#god yall I love pulp musicals

[ricky-mortis]

A portrait of Sir John Herschel because I‘m normal about Pulp Musicals

[manabingu]

Haruka Nanami = soft girl

This has been sitting in my inbox since yesterday MY BAD! I wanted to answer this earlier but got distracted by deadlines of some stuff ANYWAY. Thanks for sending me an ask about Nanami CUZ I BEEN WANTIN TO TALK ABOUT MY HOME GIRL FOR AWHILE BUT NEVER GET THE CHANCE TO! So thanks~*~*~*

THIS GIRL RIGHT HERE. NANAMI HARUKA ^^^^ I WOULD DIE FOR HER.

Honestly, I’m that one person in every fandom that tends to fall in love with characters who I feel get undeserved hate or are either a minor character who gets glossed over. And be like….YALL??? Why you so mean to such adorable, innocent,sweet, hardworking, wouldn’t hurt a fly characters and then say that characters who are LITERAL murderers and criminals are the “precious cinnamon rolls who can do no wrong” only cuz you attracted to them??? yall thas sad. Listen…I’m honestly tired of people who bash on the anime and only play the games cuz they think it’s boring. Yes, you can have your opinion & I respect that, but I’ve seen some people whom have a pretty steadily growing following just bash on Nanami or some of their “not best boys” for reasons that make no sense to me & I been bottling this for awhile but Imma just SPEAK today cuz I’m on fire. ANYWAY BACK TO MY QUEEN.

LET ME HAVE MY NANAMI HARUKA TED TALK. Debunking complaints

Complaint I’ve heard: She’s boring

IN MY PERSONAL OPINION. NANAMI HARUKA IS ONE OF THE BEST LEADS IN ANY IDOL/ REVERSE HAREM ANIME I HAVE SEEN TO DATE.

She’s FAR from boring. She kind of reminds me of one of my other favorite lead heroines of all time. Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket. Both are humble & haven’t really had much in their life. Let’s talk about her story, she is a girl who was born with with bad health so much so that her parents sent her to grow up and live with her grandma in the countryside where the air was cleaner & less polluted than the city where they live. While she stayed with grandma, she learned to play piano by ear & she really didn’t grow up with much technology. She states in episode one that she didn’t even have a TV so anytime anyone in her class makes a reference to a famous celebrity she doesn’t know who they are. If I had to guess she only probably had books, toys, & a record player at grandma’s house AND I think she was home-schooled? Which means that that her only other friend besides her grandma & possibly the local neighborhood kids was grandma’s piano.

 I think she’s highly relateable too. I sure have had similar experience (trust me, my immune system is TerRibLe XD so I feel home girl) But I knew the moment I saw that part in episode 1 where she describes how music LITERALLY saved her life, THAT is when I knew I would protect this girl for the rest of my life cuz I just yelled at my screen SAME GURL! SAAAAAAME TTuTT/ In Nanami’s case, she went by herself to the city to visit her parents, she thought since she no longer was a kid, her health wouldn’t be too endangered but she she got there she got REALLY lost & the noise pollution was so overwhelming that her anxiety gave her a panic attack. AND THIS IS WHY I REALLY LIKE UTAPRI. BECAUSE THEY GET HELLA REAL HELLA FAST. THIS KIND OF THING IS NOT SOME KINDA MADE UP THING. LET ME SIT YALL DOWN AND TELL YOU A STORY.

