#because I actually thought the before and after zzs are different actors

[wanderingfandoms]

Bonus

[shijiujun]

ZZH + GJ x ELLE TW | Interview (28 April 2021)

Translations for the separate online interview the both of them did with ELLE Taiwan:

Talking to SHL GJ and ZZH | "Life can be simple as long as we do our best in the things we love" - 18 liners fulfilling their dreams

What do ZZH and GJ think of each other?

(1) With ZZH

Since the start of SHL, ZZH's role was set so that he only had three years left to live, hinting at the possible tragic ending early! Invested fans cried a lot & left ‘warning’ messages for the scriptwriter & director: "Even if it's unrealistic you better let him live!"

And when he was free during work the day before, ZZH accepted the online interview and was asked about his ZZS role and he, who usually dotes on his fans, said, "Thanks everyone for affirming/recognizing my acting skills, don't cry!"

ZZH's portrayal/acting was received very well by fans and his dynamic acting skills were revealed in many different directions because of SHL. He was praised to have nine faces, which means that aside from being well-rounded in his portrayal of happiness, anger, sadness, delight and other emotions, ZZH managed to interpret (his role) in a well-rounded way, with just a gaze and how calm he was from head to toe.

Taking on this role in SHL, ZZH says that his heart aches quite a bit for ZZS: "Towards his role, I can't say that I can give him any strength, but what I can do, is quietly feel and understand him."

Talking about his partner Gong Jun, ZZH attributed the success of the show and the efforts put into it to the team, and also praised GJ for being really professional, and fans look forward to be able to see the both of them work tgt in the future.

With a face that's gentle, handsome and has no bad angles, ZZH is most pleased with his defined nose. You may not know this, but in actuality, ZZH is not gentle/quiet at all! He likes to exercise and gym usually, through training, he fills his thoughts with positive energy.

Speaking about his Weibo UN "Crazy ZZH", we can't help but ask, is he a person who goes crazy (I guess, have a lot of fun, party like mad) without limits in private? ZZH says: "I chose this username to reflect a way to live - if I don't go to the extremes I will never accomplish anything.”

"I just feel that the things I'm passionate about I should do my best in them, for example, the craziest might have been when I was in university, I rode my bike solo all the way to Tibet!" He finished the journey step by step and because of this determination, it's reflected in his attitude towards filming & how meticulous he is. A lot of scenes that required fighting, ZZH communicated repeatedly with his teacher while learning and while he injured himself a bit, he said: "We must be responsible towards our roles, this is how an actor should be.”

"Thanks to everyone for recognizing/affirming me (as an actor), we'll continue walking the road together!” 

ZZH who is currently filming for a movie, promises that he'll definitely meet his TWnese fans in the future if given the chance. May 11 is ZZH's birthday and when asked about how he plans to spend his day, he casually says that it's in the planning, and as for birthday wishes, he said without hesitation, "I definitely hope everyone is healthy, and happy everyday!"

(2) With GJ

After SHL was broadcasted everyone fell for it completely, especially for GJ's role WKX. He managed to rank first in terms of entertainment tv influence. While he was free during work, GJ interviewed online and talked about the scene where his hair went white.

GJ: "My heart aches truly for WKX, I know a lot of fans cried because of him, thank you all for liking this show but I still hope everyone spends everyday happily!" 

He says he was once an 18-line actor & only started becoming popular on his 12th show, & thus he always cautions himself to head towards his dream with his feet on the ground, step by step. This special attitude is also reflected in the way he works; no matter the fighting or more dangerous scenes, GJ always does his best: "I don't know how many shows I've filmed! For fighting-related ones, I am thankful to the wushu laoshi and all the staff's guidance/protection, and once again under their training I safely completed this show, showing everyone the best shots!"

Aside from good acting skills, his styling was well-liked by fans especially when he wore that red outfit, he was endlessly charismatic "My fave is also the red outfit, and this outfit is also my most expensive one, hah!"

The rain scene left the greatest impression on him: "SHL is show with the most lines out of all that I've filmed so far; because a lot of WKX's lines are poetry, memorizing them really challenges comprehension and memory power, the toughest one was the rain scene, I have to adjust the emotions of the crying scene while in the rain and there're endless huge lines I have to recite, it definitely is challenging." 

 Those who follow him know that GJ is a simple person in private and in the interview he mentions: The happy thing about work is being able to earn money! Very few artistes can so blatantly say they wanna earn money, and as an employee who is passionate about earning money and finds joy in that, aside from buying a house so his family's quality of living increases, what does he wanna buy?

"I wanna buy a car! I really like cars a lot!" 

 In contrast to his cold, princely image, GJ's straightforward and blunt character has captured the hearts of his fans, especially when he sings in front of everyone unabashedly, taking on the title of "perfect (lack of) pitch", it is very adorable that he is willing to expose his weakness. But altho his singing skills are lacking, there's one skill that GJ has! And that's cooking! Because of the family rules set by his grandpa, the ppl in the kitchen in the Gong family are all the men.

GJ says: "It's true! The women in our family don't have to cook, it's all the men doing it. My grandpa, my dad, are all like that!" 

Basically it's no challenge for GJ to come up with a table of dishes. His signature dish is fish and when asked if his future other half really doesn't have to cook, that it can all be left to him, GJ says warmly, "Of course~" 

 And as a chef, GJ's build is on the taller side, "I really like to eat but I will control my diet. I gym often and try to eat less oily stuff. When I was in uni I was pretty fat, baby fat, but I lost that weight." 

