#also if you ever need more rin screenshots.... i have... too many

[megumri]

exfuckingcuse me there’s a pic of rin with an owl hoodie ?????? and i haven’t seen it ???? blasphemy

(also i did get your ask!!🥺🥺🥺 i’m just saving it for a…. special occasion 👀)

YES AND ITS SO ADORABLE HIS YOUTH WAS STOLEN AND WE ALL KNOW BY WHOOOOOO

also adding one more pic pulled from a quick Google search cause !?!?!?!?",*$*##

RIN EVERYTHINGS GONNA BE OK I KNOW IT🥹

(aaa no worries !!! and what !?! a special occasion im 🥰)

[ionsye]

free TFS - haru in the last scene

wrote this up back in february after ruminating over free TFS and since we’re approx one week away from the second part, just thought i’d share my thoughts! specifically on haru and the buildup to the last scene of the movie b/c i was going feral & my friends didn’t understand why what happened...happened

(text heavy + screenshots! *spoilers for the first part of free! the final stroke)

also these are just my thoughts and how i interpret everything after years of watching free! ofc

so the last scene that the movie left us on is quite an impact i think, and it speaks volumes about haru’s character. in fact, i think getting into haru’s head and figuring out what exactly he’s feeling is super fascinating- he’s the protagonist but he has a lot of subtle depth and it isn’t explicitly shown much. i think a lot of people might wonder why haru reacted so adversely to rin saying that ikuya and him aren’t going to compete in free anymore beyond this tournament. ‘so what? they’re still swimming in the same venue’- but no, you need to really understand haru’s progression throughout the years.

specifically, notice that it’s not even ikuya quitting free that haru reacts to. it’s rin.

he states that at the next world tournament, he wants to, quite literally, swim with rin.

 now, that may seem strange to some people or even overly emotional.. it’s the sport world, not some friendly playing match. and then you realize like i do that haru’s changed A LOT throughout this franchise. he didn’t use to be like this. before rin pestered all of them to swim in the relay in elementary school, haru didn’t care about anything really besides swimming by himself. it was rin who taught haru what it’s like to swim with friends, for your friends. rin changed the trajectory of haru’s life. this has been stated several times, by both haru himself AND others.

^ this scene from season 1’s last episode

^ ikuya bringing up that makoto AND his brother would mention rin’s influence on haru from middle school

^ and of course, haru mentions this before that last scene in the movie

  with it having been reiterated THAT many times, we the audience would be blind to not acknowledge how rin has shaped who haru is today. haru, who didn’t care about times, about competitive swimming, or about anyone else when he’s in the water- reduced to this. when his coach analyzes rin and ikuya’s races, haru defends them. azuma notes that sentimentality is weakness; it’s not objective to think hard work will mean you’ll do well.

    clearly, haru has grown to care quite a bit for his friends now. definitely not the same stoic kid who refused to swim for anyone but himself. the issue is that this is mentally weak of him, especially in such a competitive setting now. coach azuma keeps bringing up that the ones who stand on top (swim the fastest) all threw something away- there is some sacrifice needed. no one becomes the best without losing anything and haru is still naive; too soft as he is now. haru claims that he won’t throw anything away & this will be important to also keep in mind.

 okay, now let’s further think about his motives for being here and why he’s even competing at the world level. recall from season2 that haru actually didn’t have a dream; the idea of scouts watching him and the future visibly stressed him out because none of this was ever why he swam.

yeah, rin might’ve shown haru that there’s more to swimming than just being by yourself in the water- but what does that have to do with haru’s times? with him setting records? he doesn’t care for any of that. competitive swimming was never a big deal to him like it was to rin, and he makes this clear. then fast forward to their trip to australia, rin helps haru realize a new dream: to swim at the global stage (with rin).

  he wants to stand on that world stage someday and yeah he wants to swim with rin too. rin’s influence on haru is a positive one and you can’t deny that. here is where it gets messy.

what’s the deal with albert?

haru’s feeling unease. albert’s swimming is “cold and sad”; maybe even mechanical. haru can probably sense how albert got to where he is now- he “threw something away to get here”, like azuma said. we can also surmise that albert’s upbringing and how he’s trained to swim is most likely not a product of his will. the thing is, now that haru is competing at the world level, he’s now stressed out. this is new for him.

    yeah his mental health is at a low. he never even needed to care about other people when he swam; he used to be content in his small bubble, swimming bc he felt like it, BEFORE RIN CAME. why is he here now? because of rin’s existence and impact on him. first the relay and learning to swim for friends, and now competitive swimming and shooting for the world stage.

    it’s like “i only came this far because of you” (no, he LITERALLY SAID THAT TO RIN), “and now you’re leaving me on my own when things get hard (for me)? when i’m in this (competitive swimming)world because of YOU?” and that destroys haru. because he was fine before rin came into the picture and changed his status quo. he certainly didn’t ask for this development.

    haru was content with how he was living before rin influenced him. we know that his way of living was very lonely and closed off, but the thing is, he was okay that way. now that he changed, the person who changed him was leaving? (again, we may not see rin choosing to leave freestyle as a big deal but you have to think from haru’s headspace) then we recall haru’s reaction to each time rin left him

in fact, haru actually quit swimming himself after this happened. that’s how big of a blow it was to him. it went beyond just guilt but that’s another topic altogether.

SPECIFICALLY THIS ONE AS WELL:

because rin isn’t quitting swimming here. no, he just says he won’t ever swim with haru again. and damn, that hurts a lot. see the pattern?

rin leaving freestyle to focus on butterfly from here on out = rin is swimming, but it’s not together with haru = rin is leaving (again)

    haru is alone in this stressful environment, forced to face albert while holding onto sentimentalities and dealing with the knowledge that he probably needs to get stronger but at what cost?

to begin with, rin said he wanted to swim with haru. ouch

also note rin’s “i’m looking forward to facing you in the freestyle”

freestyle. yeah

    they’ve been rivals that push each other to farther heights, so i’m sure the decision to quit freestyle for the next world tournament was also hard for rin, but it’s what is best for him. he wants to focus on one stroke (his specialty stroke) in order to progress into the professional world.

    haru just doesn’t take this well because of his mental state at the moment combined with his abandonment issues(mostly having to do with rin from childhood to now...) and how soft he’s grown because of rin.

    so yes, haru’s reaction at the end of the movie is EXTREME, but that’s because rin was THAT important of an influence and a person to him. to fully grasp this, think about haru’s other major existence: makoto. makoto is akin to an anchor; a childhood best friend who gets haru and supports him, but makoto isn’t there to struggle with haru like rin (who is also competing at this stage and facing the same obstacles). makoto is a good listener and friend, but he never pushes haru out of his comfort zone or sways him- that’s all rin. makoto himself realizes this in season2 and even tells nagisa that in some way, he was probably jealous of rin. because he can’t really push haru to better himself like rin can.

just happens to be that rin is like a double-edged sword to haru.

    so at the end of the movie, when haru says he’s throwing everything away? that’s concerning.

    he’s who he is currently and he’s only here because of these influences on him. but he’s throwing all that away. then why is he swimming exactly? like albert said to him in his imagination, “what are you swimming for?” ... yeah 

[makeusfreefromthisfandom]

How They Snapchat

A/n: yes I did everyone bc why not 😌✨ long post ahead but I had a lot of fun doing these! I hope you have just as much fun reading them!

❥Iwatobi

Haru

Is he even on Snapchat?

Lmao

He was forced to by Rin before he left for Australia

Haru forgets about it. The only time he posts are when he’s out with Rin and it’s Rin who’s the one posting for him

Makoto

Cats!

Omg he’s going to be posting snaps of him and the neighborhood cat

But he’s also posting snaps of him and Haru

most of the time it’s a Nagisa take over and Makoto’s memories are FILLED with Nagisa’s snaps and random videos

He won’t ever delete them ahaha

He’s the type who’s snap is always messing up lolol and he starts panicking about it too 😭

Never the one to leave you on read. A true king.

Nagisa

Ooffff

Yk those people on snap who have like 5 different private stories and are CONSTANTLY posting on ALL of them and somehow you are also on ALL of them

Yeah...

That feature on snap where you just swipe up to be added to someone’s private story? Nagisa is always doing that

There’s no point of calling it a private anymore

Also a spammer, doesn’t care if you do streaks or not

He’s the type who posts videos and pictures of his friends OFF GUARD OMG HES THOSE TYPE OF PEOPLE AJSJSJJSJS

And he gets it at JUST the right moment

poor Rei

Filters. Not the ones that make you look good. The weird ass ones.

Oh also that big mouth filter is his fav (yk the one that everyone uses when they need to rant ajsjsjsjsj)

Can you imagine him on tik tok LMFAO

Rei

Aesthetics ✨

Sunset/sky pics

Also it’s basically Nagisa running his snap too

Selfie e’rryday (courtesy of Nagisa ofc)

Gou

Selfies with the galsssss😆😝

So many swim team memories 🥺

Nagisa likes doing the whole “amosc” thing on her story too without her knowing xb

Has a private story but Rin’s not apart of it 😌🤚🏽

He gets super butthurt when he finds out tho bc the rest of the guys are

Why hasn’t she blocked Momo yet?😭😭😭

SHE DOESNT WANT TO SEE YOUR BEETLE MY GUY

I feel like she rants but she doesn’t even use that one filter to do it. The gorl says what she’s gotta say

But she still likes using the cute little filters tho <3

The group chat maker.

❥Samezuka

Rin

11:11 snaps

He has a whole separate private story for his sad hours and quotes

Late night workout/gym pics. With the time sticker

Also he’s the type to be posting selfies of him and his buddies too :b

snaps of his music

sad playlists

Thinks streaks are stupid but probably does them anyways ajsjsjjsjsjs especially if it’s someone he’s crushing on

ALWAYS checking Gou’s stories bc protective brother things

Always flashing his signature sharky grin

Those people that are confident and intimidating on snap but in reality they’re baby and soft🥺

Sousuke

Black screens.

Ceiling snaps.

leaves you on read

but it’s bc he doesn’t know what to even reply with

Doesn’t really snap like that, he mostly just has it so that it’s another way to keep in touch with acquaintances and friends

Will once in awhile get snaps from Aii and Momo which he’ll just laugh and smile to

Aii

He has a group chat on there for the swim team

He’ll send snaps to Rin and Sousuke sometimes

Cant quite get out of Nagisa’s snap spamming tho, he’s considered blocking

Momo

Do I even need to say anything?

Pyunsuke.

Period.

ITS JUST HIS FREAKIN STAG BEETLE

captions the snaps with things like “isn’t he precious 🥺” “GUYS PYUNSUKE LEARNED A NEW TRICK!!!”

Has a whole story dedicated to “Pyunsuke’s Adventures”

Please all the boys have left that priv story

Aii stays tho bc he’s nice like that

Regrets it everyday.

