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basedkikuenjoyer · 1 month

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Jojolands 13: Ohana Means I'll Set Your Ass on Fire

Dragona dropping some great truth about the absurd in this bizarre adventure. We finally got a peak behind that mask. I love it and I hate it, if you've read the chapter already you know what I mean. We'll get to that, because this right here isn't spoilery and it was such a cool nugget.

I love the way Dragona talks about the "absurd." Chance moments that alter one's life for better or for worse. The things that just don't make sense. Especially paired with Dragona opining about nearly losing their heart in the same chapter that last part about hearts being destroyed hits hard. I'm definitely sure we're looking at a trans narrative here and one we'll see play out. The chapter does a good job of implying what we need to know. Nudges at an early theory you've been changing your body with Smooth Operator. We ready? What follows is no place for beginners or sensitive hearts:

Oh HELL yes! As if I needed a reason, these two were well on their way to top Jojo status and now the dynamic duo of the Joestar Siblings are definitely there. Mean girl sets her sights on a much more timid Dragona who we now know looked way more masculine at 14 than 18. Talking physical build and not just fashion. You know, I don't expect an 18yo to have all that figured out and with this I do think we'll see her keep coming into her own. But holy shit that was fucked up and I sincerely hope we can get through the rest of this with no more sexual assault on my Jojos blorbo.

If they do...Jodio will fuck you up. Set a whole damn bus on fire! And while I'm not looking forward to having to relive the impetus in the inevitable anime adaptation, since we've already had the cop I kinda like the perpetrator being a girl here. For one because it shows a side of this kind of bigotry that often goes underrepresented. You see a little more space made typically for trans men who had bad experiences with men prior to coming out, largely because it tends to overlap with those who found a comfortable half-step in something like a radical feminist group. But this sets up Dragona pretty well for a realistic other side of the coin to that. Your experiences with bullying might make you a little skittish of girls your age, you keep a foot in this criminal world even if we keep showing you (not unlike Okiku) as someone who doesn't fit super well, all this would certainly explain why you'd gravitate towards a figure like Meryl Mei. Why there's great potential for drama if she shows a nastier side. It's all great for a trans story that justifies still figuring yourself out through it...but sticks to a fairly realistic path for a lot of young women who find themselves running with gangs.

All that said, Jodio you absolute freak. Burning the whole bus is metal, it's scruffy, he's protecting family. Doooooope. These two are fantastic and I can't wait to explore their story, their dynamic more. Jodio & Dragona's sibling bond is the beating heart of this part. As much as I love Kiku/Izo & Killua/Alluka yeah this is gonna be a banger. Speaking of, this chapter was also the second time we nudged at Jodio getting shit for looking fey too. These two are ride or die for each other and their awesome mom Barbara Ann. How this all ties into their family falling apart and their desire to become filthy rich? No need to ask...

In lighter news. They. When Meryl learns of the other lava rock that got smashed. We're all clear on who's the brains and who's the firepower in the dynamic duo right? I trust Meryl as far as I can throw her and she's a big lady. But for now everything seems on the up-and-up. Charmingman seems to have passed the sniff test and yeah it looks like he's just going to hang around. I like this new setup. Scouting a shadowy company to see if we can get more lava rock.

All in all one of the best chapters of Jojolands so far. I'm loving it, this is the exact direction I hoped it'd go. The backstory made this pretty heavy and I hope we can have more fun with this gang on the new excursion.

#jojos bizarre adventure #jjba #jojolands #jodio joestar #dragona joestar #chapter 13

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sambart93 · 6 years

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2018.03.30 ‘KimiSaga’ Kimi yo Sakebe, Sono Saga no Aru ga Mama [Review]

Unfortunately I am a piece of shit who has fallen behind on reviews, AGAIN, so as usual, my memory won’t be the best. But, bear with me!

Official Site here Official Twitter here Online Store here Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4

CAST and CHARACTERS

Main:

Oguri Ryo as Byakoumaru / Byaki Seto Keita as Gedomaru Hiroya as Tsuchimigado Gentoku Natsume Aimi as Tamayorihime Akaba Mio as Umarokya Mochida Chihira as Izumi Kadono Sho as Hoemaru Takahashi Makoto as Nazo no Onna (Mysterious Woman) Ichijo Ryunosuke as Nagayama Kakun Minami Chisato as Sakura Araki Miyu as Wakasano Okiku Sugamoto Ikumi as Blind Man Ogura Erika as Shichuu Hanaoka Meika as Dabi Maruyama Raiden as Henmima Satsune

Kimi Cast:

Umeda Shouhei as Shiki Ishihara Rin as Iroha Aibara Mizuki as Shihou Hirono Ryota as Young Boy

Saga Cast:

Watai Ryuuya as Shiki Ota Saki as Shihou Umehara Saeri as Iroha Tanaka Hiroki as Young Boy

*The Kimi and Saga cast did alternative days. I only watched Saga's version.

