#Hana 7 deserves better than this

[bebepac]

Traditions

This is a special holiday edition of School Dayz. To catch up on the series in general please click School Dayz

I am participating in @choicesdecember2023 for Christmas

I am also participating in @choicesprompts holiday rewrite challenge in which I used the candy cane gram scene from Mean Girls.

I am also participating in @choicesflashfics christmas prompt # 59: "Ice-skating? Do you seriously trust me with knives on my feet?" will appear in bold. I also used a previous prompt as well Are you seeing this too or am I having a stroke?

Series: School Dayz

The Book: TRR (no royals)

The Pairings: Liam x Riley

Word Count: 1464

Warnings and Ratings: None. This is for anyone who has eyes. A total fluff piece.

Original post: 12/31/23 at 7:15PM EST.

Science class was different for me now that I no longer sat next to Liam, and shared a table with my sister, since Mrs. Barbour decided to make the class sit in alphabetical order, which I think the only reason for the change was to make taking roll easier. I glanced across the room to Liam whose partner was now Rashad.

My adorkable boyfriend who caught me watching him, smiled and held up his hot cocoa cup to toast me from across the room. Liam was the sweetest boyfriend and stopped by the local coffee shop Brew Bros and always got hot chocolate every morning the way that I liked it.

So I smiled while holding up my cup.

“Oh my God, can you two be any more nerdy?” Taylor asked.

“He’s nice, and you reap the benefits of it too. My boyfriend brings us both hot chocolate, or in your case a coffee drink you like every day without us asking.”

Taylor cocked her head to the side and air toasted Liam, taking a sip from her drink when the door opened.

“Ho , Ho, Ho!!!!! Candy Cane Grams, sponsored by the National Honor Society.”

“Make it quick, Santa.” There was a hint of sarcasm in Mrs. Barbour’s voice as she went to sit at her desk for a moment.

“And his lovely assistant Max Noel!”

“Wait… a sec… Are you seeing this too or am I having a stroke?”

Taylor doubled over in laughter “It is!!!! It’s Drake Walker-Claus.”

Taylor’s laugh seemed to antagonize Drake for a second, but good thing he had his assistant Maxwell. His brooding mood was offset by Max Noel making the class laugh with his dance versions of Christmas music as he followed around the room behind him.

“Hana Lee one for you.”

“Chris Powell four for you, you go Chris Powell!”

“Do we have a Riley Brooks here?”

“That’s her Max Noel. She’s Riley Brooks and looks nothing like the girl sitting next to her. Those two can’t possibly be related.”

“Riley Brooks here you go, one for you.”

“Thank you Santa.”

“Um….”

“And nothing at all for Taylor Brooks, not even coal or black licorice, bye.”

Drake and Max ran out of the room.

Taylor looked at me with curious eyes at the candy cane gram in my hand.

“Who’s that from?”

It wasn’t any of her business. I opened the envelope and read silently to myself.

Liam’s sweet words made me smile, and I didn’t have to answer her, and I looked at him from across the room.

“Oh my god. You guys are too much.”

Taylor looked upset, even though she shrugged it off. Later I found out why at her locker.

“I told you to get me a candy cane gram Nico!!!!”

“Well you telling me to do it, takes the surprise out of it. Me not doing it, guess what you were surprised weren’t you?”

My sister who was always loud looked at him and said nothing.

Before I knew it the words flew out of my mouth.

“Wow, you’re a really bad boyfriend Nico, my sister deserves better than you.”

I slammed my locker walking away from the two of them. I found out later that day, my sister broke up with him, in front of everyone in true dramatic Taylor fashion. I was proud of her.

Christmas Eve

Everyone had come over and was enjoying mom’s Christmas cookies and snacks. My dad brought in a big box sitting it down on the floor.

“I want to thank everyone for coming over tonight to spend time with our family. Our children picked people they care about to spend this time together with you. Ren and I are happy to have you in our home. We both grew up in the foster care system, and learned early in life, sometimes the people that care about you most, are not your blood relatives. So we try to celebrate that.”

“And when we had the opportunity to open our home up to two adorable identical twin girls, we couldn’t say no.” My mother chimed in.

“It’s the best decision they ever made. I went to sleep one night wishing I had a little sister. The next morning I woke up with two.” Jaiden spoke up.

“And we know what it’s like to be alone on Christmas, or missing someone special on Christmas that you were once close to. So we wanted to do something special. Liam would you mind sharing the Christmas Eve tradition you had that you told me about?”

“Christmas was my Mom’s favorite holiday. Every Christmas Eve that I can remember she’d dress us up in these ugly Christmas sweaters

and we would go ice skating on Lake Pine. She loved to ice skate. Then she’d make us take these dorky pictures in our Christmas sweaters that matched. I miss her a lot.”

“I miss her too. I’m not adopted, but Liam’s Mom always made me feel like I was her son too. So I really get what you’re saying about family not always being blood related. She was my mom too.”

Liam hugged his brother.

My dad opened the box.

“With a little help from Riley I found some what I would think are hideously awesome ugly Christmas sweaters, and am secretly happy for your love of Star Trek too. I’m sorry Liam, you can’t be the Captain, this is mine. But this one is yours.”

“Well if I can’t be Captain, being the science officer is the next best and most logical choice.” Liam took his blue sweater graciously.

“That’s what I said! Dad please say you got me a blue sweater too.”

“I did.”

After all the sweaters were handed out, there was still one left in the box.

“Guess you guys bought this before I broke up with Nico. No big deal.”

Once everyone was dressed, they headed out to the vehicles, and Liam stuffed the extra shirt into Leo’s trunk.

“I really don’t know how this is going to go Liam.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ice skating? Do you seriously trust me with knives on my feet?”

“Well good thing you’re not just Riley Brooks today, you’re the science officer for the USS Enterprise. Live long and prosper.”

Liam expected Riley to be as horrible on ice skates as she had been on roller skates, but Riley amazingly was incredibly balanced.

“Have you ice skated before?”

“No! I don’t know how I'm good at this! I usually have no natural balance.”

“You’re a natural at skating…”

“Ice skating. Let's clarify that.”

Taylor was still sitting on the bench watching the couples skate by. “She still hasn’t gotten out on the ice yet. I think she’s feeling lonely and the extra shirt probably made her think of Nico.”

Liam’s phone beeped. “Why don’t you go sit with her for a little bit, and I’ll be back in a few with some hot cocoas for us all.”

“Is cocoa your favorite drink?”

“Yes, and my mom used to always say your heart won’t feel cold if you always have a nice warm cup of cocoa. It always makes me feel better.”

I went to sit with Taylor and Liam continued walking toward the concessions stand.

“You okay?” I asked Taylor.

“I just don’t feel like skating, and look over there.”

Nico was there, with another girl on his arm.

“To be honest I never liked him Taylor. He called you T, like you were a drink or a shirt or something. He wasn’t even really that nice. Good riddance, I say.”

“I never thanked you for standing up for me that day Riley. It really meant a lot.”

“You’re my sister Taylor. I will always have your back, even when you pull me into a tornado.”

“Not on purpose!” She laughed.

“Oh it never is.” I remarked pulling Taylor closer to me in a hug. After a few seconds she pulled away from me.

“What are you doing here?”

“Helping Liam deliver hot cocoa. This one is yours.

I don’t like all the extra stuff in mine.”

Drake handed Taylor her cocoa, as he sat down next to her.

“Just hot and cocoa pretty much then right?”

“Exactly. I’m not that difficult to understand.”

“Do you like to ice skate, Drake?”

“Like it? It’s okay, but I can. Would you like to skate Taylor?”

Drake took off his coat wearing the remaining ugly sweater.

“Okay.” Taylor said in a nonchalant voice.

Taylor’s mood picked up immediately as she skated around with Drake on the ice. She never once glanced in Nico’s direction.

“That was really nice of you to do Liam.”

“He really does like her, you know. Maybe now she can finally see him with Nico out the way.”

“You’re so adorkably sweet Liam.”

“I know Riley, I know.”

[lizzybeth1986]

Skills vs Passions - What's the Difference?

(Read the rest of the "Hana Lee: A Study in Erasure" series here!)

Previous: China, Cordonia and "Home"

I had mentioned, way back in my first essay of this series, that descriptors used for Hana are vastly different from that of the other LIs. The three male LIs got descriptors that emphasized their personalities and loyalty to their loved ones.

Hana's descriptors, on the other hand, came down to two things - what the MC could be physically drawn to, and what the MC could use her for.

Hana can be dedicated, devoted, open minded, explorative. You don't have to look too far to see a consistent display of these qualities in Hana, throughout both series. Yet none of these words - nor the many others that could even slightly capture her personality - are used to describe her.

What the team views as appealing in Hana, boils down to two things. What the MC can find fuckable if Hana is a love interest, and what the MC can use her for if she isn't (though to be honest, even the MC that romances her still benefits disproportionately from her labour).

Her looks...and her skills.

Ironically, even with this lack of care and forethought, Hana's story still manages to retain some nuance when it comes to exploring the things she learned. They are not things she randomly became perfect at. Nor is the process of how she became good at those things, identical.

Most times, there is a story behind how she became that good at those activities, a process that Hana often worked and struggled towards, before she could be the "Jill of All Trades" of TRR.

Her journey to acquiring all of these skills is not the same. If we do not acknowledge the differences in those journeys, we are doing her story a grave disservice.

Acquired Skills.

(Note: In this section I will be leaving out Hana's more intuitive skills, such as stealth, cunning, deep research and resourcefulness, and focusing more on the ones she had to learn. This is because her intuitive skills fit better in a different essay that I will be working on soon)

There are several things the above screenshots share in common.

One is that they are all things Hana learned as a part of her training to become the perfect debutante, the perfect noblewoman, the perfect courtly wife, the perfect hostess. In the Cordonian Waltz scene in TRR1 Ch 7, Hana speaks of being pushed from an early age to learn all the courtly and social arts. She speaks of being "groomed [every day] to bring fame and fortune to my family", primarily because they were devastated she was not a boy and the only way she could possibly be of use to them was by acquiring these skills. These weren't just hobbies she was encouraged to cultivate - they were things she had to do well, do perfectly, whether she liked doing them or not.

Another - and perhaps easier to miss - similarity between all these pictures is Hana's expression in them. Neutral. Unmoved. Bored. None of these activities actually appeal to her, or are things she is happy doing.

We will find out later on, that that was exactly the point. In her parents' plan for Hana's life and future, Hana's own needs and identity are practically a non-factor.

One of Hana's major epiphanies about her childhood, is the recognition that what she wanted, should have mattered. That her needs deserved to be met just for being her needs, not because it served a purpose for anyone else. On more than one occasion Hana tells us that "enjoying myself never factored into my parents' expectations of me".

How damaging can this obsession with making your daughter the perfect noble wife - to the exclusion of any other possible life - be? Let's find out:

Hana isn't just expected to excel in skills that mean very little to her. She isn't just forced to prioritise - again and again and again - the enjoyment of others over her own. She isn't just made to consider the needs of some nebulous future husband, to the point where she cannot even ask herself what she wants.

Over and above all this, she is never allowed to be her authentic self. She is never even allowed to figure out what that authentic self would be. From an early age she is deprived of toys and pets and real consistent friendships, ensuring a complete isolation, ensuring she doesn't even have the opportunity to safely indulge in pretend play. (That she manages to scrape together whatever she can find to make her "toys" is only a testament to her own tenacity; she should never have been put in such a position in the first place). Her parents robbed her of those early, exploratory years.

She has been told how she must be and what she must do; she never has the freedom to decide whether that is something she is even comfortable being. In the context of this scene Hana may be using this skill to help another woman, but the fact remains that even in expressing her femininity, Hana is constantly expected to perform - as if her authentic self was never good enough.

It is no wonder then that the moment she finds herself no longer answerable to her parents, Hana fears that she will discover she's nothing more than a "collection of skills...with no one underneath". TRR3 shows Hana in a full-blown identity crisis once she is completely outside her parents' influence.

In her post "How Parents Fuel Identity Crises in Their Children" on the Good Therapy Blog, psychotherapist Beverly Amsel talks about the effects controlling parenting can have on a child's sense of self thus; "When a loving parent is so certain that he or she knows what is right for the child and does not consider that the child may have valid, different ideas about what he or she wants, needs, and feels, there is no space and no invitation for the child to develop the ability to express his or her own self with separate ideas, feelings, and needs. Over time, as the child grows to adulthood and is exposed to more ways of thinking about things, there is typically a good deal of confusion about identity, thoughts, and feelings. Unless there is an opportunity to develop a separate sense of self, there will likely be a lot of anxious thinking about what is real but little ability to think for oneself in a self-reflective way."

Fortunately for Hana, her time in Cordonia does seem to present those sort of opportunities. There are story threads in TRR3 that address this identity crisis. But does it culminate into something that benefits her, or only the people around her?

Things She Does For Those She Loves

Before we move into passions, it's important to acknowledge a category that toes the line between acquired skill and interest. These involve activities that she's not entirely passionate about, but still derives some enjoyment from doing.

Her enjoyment of these skills is usually less about the activity itself, and more dependent on her fondness for sharing or socializing through it. Despite her mostly-isolated childhood, Hana is by nature a very social person. She is enthusiastic (though initially a bit wary and fearful of rejection) about making friends, loves sharing her knowledge and skills, and does not hesitate to reach out even to people who don't treat her well and accommodation them into whatever she's doing (eg. every single time she included Olivia in something in TRR2). So it makes sense that there are certain things she enjoys doing because it involves her helping someone, or allows her to spend time with them, or helps her relive precious memories.

On some level, you see this with some of her skill scenes. Often a scene will end with Hana following up a confession about her lack of interest in a particular activity with a line about how sharing that knowledge makes her happy. But you also see this enjoyment in other contexts.

Another context where she truly enjoys doing things, is when they're of a competitive nature. She thrives on the thrill of outwitting opponents and friendly rivalries. A great example of this is the dance-off she does with Maxwell in TRR1 Ch 18, where she enjoys pitting her skills against Maxwell's so much that they both agree they'd be great as a dancing duo. You also see this whenever she's competing in games with her trusted friends. This is perhaps why you see at least a handful of sequences where she expresses an interest in sports.

But perhaps the activities she enjoys the most - that aren't for herself - are ones that have her share space with someone she loves and trusts. Cooking and baking rank high among these skills. Baking began as a domestic skill that would serve her well in a noble household, but she loves sampling batter/dough and practically glows on seeing the other person's enjoyment of her craft. Her creating her own recipe for hot chocolate is especially interesting because it's a skill that she values highly, and that she only shares with people very close to her.

Hana's interest in fashion design also has interesting origins. She is skilled in embroidery and knows fashion trends well, and has learned from her grandmother to make her own clothes. Of particular note is the black-red-gold qipao/cheongsam that was the last dress she ever made with her grandmother. Her attachment to the dress is so strong that she experiences intense distress when Lorelai threatens to take it from her in Valtoria. She also loves designing dresses for loved ones - for the MC herself, we see her conceptualize and design dresses at least twice (a traditional-inspired outfit in Shanghai which is appropriately titled "Hana's Heart", and a blue and white dress for their engagement photoshoot).

Through these examples we can see instances of Hana finding joy in things she didn't have as much interest in, just through the process of sharing that experience with someone else. It's great, on the one hand, because Hana is no longer alone and she gains a renewed perspective on something that came from a very painful part of her life.

On the other hand, "I find this more fun now that I'm doing it with you" comes with its own downsides. If you use it too often, you're in danger of using it as a copout that centers the person she is teaching rather than her own journey.

