#also also hamadas not producing it so

[youve-doomed-us-all-jerk]

blue beetle looks cool might check it out

[millipede-menace]

🏺 Leosagi pottery au 🏺

The brain worms are worming but it’s something I actually know a thing or two about so now I yap! :U

🪱 Ok ok, hear me out . . .

Au Summary: Leo’s doing some hot girl shit and by that I mean being depressed and locking himself in his room, rotting away.

Mikey convinces Leo to take a pottery class with him & drags his ass along

Mikey’s great at it (obvi) but Leo’s having trouble and hates it

The instructor comes by and helps him out (aka Miyamoto Usagi) and pulls a “Ghost” (he actually doesn’t, he just helps him center clay, but Leo is convinced “it was for sure a Ghost moment” lol) (also hence the shitty doodle I posted earlier)

And now that this bitch has a hot instructor, he’s all excited to get out of his room and do pottery

I mean he’s still depressed but now he’s trying to rizz up his instructor lol

Pottery Talk: Im having loads of fun thinking about Usagi’s pottery style

Let me explain-💅

The first brain-worm thought, “What if I modeled Usagi off of Shoji Hamada” (aka one of my favorite potters) 🪱

It sooo preeetttty 😫 The calligraphy-like brush strokes, the colors, the simplicity and the mingei movement, it all just SCREAMS Usagi!!

A little more context: Shoji Hamada was THE guy in the Mingei (folk-art) movement which emphasized using local resources! Dude was making beautiful work using the clay in the dirt. No fancy shmancy imported porcelain or complicated designs with intricate gold enamel. The connection/appreciation of nature and spirituality. The rejection of cheap mass-produced/industrialized ceramics, and embracing the imperfections of each individual piece, knowing it was carefully crafted by some unknown craftsman with years of experience and skill (not saying Shoji Hamada was unknown, but he advocated & supported unknown artists) It all just reminds me so much of Usagi.

I wanted to explore more styles, like abstract/sculptural and what-not, but I think Usagi would be a functional potter. 100% (lowkey was thinking of making Leo have a more sculptural/abstract/handbuilding/intuition kind of style to contrast with Usagi but idk yet)

I’m still looking at different artists and their styles

(Btw, this would all take place in the rottmnt universe but it would be really interesting if it took place in the Edo period. Japan has such a rich history with pottery! Then I’d get to use Edo period type pottery which is also super fun, hmmmm . . .)

The brainworms really need to let me sleep . . . 🪱

[karinta-agogobell-unified]

Five underappreciated anime that I would recommend!

1. Canaan (2009)

This is, from what I understand, an adaptation of a side-story chapter for the visual novel series 428: Shibuya Scramble, guest-written by Nasu Kinoko and guest-illustrated by Takeuchi Takashi. That is to say, the Type-Moon guys — the creators of Tsukihime, Kara no Kyoukai, and the now-legendary Fate/Stay Night. However, Canaan doesn’t take place in the Type-Moon shared universe(s), since it’s for another company’s property.

That being said, the anime adaptation is quite comprehensible on its own terms, likely due to the adaptation being written by the prolific and highly skilled screenwriter Okada Mari (Hanasaku Iroha, O Maidens In Your Savage Season, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, Maquia). Her writing imbues the narrative with enough emotional intensity to make up for the occasionally-convoluted nature of the plot, and the backstories of the characters are hinted at just enough so that the viewer can understand their relevance, without taking up too much precious screen time. It can be a little hard to follow at points, but I ended up understanding it decently well anyway.

The production values are very high indeed, due to the anime being produced by P.A. Works, and directed by Andoh Masahiro (Sword of the Stranger, Hanasaku Iroha, O Maidens In Your Savage Season). The action animation is consistently stunning, the characters are beautifully expressive, and the overall look of the show is fantastic.

And the voice acting is an absolute treat, with the lead role of Canaan herself taken by Sawashiro Miyuki, the antagonist role of Alphard taken by Sakamoto Maaya, and Nanjou Yoshino in the role of Oosawa Maria, the POV character for a lot of the story. The supporting voice cast is packed with talent too — Hamada Kenji, Tanaka Rie, Nakata Jouji, Tomatsu Haruka, Hirata Hiroaki, Noto Mamiko, and even Ootsuka Akio in a minor role!

The premise is sort of a science fiction type of thing, but set in the (quasi-)contemporary location of 2000s China, where outside of the sci-fi conceit, the setting is largely realistic. The tone and mood is mostly that of an action thriller, with some nail-biting suspense here and there, but there are some beautifully soft and tender moments as well — often involving Canaan and Maria. Yes, folks, this has yuri in it, although it’s (strongly) subtextual.

Anyway, I would recommend this to people who love Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Kara no Kyoukai, Fate/Zero, and probably also Cowboy Bebop.

2. Tetsuwan Birdy OVAs (1996)

This is distinct from the later adaptation of the original Tetsuwan Birdy (Birdy the Mighty) manga, called Tetsuwan Birdy Decode, which came out in the late 2000s — this one came out in 1996 and was produced by Studio Madhouse in their prime.

The main characters are Senkawa Tsutomu (voiced by Iwanaga Tetsuya), a hapless teenager who gets accidentally killed(!) by an alien spaceship on his way to school one day, and Birdy Cephon Altirra (voiced by Mitsuishi Kotono), a human-looking alien and an intergalactic government agent who saves Tsutomu by merging her body with his. Effectively, they become two people in one body, which can shift between the forms of Birdy and Tsutomu…. except Birdy still needs to deal with all the rogue aliens who threaten the safety of the galaxy, while Tsutomu needs to study for his high school entrance exams. From what I’ve been told, the premise is fairly reminiscent of Ultraman and other classic tokusatsu series.

It’s four tight episodes of classic ‘90s OVA goodness, with a fun and slightly silly sci-fi concept that is nonetheless wrung for some surprisingly effective drama at times. The main thrust of it, though, is action comedy — and it definitely delivers on that front. The fight scenes are superbly animated, including some early-career work from now-legendary animator Suzuki Norimitsu, and the character designs by Takahashi Kumiko (Witch Hunter Robin, Snow White with the Red Hair, Cardcaptor Sakura) are amazingly expressive. Birdy’s striking asymmetrical design is a particular favourite of mine. The direction by Kawajiri Yoshiaki (Cyber City Oedo 808, Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D) is solid, and the writing is quite serviceable despite the brevity and premise.

Overall, I wouldn’t say it’s much of an intellectual watch, but if you just want a fun action-comedy ride with an extremely charismatic female protagonist and stunning animation quality, Tetsuwan Birdy is likely to be your jam. I’d recommend it to people who enjoy classic tokusatsu series, the original ‘90s Sailor Moon anime, and the less-depressing parts of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

3. Noir (2001)

This anime series is perhaps not as underappreciated as the others on this list, but I do still feel that not enough people have seen it. It was made by the studio Bee Train, and it’s the first entry in their so-called “Girls with Guns” trilogy (which isn’t actually a coherent trilogy, since they’re three different stories). The series was made right at the end of the cel-anime era, before the transition to digital colouring and compositing, so the masters were shot on film, but it was also made at the beginning of the slow transition to widescreen TV broadcasts, so it’s one of the very rare cel anime that’s in 16:9. This allows for a beautifully detailed look that, IMO, serves to offset the occasionally-limited animation and the frequent re-use of footage.

The premise is basically “secret assassins in France are caught up in weird intrigue and conspiracies”; as such, there’s a lot of very fun gunplay and kickass fight scenes, but also a lot of suspense and mystery. The writing is a little bit slipshod at times, but it ends up holding together, and the characters and (especially) the fantastically moody vibe make the show worth watching.

The characters are imbued with a lot of life and colour, both by their extremely attractive designs and by their voice actors’ wonderful performances. Mireille Bouquet, a young Corsican assassin and one of the two protagonists, is voiced by Mitsuishi Kotono; Yuumura Kirika, the other main protagonist who is a Japanese schoolgirl who has seemingly lost all her memories (but not her exceptional assassin skills), is voiced by Kuwashima Houko; and the mysterious Chloe, who shows up partway through the show, is voiced by Hisakawa Aya. There are definite yuri vibes between Mireille and Kirika, but as with Canaan, it’s all subtextual.

The main draw of the show, though, is its phenomenal soundtrack, courtesy of Kajiura Yuki (.hack//Sign, Kara no Kyoukai, Fate/Zero, Sword Art Online, Demon Slayer) in her very first anime scoring gig. It’s at times propulsive, at times dark and moody, at times beautifully serene, at times melancholy and nostalgic — and it’s utterly memorable.

I would recommend Noir to anyone who likes Canaan, Witch Hunter Robin, Ghost in the Shell, or anyone who just wishes that James Bond were a woman.

4. Flip Flappers (2016)

This anime was produced at Studio 3Hz and directed by Oshiyama Kiyotaka, in a dazzling yet underappreciated directorial debut that was presaged by his impressive animation work on Dennou Coil, Space Dandy, A Letter to Momo, The Secret World of Arietty, and The Wind Rises. Owing to this extremely solid animation background, Oshiyama was able to recruit a lot of prime animation talent for Flip Flappers, and it definitely shows in the stunning sakuga of the wild action sequences that pepper the show’s narrative.

While the fantastic animation is a key draw of this show, the sheer creativity in the worldbuilding, conceptual, and visual design spheres also contribute to its inimitably psychedelic look and feel. The landscapes of the worlds contained in Pure Illusion — the dream-realm that the protagonists enter each episode at the behest of a mysterious scientific organisation — and of the “real” world are whimsical, storybook-like, and slightly “off” in a slightly unsettling but compelling way.

The dreamlike atmosphere pervades the narrative as well — very little about the mechanics of the world is specified out loud, relying heavily on symbolism and visual storytelling to do the heavy lifting for the audience’s understanding. This might be a turn-off for audiences who prefer to have things spelled out for them clearly, but the point of this story is not always to make perfect logical sense, but rather to work on an emotional and metaphorical level. And work, it certainly does.

The episodic structure involving the various worlds of Pure Illusion explores the concept of the Umwelt (the individual sensory “world” of a person or organism), as well as some Jungian concepts and archetypes, in order to express the strange and sometimes-scary developmental stage of adolescence. The characters of Cocona (voiced by Takahashi Minami) and Papika (voiced by Ichimichi Mao) undergo a metaphorical and literal puberty, a coming-of-age similar in some ways to that experienced by the protagonist of FLCL, but with significantly more yuri. In fact, this show has the most outright yuri of any of the anime on this list. But that isn’t very strange for what is essentially a psychedelic magical-girl show: lots of magical-girl anime seem to include homoerotic vibes in some form or another, from Sailor Moon to Nanoha to Madoka.