Also big bro Sei likes to take over his snaps from time to time

Seijuro

He’s got all the fan girls yo 😎🤏🏽

Work out snaps

Swimming snaps in his speedo

Face snaps

He also succeeds in getting selfies with Haru as they’re on the same swim team now 😎🤏🏽

Exposes the younger mikoshibas’ baby pics

NEVER lets the chance go to take a snap when all the mikoshiba siblings reunite

❥Highspeed+Hiyori

Asahi

Inspirational quotes on his mirror selfies

Ooooof Kisumi takeover 24/7

I feel like he’s into aesthetic snaps and phone photography too so yeah lots of coffee shop aesthetics

He still does streaks :b

Forced to have one with Kisumi

Never snaps him back tho

He likes posting his nephew too 🥺

He ends up getting a kick to the face right when he snaps the pic tho

The type to be like “dhmu”

“Only the real ones know”

Kisumi

Has to document all his coffee/food runs

His “vlogs”

Kisumi. Omg KISUMI. He’s that ONE friend who has embarrassing pictures of EVERYONE

Omg you cannot tell me that he’s not a little blackmailer with a smile plastered on his face 24/7

Jkjk

You sly little fox

The exposing type aksjjsjsjsjsjs also my fellow key smasher 😎

That one person who’s always recording at just the right moments

He does streaks too! Although the one with Asahi was completely unintentional and now they’re over 300 days

Pretty selfies all the time! 💖

Has like 1000+ friends and claims to know them all

What can I say, he’s a popular guy~

Ikuya

s t a r s

Askskksksjs

Not the type to really post, more of the type to just watch

An occasional selfie with Hiyori

Sometimes he’ll be sitting at the park or smth with a nice view and he’ll decide to snap a pic

Always has swipe up on Asahi’s stories to remind him of his stupidity

A lot of snaps from Natsuya of his travels or what he’s doing atm

The only person he’ll actually regularly snapback to

Those late night snaps/texts from a special someone never fail to bring a small smile to his lips tho🥺

The type to watch his monthly recaps and 1/2/3 and so on year agos

Natsuya

T r a v e l s

The airport at 4am

The plane

MIRROR SELFIES 🤤

FACE SELFIES 🤤🤤

lots of Nao snaps haha, most of them are saved in his memories tho

He actually has tons of selfies with a bunch of new people that he meets in his travels like Rin!

He also gets Ikuya into taking a selfie with him ;b

HIS SMILE 🥺 omg he’s always flashing a smile in his snaps 🥺

Also doesn’t really do streaks, but he likes to let his close fellas know what he’s doing and where he’s currently at so they unintentionally start anyways

Gets asked for his snap a lot- too bad he’s claimed me as his wife 😙

Nao

Doesn’t really use Snapchat that much unless he’s talking to like the 4 closet people he knows including Natsu

Also more of a watcher than a poster

Wait that sounded wrong akskksks-

Like I mean he watches others’ stories rather than posting stuff on his own

Wait why do I feel like he actually watches those snap stories yk like the buzzfeed ones and dailymail, etc 😭😭

Tends to leave Natsuya on open

Hiyori

Stalks Ikuya on maps

Ok but he doesn’t really post on his story unless it’s a selfie with Ikuya

Or he just wants to share his coffee shop/library aesthetic akaksksksk

More of a memory keeper

Like his memories are definitely filled but he doesn’t always post them

Never leaves you on open. Thinks it’s wrong. Will always snapback/reply 🥺

OH OMG YK WHEN U ACCIDENTALLY POST SOMETHING ON YOUR STORY AND IMMEDIATELY REGRET IT LIKE YK THOSE MOMENTS?

That’s literally Hiyori but he would d i e

LMAO

Too scared to screenshot anything too

I think he also secretly watches those subscription and publisher stories

Taglist: @starbornecentral @enai-jigoku @allieturs @syrenblubs @todominica @kkbear @thatfreeshit @lowkeystasha @animatedarchives @cha0tically0rganized @ourfallenthoughts @akaashirin @ever4wolf (let me know if you would like to be added or removed!)

[phoenixyfriend]

Madara and Obito... In SPACE

So the preface to this mess: I don’t know jackshit about Star Wars, so a lot of this went through friends who do know Star Wars (the primary of which does not have a tumblr).

(I have watched Episodes 7&8, and Rogue One. Of the first six movies, I remember watching maybe an hour total. I have not seen more than snatches of Clone Wars. Beyond that, nothing but fic.)

Anyway! Let’s go:

As y’all probably know by now, my favorite form of crossover is what I call “intrusive,” so... I'm enjoying the mental concept of "dump Madara on Coruscant and watch him go." (Prequels, probably.)

Does Madara know what's going on? No. Can he understand a word that's being said? No! Is he going to fight the first person to aim a weapon at him, and every person after that? Yes.

Is Madara fighting fit?

Nnnnnnnnnnnnnno, not really, he’s old as balls. This is "I was on cave life support but I'm getting back up to kick ass out of pure spite" Madara.

[Image description: A screenshot of a panel of the Naruto Manga. Uchiha Madara is old and visibly ‘decrepit,’ with spiky white hair and an amorphous black robe. He is sitting on a pale throne, and there is a scythe visible to the side. He has a speech bubble saying “I am... a ghost of the Uchiha.” End Description]

Two wrinkly old guys, staring each other down: There ain't enough room in this universe for the two of us. [Palpatine and Madara start fighting to the death]

Congrats, Palpatine! Your ass is getting kicked by a geriatric malcontent who doesn't speak any language you've ever heard or feel like literally anything in the Force. You may have Sith lightning, but do you have decades of frontline experiences and over half a century of cave-dwelling bitterness?

Both of them, simultaneously, in completely different languages: Get off my lawn, whipper-snapper.

Palpatine: Behold my mastery of the Dark Side, Foolish old man! Palpatine: [shoots lightning] Madara: Oh hey, you're like the seventeenth most dangerous person who can shoot lightning I've fought. Telekinesis? Fought that. Combat precognition? Fought that, have that, and let me tell you hwat, it doesn't help if you're opponent is just that much faster than you.

Now, I’ll take a step back and acknowledge that several people advised me that Palpatine would stand a chance against Madara, likely even win, if Madara just got hacked off of his life support and is down to one eye.

But. I want a shitpost, and also to clown on Palpatine, so Madara wins easily.

Madara also deserves to be clowned on, but the entire situation is clowning on him because he’s not in his cave anymore, and he really wants to go back to his Gedou Mazou statue.

Maybe Madara and Palpatine go Old Man Fight and then Obito just pulls a Ninja Move and kills Palpatine that way. Madara was ranting and Obito just. Ninjas behind Palpatine and slits his throat like “okay, you’re obviously evil so like... bye.”

(I just love causing "Wait what" reactions in characters that are used to having total control. Like. Have you read "Unexpected Guests"? The Bleach fic? Everything that happens in Hueco Mundo and after. That energy. I want that energy.)

Madara waves his scythe around like a cane. Obito just trails after like “Gramps, no” because it’s still pre-Sanbi, so he’s Mostly Innocent (you know, on the scale of how fucked up Obito is as a person), and just wants Madara to like. Stop.

Palpatine dies but nobody's sure what to charge Madara with since he did kind of expose a Sith? And Palpatine attacked first for [handwave] reasons?

Jedi: Well sir, in lieu of charging you with assassination of the emperor, we have decided to ask you politely to return to the elderly person's retirement home from whence you came. Please leave immediately. You are frightening the senate. Madara: [incomprehensible raving] Jedi: Yes yes, very interesting. Jedi, whispering: Does anyone know his caretaker???

Obito looks increasingly put-upon as events progress. You need Obito there to... well, not translate. Nobody can translate. But to at least poke Madara into being Slightly Less Homicidal.

Anakin seems sad about his friend dying and being evil so Obito challenges him to a spar. Madara and Obito get pulled into the Jedi Temple to help train Padawans? My first thought was "they wouldn't trust someone so obviously Weird, Crazy, and Incomprehensible around the younglings" and my second thought was "well they let Yoda do it and he's all those things so I mean? YEAH."

What if they put Madara in the bacta tank and he just freshened up like a daisy because of hand-wave Hashirama cell reasons (Blame Sir Tiddyface).

From “Decrepit and Reliant on Cave Tube Life Support” to “Will Call Down Meteors With Ease”

How many eyes does he have? Whatever’s funniest. Let’s say one Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and one Rinnegan, for maximum chaos.

Would "half my body is missing" Obito freak out if Bacta regrew his eye? Can bacta regrow something like that? When characters lose limbs they usually just get cybernetic replacements, but  the person I spoke with said that apparently they saw somewhere that that kind of thing can grow back it just takes a really long time.

I want to imagine bacta would help Obito with the Zetsu integration.

Anyway! Yes. Have Madara help train people despite being... Madara about it. You know... kind of a dick.

(I’d put example gifs but I don’t feel up to it. Y’all know what Madara’s “weakness disgusts me” ass is like.)

Obito had to get his "these fools could never make me sweat" sass from somewhere, after all.

Do you think Obito could fight the baby Jedi that are around his age while recovering? I have no idea what their skill level is at fourteen, but I want to imagine Obito sparring the Padawans.

Obito + Zetsu + Bacta = he still needs physical therapy but he can spar again!

Madara is delighted to have a baby ninja to bully. He's too old to not bully baby ninjas, and Obito is the only baby ninja. TBH Madara just makes Obito his assistant teacher.

Obito: What are we even doing here and how do we get home? Madara: I'm still working on that. Obito: But I want to go home and see Rin and Kakashi! Madara, who was like two days away from triggering the Sanbi plan: I'm working on it.

Something sticking in my mind rn is Ahsoka&Obito, since Obito is still Baby.

I think Obito would be excited to have someone his age that thought he was Cool and Talented for being able to do Chakra Things instead of writing him off as "the dead-last." Like, Rin is friends with him, but she doesn't look up to him as someone more/differently talented.  He'd be excited to get to be "The Mysterious Cool Big Bro" for once.

I feel I also just like the idea of Anakin not knowing what to do with someone Several Years Younger that is also. Ninja Skill.

Miscellaneous thoughts:

Madara is a grouchy old man even AFTER he gets effectively de-aged via bacta dunk, for the record. He's back in his prime and the Jedi have no idea how. They're all concerned about tiddyface*. (When are people not concerned about Sir Tiddyface, really.) The mokuton is a problem.

*Sir Tiddyface is that random Hashirama face that Madara had growing out of his pecs for like... convoluted bullshit reasons.

(Madara doesn't have mokuton, but he has enough Hashirama cells that it interacted very, VERY weirdly with the bacta.)

Obito spends the intervening weeks trying to learn the local language. He's very eager. Not particularly fast. Still doing it though!

I want Obito juggling kunai as physical therapy while he's waiting for Mads to get out of the bacta tank and just gains himself the adoration of a gaggle of small baby Jedi children.

Madara comes out of the bacta tank looking like he did in his prime (which I mentioned earlier but whatever), and it absolutely incites a yelling match of an argument that draws way too much attention.