Ensemble:

Masuda Yuuna Komae Yuka Kumaya Rion

NON-SPOILER REVIEW

Overall: As usual ASSH doesn't fail me. It was just as amazing and as enjoyable as I had expected and predicted. As always they have some shocking moments, they had moments where my heart was in my mouth; moments where my tears were coming out with no control; I enjoyed this so much. I wouldn't expect anything less from ASSH and they (alongside ODD) are becoming a very important production company to me. This was dark, this was funny, the story was compelling, the characters were all great and had so much development in such a small amount of time. They wrapped it up enough to be satisfactory but also left enough mystery and holes open for them to do a prequel, sequel, second installment etc. if they wanted to! And I definitely want a second installment. Rating: 8/10

SPOILER REVIEW

I have no idea where to start with this....

There's two running plot lines in this story; the past and the present. The past is centered around Byaki's story and what happened with him and then the future story is people learning about the Byaki's past. The future group is the Mysterious Woman, Blind Man and the Young Boy for the most part. Then everyone else is pretty much the past. I think there's about 15 years or so between the two time lines.

What I love about ASSH are their twists and the brutality in their stages. Actually I was super surprised that most people survived in this one because every ASSH I've seen so far, about 80% of the cast die xD so people suriving was that in itself a twist and a surprise! The other big surprise is with the future group.

So it turns out - By the way MAJOR spoilers coming up so ingore until 「*」 if you don't want to know the big reveals:

******

Shounen = Byaki's son Blind Man = Old Gedomaru Mysterious Woman = Tamayorihime

I am not doing it justice but when this fucking comes out, I was so freaking shocked and surprised! I was like 'WWWWWAAAHHH?!?! NO WAY!!!' I realise I've spoilt it for you but are you going to watch this dvd? Probably not, so I might as well tell you ALL and give you ALL my feels, okay?

******

Now let's work from the big scale and work in. FIRST, I really loved the set! I've been to this theatre before and it's super small. There's like 40 seats and a tiny ass stage but I was super impressed at how BIG they managed to make the set look! There were stairs and proper background and foreground sets and it looked super cool! But I felt kind of sorry for the front row people because there was literally no gap between them and the stage/cast so it's kind of a godsend no audience member got hurt to be honest...

Then we had the action scenes which were so well choreographed! AND!! I didn’t know until afterwards that Oguri Ryo did the entirity of the sword fighting choreography himself which is absolutely amazing! Huge kudos to him! He has a lot to direct and a lot of action scenes to deal with but I felt like everyone had their own style and the techniques were so great! I feel like Oguri is at his most confortable and most confident when he's doing sword fighting scenes. You can just feel that kind of sense from him when he's fighting. It's difficult to explain but he feels different when he's doing the sword scenes.

The story was great, like I said earlier, so many twists and surprising things happened! Also, they left enough questions unanswered that if they wanted to do a second installment then they could! I really want a second installment, especially for the one big question that I have, (again major spoilers):

*****

Who is hell is Shounen's mother?!

*****

Now I want to go character/actor-by-character/actor.

Oguri Ryo as Byakoumaru / Byaki

I love Oguri. I really do. He's such a good actor and he picks so amazing characters! I've enjoyed every character and performance he's ever done! Also his actual personality is always so different to his characters which just proves how great of an actor he is. I really enjoyed Byaki in this for several reasons. I love how, regardless of the fact he's being called a monster and a god, he just embraces it and pronounces himself as this thing, but that is due to the fact he has no recollection of who he is which I'm pretty sure is due to some magician meddling with his memories (more on him later).

I really liked how lost and quiet his character was. But I also love how he blamed how he looked as to why he was being treated in such a way << I realise how this sounds but you get what I mean right?! I enjoy the character, NOT the act of mistreating another human. This story, I believe, is set in an old Japan, maybe like 16th, 17th Century, maybe even later so it makes sense that people who had never seen an Albino before (which I believe is what Byaki is supposed to be or at least, represents) would treat him either like a monster or like a god.

I really liked Oguri's visual look too! He's a pale man to begin with but the added white paint made him even more pale. He also had this beautiful red eyeliner and eye makeup on which, along with red contacts, just made his expressions and face pop-out even more and looked super amazing! It was a really good look for him (actually he's somewhat redoing this look for his NEXT stage --- which I also really want to see but I shall restrain...)

His story towards the end of the play was left open enough that he could come back in a second installment too.