There are some minor flaws in the storytelling towards the end, IMO, but overall it’s a wonderfully impactful emotional journey to watch Flip Flappers. Plus, the OP and ED are both extraordinarily catchy tunes that I’ve found myself humming on many an occasion.

I’d recommend this anime to anyone who loves weird magical-girl stuff, weird yuri, and/or amazing action animation.

5. Claymore (2007)

An adaptation of the manga by Yagi Norihiro, this anime is considered by many to simply be “basic”, or at least simply “inferior to the manga”. Now. I haven’t read the original Claymore manga (yet! I plan to eventually), but I found this anime to be compelling nonetheless. And if it really is the case that the manga is better, then I definitely look forward to diving in.

Having been produced by Studio Madhouse in the mid-2000s, it’s unsurprising that the vast majority of this anime was outsourced to Korean animation studio DR Movie, a longtime powerhouse subcontractor for both Japanese and American animation alike. That said, the direction of Tanaka Hiroyuki (director of a portion of Hellsing Ultimate and frequent close collaborator of Attack on Titan director Araki Tetsurou) remains sharp, compensating for the sometimes-limited animation with good storyboarding and a strong sense of mood and atmosphere.

Another aspect of Claymore which helps make up for the occasional visual shortcomings is the soundtrack by Takumi Masanori. The compositions are a mix of harder rock and electronic elements with a strong orchestral backbone, as befits a dark-fantasy setting and mood — the faster pieces are edgy and propulsive, very appropriate for the bloody action scenes, and the calmer pieces have a melancholic beauty to them that sticks in one’s memory. I wish the soundtrack were on Spotify, but alas, it is not.

The other sonic element that helps this anime out immensely is its absolutely STACKED voice cast. The main character, Clare, is voiced by Kuwashima Houko, in a fantastic yet understated performance. The other main character, Raki, is voiced by the less-well-known Takagi Motoki, but nearly all the other roles — including many bit parts — are filled with industry legends. Teresa is voiced by Park Romi, Miria is voiced by Inoue Kikuko, Irene is voiced by Takayama Minami, Rubel is voiced by Hirata Hiroaki, Priscilla is voiced by Hisakawa Aya, Ophelia is voiced by Shinohara Emi, and Jean (whom I cannot help but ship with Clare: there’s so much homoerotic tension there!) is voiced by none other than Mitsuishi Kotono. Yes, they got three of the original Sailor Senshi VAs — and I don’t know why that’s funny to me, but it is. And all of the voice actors deliver killer performances.

The premise of the show, before I completely forget to explain it, is that of a dark fantasy world where demons called youma ravage human settlements, with only the titular Claymores to protect humanity. They are a guild of platinum-haired and silver-eyed warrior women who possess superhuman fighting abilities, due to the fact that they’ve been fused with youma essence, and wield the massive broadswords that give them their name. Basically, (s)he who fights monsters must become (partly) a monster to do so.

I’ve heard the vibe of Claymore compared to manga like Berserk, and I don’t know how true that is (not having read the latter for myself), but there’s certainly a lot of bleakness and monstrosity in this fantasy tale. However, the Claymore manga was published in none other than Weekly Shounen Jump, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that the story remains resolutely forward-looking, the protagonists’ arcs focussing on the power of grit, determination, true friendship and loyalty, and protection of the weak and downtrodden. It’s never cynical or sarcastic — always straightforward and sincere despite the frequent darkness of the story.

The writing is consistently solid, even through the controversial anime-original ending (the manga continues long past the point where the anime cut things off), so I’m not sure who to point to for that: Yagi Norihiro for writing the original material, or Kobayashi Yuuko (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Attack on Titan s1-3, Kakegurui, Casshern Sins) for adapting it cleanly for the screen? Either way, it made me want to read the manga to experience more of these compelling characters and their travails.

I would recommend this anime to those who enjoy Kill La Kill or RWBY, or just to those who enjoy powerful women hacking at monsters with massive weapons and making lots of blood spray out.

[vidstudiosworld]

Is Warner Bros. Studio Doomed?

Leslie Grace's Batgirl film was axed, and it was the ultimate gut-punch for DC fans. However, that wasn't the only major disaster that hit the studio this year. When AT&T purchased WBD Many believed that Kevin Tsujihara would be the man to lead it into the streaming age. However, he's been through one of the worst years at the studio. Doom Movie Loses Its Home A film based off the Doom video game franchise has been in development, and it looks like that a sequel is on the way. The initial film was so bad that it cost the studio the prestigious Doom Tour, one of the most popular of their attractions. The Doom film is a paint-by-numbers action flick that features some of the bloodiest violence you'll ever see on the screen. The film tries to replicate the blood and violence of the games, however it does not have the depth that was what made these elements so memorable. Karl Urban starred in the Doom film as John Grimm. He was the leader of an elite special forces unit sent to Prague to look into a mysterious structure. It featured Lorenzo di Bonaventura and John Wells producing, with music video director Enda McCallion as the director. The film was scheduled to be shot in the winter of 2004 and 2005, before it was released on August 5, 2005. The film was subsequently panned by critics, and it failed at the box office. James Gunn and Dana Safran take over as DC's new Head Hosts There's a lot Gunn and Safran have to accomplish, from rearranging several DC projects into coherent films to developing a comprehensive plan to ensure that the studio is able to be able to compete consistently with Marvel. Gunn and Safran will need to do their best to create a separation between the DC universes that frequently clash. They'll also need ensure that they deliver top films to their audiences. Gunn has been the director of a number of DC films, including the recent Suicide Squad reboot and HBO Max's Peacemaker, while Safran has produced those in addition to the Joker movie. The Safran Company also shares an initial look deal with Safran, which is the reason they were considered serious contenders for Zaslav's replacement for Hamada. The two will be working on a plan that's more similar to Pixar, with filmmakers also serving as directors. This isn't an entirely new idea in the TV world, but it's never used before in the live action film industry. Rooster Teeth Disputes After two decades of success and controversy Rooster Teeth appears to be going under. The Austin, Texas based gaming and animation studio renowned for its games, such as Achievement Hunter, as well as animated series like Red vs Blue and RWBY Recently, it was accused of creating a hostile workplace environment that is exploitation of employees. Former employee Kdin Jenzen, who used the pronouns they/they wrote in a blog that they had been subjected to homophobia and sexism as as other forms of abuse when working for the company. Jenzen's treatment was said to have been worse when she was outed in 2016 as trans. Jenzen says they were subjected to a culture that was based on underpaying and lack of respect since their pay was significantly lower than the industry norm. Rooster Teeth has since released an apology for the "disgusting unacceptable, inhumane, and inhumane treatment" Jenzen claims to have received. The company also pledged to resolve its problems by forming business resource groups to target marginalized communities and enhancing management training. The Messiest Year is 2022.

A new YouGov survey has found that a lot of Americans think 2022 has been an awful or horrible year. And that's probably because of all the blunders at Warner Bros. DC the division of the company, known as the DC division, seems to be in constant turmoil. Studio was once a leader in the genre of superheroes, but it is now a string of misfires. The company's decision to rescind Leslie Grace’s Batgirl film was the most recent setback. The film was said to be ready for production and had even had test screenings. But the film was canceled without explanation for the fans who had been waiting forever. Another major mess involved Rocksteady the gaming studio behind the Batman: Arkham series. According to reports, the studio compelled engineers to create multiplayer games in order to meet a deadline. This led to morale issues within the company. According to reports that the team is planning to switch to single-player games. This might aid in their recovery. This won't be an easy journey. Video embeds anchors:

[wahwealth]

Attack Of The Monsters (1969) | Gamera vs. Guiron | Full Movie English ...

Aliens kidnap two children and take them to another planet for the purpose of getting knowledge from their brains, but Gamera follows and tries to rescue them. Also known as "Gamera vs. Guiron", the movie is a 1969 Japanese kaiju film directed by Noriaki Yuasa, written by Niisan Takahashi, and produced by Daiei Film. It is the fifth entry in the Gamera film series, following Gamera vs. Viras, which was released the previous year. Gamera vs. Guiron stars Nobuhiro Kajima, Miyuki Akiyama, Christopher Murphy, Yuko Hamada, and Eiji Funakoshi. The film was released theatrically in Japan on March 21, 1969. It did not receive a theatrical release in the United States but was released directly to American television that year by American International Television under the title Attack of the Monsters. You are invited to join the channel so that Mr. P can notify you when new videos are uploaded, https://www.youtube.com/@nrpsmovieclassics

[sungtaro]

Hii it's teubunn here, how you've been? I've been busy with uni and I will be for a while but! I wanted to ask. Since I'm still not that good at remembering the members and also so I could get to know them better- maybe u can tell me some things to know abt each member (or some of them if u want). Like one of those unhelpful guide to videos lol. maybe ur fave physical features and fave personality trait of theirs🥺 idk I think it'll be cute and also like it's so hard to get into a group that's not active so I'm hoping they cb soon. ur mv gif series is so cute btw!!! 🐇🐇💌

hiii bestie 💖 i hope that you're not working yourself too hard at uni ! this is so cute i'd love to give it a go hehe, i'll put in gifs i've made with them all too ... i ended up writing idek what for all of them LOL so i hope it helps 🥹 i also recommend this old but good 'who's who' video it's from ILY era so they look like babies but i think a lot of it is still true and funny; if you have more time and want something more recent this video is amazing for getting to put names to faces! anyways ... the eri version of unhelpful guide below the cut LOL

choi hyunsuk: 1/2 leaders and the oldest. his representative animal is hedgehog (after his jikjin era hedgehog haircut lol) and one thing about choi is he WILL cry. he's a super softie and is totally the group's mom lol my fave Choi Crying moment was when they surprised him for his birthday while filming tmap ! he's a short king and has the cutest nose

park jihoon: 2/2 leaders and my best friend (real). his representative animal is puppy (formerly panda but he rly wanted to be a puppy lol) and he's super playful and affectionate with the members, def the dad of mom and dad, and a total power extrovert. killer smile and super cute beauty mark under his eye on his cheek !

