#Sorry for the weird lineup These are based on what the most popular were In the survey while ago

[btschooseafic]

Hey you, what’s your dream?

Pairing: platonic!oc x ot7

Details: manager!oc, predebut/idolverse, partial BTS World!verse

Summary: The Bangtan lineup is finalized. Aviva gets a promotion.

Warnings: This is a fictional story based on real events. The characters presented here are not the same as their real life counterparts. [Masterlist]

Track 8: The Final Lineup

 Dream Team - Niykee Heaton

 “Stand up if you fucking with the underdogs

Dream team, if you're new, come and fuck with us”

 September 2012

“Namjoon-ah! Namjoon-ah! Namjoon-ah!” Aviva said, her shoes squeaking as she turned the corner running towards him. A few doors opened as she ran, staff and trainees muttering curiously.

The studio door popped open. Aviva jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting hit in the face. “What? Aviva-yah?” He looked over her shoulder at the others eyeing them and pulled her into the room, shutting the door behind them. “What’s going on, is everything okay?”

“Sort of? I don’t know…” She took a deep breath. “Listen, I’ve been promoted—“

“That’s great news!” Namjoon said, pulling her into a hug.

“Namjoon!” She squeaked into his chest, pulling at the back of his shirt.

“What?” He pulled away from her slightly, his arms still around her.

“This is serious!” She said.

Namjoon blinked. “Okay… But isn’t it a good thing? Why do you seem so scared?”

Aviva gripped tighter at his shirt. “I’m the General Manager of BTS…” she said, so quietly he almost didn’t hear her.

“What?” He stared at her.

“What? What?” She mocked him, slipping out from his arms and crossing her arms over her chest defensively. “Is that all you can say?” She ran her hand through her hair. “I mean, I was shocked too. I’m still shocked… apparently Bang-PD has been planning this from the start? That’s why he kept transferring me around to the different managing departments, to get varied experience. And apparently all those sunbaenims reported that I’d done well…”

Slowly, a smile spread over his face.

“Siljangnim.”

“What? No—“ She hit him on the arm. “Namjoon, don’t address me so formally, I’m your age, you’re my friend.”

“Yeah, and I’m happy for my friend!” Namjoon said, catching her hand and squeezing it in his. “This is great news! You’ve been part of this from the start, now it’s just a little more official.”

First things first, Aviva gathered all the members in the conference room. They sat at the table, staring around at each other.

Aviva was staring at Jin and Jimin, who were eating a giant lollipop and a popsicle, respectively. She wondered if they were nervous eating. She wondered if they could find her something sweet to eat. She felt stiff as a board. No one was saying anything, it was so awkward!

“So…” Taehyung said slowly. “When are we eating lunch?” Aviva’s eyes lit up.

“That’s it!” She pulled out her wallet. “I have a company card, let’s treat ourselves for making it to the final lineup!” The boys all cheered. Yoongi snorted.

“You know, it’s cute when you get excited,” he said quietly as they left the room. She blinked at him, her face flushing. He just laughed and kept walking, his hands in his pockets. She shook her head.

“Okay,” Aviva said as Jin poked at the meat sizzling at the center of the table, the rest of the boys watching in anticipation. “I know we all know each other, but maybe we should start with introductions to make it official. Seokjin-ssi, you can start first since you are the oldest member—”

“Eh? Why are you using such formal speech? And just call me Jin-oppa as usual, Aviva-yah,” Jin said. “Anyway, I want to talk about the group name first.”

“I like it!” Jimin said.

“Yeah, whatever Jiminie said,” Taehyung said, clearly not really paying attention.

“Hmm.” Hoseok hummed uncertainly. “It could be better.”

“I’m just glad it’s not Bullet Proof Boyz anymore,” Namjoon muttered.

“Ah!” Hoseok pointed at him. “You’re right. BTS is way better than BPB.”

Jimin’s nose wrinkled. “BPB?” He repeated. “That’s not cute at all.”

“I just don’t get Bangtan Sonyeodan,” Jin continued. “Why are we boy scouts?”

“Cause boyz with a z is outdated?” Aviva wondered.

“Hm. I thought Bang-PD just liked the rhythm of it. Like, bah-bah, bah-bah-bah,” Yoongi counted out, tapping his finger on the table. “It’s not bad.”

“Hmmm, well, alliterative names are popular at the moment. Also names that can be shortened into something cute and chant-able,” Aviva said, flipping through her notebook.

“Chant-able?” Yoongi repeated, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Give her a break, Korean’s not her first language,” Namjoon said, though he was smirking a bit as well. She shushed them.

“But I always liked the bulletproof part,” Hoseok admitted. “Like we’re superheroes, or something.”

“Ah.” Namjoon nodded, rubbing his chin. “What was it he said? Something like ‘wanting us to be a shield against the oppression that youth is facing.’?”

“Something like that,” Aviva agreed.

“When’s it gonna be done?” Yoongi asked Jin. Aviva sighed.

“Guys, we didn’t even start the introductions!”

“Like you said, we all know each other,” Yoongi said, unconcerned. “Maybe you’d better go check on Jungkookie instead.”

“What?” She looked at Jungkook’s empty seat, just realizing he was missing.

“I think I saw him leave a little while ago,” Taehyung said. “But I was distracted by the meat, so I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“Meat,” Yoongi agreed, making grabby hands at the food. Aviva sighed.

“I’ll go look for him.”

“Try that way, manager-noona,” Taehyung said, pointing.

“Jungkook-ah?” Aviva called out, looking around.

“…Over here,” a voice called back quietly. Aviva stepped through an open door to find Jungkook sitting on a staircase, his head in his hands.

“What are you doing over here?” Aviva said. “We’ve all been looking for you.”

Jungkook muttered something, avoiding eye contact and hugging his arms around himself. “I’m sorry… It was too awkward…”

Aviva sat down next to him. “Dude, you’re practically dating my younger sister, I would say we’re way past awkward,” she thought. He laughed nervously. “Anyway, you’ve known these guys for a while, why is it different now?”

Jungkook looked at her. “Cause it’s official? I don’t know.” He shrugged. Aviva ruffled his hair. He put his hands on his hips. “Please don’t treat me like a child.”

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just wanted to comfort you somehow.” Jungkook sighed. “How about you come back and eat? That might make you feel a little better.”

Back at the table, the conversation finally started to flow. Jimin and Jungkook spoke about growing up in Busan, while Namjoon and Yoongi were talking about an old Hip Hop site they both used to use, and friends from the old days.

“Oh, how’s Soonyoung-noona?” Hoseok asked Aviva. “I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“She’s been hired by Big Hit as producer,” Aviva told him, smiling proudly.

“What?” Yoongi said sharply. “But I asked Bang-PD-nim recently, and he said they weren’t looking for any producers at the moment.”

“Aw, hyung, were you gonna ditch us for producing?” Hoseok said.

“In a heartbeat,” Yoongi deadpanned.

Aviva snorted.

“They aren’t looking for any more producers,” she elaborated. “Soonyoung asked him months ago, but I think part of the reason they got in was as a diversity hire, since the production team is all men except for her.”

Yoongi groaned.

“I still think it’s weird they keep the girls and boys trainees so separate,” Namjoon thought. “And that they discourage dating—do you know what one of the most popular song topics is?”

“Love?” Taehyung suggested, making a little heart with his fingers. Namjoon nodded, pointing at him.

“Exactly. How are we supposed to be able to write love songs if they don’t let us fall in love?”

“Then write about that,” Aviva suggested. “Use what you’ve got.” Namjoon rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Aviva looked at her phone. “Anyway, back to the group name, we can’t change it, cause I’ve just got an email that our social media platforms have been registered under that name.”

[sauntervaguelydown]

"6 different popular continuities" LITERALLY WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?? Is it comic books??? this is exactly what i'm talking about! What is HAPPENING in this fandom?? I LOVE it. I just saw some of the really pretty fanart after reading a thing about how tranformers reproduce i'm confused and i love it

okay so what you’ve got to understand is there’s a transformers where the transformers transform into only cars but if they transform into planes that means they’re evil but it’s different from the one where earth is the corpse of a sleeping god full of goth crack cocaine that helps you do necromancy and BOTH of those are different than the

i’m sorry let me do this again

so this franchise has been around since the early 80′s and because the toys came first and the story came second, it keeps being reinvented in new and weird and delightful ways because the only true and central thing is the design+name combination of the line up, and even that gets changed from time to time for arcane business reasons

G1, the original 80′s cartoon, has absolutely nothing about the robots being in Disguise despite that being in the fucking title song, they’re just on earth being action superhero alien robots who sometimes politicians hate and want to ban because they’re Not Like Us. There are two cast lineups I this show, because after season 2 the big theatrical movie killed off 90% of the original cast and then had a bunch of new robots fill in their roles in the story more or less. This was designed to Move Products.

Beastwars. This is the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen, with the script writing that first elevated transformers as a franchise into something (I would argue) worth remembering for more than being fun toys. Everyone turns into an earth animal of some kind. There are no humans.

When the Bay movies were in production, Cartoon Network started a new carton series (TFA) in which Optimus Prime was a disgraced young military officer who took the fall for his shitty friend when their mutual girlfriend died on a forbidden planet. This show resembles Teen Titans with 90% more alien protagonists. It’s very sexist but otherwise surprisingly good. Only Decepticons turn into flight capable alt modes. This is a plot point.

After that The Hub produced a CGI cartoon (Prime, or “TFP”) which had more Bay movie flavor, but also one of the most good hearted and soothing Optimus Primes of all time, and he’s got a snatched waist. In this show all the Decepticons also turn into planes, but it’s not a plot point, it’s just a Thing that Happens. this is the one that has the amazing Starscream with the built in high heels, who looks nothing like any other Starscream. In this one, being in disguise and living secretly on the planet is a plot point. Planet Earth is an eldritch abomination.

There’s a newer cartoon which is “Cyberverse”, which has a lot of the goofy cartoon energy of G1 but with new popular highlights from other continuities such as: Bumblebee having his voice box ripped out by Megatron and being therefore mute (but also an amnesiac); Windblade, a female transformer who isn’t a sexist caricature; Optimus and Megatron being friends before a major political schism.

ANDDDDD the comics. Which are MY favorite part. There have been comics off and on since the 80′s; there’s a current reboot running since 2019, but most people are deeply unimpressed with its meandering plot and overload of characters. The continuity that I stan ran from 2005 to 2018, and it included such exciting concepts as: monogender asexual species with homoerotic pairbonds, an entire political system based on racism against test tube babies, Starscream having Body Dysphoria because he was made in a factory, and a bunch of super boring crossovers with GIJOE comics 

:)c any questions?

[ayakashiramblings]

Dawn and Twilight’s Social Media Accounts

Kuya

@NevermoreButSnore.

1230 followers.

Yes, I copied Edgar Allan Poe. Yes, I’m not sorry about the rhyme. Or calling him out. 

Not that he really cares.

Insists that he is a headcanon creator on Twitter 

Everyone who follows him knows that he is lying. 

If we really had to classify him as a writer, it would one who posts those way-too-accurate posts about writers complaining about writing. 

Like the notebook hoarding one. Not that anyone here in the fandom is guilty of that, haha... haha... ha.

Ironically is one of the more popular ones out of the whole group. 

His flat responses and laziness are way too prominent to NOT be noticed. 

If you actually tentatively sneak into his DMs though, for writing tips, he will patiently listen and... rather bluntly advise you. 

It’s still advice though and is always the type to check out and reblog any short fanfics.

It just has to be weird, sporadic hours because he is the type to fall asleep with the phone on his face. 

Koga Kitamikado

1230 followers.

@CapitalKayKay

Listen, there is a reason why a lot of successful businesses chose Instagram as their social media so Koga is no exception. 

What makes his account stand out, as you can see from his rather cheeky username, is that he is willing to be an open book. 

So he isn’t constantly shoving down any products he is sponsoring or whatever piece he is endorsing. 

It’s more of genuinely wanting to hang out and explore what the world has to offer. 

Whenever he posts a picture of the gang together, he’s the one tagging all of them, even the ones with hard usernames.

And there’s always a nice comment thanking whoever hosted the fun time or being appreciative of the area and the locals.

It helps that he has a sense of humour so the memes are always just the right amount of teasing but nothing too bad that will deter potential clients.

Because of his down-to-earth nature, he reels everyone in.

Uses the space to invite everyone following him on any celebration/casual outing.

The thing is... he has a lot of followers.

So... good luck.

Aoi

1150 followers.

@DeredArtTooTsun

Look, even he knows he is a Tsundere. It’s a small victory getting him to acknowledge that, let alone use it to brand himself here.

But god, he’s the man I’m most jealous of on Tumblr.

PERFECT BULLET JOURNALS AND SKETCHES.

Got the spreads that literally define ‘aesthetic’, a perfect lineup of art materials even with pencils that have their numbers faded, and somehow, the emotions can pass through the paper and screen.

Even does tutorials on perspectives, positions with cute annotations. Just don’t praise them for being adorable though and focus on improving your skills, dummy.

Ironically though, it’s his mindless vents that get the most number of notes.

It helps that the pics include him, a very cute... I mean... manly boy screaming at very, very hot men.

A bit baffled but whatever it takes to get commissions. 

That’s right, he takes them. At least there is a back-up option should the restaurant ever go out of business. 

Spoiler Alert: Still doesn’t get paid as much. People, have you seen the number of talented artists here? Aoi might be in the rankings but it’s still hard attracting business.

Support your fandom artists, everyone!

Ginnojo

1000 followers. Just nice.

Ginnojoz

Poor grandpa didn’t intend to put that extra ‘z’ letter, it was a typo because scales don’t get along with haptic touch. 

And unfortunately, doesn’t understand how to change it. 

Once, he was huge on Vine before it died. The end of an era that he has to witness again. RIP.

Gin-Gin, it is RIGHT. THERE.

Expect to find his super short self-defence videos and Book Club Readings on YouTube.

Girls actually appreciate his instructions and attempts to provide help even if they are alone. 

He did try to respond to the nice ones and actually succeeds. 

It’s always easier getting to know the language of women when you don’t really see/touch them.

A deep baritone is perfect for some sexy excerpt of a historical novel... 

Until he corrects the setting.

In fact, he sometimes rage-quits and rewrites it. 

Unlike Kuya, him doing those established ideas actually catches on. 

Yura and Gaku

1500 followers.

MelodyandTheBeat. 

... Tik-tokers. Tik-Tok people? 

WTH do you call them?

As you can see, they are the most popular since it’s combined stardom.

Look, their covers and music mixes are beautiful.

They always have their own version that somehow combines traditional Japanese music... with k-pop.

And of course, food porn. 

Just be grateful there isn’t that awful squelching sound you hear when you consume jelly or the breaking of chilli seeds. 

Listen, I usually separate them because it’s never nice to be grouped as having the same activity as your twin. 

But in this case, being both equally beautiful AND talented sells their uploads. 

Even the cringy ones made because Yura is such a Luddite. 

Like just turning his head and being amazed his hair can turn so many colours, being impressed with each tilt until he gets to a black shade. 

Suddenly hurls the phone away. Gee, wonder why? Guess black isn’t the new... black for him?

Gaku sometimes even introduces new filters he created based on Yura’s random requests that strangely get circulated on the site. 

Oji

550 followers all know Oji-Sanz

Unlike Ginnojo, he deliberately adds the ‘z’ letter to sound cool.

You wanna know what’s worse? 

He actually uses Facebook. 

Aoi decides to give up on him. Nobody blames the poor student.

It’s apparently some old form of social media? Never used it, no sirree. 

Always changing his relationship status but at the end of the day, he’s single and ready... 

To post about all the lovely ladies destined to enter his restaurant. 

He thinks it’s great publicity. 

It really isn’t but one good thing about Oji is he includes EVERYONE.

This man respects his customers and always helps advertise their wares, especially if their connections lead to more resources. 

And less grocery shopping on his part.

Does post the recipes he and Aoi created but will never use because the Milk Hall had a certain style to follow.

Officially makes Aoi his son... on Facebook at least. 

Aoi now tolerates the account. 

Barely. 

Toichiro Yuri

WhatheMeSay has 1231 followers! 

In your face @CapitalKayKay and @NevermorebutSnore!!

You know, I’m so glad that there aren’t any users with those names because I’d be so scared of accidentally tagging them.

Also, geddit? Because... What the fox say? 

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding... yeah, I’ll stop.

Pinterest Guy. And actually does spend on his ‘hobby’ to show off to everyone.

