#his awkwardness is also very endearing in his early episodes

[foolishlyzephyrus]

we hate on danny pink too much, he’s a pretty reasonable human being for the most part.

[cerastes]

One of the fundamental aspects that helps carry Bocchi as such a genuine article is that Bocchi herself is at neither extreme of the competence scale.

In a lot of these “Main Character has immense insecurity issues and social anxiety”, you have a main character that REALLY doesn’t have anything going for them except their ‘pure heart’ (they are kind to others and that’s it) or they are actually a huge wellspring of untapped potential that just needs that little extra push in order to flourish.

There’s positive messages to be gleaned from these, for sure, like “sometimes being yourself is enough” and “you are so incredible, you just don’t know it, you can do anything”, which, while definitely something that can be That Event or Realization that helps someone overcome something, I think ultimately fails to account for the, perhaps, more worldly, more realists out there that don’t need to hear that for the one hundredth time, because the previous ninety nine times didn’t really do it for them, kind of how like “fake it till you make it” works for a lot of people, but also doesn’t for a lot of others.

If anything, I think one could glean something else from this: Unless I’m naturally a very kind person who’s always willing to put themselves down to get others over and can show genuine heartwarming kindness, or a genius waiting to bloom, just so incredibly good and skilled at something or various things that that cements my worth, I’m shit out of luck. And let’s face it, extreme purity is more of a negative in the real world than a positive, because people will kind of just walk all over you if you let them, plus you’re likely not a lot of fun if all you got going for you is “I’m Nice :)” without something else to compliment it, like being funny, knowing interesting things, etc. On the other side of the table, it is ultimately a very utilitarian view to consider someone awkward, eccentric, and otherwise different likeable only because they are incredibly good at something or some things, a Rudolf the Reindeer situation where his red nose makes him an ostracized freak right up until it’s actually useful for others and has a practical application.

It’s here where I think Bocchi subtly nails it: She’s at neither end of the stick. Bocchi’s only real skill to speak of is that she’s good at playing the guitar, but that’s because she’s actually been diligently playing for years now, has a successful ‘Tube channel, and explicitly enjoys playing the guitar both as a hobby and as a pressure valve; one of the early gags is that when overwhelmed with negative thoughts, she’d channel that right into composing a melody to play with her guitar, which she abandons after a few episodes when she’s a bit more comfortable with the people around her. Besides that, it’s explicit that Bocchi isn’t particularly good at other things, and we know she’s kind of ‘creepy’ in the endearing, eager way, the photos thing with her room being less that she’s a maniac and more that she’s very very stoked to have friends, for example, which she then reigns in when her mom tells her “hey, sweetie, that ain’t it”.

Everything Bocchi does is ultimately very consistent with who she is presented to be: She doesn’t just magically do a 180 turn just because she’s technically doing everything she set out to do, Bocchi is still a naturally anxious, negative person, and that’s fine, and her friends aren’t oblivious to her being like this (the gang being oblivious to the MC’s anxiety is a recurring thing in the genre!), in fact, they are fully aware and many times they say “oh is Bocchi having a Moment again?” or “ok I know where to find her, we need to look in a place where creatures like Bocchi, such as slugs, can be found”, they are fully aware that Bocchi is like that, but they like her anyways because, much like the audience, they think she’s fun to be around. Her being a good guitarist isn’t even why they stick by her, since she was actually bad at playing guitar with a band initially, only adjusting later, but even during this period before she adjusted, the rest of the band is like “oh no yeah this our guitarist Bocchi and we love her, she turns into a creature now and then and gets attacked by birds for no reason and it’s really funny, we’re going to store love in her”.

Bocchi isn’t exceptional in either a pathetic or successful way, she’s just Bocchi and she has friends that she likes and that she likes, and in the end it’s not really about “fixing” her as much as it is just making the band work out and having a good time while seeing that through. The only ones you could say are out to truly make sure Bocchi has a great opinion of herself are Kita and Kikuri, the former because that’s just how she is, and given how loving she is, she would like for Bocchi to see herself as someone actually cool and funny, the way she sees her, and the latter because Kikuri herself used to be pretty negative and never really got through it properly, relying on heavy alcohol binging instead to get in a good state of mind, and initially really wanted Bocchi to just enjoy playing music as an artform regardless of her skill.

All of this helps the dynamics feel not like we’re supposed to be backing a bland MC that is less a main character and more a vehicle to see the cooler rest of the cast, not like a Rudolf the Reindeer situation, but instead, helps it feel like we’re just seeing people that like being friends, being friends and hyping each other up or messing with each other because that’s what pals do.

[bunnakit]

my stand in ep 2 thoughts, feelings, etc.

alright i wanted to write this up nicely but it took me... two hours to get through the episode bc i kept stopping to write notes, so i'll do my best i guess.

weird thing about me is when i watch shows and write notes for these posts i always write the notes on napkins? i have like 5 different notebooks in arms reach at all times but i really like scribbling on a napkin for the true unhinged effect.

anyway blah blah reminder i'm just a silly dude on the internet, idk shit about dick, i just like to say shit, don't take me too seriously.

also please DO NOT leave novel spoilers in my reblogs, tags, or replies without some kind of warning label. please? it seems to happen with every show i write meta for and i LOVE that people get hyped but there's no way for me to avoid it when it's in my notifications like that.

some before the actual episode stuff; after learning last week that some of the kinnporsche people worked on this it really becomes apparent, especially in the style of the intro.

the music choices also seem a bit reminiscent of kinnporsche (and a little bit of not me) which i really enjoy. it feels kind of familiar and comforting.

immediately i loved how soft this episode started, the slight stubble on each of them, the way joe speaks so softly as if afraid to shatter their little bubble of peace, etc. i also love that the show doesn't skirt around the topic of sex and the fact that sometimes sex is awkward and clumsy, especially with a new partner and doubly so when it's your first queer partner.

and then the peace was shattered with ming kissing his back yet again. ouchies.

"will tong be at the set?" he's just not even trying to hide it. he basically said 'yeah ur great and all but tong????' but DAMN if poom isn't the absolute king of microexpressions.

at this point i can't really tell if tong is being a spoiled prince (derogatory) or if he's tired of acting in general? judgement withheld until a later date.

and then we jump into this actress being a parallel to ming and OOF OUCHIES MY ORGANS. she's a fan of tong but has to "settle" for joe - just like ming. and yet joe takes the time to be kind, to soothe her worries and put her at ease, because he has a heart of absolute gold. "it's her first movie but she was left to drown by the male lead." it's ming's first love and he has been left to drown in it.

mek's acting is really endearing. this is my first exposure to him (ive seen some of his social media and really like what he stands for as a person) and i'm instantly drawn to his performance. he also pulls off a great balance of adorable/sexy.

OOH THE SHOW SAID BISEXUAL OUT LOUD. A WIN FOR THE BI'S WE LOVE TO SEE IT.

i personally find ming's jealously hilarious. what a little caricature of toxicity.

anyway, it seems to me that if ming could get over his feelings and enjoy what he has in front of him he could be part of and enjoy a very sweet family, as it does seem tong IS giving him love, just not the exact flavor he craves.

the cut to joe's training made me laugh. little oat lore dump but my bio dad was actually a stunt man for movies (which is another part of why i was so excited for this show) and i can promise you nothing like this was part of it. what do i know, though, maybe things have changed since the early 2000s lol.

(no, they're probably not any movies you know, aside from maybe wild wild west [1999]. he mostly did westerns, historical docudramas, and historical fiction.)

ANYWAY AGAIN. with this little glimpse into ming's home life we get to see that he's very accustomed to doing what he wants and getting what he wants, which makes a lot of sense when applied to his almost obsessive behavior regarding tong - and now joe. i did absolutely LOVE linin and her sassy independence (minus the 'i can buy anything i need'.)

but... girl... did you just spray perfume in your mouth?

your actions are strange and unsettling. i like that in a woman.

ugh getting into ming venting his frustrations on joe's body. listen. liiiisten. while toxic without prior discussion... i'm into it. it may or may not be one of my favorite tropes in fanfic. toxic and unhealthy as fuck and i'm here for it.

AND THEN DAMN POOM THOSE NOISES. ACTING FOR YOUR LIFE BBY -- and the SNEEZE AT ORGASM LMAAAO oh i hope that's a running bit for some comedic relief.

because we then make a SHARP pivot into "then stop me" and there's so much potential for pain and self loathing there, for joe to think "i can't blame ming, i didn't stop any of it." i'm sat.

a little side bar, but i'm enjoying the fact that while there is discussion of topping and bottoming as a narrative device there really aren't any stereotypes here. i think on a surface level people would think "oh joe is the top" (pit babe style) and the show said no actually he isn't. love that for us.

"you can even move in haha jk" but the thing is, not jk, because joe would do that for ming - for anyone - bc that's the type of person he is.

[i had to stop and have a lil snack here]

hold up is this wut out drinking with them? OH SHIT IT IS. OKAY. it didn't give us much but at least it's a little connection to him finally. we knew joe knew him from his first life, just didn't really know how.

"i missed you" and when was the last time someone missed joe? not who he's replacing or the space he's filling, but HIM?

love ming's goofy ass locking the door and going inside just so he can make a dramatic ass appearance like he's 'the other woman' or some shit LMAO.

"what's in you to make me jealous?" quite possibly the worst dialogue tree choice ming could've picked.

[joe's emotional well being -45]

[everyone hated that]

"don't be so full of yourself" something joe has never been a day in his life. "you're just a stand-in." he knows. it's not something he ever forgets.

but after all that toxicity we have ming back home, seeking out joe's food for comfort, and we finally get to see him interact with his sister. i LOVE that she knows the importance of being a little silly as a treat, one of my biggest life mottos. we also get to see more of how ming is surrounded by love that he misses out on bc of his own wallowing and self sabotage.

oh, the homoeroticism of sparring with your bestie.

[everyone liked that]

oop- joe is wearing the shirt ming borrowed while sol is wearing a shirt with the word 'fantasy.' i'm good, i'm fine, gwenchana, gwenchana.

ough. sol with too many eyes on him and none of them sincere and joe with nothing but sincerity to offer but remains invisible. oof ouch.

enter ming with more religious imagery to match last week's cross scene. something something the sin of greed? confessing your sins? coveting - idk man, i don't have any religious trauma, my family let me just do my own thing.

but with ming knowing joe's true feeling every toxic thing he does is going to be 1000x more painful and i'm here for it. bring it you fucked up little guy.

"we can't mess with each other's privacy" don't mess with MY privacy. "you can't mess around with anyone else" emphasis on YOU, not we.

and then it's driven home what a romantic joe is, both with his workout heartbreak poetry and this little lady and the tramp noodle moment. this man, again much like pit babe, wants to be domesticated so bad.

and i know we all have hated on ming, that's the point, he's been a caricature of a toxic relationship spelled out in neon letters --

but when was the last time ming laughed with someone like this?

ok im exhausted, i'm falling into bed to read fanfic, but i'm absolutely in love with everything this is doing so far. i haven't written anything as in depth as this since last twilight (pre-betrayal) so it's really nice to feel insane again.

[animehouse-moe]

Skip And Loafer Episode 1: Sparkling Fresh

So, this is one of those series that I've been meaning to read for ages, and the anime just snuck up on me, leaving me with no actual knowledge of how things are supposed to go. That said, I'm thoroughly impressed with this first episode, and have lots to dive into.

I think the first thing that stands out is the color design, which (those that follow kViN on Twitter probably already know) is a strong penchant of the director's. They very much lean into pastels and, for lack of a better term softer and flatter colors. By no means is it a DIY!! style palette though, it's got much more saturation to it, but just not near as much contrast or highlights. And what I find most interesting about that is that the color designer, Yuuko Kobari, is arguably most known for those aggressive and strong palettes. They did the color design for series like Great Pretender and Redline, so you wouldn't really think that they'd be so at home with such a passive color palette.

But, they nailed it in just about the same way that Kotomi Deai did the direction of this episode. It's largely a quintessential high school slice of life, but just the right mix of creativity and expectation subversion.

Take, for example, the scene of the students getting dressed. We don't know who they are at that point in time, but such care is placed in how they go about things to help associated them with someone down the road. How they do their tie up, or fretting over having their skirt adjusted just the right way, or fluttering about excitedly in your room before your first day of school. It helps express so many different things without relying on the archetype or association of a character to do so. Plus, it just looks straight up beautiful, P.A is pulling a Cloverworks (and even a MAPPA?) with the clothing sakuga.

So how about something more oriented towards story? I'm certain I've droned on long enough in one go about the technical side. So, like I mentioned with the direction, Skip and Loafer as a story also thrives on that creativity and expectation subversion. Setting up for stereotypical pieces and skits, but either finding ways to reinvent them, or dancing past them. And in that, they create something that remains way more "in the moment".

Running barefoot to school to make it to your entrance ceremony just in time or a sudden change of pace to get home early to go to school tomorrow, these "in the moment" pieces give it a much more organic feeling. You're not left with characters stewing it over in a monologue or taking 3 episodes to make their impact. They think, and then they act, plain and simple.

Pairing that with the characters, who are by far the driving force, the flow of the episode is outstanding. Mitsumi might have snapped at Shima on the train earlier, but it's all washed away in the events of the day, neither thinks anything of it and instead reflect on how wonderful their first day was.

They chatter back in forth, get happy when seeing one another, and overall exemplify what they're going for as characters. Of course, that doesn't mean they're boxed in as their archetypes by any means. Shima is spacy and in with the popular crowd, but he has no issues with bein considerate or acting for his own sake. And Mitsumi may be a country bumpkin at heart, but her ability and will allows her to walk comfortably among her metropolitan peers as she recites her speech from memory or is the first to reach out to her classmates.

It produces something that feels incredibly organic without giving up on the parts that everyone guiltily enjoys so much from these youthful stories. The rose colored glasses are allowed to remain, but they are incredibly faint in comparison to some other pairs out there. There's awkwardness, oddity, and all manner of weird, but none of it gets in the way of allowing it to all be incredibly endearing. Not to repeat myself or talk in circles, but this sort of "wonderful reality" is only possible because of the characters, they all have something up with them, something that might not be considered a "perfect" trait. Something that allows them to be normal, so that outside of performances and perception, they can exist on a deeper level that allows things to stay just close enough to the ground.

Would I say it's the perfect high school slice of life anime? I mean, we're only one episode in so I'd never go that far, but I would say it's setting out to conquer a somewhat similar goal to Akebi's Sailor Uniform (though . That is, it wants to provide something beautiful and warm that shows the process of someone, who might be socially anxious or awkward, getting to enjoy their new station in life to the fullest. Getting to make friends and take part in all the things they dreamed of and make plenty of memories along the way.

[makima-s-most-smile]

Trigun Maximum 4 (part1)

I am not late! You are just early!

01: Count down

Ugh, Jessica and her weird puppy crush. I… just do not get it. It is creepy. Good on Vash having reinforcement.

This is a cute scene. Beyond being a used car salesman in the open, he is an awkward, but incredibly direct and honest person with people that are “close”. His curious question is kinda endearing. Good on tackling his assumptions about others in such a direct manner. And Brad accidentally digging his own grave by insulting Jessica by putting words into Wolfwood’s mouth is hilarious. I love how Wolfwood’s hair bristles visibly as the confrontation goes down. The ghibli-cat-shiver that Stampede WooWoo does seems to be Trimax canon, too! Let him bristle! It is cute!

Brad, Wolfwood is an orphan who lived with mere necessities and even less. He won’t criticise any grub he gets to eat. Free food is free food. 

Adding to that, this scene. Did I say that I love this homely feeling those scenes have? Just characters working off each other by their personality without stakes, but we get hella lot of character- and worldbuilding. 

Wolfwood is not a dumb person. Well, he is an idiot, but that is his behaviour, behind that is a very attentive, intelligent man. What he does not have is an education due to his upbringing. I think radio transmission is also done by satellite on No-Man’s-Land. (But I have to say that this may have been a line from a fanfic *coughs*) Anyway, the Great Fall led to a massive loss of technology and knowledge. The people of Home have the privilege of not trying to survive daily, of having resources to save the technology and use it. Outsiders haven’t. And I like the discrepancy between those two groups that is shown here.

