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hyperfixationtimego · 4 years

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Happy little hcs to atone for my sins

Taka and Hina are study buddies

Sometimes Aoi manages to get Taka off track because she’s just so enthusiastic and wants to hear about all of her friends’ hyperfixations and special interests

37.2 minutes later

Taka’s infodumping about how he despises moral philosophy but also thoroughly enjoys it bc that’s how moral philosophers are

Or he’s infodumping about political science and debate tactics and how speeches were effective or not for various reasons

Sakura and Mondo work out together

It started off as a coincidence when they were in the gym at the same time but it kept happening so they called it a schedule

They talk about their SOs and they’re smiling

Sakura teaches Mondo certain stretches and exercises to help relax different muscle groups for whenever he pulls a muscle or has a flare up from the thing with the bikes

Leon constantly asks Chihiro to turn alter ego into a vocaloid or at least program a bit of that tech into their system

Bc he would rather shave his head again than talk to Sayaka about producing music

He just has so many ideas

And it’s cool when there are kinda punk rock songs that are covered in an 8-bit or a vocaloid style

Byakuya and Celeste have a small series of bets with low stakes about what their inferiors classmates will do to lead up to them jingling away morosely like the fools they are

Sayaka shamelessly advertises her group’s mercy to her classmates and friends

Everyone gets their nails painted at some point

Nobody knows how Byakuya got roped into it but it worked

Makoto has rainbow loom

Atua forgives you

anyway YEAH LEGIT?

Hina has fully and thoroughly fallen in love with all of her friends and classmates’ expressions whenever they’re talking about something that excites them omg 🥺

she sees someone rambling and having a good time and hears the enthusiastic pitch of their voice as well as the general Vibe™️ that they’re giving off and she just???? [Y E A R N]

and also just???? her and taka being study buddies is so valid oh my god??? they’re really close because of it!!! And Taka always loves hanging out with her because he knows she’ll let him just Talk??? and he adores that about her????? And she’ll be ENGAGED which!!!!!! oh my god!!!!?????

hi in this house we love and adore hina

And Sakura and Mondo???? absolutely?????

they have friendly competitions over who can lift the most weights/do the most reps/etc. (they do it sparingly, ofc! bc Sakura at least knows that they’ll both be subconsciously trying to beat the other as opposed to listening to what their bodies need in the moment. Sakura is the single braincell of class 78 no I won’t take it back because it’s true)

and they totally doooooo like they both get such cute loveydovey pining expressions whenever it’s Their Turn™️ to discuss the latest cute thing their partner(s) did. and listening to the other talking???? oh my god it’s literally the neatest thing????

Sakura looking at Mondo: I would die for this man

Mondo looking at Sakura: this woman is literally beauty and perfection in human form

THEY’RE SUCH GOOD FRIENDS OKAY???

also chihiro joins them for training sometimes!!!! She obviously isn’t able to do as much as the other two are, but both Sakura and Mondo are always so proud of her progress??? They’re like “you are so cool and strong do you know that??? you better know that”

and speaking of chihiro hdbdvdvdvdvdvdvdvd on GOD Leon will Not leave them alone abt it and they’re just like

“y....you do NOT have the attention span,.......you’re gonna get frustrated within like the first five minutes......and then I’ll have done all that work for nothing..............”

but Leon’s >:( no I won’t!!!! music is my Passion!!!!!!!!

so it’s like *sigh* okay

and anyway leon genuinely does rlly like it???? like he gets burned out very easily and can only compose things in short bursts, but he’s always so so so proud of the finished products??? (Even if nobody else likes it but shush 😌)

and it makes chihiro :D to know that something she made (even if it was done with reluctance) has brought one of her closest friends so much happiness????? she’s also like good for Leon but also if he ever bothers them about something like that again they are Literally Going to Snap but that’s another story for another day vwv

AND YEAH LIKE. HE DOESN’T MIND TALKING TO HER ABT MUSIC IN GENERAL BECAUSE IT’S AN INTEREST THEY SHARE (quite possibly one of the only times they will have a conversation without one constantly insulting the other ❤️) BUT. ADMITTING TO HER THAT HE NEEDS HELP WITH IT IS THE WORST HE HATES IT HE HATES IT HSBDBSBD

god okay so. his first impression of her when they had just come to hope’s peak and met for the first time was “oh my god!!! she’s a pop idol!!! so she must know a lot about music!!! maybe she’ll help me become a popular musician!!!” and her immediate reaction when she first heard him ask was to literally roll her eyes and he was like oh okay fuck her actually

and then slow burn enemies-to-friends 💛

WHEBDVSVS CELESTE AND BYAKUYA JUST BEING RICH ASSHOLES IS SO FUNNY??? LIKE THEY HAVE WEALTH SOLIDARITY AND THEY ACT ALMOST LIKE alright your status makes you worthy of my time, I suppose-

they’ve had bets on everything from how many times kirigiri will pass out from exhaustion by the end of the school day, to how long it’ll take before Kirumi finally Loses Her Shit, to how many people will be harmed by Komaeda’s luck while hanging out with him.

Mfs about to die smh

and dhdbwvwbsvwvwb yeah like??? sometimes a normal conversation with maizono will turn into her being like “yeah, and by the way, if you’re looking for a change of style and wardrobe, you should check out the newest shirt my band just released as part of our merch drop, and-”

Makoto is the one who gets baited into her merch ads most often sndbsbsbdbdbw

even mentioning the word “merch” around Leon or Kaz will earn her a lot of groaning and sighing, and occasionally a pillow or other soft object being hurled at her face 💛

oh my god they all have a manicure spa day,,,,,,,class bonding 🥺

hdbdvdvdv they got Jill to break into his dorm and kidnap him ngl like the specifics they gave her were something along the lines of “use as much force as you need to without killing him” and she was like “DONE”

and okay I’m not gonna talk abt everyone’s nails but now I’m thinking about it and like-

Sayaka gets like a lighter violet background with gold and white stars smattered around them, more concentrated in some areas than others, and it’s generally very pretty 🥺

chihiro’s are a different solid pastel color on each finger!!! it’s very kidcore and fun and they love it so muchhhh!!!

leon gets a little self-conscious when it’s his turn because his nails are highkey disgusting from all the time he spends playing baseball - there’s dirt trapped under them and everything so he’s just like hhhhhhh anxiety go brrrr but anyway he gets solid black because he’s edgy and cool like that 😎

I think Taka gets a French manicure with little dark red flowers pressed towards the tips because!!! simple yet pretty!!!

Celeste probably takes the longest because her request is sooooo complicated like it’s black and red and long ass acrylics with overlapping patterns and everyone else just kinda sits there feeling h o r r i b l e for that poor nail stylist

Toko gets a checkerboard pattern, with each nail having a different neon color in place of white!!! Because she knows that Jill will find it cool and pretty and colorful the next time she fronts (visual stimming jill?? 👀)

Togami just picks whatever will get him out of the chair quickest hdbsvdvdvdbdbdb

anyway Makoto????? rainbow loom????? absolutely

he has so many bracelets!!!!! so many so many so many and he knows how to create such a wide variety of styles it’s so cool!!!!!! he wears a bunch of them at any given time because they are so fun to fidget with!!!! and rubber texture hvvvvhvv!!!!

and he creates personalized ones for his friends, too, like he knows their favorite colors and sometimes picks up on whether they prefer a certain style or not from the way they react to the other ones he’s made and it’s!!! just so neat!!!!!

I’m thinking about it and!!! he has a bi pride fishtail, a trans pride arrow stitch, a black and neon green railroad, a pastel pink/blue/purple/yellow ladder, a jelly yellow and green dragon scale, a rainbow double cross, and a bunch more!!! he also has a bunch with charms and beads added into them!!!!

He also makes them for his friends even if he knows they won’t wear them!! Like Toko, for example, isn’t the biggest fan of jewelry because she doesn’t like the texture, but he creates one for her anyway and fills it with so much love (it looks like a daisy chain!!!! because at least she’ll be able to look at it and hold it and still be interested in it without it needing to be on her wrist!!!)

he makes a ton of bright colored ones for Mukuro (usually either single or inverted fishtail because he knows she wouldn’t enjoy wearing anything too heavy or overbearing) so that she has more mobile visual stims!!!

similar for Jill!! although most of hers tend to be black and bright neon rainbow in various bulkier styles!!!! Jill will also force him to let her look at his bracelet-covered arm whenever they hang out because. my god,,,,,,so many Colors™️

he’s found that togami prefers black and white simpler styles, and that Kyoko absolutely adores singles, fishtails, and double fishtails in any shade of purple, and that Mondo likes any of the larger styles in darker colors + blacks and grays!!! Chihiro loves anything with jelly and glitter bands!!!

Leon usually only wears one at a time, but he cycles through every single one that his boyfriend’s ever made for him because????? GOD they’re so cool and his boyfriend is so crafty and incredible and just,,,,,,,,,hvvvhvv every time he looks at the one he’s wearing he’s able to calm himself down and remember that Makoto loves him........it’s also very good for stim and fidgeting <3

anyways sorry yes Makoto with a rainbow loom is filling me with serotonin and it’s canon now

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cherriiimiii · 3 years

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oh oh i’d like 2 request a genshin impact matchup please! i just made this acc for self shipping but i’m so conflicted bc i have a crush on literally everyone in genshin please help,,

um! i’m short and i dye my hair a lot rn it’s split dyed down the middle black on one side and purple on the other. if i actually spent money on clothes and not just on genshin i’d dress like. kuromi is the best way i can think to describe it. i’m pale as hell please get me some sunlight.

i actually don’t know how to describe my personality? ig i’m outgoing but not in a good way? my energy is just very Out There and i always say dumb stuff and i get attention when i dont want it, i dont rly enjoy being around a lot of people. i really like vocaloid and its been a comfort to me for years. i have a stuffed animal problem and i honestly don’t have any aspirations. i dont wanna do or be anything in particular. i’ll probably be stuck working retail forever because nothing really inspires me. i like writing but i like it because i don’t have to think about real life. i am pretty pessimistic, clearly. i’ve kinda just stopped caring

that was all really negative but that being said, i am an incredibly dedicated person when i DO have that rare moment of finding something that drives me, and sometimes it’s people. a loved one. i love hard and passionate and deep and sometimes i love a little too hard but i swear when i love someone i make sure they know that they’ve lit up my life, that things feel more colorful and that i feel alive. it’s not great that i feel like i need love to breathe but when i have it, i love with every ounce of my being

okay now that that ramble is out of the way, i’m genderfluid and bi with a slight preference for men but could be happy with any gender. my hobbies are playing video games and writing and collecting stuffed animals and watching anime and reading. i love to read, for the same reason i love writing. i love listening to music. when i have the energy to, i love to play my bass. i love the rumble and i love how it makes me feel something. i am not somebody who enjoys work but does it because i do enjoy having money.

mbti is isfj, my zodiac is libra, i think if i had a vision i’d be electro but maybe cryo. more likely electro though

this was so long i’m so sorry!!! i hope you have a wonderful day!

hii! thanks for requesting!

