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yeolmae-s · 3 years

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a chanbaek analysis from a veteran exo-l (part 2)

CLICK HERE TO READ PART ONE

Writing this was a bit harder in comparison to the first part, because I wanted to organize things into a neat timeline, but I ended up not having enough patience for it lol specially because both of ChanBaek's main archive blogs seem to have deleted their pages documenting each date of EXO's early years. Therefore I apologize in advance if this part is a bit more messy. Also, please don't forget that all of this is my opinion and I don't mean for any of it to be taken as truth!

I kind of want to jump from MAMA era directly into Wolf era, since we don't really have a lot of cover regarding their debut phase besides Chanyeol's overeagerness and Baekhyun's awkwardness towards it, so to sum it up, I felt as if Chanyeol was more confident and consistent on what he thought an idol should act like, while Baekhyun (sweet, innocent Baekhyun who was a trainee for less than a year!) was still unsure on how to act on camera.

On the few early variety shows/interviews EXO appeared on, the members always pointed out how funny Baekhyun was, how good he'd be at variety and at doing imitations, but he never really lived up to all the praise on camera, although off of it, he most likely was as good as his members claimed.

He was a bit stiff on his early days in comparison to what we see today, and that's normal, I guess, since he debuted really quickly, but when you compare him to Chanyeol the contrast is so interesting, because the latter was able to latch on to a persona as soon as the public gave him one, while to me, Baekhyun was still doubtful regarding what to put on display. In the end, deep inside, Baekhyun is a private person, and was even more so when he wasn't confident enough to talk to fans like he does today.

Once again, I’m sorry for not being able to upload the gifs directly into the post, so I’ll just link them like I did on my last one.

This is another one of the moments where Baek appears to tell Chanyeol to just. Hold on for a bit.

There's another one similar to this where Chanyeol does the same thing (try to whisper on Baekhyun's ear) and Baekhyun fake laughs and stares at a fan's camera right after. Then, his expression just goes blank. It's really interesting to watch because you can just see the gears spinning on Chanyeol's brain as he stares at Baekhyun for a second and clearly thinks alright, fanservice time, and leans in to whisper something: it happens so fast you just know it wasn't genuine whispering, just a playful interaction for the fans, and Baekhyun's direct stare to the camera as soon as it happens just confirms this for me.

1: Chanyeol spots his target.

2: He’s really thinking this through.

3: Baek's in a perfect position for whispering-time, so he leans in and does his thing.

4: Baekhyun laughs.

5: And stares directly at a fan's camera.

6: Immediately regrets his life choices. Chanyeol looks pleased.

It's actually better to watch the whole thing, so I'll leave it here. (starts on 0:28!)

(Random note: on this date EXO perfomed a cover of H.O.T's We Are The Future, and I feel like a lot of new EXO-Ls have not seem it and I adore this performance, so I'll link it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1-z4s3fdgo)

Now let's jump on to Wolf era, shall we?

Wolf era

I can't help but laugh when I think about how wild 2013 was for both EXO and EXO-Ls. They had their first hit song (which was Growl, not Wolf) the fandom grew considerably, shippers where just discovering the cute ISAC moments between "BaekYeol" and "HunHan"... Or at least that's how everyone remembers most of what happened during that year.

Are we forgetting the rumoured ChanBaek fight?

Considering their past interactions on airports, SMTOWN concerts, ISAC and other events, ChanBaek was now widely known to be close to each other. Baekhyun even said Chanyeol was the one who made him open up, and both of them mentioned feeling this "connection" to each other as soon as they met (although jokingly).

After Mama, the fandom was content-less for a considerable period of time, and what most people did was sharing around old performances and repeat overused memes. I think that in every fandom there is a period where fans establish their main inside jokes and basically just get together to create a collective line of thought for perceiving their idols. That being said, one of the most well established facts in the fandom was that Chanyeol and Baekhyun were close. That was a fact.But then Wolf came, and they suddenly were not.

This gif is a good example of how awkward their interactions were. Not even my delusional shipping brain in 2013 was able to come up with an explanation for it.

They simply did not acknowledge each other at all, and Chanyeol appeared to be closer to Kyungsoo (I think Baekhyun interacted a lot with Tao, but that may have been during the Growl era, not Wolf. As I said before, I'm a Chanyeol stan guys, sorry lmao).

Point is, these two boys who seemed to be best friends suddenly were clearly distant from one another.

What added fuel to the fire of the rumours was their appearance on Sukira, a radio show, where Sehun cried because the members sometimes had fights. Here's a fanacc:

[130530] EXO at Sukira

Sehun cried because the members sometimes fight.

Sehun: "Let's be loyal to each other, don't fight, and go until the end"

D.O: "We've been under a lot of stress lately because of the comeback, so I wish we won't fight in the future and do our best"

Here's a video cut of this part of their interview.

I think this ask on lets-talk-baekyeol, a popular ChanBaek analysis blog from back in the day, shows how curious a lot of fans were.

What happened back then?

There's really no answer for that. On my opinion, not even Chanyeol or Baekhyun could give us a concrete answer on it, because I don't think an actual fight happened. For me, it was most likely a personality clash, a disagreement that probably wasn't even voiced out loud, just both of them noticing how uncomfortable things got, if Baekhyun's reactions to Chanyeol's fanservice is any indication. I somehow doubt there was a specific episode that created this distance between them, specially because during Growl, they went back to being friends, although not as touchy on camera as before, as if one of them had established their limits (oh, I wonder who!), but I still have this feeling that all of this was unspoken, because unspoken things seem to be a pattern on ChanBaek's relationship (something I'll touch on later, hopefully).

But it was during Growl era that I noticed something else about Baekhyun.

Wolf era

EXO'S Showtime was a such a gift. I recommend reading lets-talk-baekyeol's blog for this. I don't really agree with everything they say they do present a lot of relevant points. I may repeat them here, since I noticed them myself as well, but credits for them nonetheless.

I remember finding the lack of ChanBaek interactions during the episodes really dissappointing, but considering the Wolf Era drought, this was better than nothing.

My 13 year old self was devastated when Baekhyun appeared so quiet during Chanyeol's birthday episode, and during a recent rewatch of it, I think realized why.

Baekhyun doesn't like superficial things. It's not that Chanyeol is insincere, but he's just better than Baekhyun is at handling people pleasing, even when he doesn't really mean what's he saying/doing. The Chanyeol birthday episode was heavily centered on Chanyeol's random admiration for Kai, which I think we can all agree that it was a little bit scripted or a really spur of the moment thing that they just ran along with and oh man. Baekhyun did not want to be part of it.

During ChanKai's hug, this is what he looked like on the background, and the poor boy even refused to eat cake. He's just in the back, which is weird, because he's such a talkative person and Chanyeol is one of his closest friends. The only moment where he seems to be genuinely comfortable is when Chanyeol blows the candle and it's really cute. To me, it seems that he was kind of embarrassed to witness so much acting from everyone else and was unable to participate because he struggles with things like this, but the moment Chanyeol blows his candles to comemorate his birthday seems sincere enough for him to fondly smile.

This ties in so well with everything from Mama Era. He's just unable to keep acting/people pleasing on the same easy way that Chanyeol does, but this time he's not as nervous about it as he was on his earlier-early days, where he probably felt pressured to actually do stuff. Now he just doesn't do **it, he just doesn't do something that he dislikes doing, and that sadly creates a distance between them on camera and probably on a deeper level in their relationship as well, because both are just realizing how different their perceptions over their jobs is.

There's also this moment that the mods on lets-talk-baekyeol pointed out.

On the Christmas episode, when the members leave the couch to go get their presents, Chanyeol stays seated while Baekhyun gets up to fetch his. This is the sitting arrangement before (almost) everyone got up:

But when Baekhyun comes back, there's free space next to Chanyeol, however he's hesitant to sit by his side. He actually hesitates and doesn't sit down. Jongdae even gives him a little push right after.

Baek just seems hesitant to do things on camera, to interact with Chanyeol in front of an audience. For this moment, I feel like he's afraid to sit next to Chanyeol and end up having to over act. It's not that Chanyeol himself makes him uncomfortable, but the image of the friendship that they ended up creating for fans demands a lot from him.

And when I say hesitant to do things on camera, I really do mean it, because when Baekhyun thinks he is not being recorded/seen, here's what he does:

Here and here.

Their relationship clearly changed, and I think the reason for it is actually simple: both of them were under the impression that they were compatible with each other when they actually were not. Their personalities are extremely different, even if the way they present themselves is sometimes similar. Wolf and Growl era was our way, as fans, of watching them navigate around each other and finding out how their relationship was supposed to work.

And you know what's nice about that? The members watched all of it unfold. Their reactions to some of ChanBaek's interaction is a gold mine when it comes to analyzing them, because they clearly know, just as we do, that their relationship is kind of complicated. But I want to talk about it on the next part.

I am sorry for cutting this off again! I don't know if the next part is going to be the last, because after Growl there's Overdose and we all know what happened on 2014 [coughs] dating scandal [coughs] god help me I don't want to talk about it [coughs] so there's a lot to uncover and I need time to organize stuff.

Thank you for reading!

#chanbaek #baekyeol #baekhyun #chanyeol #park chanyeol #byun baekhyun #exo #kpop

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black-coffee-and-sugar · 3 years

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Listen, I actually couldn't finish this episode. Like I lost brain cells, got ingestion and finally KO-ed because I could NOT grasp the plot. Not even seeing Lena again made this enjoyable for me. But here's what I got:

- I wonder how many takes Thomas took to say Nxyly's full name without biting his tongue off

- also I am so sorry Thomas that they had you sing. And yet somehow that wasn't the most cringe thing to happen in this episode

- Nia and Kara desperately assigning blame to themselves instead of just, idk, working together to fix the problem. Who cares who's fault it is??

- Alex jumping in front of kara when mxy brandishes the PZ projector is the only thing I liked

- Kelly's absence felt so odd after 2 back to back episodes of her front and centre

- Nia thinking that Kara would drag her for making a mistake makes me wonder if these characters even know each other

- kara: "I should've told you guys about Nxyly". Yes you idiot you absolutely should have! Like I get that they don't wanna bring it up but like how is ignoring what happened to her any better? Do they not do any Intel sharing?

- the fucking zookeeper is still here?!?!?

- look I wasn't expecting Lena to be talking to kara on the phone, I know better than that, but I had hoped it would at least be Nia considering that Lena and her have been bonding over their moms and it just makes sense??

- andrea's titty window sans kara or Lena to see it. What was it all for?

- I understand Lena using Andrea's resources to help her out and shit and I'm actually surprised the writer's remembered she doesn't have access to the LuthorCorp jet anymore. I honestly wouldn't have batted an eye if she did tho.

- the way we haven't had ANY scenes of dialogue between kara and lena aside from 6x01 and only ONE line from kara to Lena since then. Like are they actually going to brush everything under the goddamn rug? We heard from Alex that they've forgiven each other and it seems that way too but we haven't actually had the chance to judge that as an audience and it's (checks notes) 11 episodes already???

-Kara is back and yet Lena doesn't seem full. Kara is back and yet she hasn't been vulnerable with lena or with anyone really. Or was that all a lie?

- Nxyly is actually kinda hot in this episode. Interesting development there

- the team actually fighting a giant pussy cat and more brain cells have died. If they were hoping it would be amusing like the Legends fighting a giant Beebo, spoiler alert - it was not

- mxy and Nxyly and even the king has some keysmash names but one imp is actually named Jared? Just fucking Jared. Christ

- Lena being bullied by a bunch of Canadians is hilarious and I say this as a Canadian. Like Lena has stood her ground against Lex, Lillian, SG, an interrogation room filled with judgemental pricks, fucking Reign and yet, she looked two seconds from crying when denied her hotel room by some fucking Newfies. Get the fuck outa here.

- not a single Tim Hortons run in this entire episode. Are we sure she even went to Canada???

- at one point, I was rooting for Nxyly to win.

- so not only did they bring back that god awful wig that they actually had the audacity to make footage with it? That thing needs to be snatched and thrown into the sun like the trash monster.

- Katie looked so done in this episode and I don't even blame her. I suffered second hand embarrassment on her behalf. Those lines, her behaviour. It's like what the fuck happened to the Lena from the past 4 seasons?

- the mean bartender says "I've seen you on the news running arm in arm with a bulletproof alien" and the places my mind went is probably why I didn't pay any attention to the rest of the episode.

- so lemme see if I have this right. Lena's mom visits the cave lady in her dreams but never once thought to visit her traumatized little daughter?

- am I supposed to be upset that they killed an abuser? Because I'm not

- so much porn shots of the town car driving up and down some sketch and lonely road

- did Google maps really lead Lena to some random cave?? Bruh

- Lena's scenes felt so disconnected for a minute I thought I was watching a completely different show.

- aluminum foil on the props lord did they just say fuck it and made a Dollarama run for the cheapest 200ft roll they could buy?

- Kara being a mentor to Nia for the first time since that Nia centric episode last season. God I hate it here.

- they do remember J'onn is a shape shifter right? Why do we need an image inducer? I get the little Lena is still with the team crumb but it's stupid.

- still no word on M'gann huh

- yo since the Luthors are technically perceived on Earth-Prime as "good", what trail of bodies is this bar lady talking about? This isn't public knowledge and Lena's mom only killed 1 dude who frankly deserved it.

- sigh. We're really doing this witch Lena thing then.

- kara stop trying to reach the good in people! Just stop. When has this bullshit EVER WORKED? Some people are just too far gone. Accept it.

- stronger together has truly lost meaning on this show

- Alex and Kara being so willing to hold much less use the PZ projector is utter bullshit. Also they just have that thing lying around for any grabby hands to take?

- what the actual fuck is Kara's arc this season? Or Alex? Or poor J'onn. The man has been seriously neglected.

- kara is supposed to be the most powerful being on the planet and yet this show continues to nerf her abilities. God I missed the days of S1 when Kara looked like she could fuck shit up.

- also when is kara going to be the focus of her own show again? Are we ever going to properly address Kara's issues? We got two episodes of James processing his trauma and only 5 mins of flashbacks in 6x08 for Kara and a few fleeting moments sprinkled across the last 5 seasons. Ridiculous. Like it won't diminish her as a character to seek professional help, it won't make her any less of a hero. Think of how impactful that would be and the message that could send about the importance of mental health.

- glad to see a promo for this important episode next week (I honestly can't wait - Kelly in a head wrap is so personal to me y'all) but please I'm begging you, do not make the issue of race come at the expense of kara's intelligence and awareness. She's a journalist, she's seen xenophobia and written about it, she's been friends with James for years. Kara knows about racism. Please show that.

Needless to say I did not enjoy this episode at all. I was happy to see Lena again but all her scenes were just hard to watch. I feel like so much of their very limited time is being wasted and there's still so many things they haven't touched upon yet. When exactly are we gonna get to it? Better question, will we ever get to it? Probably not.

Like I wanted to see the super friends communicating, leaning on each other, character growth, being truly stronger together but no. They're giving us literally anything but that and it's frustrating.

#every week i ask myself #why are you still watching this mess?#idk self. idk #supercorp #supergirl

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otp-armada · 2 years

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Magnum PI 4x10 & 4x11

First off, I watched this episode via browser. The background for the ep was a shot of Magnum and Higgins on the yacht with him pouring champagne and her gazing at him. Allow me to present a small URL section in the address bar displayed above their heads. Ready? ...7uT6FSEXUMUY...