I also love that Vash understands Wolfwood and that he kinda bullies the defensive baby into looking at the machinery. He meets Wolfwood at Wolfwood’s level. And that is just really a nice move.

Because it gets us there. The cynic has to deal with a new emotion growing. Hope. It really makes my heart ache. Wolfwood believes so thoroughly that he cannot be saved, but hopes so desperatedly that he can at least lessen the burden on the kiddos. Here he receives hope for ALL.

Wolfwood is bitter, but being a realist. He knows about the state of the world, it makes his whole being. And here he is with a bit of hope blooming in his chest begging God that he may keep it. That they may keep it. It shows Wolfwood being incredibly humble.

We next to never get to see Wolfwood really speak to God. His moral dilemma is exactly that, moral and ethical. There is no church in it. It is not about religion or belief. It is his own morals not something that was instilled into him from the outside. In ‘98 Wolfwood being a man of God is a running joke ‘til episode 23 in the church. Even in Trimax it kinda is. But here, in this quiet moment where Wolfwood watches his friends and with new hope blossoming, he has no other choice but to beg a higher power to grant them some grace. Because Wolfwood knows that his hope, the message reaching Earth and them getting an answer is completely out of his control. 

And it looks like his prayer gets answered.

The handshake is incredibly cute. Did they just invent it in the spur of the moment?

And damn, Luida reminiscending Doc. How she allows herself a moment of respite, but still is the responsible leader even in this.

I snorted at the Knives’ pic. Dude being grumpy. Someone needs to make Knives' "Did you just shoot me?!" face over this. Please. Vash feels Knives' power surging and a glass breaks. Why only that glass? O.O I know it is for the atmosphere of the scene, but lemme be nitpicky.

Knives that looks like really bad constipation and his fart cuts the planet in half. *inserts one punch man ok face*

Uh, biblical. Knives as archangel Michael with his sword, ready to cut Satan from the sky and weighing the souls on judgement day. GOD! I SLEPT BETWEEN CHAPTERS AND JUST REALISED! EYE OF MICHAEL! They are judges of humanity, so to speak, and the sword of the Lord. I think that is especially meaningful about their workings in Stampede, really.

It is interesting that Wolfwood’s prayer was answered with an affirmative sign, with real reasons for hope, but it is Knives who intervenes and destroys the hope again. It could be read as Knives interfering with God/Vash destroying the hope that Vash gifts to the sinner Wolfwood.

:/ Vash… Let Brad tell the others. You’re patronising again! I know people need hope and all, but you let them hope a lie just now. Let people decide for themselves, let them have the agency to do so!

I know he knows that I know that he knows that I know that he knows-Situation. Wolfwood inserting himself as Vash' companion. If Vash wants to or not. Buddy is along the way. He needs to.

But I like that Wolfwood already knew that Vash would run away again and awaited him. Considering that we know that Vash won’t zoom in on Knives and will get distracted again, this here reads less than “I need to deal with Knives!” but more like “Vash runs from connection again”. Does Wolfwood know about the satellites, too? Or does he still have his hope unaffected by Knives?

02: Killer Horn Blues

Hi, Hornfreak! You evil Wolfwood!

Hornfreak is interesting. In the chapter before Knives was shown like archangel michael, but now Hornfreak flips the image and makes Knives the devil. 

Also, the perfect pitch is a superpower!

Hoppered is so cute y-y. I love their banter.

Not gonna lie, Knives is extremely cute in this pic. I wanna squish his cheeks and tell him he's baby. Too bad he does evil supervillain poses on the next pages.

Hornfreak is much like Wolfwood. Their clothing style is similar but colours inverted, both are bitter, cynic realists, but while Hornfreak is mostly about his own gain and benefit, Wolfwood is selfless. We haven’t seen Wolfwood on the job, but considering his reaction to Keele, we can at least assume that Wolfwood does not go on killing sprees like this. I like how this little flashback stresses the differences between them, too. We don't see Wolfwood on killing missions, but Wolfwood killing innocents is just too out there. Midvalley is cruel and coldblooded. He doesn't care about human life at all.

… He looked into a mirror and practiced that. I JUST KNOW IT! This line makes me cringe so hard. Lol, I am Millions Knives, herpaderp, I collect knives. Hehehehehe. Not gonna lie, I would not survive a meeting with Knives. I would laugh at him. I'd die. Even if I was a useful knife for him.

The gun ho guns are Knives’ knives. I like the reminder that “Chapel” is part of them. It could be Wolfwood’s arm, too. But he is missing the cross cufflinks in Trimax. So it could be OG-Chapel. It would make sense, since Knives “collected” his knives personally and no one knew that Wolfie came instead since Knives was… uh… occupied with being… uh… in the womb at the fifth moon incident.

Hornfreak does not seem to suffer under being an assassin, he does not really care that he kills or who is killed by him, he cares for his own life. Hornfreaks focus is completely on the being that has him under “its” thumb, Knives. Like Wolfwood, Hornfreak is a guy between a rock and a hard place and both don’t kid themselves about what will happen to them as soon as Knives wins. But Midvalley is all about himself, while Wolfwood is about the orphanage and its future.

I pity Legato. Especially in this exchange. Here is this being that he devoted his whole existence to and it brushes his service and really his whole loyalty off like it means nothing at all. Legato is his main informant about how Knives’ machinations are working, he helps Knives as much as he can, hell, he even made sure that Knives has a body at all. And he is taken for granted! He is not even privy to such information like: “Yeah, well, change of plans. Chapel is now a babysitter for my little bro. Just letting you know! For reasons, too!” Knives cannot be bothered to spare Legato a crumb of attention or respect. Someone else said that Knives and Legato are Vash and Wolfwood just completely unhinged. I agree. I need to say something, but that goes into spoiler territory. Someone remind me in a few volumes to go into the similarities and the main difference.

I like how Knives does not even tell Legato Wolfwood’s real name or anything or that Wolfwood has tried to kill him. Nah, not important to him at all. All according to keikaku. (Newsflash, it is not going to keikaku at all, friend!)

Interesting, too, that Midvalley had the same reaction like Wolfwood had to Vash' "aura" at his first meeting with Knives. Fear. He knows that Knives is a monster, immediately and without a doubt. His friends on the other hand were unable to feel it and thus Knives cut them up when they showed aggression to Knives. 

Midvalley muses how easy it would be to kill Knives with a well timed toot. But instead he breaks down at the memory of Knives' killing his friends! He cannot do it. There is no option to fight even in theory. And the focus at the end of the scene onto Knives tells me at least that he is very aware that Midvalley listened in and thought about killing him. I am not sure, but it seems like he feels sad? Apathetic? Not completely sure. Like he reserved himself to believe that this is all that humans feel towards him. Selffulfilling prophecy, though… If Knives only shows himself as a monster, people treat him like one.

Counter this with these idiots and the humans treating Vash as an equal, an equal idiot. While Vash being not human is still unspoken, Wolfwood hints more and more at it that he knows and Vash shows a bit more of his inhuman senses to him. 

But then Milly and Meryl kick in the door and, damn, Meryl is fucking spiteful!

03: Bottom of the dark

And the spite continues! Meryl is livid that the guys just left them. But letting them nearly die is harsh.

You nearly killed your idiot friends out of revenge for them leaving, gurl! While I don’t like the extreme it went to for jokes, I like that it happened. I like that we get to see the insurance women being angry for being left behind. I would be, too. (Too many manga women get just sidelined by the dudes deciding: Things are too dangerous for our fragile, female friend. We go without them for their safety!) It is a constant rejection, really.  

Uh, 13th bride? Not the 13th wife? Oh… No… It got worse. And it started out bad with just the assault.

Thank you for showing us that the insurance women are fucking capable on their own! More of this, please!

I understand that Meryl may hate having to rely on a gun. But that is really the state of the world they live in. Even Vash as the glaring break of tradition has to carry one. I’d like to know more about Meryl’s relationship to that man. Is it her mentor? Her dad? When did she get the weapon from him?

“It may be small, but its power is sufficient” could be about the weapon, but it could also be read about Meryl as a whole.

EWEWEWEWEWEWEEWWWWWW! Zazie, body horror supreme!

How can it be that those two dumbos nearly died by drying up and are just up and on the go again?! As much as the vials were a last second addition, Wolfwood surely is not human if he is on his two feet again. I get Vash! We were shown that he has a supreme healing factor by his body pushing out a bullet as Eriks. But Wolfwood...

Who is saying the pain in the ass-part? I think it is Vash? 

I’d also be a bit stinky if I just nearly died because my companions were petty.

And Wolfwood is doing what I just criticised Vash often does… Deciding for others for their safety without informing them. Both boys are so good at this >:3 *cocks gun* Sure, I would not want to have my companions die, either, especially when they are not a fighting monster like I am… But fucking talk to them about it! Don't just do the ditcheridoo! Wolfwood being pissy about their “stunt” does read more like him putting on a front, to give a reason more to ditch them and keep their relationship at arm's length. He cares. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t care about them tagging along.

I’d say Wolfwood is more of a realist, considering what happened in Home. The guys are in danger and there are more crazy mofos coming after them. Meryl and Milly can take care of themselves with normal humans. Though, I don’t think Wolfwood is asking/reflecting himself. I take Wolfwood’s comment more about relieving his conscience if Vash agrees to the decision of ditching them. So he does not carry the burden of hurting them by leaving on his own.

It gives way for another thought for me. If they ditch the insurance women for their safety, why wouldn't Vash do the same for Wolfwood?

I… I don’t believe that. They get that people are trying to kill Vash. Milly gets much more, maybe. But I do not think Meryl does. It is not like Vash told her what and who he is in the cold chamber. Or why he is hunted down. Or by whom. This will bite him in the arse. So badly. And fuck Vash, he deserves the bite. But Meryl does not.

The gun ho guns have their own sandstreamer with a skull at the front. How loaded is Knives? I made a joke a bit ago that Vash would not be the wealthy twin even with his lifespan, because he lives hand to mouth, but Knives would go into stocks and become rich.

I love Hoppered’s and Midvalley’s talks. Hoppered gets him. He looks stupid, but he has Milly-attention. And damn, if Revenge does not forebond a tragic ending for Hoppered. But can they really say that they chose this path? Midvalley had to decide between dying then and dying on a mission, but he may get an opening out if he choses the latter. Hoppered, we will see. Revenge says that he has a personal vendetta against Vash and that makes his decision an active one and not one between pest and cholera.

But… how does Midvalley hop from: “I want out and survive!” To “Imma gonna kill Vash even though then Knives will hunt me down personally!” That… is counterproductive to Midvalley wanting to survive, really… I get Hoppered with his revenge, but I don’t get Midvalley. Why doesn’t he just up and leave now? I don’t think Hoppered would make him stay. The fight is senseless. And as soon as it commences, Midvalley’s options go from: Die or run to die and die.

And… why would Hoppered ask for Midvalley hiding his remains? Is it a request for a burial?

I don’t understand, either, Zazie. Oh, they meant that our protagonists have split, not whyever Midvalley agrees to kill Vash.

Milly hears something to distract her and Meryl gets yeeted by a fucking swarm of insects. I… I think I’d black out if a swarm of mosquitos snapped me away.

[gillianthecat]

thoughts while watching

Be My Favorite episode 2

* Pink hair steaks! Someone mentioned it on here and I haven't met the guy yet, but I like them in the opening credits.

* Kawi acts like a 10 year old throwing a tantrum. Isn't he supposed to be 30? If this keeps up I may find him too annoying to like, despite the character theoretically being interesting to me.

* "You're right about one thing. I'm hot." 😂 Ok Pisaeng, no false modesty here, I see. Campus King my beloved.

* Sorry bud, but how do you make it to 30 without realizing other people get lonely. Ah, well he is self aware about this at least.

* Pisaeng is somehow already endeared by this disaster of a human being. I shall endeavor to see Kawi through his eyes. (Endeared is very charming on Pisaeng.)

* omg this confession that wasn't a confession... that maybe isn't so fake after all? 👀 i am so curious to get a glimpse inside Pisaeng's mind. This moment was well done.

* This caretaking is so sweet and careful.

* The time travel dandelion takes him between specific moments. That's a good way to set it up. There's no room in our tight schedule of falling in love for accidental detours to 1993. Or last Tuesday.

* [I'm still not warming up to Krist's acting, alas. I may have to think of this character more as a concept than an embodied person.]

* Ouch.

* And changing the past changes the present! So what is their relationship in this iteration of it? Ah! Kawi's now their best man.

* Time travel is always tricky to write. I guess the approach they're using here is that Kawi doesn't remember any of the changed intervening years? He's mentally on one path, bouncing back and forth, while everyone else's memories change based on how Kawi changed the past and the effects rippling out from that. And it seems like he can only go back to the past (2015) at the point he left it? Which is a wise choice, so that the events of 2015 will proceed in a linear manner.

* Such an earnest determined boy. So proud of him for taking the chance to stop hiding himself away. And I'm pretty sure something's going to go wrong 😂

* I think I actually like Pear more with the way she's ignoring Kawi here. She's gonna be nice to everyone, but she has her own life to live, thank you very much.

* Pisaeng is flirting so hard with Kawi and he has no idea, he's so fixated on his preexisting idea of the world.

* Pink highlights is here! Let's found out who he is... Oooh. I think I like him. Max. And I'm glad to see that Kawi is also trying to fix other things in the past besides "losing" Pear. Currently I'm most intrigued about what went down with Max and him.

* God, this poor kid is running around trying to fix everything at once. He's winning my sympathy with this.

* Um... Not so sure that it's a good idea to give the time travel mcguffin away. (I assume he's going to fail though so it will be fine 😂) He's very fixated on the idea that giving her this one specific object will fix everything and give him the life he wanted. It's actually a very plausible emotion, getting stuck that way.

* 🤣 I guess I paused a second too early; he figured that one out on his own.

* Oh good, Pisaeng at least thinks he should confess he's not the secret buddy, even if he doesn't manage to do it. I like Pear's friend. And the over vibe of awkwardness in this classroom scene.

* Oh, but I suddenly remembered during this argument in the bedroom, that Pisaeng was Kawi's secret buddy. Did he ever give him anything??

* Also, love how you keep yelling at Pisaeng that he's handsome, bud. Certainly it doesn't mean anything.

* Pisaeng is so endeared by all of Kawi's bad behavior. Every pot has its lid, etc. Kawi's already making himself into his sugar baby lol. (But I am curious as to how P&P ended up engaged after all this.)?

* So ummm... Kawi is actually 30 here... but he's acting like a 7 year old kid. I mean, it's obviously working for Pisaeng; he's charmed beneath his outward annoyance. But what's going with Kawi? Is he letting his inner child out, as part of his steps to redoing his past? Is it because he's figured out that Pisaeng likes it?

* Pear is like, "ok? It's just a secret buddy thing, why would I be mad over it?" And her express when Pisaeng gets up to go—"please don't leave me along with this weirdo." So far she (and the mysterious Max) are my faves.

* Interesting watching this one along with Star Struck. Very different tone re. class difference issues.

* I saw gifs of The Kiss on my dash, so let's see how it happens. Pisaeng looks drunk and miserable stumbling into Kawi's room. That was a desperate lunge, a man reaching for a life raft. And a cliffhanger!

* Oh my goodness, and of course Pisaeng went back to the claw machine to win a the blue thing for his starting-to-become-a-big-crush. That is the cutest thing. I like that despite his incipient crush he so far shows no jealousy of Kawi going after Pear; he's in fact eager to help and try and make Kawi happy with it. Does Pisaeng not yet realize he's getting a crush? Does he know that he's queer?

* Aww and he spends hours and a fortune in tokens and doesn't even get it 🥺 (at least that they'll show us this episode). I kinda adore him, whatever his taste in men.

The end. So far I neither love nor hate this show. There's a lot a like, some stuff that doesn't really work for me (mainly Kawi, at least as depicted by Krist) but enough to intrigue me to keep watching.

Now I'm going to go read what everyone else has been saying about it!

