#(TRI!TAICHI YOU DID WONDERFULLY)

[a3yumemira]

Yume Directors getting caught Acting: A series 3

How Wonderfully Picaresque

    “Oi, Lansky, get yer ugly mug over here.” Banri had just opened the door to the rehearsal room, his mouth open to say something, Juza right behind, but he paused when he heard Yubi, in a tone of voice he’d never heard them use, say one of his lines. Or, what sounded like one of his lines. 

    “Ya wanna say that again?” Mira said with about as much vitriol as Juza usually used with him. 

    “Get. Yer ugly mug. Over here.” Yubi said, their words holding venom they’d never seen before. Mira stood from where they had been sitting in a chair and got in Yubi’s space, but Yubi didn’t flinch, didn’t move, just glared right back at their friend. 

    “Now say that to my face. I dare you.” Banri saw Yubi smirk. 

    “It’s not a secret that yer ugly.” What happened next surprised both Banri and Juza, given that the other tried to move past him in response. Mira grabbed the collar of Yubi’s shirt. 

    “You better watch your mouth if you know what’s good for you.” Mira warned, voice low and threatening. 

    “Should we do something?” Taichi asked, making Banri look behind himself to see the rest of the troupe. “I mean! We need to get Sakyo-san right?!” He looked antsy. He couldn’t blame the kid, this was an unsettling sight given that those two were best friends. Taichi started hurrying down the hall

    “I’m right here Nanao.” Sakyo said from his spot next to Omi. To Taichi’s credit, he probably didn’t see him there. 

    “You’re right there! Do something!” Taichi pointed towards the directors who were still in character, but a few feet away from each other now. 

    “You need me, Lansky. You can’t deny that.” Cocky Yubi was pretty cool, Banri couldn’t lie. 

    “I don’t need you.” Mira spat. “Yer just going to get in my way.” Yubi shrugged in a way that Banri recognized as how he usually shrugged, not how he shrugged as Luciano. 

    “Say what you want, but yer stuck with me. The boss’s orders.” 

    “They’ve strayed off script…” Sakyo murmured. 

    “I think they weren’t even on script to begin with.” Banri added. He had memorized the whole thing, and he didn’t recognize a single one of these lines. “It’s like they’re just trying to get into the character’s heads.” 

    The directors had said a few more things that Banri hadn’t been paying attention enough to catch before the atmosphere became lighter. 

    “Thank you so much for doing this for me, Yubi.” Mira thanked their friend with an easy smile. Yubi smiled back, their usual tone back in their voice. 

    “Of course! I hope that helped you understand the direction you should guide them in.” Mira nodded, picking the script up off the table. “Though, not using the script was pretty tough for me.” They laughed. 

    “Sorry. I wanted to try it street act style to see if that got me out of the mindset of their mannerisms being set in stone.” Mira apologized, laughing a little too. They looked towards the clock. “Is it really…?” Banri locked eyes with them and they paled. 

    “Oh! How long have you guys been standing there?” Yubi asked, looking a bit nervous. Banri shrugged. 

    “A while.” He said with a smirk. He walked into the room, the rest following him. “Seeing you two look about ready to fight each other was-” 

    “So scary!” Taichi interrupted. 

    “It was very convincing.” Omi added with a small chuckle. 

    “It could use some work. The line delivery was a bit awkward.” Sakyo criticized. Yubi laughed as they moved past the Autumn Troupe. 

“I’m not as familiar with the characters, so that might be why. Anyway, I’ll see you guys later. Have fun in rehearsal~.” They said before closing the door. Banri looked back at their director and realized that they had their script on their face. 

“What, you embarrassed or something?” Banri asked them, lowering their script. They glared up at him with a pout. 

“You guys could have said something! You let us cut into our precious practice time!” They said indignantly. 

“Can I grab Settsu like that during the play?” Juza asked, looking at the script. 

“Ah… I’d rather you didn’t…” Mira said, but Banri turned to him and smirked. He was going to change how he acted based on how he’d see how casually Yubi had played Luciano, why couldn’t Juza do the same?

“I say do it.” He told him. Juza glared at him before nodding resolutely. 

“Please… why?” Mira bemoaned, putting their script back on their face. 