SEX in literal capital letters. No, I did not take it upon myself to capitalize for emphasis. The internet did that on its own. Never let it be said the world wide web doesn't know what it's talking about.

The opening scene left me in a fugue state for the rest of the episode in which I could not believe what my brain told my eyes they saw. We have NEVER gotten anything quite like this before. And in a show where subtlety is a farce, this is a truly remarkable turn of events. I got up from my chair and walked around my kitchen, pacing. I had to. That electricity permeating through my muscles had to be released somehow. The writers were so heavy-handed with romance, sexual tension, and love (the good, the bad, and the ugly of it) that I had to check my calendar to make sure January didn't transform into Feb 14 overnight. I don't even know what a Valentine's Day-themed episode will look like this season when they're going this hard in freaking January.

They got me in the first minute. I did not perceive it as a dream at first. It took Magnum being overtly flirty for me to realize it wasn't real. And the music. Right out of the gate. There was no way, right?

Dare I say when the epiphany hits her, she is disappointed? She was definitely displeased that this near-kiss was a dream. It is a product of her subconscious, so somewhere in her soul, she wants this. Wants him. It makes me wonder if she had longer dreams where they did the deed in earnest. And because this is her subconscious speaking out to her, the single standout imperative line to me is, "You can keep searching for something you're never going to find, or you can have what's been right in front of you the whole time." This is it. This one line underscores the goal around which Magnum and Higgins have been circling for four seasons, as seen from Higgins' POV. Her dream, her subconscious taking on a voice of its own to tell her how she feels. I maintain that season 3 was the first half of a lengthy character arc of Higgins' in peeling back her defenses and learning to trust and act upon her heart again. Her relationship with Ethan was the transition in setting the stage for what we are seeing now in season 4 as an explicitly romantic Miggy begins to slowly take form.

It needed to be her undergoing this transition because Magnum is already the heart of this dynamic. Of the two of them, he is the one wearing his heart on his sleeve, for at least more often than she does. That's not to say he doesn't require making some strides of his own. I'll get to that.

"Sexy dream, not sex dream," yeah, sure. As the incomparable Erin Reagan of Blue Bloods once said, "A distinction without a difference."

That first car scene is burned in my mind. In my estimation, it is the most surreal Miggy scene I have ever watched. It's not enough that she just woke up having had - to use Higgins' carefully selected vernacular - a sexy dream about Magnum; the writers had to ratchet up the sexual tension tenfold by making them watch the subjects of their investigation engage in kinky sex. I was choking on vicarious sexual tension. I couldn't breathe.

Under ordinary circumstances, I would be amused by this latest case. I've gotten so accustomed to Magnum and Higgins being detectives in all-but-name for high-profile, high-stakes crimes that I forget the usual bread-and-butter for PIs are infidelity suits. It was a nice dose of reality used for humor. Or it would have been if it wasn't the following act of that opening scene.

The subtle nuances of the scene are sweeter when you rewatch it knowing Magnum is fully aware of what was on Higgins' mind and how he was involved. He was so sly in poking and prodding at her. "If it means staying late-night in this car, listening to you talk in your sleep, then I'm all for it." Whelp. RIP me. He WANTS to hear her have sex dreams about him? Be still my beating heart. Lines like these and his many inquiries showed the truth of his hand. Even as he undervalued the significance of her dream and what it means for them.

"Come on, lover boy, just tell her what she wants to hear." Where did this energy flitter off to when Higgins cross-examines you on the potentially non-platonic dreams about her, Magnum?

They're so ecstatic about catching these two in the act; I can't cope with this. It's at this point my brain ceases to function. Refuses to believe this is our reality.

"How did he get naked so fast?" "Whoa. What are they going to do with that?" "They're going to put it somewhere." After spending ages with only glances and heart eyes to get us by, it seems almost sacrilegious the ease with which how explicit the sexual tension has now become.

It seems Magnum mirrors my thoughts. "Well, that escalated quickly," You're telling me. It sure has.

It's nearly comical how little regard the show has for Magnum/Lia. I felt bad for her in 4x09; I did. Her career is on the rocks, as is her relationship (though it was her doing in freezing him out), and her brother is fixing to undertake a 20-year stint in prison on behalf of their criminal enterprise leading father. I imagine it is a lot for heavy minds to juggle. I did not expect Magnum to act territorial or reserved on Lia's behalf, but I did figure he'd at least make an offhanded remark about his still-official girlfriend in light of his business partner's newly minted attraction to him. Nothing. And not for the lack of mention. Magnum had to have caught the tail-end of Rick's questioning yet showed no concern. Skipped right over Lia to tease Higgins more for further illumination. I know better than to assume this is the end without a more finalized eventual break-up. I mean, they wouldn't break both relationships off offscreen, right? They haven't done much with M/L, but then again, not every obstacle pair has to be groundbreaking and revelatory for Miggy.

I can't remove from my mind his big grin when she changed subjects to evade him. It's very much the classic “teenage boy finds out his crush is returned and can’t help the boyish smugness." He so clearly needed to know more. Not one iota of discomfort, only ravenous curiosity for what Higgins dreams of him and her. So much, he palmed their big lucrative case off to Rick so he could stay with her.

I felt her mortification as mine. It's not easy to be confronted and interrogated by the object of your desire. I wanted to wrap her in a security blanket and tell Magnum to hush up like the protective best friend does in a high school movie. It's so cute, though, how they tried to feel each other out. Gauge each other's interest with not a hint of covertness. At least he has the good manners to retract the teasing when he sees she's embarrassed. At the end of the day, he is still a good man. He respects her and tries to insulate her from feeling unnecessary shame. But that's what makes his POV clashing with hers so interesting. She doesn't know that the reason she has nothing to feel embarrassed about is that HE DOES FEEL THE SAME FOR HER. And he's not telling her.

On him not dreaming of her: yeah, right. What a big, fat liar with his pants, shirt, underwear, and lucky Tigers cap blazing on inferno. Never, really? Really???

Not when Higgins revealed she has a tattoo in a place that could only be seen if she was practically naked? Did she divulge that tantalizing trivia about herself to a platonic-minded business partner? I think not.

What about when she returned his father's watch to him? No one can convince me the look he gave her was not that of a man ready to kiss her up against the nearest wall.

This season opened with Robin having written a steamy sex scene between the fictional characters that Magnum and Higgins inspire.

They live in Hawaii, where she frequently dons bikinis and sports bras. His mind never Went There™? Inconceivable.

He gazed at her with the most affectionate heart eyes known to mankind when she proved him wrong about her maternal instincts. He was so smitten with her, he happily leaned into the fantasy of Hiapo being their child, opting not to correct the stranger mistaking them for a family. The family that, at the moment, he definitely imagined himself having with her. And the steps taken to build a family involve a hell of a lot more than sexy times.

No, he has thought of her in less than platonic context.

If I tried assigning motive to his discretion as soon as she turns the tables on him? He's not going to put himself out there if she isn't ready to embrace him. Them.

His mention of Ethan took me back to the end of season three. Though he tried to be her supportive friend in encouraging her to choose her happiness, it crushed him to watch her go. And back to season two when he was hurt by her decision to marry TC in lieu of him. The marriage may have been under false pretenses, but there's no doubt he was happy. And back to the beginning of season two, to his face filled with sadness at the prospect that she may choose to return to MI6, leaving him forever. He has been wearing his heart on his sleeve when it comes to her for a very long time.

That's why, when they cross the line, it will be up to Higgins. Seasons three and four are preparing her to reach a place where she's willing to do just that. Until then, he's left to assume nothing has changed. I'm sure fireworks lit themselves within him the instant he realized she was dreaming of him and why. But her first instinct when gently questioned by him was to refer to the dream as a nightmare. It's their years-long signature "playful with shades of antagonistic" ribbing so ingrained in their interactions. So what is he to make of this change? The safe option would be to presume there is no change.

Except, he doesn't know the dream is recurrent. As far as he's aware, she wants to clam up and compartmentalize her attraction away. He doesn't know her feelings are the subject of an active discussion she has with her therapist. If he did, I don't think he'd be so quick to rationalize the topic of Them™ away.

I very much believe if she had been willing to discuss it in earnest, that ending scene would have gone much differently. She isn't there. Yet.

I'm not going to place a timeline on it. This season could very well pull a fast one at the end to hold off on Miggy for the next. As of this juncture, though? The writers are hauling ass to romantic Miggy like there's no tomorrow.

To further Miggy another inch, Dream Lover juxtaposes two burgeoning couples by their oppositional responses to residing on the cusp of romance. Where Higgins suppresses her heart, Emily is brave and bold in pursuing where her heart leads her, even against sound advice to turn back. She chooses to follow her instincts. Her feelings, to see where they take her. Where Magnum nullifies the significance of his partner's attraction, Mason returns Emily's gesture in kind in reaching back for her with arms wide open. They even chose actors styled in such a way to resemble Magnum and Higgins without making it obvious that was the aim. Emily's long blond hair is shortened by a messy ponytail with strands off the sides reflective of Higgins' shoulder-length hairstyle. Mason dons a beard similar to Magnum's own and bears similar brown eyes and dark hair. They are the younger, less cynical, more innocent, more proactive counterparts of Miggy.

This must be the first episode in the history of this show to end with a scene taking place between two tertiary characters we'll never see again, absent any of the mains. Why? Because the purpose of Emily and Mason is to show us what can happen when you follow your heart. Miggy, specifically. They were courageous enough to each take a leap of faith, and they reap the rewards. It's like watching a show with a slowburn lead couple and a secondary, faster-paced B couple, where the secondary paves a roadmap for the primary to see what's possible when they take the leap. Show them that enduring love is possible. (As of 4x11, it seems like Rick/Suzy may be adopting that role in a more official capacity. They're having a baby??? Oh my goodness, yes.) It's no coincidence this scene immediately follows Miggy's mutual outward refusal to accept what is brewing between them. And yet, we know it's not a presage that Magnum and Higgins will never follow in their counterparts' footsteps. It's foreshadowing that they will.

And that thought brings me full circle to the opening sequence. Lay that scene beside an equivalent rendition where the only difference is that in the second, Miggy is together. Would there really be a difference? I can easily picture Higgins valiantly trying to pretend to focus on work while a playful, flirty Magnum entreats her to simply enjoy the moment with him. What's striking to me is how in-character boyfriend!Magnum is in that dream. That is why it didn't register as a dream to me right away. I've watched this episode six times now, and I can tell you, I now see this dream sequence as a window to a future established Miggy.

Some honorable mentions:

It's always a good time when the show allows Katsumoto to lean into his natural deadpan swagger. More, please.

I know I'm in for some fun when Rick and/or TC step into the role of investigator. I still remember him botching the job in 1x13, nearly ruining a wedding.

Shoutout to the guy swooshing out of the cab in what I consider my second "What the hell???" highlight of the episode. After Miggy, of course.

On 4x11:

Rick and Suzy are having a baby??? Mr. Orville Wright is going to be a father?!?!?!?!

They really had me falling headfirst in the subliminal trap of panicking that Suzy found someone else to be with. I had my hand on my heart, lump in my throat, ready to brace the news that it was over between them.

A baby. Holy moly.

No joke, I had my hands bracing both sides of my head in elated shock when the episode ended.

He's going to be a fantastic father, for real. Complete with a village of aunts and uncles ready to dote on the baby, teasing Rick all the while.

I'm not taking it as a done deal, but watching Rick navigate the joys of parenthood, with some assistance from his extended family, ought to stir up emotions among the non-parental portion of the group. Not one person in this collective is without a complex and tragic, to various degrees, relationship with their family. TC's mom abandoned him at a young age. He never saw her again. Seasons ago, his father was set to visit him and never did, breaking his heart. Kumu and her husband never had kids. Although he was unfaithful, and that illicit affair produced a child. Katsumoto is divorced, and his job has put him at odds with his somewhat estranged family. Icepick, the career criminal, was the closest to a father figure that Rick ever had. He's about to be a father himself without a model, except for Katsumoto. Hopefully, that means we'll see them share more scenes together. Higgins' mother passed away from Alzheimer's, and we recently found out Higgins was close to her father before leaving her. Magnum's father died when he was young, and his mother passed away from cancer while he was a POW, during which time she had a relationship with his father's brother.

And those examples are mostly parental relationships, or the lack thereof of proper, loving ones currently in existence. There's the other side of the coin - broaching the topic of having children of their own. At the risk of sounding ageist, most of their peers tend to have already settled down and built families of their own. Rick is the first one besides Katsumoto on the verge of doing so. The writers have been pretty crafty in introducing children into their orbit. Dennis doesn't count; he is a teenager living with his mother. We don't see him too often. Cade and Maleah were creative additions that did well to flesh TC and Kumu out as characters by forcing the both of them to dive deep into their traumas. What made the accidental baby acquisition episode fun was seeing the core group driven abruptly out of their comfort zone by a little newborn. But Hiapo was never going to be a permanent fixture in their lives.

But this baby will be, all the way from the beginning. It should be interesting to watch how each one reacts. What the latest additions to the family incite in the rest of them.

It hasn't escaped me how splendidly the timing of this baby coincides with Magnum and Higgins barreling toward romance faster than they ever have. In my thoughts about 4x10, I said how Rick and Suzy could be the faster-paced B couple providing a roadmap for the A couple, Miggy. Especially when Higgins is on the record having had expressed her skepticism and hesitation on becoming a mother herself. I don't want to be THAT person with the cliché argument of, "Oh, you'll change your mind about having kids," but...maybe? Maybe the prolonged exposure to Rick's child and the dawning of a stable relationship with the love of her life will tip the scales?

#magnum pi #magnum pi 4x10 #magnum pi 4x11 #my thoughts #miggy #thomas magnum #juliet higgins #magnum x higgins #higgins x magnum

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enkelimagnus · 3 years

Text

Literature

Bucky Barnes Gen, 1756 words, rated T for Hydra shit

Jewish Bucky Barnes, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Episode 3 Power Broker

Sam falls asleep on the plane over to Madripoor and leaves Bucky and Zemo alone. They actually talk to each other. I would say it's nice.

TW: brief allusion to past rape, internalized homophobia, brief mention of the holocaust

Read on AO3

Part 20 of Making a Home - the Jewish Bucky series

--------------

It’s an eleven hour flight from Berlin to Madripoor, even with Zemo’s private jet. Once drinks have been served, food has been eaten and threats have been made, they all find themselves settling.

Sam has dozed off on a seat, seemingly exhausted. After all, they’ve already travelled the eight hours from the states, and the day has been stressful at best. At least, Sam trusts him enough to fall asleep while Bucky watches Zemo. He wasn’t expecting that. Or perhaps his human physiology is betraying him.

Bucky needs less sleep than a normal human on regular days, and he also can survive much longer sleep deprived. He’s well aware of the limitations of his body. Hydra tested them thoroughly and multiple times. Zemo would know as well, that Bucky might look tired but it doesn’t diminish his abilities as much as it seems.

The man in question is at his seat with his book, though he’s regularly looking up through the windows of the plane or around the cabin. There’s something quiet and wistful about the way he stares at a spot where the carpeting is not perfectly set against the wall to the bathroom.

The silence is good, especially after earlier, where Sam and Zemo somehow managed to gang up on him about Marvin Gaye of all people.

It’s not that Bucky doesn’t like Marvin Gaye. He just doesn’t like much music. He’s sort of lost the taste for it. His brain is usually unable to perceive it as anything but unnecessary noise that keeps him from being completely aware of his surroundings. And at least 40s music doesn’t have death and rape associated to it.

