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hannshines · 1 year ago

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Hunger Games x FlintWood Au

Welcome back to telling my ideas I had for this fic so I don't keep them bottled up and if anyone wants to play with this I'm more than happy.

To recap we are in part 2 of all this and part 1 can be found below by clicking on part 1.

Part.1: Marcus (his first games and how he met Oliver as well as their development while participating in the games for his sister)

Part 2: Daphne (On her attempt to get out as a district escort in the ministry) — here

Part 3: Adrian (In his development in the last games that i had planned for the story, before the fall of the ministry)

Part 2.

Actually for part 2 I have several ideas but maybe not as well formulated as part 1 since it's the middle of the fic but I'll try not to go in circles.

Well in FlintWood terms for the second part it was mostly their development, and initial life in the ministry, Marcus and Oliver after the games are over they hate each other to no end, most of their development is around when they finally share a place again which is on the victory tour, because they both don't even want to see each other in a picture.

A plus for the whole thing that happened in they games and thanks for Oliver's show there were two winners, Oliver's parents are killed in an "accidental" fire in his house about two days after he returns to his district.

There's not much to tell my ideas of the victory tour other than being from different districts, they both had to make it very clear that none of it was propaganda for the districts to unite against the Ministry, not in that literal way but you get the point.

Obviously in the opposite districts of each one they don't let the other one Marcus goes to district 4 to make the speech (which being alone he says that he doesn't regret anything of what he did against Demelza) while Oliver gives his speech in district 7 (which the sentimentality wins him because he didn't want to do anything against Amelia and he apologizes to Marcus' mother).

It's a show because now Katie and Daphne work together, Daphne gets stressed because they don't know where to have the last celebration if in district 6 or 4, fights between everyone and extra stuff, ahhh there's only one bed trop hahahaha and more.

And moving on to the ministry stuff going back to the end of the first part, after it was announced that both Marcus and Oliver had won Daphne was upset, she goes to tell her truths to Percy and Katie thinking that it was something they had planned and that if so they had all just got themselves into big trouble as there have never been two winners in the games, obviously everyone looks worried but the most desperate in this matter is Daphne and Katie.

Both are called in by Tom Ryddle in which he is given the opportunity to tell them if they both had a plan in mind to make them both winners and they both deny everything, and while he believes Daphne by not doing anything to her, he does not believe Katie by torturing her right there and then.

Katie has a necklace similar to the Muggles (who are literally the slaves and servants of the place, who have no word) and that is beacuse the truth is that she is not part of the ministry, her parents and herself were from district six (she know's Leanne and Leanne know her) she will be about four years old when her parents did something and were captured to work as muggles in the Ministry.

The plan was to let Katie as an orphan but they saw potential in her being pretty enough and maybe she could serve, so when she was old enough about two years after Daphne start to work i'm they Ministry they put her to work as an escort but of course without pay and she actually lives day to day.

Katie is given an ultimatum and just gets the hell out of the place, shady stuff between Tom Riddle and Daphne and the reason why i have in the fic THAT tags

A life that Daphne doesn't get used to and really doesn't want, but thanks to Theo who in fact many people are forbidden to get too close to Daphne and one of them is Theo for a few circumstances, she soport that treat.

Obviously they both love each other but can't show it because of the position Daphne is in and that literally looking for a steady partner would surely be branded a betrayal of the ministry itself (Tom Ryddle) and the games.

Back to the districts.

After what is that Marcus recovers because he was badly injured in the games, he returns to the district with his mother which begins to have a little closer contact as they are both the only ones who have each other, the victory tour in which Marcus' own mother tells him that at least Oliver is cute and Marcus may be having a good time faking a romance that is not going at all well.

There starts to be family closeness and a bond between what is Daphne and Marcus, Daphne worries about him and decides again not to change district, that is also because she has always been right there for Adrian but now for Marcus and the problems start because between Marcus and Oliver they start to divide the dealings towards each of them by the ministry.

Both are winners, so Oliver is being treated as what he is, a winner and whom the ministry wants to turn into a hallow doing dirty little jobs ignoring the fact of the romance he has with Marcus because he is pretty (Come on Marcus shared) but strangely enough Marcus does not start to be treated like that, he starts to be included as someone important in the ministry, almost like what Lucius Malfoy had a hard time doing and of course implemented with his son now.

Right, more character introductions in all this journey

Terence Higgs: My pretty pretty boy Terence, habitant of district seven and Adrian's partner, as well as Adrian's emotional counselor, Marcus holds him in high esteem and so does Daphne.

Graham Montague: Marcus's friend, a year older than Adrian and whose turn it is to participate in the 96th games.

Alicia Spinnet: Mentor of District 11, too overbearing for Marcus' liking but seems to get along very well with Oliver as he goes into his first year as a mentor.

Angelina Johnson: Stylist of district 10, has a love hate relationship with Lucian Bole and hates Marcus but loves Katie and Oliver together, hates Percy the same way and calls him a bore.

Lucius Malfoy: Winner of District 1, clearly Death Eater Marcus hates him because somehow he always ends up talking to him.

Draco Malfoy: Winner of district 1 like his father, Marcus tolerates him, he seems to have a great friendship with Blaise and of the Malfoy's he is the only one that Astoria and Daphne like, Marcus makes fun of the little looks he has with Harry.

Harry Potter: The lucky boy who survived from district 9, literally that's his nickname since he was supposed to be left for dead in the games but in the end he appeared as alive, being the first mistake presented in the games, in the end he won but the ministry went against him and killed his parents.

Pansy Parkinson: A distant cousin of Marcus, Marcus never really cared enough about his mother having a sister who left for District 1 after she won the games to marry another winner there.

Tracey Davis: Stylist of district 2, very close friend of Theodore Nott, she doesn't get along very well with Daphne but yes with Astoria.

Joanne Selwyn: A rather quiet girl whom Adrian has known for years, she ends up being a tribute at the 77th games.

Clearly for Daphne and Marcus it is something strange because although they think they treat him like hallow they do not make Marcus do jobs as Oliver who truly by his appearance becomes one of the new favorites of the ministry.

It stops working for them the lovers joke because they try to make everyone take a position and Marcus doesn't like the position they are putting him in and much less his mother who obviously knows why they are doing all that.

In all this plot we know about Marcus dad who is actually not someone from the districts but someone from the ministry.

A backstory to Marcus's mother.

In Marcus's district there have been several winners but most have been older and many years ago, the last winner before Marcus's mother participated in the games died leaving district 7 without a mentor, when something like that happens and the Ministry trying to be fair, is assigned someone from the ministry as a mentor for the tribute who will participate, if it lasts a while the mentor is not repeated and each year is someone different.

When Eleanore Shafiq (Marcus's mother) participates clearly her mentor ends up being Thaddeus Flint (Marcus' father) one of Tom Ryddle's closest friends, both fall in love or more than anything Thaddeus falls in love with her and does everything he can to make Eleanore survive.

He succeeds and it clearly does not happen instantly but what Thaddeus seeks is to leave the ministry to go with Eleanore to the districts and live a "quiet" life at that time if a winner had children, the kid could also skip the reaping, a rule that was discarded two years before Marcus reached the minimum age to participate in his first reaping.

Thaddeus actually did manage to leave the ministry but not entirely, he still had to return to settle certain family "matters" more than anything else and that is why he always returned to the ministry whenever Eleanore go to be a mentor.

Here the Death Eaters do exist and clearly they are the people closest to Tom Ryddle and in this case they may even be winners but it is very rare to see it, so thee problem of Thaddeus being gone is that he left incomplete a personal circle that Tom Ryddle had and in short he was left without one more servant, that's why Marcus being a winner and having access to the ministry fit like a glove to Tom Ryddle to fill that space he was missing and in short to have one more asshole working for him.

All this is discovered long after Marcus gets his first turn to be a mentor (surprise Montague gets his turn to be a tribute and wins).

Obviously as all these problems begin start to create a closer intra-personal bond between Daphne, Marcus and Adrian.

When Daphne learn that Thaddeus Flint managed to leave the ministry for someone he loves, is armed with heat to ask leave from working for the games to be with Theo so that both can live a relatively "quiet" life because she's not leaving the ministry completely but would go step by step.

She asks Tom Ryddle with the faith of a thousand gods after planning very well for a resolution to any roadblock that gets in her way and asks for his resignation from Tom Ryddle himself saying that she will take care of finding someone just as competent for the job and won't even notice his lack once she finds her, even telling him that she will explain everything and no one will have to bother with that problem but her.

Odd as it sounds for Daphne this one agrees and my little girl is very happy to see at least an open window of getting away from things.

But clearly it would not be so easy.

Marcus and Oliver's games were the 95th games, Gramham wins the 96th games (in which here the rule was changed that it is a man and a woman and they start to combine the genders and they can be anyone, one man and one woman, two men or two women) and thanks to the fact that the 100th games are near it is announced that there will be some slight changes and surprises in some details before the so expected 100th games.

In the end Daphne doesn't have to choose who will replace her, but she is told that she will be assigned to someone and her job will be to train her, she finds it strange but accepts thinking that maybe after the games she will have to train someone, but in the reaping her surprise is when she finds her father in the district and more than anything with Astoria in the place.

Astoria tells her that she doesn't know why she is there and her father (who is also close to Tom Ryddle) tells Daphne about the slight changes there will be for the harvest because of the countdown to the 100th games.

The surprise for that game is that apart from the urn of the districts, there is going to be a special urn with other names of people specifically chosen for some characteristic (pure redheads, pure blondes, only people who live in a detailed area of the district, only people who live in a specific area of the district, etc), In this case in this second ballot box only the people from the same district will know who they are, but those from the ministry and the other districts will not know who they are, making them a surprise tribute for the TV, they will not show their face, their name will not be shown, but their voice will be shown and they will be called by a nickname.

For Daphne it's kind of weird because it's nothing like what she knows they had been planning for the 97th games and because it's sound silly and very complicated to do for some simple games but she decides not to fight about it and pay attention to the explanation.

The problem comes when it seems that Astoria's presence is to draw the names of the reaping, leaving Daphne on the side and and obviously the surprise is that Daphne's name comes out.

Which is not his name for confidentiality, but a nickname that Daphne knows that only Tom Ryddle says to her.

Daphne laughs nervously believing that it is a joke and she has to cross in the middle to read the paper on her own and desperate to see that its true she throws away the paper and looks for another name several times realizing that all the names of the special urn are hers.

Daphen's fight is no longer televised and at that very moment she starts to tell her father that how could he do this, that they could not do it because she is a citizen of the ministry and not of the districts and he coldly, rudely and without caring about his daughter tells her that she brought it on herself for trying to leave and that she does not know how angry Tom Ryddle is for that.