[izzyizumi]

Digimon Adventure Tri ~ Edit Featuring: Taichi Yagami

“Under the withering sun, The ‘ HEAT HAZE ’ Wavered”:

  “ ‘ Don’t forget , come on , let’s go FORWARD . ’ ”

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[ahiddenpath]

Digimon Adventure 2020 Ep 13 Reaction

A strange blend of “things that feel wonderfully nostalgic” and “suddenly, Star Wars (with bees).”

Man, Toei is having a field day with taking inspiration from other franchises lately!  One moment I’m grinning at the nostalgic “hey Koushiro, I’ll hit your tablet to make it work!” jokes and the traditional Digital World jungle setting.  The next, I’m like...

Giant... bee... space... ship?  Captured natives?  Disposing of the heroes in the garbage compactor?  I can’t decide if this is amazing and fun, or if I’m more in the “wait, wut” camp!

But first of all, THESE KIDS ARE GIVING ME HEART ATTACKS FLYING ON BIRDRAMON WITH A LOG SEAT.  Like, of course someone fell!  Good god, how are these children surviving this stuff?  Are they made of steel?!

ANYWHO, we see more of Sora’s compassion in this ep.  She insists on helping the (really freaking cute) Funbeemon, even after they’ve saved Jyou-

Speaking of Jyou for a sec- Jesus, kid.  First, he’s air sick. Then, he falls from waaaaay up high.  THEN, he gets captured...  THEN!  He’s thrown in the garbage compactor.  THEN!!!!  He doesn’t have the sense to move out from under the chute?!?!?!  THEN HE CRIES TO GOMAMON (WHO IS! NOT THERE!!!!) FOR A HUG BECAUSE HE IS COLD!  THEN HE DOESN’T MOVE WHEN SORA WARNS HIM TO AND ALMOST GETS CRUMBLED WITH A WALL.  THEN GOMAMON SURFS IN ON A WAVE OF FISH, AND I AM DEAD, AND THEN THEY HUG AND I CRY, and I swear they gave the pair’s likability entirely to Gomamon, like Gomamon is overflowing with the goodness and lovability of at least three characters.  AND THEN JYOU IS PANICKING BECAUSE THEY ARE SURROUNDED!  AND THEN JYOU FALLS AGAIN, AND GOMAMON LANDS ON HIS TUM AND HE GOES OOOOF!  AND THEN THEY BACK SORA UP AGAIN AS SHE TRIES TO HELP DIGIMON BECAUSE HE!  IS!  A GOOD DISASTER CHILD!

I’d say something like, “Are you okay, Jyou?”  But we all know the answer.  What a mess!  Like, THIS ISN’T EVEN YOUR EPISODE, GET IT TOGETHER!

Ahem.

ANYWAY, this ep showcases Sora’s compassion a second time, and we have it direct from Sora that she is personally choosing to take up responsibility for not only saving earth, but the digimon, too.  She’s doing it out of compassion, but...  Kiddo, please be careful.  That’s a lot on anyone’s shoulders.  I wonder if we’ll see the fatigue that loving that much tends to cause in the reboot, like we did in Adventure?  I’m definitely interested in how the series handles this as time goes on.  Sora was so good in this ep, but I’m also hoping these are seeds to explore the downside of having such a huge heart and the willpower to carry through!

(Hopefully I don’t sound like I’m complaining!  I thought this was a great episode for Sora, soooo much better than her intro episode.  I’m just personally interested in this topic, and I always hope for more character exploration.)

 And I found the mutual respect between Sora and Yamato so, so interesting.  You know...  We all know that Taichi and Yamato simultaneously respect each other and butt heads throughout all of the original Adventure material.  Over time, we see that Yamato actually respects Taichi so damned much that he gets personally offended when Taichi is “faltering,” from Yamato’s perspective.  

But Yamato has always treated Sora respectfully, and we are seeing that in this ep in such a huge way.  He was able to foresee what Sora would want to do, based on the Neamon incident.  This time, instead of fighting it...  He offers his own plan (get captured on purpose to rescue Jyou and Gomamon) and follows her... slap-dash two step plan without question to rescue the remaining captives.  And after he does his part, he just...  Just waits for her to get her end done, knowing that the power balance is all off (adult vs perfect form).  This indicates how much he respects Sora, but also how he’s stepped up since trying to go his own way a few times already in the Reboot.