I match you up with our favorite adeptus, xiao!

you n xiao are so perfect for each other??? or not haha idk I immediately thought of xiao as your matchup after reading your post. it’s a very private relationship because xiao is kinda shy when it comes to that kind of stuff. in private he’s a little more affectionate (still shy). xiao isn’t bothered by your pessimism, in fact he kinda relates to it since he has a pretty pessimistic view on life. he finds your unrelenting dedication admirable and charming. also your way of loving hngngnfnc my heart 😫💖 xiao doesnt think he deserves love due to his karmic debt and lack of understanding human emotions. but, you show him that you love him passionately and he’s w h i p p e d. knowing that you are hiding nothing from him and he is being loved wholeheartedly makes him feel warm and all mushy inside. he didn’t think he deserved or needed love but damn you proved him wrong. also he l o v e s when you play the bass. he can listen to you play for hours without getting tired <3

#genshin impact x reader #genshin impact #xiao x reader #genshin xiao

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anotherarchivesblog · 4 years

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hi who are most of the people in the relationship charts you posted on insta a while ago?

Like I know you’ve posted some stuff about Nate and Zoe and even Venus but I’m really curious about everyone else!

I wanna preface this by thanking you for your patience since it took me forever to reply to this. I really appreciate it! <3

Anyways, those charts are divided into two parts — the first is Nate’s friend group (which I call the Zodiacs) and the second is the Celestial Council. The Zodiacs are central-focus characters while the Council’s role is more on the back burner.

I’ll talk about the characters individually under the cut, but if you’re not into summaries I’ll include a song that reminds me of each character since I think music is a fantastic personality descriptor:

ZODIACS

NATE SAGITTARIUS: Nate is an overly ambitious teenage boy who becomes a Regulator at the Venus Villas after discovering that he’s half elf. I’m sure you know the rest of this rant by now.

“Genius Next Door” — Regina Spektor

ZOE SAGITTARIUS: Nate’s punk-rock older sister, who is much cooler than he’ll ever be. Zoe is a dryad that was adopted by Jupiter Sagittarius shortly after she had woken up in a Bronx alleyway with a bad case of amnesia. Nowadays, she works as a Regulator at the Venus Villas and wields a talking snake shaped dagger named Sabik.

“OHFR?” — Rico Nasty

DANIEL ATKINS: As Head Regulator, Daniel Atkins is known to keep things in line. Daniel is an aloof ghost from the 1910s who hasn't matured much since his death. He’s notoriously bad with social cues and always says whatever he’s thinking, which Nate doesn’t seem to mind. The two of them quickly become best friends, much to Zoe’s dismay.

“Nobody” — Mitski

BRENDA ANTARES: With her competitive nature and innate sparing abilities, Brenda was the obvious choice for Mars’ Lieutenant. When she’s not assisting Mars, Brenda volunteers as a part-time cook at the Venus Villas. Brenda is a sweetheart who befriends anyone she can, which is ironic considering the fact that she shares a body with a temperamental demon named Aries.

“What’s Up Danger” — Blackway & Black Caviar

ANASTASIA CHERNOV: Not much is known about Anastasia’s past and she’d like to keep it that way, thank you very much. Anastasia Chernov is head general of Via’s Army and a recurring antagonist throughout the series. She is a blind vampire who, despite her overall brooding nature, loves cutesy magical girl animes and Vocaloids.

“Oh Ana” — Mother Mother

MAYBELLE SAVURI: Real hot girl shhh! Maybelle Savuri is a top-charting singer and model from the monster world who just so happens to be Venus’ daughter too. She’s a super rich vampire with shapeshifting powers, the cutest outfits, and confidence for days — what else could you possibly want?

“Girls in the Hood” — Megan Thee Stallion

LEO JEMBER: Resident golden boy and honorary funnyman, Leo Jember is one of the first friends Nate makes at the Villas. Leo is a (literal) angel who works the front desk at the Venus Villas, and spends his free time messing with his best friend Scorpius Singh. Leo is extremely popular with the workers at the Villas but he also has the tendency to push Venus’ buttons for fun.

“C7osure.” — Lil Nas X

SCORPIUS SINGH: The only Zodiac more secretive than Anastasia is Scorpius. Scorpius Singh is a witch cursed to kill everything he touches. Nowadays, his hands are constantly bandaged and he tends to keep his distance from other people. Around the Villas, Scorpius is known for his intellect and snippy attitude.

“Goodbye Mr A” — The Hoosiers

POLLY DE DIOS: Just like her father, Polly de Dios is a skilled inventor who helps with repairs around the Villas. Polly and her twin brother, Cas, are a pair of hyper-intelligent androids built by Mercury de Dios. Unlike her lax brother, Polly is a rule-abiding teenager with a love for list making and hard work.

“B.I.T.C.H” — Megan Thee Stallion

ALEX MILTON: Come through, daddy issues! Alex Milton is a blunt satyr who spends his free time committing petty crime. His tendency to use his powers in the mortal world often winds Alex in trouble with the Venus Villas. Despite his unpleasant nature, Alex is both humorous and intelligent… maybe that’s the reason Nate had a slight crush on him when they first met.

“Rich & Sad” — Post Malone

DAX LEE: Dax is good friends with Leo and Scorpius which, by default, makes him Nate’s friend as well. Dax Lee is a deaf merman who has the power to mind control other people whenever he sings. And while Dax may not be the smartest member of the Zodiacs, he certainly is the friendliest!

“This December” — Rick Montgomery

JEONG NA-RI: As a powerful psychic, Jeong Na-Ri is a force to be reckoned with. But after Nate accidentally frees her from a hundred-year imprisonment, Na-Ri quickly learns that the world she came back to is extremely different from the one that she left behind. Not only that but, with her immortal dad still around, Na-Ri now has a new step-mom and an older brother named Dax.

“Cartoons” — Louie Zong

CELESTIALS

**SOL JEMAL: As head of the Celestial Council, Sol plays a particularly important role in the monster world. Sol Jemal is an angel that has been around since the beginning of time so she’s pretty much seen it all by now. Her distant nature has caused an aura of mystery to form around her, but her sons Deneb and Leo reason that she’s not as omnipotent as she seems and, if anything, she’s just a bit uptight.

“YAH.” — Kendrick Lamar

MOON ATKINS: It doesn’t matter that they’re twins, Moon would like to make it perfectly clear that he is Sol’ older brother. (By five whole minutes!) While Sol is known for being the bringer of life, Moon Atkins was assigned the role of ruling over the dead. Because of this, Moon’s presence is seen as a bad omen in the monster world. However, Moon is quite the gentleman with an extreme interest in birds, particularly ravens.

“Lethargy″ — Bastille

MERCURY DE DIOS: The rest of the Council has the tendency to look over Mercury’s existence. Mercury de Dios is a gnome with a knack for inventing. He’s a genius when it comes to innovation, but has trouble when it comes to socializing with other people, so he avoids it completely by shutting himself in his workshop all day. When he’s not inventing, Mercury is either spending time with his children or trailing behind Venus and Mars around the Villas.

“Touch-Tone Telephone” — Lemon Demon

VENUS GALILEI: As both his boss and godmother, Venus spends a lot of time with Nate. Which is unfortunate for him, because while many other adults in the monster world think Nate is old enough to fight against Via’s Army, Venus adamantly believes that he is too young to get involved. Still, despite their many disagreements, the two care very deeply for each other.

“Glamorous” — Fergie

TERRA GALILEI: Nate’s not the only one with an adopted dryad sister. Terra Galilei is Venus’ younger sister who is head of human relations — meaning that she keeps in touch with the very few humans who know of the monster world. Unlike her sister, Terra is a loud party animal with a love for sports.

“Lightning” — Rico Nasty

MARS HUYGENS: Oh boy. Where to begin with Mars? Mars Huygens is a cyclops widely known in the monster world for his loudmouth and love of violence. He is one of the three Celestials who work at the Venus Villas — the other two being his spouses Venus and Mercury — much to the Regulators’ dismay. Despite his reputation, Mars gets along swimmingly with Brenda and, despite how often he teases the kid, has a bit of a soft spot for Nate as well.

“PRIDE.” — Kendrick Lamar

JUPITER SAGITTARIUS: Everyone in the monster world knows Jupiter as the elf who had a child with a human. Jupiter Sagittarius is Nate and Zoe’s music loving father who never really grew up. Jupiter supports his children in their endeavors, however he’s not quite qualified for his own responsibilities. Despite his scatter-mindedness, Jupiter puts a genuine effort into everything he does which, at the very least, is why his peers tend to like him so much.

“8TEEN” — Khalid

SATURN HAMILTON: With the exception of Mercury and Moon, no one in the Celestial Council really likes Saturn all that much. Saturn Hamilton is a workaholic satyr who is obsessed with the human world and its history. More often than not, Saturn finds himself butting heads with his eldest son, Alex, despite Saturn’s attempts to salvage their relationship as of late.

“Cemetery” — COIN

URI HERSCHEL: Uri is a man of few words… mostly because he’s a selective mute. Uri Herschel is an ice giant known for his eccentric nature — whether it be his odd choice of clothes or his peculiar love of taxidermy.

“Anklebiters” — Paramore

LEE NEPTUNE: Guess it’s time to release the kraken. Lee Neptune is a picture perfect beach dweller — a handsome surfer dude who plays the ukulele and has the ability to shapeshift into the legendary kraken. He may not be the smartest member of the Celestial Council, but he certainly is charming.

“Drunk Walk Home” — Mitski

PLUTO TOMBAUGH: While he’s technically no longer a part of the Council, Pluto will always have an honorary spot in these lists. Pluto Tombaugh is a laid-back and likeable dwarf who is obsessed with the animals that reside in the monster world — which he collects and studies in his downtime.

“Jawbreaker” — Injury Reserve ft. Rico Nasty & Pro Teens

**The surname Jemal is just a placeholder and will most likely change down the line.

#seriously tho thank you sm for being patient ur the best #also I wanted to put Beef FloMix by Flo Milli for Venus but the vibe didnt match Venus' aesthetic >:(#anonymous

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sneek-m · 6 years

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Top 10 J artists to get into j music?

I was going to answer this with a more definitive list that includes your Utada Hikarus and your Shiina Ringos, but I thought it would be more fun for the both of us if I talked about Japanese names that I wish to see more writing on. It was hard for me to think of 10, so here are 6.

