#yh and new formatting !!!

[muzansfangs]

HIIIIIII ITS ME LUNAR BUT YH COULD I REQUEST AKAZA WITH A LOVER WHOS VERY SOFT AND VERY KIND LIKE TANJIRO AND IS A BAKER =D LIKE MFS SUPER PURE AND NICE BTW ITS FEMALE AND SFW ALSO BTW HRU AND REMEMBER BEFORE WRITING THIS MAKE SURE YOU TAKE A BREAK =)

If you are a baker.

Starring: Akaza x f!reader;

Warnings: modern au, fluff!

Format: head canons

Plot: Akaza, your boyfriend, always stops by the bakery where you work at, before heading to his office, to taste your lips and your delicious bread and pastries.

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

• “Would you like to try this custard pie? It’s my new creation and, since you are a new costumer, I would like to hear your opinion on it!” you had cheerfully said, blessing his day with such a bright smile he could had not helped himself, but let his feet lead him to your bakery everyday. He returned with equal enthusiasm, always. You, the famous baker of his neighborhood, had got his heart from the day you first met. You were so beautiful, so kind and so talented, he found himself stopping at your shop every morning before heading to work.

• From the first time he tasted your bread, he thought the other bakers were incompetent pricks.

• Soon enough, though, he stopped only eating your pastries and following a basic morning routine. It was you he wanted to see, it was you his favorite creation of the menu. Therefore, he woke up earlier every morning to be able to spend more time in your company.

• Also, he might have heard some people praising your beauty along with your skills and that, of course, was enough to fuel his determination in winning your heart.

• It took him almost three months for him to ask you out. He did not want to rush things and, possibly, scare you away. He simply respected you enough to let you collect the hints he dropped with every visit at your shop. He left a note for you one morning, trying to act as he usually did, even though his heart thrummed against his ribcage with such a force he thought he was going to die on the spot.

• You, on the other hand, noted that something was cooking. Therefore, once the crowd of hungry costumers had finally dispersed, you read the note with starry eyes and took the rest of the day off to wait for him outside his office. You had always listened to him talking about his life and work. Naturally, he had also mentioned the address of his office and you did not waste your chance to surprise him with a cake.

• Your first kiss was unexpected. You had allowed him to help you in the kitchen and, unfortunately, flour was now everywhere. Your clothes were a mess, the table was unrecognizable. Your cheeks and the tip of your nose were not an exception, but you were used to it. Akaza, on the other hand, had never seen you like that. It felt unrealistic and domestic at the same time. You looked so lovely and he could not help himself, but grabbed a tissue and gently turned your head towards him. His kind eyes stared into your half-lidded ones and, before you could even realize it, he had slowly leant down to plant a peck on your lips.

• Kissing in the kitchen became a sweet habit of yours. His excuse to do it was naturally the “Love, let me help you! You got some flour on your chin”. You knew it was a lie, or something he had come up with just to kiss you, but you let him do it anyway.

• Akaza is such a simp for you that he glares at the men and women staring at you in awe for too long. How dare them thirst after his cupcake? Yes, you read it correct. Your nickname is cupcake.

• He always comes to pick you up after long and exhausting shifts. Pizza, sushi, or whatever you yearn for is settled on the table of your now shared home, when you come back.

• On a few occasions, he had thought that bringing some pastries of yours to the office would have helped you to increase your clients. He was so damn right. Daki, Gyutaro and that crazy friend of him, Douma, are now always in the first line to buy your creations. Muzan is too proud to hop down his car and enter himself. Whenever he wants something to eat, he asks Kokushibo to buy it for him.

• Be ready for a lot of “My cupcake is the best baker of the world!” and “If you don’t like her bread, you have no use to this world”.

• He must have thought about the chance to drop out of his office to help you at your bakery. However, you respect Kokushibo too much for having to see him drag your boyfriend back at the office because Muzan is too snob to come in person. Yet, when things like this happen, you make sure to send Akaza back to work with a lot of pastries and cakes.

Author note.

@6uppermoonsupremacy200 hi, sweetie! Not me posting at improbable hours, lol. I know I am so late but I have finally found the right inspiration to fulfill your lovely request! I sincerely hope you are going to enjoy this! We deserve some fluff on this account, lmao❤️

[kangpingyu]

i posted all my live reactions to onewe's planet nine: isotropy this morning over on twitter (where the majority of the fandom is, unfortunately), but I thought I'd share some of my fave moments from today's promos here!

ONEWE breaking their brand-new lightsticks, pt. 1 & 2

ONEWE breaking their brand-new lightsticks, pt. 3

ONEWE released a FAN CHANT hello??? first since MAS0094 era

This is definitely an official part of the fanchant. Absolutely. I expect to hear it at their upcoming O! NEW! Evolution concert.

Yonghoon living that Y/N life

BTW, if you want to cry about this being the first ONEWE fan chant in, like, a decade, check out this edit

I'm a Hyungu girlie, if that's not obvious, but Giuk had me going googly eyed over his cuteness all morning

the otter is not even his. he found it at the radio show. apparently it's for an ONF member????

BUT LOOK AT HIM- a whole baby.

YH, drama queen, decided to make everyone coo over their formation story one more time, and then told the members thank you for choosing him back then :')

On a lighter note, apparently hyungu spent his time in the military collecting fanboys. I get it, unnamed officer of the 55th division who messaged the radio station just to support kanghyun. I get it.

Also, Hyungu sang. It went as expected. I love him still.

This post is a hot mess timeline-wise, but going back to their livestream from this morning (well, my morning, their evening).

I can't forget that our resident married couple woke up and chose violence today

Hyungu wants you all to know that Harin wrote Pleasant about him. No one else. Definitely not about WEVEs.

Planet Nine: Isotropy OT5 waiguuuu

Happy comeback day WEVEs! Stream Beautiful ashes!! Listen to Planet Nine: Isotropy! Don't cry too much!!!! Try not to headbang too hard to Shoot It Out!

P.S. another edit to make you cry, set to Pleasant because ONEWE are together again :')

[epicrox]

Till The End Of The Moon Thoughts - Episode 1 part 2

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

PARTS: 1.1 | 1.2 |

This is mostly for me to look back on and see the moments that I caught my eye. Nothing analytical. I offer nothing to the table

I'm also a visual person so there's a lot of screenshots x

From now on this is going to be called my thoughts because I refuse to call what I'm writing down as a review. Reviews inform people and this post does nothing for people.

A new chapter begins!

Love the make-up

3. This girl has mini peaches in her hair

4. She fell down a slope and looks like this?

5. It seems like the OG!Ye Xi Wu wasn’t well-liked.

6. Did OG!Xi Wu pay the bandits? They keep winking at her

7. She sounds like she entered a video game

8. Is that Tantai Jin?

9. Nope, it’s that guy that got stabbed and fell down the cliff. Did he also time travel?

10. Oh god, this is a villainess story. I’ve read my manhwas. She literally transmigrated to another body so I shouldn’t be surprised

11. Is Ye Bingchang gonna be a pure character that has an evil side? That feels too cliche tho.

12. Yh OG!Xi Wu is a textbook villainess. Hiring a bunch of bandits to get the prince’s attention. Is Prince Lin going to fall in love with her afterwards?

13. The way I gasped at this. She’s maRried to him?!

14. Wait what?

15. I know they previously told us he got abused in his mortal lifetime but I still thought he would be more powerful. How villainous is Xi Wu?

16. What is this the Lan Sect? I like the scenery tho.

17. He looks so ethereal. And a bit pitiful.

18. Girl stop being weird.

19. I keep stopping the episode every minute in this scene. She’s asking him to strangle her and he’s getting flustered and uncomfortable. I just wanna hug him.

20. Omg, you mostly see a ML doing this to a FL.

21. What are you inspecting?

22. He’s so adorable. He’s totally different from what I was expecting the mortal Tantai Jin was.

23. Oh, this man wants to kill you. Justifiably from what I’m currently seeing. Talking about the OG! Xi Wu, of course.

24. Oh, she was getting some kind of confirmation that it was him. She was having some traumatic flashbacks just by the way he glared at her

25. What are they? Cultivators? Because I can’t believe that’s possible. Does he not eat or sleep?

26. If Bingchang was the FL of this drama, Tantai Jin would be the second male lead. I know a bunch of manhwas where the villainess tries to romance the novel’s second male lead and then also gets the male lead’s attention. I think this drama might have the same format.

27. I snorted at Chuntao’s imitation of Xi Wu

28. Tantai Jin is a hostage prince?!

Ok, so this is not what I expected when I first heard about this drama when it was announced in 2021. I knew there was time travelling but thought the situation would be different. 

I saw posters like these and thought it was a modern girl falling into a fantasy world:

I was also under the assumption that Luo Yunxi was a demonic prince (sort of right about this) who woke off from a slumber then began to take over the world and reigned for over 500 years in darkness. Then they had to send Bai Lu to stop him. 

I know he’s going to turn evil in the future but I didn’t know that he would start off as a weak human. I’m not complaining, it’s a nice change from the usual male leads you see every time in dramas

[aspiring-holistic-otaku]

Season 3 Ramble#1 - New Year New Worlds ver.2

This is another one of those episodes where I almost feel like I’m betraying the name and purpose of the podcast, as this month I won’t actually be talking about manga or even anime for that matter.

The first time I did this whole New Year New Worlds thing was in Season 2 Ramble 1, where I focused on isekai manga and manhwa since I’d never really given the genre a chance before then. This month, again, I wanted to try something completely new to me and so I focused on Visual & Light novels.

Now my regular ramble format is to talk about top new reads on a particular topic/theme for that month, then give top reads I had on the same topic/theme before then. Seeing as this is an entirely new media format for me, there’s no way that format would work. So how this episode is gonna go is I’m gonna do a very quick once over of my top 3 isekai from last time, then get into this month’s media starting with Light Novels, then wrap up with Visual novels.

Lastly, before we get into it, I thought it would be useful to actually define these media formats, so everyone listening would be on the same page, veterans and newbies alike.

