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bobparkhurst · 24 days

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a totally unbiased (no) and mostly serious (i guess) spoiler-free primer

I've seen a bunch of posts floating around encouraging people into the fandom, or HBO War people looking for a new fandom/show to sink their teeth into. Here's my effot to add to the propaganda, because I've been in this fandom since Nov '22, it's delightful here and I always love a new SASRH friend to chat to.

tl;dr: it's a lot of fun

premise & setting

SAS: Rogue Heroes is the story of the founding of the original* Special Air Service (SAS) of the British Army during WW2. It centres three of the initial founders, David Stirling, Blair 'Paddy' Mayne and Jock Lewes. Two of other men credited as founding the SAS, Bill Fraser and Georges Bergé also feature. Bill Stirling, David's older brother and integral to the founding of the SAS, will feature in series 2.

Series 1 is 6 episodes long, covering events from the North African campaign from May '41 through Jan '43. Series 2 has been filmed and will move the action to Europe.

Based largely on the book, SAS: Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre.

*it was disbanded in Oct '45, and reformed in '47, ultimately leading, through various machinations, to the modern day SAS.

historical accuracy

Somewhat more fast and loose with history than Band of Brothers, The Pacific or Masters of the Air, but not bad enough to send historians spiralling into deep despair, with one very important caveat: the depiction of Paddy Mayne. More on him and this in a moment. However, it has generally been well received. Damien Lewis (the author and historian, not the actor) said "...it's reasonably realistic. It tells a great yarn. I think they've used some artistic license, I can understand why they've done so to a certain extent... Generally they've got the equipment and the kit bang on, I think they had some very good advisers." (here)

There are some weird timeline issues, which I think is caused largely by odd pacing and editing. I'd not worry about this too much, otherwise you'll break your brain. Likewise, liberties have been taken with the geography, which I think is a bit more heinous, but ymmv.

characters: lads lads lads lads lads

after the first four, these are in no order of importance, before anyone gets on at me about their favourite. i also appreciate there are other characters but this bit was already getting really long.

david stirling (connor swindells) - the dreamer

Arrogant, manipulative, clever, charismatic bastard. David Stirling is fueled chiefly by daddy issues and an inferiority complex a mile wide. Connor Swindells walks a beautiful line between swagger and vulnerability. He does not let things like "common sense", "safety precautions" or "understanding the implications" get in the way of doing important things like flinging himself out of a plane in the middle of the desert or talking his way into army bases armed with nothing but crutches and chutzpah.

blair 'paddy' mayne (jack o'connell) - the madman

Paddy Mayne my BELOVED. Character of all time. He's a drinker, a fighter and abhors a bully. For most of the show, we see him at his most desperate and most angry and arguably most violent. HOWEVER, he's also a highly intelligent, sensitive, compassionate poet and voracious reader; if there's a bunch of poetry being quoted, it's probably Paddy doing it. He loves so very deeply. His depiction in the show is a bit of a bone of contention with family and historians - some people read him as being depicted as a violent thug only, and that's not what the real Blair Mayne was like. Which is simultaneously true and not true. Blair Mayne was an incredibly complicated man.

The other contentious-to-some point is that the show does deliberately suggest his queerness, something Jack O'Connell has talked about in interviews. Some people have taken issue with this. Either way, for those who saw the sand wrestling gifs and wanted to know if SASRH was just queerbaiting, the answer is no, actually. But don't expect anything explicit on this front.

Jack O'Connell looks like he's having a fucking fantastic time.

jock lewes (alfie allen) - the creator

In real life, Jock Lewes was nicknamed "The Wizard", how great is that? David, Paddy and David met in training and are referred to in show as "the Three Musketeers". He is basically the mediator between Paddy and David, which sounds dull, except Jock is also batshit and clever and scary. He makes all the lads do intense marches in the desert without water, but is never willing to ask someone to do what he wouldn't do. Trouble is, as mentions, he is batshit so his standards are VERY VERY HIGH. He also has a fiancee, Mirren, whomst he loves very much and their relationship is so tender and brings me to tears on the regular.

eve mansour (sofia boutella)

Eve works for French Military Intelligence and quietly drives a lot of action behind the scenes. She's a totally fictional invention for the show and I'd be madder about it if Sofia Boutella wasn't being gorgeous and smart all over the place. She is focused on the goal and is generally just. Queen.

dudley clarke (dominic west)

Not so much a member of the SAS as the guy who helps Stirling bring this plan to fruition. He's great fun, charming and affable, and just as dangerous as anyone else. Dudley Clarke doesn't get enough credit, I think.

mike sadler (tom glynn-carney)

Mike Sadler my OTHER beloved. I joke about Mike coming to fix all the stuff around my flat that doesn't work and it's because he's singlehandedly the most competent member of the entire SAS, I think. His introduction scene is the sexiest thing on the entire show. He only gets introduced in episode 3, but in my heart we have six seasons and a movie with him. He's a member of the Long Range Desert Group and knows more about navigating the landscape than anyone. The LRDG are barely part of the show (save for Mike) and are well worth looking up.

IRL Mike Sadler actually only passed away this year, at the age of 103.

eoin mcgonigal (dónal finn)

Most of what Eoin's around for in SAS: RH is to hang out being impossibly beautiful and being ride or die for Paddy Mayne. Dónal Finn and Jack O'Connell created the most beautiful relationship told in touches. Drives me mad. He's also the first one who really understands who Paddy is beyond the brash and violent front. Eoin McGonigal is certainly a creature.

bill fraser, johnny cooper, reg seekings, jim almonds, dave kershaw, pat riley

(stuart campbell, jacob mccarthy, theo barklem-biggs, corin silva, bobby schofield, jacob ifan)

Look, there are a lot of lads and I can't do them all justice. Some of these folks get a lot more to do than the others, and they're all distinct characters in their own right. There are two matched set duos, Reg & Johnny (enemies to lovers, 150k) and Jim & Pat (do not seperate). Jim & Pat were Jock's crew prior to the SAS and the way he gets them to join is basically by saying "hey, there's a really stupid and dangerous thing i want to do, you in?" and they do this:

each and every one of them is as bad as the others.

augustin jordan, georges bergé, andré zirnheld

Free French paratroopers, who Stirling is reluctantly forced into accepting into the SAS by Eve and Clarke. TBF, this is where SAS: RH really starts playing with history, though it serves the narrative well enough. Show!Augustin Jordan was a former professor of Philosophy at La Sorbonne, and is also a tall dark haired man, so you can see how Paddy Mayne is gonna struggle.

I had to use the sand wrestling gif here (that's augustin), you've probably seen it. It's a surprisingly interesting character scene, would you believe.

There are several other named characters, but I'm running out of energy.

other stuff

OK, so I've lost my thread here a bit. SAS: Rogue Heroes is fun, first and foremost. It really does fall down on the side of "Cool Boys Doing War", so if that's not your thing, maybe you'll not enjoy it. I personally do. And I think it does have some further depth to it than that, even if that's where it comes back to. I've never seen Peaky Blinders, but apparently it's a bit like that? IDK.

While it's very violent, I don't think it's as brutal as the HBO War shows. It's a much more heightened kind of drama, so there's a step removal I think, from the really visceral. That said, it's still a war drama, and it does feature some very nasty business.

soundtrack

it's mostly hard rock and if you don't like this, idk what to tell you. i fucking love it. once again though, mike sadler gets the best of this. you'll know it when you see it.

the fandom

The SAS Rogue Heroes fandom is small but it is mighty and it genuinely is very friendly. There is a Discord if you like, but you don't have to do it if Discord is not your thing.

While the overriding popular ship is Paddy/Eoin, Paddy/Augustin and Reg/Johnny are also wildly popular. That said, we are fond of a rarepair in this fandom, and I personally have embarked on a mission of shipping Mike Sadler with every other character. Everyone's very encouraging of wild ideas and aus, anything's welcome.

A few people are writing OCs, and that too is great. I encourage more of that! I don't think I've seen any x Reader yet, but never say never.

Come join us!

a brief suggested further reading

you really don't have to do any of this, but like, some of you are nerds, i get it. i also got a lot of other recs, but these are some good starters. you can hit me up for more, it's all good.

