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autumn-foxfire · 2 months

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Time for Movie 8!! And for one of the gayest moments in DCMK history (unsurprisingly, it's because of Shinichi and Kaito).

Sneak thief is one of my favourite nicknames Shinichi has given Kaito and I love when it's used as a term of endearment in fanfiction.

All DCMK movies should be KID movies. Or Ai movies that KID gets to appear in.

Shinichi: I'll never stop chasing KID

Me: GAY, GAY, HOMOSEXUAL, GAY.

Shinichi, don't get annoyed, you usually are great for trivial facts not many would know.

Kogoro: KID must have counted the letters wrong!

Shinichi: My husband would never do that.

And of course Kaito is watching his shrunken husband enjoy his riddle with a dove.

If Sonoko can call Ran Shinichi's wife and Shinichi her husband, I can call Kaito and Shinichi husbands :p And I will do, because these two are fated together.

I actually don't mind kids being interested in make up, it can inspire creativity, the bad thing about make up is the social expectations of it.

Damn, Kogoro, Ginzo, just kiss.

No, he's not disguised as any of them. He's disguised as somone very familiar to you, Shinichi. Because he's a little shit.

Kaito disguising as Shinichi is so risky of him though, because he's telling the world he looks like Shinichi.

SHINICHI IS NOT RAN'S BOYFRIEND. OR HUSBAND. He is Kaito's :p

Haibara not resisting the urge to tease Shinichi though, go queen.

How you know it's Kaito immediately. Shinichi would never actually compliment Ran because he treats her horribly.

And Kaito immediately makes Shinichi look like a dork.

How gross, even Ran has a feeling it's not Shinichi because the ass never actually compliments her. And this is supposed to be romantic. Throw their whole relationship into the bin, please, and start from scratch.

Kaito is such a little shit, waving to Shinichi before he leaves.

Shinichi: I've gotta go, cover for me.

Haibara, knowing they're about to go flirt on the roof together: ...have fun.

My god, how gay are these two T-T Kaito was waiting on the roof for Shinichi to arrive, he could have escaped by now but where is the fun in that.

...and they still can't resist the sexism of calling Ran his "woman" who is waiting on him with supper because that's all Ran is good for <.< I am going to strangle someone.

THE LIP LICK. Iconic.

The first time Shinichi falls and Kaito immediately goes to catch him.

Damn, what was Shinichi's plan T-T I can't believe he was going to knock Kaito out midair, the maniac.

Though it's because he matches Kaito's freak that he loves him :p

I love how Kaito lets Shinichi get close to him before he activates his wire to pull him back to the handglider. Always gotta tease his dear shrunken husband.

I love Sonoko. I love how she interacts with the kids. I don't like how her outfit looks though. The colours do not go together, love.

Shinichi senses his husband, awww <3

Honestly, it's so immature of Ran to constantly pull these tricks on her parents. I know it's because Gosho loves the "they're still in love with one another and Ran knows" but it's the second worst pairing in this series (Shinichi and Ran get first place by being so awful and so obnoxious as a pairing that we have to stomach every episode give or take) and no women deserves to be paired with Kogoro, the digusting man that he is to women.

Yay! More sexism. Gosho, girls don't give a fuck about the face they make when they pop their ears, unless they're one of those "to be a true lady" tiktok accounts.

Time for the pilot and co-pilot to be poisoned!

Oh and Juri too.

The best face Kogoro has ever made. It shall be in my nightmares <3

The face of a man whose life flashed before his eyes. Sadly a near-death experience will not let this man change his ways.

LMAO, SHINICHI USING THE WRONG VOICE.

Although Eri isn't stupid, she would know immediately that she never solved a case and would investigate the reason.

This murder was solved quite quickly considering... I guess it's due to the main drama being the plane going down.

How did Shinichi see them kiss her hand? He stayed in his seat. Oh, I guess he figured from how Kaito kissed her hand that she might have done the same to the pilots. That makes more sense.

And Kaito and Shinichi save the day.

I wonder if planes would have a back-up pilot for these very, very tiny chances of the pilot and co-pilot both falling sick.

LMAO I love how no one questions Kaito picking Shinichi to play his co-pilot. Well, Kogoro does but no one is listening.

Kaito looks very pretty here. He's always pretty though so it's not hard for him to do so.

"After this giant metle bird has returned to its nest," Shinichi, you need to join a drama club. You and Kaito could be the main attraction.

I love how the captain immediately gets worried hearing Shinichi's voice.

And Hawaii makes it's appearance.

And Shinichi's terrible luck strikes, not once, but twice.

Children: That was great.

Their parents: Oh shit.

And the tension rises. As they lose not only an engine but also all their fuel.

Kaito, most definitely: For fucks sake, Shinichi's luck is so terrible.

Interesting, even in a dire situation Shinichi called Ran, nee-chan and not Ran like he usually does. It's because his husband is around (ignore my delusions).

SONOKO T-T I love Sonoko.

Megure, Takagi and Shiratori just around to be the three stooges.

Kaito, knowing what to do, and leaving his husband alone to land the plane (so he can help him safely land it by providing him a lit up landing strip).

That grin when he lets go XD

Sonoko and Ran being the bravest girls on this whole plane, I love them so much.

TELL HIM OFF RAN.

Ran, if you don't want to be left alone, chase him. My god, Gosho will have Shinichi say that he will always chase KID and yet Ran will never chase Shinichi despite "liking him", she will only wait, and Shinichi will never let her chase him and will forever make her wait despite never knowing he will actually come back.

SONOKO! MY GOD SHE'S SUCH A QUEEN.

AGASA PROTECTING THE KIDS T-T HIS GRANDCHILDREN.

Ran and Sonoko (and Shinichi and KID) should go down in history for this. Sully did, they should too.

Imagine it, Sonoko and Ran introduce themselves and people are like "HOLY SHIT, YOU'RE THE GIRLS WHO LANDED A PLANE!"

...How does Kaito treat Ran better than Shinichi does, even though he was being a pervert.

How interesting, Ran immediately feels relief Shinichi didn't hear her say she likes him (or so she believes). Totally normal behaviour from someone who insists she does like that person.

#dcmk #foxy's dcmk commentary

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respectthepetty · 9 months

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Hi @respectthepetty, what were your top 5 colour moments in bl/ql this year?

Thank you.

@blogiamgoingmad, this is a tough one because I love all the colors I get regardless of how they come to me. In fact, I love color so much, I've written about the best visual narratives in two other posts:

Top 5 - Color-Coded Storytelling in BLs

Reading the (Visual) Rainbow Awards

So for this ask, I made sure to not pick the same moments listed in the other two posts, and this list includes unfinished shows as long as the "color moment" happened in 2023.

Top Five Color Moments of 2023

Honorable Mention: 7 Days Before Valentine - Dark Descent

Since the show isn't finished, and I know Q is going to be completely black before the end, I'm greatly enjoying seeing him get darker and darker each episode as he erases another person from existence at Sun's request.

Even though the lighting still shines brighter on him than Sun, I don't think that is going to last much longer, especially because I think Sun is going to ask Q to erase him which will cause Q to be the darkest he has been. I'm smiling too much at the mere thought of this to be sane, but this is a great visual narrative that I want to see more shows use consistently.

#5 - GAP - Tickled Pink

I love color exchanges (where a character wears the other character's color to show they are in love), but Sam, a Black Brooder, took her sweet ass time wearing Mon's pink in GAP. I was Kirby holding a knife outside her house all season waiting for Sam to prove that she loved Mon by simply wearing Mon's pink.

The last episode was upon us, and I needed to know if Sam was finally going to commit to Mon's pink; then, Idol Factory announced the finale would not be released on streaming platforms until after a paid screening. I was mad, but I'm a pirate by blood, so I watched an unsubbed version, saw Sam wearing pink as her WEDDING DRESS, and forgive Idol Factory for its season of color frustration because if the wedding didn't tell us Sam was committed to her Pink Person, the pink wedding dress sure the hell did.

#4 - Bed Friend - The Blue Light

Uea was great at communicating boundaries with King in Bed Friend, and King was even better abiding by them. So in the second episode, after taking Uea to go get tested after they had sex, King asked Uea to try a bed friends situation out, to which Uea said okay, but then avoided King. Blue Boy King (actually bi-colored) drove Red Rascal Uea home and put him on the spot asking Uea to make a decision as they waited at the red light with the countdown flashing: If Uea said "yes," they would go to King's condo, and if Uea said nothing, he would take Uea straight home. Then, Uea GAVE HIM THE GREEN BLUE LIGHT.

This light was blue instead of green which leaned into the color coding, but it was perfectly timed with Uea opening himself up to the possibility of something more with King. The light changing was a symbolic moment, and it was beautiful.

#3 - Last Twilight - Pink Milk

This series isn't finished, but I hope it continues to give me Mork in pink shirts because pink = 💗love💗, and this is the perfect homage to a BL tradition. Pink milk is a BL staple, but wasn't used that much in 2023. Only Friends referenced it, but Last Twilight purchased real estate in BL Land with its ode to it. Day and Mork had a nice day out together where Day purchased that bright ass pink shirt for Mork after Mork claimed it was too pink like Pink Milk for him to ever wear. Then, after losing each other on a busy street, Mork put on the bright pink shirt so Day could see him and hasn't stopped wearing pink since.

Mork fell first. He fell harder. And we don't need pink milk to know he is a member of the rainbow community. He has pink shirts to let us and Day see him for who he is - a man in love with another man.

#2 - Moonlight Chicken - Alan's Glow Up

Alan was in his feelings for most of his part in Moonlight Chicken. He was still in love with Wen and trying to make it work living with him, but Wen was done done. He was upset that Wen was seeing someone else. He broke a limb being drunk over Wen! He was sad, cold, and alone. Then, he spoke to Jim at the funeral after speaking with Kaipa, and he seemed to brighten up a bit.

Alan's color continued to brighten and become warmer as the series came to a close due to a combination of realizing Wen had really moved on, and that he, too, could do the same.

I won't give his newfound "friendship' with Kaipa all the credit because I truly think being friends with his ex and friendly with his ex's new boyfriend is what really warmed Alan up. Knowing he had a community, which was a theme in the series, was the support Alan needed to glow up.

#1 - The Eighth Sense - Monochrome Metro

This moment actually belongs to @how-to-be-a-tree who brought it to my attention, but Jae Won was color coded black and dark while Ji Hyun was a colorful and light person. When they went on their not-date-date, as they sat opposite of each other on the metro, their sides of the empty metro car reflected their respective color coding.

A few people in the reblogs and tags pointed out it was the BL version of the above meme, but it truly was a moment of pure awe that the show went as far as to color edit the seats to reinforce the story being told. Jae Won wasn't magically a lighter person simply being around Ji Hyun. He was still dark, and it wouldn't be until the end of the series that Jae Won actually became a bit lighter because HE was finally ready for change, which speaks volumes about depression and mental health.

Bonus: Jeff Satur x SHAUN's "Steal the Show"

Because it was gay (canon to me), color coded, and beautiful!

#Top Five Color Moments of 2023 #the colors mean things #color coded people in love #the color exchange #I'm still a bit mad at Sam though #a whole season my girl

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popculturebuffet · 6 months

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Through a Mirror Darkly/Batmarch: Brave and the Bold: Deep Cover for Batman!/Game Over for Owlman! (Patreon Review for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people. Welcome back to Batmarch after a long unintended break from it and welcome one and all to Through a Mirror Darkly, a new mini retrospective that goes through the looking glass and sees what dark reflections of our heroes could be. Or in less pretty words: We're taking a look at a bunch of mirror universe episodes in animation using kev's patreon slots while we wait for Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse.

It's a familiar concept: a parallel universe where for one reason or another, either they were just born worse or something happened that pivoted them in the other direction, our heroes are evil, our villians are good and usually the universe is a hell hole. I also can't say we won't ever return to this idea as there's plenty of mirror universe stories out there. For now though we're focusing on the four best we found in the genre.

Starting off we have a unique spin on one of the more iconic mirror universes with Dc Comics Earth 3. DC started exploring the multiverse to simply clear up an issue: there were two flashes, Golden Age Hero Jay Garrick and Silver Age Hero Barry Allen. Since Allen was seen reading a flash comic, they used that springboard to make a parallel earth Barry acciidently went through while tying nots for a class of school children.

Fan Reception was great so DC went to the next logical step, bringing back the rest of the golden age heroes for earth 2 and having a proper crossover, one so big, bold and fun that DC made it an annual thing: every year the JLA would unite wtih the JSA and every year another earth would be involved. So for the second the next course was obvious: a bad guy earth where up was down, black was white, John Wilkes booth was shot by Abe Lincoln, and instead of a variety of heroes protecting it, a group of the worst of the worst had conquered it.

Earth 3 has been revisited a lot and it's something I'll likely be going back to again as there's a lot to dig into: Grant MOrrison brought it back, infnite crisis brought the origianl back, ther'es been a few rebooted versions since, there's a lot of takes on this, and that naturally spreads to animation with superfriends, justice league and the film justice league: Crisis on two worlds, all taking a swing at it.

And the swing we're looking at today is Batman Brave and the BOld's take. This was Brave and the Bold's mid season finale, taking the crime syndicate and swapping out it's members for the various heroes batman had teamed up with, ironicallys howing up BEFORE the justice league itself ever did. Also for some reason their earth 3 is earth 23.

This two parter was the first in Brave and the Bold, one of only two in the series history, the other finishing off the starro saga. It's also one of those two parters where part one and part two are basically their own episodes rather than one big episode split up into multiple parts. It's something I notice more after binging X-Men the animated series recently, as most of thier two parters are of the "one big episode" variety, with exceptions like the brilliant time fugitives.

SO under the cut we have two distinct connected stories at Batman staves off an attack from Owlman, takes his identity to go undercover and figure out his world.. then is forced on the lmab and to team up with his greatest foe when Owlman returns the favor. It's a fun, furious two parter and it's under the cut.

Deep Cover for Batman!

We begin on Earth... 23.

I get putting your own spin on things but when it's earth 3 in all but name.. just do what i'm doing and call it earth 3.

ON this blighted earth, it's last hero makes a last ditch Gamble: use a device called the Phase Oscelator and escape this earth to find help. This last hero is the Red Hood and most people familiar with this identity either know where this going or are confused why it's not jason tod but the joker in a dope suit and an expresionless mask.

The Red Hood was the Joker's first identity, revealed in a silver age story as what he did before falling in that vat and made canon again post crisis with the killing joke. How much of the story leading UP to joker becoming red hood in this version is vague if it's true or just one of Joker's many backstories, but the fact he was the hood and fell in acid isn't. Jason later took the identity for his own post ressurection, his own ironic sick joke on his murderer.

Given it's silver age stylings, it's a perfect fit here and a neat way to introduce JOker: not through the clown prince himself.. but through the hero he could've been as he makes his last stand. The series does obscure the cast in shadows.. though their shadier behavior tips that something's off. that and the whole "wreathed in shadow thing". It looks utterly neat and is staged beautifully, it just makes it painfully obvious their building up to so mething. That something is the reveal of the Injustice Syndicate. Why not crime syndicate, I dunno. The change in lineup is more fair as most leaguers hadn't been introduced yet so while Owlman, batman's evil counterpart stays, this version focuses on Owls and three brand new evil counterparts: Silver Cyclone, Blue Bowman and Crimson Scarab. The designs.. are really just recolors of their heroic counterparts, which I accept for the ones we see for like a scene later, but question hwy they put no real effort into these.

This sadly extends to the villians themselves as outside of Cyclone, most of them.. are just the character but EVIL. Even Owlman, despite getting two episodes is just "batman but evil" and mostly coasts on the fact that batman but evil is a chilling concept.

Part of the problem is, while I do LIKE these episodes... I feel they pulled the trigger way too early to do a parallel universe story. The other ones we'll be tackling are a decent ways into the shows run pulling from seasons 4 and 5 of two of them, and the middle of a truly MASSIVE season one for one of them. It's far enough in to know who these people are and thus get used to the opposiite. While we know Batman well enoguh at this point to get that, we really don't know most of the other heroes here well enougH: Green Arrow.. never really grows beyond "douchebag rival". Beetle however had a whole episode fleshing him out and is one of the only heroes with two so far so they have no excuse there. Red Tornado at least had a deep enough first episode to give them just enogu hto make a chilling evil versoin: Red badly wants to be part of humanity.. while Silver's cast his aside, being cold, emotionless and pure evil as he later tortures the Red Hood. IT's the lazy way to do a mirror universe: just that character but on the wrong side and it feels disapointing the show never went back and corrected this with a followup once we got to know the cast better. I really woudl've loved an evil aquaman once we got to know ours better.

Thankfully though while the evil dopplegangers are one note, the episode itself isn't as it's a fun tense ride starting with Owlman invading the bat cave. ANd as I said Owlman may bea bit thin as a villian.. but he works simply because "evil batman" itself is intriguing. It can be done poorly

And sometimes won't go th efuck away, but the idea of someone as capable as batman using that power against us is chilling and the episodes use it well, this one having a cool parallel fight between the two, with the two evenly match, the animation flowign gorgeously and Batman winning simply because his counterpart has something he dosen't: arrogance. He pulls up night vision goggles after Batman takes out the lights... and Bats uses a MAGNEISUM FLAIR. He knows himself well enough to know his counterpart would have night vision and used that against him , locking Owlman up.

