#HallieSMeta

[halliescomut]

Can we talk about Tadaima, Okaeri?

I'm not going to get into a deepdive here (hopefully) but I'm watching episode 3 and I just want to know if anyone else is seeing what I'm seeing? So there's gonna be kind of spoilers for eps 1-3, but not really because I want to talk about one specific scene in ep 3.

I wish there were gifs up already, but I know that takes time, so we're gonna have to go mostly off description. Somewhere around the 12 minute mark we have the conversation between Hiromu and his dad. They're sitting in the living room. Tell me how the ANIMATORS were able to convey that thing where when a character is confronting their parent as an adult they sort of feel like teenagers again?? In live action(?) media usually an actor conveys this through body language, like slouching and stuff, or if it's very intentional by the director for the story then they might slightly adjust the actors makeup. There's a bunch of different ways to go about it, but I'm not talking about them reverting to a younger version of themselves through the use of a different actor, I'm talking solely through acting.

I truly wish I could show examples. I'm gonna try with the gifs available. So looking at the gif below you have from left to right Hikari (clearly a toddler), Yuuki (a young adult/teen) and Hiromu and Matsuo (two adults) . You can see there's slight difference between how the adults are drawn and how Yuuki is drawn. He's a bit softer in the face, shoulders are a bit more narrow (though I know from this angle you can't tell that) but there's differences.

And even in the case of Hiromu and Masaki, even though Masaki is meant to be a smaller, more slender man (Yaoi tropes gonna trope) he still looks like an adult.

But in the moment where you see Hiromu talking to his father, he looks more like a young adult/teen version of himself. It's so subtle, but it's there. I already know that animators are insanely talented and that show creators pay attention to detail so well, but I was truly blown away by this very small detail.

If I can find good images to help demonstrate, I'll update this post, but until then I would definitely encourage watching the show. It's very cute. I'm not the biggest fan of omegaverse in general, but when the story is good I can overlook the aspects of the trope that bug me, and the story here is good. It's quite fluffy and escapist (at least so far, I never read the manga, so lord knows what's in store) and just makes for a fun relaxing watch.

[halliescomut]

Tadaima, Okaeri Ep 5

Sorry I was a bit late watching, and then I wanted to kind of digest the episode and organize my thoughts. And I gotta tell you I am still so fascinated by this show. This week...it's freaking anime Bluey. If you're not aware of what Bluey is, it's an Australian-made (and set) kids cartoon series about a family of Blue Heeler dogs that is syndicated by Disney. It's been creating a lot of really interesting conversations among parents regarding how the show portrays parenthood, and specifically about how often the lessons are for the parents watching with their kids, and not the kids themselves. (This is a good recent article about the show). While I have no children, I do have a niece and nephew at the prime age for enjoying the show and have seen all of the first two seasons multiple times (I'm still working through the recently released 3rd season).

I'm drawing the comparison here, because while Tadaima, Okaeri has up until this episode focused mainly on the adults of the Fujiyoshi household, with Hikari and Hinata being more cutesy side characters. This episode really centers around both Masaki and Hikari, with Hikari starting to fully start to recognize what being a big brother means. While ages are unclear in the show, it seems like Hikari is supposed to be somewhere around 4, an age where both his psychological development and the cultural standards would be encouraging him to become more independent.

But, in the end Hikari is still just a little kid, and in his very endearing way takes his big brother responsibilities a bit too seriously and kind of overextends himself.

From the Masaki side, we see him dealing with the struggle of watching Hikari growing up before his eyes. There's a saying that the days are long, but the years are short when it comes to kids, and that's sort of what Masaki is dealing with this episode. He's watching the contrast of Hikari, who it feels like was just a little baby like Hinata only days ago, now being so much more independent and driven. They're morning the 'loss' of that stage of Hikari's life, while also being so proud of how he's grown. His determination to be helpful, to help take care of the house, of his sister, to help Masaki, these behaviors they want to encourage, that will help Hikari learn how to be a good person as an adult. And they also recognize that tendency that all children have of sort of trying to grow up too fast, because they're to young to conceptualize that they shouldn't give up their childhood, because it is so fleeting in the long run.