[milo-knight]

NOAH FOR THE GAME. AND/OR ZACK

LET'S GOOOOOO!!! I'll do both because I am insane <3

Headcanon A (Realistic)

+ Noah has a mild crush on one of his coworkers but convinces himself not to even mentally address it because he doesn't want to have to process those kinds of emotions. Whenever he interacts with said coworker though it is just mildly awkward and Noah has simply blamed it on differing personalities. Also bonus headcanon I suppose but I think Noah would have had a small period of time where his feelings for Tara were so genuinely affectionate that he assumed that meant he had a crush on her. He did not, he just felt a deep bond with her but for like a week he was worried he had fallen in love just because he got excited when they hung out and liked when Tara would hug him on occasion.

+ After Zackariah's death in Hope's Reprisal his former lover Jaqueline wrote a song about him though she never publicly confirmed it was about him. The song was snubbed by the public for being 'too harsh' and 'too unrealistic' though for those who knew Zackariah, they understood the song perfectly. The song talked about Jaqueline and Zackariah meeting during their time in mental health facilities and how Zackariah even then was constantly quick to anger and even quicker to paranoia. Also a bonus headcanon but Zackariah likely was super into Dungeons and Dragons though at his time of death had never had enough friends to play it with. Had it been a normal summer camp experience he would have gotten the others to play it with him. He would have made an NPC that romanced Eli's character immediately.

Headcanon B (Not Realistic, But Hilarious)

+ Noah does not use any social media aside from an Instagram account that she runs to sell some of her custom dolls that she makes. She usually only accesses the account for the sake of her doll selling but on occasion she has used her account to continuously report Mordecai's to get him banned from the app. Also when Mordecai launched merch for his brand Noah created several sock puppet accounts to disparage the merch for being low quality and poorly designed (which, to her credit, was very true). Though a day later a Mordecai stan account tried to follow one of the sock puppet accounts which terrified Noah so bad she deleted all of them and all her commentary on the merchandise.

+ Had Zackariah not spoken to Eli so early on he likely would have found Jericho endearing and even developed a crush on him. Though because he met Eli properly first and found Eli so endlessly amazing when Jericho (even in brief passing) criticized Eli he decided he would never be able to like Jericho. I suppose still mildly realistic but Zackariah was likely undiagnosed but had Borderline Personality Disorder with Eli very quickly becoming both his crush and favourite person. Had he not met Eli when he did, this crush and favourite person likely would have been Jericho.

Headcanon C (Heart-Crushing)

+ Noah was horrible episodes where he cannot process that others around him are not going to abuse him like Mordecai did- which causes him to behave in increasingly irrational, paranoid ways. On a good day he'll simply isolate himself or unthinkingly do whatever anyone else says to avoid a being punished. On a bad day he'll break down into tears and beg those closest to him to appropriately punish him- usually with extreme violence. After these episodes he always ends up disassociating alongside having an extended period of verbal shut-down. If it makes it even mildly better though, no one has ever punished him during these episodes despite his constant begging.

+ I wish I could say Zackariah had made his peace with his death and had perhaps even expected it going into his birthday party... but he truly didn't. He did not expect to die in the slightest. In fact he had actually expected to confess to Eli that same day and work to get them both out of the camp. Even in the few seconds before he died he still could not process it, and was deeply confused as to why he felt so ill before it dawned on him just as he lost consciousness.

Headcanon D (Unrealistic But I Make the Rules)

+ Headcanon for Gone Waters variant of Noah but... after Mordecai died Noah waited for a bit for his cult to fall apart before she came out of hiding to release a tell-all memoir about her experience as his lover/kidnapping victim. It was a genuinely heart-wrenching read that won numerous awards and she even appeared on Oprah but after that she purposefully let herself fade into obscurity. She just wanted to make sure Mordecai was never remembered as a hero or a good person.

+ Zackariah Survivor AU but I believe if he had somehow made it out of being poisoned alive (perhaps an incorrect dosage that only temporarily knocked him out) he would have become an intensely horrible person but specifically only to Emery and Pippy. He would behave rationally to everyone else but he would likely have made both girls' lives living nightmares. He especially would have targeted Pippy, making her life miserable but never doing enough to kill her. I love Zackariah but for putting poison in a cupcake meant for Eli, Zackariah would have lost all sense of morals and become unforgivable.

[shihalyfie]

The differences between Daisuke in the Japanese version and Davis in the American English dub

Of the many changes made from the Japanese version of Adventure and 02 to the American English dub, Daisuke sticks out as the one character who got the most severe alterations by landslide, to the point a very large number of American English dub Davis’s major dialogue lines say the complete opposite of what Daisuke was originally saying.

Even among those who do acknowledge the changes, I still find that the amount of impact these changes had is often underestimated -- a lot of these changes are often played off as "exaggerations of his existing behavior", and not changing so many things to the degree where it really is reasonable to make a case they shouldn’t be considered the same character at all, outside of sharing a few base outline points.

I think a big reason for the spread of the fallacy that “the American English dub didn’t change very much” is that there weren’t that many aggressive changes to the background plot, but in a series like Adventure and 02 where the story lives and breathes by its characterization, repeatedly making dialogue changes across the entire series can mean a major change to the whole series. And, of course, because Daisuke is the lead protagonist of 02, whose way of life and thinking is key to the series themes, changes this aggressive naturally lead to major changes in the series itself.

Daisuke’s crush on Hikari

A lot of people tend to mention that Daisuke’s crush on Hikari is “exaggerated” in the dub, but it actually goes way further than that, to the point I’m genuinely surprised it’s not brought up very much even to this day. It’s a difference that means a lot to anyone who’s dealt with being hit on (and honestly even I as a young kid watching it was well aware of the difference), and could easily be make-or-break regarding his character to many people watching this series. But in any case: while Daisuke’s crush on Hikari is obvious, he never oversteps her boundaries and is very vague and wishy-washy about it, whereas in the American English dub, Davis is openly possessive of her to the degree she has to actively shut him down verbally (and still has to keep fending him off for the rest of the series).

Even his first lines about this indicate a massive difference -- Daisuke’s main concerns are simply about the fact Takeru seems closer to Hikari than he is, which tracks with the consistent nuance that his primary concern is about them third wheeling him, whereas Davis refers to this as “making a move on my girl” and spends later episodes saying things about wanting a kiss from her or generally acting entitled to her. And, as said above, exactly how much of this takes up Daisuke’s relationships with Takeru and Hikari is greatly exaggerated; there are many times when Daisuke talks with them normally (at most, caving a bit early to Hikari’s opinions because he wants to please her) like normal friends. The last time within the TV series Daisuke makes any reference to his crush on Hikari is that he stutters slightly in happiness when Hikari offers to join the group meeting at his apartment in 02 episode 35, and it isn’t brought up again once for a solid 15 episodes after that. Even before then, it was virtually never brought up during very serious or grave moments, because Daisuke had the sense to understand that there were way more important things at hand (which is also presumably why it drops out of the narrative after a fashion, because it was evident that they had more significant priorities at the moment).

This basically contextualizes why, in the Japanese version, Takeru and Hikari continue to treat Daisuke like a normal friend despite the obviously awkward situation; it happens just uncommonly enough for them to get along as normal friends for the most part, and Daisuke’s wishy-washy actions of being extremely obvious about his affection but doing an absolutely godawful job of hiding it loop all the way into endearing (because he’s frankly this much of a dramatic idiot about everything he likes). It’s painfully easy for them to just pretend it’s not happening (in the case of Hikari) or have reactions akin to “okay, you have fun with that” (in the case of Takeru). Conversely, in the American English dub, Kari and T.K. have to verbally shut him down several times, and it often makes you wonder how they put up with him (especially in the case of Kari, who really should not be obligated to put up with someone being a genuine creep to her like this, and there’s an indirect misogynistic nuance in how said dub takes a very “boys will be boys” tone about all this).

By proxy, Daisuke’s relationship with Takeru really isn’t that hostile at all -- in fact, after a certain point, the hostility is basically nonexistent, because Daisuke likes and respects Takeru as a friend in any circumstance that doesn’t imply Hikari and Takeru are third wheeling him. His whole breakdown and crisis in 02 episode 11 is about the fact he felt he didn’t do enough to understand Takeru and Patamon’s feelings in trying to help them both (lines that are effectively removed in the American English dub version of this scene). The American English dub has a running gag of him deliberately and maliciously “misremembering” T.K.’s name (as things like “T.A.” or “T.C.”) as part of his hostility, and there’s no indication that the two ever learned to get along.

Perhaps the biggest irony about this all is that while Davis was portrayed as being rather entitled to his pursuit of Kari and also someone who was fixated on “picking up chicks” (from 02 episode 8), Daisuke, conversely, is portrayed as being such a simple-minded, earnest, and straightforward person (one who thinks purely in terms of “impress people by doing something REALLY COOL”) that Hurricane Touchdown portrays Daisuke as disliking flirts and shady behavior. This is from a series of scenes that were very heavily altered in the transition to Digimon the Movie; in said dubbed version, Willis expressed an interest in meeting Kari and caused Davis to flip out with lines like “only I get to kiss Kari!”, but in the original version, Wallace never even mentioned Hikari and was in fact flirting with Miyako to her face, causing Daisuke to naturally get very annoyed on her behalf. It is in fact a very well-known belief among Daisuke fans that he should actually be very big on treating the girls around him with proper respect -- especially since the one time he actually did try getting chocolate from girls, the most he could really amount to was once again trying to be “impressive” and to say “you are very pretty, please give me chocolate”. (In fact, when he was asked in straightforward words about his type of girl and what he thought of Hikari, the only thing he could do was deflect the questions awkwardly.)

As a side note, the dynamic between Daisuke and Wallace in Hurricane Touchdown is inverted from their incarnations in Digimon the Movie. Digimon the Movie portrays Willis as comparatively level-headed and responsible while Davis continually antagonizes him, but in Hurricane Touchdown, it was actually Wallace who was evading questions, flirting with Miyako, and generally being frustratingly unhelpful. Daisuke was naturally complicating matters because his dramatic personality was taking everything out of proportion, but his complaints about Wallace being shady, unhelpful, and hypocritical were entirely legitimate, and he had every right to snap at Wallace for planting kisses on Hikari and Miyako at the end of the movie because of how Wallace had been blatantly flirting with Miyako for the time they’d been hanging out. Of course Daisuke would be upset!

Daisuke’s high amount of compassion and emotional empathy

One reason I constantly compare Daisuke to being much like a “puppy” is that a lot of his behavior can be attributed to being over-the-top, straightforward, and very pure-hearted in intentions like a puppy. In fact, the main reason Daisuke sometimes initially comes off as “abrasive” is that he takes things too seriously. While Daisuke is simple-minded and doesn’t like to think too hard about things, he compensates for it by being emotionally sensitive and intelligent, and this is one area where it’s often been pointed out Daisuke is more like the also very emotionally passionate Yamato than he is Taichi (who often bordered on insensitive at times in comparison). This means that Kiuchi Reiko’s performance for him hits almost every part of the emotional spectrum, ranging from genuinely happy and joyful to disappointed to worried to sad -- take a listen if you haven’t yet -- and it also means that when things really emotionally shake him, like witnessing the Digital World destruction (02 episode 20) or begging Ken to not throw his life away (02 episode 26), you can hear the shakiness in Kiuchi Reiko's delivery like Daisuke's genuinely about to cry. One of 02′s most prominent themes is the importance of moving on even in the face of adversity, which means that Daisuke having a personality of understanding everything but still pushing on with resilience is very important to that theme.

However, the American English dub of 02 had a habit of trying to aggressively add jokes to scenes to make them funnier, and beyond just changing up the tonal mood of the series itself as a whole, it also heavily reflected on the characters themselves who ended up put in a situation where it was much harder to discern individual personalities via their speech patterns and dialogue lines. It’s often claimed that giving everyone snark and insult lines in the American English dub contributed to “giving them more personality”, but often omitted from the discussion is the fact that it standardizes every character to all have the same exact somewhat-acerbic somewhat-”snarky” disposition and removes any real sense of distinction or individuality between them -- which, in a series like 02 where character development often hinged very directly on specific lines or certain personalities being on extremes, only contributes further to the stigma that the characters are “flat” or lacking in personality. (For instance, it’s brought up multiple times throughout 02 that Hikari repeatedly fails to express how she’s feeling or talk to others about her problems, and several plot points and character dynamics hinge directly on this, with the major breakthrough in her relationship with Miyako centering around how Miyako is the one who successfully breaks through her many layers -- but because the dub keeps having Kari freely express snide at anything she doesn’t like, this plot point completely loses impact.)

So, as a result, when Davis says in 02 episode 20 that he wants to fight “until this thing is completely destroyed once and for all”, with a more angry and arguably even flippant tone as he insults Chimeramon by calling it “like a big, ugly stuffed animal” (instead of Daisuke saying this because his heart has genuinely started to hurt and he’s passionate about protecting others), it comes off as just being aggressive and reckless in wanting to punch Chimeramon’s face in, and that Davis isn’t thinking through anything hard nor taking it seriously even when it’s an emotionally tense situation.

(Note that I still have all respect for Brian Donovan’s performance as Davis, and my concerns have more to do with the voice acting direction and script.)

This is also why Daisuke breaking down in tears over Wallace’s plight in Hurricane Touchdown is meant to be a big deal, because despite having bickered with Wallace earlier, Daisuke is an empathetic person who connects with others by trying to put himself in their perspective -- and he definitely understands how bad this situation has gotten! The reason he breaks down crying so harshly is that he imagines himself in Wallace’s situation -- having to fight and potentially kill one’s own partner -- and has conflicting loyalties between that and the knowledge that he may also have to inflict that on Wallace’s partner for the sake of saving Taichi and the others. This is the only time Daisuke breaks down crying in full during 02 canon, mainly because he’s resilient enough to keep himself together in most cases, but in the end he’s soft-hearted and empathetic enough to outright weep for Wallace and for others’ problems.

So when, in Digimon the Movie, Davis breaks down in an almost mockingly dramatic manner calling it "the saddest story I've ever heard" (without really going into any nuances of the problem) and bounces back with such “that was fast” speed, it really seems like Davis is too callous and simple-minded to actually care about others’ problems at all -- which is the exact opposite of the point originally being made.

Daisuke is a fundamentally compassionate person, which means a large majority of the times he gets really angry are because he’s angry on others’ behalf (see a line from 02 episode 10 where he vents his anger on Taichi’s behalf several times during the episode, whereas the above-pictured line was turned into one where Davis condescendingly dismisses Tentomon for getting fixated on a tree). Because Daisuke was portrayed as a pure-hearted kid with a strong emphasis on protecting as many people as possible, it thus contributes to why he’s portrayed as one of the first to accept the idea of potentially having to kill enemy Digimon (because if they don’t, there’ll be more victims than there would be spared lives), and why his life motto of “continuing to move forward” ends up inspiring the others so much -- his simple-mindedness had a flip side in that he never got caught up in platitudes or meaningless things, focusing only on what they needed to do next to protect others and to move on from adversity. In many ways, Daisuke was one of the smartest people in the group because he never got hung up on such things. But when you have lines like

Daisuke: I’m not saying it’s wrong to be worried or unsatisfied. Wanting to improve yourself is important. But messing that up with the power of darkness…there’s only one thing I want right now. Defeating you, BelialVamdemon!

being turned into

Davis: Congratulations, big and ugly. I guess you should go back to your magic act. Now, we’re through with chit-chatting! I’d like to get back to the part where we put you away! I’m sick of monsters like you always trying to take over the world! It’s over! We’re not gonna let you hurt any more people! All right, guys, let him have it!

it’s just that much harder to believe that Davis is the emotionally insightful and empathetic kid that Daisuke was written as being, instead of simply being aggressive and wanting to defeat enemies for the sake of it.

Daisuke being humble to almost doormat levels, Davis being arrogant

02 episode 8 is probably one of the most important early episodes in defining Daisuke’s character and in setting up for the rest of the series. Almost every single one of American English dub Davis’s lines in this episode is basically the opposite of what it was in the original Japanese version. This is why I’m just baffled that people can still tell me with a straight face that Daisuke has no real significant differences between his Japanese and American English dub incarnations, because I repeat: Almost. Every. Single. Line.