Having been left Red Hood's version of the batterang, a test run before he got captured and a calling card, Batman decides to investigate hence the deep cover and what makes this episode really work despite the thin characterization of most of the bad guys: Batman has to pretend to be his evil self, and it's clear from their actions both Silver Cyclone and Blue Bowman are suspcious from the get go, so it's a tense well done game of "how long can he keep this up"

Batman tries to spare his world by lying and saying everyone had powers there.. but this just gets Cyclone to go with option B: use a bomb to empty the world out. So not only does bats have tos tay under cover and try to minimize damage, he also has to save Earth 1 from annhilation without blowing said cover.

THankfully he has help as he gives an escaping red hood a mike and while hood is captured, Batman now has an ally. The Injustice Synidcate takes flight in a really cool scene, not just for the visuals.. but for how it's unsettling. Unlike most mirror universes at worst Earth 23 just has a bit more orange in the sky. Orange and Red skies: your sign we're all fucked!

What makes it actually unsettling is the civilians reactions.. they all run in terror and Batman's internal monologue makes it clear this is a world without heroes.. without hope. Instead of looking up at the sky in a we and at what they could be... they run in terror and pray their cruel gods don't see them.

The theft goes well though Bowman is getting more and more suspcious and has batman tailed by someone we can't see. GEE I WONDER WHAT HERO WE'VE MET IN SEASON 1 IS OUT OF SIGHT. SURELY IT MUST BE SOME NEW TAKE ON A HERO AND NOT THE ATOM. Meanwhile Cyclone tortures the red hood, saying he'll break him and showing a cruelty and lack of care that's just.. chilling coming from someone whose counterpart is noble and badly wants to be emapthetic. We also get a chilling recitation of Hood's history.. and just how determined this poor guy is: they knocked him into the chemicals, he presses on. They take out his allies after he finally gets some he continues. he won't break even in the face of this torture and it's WHY Cyclone wants to break him so bad.

Oh look it's the atom, who catches Batman just as he's about to free the prisoners sending him on the run. This sequences is the best of the episode, as Red Hood claims to be willing to finally talk.. while giving batman directions. Cyclone eventually figures this out and sends Bowman and Scarab to go finish this imposter. Unfortunately for them.... he's batman. He even says the line after he finishes them and finally can drop the disguise.

Unforutnately while the syndicate APPEARED to be just those 4 guys, it's actually a larger group and Cyclone called backup. Maybe they were in the INjustice Pool having an Injustice Mojito while playing INjustice.

They aren't named so we'll go with The Molocule, Stretch Man, Aquamenace and Flare. I REALLY wish we got to hear evil Aquaman speak and my primary reason for being dispaointed we never got a followup is that Aquaman became so integral to the show it's weird to see his evil counterpart as one of the extras.

Thankfully Batman dosen't have to fight this alone and frees the other heroes, leading to a fun fight between the Injustice Synidcate and the Justice Society... wait no that dosen't work.. the Freedom Pals? Super Friends? Super Duper Justice Parade. Yeah that's the ticket.

So the Super Duper Justice Parade and the INjustice Synidcate have a scrap and since having a master stratgeist, or batigest if you will, on your side can tip the scales and the Synidcate lack theres, they loose.. all except Cyclone who triggers the bomb.

We then get an excellent twist: Cyclone.. is the DC version of Ultron in this reality, wanting to wipe out all humans and only having worked with them for his own gain, a truly sad contrast to his counterpart who simply wants to be accepted by humanity and tries his best to understand them. The bomb was ALWAYS intended to just kill the squishes and he dosen't care which earth he gets to rebuild in his image. Thankfully Red Hood shows up and... blows up his head. Jesus. I mean he deserved it, but it's a reminder this IS the joker, down to ending with a pun.. he's just a hero. He has his evil alternate reality counter part's style, skill and determination.. but not the madness that drives him. Simply a desire to do good

So with that earth 23 minus 20 is saved, Batman goes home.. and finds that he's now the most wanted man alive.

Deep Cover for Batman is a decent episode. Like I said it's hampered by the fact only ONE of the syndicate is fleshed out.. but that one is just enoguh to help this and the well done sequences it does have along with the gorgeous animatoin make up for the lak of worldbuilding and character building for the baddies as does Jeff Bennet, Johnny Bravo himself, as Red Hood, proding an operating yet utterly heroic and loveable performance. And it'd be his best in the series... if he didn't get to top himself right after

Game Over For Owlman!

So yeah while it's only been like.. a day for batman, it's been three weeks. Owlman broke out and using Batman's first outfit, such a cool little mythology gag complete with the purple gloves he really did have.

They even made an action figure of it multiple times. It's great. I need me one of those at some point.

For now though this means all of Batman's friends are against him and it's the one part of this episode that I REALLY don't like as it feels REALLY sloppy, not to mention most of them don't seem torn up about this. It makes sense for Green Arrow: his greatest rival turning out to be evil? It's his goddamn birthday. But only Plastic Man seems REALLY hurt, which works well as Batman rode him so hard about being a reformed criminal so seeing him bein ga hypocrite clearly breaks the poor guy a bit. But everyone else just accepts this. And I get it's been 4 weeks but like.. not only is he wearing an older costume now.. but NONE OF you in a world with, up to this point in the series: Aliens, Ghosts, Super Intelligent Gorillas, Sorcerers, Atlantis, Atlanteans, Time Travel, Power Rings, my boy Mogo the living planet, Deadman, martial arts magic and fucking Bwana Beast, who I love but is objectively weird as shit which is why I love him, same for Mogo. And the bulk of this these guys were THERE FOR.. and not one of you thinks the obvious: that Batman's being mind controlled or has been replaced by a double. It's fucking agrivating. Again Ollie gets a pass as his reactoin to getting to fight batman and have a valid excuse is clear and true

But the fact Beetle, who idolizes batman or Red Tornado, whose logical as fuck don't spot the obvious bothers me, it bothers me a lot

Thankfully after this less than great start, we get to the meat of the episode and what makes this ep so damn memorable: Batman is dropped into a warehouse where he meets his unlikely savior: The Joker. And for added pizaz to this reveal this was the clown prince's first apperance all season and the first time we've seen ANY of batman's foes all series. Every previous show is a b or c list villian attached to someone else, usually not the guest hero of the episode for added points. It's part of the series charm: instead of focusing on Batman's iconic but well used foes, it uses the wide scope of the dc plucking out every other villian great and small to get some spotlight.

Not only did this allow some villians even I didn't know existed like Babyface or Fun Haus to get spotlighted.. but it also meant when one of Batman's usual rogues DID show up it felt like a big event. Here especailly as after all this time we finally get to see one of Batman's own foes.. and it is glorious.

Jeff Bennet plays the Joker.. and he is utterly delightful. This Joker, while still vile and villanous fully leans into the silver age astetic of the show: he's still implied to kill people, still does over the top schemes, but it's in that classic golden and silver age way of more IMPLYING the death than showing the carnage he does. While other jokers can be funny this one, at least for this ep is almost entirley played for comedy, more an overgrown kid at play than the dangerous monster he usually is that's also an overgrown child just one who'd burn ants, whlie never really letting up on his competence, best shown subtly when Batman handcuffs him.. only fo rhim to have used the false wrists gag. Bennet plays it perfectly, using a posh accent to both seperate the joker from previous versoins and play into the old timey astetics the series loves.

Turns out Joker isn't happy with the new status quo as he loved the game as was and wants to partner with Batman instead.. the real batman. Unlike Batman's friends, Joker can actually TELL the other one's an imposter and can you know, tell that Batman suddenly doing crimes is weird and probably isn't him. It's not helped by the fact Owlman is horning in on his own crimes, ruining his fun.

So Joker offers batman his help: they team up and take out a mututal headache. Batman's first response is

Joker makes a valid point that sways him though: Batman is fighting someone as obessive, well thought out and type A as himself. Neither he nor Owlman really have the advantage, something backed up by their fight earlier and Owlman easily escaping the second Batman was gone: Their SO much alike that the odds of Batman actually beating him are low, as is the opposite. It's a clever way to use the mirorr gimmick.. and the joker: As Joker points out not only is he pure chaos, something harder to predict, he's also come the closest out of anyone to actually beating Batman.

Batman is forced to Acknolwdge he's right and they Take joker's car. It's a brilliant concept too: Batman and the Joker are usually so diffrent they CAN'T work together, but the stakes here are perfect to force the issue. it's also a delightful dynamic as Batman is a perfect straight man to his arch enemy's goofy antics, with joker soaking up every minute of this teamup, from saving a child then milking it for all ti's worth when the kid turns out to be afraid of batman, to , when they have to call in a batmobile after thier car gets wrecked (Batman naturally keeps a spare and in another nice nod it's the one he used in the 50s), tries to press all the buttons like a deranged 7 year old. It's fucknig great.

They had back to the bat cave after a chase form team dumbass, and Batman finds out something horrifying: Owlman found all his contenginces and is using them. This is something taken from the comics: Batman has a bunch of diffrent plans in case his justice pals are brainwashed or mind controlled. It lead to the brilliant story tower of Babel as Ras Ah Ghul got a hold of them and turned them up to lethal. It's something they SHOULD know he has and should have more consequences here like that comic, but it dosen't. It is however resonable: unlike his friends Batman again is well aware brainwashing happens and we now know there's evil dopplegangers in at least one other universe. It's smart to have a plan, some of them should just bea ware of that and for all we know they might be. They don't , and shoudln't, know what that backup IS, but they should be trusted to know he has a plan if something happens.

Ethics aside this gives Owlman everything he needs to take out all of batman's major allies thus far, and gather his own injustice league of all the various vilians, who apparently completely trust a guy pretending to be batman meaning the villians are the only ones in this episdoe who actually get that multiverse theroies a bitch and don't just go "oh this paragon of justice is evil now. Cool. That happened".

Batman and the Joker bust in to save the day.. but Owlman's already prepared for this , and after batman looses the numbers game.. offers Joker something he can't reisist.. his own trap. Batman dunked in wax. The spiral effects as he looks at the button and his eulogy after are hilarous.

Thankfully Batman , like Owlman, saw this coming and thus had the phase oscelatior repared. I also love that in hindsight, the time diffrences in dimensions.. was a chekovs gun: Batman spents some time in the multiverse finding himself.. and himself.. and himself.. and also himself, and himself once again, and oh look him as a cowboy.

It's a great reveal and one i'd forgotten: Batman found the joker was right, he can't beat himself alone.. but himselfves can.

It also speaks to the Brave and the Bold staff's love of the comics and heavy penchant for research as ALL of these batmen with exactly one exception are based on existing stories. That's the armored batman who even then still SOMEWHAT resembles Jean Paul's armor during his time of batman, but isn't close enough for me to fully think that's what they were going for

Thanks to the dc wiki though I know where the rest come from so settle in:

Going from left to right, we have the cowboy batman. Because everythings better when you make it a cowboy. It's just science.

Cowboy Batman is based on Nighthawk, a western hero I hadn't heard of before Kev showed me this wiki page. This is neat as the next year we COULD get a full cowboy look for batman during the return of bruce wayne after Darkseid seemingly killed him but thanks to a time gun he actually got sent through time and space, recarnating each time and each time becoming a new batman

Next we have Bat Creature, a giant hulking batman that came out of batman getting hit by an evolution ray meant fo rmonkeys that somehow turned him into the hulk

We then have vampire batman, the one variant I recognized as the dc 60 years of history book I read as a kid, and now have thanks to the kindnes of my mom's friend LIsa, had a section on it. It was a trilogy of elseworlds stories where Batman fought dracula and became a vampire as a result then lord of vampires. I.. really need to cover that one sometime.

Easing down past regular batman and ?????? Batman we have Captain Leatherwing, an alternate timeline bruce who became a pirate captin in a one off annual done by Chuck Dixon.

Finally we have hyper evolved batman, based off another wacky silver age transformatoin. During an issue of WOrld's Finest batman and superman found a satilite that crashed ot earth that evolves of devolves creatures. Unforutnately Hyper Evolved Batman, what was seen as 800,000 years of evolution hitting him at once, apparently ended up cold and evil and devolved superman as a result. And why yes Cave Superman versus Big Head Batman is something I should look at sometime. This version is heroic instead thankfully.

So a big ole bat-brawl insues and it's the highlight of the two parter... mostly because Joker spends the bulk of it running around with a round bomb with the biggest giggly smile on his face. The fighting though is great, with each batman getting to show off and freeing a hero. My faviorites are Aquaman's rescue, which has Black manta trying to turn up the giant sunlamp he's trapped under like he's turning up the volume on a tv before one of the batmen breaks a sprinkler allowing Aquaman to kick some ass, and Brain Batman Vs my boy THE Brain, which is won by Plastic man stretching his free arm to distract the brain. It's a well crafted wonderful fight scene that really leans into the craziness of the situation and has a lot of fun with tiself, which really sums up the show as a whole.

As for our big bad and his new best buddy, their defeated by their ego: both think they should finish off batman.. and thus bats is able to drop the wax thing on them.

One de waxing and a lot of handcuffs later

The villians are all arested, none of the heroes bother to apologize, and Batman geninely wonders if Red Hood means Joker has good in him. As for Owlman the other batmen take him back with him giving an omnious vow to return.. which let me check what episode that happens in.

..... you maybe see why I think this needed a followup.

At any rate while it has a bumpy start, Game Over for Owlman is pure fun once the joker gets involved and a good romp as Batman's forced to babysit his arch enemy to beat himself, and the finale encapuslates the shows "anything goes" style. You want a pirate, cowboy, hyper evolved, devolved, and armored batman beating up a bunch of foes while Joker runs around with a bomb? Yes let's do that. The show's love of just how fucking weird comics are will never not be endearing and this episode encapsulates that. These two eps aren't brave and the bold's best, but their still a LOT of fun and a decent enough story. NOt the best mirror universe story

Next in Bat Month: We have some more goofy classic goodness as we go to the golden age to find out where some of batman's most famous trophies come from as Bats must deal with gambling themed death traps, a man screwed over by pennies, and being hunted my mechanical dinosaurs on a billionares island. So a standard week fo rbatman, a good review for you

Next time Through a Mirror Darkly: We see just exactly where Darkwing Duck's arch enemy comes from as Darkwing tries to bring hope to a hopleless world. Get used to that it's goign to be a running theme.

Thanks for reading

#batman #the joker #batman the brave and the bold #earth 3 #green arrow #blue beetle #batman red rain #vampi #plastic man #red tornado #owlman #comics #animation

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katiica1412 · 1 year

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How I fell in love with the Trigun franchise.

This essay ist mostly intended for those who know at least one installment of the Trigun franchise and are wondering if they should check out the others, but mostly it's about the personal journey I had with this series. It's not meant to analyze the series in any deep fashion, because I think that would take weeks or months and several rewatches/rereads.

It's just about my feelings.

I wrote this on a whim but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Consider it a love letter. Also because it is inevitable, this contains heavy spoilers, especially for Trigun Stampede, you have been warned.

Trigun Stampede was a series I was actually pretty interested in, when it was announced. A reboot of a big name that is often mentioned in the same breath as Cowboy Bebop, which I hadn't seen yet either, but everyone had some kind of big respect for it, so it mattered.

Then it was even being animated by one of the most promising studios in recent years. Studio Orange, who are the runner-ups for 3D-anime with their amazing blend of 2D-animation and CGI.

So what could possibly go wrong here? At first absolutely nothing.

The pilot episode had everyone on the edge of their seats and left most people flabbergasted. I still consider it one of the best pilots I've seen in recent years. It looked gorgeous and sold me on the main character pretty quickly.

But the main goal seemed ….not too complex..... and even a bit too…. straightforward for my taste.

An evil twin brother.

A simple good versus evil story, I thought.

Then episode 3 came along and introduced the villain doing his glorious evil deeds in an extravagant fashion. But something was off. Our main character was blamed by the townspeople, even though he meant for the best? But you couldn't even be mad at the people because they were understandably devastated? The story all of a sudden got more layers. But I didn't get how important that dilemma would become in the long run.

I didn't get it.

I didn't get how much it would make me feel…..

The next episodes I enjoyed moderately.

I was watching weekly, so I enjoyed some of them more then others. I still was a bit irritated by the plot, even if I quite enjoyed the setting.

But they were seemingly wandering aimlessly on that desert planet.

I mean, eventually Vash and Knives would have to face each other…..but I didn't get what the story was trying to do until then.

Even when Wolfwood was introduced, I still hadn't understood. He was incredibly likeable and played off with the main cast very well. His backstory was told so beautifully in episode 6. Episode 8 was another highlight for me. We were finally getting a wonderfully flashed out backstory for Vash that made him so much more rounded. It was also greatly expanding on Knives' motives.