And I’m just saying, if someone was going to inspire this level of trust in me, personally...  Well, I’d go with Sora, too.  Good choice, Yams.

(Yamato I think is the closest we have to a fully-fleshed character so far, with both good points, bad points, and a ton to respect about him despite everything.  Although Gomamon is the only one who is somehow getting away with being a pure, flawless ball of perfection).

AND THE NEXT EP IS KOU-CHAN!  HOW WILL I MAKE IT TO NEXT SUNDAY!  I’M SO, SO READY!  I wonder why Koushiro has “an older model tablet,” according to Mimi (who would certainly know!).  Ugh, I loved Mimi leaning over to see Koushiro’s tablet, KOUSHIRO SO SO SMOL.  And another note, Taichi and Agumon’s in-sync hive mind bit at the end?  God, I love it.

It kind of makes me assume that there’s sentimental value to Koushiro’s tablet!  Or maybe he’s so attached to it because he’s placing so much of his self worth in his abilities, which he can’t utilize without the tablet?  Ie, without the tablet, I’m worthless...  But then, in that case, it would make sense for him to use the latest tech!  Hmm...  Maybe he just can’t afford it?  Or is there something else here...

WE SHALL SEE!!!!!

[adventure-hearts]

20th Anniversary = 20 questions (Day 14 / 21)

FEB 14: FAVOURITE SHIP / OTP

All right. I know what is expected of me. Time to give one for the team.

*cracks knuckles*

It’s a strange time to be a Sora/Yamato fan. Just when everyone had kind of grown out of the shipping wars and when most have accepted that the Epilogue outcome was going nowhere, we got new canon that ended up challenging many people’s expectations and not paying too much attention to the ship. The Result: some of the people who are more invested in the canon portrayal of Sorato are the ones that were left more disappointed. 

But this isn’t going to be a discussion of the “Highschool is Complicated!” approach that tri. (and so far, Kizuna’s promo) have taken. No, fam, this is a good old-fashioned analysis about why this ship freaking works.

*

I’ve been uninspired lately, and it’s been a while since I wrote a proper, long Sora/Yamato analysis. Consider this post a sequel to my very first meta, one of the very first things I wrote when I started AH. You can also check the sorato / soraxyamato tags to read few smaller pieces I’ve written since. 

I think it’s time to move on from the whole “here’s 97699 hints and foreshadowing you missed in the original series”. By now, everyone knows the appeal of the couple is based on their parallel journeys, the symbolism of the crests, the perfect balance that it gives to the triangle, their similar yet compatible personalities... I don’t feel the need to keep justifying it or trying to convert people. 

For the Kizuna Countdown, I’m going to write a few words about Yamato and Sora’s mutual understanding and uncanny empathy for each other, focusing in particular on the portrayal of their relationship in tri., and even more specifically about their scene in Chapter 6, which, is to my mind, one of the best canon Sora/Yamato scenes we ever got in canon. I’ve actually written briefly about it before, but I’m just going to analyze it again, because it’s such a perfect moment of shipping bliss. 

It is my contention that tri. didn’t give us much, but the little it did give was spot on.

The scene takes place early in Chapter 6, after Taichi’s disappearance. Yamato has assumed the role of the leader and is making sure the group moves forward and keeps fighting, in spite of what happened. However, although he is acting calm and pragmatic and determined, other feelings lurk inside. For a split second, Yamato drops his mask and looks back at the mountain where Taichi went missing, and his true feelings emerge to the surface.

Everyone else seems oblivious to this moment of vulnerability. Except for Sora. Yamato tries to hide it, embarrassed that she caught him, but eventually relents. This shit doesn’t work with her. While everyone moves on, Yamato and Sora stay back to have a one-on-one.

At this point, I have to address the elephant in the room, which is that tri. makes zero acknowledgment of the current relationship status of these two, or even about whatever happened between them during 02. 

Is this a scene between boyfriend and girlfriend? (tri. surely peppered the episodes with enough material not to completely erase this interpretation — arriving together all time, etc.). And if they’re not together, do they have a romantic history? Did the 02 fling go nowhere? Are they exes? Who broke up with whom? (lbr, Sora did.) Are there lingering feelings between them? (This, I will argue, is obvious — from Yamato’s side, at least)

The fact is we don’t know the answers to any of these pertinent questions. It’s let to the viewers to imagine the background of the relationship according to their own interpretations. It’s a bad writing decision, obviously. But I believe that, despite of this uncertainty, this scene still works wonderfully to establish and develop why Sora/Yamato makes so much sense.