Like, for instance:

Daisuke says that he doesn’t care if he wins or loses the match, because every soccer-playing kid in the country wants to be like Ken, so he’s excited to just play it at all; Davis arrogantly downplays Ken's abilities, claiming that he just needs to make a close game against Ken to be a "living legend" (because "chicks like living legends").

Daisuke is initially sad to not get to play against Ken and is only cheered up by the fact he can still play formidable opponents who pose a challenge since Tamachi was last year's champions; Davis is initially upset that he can't play Ken because he still wants to beat him and be "king of the world" and “a living legend”.

After the match, Daisuke apologizes for hitting his leg, says that Ken lives up to his reputation, and admits "I can't compare to you at all"; he's genuinely flustered and happy to be complimented by Ken (taking it home for the rest of the night to the point Hikari points out he doesn't seem to be frustrated about losing). Davis brags that the Odaiba team had been "dominating the field" before Ken came in, and is interested in the idea of being Ken's "worthy adversary", claiming later in the night that Ken "said he admired him" (a bald-faced lie).

Notice how all of these scenes, in the original version, were meant to establish that Daisuke was actually quite an insightful kid who had a strong sense of humility, who perfectly acknowledged when others were above his level. The whole point of the irony in this episode was that Daisuke put Ken on a pedestal -- that he saw him as this amazing soccer player to be admired, so much that he was shocked to even be complimented by him, only to have this pedestal shattered and for his heart to genuinely be hurt when it was revealed Ken was the Kaiser.

Daisuke never plays himself up arrogantly nor overestimates his abilities --  he certainly has some kind of adrenaline in that he goes “I’ll get it done!” or has some kind of confidence -- but in fact he’s one of the most humble kids in the group, who arguably keeps running in circles and trying to please others because he doesn’t have enough confidence in himself to just act natural and believe that he’ll impress them by being confident. You could even argue that half of Daisuke’s problems come from the fact he keeps trying to get approval from others, instead of being able to recognize his own coolness. Davis, on the other hand, is outright arrogant, oftentimes underestimating or downplaying others to make a case about how awesome he is.

So now imagine these changes being applied to the rest of the series, for a whole 50 episodes, and you might understand why it’s difficult to say that Daisuke and Davis are even supposed to be the same character, even if the rough plot beats match.

Another thing about Daisuke (which is probably a bit more inevitable in terms of being lost in translation) is that he respects seniority very well, absolutely thinks Taichi is one of the most awesome people on this planet, and defers easily to authority, any seniors, or even his peers without much effort. Even so much as one scolding from Taichi makes him back down easily and go “okay...” or “if you say so, Taichi-san...” without much resistance, and it’s not until 02 episode 39 when Daisuke finally puts his foot down and firmly (still politely, but firmly!) goes against Taichi’s order to stay in Odaiba because he wanted to advocate for helping Ken as his friend. Daisuke is not a loose cannon who’s aggressive or randomly charges into fights; in fact, a lot of the humor surrounding him in the early parts of the series is that he’s lacking in assertiveness, needing to be dragged around by everyone or having his back against the wall screaming “aaaaAaaAaaAAAaaaaAaaaa”, and part of his character development throughout the series is slowly starting to gain the mettle to stand up for what’s important.

This is not the case for Davis, who disregards others’ opinions often, talks himself up, and honestly gets quite condescending at times. The note of him being Tai’s junior in soccer feels more like a backstory thing than anything else, whereas in the Japanese version it defines how Daisuke thinks admirable people are really cool and doesn’t hold back in his admiration for them (and he really does this with all seniors, not just Taichi).

The way Daisuke treats his friends and the way they treat him back, vs. the way Davis does and the way Davis is treated

Daisuke really likes his friends. As said earlier, if he ever lashes out, it’s only defensively (because he’s so emotional, he overreacts when he thinks something is shady or unpleasant, or when he thinks he’s being insulted or mocked). Otherwise, he compliments others often and is actively interested in making friends -- in fact, if you’re only watching the American English dub, you may notice that his body language and facial expressions are suggesting a much friendlier and more genuinely cheerful puppy-like personality than Davis’s dialogue is. Prior to Appmon’s Shinkai Haru, it was completely possible to declare that Daisuke was the most openly friendly Digimon protagonist to date and the easiest to get along with, because once you got past that initial abrasive exterior, he was openly friendly, considerate, and actively interested in getting along with other people, especially if they were very cool people.

I suspect the American English dub had difficulty with the concept of characters being overly defensive but being perfectly kind, humble, and courteous to others otherwise, considering that it also portrayed Mimi as snobbish and condescending when she wasn’t originally portrayed as having a single drop of rudeness or condescension in her whatsoever -- but in any case, Davis makes a number of rude or condescending remarks throughout the entirety of the series that often makes it hard to believe he actually likes the other people in the group all that much.

On the flip side, because the American English dub dialogue is almost devoid of genuine compliments at all  -- the most prominent example of this being 02 episode 8, where the point was being made Takeru, Hikari, Iori, and Miyako were genuinely supportive and interested in Daisuke’s welfare for reasons that had nothing to do with Digimon battles, but the dub had all of their supportive dialogue be made into backhanded compliments or even outright insults -- it’s easy to get the impression that everyone in the group hates Davis in turn, too. Despite the second half of the series toning down some of the aggressive changes in order to accommodate the increasing gravity of the plot, it still scrubs out the lines that indicate the kids were increasingly starting to respect and be impressed by Daisuke, with an episode as late as 02 episode 43 changing a line from Taichi about Daisuke having said something surprisingly insightful to one with Tai saying that he wants to turn Davis off like a TV (that is to say, telling him to shut up because he’s annoying).

The reason this is a problem is that the entire point of 02 is that it’s a series about relationships, and the very ride-or-die tight nature of the group dynamic is something that sets them apart in the Digimon franchise as a whole, so if you’re getting the impression these kids don’t even like each other that much, that might, you know, pose a bit of a issue. It’s not like the Japanese version didn’t have the group engage in light banter to drive home the point that they were comfortable with each other, but it never went beyond light banter, whereas a lot of the dialogue in the American English dub almost wants to suggest that they’re going out of their way to mock and insult each other with genuine condescension and malice, so the question of how these kids even tolerate each other in the first place rises much more quickly to the surface.

Daisuke’s sense of pragmatism

Ironically, there is one point where the American English dub seemingly makes Davis “nicer” than Daisuke -- but it unfortunately overshoots it to the point where a character arc that’s already been accused of being unbelievable (in that someone as rude and condescending as Davis in the first half should somehow be the most open-minded towards Ken in the second half) becomes even more difficult to believe. In the original Japanese version, there’s some very careful timing in terms of what point everyone accepted Ken, and Daisuke did not just instantaneously drop everything on the spot to invite Ken to be their friend. His original line in 02 episode 21 was simply for Ken to “go home” -- that is to say, to stop inflicting pain on the family he’d abandoned -- and in fact Daisuke thinks very pragmatically in terms of how to minimize harm and how to pursue the best options going forward. His reason for advocating for Ken comes from Ken’s actions of saving them in 02 episode 24, so, in other words, he wasn’t super-amazingly optimistic about Ken as much as he simply didn’t have any lasting grudges, to the point he believed Ken should be allowed to make up for his mistakes and take responsibility if that’s what he wants to do (see the difference between “fault” and “responsibility”).

On top of that, the original Japanese version of 02 also adds another compelling reason as to why Daisuke was willing to give Ken the benefit of the doubt: it was made extremely apparent in 02 episodes 20, 21, and 26 that Daisuke had made verbal contact with the Crest of Kindness, which was telling him that it wanted to go back to its true owner. Generally speaking, with all the supernatural and magical things they’d seen as part of their Digital World battles, having a supernatural manifestation of one’s heart start verbally pleading to you that something might be up is probably a good piece of evidence. That is a major justification for Daisuke’s interest in reaching out to Ken that is...basically entirely removed from the dub.

The end result is that Davis starts offering to have Ken be their “friend” barely moments after Wormmon dies in 02 episode 21 (which is pretty callous, when you think about it, considering his partner had literally just died), and it’s an extremely shocking swerve when Davis had shown no indication of necessarily being a friendly person who would want a villain on their side, especially if said villain had been a villain who’d tried to murder their partners up until about five minutes prior. Even though the dub starts taking more of the original Japanese version’s attitude that Daisuke should be an open-minded and considerate person, it really is kind of a stretch, and it puts a further dent in the idea that Davis does what he does out of genuine emotional consideration and empathy -- rather, it seems more that he was right about Ken out of sheer luck and misguided optimism. Not helped is that Davis starts to still show a very condescending attitude towards the other kids for not being on board with accepting Ken as much as he is, when in the original it was quite notable that, while Daisuke was firm in his own desire to reach out to Ken, he respected that the others weren’t as open to it and gave them space to accept him on their own terms.

Post-02 material

Not all 02 material was translated and dubbed at the same time. On top of the many Japanese-exclusive materials that have been fan translated over the years, Diablomon Strikes Back and Kizuna were dubbed several years after the original 02 TV series under different companies, and all of them are significantly more accurate to the original version of Daisuke.

The irony is that I’ve seen people accusing post-02 material -- things like Diablomon Strikes Back, Spring 2003, The Door to Summer, Tomorrow, and Kizuna/its drama CD/its character songs for being things ranging from “too nice” (that is to say, out of character) to “trying to fix Daisuke’s character” or “trying to portray Daisuke as a better character than he actually was”. As much as I don’t think it’s fair to expect people to have seen or even like the Japanese version of 02, I think it’s very unfair to throw post-02 Japanese media, one that should ideally be expected to be compliant with said original Japanese version of 02, under the bus because the original 02 American English dub was the one that was actually the outlier. All of these post-02 portrayals of Daisuke are consistent with the original Japanese version in portraying him as pure-hearted, emotionally insightful, over-the-top and dramatic, simple-minded, and, most importantly, friend-loving. All of those things you see in those movies and drama CDs with Daisuke doing things like gushing about his seniors, obediently listening to what they have to say, and going out of his way to gush about his awesome friends -- they’re not trying to sugarcoat his character; it comes straight from the source!

This is why (in one major reason I’m making this post) I am really worried that the new 02-based movie might end up being completely compliant with Daisuke’s character but get a similar accusation, which simply wouldn’t be fair to it at all, either. The inevitable fact is that the original series and its dubs aired more than twenty years ago, and while I’m not here to tell people which version they should personally prefer, the fact is that the original Japanese version of 02 was built and structured around certain assumptions about the original version of Daisuke, and that anything written after it will need to be consistent with that for the sake of making a cohesive narrative -- otherwise the story would fall apart.

And it’s also frustrating to occasionally see two people arguing over what kind of character Daisuke is like, but one is talking about Japanese version Daisuke (or a version from any dub directly based off its script) while the other’s talking about Davis, and they’re bickering over “contradictions” in his character when in actuality the real problem is that nobody ever bothered to clarify that the disparity happened in localization. The main reason I keep making these posts is that it's genuinely alarming how people still keep pushing this rhetoric that the changes aren't significant, to the point you can witness all of the above with your own eyes and try to talk about it, only to get accused of exaggerating; worse, if you express potential discomfort about how such aggressive changes negatively impacted a favorite character or plot point, you end up being the one accused of being a killjoy or just not appreciating funny jokes. (”Feeling gaslighted”, as a friend puts it, is really one of the best ways of describing this.) Ultimately, I just don’t think pretending these changes don’t hold any major significance or never happened is actually helping anyone.

[elysianslove]

hi bb I rlly hope your doing well<3 I just wanted to request some megumi fluff headcannons pls🤲🏽

just watched the new jjk episode and megumi’s still as pretty as ever so of course!!! <333 

megumi loves, loves, loves when you play with his hands. there’s something so incredibly intimate and soft about it, about the way you lift his hands into yours, the way you softly trace them, over his knuckles and the light veins and the tips of his fingers and the lines on his palms, trailing down to his wrist. and god, if you kiss them? if you lift them up to your lips and just pepper them with kisses, so soft and gentle and kind? he will fall even deeper for you. he can’t tell what it is about it, but he just adores feeling your hand against his, feeling your lips press against the soft skin of them. his wrists are probably really sensitive too, i don’t know why i just believe they are, so even if he’s been successfully suppressing a shiver the whole time you’re playing and tracing his hands, the moment your lips press a featherlight kiss to his inner wrist, he trembles, fingers twitching. 

and this easily translates to megumi loving to hold your hand. he loves it so much. it’s so perfectly, subtly unsubtle. it’s a statement, a reminder, but it states, it reminds, quietly. it’s also very reassuring, for him. not for any particular reason, but the constant feel of you is comforting. if you’re walking side by side, megumi will at least keep brushing his hand against yours, and if you’re seated by each other at a table, his hand will be holding onto yours beneath the table, thumb brushing against the back of your hand, fingers intertwined, squeezing lightly every once in a while. and while you’re asleep, whether you love to cuddle or not, he’ll latch onto your hand, bringing it to his chest, and just holding it there as he curls in on himself slightly on his side, drifting slowly to sleep. 

megumi’s handwriting is also very, very, very messy. he probably writes cursive that’s so unintelligible. he honestly can’t even read it himself if you asked. it looks like scribbles. it’s very endearing though? somehow? it is. it’s very megumi-like, and that’s why it’s lovable. 

megumi also loves to make any excuse to take a shower and/or bath with you, and it’s not even anything sexual. he just loves intimacy so much, and it literally can’t get more intimate than that. he’ll sit across from you in the bath, knees tucked to his chest, head resting on his arms, which are supported by his knees, as he dreamily looks at you while you chat to him about your day. he’s so in love with you. or maybe he’ll sit between your legs, head tucked on your chest, hands gripping your arms as you hold him to you. or maybe he’s kneeling for you as you scrub and wash at his hair, thoroughly lathering it up, and he can’t help but lean forward and press little, tiny kisses along your stomach and it tickles and makes you laugh and tug at his hair a little. or maybe he holds you, close to him, caging you between his arms, fingers softly carding through your hair, legs pressing you even closer to him on either side of you. he’d never let you go if he had the option. 

after getting into a relationship with you, megumi gets into the habit of applying chapstick, and it’s one of those things that so easily remind him of you. like the way your perfume might remind him distinctly of that night you wore it, chapstick reminds him of you always, applying it while you sit by him in bed, applying it just as you’re about to head out, while mid conversation with him. you caught him staring at your lips as you applied and jokingly went, “would you like some?” and he actually agreed, taking it from your hands and pressing it to his lips. his favorites are the cherry ones. 

megumi likes rap music. it’s not his favorite genre or type of music, but he actually really likes listening to rap. like it’s up there with the favorites. and any rap too. 90′s rap, early 2000s, mumble rap, any and all of it. he’s actually someone you could trust with the aux, honestly. i’d trust him with the aux, even if he decides to play some my chemical romance.

speaking of, megumi’s a really good singer, he’s just a terrible dancer. you catch him humming a lot to himself, and sometimes he’ll be singing to himself while you sleep, but dancing? he’s just so stiff and awkward. it’s kind of funny actually. poor baby cannot bust a move whatsoever. can’t throw it back for a real one </3 

that’s all my brain can think up atm, considering it’s nearly 3 am, but i mean,,, if anyone would like more ,,,

[anakinspraisekink]

Autistic Anakin Skywalker Headcanon

I've seen some posts about neurodivergent Anakin, and I think they're great!! So I wanted to make one specifically about autistic Anakin, since me being me with ASD, I needed this. Also this is ✨pure projection✨ on my part, so ofc everyone can have their own headcanons and interpretations of his character, and people can have different experiences with ASD!! These are simply a few of my thoughts just for fun 😊

Anakin might come across to many people as brash and confident or even flippant, when those who really know him (who are actually very few) know he is always self-conscious and considerate, and worries about how he presents himself to others. 