It does boost you and your father’s sales so there is nothing to complain about. 

His boards are always alliterated just to sound super catchy and it works so long as he gets the right emoji. 

Kabuki plays better be promoted or else.

Filled with candid pictures of his victims all taken at different angles you didn’t know were possible and in varying degrees of hilariously misunderstood positions.

He even supplies a donation link, heavily leveraged by his followers, since there are incentives tied to it like early access.

A bit suspicious the photos look like cropped out parts from Koga’s posts and some of the text resembles Kuya’s... er... wisdom?

He takes an unholy amount of selfies when he thinks no one is looking and so they are always surprised upon finding them on the Selfie Board. 

There is a locked board that no one can access, even his followers who are his comrades in real life. 

It’s actually just one picture in there. 

It’s you smiling and giggling at a joke of his. Not even you know it’s been taken. Guess he is as soft as his fur, eh? He better come out soon or else.

Kuro

Kuroruohtumbling

Ginnojo is unfortunately just old enough to have grown up with Scooby-Doo to understand the reference.

Snapchat, like a snapping snake! Hiss!

Unironically loves the puppy face.

Ok, but the glimpses of his stunts help show snippets of the circus life. 

He and his whole troupe family will even don costumes best suited for certain filters.

Sometimes ropes in Ginnojo... and by sometimes, I mean enough for everyone to start wondering if the stoic man is part of the act. 

To be fair, he randomly hugs people and ranks them here.

You, of course, were number 1. 

Now, if only he didn’t use the bloody song to announce it but you forgive him.

Maybe even risks revealing his ayakashi form before deleting the message to you.

Loves making international fans and learning various languages through each post, sort of like flashcards but animated and more fun!

And with 1200 followers, he might become a polyglot like Koga.

Shizuki 

Everyone bans him from creating one. 

Because they know the power of his roasts is too great. 

Little do they know he goes undercover. 

Underground.

And under their noses.

That’s right. His rant town on... MySpace. 

Unapologetically uses a good chunk of his salary from serving the House of Yuri just to get nifty themes that help with the whole burning process. 

Look, there’s a reason he and Oji are friends. 

This is why. 

Their taste in women seems fine but we really have got to do something about their affinity towards DEAD PLACES.

To be fair, he made the whole thing drunk but that doesn’t mean he should maintain it SOBER.

He just feels that it is a waste of space if he doesn’t utilize it. 

And it also becomes kind of cathartic. From the intrusive hugs to his master and Sir Gaku irking each other to no end, he needs it. 

Zero followers... but only because it’s super private. 

It becomes 1 the moment you jokingly create an account. 

[composereggwrites]

Imprint Zine: New Creators’ Spotlight

This is my full article for the twewy @imprintzine!!! There’s still digital copies available of the full zine, and some merch left too!!! It was a blast to write and work with the other participants!

If you like this and wanna chat with me about it hit me up here or in my twewy discord!!!

Ao3

NEW CREATORS SPOTLIGHT

Hello again readers, and welcome to this month’s New Creator Spotlight! We find up-and-coming artists of all types to highlight! From fashion, music, and art, we know how to find the hidden talent in Shibuya and illuminate them all for you to see!

Mr. Mew Creations

First up is Mr. Mew Creations, a new fashion brand led by the fabulous Eri and Shiki Misaki. This duo has taken the fashion scene by storm with their innovative ideas and inspiring designs. From dresses to bright three-piece suits, these two push the boundaries of how we define outfits.

The star of their debut collection is a marvelous dress suit! It’s a dress, and a suit, combined into one! The top half is styled as a silken tuxedo jacket in bold fuchsia, with a pale lavender undershirt and iridescent pearl buttons. The bottom half, however, is a skirt designed to evoke the image of an elegant ball gown. The slip is comfortable enough to wear all day, while providing a backing to the outermost layer, which is a cascade of feathers dyed a stunning cobalt blue.

They have a myriad of other pieces in this lineup, going beyond the binary while staying fashionable and comfortable. From a simple purple shirt with embroidered orange foxes along the hem, to a yellow sweater with a detailed pink squirrel on the front, there’s a wide variety to choose from!

We sat down with the girls for an interview in their studio to talk about their threads, and they had a lot to say!

Thank you for interviewing with us. Could you both introduce yourselves for our readers?

Eri: Yeah sure! Thank you for interviewing us! I’m Eri, the lead designer of our two-person team, Mr. Mew Creations! I do most of the conceptual work, putting ideas down on paper and seeing where that gets us. Shiki definitely helps with that, but her talent shines in, well-- She can tell you!

Shiki: Hah, yeah! I’m Shiki Misaki! I’m the seamstress, so I made all the outfits you can see here in our workspace! Taking what Eri gives me, I bring our ideas to life! We’re both good in each other’s field, but together it feels like we’re unstoppable. She’s handed me some amazing designs to work with, and some I never thought I’d be able to turn into reality. The star of our show, the dress, was one of those. It almost ended up in the trash on more than one occasion, actually. We had to completely redesign it multiple times because we’re both perfectionists, and because someone sees the laws of physics as a challenge to beat. Eri likes to see how far we can push things past their limits, but we work best together because I can reel her back in if it goes too far.

We’re glad you two make such a good team! What led you to make the half-dress, half-suit outfit?

Eri: We wanted to design something that ignored gender norms. Something that defied them, without defaulting to a vaguely-masculine, androgynous look. The fact that clothing is gendered is ridiculous, and there’s this idea that men’s clothing is the default when you want a “gender neutral” item. We decided to go in the opposite direction, and add as much gender as we could, without being limited to one gender.

Shiki: It, like most of our line, is inspired by one of our friends. This dress was originally designed for him, before we decided to use it as part of our lineup. Gender is weird, and the society we live in makes navigating it more confusing than it needs to be. To be able to wear what you want, without worrying about the perception others have of you, without worrying about the way you’ll be labeled? That’s the ideal we strive for, and we hope our work can make a difference.

You said your friends inspired your line. What can you tell us about your creative choices?

Eri: Our friends are unique individuals, and we are too, so we know how to take a look at what people want, and what they need. Not everyone has the perfect model body. Not everyone wants to wear the high-fashion bling, or keep up with all the latest trends. The trick is to find what people want to wear, and design that, instead of chasing what’s trendy. If it’s stylish, people will want it, but it has to look nice and fit right.

Shiki: Just because something is comfortable, doesn’t mean it can’t have style. People are going to notice if you’re not at ease in the clothes you wear, and that unease ruins otherwise perfect appearances. We custom make everything here, and as the seamstress it’s my job to take what Eri gives me for the design and bring it to life. Doing that, while taking sensory issues into account, and ensuring nothing irritates the person who will be wearing it, is of the utmost importance.

Can you tell us a bit about  yourselves and your brand? How you got started, or where your mascot came from?

Shiki: Oh! Our mascot, Mr. Mew, was the first thing I ever made. I still have the original, and I carry him around with me. My quality of work has improved a lot, but he’s a big comfort item. He helps me face all the big scary monsters of the world, and I want him to be there to help others too.

Eri: We met when we were younger, back in middle school. I’ve always been good at making friends, but Shiki was a lot more shy then. Actually, we got in an argument, once when we were 15. I was so worried, I thought I was going to lose my best friend forever over a misunderstanding. Thankfully, we worked it all out, and here we are now! She’s a wonderful seamstress, and all of our friends are so supportive, so it’s nice. I don’t think we’d be where we are today without each other, and the help of everyone in our lives.

 It’s clear that these girls put lots of effort and dedication into what they do!

These girls offer more than some great threads! The namesake of their brand, Mr. Mew, is an adorable cat, and you can get merchandise of him too! Show off your love by picking up one of their plushies, cat ear headbands, and more!

Check out their full line at https://MrMewCreations.Com

 Neku Sakuraba

The artist of the month is none other than Neku Sakuraba! If you’ve taken a walk around Shibuya, you’ve already seen his stuff! This graffiti expert has been gaining a name for himself with stunning displays of color and intricate designs. If you frequent 104 or Molco, you’ll have seen his stylish bold lines on ads for some of the stores!

He first started making waves in the art world last December, when he put up a mural in the Miyashita Park Underpass. Dubbed Hachiko’s Guardian Angel by the public, it features a glowing figure standing over Hachiko, with white feathery wings stretched out over Shibuya’s night-time skyline. There are people at the base of the statue, and musical notes fill the outer space. We reached out to Sakuraba himself for commentary, and managed to secure an interview in his studio!

The space was big, half-finished paintings and sketches scattered across the room. Cans of spray-paint, colored pencils, and charcoal were everywhere. Interestingly, we also spotted a couple Mr. Mew plushies laying around. A second guest, a friend of Sakuraba’s who insisted on being called Joshua, was also in the studio.

But without further ado, the interview:

Thanks for welcoming us to your studio! Can you give us an introduction?

Neku: Right, hi, thanks for interviewing me. I’m Neku Sakuraba. Music geek, CAT fanboy, unwilling follower of fashion trends. That one over there [he gestures toward his friend] is Joshua. Please ignore everything he says. He decided to be here for “moral support,” but I think he just wants to tease me.

[Joshua, at this, gasped, and said, “I would never!” but as requested, his further commentary has been cut from the interview.]

Got it! What inspired you to start making art?

Neku: I’ve always been a doodler. My mom has artwork from back when I was six. The big moment of inspiration for me, when I went, I want to do this, was when I saw CATs art. Looking up at the mural in Udagawa for the first time, back when I was ten, I felt a spark, and I haven’t let go of that feeling since. It’s been rough, I’ve struggled with mental health issues, but art has always been a solace in the dark. I never thought I’d make it this far, or get as much recognition as I have. It’s amazing, and wonderful, and terrifying all at once.

You first got popular because of the mural you put up last December, in the Miyashita Park Underpass. Can you tell us anything about it?

Neku: Oh, yeah! It was the first mural I’d ever done, and I drew a lot of inspiration from Shibuya. In my head, I’ve nicknamed it Shibuya’s Composition. The piece is loosely based off a dream, if I’m being honest. The glowing white figure in the center, with the wings, is meant to be a guardian of Shibuya. Someone who helps the city grow. Meanwhile, the people at Hachiko are waiting for their friend to show, but he can’t, because he’s watching from above, protecting them from afar.

Fascinating! Do you feel like there’s a story you can make from that, one you might tell in the future?

Neku: I don’t think this is ever going to be a story or comic, unfortunately. It’s more of a personal piece. A few years ago, I only had one friend, my first friend, but I lost him. When he died, I isolated myself, and it took a lot from some special people to draw me out of that shell. Even now, I wish I could see him again, and the idea of him still being out there, watching over me and my new friends, comforts me when I miss him the most. I guess I’m like Hachiko, waiting for a dead person to come home.

I’m sorry for your loss. Can you tell us anything about your other artwork?

Neku: I do a lot of graffiti-style works. There’s no other big murals out there by me yet, but I’m working on a few designs right now. People have commissioned me to do stuff ranging from tattoo designs to album covers and store promotions. One of my favorite things to do when I make art, though, is to take the mundane and re-imagine it as something mystical. Why can’t you make foxes purple? Who says there isn’t danger lurking in the shadows? What’s stopping me from adding fire and lightning as weapons, from creating fantastical fights?

Another big source of inspiration is Shibuya. I’ve grown up in this city, it’s my home. If I can look around and see things others don’t? Then I can put that down on paper. Whether it’s as simple as catching the neon lights illuminating the Scramble, or the leaves falling around Hachiko, I can see that, pull it apart, and let my imagination run wild.

That’s pretty cool. You mentioned doing album artwork earlier, so can you tell us what it was like to design the cover for the latest album by The Albatross?

Neku: It was fun! I can’t tell you anything about them, obviously, but it came as a shock when they asked me if I could take on this project. In hindsight, it makes perfect sense. But what I can say, without getting myself vaporized on the spot, is that it was enjoyable, and they’re fun to work with. Even if they’re kinda a priss. The amount of artistic freedom I had was nice, and I think we collaborate well together. So there might be more partnership between us in the future, but nothing’s certain yet.

Wonderful! With that, one last question: what motivates you to create?

Neku: Art has always been an escape for me. It can be pretty, or loud. It can shout your thoughts from the rooftops or disguise them under the rustling of leaves in the wind. You can influence others with it, if you’re lucky. I create art for myself, first and foremost. But if I can provide a glimpse into my own secret garden, and let others see pieces of who I am in my work? Then I’m glad. I want to share it. I want to make my mark on the world, and provide others with the escape I once sought.

 This up-and-coming young artist is going to be a big name someday! With his talent, dedication, and heart, Neku Sakuraba might just be the next CAT!

If you want to support him, you can find information about him, his store, and his commission prices at https://nekusakuraba.com

 The Albatross

Our final creator of the month, someone a bit less new, but never interviewed, is The Albatross! Their first album, Noise, featured CAT artwork on the cover: an albatross in flight, with TV static cutting through the image. These two are a mysterious duo, but The Albatross takes the title of most elusive. Despite gaining fame from fans latching onto CAT art, The Albatross has never given the public a single word.

Until now, that is! With their second album, Pulse, set to release in a couple of weeks, they have consented to an interview for the first time!

The album artwork was done by Neku Sakuraba, and it features a feathered white wing, sprouting from the right-hand side of the image. Some of the lower feathers have been replaced with graffiti-like designs.

As for the music itself, their first album featured orchestral tracks, heavy on the violin, alongside electro-punk tunes! Some were instrumental, while others had lyrics. Pulse is looking to be the same style, but rather than the dark themes of Noise, it contains brighter, more hopeful songs.

We went through a lot of paperwork, involving multiple non-disclosure agreements, and the interview took place over a call while they utilized a voice changer, but it was worth it! And we’re happy to share what we’ve learned with you!

Thank you for choosing to have your first interview ever be with us! Can you give us an introduction? Nothing too personal is required!

Albatross: You were the only ones I felt were trustworthy, and the only ones completely willing to honor my anonymity. Also, a friend may have bribed me into it with promises of ramen. As for introductions… I am The Albatross, composer of music, avid Tin Pin fan, and a nerd when it comes to all things Shibuyan. History, culture, the trends. I thrive off her, it’s like the city’s got a pulse that matches my heartbeat.

Shibuya is amazing, we agree. Can you tell us why you chose your alias?

Albatross: There’s a lot of symbolism in the albatross. The bird can be a sign of good luck for sailors, historically. In the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, though, one of the sailors kills an albatross, and thus it becomes a curse. He bears the burden as the other sailors hang the bird around his neck, reminding him of how he’s doomed them all. I’ll let fans keep speculating on why I picked it, though. I can’t give away all my secrets here.

Of course. We wouldn’t want you to spoil all the fun! How do you make your music?

Albatross: It’s amazing what you can do with technology! I know how to play the violin and piano, so any parts in my songs with those are actually me playing, but for the rest I use a few different music programs! For vocals, I outsource it to Shibuyan singers, but all lyrics are still written by me. In the end, I weave everything together, and finagle it so it fits.

Sounds like a lot of work. Where do you get your inspiration for it all?

Albatross: From Shibuya! This city has a life of her own. Feet tapping against pavement, voices reaching through the air, all the beeps and honks and the myriad of noises that resound in every corner; it all creates a rhythm, it creates music. Sometimes I’ll sit and let it all wash over me. The city holds so much, a million stories fighting for attention. They echo in my head, begging to be told, so I write them. I turn them into music in the hopes of expressing their messages for everyone to hear.

The tone between your first and second album has changed a lot, from what the previews are showing. Is there a reason for this?

Albatross: Yeah. I’m going to be blunt. When I wrote and released my first album, I was suicidal. Completely isolated from the rest of humanity, with no friends or good experiences to fall back on for comfort. My only outlet was music, and because I was so depressed and misanthropic, my work reflected this. I saw the world as poisoned, felt like people would never change, and thought my existence contributed to the negativity.

But now? I have friends. Someone entered my life, not quite of their own free will, but they stuck around. They dragged me into the sun, undoing all my self-sabotaging attempts, and they helped me grow. Helped me learn to see the good in humanity again. Shibuya is full of life, full of creativity, of people trying to do their best and help others. I wasn’t able to see it before, vision clouded with my own preconceived notions, but they… Removed the tinted glasses from my face, so to speak. And this is why my new album is more hopeful and lighthearted.

You mentioned mental health, just now. Are you able to elaborate on any of that?