The Komuro Family* (Ryoko Shinohara, Tomomi Kahara, hitomi, Ami Suzuki, globe)

I would preface this by saying Tetsuya Komuro is far from a decent human being. But apart from that fact, I also think people gloss over his work because he’s so embedded in the narrative of what was happening in Japanese pop music during the ‘90s to the point his ubiquity can seem like a banal concern. Sure, it admittedly sounds very of-the-time as his go-to styles of Eurobeat and rave music get more and more outdated. (TRF and Marc Panther of Globe do not age well in the slightest.) The singers are amateur by nature as well. But all that said, most of his singles endure as many tell melancholy stories of the city that reflect the bitterness of that decade. I would love to see a more in-depth observations of the recurring themes of TK singles because I think there a lot worth exploring.

Start with: “Itoshisato Setsunasato Kokorozuyosato” (Ryoko Shinohara, 1995); “I’m Proud” (Tomomi Kahara, 1996); “Departures” (globe, 1996); “Sexy” (hitomi, 1996); “All Night Long” (Ami Suzuki, 1998)

*Namie Amuro is part of the Komuro Family as the producer worked on all her music released during that decade, such as “Body Feels Exit” and “Can You Celebrate?” But a quick Google search of “best J-pop” should bring you to her name as well as countless fans, including me, open to share just how much she meant to J-pop and Japanese culture, so I didn’t mention her.

SPEED

I wouldn’t exactly say SPEED is an idol group, more a pop unit, but the girl group definitely reached the masses like one. The four debuted when they were in middle school, inspiring children and teens of the late ‘90s to idolize them: members of Perfume once recounted a time in Actor’s School, Hiroshima’s version of the Okinawa school where SPEED came from, when classmates would pretend to be SPEED and fight over who would be the group’s main star Hiro, or Hiroko Shimabukuro. Their youth really inspires the music too, a gutsy, R&B-influenced pop music that got by a lot on the girls’ energy.

Start with: “Body and Soul” (1996)

Aya Matsuura

For a long time, I thought Aya Matsuura, or Ayaya for those who grew up with her music, was in Morning Musume. But after watching her TV appearances, it was obvious she was far more made to be a solo star. Debuted when she was 15, the Hello Project idol carried herself with this charming ditziness but also a solid awareness of her as a star. Hello Pro’s main producer Tsunku would draw that quality out of her with every release, and it only became more blown-out as the years went by.

Start with: “Momoiro Kataomoi” (2002)

BoA

BoA is still killing it. Just check out her recent K-pop stuff. But as K-pop grows, it’s always worth anyone’s time to go back and check out the icons of the past generations. (Something I should do more myself as well.) Now, I’m way more familiar with her Japanese releases when it comes to old BoA. Her first five albums are all great; the first two, Listen to My Heart and Valenti, may be of-the-time, but if you can get through that quirk, they each got some hits. The difference between her Japanese releases and Korean ones are more obvious with her releases last year, Watashi Konomamade Iinokana and Woman, the former record an A&R mess that really disappointed me. But from 2002 to 2007 at least, she made a lot of simply cool Japanese R&B.

Start with: “Listen to My Heart” (2002)

Dempagumi, Inc.

I’ve only recently got into Dempagumi, Inc. and it admittedly was bit of a deliberate choice not to engage with them for so long. My first impression of Dempa felt similar to seeing Kyary Pamyu Pamyu when she first went viral, which is to say not fun at all. Imagine all the icky stereotypes of Japan, the nonsense sourced from the kawaii and otaku subcultures, just blatantly splattered as pop art. Best believe it didn’t suit well for a Japanese person who wanted foreigners to see their culture as something much deeper than those associations.

But the more and more I familiarized myself to modern J-pop, it intrigued me to see that Japanese pop culture has been so booming and well established to the point that it can produce media and art with an intense self-awareness to some of that very identity. I eventually got into Kyary Pamyu Pamyu by embracing her projected weirdness as cultural pride, and the punkish energy that Dempa puts forth to their creation feels infectious in a similar way that can also feel subversive.

Dempa’s music, especially their early ones, that double down on its idiosyncrasies can feel deliriously meta: the group’s second album, 2015’s WWDD, felt somewhat uncomfortable for me knowing just how much Dempa understood the relationship between idol and otaku. But it presents such a fascinating line of conversation, with idols speaking on idol culture. Outsiders like to observe the weird surface when there’s something much more complex happening beneath it, and I wish other people would elaborate more on it.

Start with: “Chururi Chururira” (2014)

Aimyon

There’s so much buzz around Aimyon right now, you’d be hard-pressed not to hear her name mentioned in J-pop news. But again, the mainstream can be glossed over in favor of the underground or at least lesser known music acts and movements. Which is a completely fine phenomenon! Solely relying on the Oricon as a source of Japanese music would not yield many interesting results. That said, I always remain loud about people glossing over the mainstream because Japanese pop deserves to be represented as it is, middle-of-the-road as it is cool and fascinating.

Japanese pop is not just one sound or movement. The acoustic-pop earnestness of Aimyon sounds uniquely Japanese as a bunch of vocaloid tunes or Enon Kawatani’s finger-twiddling jazz-rock side projects or the backpacker-rap tradition of Sushiboys or the genre-mashing whisper-rap of DAOKO or any typical anime theme song. All I’m saying is I want a media coverage culture that puts critical attention to all of these equally, not one over the other. And I think if you’re gonna praise Perfume, or whomever, there should be an equally approached article on Aimyon, a name who is quickly becoming popular music for the Japanese youth.

Anyway, I like Aimyon. It’s such nice pop-rock for people who frequently dream about being loved with their entire conception of romance built upon what they see in pop media like teen rom-coms and love songs such as Aimyon’s. Her lyrics reach for something more poetic, which adds a sense of cool and maturity that the kids can look up to. Her public persona definitely reflects that, though she reveals herself to be a funny, ditzy weirdo pretty quick. Yeah, she doesn’t play with a very novel sound, but does it always have to be novel to be so moving?

Start with: “Marigold” (2018)

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yuukhimchii · 4 years

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How Japanese Animation Influence the World

Japan is a country that is notable and adored by all for its numerous parts of remarkable and fascinating society. These can incorporate its long and ridiculous history or long-standing practices that have withstood the trial of time like geishas, the tea service, and different antiquated celebrations. It can likewise apply to the numerous sorts of conduct that are viewed as remarkable or bizarre by individuals from different pieces of the world, for example, uproariously slurping noodles, packing onto pressed trains, or giving youngsters cash at New Year.

There are numerous things in Japan that you can't discover in different nations, making it an energizing spot to visit where you can gain some exceptional experiences. Bunches of these societies' popularity have spread around the world, arousing outsiders' interest and urging them to visit and experience it for themselves. Japan has likewise made a great deal of commitments to the world over the course of the years with advancements like vehicles, computer games, and design.

Probably the best commitment that is as yet notorious right up 'til today is as a matter of fact what the vast majority would allude to as "anime". Anime, which initially came from the English word "liveliness", has contributed such a lot of that individuals all around the globe who love any classification of it feel the overwhelming need to proceed to visit the nation of its cause, and here and there even learn Japanese. How an affects society? How has anime impacted Japanese culture, and how has it affected western culture?

What precisely is Anime?

Anime is a term used to portray the style of Japanese activity and has been around since the mid twentieth century. Presently, anime and its comic book partner, manga, are immensely effective in Japan and past with a mechanical worth of more than 15 billion US dollars. Anime doesn't just incorporate TV arrangement for youngsters, yet additionally grown-up's TV shows and even films. A couple of instances of blockbuster anime films incorporate Studio Ghibli's profoundly acclaimed Spirited Away (2001) or the new mainstream hit Your Name (2016).

Drawing styles fluctuate contingent upon specialists, yet anime characters are typically unmistakable by their huge eyes, frequently beautiful hair, and little nose and mouth. In Japan, individuals, all things considered, and from varying backgrounds have observed some type of anime sooner or later and it has become part of their cutting edge culture. Anime arrangement are normally loaded up with fascinating characters alongside a dazzling story that can make the watcher giggle or cry.

Anime additionally covers a colossal scope of classifications, including dramatization, sentiment, awfulness, and sci-fi. Some anime shows even have more strange types like cyberpunk and mecha (highlighting robots). In western nations, anime is considered not to be as a Japanese arrangement of movement however it has additionally come to characterize a craftsmanship style that the Japanese use too.

How Anime Influence Japan?

Japanese culture can be seen in numerous anime TV shows. Secondary schools are like that, in actuality, and characters frequently eat with chopsticks and stay in conventional ryokan hotels. Well known anime characters can be seen all over Japan on toys, shirts, extras, and writing material. A few eateries, like Coco Ichibanya, have even made their own special anime-style characters to advance their youngsters' suppers.

Anime likewise enlivened the making of Japan's first vocaloid artist, Hatsune Miku, who is an animation sixteen-year-old young lady who makes popular music. In spite of not being a genuine individual, she has a tremendous fanbase and individuals even go to her live show! Also, numerous organizations utilize charming anime-style characters as mascots to draw in youngsters to their image. Regularly, famous computer games have motivated the production of a side project anime arrangement, or the other way around. A genuine illustration of this would be the Pokemon arrangement, which has broadcasted since the 1990s to present and flaunts many games. Anime has positively affected Japanese mainstream society throughout the long term.

How Anime Influence the World?

Anime has gotten perhaps the best asset these days to recount stories in a vivified structure, with opportunity of articulation in any classification and for any crowd, which contrasts against conventional kid's shows which are for the most part focused on youngsters. Anime acquired achievement in different nations when early arrangement, for example, Dragonball, Astro Boy, Sailor Moon, and Slam Dunk broadcasted. There are numerous individuals who began to get intrigued by Japan in the wake of observing a portion of these shows. At times, they are even roused to learn Japanese. Therefore, in 1984, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) was made.

The mid 1990s filled in as what was known to be an "anime blast". Because of this, anime culture additionally advanced when anime shows began occurring. Anime shows are huge social occasions that may occur over a time of days, all together for devotees of anime and manga to show their enthusiasm and commitment. These have even consolidated industry talk boards where voice entertainers and anime creation staff can meet at the occasion to discuss their shows, and fans can get an opportunity to meet them. Fans can likewise assemble to purchase product and attempt "cosplay". The expression "cosplay" is gotten from the words "ensemble play", and it is when fans take on the appearance of their #1 character from an arrangement and mimic that character for the afternoon. Cosplay isn't limited to anime however has likewise moved over to western characters from funnies, animation arrangement, Hollywood films, and computer games.