Seto Keita as Gedomaru

I loved this character! He was such a likeable character. He was loyal to his friend, he was a badass fighter and he has stupidly funny moments too. Especially with Sakura. He fell totally in love with her straight away and was an absolutely adorable idiot around her. But he is also self-sacrificing which was so sweet. He rejected Sakura and made her go far away so she wouldn't get caught up in the fighting and so she could live a happy and safe life even if it was without him. Which I think is totally sweet!

He also never left Byaki's side and was his pal from childhood, all the way to the end, I loved his relationship with Byaki and those two would do anything for each other! His look visually was really nice too! His visual, his comedy balance, his loyalty to Byaki, I just super loved this character!!

Hiroya as Tsuchimigado Gentoku

Here's the crazy guy!! I should've expected Hiroya to play the morally wrong, crayz guy! He is so great in these roles and he did great in this one too! His has some sort of power where he can take control of people and get them to do his bidding, which he does with the ensemble cast, he controls them and makes them attack the good guys; he also has control of Byaki for a while when Byaki is really lost in himself and weak; and THEN we get this moment where he takes control of this super powerful sword, it even has a name which is epic because we ALL know how I feel about naming swords ♡　(psst. if you didn't know, I am a Touken Ranbu lover which personifies swords and many swords in Japan have names and just... flail...) but unfortunately I've forgotten it *cries*. It was amazing seeing how the sword had a mind of it's own and you could see Hiroya struggling to control the sword and trying to get the sword to do it's bidding.

Also before the show, he kindly spoke to me and my friend and he was spekaing some English to us which was totally sweet. I've always known Hiroya to be a nice guy so it was great to took some of his time out to talk to us. Also when he realised we knew Japanese he was like 'we use old Japanese in this-- WILL YOU BE OKAY?! Will you understand?!' which is so nice of him.

Natsume Aimi as Tamayorihime

She was such a sweet girl but had such a SHITTY husband! She was beat and bruised and hurt so much by him. It was the standard DV case for this couple. She just had such a sad life and it doesn't get much better for her for quite a long time.

Without spoiling too much, thank god she has a happy ending but oh my lord did I cry a few times with what happened to her!

We had the standard, 'husband beats wife but then produsely apologises right after' scene which hurt my heart. And then something precious is taken away from her and she's thrown away which I was just balling in tears at. And then when she finally gets a happy end, I was just cry from pure happiness for her. After ALL the shit she went through, she deserved an ending like that. And just like everyone else, her end of the story is left open just enough that, if she wants to come back for part two, she can.

Akaba Mio as Umarokya and Hanaoka Meika as Dabi

Uma and his underling, Dabi, were absolutely hilarious together! They were such a great pair! His character is a damn good archer and he has powers to shoot multiple arrows at once and he can rain arrows upon people which is so cool and then while he always scolds his underling, he also has this stupid soft spot for her. Dabi was so freaking funny!! I'm pretty sure she was in charge of a lot of the adlibbing and some things she said were just nonsensical and ridiculous and even Mio couldn't hold it together sometimes, he would just crack into smiles and try so hard to hold his laughter back. There were also times where her adlibs were so fast, she'd mess up and then she'd make fun of the fact she obviously messed up which made everyone crack up even more. She had so much energy and was so high-pitched, she was so amusing and funny! I really loved their dynamic and I also love just how loyal she was to Uma even though she was crazy and she was very obviously in love with him -- she definitely acted like a fangirl around him at times with all the 'kyaaaa' screaming and cheering him on during battles. But it was cute when she ended up getting injured and he was there to help her and protect her so he obviously cared for her too! It was a great and enjoyable duo!

Kadono Sho as Hoemaru and Mochida Chihira as Izumi

Izumi and Hoemaru were part of Gedomaru's gang. It felt like they'd all been with each other for quite a while and were a tight-knot group. I unforutnately don't remember too much about Hoemaru except that the actor, Sho, had the best muscles and looked DAMN attractive! I really liked his physical and visual look xD but I remember quite a bit about Izumi; she was a very quite girl, almost ninja like in how quiet she is and she sneaks around a lot. But I also felt for her because it was obvious she was in love with Gedomaru but, I guess due to comradary or due to him liking Sakura, Gedomaru never really paid attention to her feelings. But everyone else around could tell and there's a scene towards the end where Okiku refuses to join their group because she sees how Izumi feels about Gedomaru and doesn't want to ruin it, so Okiku is like 'you should stay by his side. She'll always be there for you' so the two go off together. A part of me thinks, maybe he feels the exact same way back to an extent but, like I said, if they get involved and one of them ends up getting killed or something, the hurt would only increase and be a lot worse, so maybe they both mutually and unspokenly agreed to never get involved just so they can save each other a way of emotions? OR I am simply being WAY TOO DEEP about this!