Albatross: Mhm, I can. It’s not pleasant, but… Mental health isn’t talked about enough, even though it impacts so many people. I’ve had depression for years now. I still do. Some friends and a few bonding experiences doesn’t magically cure everything. There is no magic cure. What helps is finding people you can rely on when things get tough. If I lock myself in my apartment, I used to hide away for weeks. Now, though? One of them comes knocking after a few days, with ramen and orders to shower. Sometimes it can feel like you’re going to shatter into a million pieces. But instead of falling apart in secret and cutting myself on the shards of glass, I have people who hold me as I break, minimize the damage, and help me piece myself back together.

Recovery is not a straight line, and there’s no end to the winding trail you take. What’s important is having friends there with you. People who help you stand up when you stumble, who help you make camp when you need to rest. Find someone who makes you feel safe enough to fall apart. Someone who can be there to pick up the broken shards, and help you create something new and beautiful with the pieces.

 The Albatross is still a mystery to us all, but hopefully their words and music have reached those of you who need to hear them!

They don’t have an official website, but you can find The Albatross on your preferred music streaming service, or head to a local music shop to pick up their stuff! Don’t forget to pre-order their newest album, Pulse, and if you haven’t grabbed Noise yet, be sure to snag that too!

And that’s all for our New Creators Spotlight this month! Be sure to get next month’s issue for all our latest stories, and to discover the up-and-coming talents of Shibuya!

[ugyeoms]

The Boy With the Bright Smile//Ten Scenario

Title: The Boy With the Bright Smile

Pairing: Reader x Ten

Word Count: 5.2k+

Plot: (Requested) The boy with the bright smile and you just so happen to get paired together during a Chemistry lab. There also just so happens to be Homecoming at the end of the week.

A/N: This request is SO late and SO out of season, but it was so cute I just had to write it. Plus, it was for my love @hellohaechan! I’m sorry this took 2384825092034 Anne but I hope you still enjoy it, ily!

The sharp tone of the first bell of the school day rings through the building making you and every other student around you wince. Monday mornings; the dreaded days that mark the beginning of another insufferable school week. The annual pattern of waking up at an ungodly hour of the morning, going to school to do work, going home to do more work, getting scarce hours of sleep, and doing it all over again is just so tolling. It’s only the second month of school and you already feel as if you’re drowning in a sea of work. Not to mention that the Homecoming dance is this Friday, and you still don’t know who you’re going with or what you’re wearing. To sum, your life is a hectic mess right now, and early morning Chem is not in your list of things you’d like to be doing right now. Similar to everyone else, you drag your heavy body into the room with as much energy as you could muster during the wee hours of the morning and plop down into your designated seat. Your Chemistry teacher walks in so brightly, she may as well be whistling and skipping to her desk. Glaring at her peppiness slightly, you reach into your bag and get out your book, eager to get this class over with. As expected, your teacher begins the class as soon as the bell rings.

“Good morning class and happy Monday! Today we’re going to be starting a lab project that will count for twenty five percent of your first quarter grade and will last the entire week. Hopefully you and your partner will be able to finish all of the work within the school time given, but if not you are welcome to work on it together outside of class since most of it is knowledge and not action based. So, the first thing we’re going to do is randomly assign the partners. Listen for your name and head over to your partner once they’re announced, ok?”

You swear you felt your heart dropped once she announced randomized partners. None of your close friends are in this class with you as it is, but random partners always make you a bit nervous, especially with such a big assignment. The classroom’s noise naturally increases in volume while your teacher is setting up the randomizer, and you can’t help but here the distinct laugh that never fails to capture your attention. Looking behind you slightly, you are met with the sight of the boy you like to call “the boy with the bright smile” in your head. You grin slightly while watching him laugh with his friends before quickly turning around so that you don’t seem creepy. This boy’s name is unknown to you; however, you always recognize his beautiful laugh whenever you hear it. He’s not popular, he’s not unpopular, he’s kind of just that guy who’s always nice to everyone, has a lot of friends, and never has a frown on his face. That’s what you find appealing, you assume. You’ve always been curious how this mysteriously not so mysterious boy is always so positive. The music like laugh echoes through the room again, this time your smile unable to be contained. You don’t truly understand how you could be fawning over someone you don’t even know the name of, but you like to think that it’s just the boy’s alluring nature.

“Ok guys listen up!” Your teacher announces, everyone immediately silencing because of the burning curiosity of who their partner is going to be.

“First up...” Your teacher starts listing off pairs, some resulting in cheers, others resulting in awkward smiles. Your name isn’t mentioned until about half way through the lineup. “Y/n and Ten.” Your teacher reads. Well Ten is a unique name that you’ve never heard before. Trying to see if anyone reacted to their name being called to match the name to a face, you sneakily look around the classroom, but are sadly met with no match. The names are done being announced and every finally starts getting up to meet with their partner. Before you even have a chance to stand up a smooth, honey like voice asks from beind, “Hi, y/n right?” You turn around to respond but almost choke because of whose standing in front of you. The first thing you see is the smile and that’s all you need to see to know who your partner is. Ten is standing in front of you and you’re seeing his smile up close and personal. Realizing you’re just staring at him and not answering, you quickly stand up and respond “Yep! I’m guessing you’re Ten then?” You mentally face palm at the cliche and obvious answer to your question. Luckily, he either ignores the awkwardness or doesn’t realize, because his grin immediately widens as he gently grabs your hand and shakes it. Your eyes follow the gesture, shocked it’s formalness, but you find yourself finding it almost endearing. Ten’s gaze follows yours and he quickly pulls his hand away, causing you to pout internally. 

“Sorry if that was weird, it’s just that we don’t know each other so I thought, why not shake hands to make it less awkward? But I kind of think it made it more awkward...” He says trailing off and meeting your eyes with a nervous grin. If you thought this boy was adorable before, you don’t even know how you would describe him now. To make matters even worse, he starts giggling. GIGGLING. You suddenly find yourself internally awing at a boy, your age, that you’re supposed to be doing a science lab with. This is going to be an interesting project.

“No, it’s fine! So do you wanna take a seat here, or I could sit back there with you...” You trail off, slightly blushing.

“Oh um, I’ll sit up here so you don’t have to move your stuff, just give me one second!” He responds, rushing off to get his things from the back of the room, slightly tripping over some girl’s binder on the floor, but quickly steadying himself before falling. The blushing boy hastily turns around to see if you saw him, and finds himself burning up even more when he realizes you did. Shooting him a small smile with a look of encouragement, you turn forward into your seat. Just as Ten returns and sits down, your teacher starts to speak again. 

“Now that you’ve had a little time to chat and get to know your partner, I’d like to say a few more things. Please don’t just fool around and rush this, this lab is a huge part of first quarter grade, and I expect you and your partner to work diligently and cooperatively together. I’m going to hand out the packets now, and you’re welcome to begin.” The chatter quickly picks up again within the classroom, majority of the students complaining about the amount of work the packet requires.

“Woah, this is crazy long!” Ten exclaims, his eyes widened in the most adorable way. Looking down at the packet yourself, you see that it’s about 30 pages long. There’s absolutely no way the two of you could finish this in only five classroom days. Not even a genius could! Butterflies start fluttering in your stomach at the thought of meeting outside of school with Ten to work on the project. You shake your head at the thought, tsking yourself for acting like you have a middle school girl crush when you barely even know the guy.

“So I guess we better get started huh?” You ask, with the intention of getting the thoughts out of your head.

“Yeah! I still think we’re going to have to work on this outside of school though, thirty pages is insane.” He complains. “Not that I wouldn’t want to spend time with you out of school!” He shoots out quickly afterward, actually startling you a bit. “Wait that sounded a little creepy, I’m not a creep I promise! I just didn’t want you to think that I was complaining because of you, I’m only complaining because of the length of the project! I’m totally ok with this whole set up and.. oh gosh sorry I’m rambling.” He apologizes, shyly looking at the ground with what you make out to be a small pinkish tint covering his cheeks, shocking you. Whenever you saw Ten with his friends in the hallways or even just in the back of the classroom, he always came off as a confident, outgoing, and fun guy. But now, you’re seeing that he’s a bit more sweet than you’d expected, definitely less confident and more on the shy side than you’d imagined, but to you, that makes him all the more appealing.

“It’s all good, I figured that’s what you were upset about.” You beam. Ten looks up and sees your grin only to return and and turn to his paper to get ready to work. The rest of the class is filled with shy flirting, some Chemistry, and some more shy flirting. Ten and you end up getting along surprisingly well, the two of you sharing similar interests, and your personalities being very fitting with one another’s. Your admiration for this boy just keeps getting stronger and stronger, and this is the only real conversation you’ve ever had with him. Looking over at the clock, you see that there’s only a few minutes left until the bell is supposed to ring.

“Hey the bell is going to ring in a few, so let’s stop here?” You ask, beginning to close your books and get all of your things together.

“Sure! And maybe we can see where we get tomorrow and then start working on it together outside of school?” Ten suggests, clearly less nervous than the last time he brought up the subject, which you are thankful for.

“That’s a good idea!” You respond, those butterflies coming back to remind you of the feelings you have about being with Ten outside of school. 

“Ok great! So do you want to exchange numbers...” Ten offers, shyly handing you his phone. Nodding in response, you hand him yours in return. You input your number into his phone and label your contact “Y/n :)”, only to find he has done the exact same thing with his name on your phone.

“I guess we really are similar!” He giggles, making your heart stop beating once again. You never thought giggles could be deadly until you met this boy.

“I guess we are.” You echo back, your eyes refusing to leave his smile. Just then, the bell rings to signal the end of the class period. The sadness that fills your body is unavoidable, seeing as you really enjoyed your time with Ten. It definitely made your Monday a whole lot better than you thought it’d be. 

While the two of your are gathering your things, Ten ask, “Hey, where are you going next?”

A little shocked at his unexpected question, you stutter, but answer “Uh, language.” Today was literally the first time you’ve ever spoken to Ten, but he still keeps managing to get you all flustered.

“Oh cool, I’m down that hallway too, if you wanna walk together?” His shyness automatically comes back as he voices the question. If you were walking you would have stopped in your tracks. It takes a second to fully recap everything that’s happened in the past forty minutes sink it. First, you meet the boy with the bright smile in person for the first time, you finally put a name to his face, you discover that the two of you have a lot in common, you get his number, and now he’s offering to walk you to your next class. The unfathomable nature of it all does affect you, but you’re nodding before you even realize.

“Awesome, let’s go!” Ten voices with excitement, grabbing your wrist lightly and pulling you outside of the classroom with him. Surprisingly to you, no one approaches you two in the hallway. None of his seemingly endless amounts of friends, not girls intending to flirt, absolutely no one. And it’s nice. It’s nice that you finally get to meet the guy you’ve been so curious about these past few months. Additionally, you can luckily say that you have not been let down by him.

“This is my class up here.” You break the conversation, pointing at the next door ahead.

“Well, it’s been a really nice time talking to you y/n.” Ten says. “I’ll text you?” As if realizing what he’d just said, Ten immediately starts flailing saying, “Oh I mean about the project! Well I don’t really mean about the project, I actually just want to talk to you more, but it’s ok if you don’t want to we can just talk about the pr-”

“Ten! I’d love if you’d text me later.” You cut him off, giving him the assurance that he needed to know that you are enjoying this just as much as he is. Ten feels his confidence boost at your response, and can’t help but to raise his shoulders a bit higher.

“Looks like i’ll be texting you later then.” He flirts, not as jittery now.

“I’ll be looking forward to it.” You flirt back, shocked at your own confidence. Of course he smiles at you again, but this time, you can’t help but notice that there’s something a little more present in that smile, and it’s making your heart race knowing that it’s because of you. Ten finally waves and makes his way further down the hallway to his classroom. You make your way into your classroom, plop into your desk, and let out the quietest squeal you could possibly muster.

“Y/n, it’s Monday. What is up with you?” Your best friend asks from the desk beside you.

“You’ll never guess what happened to me.” You smirk. 

~

The rest of the day flies by quickly, and before you know it, you’re waking up two days later wondering yet again what outfit Ten would like the most. As promised, Ten had began texting you as soon as his class has ended. Random facts about one another, constant flirtatious remarks, and anything that you can think of was shared between the two of you in the past two day’s text conversations. Ten had also hinted at him wanting you to come to his house today to work on the project. This all seems to be happening so fast, but that makes it all the more exciting for you. Although you’re just truly getting to know Ten, you feel like you’ve known him for years. It’s seriously unbelievable how quickly you two were able to warm up to one another. You know it’s highly unlikely that Ten even has feelings for you this early, but you can’t help but hope. The meeting of the two of you almost seems too good to be true.

When you finally arrive at school, you’re almost too anxious to stand still. The excitement of meeting with Ten once again courses through your veins and for once, you’re actually excited about going to Chemistry. As soon as you step foot into the classroom, Ten is waiting for you at your desk, frantically waving with a huge smile on his face and suddenly, you don’t know how you’re going to survive the day. 

“Y/n!” He shouts excitedly, earning looks from your fellow peers in the classroom. Looking down at the floor shy from the attention, you quickly make your way over to Ten.

“Hey! Ready to work on the project?” You ask with enthusiasm.

“But I don’t wanna work on the project, I wanna talk to you!” Ten pouts. POUTS. And you swear it’s the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen. 

“As much as I’d absolutely love to just sit here and talk to you the entire class, we have to get this lab done.” Your face falls in return. “Just think though, the sooner we get the lab project done, the sooner we get to just sit here and talk!”

Ten’s face lights up in excitement, and he immediately reaches into his bag and pulls out his project. “Well then, what are we waiting for?!” He says.

If you thought yesterday Ten was being flirty, today he was being way past flirty. Even Ten was shocked at what a strong liking he’s taken to you in the course of not even three full days. It’s incredible what an impact you had on him. As you’re working, he finds himself staring at you as you write down the answer to one of the questions. He knows he looks cliche. His chin is perched upon his hand as he’s leaning on his elbow and he’s just studying your face. Feeling him staring, you turn to look at him and you expect him to pull away, but he stays exactly where he is, creating very intense eye contact between the two of you.

“What?” You ask softly. At first, Ten just stares for a while. He knows that he’s been caught and that he should be saying something to you, but he just can’t. He opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out. What is this feeling? He remembers Johnny was calling him “whipped” yesterday. Is this what being whipped feels like? Ten will have to ask Johnny later. 

“You’re just... pretty.” Ten shyly states, embarrassed at his own response to your question.

His cheeks aren’t the only ones that are painted red after the statement. Ten’s been extremely flirty within the two days you’ve met him, but you’d never expected him to just go out and compliment you so sincerely like that.

“Thanks.” You grin, refusing to look up from your paper since you are unable to meet his eyes. The rest of the period goes by smoothly, the two of you both high off of the giddiness you feel as a result of your moment. Before you know it, the bell signaling the end of the period is ringing.

“What? It’s over already?” Ten complains, pouting for the second time today. “How would you feel about coming over my house today?” He asks. “You know, to work on the project.” He adds nervously at the end.

“That sounds like a good idea.” You respond, internally screaming that he just invited you to his house. You’re gathering your things together and now the two of you leave the classroom side by side for the third time. 

“Great so, i’ll text you at the end of the day and you can meet me by my car after last period?” He suggests, looking up from the ground to meet your eyes.

“Yeah, sure.” You reply, literally lost for words.

“Awesome! I’ll see you soon y/n!” He says, skipping over to his next class with enthusiasm. You watch him skip off, completely in awe of how infatuated you became so soon.

~

Once last period is over, you walk at a fast pace; eager to get to Ten so that the two of you can go to his house. He had previously texted you that he would get his car and bring it to the front of the school so that you didn’t have to walk far, the small gesture already causing you to swoon. A car eventually pulls up in front of you. Assuming that it’s Ten, you walk to go into the car but he’s at the door opening it for you before you can even get there. A slight blush paints your cheeks at the additional kind gesture, but you step into the car thanking him softly. Once Ten starts the car, the ride to his house is silent. Surprisingly, it’s not an uncomfortable silence. There’s no tension, there’s not even really nerves, you two are just comfortable in one another’s presence. The journey to his house is short, and the two of you are there in less than 10 minutes. Ten leads you into his house and smiles. “It’s ok with you if we go up to my room right?” You nod in confirmation, and he says “Alright just give me one second to make sure it’s clean.” You can’t help but laugh at him as he runs up the stairs. You quickly take a look around to take in the decor of his house. Just as you’d expected, the house has a very warm and homely feel to it. The decor is beautiful and is matched very nicely.