So…

According to wikipedia, Light novels are a type of popular literature novel, native to Japan, usually classified as young adult fiction targeting teens to twenties… In other words they’re books. Taking wiki at their word, light novels, or LNs as I’ll probably refer to them from now on, tend towards the YA novel variety you’d find in the west. The biggest difference being that they’re usually a bit shorter with an average length of less than 300 pages, but a crazy dense publishing schedule of 3 - 9 months between installments… crazy…

And visual novels, according to masterclass dot com, are text-based adventure games that combine interactive fiction and traditional anime or manga art styles, to give the gamer the experience of reading a novel in a visual format. The site goes on to describe different types and targets, along with 5 key characteristics of which I thought the first was really key and worth mentioning. Namely, Advancement; In visual novels, or VNs as I'll probably call them going forward, players do not guide a character the way they would in a traditional video game. Instead, they advance the story by clicking in targeted regions to refresh the text. Sounds kinda lame but trust when I say it’s the opposite. At least as far as my experience so far leads me to believe.

Getting right into it

A quick recap of my top 3 from Season 2 Ramble 1

#3) Loner life in another world - The ultra quick summary is in the name, as a lot of isekai tend to do for some reason… anyways, a loner gets transported to another world. Really it’s him and his classmates but he prefers to move alone. I thought it was pretty fun as far as isekai goes, mostly because it’s very lighthearted, doesn’t take itself too seriously and for the most part, at least from what i’ve read so far, it really felt like kids being kids. Which I really appreciated cause isekai always seem to go off the deep end.

#2) Murim Login - Again the ultra quick summary is that in this world, there’s the typical dungeon crawler aspect where special humans called hunters, protect the rest of humanity by going into special gates and closing them by defeating the boss monster inside. The MC is a low rank hunter that one day finds a VR game in the trash that actually sends him to another world. That’s the very basic premise but if i’m being real, the reason I dug it was because of it's heavy ancient chinese martial arts type vibe. The story has been enjoyable as well, split into two with his life in the real world and the one in the game, the one in the game so far being far more interesting… go figure.. but yh… I definitely have a martial arts bias so slight grain of salt there ig..

#1) Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint - This was my fav read that month and honestly I see it being my fav isekai for a long time. The story here is that the MC is a big fan of Light novels and happens to be the only person in the world to have completed one called Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse. Lo and behold the events of the story start to unfold in real life. Now I know that screams boring story overpowered MC red flags, as he clearly has a certain edge over literally the entire human population,, but TRUST. TRUST! it’s all handled really really well.

If i’m being honest, the really real reason I brought these up is probably because I saw some announcements earlier this month that two of them have started production for anime adaptations. #3 Loner life in another world and #1 Omniscient Reader’s viewpoint. Not that something getting an anime speaks to any inherent quality of a manga besides profitability, but in any case, if you liked the quick summaries, anime announcements or even just the names, I recommend actually listening to Season 2 Ramble 1 - New Year New Worlds, or reading its transcript for more structured descriptions and takes…especially on Omniscient Reader… so so good..

Now onto the stuff I actually got into this month, starting with Light novels... I say Light Novels plural and though I technically did read more than one, they were all from the same series

Durarara!!

I’m a big fan of durarara!! Watched the anime like ten years ago, and even back then I really wanted to read the source material but couldn’t find it anywhere, the source material being the LNs. I pretty much gave up.. but still 2 years ago I read the manga for Season 1 Ramble 12 - Delinquency and still enjoyed it. Finally. Finally. I’ve gotten my hands on the light novels thanks to a 7 year old reddit post. Thank you reddit.

Durarara!! is a story written by Ryohgo Narita with illustrations, like the cover and a few more for emphasis on certain scenes, done by Suzuhito Yasuda. In total there are 13 volumes which started publishing in 2004 and ended in 2014. Of these 13 I’ve read 4 so far. This is the third time now I’ll be speaking about durarara!!, the first time was Season 1 Ramble 8 - A is for Anime (solo reprise) then Season 1 Ramble 12 - Delinquency. Of course I encourage you to check those out but seeing as I clearly love Durarara!! I don’t mind giving the synopsis again.

Durarara!! Is the story of Tokyo’s downtown district of Ikebukuro and the people who live there. There are three central characters who the story mostly revolves around and a few more that make up the full main cast. The main three are mikado ryuugamine, a kid from the countryside who’s tired of the normal everyday life and so, invited by his best friend, moved to Ikebukuro to get closer to all the excitement. Mikado’s best friend who invited him, Kida Masaomi, is the second of the three. A rowdy, dye haired playboy who’s lived in Ikebukuro for a while and serves as mikado’s guide. Last but definitely not leat there’s Anri Sonohara, a plain girl who lost her friend on the first day of school.

There are others like the strongest in ikebukuro, shizuo, the most dastardly in ikebukuro, izaya, the random black Russian sushi store employee simon, and etc., that all affect the story one way or the other but there’s one more character that probably brings the central cast up to four and that’s celty sturluson, a dullahan, aka headless horseman, looking for her head that’s been stolen.

Not sure if you can tell from that not so short synopsis or the fact that there’s thirteen volumes of this thing but ALOT is going on in this story. For comparative reasons I'll bring up the anime here that has two seasons, the second being split into 3 cours, and they cover about 6 of the light novels. I say about, because I've only read four of them but I know for sure that season 1 covers the first three, and the fourth novel lines up with what happened in season 2 cour 1 so that’s where my assumption comes from.

In any case if it sounds like i’ve said a lot without saying anything, i’m aware and I hate it but it’s kind of a mystery story so i’ll give myself a small pass and hope you all can forgive me., Like this is one of those stories it’s hard to speak on without spoiling some aspect. I will say though that delinquents, katanas, superhumans and the yakuza are involved so… yh… Lastly the narration is great as almost every chapter is from a different person’s perspective and sometimes this goes back and forth through time so the story comes together in a very neat but crazy exciting kaleidoscope. One thing the anime had over the Light novel is that along with this changing vantage point, the narrator would change independently as well which I thought was really cool and really solidified the feeling that nothing goes unseen, whether on accident or by design, but the Light novels gave a bit more depth to the character's train of thought so I guess it balances out a bit.

Not much more to say but having watched the anime, read the manga and now the light novels I think it’s obvious that I definitely and holistically recommend durarara!!

Now onto the Visual Novels

The order I’m gonna mention them in is just the order I played them in, usually I’d do some sort of ranking but If you know anything about visual novels, and I guess story heavy games in general, it’s that they tend to be on the longer side of things so sadly I only finished one.

1) Steins;Gate

Released in 2009, developed and published by MAGES & Nitro+ with an approximate playtime of 44hrs. This was the only VN I actually got to complete a playthrough of this month.

I watched the anime 10 years ago and though I don’t remember much of the intricate episode to episode details, I do remember time travel being involved and it fucking with my emotions in the last half. In fact I went to check old tumblr posts I made back then to see if it would jog my memory but there was only one post and all it said was that the last 4 episodes were feels…

In any case back then I had no idea what VNs even were so I pretty much thought that was the end of it, but as the helix of time would have it, I’m back here again.

For those who have no idea, Steins;Gate follows a rag-tag band of tech-savvy young students who discover the means of changing the past via mail, using a modified microwave. Their experiments into how far they can go with their discovery begin to spiral out of control as they become entangled in a conspiracy surrounding SERN, the organisation behind the Large Hadron Collider, and John Titor who claims to be from a dystopian future.

Yes i know it’s kinda crazy that technical time travel was stumbled upon with a microwave but one it’s fiction, and two the series really doesn’t ask you to suspend your belief all that much otherwise. Getting into it, I really like the VN way more than the anime, the time difference is probably a factor but I don’t recall the anime being as thorough in explaining the science of different theoretical time travel mechanics and how they may or may not work. In fact the VN was way more thorough in general, from individual characterization to the overall settings, but to be fair to the anime, they have a limited time to work with and there’s no way they could fit everything in there. No reason to either as they told their own story and to be clear the anime was great and obviously having things moving about is a strength that the VN could never touch, but as a person who really loves the specifics of things, as well as a healthy interest in time travel, the VN just wins out.

Moving clear of the anime now, the VN playthrough is actually multithreaded, with several branching routes and independent endings which plays into the whole time travel, chaos theory, cause and effect type stuff brilliantly. Especially because the choices generally aren’t very obvious or with clear impact or storyline segmentation, besides the split in chapters which is independent of your choices. In my head, going into VNs I thought it’d be like you’re presented with a situation and there are some obvious choices with obvious impacts like do you want to be evil yes or no? But in steins;gate, you’re really just advancing the script almost unknowingly and the only choices you make are to answer a text or not to answer a text and the preset choices only present themselves when you choose to answer a text but i swear to you they are almost always about the most unimportant things that have absolutely nothing to do with the task at hand of trying to complete successful time travel and escaping a future dystopia.

Real example, a friend texts you and asks you if you want some anime frogs.., i only know this because I chose to look at the text but you’re free to ignore almost every text. In any case the options were like what tf is that? or why tf would i? (paraphrasing ofc) + even if you do open the text as I said you don’t have to answer. No idea what that or my even more insane conversations with the cat girl maid had to do with anything but somehow I ended up where I ended up.. In the end I somehow caused the MC to get stuck in the same cycle for some unknown time until his soul pretty much died and he was on the verge of turning to heinous criminal activities but ended up just leaving his time period behind at the risk of taking on extreme mental illness.. No reflection on me and my character of course, as I said the choices aren’t anything obvious like become evil or become good, it just turned out that way somehow but that’s part of the fun because the anime only had one ending but here there’s i don’t even know how many in the VN and I can’t wait to playthrough again.