Someone tries to teach Obito how to access the Force, just to see what happens. He almost turns into a statue because the philosophy behind Force meditation is only a few steps away from Sage Mode Meditation.

Anyway, Madara smacks him with a stick like Fukasaku to make sure Obito doesn't turn into stone.

Madara grumps about the lack of paper and brushes and ink. Bitches about it until someone hits up an antique store or something to get them for him. The day before he and Obito are dispatched on a mission with someone, probably Anakin for plot reasons, Madara very publicly seals things into a scroll and then tells them that no, they can't learn it, because the Force isn't chakra so fuuinjutsu won't work for them, so There.

Obito practices some Teen Rebellion (tm) and like, tries to teach the Padawan friends he's made how to do Chakra Things... but he's so bad at explaining things that nobody can get it to work even if it were possible.

In Obito's defense, language barriers. Not in Obito's defense, he's just really bad at words sometimes.

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket, SE02, Ep24

This is a buildup ep for the finale. looks like furuba’s tradition for awkward buildup eps continues as this ep is clearly divided into two parts: machi & zodiac banquet.

-Killing the Vibe (furuba style):

Usually when writers buildup an emotional moment, they either go with it right away or if it is not its time, they slowly dissolve it or gradually redirect the story somewhere else. But the most important thing is that you hold on to the feeling they worked so hard to build but know that it will be dealt with later. Usually this is done with minor visuals such as quick flashback to the main event & the character taking deep breath ignoring it. But it is acknowledged that now it is not the time. Furuba doesn’t do that. If they build high moment & decide it is not the time to continue with it, they drop it abruptly, using the ending ost as a closing sign....which is odd cuz this is not episodic eps but continuing plot. They did it twice now: (a) tohru’s nightmare ep 19. it was treated as cliffhanger, but the next, we opened with yuki’s narrative where we see tohru normal. I know tohru’s issues will be dealt with later, perhaps season 3. But the nightmare moment was left hanging weirdly!! we never saw tohru deciding not to focus on it or anything! then (b) the kyo/tohru moment on stage & the symbolic tearing image ep23. Big moment which I  know will be focused on later. But it is so freakin odd that we see them so normal in their daily activities..as if nothing happened. Not a slight visual hint that either one is troubled... I praised how in ep, 23, they showed tohru face worrying abt bits & pieces here & there. These visual hints connects the plot.. For a moment I thought Cinderella play is a filler!! but I don’t think so, since 3 major things happened (Tohru’s near confession, machi’s opinion of yuki, arisa’s recorded outburst) two of which dealt with this ep. I know they want the focus to be on yuki, seeing that his plotline is moving smoothly without awkward breaks, but why not smooth out the other’s plotline with minor visuals without the jarring jumps. Ending ost is not automatic shifts in continued plot. Oh well, it is a minor thing I felt, no big deal.

-Machi pov is here!:

I never expected to see machi today! nice surprise! So machi is not only lonely, she lives alone! that’s odd & tragic! how can a junior high school student live alone? since when was she living alone? & her mom calling to check on her or insult her or scold her! I never wanted a phone call to end this fast. Machi’s monologue was amazingly done. Rather than describing her feelings to us or stating what we are already seeing, the words came cold.. automatic.. slow.. without much emotions. Exactly imitating how machi feels abt herself. DULL. She never thought abt things such as fave color or fave place. never thought abt anything that requires personality or preferences. The imagery they used while she was walking in the street is epic! It explained her mentality! honestly even if she said nothing around that time while she was walking, the image would’ve done enough! Machi was able to see the change in yuki cuz she was able to sense that yuki too was dull/boring or felt he felt so. Now he laughs, jokes, interacts, & joins outside school activities. Negating the dull persona. Now, it is only her. machi questions if she can do the same but her question comes out loaded with her negativity. Instead of can I do the same? it is “ why Am i here? Her bad habits are pulling her back & resisting the change.

- Since they’re deciding to embark into the romantic aspect of mach/yuki & to further add contrast to his interaction with tohru, machi is shown so struck by yuki’s presence, she falls. Typical romantic moment that I appreciate for machi who thinks she isn’t typical girl. but dull girl. Yuki finding the leaf & being happy that she treasures it adds to his self-esteem as it tells him that he is worthy to be treasured. I love machi’s indecisive responses! It gives her personality! as she is reluctant between denying or telling the truth. She was never in such situation, so she doesn’t know what to do!! blushing red like her leaf, machi didn’t only go with friends, she also learned her fave color! yuki, developing the future boyfriend detective sense like kyo, guessed it that machi likes red. You remember things abt ppl you find interesting! Machi felt that perhaps to yuki she is not dull, but interesting enough to want to learn things abt her!

-Tohru is a grown woman!!!

trust me to take 5sec interaction that involves my girl & write a deep analytic paragraph! Call it building sandcastles out of nothing but I don’t care! XD. tohru deserves some spotlight! I’m a bit disappointed that the scene is shown form a far to include yuki & shiggure..(WHY???. They can have their moment later! let my girl have a screenshot for a change!!) & the art quality is the lowest in the ep, lol & but whatever~~~ let’s focus on the positive side! my tohru bought sth for herself!! tohru who spent her hard earned money on buying candy ingredients for the filthy rich sohma’s instead of paying her tuition fees?!! tohru who wore a worn out swimsuit for school & didn’t see the value in buying new one ?! tohru whose school bag have seen better days as hiro said?!! tohru bough herself a scarf with pompom!!& she’s PROUD!! & she goes & shows kyo!!!! cuz she loves him & cuz in SE01 he was mad she doesn't buy herself stuff & cuz she knows he’ll be proud of her & cuz she want show off her cuteness & get his attention & cuz she wanna tease him!! Did you see my girl deliberately hit him with the pompom??? my girl is feisty!! She teases!! Tohru has this feisty, forward personality that she hides but peeks in certain instances!! Like when she teased kyo that he’s still scared of the stain on the wall..like when she calls him cute later this ep!! I’m so happy for every tiny teeny moment of tohru where she is herself & not the worrying mom or friend, when she is focused abt what she shows & what she wants & right now she wants kyo to notice her! GIRL HE ALREADY DOES! you are killing him already tohru..he’d be dead by now if he wasn’t a cat with 9 souls! XD.

-Yuki is leaving Akito’s side:

coming to the big moment in this ep. Akito is loosing yuki. Not only yuki decided by himself to attend the banquet that he avoided last year, he also talked to akito & forgave him for everything before. Yuki is letting go of the past. Forgiveness is a cure ppl! it’s the hardest achieved cure. it cuts the ties to negativity & free the person from the painful feelings. Akito knows she’ll be loosing a zodiac member soon! she reacts the same way she did with hatori! violently resisting change, violently making a statement that I’m the ruler of you. However, unlike when it was hatori, no one came to her. Kureno stopped her. but the rest went to yuki, to the rebel, to the one who caused her pain & rage. Akito is not only loosing yuki...she is slowly loosing all of them.

- Yuki continues the next step in his growth & frees hatori from his sins. By allowing himself to accept that he is not a helpless victim, yuki was able to see the others plain as well. Before, in his mind, he was the only one suffering, others are cruel, but now, he sees the criminal who erased his friends memories was also suffering all along. Perhaps yuki thinks that akito is suffering too? That’s why chose to forgive her & tell her that I don’t hate you anymore or hold grudge.

Side Notes:

I’m so glad kakeru had so little to do with machi & yuki interaction here. He is a character that demands spotlight & if his role was bigger, machi would disappear, it will be another yuki/kakeru moment. Also, since machi/kakeru parallel aya/yuki, you bet kakeru will be more involved between them in order to get closer to his sister & fix the gap like aya did, so I appreciate the moment of only yuki/machi now as it is unique moment without any parallels involved.

After learning of Shigure’s correct line, I can now see how things would’ve been better for akito, if she learned from yuki’s rebellion. loosing one is less painful than loosing them all, which she will. Shigure was eager for her to be spared the pain. or he might be eager for sth else entirely! but he wants this to end.

Shigure sure wasn’t himself this ep! he was restless & his jokes were all over the place, he nearly caused a misunderstanding between hatori & Mayko. I think shigure is hearing the curse breaking!!!!!

Rin & kyo!!!! I never knew I needed this!!! like last ep, I was celebrating hana & kyo, & the return of kyo & haru!! but rin & kyo is unique duo since it is not a teasing dynamics! it is a we-are-too-similar dynamics! XD

Kazuma is luv!! ugh!! my heart! what a man!! so caring & kind & ever so gentle! look at him going to rin to invite her! no kid should be alone in new years! look at him teasing his son!! look at him out polite tohru! just look at him!!!

I appreciate that the boys (kyo,yuki.haru,momiji) have different body types from each other. however, since kyo’s body changing is mentioned in the story many times, they focused on showing him growing since the 2nd ep of season 2 & more so in the beach arc & they steadily continued ever since!!! this ep, even with the low quality they showed his Adam’s apple & he is taller next to shishio. Also his baggy clothes help defy the lanky art style. With yuki, since his beauty is mentioned in the story, they’ve been focused on his face, giving him HD quality beauty all the time, but not much when it comes to his body. but today, he looked a lil bit older in machi’s scene? I duno if it is the new clothes or they’re finally allowing his body to grow?! I hope so. They are still making him so lanky as his legs were only a bit meatier than machi’s in the fight scene, but hey lankiness is the show’s art style, just look at hatori </3. They focused on making Momiji baby as it is mentioned in the story that he doesn’t look like a highschooler at all, but I swear he looks a bit older this ep!! right???

Speaking of hatori, hello there~ doc~ I never knew I needed hatori in Japanese clothes this much! It hid the lankiness & gave him the adult manly look he deserves!! so hot!!! I heard his grunt in my heart as he took his clothes off! XD. Soyou’re attached to the school sensie now~~ a lit bit worried your filthy buddy is putting hands on her..huh? oh!, if only you knew that your goofy pal is the master mind behind your new love story! I think he knows tho~

I never expected machi to be that cute!!! machi/yuki is so cute!

Rin sleeps sitting...like a horse? rin didn’t feel haru? i thought horses are as jumpy as cats! lol

Tohru & kyo are having quality flirting time with no interference from either shigure or yuki. lol.. shishio is amazing! XD

Kureno has the DVD now..let the war begins!!!

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 162

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 14 - “Karen, The Troubled Student Council President” Date watched: 3 December 2019 Original air date: 6 May 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/ZVrof8Y Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Karen has a big think

It’s Karen’s turn to hold the character development conch. This time, we get to see how she handles pressure from all directions! We also find out a little secret about Otaka-san and the school’s leadership. Good stuff, so let’s dive in!