“We’re good!” Ten shouts from up the stairs. Assuming that was the signal for you to meet him, you make your way up the stairs. As you’re ascending the staircase, you can’t help but notice the pictures of a young Ten on the wall. One of them looks like he was the winner of some sort of competition. You make a mental note to ask him about it, since you didn’t think he played any sports.

“In here!” He announces from the room all the way to the left. You follow his voice into a light blue painted room, and find him sitting on his bed getting his textbook and supplies ready.

“I don’t have any chairs so I think we’re both going to have to sit on the bed... I hope you don’t mind.” He tells you shyly.

“I don’t mind.” You respond, taking a seat on the bed next to him. The two of you sit there for a moment, look at each other, and just start giggling.

“Do you want anything to eat or drink before we start miss?” Ten asks in a mock accent, wiggling his eyebrows.

Laughing, you respond, “I’ll have some water please.”

“I’ll be right back!” He says, rushing down the stairs yet again. You take this moment to look around his room. In the corner of the room, there is a small table with a decent amount of trophies and metals displayed upon it. Getting a little closer, you discover that they’re dancing awards. Ten returns fairly quickly, holding two glasses of water and a bag of chips.

“So, you are dancer?” You question, turning around to look at him with amazement in your eyes. Ten walks over to where you are after placing the glasses down, and starts rubbing the back of his neck.

“Haha yeah.” He responds, almost shyly. Although you can’t understand why he would be shy, you decide to delve further into it.

“I’ve always found dancers very admirable.” You start. “The fluidity of their movements, all of the memorization, the emotion, it takes real skill. You must be pretty incredible.” You praise, your eyes scanning all over the numerous amount of awards he’s won.

“I guess.” He responds embarrassingly happily.

“You’ll have to show me your dancing some time.” You suggest, hoping he’ll say yes and that you didn’t go too far.

“Looks like i’ll have to.” He smirks, surprising you a bit. How this boy can go from being all shy and embarrassed to smirking cockily you will never understand, but you guess you’ll just have to go with it.

After that, the two of you finally begin to work on the lab; however, it’s barely getting done because the two of you keep getting distracted by one another. 

“I can’t believe all of this is due on Friday, our teacher must be insane.” You complain, flipping through the endless amount of pages.

“I know!” Ten agrees. “Hey, are you going to the Homecoming dance on Friday?” Your heart stops as soon as he asked the question. You’d completely forgotten about the homecoming dance, and you still don’t have a dress or a date.

“Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about the Homecoming dance!” You say, face palming.

“So, you don’t have plans?” Ten hints further, with you still not catching on.

“Not yet, I didn’t even buy a dress yet.” You pout, suddenly feeling yourself getting more and more stressed out. 

“So, no date?” Ten pushes again, with you finally starting to catch on.

“Nope... no date.” You respond hopefully.

“Well, I don’t have a date either... and since you said you’d like to see me dance... I was wondering if you’d maybe like to go with me?” He asks with a shaky voice. Not being able to contain your excitement, you thrust yourself forward and pull him into a hug. Ten is shocked, but still catches you in his arms nonetheless. The two of you sit there in each others arms for a while, just enjoying each other’s company, when Ten finally says, “So, I guess I’ll take that as a yes?”

“Yes! Oh my gosh I’m so sorry.” You pull away, the embarrassment of what you just did sinking in.

Aware of your embarrassment, Ten takes this opportunity to say, “You’re seriously so cute y/n. I can’t believe I get to go to the dance with someone like you.” He smirks. And with that, you’re blushing even more, and Ten is laughing and pulling you into his arms yet again. He starts petting your hair softly, snuggling into the hug. You pray that he can’t hear how fast your heart is beating since he’s so close to you, but he does. And what you fail to notice, is that his heart is beating just as fast as yours.

~

“Y/n, you look so beautiful!” Your mother says, leaning forward to smooth out the bottom of your dress again. You look in the mirror in awe. It’s amazing to you how you managed to get such a gorgeous dress in only two days. “Ten is going to fall to the ground once he sees you!”

“Mom!” You whine, embarrassed. Ten should be here any minute to pick you up, and you’re so nervous. What if he doesn’t like the dress? What if he thinks your makeup or hair looks bad? All of these thoughts are running through your head a once like wildfire. All you want is to impress Ten. The doorbell rings suddenly, freezing you in your spot.

“He’s here!” Your mom yells, seemingly more excited than you are. “Ten dear, come on in! She’s all ready for you!” Your mom welcomes him, grabbing his arm lightly and pulling him into your living room.

When Ten sees you, he swears his whole world stops. He feels his jaw dropping slightly. Not wanting to stand there like a dead fish he tries to muster up something, anything to say to you. 

“Y/n, you look- wow.” He cuts himself off, shaking his head. “You look absolutely stunning.” He says. 

The blush that you are so familiar with once again paints itself over your cheeks. The two of you both look like tomatoes you’re both blushing so hard; however, before you know it, your mom is pushing the two of you out the door.

“Have fun kids! Don’t get home too late!  And please take care of my daughter Ten!” Your mom yells out the door.

“Don’t worry Mrs. y/l/n, she’s in good hands I promise.” Ten responds, leading you to the car with one of his hands gently resting upon your back.

The car ride is silent, as the one from the other day was. However, this time Ten reaches over to grab your hand, using only one hand to drive. Your heart is fluttering already, excited for the night you two have ahead of you. The two of you quickly pull up to the dance, and Ten, being the gentleman he is, opens the door for you once again.

“After you m’lady.” He jokes, showing you that irreplaceable smile once again.

“Thank you sir!” You play along, intertwining your hand with his and walking into the dance.

The dance is already packed once the two of you get there, and neither of you really know what to do first, overwhelmed by the amount of people.

“Do you wanna dance?” Ten whisper yells in your ear, trying to talk to you over the loud music.

“Sure!” You yell back, letting him lead you to the dance floor.

That dance is the beginning of many dances throughout the night, the two you never leaving the dance floor to even eat. Ten is an incredible dancer, just as you had expected because of all of his awards, and he’s absolutely perfect at leading you, even with your two left feet. The two of you continuously dance the night away, never getting tired, and never getting sick of one another. It is truly perfect.

“Alright guys, this next ones gonna be a slow one, so grab your respective guy or girl and make your way to the dance floor!” The DJ says, lowering the upbeat song and beginning the traditional slow dance. 

Ten instinctively puts both of his hands on your hips, after leading you to put your arms around his neck. Couples are surrounding the two of you on the dance floor, all of them closely dancing with their significant other. However, you and Ten can’t take your eyes off of one another. The past week has been indescribable. You can’t believe that the universe has allowed you to meet and get close with someone as wonderful as Ten in such a short amount of time. You feel so lucky. Right now, with the two of you swaying to the beat, staring into each others eyes, you decide that there isn’t anywhere else you’d rather be.

“Y/n?” Ten says, grabbing your attention away from your thoughts.

“Hm?” You hum in response.

“Look, I know we just met each other earlier this week, but I just feel like.... I don’t know... we have this sort of... connection.” He confesses to you, embarrased.

“I feel the same way Ten.” You smile at him, causes him to immediately return one to you.

“I’m so happy we were paired together for that project y/n. It’s almost feels like fate.” Ten starts. The smile leaves his face and you can tell that he’s getting nervous about something. “So that’s why I was wondering... “ He starts. “If you wanted to be my girlfriend?”

You can’t believe your ears. It seems so unreal to you that this is actually happening. Here you are, slow dancing with the most beautiful and kind boy you’ve ever seen, and he’s asking you to be his girlfriend, while slow dancing with you.

“I understand if it’s too soon-”

“Ten.” You start, interrupting him. “I’d absolutely love to be your girlfriend.”

Disregarding everyone else in the room and deciding this moment as the perfect time, Ten leans in and places a gentile kiss upon your lips. You too are too happy to care about the other people surrounding you. You return the kiss proudly, allowing yourself to bask in the joy that you’re feeling right now. Ten pulls away first, and smiles his signature smile at you. Except this time, there’s more to it. He’s not just the mysterious boy with the bright smile, but he’s the boy with the bright smile meant for you.

[secret-kkh-fics]

Anywhere But Home | Chapter 4

Due to this not being posted anywhere else yet, please like but DON’T REBLOG my fics.

Chapter Summary:

The twins call a Code Fluffy to try and make Pacifica feel better. Mabel gains some new blackmail material.

Author Note:

Hello all again! Well, all I have to say about this chapter is that it is pure fluff. Every bit of it. So, I hope you enjoy it!

Cuddles and Potential Blackmail 

“Hey, Dipper?” Mabel called out from the kitchen.  

“Yeah?” he called back.  

“Code Fluffy?”  

He looked at Pacifica, staring at her like he was trying to decide something. “Do you want to sleep?” he asked her. Pacifica shrugged in response. “Code Fluffy!” he shouted.  

“Okay, you're getting the blankets!”  

“I know!” He turned back to Pacifica. “We're going to have to try and get you upstairs.” She groaned at the prospect. There was no way she was going to be able to get up a flight of stairs. “It's okay. You won't even have to put any weight on your foot at all. I'll help you.”  

“No offence, but I saw your stairs on the way in and they look tiny.”  

“Yeah, they are a bit... Why would that be offensive?”  

“Ah... because I kind of think that everything in this house is tiny and dirty.”  

“Pfft!” he snorted. “That's because you live in a mansion. And because this place is really old and inhabited by an old man who doesn't know the meaning of the word 'clean'. Now come here, you snob.”  

She glared at him for that, but it wasn't as sharp as her usual one, she noticed that his tone seemed teasing. Like... in a nice way, not a nasty way. The way that friends teased each other. The idea of Dipper seeing her as a friend kind of made her feel... warm.  

Smiling slightly, she gingerly lifted her foot off the skull table and rested it on the ground. Dipper grabbed her bag and hoisted it onto his back, then offered her a hand. Once he'd helped her to her feet, he stood on the side of her bad foot and ducked his head so that she could put an arm around his shoulder. Even though he was stooped down, she still found that he was a bit tall. She knew that by the end of this, he was going to be as sore as she was... well, almost.  

“Ready?” he asked.  

“Yeah, I guess.”  

Slowly they began walking, Dipper going as slow and steady as she could, acting as her crutch. She hobbled along beside him, glad that she didn't have to put any weight on her foot. The hopping was already starting to get to her, her feet already sore from running. And she was sure she was putting most of her weight on Dipper. She turned to apologise or something for it, then noticed that he was still practically at her eye level. “Are you still crouching?” she asked incredulously.  

“Well, yeah, you're short.”  

“Hey!”  

He chuckled. “Relax. Why do the really short ones always get so worked up? Height's no big deal I mean, I'm short for my age. Even Mabel's taller than me.”  

“Seriously?”  

“Yep. Well, only by a millimetre, but that's enough for her to claim she's the alpha twin. Doesn't help that she's outgoing and older than me by five minutes... I'm just crossing my fingers for another growth spurt soon.” She suddenly realised that they'd been standing still since she'd noticed him stooping, and she realised why. They were standing at the base of the stairs. She bit her lip, looking up at the rickety staircase in apprehension. “Hey, it's okay, you can do this,” he told her. “You've got me and the rail. You'll just have to kind of jump I guess.”  

She gave him a determined nod, and they started up. She relied on Dipper and the rail quite heavily, putting all her weight on them and swinging her way up. They almost fell down a few times, and her arms and good leg were horribly tired by the time they got to the top. She felt a bit sorry for Dipper, but he just grinned at her.  

“You made it!” he celebrated.  

“Your room is way too high up.”  

He raised an eyebrow. “Your room is on the fourth floor of your house.”  

“Your room is the attic! That's the top of your house!”  

“That's not- You know what, never mind. The attic is the best place anyway, apart from maybe Soos's break room. We'll see if he's willing to give it up while you're here. But for tonight it looks like we're having a sleepover in the attic. Now come on, we have to get set up.  

“For what? What's Code Fluffy?”  

“It's love in a blanket!” Mabel said, skipping up behind them with a tray of hot-drinks and other sweet snacks. She went off ahead of them, and they slowly made their way along behind them. It was a good thing that Stan was still up, or all the thumping would have woken him.  

“It's our method of making each other feel better,” he explained further as he helped her along to the room. “Our favourite advice is to get a nice drink, some snacks, bundle up in blankets, cuddle something fluffy, and watch a feel-good movie. So if either of us is upset or not feeling great, we'll call a Code Fluffy.” As he was saying this, he led her over to a bed and helped sit her down on it.  

“Dipper calls them the most. He gets panic attacks,” Mabel said casually.  

“Mabel!”  

“What?”  

“That actually sounds really nice,” she said, stopping them from arguing further.  

“It is. And it really works. Of course, it works better with other people. It relaxes you and makes you happier because when you hug someone, it releases serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin, which-”  

“Alright, alright, nerd,” Mabel said. “Just go get the blankets, would ya!” Dipper huffed out a sigh, rolled his eyes, and left the room mumbling under his breath. “Right, down to business,” she said matter of factly. She bounced over to the other bed and picked up a pile of stuffed toys from it. “What one do you want?”  

Pacifica blinked at the lineup before her in bewilderment. She hadn't cuddled a stuffed toy since she was six. Her mom had thought they were too childish after that. The next thing she knew, Lily the Llama was gone. “Um... the... rabbit, I guess.”  

“Done. Her name is Daisy.” She handed the white rabbit over to her, a purple felt flower had been stitched on just above one of the ears. Then she began to pick out a few more. “Dipper usually likes Mr Bearington. I'll take Kitty Snufflepants today. And Waddles can have Widdles!”  

“Widdles?”  

“Yeah!” she cried in delight, holding up a stuffed pig. “He's like Waddles, but he's 'widdle'! Dipper won him for me in a crane game.”  

“Oh, okay.” She didn't understand why the pig needed its own toy, but whatever floated the strange girl's boat. She and her brother were being way too nice to her for her to care.  

Quickly she made the decision to divest herself of any uncomfortable clothing while Dipper was out. She unhooked her bra and pulled it out from under her shirt. She also took off her other shoe and sock but decided that it would be easier to leave her jeans on, rather than painfully struggle to get them off and again struggle to put on her night clothes.  

“And now onto the movie,” Mabel cried. She went over to the bed Pacifica was sitting on and pulled a laptop from underneath. It had a blue sticker of a pine tree, just like the one on Dipper's hat. It must be his... which would also make this his bed. That made sense considering the toys, glitter, and Sev'ral Timez posters on the other bed. Mabel tapped a few keys, then frowned. “That's weird.”  

“What?”  

“His password's changed.”  

There came a muffled chuckle, and they both turned to see Dipper staggering back into the room under a big pile of blankets and bedrolls. “I was wondering when you were going to notice.” He dumped the pile on the ground near the window.  

“When did you change it?”  

“Like, three weeks ago or so.”  

“Oh... Well, that's good, I guess. Ooh! Hold on, I bet I can guess the new one...” She sat there a moment, her tongue stuck out in thought. Then her eyes widened, a smile creeping over her face, and she quickly typed something in. It instantly logged her in. “Yes!”  

“Aww, damn it.”  

“How did you do that?” Pacifica asked in amazement.  

“It's easy. Dipper's passwords are things he's obsessed with at the time. It wasn't hard to guess 'journal author'. He's been trying to find clues about him since he found that book.”  

“I really need to think of better passwords.”  

“At least you change yours. I've the same password for three years now,” Pacifica told him.  

“I have to change it. I have a Mabel to attempt to protect it from.” He fluffed up some pillows and blankets, starting to put together a makeshift bed to fit three.  

“Never works,” she grinned. “Okay, here's the movies. What do you want to watch? Pick any, Dipper's okay with all of them.”  

The man in question shrugged. “I'm not picky.”  

“Really? You'll even watch girly chick flicks?”  

“I was raised with Mabel. I'm used to them.”  

“And he just likes them anyway. He even likes Babba! Oof!” She was knocked over when a pillow hit her square in the head. Dipper grinned smugly.  

“Really? Babba's awesome! Have you seen the musical they made that had only their most popular songs? Cheesy as hell to watch, it was good.”  

“We've never actually been to see any musicals,” Mabel told her.  

“Well, we'll have to change that. You have to see Wicked! It's not an option.”  

“Ooh! I've always wanted to do Wicked as like... a play or something!” Mabel said excitedly. “We should totally put on a performance here! I could be Elphaba, and you could be Glinda! You're blonde! And you can hit all the high notes!”  