^^^ Do you not see?! In less than 2 hours ASSH managed to produce a play that had THIS much context and THIS much meaning and THIS much thought in it?! This is why I love ASSH, their characters are so damn LAYERED and you can get so MUCH out of them and the story even when you only see it once and only in like 2 hours. Ahh ASSH.

Seriously, check them out. Just go and love them okay! They're two amazing production companies and they have given me MORE satisfactory stages than any MARV or Nelke or any of those 'big shots' in the 2.5 stage world have.

ANYWAY...

Takahashi Makoto as Nazo no Onna (Mysterious Woman)

Her reveal was so mindblowing. I loved it! Also, she has a limp and throughout the story we learn what happened to her and what caused her injured leg and just my poor heart. She was such a lovely woman though and I'm glad her ending was happy. OH! And the actress herself is super badass, she played the shamisen LIVE on stage and it was so good! I was so impressed!

Ichijo Ryunosuke as Nagayama Kakun

This guy is supposed to be a bad guy but... he's handsome and he looks cool so I was very soft towards him. He does treat Sakura like crap and he is mean to her and he does turn on her, (or she turns on him) and he IS a bad guy but I just reallt enjoyed him visually and the actor himself did a really good job with the evil moments! Seeing his switch between being this nice guy and being evil was just great acting. It was so juicy and so good!

Minami Chisato as Sakura

She was Kakun's wife (or to be wife) and she up until about half way through believed in her husband and they looked like a great pairing but then obviously soon she starts to realise that he's not all that good and after being introduced to Gedomaru, she starts falling for him and seeing how great of a genuine guy he is, even though at first she pretended to like him in order to manipulate him and because it was very obvious he liked her. But she genuinely falls for him after discovering the malicious plan her husband has with Satsune, and she just sees how much of a great guy he actually is. And it is quite sad how, even after she falls for him and begs to stay by Gedomaru's side, Gedomaru is just TOO kind and tells her to escape and get away so she can be safe and have a happy life and not be held back by him or by Kakun.

She is my girl crush in this stage... so beautiful!!

Araki Miyu as Wakasano Okiku

I don't quite remember HOW she ended up join Gedomaru and crew but she was a great addition to them. She was totally cute and like Dabi, a bit silly and ridiculous but the actress herself is very flexible and she obviously has some sort of dancing under her belt because she did a lot of beautiful movements and lots of high perfect kicks and legs and stuff. She too fell for Gedomaru but seeing just how much Izumi likes him, she gives up which is just... my heart ♡

Sugamoto Ikumi as Blind Man

He is a tricky and sneaky little guy, BUT with good intentions so don't get too suspicious of him! His reveal, just like the Mysterious Woman, was just like 'OHHHH MYYY GOOODDD' but also made sense. I really loved his relationship with Shounen -- but later on it makes sense why they get on so well and why they are a pair. I enjoyed the actor and his acting. In fact I knew he looked familiar and I've already seen him in Marker Light Blue (his character is GREAT in that) and Onigiri so I had that familiarity with him and his character in this is GREAT.

Maruyama Raiden as Henmima Satsune

This piece of shit. He was a great bad guy. Not only was he just a bad guy but he was a real piece of shit. He constantly beat his wife, he beat his wife's maid, and then had the audacity to apologise every time after wards?! He was so controlling and would get angry at Tama for everything! He was bat shit crazy and seeing him meet his demise was so satisfactory. Kudos to the actor for being such a SHIT. I wanted him dead so badly! The way he treated his wife and what he did to her, not just the beatings by the way(!), was just dispicable. Espeically the way he dies is so good but also hits you in the feels because of WHO kills him.

Also, I love how it's not simply just one bad guy in all this. We have Satsune who's the messed up King, then we have Kakun who's only motive is for control and power, and then we have Horiya's character who just wants to control others literally and how the world's strongest weapons etc. While they aren't technically all working together, it's great how we have all these shits for different purposes and meanings. It's great!

Umehara Saeri as Iroha

She was Tama's maid and she was so protective and loving towards Tama. She tried so hard to make sure it was her being hit by the King/husband rather than Tama herself and she spouted so many reasons just to please so Tama wouldn't get attacked etc. Her final scene in this was just so touching and, again, loyalty is a BIG thing in this play and you can see it in her actions for Tama ♡

Tanaka Hiroki as Young Boy

Ahhhhh my boy!!! First a compulsory picspam!!!