Marcus and Adrian are obviously surprised, Marcus promises Daphne that he will not let her die but obviously Daphne understands the plan of why they put her in and for her it would be better to die, because if she survives now she would be completely turned into a hallow and would never be able to escape from the ministry but Marcus tells her that this is something that will be arranged later but what Daphne must think now is to survive, literally worth her other tribute which is a girl named Joanne Selwyn, and she is also surprised that someone from the ministry is a tribute but she doesn't comment anything about it.

On the way to the ministry Marcus realizes that one of the tributes from Oliver's district is Ginny Weasley and Marcus realizes that Oliver is also going to do everything he can to keep his best friend's sister from dying.

Obviously Theo finds out what is going on and leaves his place in district 1 to change to district 7 saying that he will be in charge of dressing Daphne, nobody important but the mentors know that Daphne is participating in the games, comments that she won it and things like that are irrelevant.

Passive aggressive interviews between Daphne and Rita Skeeter beacuse Daphne has hated her for a long time and she finally dropped her mouth in the interview.

Marcus trains Daphne, a small friendship between Joanne and Daphne where clearly Joanne is not bothered by all the attention being given to the blonde some very beautiful moments and emotional conversations between Theo and Daphne in which Theo tells her that there shouldn't have been all that for him but for herself, which leaves Daphne thinking a lot.

Daphne scared by the fact that Astoria is now being used as an escort for the tributes and not as a stylist which is why her little sister had gotten into the games.

And my recommendation was to not get attached to anyone hahaha

Daphne who clearly cannot be accompanied by her mentors to the games is accompanied by Theo and yes, Theo is killed in front of Daphne in which she is sent to the arena leaving Daphne devastated and shocked because literally the person she loved the most and why she is in the games right now just died as a message that she will never really get what she wants.

I've already gone on too long, but let's go quickly.

When Daphne comes out she realizes that the arena of those games ends up being a lake, almost without any land except the cornocopia which is a small island in the middle with a tree, but everything else seems to be just water (jiji the black lake reference).

Marcus is confused because they decided to make the arena that way since they are not supposed to put something similar anymore because not all tributes know how to swim and die fast and Adrian tells him that for sure Tom Ryddle's plan is that these games don't last long thinking about Daphne.

There is not much to tell from the ministry's side only that Marcus has a hard time finding sponsors because apparently no one despite being with more fans after the interviews no one wants to sponsor Daphne (actually everyone was warned not to sponsor her) Blaise ends up being her anonymous sponsor most of the time.

Oh and that Oliver looks a lot more nervous in Marcus's view and Marcus doesn't know why.

Fast forward back to the games, not much interesting to see why they go fast as planned, Daphne traumas, dehydration does its job, hallucinations with Theo and my girl just needs a break.

The important thing that happens in the games is that aside from Joanne dying and Daphne suffering her death as well, Daphne ends up in an alliance with Ginny for most of the games.

Relatively all goes well with that alliance (my favorite wlw) Daphne doesn't really trust Ginny but you can tell she's good at fighting and possibly her only chance to survive, they both become kind of weird "friends" but the most striking thing that happens is when they're both left in the end.

Haha here if there is no drama and starts a fight to the death between Daphne and Ginny in a curiously well positioned place where you can't see Daphne's face very well (because let's remember that the ministry doesn't know who she is) and at the end Ginny ends up drowning Daphne in the lake making Ginny Weasley the winner of the 97th games

And that's they end of Daphne Greengrass🥰

No, it's not true she is still alive but I'll save it for part three because I'm already too long here.

#flintwood #hp #hanntalk #harry potter #hp headcanon #marcus flint #oliver wood #fanfic ideas #hp fanfics #i only give ideas #hungergames au #the hunger games #lol im tired

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firehananas · 1 year ago

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En train de regarder Percy Jakson et les Olympiens. Parmi les choses que j’ai préféré jusqu’à présent au film (il me reste un épisode à voir)

- le jeu d’acteur d’Aryan Silhadri (il donne vraiment un côté touchant à Grover, plus sensible ; j’aime beaucoup sa performance)

- L’outfit de Méduse (vraiment magnifique, bravo aussi à l’actrice Jessica P. Kennedy et de la voix fr), j’adore son chapeau ❤️

- Les petits flashbacks sur Percy et sa maman

- en vrai, de façon générale, les jeux d’acteurs

- Arès qui est plus sympathique dans mon souvenir que sa version papier (? Ça fait TRÈS longtemps que j’ai pas lu le livre)

Ce que j’aime moins :

- Hephaïstos est censé être boiteux, certes, mais aussi laid. Là, c’est juste un papi super canon (j’ai trouvé d’ailleurs que c’était le plus beau de tous les dieux mdrrr) ??? Aphrodite n’aime juste pas les nerds en fait.

- Percy enfant et Percy adulte n’ont pas les mêmes yeux et ça me perturbe de fou 😩

- Le rythme est parfois trop rapide, pour Méduse comme pour la prof de maths, j’ai trouvé que la tension redescendait d’un coup et ça donnait l’impression que la méchante était pas si terrible que ça. Ou l’épisode avec le casino lotus.

- Ce que j’aimais beaucoup dans Percy Jakson, c’étaient ses traits d’humour. Pour moi, il avait le côt�� un peu SpiderMan de la littérature jeunesse. Le ton de la série est cependant hyper sérieux de façon générale, il aurait pu au moins garder le côté humour pour les recaps, mais non. C’est dommage !

- Le palais d’Hades est non seulement moche (subjectif) mais c’est aussi un vrai nid à courant d’air (objectif, aucune fenêtre et des trous partout qui est l’architecte de ce truc ?!)

Dans l’ensemble, je passe un bon moment mais je ne sais pas si elle sera vraiment inoubliable pour moi.

#hana cause #percy jackson #percy jackson and the olympians

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boysplanetrecaps · 1 year ago

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The Great Produce 48 Rewatch: Ep 3, The Girls Practice for the Challenge Mission

My dear friends who anxiously await my Produce 48 Recap Things! I forgot to post this -- sorry! This is the post that is supposed to go after this post but before this post. Sigh. I'll fix it sooner or later. So yeah, this post describes most of the second half of episode 3, where the girls begin practicing for their challenge mission.

So, this is the part of the episode where we see each group as it begins to assign parts and stuff like that.

Because MNET is *the worst* the girls clearly don’t have any translators working with them, so they can barely talk to each other if they don’t have a bilingual girl on their team. Great. Thanks, MNET Producers. Thmrucers.

PEEKABOO TEAMS

The song:

Peekaboo came out in November of 2017, so it was the most recently released song among the eight at the time of filming. It peeked at #2 in the Kpop Hot 100 and was a critical darling. It’s also, in my opinion, just a great fucking song. I still remember being at Cafe Bene in K-town having some coffee when I first heard this song. I had to shazam it to find out what it was, and was surprised that it was Red Velvet. I had heard of Red Velvet, but as a fan of f(x), I had felt weird about getting into them. Seems dumb now! Anyway, this song was too good to deny and after that I was full on Reve-luv. The song is little bit trop house, a little bit pop, and 100% melodic, and the lyrics -- which compare love to a game played by children -- are fun and intriguing. The concept, too, was a lot of fun -- kind of mysterious, almost horror, but playful at the same time. Not totally sexy, but a little sexy; not totally cute, but a little cute; not girl crush, but the kind of girls you get a crush on. And catchy as all get out. It’s a great song to choose in the sense that it’s a great song, but it would be tricky to perform well, because the concept is so nebulous and mature. I mean, who else but Irene can make the word “Peekaboo” sound so elegant and cryptic?

Team 2:

At 57:07, we have a super quick visit with Peekaboo 2.

Left to right: Yujeong, Yeji, Yubin, Yuuka, Miu, and Dahye

Hong Yeji, 16, one of the CNC girls, the one who fell down in her video evaluation and then fell from B to F, is ranked 76thth.

Kato Yuuka, 20, who auditioned with Funny People and rose from C to B, is ranked 73rd.

Kim Da Hye, who auditioned with I Don't Like Your Girlfriend and fell from A to C, is ranked 89th.

Kim Yu Bin, 16, one of the CNC girls, fell from B to D and is currently ranked a very low 93rd. OUCH.

Lee Yu Jeong, 14, future Lightsum member and C-class mainstay, is ranked 48th.

Shitao Miu, 17, who wore the hat on her waistband in her Mister audition, stayed in D and is ranked 45

Kim Yubin was the chooser, so it makes sense she would have chosen Yeji, her labelmate. Yubin has somehow been made both leader and center, and the team seems focused on what their team name should be. You guys, I never remember the names that they come up with for these teams. I don’t remember the names of most performance teams I’ve actually been on! I’m not sure they matter. They begin to rehearse, and we find out that Kim Da Hye is actually half Korean and half Japanese and speaks both languages fluently. What a VIP! The whole team is grateful to her.

It’s weird, but this is all we see of this team! Slightly less than a minute. I’m sure the fact that this group has the lowest average ranking of all 16 groups (70.6, when the other groups range from 16.8 to 63.6) has no connection to their lack of screen time, right? It’s just a coincidence.

Left to right: Jurina, Gyuri, AleXa, Gaeun, Yiren, Eunyeong

Peekaboo 1 (58:00):

Then we hop over to Peekaboo 1. Jurina was the captain/chooser for the group, and they got their choice of song. The group was formed fifth, which means that Jurina had a decent talent pool to choose from.

The members:

Bae Eunyeong, the mint Chewing Gum girl, who landed in B and was most recently ranked 30th

Jang Gyuri, the pink Chewing Gum girl and Fromis9 member, who landed in F and was most recently ranked 14th

Lee Gaeun, our Pledis queen, who was always an A+ girl and was most recently ranked 1st place

Matsui Jurina, queen Jurina, who stayed in B and was most recently ranked 12th

Wang Yiren, future Everglow visual, who landed in C and was most recently ranked 7th

AleXa, who landed in C and was most recently ranked 86th place (ouch!)

Fun side note: Peekaboo was written by Swedish DJ/songwriter Cazzi Opeia, who later on wrote a bunch of songs for AleXa, including Back in Vogue!

The group dynamic:

This group has a bit more language challenge than some, because AleXa is American, Yiren is Chinese, Jurina is Japanese, and the other three are Korean. Yiren speaks some Korean, and a few girls speak Japanese, but there are certainly layers of difficulty.

It’s kind of interesting that Jurina chose AleXa -- they probably met when they were both in group B -- and also kind of interesting that she didn’t choose any Japanese trainees. I’m not sure what to make of that. Jurina also would have met Jang Gyuri and Wang Yiren in B group, so maybe she just mostly picked friends. Well, some Very Pretty friends!

