#i remembered 100.kano existed

[angeltism]

oh to be part of rentarou's massive sapphic polycule

[yuukei-yikes]

you are so right about takane and kano being besties. they are late night gossip buddies!!!!!! any contradicting canon can rip that from my cold dead hands

they would 100% goofingly share the worst hot takes with each other as some kinda game. or like. point at something random and be like "i need your strongest opinion on this right now." just…. the friendship vibe that i can only succinctly sum up as "late night gossip buddies"

and personally i feel like post-str takane would probably be the person kano would be most comfortable with confiding in because she's just the right ratio of outsider-to-insider. i mean yobanashi deceive is basically just kano traumadumping to ene right lol

LIKE FOR REAL!!!! EXACTLY!!!! SRRY IN MY LAST ASK I ALREADY WENT OVER KANO&TAKANE PARALLELS BUT MAN THEYRE EVERYTHING TO ME THEY ARE BEST FRIENDS!!!! chaos duo for real.

kano making all these parallels. knowing takane is just like him fr because she's also playing a role, she's got the same kind of twisted personality, how out of all people he chooses HER to open up to for the first time, says he's not looking to make her dislike him, says he's jealous of her ability to doubt people & her sense of self, also in the novel route THEY DIE TOGETHER....

he sees himself in her and how he'd like to be. like theyre so so SO similar. like him she is playing a role yet takane manages to know who she is and what she wants or likes or hates. like him she's also someone who's lost their most precious person yet manages to move forward and keep going without resenting anyone and in fact going out of her way to help someone else. kano is so insanely jealous of it all💗

sorry. i will go insane about takane AGAIN i literally just did in the other ask but teehee MORE

takane's resilience, determination and will to live and help and love and forgive despite everything always gets me. she's so warm and loving *punches wall* its why i love her so much and also why i hate second manga route so much. takane would never kill herself. shoves this in ur face

like that's why takane gets opening eyes in the first place!!!!! opening eyes was the ability that was allowing azami to appear before others inside the daze and once she gives it to takane, azami is at the brink of disappearance (holds head remembering azami keeps giving out her snakes as a way to save as much people as possible even if it means dying BUT THATS NOT WHAT WERE TALKING ABOUT) but this translates into takane as well. like even if she is dead she wants to be out here. she will make a place for herself. takane has the will to live, and will always make it out of anywhere as long as she's got herself, even if she's alone. she literally projects herself into existence even when dead thats how damn stubborn she is. determined to tell haruka her feelings as SOON as she realises them without thinking of what that means for their relationship because that's just not her priority, her priority is to let him know in the first place. AUUUGGHH. TAKANE BEST CHARACTER EVER I LOVE U TAKANE also why harutaka is so awesome because it's cute that out of everyone its TAKANE with all these characteristics who gets the love story arc and then actually manages to have a happy ending with someone as loving and caring as haruka!!! and it goes both ways!! except im not talking abt haruka so!!! sniff sniff... str harutaka... (holds head)

erm. yeah. anyways. sorry for going crazy again. i just love takane💗 LITERALLY I JUSY MAKE EVERYTHING ABT HARUTAKA SORRY OK RIGHT KANOBACK TO KANO

i think kano is the kind to notice all these things and be like Man. wtf. but like i said!!! i hate the antagonistic light of it. i know kano's an ass and thats sorta the point, but isn't he like. like the shit he does to takane and the way he talks of her from his pov grazes the unlikable. because we all love piece of shit morally gray characters like kano like i LOVE kano, he's such an interesting character and i love all the nuance u need when consuming kagepro and seeing everything he does but shit likethe way he acts with takane goes a little over the line to me bc it has no real basis other than angry at takane by proxy to shintaro and/or the jealousy (but then again its not like the jealousy is made into such a big deal in the first place and its just a passing comment) like it just seems unfair and uncalled for. like he's REALLY taking it out on her and then played as a joke.

