love actually winning against adversity in the best ways possible without being unconvincing. Meanwhile, the anime is limiting and lacks heart aside from its original content. It doesn’t take the source material seriously enough and gives its own material too much attention.

I always have a hard time reminding myself of why it is the way it is. And coming to terms with the fact that we’ll never see the best of it. That we can only have it on paper and in our heads. It sure is frustrating, but at the very least, the novel still continues to offer us bits of happiness every now and then, and that’s enough comfortation for me.

Anyway, back to translating Last Letter. >:^)

[flyinglotus777]

Netflix’s Squid Game

SPOILER ALERT! If you are interested in watching the series, I HIGHLY suggest you do so. This article will be an overall synopsis and my review of the show. For an in-depth analysis of the symbolism of the show and ending, scroll down to the fourth to last paragraph.

The Netflix show, “Squid Game,” written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk is a phenomenal Korean drama centered around our victor, Seong Gi-hun, played by Lee Jung-jae. Contestants were recruited to play in a life or death competition due to their lack of luck, financial knowledge, and influx of impending debt they have accumulated throughout their lives. We first meet Gi-hun as he is down on his luck. Living with his elderly, overworked mother (which in countries outside of the United States is not strange nor uncommon) Gi-hun was a friend to gambling, but that toxic love caused him to be in debt to a gang of (what seemed to be) loan sharks. When luck finally strikes him on the race track, life simultaneously decides to take an excrement on his reality. His debt seekers catch him on his hot streak and involuntarily sign him up to be a participant in the Squid Game.

Similar to many other of the 456 participants, they all shared a common denominator of being in situations it seemed only money could fix. Upon arrival the contestants were asked to voluntarily sign wavers in order to participate in the game, while unknowingly risking their lives, for the opportunity to win 456 billion won (which would be roughly over $3.5 million in US currency). The challenges were mostly based on nostalgic childhood games, both based in the United States and South Korea.

Now I knew due to the explanation in the introduction of episode one that if any player were to lose, they would die. So during the first challenge of red light green light, when players were bulletly penalized for losing I was not surprised. After the game, the players decided to rally together and quit playing. The influence of the cash prize split the decision down the middle, leaving the old man, player 1, to be the final decision. To my surprise he actually chose to decline, freeing all of the players. During the voting, many players screamed at each other as to why they would choose to stay in the hell hole as other players responded that the outside world was not any better if not the same as the harsh environment they were already in. This reality struck many contestants as they returned back to their reality of debt, dependents, and for some bounty hunts, thus resulting in them returning to the game.

During the whole season, I was trying to find the purpose of these games. We knew why the participants felt motivated to play, but I wondered what was the purpose of having them fight for their lives in the first place. When the PlayStation faced soldiers forced the doctor (player 111) to dissect the bodies for organs to sell at the black market, at first I thought that it was what the original game maker wanted which I thought was genius. Soon to learn that it was actually a violation to a code of equality that was placed inside the arena applying to all of those who existed, soldiers and participants alike. Which struck me as odd due to the soldiers being able to tote guns and wear masks based on their own hierarchy and the participants being collectively isolated and given numbers as if it was a remake of the Stanford Prison experiment. Nonetheless many soldiers faced the same fate as the players, and my pondering would meet the solution come the finale.

Let’s discuss players. I only favored Gi-hun because he was the protagonist, but throughout the story he grew on me as his big heart prevailed through the madness. I knew Choo Sang-woo, the embezzling business man and hometown friend of Gi-hun played by Park Hae-soo, was a psychopath when I saw him in a fully filled bathtub with his suit on. Running from the police, in debt or not, that’s just as much of a red flag for serial killer tendencies as sleeping with socks on or having too thin and highly arched eyebrows. The episode that he crossed Ali, the father of one from Pakistan with the missing fingers, made me hate Sang-woo for the rest of the series. I was infuriated and frustrated with Ali for being that naïve to believe that they could escape the round as a duo, but understood his perspective since up until that point Sang-woo was a dependable, trusted ally to Ali. However after that episode I didn’t care who won, I was just ready for Sang-woo to die.

Kang Sae-byeok, the skeptical and beautiful warrior from North Korea played by Jung Ho-yeon, deserves her own paragraph. Along with her beauty, her presence and demeanor was so bad ass. She was thrifty and intelligent, as her talent being pick pocketing. I was waiting for her to just be so bad ass. As the punk disguised to be gangster, Jang Deok-su, pushed her around which seemed to be normal behavior between the two, I was ready for Sae-byeok to twist his arm, send a plunging round house kick to his nuts, and cut his snake tattoo right off of his face. Although her exterior was tough, her heart was made of malleable gold which we got to see as she opened up to her female companion during the marble challenge and sobbed from her loss afterwards. Although she was not the killer bad ass queen I had wanted her to be, I still call her a warrior because of her resiliency throughout life’s and the game’s many obstacles and her drive to provide her younger brother with a better life.

Thankfully Deok-su got what he deserved as Han Mi-nyeo poetically decided to take both of their lives during the glass challenge. “You said we would be together till the end,” she said before diving into her inevitable death with her short lived lover. Mi-nyeo was incredibly annoying as I would often pinch the inside corners of my eyes and scratch my eyebrows when she would appear. However that crazy bitch served justice, and I love her for that.