Masaki struggling with the unique challenges of having a second child, and just the stress that comes with having to split your attention between multiple young children, they're feeling guilty over not being able to give everything they had before to Hikari, because Hinata requires more direct attention. And they can see the Hikari is struggling to adjust to no longer being an only child, not being able to climb in Ma-chan's lap whenever he wants, or be the sole focus of attention, but they also know it's one of those moments of growth that you just have to let kids go through. You can't really help, you can just be there.

But there's this pretty universal experience of good parents constantly being worried about whether they're good parents. And you may have heard that if you're worried about it, it means you are, because it means you are actively trying to be the best parent you know how to be. And that lesson is the one we kind of see Masaki learning over the course of the episode. I don't know that Masaki's accepted really that they are a good parent, and that doubt seems to be rooted in a lot of things we don't have knowledge of yet.

We don't know nearly as much about Masaki's family as we do about Hiromu and the Fujiyoshis, outside of the fact that Masaki's parents have passed. Though it seems next episode we might met their uncle, which I'm betting will give us a lot more insight. But there's a couple of possibilities, one being that Masaki's home life was a traumatic beyond just the loss of their parents, and that there's a bit of a 'breaking the cycle' storyline happening. Something supported by the behavior we've seen from the Fujiyoshi's and their valiant effort to reconnect with their son and forge a truer bond with Masaki as their son-in-law. I particularly enjoyed the interactions between Masaki and Grandma Fujiyoshi, because you could really feel the desire to connect from both sides. While I continue to have issues with the intentional feminization of Omega or bottoms in BL, I was touched by the symbolism of wanting to pass down the kimono to Masaki. Especially because it was clear that this wasn't a case of 'I want you to have this to pass on to Hinata', but very much intended to indicate acceptance into the family.

Overall this show and this episode is a lot of food for thought for a BL. The veneer of the show is quite fluffy, but they've shown every episode so far a commitment to telling an impactful story within the bounds of BL anime and the omegaverse, which I applaud.

[halliescomut]

Yoh's Drawings of Segasaki

Alright, I've got to be back in at work, but I had to talk about this really quick. I color coded the names and pronouns, because I think it reads so weird to say their names all the time, but if you just use he/him it can become confusing. So, Segasaki is Green and Yoh is Blue.

The conversation/story revolving around Yoh's drawing of Segasaki--initially I was like, makes sense, he's an artist, he likes Segasaki, ofc he would draw him. It's just a cute, fluffy little pieces of character construction and story building. But OMG!!!

Segasaki throughout the show looking at the drawings of himself by Yoh, and ESPECIALLY when they first meet and he realizes how Yoh sees him, and not in the technical how he draws his face way, but in the Neytiri, my soul recognizes your soul way. He's pretending all the time to be engaged in what his 'friend' group is doing or talking about, but he's not. He thinks he hides it well, because they've never brought it up and wouldn't they certainly notice? But Yoh did notice, and he drew it, and Segasaki is like WOAH!!

And then he comes back in the cafeteria and wants him to draw him while they're interacting, because he wants to see what Yoh sees when Segasaki isn't claustrophobic...you know??

Also, I think there was a part of him that was hoping that because Yoh could see him so well, he would see how much he means to him, how much he cares. Because then he wouldn't have to confess, because that's too scary. It's why he did all of the things to take care of Yoh in every possible way WITHOUT confessing. God, this show is so UGGGHHHHHHH!

I definitely want to go through and pick out all of the drawings of Segasaki we get to see. I remember the one he threw on the ground, and there's the cafe in ep 3 too, but I want to analyze those, but I'm in a time crunch right now.

My brain is going a hundred miles an hour over this and my ADHD is desperate for me to hyperfixate on it, but I really can't right now.

[halliescomut]

Love Sea Episode 1 Thoughts

My overall thoughts and musings for Ep 1 of Love Sea. Disclaimers: I did not read the novel. I may talk about Mame's use of problematic tropes and overall troubling storytelling, but I may not. I'm not here to grade the quality of her work. Mame as a creator is known for specific issues, and I'm not necessarily ignoring them or approving of them just because I don't call them out. I have seen every Mame show multiple times, so I am indeed well aware.