“And your friendship started out about the same,” Dipper commented.  

“Loathing. Unadulterated loathing...” Pacifica sang, her smile faded. “Yeah, sorry about that.”  

“Ah, you know how it is. Water and bridges and all that. Maybe something about ducks? I don't know. I think there should be ducks somewhere in that saying.”  

“You're thinking of 'water under the bridge' and 'water off a duck's back', Mabel. Though, if you mixed them together you'd get a pretty interesting malaphor.”  

“You mean metaphor.”  

“No, I mean malaphor. The combining of two or more idioms. You know, like 'we'll burn that bridge when we get to it' instead of 'cross that bridge' and 'burning bridges'.”  

“...You're right, he is a nerd,” she said to Mabel.  

“Hey!”  

“What? I never said it's a bad thing. So what, you're smart.”  

“Don't encourage him!” Mabel cried. “His head is already big enough. Literally.”  

“Beats me then. My head is tiny. The only reason I can fit half my hats is because my hair is so thick and boofy! Ooh, hey, how about this?” She turned the screen around to show them her selection.  

“Princess Diaries 2. Heck yeah!”  

“Sure. I'm in.” He gestured to the blankets. “Also, I've made the bed.” To be honest, it looked more like a giant nest of pillows and blankets. They were a little old looking for her liking, but it did look comfy.  

“I call middle!” Mabel shouted, scrambling over. She snuggled down under the top layer of blankets, putting the laptop on her lap.  

“Here.”  

Dipper held out his hand to her, and once more he helped her walk over to the bed. He sat her down beside Mabel, and she was able to tuck herself in. It would be a close fit for the three of the of them. She wasn't really sure how she felt about that. She wasn't used to it. At her sleepovers, her friends would all get their own double bed. Dipper grabbed the tray of snacks and sat them down beside her, then he took his place on the other side of his sister. As soon as he was settled in, Waddles came trotting over with the stuffed pig in his mouth. With a soft oink, he plopped himself down with his head resting on Dipper's lap. She passed out the hot chocolates, which were somehow still hot, and took a sip of her own. The top was completely coated in melted marshmallow. It was so sweet but really good.  

“Alright, that's the hot drinks and snacks, the blankets, the fluffy things, and the movie. So, without further ado, let the Code Fluffy commence!” Dramatically she hit the play button, and the movie started.  

They all smiled and settled back to watch the movie. Pacifica had seen it many times, but it was the kind of movie that you could still watch many times more and still want to watch it again. It was so cute, and Julie Andrews was a goddess!  

Their drinks were all gone by the time Mia had intentionally stomped on Nick's foot. But they continued to eat the chocolate, and other sweets as the movie went on. Dipper even got up to grab the candy she'd told him was in her bag. She found herself slowly leaning into Mabel to get a better view. Her eyes were starting to become heavy, and she just gave in, leaning on the girl in something similar to a cuddle. It actually felt... kind of nice. When it got to the scene where the Queen showed Mia her new room, Mabel gasped in wonder, despite how many times she'd already seen it.  

“I'm just imagining that that's what your wardrobe is like,” she said. “Is that what your wardrobe is like?”  

“Pfft! Don't be ridiculous,” she told her. “I don't have crown jewels in my wardrobe.” Mabel laughed, and she smiled in reply. It wasn't quite true, her wardrobe was way smaller than that... though, it was still a rather large walk-in wardrobe with mirrors and everything. Still, that was irrelevant.  

As the movie continued, her eyes grew heavier and heavier. She would catch herself with her eyes closed for too long and jolt herself awake. She finally gave in sometime around the engagement slumber party. The last thing she remembered was hearing Julie Andrews and Raven singing together. At one point she was woken up by Mabel laughing at Mia exclaiming that she was a moose, but sleep quickly pulled her back under again. She was exhausted. And this was nice. This was very, very nice...  

      By the time the movie was finished, Mabel was pretty tired. She yawned loudly, giving a stretch. It was a little awkward with the other two leaning on her so heavily. She looked at her brother and new friend to find that they were both asleep. Waddles looked up at her and gave a soft oink.  

“Yep, they're totally out to it,” she whispered to him. “Come on, let’s get to bed.”  

Carefully, she extracted herself from between the two of them. She closed the laptop and put it back under Dipper’s bed, and cleared away all cups and trash. She considered waking up Dipper to get him back in his own bed but decided against it. She knew how hard it was to wake him up, and how he'd react. And considering the fact he'd only just fallen asleep, it was probably best to let him sleep.  

Waddles oinked again. “What? It's not like they're cuddling or anything. They're on opposite sides of the nest! They can complain about it in the morning. I'm too tired to deal with Dipper.”  

She shuffled over to the lights and flicked them off, before going back over to her bed and curling in. She held on to Kitty Snufflepants, and not long after, Waddles jumped up to his usual spot on the bed. Soon, she was as fast asleep as the other two.    

                           Mabel groaned as sunlight shone in her face, dragging her out of her wonderful slumber.  

“Ugh, stupid sun!” she grumbled. She rolled over, having to push Waddles back on the other side of the bed, so she didn't fall off, and looked at the clock. 11am. Geez, she'd slept in! Well, she had been up to like, 6am, so it wasn't that bad really.  

Yawning, she jumped out of bed and started gathering her clothes for the day. She was confused by Dippers empty bed for a moment until she remembered that she'd left him down on the floor last night. She looked over towards the nest and had to stifle a giggle.  

Lying curled up in the middle of the nest of pillows, Dipper and Pacifica were snuggled up to each other. Their stuffed animals had been abandoned at some time in the night, as had half the blankets. One of Dipper’s arms was cushioning Pacifica's head, his other was wrapped around her waist. Pacifica seemed even more tangled up than he was. One of her arms was stretched up above his head, her fingers twisted in his curls, the other arm was flung over the arm that was holding her, and her leg had hooked itself up over his waist.  

Huh. Who knew that they were both cuddlers? They... actually looked... kind of cute.  

Silently she grabbed her phone and took a picture of them. “Hehe,” she giggled. “Blackmail.”  

Then quietly as she could, she snuck out. Those two deserved their sleep.  

      Pacifica had been drifting in and out of dreams for a while. Strange dreams that she couldn't recall. And she was too tired to remember any of the moments shed woken up either. This time she blinked at the hazy light around her. Morning.  

There was something in front of her, a pink and brown blur. And she was holding onto something. What was that strange shape in front of her? She blinked a few more times, trying to focus.  

“Dipper?�� she mumbled.  

“Mmm,” he replied, still half asleep.  

“No, dipper. On your head.” Lazily, her hand attempted to point, but it didn't really move far before flopping back around his body, her eyes drifting shut again.  

“Yeah. Wait, what?” His eyes flew open, and he looked about cautiously. No one else was in the room. Just him and Pacifica... cuddling. “Uhh...” He looked back down at the girl in his arms. She seemed to have fallen asleep again.  

Hmm... she looked rather cute when she was sleeping. No! No, he was not having any thoughts along those lines when they were cuddling like – like, well, a couple. Nope!  

Carefully he began to extract himself from their human tangle, taking her arm from around him and gently placing it in close to her body. She muttered something when he tried to de-tangle their legs, but when he looked up at her, he found she was still asleep.  

Once he was free he let out a sigh of relief, then he grabbed his clothes for the day and his hat and went off to have a shower. Erm... he better make that a cold one.  

 EXW PRQVWHUV RI WKH GHHS DUH VXUH WR EH IHDUHG

Author Note:

To be honest, I didn't think this much would take up an entire chapter. But oh well, just means there'll be more chapters later. Also, Code Fluffy is a real thing for me. I do this often when I feel down, usually watching Disney films and cuddling my partner or best friend. It's always my advice for people who aren't having a good day. And I always get told that it made them feel a little better. So, if you ever feel horrible or anxious, Code Fluffy. It works. Also, nests are great. Me and my friend used to make these outside in summer on my veranda (back when we lived in a double story house), usually with candles and fairy lights. Anyway, that's all for now. Bye!

Chapter Index  |  First Chapter  |  << Previous Chapter  |  Next Chapter >>

[sweetcloverheart]

Hey boys and girls I’m back with more Bakudeku role-reversal talk (BTWs all and future posts regarding the AU will be put under the tag “Bakugou No Hero Academia AU” for ease with searching)

So last time we left off on the end of the Hero/Villain exams, so now it’s on to the Lunch incident

All Might tries to encourage Katsuki to try clearing the air with his classmate - he is stuck with them for three years after all, and it would do well to start making allies he can rely on in his career as a hero

Which is easier said than done, as Katsuki has currently learned that trying to murder your childhood friend during a class sanctioned test over feelings with your recently obtained smashy powers kind of makes people terrified of you (And also not like you a whole bunch but that’s neither here nor there), and them being terrified kind of makes them not want to sit with you at lunch. 

He also learns that the apparent so-called murder attempt doesn’t stop said childhood friend from trying to invite you to eat with him and his new friends, because apparently he’s not only just a nerd, but a nerd with a death wish! (or at least that how Katsuki and a good 90% of the school sees it)

It’s a awkward, unfun time for everyone. No one can really talk to Katsuki and Katsuki doesn’t really want to talk with anyone. Attempts end with tense weird pauses or death threats. Izuku ends up filling the air with meaningless chatter because dear lord it’s so freaking awkward and they all know it but they can’t do anything about it because it’s so awkward. No one there really wants to admit they felt the break in by the paparazzi was a godsend.

 The only real positive outcome of the incident is that Katsuki sort of becomes semi-antifriends with Ochako (no one is sure how it works, but it worked)

Enter: the USJ Villain attack

Again, Match ups are still somewhat the same except -

Uraraka ends up with Kirishima and Katsuki, and Tokoyami ends up with Izuku’s group I’m a sucker for Tokoyami based friendships okay!?

Izuku’s group escape from the sea disaster zone is radically different since Izuku doesn’t have One for All

Katsuki’s crew ends up going through the building disaster area a lot quicker (Gravity-Harding-Bakugou combo does wonders on evil villains trying to kill high schoolers) and end up running into Todoroki

Katsuki’s smart enough to realize Kurogiri needs taking out first and has Kirishima get on that

And that’s where everything kind of goes to hell because Tomura

Ochako floats Noumu what do you mean that makes no sense and I’m just trying to reference that one sketch Horikoshi did it doesn’t really work but she did it kind of

Katsuki almost loses his arm punching Tomura because for a frail skinny weirdo with pealing skin he can actually take a punch pretty well (that and Noumu got in the way of the first one)

They’re honestly pretty lucky All Might shows up when he does and that Izuku’s group come in at the right time to act as back up (Katsuki on his part is accepting of the help, but very openly bitter about it)

Izuku actually dunks Tomura in the water with his Quirk trying to help Katsuki and the others get away from him (Tomura will remember that)

He also accidentally sees All Might’s real form after the Noumu fight. Neither All Might or Bakugou notice, but his awkwardness towards him later on afterwards makes Katsuki suspicious

The entire thought process over the discovery is horrifying to him because he keeps thinking about is he fake and no it was definitely him and how is he maintaining that form for classes and how he must have to take breaks and is that why the slime villain got away from him and he must have pushed himself during the villain attack to suddenly change back and the villains must have known or they wouldn’t have done all this anyways and does anyone else know and does Kacchan know and is that why he seemed so interested in him on the first day and is always dragging him off to his office and is that why he didn’t show up on site and oh god he knows All Might’s darkest secret now?!?!?!?!?!?

(With the changes in the lineup some kids do end up getting badly injured and 13 gets put out of commission for a good while)

SPORTSFESTIVALARCSPORTSFESTIVALARCSPORTSFESTIVALARC

(or “Katsuki learns he needs to take a chill pill pt.2″)

The entire USJ Incident and seeing All Mights fight with Noumu kind of puts having One For All into perspective for Bakugou because he kind of realizes at this point he can’t rely on the power for everything

He’s also maybe a little frustrated he couldn’t help out with the fight the way he wanted (or at least not have to be save by Toshinori and Deku again) and anxious that should he screw up again All Might might not want him as a successor anymore lose more time as the pillar having to help him out again

Toshinori on his part at least tries to discourage Katsuki from taking the incident too personally and tells him to focus on school and the upcoming sports festival - which Katsuki takes as serious as a heart attack and makes his ultimate goal to win EVERYTHING

Izuku meanwhile is panicked and stressed out because the entire USJ incident was just a huge reminder of how unprepared and unsuited he and his quirk are for combat. There’s also having to fight against his friends (which he’s ultimately iffy about because they’re his friends) in the festival and KNOWING ALL MIGHT IS ACTUALLY FAKING BEING SUPER STRONG AND IS (maybe) MOST LIKELY DYING AND NOT BEING ABLE TO ASK ABOUT IT OR TELL ANYONE!!!! Poor kid’s too freaked out to even approach All Might about his doubts in participating

And it shows - Katsuki knows he knows something. He’s not sure what, but he knows...

Izuku is chosen to give the speech because if there’s any way of undoing any of the damage Bakugou’s initial attitude and their sudden popularity from USJ incident has done on Class 1-A’s reputation it’s Izuku (and he lost rock-paper-scissors)

He actually manages to do an okay job and tells everyone to do their best. Ain’t nobody can be mad about that.

Todoroki ends up getting first place in the race (Katsuki would have gotten it had he not spent what was left of it trying to make sure Izuku gets third

The calvary race ends with Todoroki’s win again, only Izuku ends up putting Bakugou in fifth by using his quirk to steal away some of his  headbands

Monoma vs Izuku is hilariously anticlimactic because Monoma steals their headband, starts bragging and saying how much Class A sucks and then Izuku just...steals it back with his quirk and is basically like “Well...it was nice meeting you. Good bye.” and leaves and Monoma just stands there for a good few minutes before pretty much running after going “How dare you! You get back here and listen to me disparage you and your classmate properly!”

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for - The Tournament

Poor Shinsou, instead of a heartfelt talk he just gets punched out of the ring (But Izuku does still talk to him afterwards so it all good~! I’m sorry I’m Shinsou biased)

Ochako VS Deku  is less super end-of-the-world tense like it’s counterpart and more “You’re my friend but I’m wining this thing so I still have to kind of destroy you but we’re still cool!”

On the one hand, Bakugou “I don’t have time for your daddy issues” Katsuki facing off against Todoroki with One For All results in Todoroki not unlocking his fire side and what should be an easy victory. On the other hand, Bakugou “Use your goddamn fire side already I want an actual legitimate win against you” Katsuki facing off against Todoroki with One For All would also likely result in a lot of hurt feelings, hurt bones, and Katsuki losing due to his dissatisfaction not playing nice with his desire to win and thus tripping him up at crucial moments in the match.

Izuku does pretty well despite the disadvantages of his quirk because the kid is smart and has spent enough time watching everyone’s fights/quirk use to aid him in match ups, but I ultimately see him losing his fight with Kirishima realistically

And even if he were to win that and the next match and end up facing Todoroki, Izuku still would have ended the same as in canon since he still has his desire to help others

However, if, by some measure of miracle/fate/hero magic/whatever Izuku did end up in first place it’d be...hilariously ironic in AU-Verse as Izuku would basically be the dark horse to beat all dark horses. Like I love the kid but his quirk in this version of canon is basically a very weak/subtle version of telekinesis, forcing most of his battles to be hit-and-run tactic based - Outside of friends and maybe Aizawa, no one would see it coming. The fact of him managing to get into the top 4 was a stretch in itself and struggled for; getting first place is just-wow. Even All Might is shook.

Katsuki is disturbingly...quiet about his not getting first place. I’m mean he’s still his lovable angry foul-mouthed self but he doesn’t really harp on it as much as people expected. They’re honestly a bit terrified at it either meaning he’s quietly seething about the loss or is bottling it all up for an ultimate explosion of anger and rage (Or maybe both). The entire thing’s pretty much flipped his perspective on both his abilities and his classmates, and at the moment he’s just stewing on what to do to catch up with everyone

Izuku is equally quiet for different reasons, as his win/loss and the entire tournament has made him kind of realize he might have to reevaluate both his approach to heroing and his motives. (Of course no Toshinori as a mentor = Izuku not immediately realizing constantly acting like you have a death wish to help people might not be the best way to handle things)

And once again we are done - thanks for reading!

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Angolmois 2 - 3 | BnHA 52 - 54 | Lord of Vermilion 1 | Angels of Death 2 | Cells at Work! 2 - 4 | Planet With 2 - 4 | Phantom in the Twilight 2 - 3 | Holmes of Kyoto 2 | Tsukumogami Kashimasu 1

The lineup isn’t set until Muhyo and Roji’s comes along later on...