Another mainstream part of anime is the craftsmanship style. The style that comes from the anime kind is extraordinary, characters commonly wearing enormous eyes and remarkable haircuts. Western nations have likewise evolved arrangement utilizing that specific style. One of the more mainstream arrangement which has adjusted this workmanship style is the Avatar: The Last Airbender, which has acquired worldwide achievement. A spin-off was likewise made entitled The Legend of Korra. Anime and the Human Psyche

If one thinks about it, anime’s greatest influence in the world is its effect on human psychology.

For some, anime can influence a person’s attitudes and behavior by allowing them to adopt and emulate the characters’ own attitudes and behaviors even though this only manifests in a fictional situation. However, such influence can go both ways. Because anime contains different forms of violence for example, those of the verbal or physical kind this may normalize such type of behavior to the point that viewers, especially impressionable children and teens, would adopt the said behavior in real life. This may stunt their adjustment to society where such behavior is not accepted or approved.

In addition, watching anime can be addictive particularly if not done with some restraint. Henceforth, however too much of watching anime is advertised as a decent side interest, it should likewise be controlled on account of its negative physical and mental impacts. Such is particularly valid for kids or teenagers who should be guided especially when the show includes the previously mentioned savagery.

Then again, anime may likewise impact watchers. Since it for the most part features themes, for example, companionship or familial bonds or character attributes, for example, liberality, consciousness, persistence, and such, individuals would then be able to receive socially-acknowledged and moral practices which can help them as people. Since some anime arrangement or movies additionally highlight storylines and settings that resound with the crowd because of likenesses with their own encounters, it might help them adapt or handle issues and construct character.

Watching anime may likewise be a method for stress alleviation or therapy, which may then improve one's prosperity. Besides, since anime additionally contains topics of how the legend or champion of the story beats hindrances, it might fill in as an empowering a lot mechanisms for watchers who are battling with life issues, if they might be substantial for the individual.

Therefore, I conclude that the best influence of anime to the world might be its impact on the human mind. While such impact might be simply certain, absolutely negative, or both, we can't reject that it has become a particularly gigantic piece of the present reality. We just have the Japanese to thank for allowing us to encounter this piece of their way of life.

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deadcactuswalking · 4 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 06/02/2021 (Fredo’s Money Can’t Buy Happiness)

This is an odd, scattered week - a slow one thankfully for the day after my birthday - but we do have a bigger album bomb than I expected from Fredo, even if “drivers license” is still at #1 for a fourth week, blocking EDM remixes of sea shanties because of course, it’s the UK after all. Let’s just get back into REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

Now, I predicted last week that Fredo would have two songs debut high up on the chart from his most recent album, Money Can’t Buy Happiness, and the pre-release single “Back to Basics” would rise to the top 10. That didn’t exactly happen, as “Back to Basics” actually dropped out of the chart off of the debut for being one of the lowest-performing Fredo tracks, or at least less successful than the three songs that debuted, as that’s all the UK Singles Chart allows. Speaking of drop-outs from the UK Top 75, they’re all mostly inconsequential, made up of recent debuts like “Wellerman” by the Longest Johns and “Bad Boy” by the late Juice WRLD and Young Thug. In terms of notable drop-offs, we do have some arguably premature falls for minor hits, like “champagne problems” by Taylor Swift, “Body” by Megan Thee Stallion, “Lonely” by Justin Bieber and benny blanco, and, finally, “Diamonds” by Sam Smith. This is a slow week outside of the top 40, so we just have some spare oddities to cover outside of the drop-outs. For our fallers, we have “34+35” by Ariana Grande fading its remix boost at #14, “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish at #30, “SO DONE” by The Kid Yaoi at #52, “All I Want” by Olivia Rodrigo at #54, “Lo Vas A Olvidar” by Billie Eilish and ROSALÍA at #64 off of the debut and a couple real crashes at the tail-end of the top 75, those being “Holy” by Justin Bieber featuring Chance the Rapper at #71, “WAP” by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion at #72, “Notorious” by Bugzy Malone featuring Chip at #73 and “Dynamite” by BTS at #75. This may explain the otherwise inexplicable returns for songs that are always clinging onto the back half of the chart, like “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac at #74, “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran at #70 and, incredibly, “Mr Brightside” by the Killers at #68, the highest it’s been in a while (and that’s a feat considering how long it stays on the damn chart). For gains, we’re really not picking up much traction here. Sure, “Baby Shark” by Pinkfong is back at #73 for some reason, but otherwise we just have middling songs with middling gains, like “Martin & Gina” by Polo G at #61, “Take You Dancing” by Jason Derulo at #59, “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles rebounding to #44, “Your Love (9PM)” by ATB, Topic and A7S making a surprising and scary gain to #42 (and I’ll admit, I’ve warmed up to it quickly), “i miss u” by Jax Jones and Au/Ra clawing back in the top 40 at #39, “Friday” by Riton, Nightcrawlers and Musafa & Hypeman dopamine re-editing itself up to #24 (Please don’t make this a hit) and finally, “Streets” by Doja Cat continuing its rise up to #12. Oh, yeah, and “Skin” by Sabrina Carpenter is down to #41 off of the debut but everyone’s forgotten about that song considering how big “drivers license” still is, so yeah, let’s just get to our new arrivals, because we do have some interesting things to touch on this week.

NEW ARRIVALS

#66 – “Higher” – Clean Bandit featuring iann dior

Produced by Mark Ralph, Grace Chatto and Jack Patterson

Well, they made a song with 24kGoldn, and that was awful, so... I guess it’s Puerto Rican emo-rapper iann dior’s turn. They might as well remix “Mood” while they’re at it. Instead of Mabel filling in for the singing where 24kGoldn couldn’t on “Tick Tock”, however, we have honestly a less charismatic singer in iann dior playing all the parts, without a rap verse to speak of. Okay, so this could work if he just fills in the spot of generic anonymous singer, and it fits exactly within that mold if he wants to, even though that’ll take away any of the character he had – not that any of that character was likeable or interesting, but hey, baby, he is not your dad, so maybe he’ll blend in well with Clean Bandit’s decreasingly unique production. This is a tropical EDM track where iann dior’s non-existent range and raspy, uncaring tone zaps the energy out of the touches of steel drums and orchestral stabs. This drop is nothing more than a vocaloid loop, and a pathetic one at that, with iann dior’s really gross falsetto proving that Auto-Tune can’t really fix bad singing, not that it needed to be proven. The lyrics here are nothing to write home about, wrapping a love song with ocean metaphors probably just so he can say “I’mma get her wet, oh, baby, then slide”... Gross. There’s like zero build-up to this drop at all as well, so there’s no stakes, no climax, and hence not a good EDM track. Come on, Dan Smith of Bastille wrote this, can’t he get the lead vocal? At least it would sound competent.

#63 – “Grown Flex” – Chip featuring Bugzy Malone

Produced by the Fanatix

Ah, my favourite duo. Apparently this is from a Chip album that I didn’t even know existed, thankfully because it’s 21 tracks, over an hour, with two consecutive Young Adz features. “Grown Flex” is another collaboration with Bugzy Malone, probably here because of the video and the sample of iconic UK bass tune “Heartbroken” by T2, one of the most popular songs in that wave of EDM and a pretty damn great song. It has been sampled before by people like DJ Khaled and Drake but no-one’s made a better song, so maybe these formerly feuding Londoners can make a good song with this sample as the base? That isn’t a question actually, but if it was, the answer would be no. They pitch up the (honestly ahead of its time) vocaloid loop, and put an obnoxious UK garage-adjacent drum loop over it that’s barely on beat with all of the chiptune sound effects distracting from Chip’s also off-beat flow. The chorus is really awkward, with him being off-beat and uncredited female vocal backing vocals with entirely different vocal processing coming in and sounding equally janky. This beat isn’t broken inherently, it could work but it’s too shrouded in these two rappers void of personality. Bugzy Malone is here but his rough tone does not work on this beat, regardless of how much he wants to pretend there’s any melody to his drawl with the Auto-Tune and multi-tracking. He’s still somehow the best part though because, yeah, this is just... incredibly awful. The production is onto something by the end with the horns coming in but they immediately fade out and eventually it just abruptly cuts to some pointless chiptune beeping sounds that have been there the whole time but play alone right at the end for no reason. This is aggravating, I know I’m pretty much nit-picking but there’s nothing of substance to pick apart here anyway. This is pure incompetence and a butchering of a good sample... that they should be allowed to use freely, though, by the way. Abolish copyright law.

#62 – “Ride for Me” – B Young

Produced by Mike Spencer and Pacific

Since everyone seems to have forgotten how to actually make music this week, at least we can always count on B Young... okay, no, but at least he’s given up on trying to be a rapper or R&B singer at this point, as a lane of generic guitar-pop probably would work best for the guy’s voice. I mean, we have an acoustic loop here that sounds like it’s jacked straight from a Shawn Mendes demo. At least the incompetence here is charming, with his rougher vocals being a pretty nice contrast from the otherwise kind of ugly mixing, especially on the flat percussion. I do like the lyrics here, as he’s simply love-struck and enjoys the company of this woman, for more than just sex and appearances. He just hopes that things don’t change and the relationship lasts forever. Sure, it’s shallow but it seems genuine. Sure, there’s some drug references and him being pushy to ask her for no make-up, though it does come off as just enjoying her presence instead of any stuck-up preference, especially since he offers his tracksuit and they end up watching some crap Netflix original film. Yeah, this is just a sweet track if nothing else. Since I did do a full song review for his song “Jumanji” years back, I feel a weird sense of almost parenthood for this guy, like I’ve seen him grow and finally he’s made a good song, even if it’s a bit out of his wheel-house. He’s never not been genuine, just only now that’s given him some more likeability, even if it’s just to make a cute love song. He sounds like a good boyfriend, and that’s really the appeal of the song, so, yeah, good job. I’m honestly kind of surprised.