It's often hard to quiet all the noise in his head, and during the war it's even harder when he can't have space and time to himself to decompress at the end of a hard day of fighting or after a long meeting. But making sure he has a place where he's comfortable enough, like the cabin of his ship, enables him to recuperate wherever he happens to be.

It's very easy for him to get distracted or anxious with too much stimulation going on around him, and he can be prone to outbursts or breaking down because of a sensory overload, which can make using the Force dangerous for him and others around him. But he's gotten better at controlling it with Obi-Wan's support over the years, and Obi-Wan can still help with calming himself down if needed.

He can't sit still or concentrate on much for very long, and he's always fidgeting, which is why his mother encouraged him to start fixing things in order to have him do something with his hands, and why Obi-Wan let him tinker with spare parts all the time when he was a Padawan, even during lessons. Thus he always has some little project on hand, even if it is just taking something apart and putting it back together again, anything that is repetitive and satisfying.

He likes to wrap himself up in his robe or hide his hands in his big sleeves especially when anxious, because COMFY :D

His living spaces may come across as untidy or cluttered to others, but to him it's organized and he knows exactly where everything is and doesn't like when things are moved without him knowing. There's probably a specific reason for why that broken droid is in the middle of the floor... but there's honestly also a chance he may have forgotten about it and has already moved on to a new project.

Even if from an outside view it could seem the opposite, he is very competent in what he does and puts so much energy into everything, even to the point of pushing and overworking himself. Obi-Wan or Ahsoka often have to pull him away from something, because it's obvious that he's stressed and tired but won't allow himself to quit yet.

He is very passionate about certain things and loves talking about them, even if others don't care to pay attention all the time. His friends always try to truly listen though :)

He may come across as emotionless and uncaring in both tone of voice and expression, but really he is feeling so much and doesn't know the right way to portray himself, so instead he wears a mask of what he thinks people want him to behave and look like. Thus his emotions might come out strong and intense when he is around people he's comfortable with, because he's been keeping them inside for so long.

Sometimes he prefers the company of droids because their reactions are logical and predictable and he doesn't have to be so self-aware of how he comes across to them, because he knows they like him regardless (as long as they're not seppie droids of course). 

When he is especially confident and flirty or suave, he is probably copying what he's seen Obi-Wan do and putting on an act, and when he actually tries to flirt or impress someone who actually means something to him, it can turn out very awkward. Good thing Obi-Wan and Padmé have found it endearing. 😌

He keeps to himself often and only likes physical contact from those he truly trusts, and he doesn't trust easily. But to those he does trust, physical contact is sometimes the only way he knows how best to express his affection for them, and he likes to give it to them when he thinks they need it, too.

He doesn't mind conversation but he doesn't seek it constantly or need it all the time, and sometimes he's seen as rude for not wanting to talk for long right then. Sometimes it's easier to just talk to Obi-Wan and Ahsoka through their Force bonds, because he can express how he's feeling more easily that way without having to find the right words.

He can be very impulsive and prone to depressive episodes and quick to change emotion, as well as get frustrated or angry easily. His form being Djem So is a reflection of him being able to release those strong emotions from within him and putting them into use.

But he's also empathetic and sensitive, and very attuned to the Force and emotions because of that; he thinks of things or sees patterns others might have missed and pays attention to the little details. This is extremely valuable to him as a Jedi, especially since he's so powerful within the Force, that being able to feel so deeply and pick individual things out helps him navigate through how chaotic and loud the Force can often feel around him.

The experience of his childhood as a slave on Tatooine made him close his true self off from the world as a defense mechanism early on, to protect himself. It took a long time for Obi-Wan to coax him out of his shell when he was younger, and let him know that he doesn't need to put a mask on himself and his personality all the time, and that it's okay to be who he is. It can be hard for Anakin to remember sometimes, but he's learned that he's not a burden, that there are many people who care for him, and that he is very loved. ❤️

[feelingofcontent]

DNP Rewatch: A Festive Day in the Life of Dan and Phil!

Date video was published: 12/20/2014 (X)

DNP Main Channel Rewatch: 254

The 2014 DITL video! The last one had been back in August 2013. This is my absolute favorite DITL and probably one of my top five DNP joint videos of all time. Get ready for me to have way too much to say about it.

0:00 - sleepy morning + quiff Phil! We’ll see a surprising amount of that in this video.

0:05 - “almost a week till Christmas,” so they must have filmed this just a few days before it was posted

0:25 - no waking up Dan in “his” bedroom like in the first two DITL. Hmmm...this scene doesn’t seem staged at all...especially since Phil’s laptop is already open on the arm of the sofa. Unless he just left it like that overnight.

0:37 - love that the other advent calendar on the mantle in the one they made. 😂 There are 18 of the doors opened on it, so they’re probably filming this on the the 18th or 19th of December.

0:47 - they both jump into doing the theme music as soon as Phil says “titan”

0:57 - that is pretty late for them to be putting up the decorations! Phil looks sad about it too.

1:01 - sad tinsel. I think Phil had the silver piece in the background in his last video. And the little WALLE in the background here, from all the way back in PINOF. 🥺

1:17 - this domestic insight, just 😭😭😭

1:26 - full circle back to the first DITL video. I wonder if they watched the previous DITLs before filming this one.

1:41 - so many mugs.

1:48 - Dan did not want that one because it was very hard to actually drink out of as he discovered in DITL London. I really bet they did watch the previous ones shortly before this...so many references back!

1:55 - awww, happy warm Phil

2:13 - such a dramatic sigh but he goes to get it anyway!

2:25 - well that is a terrifying way to burn a tealight...put it on a dish!

2:33 - I love that there is no explanation for this in the video. Phil is superstitious about new shoes on the table, which they had both tweeted about before.

2:40 - Dan fashion show and an encouraging Phil

2:47 - immediate smile when Dan notices Phil there

2:56 - why does Phil looks SO GOOD in this clip. also, as usual a weird/slightly horrifying poem from his brain.

3:02 - love that they both decided to wear holiday jumpers. They also wore these same ones for their December radio show. Also the Dan lean-in 🥺

3:12 - PJ tweeted about this DNP visit!

3:27 - this whole leaving scene is possibly the most domestic part of any video - the candle argument, the coat adjustment, the stop in the bathroom to check their hair, Phil checking to make sure Dan has keys, the spider checking and joking... I mean.

4:13 - more throwback conversation to DITL London

4:35 - so glad he chose not to lick his hand. Even more horrifying in 2021.

4:40 - Dan talked about this and falling up the escalator in What not to do on Public Transport

5:00 - “bit corporate isn’t it?” but caves immediately because Phil wants to. 

5:10 -  Love that Phil orders while Dan finds a table. Love that Phil makes Dan draw something happy not just a sad face. Love Dan’s huge smile after that.

5:33 - Dan really can’t say much he was reading his phone in the clip right before this!

5:58 - Dan’s talking about this weird incident that Phil posted a clip of on LessAmazingPhil

6:18 - they always go to at least one nerdy shop in the first DITLs!

6:36 - the things they choose to zoom in on in this shop...Dan with Spiderman’s crotch a few seconds before this and now Phil on the shirtless guy book cover. subtle, lol.

7:29 - I had actually heard of this board game prior to this video because Wil Wheaton did a TableTop episode. I remember being so surprised to see DNP wanting it!

7:39 - Phil and his weird people encounters. 😂 And Dan just mocking him for it.

7:59 - they did, in fact, go to see Matilda the next summer.

8:10 - oh my god this clock scene. Of course Phil wants to make a game of it. And then Dan with the seemingly slight fudging of what he was pointing at. And this look and then both of them giggling. 👀

8:32 - that start of Dan’s running! This is around the time or shortly after he had started to see a therapist (according to the timeline he gave in Daniel and Depression), so thinking he probably wanted to start for his mental health.

9:11 - Dan talks about the “guy wearing the white sheet in Manchester” in What not to do In Town. Their reminiscing faces are too much.

9:19 - Phil is so excited about this. He had tweeted a couple times in the past about Moomins (1, 2)

9:37 - the excitement about the treats and the festive drinks and decorations and Phil’s teasing 😭

10:04 - they film fairly often in the back of cars and I just feel like must be so awkward, but it doesn’t seem to bother them. And Phil’s hair is quiffed again!

10:28 - and the stairs song! Which they are too prepared for so it must be a regular thing they say/sing. This video has SO MANY moments that I love.

10:51 - Phil just sitting while Dan hauls the tree box out. Maybe Dan lost rock-paper-scissors.

10:59 - reminiscing about THE TREE now, which is the last time they decorated on camera

11:09 - why is this a common theme in DITLs!? lol. Love that they’ve lit the candle again after getting home.

11:22 - “stop doing that” as he can’t control his giggles. sure.

12:03 - okay, Phil had to go get the other decorations! The “Christmas faces” are slightly horrifying

12:22 - that is the most horrifying. also, Dan and Phil themed toys/decor even in the bathroom.

13:02 - Dan’s little messed up piece of hair in the back is so cute. Also love that they have the garlands up and everything at this point too.

13:19 - even more quiff-Phil!

13:31 - their fridge contents are not great

14:04 - unexpected filming but a huge grin anyway from Phil. Also, how do they make just answering the door so awkward, lol. Also: what is that picture in the background in the bathroom(?)

14:32 - they’re so excited about this set up and dinner plan

14:43 - and now glasses Phil! Also, arguing about wrapping neatness. I love it. Although when we see Phil’s wrapping in a minute, I think I might agree with Dan...

15:03 - PJ will end up with one of these face banks

15:10 - Phil came up with some decent gifts for Kath this time, although he didn’t think she had good ideas.

15:18 - I find it so cute that Dan wants to keep the cookbook

15:30 - Dan looks almost embarrassed to share this. He’s also got something “12 Days of Christmas” themed in that blue box on the chair. Although apparently a lot of his family just wanted money.

15:37 - I have no words for Dan filming this closeup and then them choosing to keep it in the video.

16:16 - Phil’s trying to be all serious with his wrapping tutorial and then the tape just immediately falls. 😂

16:40 - “it’s endearing” Dan does look pretty endeared, lol. Dan’s concerned because the face banks are actually gifts from both of them, at least according to PJ

17:04 - wow, Vine mention

17:25 - Dan’s just expecting Phil to come up with a great pun on the spot. Also, the lobster thing is an old reference.

17:39 - I think I mentioned this in the last DITL post, but I like that we do see even in a short video that they spend some time alone. That’s just so normal, especially for introverts even when you’re that comfortable with someone.

17:45 - Phil will keep reading that book over the holidays

17:48 - we did see the inside of the chest. So what is Dan implying here, lol.

17:52 - well then. Dan’s giggly face though.

18:08 - soft piano Dan 😭

18:25 - Ariana Grande had sent them both cat ears after they met her for the radio show

18:37 - a glimpse at the early gaming channel set-up.

18:46 - we don’t actually see that footage in the gaming video

18:51 - it must be pretty late at night by this point considering it was dark when they came home 

19:15 - Phil’s first instinct is to throw it of course

19:18 - this face and the sweater paws. I can’t. 😭

19:25 - and of course a joint ending. 

19:40 - Dan is so sleepy and happy seeming here

20:13 - awwww 🥺 The last video of 2014!

One difference from the first two DITL is they don’t even pretend that they’re going to see other friends/invite someone over. Just the two of them hanging out and they seem quite happy with that. This is probably the most “domestic” of the DITL videos. I love it so much.

Phil went to his parents’ on the 23rd to celebrate Christmas. He had Swedish food, was very excited as usual, got a stocking with a toothbrush and animal socks, and watched Guardians of the Galaxy. Dan went to his family’s on the evening of the 24th after a candle incident (lol, though I love that he was burning the candles even without Phil there. He started the tradition of yearly Christmas pictures of Colin. And also posted this.

On to the 2015 videos, and the start of the TABINOF/TATINOF era!

[gch1995]

I’m 25 going on 26 now, and I grew up loving the classic Powerpuff Girls cartoon series when I was a kid. Even now when I rewatch it as an adult, it’s still a cute and funny cartoon, especially now that I’m old enough to recognize all of the adult jokes. Like, there’s no way it was a coincidence that Professor Utonium’s despicably dishonest, greedy, lazy, manipulative, selfish, and sleazy former roommate from college was given the name Professor Dick Hardly by accident.

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup actually are pretty relatable little girls who have believable flaws and insecurities. They make believable bad choices for little girls. Those issues actually get dealt with seriously, rather than just being brushed aside as no big deal with no negative consequences. They are still endearing and sympathetic in spite of their flaws.

While he had a few OOC moments of bad parenting in some bad episodes here and there, generally speaking, Professor Utonium from the classic Powerpuff Girls is actually one of the best dads in cartoons that I’ve ever seen, which is sadly pretty rare in most cartoon sitcoms, even the ones that are actually aimed at a children audience.

Most cartoon dads are abusive, lazy, neglectful, selfish, and stupid oafs. Granted, those type of dads in cartoon sitcoms can actually be entertaining and funny to watch when they are actually being well-written as shitty and slow-witted, but still essentially well-meaning people in regards to their families, such as S1-S8 Homer Simpson from The Simpsons and even S1-S3 Peter Griffin from Family Guy. However, the entertainment quality of those shitty, but well-meaning cartoon dads was mostly lost when the writers flanderdized their negative traits to the point of making Homer and especially Peter downright despicable with little to no redeeming or sympathetic qualities much of the time anymore. They went from being shitty, but essentially well-meaning parents and husbands to downright bratty and spoiled man-children who were much more intentionally abusive, childish, cruel, neglectful, petty, and selfish in regards to their families and others around them with little to no sympathetic or redeeming qualities much of the time anymore, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why The Simpsons went downhill in quality after S8, and why Family Guy went downhill in quality after S3.

Nonetheless, even as they were originally written on their shows pre-flanderdization when they were still well-meaning, but misguided parents and spouses, cartoon dads like Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin, weren’t good dads on the whole. There were still plenty of recurring plot lines and/or gags of them being abusive, lazy, neglectful, reckless, and selfish. Back in early seasons pre-flanderdization, it was more forgivable, though, because they also still had their fair share of kind and selfless moments with their families, and their shittiness as parents wasn’t intentionally abusive, malicious, premeditated, and selfish in nature, which balanced them out enough to still be entertaining and likable characters in spite of their flaws.

Realistically speaking, though, dads like Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson would be better off having their kids taken away from them by CPS. Their good qualities and lack of malicious intent, particularly in earlier seasons pre-flanderdization, would still not hold up as legitimate excuse as to why they should be allowed to keep their kids. Bart would have bruises all over his neck, fractures in his neck, and he could possibly be killed if Homer strangled him hard enough to actually break his neck and/or cut off his air supply long enough in real life just once. Meg, Chris, and even Stewie would not only be injured, but actually outright killed in real life from some of the abuse and neglect that Peter and Lois put them through in later seasons of FG. All of these kids, especially Meg, would have serious self-esteem issues for the rest of their lives because Peter, Lois’, and Homer’s abuse and neglect of their kids went beyond just a pattern of being physical in nature, but emotionally and verbally abusive as well.

So yeah, Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson are really not good fathers who you’d ever want to deal with for a parent in real life, even pre-flanderdization. The major reoccurrence of the abusive, bumbling, idiotic, lazy, drunken, neglectful, and selfish dad trope in cartoon sitcoms is exactly why I really love Professor Utonium from the classic PPG cartoon. I don’t necessarily mind it in absurdist cartoon sitcoms when it’s done well as a trope, but I’m also getting tired of mostly just seeing bad and stupid dads in cartoon sitcoms, and not enough good ones.

For the most part, the OG Professor Utonium is a great dad who goes above and beyond to make sure Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup are happy, healthy, disciplined, and safe. He’s usually the parent most of us wish we could have in real life, if we don’t already. It’s refreshing to actually see a good dad in an animated sitcom for once.