The Plot

Various clubs approach Karen, aggressively requesting budget increases. The futsal club can’t afford new balls, the drama club can’t afford costumes, the judo club can’t afford new weights, the list goes on. Karen is taken aback and tries to explain the complexities of the situation to the students, but they are insistent. After trying to come up with a solution, she approaches the Vice Principal and explains her situation, requesting a budget increase for all the clubs. He is reluctant to change the budget that’s already been agreed upon for the year, but because he respects her decision to approach him, he will take it up with the principal. The VP goes to the Principal, revealed (to the audience) to actually be Otaka-san the lunch lady, but she insists that she doesn’t believe they need a budget increase, and there are still solutions the clubs haven’t yet come up with to resolve their budget woes. Komachi talks with Karen, commending her willingness to work hard for the clubs where before she probably would have simply said that the budget was already decided and they had to make do with what they had. The influence of their determined young friends is rubbing off on them.

Coincidentally, Nightmare is also having budget issues of a sort. Although they aren’t in a pinch, Kawarino is scolding Bunbee for blowing a lot of money without producing any results, and implies that his subordinates are useless and the whole department could get restructured. Bunbee decides to go fight the girls himself to get some results.

Back at school, Karen is still being hounded by the clubs, and her attempts at de-escalation aren’t working, so Otaka almost steps in, but Komachi is actually the one to put her foot down, startling everyone. She reminds the club leaders that they agreed to their annual budgets before the proposal was sent to the school administration, and that Karen alone cannot solve everything. With help from Nozomi, she gets them all to line up and explain their problems, to see if they can work together and figure out alternative solutions within their existing budgets.

The biggest offender is the drama club, which is going way over budget because they’ve picked a play with lots of extravagant costumes. However, Komachi gets them to work with the sewing club, who were looking for a platform to display their work, and the two split costs in this mutually beneficial agreement. The Judo club couldn’t afford to buy new weights AND new uniforms, but they also got the sewing club to patch up their uniforms so they could buy heavier weights, and donated their older ones to the futsal club. Now that she doesn’t need to buy weights, Rin can afford new balls, and donates the old ones to the art club, who find their shape and texture very inspirational.

I’d like to point out that the dumbbell Nozomi is struggling to lift is only 5 KG, that’s about 11 lbs.

With everyone’s issues resolved, the girls enjoy a moment of peace as Rin takes her new dumbbells to her club space, but on the way, Bunbee shows up to cause trouble. He turns the dumbbells into a Kowaina and taunts the girls about his own superiority. They transform and fight back, but he is pretty strong. When Mint shields one of the monster’s attacks, he launches a missile that breaks the shield, and he easily dodges when Rouge and Aqua try to fight him in the air. Dream and Lemonade have no luck fighting the Kowaina and they’re all left on the ground, defeated. Bunbee boasts about how much easier it is to do everything himself, and Aqua scoffs. She says she used to feel that way, but now she knows they’d never win if they did that, and the team springs into action. Bunbee tries to missile them again, and again Mint uses her shield, but this time Aqua also blocks it with Aqua Stream and this weakens it enough to bounce off the shield. Dream and Rouge restrain the Kowaina while Lemonade attacks it with Lemonade Flash, then the two throw it and perform their finishers. The Kowaina is destroyed and Bunbee retreats, self-justifying the day by saying you have to spend money to make money.

Back at the lunch table, Nozomi observes that Komachi might actually be stronger than Karen, which gives them all pause. Otaka comes over with a basket full of yakisoba bread, claiming the principal told her how they avoided a budget crisis, and suddenly people from all the other clubs appear, all vying for some of the free bread. Nozomi cries because the crowd beat her to the stuff she really wanted, and that’s the ending card.

The Analysis

What a fun episode. Karen’s commitment to the students is really earnest and inspiring. You can see why she’s the president, and even how much progress she’s made since the start of the show. Old Karen just cared about order, new Karen has the best interests of the students in mind and wants to meet them where they’re at. She fields the ire of the various clubs like a champ, trying not to get overwhelmed, and explaining the delicate balance that is adjusting budgets: since the budget has already been agreed upon, for her to allocate more to one group than previously agreed means the money has to come out of somewhere else, and that could put the other party in a pinch. Important financial lesson for the kids in the audience, too. And when her advice isn’t sufficient for them, she goes to bat for them by requesting assistance from the VP. My only criticism is that she probably should have asked why they needed more money first to see where their funds were tied up at, but honestly I would probably do the same thing, jumping straight to “let me get them what they say they need” and not “let me look into the situation more”.

When they get to the drama club and find out the reason they’re so over budget is because they decided to produce an expensive-ass play, I about died. LOOK AT THIS OUTFIT.

gosh I wonder why

There’s a lesson in here somewhere about working within your limitations. Urara suggests they do a simpler show like Kintarou, which would have costumes and props they could reuse in other shows, but from the club president’s response I get the impression they’ve done far too many shows like that and are sick of it. Also can’t fault them for doing something different. I remember in my junior year (11th grade), my school put on a production of “High School Musical” (this was when that was still a pretty fresh and hot property) and it sold like crazy, so the next year they were able to perform “Little Shop of Horrors”, renting the Audrey II puppets from somewhere. It’s okay to dream big, but you gotta make sure you can afford it. (inb4 ok boomer) However, working with the sewing club was a very good compromise. They get a platform to showcase their work, the drama club gets good costumes for cheaper, and they split the costs. Some of the other deals are a bit more one-sided but as long as everyone’s happy, it works.

By the way, Komachi’s restraint when the club president goes “oh yeah we spent all our budget on that one outfit and we need a bunch more” is remarkable. (I looked it up and I see similarities to Les Miserables: it’s a famous story that takes place over multiple generations and features LOTS of recurring characters) Komachi is, thankfully, very good at keeping herself in check, but if you manage to set her off, she is downright scary. That’s a common attribute for shield-based Cures, and it started here.

For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, since they only have a few of the costumes done, the drama club president is only ever seen in-costume, looking like a prince with a pencil mustache drawn onto her face. If we take the bold assumption that this all occurs in one day, even one lunch period, then this makes sense enough, but it’s still kind of silly.

The first half of this episode is so good, and tells a pretty complete story, that both times I watched it I forgot what kind of show it was because I was so absorbed in the antics of the clubs, so I thought the resolution was just going to be sorting out their budgets, when that was actually only the halfway point. The fight with Bunbee in the second half, while good, feels incomplete. I’m not sure if something got lost in translation for the subtitles, because he seems to indicate he spent money on a better Kowaina mask but the subs don’t reflect him saying this, only the girls’ response that it looks the same as normal. I do like them switching up their fighting style, and it comes with one of the strangest calls to action I’ve ever seen:

previously unsaid sentences in human history

The context is that, earlier in the episode, Nozomi and Urara traded lunch items, and now Karen is reminding them all to trade opponents and work together to beat the monster. Hilariously, even though Nozomi was the one who wanted to trade in the first place, she’s the last one to get this coded message, after Rin explains it to her.

She is special.

The elephant in the room here is that Otaka-san, the humble lunch lady who always adds a million onto every order, who appears a little disheveled, is in fact the school’s principal. Books and covers, ya know. I don’t recall if the girls every learn her secret, but it’s revealed to the audience here. I assume she serves as the lunch lady in order to get close to the students and understand what’s going on without calling attention to her position of authority. That’s the thing about power, even if you act relatable, if someone knows you’re way above them on the totem pole, they’re going to act differently, so she has put herself on the level of students. It’s like Undercover Boss except she never reveals the ruse. And honestly, it’s a very good ruse. She is approachable to the students and they all love her, so she can listen to their problems and make sure that the school is running well from the ground level. Also, as the lunch lady, she wears plain clothes, an apron, and flat shoes. Her only accessory is her trademark silver brooch. As the principal, she wears a suit, her hair is more tamed, she wears lipstick and earrings. She even speaks differently between her roles, sounding more raspy in her disguise, while she adopts a more formal and stern tone while acting as the principal. It’s impressive. I know she appears in this role at least one more time in the show, so I look forward to seeing that.

As usual there were some great moments of comedy, wonderful facial expressions, and you can see those chronicled in the gallery.

Next time, in Precure Daily, Nozomi’s mom is sick, so she has to do the housework! How badly will this end?

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 kettei!

[hozukitofu]

treasure trove

To the eyes of the vast majority of the school, Miya Osamu is very composed - a stark distinction from bubbly and charming Atsumu.

Before the Odd Dye Jobs, the only foolproof method of distinguishing the twins apart is to walk up to a twin with the most serious face one can muster. One must then scrounge up all the vestiges of shamelessness and enunciate the most baffling news ever, i.e. I'm pregnant, and wait.

If the twin offers congratulations in an even tone, that's Osamu. If the twin starts to question the legitimacy of what was said, it's most likely Atsumu. 

Suna Rintarou, possessing life-changing knowledge that can potentially endanger the collective viewpoint Inarizaki High has of Miya Osamu, sees no need to impart his wisdom onto the unknowing collective. When questioned why by Ojiro, he shrugs and mumbles his usual tactic of deflecting unwanted questions.

Why should I? What do I get out of it?

(The truth is that his palms cup the underside of Osamu's chin, skin pulsing faintly under his fingertips as he searches for a nerve in the unwavering still eyes, gold and unperturbed flickers of green. The truth is that Rintarou brings their faces close together - close enough for him to taste the air Osamu takes in and sees the widening of unmoving pupils - close enough for him to taste the complaints of you keep defiling me in our classroom, Rin and knowing that they're all intervals of a performance Miya Osamu constructs and acts within.)

Out of nowhere, he is lumped as a set with the Miya-Ojiro trio, the Golden Three, the talented bunch of their whole lot. The team loves being referred by association to the Golden Trio, the shining gems of their club, but Rintarou desires none of the space in that limelight. He is content in observing the shenanigans by the sidelines without being forced as a participant in the twins’ antics, phone always at the ready to record every embarrassing moment to stash away for blackmail.

Though for a long time coming, he has screenshots of videos where the subject of the lens of his phone camera is quite obvious. The subtle twitch of lips, crease of eyes, the puncturing frown between dark eyebrows - Rintarou has too many captured moments of Osamu exhibiting human emotions. It's slightly concerning and vaguely illegal, infringing on the boy's privacy and his ownership of his face.

Rintarou is starting to dread every moment that Atsumu comes swinging closer to him for his phone, because he may be able to boast of having the longest running blackmail stash on the Miya twins, but he also is in possession of a concerning amount of Osamu's photos, which can then be turned into blackmail against him if it falls into Atsumu's hands.

He likes to think that he studies others as a way of passing his time, but he doesn't care enough to act out when he comes across information that can help those around him. Unlike Kita, Rintarou cares very little, and he has folders upon folders of shots of Inarizaki volleyball club members on his phone, pulled out as reaction images or gifs in the group chat and nothing more. He finds himself scrolling through Osamu's photos with a sigh that brings him back to Regency England, where a lady swoons over her beau who is not with her. 

Rintarou catches himself as those thoughts run free and reprimands himself. He is not a Regency lady nor is he mooning over a beau. Miya Osamu is pleasant to the eyes, objectively,  and Rintarou is interested in his unfeeling facade. Nothing else. 

(Nothing else, he murmurs, a lifetime later, how easily did I lie to myself. 

