#i knew it'd take up a majority of the episode but i thought i'd at LEAST get to see him nommed omg.

[pinkhysteria]

me tuning into this episode strictly for the cameron backdoor content that didn't happen 🧍🏽‍♀️

[massivemochi]

Love Live! TV Anime Official Book - Special Interview with Composer Yoshiaki Fujisawa

In celebration of the "Love Live! Anime 10th Anniversary Orchestra Concert," I've translated the special interview with Yoshiaki Fujisawa, the composer for the "Love Live!" anime, from the Love Live! TV Anime Official Book!

This is my first time translating something by myself, so I apologize for any errors.

Direct quotes from the anime are from the FFF fansub.

The main theme contains all of my initial inspiration for "Love Live!". Without it, the soundtrack for the show wouldn't be complete…!

Composer: Yoshiaki Fujisawa

Born in Fukuoka Prefecture. From composing and arranging songs for top artists to providing soundtracks for anime productions, he is a music creator active in a variety of genres. His major works include the TV anime series "GATE: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri," among many others.

Background music, or a soundtrack, which sometimes subtly enhances the story or highlights the emotions of the characters, is an essential part of any production. The last of these special interviews is with Yoshiaki Fujisawa, the musician in charge of the soundtrack for "Love Live!"!

The first keywords were "hot-blooded passion" He was conscious of creating songs that expand the world of the deeply emotional μ's members

―How did you come to be in charge of the music for the "Love Live!" TV anime?

I was originally a song composer, but I'd started to do some work on soundtracks as well, and I was thinking I'd like to try my hand at more of that kind of work when I was approached to do it. I remember being very happy, partly because the timing was good. I'd heard of "Love Live!" through gossip at song competitions. I was under the impression it was about idols, but when the words "club activities" and "hot-blooded passion" came up at our first meeting, I knew exactly what kind of show it'd be. From then on, I completely changed my mindset. I wanted the songs to express the positivity and liveliness typical of teenage girls. I believe this is a time when girls are troubled by small things, thinking various thoughts, and full of emotions, so I wrote the songs with this in mind to expand such feelings.

―Seeing as "Love Live!" is the first time you've been responsible for the soundtrack of a single production by yourself, what were some of the most significant challenges you faced?

Making forty to fifty songs in one go. I'd never made that many songs at once. It was all new to me, so it was like I was building my workflow from scratch while making them. Each song was created differently, and the number of recording sessions and time allotted to each was different, so it was difficult to think about all the details. But most of all, I was afraid I'd make the world too small…. I was very concerned with how I could make the world bigger and wider, even within the scope of what was presented. The setting is the school and the Akiba area, which isn't really that big, but perhaps to μ's, who are high school students, that's all there is to the world. Looking back on it now, I think the key point was how I could bring the breadth of the world to them.

―Which songs in particular did you make with a conscious effort to expand the world?

Take "Hanarebanare (Apart)," for example, which plays in episode twelve of the first season when Honoka quits being a school idol. I thought it best to play up the depression in the song to the point that it sounds as if someone is going to die. It's such a shocking event for Honoka's friends, and I think when someone is truly in despair, they feel like they can't see a way forward. Especially when a girl like Honoka says she is quitting, she must be on the edge. If I were to take it easy on her, it'd just make it sentimental, so I made it as if I was kicking her down to rock bottom (laughs). "Hanayo no Ketsui (Hanayo's Decision)" from episode four of the first season is another song that expands the imagery to push Hanayo's back in a grandly powerful way. On the other hand, for a similar friendship scene in episode three of the first season involving the three second-years, I remember writing "Yuujou (Friendship)" with the aim to focus rather than expand. It feels like it's contained within them alone.

From memorable songs such as the main theme to songs used in unexpected scenes! Many stories about the composing process!

―What was the first song you wrote?