SAS: Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre

SAS Brothers in Arms: Churchill's Desperadoes - Damien Lewis

SAS: An Illustrated History of the SAS - Joshua Levine

Speed, Aggression, Surprise: The Untold Secret Origins of the SAS - Tom Petch

One of the Originals: Story of a Founder Member of the S.A.S. - Anthony Kemp & Johnny Cooper (Johnny Cooper's memoir and imo, if you read nothing else, read this)

The Phantom Major: The Story of David Stirling & the SAS Regiment - Virginia Cowles (this was written in 1958. There is a "rebuttal" biog, The Phoney Major by Gavin Mortimer, which also contains a lot of info, but I find Mortimer's bias against Stirling incredibly difficult to stomach. Difficult.)

Paddy Mayne - Hamish Ross (honestly, I'd not bother with other biogs of Blair Mayne unless you want to do a lot of reading around and getting cross)

Special Forces Brothers in Arms: Eoin & Ambrose McGonigal - Patric McGonigal (this is so personal and so beautiful, I cried several times reading it. written by Eoin's great-nephew. Ambrose, Eoin's older brother was part of the SBS, Special Boat Service, who are ALSO very interesting)

Gentleman Jim: The Wartime Story of a Founder of the SAS and Special Forces - Lorna Almonds-Windmill (another biog by a family member, this one is gentle and told with love)

Joy Street: A Wartime Romance in Letters - the published correspondence between Jock Lewes and Mirren Barford. A slightly different kind of book, but gosh. It really hits.

...and that's all I got for you right now. I could talk about this show for days though.

(forgot to add: my SAS RH blog is @regseekings, I posted this on here for the HBO war fandom)

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#sas rogue heroes #i'm very tired now #i'm gonna go get a sandwich #sasrh reading list #sas: rogue heroes #Youtube

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lurkingshan · 8 months

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A Time Called You: A Great Reminder to Go Watch Someday or One Day

This past weekend Netflix dropped a new kdrama called A Time Called You in its entirety, and I became particularly interested in watching it as soon as I realized what it was: the Korean remake of Someday or One Day I knew had been in the works for awhile. If you’re not familiar, Someday or One Day (SOOD) is a beloved 2019 Taiwanese drama that is widely considered to be among the best dramas the country has ever produced (there is also a 2022 film version of the story, but that’s less relevant to this post). Now, I love Korean dramas, and I know that countries remaking each other’s best shit is very common in the Asian media landscape, but I couldn’t help but feel protective of the original work and a bit resentful of the choice to adapt something that was so original and unique and specific and put that generic kdrama sheen on it. Taiwan has a small film industry, and this is one of its jewels. We didn’t need Korea’s take on it.

And having watched the adaptation in full now, I am feeling pretty justified in that initial feeling. Let me just say upfront: A Time Called You (ATCY) is a perfectly good drama with a solid cast and competent storytelling. Had I seen it absent the knowledge of what it was adapting, I probably would have liked it a lot. But I have already seen and loved Someday or One Day, so I feel compelled to break down why it is the better version of this tale, both for my fellow SOOD devotees who are wondering how this adaptation stacks up and for folks who have only seen the kdrama in the hopes that you’ll decide to watch the original. As usual, I did the most, so reader be advised that this is long (tagging @troubled-mind as promised and @smittenskitten because I saw you were looking for a comparison of the two dramas). TL; DR: if you liked ATCY, or have seen neither version and are wondering which to watch: go find Someday or One Day, because it’s an overall superior and more satisfying execution of the same story.

The Vibe

Let’s start here because it’s the most obvious and immediately striking thing as someone who has seen both versions. SOOD has a bit of a rough and unpolished feel, which makes it feel more grounded in reality (important when you are getting into fantasy elements like time travel but you still want the characters to feel like real people). We open our story in 1998 in a record shop with a young girl playing Last Dance by Wu Bai and China Blue, a 1996 mando pop rock ballad, and thus setting the tone—this will be a somewhat raw and bittersweet story about grief and hurt and longing that will invite us to wallow in our feelings. And that melancholic vibe stays throughout the drama, even in the explicitly happy scenes, because you are always aware that the joy you are seeing has already been lost.

By contrast, ATCY feels… emotionally flat. Don’t get me wrong, it is a very faithful adaptation. The early episodes are practically a shot for shot remake of the original drama. But it’s too polished, too shiny. The filmmaking is bog standard kdrama fare; everything is soft focus and warmly lit and too beautiful and consequently nothing feels real. It feels right in line with the standard aesthetics of recent mainstream Korean dramas, and that choice undermines the emotional weight and grit of this story.

A great example of this can be seen in the way the two dramas handle the iconic scene where our female lead runs in the rain, looking back over her shoulder to smile in delight at the male lead before continuing on her way. This is a moment of realization for him about his feelings for her—one he will later immortalize in a painting that becomes part of the mystery of the past she is trying to unravel. In Someday or One Day, this scene takes place on a regular street, in the utterly mundane surroundings of their everyday lives as they walk home, and she runs down the middle of the road as puddles gather in the uneven pavement; in A Time Called Love, they are in a picturesque park for this scene, surrounded by green and encased within a grove of giant trees, and she runs right down the middle of a tree lane that looks like it came straight out of a fairytale. One story is very much about a love grounded in a reality we can recognize; the other is pure fantasy romance.

The Music

I already mentioned the song that anchors the Taiwanese drama above. Last Dance is hugely important to the story, both thematically and as a plot device, and in its ability to set the mood and tone of the drama.

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The Korean remake similarly uses a real 1996 ballad as its main song and time travel mechanism: With My Tears by Seo Ji Won. And, uh, the vibe is a bit different.

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Discerning listeners might recognize this as one of the many classic love ballads performed by our favorite doctors by day, rock stars by night over on Hospital Playlist. It’s a perfectly fine song. But it sets quite a different tone for our story, doesn’t it? It also is meant to be a song that a teenage boy is hankering to listen to on cassette, and listen, I wasn’t living in Korea in 1996. I have no idea how culturally accurate that may be. I’m sure there were in fact baby Lee Ik Juns running around trying to get their hands on this cheesy love song. But the edgier sound of Last Dance definitely sounds more in line with something the teenage male lead would listen to and what the music is meant to convey. And frankly, since we hear this song about 30 times in the drama, it matters that Last Dance is just an objectively better song.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because beyond the classic song each version chose to use as its centerpiece, there is also a stark difference in the quality and tone of each drama’s OSTs. Here is a compilation of the Someday or One Day tracks, including the utterly gorgeous main theme by Shi Shi. The music is hugely important in the Taiwanese drama and is used to set the mood as well as emphasize its themes, and the tracks feel specific to this story.

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And here is a compilation of A Time Called You OSTs.

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If you’re familiar with kdrama OSTs, you will recognize most of the artists on here, as well as some new covers of old songs. And again, the vibes are quite different. Whereas SOOD was very intentional and specific in its music choices, ATCY just sounds like every other kdrama. There is nothing on this tracklist that stands out or evokes the kind of feeling that the SOOD tracks do.

The Main Couple

The name and timeline situation in this show makes this section unnecessarily difficult, so let me just make a little reference sheet here:

Someday or One Day

Alice Ke plays Yu Xuan (2019) and Yun Ru (1998)

Greg Hsu plays Quan Sheng (2019) and Zi Wei (1998)

A Time Called You

Jeon Yeo Been plays Jun Hee (2023) and Min Yu (1998)

Ahn Hyo Seop plays Yeun Jun (2023) and Si Heon (1998)

All of the actors here are seasoned and very good at their jobs, so I am not casting shade on any of them—they are executing their performances based on writing and directorial choices. But I cannot deny that the Taiwanese version of these characters are more compelling all around. In SOOD, the main characters have a real spark; despite the melancholic undertone of the story, there are moments of genuine joy and when they connect with each other, you feel why this bond is strong enough for them to find each other through time and despite all the trauma they endure. In ATCY, however, the characterizations are muted.