But then the episodes after…….I didn't feel it anymore….

I don't even know why.

Maybe I fell into that seasonal anime burnout, maybe I was just down…..depressed, call it what you will….

I didn't like watching Meryl and Roberto.

The dialogues irritated me and I was just frustrated I couldn't enjoy it anymore.

But then….

Then came Vash's dream sequence.

The flower garden lightening up in a beautiful red.

Rem standing at the tree in the middle.

A little Vash running towards her.

Jumping into her arms.

Smiling.

Her arms caressing him, and him feeling the safest, the most loved he has ever been.

…and I…

I felt that too. It was like an epiphany. I finally understood the core. It was like I was blind then began to see.

It was such an overwhelming content feeling.

I saw Rem being painted as mother earth. This story was about our world.

Their world.

About humanities' exploitation of the nature, of each other.

About the human condition as a whole, about hate, if everything could be overcome, but most significantly...

…about love and peace.

In its center was Vash who embodies it all, fights for it, even if he doesn't like it, and carries his message through the world, but at the same time it's about him experiencing the greatest cruelty because of his circumstances.

But holy fuck it didn't even stop there…… The most impressive thing had yet to come. The final episode. It's never been the same for me after that.

All of a sudden this show showed all its christian inspired glory! NOT ONCE I thought about this series as christian inspired… NOT ONCE. UNTIL THEY LITERALLY SHOWED US TWO FALLEN ANGELS FIGHTING OVER THE POWER OF GOD. EVEN THOUGH WOLFWOOD LITERALLY CARRIES A CROSS THE WHOLE SHOW SYMBOLIZING HIS SINS, YEAH I WAS BLIND.

After I saw that, I saw them everywhere! The motives! Every fucking where!!! Especially in Vash.

"Even if they hunt me! I'll just run away! I'll run, run, run, and keep running as far as i have to! And when things calm down, I'll quietly settle by their side again! I'm Vash the Stampede!"

I enjoyed all that symbolism immensely. I wouldn't consider myself the most religious person, but I have been raised in a Christian household and I do want to believe in the lessons of mercy, love and charity, like Vash does. I know, I'm probably oversentimental right now, but ...in the end this franchise made me feel...it wasn't wrong to think that way.

And that's not even all the series has to offer….it's overall a philosophical playground about morality.

So there was no escaping it, I had to know more about this story now.

The next thing I did was binging the 1998 anime by Madhouse. It has a very different approach to things, but it built on the aforementioned themes in a magnificent way. The presentation of the designs and setting were a lot more Western-genre-oriented and now I think, they're even better suited to make the themes shine.

After all Stampede was more leaning into the modern sci-fi elements and mostly focusing on the main brotherly conflict and the lore surrounding it, probably due to time contraints.

This version showed us a little more of the people living on this planet, and their unavoidable struggles. Different stories about people's dependance on others and the little resources they needed to survive.

This Trigun world was more painted as a world, where the crime rate was incredibly high, everyone has to carry a gun and unnecessary duels happen everyday. A cruel place to believe in such a thing as mercy. A place where more villains actively want to break Vash and make him turn on his pacifistic ideals.

Ironically this iteration had a lot of funny moments as well, it was easier to become attached to the characters that way.

It was also a great way of filling me in on a lot of information the reboot left open or still hadn't explored.

Vash was an even more conflicted character here and accompanied with Wolfwood's inner struggles, those two make the perfect antithesis to each other and Knives. Knives in this iteration could hardly be called a character at all. He feels more like a MCGuffin, even if he still gets a minimum share of development.

In the end this anime made me feel a lot of different emotions and with all its great fitting original content managed to tell a beautiful coherent narrative with a beautiful finale that leaves everyone satisfied.

Everyone but me….because I knew there was more :D

Something was still missing here….a lot of the lore regarding the twins and history of this planet that was explained in Stampede wasn't here.

So it was time for me to get to the best part. The finished source material by Yasuhiro Nightow himself.

Trigun and especially the sequel Trigun Maximum.

Imagine it that way.

If you take the best things of both animes and mash them together, this is what you get.

That's one of the reasons those two series complement each other so well.

Oh boy, where do I begin.

This one is daaaark.

If you thought the trauma presentation and villainous encounters in the other two animes were already hard to swallow, this shit's going to destroy you. It did me. I never knew how much underlying sadness a character and I could endure. But also at the same time Vash was the same as his 98 anime counterpart, witty, a jokester, an incredible gunman sure of his capabilities, an incredibly caring hero with ideals worth following, but also a tragic hero.

"What am I supposed to do?

I don't know anymore..."

This iteration shows all of the aspects of his character the other two already had, but also a lot more...

The same with Wolfwood and Knives.

It finally establishes Wolfwood as the second protagonist he has always been, as the 98 anime does introduce him way later in ratio with the lenghth of the manga. We spend more time with him.

Although Knives has a lot more charisma in Stampede, here he has a much more flashed out motive and plan. He seems the most threatening here.

Even his followers all get the time they deserve, Trigun Maximum is where Legato Bluesummers is the craziest he will ever be!

Since this story had enough time to be flashed out, they make the journey longer and harder for all the characters, and the moral dilemmas more complex.

The attention to detail is at the highest it has ever been and the fights and action scenes are a sight to be hold, ….including gore and unsettling imagery throughout.

It works a lot with atmosphere and auras the characters radiate, it doesn't overexplain anything and has some of the best one liners I've ever read, some of them the anime adaptations obviously used as well.

The scale feels enormous by the end, so much so that it overwhelmed me emotionally sometimes…..

If Trigun Stampede really plans to follow this at least a bit, we are in for a visual treat.

But even if they succeed and make it their own, which they, in my opinion already did, the sheer amount of missing content that needed to be adapted to give it the same emotional debth as the manga seems just too great for just another cour… Whatever happens I will be there and support it.

I also have a few things I only briefly want to mention.

Meryl and Milly are awesome. They don't have a big role to play, but it's sufficient. Love them.

The action scenes and visual presentation in all of the iterations, but mostly in the manga, are nuts. The weapons and fighting choreographies are crazy and inventive, thus really enjoyable and infectious.

Legato is the best villain in this story, sorry Knives, of course you're doing well too.

No, I don't ship Vashwood, but I understand why some would.

And lastly, over the studiing of this franchise I grew incredibly attached to Vash. He is probably one of the best protagonists I've ever watched growing.

By now, I have watched Trigun Stampede three times, in sub, german dub and english dub. I have watched Trigun (1998) two times, in sub and in german dub. And last week I have finished reading Trigun Maximum the second time.

In the span of five months.

It never got boring…. And I don't see me letting go of this series anytime soon.

Thanks for reading!

#anime #manga #trigun #tristamp #trigun 98 #vash the stampede #trigun maximum #trimax #nicholas d. wolfwood #millions knives #trigun vash #trigun wolfwood #trigun knives

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justidiothings · 1 year

Text

Example of (grossness)

I need to get this off my chest and forget it’s existence rant

Someone recommended "Mushoku Tensei" as the best isekai anime, Now i’m not familiar with the isekai genre, with that being said i found out it’s basically fantasy, and after seeing how people was praising, and recommending it to almost everyone I decided to give it a try.

What I expected? a fantasy show with an amazing plot, animation with how praise the series was getting.

First episode comes in, and i’m already feeling disgusted and uneasy, after all he’s a 30 something old in a child’s body, and i’ve seen many of fans say how it’s okay because he’s a child, well news flash, a person with a child's body but mentally an adult lusting after children is still pretty disgusting.

First episode, he’s already sexualizing breastfeeding a baby, and all the woman around him. His mother, the maid, the teacher who i remember right is described by him “body of a middle school girl who is still at the beginning of her puberty..” they’re all seen as sex objects, he continues lusting after them, stealing and sniffing their underwear, and the adults around him just dismiss it.. as normal behavior of a toddler… it would’ve been [just] a bit better IF the parents here played a role, and oh i don’t know, educate him, and teach him manners??

I was shocked, and had to briefly wonder if i’m watching the wrong “show”, after checking comments i see people saying he’s going to get better, and that he’s supposed to be a disgusting piece of shit, it’s a redemption story so i continued watching it for one more episode or two, i don’t remember. All I know is I dropped it because again I literally couldn’t enjoy this show without feeling disgust and uncomfort, and it made me want to give up on anime entirely especially when everyone and their fucking grandma had the same take “I know he is a child…”, i thought there’d be more people saying how it’s fucking disgusting, except

people were defending it, people were fucking defending it, saw someone brought up how the Mc is a pedophile after doing some research (which i regret not doing before watching it.) and people was defending it, saying it’s not a pedophile because the the MC ( barely remember that pos name) is a kid, and i’m just baffled because??? the fact that people are defending it and praising it proves that their standards are rock bottoms, literally any normal person would dump it for how vile and disgusting it is, yet somehow people are praising it and defending it???

(i want those minutes i’ve wasted watching this disgusting show, and whoever recommended me this show, and mentioned how it was the best “isekai” ever, fuck you. that includes those people that kept saying how he was going to get better, after reading the wiki, episode summaries he’s still a fucking piece of shit.)

Whoever defends the series by saying “The main character in mushoku tensei isn't supposed to be a good person at the start of the anime…..” he still remains a piece of shit and from what i’ve heard, and read he gets worser, or those people that says they just learn to accept Mc’s behavior,

Quite frankly, I find it disgusting how [anime community] is willing to throw away morals just for a [average] show, Literally enabling the pedophilia stigma in [anime].

No one has a problem with you [liking] it, though i’d judge if you do because well.., but don’t pretend the MC stops being a fucking pedo, and don’t be angry and insult people when they find him disgusting, because he is disgusting, and no he didn’t stop being a pedo, if anything he got worse, and no him getting bullied doesn’t justify his disgusting actions, and i’m sick, quite literally sick, because if i see another “he’s not actually 30 something old, he’s actually a teen because his-“ i’ll scream,

they’re that desperate to defend their shitty show that they’re using the the kind of rhetoric that child predators use to justify sleeping with children,

to summarize the show is basically "How I went from jerking off to kids to having sex with kids in a new world", and this series is a disgusting shit, and everybody defending it is disgusting shit. The author is disgusting shit too.

i’ll never watch [isekai] anime because apparently that’s the “normal” standard, and anyone who can sit down and defend it needs to be checked, and locked away.

Oh, and the classic excuses they use to defend is :

“There's nothing wrong with him having [sex] with children, he's a child himself now!"

“In their culture it’s completely normal, her being (insert age) makes her an adult.”

“He stopped mentally aging because he was holed up in his room all the time!”

“This is how lonely people act and it’s society fault.” yes, someone actually said this…

#mushoku tensei #anti Mushoku tensei #rant post #mini rant #anime rant #don’t come for me #or do i don't care #some people disgust me #i needed to get this off my chest #and rinse my brain and move on

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khaotunq · 2 months

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hey jay! outside of mkvdrama.org, do you know any other sites to download asian dramas from? preferably ones that don't require torrenting because i have no idea how to do that.

Hi! Honestly, I use whatever youtube downloader site comes up first when I search engine it, though I know that only works for the shows that air there. I do tend to find those ones are the best quality because I'm downloading them direct, though occasionally I've downloaded the same thing 3 times from different rippers to check. I also find that this gives cleanest results in terms of logos, etc. I have pretty much all the GMM shows you've seen me gif downloaded direct from YT via a downloader. These also download cleanly without subs, which is great for giffing but if you're looking to keep them for your own later-viewing pleasure, you'll need to find a subtitle ripper, too. I am told that certain media players will let you import a video directly from YT, but that's literally never, ever worked for me so.

Another method is the tried and true screen recorder method - I spent a week manually recording Manner of Death from the app it aired on because I couldn't find a decent download. This is not a method I recommend unless you just want short clips, because I had to fullscreen the eps and have my mouse completely still and offscreen for the whole episodes, so couldn't use my pc for anything else while I was doing it. I also had several episodes I had to go re-record because my connection was wacky at times so the quality died, or because I forgot to switch subs off, or because I didn't move my mouse off dead-centre screen, or because I moved my mouse halfway through an ep and the player overlay flashed up for several seconds lmao. 0/10 not recommended method, but it absolutely works and I know I used it for this gifset because I didn't have downloads of Between Us, Love Mechanics, or Love in the Air (weirdly did gif directly from a video for TTWE and it's the worst quality gif I've ever made lol), as well as the dizzying total of 2 MoD sets I made.

There is a Telegram channel I'm not willing to share publicly because the mods there have been dealing with some of their channels being shut down recently, particularly one for completed series which is a huge blow. I would be willing to share it off anon if you wanna message me and I'll respond to you privately. That's the one I use to get full episodes that aren't as easily found; I've had a few issues where something's been noted as 1080p but it absolutely hasn't had the expected quality, but the mods work so hard and they offer subtitle files and a number of different resolutions.

I'm certain there are other methods, but those are the three I use and I can attest to them all working.

#anonymous #ask post #i'm even leery of posting this bc of the link in the ask but since it isn't a click thru it should be okay #i grew up in the true golden age of online pirates and miss tpb daily #paranoia has gotten me this far i'll risk nothinggggg #thank u for asking it might be useful to others looking for dls?

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harleiquina · 1 year

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All TV series I've ever seen III

1940 - 1970

1980 -2000

2010 - now (this post)

2010 - Mike & Molly

Sitcom with some funny jokes... got lost at season 3 maybe... I don't know.

I know some people can't stand Melissa McCarthy but what I can't stand is the typical jokes of "well she's fat so she has to be eating in every scene or making a big deal about food" as it happens in Ghostbusters.

2011 -Once upon a time

At first I thought it was a silly premise (and maybe it is) but I do like fairytales twisted over and over again to create something new.

I stopped watching around season 5... because I was watching it through Sony (LatAm) and they started to play it dubbed and the voices were horrible.

I should pick it up someday.

2011 - 2 broke girls

Yet another sitcom that sometimes lands and others don't. Good enough to watch when there's nothing else available.

2011 - Person of Interest

A man creates a system (AI?) that can identify a criminals so hires someone to take care of them. I might've watched two seasons... then I lost track.

2013 - The Blacklist

James Spader has one of the best voices in the planet and when he plays a snarky a-hole he's at his best. The first two season were great... then I lost track and all the sudden they are ending the show after 10 seasons. I have a lot to catch up.

2013 - The Goldbergs

I might've been born in 1992 but thanks to mom and my aunts I grew up with in the '80s so this show was made for me... or so I thought. Some things are cringy, once Adam grows up the whole nerdy thing isn't as funny but it's ok... ish.

2013 - Father Brown

You can never be wrong with Chersterton's creation. Altough as all british TV shows it can be a little too slow for my taste.

2016 - Nafta Súper (Argentina)

The whole thing started with a simple question: what would've happened if Superman fell in a poor neighbourhood in Buenos Aires instead of the Kent's farm? This was the premise for Kriptonita a book that presented the DC heroes in their argentinean versions. But beware since they are outlaws and not always do good (but compared to our police they aren't as bad)... it is kinda hard to root for them. I mean Nafta Súper (is the name of a type of gasoline you get here) got his name because whenever he had to meet with other crime bosses he would carry gasoline with him and set them on fire if they didn't agree with his views 🤷🏻‍♀️

The movie was a good enough hit, so the TV show was meant to happen and expand the universe. Each episode focuses in one of the members of the Justice League (El Federico/Batman, Lady Di/Wonder Woman, El Faisán/Green Lantern, Ráfaga/Flash) while they all look for Nafta Súper/Superman that, after the end of the movie, is hiding.

As I said, it is hard to root for them but I have to give it to the creatives with all the clever ways to twist this heroes and villains so they fit in our culture. And I do like El Federico & Corona (Batman and The Joker) they are the highlight of the show for me.

2016 - Анна, детектив (Anna, detective -Russia)

Do you remember Medium? Have you ever thought how it could've been set in the early 1900s in a backwater town in Russia? Well now you don't have to!

Anna Mironova is a young woman that always had psychic abilities but they would come and go during childhood. Now this abilities are back around the same time the Officer Shtolman is assigned to her town.

Sometimes is very VERY telenovela (I am not entirely on board when it happens), each case lasts 2 episodes and I do think that is a bit of a strech. But I do have to recognize that Dimitri Frid (Shtolman) plays a man that is very smitten and deeply in love very well.

You can see it in Youtube in Star Media English (captioned in this language)

2018 - Killing Eve

We all know that the first 2 seasons were the best (we can add the 3rd in it too when we compare it to the 4th). This cat-and-mouse spy thriller started strong mixing dark humour and just darkness and left us all with a bad taste in the last episode. Still Eve and Villanelle will live forever in our hearts.

2019 - Good Omens

An Angel a Demon beeing close friends got 20K christians so angry that they started a pettition to cancel this show adressed to the wrong company. And people still ask me today why I am Agnostic?

The Antichrist was born, the Four Horsemen summoned so it is time to stop the Apocalypse.