SO TO ME. KANO HELPING TAKANE WITH HER BODY MEANS A LOT. he can go cry outside LATER. to me that is his way of apologizing too. in his little twisted way!!! like not only is here ur body but i will hold you and dry you and get you clothes and some food and water. takane allowing someone to pick her up and see her when vulnerable and kano helping someone his sister adored it just rewires my brain. theyre both silent thru it all but make it through. AUUUGGHHHH IT WOULDVE BEEN SO GOOOOD

AND YEAH EVERYTHING U SAID 10000%% takane being the perfect ratio outsider to insider is SUCH A PERFECT WAY TO PUT IT AUUGGHH also gossip buddies prank masterminds BEST. FRIENDS. FOREVER. for real!!!!

[surpriserose]

Chris can u pretty pretty please fan cast X/1999 🥺🥺🥺🥺

I hate this i hate that i woke up and was like yeah ive got ideas >:(

Kamui is timothee chalamet everyone's favorite edgeboy and nothing else kamui is just all edge here hes not allowed to develop as a character or be nonbinary sorry i got attached to agender kamui so much

Fuuma is everyones second favorite edgy boy Robert Pattinson who is literally giving it his all and thats probably too much so honestly? He can probably pull of fuuma theyre both weirdos

Kotori probably still dies but there are so many cringey romantic flashbacks with her and kamui as kamui is training (in a montage set to like imagine dragons or something) so like fuck it lets go with kaitlyn dever the dear evan hansen lady again she can get her check and get out

Hinoto oh god im trying to avoid spoilers for these but like....im actually putting reese Witherspoon here because i remembered who i wanted for karen so BUT ANYWAYS they do it its split its every bad DID movie youve ever seen im so sorry

Arashi okay i have a vision here this time they swap arashi and soratas genders arashi is now a dude and sorata is a lady for pretty much no reason but omg sword? Lets make arashi a man so they can be another stoic edgy boy for the collection. I think they get simu liu fress off the marvel presses and he gets absolutely nothing to work with because they looked at arashi and were like okay theyre just 😐 100% of the time and thats theyre only deal

Sorata is awkwafina because they do let sorata be comic relief but also thats all they are now but also theyre not funny at all </3 except theyre also kamuis new love interest 🥺🥺🥺 and they kiss at the climax where the power of love saves the day and everyone hugs it out and like idk they solve climate change. Also they let sorata be bi but its in blink and you miss it stuff like the shit they pulled with loki and everyone calls it amazing representation

Karen is anya taylor joy and they cannot handle her being a sex worker well AT ALL she has to be saved by motherhood to nataku 🥺🥺🥺🥺 where she quits her job and like idk starts a daycare or some shit in the epilogue

Subaru god i just want to cast nick Robinson from love simon again sorry hes typecast as milquetoast white gay to me which is what they make subaru his entire personality is pining after Seishirou like hes not even really kamuis brother figure hes just some guy here :(

Yuzuriha and aoki dont exist sorry they have to make cuts somewhere </3

Nataku is brianna hildebrand because when you suggested the hollywood nonbinary is a cis girl with a buzzcut she came to mind because she was negasonic teenage warhead in deadpool so xyqvzu1vziwjs they probably let nataku be nonbinary but they dont say it and probably use she/her pronouns more than half the time and they definitely 100% have karen call them her daughter at some point

Seishirou is armie hammer hes got experience with predatory age gap gay relationships after call me by your name so hes getting typecasted now too and because timothee chalamet his former co star is on the cast kamui...kamui x Seishirou becomes popular online :(

Kanoe....and this is the big one...kanoe is scarlett Johansson who is managing somehow to whitewash harder than the rest of the white cast. I think they keep all her sexy dresses and flirting with ppl and shit but like...and this one hurts...they make her a predatory lesbian stereotype with satsuki and shes the big bad irredeemable villain they kill to solve climate change or whatever and then satsuki marries yuto and they live happily ever after in a big old nuclear family

Satsuki is kristen wiig basically just being cheetah from wonder woman 1984 all over again and its worse this time and shes basically just there so kanoe can be a big old evil lesbian to a cishet woman and they definitely make jokes like just because i have short hair doesnt mean im a lesbian 🤪🤪🤪 and everyone insists this cant be homophobic because they made seisub canon and thats gay so!!!