The main theme, "Hajimari no Asa (Morning of Beginning)". This song contains all of my initial inspiration for the soundtrack of "Love Live!". Without it, the soundtrack for the show wouldn't be complete. I finished the melody and composition very fast as if the idea I had in my head just popped out. The other song I was able to write without hesitation was "Nozomi no Mune no Uchi (Within Nozomi's Heart)" from episode eight of the second season. The story is connected to "Snow halation," and it depicts Nozomi's thoughts and feelings from her childhood to the present, as well as her contributions to μ's, so I had a clear image of what the song would be about. I felt like I was able to create it quickly from the get-go. For the second season, I had some sense of the direction, so it was easier to grasp the main points.

―Was it easier to write songs for the second season?

Of course, after doing the first season, I had set a basic atmosphere for the world. However, since the last part of the story is about the end of μ's, it was difficult to find ways to express that. I wanted to do things I didn't do in the first season, so I tried various approaches, including changing the manner in which I wrote the songs. For instance, in the aforementioned "Nozomi no Mune no Uchi," I tried to do what I couldn't do in "Hanayo no Ketsui," which was to create a gentle image that envelops the listener. "Kinpaku (Tension)" from episode four of the second season is also notable. It's the song in the scene where they're worrying if they'll pass the preliminaries or not. There's a part where Nico crushes her strawberry milk carton and it squirts everywhere (laughs). If they don't make it here, it might be the end. In that sense, it's the most tense scene, but I thought it'd be uninteresting if I just built up the tension in a serious way. I wanted to express the panic of the girls in the music as well.

―Was there any song that was used unexpectedly?

"Yume no Ato (Echo of a Dream)," which plays before μ's perform their encore in episode twelve of the second season. It was originally supposed to play during the rooftop scene in episode thirteen. You can imagine my surprise when it instead ended up in the scene before the encore. This song is very memorable to me because I completely reworked the melody in the middle. It's the original up to the chorus, which is the most climactic part, but the rest of the song was totally different at first. It didn't feel right no matter how many times I listened to it, so I erased the whole block because I felt the melody was out of place. Maybe that's why it worked in the encore instead, but I think it's an interesting phenomenon. It's a simple song with only piano and strings, but the string performance was so emotional it gave me goosebumps while recording it, even though I wrote it myself (laughs). We discussed using it in episode thirteen as planned, but the director wanted to end it on a softer note, so we ended up using a variation of the main theme titled "Urei no Yuugure (Dusk of Sorrow)". This song does indeed have more of a feeling of coming to a close.

―Are there any other songs that were used in unexpected ways?

The intro of "Alisa" was used in the scene where Eli first appears. That phrase has been used quite a bit since then, and it seems to have become the song of the Ayase sisters (laughs). Another unexpected song was ">ω</". It was supposed to be a song for Honoka's house, Homura. I didn't think Rin-chan would take it (laughs). Also, if you look at the series as a whole, "Hanayo no Ketsui" is used in many scenes involving the first-years. As I'm sure the fans are aware, it was used in episode five of the second season when Rin-chan is pushed by Hanayo and the others and in episode eleven of the second season when Maki-chan tells Nico she'll continue being a school idol at the beach. When I think about it, I feel "Hanayo's decision" was what ended up pulling all the first-years together. The song gained that meaning as well.

―How did you create "Zenkai no Love Live! (Last Time on Love Live!)," which appears in almost every episode?

I knew it'd be distracting to make it too melodious because of the narration, but it wouldn't be entertaining if it was just static, so I found a good balance between the two. I wanted it to have a lively impression, so I decided to use the trumpet as the main instrument. Then, by coincidence, in the opening sequence of the first season, there was a shot of Honoka blowing a trumpet, and I knew I'd made the right choice. I was surprised to hear her singing along to it in the second season. In a way, this might've been the most unexpected song (laughs).

We also asked Mr. Fujisawa about his favorite scene from the TV anime series & μ's song♪!!

―What scene from the TV anime series particularly left an impression on you?