Eunyeong and Gyuri are labelmates and went through Idol School together before they came on this show. But there is definitely some tension between them, which might have something to do with the fact that Gyuri won Idol School and still came on this show.

The storyline:

First, Eunyeong volunteers to be leader since she already knows the choreo to Peekaboo. It doesn’t hurt that she also speaks Japanese. Then they start talking about who should be center -- The Inevitable Center Discussion, henceforth known as the ICD -- and Gaeun says that although all of the girls are suitable, she thinks that the center should be either Yiren or Gyuri. To me that seems like a good idea, as they are both “the prettiest ones” (per Korean standards). After a quick conversation, the group is starting to settle on the very highly ranked and popular Gyuri, but Eunyeoung interrupts and says that they should have both Yiren and Gyuri “audition” to be center.

LTR: Jurina, Gyuri, AleXa, Gaeun, Yiren, Eunyeoung

They both do well, but Gyuri giggles a little at the end and I think that loses it. After seeing each of them try the ending pose, the team votes for Yiren. Yiren is overjoyed, and Gyuri does her best to accept it, but man, that had to hurt, having a labelmate do that. You really have to wonder what is going on between Gyuri and Eunyoung. Was there actual animosity, or were they such good friends that Eunyoung went overboard in being “fair”?

Look, if I ran things, I’d have put Gauen in the center, because I think she might be the only one on the team who can do the Irene-esque mysterious gravitas. But failing that, I'd choose Gyuri, because (a) the popularity issue and (b) Yiren doesn’t sparkle in more girl-crush concepts. I know that’s what she does now in Everglow, and um, yeah. I said what I said.

Lingering question: Did the team make the right choice putting Yiren in the center instead of Gyuri? Will getting 4x the screen time give these girls an advantage in the at-home vote, rendering the issue of the performance win kind of moot either way?

LIKE OOH AHH

The song:

Ok, I can’t help but love this song. It’s among my favorite Twice songs, actually. The lyrics should bother me -- bragging about how pretty they are and all that -- but am I bovvered? I also love the choreo -- it’s not particularly difficult, but it’s cute and varied, with fun little details like the air flute and the little choo-choo-train. No surprise this song is great -- it was written and produced by Black Eyed Pilseung, a production duo that is also behind a ton of huge Kpop hits, including Twice songs "TT", "Likey", and "Fancy"; Apink's "I'm So Sick" and "Eung Eung (%)"; Got7’s “If You Do,” ; Chung-ha’s “Roller Coaster” and “Gotta Go,”; StayC’s “ASAP” “Run 2 U” and “Beautiful Monster,” and Itzy’s “Cake,” which I really like so fight me I guess. Also “Beep Beep” by Ruann, which if you don’t know, you should check out.

Like Ooh Ah was Twice’s debut, and it had a bit of a slow burn, entering the charts at 22 and hanging out for a while before eventually hitting 10th place. It has since, of course, grown into an enduring and well loved hit, with almost 500 million views on Youtube.

This group will be performing the song in Japanese, but I still think that this was a smart choice for a song. The choreo is cute but not outrageously difficult. The tune isn’t too hard either. It would be completely familiar to the audience, and given Twice’s popularity, it’s hard to imagine many viewers who actually dislike it. And since the concept of the song was that the individual members were all dressed a little bit differently from one another, group coherence would be a lot less important here than it would be in other songs.

Like Ooh Ahh 1 (1:02:00)

LTR: Moe, Soyeon, Doah, Chaewon, Riina, and Haeyoon

The next group we visit is Like Ooh Ah 1. The captain was Soyeon, and my best guess based on the evidence is that, as improbable as it sounds, this group was formed 9th or 10th. It’s a pretty stacked team, though. They got their choice of song -- in fact, from what we could see in the editing, this was their first choice.

The members:

Goto Moe, the laryngitis girl, who moved from F to C and was most recently ranked 8th.

Hwang Soyeon, the flat tummied “little Sunmi” who stayed in A and was ranked 46th.

Kim Chaewon, future Le Sserafim, who stayed in B class and was ranked 21st.

Kim Doah, future member of Fanatics and visitor to GP999, who moved from A to C and was ranked 25th.

Lee Seunghyeon, aka H1-Key’s Riina, who moved from B to C and was ranked 60th.

Park Haeyoon, my new Cherry Bullet bias, who moved from A down to D and was ranked 35th.

The group dynamic:

Soyeon was the captain and group chooser, and she chose two former A-group members, whose skills she would have been familiar with. It’s possible that she’d been talking to her labelmate Damin, who was in group B, and would have met Chaewon and Riina and known what they were capable of. And Moe has a compelling story that would make her stand out among the Japanese trainees. So really, I think Soyeon did a great job choosing this team.

Looks like they have chosen Haeyoon, the oldest in the group and a Japanese speaker, to be the leader.

The storyline:

Of course, they dive immediately into the ICD. Riina and Moe are the only two who raise their hands as wanting to be in the center, and they each audition. Riina’s energy wins her the part.

They dive into choreo, and Moe hits a bit of a wall with the classic “ooh-ah, ooh-ah” butt wiggle. Haeyoon kindly talks Moe through it. It's a cute scene -- I just don't have much to say about it.

Lingering questions: Is Riina the correct center? Will Moe be able to wiggle her butt?

Like Ooh Ahh 2 (1:05:03)

LTR: Park Seo Young, Naiki Kokoro, Park Jinny, Cho Kahyeon, Choi Yeon Soo

Next, we visit Like Ooh Ahh 2. The captain and chooser was Naiki Kokoro, and was probably formed 10th, 11th, or 12th, something in there.

The members:

Park Seo Young, age 19, the blonde who sat in Chair 1, fell from C to D and was ranked 26th at this point.

Naiki Kokoro, age 20, auditioned with Funny People, rose from D to C, and was ranked 82nd.

Park Jinny, age 20, is the other “individual trainee” who auditioned with Seoyoung. She fell from C to F and was ranked 49th.

Cho Kahyeon, age 14, is the Starship girl who isn’t Wonyoung or Yujin. She held steady in B and was ranked 36th.

Lee Ha Eun, age 13, is the “mini Chung-ha” girl who held steady in A, and was ranked 58th.

Choi Yeonsoo, age 19, is one of the YGK+ models, the one who fell from D to F, and was ranked 52nd.

The group dynamic:

There’s only one Japanese speaker here, the captain Kokoro. Looks like she picked Park Jinny first, then Cho Kahyeon, then Haeun, then Yeonsoo, and Seoyoung last. I really can’t figure out her plan. She may have gotten friendly with Yeonsoo when they were in D together, but her reasons for picking the others aren’t obvious to me.

The storyline:

Turns out that this group thought that Seoyoung should be both leader and center, so they sidestepped the ICD. They’re trying to start to learn the choreography, but they’re in a huge room with a ton of other other people, no dedicated soundsystem, and no mirror, so it’s hard. It’s just the first few minutes of their rehearsal -- you can see that in the background, the other Like Ooh Ah team is still distributing the parts -- so it really doesn’t matter if they can’t get it on the first try. But even so, the scary background music lets us know that THEY ARE HAVING A PROBLEM.

Model Choi Yeon Soo interviews, “Haeun was in Class A. And nobody else in the group is in A. She was put in that group because she’s talented. So it almost felt like Haeun was the real leader…. Both of them were subconsciously competing. They gave different commands. Meanwhile, I just stood off from the side. It’s stressing me out, to be honest.”

It’s awkward because Haeun is the youngest and the tiniest, but she’s also obviously the best. And Seoyoung seems to be losing more and more confidence by the minute. It’s not usually a great thing when someone is topping from the bottom. I get it, though. I am one of those people who can’t take it when the person who is supposed to be leading just isn’t doing it right. I try so hard to bite my tongue and hang back but… sooner or later, if the shit has to get done, then… I do it.

Lingering question: Will they ever be able to have a smooth practice without stressing out Yeonsoo?

BOOMBAYAH

The song: I’m going to go ahead and assume you know this song, so I don’t need to tell you that it was one of Blackpink’s two debut songs and all that. It’s not my favorite Blackpink song of all time -- that’s Whistle, if you’re wondering-- but of course I like this one too. It’s hard to imagine a world where I had never heard of Blackpink at this point, but that time once existed. I remember hearing Boombayah playing in another room (I had left a playlist of new songs playing) and hearing it and wondering, who is that? Weird, right? Anyway, despite this song not really being about anything, it’s a pretty great song, with really hard choreo and a lot of fast rapping, and it’s going to be difficult for whatever team tries to do it. It’s got super low notes in the chorus (it’s hard to sing lower notes when you’re dancing), it requires a ton of swag, a lot of it is intentionally not synchronized, I mean, this is hard.

Hell, it’s too hard for Blackpink these days. Yep, I said what I said.

Boombayah 1 (1:06:51)

Left to right: Won Soyeon, Ko Yujin, Lee Chaejeong, Park Changju, Kim Sohee

We visit first with Boombayah team 1. Lee Chaejeong was the chooser, and the group was formed 9th or later.

Won Seoyeon, age 18, who auditioned to Heroine by Sunmi, fell from C to F and was ranked 77th at this point.

Ko Yujin, age 17, the “Hyuna lookalike” who auditioned with Lip and Hip and rose from C to A. She was ranked 34th.

Lee Chaejeong, age 18, future member of Alice, stayed in C and was ranked 94th at this point. Ouch!!

Park Chanju, age 19, label mate of Chaejeong’s, fell from C to D and was ranked 69th. Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kim Sohee, age 14, future member of Rocket Punch, rose from C to B and was ranked 44th.

The group dynamic: Chaejeong probably picked Chanju because they’re label mates, and also, all five of them were together in C class initially, and they probably became friendly then. I think it’s smart to pick people who all get along with each other, since often the team that gets along better is the one that ends up winning.

You may have noticed that there were only five of them, not six -- that’s due to the Japanese girls who dropped out. I scoured the footage and couldn’t find any shots in which there were six of them at any point. I can’t figure out why a team would volunteer to have only five members, but I can’t find any info to shed any light on this, so we’ll have to just sort of accept that something happened behind the scenes here.

The storyline:

To the strains of the Knight Rider theme song (possibly the best tv theme song of all time), we find out that Chaejeong picked the group with Boombayah in mind. Guess it’s a good thing that they got it! She thought Yujin would suit the song, that Chanju would learn it quickly, and that she needed Soyeon to sing. She added Sohee on purpose to provide cuteness. Naturally, given that she had a whole plan in mind, the team elects her leader immediately.

Lingering question:

Everything’s going so perfectly... Is it maybe too perfect?