And if you're a writer that makes efforts for her story with great reluctance...such an explanation will rapidly change into an excuse to be lazy with that journey.

Passions

Among the many, many, many skills Hana was made to learn in the bid to make her the perfect debutante and the perfect noble wife...just a few rank as ones she does wholeheartedly, joyfully, passionately. But they are perhaps the most important.

After all, these are skills that Hana had honed for herself. They're meant for her consumption and her enjoyment, and she often shares them only with people she trusts.

Not only are these things, interests that she enjoys and lovingly cultivates...but she is also fiercely protective of them. She will not allow anyone - not even her parents - to turn something so personal into a public spectacle that she's uncomfortable with. This is most clearly seen when she tells us about rebelling against her parents for piano performances. At a very young age, Hana recognises the value of her music, and she pushes back against any attempts to cheapen it or turn it into some warped form of social currency. She takes ownership of her gift, and from that moment on anything she does with that talent is done on her own terms.

Like music, reading was a skill cultivated to make her an attractive prospect for noble matches - only for Hana to find pleasure in the act of reading herself. Here again, building a passion for reading allows her to rebel in her own unique way. She smuggles in books that she knows her parents will find either too frivolous or too objectionable - often by hiding the books, or modifying the purpose of the book to them so it would sound appropriate.

We must remember - this is a woman who still feels nervous breaking rules even a year after she has left her parents' home. It would take such a woman considerable amounts of imagination and courage, to be able to do what she did in an environment as restrictive as her's. For Hana to be able to do this, she must have really valued the joy that reading books had given her.

Flowers are an extremely important part of Hana's life. Symbolically, they are part of her mother's House Crest, and personally, she is someone who is naturally drawn to flowers. In TRR2 Ch 4, she confesses to devouring the words of The Language of Flowers, and knows the symbolic meaning of each one by heart. She can even make her own bouquets. During the Costume Gala in TRR3, she dresses up in a heavily floral gown as the Goddess of Spring.

One of the most captivating sequences that captures her love for flowers in the TRR2 Conservatory scene, where she takes the MC to see the spectacle of a night-blooming flower unfurling under the light of the moon. It is especially fascinating that her already latent passion for flowers grew further with the help of another passion - reading.

Another thing you will clearly notice about each of these "passions" is that when she speaks about them, she is expressive. Liam confirms this in his Diplomacy scene in TRR3, where he tells the MC that her passion always shows in her eyes.

The proof for what Liam says here is in every one of these scenes. In the scenes compiled under the "Acquired Skills" category, her expression rarely changes and her tone is indifferent. In contrast, we are exposed to a variety of moods when she talks of these things that she's so passionate about.

She seethes with anger at the memory of her parents forcing her to perform the piano to crowds, whispers conspiratorially about forbidden literature, loses herself in the scent of flowers. These are moments where Hana acknowledges her individual pleasures, and expresses pride over the way she guards them from people who will not respect what those things mean to her.

These are things she knows forwards and backwards, but not because she was forced to cultivate and perfect those talents. They're things she knows because when Hana Lee is truly interested in something, she will plunge herself into it, body and soul. These are things that gave her comfort at a time when she had no one, and they form the happiest memories she has had for her childhood so far.

These are passions that are so intricately a part of her that it is impossible for her to give them up. Not for her family, not for her friends, not for her wife - no one.

Conclusion

The base of Hana's story has always been rich with possibilities. There were various ways the writing team could have written it to benefit her story. At the hands of a skilled writer who loved the character for who she was rather than for what the MC could gain from her, the writing of these talents could have been used to further enrich Hana's journey and give her a chance to find herself. Unfortunately, the writing team at the helm of TRR were neither.

Over and over again, the writers used Hana's plethora of talents to make her useful to people, rather than turn the focus of that arc back on her. The MC learns these skills and goes up the ranks, the MC benefits from Hana's offers of help, the MC is the one who becomes a Duchess and Champion of the Realm. Even on a level of resolving her issues with her parents, the writers have her prove that she can still be useful to them without getting married to a man. In the eyes of her writers, her skills are still meant to make her useful to someone - just that the person at the center changes from her parents to the MC.

Because the MC is positioned as someone who "enlightens" Hana to how harmful her situation was, and because the narrative expects Hana to be forever grateful to her - the MC is allowed to use her and take credit for Hana's hard work (eg. The windmill move during the polo game) and get away with it.

When you put all this evidence together, and then go back to the descriptors I put up at the very beginning of this essay, you will see what the team's intention with her, always had been. To create a woman the MC could be attracted to, a woman whose skills the MC could use to advance her own interests...while still being viewed as her hero and saviour. Despite being one of the few people to get the most detailed account of her upbringing and struggles, the MC still chooses to view her in the most simplistic ways, still praises her for her skills and "perfection" rather than support her in any consistent way (more on this in other essays).

The fandom wasn't much better in this respect either. Lots of TRR fans still see no real distinction between the skills Hana had to struggle to learn, and the interests that made her truly happy. The writing team itself contributes to this inaccurate conflating of her interests and skills by having multiple characters label her 'perfect' over and over.

This results in a situation where those hard-earned skills and those moments of joy are conflated together, and spoken of like they are the same thing. But they are not. To speak of the two as if there were no difference, is to ignore completely the difficult, even disturbing, history behind how she acquired them.

The skills the MC grinningly labels her perfect for, are skills that emerged from a very traumatizing environment. Her joys - that many in this fandom so mockingly placed alongside the things she forced herself to do - were perhaps the only opportunities she had to take back her agency and claim something for her own.

To pretend that the two are one and the same is a gross misrepresentation of what was actually depicted in canon.

Next: "Perfect!Hana": Author Bias and the Importance of Framing (coming soon!)

[dentwy]

number 7: here is greenwood

GREENWOOD!!!!!!!!! WOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! okay i'm cool. "here is greenwood" is a shoujo manga serialized in hana to yume from 1986 to 1991 written and drawn by nasu yukie. in 1991 until 1993 it got adapted into a 6 episode ova and this is kinda where it ends i feel. i wouldn't say it has had any kind of major impact in the medium, the genre or any major group of individuals, but god i do think it did stir something inside me.

i either tend to gravitate towards stuff that isn't particularly popular, because i'm trying to come off as cooler than i am or simply because it just happens naturally. couldn't tell you, but finding that one little thing you end up enjoying so much without anyone else seemingly caring about it is always fun regardless of your personality. turns out it's a lot easier to become the biggest fan of a thing no one has seen, you know. a bit like becoming the world record holder of a game no one has cared to speedrun, it's just funny.

picking out what consists of "my favorite shows of all time" isn't so easy once you've been watching media more seriously after a while, those starting years will definitely shape you up and become a major part of the main stuff you like. even if you fully know it's bad, you hold it close to yourself because it was there at the start, and it's always nice to think back on that. so, it often happens with me where i certainly enjoy something enough to think of it as "this could be a favorite, but does it deserve the spot?". not even sure right now if greenwood deserves it, but i don't know if it matters that much. i decided to make a list of "favorites that aren't favorites" because of greenwood and even if it doesn't stay there and goes up into the list, it sure means something.

ironically, i don't quite think this show came out as a surprise to me as i'd been hyping myself up before even getting into it. it did, though, take turns i wouldn't have seen coming and i'm glad for that. these days i honestly tend to watch anime based on the soundtrack and it's no different here. the soundtrack showed up in online platforms on september of last year, which is around where i found out about it since i already follow nagata shigeru (even if i haven't even seen ocean waves, he just makes good tracks). my first mention of it over discord was me getting mad at my bank while i was dealing with my phone insurance after i tried reading one piece and got my phone stolen 13 pages into the first chapter, but that's a story for another day. i just said "this is the soundtrack of me killing a man" with a link to shun's theme , which is honestly accurate for any man killing activities. in context however, there's a bit more to the story.

this is why, to anyone caring to read, i want to do the longest and probably only essay / analysis / backtrack / retrospective / whatever the hell for "here is greenwood" you will find online. i HAVE to be that guy. otherwise, what have i been obsessing over this thing for around a month? the show has 6 episodes while the manga has 11 volumes (although viz squished it into 9 which is better), so i'll be basing myself on the pacing of the anime in relation to the manga, back and forth between them so the chapters match up. the manga does, however, have more stuff to it throughout half of its runtime so it's gonna be a lot of that i suppose. although, and i'll get into it later, the anime seemingly ends up being the more enjoyable version of the two. otherwise, skip to the tldr in bold letters to avoid reading the long ramblings of a crazy man skimming through a show and manga you probably haven't seen and read.

we begin with the hero of our story. he doesn't really have anything that would actually make him a hero, he's just a teenage boy just starting his first year of highschool at ryokuto academy. his name is hasukawa kazuya and i don't blame people for making him the least popular of the 4 central characters on myanimelist, but he's still technically the main character. our dear boy kazuya is moving into the ryokuto dorms, because it turns out he's kinda the unluckiest guy you'll ever meet. his older brother just married the girl he had a crush on, and since they don't have any parents left, they're all living under the same roof, something he simply can't stand anymore. he took the entrance exam for this prestigious boys only school and managed to get in, but in the process he: almost got ran over by a car while he was visiting the school, barely managed to take the entrance exam since the trains were stopped by a blizzard, had his acceptance letter delayed in the mail, and got an ulcer the day of the entrance ceremony that forced him to stay hospitalized for a month. even if god is against him, he persevered, and finally got in.

kazuya is hot headed (almost literally since he's prone to getting nosebleeds), overly serious yet still a bit of a goofus. he's not particularly smart, but he proves himself with the sheer effort he can put into the things he wants to achieve. he often feels like he needs to be stronger and grow on his own, failing to rely on others, as he doesn't really like getting pampered either.

he is introduced to the dorm head, ikeda mitsuru, and the president of the student council, tezuka shinobu. the two most popular, best looking, and important members of the dorms, currently on their second year of highschool. these two are the ones that will introduce him to "greenwood", as they call the dorms, since the full name is kind of a mouthful.

inside room 210 rests his roommate, which he's quickly informed is, in fact, a girl. according to them, kisaragi shun was born a girl, it's just that her birth certificate and every record lists her gender as male. by this point, 8 minutes into the first episode i'm already clocking out. i understand we're talking about japan here and it's the 1980s (rest assured, this becomes more evident as it goes on), but i have the sneaking suspicion that gender identity can't be this series' forte. from my understanding, hibari-kun does tackle these topics in a proper manner and it was also a manga from the 80s, so perhaps it's not completely unheard of. besides, shoujo manga isn't known to be scared of tackling stuff the rest would never dare, but still. me, the audience, and the guy on screen, kazuya, are being informed that he absolutely must keep this fact a secret from the all the boys at the school. if he does not, there will be consequences. added to the fact this guy is seemingly pissed off at his brother for not being "manly enough" since he "works as a nurse" at this school (and also the fact he got married to the woman he liked, even if she's at least a decade older than him), we're not looking too hot. whatever, i'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

3 days go by for kazuya living with a girl in his room, often going outside to let her change, being uncomfortable at night and trying to ignore people's comments of his situation. he finds out, however, that it was nothing more than a farce. shun isn't a girl, he's just a cute guy with long hair. this dude got tricked into thinking otherwise only so everyone in the dorms could bet on how long it would take him to figure out. "damn! i lost... if only it took one more day..." you hear a guy in the background. greenwood, refers to "a nest for bandits and villains" which is all this place is. as much of a prestigious school as this may be, it doesn't speak for the people actually attending it.

there's the guy that sleeps with his motorcycle, the club used to devote their time to a made up religion, or the duo that rent out their room as an arcade. the main trio that will share their time with kazuya stand out as much as anyone else, if not more, so we should get into them.

shinobu (on the right) is the son of a prestigious family. he's calm and collected, devious and cunning. not a lot seems to change his expression, as he's swift and decisive yet his has his mischievous side as he often enjoys messing with people, and specially his roommate. mitsuru (left), is the handsome, aloof guy that simply loves giving kazuya as hard of a time as he can.

shun, aka the most popular character in the show, is a confident, assertive and strong willed young man. it just so happens he kinda looks like a girl. it is very often played for jokes, but not once does he mind it and finds enjoyment in it himself. he is, in fact, "a guy with a gender", as you could say. he leaves his hair long because he likes it, he dresses up however he feels like and often more feminine because he finds it fun, and he just knows who he is and what he wants to be, which is highly respectable. i was mentioning earlier about his theme and it's honestly pretty fitting for the guy, there's something magical and cheery about it that really sticks out, while having a tone of that seemingly feminine side.

these four are the rag tag greenwood team, getting into trouble, helping others and messing with each other. guys that maybe wouldn't usually be friends with each other, but it's always the time and place that will bring people together.

most of volume 1 isn't too dissimilar from episode 1, they change around the order of some scenes for it to make more sense and remove or add dialogue for it to flow better, but most of the main events stay intact. kazuya's main goal is to stay far from his home to avoid thinking about sumire, the woman he loves and his now sister in law. this is what he's in greenwood for. it's not as simple as "running away" from it and his feelings, but trying to come to terms with it, get distracted, and find himself. the main overarching theme of this series is moving past a love that was not meant to be. whether it's by moving away, making new friends or finding new love, the goal is the same. ironically, the people around him don't really allow him to move past so easily, since his brother is still around all the time, his friends kinda make fun of him for it (because it is funny) and sumire herself is so oblivious to it that it keeps stabbing him in the heart which, yeah, i get it.

not sure if you, dear reader, has had the experience of being in a dorm with other people, or going through a moment of unrequited love, but it doesn't get any realer than this! for one, living with people close to you for a while is just a nice experience. always having people to rely on, to hang out with, to talk to, at any given moment. almost to the point you may start depending on it. as a matter of fact, the room i shared with other people for a bit was 211, the same one mitsuru and shinobu are in! for the other, trying to move past something like that isn't the easiest. in fact, it may just be the aftermath that's the hardest and that takes the longest, that is, finding the same feeling somewhere else. filling that spot with something new, or someone new. cannot really blame a guy for trying so hard to change his life around.

kazuya decides to stay in the dorms for summer vacation, as he insists he does not want to set foot home, and sumire decides to pay him a visit. not only her but his brother kazuhiro also plays fun with him at times simply because he likes to see his reaction. he's kind of a goat, but he does genuinely care for his brother. later he's informed he can't stay in the dorms for winter holidays, which is what forces him to go back home for once.

half of the first volume doesn't get adapted probably to improve the pacing, although the extra chapters also don't feel too substantial to the story overall. in one of them the lights go off at the dorms and a couple of girls get in, which they initially think are ghosts, only to turn out they're not. it's not that exciting of a chapter and the show does a better version of this a bit later on. besides, i believe that not showing as many female characters in the ovas works better for the series, as opposed to the manga which starts doing it more often from here.

after kazuya goes back home for the first time in a while, the boys meet up out in the city. here, they find a strange looking girl being tailed by men in suits. it only turns out this girl is "nitta mieko", an idol that simply wanted to get some free time for herself while her agency wouldn't let her. uh, she becomes a bit of a prominent character throughout the manga, while she doesn't really appear at all in the anime. to the actual plot itself, she doesn't do a whole lot, she just comes and goes from time to time. not much against her, it only feels like she's just there.