Okay getting started on ep one, I will start with my two 'complaints' that are sort of connected. The tone of the episode has some pretty wild swings. The most notable is on the boat when Rak is upset, and then it cuts to what is probably 15 minutes later when he's calmed down and they're flirting again. The tone shift is just kind of disorienting in the instance. The tone shifts throught the rest of the episode seem more based around who is the 'subject' whether Mut, Rak, or Mook and so make more sense, but are still kinda sharp. Secondly, while I know Mame isn't they type to take things slow really, I did kind of feel like the hug on the boat was a bit too soon. It's not that it was necessarily out of character for Mut, because I don't think it was, but just that he still doesn't know Rak so going in for that hug was really a leap.

What I did like:

I'm very much a fan of the country mouse, city mouse type of story, and just the general humor that comes from having a CitySlickers kind of plot, so I do enjoy the bits of humor related to Rak now being in a pretty rural community, and I'm hoping that the opposite does present similar comedic opportunities when Mut goes to Bangkok with Rak. That being said it is a bit of a fine line between fish out of water humor and kind of degrading someone because they aren't familiar with an environment they never had the ability or opportunity to experience, so hopefully that line is tread carefully.

I'm interested in learning more about Rak and his kind of writing hang ups. The information that gets introduced is that Rak writes romance novels, but he can't write sex scenes if he's not like actively involved in a sexual relationship.

I'm wondering if this will be an explicit inclusion of and Ace or Aro character, which is fairly rare in media overall, but especially in Thai BL, when having a character say they are explicitly gay is a fairly recent development. Mame in particular has been overall more inclusive of different sexualities, having explicitly Pansexual and Bisexual characters, as well as Gay and Lesbian characters. And there are many valid reasons to read Ae from Love by Chance as Aromantic or Asexual (or both really) but it's is never explicitly said. So having Rak be Aro would be a wonderful step forward there. Overall I'm interested in how this particular storyline plays out.

We don't really learn much more about Rak this episode, which feels appropriate, because he's meant to be closed off. So I imagine we will learn more abotu him as Mut learns more about him. I do know that there are people that find characters like Rak, Sky, or even Type off putting as they're often very rude in order to keep people at arms length, but I do have a soft spot for cranky characters with emotional walls. IRL their behavior would be frustrating and I would not appreciate it, but in fiction I will allow it and often enjoy it.

As far as what we learn about Mut, he is interested in money, but he doesn't want it just for nothing. He makes it clear that he really only wants it in trade for doing the work he's been hired to do, which does indicate his overall honorable personality. We see that he's pretty beloved and trusted by his community, which kind of confirms that honorability. If he were some shady beach bum people wouldn't trust him the way they do. We also see that Mut takes active interest in his community and it's members, so it's clearly mutual respect and affection. It's pretty clear to me that this is shown to us, the audience, to reinforce that Mut for all of his playfulness is a responisible and kind person, so we feel comfortable with him pursuing Rak. I think it's also something likely to be observed by Rak in future episodes to help him feel more secure with Mut.

Overall, outside of setting up the story and initial attraction with Mut and Rak, there isn't a whole lot else of note. We do get the introduction of Mook and Vi, the GL side couple. They have two very short scenes, so we truly don't learn a lout more than their names, and we're all aware that the GL side couple in Wedding Plan was lacking, so here's hoping this attempt it better.

The views and the setting of the episode are absolutely gorgeous, and there are some very long shots that take in that environment and setting. It's something that I don't know is necessary, but I definitely understand the reasoning since it is some really beautiful scenery.

I was also a bit concerned with how 'similar' Mut and Rak would be to Prapai and Sky, and while there are clearly parallels, I don't feel like it's a cut and pasting of them into a different setting.