I was highly disappointed by the demise of the detective Hwang Jun-ho, played by the handsome Wi Ha-joon. I was rooting for detective Jun-ho, as I’m sure we all were, on his pursuit to find his brother. I was not surprised that his brother was Front Man, as I had suspected that his brother must’ve died or been apart of the game making due to his absence in real life and the current game. After discovering his brother was the victor of his year, to me it only made sense that he would be apart of the game enforcement. As we saw from Gi-hun, a normal life is impossible to live after experiencing something so traumatic as a series of death ridden children games. However I was saddened and surprised that detective Jun-ho was unsuccessful in closing down the whole operation. I mean the man was close to performing forced, aristocratic fellatio in the name of serving and protecting the law. I truly thought because he had gotten so far and was so close to exposing the operation that the only choice he had was to be successful. At last he was shot and killed by his own blood, the one he had been looking for; providing us with a cinematic and heart jerking ending to detective Jun-ho.

Lastly lets discuss the old man, player 001 named O Yeong-su, whom I also nicknamed Poppy during the series. Deceivingly innocent and weak, I genuinely liked Yeong-su throughout the game play. I thoroughly enjoyed his relationship with Gi-hun and saw him as a valuable player in most instances. I believe he was one of the main reasons that Gi-hun continued to lead with his heart. Gi-hun claimed that Yeong-su was the reason he returned to the games and later found out that Yeong-su was the reason there were games in the first place. The climatic episode of the marble challenge was when their relationship had been defined as “gganbu” (which is a term for trusted, close friends in Korean, as explained in the series), thus Yeong-su establishing a special place in Gi-hun’s heart. During the challenge, Yeong-su begins to have an episode of what we all assumed to be dementia as the arena they are playing in is designed like his old neighborhood and he abandons the game to take a trip down memory lane. Gi-hun screams in frustration at the old man to play with him only to end up losing in their even and odd game and resulting in deceit, tricking the old man to let him be the victor. Now if I was Gi-hun, I would’ve convinced Yeong-su to let me hold his marbles for safe keeping and let him have a fun time reminiscing on his life while he ran down the clock. Then when it was time, I would’ve turned in all 20 marbles just as Sang-woo did and went about my business. It would’ve only been right for the old man to forfeit as he was already on his death bed, or so we innocently thought. Before I get into the ending, I want to talk about the last match between Sang-woo and Gi-hun.

Finally, the last game to see who would be victorious in a highly anticipated game of Squid between Gi-hun and Sang-woo. It seemed as if it were a battle between good vs evil; Gi-hun representing a more benevolent side as he would often optimistically look to help other competitors and extend the kindness he had been shown versus Sang-woo who represented a more vindictive and ruthless side, determined to hurt anyone in order to receive his highly coveted and long awaited prize in an arena that erased any foundation of morals or ethics as soon as the light turned red. Luck was on Gi-hun’s side as he had the opportunity to play offense. With a cunning mind and a vengeance for Sae-byeok’s death, Gi-hun delivered a can of whoop ass to his opponent. As the saying goes, the good shall always prevail. Perhaps his heart was too pure as Gi-hun halted from crossing the finish line and offered Sang-woo a chance to live, thus forfeiting the prize money. Needless to say, I applauded when Sang-woo committed suicide as it was the only right thing to do in his position.

A year passed by and Gi-hun seemed worse than before. Physically his style was bummy wealthy, a look pioneered by Bill Gates, but mentally he was in shambles. How could you blame him? Gi-hun discovered that the responsible party for these horrendous events was none other than his ggangbu, old man Yeong-su. The biggest, jaw dropping plot twist of the entire series. As they were joined on Christmas Eve and Yeong-su on his death bed, they placed one final bet on an assumed to be drunken, homeless man who sat on the streets as it snowed and waited for help to arrive. Yeong-su explained how he actually wanted to help people and give his money to people who needed it, but wanted to do it in an “entertaining way.” As Gi-hun flared with outrage towards the old man for finding amusement in killing people, the old man rebutted using horse races as an example of people’s amusement. Yeong-su also said he participated in the games because it was more fun to play than to be a spectator, which I had noticed him treating the competition as if it were adult summer camp. I had just assumed since he was old, he didn’t care if he had died or not.

I think most people will think that this show was a metaphor about how money and rich people are evil. However I think it can be seen as commentary on society as a whole, not just the wealthy. Yeong-su says on his death bed that it’s a test of humanity, and asks Gi-hun if he still has faith in humanity after what he has experienced. Although money was the luring motivator to win the game, people still chose to return to the competition to escape their problems. Sure, money was apart of their problems as all of the players (excluding Yeong-su) were in debt, but that was due to choices that they had made. Whether it had been through embezzling, gambling, lack of luck, or financial ignorance, it was the people who had gotten themselves into those situations. Money doesn’t have a personal vendetta against anyone nor does it have an inherent quality of good or evil. Money is a neutral energy used to be exchanged for goods and services. It’s people who designate that energy to their humane or inhumane desires.