kanemoto yoshinori (yoshi): he is a human marshmallow ... very distinct rap voice (all the rappers have unique tones and voices imo) and he's got a recognizable birthmark on his chin ! looks like an anime protagonist come to life honestly. his animal is a tiger. he's soft spoken but when he warms up he's also rly playful especially with hyunsuk hehe

kim junkyu: MEME BOY literally so introverted that it's not even funny lol he hates leaving his room and he will wear the same hoodie and sweatpants every day of his life. his animal is a koala but he's strong on his catboy agenda like he is meowing left and right these days idk also for a while he was known as being the most like 'yg type' of the group whatever that means ! known for his broad shoulders and generally 'good' proportions, again whatever that means . also never dyes his hair

yoon jaehyuk: my angel on earth never not making a kissy face. his animal is a lion and you will pretty much always find him with asahi and/or jeongwoo. apparently he was street cast by like 7 different companies bc he's so handsome, so he chose yg and just like . learned to dance and sing a few months before they put him through ygtb hell ... genuinely just so sweet and soft he always has his arm around whoever is next to him i cry

hamada asahi: looks like a cat but his 'animal' is a robot haha. he's trsr's resident quirky guy and will just do the most random funny things, but he's also a soft spoken sweetheart who is mega talented as a musician/producer and also visual artist. he's come out of his shell a ton over the years we're so proud ... his best look imo is his platinum blonde hair during ILY era. he's got the smudged lipstick in the mv SO iconic

kim doyoung: little prince .. he rly looks like a little cherub to me. his animal is a rabbit (like you!). dobby is a little corny imo like he will just say the cheesiest pick up lines and wink at u but he's being so serious 😭 it's really cute haha. he's also just super sweet and attentive. some ppl say he and junkyu really look like twins but i've never seen it

watanabe haruto: the tallest member! and also the deepest voice lol. he was formerly an alpaca but he changed to a butterfly (nabi is butterfly in korean so i believe it's a play on his last name). tutu seems really cool but he's actually really soft and thoughtful.

park jeongwoo: my annoying little brother (real). also MAIN VOCAL ! his animal is a wolf. the other members hype him up for being handsome hehe bc i think for a while he was really insecure 🥲 he's got so much energy and is often seen messing around w his favorite hyungs, esp jaehyuk and asahi.

so junghwan: our super king cow baby <3 his animal is of course a cow (so means cow). he's also one of the tallest members haha and i don't think he really acts like a maknae, jeongwoo is much more like 'typical' maknae behavior, junghwan is a bit more reserved and pretty responsible imo so he doesn't really take advantage of being the baby. but it comes out and is really cute haha (he's been known to fall asleep while studying on camera 😭)

takata mashiho (former): pocket size main dancer beloved i miss u ... he was also the only one who could really cook so i hope everyone is eating okay now lol. very CUTE but also like one of the absolute most responsible members

bang yedam (former): pd bang u will always be famous ... just absolute main slayer vocalist and songwriter, cute curly hair and super handsome. one of the more down to earth energies of the group too

[i05wook]

treasure reunited with their long distance partner!! (middle line ver.)

takata mashiho - 타카카마시호!

🪴 mashi has been planning your visit to fall on yours or his birthday, or perhaps even white day! therefore everything was pretty much organised and planned as soon as your flights were booked.

🪴 i feel like he’d be able to control his excitement the most when it comes to the actual day you fly in to the airport. even in the airport he’ll just give you a tight hug but leave any more affection for when you arrive back at the dorms.

🪴 mashi is quite domestic in my opinion, so when you arrive back to the dorms he’ll allow you to go and unpack your things in his room whilst he makes you something to eat together with the rest of the boys in the dorms, like a whole family meal and except your meeting his band mates who you’re staying with for a couple of weeks.

yoon jaehyuk - 윤재혁!

🪴 jaehyuk is the most affectionate member (he’s like a puppy) so he’ll definitely make his excitement (and nerves) known to anyone who surrounds him.

🪴 he’s also a very affectionate member, meeting you at the airport and welcoming you with a multitude of hugs and kisses, then helping you carry your luggage to the car.

🪴 when you arrived at the dorm he knew you were likely to be exhausted from the flight, so he pulls you towards his room and down on to his bed, engulfing you in his warm embrace, slowly drifting off together, but not before he’s asked one of the other boys to either order or cook some food for when the pair of you wake up from your well deserved nap.

hamada asahi - 하마다아사히!

🪴sahi is so excited for you to visit him when you told him on your weekly video calls!! he’s always been so comfortable around you, showing off his extroverted side but when he’s excited about your visit, his extroverted personality increases tenfold.

🪴 when you finally arrive to seoul, he is there to meet you, but he’s actually rather shy having not seen you for almost a year. soon enough though, you help him bring out the extroverted side again and he’s back to being crazy!!

🪴 on the first night you stay with him, you spend the night just relaxing in his room and catching up with anything missed, but throughout the rest of the time together you spend hours of the nights just doing something creative. usually drawing or painting a picture, alternating each night who gets to keep what work you create.

bang yedam - 방에담!

🪴 yedam’s been so focused on his music producing that he almost forgot you were coming to stay with him. he remembers the day that you are meant to arrive after you texted him telling him you were boarding the plane.

🪴 he’d scheduled to go to his studio again that same night and was determined to get the last bits done on one of his songs so it could be sent off. he met you at the airport and, after dropping your stuff off at his dorms, you both headed to the studio.

🪴 having missed being in his arms, and wanting to cuddle with him and fall asleep, you sat on his lap, with your head buried in his neck, and legs wrapped around his waist. every so often he’d run his hand up and down your back, whilst he critiqued his work. despite being busy, he always made time to show his love for you.

hyung line | middle line | maknae line

requests: open!!

🧷 treasure taglist: @yoshixasahi

🧷 permanent taglist: @bambisgirl @hyunjinsr @enhacolor

© byeolwonnie 2022

[jaesvelvet]

scariest night — hamada asahi

warnings: grammartical errors

words: 1.8k words

pairing: husband! asahi + fem reader

notes: hi!! before you read this, i didn't study about medical so i didn't know if it make sense or not and enjoy reading!! <3

You open your eyes when your throat feels dry, you turn to your left— not surprised when Asahi is not there, beside you. He must be sleeping in the studio... Again.

You didn’t realize when you let out a sigh from your mouth, it’s been a month he didn’t come home often. Of course, you understand his work as a producer. He is completely busy in comeback season, and you wouldn’t mind if he sleeps in the studio for a day or two, not for a month. You want to talk to him about this but every time you want to speak up he is either asleep or playing with your daughter, Aimi.

It’s 2 am now, he didn’t even bother to text you or call. You get annoyed at his behavior, leaving you and your daughter alone.

Grabbing the water bottle from your nightstand, you take a sip for your dry throat. The sound of the door creaked, making your eyes look up to the door, hoping for Asahi. Your eyes soften when the person who opened the door is not Asahi but Aimi, pouting while hugging her teddy bear tightly.

“What’s wrong baby?” you asked, get out from the bed you shared with Asahi, walk towards your daughter.

“There’s a monster under my bed,” she said slowly, showing her puppy eyes to you. You smile, it’s not the first time she said there’s a monster under her bed, this is one of her tricks to sleep with you and Asahi.

“Really? Do you want to sleep with mama then?” you asked, caressing her brown silky hair.

Aimi nods her head

“And papa too!”

“Honey I’m sorry, Papa is still at work, tonight you sleep with me okay?” you said earning a pout from her.

“Why is Papa always not here?” she asked

“Well, Papa needs to raise us so he needs to work hard for money”

“I miss Papa,” she said

You kiss her forehead and carry her to bed

“I miss Papa too” you murmur, making sure the little girl didn’t hear.

+.*

You toss your phone to the couch, cursing under your breathe as Asahi didn’t pick up your call. You wander around your living room, having no idea how to reach your husband. Aimi has been coughing nonstop this week, you wouldn't bother to call Asahi if it’s just a normal cough, but when she said her chest pain whenever she cough, that made you worried sick.

Your phone rang making you flinched, you sigh when you saw your mom’s name on the screen instead of Asahi’s name. Lazily you press the green button and put your phone to your ear

“Hello, mom”

“Y/N I hope you do not forget about today’s dinner!” your mom said excitedly. Your eyes shut tightly, you did forget about today’s dinner. Your mom has planned this dinner for a month to celebrate your sister’s graduation from Seoul University.

“Of course not mom haha” you laugh awkwardly. You don’t want to come, you rather stay home with Aimi, but you hate seeing your mom’s disappointed face. She has been planning this for a month, she also said that she misses Aimi so much, how could you not come?

“That’s great! Don’t be late, I can’t wait to smooch my granddaughter” that is the last word your mom said before hanging up.

You sigh for the nth time. Like it or not, she needs to come to the dinner, she could ask her dad to send them to the hospital after dinner.

You enter Aimi’s room, her face a bit pale and shivering under her thick blanket, holding your tears, you slowly caressing her hair, waking her up from her sleep.

“Honey do you want to go to grandma’s house?” you ask

She looks at you for a second, processing your words maybe before giving you a wide smile from her chapped lips.

“Yes! I miss grandma so much” she said

You kiss her forehead and helps her to get up from her bed

“Grandma also misses you so much, but you need to shower first okay?”

“Will Papa be at grandma’s house too?” Aimi asked, her eyes full of hopes, making you scared to lie to her.

“Yes Papa will be there too,” you said with a reassuring smile.

+.*

“Grandma!” Aimi runs to hug her grandma, she laughs when your mother starts kissing her face. You thanked your sister for booking an Uber for you if she weren't here, maybe both of you didn’t come for dinner.

“Why are you so thin, did your mom's food taste bad?” she asked

Aimi laughs and shook her head, she wrapped her arms around your mother’s neck

“Mama food taste the best but can’t beat grandma’s!” she said

“Hey!” you frown, making both your mother and your daughter laugh.

You let your daughter stick around with her cousins while you waiting for Asahi to come, he texted you that he will make it to the dinner, you didn’t put your trust in his words so much as he seems to love his work more than both of you.

You feel relieved when you see his car in front of your mother’s house, you called Aimi to inform her that Asahi is here, she wastes no time and runs towards her dad. Asahi smile when he saw her daughter, he immediately wraps his hands around her small body and carries her towards you.

“I miss Papa,” she said, pouting to her dad, Asahi let out an apologetic smile to her and kiss her cheek

“I’m sorry pumpkin, Papa is very busy right now, but I promise, I will take you to the funfair if my works are done, okay!”

Aimi nods excitedly, Asahi kisses her forehead for the last time before letting her down to play with her cousins.

“Why do you never answer my call?” you asked, glaring at him.

Asahi sigh, he silks his hair back and looks at you.

“Seriously Y/N? I just came back from work, and this is your first question? No ‘how are you?’ or ‘did you eat yet?’” he asked

You scoff, crossing both of your arms on your chest

“You’re the one who should ask me that, you left us for a whole month Sahi”

“I left you for a reason, I have so much works to do, I thought you agreed with me for staying in the studio?”

“For a couple of days, not a whole month!” you nearly scream, you try your best to control yourself, not wanting to make any scene.

“You know how am I when it comes to work right? I need everything to be perfect, you should be more understanding”

“Leave, then”

“What?”

“I said leave! If you love your job more than—”

“Don’t twist my word Y/N, I never said—”

“Y/N, Asahi! Aimi faints!” your sister screams

Both of you immediately run towards Aimi, your whole body shaking when you see Aimi on the floor, her face pale, worst than before. You quickly carry her and making your way to Asahi’s car, he starts the engine and drives to the hospital.