 When asked which part of him he likes the most he says, "Hands! But I like em all! Because my parents gave them to me!" 

 During the interview it is not difficult to feel the deep relationship he has with his fam, especially when we chat about his grandpa. Aside from thanking his fam for the support, GJ is most thankful to his grandpa who has given him positive energy and encouragement until now, the person who he respects the most.

SHL did very well, in private who takes care of each other more btw GJ and ZZH? 

Both of their answers are the same: "In reality we take care of each other, because we're really good friends and in the production group we naturally take care of each other.”

Their chemistry and friendship extends to beyond the show and fans have also made plenty of creative CP works to share, we also anticipate their next work together! 

[chalkrevelations]

SO, Episode 28 of Word of Honor was a roller-coaster ride.

(Spoilers, as ever, so scroll away and come back later if you want to see it unspoiled.)

They managed two entirely separate scenes in this one that had me going “Did … did that just happen? Is this really happening?” Let’s get this one out of the way first: The scene of Zhao Jing in his serial killer lair with the altar and memorial tablets and his serial killer trophies. Y’all. I swear, scene opens with a shot from behind of drunk Awful Yifu in his Fantasy Ancient China underwear staggering through a set of doors into a room with candles and draperies, and before I was able to register the rest of the set design, my brain gave a terrified squeak and started rabbiting around like, “Oh my god, please do not let this be Xie’er’s bedroom. Oh my god, they wouldn’t actually go there, not even hinted, surely that would be too far!” Then my eyeballs caught up and registered the set, so I thought I was safe, but that didn’t even turn out to be the moment in the scene that had me going “Is this really happening?” (Although I do think the fact my brain immediately jumped to that scenario speaks to the creepy vibe the show has managed to build between Awful Yifu and Xie Wang). So, Zhao Jing is a sloppy drunk and absolutely shitfaced, stumbling around and yelling at his dead brothers, and I’m sitting here watching him, feeling like I need a shower, with my skin a little bit trying to crawl off my body, and then he picks up Rong Xuan’s memorial tablet and pours an entire stream of alcohol out of the pitcher all over it, and I say, out loud, to the screen, “Oh my god, they just had him figuratively piss on that tablet.” Only, no, they didn’t, because there was no need to have him do it figuratively because then, he literally whips it out of his pants and takes a piss on the tablet, complete with sound effects, and I’m open-mouthed, thinking “Is this really happening?” As some background, I grew up in mainstream U.S. culture where ancestor veneration isn’t formally practiced - although it isn’t an entirely absent part of our cultural mythos, it’s just that now when I when I offer cultus to the Patres Patriae, it’s deliberate and intentional – but I’ve been doing ancestor work in my particular flavor of polytheism for long enough, and intensely enough, that I had a visceral reaction of disgust and horror to this. Hand literally clapped over my mouth in shock, even after watching all of his ranting at his dead brothers and spitting at his dead shifu and just generally being a disrespectful asshole with delusions of grandeur building up to it. So, yes, show, you have indeed convinced me that Awful Yifu is the worst, even in an episode that also devoted that much screentime to Prince Jin.

Fortunately, the other “Is this really happening?” moment was at the other end of the spectrum, somewhere in the face of how married Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing are, which I cannot believe passed censorship. I know I keep saying that, but every time I think I’ve adjusted to how far they’re going to go, the show laughs gay-ly as it pushes the envelope another mile down the road. Truly, this show is the gift that keeps on giving where these two are concerned, and not just because of Zhang Zhehan’s face. I realize I had to spend 50 episodes deciphering Lan Wangji’s smallest microexpression (not that I’m complaining), but I can’t believe how expressive both Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun are in these roles, with Gong Jun’s little sadness eyebrows when WKX wants ZZS to humor him, and how soft Zhang Zhehan’s face gets when ZZS looks at WKX, and how great they both are at making all this look like a pair of adults who are in an established relationship and confident of each other. I’d be as weak as Wen Kexing if Zhou Zishu pouted at me the way he does when he tells Chengling that he can’t do anything to help decorate the Manor except observe and direct because he’s oh, so injured and frail, poor him. Wen Kexing can laugh at Zhou Zishu when ZZS pokes at him by saying the papercrafter was such a beauty! (Compare this to his reaction back in the day, when ZZS deftly manipulated him out of bringing A-Xiang along on their honeymoon adventures by calling her a beauty and implying she might draw attention away from WKX!) Wen Kexing waves kitchen knives at Zhou Zishu in (somewhat fond) exasperation! Zhou Zishu now accepts Wen Kexing piling his plate with food at the table as perfectly normal! There’s no crying in Spring Festival! They send their kid outside to watch the fireworks so they can have sex some alone time! (Merciless killers. How the fuck so adorable?) Someone must have backed up an entire truckful of money to the house of someone very important to get this aired, because what is the heterosexual explanation for … any of this?

Other thoughts:

We continue to get small things that maintain the parallels between Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishou and Gu Xiang/Cao Weining, including the mirrored theme of finding a home with a welcoming family, shown through family dinner, and expressed through WKX’s description of his former self as a “lonely ghost,” echoing A-Xiang’s self-description (to Shen Shen in an earlier ep) the same way.

