#yo coloring s2 is really hard

[velkynkarma]

yo so I just realized (rereading Parallel by Proxy again) that it’s been six years since I started reading your stuff!! that’s crazy!! I’ve kept following you as a writer even when I fell out of Voltron a few years ago (good Gen writers are hard to find), and I realize I have so many good memories of reading all your fics as they’ve come out. I used to read the new installments of PbP during my afternoon commute, and then you started the Price Cut Paladins series— ah! I still remember where I was when I finished Premium Pandemonium for the first time (the Hunk hot chocolate chapter is still my absolute favorite, it’s such a warm scene). Your work has had a really profound impact on me (I could write a whole essay— Parasite Knight in particular has gotten me through a lot of tough times, it’s very relatable), and I still really like the way you write relationships (found family is ALWAYS gonna be my favorite trope, hands down) and hurt/comfort. Honestly, thanks for sticking around with the Voltron stuff for so long, and I hope that you’re having fun with your current fics/fandoms!!

P.s— something that’s been itching my brain since I finished Familiar Faces all those years ago: what would Ryou’s quintessence be like to Shiro if he’d been in Parasite Knight post becoming his own person? How would it have protected/interacted with Shiro— like, what internal differences would he notice? (I’m assuming its color would be still be key lime pie, ha)

Awww, anon! Thanks so much for such a nice message! I'm delighted to hear you've stuck with me so long as a reader, and I'm glad my stuff continues to satisfy. I'm also glad I could be a helpful distraction during the rougher times. Knowing I can make even one person's day a little better always makes it worth it.

Ooh, what an interesting question! You referenced Familiar Faces, but since you're talking about Parallel by Proxy as a whole, I'm assuming when you refer to Ryou you mean mine (also known as Quiet) and not @bosstoaster 's variant (who remains just Ryou).

If it's PbP!Ryou, his quintessence would actually still be very similar to Shiro's, since he's genetically designed to be identical on a physical, memory, and quintessence level and that's not the kind of thing you can just change. After all, Haggar did design him to be able to replicate everything Shiro can do, including flying the Black Lion, so their quintessence does have to be similar. (Remember, Parasite Knight was written before s2 and the lion swap were released, or even Keith temporarily piloting Black, so it is written under the assumption that they're all created for one lion only). This also means he's the most compatible for donating quintessence and his would last the longest, too. Because it's basically still Shiro's.

So it would still be a violet windstorm, like Shiro. But I think Ryou's would be closer to having almost no color at all (like actual wind) because he's also been designed as a stealth unit. He's supposed to literally fly under the radar and he's designed with mimicry in mind. As for how it would protect Shiro--just like how he protects Shiro now! Primarily with ambush strikes and misdirection, maybe even creating mirages to confuse the illusory Haggar so Shiro gets a moment to rest because she can't determine which one is the real one. (Yeah, Haggar, two can play at that game).

What a good question, anon! Thanks again for such a nice message :D

[pocketsonny]

For the character ask meme: 2, 8, 14, and 16 for Ryoken and 18, 24 for Jin! :D

Ryoken! <3

2) When I think I truly started to like them (or dislike them, if you've sent me a character I don't like)

It's so hard to pin-point THE moment...like, I always liked him but I think with his face reveal I started to really like him JKASKJD I'm weak for white haired pretty boys okay! xD

But back in S1, I would've said my fave was more Yusaku and Ai than Ryoken. As the series progressed tho, and I started to pick apart Ryoken's character more...as I wrote him...I just came to love him a lot!! And I kept going back to s1, and appreciating his S1 self more, analyzing his actions...now I can ramble for days about this guy. SO MANY LAYERS TO HIS GUILT!

8) Your favorite outfit of them

He wears the same blazer and ankles pants every day, what outfit KASKJD Okay listen this guy has 10 of the same outfit, he's stupidly practical, SOMEONE TAKE HIM OUT SHOPPING!!

I do really like his avatar looks tho, I'm a fan of 👽 S1 alien look, but his s2 avatar is very pretty as well (I'd say I like the color scheme of his outfit more in s2 more!).

I do think he'd looks sooo good in turtlenecks...

14) Best storyline they had

S1 storyline for Revolver/Ryoken is very solid, you can draw a lot about Ryoken's character and actions, his way of thinking at that time. I love to go back to it to pick his character apart. PLUS HE'S SO GOOFY BACK THEN, I love that (even though it gets sad when you think he got to have that much fun because he was gonna...sacrifice himself with the Tower and everyone else so like, he didn't care! fuck it! he can be terrible cause nothing will matter in the end! GAH o|-<)

THO I also love the storyline(? if it can be called that) he had with Soulburner/Their duels. I always wish we'd got more of them...like I know i'm biased cause I love the ship and them individually, but their final duel is SO GOOD!!

16) A childhood headcanon

HMM the one I'm thinking of right now is cute/sad: he learned a bunch of like, tricks? Or stuff that would impress potential friends he made, like yo-yo tricks or card tricks , small things that'd make him look cool LOL. but he never got to show anyone.... :''')

Also he read a lot about astronomy...he always liked stars.

Jin!! :D

18) How do you think they were as a kid? (Like, were they shy, noisy, wild, etc)

I think Jin was a bit of a shy kid, but cheerful back then. He was always going somewhere with Shoichi, holding onto the back of his shirt when he was scared...they played a lot together. Shoichi had other friends from his grade, but Jin struggled to meet other kids his own age, which made Shoichi spend so much time with him so he wouldn't be lonely :') Also partly what made him so protective from early on.

Jin also always liked reading a lot--he's very curious! Liked fantasy when he was younger, mystery novels...

24) What do you think is a secret they have that they never told anyone?

HMMM 🤔

I do have a HC to kinda work with canon's "all of jin's memories of the incident where deleted when lightning used that 1 LP". Because I think that's dumb BUT...what if what that made was just repress the memories.

Like. Jin is AWARE there's a gap in his memories. And he's aware Shoichi is hiding something from him--but he hasn't told him that. Because whatever it is, seems to make him brother terribly sad, even when he hides it.

Jin often has vivid nightmares that he doesn't know the source of, either. He hasn't told Shoichi--if some mornings he's particularly exhausted, it's because he stayed up reading again. Doing homework. Playing a game. He doesn't want to cause his brother any more worry, because while his memories are foggy, he does remember Shoichi caring for him for a long time, he remembers the care facility he stayed at, but he doesn't know WHY he was there. He's just pretending all is normal now.

It does frustrate him though that Shoichi won't talk about it, or tell him--he feels people around him know something he doesn't.

This something i want to write for Future Circuit but the biggest secret may be that when he heard about the L.I on TV, something tugged at him...and he may have started to investigate on his own about it, trying to piece things together. Part of him doesn't want to know what's behind those nightmares and visions--too afraid to really KNOW but he also hates how people seem to be keeping stuff from him.

THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT AKJSKJDS he may have other. smaller, more chill secrets like. secretly uses his parents credit card for gacha games--JK JK (but what if lol )

[malecsbiscuit]

SHADOWHUNTERS S2 ↳ Episode 3: Parabatai Lost

[winchesterxxi]

Gentle Pathways (Din Djarin x Reader)

Rating: M (Mature)

Type: Fluff & Smut

Summary: “all these people keep posting how rough a horny Mando can be but I mean, come on, that man probably hasn't been touched as in skin-to-skin contact since he put the helmet on - we all saw his reaction to Grogu touching his face. So how do you think a touch starved Din would react to reader getting close to him?”

Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: No clear time frame except that it’s between S1 and S2; Blindfolding; Smut (Virgin!Din, loss of virginity, blowjob, vaginal penetration, swearing, unprotected but consensual sex)

A/N: Vanilla!Din and Soft!Din GIVE IT TO ME, WE NEED MORE and yes I know the gif is of Kylo and Ren leave me alone. 

MASTERPOST | REQUEST HERE | KO-FI

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It was late at night inside the Razor Crest, although no one could tell if it were otherwise because, as you could see through the front of the cockpit, the cold gloom of hyperspace engulfed the ship on all sides.

The Child was fast asleep and had been for a while now, and you were just finishing inserting some coordinates on the navigation panel as Mando asked you to, before leaving you alone and walking to his makeshift chamber. After doing as instructed your hand brushes against something that falls to the floor of the cockpit with a clatter.

Looking down, you notice that it’s Mando’s e-comm, easily identifiable by the big silver-colored scratch across one of its buttons. He never leaves it out of his sight, even when sleeping, that thing is always at arm’s length so you assume that he probably forgot it.

Standing up with the device in hand, you turn off any unnecessary light in the cockpit before heading towards the direction Mando went just a few minutes ago.

After you reach the steel door, you let your knuckles hit it about three times, before hearing a muffled Come in coming from the other side.

Sliding the doors open you step inside of his room, as he stands in front of you, back facing you, still fully clothed. His helmet rotates slightly over his shoulder as he directs his voice to you.

“What is it?”

“You left your e-comm on top of the navigation panel.” you tell him, extending your hand as your feet follow and you get close to him “I know you always have it on you no matter what, so I brought it to you.” your hand softly lays the device on the table against which he was leaning. 

Your face comes dangerously close with the beskar on his shoulder blades and you swear that despite everything in you telling otherwise and that beskar is cold, that you could feel warmth irradiating from it.

Mando strangles a little thank you that you acknowledge with a nod of your head before awkwardly walking back and away from him.

What there was no way of you to be aware of was that the device was left back in the cockpit on purpose. Not in the sex bait type of way, but in the Will she notice this and hence confirm that she also bears some feelings for me for noticing such small things and being attentive enough to come and return it.

A fairly explicit and complex thought, he knew, but that’s exactly what you did to him. Or have been doing for the past year to his head. Although he might not be very skilled in articulating more than one single-worded phrase at a time, his mind is constantly racing. Constantly formulating this extremely clear ways of disclosing his true feeling for you that get stuck in his throat making it shake with anxiety and instead making him opt for the safer options of a simple thank you or You didn’t have to.

Like what he just did. He wanted to facepalm himself right there and then, weren’t it for your presence. 

But he’s had enough. This man has fought virtually every deadly creature in this planet and sure enough this little crush as he tried to convince himself so many times was the scariest of them all for him to face. But enough is enough.

“Y/N.” He croaks out, turning to face you.

You hum and turn around almost instantly, surprising yourself at how easily you reacted to him.

“I - ..... I,...” he tries. He really tries.

“You what, Mando?” you question, brows furrowed while taking slow steps towards him, worried that there is something wrong.

“I ... have...feelings for you.” Your cheeks heat up but you look down avoiding getting overly excited, as this could go one of two directions.

“What type of feelings?” you ask cautiously.

“Feelings.”  The padding inside of his helmet feel like fire right this moment, and the urge to curse himself has never been this strong. 

But you understand. And he sees that you understand by the way your eyes almost pop out of your sockets and your mouth hangs open.

“Oh.” you manage to voice before being struck by utter and absolute confusion “Me? You’re sure about that?.... I’m an absolute trainwreck of a person!”

The tension that he was holding in his body due to the confession suddenly left him in the form of a low chuckle, making you even more embarrassed. “I love you just the way you are.”

“You what?!” your heart stops.

“I...” that’s when it dawns on him what it just said. This man spent months hiding his feelings from you and, just like that, under a minute he goes from saying that he has feelings for you to telling you that he loves you.

“... I love you.” he says, this time more sure of himself.

You pause a moment and look at him, eyes surely meeting something behind his darkened visor and your expression softens.

“I... I think I love you to.” you finally admit, finally letting go of your own months of repressed feelings, that now so easily slipped out to the man in beskar in front of you.

Mando slowly walks up to you, praying that you don’t run away, all the while pulling at a piece of fabric that he had wrapped around his elbow. Your eyes follow his movements before looking up at him and nodding, knowing exactly what he is about to do.

His hands disappear behind your head and then you’re surrounded by darkness.

Being deprived of your vision heightens all of your senses and you can now very clearly hear his breathing. His unfiltered breathing.

“Did you...?” you ask, but he doesn’t let you finish.

“Yes.”

His ungloved hand slowly finds your own, bringing your knuckles to meet his lips. You shiver at the contact. Slowly, he brings up his other hand to cradle your cheek, delicately replacing your knuckles with your lips.

You thoroughly melt against his touch, resting your hands upon his chest plate for some balance as he pulls you in closer, ever so gently. The kiss wasn’t too sloppy, but you could feel his inexpertness, but his lips were so soft that everything else was forgotten. And oh how you loved the tickle of his facial hair against you.

What began as a sweet kiss quickly escalates and the both walking into the nearest wall as his hands explore your clothed body, months of previously undiscovered sexual tension arising to the occasion and you could feel how excited he was getting.

The only pleasure Mando had even known had been at his own hand. And even that, he took care of as a chore,  a release of pressure, just getting himself off for the day so that he wouldn’t get distracted.

“Wait.” he pulls away, out of breath “I know that you want to take this further, but I don’t want you to be disappointed.”

“Disappointed?” you query “Disappointed how?”

“I don’t know how to do this... I’ve never done this.” he says, and by the tone of his voice, you can imagine how he is motioning with his hands between the both of you.

“You’re a virgin?”

“Yeah.” he shyly admits, rubbing the back of his head.

“No, that’s - that’s completely fine. I just... wasn’t expecting it?”

“Why?”

“You’re a bounty hunter and, well, word runs on the streets. Besides, the way Xi’an spoke to you back when we went to that prison or the things she said, I thought-”

“Nothing ever happened. Not with her, not with anyone ever. She did try, several times, but I always pushed her away.” he couldn’t bear to have you think that there was ever anyone before you.

“Oh.”

“But I want to do it with you. Here, now.” he confesses, resting his forehead against yours.

“Are you sure? I mean, having sex means that you’ll have to -” you begin, knowing fully well the implications

“I’m sure. I trust you.” he assures you with a gentle stroke on your cheek.

“Okay, then.”

“Okay.”

With your eyes still closed, you feel the knot in the back of your head loosen, and the pressure around your temples dissipating, slowly bating your eyes open. It was extremely dark in the room, but you could still make out some shapes, the disheveled curls and the prominent nose and his eyes. His eyes. You couldn’t make out what color they were but they were as dark as the sky outside this ship, with a slight glimmer as he looks down at you.

Haltingly, you lift your hand to his right cheek, stopping right next to it.