Also want to mention that it’s largely from a first person perspective so even though the story could have had the feeling of being completely independent from you and just click click click powerpoint powerpoint powerpoint, that first person perspective gave it a feeling closer to that of things slowly slipping through your fingers as you desperately try to keep a handle on things… and art imitates life… great decision by the dev team there but yh… besides that the art and sound direction was great.. The character art specifically was pretty unique like I could definitely spot it in a lineup of 100 anime art styles… phenomenal story of course and though I’d say if you have no exposure to steins at all it could feel a bit slow in the beginning, like I distinctly remember having that feeling when I watched the anime back then and I’m sure my knowledge of the insane pickup had something to do with not feeling it so much now, but I feel it had more to do with the VN having less time constraints, so they were able to make deeper character interactions and with that, the individual characterizations became that much more fulsome and enjoyable.

Definitely definitely highly recommend both the anime and the VN, I think any order is fine as who says time itself is strictly sequential anyways..

2) Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen

Released in 2002, developed by AQUAPLUS, Leaf & STING, published by AQUAPLUS, DMM GAMES & Shiravune, having an approximate playtime of 35hrs.

Now I had never heard of this before but I’d asked a trusted twitter mutual for reccs and this was one of them. shout out LZ one time. Seeing as I didn’t finish I’d feel bad trying to give it a summary or overview with my limited knowledge so I’m gonna go with the description from vndb dot org, which for the record is also where I snagged the description for steins;gate.

In any case, Utawarerumono is about Hakuowlo, a man who wakes up in a tiny backwoods village near the mountains with heavy injuries, no memory, and a mask he cannot remove. After being nursed back to health by Eruruu, the girl who found him lying at the point of death in the forest, he starts to view the village as his new home. But when an oppressive ruler threatens the peaceful life of Hakuowlo and his newfound friends and family, they find themselves hurtled towards war, chaos, and a destiny far greater than any of them imagined.

Pretty simple storyline I guess but it’s all in the execution and from what I’ve played so far, which amounts to about 22hrs, they did a pretty good job. Personally they get extra points from me for justified political upheaval brought about by the consciousness of the masses due to the unjustified cruelty of the ruling class.. But i’ll digress.. Character design was pretty neat, typical anime type beat i guess, great soundtrack, loved all the wind instruments. The character interactions were neat too, definitely feel like i’m gonna do a little part 2 thing cause the more I go on I feel like there’s a few technical commonalities I wanna speak on but yh, again I didn’t finish, though I think I got pretty far, but i still I don’t wanna speak too long or hard directly on it.

Last thing on Uta is that it did have a lot of battle aspects, or at least a lot relative to my expectations for a VN, and that came in the form of a turn based tile map type beat. Think advanced wars or some megaman and final fantasy games.. In any case those were fun, i had it on easy mode cause I was more there for the story so that part was pretty much a breeze but it was refreshing coming off steins which was strictly text based + i haven’t touched any games in a good little while due to the economy™, I’d recommend this for sure, maybe not a super push but I definitely want to finish it which again implies that anything i say on this has to have a little bit more than a grain of salt.

3) Fate/Stay Night

Released in 2004, developed by TYPE-MOON & Notes Co.Ltd, published by those same developers along with Kadokawa Shoten & Kadokawa Games with an approximate playtime of 88hrs.

Just wanna start with no, I haven’t watched the anime, but of course i’ve seen the random clips on twitter, pretty much inescapable at the height of its popularity with ufotable doing undeniably excellent work on it, and i could tell that from just a few clips. But I was in my strictly manga phase back then so I let it pass. The only other exposure I had to the fate series was the gacha game Fate Grand Order which I played for a short time because of one of my twitter friends and then the fate strange fake manga because of that same friend which I will say I do enjoy and I think I even heard it’s getting an anime which would be really based. Anyways shout out jhin and I’m gonna go with the synopsis from vndb again but summarized by me cause it’s hella long, much like the playtime..

The Holy Grail War is a ritual that materializes the greatest holy artifact, the Holy Grail. There are two conditions to participate in this ritual: being a magus and being a "Master" chosen by the Holy Grail. There are seven chosen Masters and seven classes of Servants, beings akin to superhumans with incredible fighting abilities. If you wish for a miracle, prove that you are the strongest with your powers. Emiya Shirou is a high school student who finds himself engaged in the Holy Grail war as he gets attacked by a Servant. As he’s cornered, he somehow summons his Servant and manages to stay alive long enough to compete against the other Masters.

What’s crazy about this is that after playing Uta and reading the description for this I thought “oh so there’s gonna be fights and stuff” and yes there are but you kinda just watch them, well I can’t speak on the whole game but so far I’ve played about 30hrs and that’s what it’s been. Nothing bad, it’s a VN, just surprising given the nature of the VN. In any case I’ve enjoyed it so far, pretty much knew I would as most if not all the servants are famous figures from the past and it’s always cool to see clashes of famous figures across time.

I guess the bigger surprise was how much I liked the characters and their interactions, maybe they weren’t phenomenal but there’s always a certain set of folks on social media that will have certain characters as their profile pics and there’s always lewd art here and there and the trend that tends to follow from that is like the character is blown up by the fans to the point that when you actually get to the story it’s disappointing but… I get it…. Rin fans… i get it… saber fans… I get it… I only saw her briefly at the point where I got to but I’m a rider fan… Here my lawyers have advised me to mention that in the VN there is a disclaimer that all characters are over the age of 18… and i’ll just leave that there… Anywho I also dug the subtleties of the sound direction like if they were up high somewhere you’d have a light wind blowing along with the usual bgm or when they’re at a scene like lunch or breakfast there’d be the sound of plates and stuff clinking together… I thought little details like that were very cool… The art wasn’t much, typical anime stuff ig, doubt i could pick it out of a lineup but it was early 2000s so it gets a light pass ig…

Fate is a pretty big franchise at this point so I don’t think my recommendation for or against would sway anyone but for the record I would recommend it, grain of salt due to me not actually finishing it included…

And that’s it for stuff this month, thanks for sticking around to the end gotta shout out LZ again, that twitter moot I mentioned, they gave me reccs, set me up with sites and everything to get free to play, also shout out vndb dot org for the VN details, they’re doing great work over there and I would give the sites I got from LZ but loose lips sink pirate ships so i hope yall can understand… yh that’s it for the main stuff,, a little part 2 ramble is in the actual podcast if you're interested in listening but other than that, hope you enjoyed and have a good one o/

[just-here-for-iolaus]

Hercules in the Underworld

The great HTLJ/XWP/YH (re)watch continues!

I actually watched this AGES ago and took notes but am only now formatting this blog post.

First scene, I got overly excited, and my notes literally read "Iolaus!? But not, sadly." because our boy Michael Hurst shows up with black hair, and idec what's going on at this point because I just want to stare at him for the rest of the movie.

But the ground opens up and it's this whole thing and these two die. Boo.

The next thing I freaked out about was Timothy Balme in the credits!! I hadn't thought about it at all going into it, so I didn't know he was in the movie. (I know him mostly from Almighty Johnsons, as Mike Johnson, and for writing things I liked.)

Those credits were over a scene where a young woman was being bathed and groomed etc. It's kinda sus but we don't know what's up yet.

Then we get what is actually kind of an upsetting scene? This wrestler comes to town and the hype man is taking bet money from anyone who wants to challenge the wrestler... who then just immediately kills the first man. And his friend realllly flatly complains about it because that was his friend. Yeah, you sound heart-broken... but for some reason friend dude challenges the 'wrestler' who just literally killed someone, and he has no shot.

Then we get a really adorable reveal of Hercules with his kids and it made me happy to see him after that awful scene. He's asked to come deal with the killer in town, and so he arrives to challenge him. There's a long fight, bla bla, Hercules wins. Then it's revealed that this whole thing was Hera just causing problems to annoy Hercules and WOW is that awful.

Several men are dead because Hera blames Hercules for Zeus's infidelity... what else is new?

Hercules quite reasonably destroys the shrine to Hera outside the town.

Then Zeus comes and complaings to Herc about how he should complain less about Hera's bs? And be more grateful for how great his life is, because he has a wife and kids/happy home life and that's "more than [Zeus] ever had" which is like... confusing?? He's the king of the gods? Surely he could have had a nice wife if he'd wanted one? IDK. I don't get Zeus. And I get him less the more I see.

Herc rightfully points out that he's worked very hard to get this nice life, and I feel much more annoyed at Zeus on Herc's behalf than he is. Hercules has grown on me so much haha.

My notes: "I kept waiting for Hercules to come home to his wife and kids dead. XD" "How do we still have a wife and kids and no Iolaus???"

Luckily Herc goes home and there's a cute scene of him and his wife that shows their chemistry quite well. I liked Dei a lot here. Herc then goes and does chores but gets distracted by how much he loves his family and my FUCKING HEART. I love Hercules so much in this scene.

And he's hanging out with this centaur guy who, initially, excited me!

"A centaur! Not as well done visuals as they end up having for Cheiron in YH but fair enough."

Then this girl shows up and says she needs Herc's help in her town. We find out that the centaur doesn't like Hercules and worships Hera (even tho he works for Hercules?). He goes back to the house and gets into a confrontation with Dei where he implies that Hercules won't be faithful to her and then - (and this part makes my skin crawl) says that he can think of something else he can do better than Hercules, coming on to her. I thought this scene was unfortunately believable, both on how creepy he was and how Dei reacted.

"Die-a-nah-rah"? "Day-a-nee-rah"? Well the characters can't agree on how to say her name, so...

Dei encounters a lady who says the girl who came looking for help is trying to trick Hercules, so she goes to try to warn him. She leaves her kids with their aunt.

I got really excited, because the aunt's name is Althea (which is the name of my Young Hercules OC hahahahaha).

On the subject of names, the woman Herc is helping is named "Iole" but I definitely thought her name was "ailoli" at some point. But also why is Iole's name so similar to their daughter's name (Ilea)? WHAT IS WITH NAMES IN THESE MOVIES?? Just pick names that are more different PLEASE. Iole, Ilea, Iolaus, whyyyyy.

Anyway, off Dei goes to warn Herc but SURPRISE, Herc already knew all about it and he's convinced he'll never get seduced by anyone because the only person he loves enough to die for is Dei (sorry kids), so he sends her home with the centaur (Nessus) that tried it on the night before.

