#ignore weird lyrics etc

[teathattast]

So give me your kiss now

Don't wanna think about going on without

It's only love, nobody dies

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Bowen McCurdy and Jordan Morris’s “Youth Group”

NEXT SATURDAY (July 20), I'm appearing in CHICAGO at Exile in Bookville.

Youth Group is Bowen McCurdy and Jordan Morris's new and delightful graphic novel from Firstsecond. It's a charming tale of 1990s ennui, cringe Sunday School – and demon hunting.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250789235/youthgroup

Kay is a bitter, cynical teenager who's doing her best to help her mother cope with an ugly divorce that has seen her dad check out on his former family. Mom is going back to church, and she talks Kay into coming along with her to attend the church youth group.

This is set in the 1990s, and the word "cringe" hasn't yet entered our lexicon as an adjective, but boy is the youth group cringe. The pastor is a guitar-strumming bearded dad who demonstrates how down he is with the kids by singing top 40 songs rewritten with evangelical lyrics (think Weird Al meets the 700 Club). Kay gamely struggles through a session and even makes a friend or two, and agrees to keep attending in deference to her mother's pleas.

But this is no ordinary youth group. Kay's ultra-boring suburban hometown is actually infested with demons who routinely possess the townspeople, and that baseline of demonic activity has suddenly gone critical, with a new wave of possessions. Suddenly, the possessed are everywhere – even Kay's shitty dad ends up with a demon inside of him.

That's when Kay discovers that the youth group and its corny pastor are also demon hunters par excellence. Their rec-rooms sport secret cubbies filled with holy weapons, and the words of exorcism come as readily to them as any embarrassing rewritten devotional pop song. Kay's discovery of this secret world convinces her that youth group isn't so bad after all, and soon she is initiated into its mysteries, including the existence of rival demon-hunting kids from the local synagogue, Catholic church, and Wiccan coven.

As the nature of the new demonic incursion becomes clearer, it falls on Kay and her pals to overcome these sectarian divisions over the protests of their guitar-strumming, magic-wielding leader. That takes on a special urgency when Kay learns why the demons are interested in her, personally, and a handful of other kids in town who all share a secret trait.

I confess that as someone who lived through the 1990s as a young man, there is something disorienting about experiencing the decade of my young adulthood through the kind of retro lens I associate with the 1950s or 1960s. But while the experience is disorienting, it's not unpleasant. McCurdy's artwork and Morris's snappy dialog conjure up that bygone decade in a way that is simultaneously affectionate and critical, exposing the hollowness of its performative ennui and the brave face that performance represented even as the world was being swept up in corporate gigantism.

McCurdy and Morris are really onto something here, implicitly asking us why the 1990s gave us Buffy and Sabrina (and The Coven, etc etc) – what was it about that decade in which Reaganomics and globalism consolidated the gains of the 1980s, where the climate emergency took on its undeniable urgency, where media monopolies mastered the art of commodifying counterculture faster than it could mutate into new forms?

Morris's writing really shines here. If you enjoyed Bubble, his earlier outing based on the post-apocalyptic comedy podcast of the same name, you will love this one:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/21/podcasting-as-a-visual-medium/#huntr

Morris is also half of Jordan, Jesse Go!, the long-running podcast where he and Jesse Thorn do a weekly ha-ha-only-serious goofball schtick that never fails to smuggle in really clever and insightful ideas amidst the poop jokes.

https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/jordan-jesse-go/

John Hodgman calls nostalgia a "toxic impulse." Church Group deftly avoids nostalgia's trap, managing to be a period piece without falling prey to the Happy Days pathology of ignoring the many flaws and problems of its era. And of course, it's a hoot and a blast.

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/16/blight/#the-dream-of-the-nineties

[allamericansbitch]

my review of ttpd is under the cut

i liken this album to digging through the cushions of a couch. sometimes you find money, sometimes mindless scraps, and sometimes it's weird shit you have no idea why it's there.

first things first i'll just reiterate what i've seen a lot of people saying: she needs to move on from jack and work with new producers. the production is so recycled, we've heard it before, it's no longer serving her art (and i would argue it's limiting it) and it's tired. the first half is midnights and 1989 vault tracks and i would like a new album to sound like a new album.

but you know who came in and saved the day, my man my man my man aaron with those real instruments and decent mixing/production skills that actually work with taylor's voice!

like i said before, i like a good chunk of this album, so what i'm about to say might come off strong but trust me. i feel like this whole album is very.... unnecessary. it's very repetitive, she's reusing so many metaphors, sayings, etc just song to song and then also repetitive production like i already touched on. her current mindset of creating art as frequently as possible, quantity over quality, is just becoming more and more hard to ignore. of course she can still write and work through her feelings but you don't need to release it. you can work through it and move on. the best songs on here have authority, know what they wanna say and tell a good story. the worst are just sitting there roaming around aimlessly and not saying anything new or anything at all really. there is a really interesting, good album in here... somewhere. move the cushions around a bit more.

here's some random/general bullet points:

the best songs for me are the ones with a clear message and simple production. she's not trying to sound smart with the lyrics and just making the song clunky and try-hard. so long london and loml?? clara bow? yeah yeah

speaking of the lyrics....... my god are they rough. she saw people saying midnights had some corny lines and said charlie puth hold my beer. this album genuinely has some of her worst, which is sad because we know what she's capable of.

none of the music matches the aesthetic but sadly that's become par for the course, but now the title of the album doesn't even fit for me. i feel like, if she wanted to name it after a song title, 'the alchemy' or 'i can do it with a broken heart' are right there. this isnt giving tortured poet.

all of this to say she needs to get new collaborators, stop surrounding herself with yes men, and learn to trim the fat and we'll be in a lot better shape.

[merp-blerp]

Honestly, the beardings don't bother me much ever. I don't know if it's just because I'm new or what, but they kind of just roll off my back. I guess I've just... cemented it in my head that it's just a business thing, likely, and that Taylor doesn't have to come out ever if that's what she wants (I believe she wants to come out). More bearding moments will come up, that's expected, but that doesn't mean they're suddenly the truth. I personally don't think they are. TK kissing Taylor with a camera shoved in their faces doesn't sway me, it makes me more confident that it's fake because love's not for show to Taylor. Ms. "I would die for you in secret", Ms. "They got no idea about me and you", Ms "older guys, just playthings for me to use" etc. At most, it felt it's most upsetting for me when she changed the Karma lyrics—that was a bit much. But TK yapping about how "happy" he is with her for some reason doesn't get to me. Is that weird? Should it? Joe and Taylor were "happy" too before they "broke up". I mean, Karlie's seemingly pretending to be married with kids to a guy, that's arguably worse (I believe Kar's kids are indeed real and hers, don't get started on assumptions with me, hetlors).

What gets me are hetlor and actual pieces against gaylor. The backlash to the New York Times article legitimately saddened me. To see so many people, especially queer people, ignore/forget/be unaware of the queer history of speculating on others sexuality was really rough; especially when it's still a thing! I see femme sapphics online talk about wanting to express queerness without telling people their sexuality so that other queers can spot them all the time! News flash: that requires speculation, that thing that's apparently so disgusting! And to see the conversation of it be so trivialized as "Don't out people!" or "Don't be gross!" when strangers can't out strangers through speculation and there's nothing gross about queerness. Especially with how mainstream the discourse became—it was upsetting to not be able to get away from it.