“Can I?” he nods and your rest your hand where you intended, and he closes his eyes, inhaling deeply and leaning into your touch, a pitiful look washing your face. “How long haven’t you been touched like this?”

“Since I swore to the Creed.” he confides, in a soft voice.

“That’s a long time.”

“I know.” he agrees and you bring your face close to his.

“Is this okay?” you question, not wanting to go to hard and break any boundaries.

“Yeah” Smiling up at him, you lean up and press your lips to the skin on the side of his neck, tugging down at his collar. Shuddering next to your ear, Din lets out a soft moan. 

Your hands roam the front of his body, before tapping against his chest plate.

“Can i take this off?”

“Please” he almost begs.

One by one, you remove the pieces of beskar that adorn his body, letting him discard of your own clothes after, and finally having you take off his last layer of clothing. This alternate game, painfully slow eased the nervousness out of the both of you - even though he was the inexperienced one, you were more nervous to be with him than you had with any other man.

The others were just quick affairs or one night stands, no one ever sticking around long enough to tell you the things he told you a few minutes ago. Always using you as a quick fix for whatever was wrong with their lives. But he was different. He was special, and you wanted to make this special for him, in return.

Once you both stood bare-skinned in front of each other, his hands sneak around your waist, cold skin making you hiss.

“Your hands are cold.” you whisper against his lips, that curiously explore your face.

“Sorry.” he mumbles

“It’s okay.”

You push the both of you in the bed, until the back of his knees hits its edge, and he sits down with you standing in between his legs.

“Y/N, I …um…I-I…I-I d-don’t know how to…”

“Shhh,” you mumble against his lips “It’s okay, I’ll start and when or if you feel comfortable you can take over. Okay?”

“Okay.” 

Returning to kiss his lips, you kneel down, breaking the kiss only when your skin hits the floor beneath you.  You place one of your hands on his toned stomach, gently pushing it so that he gets the hint and lays down on the bed. Running your hands up his legs, you feel his every muscle harden under your palms.

“Try and relax. I’m not going anywhere.”  Din leans his head back and moans softly as your hands work their way up and down his length. You can feel the way his body tenses up when your fingers wrap around his girth.

His fingers unconsciously find their way into your hair, gripping at it as you lick up and down the length of his cock. Every wet trail your tongue leaves pulling another pornographic moan from the man, each louder than the previous one.

You look up at him before opening your mouth and finally sinking onto him fully, earning a grunt of approval. 

“How does that feel?” you ask one time, bringing your lips to the top of his head, before popping away.

“Bloody great...”

When you feel that he is starting to get close, you pull away and quickly step onto the bed to straddle him and he instinctively sits up, face close to yours.

Taking the tip of his cock, you line it up with your entrance eager to work on your own pleasure “Can I?”

Looking down at him, he nods and you slowly sink down onto him, moaning at the way he agonizingly stretches you.

“Maker,” Din moans as you settle on his cock, all of his length buried deep inside of you. “Move, please.” He practically begs you.

“Give me your hands” you instruct and he obeys, you guiding his hands so that they are gripping the soft flesh of your hips.

You start slowly moving your hips up and down, grinding against his pelvis every time you come down on him. At first he doesn’t move, just letting you get used to your own rhythm but as soon as he gets more eager, his own hips start thrusting up to meet yours, joining you in perfect synchrony.

The hands that previously rested on your hips part ways in different directions, one of them coming up to cradle the back of you head and the other slides to rest on your bottom. Instinctively, you throw your arms against his shoulder, one hand finding the back of his head as you both keep thrusting. There was no getting closer than this - him buried balls deep inside of you all the while hugging you against his body.  

Groaning, he lifts his hips causing you to buckle your legs around his waist as he manages to flip you over, so that now he was the one on top.  You refrain from a moan to come out of your mouth.

“Seems like you’re getting the hang of it.”

He only chuckles against the curve of your neck, before resuming the rhythm at which he was working before.

“Y/N...Fuck”

“Mando...”

“It’s Din.” he lets out between breaths.

“What?” you pant.

“The name. It’s Din.”

The knot in your stomach begins to tighten, and your walls squeezing around his cock. Your moans become more frequent as you feel your high growing. You grab one of Din’s hands and guide it down to where your bodies are connected.

“Feel this?” you pant and he hums in response “The hard bud, it’s the clit. Rub it in circles. It feels good.” You guide his fingers a few times circling your clit and once you feel like he has the hang of it, you let him do it on his own. 

“Like this?” he pants, stroking it fast causing you to see stars.

“Exactly like that.”

You can feel your orgasm getting closer and by the way he is tensing, you can tell he is about to cum too, the only sounds in the room being those of your breathings and sloppy kisses, and your skin slapping together. 

Your hips connect one last time before your back arches off the bed, pressing your nipples against his soft chest and Din’s body tenses, groaning in pleasure as his hot cum dashes your insides. 

But he doesn’t stop rubbing your clit until you come down from your own high as he pulls out, rolling to your side, and you let out a soft whimper at the emptiness. 

You’re sprawled out next to him and looking over at you, he chuckles adoringly and wipes a bead of sweat from the side of your forehead before placing a kiss to it. You manage a soft smile, eyes meeting his.

His eyes then trace the shape of your body, glazing over the red handprints your hips and waist.

     You roll over onto your side, draping one hand over his chest as he wraps his arms around you gently, pulling you to him, and burying his face in your hair. You close your eyes and inhale his scent.

     “I love you.” You smile a bit but don’t open your eyes only whispering the same words as he smiles against your forehead, leaning down to kiss it before resting his chin on the top of your head as he holds you against his body for the rest of the night.

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[tl-notes]

Kobayashi’s Maid Dragon S2 Episode 10 Notes

I’m extremely not an expert in birds, but I tried to look these up to see if they were a species native to New York (since they’re similar to the sparrows we usually see around Kobayashi’s place). Apparently there are few similar-looking species in New York? My totally uninformed guess is that they may be house sparrows.

The sun sets in Japan relatively early (probably around 6:30pm when this episode takes place), which would make it entirely plausible that if she just flew east (with a slight northward angle) she’d find herself over New York in the early morning while most of the rest of the country is still dark.

These bumpy grey pads at the pedestrian part of the intersection here are known as (among other things) tactile paving; they’re to assist people who can’t fully rely on eyesight to get around.

Interestingly (imo), they were actually invented in Japan in the 60s (by a Miyake Seiichi), where today they’re extremely ubiquitous. They even show up later this episode!

They’re often referred to in Japan as 点字ブロック, tenji (Braille) blocks, and they tend to come in two types: the “dot” design, which indicates a place to stop (or an angle change, or more generally “caution”), and the “line” design which indicates you can safely keep going. They’re generally colored yellow in Japan, ideally making them stand out more to help people with impaired vision find them, and are mandated by law in most places public transport can be found (among others).

Not really a translation note, but “deer cola” felt especially funny in the context of all the horse medicine stuff. 

I guess “[animal] [drink]” is a common branding device in-universe, given the crab beer Kobayashi’s always drinking.

Also not really a translation note, but the difference between how “hard” Kanna and Chloe are running to be at the same speed was a nice animation touch.

遊んだ遊んだ！ asonda asonda!

One feature of the Japanese language is a very heavy use of repetition. This includes “reduplication,” a linguistic term for creating words by repeating a root (e.g. a “boo-boo” in English or the dara-dara example below in Japanese), but also just like… saying the same word multiple times, as Chloe does here.

Typically this is done for emphasis or to help increase clarity: if you’ve worked in a Japanese office, you’ve likely heard someone in a phone conversation say desu desu in response to someone asking for confirmation. 

This acceptance of repetition sort of extends beyond the obvious uses like this as well: for example, personal pronouns are much less common; instead (if the subject isn’t dropped) you’ll often just use the person’s name again. You’ll notice similar trends with other types of words as well.

Not to mention the ubiquity of things like otsukare.

This often ends up being a challenge for translators, because reusing words in English (when it’s not for an obvious reason) tends to stick out rather unflatteringly, even if they aren’t that close together. 

(Like when I overuse “hence” in these notes.)

This “Christ” in the Japanese was “ったく” (short for 全く mattaku, but just used as a semi-generic exclamation). I mostly bring this up because it’s a good example of a word that doesn’t work out of its cultural context; e.g. it wouldn’t make any sense for a fantasy character to say “Christ,” but since this is an American speaker it works just fine (and helps distinguish that fact, even). 

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but English uses a lot of “explicit reference” words like this, that can break immersion if put in the mouths of characters who wouldn’t have exposure to said reference—which can be annoyingly limiting when trying to write dialogue sometimes.

As a bit of a culture shock for a lot of Americans I’ve met, most Japanese homes tend to have wall mounted air conditioning units, like this one, that are only for heating/cooling the one room they’re in. (Many also have a “Dry” setting that makes them act kind of like a dehumidifier as well.) It’s common to not have them in every room, like bedrooms, however.

This is in contrast to the central air conditioning system used by a majority of homes in the US (though type/use of AC in the US varies a lot by region; less common in the north for example)—and places like the UK where apparently residential AC units of any kind are quite rare.

You may have noticed that the doors between rooms always seem closed in Kobayashi’s apartment. That’s not just to make the backgrounds simpler, it’s also a good habit to keep if you’re going to be running the AC!

“Kobayashi, are you お休み today?” 

“Yeah, お休み.”

お休み o-yasumi, is a noun form of the 休む yasumu, to rest. The word has a variety of applications, as we see here. A day off work/school, i.e. a rest day? お休み. Want to say “good night” to someone before bed? Also お休み.

In this case, it’s not even necessarily clear it’s being said as a pun; as mentioned earlier, repetition is a common feature of the language, so despite the yawn there wouldn’t really be any reason for Kanna to think Kobayashi was about to go to nap or anything.

“Laze about” here is だらだら dara-dara, another phenomime (擬態語 gitaigo in Japanese)—one of those words that mimics the “sound” of an idea/concept/state, which don’t actually make a sound per se.

These phrases aren’t necessarily childish or anything (overuse of them can be, but you can find them even in news articles and political speeches for example). They are, however, used frequently by children, and by adults talking to children, as they’re very “easy” words: they’re expressive, they capture useful daily-life concepts, and they usually roll off the tongue. You’ll notice, for example, that Kanna uses them a lot.

Kanna has a very interesting way of talking actually, which I’ll touch on a bit more later.

Kobayashi’s “bean jam” here is あんみつ anmitsu, a traditional Japanese dessert (technically a spinoff of mitsumame). It typically is a mix of red beans (and/or red peas), agar (an algae-based gelatin equivalent), some fruit, some variety of rice flour product (shiratama in this case, similar to mochi), and a syrup (often black sugar based).

You can find it year-round, but it has a strong summer association and is even used as a summer season word. (It’s typically chilled and you can often get it with ice cream as an ingredient.)

It’s also sometimes paired with a green-tea flavored something as well (e.g. ice cream, agar, or syrup). The trinity of green tea, red beans (aka azuki), and shiratama makes what I like to think of as the “Japanese S’mores Flavor (for Adults)”. No I will not elaborate on this.

I will though point out the shaved ice flavor Kobayashi ordered later in the episode:

え？今スイカ様子あった？

A word of note here for language learners is 様子 yousu, which has a lot of definitions, but in cases like this where it’s attached to a noun or phrase means roughly “the appearance of __” or “an indication of ___” etc. In actual use, it typically means something that makes you think of whatever ___ is—or the lack of something that would make you think ___.

For example here, it’s like “Watermelon? Where’d that come from?” (since the TV was talking about a different dessert-y food entirely). 

Or an unrelated example: “I think that guy is hiding something” → “Really? I haven’t seen any yousu of that.” In other words, it can be a lot like “sign,” as in “I’ve seen no sign of ___.”

These color-bordered envelopes (originally colored based on the flag of the country of origin) used to be the standard for air mail, domestic or international, though they haven’t been required for several decades.

That said, they’re still popular for that “ooh, international mail!” feel (at least in Japan) and you can buy them at most places that sell stuff like envelopes. As here, they’re often used in media to immediately convey that a letter came from outside Japan.

Kanna (and Kobayashi) says エアメール, lit. “air mail” in English, which is used colloquially for international mail specifically, rather than “mail sent by plane.”

They’re having what’s called 冷やしそうめん hiyashi soumen, chilled/cold soumen for lunch here. (Soumen being a thin wheat noodle; udon but thinner.) As Kanna says, it’s very easy to make!

Basically you just boil it, wash it in cold water, add ice, get some sort of sauce to dip it in, and you’re done! It’s a popular quick meal in summer, and much easier than the more involved nagashi soumen setups you may have seen elsewhere, where they slide the noodles down a chute for you to try to grab and eat. (It’s basically the same meal aside from that though.)

(You can of course add more to it, but as we see here, you don’t really have to.)

The type of tea here, for the curious, is 麦茶 mugicha, barley tea. Mugi is the general name for cereals/grains including wheat (komugi), barley (oomugi), rye (kuromugi or rye mugi), and oats (enbaku or oat mugi). It’s incredibly common in Japan (and much of East Asia), where it's the household summer drink.

It has no caffeine like many other teas, and has a bunch of various nutritional benefits, so it’s considered a good way to stay hydrated as you’re sweating buckets in the muggy Japanese summer weather.

帽子した？  boushi shita? した！ shita!

I thought this was a cute way of phrasing this question/answer, and a good example of the “parent and their young child” way these two talk.

The suru (past tense shita) verb used here is the ultimate in “generic verb,” and it basically doesn’t get any simpler grammar-wise to phrase something as “noun+suru” like Kobayashi does here (even the particles are dropped). 

Kanna, for her part, doesn’t respond with a “yes” or etc, but instead just repeats back the verb itself in confirmation.

Just to note another one of those words like dara-dara: bura-bura, used for things like wandering around, doing something (or nothing) casually/aimlessly, or (with one bura) for something dangling/swinging in a more literal sense, like a spider, slack yo-yo, or wind chime.

These booklets are a common homework assignment for practicing kanji; you can see along the left side there it shows the stroke order, with the first block giving an example to trace over & showing where to start each stroke.

Each character is made up of radicals (e.g. “hot” above: 日 and 耂), which each have a standard way to write them. There’s 214 such radicals (though many are pretty niche; only about ~50 of them are needed to make most characters), and once you get a hang of them it makes learning new characters much easier (not too different from learning word spellings in English imo).