“Stop movin’,” Osamu complains, nose digging into the junction where Rin's neck joins shoulder, “and stop thinkin’ so hard too.”

“Get back to sleeping, ‘Samu, and stop bothering me.”)

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works 1 - 25 (FINAL) | Waver OVA

Much like the Fate/Zero post, this is mostly a set of notes which has already been released and is preserved here because of the difference editing makes. There was one completely insensitive, uninformed note and a note which I was writing down to be “more in character” which I’ve removed in all instances of the notes, though - it’s better you not know what was being said there. 

F/SN UBW 1 (Prologue)

Now that’s the Rin I know from fandom whispers.

Turns out this is ep. 0 and there’s actually 12 eps…

This brunette reminds me of Maiya.

This wavy haired guy’s a Matou? Geesh, he somehow reminds me of the Great B*stard Archer.

Miss Fujimura’s a bit of a non-sequitur…

If I remember the fan whispers right, his name is Issei Hyoudou…? (Or is that the High School DxD guy?) Update: Issei Hyoudou is the High School DxD guy, this is Issei Ryuudou.

If people die when they are killed, then machines should, too.

I already know from checking up previous info that UBW is for the 5th Holy Grail War and Shiro Emiya is part of it.

The button says “voicemail”…well, it’s actually rusu, where rusuban denwa = answering machine (denwa = phone, so rusu means something like “protecting the house (while you’re gone)”). The best way to translate it would be “voicemail” though.

Fuyuki  Church (Kyoukai)? Rin has them on her voicemail???

I seem to remembr reading that this white-haired character is an alternate universe Shiro Emiya…but I guess we’ll find out later, huh?

Hmm…I’ve seen this Command Seal before. I think it might be Dewbond’s profile pic, in fact…which tells me that he likes Rin.

The compulsion the guy is talking about reminds me of Steph from NGNL and how she was forced to fall in love with Sora.

Rin’s treating this like a gacha game…LOL.

Pride vs. pride, huh? Anyways, I think the really entertaining thing of putting me under the pump like this is that I have such an incomplete understanding of how the Fate/ universe works that the outcomes of everything create enough entertainment for those who’ve committed to said universe. The things that I do know might be really late-game though – such as the white-haired Servant being an alternate Shiro – so I have my own surprises to confirm.

“The Archer class really is made up of archers!” - …and people die if they are killed, y’know? (<- I know this from the memes. I won’t cover Deen/Stay Night, people don’t normally recommend it.)

Why is a cup omnipotent, anyway? Cups don’t have the ability to have knowledge. By the way, I bet Rin’s acquaintance will have something to do with this.

Rin’s Holy Grail War work reminds me of my own experience with piano. Basically, I grew up doing it, so I never questioned it until I thought about what I really wanted to do. I expect Rin will be the same way.

Hmm…Sakura and…the Great B*stard?

Rin says all of this about “crude garbage”, so all I can focus on is the bin off to the side…LOL.

Oooooooh…so this appearance of Sakura is why people put F/Z before this.

Saber…the reason she’s so popular is because she appears in so many incarnations of Fate/ that she’s basically become a poster girl for it.

F/SN UBW 2

There’s something that pisses me off about Sakura. It’s probably because she’s fairly submissive, like a girl who was written to be a guy’s fantasy.

The OP and ED was subbed the first time, so the fact this isn’t is interesting.

I think I’ve seen these scenes before…probably because they look exactly like the setup for Today’s Menu for Emiya Family.

Hypoxia.

Sakura’s boobs jiggled…urgh…

This episode feels a lot more like a VN intro.

Some of these scenes were from a different perspective in the prologue, so I’ll try to skip them.

Stove = heater, if you didn’t catch on.

Oh hey, Emiya isn’t part of the archery club anymore…but there’s some evidence that an alternate Emiya became that Archer Rin has.

That’s Ilya, isn’t it…?

Emiya’s magic incompetence reminds me of Waver.

Shinji is Sakura’s older bro??? I never heard of this…? Step-bro, maybe?

I read one of the labels on the machine – makanai setto – and turns out it’s a [meal] set for staff (teachers).

This series’s messages are like anvils…even more so than F/Z.

Where does Emiya work…? (For some reason, I call Kiritsugu that but Shirou “Emiya”.)

Archer’s not in white…not that much, anyway.

“…I really nearly was killed.” – Yes, and people die when they are killed, Emiya. You said so yourself in Deen/Stay Night.

I know this iconic scene where Emiya stares at Saber! I’ve seen it in all the screenshots and everything.

F/SN UBW 3

The blindfolded woman in the OP is apparently Medea. I think I mentioned her offhandedly in one of the WP posts I did, so I didn’t expect to see her so soon.

Most of this ep is explaining this stuff to beginners. I can skip that.

I don’t get the appeal of Rin, but then again, I’m neutral at best on tsunderes.

Shoten Books? Like, Bookseller Books? How redundant…

“[G]enuine fake priest” - …LOL wut?

Why is Kirei giving me Equilibrium vibes…? Oh, it’s because he has silly hair that reminds me of Christian Bale. That’s why.

Most of this episode was recap from F/Z, so I skipped it.

F/SN UBW 4

I’m laughing – this new Berserker reminds me of Tsukasa (Dr Stone).

Ah, same old Gilgamesh. He’s just in different clothes.

Kiritsugu felt like he actually was a character. Emiya? Just a blank slate, really.

Welp, that was over fast…

F/SN UBW 5

I’m getting sick of Rin’s tsundereness, fast.

Okay, crash course in types of Servants. I needed this.

*Saber reveals the outfit is from Rin* - Ooh, Shiro, don’t go judgin’ Rin like that…

Oh-hoh, Sakura does archery, huh?

I bet Kuzuki actually is a mage. That’s how these things always turn out, no?

Actually, I think Emiya might be a better match for my piano experience. There’s this one person who played at a higher level of piano than I did, but they kept telling me that I was way better than them at piano (although I don’t know if that was self-deprecation and/or inflating my ego). As I mentioned in my relation to Rin, I forcibly cut it out of my life because my parents chose it for me – in short, no desire to hit the target, in one way of speaking.

I can see why Fate/ needed a cooking spinoff now…LOL.

Shinto = New City, with a particular combo of kanji.

Are these Touken Ranbu enemies, Rin…? (They’re called Historical Revisionists, technically, and I specifically refer to enemy wakizashi.)

I seem to remember from somewhere Sakura is Caster’s master…hmm. Another thing to confirm.

F/SN UBW 6

That Rin reaction face! I’ve seen it before!

LOL, that “I haven’t been sleeping lately” is relatable.

Medea is one of the only Servants that was originally a woman, so…it’s interesting to see she’s been given a chain as a method to keep up (but also vaguely annoying to see her have such a short skirt). A chain weapon seems to be the sort of weapon for an agile user, with possible sexual overtones (if you want to interpret it that way), so it seems like it came straight from a male fantasy of a woman.

Rin is the sort that places a lot of stock into obligations, I see.

F/SN UBW 7

I learnt how to read the word “mirage” in Japanese somewhat recently (in comparison to the basics, which I learnt through a CD-ROM maybe…15 or so years ago?). It’s shinkirou.

I find it interesting that these eps. are marked as Fate/Stay Night and the series is Fate/Stay Night UBW, because Deen/Stay Night (as I’ve been referring to the Deen version of F/SN) looks pretty different to Ufotable’s F/SN, judging by that “People die when they are killed” meme.

The subbers spelt “specialty” wrong…

Well, Emiya, being in a room with a girl…alone…you really are a typical VN lead, aren’t you?

LOL! I knew Kojiro was also part of this series and I think I knew he was an Assassin, but s***! He’s an absolute looker!

…and *sigh* Caster is using her sensuality against men. A regular Fujiko Mine, she is.

I think my heart did something when Archer gave that intense stare at Caster, too. This is no time for a reverse harem!

F/SN UBW 8

Ahh! Kojiro Sasaki’s (this Assassin’s) so hot! I love it!

The only person who can beat Saber is another swordsperson, huh? Logic checks out.

That blue ring looks like the one at the start of Shinchou Yuusha’s OP.

F/SN UBW 9

I thought Shinji was gonna barf, but that was actually laughing…that’s what happens when you don’t have the volume on.

This replacement Gilgamesh (Shinji) sucks…

Just squinting at Caster’s chest…boobs do not work that way, people. Fabric goes over things like that, it doesn’t tuck itself so neatly around them.

I think Rin’s a real idiot for ignoring that Shinji is a Master and a mage…

I almost thought Shiro was gonna kiss Sakura for a second there. Apparently you should approach an unconscious person from behind and tap them on the shoulder (as opposed to going from the front to listen for breath), in case they try to punch your lights out.

Watching Eizouken, which doesn’t have girly runs for the girls, and then watching this makes you aware even Rin is capable of girly running…(LOL?)

Gee whiz, I was so sure this purple lady with the whip was Medea and a Caster-class Servant. So she’s a Rider??? Update: So it was Caster, masquerading as Rider…is that how it goes…?

So is this a locked-room – or locked-school – mystery…?

F/SN UBW 10

This is basically “You wanna go?” from Saber.

Considering the coronavirus, these words (about people getting out of the attack completely healthy) seem sort of weird…

Samosan? Seppa seppa? What dialect is this???

*Emiya asks Issei to strip* - Ooh…this is why Fate is popular with women…*thinks of the fact this was a male-oriented VN first* Maybe.

I still think the Great B*stard kinda looks like Kyo from Fruits Basket (…not that I ever mentioned it earlier).

I just realised Taiga’s shirt is striped orange/black…like a tiger.

The amount of still frames in this episode, in comparison to the usual number, is significantly higher.

F/SN UBW 11

I just realised Kinoko Nasu means “mushroom” and “eggplant” if not exactly written the way it is…what a name…

*something about being useful to others* - U-Uwaaaaah…Emiya! Stop reminding me of all the things I’ve done at the cost of myself!

Hmm? I googled Rin’s birthday and I thought she was a Leo – she’s an Aquarius (Feb. 3rd).

Rin absolutely steamrolled Emiya, LOL.

I get the feeling Archer is saying “Only you can save yourself”.

F/SN UBW 12

Randomly, there is a Volkswagen.

*something about Emiya photosynsthesising* - Rin, that’s not how people work…

Batting centre? How can girls go there in skirts without flashing anyone? That’s taking into consideration how short Rin’s skirt is, y’know…(Practicality comes first at all times, people…well, not for Saber, who’s wearing stockings, but I worry about Rin, as you can see.)

People find blushing tsunderes cute…I kinda get it for male tsunderes, but for Rin…not really.

Ack! Another double episode!

Why does this ominous vibe on a bus remind me of Harry Potter…? (Then again, the first things I remember of the movies were a shrunken head and a bus that could squeeze through gaps, which might explain things.)

Hmm? So what is Kuzuki’s place in Caster’s life, huh? Who’s controlling the puppet?