Really funny, layered and worth a lot more than just a watch (mom and I watched it about 4 times in less than a year, so... is that good)

2019 - The Mandalorian

At home we were never huuuuuge Star Wars fans (we would watch for Harrison Ford and some creatures). Still, since the premise to this show was that you didn't needed to be a hardcore-fan we gave it a go and we loved it! It's very close to old shows, like Zorro, where you have the adventure-of-the-day kinda plot (that some people just can't dig, don't know why) and I do like good fights on TV/Cinema

Never underestimate the power of Baby Yoda!

2021 - Wandavision

Even if we never read a comic, we did watched most of Marvel movies and we wanted to know what all of this was about.

It's a lot more effective if you already know the shows they pay homage to.

Beware... it will break your heart.

2021 - Falcon & the Winter Soldier

Following the MCU, came the buddy-mov... erm, TV show, buddy-Tv show starred by Falcon and Bucky.

At a moment you might think that there are too many things on the plate (super soldiers, the new & bad Captain America, a black market dealer, Zemo) so some things do feel a little rushed. But well... at least was fun.

2021 - Loki

Don't kill me but I do not understand people's obsession with Loki.

I mean, the mythological god is a thing... but aside from Tom Hiddleston's fans I don't see the appeal of any nordic god in the MCU (as I said, I don't read comics).

The show is ok...

2021 - Hawkeye

Since I'm little I always liked archery and I was curious about this Avenger that is easily lost in the background of the movies.

It is not the greatest show ever made... but at least is less "the world will be destroyed" and that is a good change. Less is more.

2021 - The Book of Boba Fett

Of course after watching Mando I had to follow the story... and yes, he did took over in the last episodes. But still... it was nice seeing Boba Fett's arch that transformed him from a Bounty Hunter to a Leader (???).

Something could be a little bit more explored, but well... we'll see what the future holds for him.

2022 - Our Flag means Death

When I had a glimpse of the trailers (mostly focused on Steede's most feminine traits vs the tough life of a pirate) I was like "yay... another show making fun of a clearly gay character. Awesome. Are we in 1980 again?" But some gifsets in here spiked my curiosity... does the story really shows a romantic relationship between Blackbeard and Steede or this is the fandom beeing fandom once again?

Well... watch and find out!

2022 - Moonknight

I love the Ancient Egypt so this show was for me. I didn't know that there was a superhero based on those myths (nor that he had DID) and I really liked him.

Fingers crossed for a second season... or a movie (once the strike is over, of course).

2022 - Ms. Marvel

I was expecting something more teenage-based but anyone can see Ms. Marvel.

I don't understand why so many hated it... oh wait... Sor Juana said it better "foolish men that accuse the woman without reason..."

2022 - She-Hulk

And odd experiment, I do think that the last episode was kinda cheating but if she breaks the fourth wall... what can we do? 🤷🏻‍♀️

At least they aknowledged some narrative issues that have been dragging for a while.

2022 - The Sandman

Loving this show is an understatement.

Once again, I didn't read the graphic novel with the exceptions of a few panels here and there that I saw many years ago in Facebook (when Morpheus meets The Fates and the baby scene on The Sound of her Wings).

I love when all mythology and fairytales and other myths can be combined into something new. So this was my jam.

Waiting for season 2 (and getting a better paid job so I can buy the books).

2022 - Obi-Wan

Is there anybody in this world that hates Ewan McGregor? I don't think so.

The show was ok... some twists were predictable from the get-go (still some didn't see them coming and got angry at them 🤷🏻‍♀️). But well... everybody wanted Vader vs Obi-Wan and they sure had it!

2022 - Andor

I don't know if living in Argentina absolutely killed the idea of a heroic guerrilla, revolution and such (because we are the spoils of that and, trust me, thinks don't get better. But this is not about argebtinean politics so... moving on)... or it is because in USA is heavily romanticized but... Andor didn't clicked with me.

It was a task watching it and we only finished it because we started it... don't know if we will watch a second season.

2022 - Wednesday

A lot of people say that Tim Burton is overrated (I disagree, I think that he is tired of beeing ask to be Tim Burton, wacky director or weird films) but Wednesday is heavily overrated to me. Really? This has 12 Emmy nominations and The Sandman has zero? What the Bloody Hell?!

I like the Addams Family, I watched the TV show... the movies... this is not the Addams Family. I know, I know... this is about Wednesday blah, blah, blah. But this isn't Wednesday either... this is moody goth teenager with the biggest ego in the room.

Let's leave aside all the character and worldbuilding inconsistencies... Wednesday is a sharp and blunt person but she is never mean without a good point. This Wednesday is cruel even with people that loves her!

Did people forget that the weirdest thing about the Addams Family was that they are weird and they deeply love each other? That was what made them who they are! Instead of having the husband complaining about the wife, you have Gomez. Instead of having the wife trying to have the perfect house scolding her kids for their behaviour , you have Morticia with her own interests aside from beeing a housewife and assists her kids with their passions... I'll stop ranting now or I will never end.

Not a fan of the powers, the story is ok-ish...

2023 - The Last of Us

Never played videogames either and zombies (I'm sorry, infected) are not a big genre at home unless is Michael Jackson's Thriller video. Still we decided to give it a go because Pedro Pascal is latino and you have to support your people... even if they are chileans... or brazilians (argie joke. You wouldn't understand it).

We loved it!

I was ready for mom to complain with "is it necessary to always have gays?" in episode 3 but she didn't... and I dare to say that its one of her favourite episodes. (And no, readers, mom isn't conservative... but she's against tokenism -just like me-. If you want to have diversity in the world you've created, that's awesome... if you are doing it just to check some items off a list, it's annoying and feels like a desperate move)

2023 - The Muppets Mayhem

We love The Muppets but since Jim Henson's death they are kind of a hit-and-miss.

It does get better as it goes... wouldn't say is ✨️the best✨️ Muppets yet... but it is a lot better than the Haunted Mansion from last year (?)

2023 - FUBAR

Did you liked the movie True Lies with Arnold Schwartzenneger and Jaime Lee Curtis? Well... what if we do the same premise but this time his daughter is also a secret agent?

It is still good though... sometimes humor can be a little cringey, but Arnie knows his audience well enough and delivers.

2023 - Secret Inavsion (current)

It is still going so I cannot tell much just yet. Doesn't feel like a spy-thriller as I imagined but we'll see.

#very vague tv reviews by harleiquina #very vague reviews by harleiquina #tv shows #2010s #2020s #mike & molly #2 broke girls #good omens #ouat #ofmd #the sandman #wednesday #marvel tv shows #dc universe #argentina #killing eve #star wars #tlou

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90363462 · 2 years

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Why ‘Atlanta’ Is One Of The Greatest Shows In TV History

Donald Glover's masterpiece shirked traditional Black comedy and drama tropes while also breaking virtually every rule of TV show writing.

(L-R) Zazie Beetz, Brian Tyree Henry and Donald Glover speak onstage at the “Atlanta” New York Screening at The Paley Center for Media on August 23, 2016, in New York City. | Source: Neilson Barnard / Getty

The very first scene in the very first episode of Donald Glover‘s Atlanta included what Aaron McGruder’s The Boondocks described as “a n***a moment.” In the scene, Alfred Miles aka Paper Boi, played by Brian Tyree Henry, gets into a heated exchange with a Black man who had just broken the side mirror on his car. Aggravated words were had, guns were flashed and Black-on-Black crime seemed imminent as the scene ended with the ominous sound of a gunshot.

Based on the intro to that series premiere, a lot of people thought this was going to be just another Black show about rapper hood dreams and Black people at their lowest.

It turns out the show was that, but also any and everything but that. Atlanta was a Trojan horse that presented itself to the world as a semi-typical Black dramedy, but it ended up being a show that not only shirked traditional Black comedy and drama tropes, but it broke virtually every rule of TV show writing across the board—and still managed to be one of the greatest TV shows of all time, in my not-so-humble opinion.

The series finale of Atlanta aired on Thursday. The episode, titled “It Was All a Dream,” wasn’t your typical series finale. It wasn’t emotional and sentimental the way the finales of shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and A Different World were. It didn’t bring any story arcs to a conclusion. (Including the aforementioned guns hot scene. Seriously, what happened there? Is buddy who broke the mirror OK?) We still don’t know if Earn and Vann moved to Los Angeles with their daughter or if Alfred ever came to terms with his persistent internal conflict that showed all the signs of clinical depression. For the most part, the final episode of Atlanta was just another episode of Atlanta. And that’s all it needed to be because it matches the show’s energy through its run.

Rather than sticking to conventional and linear storytelling, Atlanta‘s episodes were often disjointed from each other. It is a dramatic and bizarre cacophony of randomness, surrealism, dark comedy, dry comedy and Blackity-Black Blackness. It is a show that was allowed to be anything it wanted to be from episode to episode.

Arguably the first episode that made this explicitly evident was episode 7 of season 1, “B.A.N.” In this episode, Paper Boi was a guest on a fake talk show on a fake Black media network that also featured fake Dodge Challenger commercials among other satirical TV ads. All of a sudden, a TV show that, at the very least, stayed in a lane in terms of its genre, became the same show with an added mixture of satire, sketch comedy and direct social commentary.

Then there were episodes like “Teddy Perkins,” the season 2 episode that is the only one to focus squarely on Darius, the character played by LaKeith Stanfield. This episode set the tone for season 3 which aired 4 years after season 2 and took the cast all the way from Georgia’s Blackest city all the way to a tour of Europe.

Actors Lakeith Stanfield (L) and Donald Glover, winners of Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy for ‘Atlanta,’ attend FOX and FX’s 2017 Golden Globe Awards after party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 8, 2017, in Beverly Hills, California. | Source: Rodin Eckenroth / Getty

And for some viewers, the show had simply gotten too weird. From the “Three Slaps” episode that fictionalized a real-life Black horror story, to the bizarre and cringy 2 Pac death scene in “Sinterklaas is Coming to Town” to the “Tarrare” episode that had us all asking, “OK, what the hell is wrong with Van?”—it became clear to everyone that this show doesn’t GAF about viewer expectations. It’s a show that loved itself so much that it didn’t care how many fans jumped ship because the ride they were being taken on was wavy and random without a clear destination.

While that characteristic didn’t change much in this final season, the cast was brought back to Atlanta, and we even saw a resolve to the often-strained, on-again-off-again relationship between Earn (Glover) and Van (Zazie Beetz). Earn and Van wasn’t your typical “will they/won’t they” sitcom couple. These were two adults who shared a child and cared for each other but struggled to get it together. And because Atlanta departed from most other Black TV comedies in that it wasn’t so hyperfocused on dating and relationships, it wasn’t until season 4’s “Snipe Hunt” episode that Earn and Van finally declared their love for each other and made themselves an official couple. Until then, their relationship journey was a peripheral story arc that was only highlighted in an episode or two per season.

That being said, one piece of criticism I have about the show is that Van—despite being the only character to have a solo episode in every season—never had much character development that took her beyond being the mother of Earn’s child. This isn’t to say that she had no development at all, but her main conflicts in the show were being constantly reduced to “Lottie’s mom,” her struggling with parenthood and Earn’s refusal to commit to her. And she was never really able to veer out of that box. Van’s story arc was always tied to Earn and Lottie.

The character of Earn, on the other hand, went from being a frustratingly irresponsible and selfish character (to the point where I was happy to see him get his a** beat in season 2’s “North of the Border” episode) who was essentially leeching on his cousin’s rap fame, to a successful manager whose status and financial situation seemed to rise alongside Alfred’s.

Speaking of Alfred—Paper Boi had the most interesting arc on the show. He’s my favorite character. He was what many would consider a “hood n****a”—and he was that—but throughout the series, he was a morally conflicted, often sad, sometimes ignorant, sometimes admirable layered character that was allowed to be vulnerable and softened. (This was especially evident in season 2’s “Woods” episode.

Look, I can go on and on explaining all the nuances and innovation that makes Atlanta not just one of the best Black TV shows ever, but one of the best in general, but I’ll just leave you with one final point.

Black creatives need space to be creative in a limitless way. With the help of director Hiro Murai, Gover and his writing team were able to create a Black show where even “hood” characters were allowed to be Black AF, but also quirky, strange and layered. It broke all the rules and challenged its own viewers like no other show has ever done.

If you’ve never seen it, I recommend you give it a try. Just keep an open mind—you’re going to need it.

SEE ALSO:

Is Donald Glover A ‘Black Genius’?

‘Atlanta’ Takes On The Value Of Human Life In Stirring Shooting Scene

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hard-core-super-star · 1 year

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I don't know how I didn't stop to think that being anonymous actually makes me very mysterious - you just avoided my villain era. Oh yeah, there should be a complaints box, so we could inform and complain about this total mutual discomfort we are going through.

who knew my messy essay would save my neck, thank you for your mercy. I think it could be a result of the second star, the power has gone to my head, I'm going to try to change that😔

now you kind of have to tell this joke or I won't be able to sleep peacefully.

yeah! they actually did a titans show and it looks like it was something like 8 or 80, I didn't watch it either but the reviews are always someone either liking it or hating it, never in between. buying all the comics is my princess dream- but okay, since you're talking about game universes, I agree with you, but tell me I'm not crazy when I say that nightwing completely eat in the Lego games.

that's exactly why I started watching Legends of Tomorrow lmao, they're so silly and chaotic and I love it, not to mention it's the kind of humor that makes me laugh genuinely when I least expect it. OH NO- WAIT In that case I would happily get started for you with an honorable mention to the kiss after their first date and the phrase “I can't be normal” and right after the “I don't want you to be normal” HJSJWKSNDEKK time passes but I'm still stuck in this moment.

they... they canceled the show? haha what? 😀

“slightly traumatized” LMFAO- this shouldn’t be so funny but yeah, I totally get it. I know there's this supercorp thing (I think that's the name) and they are literally the golden retriever gf and the black cat gf 😭 do you still have this blog? asking for scientific research

– 🌟

you're welcome, i'll be here all night [ignore the timezone difference] to remind you how cool and mysterious you are. i would joke and say my inbox is technically a complaints box too but i feel like we'd make one joke about it and somehow add another conversation to our list 👀

i'm not saying i told you so but i did warn you that the second star would be too much. keep that in mind if you ever want to ask for a third one.

honestly, the joke was just going to be the blood-sucker thing which is a direct reference to vampire [both the song and the fic] but then you made the blood-sucker comment for me so my reference is kind of irrelevant by now 😶

i would poke fun at the show for that but i think all my comfort shows have those types of reviews too. i'm pretty sure hawkeye didn't do that well with the general public so i can't hold it against titans. i cannot believe you're bringing up the Lego games because, this is embarrassing to admit but, i was OBSESSED with the Lego Batman 2 game and that's exactly what led me to fall down the DC rabbit hole and eventually the Nightwing rabbit hole. after Lego Batman came Injustice and then the Batman Arkham series which is still my favorite videogame series to this day. even though i never finished origins.

i'm serious do NOT encourage me to talk about this show, i can go on for ages, it's so silly but so important to me and it honestly has the best queer representation of all the Arrowverse shows. [with the exception of Batwoman which was taken from us too soon. and yes that is another rant.] ajksdfhjaghjhdagjh that episode will live in my mind rent free until the day i die! i remember watching it when it aired and i lost my damn mind at the "i don't want you to be normal!" outburst. i love them with all my heart.

whoops, i didn't realize you didn't know. i don't know what season you stopped at but basically, without spoiling anything, Season 7 ended in a cliffhanger and then the news came out that both Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman were cancelled AKA the two shows with the most queer representation. meanwhile, the flash [aka the show with like literally zero rep unless you count subtext] got to do its last [awful, btw] season. as you can tell, i'm still pissed about it.

i have a love-hate relationship with supercorp because i adore them but [to no one's surprise] the CW ruined them and just used their relationship as queerbait since the show was obviously going downhill. the blog is actually still up but i am far too embarrassed to leak it because...yikes.

#rubix replies #🌟

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afaims100arrowversefavs · 2 years

Text

3. „Superman &Lois“ takes place on Earth Prime

I never would have thought I would ever have to write about this as a storyline we did not get, because since „Crisis on Infinite Earths“ everyone always assumed that the show was taking place on Earth Prime. After all the Teaser-Scene, in which Lois is talking about two sons all of a sudden does take place on Earth Prime, there was a picture of Kara seen in early Season 1, Lex Luthor was mentoned in a way that made sense with „Supergirl“, Lois and Clark constantly talked about the Multiverse, John Henry and Nat lived through „Crisis on Infinite Earths“ in Flashbacks, John Diggle showed up in a Crossover-Type-Event during his Green Lantern-Ring-Storyline, talked about the ring and mentoned „Oliver and the others“ and everything they went through since becoming heroes, and everyone was promoting this epsiode as a part of that Crossover-Event. They did bring the Lucy Lane from „Supergirl“ back, and even ajusted her timeline, so that her falling apart and falling in with Ally matched with the last time we saw her on „Supergirl“. They even contracted David Ramsey again to bring Diggle back, only to finally reveal in that episode that ,no, the show was not taking place on Earth Prime.