Kanna is repeating out loud the reading for the “hot” character as she writes it.

In addition to the above workbooks (which usually involve both kanji and math problems at Kanna’s grade), elementary school summer homework in Japan typically involves doing an illustrated diary (not a daily one necessarily) and some sort of research project about a subject of your choice. (Think kind of like a small science fair project).

The “research” project part is pretty expansive, and you can typically even do something more arts & craftsy for it.

Manhole covers in a lot of Japanese municipalities feature art representative of the area. For example, the city of Chofu, where the author of GeGeGe no Kitaro lived most of his life, has several with art of that series.

(Photo from https://www.gotokyo.org/jp/spot/1734/index.html)

I mentioned earlier that Kanna has an interesting way of speaking. Probably a better way to put it is that she has a pretty convincingly childish way of speaking (despite the monotone). That is, she uses simple grammar and “easy” words most of the time, but then throws out random big words and fancy idioms from time to time that make you go “...where did you learn that?”

In this case, the phrase she uses is 巷で人気 chimata de ninki. Chimata originally means like a fork (in the road), and since those are often places with lots of people passing through, it expanded to mean “the undefined place where people talk about ~stuff~.” So it’s used for “many people are saying~” or “word on the street is~” types of situations (or “talk of the town,” as here).  

It’s kind of an “adult” word though; for example the character for it isn’t included in the jouyou kanji (the 2000+ that are taught in elementary through high school). Hence Kobayashi’s reaction here.

The word she uses for “protected” here is 死守 shishu. The word is the combination of the characters for “death” and “protect,” ~meaning to protect something even at risk to one’s life (to the death, as it were).

It's a word that you learn in third grade in the Japanese education system—the same grade Kanna is in!

Both of these types of signs are common sights in residential areas like this: depending on where you live, it can feel like there’s always some sort of construction project going on, and Japan’s many family/individually-owned businesses like this tend to be closed on various extra days during the summer (and certain other times) to allow for time off.  

In this case, them being closed August 12th~16th implies they’re taking off for Obon (and probably leaving town to visit family).

The word Kobayashi uses here is 風物詩 fuubutsu-shi. Fuubutsu refers to something that makes up part of the “scenery” of a place or season, in a pretty broad sense. This shi typically means “poem.”

So fuubutsu-shi is originally a type of poem celebrating a season or a scene of natural beauty, that sort of thing. From that, it’s also now (more popularly) used to describe things that are representative of a season; the kind of stuff you say “it’s not winter until…” about, or “you know it’s summer when…” (It can also be used for places + seasons, like the ice sculptures of Hokkaido winters, or even summer Comiket in Tokyo.)

They’re very similar to the season words I’ve mentioned previously, though they’re far less strict about what counts as one. Here, Kobayashi’s could be referring to the whole package experience of “having to take cover and wait out a sudden heavy rain, despite it being mostly clear skies a few minutes ago,” which you could call fuubutsu-shi (summed up probably as like 夏の雨宿り etc.)

In contrast the relevant season word here would probably be yuudachi (or niwaka-ame), a word referring to the short, sudden bouts of rain that tend to fall (from cumulonimbus clouds, the makings of which are noticeable in the backgrounds before this) on summer evenings.

Feels like in season one she woulda eaten it. Three cheers for character growth!

The parentheticals there are just the “English” in hiragana/katakana.

Kobayashi’s comment (nihongo de ok, roughly “you can just use Japanese”) is an internet-born term people originally would use to reply to someone who said something that didn’t make any sense, had terrible grammar, or was so full of katakana loanwords it was hard to read etc.

Kanna says this line in English, and while I have no proof at all, my guess is that the specific choice of “wicked” was taken from the translation of “maji yabakune?” used in season one.

[norgestan]

Rank the most visually appealing Skam España clips

anon i’m SO sorry that this has been sitting on my askbox for like... two months. i’m the worst i knowwww.

just to make this easier on myself i won’t include anything from s1 - generally i’m not a bit fan of the s1 coloring and they’ve come a long way since then. so it’s mostly s3 and some s2 clips that i’ll be choosing, based VERY subjectively on my takes on the cinematography/colors/lothing, my experience as a skam españa gif maker and my own “oh scene pretty” thoughts.

10. Reencuentro (s3, ep 1, clip 6)

scenery pretty. don’t really have a lot to say, i just REALLY love the aesthetic of the nora/miquel dates - and as some sort of attempt of a meta, i really like the contrast of the huge gestures that miquel does that take nora out of the ordinary and end up being some of the gorgest shots in eskam.

9. Walk of shame (s3, ep 6, clip 8)

if i still defend the existence of this clip is because it looks REALLY good. like it’s just really nice to look at. and i love how downright messy nora looks, and the cold tones that appear as nora steps out of her home, listens to miquel’s voice message and curves alejandro.

8. No te enfades (s3, ep 7, clip 5)

this is probably my favorite location of s3, it’s such a pretty place. i love that nora is just a splash of red on the muted background, and i really like how she put on her red armor for one last time before miquel really started to be the shittiest person in the entire world. and overall it’s just really nice to look at.

7. Yo no noto nada (s2, ep 1, clip 2)

i famously never liked the s2 coloring because i find the purple/blue hues super annoying but here (and other night shots) it works SUPER well. i just love that the club is so charged with colors and then cris steps out where joana is and everything is a nice, pastel-like purple/blue shade (bi rights). it’s very soft and suits their first encounter very well, and the scenes with chino and the pills have good camera work - the club looks really good inside, too. you can’t lose with this one.

6. Esquivar la bala (s3, ep 2, clip 7)

they had ONE shot at filming on this iconic skam easter egg and they made the most of it. this is one of my favorite s3 clips, too: it’s a good character building moment for miquel, it has a really chill atmosphere that shows how these two can really get along, and the dialogue it’s just great - but like, that’s mostly storytelling wise. aesthetically wise, this clip is just a delight to look at. again i love that nora is a human shaped red splash on some clips, and this is no exception. bonus because there’s a cat on this clip and i love the song that plays at the end.

5. Cobarde (s2, ep 8, clip 3)

can i just say... this is the best eskam clip acting wise? the girls really knocked it out of the park in this one. is that how you say it.

anyways, this location is very beautiful!!!!!! i love the greenery - love that joana chose it because it reminded her of their literature work, she’s such a romantic. i really love that cris is blending so easily on the scenery, even wearing the damn camo pants, while joana is just purple and rage, and looks and feels out of place. like if you REALLY believed that joana was somehow being herself here (looking at you, cris) the cinematography makes a huge point about how this isn’t supposed to feel right.

4. Nuestro momento (s3, ep 9, clip 7)

i’ve gone on and on about my Feelings about norandro’s ending so i won’t say anything about them here... except that, yet again, i love the contrast between miquel taking and sometimes forcing nora into these beautiful, epic-looking locations, and then there’s alejandro meeting nora in the cafeteria and bringing her near a lake. it’s such a simple, humble place but it’s still so beautiful. i also love the whole metaphor of nora bringing back her read coat and lipstick, but also with the water in front of her in almost literally every shot it’s like a baptism, a rebirth: she’s definitely not the same nora she was before. which is also a point that the clip makes with alejandro re-introducing himself, and then both of them accepting that this relationship will have to wait so they’re back to the start. it’s such a nice conclusion to their romance/relationship in s3!!

3. Vértigo (s3, ep 3, clip 3)

i’m sad that i’ve limited myself to only two images per clip because every bit of this clip looks SO beautiful. i do like this moment as a sort of bait for nora and miquel’s relationship: everything about miquel giving nora exactly what she “wants”. the grand gesture, the vertigo, yadda yadda. this clip feels so epic and it feels right. even at that moment in the show where i obviously knew miquel was the Bad Guy (duh), i felt like mourning because this is such a great setup for an epic romance. but then again, gotta thank eskam for calling out noorhelm on being epic and all but having very little substance underneath - and even while brushing off most of william’s toxicity, i truly believe there’s NO way noorhelm would be an endgame in any way, not with some major changes (norandro says hi). but anyways, scenery pretty.

2. Yo no puedo con esto (s2, ep 10, clip 2)

this is SUCH an underrated eskam clip :’( but easily one of my favorites in the show. i love... mostly everything dialogue wise, it feels like a real conversation that i could have with my friends or my sister. but going back to the cinematography, the coloring of this clip feels so earned after the first clip at school, where everything looks cold and yellow-ish and so artificial. i really wish i had more to say about this but it’s mostly that the aesthetic complements the content of the clip SO well: it feels soft and like a warm hug, which is exactly what cris needed before facing joana one last time.

1. Te da miedo el agua? (s2, e4, clip 6)

this is another case where i wish i could include every shot in this clip because it’s SO beautiful. this clip is downright gorgeous imo, i absolutely love the softness inside the bar and then that epic scene where they run away, and then the pool scene - which is kinda hard to make look good as i’ve seen while watching other remakes, but here it looks VERY beautiful, probably even more than og’s version. i’m repeating the same words again and again i am SORRY. but anyways, this is as epic as s2 got and it was beautiful!!! i can’t get enough of this clip.

honorable mentions:

the s2 trailer (doesn’t really fit here </3)

iftar

tu imagen para siempre

fuckboy

[milayna-liveblogs]

So I haven’t actually gotten anything done here, and the reason is that Target “balanced” its intake process on “normal” operations - by which I mean, it was inadequate, but barely limping by; and Coronavirus scare has blasted that out of the water. https://rpjohnston.tumblr.com/post/612260495706161152/working-retail-right-now-is-the-worst-targets I need to draw a new avatar - it’s been years - but my drawing program, Flash CS6, is on my laptop and it’s had...problems...since I accidentally let the battery run down. If I can’t salvage it, I’ll need to figure out GIMP or something. Anyway, I have looked at potential shows to blog! When I asked people, they suggested YuYuYu - Google tells me this is Yuki Yuna Is A Hero. I know nothing about it except the blurb: “The deity that protects humanity grants superpowers to the members of a middle school "hero club," who must assume magical forms to combat invading creatures from another world.” People tell me it’s really good though! From last season, there’s I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense. To be honest SAO kinda broke the MMO anime genre for me but the premise sounds interesting enough to give a try. Coming in Spring: BNA. It’s a Trigger anime and I’m a huge fan so unless it bores like like Luluco this should be a slam dunk. Tower of God. The animation draws me - it reminds me of the higher-quality Flash movies from Newgrounds, and I like to experience media that is less “mainstream”. This is based on a Korean webtoon, and is a Crunchyroll original. Appare-Ranman! This has some WILD designs, yo. I dig it. Colorful as heck, and the premise is cool too! Why is it relatively low on membercount? Unless it tanks hard I think I’ll have a blast. Finally, at some point Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S2 ff will drop. I don’t know about blogging that one - I enjoyed the firsts eason, but as another liveblogger put it, it’s 25% fanservice, 25% gross shit, and 50% genuine heartwarming WLM found family. Since I didn’t do the first season, IF I did this, I’d either have to blog the season I already watched, or start on the 2nd season, and I dunno about either of those options. I thought I’d find more from last season that I’d like but they either didn’t interest me from their synopsis or were continuing cours. Still if there’s anything from Winter or Spring that anyone wants to see drop me a line! Or if any of these are probably no good let me know that too. Depending on when things come down, I might start my next series with YuYuYu, or with one of the Spring animes when it drops. Hopefully that won’t be too long. I hate being too exhausted to do anything creative.

[hangjie]

behind the curtains. [ mike wheeler ]

summary: mike, who works behind the curtains, is attracted to reader, who is an actor in a play.

warnings: my crappy writing and my lack of knowledge in theatre and romeo and juliet huhu

word count: 1,703

author’s note: inspired by my experiences with my ex guy crush during our plays HAHAHAHAHAH. i’m so sorry that this sucks! i haven’t written anything for the past month soo my writing is a bit rusty heheeh. also, this takes place before s1, but they’re aged up a bit to s2 (if that makes sense lmao). i’m so sorry that ms. evans is so dramatic HAHAHAAH andd this is set in mike’s pov and soft!mike x reader hehehehe

(y/h/c) - your hair color

(y/l/n) - your last name

─── • ° *｡✧ ───

“bravo, (y/n). bravo!” our teacher, ms. evans stands up as she cheers for the (y/h/c) headed girl bowing on stage with the spotlight shining on her. the claps of ms. evans echoes throughout the theater.

i sigh and smile while i focus my gaze on her. i can’t help, but look at her in awe.

she’s so talented. not to mention, beautiful.

like any other school in the state, our school is holding a play. the usual and classic play of romeo and juliet.

i, of course, didn’t audition for a role because i’d rather be behind the scenes than be acting in front of people. she, of course, auditioned for the role of juliet and got the part.

(y/n) (y/l/n).

the best of the best in theatre. the best actress in our grade. the most sweetest and most talented of us all.

the girl of my dreams.

she has been in every single school play and she got the lead part in all of them.

most of the guys in our class wants to date her and has a crush on her. unluckily, i’m one of those guys.

i snap out of my trance when i feel someone poking my side. “earth to mike? are you there?” i hear will ask. i shook my head and look at him with a confused expression. “huh? what was that?”

“i asked if we press this button when—“ before will finishes, lucas and dustin interrupt him. “don’t bother, will. he’s too busy looking at (y/n),” says lucas.

“i am not!” not a second later, my eyes go back to (y/n), who was reciting her lines out loud on stage.

“told you.” i feel my cheeks flush as lucas smirks at me. dustin wraps his arm around will’s shoulders and says, “will, buddy, don’t bother talking to mike whenever (y/n) is in the room.” i roll my eyes as they start to walk away from me, leaving me alone to operate the lights and sounds.

i hear ms. evans clap her hands, getting all of the class’ attention. “that’s all for today, class. you are dismissed.”

as soon as ms. evans says those words, everyone leaves the theater one by one.

as i fix my things and fix the lighting and sounds, i hear the voice of lucas calling my name. i turn to the direction of his voice and see him with dustin and will . “we’ll go ahead. see you later for a game of d&d?” i nod my head and wave goodbye at them. they wave back before exiting the room.

i wait for another minute before everyone leaves the theater. i make sure that no one else is around before i take out my copy of the script for the play.

my hand flips over the pages until i spot the neon color of my highlighter. i take a deep breath until i start reciting the highlightened lines.

