#Rilakkuma BASIC Series

[himariakari]

サンエックスネットショップの「BASIC チャイロイコグマ リラックマ フラワーぬいぐるみ」で癒しと可愛さをあなたに

心地よさ、魅力、そしてコレクション性を兼ね備えたアイテムをお探しなら、サンエックスネットショップにお任せください。リラックマファミリーに新たに加わった「BASIC チャイロイコグマ リラックマ フラワーぬいぐるみ」は、やさしい雰囲気とぬくもりを感じさせてくれる素敵なぬいぐるみです。BASIC RILAKKUMA Flowerテーマの一部として、やわらかな色合いの花々に囲まれたチャイロイコグマが、あなたの心を癒してくれます。

BASIC チャイロイコグマ リラックマ フラワーぬいぐるみとは？

「BASIC チャイロイコグマ リラックマ フラワーぬいぐるみ」は、ただのぬいぐるみではありません。それは、癒しとやさしさを届けてくれる存在です。サイズは約165×160×85mm、素材はふわふわのポリエステル。どこに置いてもなじむ、シンプルで優しいデザインが魅力です。

このぬいぐるみは、サンエックスが大切にしている“日常の中にそっと溶け込むやさしさ”を体現しています。花とチャイロイコグマの組み合わせが、目にした瞬間、ほっと心を和ませてくれることでしょう。

BASIC チャイロイコグマ リラックマ フラワーぬいぐるみが特別な理由

1. 花をモチーフにした美しいデザイン

花のモチーフはいつの時代も人々に癒しと美しさを届けてくれます。「BASIC RILAKKUMA Flower」テーマでは、その魅力をチャイロイコグマと融合。やわらかな色調の花々とぬいぐるみの組み合わせは、インテリアとしても最適です。

2. 日常の中の“癒し”の象徴

このぬいぐるみは、「無理せず、ゆっくりと過ごすことの大切さ」を象徴しています。忙しい毎日だからこそ、リラックマやチャイロイコグマのような存在に癒される瞬間が必要です。

3. 高品質な素材と細部までこだわったつくり

サンエックスネットショップで販売されるアイテムは、どれも高品質。BASIC チャイロイコグマ リラックマ フラワーぬいぐるみもそのひとつで、手触りの良いポリエステル素材を使用し、縫製や装飾も丁寧に仕上げられています。

4. 年齢やシーンを問わず愛されるデザイン

このぬいぐるみは、小さなお子様から大人まで幅広い層に喜ばれます。誕生日やちょっとしたプレゼントとしてもぴったり。リラックマシリーズを知らない方にも、そのかわいさと癒しの力で喜ばれること間違いなしです。

カワイイ文化を愛する方におすすめ

「カワイイ」は今や世界中に広がる日本のポップカルチャーのひとつ。このぬいぐるみは、そんなカワイイ文化の象徴とも言えるデザイン。自分の空間を可愛く演出したい方や、キャラクターグッズを集めるのが好きな方にぴったりです。

ぬいぐるみコレクター必見のアイテム

ユニークで高品質なぬいぐるみを集めているコレクターの皆さんにとって、「BASIC チャイロイコグマ リラックマ フラワーぬいぐるみ」は見逃せないアイテムです。数量限定のシリーズで、希少価値も高く、コレクション性も抜群。

さらに、��のキャラクターたち（リラックマ、コリラックマ、キイロイトリ）と組み合わせてディスプレイすることで、統一感のあるフラワーシリーズコーナーが完成します。

プレゼントに最適な癒しのぬいぐるみ

プレゼント選びに悩んでいる方にも、このぬいぐるみはおすすめです。優しい見た目と手に馴染むサイズ感で、贈られた相手もきっと笑顔になるはずです。バレンタイン、母の日、誕生日、卒業祝いなど、あらゆるシーンで喜ばれるギフトになります。

正規品を安心して購入できる「サンエックスネットショップ」

サンエックスキャラクターのアイテムは、正規品であることが何より大切。サンエックスネットショップなら、安心して公式商品を購入できます。

シンプルで使いやすいサイトデザイン、安心の決済システム、日本全国への配送対応など、オンラインショッピング初心者でも快適に買い物が楽しめます。

BASIC RILAKKUMA Flowerの世界観

このぬいぐるみは、「BASIC RILAKKUMA Flower」シリーズの一部。リラックマやチャイロイコグマたちが織りなす、ゆったりとした“癒しの空間”がテーマです。シンプルでやさしいデザインを基調に、日常にそっと寄り添うアイテムとして展開されています。

おすすめの使い方・飾り方

デスクに置いて癒し空間を演出

ベッドのそばで眠る前のリラックスタイムに

写真の被写体として“ぬい撮り”に活用

ギフトボックスのメインアイテムとして

花や雑貨と組み合わせてインテリアコーナーに

ファンからの支持が厚い理由

忙しい毎日に癒しを届けてくれる「BASIC チャイロイコグマ リラックマ フラワーぬいぐるみ」。シンプルでやさしいデザインは、カワイイ文化を愛する人々やぬいぐるみコレクター、プレゼントを探している方すべてにおすすめの逸品です。

自分へのご褒美にも、大切な人への贈り物にもぴったりのこのぬいぐるみ。ぜひサンエックスネットショップでチェックして、あなたの毎日に小さな幸せと癒しをプラスしてみてください。

商品名： BASIC チャイロイコグマ リラックマ フラワーぬいぐるみ

サイズ： 約165×160×85mm

素材： ポリエステル

販売元： サンエックスネットショップ

シリーズ： BASIC RILAKKUMA Flower

キャラクター： チャイロイコグマ

[kthologue]

4:36am – gojo satoru

synopsis. satoru is dying (he has a fever) and he needs his darling wife (you) to nurse him back to health 

contents. fluff, lovesick!gojo, even in sickness gojo can still flirt, he yaps a lot abt marriage and he’s kind of perverted, but he’s just so in love why dont you just give him one chance?

notes. i tried to make this very shoujo-esque. cant have a good shoujo anime without a fever episode!  this has also been sitting in my drafts for a hot minute. enjoy yet another fic of me showering satoru with affection (sigh).

the cold wooden floors of your dormitory creak underneath your waddling feet. your sleepy haze does not deter you from the strong desire for a cold glass of water.

surprisingly, the usual dark communal kitchen is illuminated by the small lightbulb inside of the fridge. you hear shuffling of some items from the white icebox, removing any ounce of sleepiness from you. it was unusual for anyone to be up at four in the morning.

a tuft of white hair peeks over the refrigerator door, giving the culprit’s identity away.

“satoru? i thought you were still on that mission in sendai?”

the sounds of digging pauses. satoru’s rises to his full height, towering over the rundown refrigerator door. he gives you a crooked smile that you rarely see. it’s dopier than one of his signature cocky smiles.

“missed me? don’t worry, i tried to speed run it since i knew i had such a beautiful woman waiting for me back home.” 

you placed a hand on your hip, scoffing at his pathetic attempts to flatter you. a snarky response was about to fall from your lips, but a series of painful coughs from the lanky male stopped you. 

you recoil back to avoid his germs. “gross. are you sick?”

satoru sniffles, pointing his nose in the air. the same nose that was starting to turn pink from irritation. “i can’t get sick. it’s physically impossible.” 

“don’t be stubborn, satoru. why didn’t you call for help?” 

he huffs, eyes trained to the floor. “it’s too early. shoko’ll kill me for waking her up.”

sometimes you forget that satoru had an image to uphold. he was the great gojo satoru, after all. 

but if you don’t take care of him, then who will? and despite your disdain at the thought of coddling his ego, it was only basic decency to take care of a fellow peer (or that was what you’d like to convince yourself).

silently, you place the back of your hand to his forehead. you’re not surprised by the warm sensation that you feel. 

satoru’s hazy eyes watch as you move your hand from his forehead to his cheek.

you purse your lips in concern. with the way satoru was stubbornly denying that he wasn’t sick, you were nearly certain that he was indeed not fine. without warning, you grab the collar of his white t-shirt and pull him to your room.

“at least take me out to dinner before~”

“shut it.”

it wasn’t hard to get satoru to settle in your bed. in fact, he seemed giddy at the opportunity. while he was happy cuddling with your rilakkuma plushie, you came to two conclusions: either satoru had a wound from his mission that got infected, or he was simply sick.

knowing his pride, you lean towards the former.

the boy in question winces when you grab his shoulders to inspect the damage done to him. the sounds of furious pats and heavy breathing is the only thing you can hear over your rapidly beating heart as your hands run down his body to check for any injuries. satoru sucks in his breath when your hands cup his cheeks to loll his head to check for any damages done to that pretty face of his. 

his body tensing up doesn’t go unnoticed by you. your imposing hands immediately retract, afraid of inflicting any more damage on him.

“where is the wound?!” your frantic eyes meet his blissed out ones. 

satoru sighs happily, lazily grabbing your hands to bring back onto him,  “there isn’t one, this just feels nice.”

your chest angrily puffs up before you shove him into your soft mattress. he grunts, but you know it didn’t hurt.

“[name]!” he whines, rubbing the arm that cushioned his fall.

you cross your arms angrily, “you scared me!”

gojo mimics your actions, crossing his arms while weakly glaring at you. his efforts to intimidate you prove futile as he shivers uncontrollably, resembling a newborn kitten.

sighing, you delve into your closet, emerging with an oversized black sweatshirt that you toss to him.

he catches it with ease, a chuckle escaping while he inspects the sweater, “i never took you for the type to wear this.”

“....that’s not mine.” you give a nod in the direction of the men’s sweater. the sparkle of amusement vanished from satoru's eyes, coinciding with his jaw dropping.

his grip on the dark sweatshirt tightened while his head darted back and forth from you to the clothing item. “then whose is it?!” 

“suguru’s.”

you think that you’ve broken him when his face scrunches up in disgust. it’s laughable how his mouth had managed to stay wide open the entire time.

“sugu-suguru?!” he splutters. you slowly nod, careful not to make any sudden movements that could provoke him any further. “why– how– explain yourself!”

you cast an uneasy glance at the sweater, finding it challenging to summon any recollections of how you obtained it, especially with satoru's piercing cerulean eyes fixed on you. his scrutinizing stare has the power to reduce you into a puddle.

“well? go on,” he urges you when you stay silent. 

“it’s nothing, really. i believe it was from that mission i had with suguru a while back. somewhere up north. i had packed light and suguru offered me his sweater.” you tap a finger on your chin to recall the memory. “i guess it just slipped my mind to return it.”

“slipped your mind, huh…” satoru sniffles before letting out a sneeze loud enough to wake up japan. you nearly jump out of your skin.

“suguru was just being friendly… and be quiet! yaga will have our heads if he finds you in the girls’ wing!” you warn the weary boy in front of you, prompting him to respond with a dramatic sigh.

“how mean!” he whines before making a pained expression. you quickly rush to his aid. when you make it to his bedside, satoru weakly hands you a clean tissue.

you stare at it blankly.