Back to the scene. Sora doesn’t even need to ask Yamato what’s up. She immediately knows what is going to his head. In fact, she is the one who verbalizes what he doesn’t dare to. Yamato is surprised that she read through him so well.

Then Sora decides to do the most “unhealthily-Sora-thing” she can do. She tells Yamato he can go find Taichi, if he wants to, and that everyone else will be fine. It’s obviously not true. Sora is putting Yamato’s emotional needs first, ignoring her own.  She knows that the whole “let’s save our tears for later and fight on” is something he’s doing for the sake of others, not necessarily what his heart wants him to do.

But Yamato doesn’t even think twice. He immediately reaffirms his choice. He’s not leaving the group at this crucial time, when he has a job to do. It’s the right thing to do, it’s what Taichi would want. Yet, he is conflicted. Part of him is pulling in the opposite direction, as his natural instinct (his Crest, remember?) is pulling him towards his friend. The fact that Yamato is making a decision with his head rather than with his feelings is a huge sign of growth for him. But it’s a tough choice, and he’s not immune to the inner conflict and the responsibility of stepping into Taichi’s shoes, as later scenes in the episode will show.

Sora is reaction to this is just The Best. She doesn’t judge. She gets it. After all — and every tri. scene is always echoing what came before, always sending us back to moments in the previous series — this has happened before. Once, it was Sora who made a different choice. She was the one who left to find Taichi, and the group suffered (as did she, who had to be alone with her grief). At another point, Yamato also left the group — not to find others, but to find himself.  Then, Sora was the one who provided reassurance and who understood why he needed to go. This is to show that, if anyone understands the urge to leave, it’s Sora. She’s giving Yamato permission to make a different choice, taking the pressure off his shoulders. So that when he decides to stay, it’s much more powerful.  

Sora then decides to open up. She’s very cautious about it, but she ends up admit she’s struggling with all the loss they’ve been experiencing lately. Yamato admits he feels the same.

This a pretty vulnerable moment for Sora. As previously established, she’s one of the characters who represses her emotions the most, preferring to focus on others instead of herself. In such a moment of crisis, of course she’s doing her best to hide her fears. She’s far from an optimist, but her job is to keep morale up, to reassure others. So, for her to expose her own doubts to someone else is also a big step.

I’d just like to point out that the framing of this scene is really interesting. Next time you’re watching it, notice where the characters stand at the beginning and at the end. 

When Sora starts talking about her feelings to Yamato, their backs are turned to each other. She’s looking at the mountain behind them, he’s staring at the goggles in his hand. Taichi is on both of their minds, as their pain about his disappearance rise to the surface. This is a point when each of them is kind of lonely in their own grief.

But when Sora asks if Taichi is dead, Yamato turns around immediately, focusing on her. She doesn’t want to believe he’s dead, but she doesn’t want to fool herself either. You can feel her despair at the moment, so carefully controlled until now.

Then Sora turns to him, tears in his eyes. A pretty vulnerable moment for both, when every pretense is dropped.  They are facing each other, now. 

And Yamato just… gives her the most affectionate smile ever.

Smiling! When she’s crying! I can hear some people sharpening their pitchforks as we speak. Our Yamato would never respond so callously to her pain! Just go and hug her, you big dork!

But think for a second.  

Yamato gets that she isn’t asking him a question, not really. She’s just telling him how she feels. Yamato gets that trusts him enough to drop the mask that everything is okay. He gets that doesn’t necessarily expect him to lie or to comfort her… she just needed him to listen.

Flashback to Chapter 4:  Sora’s complaint was that she wasn’t listened to, that her feelings weren’t being taken into consideration, that no-one seemed to care. The conflict back then was caused because Yamato and Taichi couldn’t see through her silence, and also because that she would refuse to talk about what was bothering her, and expected others to guess.

But now Yamato has grown, Sora has grown. They got to a place where they feel totally at ease admitting their deepest, darkest feelings to each other. They know the other will listen and empathize.