This is most evident in the difference between Quan Sheng/Zi Wei and Yeon Jun/Si Heon. Greg Hsu plays Zi Wei as magnetic, playful, mischievous, utterly lovable, and very intense about his feelings for his lady. He has a real joie de vivre about him that clearly brightens up Yu Xuan’s life considerably, and his devotion to her is not just shown, but deeply felt. Experiencing their memories, you understand immediately why Yu Xuan can’t move on from his death; he was the joyful, relaxed counterpoint to her more ambitious and serious personality. Si Heon, though? He is a nice dude and a generous partner and he is very good looking. But he doesn’t have the playfulness or the intensity that his Taiwanese counterpart does. His personality is just more moderate all around. One great example of this: upon discovering that he has traveled forward into the body of the person that would become Yu Xuan/Jun Hee’s boyfriend, Zi Wei (in Quan Sheng’s body now, are you still with me?) actively decides to find her, love her, and try to solve this time loop quagmire they are in; Si Heon (in Yeon Jun’s body) waits for a moment of fate to give him a sign, and only makes the decision to pursue Jun Hee after running into her by coincidence.

Similarly, Jun Hee is not quite as spunky and sassy as Yu Xuan and Min Yu is not as dark and awkward as Yun Ru; when Jun Hee travels to the past and takes up residence in Min Yu’s body, the differences between the two characters she is playing are not as evident. In SOOD, I could tell at a glance who is in Yun Ru’s body; in ATCY I need more context to be sure. Where Yun Ru had more of an edge, Min Yu simply reads very shy. It’s not as compelling. One scene that really stands out as an example of this: when Yun Ru is pretending to be Yu Xuan in 1998 and looks in the mirror to practice smiling, it looks downright creepy and sinister; when Min Yu is masquerading as Jun Hee and looks at herself in the mirror, she just looks awed and happy, if a bit awkward. It’s subtle, but it changes the way you feel about the characters.

The difference in Jun Hee and Yeon Jun’s characterization also affects the couple chemistry, which is just not nearly as strong in ATCY. The characters are more muted and thus the expected sparks are more like smoldering embers. The relationship feels cozy and warm and nurturing, but it doesn’t feel vital. It doesn’t feel like the kind of relationship you would fight through time or break the rules of the universe to return to. I recall gasping or crying or laughing out loud throughout SOOD because I was constantly taken aback by Greg Hsu’s arresting presence and the chemistry he and Alice Ke generated was just emotionally riveting. When Yu Xuan told Zi Wei (as Quan Sheng) that they were officially together, that man literally jumped for joy and shouted out his love for her; Si Heon (as Yeon Jun) reacts to the same moment with a quiet smile and a hug. When Zi Wei saw Yu Xuan in Yun Ru’s body again in the finale, he knew instantly that it was her and the smile overtook his face as he reached for her; Si Heon initially called Min Ju’s name before getting closer and taking several beats to realize it was Jun Hee (ruining this iconic moment is perhaps this remake’s greatest sin against romance, my god).

Everything between the couple in SOOD was just more, both in happiness and in despair. I liked Jun Hee and Si Heon, and Ahn Hyo Seop and Jeon Yeo Been are very competent actors whose performances I have loved in other dramas, but they didn’t achieve that level of chemistry here, the writing and directing choices worked against them, and I didn’t feel that same desperation for them to figure this out that I did with Yu Xuan and Zi Wei.

The Story

The Korean version is a very faithful adaptation overall (I haven’t mentioned Jun Jie and In Gyuk because his character and story is more consistent across the two shows), but does make some small tweaks to the story, some of which seem to be out of necessity due to a shorter run time (one episode and a couple hours total less than the Taiwanese original) and some just… because? The shorter amount of story time does lead to them having to cut corners on some aspects of the mythology and time travel lore, making it all a bit less clear for folks who don’t already understand what’s going on, and they put in a few nods to typical kdrama tropes like amusement park dates and hand of fate stuff that we really didn’t need—they are already trapped in a time loop together, we get it!

ATCY also messed with the timelines and ages for reasons I don’t really understand and that don’t really track. In SOOD, Zi Wei traveled forward from 2002 to Quan Sheng’s body in 2010, met Yu Xuan, and then died in 2018. In ATCY, Si Heon traveled forward from 2002 only to 2007 and did not die until 2022—but the relationship dynamics are all the same. It made sense for a young couple who had been together about 7 years and who were in their mid-20s to be having the kind of relationship problems they did—fighting about prioritizing careers and time abroad and whether it was time to get married. But a couple who has been together nearly 15 years? Who are in their mid-30s? They would have already been married probably and had a couple kids to boot. The choice to change the timeline like this had me scratching my head and accomplished nothing for the story.

But neither of those things are the change to the story that is weighing on me most. That occurs in a very small and brief backstory for the real Yeon Jun, where the drama introduces an original character who has no counterpart in SOOD: Tae Ha.

In SOOD, the real Quan Sheng is a closeted gay teenager who meets a tragic end: he confesses to his crush, gets brutally rejected, then gets bullied when the crush tells others about his sexuality, and ultimately decides to walk into the sea in an attempt to end his life, a choice that leaves his body in a coma until Zi Wei’s consciousness takes it over. In ATCY, this backstory changes and Rowoon is brought in for a brief but impactful cameo as Tae Ha, Yeon Jun’s cram school friend. We see that the two have mutual feelings for each other but are both struggling to confess. One day as they are driving together, they finally explicitly acknowledge their feelings, holding hands and smiling at one another—and then immediately get hit by a Truck of Doom (easily one of the most tired kdrama tropes), Tae Ha dying on impact and Yeon Jun ending up in a coma with Si Heon’s consciousness eventually taking over his body like in the original story.

Now on first glance, you might be inclined to give the show some credit for including a new gay character and giving the original Yeon Jun a happier experience with his crush. Explicit gay representation? In a mainstream kdrama? Still very rare and a big deal if done right. But if you think for a moment longer you’ll realize we can’t give the show credit for this, because this is a textbook execution of the Bury Your Gays trope and the narrative punishment that befalls gay characters who act on their attraction. Essentially, what the Korean remake did here was reveal these two characters are gay, killed them both immediately after they decided to pursue a relationship with each other, and then had the het male lead character take over the body of this gay man and use it to enter into a relationship with a woman. Some aspects of this plot were present in the original tale, but this choice to add an additional gay character only to kill him and tie it to their moment of acknowledging their mutual attraction? Made it significantly worse. It was badly done and I will not applaud the drama for representation when they did it in such a cruel way.

The Ending

SOOD ends on a hopeful but somewhat ambiguous note, with Yu Xuan in 2020 finding a way to go back and save Yun Ru (and Jun Jie by extension) and then breaking the time loop, sacrificing her relationship with Zi Wei in the process even as it breaks her heart (because the only way for them to meet and fall in love in 2010 was to stay in the loop). She sacrifices their romance, and all their memories together, because it’s the right thing to do—she inadvertently destroyed Yun Ru’s life with her time traveling, and she couldn’t live with that knowing there was a way to fix it. We are left with a broken time loop, original teen Zi Wei meeting child Yu Xuan again in 1998, and the hope that they will find a way to make their fates align again and be together without time travel complications. It’s just the right bittersweet touch to end the story on; their previous relationship was lost and their sacrifice was real, but there is hope for another version of a happy life together, someday.

By contrast, ATCY goes for a more explicit happy ending: Jun Hee makes the same choice to go back and save Min Ju, and to break the time loop and sacrifice her relationship with Si Heon, but in ATCY we then jump forward to 2011 to a happy epilogue to see Si Heon and Jun Hee meet as adults. And look, I love a happy ending! But what I said above about the sacrifice Yu Xuan and Zi Wei made in SOOD really resonating because of its bittersweet ending? That’s absent here, because ATCY decided they needed to put a bow on it and reassure us they would get back together. ATCY was just never willing to let us stay in the grief or commit to the darker and sadder aspects of this story, and as a result, the whole thing loses some of its impact.

#someday or one day #a time called you #tw drama #kdrama #long post #why yes i did write a 3k word post for the ten people on this website who care about both these dramas #shan shouts into the void

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kyouka-supremacy · 7 months

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Follow up question why do think akutagawa listened to atsushi request to not kill people for 6 months? I don't think this has anything to do with dazai's approval. I like the bsd omake where akutagawa was having a hard time not killing and gin being genuinely worried about his mood!! It's funny how the entire mafioso seem okay with akutagawa's decision to not kill, until he settles his score with jinko.