Additional kind of negative note: don't love the line reinforcing colorism "your pale skin shows you're pure of heart"...it's not great. Especially when you combine it with them leaning into a common colorism casting trope of a darker complected actor playing a 'poor' character and a paler complected actor playing a 'rich' character. Like yes the difference in complexion would make sense since Mut and the other members of his community would just be outside often and for extended periods, it's still kind iffy. Also not a huge fan of the whole conversation about hair removal and the reinforcement of that beauty standard. Granted it's up to an individual what they want to do with their own body hair, but it does still set an unrealistic standard and that's unfortunate.

[halliescomut]

Tadaima, Okaeri Ep 4

Now that I'm fully caught up, I might start doing a weekly thing for this show because I am really enjoying it. This week I thought was really cute, but also very well-balanced in touching on Masaki's struggles. So much of the story is about Masaki, their past, their experiences, particularly as an omega in this world. And I was honestly kind of surprised at how surprisingly deep things got this episode.

Omegaverse has been regarded pretty often as a way to perpetuate heterosexual relationship stereotypes in a homosexual romance, and I kind of agree with that take. It's why if I ever partake in omegaverse stories, I don't care for the tropes of having omegas be extraordinarily feminized. I generally skew more towards reading stories where the omega is just as "masculine" as the alphas, and generally in those stories as well you'll see the alphas being very emotionally competent...if that makes sense. The way Tadaima, Okaeri has chosen to present their universe sets omegas as an 'inferior' race, and so in many ways it feels like Masaki's struggles more directly reflect racism and the struggles of an interracial couple, versus struggling against homophobia.

I can't personally tell if this is intentional, I don't have much information about the creators of the manga or the anime. I would hazard a guess that it is not, but I can't know for sure.

But where this all stems from is a scene early on in the episode where Masaki is still pregnant and Hikari is talking about the baby, and there's a conversation about how Hikari seemed to know about the pregnancy before anyone. Masaki contemplates if Hikari being so aware could mean that he might be able to tell if the baby is an alpha or omega even in the womb. Now they don't give a full biological rundown on how that works genetically. I always kind of processed being alpha or omega as something more like a secondary sex characteristic, or something that would present in puberty, but not be obvious at birth. In this universe it seems to be something almost like a recessive trait, or a gene that someone might carry, but would only be present/possible if both parents carry the gene. Because it seems like Masaki is an omega born to alpha parents based on the flashbacks we've seen.

But back to my point, Masaki in the moment wondering if Hikari could tell if the baby is an omega or not puts them in a place where they consider terminating the pregnancy, because he knows the struggles of being an omega in the world at large, but especially in the family that he has married into. While Hiromu's father seems to have had a change of heart, and is determined to reconnect with his son and his grandchildren, if that means that they will eventually have a more regular place in Papa Fujiyoshi's world, that increases chances of more direct bigotry. While Masaki has very much come into their own, very few people would choose to regularly have to deal with that type of behavior, and no good parent would want to subject their child to it.

But to why this particularly makes me think more of the struggles of an interracial relationship and mixed race family is because as an American, one of the things that is fairly widely known is that it is very common for African American people to have some percentage of white ancestry dating back generations prior to the legalization of interracial marriage. This is, as one could guess, not the result of starcrossed lovers, but the result of the subjugation and abuse suffered by black women during the time of legalized chattel slavery, as well as the immediate aftermath of the Civil War and emancipation. The presence of European based genetics in a portion of the African American population would occasionally lead to some African American people looking very 'white'. Due to the overt and horrific racism of the time, it was not uncommon then for 'white-passing' African Americans to separate themselves from their families, and basically pretend to be white to escape basically daily racism. (And who could blame them.) Colorism in the Black and Afro-Latino communities, and the prevalence of increased discrimination towards darker complected member of that community both from inside and outside of it, often leads to parents hoping their child will 'take after' a lighter complected parent, or even grandparent, as it will likely indicate a life of less discrimination.

That's kind of what Masaki's story feels like to me. It feels like Masaki is from a 'white' family (I know obviously all of the characters in the show are both ethnically and culturally Japanese), that perhaps had an ancestor who was not, and that those genes showed up as prominent in Masaki, leading for him to be discriminated against in his childhood and life overall. Now, as an adult and in his relationship with Hiromu, they present as essentially an interracial couple, with Hikari 'favoring his father' and appearing 'white'. This is further supported by the intentional character design of Hikari, to have dark hair like his father, the small mole by his mouth (something that generally would not be a genetic trait).