Come to think of it, who is Assassin’s real Master? If Caster has control of him, that means he belonged to someone else before that, right?

I feel sorry for Assassin. I mean, he has to keep talking to Caster with his body torn open like that…

“Princess of Colchis” – So Caster is Medea! Maybe Scott (who said I was wrong about that) was thinking I was referring to Rider. Rider and Caster do look awfully similar…but wait, so what was the real identity of Rider, then? Update: Reading over the notes, I was mistakenly referring to Rider as Caster, hence the comment.

Wolverine!Kirei strikes again, it seems.

Lel, I forgot about Lancer…and Berserker, now that I think of it.

F/SN UBW 13

So this is Brave Shine, huh? It doesn’t sound familiar at all…

…aaaaaaaaand of course Saber is in a fancy white dress. It’ll sell a lot of figures – in fact, I think I’ve actually seen Saber figures with that outfit while browsing for Nendoroids and other merch as of late.

F/SN UBW 14

Well, this blonde guy’s hair is nice…but he’s basically Shou Tucker all over again. (I haven’t even completed Fullmetal Alchemist in any form – I just know what the guy did because the fans talk about it a lot.)

Gosh, evil begets nothing but more evil, huh? (re: Kirei and blondie here)

I gotta facepalm - this blonde dude really shouldn’t have maltreated Medea. She has a reputation for a reason.

It took me a few tries and the brightening of my screen to figure it out, but Caster spotted Kuzuki.

Gilgamesh, what the f*** did you do to those poor maids?! (Even if they were homunculi…)

The subbers appear to have spelt “homunculus” slightly wrong…

F/SN UBW 15

“Going through the front door would be a bad idea.” – Yeah, and people die when they are killed.

I really respect Illya now…and can see why she got her own spinoff.

This snowy mountain makes me realise exactly why they chose Ufotable for Demon Slayer.

F/SN UBW 16

I was wondering what Gilgamesh had torn out of Illya…ew.

I was watching Shazam the other day and a piece of advice the titular superhero gives is “Look out for number one.” (i.e. yourself) Rin has much the same mentality.

I seriously facepalmed when they tried to protect each other. One person should learn to stand down in the relationship for that to work.

Hmm…so this means Lancer’s Master is male, huh? (Why is that Master still a mystery anyway…?)

I facepalmed the third time (the second was soon after the first) when Emiya thought he could seriously protect Rin from Lancer. Knowing who Lancer’s Master is a much bigger priority right now, man – this isn’t a romcom!

I like Lancer’s sideways gaze, LOL.

*Archer comes in* - Well, hasn’t it been a while since we saw this guy? (voice drips with sarcasm)

“druther” – Hmm? I’ve never heard of this word before. Apparently, it means (when used as “If I had my druthers…”) “If I had my way…”.

Hmm? What’s this? There are two pendants instead of one…?

F/SN UBW 17

There’s a lot of shots centring around Lancer’s butt…LOL. (Or is that just the female gaze I’m forcing on to this?) Even still, because Lancer has an outfit like that, it’s kinda hard not to see that he does have a fine one.

“You have a lack of pride in your sword skills.” – Uhhhhhhh…I guess that’s why he’s Archer…?

I never seem to know who the Lancers are…geesh. Like, I could pick one from a crowd of Servants, but not their real names. Update: As it turns out, Karna (the one Indian Servant I had my eye on from Apocrypha) is a Lancer in Fate/Grand Order.

Apparently, Gungnir is the spear of Odin.

Kuzuki is a Master…of the Naruto run. (LOL)

Noting “sieben” and stuff, I think Rin’s magic is German in nature.

Why does Medea have elven ears, anyway…?

F/SN UBW 18

The subs suddenly turned yellow! What the heck?! (Prior to this, subs were white.) Update: Come to think of it, only Aniplex shows have yellow subs, while Funimation ones have white subs (although HiDive let you choose between white and black, the standard is white on the hardsubs). This might mean a switchover between who’s responsible for the show happened while this anime was airing.

“…within your grasp?”

Ooh, this I didn’t expect! Saber joined forces with Rin!

“…your wish was a mistake.”

*Shiro fights swords with more swords* - For some reason, I feel like I need to play some Daft Punk right now. (I don’t even like them as an artist, even though I’m meant to be the EDM expert around here…)

This all but confirms Archer is actually a Shiro Emiya from a distant future.

I just imagined an Archer whose body was made of swords. What a compelling image – a literal human weapon.

Those hand gestures…Shinji is a massive creep.

Huh? I’ve been skipping the post-credits segments for previous episodes because I’m binging, but there’s a post-credits segment here…

Hmm…this next-ep preview had a rook (or a king? I’m no good at identifying chess pieces by their appearance) with a red glowing symbol on it facing what appeared to be the symbol of the Saber class. What an interesting representation of the upcoming inevitable faceoff.

F/SN UBW 19

Wouldn’t it not make sense for future!Shirou to kill present!Shirou? I mean, you know the time travel paradox…if you kill the present guy, the future guy doesn’t exist.

“Sorry about that, punk.” – LOL. Lancer’s great.

Hey, wasn’t Kirei dea-oh right. In fiction, when there is no corpse, you can’t have assumed the character died. They probably skedaddled off somewhere, heavily bleeding and/or on the edge of death…and I’m assuming that was how Kirei got out of his scuffle too.

All this talk about ideals makes me wanna play Odd Future for some reason, LOL. (Well, the first line of that song is “I keep my ideals”, no?)

“…it is you who is disobeying orders.”

A eunuch, huh? Rin, you do know that a eunuch has his *erhem erhem* cut off…right?

Okay, people. Why must women be the source of the Holy Grail? This is only the 2nd time I’ve gotten to this point and you’ve got enough men to fuel the Grail instead. Why not use them??? Update: It’s safe to say I get my wish later.

“You’ve been removed from the bounds of time.” Subbers, I know you’re under pressure to produce subs, but please proofread…? Pretty please? Update: I should proofread too. My E key is a bit dodgy at the moment.

I predicted, a few seconds before it appeared on my screen, that Shirou wasn’t the type to do things he regretted. Yyyyyyyyyyup. That’s Shirou, alright.

F/SN UBW 20

Okayyyyyy. That was not an episode title that needed to be subbed.

Oh, gosh. Can you please just knee Shinji where it hurts, Rin…? I know you’re being choked, but you could still do something lik that.

…(lol)…What the heck, Shinji’s such a self-preserving prick!

So how many times did Lancer actually die and how many times was he faking it out?

“Dying because of some order that comes with being a hero.”

So who’s Gilgamesh’s Master now…?

Hmm…I thought by saving Rin and Saber, Shirou was already a hero. Maybe it’s just a perception thing.

H-Hey, Shirou…you keep saying redundant things…

F/SN UBW 21

Why is Saber just standing there, anyway…? (Well, Shirou did say it was his fight, but…she can do something…)

Okay, whose idea was it to cut after “However…”?! That’s terrible pacing.

This series peaked quite a few episodes ago. Now it’s just stretching for time.

Um, hey. Random question. Didn’t King Arthur draw Excalibur from the sword in the stone? Is that a stone or a tree stump? It’s hard to tell since the zoom quality is funny, but…if it’s a tree stump, someone got a crucial detail wrong. Update: Nup, it’s a stone. Forget I told you.

Having sacrificed myself for over a year for other people’s sake, I can’t say I agree that giving yourself up for others is a beautiful thing. This is speaking as someone who volunteers at a not-for-profit (the charity store). In fact, having thought long and hard about the fact I’ve completely gone down the wrong path from having taken this one opportunity I was given (note I did get rejected from a similar place before I got the position I did), I’ve thought, occasionally, that sort of thing is disgusting.

Did the Great B*stard even age 10 years while waiting for this new war…?

“…left off 10 years ago.”

Uh-oh. I don’t like Shinji – you can clearly tell that from the way I’ve been reacting to him – but there’s no way you’d use him as a Grail vessel…right?

F/SN UBW 22

If I understand the pink box correctly, it says kayumino-ru which is…*checks that up* itch cream(?) Another of the boxes says either iburon or ipuron, but it seems to be some kind of medicine (although I can’t figure out what it does).

“…flashy gold jerk…” – Yup, that’s why he’s the Great B*stard. The most narcisstic of all b*stards –so narcisstic he survived a Holy Grail War without being the victor.

Lemme guess, Rin…if I know my visual novels right, then the way to establish the mana link is either kissing or sexual intercourse, right? Update: Oh well, transplantation of a Magic Crest will work too. With the way Rin was reacting, I thought it was gonna be really intimate, but…nup. It’s just them taking off their shirts for one another…*whistles and pretends to walk away*

The reason I don’t like tsunderes is that whenever they want to be romantic, you can’t tell whether they’re giving mixed signals or not. Then again, you could argue I count as one, so…uh…*sweatdrop*

Shirou, why are you so concerned for the pillow?!

F/SN UBW 23

You can barely recognise the guy (Shinji)…huh.

H-Hey? You couldn’t mean Assassin’s back, right? Update: Y-Yep, that’s Assassin, alright. At least I can gaze upon his handsome face again…(lol) (<- If you’re wondering, there’s a difference between “lol” (or “small LOL”), “lel” and “LOL”. That’s the order they’re meant to be in, going from smallest to biggest laugh.)

Had to check Wikipedia, but Monohoshizao is the pole (?) wielded by Kojiro Sasaki…well, the correct term is nodachi (which I know better as ootachi from Touken Ranbu), but it’s referred to as a pole. To add something interesting to that, the ootachi I like the most (my beloved Taroutachi) is said to be 221 cm (throwing that into a converter, about 7.25 feet) and 4.5 kg (converting again, about 9.92 pounds)...which is basically something no human should be able to use, so if the pole is anything like Taroutachi...I have immense respect for this Assassin as well.

Assassin’s treatment here reminds me of Tora from Juuni Taisen…in a sense, they got what they wanted.

F/SN UBW 24

Cue the law of equivalent exchange from Fullmetal Alchemist, hahaha.

How can you be so sure you’ll beat the Great B*stard, Shirou???

Well, that Grail’s Holey, alright…(I bet you’re groaning at my joke, yes?)

I thought Archer was dead?! How did he fling a weapon at the last moment?!

Archer, you’re disappearing! This is no time for monologuing!

Why do I get the feeling I’ve seen Rin give the thumbs-up before as well…?

F/SN UBW 25 (FINAL)

Eyyyyyy? London…? Update: Oh, it’s the Clock Tower! That OVA is starting to make sense now! (Although I will watch it next, so there’s no need to muse over it.)

Tohsaka without pigtails is…weird.

Sherou (?)

Oh, romantic infighting (voice dripping in sarcasm)…That’s not what I’m here for. This is not a harem.

Ponytail Rin. This just gets weirder and weirder. Also, she kinda looks like Ishtar from Babylonia like that.

Tiny Pigtail Rin…it gets even weirder.

*yells* See?! It is London after all!!!