Leading to the next point of the wealthy and how they are seen to be evil due to having wealth. Although I do believe that there are some wealthy people who act as villains, money didn’t create the villain inside of them. Those people were going to behave maliciously whether they have money or not. The VIPs, who were spectating the finale of challenges, were tied to a bank devoted to the wealthy and gambled on the competitors who played (and most likely helped subsidize the events). We place judgement on them, but as Yeong-su said, people gamble on horse races. Although people are not animals and by my knowledge I don’t believe most or any horses die during these races, it is still the principle of watching an entity being tortured for amusement, which is not only confined to the wealthy population. When the concept of killing and tormenting living breathing beings for amusement is normalized within society, the lines begin to blur on who is okay to perform and who is not. Take the audience of this show for example, we all watched a show where hundreds of people were mercilessly killed for the desire of winning a cash prize for our own amusement, thus making “Squid Game” the number one show on Netflix at the moment. Although the show is fictional and brilliantly written, this Hunger Games concept is not new. We come in contact again and again with the idea of people who are disadvantaged given an opportunity to better their lives through inhumane means, including risking their own lives or actively sacrificing the life of another, and being spectators on the edge of our seats who can’t seem to look away. It is no different than a Roman gladiator match in a grand colosseum, which in modern day would be a MMA fight at the MGM hotel. We blame it on the rich who are ridiculed for creating these events, but at the end of the day it is the people, rich,poor, and everyone in between, who continue to still go along with it and to some extent desire it. Which makes me question, what does that say about humanity, and do I actually have faith in us? Although Gi-hun went through hell and back, he still remained pure of heart and used his wealth to enhance his life and those around him; proving that wealthy people can still be benevolent and desire righteous good. Similar to Gi-hun, the optimist in me wants to believe that there are still people in this world with good hearts, but I guess we just have to wait until the time comes to see.

Ultimately the show was phenomenal, and definitely sparked a desire inside of me to watch more Korean dramas. I don’t think the show will have a second season. Simply because I think the story line would be better cut off there, thus leaving the audience always wanting more. However if season 2 ever comes out, I’m ready for Gi-hun to take a Liam Neeson approach to ending the Squid Game and hopefully with a beard. Thank you for reading my article. I know it was incredibly lengthy. I have just finished the season after a 2 day binge watch, and have a lot of emotions and thoughts ruminating in my brain. Let me know what you think of the show and what you think of the article. Did anyone else notice the paintings of the games on the walls of the dormitory?

God bless.

[borom1r]

also seeing google lump Van Helsing (2004) in with the Dark Universe movies is hilarious to me because technically it is Not and it’s so tonally different from like, The Wolfman and Dracula Untold

and like I did really love the 2010 wolfman remake, I haven’t seen Dracula Untold since I caught like half of it on TV ages ago— it seems like Universal never had a coherent thesis for this cinematic universe (and still didn’t when they tried to reboot it with The Mummy/The Invisible Man). The Wolfman feels more in-line with something like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and I think leaning into again the gothic horror character-drama side of things while maintaining the almost monochromatic color-grading with the really dramatic, pseudo black-and-white styling would’ve been really cool imo

(and dgmw i think Dracula Untold is fundamentally a bad Dracula film— I think Van Helsing as a theoretical Dark Universe installment got Dracula’s character wayyyyy closer when they made him A Weird Dramatic Fucking Guy)

Also I have a whole set of gripes about the turning Dracula into a tragic romantic figure thing (stares pointedly at Bram Stoker’s Dracula) which is its own can of worms with whatever the hell was going on with this theoretical twice-failed cinematic universe alongside the separate can of “why are we modernizing this” worms that’s relevant to the more recent failed reboot

idek where I’m particularly going with this outside of rambling about classic monsters but I do think there was a really interesting chunk of like, mid-90s stretched loosely through the 2010s horror cinema that leaned heavily on the gothic genre and played creatively with its source material, again a la Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, that was so inspired aesthetically and really pushed practical effects in creative ways that I just wish we’d seen more of. And like all my love to Leigh Whannell obviously but I am genuinely so upset we didn’t get an Invisible Man movie in that neo-gothic film style.

look there’s a lot to be said about sequel baiting in a movie like The Wolfman (2010) especially when the character they’re bating with is based off a Real Person(tm), but all that aside I would’ve genuinely loved to see a Hugo Weaving-led werewolf horror/period drama film in that heavy, pseudo black-and-white style

[dark-winged-doppelganger]

Ok so not to be annoying and like KID ICARUS ON SWITCH 🤬🤬🤬🤬 buuuuut I have some reasons why we may have a better chance than most e3s

- with miitopia and skyward sword Nintendo seems like it’s wanting to do remakes at the moment (this point is only valid if we don’t get a new game we get a port)

- Two other Greek mythology games have been put on switch, Hades did great. Immortals Fenyx Rising didn’t do bad either to my knowledge I didn’t keep up with it as much but it seems both were at least a success.

- it’s near uprising 10th birthday and it’s the NES kid Icarus’s 35th so anniversary wise it would be nice to make a new one.

- They recently re released the figmas and that’s personally interesting to me because while people did order them I see a striking lack of photos of them online. They know there’s a fandom but they can’t really think we’re so big we’re going to make them boatloads of money can they?