HAN YING! Listen, I am stupidly attached to this bit player, and not just because he’s a familiar face (because half of Wen Xu’s screentime in The Untamed was just a disembodied head hanging at the entrance to the Unclean Realm, so it’s not like there was time to get … attached). And I say stupidly attached because ever since we first saw the way he looked at ZZS with big puppy heart-eyes, I knew he was going to be a goner. I just know they’re gonna fridge him for the next step in ZZS’s journey, because something has to pry ZZS out of Four Seasons Manor, as much as I, personally, would like nothing better than to see 8 more episodes of wedded bliss for two gay dads and their son. (OK, one thing I would like better would be if their daughter and son-in-law came to live with them, too.) At least it looks like Han Ying will get to die taking a figurative bullet for ZZS, which will make him happy and might prevent him from finding out the Glazed Armor he’s so proud of bringing is actually pointless, because don’t think that didn’t hurt to know while I watched him being so proud of managing to get his hands on it. But I’d prefer he didn’t die at all, show. Also, why on earth are there only two (completed) stories under the ZZS/Han Ying label on AO3? Because yes, I have looked. I have the search open in another tab right now. Why haven’t more people taken advantage of this guy’s utter devotion for ZZS? How are people looking at the way Han Ying reverently brushes his fingers over the single white blossom on the wall mural in ZZS’s rooms back in Prince Jin’s palace and not falling all over that?

Xie’er, oh, Xie’er. You’re killing me, here. I need someone to rescue you, you desperate affection-starved little sociopath. So, to recap, last time we met, your Awful Yifu finally let it slip that he was never ever going to acknowledge your existence in public. So now, you’re being a very clever boy, setting up a scheme to manipulate him into having to publicly acknowledge you if he’s going to claim credit for your successes (because I’m sure you can’t even contemplate failure) in service to Prince Jin. So clever, but I hate to tell you, you’re clever at everything except learning from your mistakes when it comes to your Awful Yifu. You really learned nothing from Beauty Ghost, did you? Ugh, your sad little face as you watch your hot mess of an Awful Yifu while you wait for the maids to make tea – it hurts me. Please tell me you’re playing some kind of long game, and you’re just a really great actor. Because he’s sloppy drunk, and right now, watching your face journey, I think maybe you think that makes what he’s saying true – that he’s not guarding his words, and he means it when he tells you that of course he loves you and would never leave you. “Are you still angry with me?” Awful Yifu literally asks. “Alright, I’ll apologize. I was just mad. It didn’t mean anything. We’re together in this. I’ll always stand by you.” Xie’er, you have got to stop believing gaslighting abusive men who shovel that BS. This is what they call the honeymoon period in the cycle of abuse. Seriously. This is textbook. Please stop making the same mistakes over and over again. Maybe think about the fact that your Awful Yifu is, single-handedly, the reason the Department of the Unfaithful actually exists in the first place. He is THAT AWFUL. I would like to think actually seeing his serial killer trophy room will make a difference, now that you have some confirmation of what Tragicomic Ghost told you and not the ability to wave it off as part of some he-said, she-said situation where how could we ever possibly know the truth, despite the fact that Zhao Jing has shown he’ll stab anyone in the back in his quest for power? But, then, I also thought maybe learning last ep that he never planned to publicly acknowledge you would make some kind of difference. Are you going to roll the dice again, gambler? Because I’ll tell you right now, the house always wins. (Not that you’d listen to me anymore than you listened to Beauty Ghost.)

(Also, wait wait waitwaitwait. Waitaminit. This is pure speculation and probably way too out there to be true (oh, but, someone’s going to write this AU for me, right?) Hot-mess drunk yifu tells Xie’er that they’ve been depending on each other “ever since I picked you up and brought you back home.” I can’t remember if we know anything about Xie Wang’s background at this point, but it does sound like Zhao Jing might have literally yoinked him off the street to raise him. He … he doesn’t think Xie’er is actually Yan’er, does he? Only he kidnapped the wrong orphaned urchin by mistake? I’m just sayin’, thinking back to Shen Shen’s reaction to finding out Zhen Yan was still alive, it would be exactly the kind of thing Zhao Jing would do, to keep this kid that his brother(s) wanted to find hidden right under their noses.)

Chengling and the chicken. I can’t, y’all. And Zhou Zishu’s face as soon as he realizes what Wen Kexing is telling Chengling to do – he knows this is going to be a show.

Prince Jin, you are almost as bad as Xie’r and his awful Yifu combined:

Prince Jin: Zhou Zishu, you mastermind, your super-secret spy network continues to spread everywhere, including into my very own palace. Oh, the things you must be plotting against me!

Zhou Zishu, chillin’ at Plum Blossom Manor, day-drinking, dressing up in pretty festive robes, taking advantage of his disciple’s unpaid labor so he doesn’t have to raise a finger for himself, and providing his husband with sex so incredible he is never required to actually cook: “OK, my gay husband and our son-with-two-dads, how about we just stay here together forever and be happy?”

Also Prince Jin: *Creeps on Zhou Zishu like a gaslighting m’fker*

Anyway, if Prince Jin always knew what Han Ying was up to all along, is the letter about ZZS’s father a plant, with false info? It was just kind of suspiciously hanging out in the open on Prince Jin’s desk.