And he doesn’t need to know what Steve thought of it, whether Steve loved it or not. He’s not Steve. Steve journeyed light into the 21st century. Everything was something new to learn and experience, it was exciting and bright. Bucky is travelling with baggage. And he has memories attached to songs and tastes and sensations and events.

Bucky simply can’t use the notebook the way Steve did.

Sometimes, he wonders if Sam forgets Bucky wasn’t simply on ice for 80 years. The issue with him is that he lived through most of it, and it was all torture.

Or maybe not all . He woke up craving Karpov’s kasha the other week, and it makes no sense. He only tasted it during one specific time of his life, when Karpov and him got stuck in a safehouse in the snow, with no way to reach the outside world, for two weeks. The Soldier’s rations and formulas ran out long before they were able to leave. Karpov was too smart to let him starve, and perhaps that time alone with the Soldier, away from the world, with no way to freeze him or unplug him had made him see he was still a man. The kasha was warm, and thick, and sweet and sometimes, Bucky remembers that feeling and craves it.

The danger with people like him, America’s Super Soldiers, is that we put them on pedestals.

Zemo’s right.

In all honesty, Bucky believes he’s forgotten who Steve really was.

Memories become blurry when they age and no matter how desperate Bucky is to crystalize them, to remember them, to be sure of what he lived, all he manages to do is to frame faded photographs and fill in the blanks himself.

Steve and him didn’t have time. He found him after two years of searching, only for Bucky to be back on ice within two weeks. After that, Steve visited a few times during his recovery, when he introduced him to the goats he’d named after the sisters he finally remembered. And then, there was the War, and the Snap and once Bucky was back to life, Steve was shattered. And two weeks later, he was gone.

They didn’t have time to learn each other again. Bucky doesn’t know who Steve is anymore, half of his memories feel tainted by Smithsonian explanations, and he hates it so fucking much.

He hates that he can’t remember right, he hates that Steve’s slipping away from him every second of every day, that all that is left is the fucking shield and Captain America. That Steve’s legacy doesn’t seem to run deeper than that, else Bucky would have less of a single-minded focus on that fucking piece of useless fucking metal.

It’s only been three months. Why does Steve feel like he’s been gone for a lifetime?

Bucky breathes out a shuddering breath.

When his eyes focus again, Zemo is staring at him.

The book is open on his lap. Bucky can read the title. Same Sex Fantasies in Heterosexuals. Fucking hell. He doesn’t need that right now. At all.

“You’re a different man than the one I remember,” Zemo says quietly after a moment. His voice is soft, just slightly above a whisper. He knows Bucky has sharp ears. He knows he doesn’t need to wake Sam up.

Bucky dignifies that with a huff and looks away for a moment. Zemo’s eyes don’t leave him. He can feel them on him, on his face, on his throat, on his hands, on his body. They make him itch. They make him want to punch him for looking at him like that.

Like what?

You know exactly like what.

When Bucky looks back, Zemo’s indeed still watching him.

“You’re old now,” Bucky says eventually, in a vague answer to what Zemo said earlier.

“Eight years have passed, James. You cannot blame a normal man for something he has no control over.”

Eight years. So Bucky was right. Zemo wasn’t dusted. He stayed in that solitary confinement cell for eight years as the world moved on around him, as the world fought and lost half of its people.

Had he wished to be one of the ones that were snapped out of existence? Probably. After all, every second Zemo breathes and exists is a second more he wasn’t supposed to have. He tried to kill himself in Siberia, once his mission was over.

“Do you ever read normal stuff?” Bucky asks, a bite in his words.

Zemo raises an eyebrow, head tilting slightly to the side. His eyes are still glued to Bucky’s face. He still wants to punch him.

“I would need you to define ‘normal stuff’ to answer this question.” There is a hint of mirth in those brown eyes though. He knows exactly what Bucky means.

Bucky huffs and rolls his eyes. “Machiavelli, fucking… whatever this shit is,” he makes a motion of his chin towards the book. It’s in German, something about boundaries in relationships. Hilarious, really. It’s not like Zemo has anyone to set boundaries with. Unless those eight years of solitary have somehow driven a rift between Zemo and his own dick. “That’s not normal stuff. Novels, popular stuff…”

“I wonder,” Zemo starts. “Have you any recommendations for titles of ‘popular stuff’ for me?”

Everything Bucky can think of is old. He’d told himself he’d look into acquiring books but… he hadn’t had the time or the energy.

“I see your taste in literature has elected to stay with your taste in music, then.”

Fucking ass. Bucky closes his eyes and sighs so heavily he’s pretty sure Sam’s going to wake up.

“To answer your question, James,” Zemo starts, conversationally, as if they aren’t enemies, as if they are just old friends, so old they have become strangers. “I do read normal stuff.” The phrasing is foreign in his mouth, in that accented voice of his. “I’ve read all the classics, and children’s literature. Eight years are long. I practiced my Russian with translations of Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings at first.”

Bucky hums, looking up at him for a moment. “I noticed your pronunciation had changed,” he says quietly. “Did you read it to yourself out loud? Pretended someone was telling you a story?”

It’s cheap. They’re both aware of how lonely the past eight years must have been. It’s cheap, and it’s low-hanging and Bucky almost feels guilty.

Zemo’s small smile doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Have you read Jules Verne?” Bucky asks, trying to erase his taunt with some more literary conversation. “Was obsessed with his work as a kid. Kinda like Tolkien, but even better because it was… full of invention, not of magic.”

There’s a floating moment, a few seconds of Zemo just watching him with that slight sadness in his eyes before it is washed away and replaced by a hum.

“I’ve read those books, yes. In the original French,” Zemo points out and Bucky is almost grateful for the boasting. “You should seek a new translation, if you’re not adept at the original language. The one I assume you read was a descendant of 1870 translations, riddled with errors and political censorship. They fixed that in the 60s. You’ll like the new ones better.”

Bucky raises an eyebrow. “I’ll take that under consideration, I guess.” He’s so sure he’ll like it.

“And if you find yourself in the north of France one of these days, you should stop by this little city called Amiens,” Zemo continues. “A fine place, old and new, in the way only Europe can be. Jules Verne died there. The city’s positively themed after the man and his work. You can even visit his house.”

Visiting a dead man’s last residence? “That’s kinda morbid,” he mutters and Zemo has a small chuckle.

“People visit Anne Frank’s house as if the walls aren’t hollowed with fear,” he points out. “Dying makes one the public’s intimate friend. You know that better than anyone else.” He gives Bucky a sidelong glance. They both know he’s talking about Steve, and the documentaries and exhibits and think-pieces.

Bucky nods quietly and looks back through the window. The sun is painted indigo and pink. It’s beautiful. He’s forgotten the sunset could be this beautiful.

When he looks at Zemo again, he notices the exhaustion written all over his face, in the small wrinkles and under eye bags and the way his eyes won’t settle on anything for too long, desperate to stay awake.

“I’m not gonna kill you,” Bucky says after a moment. “We need you.”

Zemo chuckles tiredly, a soft and muted sound. “If that is the one thing that is keeping me alive… I believe I shall keep myself useful, then.” It’s almost sarcastic. A man living on borrowed time, wishing desperately he could be executed.

“You do that.”

#bucky barnes #helmut zemo #fatws #jewish bucky barnes #mine #fic

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k-odyssey · 4 years

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Dramas I’ve Been Watching in February

I was going to wait till the very end of the month but I’ve already written the post so… Thoughts are under the cut like last time, and I tried not to include spoilers.

Crash Landing on You (finished)

I’ve already mentioned this one last month. Also it’s been all over my blog for a while now. My post about the finale.

The spoiler-free version is that I loved the journey this drama took me on. Did I love the ending? No, but it wasn’t bad. It was just okay.

The romance ticked off most of my favourite tropes and the acting was flawless.

Se Ri is such a good character. Businesswomen are often portrayed as cold and heartless, and it’s kind of how she’s perceived in SK, but it quickly becomes obvious that she’s anything but. She’s extremely warm, funny and charismatic, and if she trusts someone (basically, if they’re not her family) she actually shows her vulnerable side. Also it’s great to see her thrive when she’s around people who care about her.

Great ensemble. The secondary characters are so attaching. The non-evil ones I mean.

Extraordinary You (ep6 of 16)

Teenager figures out that she’s a comic book character and, unhappy with the direction of her story, takes matters into her own hands.

It’s still early on for me but I love this fresh take on the concept. I actually don’t know where this is headed, and I’m anticipating the twists and turns.

I love a heroine who takes charge of her life.

Mysterious love interest is adorable and getting more fleshed out and compelling every episode. I can’t hate Baek Kyung though. At least not so far.

Joy of Life (ep36 of 46)

Mentioned last month.

I’m still enjoying this one a lot. It’s as funny and interesting as ever.

Wan’er doesn’t get that much screentime but she’s a great character. I loved that scene with the princess in ep30 or 31.

I’m still in love with Fan Xian.

Forest (ep12 of 32)

Businessman and demoted surgeon are reunited in a countryside village when he becomes a rescue worker for all the wrong reasons.

This one comes with plenty of mysterious childhood trauma and fate.

Gorgeous forest shots.

Park Hae Jin’s character has a soft side, but I have to say he often rubs me the wrong way with his attitude and values. Although he is changing. Jo Bo Ah’s is a lot more likeable, but I’m not in love either? BUT they have an interesting love-hate dynamic that I really like.

It feels like I can predict where the story is going and I’m not sure I’m going to like all of it, but we’ll see!

Chocolate (finished)

Mentioned previously.

I ended up liking it a lot.

The hospice setting was original, you don’t see too many kdramas speaking about palliative care. And if they do it tends to be about one particular character who’s dying.

Lots of food. Lots of heartbreak, which comes with the territory.

I loved the kids and their conversations with adults.

Lee Jun, who isn’t one of the leads, ended up becoming my favourite character. I found that I could relate to him more. Like, honestly I wrote a whole post about that and then I got self-conscious and didn’t publish it.

The romance at the centre of the story is somehow the least memorable thing for me, although there were a few great emotional moments. Usually tearful ones.

Terrius Behind Me | My Secret Terrius (finished)

Fugitive spy turns into the perfect babysitter for his neighbour, while investigating her husband’s murder.

I’d watched 4 episodes back in november, and kind of picked up where I’d left it.

It’s a lovely, heartwarming drama. Terrius with the kids makes for great comedy. That and the network of neighbourhood sort-of-spies, stay-at-home parents.

Go Ae Rin is a lovely, resilient character.

Yes there’s some big conspiracy and spy stuff but ultimately it’s more of a drama about two people dealing with the loss of a loved one in different ways, and learning that they can lean and rely on each other. (And their community.)

Find Yourself (ep19 of 42)

Supervisor and intern 10 years her junior begin a secret office romance.

Full disclosure: I skipped significant parts of these 19 episodes, that happens when I’m watching stuff really late at night and I need to know what happens next. Not before ep9 or so though.

The drama gives a great insight into the kind of pressure chinese women may feel to get married and have children by a certain age. For that reason, many interactions are very frustrating to watch.

So many characters dismiss He Fan Xing’s every accomplishment because she’s single, and I really want to slap some sense into them. She’s 32 but everyone acts like she has one foot in the grave.

Also very frustrating: the plot. As funny and entertaining as it can be, I get mad at the many misunderstandings and entangled relationships. I hate it when I can see the trainwreck coming episodes in advance. Maybe that’s just a “me” thing. It makes me anxious, which is why I’m currently taking a break from it. I think I’ll try to finish it though.

In a way it’s a great guide to what not to do in a relationship. I guess they’ll end up together in the end, but it’s not a smooth ride. Like, I hate how at some point she just assumes he can’t afford the gift he gave her and returns it without telling him! Girl, learn to communicate. There’s lots of lies on both sides tbh.

They do have chemistry though! Also Zhang Yu Jian from Le Coup de Foudre plays the main character’s brother and I enjoy seeing him in this completely different role a lot. I had no idea he had this whole range of facial expressions due to the fact that Yan Mo had a blank face 99% of the time.

My Holo Love (finished)

Lonely, faceblind woman ends up with expensive AI, falls in love with it. Unless it’s the hot human lookalike she’s into…

It’s only 12 ep, perfect if you like shorter dramas.

I can believe a human falling in love with an AI very easily, but the AI becoming sentient is usually were my brain draws the line. It’s still a very enjoyable drama. The hologram aspect gives it a fresh twist. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen this kind of relationship portrayed between an AI and its maker.

These are two very good-looking people. Not that the other dramas don’t have pretty actors but, just saying.

Best thing about it: it has a proper ending, which is a rarity for netflix shows. I hope they make more like this from now on.

#crash landing on you #extraordinary you #joy of life #kbs forest #jtbc chocolate #my secret terrius #terrius behind you #find yourself #my holo love #kdrama talk #monthly posts

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blaster-aichi · 4 years

Text

Cardfight!! Vanguard Extra Story IF 17—19 things

feat some overdue screaming

IF 17

said overdue screaming

Without the context of epi 19, Kourin’s reference to original memories stands out as incredibly peculiar. Miwa’s response, while fitting for anyone else, could have an entirely new meaning after the revelation at 19′s conclusion, we’ll get there in theoryland.

Never knew needed Kai-kun working part-time jobs but it has become a huge need, thanks writers.

That’s gay. But it does suggest that the possible ruptures in IF’s reality aren’t isolated to Shin and Kamui in the previous episode. It would be nice to see any other instances from the possible ripple effect.

pre-19: “oh this face is a mood”. post-19: “different character but hmmmmm”

With all the Legion Mate comparisons floating around from the get-go, Naoki’s method in tackling his regret is an intriguing choice against his past efforts. In Link Joker, Legion Mate and the second half of the manga/Reboot, Naoki’s objective was to make for his inaction going forward and earn Aichi’s forgiveness. If given the opportunity to go back and redo things, he may have taken it, though having heard from Aichi personally that he’s thankful for everything and everyone that he’s connected with as a result of how events played out, Naoki may not have had the heart to do so. Without that talk, it’s natural that, instead of looking ahead and atoning, Naoki’s turning backwards, it’s a neat contrast.

The series has always built up the relationship between Aichi and Blaster Blade but the relationship between Kai-kun and Dragonic Overlord is so precious, it’s a shame that it wasn’t delved into prior to the past couple of years. The notion of evolving circling the both of them is incredibly fitting, with the history they’ve had in both continuities and the duality of their approaches. (It might have been occupying thoughts a lot since, the scene was so poignant).

Between his soldiers attacking during their first (onscreen) attempt to reach the root of the problem and Emi’s subsequent admission, props to Aichi for isolating it and cutting it off to anyone that tries to interfere, hoping it’s a part of any explanation to his reality warping (assuming it was him, until today, it seemed the only viable reason).

The comparison between Naoki and Kai-kun had me believe the former might join up with the main party as a nod to being there by the latter from beginning to end of Legion Mate, being both characters harbouring regrets (if Kai-kun were to regret that his IF life takes away from the happiness of the Outside World characters).

I just really, really, really love this scene. That is all.

Bless for highlighting the irony in the KaiAi units being adversaries.

Did I mention this is joint-favourite IF epi with epi 7? It’s not, it is and here’s one of many reasons why.

Reason #57 why: the battle choreography.

“Aichi Sendou isn’t the one you want to save”. Makes you wonder who was out to save the object of their regret and who was out to save themselves.

For a moment, had believed Naoki was not-dying (Retiring?) and being returned to the Outside World, somewhat surprised it hasn’t been utilized more beyond the Ultra Rare teams diving into the Akashic Book from.