Reasons why I’m not so confident:

- Antony del rio (pit/dark pits English voice actor check out his Instagram he’s a cool guy) said on March 22nd aka uprisings 9th anniversary that Nintendo hasn’t contacted him for a sequel but that the would totally say yes If they did. He also said them same thing in a Interview you can find on YouTube shortly after the games release.

- not much more evidence I can give but we haven’t had amazing luck in the past so there’s that 🤷

Things I’d want ranked in how much I want them

1. A new game

2. Magnus in smash (I’ve already posted about that but he would be a great fit in my opinion)

3. A manga (I love love love the Nintendo mangas and Nintendo has made short promotional comics for uprising and a few different illustrated game guides in the 80s I think they could and would do it if their in the kid icarus mood)

4. A anime or more animated shorts (from Palutena/dark pit smash commercial some people who don’t even know kid Icarus said they think it would be cool if smash bros got an anime in that style, I agree but obviously an only kid Icarus one would be nice to)

5. A port (the reason I ranked this so low is high quality screenshots would be nice but I’d rather have new content)

Things I’d like to see:

- MAGNUS LORE PLEASE Magnus is such a cool guy and there’s a lot in his lore since we only saw him a handful of times. Him losing his child to the underworld or his relation to Gaol wasn’t touched up on more than “it happened” it never said when or how. Even though he’s very closed off emotionally I would’ve at least liked to have him answer all pits questions when he was fighting for dyntos.

- phosphora!!! She’s not my favorite but the personality she has is something I really enjoy. I know that she would be someone I’d like to know more lore about to. I can’t think of any specifics because she was even more of a mystery so I don’t know what she’s like at all other than sassy.

- I NEED dark pit/mirror of truth lore please 🙏 I would like a straight answer to the weirdness that is the mirror of truth. Is it actually a mirror of truth??? Was dark pit really a screwup or is there just no possible way someone as good as pit could ever be in the underworld army? Why was he so confused when he came out of the mirror? Yeah I know he seemed very confident when he was first created and went right to fighting but I find it weird how he acted later. He stated multiple times that he was the original and that pit was the copy. I want to know what his thought process was for that at least. I also want dark pit and Magnus to interact, for no particular reason it would just be fun I think. I also just want to know how he’s doing being in viridis army and such.

- who would be the new leader of the underworld if Hades and Medusa are dead. Pandora may be dead we never got much confirmation on that since underworld people can be revived. And Thanatos didn’t seem interested in leading the underworld, it may be him being scared of hades but I think Thanatos might be dead to so I’m not sure. The show must go on souls need to be collected.

- the statement of just because we fought together doesn’t mean we’re friends from Palutena’s guidance made me sad because l want them to be friends :( idk I hope to see friendly interactions and maybe the pits being a little nicer to each other lol

Aaaaannywayy I probably have more to say but this post is long enough

[cuinnamonbun]

Hi again! I got another HC idea. 😌

How would the brothers + angels react to a laidback Muslim MC whose also really violent? Like their mood switch flips instantly lmao

Aye, wassup friend! Regarding your ask, at this point you’re just describing ME lmao, somedays I really do just wake up and choose violence 😭 aite let’s do this 😎

The Demon Brothers + Angels Reacting to a Laidback Muslim!MC Turning Violent

Lucifer

At first this man loves MC and the amount of calm and composure that they have

Though he finds it irritating when he’s threatening them and they would just look up at him with the most dull expression on their face (like seriously human, you should be SCARED)

But still, with how chaotic his brothers are, he appreciates a collected and peaceful demeanour whenever he finds it and MC is breath of fresh air even if he won’t admit it

Silence with them always felt comforting and never awkward

One day, he noticed that MC was rather tense and rigid and had asked them if they were fine to which they replied yes through gritted teeth

Sensing that perhaps they were not in the best of moods, he let them go only to hear them politely ask Mammon to get out of their room

Of course our resident dumbass (affectionate) refused in an attempt to tease them, only to be YEETED from the room and into the hallway where Lucifer was standing with a bewildered look on his face

MC was standing by the door with a dark look in their eyes and the most sinister looking scowl that could rival Satan’s before they slammed the door shut in their faces

When he finally got over his shock, he would be extremely, extremely enthused

He will now spend his free time trying to rile up MC just so he can see them lose their temper again

He couldn’t help himself. He knew that Islam emphasises heavily on the virtues of patience as a sign of piety and so he just assumes that MC would just,,,,never yield to anything

This is when he realises he has a corruption kink ok sorry not sorry

May or may not pop a boner if/when he succeeds and they blow up (not literally) in his face

Mammon

He adores this human. Partly because he’s head over heels in love with them he hardly has anyone to drag with him along with his schemes and this human just seems to be down for anything, and mostly because they’re always so coolheaded

It allows him to pull off his plans without a hitch because MC’s composure allows them to be able to think up a quick solution whenever the two of them inevitably face a brick wall during one of Mammon’s schemes

With them around, Mammon would be 15% richer than he would be if he went alone so he’s keeping them around thank u very much

The first time he witnessed them turn violent is when the two of them were hanging out in his room when Levi bursted in, screaming his head off about how Mammon stole his wallet (he didn’t) and that the limited edition Ruri-chan collection was dropping soon in 24 hours and yada yada yada

And when he found out that Mammon didn’t, in fact, steal it, Levi wouldn’t apologise, oh no no no no. Rather, he would proceed to insult and degrade his brother until MC finally have had enough and went. off.