Professor Utonium in the classic PPG cartoon is generally a very kind, loving, selfless, and supportive dad to girls. However, he also knows when he has to discipline them and be strict without ever being mean about it. He gives them good advice. He’s very selfless, and even though the girls are superheroes with superhuman abilities, he’ll still risk and/or sacrifice anything to protect them when they’re unable to protect themselves with their powers, including his own life. He didn’t need to be the stereotypical cartoon sitcom abusive, bumbling, dumb, and neglectful dad in order to be funny either. He was funny because he could sometimes be overprotective of the girls, and he could sometimes embarrass them by calling them sickly sweet terms of endearment and telling embarrassing stories that he shouldn’t have about them in public. He was socially awkward. These are relatable flaws in parents that even the best ones have.

While the girls don’t have a mother, Ms. Bellum and Ms. Keane were very brave, kind, and intelligent strong women who were good role models.

Also, the Professor did many activities with the girls and chores around the house that get gender-coded as “mother’s work.” Some of these things include begrudgingly playing dress up as Bubbles to make her happy when she was playing PowerPuff Girls with Buttercup and Blossom on a rainy day inside of no crime when he saw that she was upset that no one wanted to be her, cooking, cleaning, and actually sitting down to talk with the girls, listen to them, emotionally support them, and give them advice. He’s also not afraid to be openly affectionate, doting, and emotional with the girls. There’s just not enough good dads in cartoon sitcoms, which is why I really like Professor Utonium from the OG PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie. He mostly defied all the bad dad stereotypes, and was a really great one to the girls more often than not.

The main villains from the classic PowerPuff Girls cartoon are incredibly entertaining, especially MoJo JoJo. Him was always the creepiest to me because he was the most devious, insidious, and manipulative one. All of the psychological abuse and manipulation he put the girls and Townsville through was always the scariest to me when I was a kid because out of all the villains on the show, the torment that he wreaked upon the girls and Townsville by brainwashing them, gaslighting them, and/or exploiting their fears and insecurities often was played as dead serious with really scary results, especially in early seasons of classic PPG. While Him had a few human moments here and there, for the most part, he was pretty consistently played off as being seriously scary and dangerous.

MoJo JoJo was an egomaniacal asshole hellbent on destroying the PowerPuff Girls and world domination, and on a few occasions, he actually came close to succeeding. On a few occasions, he genuinely was more scary than camp evil. But he still had a lot of humorous, human, fallible, and relatable moments, too. My favorite MoJo moments are the ones where he is making jokes, irritably going grocery shopping to get eggs, getting too frustrated by the girls antics and childish behaviors and reactions to actually go through with his plans to destroy them at certain points, and getting angry and jealous enough to actually destroy the alien/robot invader from another planet who was destroying Townsville in all the evil ways that he always wanted to himself. He was highly intelligent at coming up with clever schemes and inventions with all his science and technology to take over the world, destroy Townsville, and/or destroy the PowerPuff Girls. However, his arrogance, impatience, and impulsivity always doomed him to fail to succeed in the end, though he did come pretty close on a few occasions, especially in the 2002 prequel origin story movie, and he did actually get to rule the world in “The PowerPuff Girls Rule the World!” Surprisingly, he actually was a kindhearted ruler who did good things, but then he gave it all up and went back to being evil because he got bored.

Originally, MoJo was a well-intentioned extremist who wanted to create a utopia ruled by primates where they would never be controlled or rejected by humans again. As much as Professor Utonium’s irritation with JoJo for being a destructive chimp lab assistant was completely justified, it’s also hard not to feel kind of sorry for Mojo Jojo and understand where he’s coming from in his motivations to become evil, particularly in the 2002 prequel movie because originally all he really wanted was to be loved by his owner, too. He understandably felt rejected when Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup became the center of his universe instead. Of course, that doesn’t excuse him for choosing to respond to the Professor’s rejection by becoming an arrogant, evil, cruel, hateful, hypocritical, domineering, manipulative, petty, selfish, and vengeful villain going on a quest for world domination, attempting to commit homicide several times, probably committing voluntary manslaughter of citizens several times that we didn’t see on screen when destroying Townsville all those times, turning the rest of the world into dogs to try to take over the world, and trying to destroy the girls. However, you understand why Mojo became the villain he did with his backstory. He’s relatable. Occasionally, he does have some genuinely sympathetic moments where he’s actually willing to be friendly with the girls, team up with them, and do the right thing.

HIM was just the personification of evil for no other reason than the fact that he was satan. While MoJo was a complex, human, and relatable anti-villain with his origin story as the Professor’s lab chimp, who gained genius-level human intellect from having Chemical X splashed on his brain, and then chose to become evil after feeling rejected by the Professor when he saw how he pretty much forget about him once the girls became the center of his universe instead, HIM was evil, manipulative, and hateful for no other reason than the fact that those traits were a part of his nature as the very embodiment of evil. Many times, a fictional villain being portrayed as one-dimensional with no sympathetic qualities or relatable motivations will annoy me, but with HIM being evil just because that’s who he is, it actually works because he is literally Satan. There doesn’t need to be a deeper sympathetic story behind why he is evil. Committing crimes, wreaking havoc, corrupting people, manipulating people, turning people against others, exploiting the fears of others, and deceiving others for his own amusement is just who he is, and in the early seasons of classic PPG in particular, that made him really scary to me when I was a six year old little girl watching the cartoon on TV.

You get the idea...The classic PowerPuff Girls was a fantastic cartoon, particularly the first four seasons. Granted, there was some series seasonal rot going on in the writing in S5 and S6 after the 2002 prequel movie, and Craig Mcracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure from the crew. Like, the characterizations of the characters and/or storylines in S5 and S6 felt comparably flanderdized, ooc, immature, inconsistent, pointless, shallow, and underwhelming at certain times to fit the plot, such as in the episodes “Keen on Keane,” “Pee Pee G’s,” “Seed No Evil,” “Reeking Havoc,” “Toast of the Town,” “Say Uncle,” “City of Clipsville,” “”Bubble Boy,” A Made Up Story,” “Mo’linguish,” and “Simian Says.” Even the good episodes of S5-S6 still didn’t ever reach the same level of greatness of the ones from S1-S4. However, the seasonal rot in the classic PPG cartoon of S5-S6 after Craig McCracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure still wasn’t nearly as bad as the seasonal rot on The Simpsons after S8, Family Guy after S3, and SpongeBob SquarePants post S3–S4 ish, so I’m still willing to consider most of S5-S6 of classic PPG legit canon.

However, it sounds like the 2016 PPG reboot fucked up everything that was originally good about it to go for a more slapstick comedic feel without substance without consistency, depth, and intelligence. Now, I hear that the CW is making a live-action TV show spin-off of the PowerPuff Girls being jaded and resentful young women who’ve given up crime fighting as result! No, no, no! Why? Why does the CW keep making dark, nitty, and gritty live action teen soap operas out of beloved childhood cartoons?

Yeah, the original PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie had dark moments. The girls could be bratty and make bad choices sometimes. However, it was still very much a fun show about normal little girls born with superpowers, which they chose to use to defend their father, their city, and on some occasions, the whole world, from crime. No one ultimately forced them to be superheroes for everyone in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. They chose to do it because they had brave and selfless hearts. There was ultimately no obligation for them to be superheroes in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. Sure, they got tired of fighting crime at times, but they still ultimately enjoyed doing it when push came to shove. They weren’t weighed down by the darkness of the world, hatred, and resentment. They still were relatively normal little girls with happy, peaceful, and normal lives of little girls whenever they weren’t fighting crime after the events of the prequel movie about their origins. That’s what made the PowerPuff Girls classic cartoon so special.

By turning Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup into jaded young women, who have given up on being superheroes because they’ve grown resentful of “losing the normal childhood to crime fighting” that they basically are shown to have in the original series for the most part in their spare time aside from having superpowers that they chose to use to fight crime to defend their dad and Townsville from, anyway, where is the fun in that?

[ggukkiedae]

❝𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕦𝕡❞

𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜:

⇢ hannah meets up with one of her close friends to catch up; alternatively: the fox and the quokka meet again

⇢ set in mid april 2021

𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜:

⇢ conversations written in italics are spoken in english. feedback is highly appreciated!

Hannah shook her head fondly as she watched Yoonmi race down the hall towards the recording studio frequently seen on vlive. She and Yeonjun exchanged amused looks as the young girl excitedly entered the room, yelling the name of her older brother.

“Come on,” Yeonjun placed a hand on her back and sped their pace up, “or else Chan hyung’s gonna use us not being there as an excuse to stay longer.”

She scoffed at that, following Yeonjun regardless. “Please, he’d drop everything for Yoonmi anytime, and you know that.”

Yeonjun’s laugh was the only response she got as they entered the studio. The door opened immediately as they arrived in front of it, revealing Yoonmi dragging a chuckling Chan away to probably her manager’s car.

“Looks like they’ll be gone for a while,” Changbin laughed from the inside before nodding at her with a smile and turning to Yeonjun. “Let’s go before Wooyoung and Haknyeon decide to make us pay for being late.”

Yeonjun nodded and stepped out with Changbin, ruffling her hair on his way out. “See you in a bit, Hannah.

She glared at him a little before turning towards her friend who remained cleaning up the studio. They haven’t been able to see each other since their promotions overlapped. Or since the award shows, actually. “Hey, quokka.”

“Miss foxy,” Jisung playfully bowed at her before continuing to gather up his stuff, “long time no see. You hungry?”

“Always,” she playfully rolled her eyes at him, “or have you forgotten already?”

“Not when you and Yongbok have been constantly sending each other desserts. No cookies recently?”

“Yoonmi makes the best cookies, and she always sends some over to Chan hyung for you guys. Felix told me.”

The betrayed look he had on his face when he realized this made her laugh. It dawned on her that, though Chan may have told Felix to let the others get some cookies whenever they want, Felix must have kept it a secret. He loved Yoonmi’s cookies, so it was no surprise.

“He never told us!”

“Come on, let’s go eat.”

The two friends found themselves in the JYP cafeteria, food paid for with Jisung’s credits. He had a whole set of food in his tray, which was quite a drastic difference from her single bowl of salad. He frowned when he saw her tray.

“Just a salad?”

She shrugged. “We’re in the middle of promotions, so I’m dieting.”

“Nope,” he placed a plate of pasta on her tray and some extra side dishes, “your boyfriend and members are gonna kill me if I don’t feed you. Our food’s all organic, anyway. It’ll be fine. We’re sharing side dishes, by the way.”

She rolled her eyes but followed him to an empty table. They settled across from each other and began digging in. The conversation carried smoothly, as if they didn’t have a solid four or four months of not seeing each other. It switched from the food to normal catching up to preparations.

“Your comeback’s really good, by the way,” Jisung noted. “I listened to the whole album. Really good. You worked on lyrics, too!”

“Just a bit,” her tone was humble as she moved the salad around on her plate. “I thought it was fitting since it’s our first full album, so I did my best. Sorry for bothering you for help, by the way. I know you’re pretty busy with Kingdom.”

“Please,” he shook his head, “I needed the distraction. We were so caught up on preparing for the show, so I needed to forget it just a little.”

“How are you guys, by the way? I’ve seen your past few performances.” A teasing smirk made its way up to her face while she looked up from her food to meet his eyes. “I liked your cover of I’ll Be Your Man. Very impressive high notes there, mister main rapper. Very desperate.”

Jisung snorted and tossed a little sausage from their side dishes onto her plate. “Shut up, you know the performance is supposed to seem desperate.”

“What’s coming up? The collaboration stage, right?” She took a moment to recall the last episode’s ending. “It’s a shame that you guys aren’t working with The Boyz. You, Eric, and Sunwoo rapping together would have been cool.”

“You’re friends with Sunwoo?”

“We’ve met, but you already know I talk to English line the most.” She jolted up straight upon remembering something, startling Jisung into hitting his leg against the table. The boy curled in on himself a little, making her laugh. “Sorry about that. Did you hear? Changmin oppa invited me to co-host your sports day!”

That was the reason why she had been in a meeting the day before right after their schedules. She didn’t expect that she’d be brought straight to the company right after her schedules with NCT Dream, much less did she expect that she’d be meeting with a few higher ups and some Mnet staff alongside her senior for a cameo.

Jisung raised an eyebrow at her. “What? You’re coming to watch our sports day?”

“Co-host, but yeah.”

“This is gonna be so funny,” he laughed. “You know that, even if you have a boyfriend now, Juyeon hyung has an idol crush on you, right?”

“Stop!” Her hand went to her forehead in embarrassment. “Eric always mentions it whenever we talk, I swear.”

The smirk on her friend’s face sent a chill down her spine. “But there’s also Seonghwa hyung and Chani… Oh my god, man! What is it with you and these older guys, huh?”

“One more word out of your mouth, Han Jisung, and I’m telling Chan oppa that you had a crush on Yoonmi.”

Ah, yes. This short-lived crush her friend had on her other friend which amused her to no end every time he’d talk to her about how Yoonmi’s lyrics hit different, how her on stage persona is captivating, how she’s adorable in BTS content, or how her rap is unmatched by any other girl idols. Jisung, like many other fourth generation idols (and some from third generation) had fallen for the international sweetheart, and she made sure to tease him about it whenever given the chance.

Jisung groaned, “Of course I tease you about other’s having a crush on you, but you can’t tease me about people liking me.”

“Hey, if it means anything,” she began, “I used to like you the slightest bit back in late 2019 when we did those collab stages. Nothing much, it died as soon as it started, so don’t get too cocky.”

The slightly astonished look on her friends face made her remind him that it was a momentary thing rather than a prolonged crush. This, of course, didn’t stop Jisung from poking fun at her.

“Aye, I’m so telling your boyfriend,” Jisung laughed.

She gave him a pointed look. “Nothing is kept a secret in our group, and he’s in the same unit as one of the people most overprotective of me.”

The 00-liner wisely kept his mouth shut, making her laugh. A silence passed between the two before they silently agreed on not speaking about these infatuations ever again. She finished the last of her food before rummaging around her bag and pulling out a small bottle. It was something she didn’t use often, but prefered whenever she didn’t have to promote. Black nail polish.

“I brought this, by the way,” she mentioned as her phone started ringing. “I don’t know why you asked for it, but here you go.”

“Nice,” he took the bottle, “now answer your phone while I finish my food.”

The familiar face on her screen brought a subconscious smile to her face the moment she got her phone out of her pocket. It was her none other than her boyfriend, Liu Yangyang. She chuckled a little before answering the phone.

“Hey, Schnucki. I’m with Hannie right now. Jisung, say hi.”

She brought the phone closer to Jisung’s face, where he awkwardly greeted the boy on the other end of the phone. The awkwardness made her laugh and take it back. Maybe she should have waited until after he swallowed before making him say hi.

“Me again!”

“Have you eaten dinner yet?” Yangyang asked her with the slightest hint of concern in his voice. “Renjun told me you skipped out on the food your manager got you guys on the way home.”

“Hwang Injun, that snitch.” Her mumbling was easily caught by Jisung who snorted in amusement. She lightly smacked his arm from across the table then went back to her conversation. “I just ate dinner! JYP Entertainment’s special organic food is pretty filling, don’t worry.”

“Alright,” his voice sounded relieved. “How long are you gonna be there? Will you be back too late? You still have an early start tomorrow.”

She chuckled at her boyfriend’s questions. Ever since their jacket shoot, her schedule had been filled with preparations for NCT Dream’s comeback. Yangyang had been texting her good morning everyday without fail and constantly checking up on her to make sure she was still functioning properly somehow. For some reason, she found this endearing about him. He usually wouldn’t seem like that type of boyfriend, but he is.

“I’ll be here until Yoonmi finishes shopping for her future nephew and Yeonjun oppa comes back from dinner with the 99s. Hannie’s taking care of me, don’t worry.”

Jisung’s scoff from across the table made her send him a pointed look.

“Could you put me on speaker?”

“Hold on.”

One more warning look was sent towards Jisung as she placed the phone on the table. Jisung looked at her curiously before turning towards the phone.

“Yangyang?” he called out cautiously.

“Hi, Han,” Yangyang greeted. “I know we only spoke a few times, but I hope it’s not too much to ask to take care if Hannah?”

“No problem, bro,” the Stray Kids member nodded despite the fact that the WayV boy couldn’t see him. “We’ll just be here in the company, there’s a bunch of places to lounge in and a lot of food.”