“she speaks:

o, speak again, bright angel! for thou art

as glorious to this night, being o'er my head

as is a winged messenger of heaven

unto the white-upturned wondering eyes

of mortals that fall back to gaze on him

when he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds

and sails upon the—“

“wow! you’re really good!”

i shriek and jump back in shock at the sound of the feminine voice. i turn around and see (y/n) with an impressed expression on her face.

i try my best to hide the script in my hands and act like i just wasn’t practicing the role of romeo.

“why didn’t you audition for the romeo? you’re really good, you know!”

“i-i … “ i stutter, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly and feeling my cheeks burn red.

“oh, where are my manners? i’m (y/n), by the way!” she then holds out her hand and offers me a bright smile.

“i-i know.” i chuckle. “i’m mike wheeler and i’m also in the play.”

she retracks her hand and chuckles. “is that so? what role do you play?”

when she said that, i felt my heart break. she hasn’t noticed me until now?

i let out a nervous chuckle and say, “actually, i’m more of a ‘behind the scenes’ guy. i work the lights and the sounds with my friends.”

“oh?” she raises an eyebrow at me. “but you’re so good!” i smile at her and mutter a ‘thanks’, feeling my cheeks burn redder.

the sound of a beep then interrupts our conversation. (y/n) checks her wrist watch and sighs sadly when she sees the time.

“oh, i better get going,” she says. she turns and walks toward the exit. “hey. keep on practicing, romeo.” she chuckles when she sees my flustered state and waves goodbye before leaving me with the empty theater.

——-

“so, this light should be in scene 39.”

i turn the lights into a dark shade of red and dim the stage as will nods and writes it down on his small notepad. dustin is checking the wirings of the lights while lucas is checking the sound effects.

i glance at the side of the stage and instantly spot (y/n) memorizing her lines. her eyebrows are furrowed and her eyes are closed as her mouth opens to recite her lines.

the sound of a phone going off interrupts my thoughts and everyone shifts their attention to the ring. ms. evans fishes her phone out of her pocket and holds up her index finger in the air. “one minute, class. one minute,” she says and exits the theater as she answers the phone call.

when ms. evans is gone, everyone abandons their work and mingles with their friends for the remaining time.

as i was laughing at something dustin said, i feel someone lightly tap my shoulder. i turn around and come face to face with a smiling (y/n).

“hey mike!” she greets and i smile back at her. “h-hey (y/n).”

i could hear the ‘ooh’s and laughs of the party behind me and i turn around quickly and hit them to try to shut them up, but they continue to tease me.

i roll my eyes as i face back at (y/n). “don’t mind them. they’re idiots.” she laughs and shakes her head. “no worries. they seem to be enjoying themselves.”

i look back at the three and see them nudging each other whilst giggling like school girls at (y/n) and i.

i sigh hopelessly and focus back my attention to her. “so, have you been practicing your lines, romeo?” she asks, a cheeky grin on her face.

“actually, i—“

before i get to continue what i was saying, a frantic ms. evans bursts through the door, sweat dripping down her face as she pants.

“this is terrible!” she begins to pace back and forth as students start to crowd around her, asking questions.

(y/n) and i look at each other with confused expressions. “i wonder what’s going on.”

i shrug and we approach the stressed and panicked ms. evans with curiosity. we push pass the others to get in front to see ms. evans mumbling to herself and thinking very hard.

“ms. evans? what’s going on?” (y/n) asks. the middle aged teacher turns her attention towards the girl beside me and immediately hugs her. “oh, i’m terribly sorry, dear (y/n), but we have to cancel the play.”

gasps and whispers start to spread among the others and (y/n) looks at ms. evans in shock and disbelief.

“what? why, ms. evans?”

“you do notice that our romeo, noah has been absent for a few days now, right?” she nods. “well, his parents just called to say that he couldn’t be in the play because he has chicken pox.” ms. evans cries into (y/n)’s shoulder.

“this is hopeless!” (y/n) awkwardly pats the back of ms. evans until her eyes find mine.

her eyes suddenly sparkled in excitement and a smile starts to form on her lips.

“ms. evans, what if we just find another romeo?”

i felt my blood run cold and the hair on the back of my neck stand when she said that.

“another romeo?” ms. evans looks at (y/n) with interest and confusion. “who do you have in mind?”

‘no!’ i mouth repeatedly to (y/n) whilst shaking my head and making an ‘x’ with my arms, but the smile on her face only grew when she points to me.

“mike wheeler.”

everyone looks at me, confusingly. “mike? you can act?” i hear dustin ask and i shrug with reddened cheeks, feeling everyone’s stare at me.

ms. evans looks at me up and down before saying, “well, if (y/n) says that he’s the new romeo, he’s the new romeo.”

“wait, what?!”

“okay, class dismissed.”

the others sigh and walk away from the crowd, except (y/n) who cheers for me, alongside the party who are nudging me and teasing me.

“we’ll start practicing tomorrow, mike,” ms. evans says and walks away, but i run up to her and ask, “wait, don’t i get to audition or something? anything?!”

“i trust (y/n)’s opinion and if she thinks that you are capable of playing the part of romeo, then you’re romeo.”

“but i—“

before i could say anything else, ms. evans walks away and leaves the theatre.

i hear someone call for me from behind and i turn around to see the party, smiling cheekily at me.

dustin comes up to me and wraps his arm around my shoulder. “congrats on being the new romeo, man!”

“yeah, you can now finally spend some time with your crush.” lucas teases, wiggling his eyebrows.

“and don’t forget, you’re going to kiss her on stage.” they start to laugh and i roll my eyes and unwrap dustin’s arm around my shoulder harshly. i start walk away from them and they yell a ‘goodbye’ and a ‘see you later for d&d’ before i hear their footsteps followed by the sound of the door closing.

i feel a light tap on my shoulder and i turn around to see no one other than (y/n), herself.

“hey, i’m sorry if i ratted you out,” she apologizes, looking at the ground with guilt for a second before she looks back up at me with eyes full of hope. “but i think that your talent isn’t only limited to lights and sound, but also to acting.”

she smiles before saying, “i believe that you have great potential and i believe in you.”

my heart flutters inside my chest and i couldn’t help but smile at her.

“thanks.”

“see you tomorrow, mike.” she waves goodbye at me and i do the same before she leaves the room.

when she’s gone, i drop my hand to my side and sigh.

well, here comes romeo, i guess.

MASTERLIST

[deltaengineering]

Winter Anime 2019 Part 2: My Fedora Weighs A Ton

Smash that hate-reblog button, because today I’m calling out another penily* challenged isekai copypasta. But first...

Dororo

What: Baby gets most vital organs stolen by demons due to his father’s dickishness, is now all grown up and back for revenge. He also picks up a spunky petty thief so this doesn’t get too depressing.

✅ Shounen manga in the 60s sure was some shit huh. Thankfully this is a Tezuka original, so it’s surprisingly lighthearted for how ultragrim the setup is. That doesn’t mean it actually is lighthearted on an absolute scale, of course, just matter of fact instead of unbearably miserable. I like it.

✅✅ This looks dope, yo. It starts with the character designs, which are nicely updated but still noticeably Tezuka-ish. Then there’s the animation, which is deluxe and super deluxe during fights. And the backgrounds are real pretty too.

✅✅ Bonus points for a fantastic OP as well. I would already crown this as the OP of the season (sorry, Boogiepop), but we’ve still got another Mappa show to come and it’s Kakegurui, which has a track record in that regard. Dare I hope we get something even better?

♎ Ah, yes, Mappa. Great openings and great first episodes is what they do. I dearly hope they don’t donk it again, or, failing that, only donk it in the very last minute like Zombieland Saga.

✅ This is absolutely not my thing subject-wise, but the evidence suggests that it’s just too good to pass up. Hot damn.

Pastel Memories

What: Akiba has become normal and a bunch of girls are just sort of wandering around in it looking for manga.

❌❌ Okay seriously, what is with this new trend of making the first episode of your anime boring, seemingly on purpose? The preview promises some action (note: more on that later), but this first episode is largely content-free and tedious as hell.

❌❌ I suppose they’re banking on their large amount of kawaii characters, but a character-focused show needs, you know, character. These girls are extremely bland and samey and the one memorable one is the one that says nya a lot. Gimmicks are not the pinnacle of effort, yes, but simply not doing anything is hardly more effort.

❌❌ It also looks like ass, which is why I’m not enthusiastic about this show attempting action in the future. It’s somehow consistently off-model, with all the characters having sightline problems that makes everyone have a constant vacant stare. It’s barely worth mentioning with problems like that, but the animation’s not much either. The whole thing exudes a distinct bootleg ambiance.

♎ The plot they’re hinting at at the very end (all these girls are dimension-hoppers going through different worlds) admittedly has potential to be at least mildly entertaining. But potential is nothing without execution, which this show anti-excels at.

Mob Psycho 100 S2

What: Quit frontin, you know what MP100 is.

✅ At this point I’m basically only in it for the glorious visuals, so S2 better not be a step down. It’s not, so that’s good.

✅ I was not at all impressed by Mob Psycho’s writing overall, but the aspect I liked the most was Mob’s awkward daily life. This episode mostly focused on that, so no complaints here either. Komedy with Reigen and what amounts to a grunge rock cover of Bleach will surely follow, but this is about episode 1. 

❌ One of S1's strongest points was the amazing opening. The new one is a much inferior clone of that one, both musically and visually.

♎ I won’t complain at length about MP100′s content again, but yeah, I don’t have high hopes. I’ll watch it no matter what because it’s still worth it, and the most I hope for is that the glue between the kabooms isn’t too annoying on average. This is starting out on the right foot if nothing else.

Rinshi!! Ekoda-chan

What: A sort of experimental adaptation of an 4koma about an easygoing woman. The trick is that every episode will be done by entirely different staff and studios.

❌❌ You know, I don’t mind weird, not conventionally beautiful arthouse shorts. However, packing your 3 minute short with 20 minutes of staff interviews explaining why it’s good may be a bit too modern art even for me. Especially when done in a Japanese daytime TV style.

❌ Even on its own terms, the short itself is on the bad side of whatever. #relatable to some, maybe, but not to me. And well, it’s not a looker, not even unconventionally so.

❌ The idea here is intriguing, but it spectacularly doesn’t work out in the first episode. I suppose if this produces something amazing down the line (which, admittedly, it might), I’ll hear about it.

Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari / The Rising of the Shield Hero

What: 💩

💩💩 Features a complete catalogue of isekai tropes, including pointing them out because the writer is extremely intelligent. If I have called it shit before, it’s probably in here somewhere.

💩💩 Is a whiny nerd’s manifesto on the topic of how he doesn’t get respected even though he’s so nice and how women are gold-digging whores that accuse him of rape. Basically, this is the /r/incels to Goblin Slayer’s /r/the_donald.

💩💩 Fucking double length because just saying “isekai” is not enough, you have to really make sure everyone knows what that means.

💩💩 Oh yeah, Shield Hero seems to pick up a slave catgirl at the end, as you do. I hope she also gives him a swirly and steals his lunch money, but considering he can magically order her to stay in the kitchen, I don’t think that’s likely.

♎ Looks alright, if thoroughly uninspired. Kinema Citrus can do better, but thankfully don’t.

Ueno-san wa Bukiyou / How clumsy you are, Miss Ueno.

What: Ueno-san is a genius inventor, crush-haver and terminal-stage boke. Oh dear.

❌❌ Loud and obnoxious comedy short. But still not short enough (12m).

❌❌ The two jokes in this episode are 1. Ueno wants to make her crush/straight man drink her piss and 2. Ueno wants to make her crush/straight man look up her skirt while not wearing panties.

❌❌ In other words, it’s a more stylistically generic Asobi Asobase that also pulls its punches with magical piss-purifying/pussy-hiding technology.

❌❌ No.

Watashi ni Tenshi ga Maiorita! / Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me

What: Useless neet girl pervs on her little sister’s best friend. “Cute or pedo? Why not both!”, says Doga Kobo, establishing a pattern in the process.

♎ Shockingly, that pattern is not a tremendously annoying character for once. Our lead here is annoying, just not outrageously so. So it’s no Uzamaid, and one might even consider this watchable and cute if you don’t think about it too hard, or preferably at all.

♎ It also looks plush and agreeable, as usual. 

❌❌ What is exactly like Uzamaid is the loliyuri though, and no amount of Doga Kobo gloss will make that go away. Why not, like, pick one of the thousands of cutesy 4koma without that? It’s just creepy. Less creepy than Uzamaid, yes, but that might as well have been the most pastel colored horror TV show ever so that’s not an accomplishment. 

❌ Even if it weren’t extremely questionable content-wise, what’s left would still just be a good-looking but utterly unexceptional moe show. Sort of like Sansha Sanyou or in fact the majority of Doga Kobo productions at this point. What a waste of talent.

* Yes, that’s a word. I looked it up.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S2 Ep 21: Hey, It’s a Party, Lets All Get Kidnapped!

Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve worked on these. I’m back from my cross-country travels, I’ve overcome my food poisoning because of said travels, and I did like 2 Inktobers so I’m officially allowed to quit and then never do Inktober again till the end of the month so now that’s over with, lets get back to Yugioh. Thankfully, Joey is here to recap for us what has been going on so far in the show, via a phone call to his sister where he literally started off the episode saying this line.

It is episode 21, Joey has run out of excuses, and the crew has decided that now is the time to finally find their friend who definitely is being tailed by a murderer with psychic powers.

Because no one wants to ever call the cops on this show.

I can see why Yugi and Grandpa might not, since Pharaoh may have done some criminal nonsense before he reformed at the end of S1 (I mean Season Zero isn’t not NOT canon) and I can see why Joey might not because bro mentioned that he had some sort of dealing with the mini-Yakuza or something in Season Zero (I look forward to that). Tristan already thinks he is a cop so I can see why he doesn’t either. But maybe Tea should call the police. She doesn’t work at the must-be-18-to-work-here-so-it’s-probably-a-stripper-joint-after-10-PM burger place anymore, she’d be fine. Probably.

I mean they did illegally invade a country last season and was complicit in the removal of that country’s leader’s right golden eyeball so like...yeah...