I am sorry? „But we never said we were taking place on Earth Prime“, they said. And we said, every other Earth has always had a number, you don’t even have a number, your Tie-In-Comics are part of a serie called „Earth Prime“ and the show, that does not take place on Earth Prime and has Tie-In-Comics in this series has Earth-2 printed all over it there!

It’s like they woke up on morning and realized it would be odd that none of the other heros would show up for the merging or Bizarro-World with Earth, and decided the best explanation for this was making themselves into Cons and Liars.

Either they lied about always knowing it was another Earth, or they lied for three years to con audience into watching the show about the identity of the main characters. In any case: I am never going to believe a single word any producer of that show says about anything anymore.

Of course the first two seasons are taking place on Earth Prime, very much so! And in a better world they would not have changed that. But after „Batwoman“ and „Legends of Tomorrow“ got cancelled, they realized the Arrowverse was done and jumped ship to save their own skin. Because that is was bad people do, and they are just that: Bad people, who put their show before all those people who they betrayed.

In my Head-Canon the Merging did split Earth Prime in two. One containing „The Flash“ and the rest of the Arrowverse and one containing „Superman & Lois“ after the failure of the Merge. And that’s it.

#Arrowverse #More Top 100 Storylines we never got to see #superman & lois #Superman & Lois Season 1 #Superman & Lois Season 2

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xgryffinwhore · 3 years

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Hey! Can I request a jaeden martell x reader where basically their charters are dating on a tv show and they are really really good best friends in real life and they they both go on the Jimmy fallon show and he keeps on asking if they’re dating because everyone thinks they are and when they say no he obvi doesn’t let it go lol and it ends up slipping up that jaeden did/ does have a crush on reader and they maybe end up sharing a kiss in front is Jimmy & audience & stuff😶just an idea i had 😂:)

i love this idea wow, thinking i’m going to put my own little twist on it but i think you’ll still be pleased ;)

just friends

warnings!: suggestive topics, fluff

word count: 2.1k

five

your face was being touched up with powder, the cotton pad dabbing at your nose as the white powder absorbed into any oil your face may have had.

four

you look over at jimmy, this wasn’t your first talk show, but it had been the biggest one with the most following. it was intimidating, you bounced your foot up and down and played with your hands.

three

behavior jaeden had grown to recognize. he knew you better then you knew yourself, your anxiety was worse then you put it out to be. “you ok?” he questioned, “fine, i’m fine” you painted a small smile on your face. but he wasn’t easily fooled.

two

he grabbed one of your hands and rubbed circles into your palm, this sent vibrations of relaxation down your spine.

one

his eyes locked with yours, you swore they were a different color each time you saw them. sometimes more blue, sometimes more green, sometimes dark with mystery, sometimes light and playful.

‘aaand where on air’

you wiped the hand that was interlocked with his off on your dress, it was clammy. the curtain came up fast, and your vision was soon flooded with bright lights and silhouettes of bodies.

making out the faces in the sea of people was impossible, but you knew your friends were out there. they had flown out to see you, a) they could go see new york and b) you were on national television, and they wouldn’t miss it for the world.

jimmy was talking, you knew that much, but your nerves took over and honestly you weren’t registering a damn thing he was saying. the crowd cheered, you snapped out of your daze.

“and here tonight, we have jaeden martell and y/n l/n from the new HBO tv series: turning tables”

he turned to both of us, and gave everyone time to clap. he tired to speak over the loud hands, moving on with his show, but the crowd made that difficult. eventually the clapping died out and he could continue.

“now, i’ve watched all of the episodes but, for the people who haven’t seen: can you explain what the show is about?” he looked a jaeden, you let go of a breathe you had held in.

“s-sure” jaeden turned to face the audience more, he was soft spoken and shy, so it was important he projected as much as he could.

“turning tables is a teen drama. it’s about families of poverty in the seattle washington area and how they struggle to go to school and work. my character, jennings cooper, is the main protagonist. the show is mainly from his point of view, and how he struggle to support his family.”

jimmy nods and smiles, he looks pleased with his explanation. i’m truth the show wasn’t that simple, he knew that. but, it would take so long to explain.

“and y/n, who do you play?” he knew the answer to this obviously, but you were becoming a crowd favorite. everyone loved your personality, and you were an up-and-coming a list celebrity.

“i play parker marlow, jennings girlfriend” you blushed at this statement, the crowd giggled and ‘ouuu’ed. jimmy rubbed his hands together, getting excited at the upcoming topic of discussion.

“so, your romance on season one was steamy” you thought back to the scenes you did together. all of the kissing, which felt normal at this point. he wasn’t a bad kisser, in fact- you didn’t mind it at all. your romance through the season built up to a sex scene, your mind flashed through the memories of filming it.

filming those scenes isnt half as steamy as you think it is. it’s awkward, you laugh a lot. you had never felt that exposed in your life! however watching it was different, it looked so real, so perfect.

you blurred out your thoughts, mr. fallon still speaking on the subject. “can we expect more -“ jimmy searched for your ship name, it was on the tip of his tongue. the combination of your first names on the show didn’t make an attractive combo. it was either jarker or pennings. your last names matched a little better.

“-carlow” jaeden finished for him. jimmy nodded and smiled “yes- carlow- can we expect more carlow next season?” you both looked at each other and smiled. the writers for the show already had the next four seasons laid out. you knew that carlow was a continuing relationship on the show.

“yes, you should expect more of that sort of content from us” you stated. the people in the crowd had a positive responce to this, the applause lapping until it died out once again.

“right, your characters have so much chemistry in the show. two struggling teens just trying to break even.” jaeden agreed “yes, our characters balance each other out, and being from the same background helps them associate. jennings is kind of a bad boy-as the ladies say- he’s a felon, he steels cars and sells them to counterfeit manufacturers and dealers for money. parker, y/n’s character, has a job at a diner. she shows him the light at the end of the tunnel if he chooses to go down a good path.”

“yes, parker gets jennings a job at the diner with her, and he falls for her sweet disposition even after everything she’s been through” you add.

jimmy licks his lips and pops another question: “so id imagine the chemistry in the show heightens the real life thing?” he cocked an eye brow, the group gasping at the intrusiveness.

“jaeden and i are just friends” you blurt out, your nerves working up again. it was hard, you liked jaeden ever since you had your first kiss with him.

“y-yeah” he stutters, he obviously wasn’t expecting this either “friends” jimmy shakes his head and puts his finger on his lip “recently, you both have been showing a lot of pictures of you two together on social media.”

the audience ‘awwwed’ at the photos that displayed behind you. on the screen, there were pictures of you and him that were on both of your instagrams. you two at gardens, getting food, even watching movies at each other’s houses.

“for just friends, these photos looks intimate , wouldn’t you say” a bunch of ‘yes’’s and ‘mhm’’s came from the crowd as both of your faces became red.

“we’re just best friends, honestly” jaeden laughed nervously, he fixed his hair with his hand has he always does.

“right right- can you tell me when this photo is from?” jimmy asked, the last picture flashing on the screen. it was of you both, you had just filmed your first scene together.

the first scene you filmed together was episode two, he saved you after you fell into ice cold water. it was how the characters met, and it was filmed at a cove on a windy august day.

the picture was a little blurry, but it added character. he had his arm around you, both of your hair soaked, and you share a huge towel. you remember how cold you were, your teeth chattered so rapidly. his hair was stuck to his forehead and more small pieces went up. and your lips were almost purple, half from the makeup, half because you swore that was the coldest water you had ever went in.

“that’s from when we first started filming, it was the first time we met in the show” you recited, re living the memory in your head. you remember jaeden pulling your head into his chest when the wind began blowing. you remember his thumb trying to create friction on your back to make you just a little warm.

“yes yes- you two look so adorable!” jimmy squealed, he was the most teenage-girl-grown-man you had ever met. his hand opened one of the drawers in the faux desk he sat behind, pulling out a small blue camcorder.

the camcorder.

you know how on tv shows, there is special footage? sometimes it’s just behind the scene specials but sometimes- sometimes - it’s footage the actors document when they were just having fun? yeah it was one of those camcorders.

the camcorder was brought in by the two other co hosts wyatt oleff and finn wolfhard (i know this cast is sooo original not really) they played jaedens two best friends on the show. while they weren’t filming, they’d dick around and talk about stupid stuff. you’d never seen what they filmed, but you had been featured quite a few times; their by them pranking you, or invading your personal space.

you looked over at jaeden, you watched his adam’s apple bob and a thin layer of sweat flush over his face. he bounced his leg slightly, a habit he had picked up from you.

“let’s just review our material here” jimmy teased, his tongue darting out between his teeth. the video began to play, the sound was loud; assumingely for jaeden quiet voice in the tape.

the video started with wyatts unsteady hand, him and finn were running around set, they stopped at jaeden, he was playing on his phone in his trailer.

“jaeden wesley we have come for you” finn yelled. you could see jaeden shoot up from his chair. “hey guys” he waved. they talked for around a minute, jokes and all. then finn started to giggle, wyatt zoomed in on jaedens face.

“so jaeden, how’s y/n?” he chuckled, jaeden blushed “she’s ok i guess dunno.” wyatt stopped zooming in when the only thing in frame was jaedens head. “the kiss was good hm?” wyatt asked. jaeden continued to play on his phone, he nodded. “yeah, she’s pretty cute too.”

the video cut to another segment, this was filmed after the sex scene. you knew because jaeden laid on the bed you, in the same underwear that he wore during the scene. the boys were jumping on the bed, and jaeden took the camera and talked to it.

“this is for memory and memory ONLY! h-hey y/nnn” he was talking to the camera like it was you “you’re amazing and cool” you could hear finn explode into laughter as he stole the camera back and started running “yeah! and he wants your babies and loves you so much-“ “SHUT UP FINN!!!” and jaeden chased him around.

the video was taken off the screen. your face had become close to ghostly white. it was weird, it was almost like he was dumb enough to think finn wouldn’t give jimmy this blackmail goldmine. you looked at jaeden, he hit his bottom lip until it was red, he itches his neck and laughed it off.

“yeah ok-ok jimmy, maybe i liked her back in the day” jaeden tried so hard to be casual, but jimmy hit him with a heart stopper: “but mr martell, the last clip was filmed less then a month ago!”

your mind flickered with memories and ideas of him.

your first time meeting, how good his hand felt in yours. when you wiped icecream off his chin, and him dotting icecream on to the top of your nose. the way his hair always fell perfectly above his eye brow. and SHIT how he always smelt so fucking good. how he let you fall asleep in his arms and how he never complained when you put on some stupid romcom and-

“y/n?” jimmy questioned. “huh?” you spaced, come on y/n you gotta stop doing that. “i asked how you felt about all of this.” “well, there isn’t a right word i can use.”

jaeden took this has a bad reaction, he did a small wave to the crowd and stood up to get off the stage.

you stood up, grabbed his hand, and laid one right on him. kissing him felt normal, but now that there was emotion behind it, it just felt so right.

you both stopped for air, the crowd went wild. jimmy was clapping too, you could barley hear them, your heart was pumping throughout your whole body. you swore jaeden could hear it.

after the show, you sat in your dressing room for a bit, contemplating the events of tonight, and how they were all broadcasted for your embarrassment. but it was only the beginning. only the beginning of what was to come for mr. and mrs. jaeden martell.

#jaeden martell #jaeden martell fic #jaeden martell x reader #jaeden martell fluff #jaeden wesley #jaeden lieberher #jaeden #jaeden fic #bill denbrough #bill denbrough x you #bill denbrough fanfic #it move #imagine #it fanfiction #aged up

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violettelueur · 3 years

Text

— JUJUTSU KAISEN EPISODE NINETEEN || BLACK FLASH

↳ featuring : basically everyone at this point from jujutsu kaisen

↳ warnings : mention of blood + mention of violence + EXTREME grammar issues

↳ form : story

↳ published : 13 april

↳ pronouns : she/her

↳ word count : 4.6k

↳ synopsis : within the jujutsu world, there were three famous clans to be aware of, the Kamo clan, Zenin clan and the Gojo clan. However, unknown to many sorcerers there was one last family that was known to be apart of the three, only for them to disappear after the golden era leading some to speculate that they had died in battle after the sealing of ryomen sukuna, but....

↳ previous episode : sage

↳ next episode : nonstandard

↳ barista’s notes : let me admit, this will probably have terrible grammer issues here and there because i started this at 10:30pm and how it is 4am....ʕ ㅇ ᴥ ㅇʔ but also fun fact, when i was writing the fight scene, i legit had to grab a chopstick and try to reenact the scene i needed to write for in the kitchen ʕ ꆤ ᴥ ꆤʔ BUT moving on from that, thank you so much for being so patient with the series and hope you enjoy this special cup of classic black coffee ʕ•ᴥ•ʔﾉ♡

BEFORE READING, I NEED YOU TO BE AWARE OF THIS:

1. the whole story belongs to Gege Akutami and the credits go to them and them only.

2. the spell curses used belong to Tite Kubo due to them being the ‘Kidos’ being used on the manga and anime ‘Bleach’ - but none is mentioned in this chapter.

2.5. for the ‘cursed spells’/kidos (bleach) i will link this video here and tell you the time stamp to check out what i am intending to show - remember i add a few twist here and there by adding the katana to link with Y/N’s cursed technique : hopefully this video is slightly better...

Destructive Curse Spell Number Sixty Three : Raikoho (6:29-6:44)

Destructive Curse Spell Number One : Sho (4:56-5:04)

3. if you are confused on anything, please don’t hesitate to message me since i know this whole thing is so confusing.

A multitude of running footsteps continuously pounded against the wooden floor below, as everyone was determined to get away from the special-grade curse that was chasing them at this very moment in time, as what followed everyone was a vast wave of wooden branches that was violently destroying the corridor behind them.

“Are you all right, Inumaki-senpai?” Fushiguro asked with concern enveloping his overall tone, as the mentioned upperclassmen seemed to be struggling right now.

“Salmon,” Inumaki replied, in an attempt to reassure his classmate that he was doing and going to be alright, when in fact it looked as if it was the complete opposite currently.

“Here it comes!” Kamo yelled out to warn everyone as he spun around to face his opponent, leading the cursed spirit to launch a few sharp branches towards him as well as you, once you fully turned around to make sure that your classmate from the Kyoto side was going to be safe.

“Stop,” Inumaki commanded leading his curse technique to come to effect as his voice not only echoed through the hallways but forced the curse and its attack to come into a sudden halt, leading Kamo the given opportunity to launch his technique as a rapid long-ranged shot of blood directly attacked towards the curse’s head (which was somewhat covered in burns due to your last technique before everyone started to flee by your command) causing some fragments of it to chip off to which surprised Fushiguro slight as you stood at the top of the stairs just above Inumaki.

“Hurry! He’s just gonna heal right away!” Kamo instructed everyone as he ran up the stairs causing you to give one last look at the curse before rushing up the wooden steps as Kamo has told you.

From what you could observe, the branches seemed to be the curse’s weakest point since Kamo’s last attack managed to hit its head causing you to come to that conclusion while your curse spell managed to cause some permanent damage to the curse due to the damage that remained after. However, even if you did want to continuously use the same curse technique over and over again, to not only cause the building that everyone was residing in to collapses and burn down but it also put your comrades in danger, something that you ultimately wanted to avoid at all cost.

Hearing a small but noticeable cough, you quickly turned your head back slightly to discover Inumaki’s face glistening with sweat as he took another sip of his medicine leading you to become more concerned about how much longer he could since this plan that suddenly came about wasn’t the most practical of them all, yet...it was the best for now.

Right as you turned back to look forward, you noticed that you were coming to a door leading you to push yourself further as you reached your arm out to slam the door open before jumping over the balcony to the roof that was slightly down below leading the boys to follow after. However, mere seconds later, there was an explosive sound erupting from behind causing you to quickly turn back to find that the curse had already made a wooden pathway with its branches as a way to walk over to everyone.

“Inumaki-senpai will stop it. Don’t worry, just go,” Fushiguro mentioned as he guided Nue towards the curse, leading the shikigami to fly straight towards the opponent with no hesitation.

“No wait!” you shouted, as you reached your whole arm out like you were able to reach the owl-like creature in time. However, the second Fushiguro turned to face you to see what was wrong, the curse’s arm swiftly punctured the shikigami straight through causing Inumaki to collapse to the ground with blood seeping out from his mouth leading you to realise that your upperclassman was at his limit.

On the other hand, before you could even react, you heard someone behind you being thrown causing you to look behind only to discover Kamo’s body being flung to the other side with Fushiguro right behind him to catch his fall leaving you in the middle on the rooftop between your classmate and the curse.

“Are you alive, Kamo-san?” Fushiguro questioned in a panic since he was not only troubled by the fact that one of the students could be in life-critical condition but with you also being in danger due to where you were standing currently and him having no idea why the curse was going after you.

Steadily, your hand slowly moved towards the dark blue metal pole that has been hanging on your belt for some time as you hooked your katana horizontally on your back, so your other hand will be free to freely manoeuvre the weapon of choice that you were choosing to handle the curse.