I do think it was really just that Akutagawa, for how he is, keeps his promises. Once he accepted it - and he accepted it, because Akutagawa can’t turn down a challenge or a chance to prove himself -, I don’t think he ever even considered breaking it, because he’s of that kind: hyperfocused, straightforward, quite the executer, someone who doesn’t really question things but is used to stick to the directives when coming from a place he feels he has to prove himself to (that’s what Dazai made of him, after all). I do agree Dazai’s approval had secondary importance in this case. I also think Akutagawa just really wanted to kill Atsushi. He’s not used to… Question things, and he saw in keeping his promise the only way he could get to fight Atsushi in six months, which is something he really wanted to do, so he just did that. Akutagawa is quite narrow-minded and straightforward.

But again, even leaving that aside, Akutagawa being one who keeps his promises- I don’t know how to explain it, it just fits his character. It fits his being naïve and it fits his serious personality and his upbringing and moral compass. Seriously, I don’t think it was even because of Atsushi specifically, he just keeps his word in general, even if he was to give it to one of his victims before killing them. He’s a man of his word, it's in his very character introduction.

About how the promise could ever possibly concile with his Mafioso job, thinking about it is my personal treat! It gives back some kind of dignity and authority to Akutagawa after all the mud I so often have fun throwing at him ahah. I think I already summed up pretty well what I think about the matter in the tags here:

Surprisingly, I think Akutagawa has enough power to do that. Despite all the mud I throw at him he *is* one of the most powerful pm members and like... Realistically‚ now that Dazai is gone‚ what is keeping him in the pm anyway? On the other hand, it would indeed be a great loss for Mori to lose him. So I do believe to some extent they just make Akutagawa do whatever he wants to do; which most of the time is killing and maiming so that's quite convenient! But if for six months he decided to limit himself to the maiming part I don't think there's much they can do about it. Besides, I believe it's an important aspect of Akutagawa's character how... You could say‚ capricious, but overall simply untamable and unrestrainable he is. I think that although they never directly confronted about it‚ both Mori and Akutagawa know Mori has to leave Akutagawa enough freedom of action to keep him in after Dazai left. Because again‚ seriously - and that's a whole post for another time -‚ what is keeping Akutagawa in the pm after the dark era events? He doesn't hold any sincere loyalty to the pm like Chuuya does– his true loyalty still lies to Dazai beyond what even Akutagawa himself acknowledges. He can't fear pm retaliation like virtually any other member would, because he's objectively powerful enough that wouldn't be a problem for him. I mean who would they send after him? Chuuya? I mean they technically could‚ but it's going to be unpleasant for everyone. Tl;dr Akutagawa one day really showed up (unannounced) to Mori's office and told him that he‚ ruthless mafioso pm rabid dog™‚ wouldn't have killed anyone for six months and Mori just had to roll with it. But that's fundamentally tied to Akutagawa's whole character and his characteristics of being wild and unpredictable and especially uncontrollable. (Gin's reaction would be indeed hilarious though. Really SHE is the only person left in the pm that holds power over him I'm not joking)

I do actually believe that Akutagawa, despite not being an executive, has enough power to decide what he does and doesn’t do in the mafia. He’s the most valuable member that isn’t an executive, and one of the most powerful members overall. He’s often played a key role in the pm’s major conflicts. Mori has direct interest not to lose him. Yet Akutagawa has no real reason to stay in the pm? He joined because of Dazai, but Dazai is not there anymore. He never showed true loyalty to the pm outside of doing his job. It really is just a job for him- a job he’s quite good at doing, a job that’s perfectly fit for him, but still a job he can abandon any time. There are universes where Akutagawa doesn’t work for the pm. But that doesn't change the fact that it would be a great loss for Mori if Akutagawa left, so if Akutagawa one day is just like, “no killing commissions for the next six months”, Mori just has to deal with it. And Akutagawa – who after all has a very powerfull skill, and after Dazai left was able to climb the ranks easily – has enough authority to do that. He’s not an executive (and I firmly believe he will never become one), but he is not below executives either; in the story he’s always shown receiving orders from the organization boss directly and answering to him only.

Akutagawa is a wild beast. He doesn’t like being kept under the leash. Dazai had (and still has) complete control over him, but that’s because he’s Dazai, and because of the circumstances in which they met; that said, Akutagawa isn’t willing to let anyone else control him very easily, and after Dazai left the pm, Akutagawa stayed, but at his own conditions. Which more often than not align with the pm’s, because he’s good at killing, and gets some kind of satisfaction from it, so he’s fit for the job; but if he ever decided to temporary change the terms, to do as he pleases and not kill anyone for six months, that’s for the others to deal, because there’s no changing his mind (and you don't want to contradict Akutagawa).

#This is the first time I'm talking about Akutagawa in terms that aren't “pathetic” “miserable” “outcast” “inept” alcfyvlfyeibleagfblei #I'm so happy giggling and kicking my legs!!!!!#ryūnosuke akutagawa #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd analysis #people asks me stuff #The Gin / Akutagawa omakes (including the higu/gin one) are both my favourite omakes of them all by long distance.#They’re so good and I love the aktgw siblings interactions so much.

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unsaid-stardust · 1 year

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Lockwood & Co. Ep 5 and The Foreshadowing of George's Spiral

Hi friends! thanks to a lovely discord server I joined I have basically written an analytical essay on shots in ep 5 that foreshadow George's spiral into the bone glass. In other words, Lockwood & Co. is a masterpiece and here's why.

In the beginning of the ep, we can already see George slightly crumble. He is jealous of Lockwood and Lucy getting to be in the action and getting closer together leaving him to just researching. This leads to our first scene at the archives that show is slow decent.

Does the staircase on the right look familiar to you? I'll give you a hint

While the staircase is obviously a bit more squared out than the pattern George is drawing, it still has that spiral effect that is prominent in the design. We can also tell that this was done on purpose because the desk that George is sitting in is literally connected to the staircase. This was no accident by the brilliant directors and writers of the show. The staircase is shown once again a few moments later this time, however, both Pamela and George are on it.

It's important to note that George and Pamela are walking down the staircase while the other passerby is going up. Pamela and George are both sinking into the spiral while the passerby is getting away from it because they have no connection to it.

After this scene, they go to Pamela's place where apparently this woman has 5,000 mirrors for some unknown reason, but it comes in handy for foreshadowing.

We get these beautiful shots because of it

it's important to note that they are in chronological order here. In the first shot, we see only George's face in the mirror with the back of Pamela's head in view. This is when George is explaining what he saw in the mirror and that he had to urge to peer deeper into it. This is why it's only George's face in the reflection--the camera literally zooms in on it as he speaks making it feel like we are spiraling with him.

The second shot may be the most important shot of them all. Not only is there a mirror in focus, but there are two mirrors and both show George's face. George is fully in the spiral now. He is mentally blocked off from the outside world. He even begins to forget about Lockwood and Lucy and Pamela's reflection being shown straight in the middle of George's a literal reminder of that. She is a literal obstacle trying to coax him deeper into the spiral.

Her face is quite possibly shown there as well to remind us that the feeling she and George have is mutual about the bone glass. They want to know more and Pamela is using this as an advantage.

Then, as George and Pamela discover their mutual understanding, there's the tense hissing sound and a clock chime and we get the third shot featuring a mirror only this time, there is no reflection in it. For the time being, George is snapped out of the trance. There is no remnants of it. Pamela isn't in the shot. Only George-the real George, not his reflection. He's back to the real world where he remembers Lockwood and Lucy are waiting for him (another foreshadow to how George is saved).

And there we have it. TL;DR there are so many little details in this show it's insane. Later in the season, Lucy is wearing a shirt with the spiral pattern half on it when she is learning to talk to the skull more BUT that's for another post. ALSO lesson of the day--look at mirrors in any piece of media. My one professor told us this a couple years ago and I have used to knowledge since. Happy rewatching everyone!1

#lockwood and co #george karim #analysis

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morallyinept · 7 months

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Hey Jett 🖤

Okay, so I'm a shy baby and never do this, but I need to tell you how much joy your blog is giving me.

I appreciate your insightful and uplifting messages, your kind and in-depth reviews and, most recently, the amazing story you wrote and posted for all of us to enjoy. It's a literal masterpiece, okay?