Seriously, the two demons were so shocked that the usually chill human was now on their feet and threatening to ‘deck Levi over the head WWE style if he didn’t quit it with the insults’ that the two brothers just stopped arguing

If Mammon weren’t so astounded, he would’ve found the whole thing hilarious because here is one of the rulers of Hell, turning white as a sheet as he is being cussed out by a small, furious human

After their long-winded (and frankly terrifying) speech that were riddled with not-so-subtle threats, Levi mumbled an apology and quickly shuffled out of the room with his tail between his legs and MC just plopped back down on his couch with their usual dull expression back on their face as if they didn’t just go on a tirade just seconds prior

Mammon’s love for the MC increased tenfold right then and there

Leviathan

Oh, you’re really quiet and laidback? Cool.

He doesn’t really care about it but he does enjoy having them around during his gaming sessions or when he needs a buddy to watch anime with him because they’re the only ones who would listen to him prattle on about theories and endings whilst enjoying the game/anime

He also vents to them A LOT and is the first person he seeks whenever he’s annoyed or frustrated by his brothers

He was heading over to the living room for movie night with his brothers and MC when he found his brothers all bickering with one another (no shocker there) and MC sitting on the couch reading a hard cover book

Of course, once they saw him enter, he was immediately dragged into the argument about which movie they were gonna watch

Now as the otaku of the family, Levi’s pretty very vocal and highly opinionated about the type of film they should watch for movie night and he dislikes it whenever someone would argue with him on his choice of film

So when Satan told him to his face that his movie selection sucked and he should just leave his input out, Levi would be so, so, SO offended and upset which was evident from his expression alone

Before he could defend himself though, a book suddenly went hurtling through the air and hit Satan right in the middle of his forehead like a bullseye

At first Satan was FURIOUS but it quickly died down when all the brothers finally realised where the book had come from: MC’s direction

They all turned to see an irritated look on their usually placid face and dominant arm raised as if they’d just thrown a shot put

“Oops. My hand slipped,” they said monotonously before sauntering away from the now-quiet living room

Levi is now cautious of accidentally angering MC, but he can’t help that moe feeling that MC actually threw that book in his defense

Satan

As the Avatar of Wrath, Satan is extremely attuned to people’s rage and MC is no different

He was honestly the only one out of his brothers who wouldn’t be surprised if one day MC woke up and chose violence

I mean, he usually keeps his wrath under wraps, hiding it well with an easy smile and friendly demeanour and he could tell that MC was the same

He knew that no one human could ever have that high amount of patience, especially when dealing with his brothers, doesn’t matter if they’re religious or not

In fact, he was waiting for the day he would finally see them snap and release all the pent up rage he knew they bottle carefully within themselves

Of course it happened when Asmo would not stop pestering MC about going to the club

As MC is a Muslim, it’s not a surprise that they’re against going to places like clubs, casinos or bars

Usually MC was able to tune out Asmo’s pleas like white noise but it was when Asmo turned to physically dragging them that became the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back

The poker-faced MC now looked more like an Avatar of Wrath than Satan himself

Satan only watched in amusement as MC dug their heels in the pavement, cradled a confused Asmo’s face in their hands...and pulled his cheeks with a bright smile and the most ominous look in their eyes before telling him ‘fuck off before I proceed to give all of ur prized makeup and skincare for Mammon to sell and use our pact to make u watch as he earns his cash’ in the sweetest way possible

Asmo no longer pesters them to join him clubbing

Satan: I’d just like to say, I’m your biggest fan

Asmodeus

Asmo loves loves LOVES having this human around because they always let him use them as his own personal doll

That means impromptu fashion shows in his room, makeovers, spa days, mani-pedis you name it

So he always assumed they were this paragon of patience and stoicism, never once losing their cool

The first time he saw them turn violent was when the two of them were walking down to the kitchen with Asmo chatting their ear off about some scandal this succubus has found herself in with these two demon best friends while they just listened and occassionally chiming in

When they reached the kitchen however, they found Beel by the kitchen, no shocker there

But MC had stopped dead in their tracks because right there in his hands was the chilled lemon soufflé that they’d been making for Lucifer (upon his request)

It’d taken them hours to perfect the dessert to Lucifer’s standards and they’d left it in the fridge to chill before serving it to him for tea time

So when Beel raised the now-empty glass to show to MC with a happy look on his face, it was enough to send them over the edge and scream bloody murder to the brothers’ surprise

Beel will apologise sheepishly but MC will force him to remake the dessert without letting him eat anything until it is perfect

It was torture for him and Asmo vows to never unintentionally set them off again because...holy shit MC

Beelzebub

Beel is a chill dude most of them time when he’s not hungry

All he wants is for his brothers to stay safe, happy and healthy and he’s a happy demon 🥺