The scene in episode eight of the first season where Eli joins μ's. Specifically, the sequence of scenes from the songs "Eli no Yaritai Koto (What Eli Wants to Do)" to "μ's no Hajimari (The Beginning of μ's)". The interaction between Eli and Nozomi, as well as hearing the sound of voices practicing in the distance, really left an impression on me. When Eli says, "I'd do what I wanted if it could get me somewhere!" that's a restraint for people. The members of μ's, especially Honoka, took that restraint away. In contrast to Eli, Honoka has the mentality of doing things because she wants to do them, and even if someone is holding back, she gives them the push they need. I had that idea in mind for "μ's no Hajimari," so I put a synth bass in with the orchestra. I thought it needed that heartbeat.

―Do you have a favorite μ's song?

"Bokura no LIVE Kimi to no LIFE (Our LIVE and LIFE with You)" is a great song. "Yume no Tobira (The Door to Our Dreams)" and "Dancing stars on me!" as well. Although "Bokura no LIVE~" isn't the main theme, I like it because it feels like the group's initial inspiration. The melody of "Yume no Tobira" is simply great, and even though they saw their rivals give an incredible performance right in front of them, they sang it without losing their way, so I can feel their will in this song. On that same note, even though they were unsure about it and tried on different costumes, "Dancing stars~" is also a song they sang in their own way in the end.

―What do you think the appeal of "Love Live!" is?

I think the appeal, up to and including the movie, is that the girls tried to do something with determination. From the beginning to the end, even when they faced obstacles, they thought things over, made sound decisions, and kept moving forward without giving up. That passion is obviously appealing. In episode nine of the second season, there's a scene where Honoka, Umi, and Kotori head to the venue in the snow, and even the two who seemed to be following Honoka up to that point expressed their feelings of being involved of their own volition. Rather than going with the flow, they each made their decision on their own accord. That implies they're taking responsibility for themselves. I think that's why they shine so strongly.

―From what you've said so far, it sounds as if you've been making the soundtrack in a way that empathizes with the feelings of μ's. Is that because it's "Love Live!"? Or do you do the same for other productions?

There are characters in every story, of course, so I consider that in other productions as well. But as for "Love Live!," I had the strong impression those nine girls were driving the story, so perhaps I was thinking more about what they were feeling.

―Please give us a closing message!

I'd like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude by saying thank you and also to say "Love Live!" is not only a fun show but also one that cheers you up when you watch it, so if you're ever troubled or stuck in a rut, I'd urge you to watch it. If there are people around you who aren't sure whether to make a move or not, please encourage them to make a move like Honoka did!!

[jezmmart]

Chamomile Comic Trivia #31

#159 - Notice

It's Sam! I wish I had written down more about my decision to add her, although at this point I'm fairly sure I wasn't certain she was going to become a main character - in fact it was RIGHT around the week this posted that I began work on the first proper cover art for the series which of course did not include her.

Her design was based off this old one-off pin-up girl art from 2017, technically making her the first ever major Chamomile Comic character to exist, sort of.

She was named after Sam Lloyd, likely known for his portrayal of Ted the Lawyer from Scrubs. The news of his death had recently broken and I had just recently begun listening to Fake Doctors, Real Friends, the Scrubs rewatch podcast, as my go-to background entertainment when colouring the comic specifically each week. It still is now, albeit intermittently since they don't always produce an episode each week and I no longer have a backlog to catch up on. Now granted, I don't love the podcast as much as I used to - can be a bit cringey at times as these two hollywood actors chat about utterly unrelatable anecdotes from their lives - but it's overall been enjoyable and it'll be weird to find something new to accompany my colouring if it does come to an end or stops being enjoyable once they permanently pivot into... whatever they plan to do after they run out of Scrubs episodes. It's been part of my colouring process for the comic for longer than it hasn't been now, haha. So... yeah it felt right to honour that connection to my comic with Sam's name, on top of the fact that Scrubs is just straight-up one of my favourite TV shows and Ted was always a character that gave me big laughs.