I was in bed, barely able to keep my eyes open, when I saw you had posted something. And of course I couldn't resist. I was completely hooked from the start because you have this incredible talent for setting the scene and brining everything to life. I could really feel what both reader and Din were going through physically and mentally and it was glorious! and hot af, like where do I sign up lol

If I had to describe the story with one word it would be beautiful. It tickled my mind in such a satisfying and stimulating way. And yeah, I'm still thinking about it and yeah, I will read it again. And again.

Hopefully, you'll feel inspired to write more about literally anything. 'Cause I'm so here for it.

Sending all the hugs!!! 🖤🖤🖤 - Micado

tl;dr: You're incredible and your new story is beautiful. 🖤

brb ordering shibari ropes and asking my SO to tie me into a pretzel lmao

My gorgeous, wonderful Micado!

I UTTERLY ADORE YOU! 🖤

Honestly, this has really made my day. You are so kind. 🥹 You are just perfect. And wondrous.

The thought that my words made you feel all these things is indescribable and means so much to me. 🥰 I love that my little blog of Pedro fun also makes you smile.

I will most certainly be writing more for the other Pedro Boys, and maybe even a follow up to Tendrils. I have more things on the way for sure.

But really, thank you from the bottom of my little heart for this.

You totally rock. 🖤💋

#jett's asks #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal #din djarin #tendrils #lovely mutuals #amazing moot #jett has spoken #feeling the love #i'm not crying you're crying

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bouquet-full-of-wildflowers · 9 months

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What Once Was Mine by Liz Braswell Review

《 ☆☆☆ 》

tl;dr: it was fun to read, but almost none of the characters felt like the same characters as the ones in the movie. i honestly think this book could've been better if they removed any connections to tangled the movie. it would've been a great standalone!

spoilers below!!

i will say, as a huge fan of tangled, and because of my love for the movie and the characters, i really didn't enjoy this book as an extension of the movie. that being said, this review is admittedly very biased.

it was well written, but it felt very out of character for most of the characters and read almost like fanfiction. to be fair, i haven't read any of the other twisted tales, so i don't it quite know how these stories are generally set up. it was fun to read, given an air of suspension knowing that liz braswell was not in the writer's room for the movie. it also felt very unnecessary that the book was a story told by a boy to his sister going through chemo in a hospital. i'm still not quite sure why that had to be in the book without it just being a story about rapunzel with the powers of a different flower.

my biggest issue with this book is that the sense of time was not there. the first part of the book was nearly identical to the movie, and rapunzel had sent mother gothel on the two day journey to get her the white seashell paint to be able to escape the tower to see the laterns. in the next couple of pages, it was revealed that she had taken a shortcut so it wasn't as long of a trip, but in rapunzel's pov it felt like she was only gone for a couple hours. there are several examples of this time shift where it felt like some parts of the story (rapunzel spending time at the witch cottage to learn her powers) that felt like it was over weeks of time but the whole point of her leaving the tower was to see the lanterns which, at this point of the book, i was unsure if she missed them due to being chased or if everything had just been taking place over several hours and everything movee very quickly, which doesn't make sense since her powers involve moon phases. it is later revealed that it had been 9 days since she had left the tower, which, if i am recalling correctly (i will have to go double check), earlier in the book it was said that the lanterns would be in 3 days.

flynn never climbed rapunzel's tower. rapunzel simply saw him drop off a bag in a cove, and she decided then that he'd be the one to take her to the lanterns. it seemed like a very implusive decision from someone who is not impulsive. rapunzel also very much seems like a damsel in distress when she very much doesn't want to come across as one. because flynn didn't climb her tower, she didn't use the frying pan as a weapon, and so the entire book she has no weapon and has to watch her friends fight for her.

another couple minor issues that i had were:

- rapunzel being told that she is the lost princess instead of being able to have the realization herself

- flynn is simply written horribly

- arianna and frederic decided to tell the kingdom that rapunzel had died as an infant. how can she then come back as the princess if the princess is dead? it feels like it opens plot holes like the people losing trust in the crown for lying to them for 19 years about the fate of the princess

overall, even with all of my criticisms, i read the entire thing and had a great time doing it. it was a fun story and an intriguing ride, and i honestly couldn't put it down even with my thoughts.

likes:

○ i very much enjoy gina! she was a fun character

○ the premise is very neat! i definitely feel like it could've been fleshed out more!

○ i loved the ending. it felt like it had enough connections to the movie and the characters to give me good vibes

dislikes:

○ real world mentions of europe and christianity/christian god

○ multiple different powers

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bylertruther · 1 year

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what do you think about "my life started that day we found you in the woods"

lets start with my knee-jerk reaction, which is

but then when i finally let the all-consuming mama bear spartan rage flow through and out of me, i remember that they had no idea what was wrong with el or how to help her as she seemingly choked to death right in front of them.

they'd dealt with something similar once when will was possessed, though, and will remembers that it was mike and his family professing their love for him that gave him the strength to fight back. so, naturally, he urges mike to do the same now, because he thinks it would mean more if it came from him. he's the heart after all.

we know based off of mike's own dialogue in scenes from other seasons that he doesn't believe in love at first sight. he even repeats as much in the van scene before they pick her up. he says that lie, along with everything else, because he thinks it's what she wants and needs to hear. he's not thinking about anyone or anything else in that moment, he's just locked in on saving her life right now by any means necessary. if will, the person he trusts most in the world and who told him it was him that saved him, tells him this is a time for monologues just like last time, then that's what he's going to do. mike doesn't actually think their love is like that of fairy tales or comic books, but he knows that she wishes it could be and that she'd been previously begging him to say i love you and according to will apparently needs him, so he just does what he can to help her now. because he doesn't want her to die! and he doesn't know what else he could possibly do! (the true love confession worked in s2 but did not work in s4 bc it wasn't true and it wasn't true love <3)

mike's confession is a knock-off of the one he gave will in the shed and will's van confession. "my life started that day we met you in the woods" / "do you remember the first day that we met? [..] it was the best thing i've ever done." like... c'mon, mike, lmao. he highlights her differences and puts her on a pedestal for them, because will's confession ("you make her feel like she's better for being different") led him to believe that that's what she wants and what gives her strength, but it isn't. it's literally the complete opposite and this season spent 39480938094830 years showing us in 9834309840930 ways just how much she hates that shit. instead, the person that gave her strength was the one person that looked at her, saw a girl, and treated her like one. aka, max. it's only when mike she looks over at her and mike stops lying that she wills the vines away.

so yeah. i could go on but the tl;dr is that will's heart-shattering, kicked puppy dog face makes me want to kill myself fifty times over and bite michael like a squeaky toy, BUT. then i remember the context and i'm like oh yeah no. that tracks. makes sense that he'd say that. he's breaking his code to save her life, which is like.. really fucking serious lol. he repeatedly and firmly did not want to lie to her about this and refused to even when pressed, but he'll do it if it means saving her life and the alternative is her dying and the world dying too. he's also working off of a big lie told to him by the one person that he trusts more than anyone in the entire world, including himself, that's the complete opposite of how eleven actually feels. so, like. literally what else is he supposed to do. he got in trouble for plagiarizing an essay in s2 and here he is doing it again smh old habits die hard i guess regurgitating and trying to imitate intimate moments of his and will's for eleven just like he did in s3 when he tried and failed to tell her he was acting like that bc he was going crazy in "love" lmao 🙄

#i get sad when i think of will not knowing the full story bc he's a character #same with mike tbh he's just trying his best while getting lied to left and fucking right can't do shit right in this fucking bitch #but then i Remember and Realize and i'm like lmao u guys are soooooooooo funny making urselves miserable for nothing xoxo #asks

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smokingtiger · 10 months

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I guess it’s good you were spared the major hate train against Jimin by the solos of all the other members + all other kpop fandoms. The first 3 weeks of Face were hellish with how intense the hate was. I don’t want to compare hate against members but I wish Jimin had only fraud and payola allegations against him, which he also had, but a lot of it was the most disgusting s*xually charged hate tweets which literally made me cry while I was reporting it. I also have words muted but it still got through on my tl because of how intense and vile it was. He was basically the punching bag of whole stan twitter. Anyways its good you are an OT7 and love Jimin since I can’t say the same about quite a few of them. And my intention is not to call out people calling out solos, which they should do. But it should never be selective. And I apologise if I came across as aggressive.

I saw some of the hate towards Jimin during the FACE era, but I usually scrolled, blocked, and moved on. I'm not one to engage, as I've said before.

