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sleepingcrisis · 3 years

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@aavaros-aaravos wanted to know the appeal behind Tadashi/Reki so here I am!

Also this doesn't have to be taken in a shipping way, but if you want to that is totally fine! I personally don't ship them but people can do whatever they want.

So where do I find the appeal of their dynamic? Well pulling from the show parallels show that Reki most likely shared a lot of similarities to Adam when he was younger. Of course Adam appears to be much younger in the flashbacks but if it wasn't for... everything I think he would have grown to be some sort of balance between Reki and Langa (after all I could totally see Reki growing into the theatrics Adam has going on).

This isn't really about their similarities though. Instead I'm going to present how I would go about writing their dynamic since outside of a shipping sense (which is mainly nsfw content :/ ) I don't see a ton of their dynamic.

So let me present this to you!

Reki and Tadashi formally meet in the Love Hotel which yknow... amazing content for the shipping side of this lol, but —

Tadashi says some stuff there. He tells Reki to drop skateboarding. He tells him about the reputation skateboarders have as delinquents (which I think that this is definitely a jab at younger Joe, Adam, and Cherry) and how people generally don't make money off of it and can get seriously injured. His entire conversation with Reki is very similar to what Joe says to Langa before their beef, but while Joe clearly loves skating, Tadashi holds resentment towards it (my Tadashi/Joe shipping heart adores these parallels).

Anyway they have taken a character (Reki) who is on the verge of giving up skateboarding — something that makes him so happy — and put him in a room with someone that agrees with him. Then Reki disagrees with him. I love that.

Reki disagrees with him and tells him how awesome skateboarding is and has a passion for it that clearly Adam has/had but also a passion that Tadashi probably had at some point too.

Tadashi doesn't change his stance (obviously) but I got the sense that their was a hint of agreement in his eyes. That, yeah, his experience has been less then wonderful, but there was a time when he loved this too.

When Tadashi is handing Reki his invitation for the tournament it is hard to say if he is worried for Reki’s sake or worried that Adam will do something that could gain press (I suspect that it has more to do with Adam, but maybe it could be seen as a bit of both?). Anyway he tries to get Reki to decline and we all know how that goes.

By the end of the race Reki lost but Tadashi dropped out and let Langa take his place.

Let me just say: I hated that. I understand that they didn't have the time to have Tadashi race Langa, but the impact on Tadashi and Adams relationship? It would have been crazy to watch the two race and when we do get new content I hope we get to see more of the two skating together. While Tadashi had different motives for trying to race against Adam (taking it away) by the end of Reki and Adam’s race he has decided that Langa could teach Adam how to have fun... so his motivations have changed yet he still believes that Langa is better suited for the job???? What?

Anyway side rant over (sorta?) because when you think about it. With Reki and Joe out of the race Langa was better suited for the job because Tadashi doesn't have fun skating the way Langa does. (I just would have loved to see the impact on their relationship/dynamic if they had raced 😅)

Anyway after the show it is very much up in the air if Tadashi would ever want to attend S again or be around the others. He doesn't seem all that invested outside of Adam’s happiness/reputation— 🤔😏

So I like to believe that as Adam gets better and all that jazz he wants Tadashi included more because he wants to see Tadashi have fun too. The problem is that Adam can't seem to get Tadashi genuinely invested the way they used to be. He asks Langa about it and — when by some miracle the two idiots decide that a beef isn't the answer here — Langa decides that if there is any chance of Tadashi enjoying skateboarding again it is going to happen thanks to Reki.

So Adam asks Tadashi to give Reki pointers since, "Sorry pup, but I can't be bothered with the little Red. Snow bunny isn't really a teacher and I would lose my patience!"

Tadashi agrees since who is he to disagree with his master?

It feels like a chore. It feels like more work because it is more work. Reki catches on quickly too (especially since as of right now he isn't interested in an actual teacher).

Reki makes the claim that, "you don't actually want to be here man."