They’ve reached a moment of pure mutual understanding. Yamato totally gets Sora, is flattered that she trusted him, and he is full of tenderness for her. That’s why he’s smiling.

Yamato just asks if she’s okay and she thanks him, for listening. 

By the end of the scene, they are facing each other, a lot closer, looking at each other with adoring eyes affection and trust. 

That’s what Piyomon sees when she and finds them together. Piyomon goes into Protective Mother Hen mode and decides to interrupt this lovely moment. To ad insult to injury, he Yamato aghast at the accusation that he would break into “a cheesy love song.” (Would he? HAS HE?)

To sum up, I find this small scene to be a perfect example of why Sora/Yamato is so compelling to me, and why I think tri. (in spite of its issues) was such a wonderful addition to the history of this couple.

The trust and love between them (whether romantic or not) are palpable. Look at Yamato’s smile (and all the looks he gives her during tri.) The boy freaking adores her. Sora is more guarded, but actions speak louder than words. Lots of people complain Yamato and Sora “came out of nowhere” and “have no relationship outside of Taichi”. I redirect you to this scene. There’s history and depth between these two.

The scene also shows that their personalities are different enough to cause friction, but similar enough so that, when they are open and honest enough, they can understand each other’s thoughts and feelings easily and completely, without much need for words. This is important, since both Sora and Yamato aren’t good at expressing their feelings in a healthy and open way, although they are so empathetic and passionate. Yamato and Sora have never been a case of “opposites attract”. Similar personalities can cause their own set of issues, but they can still make for a compelling and fulfilling kind of relationship.

It also explains why gravitate towards one another and why they have what it takes to make each other happy in the future. Yes, they are probably the two people who are more invested in Taichi’s fate and the ones who are more concerned in keeping the group together under these specific circumstances. But who else would see though Yamato’s tough resolve and allow him to confess his inner conflict freely? Who else would let Sora vent out without jumping in with words of empty comfort? (The Digimon partners don’t count!) They give each other exactly what they need, in this specific moment and (one can only imagine) in other similar hard times. They make each other feel safe, understood and, ultimately, loved.  Not a bad place to start.

*Dido’s White Flag plays in the distance*

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW NEW JAPAN ROAD Night 1 Review (Feb 20th, 2020, Tokyo, Korakuen Hall)

Yota Tsuji vs. Gabriel Kidd  **3/4

Hirooki Goto, Will Ospreay, YOSHI-HASHI & Yuya Uemura vs. Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru  ***1/2

Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & Colt Cabana vs. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Toa Henare  **1/2

Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Tiger Mask vs. Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI  ***1/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Jay White, Bad Luck Fale & Guerrillas Of Destiny  **3/4

IWGP Jr. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: SHO & YOH (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero  ****+

NEVER OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii  ****3/4

Photos.

This was a fun Korakuen Hall with a fantastic war of a main event, and a great semi final. The Young Lion opener was a solid, though far from spectacular, affair which Tsuji won with a Crab in 7 minutes. The second match was an all-action encounter,  driven by Yuya Uemura’s death wish exchanges with Minoru Suzuki. The Young Lion sprinted to the ring ahead of his team and immediately attacked the veteran, initially getting the better of him. It didn’t last though as the slippery shooter was soon beating the crap out of him all over the building. Despite Uemura’s spirited performance, it wasn't enough as he was put away with a Deep Impact from Kanemaru at the 11:20 mark. Suzuki nailed the youngster with a stiff knee lift in the post match, then lifted him up in the Gotch Piledriver, but threw him down to the mat instead of delivering the move. The CHAOS trio of Okada, Yano and Colt Cabana were victorious over GBH and Henare in a comedy outing, that was essentially a night off for all. The Cabana and Yano stuff was the driving factor here, so as you can imagine, it was played almost entirely for laughs. After Yano hit a low blow behind the refs back on Honma, Colt got the win at exactly 9 minutes with the Superman pin.