Also, crazy to accuse Jimin of payola when Like Crazy barely got any spins. Billboard literally modified their rules so Payola could become one of the only 'legit' ways of generating high rankings on the board. Fans buying albums? Fake. Corporations spending millions to have a song force-fed to the public? Legit. Okay, Billboard. Okay. I get it, you get a nice cut out of this, but album sales? You're not pinching a pretty penny there, I suppose.

I also saw that one tweet that reached the ugly side of stan Twitter where someone said that a lot of the hatred towards Jimin is ROOTED in misogyny. That's true, a lot of the hatred towards Jimin has misogynistic undertones that cannot be ignored. Jimin is a victim of the patriarchy. Men can be victims of the patriarchy. This is common sense, we all know this. But people abandoned all critical reading/thinking skills and said that OP was trying to equate Jimin's hate to the female experience. No one was saying that, but if you want to be a certified stan Twitter hater, your IQ has to be less than 2.

I also saw a few tweets referring to his encore + in-ear situation, but I ignore every single one of those tweets, because there's not one person in that thread who can confirm, without a doubt, that their idol has not had a shaky vocal performance. As someone who did professional singing lessons, it's not entirely realistic for a singer to be at 100% all the time, especially if they've been doing weeks of promotions, studio recordings, and running on little sleep. Every vocalist has 'bad' vocal days, but that doesn't make them bad singers. I also draw and I've had several bad art days, but that doesn't mean I'm a bad artist just because I couldn't draw the way I wanted to at one point in time.

The whole point of OT7 is to love all of the members. To support all of the members. If someone claims to be OT7 but has no issue throwing a member under the bus, then they're not OT7.

Don't be sad anon, check out one of my favorite Jimin Twitter accounts, they post super cute pics :P

#ask #jimin #still streaming face #my second favorite song is letter #face off slays #bts

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waldensblog · 1 year

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Alright now that they’ve been living rent free in my mind for a few days now, I think I’ve figured out my feelings on different characters, etc. in the show. I haven’t read the books, so I don’t know what to expect for s2 or how different they are from book counterparts, I’m only going based on the show.

TL;DR: Darkling Fan; Darklina shipper; I love the Crows esp Inej; curious af what’s happening next season but gonna wait til s2 comes out before reading so I can be surprised.

I definitely am a Darkling Fan. I was 100% shipping Darklina before I knew he was the villain, and then had hope he wasn’t really the villain (also because he’s hot). By the end, I fell into this interesting spot. I see his point of view, I understand it, though I disagree with his methods. I can see he did actually fall for her, and it made me keep hoping lol. I basically want a redemption arc for him and for Darklina to be a thing - not immediately, after the redemption thing. Probably not going to happen, but I can hope lmfao. So yes, I am a Darkling Fan and Darklina shipper, I guess!

I like Alina, she’s an interesting character, and I liked seeing her grow, especially at the little palace where she started to fit in, make friends, etc. I really hope to see her Tidemaker friend again, because I was loving that bit, and how sincerely, truly happy and comfortable with herself she was becoming. While she was at the palace, I found her a bit... co-dependent with regards to Mal - like it makes sense she was missing him, but she kept saying things like “it will be fine when he’s here”, etc. and she wasn’t initially able to just... bond with her fellow Grisha who were very excited to have her there, and were trying to befriend her. It wasn’t until she “let him go” that she was able to really harness anything and start being herself. I loved how in the end, she was able to stand up and do things herself, and I am excited to see where she goes from here, and hopefully, she’ll make more friends along the way! I didn’t ship Malina - I see that they’re supposed to be a thing, but I personally prefer them as... siblings, I guess, given they grew up together. Idk, just not for me, I guess.

The Crows: Inej is precious, and must be protected at all costs, though honestly I think she can do much of that herself. Jesper is hilarious, and I love his chaotic energy - constantly pulling shit off despite being completely sidetracked half the time, and his love for Milo the goat. Milo is also precious. Kaz is interesting, and honestly, has some big dick energy, wtf. Dude was 100% prepared to break into the palace and kidnap Alina despite all the security, straight up saw the Darkling face to face and was like “I’m going to poke this bear” by saying that “she fled on her own, she didn’t want to be a captive” thing, and then jumped on the ship with a bunch of people ready to kill them. The Crows are disasters and I love them.

Other Grisha: I am curious where Zoya will go from here, since she turned on the Darkling - will she go back to the other Grisha, will there be a faction divide? Ivan was clearly a Darkling Stan, while David seemed to be questioning his life choices near the end. Genya was evidently on the Darkling side because of everything she’d been through (another not-agreeing-with-methods-but-I-do-like-this-girl character), and she felt this was the best chance for her, but I’m curious what side she’ll fall on if there’s a divide. Nina seems to not want to be involved with the Grisha at all anymore, and I think she’ll end up falling in with the Crows next season.

Baghra: So at first I thought, she’s just trying to help Alina, then... I started to think... I’m not sure she’s trying to help Alina, so much as... just thwart her son’s plans. She told Alina she was helping her, right? And then when Aleks and Baghra are talking outside, she says she killed Mal and taunts that he’d need a good tracker to find Alina, now anyway. She didn’t kill Mal, after all - but not for lack of trying. From the backstory, we see that the Darkling isn’t the only one who tells half-truths to manipulate people. She framed the story a specific way when telling Alina, and she waited literally months to warn Alina at all about anything. She’s very mean to all her students (bee hive?!?!), so she’s clearly not a 100% benevolant character. Curious if her role is “done”, or if she’ll be back next season... very intriguing character.

#shadow and bone #the darkling #darklina #alina starkov #anti malina #i guess but not really but for the tagging purposes #six of crows #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #kaz brekker #milo the goat #grishaverse #anti baghra #i guess but again not really

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dnevsrachel · 2 years

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I am very much fond of S1x20 overall but mostly because I finally got a chance to see this version of Lucy.

I loved the bullpen scene in particular because that's the first time Lucy had ever shown her vulnerability in front of Kate after the breakup, instead of THE Lucy who's always hiding behind her grumpy and cranky masks which not only made her look bad, but also somehow tend to mislead the audience that she is immature while in the relationship.

And yes, I do aware that we tend to project and choose our favor while watching the show which normally leads to different interpretations. That's what the #Kacy fandom has been thru right now, no right or wrong, just different preferences. Do believe me, my heartfelt ached for #Kacy when the whole drama kicked in and turn their world upside down but I do need to admit that I felt more sympathy towards Lucy...Maybe was because I saw a lots of Whistler’s Army floated on my SM TL offering "protection/comforting" to Kate, but with so little who will try to rationalize/understand why’s Lucy such a behavior.

In my own humble POV, here are some of my random thought post S1x20 on #Kacy, but mainly on Lucy:

1.Lucy is in the denial stage, as much as she is still madly in love with Kate but she is unable/afraid to talk herself out of her fears of exposing her vulnerable and letting Kate into her "life" once more despite Kate's apology/tolerance attempts;

2. Kate turned down the promotion so to stay close to her would definitely be a huge sacrifice that Lucy was unable to bear because, at this point in time, In Lucy's thoughts, she was unable to return such an amount of love and favor to Kate since she was not supposed to be in love with Kate anymore, hence the past tense "loved" stepped into the picture, which Lucy struggles a little trying to blindfold Kate once more；

3. Shutting Kate down over and over again is because Lucy probably knows that she will definitely break for whatever Kate is about to say and be vulnerable again, in front of Kate. So she was just being passive by lashing out at Kate due to all those emotional mixtures and also maybe subconsciously trying to push Kate far away so that she could be suppressed her feeling toward Kate a little bit easier;

4. Not because the Kahuna thingy really works on Lucy but try to date again so that she could swift her attention away from Kate;

Building walls up on protecting ourselves are always much easier than letting people get inside us. For me, I just think that, while dealing with love/hate, there are not many people who can really handle it with calm and rationally especially when feelings still lingered and stayed strong.

it might look ugly but that's how it is, when love nor hate involved.

Lucy was not as extrovert as we have seen, and definitely not as strong as we had seen as well, at least emotionally. She only shows what she wishes to show and keeps loads by herself.