Listen- I remember when I was like 16ish I went to New York with a cousin & as a person who comes from a small town- being in the city BY YOURSELF for the first time, it’s SO SCARY to someone who has anxiety. I was dropped off in Manhattan while she ran a work errand she gave me money for food & encouraged me to explore. As soon as they left, I looked around thinking OH GOD WHAT NOW?? I saw a cathedral close by and I RAN for it. I was so scared being alone I went to a small corner of the cathedral and started crying & tweeting, which got some comforting responses from native NY people that followed me & I texted the friend that was closest to me (if you count Virginia close lol) But he called me & just talked to me & helped me feel better. He encouraged me to not stay in one place & to go find a place I like & perhaps if I was too anxious, to go stay there till I was picked up. IT TOOK ME 30 MINUTES to get courage enough to walk to the Barnes & Noble/Starbucks that was close & I stayed there texting him the rest of the time. So ANYTIME people talk crap about Nanami’s panic attack in the city I’m gonna politely tell them to get out of my face cuz that’s a VERY real emotion. The thing that saved Nanami was hearing a singer in a giant screen singing a soothing song. THE MUSIC HELPED CALM DOWN HER ANXIETY. EXCUSE ME. YALL CAN’T SAY THAT YOU’VE NEVER BEEN SOOTHED BY A SONG IN YOUR LIFE. WE ALL BEEN THERE. WHEN WE WERE SO DOWN THAT LISTENING TO A SONG MADE US FEEL BETTER. I know that happened with me. Just like Nanami, I had a time in my life where I was just ready for death, I had lost hope to live but hearing ONE. SONG by my favorite singer, literally stopped me. So I can relate how she felt about HAYATO in the city. And how afterwards she was so inspired by it that she wanted to try to have a career dealing with music. HER REASON FOR WANTING TO BECOME A COMPOSER IS BECAUSE SHE KNOWS WHAT IT’S LIKE TO FEEL SAD AND SCARED. SO SHE WANTS TO MAKE MUSIC THAT CAN TOUCH PEOPLE’S HEARTS & IF THEY’RE HAVING A BAD DAY, SHE CAN CHEER THEM UP WITH A SONG. IF THAT ISN’T THE GREATEST REASONING TO GO FIGHT FOR A DREAM, I DUNNO WHAT IS.

AND SHE KNOWS THAT THE ODDS ARE AGAINST HER. BUT SHE DOESN’T THROW IN THE TOWEL EASILY. I FREAKING LOVE HER FOR THAT. NANAMI. HARUKA. IS. NOT. WEAK.

Once she was of age, she applied for THE most prestigious music academy in her area. She was nearly late to the entrance exam cuz she helped a lost child find their mom while she was running in a snowstorm to the school. And because she was noticed to have that high moral compass by the principal, she was allowed to take the exam and made it in. And even when she DID get in, she was bullied by all the rich kids for not being able to read sheet music & not being taught by a private piano teacher when she was asked to play in front of everyone. She KNEW that she can play piano but she was self taught & played by ear. ((THIS STRUCK ME HARD TOO. Because I am self taught too- as a singer, I thought that if I didn’t have access to all these things & I didn’t know how to sight read I’d never be taken seriously or that I was less worthy to be called a musician than my peers)) But did she give up??? NO. HOME GIRL RAN TO THE LIBRARY and she studied her ass off to not let her first assignment project partner down. I COULD GO ON FOR HOURS ABOUT THE FIRST SEASON ALONE. SHE WAS THROWN SO MANY CURVE BALLS TO CRUSH HER SPIRIT AND DESPITE HER ANXIETY KEPT FIGHTING FOR HER DREAM.

But you know what? She also showed me THAT IT’S OK TO FALL DOWN TO ROCK BOTTOM. It’s OK to feel like giving up especially when your confidence has been crushed to a pulp by everyone. YALL, I FREAKING BAWLED MY EYES OUT WHEN SHE FOUND OUT THAT STARISH - THE BAND SHE SINGLE-HANDEDLY  (and with some magical fate strings pulled by Cecil)) CREATED WAS GONNA DEBUT WITHOUT HER. She was asked by the principal if she thought HER music could compete with pros already established and household names already in the business. She didn’t want her friends to give up their dreams of debuting so she agreed to step down as STARISH’s composer AGAINST their demands for her to not give up. She went home and cried to her grandmother that she felt SO outclassed. And you know what? I’m GLAD Utapri shared this kind of story because I’m sure it has happened to a lot of people.

Nanami is a really kind, compassionate, selfless human being. She does anything and everything so that all her family & friends can be happy at the expense of her own happiness. She takes it to the extreme that she is PUSHED and forced to FOR ONCE think selfishly and do something for herself. Her purity & kindness won the respect of her classmates & teachers so much so that they always want to support her dream of  becoming a songwriter. When STARISH came to her house cuz they heard she ran away- she openly admitted  IN TEARS that SHE wanted to be STARISH’s composer, she didn’t want anyone else to write for them because she had fun with her friends and she didn’t want that to stop. ((The principal overheard her and said FINALLY! SOMETIMES ITS OK TO BE SELFISH WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR DREAM! Its ok to be kind but also think of your own feelings sometimes too. I think young, budding artists need to hear this. )) SHE GIVES ME HOPE CUZ I BE THE SAME WAY SOMETIMES WITH MY STUFF SO YEAH ;~~~~~;/

SOMETIMES When I watch a show that has harem elements to it, I really judge the protag that everyone is falling for and I think about if the harem people’s feelings are justified enough for them to actually fall in love with the protag. And you know what? In Nanami’s case?? ITS A BIG OL HELL YEAH IT’S JUSTIFIED.