“be a darling and help me blow my nose?” he gestures for you to hold the tissue up for him. all you can hear are muffled whines when you shove him underneath your plush covers. 

when your flurry of attacks ends, he cautiously lifts his head from beneath the sheets. to his surprise, a steaming bowl of bitter melon miso soup is presented to him. while the broth isn't your personal favorite, shoko appreciates its bold flavor, spurring your decision to prepare it the night prior. despite its bitter components, the concoction had a perfect track record of treating illnesses. you have your brown haired friend to thank.

perhaps it was cruel of you to take enjoyment while he eyes the bowl in horror. you know his sweet palate couldn’t handle it.

he looks up at you with big pleading eyes while shaking his head. you roll your eyes.

“c’mon, it won’t kill you.” the bowl inches closer to him by your doing. “please?”

satoru's pallid complexion contorts into a hesitant frown. "i’ll eat it…” he concedes reluctantly. however, his gaze lingers on the bowl with a mixture of uncertainty and reluctance. you respond with a hopeful smile, but it fades when he adds, "on two conditions."

“this is for your own health, not mine satoru.” you remind him.

“doesn’t it pain you to see me suffer?” he brings up, eyes glittering in the darkness.

you suck in a breath. “...not really.” lie.

“you wound me, love.” he clutches his shirt like he has been critically hit. 

you bite your lip, tired of his theatrics. “what are the two conditions?”

just like that, gojo comes back to life.

“condition number one! you have to feed me.” he points one finger into the air, paired with an innocent smile. “and two: i want you to warm me up like that night in our first year.”

an unflattering appalled expression is cast over your face. no words leave your mouth for a good minute. “y-you’re disgusting. why are you the way you are?”

“love,” he sighs. “anyways, what kind of wife wouldn’t feed her husband while he’s dying?”

“satoru,” you warn. he was starting to babble nonsense again. “if i accept your conditions, will you shut up?” your eyes were starting to feel heavy. it was the middle of the night, after all.

he nods fervently.

carefully with the bowl of soup in hand, you gently squish yourself next to satoru on your full sized bed. the tight fit left you little room to move, forcing the two of you to nestle closely to each other. with a gentle maneuver, you rest your head on his chest. his arm slowly drapes itself protectively over your shoulder.

“your heart is beating awfully fast.” you whisper, tilting your head upward to take a glimpse of satoru’s feverish face. his breath hitches.

he takes a hand and holds your head back onto his chest to prevent your movement.

“shut it. i didn’t think you would actually accept my conditions.” he mumbles.

“don’t get used to it. this is another moment of weakness.”

you stir the spoon in the broth, basking in the silence of the night, save for satoru’s erratic heartbeat.

“this is very intimate isn’t it?” he gushes. “it’s almost like we’re married—”

“keep your side of the deal,” you remind him, lifting a spoonful of broth up to his mouth. satoru looks straight into your eyes as he opens his mouth to receive it.

his adam's apple bobs when he swallows, “i’m going to tell our grandkids that we were written in the stars.”

you shove another spoonful of soup into his mouth.

extra notes

satoru magically recovered from his fever the next morning.

his second condition (for you to warm him up like that night in your first year) refers to this fic from earlier on in the series.

satoru also made you promise to never accept another hoodie from suguru. if you needed one, satoru was more than willing to give you his! (you halfheartedly agree, only because he was acting all delirious because of his fever).

as of right now, there have only been three occasions where satoru has fallen asleep in your presence. he can testify that those were the best nights of sleep in his life.

shoko went into your room for a spare pair of stockings the next morning only to find you tucked into gojo’s chest. she chases him out of your room all while calling him a pervert . bless her heart.

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff: Best of 2022

This current year I say was a better current year than the one before, I mean the Queen died and that was funnier than Elon Musk's whole existence beyond the fact he sucks at Twitter. Never mind the chaotic reality we have, I'm celebrating the 10 best animations to come out this year. The only rule being they had to debut this year so while these two were banger entries, Amphibia and Owl House have to be exempt because I want to be fair. Otherwise, ANYTHING GOES so let's go...

Number 10: Batwheels

This reached the list for the sheer fact that it feels like a joke but has a better punchline than it has any right to. It looks colorful with great animation, and even if it's a preschool series it's thankfully one that's just about the adventures of both the titular bat vehicles and the actual Batman characters. This isn't like Cars where there aren't any humans around and they're cleverly able to make everyone coexist in a way that never feels out of place. It works as a good morning cartoon and a kiddo's introduction to the Batman universe besides the comics or the 90s animated series.

Number 9: We Baby Bears

I feel like we all need that one shows that's just for cute vibes to curb the stress and mental instability that intrudes on you when you get home from work or school. Being the spin-off prequel to We Bare Bears, while it can be pretty plain in terms of premises it's cute and whimsical on its own merits. It reminds me of Klonoa where we're hopping from world to world, sometimes there are familiar faces but otherwise, it's just about having fun with the different environments with characters I bet most gen ziggas will be familiar with. I say it was a good series to start off the year and while Cartoon Network's future feels too uncertain, I don't think a show like this is such a front on their MO. Plus, bears are awesome.

Number 8: Sonic Prime

The fact that Sonic the Hedgehog basically gave us its take on Robot Pirate Island was enough for me to like this, but Sonic Prime works well as a new series. Low on the list because for eight episodes, it wasn't as fulfilling especially when it felt like the SatAM show but not as tight since it's a multiverse story. Not that it isn't fun, this has more jovial energy to this that feels like a mesh between SatAM and The Adventures of Sonic. The animation I say is peak for a Sonic cartoon, imperfect but it looks like they're let loose with movement and expression. Plus again, we got the battle of Robot Pirate Island ending with a funny abrupt bodying from Shadow. Overall, hopeful part 2 ups the momentum because this and the Mario Movie really look like we might be eating well next year.

Number 7: The Cuphead Show!

Cuphead changed the way we game. With the DLC released this year as well, we seriously got a franchise that earned its keep. It felt natural that we'd get a cartoon, running alongside the recent Looney Tunes and Mickey Mouse short series as a great resurgence of the rubber-hose animation style. I'll say though that the episodes are great for this show, gets really going when Ms. Chalice joins for real, but it's scattershot in terms of actual banger episodes especially when the Devil makes for the best episodes with or without the porcelain trio. They at least end the 3rd season on a high note so whether we get more or not, this was overall satisfying and worth the wait.

Number 6: ONI, Thunder God's Tale

Really sucks this was talked about by nobody beyond the Goomba Got Back dude, whose video on it was cool. This was an incredibly made miniseries created by the same studios behind DOMO, Rilakkuma and Kaoru, and the cutscenes of most modern Sonic games. I love the plush and clay look of the characters and the environments are insanely beautiful. Storywise it's one where it starts strong and gets stronger with every part like episode two's ending was a gut punch and the blows kept coming after that. I loved this world of yokai and kami and it was an emotionally warm tale of family and self-actualization. Seriously recommend watching this at least once, subbed or dubbed since both are pretty good. So yeah, everybody that proclaims "animation is cinema", where the fuck were you?

Number 5: Scrat Tales

Would've been wrong to not put this on the list since it was the last thing Blue Sky made before Bob Chapek took the studio out back. Even if Blue Sky never closed, these shorts were great, taking me back to when Scrat was at his best in the earlier Ice Age films. The animation is especially great and it just makes me wish Blue Sky got to do more because this really showed they were good with slapstick comedy and improved after two decades. Needless to say, this miniseries and their final short was them going out on a high note, giving the best middle finger to Disney after they tried to revive the Ice Age franchise with the Buck Wild movie. If there was anything to credit about this year, it was taking the bad with the good.

Number 4: The Bob's Burgers Movie

This was surprisingly the year when I watched a lot of movies. Thankfully I'm not a filmbro (yet...) but I've really appreciated the time I made in actually going to the theaters more than once, so yeah Bobby's Bunger. I say it works on its own but it's definitely more for fans of the TV series and even then you probably have to see the season that came before this to have better context. Besides that, you're just enjoying the good vibes that come from the characters, the humor, the animation, and the pinch of musical numbers we get; Sunny Side Up Summer was legit an earworm banger. It overall works when you know the Belcher family because they carry this film.

Number 4 (2): Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Mate, when it reached a certain scene involving a poem, I was practically choking back my tears. You'll know there's a later stop-motion higher ranked, but this was the 2022 film that personally cut deep. I didn't think a film about talking shells would resonate with me this well, but this existed as more than just Youtube short films extended into a movie. There is a story here about grief, comfort, being internet famous, and community that I feel wouldn't have worked without it being like this. It had that cold but good reminder of how small you can feel with a world you can only wish to grasp in increments; that change is inescapable but that doesn't mean you should take that negatively. It's hard being fearless, risque as you can be with your opinions and ideas, especially with uncertainty. This I say is a great Autumn movie, wonderful in making the seasonal vibe feel more comforting.

Number 3: Smiling Friends

Yeah, it's high on the list. If it wasn't, that means Egoraptor probably made it. To me, Smiling Friends has the enjoyable chaos of Superjail and Aqua Teen with the thematic sincerity of Venture Bros or King of the Hill. It's the most easy-going adult cartoon that yeah, is funny as shit and is funnier the more you know behind the scenes. I gotta appreciate that this is the one time when people from the internet hit the big time and it doesn't feel like forgettable compromised trash. I'll say the Brazil episode was not good, but this was the consistently best show Adult Swim provided in a long while.

Number 2: Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio

Del Toro never gave up on this and what we got was better than expected. There are a couple story problems but it's more than made up by being an amazing retelling of the Pinocchio tale. I never grew up with Pinocchio mind you, I only got familiar with the story this year since it was everywhere, but I wanna say this was as strong an interpretation as one could make. Better than Disney's take I say where it's purposefully not squeaky clean in appearance or atmosphere making its poignant emotional moments hit a little harder. Being Del Toro's first fully animated movie, it's up there with Fantastic Mr. Fox as a film I'd consider a masterpiece on the dedication craft alone.

Honorable Mentions: Entergalactic, Hamster & Gretel, Minions 2, The Amazing Maurice, Chickenhare, League of Super Pets, Super Giant Robot Brothers, Cars on the Road, Little Demon, Pantheon, Baymax!, Turning Red, and Zootopia+

Number 1: The Bad Guys/Puss in Boots, Last Wish

I'll say it, Dreamworks truly owned the W this year. The fact that two-for-two Dreamworks gave us the best vibes in terms of films like it was nothing has to be appreciated. I was already a fan of Puss in Boots, the film and cartoon series worked as the Zorro franchise we could've got. The Last Wish enhances that with not only literal stellar and dynamic action, no bad characters, but an actual reflective story for Puss, like if the 1st film and series were about him being responsible this sequel was about him being humble, especially in regard to his own mortality and pride. This isn't just a regular adventure like before, there is genuine emotional weight behind what happens to the characters. Just saying, we didn't just get a fierce red-eyed wolf for furry-lusting sake, but an actually intimidating force that owns every scene he's in. Feels like this film truly marks the twilight of where the studio wants to go with its projects and I'm worried but faithful. Oh yeah, and The Bad Guys?

I didn't grow up with the OG books like I did with Captain Underpants, but this film both blew my mind and made me go back to see that the books were good too. Objectively, Puss in Boots was the better film but this was my personal year-round favorite. The VIBES this had with basically every other scene had me just as happy as when I saw the Captain Underpants movie. The animation, the banter, Diane who is everything, and the banging tunes like Good Tonight and the opening with Kitchen Clean were the cleanest scenes I loved all year. If Puss in Boots 2 was the modern Zorro movie I always wanted, this was the American Lupin the 3rd movie I never knew I would get.