He was great!! As usual I fall into my normal complaint of 'he didn't get enough stage time!!!' but we all know that's me being biased xD Besides that, he was GREAT! I really loved his character. His reveal as to who his character actually was is great! I was so happy when it came out who he was!! Also his part of the story is very calm as he's just walking through the forest and stuff listening to the Mysterious Girls' story but they also 'stand' in the scenes while they're happening so that's great. He does get a moment or two to fight and show off his fighting techniques and he also had like a cartwheel here and there which made me very happy. Visually he looked great too! And totally makes sense why he looked like that (trying not to spoil too much here) xD and at the end we are still left with this HUGE question mark about him (mentioned above already) so I am hoping they're do a part two and that becomes a main part or is at least answered. I definitely want to know more about his character and his past and what he's been through and his connections. I loved his relationship with the blind man too and I'd love to see how that friendship came to be too!!

And that's all! I don't think I have anything else to add except, GIVE ME A SECOND STAGE!!!

But as always, finishing off with the

GOODS

Hopefully I have a bunch of reviews coming out fairly close between each other!

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the-tales-of-horror · 7 years

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Wink Murder

Original Link By iwantabear

I am a deeply distrustful person, certain events in my life have made me this way. So, when Cara moved to town, I was pretty suspicious. No one had ever seen her parents, she had no siblings, she lived alone in an opulent mansion, and she never invited anyone home, although she was always hanging out and meeting people. But she satisfied nearly every characteristic of the manic pixie dream girl trope, which naturally made every boy fall in love with her, and made every girl want to be her.

I seemed to be the one person who was not enamoured by her, but that only meant she sought me out. It definitely seemed like she wanted to win everyone over. You know that feeling you have when everyone likes someone or something and you just have this strange idea something is off? Yeah, that’s the vibe I got off her. But considering it was senior year anyway, and I was planning an escape route out of town, I decided not to voice my suspicions. I didn’t outright ignore her, but was rather coolly indifferent. Still, every other day, she’d stop by my locker, with an Iced Americana, and an invitation to go shopping or get ice cream or sneak into a bar. Until she started this active pursuit of me as a friend, I had just been vaguely distrustful, but I really got worried after. I couldn’t figure out how she knew my favourite drink; it’s possible one of my friends could have told her, but I doubted it. Like I said before, I don’t trust easily, and I’m not very close to anyone and I was pretty sure I hadn’t gone to Starbucks with anyone before. Then a couple of weeks later, she turned up with tickets to an Eluveitie concert. They were my favorite band, and I hadn’t been able to get tickets for their show, and she magically turns up with a pair when I had given up? Something was definitely wrong.

Then the dreams started.

A couple of months into the school year, and I was still fending off her invitations, and I began to see her façade crack. Her lips would turn down the slightest each time I refused her, and her eyes would narrow every time I came up with an excuse. Finally, she cracked, when I told her I didn’t want to study with her: “Why do you hate me so much? I just want to get to know you!”, she said sadly, her blue eyes filling with tears. Alarmed, I backed away and simply said “I don’t hate you, I just like being alone. Don’t take it personally, please. And stop asking me to come out with you. I’m not going to.” Maybe it seems harsh, but I thought putting it bluntly would get her off my back. And in a way, it did. She stopped asking me to do things, but she made little jabs at me that hinted she knew something about the dreams I was having – but that couldn’t have been possible right?

Now, I will never really know the truth.

The night she confronted me, I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow, and I began to dream. I was a handmaiden to a beautiful princess who looked eerily like Cara. She was betrothed to a prince of another state, but he was a toerag who secretly came on to me. I refused him again and again and again, while attending to the princess. Finally, the prince couldn’t take it any longer, and stole one of her necklaces in front of me, taunting me, telling me he would pin it on me. And he did, and by the decrees of the nation, I was sentenced to death. But, afterwards I came back to life and haunted the prince, by calling out the stones of the different necklaces the princess owned – except for diamond, the one he stole – until he went crazy and killed himself.

When I woke up, I remembered the dream in vivid detail, something that usually never happens. It struck me as odd, because the dream seemed very similar to a story or a movie or something I had seen ages ago, but I couldn’t place it. Deciding it wasn’t of significance, I promptly forgot about it as I made my way to school. Cara passed by me and winked, asking out loud: “Did you sleep well?”

I remember freezing in place, as if what she said physically stopped me. For a fraction of a second, her blue eyes turned stormy grey, and her grin melted into a crooked smirk, before reverting back to normal. Struggling to recover, I simply muttered “Fine”, and walked off. But for the rest of the day, my brain travelled around in circles, trying to determine if there was any way she could have known about the dream, or possibly even caused it. Trying to be practical, I gave up trying to figure it out. The dream was just that – a dream. And everything else was merely coincidence.