He likes having a laidback MC around whether it’s during studying, snacking or even when he’s working out

Their presence is always so calming and comforting for him since their lax nature just reminds him so much of Belphie

The first time he saw them truly angry was when they’d found out that their favourite sweater that they brought back from the human world had been destroyed and discarded in the trash

As it turned out, Belphie had been rumaging through their room for something to snuggle with while MC had been away at Purgatory Hall and found their sweater

In an unfortunate string of events, a loose thread from the sweater had caught on the end of a door latch and the sleepy Belphegor hadn’t enough patience at the time to gently untangle it

Instead, he forcefully yanked it, causing the sweater to tear

Deciding that it’s better to just grab their blanket or something, Belphie discarded the article of clothing in the trash before stealing their blanket and stalking away to the attic for a nap

When MC found out, they. were. furious.

That means a lot of smashing, screaming and shouting until Beelzebub or Lucifer finally managed to calm them down

He’s sad that MC is so angry at his twin but he never wanted to see MC lose their temper like that ever again

Belphegor

Exam season was rapidly approaching at RAD and that means more assignments, quizzes and tests 

For the average student, it also means sleepless nights, mental breakdowns and consuming a concerning amount of caffeine

For Belphegor, he simply couldn’t give a shit

No amount of exams is scary enough to get his ass out of bed and study 

And like his other brothers, he assumed the same for MC

They always had that poker face on them as they studied and they never once argued or talked back to one of his brothers even though they were being so annoying and irritating (to him) and were clearly disturbing their revision time

He sees the hard work that they’re putting in their studies and reputation and even though they hide it behind a blasé mask, he knew they were exhausted

It was up to Belphegor to recognise their cues and force them to take breaks by napping with him

He was peacefully napping in the common room beside a studying MC, patiently waiting for their 25 minute break from their pomodoro session when Lucifer had walked in and begun to bark chores at them that even woke up the younger demon beside them

And to their surprise, rather than wordlessly carrying out his commands like the demons had expected them to, MC slammed their pen down on the coffee table and yelled at him

MC: you know what, Lucifer? Why don’t you take your ***** and ****** then shove it up your ****** and let’s not forget to *****, you little ***** ***** *****!!!

Belphegor had never been more proud and concerned for this little human who was far too brave for their own good

Simeon

It’s said by everyone who knew him that Simeon is always so calm and composed, always greeting everybody with a kind smile and gentle eyes

He never once loses his cool, but that doesn’t mean that he does not feel anger from time to time

Like Satan, Simeon is understanding of MC’s anger and would never reprimand them for blowing up

Anger is healthy after all

He has expressed concern before for MC’s mental wellbeing as they were far too patient for their own good

Of course, in all his years of living, he has seen remarkable humans with superhuman patience before like the Prophets Muhammad and Jesus (peace be upon them) but even that was because they had divine intervention 

The first time he saw them finally snap was when the two of them were enjoying a pleasant walk towards the House of Lamentation from RAD when Mammon and Levi appeared out of nowhere and began fighting again

It had been non-stop screaming, insulting and fighting with these two for almost three weeks now and MC was so, so, sooo close to yeeting them off the side of a cliff

Their composure finally snapped when Mammon and Levi had been roughhousing so close to them that they accidentally stepped on Simeon’s robe (or is it more of a cape?? idk) and tore a small hole in it

Simeon has never been more surprised to see MC roar at them and begin a stern lecture that reminded him so terribly of Lucifer

He was so amused that he couldn’t help but laugh when they forced the two to apologise to him before dragging them over to the House by their ears, completely ignoring their desperate cries for mercy 

It was a hilarious sight and he would’ve recorded that entire scene on his DDD if he weren’t so hopeless with technology

Luke

MY SONNN

Luke is reminded of Simeon when he first got to know MC

They were always so collected and level-headed even though they were thrown in Hell out of the blue for an exchange programme that lasts a whole year

He never understood how they could be so chill with living with 7 demons under one roof though like??? hello????? human are u functioning well?

But he likes having them around because they’re always so nice to him and always keen on spending time with him

Which is where he finally saw them snap

The two of them were carrying their cupcakes that they’d made for their picnic date alongside Simeon and Solomon and had left them on the table for a few minutes while they went to gather the rest of the supplies

They came back to see that the cupcakes had been ravaged by Mammon, Levi and Beel who all looked so pleasantly happy munching on their hard work

Luke was extremely distraught and upset over this and protective MC will NOT tolerate this kind of behaviour to their son

So using the power of the pacts, they forced the brothers to grovel at his feet and apologise by doing whatever Luke wants them to do

He wants a glass of water? LEVI GET UR ASS TO THE KITCHEN RN! He wants pizza? MAMMON U RUN UR CUT LIL BUTT TO HELL’S KITCHEN AND GET HIM A LARGE PIZZA STAT! He wants to be fed? BEEL U BETTER MOVE THAT FOOD FROM UR MOUTH SON AND FEED IT TO HIM ASAP!