All in all, Dreamworks put its best foot forward, far more than expected especially compared to last year or Disney this year. If anything, I'm definitely noticing a slow shift where more animated projects are... footloose and yards away from trying to look realistic or copy-pasted. Not saying it'll all work (remember when theOdd1sOut made a cartoon?) but it has me as faithful as before in seeing worthwhile stuff come to fruition. Then again nothing this year truly stacked up to the

ACTUAL NUMBER 1: SLIPPIN' JIMMY

I'm talking about the Breaking Bad masterpiece that earned a Slipjimmillion dollars in ratings and views, baby! The streaming service superstar of 2022 nothing could top it. Not Bluey, not Better Call Saul, not The Simpsons, not your dad, nothing came close! Slippin' Jimmy is the future!

WITH ALL THAT SAID, HAVE A GOOD NEW YEAR!

[bloody-revenge-days]

Behind the dolls : Serious Kuma

I genuinely think it's fun to know the origins of the cutesy stuff the Bloody Bunny series parodies

Like for example : today I was educating myself about Rilakkuma (Which was inspiration for Serious Kuma, I believe) and found some interesting information about it

Rilakkuma is basically a mix of the words "relax" (リラックス, rirakkusu) and "bear" (熊, kuma)

So now I understand the "I'm not relax !" motto from Kuma a bit better !

Another small thing I found interesting is that apparently Rilakkuma has a zipper on its back to hide its true form (don't know the reason why First Blood didn't include that for Serious Kuma. Not that he'd need it in his character design but could you imagine if he had a zipper that has the same purpose, though ?)

And Rilakkuma also has other character lines

Korilakkuma

Kiiroitori

Chairoikoguma

I think Serious Kuma's already good enough but might as well imagine how his other pals would look like too !

Anyways this is a little more cultural post than usual, finding out about Serious Kuma's inspiration was genuinely fun and I might as well do some of the same stuff stuff for Bye Bye Kitten (Hello Kitty) !

link to the source of the information I gathered by the way ^^ : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rilakkuma Wikipedia really is my friend sometimes

[nurvuss]

I Watched the First Episode of Every New Spring 2021 Anime Airing on Crunchyroll

Hey, are you like me, and feeling like you're not getting the most out of your Crunchyroll subscription? Sure, there's stuff on there that you know you like. But whenever I look at the big long list of simulcasting shows, my eyes glaze over and I don't even know where to begin.

I wanted to change my habits and see if there were any shining gems that I should be watching. So, as per the title, I watched the first episode of every new Spring 2021 anime on Crunchyroll. And guess what? There’s a lot of crap! But indeed, there’s some stuff that’s worth your time.

Some clarification: I've only watched shows that began their first season in April 2021.

Backflip!!

Show Link

The Lowdown

As Futaba Shotaro comes to the end of middle school, his interest in baseball has begun to wane. Soon he notices the Ao High Boys Gymnastic Club and becomes enthralled, especially after seeing them perform. Once he learns they're down two members, he chooses to sign up and pursue the art of gymnastics. The club is also joined by Misato Ryoya, a star solo gymnast looking to expand his technique through teamwork.

Our Thoughts

Pretty formulaic shoujo sports anime: you've got your himbo, your thug, your ladies' man, your stoic guy, with Shotaro rounding out the cast as the shy and awkward audience surrogate. It looks wholesome enough, and the choreographed routines employ CG in a way that's quite convincing without being hideous.

Who It's For

Fans of  FREE, or Yuri!!! on Ice, or any similar shows about cute boys who succeed at athletic feats. 

Borscht Rating

Burning Kabaddi

Show Link

The Lowdown

Legendary high school soccer star Yoigoshi Tatsuya has given up on sports! That is, until he's blackmailed to join the high school kabaddi team, under threat of his online persona being leaked to the entire school. Although Tatsuya initially writes kabaddi off as stupid, the unexpected happens as he begins to have fun.

Our Thoughts

Kabaddi is kinda like competitive tag, or dodgeball but with your body instead of a ball. Burning Kabaddi is basically the shounen alternative to Backflip!! above, replete with nosebleeds, pratfalls, and dudes punching each other. The main cast don't seem to like each other very much; that probably changes as the show goes on but at first blush it's a dynamic I always find annoying.

Who it's For

Fans of Haikyuu!!? Maybe?

Borscht Rating

CARDFIGHT!! VANGUARD overDress

Show Link

The Lowdown

The newest series based on Bushiroad's collectible card game, featuring character designs by the beloved collective CLAMP. Petit middle schooler Yu-Yu just doesn't know how to say no. As his older students dress him in drag to use as live makeup practice, he suffers a panic attack and flees into the streets. After being accosted by a pickup artist, he's befriended by Megumi, who invites him to witness a Cardfight match at the local abandoned amusement park. However, Yu-yu is too shy to tell Megumi he's actually a boy…

Our Thoughts

What an unexpectedly weird concept for a show about a card game. Our hero spends the whole episode in drag, whimpering and simpering at the sight of any conflict. Then they show off the latest series of cards, which all seem to be giant buff knights with names like "Bad Steve" and "Violent Bruce". Your guess is as good as mine.

Who it's For

Cardfight!! lovers, Japanese gender studies majors, or the most desperate fujoshi. 

Borscht Rating

Cestvs: The Roman Fighter

Show Link

The Lowdown

The year is 54AD, and Nero has taken the throne as the youngest emperor of Rome. At the bottom of the population, Cestvs is a young slave training to be a colosseum boxer. Reluctant, his only choice is to fight or die.

Our Thoughts

Seeing Nero depicted as a gentle little twink is pretty funny. It's also pretty funny that the central character is named after a Roman boxing glove. The animation style transitions to some very uncanny CG when a major fight takes place, and I didn't like that one bit! This seems like a pretty average tournament anime but with a historical setting. It's currently unknown if any of these dudes are fucking each other. I'm gonna say probably.

Who It's For

The venn-diagram of Greco-Roman history buffs and lovers of tournament series?

Borscht Rating

Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro!

Show Link

The Lowdown:

Hachioji Naoto is a nerdy, introverted student who spends his time studying and avoiding socialising. When pages from the fantasy manga he's drawing fall out of his bookbag, they catch the attention of a younger student named Nagatoro Hayase. Nagatoro begins to tease Naoto for his otaku interests and awkward demeanour, peppered with some suggestive flirting.

Our Thoughts:

What would you do if a younger girl flirted with you? Would you cry? Piss your pants maybe? Maybe shit and cum? Don't Toy With Me… attempts to barely conceal its BDSM fantasy with its comedic elements, but it's incredibly apparent as Nagatoro always wipes away Naoto's tears as a sort of aftercare. It's like a lighter, comedic version of Aku no Hana, but lacking any of the ponderings or danger that made that work so special.

Who It's For: 

People who search Pornhub for "bratty sister femdom".

Borscht Rating:

86 Eighty-Six

Show Link

The Lowdown

The Republic of San Magnolia and the Giad Empire, have been at war for nearly a decade. Using advanced military technology, the frontlines are fought by giant mecha drones called Juggernauts, controlled remotely by Handlers. Major Vladilena Mirizé is one of the military's most talented Handlers in the 1st District, and one who is constantly teased by her peers for the humanity and empathy she shows her squadron. The government line is that drone warfare has kept casualties to zero, but unbeknownst to the public these "drones'' are piloted by 86ers—the lowest class of citizens, forced to live in military internment camps in San Magnolia's 86th District.

Our Thoughts

This is incredibly my kind of thing. We've got a dual narrative being set up here: Vladilena as the kind, reluctant officer of a fascist regime, and the Bad Company-esque antics of her new ragtag squad, Spearhead. The first episode is split pretty evenly between the two, with each story converging at the end as Vladilena "meets" Spearhead for the first time through her comms station. It's an explosive and enticing first episode, and I can't wait to watch more of it.

Who It's For

Fans of Fullmetal Alchemist, Psycho-Pass, Gundam, or any number of anti-imperialist war stories.

Borscht Rating

Fairy Ranmaru

Show Link

The Lowdown

In a quiet corner of the city sits Bar F, a modest drinking establishment staffed entirely by five hot young men. Unbeknownst to the general population, these men are a crack team of fairies sent to the human world to gather the latent energy of "attachment". They do this by solving the problems of young women, taking their hearts in the process.

Our Thoughts

Hubba hubba, a little something for the ladies! It's Weiẞ Kreuz with a bar instead of a flower shop, fairies instead of assassins, and some pretty revealing outfits. There's definitely a little Persona 5 inspiration here too, from the punctuating phrase "Take your Heart!" to many of the visual cues. Make of that what you will.

Who It's For

Fans of Weiẞ Kreuz, slash fic authors.

Borscht Rating

Farewell, My Dear Cramer

Show Link

The Lowdown

Onda Nozomi was once the star player of her middle school football team. Completely unmatched, she no longer plays as there's no opponent she deems to be on her level. Meanwhile Suou Sumire far outpaces her teammates, causing her frustration. By a twist of fate, these two girls find themselves joining the scrappy Warabi Seinan High School FC as they begin to learn the value of teamwork and friendship.

Our Thoughts

I don't know sports. And I really don't know football. I had to look up what the title meant, and now I barely know who Dettmar Cramer is. I'm really not the best person to judge this, but it seems like a pretty good female-driven sports anime. 

Who It's For

Fans of Ace o Nerae! or other sports manga/anime about those ever burning bonds between young teammates.

Borscht Rating

Gloomy, the Naughty Grizzly

Show Link

The Lowdown:

Pitty lives with his pet Gloomy, a massive pink bear. Can a boy and a bear truly get along?

Our Thoughts:

This is a series of minute-long gag episodes in which Gloomy mauls Pitty and blood squirts everywhere. It's definitely meant to be a morbid parody of Sanrio or San-X; it might be a Rilakkuma parody in particular? Gloomy is the kind of thing you might laugh at if it came on in between shows, but it's pretty slight to go through the trouble of putting on.

Who It's For:

Gag anime fans with one minute to spare.

Borscht Rating:

Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway

Show Link

The Lowdown

After a night of drinking in Tokyo, slovenly salaryman Yoshida encounters a teenage runaway sitting under a lamppost. She offers to sleep with him in return for letting her spend the night in his apartment. Yoshida refuses her offer but allows her to stay. The next morning the girl, Sayu, reveals she's travelled all the way from Hokkaido, sleeping with random men in return for lodging and money. Feeling responsible for her safety, Yoshida agrees for Sayu to stay indefinitely in return for handling household chores.

Our Thoughts

This is kind of the inverse of Koikimo (see below), but without a scumbag character and from a male perspective. It's not nearly as nauseating as that show, but it's still a fantasy about living with a busty teenage girl.

Who It's For

Libertarians.

Borscht Rating

I've Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years And Maxed Out My Level

Show Link

The Lowdown: 

Office lady Aizawa Azusa dies of overwork in her early 20s, and finds herself standing before a lecherous goddess. Allowed a wish as compensation for her untimely demise, Azusa wishes for an endless life of leisure. The goddess reincarnates her as a 17-year-old immortal witch in an RPG-coded fantasy world. Thrilled, Azusa lazes about, brewing potions for her neighbouring villagers, and kills a small amount of slimes each day to supplement her income. After doing this every day for 300 years, she inadvertently finds herself at Level 99. Her peaceful life is soon upended as adventurers and dragons come from miles around to challenge the legendary witch.