Boombayah 2 (1:08:47)

LTR: Asai Nanami, Asai Yuka ?, Kang Hyewon, Han Chowon, Sato Manami, and Chiba Erii

Then we visit with the miserable leftovers team, forced to do Boombayah as well. Weirdly enough, despite being the leftovers team, they have a higher average ranking than Boombayah 1 -- 57.3 compared to 63.6. They’re also more popular than Love Whisper 2 or Mamma Mia 2. And everyone is more popular than Peekaboo 2. So yeah, while the leftovers team might lack skills, they don't lack popularity, exactly.

The members:

Asai Nanami, age 18, aka Sailor Venus, who rose from F to D and was ranked 41st.

Asai Yuuka, age 14, who auditioned with Knock Knock, rose from F to D and was ranked 80th.

Kang Hyewon, age 18, Miss Purity herself, consistent F class girl ranked 40th.

Han Chowon, age 15, future Lightsum member who rose from D to B, ranked 79th.

Chiba Erii, age 14, aka Sailor Mercury, consistent F class girl ranked 38th.

Sato Minami, age 14, aka Sailor Mars, fell from D to F and was ranked 66th.

The group dynamic:

Poor leftovers group. It’s interesting that all three members of the Blow Him a Kiss group ended up here -- all three sailor scouts. It seems clear how most of these girls ended up in the leftovers team; they were all F or D class, and most of them were on the younger side. I can only guess that Chowon was left behind primarily because she doesn’t fit Korean beauty standards, with her darker skin, stronger features, and larger body. She’s beautiful, of course, but the standards are so narrow and so specific… sigh. Lookism is such a thing in Kpop but it's still gross and I hate it.

The storyline:

The girls are mostly pretty hopeless. This was the song that they had most wanted to avoid. Yuuka interviews, “I knew that there was no use in crying, but the tears just wouldn’t stop.”

But luckily for them, and for all posterity, they had Chowon.

This 15 year old girl steps up to be both leader and center (and ultimately, main vocal) of this group, this group comprising one (1) perpetually bewildered Korean girl and four (4) terrified Japanese girls who she has trouble communicating with. The girls are scared to even sing for each other, and when Chowon brings up rapping, they say, “we’re even worse at rapping.” WHY ARE YOU ON THIS SHOW, THEN? Hyewon mumbles in a voice over, “I, um, was, um, gra..ateful or something? But, also um, sorry also? Too?” After all, she wants to embody purity and innocence, which clashes with this song.

Chowon is like, “SOMEONE HAS TO RAP, YOU GUYS, BECAUSE THIS SONG CONTAINS RAP PARTS, HOW MUCH MORE SIMPLE CAN I MAKE THIS, THERE IS NO ONE ELSE WHO WILL STEP UP, SO IT HAS TO BE ONE OF US, HOLY SHIT” and Hyewon, bless her heart, volunteers to be main rapper. I’ll hand it to the girl -- at least she isn’t just sort of “avoid the teacher’s gaze”-ing her way through all this. She's doing the damn thing. Good for you, Hyewon.

She interviews that her parents had teased her that she might end up having to rap, adding, “that’s why you shouldn’t make jokes like that -- they might come true.”

Lingering question: What will become of Boombayah team 2? Truly, what will become of us all?

MAMMA MIA

The song:

I don’t remember a lot about my first watch through of Produce 48, as I’ve said, but I do remember that I discovered the song Mamma Mia through it, and I’ve liked it ever since. It’s just one of those classic kpop songs where it sounds sort of retro but from no specific time, so it could kind of be from any time. If you don’t really know it, definitely give it a shot. It’s catchy AF. Hit the lights let’s GO!

The song was produced by Duble Sidekick, who also produced Mr. Chu by A*pink, Pepe by CLC (underrated bop), You’re the Best by Mamamoo, Give It To Me by Sistar, and Thumbs Up by Momoland. Kara had debuted in 2007, so they were a well known senior group by 2014, when Mamma Mia was released. At the time of filming, the song would have been almost four years old, making it the oldest of the eight songs selected, but it was a pretty huge hit in 2014 and would probably have still been familiar to most of the audience at the time.

Mamma Mia isn’t known for it’s extremely difficult choreography -- it’s more about being confident and sexy. But the vocals might be a bit challenging, with a lot of high notes. Also, I should mention that for Produce48, they’ll be performing the song in Japanese.

Mamma Mia Group 1 (1:12:04)

LTR: Park Minji, Kim Hyunah, Chiyori, Park Ji Eun, Murase Sae

We first visit with Mamma Mia, group 1. This one was formed 9th or later.

The members:

Kim Hyunah, age 23, who I call husky voiced Hyunah, from B class, ranked a sad 72. 😣

Murase Sae, 21, who auditioned with Funny People, rose from D to C and is currently ranked 43.

Nakanishi Chiyori, 23, who auditioned with What's Your Name?, rose from D to C, and is ranked 37.

Park Jieun, 20, future ex-Purple Kiss, who fell from C to F and was ranked 70th.

Park Minji, age 19, PD101 trainee and future Secret Number member, from B class, ranked 56.

The storyline:

We learn that Chiyori is apparently a master of hilarious facial expressions and that at the auditions she even did quick impressions of several of the judges. It’s nice to get a peek into her funny personality. From now on I’ll call her “wacky Chiyori.” That’s about all we get, but it’s actually a fun segment. We also learn that Hyunah is chosen as center.

Lingering questions: Will Kim Hyunah make a good center?

Mamma Mia 2 (1:14:23)

LTR: Ayana, Miho, Bibian, Suhyun, Soeun, Sarang

Then we visit with the other Mamma Mia team.

The members:

Cho Sarang, 14, who sang Tomorrow at the audition, fell from B to F (ouch!) and is currently ranked 90th (ouch again!). She has an eyepatch on, and I did some digging but didn’t find out why.

Choi Soeun, 16, who did Question Mark at the audition, fell from B to C and is currently ranked 92 (oh no!)

Miyazaki Miho, 24, our multilingual queen, who has stayed in D and is currently ranked 16th place

Murakawa Bibian, 18 but looks like a baby doll, firmly stationed in F class and ranked 31st

Shin Suhyun, 22, the show’s favorite punching bag, who fell from D to F and is ranked 57th

Shinozaki Ayana, 22, one of the What's Your Name? group, with the beauty mark under her lip, firmly stationed in F class and ranked 87th

The group dynamic:

Bibian was the chooser for this group, and it was formed 9th or later. My best guess is that she picked people she knew or was friendly with, which at some point is just as good a reason to pick someone as any.

The storyline:

We find out that Mamma Mia was on their “black list” -- a song they didn’t want to do since they didn’t know it. Sarang especially doesn’t know it -- well, sure, she would have been 9 or 10 when it came out. So they weren’t thrilled to get chosen to face off against Chiyori’s team and do this song.

At the song chosing ceremony, as Miho's team walks over to stand next to Chiyori's team, Chiyori apologizes to her senpai/sunbae Miho, and host Lee Seungki asks, “Any words of warning to her as her sunbae?”

And Miho replies, with (mock?) seriousness: “All I have is confidence! I definitely don’t want to lose against them!”

Miho and Chiyori are both on AKB48, and they are 24 and 23 years old respectively, so they have probably known each other for a really long time. It makes sense that they would have a friendly rivalry.

The team makes Miho the leader -- she’s the oldest in the group and apparently bilingual, so she’s ideal. I don’t know, gang, I just really like Miho! She just seems cool as shit.

We don’t see the choosing or any of the ICD, but Choi Soeun has been made center.

We hear Sarang singing a little bit of the song, and she sounds great. She’s an obvious choice for main vocal.

We glance back over at Mamma Mia team 1, where Park Minji is listening to Sarang’s singing a bit nervously. “Sarang-chingu is their main vocal,” Minji interviews, “and she hits the high notes well. I’m a bit conscious of her. In season 1, I got sent home when I was the main vocalist.”

We get a flashback to PD101 Season 1, when Minji performed a different song by Kara -- Break It, another bop -- and fucking smashed it. Here’s a link -- she’s the one in the gray shirt that says “Babe”. Like, no question, she was amazing. Proof that these shows are dumb. Sigh.

Lingering question: Which main vocalist will reign supreme?

LOVE WHISPER

The song:

This is one of those songs that if I’m not actually listening to it, I can’t remember how it goes. And when I am actually listening to it, I don’t know which Gfriend song it is in specific -- I just know it’s one of their earlier songs that all blend together. Is this Rough? Glass Bead? Me Gustas Tu? I don’t know. I don’t hate cute songs -- I love Secret Garden by OMG, for example -- but most classic Gfriend songs do nothing for me. (Exception: Navillera, which is a Never-skip for me. What can I say? It’s a bop.)

Even if it's not my personal favorite, Love Whisper was a big hit, and came out in August of 2017, making it pretty recent at time of filming. Like all Gfriend songs, the actual vocals required are quite challenging, and the dancing is tough too. Gfriend songs are no joke, no matter how cutesy they are. It’s not a bad choice for a team that can do it, but not everyone can.

LTR: Nako, Nayoung, Damin, Sae, Misaki, and Eunbin.

At 1:16:07, we visit with both Love Whispers, starting with Team 2, a team chosen by Nako.

The members:

Aramaki Misaki, 17, who auditioned with the blighted Never Ending Ferris Wheel group, has been stationed in F class, and is ranked 61st.

Kang Damin, 14, the cute future member of Queenzeye, went from B to A, and is ranked 74th.

Kim Nayoung, 15, future member of Lightsum who auditioned with I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend, went from C to A, and is now in 63rd place.

Kurihara Sae, 21, who had the great bangs in Never Ending Ferris Wheel, who went from D to F and is now ranked 84th.

Yabuki Nako, 16, who moved up from F to A, is currently ranked 27th.

Yoon Eunbin, 14, one of the CNC girls, stayed in B, and is ranked 68th.

The group dynamic:

They were actually the third team formed, and Nako had a plan -- to choose kawaii girls. MNET brings out the good ol’ “cutey pie” music to celebrate -- you know, the “la la la” music they play. Nako must have known Sae and Misaki from being in HKT48 together. I don’t think she would have known the other girls, but Damin and Eunbin were in class B together, and they’re about the same age, so they probably got friendly with each other. Not sure if anyone knew Nayoung specifically, but they all live together in big dorms and probably meet each other around. Regardless of exactly how Nako picked them, I must say, if there’s a group that can knock Love Whisper out of the park, it’s this one.