Of course... I realised after that I'd introduced yet another character to the comic ending in "-a"! ...But whatever, it's a common thing. Not so long ago I had 5 co-workers simultaneously whose names also ended in -a, lol.

The decision to have had her always be around simply came from not having any strong ideas to introduce her and preferring the idea that at least some of the cast already knew her. The gag's been done before, but I thought it'd be extra funny to introduce her with a scene in which she is specifically announcing her departure from being a regular face in Cammie's life, which typically would mean the same for the audience in most works with actually established characters.

Final little bonus note - in panel 1, Cammie once again is entering with a handful of steaming coffee.

#160 - Official

I didn't really mean for it to be so small it's barely legible at web size, but the little sign on the panic alarm button behind the till says "Real emergencies only Cammie!", in reference to #50.

#161 - Before

All that Scrubs talk regarding Sam is kinda fitting, because they did the "this character was always here!" gag there too. For their one, they edited her in on various memorable shots and pretended the main character didn't notice her being present, here I obviously extended the frame on the end of several punchline panels from previous comics.

Here's a gif that shows the original panels compared to the new ones, showing both the new and old art isolated as well so you can see exactly what I drew to extend the older panels which naturally weren't drawn originally knowing that I would one day be extending them!

The second of the three Sam flashbacks is just a nice little bridging one, but it did take me a while to decide for sure which way around I wanted the first and third flashback panel. For the first: while there's been a little bit of mild bad language in the comic once the seal was broken here, Sam's "bitch" is the first time such language has appeared so it amused me to place it in a scene that has already happened long ago just barely outside of the audience's perspective. For the third: the joke is of course that the reveal of Sam's additional dialogue is particularly adding nothing to the scene whatsoever - like, as if Cammie making a fool of herself would even be remark-worthy at this point. I felt both these two goofs had a good punch to them in their own way so yeah, I remember being conflicted over whether I had chosen the funniest possible flow of these three gags.

Of course, the final joke of this one, in case it wasn't obvious (I could see it being subtle for some), is that Mimi's whole running gag is she's a side character who also has existed in the comic for long before her first on-screen appearance, yet Cammie never remembers her.

#162 - New

The art and dialogue structure of the first two panels here is identical to #160. I think it being a time-saver on my workload for the week was definitely a factor - for whatever reason I needed it at the time - but I also remember going for something with that choice beyond just that... But I can't for the life of me remember what. I don't think the parallel between the two comics adds anything reading them back now.

Anyway here's Newt! I really thought at the time that he was going to be as significant an addition as Sam, and I did come up with the idea of introducing a regular male character at the time I chose to bring Sam in, with Sam's introduction - and exit - being an amusing way to introduce a surprise new character.

...Then I proceeded to never really get any super strong story ideas for him lol. More detail on that in a second. I haven't forgotten him though, frustrates me that he keeps getting sidelined!

#163 - Training

Standard behind-the-scenes retail frustration humour here. I can neither confirm nor deny how much is based on my current employment. A little detail of authenticity/flavour is that they're watching a DVD intended for widescreen on an old non-widescreen TV that's clearly been in their staff room for at least a decade. Such was the case for my painful training videos too! (It's all online now as of a few years into when I started, so some progress has been made I guess).

#164 - Huh

It's not made clear yet, but the new status quo that Sam is a receptionist at a primary school is established here - the coloured hanging letter signage on the wall that is too perspective'd to read says "WELCOME TO OUR SCHOOL".

I chose this as a job for her based simply on the fact that my Mum has often worked in school offices for most of my life. She wasn't a receptionist but it was the sort of job where I have some... vague enough memories of the "behind-the-scenes" enough to draw something along those lines when I needed to show Sam at work.

Getting back to Newt, obviously the goof here is that Cammie is just being a sore loser about her friend leaving and Newt is about the most cool-sounding interesting person you could imagine meeting. Unfortunately that involved specifically coming up with fun sounding stuff that are not super common to do or know people that do, so despite the super interesting combo of cave-diving, stand-up and polyamory these are all things I feel like I'd have to do thorough research on to represent in the actual comic accurately... which is something I'd like to do but, time is finite and I have so much pre-existing experience with being a silly nonsense person. Would you believe it, there's another character in the comic for whom that experience lends itself very well!!