But now that Yugi has the company of three people inside of his head and Kaiba alongside him--who is always communicating with Mokuba on his jacket walkie talkie (like he went out of his way to make a jacket that has solely one function because it clearly doesn’t keep him warm without those arms--and the function is to call up his little brother and complain about the people who are two feet away and can hear him complaining about them), but this means Yugi actually has more people in his 2-person party than the other crew of 4 people. Anyway, he’s certainly not lonely.

But first we gotta throw Tea’s phone around and have some comedy hijinks.

(read more under the cut)

Tea x Cell Phone giving me more energy than Tea x Yugi but that’s actually true of every teenager and their intense relationship with their phone. Accurate. Hell, it’s true of me as an adult.

I also love how they throw this phone in our face just to remind us how neither Yugi has called Tea or how Tea could easily call Kaiba AKA the guy in charge who knows where everyone is, since he’s in their High School phone book, but wtv. We gotta first sort out who’s gonna pick up Serenity from the hospital although her bandages aren’t even off yet.

We’ve already clarified how dangerous this whole tourney is, and the fact that during these finals they might be ground zero for when the world might actually stop functioning entirely, maybe don’t throw your blind sister into the mix? Girl has enough problems right now. Maybe keep her in the hospital preemptively. Y’all are probably going to end up there anyway. She can book you a reservation.

I do appreciate the Tristan stance in this shot.

Anyway, sensing that the crew might actually do something, Bakura decides to show up and make some mad insane nonsense again. Ah, our wild card, Bakura, our Charlie Kelly.

Lol What? His big master plan is to feign an injury? (I’m assuming this is fake? But he’s also sweating a whole lot? Maybe they had a fight club behind the scenes that got edited out?) But you know, if you’re gonna try to sell a broken arm then wouldn’t you want to like...wear an sling?

Wtv, we’ve already learned from last season that literally all these people are the very worst boy scouts and would absolutely die in the woods. Apparently they would also absolutely die if they had to administer actual first aid rather than vague card magic. I was kinda thinking that Marik miiiight be a better scout from all his tomb runs, but from the looks of it he’s too busy being as incompetently evil as possible to learn how to tie a simple bandage.

Nice that Bakura waited until the moment Tristan left to start being shady again. I guess that Bakura also remembers that one time that Tristan hulk-punched him so hard - in the shadow realm where mere mortals should not be able to even move - that God-Mode-Bakura passed out for like 45 minutes.

I’m a little confused at how this at all works with Marik’s plan, since it’s really not that hard to abduct Grandpa, but o well, this was the plan they went with. They ARE teens after all, and teens kind of live by the mantra of “I dunno, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” I guess it’s less complicated than making sure he watches a haunted VCR tape.

So off Grandpa goes with Bakura, meaning Gramps is probably going to be a card or some other sort of lifeless husk in a few episodes or so. It was a good run, Gramps.

Honestly, Bakura should just heavily suggest Gramps just go back to work the counter of his Super Gonna Curse You Weasley’s Wizard Wheezly’s, you know, the shop he actually owns. That shop who’s name is canonically “Turtle Game” (good name for a card shop, really gets it across. Great business decision.) And really, it’s been 2 days since he’s stayed open past 9 AM. Does he not pay rent? He seriously might not, we do not know who’s the owner of that house/shop. For all we know it’s Yugi’s Dad who is........somewhere?......

And speaking of missing people, the two most direction-less folks in the universe decided to make this show even longer when they could have easily skipped like 8 episodes if they had just crossed the street. Instead, they’re going to backtrack back to the Shamu exhibit while somehow not overhearing Bakura screaming in his British(?) accent.

Sometimes I’m impressed by all the well placed irony in this show. Here come the two God-characters of the A-team. One has the infinite reaches of technology, the other has the infinite reaches of dark magic. They can do anything except navigate a map and find their friends who are within I assume a 10-block radius.

Now I know, I know, Namu’s an actual name people actually have. Much like Mary Jane. Or AceBluntz420. But forgive me, I am from California.

Also I just went down a rabbit hole of K-pop and the only song I could find that said “tree” enough times was “tree of Sephiroth” which was a pretty good banger but not what I was going for. Again, I’m stymied by my naive, elementary level K-pop education. One day I will be a master of K-pop but I am yet just a newbie with a couple of Black Pink and BTS on my Spotify.

One day I will know enough about Kpop to know which of the songs are about romance and which are about weed but alas, I just like looking at the pretty lights and the pretty colors and the fun dancing like a newborn babe.

But anyway, couldn’t help but notice - THAT’S the name he actually chose for himself, huh?

I mean I looked it up and Namu is also a Buddhism reference in Japanese and that’s probably what the show makers were going for, but safe to say, Marik is clearly not a Buddhist. He is literally in charge of a Pharaoh cult. Well, used to be. It seems like Marik’s just out to destroy his own God. He’d be the hero in really any other anime with motives like that. Hm.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for Marik wanting to vaguely rule the world I’d probably side with him completely, lets be real. Pharaoh is kind of a huge problem. And while I do like Pharaoh now, it took me kind of a while, and if Marik showed up S1 I’d be like “Yes, finally, please kill the already dead insufferable ghost.”

So, Marik decides to become friends with Joey and Tea.

This sure was a lot of work to become friends with Joey and Tea. Did Marik not realize that if they’re also buds with a guy who is possessed by a ghost, they might have low enough standards that he doesn’t need to jump through any hoops?

Marik could have just walked up and said “hey, remember me? From class?” and these two would have been like “yeaaaah” because it’s been so long since they’ve attended that they would have had no idea that he was never enrolled.

Anyways, Pharaoh’s arrived to scream at the top of his lungs about a bomb threat at a theme park.

Bummer that Mako Tsunami finished his act and I guess went back to his home island on the back of another whale he had parked outside the theme park.

Also it says a lot about what this town goes through that Yugi, shouting about how everyone’s going to die, doesn’t seem to perturb a single member of this audience. They’re just like “shaddup, I’m looking at the large dolphin.”

The total amount of time that Marik could handle being friends with Tea and Joey : maybe about 30 seconds.

Which makes you wonder why he even bothered with this charade, but maybe he just wanted to get rid of Bakura because that guys kind of a mess.

And then just when I thought it would never ever actually happen.

It happened.

I don’t recall any era where non flip-phones had little antennae. I think this was kind of before my time. Good. Finally something on this show that I’m too young for.

Jokes on this mook for thinking he could ever crush a Nokia with his shoe. Actually impossible. I’m sure there’s Nokias that have outlived being run over by a Jeep.

Yo my payphones never had digital minute indicators on it. You can even read the numbers on the numpad? And there’s no gum lodged in the coin slot? This is not how I remember payphones.

Yo second thought, maybe those are 33 seconds and not minutes? Eh, what do I know, I’m a millennial, I don’t really remember how those awful things worked. RIP payphones, you were always spooky and the worst. Like honestly if a ghost Pharaoh would live in anything, it would be a payphone. If you ever had to use a payphone with a phone card, then you’d understand that it’s more an unsolvable puzzle than any puzzle pyramid.

And I guess that Mokuba just felt left out, so he decided to leave his brother and just wander off by himself on a rooftop where there’d be no witnesses?

Mokuba, why are you on the roof? How does everyone in Domino have roof access? And is the internet so bad in this town that you must be on a roof to get any signal?

please admire the leg wraps on this guy’s ankles. They’re like high fantasy legwarmers.

*why ever duel with cards when you can freakin fly*

WOW, KIDS SHOW. That sure is dangling a small child off a helicopter!

And like, Mokuba just hangs there for a while--no joke, he’s just hovering in the background of every shot for kicks and I’m just like...how did this kid’s show get made????? The 00′s was a different time.

This past week I’ve been watching my older brother’s 5 kids and so I’ve been watching their TV shows and youknow The Descendants 2 would have been a very different movie with edgy, rogue helicopters in it. Though I will admit Yugioh could do with a couple more dance sequences. (and Yugioh might legit have better fashion than The Descendants 2, why the hell was Cruella DeVil’s son wearing bright red baggy capri shorts to a cotillion ball? Anyway, I’m putting Descendants on my “possibly recap this later” list.)

I get that the intern who was putting this scene together might not have known about the helicopter incident in the shot right before this when they drew in these people just on the street on their cell but mannnnnnn.

I love the implication that this happens so often to children in Domino that no one freakin cares anymore.

Reminder that Kaiba refuses to believe in magic and has no idea wtf is going on. Like he knows there’s some yummy cards he wants--that’s it. He doesn’t think this is the end of the world, he doesn’t think anyone here is magic. He just thinks Yugi is a super weird kid from Spanish class who's voice keeps cracking and that Marik is some sort of weird mafia boss. He was not expecting this tourney to become kidnapping central and I mean no one could have predicted this next part either.

...

So Marik’s plan, lets just walk through it.

These two loose to Kaiba and Yugi, then these two violently pass out, Pharaoh runs over and shakes up the fat one for a little bit, and then Kaiba and Yugi go to a theme park. These two guys intentionally lost and got beat up for no reason?

And then, he sends the same people who have Already Lost back to Yugi and Kaiba, to use a different deck than the one they used the first time?

Why not use this amazing deck they had the entire time the first time? Why are all of Marik’s plans so roundabout?

I mean I guess they had to lure these two to the roof but not really actually--once you beat Yugi in a game then boom the puzzle is yours so you don’t actually have to...whatever, they’re on a roof and and it’s edgy and it’s scenic and it’s gonna get real Jack Baur on us.

oh man this workaround to “but they never actually go splat because they die before they hit the bottom” which is infinitely worse than actually just falling down.

So seeing no other solution, they decide to endanger the lives of hundreds of people and play this exploding rooftop version of Yugioh.

I mean last season we sure did go through a lot of time trying to get Kaiba off a ledge of a tall building and now he’s just...back on that ledge. Well. OK then. These kids and ledges.

Really was a line in the show that Kaiba listed the only two things these guys have done wrong and it’s like--well they used the wrong deck the first time. That was probably actually a really big thing they did wrong. Also they could have kept Pharaoh in an infinite rock-paper-scissors loop but passed up on the opportunity. TBH these guys make a lot of mistakes but we’ve been over this before, Kaiba can only remember 2 things. Weird that this has become canon, but here we are.

I guess Kaiba suddenly remembered he had a grudge.

He forgot for a few episodes, but the grudge is back. He must have written it on the back of his hand “don’t forget you hate Yugi” and then when he went to  scratch an itch was like “OMG I can’t believe it, I forgot again!”

That bean.

Anyway, next week, on Yugioh:

Does Kaiba’s helicopters get into a helicopter fight with Marik’s helicopters and keep Mokuba dangling there the entire time? Does Joey get to throw a couple mooks over his shoulder like that time he took on 18 ruffians in a warehouse or will these ruffians be too ruffian even for Jo? Will Tea, after her hearts been consumed by darkness, and she becomes a nobody or a heartless or whatever, realize that she’s dating a dark wizard this entire time so it literally doesn’t matter?

Anyways, I mentioned K-pop so here you go, a moment of happy handsome boy Zen in this overwhelming world.

[kkamist]

tags (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)

ok so ive been tagged in different tags by different people ,,, nd have procrastinated on actually doing them ,, so i decided to compile all of them in one post !!

warning: this will be a v long post ,, read only if u wanna ,, know more abt me i guess (why would u lmAO)

fact tag?? i guess

rules: tag 9 people you want to get to know better and answer the questions

was tagged by maria !! @s0ftminho ♡ඩ⌔ඩ♡

Relationship status: single

Favourite colour: yellow,, peach,, nd black

Top 3 ships: oof idk?? oo nomin probably !!

Lipstick or chapstick: i dont use them :”)

Last song: im listening to gfriend - rough rn!

Last movie: spiderman homecoming hAHHAHA ( i was doing a mini marvel marathon bc my dad had the movies and didnt ! tell ! me ! but i uh stopped there lmao )

Top 3 shows: i dont watch shows often,, but i do rly like knowing brothers, night goblin :”) nd its dangerous outside the blanket! oooo theres also cafe amor that is p cute too !!

Currently reading: ok if manga counts, kimi no todoke nd bnha ,, if not ,, waking gods by sylvain neuvel (but i paused like ,, last yr prob hAHHA)

kpop + music tag!

ok so i was tagged by @01yoonjin to do ,, both of these tags if im not wrong,, and @maetaamong tagged me for the music shuffle tag and @hyuunjins tagged me for the kpop tag thingy aha

music shuffle tag

rules: put all of your phone’s music library – no playlists! – on shuffle. list the first ten songs that play. bold the song(s) that lift your mood and italicise the song(s) that makes you the most emotional. then tag ten people!

mad city - nct 127

campfire - svt

us now - vixx

hold me tight - bts

talk me down  - troye sivan

paradise - nct 127

too good - troye sivan

grr 총량의 법칙 - skz

another world - nct 127

blue - troye sivan ft alex hope

kpop tag

rules: answer the questions!