BTW, I understand it gets really annoying to see bearding. You're fully valid if it makes you upset, I'm just saying my feelings.

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Just some thoughts on the new Steam trailers and promo stuff.

I just watched the Steam trailer announcement for the KH series...and they made it really het/S*kai focused. It's very gen/friendship focused as well, but they seriously somehow were even able to make the DDD section of the trailer very not gay and just very gen/friendship based.

Here is the Steam Announcement Video:

The two short KH is on Steam trailers on Utada's YT page are more for promoting the re-recordings of Hikari and Simple & Clean, but they are fairly het/S*kai and general friendship focused as well. Though, Hikari's promo works better with they lyrics, timing, and lyrical meanings than Simple & Clean.

(More under the Read More due to length).

Here are the two promos to compare. First, Hikari:

In this version we have the lyrics break down like this:

どんな時だって (donna toki datte) - No matter when it is

From KH1 Sora to Sora in Castle Oblivion, just before battling Marluxia (who's in the background) from the KH2 OP

ずっと二人で (zutto futari de) - We'll always be together

From Axel in the DDD OP to the Time Station shattering around Ven from the BBS OP

どんな時だって (donna toki datte) - No matter when it is

From Aqua holding a frozen Ven and looking up at the blue "Kingdom Heart" in the sky (BBS OP) to the Back Cover stuff

側にいるから (soba in iru kara) - I'll always be by your side

From YX looking at the night sky out the window (KH3 OP) to Sora & Kairi sitting together from the KH3 ending

君という光が (kimi to iu hikari ga...) - The light known as "you"....

This last bit starts as the titles that are going to be released on Steam start to appear on the screen (there are spinning heart shapes that appear over the image, and those turn into the titles), which turns to a plain black screen and info on the release dates, games, etc.

The Simple & Clean take on this promo is definitely a bit more awkward timing and lyrics-wise. It doesn't work as well, though, both promos don't really highlight the bond between Sora and Riku like at all, but highlight the bond between Sora and Kairi, along with just gen friendships in general (which I like and don't mind).

Here is the Simple & Clean Re-recording + Steam promo:

I don't know. Obviously, they are focusing on the whole series as a whole, which makes sense and the more gen focused stuff for nearly all the characters makes sense and I like and appreciate that. But, it just feels weird to see/have so little of Riku and have the video end with the S*kai stuff, since that relationship is just so underexplored, underdeveloped, and often times just straight up ignored in a lot of the games/Sora's overall journey.

Also, while I'm a fan of Soriku, I don't really care for a number of the big theories out there that exist (some of which, like the whole aitsu thing, has been debunked, and I just find the whole "Sora forgot about Riku" theory to be a theory more so created to cope with the reality that the series is trying to push S*kai more now...even if there are a lot of issues with that from a writing perspective). IDK, but when I see stuff like this...when I played KH3...they all just kind of worked as reminders to keep my expectations in check. I might just be too burned by past media experiences, but a large part of me still believes that the closest we might ever get to canon Soriku is a realization and confirmation on Riku's part that he loves Sora, but S*kai still ends up happening because of "I want my lover to be happy" type trope stuff.

At the very least, I'm happy that we got largely gen and friendship based trailers and promos with all of this, instead of all of the imagery being like "potential het couples" type stuff, lol. But yeah, this is probably an overreaction, but KH3 is a game that really killed my love for the franchise and makes me very hesitant, skeptical, and cynical of KH4 along with the franchise going forward in general. So these promos just don't help at all with that.

[my-jokes-are-my-armour]

Ok 30 sec content is enough to activate me, so here is a little extra coming from the sheet capture of the video.

This is actually a vocal part sheets. And this is the end of the song. We can see the long held notes next to the hand with the pen.

There are some interesting notation here. First C4. I am gonna ignore the a and the b. Maybe it is augmented and flat - I don't know - the notation is weird to me lol. Anyway, C4 is the middle C on the piano. That I am sure.

Then I am not a specialist in vocal ranges, american notation, pitches etc, so I am just gonna say that, I read notes over C5, reaching B5. But I hear kinda one octave below when Joey sings. I never understood how that translates. I leave the schematic here for comparison.

Anyway, if I consider what I hear being one octave below of the music notation, then we reach B4 to the highest point, flirting to the limit of the Tenor register (so yep Joey is a Tenor 😅).

Then I can barely read the power chords. I guess C and D for sure but I can't get the small characters. For those with good eyes, let's go !

Then, I am gonna go on the only part I feel confident with - the rhythm - as it is given by the actual music notation that I can read. This is a bit blurry but things can be deduced mathematically.

I remember saying that the Ride of the Witcher had an odd 5 beat rhythm, the first time I heard it. I was wrong. It is on 4 beats BUT the melody falls on five beats from what I am reading here 😅. Hence my confusion.

I am not gonna try to give the correct names of the notes in English - as there are the american way, the "european" way, the french way... 😅. Let keep it mathematical.

A basic 4 beats means that between two |, you will always have a total of 4 beats. So the addition of all your notes and silence between the bars is always 4.

The rhythmic I read here is :

1(+½) ½-½ ½ 1 | 1 (1) (1) ½ ½ |

Then we have the second motif that is a bit easier

1 ½ ½-½ ½ 1 | 1 (1) (2) |

Both first parts ends on the first beat on the second block thanks to the liaison. The second motif sounds a bit like 6 beats because the lyrics begin on the last beat of the preceding part, after the silences.

The two same motifs are repeated after with the same breathing part until we arrive at the end of the chorus, where the silence are now sung.

So the whole thing seems turning on a square wheel. Love it 🥰😅.

Now, I find it very interesting to have the actual music notation. I found a piano score - probably ear deciphered - and see how they tried to fits the notes in a strange way to go with the feeling it doesn't fall where it should 🙂. There are suddenly, 1 beat or 5 beats bars to make the count right.

The voice is on the lower part here.

Now for the long notes, they are held 8 beats with this notation.

This is all I have to say about this screenshot 😅.

Oh and one last little thing. We can see a v4 under the title of the song. So there was 3 other versions before this one 😏.

[cringelordofchaos]

Hot take: drew and Zoey DO love each other

(or at least have at one point).

Look at that blush!!

Not saying they're not toxic or shallow or that it could've worked but to deny they had feelings for each other just for other ships to seem cooler seems pointless to me

They loved each other, though they are horrible cor each other that doesn't mean they don't care for each other (case in point: drake)

This is not to say drew isn't in love with Jake (I'm a big drew-is-in-love-with-jake-and-the-closet-is-made-of-glass-truther myself) but I don't think drew dated her just for reputation, they both have a messed up way of showing and receiving love (Drew's love language is gift giving, and Zoey might feel loved when given money which is weird af but it makes sense in a way, her getting a sugar daddy could be to get more money but also more love ever since drew might've started acting distant or uncaring towards her or she felt like his love and attention wasn't enough, cuz she seems extreme desperate for respect and attention and stuff like that, given how she usually makes herself to be the center of attention so often and how she tries putting herself above everyone else, meanwhile Drew would pay more attention to jake than her at times lmao, which might've made her angry or jealous or idk. but she craved his gifts, his love at one point.)