Our Thoughts:

I'm not really an isekai fan, and that goes double for series which aren't set in an RPG, yet use RPG mechanics. Levelling up, grinding stats, min-maxing, as if it's a part of the fabric of the setting. I don't get it. I like watching numbers go up as much as the next dork, but I don't need to watch numbers go up in absolutely every piece of media I consume. Just play a fucking video game, Jesus Christ almighty.

I thought this might be setting up a fun series in which a layabout is reluctantly called upon to undertake a dangerous quest, but I don't think that's what's going on at all. When the red dragon Laika wrecks Azusa's house, she transforms into a cute young girl and the two begin living together, teaching each other the pros and cons of hard work and slothfulness respectively. The trajectory of the series might be as laid back as its protagonist in the end, which, ultimately, would be fitting.

Who It's For:

Isekai fans, slice-of-life fans. The twain have met!

Borscht Rating:

Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood

Show Link

The Lowdown

In alternative history Japan the Meiji Period continued well into the 1930s, and the ongoing Tokugawa Shogunate has brought technological prosperity to the nation through a magical energy source called the Dragon's Vein. Sawa Yukimura runs a bookshop where she lives with her little sister by day, but by night she's an assassin for Nue, the shogunate's secret police. As the terrorist group Kuchinawa deploys transforming beasts in an attempt to topple the shogunate, Nue springs into action with their own abilities.

Our Thoughts

There are a lot of concepts competing here, and a few too many flashy transformation sequences for my taste, but I'm really into it! Nue are made up of sex workers and street musicians, often overlooked and therefore easily able to blend in. There's a supernatural Standalone Complex vibe to how the team operates, and they're almost assuredly on the wrong side. Worth a shot!

Who It's For

Fans of alternate history science fiction, Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, Demon Slayer.

Borscht Rating

Koikimo: Koi to Yobu ni wa Kimochi Warui ("It's Disgusting to Call This Love")

Show Link

The Lowdown

Amakusa Ryo is a womanizing salaryman concerned with nothing but his own base desires. As he slips on the train station stairs one morning, he's saved by the swift action of Arima Ichika, a kind-hearted high schooler. When it turns out Ichika is friends with Ryo's younger sister Riou, he decides she's his soulmate, and begins to pursue her no matter how many times she refuses him. Comedy ensues!

Our Thoughts

Yeah, OK groomer.

Alright look, Korikimo is written by a woman and told from Ichika's perspective, so this is obviously meant to be a lighthearted "older man" shoujou romance. As an older man, all I saw were the adventures of a paedophile and the teenager he's stalking. Fuck off.

Who it's For

There's probably other stuff like this, right? If you like that, here you go.

Borscht Rating

Let's Make a Mug, Too

Show Link

The Lowdown

After the death of her mother, Himeno and her father relocate from bustling Tokyo to quiet Tajimi City in Gifu Prefecture. The former salaryman opens a quiet cafe using the remarkable mugs made by his late wife, while Himeno follows in her mother's footsteps and joins the school pottery club. Although her first project ends in disaster, Himeno makes fast friends with the eccentric pottery enthusiasts who make up the club.

Our Thoughts

It's no Eizouken, but I guess it's probably not meant to be. I'm not a big iyashikei genre fan, but if that's your thing, you might enjoy the wholesome non-adventures of three girls trying to make a mug. It's worth noting these episodes are only about 12 minutes long, with the remaining runtime segmented into live action episodes where the voice actresses tour Tajimi and unconvincingly pretend to be interested in Gifu's famous mino-yaki pottery. I think this must be a tie-in with a local tourist board. 

Who It's For

People who enjoy stuff like Aria, actually.

Borscht Rating

OddTaxi

Show Link

The Lowdown

In a Tokyo populated by anthropomorphic animals, a solemn walrus named Odokawa spends his nights driving his cab around the bustling metropolis, spending his free time drinking with his pals. Odokawa soon finds his quiet life disrupted by a caper involving a missing girl, some crooked cops, and the animal yakuza. 

Our Thoughts

A deft blend of working class slice-of-life with mystery, cute animals, and striking visual design. OddTaxi might be the sleeper hit of Spring 2021.

Who It's For

Fans of existentialist film noir with absurdist comedy, Polar Bear Cafe, walrus lovers.

Borscht Rating

Osamake: Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won't Lose

Show Link

The Lowdown

Suehiro Maruo Sueharu Maru has his heart set on Shirokusa Kachi, the hottest girl in school. When she begins dating a young actor, Sueharu confides in his childhood friend Kuroha Shida, who's openly in love with him and he rejected in the past. Kuroha suggests the two get revenge on Shirokusa by pretending to be in love. Will Sueharu fall in love with Kuroha for real, making her dreams come true?

Our Thoughts

Give me a fucking break.

Who It's For

I don't know and I don't care.

Borscht Rating

SD Gundam World Heroes

Show Link

The Lowdown

The newest instalment of the SD Gundam media-mix franchise. In a world populated by super deform mecha, a burning meteor lands in the middle of Captain City. From it launches a terrible mechanized beast: Naughty Lion. When the police are powerless to stop it, a crack team led by Zhuge Liang Gundam and Liu Bei Gundam sorties to bring Naughty Lion to justice. When the beast stops rampaging, it transforms into Sun Wukong Gundam, a youthful amnesiac mecha horrified at the destruction he wrought. The Three Kingdoms Gundams welcome Sun Wukong into the fold to make sense of this mysterious event.

Our Thoughts

I'm an 80s kid, I know a 30-minute toy commercial when I see one.

No, seriously though, I'm aware of SD Gundam's merchandising—they're cute designs, and I even used to have a bunch of the gum rubber mini figurines. I've played the SD Great War Super Famicom games, they're fun! This is a vehicle to get kids hyped up about the latest toys, which are...based on  a hodgepodge of Journey to the West and Romance of the Three Kingdoms this year? There's even a little SD Guan Yu Gundam with a big long beard!

I kinda wanted to like the idea of a bearded robot, but the mechas are super busy and overdesigned. I guess there's only so much you can do to make your next series of toys bigger and better, so these guys are all decked out in gold accents, capes, horns, and antlers, and half the time I couldn't parse what I was seeing.

I'm so glad I don't have to watch any more of this. 

Who It's For

Very, *very* young mecha fans.

Borscht Rating

Seven Knights Revolution: Hero Successor

Show Link

The Lowdown

Long ago, the Dark God Nestra ruled the world through fear. Standing against him were the Seven Knights, seven brave warriors chosen by the Light Goddess Serrass. With their powers combined, Nestra was defeated and the lands returned to peace. Hundreds of years later the wicked Physis Cult seeks to revive Nestra, summoning undead beasts to ravage the countryside. With the Seven Knights long dead, the Granseed Academy has risen to train the next wave of heroes to combat this threat. Using special cards, the students of Granseed are able to call upon the power of the Seven Knights to guide them in battle.

Our Thoughts

As soon as the opening started with its transforming heroes and lovingly depicted weapon cards, I realised this must be based on a mobile game. Indeed, this is based on a free-to-play gacha from Korean developer Netmarble. Even before I was able to confirm this, Hero Successor failed to draw me in, eschewing details on the nature of its world in lieu of a glamourised marketing push for its source material. What's here is incredibly slight, and likely to be of little interest to anyone who isn't deep into this game.

Who It's For

Seven Knights whales, I guess.

Borscht Rating

Those Snow White Notes

Show Link

The Lowdown

Sawamura Setsu mourns the death of his grandfather Matsugorou, a talented shamisen player who refused to pass his secrets on. Not knowing what else to do, he leaves his remote village for Tokyo, taking nothing but his shamisen along with him. Soon he finds himself wrapped up in the complicated life of aspiring actress Yuna and her scuzzy rockstar boyfriend Taketo. When Setsu opens for Taketo's band, he stuns the audience with the raw emotion of his playing. However, his heart is still tumultuous. 

Our Thoughts

An entertaining first episode of a speciality music series, which is the kind of thing I have a place in my heart for. I couldn't shake the feeling of some latent misogyny that suggested the role of a woman is to inspire a tortured artist, but I might be wrong. The final few minutes take a twist by introducing Setsu's weird, horny mother who seems to have her own personal SWAT team, and it looks like the series becomes a more conventional high school anime from episode 2 onwards. Don't know about that!

Who It's For

Fans of Kids on the Slope, Sound of the Sky.

Borscht Rating

Tokyo Revengers

Show Link

The Lowdown

Former delinquent Takemichi is unsatisfied with the way his life turned out, living alone in a paper-thin apartment and working a minimum wage job under a boss who doesn't respect him. When watching the news one evening, he learns that his highschool sweetheart Hinata was killed, alongside her little brother. On the way to work the next morning, Takemichi falls in front of an oncoming train and wakes up 12 years in the past. Armed with foreknowledge, he attempts to turn his life around and save his onetime lover.

Our Thoughts

This is drawing from a lot of sources; the whole train sequence is lifted straight from Gantz, while the story itself initially seems like a Life on Mars kind of deal. In fact, Tokyo Revengers sees Takemichi jump back and forth between the present and the past, seemingly making small changes until he achieves his desired outcome. It feels like a very video gamey depiction of time travel, and one that's not super interesting.

Who It's For

Steins;Gate fans, maybe? Delinquent manga (Shonan Junai Gumi, Crows, etc.) fans, maybe? It's pretty self-serious compared to any of those.

Borscht Rating

To Your Eternity

Show Link

The Lowdown

An immortal being in the form of an orb falls to earth and becomes a stone. Years pass, an ice age sets in, and a white wolf stumbles onto the tundra and dies. The orb, able to take the form of anything that leaves a strong impression on it, transforms into the wolf and slowly learns how to use its newfound ambulatory body. The creature treks back through the tundra where it meets a boy living alone, after the rest of his village left in search of a better life. The boy recognises the wolf as his beloved pet, Johann, and the two begin living together in the harsh, lonely wastes.

Our Thoughts

I'm being a little coy with the synopsis here, and there's a major shake-up at the end of this debut episode. This one's based on a manga by the critically acclaimed Yoshitoki Ooima (A Silent Voice), and it's a depressing, compelling, and exciting start to a series. Lots of potential here!

Who It's For

Fans of NieR, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, Last Exile, Kino's Journey.

Borscht Rating

So, there you have it. I'm hoping this will be of use to anyone who experiences a similar sense of dread when faced with so many choices. Maybe we’ll do this again during the Summer 2021 anime season.

Also, please don't get mad at me if I'm snarky about your new favourite show! It’s just TV and I'm a big idiot anyway.

[korean-memes-for-the-seoul]

2gether The Series, Novel vs Book Part 3

Welcome to part 3! This is exhausting, so please forgive me if it takes a lot of time to get these all out since we’ve only made it to chapter 6 y’all...