for another chapter, they're already on valentine's day, meaning they will get chocolate. shun mentions he's straight and he had a girlfriend already which the rest find strange, i suppose. both mitsuru and shinobu get all the girls from other schools to wait outside and throw chocolates at them, to which they run away from. kazuya has one girl that's a bit obsessed with him, yet he doesn't remember her name nor who she is. she mistakes shun for a girl, so she gives up on him quick, though. i'm a bit iffy with this chapter because even if it is supposed to be a well known fact that mitsuru is constantly getting girls to ask him out (and he's generally also unlucky with said girls) the anime doesn't actually show much of that, unlike the manga. i don't think this is bad though, it's more of a thing they just say but never really show as you're kind of invited to fill in the blanks for yourself. since it is only 6 episodes they obviously skip around a lot of parts of the year, and i don't think it's quite necessary to see everything they do, as getting a glimpse around their life is all you need to understand how they're doing and what a random day in greenwood can be like. the manga almost incessantly needs to show both mitsuru and shinobu as the popular guys and since we're talking about an all boys school, even if they are popular, it doesn't feel like it's something that should happen so often and at such a big scale, in my opinion.

kazuya also simply not knowing who the girl that has a crush on him seems off and a bit too early. i suppose his mind is still focused on sumire, sure. so, he's probably not ready to move on that quick? even then, the situation kind of presents itself in front of him and he simply fumbles it for no major reason, he simply does not know the girl from his previous school.

the final chapter sets up the next volume, where mitsuru gets abducted by none other than shinobu's big sister. the anime does a funny thing here on episode 2 where they kinda tell you "go read the chapter for context" but it doesn't really matter. the episode centers around shinobu's sister, nagisa, kidnapping shun's little brother, reina, who obviously looks like a little girl because feminine looking boys is a staple of the kisaragi household. this is, in turn, a direct sequel to the manga chapter.

nagisa hates her brother because he's kinda just better than her really. she's stuck up, pretentious, demanding and selfish. since they were little she always wanted to be seen as the superior one, and because shinobu doesn't give a damn about anything, he never really cared about whatever she tried doing to him. part of their father's favoritism towards shinobu must certainly come from the fact she's a woman, i will not deny that, and she has the right to be mad. she's still an awful person though and only wants her to be the one to inherit the family business. so, to "take revenge" on him, she decides to kidnap his friend. genius!

part of the volume is dedicated to them finding out it's her and then going to save him. in the process mitsuru tries to escape and makes fun of her. he ends up with only his underwear on to, uh, make it worse for him? i guess? in the process of escaping mitsuru gets his face cut which was supposed to be something they planned on doing to ruin how pretty he was or something, but apparently mitsuru has superpowers so the skin on his face simply fixes itself instantly. now, greenwood isn't scared of the supernatural, weird things will happen. but having his face regenerate is a bit too much in my opinion. i think it would be a really solid joke for him to "suddenly be fine the next page" instead of it actually and legitimately being superhuman. would play on the meta and sell the ridiculousness of it even more. which seems even weirder considering nasu loves to play with meta jokes. she will often draw herself commenting on facts or details that don't really make sense so she can address them herself, or have the characters directly refer to her or the manga as a whole. in this same chapter in fact, she mentions how it doesn't make sense that they're still in their first and second year of highschool if holidays are already over. i think some of these jokes are fine, but nasu loves doing it a little bit too much for my taste.

anyway, what the anime does instead, as i mentioned, is have shun's little brother be the victim. nagisa decided that she won't deal with boys anymore and only cares about girls now, so he picks up reina instead (unbeknownst to her that he's actually a boy). i think this take on it is better, since shinobu ends up knowing what the deal is way faster and manages to figure out a plan for the rest of the boys to follow. reina does, too, mess with her and her agents by asking for food and to take a shower, which gets weirder than it should! these guys kinda get really flustered about the supposed little girl they've kidnapped which is extremely weird (one of them even trying to peep while he's taking a shower!). nagisa is also really weird about it at the start but we know for a fact she's a terrible person so whatever. it tries to follow with the joke that people often mistake the kisaragi boys for girls, but it could've been something else, you know. specially when it's grown ass adults we're talking about, but whatever, it's still a fun episode. all of this ends with shinobu giving his sister a final warning, effectively pointing a gun at her and saying he was gonna take care of her this time for sure. only to turn out it's a toy gun. a little detail that stands out at the end of this episode, in a strange way, is mitsuru making fun of kazuya for developing a crush on igarashi miya, a girl from an all girls highschool that will become relevant later. it's a bit funny because by this point they have never shown the two of them interacting, and the first time that he will see her is later on in the anime. however i think it's mostly working as a little nod of foreshadowing, as the events in the ovas don't really seem to be in chronological order.

what is honestly surprising is the chapter that follows this, still on volume 2. a side story about two guys from the dorms in room 117 ending up as a couple and finding out they're gay. i'd honestly recommend just reading this chapter, as it's surprisingly good and i'm almost left wishing they had adapted it. they sure do the "but it can't be, he's a guy!" / "there's no way i'm a homosexual!" and sure, one of the two guys also does look like a girl, but it's cute and well handled in my opinion. throughout both the show and manga kazuya stays as the guy that like, simply doesn't know gay people exist, i think. he's not inherently homophobic, i'd say. he's always genuinely shocked as if he doesn't know what just happened, almost to the point it's funny. it simply does not process in his mind and he resets.

next chapter is about girls from another school taking pictures of mitsuru with his shirt off because it's too hot? and shinobu has diarrhea. the one after that, the boys go to the pool. everyone there thinks shun is a girl (as usual) so they ask him to go into the women's dressing room, and the lifeguard gets disappointed to find out he's a guy, but their outfits are sick so it's fine.

we continue to see kazuya being the one taking care of dorm head duty since mitsuru is away for the week. reina rolls up to the dorm and he's actually way more of an annoying brat than in the anime. kazuya lowkey bullies the kid and thinks shun should be rougher with him, or something. he still kinda has that thing of being disappointed that his brother isn't tough for whatever reason.

volume 3 starts school sports festival, not a thing we see in the anime. shun is dressed up as a cheerleader, kazuya is the fastest runner alive, shinobu set up bets for each team. typical stuff. later we see a girl show up at the school because her girlfriend was going there to see someone else. every single one of the boys absolutely loses their mind at the sight of a "real lesbian" who they thought was nothing more than a myth, and then it just turns out the her girlfriend saw mitsuru dressed up as a woman as part of the festival event (which they never even showed) and she was interested. rest of the volume is mieko showing up again asking for a favor because someone is trying to assassinate her, the boys celebrating new year's, a kid trying to figure out if shinobu is evil to get into the journalism club, and the motorcycle guy getting a real girlfriend.

a thing the manga definitely does better over the anime is showing the rest of the people in the dorms. although i barely even up remembering their names, they sure are there and have their own things going on. they do become more prevalent and they're part of greenwood as a whole. i just don't particularly feel like they stand out as characters themselves? some of their stories are fine and all but they serve as a bunch of background dudes that chip in at stuff most of the time. while it is cool to see the dorms more lived in, they're also not so important that it makes them feel like they actually matter, if it make sense.

as the manga goes on it starts feeling like a bit of a bottleneck. by no means is it not entertaining, it's simply that it jumps around between stuff that doesn't feel like it amounts to a lot. probably the reason why as i continue explaining things here i go over these chapters with stuff to say about them. next is volume 4 though! so almost halfway through!

this volume shows us the woman that shinobu's older brother (because it seems he has one) was supposed to marry. i believe, she doesn't really amount to much in the story, so i won't even go into detail about her. they go into a flashback with how shinobu and mitsuru met in their first year and fought, to then end up respecting each other. it's cool.

the rest of the volume is half a dragon quest parody and the other half a ghost story. both of these do, in fact, appear in the anime. however, they do so in a different way. in the manga, the fantasy manga parody is really just that, a sort of spin off that goes for a couple chapters. in the ova, the boys at the dorms plan on filming a movie to show at the festival, which is honestly such a cooler idea. they show them going around planning and filming stuff. shinobu and mitsuru even have to go pose for the self insert manga author that uses them as reference for her next manga so they can get the outfits they need. it's a whole process of them showing how they're doing this indie movie at their own school while cutting into the actual scenes of the supposed movie, real neat stuff.

in the other chapters, they go to a hotel shun's family just acquired and stay for the night. it just so turns out it's haunted and a bunch of girls try to get the boys to become ghosts as well so they can be together. mitsuru, however, manages to exorcise them since his family runs a shrine and he simply knows how to do that (?). ironically, he's the one that needs to get an exorcism in the ova.

this episode is one of my favorites by far. the lights go dark in greenwood, just like they did in volume 1 long ago. this time, mitsuru gets haunted by a girl he doesn't know. what's funny about this is that she is just a normal, cute girl and nothing else. she hangs around, talks to them, plays games, etc. fully visible to everyone, you simply can't touch her. mitsuru gets into trouble for bringing a girl into the dorms since he's clearly not allowed to, but it's not like he can do anything about it. he gets really stressed out and consistently asks her to leave him alone (which, wow. rude). i'm almost definitely biased here but this girl is actually voiced by the same woman that does my favorite character in the trails series, so, yeah. she's just really cute and fun and doesn't really hinder his daily activities in the slightest so seeing him get really pissed off about it is entertaining. the way the episode starts is also my current favorite thing ever:

this episode perfectly encapsulates the charm that has me tied to greenwood. the music, the characters, the wacky situations that get oddly real for short spans. by the end of the episode, she reveals that there isn't any major reason for her to be haunting mitsuru besides the fact that he's good looking. she simply hadn't ever kissed anyone before dying, and she wanted to do that. he strictly refuses because he's a little baby bitch and she leaves. instead, a day later, she tricks him by picking up the cat and having him kiss it. except that she's actually not done with him because she still likes him, so she brings a bunch of other ghost girls to mess with them. really funny. again, ironic, how he's the one getting haunted this time and he can't do anything about it.

the two final episodes of the anime are the most relevant arc of the series, which won't happen until much later in the manga. so we keep moving.

volume 5 takes place around the school festival, the one they made a movie for in the ova. kazuya gets tricked into a game of ping pong to see who would get the main role for the play they're doing, while shun does also take part of a different play. basically, we get 3 of the 4 main guys to dress up as women. shun's play is lupin's castle of cagliostro, which did also happen in the anime as an extra special segment at the end of that episode and it's really neat.

the rest of the volume has a new guy show up claiming that kazuhiro isn't worthy enough to be married to sumire. this guy is just her cousin, which is also in love with her, so let's leave it there. at the end they show a flashback into how the two of them met back in college, to then get introduced into the hasukawa household. this flashback is neat overall, it gives further information on how they've been doing as a family of two brothers, and a bit of insight into both kazuhiro and sumire's relationship.

sumire has been with them since kazuya was around 14, while she was in her early 20s, which i suppose isn't too terrible for him to fall in love? it obviously wouldn't work out regardless of the circumstance, but this isn't something they actually ever try to push for or imply it could've happened. not a lot more than teenage love, you know. what is actually fun is getting the news that sumire is pregnant with a boy. it doesn't really shape the story at all, but in the large scheme of things it does try to show the shift between their relationship and kazuya's feelings, which is great to see.

volume 6 has one chapter of shinobu meeting an alien that tells him he has a specimen that looks exactly like him who recently escaped containment. shinobu shoots him and doesn't flinch at the idea of killing someone that looks exactly like him, maybe because he's more of a robot than whatever this alien made could be, but we're still stretching the logic of this manga the more we go.

following chapter is the boys playing baseball against a friend of mitsuru's, fun chapter. the dorms move on to the next year, and they do actually start their second and third year of highschool. kazuya is the one becoming the dorm head this time, either because mitsuru likes to mess with him and / or because he does genuinely respect the guy. kazuya isn't too sure himself, though. some new students show up like the kid from singapore who they keep trying to explain things to as if he's some sort of otherworldly being, and he also shows signs of being completely clueless on how stuff works like not even knowing what a school trip is. i asked someone i know if this is true and they said that people in singapore do know what a school trip is (as i assumed), but sure. the school trip does happen, where they meet mieko once again and she asks mitsuru to do some modelling for a tv ad. this becomes a whole thing with mitsuru not being sure whether or not he wants to do it because like, his brother will think that he's only doing it to attract the attention of his "real parents" because actually he feels that he's not really part of his family since he's adopted? it's weird, the adoptive part will come into place later (although it's not that big either).

in volume 7 kazuya's nephew is born and they need to take care of him because sumire was gonna give them a couple of tickets for the ice ring. in the ice ring, two girls try to trick shinobu and mitsuru into becoming their partners because they need a couple to do competitive ice skating, or something. the conclusion is shinobu saying "why doesn't one of you get a sex change?" and they think it's genius and leave it at that. hooray for surgery. there's another three side stories with an edo era spin off, the boys going into the kisaragi onsen, and the duo in the arcade room getting cursed by an evil videogame you have to beat in one go.

it doesn't end with, but midway through we got the start of the main final arc, the one with igarashi miya. miya is a girl mitsuru used to know back on his previous school, she seems to be a bit of a delinquent that got into trouble with some girls over turf conflicts. she needs a place to stay for the night and tries to get help at greenwood. kazuya insists in helping her and offering his room even if it's strictly forbidden, because he sees something in her eyes. there's a certain sadness and uncertainty he's not sure about, so he wants to know more.

she explains to kazuya about her situation, and it turns out, she's not as tough as she seems. she doesn't like that people see her as a delinquent, she's not strong, she's a bit of a scaredy cat and is always trying to keep herself from crying. in the process of helping her and getting the girls from the other school to stop annoying her, kazuya realizes that, whoops! he kind of likes her! unfortunate for him, she already has a boyfriend. she does really insist that he's a good guy since he's always been there for him. on the other hand, kazuya wonders why was it because of him that she turned into a delinquent, or why doesn't she ever feel loved by him. she feels that he doesn't like her for who she is but rather he believes he likes her because they've always been together. not a lot he can do about it though, as he doesn't really have an excuse to see her again.

the anime doesn't change much here, the episode starts with kazuya already dwelling about her as they usually do with these episodes, starting with the aftermath of the events and recapping on what happened to them. i do like this, i'll say.

volume 8 is the last one before overlapping with the final episode, so it's mostly filled with extra chapters. there's one about a boy not going to class because he hates one of the teachers, another one with mitsuru getting tailed by a girl (again) who loves the made up version of mitsuru she imagined while seeing his commercial, devilwood again with the dragon quest fantasy manga parody, and the sports festival once more. the thing i like about the sequel to the sports festival is how kazuya gets into the track team to distract himself from thinking about miya, which seems to work for a bit. not essential, but realistic.

another one of the chapters is him falling off a ladder and landing in an alternate dimension where everyone is female, which is actually kinda fun, if not a little bit short. they call it "cherrywood" instead of greenwood, and there's actually a version of this they had the voice actors record as part of the drama cds. there are a couple of these mainly for the special chapters like the sports festival and stuff, they're neat. once kazuya comes back to his world the boys in the dorm keep dropping themselves off the ladder to see if they can go there as well so it's pretty funny.

i think the girl that was obsessed with mitsuru is somewhat a different version of the ghost girl from episode 4, although this one gets so mad at so many things he does that he legitimately cannot go around doing anything without having this girl break into tears, so it's funny i'll let it slide. i insist that having mitsuru be overwhelmed by girls all the time doesn't give the vibe of the "all boys dormitory life" that most of the series tries to push forward, but only some of them wouldn't hurt too much, i suppose.