FrICK- I fell in love with Nanami too??? How could I not??? I AM A BIGASS SAP FOR INNOCENT, SHY, CHARACTERS WHO TRY THEIR BEST EVEN THOUGH THEY SCARED AF CUZ OF CONFIDENCE ISSUES.

She’s a wonderful, compassionate, gifted person who just needs love and support and you know she’ll be there for you too and it’s mutual. She works SUPER hard at her job, she’s endearing, she makes you wanna just protect her cuz if she is sad lord I will probably go on a rampage. This girl doesn’t deserve to go through more than she already has. I love and respect Nanami. A female protagonist doesn’t need to be bitchy, slutty, or badass to be considered “interesting”. 

HECK, one time I heard someone say “This show would be 10x if Nanami was a guy. UMMMM???? WTF??? Ok, listen, I’m in the lgbt spectrum, & I’m sick of people saying that Utapri would be better if Nanami was a boy. Why is it so bad that she’s a girl?? Like- I would like ONE reasonable explanation that doesn’t involve fetishizing your personal fantasies. When people fetishize an lgbt relationship- you’re causing that type of relationship to not be taken seriously irl. If we wanna make this the norm, we gotta treat it like it’s a natural occurrence. Not force something for the sake of fanservice. There are barely any well written female protags like Nanami out there in the world and if we change her, we are taking out one of the best from the list. I want more shows to write good, memorable  female protags like Nanami. I wouldn’t be against her being a boy. But only if the reason was for good reasons and to explore character development dynamics. Cuz I enjoy content that has actual substance. SERIOUSLY- If Utapri was ONLY fanservice, I would despise it. BUT IT’S NOT. It tackles real issues & speaks about people in the industry and they don’t sugarcoat ANYTHING. They show you the harsh realities but they also give you hope to keep doing what you love even if you gotta work extra harder than your peers who might be more experienced than you.

And THAT is what I learned from Nanami Haruka. And I will defend my songwriting princess till I die. Thank you.

[themunchkinnugget]

So, we made it to Boston.  Once off the plane, we gave each other the usual smiling silent, “Well, that was awkward.” expressions and made our way to baggage claim.  Shortly, we were ready to tackle Boston’s public transportation system and take the bus into town.

My luggage made it safely and did not hit anyone in the face.  Isn’t it pretty?

Our first impressions of Bostonians were not positive, as the guy in the information booth did not seem very excited to tell the two country mice the best way to get to Government Center, but later we had nothing but pleasant encounters.  In hindsight, he was probably from somewhere else.  Kristen took the reigns and pointed her spaced-out friend in the right direction.  A free bus ride to Government Center-the station nearest our hotel.  We were on our way to The Langham Hotel-a swanky place that Kristen and I decided to splurge on since we were only staying in Boston for one night before I had to work.  Once there, we GPSed the best walking route to our destination.  Unfortunately, our iphones had no idea where we were or which way we were going.  Maybe they were used to our usual open spaces.  We made several u-turns in the cold-stopping to touch the leftover snow from the week before.  It was dirty and hard and gross, but it was snow-a rarity where we are from.  I even made a tiny-disgusting snowball.  Because SNOW.

Entering the Langham in my lularoe leggings and tennis shoes, I felt a little out of place.  To the left, a pianist on a grand piano and a tea room.  I glanced at the people drinking their tea and sampling gourmet desserts and wondered if they, too were splurging.  Probably not.  After we checked in and left our bags, I quickly changed into more appropriate “fake it til you make it” attire and we went out to explore the city.

We walked to Faneuil Hall Marketplace where we were told we could find some good eats and ran into one of the Cheers-themed restaurants.

  The placemats conveniently included a map of the Freedom Trail which we were told to follow.  It started outside of Faneuil Hall, so off we went.