[stone-man-warrior]

April 4, 2021: 1:31 pm:

==========================================

This happened:

I have not seen that kind of thing before.

That might be the very first email I have received on my Google Gmail account that was not a promotional email advertisement or from a government email addy.

I have no words to add, as this whole account has been explaining that I am the last remaining US Citizen in the state of Oregon who has not already been killed or taken captive by the Canadian terror army.

The truth about that email could very well be a SAG Damage Control Scenario designed to mitigate the extent of the situation, from full blown terror takeover of USA at the White House, Congressional, and State Governors of all fifty states, down to smaller situation where it’s simply a few murderous thugs running amok.

Sadly, the email sheds no new light on my predicament.

I do appreciate the email though, no one ever sends me any email.

==========

1:44 pm:

I’ll be darned!

The death threat came to all three of the email addy’s I have showing on the browser!

I was really anticipating that someone would see the email addressed and simply send some questions that would lead to some help arriving, not a threepete of what I already know.

==========

2:06 pm:

Mr. Gooseman,

Thanks for the note.

I am curious if you did what I ask people to do? I see that you did not offer any help in the note you sent me, and I need help, you even say so yourself.

So, if you were able to gleen those email addy’s from this account, then certainly you could find the parts where I say:

“Please send help”

“Please send US Military to Josephine County Oregon“

and you should have found where I asked those other two fellows recently to simply contact US Military and US national Security Administration to ask those people to have a look at this Tumblr account, especially this link here:

https://stone-man-warrior.tumblr.com/archive

So please do that.

I am not able to reach any help by phone, email, internet, smoke signal or even carrier pigeon, the Canadian terror army that controls the state of Oregon has blocked my access to reaching help.

Please, Mr. Gooseman, contact US Military, find a military officer at a military base and ask that person to read this account. You could be anonymous and still do that.

Just send this tumblr entry along with the link so the Officer can know why you are making the contact and not me.

As it stands now, all of the former Trump administration is trying to kill me, many have already died trying to, the Joe Biden Administration is trying to kill me, Ron Howard and all of the subscribers  to his “Master Class” are trying to kill me, Ann & Nancy Wilson have teamed up with the members of Pink Floyd to try to kill me, and I think Roger Waters is the only one of that crew that has not died trying to kill me. Joe Bonamassa, Kenny Wayne Sheppard and the operators of Princess Cruise Lines and Carnival Cruise Lines have been trying to kill me for years ... even Lynsi Lavelle Snyder-Ellingson came to try to kill me way back in around 2007 when I tried to use Beta Twitter to get some help to stop the mass murders that were happening in Oregon at the time.

now, there are no more US Citizens left alive for the terror bastards to mass murder, I am the last one, because no one bothered to send any help.

The baby is on fire Mr. Gooseman, there is no one watching the baby.

Please send help to Josephine County Oregon, and give my regards to Mr. Vance Dutton.

Thank you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5fezBnvkiU

===========

4:10 pm:

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/voneulenberg

This account is not a popularity contest, and this does not help,

This account is here for only reason, to get some life saving help, to get help to stop the terror take over and mass murders that are happening, to stop the poison gas attacks, to get some US Military to come to Oregon to do their job.

===============================

4:32 pm:

I was sure.

Yesterday I reported about some people associated with Monroe terror cell, and Sunflower terror cell who had brought the exotic birds to use a noise cover for attacks that were underway when I went out to take a walk, and went to get my mail. I reported that I saw a young woman with long black hair who I observed walk towards Dietricks SAG Heroin distribution terror cell at 601 Jackpine, and that I suspect the girl went into the Manning MedDems terror cell at 598 Jackpine. I told of the others I heard but did not see, at least two near the mailboxes on the road, and at least two more either at 520 Jackpine or were hiding in the creek in my yard near the fence at 520. I told about the two people who were at Monroe terror cell at 434 Jackpine who looked to me as if they were wearing disguises to mimic the two Monroe terror soldiers, Sandy and Jeff Monroe and that is suspect the female was Lorena Chapman, and that the male person I saw there could be a person who drives an older light blue color Ford F-250 with Lumber rack, and that truck could be parked at Wesely Crowel’s terror cell at 549 Jackpine, or at Sparacino terror cell at 545 Jackpine right now.

What I did not report:

That black haired girl had burst. She was releasing nitrous oxide into my driveway when I first saw her, then she walked towards the mailboxes from my driveway. I was lighting my lighter the whole time I was outside because I had heard so many people, and some of them seemed to have been on my property at the time, and I knew they had been earlier in the day on my property.

That black haired girl’s nitrous tank ignited while she was at the mailbox area, while I was still on my driveway on approach to my driveway gate with caution. I saw the girl run, and by the time I got to the road, she was nearby Freeberg’s terror cell at 535 Jackpine, and the Monroe’s were hiding out of view at the Monroe driveway, but I could hear them in radio contact speaking to that black haired girl who was over by Freeberg’s at the time she burst. I actually saw her burst. Her blue shirt bulged out as she expanded while standing in the road by Freeberg’s, then suddenly her arms were filled with a yellow sort of orange colored lump of things... it was her guts, I heard the sound of a giant belch as that happened, and she just stood there, her belly burst open, and she caught her guts in her arms in front of her.