Update: Prior to this point, I had Silhouettes (by Avicii) playing in my head on occasion, notably when Archer was meeting his end. When Shirou came face-to-face with Saber’s grave, it switched to So Amazing by Luther Vandross. Although I normally don’t mention what I have on my mental playlist in notes like these, I just want to make note of that because it reflects the switch in mood. (Also, this is basically an extended transition into El-Melloi’s Case Files.)

Hmph. Yeah, nothing like hindsight to make something huge look small.

Sakura and Shinji’s relationship…it reminds me of a grumpy old man and his young daughter…(LOL?)

Ryudou’s reaction to romance reminds me of Tenya (from BnHA) in his more crazy moments.

All this talk about the Clock Tower is making me think that older!Waver will show up at any moment now…

…wa-hey? Well, *spits out some held-back laughter* whaddaya know? That’s the older Waver right there!

Ufotable’s older!Waver and Troyca’s older!Waver look fairly different. Ufotable’s isn’t as attractive because his hair has an artificial sheen to it and the man’s face looks more like a snake’s head in shape, so he looks a bit dumb. Update: Certainly Troyca’s Waver has a more egg-shaped head, but at least that makes his hair look nicer, no?

Post-credits segment. Keep watching.

Huh…that segment wasn’t very substantial. Maybe Hoshiai no Sora spoilt me on that front.  

Waver OVA (REWATCH)

*yells* I still think Flat Escardos is a terrible name!

LOL, I think Waver just called out a bunch of political writers right there.

So who are these old people??? (Lennon Glasses and Old Lady here) I still don’t know. Update: You do find out later – Inorai is the old lady and Rocco is the old man.

Okay, so apparently the set of characters used for “Rail Zeppelin” is literally translated to Demon Eyes Collection Train...sounds like something out of Demon Slayer.

If Kayneth is the OG Lord and this Reines girl is the new one, how did Waver become gen. 2? *rewinds a little* She’s el-Melloi Archisorte, meaning that somehow she and Kayneth are blood-related (also note Monkey D Luffy = Luffy is his first name and Monkey is the last name with D being a middle initial, so Reines could have her names around the wrong way as well). Still doesn’t answer the Waver part of the question, though. Update: The character page of the official website says Reines is the rightful heir to the name “Lord (Lady?) El-Melloi”, but she appointed Waver to be the Lord while she waited to become of age and take the position.  

As you know, I gotta question the guy’s (Waver) age. In Fate/Zero he was 19 and he looks much the same ten years later, so his approximate age range is 19 – 29 here. Wikipedia (which I linked earlier) says the anime this OVA is attached to occurs between the Grail Wars, meaning I might not be able to get an exact age. Update: “[A]lmost 10 years”, so I’d wager he’s on the back end of the age range (24 – 29).

Ooh, another good boy (Bram). I forgot he existed…and that’s kinda nasty that he’s got the bloodline of Sola-Ui in him. Update: Oh! Younger sister! That is nasty!

The word shisho (師匠), if I’m guessing the right characters, means “instructor” (or “teacher” if you wanna bend it that way). “Sir” is Waver’s title…I’m guessing that translatio choice is because he’s not a professor in title, assuming professor titles in this are given like they are in real life.

There’s something quite cute about Waver making such an indignant face…then again, he does have permanent worry lines on his face, so maybe not.

Like, whose bright idea was it to crush on the loli? Ravioli, ravioli, don’t crush on the loli! (Then again, I’m probaby worse, chasing after older men…)

Come to think of it, Ufotable is good at action motion (see exhibit A: Demon Slayer), but not free-flowing comedic motion like Waver falling over like this. That’s probably why the show jumped studios to Troyca (aside from divvying up the work of the Fate/ universe – Ei Aoki did F/Z, after all, so it makes sense he’d have some ability to take dibs on whatever works best for his studio…although he wasn’t too involved with this, I don’t think). Update: He was supervisor and storyboarder for this OVA.

Waver: Official butt monkey of the Clock Tower. Calling it now.

Troyca animates F/Z (however briefly)…I must say, they did a good job imitating Ufotable.

All I really remember from the first time around is the car chase, which really shows my priorities in anime…heh heh.

Troyca’s CGI is more noticeable than Ufotable’s, but they’re still on of the best studios for CGI, I think. That’s why they’re on my favourites list over Ufotable (since Ufotable, by general consensus, does better work but I think it looks more artificial in parts – case in point, Waver’s hair).

Setting up a mystery, like all stories, is very much about setting up the boundaries that you’re allowed to play in later. The only thing is that mysteries get more stringently judged for logic.

Hey, whaddaya know? Waver can fit Rider’s old shirt now! (Or maybe it’s the smaller version Waver implied was given to him during F/Z.)

“[W]hydunit” (in English) – LOL? There’s “whodunit”, but not “whydunit” – stick to “motive” or “modus operandi”, people.

[astharoshebarvon]

Ship Game

I was tagged by  @eb-byestelle . Thank you dear !

First of all, why? I can’t just choose ten pairings. I feel as if I am betraying my other favourite pairings. I love them as much as the ones I’ve mentioned. But nothing I can do about it.

Well, here we go.

Shipping and Fandom Ask

Embrace your inner shipper! Answer questions about your favorite ships or fandoms. Reblog to participate and let your ship flag fly!

1.What are your top 10 manga/anime ships of all time?

Top 10 anime/manga:

1. Maria sama ga miteru / Marimite/ Maria watches over us : Shimako and Sei 

2. Inuyasha : Inuyasha and Kagome Higurashi

3. Tsubasa reservoir chronicles : Sakura and Syaoran Li /Clone Sakura and Syaoran

4. Tokyo Babylon, X   : Seishirou and Subaru

5. X : Kamui and Fuuma

6. Cardcaptor sakura / TRC : Yukito and Touya

7. Junjou romantica : Nowaki and Hiroki

8.  JR : Misaki and akihiko

9. Akatsuki no Yona : Yona and Hak

Vampire Knight : Kaname and Yuuki

3.What gif or screenshot most sums up your ship?

Well, I choose yume for this and the above two images represent their relationship pretty well. They are my favourite illustrations and one can actually see the love they both have for each other. It’s like no one else matters. You can actually see the tenderness in their eyes, how much they care for each other.

4. Describe your favorite ship in seven words or less. 

InuKag : they were born for each other.

Sei and Shimako : sensitive couple. Adorable and sweet.

Sakura and Syaoran : love that transcends time and space.

Touya and Yukito : meant to be together in every world.

Seishirou and Subaru : they are meant to fall for each other.

Kamui and fuuma : just admit you love each other.

Akihiko and Misaki : meant to be together.

Nowaki and Hiroki : sometimes second love is true love.

Yona and Hak : always there for each other.

Kaname and Yuuki : eternal lovers.

6.What’s your go-to episode or scene when you need ship feels?

Well, this one is difficult because there are tons of scenes which I love but I’ll do my best. 

Inuyasha and Kagome :

When Naraku reveals who he is for the first time in ep 21. Any episode with Koga, that really shows inuyasha’s jealousy. The movies…god. First and second movie. All scenes I guess.

Sei and Shimako :

Season two episode 6. Though there are scenes in many episodes of season 1 too.

Sakura and Syaoran :

When Yuuko gives them new bodies and real syaoran is born. In the beginning when sakura is planning to tell she loves him but in the end couldn’t. When syaoran fights kamui. When Syaoran is killed by his son and his greatest regret is that he couldn’t hear those words. I guess I should stop. At this rate I am going to end up with an essay.

Touya and Yukito/Yue :

When touya gives his power to yue. I ship yue and touya and yukito and touya. The last scene in original cardcaptor sakura manga where they are together in the kitchen. When touya corners yukito in school, he knows something is up.

Seishirou and Subaru :

Of course the scene in which seishirou dies. Goddammit. I can’ t think about it. Subaru loses his senses [ in Tokyo Babylon] when seishirou’s eye is gouged out. This is getting too painful for me. I’ll stop.

This pairing reduces me to tears. They belong together. They should’ve been together with hokuto and kakyou.

Kamui and Fuuma :

Little fuuma helping little kamui in one of the extras. Well, just read X. The whole thing is unresolved sexual tension between the two. The creators said it themselves they are soulmates, I mean even in TRC one can see there is something going on between them. Subaru and seishirou is blatantly obvious.

Misaki and Akihiko :

When haruhiko kidnaps misaki, when akihiko comes to pick up misaki from his brother’s house, the train scene. There are many scenes especially the ones with Ijuiin Kyou.

Nowaki and Hiroki :

Again, there are many scenes. The library scene. Goddammit. It reduces me to tears every time. When hiroki spies on nowaki, then sends him flowers. Aww. Just remembering them brings a stupid smile to my face.

Yona and Hak :

Episode 24 of the anime, in manga when that festival happened in one of the villages and yona danced in the village garb. There are many scenes throughout the manga.

Kaname and Yuuki :

Well, volume 11 and 12 scenes. Then the scenes after yuuki sees kaname’s past, end of volume 13 and beginning of volume 14, all the scenes in which yuuki says she needs to go to her kaname. When yuuki takes kaname’s blood after being awakened. There are many scenes.

7.What song or songs remind you of your favorite fandom, character or ship?

Hmm, as such no song in particular.

I did read a fanfiction though which had, “I am watching you” for seishirou and Subaru and I couldn’t help but find it hilarious.

And I think, A Thousand Years by Christina Perri suits yume. It’s true after all.

  8. If the creators of your favorite fandom asked you to write the ship canon-confirmation episode, what will you write/how will it happen? 

Hmm. Well, I hope yuuki gets reincarnated somehow and she and kaname live a long happy life together. Maybe kaname is going somewhere and he bumps into a girl, who has long brown hair and when they look at each other he realizes it’s the girl from his memories. And that’s it. After that kaname never sees the butterfly familiar because yuuki is with him now.

X is never gonna end but I always had a feeling that both fuuma and kamui would die. Because fuuma said that only kamui can grant his wish. They both die.

Then they are shown together in another alternate universe.

I always thought fuuma and kamui suffered equally. You cannot weigh their suffering. Fuuma lost everything because kamui made one choice. Their story is too tragic. 

I’ll come back to this question later.

9.Do you prefer to indulge in (consume or create) fanart or fanfic of your favorite ship? 

Sometimes I sketch and I create edits for my favourite series. And I enjoy seeing fanarts and manga colourings. I write fanfictions too. I love reading fanfictions.

10.Smut or fluff? (VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION xD) 

Both. Both. I love both.

11.What ship are you embarrassed to admit you like? 

Not one. They are all great ships. Nothing to be embarrassed about. 

12.What task are you most likely to procrastinate so you can indulge in your ship or fandom? 

I sacrifice my sleep sometimes. That’s about it. 

13.How many hours of the day do you spend reading fanfic or looking at fanart or other media? 

When there is nothing to do, quite a lot of hours. But when exams are there, I see how the preparation is. But I usually spend quite a lot of time on it.