Yuto is here i was gonna cut him but hes satsukis love interest and he definitely defects out of love for satsuki and he wants to kill kanoe to get her away from satsuki and its portrayed as really heroic. It doesnt matter who he is he sucks so like lets go with chris evans. Also they make a ton of aquaman jokes.

They cut the rest of the dragons of earth sorry

Other points

They completely cut all the references to shrines and stuff like sorata being Buddhist and basically just make it a standard magic system EXCEPT for arashi because they didnt whitewash them which ends up being worse than if they never tried at all

I do think m night shyamalan would kill to direct this

No one dies except kanoe and maaaybe fuuma if fuuma dies he redeems himself right before the end so its so sad like think kylo ren or some shit

Takes place 100% in new york

Add your own to make it worse :)

[recentanimenews]

The 5 Most Loved and Hated Ghosts in Anime

The 5th and Final article in our 5-Part Halloween-themed October series! Last week we took measure of the fan favorite creature of the night, Vampires, and now, we’ll be looking at the dearly departed that just won't… depart. Lost souls, vengeful spirits, or helpful phantoms, these characters possess varied viscosity and ability to be seen but are always important to the story.

  Loved them or hate them, you might just see them off if you can discover the mystery of their death. Our friends over at Anime-Planet spend day and night cataloguing unique features and leaving it to the fans to vote on the best and worst. A note before we begin, these are the result of popular votes that I can and will disagree with. Only your democratic will can determine who makes it on this list. With that out of the way, below are the 5 most loved and most hated ghosts in anime!

  Loved

  5. Yuuko Kanoe - Dusk Maiden of Amnesia

    Starting off nice and tragic here with the amnesiac ghost trying to get her memories back and, in doing so, maybe discover what’s keeping her in this world. Always thought the idea of a boy meeting a girl’s ghost and the two solving the mystery of her death was a unique story until I realized it was an entire subgenre of anime. A perfectly likeable phantom. While she’s the cause of many of her school’s ghost stories, it’s more an accident than any ill-intent. Yuuko does have sort of a scary face though. Spooky until you get to know her.

  4. Kazuma - Noragami

    It’s one thing to be the last survivor of your clan, it’s another to be the last survivor of your clan of ghosts. Can’t even take solace in the fact that you still have a life to live. Kazuma’s got it rough, is what I’m trying to say. Always thought this guy looked like Yukio Okumura and, thanks to this article, just discovered they actually have the same voice actor, which is a roundabout way of saying absolutely not spooky at all.

  3. Yami Yugi - Yu-Gi-Oh!

    Hell yeah. I mean, you know certain characters are ghosts, but you just don’t expect them to show up in the list. Yami Yugi is living the dream of all pharaohs by surviving death, though I’m not sure many would be satisfied with getting locked in a necklace so they could play card games for the rest of eternity. If you do what you love, you never work a day of your death. Great ghost, although only spooky if you just challenged a spiky-haired kid to a duel and he pulls out the millenium puzzle.

  2. Meiko Honma - Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

    This was inevitable. Menma was a shoe-in for the most loved ghosts. It’s not just any phantom that haunts you to help you get over their death, rebuild your relationships with your old friends, and overcome your mental blocks that prevent you from expressing your emotions. The driving force in one of the most evocative anime of all time and maybe one of the most easily recognizable characters in the medium. Menma is good. Not at all spooky.

  1. Yukine - Noragami

    A very tragic boy. Although he doesn’t remember much, he had a hard life that was cut short, leaving him with an afterlife of yearning to experience a normal childhood. He’s usually the kind of brat I’d find annoying but Noragami found a nice balance and gradual improvement as he finds a place for himself in… whatever you’d call his existence? On the plus side, he can turn into katana(s). Not spooky unless you have a severe phobia of sharp things.

  Hated

  5. Aerith Gainsborough - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

    What the hell. How could you do this to me? Here I am, writing a listicle for your entertainment and you’ve gotta hit me with the most traumatic moment of my childhood? I’m completely blindsided by this. I can’t handle it. The worst part is, I can’t even say this isn’t an anime. Wait, she’s HATED? This is some vote brigading nonsense from Tifa fans, 100%. We’re moving on. I’m so angry. NOT spooky. Very sad.