In conclusion, I need #Kacy's reconciliation but not necessary to get back together immediately, I need #Kacy to be open and truthful with each other and continue to grow individually and also as a whole. They can take time to work things thru, as long as they ended up being together at the end of the day.

And of cause, I wish #NCISHawaii will continue to deliver a healthy and positive wlw relationship portrayed and the meanwhile give us more of #Kacy's backstory in S2.

#NCIS HAWAII #Kacy #lucy tara #kate whistler #kate x lucy #wlw ship #f/f pairing #femslash related stuff #loveislove #loveconquersall #lovealwayswins

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jaanusbooktalk · 2 years

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Rise To The Sun by Leah Johnson - Book Review

9/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

TWs: parental loss, gun violence, panic attacks, non-consensual image sharing

(TWs are in order of severity, please take them seriously!)

I finished Rise to the Sun 2000 miles in the air somewhere above the southeastern United States. I was, literally, rising to the sun. This book touched my heart in so many ways, and there is a disturbing lack of Pinterest boards about it? (Someone needs to get on that, asap).

I feel so lucky to have read so many amazing books about queer POC this summer, and this one is definitely at the top of that list. It’s been a long time since a book made me laugh out loud at a joke or exclaim “SERIOUSLY?” at a plot twist. A long time since I’ve felt in conversation with the characters instead of just watching them. Olivia and Toni truly warmed my heart (and convinced me to have an appreciation for live music despite having a general fear of crowds). If you’re a music fan, a festival fan, a romantic, or all of the above this is for you!

Summary:

“Three days. Two girls. One life-changing music festival.

Olivia is an expert at falling in love . . . and at being dumped. But after the fallout from her last breakup has left her an outcast at school and at home, she’s determined to turn over a new leaf. A crush-free weekend at Farmland Music and Arts Festival with her best friend is just what she needs to get her mind off the senior year that awaits her.

Toni is one week away from starting college, and it’s the last place she wants to be. Unsure about who she wants to become and still reeling in the wake of the loss of her musician-turned-roadie father, she’s heading back to the music festival that changed his life in hopes that following in his footsteps will help her find her own way forward.

When the two arrive at Farmland, the last thing they expect is to realize that they’ll need to join forces in order to get what they’re searching for out of the weekend. As they work together, the festival becomes so much more complicated than they bargained for, and Olivia and Toni will find that they need each other, and music, more than they ever could have imagined.”

TL;DR Two girls have a chance meeting at a music festival in northern Georgia and end up getting way more than either of them bargained for.

Let’s talk representation:

This section is gonna be short - not for lack of rep but bc it’s pretty simple and I’m sleepy. This is not really an own voices review, so this is just listing the representation I saw and not my take on it.

Olivia and Toni are both queer Black girls (Olivia is going into her senior year of highschool and Toni into her freshman year of college).

Imani & Peter, the respective best friends, are also of color (not gonna elaborate on rep here bc spoilers).

I am a member of the LGBTQ+ community, so I can affirm that from my POV the wlw rep was good - realistic. It didn’t portray the relationship as something perfect or overly dramatic - it was like any other love story in all the best ways: flawed.

There is a character who experiences panic attacks, so 1. Please take those content warnings seriously (listed at the beginning of the book) 2. It’s accurate, painfully so.

And ofc I’m not gonna review a book by an author that isn’t of the communities they’re writing about, so this is an “Own Voices” book🤗

What I Liked:

Whewww 😮‍💨 I could talk about this book for ages. To start, let’s talk about character development. When I say flawed characters I mean flawed characters and I loved seeing their growth and knowing that it didn’t need to all work out in the end, they would keep working with what they had.

Clear communication, good messages about life & living in the moment, some close to home moments for American readers dealing with the regular gun violence here, the works.

Rise to the Sun was written during quarantine and I think that’s part of why it inspires me so much- it makes me happy to know that during one of the loneliest times in the nation someone was able to write a love story this beautiful, celebrating human connection - the one thing we were missing so desperately.

There’s a special place in my heart for queer love stories involving music, especially duos. Maybe it’s the ex. choir kid talking, but someone singing a song with you is such an intimate and massive thing at the same time, & I think that captures music festivals perfectly.

I also really really can’t wait for the pandemic to be over now so I can go to my first concert! The last music festival I went to was a Reggae festival a couple towns over & though I don’t remember enough, this book awakened some good memories 🎶

Why I couldn’t give it a 10:

Full disclosure, I was sure this was going to be a ten for over half the book. Olivia’s character was well done, I thought, because yes she was flawed but I was sure she was going to have a moment of realization/redemption. That moment came… but it wasn’t equal to the level of problem if that makes sense? Which has honestly been my problem with some books in the past.

I understand she has low self esteem and has been going thru it, but her automatic response to [redacted for spoilers] was uncomfortable. I had to put down the book and take a break, and convince myself to finish. I’m glad I did, but that was a major almost DNF moment. I think Olivia had some deeper problems beyond just being selfish and those weren’t really addressed? I would recommend therapy 😭

I’m so grateful for Imani’s character for calling stuff out and showing that friendships can be … complicated and definitely far from perfect. She deserved better.

I’m glad Olivia got her HEA but at the same time I wasn’t rooting for her as much by the time we got there. This was just my personal take on it so others may feel differently though, and I understand that!

It took a point off but overall I’m happy I finished the book and I loved how sincerely hopeful it was. Truly Rising To The Sun.

I sincerely recommend this to:

Fans of Nicola Yoon (The Sun Is Also A Star, Everything Everything) ⭐️

People who are obsessed with Woodstock & music history 📖

Queer musicians 🏳️‍🌈

Folk music enthusiasts 🪕

Rupi Kaur fans (specifically her book Sunflower) 🌻

People who have seen Heartstopper📺

I promise you won’t regret picking up this book! Definitely check out some of the quotes if you get the chance😍

(I also have a lot of drafts for reviews so there will be more coming soon after I finish my library books 😅)

#rise to the sun #leah johnson #book review #bipocbookstagram #poc books #booklr #diverse reads #lgbtq books #happy pride 🌈#musicfestival #wlw books #flawed characters #nicola yoon #rupi kaur #folk music #heartstopper #woodstock #queer musicians #right person right time

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harocat · 1 year

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I posted 3,407 times in 2022

68 posts created (2%)

3,339 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@starrygazingpie

@story-kat

@beltsquid

@queerbuck

@artistefish

I tagged 2,986 of my posts in 2022

Only 12% of my posts had no tags

#queue. - 1,717 posts

#yuri on ice - 582 posts

#katsuki yuuri - 448 posts

#victor nikiforov - 435 posts

#gif - 430 posts

#figure skating - 356 posts

#victuuri - 353 posts

#tgcf - 318 posts

#mdzs - 160 posts

#cats - 158 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#tl;dr if a type of dog can't breed naturally without human intervention maybe that should be the moment you step back and go 'should we be

My Top Posts in 2022:

I rag on Nathan's costumes too, but sometimes it gets a little annoying how like... obsessed people are with it? Like if the man wants to wear comfy exercise shirts, let the man wear comfy exercise shirts. If he wants to dress as a flaming hot cheeto, more power to him.

Also stop reading weird stuff into his costumes. Guy just wants to be max comfortable out there and he happens to also have no sense of fashion. Like I said, I poke fun at them too, but lay off lol.

(Being said bring back the Mama Chen made shirt for Rocketman. Bus seat shirt at the Olympics ftw.)

56 notes - Posted January 22, 2022

One thing I really wish I could show everyone is Toller Cranston’s 1986 free skate to the Goncharov soundtrack. He did it at the World Professional Championships, several years after he retired from amateur competition, and it’s absolutely breathtaking.

Toller was known as a skater who pushed artistic boundaries with his work, and his Goncharov was no exception. Portraying the dual roles of Goncharov and Katya, apparent in both costume and choreography, Toller somehow managed to convey, in his language of movement, both the desperate femme fatale that was Katya and the hardened, pained persona was Goncharov. At one point he makes it look as if he is dancing a duet. Is it a dance of a love lost, or of one that never existed at all? Are the two dancers thinking of other people entirely? It’s up to us to decide. Toller gives us no answer.

This program was extremely under-appreciated at the time, and it’s very hard to find, sadly. At the competition itself, figure skating’s conservative judges were tepid on it, and in its place, a showy Scott Hamilton program was the winner. My grandma taped it off tv when it aired, and that’s how I saw it. I still remember watching it years after it aired on that grainy VHS. It was my first experience with Goncharov, and it was so memorable to this day.