Very Soft Cardfight. That is all.

Somewhere, original continity Naoki is screaming.

Tell this to your Link Joker self, please.

IF 18

On the one hand, Kai-kun walking around in Miyaji (with or without the context of IF), on the other hand, Bushi Eats.

Probably due to cracks coming from him getting a glimpse of the original reality, but Shingo cares an enormous amount for someone who, just a couple of episodes ago, said all the products in Card Capital were going to make him lose his mind.

“Awful big brother”. Laughs with shovel. (Comparatively, he’s brother of the year.)

PEDAL FASTER.

Love how Masaki and Shinji are named to overlap with their brothers’.

He’s going to fucking murder you.

[Kourin voice] Aichi is tired. [Me voice] As am I of your bullshit.

Wingal took so much time to train that it was only on his third appearance that he didn’t attack anyone. Also soft? So very soft.

NO THAT’S SO CUTE DAMN IT.

I have so much to say about Aichi missing Emi but also she’s barged in twice and you blasted out our of the castle on both occasions. Bullshit.

Do not pull the Legion Mate with me, boy.

Is he super dissociated because how do you even in the face of this?

It’s not just that he shouted her name, but the tone of his voice shouting at her. Thinking about just how extreme it is in comparison to the Aichi she knows and has kept company is pretty chilling.

Just how aggressive Aichi has become within the IF World is alarming; on only two occasions has he let anger get the better of him and one of those two wasn’t so bad. If this is to play on how warped he was going into the fight with Ibuki, good play on the writers’ part.

Semi-related to the above; with exception of three characters (Emi, Rati and Voidkuto), Aichi’s always used honorifics, and attached one to Kourin’s name, so to hear him address her without one is jarring, for lack of a better word.

THE BIG RED FLAG: Aichi’s expression in seeing Kourin having acted of her own accord (and potentially disobey him) smacks of two things: — his perceived crumbling control over the Sanctuary Knights, coupled with Naoki and Shingo’s desertion (his lack of reaction to the latter is bizarre, as it lends itself to and could bolster his hatred of Vanguard) — insinuates he never had control, but was allowed to think that he did. There’ll be a section beneath 19, which itself does a lot to fuel the flames of this suspicion, that will consolidate thoughts and the theory that’s been brewing since this episode last week.

On the subject of 19, Miwa being so nonchalant and passive about everything makes a lot more sense.

Let the girls fight physically more.

UBW Archer Class Meme-y Dialogue tingles.

Naoki and Shingo holding down the fort is very sweet, particularly when Shingo was alone in that task last time.

IF 19

Alarm bells rings first thing in the morning.

The irony in past Ibuki preventing Kai-kun going to Aichi after the past dozen episodes, there are no words.

Odd that the caveat of meeting yourself from another point in time presents itself when it didn’t occur in the first two episodes, unless, at least in this case, it applies only to past events.

There’s trying not to yell FGO at things and then there’s brain yelling “Lostbelt!” at Ibuki.

Rekka and Ren’s appearances gives me hope they’ll resurface; the main characters and audience know where their target is, so would like to think word will somehow get to them. (Speaking of. Nome? Where the fuck are you during all this?)

Episode loves playing with unsettling sights, very fitting for messing Ibuki’s head around, but simultaneously, making it apparent just how much of a threat Kourin specifically is. — On a related note: Kourin beats out Ren, Leon, Sera, Voidkuto and IF Aichi to have the most nightmarish face and I Am Afraid. Give Aichi a face like that al you’ll irreparably wound my psyche.

Intense Vibrating. They’re setting up Ibuki’s Deleting Aichi is relevant, it was the only one Kourin didn’t touch on in the episode and I am burning.

How dare you montage their time together with that music and then cut to this!

Did everyone else forget Jammers were a thing or was it just me being dumb?

Everyday I relate to Kai Toshiki.

Just going to appreciate Kai-kun gushing over giant robots in the middle of battle.

Kai-kun!Blaster Blade vs Greion giving me intense flashbacks to Aichi watching Kai-kun’s image in Blaster Blade sacrificing himself to try and fend off Greion just before he got Deleted and SCREAMS. — Once that fight is brought up directly, if you listen, you’ll hear Rena screaming in the distance.

If there’s anyone who has no room to talk it’s Miss This Thirsty For Aichi. Also when did you two switch places of tease and teased?

“Oh shit, he’s going to Delete Kai-kun”. “Oh okay, false alarm, thank G—” “OH NO SHIT HE’S ACTUALLY GOING TO DO IT!” — On an actual note, seeing the three regrets prominent in this season all take separate routes is interesting; Shuka working to correct her wrongs in the present and moving ahead, Naoki trying to travel back and alter things from the point of origin and Ibuki being twisted to no longer feel regret, seek repentence and rather to repeat his actions. — Ibuki vs Aichi flashbacks intensify. — Also, mid-fall dab.

Double Agent Miwa is a blessing, who knew his acting skills were so good? Although the begs the question (if he was flat-out planted as a mole) how he earned Kourin and/or Aichi’s trust to become a Sanctuary Knight in the first place

IF 20 preview: HYPE! HYPE! HYPE!

Theoryland (Screaming):

Miwa being Takuto or Nome’s Outside World partner:

In both Rekka and Suiko’s cases, there was a companion venturing in alongside them, both of whom are friends of Kai-kun and the same age. Perhaps, Miwa may have been in league with one of the Tatsunagi brothers (having determined Aichi’s motivation and Kai-kun’s position in all this, calling on his closest friend to match the girls’ partners) through whom he gained insight into the situation and moved in order to protect Kai-kun; working from the inside to weasel information out of the others, understand how they operate, monitor their activities to keep Kai-kun out of their sights, (find Takuto, if with Nome) and maybe (find a means to or actively make an effort himself to) drag Aichi out of his current state. It may be that, instead of Sanctuary, his abduction of Kai-kun had the destination of a rendezvous with Nome until the girls’ interference and the entire incident went off the rails.

Aichi as a puppet king and Kourin the true human antagonist:

Since his expression in seeing Kourin on the offensive without his say-so, it’s been on my mind that Aichi hasn’t actually been in a position of power whatsoever throughout IF, but he’s been led to believe he is, and the act might be withering. As "original" memories factor into it and Ultra Rare’s were lost at the end of the main Reboot continuity plot, it’s possible they may be on the line as they were in Link Joker/Legion Mate. — As she’s aware there are such memories, it’s possible that they were triggered into resurfacing when Takuto appeared within IF World and encountered her and Aichi, leading to his capture and confinement, so as not to cause any further damage to the world fabricated. — Alternatively, she might be acting in order to keep the force (a Brandt remnant remains my personal suspicion) that has Aichi in his current state at bay. Her unease in seeing him hanging above the scene outside Sanctuary as she attacked the others might suggest that she was worried it could break loose, as she’s never been one to be rattled. This is why “human” was specified above, because whatever the case, any corruption in Aichi is evidently the overarching antagonist force.

Additionally, throughout the season, Kourin has been fiercely territorial around Aichi, speaking and acting on his behalf, while keeping the other Sanctuary Knights at an arm’s distance. She alone enters his private quarters, sees him in pain, and (no, haven’t given up entirely on the right eye thing, there have been other people around when he’s outside his Alfred form and it was visible) privy to any secret circulating him (as well as IF’s true nature), while keeping the others in teh dark. Her reasoning may be wanting to keep him under he thumb or prevent whatever’s inside/in control of him from running rampant.

And in regards to Ibuki, Aichi made the declaration about casting him elsewhere, but Kourin was the one who enacted it, and the sole player in manipulating him to switch sides. There’s no certainty that Aichi is even aware, much like he might not be conscious of Naoki’s betrayal. — Her being responsible for recruiting might also explain why Misaki was never a Sanctuary Knight: Kourin desired she have an ordinary, happy life, not unlike Aichi’s wish for Kai-kun.

In a truly ironic turnabout, it looks to be that Kourin is IF’s Sera.

#Cardfight!! Vanguard #Cardfight!! Vanguard IF #cfv spoilers #long post

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darkmasterkattsvault-arc · 4 years

Text

Some Help From A Friend

Who: Sam Arias & Lena Luthor (@chaoticscribblings) ft. Joss Rose

What: Sam finds out about Lena and Joss and comes from Argo for a visit.

Notes: Written on discord. I’ve never written Sam before. I never even saw her episodes, but this was needed. Enjoy.

"You're not dating me, or Kara, or Clark. WHERE DID YOU FIND ANOTHER KRYPTONIAN LENA?!"

“I didn’t find another kryptonian, they found me.”

"Only because you hired me." "You hired them, for what?!"

“Get your head out of the gutter, Sam. My Cyclone needed mending.”

Joss just snickering. "Okay. And how did that end up..." gestures between them. "I asked her out for drinks and she said yes?"

“Honestly, Sam, you act as if this is rocket science.”

"You understand rocket science, this is whatever the emotional equivalent is. I'm sorry but you've never been..." Sam deciding she really doesn't want to finish that sentence.

“Never been what, Sam?” Lena knew she was perceived as cold but she had hoped that her friends saw her otherwise.

"Emotionally available." "Sometimes it takes someone else being willing to bare all before you know it's safe to do the same. I hear not many people have ever deemed her worthy of such trust." Joss wrapping their arms around Lena all protectively.

Lena smiled at the way Joss defended her, it was still something she was getting to used to. “Did it ever occur to you that no one gave me reason to be?” she asked Sam. “That no one has ever been truly honest and open with me? Trusted me and never questioned my motives?” she leaned into Joss, bring her arms to rest across the ones wrapped around her

Sam held up her hands. "Hey, I get it, okay. It's just surprising, is all. I'm happy for you, Lena. But I'm still trying to figure out how you found a third Kryptonian living in National City." "Probably helps that I didn't know I was Kryptonian until after I met her." "What?" "I mean, I suspected after Supergirl came on the scene, but I didn't actually have concrete proof." Shrugs. "I didn't remember my life prior to Earth, because apparently getting space junk into a head wound that then heals is bad for your memories."

Lena chuckled, “I have no idea. It seems I’m a magnet for kryptonians.” She turned her head and pressed a kiss to Joss’ cheek, “But, kryptonian or otherwise, Joss would still be who I’d want to be with.”

"I'd say so." Sam just smiles. "You better take care of her." "She can handle herself. But I do what she lets me."

Lena smirked at Joss’ response, “Maybe you should be warning me instead of Joss, Sam,” she laughed.

Sam laughs. "Warning you to what? Let them take care of you? Besides, you're my friend, I'm just doing what friends do." "To be fair, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what my friend did." They pressed a kiss to Lena's shoulder.

“Warning mr to not hurt them,” she replied honestly, “though, it is true, Isaac did warn me. He was very sweet though. I’m more scared of you,” she directed at Sam, “than I am him.” A smile crossed her lips at the kiss, it was such a small gesture but it brought her such joy. She honestly didn’t think she’d ever felt so safe with another being.

"I'm confident that won't be a problem." Sam smiled. "Well, I should let you two catch up. I need to get back to the theater. It was a pleasure to meet you Sam." They pressed a quick kiss to Lena's lips before pulling away and going to leave, stopping at the door to the balcony. "Oh, and Sam, next time you see Alura, tell her I said she can go fuck herself." Cos bitter Joss is bitter after finding out they're Kara's twin which means Alura and Zor-El basically abandoned them. "Did..." Watches Joss leave. "So, actually related to Kara then?"

Lena frowned at the goodbye kiss, silently wishing Joss didn’t have to go back to work, and had to stop herself from laughing at Joss’ parting words. “Yes, it appears they’re related, why Kara had no knowledge of their existence is yet to be solved.”

"Think that might be a question for Alura. Given she's the parent in this situation. I could give her a call? Alex and I have been working on a way to keep a line of communication open between Earth and Argo City. It's a little unstable connection wise, and still in its experimental stage, but should work well to at least ask. Alex had been planning to surprise Kara with it."

“I’ll talk to Joss about it. They might not want to know and I’m not going to make that decision for them. However I will ask that if you do speak with Alura, you ask about the materials of whatever carried Joss to earth. The more I can understand about the fragment in their brain the more I can understand what potential damage it could cause if left where it is.”

"Of course. And I imagine it's of the same material the other pods from Krypton were made of, but I'll certainly ask anyway." She smiles. "Now spill, I want to know everything about you two."

“Which is why I need to know more. The DEO isn’t exactly going to let me look at their files.” Lena laughed, “You’re impossible. What’s there to say? I hired them to mend my Cyclone, they arrived to pick it up and I accused them of being a clone,” she still kicked herself for that, “but we talked, I realised they possessed far too much autonomy to be a clone and somehow they forgave me.”

"Right." Sam laughed. "Lena, you don't go from 'fix this dress' to bedroom eyes without a lot more happening in between. So there's a lot to know."

“There was no bedroom eyes,” Lena laughed, “you’re imagining things, Sam.” She shook her head, sure there was no denying that there was something between her and Joss but she didn’t think bedroom eyes were happening, at least not in front of Sam. “Joss called to ask me out for drinks,” a sly smile tugged at her lips, “they called from the office balcony.”

"The way they look at you might as well be." Sam chuckled, shaking her head. "Well that's one way to ensure a date. What happened after that?"

“You’re crazy.” Lena gave her friend a look that was the non-verbal equivalent of ‘duh’, “We went for drinks, what else usually happens when someone asks you out for drinks?” She laughed. “We talked. A lot. We talked about fashion and they understood my views on it rather than looking at me like I’m crazy. We talked. A lot. Learned a lot about each other.”

"Well yeah, that's how real dates work. But you're telling me that's it? That, that's all that happened between you two and now you're here? I imagine one doesn't get accused of dating Supergirl THAT easily."

“Apparently I do,” Lena laughed, “but as far as accusations go, I’ve been accused of a LOT worse.”

"Do I even want to know how Kara handled that information?"

“How do you think she handled it?”

"She didn't?"

“She really didn’t. I had to yell at Joss to turn off their inhibitors.”

"Wait, they got into a fight?"

“Joss ended up with a busted lip.”

"I think they're lucky that's all that happened."

“Why do you think I insisted they turn the inhibitors off?”

"The better question is did they?"

“In the end,” Lena had genuinely worried that Kara would cause Joss serious harm had they not turned their inhibitors off. “It was a lot to deal with.”

"So they started a fight with Kara, with power inhibitors turned on... Did Kara attack first? What the hell happened?"

Now there was a loaded question. “Kara instigated it.” That was definitely true, she’d come in and started throwing accusations. “Joss defended me. Which was dangerous. Kara had no idea if Joss was human, kryptonian or anything else. With the inhibitors, Joss is as good as human. Kara could’ve killed them.”

Sam shook her head, rubbing her temples a bit. "So, let me get this straight, Kara attacked you, Joss defended you with inhibitors on and had to be persuaded to turn them off despite fighting someone who could otherwise kill them?" She sighed, this was wilder than reality television.

“Kara attacked me verbally,” Lena pointed out, “but Joss didn’t take too kindly of the things Kara was saying, to be honest neither did I...Joss defended me as a person, Kara fought as an alien.” The more she spoke of it, the more it hit home just how dangerous it had been for Joss to do what they did. “Joss doesn’t use their powers, at least not often. A fight to them is the same as any other person getting into a scuffle. But Kara isn’t just any other person and yes, I needed to remind Joss to turn off the inhibitors before they sustained a serious injury but using their powers goes against how they live their life.”