we arrive to the final volume, as well as the last episode. had you been reading and watching these alongside, you would have a decent grasp of all the activities these people have gotten involved with. the thing is that, the 6 ova episodes released some time after the manga was already finished, meaning that it's not like anyone actually expected you to go back and forth between each other. it would be impractical to do so anyway without knowing what actually gets adapted and not. i've seen people mention that the way these episodes are formatted makes it so only a fan of the original manga would be able to enjoy it, with how much time is skipped between each one. i can't really agree with this point, as it is very much structured in the normal episodic anime way, only with some details here and there that probably don't end up being super clear since they weren't addressed but don't actually hinder the overarching narrative or actual character interactions. after all, these dynamics work well enough on their own to be used in whatever situation they get in. it's not that the manga does not do this, but it often feels like they're there to fill time rather than to simply entertain. more often than not, the chapters feel disorganized, same-y and as if they don't have any major purpose to be there than simply "what if x thing happened". it happens, and it's over. probably not inherently a bad thing, i guess it's a matter of presentation after all. ironically, the manga may just feel like more targeted towards fans than the adaptation, as it really takes a long while for these relationships to grow and develop. if i get too many details, it'll get stale and won't feel like i'm really learning much until something major happens. if i just get the core elements, i can build the gaps myself. less can definitely be more. dudes will be dudes, after all.

in that regard, the episode starts with kazuya helping out at mitsuru's house. the place used to be a bigger temple, but over time the land was reduced and the place isn't what it used to be. not a big deal for them though, as they still maintain the place. it's a nice family of 4. mother, father and siblings. sho, mitsuru's younger brother is only a few weeks younger than him, as by the time they found mitsuru outside their house, it had already been a little bit since he was born.

adoption is usually treated as a careful subject matter, but i don't really think it should be. throughout the manga, mitsuru has his moments of doubting himself, his past, where he comes from and his family. he cares about them and they care about him, specially his brother, but there's always a weird air to it. since he is the older son, he would be the one to take over the shrine, which he's not really sure if he wants to do himself. his mother makes sure to tell him that he doesn't need to worry about it, he should just do whatever he wants to do. his brother misses him, but he needs to focus on himself too. sho seems to be angry at him because mitsuru mentions how he is trying to go live on his own as soon as he can. this is where we get a little bit iffy.

from what i am able to gather, mitsuru feels indebted to his family. they aren't blood related, so sure, he loves them but he knows that they had no right to take him in and they did anyway. it's not that they actually show any sign of it being a pain on them or anything, he is just a son to them. i suppose he feels bad for taking his brother's spot for the shrine, but he doesn't even need to take the place if he doesn't want to. so, in the end, "wanting to leave home as soon as possible" is kinda just a normal thing i believe. i mean sure, deep down it's probably because he doesn't want to be more of a burden, and even if he's not he still wants to make their life easier. this is fine. he makes it such a bigger deal than it should ever be, though. his brother gets pissed at him and his response is "i'm not trying to be an outsider, i am an outsider" my guy what are you saying. kazuya goes as far as to ask him if he ever thinks of his blood related parents and he says no, so what is even his deal? mitsuru wonders to himself if you can still be family even if you aren't blood related, kazuya says that it's love that matters. unfortunately this is literally where this ends and it will never be brought up again or be concluded, because miya appears in front of them. it's unfortunate that it doesn't really get any closure, i feel exploring the meaning of family, specially with kazuya's situation being a thing, could be a really cool addition to the series. nevertheless, it doesn't happen. mitsuru just says that, he feels like he has to leave home as soon as he can, his brother doesn't like this mentality, and that is it. not even the manga chooses to explore this further, that's all there is.

they bump miya and his boyfriend tenma on their way back to the dorms, kazuya still sees that expression in her face, as if she's about to cry but she's holding back. now before getting ahead of ourselves this guy isn't abusing her or anything, he is kind of just a dude. not the best dude, but a dude nonetheless. miya has been wanting to say thanks to kazuya for a while, but she never gathered the courage to go visit him and say thanks. she would go nearby the school and then run away, never sure herself of why she was doing that. this time with the opportunity right in front of her, the only thing she manages to say is "i'm sorry". inevitably, this almost kills kazuya and gets him sick for a couple of days.

"sorry" doesn't really cut it. sorry for what? she didn't do anything. kazuya decides to give her a call after his brother convinced him to. his counseling is essentially: "you shouldn't care about the other guy, focus on yourself", which is fair enough i suppose, but i think a situation like this is very much gonna depend on who you're talking about. kazuya doesn't want to ask a girl with a boyfriend out, no one wants to be the guy that steals someone else's girlfriend really. but you know, there's something going on here too, as she doesn't seem particularly happy with him either. i think this brother bonding is a good moment for the two of them, although not the most particularly touching. kazuhiro is a fun guy, he is confident and he would do anything he needs to get the girl he loves (he did, after all, get the girl his own brother loved). it does come off as a little weird piece of advice from his part, but it works in context so that's all he needs to call her. she does, however, say sorry again and hang up instantly.

"i heard hasukawa got rejected by that delinquent girl", no! he hasn't even said anything to her! so the guy decides to wait outside her school to see her. he stays for a week until he finds out she was hospitalized, they find where she's staying and she's already gone. he sends her a letter but tenma grabs it before she can read it. luck is never on his side. persistence, however, never fails. a little bit of a bizarre thing here, tenma explains how "you need a special permission from their parents to date the girls from this school" which i don't - know, if it's a real thing or not in some japanese schools and honestly i don't even feel like looking it up right now. they both leave and run away from kazuya, leaving him alone.

then, on their way home:

which is an excellent moment, although my favorite part of this is how loud the trains are it's so funny to me i can't even begin to explain. tenma is a bit of a self centered prick, he mostly shows off his nice side but he's the guy that wants things to go his way all the time, you know. he didn't particularly do anything wrong, he's just a bit of a toxic influence on miya. he's the reason she became a delinquent so maybe he would care about her more (or get scared and dump her), he's the reason why she doesn't feel loved or particularly pretty, he's the reason why she's so sheltered. having a guy like him that won't let you do the things you want, always holding your hand and trying to keep you "safe" isn't part of a healthy relationship. kazuya is the one that incites her into being herself, opening up, finding her strength and dealing with her weakness. "i'm with you", is what he replies to her once she tells him how he feels. it's about finding that person that will be there for you, the one that will always be around and, most of all, love you unconditionally.

the rest of the manga has a little bit of the aftermath and how the people at greenwood are doing. it, once more, doesn't stand out from the crowd. they're not bad chapters, they're fun. the story is already over, though. the final chapter is actually nasu drawing a bunch of reader requests she never got to do and kazuya inviting some of his friends over to show them around greenwood and work on a project (friends we have never ever seen nor have been mentioned before now, but whatever). here is greenwood in all its glory.

if you didn't care to read all of that, great. this is the tldr; greenwood is about finding that next opportunity. mainly in love, but in most things in life. the anime adaptation takes things in some fresher directions, streamlining the experience and focusing on what is important. in the span of 6 episodes we get to know these guys, what their deal is and how their relationship works and shapes who they are. some more than others, but meeting new people you care about and will be there for you when you need it (for better or for worse) is what makes us human, and what inevitably helps us grow as people. grow out of pains, grow into understanding others and what makes us who we are.

there's something special about the serenity behind it all that i can't quite put into words, hence why i didn't go into much detail. the backgrounds are often soft and share a clean palette with a watercolor texture to it that makes it feel like a never ending dream. compared to the manga in this case, nasu's art is nice and specially with the covers and colored pieces, but it does take a while for characters to particularly pop or look like themselves as they often suffer from the same face syndrome shoujo manga can be known for. color goes a long way into helping battle this. the manga does also often rely on jokes that maybe aren't as funny in the current age, so there's that too.

the music helps sell the impact of it all, with the magical orchestra that follows around the almost play like scenarios that overcome greenwood on a daily basis. as the subtitle reads "under the tree of memories", like looking back on the moments that mattered the most and shaped the future. the theme of greenwood echoing behind this feeling. some of the other songs they made for the show sell the fun of it all as well i'd strike a comparison with ocean waves considering it's the same director and the same guy doing the music, but i haven't actually seen that so there isn't anything i can mention.

in retrospect, 6 episodes isn't really a whole lot. there's 3 of them that center around some plot and then the other 3 are extra content that focus on whatever the hell they felt like. it's obviously not something for everyone, i'm not gonna come out and say this is a must watch or anything like that, only how i feel about things. stuff doesn't need to be deep, it can just be for self fulfillment. it's often the mindless things that get the most enjoyment out of me, being there to have a good time before anything else. exactly what they do here at any moment, picking out a day at random and making the most out of it. a day where any one of these bandits will get into trouble and they'll come out of it with a smile.

i could wish it was a bit longer. maybe add some of the chapters with the other boys at the dorms, add the part with kazuya's nephew and then him entering the track team and idk, maybe the one with mitsuru and his commercial to actually give an ending to his whole adoptive family thing. alas, this is what we get, and i will not complain.

had it been at a different point in my life i watched this, i probably wouldn't care as much. it speaks to a part of me i hadn't learned about years ago, and would probably only look back on fondly into the future. those things that happen and make you rethink stuff for a good while and, in turn, open your horizons. so, feeling identified with media and connecting with stuff is a bit of what we do this for, i think.

[angeltannis]

[skzfelixity]

omg if you could pls do some So Mun hcs! any idea you want to do is fine <3

Yes ofc!!! I’ve been wanting to write dating headcanons so let’s goooo I hope you like it<3

Dating So Mun would include:

You are 24/7 together.

You got a carrier rack for your bike to explore Jungjin with him.

Imagine his excited face when you told him, he was thankful that you thought of him.

Going on lil bike adventures to see the sunset and the pink clouds in the sky.

Your hearts racing while biking downhill.

Consists of a lot of screaming.

“Why are we going so fast?!”

“That’s how we die?!”

Eventually you stopped getting scared, he could trust you after all.

Mostly indoor dates though:

Watching a movie in the living room, his grandma often joining you and his grandpa trying to drag her away to let you have some alone time.

Failed almost every time.

You didn’t mind her though, she was adorable.

Spending a lot of time with his grandparents. Cooking, eating and talking with them.

“Our Mun has found an angel.”

Observing him draw, praising on his drawing skills.

He has drawn you but he will never tell you, maybe in a few years.

C U D D L E S

A lot of cuddles.

Every friday after school he drags you to his house just to cuddle.

He needs cuddle sessions to live so cooperate.

Sharing your worries and problems with each other<3

Him being insecure about his leg.

“You might need a guy who can actually run to help you.”

You were beyond devastated. After that you made sure to remind him that you will always love him, no one else and no matter what.

School? We hate.

School with So Mun? We love.

You pick him up to go to school every morning.

Holding hands on your way there, in the hallways, in the cafeteria, in the library, in the rooftop- LITERALLY EVERYWHERE.

Ungmin and Juyeon always joke about how annoying it is.

You are basically glued to each other.

Sharing food and books.

Hanging out in the rooftop is your thing.

You don’t keep secrets from each other.

So he told you about him becoming a counter, earning himself a warning.

The sight of him being able to walk without limping brought you to tears.

“Now I can protect you better than anyone!”

Introducing you to the other counters:

“But why did you choose him?”

Motak being Motak decided to tease the mini him.

Ms Chu would have smacked him but she was too focused on you.

“Oh you’re Y/N! You’re prettier than he described!”

“You talk about me?”

*instant blush*

Coming to the restaurant to see him since he was busier than before.

So Mun ignoring people calling his name just to speak to you a little more.

Free noodles because you’re family.

Ms Chu suggested you work with them since you were almost every day there.

So Mun is always by your side when serving, in case someone tries to hit on you.

“I hired Y/N to have extra help, not you being distracted!”

His eyes never leave you so he dumps into tables, customers and Hana a lot.

You manage the restaurant alone when they leave for a mission. Jangmul joining you on rare occasions.

So Mun secretely wishes for you to become a counter too, he wanted to go on missions with you. But on second thought, he doesn’t want you to get hurt so things are fine just how they are.

Gives you his red jacket, thinks you look adorable in it.

Sleepovers happen a lot since you started working on the restaurant.

Falling asleep in his arms while he goes on about the last evil spirit he captured.

He usually sleeps after you do but there are days when he is very exhausted so you play with his slightly curly hair, careful enough to not hurt him until he falls asleep.

He doesn’t get jealous easily, you remind him that you love him every day anyway.

But he found himself irritated at Hyeoku for asking your name.

“So Mun, he just asked my name!”

“Next time he will ask for your number!”

Kisses and hugs you when Hyeoku is around.

Dance performances in his room, with his grandpa telling you to leave the door open and Mun closing it a few secs afterwards.

Randomly voices his desire to have kids with you in the future.

He deserves the world so please give it to him:(

[kannra21]

Heya! just for fun, whats the wildest/funniest headcanon that you have for dabi or any of your fave bhna characters? 😁

Heyy ❤️ I'm not rly good at this stuff so I decided to write some theories and hcs that I actually liked so here you go-

- Monoma and Toga are related in some way. They're not that similar so I assume that they're further relatives. However, this doesn't make Monoma a traitor. I also think that Toga should be adopted by Vlad King so he could help her with her Quirk and her obsession with blood.

- Hawks has bird traits and he shows them on accident. There are certain traits he's embarrassed of but there's also stuff that makes him feel better about himself. He's never been in a relationship bc of HPSC but he's a helpless romantic.

- Dabi drives a motorcycle. Everyone assumes that he listens to trash metal when rly he only listens to sad rock bc he's a sad man. He cries when ppl are soft with him, he rarely experiences kindness. He avoids lov bc he's afraid of getting attached; they're all meant to die at some point so he doesn't want to suffer more than what he already does.

- Kaminari is not book smart but damn if he isn't smart in other ways. He knows the labour standards act, he pulls brainy jokes, he reads books, he expresses himself nicely, he draws pretty and plays an instrument. And he's a people pleaser above everything else.

- Since Dark Shadow is technically it’s own being, we can assume that Monoma would go through various scenarios when copying Tokoyami's Quirk; 1) Dark Shadow is attracted to humble souls and therefore shall obey em. If he comes across Monoma he'd refuse him. 2) Dark Shadow accepts him but Monoma would turn emo. 3) Monoma manages to copy Dark Shadow but then they fight each other. 4) Monoma gives him apples and Dark Shadow accepts him. 5) Monoma manages to copy Dark Shadow but Dark Shadow doesn't know how to respond to him because he doesn't trust him. He knows Tokoyami since he was a kid. 6) Dark Shadow doesn't like Monoma because he can't afford him all the darkness he's so found of. 7) Monoma manages to copy Dark Shadow but then Dark Shadow goes wild and drags Monoma everywhere because he doesn't know how to control him. 8) Dark Shadow obeys Monoma but shows clear signs of discomfort. 9) Monoma can't copy Dark Shadow. 10) Dark Shadow defies Monoma's commands and gradually takes over his body like with Tokoyami in ch79. 11) Monoma copies Dark Shadow and Dark Shadow obeys him. 12) Dark Shadow controls Monoma and not the other way around. 13) Monoma falls into a shock because he copied something alive. 14) Dark Shadow consumes negative emotions from Monoma and becomes larger and stronger. 15) Can Dark Shadow drain emotions? Monoma could easily end up in a hospital or a mental institution.

- Monoma and Aoyama are good friends ever since Monoma complimented him in the light novels (BNHA Light Novel vol3, ch3).

- Bakugou has hearing problems but he's not deaf. He never let anyone enter his dorm room bc he has just as much AM merch as Deku and it's embarrassing.

- Ms. Joke is not as happy irl. She's just wearing a facade to make others happy even when she's not. + There's no way Aizawa isn't aware of it bc they share some history and we never got the exact details from Horikoshi.

- Geten would be so much cooler if he was a girl and the fandom would simp for him just like they did for Lady Nagant but no one is ready for that debate.

- Dad for one is true. He wants to possess Shigaraki and for Yoichi to possess Deku so he and his bro could continue their war with healthy and strong bodies.