103 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

Yuuri Katsuki

YUURI KATSUKI

134 notes - Posted August 19, 2022

Join us on October 6, 2022 at 2:30 AM JST (the exact time Yuri!!! on Ice's first episode aired six years ago) for an international hashtag; #MappaWhereisYOI

161 notes - Posted October 3, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

congrats we bullied MAPPA into adding the ring back in!!

(I don't think anyone was actually bullying. All the comments I saw in reply were very nice! But I appreciate them doing it, and I'm glad people can let their angsty headcanon concerns rest now lol.)

814 notes - Posted March 3, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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lacroixqueen · 2 years

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arcane academia (chapter 1/?) cait/vi college AU, 18+

Summary: vi just transferred to piltover university and is struggling to fit into her new school. while balancing academics, boxing, and the social milieu of college life, she is also vying for the attention of the student council president, caitlyn.

Word Count: 1430

Pairing: caitlyn x vi

Tags: college AU, university AU, useless lesbians, wlw, sapphic, fluff, smut, angst

Author's Note: hihi i'm alive. i'll explain everything in a future post. SO sorry for ghosting you guys, i promise it won't happen again. tl;dr my laptop was having issues but it's finally fixed. here's the arcane college AU i've been trying to write for so long. it will mainly be focused on cait/vi but i am also going to add some other ships, and flesh out a main overarching story. enjoy yall~

Vi had just transferred over to Piltover University from Zaun College last week. It felt like a necessary change, especially since she had lived in Zaun all her life and wanted to see what the topside was all about. Not that she was particularly surprised by anything she saw. Everyone still cared about the same old shit. Except this time, it was covered in a transparent veil of shiny colors and pretty lights.

She also got a scholarship to join the boxing team. Vi figured it might give her a leg up, and who knows, maybe she will meet a friend or two.

Vander always called her every few days to check in on “how the transition has been going”, but she never really had anything new to report.

“Uh, just going to class,” she would say. “People are so uptight here, I swear to God.”

“You will find your rhythm soon,” he would reassure.

It was yet another weekday afternoon when Vi found herself throwing hits at a punching bag in a futile attempt to blow off some steam. Exams had kicked her ass this week. The academic rigor here was definitely not the same as her old school, and she was clearly having some trouble adjusting to a completely new schedule and lifestyle. She would be lying if she said it didn’t stress her out.

Amongst a crowd of trust fund kids and snooty overachievers, Vi stuck out like a sore thumb. It wasn’t easy making friends with people you had absolutely nothing in common with. Besides, everyone just needed to get off their high horse and shove it up their stupid little-

“Excuse me, but the gym has already been reserved by the dance team today.”

The Piltover accent caught the boxer off guard as she spun around to glance over her shoulder. And of course, an absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, indigo-haired girl with legs for miles was standing right before her with her arms crossed over her chest. Her icy blue eyes sparkled beneath the warm afternoon light that poured through the tall glass windows.

And shit, why did that uniform have to be so goddamn tight and hug her hips perfectly.

So naturally, Vi did what she did best.

“Why the fuck would I care about that?”

“Because here, there are rules,” she replied back without a moment of hesitation. “If you wanted to reserve the space, you had to sign up beforehand.”

“That’s not really my problem,” Vi shrugged, resuming her boxing. “Besides, it’s not like I’m taking up the entire gym. You guys can do your little cartwheels over there, and I can have this corner to myself right here.”

The dancer’s lip upturned, visibly displeased by her nonchalant response. Vi stole some brief glimpses between throws, trying quite hard to hide herself admiring her perfect body yet failing miserably at the same time.

“Well, just know for next time that there’s a registration process,” she sighed, realizing there’s not much else she could do. “You can find it on the recreation website. My name is Caitlyn, by the way.”

This reply immediately caught Vi off guard. She gazed after her in awe as the girl turned around and ambled over to her dance team. Huh. So the uptight princess could show some grace after all.

Vi got back to her dorm late that night. After she finished up boxing, she decided she still had some energy left to jog a few laps around campus. Why was her heart still pounding so hard against her chest? Why was she unable to get that stupid girl’s face out of her head? And her voice. And those ridiculous pretty eyes. Fuck.

She somehow made her way back home at around midnight. Ekko, her roommate, was lounging around in the top bunk before jolting awake when she slammed the door open.

“Holy shit, you scared me,” he muttered under his breath before rolling back on his side. “Where the hell were you, anyway?”

“I went on a run,” Vi replied simply as she toweled off her hair. “To think.”

“About?” Ekko raised his eyebrow, sitting back up and swinging his legs over the bed. “That’s something new for you.”

“Oh, shut up,” Vi rolled her eyes. “It’s just… have you heard of this girl, Caitlyn?”

“Caitlyn Kiramman?” Ekko smirked. “Anyone who is anyone at PiltU knows who she is. I’m surprised you haven’t heard about her until now.”

“Yeah, well what do you know about her?” The boxer threw her towel over her shoulder and rifled through the corner mini fridge for a cold drink. Shit. The room was a mess. How many pieces of clothing did Ekko even own? And it’s so fucking hot. She flipped the switch on the fan, grimacing at how weak the current was.

“You really have to do some of this research on your own more,” he poked teasingly. “She’s the president of the student council. And what else… captain of the dance team, I think? Whatever, don’t quote me on that. Her parents are filthy rich and definitely donated at least a building or two. That, and she’s smoking hot. She might seem a bit unapproachable at first but everyone I’ve talked to has said she’s really nice once you get to know her.”

“Well, she sounds like a total bitch,” Vi wrinkled her nose after taking a sip of the soda she fished out from the fridge. Jesus. How old was that thing? She chucked it in the trash without a second thought. “She totally told me off today when I was boxing in the gym, minding my own business. I wasn’t even bothering anyone.”

“She was probably just laying down the law of the land,” Ekko shrugged. “This is her turf, after all. We don’t call her ‘ice queen’ for nothing. Maybe she was just trying to test the waters, who knows.”

“Do you think she knows who I am?” Vi mused as she stepped into the bathroom, turning on the shower knob.

“Oh yeah,” her roommate responded with a cheeky smile. “She runs a tight ship. I’m sure she keeps track of the transfer students. And besides, it’s not like you really blend into the crowd.”

“Rude as fuck,” she shot back, quickly shrugging out of her workout clothes and jumping into the shower.

“You know I’m right,” Ekko smirked.

Vi eventually got cleaned up and changed, and collapsed into her bed after what felt like an eternity. What a day.

“Sometimes I feel like maybe I made the wrong choice coming here,” she whispered to herself a few minutes after she flicked the lights off for bed.

“You’re so dramatic,” Ekko replied. “You’ll get used to the school and life on the topside before you know it. It’s just gonna take some time.”

“I don’t know..” Vi sighed, sliding her pillow over her face. “I don’t fit in with these people. They aren’t like the goons in the undercity. They care about so much.. But also so little? It’s hard to explain.”

“You just have to fake it just as much as they do,” Ekko said. “That’s what I did when I first transferred here. And look where I am now.”

Vi snorted. Thick-headed as he may be, Ekko was actually doing quite well for himself. Acing all his engineering classes, making friends with people from all different social circles… and above all that, he actually has a plan: Returning to the undercity and making things better for people with all the skills he learned. Sometimes, she wished she had it all together like he did.

“I’ll think about it,” she replied. “You might have a point. Anyways, good night you little rascal-”

Ekko was knocked out and started snoring before she could even finish her sentence.

Vi rolled her eyes, re-positioning herself and yearning as hard as she could for the warm, familiar arms of sleep to wrap around her and whisk her away into a whimsical dreamland. But she could feel both her heart and her mind still racing. Leaping, bounding. Constantly ricocheting, changing direction and movement.

She still couldn’t stop thinking about Caitlyn. Even though she couldn’t stand her, she just wanted to know more about her. It wasn’t for another hour or so of mulling over her thoughts and replaying every single moment that day until Vi finally had an epiphany.

Out of everyone she interacted with that day, Caitlyn was the only person who showed her even a hint of kindness. And perhaps that was something worth holding onto hope for.

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