For whatever reason Tadashi tries to disagree (the "whatever reason" being that Adam asked him to keep the boy happy).

Reki sees through his bullshit and while he doesn't fight on it he has a new goal in mind: "if you are going to teach me to skate then I want you to enjoy it!" His new goal becomes making Tadashi like skating again.

Maybe Tadashi does and maybe he doesn't, but being around Reki certainly can be... enjoyable.

Okay this was a long post so to make a long story short: Reki is to Tadashi what Joe probably was to Adam.

#sk8 the infinity #reki kyan #tadashi kikuchi #tadashi #reki #tadareki #hasegawa langa #adam #ainosuke shindo #joe #nanjo kojiro

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lightsandlostbells · 6 years

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Druck episode 8 reaction

just making my way through the tumultuous lives of German youth! some of this is outdated since I fell way behind

Episode 8

Clip 1 - Hanna and Mia = so happy together

Hanna resting her head against Mia’s shoulder = awwwwww. Also cute is Mia hyping up her musical taste and getting Hanna to join in.

Here comes Alexander to ruin the moment!

For some reason it’s hilarious that he offers to sing with them. What if Mia was like yeah, let’s harmonize, show me what you got?

AHAHAHA OK, I know people want there to be a hint of ~flirtation and ~attraction on Mia’s part but you know, I fucking live for her just tearing into him and telling him off and that she’ll report him for harassment. Resounding applause!

On the other hand I cannot buy her falling for him in the slightest. By making her so firmly against him they’re making it an uphill battle convincing me that they’ll get together, especially since Mia seems perhaps the most outspokenly feminist remake Noora.

Hanna smiling and being like, “You’re so cool, Mia,” and Mia all like, “Thanks, I read this thing in an article about pickup artists using the wrong names for women to make them feel submissive!” And then the two of them happily go back to singing? This version of the scene is incredible.

Like Mia read some PUA bullshit about men trying to make women feel small, and she turned it back on a shitty man who treats women like crap! How can you not appreciate that?

Also I take back what I said previously about Mia and Hanna not being flirty compared to this pairing in other Skams. The end of this scene was total girlfriend goals.

Clip 2 - Nein, Kiki

Amira and Sam - the cutest. I would pay to see them operating that canine squad.

Well, I kinda hate Kiki again. That was a hell of a segue from her Amy Santiago-ing the party security setup to talking shit about Hanna.

I do love Hanna telling Kiki to drop it. I feel like we’ve begun to see more of a backbone on her. And Mia coming to Hanna’s defense, of course.

The reveal of the Hanna and Leonie friendship breakup is underwhelming compared to some other versions. It’s more focused on Kiki being an asshole than Hanna’s internal anguish. However, they did throw in one detail, about Hanna snagging Jonas at Sarah’s birthday party which I liked, because I’ve always wanted even more details about how they got together. I can’t remember, but did we ever hear about Leonie crying on Hanna’s shoulder while Hanna and Jonas were sneaking around behind Leonie’s back? Or is the implication that they hooked up at the birthday party and Leonie found out pretty soon, and that was that?

“Honestly, Hanna, you shouldn’t be surprised that everyone’s calling you a slut.” What the hell, Kiki. She delivers it so smugly.

Mia and Amira defending Hanna, I sure love these girls. And while Sam’s comment about “slut” being a compliment is not really the best thing to say considering the context, she was trying to be nice.

Mia also points out that it takes two to tango, it’s not just Hanna’s fault, and then Kiki says something spot-on despite her general unpleasantness in this scene - she mentions Jonas (not just Toilet Sam) for being a “slut” too, which I don’t think anyone in any of the Skams has yet done. I think it’s usually focused on the P-Chris character also being slutty? Not that I agree with the “slut” terminology specifically, more than I don’t think anyone ever singled out Jonas as a cheater, and I mean, I love him but it’s true. It’s not fair at all that the Evas have to bear the burden of the homewrecker label alone, especially when Jonas was the one already in a relationship.