However, it seemed as if Fushiguro had other ideas as his hands shakily began to hesitantly raise up as if he was going to summon another shikigami into the battlefield. Although, before he was able to completely commit to his plan, there was a sudden pressure laid upon his shoulder catching him by surprise as he turned to look back at Inumaki, who was somewhat struggling to stand.

“Mustard leaf,” Inumaki stated with determination with a hint of tiredness lacing in his tone, leading you to turn your head back to notice him beginning to stagger towards you.

“Inumaki-senpai...That’s enough!” Fushiguro mentioned in a worried tone causing you to grab onto his sleeve once he stood by your side, only for him to present you a small smile once he turned to you - as if to tell you that everything was going to be okay.

“Blast away!” Inumaki suddenly roared leading to curse’s body to instantly flung itself to the other rooftop that was positioned above you just a slight bit before he fell to his knees with blood began to profusely run down his mouth causing you to kneel down by his side as you supported his body with one hand while your other hand gently on his neck to begin the process of reverse cursed energy to ensure that he was going to be stable before someone was able to take him to Shoko - if someone even could at this point.

However, it seemed as if Inumaki’s attempt was futile as the special grade curse sat up with no issue at all leading you to wonder how strong this curse was since it didn’t seem to take any damage whatsoever from Kamo’s and Inumaki’s attempts leaving you to the conclusion that you had to use your curse technique at this point.

“You can’t cut me with that dull blade,” the curse stated before raising its arm to not only block but shatter the weapon Maki was swinging towards it leaving her to look at it with widened eyes before tutting in annoyance leading Fushiguro to jump over you to attack the curse with his weapon once again, only for him to miss slightly as he managed to slice off a piece of the branch that acted as its eyes.

“Now this sword isn’t so bad, but you could just give me the girl as we will call it a day,” the curse commented while healing the tattered branch causing it to grow back, leaving no trace of it ever being cut off by Fushiguro.

Although, it seemed as if Fushiguro and Maki had something else planned as your classmate reached into his shadow that was manifesting below him to replace his sword with another cursed tool before giving it to Maki, who tossed the broken tool she had to the side.

“I have something even better. This one feels disgusting to use, though,” Maki mentioned before quickly unfolding the weapon to reveal a three-sectioned staff before swiftly spinning around to swing the weapon across towards the curse, resulting in the curse to block the attack, only for it to be violently and forcibly pushed forward into the forest.

“Gojo, run towards the edge of the veil and stay there!” Fushiguro yelled out to you before him and Maki sprinted forward towards the direction to where the curse was located, causing you to stare at him in confusion before instantly turning back to check in Kamo was still right behind you to which lead to carefully place Inumaki down on his back as you rush towards the Kyoto student’s side before you proceeded to turn his body to discover that his face was damaged badly causing you to place your hand over his head leading you to heal what you could before transport arrive.

On the other hand, before you could even worry about how you were going to get both Inumaki and Kamo to the end of the veil, you suddenly heard someone calling out your name causing you to peer up to the sky, only to find both Itadori and Todo coming down towards you in a speed that not even Sonic the Hedgehog could even achieve.

“GOJO!” Itadori yelled before powerfully landing right in front of you, leading you swiftly to grab on to the top of the roof to maintain some balance while using your other arm to cling onto Kamo’s body to make sure he didn’t fall as well.

“Itadori!” you replied in relief causing your classmate to smile at you even in the tough situation you were in right now.

“Gojo, Nishimiya is going to get those two out of the veil but according to her, the veil is an anti-Gojo Satoru one,” Todo inform you causing you to look at the first-grade sorcerer with widened eyes before you turned your head to the side to observe the veil that was enveloping all the students right now.

“Anti-Gojo?” you muttered under your breath, before turning your head back towards the muscular student, only to see him smirk confidently at you before Itadori took his hand out as if to help you up.

“Don’t worry about the other two, they will be safe, we all need to head to where the curse is right now!” Itadori mentioned leading you to turn to him as you quickly noticed the amount of cursed energy that was surrounding him right now, causing you to wonder how much he has improved over the past few months he was away.

Placing Kamo gently on his back, you grabbed onto Itadori’s hand causing your friend to pull you up before Todo stretched out his arm behind you, trying to convey for you to sit there so both he could carry you to the destination where you needed to be at this very moment in time.

“Todo...I need you to follow a plan,” you sudden declared, causing him to turn to you with a confused look while you seated yourself on his large arm (which surprisingly managed to keep you still with the help of Itadori, who placed his arm behind your back). “Just promise me you won’t tell anyone about my curse technique at all, not even a single word of it,” you said to him with a threatening tone causing itadori to look at you with a somewhat frightened expression on his face while his friend peered at you with a smile.

“I’m fine with that, but I also need you to help me with one thing,” Todo mentioned as he turned his head to face forward.

“And what would that be?” you asked.

‘Ah...this is going to be a drag…’

ꕥ

"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! Destructive Curse Spell number sixty-three: Raikoho!" you chanted, as you placed your hand out like a claw leading to an exciting orb of yellow concentrated cursed energy to manifest itself within your palm, before rapidly striking down towards the targeted special grade curse like a destructive lighting bolt leading Todo to grab Maki within his grasp a second before the cursed spell hit the ground which leads to your opponent being paralysed.

“Keeping to the deal?” Todo asked you with a smile on his face causing you to shift your eye to the side, where he stood before unhooking the metal pool from your belt.

“Yeah, I am,” you answered causing him and Itadori to move to the side for a second - which Itadori was confused about since he didn’t know what show he was in for.

Fushiguro, who was crouching down with a speck of blood trailed down on the corner of his mouth began to argue against the appearance of you and Itadori. However, it seemed as if you weren’t listening to him to or to any of the student behind you at all since you needed to concentrate on both the situation you were in right now but also on the little deal you made with Todo - even though, regardless if you were able to show him the technique or not, you knew that Todo was keeping his word about keeping your technique a secret...that was what you could rely on him as well as his strength.

‘Black Flash huh...now that is a drag…’

“Now that you are here, why don’t you come peacefully?” the curse asked, causing you to mentally sigh as it was causing your concentration to waver, but you really weren’t in the mood to answer.

Stretching out your arm, you held the dark blue metal poll right in front of the curse before letting the weapon extend itself before forming an extremely sharp blade at the top leading the curse to look at it in confusion since it seemed to notice that your katana was missing due to it remembering that it was handing behind your lower back area.

ꕥ

“This is my gift to you! Think of it as a welcome to the Gojo Clan gift!” Gojo excitedly announced as he presented you a gift box with a bright smile on his face, causing you to look at the gift in surprise since you didn’t expect him to give you anything when you came to his clan estate but also by the fact that the ribbon tied into a bow was the same colour as his eyes.

‘I don’t know if it’s because he is being egotistical or he just like the colour blue’

“Thank you,” you said with much gratitude before taking the box away from his grasp leading him to gleefully chant that you open it in front of him since he was desperate to see your reaction.

Looking at the box, you couldn’t help but notice a little note saying ‘a gift from a father to a daughter’ leading the corners of your lip to twitch a little since you came to the realisation that it had been a while that someone had ever given you a gift before you processed to tug the tail of the bow before lifting the lip once the ribbon was fully removed.

“A metal...pole?” you said in a confused tone as you tilted your head to the side, before letting your fingertips touch the ice-cold metal as they began to trace the gold detailing that was embroidering the gift.

“No, no dear, it’s a polearm that just needs to be extended with cursed energy! It was made by your ancestor during the Heian era and I’m surprised it managed it stay intact after all that time here in the Gojo Clan since it was a gift from them to us,” Gojo informed you, as he took a sip of the sweetened coffee that you had brought from him before coming to his estate. “I thought that it might be better if it was in your hands from now on, besides it does technically belong to you,” Gojo suggested with a bright smile on his face, once you lifted the weapon out of the box to observe it more.

Turning it around in the light the room provided, you couldn’t help but suddenly notice a small design of what seemed to be a small flower depicting a tsubaki painted in a light pink right in the middle of the metal pole causing you to stare at it in absolute curiosity.

“Thank you so much, Gojo-sensei,” you stated once again in appreciation once you placed it back into the box causing Gojo to pout at you which led you to look at him in complete confusion the second you looked up to face him.

“CALL ME DAD, Y/N!”

ꕥ

“Are you even listening?” the cursed questioned you as if seemed to be getting annoyed at the fact that you were just standing in front of it with no emotion attached to your face, causing the students behind you to look forward since they were beginning to become confused on why you haven’t attacked yet.

Although, it seemed like it didn’t have to wait long since you used your other hand to grab onto the pole before beginning to spin the now extended polearm aggressively leading the curse to now be on its guard since it had no idea what you were planning on now.

‘Black Flash is a distortion in space that occurs when cursed energy is applied with 0.000001 seconds of a physical hit, it can amplify a normal attack’s force by 2.5. It’s such a drag process but since this curse likes to get up close and personal, it seems like the best choice for now’

Suddenly, you quickly grabbed the polearm halting the spinning motion before using the ball of your foot to push yourself swiftly across the lake to appear in front of the curse, catching it by surprise since it seemed like you had just teleported right in front of them, only for you to violently swing your polearm down onto its shoulder leading it to groan in pain causing you to speedily spin around behind it leading the polearm to now swing across before forcibly landing the sharp blade to its side, suddenly causing the formation of a familiar black spark that danced around the area you were in like electricity currents causing Todo (who was observing from the sideline) smile at the scene with confidence, while Itadori looked at the same battle in shock.

However, before Todo could even call you to remove yourself from the battle, you instantly placed your hand above the other in order to rapidly rotate the polearm leading the other end to strike its other shoulder (while the blade was now facing downwards) causing another flash of black to appear once again to which lead the curse to cry out in agony, causing everyone to admire the fight with such astonishment.

“Gojo! Switch!” Todo yelled out, leading your concentration to instantly waver once again which caused you to push the heel of your back foot to quickly retreat to the side where everyone was before the curse could even afflict any attack on you in retaliation on what you had just done to it.

“Told you there is nothing to worry about,” Todo mentioned as he looked down at Fushiguro causing the shikigami user to look at you with his surprise before turning to look at Itadori.

“If you die again, I’ll kill you myself!” Fushiguro declared causing you to look at him with a complete perplexed look on your face since the sentence he just stated didn’t make any sense, leading Panda to extend his arm out to carry his lower classmen to the other side of the veil.

“Pandash!” Panda yelled out before carrying both Fushiguro and Maki to safety.

“Guess I can’t afford to die now,” Itadori muttered before rolling his shoulder to prepare for his turn on the battlefield with determination after witnessing your performance.

“I won’t lift a finger to help, Itadori. Not until you land a Black Flash. If you can’t land a Black Flash, then I’ll just watch you die, no matter what happens to you,” Todo declared with his arms crossed with one of his hands holding on to your katana, leading you to stand up straight with a dumbfounded look on your face after what he had just yelled out before taking your original weapon from his grasp.

‘HUH?! WHAT WAS THE POINT IN MY LITTLE PERFORMANCE THEN?!’

“Got it!” Itadori replied after letting out a breath, causing you to look at your classmate with the same surprised expression, even though his back was facing you right now.

“Don’t you think that is a bit dangerous?” you queried as you turned back to look at the Kyoto student, only for him to give you a serious look on his face as if to say that he believed in Itadori and his threat was just a fluke.

“I guess I can’t stop you then...I already know he’s got this,” you muttered before shrugging your shoulders since you knew there was no way Itadori wanted you to interrupt this lesson.

To be honest, Black Flash was the perfect move for him.

Suddenly, you heard a loud explosion from behind causing you to turn your whole body around to find Itadori punching the ground leading a huge splash of water to arise before noticing two pieces of rock attempting to strike the curse, only for them to be deflected the second it touched its hand.

Once the water dropped down, you witnessed Itadori’s fast reflexes as he managed to dodge the curse’s attack, landing a few kicks towards its stomach before Itadori used his last kick to target its face. However, you could tell then intensity was low meaning he wouldn’t even hit a single Black Flash with an attempt like that, only for the result you had come to happen as he attempted the technique once he landed a punch against the curse’s torso, only for Itadori to force himself back once the curse retaliates by trying to hit him with its branches, only for the effort to be futile.

“My friend,” Todo said causing Itadori to look at him, only to receive a smack across the face leading you to look at the scene with a fed-up expression since the connection on Todo’s hand and Itadori’s cheek was quite loud for a normal slap to sound.

‘What...The...Hell?’

“Anger is an important trigger for sorcerers, sometimes then can be taken down purely because they accidentally angered their foe and the opposite is also true. Sometimes they lose because their own anger disrupts their cursed energy, so they can’t exercise their abilities. Your friend has been wounded, and worse yet, they’ve rained on your honeymoon with me, you best friend, so I can really understand why you’d be boiling with rage,” Todo expressed with understanding, only for you to look at him with an extremely fed-up expression depicted on your face.

‘I don’t think the ‘best friend’ bit is why he is really angry, you drag’

“But that rage is too much for you, put it away for now,” Todo then informed Itadori before slapping his face again leading you to vocally express your confusion about the scene that was happening right in front of you.

“Huh?” you uttered out.

“Are those stray thoughts gone now?” Todo questioned with a small smile plastered on his face.

“Yeah, not a single one left. Thank you so much, best friend!” Itadori replied with a confident smile on your face leading you to tilt your head to the side as you witnessed this scene - if you were going to tell this to Kugisaki, you wouldn’t know if she would believe you or not…

Walking back out into the river, Itadori raised his fist up while peering at the curse with an intense stare only for his opponent to quickly push itself forward leading Itadori to follow as branches began to invade his side. However, it seemed as if Itadori hadn’t noticed them at all since he was directing going straight down the middle, leading his fist to make contact with the curse’s torso causing the manifestation of the black spark that you and Todo were waiting for.

“He did...it,” you muttered in amazement as the curse’s branches suddenly disappeared while its body was forcibly pushed back.

“Now you understand the taste of cursed energy,” Todo mentioned as he proceeded to walk into the shallow river with a proud smile on his face. “Up until now, you’ve just been throwing an ingredient you’ve never tasted before into a pot and boiling it without knowing why. But after experiencing Black Flash and understanding the taste of your ingredient, your cursed energy, you stand on a completely different level as a chef than you did three seconds ago. Congratulations, brother, you can become strong,” Todo then expressed with joy leading your classmate to look at him with a concentrated expression on what he was trying to explain.

‘I guess that is a good way to describe it. To be honest, it is kind of similar to Gojo’s teaching but a tiny bit better…’

“It can heal?!” Itadori asked in shock, as it noticed the growth of the curses’ hand.

“A cursed spirit’s body is made up of cursed energy. Unlike us, they don’t need any advanced reversed cursed technique to heal like how Gojo does. An injury like that is nothing to a special-grade, but there’s no doubt that it shaves away their cursed energy and if you crush their head, it’s game set,” Todo explained before turning to look at you with a

“Now, shall we get cooking?” Todo asked you and Itadori in an assertive tone, leading you to look at him with a surprised expression before sighing as if you had a choice to not fight anyway.

However, before you could even take a single step into the river, you notice something from the corner of your eye causing you to raise your polearm swiftly seconds before you were now suddenly violently pushed back to extreme lengths away from the battle you were going to involve yourself in causing Itadori to yell out your name in complete panic. Although, there was no point in chasing after you, as you were now concealed within the multitude of trees that were surrounding the area with a hooded intruder, who was now keeping you at more than an arm’s length away from the two students you were supposed to keep an eye on.

“Destructive Curse Spell number one: Sho!” you chanted, leading a small ball of concentrated cursed energy to form in the middle on your polearm leading to the weapon and the person, who was pushing you, to be blasted back leading a distance to be created between you both giving you the space to press your feet down onto the ground to gradually pause your movements as you placed your hand on the ground to give you more support.

“Who are you?” you asked in anger before standing up straight in a defensive position and you aimed the polearm’s blade downwards to the ground, leading the person to raise up what seemed to be a pair of tonfa’s like the ones Fushiguro had earlier during the event, only for them to be metal rather than wood.

“WHO ARE YOU?!” you queried once again, getting irritated at the fact that the person was just giving you the silent treatment which caused them to giggle slightly as your frustration.

“Isn’t that a warm welcome for someone that took care of you so dearly?” the person spoke with a soft tone, causing you to freeze up in shock after realising how familiar that tone was to you to which lead the instructor right in front of you to slowly remove their hood leading their hair to spill out as well as to slowly reveal their face to you under the light the tree could, causing you to let out a breath of shock as your eyes widen at the sight in front of you.

“Mother?”

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battlekidx2 · 3 years

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Top 5 Animated Shows of 2021

Okay so ground rules first: The show must have started airing for the first time in 2021. I don’t want people being confused as to why amphibia or owl house or any other amazing show that aired episodes this year isn’t on the list. That’s a different ranking for a different time. Also this is my list. If you have a different opinion then that’s great. Everyone having their own views and experiences is part of what’s great about media. Everyone connects to different media and different characters and that’s what I love about it :)

I’m gonna start with my favorites and work my way down because the top 2 shouldn’t surprise anyone who kept up with animation this year. The order may shock some people though. I know it shocked me because I thought my #2 had #1 in the bag until this show premiered.