“You still need to call an ambulance, you know how deep your mom’s house right? I’m afraid we didn’t make it to the hospital as soon as possible” he said

You nodded and dialed 911. Your mom's house is deep in the woods, it would take half an hour to get to the main road.

“What happens to her?” Asahi asks

“S-she’s been coughing this whole week, and today she said her chest pain whenever she cough and I tried to reach you, but as I said you love your works more than your own family,” you said

Asahi sigh. Talking back to you can’t make Aimi recover, he realized that he gives his attention to his works more than his family.

You are at the back seat, caressing your daughter’s pale face. You couldn’t stop praying, hoping she would be alright. Your hands that caressing her pale face, moves to her neck, your eyes getting bigger when you feel her pulse getting weak, you scream and softly tapping on Aimi’s cheek.

“Aimi, please don't leave mama yet” you cry, your hands cold as ice, your heart beats faster than usual and your tears couldn't stop from falling. Asahi cry on the spot, is this really the last moment for them?

He presses the gas pedal more, the car getting fast through the crooked road.

“Aimi, please” he prays

The loud sirens making both of you guys sigh in relief, Asahi stop the car in front of the ambulance, you quickly getting out from the car and pass your daughter to the paramedics. Asahi pulls you into a hug, your knees weak at the side of your daughter lay on the bed while the paramedics take out the defibrillator and place it on Aimi’s chest.

You bury your face on Asahi’s chest, you are reluctant to watch the scene in front of you.

“Aimi would be okay, she is strong” Asahi whispers to you, he rubs your back and kisses your forehead to calm you down. A moment later, the defibrillator success ending the dysrhythmia, Aimi’s heart begins to beat slowly. You slowly push Asahi’s body away and enter the ambulance to accompany your daughter. Asahi gets back to his car, follows the ambulance, he harshly hit the steering wheel, how could he ignore your call? If he could turn back time, he would rather spend time with you and Aimi than at the studio. For now, he could pray for nothing to happen to Aimi.

+.*

You and Asahi sit silently on the chair, watching your daughter breathe with the help of an oxygen mask. The doctor said that Aimi suffering from Pneumonia. Coughing, Pain chest, and hard breathing are symptoms of pneumonia. Luckily it is not worse yet and still can be treated, Aimi needs to stay in the hospital for a couple of days.

Asahi licks his lip, he softly rubs your hand.

“I’m sorry,” he said

You didn’t give him a reaction, you were too tired to deal with anything after your daughter almost died in your arm.

“This is all my fault, I should know my limits when working, I- if only I pick up your calls— gosh I hate myself so much” he starts sobbing, covers his face with his palm and his shoulders bounce since he breathes in and breathes out in quick succession.

“Everything is okay now” you whispers, tapping on his back

He shook his head

“Y/N, love I'm truly sorry,” he said, facing you, you could see his red and swollen face from crying earlier.

You give him a reassuring smile

“I hope you learned your lesson, please come home, babe,” you said. He nods and hugs you tightly, tonight is the scariest night for the both of you.

[arctimon]

What If...? (Big Hero 6 Edition)

So the next Marvel series set to release is What If...?, a series of nine episodes that will focus on alternate events and timelines that occur within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The series, based off of the comic series of the same name, will premiere on August 11th, running straight through October 6th. The show was suppose to have ten episodes in both Season 1 and 2 (which is already being worked on), but producer Brad Winderbaum mentions in an interview that they had to push an episode back because of, you guessed it, the pandemic:

"We had to push an episode into Season 2. It was just, honestly, like everything else, that was a COVID impact," Winderbaum told Collider. "There was an episode that just wouldn't hit the completion date, but luckily we do get to see it in the second season of the show."

Judging by both the poster and the trailer, we know of a few scenarios: Peggy Carter becoming Captain America, an alternate Avengers lineup battling at New York, Black Panther as Star Lord, Marvel Zombies (of course there’s zombies), and Spider-Man as the Sorcerer Supreme.  Inverse has an article breaking all of the possibilities down.

A lot of the actors who portray their characters in live action will reprise their roles for the animated series, including the late Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther/Star Lord.  Star...Panther?  Black Lord? That last one sounds wrong. Among those not coming back are Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, and Dave Bautista as Drax.  Bautista was, according to the man himself, wasn’t even asked to come back to voice Drax.  Others include Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, Tom Holland as Spider-Man, James Spader as Ultron, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Elizabeth Olson as the Scarlet Witch, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Gweneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, and various members of the Dora Milaje.  They have all apparently been confirmed to be appearing in What If...? in some form or another, but voiced by different people.

It will certainly be an interesting show, but I hope you can see where I’m going with this.

The Big Hero 6 fanbase has a lot of burning questions for the show and movie, and it’s not all just unanswered ones about what happens after the show ended.  I think collectively there are a few common “what-ifs” that we have in our minds about the team.  I think the most obvious one involves one of the Hamada brothers, and that branches off into other what-ifs as well.

Granted, not all of these are reality-altering hypotheticals like there are in the show or comics, but they can still change the course of the movie or show in a huge way.

1.) What if...Tadashi had survived the fire?

Tadashi being a survivor of the fire that takes down the exhibition hall brings up a few interesting conundrums.  Would he be scarred for life?  Would he even be able to complete school?

And if Hiro still made the team, would he end up becoming Sunfire like a lot of fans theorize?

The thing is that Callaghan knows that Tadashi died in the fire.  If he knew that he didn’t, would that change his motivations?  Would he still be using the Microbots knowing that the person that was trying to “stop” him was still alive? Alternatively, you also have...

2.) What if...Hiro had died instead of Tadashi?

Hiro was probably about two seconds away from being fully engulfed in that giant fireball.  It’s entirely plausible that he (or possibly both Hamadas) could have perished in the fire instead of his brother, which sort of leads to the same circumstances as the first question, just with different powersets.  Tadashi would no longer be tied to fire-based powers but the magnetic equipment that that Hiro currently uses.

But one has to think about whether Tadashi would be in the right state of mind to be a hero long term.  Seeing his kid brother perish in the accident would probably cause him to go insane, and perhaps the rest of the team would have to reel him in.

3.) What if...Baymax had killed Callaghan?

It’s worth noting that if Honey Lemon had been about three seconds later on getting the healthcare chip back into Baymax, this wouldn’t have been a “What If?” question.

And sure, the team would have saved the day, but at what cost?  The permanent scarring of a fourteen-year-old?  And what would have come of the major revelations after that fight concerning Project Silent Sparrow and Abigail?

Maybe they would have been the ones to build the portal to the other dimension to try to save her.  That would similar to what happened in the original manga (where Tadashi actually helps with the construction of the original portal and got sucked in as a result). 4.) What if...Baymax had saved Obake in “Countdown to Catastrophe”?

Obake dismissed Baymax after his hideout started collapsing near the end of Part 2, and you could tell that Baymax was seriously considering rescuing him before leaving him in his chair amongst the rubble.  Ultimately, however, he did leave him behind after Obake’s insistence.

Imagine what would have happened if he had gone against his programming and saved his life.

The relieved group hug on the beach would have been replaced with a disheveled (and probably a little damp) Obake.  Hiro would have been staring hiim down in disbelief.  Perhaps there would even be another fight, or at least the makings of one.

And then Obake would give himself up for arrest.

Maybe that’s where Chief Cruz could have been introduced.  It would have given a good lead into the next season, and it would give Megan’s meeting with Hiro in Season 2 a little bit more meaning.

And finally, because I’m a shipper and we have to go there:

5.) What if...Karmi had never left SFIT at the end of “City of Monsters”?

We know from the boards that Bob Schooley posted that “City of Monsters” was originally going to end very differently than what actually made the final cut.  It seemed that Karmi, in addition to getting a nonsensical boyfriend named “Flammarion”, was not suppose to leave SFIT in the early draft.

So what if Hiro had shown up to her lab, and instead of seeing this...

He saw this?

Or...something a little less dramatic?  Maybe just her packing up stuff because she’s in the process of leaving?  And Hiro had to say something in order for her to stop what she was doing? And how exactly would you achieve that? See, if that scenario happened, I think that this particular point would be where Hiro told her about being in Big Hero 6.  And of course Karmi wouldn’t believe him, even though she’s now in love with him crushing on him.

Then, he takes her to the base.

And she turns back to him with an incredulous look.

And roll credits.  What a cliffhanger to go into Season 3 with. I vaguely remember fanart depicting that exact scene (Hiro taking Karmi to the base), but I don’t remember who did it.  I would like to give them the proper credit. Season 3 would have looked totally different if that took place.  Maybe it would have been an actual season and not a bunch of mini stories.  Also...perhaps Karmi would have joined the team proper.

And maybe we would have finally had a giant canonical Karmiro moment.

...Now that is a big “What if?”.

(Marvel’s What If...? premieres on Wednesday, August 11th on Disney+.)

[sfit-canteencleaner]

When can I see Hiro and Baymax's wedding?

(I will update this blog from time to time to make it more streamlined.)

My cn is 徵/Sol. I'm Chinese and my English level is a little but not much. I can't read the atmosphere of English context and can't read many emojis (like ＜3) , but please trust me to be friendly and sincere. Please feel free to check with me that there is no ambiguity in our conversation!

I'm a fan fiction writer and a fan art producer. I'd love to be an authorized translator for my favorite fan fiction writers. I'm also a peripheral merchandise collector, seeing Baymax and Hiro's faces makes me happy.

I mainly use this account to read fan works about Big Hero 6. My taste is pretty picky so I'm always starving. Bayhiro/Hiromax is my forever top1, I like both they are Platonic and Romantic. I DON'T like Hamada Brothers as a ship. As an East Asian I can swear Tadashi is the most handsome Disney adult male I have ever seen, I deeply love and admire him and I'd call him my ''East Asian-Most Handsome-Male-Ever''. I've watched all the episodes of BH6 and I'm trying to playing Disney Infinity lately(It wasn't going well, I'm not good at this).

Please leave me comments & Chat with me!

Even if I am known as an East Asian, my understanding of the characters and the plot is still very strange. If this makes you uncomfortable, my apologize!

[louthestarspeaker]

Obligatory Brand Appreciation Post

Okay as far as I know not one person has mentioned Brand yet, and I know he was only on screen for literally two minutes, but he is amazing so I’d just like to draw some attention to Darius’ awesome older brother please and thank you. I have many Brand feelings soooo under the cut!