Almost immediately after we meet the Kawaii Avengers, we go over to visit with Love Whisper Team 1, so let’s get the roster up:

Left to right: Motu Tomu, Serika, Manami, Wang Ke, Noe, and Eun Chae

Ichikawa Manami, 18, with the shorter hair, from What's Your Name?, rose from F to C, currently ranked 83

Muto Tomu, 23, who we are about to get to know better, a D class mainstay and ranked 28th.

Nagano Serika, 17, who auditioned with Mister by Kara, has lived in F class and is ranked 81st.

Son Eun Chae, 18, future member of Bugaboo, who moved up from C to B and is ranked 85th.

Wang Ke, 17, a Chinese girl who had the red polka dots in Celeb Five, moved down from B to D and is ranked 33rd.

Yamada Noe, 18, with her gravelly voice, moved from C down to F and is ranked quite high in 9th place.

We learn that our friend the palindrome, Muto Tomu, was the chooser for this team. This is kind of an interesting team in that it’s the only team with only 1 Korean trainee, and it’s one of two teams with four Japanese members. (All the other teams have 3 Japanese trainees or fewer.) Three of the Japanese members -- Manami, Tomu, and Serika -- are from AKB48, so Tomu may have chosen friends, but most of them haven’t really worked together much on the show. Tomu also chose a team without a decent vocalist.

Having formed such a team, they decided that the only song that they absolutely could not do was Love Whisper. However, Tomu wasn’t the fastest runner, and by the time she got to the far wall during the race, the only song left was Love Whisper. She tried to just not win by not putting the sign in the sign holder, but somehow she was forced to “win” the race anyway. (Maybe both girls who grabbed Love Whisper refused to put the sign in the holder, so production had to intervene? It’s not clear.) Then because she came in second to last in the race, she had second to last choice of groups to face up against, and had a choice between the Cute Avengers or Sakura’s team, and chose the Cute Avengers. It was just not a good day for Tomu.

The storyline:

Tomu’s team all try to sing, but many of them cannot make sounds come out of their mouth. Of the group, it seems that Manami is actually the best singer -- she physically can hit the high notes. She doesn’t really want to be stuck with main vocal, but she’s the best option the team has.

Meanwhile, over in the Cute Avengers, they’re choosing their main vocal, but they’re having the opposite problem -- they have a a few too many decent vocalists and have to choose the best one. Nayoung can sing -- well, she has “stable” vocals -- but so can Nako, who manages to sing while holding her mouth in a full, unmoving smile.

This girl is currently singing.

She’s not making an “eee” sound, more like an “uhh” sound. It’s wild. It’s like some kind of ventriloquist trick the way she can sing while keeping her mouth firmly in a smile. She ends up winning main vocal. I’d give it to her, too. What other spells can she cast if she can do this kind of witchcraft?

Lingering question: Is Nako the right choice of main vocal? Will Tomu’s team be able to pull it off?

HIGH TENSION

The song:

Ok, I have to admit it -- this song is charming AF. It’s not super complex, and I think it would get old pretty fast, but it’s so cute and peppy that I can fully imagine playing it at my cousin’s wedding next May and having everyone get up and start dancing even though they’ve never heard it before.

For the record, the title is an example of what my Japanese prof in college would have called “Japanese English” -- when they use an English phrase in a way that English speakers don’t use. You’re already familiar with this idea if you know the way that Koreans say “fighting!” In "Japanese English," “Tension” is supposed to mean something more like “excitement”, not stress.

[My favorite example of “Japanese English” is the word “viking” (pronounced more like “biking”) which is the Japanese word for “all you can eat buffet.” Isn’t that great? I think we should just all start calling all you can eat buffets “Viking buffets” instead.]

Team 1 (1:19:55)

Top row, team 1, LTR: Nakano Ikumi, Mogi Shinobu, Iwate Saho, Cho Yeoungin, Kim Dayeon, Yoon Haesol

Bottom row, team 2: Takeuchi Miyu, Cho Ahyoung, Huh Yunjin, Kim Suyun, Oda Erina

Team 1:

Cho Yeongin, 16, who auditioned alongside Lee Chaeyeong, moved from B to C and is ranked 62.

Iwatate Saho, 23, who auditioned with Miyu to Dancing Hero, moved from B to D and is ranked 24th.

Kim Dayeon, 15, future Kep1er, B class mainstay and ranked 65

Mogi Shinobu, 21, the living meme, who moved up from F to D and is ranked 59

Nakano Ikumi, 17, “known for her dancing”, who moved up from D to B and is ranked 53rd.

Yoon Haesol, 20, who auditioned with Question Mark, moved down from B to D, and is ranked 50th.

Group dynamic: Saho was the chooser for this team, and picked some girls that she would have known from B class (Yeongin, Dayeon, Haesol) and a few girls she knew from AKB48 (Shinobu, Ikumi). I think this group was formed 9th or later. They’ve chosen Youngin as the leader, which is kind of interesting since she’s definitely not the oldest, nor is she the highest ranked, but I *think* she might speak a bit of Japanese so that might explain it.

We see a flashback of the trainees all watching a live performance of the song, which of course means that many AKB-48 girls who are on the show would be visible in the performance. Sakura, Juri, and Jurina are all clearly visible, and everyone squeals when they see them. But Iwate Saho is like, “I was there too for that performance -- where was I?” She’s barely visible in the crowd.

What if she were center this time??? Would something be different????????

Saho trying to charm the other girls into letting her be center.

She auditions and, to her delight, gets chosen as the center kind of quickly, ending the ICD, and they begin practicing. She sighs happily, pats her “center” sticker, and says “Ganbarimasu!” (That’s the Japanese version of “fighting!”)

Meanwhile, over in team 2, they’re deep in the middle of the ICD….

Team 2 (1:21:56)

Takeuchi Miyu, 22, the one who auditioned in the awesome orange bulls eye dress, fell from A to B but is still ranked pretty high at 11th place.

Cho Ahyeong, 16, who auditioned with future Cherry Bullet Haeyoon, rose from C to B and is ranked 78th.

Huh Yunjin, 16, future Le Sserafim, who somehow fell from C to F, was ranked 15th

Kim Suyun, 17, future Rocket Punch badass, has lived in class C and is ranked 51.

Oda Erina, 21, who was supposedly known for her singing, fell from C to F and was ranked 67th.

This group was formed 6th, and the chooser was Oda Erina. She picked a few Korean girls she knew from class C and a talented Japanese trainee she probably knew personally.

Miyu wants the center, but meets opposition from Erina, who says that “having a Japanese person as the center would be too predictable.” Miyu and Erina talk about it in Japanese, and then Miyu says, “New High Tension hago shipayo-- hangul chingu wa jowayo ” -- a mixture of English, Korean, and Japanese used to indicate they want to make a new style of High Tension, and a Korean chingu would be good center. The other trainees all say “ahhh!” in understanding -- and the editors play that over and over in case you miss it. So the Korean trainees leave it up to Erina and Miyu to pick the center. Miyu eventually says, in Korean so basic and slow that even I understand: “We think… giraffe-chan.” Meaning, of course, our very own Huh Yunjin! These are girls who know quality when they see it. They like her “giraffe” image. Yunjin gives a cute, happy smile that was the image at the beginning of this post.

Meanwhile, Team 1 center, Saho, looks over and notices that Team 2 has chosen a Korean trainee to be the center. She wonders if that was a smart choice, given that the Japanese trainees know this song so well.

Lingering question: Who will make the better center -- an AKB girl, or Huh Yunjin? My money is on Yunjin because, um, she’s Yunjin. But I don’t remember who wins! This will be interesting!

SHORT HAIR

The song: I wouldn’t call myself an AOA stan exactly, but I do like them a lot. I love Jimin’s “hey hey”s, I love Choa’s vocals -- check out her song with Primary, Don’t Be Shy, an enduring top-100-of-all-time song for me -- and I love Chanmi/Dohwa’s swag. They always have this laid back, casual confidence that is weirdly charming -- very like “you can look but will never touch!” -- and their song Like a Cat is a Never Skip for me.

That said, Short Hair isn’t my absolute favorite song of theirs, and was probably one of the least well known songs in the mix. It came out in June of 2014, so even though it was a pretty big hit, by 2018, it would have been old hat. Also, by 2018, AOA was sort of on the way out; Choa quit for mental health reasons (good for her!!!) in 2017, and the group hadn’t had an actual hit since 2016.

1:23:45 Team 2

We start off visiting Short Hair Team 2.

Group Dynamics: I’m not sure who chose this group, but I assume it was formed 9th or later. They’ve chosen Sian to be their leader, and it seems like Mina is using a bit of pigeon Korean to be the group’s interpreter.

clockwise/left to right: Rena (in gray), Miku, Mina, Natsumi, Sian, and Yewon

Ahn Yewon, 17, model , stuck in F, ranked 88

Hasegawa Rena, 17, who auditioned alongside Noe, fell from D to F, ranked 54th.

Imada Mina, 21, the tall one with no bangs in Never Ending Ferris Wheel, who rose from D to C and is ranked 64th.

Lee Sian, 19, one of the Idol School girls who fell from C to D, is ranked 18th.

Matsuoka Natsumi, 21, with the sort of distinctive face from Never Ending Ferris Wheel, rose from F to C and is ranked 55th.

Takana Miku, currently ranked C, was initially in this group -- she was one of the girls who auditioned with the Banana song. More on her later.

They are, of course, mired in the ICD.

Mina, Natusumi, and Sian all want to be center. They aren’t sure how to decide who the center should be, since none of them really know the song yet.

Sian suggests using facial expressions at a key point as the audition piece. Natsumi says, in Japanese, “I don’t think I can win if that’s how we choose,” and then, half-seriously, suggests rock paper scissors to decide (!!). Sian’s reaction is priceless.

Like, seriously, guys, did you seriously just suggest that we choose the center for this with Rock Paper Scissors? Do you want to win the challenge? What the fuck? Is this a game for you? Are you out of your minds? OMG. OMG. What. The. Fuck.

Sian politely points out that this is way too serious to decide that way. Since the decision is to be made based on merits, Natsumi bows out. All of this is making me not really like Natsumi that much, so I have to kind of take a breath and remind myself that they’re all pretty stressed out and exhausted.

That leaves just Mina and Sian running for center. Sian’s audition is charming and lively, with just the right tone for the song. Mina’s is more muted, though still decent. It seems obvious to my eyes that Sian’s look and style are better suited to the Korean palette, and that they should choose her, but the girls vote on country lines, giving Mina the center. Natsumi says in an interview, “we thought that if we made Sian the center, we’d be Sian and the Girls.” Which… is almost like admitting that you know she’s better than you at this particular thing. It means you should make her the center and step up your own game. You know?

Sian is frustrated. She says she realized that there’s a difference of opinion among countries. The editors play the trouble music to let us know that it isn’t just opinion at stake.