Number 1: Arcane

This show came out of nowhere for me. I really regret not taking it seriously after it was announced because I connected so much with this show and its characters that I get emotional thinking about it. I really thought Invincible had the number 1 spot for this year until this show came out. Both shows are phenomenal but the things that pushed this show over (other than the fact that I relate way too much to Vi) is the fact that Invincible’s weakest episode (episode 6) was weaker than Arcane’s weakest episode (which I don’t even know if I can name which episode is even the weakest of arcane because they are all really airtight) and the fact that I’ve rewatched the entire season of arcane many times while I mostly only rewatch 3 episodes of invincible, not the whole season. I also don’t know if another piece of media has hit me this hard in years. Seeing struggles that I have had to face portrayed so raw and honest has given me a connection that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to shake to this show. This is why I love animation and storytelling. It has always made me feel seen and less alone and Arcane was the piece of media that did that for me during a huge transition in my life. For me everything about this show is a masterpiece. The animation, the writing, the characters, the voice acting, the relationships, the tragedy of it all. Everything was perfect.

I’ve posted quite a lot of long meta about arcane so this may not surprise anyone. Arcane legitimately blew me out of the water and it is far and away my most rewatched series of this year. I’m torn between wanting season 2 immediately and being grateful that the studio is taking its time to make sure the next season is just as polished as this first one was. This made me fall even more in love with the animation medium. (for my more complete thoughts on the series use this link)

The animation in this show is absolutely gorgeous. It looks like a painting come to life and I couldn’t look away. The textures, the lighting, the effects they used to emphasize impacts during fights be it their flashes of white blinding effects or dust being misplaced or the spit and blood that would leave the characters mouth all made each fight scene better and more mesmerizing. The animation alone makes this show worth watching from start to finish. I can’t believe how far so many studios that I never would have expected have pushed animation in the past 5 years alone. They really push what 3D animation can do. It’s astounding and proves what a groundbreaking series this is.

Episode 3 alone is one of the best episodes of television I’ve watched ever. Arcane is a masterclass in writing in general but it especially knows how to build the ending into the beginning. Everything in episode 3 comes around and sets up the finale of episode 9. Silco’s fate, Jinx’s final decision, Vi’s helplessness while watching the loss of her loved one(s), the hopefulness in piltover juxtaposed with the hopelessness in Zaun, etc are all set up and/or in a way mirrored in the finale. It’s incredible and reminds me why I love animation and storytelling. If you haven’t watched this already, what are you waiting for? Start right now! I guarantee you won’t regret it.

Number 2: Invincible

I know I already gave away that this was number two but like I said the top two shouldn’t surprise anyone. Invincible was my most anticipated animated show of 2021. I had already read all the comics and was a massive fan and I was so excited for other people to be introduced to this incredible series by Robert Kirkman. And this adaptation does not disappoint. It even managed to improve on the father and son fight from the comics significantly. I wasn’t a fan of the Amber and Mark romance though. I kinda wish they had skipped the Amber romance and gone straight for the Mark and Eve romance with how they played it out. (I think they were both wrong in certain ways. And I just wasn’t a fan of their scenes together. I don’t hate Amber like a lot of people do. I just don’t think she had as much chemistry with Mark as the writers intended and they made their relationship dysfunctional to a ridiculous degree to where I think they were both better off staying broken up.) Everything about the family struggles of Mark’s family was amazing though. Every interaction between the members of Mark’s family was amazing no matter who was paired with who. The family drama was the highlight of the series.

Invincible also does an excellent job of subverting classic hero tropes just like the original comic. As a comic fan knowing what is to come for this series I’ll just say it gets even better from here and I can’t wait for the 2nd and 3rd seasons. I’m so happy that so many people got to be introduced to the series and enjoy it just like I did even if it is in a different medium.

I think my criticisms may give people the idea that the show is worse than it is, which isn’t my intention. This show is amazing and I absolutely love it. I was just wanting to explain why arcane beat it out for the top spot for me. This was a really close call and I think it could be argued that Invincible’s best episode is better than Arcane’s best which should tell you the quality of the show. When this show wants to give you an emotional gut punch it doesn’t hold back and goes for the KO. It’s also an adult animated show that goes all out with the gore but never feels gratuitous. Too often I think adult animation takes its rating as the go ahead to put cursing, sex, and gore everywhere just because it can but arcane and invincible know how to use these adult aspects and themes correctly. The train scene, which had everyone gasping and going crazy on social media, was gory and extreme but it served an important purpose in the episode. You take it out and I think the episode loses something. For another example episode one doesn’t really have any gore at all until the mid credits scene. This decision was perfect to shock viewers with the reality of who Omni-man is and the seriousness that the show will embrace which directly juxtaposes what people usually think of a superhero origin story. Honestly I’d say that adult animation should take notes from these two about when and where the mature rating should be used to enhance the experience.

2021 was amazing for adult animation and I think did a lot for changing the perception of what an adult animated show could be. Invincible and Arcane were both integral to this shift and I am very grateful for it and I love them both.

Number 3: Maya and the Three

I was a little late to the party for this show but I’m glad I got around to it. I had a complete blast. Jorge Gutierrez is a creator I have nothing but respect for and I really like his other works so I was looking forward to watching this show. He brings his unique storytelling style, art direction, and heart which is all I can ever ask for from a creator. You can feel his passion and love for the story and characters and it gives me an even greater appreciation for this show.

It’s another show that’s “for kids” (aka has a TV-Y7 rating) that deals with heavy subject matter such as infidelity, racism ellegories, death, mourning, etc and I feel like it handles a lot of it with the tact necessary for its target audience. I especially liked how it handled Maya’s non-biological mother and how they assert that she is her real mother and, while Maya was a product of infidelity, she couldn’t hold it against the baby that she saw and came to raise. It’s not how it always plays out in real life but it was touching how it was explained and handled. It does an excellent job of tackling grief and all the different ways in which it can manifest. The characters and their individual journeys were all great.

The top two entries are in a league of their own if I’m being honest but that doesn’t detract from this entry or the next two. This is a very good series that I think would be great for the whole family to watch together. It may hit you emotionally in the way Arcane and Invincible did for me. All the characters are strong and could easily carry their own show and I think that’s the most you can wish for from an ensemble cast. I respect the ambition and care that went into this show and hope that it reaches an even wider audience than it already has.

Number 4: Centaurworld

I already wrote about my overarching thoughts on Centaurworld here if you want to read it. This has got to be one of the most unique shows I’ve seen in years. This is a show I think shouldn’t work as well as it does. From the wildly clashing tones to the unique and over the top characters to the surprisingly dark, twisted, and yet sympathetic villain. This is a show that if given the broad strokes sounds like it shouldn’t work but somehow it all comes together to create an unforgettable and wholly enjoyable experience.

Centaurworld wasn’t a show I was expecting. I had seen the trailers but didn’t know what to think of it. It wasn’t until I saw Sarcastic Chorus’ review that I decided to give it a shot. And I wasn’t disappointed. It managed to cover unexpectedly heavy themes about depression, suicide, grief, and loss. It was a bit of a shock to the system because of the bright, colorful, toony, place that most of these themes were explored in. Wammawink and Horse are some of the most fun and complex characters I’ve seen in a while that aren’t angst fests (don’t get me wrong I love an angst fest. I just haven’t seen a character I loved that wasn’t an angst fest this year until them). The music is all good but I agree with sarcastic chorus. It's “all bops but no bangers”.

This show is very much an acquired taste. It’s so subjective on whether or not you’ll like it that it’s hard to know who to recommend it to but I’ll just say I think you should give it a shot if you’re reading this for some reason and haven’t seen it.

Number 5: Inside Job

This is another show this year that I think helped change the perception of adult animation. Inside Job is really fun and I wasn’t expecting to have such a blast with this show. It’s animation isn’t as inventive as Arcane’s or Maya and the Three’s but that doesn’t mean it’s anything to scoff at. It’s nice and fluid and the simplistic designs work well for the overly expressive faces and body language of the characters. In a weird way its animation reminds me of star trek lower decks and it’s also similar to lower decks in its ability to play with established tropes for its genre to create a unique, fairly episodic experience.

This show was my relaxation show for this year. I’d turn it on and turn my brain off and just let myself just have fun. Considering everything that happened for me this year I needed this but that’s not to say that it’s a dumb show. That is far from the case and it actually had me invested in the ideas and characters in a way I wasn’t expecting. I really want season 2 especially after that cliffhanger. I think this was the show I had the most pure fun with out of all the shows on this list and in a year like 2021 that is a complete win.

#best cartoons of 2021 #arcane #invincible #maya and the three #centaurworld #inside job #the ghost and molly mcgee #kid cosmic #dota dragon's blood #I love animation #arcane Netflix #cartoons #adult animation #Netflix cartoons

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luvdsc · 4 years

Text

haha, what if we kissed? (lol jk... unless?)

fact! you’re secretly in love with your best friend, and so is he!

pairing :: zhong chenle x reader genre :: fluff / best friend, buzzfeed worth it au word count :: 5,072 words warnings :: none playlist :: sunny afternoon (red velvet) ⋆ about love (marina) ⋆ all about you (nct u) ⋆ love (x lovers) ⋆ bella notte (f. murray abraham & arturo castro) author’s note :: i literally just finished writing the rest of this in my meetings today and am posting during my lunchbreak, but happy (1 day late) birthday, chenle sweetheart!! ♡ ↳ part of the not clickbait series.

“Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Dream: Worth It!”

Chenle shouts loudly from the driver’s seat, waving excitedly at the camera attached to the dashboard as he waits for the traffic light to turn green. You visibly flinch in your spot on the passenger's side, startled by the sudden greeting, and even Jisung jumps in the backseat, almost dropping the camcorder he was fiddling with.

Your best friend continues to give the camera a dazzling smile, paying no attention to your and Jisung’s brief glares. “Today on Worth It, thanks to a fan’s suggestion, we’ll be trying out three different spaghetti dishes at three drastically different price points to find out which one is most worth it at its price!”

“Yes,” you chime in, nodding excitedly at the camera and giving a little wave. “So if you want to see another riveting episode of Chenle and Jisung going on three dates at three drastically different price points while I third wheel again, please stay tuned!”

“Hey!”

Both the boys wildly protest, but you blatantly ignore them, checking your phone quickly before beaming at the camera again. “So here’s our first spaghetti fact! The word ‘spaghetti’ is actually the plural version of spaghetto. Spaghetto comes from the Italian word spago, which means twine or thin string.”

“Wait, that actually makes sense. Spaghetti looks like thin strings,” Chenle says, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

“Yeah, basically every language makes sense, except for English,” you remark, setting your phone down in your lap before turning to your best friend. “So are you excited for this episode’s dish?”

“Yes! Shout out to Moony for your suggestion,” Chenle calls out, driving forward before making a right. “If anyone else has any suggestions for future videos, please feel free to comment below.”

You start to explain the first restaurant to your viewers. “Our first stop is called Legalize Marinara! It’s a small hole in the wall place in downtown LA, and fresh pasta is made everyday. We’ll be talking to the owner and chef Johnny Suh about the daily process.”

“And cut!” Jisung calls out, and you stop there, pressing the off button to end the recording. Later on, the three of you will have to work on snipping up the recordings to create a smooth transition from there to a shot of Johnny and his restaurant before jumping into your quick interview with him.

You quickly scroll through the questions you had written ahead of time to ask Johnny on your phone, mouthing the words and memorizing them. You were always the one who asked about the history of the restaurant because Chenle wasn’t as good with the more sentimental questions and preferred the light hearted ones about the food specifically, which you didn’t mind. As long as you get to try good food at the end of it, you’re one very happy, very stuffed camper. You are very much looking forward to visiting Legalize Marinara.

“—and that’s how the pasta is freshly made everyday in the morning.” Johnny finishes up, giving the camera a very charismatic smile and a wink. “We also have a special brew of coffee created by my dad, but that’s a story for another episode. I’ll bring out the spaghetti once it’s ready.”

You and Chenle thank him before going over to sit at one of the small metal tables near the entrance. The place had a sort of modern, yet retro feel to it with an eclectic mix of vintage, kitschy furniture adding pops of color here and there to the otherwise simple space with a neutral palette. The name of the restaurant flashes as a neon sign, serving as the main wall decor along with records scattered here and there on the wall as well.

Jisung stands across from the two of you, propping the large camera on his shoulder in preparation. You and Chenle both take a sip of the special coffee drinks Johnny prepared for you each on the house, pleasantly surprised by the crisp, refreshing taste your taste buds are immediately hit with. Johnny appears minutes later, a pretty plate of simple spaghetti and meatballs along with some Parmesan and garnish on top in hand.

“Here’s our most popular dish: spaghetti with meatballs!” he announces, placing the plate in front of you both carefully. “It’s a simple tomato sauce, but it’s made with organic, local ingredients that we get from the farmer’s market every morning. We get the fresh meat from the butcher down the block everyday to make the meatballs and buy the cheese from local sellers as well. We also add the secret spice mixture created by my mom to the meatballs, which gives it a distinct flavor from other restaurants. Please dig in, guys!”

You immediately swirl your fork into the plate of spaghetti. It looks and smells absolutely fantastic, and your mouth is already watering. You cannot believe that this only costs thirteen dollars. This is an absolute steal. You are just about to take a bite when—

“Wait! We didn’t do a ‘cheers’ yet!” Chenle exclaims, sticking out his fork towards you. You clink your fork against his own metal utensil, and he’s finally satisfied, retracting his arm. Finally, you take the much anticipated bite. The flavors absolutely explode in your mouth, and you’re already reaching out to take a second forkful of the delicious masterpiece.

“This is amazing,” you declare, and Chenle nods enthusiastically, spearing a meatball with his fork. Jisung briefly pans the camera over to Johnny, who shows a double thumbs up before doing finger guns and giving an exaggerated wink.

“Here, try this.” Chenle cuts a piece of the meatball and offers it to you. You reach out for it, but he pulls back, smiling widely and eyes sparkling. “Nuh uh, that’s too easy. Say ah, Y/N.”

“I—” Your cheeks grow warmer than ever, and his grin grows broader, wriggling the fork in front of you. Face burning, you move forward and take a bite. You can hear Jisung fake gagging behind the camera and very much would like to flip him the bird, but you are a professional. You’ll get him back for that later. After all, revenge is a dish best served piping hot and spicy, and you have some Carolina reapers leftover from another video that may accidentally find its way into Jisung’s ramen next time.

You and Chenle spend some more time describing the dish in between bites as Johnny pipes in here and there with some well placed dad jokes that has Jisung shaking his head behind the camera. By the end of it, you both are very happy, and you switch places with Jisung who has a chance to try out the pasta himself at last. He silently eats it before tossing a thumbs up at the camera, and you stop the recording there. After thanking Johnny once more before the three of you leave, you all pile into your car and get ready to go to the next stop.

Up next: Penne for your Thoughts.

“Can we stop here?” Jisung pipes up, peering out the window with interest. His eyes scan the surroundings, peering at the empty space and the wide stairs in front of the spiraling columns of a grand building.

You furrow your eyebrows, glancing at your friend in the backseat. “We’re still a couple blocks away from the restaurant though.”

“This looks like a good spot to film a dance,” he muses to himself before sitting up straighter. “Can we take a quick break? We’re still early, and I wanted to film a quick TikTok before the sun sets.”

You look over at Chenle, who shrugs and pulls over. He backs up into an available parking space, parallel parking smoothly, one hand gripping the back of your seat and the other on the steering wheel. “Alright, do your thing, Jisungie.”

Jisung excitedly hops out from the back. You and Chenle follow suit, locking the car behind you. Your friend is busy setting up his collapsible tripod before placing his phone on it and calling over to you, “Hey, can you stand in front, Y/N? I wanna angle this correctly and check the lighting.”

You move in front of his phone, standing several steps in front of the stairs. Jisung fiddles around with his phone for a few moments, switching up some of the settings and zoom functions before straightening up, eyes bright. “Okay, stay there to mark the spot! I’m gonna press the start button to record. Chenle, can I borrow your phone? I need to play the song for the dance.”

Chenle hands him his phone, and the familiar intro to Doja Cat’s “Say So” begins to blast on top volume. Jisung hands it back to its owner and hurriedly moves to stand in front of his own recording phone as you step aside. “I kinda also need you two in my TikTok.”

“Wait, what? I don’t know the dance,” you protest, starting to back out, but Jisung grabs your hand, pulling you into view, as Chenle bounces over with a shrug of his shoulders, never one to shy away from the camera.

“You don’t need to dance. I just need you both to uh, kiss my cheek on, um, both sides when I tap on them both. It should be the fourth time she says ‘say so’ in the song,” he stammers slightly, face turning slightly pink. He avoids making eye contact as you give him a suspicious look, crossing your arms over your chest.

“What? Why?”