Angolmois 2

Ah, I got that explanation of what “Angolmois” is from ANN earlier but now I see how they learnt it.

Someone on ANN showed me the way to a Wikipedia page…which says Sou Sukekuni will die and the Mongols will invade.

Kemari.

There’s something silly about how straightfaced everyone is about chucking Kuchii out…haha.

This mut be the period Kimetsu no Yaiba is set in…because that shiitake boy seems to be similar to Tanjiro (of that series).

“Ah, even the great Jinzaburou-dono is weak at the knees for a pretty princess”…at least, that’s a fairly cliched line if it’s coming from the mouths of one of the characters.

Dang, this man is too much of a shonen hero for a show involving chopping heads off enemies.

There’s a small spotted cat (?) on the roof of one of the houses (?).

“The older you are when you have children, the more you love them.” – Uh, and the more likely it is that they’ll have genetic abnormalities. Just sayin’…

Okay, so Gontarou is the one with the small black moustache. Got it.

The lines on the filter move with the camera! Yikes! That’s going to be a bit distracting…

Oh, Sou Sukekuni’s middle name means “on top of a horse” if I’m guessing the right kanji. That’s exacty where he is now.

I see…so that strategy (shooting arrows straight into the air) would require minimal training and not that much time to pass around verbally.

Uh, was it just me, or did some soldiers look like they were in CGI?

Oh, so Yajirou is the one in the purplish armour. Okay. Update: Nope, Umajirou is his name.

Welp, historical records said Sou Sukekuni  would die (like I said at the start of the episode). I just didn’t know it was going to be so soon.

BnHA 52

After a 1 week break, let’s get back into the fray!

I love this OP already! It’s much better than “I keep my ideals! Sorezore no jinsei (etc. etc.)…” at the very minimum already! (Peace Sign is my favourite BnHA OP, by the way, after listening to it a bunch on Spotify.) Interesting how you see Deku through Tooru though…

Iida’s waving in his usual way, I see…(LOL)

Interesting that they call their gyms “alpha”, “beta”, “gamma” etc. At least, that’s the assumption from seeing “gym gamma” in the subs.

The D in TDL stands for daidokoro (kitchen) in Japanese. Alternatively, it could refer to Tokyo Disneyland, which is why Deku refers to a certain mouse.

Ashido was so doing a Kamehameha…or a hadouken…one of them, anyway. I’m not that well-versed in Dragon Ball, y’know.

There’s something kind of sad about how All Might goes “I am here…because I didn’t have anything else to do today!” now that he no longer can retain that muscle form for too long.

“…ask an expert.” – Y’mean…Hatsume, right?

I…can’t believe I’m laughing at this stupid boob joke…(LOL…?)

“Likes: Steampunk” – I was reading a non-fiction book on steampunk and apparently the main appeal for some people is the ability to make everything yourself, as a form of “raging against materialism” and whatnot. Never thought I’d have to mention that in the commentary, but here we are.

Power Loader seems a tad small in comparison to Iida (and probably All Might as well), huh?

Wait…this powered suit…reminds me of a Gundam first and then Wallace’s pants next. *starts humming Wallace and Gromit theme tune*

I kind of read ahead because of my duties on the BnHA wiki, but Deku’s going to end up using a kicking move, right? Right?! The only thing better than a punching move is a kicking move!

I really like Long Hope Philia already…but what is a “philia”, though? Update: It’s the opposite of phobia. It means “brotherly love”.

Lord of Vermilion 1

Also known as “Dude of Red: The Red Dude”. According to the opinions I’ve seen around, this show is probably going to the drop pile, but on the offhand chance it does survive, I’ll have to probably put it on hold anyway…

There’s something funky about those designs…like someone tried too hard to be edgy with the red lines.

Where’d the bubbles come from? Oh wait, he trapped her in the big bubble and that’s how there are smaller bubbles…ohh. Okay.

“Cut the bullshit!” – Welp, you read my mind. How the heck did we get here???

…and Tokyo Tower. Just because we can go there too.

Why is Chiyu monologuing when she has a weapon pierced through her body???

Okay, why are these guys implying there’s a nationalist slant to all this?

Wait, explosion butterflies? C’mon, Buso Renkin did that better!

“A secret arrow. I see.” – For some…reason…I can’t stop myself from laughing! Hahaha, he’s been impaled in the eye and yet he says, “I see,” wahaha!...okay. I’m calm now.

Something tells me someone wasted Dude of Red: The Red Dude’s budget on the OP. Also, all of their storytelling ability went there too…

The ep title clearly ends in a ka, so it’s a question. It should be “Are Our Lives the Debt We Pay to Our Enemies?”, then.

Kote and men appear to be two different strikes in kendo, but also their strike areas...? I’m not sure…

C’mon, if the show started with the high frequency noise, then we wouldn’t have to have suffered through the in medias res segment going too long!

No wonder they call this Dude of Red: The Red Dude…this fog is very red!

“Don’t tell me you have amnesia.” – Oh, great. That’s at least the third amnesiac this season…Island, Planet With and now this! Update: Nope, it was jumping to conclusions…

Jokei…is there a Keijo Uni? (Not to be confused with the T & A sport.)…Nope, the closest thing I got was in Korea…

How do Chihiro and Kotetsu even know Kakihara, anyway?

LOL, somehow that was so chuuni. I feel like I want more but there’s too much of a talent gap between this and the other shows, so it’s going on hold.

Angels of Death 2

Hanebado went on hold since Dude of Red ranked above it.

Isaac Foster, huh? Is that Bandage Man’s name?

I swear the rainbow puke is the most colorful thing in this anime…

Lemme guess…this passage is from the Bible. The show’s holding my interest, it’s just that it’s kind of waning because Satsuriku no Tenshi has been getting some real bad talk all around and yet it’s pretty popular. At least, that’s according to Prattle…

The comedic beats seem out of line with the rest of the show. Like someone was trying too hard to make the show “mainstream”. I’m finally able to put my finger on what I think Satsuriku reminds me of now – it reminds me of The Dog Island, a much more relaxing game. Then again, this is because of all the talk about finding triggers – that game is all “find to complete quests”, so it’s easy to see how the comparison came about.

Gloves? Was someone here earlier?

From far away, the dots on the grave blueprint seem to be Chinese or Japanese, but up close…they’re just dots.

Alright, I get it already…*eyeroll* this is based on a game, Rachel’s said she’s going to die about 4 times already, this scene with the red background is a cutscene yada yada yada…

Oh. Y’know what? This reminds me of ol’ Nancy Drew CD-ROM games! I love those! Plus the banshee scare scene in one of them is poised like a huge jumpscare, that probably would make a better anime than this…

I headcanon Zack is ADHD or something of the sort.

Wellllllll…if there’s one thing I agree with this show on, it’s that suicide is bad.

“You can cry…or something, can’t you?” – Come to think of it, Rachel does come off as a bit of a Rei Ayanami sometimes.

How the heck is he dry enough to be tromping around like that in front of the graves when he just stood in water for so long??? Isn’t he drenched?

There’s something vaguely nostalgic about this show and yet I don’t think it’s good enough to keep on the commentary, so on hold it goes…

Cells at Work 2

Is it just me, or are the background characters CGI…? (Oh man, last time I complained about this was Tsukigakirei…that didn’t go down well, let’s just say that…)

This is a joke from Plyasm, but…don’t lewd the platelets!

It’s the Abyss from Made in Abyss!

There was a segment on the news about how deadly sepsis was recently, so…I’m kind of scared of that bacteria now…

I guess you never wanted to ask for WBC fighting a shark…well, it’s just as weird as Sharknado, only…it’s happening.

*sees “brachial artery”* - This particular RBC likes working near the lungs, huh?

I don’t think we’ve seen the eyecatch for this show before, so…that’s an interesting way of handling things.

Don’t tell me…it’s those adorable lil’ platelets, right??? This is an abrasion, they’ll surely come!

Von Willebrand factor.

The serious WBC made a joke! Amazing!

Planet With 2

I’m calling it now – secretary woman with green-blue hair is the real bad guy! (You can tell by the enthusiasm in my voice that it’s Epileptic Trees time!)

*cue cat faces and masks* - Imagine if they used that censorship in 18+ material…it would be a riot just to look at…

But blue-green haired lady, aren’t there 7 Nebula Soldiers???

…Oh, so that’s what happened to the money Takezo spent…haha.

Geesh, enough with the panties, Sensei…also, couldn’t Souya just go and nick some money, then use it to purchase some meat? Or just beg for food money or ask for an allowance or something in order to get real meat?

Hmm, come to think of it, most of the people have colours in their names – even Souya – but Sensei doesn’t and same with Hideo. But Hideo has the character for “wisdom” in his name and the character for “tiger”, which is the theme of his mecha.

Those meat buns are huge! The size of an adult’s palm! Then again, I’ve been having a bunch of meat buns for breakfast lately and they are that size…sorry, false alarm.

Oh my gosh, this pig Weapon’s even weirder than the bear one!

(muffled laughter in the background) – They wasted perfectly good art on a one-off gag about bean jam…not that I minded, of course, but…hahaha…

Phantom in the Twilight 2

The sign’s Tahoma font is…kind of awkward, actually. I thought that last episode, but haven’t said it in these notes until now.

“You’re such a lazy count.” – Hmm…now if someone removed one of the Os in that sentence…that would be a sketchy sentence indeed.

Notably, Luke’s surname is Bowen.

Toryu was a jiangshi. Called it!

There’s something on Ton’s phone that says “picture”, I’d presume it’s the Chinese and/or Japanese equivalent to the “Pictures” app or folder.

This guy with the glasses – Haysin, I think the guy with the partially-shaved head called him – looks like Chopin from Classicaloid…

To be honest, I’d never actually heard of vampires needing to be invited into places until Shiki came along, so this is only the second time I’ve witnessed it, so to speak.

Who knew a ghost was good enough to be a hacker in the modern age? (smirks with how inventive this is)

All that blue text is definitely not any coding language I know. In fact, it’s mostly gibberish…

Mhmm…a mingling of the supernatural with the technological. Me likey.

…What the heck did Ton just tackle?

Oh my gosh! I’m laughing so hard! A vampire doing karate! I love it!

Is this the beginning of a Haysin x Shinyao ship? Update: His name is Chris, not Haysin. Haysin is the other dude.

Garfunkel though…what a stupid name. Sounds like a cartoonist (Arbuckle), a cartoon cat (Garfield) or a singer (Simon and Garfunkle) though…

I didn’t realise this at first, but Vlad has two spots on the side of his face. Probably beauty spots.

I love how they only put the grainy filter on Vlad while he was reminiscing.

Angolmois 3

I find it interesting that Kuchii uses the armour as the thing the Tsushima people should follow, rather than following him. They probably revere the armour more than the man…

Where’d Kano go, anyway?

The reliance on panning over stills is kind of annoying…

Welp, there’s Kano, right when the plot needs her…or is that one of the exiles…? Kano looked pretty boyish to me.

Koorogi means “cricket”, methinks.

Holmes of Kyoto 2

This is the lowest ranking show right now, so its spot is currently being threatened by the late debuts…not to mention I’m currently one spot over capacity, so something has to go.

The Saio-dai is like a May Queen, apparently. Not that I really know what that means…Update: Oh, there’s an explanation, just when I thought they wouldn’t give it…

“There’s lots of things named Aoi here!” – That’s what I said…last episode.

Saori and Kaori…I’m going to get so confused between these two…

Hmm…well, obviously, if the person were physically close to Saori, that might mean they know each other.

“Sissy” is an insult to me, so I’m surprised to hear it being used as a substitute for “sister” here. (It’s probably “nee-san” in Japanese, or “ane”.)

Hanamura, LOL. (Hanamura = “flower garden”.)

I find it funny that Holmes has LINE stickers of his own. Plus that Aoi’s got his number in as “Holmes-san”.

There is quite clearly some sort of romantic subplot here. Also, why is it that Aoi only ever seems to be motivated by either personal matters or romantic ones???

Noticeably, Kaori’s the only one of the trio which is wearing pants…

The backgrounds in this show are so pretty! Too bad there’s credits over the top…

Mt Kurama is known for its tengu legend…but the “you may meet a handsome man filled with overwhelming arrogance” made me LOL hard.

The thing about this show is that it’s giving me flashbacks to Detective Conan, both good and bad, which makes it hard to comment on. On hold it goes.

BnHA 53

Why is the title “THE Shiken”, though? (Emphasis on “the”, since having the title half in English doesn’t seem to make sense…)

The different characters that appear on the screen are variants of koi, which is one of 3 ways to say “love”. However, the three are different types of love.

Inasa is to enthusiasm like Bakugo is to anger…uh…

Oh dear…is this another Christmas cake lady???

This black spikyhead is You Shindo, right? He and Midoriya looks kind of similar…

1540 divided by 2 is 770…yowch, 770??? That’s kind of small when it’s one of 3 locations for Japanese students, plus whoever else in the state is training to be a hero.

Cells at Work 3

Naïve…? Oh, it’s a naïve T cell! I forgot about those guys!

I love how the naïve T cell is actually naïve, plus the zombies have hats that aren’t brains, but bits of cells.

100 degrees…C or F???

Why does this T cell give me RBC flashbacks???

Cyotoxic T cells…man, those words bring back memories. I had to memorise stuff about T cells and B cells for biology way back when. In fact, I think I learnt this entire process. If only I had Cells at Work then…

Would the normal person even know what a dendrite is, though??? They wouldn’t know it has protrusions if they don’t know what a dendrite is!!!

Aw, the Naïve T Cell’s gotta be protected. Not as much as the platelets, but still…

Helper T Commander is eating dango! That’s too cute!

Ohmigosh, it’s like Gon from HxH, you know, the meme version of him with the long hair? It’s so silly and yet so perfect for this purpose!

The Effector T Cell’s face looks familiar…Then again, this is David Production so that would explain part of it…(For those who don’t get it: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.)

Apparently the eccrine sweat glands are the major sweat glands…

2/10. Platelets only appeared for 2 seconds at the end (LOL).

Tsukumogami Kashimasu 1

You probably didn’t know this, but I became a fan of Lily Hoshino through Kigurumi Guardians…

Ooh, I like the titlecards already! By the way, obiage is something used to hide the obi.

Netsuke.

What’s with this song…? It sounds like someone put traditional music into a pop music blender and put female vocals over the top…oh, Miyavi. That might explain something.

Well, there you go…I didn’t need to Google netsukes after all.

That flower there is a morning glory…the one with the white centre.

Why does there seem to be a vibe that the sister likes the brother in ~that~ way???

This is kind of like Toy Story…isn’t it?

The transitions are kind of disorienting…I almost felt dizzy right there…

Koku.

“So the letters Sanae-sama was receiving are from someone else that she loved before getting betrothed…?” – No duh. That’s how it always goes in Detective Conan.

“So he believes that ultimately humans never cherish us curios.” – There were your Deep Themes of the day, folks.

Hmm…that’s a tough one. On the one hand, I’m kind of squicked out by potential romance between Seiji and his “nee-san”. On the other hand, there was a lot of talking (which I don’t mind), but the logic behind these mysteries didn’t quite make sense because the emphasis for this show is the supernatural (also not a dealbreaker). The narrator’s helpful, but a tad intrusive to the story’s flow, plus it’s kind of hard to see where conclusions were made due to even more problems explaning logic (in parts that are meant to explain the logic) than Holmes of Kyoto. It’s meant to be charming, but if I keep going through the show with not that much emotion, it’s probably destined fo the drop pile…

Planet With 3

Kumashiro…panda in Japanese is “panda”, but kuma = bear and shiro = white…if not castle, that is. Update: This “shiro” is neither of those...

Kigurumian, huh? Kigurumi = mascot suit, so…uh…

Who was the girl with the blue dress…? Another Mizukami heroine, I presume?

These bathroom jokes are bad…but I’m laughing at them…

So Nezuya…is just a chuuni??? Wuh???

It’s a parody of Mu again…? Is that magazine really that popular in Japan?

The other girl (not Nozomi) has a senbei rice cracker in her mouth.

Moleke-mbembe.

Phantom 2

I love how Wayne detaches his hand to scratch his head. It reminds me of zaShunina frim Kado and what he’d do with his hands…*gets flashbacks to zaShunina strangling Shindou* Uh, yeah, maybe that’s not the best comparison though…

Fought Dracula? Wasn’t he from Romania though?