- Hagakure loves body paint, especially the glowing one. Since outfits stand out on her the most, she was thinking ab pursuing her career in modeling.

- Natsuo's mouse girlfriend is secretly a badass. Look, I just want to see more girl characters in this series.

- Shigaraki would be the best boyfriend bc he never loved anything, so loving someone for the first time would make you a special person. He's v insecure ab his looks and doubts himself in whether he actually deserves you. He's the type of guy to turn from cold blooded to the most loving person. But if you ever cheat on him he won't hesitate to disintegrate you.

- Villain Deku and Toga would have Joker and Harley Quinn vibes but healthy.

- Dabi eats at Cracker Barrel. He's a common guest there and he always takes Giran's money so they wouldn't throw him out. The waitress can't believe how much bacon this mysterious man can eat.

- Hawks loves when you massage him at the base of his wings. He loves you so much for it.

- Miruko is a gamer and her and Shigaraki play together without having the slightest idea that it's actually them. One day they decided to meet each other bc they became good friends and when they stood there in Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall it was rly awkward.

- Tokoyami and Aoyama get along rly well and Aoyama paints their nails in their dorm rooms.

- Dabi is jealous bc Re-Destro supports Geten all the time and it's the same mentality except Endeavor never supported Dabi. Geten likes to tease him ab it.

- Todoroki is no.1 Yaoyorozu simp. He's not aware that it became obvious.

- Aizawa realized his dream despite Midnight not being alive anymore. He got a cat tower for his hero agency that he always wished for (Vigilantes ch65). Sushi is alive but still very old. Midnight boys (Vigilantes ch6.5) are still visiting her grave despite having different lives now.

- Fuyumi hasn't dated anyone bc Endeavor would kill them. He has the audacity to play a strict parent (BNHA Light Novel vol2, ch4) when he never looked towards Fuyumi's and Natsuo's general direction for years. He actually doesn't have anything against Hawks but if he ever called him "dad" it would give him shivers.

- We all know that Shigaraki lives from Mountain Dew, Doritos and pure spite. However, he treats Toga nicely bc he wishes he had similar relationship with Hana.

- When it's rly hot outside Hawks fluffs up his wings so he could let go of some heat. Everyone wants to pet his fluffy wings and the heat returns. Poor guy.

- Dabi called Compress "dad" at some point and he's regretting it bc Compress is now unironically calling him "son".

- Shigaraki and Spinner used to play games on the same TV which afo used to contact them and whenever he wanted to talk, the screen turned black and the guys would complain.

- Compress misses the time when Kurogiri used to be around.

- Giran is a cool uncle that has a sweet niece and he loves her v much but bc he's a bad guy working with the bad guys, he's not visiting anymore but sends her nice gifts.

- Yaoyorozu family owns a weapon company bc this is the only explanation why she knows how to create a canon.

- Jirou and her dad play guitars and sing in their music studio whenever Jirou feels off. Her dad is a dork and he always makes her smile. Jirou has the best dad.

- Kaminari's mom is a hero (Heroes Rising movie).

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket Manga Review , ch 109

-The Tragedy of a an episodic format attempting to connect narrative in a series: (Tohru’s Background or Kyo’s Focus?)

One of my issues with se03, ep6 (other than it being 3 chapters combined horribly with new material added for shock value) is that it was weakly undecided who would be the focus? who would the narrative follow?: Is it tohru’s own pov abt herself? is it the gramps giving boring exposition abt tohru over weak still images of flashbacks or is kyo thinking abt tohru’s pain?

The truth is, it was all the above in the manga, but the manga gave each a chapter focus so that the chapter is well-directed with focused narrative. The anime weakly jumbled the 3 chapters together as they always do. You mix chapters & tada~ you got an ep, you only need a broad weak theme that connects the dots! here: it is tohru! & that’s it. As long as the 3 chapters discuss tohru in any form & manner, nothing will seem off if we put them next to each other in a 20 minute ep! right? riiiiiight ????

.. this was never a correct way. Just like a chapter needed a narrative direction, the ep is the same!!

ch 107: The beginning of tohru’s pov on her realization abt loving kyo.

ch108: tohru’s full pov of shock upon reaching the conclusion that she loves him & the beginning of her mom’s issues & abandonment.

ch109: Kyo’s pov abt tohru’s pain & his involvement, guil & the sheet hug.

ch110: (completely cut from the anime!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Kyoru’s part: the aftermath of kyo & tohru crossing the line of being in the most vulnerable & intimate, building towards a more crushing impact of the climax. The stronger & more painful their love is, the more it will hurt. Also a yuchi buildup?!!!!

-so, you see each chapter has a direction i& a narrative it follows independently that is weaved together to make a connected tissue of the overall plot. The anime puts the 3 chapters next to each other & we are lost on who to follow? kyo or tohru or the gramps. That’s why it feels tohru is weak & her two chapters worth of pov is stolen from her cuz it cut or shortened to include the grandpa, kyo, isuzu, shigure & let’s not forget (kazuma, yuki & haru) at the beginning, the dramatic shock value addition & OP & ED. All these take valuable screen time. The ep shocks us by moving from tohru to kyo. One minute she’s crying with him on the streets, next he’s at the grave & she’s visiting isuzu.

Kyo said he isn't going to the grave in the ep, upon seeing him actually going, I just assumed he wanted to avoid, hana, cuz I’m so invested in his story that I remember sth happened in se1, ep 14.. ages ago, The anime didn’t even allow kyo to inner talk abt avoiding hana... In their weird mind, kyo only inner talks in dramatic situations..See the difference!

Not only the writer (a) reminds us why kyo avoided the grave visit, she also (b) seized the opportunity to shine lifht onto an issue that will be the center of kyo’s struggles: Running away!

The anime introduce this in kyo’s pov only when kyo confronts tohru. Only when it was needed & couldnt be avoided. This is sth that will be the core of all the climax & the aftermath as well! Kyo running away.. How bad are you if you avoid inserting one line only that can be said in few seconds & establish great deal & foreshadow plenty!!!!!!!!!! I can’t for the life of my understand why short lines are cut from kyo when in the anime they have him be standing silent in the graveyard. Like slap the line above the silent scene!!!!! But doing so means the anime team understands tohru & kyo’s issues. They don’t. Not the slightest.

-Ep 6 signals the beginning of the anime moving from episodic format of se1, 2 & 5 eps of se3 & entering a connect plot. The anime doesn’t know how to do that & screwed tohru in the process. The protagonist’s main issues are one ep worth only. The antagonist main issues are one ep only (ep7).  Ep 6, was treated as a stand alone ep (minus the inserted shock scene to create a lingering issue that needs a following ep to explain. TOLD YOU they don’t know how to make a series!). Thus the following ep 7 is akito’s focus. Everything that was established in ep 6 was pit on hold until akito reaches the craziest mindset for the climax. See why ep 6 was so bad? it is Should NOT be a stand alone ep.

-The plot connects kyoru emotional & physically: (Kyo’s chapter with a tohru’s focus:

Unlike the anime, the chapter knows what it’s presenting 7 where it’s going. Kyo’s issues. This ch focuses on him uncovering parts of his past as it connects with tohru’s. Unlike the anime, we know why kyo's connection to kyoko’s past. The anime is hiding this for the climax, no problem, it can still work both ways. However, hiding kyoko /kyo connection doesn't necessarily mean hiding kyoko/tohru connection. But the anime is cutting this to milk it in an ova or series next year~ no problem,  it can still work if you handle this ep’s  flashback better. for all the artistic creativity they inserted in the added scene, they failed miserably in tohru’s flashback portion. how?

By choosing a frontal pov shot in tohru’s grandpa flashback as if the audience are the ones who abandoned tohru or opening the door to find her alone. it does NOT work at all. why? the audience are encouraged to be like tohru since ep 1 as tohru is the mother, angel, fixer & endearing hopeful girl. The audience will NEVER abandon tohru, that’s why tohru’s story felt disconnected & weak in the anime. Not knowing what kyoko did, who would abandon such child?! differently not us. so why use the frontal pov shot? -_-’

-tohru confesses her pain to kyo without being ushered by isuzu, without any outside factor. She simply visited the grave & came home. hiding her pain. once again. like she always do. One question by kyo, prompts her to “ complain a little” call back to se1, ep5 as he advised. we see tohru get out of her shell little by little. NOT SCREAM OR SLAP. She opened up. why? cuz the story is abt “ opening the lid” not abt “ snatching the lid”. No need for shocks. Yuki opened his lide slowly, tohru even slower, kyo is resisting opening his altho it is cracking in this chapter. When your story focuses on character buildup it pays!

-I’ll give the anime credit when it due. The hug scene is so good both in manga & anime. but so awesome in animation, colors, music & voice acting. It’s breathtaking & painful. The most beautiful kyoru scene in the whole anime.

-It represents their mutual vulnerability, understanding, pain & determination to love the other but not also let go. kyo has made his mind to be locked in order not to hurt tohru & tohru has made her mind that she can’t let go of her mom.

You see, the scene’s meaning hits different between manga & anime; In the anime: tohru has already challenged the sohmas & screamed to be with kyo, while kyo is still decided to leave her. In the manga: they’re both at the same spot (undecided). I like both interpretations but I’ll choose the manga’s version. Simply cuz it means tohru is still uncovering her issues which means more focus on her, & more explanation of why cant tohru love her mom & kyo at the same time.

-This expression on tohru’s face is a the complete opposite of the shock value expression in ep 6! T_T. I do’nt even hate the shocked scene addition itself that much, I just think (a) this is NOT its time! Tohru deserved better spotlight! (b) kyo didn’t friggen forget! ah! THIS I HATE! (c) the whole shocked scene was so wasted in ep 7. tohru return to her stupid dumb lalala~ land, cooking & forgetting kyo. what growth? what determination & screams to isuzu? what enduring kagura’s slaps? nope! just happy & cooking, lalala~ no one was freaking over her mom’s picture~ lalala~ & kyo just slept it over~ shhhh... its okay. he’ll forget again... see? totally wasted!

The anime knows nothing abt connected narrative! augh!

Side Notes:

We see kyo asking the gramps why he’s offering him info abt tohru which is so logical! XD. I love it.

I’ve read ch 110 & wanted to insert the kyoru scene in ch 110 here, & put yuchi alone in a different post, then I realized I’ll need to talk abt it again once I analyze yuki’s own expressions! XD. so, I’ll put all ch 110 together in one post. It kinda half written by now, so I’ll publish it very soon in two days time. I didn’t read ch 111 yet tho.

I hope ch 110 is the last I feel this much disappointments in furuba’s anime & by ch 11, it hopefully be be minor changes altho I doubt that cuz the manga needed to dwell into tohru’s mindset & the anime kinda stopped after ep 6. so, yup! more big changes coming!

The sheet hug is so brilliant in theory & application! so romantic & so endearing! love it so much! The anime did it so well, too!

I love kyo’s narration & pov cuz it’s so refreshing change from the anime where he rarely does!

I really wish they kept the kyoko abandoning tohru part in the anime... sigh~ it has nothing much to affect her story with katsuya. so it won’t ruin the spin off/ ova or whatever it’s called. 

I love the light focus on tohru in this chapter & how organic & natural it is opposed to how forced the plot seems in the anime....

[sfb123]

The Final Goodbye - Chapter 3

Book: The Royal Romance, Book 2

Pairing: Liam x Riley

All characters belong to Pixelberry.

Description: In a slight canon divergence from book 2, Riley reaches her breaking point with the engagement tour and decides to restart her life when the court gets to NYC. Can the rest of the group clear her name, and convince her to come back before it’s too late?

Catch Up Here

Rating: PG (I think there are a few swear words in there, very angsty, but otherwise pretty mild)

Word Count: 1,240

A/N: Again, I’m so grateful to all of you for reading this little series I threw together out of nowhere. After this, we’ve got one chapter left. I teased a side one shot of Liam confronting Madeleine, and that’s coming, I promise. I’m hoping to release it this week. Huge thank you to my fandom soulmate @jessiembruno for always taking the time to help me work through this stuff. You are a godsend, and I am forever grateful. 

Tags: Listed below. If you’d like to be added or removed, just let me know!

“Are you sure you don’t want to come and just hang out? I hate leaving you alone like this.”

“Daniel, I love you. Thank you. But I’m good. I’ve been around people for months, I just need to be alone and get my head right.” She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. “Besides, the way I bailed on that place with literally zero notice, I’m surprised my face isn’t up on the door with one of those Ghostbusters logo thingies through it.”

Daniel and Riley said their goodbyes. Once he turned the corner and was out of sight, Riley closed and locked the door and made herself comfortable on the couch. She spent the afternoon watching talk shows, and all of those small claims court shows that she had missed so much while she was away. Her problems didn’t seem quite so bad when she watched a woman be told all 7 men she brought with her that day were ‘not the father’.

When the buzzer rang, Riley didn’t think twice and instantly let them in, assuming it was the food she had been waiting for. She got to the door just as the visitor began knocking. Riley’s eyes widened as they met Bertrand’s. Of all of the people she expected to come looking for her, he was definitely at the bottom of the list. “Bertrand… What are you? How did you?” 

“Lady Riley, I believe I deserve a bit more credit. You are the one who ran away to your last known address. Even Maxwell would have been able to figure that out.”

Still flustered, Riley stepped aside and signaled for Bertrand to enter. “You can just call me Riley. I’m done with court, I’m not a lady anymore.” She sat on the couch, and Bertrand sat next to her. “Why did you come here, Bertrand?”

He ignored her question, he found it absurd that she felt the need to ask why he was there. It wasn’t as if he were just in the neighborhood and decided to drop in. “What do you mean you are done with court? We still have a few days left on the tour and then when we get back…”

“Bertrand, you’re a smart man. How are you not getting this? I’m out, I’m done. I never belonged there, and I never will.” Riley took a couple of deep breaths to try to quell her emotions before continuing. “We’re never going to find Tariq, and I can’t just go back to a country where I’m constantly being looked down on, just so I can watch the man I love marry another woman.” She looked down at her hands, which she was wringing in her lap.

“Riley, we found him,” Riley froze, her eyes locked on Bertrand. “Maxwell, Drake, and Hana are in California right now to get him, and have him make a statement. This will likely all be over by the end of the day.”

For a brief moment, Riley got her hopes up, perhaps it wasn’t over. She and Liam could have a real chance at happiness. She shook off the optimism, and quickly jumped back into reality. “That’s great, I really appreciate that they would go through all of that trouble for me, but how do we know they can convince him to speak out? He ran away after everything happened, he was obviously trying to get away from this.” She got up and began pacing the room. “And even if he does make a statement, that’s it? The whole country will just say ‘oh hey, our bad, you aren’t a slut who two-timed our king, all is forgiven’?”

Bertrand approached Riley, placing his hands on her shoulders to keep her still. “He will give a statement. Those three are nothing if not persuasive. And once that happens, Liam will make his own statement to the people. They will see how happy he is to clear the name of the woman he loves. Everyone sees his face when he talks about you, Riley. The love, the adoration. The people will see that too, and that will matter to them.”

Tears started to pool in Riley’s eyes at the mention of Liam’s name. “Even if that happens, there will always be people that define me by my scandal. I can’t let Liam take that heat, he won’t be known for the amazing things he will do as king, he will be known for his infamous queen.” 

“Riley…” Bertrand’s expression softened, he motioned for her to sit back down on the couch where he joined her. “As you are aware, Savannah was recently located, with...my son.” His voice cracked slightly, Riley noticed. “I have missed out on so much of his life, on all of this time that I could have been happy. If she had just told me what she was feeling, if she had voiced her concerns, things would have been different. We would have been a family.” He placed his hand over Riley’s before continuing. “You and Liam love each other deeply. That is clear to anyone who spends any amount of time with the two of you. Don’t lose that love because you are afraid to speak your mind. Savannah thought she knew what was best for me, and it has made both of us miserable. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy, and I certainly wouldn’t wish it on my sister.”