The vibe of the city was quickly established as we walked by a man in a teddy bear costume playing techno music on his electric keyboard.  This was also the first of many times that Kristen and I noticed the smell of marijuana.  Later, we had noticed it SO often that I looked up Boston+Marijuana+Trees+Smell on Google thinking their was some sort of tree or plant in Boston that has a similar smell.  It turns out, similar to the conversations of Jules and Vincent on Pulp Fiction, that while it is illegal in Boston, having small amounts of it is rarely punished.  #factotheday 

The other strange thing we kept noticing is the statues.  Kristen and I ended up calling them the death statues.  It seemed that any statue that was not obviously some sort of historical figure/politician was in memoriam of some tragic event.  We literally either saw morbid death statues or historical figure statues.  There was no in between.  It made me appreciate the happy ones at The Shoppes At River Crossing a little more.  Note to self.  If I ever donate a statue in memoriam, make it a happy one.  Speaking of statues, I got temporarily confused and thought Sam Adams and Captain Morgan were the same person, so we took a picture anyway.

The weirdest figure we noticed, however, was on top of the Old State House.  This was the site of the Boston Massacre.  As I admired the building, I noticed a unicorn at the top.  “Uh….is that a….a….unicorn up there?”  “Yep.”  TGFG (Thank God For Google).  Apparently, the unicorn was a well-known symbol for the British Royal Family.  I don’t hear about it anymore, so my guess is the royals were worried we would make fun of their Lisa Frank mascot and stopped using it.  I wonder if they thought they were real at the time.

The Old State House sits on a block all by itself.  Figuring out which road on the map would take us to the next stop is a little confusing for a normal person-but for geographically challenged people-it was even more difficult.  We walked back and forth one street several times before finally making it to the next historical site.  That’s when I looked down.  A red line.  It looked so similar to the red line on the map.  Why was this red line so familiar to me?  Red line.  Red Robin.  Batman.  Man. Ma.  Mama.  “OH CRAP!”  I exclaimed as it hit me, “Mama told me that Freedom Trail had a red line all over the city to follow.”  We didn’t even need a map.  She had told me only a week before to find a starting point and follow the line.  Ugh.  It’s not easy being stupid, y’all.

We decided to make one more major stop before we went back to our hotel for the night.  Mike’s Bakery.  We had been told by our friends and family who had visited, and even by Pinterest and Trip Advisor-that all visitors to Boston MUST go to Mike’s Bakery and buy a cannoli.  A very friendly Bostonian gave us “easy” walking instructions.  “A ten minute walk.” she said.  An hour later and we arrived to Boston’s Little Italy.  Finally.  Mikes.  The line-which started in the totally packed bakery-ended around the block.  We had come so far.  We decided to wait.  We yelled our order at the girl over the crowd.  She took Kristen’s twenty and gave her back $10 less that was owed.  Thirty minutes later, we split a Boston-creme pie while waiting for our Uber to the hotel.  It was delicious.  We saved the cannolis for the hotel.

Finally, we were at the hotel.  A man brought up our bags and I tipped him-feeling incredibly sophisticated.  The view, the bed, the bathrobes, the pink accents.  Kristen and I joked about how romantic this trip would have been with different travel partners.  We took showers and got ready for bed, trying to decide if we were allowed to keep the Langham embroidered slippers and whether or not we would be charged for drinking the bottled water.  TGFG, yall.  We could keep them and we could drink water.  *Fist pump!*

We took out our cannoli boxes, ceremoniously opened the twine-tied blue boxes, and got ready to have the true Boston experience.  A cannoli from Mike’s.  In our fancy hotel.  Wearing our fancy hotel slippers.  This was it.  The cherry on top of our incredible day.

Mine was greasy and tasted like an old empanada stuffed with sugar-free chocolate pudding.  Kristen’s was a little better, as it was filled with Oreos (thanks, Nabisco).  It was one of those things where something had been built up too much, like the movie La La Land.  I have no regrets.  We HAD to try it because everyone told us to try it, and I’m glad we did, but I wonder how many people pretend to love it because they are supposed to love it.  #hipsters

Being the party animals that we were, we drank the rest of our complimentary bottled waters and called it a night.  Our first day in New England started off a little awkwardly, but ended well, with turn-down service and famous cannolis that simply weren’t good enough for us.  Isn’t that every girl’s dream?

New England-BoysnBerry In Boston So, we made it to Boston.  Once off the plane, we gave each other the usual smiling silent, "Well, that was awkward." expressions and made our way to baggage claim.  

[ricky-mortis]

S1 Pulp Musicals Gang my beloved