Zoey did manipulate and deceive him and he fell for it, RosyClozy at point said "Teeth" (a song by 5 Seconds Of Summer) fit Droey really well , and these are the lyrics

The song seems to be about someone infatuated with their lover, being the only brightness in their life and genuinely caring about them, but being lied to and deceived and ig being afraid of being pushed away

When drew found out zoey cheated on him, he was quite obviously upset, as anyone would be, really. Though you could say that, in a way, he seemed to be more upset about Jake not telling him Zoey cheated on him, than... Zoey cheating on him. Again, the show prioritizes how Drew feels about Jake over how he feels about Zoey, which makes it a bit more complicated to break down the true feelings behind Droey. (Plus, all the other ships have canon origins. Lander - childhood best friends. Jailey - met at freshman year, but Jake turned his back on Hailey in order to fit in w the jomies, causing rivalry and mistrust between the two. Jaisy - met in middle school, where she encouraged Jake's passions. Milliot - milliot spinoff ep1, see for yourself. Etc etc. but droey? We don't know how they met or how they got together. I assume it's gonna be revealed in S2 at one point. And it might be really important.)

At one point he worries about Zoey not asking him to buy her anything one time they went out. This was because that's his way of showing love like I said earlier. He was worried because she, in a way, rejected his love. He was worried she didn't love him anymore.

For what reason? Because he loved her.

Now, why does he act distant or ignorant to her at times? Heck if I know. In ep9 for example he seems more annoyed from her than anything else, really. Maybe he's fallen out of love..maybe he's tried of her. Maybe his love for Jake outweighed his love for Zoey. Maybe he felt like she didn't love him anymore, so he didn't feel like trying to love her either. Maybe something else entirely.

But either way ....

Drew cared about Zoey. End of discussion

Now, what is "the line" that separates romantic and platonic love? I honestly don't know. Was drew in love with her? Was it romantic or platonic? Could he have mistaken his feelings for something else? Idfk. I honestly think romantic attraction makes no bullshit. I always saw it as platonic attraction combined with sexual attraction but apparently that . Is not the case ???? Which makes no sense to me. Can some explain pls lmao

That's not the point. He loved her. Now, the show focuses more on how he loved and how he misses Jake, but it's not like Jake is the only person he loves and cares about.

Now does ZOEY love DREW? that's a separate discussion to have. Throughout the show we don't get too much of Zoey tbh. Or we do, but the fandom doesn't pay enough attention to her like it does to other characters. Which makes sense ig? At first glance she seems like a one sided antagonist that could be described in simple terms like "girlboss", "mean girl" "popular girl" "annoying" "manipulative" and that's it. But upon further speculation I feel like there's more to her. In ep3 when Jake threatens to reveal to Drew that she has been cheating on Drew, that's the first and last time she seems to soften up and seem genuinely afraid or caring. Like yeah, she doesn't want to lose the privilege of having him as her bf, that's what it seems like.. but I also have the feeling she was genuinely afraid of losing him for reasons other than money? Even though we can assume she acts affectionate towards him only to manipulate him, I feel like, again, there's more than we can tell.

I feel like though, it could've been very possible that they wanted love and affection in general, but didn't love each other specifically? But the Teeth song makes me think that's not the case.

This is what my mom thinks:

(I think they're both desperate tbh)

My mom also thinks Zoey might have had neglectful parents who mostly showed love to her through gifts and money, so that's why she's constantly seeking partners that give her such things, cause she's used to being loved that way - and being unloved as a child can make you have a messed up idea on what love is (this is the same exact backstory most people believe drew has, and honestly it makes sense for them both)

But yeah.

There's also this image, right here: (from extrarosy teeth MEP addition)

Both smiling, looking genuinely happy, faintly blushing. It doesn't seem as fake or artificial as it usually is.

They can't bear to lose each other. They need each other.

Why? That's up to debate. Maybe Zoey is a one-sided antagonist that's only dating drew for money, maybe drews relationship with her was a beard relationship like most people think so, maybe I'm just overthinking this all.

But again, I think they're more complex...

They're so interesting I need to study them under a microscope

Idk what I'm talking about tbh. This is very surface level and there's much more to say tbh but this is all I feel like saying at thr moment

[yellow-computer-mouse]

⭐Intro Post⭐

ATTENTION: My DTIYS is up! Due date: October 5th!

Hey, what's up? I'm yellow-computer-mouse, also known as Yellow! I have a lot more info on my carrd, but here's the important stuff:

Pronouns:

He/Him

It/Its

Star/Stars

Ey/Em

I am a minor!

I am fictionkin (Snowfall WoF, Winter WoF, Aeolus EPIC) and a therian (Norwegian forest cat)!

⭐Userboxes by @kthecritter and myself! and blinkies by @spectral-stuff & @dragonpride17⭐

I use a lot of tone tags, and while you don't have to use them for me, it can help if the tone of a statement is unclear! Here are the main tags I use, along with their meaning! If you have any questions on other tone tags, ask away!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

/gen - Genuine! I honestly mean what I said! There is no sarcasm or passive aggressiveness in my sentence.

/genq - Genuine question! I'm asking a question out of curiosity, not malice!

/silly - Silly! I'm just messing around for the memes.

/lh - Light-hearted! I'm not being too serious, so don't stress it! Normally used alongside /silly :)

/lyr or /ly - Lyric! I'm quoting song lyrics.

I am also always willing to add trigger warnings to a post! If you feel like it's needed, let me know! You can reblog, send an ask, or DM me, whatever is most comfortable for you!

This does not apply to the 🦃🪓 anon because that is still ongoing, but please don't start ARGs with me. It's super cool that people want to, but I am not a puzzle guy. Thank you! (And no hate to turkeyaxe ^^)

I also use a lot of text colors! Here are the main ones and what they mean!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Red - Added emphasis. I'm drawing the eye to the important parts of a big text block.

Green - Links! I will never put anything incorrect behind a link, not even a rick roll.

Blue - Mostly just used on this post. I use blue whenever I type out a tag in the main part of a post.

Purple - Song lyrics!

Pink - Tagging a user!

There's some more things that I want to add, so they're going here! Nothing too important, so you can ignore this part if you want. /gen

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

My favorite color is yellow! It took me a while to figure this out, so please don't be mean about it. No yellow hate on this blog! /hj

I also like orange and red!

I love getting asks! Even if it's just one word with no context, it makes me happy!

I love it so much, I made three ask blogs! All are WoF-centered: @ask-hs-jade-winglet and @wof-adoption-au are canon characters, and @wofsidequesters is for my OCs!

I also made a daily art blog called @daily-snowfall! go check it out if you're interested in having one (1) snowy on your dash every day

My favorite food is cheesecake!

My birthday is July 28th! I am a Leo (or a Cancer, going by the new chart! lmk which fits better if you want ^^)

My favorite animals are isopods, thresher sharks, and whale sharks!

My favorite UTMV characters are Nightmare, Red, and Dust!