Riley let out a small sob as Bertrand finished. He had always been so formal with her. Hearing him call her his sister, on top of all of all of the other emotions coursing through her caused the dam to burst. She covered her face with her hands, and Bertrand wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. 

The silence in the room was broken by a ping on Bertrand’s phone. Riley pulled back to allow him to remove it from his jacket pocket. He looked at the screen, and a smirk formed on his face before he turned back to Riley. “They have him, they are all on the jet on their way back to New York. Once they arrive, he will be going right to the soundstage to make his statement. It should be released in time for the evening news.” Bertrand stood, placing his phone back in his pocket. “Riley, I know I have been putting a heavy weight on your shoulders since the day you arrived in Cordonia, but you have handled it all with a level of grace and composure that I never would have expected from someone with your background. You have not been the woman I expected when Maxwell told me he brought home a waitress to represent our house in the social season, but if you give up now, you will have done all of that work for nothing and proven my initial suspicions of you correct. You are better than that Riley, I know that now.” He walked to the door, turning back to her as his hand reached for the doorknob, “Take some time to think about things, the court will be in New York for a few more days. I hope to see you back with us when we make our return to Cordonia, but it is a decision only you can make.” With that, he walked out the door, leaving Riley alone with her thoughts. 

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@anjanettexcordonia​ @athena-penrose​ @chemist-ana​ @choiceskatie​ @cordonia-gothqueen​ @cordoniaqueensworld​ @emkay512​ @gabesmommie1130​ @gkittylove99​ @hopelessromanticmonie​ @iaminlovewithtrr​ @jessiembruno​ @kat-tia801​ @khoicesbyk​ @kingliam2019​ @lucy-268​ @marshmallowsaremyfavorite​ @mile9213​ @mom2000aggie​ @pixie88​ @queenrileyrose​ @secretaryunpaid​ @sweatyrysconnoisseur​ @tessa-liam​ @theroyalheirshadowhunter​ @twinkleallnight​ @txemrn​

The Final Goodbye:

@ao719​ @burnsoslow​ @busywoman​ @itsjustwinter​ @ladyangel70​ @mainstreetreader​

Liam x Riley:

@jared2612​

@choicesficwriterscreations

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

Now that she's finally been animated, does anyone know how old Hana is supposed to be? My "they deserved better" aus depend on it 🤣

My best guess comes strictly by comparing height differences of Tenko and Hana vs height differences of Katsuma and Mahoro from the movie and coming up with "Hana is younger than ten and older than five unless she's an older twin" 😂

What are your thoughts?

(Horikoshi please throw us a bone here)

I think Hana should be around 7 or 8 years old. If she hadn't died, she would be around 23 years old.

Why do I think that? Well, Eri has 7 years in the manga I think, and Hana looks around that age in Tomura's memories. Also if you compare Natsuo and Tenko, it's kinda logical for Hana to be around Fuyumi or Touya's age. She must be older than Tenko for more than two years but less than four.

At least that's my guess.

[partylikemajima]

(kulemii) admittedly, i haven't played y7. i'm sure you can tell because of that one question, right? haha! anyway, hiiii, can ya answer a few questions for me? a2, a10, b1, c3, c7, d7, e1, f8 thanks again!

awww yeah tbh I just saw that question and cackled, I really do hope you and that anon get to play Y7 because its, something ( a good something but legendary despite the real time combat that was ripped from my hands because turn based does not feel as good as smacking someone with a motorbike over and over again

But omg more questionss!! Here we go guys more rambling

A.2 Favorite Game(s)?

Y0 because they just did so much with it, it was a breath of fresh air after years. Its very balanced to between story and gameplay like its so engaging even tho i kept rushing through it for majima and kiryu to meet as i was so eager to see how they met (bit of a let down for reasons but, probably similar to for others, i started playing when Y0 wasnt a thing yet)

Its such a great entry point to the series and definitely beats Y5 and Y6 in terms of how smoothly everything flows

but so much happens in Y4, it’ll always be legendary to me

A.10 Favorite Weapon(s)?

I love any weapon thats huge like motorbikes, sofas etc because it doesn’t give the enemy a chance to stand back up, i may have used all the sofas in the area during the final boss in Judgement loool

B.1 Which character do you relate to most and why?

the poppo customer assistant as i work in retail myself This is hard, I never really thought of it like I more just yearn to see all the interactions between the characters. but maybe some parts of akiyama? I just don’t want to do anything either lol but i really do want to help people in any way i can

C.3 Which character(s) deserved better?

Hana-Chan, she deserved to be in the story more, woman can even fight and knock out some goons like teach me.

in all seriousness nishiki deserved better people around him. Yakuza kiwami really helped in showing his downfall more than the original Yakuza 1 and it would be a whole different story if Kiryu didn’t go to jail.

C.7 Which character should have died but didn’t? (If that’s too harsh, who deserves to rot in prison?)

idk i feel like I dont remember a lot of charcters i hated but didn’t die, everyone I can think of that should of died, did actually die loool i feel like im forgetting a very alarming obvious character. did that guy who stabbed majima’s eye out die? just checked lol he did shibata is dead

D.7 Who was the least engaging protagonist?

Id’ have to say Shinada, didn’t really enjoy his gameplay sections and his story wasn’t really that interesting to me. i feel the conversations between him and diago could of been better handled like more cooler loool and like hes ok tbh, what happened to him was sad but he wasnt engaging imo

E.1 Explore: Kamurocho or Sotenbori?

Ohhh, i know kamurocho like the back of my hand i don’t use the map at this point, Sotenbori though yes I want to explore there. Its just so exciting and I feel they should of made it bigger to explore.

F.8 Which Morning Glory orphan would you adopt? (Sorry, Haruka is not an option.)

ohhhh sweet babies omg Eri I’d adopt her, I’d adopt them all tbh

[wiyodreamz]

𝑽𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 | 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝑺𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒉𝒘𝒂 [01]

⌜Nari is a college student at Seokhye University. One day she got off on the wrong foot with Seonghwa, throws her coffee on him and curses him out. Later that day she learns about the internship she signed with Hwa Corp. That same day, she learns that the same guy she threw her coffee at, is the CEO of that company! How will things go for Nari if she has a target on her back from that encounter? ⌟ Office AU

Contains: fluff, angst, smut, alcohol drinking, cursing, and more as the story goes on.

Seonghwa X Fem!reader

A/N: first chapter is finally here!

Nari walked down the busy street of Seoul. Fall has came quicker than she expected and she was clutching on her pea coat to give her some warmth before she gets her coffee and head to school.

She pushed open the doors of the cafe. A ‘welcome’ was said and the barista took her order, which was a hazelnut caramel latte. She placed her order and sat down, scrolling through her phone. The same barista delivered her latte to her and went back working behind the counter. She looked at the time and she figured she could drink her coffee here.

The bell on the door ring, indicating someone walked in. She looked up and saw a guy with a suit and expensive brand on him. Nari questioned why a guy like him would be doing in a cafe like this. She tuned him and the barista out and continued scrolling through her phone, occasionally drinking her coffee.

In the corner of her eye she saw the guy leave and for a few minutes it was just her and a couple of other people in the cafe, until he came back storming into the cafe, with his coffee in his hands.

“I asked for a green tea latte and you gave me a regular latte!” He yelled as he slammed his cup on the counter, startling the barista. Nari puts her phone away, and closely watched the scene ready to jump in.

“I’m very sorry sir. I can make you a new one and give your money back!” She said as she bowed towards him.

His glare was even more deadly towards her, “I don’t want your stupid apology! I want to see you get fired!”

Nari slammed her hands down on her table as she stood up from her seat. “Listen asshole, she said she was sorry.”

“I didn’t ask for you to jump in!” He yelled, now facing Nari, glaring at her.

“You think you’re all that because you’re wearing all these expensive brands? But you know what you deserve?!” She asked yelled back at him.

In the heat of the moment, she threw her coffee all over him letting the cup drop to the floor, audible gasps could be heard throughout the cafe. The guy was now soaked in the coffee and was now looking at himself drenched in the coffee. “Guys like you deserve to get coffee thrown at you!”

Nari stormed out the cafe and walked towards school. The cafe wasn’t that far from the school and she hoped she won’t ever see that guy again. She walked down the hallway of the school and saw a group of students huddled around the board. She walked up to them and looked.

“What is this for?” She asked as she glanced at the paper.

Her friend, Yunho, emerged from the group of students and stood beside her. “It’s for the Hwa Corp internship.”

“Oh right! I almost forgot I signed up for it” she said as she sighed in relief. In the beginning of the year, the university let some of the business majors sign up for this internship and only selected a group of students who signed up to go for it.

The paper said that all the students who were told they got selected were to meet at the corporation at 8 am sharp at a specific floor.

“Wow Nari! I didn’t expect you to get picked” a sickengly voice said as they popped from the group also.

“I didn’t expect you to get picked either Dani” Nari said as she crossed her arms at the girl.

Nari and Dani never got along. The reason why they never got along is that Dani has a huge crush on Yunho, but can never confess to him because of him always hanging with Nari. So the two were enemies ever since their first day at university.

“Nari let’s get to class” Yunho said as he guided Nari to class and she felt Dani’s eyes glaring holes into her back.

“That crazy...” Seonghwa said as he tried to wipe off the coffee Nari threw at him this morning. He was currently walking through the first floor of his company. Just then his assistant approached him.

“Mr.Park! Mr.Park! The meeting has change up a few....what happened to your suit?” She asked as she looked at him.

Seonghwa clenched his jaw at her and threw his coat, which had his blazer inside, at her. “Go to my home and get me another suit to wear for today and make sure to put this suit in dry cleaning. And you better be back before this meeting starts. Got it?”

She nodded and ran out the company doors as Seonghwa headed towards the elevators. He sat down in his office chair and pinched his temples stressed at the encounter.

“I swear if I ever cross paths with that woman, I’ll make her life a living hell.”

“I want to see what you’re wearing tomorrow to make sure it’s right for this internship” Yunho said as they were in Nari’s living room.

“Don’t worry Yunho it’s nothing innappropriate. It’s going to be very cold tomorrow, so I’m thinking about a simple blouse and a pair of pants” she said as she took her coat off. “Any girl who wears a dress or skirt are out of fucking minds in this weather.”

Yunho chuckled her response and nodded. “I agree.”

Nari stood up from the couch and approached Yunho. “And besides, you need to go home and prepare like I am.”

“I’m already prepared Nari” he said as he relaxed on the couch.

She pushed his legs slightly off the coffee table and sat beside him on the couch. “That’s what you said back in middle school when we all had that huge project! You were less than prepared.”

“Hey! It’s not my fault I didn’t get the subject” he said as he crossed his arms.

“Just admit that you didn’t even attempt to do it.”

“Fine I didn’t! Now do you want to go get lunch together.”

Nari grabbed his coat from off the rack and threw it on top of him. “I would like to, but like I said before. You’re probably not prepared enough, so it’s best for you to go home. I’m not saving you if you get yelled at on the first day!”

Yunho huffed and nodded his head. He bid a quick goodbye to Nari before he left out her apartment and back to his own.

Her phone read 7:50 in the morning. She was following her gps to make sure she was going to the right way to the company. She walked inside the company and it was huge. The ceilings were really tall, she guessed that the employees here get paid really well. She took the elevator up the floor and when the elevator opened, she saw the faces of her classmates.

A woman who looked really young came and stood in front of them.

“Hello my name is Hana, but you call me Ms.Lee. I’m Mr.Park’s assistant and you’ll see a lot of me while you are working your internship” she said as she smiled at them.

“Where’s Mr.Park?” Dani asked as she looked around.

“Oh he’s just finishing up a meeting. He should be here any second now...oh there he is!” Ms.Lee said as she pointed towards the direction she was walking and Nari swore her whole life was crashing down on her.

It was that same asshole from yesterday at the cafe. Nari stood there stunned and then shook it off as he came closer and closer.

“Hello, like my assistant said. I am Mr.Park, CEO of Hwa Corp” he said as he looked one of them one by one and his gaze stopping at Nari.

He then got a few inches towards Nari and cocked his head. “Do you perhaps like coffee, hazelnut flavor?”

Nari gulped in nervousness. Her hands were sweating from the question he was asking her. “I only chose hazelnut if I’m only in the mood for it. But I usually choose vanilla.”

He then bit his lip and nodded. “Hmm....interesting. During these months you guys will be doing a free internship and during the last month. I will only be choosing five, out of the ten of you students to do a paid internship, leading towards a job here.”

Everyone widened their eyes at the lack of information they hadn’t received. Their professors hadn’t said anything about Mr.Park choosing 5 of to do the paid internship. They all thought all of them would get the paid internship, hence them being chosen to do this internship.

“But I thought all of us could the paid internship” Yunho spoke out.

“Well I changed my mind. Once you graduate university, you have to fight for your place in this world. So that’s why I’m choosing 5 of you to start your future advancedly” he said as he looked all of them in their eyes. “Ms.Lee, could you please take them to their cubicles?”

“Follow me students.”

Nari looked around the company and the cubicles of others. They honestly look bigger than the ones you see at other offices. Ms.Lee stopped and turned towards them.

“You guys are free to choose whatever cubicles you like and can decorate it to your extent, but if they’re holiday decorations. Mr.Park wants them taken down the exact day after that holiday” she said as she smiled at them. “I have to go now and help Mr.Park with his paperwork. See you kids around.”

Nari chose a cubicle next to Yunho, but of course Dani and her friend. Sunji sat behind them. Nari unpacked some of the extra desk stuff she had from her room and put it on her cubicle, setting it up.

“Yunho, wanna go out to lunch with me?” Dani asked as she played with the ends of her dark brown her, trying to look innocent.

“Actually I’m going to eat the cafeteria food here with Nari. I heard that the cafeteria food here is gourmet” he said as he turned his desk chair around. Dani didn’t miss the chance to give a dirty look towards Nari and turned around.

A few hours passed and Nari felt herself get tired from filling out paperwork’s and doing work on the computer. She then felt a tap on her shoulder and looked up and saw a guy smiling at her.

“I know how stressful and tiring a first day could be, so I made all you interns a pot of coffee in the break room if you need it, or if you’re not a huge coffee fan, I prepared hot water for some tea.”

Nari thanked the man and walked towards break room to make herself some tea and grabbing a few treats to keep her content until lunch. She grabbed her cup of te and walked out the break room. Before she could get a sip, her tea was snatched out of her hands and heard a sip, she looked up and saw Mr.Park with her cup in his hands.

“Jasmine. I should try it more often” he said as he walked away, while drinking her cup of tea. She then walked back to the break room to see all the tea and coffee gone. She dropped her shoulders and walked back to her desk without her tea.

“I think Mr.Park has it out for you!” Yunho joked as Nari slammed her tray on the table.

Soon after she got her tea stolen, she found herself dozing off at her desk and in response, Mr.Park slammed a pile of papers her desk, which made her shot up awake.

“I’m letting this be a warning and next time I won’t be so nice!” He said as he crossed his arms. “Also you could you do these for me? Ms.Lee is pretty busy doing a very important meeting.”

“N-Nari are you okay? Your kind of trying to bend your spoon” Yunho pointed out as Nari dropped her spoon and ruffled her hair stressfully.

“Oh sorry” she said and began eating her lunch. “When are you going home?”

“I’m gonna go home in a few hours” he answered. “When are you?”

“I’m gonna go once I see I’m of the only ones here” she said.