Wayne King everywhere…it’s more like self-wan-oh, I’ll spare you the dirty joke, okay?

Wait, are the Twilights meant to stand in for something in the real world if they have government and international support? Refugees, maybe?

Hmm? Luke’s pasta…? What’s this (owo)?

Luke reminds me of Impey from Code:Realise…I think this is the second time he’s done that.

I love how Ton takes Shinyao’s rescue into her own hands. It shows how strong their friendship is.

*Luke howls* - What is that idiot doing now???

*sees burnt cookies* - Welp, at least we don’t have ourselves an invincible heroine who can do everything, either.

Is it just me, or when Ton runs out to protect Luke, are her booty shorts longer??? Update: When I looked at them later, they seemed to be the same length…

When did Chris get rid of his glasses???

Toryu’s raison d etre is “more dakka”, as they say.

Okayyyyyyyy…”jumping across water” is just a bit over the limit of what I think a werewolf can do…

Toryu’s plait seems to move with his emotions…and was that an eye I saw glowing in that fringe of his? Ooh…interesting.

Angolmois 4

Why do all Mongolians in media sport the Fu Manchu moustache, anyway…? Either that or the Chinese (the official in Mulan had a similar kind of moustache)…

Matouqin. It looked like a Chinese word, but it was actually Mongolian…

There seems to be unrest among the Mongols, huh. Jurchen…seems to be racial discrimination of some variety.

Dantsuke mochi. The link is to an academic PDF which discusses the Mongol invasion.

Huh? Apparently Holmes of Kyoto references sashimo grass…but apparently in English the grass is called “moxa” or “mugwort”.

Oh, post-credits segment. Keep watching…

Oh, wow…you can really see the parallels between Teruhi and Sasamaru now…when everything burns to the ground.

BnHA 54

Ite means “archer”, IIRC.

Shindou = oscillation, tremor, vibration (different kanji though). Once he released that earthquake, that made me realise why You Shindou’s powers make a lot of sense. Plus the “You” matches the yu in yurasu (Vibrate).

Oh! The “arashi” in Yoarashi means “storm”…ah! I understand now!

This Camie lady is bascally Catwoman with sludge…

Cells at Work 4

I bet the segment at the start of this episode is the same as every other episode’s…

You can see a female platelet checking out how food is dissolved…she’s so adorable!

Capriccio…then again, why does the basophil speak in riddles???

Those two platelets staring at the basophil with his umbrella…LOL!

Emesis = vomiting.

Seriously though. This basophil’s so chuuni, it’s pretentious…

This was probably the least funny of the episodes so far due to the threat level…and of course, platelets were only in the background this time.

Planet With 4

Who was it that wanted a harem of high school girls again? Actually, that’s Imamura from Grand Blue, isn’t it…?

Mont St Michel. Heard of it before (I think it’s in Lupin III even), but it didn’t ring a bell for a second…

Seriously, how self-centred is Nezuya, anyway?

Hmm…this team-up reminds me of when Team Rocket would team up with Ash (Pokémon) somehow…but that’s because the “good” and “bad” guys (as much as we can call either side that) are joining forces.

“What’s a hangover?” – LOL, Souya really is such a kid…

*dragon eats Ginko and Miu* - Wow…’tis the season for vore…  

Even Souya got a hangover, LOL!

[republicstandard]

Racial Profiles: Alt Skull Interview

In this edition of the Racial Profiles interview series, we had a chance to catch up with the infinitely re-spawning bane of the Twitter censors’ existence, Alt-Skull. You can follow him @whitepupper.

In ten words or less, describe your political persuasion.

I’m a White Nationalist.

How did you become “red-pilled”?

I have always held overtly right-wing beliefs, but there were many gaps in my knowledge which prevented me from recognizing some vital truths that I only discovered later in my political evolution. The first vote I ever cast was for Ross Perot. I was basically the only right winger at the liberal arts college I attended, but this was back in a time when Liberals and Conservatives could still be friends with one another. I was just viewed as having weird beliefs. I don’t imagine this sort of relationship is possible any longer in the current political climate. I’d always been racially aware, and understood there were real differences in our various peoples, but it was actually Gavin McInnes whom I have to thank for finally unlocking the secrets that the Jewish media machine is so successful in hiding from view. Though now I view him as a traitorous enemy to our people, there was a time when he was actually one of us.

My brother started sending me clips of Gavin talking openly about race in the most outrageous manner. Calling blacks nig-nogs and gays faggots, basically talking the way white men talk amongst one another privately and think inwardly, but we have been too cowed by the machine to suppress our natural instincts to call things what they really are. Around this time, Gavin started his show, The Gavin McInnes Show, on Anthony Cumia’s network. It was from this show that I was introduced to Alt-Right gateway figures such as Jared Taylor, John Derbyshire, Colin Flaherty, and also Sam Hyde and Richard Spencer. It was through the interviews on Gavin’s show that I was introduced to the concept of Race Realism and its fundamental premise of racial differences in IQ, time preference, and inclination toward criminality and violence. There was a moment I can distinctly remember, in an interview with Jared Taylor, that everything just clicked, and I realized the monumental amount of lies I’d been taught my entire life about “equality” and “fairness.”

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Later, after the creation of the Proud Boys and the establishment of its main Facebook page, erstwhile Alt Right figurehead and friend, Eli Mosley, answered my questions regarding the JQ. Up to that point, I’d always bought into all of the tropes we’re lied to about regarding our “greatest ally, the only democracy in the Middle East.” Led by the lies of Neo-Conservative Jews at the National Review among other such publications, I’d enthusiastically supported all of the disastrous wars in that region and thought Jews genuinely had our best interests in mind (little did I know how very much I had to learn). I enthusiastically accepted all of the other premises of the Alt-Right. I just couldn’t understand why all of these guys on the Alt-Right (who were all Proud Boys, keep this in mind) seemed to hate Jews so very much. I asked the question publicly, genuinely curious, and Eli took a lot of time out to kindly and patiently explain the JQ to me. In addition, he pointed me to Dr. Kevin MacDonald’s Culture of Critique. I was told just to read the introduction to start. Well, by the time I got through the story of Charles Lindbergh and how these Jews utterly destroyed his life for daring to oppose our entry into WWII, the final piece of the puzzle snapped into place. I was officially Alt-Right. Everything I’ve learned since then, and it has been a LOT, has only further affirmed and strengthened my belief that the Alt-Right is the ONLY political movement based upon the truth. And the good news is, we’re not going away. Indeed, we grow stronger every single day.

What figure has been the greatest influence on the development of your political beliefs?

It’s not a popular opinion in “polite society,” but I must say I’ve been most influenced by Adolf Hitler. If you’re not yet a member of the Alt-Right, you’ll probably be shocked and perhaps even horrified by that revelation, but you must understand that our educational system, our media apparatus, most major global corporations and the vast majority of our government has been overtaken by hyper-rich Jewish people with an unfathomable grudge against Hitler and his National Socialists; and they possess money and means to fabricate an alternate reality. The truth is that Hitler literally saved Western Europe from immediately falling to Soviet enslavement by Stalin’s army, which was the strongest in the entire world at that time and was amassed in offensive preparation along the European border. Stalin’s plan was to launch a massive offensive into Europe and Hitler’s preemptive attack was the only thing that could have stopped it. He forced Stalin to change his entire military and production infrastructure from offensive to defensive, giving Europe a chance to remain free. Unfortunately, instead of siding with him as they should have, most of Western Europe chose to side with true evil. Hitler’s love for his people, his pro-German volk policies, and his radical economic ideas changed Germany from one of the most destitute countries in the entire world to a world superpower in just ten years. Really think about how amazing that is. He used to tour the country unprotected in an open-topped Mercedes Benz and was loved by quite literally every German. Once you begin to learn the truth that has been hidden from you, you understand that everything you were ever taught about the history of your people was a bald-faced lie. It can make a man pretty angry to find this out. If anyone is interested in learning more about what truly happened in WWII I would highly recommend the book Germany’s War, by John Wear (Twitter acct @WearsWar) along with the works of David Irving.

Who or what are some others influences on you personally and/or politically?

I’m a Catholic who is very disappointed at the direction the Church has taken since Vatican II, and particularly since this installation of the current usurper Pope. I’m a HUGE fan of Eric Striker, Mike Enoch, Jazzhands McFeels, Marcus Halberstram, Sven, Alex and Jayoh, Ethnarch, and my buddies Spectre and Lauritz von Guildhausen. The entire lineup at therightstuff.biz is filled from top to bottom with tremendous people. And a message to any of you who listen to the podcasts but still don’t paycuck: You are missing premium content and I feel sorry for you.

Although I’ve always been political, I never really wanted to spend all my time doing this. I’m a fiction writer and to be honest I’ll be happy when we win this thing so I can spend more of my time on that. My literary heroes are Shakespeare, Melville, Faulkner, and McCarthy.

You are one of the original members of the Proud Boys. What premises were the Proud Boys originally founded on?

Although the Proud Boys did not call themselves specifically Alt Right, all of the original tenets of the group’s political identity were Alt Right, except perhaps regarding the JQ. When the group started, Race Realism was openly discussed and accepted. All of the original members were acutely aware of the problem of multiculturalism. To this clean living, a rejection of degeneracy, a rule forbidding masturbation and pornography, the veneration of the housewife and the elevation of the traditional family as an ideal. All of these were foundational principles and you can see how they overlap with those of the Alt-Right.

The Facebook page, over which Gavin had final say, was created as an explicitly free speech environment. Literally anything was allowed. The original group was teaming with guys who were either overtly Alt Right or guys like me, at the time, who’d just discovered the Alt-Right and felt like they’d found the father they’d been searching for their entire lives. The problem is that, because Gavin was a C-list celebrity, his creation of the group also attracted a lot of guys who were more interested in being a part of the cult of personality than they were interested in adhering to the actual moral tenets that originally defined the group. So when Gavin finally changed the direction of the group, there was a huge faction of these NPC types that just blindly agreed with anything he said, no matter how stupid or destructive.

How has that organization changed since its inception?

Well at some point, what happened was Gavin decided to vie for a cushy, high status, high pay job working at Fox News. He knew that in order to secure this position, he would have to clean up his image. That meant getting rid of all of the “racists” and “Nazis” in the group. There were a number of incidents in which his pronouncements and purges resulted in fairly extreme pushback from our guys. As you can imagine, Alt Right guys are NOT beholden to any leader who fails to adhere to our ideological standards. Gavin is a narcissist, so I think he just figured he could tell all of us what to do and we’d roll over and show our bellies. This is definitely not what happened, and it caused him much grief and irritation that he was unable to just decree what the Proud Boys would be about from one day to the next. One of his decrees, always couched in the weasel words of having been decided upon by “The Elders,” (there were no Elders, only his ego and ambition) is that there would no longer be any talk of Race Realism in any form whatsoever. After that he came after any criticism of Jewish power; unsurprising, being that he was working for Rebel Media at that time and his boss was the scheming Jew Ezra Levant. Each of these pronouncements was met with schismatic pushback from our side. I was kicked from the group twice by Gavin personally for voicing my vocal opposition at his taking what he’d promised us was a pro-White, pro-free speech, pro-truth group in the direction of GloboHomo “Conservatism,” in which homosexuals, transsexuals and based black guys in MAGA hats were elevated as the most important members of the Proud Boys and White men were no longer allowed to advocate for their own people.

There are still a ton of great guys in the Proud Boys. I’m still friends with many, many guys and I hold absolutely nothing against them. Indeed, many of them believe the same things we do and know all about everything the Alt-Right stands for, but because of the current political climate, are afraid to come out as explicitly in White solidarity as the Alt-Right does. That’s fine. I understand that. These are tough times and these guys are on our side and I will never abandon them. That said, not all of them are this based. Gavin invited a massive influx of NPC GloboHomo automatons in with his selfish actions, and these are the cringe fringe elements of the Proud Boys with which you may be familiar. The ones more concerned about fighting imaginary “Nazis” while us Nazis are the only ones standing between them and total Third World invasion of brown hordes who will gleefully set them and their families on fire after raping their wives and children. The Proud Boys could have been a real force to stand in solidarity with the Alt-Right and fight evil together effectively. The funniest thing about it is that it did not matter in the end. All of their cucking and signaling against so-called racism and Nazism only bought them about a year. Now they are in the exact same boat as us. With the recent arrest of these Proud Boys for defending themselves against some rich Antifa trust fund kids, expect RICO charges to come down on the group, possibly Gavin himself (there is an enormous amount of footage of him calling for actual gang violence) and expect Gavin to cave and either disavow or disband the group that paid him so much of their loyalty and, if nothing else, was willing to go out into the streets and fight for us.

How has Gavin changed, or do you believe he was always hiding this aspect of himself?

This is the thing that frustrates me the most about him. He had so much potential. HE KNOWS all of the things we know. He was our guy. He was not only woke to Race Realism and the Jewish Question, but he also had the rare ability to speak off the cuff about it in a hugely entertaining matter. He is the very reason I ended up where I did. He could have done so much more. And do you want to know what the funniest thing about all of this is? That cushy Fox News spot he wanted? They gave it to some 56% mongrel Affirmative Action hire former professional wrestler. Oh, the irony.

For those living under a rock, a “migrant caravan” of thousands of mestizos is headed toward the US border from Honduras through Guatemala and Mexico. These caravans don’t just magically appear—who is behind them?

Jewish NGOs most likely working with Mexican and Central American drug cartels. There is nothing organic about these caravans nor could there possibly be. It’s not possible for thousands of people to move across a 2000 mile stretch of land without significant supply trains providing food, water, medical services, and, in this case, transportation. They’re not walking or they would not arrive for many months. Those pictures you see are staged. These people are being transported here in trucks provided by these NGOs and cartels and they’re going to arrive, how conveniently, just in time for the mid-terms. My guess is that the ultimate goal is to force President Trump’s hand to the point that he must actually militarize the border and then, when he does, push things to further necessitate the use of deadly force to stop these “poor, defenseless people” and when that happens, use it to incite domestic and international outrage as if WE are the evil ones and not this invading army. We’ll see.

Can you explain to our readers who might not be familiar with or accepting of it what exactly the “Jewish Question” is and why they must understand it?

In short: Jews never feel comfortable in cohesive, racially homogeneous nations and are genetically compelled to constantly undermine, subvert and degenerate those societies. It's an ugly cycle because the more they do it, the more they are noticed doing so, and the higher the risk becomes of the very thing they so neurotically fear actually coming to pass. Eventually, it always does. This is the reason the worst thing you can call a Jew is Jew. This is why they've been expelled from over 1000 locations through history. Once you start looking into it, it really is hard to believe. The genetic aspect is a chicken and egg question. Do they exhibit extreme in-group preference and extreme negative out-group bias because they’ve been expelled from so many locations, or have they been expelled so many times because of their genetic inclination to parasitically prey upon their host nation? My guess is it’s the latter, but the reader will have to decide for himself. Again, I highly recommend Dr. Kevin MacDonald’s excellent book Culture of Critique for those interested in the historical and genetic proclivities of the Jews.

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Are you saying being expelled from over one thousand locations throughout history makes you a poor houseguest?

Well, let me just say this: If someone had been kicked out of the last 1030 apartments he’d rented, would you rent him a room?

Explain why -to your mind- the Alt-Right is the only logical home for any self-respecting white person.

The truth is, people cleave along racial lines. You may know a really nice, smart black person, but the majority of American blacks, particularly males, possess an IQ of around 85 and demonstrate an extremely elevated tendency toward violent criminal behavior. Study after study has demonstrated that multiculturalism brings with it the erosion of social trust and happiness, an increase in crime, and decreased social cohesion. Whites simply are not welcome in non-White communities, and we are constantly attempting to flee to areas that are more White, only to have governments (often at the behest of Jewish interest groups) force more non-Whites into areas deemed “too White,” via programs like bussing, Section 8 housing, Affirmative Action, the list goes on and on. The truth is, it’s only a matter of time before we will have no place left to flee to. When Whites become a hated minority in the countries their ancestors founded, countries which rightfully belong to us, they will suffer the same fate as the unfortunate White South Africans. Theft of their land, violence, genocide, and finally extinction. The Alt Right is the ONLY political group that exists explicitly to fight for the rights of Whites to retain their birthright and end forced forfeiture of our property, land, sons, and daughters to endless waves of non-Whites who demand infinite access to our wealth. It’s no accident that ONLY White nations are told they MUST open their doors to an unending stream of these needy people who contribute nothing to our nations, drain our welfare coffers, commit crime at an astronomically higher rate than do the native citizens, and finally just have no business being here for any other reason than that Jews decided this because it serves their interests.