Wat-Tine is trending y’all, everybody thank Ohm

Also Tine has no idea how ship names work and is so confused

Tine is definitely a weeb, he references One Piece and Dragon Ball when asking Sarawat the “Which do you prefer” questions, not to mention his knowledge of Japanese terms and cute bear characters lol

Tine actually realizes early on that his answers are weird and throws in a couple he already knows the answers to in order to figure out what Sarawat is up to

Sarawat stole Tine’s number when he stole Tine’s phone

Insert cute “They call each other late into the night” scene

The “One or Two” scene does not take place during the cake scene, rather it happens during their 2 hr phone call before bed

Tine does receive a mystery cake, but is actually really excited by it since he believes Prae (Pear in the drama) got it for him, he even posts it on Insta with the caption “Don’t know who it was who bought them for me today. Next time, it’ll [be] my treat. :)”

Tine continues to call Sarawat cute “My heart...fu**ing Rilakkuma again”, is his response to Sarawat calling him cute.

This next one is just my inner commentary, why do these stories keep saying they’ll cut themselves on the guitar strings???? The only instrument with strings sharp enough to cut I’ve ever played is the Banjo, and even then it never cut deep enough to draw blood. Guitar strings hurt yes, but they’ve never actually drawn blood before to my knowledge. Plaster or a band-aid would do nothing, I suggest ice. Also, once you play long enough your fingers will gain callouses so playing won’t hurt after a while, I can play for maybe two solid hours before my fingers start to feel sore. If you know of anyone who’s drawn blood playing guitar before, let me know....

The tv show simplifies Tine helping Sarawat with his room, but in the book it’s a full on renovation, painting walls, moving furniture, etc. Sarawat wants to make his room brighter and friendlier for Tine

No getting “Caught in the act”, Tine answers the door when Sarawat’s mother arrives

Phukong also does not appear in this scene, instead, Tine and Sarawat’s mother have a fantastic time gossiping with each other before she gives them apples and kit kats (Why can’t my mom bring me kit kat’s when she visits? I’m jealous Sarawat)

It’s after this scene that the “What type of girl do you like” scene appears

Tine does bring Prae to the concert, but Sarawat was unable to convince the seniors to play a Scrubb song, so that never happened

Tine actually threatens to kick Green at one point if his over the top flirtatious behavior continues

Drunk scene is basically the same, expect it ends with Sarawat telling Tine he likes a rare item, and that rare item is him...awwww....

Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: YumeTwins June 19

It’s been a while since I’ve last done multiple reviews in one day, but I’m feeling pretty good tonight and since it’s too early for me to go to bed, I thought I would knock out my first of our June boxes!

Contest & Photo Prize

This month, the grand prize winner would receive this adorable Tuxedo Sam plushie, while the runner-ups received these cute Sanrio clear cases; perfect for things like holding your glasses, money, and various other small items.

Meanwhile, the Yume Prize continues the Sanrio trend, with a bunch of kawaii Sumikko Gurashi and Pompompurrin goods; all serving some practical functions for both the day and evening~

Moving Bunny Ears Hat

I think these suddenly gained popularity, which is why they are in this box this month :3 It’s a fluffy-soft cap that resembles a bunny with floppy ears and long paws, which when squeezed do this:

These were available in either white or pink, and I also know there is a panda version too, but it wasn’t in the box.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

It’s very cute, and I love how soft and fluffy it is x3 I can wear it and cuddle it. The ear gimmick is a lot of fun, and on one hand the arms aren’t very practical so they might get in the way at times, but it’s not as bad as some other hats I’ve seen and it does a nice good keeping your head cozy without having much weight.

If anything I wish it had a little bit more detail though, because I keep thinking “I know its a bunny, but it looks like a sheep.“ and the details it does have are a teensy-bit messy on mine. It’s mainly little snips and seams of string that aren’t cut neatly or are sticking out.

Sparkly Kawaii Bowl

Our next item is an adorable, colorful translucent bowl that features several unique drawings of the character representing it. The others include colors like pink, clear/white, red, blue, and feature Rilakkuma, Sumikko Gurashi, Doraemon, and My Melody. Each bowl has a diamond or gem-like appearance, and as you can see I got the Hello Kitty one x3 it’s very pale pink and white, pastel blue, lavender, hot pink, and pastel yellow on the images.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

What’s nice is that if you don’t want to use it for food (cold foods like snacks or sweets, because I don’t think this type of material could stand really hot things), you could use it as an item holder, for things like jewelry, makeup, knick-knacks, etc.

There isn’t really much to say about a bowl though, so I’m kind of rating it for the fact it’s really cute and I love hello kitty. But I would have been happy with any of them. I also think it goes well with the Party Animal theme.

Sumikko Gurashi Coaster

I never really use coasters around here (I have some, but I never remember to grab them), but I couldn’t resist getting excited when I saw these, we all know how much I love Shirokuma~

Besides him, there was also Neko, Penguin, and Tonkatsu available, each with their little friend or personal item. The coasters are basic cork.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

The mage and detailing is pretty nice, and for a coaster it seems a little flimsy. If I bend it certain ways the paint cracks so I’m not sure how to say this will hold up durability wise... but in going with the theme, I think it’s a useful and cute item.

Sakura Kitchen Set

Our next items are a 2-set (although I’m not sure if they actually are when sold, I’m thinking not?) featuring a pretty pink and white Sakura flower theme. These may not say party animal, but the cleanup is pretty important afterwards wouldn’t you say?

The little box is perfect for folding leftover food or packing some food with you on a trip, or just for a snack you might not finish- while the sponges... you know, help clean off things like dishes, or you can use them to clean the walls, floors, sink, whatever.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I feel like with these items there genuinely isn’t much I can say. Like I can see why these were included and I like the fun twist on the party animal theme, but if I really had to say anything, it’d be that I feel like the box should be bigger because I really don’t think it would be a good leftover bin; unless it was just a small snack or some dessert. I don’t know if it can be heated up, but I’m pretty sure it could hold hot items.

With spring passing when this box was released I also kind of like how this fits as a farewell spring item. I love sakura flower x3 they’re so pretty.

Sanrio Letter Set

Letters and notes are pretty important when you plan to host a party, and with that this month we could receive 7 different Sanrio-themed sets. Each comes with 12 stationary, 6 envelopes, and 1 sheet of stickers.  

I wouldn’t say Pocaccho is my favorite Sanrio character; but next to Hello Kitty he’s the one I grew up with. So I always had a fondness for him.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I can’t say I have much use for stationery sets like this personally, but it’s a practical item and I still appreciate it. One day it could come in handy- like if I throw a party :D or whenever I send presents to friends I could use it. I always like to include a note, so this type of set is perfect in those situations.

One thing I did think was funny though is that the entire set is blue and white striped, as you can see. But when I turned over the set, I looked at the paper and its entirely pink and white! Kinda random, but it does include the various items from the front and still sticks with the theme.

Glitter Character Keychain

Our final item is this adorable blind box featuring 4 sets of 4 character shaker keychains, each translucent with color detail and with unique glitter!

I got the sanrio set, so I could get Hello Kitty, Little Twin Star, Cinnamoroll, or My Melody. The other sets included Crayon Shinchan, Doraemon, and Sumikko Gurashi. Honestly I would have been happy with any of them, except for Shinchan because I don’t like that series.

These are worth 5 Sanrio points.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Well in terms of looks, I guess I could see the party animal theme in this. They’re very colorful and a lot of fun to shake and watch the glitter role around x3

♡ Cutie Ranking ♡

Content - 4.5 out of 5. Quality wise everything seems to be pretty decent and well-detailed. I like the items, but I know right away I might not use a few of them. At least not now. I like how they were practical and we had a nice variety.

Theme: 5 out of 5. This one left me a little complex again because almost all of the items do include animals. They all feature lots of colorful details, and mostly all of them could be used in relation to a party, before or after .I especially liked the clever way they included cleaning items for the after party.

Total Rank: 10 out of 10. I don’t have very much to say about it but, but I really liked this box. I liked the items from our last one but with the price we pay, and giving it more thought after I posted it I began wondering if it was worth it. We got a bunch of small items and I didn’t really think so, but this one is more worth it. The items are practical and come in a variety of sizes, mainly medium-big, and for just an any day or everyday scenario, these will be useful.

♡ Cutie Scale ♡

1. Glitter Character Keychain - I fell in love at first glance; I love clear things with pops of color, and I’m obsessed with glittery things. It was meant to be. I really wish we got more blind boxes like we used to~

2. Sparkly Kawaii Bowl - It’s gorgeous! I know I’ll use this item too, because it is a kitchen item and everyone eats. It would definitely catch attention from friends ;3

3. Bunny Ears Hat - It’s really cute and I love how soft it is... but I’m one of those people who feel stupid and is convinced they look stupid wearing hats. So I feel a little silly wearing it >3<

4. Sakura Kitchen Set - I like the items and it’s nice how we get 2 for the price of 1. Again, not sure I’ll use them much, but I like how they look at the very least...

5. Sanrio Letter Set - It’s very cute, I love the various Pochacco images, some of which I saw before and some I didn’t. I like the striped background especially x3 I love stripes.

6. Sumikko Gurashi Coaster - it’s very cute, but it’s pretty basic and I feel like this would be the item I use least; I also think it might be the most frail. Again I’m worried about its durability and how well the image will last over time. 

[shylax]

we are now at the halfway point of 2019! how has your year been so far? what progress have you made in achieving your goals? what do you envision for yourself for the second half of the year?

I remembered that my goals were pinned in our Discord conversation so that makes it easier. It’s not been a terrible year, but I feel like I’ve been way more negative this year than any I can remember recently.

I divided my goals into categories:

Life: I’ve basically made zero progress on my life goals, except maybe the last one, standing up for myself more. I haven’t really tried to make much progress on them, but I should. Life goals are the hardest to me because they’re so abstract and rely on other people, even if you do the work yourself.

Friends/Family: My goal was to spend more time with the people I want to spend with, and I’ve done that, at least with you online. I can’t think of many people I actively want to spend time with, especially not accessible to me in my real life sphere.

Weight Loss/Fitness: I haven’t gotten under 200 pounds yet, but I’m at 228.8 this morning! I don’t think I’ll get under 200 this year, but I’m still making progress. I did run a 5K this year! I’d like to run another but I haven’t been able to yet. I haven’t gotten to 10K yet, actually I’ve been lazy since the 5K. I just haven’t felt like running in the same spaces.

Video Games: Haven’t gotten to Champion in Rocket League, I’m never going to be close to completing my collection in Magic Arena, but I’m in a good place. A new set just came out, so I have to play catch up again, and I wanted to beat 10 new games but I don’t think I’ve beaten 1 yet, between Arena, Rocket League, toku, and Four Job Fiesta.

Tabletop Games: I am GMing a campaign, fairly successfully, I suppose. I did play that one game of Ryuutama but it was just a one-shot. I don’t think I’ll get into another game unless I clear out some time.

Tokusatsu: My goals were to watch at least one new Super Sentai series, and I did two! Liveman and ToQger. I also wanted to watch at least one new Kamen Rider series, and I did that as well, three in fact! Ryuki, Decade, and Black. I also wanted to watch at least one new series that isn’t Super Sentai or Kamen Rider, and I watched Bycrosser, but I’m not sure if it was this year or last year. I also have been keeping up with the current shows.

Anime: I don’t know if Rilakkuma and Kaoru counts, but that’s the only animation I’ve watched this year.