The Manabu Nakanishi retire tour continued next with a really fun ten man tag, in which the New Japan Dads took on LIJ. As you’d expect, the crowd was hot for this, but it was sloppy in spots, no doubt. The finish saw Big Nak get EVIL in the Argentine Backbreaker, which he transitioned into the Hercules Cutter, then hit his ever-graceful plancha out of the ring onto everyone, whilst Kojima put the King Of Darkness away with a Lariat at the 10:38 mark. Next match saw the Golden Aces and Fin Juice lose to the Bullet Club quartet of GOD, White and Fale. This was honestly nothing special, and it was pretty rough in spots. Ibushi doesn’t look 100% after his illness and poor Tanahashi’s knees are obviously causing him some discomfort as he does not look good when he’s running those ropes. This was just a solid outing that you’d see on any house show. The finish came after Tanga Loa hit Juice with the Tag Title belt to steal a win in just over 11 minutes. The Bullet Clubbers then laid everyone out in the post match. I can only but hope this means that the titles are going to Tana and Ibushi tomorrow, because god knows we don't need another lengthy GOD run.

The Jr. Tag Titles were on the line next as Roppongi 3K defended against the Coach duo of Romero and Taguchi. This was a rematch of a great match they had in the Super Jr Tag League last Autumn, and this was just as good. However, at 26:47, this was a bit too long and dragged somewhat in the middle.  It picked up into an excellent encounter in the final stages however, which saw SHO hit a big Lariat on Romero, then hit a deadlift German for a 2 count. He follows that up with the Powerbomb onto the knees, but Taguchi makes the save. SHO tries Shock Arrow, but Rocky turns it into a small package, the same way the won the previous match, for a great near fall. SHO and YOH hit their mentor with a modified version of 3K, but again The Funky Weapon makes the save and takes the champions out with the flying hip attacks. After Rocky and SHO traded jujigatame’s, and YOH wiped Taguchi out with a tope, SHO hit the cross armed piledriver on Romero for another near fall. The Strong X follows and SHO finally pins Rocky to retain. This was a great match by the end, and all four men worked really hard.

Then it was main event time. This was tremendous, as you’d expect, and was an all out hard-hitting war. I will say that I’d rewatched their classic from the G1 last week for the first time since it happened, and beyond the fact I liked more this time than when first I saw it, it’s painfully obvious that ishii is hurting bad at the moment. No joke, he looks a decade older than he did in August! This started with an intense lockup, before they started slugging away on each other in glorious fashion, including both destroying the other with their own versions of the Tenryu chop/punch combo in the corner. Ishii tries a piledriver on the apron, but Shingo reverses into a Death Valley Bomb on the apron, rolls Ishii back in, and scores near falls with a Sliding Bomber and Noshigami. They trade super hard Lariats, followed by Backdrop drivers, then slam into each other with more hard Lariats, before both crumpling to the mat, much to Korakuen’s approval. The Stone Pitbull gets a near fall with a power bomb, then another with a massive Superplex. After another exchange, Shingo nails a big Pumping Bomber, and follows up with Made In Japan for a near fall. Takagi comes off the ropes with another massive Pumping Bomber, but Ishii kicks at one as the place goes crazy. Ishii hits a German Suplex, but Takagi pops up, only to run straight into a big time Lariat, but this time he kicks at one. Ishii cuts him off with a nasty looking gamengiri, then tries the Brainbuster, but Shingo turns it into an Emerald Flowsion for a great near fall. Shingo hits his draping version of GTR, and another Pumping Bomber for a super believable near fall, then finally hoists The Stone Pitbull up into Last Of The Dragon to retain the NEVER title after 27:04 of wonderfully stiff action. Shingo looked amazing here, refusing to backdown from a surplus of punishment, and Ishii’s selling was out of this world in terms of believability, and they delivered one of the best matches of the year so far.

NDT

[zoetekohana]

Asking this because of that top notch Michi rec post you made: Top 5 Michi Fics.

Oh, thank you so much! I’m really pleased to hear youliked my Michi rec post. ♡ (*Here* it is for those who want to check it out.)

To be honest, it’s really not easy to make a top fiveof Michi fics for two reasons: 1. I love way more than five Michi fics and it’dbe difficult to rank them. 2. I’ve been reading Michi fics ever since 2004.Granted I haven’t read every single one of them. And there are so many stories that I really, really loved but have been deleted in that twelve year time span. (I’m going to include those anyways, though.)