#60 – “Gravity” – Brent Faiyaz and DJ Dahi featuring Tyler, the Creator

Produced by DJ Dahi

This is the most frustrating song I’ve heard this year so far, I’m almost fascinated by it. Before we get into that, I’d like to say that it’s good to see Brent Faiyaz finally debuting a song relatively high, and this is DJ Dahi’s first ever credited UK Singles Chart entry, although he’s produced top 40 hits before for Kendrick Lamar. Faiyaz has been a bubbling artist in R&B for the past few years, and honestly he might have had the most successful career off of the three artists that propelled themselves off of the back of “Crew” with GoldLink and Shy Glizzy. It was a minor hit that ended up producing no rising stars until around five years later, where we have a genuine hit potentially coming from the guy who sung the chorus, of course with some help from Tyler, the Creator. I do think this song is good but owes a lot to that to the production and charisma of our artists, as I can pick this apart way too easily for my taste. This beat is good, with some incredible guitar work from Steve Lacy as he would always deliver, but feels very aimless, especially with the pointless air horns in the background that if anything distract from Brent Faiyaz, who needs room to breathe. I mean, he’s an R&B singer, of course he does. The beat takes certain left turns during the verses that seem like meanders and if it’s not deflating any of its groove for the sake of guitar loops, it’s got this really tense percussion that does not work for the content or performances here, which are both pretty checked-out, especially Tyler, who’s as stiff as always but without any really interesting lyrical moments or a shift of flow. It’s one of his worst verses in my opinion, and he really goes in one ear and out the other with how short it is, which surprises me because of how Tyler usually either steals the show or meshes really well with his collaborators. So, our two performers are mostly checked-out with little to no chemistry, and the beat is awkward and unfitting for the content, which is about them being brought back down to Earth by their loved ones, hence the name, despite their travel habits due to touring – which isn’t a thing that’s happening right now at all, so maybe this’ll be a slow burn hit before it can really resonate. If we listen to these lyrics more closely, we also don’t get the sense that Brent Faiyaz is even likeable here, as we have no reason given for this woman to not feel uncomfortable that he’s paying little attention to her. Instead, Faiyaz just comes off a dismissive ass to this undeserving woman who is reasonably upset at the lack of time spent with him. It’s never made clear that she’s pestering him, so I honestly don’t get how Faiyaz wants to frame this. It doesn’t help that Tyler has the opposite reaction, longing for his partner when he’s on tour instead of feeling annoyed by her, but ultimately with no interplay so this means nothing. Oh, and if the songwriting weren’t janky enough, the chorus is barely catchy and covered in pitch-shifted multi-tracking that takes any of the focus off of Brent Faiyaz, who’s constantly crushed by backing vocals, being pitched down for no reason with unnecessary censor bleeps when they both swear freely at other points in the song. This type of maximalist production works but only when there’s any grandiosity to make it feel warranted, and if there isn’t that, the gunshot percussion is out of place and there ends up being a lot of empty space. There’s nothing smooth about this, and that’s frustrating as you’d expect these three to bring a really relaxed tune with some great 70s soul vibes and... I mean, that’s obviously what they’re going for here, but it is painfully over-produced and ultimately immensely disappointing. I can see people enjoying this a lot but no, this doesn’t work for me at all. Sorry.

#45 – “Dancing on Ice” – Yxng Bane featuring Nafe Smallz and M Huncho

Produced by Don Alfonso and Quincy Tellem

Oh, Jesus Christ, these guys again... and Yxng Bane, I guess. So, you know what the deal is with this UK ‘trap-wave’ type stuff, right? There’s a vaguely interesting synth loop drowned out by cheap percussion and crap bass mastering, as well as awfully processed vocals from everyone involved. They can trade verses, but more often than not don’t say anything that doesn’t embarrass themselves. You get a sense of really toxic masculinity, misogyny and materialism without any charm in their delivery, inflections or wordplay – which is usually non-existent. Here, it’s not any different. Yxng Bane has some good melodic flows – and I really like his line about his Rolex Presidential Watch being discontinued but since he’s “going Donald”, he wears it anyway – but he also threatens... presumably the listener with gay conversion therapy in the first line of the verse, so all good will’s lost. Nafe Smallz sounds better than usual but his nasal flow is still whiny and insufferable, and M Huncho is here to waste time and sound bad doing it, although he’s probably the least worst sounding vocally out of these three clowns. I misread his line about his rucksack being heavy as “nutsack”, and that’s all the positive engagement I could claw out of this. I ask this every time but honestly, who listens to this?

#21 – “Ready” – Fredo featuring Summer Walker

Produced by Mojam

Much like the end of a Morrisons sweet aisle, past this point, it’s all Fredo. Admittedly, I didn’t end up listening to the record but I have heard a select few songs, this being one of them, and I’m not really a fan. I do like the eerie loop but it seems a bit unfitting for a triumphant flex song emphasising a rags-from-riches narrative, especially since the mix really crushes both Fredo and Summer Walker in this blend of boring skittering trap percussion and the ambiance, making her hook impact a lot less. Fredo’s verses are pretty damn heartfelt, I’ll admit, and I really like his lines about pleading with God that he should be let into Heaven. In fact, Fredo’s bars are pretty consistently great, focusing on how his criminal past in the streets of London refuses to escape him despite his efforts to make it out using rap, and by the end, he sounds pretty defeated when he says, “Yeah, I’m lonely, but that’s just a player’s life”. Honestly, for a song that initially builds itself up to be a triumphant flex song, it ends up just being kind of sad, and that’s fine, more fitting for the instrumental but it really makes the hook feel even more out of place. Ah, well, the song’s fine, really, just a blend of ideas that never really stick the landing together.

#18 – “Burner on Deck” – Fredo featuring Pop Smoke and Young Adz

Produced by RicoRunDat and Yoz Beats

Now this is what I want from Fredo. Now, this is posthumous in Pop Smoke’s case but it’s far from an unexpected feature, as whilst this is one of his first UK drill collaborations, Pop Smoke was known for his pioneering of the New York style of London’s grittier, more menacing drill music, and even named Fredo and Young Adz as some of his favourite rappers. Okay, so he had questionable taste – I mean, Young Adz? - but Pop Smoke felt more of a connection between New York and London beyond just instrumentals, with a shared slang, street culture and arguably most importantly, inequality. This is all cited from a Complex interview, by the way, but you can tell even from his music what a great respect he had for British hip-hop, especially considering his main producer, 808 Melo, is from London. The song itself is pretty great too, relying on these spacey synth loops that build up with more eerie keys before finally crashing into an intense drill beat, with all artists sharing the Auto-Tuned hook, but Young Adz probably shining the most in how he plays off of Pop Smoke’s deeper, rich voice with his nasal whine. The lyrics may be generic gunplay and flexing, but the delivery saves it for me, with Fredo enthusiastically shouting out Gorillaz of all people, and the chorus being way smoother than it would usually be for a drill track, as well as being really catchy. Pop Smoke absolutely kills it here, going with his typical stiff, fast-paced flow for a verse that is really short but just as powerful as he usually delivers. You can tell this was made for this track as well from the interplay on the hook and him shouting out Young Adz in his verse. Fredo pretty much completes the second verse by chiming in and showing more of the charm I enjoy from him as he mentions coughing the bar before he coughs for basically an entire bar. It caught me off-guard at full listen and it still leads in perfectly to the oddly-mixed sombre piano that comes in for the final hook. With a better mix – and even then, it kind of works without it – and maybe some extended verses from both London and New York drill artists, this could bang even harder. Maybe for a remix, this beat could bring the best out of Swarmz, DigDat, AJ Tracey, Hardy Caprio, Tion Wayne, Fivio Foreign even... I could go on, this could be a great posse cut. As it is, it’s still pretty damn good, and again, rest in peace to the late Pop Smoke.

#3 – “Money Talks” – Fredo featuring Dave

Produced by Dave

At first, I was surprised this debuted at #3, which seems high for a British rap track, but then I remembered that the last time these guys collaborated on a single it debuted at #1 without an album attached, and it helped that “Funky Friday” is also a great song, admittedly something I didn’t think at the time. It does make perfect sense that this debuts so high, especially since this album was actually executively-produced by Dave, so given these guys’ track records together and alone, I did expect something great, and, well... okay, so instead of a drill beat as this pretty vocal sample would be fit for, as would the flows, we get a lightweight trap beat with odd vocal and bass mixing. Admittedly, the 808 slides here are pretty excellent, but that’s the only shred of intricacy I see here, which is usually commonplace in Dave’s production. There’s also simply not enough consistency or variety here to make it worth the four and a half minutes, with the chorus being awkward if anything. There’s less depth to the rags-to-riches stories here, with Fredo probably giving more commentary than Dave does, which seems odd but fitting for how checked-out Dave is here. There’s just a resounding lack of anything to this song other than a boring beat and performances that could be a lot sharper and interesting. Sure, Dave flexes his technical piano skill by the end but the beat had already run dry by about two extra minutes before that – this could have run through your second verse, Dave, or you could have added a bridge instead of repeating the chorus. I do like some of the lines here that are obviously more personal and introspective, like Fredo’s conflict with the justice system and Dave explaining how he got robbed when he was a child and to cope with the trauma of this, he started toting weapons. I guess the EastEnders reference is funny but it just reminds me of DigDat making a similar cocaine joke with arguably funnier source material on “Guten Tag”. Yeah, this could be a lot better but it’s not offensive and hey, it’s competent at least. I mean, it’s Dave, it won’t be anything less, just a tad disappointing. I mean, come on, “coochie freshly shaven, man’s got expectations”?

Conclusion

This week is so disproportionately male, huh? Ironically as I say that, none of the women represented here – in the form of soulless EDM production and boring guest feature – get Best of the Week, as that’s going to Fredo’s “Burner on Deck” featuring the late Pop Smoke and, yes, Young Adz, with an Honourable Mention to B Young of all people for “Ride for Me”. Worst of the Week will obviously go to Chip and Bugzy Malone for the pathetic “Grown Flex”, with a tied Dishonourable Mention this week going to both “Dancing on Ice” by Yxng Bane featuring Nafe Smallz (for being gross and offensive) and “Higher” by Clean Bandit featuring iann dior (for being remarkably inoffensive). Yeah, Brent Faiyaz and Tyler are safe there but that’s still a fascinatingly bad song, though I don’t think I’ll make any friends with that opinion. Anyway, here’s the top 10 for this week:

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed and want more of my cacti-branded rambling, follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank. I can’t make any predictions for next week that aren’t depressing, but we may have to discuss death and politics next episode if a certain song gets renewed traction. Happy times. See you next week!

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cutiecrates · 5 years

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Cutie Reviews: Gacha Gacha Crate Sept 19

With this box it’s officially been a year that Gacha Gacha Crate began! Unfortunately they didn’t make any note of that so I feel a little disappointed they didn’t do anything special for it- not only that, but I actually didn’t like this box. I liked maybe 1 or 2 things in it and that is it. This review will probably be skimpier than the August one because of that, and I do plan on giving impute, I’ll just be leaving out the ratings.

But before I begin I wanted to address this so that I don’t sound like an ungrateful brat; please do not let this discourage you from checking out the box. The contents are not in bad shape or low quality, it’s just that you can’t be expected to like every box you know?

Also also, in other news, TokyoCatch has began it’s early stages of testing :3 and I was one of those selected to test it! It’s a lot of fun, although we can’t really win anything yet, I’ve managed to get a handful of stuff and it’s a lot of fun just practicing. I don’t want to give too much detail right now though and risk breaching my agreement to testing, so if you’re curious in that you’ll just have to stay tuned~

For this month, the booklet features an article on Rilakkuma :3 including where he got his start, his concept and name, and his growing popularity; did you guys know he has a 3D animation out on Netflix?! If you want to learn more it’s called “Rilakkuma and Kaoru“.