  4. Fuyumi Yanagi - Blood Lad

    Blood Lad never fails to show up with the horror rep, although I’m surprised to see Fuyumi on the hated side here. She’s just a normal girl that basically ends up in the wrong neighborhood and gets killed by a horrible plant monster then spends the rest of the series trying to not only cope with the fact that she’s a ghost, but that all sorts of nasty horror movie creatures exist, and her potential savior is kind of a creep. Must be some sparse competition in this hated section. Not spooky.

  3. Daemon Spade - Reborn!

    Not many major villains have the advantage of already being dead. While that makes Daemon tough to deal with, I’m not sure if I could really say much about him besides that. Always struck me as your typical revenge-obsessed nihilistic villain.. until his move with Mukuro, that is. Probably a lot of Mukuro fans present for this hate vote and I respect that. First hate vote I’m on board with of the hated to have any real scariness to them. Possession isn’t cool.

  2. Kugaha - Noragami

    Any enemy of Bishamonten is an enemy of mine, so drop this dude anywhere you like on the hated list. He’s basically the “I know what’s better for you more than you do” kind of boyfriend and I think that’s pretty much canonically his villainous motivation in the series. So yeah, basically he sucks. Only spooky if you’re in a relationship with him.

  1. Nora - Noragami

    Dang usually the most hated is pretty cut and dry but Nora’s kind of complex situation. On the face of things she definitely deserves the hate. Trying to kill anyone who your crush spends more than 2 seconds with is a bad look. In retrospect, it’s hard to know how much of that was dear ol’ dad. Looks like a kid, but she’s definitely got her creepy moments and is scary in the way just about any homicidal stalker is, so there’s that at least.

  I’m just gonna say this. If you have a ghost list that includes Yami Yugi but not Fujiwara no Sai from Hikaru no Go, it’s pretty much a failure. Also, the absence of Dimple from every list involving dead, deathless, or psychic characters is becoming an unfortunate pattern. I’ve got no problem with Noragami taking this list over, but please include some of the greats.

  I can’t believe you hit me with Aerith…

  Have a favorite phantom that didn’t make the list? Want to know where your favorite appears in the list of most popular poltergeists? Head over to Anime-Planet’s list of ghosts to see where they rank, or comment below with your favorite! Tune in next week, for the 5 most loved and hated pipes!

---

Peter Fobian is an Associate Features Editor for Crunchyroll, author of Monthly Mangaka Spotlight, writer for Anime Academy, and contributor at Anime Feminist. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[ladystylestores]

Coronavirus in Africa: Contained or unrecorded?

Medical staff at the Chandaria Health Centre try on face shields in Nairobi, Kenya – 14 May 2020

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that nearly a quarter of a billion Africans could contract coronavirus in the first year of the pandemic, with between 150,000 and 190,000 of them dying.

Africa has had less than 100,000 cases so far, but WHO experts believe the continent will have a prolonged outbreak over a few years – and the huge focus on containing the virus has led to other health issues being neglected.

Here, five BBC reporters give a snapshot of what is happening in their countries:

Short presentational grey line

Congolese ‘probably had virus without knowing it’

By Emery Makumeno, Kinshasa

DR Congo is grappling with coronavirus and Ebola

The Democratic Republic of Congo confirmed its first case of Covid-19 in early March, but a doctor in the capital, Kinshasa, believes the disease arrived earlier.

“During December and January, I can’t remember how many patients came for medical treatment, coughing and with fever and headaches,” he said, referring to Covid-19 symptoms listed by the WHO.

“I am convinced that we, the medical staff, have been exposed to coronavirus already, without knowing it, and we have built a sort of immunity,” he added.

But DR Congo has carried out few tests to check the Covid-19 status of people, because of a lack of medical equipment.

Countries with successful testing strategies, such as South Korea and Germany, have rapidly reached at least 1% of their population, UK medical journal The Lancet points out.

If equipment is available, many African states could ramp up tests – they did more HIV tests between 1 October and 31 December than the 1% target for Covid-19 testing, The Lancet says.