[spoopybananel]

hello spoopy bananel hope youre doing well. big fan of your work. just had a quick question for you.. what is your kinlist just out of curiosity i love hearing other ppls kins <3 ok thank you! have a great day

hey thanks for the ask! sorry if this is old, i just saw it i dont have a kin list, but i do have a list of characters i can relate to or just like a lot If that counts nvksjvd I've done personal RPs of some of these characters, and written fics so I can get into their headspace and act as them but i dunno, I don't know if thats the same kind of thing Steve Harrington, he's a himbo and has shitty parents lmao Eddie Munson because he's gay (hc) and autistic (hc) or just neurodivergent in general and people think he's real weird. I had about the same thing in high school. Ik he isn's diagnosed with anything or his sexuality isnt confirmed in canon but I just see traits of myself in him, even if he isn't officially any of those things. That goes for most characters on this list. Yamato/Tenzo because he had a fucked up childhood and struggles with identity and coming into himself throughout his life Kakashi Hatake because it's hard for him to connect to people emotionally and let them inside skvnskjdv and he reads spicy books in public lmao And plus who doesn't like Kakashi, come on Joseph Joestar just because he's a big himbo and he's got a great ass Caesar Zeppeli because he's just neat (and that goes for all the characters tbh) Peter Parker because he's a big nerd and normally just a lil guy, also we both have glasses and brown hair so skjvnskjv He's also the first superhero I liked and will always have a place in my heart Link because that's where my name came from, and Zelda has always been my favorite game series Ash Williams because he's a huge himbo and just a ridiculous human being Dante from DmC because he's just really cool and that's probably one of my next fav game series

Tamaki Amajiki because he's just a ball of anxiety and never want to be perceived and thats relatable af

A more recent one is Leon Kennedy because he's himbo and just real neat, ya kno?

Daisuke Jigen because he's just so tall and his design is chefs kiss His hat be covering his eyes and his beard his curled like that, it's just great

Sam and Max because they're just chaos husbands and they say off the wall shit every two seconds

This is getting more into characters I just like rather than relate to lol Grumpy bear just because that's a mood

Gloomy bear because I'm a sucker for cute characters that are terribly violent

Rilakkuma because he's also a mood

Rowlet from Pokemon lmaooo He's just...he's a little man...a round boi... He's my son

More pokemon out of the way, Mimikyu, Sylveon, pyukumuku, Magikarp They're all just so good

Toad from Mario because he's just a little guy

This list is basically characters that fall under a few categories: himbo queer/gay anxiety ridden a cool dude a lil guy wisecracking nerd great design

There's more I could've add and I can make a full list of characters I like if anyone cares about my shit opinions but- lmao

[yjnuigurumi]

tag list

plushes by colour:

red

orange

yellow

green

blue

purple

pink

brown

white

grey

black

pastel

black and white

multicoloured

plushes by animal

alligator/crocodile

bat

bear (panda, teddy bear)

bird (chicken, duck, owl, penguin)

bunny

cat

cow/bull

dog (bulldog, dauschund, pug)

dolphin/whale

dragon

fish (shark)

frog

invertibrate: includes bugs and cephalopods so far

kappa

lamb

monkey (gorilla)

pig (boar)

seal

snake

turtle

plushes by brand

amuse (arpakasso, kotori tai, pote loppy)

aurora plush

banpresto

craftholic

disney/disney japan (the aristocats, lilo & stitch, monsters inc, shelly mae, winnie the pooh)

nakajima (pickles the frog)

nintendo

sanrio (cinnamoroll, dear daniel, hello kitty, my melody)

san-x (kerori, kiiroitori, korilakkuma, rilakkuma, sumikkogurashi)

sega

steiff

takara tomy

character plush by series

animal crossing

anpanman

digimon

gloomy bear

jewelpet

kirby (waddle dee)

nyanpire

peanuts (snoopy)

pokemon

sonic the hedgehog

tamagotchi

other

anime

beanie baby

crane machine

festive: my christmas tag, basically, but i have it like this in the hopes that japan will ever have a chanukah plush)

halloween (black cat, witch, zombie)

keychain

mascot plush (hannari tofu)

multiple plush

nautical

puppet

rattle

tsumtsum: stackable plush

winter

yuru kyara (funassyi)

[aprylarro]

The Materials I use (Volume 1)

This is some information about the materials I use for drafting my comics or just usual doodling in.

I’ll have all the materials linked to where I normally get them or websites that you can order from (so Amazon or the original brand if possible.) at the bottom of the post.

(also sorry for all the long information and reading.)

This is the overall materials I use. (I’ll explain the bird plush in a second....)

The Notebook I use...

The reason I use a graph notebook is because it’s easier for me to draw lines and boxes. And also gives a easier time for me to draft something quickly because the graph is there for me and I don’t have to pull out a ruler for every little thing.

I usually buy the notebook from Office Depot or Office Max. The notebook generally sells for around $4 for 80 pages inside. The size of notebook I use is 11in x 9in. 

Pros & Cons

I guess my only issue is that the graph lines are pretty thick and that the notebook doesn’t lay flat due to the type of binding it is (saddle stitch binding). I do appreciate though the cover material is a type of plastic giving it better endurance and the pages are a nice enough thickness that the markers I usually use don’t bleed onto the next page. I also like the hole punches on the side so if you’re done using it or completed the notebook you can easily store it in a binder.

Types of pens I use...

The type of pens I use are usually with the brands, Tombow, Sakura Pigma Micron, and Prismacolor Premier. (Very basic brands I’m sorry. OTL) I usually practice with brush pens because I am use to it for when I ink comics in general. Also the brushes give a good practice for controlling line thickness and pressure. Now the only one that isn’t a brush pen is the Tombow. Right now the Tombow I have is a calligraphy pen size. (sorry, the size isn’t labelled on the pen itself so I forgot what size it is. OTL)

I normally don’t use extremely thin or thin pens in general unless I need fine details. (like a pattern on a shirt for example.) Now I also don’t usually use dip pens because I haven’t completely studied on them, but I do know some beginner ones that’ll I’ll mention in a later post of some sort.

I usually buy these markers from: (this is individual cost)

Prismacolor Premier ($4) and Sakura Pigma Micron ($3-ish): Michaels 

The Tombow Calligraphy pen ($3 for this pen): Local art stores or Asels

Pros & Cons: I am planning to make a post about my personal pros and cons with each brand/pen it’s just for right now I just think it’ll be nice to share what I generally use. 

I would mention other brands like Copic or Staedtler, but I don’t normally use it for comic making/drafting because they are not in my inventory at this very moment. I do like Staedtler 0.3mm 4 pack set all black. I usually use Staedtler for when I am writing something in bubbles or having to create fine details. (Except right now it’s being replaced with the Tombow pen.) Copic inking pens are nice, but I haven’t had enough practice with them to be honest, so I don’t want to suggest something that I haven’t really practiced with yet. Also since they are a bit pricey I normally don’t purchase them.

The drafting stuff I use...

I use a 0.5mm mechanical pencil. The Rilakkuma (relax bear) pencil is my blue lead drafting pencil. While the other is just normal lead. I have a big eraser for big mistakes. Yep....that’s about it. Sorry I don’t know how to talk about pencils and such because....yeah sorry. OTL (also the wooden pencils I had in the overall photo isn’t mentioned because I realized I haven’t really practiced/used them enough to say much about it. OTL)

I got the blue lead from a store called Asels since it usally cost around $2-ish dollars or so. (maybe even a little less.)

THE MOST USEFUL TOOL BECAUSE I CAN’T DRAW CIRCLES FOR THE LIFE OF ME.

Okay, so this nice tool is called a “helix angle and circle protractor”, I like it very much because when I try to make certain angles or circles I can’t normally free hand it. So this lovely thing is very convenient to pack and just have by my side. I got this protractor from a art store called Asels. I don’t remember how much I payed for it since it was a long time ago (as you can see by the severe damage it has endured.), but online it seems to be going around for $5-ish dollars.

Okay this is optional but I thought it would be nice to mention...

Okay so the reason I have a stuff animal in the overall photo is because I use it to relax and think about my process. As in it’s basically a stress ball...except I pet it a lot...and don’t squeeze. The bird is basically the size of a hand. Great for tossing if you’re trying to think and need to fidget with something. While the bear (Rilakkuma) is around a foot (12in) and a couple of inches. I pretty much put in on my lap (like a cat or dog) or place it on my desk and use it as a pillow if I get sleepy during my drawing process. I know it’s odd, but it helps me relax so umm yeah. >///////<

Links for the materials I use:

Notebook:

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/289199/Office-Depot-Brand-Composition-Book-7/

Pens:

Sakura Brush Pen (I linked the search page so you can have the overall choice of how many you need.): https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Doffice-products&field-keywords=sakura+pigma+micron+brush+pen&sprefix=sakura+pig%2Coffice-products%2C194&crid=30SG6EH7P85C0

Prismacolor Premier (This is the original set I purchased.): https://www.amazon.com/Prismacolor-Premier-Illustration-Markers-Assorted/dp/B0038D97AA

Tombow: https://tombowusa.com/fudenosuke-brush-pen-fine-tip-black.html?gclid=CjwKEAjwytLKBRCX547gve7EsE4SJAD3IZV6nSpLHqzAvpFsqf4gNqJIkxAAjptY5pSbcYRqlZt_fRoCYbnw_wcB

Pencil lead:

Blue lead (I again just linked to the search page so you can decided how much you would like to purchase.): https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_9?url=search-alias%3Doffice-products&field-keywords=blue+lead+0.5&sprefix=blue+lead%2Coffice-products%2C188&crid=1GJY0I05K3JS9

Protractor Tool:

https://www.amazon.com/Helix-Angle-Circle-Maker-36002/dp/B0044S5CZM/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_229_bs_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2HCAFSWNDT1DKJC59K2V

Stuff Animals (if you were curious...>///<)

The bird is from a plush series called Tori-Dango. I originally bought it from Hot Topic, but I can’t find the link so here is this link instead: https://otakumode.com/shop/5742d77af0bdf90d25355483/Tori-dango-Plush-Collection 

Rilakkuma (laying down) So I purchased him from a Austin, Texas shop called Toy Joy for a little less than $30 dollars or so. I’ve had him for like around 4 years or so and his still in great shape. Except I’ve never ordered them from online so I’ll link places that seem okay.: 

The one I have:

https://www.japanla.com/products/rilakkuma-laying-down-plush-usa

Another type that is smaller and probably more covienent to bring around, but I don’t have this one so I pretty much know nothing about it. (sorry):

http://www.hottopic.com/product/san-x-rilakkuma-laying-down-plush/10587404.html

[shakeiron43-blog]

Lana Condor and Noah Centineo Announced New Projects on the Same Day

The sequel to Netflix’s massively popular adaptation of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is about to start filming (yay!), which means it’s basically all we’re going to think about until it drops on the streaming service. Its two leads, Lana Condor and Noah Centineo, are both returning for the second installment as their characters Lara Jean Covey and Peter Kavinsky, and while the duo is just about ready to return to the set, they’ve also dropped some info about what’s next for them — and they did it on the same day, because wow, their minds.