"That's... wow." Sam could relate to that, it's why she'd gone to Argo City. To live a normal life without fear or worry of what trouble her own powers might bring. She couldn't imagine living on Earth, wearing power inhibitors day in and day out just to be seen as any other person. "It's certainly noble, but extremely stupid of them. Which I'm sure you've told them."

“Noble and idiotic,” Lena agreed. “But I’ve seen the effects of them not having the inhibitors on,” she sighed, Joss had been so drained and she understood why they wore inhibitors all of the time, “the sooner Kara and everyone else gets it into their heads that Joss isn’t a threat to them or anyone else, the better.”

"I imagine it's overwhelming. Even I'm starting to feel it and I've only been under the yellow sun for a few hours." Sam shook her head. "Now I know why Alex was on guard when I mentioned wanting to come for a visit. You'd think they'd have learned by now that not every alien is a threat but when you start treating them like they are they have a tendency to become one but that, that still doesn't prove the point."

“How long are you here for?” Lena asked, Sam was quite possibly her closest friend, they’d been through so much together. “It wasn’t even that they were treating Joss like a threat, Joss actually seemed to be handling that part pretty well. Kara accessing me of being just like Lex, accusing me of creating a clone,” that had hurt more than she cared to admit, even with those who claimed to see her as more than Luthor were quick to accuse her of evil doings, “Kara didn’t let either myself or Joss explain, she went straight to accusations. I’m not saying Joss fighting her was the right thing to do, but...Joss doesn’t care about my families history. I’m not Lex or mother. Luthor is just another name as far as Joss is concerned.”

Sam found herself scowling. After everything Lena had done, the good she'd done, they were still on as if she was just her family name. Had the Reign incident taught them nothing of human nature and the way choice can ultimately outweigh everything else? "So much for compassion for all, eh?" She shook her head. "I can't say I wouldn't have done the same for you. Because Joss is right."

"Compassion for all unless they bear the name Luthor," Lena corrected dryly. Honestly, it was tiring trying to constantly prove herself, to show that Luthor was just a name and not who she was. "Right or wrong, Joss could've gotten killed," she countered, "and that is something I couldn't live with." She was not worthy of dying for. "Now we have to figure out how to keep off of the DEOs radar, stay away from Kara and Alex, and figure out just exactly is lodged in Joss' brain and what damage it's caused and if it can cause any further damage." Lena was thankful for Sam, she was the only one that Lena could be honest about this situation with who not only would listen but had the capability of understanding the situation from her point of view.

"Or an alien you know about but they don't." Sam shook her head. It seemed Alex, Kara, and the DEO were reacting to Lena knowing about Joss the same way they'd reacted to Lena knowing about Reign, and yet Joss was literally just trying to live their life. "Well, if you're right about them just wanting to live their life, then I can't see them ending up on the DEO's radar, except for the whole flying thing, but even then, if Kara can use her powers like that, Joss should be allowed as well, but have them keep an extra eye out. Alex and Kara might be a little harder, though. As for what's in their brain, I'll get up with Alura, though should I actually pass Joss' message along?"

"That would require them trusting me and despite what they say, they will never truly trust me. It doesn't matter what I do or don't do on that one, Lex tried to kill Superman." Lena knew why it was hard for Kara to trust her given what Lex had put her cousin through but it hurt that she felt Lena capable of doing the same thing to her. "I don't think they fly all that often," she chuckled, "unless they're asking someone out for drinks. Right now, both Alex and Kara can get stuffed. They're treating Joss the way Kara would've been treated if it hadn't been for the Danvers taking her in." Lena paused for thought, "Yes. Joss has been on earth for years with no idea where they came from, pass the message along, maybe it will provoke Alura to reach out and fill in some blanks for them. But get the information I need first, the last thing we want is for Alura to withhold information because she's angry at Joss."

"Ah yes, that." Sam sighed. It was ridiculous, honestly, the way they treated people sometimes. Sam nodded as Lena said they didn't fly often but couldn't help but laughed. "Ah, so they only fly when coming to see you?" She mad a small noise of interest at that. Willing to die for her. Willing to be more than just a person for her. Lena certainly meant something to Joss, and that was something was a lot. "I'll certainly ask first insult after. Though lets hope we get more than just her anger out of all this, for Joss' sake."

"Yes, that." The issue with having the Luthor name was that the reputations of Lex and her mother were very much like that of a shadow, you could never truly get rid of it. "Don't start," Lena laughed, "it was one time, ok? And I told them off for it because what if someone had seen them?" She nodded as Sam spoke, "Please do. For some reason people tend to be less forthcoming when you insult them." A sigh left her lips, "I really hope so, Sam. There's so much that Joss doesn't remember. I worry that there's something important there and they don't even know it. Not as much as I worry about whatever is in their brain and what potential risks that carries."

"Did you ignore the fact they left off the balcony or?" Sam chuckled. "Though, except for Supergirl, anyone seeing would think it was Supergirl, or Superman, but given what the press thinks... They can probably get away with it, as long as it is only every so often." Honestly, Sam couldn't blame Joss, coming and going through a window was probably way easier than possibly running into someone in the building who thought they might be Kara. "Unfortunately for you, right?" Sam teased. "Yeah, I'll definitely do what I can. Ruby sends her love, by the way. Though she's not happy I came alone, as she wanted to come see you, but with the way Alex was on edge I thought it best not to bring her. Now I'm going to get an earful about it. Though while I'm here maybe I can get you on with her and I won't be nearly as disliked."

"I said I told Joss off, I never said they listened to me," Lena laughed. Visits to LCorp were often the time when Joss would come and go via the balcony, it would only ever be a problem if Kara decided to do it in plain clothes rather than as Supergirl but even then, Lena would know the difference and not just because Kara and Joss wore completely different styles of clothing. "If people were honest I wouldn't need to insult them in the first place," she countered. "I miss Ruby! How is she? I miss you both so much. I hate that we live on different planets." Had she said that to anyone else it would've been one of the most bizarre things she'd ever said. The mention of Alex caused Lena to close off a little. "Yes, well, Alex thinks I'm harbouring an alien clone of her sister and that at any given moment there's going to be an attack. I'd point out that Joss actually knows of Maggy Rouff but I feel that would be totally lost on her." She rolled her eyes. "I'd say I'll come visit you both but somehow I don't see Alura welcoming me with open arms given my reputation. Yes, call Ruby, and I can tell her how much she should give you hell for not bringing her to see me," Lena teased with a laugh.

Sam chuckled a bit as Lena spoke. "This is very true. And Ruby is good, adjusting rather well. She's got friends and all that. Miss you and the others, of course. I hate it too, but it's so much better there for me, y'know?" Sam noticed the way Lena closed off and sighed. "It would be lost on her. And yeah, I don't know how well a visit would go, but maybe next time I'll bring her with." She narrowed her eyes at the teasing. "Ugh, well, I need access to a computer and preferably one that can't be traced, and I can get that set up. I don't know if you want to do that here or at your house, but I can let Ruby talk and then just have her get Alura, do it all in one go and you can feed me questions to ask her."

"As much as I miss you, I'm so happy for you, Sam. Having a place that's better for you, a place where you don't have to worry about keeping Ruby safe." Lena meant it, she was genuinely happy for Sam but that didn't stop her from missing her friend dearly. "I think it would be better if we went to mine. As much as I have secured this place, it's nowhere near as secure as my home and we also won't have to worry about anyone interrupting or overhearing something they shouldn't."

Sam smiled. "Thanks, Lena." She nodded a bit. "Yeah, probably for the best. I normally wouldn't require a secure line but we're avoiding the DEO so, better safe than sorry."

"There's a reason no member of the DEO has been inside my house." There was also reasons as to why she regularly checked her house to make sure that Kara hadn't been sent in with bug. Lena had long learnt to not trust those who do not trust you. "Plus, there is wine at my house," she laughed, "if you think I'm letting you leave earth without even having a glass of wine with me you are sorely mistaken."

Sam nodded as Lena spoke, she could understand that. She couldn't help but laugh. "Because what would time with you be without wine?" She teased, standing. "Now lets get out of here." September 15, 2020

“Boring?” Lena laughed. “How did you get here?” she asked as it suddenly dawned on her that Sam didn’t exactly have many earthly positions now, not that she needed them. “You won’t be abandoning a rental if you ride with me, will you?”

"Sure, let's go with that." Sam chuckled. "Uber, so no, I won't." She'd set up a system that kept her bank account and cell number active, and likely would for a good number of years. Just long enough that, should something happen and she need to return to Earth, for good or just an extended period, she'd have access to funds and a functional phone.

#u: chaoticscribblings #m: joss #v: lost child of krypton joss #m: sam #o: lena (chaoticscribblings)#ship: to be our own heroes

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almaasi · 5 years

Text

reaction post typed while watching SPN 14x14 “Ouroboros”

conclusion: yes, apparently feet can look gay, and Dean and Cas are both queer by proxy

04:35pm

me: still v magnesium deficient, sick, dizzy

LET’S WATCH A THING AND THINK ABOUT IT WITH MY PUDDING BRAIN

any thoughts stated here are run through a pudding filter so please do not be alarmed if they are incoherent or a weird colour

okay it’s a Steve Yockey episode so i guess he’s gonna give us a great character and then kill them before the title card

04:41

hang on i need to eat and i can’t eat and think at the same time so i’mma go watch an episode of shaun the sheep brb

04:46

okay well i watched half an episode and ate half my food so,... yay

LET’S WATCH THIS OTHER THING THEN

04:48

sam’s “i believe in us” *PUNCH* still makes me laugh

04:49

the body on the AAAAAAAAAAAAA I’

M SCREAMING NOPE NOPE NOPE

can i just watch this whole thing with my hand over the screen

because that is what i’ doing rn

oh god i hate this

actually you know what

i just skipped to the title card

cause fuck that haahahhaah nope

oh lord it didn’t skip to team free will

how much of this do i have to take

oh okay tfw are here already

WELL GREAT NOW I HAVE TO FIGURE OUT WHERE TO SKIP BACK TO

ASJFSDFHSFHSJ

04:54

i fuckin love rowena and how much they ask for her help even though they’re “enemies” except they’re clearly lowkey Fond of each other

also i like how this ep started in the middle of the case

04:56

rowena: “hello castiel” ;) ;) ;)

okay well

this pleases me

because i know the only way this ends is that cas is not interested and that’s the Point

because he <3s dean

but also why the hell is rowena into cas....... surely she knows he loves dean. unless she’s just into starting shit, i wouldn’t be surprised

04:58

the way jack says “i’m not dying”

10/10

04:59

cas: “he’s now claimed the lives of six people in northern new mexico”

why does he say “people” like that

05:01

dean’s throwing a looooot of salt at rowna. maybe because she keeps flirting with cas

“everything means something”

YEAH EXACTLY

DEAN’S SALTY BECAUSE ROWENA’S FLIRTING WITH CAS I’VE DECIDED

05:03

sam says dean can keep michael locked in his head “because he’s dean and dean is dean”

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah okay

expert closet curator, you mean

05:05

dean has a good feeling about bringing rowena in on this one??????????????? after all the snark????????????

cas: “they do have many books”

me: *squINTS REALLY HARD* i feel like they’re implying something else and neither of them are talking about the same thing. did dean set sam up on a date with rowena????????????

also?

DEAN AND CAS ARE ON A DATE. DEAN AND CAS ARE ON A DINNER DATE IN A DINER. ALERT ALERT ALERT

paralleling rowena and sam perhaps

05:08

concerned head tilt

oh god their love and mutual understanding and trust in each other is killing me with its softness

i’m so so so glad we get to see them in some downtime at fucking last

05:10

oh no jack’s coughing again

why can’t he have nice things

05:10

dean: “that’s what i’m supposed to say, right? i’m fine? keep on moving?”

cas: “no, dean”

the fact dean lets his guard down only with cas in private ;~;

sidenote, this episode is giving me my bloody valentine meets hunteri heroici vibes, which is nice because they’re two of my all-time fave episodes

but god i wish it would go easy on the cannibalism

05:14

dean: “i’m barely even sleeping” :D

THAT PAINED GRIN OH GOD

but also

i’m so emotional because he told anyone at all, but especially that of all people he told cas

of course he told cas, cas is his emotional sounding board

if this were a fanfic cas would offer to share the bed with dean and help him sleep

....but i mean, who knows, maybe dean was secretly hoping for that anyway

05:19

that’s the face of “dean doesn’t know what liturgical means”

05:22

jack: “what’s an av club?”

cas: “it’s a special club for people who do not play sports”

dean: *points at cas* “him. he’s av club”

mmmmmmmm yup

autistic nerd

dean’s baseball and track team, cas is av club and student tutoring

but also if dean ever got cas onto the baseball field cas would hit every ball first time

and dean would be swooning

BUT ALSO DEAN WOULD FUCKING LOVE AV CLUB ARE YOU KIDDING ME

he’d be in there with charlie every fuckin day and leaning seductively on furniture while cas does his nerd thing, until the point where something properly capures dean’s interest and then HE WANTS A GO and bats away everyone else’s hands and hogs the contraption for 3 hours. also he’d fix things when they break

DEAN TONE DOWN THE PROJECTION A NOTCH WOULD YA

JEEZ

look i’m just gonna count dean calling cas “av club” as flirting, because hello yes there is no way dean doesn’t find that interesting

05:30

i fucking knew it

the moment this episode opened and i saw the guy’s bare feet in the kitchen somehow i knew he was queer ??????????

i can’t explain it

but the fact there was a shot of his feet and his feet looked gay i can’t even

anyway this probably doesn’t even count as legit queer rep given he’s seducing guys and killing them so

stupid gay feet

sidenote: did ANYONE else get queer vibes from that opening scene? CAN PEOPLE’S FEET LOOK GAY OR IS THAT JUST ME

maybe it’s like... the sensuality of bare feet + cooking, breaking pointless gender roles n stuff, my brain has been coded by society’s bullshit to perceive sensual men as non-heterosexual

idk

but also. the foot-upward view of a new character... male gaze, right? and seeing the male gaze on a male character makes it queer

goddamn

it’s a thing

it’s a thing and the directing got the point across and it took me until now to work it out

GAY FEET

also

now i’m going back to cas’ line “six people”

my initial understanding of that line was that they weren’t all men

but the thing was the people didn’t need to be said that way if it was just men and women

my immediate instinct said the victims were non-binary, but i didn’t type it because i had no reason yet to believe that might be true and it seemed unnecessary to say it

but at this point, as the baddie hits on a guy at a truck stop in exchange for a ride, they’re clearly potentially queer victims

yeah that explains the inflection

05:41

on the one hand, i’m seeing a connection to that time dean was seduced by a siren

but see my problem with this is that the guy’s either gonna end up dead or saved and i don’t know which yet

i just want happy queer stories

so i’m pretty divided about this

but on the other hand, please, god, let this gorgon guy “sense things” about dean

ALSO WAIT

IS THIS THE FIRST GAY KISS ON THIS SHOW?????????? 90% SURE THIS THE FIRST GAY KISS. there might have been a background one once

PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE

EVEN IF IT’S EVIL AND TWISTED AND MAKES ME FEEL WEIRD

05:44

i feel like there should’ve been an optic nerve attached to that eyeball.. and a lot of gross stuff

but also thank goodness there wasn’t

ohdfjfdg i really hate this

but also i’m smiling?