Disappointingly, Nessus tries to assault Dei, who yells for help, and Herc... Shoots a single arrow. From a huge distance. To kill Nessus without visual. She didn't say "Hercules, help, Nessus is attacking me" she just yelled for help and... I can suspend my disbelief for a lot in these movies but this was just ridiculous. He could have easily killed his wife here. JFC.

Anyway Nessus is dying and whines to Hera about it, but then tells Dei his blood is magic and if she puts her cloak (which absorbed his blood) on Herc, he'll always be loyal to her. Even in the scene this doesn't make a lot of sense, but he claims it's because he loves Dei.

Herc (to his credit) does come to Dei. He blames himself for what's happened and offers to go home, but Dei... tells him not to? Urges him to help Iole? It's a bit odd. But she says she has to help those people and she gives him the cloak and tells him to use it at night when he's cold and think only of her.

Herc and Iole get to some town where a man is just going apeshit destroying a pub or whatever, and Iole uses her special virgin powers to calm him down and figure out that he burned his tongue on soup and would have explained but couldn't talk because he was in too much pain, and he just needs a drink of water... and the guy is immediately calm. Like a toddler or animal. Except that he's a grown man, so this whole scene makes no sense whatsoever. I assumed this was some sort of like "oh, see, Iole argued with Herc that they should try talking" callback to Dei previously or something, but it's actually a set up for something else.

WE SEE TIM. He's clearly watching Iole.

But I just got so excited because I love familiar faces.

There's a scene where Iole and Herc are camping out and she tells him a story about two lovers in the stars who are destined never to reach each other... And I was like WHY AREN'T YOU USING YOUR WIFE'S CLOAK? Guess it was a balmy night.

A Tim Balme-y night.

Creeper character that he is, he's stalking Iole and we get a scene which is basically just more fanservice where Iole swims around naked (save for all her jewelry) and Lycastus (we don't know his name yet, but I feel bad calling him Tim here) watches her the whole time making wanton faces. It drags on a bit, and Iole thinks it's Herc watching her so she's playing it up... Yikes.

Lycastus attacks Hercules, and Herc is like "I'm not gonna dirty my hands on you" or something but then when Lycastus attacks again he's like "the next thing to break is your neck" which is sort of the opposite of what he just said, but okay.

Anyway Herc knocks him out instead of killing him, Iole explains that she and Lycastus are in love, but that it doesn't matter because the only thing that does matter is saving her village. And off they go, leaving poor Lycastus alone and knocked out in the wilds.

They get to town and everyone's happy cuz Herc is there to save them. At this point I was still very confused why anyone thought Herc could help, because, I mean... it's a big hole with green shit coming out of it. Hercules can't exactly beat it into submission, you know?

Zeus shows up and tells Herc not to go down there because the only thing down there is death.

From my notes: "Hercules doesnt know if he’s mortal or not… and apparently neither does Zeus…??? Even though in the last movie they were like ZOMG IF YOU GO IN THE CIRCLE YOULL BE MORTAL. Guess that doesnt matter now?"

Seriously what is or isn't canon in this universe? XD

Anyway, Lycastus tries to tell Iole not to seduce Hercules, she's like "no, I love you, but I have to do this" but then these two start making out!! She's like "no, I can't (bone you right here right now)" but he argues that she wants to, and she's just like "yeah, but I can't" and Herc shows up right then to tell her that he just can't bring himself to go in that hole (in the ground).

Iole then strips and tries to convince Herc to do it for her, but he's like "nah, this is really uncomfortable, sorry" and isn't interested at all and honestly... his face when she starts dropping her dress? He seems so like "what is she doing?".

This is not a man who was ever going to cheat on his wife.

I'm still wondering if maybe he's kinda demisexual? Like he needs to form a certain kind of bond with someone before he considers them sexually attractive? Not important, just a thought.

HILARIOUSLY, on his way out of the tent he's like "Hey Lycastus, take care of her" which makes me wonder if he knew Lycastus was there the whole time, and chose to cockblock him when he entered, or...? XD

And it's only now, when Herc is deciding to go home, that he puts on Dei's cloak for the first time. It starts beating him up (really, just, watch the scene, there's no other way to describe it?) and when he finally gets it off, it turns into a peacock (for Hera) before disappearing entirely.

This drives him to throw himself into the hole because... he's mad at the gods?

Unfortunately someone runs and tells Dei that Herc is dead because there was a cloak that drove him mad. She believes he's dead and that it's her fault.

Then we get treated to more Michael Hurst (as Charon the Boatman, so a little less photogenic than usual), who informs Hercules that he's still alive. I thought it was kinda rude Herc stole his lantern (especially after getting a free boat ride) but I suppose even heroes can have flaws. (I say, knowing full well I will never blame Iolaus for stealing anything ever.)

Dei then, uh... walks to a cliff, thinking about Hercules, I think with the intention of killing herself already, but then it's implied that Hera gives her a vision of Herc reaching out to her, and she walks off trying to reach back to him? I'm not sure if Hera's involvement was needed, but maybe they wanted to soften the suicide angle a bit. But like, why would she have even been there otherwise, dressed like that and having flashbacks of him... ANYWAY.

There's a really weird scene where these three "women" come to Hercules in the underworld and start like, seducing him, I guess? And he keeps picturing sexy times with his wife (clips from earlier) and repeating her name... until he snaps out of it and kills(?) them.

Basically the dead are all after Hercules. Especially the villains he killed. Herc pits the villains against each other to get away. Honestly the fighting gets boring.

Nessus reveals himself to Herc and explains how he betrayed him. He reveals that Dei killed herself because she blamed herself for his death. Herc tricks Nessus into opening the portal to where Dei is (to "show" her to Herc) and Herc jumps through it. (Suck it, Nessus.)

Herc finds Dei, but she doesn't remember him. Hades shows up and (I actually thought quite reasonably) explained that he had erased the pain that brought her there, and that she was dead but basically happy. It's a reward for her good life. Herc says he's gonna take her home and Hades tries to explain that that's just, not really how death works.

He also claims that her memory can't be restored. But the moment Herc kisses her, she gets her memories back, so... that was incorrect.

Fortunately for Herc, Hades is dealing with a problem right now. Hercules offers to catch Cerberus for Hades in exchange for Dei leaving with Herc. They make the deal, even tho Hades is doubtful it will happen. And for some reason tries to raise the stakes on the bet by saying if Herc fails then she's Hades's forever?

From my notes: "I kind of loved Hades? He was actually being pretty kind to Deianeira etc. and it was reasonable for him to make a deal with Hercules. Eventually Dei will die though so like… IDK that was kind of a weird like IF YOU FAIL SHE IS MINE FOREVER like yeah I guess if you die, you're dead forever? IDK."

How does death normally work in this world??

The underworld guards were actually so funny. Some really interesting/fun costume stuff and fake limbs, etc. But clearly they were limited with the budget/technology of the time.

To quote my notes: "Speaking of visuals, Cerberus is… rough…" (Not even so much the practical props, but the CGI.. yikes)

But Hercules manages to not only find, but corner Cerberus, and, remembering the TONGUE BURNING SCENE FROM EARLIER, is able to calm him down and get him back to his post instead of killing him. That's great and all, but I think the whole thing would have been better if that first scene had been about a child or animal and not a grown man.

To their credit, the guards seemed quite satisfied with the whole thing. I liked these guys haha.

Getting Hades back to normal saves the village, as the hole closes up. Iole apologizes to Herc and Dei, then announces that she's gonna start a family with Lycastus. Herc and Dei have some PDA in the town which makes me wanna gag just a little bit.

Zeus then comes to visit his family and he and Herc chat about whether or not Hercules is immortal, and apparently Herc doesn't care either way.

The movie ends on Herc being asked to help someone again (almost played for laughs? But not by the characters, at least).

Final thoughts:

Overall, a pretty solid plot.

I can't get over how stupid the soup scene is. Literally just needed it to be a kid or an animal in a similar scenario to solve that issue. It was great that it came back when dealing with Cerberus, but the initial scene itself was a mess.

I wanted to see more of Lycastus, not because his plot felt unfinished, but just because I actually really liked the character and it was Tim haha.

Once again I ask: How do we still have a wife and kids and no Iolaus???

I was not surprised that Dei died. But BOY was I surprised that Dei didn't stay dead. WTF.

On that note, I really like Dei. I liked how certain she was initially of her bond with Herc and that it was only after she was convinced that there was treachery afoot that she went to warn him (and I love that she was trying to WARN him, not be all jealous - she was told he would die, so of course she'd want to warn him)!

I also really liked Hercules's loyalty and the love he showed throughout the movie for his wife and kids. It's very endearing.

WHERE IS THIS GOING? How does this become the TV show?? XD

[iagreewithlilithsrightsnwrongs]

Warrior Nun Christmas Episode.