But I continued to have strange dreams for all the following nights. One where I was a young English seamstress whose husband had gone to war and had been left alone with her baby, only to be violated by bandits and left for dead in the forest. I haunted people in nearby towns. In another I didn’t appear to have corporeal form, I was one with the dust and the wind rolling across countryside and attacking children. In yet another, I sat atop clouds and watched men clash in rebellions and wars below me, and decided who would live and who would die. They were all pretty awful, but one in particular horrified me. I was a maid to a rich, single mother, who had a child who would not speak, though otherwise normal. Being spiritual, she called upon a holy man for advice. He told her that she had to feed her child the heart of a living fetus, so I was commissioned for the task of obtaining one. I leave my own daughter alone, with nothing but my ring for protection, and go in search of it, but no one, of course, is willing to offer one. So, I wait for years and years in the middle of the woods, waiting for a pregnant woman to come by me, so I may obtain the fetus by more devious means. Finally, a young woman passes by, and I attack her, but only too late do I notice her ring. She was my daughter. Then I go insane and eat people.

The dreams bothered me, and I tried to find a connection, or a meaning. I did some research, and it turned out that many of them were legends or folk tales of woman who avenge wrongs done to them, or women who are granted the power to do terrible things, and make judgements on other people. Putting a name to some of the entities I became while dreaming eased my mind somewhat. Valkyrie, Okiku, Onibaba, I seemed to turn into a different creature every dream. But more disturbing than the dreams was the fact that every day Cara made some sort of remark about my night. Most often they were innocuous comments, but once in a while she would jeer at me “Looks like something doesn’t let you get your beauty sleep. There might be ways you can change that”, and then look at me expectantly. I refused to give in. There was no way that tiny slip of a girl was manipulating my dreams, even if such a thing was possible. So, I continued to ignore her as much as I could.

Two things happened which changed my mind. The night I had one of the most triggering dreams I have ever had coincided with an invitation to Cara’s party. I know what you’re thinking. Why would I have even considered going, given everything I had already done to avoid her? Here’s why: she was holding it at her house. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to learn more about her, and I told myself it was so I could ease my mind. It wasn’t even really a party, more a small get-together. Cara had invited a really random group of nine people, but even though those nine didn’t necessarily like each other, they all liked Cara, and immediately RSVP’d. I was still hesitant, but after the nauseating dream I had, I decided to go.

I arrived at her house a little late, and stood on the ornate porch nervously, waiting for her to open the door. When she arrived at last, I couldn’t help feeling a little relieved, feeling as if I would be getting some answers today. She smiled widely at me for a moment, her grin looking slightly too large, her teeth slightly too sharp, before ushering me in cheerfully, “Come in, come in, you’re the last one here.”

I followed her into a room too fancy to just be a living room, it was probably a parlour room or some such. Everyone else was just lounging around, most of them seemed to have a drink in hand, but the air was somewhat awkward. Which was to be expected, considering that none of these people had probably hung out with each other before. The few I knew by name were radically different from each other. Bryan, the class clown, who was confined to a wheel chair because of a car accident a year ago, Rebecca; in a world full of Pokémon, you would be hard-pressed to find a bigger fan than her, Kelsey; our school’s Taylor Swift wannabe.

Cara clapped her hands, and I swear the mood lifted immediately, “Let’s play a game!” she announced. Everyone seemed eager to do what she said, which was extremely weird because I didn’t think anyone came here to play some random game. I was also a bit disappointed, as I had thought she was going to play some music, and get everyone drunk, which would have given me the opportunity to explore. Keeping those thoughts to myself, I asked “What game?”

“Wink murder” she replied.

Everyone looked uneasily at each other at this point, but seemed to shrug off whatever notions they had. It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t remember how to play, so I asked.

“Basically, I will pass out pieces of paper to everyone. Most of them will say ‘Civilian’, but one will say ‘Murderer’, and one ‘Detective’. The game is very simple. The murderer has to wink at people, and once they have, that person is dead. The detective has to try and find out who the murderer is before say, six people are dead. When you’re dead, just fall over. But I suggest you wait a little before dying as that will make the game more interesting.”

No one had any questions, so she set about passing the papers to everyone. Surreptitiously, I looked down at mine, it had ‘Detective’ written on it in a flourishing font. I stuffed it into my pocket, and joined the circle being formed on the floor. I noticed that after glancing at their paper, many of the others looked a little uneasy, even nauseous, but remained quiet. Everyone began looking at each other suspiciously, gazes flicking from one face to another as quickly as lightning. The mood had darkened, and I couldn’t figure out why. Up above us, the light from the chandelier flickered, and in a moment, a red-headed girl from my Calculus class slumped to the floor. My eyes immediately went to Cara, and she caught my gaze and a small smirk hovered on her lips before she turned away. Bryan went down next, and in my gut I knew it was Cara, but I hadn’t caught her in the act yet, so I didn’t want to waste my guess. Rebecca, a pair of blond twins who played in a grunge band and a cheerleader went down in quick succession, before I noticed something was off. Everyone who had “died” seemed to take their job of being dead seriously. Too seriously, that I couldn’t see their chests rise and fall.