Speaking of whom, the first appearance of the bell on the door in Repeat 1 Records was only a month after Cammie got the job. She works fast!

[Trivia Archive | Browse from most recent]

[baconpncakes]

oh. my. gosh. your house episode is so intriguing i really want it right now actually LMAOO

i want to know how you came up with everything actually im so so enthralled

Omg I'm so glad you asked ✨

Putting this under the cut bc it's long-winded lol

My sister (who has never seen an entire episode of House but I send her stuff from it and about it all the time) said that there should be an episode where House is taking care of a drunk Wilson and it's all very amusing until Wilson kisses him. House kisses back, but then he actually processes Oh Shit Wilson Just Kissed Me. The next morning House probes Wilson and it turns out he doesn't remember the kiss. House goes to Thirteen to talk about it and see what she makes of it. Here's where the quote came from lol. Then we said that Wilson would talk to Cuddy about how House was being weird and she'd say "Go talk to him. I have work to do." Eventually they'd get to the point where House asks "Why did you kiss me?" over and over and Wilson just keeps responding with "I was drunk!" and "I don't know!" and "Just drop it, House." until one or both of them finally snaps.

So I sent my sister a fake episode summary, with the elements that she presented and a case, which I made up: a drunk and 'irresponsible' patient to parallel drunk and irresponsible Wilson!

To do the summary I'd come up with a title (I looked at a couple songs but none of them felt quite right, then I realized I could use a Teardrop lyric and it was too perfect) and I needed my sister to know how clever I was for the it, so I wrote a little explanation, like they have on the wiki.

Then I thought, if I'm doing that I might as well also do the "major events" section of the wiki!

So I determined that I HAD to make it into actual fake wiki screenshots, which meant filling out some gaps.

For the timeline, I thought: House and Wilson have been drunk together tons of times. Why is this different? And figured that it would probably be different if saaay Wilson had just proposed to House after he pretended the two were a couple. Certainly enough to bring kissing House to the forefront of his mind. And THEN I looked at the episode scheduling and there was a week off between the original airing of The Down Low and the following episode Remorse, so it fit right in the middle!

For the diagnosis I actually went to Web MD, typed in the symptoms I thought the patient should have and went through the results until I found some that might work, then I picked the one that seemed like it'd be the best for the show. It also happened to be a condition that might come with personality changes, which plays further into the whole Wilson Was Drunk He Didn't Actually Mean It angle.

I went through a bunch of s6 directors and writers to see what episodes they worked on and who I thought would fit best.

And then I needed guest stars! The episode would have aired in 2010, and I wanted someone who would have been about 21, so I looked up "actresses born in 1989" and decided on Brie Larson. Then she needed a friend, so I looked up "actors born in 1988" and went with Nicholas Braun. Then Brie Larson needed a mom so I chose another birth year and went with Calista Flockhart (who's in one of my favorite movies). All of the actors I chose were people who felt could have been in House. Like if I watched an episode and a young Brie Larson or Nicholas Braun was there, I wouldn't be surprised. I also needed to name them, so I picked random names and then searched the wiki to make sure they weren't already taken lol. And Andre Braugher is there bc it's season 6 so House would talk to his therapist about what happened with Wilson and then ignore the advice to Just Talk To Him.

That just left trivia, which I was very excited about. Some of them are just details and callbacks to other episodes. The Minuteman thing is bc I chose Nicholas Braun and I knew my sister would get a kick out of it. I knew I needed a gay movie reference and But I'm a Cheerleader really felt like a movie that House would casually reference and make everyone, characters and audience, think that House is definitely queer (and we must never forget that House was actually canonically a cheerleader). And finally, since it was immediately following The Down Low and House MD loves musical theatre gay jokes, I wanted another A Chorus Line reference. I'm honestly appalled nobody had done that one before. Her nickname is literally Thirteen!