Number of Covid-19 tests done in DR Congo by 18 May: 4,493

Tests required to make up 1% of population: 895,614

HIV tests done from 1 October to 31 December 2019: 203,859

Sources: Africa CDC; The Lancet

So far, DR Congo has recorded more than 1,600 cases of the virus – the ninth-highest number in Africa, according to WHO.

The first Covid-19 case was detected in La Gombe, the main business district in Kinshasa. The government moved swiftly to introduce a lockdown, but the virus has since spread to seven of the country’s 26 provinces – including the mining hub of Lubumbashi.

Story continues

The outbreak comes at a time when DR Congo – which has poor health services, and has been hit by decades of conflict in the east – is also grappling with an Ebola outbreak. It has killed more than 2,000 people since 2018.

The UN children’s agency, Unicef, has also raised concern about a reduction in vaccination rates, saying gains made from immunisation over the past two years could be erased.

Hundreds of thousands of children have not been vaccinated

Unicef said vaccinations were already declining at the beginning of this year, and that the effects of coronavirus will make it worse.

Hundreds of thousands of children had not received polio, measles, yellow fever and other vaccines.

DR Congo might lose its polio-free status and there could be a resurgence of other deadly diseases.

Health workers lacked equipment to protect themselves or the children from Covid-19, and parents were afraid to bring them to vaccination centres.

Short presentational grey line

Kenya hospital has ‘fewer patients but more corpses’

By Mercy Juma, Nairobi

To cover your face become the norm in Kenya

A major public hospital in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, saw an almost 40% increase in respiratory illnesses such as tuberculosis, pneumonia and asthma between December and early March, a doctor who works there told the BBC.

However, the hospital had a sharp decline in such cases since mid-March, said the doctor, who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media, added.

One reason was that the government had imposed a nationwide dusk-to-dawn curfew to contain the spread of coronavirus.

This has resulted in a drop in night-time admissions, but an increase in the number of dead people being brought to the hospital’s mortuary, the doctor said.

Some people have been desperate to get out of quarantine

People also seemed to be avoiding hospital for fear of being diagnosed with Covid-19 and being sent to quarantine centres, he said.

This is because quarantining has been controversial in Kenya, with the government forcing suspected Covid-19 patients to pay for their own confinement.

The price ranges from $20 (£16) to $100 a night, depending on the centre, though the government has now promised to cover costs at public quarantine centres.

Number of Covid-19 tests done in Kenya by 18 May: 44,851

Tests required to for 1% of population: 537,713

HIV tests done from 1 October to 31 December 2019: 2, 177,170

Sources: Africa CDC; The Lancet

Hostels at schools and universities as well as private hotels have been used as quarantine centres.

A video clip went viral last month, showing several people scaling a wall to flee a centre in Nairobi.

Those quarantined have complained that some centres are not much better than prisons, with poor hygiene and overcrowding making it impossible to practise social distancing.

Short presentational grey line

‘More patients and more corpses’ in northern Nigeria

By Ishaq Khalid, Abuja

Very little testing for Covid-19 has been done in Nigeria

There have been reports of more people falling ill and dying in Nigeria’s most populous state, Kano, since the outbreak of coronavirus nearly three months ago.

So, it is not surprising that President Muhammadu Buhari has extended the lockdown in the northern state to the end of the month.

A grave digger at the Abattoir Graveyard in the main city, also known as Kano, told the BBC: “We have never seen this, since the major cholera outbreak that our parents tell us about. That was about 60 years ago.”

Prof Musa Baba-Shani – the head of department of medicines at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, the main hospital in the state – told the BBC that they have been treating more patients with illnesses such as asthma, pneumonia, and tuberculosis, as well as chest pains and sore throats.

The professor, who works with the respiratory diseases unit of the hospital, said there had been an increase of between 40% and 45% in the number of respiratory cases in about the last months.

He attributed the rise to the closure of many hospitals in the state, especially private clinics, because of a lack of protective gear for medics. This has forced more patients to seek treatment at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.

Prof Baba-Shani said some of those with respiratory illnesses were diagnosed with coronavirus, and referred to the treatment centres set up for Covid-19 patients.

He decried the slow testing for coronavirus in Africa’s most-populous country, which has a population of around 200 million. It would be better for both patients and hospitals if testing was speeded up, he said.