My favorite WoF characters are Winter, Turtle, Blue, Sunny, and Starflight!

I have a pet cat named Azzy, a dog named Homer, and a leopard gecko named Honeydew!

I have an Artfight! My user is yellow-computer!

I take requests sometimes! Icons and headers, free to use as long as you credit me! I draw dragons, furries, cats, humans/humanoids... pretty much whatever! Requests are currently open!

I don't have an extensive DNI, but there are still some things I'd like to keep out of my blog!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Proshippers/Comshippers/Neutrals

Zionists

Radqueers

Anti-furries (from people who believe all furries are zoophiles to people who just think it's weird)

TERFs/SWERFs

Basic DNI criteria (homophobes, transphobes, right-wingers/centrists, racists, etc.)

Here are some people who I welcome here!

Alterhumans/Nonhumans! (therians, fictionkin, otherkin, otherhearted, etc! Voidpunk as well, but that's different from the others listed)

Selfshippers! (As long as it's not pro/comship, go right ahead!)

Systems!

Those with commonly stigmatized disorders!

People who are "cringe"!

In general, anyone who isn't on my DNI!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am a part of many fandoms, but here are some of my favorites!:

Will Wood

Bears in Trees

UTMV

WoF

Portal

Slime Rancher

The Owl House

Epic: the Musical

The main fandoms I post about are WoF and UTMV.

I am taking commissions for Palestine! More info on that in the post below, or DM me!

Also, if you are a Palestinian with a GoFundMe, feel free to send an ask or DM me for support! I can't donate, but I will promote your campaign however I can!

Remember to do your daily clicks for Palestine!

Icon Masterpost

Furry Species (Aebe) Masterpost

UTMV/WoF Playlist Masterpost

Blog Masterpost

Thanks for reading my rambles, and have fun! ^-^

[1moremilgram-enjoyer]

Trying (and Mostly Kinda Failing) to Give Meaning to Lyric Placement and Background Shapes in "Cat"

(Or: me going insane over things I’m not even sure mean anything)

Hello people of the jury! Today I want to talk about a few things about Kazui’s latest MV, Cat, which have been eating at my brain for a while. Essentially, the way that the transcribed lyrics show up all over the place, out of order, in different colors and languages; the shapes we see throughout the background in different colors; and what both of these things could mean. I emphasize could because it’s all a mess and I’m not entirely confident we’re supposed to read into these things as much as I’m reading into them here. But oh well, if I don’t share this my head is going to explode, so I might as well.

(There’s also a chance a lot of what I say here has been said before. Sorry if it’s redundant)

CW: Suicide and depression, tumultuous relationships, internalized homophobia.

OP what the fuck are you talking about

Let’s start with what I mean by “lyric placement.” As you’re probably aware, the Cat MV has its lyrics transcribed in a very particular way. Sometimes words show up way after the lines are said, sometimes they’re repeated, sometimes they’re in French, sometimes they have extra words thrown in there, etc.

The main thing that tipped me off that something may be up is this line:

As you can see by the subtitles, the line is:

Since when have I ignored my feelings? It’s better to be a let down, than be let down yourself.

However, the MV also has the word “lie” on screen, even though it’s never said in the lyrics. Unless the subtitles are wrong, but I trust that’s not the case.

Now, if I had a nickel for every time a weird-ass MV showing the inner thoughts of a blue haired liar with somewhat homoerotic undertones had English words which appear on screen yet do not correlate to the Japanese lyrics being sung… I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice. (/reference)

And it’s not difficult to figure out why that would be the case. If you recall from his second voice drama, Kazui believes he should have kept lying to Hinako, to keep her happy. This is also stated in his interrogation questions.

(T1) Q18: Do you regret your “murder”?

Kazui: I do regret it. I should have kept lying.

Unless he’s lying, which he has no reason to do, we can tell he would have preferred continuing the lie if it meant Hinako stayed happy. That means, in his eyes, being a let down is worse than being let down himself. That’s why the word “lie” shows up when he says the opposite in the lyrics, he doesn’t actually believe it. It’s assumedly just something he told himself right before “letting down” Hinako by telling the truth.

So, since the MV pulls a cute little trick with this line, is it possible that the placement of the other transcribed lyrics is significant? Well, that’s what the rest of the post will try to answer.

Then there are the colors. As you know, geometric shapes of all kinds of colors appear throughout the MV, and I believe these could mean certain things. Take a look here, for example.

to touch, to caress

That’s the lyric we’re shown as Hinako’s crush towards Kazui is made evident for the first time in the MV. And in the background, we see a blue circle and a pink circle intersecting, and in the video, pulsating like a heartbeat. If we assume blue to be Kazui and pink to be Hinako, it’s showing the idea of the two being together, “touching and caressing.” I noticed this thanks to Napkin's MV analysis, I recommend you watch it if you haven't!

So now, if that really is significant, are the other shapes and colors significant? For one, as blueepink07 pointed out in this post, it’s possible large part of the color scheme was chosen to align with newspapers, because Kazui wants us/Es to uncover his lies as if we’re/they’re getting information from a newspaper, or something like that. For more specific ideas… that’s what the rest of the post is for.

Hypothesis

>The placement of the lyrics sometimes recontextualizes their meaning, and we have to figure out how.

>Lyrics in French, which are always smaller, are used in two ways. Either they simply repeat what the English words say, to give them emphasis, or they replace English words, which usually happens when the line alludes to Kazui’s "temptations", aka his homosexuality. And yeah, I’m assuming he’s gay, because in my eyes it’s honestly more heavily implied than some of the stuff we believe about other prisoners. I’ll give some of my reasoning later.

>The color of the lyrics and the shapes in the background can often be important, though there's a non-zero chance a lot of it is just aesthetics. As a warning, some of the wilder things I bring up not even I fully believe, but I'm going for the completionist route. If you have any better ideas for any of these, please feel free to tell me!

>Blue represents Kazui, pink represents Hinako. As much as gendering colors is stupid in concept, it is useful for symbolism, so.

>Light green represents Kazui’s "temptations", since it’s connected to the green apple which shows up repeatedly.

>Yellow… Okay, so this one is where stuff begins to break down. It’s really hard to tell what yellow could mean, but seeing the meanings the color usually has, I’ll say it represents a sort of desire for happiness. It’s similar to light green, but not quite the same, it’s more general. Yet, it still makes the same dark green color when it mixes with Kazui’s blue as light green does. His happiness and temptations are closely linked. Yes I’m even bringing the intersectional colors into this.

>Red represents Kazui’s deepest desires. It’s the color which floods the background as he bites the pigeon, after all. It’s “stronger”, deeper than light green and yellow, but it’s sorta similar still.

>A darker red appears occasionally on some intersections, possibly representing blood and therefore Hinako's death.

>Purple only exists as the intersection of two colors, but its meaning changes depending on which colors are mixing. When blue and red mix, it’s Kazui’s desires; when pink and blue mix, it’s Hinako’s desire to be with Kazui.

>Orange... shows up like once it's kinda weird. I took to google again, and it usually represents enthusiasm, which is different enough from happiness that I'm comfortable saying that's what it is.