That is all.

oh yh we need that

im so sad that because of this new format of just 8 eps per season (fuck u netlfix) theres no long seasons anymore, n therefore no need for "filler" eps, now every ep counts!!! n that sucks!!! its good to have a lil pause from the main story n have a beach ep or a christmas one!! or a halloween one!!! like UGH i wanna see them struggle putting up a tree n decorating it. n baking?? how many cakes are burned that day?? the presents???????? i need it

[loudfact]

Samsung One UI 6.1.1 Update Tipped to Bring Video AI Feature

According to a recent leak, Samsung may be planning on releasing another artificial intelligence AI-powered feature later this year. According to a source, the One UI 6.1.1 version will include a feature called Video AI. This could be part of Samsung's Galaxy AI suite of features, which was announced in January and includes Circle to Search, Live Translation, Interpreter, and others. Notably, Google and Samsung are collaborating on new AI technologies for the Android ecosystem. According to Ice Universe on X (previously known as Twitter), the South Korean IT giant is developing a Video AI feature that will be released with the One UI 6.1.1 update. The update is scheduled to be released during the next Galaxy Unpacked event, where the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 are set to debut. While no one knows what this new feature will do, the name gives some indications. The key functional innovation of One UI 6.1.1 will be video AI. — ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) April 25, 2024 The Samsung Galaxy S24 series now includes generative AI photo editing features that allow users to resize, remove, or reposition items inside the image. However, there are currently no similar features for video editing. Video AI could refer to AI-powered editing tools that can perform the same modification as photo editors but only for videos. Another potential is AI text-to-video generation, but this is unlikely because the technology is still in its early stages, with companies such as OpenAI working on their Sora model. Also Read: - What Does RN Mean? RN Definition & Meaning Explained - What Does YH Mean? #yh hashtag explained However, these are just speculations; if such a feature is in the works, details will be revealed during the next Galaxy Unpacked event, which is expected to take place in July. For the time being, Samsung users with Galaxy AI-enabled devices can enjoy features such as Circle to Search for quick visual lookups, Chat Assist for improved written messages, Note Assist in the Notes app for text summarization, translation, formatting, and more. Read the full article

[baekhvuns]

YGE went from o to 1000??? Kpop stans are going to jail, finally! No but seriously whattttt. Thankfully I don't remember much from that dream, hehe. I only remember me saying "you don't need to walk so close to me" 🙃

Oh my sweet summer child, haha. Idk I used to be all for Damon, but I started to despise him, tbh I hated all the characters at some point, but also Delena was boring 😭 sorry I spent years obsessing over them and then was like "ok nvm". The mental gymnastics I went through because of PLL, don't even. Shadowhunters yes, rip to that show </3

Yeah I'm afraid we're all married then. No, but he needs to get a grip, who does he think he is pls. Okay perhaps you should've gone for YH x SH x Y/N fic then 😅

THOSE CUTE HOODIE SELCAS WERE TAKEN ON THE SAME DAY SANHWA RECORDED THE RUSH HOUR CHALLENGE I THINK??? I can't with him

Seonghwa talked about the cherry PC, he knows... and the way he mentioned putting a lot of thought in his photocard selfies. Yes WE FUCKING KNOW YOU'RE DOING THE MOST. I gotta tell him there's a stealer who wants to get his photocards 👀 he'll guard my body photocards

Isudishsjudgdgdhs I actually quite like Love in Contract, but I just can't stand the SLS, it's too much even though he's dumb, but I find it hard to care for the apparent main relationship </3

That's right not even crumbs. Didn't get Hyunlix and Kai, didn't get Ateez and Kai either. Some fucking bullshit

Yes, SM was slacking this time wtf all those pretty shots for nothing. 😭 they gave us INVU and Gasoline and reached their limit. Dark Seulgi so so so true I love her, need more of her

Yo what's with all that Soohyuk talk I missed 😭 y'all not gonna see the gates of heaven if you don't stop. I'm so sorry for not mentioning the Lee Soohyuk to Hwa though, but maybe next time? 💔💔💔 but what the fuck should I say lmaooo. I have a mission: I need to speak to blonde Hwa. I met Seonghwa as blonde for the 1st time and we started our relationship by hip thrusts in my face

Okay but that bathroom selfie is peak Seonghwa. He looked adorable, but then there's that sinful shoulder. So biteable

I know you're gonna hurt me bad with the new series, so I will simply pretend not to see whatever ending you've prepared. You'll not destroy me again! I have a vivid imagination 🤗 my simp king is coming and I have to smile!

It was the anniversary of the death of long haired Hwa, but at least he was pink at that time, so it softened the blow... I keep forgetting he's blonde now because of all the black hair content 😭

Uh oh miss Baek! Skz had a comeback, and you need to listen to this if you haven't already. Maybe it'll give you some ideas 😊😉😘 This and Red Lights....... why - DV 💖

hi helloo!

YGE went from o to 1000??? Kpop stans are going to jail, finally! No but seriously whattttt. Thankfully I don't remember much from that dream, hehe. I only remember me saying "you don't need to walk so close to me" 🙃

FOR ONCE, THEY DID 😭😭😭😭 no bc they better some deserve them so they can get in touch with reality,,, OH??????????? HELL;LOKDJFHKE THE WAY MY JAW DROPPED A LIL AND THE QUIET GASP,, BETSIE HWY WAS HE WALKING CLOSE WHAT AU WERE U IN WITH HIM,, PPT FORMAT POINT FORM APA MLA FORMAT SIZE 12, TIMES NEW ROMAN FONT RIGHT NOW

Oh my sweet summer child, haha. Idk I used to be all for Damon, but I started to despise him, tbh I hated all the characters at some point, but also Delena was boring 😭 sorry I spent years obsessing over them and then was like "ok nvm". The mental gymnastics I went through because of PLL, don't even. Shadowhunters yes, rip to that show </3

😭😭😭😭 PLS WHY DID U HATE HIM,,, i also just started so far so good it has a very cozy feeling esp bc it's christian girl fall now and the little crappy quality of it just makes the mood,,, is ppl actually a good show to watch bc finding the 'x' in the game alone got me pissed 😭😭😭😭

Yeah I'm afraid we're all married then. No, but he needs to get a grip, who does he think he is pls. Okay perhaps you should've gone for YH x SH x Y/N fic then 😅

i never thought id see u write the word m*rried fbjhdfblb NO LITERALLY SOMEONE, PUT HIM ON A LEASH JUSEYO 😭😭 i think i would have passed away instead of writing that bc that would mean three people in one smut and id deteriorate BUT the yunho fic is getting along bc my brain had a moment so the inspo is back, 15k atm hopefully will get this done fast for hwa to begin <3

THOSE CUTE HOODIE SELCAS WERE TAKEN ON THE SAME DAY SANHWA RECORDED THE RUSH HOUR CHALLENGE I THINK??? I can't with him /// Seonghwa talked about the cherry PC, he knows... and the way he mentioned putting a lot of thought in his photocard selfies. Yes WE FUCKING KNOW YOU'RE DOING THE MOST. I gotta tell him there's a stealer who wants to get his photocards 👀 he'll guard my body photocards

i LOVE HOW WE KEEP SAYING WE ARE DONE WITH HIM BUT THEN HE POSTS, AND WE FORGET HOW TO BEHAVE 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 oh HE KNOWS he's deff a moot with some fan acc, AND U KNOW HE DID IT ON PURPOS TOO, WHO IN THE WORLD WOULD OUT A CHERRY ON THIER LIP LIKE THAT AND POST A PHOTO WHILE LOOKING BOTH HOT AND CUTE HOW IS THIS MAN POSSIBLE !!!!!! u gotta tell him his pc stealer is just doing work for the charity <3

Isudishsjudgdgdhs I actually quite like Love in Contract, but I just can't stand the SLS, it's too much even though he's dumb, but I find it hard to care for the apparent main relationship </3

have no watched since ep2 but i saw some spoilers, bestie was aDOPTED????? LMFAOO HE'S DUMB BUT HE'S OUR DUMB <3333

That's right not even crumbs. Didn't get Hyunlix and Kai, didn't get Ateez and Kai either. Some fucking bullshit

NOT EVEN CRUMBS OR A MISNCULE DUST,,, hyunlix and kai,, sitting on the table next to each other,, oH THEY MADE ME SO FURIOUS FLSBFLH HOW SHY ARE U ALL 😭😭😭😭 kai and hwa met backstage??? no proof hwa we need it LIVE ON STAGE AND HOPEFULL AT THAT FESTIVAL THEY MEET AND ID LIVE MY HWA KAI FANTASY MY FICS WOULD COME TRUE ID CRY JHGEJHK

Yes, SM was slacking this time wtf all those pretty shots for nothing. 😭 they gave us INVU and Gasoline and reached their limit. Dark Seulgi so so so true I love her, need more of her

they really wasted those pretty shots for the teasrers, which wow omg was so so pretty, could've got miss sulgi in some cathedral doing her choreo but instead we got studio choom sm basement version,,, invu and gasoline was sO stunning visually, the costumes and everything,,, miss seulgi could've gotten that dark villain costume omg 😭😭😭😭 but like her solo lore is so interesting i hope sm makes her have a CB where they go full in

Yo what's with all that Soohyuk talk I missed 😭 y'all not gonna see the gates of heaven if you don't stop. I'm so sorry for not mentioning the Lee Soohyuk to Hwa though, but maybe next time? 💔💔💔 but what the fuck should I say lmaooo. I have a mission: I need to speak to blonde Hwa. I met Seonghwa as blonde for the 1st time and we started our relationship by hip thrusts in my face

FGSKDFGF IT WAS A FEILD DAY LAST NIGHT 😭😭😭😭 oh bestie nEXT TIME THE FIRST THING U BETTER SAY TO HIM HIS LEE SOOHYIK AND PULL UP A SIDE BY SIDE PHOTO OR IM ONTO U HFABKJ pLS THATS SO FUNNY EVERY TIME U SAY IT "we started our relationship by him thrusting in my face" CRYINGHEGKJHG;

Okay but that bathroom selfie is peak Seonghwa. He looked adorable, but then there's that sinful shoulder. So biteable

his slight skin made the internet panic this mf 😭😭😭😭 how can one be the deadliest combo of cute and sexc what the hell 😭😭 sO BITEABLE UR RIGHT,, CHOMP CHOMP IT

I know you're gonna hurt me bad with the new series, so I will simply pretend not to see whatever ending you've prepared. You'll not destroy me again! I have a vivid imagination 🤗 my simp king is coming and I have to smile!

the ending or the beginning <333333 does miss yn even end up with him? who dies? who lives? what goes wrong? what secrets are revealed? i just know one thing will surprise everyone <3 i WILL TRY NOT TO DESTROY ANYTHING AIMING FOR A GOOD ENDING FOR ONE (8) OF THEM AT LEAST

It was the anniversary of the death of long-haired Hwa, but at least he was pink at that time, so it softened the blow... I keep forgetting he's blonde now because of all the black hair content 😭

no literallly i keep forgetting he's blond bc we had that other colour for os long,,,, it feels like im seeing edits instead of reality 😭😭😭😭

Uh oh miss Baek! Skz had a comeback, and you need to listen to this if you haven't already. Maybe it'll give you some ideas 😊😉😘 This and Red Lights....... why - DV 💖

OHHHHHH BESTIE THIS IS PHEWWWWWW THIS SCREAMS VILLIAN YN OH THAT DROP WAS NASSTTYYYY leeknow's vocals omg,, my mind exploded a little i listened to its slowed and reverb too and fell a little,,, this song goes so well omg this one too! king taeyeon's vocals, i also think this would fit this villain notion very well but slowed is insane

bestie the fact awards is today which means new hwa photos…BETSIEBRBNWHDKWDH

[christinegone]

                                      okay        !!!        so         this        blog         is        going         to        go        through        a         p        big         overhaul         in         the         next         week        !!!           im        keeping        my        icons        ( i cba to change those wow ) .           ive        already         installed         my         theme        !!            im         adding         new         verses,          i        may         drop         some        threads         idk        i        have        to         see        how        many        i        have        !!      &&    new        tags        !!   because        my        blog        is         so        messy         wtf        and        i        want        it        to         match         my        others

                                      ( also appreciate the masquerade gf icon cause i love )

[roseband]

... 