Luke secretly enjoys it but he still can’t help but feel kinda bad for the brothers and slightly scared of MC now

[themelodicenigma]

1/2 Hi! What's your opinion about Aerith's resolution scene? It feels like most of fans are more interested in convenient interpretations to confirm/discard the CA ship, without really wondering, from a narrative standpoint, "why", of all the things Aerith could warn Cloud against, she touches the romantic subject? And so early in the story too. Romance in FF7 is often treated by fans as a standalone thing more than something that is interweaved with the main story and has a role within it.

2/2 Should we now re-evaluate the weight of CA relationship in the OG? I never felt like Cloud had more than a crush on her or her death broke him. But when a compilation expands in such a relistic way, the main story needs to be retroactively reinterpreted (like what happened with CC). I'm also wondering what significance we should give to the black floating feathers in this scene (the most visible one appearing when Aerith prays – hard not to think about Sephiroth). PS Sorry for the bad English

Don’t worry, your ENG is fine here!

Anywho, it’s quite the subject isn’t it? I often speak on how sometimes the foundation of a fan’s understanding of the Remake is grounded by their understanding of the OG. Which does make sense and have its merit, but it can also lead to a lot of biased views if there isn’t a consideration of the Remake’s way of storytelling. That’s why we have less of a reasonable spectrum of thought, and more of these black and white interpretations you mentioned floating around. I’ve seen a lot of “Aerith is telling us a fact: Cloud’s feelings aren’t real!” vs. “Cloud confessed to Aerith that he’d fall in love with her!”.

It doesn’t take much time to realize who is saying what.

The first example is talking about something that hasn’t happened yet (e.g. Cloud confirming Aerith’s words), and the second example is talking about something that, by the scene itself, just didn’t happen anyway. From a narrative standpoint and with an understanding of the story of FF7, this part of Aerith’s Resolution reflects two points: Cloud’s false memories/self and Cloud’s feelings for Aerith—more directly, the premise that if Cloud falls in love with Aerith, his feelings won’t be real due to the state of being he’s in. Additionally, this resolution essentially acts as a reflection of Aerith’s GS Date but with twists—the first being that her thoughts on Cloud’s falsity is not tied to the correlation of his similarities to Zack, and the second being that it adds a dash of something more reminiscent of the dream/forest scene (if anything, the Resolution is almost an applicable replacement of it in general). Death, cherishing time left and memories, and Cloud not being completely himself—there’s a lot of foreshadowing here.

This is where people typically use their takes on the OG to formulate a conclusion for Aerith’s premise, as you’ve seen above, with even some extending alternates. For example, that the real reason Cloud’s feelings wouldn’t be real because he’s really in love with Tifa already and is incapable of feeling anything for anyone else as he is.

But my take?

To be upfront, this scene sets up the idea that Aerith is wrong in regards to the romantic storytelling between the two of them. That yes, his feelings (in this case, that of “suki” [すき, romantic like/love when used for a person]) are going to be real despite the state he’s in. Not to mention, it isn’t an “if” he has romantic feelings, because it goes against all reason and understanding of anything else in this scene to suggest this premise was written for the sake of something that won’t happen or won’t be addressed. Even if she is right, this is only effective writing if yes, Cloud indeed falls for her and thought those feelings were real, and thus, finds out that he truly doesn’t feel that way once he regains his true self. There’d be no point to this line if he doesn’t feel this, otherwise for the sake of writing, it would’ve made more sense for her to suggest that what she just talked about (the memories/moments/happiness shared) were going to be what wasn’t real, specifically.

Until further information tells me otherwise, I believe Aerith is going to be wrong because of how the OG and relevant material presents what Cloud retains once he regains himself.

Let’s get into it.

Unlike the OG, Aerith is presenting the falsity of Cloud not through her own feelings, but that of HIS. She’s not assuming that the mantra of “embracing the moments” is something that Cloud won’t retain—it’s just the romantic feelings that will grow from them. We don’t have to worry about whether what Cloud retains from these moments and memories of Aerith are false. Why? Because that was completely fine in the OG. The moments, memories, and the bond they shared were all real to Cloud after he regains himself. And obviously, not just with Aerith, but with all his companions. If he didn’t retain what he gained while Aerith was alive, he just simply wouldn’t have any reason to value Aerith, it’d almost be like he doesn’t know her existentially at all. But that isn’t the case. Really, what he gained with his companions was never put to the test of falsehood in the first place.

But the romance? So specifically?

The “why” of everything that is said in this scene is done for some narrative purpose, representing future events and themes to be further implemented down the line. In a literal conversation about romantic feelings to be confirmed or denied story-wise—this is romantic storytelling, and whether you like it or not, it has been issued between the two characters. And of course, I believe it should make someone re-evaluate their understanding of the OG—not in the way where the story itself begets change (like that of the effect with CC, as you mentioned), but more so in realizing that the Remake is just a more expressive reflection of the romantic storytelling that was already in the OG. The writing and approach of the Remake is different than that of the OG, as we can even see between the expressions and details expanded on, like say for Cloud and Tifa’s bond and what that alludes to later down the line as well. This same thing is done for Cloud and Aerith, and what may not have been as openly expressed, is now done so too.