Sam’s comment about “I don’t care about Jule, and Leonie is a bitch. And Jonas and Hanna are way cuter together” almost feels like commentary about the audience. Because that’s how it would be - we know almost nothing about Jule except she attacked Hanna, so who cares about her, and we’ve seen Leonie only through Hanna’s POV as an aggressive mean girl. And well, Jonas and Hanna are twelve kinds of cute. But of course that’s only one side of the story. Jule and Leonie are both wronged parties here and feeling hurt and betrayed for valid reasons even if they don’t express it in the best way. Kiki is right, Leonie is the victim here, whatever her other faults.

And again, Sam says this to help Hanna, it’s just not that helpful.

“In your Muslim gangster world, wouldn’t she have been attacked by acid by now or something?” WOW WOW. I sorta liked Kiki, but I’m definitely wanting to retract that statement.

Really, she unleashed that on Amira for absolutely no reason! Amira was just sitting there, not saying anything!

I think Kiki is lashing out like a wounded animal though. She’s trashing her friends with a viciousness that I don’t think Vilde had.

I love love love Amira though. Really, I would love to see S4 about her (with heavy rewrites, heh). You can tell that she’s really hurt by what Kiki has just said and needed a moment to compose herself.

Amira’s prayer alarm going off right then was a good clincher to that moment, a reminder of Amira’s Muslim-ness just to rub it in for Kiki, and probably to twist the knife a little for Amira, tbh. People will always judge her on her religion.

Also, great moment from Sam asking Kiki why she always needs to fight. It’s a big difference from Chris just sitting out this scene in awkward silence and trying to avoid conflict. But you can tell that Sam was trying to help out Hanna and perhaps neutralize the tension in this scene, she just doesn’t always know the right thing to say. I think it’s consistent characterization for her to ask why Kiki needs to be confrontational.

Lol, Kiki left her stuff behind when she marched out.

Clip 3 - Hanna and Jonas being sad together

Ahhh, it’s Jonas playing the guitar! Is that an existing song or just a tune he made up?

There’s a slight shift in context to having them sit in a bedroom (an intimate location) but far apart at first when they have this discussion, rather than in a public place like a skate park, but with seemingly less distance between them. The skate park is more like a neutral ground for them to meet. This is Hanna going into Jonas’ private space and being unwelcome. She knew it and started off putting space between them. It felt kinda uncomfortable.

Also, major props to the Druck team for making Jonas play the guitar, which is clearly something the actor does in real life, and not a skater just because original Jonas/Marlon Langeland was a skater. I like when they can adapt the characters to the actors’ strengths.

The Jonas actor is doing a great job of conveying his hurt, and not just because he has a guitar to air out his sads and to use whenever words aren’t enough. Hanna too - she looks still and like a shell of herself as he questions her entire character.

Nice detail about Hanna suddenly being into the bands Jonas likes, as a way to add support to the “she doesn’t have her own opinions” line of development.

This scene really got across the theeeeme/message and showed how hurt they both were - of course it’s not nice for Jonas to say that, but you can tell he’s genuinely confused and torn about what she’s doing and he’s not just saying it to lash out at her, and of course Hanna is devastated because it always hurts to be told you don;t have your own personality, plus Jonas just laid out the reasoning in front of her.

Clip 4 - Menstrual message

Lol, not that this is funny in context, but I think Hanna’s the only Eva who throws the note in the trash instead of dropping it on the floor? Good for her, that way no hapless janitor or other student has to come across someone’s period blood in the hallway. Though I certainly get the instinct to drop it, I mean ... ewww.

(By the way, am I the only one who has questioned whether this letter, in any/all iterations, was really written in menstrual blood? Not that I would interact with the letter long enough to find out, if it were me, but is it possible it’s just paint or something and was called “period blood” just to get some extra intimidation for Hanna?)

They kept in this conversation with Kiki which is good, though she doesn’t clarify that she’s left the party because she thinks the girls hate her. I think if you didn’t know the plot, you could assume even worse of Kiki and think that maybe she quit to rid herself of the girls, the school slut and the scary Muslim. Her departing lines to Hanna do feel rather brusque.