I honestly can't tell if I'm overthinking this, but I just feel like the parallels are so consistent. {Also, I know the gifs aren't really a perfect representation of my concept, but I suspect I am one of few who is more interested in the existential struggles of Masaki, then just allowing the show to be sweet, fun fluff.}

[halliescomut]

Masterpost (Under Construction)

It will likely take quite a while to get this off the ground, so please be patient.

I will also be slowing instituting a new tag for my meta posts (because if I had been using one all along this would be infinitely easier). Said tag will be #HallieSMeta.

Until there's something more interesting to look at here, please enjoy Jeffrey being a little punk:

Look at this motherfucker!!!! How dare he be so goddamn adorable!!!

Be aware that many of these posts are written months apart and so sometimes information is repeated...it happens.

KinnPorsche

KimChay MixTape- This is my post-canon KimChay fic- as of 10/10/23 it's at 88k words and will probably be 100k by the time I wrap things up. The links below are lil preview posts I do when I update. This is the Google Drive link to the first 3 chapters (which is a complete arc in itself. Otherwise it is posted on AO3.

Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch 5 Ch 6 Ch 7 Ch 8 Ch 9 Ch 10 Ch 11 Ch 12 Ch 13 Ch 14 Bonus Chapters

KP Season 2 Unhinged Wants- these are a bit of an amalgamation, but all original posts should be link here as well and will be posted as I start to curate.

KP Week 2022: Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7

Meta-Posts:

Kim-Vegas and Main-Minor family relations: 1 2

Porchay: Post Break-up Behavior

Acting: Tong and Jeff

Porsche & __: Hugs Vegas Queer awakening (?)

VegasPete Sad Hours: 1 2 3 4 5

PrettyBoy ship (TankhunTay): 1 2

Kim-Hannah Montana theme song Kim-Kimhant-Wik

Masquerade Ball: KinnPorsche Pete Bodyguards

Pete and Morality

Theerapanyakuls and musical instruments

Jeff Satur Music

Song Theory part 1

Lucid MV Discussion

Lucid costar-Nene

You can also search the tag 'jeff satur menace' to see many posts of Jeff looking handsome as fuck.

BL Industry Musings

2022 BL opinions

Colorism Fanservice Assumption of Queerness

Faux Incest in BL

BL Botany 1 & 2 Jeff

My Personal Weatherman

Mashiko Atsuki appreciation

No-subtitle watch throughs (eps 3-8): 3 4 5 6 7 8

Ep 2 Ep 5 Yoh's drawings 1 Yoh's drawings 2 Finale thoughts

Minato's Laundromat S2

Midseason check-in I have feelings Amnesia trope

Asuka and Shu

Our Dining Table

Please watch this show: 1 2 3

Costuming Analysis

Kiseki: Dear to Me

Ep 5 Ep 8 Ep 9

Mame/MeMindY BLs

Love Sea: Intro to characters

Boy Next World: Intro to story and characters

Wedding Plan: They met as Children Lom Nuea

Love in the Air

Payu & Rain Conspiracy Theory

1 year Anniversary video

Sky becoming soft for Prapai

Pai/Sky oneshots

Prap-Eyes gifset

We were robbed

Prapai/Sky and boundaries

Prapai & Reformed Rake character type

Sky/Prapai thoughts

Episode 8 thoughts

Sky in the One Night Stand

Noeul’s acting

Rain is not a bad friend

Payu and having his hair down-hair care as a show of affection

Love in the Air is a Character-driven story

Naughty Babe

Ep 4

Tadaima, Okaeri

Eps 1-3 kind of intro

Ep 4- Meta discussion, discrimination allegory?

Ep 5- Meta discussion, portrayal of parenting

It's not letting me add the links right now, so I'll try again later.

Stray Kids

Social Path MV Analysis

Hallie is TOO honest on Tumblr:

Broad backs

Discovering my Asexuality

Human Imperfection