Lingering question: Will Mina make a good center?

Short Hair 1 (1:25:33)

LTR: Mako, Juri, Minyoung, Minseo, Sihyeon, Yuri

Kojima Mako, 21, auditioned with Playing With Fire, rose from C to B and currently ranked 23rd.

Takahashi Juri, 20, future member of Rocket Punch who auditioned with Mako, rose from B to A and is ranked 29th.

Yu Minyoung, 18, the always squinting mint polka dots wearer in Celeb Five who moved from A to B, is ranked 32

Kim Minseo, 15, yellow polka dots in Celeb Five, stayed in C, ranked 39th

Kim Sihyeon, 18, future member of Everglow who rose from B to A and is ranked 13th.

Jo Yuri, 16, future soloist, the one who fell from A to F, ranked 19th.

Group Dynamic: Mako was the chooser of this group, and it was the fifth group formed, so Mako had a decent pool to pick from. She would have met Minseo in group C, and would have known Juri from the AKB franchise. I’m not sure how she picked the others, though I assume she picked Yuri and Sihyeon based on their reputations. Looks like they made Sihyeon the leader -- she’s certainly the most experienced, having been on the show in season 1.

Storyline: They, of course, are in their ICD. But the contrast between this group and Short Hair 2 couldn’t be more stark. Sihyeon thinks the center should be either Juri or Yuri, and they both sing to audition. It’s hard for us to hear their voices since they’re singing over the track, but the girls can hear and decide that Juri should be the center. Juri tries to explain, in a mixture of Korean and Japanese, that since it’s a group battle, she wouldn’t want to cause any harm for the group, so maybe Yuri should do it. But the whole team tells her that she’ll be great. They all like her and want her to be the center -- it seems like even Yuri is on board. Both Sihyeon and Yuri offer to help her, using a hilarious and random mixture of Japanese and Korean.

Sihyeon: If there’s anything wakarimasen[Japanese for “don’t understand”], please ask.

Yuri: Watashi-wa (“I” in Japanese)…. towajesoyo (“will help” in Korean).

We end on this split frame…

…Group 1 already beginning to work together, while Group 2’s Japanese contingent sitting down while Sian is up and practicing. I mean, this shot was cherry picked and who knows the context, but it’s hard not to be swayed a little by it. MNET editors!!! Why are you so evil?

VERY VERY VERY

The song:

Aww, who doesn’t love nomu nomu nomu? Nomu nomu nomu nomu? Nomunomumnomunomnomnomo nomnonomnonomomnomono mnomnomunomunomunom..

It’s catchy and iconic and all the good things. I mean, JYP might be creepy and weird but he can write a hit. Bad Girl Good Girl by Miss A, Nobody by Wonder Girls, ADTOY by 2pm, A by Got7, Icy by Itzy, Feel Special and More & More by Twice, the guy’s a genius. And at least he’s not as overtly gross as YG.

So yeah, Very Very Very was a monster hit and in a way it was responsible for the success of IOI. Their first few singles didn’t exactly set the world on fire, and they needed a hit to cement their status as a hit group. If IOI had never done Very Very Very, there might not have been a season 2 of PD101. Imagine a world without Wanna One or IZ*one! Wild, right? So yeah. We all have to be grateful to JYP for giving this song to IOI, because otherwise you might not be reading these words right now.

In terms of difficulty, I’d say that this song isn’t super hard to perform. It may have originally been intended for Twice -- can’t you imagine it as a Twice song? -- and it has that kind of upbeat, cute-but-confident vibe that Twice has. I don’t think it’s an outrageously difficult concept to rock. The tune is easy to sing -- even the adlibs are easy -- and the choreography is more about cuteness than anything else. Any team would be smart to want to perform this one.

So, let’s check in with the teams who will be performing this iconic hit.

At 1:27:10 we peek in with Sakura and friends. Sakura is learning the Korean word for water -- mul (pronounced more like bul) -- and sharing the Japanese word -- mizu. The other trainees think that Sakura’s team is the team to beat.

An Yujin laments her situation. Everything else was great! She was chosen to pick the first team after Sakura! She got great teammates! But then she had to go up against Sakura’s team. “I thought we were absolutely doomed,” Yujin says. Park Minji speaks for everyone as she interviews: “Sakura’s teem is more popular, but Yujin’s team fits the song better. It’s like Captain America versus Iron Man.”

It’s Spiderman versus Ant Man. It’s Cake versus Ice Cream. It’s Shark versus Tornado. It’s IVE versus Le Sserafim. Winner? All of us!

Let’s take a look at the two rosters. This is a juggernaut lineup. More than half the future lineup of IZ*one is represented between these two teams!

Yujin’s team, which was formed second:

An Yujin, 14, future member of IVE who rose from B to A and is currently ranked 2nd overall. Wow! And she’s 14, you guys. I always forget how young she is here.

Choi Yena, 18, friendly Yena from Yuehua who kept us company for a lot of episode 1, fell from A to B, and is currently ranked 6th.

Honda Hitomi, 16, the super cutey who worked her way up from C to A and is currently ranked 47th.

Jang Wonyoung, future Wonyoung, known for being Wonyoung, who has stayed in B and is ranked 4th.

Na Goeun, 18, future Purplekiss, A class and ranked 20th.

Shiroma Miru, 20, future visitor to Queendom Puzzle, who fell from B to D but is ranked 22nd.

Sakura’s team, which was formed first:

Kim Choyeon, 16, fire-eyes girl and future Bugaboo, fell from A to C, ranked 75

Kim Minju, 17, a Very Pretty Girl, rose from D to C, ranked 17

Kwon Eunbi, 22, future soloist, fell from A to C, is currently ranked 3rd

Lee Chaeyeon, 18, future soloist, famous older sister and dancing machine, who stayed in A and is ranked 10th.

Miyawaki Sakura, 20, THE SAKURA, future member of Le Sserafim who stayed in A and is ranked 5th.

Motomura Aoi, 21, sweet faced Aoi from Never Ending Ferris Wheel, who rose from D to B and is ranked 42nd.

(Because “Choyeon” and “Chaeyeon” are such similar names, I’ll call them Kim Choyeon and Lee Chaeyeon throughout this discussion to help you keep track of who is who.)

Fun fact: Though it was implied that Sakura’s team is more popular, Yujin’s team actually has a higher average ranking -- 16.8 versus 25.3. Sakura’s team is dragged way down by Kim Choyeon, though; without her, their average ranking would be 15!

LTR: Yujin, Hitomi, Miyu, Gaeun, Yena, Wonyoung

We hang out with Yujin’s team for a bit. They’ve elected Na Gaeun leader, which seems smart; she’s one of the older members and is the only one who has been rated A the whole time.

Naturally, they dive right into the ICD. It’s Yujin versus Wonyoung, and Wonyoung obviously suits being a center more for this particular song. (If it had been Boombayah or Peekaboo, I would have said Yujin.)

Meanwhile, on Sakura’s team, they’re in their own ICD.

Kim Choyeon has the AUDACITY to say she wants to be center.

Sakura CANNOT BELIEVE IT.

After all she is THE SAKURA whose smile is completely natural and beautiful and not at all strained or weird. And she can be the ONLY CENTER. She raises her hand to say she also wants to be center, and you can almost hear Kim Choyeon's hopes shattering.

Look, if I were on this team, obviously I’d be ok with making Sakura center, but given that she’s already THE CENTER of the whole show, it might be smart to let someone else be center here, like maybe Minju or Eunbi. However, as much as I feel for Kim Choyeon, I just don’t see a reason to make her center. The judges would yell at the team if they did. Honestly, the judges will probably yell if they make anyone but Sakura center. And they'll probably yell at you even if you do, to make more TV content starring Sakura. I think it’s just part of being within Sakura’s gravity well. You’re blessed, but you’re fucked, too.

Lee Chaeyeon, who is a smartie-pants, recommends Minju. I see why -- she’s super pretty, she’s fairly popular, she makes a great center, and she help offset Sakura’s power a little. I know that for Lee Sian’s team, I said that they should just make Sian the center and step up their game, but in this case, Sakura’s overpowering popularity is not actually matched by her charisma, and it would just be smart to balance things out a bit with another girl who will do just as good a job in center and has the ability to be just as popular.

Sweet-faced Aoi unexpectedly backs Minju -- maybe she’s a little sick of the Sakura train? -- and so does Kwon Eunbi. And thus, both Sakura and Kim Choyeon are shut out; Minju is chosen.

Minju is super flattered, but says, “I don’t think I deserve to be center.”

And Sakura and Choyeon are like, What’s that, you say? You want one of US to be center? Well, if you absolutely insist….

So, each of the two candidates auditions, and Choyeon wins.

With the centers both chosen, we take a peek at each team as they start to try to learn the choreo.

Over on Yujin's team, Yujin is already a bit confused, but many members of Sakura’s team already know the choreo (notably Eunbi and Lee Chaeyeon, who are known for their dancing skills). Then Hitomi reveals herself as choreo learning machine, and the team starts following her.

And that’s the end of this segment!

So yeah I made this scatterplot to show you the rough correlation between average rank of a team and the screentime they get. You're welcome.

It’s slightly thrown off by the fact that some teams were sort of approached together, like the two Love Whispers and the two Avengers teams, and other editing decisions like that, but the trend is pretty clear -- the higher the average rank of the team, the more screentime they get.

The two biggest outliers are Short Hair 1 -- Juri and Yuri’s team -- which didn’t get a ton of screentime despite their high rank because they were getting along so well, and Boombayah 2, the leftovers team, which got a lot of screentime relative to their kind of low rank because their situation is so pathetic.

Ok, thanks for reading (or skimming) this! I hope you enjoyed it. Things are heating up! Next we’ll actually be seeing some performances!! Wild.

#bpr recaps p48 #produce 48 #le sserafim #ive #akb48 #rocket punch #sakura #jang wonyoung #ahn yujin #lightsum

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detectiveichijouji · 2 years ago

Text

Case 26 - Ken Ichijouji Arrive Trop Tard

[AO3 version]

“Ah they got the rest of the shards…” Arsenemon observed them by distance.

“I hate to be doing this… But do I have any option?”

“... They won’t forgive me, but… la fin justifie les moyens, I guess.”

“I’m sorry, mon ami…”

They left the 10th piece with Koushiro, who put it into a transparent container and away from the digimon… In his office.

“Good job, everyone” Koushiro complimented them with a smile, “But we still need to retrieve the stolen ten from Arsenemon.”

“Yeah, we know that!” Daisuke said seriously, “We need to keep them safe from Arsenemon!”

“You’re back to being fired up, huh…” Miyako teased him.