There was a laugh from the other end of the phone. “Thanks for taking care of my pet fox.”

“Excuse me,” she interjected, making the two boys laugh, “I will sheer your hair off your head, you sheep.”

“Kidding! Anyway, Han, you’re Hannah’s friend, so I’m trusting her with you. As a friend, right?”

Jisung chuckled. “Of course. No need to worry.”

Hannah snatched up her phone and turned speaker off before the conversation could get any longer. “Is that it?”

“I’m at the dreamie dorm right now, so I’m expecting cuddles when you get back.”

A slight chuckle escaped her lips as she playfully rolled her eyes. “As long as you’re out of the dorms by 1:30am at the latest, okay?”

“Of course, babe.” The wink was evident in his voice, she didn’t even need to see him to know he did. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“See you later, Schnucki.”

With that, she hung up her phone and looked up to find Jisung looking at her with a teasing smile. “What?”

“You’re so whipped,” he drew out. “Honestly! The smile on your face says it all. It’s different from when you’re talking to your members or your other friends.”

“My smile?”

Looking back on it, Jeno did mention that there was something different in the way she looked at Yangyang. Donghyuck mentioned it as well while jokingly whining about her not giving him as sweet of a smile. Even Yoonmi told her that she sometimes catches Mark smiling at her the way Hannah smiles at Yangyang. Was it really that noticeable?

With a shake of her head, she picked up the black nail polish bottle once again. “What do you want to do with this?”

“Could you paint my nails?”

[pocketramblr]

The followup to the Thought™

"Ugh." You say, waving to the screen. "Look at that, now that's who should have been the main character-"

"Oh?" I say, a small glowing figure appearing in front of you. "I can show you that if you want, wish granted." I wave my magic wand, and you blink to find yourself watching a different universe's show.

It's about a blond boy, with a minor superpower that's difficult to work with. He only has one friend, with major anxiety. Both of them want to be heroes, which is about the coolest and nicest thing anyone can be in this world.

But the blond boy is only in middle school. He doesn't get the best grades, he's a bit of a class clown, a bit of a delinquent. He's not exactly cool or over powered, but his earnest, bright nature endears him to the watchers and readers of the story. He's nice, and not worried about competition. He'll put cheering up his best friend over studying- and he'll put just enjoying video games together over training his power on his own.

He doesn't, by the way, train on his own. He makes meager progress in the class provided, and works hard when he's thinking about it, but he honestly doesn't even know where to start with his power.

He takes the entrance exam, and by some manner of luck, manages to permeate through blasts and rubble while shoving other students out of the way. He's used to watching out for his best friend, at least, and that carries over in his natural, if clumsy, attempts to help others here.

With more luck, he is accepted into the school on those points. So is his best friend, though they're in different classes. He still doesn't have many friends, but they meet a new girl in his bf's class: she's gorgeous and powerful- the most raw energy in any of their quirks, and no anxiety or complications holding her back.

She's a bit of a ditz, though, a bit much for others to hang around all the time, so even though she should be a shoe in fit the most popular, she slides easily into their group instead.

The fandom likes her a lot, and you feel impatient. This isn't the story you wanted to see, not really.

"Don't worry," I say. "Time flies when you're actually a school story instead of a daily battle with villains story."

And it does- they compete in the first sports festival. The main character, to little surprise, doesn't do well. But he manages to keep himself and the others smiling and laughing through it, and that brings the attention of the mentor.

The mentor that you like, of course, the mentor you believe was right.

The mentor trains the main character. It's hard, but he can actually break down what exactly he needs to improve on, and now that he has support, the main character takes it seriously. Like all children do, he rises to the expectations on him when he's given the material to do so.

Not made to find the material. The kid would have never dreamed of just assuming and asking such a high ranking hero to focus on him. Rather like another boy, but we'll get to him later.

It's another year. The girl tried her best at the beauty pageant. The best friend tried his best at the liscence exam. The main character has still been training at his internship.

"His second year." You say, thinking. "Now this is when All Might shows up in the timeline, ten months before February in what would be Mirio's second year."

I raise an eyebrow, but wave my magic wand.

All Might does appear. The mysterious top hero, always in the background- ads, all over the mentor's office. They used to work together, but no one in this universe knows anything more than that.

The mentor and the principal happily tell the main character that the number one hero wants to meet with him directly! The boy is nervous, of course, excited, of course, and a tad confused.

But meet they do.

And offer his quirk, he does.

The episode and chapter end on that, of course, and you feel a surge of excitement. Finally!

You look around and realize others in this fandom do not see it that way. Many critique the twist as coming out of nowhere, with no build up that it was even possible, breaking the established rules for no reason. Many others are proud of how much the main character has to work at the difficult power, and do not want him to have a second before he masters this one. Some feel it's a trap- a secret test of character, or a villain in disguise who will ruin him. Some wonder if it's more metaphorical- he's offering the power of support and more guidance, maybe a connection, but not his literal superpower.

You do not know how to feel about it, but you know this will be for the better. He will be perfect for it.

At the beginning of the next update, the boy turns down the quirk. Grateful, more than he could say, but he's worked so hard for his own power and he's not even up to snuff with it yet. He's unsure he's the best option. The girl, after all, is used to weilding such power, maybe he should try her, maybe he should keep looking.

The top hero nods, and asks if he can visit again later, if he can find no other. The boy is a good hero after all, and maybe he needs to believe in himself as much as he is telling his friend to. It will be hard to train a second quirk, yes, but he can manage. It will make him stronger and pay off, after all.

The boy agrees, tentatively. No one can really say no to the number one hero, after all.

"Ok." You say, nodding. "There's an opening. It can build more, since that's how the story is here, way more slowburn."

I shrug. That's what happens when you start the story three years early, but whatever.

The story goes on. The main character does better in the sports festival, but not by any measure good. His friend finds a mentor, a character popular. Much warmer than the blond's mentor. The girl gets a really good mentor, a top tenner.

And then they start to get really good. They're used to training now, and getting it all bit individually and together. The mentor is motivated as of by fury, pushing more and more. And the main character grows to reach it.

Another year. They're seniors, now. Just one year left before they're pros, but they're already about at that level. They're called the Big Three.

The third year is different. Chaos every few weeks. A class of first years attacked.

"Oh, because All Might is still looking for a successor among the students- checking over the freshmen but they won't be able to compare."

I hum in a way that could be interpreted as agreement.

The sports festival. Finally, real victory. They do so well, even with one anxious at crowds. And one that is seemingly allergic to staying clothed. They do well.

The chaos continues, always at the sides. The others in this universe who follow the story talk about that and the offer the top hero made. Is he getting weaker? Did that power leak somehow and now someone wants it?

The tension grows, especially for you. If the hero doesn't give the main character the power before the summer....

The main character doesn't get the power before the summer. The hero falls on tv while the blond and his friends watch in horror.

After the summer, the main character decides to meet the freshmen. You wonder who will replace a certain someone's seat, or if this is playing the original quirkless hero storyline.

When the main character challenges the class of freshmen and you see that sparking green, you seethe.

"I said I wanted Mirio to have OfA! Why is he-"

"Actually," when I speak, you cannot. "You asked for him to be the main character. He still is. A beloved one, even."

"You know what I meant!"

"Perhaps. But then you asked for another change, and so I allowed All Might to meet with him a few days before he would have in the old timeline. He had a chance, he turned it down. Why are you mad at him having his own ambitions and autonomy?"

"He was supposed to take it! He's the worthier option, and you know it."

"What makes him worthy?"

"He works hard!"

"So does Izuku."

"He worked hard before he was offered everything by All Might!"

"Yes," I will admit. "Though, that's only because he met Sir before he met All Might. Were you so focused on how slow it was going that you didn't actually watch what he was doing?"

You will not admit to anything, still angry.

"He'll get another chance." I remind you.

You huff, but the story continues on.

The main character takes a liking to the boy you despise. So does the fandom, dubbing him the cutest little kohai. He's awkward and eager and sunny, like a fusion of the main trio.

He's also impulsive, and on their first patrol together they run into who will obviously be the big bad of the arc- and his abused daughter.

The fandom is split on if the story is going to go with a "In this arc, the blond must pass his experience on patience to a boy who it all about speed and too naive" or if it's "In this arc, it's the mouth of babes- the boy will inspire the main character to do good more impulsively."

You sit and wait for it to be "the boy will finally fork over the power he's now spent over a year working to hold and use to the real main character."

The raid happens. We finally see how the main character met his best friend. It's very sweet. The girl is a lead character and gets focus on her fight too, though the two freshmen working with her don't really. There's another funky freshman boy who turns out to be more like the best friend than we thought.

Finally, we get to the main fight.

And the main character is shot, quirk erased. For good, if the villain who's really not actually that good an example of a scientist is to be believed.

"Oh. What if the former top hero offers his power again, after this arc? It's about loss but always moving on?" The fandom asks. They aren't sure if the buildup to this is better than before, but it's certainly am interesting turn, and not as controversial as the last time.

The best friend saves the day by awakening right at the perfect moment to drag the teacher in. The quirk is kinda super deus ex machina for this arc though.

At the hospital, the mentor dies. The former number one hero is there.

The fandom wonders whether to hope or fear how long he'll wait to replace the mentor and the quirk.

You wait, knowing it's soon.

Then the freshman offers his quirk, and the fandom flips again.

"We should have known!" They cry. "He had super speed and strength the whole time, maybe the sparks are from his own quirk, but it's the same power! Oh, this hurts much more than just if it had been the retired hero!"

Once again, the fandom divides. Many can't bear to see the kohai they love shoved aside after this one moment. Will be be able to use his original power? Then they won't mind the strength for the blond. Some say to wait for his power to come back. A few pipe up about the possibility of him doing it quirkless. He has trained physically too, after all these years.

"No thanks," he says again. He does smile though- just like Sir told him to- and tells his kohai that he’ll do great things with the power, just like All Might did. Tells him that he already has.

You're past the point of fury now.

"Why?" You demand.

"Keep watching." My tone is cold. "Keep watching, the next five months where he does nothing but babysit a girl in hopes she'll magically make himt not quirkless again. He doesn't even ask if he can be a quirkless hero. He doesn't even go to school to keep training. You demanded the other boy figure it out himself. This boy doesn't. He just hopes the same thing that did this to him can undo it."

You don't know what to say about that.

"Neither took it seriously in middle school. That's the nature of middle schoolers. Neither of them tried to go solo quirkless, when no support was provided. But they're both good kids. Hard workers. Heroic. They love each other, honestly, they're friends. It's sweet. And it's sad that it took me doing this for you to see it."

I shake my head.

"Sir Nighteye never saw how Mirio was much more like Izuku than All Might. That was his mistake, because he didn't know the meaning of worthy. Not that it was his choice to make even if he had. There's no magic to this. OfA isn't Excalibur or Mjölnir. All sorts of people have had it. And All Might wasn't doing much to train before he found Nana ether, as much as he got into trouble. OfA is more about connections they have to each other. It's about people's relationships. As it happens, that just doesn't include Mirio and wouldn't be at its most meaningful if it did."

"You just are too much a Deku stan and hate Mirio-"

"Accuse me of hating Mirio again, and I will leave you here." I threaten, pointing my wand at you. "Now. Did you learn your lesson?"

You grumble, but you do nod.

"Good." I say, before waving my wand one last time. You're back where you were before, not a trace of me or magic.

The lesson, though, sticks.

[skullsandwineglasses]

You Are My Hero (2021) Review

Overall impression: The drama started off really cute and promising in the first half, but was weak and underwhelming in the second half. In-depth review below (with spoilers).

A cute and fluffy romance premise

Right off the bat, the love story between the leads is tropey as hell, but manages to not be tacky and is actually really endearing. The ML, a SWAT officer, rescues the FL, an aspiring neurosurgery medical resident, from a bank robbery 2 years ago. They leave a lasting impression on each other, but don't keep in touch afterwards. The FL never sees his face because he's wearing a mask, but the ML remembers her name. 

Fate brings them together again 2 years later when the FL enrolls in an emergency rescue training camp that’s supervised by the ML. He recognizes her and falls for her immediately, but she doesn’t know he’s the one who rescued her years ago. 

Their relationship starts off rocky, similar to how a CEO romance would start: the ML first appears cold and distanced, strict and brooding, but actually has a huge soft spot for the FL. The FL is put off by his coldness, but is sometimes surprised as random moments of tenderness. When the training camp is complete, the ML becomes a cute and awkward lovesick puppy who tries to figure out how to woo the FL because this is his first time (and hers) falling in love. It’s fun seeing him become so flustered around her when he’s usually so calm, collected, and in control as the leader of a SWAT team. 

On other hand, the FL slow falls for the ML when he reveals a more real and vulnerable side of himself. They banter a lot, but she slowly warms up to him. 

And as a no-nonsense drama, the two leads acknowledge their feelings for each other quickly (although they haven't directly admitted it to each other yet). They're in the awkward phase of attraction and going on semi-dates, but they haven't defined the relationship yet. *Sigh* First love. 

Things I enjoyed

I appreciate that although the FL is a Mary Sue, she does make mistakes. She's smart, but she isn't the top of her class. She’s kind and selfless, but she also isn’t overly tolerant of people. When people overstep their boundaries and are unjust to her, she’ll confront them. Ma Sichun is such a natural actress. She can do cute and flirty, she can be clueless and lost, she can be confident and in control, she can be angry and indignant. I especially loved her character’s adorable interactions with her best friend Xiao Xia. 

The acting in this drama was all around great. It’s probably the best part of the drama. It was so comfortable and fun to watch. I think AvenueX described it best: the acting in the drama was so natural that sometimes it felt like the actors broke character but the director kept the take. Some of the laughing, giggling, and gestures felt so genuine that you wonder if it was improvised, scripted, or a blooper scene that became canon.

I like how the FL and ML are each experts in their respective fields. They have very separate careers that occasionally intersect. I'm tired of CEO dramas where the FL is working for the ML, or there are class differences between them. Instead in this drama, the FL faces problems everyday at work that the ML doesn't know about. Her problems do not relate to him at all. She has problems that he can't understand or help with. Likewise, he also goes on missions that she isn't aware of. They work in completely different fields with different skill sets. They even talk about how their philosophies differ. Her job is to save lives but not make moral judgments of character, while his job is to enforce the law, which is all about assessing character. Where their careers do intersect, is the goal of saving others and putting others first before themselves. 

Another dynamic of the relationship that I really like is that the FL and ML are always occupied and on the move because of their professions, and yet, their loyalty and devotion to each other never change. They are each other's rock. Despite encountering so many different situations and people, despite all of the chaos and noise from their careers, nothing can really outweigh how important they are to each other. Despite being out in the field, far away from home, their hearts are anchored to each other. I just like this trope a lot, i.e., the trope of being away from home, but remaining true and loyal and unwavering. Despite having bigger and more important things in the world to deal with, their ultimate dream is wanting to just spend some time together. It's analogous to how in ancient period dramas, there are generals who command armies and and maintain a strictly professional demeanor and don't mention a word about their family to their soldiers, but when the general retires to his tent at night, he's writing a long and thoughtful letter home, because his loved one was on his mind all day. 

The supporting characters are great, but I do like the older and mature supporting couple (Xing Ke Yao and Shao Yu Han) more than the younger supporting couple (Xiao Xia and Shu When Bo), despite the actors playing the younger couple being literally my age. I also appreciate how the FL has multiple close friends who are quite separate from each other, instead of just the single token sidekick best friend (although the second half of the drama does just focus on one of her main friends). It's relatable because we all have different groups of friends. We have friends from high school, we have friends from college, and we have friends from work. Most of these friends are kept separate, and sometimes they interact. But I like how this drama shows that the FL has a small network of friends from different walks of life. 

Things I didn’t enjoy as much

The plot derailed and lost its charm after episode 30. There were fewer hospital cases, and the ML had to complete a mission that I had no interest in following. There was no other point to the superfluous mission besides to show that the ML has a busy and demanding job that prevents him from being at the FL’s side when she needs him the most. 