1) 5 favorite groups?

skz

nct

nuest

sf9

w1

2) Top 5 on your bias list? (no particular order)

hyunjin

(lee) chan

(lee) mark

chanhee

jr (jonghyun)

3) Ult Bias group and why you love them?

oof ok i,,, dont know? im not the type to actually Stay ulting a group?? like ill stan then ,,, then,, get into another grp,,, yeah,,,, im not v loyal aa my friends always ask what grps i stan and im liek ,,,,, idk,,,, i stan a Lot,,, (that was a real convo between a new friend i made weeks ago) but i guess,, atm its skz? their music is,, my taste? like the meaning of it nd all,, and uh theyre also v v fun to b with,, there isnt a moment when i dont smile whenever i see one of their vids or during their vlives :”) tbh what i like the most in groups i stan is their humor lmao,,, like if theyre v funny, i automatically love them even more :”))

4) Ult Bias and why you love them?

again,,, idk man,, i dont think i even Ult hAHHA ok but i ,, rlly like bae jinyoung nd chani hHAHHA ok but also ,,,, hyunjin. that boy,,,,,  id do anything for him tbh ,,  also bjy wasnt even mentioned in  2 but,,, i rlly love him ,, like idk,, i dont stan w1 as much now but ,, whenever i see him im like :-))))) (same goes for chani aa) fiuwe idk y i like them sm tho aa

5) Favorite Kpop Meme

iiiiii dont have any guawdeij

6) Favorite pic of your ult? (I dare you to only pick one)

ok what,,, i dont even know my ult hAHAH

7) 5 Favorite Kpop MVs

dont stop - twice (this is in jap tho,, does it count?)

nuest - daybreak

blooming days - exo cbx

you&me - kisum

go - nct dream

8) 10 Favorite Kpop songs?

vivid - loona/heejin

heart attack - loona/chuu

singing in the rain - loona/jinsoul

scentist - vixx

boss - nct u

rollercoaster - chungha

shine - pentagon

blooming days - exo cbx

trigger - vixx

my valentine - vixx

nd a lot more auief

9) Favorite Kpop crack video?

oof i dont watch crack often-

10) Favorite content creator within the fandom?

all of them!! :”)

11) What fandoms would you say you’re an active member of?

aa atm the sk fandom !! i was q active in the svt fandom in my main blog but i dont make content anymore :-( i do want to b active in other grps (like nct nd sf9 nd mayb nuest) but i dont have enough Commitment to run other blogs at the same time :”)))

12) Take your top 3 biases- fmk

these arent my top 3 but-

F(riendly convo with) - murk leeeee

M - oof tbh id marry seungcheol or mingYU OmG :-)))))))) hes not my bias but ,, hes such husband material tbh ,,,,,,,,

K - lee chan bc he,, keeps Killing me w those looks even when im tryna stan another grp ughrei

13) If you could be best friends with any idol, who would you choose?

chani? or chenle!! for chani ,, we’re q similar nd we both like chicken !!!!!!!!!!!! so yes. for chenle ,, we’re also kinda similar but we def have the same humor ,,, which is always great  :^)))))

14) If you could date any idol, who?

hm,,, tbh these days ive been feeling Soft for mark (lee) nd !! also bjy ,,,, ahHa im sorry hyunjin yshvriIHFED

15) What’s one Kpop album you think everyone should have listened to?

vixx - eau de vixx bc nO ONE i know talks abt it :-((((

16) Are you a soft or a hard stan?

swoft??? or medium idK HAHAH

17) An idol that makes you go into soft mode?

100% hyunjin,,, Also bjy.

18) An idol that makes you want to smash the empire state building with one single punch?

o man is also hyunjin aLSO mark lee :-))))))))))

19) Favorite vocalist?

oof hm,, defo seungkwan ,,, seokmin,,, basically svt’s vocal team :-))) oOF reading this again ,, yo haechan???? God tier vocals,,, pls stan nct :-)))

20) Favorite Rapper?

oo ok so i watched high school rapper nd i really like osshun? nd oH bang jaemin :”) aa i need to watch s2 soon jgafiue

in terms of idols, defo 3racha,,, theyre So Good uiahrfiu

21) Favorite dancer?

aAA in terms of girls: cHUNGHA!! for boys its ,, basically all of svt performance team nd,, ten and taeyong- (i like a lot of dancers its hard to choose ifajoiwe)

22) Things you have in common with your ult?

ok i,, dk my ult but ill just do it w the idols i put in in that q - for hyunjin i feel like we ,, both struggle w cooking lmAo nd have troubles waking up early :”) ,, actually now that i think abt it,, were both v quiet nd shy but when u get to know us? were v Loud nd savage (same w bjy nd chani) also again ,, chani likes chicken, i do too so :-)))))))

23) The mot beautiful trait any idol can have?

hm,, confidence? it takes a lot for someone to just go on stage and sing/dance etc,, like i would Never b able to do that- (proven today: had a skit and had a shaky voice the whole time , also laughed alot oops)

24) Songs that will always make you jam along?

vIVID by heejin nd singing in the rain by jinsoul nD ALL THE OTHER LOONA SONGS-

also rock by skz !!!!! nd nd omg rollercoaster by chungha nd,,, scentist by vixx nd many others hAHAH

25) Your worst wrecker?

in skz its ,,,,,,,, ***** :-)) also nomin have been wrecking me these days ,, rip

26) Any kpop concerts you’ve been to?

0 bc my parents wont let me :-(

27) Favorite choreo?

there r too many-

28) Favorite live performance?

also too many- but i do like concert performances where the fans sing along too- like those Hit me in the feels everytime (eg: smile flower - svt!!!) iahfnie (does this even count lmao)

29) Favorite debut mv?

adore u- svt !! (3rd anniv coming up ihHIWU)

30) Recommend a rookie group

skz obv, loona, unb ,, (g)i-dle !!

31) A kpop song you could listen to every day for the rest of your life?

there is a Lot but prob vivid - heejin hAHAH I RLLY LIKE THAT SONG AUWIFHIAU

20 question tag!

rules: answer 20 questions and then tag twenty people you want to get to know better

i was tagged by em !! @realstraykids  (´∀｀)♡

name: hazirah (oo name reveal :^))

nickname(s): haz

zodiac sign: scorpio

height: i am smoller than em ,, barely 5 feet :-)))))))))

languages spoken: ok ,, eng, malay, arabic, uuuh tiiiiiny bit of chinese and im now (kind of) self learning korean :^)

nationality: singaporean

favourite season: ok we dont have fall in sg,, but fall !!

favourite flowers: baby’s breath!

favourite scents: the scent of fried chicken :-)) or fresh laundry ,,, also petrol smell :-) 

favourite color: i answered above but yellow, peach nd black

favourite animal: shiba inus !!

favourite fictional characters: mmmm kacchan nd aizawa nD TODOROKI IFIAEUR HOW COULD I FORGET HIM O Mg frm bnha !! also baz nd simon frm the book carry on, simon by raindow rowell (one of my fav books tbh) ,,,, also tanaka frm tanaka kun is always listless bc hes goals tbh. ALSO oMg USUI TAKUMI FRM KAICHOU WA MAID SAMA OH MY GODUIHF

coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: ok in cold countries i Always get hot chocolate,, here in sg i always get green tea,, or ice lemon tea sometimes :-)))

average sleeping hours: 5-6

dog or cat person: both but more towards cats tbh

number of blankets you sleep with: 1

dream trip: the world !! or like japan/england ,, 

blog established: feb 1 2018

followers: a number :-)

random fact: mmmmmmmm i broke my fast w two of my friends last night nd caught up w each other nd im v happy :-)))))

nd thats the end !! (not really,, theres like 2 slefie tags but i have 0 pics oops) but if you read through all this,, congratulations,, you probably know me more than my classmates :-))))

[britishchick09]

sherlock ep 3 the great game livewatch

since i did a live-re-watch of ep 1 and a re/new livewatch of ep 2, i figured i’d finish off the season! i’ve never seen this one, so it’s the first totally new livewatch of the year! :D

ooh spooky beginning!

sherlock is talking to a guy for a case why in an old school tho?

omg sherlock keeps correcting this guy’s grammar lol :D

the guy will get hung for it (sorry hanged) is this victorian england

dramatic intro strikes again!

YO GUN SHOTS WUT

sherlock just chillin

AND SHOOTING WTF LOCKIE

SMILEY FACE!!!!!

john: “what the hell are you doing??” SAME WTF MR HOLMES

he’s shooting because he’s BORED OMG SHERLOCK LOL

omg john almost said the f word :o

WHY IS THERE A SEVERED HEAD IN THE FRIDGE

ooh they referenced ep one’s title in john’s blog post!!!

does that mean john comes up with the ep titles coolio :D

sherlock doesn’t like it tho :/

he deletes things he doesn’t care about like the earth going around the sun woah sherlock computer! :o

sherlock just said ‘hard drive’ epic B)

sherlock: “UGH HELL, WHAT DOES THAT MATTER?? so we go around the sun or we go around the moon round and round the garden like a teddy bear IT WOULDN’T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE!” ...teddy bear?

oh hey mrs hudson

awww she called their argument ‘a little domestic’ :)

let me guess sherlock hates the quiet peaceful world

RIGHT!!!

MRS HUDSON SAID ‘BLOODY’ OMG

and she’s putting the smiley face on the rent ‘young man’ :/

OMG WHAT THE FRICK EXPLOSION

hey is that sarah cool! :D

oh crap THE FLAT EXPLODED!!!!!

WTF DID SHERLOCK DO????

i thought this would happen in like s4 since that’s super dark not s1!!!!

lol sherlock’s just plucking his violin like nothing happened :D

yo is that moiarty mycroft?

ok this is his bro so according to google it’s... mycroft!

mycroft: “a case like this would require... ‘leg work’” ...leg work?

in my holmes inspired series the sherlock and mycroft characters hate each others guts and act like children around each other so it’s good to see that these bros just act cold and keep correcting each other

mycroft: “your business seems to be booming, ever since you and sherlock became.. ‘pals’’ johnlock shippers be like: ;)

mycroft wondered if it was hellish and my holmes character describes his bro as hellish COINCIDENCE I THINK TOTALLY!!! :o

the plans were on a ‘memory stick’ does mycroft mean ‘usb’?

sherlock putting rosin on his bow during the conversation tho ♥

mycroft: “you need to find those plans, sherlock. don’t make me order you” wowoza older bro much?

is sherlock badly playing his violin to test it or to kick mycroft out faster lol :D

this is probably benedict cumberbatch really playing because he didn’t take violin lessons until s2 i think and even then there was an overdub!

OMG I JUST REALIZED I’VE BEEN SPELLING HIS NAME AS BENNEDICT WHY

sherlock: “i’d be lost without my blogger” aww he really does like the posts! ♥ also major johnlock squee there

sherlock likes the ‘funny cases’ ;)

hey is that lestrade cool he’s back

the first thing sherlock says while reading the letter is ‘nice stationary’

john: “that’s the pink phone!” guy: “from the study in pink!” sherlock: “you read his blog?” lestrade: “of course we all do!” awwww :D

everyone’s snickering at sherlock not believing the ‘earth sun’ theory lol :D

ooh a warning! :o

john: “hold on, what’s gonna happen again?” sherlock: “BOOM!” bada bing, bada... B O O M!!!”

mrs hudson can’t get anyone interested in the flat aww :(

some weird lady’s calling what

SHE JUST SAID ‘STUPID BISH’ WOAHHHH

woah she was a hostage??

sherlock wants john to delete 8 mycroft texts lol :D

sherlock sarcastically called john ‘doctor’ lol :D

molly: “why did you say ‘gay’? we’re together!“ WAIT DID SHERLOCK JUST SAY THAT?? JOHNLOCK SQUEEE!!!!! also sherlock is aromantic sorry molly :/

molly: “he’s not gay!!” woah john much?

also that was about  her bf sorry johnlock shippers :/

sherlock says his makeup and underwear peeking out make the guy gay RUDE MUCH LOCKIE??

john: “that wasn’t kind” yeah LOCKIE

john: *figures out who the shoes belong to* how did i do?” sherlock: “well, john, really well! i mean, you missed almost everything important” lol :D

sherlock is great at finding out things props to him :D

the shoes were bought 20 years ago just like su lin!

sherlock: “a child with big feet-“ you mean senpai lol

1989 is 21 years ago here wowza :o

oh no the kid had a fit in a pool and died :(

someone stole his shoes! :o

aww john wants to help :)

mycroft is texting john now lol :D

john: “it’s of national importance.” sherlock: “how quaint.” john: “what is?” sherlock: “you are” :)

john is wearing a suit to see mycroft how quaint ♥

john: “he’s investigating now. investigating away” that’s sherlock for ya :D

mycroft knows it all just like sherlock what bros they are! :D

oh no the kid had poison! :o

it’s cool how a 21 year old mystery could tie into a bomb from a day ago :D

NO IT’S CRYING LADY AGAIN

she lives in cornwall camilla who

ooh pager! :D

sherlock is bored WHY

OH GREAT IT’S THE ‘FREAK’ LADY FROM EP 1 UGHHHH

oh no another mystery caller!

sherlock guessed he’s ‘stealing another voice’ ooh :o

aww they showed the guy he’s crying :(

they have 9 hours to solve the puzzle!

sherlock is faking being super sad to get info from this lady oh lockie!

random lady: “fishing! try fishing!” john’s reaction tho :D (this is like ‘daang that’s rad!’ but not as funny)

sherlock says ‘mazda’ weird but it’s cool :D

sherlock: “you’re very helpful” ...he’s not

sherlock: “mr. hewitt’s a liar” SEE I WAS RIGHT!!!

the drops in the lab look like the intro :D

phone guy: “we were made for each other, sherlock” woah woah YOU’RE NOT JOHN

ooh the blood was frozen :o

the way lestrade says ‘columbia?‘ is funny :D

the case is solved yet we’re only 37 minutes into the ep hmm....

sherlock: “i am on fire!” YAS LOCKIE!!! :D

great another call...

why is this guy constantly crying WHO HURT YOU SIR?

a restaurant scene... ep 1 was queerbaiting, ep 2 was stereotyping and this one is... SHERLOCK EATING??? :o

epic 2010 smartphone ;)

john: “lucky for you mrs hudson and i watch too much telly” yas john!!! :D

CRYING LADY SAID ‘BISH’ AGAIN

12 hours now WHO ARE THESE PEEPS AND WHY ARE THERE TIME LIMITS

throughout the scene there’s a snoring sound... is someone sleeping in the afternoon??

a dead 54 actress died 2 days ago... connection?

she cut her hand on a rusty nail dean from supernatural who

sherlock: “goodnight vienna!” *ringo voice* ♫ na na na na na na goodnight viennaaa!!!!!!! ♫ :D

lockie’s mind is racing again!!

john’s dr skills and sherlock’s mind are perfect for this :D

sherlock: “do you want to help?” john: “of course!” ♥

lestrade: “tell me, what are we dealing with?” sherlock: “...something new’ ;)

ughhhh her again!! THREE HOURS HAS IT EVEN BEEN 12 YET???

awww kitty!!!! ♥

the kitty is so loud and cute awww :)

the tv lady taught mrs hudson how to do ‘colors’ aww :)

sherlock went to fan sites for the show coolio :D

...omg what if there are fan sites for him and people ship johnlock in the show besides mrs hudson :o

awwww kittyyyy!!!!! :D

john thinks the lady got tetanus because of the cat NOT THE KITTY!!!

so are the shoe kid, tv lady and creepy phone people connected?

the phone people are bombers so at least that’s a connection

great the phone lady wants help UGHH

she’s telling sherlock things about the guy GIVE THE ADDRESS LADY!!!

wait was that a gunshot

it was another gas leak explosion! :o

the bomber killed the lady oooohh :o

sherlock: “heroes don’t exist and wouldn’t be one of them” oh but you are lockie ;)

sherlock: “you SEE you just don’t observe!” john: “okay, okay, girls calm down!!” GIRLS OMG LOL :D

sherlock: “you’ll never find him (some guy named gollem). but i know a man who can” lestrade: “who?” sherlock: “...me.” ;)

lady: “any change for a cup of tea?” sherlock: *gives her fifty* wowza what a generous lockie!

onto part 2!

the lady said a message was left ‘on the landline’ how 21st century of you...?

other lady: “am i supposed to be impressed?/” this is sherlock holmes we’re talking about here lady

lady 3: “we were having a night in...” *wallace and gromit intensities*

joe: “are you the police?” john: “sort of” he’s a consulting detective assistant thank you very much :)

sherlock sure likes giving lots of change to people in need :)

and he said earlier he doesn’t care about people unless it involves the case!

aww moonlight walk ♥

they’re in the tunnels like the netflix pic! :D

i wonder if this inspired that pic...