Let’s give it a try…

I’d first like to discuss a few Michi stories I reallylike that just didn’t make the cut to my top five, but still deserve a special mention:

⚘Thin Lines byHemsee Apparently this got deleted? I only found out about this yesterday, because I started checking the links on my Michi masterpost, but evidently it’s been deleted instead. Which is unfortunate because I was really eager to know how the relationship between Taichi and Mimi would further develop. Plus, Hemsee really has a clean, beautiful writing style that is so wonderful to read. I hope she creates a new multi-chaptered Michi story, though. 

⚘ All Good Things by Hemsee Luckily, her Michi oneshot is still there. It tells the story of how Mimi and Taichi’s relationship developed throughout the years since their childhood and how they gradually fell in love and got together. 

⚘ anchor me back down by dianaagronSimilarly to “All Good Things”, this story follows their relationship from the very beginning, since kindergarten, in a wonderful will they/won’t they-kind of way, to their mid-twenties. While I do love both stories (what can I say, I’m a major sucker for slow-burns), I do prefer ambd over agt. Plus how can anyone dislike a story inspired by that beautiful song by Mindy Gledhill?

⚘ Snow by hello heartbreak I recently re-read this story and loved it just as much as I did ten years ago. Ngl it hurts seeing my beloved Chosen in such pain, but this story is so touching. I also believe this is the fic that generated my headcanon that Mimi would have trouble transferring back to Japan and have trouble speaking/studying the language. Lo and behold, ten years later that headcanon actually came true in tri! 

⚘ Buttons by BenignUser This story is just so adorable! It makes me melt every time I read it. (I believe I’ve read this oneshot five times. What is my life, haha?) But really, it’s so fun, so cute and definitely worth your while. 

⚘ keep it classy by hellyeahayumichan This is a collection of four (slightly nsfw) drabbles for Michi, Sorato, Takari and Kenyako. It’s just such a great read! I really admire the subtle descriptions. Hellyeahayumichan has such a way with words. (And even though it’s not fic, I highly, highly recommend checking out her Michi art! Each and every one of her drawings are amazing. I envy her colouring skills in particular.)

⚘ Parallels by Scripturiens There are no words to describe how amazing this artwork is. And I stress the word art, because it’s really an interesting exercise in writing by putting the different pieces out of order so that all the nuances of the thoughts and the actions of the characters come together with such care. Amazing structure aside, it’s a nice piece that so wonderfully conveys emotion, especially heartbreak. I love it so much, and now I want to go re-read it….

⚘ Whispers at night by ribbonedcuriosa To this day I’m still so happy I requested a Digimon story set in the Star Wars universe from ribbonedcuriosa, because she took it and fabricated this lovely ficlet. She merged both franchises so fluently, it’s inspiring. The Michi is subtle here, but I love subtle implied pairings when it comes to the adventure genre. I honestly crave more of this story. Forever crossing my fingers for a continuation.

After contemplating long and hard over it, I now present you my TOP FIVE MICHI STORIES:

05 ⚘What Women Want by StarlillyWe start of with one of the most popular Michi fics on FF.net. And that’s understandable, because this story is so much fun! I believe I started reading it not long, just a couple of months, after it was completed. I’m even planning on re-reading after finals, so my little review here is based on my memory of when I read it late 2005. 

First there is something I have to confess (again, I’m sure I’ve stated this before, but just to be clear I’ll state it once more) that I don’t really like it when authors use the dubbed names in fics. I prefer reading Taichi Yagami over Tai Kamiya, very much so. I didn’t like it back when I started reading Michi fics in 2004/2005 and I still don’t now. That said, I won’t turn a fic down because the author chose to use the dubbed names. I do like to give it at least a try. (I sound so picky now…) And in this case: I loved the “What Women Want” film back then (still do, I rewatched it this year), so there was no way I wouldn’t read a Michi fic based on that film. And honestly, Starlilly took the premise and really made it her own while developing the relationship between Taichi and Mimi so well. 

04 ⚘ Falling’s not the problem by ribbonedcuriosaAhhhh, this story is so good! I was eagerly awaiting the next part to beta each time because it’s just so good. I absolutely love how curiosa jumped back and forth from past to present to showcase how Mimi and Taichi got to the point where they were in the beginning and how their lives further developed since then. And she did it so fluidly. Also her characterizations of both Taichi and Mimi are so well-done. 