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

Idea for the codes thing; there is a subclass of codes, all starting with B (for Backstory,) specifically for when something related to a hermit’s backstory shows up on the server. There are codes in this category both for general stuff that can apply to these situations, such as B-101 (Unspecified hermit has a backstory that somehow relates to the current emergency situation and is willing to share,) B-102 (Unspecified hermit is acting strangely in response to a current emergency situation in a way that might have backstory reasons,) or B-105 (Some previously unknown entity connected to a hermit’s backstory has shown up on the server with malicious intent related to that backstory); however, some are more specific to certain hermit’s backstories (bear with me here, I don’t really know much abt any of the hermit’s lore except Grian) such as B-5903 (SamGladiator, from YHS, showing up out of the blue for some reason,) or B-5907 (the Watchers, from Evo SMP, showing up and causing trouble) (this can either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what interpretation of the watchers you’re going with) (there are probably also several sub-codes to each of these to explain more specific details of the situation).

The thing is, Xisuma doesn't remember adding any of these codes. They just showed up one day in his documentation with no indication of how they got there. Nothing but the new entries, perfectly formatted, and a note that just said "I'm sorry, thank you".

He understands. The paragraphs of protocol related to the dreaded day when Evil Xisuma shows up again prove that he knows this special kind of anxiety. He says nothing to Grian. He leaves the codes in the register; a safeguard for a current fear more than for any future eventuality.

- Mod Shade

[silenthillmutual]

Would u ever analyse/write about peter bipolar stuff bc i see so many ppl psychoanalyse daniil but i just want to put the stamatins in a lab and examine them anyway i saw ur peter daniil bingo thing and i think manic depressive peter is so real and we should spread the word and there isnt enough peter content maybe daniil can b there too so yh what do u think about petrs brain ??...... umm im a little weird from many painkillers but i hope this makes sense

bipolar peter ask part 2 -- but also i think p1 petr is so different from p2 peter kind of a bigger different than most other characters   [[like peter1 is still consumed by his vision and a pretty wizard and insane utopian but p2 peter is more tired disillusioned ready to be a dilf]]]  so  like man they might need to be separated if analysed  but anyway hes got problems  ❤️

soooo i am trying to answer this for the second time. tumblr’s new ask formatting kind of fucked up when i tried to insert the few screenshots i thought explained peter’s mental state. so here’s peter thoughts... 2!

i don’t really have the screenshots required to make a lengthy meta post about peter’s mental health issues on the scale of my daniil & autism analysis - though i doubt any analysis i write will quite surpass that - and even less for classic peter, but i do have a few thoughts.

i think a lot about peter’s state of mind because he’s probably my favorite utopian. which isn’t to say that i dislike the others (except georgiy), but peter holds a special place in my heart because i really relate to that depression he’s got going on. i like to think of peter as bipolar type ii, because the depression seems more pronounced. i also think it’s a good balance with andrey, who i hc as having bipolar type i. in contrast to peter’s depression, andrey has the irritability and impulsivity of a manic episode (i mean, he’s walking around without a shirt while there’s a sentient plague outside. shout out to everyone who’s walked around in the freezing cold in tank tops and shorts because they were (hypo)manic)

Peter: We don’t see eye to eye, the Judge and I. He argued taht the Tower was never their family’s crowning achievement... merely mine. And I concur. It was my crown. I’ve hit the ceiling...

i know the tower’s creation and existence is the source of much speculation and i’ve seen and liked a lot of what i read that people have had to say about it, the role it plays in the story, and the role it plays in peter’s depression. but i think it’s also fair to read it as something he may have created and feels he can’t replicate because he was hypo/manic at the time and has since crashed. once while hypomanic i was writing 5k a day like it was nothing, and when i finished the project and the episode i became overwhelmed with grief, like i would never write again. i think this hypothesis is supported by the fact that he and andrey obviously have created many fantastic things - they reference the dancing bridge and i think the other two are the cold hall and the house house? it’s late so lol if i got the names wrong - so clearly those unfinished stairways are not all there is. and he’s inspired again when he temporarily has custody of grace, so clearly he can and will create again, with or without the polyhedron.

Peter: You know, old boy, I was never persecuted for my genius. Nor was I prosecuted for murder. And yet, it turns out all this was my hell after all.

Voice line: Life is a night at the bar. All the wisdom you gain, you pay for in pain.

i think one of my friends w bipolar suggested that the way he interacts with his creations hints at psychosis, but that's something i'd be ill-equipped to discuss as i don't experience psychosis. his paranoia that farkhad and andrey are mad at him, though...

Peter: I wonder how long my tower will hold. I wonder if Farkhad forgave me... if Brother is angry with me... I wonder about many things.

this screenshot isn’t exactly proof of anything, but he definitely seems wrapped up in mistakes that he’s made in the past in a way that feels familiar. at some point in time all the mental illnesses become inextricable, but there’s a lot i’ve felt i’ve lost to the bizarre shit i’ve done while strugging w bipolar disorder and i think the regret is real. not to mention the significant comorbidity of bipolar disorder and anxiety disorders. and the high rate (70%, according to this) of comorbidity between bipolar disorder and substance use disorder

Peter: A lot. I have to quit drinking, but I don’t have any willpower left.

peter clearly has a lot less faith in his potential for recovery and it makes me wonder if he’s tried to get sober before and failed.

also i tend to mash my characterizations together when writing fic because i look at the two games as accompaniments of each other - especially as we only have one route of p2 so far. but i do think p2 peter seems slower and sadder than classic peter. i think they’re different symptoms of the same illness though... maybe when i get around to replaying bachelor route i’ll take more screenshots of peter and formulate more thoughts on his mental illness but boy. he’s got it.

thank u for the ask!! i love talking n thinking about this kinda stuff.

[lumenizampel]

@faithspawn ​ replied to your post “do i even make more apex legends shit when ive never played apex...”

live your dreams make the things

also yh it can be a bit spooky playing at first but honestly the game has skill based matchmaking so for the most part it should match you with players you can handle. if you're worried other players will be rude cause your new just mute your team(character select will give you the option but you can do it at any time via menus)

you can also mute teammate pings if they are using those to annoy you

but i don't think you need to play to enjoy the lore/make content

if you don't play a lot of shooters or just want any advice if you plan on playing hit me up, I've managed to go from taking like 4 months to get my first 100 kills to getting a 100 kills in like two days. I'm not Good at all, but it's possible to improve and have fun

oh one more thing, valentines day event is bringing back duo's! it's a great time to give the game a try, as a player with adhd and not a lot of shooter experience i found duo's mode way less stressful. if my teammate goes down i only have to take down 1 or 2 players not 3. (ok ill hush now lol) 

Oh wow, i didnt really expect an answer hahaha! still, thank you so much. i had the game installed for a week now and all ive done is... hang out in the shooting range five times.... lmao i need someone to just tell me to Play The Fucking Game

I do play shooters semi-regularly (overwatch and paladins specifically) so i’m not exactly inexperienced with shooters, however ive always been really afraid of the battle royale format because I’m not that good with the strategy side of things and i always assumed battle royale games had a lot of those stuff involved 

mostly im just reading up on the legends’ skills and all that to prepare, but i guess i can check the game out when duos come out! something abt squad gameplay AND battle royale AND being responsible for your teammates when they die is scary at first sight but i guess being responsible for one less human might sweeten the deal :’)

[whstletomyheart]

Why YG TREASURE BOX is a complete mess and YG is playing with us. (A rant?)

First, its important to understand what or YGTB is and how it was promoted for this we should understand the events that happened before.

NOTE: YG will be referred to as a they since there are other people besides YHS Making the Decisions.

All of YG’s boy groups were made through survival shows.

BIGBANG=BIGBANG DOC

WINNER=WIN

IKON=WIN/M&M

So it was pretty obvious that they would reuse this concept for their new bg.

Now its safe to assume that the group was set to be made around Bang Yedam, he’s popular in Korea plus that he was the moat famous trainee .

Now this is the general assumption that the original silver boys lineup ot11 were the lineup set up to debut. This is the reason why they were promoted through Mixnine (GonSukKyu) and Stray Kidz (YG vs JYP). But we all know Mixnine failed and that some trainees left making YG To rethink their concept and lineup.

Now we must remember that prior to the show starting YG teased that Yedam, Hyunsuk and Raesung were basically confirmed members.

Raesung, due to personal reasons decided to not participate in the show (the best decisions honestly).

Currently YG as a company is at a point were every fandom in it has problems with the company. This is all due to the amount of mismanagement towards the majority if not all the groups and artists. YG despite being the house of great and unique artists doesn’t know how to mange them which leads to long hiatus, less music and cbs,etc.

Now lets analyze the problems with the shows format. Moat idol survival shows have the same format. Which is simply individual competition. This means that the contestants will be evaluated and the voting will be individual or 1 pick (produce 101).