Rilakkuma Figure

It’s really plain looking right? Well that’s because this is one of those build-able figures, the gachapon comes in the characters body and you just assemble it. So far I’ve gotten Donald Duck and Gengar, and now Kiiroitori- he pretty much came pre-assembled because there’s nothing else to do to him!

That’s kind of lame, but if you like him I guess it’s okay? I’m not a fan of him at all, I mean he’s a little cute but I prefer the bears.

Pokemon Keychain

This series of keychains was inspired by the remake(?) of Mewtwo Strikes Back. Besides Togepi we could get Mewtwo, Mew, Pikachu, and Dragonite, each on a thickly woven chain.

Although I won’t be using this (my phone doesn’t let me use charms on it sadly <_<), I think this is pretty cute. The paint job is pretty decent, but I do see a lot of small lining/indents and it seems the colors are a little off from their positioning. You can’t tell in the pic at all but in person it’s more obvious. I sill think it’s pretty good though.

MTV Keychain

This box is kinda obsessed with keychains don’t you think?

Anyway, this one ended up surprising me, this was definitely not something I expected to see, but because I’m a sucker for food-themed things I found it a little charming. They had a cola one though, I kind of wish I got that but this is just as nice.

This is a rubbery keychain made by Takara Tomy Arts, and each keychain is inspired by past variants of the MTV logo. When I was younger I used to watch that channel a lot, but I eventually outgrew it and it’s probably been 15 years since I watched it. I can’t say I miss it because I’ve become more into things like vocaloids and foreign music, American music doesn’t really appeal to me anymore.

Sushi Mascot

This was the only item I ended up really liking honestly, because it’s a squishy! These sushi sets focus on the various Sashimi plates one might find when preparing or eating sushi; like squish, shrimp, various fishies like tuna and salmon. I’m not a big sashimi type, I really don’t like fish at all, but I still think this is adorable~

The lid can be removed, but the rubbery-squishy pieces are stuck to the inside and can’t be removed. The detail on it is very nice, and the pieces are ultra-soft, this would be a fun item for re-ment or doll pictures. The only thing is that I noticed the little painted details on the shrimp and... whatever is next to it is a little messy. Oddly, those two are also a little sticky in comparison to the other two pieces.

Red Lantern

Red Lanterns (Akachouchin) are often strung up along traditional Japanese drinking and eating establishments and along the streets. There was a handful of possible options to obtain this set, each with their own writing, and as you can see you get 2 stickers, which I think is nice so if you lose a sheet or something would happen, you can replace them.

Also check this out

They light up like real lanterns! It’s really fun, and you can hang them up with the little loop on top of the piece. It’s a cute little thing if you like Japanese cultured items, it’s a bit too big to be used for re-ments though.

I wish we got this during summer, it would have been cute for them to do a fun summer festival themed box.

Dragonball Z Figure

Figures were also kinda hot in this box huh?

Our last item is this decent Dragonball Z figure, as usual I got Goku. I love the translucent hair, it’s neat to look at (it’s also super pointy), and it’s pretty neat for his outfit to be inverted in color. You have to assemble these but they only come in 2 or 3 pieces, plus a clear stand base that is usually a mystery as to how you use it; it took me about 5 minutes to figure it out this time.

As I said, I used to love this series but I can’t say I’m that big into it now; I’d rather get adorable things with anime girls, idols, PriPara and Aikatsu, Pretty Cure, etc... I’ll probably sell this or give it to someone I know.

-----

Okay guys, that will be it for this review. I know it wasn’t really a review, but I really wasn’t feeling it and I just wanted to hurry up and get through this so that I could get back on track. I’m really, REALLY hoping I like next months better...

#cutie reviews #gachagachacrate #pokemon gacha

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groundramon · 7 years

Note

for the ask the blogger thing... ☂ - favorite season? ✐ - fave types of movies? ♪ - music you like?✌ - favorite bands/ singers? ♒ - fave animes? ❦-.fave characters? ღ - mottos? I'm spamming u with those sorry

SHHH NO I LOVE BEING SPAMMED WITH QUESTIONS SO THANK YOU

Also thank you for including the questions with the emojis that makes this 10x easier for me lmao

anYWAYS

☂ - favorite season?Winter!! Nice and cool AND you dont have school for two weeks lmao

✐ - fave types of movies?Generally animated; I enjoy animation and movie animation tends to be consistently pretty high-quality (even the fucking emoji movie looks pretty decent) not to mention live action movies always seem to have really bad sound mixing?? Meaning important things you NEED to hear like whispering are too quiet and explosions are too loud even when you dont change the tv volume. But even then, saying I prefer animated movies isn’t exactly accurate because….I haven’t gone to the theater for a single animated movie this year. The only ones so far that I would’ve considered were Lego Batman (which I have on dvd now but i havent watched) and Cars 3. I’m hoping to see Coco in theaters but other than that….i can wait for it on dvd or just not watch it at all because I’d prefer to rewatch a movie I like.

I also dont like calling animated movies a genre, so if we’re going by genre, I’d say fantasy-adventure stories tend to be my favorites, but sci-fi can be fun as well. I just want a good, heartfelt story that doesn’t take itself so seriously that you can’t have fun but also takes itself seriously enough that you really feel for the characters.

♪ - music you like?GOD I WISH I KNEW?? I’ll literally listen to everything from vocaloid to mainstream pop to techno music to video game OSTs and everything in-between and outside of that. I’m generally more picky with rap music, techno/electronic music, and just anything that gets screechy or is too intense with its instrumentals, but….I can listen to hard metal music when im trying to fall asleep at night, so i mean.

✌ - favorite bands/ singers?Again, god I wish I knew. I have a tendency to think “oh, this is alright, I’ll listen to a few of this artist’s songs” and then moving on and never thinking about them again. One artist that I’ve come back to repeatedly is Sabrina Carpenter though, her music is nice and a few of her songs are some of my all-time faves, its probably not for people who cant stand mainstream pop tho. Also shout out to Mystery Skulls for officially licensing Mystery Skulls animated instead of taking them down for copyright infringement lmao also their music is some of the techno music that i actually like

♒ - fave animes?I havent watched enough animes aaAAAA but I will always and forever love Digimon. Like I dont think any anime will surpass the personal attachment I have to the Digimon series. It’s just so silly and charming and for a long time it was the best thing I had ever seen and it’s honestly still just….really enjoyable. (Honestly it gives me fossil fighters vibes, I think I like them both for the same reason tbh) Digimon Adventure is definitely my favorite, Tamers is really good but I actually have a bit of a personal bias against Tamers because it scared me as a kid :’D its still a good season tho and i appreciate it a lot more now that im older. And FRONTIER IS ACTUALLY GOOD, PEOPLE CAN FIGHT ME it’s got the same vibe as the first four seasons, even if the concept seems vastly different, and is really enjoyable if you arent blinded by your love for the digimon partners in the old series. After that though its kinda….ehhh. Data Squad and Fusion didnt have the same feel, although Fusion did it much better, but…its just not the same. I really dislike Marcus so it makes Data Squad less enjoyable, plus i just…idk, it doesnt seem to have as much life as the first four seasons and is written and animated in a different way to me. Fusion is kinda interesting in the second arc (ive only seen the first three arcs; the third arc/seventh season [idk which it is] hasnt been dubbed yet so…) but it takes itself too seriously because it removes its primary comic reliefs - and also the best characters - after the end of the first arc. So we’re left with the Digimon as the only comic reliefs and….ehhh….theyre not as good. Also I havent seen the Appmon anime and idk how good it is but im still salty that they stole the name of the project that ive had floating around in the back of my head for years so i havent done anything related to Appmon. AND Digimon Tri is good but i still need to catch up on it ahaha cries (planning to get a trial at crunchyroll to watch the last two parts when the last part comes out)

But enough about Digimon. Besides Digimon, I really did enjoy Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood; I do have some gripes with the series (namely the earlier episode and how much happens in the earlier episodes vs how much happens in the later episodes, so pacing problems basically) but it’s still really good and I LOVE AL. There was an anime I watched with my dad several years back called Blue Dragon that I remembered enjoying a lot, but then disowning because it turns out in the original my favorite character was a perfect example of the anime pervert trope. Dubs are fun lmao. But I feel like I’d pick up more on the changes they made between the two versions now (the sub version being riddled with swears and innuendos, and the dub version being dubbed for kids) and probably wouldnt enjoy it as much anymore. I also barely remember shit about it except a plot twist at the end that i spoiled for myself but still had no idea it was coming. I was like 11 when i watched it, its been a long time.

❦-.fave characters?Well I already mentioned loving Al, but I also love Pidge from VLD, Amanda from Dream Daddy, Baymax and Hiro from BH6, and Napstablook from Undertale. Also like all of the main characters in Fossil Fighters Champions but shhh.

I really want to add Hunk to this list but honestly as the seasons in VLD go on it becomes more and more apparent to me that he’s just a running fat joke; Lance looks like he could be building up to something, but I haven’t got a clue where Hunk could go besides more of the same. So :’) my boy deserves better, he can join the group again when Dreamworks gets its shit together. Sorry Hunk, I still love you and I’d treat you better if you were mine (//looks at my characters all burning in hell and sweats// well maybe not better but…)

ღ - mottos?Uhhh idk? Does this mean like, mottos I follow, catchphrases I use a lot, or inspirational quotes? Idk I’ll give all three

I try to live my life by the policy of “do to others as you would have them do to you.” That’s like my number 1 rule about doing anything. I dont understand how people can be intentionally dicks to other people or so something that they would hate happening to them; what, dont you realize that other people have the same feelings as you? I know I’ve hurt other people but still, it’s always been in instances where the pros outweighed the cons if I put themselves in their shoes.

As for catchphrases I use a lot, probably “mood” or “god same” because this site has completely broken my sense of anything

As for inspirational quotes, well here are some copy-pasted directly from my dA page:

“No man deserves to be trapped in jelly.” - Rupert from Fossil Fighters Champions“what motivates Scart? That’s right: the nut” - Tumblr user claratyler“I am slowly going crazy” - Dr. Jean, songwriter of children’s music and my lord and savior“I’m still mad at Seth McFarlane btw but im more concerned with my tree cookies” - me“I was out of the third bean” - Yolei’s mom from Digimon Adventure 02

#stormy answers #thanks for the ask!!!

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jjinomu · 8 years

Note

I'm sad that the apocalypse is over but thank you for doing it!! It was super fun to see how it went. I have to ask, do you have any hc's for the vocaloids? Like how they act and stuff...? I don't mind which ones you do if you do any at all.

oh pshh don't worry about the wedding apocalypse it's still going to carry on, i just kinda "postponed it" in a way due to my net problems ehehehe but im glad ur liking the turn out it is really fun!!!

ANYWAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY THE QUESTION I HAVE BEEN WAITING TO ANSWER MY WHOLE LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!! BLESS U i love talking about headcannons SO MUCh this might take a while lmao bc yes i have LOTS OF lil weird hc's for the vocaloids hehe

i'll talk about my HC for the crypton 5 (and if they were like a family living together in a house bc thats how i see it) also SUPER LONG BC oBViously

MEIKO:- meiko iS SUPER COOL!!! she is like SUPER COOL and charismatic and super reserved and i love meiko and she'll protect the crypton fam with her life- she's a lil quiet too but doesnt mind chipping in a few snarkly lil remarks at ppl who are doing the wrong thing (she’s also a shorty)- she's pretty stern and the tsukkomi of the whole crew and she can get super cynical when she thinks about things- when she gets flustered she gets really "what?? no way??? pft nO what"- like kuudere type but also super tsuntsun yknow wat i mean- for some reason i also hc her to watch a lot of romcom anime or read a lot of shoujo when there's noone around or she has nothing to do idk y- she doesnt know how to cook properly but ppl let her cook bc it makes her happy - when she drinks, her personality goes from reserved to more open and happy and she'll engage in a lot of skinship and bouts of affection- probably plays really good acoustic guitar (a genetic trait shared with her mother meiko haigo)

KAITO- kaito's a lil dorky and a lil silly, he's quite naive but also kinda clever about random shit like "the top of the eiffel tower is six inches shorter in the winter”- he's always happy and glad to help out and he's super charming- he can be a little embarassing due to his naivety- he's also super easygoing and friendly- except he doesnt really do much around the house bc noone gives him anything to do be they're scared he'll wreck the place by accident- he's a LOud man likes 2 cheer likes 2 be a proud dad- he probably doesnt work with technology he says its too much for him even though he is 100% a robot- so he sits and weeps and reads a lot of recipes so he can teach meiko when he has the balls to tell her she's not that gr8 at cooking- a neat cook - if kaito and meiko had a yt channel it'd be a family vlog channel lbr

MIKU- super clumsy??? she's really clumsy but she's also super lovable like noone can hate her (but noone can give her chores either bc she’ll break everything)- she does her absolute best all the time- if she had a yt channel it'd be for her music i mean wat do u expect- she feels sad if she reads a hateful comment about one of my fam on a video of hers and she'll do her best to cheer them up (e.g. if she sees a hateful comment about meiko, she'll make meiko some breakfast in bed even tho meiko is totally 100% cool with shit)- miku respects (and idolises) meiko and kaito a lot for setting out the carpet and allowing her to walk on it and supporting her 100% of the time so she wants them to always be happy and always be proud- miku also super respects luka and aspires to be as pretty and mature as luka- meiko sometimes lets miku join in her romcom weeb sesh for no reason (and only miku she doesnt trust anyone else w her big secret)- she prefers action a lil more so she watches with rin as well - meeks is like a super happy doggo

RIN- super super cute but also ironically arrogant??? like she makes arrogant and insulting jokes for fun- she's a lil sarcastic and screams a lot for no reason- probably a huge weeb- she loves action type movies/shows/anime anything with fighting she's like HECK YEAH PAIN (she often pulls allnighters bingewatching so she's often joined with meeks and len and sometimes luka or she gets scolded by meiko)- she respects kaito a lot for just purely existing and being able to still exist and coming back from his time as a labelled "failure" (albiet she still makes insulting jokes towards him bc she thinks its funny)- she (and luka) are in charge of groceries bc rin knows her fruits and luka knows her fish - she pulls a lot of pranks on the rest of the family like if she had a yt channel it'd be for pranks- mostly on len poor len he suffers

LEN- suffering constantly at everyone's hand- he says he "dislikes" kaito and kinda talks down on him and denies kaito's presence and influence in his life, he considers kaito kind of embarassing and wonder why and how the rest can put up with him sometimes (but he still- even tho he wont admit it, kaito is his #1 nii-chan)- kaito always tries to be the best big bro and len appreciates that even though kaito usually stuffs up big bro stuff like teaching len how to sport (because sport is a concept kaito probably doesnt understand)- len's the cleaner of the house, he doesnt mind tidying up the places bc sometimes rin demolishes shit and she always blames him and he gets in trouble- he's also pretty reserved especially around his older sisters like meiko and luka and even miku, mostly because he respects them a lot - sometimes he can get pretty flustered if he's alone with one of the older girls because he doesnt really know what to do or say and he's too prideful of a person to ask kaito for assistance (he’s also the youngest, so aside from rin he’s pretty awkward with everyone)- rin and len as a power duo are a crazed frenzy though, if one pisses off the other it can be constant shouting for days until kaito or meiko break it up- they probably pull eachother's hair and scream about who can have the remote

LUKA- the most Quiet of them all- she's elegant she's beauty she's GRACE let her sit on my face- she’s super mature and helps meiko cook most of the time (which is y food is at least 50% better tasting if meiko were to cook alone)- despite that, she’s a totally closeted pervert w/ a thing for her mei-nee-san and lil imoutos miku and rin- she’s totally not allowed in laundry for that purpose- she’s a super good listener too, when meiko and luka go out to drink together it can get pretty deep- she kinda just appears?? in random places??? and people don’t really know how she got there- but she’s always so Cool i love luka bye

the end i was gna go on and on but that’s enough brief for now lbr

#ask #notmmd #headcanons #thnx for asking this ive been waiting my wHOLE LIFE FOR A HEADCANON QUESTION AND I WENT A LIL OVERBOARD BC I PREPARED IT ALL IN MY BRAIN #Anonymous

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joons-expensive-gurl · 8 years

Text

Cendrillion

Pairing: Hoseok X Reader Genre: Drama, Romance Warnings: attempted murder, cheesy af. This takes place in some old time period. Idk when tho. It’s also (very loosely) based off of this [ https://youtu.be/_NSEjt8VjsE ] so I highly suggest watching it. Yes, I’m back into vocaloid. What happened to me?!

Edit: I’m gonna edit this in the morning so bear with any grammar mistakes for now. Sorry folks, I wanted it out on our loved Hobi’s birthday

~^*^~

A gentle knock at your door caused you to rise from the comfy armchair. Slowly, you padded towards the front door, seeing no form of a person. You frowned. Twisting the gold handle, you pulled the door towards you, allowing cold air to rush through you. No one. You looked down.

On the floor was a satin cloth, with a knot at the top. You looked around. There was no one. So, you bent down, picking the package up. It was slightly heavy, but mostly empty. Something inside jingled quietly. You took it back to your living room where you placed it on the table. Taking a breath, you undid the knots. You gasped. Inside was a pocket watch and a dagger. Who on earth would leave this for you?

With a gentle hand, you picked up the pocket watch, turning it around to flip it over. The tiny clock inside was yellowing with age, numbers all in Roman numerals. The hands stopped at 10 o'clock. But the thing that made your eyes almost bulge out of your skull was the small picture at the top of Prince Hoseok. The Prince was smiling brightly. You, however, had a complete look of shock on your face. Looking from the dagger to the picture, it clicked. Someone wanted you to murder the prince. But who? Why? You didn’t know.

You knew when, though.

There was a ball coming up. A huge ball, in fact. The annual peace ball. How ironic - you had to murder at a celebration of peace.

For days, you pondered if you should do it or not. What was in it for you? This person, how did they know you’d do it? What on earth were they thinking?

It wasn’t until two days before the ball when you made your mind up. Just as you were dozing off, you heard the clatter of your letter box. It caused you to jump up, eyes widening. Cautiously, you sat waiting to hear the crunching of the stone path, but it never came. They must’ve fled trough the grass. You pushed the covers off of you, lighting the small candle on your bedside table. Draping a blanket around you, you took a deep breath. Then as you picked up the candle in its small holder, you gently moved through the halls.

Once you reached the front door, you caught the white parchment lying on the floor. With a cautious hand, you picked it up and placed the candle on the desk placed against the wall. Then you tore it open. In scrawled, messy handwriting was the message:

‘Time ticks on, Almost there The prince who smiles Won’t be aware A blade that’s sharp Eyes are sharper Go to the ball Kill the charmer

The price will be high But so will the honours If you complete the task Award to you will be 10 million dollars’

You scowled.

$10 million was a lot of money. But, the prince was also the kindest human the kingdom knew. He was valiant, charming, strong, humorous, and much more. He was a soul that shouldn’t be taken from this cruel world; especially not by murder.

But the money.

You had debts to be paid, sick family to be cured. With that amount of money, you could flee, find somewhere else to live and forget what you did. It was a simple task. Get the prince alone, and stab him to death. Quick. Painful, though.

It could be done.

~^*^~

“Will you be requiring assistance to the ball, miss [Last]?” A maid asked. “Not today. Thank you though.” “No problem, at all. I’ll wait up for you.” “Really, there’s no need.” “Oh there’s every need. We must make sure you get home safely.” “Well, thank you. I’ll see you tonight.” “Have a fun evening, miss!”

Stalking from your room, you hurriedly moved to the living room. Luckily there was no one there. Your parents were away, most maids and servants in the house occupied elsewhere. So, looking around to ensure no one was looking, you pushing up the second cushion of the sofa, ripping it from wooden base and revealing the watch and the knife. You slipped the knife carefully into your stocking and with the watch, you slipped it over your head and onto your neck. It was cold against your skin. There was a noise, causing you to fast and shove the cushion back down, stuffing the watch down the top of your dress.

“Miss? Are you still here, miss?” That stupid maid. “Sorry, yes. I just forgot a ring.” You held up your finger, twisting a random ring before chuckling nervously. “Alright. Well I suggest you be off. The ball’s about to start and I bet all the young men will want a dance with the likes of yous.”

Flushing red, you excused yourself.

The carriage ride was slow. It was painfully slow, dragging out. As you got closer, your heart rate increased. You were actually going to do this. You were going to murder the prince. What a sin.

Looking up to the darkening sky, you sighed. It was beginning to rain, small drops of rain splashing against the mud road. The scent of earth raised into the atmosphere. It was a beautiful, calming scent. Like nature was enticing you to join it.

The forests around you thinned until what was left was a cobble road and the trail up to the majestic Jung Palace. It was a beautiful, intricately designed, humongous building, completely white except for the black balconies that lined the larger windows. The wheels cracked against the cobble as they move up the hill towards the palace. Noise here was beginning to get louder, moving away from the sounds of birds singing before bed to the hustle of a busy town. People were buzzing. This ball was a big deal, after all. You gulped as some people recognised your carriage.