The girl walked to 520 Jackpine, looked through the driveway gate there and said “I need Evac”, but there was no response from 520. The girl fell to the ground at that time, then stood back up, hunched over, and began to walk towards the Dietrick/Manning end of the road. I saw her turn around to look at me, and she burst again, the second time it tore her pants as she was standing at the entrance of the Manning 598 MedDems terror cell driveway, about 800 feet away from where I was at the mailboxes.

I turned to get my mail at that time, then when I looked again, the girl was gone.

So, I suspect that today’s email death threat advisory and that follower are support people who may have been nearby at Sunflower terror cell on Russell Road, or perhaps were at Chartrand’s Oregon State Police/Royal Canadian Mounted Police terror cell at 376 Jackpine.

Basically, i suspect the death threat advisory email was a desperate attempt to locate that girl from terror comrades who were not aware that the girl is dead, and since the outcome of yesterdays attack was planned to take possession of my home, those extended supporting terror operatives simply made contact with my email in effort to hopefully find the missing dead female Canadian terror soldier.

Hope: It’s what remains after everything else is gone.

Here’s to Hope, a toast on Easter Sunday.

================================

5:10 pm:

The part about the black haired girl came with a Centurylink terror spy notification.

====

That man I saw driving the light blue Ford F-250 the other day looked remarkably similar to Jeff Monroe, and Jeff Monroe looks remarkably similar to Frank Beard of ZZ Top, just that Jeff’s hair is bit shorter. The man in the Ford was sporting a grey go-tee style beard though, like the current Jeff Monroe wears.

The only way I could be sure if Jeff Monroe is really Jeff Monroe, is to hear him speak. Monroe has a speaking and vocal style that is rehearsed, practiced, honed and perfected. There is something about his particular brand of deception that sort of draws in victims such that Jeff Monroe comes across as the friendliest, most laid back, easy going sort of almost lethargic style that makes him seem completely non-threatening, while at the same time, the man has a cross-bow loaded, at his feet, waiting for the victim to come closer, in range, to take the shot during a friendly  conversation.

Around here, it’s normal for the people to dress and wear professional grade Hollywood style make-up, including custom made rubber masks, the same kind as are uses in movies to make the actors appear as a completely different person The Monroe terror cell is a SAG affiliated terror cell, one way passers by are able to see that they are SAG leadership sponsored terror operatives, is to have a look at the portable Pop-Corn Cart/trailer that they have over there in the yard on display, it even features two giant size letter Z’s on the top.

The reason Jeff looks so much like Frank Beard is not a coincidence, the Monroe’s grow  marijuana especially for Frank Beard, but Billy Gibbons, and Dusty Hill are both dead long ago, having died while trying to kill me, because I am a Medicare beneficiary and they thought it would be a piece of cake to take me out so they could perpetuate and maximize some prescription meds in my name after I am dead, without reporting to anyone about the death. that is how ClubMed is done, and it’s done by SAG members, musicians, clowns, and magicians so they can get high on medicine that belongs to old disabled murdered US Citizens  Jeff Monroe was chosen by the ZZ Top partly because he makes a good look-a-like for confusion service so that Frank can easily deny he was anywhere around here, “it was just Jeff, not Frank”.

Terrorist bastards.

I have a feeling that the black haired girl was the daughter of a celebrity SAG terror leader who came to Jackpine on SAGClubMed Junket, and for a chance to kill me.

My family and friends are all dead too, so, welcome to the club of dead family and friends, assholes. Enjoy your stay in Oregon.

=====================================

8:43 pm:

Local conditions include that at least one terror soldier burst of nitrous ignition a couple of hours ago at Monroe’s terror cell.

I can  plainly see that the current Sandy Monroe has been stationed inside of that smaller chicken coup there at Monroe’s where I have mentioned many times that the chicken coup is a place that houses many electronic listen devices and I can especially see by observation over a long time that there is apparatus that in there that Monroe’s use for making and editing recordings of my voice, how they use the recordings is not something that I know, But I also know that the Monroe terror cell, like all of the others neighboring terror cells is protected by the local authorities. As I report regularly, the local authorities are all impostors, so, there are terror soldiers dressed in police and sheriff uniforms, driving the police cars, armed with police weapons and police bullets and have the keys to the police stations and they also operate the county jail as a killing mechanism filled with terror soldiers inside the jail who are a special assassin team of operatives in there.

So, Sandy was inside of that chicken coup operating the surveillance equipment when the other one burst of nitrous ignition, and she ran over towards the main house there to tend to the injured or dead terror soldier. After a few minutes I heard the sound of another terror soldier or maybe two of them as they launched away, sounded as if they landed on Russell Road out front of Sunflower terror cell.

About twenty minutes ago, another group of terror soldiers was staged and looked ready to start another attack plan from Donkey George terror cell, and others at Strong’s. The one’s at Donkey George’s were sitting in a car, waiting for a signal, I think the signal is going to come from Chartrand;s, as there are yet more terror soldiers there, and they have been doing signals from there all week and today when the attacks begin to advance towards my house.

I am estimating that three terror soldiers were killed in the past three hours, all of them were staged at Monroe’s, yet despite that, there seems to be another attempt under way now.

===========

My leg conditions took a turn into a bad way today, I don’t have an update, the conditions are dynamic and changing rapidly, and very, very painful with no where to turn for medical help.