“Nari-ah! You can’t stress yourself out on the first day! Go home and get some sleep, you’ll need it for tomorrow once he actually starts grilling us with work” he scolded as she nodded.

“Once I get him on my good side, I’ll back down and he’s also choosing 5 of us so I have to fight for a spot” she explained.

“Why does he seem to not like you as much?”

“Do you remember that guy I threw my coffee at,”

“Mhmm.”

“That was him.”

Yunho’s eyes widened at the fact. “You for sure have a death wish Nari” he said with a smile.

It was now late at night and everyone pretty much went home for the night. Nari was currently typing away at computer. The clicking of her keyboard was heard all over the empty office space. She felt a presence behind her.

“Go home” she turned to see Mr.Park looking down at her. “It’s late. Leave.”

Nari looked at her phone and saw it was late at night. She grabbed her stuff and bowed to Mr.Park.

“See you tomorrow” she said as she walked past him, but he caught her wrist tight and that caused her to spin around to face him.

“If you do something like that again. I won’t hesitate to ruin your life Moon Nari. Because what you did put you on thin ice around here.

Those words made a chill down her spine, making her regret what she did a day ago in that cafe. She wished she could go back in time and tell herself not to do that, no matter how big of an asshole he was.

[eunwhore]

An (Un)helpful guide for ASTRO

Oh you just discovered ASTRO and you want to know more about them ? First of all, welcome new fellow Aroha ! I’m glad you chose to stan these beautiful men because they deserve it ! Hope you’ll like them even more after that ! Have fun ! 

ASTRO is a South Korean boys band under the label of Fantagio

- They debuted on February 23, 2016 with the single “Hide & Seek” from their debut EP called “Spring Up”

- Their official colors are Vivid Plum and Space Violet

- The name of their fandom is “Aroha” which comes from ‘Astro’ mixed with the korean word ‘hana’ that means ‘one’ or ‘only’. In short, their fans are their only one. How cute ! 

- They released 9 albums and EP:

1) Spring Up - February 23, 2016

Track List: 

Ok! Ready ! 

Hide & Seek 

Innocent Love

Morning Call

Puss In Boots

2) Autumn Story - November 10, 2016

Track List:

Lonely

Confession

Love

Stained

STAR

3) Winter Dream - February 22, 2017

Track List:

Should’ve held on

Cotton Candy

You & Me

4) Dream Part.1 - May 29, 2017

Track List:

Dreams Come True

Baby

You Smile

Because It’s You

Dream Night

I’ll Be There 

Lie

Every minute

5) Dream Part.2 - November 1, 2017

Track List:

With you

Crazy Sexy Cool

Butterfly

Run

Better With You

6) Rise Up - July 24, 2018

Track List:

Always You

By Your Side

Call Out

Stay With Me

Real Love

7) All Night - January 16, 2019

Track List:

Starry Sky

All Night

Moonwalk

Treasure

Role Play

1 In a Million

Love Wheel

Heart Brew Love

Merry-Go-Round

Bloom 

8) Blue Flame - November 20, 2019

Track List:

Blue Flame

Go&Stop

All About You

When the Wind Blows

You’re My World

9) Gateway - May 4, 2020

Knock

When You Call My Name

SOMEBODY LIKE

We Still

12 Hours

Lights On

- Their slogan is ‘Wanna be your star’

- The group is composed of 6 members, lemme introduce you to these bad (actually soft) boys

Jinjin - Park Jin Woo (진진)

Position: Leader, Main Rapper, Lead Dancer

Birthday: March 15, 1996 

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Social Media: - Instagram

Funfacts: 

Is the mom of the group really

His favourite colour is green.

His nickname is Angelic/Puppy Smile

He can play drums and do beatboxing.

He speaks Korean, English & basic Chinese.

He composed and wrote the lyrics of “Lights On” their sidetrack for their album “Gateway”.

JinJin’s ideal type: a girl with her own opinions and attitudes.

Jinwoo gets called slow rapper because of how slow he talks.

He gets teased by the other members a lot

MJ -  Kim Myung-jun (엠제이)

Position: Main Vocalist

Birthday: March 5, 1994

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Social Media: Instagram

Funfacts:

His nickname is “The Happy Virus”, because he’s always laughing and smiling.

He makes jokes all the time, he’s so funny really

Oldest member of the group (Hyung)

“Hello my name is MJ, I look younger than the other, but I am not”

He’s Eunwoo’s son (Even tho he’s older than him)

CRAZY VOCALS

Terrible English 

He calls himself “Smile Engine”.

The first person he befriended when he joined Fantagio was Sanha.

He’s also part of a trot K-pop group named Super Five

MJ’s ideal type: A girl with a nice smile, a good sense of humour and who is similar to him.

He’s the most talkative in Astro

Infectious laughter !!!!!!

Cha Eun Woo - Lee Dong Min (차은우)

Position: Vocalist, Visual, Face of The Group

Birthday: March 30, 1997

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Social Media:  Instagram

                         Tiktok       

Funfacts:         

His nickname is “Morning Alarm” because he always wakes up earlier and starts waking up the rest of the members.

Eunwoo’s other nickname is “White Tee Guy” (because during Breathless era, he always wore white t-shirts).

He’s consider to be the ‘normal’ one in ASTRO but don’t underestimate him ! 

CRAZY VISUALS

He’s called ‘Face Genius’ (meaning someone who has crazily handsome face)

He’s more shy and reserved than the other members

Eyes smile

“Gachi Gallae”

English King

He played in many Kdramas: My ID Is Gangnam Beauty, Hit The Top, True Beauty,..

He’s a literal angel who fell from the sky

Like, we don’t deserve him

Cha Eunwoo’s ideal type: A girl that’s curious, wise and intelligent.

Moonbin - Moon Bin (문빈)

Position: Main Dancer, Lead Vocalist, Center

Birthday: January 26, 1998

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Social Media: Instagram

Funfacts:  

CEO of being Sexy but also cute af

His nicknames are: U-Know MoonBin, Binnie, Sleepyhead, Puppycat (because he can make the face of a cat and the face of a puppy)

He loves playing video games

His favourite colour is Black

Moonbin’s ideal type: A girl with a good sense of humour.

Binwoo is the best ship (Him and Eunwoo)

He acted in Kdramas: “Boys Over Flower” (2009), “Perseverance Goo Haera” Ep. 1 (2015), “Moments of 18” (2019).

Stomach on legs

Personality: tender and warm-hearted

Moonbin’s ideal type: A girl with a good sense of humour.

Rocky -  Park Min Hyuk  (라키)

Position: Main Dancer, Lead Rapper, Vocalist

Birthday: February 25, 1999

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Social Media: Instagram

Funfacts:  

His nickname is “Chef Minhyuk”

Dancing skills ON POINT !

“Oh my gad no no no !” 

Rocky Swaaaaag

He created the choreography for most of the group dances. 

He acted in the Kdrama “Perseverance Goo Haera”

Personality: quiet, very reliable and hardworking

Fantagio staff named him “Dancing Machine”

Rocky’s ideal type: A caring, cute and nice girl.

Sanha - Yoon San Ha  (산하)

Position: Vocalist, Maknae

Birthday: March 21, 2000

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Social Media: Instagram

Funfacts:  

His nickname is “Beagle”

He’s the youngest member of the group (Maknae)

A BABY

Aegyo king

Evil Maknea

His favourite activity is to annoy the other members

His favourite color is Pink

He’s too pure for this world

He’s a giant (185 cm / 6′0″)

“BBUBBU” 

Sanha’s ideal type: A girl who thinks about him a lot and asks him about his day.

Okay ! I think we’re done now, i hope it helped you (At least a little) and rather if you’re a new fan, or you’ve known for a while, I would like to thank you for taking interest into them in the first place. They deserve more recognition really ! 

See you ! Wanna be your star !

[geckosong]

Anime Recommendations

Here is a list of ten anime (in no particular order) that are definitely worth watching, yet don’t seem to get nearly as much recognition as they deserve. 

Terror in Resonance (2014)

This is my personal favorite anime and I push people to watch it whenever I can, which is exactly what I’m doing here.

This show is set-in present-day Tokyo, which has been decimated by a terrorist attack, and the only hint to the identities of the culprits is a bizarre video uploaded on the internet. For the majority of the show the plot follows two different narratives: those of the investigators tasked with bringing down the terrorists, and of the terrorists themselves.

           My Rating: 10/10

Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun (2020)

This anime is probably one of my favorites, if not my number one, in terms of art style. I love everything about the character designs and the colors used. It is just so soothing to look at.

The famous "Seven Wonders" that every school seems to have are a staple of Japanese urban legends. One of the most well-known of these tales is that of Hanako-san: Rumors claim that if one successfully manages to summon Hanako-san, the ghost of a young girl who haunts the school's bathrooms, she will grant her summoner any wish. When Nene Yashiro, a girl hoping for romantic fortune, dares to summon Hanako-san, she discovers that the rumored "girl" is actually a boy! After a series of unfortunate events involving Nene's romantic desires, she is unwillingly entangled in the world of the supernatural, becoming Hanako-kun's assistant. Soon, she finds out about Hanako-kun's lesser-known duty: maintaining the fragile balance between mortals and apparitions.

My Rating: 8/10

Kids on the Slope (2012)

If you love jazz, or history, or even heartwarming tales of friendship then this is the show for you. I will admit that is has a bit of a slow start, but by the time you get to the end you’ll be wishing for more.

In 1966, introverted classical pianist and top student Kaoru Nishimi has just arrived in Kyushu for his first year of high school. Having constantly moved from place to place since his childhood, he abandons all hope of fitting in, preparing himself for another lonely, meaningless year. That is, until he encounters the notorious delinquent Sentarou Kawabuchi.    

Sentarou's immeasurable love for jazz music inspires Kaoru to learn more about the genre, and as a result, he slowly starts to break out of his shell, making his very first friend. Kaoru begins playing the piano at after-school jazz sessions, located in the basement of fellow student Ritsuko Mukae's family-owned record shop. As he discovers the immense joy of using his musical talents to bring enjoyment to himself and others, Kaoru's summer might just crescendo into one that he will remember forever.

My Rating: 6/10

Hyouka (2012)

Energy-conservative high school student Houtarou Oreki ends up with more than he bargained for when he signs up for the Classics Club at his sister's behest—especially when he realizes how deep-rooted the club's history really is. Begrudgingly, Oreki is dragged into an investigation concerning the 45-year-old mystery that surrounds the club room.

Accompanied by his fellow club members, the knowledgeable Satoshi Fukube, the stern but benign Mayaka Ibara, and the ever-curious Eru Chitanda, Oreki must combat deadlines and lack of information with resourcefulness and hidden talent, in order to not only find the truth buried beneath the dust of works created years before them, but of other small side cases as well.

           My Rating: 6/10

Tonari no Seki-Kun: The Master of Killing Time (2014)

I absolutely adore this show. The episodes are only about 8 minutes long, and there is very little talking, yet the story still comes through perfectly. It never fails to brighten my day when I’m feeling down.

All Rumi Yokoi wants to do is focus during school, but she is constantly distracted by Toshinari Seki, her neighboring classmate. Paying attention during class is the least of Seki's worries, as he obsesses over intricate setups created using an assortment of items, from an elaborate domino course on his desk to a treacherous war played out with shogi pieces. Yokoi desperately attempts to focus in class, only to be repeatedly sucked into his intriguing eccentricities; however, they always seem to end up with her getting in trouble with their teacher. Fortunately, lessons will never be dull with Seki's antics around!

           My Rating: 9/10

Classroom of the Elite (2017)

On the surface, Koudo Ikusei Senior High School is a utopia. The students enjoy an unparalleled amount of freedom, and it is ranked highly in Japan. However, the reality is less than ideal. Four classes, A through D, are ranked in order of merit, and only the top classes receive favorable treatment.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji is a student of Class D, where the school dumps its worst. There he meets the unsociable Suzune Horikita, who believes she was placed in Class D by mistake and desires to climb all the way to Class A, and the seemingly amicable class idol Kikyou Kushida, whose aim is to make as many friends as possible.

While class membership is permanent, class rankings are not; students in lower ranked classes can rise in rankings if they score better than those in the top ones. Additionally, in Class D, there are no bars on what methods can be used to get ahead. In this cutthroat school, can they prevail against the odds and reach the top?

           My Rating: 7/10

The Morose Mononokean (2016)

The start of Hanae Ashiya's high school career has not been easy—he has spent all of the first week in the infirmary, and his inexplicable condition is only getting worse. The cause of his torment is the mysterious fuzzy creature that has attached itself to him ever since he stumbled upon it the day before school began.

As his health continues to decline and the creature grows in size, Hanae comes across a flyer advertising an exorcist who expels youkai. Desperate and with nothing left to lose, he calls the number and is led to the Mononokean, a tea room which suddenly appears next to the infirmary. A morose-sounding man, Haruitsuki Abeno, reluctantly helps Hanae but demands payment afterward. Much to Hanae's dismay, he cannot afford the fee and must become an employee at the Mononokean to work off his debt. And to make things worse, his new boss is actually one of his classmates. If Hanae ever hopes to settle his debt, he must work together with Abeno to guide a variety of dangerous, strange, and interesting youkai back to the Underworld.

           My Rating: 6/10

Beyond the Boundary (2013)

Another of my favorite aesthetically pleasing anime, this show has been the one that I show to friends who claim that anime cannot be beautiful (yes, several of my friends have actually said things along that line).

Mirai Kuriyama is the sole survivor of a clan of Spirit World warriors with the power to employ their blood as weapons. As such, Mirai is tasked with hunting down and killing "youmu"—creatures said to be the manifestation of negative human emotions. One day, while deep in thought on the school roof, Mirai comes across Akihito Kanbara, a rare half-breed of youmu in human form. In a panicked state, she plunges her blood saber into him only to realize that he's an immortal being. From then on, the two form an impromptu friendship that revolves around Mirai constantly trying to kill Akihito, in an effort to boost her own wavering confidence as a Spirit World warrior. Eventually, Akihito also manages to convince her to join the Literary Club, which houses two other powerful Spirit World warriors, Hiroomi and Mitsuki Nase.

As the group's bond strengthens, however, so does the tenacity of the youmu around them. Their misadventures will soon turn into a fight for survival as the inevitable release of the most powerful youmu, Beyond the Boundary, approaches.

           My Rating: 7/10

Mekakucity Actors (2014)

I think about this show far more than I’d like to admit. The way they bring different plot lines together continues to amaze me 6 years after watching it for the first time.

On the hot summer day of August 14, Shintarou Kisaragi is forced to leave his room for the first time in two years. While arguing with the cyber girl Ene who lives in his computer, Shintarou Kisaragi accidentally spills soda all over his keyboard. Though they try to find a replacement online, most stores are closed due to the Obon festival, leaving them with no other choice but to visit the local department store. Venturing outside makes Shintarou extremely anxious, but the thought of living without his computer is even worse. It's just his luck that on the day he finally goes out, he's caught in a terrifying hostage situation.

Luckily, a group of teenagers with mysterious eye powers, who call themselves the "Mekakushi Dan," assist Shintarou in resolving the situation. As a result, he is forced to join their group, along with Ene. Their abilities seem to be like pieces of a puzzle, connecting one another, and as each member's past is unveiled, the secret that ties them together is slowly brought to light.

           My Rating: 8/10

Angels of Death (2018)

You totally want to get emotionally attached to cereal killers, right? Of course you do, that’s why you should totally watch this anime.