Kay so I’m a sucker family fluff type stuff and the brotherness Brand and Darius share is just PEAK. The little jump scare thing Brand does when we first meet him and the way he ruffles with Darius’ hair, you can just tell these two are close, despite what I’m thinking is a five year age gap (Darius is probably like 13/14 and Brand looks college age, maybe 19/20)

I mean look at this! That little tussle and then Darius spinning around with a face that goes “yeah I’ve done this before, this wasn’t even the first time today”

They remind me of Tadashi and Hiro from BH6, which is kind of funny since Ryan Potter plays Kenji. come to think of it i also have a slightly irrational adoration of Tadashi Hamada but shhh wrong fandom

But really, in all seriousness, though I feel like familial type relationships are making a slow (very much well-needed) comeback in cartoons, seeing openness and a level of vulnerability between two brothers still seems avoided by most media, especially live-action. So this is very nice to see.

But in regards to Brand alone, the producers and writers did an excellent job with him, it’s clear they did homework on the demographic they’re representing. 

I mean look at this:

Ya’ll. 

He said “straight up”. 

Like this is how I talk! This is how my brothers talk! This is our slang! 

I’m not even kidding when I say that this made me and my sister pause the show and just go “this guy? i love this guy” and then proceed to squeal for the next five minutes.

Like this is what representation looks like and feels like. You can’t imagine just how happy this made me. For the first time while watching a children’s cartoon I feel well and truly seen. And it’s something I’ve missed out on for so log tthat seeing this for the first time is almost overwhelming. 

So, in conclusion, Brand is amazing and I love him and I hope we see much much more of him in season two, cause this guy is exactly what the media needs.

[insanely-creative-things]

Everything wrong with Karmi and why its a problem

Never thought I would do this thing, but as of now… I’ve kept this to myself for a long time since the beginning of the show, and I want to say that this is not recent, this is not a response to every fan that likes this character. This is to share why I find Karmi as an awful character in full detail and the fact that it’s being portrayed positively rather troubling.

(This is just a small disclaimer put to put it shortly: Jelly pig’s actions were inexcusable. She can hate Karmi all she wants and should not be forced to like her. However, sending threats and going out of their way to put nasty comments on other’s piece of work is not a healthy way to express your distaste for a character. At most, they should have just filtered their tags so that they don’t see any Karmi related work on their dash. And Jelly/pig or whatever your name is now if you’re reading this: I want to let you know that you can hate Karmi all you want, but again, sending death threats is not a way to get others to listen to you. And I get what you were trying to do, trying to say that Karmi’s existence is worse than COVID. While I get what you’re saying if you seriously think this way then you need to reevaluate yourself and your choice of words. Karmi is a bad character but there are far worse things to worry about. I do genuinely hope you change your behavior and express your opinions in a healthy manner, that you are getting better, but again, death threats will get you nowhere. In other words: think before you run your mouth.)

I am a fan of Disney, and I especially adore the show Big Hero 6: The Series. However, it has come to my attention that a certain character is a harmful presence in the show that is being portrayed in a positive light when their actions had clearly been damaging. In Big Hero 6: The Series, there is a character named Karmi, who is a Biotech student. From what I can understand, she is portrayed as a rival to Hiro Hamada to which her actions are endearing, and is set up as a love interest to the main character, with the added charm being that she is a fanfiction writer who is enamored with Hiro's superhero identity. However, upon further inspection and research, it becomes clear that Karmi, the character, is not a positive character who should be presented as such. In fact, what her actions and behavior actually are is that of a bully, an antagonist. While it is nothing new to have a bully character to be an antagonist, it appears that the writers and executive producers of Big Hero 6: The Series are unaware of/ignorant of how Karmi appears in the show and genuinely believe that Karmi's character is endearing. Here is the following evidence to display Karmi's actions and why it is not justified.

In her first appearance of the show, Issue 188, she is introduced to Hiro as to ‘help him’ socialize better by Professor Granville, and yet her behavior/actions to Hiro, when the professor is not around, is demeaning and antagonistic; One particular scene near the end where Karmi is experimenting on a dangerous virus, a virus that requires her to be in a biohazard suit, and yet doesn't tell Hiro to wear a biohazard suit himself. This becomes more concerning since the virus is compromised and could have possibly escaped, with the chance of it infecting Hiro yet she expresses no concern over his well-being and that she could have gotten him killed via said virus. Even if this is played for comedy, no biotech major or scientist would even think of replicating Karmi's actions. Especially virology majors and biotech scientists because it is the most irresponsible and negligent thing to do. Then later, we learn that it’s not Hiro that has a problem socializing, it was Karmi the whole time. Helping others socialize is nothing new, and while that is a start... later in the series we see Karmi having no problem talking to others around her, and can easily approach Liv to steal Hiro’s attention to present her invention(More on that later.) So immediately, it shows that Karmi’s problem isn’t social, it’s behavioral, she has gotten in trouble for her behavior before.

Now, I got to say this: at the beginning, I genuinely wanted to give Karmi a chance as a character, reasoning myself that it’s only her first episode. I was not expecting a 180, I only want her to be at least decent to Hiro. I could tolerate a sarcastic line or two... but Failure Mode had ultimately destroyed any sort of sympathy I could have had for her since then, the one to make me shout ‘WHAT. A. BITCH!’ and make me absolutely hate her.

During the episode of Failure Mode, her second appearance in the show, Hiro Hamada's first attempt at his project has been a failure; to which her first reaction to doing so is to film the blundered presentation and post it online for all to see. Her action during that moment is in fact, cyberbullying; an act to which the bully will post slander or humiliating moments of their victims' actions online to further humiliate them. The fact that Professor Granville, a professor/Dean of the school, who was teaching that class, in particular, does not reprimand Karmi for her blatant bullying here is disgraceful as no other teacher in authority would allow such a vile act happen in their classroom. 

When I first watched it I was staring in horror at such a blatant act of bullying. I actually stopped the video I was watching because I couldn't stomach watching any more of it and it took me a solid week until I could watch the rest of the episode. And even then, she didn’t stop there: She does it again when Hiro’s second presentation inadvertently destroying the other student’s projects to which Karmi(and a group of students standing behind her) taking pictures of the whole ordeal. The next scene shows Granville and Hiro having a moment discussing how Hiro shouldn’t be discouraged and that he shouldn’t call himself a failure… to which Karmi barges in with her project and asks Granville point black to let Hiro call himself a failure many more times,(curiously the next scene cuts off to the gang before it gets to Granville’s reaction so we never see if Karmi was scolded for this.) Then, when Hiro presents his project a third time, Karmi has her phone out expecting it to fail a third time! That’s three times Karmi had done in a span of an episode with the intent to humiliate Hiro online and even wanting Hiro to call himself a failure! Could you imagine a child watching that episode, someone who might be bullied at school, watching such an act go by, and for laughs?? That’s just downright terrifying and horrific for anyone in that situation.

In Small Hiro One, Karmi is clearly demeaning to Hiro as she makes fun of him not joining the other students to a seminar of a student-alumni due to his age. Even when they had a moment to talk, Karmi originally came up to Hiro to humiliate him for being around a 'fake scientist' that made 'fake volcanoes' for a kid's show. So even that sweet moment is soured when you realized she came up to him to insult him to make herself feel better for being the first student to be kicked out of the seminar. Even Hiro, in his super suit, tells Karmi to be nicer to other people! But even then it doesn’t work and Karmi still continues her malicious behavior.

Fan Friction is a more infamous example. While it is true that people write fanfiction of their beloved celebrities and actors there has to be a line. In Hiro Hamada's view, he is clearly uncomfortable with Karmi's writing of his superhero self being portrayed in a romantic relationship when, as previously stated before, her prior actions towards him are antagonistic. He is a person, a person that had been antagonized by Karmi. He had every right to be upset about this, but the others around him basically chalk it up to being embarrassed by Karmi's infatuation with Hiro's alter ego rather than the fact that the fanfiction is written by someone who despises him.

Do you remember the episode Big Hero 7? The plot being that Fred inadvertently exposed his superhero identity to Mole which lead to Mole blackmailing the team to which they had to give in to his demands that ultimately failed because Mole still made that appointment with bluff dunder to expose their identities? That all started because Fred saw that Mole forged an autograph of Fred's superhero self, where he claimed they(The team) go apple picking and are close friends, which leads to Fred’s outburst and the reveal. Fred did it because a person who despises him and does everything he can to upset/torment him made an autograph that says they are friends when they’re clearly not as Mole tormented him for laughs. So, how come Fred has the right to be upset about Mole's autograph forgery, and yet Hiro can't be upset with Karmi's fanfic? I bet you that Fred would have been just as upset at the fanfic if it was written by mole as a self-insert, and  Gogo would be just as upset if Mole also included writing herself as his GF like Karmi writing Super Hiro as her boyfriend. And here's a kicker: if the fanfic was literally written by anybody else, then Hiro wouldn't have been so upset about it. Why? Cause it was a stranger that wrote it, someone he never met and could care less about. He would have probably shared the sentiment the others had. Except it wasn't written by some stranger, it was by Karmi, who had routinely bullied him and belittled him from day one all because he’s a younger student than her.

Karmi’s self-insert fanfic even backfired when Momakase literally thought that Karmi was in fact Hiro’s girlfriend and kidnapped her. To which brings up this thought: Why would Momakase think that a self-insert about a student be real? Is it because Obake thought it was real? I highly doubt it since he had been spying on the team for a long time and would have known everything about them, hell he made a replica of Hiro’s room in the previous episode Rivalry Weak! He would have been long aware of Hiro’s true relationship with Karmi and realized that Karmi is not involved with the team in any way. Its actually my head-cannon that Obake placed that fanfic in his sources as a joke, as a way to test Momakase to see if she could tell the difference between real info and fanfiction, to which she failed... and then he proceeded to laugh at her when he told her the truth after the fact.

In the episode Big Problem, it starts off with the introduction of Liv Amara who is going towards to see Hiro Hamda for work on Baymax. While they had waited for Liv Amara to arrive, Karmi comes in uninvited to get Liv Amara's attention. Then Liv Amara pushes away Hiro because it was Tadashi who made Baymax; there was no explanation as to why Liv Amara disregarded Hiro because it was Tadashi's invention,( is it because she had a run-in with Tadashi before that lead to some bad blood between them? We never learned anything about it). To which Karmi steps in and takes Liv Amara's attention. Hiro Hamada is clearly upset that he was snuffed for his invention not being his own, to which the others around him basically say that he is jealous of Karmi attracting Liv Amara's attention. That is a false assessment from the supporting characters and from the writers. Karmi had no right to be there when it was clearly Hiro's interview with Liv Amara. If Liv was so impressed with Karmi that she chose to spend the day with her, fund her project, and give her an internship in season 2...  then why didn't she go to Karmi in the first place? If they wanted to have Hiro jealous it should be that Granville tells the students that Liv is going to see Karmi because of her invention. That would make Hiro’s jealousy believable, but instead, Hiro’s supposed jealousy is out of anger that Baymax, his brother’s invention, was snuffed by Liv Amara  (who has the power to distribute Baymax to the public to help people like Tadashi wanted) with no explanation why and only to have Karmi, who had no right to be there, take her attention.