05:46

cas: “is this amusing to you?”

the guy called him sir!!! eeheheh

05:47

cas: “you’re not standing alone, why doesn’t he mention me?”

dean: “maybe you’re not his type”

i mean. guess he can’t see angels. BUT ALSO

CAN WE UNPACK HOW UTTERLY QUEER EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS IS

WE NOW UNDERSTAND THAT NOAH’S TYPE IS QUEER GUYS

AND DEAN KNOWS THIS

SO BY SAYING CAS ISN’T NOAH’S TYPE THAT MEANS HE’S IMPLYING THAT HE HIMSELF IS

BECAUSE HE’S QUEER AF

steve yockey, this is the episode i was waiting to see from you

team free will working a case together, dean and cas on a date talking about their feelings, on a case about queer stuff

hell fucking yes

05:52

rowena: “need anti-venom in case one of you boys gets sloppy”

wouldn’t that mean noah kisses either cas or jack

god i’m so glad rowena’s there too

this episode is great sdgsfkg

05:53

ROWENA AND SAM FAKING A RELATIONSHIP + A DOG OH MRJGJD IFUCKING LOVE THIS

WHERE DID THEY GET THE DOG

WHERE’S THE BIT LATER WHERE DEAN AND CAS ~FAKE~ A RELATIONSHIP PLEASE

05:55

OH MY GOD THE VET STUCK A THERMOMETER IN JACK’S ASS

OH MY GOFH D:

06:00

noah: “then he doesn’t have to die like all the other men”

hmmmmmmm

okay so all the victims were men

which makes me even more curious about why cas used that inflection on “people”

cas also looked like of amused? definitely a misha expression rather than a cas expression, the little lilt of a smile on his lips like the way he says any word starting with “h”

maybe some of them were transgender men and cas didn’t know them before they died so could only guess as to their gender? maybe some of the bodies they found were not gender-conforming

it also kiiiiind of sounded like misha changing the script after a discussion on set about it

but if that were true then that means someone on set doesn’t believe gay or queer men are men? maybe? maybe i’m reaching there

but i’m genuinely caught up on that inflection and the use of that word, it really stood out to me

and it stands out especially, now, because like i said, we know the victims were men, we know team free will found them all, and we know they were queer.

but also it’s not dean saying it, it’s cas

and i can’t imagine any scenario where cas would have trouble with non-binary pronouns

if anyone has further thoughts on this, please direct me towards them

06:23

my browser broke?? and i lost a chunk of this post, but i had the above stuff backed up in email

i'mma go back a bit and try and remember what i typed

idk i think it was just about the fact noah confirmed all his victims were men which further confused me

and then said he also eats ladies

and then said some feminist stuff which made me sad that it came from the bad guy

but also that i could imagine cas saying something similar, deadpan, and then reaching for dean’s burger

* schmooch *

whEN DOES DEAN GET TO DO THAT

06:28

okay YES

I KNOW WHAT I WANT TO SAY

NOAH SAYS HELLO TO DEAN

WHY JUST DEAN

WHY IS HE FIXATED ON DEAN WHEN THERE’S 3 OTHER PEOPLE IN THE ROOM? and why only write the letter to dean?

I’LL TELL YOU WHY

BECAUSE DEAN’S BISEXUAL AF

AND YES HE IS HIS TYPE

REPRESSED “STRAIGHT” MEN WHO SECRETLY LIKE GUYS

CAN THAT BE ANY MORE OBVIOUS?? I THINK NOT

i love how this episode refers back to some of the older episodes, in the best possible way

conclusion: dean is bi

06:32

noah took the bag with the snek inside but i guess the snek esckep

06:34

maybe true love’s kiss will wake dean up

CAS QUICK

MIGHT AS WELL TRY RIGHT

06:40

hurts my heart how cas has apparently made peace with the fact he’ll outlive dean and sam

i guess it’s good but

can’t help but believe deep down he would rather die than live without them

and now i’m crying because cas says the point is that you got to know them at all

suddenly catharsis for future pain

06:47

oh NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAGGIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS THE WORST

06:47

rowena as michael??? okay, that i can get behind

ooh

BUT ALSO

OH NO

06:49

michael (about dean): “it didn’t work out. it was him. not me.”

flip of a classic dating line, making this QUEER AGAIN

06:55

JACK THE LIL HERO

WHAT DID YOU DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

//waits for the silence to be over

06:56

oh boy

06:57

OKAY WOW

WHAT AN EPISODE

i was really hoping it would turn into a plotty one, the way changing channels does at the end

this was really well done and i enjoyed it a lot!!!!!!!!! i mean, besides the squicks, and the fact the queer rep and feminist lines came from a bad guy

dean was 100% noah’s type

jack is the bestest baby bean

i feel so bad about the thermometer thing..... like, i’m not sure if it was meant to come across as funny? but there was no indication it should be... which is good i guess? but also i feel secondhand violated

DEAN AND CAS’ DATE AND TALKING ABOUT FEELINGS WHEEE

i like that this episode actually came full circle on that “dean vs michael” point, rather than having it be a one-off conversation and things aren’t resolved until a later episode

i think i’m gonna enjoy rowena as michael. and i like that she said yes because she does care about team free will

sad about maggie :c

but also all those other extra hunters were changed out pretty much episode so there was no real way to know who they were. they seemed pretty diverse though, across various episodes

i liked the asian lady vet!!!! she was fun. and i’m glad the asian gay guy didn’t die... where did he even disappear to though? who knows

overall 10/10? it had all the good shit i like so. yep.

I WANT MORE EPISODE LIKE THIS. QUEER CHARACTERS (PREFERABLY NOT EVIL), MORE ASIAN CHARACTERS, MORE TEAM FREE WILL ON HUNTS, MORE LADIES GETTING COOL ROLES AS PART OF THE TEAM AND/OR AS AN FRENEMY, MORE JACK SAVING THE DAY

MORE ROWENA IN PANTS

yeah

but more of all

MORE GAY KISSES FOR DEAN AND CAS

i love that the fact noah was fixated on dean put him in the “noah’s type = queer” category, and when noah kissed cas it did the same thing

so really, by evil proxy, noah made a point of showing us who’s queer

i mean we already knew

but HE SHOWED US

yee

no conclusion on why cas said p e o p l e though

#14x14 #ouroboros #spn spoilers #Steve Yockey #season 14 #Elmie watches things #post of postiness #Destiel #my meta #meta #Dean is bisexual

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incarnateirony · 5 years

Text

Narrative grounding

It’s not really particularly this-side-or-that, but I’ve started to really come to grasp just how much having two viewers that don’t auto-partner their ideals in show-viewing ... helps.

You’ve all heard about my wife. Dean stan, formerly all for brother booze and cars, but at least recognized Cas was important to the dudes by late season; she was an outright anti until the last year, when she took a terrible dive into the dumpster.

For years my defenses of shippers actually came from already being geared, within the house, to discuss it and keep her tamped down on her frustration there, and honestly recognizing how many issues were personal, internal, and so on that cleared themselves up once she got past those internal issues. Honestly that was a bigger drive to me than Destiel, which I more understood/tolerated surfacing in my game and defended people’s narrative integrity over before taking the tumble in, myself -- but it was the persistent real-world problem dialogue that was really something I wanted to help dial back. And eventually, it did. And she got over a LOT of personal, real world internalized issues herself. Next stop Dumpsterville.

That all said, I’m also now the rudder putting my hand up and going “Calm down,” or “Slow your roll” when she decides This Is The Year They Gon Kiss or whatever, which she was CONVINCED was the season 13 finale and I was like, Shea, honey, baby, I love you, but dial it back a bit.

She used to get frustrated with the old Destiel-tilty original Dean player in our game years ago, but later came to recognize it was actually her hating the internal writing style laying all his issues bare because it was... pretty personally hitting. And so on. Plus her other issues. But I could even her out from that. At the same time I can even her out from expecting They Gon Do It Right Now.

And it doesn’t really stop there. It’s been wild seeing her slide, but this last episode with Davy, she said she felt uncomfortable with the final Sam and Dean speech and actually threw that towards elements she would blame BL influence on and I sort of headtilted. Because wow, this coming from her was wild.

You see, I get that angle, the “only Sam could convince-” angle, I get the sentiment behind it, and the mirroring and layering. Before it ever aired I clapped about the 5.18 goodbye tour and throwbacks, and those throwbacks also included conversations between the bros to similar effects, as did the next few episodes. But Cas has evolved past throwing Dean around in 5.18; he’s had the MoC battle season 10 and, when arguing failed, took the hits and gotten thrown around for it without raising an actual hand against him beyond restraint.

Now, this isn’t MoC Dean, but the situation is ripe with parallels of the internal threats, of throwing yourself to the moon or the bottom of the ocean, of Death’s Ultimatum. Dean isn’t going to open up slinging on them but he’s committed to what he currently *perceives* to be the course of action.

And Dean’s option really doesn’t bode WELL for Cas, perse, but you know, he’s kind of immortal and can kind of hear him anyway -- which I’m sure long term if this actually happened, would suck muchly -- but Cas’ reservation was about watching Dean NOT burn the world, NOT turn into a monster. He’s going to barter, he’s going to try to convince him, but if Dean absolutely felt it was the road to go to keep people safe, he’s going to let him take it.

The same reason he spaced himself from everyone while making the box, because while they’ve gotten better about their circle jerking over this kind of thing, habits are habits, and Dean is literally trying to end this stupid cycle. Last time it required putting Sam’s head on a plate so he didn’t. At this point, no such head on a plate. And frankly, as I’ve told people before, I disagree with the fandom analysis at large on that S10 moment anyway, because acting like double suicide is somehow a better non-codependent option is pretty wild.

But here we are, not needing to murder a loved one, just taking every step to break the cycle before outside events inevitably fuck it up excessively.

It’s not really that Cas couldn’t convince Dean; in the same season that it defaulted back to Cain/Abel and defying that fate (and thus not getting thrown into space, that everybody keeps chattering about in parallel), we had Cain/Colette and he defied that with a look and passivity (thus also breaking that and not killing his timeline-progress-Colette).

It’s that Cas wouldn’t. He wouldn’t raise a hand, he wouldn’t just go out of his way to disrupt the process, he’d look into Dean and see the conviction there -- no Mark, no selfish drive, none of that as anything powering him, just the whole Blitzkrieg the World -- and you know. He couldn’t.

He’ll still reason and try, the same as with MoC Dean. I have 0 doubt on that. But it’s more of a wouldn’t/couldn’t, and questioning where exactly that line draws.

So back to the poit of my OP, once I sat and had this chat with her, she went. “Oh. Yeah, I mean, I guess. Wow, you’re right.” and moved on, no weird bitterness continued.

Which I feel is a gift this household has. We can actually, like, discuss and compare ideas and moments before the full volatility of digital fandom has a chance to seep into our brain cores and it levels out extremism in any direction.

And... that’s really the point of the post. Seriously, find a brainbuddy that’s willing to have different points of view than you but able to more share back and forth, and you’ll manage a fairly broad viewing experience.

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sylph-feather · 5 years

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Curiosity Made The Cat

Summary: ...And there was not much satisfaction to be had with that, unfortunately. Shinichi becomes a cat rather than a little boy when taking the poison. This changes... surprisingly little, actually.

Ao3 | FFN | Tumblr

Chapter 1: Curiosity (P1)

First (Here) | Next

When Shinichi was given a burning poison and woke up as a cat buried around swaths of clothing, the description “surprised” did not even begin to cover anything he was feeling by any degree. Shock and disbelief swirled around, mixed with a sprig of panic. When his new tall, triangular ears swivelled around to hear police officers tromping about, he merely acted on instinct and was off like a shot.

Kudo ran in a daze, watching the too-big city slide by until he reached his elaborate gate. And then he paused, looking up-up-up at the fancy and way too high brass handle. Kudo would’ve facepalmed, had he had palms to do so with. Instead, he looked despairingly at two little black paws attached to sleek legs attached to a fluffy body with a white tummy and an awful, awful TAIL— and he was so SMALL—

Oh wait.

He was an idiot. A genius idiot who was now apparently drugged as all hell into thinking he was a cat. If he had to play along to get his mind to do the proper actions, then…

Kudo slipped through the gate bars to his house, presented with the next challenge. Thankfully, this took less time considering he could easily use a tree branch to poke the garage code in and duck under the gap as it ground open.

Shinichi decided that it was time to shut his brain off and sleep off this stupid trip given to him by whatever cocktail the robbers had mixed, figuring that the goal was to make him a less reliable witness considering the bizarre hallucination. Well, it certainly worked— if he was hallucinating he was a cat with complete realism, who was to say that his hazy memories of the criminals were right? Already this would’ve been called into question by the head trauma, but full on hallucinatory episodes caused this close to a crime rendered much of what he had to say moot, even to himself; how could he trust his analysis if he thought he was a cat and was clearly concussed?

And with that, the cat conked out.

xXx

When Shinichi came to, it was to the loud yelling of one Mouri Ran.

The cry of “SHINICHI” was soon followed by loud stomping noises and a dramatic flinging open of his bedroom door to reveal herself. To say she looked mad was an understatement.

“Jeez Ran, calm down,” Shinichi said. Or, tried to say. Instead it came out more as a disgruntled meowing sound, which made him freeze up.

Ran was going off on a tangent in the background of Shinichi’s desperate attempts to analyze how the drug should’ve at least worn off some-- and yet he still perceived himself as a cat.

She was talking about how it was adorable how Shinichi saved stray animals and cared for them, and on and on about how he was secretly soft and all that junk. Normally Shinichi would deny these claims of softness, but he had a bit more on his mind, and no real way to deny it.

She startled him out of his mounting panic by scooping him up and scratching his back.

“What are you in for?” she wondered allowed, running her hands through a shocked Shinichi’s silky fur. He was even more shocked when her hand continued down his lengthy and apparently fluffy tail.

“Oh, it must be this!” Ran chirped, placing a hand on his signature cowlick— Shinichi distantly wondered how he still had that as a cat— and ran her finger down a trace of dried blood from the head wound. “I don’t suppose you know where he is, do you?” she continued rhetorically. “Guess it’s my job to take care of you then!”

xXx

One shoddily placed bandage and a head scrub he was not going to think about later and Shinichi was on his way to acceptance.

Somehow, the poison had truly turned him into a cat. Great. Just great.

There was an explosion outside. Also great, another perfect addition to his perfect day. Shinichi hopped onto his balcony railing, peering over at the smoking rubble of his neighbour’s house. The smell was poignant, far more than usual, and Kudo wheezed as his tiny cat throat tightened in response to it.

Well, if Agasa didn’t kill him with another of his “inventions” (Shinichi was more tempted to think of them as “bombs”) it was possible he could be the man with a cure, or at least have some sort of connection, right? He was a scientist, no matter how shoddy.

With that somewhat reassuring thought in mind, Shinichi leapt off the balcony and clumsily ran out of his house, tripping on all four of his feet.

xXx

Right. The communication issue. That was something he had to worry about.

In his defense, Shinichi had a lot on his mind the last few minutes, having just processed and accepted being a cat .

His ear twitched at Agasa’s labored breathing, the old man reeling from attempting to catch him as he darted right through the rubble and into his house. Thankfully, Shinichi’s instincts seemed to have kicked in, turning his clumsy dodging into a nearly vertical sprint up a bookshelf. The tuxedo cat glanced down at the man, and then noted the difference in height between himself and the ground.

Communication first-- he’d cross that bridge when he came to it. Or, maybe not cross. Maybe just jump off of it, considering he was a cat now— though… that was high. He’d figure it out.