This is probably more long-winded than you expected but I spent way too long and put way too much thought into that thing lol

[valleydean]

I love your writing and always look forward to your long fics (the Pirate one is an all time fave!). how do you decide which one to write next, and what posting schedule to use? what does your writing time look like and where do you find inspiration?

oh thank you so much! that means a lot to me! glad you're enjoying everything :)

uhhh. i mean, i'm not really sure how i pick my next project. it's kinda whatever moves me at the time. i mean, i don't really have like, a list of things i wanna write. not an official one, anyway. i have a few ideas that are like "one day i'll write that" but it's not like i line them up, if that makes sense? usually, i'll just come up with an idea and run with it haha. in terms of raise the black, that was a little different because i had it in my mind for SO long. it was basically an already formed story, but i never thought i'd ever write it! and for something like the shawnee trail or my upcoming boxing fic, i always knew i wanted to write a western. i always knew i wanted to write a boxing fic. so it was just a matter of finally coming up with a plot for both and going with it.

writing time usually takes me a while. like, i'm writing for months before i post anything. i'm a really slow writer lol. i like to have 50%-75% of the fic written before i start posting.

as for inspiration, i usually make playlists for all my fics and listen to them non-stop. and also i'll watch shows and movies that are in that genre. so, when i'm writing horror, i'll watch a bunch of horror movies that have a similar concept to the kind of horror i'm writing. or i'll watch a lot of westerns (i do that anyway) or whatever. the fic i'm writing right now is set in the 1920s, so i actually just watched the great gatsby with leonardo dicaprio for the first time for the vibe inspiration. (it was a bad movie lmao. like i know everyone says it's a bad movie... but that was a bad movie. except for the scene where they first show gatsby's face and the fireworks go off behind him, which is high art cinema.)

posting is.... so, i actually do put a LOT of consideration into posting schedules. i work (worked? i just quit) in tv scheduling, so it's something i think about a LOT. like, for raise the black, i wanted it to be mostly during the warmer weather because it just felt like a warm weather story - but i knew if i posted it week by week, it'd go into the winter. so i decided to post 4 chapters at a time.

for redux, i was really adamant about posting it week by week because the chapters are so episodic and i wanted them to feel like episodes of the show. and the timing kinda worked out nicely because i had to take some breaks in between and they usually fell during the traditional tv hiatuses. (the first break was planned because it was the holidays but the second wasn't planned. i just needed time to catch up on writing. but it worked out well because i ended up posting from october through may, which was what supernatural's usual rollout was. so that was kinda cool.)

other than that, it kinda depends on the fic! some fics, i think are better binged, so i'll post them all in one. some i'll still do week to week. i play around a lot with my horror fics - like, sometimes i'll post them all in one go, or i'll post an episode a day in the week leading up to halloween, or i'll post half the fic one week and the other half the next week.

it's kinda funny, because i've noticed that fic consumption has kinda followed the same trajectory as how viewers are watching tv. there's always gonna be those people who read week to week and comment on every chapter (shout out to them, because it really keeps me from getting discouraged!), but i feel like... unless it's a really popular fic, the majority of readers are now waiting for a few chapters or the entire fic to be posted so they can binge it. and like, i do that too, so i can't blame them! so, the landscape of getting eyes on your fic when you're rolling it out weekly has changed a lot in recent years, and i guess i'm still playing with what the best method is. idk if i'll ever find it or if there's one right answer, but it's cool to toy with.

so yeah, that's my very long answer. i'll shut up now. but thanks for asking! and thanks for your support! (you're probably like "i'm never asking her a question again she won't shut the fuck up) lmao

[lokiondisneyplus]

Holy crap. Look at Kate Herron's shirt. When the Loki director pops up on Zoom, she's donning the most glorious image anyone will see since we laid eyes on Alligator Loki: A Teletubby wearing the Loki horns. Are the Teletubbies Loki variants? Sure, why not!