The episode Intern-about showcases most of Karmi's negative interactions with Hiro here as he is bothered by Karmi's high and mighty personality to which he goes to get an internship with Krei Tech. When Karmi sees that Hiro is being used for ordinary errands she insults him and laughs away like a bitch. Nothing more, not even an ‘I’m sorry’.

Prey Date has Karmi calling him an idiot. Of course, she does ask Super Hiro how Hiro is and a lot of people find that endearing. Except that was the bare minimum of decency anyone could ask. Fred asked if Mole was OK after their battle with High Voltage and not much is said about that. Even then, why didn’t Karmi ask Hiro herself? Why didn’t she look for Hiro and ask how he was, and what Orso Knox did? She didn’t. It could have happened off-screen except that’s not good enough. If it doesn���t appear in the show than that never happened, which means Karmi’s concern for Hiro by asking him in person did not happen.

Something Fluffy also has Karmi being an idiot considering she exploded at Hiro for even suggesting that Liv was behind the monster attacks and that he had no evidence to prove it. Except he does. He has Karmi’s sticker patch that he got from Ned Ludd, the hybagon. It is literally Karmi’s invention found on a person, that transformed him into a monster, and she says that it wasn’t Liv? That is more than enough evidence to show that Liv is behind the attacks because last we checked, Liv funded Karmi’s project, making it part of Sycorax. There is literally no reason for her to doubt or attack Hiro on this. Karmi could be forgiven if the patch itself was redesigned without her knowledge by Liv and Chris, but it’s an exact match which means Karmi should have known better.

On a side note: The Mayoi being a Fungus is true: however, fungi are not plants, not even close. They are in the class of Animalia because of their eukaryotic cells, they lack the ability to photosynthesize so they get their energy by absorption of other plant life, and the fact that their cell walls are made of a carbohydrate polymer called chitin, which is also found in insects as their exoskeletons. There’s even a species of fungi called the cordyceps that infect insects like ants, to which they plant themselves into the head, control the hosts’ bodies to an environment to spread their spores, to which the host dies as the fungus consumes it. What the mayoi are is just an evolved form of the fungus (thankfully not the cordyceps strain of fungi otherwise it would be far more terrifying in the show) given legs and eyes instead of a plant being given an animals’ characteristics and biology. Even the science Karmi uses isn’t correct, misdiagnosing the mayoi as plants.

There are plenty of more instances that had shown Karmi behave at her worst and I had no love for her to even care about her at this point. 

For more details about Karmi’s actions, I recommend this post, https://galaxiesinadot.tumblr.com/post/187608576016/big-hero-6-season-2 as it goes more in detail about everything Karmi’s interactions with Hiro and how it was antagonistic.. 

But then, a particular moment during the episode, City of Monsters had me once again staring in shock to which it made me realize just how malicious and ego-driven this character is and made me wonder why the writers and executive producers think this was acceptable. Now, beforehand, her blatant bullying behavior could have been done out of ignorance simply because she doesn't know who exactly Hiro Hamada is because to her, he was simply a younger student that took up the title of the youngest student in SFIT. Not a good excuse but it would explain it. But what she revealed showed that all her previous aggression towards Hiro Hamada was out of genuine malice, nothing was accidental. The insults, wanting Hiro to call himself a failure, the cyberbullying, the purposeful attempt to get Liv Amara’s attention, every aggression towards Hiro was all on purpose; the story reveals that Karmi does, in fact, know who Tadashi Hamada is and that she had admired him at school, something she confesses to Hiro... She had known from the start that Tadashi Hamada is Hiro's older brother, and therefore would have known what had happened to Hiro and Callaghan's theft of his microbots. This means that she had chosen to harass Hiro Hamada, she had chosen to call him names. She had chosen to belittle him in any way possible because of her wounded pride in being the youngest genius at school. It was not a misunderstanding, it wasn’t a miscommunication problem. Karmi deliberately chose to behave this way towards Hiro despite knowing who Tadashi is. And even after their time at the lab where they worked at the cure, all Karmi had to say about Hiro is that he was useful…

Not ‘’He’s not so bad to talk to’

Not ‘He’s actually OK.’’

He was simply ‘useful’ to her…

That is not a friendship blossoming. That is just Karmi using Hiro for her project.  which meant that she only mentioned Tadashi to emotionally manipulate Hiro to get him to help her. The fact that she said he was useful is the type of language that Liv literally has for anyone: even Karmi. It’s an antagonistic way of speaking of another person and this is considered their relationship being improved over the course of the show? And in the end, when she leaves she doesn’t bother to say goodbye to Hiro. Not even send him a text message to explain why she just up and leaves. That doesn’t sound like a friendship where you leave without another word, especially since this is where tech is super-advanced where sending a text wouldn’t a problem. Instead, Hiro gets nothing out of it.

Now, all of the previous actions and behavior Karmi had done would have been interesting if the writers had been aware and kept Karmi in the role of the antagonist at school. I would honestly enjoy having Karmi as a bully because not only would she be someone you love to hate because of her bitchy behavior, like Heather Chandler from Heathers, it would lead to Hiro’s rising above her and others rightfully verbally slapping her in the face because of her shitty behavior and foiled attempts to undermine Hiro. Except she isn’t: Instead she’s being praised for that bad behavior, and Hiro is the one who has to apologize and be the bigger person, never the other way around.

The way she had been portrayed and presented with Hiro Hamada is unsettling because this is not a relationship to even form in a healthy manner; this type of behavior, which has been documented over time, could evolve into an abusive relationship. Just like the stories where the woman abused their male partners and some people not giving a damn because they thought of it as charming. In fact, if Hiro was the girl and Karmi the boy in this dynamic, going through the exact same thing, a lot more people would point out just how careless the producers and writers are because they chose to portray this type of relationship as positive.

And this isn’t just me: There’s a review that specified Karmi being a major problem in the show.

https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4915097/?ref_=tt_urv

The executive producers' Bob Schooley, Mark McCorkle, and any other previous writers involved don't seem to realize that this type of behavior should not be presented in a positive light as it could encourage young children to tolerate their bullies and even pursue a relationship with them, which then continues the cycle of bullying which would then evolve to an abusive relationship. It is best that they do not resume writing the character Karmi because she is not a positive influence for the intended audience because her behavior and actions are excused while Hiro is the victim and repeatedly written to just tolerate her abuse which in this time, is simply inexcusable and recklessly irresponsible to teach children.

Now, whenever I hear responses this sort of thing, a common defense I hear is that its a kids show, its fiction, it shouldn't be taken seriously as it has no impact on the real world.

Except... it really does.

Animal Farm? A critique and warning about Stalin Communism that is still used today.

20,000 leagues under the sea? The real-life Nautilus.

Star Wars in general? Lightsabers in the process of being built.

Harry Potter? Two real-life theme parks in Universal Studious that had gotten insanely popular since their grand opening.

Also, kids shows/movies have the power to show lessons and experiences that could speak to someone at any age. Big Hero 6 the movie itself is an example, considering that it has themes of grief and loss and how it could affect someone to progress positively (Hiro Hamada) or in a self-destructive path(Callaghan). It touches on REAL WORLD GRIEF, THE REALITY OF THE LOSS OF A LOVED ONE. THE SAME LOSS THAT IS STILL PRESENT IN THE SHOW ITSELF.

How can people claim that a show/movie is so deep and meaningful that touches their hearts and influences them and yet turn around and say ‘it’s a kids show’ as a defense when people point out their flaws? Either small and minute or genuinely a large problem.

And here’s what I’ll say next: You are not a bad person for liking Karmi. If this made you uncomfortable to see all this then... I don’t know what to say. You can continue loving this type of character all you want... but don’t deny the reality of your favorite character being a toxic influence when other people call it out.

[ilivelikeimtrying]

For no apparent or better reasons other then the fact that I really like flowers, I'm gonna put my headcanon for what flowers the characters like.

I'll be basing these off of feeling alone, what I feel either match them or they might like.

I'll be doing this for different fandoms, starting with Big Hero 6, for obvious reasons.

--------------------------------------------------

Tadashi Hamada:

Roses

For some reason, he just seems like a Rose kind of dude.

Any type of rose, they're just so nice and elegant, an illusion to there thorny side.

But his absolute favorite would have to be the simple Red Rose.

The symbolization this rose is beautiful, like the flower itself.

-

Wasabi No Ginger:

Nelumbo nucifera (Sacred Lotus)

I imagine his favorite flower would be the lotus.

The flower has such a soft color and sweet design, each petal made perfectly by nature.

Its characteristics are also a perfect analogy for the human condition: even when its roots are in the dirtiest waters, the Lotus produces the most beautiful flower.

[regrettablewritings]

Of your characters that you write/wrote for, who was more popular than you expected? Who was as popular as expected? Who was someone you expected to be popular and didn’t get the traction you thought they would?

I’ve been seeing a rise in posts involving Tadashi Hamada, so I’m pretty but pleasantly surprised about that. Considering how long it’s been since the Big Hero 6 as a movie came out, I assumed not too many would like him (plus, sweet boys tend to not fair as well as mean ones). But I’m pretty glad there’s still Tadashi fans around. I also didn’t expect my one singular Geralt post to take off as it did, but it remains to be seen if this is a fluke or will be consistent...

I’m also pretty surprised my Peter B. Parker ship meme got any attention at all, but this also remains to be seen if it could be an actual win for the guy in terms of me writing him. 

It’s hard to say who I thought would be popular as expected because it tends to fluctuate. Normally my Bruce Wayne pieces get a lot of traffic but it appears as of late that either the interest in him has waned (haha), or specifically interest in Batfleck has due to the rise of Battinson. But really, it’s rather inconsistent because I have a bad tendency to produce content after the fact. Plus, it would depend on if we’re weighing likes or reblogs. 

I always think maybe my Arthur Curry posts will take off but. . . they never quite do :/ My Jaskier posts tend to start of slower than expected but gain a bit of traction after a couple days. I think it’s maybe because of the current seasonal break. But we shall see!

[aion-rsa]

DC FanDome: Schedule, Date, Time, and How to Watch

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Fans hoping for major DC news in lieu of an actual San Diego Comic-Con are definitely going to get just that at DC FanDome, a digital event designed to be watched at home like a real con.

Originally set up as one epic night of panels and reveals, DC announced that it will be splitting FanDome into two separate and distinct events: Hall of Heroes, which will be held in late August, and WatchVerse in mid-September.