In the OG, the romantic storytelling between Cloud and Aerith played on the typical RPG standard of player-story interactive choice, but was contained in that by not having the story clearly address those choices through Cloud’s character after he regains himself. That and all relative materials like interviews or guidebooks relative to the OG—we only have a few direct romanticisms and some that can be argued as indirect given context. It’s not absent, but it’s unclear to the point it’s a discussion people still have 20+ years later. Also, by those possibly confused, player choice does not eliminate this through character representation—I’ll digress as it’s a whole other thing.

Cloud’s time with Aerith isn’t a mystery—we see everything between them and experience it as the player. We know what did or didn’t happen, what could be expressed, and what we’re left with in regards to romanticism is more of an unaddressed, almost irrelevant idea. What’s represented openly instead is everything else about their important bond, basically. Romanticism—it’s all in the air, not invalidated, but also not further represented for the character in the things referenced afterwards, like Cloud mentioning his memories of her, wanting to see her in death [Promised Land], Aerith being a friend, comrade, irreplaceable, etc. His time spent with Aerith was still something Cloud kept with him.

So, if the question for the OG is: did Cloud retain any romanticism for Aerith as a cherished feeling/memory, too?

I believe by right of the storytelling values presented in the game, that yes, he did. While the game and other materials make no attempt at trying to elaborate on Cloud’s favor towards Aerith, they also don’t negate it in void either from his character. A general good rule of thumb: usually when you have romantic meaning issued between two characters, whether through parallels, symbolism, other characters, the characters themselves, etc.—if it’s something that isn’t confirmed (e.g. confessions or explicit showing of romantic interest) OR isn’t countered or denied significantly (obviously not including the typical false denial by a character), then typically, you go with the positive-end that the representation there does indeed confirm that romanticism.

Think about it like this: remember that show you watched where the two lead characters had romantic subtext, but the show ends without them getting together? Yeah. If you’re at the point of claiming romantic subtext, you’re not doing so for the sake of saying the authorial intent is to show non-romance, but to show romanticism in a subtle way. There are a myriad of writers who have this style, and getting a direct confirmation or explicit showing of romance isn’t always in the cards for how that storytelling is going to be expressed. But, that hardly erases what is still intended to be understood.

The thing about Cloud and Aerith, the romanticism that can be understood from Cloud IS indeed never confirmed, not like how it was for Tifa. Which, I do advocate this actually does showcase how his romantic feelings for Tifa have a further depth than of that for Aerith given the lack of relevancy in comparison. However, his feelings for Tifa don’t negate what he felt for Aerith in totality, not to the point of being evidence of absence. The OG and further materials paint the picture that, after Aerith’s death, Cloud still remembers and cherishes her as a comrade—the memories, the moments. All of it. What’s understood is that everything that Aerith was to Cloud was carried over and fueled his reason to want to see her even in death—if romanticism was a part of those memories, those moments, no matter how small in the grand scheme of their connection, we can’t cherry pick it out of existence just because it doesn’t take expressive priority. From the game itself, I would use the “positive-end” method to understand that the romanticism there IS a part of the character, and if I include representations from other media or interviews, the authorial intention becomes much more clear.

As for the depth of these feelings? Again, Cloud’s time with Aerith isn’t a mystery. Whatever happens during that part of the game IS the depth of the feelings. I won’t identify it as a “crush”, but I just know it wasn’t deep enough to cause conflict in his relationship with Tifa because rationally (and by general storytelling standard), it would if so.

In any case, without a specific negative address of that romanticism, we can’t reasonably split apart what Cloud felt for Aerith from everything else he retained from his time spent with her.

And that’s what the Remake is basically addressing, pretty directly this time. I feel that way about a lot of things, and I absolutely believe the story is better off with it as we’re reaching more avenues for telling the FF7 story and development. What we’re getting here is something more direct and expressive than the OG, as I believe we will for most things, like we already have with Cloud and Tifa, Tifa and Aerith, and even Zack and Aerith. It’s doing much more. One could say that it might be making more of the romance than it was in the OG, but to me, I believe it’s about the same. The subject matter being brought up directly won’t change that on its own, but it’s curious that it was brought up this way.

So, if the OG didn’t represent the meaning of Aerith being right, that anything of which Cloud has for Aerith was made to be false after he gained his true self, then I don’t believe the Remake has a reason for doing it either. This is reinforced by the fact that Aerith being right just isn’t congruent with a lot of the other themes happening in the story there. It makes no sense to pinpoint the romantic feelings specifically as something Cloud didn’t feel—and again, his feelings for Tifa shouldn’t be it. How they decide to show the “answer” is up for thought as writers, as discussed, will find many ways to give meaning from their story. If the writing is consistent, what some CA fans expect won’t be what they will get, but CT fans acting like the meaning from the resolution won’t pop up ever again are already missing the point, too.

There are other interesting things though, like Aerith’s thoughts on death and this lifestyle point of view—how this connects to her hatred of the sky and those she has lost will be an interesting point for her character. Maybe even the anticipated arc of her time in death within the Lifestream and reuniting with Zack. We might finally get solid context for that. As for the black/dark feathers, I’m not sure if it even is, but it would certainly match the motif, like at the very beginning when Cloud is in the reactor. It flying by like that could simply be part of the reference to her death.