Number of Covid-19 tests done in Nigeria by 18 May: 33,970

Tests required to for 1% of population: 2,061,396

HIV tests done from 1 October to 31 December 2019: 1,160,920

Sources: Africa CDC; The Lancet

Another doctor at the hospital, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said some people were avoiding seeking treatment because they feared contracting Covid-19 in hospitals.

In north-eastern Yobe state, an unusually high number of people – 471 people – have died in the past five weeks.

It is unclear whether the deaths are linked to coronavirus, but the state’s health commissioner, Dr Muhammad Lawan Gana told the BBC that a preliminary investigation had found that most of the dead were elderly people with pre-existing health conditions such as hypertension and diabetes.

Nigeria has more than 6,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the third-highest in Africa.

The commercial capital, Lagos, is at the epicentre of the outbreak, but a lockdown imposed at the end of March has been partially eased, raising fears that the virus could spread.

“It’s tough decision, but I think it was the wrong call,” said Dr Andrew Iroemeh, who works at a Covid-19 isolation centre in the city,

“It’s recommended [that] for a lockdown to be relaxed we should have a consistent reduction in the rate of infection for at least 14 days. We haven’t seen that,” he added.

Short presentational grey line

‘Few signs of virus’ in Ethiopia

By Kalkidan Yibelta, Addis Ababa

Ethiopia has banned gatherings of more than four

Respiratory infections are common in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most-populous state, with a population of more than 100 million. Research shows they are the third major cause of death each year, after neonatal disorders and diarrheal diseases.

The coronavirus outbreak does not seem to have led to more patients with respiratory infections being admitted to hospitals over the past few weeks.

A doctor in the capital, Addis Ababa, told the BBC that he was looking for signs of unreported Covid-19 cases but he did not detect anything unusual.

Number of Covid-19 tests done in Ethiopia by 18 May: 59,029

Tests required for 1% of population: 1,149,636

HIV tests done from 1 October to 31 December 2019: 136,307

Sources: Africa CDC; The Lancet

There was no increase, for example, in the number of patients with pneumonia, a severe complication caused by the virus.

Similar reports were given by a doctor and a nurse the BBC spoke to in eastern and southern Ethiopia respectively.

In recent days, the number of cases detected daily has risen from single to double digits. This has raised some concern, but the overall number is still low – less than 400.

This is despite the fact that Ethiopia, unlike many other states, has not introduced a lockdown, taking limited measures, such as a ban on sporting events and gatherings of more than four people, to curb the spread of the virus.

The doctor in Addis Ababa said Ethiopians might have been spared the worst of the virus because of less foreign travel, or there may be other unknown factors at play.

He said people should take precautions to prevent the spread of the virus as the possibility of a surge could not be ruled out.

Short presentational grey line

Uganda to focus on ‘verbal autopsies’

By Catherine Byaruhanga, Kampala

Traders have been ordered to sleep in markets to reduce the risk of them taking the virus to their homes

Uganda has imposed one of the strictest lockdowns in East Africa and so far it has one of the lowest number of Covid-19 cases in the region – around 260 – and no deaths.

Most of the testing in Uganda has been on truck drivers who arrive from neighbouring states. Last week, Health Minister Ruth Aceng said that of the 139 confirmed cases at the time, 79 were truck drivers.

The President of the Uganda Medical Association, Dr Richard Idro, said that doctors around the country had not reported seeing more patients with respiratory illnesses, though the lockdown – which includes a ban on travel – could have prevented them from going to hospital.

People with mild symptoms of coronavirus might have also stayed at home, resulting in some cases going unrecorded.

Number of Covid-19 tests done in Uganda by 18 May: 87,832

Tests required to constitute 1% of population: 457,410

HIV tests done from 1 October to 31 December 2019: 2,098,734

Sources: Ugandan government; The Lancet

In a recent address, Uganda’s President Museveni said the government planned to carry out “verbal autopsies”https://ift.tt/2HfCbR7; in communities to find out whether people might have died from Covid-19.

The government has promised to distribute free masks to all citizens above six years old over the next two few weeks before easing lockdown measures.