I also really, really disliked the introduction of the random love rival in episode 31 just to try to stir some angst. The plot device was pointless because in the end, there was no angst because the leads have a strong and healthy relationship, and so the love rival’s attempt at sabotaging the relationship was just laughable and completely random. It just disrupted the mood and pacing of the drama because that plotline just came out of the blue. It was just so annoying seeing the love rival and her sister cause trouble and wreak havoc in the FL’s workplace. 

The drama did a good job at showing how the leads put their careers first, which caused strain and tension in their relationship that they tend to ignore. But, the drama never explores this further, even though it’s a very real problem that many career-driven and ambitious couples face. The drama presents a very idealized vision of a relationship between a police officer and a doctor. Like when the FL leaves for a special research and training program in the States, the drama shows that the leads breezed through the two-year long distance relationship in a quick montage. They had no issue in communication. Yes, they miss each other, but they’re blissful. But what kind of long distance relationship has no bumps in it? The drama also implies that they never saw each other in person during two years (in the final episode, Xing Ke Lei squeezed her arms and said that since they haven’t seen each other in 2 years, he had to check if she was missing anything), which is highly unrealistic. Was she never able to go back home for the holidays? Did Xing Ke Lei, whose parents live and work overseas, never bother to visit his girlfriend? Overall, it seemed a little off to me that despite the budding tension and issues they’ve been having between them, they were able to overcome a long distance relationship so easily. You could argue that they’re used to long separations because of their work, and the drama has shown that they’re used to communicating over video calls, but I was just a little disappointed that they rushed this final plotline when so much more could have been done with it. 

Speaking of parents, we never actually got to see their parents. I understand that the parents are not relevant to the focus of the story, but the parents are rarely even mentioned, which further makes the romance in the story seem too idealistic. Whether it’s a near-death situation, getting engaged, or studying abroad for 2 years, the FL never mentions talking to her parents about these decisions and life changes. The drama handwaves the parents’ absence and lack of influence by having the FL mention early in the drama that her parents are busy with their business back home, so they don’t have time to worry about her. She also no longer bothers to update them about her work because she’s afraid they’ll be worried about her. And then from there, we never hear the FL mention her parents again. It’s just so weird to see that the most important person in her life is the ML and she only ever talks about major life choices with her friends. I mean, if the plot had said that she didn’t have a family, it wouldn’t have mattered. But the fact that she does mention her parents, but they’re completely absent and non-existent just felt a little off, like something was missing. But in the grand scheme of things, this is not really an issue. I’m just nit-picking. 

Lastly, I just want to comment on Bai Jingting as Xing Ke Lei. I admit that he sells the part well. At first I was skeptical about Bai Jingting as a SWAT officer because of how skinny and baby-faced he is, but he actually pulls it off surprisingly well and has some unexpectedly good chemistry with Ma Sichun too. Although during moments when he isn't talking and we're just left with his resting face, I'm suddenly hit by how young he looks, but then he speaks or is back in uniform and again, the gestalt shift goes back to Xing Ke Lei, the handsome SWAT officer. They made a point of showing how muscled his arms are, which was a little jarring to see in comparison to his youthful face, not gonna lie. So, while I liked him as Xing Ke Lei, it was a little distracting switching back and forth between seeing him as a really young, adolescent-looking actor, and him as the broad-chested character. 

Should you watch?

All in all, a really cute and easy-to-watch drama with some thoughtful and sentimental moments. Very fluffy. Minimal to no misunderstandings. Charming characters. There are the storylines of three couples with medical/police subplots interweaved between the romance. On bilibili, some people even edited clips of the drama with theme songs from TVB medical and police dramas like The Hippocractic Crush and Tiger Cubs. So, as someone who grew up with TVB dramas, it was nostalgic to see those thematic parallels. 

But, the drama does lose steam in the last 10 or so episodes, and has a lot of filler to stretch it out to 40 episodes. That’s the issue I have with modern dramas. The plot in modern dramas is usually quite basic, and I would argue that the modern romance is easier and less angsty. You either love each other or you don’t. You either are willing to commit or you’re not. There aren’t many external excuses for angst or misunderstandings. (Of course, I’m trivializing things; real life isn’t as easy). 

Still, I would recommend this drama for anyone who’s between dramas. I watched this drama to help me get over the rut I was in because I was going through withdrawal after finishing The Rebel Princess, so I needed a light-hearted drama whose genre was completely different from TRP. And this drama was perfect for breaking that rut. 

Rating: 8/10. Simple, fluffy, and not too much to complain about. I also forgot to talk about the great humour in the drama, but there were many moments when I laughed out loud or couldn’t stop grinning. This is also a drama you can take your time with because there aren’t constant cliff hangers to peg you on. It doesn’t consume your life, and you can pause (although, the first 18 or so episodes are definitely binge-worthy because the development of the leads’ relationship is just too cute, and so they suck you right in). However, while it is one of the better modern romance dramas I’ve watched (and the characters are very consistent), it’s not a very memorable drama. It doesn’t make me linger. I guess it’s because I’m more of a historical and xianxia drama kind of person. So take from that what you will. 

[lizacstuff]

Hi! Your thoughts on the epi? How emotional was the ending? I also loved that the stories came full circle (Apollo and the little prince). With how much they were discussing the strawberry allergy, I knew it was a matter of time before an allergic reaction emergency would occur. Serkan is not perfect but honestly who's parents are? I'm glad he got the reassurance he needed from both Eda and Kiraz. I'm also glad the truth about Aydan and Kemal's five year relationship is out to Serkan.

My apologies in taking so long to answer this, but LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. For me, this was a very gentle, but very enjoyable episode of television. I think you'd have to go back to season one episodes 4,5,6 to find three episodes in a row that were as good as 43, 44, 45 (coincidentally episode 4,5,6 of the 2nd season). How delightful that cliffhangers in season 2 are emotional plot points for our dynamic duo, instead of the nonsense like falling off of boats or getting caught by a gunman while playing detective, or non-stop, third-party psycho trauma like we endured during 29-38.

The ending was very emotional! As you say, it was always a matter of time before the strawberry allergy played a role, they've mentioned it too many times this season for it not too. Here it played two roles, first putting Kiraz's life in danger thus cementing their burgeoning family unit AND being the genetic tie between three previously hidden generations. Potent stuff.

I was thrilled by all the domestic Edser in this episode. Outdoors, kitchen, living room, bedroom, kid's room, we got it all! I just loved the family time, and the sexual tension and the way they grew closer throughout the episode. I saw some criticism that they made no progress in this episode, but I disagree with that. Just because they didn't make out or have sex, doesn't mean they didn't progress. In this episode they went from being on opposite sides of a custody battle to agreeing to buy a car together, travel together, work together, not to mention having a romantic dinner together.

So buckets of progress was made, however, more on that later, first the supporting characters...

(more under the cut)

What a relief to have both Eda and Serkan treating Aydan and Ayfer as the meddling interlopers they are! Serkan wordless, furious glares were delicious, seriously I don't know how AA had the courage to stay in the house with him looking at them like that, he couldn't have been less welcoming. And Eda actually questioning her aunt about why she was there was a surprise. Of course Ayfer continues to be super punchable. I really, really wanted to hit her right in the face when she gloated over Kiraz calling him Serkan Bolat. Seriously, bitch? You know that's your grandniece, right? And you know that she must have some issues about her dad being absent from her life (which you are partially responsible for) so the fact that you're gloating that a man who was prevented from knowing he had a daughter (again, partially your fault) and a girl who was prevented from having a father (again, you bear some blame) have an emotional barrier in their relationship is beyond shitty. What happened to her personally that made her such a cynical asshole?

Aydan on the other hand is still annoying but she has her own problems, lmao. I'm dying because early in the day the episode aired, I said to both @echoapothecary and @melly326 that it was a shame that the show had decided to waste the potential of Sinan's resemblance to Kerem. I have been hoping they would do the Serkan father storyline since the moment the character was introduced, but the day I give up hope for it is the day it happens! I legit had no expectations that there was even a chance it could still happen.

Personally I'm excited, It's nice that the writers gave Aydan some cover, she didn't lie, she simply didn't remember they had hot baby-making sex back when she was having problems with Alptekin. Imagine what might have happened had she remembered at the time. If Aydan had come clean and left Alptekin, Serkan never would have been sent away, Aydan would have had the support she needed when Alp died and Serkan would have grown up loved. I hope Alptekin suspected the truth, because it would go a long way in explaining why he was such a shit-stain to Serkan his whole life.

It was obvious what direction the story was going from the conversation between Kemal and Aydan when he told her they'd "you know'd" that night, but I still let out a squeal when he revealed his strawberry allergy. Three generations of aversion to frangeria. Google tells me that severe strawberry allergy is rare so this really is an obvious flag they've been waving in front of everyone.

The story also dovetails nicely with Serkan's own journey with surprise fatherhood. We know he hasn't taken to Kemal, has been suspicious of him, however hopefully his own experience being kept out of his daughter's life will make him sympathetic to his newly found father.

Engin and Piril... were there. I can't tell you how much I don't care about Engin's out-of-the blue catering business, or Piril's suspicions. However, I did enjoy the 3 way family phone call, once again Can comes through with the right bit of info for Kiraz, he's definitely the most useful member of that family.

Pina and Kerem were also... in the episode. I did giggle when Asst Kerem admitted he was stunned into silence by Serkan's charisma. Tell me about it.

As for Melo, she stole the show among the supporting characters. Her heartbreak was palpable, but WHYYYYYYY did she have to fall for such a no-personality sad sack? Seriously, even drunk that guy is boring. Also why is he lurking outside Eda's house like a creeper, staring in windows? What does it take to get through to him? Serkan and Eda are following a court order and living together, they are in the process of making their first lunch together, you, sir, are not needed at their home for their first meal as a family. GIVE THEM SOME SPACE!

I really don't get what Melo sees in him. However her crush gave us the funny scenes with the mug turning red and also the heartfelt friendship scene with Eda. It's about time Eda is shown taking an interest in her life, it was really lovely how Melo got over the awkwardness of telling her and Eda was supportive and kind. Also hopefully it made Eda aware of the problems associated with not drawing hard boundaries for someone she knows has feelings for her. Draw the boundary, Eda.

As for Eda, she was a bit softer this episode, you could see Serkan getting to her. One of my favorite things about the episode was how Serkan was subtly planning their life together as a family, and Eda being swept away with the tide and going along with it. (gif set here) Family car? check. Family trip to Italy? Check. Sharing an office and working together at Art Life again? Check. Answering questions and giving preferences about one specific house Serkan is designing? Check.

This is significant because no matter that Eda still (understandably) needs time to forgive Serkan and to trust him with her (and Kiraz's) heart again, deep down she knows it's inevitable. She knows they're inevitable. There's no reason to seriously fight the inroads he's making into their life, because she knows he's going to succeed. In the deep recesses of her mind, she knows she's going to forgive him, and that they're going to be together, not just as co-parents to Kiraz, but as a very much in-love couple. However, she still needs a little time to get there. And that's okay. You don't erase five years of loneliness and heartbreak in a few days, nor should you try to. There's no reason for her to rush to let him back in her bed or into her heart, there's time for her to heal and for him to prove she can trust that he won't leave her again, even for noble reasons.

The bet was a clever way to extend their time living together. And I liked the detail that she was secretly so pleased to have him there, and still so attracted to him, but she knew she couldn't let him know because then it would be game over. He'd settle in and never leave. Not that I think she wants him to leave, she doesn't and that's what scares her. She clearly wants him, and wants him there, she got melty every time she looked at him with Kiraz, but she can hardly be blamed for needing to take it slow. That being said, while putting Kiraz to bed, I loved how Eda's plan to put Serkan on the hot seat completely backfired on her. Hee hee. She decided to tell Kiraz that they're being honest and to ask whatever she wants (that could have gone really wrong, by the way, if she asked if Daddy had really been in space) but daddy's-girl Kiraz immediately turns it back on Eda and wants to know if she loves Serkan Bolat and then sets them up in the same room. Good girl, Kiraz!

I immensely enjoyed the tension of Eda and Serkan sharing a room and sparring about which side they have to sleep on and OF COURSE they can only sleep facing one another. And OF COURSE Serkan migrated to the bed in the middle of the night. Funny how these two keep waking up all wrapped up in one another, almost like... they not only gravitate to one another, they also calm and comfort one another.

Once again, every scene between Edser and Kiraz was gold. I can't say enough how tiresome I usually find children on screen, but here I'm just delighted by her precociousness. Even her making a giant mess in the kitchen was endearing. As I said, I loved how much domestic Edser we got this episode. Them running around the kitchen with their daughter, having a flour fight? Pure delight. And I swear Maya Basol looks more like a mixture of Hande and Kerem than their own child would. It's simply uncanny.

Beyond their domestic scenes, it was lovely to see them both just falling back into a spot where their lives were intertwined. Loved Serkan driving her to work at the hotel, and then driving her home again when she quit. Not to mention how supportive he was, I'm not sure how she didn't either jump him right then and there or start crying in relief, when he was telling her she has the talent to be doing bigger more prestigious jobs and now that he was here to help she could do it. Eda's had support in raising Kiraz from Ayfer and Melo, but they really don't understand her career. Serkan understands. He is the life partner she's been missing.

Eda and Serkan seem to be on the same page as far as their families interference, being annoyed at both Ayfer and Aydan, I'm glad to see neither trying to defend mother/aunt to the other. Eda also seemed annoyed by Serkan moving his office to her house for the day, and she made several inferences, as she's been doing, about him putting work first. This is completely understandable, IMO. He left her on their wedding day for work, and he used "work is the most important thing to me" as the reason both times he broke her heart. Yes, after the fact, she found out that there were other, much bigger reasons and work was just the excuse, however that doesn't erase her deep-seated, pavlovian-like response she has to him seeming to prioritize work. She lived five years, raising their child alone, thinking he loved work more than her. It's completely natural that she's holding onto that for a bit. And it's okay if he needs to prove to her that he can prioritize her and Kiraz over work before she lets it go completely. I get it.

As I said, I enjoyed Serkan trying to trap her with the mood mug, that's the kind of gentle friction and comedy I'm here for. Of course he does catch her later on the phone admitting that she loves that he's there and it's game, set, match. For Serkan. I think we're all glad he won that bet. However, him removing his bed on the floor was a bold move and he pretty much deserved her locking him out after he did it. I read a lot ridiculous discourse on this, and my response is: you're taking this show too seriously again. This is a romcom move, it was done for comedy, and I promise you Serkan is able to fend for himself. If he didn't want to be kicked out, he shouldn't have tried to force his way into her bed again. Waaaaay presumptuous, man.

Buuuuut... how did Serkan get off the balcony? I don't know, but as I said he can fend for himself. Dude probably spent the night on the living room couch. Serkan's sneezing was cute, but being cold doesn't give you a cold. Maybe it's an allergy from too much time outdoors, lol. LOVED Serkan smoothly convincing Eda to come back to the office. If he'd approached that directly, it might have been a weeks long endeavor to get her to make ArtLife her office, but Serkan building the play school was genius! He never wastes time, that guy. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but this was impressive.

It warmed my heart how they fell so easily into working side by side. Casual conversations about what they were working on, and, you know, randomly deciding to go on a family trip to Italy with your estranged lover, as you do. Which all led to one of my favorite scenes... dinner! They got back to honest, open communication and it was lovely. Thankfully, Eda stopped letting him think she was running off to spend time with Burak and I adored Serkan coming clean and allowing himself to be vulnerable in admitting that he'd made the dinner for them and that he'd been upset when she didn't show. That's how you make progress. Just beautiful.

As for the "we need to all tell the truth" scene, that was silly, but if it gave us Aydan's secret being revealed I'm a-okay with it. About time! Buba was once again annoying and it was cathartic for Serkan to be able to tell him he doesn't like him. Same, Serkan. Seriously, can he and Ayfer fall in love and move to the country to run an Alpaca farm or something? The hospital scene was very poignant, I wrote more about it here. Now what I need is for Eda and Serkan to walk out of that hospital room and, out of relief, fall into the tightest hug. Crossing fingers!