[recentanimenews]

Cowboy Bebop Designer Toshihiro Kawamoto Talks Art Styles and Live-Action Adaptations

A few weeks back I had the pleasure of working with character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto at FanimeCon 2019 in San Jose, CA. The con had brought me in to moderate two of his events (including a live drawing session that has been uploaded to YouTube), and before getting on stage I had a chance to sit down for a one-on-one interview with Mr. Kawamoto.

Toshihiro Kawamoto is most well-known as a character designer thanks to his sleek, angular designs on series like Cowboy Bebop, Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team, and Wolf’s Rain. But like many designers, he began his career as an animator. He worked his way up the ranks at Sunrise and eventually got a chance to design the characters for Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory. After the critically acclaimed Cowboy Bebop, Kawamoto joined forces with a number of key Sunrise staff, including producer Masahiko Minami (who I interviewed nearly 10 years ago!) and animator Hiroshi Osaka, to split off and create their own studio: BONES.

20 years later, Kawamoto serves as an executive at BONES, though it seems that much of his time is still spent working away at his drawings, whether they’re character designs for Blood Blockade Battlefront or key animation and animation directing for Fullmetal Alchemist and Eureka Seven.

My conversation with Mr. Kawamoto covers a range of topics: his design process, his early years as an animator at Sunrise, his consultation on an ill-advised live-action Gundam movie, and yes, his thoughts on the upcoming Cowboy Bebop Netflix adaptation. A huge thank you goes out to Fanime guest staff Jinni and Isabel, interpreter Momo, and of course, Mr. Kawamoto for taking the time to speak with me. Enjoy!

Early in your career you were mentored by animator Sachiko Kamimura. How did you first start working with her?

I first met Ms. Kamimura when I was a key animator for ZZ Gundam. While I was on the project with her, I got to know her. I learned a lot and got some inspiration from Ms. Kamimura.

What kinds of things do you think you learned from her?

I talked to her recently and got the sense that she believes if you allow people to properly learn and train and grow they will be able to blossom into whatever talent they want to get into, and become a full professional in their field. Ms. Kamimura expressed that when I was the only young animator on the ZZ Gundam team. Working together while I was still pretty young and fresh, I think that was a big influence.

Back then and even now I'm not really sure why she was so taken with me and thought I had such great potential. In those days, we had no time to really focus on certain kinds of things. All we could do was sit down and draw as fast as possible. So I really don't understand what Ms. Kamimura saw in me. Even today I think about it.

Ms. Kamimura had this idea that as long as you properly train and teach these young professionals, they would blossom into their full potential. For the past 30 years I’ve really taken that to heart.

Could you walk me through your process when designing a character?

There are two different kinds of processes, depending on whether the anime is original or an adaptation.

For adaptations, I personally feel like I don't want to change the art. I don't want to change the original style of the manga it's adapting from. So I often work with the director, going back and forth and doing a kind of tag team thing to make sure that we accurately portray the original work.

When it comes to original animation, I often meet with the director and talk over what their vision is for the characters. I'll take their descriptions and interpret them into art. Generally I’ll create three to five variations of those characters in order to pinpoint what the director is aiming for.

When trying to understand the director’s taste and what they’re aiming for, we often play “catch.” We go back and forth in order to find out how the characters should be portrayed. That was the process for Cowboy Bebop.

I know some directors contribute their own designs to that process. Is that common for you?

Yes, it does happen for directors that have artistic skills. But in terms of my own work, I often pair up with directors with no art skills. So the director might do a really rough sketch of what they're imagining, but I generally draw it myself and provide that imagery so the director can decide what they want to do with it.

In terms of anime storyboards, generally directors will draw those out, and just by seeing the storyboards it's easy to tell if the director has any artistic skill. For Cowboy Bebop, the director was Shinichiro Watanabe, who later worked on Space Dandy. When I compared the storyboards from the Cowboy Bebop days and the Space Dandy days, I noticed “oh, he’s improved his art skills a little bit.” And before Cowboy Bebop, Mr. Watanabe was an episode director and drew storyboards on Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory. If you look at the storyboards from then, well... I don’t want to say too much because it'll sound like I’m complaining or bad-mouthing, but ... yeah. He’s come a long way.

Storyboards for Cowboy Bebop and Space Dandy, respectively.

Something that I admire about your work is that you have a distinctive character design style that’s very much your own, but your adapted works are a little more subtle and complement the original designer’s work. How do you decide where to add the Kawamoto touch and where to hold back a little bit?

Even though other people may think I have a distinct Kawamoto style, when I’m working on adaptations I really want to erase my own unique style. As a character designer, I aim to ensure that the character design techniques and the technical aspects are similar. But in terms of what I want to accomplish, I want to express the original work.

After working on Gundam 0083, I worked on character designs for different kinds of media like Leiji Matsumoto, Tatsuya Egawa, and Masamune Shirow’s works. For those I really tried to deemphasize my own style. But now that I’m thinking about it, I wonder if I didn’t do a good enough job. If I do have a distinct style, maybe I’m not erasing my own uniqueness enough.

While I was working on Golden Boy, I also worked on a Sega Saturn game for Gundam. Even though I worked on both Golden Boy and the Gundam project together, I was trying to make sure that they don’t cross over.

Actually, on the subject of Gundam, I have a question about a very weird Gundam project. You’re credited for conceptual design on G-Saviour.

G-Saviour?!

I’m curious what you actually did on that project.