"I got it on Instagram," Herron says. "There's an amazing comic book artist and he designed it. He made it into a T-shirt for me because I saw it and was like, 'That's incredible. Can I get it for the press junket?'"

Herron, no big deal, just pulled off an MCU miracle. Entering a mammoth franchise with, notably, some of Sex Education's best episodes under her belt, the director deftly brought a plot involving multiverses and Richard E. Grant in a cape and superhero mumbo-jumbo to brilliant, beautiful life. Following Loki's tear-jerking, mind-bending finale, the series has been dubbed by critics and fan's alike as one of Marvel's best efforts—which is no small feat. Of course, we needed to ask Herron how she stuck the landing. Following the most epic finale you, me, or any Teletubby can remember, Herron talked to Esquire about the Miss Minutes jump scare, filming the finale's introduction of He Who Remains, and why she won't return for Season Two of Loki.

ESQ: How are you doing?

KH: I'm good. I think I feel very relieved that I don't have to sit on the secret of He Who Remains anymore, It was a very big secret to hold, but for an important reason, right? Because it's such a good character to be launching. So yeah, I feel good.

ESQ: Loking back at your old interviews, you have such a good poker face when you're avoiding spoilers, but you're also incredible at giving aggregator crumbs.

KH: I play a lot of board games, so you need to be quite good at strategy and poker faces so people can't always read your hand. So I think weirdly board games have prepared me more for working with Marvel than anything else.

ESQ: I have to start with the Miss Minutes jump scare. What went into the decision to make her a memeable, creepy apparition in that moment?

KH: I love horror, and my executive, Kevin Wright, knew that. Me and him were talking about Episode Six and I remember that he was like, "Oh, maybe you could do something creepy of Miss Minutes." And I immediately was like, "We have to do a jump scare!" Because I haven't got to do a good jump scare in anything yet and I really wanted to, because a lot of my friends are horror directors. I was like, "I can't let them down." So I was really excited to have a shot at doing a jump scare. And Miss Minutes, it was really fun testing it because we'd kind of bring different people into the edit, me and Emma McCleave, the editor, and we'd just play it for them, watch them, and check that they were jumping when we cut it.

ESQ: One thing that I think is getting missed in all the craziness is that we see a peak moment of the love story between Loki and Sylvie. Where does the finale leave the companionship that they found in each other?

KH: When I started the show, that was always in the DNA of it—that Loki was going to meet a version of himself and they were going to fall in love. And that's honestly what drew me into the story, because I directed Sex Education. I love stories about self-love and finding your identity and your people. Loki is such a broken character when we join him, and seeing him go on this amazing journey with all this growth and finding the good points of himself in seeing her—I think that was very beautiful. It's also paying respect to the fact that Sylvie's in a very different place to him. She hasn't had the Mobius therapy session. She even says, in Episode Five, "I don't know how to do this. I don't have friends." You really feel for her because she has been on the run and her whole life has been this mission.

It's almost funny because these characters are thousands of years old, but it's almost teenage the way they both talk about their feelings for each other. I think everyone can relate to that, right? In any new relationship, there's always that kind of awkwardness and like, "Oh God, am I too keen? The important thing was the hope—like when Sylvie and him kiss, I think it is genuine and it is coming from a place of these feelings they have for each other. Obviously she does push them through that door, but for me it was a goodbye and it was with heart. But it's kind of a goodbye in the sense of like, I care about you, but I'm going to do my mission because that's where I'm at.

ESQ: I would pay for you to direct the Sex Education episode where Otis falls through a portal into the multiverse, into the main MCU.

KH: He really looks like a Loki as well, which is so funny. I always thought that. I was like Asa does look like a Loki. It didn't come to pass or anything, but it would be interesting to do a Sex Ed-Marvel crossover. I wonder who all the different characters would be within the MCU, but it would be quite funny.

ESQ: You're right, he could pull off a teenage Loki.