Lana Condor announced that her next project would be in partnership with Netflix, just like TATBILB, but she’s venturing into the world of voice acting this time. She'll voice Kaoru in the upcoming 13-episode series Rilakkuma and Kaoru. “LOVES I’ve been dying to share this project with you and now I can!!! I am OBSESSED with Rilakkuma & now I get to be a part of it,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “I voice Kaoru, who lives with a super-cute and super-lazy bear. The show debuts on Netflix on April 19.” So soon!

As for Noah, Variety reports that he’s “in talks” to play the role of He-Man in a Masters of the Universe reboot. If you’re not familiar with He-Man, he was a super-popular ‘80s cartoon character and action figure known for his strength. Noah has also been at work on the updated Charlie’s Angels movie, which is set to hit theaters later this year.

These new projects are pretty exciting, but we’re really amped for the return of TATBILB. Who will play Lara Jean’s love interest John Ambrose? What will happen to her scrunchie? Will the sequel go “full Twilight?” We’ll just have to wait and see.

Let us slide into your DMs. Sign up for the Teen Vogue daily email.

Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Noah Centineo Will Soon Film TATBILB 2 and Still Doesn't Know Who John Ambrose Is

Source: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/lana-condor-noah-centineo-announced-new-projects-same-day

[sturlsons]

jaywalkers FAQ + extras

(( spoilers! please don’t open this unless you’ve finished reading pt24 ))

HELLO. first of all, if you’ve made it this far, i want to say thank you for sticking with the kids right until the very end! thank you, thank you, thank you.

as always, my FANTASTIC team: teddy ( @soodyo ) and ksenya ( @fyolette ) without whom this would not have been a thing.

i’m going to ramble a bit about the series here, with some extras and questions like the packaging says! without further ado:

general

≫ jaywalkers tag // jaywalkers fanart tag (excluding teddy’s fantastic work which is in the main tag)

≫ my askbox if you have any more questions // my twitter // my instagram (locked but i’ll accept all requests!)

≫ previous FAQ post

playlists

≫ jaywalkers titles // all the songs i borrowed fic titles from, in order

≫ le petit ____ // a café playlist

≫ god of disc jockeying // a vertigo playlist

≫ raspberry muffins and existentialism // kuroo and tsukki

≫ one thousand three hundred and seventeen // akaashi and bokuto

≫ boxes // bokuto and kuroo

≫ jaywalking

questions

≫ will you be writing more haikyuu!! fic? nope! jaywalkers was my present/contribution to the fandom, and while it’s been a fantastic ride, i won’t be writing anymore! you can now find me in my BTS sandbox.

≫ le petit ____? le petit writer-is-still-an-asshole.

≫ WHO IS Iwaizumi the Angry Review Guy’s EDITOR, DAMN IT. iwa-chan’s editor is The Dog Park. as in, Do Not Approach The Dog Park.

≫ Hinata the Hug Guy? happy as ever! the world always needs hugs; his career is flourishing. his scooter, not so much, but it was totally not kageyama and bobby pin’s fault, okay.

≫ OIKAWA? IWAIZUMI? they couldn’t do it. the condoms were rilakkuma. it set them back by five years in terms of getting their shit together, but they do eventually get their shit together. ushijima has to intervene; i’ll leave you to imagine how that happened.

≫ USHIJIMA? TENDOU? ushijima is very happily uninterested in romance and relationships. tendou clocks this after a few misguided attempts at wooing him. neither disheartened nor disappointed, he instead takes up an elective in literature and vows to become ushijima’s BFFL. it works.

≫ Gecko Tooru? Count Dracula? they continue to be worshipped; they are immortal.

≫ what is kuroo’s reaction to seeing bokuto’s project? they aren’t sure which one of them cried harder, but kuroo likes to think it’s bokuto and bokuto likes to humour kuroo.

≫ what are their careers? tsukki actually ends up landing that actuarial management job, but he also has a double master’s in economics because he’s greedy about education, which eventually leads to him being a visiting lecturer at universities. kuroo works his way up the ranks of a conglomerate to make a place in the executive suite. bokuto is an obnoxiously whimsical fashion photographer whom the industry hates and loves in equal amounts. akaashi is a simply terrifying and efficient engineer with a company the country probably can’t do without.

suga teaches dance, and daichi works at kuroo’s rival company, something he never shuts up about. yamaguchi stays in education the longest, ten years from the day he first started university. he opens up a small clinic of his own eventually, and yachi and gou do the interiors. kageyama and hinata go pro, because what else were they supposed to do, study?

oikawa earns the most out of all of them, which would be just fine if someone knew what the fuck he does for a living.

≫ does tsukki get his headphones back? nope! tsukki progresses to earphones, and kuroo keeps the headphones safe. in a velvet lined box in the bottom drawer of his study desk, first in his campus abode and then in every progressively larger apartment he and tsukki move into.

≫ brah they what OF COURSE THEY MOVE IN TOGETHER. in tsukki’s second year and kuroo’s final year of their bachelor’s degrees. it’s a splendid disaster at first, which is amazing because you’d think they’ve gotten used to each other’s habits by now, but no. kuroo uses approximately thirty hair products and tsukki’s tiny basic colour-protect shampoo bottle is lost among them, much to his chagrin. tsukki has the terrible habit of midnight snacking that personally offends kuroo, who follows a military regimen during the week so that he can drink his bodyweight in screwdrivers during the weekend. they both initially hate someone being in the same bed as them. but they work it out, they work it all out, because they’re kind of embarrassingly in love and refuse to do without each other.

≫ k,,  ur o tsu kk ki ,, same. what do u wanna know? ask me anything, i know everything about their lives.

they move in during their bachelor’s degree. kuroo graduates with a master’s in management and companies looking to recruit him before he even sends in his application. tsukki gets a chance to do a one-year master’s program abroad and hesitates to take it because he’s too attached to everyone and everything and he doesn’t want to take off just when he’s gotten everything together. it leads to the longest and worst fight he’s ever had with kuroo (sneering, screaming, sarcasm; everything that they’re so horribly ashamed of later), one that kuroo wins. when tsukki comes back, he thanks kuroo for forcing him to grow, and he gathers kuroo up in his arms, and he promises himself that he’ll never forget this lesson that he’s learned.

when tsukki moves out of his childhood home for good, there’s one final night when he and akiteru are sitting on opposite ends of the couch, watching a movie they both used to love as kids. halfway through, akiteru hunches over with his hands to his face, and tsukki sits quietly, still watching the screen. they’ve never had a single fight for all the wrong reasons, and they’ll never have a single one for all the right ones.

kuroo proposes when he’s twenty-seven and tsukki’s twenty-five. says “i love you so much that it changed my life. will you let me use the rest of it to tell you that every day?” and tsukki’s so busy hyperventilating that he doesn’t even say yes, something kuroo points out when tsukki indignantly sobs “why are you still on the floor? get up!” pay attention, tsukki, you’ll never get your doctorate this way.

(before that, kuroo stumbles through asking akiteru for tsukki’s hand, talking about how he’s been expecting this promotion and when he gets it— akiteru cuts in with a gentle “kuroo, as far as i am concerned, you had my approval six years ago.” so when kuroo gets that promotion, he calls akaashi up because they’re on the same sartorial wavelength, and bokuto is very offended at not being invited to ring-shopping.)

the wedding is fantastic. bokuto brings up the bubble butt video in his best man’s toast, kuroo cries his eyes out, tsukki laughs, there’s a raspberry muffin on a plate in front of the god-knows-how-many-tiered cake. even akaashi cries.

man, they love each other. kuroo the hotshot young managing director bakes tsukki dinosaur cookies in their high-end kitchen and brags about him at fancy business parties. tsukki calls him tetsu and carries him to the car when he falls asleep on the couch during poker night with the boys. no one lives as happily as they do, because no one’s happiness is as hard-earned.

≫ bo .. o k ku  a ka ? ? bokuto’s one of those genius photographers who makes it big all of a sudden because his talent is spotted. the problem is, he’s kind of too fucking dense to register his success (ever). one evening he brings home two mcdonald’s happy meals like “keiji, keiji, i scored a shoot with this one magazine”, and akaashi indulges him, smiles, takes a sip of his fanta, says “that’s nice. what magazine would that be?”

“l’officiel!”

akaashi chokes on his fanta.

it’s not all rainbows and butterflies, though; bokuto earns a reputation for being a temperamental photographer, which, well, is entirely accurate. they recruit a personal assistant for him, this girl with a death glare and a high ponytail who takes exactly none of bokuto’s shit. (he never thought he’d meet someone even half as terrifying as akaashi, but life is always throwing new things his way.) he also has to deal with a shitton of temperamental models, whom he complains about when he puts on his reading glasses and balances his laptop on his knees in bed, waiting for akaashi to get in and listen.

bokuto still wears his polos but he also wears glasses now. adult, put-together, just as obnoxious as ever. akaashi’s definitely the more frightening one of the two with his blueprints and ironed shirts, but no one bokuto works with is ever willing to believe that his muse is an industrial engineer. (they are, however, very welling to believe that bokuto met said muse because he took over a thousand pictures of him. one thousand three hundred and seventeen, to be precise. that they are very willing to believe.)

no photographs bokuto takes of akaashi are ever released, despite everyone wanting to see. bokuto pronounces akaashi as the love of his life very publicly, and then spends the rest of his time making sure no one takes pictures of akaashi. vicious, protective, expensive clubs with VIP entries, glitter and glamour yet bokuto still stutters if akaashi says something cutting enough, and akaashi smiles to himself like yep, still got it.

going to the country house with kuroo and tsukki once a month is a ground rule. meeting up with the rest of the gang once a month is a ground rule. being efficient but ridiculous, silly but ambitious is a ground rule. living life to the fullest is a ground rule.

≫ ARE THEY ALL HAPPY? THEY’RE ALL HAPPY. daichi and suga get married first, followed by kuroo and tsukki. bokuto and akaashi don’t even consider it for the longest time; do it almost as an afterthought because the idea of rings is nice. kenma goes into research, iwaizumi goes into journalism, yachi goes into design.

shimizu is as beautiful as ever, michimiya is as whipped as ever. asahi and nishinoya never have more than that one dance at suga’s new year’s eve party, but nishinoya promises to always be ready to fight if someone ever upsets asahi. (himuro and izuki, on the other hand, have several existential crises when granrodeo breaks up and they go into different lines of music production, before they realise that not making music together doesn’t mean they can’t make music together.) gou and tanaka are constantly voted cutest couple wherever they go, and end up getting matching tattoos because no one informed them that’s too corny to be legal. saeko shows up at one point with a hot russian girlfriend, and bokuto gets another pitcher turned over his head for the trouble of asking if said russian girlfriend would like to come to one of his photoshoots. (it’s iced tea, which bokuto considers progress.)

they’re all happy. friends are forever if you reach out, the world is beautiful if you reach out. these kid always reach out. kuroo and tsukki always reach out.

≫ I’M ALL UP IN MY FEELINGS NOW. I’M ALL UP IN MY FEELINGS NOW.

THAT’S A WRAP, FOLKS. i will always be answering questions about jaywalkers, whether it’s headcanons or other extras or behind-the-scenes re: the writing process. like i said, just because this is where i stop telling the tale, it doesn’t mean that this world no longer exists! it always will, and you can revisit it whenever you want.

thank you for sticking with the kids, and with me as i improved! 2016 taught me a thing or two about writing, and i want to show what those things were in 2017, so i hope to see you around for my writing endeavours for the year.

thank you once again! see you.