If I look back on my memories, the G-Saviour project was made in collaboration with Studio Sunrise. I had never worked on a Hollywood adaptation ever in my life, so even though I had no experience and was very unsure of myself, through working on G-Saviour I tried to learn a lot and make sure the project went smoothly. In terms of what I did for G-Saviour, if something wasn’t going well or there were some hiccups during the production, then I would submit art for the character’s costumes or certain ideas for what the characters would do. I would express that in a storyboard and then submit the storyboards to help them move things along.

And that would get sent directly to the production team in Canada?

Oh right, it was probably too expensive to do it in Hollywood so they did it in Canada. So I would submit the artwork to Canada.

In fact, the reaction to the storyboards that I submitted to them was so positive, they were like, “Wow, I’ve never seen such beautiful and clean storyboards!” They were really happy to work with me and get those kinds of visuals. Even though they were really happy about it, it made me think, “If they’re so happy with this, where are their skill levels at? What are they used to?” It made me really uneasy to think, “What have they been doing so far?”

Speaking of live-action, I’m sure you’re aware of the live-action Cowboy Bebop series. Have you been consulted on it at all?

I haven’t touched the project at all. I’ve had zero participation in it.

I think it's actually good that I haven’t had any part in making the adaptation. I think that if they asked for my opinion I would influence it too much in a certain direction, so I really want to see what they will make of it on their own.

But there are some things that I am a little bit surprised about. Like Spike Spiegel being played by an Asian actor. (EDITOR’S NOTE: He’s talking about Star Trek and Harold & Kumar’s John Cho.) “Spike Spiegel” is a German name, so I would have expected someone with German ancestry. I find these choices interesting but I don’t want to influence too much or say too much.

Are there any other projects of yours that you’d love to see adapted into a live-action Hollywood version?

I have a lot of challenges in drawing animals in animation. They’re really hard to draw for me. So I’m really interested in seeing a live-action adaptation of Wolf’s Rain. I think that with today’s CG technology it would be very possible.

Cowboy Bebop Designer Toshihiro Kawamoto Talks Art Styles and Live-Action Adaptations originally appeared on Ani-Gamers on May 30, 2019 at 9:55 PM.

By: Evan Minto

[chalkrevelations]

And finally, here we are, Episode 36 of Word of Honor, and I have some FEELINGS. Let me show you them.

There also will be Episode 37 here, btw, because I’m not gonna do a separate reaction for a three-minute episode, no matter how grateful I am that we got it.

(Spoilers, so if that’s not what you want right now, scroll on by and come back after you’ve watched it. Them.)

Let’s get to the meat of the episode right away: THE HAIRPIN. And Wen Kexing knowing Zhou Zishu would have it, because he’d definitely take it with him if he was going on a suicide mission! Y’all. I really have to yell about this for a minute: That’s how secure WKX has become in his knowledge of what he means to ZZS! After all that time angsting and hiding the truth of his identity and worrying that he’s not worthy of ZZS and that he’d be rejected if ZZS knew the truth about him! But now, WKX has finally reached a point where he understands and knows (zhiji, the one I know) he’s so important to ZZS that ZZS would never ever go off to die without taking his most precious possession, the hairpin that his husband gave him! I can’t. My heart. This is like a declaration, after all that time saying they were zhiji, that WKX finally is able to truly see ZZS as that, to know him in his bones, and all of this is also delivered in the middle of WKX in a strop, irritably chastising his husband as an evil brat for running away from home to get himself killed, with Gong Jun’s little  >:(  face in full effect, and I am so filled with love for this show and this couple at this point that I have to pause Youtube just so I can roll around on the sofa, clutching at my chest and scaring the cats with my inarticulate noises. This is so good, y’all. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted. Also, now you know how it feels, WKX, you asshole. Which I suppose is why you even confess that it will would be more painful for the one who survives when if the other dies. And you were prepared to do that to him a second time? I cannot believe you, you asshole. You get to sleep on the ice couch for a month.

And then there’s some Six Cultivation Power mind-melding and what looks to be an INCREDIBLY STUPID and HEARTBREAKING ending that would leave us Burying One of Our Gays, so it’s a good thing Episode 37 (all three minutes of it) exists. It would be nice, though, if the connective tissue from 36 to 37 made any sense. Or existed whatsoever. Just, like, throw me a bone, here, show. Some kind of explicit hand-waviness that actually gets mentioned for why Ye Baiyi apparently was not as smart as he thought he was and didn’t really know what he was talking about when he was doomsaying about how one of the pair will surely, oh surely perish. None of this “Sooooo, they managed to figure out the technique and master it?” from some random shidi who never actually gets an answer. I mean, the door was left open for fanwankery on this one, with what looks to be a very last-minute conceit of all this being a story told by grown-up Chengling to his disciples, which begs the question of how much of what he’s telling them is totally accurate, given any number of issues, including the spottiness of human recall, the possibility (based on the fact they’re still on the mountain in Ep 37) that Chengling never actually saw either of them again to get the full story, and the way Gao Xiaolian basically calls bs on the whole thing. But this is still a gossamer-thin thread on which to hang Ep 37. Ep 37 basically functions as reassurance because of the mere fact of its existence, because they’re clearly both alive, right there in front of your face, regardless of the other fact that it doesn’t actually make any sense, based on Ep 36. It ultimately doesn’t matter if there is no Step 2, because Step 3: Profit! is … right there. In evidence. Happening. On your screen. No matter how vaguely unsatisfying the lack of Step 2 may be.