Nervously, I looked to Cara, to find her looking right back at me. There was a series of thumps, as the remaining players fell. “What did you do to them?” I said tremblingly, waiting for whatever had happened to them to happen to me too. “Did you drug them?” She threw her head back and laughed, “No, no, it’s much easier than that.”

Scared, I got up and moved towards the door, “I don’t know what you’re playing at, if this is a prank, or why you drugged these people, but I’m sure as hell not going to let you get away with it.”

She laughed scornfully “I didn’t drug them. You had the same drink they did, and you’re alright. You know they’re dead, deep down, you know it. And they deserved it. Each and every one of them.”

Even though every instinct was telling me to run, I stayed put. “You killed them, you killed them, they’re people with lives and loves and hearts and souls and who are you to decide, who are you to judge?” my voice rose hysterically at the end . She looked at me dead – on then, her eyes glowing bright silver in the dim light, “Who am I to judge? Who are you to judge? Tell me, what did you dream about last night, hmmm? Maybe it was more like reliving a nightmare.”

At that moment, my legs locked, I couldn’t move, whether out of fear, or a motivation to get answers, to see everything through, I can’t say. “Who are you? How do you know anything about that? ” She continued on as if I had never even asked a question. “Two years ago, that senior who smokes pot behind the woodshed? Yeah, that guy violated you in every way possible, scarring your heart and your body and your soul. And you kept all that pain and bitterness inside you, and one day, when you saw him fishing by the creek while you were out walking your dog, you pushed him. Didn’t you? No one suspected a thing, he was permanently high anyway. It was completely plausible that he fell into the river. An accident. And yesterday night you relived it all over again.”

I had started crying angrily by then, “It was a mistake it was a mistake it was a mistake” I chanted. “He didn’t deserve to die, I should have stood up for myself and told someone what had happened.” My anger – at her and at myself – began to override my fear of what she would do to me. “No one should be the judge of that, no one gets to play God.”

I pointed at the bodies behind me and yelled “Fix it! Fix whatever you did.”

The glow of her eyes began to dim and she looked at me sadly “I can’t.”

Then the power went off, and we were plunged into a pitch black night. Everything was quiet and still, and I remained frozen in place, unsure if I should run out or stay. Before I could decide, I felt something brush past me softly, almost like a silk cloth over my skin, and I could have sworn I heard the softest of whispers say “Maybe this time I was wrong” before the lights came back on.

The room was empty. Cara was not there, and neither were the bodies. My mind went numb with shock. The only sign that I possibly had not dreamt up the entire episode were the scraps of paper littering the floor, I hurriedly picked them up, just to reassure myself, before running back home. I don’t know how I slept, considering I would probably have to explain 10 missing people then next day, all while questioning my sanity. But I think I was in such a state of shock, that I just collapsed.

The next morning, I was pale and quiet as I went about my morning routine. I dreaded going to school. But when I went, it was as if nothing had happened. I caught up to Bryan’s best friend, and asked him about Bryan. He looked at me strangely, and asked “Who are you talking about?” After asking around a bit more, I realized that no one had any memory of Cara or any of the others. They were simply gone. As if they never existed. After learning that, I knew I couldn’t make it through the whole day, and ended up going home sick. I took a week off from school, faking sick the entire time. I slept a lot, just trying to forget everything that had happened. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to let me go. When I pulled on my hoodie, a bunch of scraps fell out – the ones designating everyone’s role in the deadliest game of Wink Murder ever played. I was going to through them out, but hesitated since I noticed that they seemed to have a lot more written on them than just ‘Civilian’. I picked one up.

Bryan: Civilian. Remember when you got into that accident that left you wheelchair bound? You were drunk that night. You hit someone. A woman, a single mother, raising two children on your own. You had just ruined her life, but you couldn’t bear the thought of ruining your own. Despite the fact that you could barely move, you managed to move her body into a drain, where she is yet to be discovered. I know what you did.

My hands started to shake as I picked up another.

Kelsey: Civilian. Every time you enter a song writing or singing competition, you’re very careful when you learn about your competitors. And you sabotage their chances every time. One girl even got permanent throat damage when you replaced her warm tea with boiling water. I know what you did.