>The reason so many colors have similar meanings is to be able to convey Kazui’s emotions with more nuance. Please bear with me.

>Sometimes, colors mix very little, to the point where I think it’s not meant to be important. I have to add this or else the post is impossible. You’ll see what I mean.

Alright, still with me? Sorry for the prelude, but it was easier to explain it all now before we really get started.

Unhinged Analysis, Start!

(Ah, Tumblr 30 image limit my beloved. Making me do shitty collages in Microsoft Powerpoint just so I can have visuals in my post about the funny apple man)

We open with the song title for obvious reasons, as well as blue backgrounds because it’s Kazui’s MV, a small overview of the colors we’ll see later, and a lyric repeated in both English and French for emphasis.

Lie until it gets better, follow the king of the masquerade

It’s the main thesis of the song, that Kazui, the king of the masquerade, believes it is better to keep lying until things improve than tell the truth and cause harm.

We also see his name and prisoner number, and an interesting introduction to the colors in circles. These are likely purely aesthetic, but if you want an actual explanation... uh.

UNHINGED INTERPRETATION START!

To the left, red and blue intersect and form pink, which doesn't usually happen. Usually, when red and blue intersect you get purple or a deeper red, not pink. I think the colors are partly inverted on this scene, noting the darkened background, so we're meant to take whatever the colors would usually mean, and reverse it. So Kazui and his deepest desires intersect on Hinako? Well, it's actually the opposite. Kazui's deepest desires don't include Hinako. Does that make sense? I say this is the meaning because the lyric there is "Love (plus) Destiny = Crap, smash it, shatter it, bye-bye". Keeping in mind the "destined love" is Hinako, it's clear Kazui doesn't like the relationship, we been knew.

The intersection also exists on the right, but there's also a white circle which inverts the inverted meaning and thus shows the truth. (???) So the part where Kazui is by himself turns into an enthusiastic orange and the intersection with his deepest desires turn into green.

You may have noticed that already makes absolutely no sense. I hope you can forgive me. Remember, I said they're probably just aesthetic here.

UNHINGED INTERPRETATION END!

Anyways, the masquerade lyric and the title show up again but in inverse order for aesthetic reasons, which I think is neat.

I really think this is just an introduction, and there's not much to read into.

The road the car is on is yellow and blue, with them mixing into dark green in the middle (that color does not exist on its own). As everyone does in life, Kazui is trying to stay on the road to happiness. Yes, we start off with quite a stretch, but most of this is going to be reaching, so. The dark green shows that part of that happiness would be something related to his “temptations”, his likely homosexuality.

There’s a pink circle hovering around, Hinako. She also seeks “the road to happiness”, and has her own desires (the red from the intersection of her pink and the yellow). That leads her to getting close to the blue of Kazui. Eventually, she becomes so prevalent in his life that her pink color strikes through the entire frame, showing the two were probably close in some way before the whole marriage thing happened.

I’ve already explained how and why the word “lie” is added into the visuals even though it’s not in the sung lyrics.

Behind “I just wanted” we see a blue and a light green circle intersecting almost fully, cementing light green as the things Kazui truly wants.

The circles behind “to touch, to caress” have already been explained.

“I just wanted to be touched” is accompanied with an interesting visual; a light green and a pink semicircle separated by a yellow triangle. I believe this represents the divide between Hinako and the things Kazui truly wants, the divide being his happiness.

You’ll notice that pink and light green intersect slightly, which is why I said sometimes that doesn’t mean anything. They don’t intersect enough for it to be significant. How much intersection is necessary for us to consider it relevant? Well… whatever fits the scene the best :v

“So” is pink for Whit- wrong fandom sorry

“So, it’s wrong?” With the pink “so”, Hinako stands behind all the regrets Kazui might have about what he’s done.

(My arms hurt from reaching too much-)

This scene is one of many which really makes me doubt the colors actually mean anything most of the time, but I can still try to think of an explanation. A lot of the colors pass by, as if they’re simply events and experiences in Kazui’s life. Temptations, happiness, etc, with nothing intersecting too much. Though worth noting, blue and pink never touch on this scene, as if Kazui doesn’t want to be too close to Hinako, even though she’s an important part of his life.

There is one intersection I think may be interesting, though. Front and center, a blue rectangle is split right through the middle by a red line. Although there’s a lot going on in Kazui’s life, his deepest desires are always right in his core, front and center. That’s part of why red works as these “deepest desires.”

Oh shove that! INNOCENT, isn’t that right?

The lyrics here are just what’s being sung, but it’s interesting that they’re on the floor. It’s almost as if Kazui is looking down on these words, disrespecting them by walking on them. He doesn’t truly think he can shove aside his wrongs, he doesn’t consider himself forgivable. At least, not yet.

(T1) Q19: Do you want to be forgiven?

K: I’m not sure. I also want my weakness to be tolerated, to be honest.

Well, sorry my guy, but I’m still voting you inno, compared to the other people here you did some wrong things but it’s really not that bad.

(I'm skipping scenes that don't have anything relevant)

The blue background is just because this is the turning point of Kazui’s life, when he succumbs to societal pressure to marry Hinako. A bit self-centered to think of your color when proposing to someone else, maybe, but that’s not entirely new for Kazui, huh? Flawed characters, gotta love ‘em.

However, you’ll notice the lyrics never actually make it into text.

Maybe, perhaps… or… could it come true… like It’s for the sake of true love, who wouldn’t lie for that?

These are some of the only lyrics in the song which are never ever transcribed. The others are:

Let’s take a breather

To be caressed by you, that would be perfection - I wanted to be loved, just like a cat

Lick that sin and oppose punishment, until you can meet the king of the masquerade

I cannot for the life of me give you a good answer as to why that happens, but I can give a weird and stupid answer!

Because “Let’s take a breather” is framed as the start of the conversation Kazui and Hinako had which led to her death, it’s possible the lyrics not transcribed are things Kazui said to her in that conversation, and they show up out of order. Not literally, he wouldn’t tell her he wants to be loved like a cat, but more so the meaning behind them. He told her he lied “for the sake of true love”, as he thought “it could come true” if he just stuck with it long enough. He wanted to be loved for who he is (“like a cat”), and, uh… to savor that sin of lying, so she can meet who he truly is? Maybe something like that.

I don’t know. It’s a huge stretch, but I don’t see why else they wouldn’t be transcribed.

Oh, yeah, this clusterfuck.

As far as I can tell, the lyrics here are only the ones from the following chorus, not the previous lines. I can make out, vaguely:

Love (plus) Destiny = Crap, smash it, shatter it, bye-bye That sticky-sweet sequence: Dinner + Camouflage + You-Know-What Loving Affection (minus) Love, it’s tacky, this two-way deceit Victim and Perpetrator, let’s keep it simple

I believe these lyrics are represented like this to show inner turmoil, a chaos inside Kazui’s mind. He despises the love assigned to him by “destiny” (societal expectations), but he goes with the sequence anyways: dinners (dates), camouflage (lies), you-know-what (you know what? I don’t actually know what that means, though I can assume). There’s affection, but it’s not really love. This love is a two way deceit, as Kazui lies to Hinako and himself, telling himself this is what he wants.