Shinichi stared at his paw while Agasa panted at the base of the bookshelf, hand resting against it. The cat flexed his paw a couple times before the claws finally popped out. Well, this was as good a spot as any to carve a message, especially since it was somewhere Agasa couldn’t immediately grab him and toss him out.

“HEY!” Agasa barked, jumping to attention at the sound of shredding wallpaper. “Cut that out! Stop!”

Kudo did not stop.

Agasa began to shake the bookshelf angrily, which only ruined Kudo’s kanji and made the cat hiss in frustration.

Then the bookshelf fell.

Agasa performed a desperate dive and slide to side, and Kudo desperately dug his claws to the wall, making a terrible shredding sound as his fall was slowed. Well, he hadn’t needed to throw himself off that bridge and pray to land, at least; it had collapsed for him.

Kudo glanced back at the toppled professor apologetically, then up at his message— thankfully only the last stroke of the final character was ruined, having been turned into a huge scrape that marred Agasa’s wall and served to slow his decent. Shinichi gave a look at the old man while shaking bits wallpaper stuck between his claws out, wiggling each stubby toe.

Agasa’s gaze flicked from the cat to the scratched message. “I AM SHINICHI.”

He blinked once. Twice.

And then he just started laughing, and shot questions of how? and why?

Shinichi gave a pointed meow, demonstrating that he couldn’t very well answer those questions, cutting the old man off. Agasa stared at him for a moment before scooping him up and blabbering some genetic theories that Shinichi didn’t have the energy to pay attention to. Instead, he just focused on mentally denying his situation from the humiliating spot in the middle of the professor’s arms.

Kudo just hoped this whole ordeal was a very bad dream— or at least temporary.

#Detco #detective conan #fanfiction #detco fic #fic #cmtc #quill

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 5 years

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Morose Mononokean II 4

Aw, another little fuzzball to steal away my heart? I’m being spoiled, aren’t I?

For some reason, this episode was meant to be really emotional, but I felt pretty restless while watching it. Probably because I was thinking about playing Merc Storia all that time.

Mob Psycho 100 II 4

Didn’t expect Shinra to be back after his previous appearance…

Notably, you’d expect Matsuo’s name to have the kanji for “pine tree” in it, but it doesn’t - it has the kanji for “demon” and then one more.

I loved it when FLCL and SGRS went into manga mode, but for some reason, the transition into manga mode didn’t land as well here…hmm.

“I’ll go inside her…With an out-of-body experience.” - That sounds majorly wronggggggggggg, Mob, y’know? Even with context.

I find it interesting Mob perceives himself to be naked…as in, unguarded. He’s fine as he is and doesn’t need to change…in some ways, anyway. He could probably do with a few more emotions, but you get what I mean.

Wha-wha-wha-whoaaaaaaaaa. You mean, Mogami just got rid of Mob’s powers??? That is a nasty cliffhanger!

My Roommate is a Cat 4

Just seeing Hiroto near Kawase’s armpit…so unfazed…it’s kinda funny, but only mildly.

Tuxedo cat…ergh. The differences between American and British English never ceases to trip me up…I mean, the term makes sense…it’s just the differences between the types of English I’m annoyed at.

If you observe the OP, you’ll see Haru has that collar…I’m not sure if that’s meant to be a spoiler then…

Haru basically has the mindset of Kaguya and Shirogane, which makes this hilarious (and yet it’s still justified due to being a believable mindset for a stray!).

S-Smug dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get out of the way of Haru-chan!

Shield Hero 4

“Draw your swords!” – Wasn’t there a rule saying Naofumi can’t use a sword anyway? Plus, Motoyasu has a spear, not a sword…

Balloon? Now, that’s funny!

Using magic to intervene is the cowardly action, methinks, Myne.

I find it interesting Naofumi sees Raphtalia as a little girl – it’s a perception of vulnerability, potentially weakness – when things are shown through his perspective.

Falling Through Starlight is beautiful, y’know that? Be-a-uuuuuuuuuuu-t-i-ful!

Magical Girl Spec Ops Asuka 4

Interestingly, Francine kinda looks like Mami (Madoka Magica).

Wait, is this woman Miura? (Sorry, I’m just wondering why Abigail – the blonde evil magical girl – would choose to use yakiniku to threaten people…)

Oh dear…it’s that train question (save one or save many).

Neding authority before you can actually do anything legal…now that sounds like Double Decker.

“Chef”? I was mortified when it came to the rusalka scene…but I think we already know why Povar is a chef…

CQC? Close quarters combat? Ooh, I’ve never heard it abbreviated before.

Well, I like how Povar and Rusalka Man (can’t spell Russian to save my life) always keep their salaries in mind. Makes them easier to see as evil.

Egao no Daika 5

Oh, this series has two moons? Kind of like Double Decker’s two suns, yeah?

I just realised Lily’s the only one with a skirt on her suit…

Morose Mononokean II 5

I don’t think I’ve seen a Fuzzy-centric episode ever since the first time we met the furball…

That hand on neck thing is apparently a CIA technique if I interpreted it right…just, it’s applied to a purple/white lion, so it’s hard to tell whether it’s the real thing…

Fluffy tadpole is best tadpole. All fluffy things are cute to me, even the lethal ones…I guess.

Seriously, if someone doesn’t call the animation of the Executive sakuga, I don’t know sakuga! That crow is some fancy animation!

Hanae’s mother is scarier than most youkai, given she can give me a nasty jump scare!

Mob Psycho II 5

This episode’s called Discord…which maks me think of the chat program of the same name…weird, huh?

Notably, it’s Dimple’s voice coming from Mob’s mouth…hmm.

That episode was real cool…it’s too bad by turning off the volume at the wrong time, I missed the Sajou no Hana song…

My Roommate is a Cat 5

Roku, Nana, Hachi…haha.

I noticed Haru has smaller eyes than Hachi…aside from the collar of course.

Aw…reunion too cute. I honestly think that this show has a fairly effective use of “filling in the gaps”, as it were, and thus making good use of cuts.

Double Decker! EX 1

Yep, we’re back with Double Decker!!! I’m glad to see it back, really.

Wait…ohhhhhhhhh. So Double Decker! doesn’t just refer to the bus in this show or the system. It means “2 Detectives” in Japanese (in a codeswitching sort of way). It was wordplay all along! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! I get it now!

This Deana assassin stuff must be a lie…

(after the commercial break) C’mon, Kirill, buddy. You’re drunk, y’know that, right…? Right??? Update: Oh, not drunk, dreaming. My mistake.

Oh, I was just saying that My Roommate is a Cat dos a nice job “filling in gaps”. Didn’t realise Double Decker did it as well. Also, how the heck is Doug unpopular with women???

So…Kirill actually got hired based on his feminine looks? Geesh, that Travis…

The thing I missed about this show was not being able to play the ED after an episode, so I’m glad to have it back!

Spec Ops Asuka 5

Having Kurumi fix up Nozomi’s arm kind of erases the consequences…but that’s what Kurumi’s for, right?

Barber Scissors…? Is this what happens when you take Kill la Kill way too seriously?

Wowee. Din’t think Sacchuu was capable of dealing nasty punches as well.

There’s gotta be some sort of parallel between Abigail and the queen vs Asuka and Kurumi…

Post-credits segment. Keep watching.

Shield Hero 5

Headbutt to the nuts! Oof!

When it comes to races, the one tune that comes to mind is one from the Dog Island (track 22 from this YouTube playlist).

I swear there was CGI during the race…on Filo.

Please don’t make jokes about Naofumi liking lolis, people. This is not that type of show…

Mononokean 6

Is it just me, or has this epiode been relying on the use of blue speech bubbles for humour more than normal?

It’s Mononokean: Sports Anime edition!

For some reason, I find the name “trashboat” hilarious. It was probably just “ponkotsu” (piece of trash) in practice, but the variation in English is really something to behold…

Ashiya sleeps like an old man, LOL. It must be cosy in that bed…

Moja is just adorable in whatever scene it appears in! Even Moja being dragged down a stream is cute~!

Relaxing your shoulders, huh? That reminds me that that’s a destress technique I haven’t used in a while. My head’s been spinning while I was trying to watch this episode, so I should probably get back to trying to do that stuff…after this episode, of course.

Price of Smiles 6

You think Spec Ops Asuka looks bad? Look at Price of Smiles melt in this “Yuni! You should recover!” scene.

For some reason, this one dude (I forget his name) being a father surprises me. He looks like the type to be single…

The female version of the name “Noel” is Noelle…get that right, people!

Layla’s right when she says one of the main causes of war is the struggle for resources and wealth.

Mob Psycho II 6

I noticed instead of a Mac or something, the computer is a “One” computer.

The board says something a lot more complicated than Saitama’s routine…which means One likes exercise. Maybe…probably.

“Codomo” phone, LOL.

The last time I heard of tofu in anime that I remember…was Boueibu. Something about Ryuu killing a man with tofu.

Somehow it didn’t occur to me until the eyecatch was over but the block…was tofu!

How do you even get drunk when there’s no alcohol in the drink??? (LOL)

Oh! Shinra again!

…Also Jodo Kirin!

Shield Hero 6

Naofumi is giving 0 f**ks about the dressmaker’s love of Filo.

Why is Filo CGI…? It looks unnerving, to be honest with you.

My Roommate is a Cat 6

Eleventh grade…16? 17? Heck, Yugo looks 27, not 17!

Notably, “Comic Polaris” is the name of the magazine that publishes the manga of this. Hence “Novels Polaris”.

Heck, Subaru. In the internet age in particular, people write to affect others. I should know, as someone who did just that just a few years ago!

Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine movie

Yay, we’re back! Crunchyroll bringing over movies is definitely increasing my workload for these commentaries, so with all the new things I’ve added to my lists of priorities as of late, I wonder if I can keep up…

Hitting us with CGI in the first minute of the movie…oh man, how far does CGI go these days???

Honestly, in my brain Wagner (Classicaloid) = the twins (this movie) = the Beppus (Boueibu LOVE! LOVE!). They’re very similar in terms of personality…

In the same way, Bruno = Schubert from Classicaloid (but swap one’s Sensei for the other’s Senpai).

Licht = Motz.

It seems like someone liked ponytail!Licht enough to keep him here. So it really wasn’t just me, huh?

Seriously, what’s this “God of War” stuff anyway???

Man, vocal exercises? This takes me back to my piano-playing days…I was a sightreader and only had to do one of the two (out of sightreading and vocal stuff), but there was someone else who had to do both.

This piano is bugging me. Its white keys are black and its black keys are white!

Somehow, Heine’s small top hat suits him. It’s probably because he wears a small beret in that same position usually.

More CGI background characters…*sigh*

Hmm…soft power at its finest(?)

Seriously though, why did that evil Duke guy appear in this movie again??? He has zero use plotwise. Sure, he was important in the first season and if we ever get a second he’ll be important there, but here? Nada!

Have you noticed Heine is in all those dance positions a girl would normally be in??? Hmm! Interesting! But still…if there’s one thing I ever missed from the anime’s experience, it would be-oh, scratch that! This is my cue to watch the cheesy live-action dance ending! I missed it so much!

Egao no Daika 7

Seriously…who is Eins talking to??? Whose emperor???

They still haven’t revealed what this new guy’s name is, even after his introduction…well, technically he was introduced at the River Deese, but we still didn’t learn his name then. (Did we?)

Spec Ops Asuka 6

Is Mia just this show’s version of Kyouko (from Madoka Magica, but American of course)???

Oooooookay, that (with the kissing and stuff) is so not what foreigners are like, people…

Oh, goodness. Have I really been living with this stuff (girl x girl teasing, with Kurumi in particular being one of the more extreme examples I’ve seen) in my magical girl anime for years now? I mean, Suite PreCure is laced with the stuff…

If ordinary rigor mortis business is at work, then I’d say the heater is to speed up the rotting of the corpse…

LOL, there’s Halloween-class…and then there’s Voorhees-class…how appropriate for Disas.

“Only one of the Magical Five would’ve known about that phrase.” – My bets are on Peipei, but we’ll find out for sure…someday.

Mononokean 7

As much as I found the pillow fight scene with Fuzzy in it funny, I swear Abeno is a bit too sadistic for my own good. What is it with some women and their sadistic kinks…?

Abeno calling Ashiya “hunk of junk” makes me think Ashiya isn’t much of a Sousuke (from Classicaloid), but they do have a lot of similar character traits, now that I think of it…hmm.

For some reason, I think Abeno knew the conditions of the deal and what the deal entailed in advance, hence the training camp.

Seiza…means sitting on the floor in the position Ashiya was in (knees to the floor etc).

Mob Psycho II 7

“Cheeseburger Tornado”, LOL.

When Reigen got angry at the TV, I was just like, “It’s Shield Hero (Mob Psycho version)!” I.e. you con the conman and not turn the conned into a conman…or something like that.

Those microphones are so obviously CGI, people…

I know I’m a fan of Yuzuru Tachikawa, but episode 5 actually didn’t do too much for me, to be honest (even though it was visual spectacle, which is Tachikawa’s strong suit). However, while episode 7 looked less punchy overall, it was miles better…

“First-press limited edition? That is the absolute best decision.” – What is that referring to??? Update: It’s referring to the BDs...or DVDs...or both.

Update: Forgot to add Double Decker to the title and tags.

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steveneveral · 6 years

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RIP Anthony Bourdain... (6-10-18)

I was completely shellshocked when I saw the notification on my phone about Anthony Bourdain’s suicide. I have two main things to say about it.

First, how I became a big fan of Anthony Bourdain:

I remember watching his show ‘No Reservations’ on the Travel Channel back in the day. I was a kid stuck in a shitty town in America, with the insatiable desire to get away from that place. When I came across ‘No Reservations’ one day, it was like a revelation. I remember watching a few episodes, and just green with envy at what he was doing: travelling to all sorts of countries in the world, interacting with the people, and eating the local food. He was what I wanted to be: an expert traveler.

It was watching his show, specifically a show he did about Singapore, Germany, and France, that made me want to travel around the world. I was a broke ass 18 year old, but I had a way out of that shitty American town: the US Army.

I wanted to join the military to travel, and boy, did I! I was on active duty for seven years, and spent a total of five years, two months overseas in one capacity or another. When I refer to this, I always say the idiom, ‘Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.’. I got an extremely lucky first post-basic training and Army technical school posting: Germany. I was 19 years old, about a year out of high school, and now I was in Germany! I look back on it to this day and am still stunned about how it happened. (It was likely some paperwork pusher in some Army administrative office that is responsible for this, but I digress.)

Anyway, once the jet lag wore off, and the novelty of being in Germany wore off, I started exploring the country on the weekends. I saw all sorts of amazing places, met all sorts of weird, interesting, and amazing people, and ate all sorts of incredible German food. Once I figured out the German high-speed train system, I took it to Austria, Switzerland, France, The Netherlands, and Belgium. There was no way you could keep me on that military base on the weekend, I just wanted to see more of Europe in my limited time there. It was a similar case when I was sent to Korea in 2009. I traveled all around Korea, and even managed to make a trip to Japan, which I am planning on doing again.

Secondly, his suicide...

I have been near this abyss before. It is a tempting exit, and while there was one point in my life that I looked into that abyss, I thankfully didn’t take it.

I’ve seen all sorts of snide and misinformed comments online about how someone like Anthony Bourdain could take his own life, only seeing his character on TV, thinking that they personally know him through the TV, some people even thinking that he was somehow murdered.

A common comment was, ‘Why would he take his own life?’