[katthetaipeicat]

Week 2 (9/10~9/16): Bye mom, hi friends!

Meeting ICLP Yalies & DESSERT: Tai Yi Milk King 臺一牛奶大王

I got to meet up with the other Yalies at ICLP! It was lots of fun to see some familiar faces and also meet new peeps. We ate some good curry and also shaved ice!! I highly recommend Tai Yi Milk King, they have some amaaaazing shaved ice. 

FOOD: Fu Hang Soy Milk 阜杭豆漿

Okay so it turns out breakfast is quite an important part of Taiwanese culture. One of the most popular breakfast items is 豆漿 dòujiāng, or soy milk. No I’m not talking about Silk, I’m talking about actual soy milk made straight from soy beans and water. 

Fu Hang Soy Milk is especially famous for having amazing breakfast classics. People line up for as long as one or two hours!!! I had to know, was this worth the hype?? So Mama Oh and I set out to find out for ourselves. 

The line was definitely super long, but it moved really fast! I think we waited at most 30 minutes. Still, the number of people in line is quite hard to believe, so to let you see for yourself, I took a video of the line as we walked out (by the way, this is only the line outside, the line continues for much longer inside).

We ordered a few items: 

1) 豆漿 dòujiāng: the classic item, cold and sweetened

2) 鹹豆漿 xián dòujiāng: salty soy milk! we got this one hot, wasn’t sure what to expect but always down to try new things

3) 油條 yóutiáo: deep-fried dough sticks, also known as Chinese churros

4) 蛋餅 dànbǐng: egg pancake? egg crepe? 

5) 厚燒餅 hòu shāobing: i think this translates to thick flatbread or something like that

We dug in and mmmmmmmmmmmm soooo good. My favorite was the sweetened soy milk, it tasted so fresh, and paired with the oily but crispy youtiao, it was a match made in heaven. The salty soy milk was not my favorite, but my mom fell in love with it. She always liked more savory foods, and the curdled soy milk with a diverse mix of other ingredients was perfect for her taste. We thought the danbing and shaobing were also really good, but we were honestly too amazed by the soy milk to fully appreciate it. That said, we finished eating everything too quickly, and it left us wanting more. 

tl;dr, worth the wait.

Jiufen 九份 & Shifen 十分

Mama Oh and I decided to venture out of Taipei again, this time to Jiufen and Shifen. Jiufen is actually quite popular among tourists, because it looks super similar to the night market scenery in the Studio Ghibli film “Spirited Away”!! None of my street photos did it justice, so here’s a google image lol: 

What really fascinated us most during this trip, however, was not actually the street, but the natural scenery. It’s absolutely breathtaking: 

This photo I actually did take myself yay. Unfortunately Tumblr’s format is very limited and thus it’s really hard to see the photo in detail, but I set this as the cover photo for my blog!! 

After this, we went to Shifen, which is super famous for its waterfall. The Shifen Waterfall is 20m tall and 40m wide, making it the broadest waterfall in all of Taiwan. And my gosh, it’s gorgeous. 

We also went to Shifen Old Street to do something incredibly cheesy and touristy yet fun nonetheless: lighting sky lanterns! Basically we choose different colors to represent different types of wishes. In our case my mom chose red (health, peace); yellow (money, wealth); blue (career, promotion), and orange (love, marriage). After writing down our wishes, we lit the lantern and let it float into the sky. 

This leg of the trip was especially fun, and Mama Oh and I really felt like the ultimate tourists. 

Placement Test, Orientation & Campus Tour

So this is the part of the week when I remember that I’m not in Taiwan just for vacay, I actually have school. So we took a placement exam to determine which level we were best suited for. Then we had a series of orientations (I only went to the first day oops), where we signed the language pledge and attendance pledge, along with a campus tour! I think what I realized from the tour was mostly: 

1) NTU’s campus is quite large, such that most students need a bike to get around between classes. 

2) A tour of such a large campus at 1pm on a hot summer day in a tropical island is the worst idea ever. 

I think we were so irritated and tired that I actually don’t remember where we ended up walking around. But I really appreciated the NTU students who volunteered as tour guides! 

Bye mom :( 

Okay now for the part that makes me kinda tear up. 

Mama Oh obviously couldn’t stay forever. She has a store, a husband, and a dog to go back to, as none of the above can function without this superwoman. So I got her to the airport and we had what was going to be our last meal before we’re apart for 9 months. I think it was only then that it hit me that, unlike the summer program at HBA where I was able to look forward to the quick end of 10 weeks, or the four years at college when my empty-nesting parents would drive over from New York to give me homemade Korean food, I would actually be separated from my family for a really really long time and have no way to just visit them. But I think this experience will be great for all of us, good for me because I’ll learn how to be a real independent adult (kinda), and good for my parents because they’ll finally get used to not having me at home. That said, nothing changes the fact that I miss them so so so much. 

FOOD: Rilakkuma Cafe

Even if mom’s gone, I still have my friends! I went with Phyu and Lauren to the Rilakkuma Cafe, one of many cute themed character cafes in Taiwan! The food was pretty good, but I think the obvious best part of this whole experience was the cuteness. 

And that’s it for this week’s fun spam! The upcoming posts probably won’t be as fun and detailed because I’ll be going to classes, but hope you enjoy those as much as you liked this one!

[cutiecrates]

Gacha Gacha Crate April 21

Sanrio and Rilakkuma Capchara

We got not 1, but 2 Capchara figures this month!

“Capchara“ (capsule characters I assume) are figurines that make up the capsule they come in, usually its the head. You open them up and use the inside pieces to assemble. They’re not usually difficult, but on occasion i get one with really loose pieces.

Each series consisted of 4 possible characters to get, and ironically I got both of those shown in the booklet.

Pomeranian Figure

I’m obsessed with Pomeranian x3 they have been my favorite doggies for the past handful of years, and someday I’d really like to get one. I want to name it chestnut... or Sebastian/Yumihiko (from Ace Attorney Investigations 2), because his hair makes me think of a Pomeranian and I like him. In honor of Pomeranian, the booklet included some fun trivia; but for the sake of my sore wrist and fingers, I’m going to skip them.

There was 8 Pomeranian in total to get, once again I got the one from the booklet picture. Not a big deal, but I thought it was funny- it also happens again with the next item. 

Pokemon Slots

We’ve gotten one of these before, do you remember? In fact, I think my last one was either the same color, or one very close to it. There was 5 possible slots to get, each featuring its own Pokemon x3 I love this version of Ponyta, and this color of pink, so I’m very happy to have gotten it!

Anyway these are cute little fun devices. You insert some of these gold coins into the slot on top, then pull the handle on the side. If you get the 3 matching, you push the first button on the front to disperse the money! Isn’t that cute?

Hitman Reborn! Rings

This was a series my friend managed to semi-get me into years back. We could get 1 of 7 possible rings from the series, each coming on a ball-chain so you could either use it like a keychain, or you could take it off and wear it, re-string it, put it on display.

I’m sorry the image is kinda blurry here DX I have an old phone and sometimes that just happens. On this ring there was a cloud, 3 spades or clubs, and a fleur-de-lis on each side.

Cuphead Figure

(This figure oddly enough goes well with the terrible blur I didn’t notice originally...)

Our last item for this month is an adorable Cuphead figurine. I was a little surprised to see this of all things, I thought that game came out a few years ago, but maybe it’s still popular? I wanted to try it, but after watching a Youtuber I like play it, I thought it’d be too hard for me <3< especially since I don’t usually play those types of games.

Besides Cuphead, we could also get Mugman, both of them in their airplanes, and the figure I got, of when you lose a life.

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Honestly, after seeing this box I felt bad over how I complained about last month’s box. I compared it to the February box, which I really liked and it fell short for me- but it was actually kind of fun compared to this one. Don’t get me wrong, the figures/items we got were nicely made. Basic but I didn’t really notice any issues or anything, but we actually got a bit more to do with the prior box; a stamp, a jewelry case, and the mini Shodo set which included a real usable brush and was so cute~

But to be fair, I think I might just be expecting too much. I only say that though because I’ve seen what other Gachapon series Japan has to offer, and they have some really fun ones- like figures you can use for other items, accessories, clay or slime kits, other DIY’s. I don’t know how expensive they are though, and given how much pricier other boxes became, it might be for the best we don’t get those ones very often.

Plus the one time we got slime, mine was a melty, sticky mess.

[cutiecrates]

Gacha Gacha Crate Nov 20

Hello! Welcome!

I don’t have much to say this time around, so we’ll just get into things.

Barrel Game

This a classic game, in the form of a little toy. We’ve gotten something like this before if you recall, but this one is closer to the original game. Basically, you insert the item (in this case swords) into the slots of the barrel, and whoever makes the pirate/character pop out loses. When you insert the character, you twist the peg they rest on to change the location of what slot makes it pop out.

What was fun about this is that in the box, we had 5 different characters we could get. They each had a “fold-able sticker“ feature.

My Melody x Kuromi Figure

This was a cute little set featuring the girls wearing cute clothing. The booklet says there are 6 possible figures, but the included pamphlet only shows 4. Each one comes on a cute heart-shaped base.

As much as I love Kuromi, I think I actually would have preferred My Melody here. Her dresses were much cuter!

The figure has a bit of weight on it and it’s very well made. It doesn’t feel like a cheap plastic and the paint job is amazing. I did notice one spot on mine that is “off” the mark on the back, but that seems like a random error rather than something all of this figure would have.

Hamtaro

Our next figure is an oldie but a goodie :3 I love Hamtaro! I was about 10 when it came out I think I think. I was obsessed with how cute it is, I even still have the merchandise and toys (including the first 2 video games, they didn’t make the other 2 where I live) I got growing up. It was practically the highlight of my day after school. In fact, I was thinking of doing a let’s play on the 2 games I don’t have on Youtube...

For this box, we could receive Hamtaro, Boss, Oxnard, Bijou, and Penelope. They’re all cute so I didn’t really have a preference since my favorite -Pashmina- wasn’t an option.

Anyway, these figures are really nice too, maybe even a little bit better than the one above- in terms of coloring that is. The details are on point, but I did notice the ugly seam around the neck of my figure (it’s not visible in this picture). Everything else is great but when I look at that I feel like the quality drops a teensy bit.

Pokemon Bubbly Mascot

These cute little Pokemon have been playing in the bubbles, and for this series there are 5 possible options.

These figures feel pretty lightweight in comparison to the others. But the detail on it is really nice.

Hey, do you remember last months box? I got a squirtle there too didn’t I? I prefer Bulbasaur out of the original three starters :P but Squirtle’s chosen me it seems. 

Rilakkuma Backpack

These cute little backpack-shaped characters include 2 zippered sections and a ball-chain, allowing you to carry it around with ease. It’d be perfect as a pouch or change purse, you can fit a lot in it. This would also be really cute for bigger-sized dolls x3

Besides Korilakkuma, you can get Rilakkuma and Kiiroitori.

Shinkasen Watch

This fun little gadget is based on the Shinkasen, Japan’s network of high speed railway lines. Each watch is based on a specific train and includes an open-able attachment piece; these remind me a lot of watches I used to see when I was little.