“Victim” and “perpetrator” are written only in blue, pink and yellow, representing the union of Kazui and Hinako in search for happiness, but excluding Kazui’s actual desires. (Or maybe it's just the newspaper thing). “Let’s keep it simple” is in both pink and blue because both of them are involved in the “victim-perpetrator” duo.

Notably, “Victim and perpetrator, let’s keep it simple” also shows up in French, again for emphasis. It’s a core part of Kazui’s character that he blames himself fully for what happened.

So this is the big part for all y’all Kazui/Bartender shippers out there. Kazui grabs a green apple out of a bunch of red ones, and it turns into a glass of an alcoholic drink. (The hand disappears from view for a moment, but it's still the same one as Kazui wears his watch and wedding ring on the same hand). And hey, you know how Hinako is represented by a red apple at the end? (Note how it falls and hits the ground, possibly representing Hinako’s suicide). I and others before me think red apples are women, the ones which Kazui is expected to like, while the green one might be a man.

I say that because it turns into a glass, which may represent the bartender, just as the next line plays:

Phew, oh wow I’m drunk Hey, so what if I said I liked-liked you, what would you do?

Note that he says the line, he doesn’t actually sing it, possibly implying it’s an actual thing Kazui said in real life. Now, it’s actually very possible that this isn’t happening at the bar from half itself. As pointed out by errorscribes in this post, the furniture doesn’t actually match either the bar or Kazui’s home, meaning he might be in a secret third thing. Still, however, the connection between the apple and the glass remains, especially since this “one thing turns into another” trick does actually happen a few times in the MV, notably with the wedding ring.

There’s a few more things which make me believe it, but that was just a small tangent to explain why I'm decently convinced Kazui is gay, since I still see quite a bit of discussion around that.

After confessing to possibly the bartender, Kazui explains he wanted to ask “so it’s out in the open.” Note how that’s color-coded blue, possibly implying Kazui is “out in the open”, as in exposed or, perhaps more literally, out of the closet. He seems laidback and relaxed as he says it, but it’s likely a lie, as the background suddenly turns to an ominous black while he retains the same position.

That’s when he says “I just got a little greedy”, with “greedy” repeated for emphasis. The pink is likely because this is something he wants to tell Hinako, as a sort of half-apology-half-excuse.

The lyrics of the next scene, with Kazui and Hinako having a dinner and all that, are transcribed right after, in what may be both the most interesting and the hardest-to-explain scene for this theory.

So, here's what I think we're looking at here. It's a chronological retelling of everything that happened after Kazui and Hinako got married, that's why the numbers are there. That's why the song's title, Cat, and Kazui's name are constantly on screen; it's the main story of the song.

We start with a glass falling, the calm before the storm, the moments before the disaster. In French and red, we see the lyrics from the scene prior:

All those things I wanna do that I can’t say out loud I gotta keep it inside and act The beating of this heart… see… it’s no longer about good and bad… it isn’t I realize the futility, but I still can’t help but dream

Kazui is repressing his feelings for now, those things he can't say out loud. The desire to express his feelings slowly stops being about good and bad, moral and immoral, it's a primal need, like a cat's need to hunt doves. See the connection to red?

"I realize the futility, but I still can't help but dream" is repeated in English for emphasis. Even though he knows it will be useless, he can't help himself, he wants to act on his true feelings. In particular, I believe the "dream" is to be loved by whoever the hell he confessed to (possibly the bartender), and this is what caused Hinako to commit suicide, seeing the distorted line in his Voice Character Reveal.

I'm so d[um]b... Wh[y] d[i]d I [h]a[v]e to [dr]e[a]m?

Note that "01" is written in both Kazui's blue and the yellow of happiness, showing that this scene is about him looking for happiness (deep analysis there, folks). Note the arrows, too. Hinako's pink arrow is literally between Kazui's blue and his happiness (yellow).

And that was when his feelings were repressed; because then, the glass hits the ground, showing that number 02 is when things went wrong. The lyric in English is "Phew, oh wow I'm drunk", as it's something Kazui isn't afraid of admitting. But in French, smaller, we see something he may want to say a bit quieter: "Phew, oh wow I'm drunk. Hey, so what if I said I liked-liked you, what would you do?"

(By the way, I'm not using direct translations, but rather what the corresponding lyric is in English. Probably should have mentioned that earlier)

We reiterate he’s drunk, potentially to further imply a connection to the bartender, and we have Kazui’s confession. Notice the colors used are yellow and red, possibly because we’re seeing the confession of Kazui’s deepest desires as he attempts to be happy. Well, technically you might say a few things are pink, but since the saxophone is red, I’m assuming that’s the main color we’re supposed to take note of. Instead, the pink is almost an afterthought, as if Kazui is only thinking of Hinako sparsely in brief moments of lucidity from his drunkenness.

03 is the weirdest in terms of colors. The lyric displayed is “Love (plus) Destiny = Crap. Smash it, shatter it, bye-bye.” I believe this is referring to the aftermath of the confession in 02, where the “destined love” of Kazui and Hinako starts to break down.

Why is there orange, then, if the relationship is breaking down? Well, because Kazui doesn't like the relationship. He's originally enthusiastic about revealing the truth and shattering the relationship (orange), because he thinks it will bring him happiness (yellow). Well, enthusiastic is maybe an exaggeration, but it's close to it at least. I'll explain what makes me believe that in a moment, bear with me. However, that's not how that would play out.

To see that it didn't go as Kazui had hoped, we have to look at the blue bars and the orange circles. It took me way too long to notice, but I think the blue bars are for the piano that plays in the scene, like the saxophone that showed up in 02. By that logic, the other thing could be some… kinda flute? I don’t think so. I have no idea what that is.

In any case, although it's a bit of a stretch, something interesting happens with these bars and circles. It’s hard to describe without the video, but if you look at them (preferably at 0.5 speed or something) you’ll see that when 03 first shows up, the bars and circles appear in a neat pattern, but as the lyric “solidifies”, the bars and circles begin “sputtering”, the pattern breaking down.

Neat pattern, few lyrics.

Broken pattern, full lyrics.

So, I think that's meant to represent Kazui hesitating about the destruction of his relationship. He starts enthusiastic, with the pattern stable. But as the idea that the relationship will come to an end starts to solidify, represented by the lyric slowly forming more and more, he starts to realize there might be some drawbacks he hadn't anticipated, which is why he starts to hesitate, and the pattern breaks down. The pattern doesn't have a concrete meaning, it's meant to give the vibe that Kazui is hesitating, which I swear makes sense if you look at it in the video please I swear I'm not that insane yet please-

The reason for Kazui's hesitation becomes evident in number 04. Do you see those white ovals around this number? Don’t they look a lot like clouds?

I believe this is the balcony scene, when Kazui tells Hinako the truth, and she commits suicide. That’s why her pink is front and center, while Kazui’s temptations lure in the background in light green. They’re the context, the set dressing, for Hinako’s part of the play, if you allow me some half-adjacent metaphors. The colors mix into a dark red which almost looks like blood. I don’t think I need to explain how the death scene is connected to blood.