14.How many memorabilia’s do you own of your favorite fandom or ship (clothes, plushies, etc.)? 

Well, I’ve got lots of volumes of each series and artbooks too. And I’ve also got drama CD’s of some series and magazines. 

15.If you could own one authentic item from your favorite fandom world, what would it be? 

Hmm. Not anything in particular.

16.What fandom have you found to be too toxic to deal with?   

Ah. The best question. Well, I haven’t been in inuyasha fandom but I know it’s pretty weird because for some bullshit reason kagome is shipped with sesshoumaru and inuyasha is portrayed as a person who violates her. Yikes.

Now, I have got nothing against shipping characters who aren’t together. I do that a lot but when the same people come onto inuyasha/kagome and sesshoumaru/kikyo fanarts and spout shit, well I get angry then. Because I adore sesshoumaru and kikyo. It doesn’t happen but I still like it and it has the most gorgeous fanarts ever.

If sesskag and rinsess, which is weird no matter how it’s cut, shippers come and say this would’ve been better if it was sesshkag  fanart / fiction, well I get angry then. Sesshoumaru is my favourite character ever and I really don’t like seeing people think he only belongs with sesskag shippers. What the hell?

He is no one’s property. The only character he remotely showed something for was Kagura. And I am not gonna open Sesshoumaru and Rin thing. That is....well. Let’s just leave it.

Clamp fandom. I dunno…I am not particularly in it but I read some comments on some sites and it’s pretty annoying when some people say you must acknowledge kotori and kamui thing.

Sorry, there was no thing.

Kotori was obsessed with kamui. Did she deserve to die. Hell no. But kotori and kamui just doesn’t exist. I mean the creators themselves said : don’t call kamui and fuuma brothers. No. They are soulmates. Fuuma is all what kamui thinks about. Even in colour illustrations which shows the group, Kotori is always seen glomping kamui like some weird obsessed fangirl. It’s disconcerting. Kamui is always shocked or surprised. Well, whatever kamui and fuuma belong together.

And now the most toxic fandom. Vampire knight. I stopped posting in the tags quite a while back because I am just tired.  I’ve had enough.

Zeki shippers : unable to accept yuuki loved kaname way more than she loved zero. It’s blatantly obvious if you read the manga. But the shippers are not only rude but they also get personal and insult the blogger. They mock the other shippers and keep on ranting and raving about abuse and whatever nonsense that was prevalent in the forums between  2010-2014. Now the same thing happens here on tumblr.

Zeki shippers are unable to accept that not everyone worships zero’s character. Honestly, I never hated zero. I was always like, I want kaname and yuuki together, zero can be with someone else. But his fans and shippers are just nasty. I’ve never encountered a single decent member of this ship. They are rude and insulting and love to send anon messages.

18.Do you have or would you consider getting a tattoo depicting your favorite ship or fandom? 

Nope. Not fond of tattoos.

19.What is the strangest thing you’ve done to honor your favorite fandom, ship or character?

Nothing.

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 149

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 01 - “The Precure of Hope is Born!” Date watched: 1 October 2019 Original air date: 4 February 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/idPOtpl Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Welcome, everyone, to our fourth series and second reboot in the franchise! Since sales for Splash Star were considerably lower than Max Heart and even below the first season, they decided they really needed to switch up the formula if they were going to keep making shows, so they turned to the ever popular Sailor Moon for some inspiration. Sure, the girls aren’t reincarnated ancient heroines in this version, but there’s some superficial similarities: a team of five color-coordinated girls in matching outfits, each possessing elemental powers, the leader is a bit of an airhead but her sincerity holds the team together, and her hairstyle features two strange objects on either side of her head. To an extent I suppose this describes most modern magical girls, but many of them are also copying Sailor Moon since it was a huge influence on the genre. Anyway, while FW was set in a bustling Japanese city and Splash Star was set in the rural countryside, our all new, all different series seems to be set in the French part of Japan, and the only reason I say it’s not just France is because it’s clearly close enough to visit in All Stars. So yeah, the French part of Japan, which is not a thing, but the point is this is where settings begin to get a little more fantastical and less grounded. Now that we’ve established our inspiration and our setting, let’s dig into the episode! The plot summary is going to run a little long this time as I introduce various characters, objects, concepts, and locations. I’ll keep it shorter in the future.

The Plot

A pink-haired girl is on her way to school when she gets distracted by a butterfly and runs into an attractive young man. They exchange words and she introduces herself as Yumehara Nozomi, but he has to run off before he can give his name.

Nozomi runs to the bus stop just in time to catch the school bus, as her brown-haired friend Natsuki Rin scolds her. Nozomi tells Rin about her mysterious encounter. On the bus is an advertisement featuring a young girl with yellow twintails, and there is also a green-haired girl sitting near Nozomi and Rin, while a car passes by the bus carrying a blue-haired girl. The opening theme has played, so the audience knows these are the future Precures. At school, the blue-haired girl in the car is revealed as the student council president, Minazuki Karen, while the green haired girl from the bus is her best friend, Akimoto Komachi. These two are third years, while Nozomi and Rin are second years, all at L’ecole Cinq Lumiere (School of Five Lights). Karen and Komachi attract a crowd of admirers, while Rin is quickly surrounded by members of every sports club demanding her help, so Nozomi goes on ahead, declaring that she, too, will find what she wants to do. She happens to walk by the yellow-haired girl from the advertisement, who is rehearsing her lines for an upcoming television appearance. She introduces herself to Nozomi as Kasugano Urara, a model and aspiring actress, and a first year at their school.

At the end of the school day, a conversation between Nozomi and Rin turns to the subject of Nozomi’s lack of aspirations. She always strives to cheer others on but doesn’t have a dream of her own, and Rin wants her to find one. Nozomi strives to do so while looking out a window, and notices the attractive guy from earlier snooping around the campus, so she decides to follow him. However, another shadowy figure is also following him that neither of them see.

The man winds up going in the library, where Komachi is acting as librarian and Karen is hanging out with her. Neither of them has seen anyone come in other than Nozomi, and Karen gets a little irate when Nozomi suggests otherwise, running off to look for the man she knows is here Komachi laughs and comments that Nozomi and Karen are similar in how resolute they can be.

While looking for the attractive man, Nozomi finds a glowing book and pulls it off the shelf to find that it has no title, but an ornate carved butterfly on the cover. Suddenly the man runs over and demands that she give him the book. She’s startled by his rudeness since he was nice to her earlier and refuses to hand it over. They get into a tug of war, with the man ultimately losing his grip and transforming in a puff of smoke into a small fox-like fairy, while the book (and Nozomi) falls to the ground, opening up to reveal a toy tablet inside. Nozomi is briefly shocked by the fairy but quickly cuddles him. He finally says his name is Coco, but before he can say much else, the shadowy figure from before shows up, whom Coco identifies as being from Nightmare Corporation. This is Girinma, and he states that he’s after the Dream Collet, the tablet from before. Coco refuses to give it up, as he needs its wish-granting power to restore his hometown, so Girinma transforms into a mantis man and starts attacking.

Nozomi grabs Coco and the Dream Collet and runs off. Karen and Komachi investigate the commotion but all they see is the mess left behind. Nozomi’s screams reach Rin and Urara, but all they do is turn their heads in curiosity. Girinma makes fun of Coco’s dream, causing Nozomi to retort that all dreams are precious and should be protected, and the butterfly from earlier appears and lands on her wrist, transforming into a watch. Coco excitedly tells her this is a Pinkie Catch and to make a wish. She does, and Nozomi transforms into Cure Dream!

Dream does the signature Precure move where she jumps out of the way of an attack and winds up high in the air. Girinma pulls out a mask and turns a portrait into a monster, a Kowaina (roughly “scary”). Dream is afraid of it at first but some encouragement from Coco causes her to turn around and kick it. Girinma tries to grab her and force Coco to hand over the Dream Collet in exchange for her life, but Dream manages to power up and throw the villain. Then she performs a finisher on the Kowaina, Precure Dream Attack, which causes a butterfly to fly from her hand to the monster and explode on its mask, defeating it. Girinma retreats to fight another day.

Coco tells Nozomi that she was able to transform because of her strong heart, and she decides her dream is going to be to work as Pretty Cure to help Coco grant his wish. Coco excitedly tells Nozomi that there are four more members of Precure other than her, whom they need to find, and we close on Nozomi’s surprised reaction.

The Analysis

They cram a lot into this episode. It’s very dense, but it doesn’t feel rushed or anything. We are introduced to our five main characters, of course spending the most time with Nozomi. We are shown that the girls either live in France or the Frenchiest part of Japan (All Stars DX suggests it’s travel distance from Wakabadai, Yuunagi, and Yotsuba so that’s my bet). We get a basic personality and an idea that will carry into their respective character arcs. This is Nozomi’s episode and we see that she is a little airheaded but highly supportive of her friends, while Rin wants her to actually find something of her own to focus on. She’s been in and out of a lot of clubs, always embarrassing herself or causing them trouble through her clumsiness, so bless her, she’s trying. When she bumps into Coco at the beginning, and he catches her, she develops a crush on him, which is why she was so upset when he gave her the cold shoulder in the library. We’ll get to see this crush grow a lot over the course of this show and that’s definitely something to look forward to.

What Nozomi lacks in skills she more than makes up for in compassion. Since she wants everybody’s dreams to succeed and their wishes to come true, she takes an immediate dislike of Girinma when he dismisses Coco’s wish. This spurs her into action and it’s this drive that allows her to transform. I love this. Sure, she’s not the most smart, most athletic, most driven, or most talented, but she has heart. We saw this with Nagisa and Saki before but Nozomi puts it into words, and it’s a lot different as the leader of a team of 5 than a single partner. She declares that helping others to achieve their dreams is now her dream, and I’m here for it. I find that the pressure to have a particular dream you want to achieve, or a life goal, at age 14 is a bit ridiculous to begin with.

In this episode, we get something we haven’t seen before in precure: a single heroine transforming and completely defeating the monster on their own. It’s novel for this franchise, but will become much much more common as the years go on. The fight isn’t very long, but it maintains the physicality that the series has become known for. There are no fairies causing light arcs in this one, it’s back to plain-old punching and kicking and, in one case, throwing. The finishing attack seems to come from the Pinkie Catch rather than being innate to Dream, but it’s hard to tell.

Speaking of the Pinkie Catch, let’s discuss that and the Dream Collet. The Catch is a small, watch-sized device that may have been a v-pet in real life, I don’t honestly know. The surface appears to be a curved diamond shape with an LCD screen in the middle. It’s much smaller than the cell phone changers of the last three years, and possibly the smallest Precure transformation device period. Meanwhile, the Dream Collet appears to be the large toy of the show. In order to use their wish, the Precures have to collect a large number of Pinkies with their Pinkie Catches and return them to the Collet. We’ll explore that better in the future.

As I said, there’s a lot going on in this episode. I’ll dig into more content in future reviews, Next time, it’s going to get fiery in here! Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 kettei!