How do you see this ending? Are we doomed or do we eventually win? If so, what does winning look like?

So much has changed in the last decade. If ten years ago I was told that transsexuals in demon costumes would be celebrated for reading homosexual propaganda to preschoolers in government-funded institutions, I honestly would have dismissed it as insane. I never would have believed there would be a “debate” over if a grown man who calls himself a woman could use the same public bathroom as an adolescent girl. Or that there would be streams of non-Whites the size of Roman legions flowing unopposed into our formerly sovereign nations. Or that the streets of Paris would begin to resemble those of Bangladesh. That the statues of the great White men who created the greatest civilization that has ever existed in the history of mankind would be torn down under the sigil of social justice for the made-up crime of “racism.” I never expected to begin to feel like an alien outsider surrounded by hostiles in the neighborhood I grew up safe and secure in.

The good news is, I’m not the only one feeling these emotions or thinking these thoughts. The White man is waking up, and the Alt-Right is here to offer him an alternative to the degenerate path to our own extinction that was the only road we were given for so many decades. Time is speeding up. We’ve witnessed massive changes in the past few years that none of us ever believed were possible. But all of those changes, all of this accelerationism virtually assures that enough White people are going to realize with alarm exactly what is happening to us, and why. And when they do, and I don’t think it will be long, you are going to witness a revolution on a scale heretofore unimaginable, that is going to drive all of the subversive, corrosive, evil elements from our nations in a more spectacular fashion than has ever been witnessed on the stage of written history. It will be a truly righteous correction. And from it will be born the revitalization of a healthy, creative, productive, thriving, happy White society. The White society that we always deserved. And the Alt-Right is going to lead that revolution.

Hail victory!

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[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Princess Principal 1 | Youkai Apato 2 | 7O3X 2 | Mahoujin Guru Guru 1 | Classroom of the Elite 1 | Saiyuki Reload Blast 2

Princess Principal 1

Welp, it’s a war plot, which normally fares badly with me, but it looks like female anime James Bond, which normally goes down well with me because I loved the Alex Rider and Young Bond series growing up.

Wah? It-It’s English!

Wa-hey! Kajiura. That probably explains the English song (because wasn’t he on Re:Creators too?). Update: No, Re:Creators has Hiroyuki Sawano.

Sometimes this is England, sometimes this is Germany. It’s strange exactly how well the German and English parts go together.

Black Lizard? Like Edogawa Rampo’s phantom thief?

That metal object called Cavorite…it reminds me of Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing. Haven’t read it, but I love the style of it.

*shakes head* Only in anime would you have ninjas in steampunk London.

Oh gosh, lil bun girl’s voice is whiny and my ep keeps freezing for some reason that isn’t buffering but otherwise I’m impressed. It’s solid in most ways, and the music is perfect for it! It might be just the thing I need to brighten up my season alongside Katsugeki.

Amy Anderson is an English name so I don’t take much issue with it, but it just sounds a lil’ cliché.

There’s CGI in this, but it’s hard to spot because it’s disguised so well.

Who the heck is Kimble? Update: They explain who he is later…

The last man that gets his butt kicked by the ninja girl…LOL.

This ED is English, too...but what the heck is a “dancy conspiracy”?

Youkai Apato 2

I noticed Yushi used haikei (Dear Sir...) which is very formal.

I swore “cigar” was referring to giving Reimei one, but heck. Cigar is his dog…wolf…canine, dangit.

Antiquary? Eyepatch man has no real name???

Oh gosh. Please just get me out of here, I’m not interested in Hard Drinking Party Girl number 384123847098…

Long haired Hase!!! Oh. His name’s Ryu? Okay then.

H-Hey, this just stated that being a weeb is a two way street. It’s vaguely reassuring, actually…

The anime staff didn’t even bother to show Yushi stopping the bleeding. So was it Yushi or was it the removal of the spirit that stopped the bleeding, or what, exactly?

Why are you worried, Akira???

The lunch is from Ruriko, isn’t it?

In the end, I think I’ll say (and I think Yushi would say too) Ruriko is best girl.

Kuri? So that’s the kid’s name…

There’s something ultra sad about Yushi going, “What is a mother, anyway?”

This is still the subpar show it was last week, but it’s a keeper until I decide the lineup. I did indeed get my long-haired Hase, which is a bonus.

7O3X 2

Urgh, they bring the memories of the first ep right back. Can people please stop using fanservice as an incentive to watch more, as engrossing as it may be for certain parts of the audience?

There appears to be someone shoving Mari from behind at the end of the OP…

Wasn’t Napoleon born in Corsica?...Yup.

You gave a question about an anime term…in anime. *rolls eyes* That’s real bottom of the barrel stuff, but the answer is “absolute territory” (zettai ryouiki).

That’s cute, Shiki has an electronic dictionary…

Holy moly! The zettai ryouiki joke worked on me! Plus Gakuto likes zettai ryouiki! Guh!!!

Zettai ryouiki works less and less the more you see it, like a joke. So a zettai ryouiki gag would naturally be the same.

Actually, I think quiz bowl isn’t that popular with girls because some girls are afraid to be geeks, as unfortunate as that is. It kills diversity in certain circles…like the IT industry…

There seems to be a blanket of sadness over this reunion between Mari and her friend.

“Home field”. Dang, opposite answer!

Cache what? Oh, uh, i-it’s a type of wraparound clothing…I know that style, I just didn’t know it had a name.

Recession? Oh dangit! I studied stagflation a few months ago! It happened during the 1970s in America, which is one factor as to why Japan became such an economic powerhouse at the time.

English folk songs? (Really?) I dunno who wrote them, so…I learnt something today.

So Mikuriya Chisato (just another darned reason to watch this show) is a fairly typical shonen rival. Smug as all get out. Not like I’m cursing myself, he’s not hot but he’s easy on the eyes…

Dangit Mikuriya! I was gonna Mallory too! The question is who said “Because it’s therez’ to “Why climb Mount Everest?”, right?...The question is “Why climb the mountain?”, but same diff, people.

Ramsar Convention? Never heard of it.

Sugar honey ice tea, this one seems to be a group based on historical stuff. Congress Dances appears to be a movie based on the Congress of Vienna.

LOL, the scat question was funny just from the strange sounds. The noises that should have followed “doo bee doo bee” must’ve been “doo ba doo ba” then.

Oh! “In the manner of the chapel” is acapella! I thought it looked like something I knew. (Hah, it does help for me to be a former pianist sometimes, eh?)

Dangit, I thought I knew the Newton one, but I blanked out. CV stands for “character voice” – naturally I’d know that one.

Ah, the tale of the underdog. Always makes for riveting drama, it does.

Gahaha! I was completely lost on the literature questions, but man, I laughed so hard at the zettai ryouiki joke. Seems they were building up to something after all. Plus, Chisato’s so amazed, I laugh even harder, that smug butt.

Oh yeah, I wonder why Shiki was in his school uniform, even though Mari wasn’t?

The silhouette from last time is present. Probably a transfer student into Buzou who’ll help the quiz team, knowing anime…There’s Yukirin (or whatever her name is), with the glasses on her head and the scarf around her neck.

“After stripes, Fukami’s preferred-” – I’d presume that’s “After stripes, Fukami’s preferred style of headband is what?” or something like that. You can see she’s wearing an American flag headband in this segment, so I’d say stars or plain pink (like you can see sometimes, like in the ED). Wha-huh? Why does Gakuto know that??? Oh no. Does that mean it was a fanservice question, about Fukami’s panties??? Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*panting and trying to recover from the previous realisation* This show’s boilerplate. It’s got good things to offer, but it also has…*shudders* fanservice. Persistent fanservice. Depending on how bad the new entries this week are (the entries in question are Mahoujin Guru Guru, Classroom of the Elite and Gamers), there may be a chance for this to go on hold (because that’s what I do to shows I can’t be certain about).

Mahoujin Guru Guru 1

ANN said this was alright, so I’m using it to determine whether I should stick on with some of my boilerplate shows (specifically Hina Logi, which doesn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy inside despite its attempts at schoolgirl SoL, 7O3X, which is fun to play with but has fanservice and Youkai Apato, which is overall lacking).

Holy anime, Batman! This thing’s 24 minutes! (I kinda knew that from ANN categorising it as such, but that still had an element of surprise when I saw it on CR.)

The cutesy artstyle doesn’t suit this show. It would be better doing a Gugure! or OPM thing with switching between two styles (chibi and detailed).

Uh, subbers? Why is “Boering” “Jimina”???...Oh, okay. Jimina can mean a lot of different things when in different contexts, but it would mean “boring” in this context, so they went with a deliberate typo on “boring”. I see.

It’s already making me laugh at the mention that this sign would make great firewood. I foresee great things from this show.

Bado’s basically an “I took an arrow to the knee” guy, right?

“No reply. It’s just a corpse.” – LOL.

Oh gosh. Not the magic granny! (sarcastic)

Yeah, I kinda lost interest, but that’s because this is meant to riff off RPGs and ye olde fantasy, right?

You can’t just ride on weird faces alone to carry your humour. I can see how this is funny, but I’m not laughing simply because I find the overreliance of funny faces to convey humour is a bit overused.

Oh. They did it again. Ainshent = Ancient.

Suddenly, these guys go the DN Angel route with the training. Well, it’s better to start in medias res than to have to train from no power at all…

I think it works better with dramatic voice acting. Read the “the money covers that” quickly like the “spoken by” of an ad, then read the “all you get is cash!” with a voice that you use to tell scary stories…and you’re set.

Oh gosh. It’s fanservice, and right after I was complaining about it in 7O3X too…

Arabian blonde girl is so shiny, I can’t see…*bumps into something*

See? I knew he’d take the sword! Not only do they spoil that in the promo material and the eyecatch, Heroes Prefer Swords (to quote TV Tropes)!

Okay, Karamatsu-Nike. Hold up.

No, the counter guy said it was a heavy iron sword, right?

A-hey. So Nike switched to the dagger? Yeah, I thought I saw that dagger previously too, but he’ll probably get the sword someday…or maybe he just bought both. I don’t give any cares for these guys.*shrugs*

This thing is produced well, but mmhmm. I saw an inbetween fram of bishie eyes, and I like me some bishie eyes.

Wait, the monster always wanted to do a monologue? Guess that’s all kinds of villains’ shtick, not just big baddies. (almost laughed, but that kind of joke dies too quickly)

Was that mage perhaps…*gasps* Magic Granny? Noooooooooooooo!

When did he notice her?! (almost laughs, but not quite)

There’s a Laughing Man, an Anpanman and the word shippai (failure).

Well, as a comedy it fares better than Hina Logi, but because it’s a high fantasy parody, it’s sucking at its own job. Sorry, but I’m going to put you on hold. I think I need to reevaluate you with the sound on. Sometimes, I felt like I should laugh, but didn’t because I genuinely couldn’t find a reason to, either, which is kinda rare for me when it comes to comedy. I can see why people like it though.

Classroom of the Elite 1

For some reason, this has glowing reviews, so…let’s see what the hype is about.

Okay, you’re quoting Nietzche. *side eyes* If there’s two things I know about Nietzche, it’s 1) he has some good quotes under his name and 2) he always comments on the state of humanity’s evil. I love to quote the “if you stare into the abyss…” thing, so at least you have my attention.

Classroom of the Elite…Episode…what? It’s a Classroom of the Elite episode. We know that already.

*Googles furiously* I knew it! “Heaven does not make one person above or below another” is a Fukuzawa quote (from An Encouragement of Learning, which I had to learn about from nkhrchy)! However, using two quotes in succession has less effect than just one.

I think it is in my country, you get fined ifyou get caught not giving up your seat to those who need it (including elderly people), so I see the girl’s viewpoint more.

Oh great. *sighs* I start to wonder where the show will go as soon as I see Seiji Kishi. All of the man’s works I’ve seen so far are hit or miss. Ranpo Kitan had a terrible plot but eyecatching visuals, while Tsukigakirei was plodding enough to make me yell at the screen a lot.

Was that a bear in a uniform? I wanna see a bear in a uniform the same way as Mechazawa (Cromartie)!

Man, these pink eyes are weird.

This brunette seems to be a future class rep. You can see it written all over his mannerisms and dialogue…which is exactly what protag thought too, it seems.

The phone’s like a PayPass…?

Horikita? Like that 3rd year?

Fairy Mart, LOL.

*sighs* Of course he’d focus on her assets…urgh.

Doesn’t “uji” mean something along the lines of “surname”, come to think of it?

“Quilsilver” (sic).

Gah-hah (half laughing), it looks like Starbucks! Guess that’s not surprising, knowing how some girls are into their skinny mocha lattes with the soy milk and quinoa. Then again, that’s stereotyping, so that’s mean.

Ayanokouji is hard to read, but I can predict his thought process like we’re completely in sync (which I guess is meant to happen in a show like this). Horikita’s pretty expressionless too, meaning this comes off similar to Sagrada Reset – there’s potential, but the quality of the character writing is hard to determine.

I think Horikita suspects Kushida wants to hang off the dudes. Like something out of Legally Blonde.

Only a dude writer would make a girl mention her underwear so casually…*grumbles*

Since I read ANN prior to watching this ep, I knew the twist, but it was handled competently enough.

“Sapere aude” appeared during the ED. It means “dare to know”, and was first mentioned by Immanuel Kant. I learnt about it in politics, and heck, for a series that relies on lofty quotes like this, it does make sense to include it.

The words in the ED, if not Japanese, are German and Latin, along with a sentence or two of French and some English (because I spotted “…the root of evil”).

This style, that involves a lot of pink…I should’ve known is was Seiji Kishi and Lerche. It vaguely smacks of Ranpo Kitan!

I’m not sure what way this is going to go, but I can say I’m at least intrigued because there does seem to be some strong writing behind this. That means Hina Logi is going on hold.

Saiyuki Reload Blast 2

The gangster feel of this is great, y’know? The perfect way to kick back any day. (Unfortunately, if you want to know how I’m going on Gangsta, I still have it on hold…that was a lil’ subpar compared to what I wanted to cling to that season.)

Just out of interest… Well, here’s a better indication. That’s a pretty long road trip. However, the distance between Adelaide and Darwin (both Australian cities) is longer (3030.61 km or 1883.13 miles or 1636.4 nautical miles if measuring by driving distance on the same site as that second link), so…the Saiyuki guys have no right to complain.

“A salt lake…So a lake filled with salt water.” – You don’t say…I bet there’s a specialised term for that in Japanese, but still.

Float? Like the Dead Sea?

It’s funny how these guys use both magic and science. It’s something I’ve been trying to write ever since “The Future is Crimson”, because being able to combine both into a show smoothly indicates you’re a great writer (at least, in my opinion).

Like, enough with the camera blood splatter and “shooting through” the camera. Otherwise, I’m happy with this battle scene.

Seeing ancient China through a Japanese person’s eyes instead of through my parents’ Chinese version of jidaigeki-style live action dramas is…really something else. I think that’s one reason I’m so attached to this. (In case you’re wondering, yes. My parents watch a lot of old Chinese live action dramas. My dad especially is fond of things involving Mao Zedong or Deng Xiaoping if not those weird period dramas I just mentioned.)

They have credit cards in this period. That’s…hilarious! Then again, we’re talking about dudes with a dragon/jeep and a gun in what seems to be ancient China. Go, anime! (partially halfhearted) (shakes head knowingly*

The more the enemy lady (who appears to be Gyokumen) talks, the more I think of Queen Beryl from Sailor Moon and the more I get hit in the nostalgia. Ah, the 90s. Those were some good days of anime.

Gahhaha, the Sanzo party is full of debauchery, yet I can see why they’ve spawned so many anime seasons and specials.

“Looks like you did get here in the nick of time.”

The Sanzo party sound so unmotivated when they go, “Urasai”.

These extra things really ain’t funny, but…well, it’s almost like seeing an AU of these guys in the modern day. Including, and up to, watermelon smashing. An anime can’t go without at least one watermelon smashing scene if it’s got a beach episode...or it’s summer, which is just a big excuse to show a beach scenario anyway.

Update: After much thought, I regret to say that 7O3X and Youkai Apato are going on hold. The Reflection, which I intended to check out originally, will probably be out on the 29th while I still have Gamers! on tap next.