The August date still holds most of the big-ticket items. It’s billed by DC as “an epic world designed personally by Jim Lee featuring special programming, panels and exclusive reveals from a wide variety of films, TV series, games, comics and more.” Functionally, it’s the Hall H of FanDome.

This DC FanDome trailer gives fans a good glimpse at what they can expect from the event:

Here’s everything else you need to know about DC FanDome:

DC FanDome Date and Time

The first DC FanDome event, Hall of Heroes, kicks off on Saturday, Aug. 22 at 1 pm ET. Sign up to watch here!

DC FanDome Schedule

Here’s a rundown of all the panels happening during DC FanDome: Hall of Heroes. The panel descriptions below are courtesy of DC. All times are ET:

1:00 PM – Wonder Woman 1984 Panel

“Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal, and director/co-writer/producer Patty Jenkins join forces with Brazilian hosts Érico Borgo and Aline Diniz to celebrate the fans in a big way. They will answer questions from fans from all over the world, talk fan art and cosplay, and reveal an all-new sneak peek at the upcoming film — plus a few more surprises!”

1:25 PM – WB Games Montreal Announcement

“Gamers! You won’t want to miss this first look at an exciting new game, and Q&A with its developers.”

1:45 PM – The Sandman Universe: Enter the Dreaming Panel

“Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs, G. Willow Wilson and Michael Sheen discuss the legacy of The Sandman comic book series and how it has been expanded with new stories, adapted into new mediums, and enthralled audiences around the world.”

2:15 PM – Multiverse 101 Panel

“Get schooled in this engaging refresher course on the creation of the Multiverse with DC Chief Creative Officer/Publisher Jim Lee, Warner Bros. Pictures President of DC-Based Film Production Walter Hamada, and Berlanti Productions founder/DCTV mega-producer Greg Berlanti.”

2:40 PM – Flash Movie Panel

“This 101-style conversation with The Flash filmmakers Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti, star Ezra Miller and screenwriter Christina Hodson will give fans a speedy rundown on the first-ever Flash feature film.”

2:50 PM – Beyond Batman Short

“The Batman of Swinging Sixties culture clashes with the Batman of the far-flung future when Batman Beyond and his mentor, Old Bruce Wayne, intercept a broadcast of the 1966 Batman TV show!”

2:55 PM – The Suicide Squad Panel

“What else would you expect from The Suicide Squad but the ultimate elimination game? First up, writer/director James Gunn takes on fan questions, then brings out Task Force X for a fast-paced, no-holds-barred Squad Showdown that tests every team member’s Squad knowledge — and survival skills!”

3:40 PM – BAWSE Females of Color within the DCU Panel

“What’s a BAWSE? Find out here as some of the hottest actresses across DC television and film sit down with celebrity DJ D-Nice and Grammy-winning singer/actress Estelle to discuss how they use their confidence and vulnerability to navigate their careers in Hollywood. Panelists include Meagan Good (SHAZAM!), Javicia Leslie (Batwoman), Candice Patton (The Flash), Tala Ashe (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow), Nafessa Williams and Chantal Thuy (Black Lightning), and Anna Diop and Damaris Lewis (Titans). Catch the entire full-length conversation at McDuffie’s Dakota in the DC WatchVerse.”

4:00 PM – Legacy of the Bat Panel

“Calling all Batman fans! Don’t miss this discussion on the wide scope of the Batman universe, including the Batman Family of characters. Key talent from comics, TV, and games will provide insight into the world of Caped Crusader.”

4:30 PM – Joker: Put on a Happy Face

“Featuring interviews with filmmakers and industry legends, discover the origins and evolution of The Joker, and learn why the Clown Prince of Crime is universally hailed as the greatest comic book Super-Villain of all time.”

4:45 PM – Surprise DC Comics Panel

TBA

5:10 PM – I’m Batman: The Voices Behind the Cowl Panel

“Everyone has their favorite Batman. But for audiences around the world, their favorite Batman has a local sound. It’s time to meet the voices behind the cowl. Hear what it’s like to be one of the many global vocal actors portraying the Dark Knight when the Super Dubbers, who lend their talents to the Caped Crusader on screens big and small all over the world, come together for the first time ever.”

5:30 PM – The Snyder Cut of Justice League Panel

“Zack Snyder fields questions from fans and a few surprise guests as he discusses his eagerly awaited upcoming cut of the 2017 feature film and the movement that made it happen.”

5:54 PM – The Flash TV Panel

“Executive producer Eric Wallace joins cast members Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Danielle Nicolet, Kayla Compton, and Brandon McKnight to discuss all things Flash with Entertainment Weekly’s Chancellor Agard. Team Flash will break down both parts of season six and look ahead at what is to come with an exclusive trailer for season seven. Fans will also get a look at the exclusive black-and-white noir episode ‘Kiss Kiss Breach Breach,’ which will be available on The Flash season six Blu-ray and DVD on August 25.”

6:10 PM – Black Adam Panel

“Star of the first-ever Black Adam feature film Dwayne Johnson sets the stage for the story and tone of the new movie with a fans-first Q&A…and a few surprises.”

6:30 PM – CNN Heroes: Real Life Heroes in the Age of the Coronavirus

“While DC features iconic fictional Super Heroes recognized around the world, CNN Heroes shines a light on real-life, everyday people making a difference in their communities. Now, as the global Covid-19 pandemic has turned all of our worlds upside down, CNN’s Anderson Cooper introduces you to the frontline workers, advocates, neighbors, and friendly strangers who are coming together to help us through this crisis.”

6:50 PM – Titans TV Panel

“’Titans are back, b*tches!’ That phrase kicked off an explosive second season of Titans that culminated with the long-awaited emergence of Nightwing as their leader and the tragic death of one of their own. And as a new mysterious threat looms, season three promises to be the biggest yet! Join executive producer Greg Walker and series stars Brenton Thwaites, Anna Diop, Teagan Croft, Ryan Potter, Conor Leslie, Curran Walters, Joshua Orpin, Damaris Lewis, with Alan Ritchson and Minka Kelly for a preview of the new season as well as a discussion on the ‘Fan Favorite Moments’ of the first two seasons.”

7:05 PM – Aquaman Panel

“Aquaman director James Wan and King Orm himself, Patrick Wilson, take a deep dive into the world of Atlantis that Wan created, revealing their favorite behind-the-scenes moments from the largest DC movie ever!”

7:15 PM – “Ask Harley Quinn”

“She has gone toe-to-toe with Batman and the Justice League, and taken down The Joker and the toughest villains of Gotham City, but at DC FanDome, Harley Quinn faces her toughest challenge yet — answering burning questions from DC’s biggest fans in her own tell it as it is, no-BS style. If you love the Harley Quinn animated series, this is one you cannot f—king miss!”

7:20 PM – Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary Celebration Panel

“As an Amazon and a god, Wonder Woman is truly timeless. So, it’s hard to believe she’s turning 80! Join Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot, along with a very special guest, as they reflect on the character’s influence on them personally, and look forward to the 2021 celebrations!”

7:25 – Tomorrow’s Superheroes with Jim Lee

“DC Chief Creative Officer/Publisher Jim Lee joins Bing Chen, founder of the global non-profit collective Gold House, to discuss the important contributions of Asian artists and writers in comics and comic book–inspired entertainment.”

7:40 PM – SHAZAM! Panel

“Zac Levi and the cast can’t tell you s#&t! Sworn to secrecy on the new script for their upcoming movie, Zac and a few of his SHAZAM! castmates talk with the Philippines’ #1 DC fan, Gino Quillamor, about what the next movie might be about, while commenting on everything from panels to the other Zack’s cut — and even have a few surprise guests drop in!”

8:10 PM – Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Panel

“Will Arnett hosts the highly anticipated video game reveal from Rocksteady Studios, creators of the Batman: Arkham franchise.”

8:30 PM – The Batman Panel

“The Batman filmmaker Matt Reeves joins host and self-professed fangirl Aisha Tyler for a discussion of the upcoming film…with a surprise (or two) for the fans!”

You can check out the full DC FanDome schedule here.

DC FanDome Live Stream

While DC FanDome is free for all to enjoy, you will need to create an account on DCFanDome.com in order to watch the event. You’ll then be able to access each panel via the DC FanDome program scheduler.

Following the conclusion of The Batman panel at the end of Hall of Heroes, the Fandome schedule will then cycle back through two more times, giving you three shots to watch in a 24-hour period.

DC FanDome: WatchVerse Date and Time

DC will host a second, on-demand FanDome event called WatchVerse on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 1 pm ET. While viewers will be able to access all content in any order they please, the event will only be available for 24 hours.

This event will include the previously announced panel on the expansion of “DC’s Watchmen Universe” discussion with Damon Lindelof and Tom King talking Rorschach, a Joker War panel with Batman writer James Tynion IV and Batgirl scribe Cecil Castellucci, a Three Jokers panel with Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok, a panel on John Ridley’s exciting upcoming The Other History of the DC Universe, and more.

The post DC FanDome: Schedule, Date, Time, and How to Watch appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/34jSTev

[rika-kihira]

Rika Kihira x Gutto sports

A while ago Rika appeared in a Japanese tv program. The program was pretty long and unfortunately a full video of it isn’t available at the moment. However the program, cut in 6 parts, was uploaded on drive and translated by @juronom on twitter. 

Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Translation of the most interesting parts, done by Juro, please do not repost without credit.  Part 1:  Gutto Sport presenters commented that Rika is smaller in height than what her aura gives off. They ask Takeshi Honda and Akiko Suzuki about their shared skating experience with Rika.

T: We skated together at Kandai rink, so I meet her almost every day. I just met her yesterday too.

R: I lost count how many times I greet you already *laugh*

TH: She’s like *comes up to me* “Konnichiwa” (Hello), then skate away, then come back and “Konnichiwa” again.

A questionnaire with Rika on what she thought was her best weapon?

Upper left: Maintain positivity Lower left: No edge error Right: 3A (no 1)

The secret of her 3A:

- “The type that hasn’t been seen until now”-Takeshi Honda

- Comparison with legendary 3A by Japanese ladies:

o Midori Ito: height that can be comparable to men’s 3A

o Mao Asada: beautiful air position (vertical jumping posture)

o Rika Kihira: quick rotation, clear-cut (neat, sharp) 3A => allows her landing to be relaxed&free

On what she used as reference for her jumps:

“In the past, I used to refer to male skaters’ method of jumping quads, etc, carefully observe them. Then I always looked at Mao-chan’s amazing 3A as well. Recently, I rely on observation of) my own best condition, how much of the intensity of (practice) it can handle. Something like “When my muscles are at this condition, I should practice increase the intensity of my practice (practice many times).” On the other hand, if on that day, my jumps are off, I’d stop and let my body return (to its good condition) properly.”

Physical check: the secret why Rika can rotate so fast?