YGTB showed the beginning to be more a team survival show in other words a group compete with other groups (Win). But around the second and third episode its revealed that the show will be individual, shifting the format. This is first seen strange since a consistent theme in YGs previous groups is their teamwork but this is because since predebut the trainees are grouped into groups.

In the show we are never truly explained about how the show works and if it is its vague and very contrictdactory. Plus a lot of unfair and frankly weird things are shown ( compared to other survival shows)

Examples of this are:

• Number of final lineup is always changing: from 7 to 9 to 7 to 6 to 5 to 7 it would change depending the mood od the ceo.

• YHS changes rules at whim: YHS changes or adds rules

• Missions: the missions to compete against the treasure team were barely explained. Winpink came to the show mostly just for name Dropping cause they didn’t show why they chose who they chose. The ep were winner 2seung was going to examine their performances was cut to almost nothing more than click Bait.

• The rounds or missions made little sense , at the beginning it 1:1 , then 2:2 (duo), then team genre(?)/concept (in my opinion they weren’t that different in my opinion to be a concept eval but oh well)and putting a position battle at the end ……makes little sense

In Produce and other shows its usually a cover, position, concept and then original song evaluation. Showing the growth.

• Lack of original ygtb songs most survival shows make their own songs fir the concept and final evaluations (example Mixnine). YG is company that prides on self production but not once was this used despite various trainee being able to ( Yedam, Hyunsuk, Byounggon, Asahi, Yoshinori, etc.) . Even if the boys couldn’t yg producers could’ve made songs just like in Mixnine.

• Lack of fan events besides liking a trainees video and channel there weren’t chances for the fans to feel really close to them. With the individual channels they could’ve done random lives but no. Or fanmeetings.

Despite this the show did release a series of interesting content that honestly saved the show.

• Not letting all the trainees participate in the treasure swap and cutting and not airing the performances certain trainees made. Leaving the fans to have to watch fancams.

Now to explain the real mess, throughout the whole show fans were confused on how they could help their faves in terms of voting. YG opens voting till the last 2 episodes and makes it a group voting meaning you have to vote for a group of trainees. According to fans this means that the lineup with most votes will have an advantage to debut. On the last ep its revealed that Isn’t case at all. The trainees only got extra points depending on how many ranks or lineups they were in. In other words again it was individual voting. They didn’t explain this till ep 10 when the voting’s was done. Along with this they added the final nail to the coffin. These online votes were only worth 20% of the final score. With onsite votes at a 30%. But YHS gets 50% of the score, so basically YHS gets to choose at the end od the day so fan votes mean close to nothing. If a trainee did well on votes but isn’t YGs fave they wont pass and vice versa.

On top of all of this YG makes sure fans aren’t in the recording of the ranking to obviously avoid discord and only announces half the lineup for what we can only assume is for drama. Only YG and some staff know the lineup. Instead of releasing it all its adding more anxiety and desperation . Which can be seen in the fighting, the rumors and spamming.

Now that we’ve established that YGTB is a mess of a show that makes Mixnine look good, lets talk about favoritism and screentime. And why I don’t understand YGs intentions and the lineup.

Ok let get this out of the way YG/YHS always plays favorites, this isn’t new at all. We can see in the show that there are trainees YHS likes way more compared to others. In other words he tends to be very biased. On top that he likes to brag. The first ep is basically look at all the visuals I got.

All it takes is to watch the show to know who Yg/YHS like more baaed on screentime and arcs made. Lets Look at the confirmed members most got solid screentime. Yedam is pushed from the get go to being a super star trainee that is basically god where other trainees don’t want to be against him. Junkyu is cute and talented a good future asset, we see how he gets screentime from the start with his confidence arc. Plus its important to note that in Mixnine YHS’s fave was Junkyu . Haruto from the start was the Japanese trainee YG was interested in and he Gets the most screentime from the Japanese trainees. Jeongwoo was promoted through his vocal and how yg likes him, he gets attention. Junghwan On the other hand gets way less screentime then the other member but still way more than other less known trainees.

That being said a lot of the team b, team c and team j trainees get very little to no screentime. Jongseob who won Kpop Star didn’t get much screentime and performance was cut. Mashiho’s screentime is mostly reactions or being a friend.

Silver boys got the most screentime overall they focused a lot on their teamwork and bond giving fans the hope that they would debut. Which is were im frankly confused and would love to understand the why.

Why make silver boys participate in this show and emphasize so much on them for basically nothing?

Why bring Jihoon back?

Why bring Seunghun back?

After hours and hours of thinking and reading opinions. I came to a few theories:

A) YG wants to debut a fresh, young and visual new bg. For whatever reason, so choosing the younger trainees makes sense. Probably modeled around Yedam for a more pop sound in comparison to WinKon Some accounts state that a lot of kfans were pushing yg for a younger and visual group. Basically discarding the older trainees. Also this lineup has YGs faves who were the younger ones. If this is true YG will debut Yoonbin and Masiho or Yoonbin and Jaehyuk (his screentime in the last episodes makes me think so). Basically in this theory YG had an idea from the get go and they only used the silver boys for clout. This is the theory that makes me the saddest tbh. But still it doesn’t explain why yg would care so much about silver boys. Like bringing them back and emphasizing so mucho on how they’re a team. Plus it discards the power Hyunsuk has with one of the most stable fandoms.

B) The theory before the lineup was dropped was that yg Is testing the silver boys for the last time which made sense till the last episode. But SB stans have been very loud and spammed his Instagram, trended a hashtag and are contacting companies. This means they have a strong fandom so this might help.

C) YG will add more members to the lineup I think 9 is more realistic than 11. Based on screentime maybe Hyunsuk + Seunghun.

D) YG will debut all of ot13, doubt this since YG hasn’t have that big of a group and I don’t think YG can handle it. If it was SM yeah but not this. (I like this one tho )

E) YG will debut ot13 but in 2 teams a pop team and hip-hop team. Pop=treasure7 Hip-hop=silver boys +a member (I love this)

F) YG will debut SB but under the black label.

G) YG wont do anything except debuting the og treasure7 . And the sbs will leave the company and split up.

These are all the theories I have.

Tldr: YGTB has a lot of flaws as a survival show being extremely unfair and the situation with the lineup is the most chaotic thing ever. Whatever yg does will make people mad.

The worst part is that it worked as always YG doing the minimal manages to pull us in just to disappoint us. Just that he managed to drag more people this time.

At this point I’m done with the guessing and the rumors, I just really want to know what’s going on and the security that my faves are ok even if they’re in or not in the group. Cause not debuting in the group isn’t the end they can debut with another group or go solo. My point is that it isnt the end for their careers.

[dc-translator]

[ENG TL] 190403 Kstyle interview

Notice: This translation was completed without any permission or endorsement from the copyright holder. I do not hold the copyright to the original article or the photos used here. As such, a license cannot be specified. This translation will be taken down if the copyright holder wishes so.

Original Japanese interview: http://news.kstyle.com/article.ksn?articleNo=2113803

Dreamcatcher tries out acting scared for the first time in the music video of their second Japanese single! The scariest horror media they’ve seen is the anime...

Dreamcatcher, a K-Pop girl group that has been drawing attention world wide for its novel ‘Nightmare’ concept, heavy rock sounds, and overwhelming performances, released its second Japanese single, “PIRI ~ 笛を吹け(Blow the Flute)~ -Japanese Ver.-“ on March 13th. Kstyle conducted an interview with them as they visited Japan to attend release events for the album. We heard a lot about their attitude towards their Asia tour, which is planned on March and includes Japan, and also about how they’ve been doing recently.

[TL’s note: The names will be abbreviated from here on out. JiU:JU, SuA:SA, Siyeon:SY, Handong:HD, Yooheyon:YH, Dami:DM, Gahyeon:GH]

--How was your first impression of PIRI? JU: There’s a part of the song that tells you to “Blow the flute (Pirireul Bureora)”. At first, I thought, ‘blow the flute? Really? Out of nowhere?’. But as I listened to the song repeatedly, I came to think that we say ‘blow the flute’ because this is a song that sends out a signal that is uniquely ours, and that this is a special song.

--How was the Japanese version? DM: Personally, the rap part was really hard. It was so fast that it took a while to get used to. But when I heard the result during the monitoring, it was very satisfactory. I felt that it was worth the hard work. GH: When I first heard it I was worried if I could perform it well because of the pronunciation differences with the Korean version. But in the end, it became a song with a different charm.

--As expected with Dreamcatcher, the dance for PIRI is very cool. Which part of the choreography do you think is the coolest? HD: During SuA’s part, we form a V-shape formation and move forward together. I think that part is really cool. ALL: Yeah, that is a cool part.

--Give us some behind the scenes details about the music video. DM: There’s a scene where all the members stand in a straight line, and we had to match Yoohyeon’s height. But there’s actually significant height differences between us, so we had to resort to different methods to make our heights match. We would stretch our backs, use stools, and the like. That was memorable. SY: There was a scene where I sit on a ladder. It wasn’t scary, but it was a pointed ladder, so my butt hurt. (Laugh) Still, I didn’t show the pain and got through the shoot.

--Which member gave the best scared performance? SY: Everyone did a good job, but SuA went as far as to raise her voice. If you look carefully, you can probably see it in the music video as well. (Laugh)

--Which scene did you find scariest? YH: The doll scene, I guess? SA: The director surprised us by turning the doll’s heads. That was scary.

If I could go to a wonderland? ‘To Kyoto…’

--Your 4th mini album, ‘The End of Nightmare’, which contains PIRI, concludes the Nightmare series, which Dreamcatcher has continued on until now. How does the series end? JU: It should be apparent if you watch the music video, but it concludes with us being unable to escape the nightmare, try as we might. Thus, the story keeps repeating itself. It could be said that though the Nightmare series ended, the Nightmare goes on.

--In the very end, there’s a scene where all the members, wearing white clothing, stand in a line while holding hands. What does this scene imply? SY: It means that in the end, there was but one. DM: Every member went through terrors.(Laugh) But in the end, there was but one.