And with this scene in mind, where Hinako dies after learning the truth, Kazui reaches the conclusion represented by the lyric on screen. “Lie, until it gets better, follow the king of the masquerade.” Repeated in French for emphasis,. After Hinako dies, Kazui starts to believe he should have simply kept lying as he was doing before, when he still was “the king of the masquerade.”

Does any of that make any sense? I am grasping at straws and trying my damn hardest to reconcile all these things, but most of them are nonsensical. I have to remind everyone, I’m still not entirely sure I’m not just looking at nothing here.

The lyric that plays as Kazui falls to his knees is "I can’t stop, I can’t be normal. This feeling, it can’t be gratified", which is transcribed in the next shot.

Before we get to the shapes, we have to talk about the added lyric, which I find very interesting. The word "can't", big in the background and in pink. Possibly because Hinako can't gratify "this feeling." However, there's a funny thing about the word "can't"; it's a homophone of Kant, the philosopher Kazui and Es discuss in the second Voice Drama. I think this might be intentional.

As the characters discussed, Kant believed that lying is always inherently inmoral, even if the liar has good intentions (oversimplification, don't come at me philosophy majors). However, I want to talk about it a bit more in depth. Although I am dumb and I am not very good at philosophy, what I could gather is that Kant believes lying is unethical because it impairs the ability of others to make rational, informed decisions. He argued that because our freedom ends where others' begin, then we cannot lie, for that would impair the other's freedom. Regardless of what you think about this belief system, it's clear some connections can be made with Kazui. Under this logic, his lies impaired Hinako's freedom, as presumably, she wouldn't have married Kazui if she had had all the information from the start.

(Again, I am likely oversimplifying things, but I am not gonna write a thesis on Kant to try and figure out the funny liar Cat-boy)

Why am I bringing all this up? Am I just trying to trick you into thinking I have any idea what I'm doing? Correct! Seems Cat taught you well to avoid misdirection.

But in all seriousness, it's because that logic is the best (read: not actually that good but it's what I have) way I have of interpreting the shapes on the background. There's yellow triangles crossed by blue and then pink, but notably, they intersect little and seem to go in different directions. As if the path Kazui and Hinako are in are different from the one which leads to happiness. The idea here is that while Kazui obviously isn't happy with how things are going, Hinako couldn't be truthfully happy under Kant's ideas. Because she wouldn't have true freedom of thought until Kazui stopped lying to her, so in a way, her own happiness was also a lie. Thus why the lines representing her always go in a different way from happiness. And because she can't be happy, the yellow of her fake happiness turns into dark red as it crosses that word, again possibly referencing her death.

Is it a stretch? Oh, absolutely! I don't even know if I'm interpreting Kant right! But I frankly have no idea what else these things could mean. It's possible some of the shapes are merely aesthetic, and this is one of the scenes which make me believe that. I'm open to audience participation, you figure it out.

More imagery of a scattered and broken relationship, with blue and pink shapes all around Kazui, but which only barely intersect. The small French words are part of the lyrics, "this feeling, it's yearning to be satisfied." As I said, sometimes French words are some of Kazui's more hidden thoughts. This brings up an interesting dichotomy of "this feeling can't be gratified" being expressed in English and bigger font, while "this feeling, it's yearning to be satisfied" is in French and smaller. It's possible Kazui finds it easier to admit that his feelings can't be satisfied, rather than admitting he wants them to be satisfied. Interesting insight if true, it would mean Kazui has an easier time accepting hopelessness regarding his feelings than actually admitting to the feelings themselves. It sounds a bit weird in text, but I think it sorta makes sense in an "internal conflict" kinda way.

Let's take a breather

Thank you Kazui, I really needed a breather after all those stretches I made. Anyways, as part of this MV imposed intermission, I want to explain what I meant when I said Kazui was "enthusiastic" to break off the relationship.

Kazui takes off the wedding ring and turns into a cigarette, as Hinako watches in horror. The symbolism here is important; what Kazui is doing is pulling back the curtain, he's revealing how he actually feels about the relationship. It's like a cigarette, something he engages in for some form of momentary relief, relief from societal expectations, but still something ultimately harmful for him. This truth is why Hinako looks so horrified.

And we see exactly what Kazui is trying to do with this relationship when he puts the cigarette to his hand. He's trying to put it out, and in his mind, this is an abrupt and almost violent act, as that's the impression we get from how fast this frame flashes on screen. It's also worth noting, the act of putting out a cigarette like this would also hurt, showing that Kazui is also harmed by this action.

With the understanding that Kazui is actively trying to end the relationship, also shown by him biting the dove later, his expression tells us a bit of how he feels about it. And it's all smiles and smirks up until Hinako falls.

Now, to clarify, I think Kazui is presenting himself as far more aggressive and enthusiastic than he actually was at the time. I really doubt he actually smiled when he broke the news to Hinako. But I also believe it isn't a complete lie, there was some enthusiasm on his part to maybe try to live the life he genuinely wanted. And that's why 03 has the color orange.

I'll repeat it because this really isn't something I want to be misinterpreted on. While Kazui was somewhat enthusiastic to break off a relationship which was clearly making him unhappy, the video is very much exaggerating how much enthusiasm he actually had. At least, that's how I see it.

As stated, the lyrics cut back and forth very quickly to give the scene an aggressive edge, as if Kazui revealing his feelings is somehow a visceral act of violence. Accompanying the words are the definitions in French, because why the hell not. And yes, some parts aren't transcribed. Don't ask.

Like I said, red floods the background, as Kazui’s deepest feelings become all encompassing for the scene. They’re what caused Hinako to commit suicide, after all.

As I mentioned, “to be caressed by you, that would be perfection. I wanted to be loved just like a cat” aren’t transcribed, but:

Maybe act capricious, at my word and at my fancy

Are the words which make up a silhouette of Hinako as she’s about to jump. If you’re unaware, “capricious” essentially means unpredictable, acting on impulses. So, like a cat. I believe the pictogram here is meant to represent how Kazui’s “capricious” actions led to Hinako’s suicide, and it doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.

… Well, there’s also a way to read this where Hinako is the one acting capriciously, killing herself purely on impulse. You know, it’s been pointed out before that Hinako’s hair was already fluttering when Kazui bites the dove, implying she was already falling when Kazui revealed his feelings and destroyed the marriage. If you want, you could read this as saying that Kazui is subconsciously aware that his truth wouldn’t be enough to push the average person to suicide, so Hinako was “already falling” in the sense she had some pre-existing issues which contributed to her decision. For example, if she was already suffering from depression. And thus, in a sense, she also acted unpredictably, capriciously, when she jumped.

I think this is a possibility, and it would make Kazui’s inner world more nuanced than it already is. He’s a smart man, so even if he can’t quite get himself to believe it, it’s possible he logically understands suicide isn’t something which people usually do for only one issue. I’m not sure if he would call her capricious, though, feels a bit mean in my eyes.

Anyways, while I wanted to acknowledge that possibility, I still think the first thing I said is the most straightforward interpretation.

Finally, my torture the video ends with the ever prevalent “Lie until it gets better, follow the king of the masquerade,” this time with yellow, blue and pink. For aesthetics mostly, I imagine, but it is interesting that once the apple splats, presumably representing when Hinako hits the floor, the color pink disappears, so “follow the king of the masquerade” only gets blue and yellow.