According to Prof Sakurai Tomono- researching on the mechanism of athletes’ muscles: her hip and thigh muscles can contract quickly.

Experiment for Rika: measuring the distance of one’s bunny hop from a kneeling position.

Average for boys: 41cm; girls: 20cm

Rika’s distance was 65cm

Part 2 

Another secret: Rika is very “obsessed” with her skates (including blades)

She brought the pair she was using at the moment to the set.

Each of Her skating boots, (like other skaters’), is meticulously customized. When the skates first arrived, she had to adjust the blades’ position and angle, how much they lean forward or backward, towards one side or another etc, by herself carefully. She couldn’t say she could adjust them to their perfect condition, but she tried her best to tune them to as convenient a position as possible for her skating, millimeter by millimeter. Not only the position, but the gap between boots and blades are also controlled. Even if the gap is one 1mm wider or narrower, her skating can be affected greatly, to the extent that she could either do 30 3As in one day or none with the boots.

It takes more than 2 weeks to get used to a new pair.

Presenter asked why she couldn’t keep using the same pair.

It’s because the leather will soften, especially at the area around laces. Rika said when there’re some leather materials coming off around that area, she can’t jump at all. She changed boots around every 3 months, and since the boots take 3 weeks to be produced, she couldn’t change to a new pair immediately, and must notice when the pair in use shows some signs of softening.

The presenters need to stop Rika before she talks forever about her skating boots-her obsession.

Rika: “And then, recently, this part…” Everyone laughs: “She honestly can stop”

Questionnaire with Rika:

What does Rika have on her mind: 100% figure skating.

Takeshi Honda’s question: “Rika, is that really ok?”

It’s about her socks.

Skaters generally stick certain types of specially made socks produced by 1 brand when competing, but Rika is ok with any types of socks and doesn’t mind if her socks are ankle-length or longer. She just grabbed a random pair if she forgot her socks. (t/n: she’s actually using the kind of cute socks sold at tutu-ana (1000yen for 3 pairs) or gift shops lollll)

Akiko Suzuki’s question:

Akiko noticed that at ice shows, before eating, Rika always quickly takes photo before eating, but not in the manner suitable for posting food photos on SNS. Akiko thinks she did it to calculate nutrition value.

Rika: “After a day, I calculate my total calories intake. Combini food has calories value on them, but I don’t know the values for every separate item, so I took photos of everything, then calculate the amount later”.

Presenter: Is it hard to maintain (athletic) body form?

Rika: “Yes, I try as hard as I can. Even if I lose weight (or gain weight). If I lose too much weight, I can’t jump.”

Presenter: As a 17-year-old girl, you may want to eat things like sweets, drink tapioca tea etc…?

Rika: “Well technically I can, but when I eat things like cake or tapioca, which still adds to the amount of calories intake, meat, or such is still important, so I need to eat food that can be converted into energy correctly. If I eat cake or tapioca, my diet’s efficiency will be tampered with.”

Presenter: You can’t even after winning?

Rika: “But still, I still eat the food that can be converted to energy…”

Presenter: “Pizza and cola?”

Rika: *shake her head vigorously*

“If I sleep with an unfilled stomach, I feel like my muscles aren’t there. There are times when I was thinking about whether to get dinner or not, or just only eat the meat properly (not carbs), and then I felt like my muscles decrease, so I concluded that I must properly eat dinner anyways.”

Part 3

Coach Hamada rating Rika:

“She is very disciplined. Her practice ability is very good, and she always has the drive to improve herself. Not in a reckless but proper way.” Scoring (from upper left going right)

- Comprehensiveness (4)

- Linguistic ability (2):  “I wish she could handle English questions in interview sessions or press-conferences. Since she is competing internationally, it’d be nice if her linguistic ability could be improved. Also, she may have more and more international friends, and international fans.”

- Performing ability (4)

- Decisiveness (4)

- Athleticism (5)

- Narcissist power(3) (t/n: lol what =)) but sorry it wasn’t mentioned at all)

- Talkativeness (2): “She doesn’t talk much. I’ve never heard her jokes”

- Humor (2)

- Girliness(4): “She has good sense of fashion, how to coordinate clothes.”

- Considerateness (4): “At ice shows, she always immediately wears and takes photos with all the presents from fans. She wants to send her gratitude to fans, and tell everyone she is really happy with the gifts, which she can’t do often.”

Rika: “Yes, I’m bad (at English). There are many times I want to tell (international fans) “I’m very happy that you support me”, but I don’t know how to. So I just *raise both hands and wave nervously while saying “hai (yes)” and nodding*”

Figure skating’s This and That – presented by Satoko Miyahara.

Top 3 Figure skating truths by Satoko

1. I’m very embarrassed when messing up the stsq.

2. I fight time difference (jet lag) every day.

3. I only forget important things. (Satoko’s story about losing her Olympics ID)

On practicing with Satoko:

Rika: “I practice with her almost every day.”

Presenter: So do you talk?

Rika: “Yes, but for things irrelevant to skating. Satoko normally said things like “I forgot my CD >_<”. Satoko-chan is really interesting”

Figure skating truths by Rika

1. What does she think throughout a 4-min performance?

“There’re many things I think about. For instance: “The axel is coming up next”; “It’s bad if I overdo this part”; “I can’t miss this axel”; “If I made mistake on this jump, all the jumps I landed until now will become meaningless”.

Asked about whether she had entered a “zone”, where she wasn’t thinking anything but everything went well.

“In the past, that happened to me a lot too, but recently, sometimes I don’t think when performing, and there’s excitement too. However, when looking at and understand the real event happening, and thinking that “I don’t want to repeat the mistakes I’ve made until now” …then (that thought) appears in front of me, and in my head, then I’d think that “I don’t want to this (repeat the mistake)” and reconfirm the jumps. When I jump, it’s unconscious reflex, but I think about my surrounding, my own conditions or even my nervousness.”

Presenter: It’s the positive feelings of being able to see everything.

Rika: “Yes, it’s like that”.

Part 4

Choreography challenge with Ryouga Haruhi (t/n: Ryouga is known for playing male role in Takarazuka Revenue, a Japanese all-female musical theater troupe)

The program discussed the role of expression.

Presenter asked Rika what she does as supplement to her expression in figure skating.

Rika: “I do classical ballet around 2-3 hours/week, and I also go to dance school”

Presenter: Dance school? Like rock dance and hiphop?

Rika: “Yes, things like hiphop.”

*show vid of her practicing dance in the US *

Rika: “This is the dance lesson I had in the US, but normally, I have dance lessons that use more hip-hop-like music and more strong movements.”

Everyone complimented on her (and Satoko’s) beautiful movement.

Rika wanted to ask Ryoga about the way she and Takarazuka actresses use their expression, how they pose, and the angle of their faces.

Ryoga explained that expressions showed of male and female roles are opposite: soft and flexible vs cool, then she proceeded to give “posing” lesson. She showed the movement patterns of: female role, lower-class male role and upper-class male role.

Rika was asked to do the movement of “lower-class man” then “upper-class man” (the one with hand on her face) and she managed very well, receiving compliments from the presenters. Part 5

About the Nobeyama Kougen training camp, known as the place where “Golden-eggs” of Japan figure skating are assembled. Notable alumni: Mao Asada, Yuzuru Hanyu, Takeshi Honda, Shizuka Arakawa, Rika Kihira.

The training camp is 4 days long, with various training sessions from 8am-9.30pm. The camp’s purpose is to evaluate and search for skaters with potential and to check their living attitude as well, like how they conform to curfews, etc. Rika went to the camp 3 years ago, and she said it was very tough.

Rika: “(Being there), you have to worry about whether you will be seeded or if you will be assigned to any competition, and then there’ll be new comers…so in every aspect, you have no way but show you are the best one. Even off-ice physical checking is so tough, squatting/ running around etc, that on the next day, I can’t even move my legs or climb the stairs, but still have to perform programs.”

Presenter: Do you want to go back?

Rika: “Maybe”

Akiko said being there makes you realize she was hand-picked from among all skating children in Japan. That really changes her working attitude and elevates her determination.

Video about legendary 3A by Midori Ito, done 1 minute before the end of her program at 1992 Olympics. The 3A has become the trail-blazer for future generations.

Rika: “I don’t think I can do 3A in the latter half at all. It’s already so tough to have it as the 2nd or 3rd jump but I don’t think I’ve ever tried jumping it 1 minute before the end of the program.”

Part 6

Rika’s impression of Midori Ito: “I experienced challenging 3A but failing in competitions. The first time I met her, she comforted me: “Ahh 3A is very difficult. Though it’s difficult, I really support you”, such kind actions.”

Presenter: But you haven’t got any chance to talk to her leisurely

Rika: “No, I haven’t”

Presenter: Let’s do it now ^^

Rika: “Heeehhh”

Midori Ito appeared: “You’ve worked hard” (to Rika)

“I’m so happy. You even remember the 1st time we met. That makes me so happy.”

Rika: “I do remember”

Midori: “Really?”

“It’s amazing. You can jump it (3A) stably now” to Rika.

Midori said she contemplated whether to do 3Lz or 3A when she was spinning in that program, then decided to do 3A. She asked Rika: “If you made mistake on the 1st 3A, do you think about the 2nd time?”

Rika: ”Well, but I’ve not thought about it in the latter half, really, (3A) in the latter half it’s sugoii…”

Midori’s secret for her super high 3A is to “skate with all her power at top speed”. Because she entered 3A at a very high speed, she can get to that height. She described that method of jumping 3A is like: “Doing long jump (a athletic sport) but rotating at the same time” (t/n: Rika’s face loll)

Rika said she didn’t jump 3A at top speed because she can’t control her axis.

Midori: “However, in my generation, we just focus on doing our jumps at high speed, but in Kihira-san’s generation, the programs have to be beautiful as whole, and in such programs, there is 3A. It’s a generation that (3A) isn’t effective if the programs aren’t beautiful itself. It’s amazing that there are beautiful programs but at the same time allow to do 3A efficiently.” *looks at Rika* Rika is very happy to receive advice from Midori. Rika: “With this experience, I will try harder and harder every day in order to create a sense of stability. Then, I must perform quads cleanly too.”

Midori’s advice to Rika: “She’s very serious. She is already going forward while staying fixated to her goal. So, *looks at Rika* try to keep yourself in good health. You can’t suddenly jump triples or quads. You can’t say you’ll be free of injury at all, but you have to make compromises with injury and your body conditions. When you’re injured, there’re things you can’t do, so..but then, it’s vital to harmonize things you haven’t done and your techniques. It’ll be nice if you can try to balance those things. I hope that you’ll try your best.”

Rika’s aims: “This season, my first goal is to aim for the podium at the World championship, which I couldn’t do last season. Then, I will make my best effort every day towards my biggest dream of winning the Beijing Olympics.”