Clip 5 - Matteo trying to do damage control

The music sounded a little upbeat for what’s supposed to be a low moment for Hanna, though the lyrics are melancholy. But it cracked me up that Matteo’s presence was announced by what sounded like a skateboard and yet Matteo did not appear to have a skateboard.

I love that they have this conversation in person, though. Matteo sought her out to sit down and tell her that it’s unfair everyone hates her so much. Even though, you know … he caused it. But I think it’s a mark of how much he regrets his actions already.

I noticed he did the trademark Isak reptilian lip-licking at one point. Common enough gesture but I am always gonna associate it with that duplicitous Norwegian.

Matteo’s message didn’t seem to sink in during the conversation as much, with Hanna getting frustrated more than anything, but it’s great that he tells her it’d be a pity if she left right before he leaves.

Clip 6 - Hanna, Leonie, and Jule

We didn’t get the scene with the older girls, or with Mia/Amira telling Hanna that it was Leonie who hooked up with Sam. I guess because Leonie didn’t actually hook up with Sam in this version. Actually, it’s great that Hanna confronts Leonie without using the knowledge that Leonie made out with Sam as leverage; she just does it on her own in order to make her school situation more bearable.

Also, there’s no incentive for how the situation will impact the other girls, neither Hanna nor the other girls think the rest of the school is retaliating against them all for their association with Hanna. It’s just Hanna acting independently. Kudos.

As with the Jonas scene, we have Leonie sitting down against the wall closed off to what Hanna’s going to say, and Hanna at first puts distance between them but later tries to lessen it. This time a little more successfully.

Hanna talks about how at her old school she was the “fat girl that everyone bullied” - that adds a lot of pain to her backstory. In OG it was that when Eva switched schools, no one wanted to talk to her because of her accent and Ingrid was nice to her, I don’t recall any talk of bullying prior to that. This detail makes Hanna’s situation even worse. Especially if you think about she was planning to switch schools again this episode, and that this would be the second time she has switched schools due to bullying. At least I think that’s implied although she could have switched schools the first time due to a mundane reason, like moving. But it would also add some extra weight to Matteo’s talk about running away when things get difficult, and support why she would choose to confront Leonie on her own like this.

This is a pretty stark conversation with the lack of accompanying emotional music and the echo from the mostly empty room. Everything comes from Hanna baring her soul, basically.

Lol, Leonie just gets up and leaves at the end, which is fine, I guess. She’s not chased out by Jule about to beat her ass. Hanna discovers on her own that it was Jule who sent the threat letter, so good for her for connecting the dots.

Unfortunately they rushed this conversation with Jule, although at least they got the right points, with Hanna saying that she didn’t know Samuel had a girlfriend but apologizing for it anyway, and pointing out that it isn’t fair for Jule to be mad at her but not him. It was definitely disappointing that Jule wasn’t humanized that much, though, and that she walks away still having a chip on her shoulder, plus the reveal that it was Matteo felt forced.

I do love this closing song (”Devil’s Whisper” by Raury). A great RUN BOY RUN song to lead into Hanna realizing she needs to throttle Matteo.

General Comments

It’s too bad that they left out some very strong parts of the source material. For example, the older girls giving their wisdom to Hanna aren’t there at all, though I can see how with the changed context why it might have been hard (why would the older girls give a shit about ostracizing the kids working security at their party). Also Jule just doesn’t get the amount of time necessary to make us feel better about her. I think Druck has done a decent job of some of the Girl Power moments and those probably would have been executed well if giving the right amount of time.

Tbh this episode is full of material where that lays out for me why it’s good to have younger actors in these roles. They make so many mistakes and there are such little moments of hurt and frustration, and it just seems more real when you can fully absorb that these are kids.

I don’t speak German, so if I misunderstood something, feel free to correct me.

If you got this far, thank you for reading!

#druck reactions

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