Ugandans on social media have generally been sceptical about the plans, pointing to the delays in giving food to 1.5 million people in and around the capital, Kampala, after they lost their income because of Covid-19 restrictions.

If the mask distribution is successful, Mr Museveni has promised that shops will be allowed to open, public transport will be back on the road but carrying half the number of passengers and food market vendors – who have been sleeping at their stalls under the president’s orders – will be allowed to go home at the end of each day.

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[foodselfiesandstuffblog]

Fader Tackles the U.K.'s Julie Adenuga

How Julie Adenuga Became The Most Trusted Voice In U.K. Music

A conversation with the Beats 1 anchor about documenting grime, supporting the next generation, and the lessons she learned from her mom.

By AIMEE CLIFF

“I never got taught how to do radio,” Julie Adenuga said in a matter-of-fact style, before bursting into laughter. It was a bright day in December, and the 28-year-old radio DJ was reflecting on her self-started career. She was still wearing a lush fur coat and winged eyeliner from a photo shoot earlier that day, all gothic glamor behind her clear-framed spectacles. She spoke while multi-tasking with purpose, eating cheesy pizza with one hand, firing off emails with the other. “At no stage did I sit down and read a book about [DJing],” she continued. “I wouldn’t know how to do it professionally.” It’s this unstudied approach, she said, that helps create the no-bullshit feel of her Beats 1 show — and it’s true that her presenting has a casual, free-form feel that is a rarity elsewhere on mainstream radio. But whatever she tells you, Julie is a professional in her prime.

Julie’s career success isn’t rooted in books, but in her genuine roots and graft in London’s tight-knit music scene. Growing up in north London neighborhood Tottenham, she watched her older brothers Junior and Jamie (MCs Skepta and JME) launch their grime label Boy Better Know in 2005, but she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do herself. She was always creative — she studied dance in school, and sang backing vocals on JME's 2008 album Famous — but didn’t see herself becoming an artist. After dropping out of an Events Management degree, she worked in an Apple store for a little under two years. Feeling restless in 2010, she persuaded the then-pirate radio station Rinse FM to give her a show with her best friend Sian Anderson, despite neither having DJed before. The result was candid and hilarious: between the latest grime, afrobeats, and electronic music emerging from London, the two would spar and banter as though no one else was listening. Within five years, Sian was holding down a show on BBC Radio 1Xtra, and Julie was hosting the drivetime slot on Rinse. Listeners around the world learned her name in 2015, when she was chosen by Apple to anchor their new station, alongside seasoned pros Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden.

Julie’s transition to mainstream radio wasn’t just a victory for her personal career — it’s also been a big boost for artists who are often misunderstood by the U.K.’s broadcast media. In the grime and U.K. rap scenes in general, the prejudiced institutional press so often gets it wrong; artists find themselves labeled as “aggressive,” looked over for awards and radio play, and reviewed by journalists who have little understanding of their culture or lyricism. But Julie’s daily Beats 1 show feels authentic. As a day one music obsessive with a true understanding of how artists build careers, she knows exactly how to tread the line between amplifying culture and protecting what’s so special about it. Beyond radio, she’s also dedicated to opening up the music industry to young people from diverse backgrounds, launching the One True Calling mentorship scheme with Sian Anderson in 2016. As the world looks toward the U.K., Julie’s making sure the story of British music is being told right.

You and your siblings are all so creative and entrepreneurial. What were the best lessons your parents taught you growing up?

To have respect. In Nigerian culture, you can't give your mum or anyone older than you anything with your left hand. That's seen as disrespectful. If an auntie or uncle walks in a room, you touch the floor. Growing up as an English-born Nigerian person, there were just things that my friends at school weren't really going to understand. But I liked [those customs]. It's not a weakness to be a nice person.

What was it like for you growing up with all brothers?

I’m definitely not the girly type. I was so comfortable growing up as the only girl. I didn’t have to go play with my friends, in the house was where the fun was — with Junior, Jamie, Jason, mum, dad. I became uncomfortable when I went to secondary school, and had to be in an environment where people didn’t really understand me. It was a very strict line of, “There’s girls, and there’s guys.” I didn’t have any close female friends. I wasn’t like them. I didn’t have hairstyles, I didn’t even comb my hair. [I went] through these phases of like, doing girly things, and thinking, I don’t like this. Finding myself was basically going back to the original tomboy that I was, and remembering that I was cool.