Listen, depression is a motherfucker. It doesn’t care about how successful you are, or what good things are happening in your life. If it can take Robin Williams, Chris Cornell, and Chester Bennington, it can take you, too.

I’m not going to go into the time I considered suicide, since it’s a bit of a long and depress-o story. But I have been depressed in my life. I still struggle with the latent depressive thoughts from time to time. It’s not easy, but I know that I can find ways around it. It’s hard, but I can keep it at bay, at least.

I heard a really good analogy about depression, and I think its perfect: “Depression is basically your brain bullying yourself.”

It really is.

There is so many reasons why someone could become depressed. Maybe it’s the ‘wiring’ of their brain, maybe its some sort of event or perceived slight against them in their day-to-day life.

If it was just as easy as ‘Just cheering up’, then there would be no depressed people. No matter how well you think you know a person, no matter how well you think you know what someone else is thinking, you will never really know what is going on in someone’s head. It’s one of the reasons that I am super cool to everyone that I initially meet, especially when I am emceeing my open-mic.

I’m at a place where there could be someone who has never performed on a stage before, and it was super-hard for them to work up the courage to even show up, much less perform. If a performer doesn’t want to perform, or needs more time, I am super understanding of it. I will accommodate them. When they do perform, and get a positive crowd reaction, I love seeing the look on his or her face when the audience is clapping in approval. I’ve seen a lot of depression get knocked away on that open-mic stage.

But you can never really know what’s going on in someone’s head. Just assuming you think you know them and what someone is thinking shows how little you understand about people, in general.

If someone you know seems a bit down, don’t be afraid to talk to them. It might be the thing that snaps them out of that funk, even for a little bit.

(1-800-273-8255. Seriously, if you’re thinking about suicide, or just need someone to talk to, call that number.)

#anthony bourdain #suicide #musician #traveler #no reservations #global traveler #life thoughts #life story #thoughts #1-800-273-8255

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37h4n0l · 7 years

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Oh great, so now a lowly anon can't even come to vent to the one person they think would understand their sentiments, because someone's going to feel offended and write you an essay on how it's 'not all YOI fans' instead of maybe, idk, acknowleding that there has to be something off about the fandom as a whole if so many people are already sick and tired of it (some even to the point of making anti-blogs, which I don't necessarily agree with, but at least can see where they're coming from).

And oh, about 91d being ‘hardly a brainpower draining masterpiece’ - sure, that is, if someone knows how to make a use of their brain in the first place, which apparently is too difficult of a skill for your average viewer, judging from how many people did not understand the ending or where it came from, completely misunderstood the characters, thought of Avilio and Corteo’s relationship as the central one to the plot etc. I guess your average brainpower may not be enough sometimes.

And here I am now, issuing an essay as well, because I want to express my position on this very clearly. (Massive longpost).

I’m sorry if my latest reply came off as hostile towards either side of this issue, I didn’t intend it to sound like that. For anyone to whom this is not understandable; this is about the fandom, which can many times be a big influence on how someone perceives the show as well. To put it in the simplest terms, seeing something over and over again everywhere makes you tired of it quickly, whether it’s about an entire franchise, a ship or a common fan theory or opinion. I will speak for myself; although I’m not as salty as you are, anon, I’m annoyed at how yoi and vikt/uuri are all over the place. Mostly when they keep appearing in other fandoms’ tags (the one where it went the furthest would be the ks tag, that hellish corner of tumblr). The ‘not all’ part is included in all this. If I decided to go after every yoi fan, I’d be going after people I like, followers and friends of mine.

I don’t think I have enough involvement in the yoi fandom to start denouncing its failures internally. I’m part of this weird group of people who liked certain things in yoi, maybe watched it as it aired, thought it was an okay-ish show but got over it quickly and didn’t keep obsessing. I think a line needs to be drawn between behaviour that simply pisses us off personally and more ‘objective’ problems (I put it in quotation marks to refer to things that are a nuisance to a wider group of people).

Things I personally don’t like: Vikt/uuri ship dynamics, simply because I’ve seen way too many ships like that already and I find them boring due to the lack of angst. Yk’s lack of character development and how the fandom still pretends there was one, as if it could be settled by simply making a stereotypically ‘nerdy’ character do a cool thing out of the blue. The way there’s a yoi or vikt/uuri AU for literally everything, every fandom and every ship. This fandom idea about vn and yk being yp’s ‘parents’, ignoring yp’s anger and disappointment towards vn and antagonism towards yk. I must emphasize how I’m not sitting in front of a computer screaming in utter rage at these things; it goes more like me sighing deeply and going like ‘not again’.

Wider problems: CALLING PEOPLE WHO DISLIKE YOI HOMOPHOBIC. I want to underline this at least thirty times. Calling yoi progressive, innovative and a pioneer of gay representation while hating on fujoshis and the yaoi/shonen-ai genre. Yoi is (sorry for putting it bluntly) a fusion between a sports anime and a shonen-ai, except the latter would at least have explicit gay romance, while the vikt/uuri kiss was declared by the author to be ‘up for interpretation’. SHIPBASHING, especially the one against otay/uri for it supposedly being underage. Spamming another fandom’s tag with complaints about how yoi is much better than that particular thing (coughKScough) even if it’s an entirely different genre.

I’m reserving a separate paragraph for the Crunchyroll Awards shitstorm. I don’t have a very definite position on anime awards in general and how they should be held (if there’s even an objective way to do that), and while my personal annoyance towards the CR ones persists, I’m not surprised it went the way it went considering it was based on audience votes. Still, calling yoi ‘anime of the year’ is a bit of a stretch. I would’ve personally worded it differently, maybe ‘most popular anime of the year’ or ‘audience favourite’ or something like that. The ‘art is subjective’ versus ‘quality’ debate is a very complicated one. Someone could say that since a lot of people liked yoi, that must mean there was something about it in which it exceeded other anime; and while it’d be hard to pinpoint what that is, we should consider that good PR plays a great role in this as well - being able to target the right audience at the right time and advertise in a compelling way. I remember the times before yoi was released, when all we had was the trailer including the infamous ‘only I know your true eros’ scene; plenty of people were already sold back then. Of course, when you have high expectations of something, you won’t start watching it as some overly analytical movie critic to nitpick every detail. People like their expectations to be fulfilled. Besides the overall quality, there are other things to argue about, and what is often brought up is the animation. Consider: if someone was asked whether yoi had the best animation in 2016, you’d expect them to admit it didn’t, wouldn’t you? And yet yoi won the animation award - by popular vote. We can argue whether it’s more fair to have a committee in the judging process, but letting the audience vote has a downside; mainly that votes won’t always be used as intended. Crazy hypothesis; could it, perhaps, be that a lot of people were emotionally attached to yoi and voted for it in every category? Popular vote is what leads to initiatives being cancelled when 4chan decides to troll them, it leads to Boaty McBoatface and things like that.

Now, after this huge rant, let’s move on to what happened in the 91d fandom. In my opinion, it’s not like people didn’t have the ability to understand - they didn’t want to. Simply because they perceived avil/ero (let’s censor this word as well for safety) as ‘problematic’ and preferred to ignore the role it played in the plot. It doesn’t elevate people who understood the ending above anyone, it just shows that somehow a lot of people have a very biased view on this - some for not wanting angst to exist, others for not wanting homosexuality to exist - and it results in a huge chunk of the fandom ignoring hints. If yoi was blown up by PR, 91d had the opposite problem; it’s hard to tell whom such a show should be targeted at, so they didn’t go with a precise demographic, they just released material and waited to see who was attracted to it. Is 91d for Fujoshis ™? The hints at gayness are too subtle for that. Is it for people interested in the plot and not the emotional side? How do you explain the last episode and the ending to them? Maybe this is also the reason why the fanbase is so unusually small. 91d is just hard to categorize, that’s the conclusion I came to - and people want it to belong to already existing tropes very desperately, which is where the reaches come from.

As for this entire discussion; anyone is always welcome on my blog to give their two cents on it, anon or not. All I want to avoid is 1) anyone attributing malicious intent to me 2) people assuming I think things that I haven’t explicitly stated.

#rambles #thank you anon #salt salt salt #anti yoi #crunchyroll awards #Anonymous

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jewishsunshine-cats · 7 years

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Perception (YOI)

*crashing and banging*

*dramatically thrown dishes*

*garbled swearing*

FOUR POSTS, PEOPLE.

Count ‘em, FOUR Yuuri!!! On Ice metas.

But I had another epiphany, in the shower this time, and thought I'd share. But first I'd like to point out I do have other things on the brain beside sports anime. I think about ending world hunger sometimes too.

So the theme of this meta is perception. Perception which, both preconceived and imagined, can color every part of our lives. Perception which has power. The power to completely change how we view the same situation.

And the power of perception is huge in YOI.

Let’s start at the beginning--the very beginning. What were your perceptions of the characters after watching the trailer, or hearing about it on Twitter, or from a friend? You see Yuuri, with his wide eyes behind his glasses, his plain clothes and you instantly assume he’s a wannabe. Someone who is mediocre but has secret delusions of grandeur. Then you watch the first episode and Yuuri confirms this. He even calls himself “mediocre” and “dime a dozen.”

So then Victor shows up and we all know how it's gonna go. Gold-winning skater swoops in and saves the day by working Yuuri to the bone and helping him reach his potential, a potential that no one knew he had in him.

But then you start noticing things. You notice how other characters, characters that know Yuuri, start talking about him. They talk about his stubbornness, his determination, his work ethic. They talk about what a big deal he is in the skating world. So then you do a little research. You realize that to even qualify for the Grand Prix how good Yuuri has to be. Actually, not just good. This is an international competition which requires you to be invited, seeded, and have a certain level of previous wins to even qualify. And Yuuri, with absolutely no help from Victor, makes it. So, how is any of that “mediocre”?

This is the first time we get the feeling our first perception was wrong. It is also the first time we realize how unreliable a narrator Yuuri is. And that's when we also realize that the misperception isn't just on us, it's on Yuuri as well. Because Yuuri perceives himself as “weak” and “mediocre” so do we the audience because the story is from his point of view. And Yuuri’s anxiety changes his perception of himself into something he's not. He is not weak. He is not mediocre. He is an amazing skater all on his own. He works hard. He is stubborn. For someone of his skill level, his dreams of winning to Grand Prix are already attainable. But it's his misperception of his own skills that make it hard for him to see that and he nearly sells that misperception to the audience.

Now backtrack with me to the beginning again. What was your first perception of Victor when you first heard about the show? Gold-winning skater, not just once but five times. This guy has been winning awards and gaining acclaim for his skills consistently for at least the last ten years. So clearly the guy is arrogant. Add in his good looks and you got a player. So, someone who loves himself, doesn't really care about others and is only there to help Yuuri because he was bored and is gonna get something out of it.

Jump to the end of episode one, and Victor showing up in the most flamboyant and self-assured way possible. Like, of course Yuuri wants him as a coach. He's well, him, who wouldn't? We get Yakov calling him selfish and Yurio calling him forgetful and single-minded. So if people who have known Victor for years are calling him that, selfish and single-minded he must be.

But again, you start noticing things. You notice that Victor actually seems interested in Yuuri as a person. Asking him personal questions, remembering what he tells him, and even going out of his way to meet Yuuri at his level. And even though he doesn't shy away from a little bite or hard truth now and again, you know one thing he never does? He never brings up his accomplishments. He never rubs his medals or winnings in anyone’s faces. He goes out of his way to be nice to his fans, chastises Yuuri for blowing off someone who looks up to him, and doesn't treat any of the other competitors as “beneath” him because he's won more awards. Victor is human and, of course, has his sins and vices like the rest of us but “self-absorbed” and “arrogant” don't seem to be two of them. We start to think that, maybe, Victor isn't such a bad guy after all. Maybe this did all start cause he was bored but at least he is trying to take this coaching thing seriously so maybe it'll all work out in the end for Yuuri.

11 out of 12 episodes are from Yuuri's point of view. So even though we start to realize how unreliable a narrator he can be, we can't help but let our perception of Victor, of the other characters, of the situation, even of Yuuri himself get colored by Yuuri's own personal perceptions.

Yuuri describes himself as mediocre, so therefore he must be.

Victor showing up is completely out of the blue. His motives may or may not be completely pure. Maybe he was just bored. Maybe as Yurio suggested he was just looking for fresh inspiration. But what if the motives are less pure, such as he saw Yuuri as a pity case? Or even something worse?

Yurio sees Yuuri as hopeless, talentless and should just retire. Why should he see him as anything else? There's no reason for Yurio, or even little Minami, to look up to someone like Yuuri when there are skaters like Victor, Chris, and JJ around.

Of course, we've already established Yuuri is not a mediocre skater but what about the others? Are they just more misperceptions caused by Yuuri's unreliable narration? Or are they true? We are left to wonder (or simply accept as truth) for awhile.

Until we get the bombshells that are episodes 10 and 12. And we realize how wrong our perceptions have been all along.

Yurio’s anger at Yuuri in episode 1 is not about his name, not really. It's because Yurio admires Yuuri. looks up to him, in some ways. And when Yuuri performs so poorly, Yurio, in the egotistical way all too common in the teenaged brain, takes it as a personal offense. Like, I complimented you and that's how you repay me? He wants Yuuri to do well, to do better, to prove he is someone worth looking up to. To be someone Yurio can hold up and say him. That's who is worth my time to be like.

Victor showing up is not out of the blue, like it first looked. It was at Yuuri's own request. Victor's forwardness wasn't arrogance, it was in response to Yuuri. Victor was merely responding in kind to Yuuri and how he treated him at the banquet. There was no assumption or randomness about Victor's decision. He planned it. He prepared for it. He had his old costumes packed and ready, he had his passport set, basic necessities (including his beloved pet) prepared for travel. There's even evidence to suggest he had been practicing Japanese to be able to converse with the locals who didn't speak English. Victor came because he wanted to. Because Yuuri asked him too. Because he was already on his way to being more than a little in love. But since Yuuri doesn't remember any of this, we don't perceive Victor's infatuation. We don't perceive that Victor was never out of Yuuri's reach. We don't perceive that Yuuri was the playboy in the story all along. But when we do, everything suddenly changes.

And the story we first thought we were going to get: the one about a shy young man who gets coached by his childhood idol. The story about a mediocre skater who blooms under the tutelage of a gold winning one. The story of the underdog who gets a second chance and gains confidence while at the same time teaching his arrogant, self absorbed coach to care about others. Turns into something else entirely.

Once we are finally able to strip away all the misperceptions and unreliable narrative we are left with this. A story about a young man who, due to chronic anxiety, is his own worst enemy. A young man who, despite all that, has worked and worked until he is one of the top figure skaters in the world. But somehow he is still unable to see himself as someone worthy of being admired or looked up to. Someone who he can't believe has caught the eye of his childhood idol, and not just because of his skating. This is the story of a lonely champion. A man who has been forced to play the part of the gold standard for so long he wants nothing more than to be human again. To love and be loved for being no one but himself. This is the story of a hormonal teenage who has been made to grow up a little too fast. Who has to think about his family and money when his biggest concerns should be things like school and getting being with friends.

This is a story about life and love.

This is the story of a Grand Prix figure skater who is finally learning to take the world off his shoulders, the adorkable gold medalist who loves him (and his fluffy poodle), and their angry but lovable adopted son who both admires and is embarrassed of the pair of them.

#Yuri on ice #yuri katsuki #victor nikiforov #YOI #meta #please stop me #i can't anymore #how am I still finding stuff from this show #still not over it #gah

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