With dead and lifeless eyes, Rachel Gardner wishes only to die. Waking up in the basement of a building, she has no idea how or why she's there. She stumbles across a bandaged murderer named Zack, who is trying to escape. After promising to kill her as soon as he is free, Rachel and Zack set out to ascend through the building floor by floor until they escape.

However, as they progress upward, they meet more twisted people, and all of them seem familiar with Rachel. What is her connection to the building, and why was she placed in it? Facing a new boss on each floor, can Rachel and Zack both achieve their wishes?

           My Rating: 7/10

Bonus: Stars Align (2019)

I am adding one extra because this anime deserves so much more than it got. I adore every single character in this show and want nothing but to see them be happy. There is so much I adore about this show that I can’t put it all into words. I would recommend you watch this so you can share in my rage that the story was cut off halfway through with no current plans of completing it. There is no manga. There is no way of knowing what happens next. This recommendation is entirely for the purpose of generating more public outcry in the hopes that that causes them to finish the show. Please anime gods, if you are reading this I need to know what happens to my smol tennis boys. Are they safe? Are they alright? 

Constantly outperformed by the girls' club, the boys' soft tennis club faces disbandment due to their poor skills and lack of positive results in matches. In desperate need of members,

Toma Shinjou is looking to recruit capable players, but he fails to scout anyone. Enter Maki Katsuragi, a new transfer student who demonstrates great reflexes when he catches a stray cat in his classroom, instantly capturing Toma's attention. With his interest piqued, Toma ambitiously asks Maki to join the boys' team but is quickly rejected, as Maki doesn't wish to join any clubs. Toma refuses to back down and ends up persuading Maki—only under the condition that Toma will pay him for his participation and cover other club expenses.

As Maki joins the team, his incredible form and quick learning allow him to immediately outshine the rest of the team. Although this gives rise to conflict among the boys, Maki challenges and pushes his fellow team members to not only keep up with his seemingly natural talent, but also drive them to devote themselves to the game they once neglected.

This story focuses on the potential of the boys' soft tennis club and their discovery of their own capability, while also enduring personal hardships and dealing with the darker side of growing up in middle school.

[luvreyn]

My Manhwa List (2021) Part 1

So the first post of 2021! Hope you all had a splendid holidays, and have a marvelous days ahead!

It Was All a Mistake

Summary:

At a young age, Durua Valrose realizes that she’s been reincarnated as the villainess of a novel who is destined to die at the hands of the male protagonist, Nocturne Edgar. Determined to change her fate, she tries to befriend Nocturne, but little does she know that he is the only living black mage who can hear, sense, and even control people’s thoughts and emotions. To Nocturne, Durua is an enigma. She is the first person that he’s encountered who is not susceptible to his magic, a fact that makes him feel both intrigued and intimidated at the same time. The two form a strained friendship, but Durua has no idea whether the story is changing for better or worse. Will she be able to rewrite her ending and escape death?

THOUGHTS AND WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

- art = 4.5/5 just look at it!!!

- plot = 4/5

- so far so good

- ML is a bit asshole-y for now (tho understandable) but waiting for character development

- I love the mc’s friend - such a great one!

- verdict, a good read!

I Only Love Hana

Summary:

Yoon Hana is suddenly forced to leave her beloved neighborhood and must move to a different town.

Instead of being enrolled at her high school she was supposed to be in, she got enrolled to Youngsol High. And with that Hana anticipate her new start. However, she ends up being an outsider on the first day of transfer and even ran into a scary maie student...! She worries about if she'll be able to have peaceful daily life, yet... "I'll help you make 100 friends!!" The open-hearted Hana ends up making a completely nonsensical promise to Chang-wook, who has a different side to him unlike from the rumors surrounding him.

This is the sunny-like Hana and gloomy, but beautiful Chang-wooks's project to make friends!

THOUGHTS AND WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

- the wholesomeness I need!

- plot = 3/5

- art = 3.5/5

- so wholesome so cute

- comedic gold

- meme-able faces!

- the leads are the cutest!!!!

- f l u f f y and c u t e n e s s overload

- verdict, great read especially if you just want a light read manhwa :D

I Married the Male Lead's Dad 

Summary:

In my real life, I was happy simping and fawning over Abel Louvremont, the main character of my favorite book ‘Persona.’ But after a fateful car accident, I woke up in ‘Persona,’ but when Abel is still a precious child. Now, as Aisha Heathcliff, I can simp the adorable Abel up close, squee!! I’ll do anything I can to make sure he gets what he needs! And, somehow, that means I’m engaged to... his dad?

THOUGHTS AND WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

- art = 5/5 ugh the art is perfect

- plot = 5/5 as it deserves

- I s e k a I

- MC IS SO PRETTY I’M IN LOVE!!!

- C O M E D Y 

- A B E L is so cute, so fluffy

- he deserves the best

- ML IS SO HANDSOME LIKE?? WHYY??

- my new fav

- VERDICT: highly recommended!! 

As You Wish, My Lady

Summary:

Hyun Eun Suh, age 7. She was taken care of by the CEO Cha Deok Man, who regarded her great-grandfather as a great benefactor. 15 years later, CEO Cha collapsed after falling ill, and so wanted her to marry one of his grandsons?! The conglomerate’s future depends on Eun-Suh who was loved more than CEO Cha’s own descendants! During this time, Cha Jin Ha who was like her real older brother dropped a huge announcement? “Miss, are you still considering who you want to marry? Of course, you have to marry me.” A man who she cares for most in the world and yet someone whose feelings remain indecipherable, can she trust him?

THOUGHTS AND WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

- art = 4/5

- plot = 3.5/5 ala telenovela 

- can I just say that the grandad is such a jerk? grrr

- MC is too taken in with ‘gratitude’ that it breaks my heart 

- ML is manipulative fox boi

- MCs friends are the best!!

- why must all the men in this story be a jerk?!

- and the relatives too!

- verdict, if you enjoyed boys over flowers and all story involving rich guy x poor girl drama, you’d probably enjoy this

The Newlywed Game: How to Save My Husband

Summary:

The ideal husband; a romantic wedding day; a perfect honeymoon... Everything looks as if it's going in the right direction, but instead I'm suddenly living a fantasy?!! Hahahaha, what the hell's going on?! Every time I fail a quest, I'm thrown right back to the beginning of the mission! Where exactly is this heading!? To protect my husband, Yeoyun, and stop travelling back in time, I must control this marriage and the in-laws!

THOUGHTS AND WHY YOU SHOULD READ:

- art = 4/5

- plot = 4.5/5

- relatable af

- MC is so pretty :3

- the in law is so close to reality that I just -- screams

- so far so good

- f u n n y

- verdict, a good read.

[yakuzadumpingground]

Well since I'm feeling contrarian I'm gonna rank all of the yakuza games I've played (which is everything except the original 1 and 2, Dead Souls, and the Japan only games) which is guaranteed to piss someone off. Starting with the best-

1. Yakuza 0

Ok, not a controversial choice. I'm sorry. But the general consensus is correct. On top of having one of the best stories in the series, a really fun combat system (albeit not very challenging, but it's not like i play yakuza for challenge), and some of the most memorable sidestories, the setting really gives this game a certain style that nothing else in the series has. Also, one of the few yakuza games that's decently paced. Honestly, most of my complaints about this game are nitpicks (such as how grindy maxing out your character is) it's just a kind of boringly perfect game, really.

2. Yakuza: Like a Dragon

"BuT iT's TuRn-BaSeD" ok cool guess you're just gonna miss out on a fantastic fucking game. I gotta say, it was a real hard choice between "I wanna see the side stories" and "I GOTTA know what happens next in the story" sometimes. I don't know else I can say about this game: great story, great characters, just a great time. Admittedly, as an RPG it.... needs work. The encounter rate is WAAAY too high and the job class system is pretty busted. Even still, the genre change is a breath of fresh air and honestly pretty charming at times. Play this, goddamn

3. Yakuza Kiwami 2

It was a real toss up between Kiwami 2 and the game in the 4th slot, but in the end, Kiwami 2 wins by being more consistently enjoyable. Unlike the first two games on this list I can't say Kiwami 2 had a good story exactly, but I can say it's an entertaining one. I was rarely bored playing this, and in terms of sheer fun, Kiwami 2 wins that crown. I was *howling* at the ending, my God.

4. Yakuza 5

I'm of two minds when it comes to this game. On the one hand, some of my favorite stuff is in this game. The intro is very unusual but hit me in a weird way that really stuck with me. It finally made Saejima likable. Playable Haruka. Shinada, my beloved. On the other hand, while Yakuza games having pacing problems is pretty much the norm, whoo boy does yakuza 5 test your patience. Sloths move at the speed of fleas on meth compared to this game. Also, the actual overarching story is pretty weak and uninteresting. It's really best viewed as a collection of loosely connected stories. This game definitely has it's flaws, but the high points more than make up for them

5. Yakuza 6

Someone's gonna get mad that this game isn't lower, I'm sure. Yeah, it's flawed. It's not best send off for Kiryu. It's lacking in content. The ending is fucking terrible. But there's still plenty here to love. I love Onomichi, it's honestly one of my favorite locations in this series, even if there's nothing to do in it. It's just wonderful to look at and walk around in. I like the Onomichi cast. Beat Takeshi is there. Having Kiryu's saga cap off with a game about family is a great idea, and until this game's awful fucking ending it's a touching exploration of that theme. But fuck this game's ending. Seriously.

6. Yakuza 3

This is... a weird one. I can both see why the fanbase rejected it at the time and why fan appraisal has gotten so much kinder to this game. Like y6 (honestly y6 is really an unofficial remake of this game) it's a game about family. That being said, I rank it lower than 6 because of the relatively lower stakes and weak plot. It takes a long time for the main plot to actually start, and honestly it can take it's dear sweet time. Whenever I was going main story quests all I can think was about how much I'd rather be dinking around doing mundane shit for the kids. But I can't say this game isn't charming as hell. It's really one of the few times you really see Kiryu as just a... guy. Raising his kids, just living his life. For a series all about high octane melodrama, slice of life is a welcome change of pace

7. Judgment

Ooh, HERE'S the controversial take! Yeah, I didn't really care for Judgment. Judgment is the opposite of y3, where instead the main plot is actually very interesting but we spend. So. Much. Time. On. Bullshit. It's not a short game either. I spent so much of this game wondering when we're getting to the goddamn fireworks factory. Putting the pacing problems aside, the characters are fun but apart from Yagami and arguably Sugiura they don't get much in the way of meaningful development (it feels like Higashi's character arc is almost entirely off screen). The "detective" gameplay is meaningless fluff and adds nothing (note to game developers: tailing missions always suck. They sucked in Assassin's Creed and they suck here) and the attempt to bring back style changing is half-baked. I didn't hate my time with this game, but it left me underwhelmed

8. Yakuza Kiwami

This was actually my first yakuza game. And thank goodness Kiryu is hot because this game is... rough. First off, the story is just not very good. It spends a lot of time with tedious red herrings and extraneous shit with characters we don't care about. I honest to God had a hard time following the plot on my first playthrough because the cast is like 90% unmemorable middle aged Japanese men that show up like once in the first hour and then once in the last (but you're expected to remember them). It doesn't fare any better gameplay wise. It does make one good decision, bringing back style changing, but then for some reason they decided to make every boss fight an awful chore by having them regenerate their hp several times a fight (unless you happen to have the heat to do a heat action, and even then they regen hp so fast it may not help that much). What. The fuck. This snowballs into the Majima Everywhere which... look. I know. Goromi. But this system is still one where you have to fight a boss over and over and over again (in a game where fighting bosses is a chore). I've seen people slide off the series after going from 0 to kiwami, and that sucks. Maybe it was best i started here; if I liked this game, I'll probably like the rest

But there's one game I'd say that'd worse

9. Yakuza 4

When I played Yakuza 4 the first time, it was the ps3 version and I hadn't played 3 yet (it was more expensive.) So when I replayed 4 it was after playing 3, and honestly I was appreciating the game a lot more. After the slog of 3 it was nice to have a game with a snappier pace. And Akiyama was a fun change of pace. Him and Hana have a fun dynamic. I remembered not liking this game; was I too harsh? Could I have appreciated 4 more if I could see the improvements from 3? Then I got to Saejima's section then I remembered why I don't like this game. Honestly, I could go ON about how much Saejima's part sucks, it is easily the worst time I've had playing a yakuza game. I'll spare you that novel for now tho. And from here, the game never really recovers. We move on to Tanimura, the worst yakuza protagonist by the sheer virtue of how boring he is. By the time Kiryu shows up again I was so damned thrilled to see him. But he doesn't really save this game. Yakuza plots are usually convoluted and sometimes hard to follow, but 4's just gets exhausting to keep up with. By the time you get to your 28th betrayal you just can't care anymore. And it all caps off with a lazy fucking ending and the absolute worst final boss fight in the series. Oh Curryman. You deserve a better game.

[malchans]

7, 14, 21, 27, 38, F

vii. what triggers nostalgia for them, most often? do they enjoy that feeling?

hans rarely ever feels nostalgic because he doesn’t have many happy memories to feel nostalgic about, especially from childhood. he does feel nostalgic whenever he glances at trophies and school certificates. it healed his heart a little when his teachers praised him and sometimes worried about him. two of those teachers are so dear to him still that he refuses to think about them too much, or his eyes will water, and his chest will tighten, and he’ll start wanting to claw his skin off. 

going on vacation often brings back fond memories as well. even though he and hana were pretty much left alone the whole time, it was better than their lifeless routine. on top of that, him and hana would call a temporary truce. this is why vacations are almost sacred to him now. nothing like being away from home.

xiv. what animal do they fear most?

birds. he’s not ridiculously scared of them but if there’s a lot flying around him he’ll feel uncomfortable. what if they poop on his head... or peck at his eyes... or pull his hair with their claws..? just the sound of wings flapping will make his head whip back. he can’t trust an animal that doesn’t have enough brains not to die by bumping into a window. 

xxi. why how do they get up in the morning?

he has the classic iphone alarm on every day of the week at 4:45 am, yes even on the weekends. it’s more of a formality now since he tends to wake up on his own a minute before it rings. 

he immediately gets out of bed and washes up before going to the gym. he’s there about an hour since he showers right after he’s done working out. he doesn’t want other people to think he’s gross because he drove fifteen minutes in his own sweat. ( much to his dismay, he loves showering at home with his fancy shower tower. ) 

when he gets back home he eats his breakfast, which has been the same for years. a bowl of plain oatmeal with egg whites on the side. he wolfs it down as fast as he can while getting dressed and doing his hair and then he leaves for work. 

xxvii. what causes them to feel dread?

the future. he’s definitely not an optimist, despite being so privileged. with all the work he’s put in to guarantee a good outcome, he just can’t fathom not getting exactly what he wants. he refuses to compromise or settle for less. doesn’t he deserve it? he’s worked so, so hard. the older he gets, though, the more he realizes hard work isn’t what his parents made it out to be.

xxxviii. what memory do they revisit the most often?

hans often reminisces about times where he felt humiliated, one time in particular stings more than the others. he remembers barely getting home after school when he got accosted by his dad. at first it confused him; he expected it to be hana. for cheating and getting called out in front of everyone. instead, he felt his dad’s fist twisting his shirt. he wasn’t yelling, but it had the same effect. that afternoon he was reminded his whole family genuinely thought he was an imbecile and a coward. somehow this unsettling speech was supposed to convince him he should have stood up for hana. and maybe he should have, and maybe for once he felt disappointed in himself, but what he hated more than anything was how he wasn’t the sole witness of this ordeal. 

f. what do you feel when you think of your character?

shame? honestly if you don’t incorporate humor and write a character like him ironically he’s so vile. i have a really hard time feeling any kind of sympathy for him LOL