YO THEY BE RUNNING

the lady is watching a show on jupiter a gas planet hmmm...

she just wants neptune :D (i know her fave sailor senshi...)

OH NO SHE DED!

the tape is going backwards it’s so weird

OMG IT BE GOLLEM!!!

john: “let go or i will kill you” oooohhh gollem’s in trouble...

yo wtf is going on

SHERLOCK SHOT

who is this fancy french lady

sherlock s n a p !

the painting is a fake and that’s why she was killed?

some kid is counting down WHO ART THOU SMOL ONE???

sherlock: “shut up it only works if i figure it out!” yeah that’s true

aaand it worked!

the planet film helped sherlock discover the nova in the painting coolio :D

the mystery kid needs help! but where is he...

i still have no idea what’s going on tho it all went by so fast!

is this new french lady the one behind everything?

THE WHISPERS ARE MOIARTY OH FRICK

lockie be like ‘oh god...’ i’d be the same way if my mortal enemy was behind the case

why is john talking about strawberry jam with lestrade

oh it’s blood?

cool lifejackets :D

a wild sherlock appears!

is memory stick british slang for usb or just a holmes bro quirk because sherlock said it too

sherlock just broke into someone’s flat lol

and their last name is harrison... george much? ;)

so harrison stole the memory stick and gollem put in the bomb, moiarty hiring them both and having creepy people call sherlock and kill the tv lady, the guard at the gallery with the nova painting and maybe the shoe kid? is that how all this is connected?

john: “i’m not the world’s only consulting detective” aww he considers himself one too instead of just an assistant! :D

HOLD UP there’s a pool... is this the infamous tackle scene from the sarah z tjlc vid?

john is wearing a big coat hmm...

this is the pool where the kid died CONNECTION!!!!

oh no is this the calling guy

why does he sound like a silly american

YO he’s an american pulling off a brit accent

MOIARTYYYYY

moiarty: “jim moiarty! hiiii!!!” lol :D

plz shoot him sherlock this guy sounds so stupid

DID SHERLOCK JUST CALL HIM ‘DEAR JIM’??

the near fake kiss in that one ep makes sense now

moiarty in a sing-songy voice: “daddy’s had enough nowww!!!!’ DADDY WHAT

moiarty said gay :o

he just called sherlock ‘johnny boy’ why

AND HE SAID ‘borr-ing!!!’ OMG MOIARTY WHYYYY

i already hate moiarty so much but his lines are so funny what a villian!

sherlock: “what if i were to shoot you right now?” please do lockie

sherlock: “catch... you... later.” moiarty: “no you won’t!!! :D”

sherlock took off the jacket was that the scene?

john: “you ripping off my clothes in a darkened swimming pool...” THAT’S THE SCENE OMG JOHNLOCKERS ARE SQUEEING!!!!

omg moiarty’s back how stupid

SHOOT HIM LOCKIE PLZ

the music is intensifying...

LOCKIEEEEEEE......

and it ended!! i’m guessing sherlock doesn’t shoot moiarty which is a bummer but hey at least we’ll get more lols next season with them! :D

this was a great season finale! the beginning was wild and it got crazier from there. this is my least fave ep so far, but i still really liked it for how insane it was (and that kitty/moiarty lols!). it took 4 years to reach the end of s1, but it was well worth the wait! :D

[wendyalice-archive]

Classicaloid episode 20

IT TOOK ME A WHOLE DAY TO GET SOME TIME TO WATCH BUT OH MY FUCKING GOD

THIS SHOW TOOK A FREAKING PAGE OUT OF POPTEAMEPIC AND I LOVE IT

WHEN DVORAK CHANGED INTO THAT HYPER-REALISTIC MARRIONETTE THING I STARTED SCREAMING WITH LAUGHTER

GUYS, THAT WAS LIKE A FUCKING YOUTUBE POOP. I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW ANIME HAS EMBRACED MEME CULTURE WHAT THE HELL EVEN IS THAT.

AND THE CHIBI STUFF LIKE, I FELT LIKE I WAS WATCH AN ANIME VIDEO FROM THE 2000s

Also, yo, the animation was stupid good today. It was the way everyone moved, it was the look of the Classicaloids, all the forms they took, I was very proud of this episode. ALSO IT MAY BE MY NEW FAVORITE. I THINK I NEED TO MAKE A LIST OF EPISODES I THINK ARE ACTUAL GOOD EPISODES AND EPISODES THAT MAKE ME LAUGH SO HARD I DIE

Also, also, Very Disappoint with Wagner but I liked seeing how bad he’s getting, his redemption will be sweet.

One last thing, kind of more on the whole interest in the narrative of this show, this is possibly the fourth episode where there’s a focus on merchandising and selling the image of an idol, pop or religious like Dvorak in S2 Ep 4. In the last season, there was a focus on music from both the corporate world and the indie scene and where Musicians could feel comfortable. It seemed to feel that when you mixed in the worry of profit with your music, you began to make music that left unsatisfied and in the pocket of someone else. This season  for me seems to be focusing on how nothing of real value is being sold with all this merchandising, where Wagner is selling one, flipping, song and he doesn’t even care about his music anymore. He’s emotional manipulating his friend because of /sales from a rival idol group/. Then Dvorak wasn’t an actual deity, but Sousuke repackaged that and sold him like he was, the whole mansion got wrapped up in that scheme. I mean, it’s much of the same really (corporate = bad, bad corporate, how dare they be soul sucking leeches and sell consumers things they know isn’t fucking working and completely cheat people—Sorry, my own bias is bleeding in) but I feel like it’s more commentary on /how/ corporate takes something and commercializes the hell out of it.

Or you know, reading Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and Harvey Cox for economic literary theory for my English class had colored literally all media I consume now.

Couldn’t be that though.

No

Anyway! Thank you so much for reading to the end! I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you have a lovely day~! <3

[athyrabunlord]

do you know why mari wears a green vest?and another question , do you think she takes advantage of her director position? xD

haha no clue, could be Director privilege? I don’t see anyone else wearing a vest or anything extra as part of their uniform. That or Mari is gay af for Kanan and needs to show the world she’s orca’s by wearing orca’s rep color??? iono their eye colors are each other’s rep colors too

And yes, I definitely believe she takes advantage of her Director position, sometimes on a whim to go with her flow or shiny ideas, and sometimes to actually help out Aqours and the school. I do want to see in S2 where they show how hard/stressful it is to actually be a Director. I know S1 presented the role humorously because it’s shiny onee-san and it’s joke, but no I really, really want to see the realistic side of such position. Alas, I doubt the anime would ever showcase something so somber/stressful, so I’m resting my hopes on SID.

I’ve read a Mari-centric doujin (bless this doujinshi omfg so good, still very salty the Kanan one sold out just before I could place my order) that showed Mari working very hard to study and acquire all the requirements to be qualified for this position of Director.

Yes, bad photos cuz I didn’t want to bend this precious lil doujin ;;w;;

I do believe that the Oharas’ wealth must have helped because how the heck would a 17 yo obtain such position? But, Mari must have the required qualifications to keep this position. That brief scene in the anime showing Dia and Mari working on their work/documents doesn’t do their respective roles justice.

[thejpfdude-blog]

Initial Impressions of the Fall 2017 Season

Well it’s that time of the year. Halloween The initial impressions of the season post! As always:

Every show I’ve watched has aired at least 3 episodes (actually, this time all the shows aired exactly 3 episodes!), so it’s the time to post what I think is good so far (”so far” being key: shows can get good in the middle/end, and good shows can drop off), complete with lists of random stuff!

Before I get into the nitty-gritty, some words about the season so far. I think it’s fair to say it’s been a hella good start to the season. Now I know I said that for the past few seasons (and they didn’t end so well...) but I can really feel it with this one. There’s a lot of good shows in all sorts of different genres, and though none of the shows I’m watching at this point are a de facto 9 or 10, some of them have the potential to get better as time goes on. We’ll see though: still way too early to really tell.

And with that, here’s the rankings so far for the season, complete with initial scores after 3 episodes:

Rankings:

1. Kino’s Journey (8/10)

2. Shokugeki no Soma S3 (8/10)

3. Just Because! (8/10)

4. Juuni Taisen (7.5/10)

5. Pingu in the City (10/10 ANIME OF THE CENTURY) (7.5/10)

6. Net-juu no Susume (7.5/10)

7. Mahoutsukai no Yome (7/10)

8. Blend S (6/10)

9. Love Live! Sunshine!! 2nd Season (6/10)

10. Animegataris (6/10)

11. Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau (5/10)

12. Osake wa Fuufu ni Natte kara (4/10)

Awards:

Best Anime: Kino’s Journey (HM: Shokugeki no Soma S3)

As stated above, there hasn’t been a show yet that’s greatly amazed me. But that doesn’t mean this season’s bad: in fact there’s a lot of shows ranging from great to pretty good, and in the long run that ends up being a good thing. Currently, the show on top of the list is Kino’s Journey, a remake of the older series with the same name. Disclaimer: I haven’t watched all of the old series (only 2 episodes). Honestly though, I would say that (so far) the old series is better. The drab colors really added a nice layer to the atmosphere, something that I think the new version lacks with its brighter colors. However, that’s not to say the new series isn’t good. I’ve loved the episodes so far, especially the most recent one with the moving country. They really make you think about the different topics presented: for example, the moving country and who’s morally right in the situation -- the diplomats of the country or the soldiers seeing their country getting run over. It’s that kind of stuff that makes Kino’s Journey a fun watch. No matter what kind of anime fan you are, I would recommend it. Something to really make you think, something you can enjoy even if you aren’t the type to watch that kind of show (like me).

Shoutouts to Shokugeki S3 for returning back to the norm and having a nice balance of competitive food making and fun slice-of-life moments. If it continues like this I wouldn’t be surprised to see this show high up on my list.

Worst Anime: Osake wa Fuufu ni Natte kara (HM: All the shows I dropped)

So I read the manga for this before, which makes this hard to determine whether the show is actually this bad or if I’m tired of the stuff I already watched. The one thing that bothers me about this show is the whole concept of “cute when drunk”. Like she needs to be drunk to be all lovey-dovey with her husband, which is pretty... questionable. Because at its core, this show’s about an alcoholic and her husband. The romance isn’t really romance, it’s just “hah cute moments”, which compared to ones from a show like “I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying” is pretty shallow. Honestly considering dropping this show even though it’s only 3 minutes, because I haven’t had the greatest experience with 3-minute shorts.

Shoutouts to all the shows I dropped: you know who you are.

Best Surprise: Net-juu no Susume (HM: Just Because! and Juuni Taisen)

I have to say, I had no expectations for this going into it. I actually was planning of dropping it after the first episode. But a second watch with my friends made me realize: this was a super cute romance. It’s straight-forward: there aren’t any rivals or stupid misunderstandings. Just some cute and funny moments with Moriko and the other dude, along with the rest of the guild. Unfortunately this show is only 10 episodes, so I hope they get together soon for that cute adult romance. Or not, because anime romances.

Shoutouts to Just Because and Juuni Taisen:

Just Because wasn’t something I expected much from given the drama tag and how I don’t really like dramas. But so far, it’s been a comfy experience. The atmosphere of the show is very calm (I love the color usage in the show) and there are some humorous moments in the calm slice-of-life. Now how this show does in the long run depends on how good the drama that I 100% know is coming is. But for now, it’s been a pleasant surprise, something I look forward to now.

Juuni Taisen was something that my friend recommended to me, but even with that I didn’t expect much. Well, it’s been a fun ride. Though the deaths are pretty predictable, what isn’t predictable is the stuff that happens in the middle, and that’s where the fun of the show comes from. If you’re expecting twists and turns everywhere, this probably isn’t the show for you. But overall, it’s well thought out and I’m enjoying how the battle royale is progressing so far. Should be interesting to see how it ends, even if we know the winner already.

Worst Disappointment: Boku no Kanojo ga Majimesugiru Sho-bitch na Ken

I had to dig deep for this one, and it’s a huge reach. I didn’t have much expectations for this show, but what I did expect/see was that it would be like Seitokai Yakuindomo, a show I’ve heard of and was planning to watch sometime. Well, if this show is anything like Seitokai, I might have to delay watching it. Because man, it’s pretty juvenile stuff. I know comedy is subjective and all that, but it didn’t really tickle my funny bone. Something about it annoys me more than anything. Might be the characters. Either way, a meh show in a pretty gud season.

Best Girl: Yoshiko Tsushima (Love Live Sunshine S2) with HM to Megumi Tadakoro (Shokugeki no Soma S3), Kino (Kino’s Journey), and Moriko Morioka (Net-juu no Susume)

Storytime (not really a story but oh well). I have two keychains on my backpack: one of them is of Pickles from Neko Atsume (which is something I won in a raffle). The other is a nesoberi-styled Yoshiko that I bought for twice the original price. Point is, Yoshiko is the best Love Live. And by default, since there isn’t anybody else to compete with her, she’s best girl so far this season. Though she’s pretty controversial in the LL community, I really like her schtick as the geeky loser of the group. I say that in the nicest way possible, because I can relate a lot to her. The chuuni thing isn’t overdone, which is good given I thought I wouldn’t like her at first from that. Though there are a lot of great girls in Aqours, she’s by far my favorite.

Shoutouts to another girl that’s been fun to watch so far in Megumi, a badass in Kino, and an adorable NEET in Moriko.