“I want to encourage people to do stuff they’re passionate about. Putting positive energy out into the world.”

What surprised you in 2016?

Junior [Skepta]’s Mercury award! That was something that I never thought would happen. There were so many other people in that category — David Bowie, for a start. Everything that followed on from that, from Alexandra Palace, to shooting the documentary — everything felt so rewarding.

You wrote and presented Apple’s documentary on Skepta. Is it important to you to make sure that the right people are telling grime’s story?

I wouldn't want someone to tell Junior's story and not tell it right. I don't like seeing things wronged that are important to me. I think [that] ruins any credibility that that story had; every point you were trying to make is overshadowed by your incorrect information. Junior is such a delicate character, he's really easily misunderstood. [In interviews] he's so careful with what he says because he's aware that anything he does say can be taken left or right. [I thought], I probably am a good person to tell this story. Because I understand. Let me see what I can do to make sure that other people don't get it misconstrued.

On the flip side, do you ever get feel frustrated with being labeled a “grime” presenter/DJ, when you represent so many genres on your show?

I don't get frustrated, because it's never stopped me from doing something. When I was doing an interview for the documentary with Jamie [JME], he was talking about that moment [in the early-’00s] when loads of [grime] artists started signing record deals. I [asked] him, “How did that make you feel, as someone who's been so adamant about being independent?” He was like, "It was good, I liked that Kano, Chip, all these people were getting signed and spreading the sound, or spreading our culture, spreading that we exist to other people." For me, it's the same thing. If people feel like I'm a grime person, I like that I represent a grime person who's into other things. People think that [grime fans] just like grime, they don't listen to anything else. I'm a good representation of the fact that grime isn't just a secret club.

"All platforms should be accessible to all artists. A lot of music is celebrated, but [once] you reach a certain level, it’s only Adele."

There was a lot of talk last year about diversity at U.K. awards shows; do you think ceremonies like The BRITs need to improve?

Kanye West made me feel like awards are really bad! Because you work so hard, and then you have to be in competition with people when you didn’t even want to be. It’s not cool! Loads of people put work into their albums and then they have to lose. My [point of view] has always been, if you’re not 100% happy with how something is going, then you should just create your own — which is what [grime YouTube channel and publication] GRM Daily done with the Rated Awards.

If you could wave a magic wand and fix something about the U.K. music industry, what would it be?

I would change who you have to be to get to certain places. There are places that some artists will never be, because they are a person that isn’t normally accepted in that world. There are some artists that will never be on a late-night TV show, because they don’t fit into a certain box, because they don’t adhere to certain rules. I would change that. All platforms should be accessible to all artists. A lot of music is celebrated, but [once] you reach a certain level, it’s only Adele. I would change it so the English public can see all the types of music that exist out there.

How do we make that happen?

I need to make a late-night TV show!

What are you looking forward to in 2017?

Towards the end of [2016], I was very emotional about the world. Human beings have still not learned how to live on a planet with other human beings. [In 2017] I’m gonna try and do my part; I’d love for everyone to do their part, whatever that may be. I’m going to go to Greece for 10 days, because my friend is living out there — she used to work at a major label, but she quit her job [to start the charity Hope Project, building schools for refugees in Greece]. I’m launching a live music event this year as well, and I’m going to donate all the money from the ticket sales to [Hope Project].

On top of that, I am going to start a nice dinner [event] with [art director] Sophia Tassew, that should happen monthly or bi-monthly, for creative women to just come and have some food and talk about their lives with each other. I just want to have a place where [women] can mix with people that are older, in a different stage of their career. [I want to] encourage people to do stuff they’re passionate about. Putting positive energy out into the world.

Have you always been so confident?

I've always been loud. Sometimes people can mistake my loudness — when I was young, anyway — for confidence. In school, I was the outspoken, crazy one. But I think my confidence [came] from knowing that I'm confident about what I'm saying. Sometimes you can shout, and think: I'm shouting so people probably think I'm saying something that's right. But now, what I'm saying is something I believe in.