“It’s part of the dance! Now get out of the shot please because the chorus is finally coming up again!” He unceremoniously shoves you out of the frame, and Chenle quickly catches you before you faceplant into the ground. You have a few choice words to yell at your friend and are about to furiously march over to him, but Chenle tightens his grip on you. “Let’s just let him finish, and we can go on. You know how he is about dancing.”

“I’m paying Renjun to put another cockroach picture as his lockscreen again,” you huff, frowning at the dancing boy. “Why didn’t you say anything about the whole kissing request anyway?”

“Eh, I’ve done it before. It’s no big deal.” Chenle shrugs, and you start to stutter, brain malfunctioning, “Wait, you did wha—”

“Oh, it’s almost our cue!” Chenle pushes you towards Jisung as he runs behind the camera to the other side, and you find yourself stumbling for a second time before catching yourself. Grumbling to yourself, you catch Chenle’s apologetic expression, and you sigh, shaking your head as you wait on the sidelines for Jisung to do the move.

And there it is.

Jisung points at his cheeks, tapping them on both sides, and you and Chenle jump into the frame. You lean forward, pressing your lips softly against— wait.

Eyes widening, you jump back in shock, mouth popping open, and the same reaction comes from your best friend when you two realize that you just kissed each other. On the lips.

Crouched on the ground, Jisung looks rather smug after quickly dropping down mid-dance and orchestrating the whole incident. He quickly stands up, striding towards the camera and ending the recording, before efficiently packing up the equipment and walking back to the car without another word.

“Did we just—” you splutter, unable to continue your sentence, as your face grows increasingly warm. Chenle refuses to make eye contact with you, the darkening blush spreading across his face like wildfire. The two of you both direct your disbelief at the same target, rushing over to the car which he boredly stands next to, waiting for Chenle to unlock it.

“Jisung!” You both shout his name, and he just stares at you both, a small grin across his face that he struggles to hide. “What?”

“‘What?’ That’s it? What was that?! Why did you do that?” you exclaim, waving your arms around. Chenle is rendered speechless, unable to say anything after the quick outburst of his other best friend’s name.

“I was tired of listening to Che—mmph!” Jisung is abruptly cut off as Chenle throws his hand over his friend’s mouth, effectively interrupting whatever he was about to say. The two of them silently look at each other, maintaining some sort of telepathic stare that’s probably discussed in the universal book of the bro code. You’ve seen Jaemin and Jeno or Renjun and Donghyuck share the same look before and never really understood it. To be honest, it kind of reminds you of that one moment where the main characters of a chick flick gaze into each others’ eyes and then kiss.

The sound of a text notification cuts off your train of thought and breaks the intense stare down going between the two boys, and you check your phone, eyes widening. “Oh my god, we’re going to be late if we don’t go now! Taeyong just texted me to confirm if we’re coming.”

The three of you hurry into the car, buckling up in your seats. Your hand lightly grazes Chenle’s amidst the rush, and you freeze. You look up, heat spreading across your face, as Chenle meets your gaze, turning redder than spaghetti sauce.

“Alright, you can continue this moment at the restaurant,” Jisung says loudly, jolting the two of you out of your stupor. You quickly retract your hand, mumbling a quick apology, and look away, cheeks still growing warmer than ever. Chenle awkwardly clears his throat and starts the car up, driving to your second stop on the map.

Penne for your Thoughts is simply lovely. It reminds you of a place you would see on the shiny cover of Architecture Digest: a hot spot where all those social influencers would take aesthetic snapshots and post to their Instagrams. The restaurant is quaint and spacious: a large area filled with lots of greenery, hanging plants in simple white ceramic pots, white painted brick walls, and wooden tables with soft cushions on each seat. Once you wrap up the interview with Taeyong, you are seated next to an open window with a great view of a pretty koi pond in the back.

“We serve Korean fusion style food here, and our spaghetti has a freshly made tomato sauce that includes chopped kimchi infused in it. We found that using garlic marinated pork belly makes a more flavorful meatball, which we char slightly, paying homage to the wonderful KBBQ samgyeopsal. We also found that a raw egg yolk on top adds a richness to the pasta, which is similar to a bowl of bibimbap. And there’s some grated Parmesan and mozzarella on top.” Taeyong sets the plate of gorgeous spaghetti in front of you and Chenle with a shy smile. “I hope you both enjoy it.”

You don’t know how else to describe the dish, except that it is beautiful (Just like the restaurant owner, like have you seen his face? Lee Taeyong is the true modern day Adonis, but you digress). You swear you saw Chenle wipe a tear from his face out of the corner of your eye. Practically salivating, you impatiently wait for Jisung to take a few close up videos and pictures of the dish before you immediately dig in.

Fork awkwardly hovering in the air, you pause, turning to Chenle. “Uh, cheers?”

His own loaded fork is halfway to his mouth when he halts. “Oh! Right. Yes. Um, cheers, Y/N.”

The two of you stiffly tap your forks against each other before facing forward again and finally taking the much desired bite. The flavors are bursting like fireworks, and if someone told you that you had died and gone to heaven, you would believe them because there’s no other word to explain the taste other than heavenly. Dante had many circles leading to the center of hell. If you are to apply the same concept to heaven, Legalize Marinara would be the first circle you enter once you go past the pearly gates, and Penne for your Thoughts would most definitely be the second.

The clinking of Chenle’s fork against the plate breaks you from your thoughts, and your good mood falters when you remember the incident again. You plaster a quick smile as you begin to describe the dish to the camera. Chenle chimes in with a wide smile of his own that looks a little too forced, but the only one who seems to notice is you.

Once the recording is wrapped up, Chenle drops you off at your apartment building for you to change into a more dressier attire for the last stop. He and Jisung will change at their place before coming back to pick you up for dinner.

Up next: Terrazza San Valentino.

The place is positively breathtaking. It is an upscale restaurant with open seating on a terrace, leading to a beautiful view of the ocean. Wisteria vines and bright flowers weave their way through the twisting low iron fences encompassing the space as they climb the sides of the building. You have the perfect seat to witness the picturesque sunset over the rippling waters. A bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon had been brought out and now rests on the covered table, uncorked and already poured out into two glasses. It very much reminds you of the beautiful restaurants you visited along the Amalfi Coast, specifically Il Capitano in Positano. You only hope that the food here will be just as amazing as the pasta you ordered there.

You just wish your company was a little better. The atmosphere felt more awkward than the time your mom had set you up on a blind date with her coworker’s son. You had to text Chenle for help that time, and he came to your rescue, helping you escape after pretending to be your long lost son. Obviously, your date wasn’t dumb enough to believe that, but he did believe that you were completely off your rockers and immediately took off after that.

Sneaking a glance at your best friend, you sigh when you realize that he refuses to look your way. You carefully tuck the skirt of your wine red dress under your crossed legs. The sweetheart neckline emphasizes the simple gold necklace you have on, and the dress tapers off at your waist, accentuating your figure perfectly. You paired the outfit with a matching lipstick, a simple black clutch, and some elegant black heels with ribbons that loop around your ankles into a pretty bow.

In other words, you look stunning, and Chenle’s palms are growing sweaty. He undos the first few buttons of his white dress shirt, desperately wanting to take off his tailored suit jacket, but his attire would look much too casual without it. He avoids eye contact with you and remains silent, growing even more flustered by the second, and looks at Jisung helplessly.

Of course, his other best friend proves to be useless again (Disappointing, but not surprising). Jisung simply wriggles his eyebrows at him, eyes darting from you to Chenle, before zooming into his face at a very unflattering angle. Chenle throws him a dirty look, and Jisung merely sticks out his tongue in response. However, they immediately smoothen their expressions into much more pleasant ones when Jaehyun comes out with the plate of food on a small cart.

“This is our play on spaghetti.” He gives you a dimpled smile, and you briefly wonder if the customers rave about this restaurant because of the food or the chef. Perhaps it is a combination of both.

He continued to explain the dish, setting it down in front of you and Chenle. “We use strangozzi that is made fresh every morning. We infuse sun dried tomatoes that we dried ourselves into the olive oil for a minimum of thirty days. The pasta is cooked for sixty seconds, while we slightly sauté grated truffle in the oil in a pan. Once the pasta is ready, we transfer it to the truffle pan and cook it for another minute, making sure to coat the pasta in the sauce. And then we grate some Parmesan and truffles right on top at the table.”

Jaehyun pulls out the expensive mushroom, generously grating thin slices on top of the glistening strands of pasta. The smell is incredible, and your eyes are already hyper fixated on the dish in front of you. He puts down the mushroom and grater, picking up the second grater and the cheese from the cart before shredding the cheese perfectly.

When he finishes, Jaehyun places them back on the cart and smiles at you both charmingly once more. “I hope you enjoy your meal. If you need anything else, please feel free to ask.”

You thank him before he leaves, and Jisung takes all the necessary shots before giving the okay to start eating. You and Chenle offer up some comments about the elegance of the dish, describing its appearance and finally twirling some on the end of your fork. You murmur a quiet “cheers” as the two of you clink your glasses of wine together and take a sip before having the first bite.

The amount of money you have to pay to have a truffle dish is absolutely worth it. The taste is simply indescribable, and you truly have no words. You are blown away by the amount of flavor that can be created with just a few ingredients, and your taste buds are singing. Wide eyed, you turn to look at Chenle, who has the same astonished expression on his face, already staring back at you in complete surprise.

“Holy shit,” you breathe out, and your best friend agrees with you. “Holy shit indeed.”

You immediately go for another bite, and Chenle quickly follows suit. “This is— this is incredible. I don’t know how to describe it, except, except, wow. I can’t stop eating it, and the sun dried tomatoes, olive oil, fresh pasta al dente, and truffles just work so well together. It’s like a symphony in my mouth.”

“I agree,” Chenle nods enthusiastically, swiping another forkful of the yummy goodness. “This has to be one of the best dishes of the entire season.”

“Yeah, absolutely.” You spear a slice of the truffle with the pasta, and the ensuing bite is simply perfect and delectable. “I would come back here every single week if my bank account would let me.”

The stifled atmosphere between the two of you suddenly becomes relaxed at that point, the thick tension dissipating with food never failing to act as the perfect ice breaker and buffer simultaneously. For now, you can pretend the kiss didn’t happen and almost forget it (key word: almost).

“There’s a very popular fan suggestion,” Jisung pipes up, looking at the comment section of the previous video where you and Chenle announced your current recording’s star dish. “It got over twenty thousand likes and five hundred responses.”

“What is it?” You pause in eating, fork poised in the air, as you look over to your friend behind the camera. Chenle pays no attention, continuing to take another bite.

“Recreate the Lady and the Tramp moment.”

Your jaw drops, and your eyes grow round. Practically scandalized, your voice goes an octave higher. “You mean the kissing scene?!”

At the mention of kissing, Chenle chokes on a noodle, spluttering and nearly hacking up a lung, and you quickly reach over and firmly pat him on the back repeatedly until he stops coughing with a weak “thanks.”

“What? This is a food show! Why do they want us to kiss?” your best friend wheezes, and you pass him a glass of water. He grabs it from your outstretched hand gratefully and takes a large gulp.

“I don’t know, fan service? Anyway, it’s good for the views!” Jisung gives you a thumbs up, and you frown at him, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Why don’t you do it with Chenle then?”

“It specifically says you and Chenle,” he informs smugly with a smirk, and you glower at him, much to his amusement.

“Well, if it’s for the fans…” Chenle trails off, a faint blush beginning to make its appearance on his face. He hesitantly pulls out one strand of the pasta, picking up one end on his fork.

You can’t believe this. Yet, you slowly reach out for the other end of the strand with your fork, twirling it onto the metal prongs securely. You move to take your end of the noodle, while Chenle does the same, both of you actively avoiding eye contact.

“Oh c’mon, at least make it a little more romantic than that. Jeno and Jaemin have more chemistry than you two right now,” Jisung complains, and you would very much like to chuck the half full bottle of wine at his big, annoying head (Chenle also has similar thoughts).

Taking a deep breath, you finally place the noodle’s end in your mouth. Cheeks burning, you can feel your heart rate already skyrocketing at the mere thought of kissing your best friend again. You know you’ll freeze up if you look at him, so you do your best to focus your gaze on the center of the noodle strand. You’ll have some time before the two of you meet in the middle, right?

Wrong.

It comes much too soon, and your palms are growing sweaty as your heart races in your chest at a breakneck speed. Your lips are mere millimeters away from his, and you pause. You can’t hear anything, but the pounding of your heart and the blood rushing to your cheeks, and you finally find the courage to peek up at your best friend. You find him already gazing at you, a soft expression on his face. His eyes dart down to your lips before meeting your eyes once more, and you suddenly realize that he’s waiting for you, that he won’t do anything unless you want it too, that it’s okay if you don’t.

But you do.

So you muster up all the courage you possibly can and close the distance, carefully pressing your lips against his for a tender kiss before biting off the noodle. When you pull back, you finally notice the awestruck expression written all over Chenle’s face. He lets out a small laugh of disbelief before he positively beams, bouncing in his seat, and you sport a matching smile, albeit a little bashful.

“Uh, anyway, who left that comment? We should probably give them a mention,” you say, clearing your throat and hoping the heat subsides in your cheeks soon. Chenle continues to grin like the Cheshire Cat and secretly grabs your hand underneath the tablecloth, intertwining your fingers with his. You can feel your face exponentially growing warm once again, but you still send a pleased smile to your best friend.

“Uh…” Jisung awkwardly laughs, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “‘Insert goofy’s chuckle.’”

At Jisung’s answer, you freeze up entirely in your position before immediately turning and locking eyes with Chenle in complete horror, the both of you instantly coming to the same, dreadful realization.

“HYUCK?!”

One new notification: Dream: Worth It uploaded a new video!

insert goofy’s chuckle commented:

oh my god you guys actually did it. your relationship started all thanks to ME 🙆🏻 you’re welcome btw 😘 I take payment in the form of your first born’s name

notanimpasta replied: @ insert goofy’s chuckle ok calm down rumpelstiltskin

jisung pwark replied: @ notanimpasta what a perfect nickname for him. He’s an ugly little greedy man

ghosts are real so suck it hyuck replied: @ jisung pwark LMAOOOO (and congrats, chenle and y/n!)

insert goofy’s chuckle replied: @ jisung pwark what tf no one asked???

notanimpasta replied: @ jisung pwark wait hold on you were supposed to edit that end part out????

jisung pwark replied: @ notanimpasta i left it for the views ☺️

big head king replied: @ jisung pwark people watch for the food tho!!! 🙂

nana ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ♡‧₊˚ replied: @ big head king I watched it for the kiss. Love is so beautiful 🥰💓💞🥺🥺💕💛💟✨💖

jenojam replied: @ big head king I had watched it for the food! but congratulations, y/n and chenle :)

insert goofy’s chuckle replied: @ big head king i watched it because ron jeon said you mentioned me

ghosts are real so suck it hyuck replied: @ insert goofy’s chuckle IT’S RENJUN!!!!!! 🤬🤬

mork lee rawr xD replied: hahaha I watch for the food~

insert goofy’s chuckle replied: @ mork lee rawr xD Thank you Mark, very cool!

winwin in past tense is wonwon!!! commented:

whoop whoop congrats lele 🥳🥳

rapperpunzel commented:

the pasta looks good 🍝

johnny’s communication center commented:

Thanks for stopping by! Come back for the couple’s special discount anytime 😉

baa baa yang sheep commented:

oh my god finally!!!

ghosts are real so suck it hyuck replied: @ baa baa yang sheep you owe me $50 I was right, it happened before the season finale

baa baa yang sheep replied: @ ghosts are real so suck it hyuck suddenly i’m jared, 19

xiao dejasmine commented:

hahahaha cute ! 😁😁

ty track commented:

Thank you y/n and chenle for visiting ~~ congrats on your relationship !!! -TY

junguwu (◕‿◕✿) commented:

YAAAAAS CHENLE SWEETIE 😘😘😘

jisung pwark commented:

check out my latest tiktok video @ jisungpwark to see their actual first kiss!!! and don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe ☺️

notanimpasta replied: @ jisung pwark STOP USING US AS CLICKBAIT

jisung pwark replied: @ notanimpasta no ❤️

jisung pwark replied: @ notanimpasta also red is sus

big head king replied: @ jisung pwark so when are you gonna do the best friend kissing challenge huh 👀

jisung pwark replied: @ big head king SHUT UP CHENLE

honeyfairy replied: @ jisung pwark 😳😳

gu ren gui god commented:

wow~ very cute, chenle! my angel 😊

FIGHTING HAEYADWAE commented:

YOOOOO CONGRATS, MAN 🤩🤪🤪

prince jae commented:

thank you guys for coming by! please stop by next year on your anniversary free of charge (:

insert goofy’s chuckle replied: @ prince jae omg mark and I will be there for sure ❤️

showmethemonet replied: @ insert goofy’s chuckle my new boyfriend and I will be there too ☺️

insert goofy’s chuckle replied: @ showmethemonet I’m sorry, I was wrong, pls don’t leave me for bts jin even though i am so much more handsomer and talented than him 😌

apado gwenchana god commented:

nice 😎👍🏻

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