The worst thing about reading about all the terrible things my schoolmates did was that it made me question. It made me question if Cara – whatever creature she was – was right. If sometimes people needed to die because they were so cruel and manipulative. If there should be someone to objectively judge, and intervene. I didn’t want to think that way, but I found myself questioning my previous beliefs often. Whoever Cara was, and I wondered often – an avenging angel or a deadly demon – I couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t understand the full picture. I had killed someone, which was as awful as anyone else who came to the party, but she hasn’t killed me. Granted, my motivations may have been somewhat different, but it still didn’t explain what she wanted with me. And why she let me go, that too with my memories intact.

I spent many days just honestly believing I was crazy. Which brings me to today. I discovered my own paper, which I had stuffed into my jeans on that fateful night. I pulled it out, and flipped it around. There was a number scrawled on it.

I think…I think that whatever it is Cara does – she wanted to recruit me to do it as well. That’s why she came to town in the first place. But I’m tearing the paper up as we speak. It’s the correct thing to do, right? I might never know the truth, but at least I can live with myself. And that's the best I can do.

#Wink Murder #Horror Story #Scary Story #Creepy Story #Reddit NoSleep #TTOH

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basedkikuenjoyer · 1 month

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Eh, Thursday Afternoon Toriyama posting is fun for now. I'm surprised by how much I've thought about it lately. Not like I'm usually the type to dwell on celebrity deaths heavily, but Toriyama's taken up as much of my mind as when Prince & David Bowie passed close to each other or having the two windows I followed pro wrestling line up with Owen Hart's, Eddie Guerrero's, and Chris Benoit's sudden deaths. We'll touch on it in time but y'all saw Oda is taking a break because of it right? So far I've re-watched a huge chunk of Dragonball and binged the excellent review by Totally Not Mark for Z. I don't think a lot of anime fans, myself included, ever gave Toriyama a fair shake for how truly good DB could actually be.

Like...think about Meruem & Komugi in Hunter x Hunter. How lauded that story is. How much controversy but praise Oda generated by taking such a freewheeling goofy direction with such a late stage of his story. Both of those are just elements of the Majin Buu Saga. Meruem has Cell's design and Buu's arc. And Mr. Satan saving the day by being a good friend and mentor to the Majin? I've always loved that. My actual first exposure was that stretch of the story, staying at a friend's house while Cartoon Network ran a marathon. I liked Videl and we got to see this wonderfully epic clash of titans:

I remember going back to school in the fifth grade, telling some guy friends who liked the screaming and blowing up Earth shit all about how I finally saw DBZ and they were horrified by how much I loved this nonsense. Mr. Satan is a legend and Goten/Trunks pulling a Vincent Adultman is iconic. But...ma cherie. Android 18 is objectively the coolest thing to come out of that series. You may disagree but it's objective so that would make you wrong. I mean, the Androids alone are already cool as hell for being such a solid callback to the earlier Red Ribbon Army arc. Who could forget 8? Guy was classic. First we have a couple of goofy ones then BAM! kickass young sibling pair named Lapis & Lazuli which is a high watermark in a world with some truly weird names. Since I'll be on about another favorite pair likely somewhat inspired by them tomorrow might as well say it.

That's not exactly off the wall right? Kiku & Izo, Jodio & Dragona, that combat sibling pair of a sister that's feminine but fierce and a kinda fey brother you definitely shouldn't underestimate? Nothing new under the sun but the trope certainly echoes from the Cell Saga. And honestly, can't help but notice that side of Okiku I always want to come out more. Lazuli's best moment that made me love her so much:

I do like how when she recognizes Goten & Trunks she just takes them out via disqualification using Krillin's disk technique. But I adore the conclusion now as much as I did then. Knowing Mr. Satan was enough of a preening dickhead to pay her double for the glory of the win and throwing the fight. Same flavor as what makes me love Kiku and the Yokozuna as much as I do with a distinctly Nami blend. Tell me those two couldn't play good cop/bad cop to shake someone down.

Honestly a lot of the way I see contemporary One Piece makes sense through that lens, the way the Buu Saga took a different approach was bold and controversial but got the series back to its roots. I bet Toriyama had a lot of fun with it. And thank you for the archetype I love so much even if I didn't fully appreciate the Ur-pair until after I came to love their inspiration.

This is probably too much to get into today, but you can't divorce this from what we know about the Cell Saga, how there was so much editorial meddling when it came to the villains. The more meta elements of how I see Kiku & Yamato, how one is set to age like fine wine even if she wasn't the flashiest and the other will probably never be as popular as you were at the start even if you started white hot. The Android Pair vs. Cell are a great example. Fans as a collective sometimes don't really know what they want, I get why Eiichiro Oda opines about "authors becoming slaves to readers." Weekly serialization is a wonderland. And that wonderland gave us something really cool along the way to giving editors another Frieza.

#thursday afternoon toriyamaposting #dragon ball #android 18 #android 17 #mr satan

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