I do feel like there’s an interesting meta thing going on here, in that the entire show has been about – let’s be honest, it was never really about the plot - queer-coding this couple in ways that supposedly fly just enough under the radar that people can handwave them as Just Good Friends and Brothers (I mean, I guess) with a Bury Your Gays tragic ending (ugh) for good measure. And Chengling is telling a story in-universe that seems to conform to some of this same formula. And yet, we all know well and good that these guys were husbands. (I mean, barring anything else, they’re a couple in the original source material, so checkmate, censorship.) So, are we supposed to carry the same assurance out of the show, on a meta level, that what appears to be happening at the end of Ep 36 - what we discover we’re learning through Chengling’s story-telling - isn’t really the truth? Just, look: While we’re getting the Good Friends and Brothers push, there’s stuff like obvious voice-over work that doesn’t match the much more queer version of what the actors actually said, which is apparently blazingly clear to any viewers who know Mandarin and can manage to lip-read. The show has literally put de-queered words into these characters’ mouths. You can’t trust what you hear. But apparently the show has also made this obvious enough that, if you’re a good enough speaker of the language the show is being told in, and you have a good enough eye, you can see what is actually going on. Are we being taught to trust our eyes more than our ears, are we being told that what we’re being told - by the end of Ep 36 on a meta level, by Ye Baiyi-through-Chengling’s-story on an in-universe level, and by what we learn about what happened from Chengling’s story, itself, also on an in-universe level - is inherently untrustworthy, but that if we “speak the language” of this show well enough, and have a good enough eye, we can decode it and see what “actually” happened and is later made explicit in Ep 37? Is Ep 37 canon? Does it matter, when “what is canon” is already so slippery on this show, where you can apparently lip-read something that’s different than what you’re hearing, and it functions as canon because of the mere fact of its existence, because it’s clearly … right there. In evidence. Happening. On your screen.

Anyway, just some thoughts on all that, which I guess is my own fanwankery work to join up the end of Ep 36 with Ep 37, which was, of course, delightful. No matter how much I might bemoan the lack of Step 2, I had a stupid, dopey grin on my face all the way through Ep 37 and might have even teared up a tiny bit at the very end. You can’t prove anything. Lemme tell you, though, it’s a good idea to have 37 on hand when you run into the brick wall of the end of 36, because while WKX’s willingness to sacrifice himself for love is theoretically great, it is not something I actually want to see come to fruition, given the pall it would cast over the entire joyous experience that the ZZS/WKX relationship is throughout the rest of the show. Sure, there’s always fic, but there’s a heaviness that hangs over the Bury Your Gays trope, and it’s retroactively ruined shows for me before. So THANK YOU, to those of you who hooked me up so I could immediately move on to Ep 37.

What else? Other things:

OK, so, first, I have to get this out of the way: Did we actually already see all of those “flashbacks” we get in the first part of the ep, during the conversation between Zhou Zishu and Jing Beiyuan, when all the political stuff is supposed to be finally falling together to give us the big picture? I would have to go back and scrummage through those eps to be sure, and I’m not going to spend time doing that (yet) when I still need to do some keysmashing about Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing OH MY GOD, but I do feel like some of this was new information, not just stuff that I’d glossed over because it didn’t seem important at the time? If so, not on, show. I will be keeping an eye out for that on re-watch. I am, however, perfectly willing to accept – if it turns out to be true – that you utterly distracted me with the failboats-in-love storyline, to the detriment of my focus on, you know, plot or whatever. It’s happened before. (It’s one of the reasons I need to go back and watch The Untamed again, at some point.)

OMG FAKE KEY! And as ZZS points out, this has been foreshadowed for us from early on, with WKX’s fake Glazed Armors plot. :bangs table with fist: YES. This show is going to reward re-watching SO MUCH.

Duan Pengju, oh my god, this asshole. The look on his face when the Armory didn’t open was so gratifying. Also, ha. I wondered when ZZS was finally going to be done with his shit. In fact, so much gratification in this whole scene. Xie Wang’s face when he realizes WKX double-crossed him – what, did you think you were the only tricksy one in that little alliance, Xie’er? And, holy shit – I cannot believe that Xie’er actually words this as WKX failing him, taking us back around to this theme one more time again. I would maybe feel a little worse for you if you hadn’t been a hairsbreadth away from killing him before ZZS stopped you in the last ep, Xie’er. Also if you hadn’t helped get A-Xiang killed. So I think the fail in this relationship is going both ways. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like you’re going to get the time WKX had to start untangling yourself from the ways your abuser has fucked you up and over.

It once again becomes blindingly clear why ZZS has been my ride-or-die during this whole thing: Under the grumpy, irritable, day-drinking yet somehow eminently practical exterior, he’s actually an idealistic do-gooder who just wants to make the world a better place for people and sacrifice himself for great justice. Never let it be said that I don’t have a type. Also, I mean. Zhang Zhehan’s FACE. Let’s don’t discount the power of that.

Final word: Don’t miss Ep 37. All three minutes of it. They are perhaps the most important three minutes of the entire show.

(I mean, not FINAL final word. I expect to be going back for a re-watch and posting more things, particularly on eps from before I started typing up 1000K-word reactions this first time around.)