Best Guy: Kai Musashisakai (Animegataris) with HM to Pingu (Pingu in the City)

Usually this is a hard category for me to pick winners of, and this time wasn’t an exception. I dug deep to find a character I’m enjoying so far: the chuuni. Except he’s a weeb chuuni, so it makes it better. Plus his chuuni moments aren’t annoying, similar to best girl above. It seems that the recent trends are the chuunis who aren’t been too annoying: characters like Kaikai, Yoshiko/Yohane, and Rikka (to an extent). Nice to see that.

Shoutout to a character who I’m not even sure is a guy. But he(she?) is the protag for a show that, memes aside, has actually been a super enjoyable watch. Would recommend.

Worst Girl: Nayuta Kani (Imouto sae Ireba Ii.) with HM to Shizuku Ariyama (Boku no Kanojo ga Majimesugiru Sho-bitch na Ken)

So literally the reasons I dropped their respective shows. Let me start with Ms. Blunt: every time she talked, I preemptively braced myself for what trash she let out. It got so annoying that it ruined what was probably an all right show that I would still be watching if not for her. I’m honestly kind of surprised she’s so popular among the people watching, but then again the people continuing to watch this show would be the ones who enjoy the characters. Selection bias and all that.

Shoutout to the the other girl who made me drop a show. Childhood friends are usually characters I don’t hate, but my goodness like the above character she didn’t have a filter and it was annoying as heck to watch. Though unlike character/show above, I think even without this character I still would’ve dropped Boku something something for the... other questionable characters.

Worst Guy: Literally Nobody

I honestly can’t think of anybody who gets this award, even in my dropped shows. The closest candidate would probably be the main protagonist from the imouto show, but he wasn’t that bad if you discount his imouto problem. I guess this is a good thing, though?

Best OP: “Kunshi Ayauku mo Chikou yore” (Osomatsu-san 2) with HM to “Aikotoba” (Animegataris), “Mirai no Bokura wa Shitteru yo” (Love Live Sunshine S2), “Bon Appétit♡S” (Blend S), “Rupture” (Juuni Taisen), “Ugoku Ugoku” (Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou)

There are a lot of good OPs this season, but my favorite is from a show I’m not even watching. Osomatsu-san 2′s OP has great visuals with a catchy song to boot. I love how they incorporate the credits into the OP: it’s like they were meant to be there instead of just put randomly to the side like most OPs/EDs. Plus the traditional Japanese influence in the song (flute, taiko) is a nice allusion to the show’s theme: a old-time cartoon made many many years later into a modern anime. Good stuff.

Shoutouts to the following other, great OPs:

Animegataris: This was a close second, but ultimately I liked the visuals for Osomatsu-san’s OP a bit better. Song-wise, this one is the winner out of all of the OPs here (well maybe tied with the Love Live OP). A nice electronic beat complete with a nice payoff that makes it hard for me to keep my head still. Visual-wise it’s pretty decent: shows all of the characters, has some shots of the mysterious event that the show hasn’t alluded to yet. Helps that I like the character design (though some of the characters’ eyes are a bit... too spaced apart.

Love Live Sunshine S2: Obligatory LL Sunshine insertion. The song, of course, is top notch. And visual-wise, they really improved on the CG animation. It looks really fluid, and I can actually watch it instead of cringing at how bad it is. A vast improvement. Side note, the arm pumps they do 4 seconds in makes me laugh every time, and I don’t know why. Probably because it looks so stupid. But, hey, if it works.

Blend S: This OP’s been meme’d pretty hard so far, or at least the first few seconds of it have. Past that, you get an OP that’s on par with the Working series OPs complete with a song sung by the cast (which seems to be the norm nowadays with this type of anime). Pretty standard stuff, but it’s the type of stuff I like so I’m rating it higher from that. Helps that it’s a fun, peppy song.

Juuni Taisen: At first I didn’t really like this OP, but as time passed I really got into it. The song’s decent and the visuals are all right. The one thing I can say this OP does well is that it really gets me into the mood of the show. Something about it gets me hyped before each episode. And really, that’s what an OP’s job is, so I give it credit for that.

Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou: This OP is conflicting to me. On the one hand, I love the electronic song (future funk isn’t really my thing, but it’s nice to listen to here). More electronic songs in anime would be pretty ok-hands. Plus the visuals are fun to watch (not to mention the dab is some dank stuff). Yet on the other hand, it just... doesn’t fit the show’s tone at all. I expect this kind of music with a more cheerful anime. With this show, which from the episode I watched was more of a relaxed slice-of-life with a melancholy setting, I don’t think this OP works with the show. Honestly, if this was the OP to a happy moe slice-of-life show, it would be by far my favorite OP. But as of now it’s at a weird stage of denial and “nice”.

Best ED: "Umarun Taisou” (Himouto! Umaru-chan R) with HM to “Let's Go! Muttsu Go! ~Rokushoku no Niji~” (Osomatsu-san 2) and “Keshin no Kemono” (Juuni Taisen)

Not as much good EDs, but this was an easier choice than the OP section. I’m not even watching this show, but Himouto’s ED is top notch. Now I know that’s not a popular opinion, and trust me I know why. It’s literally just chibis dancing to a moe song. But my god, that’s the kind of stuff that really tickles my fancy. I’ve probably watched it around a hundred times so far. The song is catchy as heck, the chibis are cute as fudge (especially Kirie), and it’s done something nobody or nothing has ever done: made me want to watch the show. But seriously, can I just say how fudging cute this is? Highlights are 0:42 - 0:53 and a minute in with the background dancers (ignoring the Umaru). Good god. The cute levels are out of control.

Shoutouts to the two other EDs I enjoyed:

Osomatsu-san 2: Like the OP, the song + visuals were top notch. I loved the stop-motion animation for the ED. Going through each character was my favorite part of it -- the stuff after that wasn’t as fun, but still overall an enjoyable experience.

Juuni Taisen: Like the OP of this show, I didn’t enjoy this at first. But the song was pretty catchy, and I liked the visuals of showing each fighter in their casual everyday lives. It’s a nice way to show off their personalities and also show what order they’re gonna die in. No surprises so far from this show.

Bonus Awards (complete with short descriptions):

Worst Character Design: Just Because!

My god them some weird eyes.

Best Guilty Pleasure: Love Live Sunshine S2

It’s so bad but I can’t stop watching. Pls help.

The TheJPFDude Happy Show of the Quarter-Season: Net-juu no Susume

Happy romances are happy.

And that’s all! Thanks for reading all of that good stuff. It’s been a good season. I’m enjoying a lot of shows, and though most of them’ll honestly probably fall off within the next few weeks, at least we have some potential good ones.

Well, until next time, I’ll see you in the next post!

[neitherfleshnorfleshless]

⛅ ⚑ ☎ ☘ ★ ⚡ ⛆

the hella sweet munday meme

⛅ - Do you believe aesthetics is another form of expression?

Yes - particularly in the rp sphere, very much yes.  I think an aesthetic is something used to communicate a feeling or an vibe or an atmosphere - so, looking at the aesthetic of a post, the size of the font used, the bolds, the italics, whether something is in all caps or not, the size of the icon, the way something is formatted (or not), the way the icon is made, the colors used - all of this is an attempt to better communicate the character and how they look, how they feel, how they…everything in that response, in that situation, and sometimes where mere words cannot get everything across, these additional things can.Icons lend more towards atmosphere - which I think is a bigger deal for a blog as a whole as opposed to what is posted on the dash (and icons take a bit of what the overall blog aesthetic communicates and presents that on the dash, because let’s be honest, how often do we go to a blog once we’re following someone?  Most of the time we see their responses on their dash, or, because of the new tumblr updates, we see the mobile version, but very rarely the full blog itself - and even then, you have the header aesthetic, the colors, the quotes or lack thereof, all of which is an attempt to create that same general atmosphere) - because that sort of atmosphere gives a more general and immediate idea of the character as a whole, their general vibe, kind of like how a person looks when you first see them–I guess that’s the purpose of the aesthetic.  Kind of like clothes.  Only, uh….  No, I wouldn’t say it’s less necessary, because every blog, every post, is going to have the general vibe, and sometimes that’s because there’s less aesthetic.So…kind of like jewelry.  Or hair-style.  Or bling.  Stuff like that.

⚑ - Have you been forgiven for a mistake you’ve made?

Yes.  More than once?  There’s a couple of instances that come to mind, although I’m not sure that….  It’s kind of like, we talked about it and tried to get better and that didn’t really work out, so I’m not sure how much that counts.  -shrugs-I think most of the mistakes have been lack of communication.  One of them was when I first had Jessica - a longstanding partner was upset with me for a variety of reasons and came to talk to me, and I tried to fix it (apparently inadequately), and it just...it ended up being a huge mess, really.  It was a huge mess.  And I think...initially they forgave me, so in that case, this would count.  But we’ve...since parted ways.  So.  -shrugs-The biggest mistake I’ve been forgiven for was an intentional lie on my end.  I was kind of a complete asshat about that and, uh, honestly?  I shouldn’t have lied in the first place.  That was kind of a really bad thing to have done, and I should have...I should have been honest.  Because not being honest just had this build up of issues I was having and a bunch of stupid bitterness (not even resentment) and me just being pissed at myself for being upset because it was my own fault - and the funny thing is?  I lied telling myself that I would be fine, and I wasn’t actually fine until I was completely open about it.  Like - now it’s not even an issue in the slightest.I...uh, think this is one of those things that’s better explained in private, you know?But the short answer is yes.  And I’m so glad that’s the case because I think...in that latter case, if that hadn’t been the case, I’d have...really, really regretted it.

☎ - What do you think about bias lists?

Mmmm, I used to like them, but I don’t really see the huge point?  I know that they tend to be used as a public explanation of love for a person or peoples and then get kind of used as both an encouragement for whoever’s on the list and a promo to other followers about yo, these are my peeps, you should follow my peeps, and I guess the public encouragement/note aspect is kind of cool, but the promo aspect is lost on me.  Like, if I get tagged in one, I basically check to see where I’m at, like it so that whoever posted it knows I appreciate being tagged, but that’s about it.  Sometimes I check and see if other people I know are on there, and sometimes if I’m looking for new partners, I’ll use them to try and find new friends (but that’s a rare occurrence anymore).  I don’t really post them - or haven’t in a really, really long time - and I’ve thought about it, but really, I’d just be posting it for that public promo encouragement/note aspect, and I’ve found I can do that just as well through random other means (a lot of times in tags on other promos, but every now and again in other ways, I’m just slow at it).--which is not to say I don’t appreciate them.  I just don’t do them anymore.

☘ - Is there anything that makes you instantly want to follow someone?

No.

I don’t even instafollow longtime friends or their new blogs anymore, especially if the character isn’t one I know or I think the interpretation is going to be weird (or that the blog isn’t going to last).  I like to check characters out before I follow - to at least know a little bit about who the blog is going to be - before following, so even from mobile, I have a tendency to visit the blog, get a good idea of things, and sometimes writing style (because I’m picky).But that’s more information than you asked for.  ^^;;

★ - What fandom do you consider welcoming?

Of all the rp fandoms I’ve been in, the Disney one - when I first started out - was the most welcoming to me.  It’s not anymore, though, so I can’t keep that here.Can I call the Noir fandom welcoming?  And by the Noir fandom, I mean the, like, four of us who are super fans of the show...?  Like, when I rebooted Mireille, I got SUCH a great welcome, and you know....  Maybe I should just say anime as a whole, because whenever I’ve done an anime blog or had an anime character or wanted to be involved, I’ve gotten a very good welcome and made really good friends and had no issues whatsoever.  People have been very happy I’ve been around, and that goes for when I rebooted Mireille, when I tried to have Mami be her own blog (the second time), and when I’ve had Mami on my multi, she’s gotten really good reception, so.  Even when I first started out on Elsa, one of my really good longtime friends was an anime writer, so.  Yo, give me small anime fandoms or the Puella Magi Madoka Magica fandom because they’ve been super nice and welcoming to me.

⚡ - What are the good sides with duplicates?

DOUBLES THREADS....I mean, most people don’t really do those anymore, but that is.  My favorite part about duplicates, the opportunity to do that.BUT outside of that, I think, I really like seeing the different interpretations of the characters.  Like, there’s four of us with long running Bedelia blogs, and each of us gives our own unique spin on her character - and I think part of that is really connected to when we started writing her because you can see which season and how she is in each season and which attribute is most heightened in each season in our characters.  For instance, I started writing Bedelia between s2 and s3, and in s2, she is much more anxious, that’s the attribute of her they played up that season, and my interpretation has a tendency to focus on her anxiety more than perhaps her other, equally important attributes. And they’re more than that, obviously, because we each look at her as a whole and incorporate that, but.  You know what I mean.And I love seeing the things we do agree on, and I loved....  I loved when season three was airing and being in the fandom when the season was airing and at the time, River and I were friends, and I loved being able to sit and talk about what Bedelia did in the episodes and what that meant and----  I loved being able to hash out the cliffhanger at the end of the series where she lost her leg and the different possible interpretations of that, I loved that we both loved this character and wanted to know as much as we could about her and could just talk about that and still see her differently but also just.I don’t know how to words the thing, and it’s not really an experience that I’ve been able to mimic?  Mainly because I’m rarely part of a fandom while it’s in flux, and most duplicates tend to....not want anything to do with each other.  Although I will say, that’s been a great thing with the Hannibal community, because, like I said, there are four of us, and of those four, me and Bee and River are all friends and we can be within the same space and write with the same people, and it’s like - seeing a new Bedelia and, like, come join us, be part of our Bedelia community, you are welcome here, and that’s just so great?  I just.  Really love that.

⛆ - What’s the thing about roleplaying?

I’m not sure how to answer this one, so I’m going to assume a fill-in-the-blank scenario and go from there.The thing about roleplaying is that it is hard and that it’s an entirely different form of writing and communicating than other forms.  RP mixes aesthetic and formatting and interactions and it’s not about plot, it’s all about character and who this person is and you don’t have to worry about any of the other characters because someone else is doing that, so you have free reign for all this focus in one specific spot, and that’s great, but I think there’s something to be said about...about how this is a unique form of literature - it and the drabbles and the headcanon and everything else that comes with it - that isn’t quite quantifiable because we haven’t found a way to do that yet, and maybe that’s a good thing because if we could quantify it, then it wouldn’t be half as good.