You stared down at your dress. It was burgundy in colour and complimented your skin tone beautifully. The material wrapped around itself a multitude of times, creating large Us in the fabric. Lining each beautiful arc was black lace, which also crept from the underside of the dress as well. At the back, the material came up into a large bow, flowing underneath was many, many layers of black lace. The top of your dress was a love heart line, slightly showing off some skin. The sleeves of your dress were thick, falling off from your shoulders, staying put just underneath. They, too, were a few layers of burgundy material, swooping down to create small Us, also lined with black lace. Your hair was up in a intricate bun at the back of your head, complete with black fake diamonds and a large, burgundy rose headpiece with black tulle that came down to cover your eyes. To finish up, you had large, black headed necklaces on and many rings and bracelets to show your wealth. You looked the part - an innocent woman.

But snug between your breasts was an image of your target, and pressing against the smooth skin of your leg was the weapon to kill him with.

Stoic, you stepped out of the carriage, looking up at the palace. Women rushed past you, up the winding steps of the palace towards the open large, wooden doors. Guards lined the stairs and the doors, eyeing every person who moved past, occasionally bowing to the most important. Some people stopped to stare at you, in complete awe. You didn’t take any notice, heels clicking as you moved up and into the palace.

The palace was stunning inside as well as out. A red rug lined every hallway, all lit with ginormous, beautiful (obviously expensive) chandeliers. Some decor lined the hall, but for the most part they were empty. However, paintings lined the walls. Some were of scenic views, others were of royal family members. The one that caught your eye was of the younger prince, who stood grinning, one hand on the handle of his sword which was sheathed on his belt line.

“Handsome little thing, wasn’t he?” A voice came beside you. You turned, recognising the man as Prince Min Yoongi of the Daegu province. He was of a similar status as your kingdom’s royal family. “Ah, your highness.” You bowed. “No need for that, dear maiden.” “I am no maiden,” you chuckled, “I’m Lady [First] of Gwangju.” “My Lady.” He bowed, “forgive me.” “Also, with me, there is no need to bow. Do you know our Prince well?” You smiled. “We’re very close, me and Hobi. Share the same passion of music. Very easy to bond over.” “I see. And does yourself or Prince Hoseok have a voice of pure gold?” You teased. “Not really, though we are excellent in the art of rap.” “Rap?” You raise an eyebrow, completely unfamiliar with this variety of music. “Yes, rap. It’s where you say words at a certain pace to beat. I find it very stress relieving.” “I must listen to you rap, one day your highness.” “It would be my pleasure, my Lady."The sound of horns cut you off, signalling the start of the ball. "I suppose we should go and join the rest of the population of this palace in the ballroom?” “I suppose so. Hoseok will have my head on a plate if I’m not there for his speech.” “Well, what are you waiting for? He may be smiling in that portrait but if your words are no lie, he won’t be smiling in real life.”

He only chuckled, taking your arm as he lead you deeper into the palace to the ballroom. The doors were open, showcasing the hundreds of people who were stood watching the stage where the royal family stood. The King stood in the middle, Queen on his left, Princess on her left and the Prince on the King’s right. Prince Yoongi waved, to which Prince Hoseok flashed a smile.

“I better go to the front to greet my friend when he’s done.” Prince Yoongi whispered to you. “I’ll stay here. I’m not one to dance.” “We’ll see about that in approximately 15 minutes.”

He pushed his way through the people, slowly getting closer to the front of the room. All the while, the king droned on about the history behind this ball. The queen and princess both had their turns thanking everyone for coming and then Prince Hoseok stepped forwards. He flashed a big, toothy smile to which some ladies swooned at.

“I would like to thank the kingdom for attending tonight. I believe that the Peace Ball is a large part of why Gyangju is such an amazing kingdom and it’s also a reason as to why I’m so proud to be future king. I sincerely hope every single person enjoys the evening, we’ve prepared the most delicious foods and beverages so enjoy that. And of course, just enjoy yourselves. This is a night to be proud of where we come from. Thank you!”

When the speech was over, music began and the floor cleared slightly to allow many couples to begin dancing. You watched as Prince Hoseok jumped from the stage, down to a group of six other princes. You recognised them as Prince Kim Seokjin of Gwacheon, Prince Yoongi, Prince Kim Namjoon of Ilsan, Prince Park Jimin of Busan, Prince Kim Taehyung of Daegu and Prince Jeon Jungkook of Busan. Prince Taehyung and Jungkook were not royal by blood, but royal by marriage.

~^*^~

A few hours later, and the ball was in full swing. You sat on a chair, shoulders back, back straight. You had to look elegant. You had to appeal to Prince Hoseok. The knife pressing into your neck reminded you of that.

People spun around you, dancing and laughing to the music. Fathers of men hoping to sell their daughters to wealthy men in he form of marriage stood around the large buffet table, gulping down the finest of wines and eating the most expensive of foods. You scoffed at them. It was a cheap tactic that somehow managed to work.

You looked up as a shadow came upon you. Prince Yoongi stood above you, smiling in a friendly manner.

“Care for a dance, my Lady?” He smiled. “I already told you, I’m not the dancing kind.” “Please, your posture says all. Now, enlighten me in one dance and I promise I’ll prevent anyone else disturbing your privacy for the rest of the evening.” “Promise?” “I promise, my Lady, you have my word.” “One dance. Only one.” “Of course.”

Graciously, you stood up, taking his hand. Next to each other, you moved to the centre of the dance floor where you turned to face each other. One of his arms snaked around your waist, the other coming up to lace fingers with you. Your free hand came go hold up your dress in order to move. When the next song started mere seconds later, Prince Yoongi had you waltzing around the ballroom. A few couples stopped, watching in envy as you both effortlessly moved around the room. It was as if you were on a piece of floor that just glided you around. You didn’t notice two dark eyes watching, intrigued as he continued to talk to his small group of friends.

When the song came to an end, you and Prince Yoongi bowed to each other.

“Thank you for the excellent dance, my Lady.” “And thank you, your highness.” “I will escort you back to your chair.” “Oh there’s no need for that, thank you though.” “Are you sure?” “I am more of capable than walking a few metres back to my seat, Prince Yoongi.” “Of course.”

As you began to walk, you heard a person call you.

“My Lady! Lady [First]!”

You turned, coming face to face with Prince Hoseok.

“Prince Hoseok, how may I be of service?” You bowed to him. “You must indulge me in this next dance, Lady [First].” He smiled. “Actually, Lady [First] is engaged for the rest of the evening.” Prince Yoongi stepped in. “Ah really? With who?” “With that dashing chair,” you pointed to the chair a few metres away from you, “just over there.” “Lady [First], I hardly find it fair that you indulge my friend Yoongi in a beautiful dance, but not your own Prince. My, am I offended.” “Your highness, if you insist, I will accompany you in one dance.” “You will?” His entire face lit up. For a split second, you forget your motives. “But only one.” “Of course.”

He bowed, holding out his hand which you took. Prince Yoongi disappeared into the crowd. Together, you and Prince Hoseok swept across the room, dancing more beautifully and gracefully than you and Prince Yoongi did. The entire room came to a halt to watch yours and Prince Hoseok’s beautiful dance. The music played on to the end, when you came to your finishing pose. It was then that Prince Hoseok placed a chaste kiss to your cheek.

Time stopped as did your heart. The knife was cutting into your skin. You couldn’t do this. You couldn’t kill him. He had a heart of pure gold. The clock chimed 10. You were supposed to have done it now. You broke away from him, stepping back. His eyes widened as he realised his honest mistake. You ran. Arms and legs pounding, you navigated your way back towards the entrance of the palace. You could hear his cries as he raced after you. But you were long gone. As you ran down the steps of the palace, you tore the pocket watch necklace off, throwing it to the ground. You practically jumped into the carriage, screaming to the driver to go. The horses came to life, bolting off, taking he carriage with them.

Prince Hoseok rushed, one arm behind his back as a prince should, the other in front of him. As he came to the steps, he noticed the watch. He bent down, clasping it in his hands before straightening up. Then he clicked it open, gasping as he saw a small image of himself. What were you planning to do…?

~^*^~

When you returned home, you brushed your maid off, telling her she could go home which she did. You were finally alone. For the first ten minutes, you simply collapsed on your sofa and cried. You were angry, upset, confused. Why couldn’t you kill him? Why did you back out? Why did he kiss you?

You stuffed your hand down your sticking, pulling out the knife. The money came into your mind. You had to do this. You couldn’t back out. No, you weren’t going to back out.

~^*^~

A full hour later and you were ready to go. You had swapped your ballgown for a little black dress, fishnet stockings, and black ankle boots. You had let your hair down, putting it into two pigtails that began at your earlobe.

You eyed the dagger which was on your lap. A tear - which you weren’t sure what it was from - slipped down your cheek. Reaching to your bedside table, you opened the bottom draw, revealing a black mask with a black ribbon which you tied around your head into a bow. You then took the dagger, pushing it into your stocking at the thigh which was covered by your dress.

A deep breath in. You stood up.

~^*^~

The palace was now abandoned by almost all. The guards were still outside, but still allowed you in despite the ball have ended. After all, you were high up in the hierarchy.

Your footsteps echoed the palace halls as you tried to find Prince Hoseok. First you looked through the ballroom, which was now completely empty and dark. Then you tried the throne room which was equally empty.

A few rooms later and you’d found him. The dining room. He was sat alone, facing away from you. Though, he wasn’t eating. He was thinking about you. About how you’d fled. The watch, which was in his hand. He was so confused, so deep in thought that he didn’t hear your footsteps.

He only noticed you when a hand wrapped around the back of his chair. He jumped, standing up and turning to face you. You had the mask on, so he didn’t recognise you.

You used one hand to push him back on to the table. Then, you pulled out the knife once he was lying on the table. He only looked up at you, too shocked to speak. The room was silent. You held the knife to his neck. He stopped breathing. So did you.

Then he did the unthinkable.

Moving a hand to the back of your head, he undid the bow, gently taking the mask off of your face. His eyes widened.

“It’s you…” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”

You lifted the knife up, squeezing your eyes shut. But you couldn’t find the will within you to force it down, to cut off the blood supply to his head. To off him. Instead, you collapsed on his chest, clutching the knife to your chest as you sobbed, all of the emotions coming out of you. What had you been thinking? Were you crazy?

His arms wrapped around yours.

“Anything… I’ll give you anything…” he whispered. “Just don’t tell a soul,” you sobbed, “I don’t want to go to jail.” “I won’t tell a soul, Lady [First]. No one.”

You sobbed in his arms like that until there was nothing left to let out. And even then to continued to whimper.

He never did tell a soul about what happened that night.

But he did tell everyone just a few years later about how he was madly in love with the woman who snuck back into the castle after that ball to steal his heart.

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