“We can do this, catch all of them and then save everyone. Arsenemon is our only enemy now.”

“I think he’s too fired up for our tastes,” Tentomon commended, “… Am I wrong?”

“No, but… that’s a little harsh...” the boy laughed nervously.

“Don’t worry, Koushiro-san” Iori said with a deadpan, “If Daisuke-san does something stupid we will be here to prevent him.”

“H-hey, I won’t-- But if I do, please stop me anyway.”

“That’s a weird thing to say” Patamon commented, everyone agreed.

“Iori was just joking,” Armadimon explained, “Or half-joking, dagya.”

“I know, but… I mean if one of those shards ends up… y’know…”

“Ah…” Hikari frowned.

“But that won’t happen,” V-mon said with a smile, “Daisuke has a good control over his emotions so yeah!”

“... That’s right. I have nothing to fear here!”

Ken was going home, flying on Stingmon right back to the apartment complex where he lives with his family, when he started recapping everything that happened until now.

Since Noel Leblanc appeared, Daisuke had changed drastically his stance on Arsenemon… And he definitely witnessed Noel with a fragment once. And the surname ‘Leblanc’ is too suspicious right… But Noel himself claimed to be a distant relative from Maurice Leblanc, the creator of Arsène Lupin, one of the most famous phantom thief fictional characters in the literature.

“Noel-kun said his birthday is on June 15.”

He phoned Takeru later, once he was at home. Asking if he had discovered something else about that boy.

“June 15?”

“Yes, and there’s something interesting about it… On June 15, 1906… Leblanc published a oneshot featuring Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. But Doyle stopped Leblanc from continuing using his character by 1907, in which Leblanc then used the name Herlock Sholmès to continue his story to not abandon it.”

“Hm?”

“Funny detail, isn’t it…?”

“Herlock Sholmes…”

“Ken-chan?” his mother called him. Wormmon went to the door, “Oh, Wormmon… Is Ken-chan busy?”

“He’s on the phone now. Would you like to tell me what it is so I can tell him later?”

“Oh don’t worry, I just wanted to call him for dinner.”

“Alright, I will tell him.”

But why would that sound so suspicious…? Ken was still not sure what this meant. Rather than Daisuke… Acting strange again -- He had left without warnings and said have been after Arsenemon, who had been in the karaoke building that time.

It’s true that Arsenemon was in the building, but why would Daisuke not have warned them?

“... Why did I say that?” Daisuke was lying on his bed after he finished his dinner. V-mon walked in, satisfied with eating enough.

“Aaah~ I love food~”

“You were still eating?” the boy turned his head to the digimon sitting next to him, but on the floor.

“Yeah! It was too delicious to refuse for a second plate!”

“... I couldn’t eat enough though… Something is… buggin’ me.”

“Oh?”

“Ya know… Why did I… say that? Why am I worried about… becoming a victim of those shards?”

“Like you said, everyone can be affected by those, even Koushiro.”

“Yeah… But you said I’m good at controlling my feelings… If I was so sure about that…”

“Hey, you’re worrying about things you can’t control again. That’s not like your usual ‘you’!!”

“I guess it's puberty” he sighed, “But I don’t want to think about this. But I keep… Doing it…”

“... You’re just stressed. Wanna do something to relieve stress?”

“Ah! Want to… Watch those digimon videos on the Network, it’s always fun seeing everyone bonding with their digimon y’know?”

“Yeah! I will catch some popcorn, wait a minute!!” and then V-mon got up and ran to the kitchen.

“H-Hey, you don’t know how to use the microwave!!” and then Daisuke got up, but something stopped him drastically.

He felt… The feeling someone was watching him. He runned to the balcony and opened the door.

“Ah… Thank you, mama!” V-mon voice came from the kitchen, the Motomiyas are really nice to him!! Jun’s partner, Pulsemon, was also asking for some popcorn. He had noticed Daisuke running to the balcony but didn’t realize why though…

“Hey Daisuke?” V-mon looked in the direction of the balcony entrance, so he went there.

“Hm?” the boy looked at him, “I… I thought I heard something but… It was just the wind.”

“Huh… Strange…” V-mon blinked, “Hey, there’s something in your hand…”

“??” He noticed he was holding a paper. It was one of those black cards with a golden paw on the back. Did Arsenemon--?!

“What does it say??”

“...” Daisuke took a look at it, “It says… nothing?”

“Nothing!?” V-mon snatched the card from Daisuke’s hands, “What!? Why would he send something without a word!?”

“Who knows…” Daisuke replied with a shrug, “Anyway, got the popcorn?”

“It’s on the way!!”

Next day, Daisuke showed them the strange Calling Card when they gathered at the karaoke booth after class.

“There’s nothing written here indeed…” Takeru commented.

“That’s strange,” Hawkmon frowned, “Why would Arsenemon send you something like this…?”

“Beats me” Daisuke replied, “More… More likely how did he deliver this without me noticing he was there?”

“Hmm… Are you sure you didn’t notice anything strange?” Iori asked.

“I… I did feel someone was watching me… But… It was just the wind.”

“The wind?” Tailmon, Hikari and Miyako repeated.

“Yeah, the… window was opened a little bit, so the sound of the wind… Y’know, that thing that does… Whoooosh and sounded like a wolf’s howl.”

“Ah, I see…” they all said, except for Ken.

“A-anyway… I have no idea what this means!! It has nothing written here! Maybe he’s just pranking me!?”

“... Have you put it against the light?” Ken finally spoke.

“H-huh!?”

“There’s special inks that cannot be visible to the naked eye, you have to use a warm source in order to reveal its contents. Like a desktop lamp.”

“... I didn’t. I forgot this was a thing.”

“Then do it now,” Ken then took from his pocket a small flashlight.

“Why did you have that in your pocket, dagya!?” Armadimon asked what everyone wanted to say but was beaten by him.

“Last night the power was out in my area, so I brought it with me.”

“Still weird to have a flashlight right now…” Daisuke blinked, “Or is it because you’re into this detective role more than me?”

“Shut up and give me the calling card.”

“Right, mr. Detective~”

Ken turned the flashlight on and put the card over it. The others grouped behind him, the curiosity definitely killing them. They squinted their eyes…

“…”

“It says…”

“ ‘It says…’??” the others repeated together in unison.

“... Nothing.”

“NOTHING!?”

“This is a surprise to me too…” Ken babbled, he was confused as everyone else in the room.

“So he’s just making fun of us!!” Daisuke hissed, “That sneaky evil thief!!”

“But he knows we have the other ten shards,” Hikari mused, “Maybe this is a warning he will attack us soon…”

“Maybe it didn’t work because the flashlight is not--” Ken tried to explain, but he was interrupted by Daisuke’s gibberish angry noises.

“Then we have to look for him FIRST!” Miyako shouted, and turned her laptop on, “I’ll use Izumi-senpai’s radar to detect the other ten pieces and find his whereabouts!!”

“Guys, I…” Ken tried to talk again, but at this point everyone was not giving him attention anymore. Hikari, Takeru, Iori and Daisuke plus their partners grouped behind Miyako, and they watched the screen.

“That’s rude of your part!” Wormmon complained, “Ken-chan wanted to--”

“It’s okay, maybe they’re right… We should focus on tracking those stolen fragments first.”

“B-But Ken-chan!!”

“I said it’s okay, don’t worry about it Wormmon” he smiled serenely.

“.................. I can’t detect any of them!!”

“You can do it, Miyako!” Daisuke shouted, “BUT SOME BRAIN POWER HERE!!”

“I’M TRYING I’M TRYING BUT NOTHING APPEARS ON THE MAP!!”

“DO WHAT THOSE HACKERS DO IN THE MOVIES!!”

“WHA-WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! THOSE MOVIES ARE NOT EVEN A REALISTIC DEPICTION OF HACKING OR PROGRAMMING!!”

“...” Ken watched them for a while and then he just… left the booth with Wormmon. He sent Takeru a text message explaining he just went out to take a breath.

Hopefully he would come back with the solution of that enigmatic calling card.

Arsenemon said he would take the shard from Yamato previously, but he didn’t appear. And according to Daisuke, he was there but probably was chased by Daisuke himself in the most reckless way possible.

Those made no sense to Ken. Wormmon was on his shoulder, looking at him.

“Something makes no sense…”

“Hm?”

“Why wouldn’t Daisuke warn us? Why would he leave V-mon with me again?”

“Do you think he lied?”

“He’s bad at lying, he’s too straightforward and blunt about his feelings and thoughts.”

“True, true…”

“... he wouldn’t lie to us, or at least not to me.”

“What do you think this calling card means?” Wormmon pointed to the card in Ken’s hand, “Do you think there’s something hidden in it?”

“Yeah, I’m trying to solve its mystery.”

Everything seemed to lie within that ominous calling card…

“You’re just having fun with it, ain’t ya?” Espimon said, with an annoyed and tired voice. She was looking at Arsenemon in his disguised form.

“Before I can get all of those shards and seal them away, sure why not?” he chuckled innocently.

“You shouldn’t toy with the Chosen Children!!” she snapped, “They will totally not get that you’re actually on their side if you keep treating it like a game!!”

“Humans are fascinating living beings, don’t you think mademoiselle Espimon?” he smiled, “They can have their spats… But true friendship is what leads them to the right path. They will be fine, I’m sure they find it entertaining as well.”

“Uh… Do you think it’s okay doing this to them…?” she shook her head in disapproval “Tsc tsc, boss… I’m disappointed.”

“They wouldn’t believe me if I told them the truth. I tried though…” he shrugged, “And got no results. Not a single good outcome. So if we have to do something like this…”

“But! How about Impmon and Dracumon??”

“Ah… Uh… We have to track them down right…” he stroked his chin, “They better stay away from this. But I’ve got it covered too, mes amis are on their track too.”

“Huh… You mean Soleil and Lune?” She blinked.

“Oui. I know they like to work hunting the bad apples and making them pay.”

“Geesh, I don’t want to watch this trainwreck of a show” she pouted, “It will ruin everything you--…”

“Alright, alright. If our little monsieur detéctive catches moi before I get my hands on their shards, I will surrender and explain everything WE know to them all.”

Ken took the calling card with him to home, and tried to find a way to reveal its content. He thought the flashlight wouldn’t be warm enough to show the content, so putting it against the light didn’t work.

“Sigh…”

Maybe if he used a lighter? He knew his dad had one, despite not smoking. None of the Ichijoujis smoke, so he only had that to light candles. Maybe he should do it somewhere safer…

“Ken-chan, what are you planning to do with that?”

“The other alternative for invisible inks is using fire to heat the ink and reveal what’s hidden.”

“Oooh, like in the movies!”