03 ⚘Come to Me by Pied Piper + Only Alive by Pied PiperI’m sure you all knew beforehand that at least one Pied Piper story would make my top five, and here’s the first one… Sorry, first two. Okay, I know I’m cheating here by putting both these stories on the number three slot and therefore haven’t whittled my list down to five fics but six. But for the life of me, I can not chose between these two! 

I’ll talk about Come to Me first. I really love this story so much because it’s so real, so relatable. There were so many moments where I just nodded understandingly, because it was so realistic. And I talked before how I love slow-burns, well, this fic is one of the ultimate slow-burns I’ve ever read. I really enjoyed reading about their journey from how they became friends first to actually falling for each other, but being apprehensive first considering they were still dealing with their heartbreak from a previous relationship, to finally arriving at their destination together which felt so earned. It was so beautiful beyond comprehension. (PS: I still have a half-finished fanart of it lying around.)

Moving onto Only Alive now… I’m confident my good friend Sunny is going to love the fact that I included this fic into my top three. Back in the beginning of 2009 when we discovered our mutual passion for digimon as well for Michi through a meme on my livejournal (we befriended over Avatar first), she told me that this was her most favourite Michi story. Somehow I hadn’t read it then yet. (Seriously, what was wrong with me?) So, at her recommendation, I read the first chapter and I immediately wrote back to her that I was in love with this story already. There was a certain passage in the first chapter that stood out to me, because it was the perfect Michi interaction:

So he asked her to dinner, sending a written apology note down to her small cubicle several stories below his feet.

She replied almost instantly: Jackass. 

He responded: Pick you up at eight? 

She agreed: Buy me flowers, too. 

Ah, Mimi, Mimi. How he missed someone who could talk back without fear. Welcome home, he grinned to himself.

To me, Michi is so compatible, because their personalities just go well together. They’re both headstrong but they’re both also very passionate and kind. I love seeing them portrayed with the whole “love to tease you” dynamic. And that passage in OA is an excellent example of that. Honestly, Pied Piper has such an exquisite grasp on these characters. I knew then that this fic was going to be splendid, and boy, did it deliver! I read it in the course of three evenings.

I will forever love both these stories. Then again I will forever love all the stories Pied Piper wrote. Just thinking about them makes me want to re-read every single one of them (except that I sadly lost a couple over the years…) 

02 ⚘ Creative License by R.vdPI’m kind of cheating again, haha, because technically this wasn’t really Michi. Daikeru, a ship I love so much next to Michi (thanks to this fic actually), was the main pairing of this story, but Michi was definitely heavily featured. But I just loved this story so much! Unfortunately it was deleted several years ago. (Around 2007, iirc.) 

That being said, I still feel lucky to have read this story. I can’t begin to explain how amazing it was! It was so cleverly constructed. Each chapter focused on a certain aspect of the story, and with each chapter we learned more and more what happened to these characters in the past and how they’re ultimately connected to other characters. It was all intricately interwoven. The writing style was also so crisp, so poetic, so inspiring. Plus, while the Michi was very angsty, it was very hot. I still haven’t read a nsfw Michi that came close to their scenes in this story. 

01 ⚘ My Captain’s Lady by Pied PiperIs there any surprise that MCL is my ultimate favourite? 

The truth is: This isn’t just my favourite Michi fic. This isn’t even just my favourite Digimon fic. This is my ultimate favourite fic ever.

It was the very first fic that got me so hooked. I started reading MCL after chapter fifteen or so (don’t remember the exact chapter anymore, since y’know, it was eleven years ago) and kept checking for the next update. It was really bad with the final chapter, because it was New Year’s Eve and I continuously pressed refresh so eagerly awaiting the update and then when it was finally there I read it between the different courses of dinner. 

I loved it so much that I was raving about it non-stop to my best friend that she, who hadn’t watched a single episode of digimon, even wanted to read it. So I lend her my binder of MCL and I like that she texted me her thoughts a few times. I kept those texts, even after ten years, until I had to buy a new phone last summer. 

Sentimental experiences aside, the story itself is just so epic. It had everything: an intriguing plot, an amazing build-up, lots of suspense and action, and of course a compelling romance between Taichi and Mimi. Once again, the journey of the characters and their relationship was so moving and so captivating. And I loved every step of the way.