KH: Yeah, like a teen or a very young ’20s, maybe. But it was just funny because I was like, "Oh yeah, he looks a bit like Tom." I wonder how they could do it. I'm sure they'll find a way to do a crossover anyway.

ESQ: Can you just take me back to filming with Jonathan Majors? And you capturing him in such a compelling, quirky, scary way—I'm sure your direction was such a big part of that.

KH: I was just so excited because Jonathan is an actor that everyone was so excited about. He's like a chameleon in everything he does and he's so talented. I just feel as a director so lucky to have worked on this because I feel like I've got to work with some of the best actors out there. And when you're with Jonathan, you know you're in the presence of just someone really magnificent. For me as a director, it's giving him the space to play and feel safe. Because we filmed it all in a week, but it was a lot to film in a week. So I think it was really about creating a space where he could have fun and find this character because he's going to be playing him for a long time.

ESQ: What went into the decision to introduce us to the good guy first?

KH: I remember in the script, he comes up the elevator and it was so casual. I was like, "Oh man, that's so fun." And then Jonathan, when he plays it, he's relaxed. And I the thing he used to talk about a lot was that this is a character who's been on his own for a long time. Because at the beginning, we introduced him in a space in the universe that feels like this very busy, loud place, but actually, when we see the Citadel, he's surrounded by the Timeline and he's very isolated. Even in his costume with [designer] Christine Wada, for the idea of his outfit, he's a character who's existed for multiple millennia. So it's like, OK, let's pull from lots of different places so you can't necessarily pin down which time or which place he might be from. Also the fact that his clothes look comfy. They were like pajamas because he's living at home. He loved the idea of the office [being] the only finished part of the citadel and that the rest of the citadel was like this Sunset Boulevard kind of dusty, dilapidated space. And just again showed that he probably just keeps himself to his office. All those elements definitely fed into Jonathan's performance in terms of balancing the extrovert, but also the introvert of someone that would be living by themselves and only talking to a cartoon clock.

ESQ: It really is incredible how you pull a nail-biting finale with this battle of wits and dialogue.

KH: It was really exciting because I feel like Episode Five was a lot of fun because we got to play into all the joy of the different versions of Loki, but also just the fact that it was our big usual Marvel third act, right? Like it was where our big spectacle was as they were fighting this big monster. But I love that our finale bookends, right? We began with a conversation and we ended with one.

ESQ: I also loved that there was no end-credits scene—I think it makes the ending that much more impactful. Was there ever an end credit scene on the table, or any kind of a stinger?

KH: I think no, because weirdly, we never went after the kind of mid-credit sequences. I think we always just were thinking just of the story and where we knew we wanted it to end. For example, Episode Four, originally Loki was deleted and then we went straight to him waking up. And it was only in the edit I was like, “I think it'd be really cool actually. We should move that scene to mid-credits because then we'll really feel like Loki has died." Because if I watched that moment and then it went to the credits, I'd be like, "What?!" And then when we were talking about the best way to talk about Season Two, we were like, "Okay, well, let's do that like a little mid-credits at the end because that is exciting to confirm it in that way." I'd say we found both of those in the edit just because we wanted to kind of do it right and have a fun nod to something that Marvel does so well.

ESQ: Is there anything you can tell about the future of the story you've told here—or even where you personally would like to go with the studio or otherwise going forward?

KH: Yeah, so I'm just on for Season One. So I'm so proud of the story we told. I mean, it was amazing getting to set up the TVA and take Loki on this whole new journey. And I mean, I think we've left so much groundwork for his character, and as people see in the comics, there's so much more to be delved into. And I just am excited honestly to just see where all the characters go. Like, who is B-15? What did she see in those memories and where did Ravonna go and where is Loki? I think for me, we've set up these questions and I look forward to seeing them being answered as a fan in the next season.

ESQ: Absolutely. Well, can we please work on the Asa Butterfield Loki?

KH: I will call him and I'll be like, "You want to do some crazy Marvel crossover?"