--The B side of “PIRI ~ 笛を吹け~ -Japanese Ver.-“contains Japanese renditions of your popular song GOOD NIGHT and Wonderland. SA: My tone in the rap part of GOOD NIGHT turned out lower than in the Korean version. It fits the Japanese lyrics well and expresses a fiercer feeling. I was very happy about it. YH: I felt that “Wonderland” also fit the emotional qualities of the Japanese language quite well.

--The actor Jo Dong-hyuk makes his appearance in the music video of GOOD NIGHT as well as Chase Me. It seems that you filmed together with him as well. Were there any memorable stories from that time? SA: He was very gentle and was very considerate towards us. It was our first time acting, and he helped us to not feel pressure. JU: This is the first time we’ve been asked something like that. (Towards the interviewer) Could you be a fan of mr. Donghyuk?

--That’s not exactly what I meant with that question. (Laugh) Let me ask a question about Wonderland. If you could all go to a wonderland, what kind of wonderland would you go to? JU: I want to go into a black hole. I’m curious about what it’s like on the inside. SA: I want to visit the quantum realm, like the one that Ant-man from Avengers 4 enters when he keeps shrinking. YH: I love Peter Pan, so I’d like to visit Neverland. HD: I like scenes from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ because they are very romantic. I’d like to visit that world. GH: I haven’t thought about it before. But, I want to live in a world where I can live comfortably. (Laugh) JU: So, an ordinary home!! (Laugh) YH: That’s practical. (Laugh) DM: I want to visit the North and South Poles, before the ice melts. YH: Ah~ I want to see penguins!! SY: I want to visit Kyoto. (Laugh) It’s not exactly wonderland, but I want to feel that scenery in person.

A new event for the release, ‘like a game character…’

--You held a new kind of event during the release events for “PIRI ~ 笛を吹け~ -Japanese Ver.-“, called ‘Individual comment video event’. (TL’s note: It’s an event where the fans would film the members saying certain lines of their choosing) How was it? SY: It was embarrassing. Being filmed while saying “Good Night~!(お休みなさい)” with the fans watching, I felt like I’d become a game character. GH: It was awkward and embarrassing at first. But the fans were so happy about it that I felt glad that we did it. I also tried to say the same line in various ways.

--We heard that there were 4 patterns. Which lines were popular? SA: For me it was, ‘love you (Daisuki)’, I think. DM: ‘Good night (お休みなさい)’ SY: For me, it was ‘I can’t wait to see you (早く会いたいです).’ JU: Another popular one was ‘I’m always thankful (いつもありがとぅ).’

--The limited edition B of “PIRI ~ 笛を吹け~ -Japanese Ver.-“contained a DVD of your promotion in Raqua during your Japanese debut last year. What did you find memorable during your Japanese debut events? JU: We promoted during a cold time of the year. Yet, the Japanese InSomnias didn’t let the cold bother them and still came to see us. I found that to be the most memorable.

--I saw Japanes InSomnias saying things like ‘Dreamcatcher treats their fans well’, and ‘They treasure fans’ on their SNS. SY: Really? I’m happy to hear that. I have a really bad memory, but I try hard to remember each fan. They are happy to be called by their names, and they are thankful for even the smallest things. We are grateful for that. DM: We are truly thankful that the fans come to each of our promotions. I’m happy and touched when I see a familiar face, because it means that they haven’t forgotten us. When I see new fans increasing, I recompose myself and tell myself to work harder.

--Dami, you have a lot of female fans. When you're with them, what do you talk about? DM: You could say that they’re mostly female. They tell me ‘(In Japanese)Dami, you’re so cool!’ They’ll also tell me that they want to be hugged during two-shots, so I give them hugs. That’s how it goes. HD: Whenever I meet Japanese fans, I feel like I’m being healed. Even in difficult times, they make me forget about my hardships. I am so thankful. Love them!

When I was little, an anime I saw was terrifying…

---So far, keeping with your Nightmare concept, your music videos have been somewhat scary. What was the scariest piece of horror media that you’ve seen? YH: When I was little, I watched a Japanese film called ‘One Missed Call 2’. Because I was so young, it was so terrifying that I couldn’t forget it. SA: For me, it was ‘Ju-On: The Grudge.’ I get scared even thinking about it. I get more scared by unrealistic things because I end up imagining them. JU: The Korean film ‘The Wailing’ was terrifying. A Japanese actor (Kunimura Jun) is in the film as well. SY: Akumada~ (She’s quoting ‘The Wailing’) ALL: (Bursts out laughing) HD: I was scared by the anime, ‘Detective Conan’, when I was little. GH: Conan? Really? JU: I can see how it could be scary. HD: The scariest scene was when Conan is peeping through a hole, and then their eyes meet!! (The Mysterious Mansion of a Band of Thieves Case) SY: Do you know Pingu? I thought Pingu was scary too. There’s this sea lion that toys with Pingu in Pingu's dreams. JU: Definitely. I found Sailor Moon scary. The fact that they fight during the night was scary, and the enemy monsters were scary too. DM: For me, it was ‘The Priests’. People possessed by devils suddenly getting up with a completely different demeanor… Things like that were scary. GH: I haven’t watched a lot of horror films, but I also thought The Priests was scary.

Japanese fans are ‘kind and warm’

--Your Asia tour which also includes Japan, is about to start. What about the tour are you looking forward to? JU: We are preparing new songs and new units. I’m excited to see what everyone thinks of them. SA: It’s our first Asia tour, so I’m excited to communicate with our Asian fans. I’m curious about the language of the different countries.

--Last year, your tours centered around Latin America. YH: I remember the long flights. 20 hours!!

--How do you prepare for long flights? GH: Neck pillows and comfortable pants are absolutely necessary. HD: Also, break times and snacks! JU: I also download music and movies to watch on the plane. GH: Another important thing is not sleeping on the night before. SA: Yeah. We bring tiredness with us on long flights. (Laugh)

--Were you given any free time? JU: We got one day off. We played in the hotel’s pools and went to a nearby supermarket.

--On 2017, you went on a European tour. How was it? JU: Being in the streets were like being in a fairytale. The concert hall was also renaissance-styled, so it fit the atmosphere of the street. That was impressive.

--How was the fan’s response? HD: The European fans and the Latin American fans were both very passionate. They even prepared events for us. SY: They’re so warm. (Laugh)

--How are the Japanese fans? JU: They’re very passionate. SY: They’re kind and warm. (Laugh) DM: They’re shy, but inside, they are very passionate. HD: Being with them is touching.

--Let’s change the subject. We’ve heard that Handong sneezes if she eats chocolate. So does anyone have something they end up doing, whenever something happens?

YH: Whenever I hear music, I move my fingers like I’m playing the piano. GH: Do you have the absolute pitch? (Laugh) YH: No I don’t. (Laugh) I just end up doing it. It’s strange. SY: I have one! On buses, you see crosswalks, right? I pretend that a character is on those crosswalks and call out for ‘Toongie’ whenever there’s a crosswalk. I do it without thinking while looking out the window. (Laugh) ALL: What’s that about? (Laugh) GH: I have a similar experience. When I look out windows and see trees standing in a line, I sometimes would try timing my blinks to when I'm passing the gaps between the trees. JU: When I was in elementary school, I’d also try stepping only on the white parts of a crosswalk. I also keep something red with me on important events since elementary school. GH: Since your hair is red, everyday is important, then. (Laugh)

We approach the member’s personalities with 7 questions!

--Now, we’ll begin asking questions to individual members. We’ve heard that unlike her beautiful appearance, JiU likes dad jokes. Please teach Japanese fans some dad jokes. JU: ‘I bought new Tees (In Korea, we call t-shirts ‘Tee’s.). Which Tees did you buy? Cutee and prettee. Something like that. Please try using this joke! ALL: …(Bitter laugher)

--SuA is good at calligraphy. How did you learn calligraphy? SA: My grandmother is great at drawing and is a university professor. So I ended up learning calligraphy from her during middle school. Calligraphy and drawing helps me relieve stress, so I try to draw when I have the time. I’ve given my calligraphy as gifts to fans as well.

--Siyeon is a fan of ONE OK ROCK. Was there a particular event that made you a fan? SY: Their song popped up on my recommendations list on the music streaming service that I use. I heard one song, thought their voice was great, and ended up searching for other songs from them. They’re great at lives too. I ended up becoming a fan. My favorite song is ‘Nobody’s Home’.

--Handong is great at singing musical numbers. What is your favorite musical number? is there a musical that you'd like to star in? HD: My favorite musical number is ‘Memory’ from Cats. I want to star in Mamma Mia. Both the songs and the story are great. I want to try portraying Sophy.

--Yoohyeon loves playing video games. What draws you to video games? YH: I’m not anxious to win in games. I like being able to feel like I’m in the world of the game while playing. So I often play simulation games. I haven’t had the time for games recently, though.

--You and Siyeon both love games. Who’s better at games? YH: We go to PC rooms together, but we don’t play the same games. The genres we like are different. Siyeon likes to play RPGs, but I prefer games like peg solitaire, avatar games, and simulation games.

--Dami, your prince-like charms became even more pronounced with your short haircut. How did the fans react? DM: I was worried at first. But the fans told me that it suited me well, making my worries disappear. Now I prefer this short haircut.

--Gahyeon, you were praised for your rap part in PIRI. How did trying rapping feel? GH: I was worried and nervous at first. But our fans' response was great, and helped me become more confident. Knowing that everyone likes it, I worked on it even harder. Dami also gave me advice.

--Lastly, could you give us a message for the fans? JU: It’s heartwarming, being able to come to Japan again, and being able to make happy memories with everyone. We’re always thankful. Oh! We hold concerts in Tokyo on May 2nd, and in Kobe on May 4th. Please come to them!!

Interviewer: Yuuko Abe    Photography: Eisuke Asaoka

[TL’s Note: Wow, this was a difficult one. It took much longer than I thought, and even now I'm not sure if it all makes sense. I did the best I could, but I’m translating an interview from my third language (Japanese) to my second Language (English). Please let me know if there are parts that are difficult to understand.]