“Unless this card is enchanted with magic, we might learn what’s written…”

“I can do the magic part as Pucchiemon, if you want…!”

“Pucchiemon is a fairy digimon…” Ken mused, “Thanks, I’m counting on you if this doesn’t work.”

“... Yeah I think I’m doing something bad” Arsenemon(?) sighed, “But it is justified. I need those shards so I can seal them away from both worlds. Do you understand me… Right? Then… lend me your power, mon ami.”

… Silence.

“Why are you… Doing this?” The person whom Arsenemon was talking to finally spoke, “Couldn’t you… Just straight say it instead?”

“Ah… You shouldn’t underestimate the Chosen Children, they’re said to be heroes but… I don’t think they would cooperate with a digimon and a thief.”

“... I understood. But why do you think I would help, anyway?” the person shrugged, “You’re aware that I will hate you for this later, right…?”

“I’m well aware of the risks, but you’re the one who simply offered me a hand countless times. So I suppose I can be forgiven for this.”

“When I get back to normal you might get dunked into the trash. Letting you know.”

“Will you?” Arsenemon laughed gently, “That might be what humans call ‘aggressive affection’ right?”

“No, I meant LITERALLY dunking you in the closest dumpster.”

“Oh… That’s cruel coming from you,” he frowned.

Ken used the lighter’s flame closer to the calling card. He and Pucchiemon were in the ceiling of their building, trying to test that option first.

“Ken-chan,” Pucchiemon gasped, “Something is appearing in the paper!!”

“... I know, Let’s finish heating the ink and then read the content.”

The ink was revealing word by word, and then Ken winced once he finished reading the complete sentence.

“Darn it!!”

“W-what is it!?” Pucchiemon saw Ken closing the lighter and dropping the calling card on the floor. He then took it from the ground and…

I need your help, mon ami. Can you give me the shards you six gathered, s'il te plaît?

“He… he’s asking…”

“EVOLVE INTO STINGMON AND TAKE ME TO KOUSHIRO-SAN’S OFFICE” Ken shouted, then he just phoned the others, his heart racing and afraid of something happening to…

“Uh? Daisuke-kun?” Koushiro blinked, “Why are you here at this hour?”

“I uhh… I need you to help me with something! It’s important!”

“Where’s V-mon?” Tentomon asked.

“He crashed into bed and didn’t want to come with me” he shrugged, “I think I know how we can get the other ten shards!”

“You…?” Tentomon and Koushiro looked at each other, and then to the boy. It’s very unusual for Daisuke to make plans, or rather… not telling other young five beforehand.

“Y-Yeah… It’s like… You need to look at this area!” he pointed to a random part on the map “I think it’s somewhere there…!!”

“Somewhere…?” Koushiro and Tentomon looked at the screen, where Daisuke was pointing at. They didn’t notice the boy snapping his fingers from his free hand behind his back, making a black cat with green eyes pop from the screen.

“?! What?!” Tentomon gasped -- This is…!?

Then both Koushiro and Tentomon fell unconscious on the floor. Daisuke muttered “I’m sorry, Koushiro-san, Tentomon…” and headed to the container with the wicked Digimental pieces inside. He was ready to grab it when…

“?!”

Wormmon’s sticky silk thread pulled his hand back.

He looked back and saw the entire group there, in shock.

“What are you doing!?” Miyako screamed.

“...” They definitely noticed something was wrong with him.

“I should’ve expected this would happen…” Ken said with a serious voice, “You were under Arsenemon’s control since that time he casted that spell on you, weren’t you?”

“He… He told me the truth,” Daisuke smiled, and put his hand on the top of the container, “Don’t worry, he’ll help us. I promise y’all.”

“Daisuke-kun, snap out of this!!” Hikari pleaded.

“I hate what I’m doing, but please understand this is for everyone’s sake!”

“Why would we trust you in this state?!” Takeru argued, “You’re brainwashed or something!”

“...” he dropped the smile and frowned, “He was right, we wouldn’t understand his motives after all…”

“Wormmon, don’t dare to release that silk thread!” Miyako shouted angrily, and then everyone held the poor insect digimon like a tug war, forcing Daisuke to be dragged back.

“You have me to do this…!!” he tried to resist, “I don’t want anyone else to be corrupted by those things ever again…!!”

“You’re out of yourself!” Armadimon screamed, “Don’t let him fool you, dagya!!”

“Daisuke-san, please listen to us!!” Hawkmon added.

“We will find a way to keep those away from everyone!!” Patamon said, while he and the others tried to keep Daisuke away from the container.

“L-Let me go…!” Yeah, he wouldn’t give in either… “This is the only way we can fix Ken’s mistake!!”

“Well, I will fix MY mistake without letting some thief force my best friend to betray us…!”

“!!?” He stopped resisting and let the group drag him away. All of a sudden??

“... Did you give up now?” Iori asked Daisuke, and he nodded his head.

“I… I don’t think we should be fighting him though…”

“Huh?” the others (but Ken) exclaimed.

“What do ya mean, dagya?”

Daisuke sighed, quite disappointed and ashamed of what he was trying to do.

“Arsenemon… He wants to seal those away, in another place, one no one can access. One place no one can return from if they try going there.”

“But why didn’t he say it before?!” Patamon pouted.

“Well, he wanted to have fun at least” the boy shrugged, surely Daisuke was still strange, but he managed to resist(?) to something, “He loves human being’s lifestyles. The idea of playing a cat and rat game was fascinating.”

“Why did you simply decide to help him?” Hawkmon asked.

“I had no other choice, that’s all.”

“You’re lying again,” Ken said, annoyed.

“No, I’m not. I never lied… I just never told y’all. But he believed he had no other choice. And I guess he was right this whole time.”

“Using you like that is unforgivable!” Miyako clenched her fists, “Once I found him…”

“... I let him do it. And I think it’s not anyone’s fault here, just a thread of misunderstandings…”

“Then, why didn’t you warn us before??” Tailmon asked next.

“Actually he did,” Iori mused, “when we talked to Koushiro-san earlier, I made a light joke and then Daisuke-san asked us to stop him.”

“Wait… Was it… Ah, yeah. Yeah.”

“What did you do to Koushiro-san?” Hikari asked.

“He told me to cast this spell and make him and Tentomon fall asleep. I swear I didn’t kill them! I hope…”

Then Takeru checked Koushiro’s pulse, and turned to the group, “He’s fine, just passed out.”

“Phew…” Daisuke sighed in relief, “I know I did a bad thing, but… Can we please do the right thing and talk to Arsenemon…?”

“I don’t think so… It doesn’t sound like a good idea” Wormmon said, and the others nodded.

“... You won’t trust me because of this too,” he asked them. They nodded and he felt hopeless.

“If he didn’t mean no harm, why did he use you?” Takeru clenched his fist.

“We’re running in circles, at least talk with him!!”

“Wormmon, do the honors” Ken asked him.

“W-what do y’all plan to d-do!?”

“Sticky Net!!”

Wormmon used his sticky silk thread to tie up Daisuke. Miyako and Hawkmon went to wake Koushiro and Tentomon up. And once they were awake again, they explained what had happened. But there was something shameful in Daisuke’s face. Oh he hated what he had done…!! But…

“... You should watch your surroundings.”

“Huh?” Patamon blinked.

The lights went off all of a sudden and they all were in the dark. Something happened for a few seconds and then when the lights went on again…

“GAH!? DAISUKE DISAPPEARED!!” Patamon shouted.

“The fragments too” Armadimon reported.

“H-Have Daisuke-han turned into our enemy now…?” Tentomon asked himself.

“Ken-kun?” Miyako noticed Ken was too quiet.

“Koushiro-san, can we use the tracker now?” he asked with a smirk in the face!?

“Yuck, this silky thread is really sticky…!!” Daisuke complained, carrying the container under his arm, “I should’ve asked for V-mon’s help but…”

He walked for a few hours now… Until he went to a building’s ceiling. Arsenemon was there, kinda upset?? But why?

“You’re kinda late,” Arsenemon spoke… differently from his usual.

“Oh relax,” Daisuke smiled, “It worked, be thankful for that.”

“I hate what we have done…” he dramatically whined. The boy was not sure what to say though, “I’m so sorry…!”

“Hey, I’m the one who should be sorry. But there’s no other op--”

“NILE JEWELRY”

Arsenemon jumped on Daisuke and shielded him with his cape, reflecting the explosive jewel dart to the side. Once he uncovered the kid, both him and Daisuke saw the group landing on the top of that same building they were in.

“So… y’all followed me.” Daisuke, nonchalantly.

“We will retrieve all of those shards right now, Arsenemon” Nefertimon said with a threatening tone of voice.

“I noticed too late that detail” Ken said, and then he pointed at Daisuke, “You’re not the real Motomiya Daisuke.”

“Huh??” they all blinked.

“Have you hit your head when y’all were in the dark dude!?” Daisuke babbled, “Of course I’m Daisuke.”

“Then… How did you explain you having powers only Arsenemon has? You were building this up… Set the scene of stealing Daisuke’s identity to trick Izumi Koushiro-san.”

“Dude…?”

“Then sent Daisuke a strange calling card to pretend you were asking for his help. Tell me, since when have you switched places with Daisuke, Arsenemon?” and he smirked.

That silence could either mean Ken was right… or that he was just in total denial. But the truth was…

“... As expected from you, monsieur detéctive. You’ve caught me,” Daisuke(?) smiled. He snapped his fingers and suddenly the illusion forms both he and Arsenemon(?) were undone, revealing…

“You’re terrible at being me…!” Daisuke (the real one) hissed.

… that Daisuke and Arsenemon had switched appearances.

“Oh…!! Now that makes sense” Hikari nodded, “That’s why Daisuke-kun was acting strangely.”

“No, there’s more…” Takeru interrupted her, “You're not just Arsenemon, right?”

“Hm?” Arsenemon blinked, “Oh… I guess I was careless enough to make things too easy for you all…” and shook his head.

“What do ya mean?” Armadimon blinked, “Is there more?”

“Won’t you tell them, Daisuke?” Ken asked him, “After all you know it too, or didn’t you know?”

“...”

“Daisuke-san knows?” Hawkmon asked.

“Yeah, I know” and the goggle boy sighed, “Kinda recently, but yeah…”

“Hmmm??” Miyako raised an eyebrow.

“We have a lot to talk about,” Arsenemon chuckled, snapped fingers and his form changed to… “You can dunk me into the dumpster as you promised, Motomiya-san.”

“N-Noel(-kun/san)??!” the others, but Ken and Takeru (+ their mons), exclaimed.

“Now that we have been introduced… Allow me to explain my goal here, Chosen Children.”

#young prince detective ichijouji ken #02 team digimon case files

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