Another interesting thing is that the word “Lie” accompanies Hinako as she falls backwards, and it almost looks like a mountain of lies is pushing her back, as in, pushing her to suicide. “Until it gets better” and “follow the king of the masquerade” also have fun visual things, but I do think those are purely aesthetic.

Red consumes the background as we see Kazui covered in blood, the result of his deepest feelings in his eyes.

Finally, the last line, “lick that sin and oppose punishment, until you can meet the king of the masquerade”, isn’t transcribed anywhere. I’ve always found that line interesting, though. What does “licking the sin” imply? Is he speaking to us when he tells us/Es to “oppose punishment”? And have we not met the king of the masquerade yet? Presumably there’s a good bit of background we’re still missing on Kazui, but how far does it go? Is he trying to manipulate us/Es into an innocent vote?

… I swear, this fucker better not have a complete heel turn on trial three. I’m choosing to trust him… for now, but I might have to look into it further.

Still innoing him now though.

Conclusion

So what did we learn? Not really all that much, most of this is somewhat nonsensical, and almost everything else could be gleaned from the lyrics themselves. I just wanted to share my pain, even if I have my doubts about a lot of this. There were a few interesting things to note, I guess. I don’t know what else to add, frankly.

Anyways, inno Kazui. And while you’re at it, inno Amane too.

If you made it this far, then I think you deserve the color yellow! Take care!

[ohblackdiamond]

liner notes/unused joke summaries for kiss fics (part vii)

Despite what my general dislike of the shift key and my tendency to mock all that I love might imply, I actually overthink everything I write to a great extent. I make no claims to these explanations being in any way enjoyable, but if you wanted to know what I was thinking while writing KISS fic… now you do. Part one can be found here. Part two is here. Part three is here.  Part four is here. Part five is here.

shock them, show them --Ace and Paul have smoking hot lesbian sex just like in a drive-in movie theater porno. Well. Except for the part where Ace makes Paul sing "Shock Me" acapella, post-coital.

>>Ace/Paul is one of my not-so-guilty pleasures and they just have a fun dynamic. It had been a long time since I'd written the pairing, and I really enjoyed Ace's lack of pretense and impatience with Paul's stress and tendency to overanalyze. I also enjoyed small bits, like the fact that even though Paul tells him they'll go again if he (Paul) gets eaten out first, Ace doesn't ever eat him out, and that Paul initially refuses the thought of scissoring only to get really into it not too long after.

Other things I liked: Paul feeling more masculine/more himself around Ace (after all that time with Gene), and managing to seduce him a bit. Title is, of course, another lyric from the Stones' "Little T&A."

little rock 'n' roll --Paul spends five days doing almost nothing in the wake of getting turned into a girl by a vengeful groupie by way of a demon. Besides try to masturbate.

>>I had written this out in part a long, long time ago mostly as a writing exercise for myself while writing "little t&a," but as it kept expanding, I decided someone might find it interesting enough to actually post. I wanted the freedom to explore some really weird things-- I don't think Marbas had anything to do with the dreams Paul was having, but that's up to interpretation. I wanted to work with Paul's poorly-established sense of self and his own issues with sexuality/gender, which was mostly accomplished through the dream sequences where he was, in effect, reinterpreting parts of his life with a female lens, and (poorly) addressing things he had latent issues with (his own bisexuality and femininity). Also, I just found the body horror aspect interesting to explore and the difference Paul experienced in how other people were treating him, especially when he was alone.

catch my drift --Gene manages to bed one of the hottest women of the eighties after nerding out about Lon Chaney movies.

>>I really wrote this in an attempt to fully get at what it's like to be around Gene Simmons as a woman and get a sense of his presence/confidence as he's really... the guy is something else, all the rumors are true, etc. etc. etc. He has ridiculous eye contact, he pays ridiculous amounts of attention to everything you say, and he acts extremely invested in what you have to say. Yes, it's because he wants money/sex/etc. out of you, but boy, the times I have seen and the time I have met him, I have fully understood exactly how he got so many women. I don't think I fully encapsulated it in the story, but I tried!

I hesitated to finish and post it, too, because Vanity in real life was extremely troubled and, in the early nineties, changed her life very dramatically and became a preacher, so I worried that writing about her during this point in her life would come off as if I was disrespecting her and ignoring her later choices to focus on a period she wasn't proud of. I thought about it and then decided that if her story was one she was willing to share in her autobiography and in public (in some amount of detail), then, well, I was probably okay to go ahead with it. Vanity's eighties lifestyle was not sustainable on any front and she battled addiction, eventually getting clean in the nineties after some serious health consequences. I'm proud of her for that.

c'mon, get your feet wet --Ace lets Peter hit it from the back, until he decides he'd rather him hit it from the front. Then he meets Marbas, who doesn't bother trying to convince him he'd be better off with tiny boobs.

>>I find Ace really funny even in the face of situations that are terrible. You get the impression in interviews and even in behind the scenes stuff that a part of him is always dryly laughing at how everything has turned out and that he's basically along for the ride even in his own life, for better or for worse. Ace's rockstar insulation isn't that thick, really, and he's at least somewhat self-aware.

That being said, his dynamic with Peter meant that he couldn't manage to goof around and act like things weren't bothering him, which meant he kept trying to turn to drugs and alcohol instead. He's only aware he has a problem that can't be laughed off in the context of where he would be without the creature comforts of being a rock star. An alcoholic drug addict twenty-something girl with no money or family will end up in an objectively worse position financially and physically than an alcoholic drug addict twenty-something multimillionaire (or at least millionaire at that point) rockstar guy. Marbas points out he's set to lose everything anyway, but of course once he's gone, Ace can push all that aside again.

Ace isn't focused on trying to be a girl (for whatever that means) or what that means or anything along those lines. He doesn't have Paul's relatively weak sense of self and nothing about staying like he is is enticing for him. Ace doesn't care about that and all he cares about are the limitations of his current position and the ramifications.

I had a hard time with this piece for a very long time because I didn't feel like I was making it hot enough at all, and when I just gave up on that aspect, the fic managed to come together in an evening (after being on the backburner for months and months). The shower scene was hard up until that point-- once I embraced that Ace would never not be falling over in the shower, it was fine. Peter doesn't really have a whole lot to do beyond treat Ace right, but I wanted him to still feel like Peter.

[stormxpadme]

Fanfiction Writing Asks

10, 13, 20, 37, 43, 61 (for My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold), 77

Fanfiction Writing Asks

10 - Do you work on multiple wips or stick to one fic at a time?

It depends a little. If I consider my main X-Men verse as a whole, I probably always work on multiple things because there's always something to do with Weathered, be it a translation, a new oneshot or making notes for the second main series Weathered II. This is a long term project continuously interrupted by various independent oneshots that are mostly scogan smutshots with lots of feels right now. I can't really write several stories at once though. A oneshot needs to be finished first before I can start working on something else.

13 - Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what have you been listening to recently?

It depends a lot. Lately, I've more put on background noise in the shape of trash TV as that strangely helps soothing the usual anxiety about life and helps focusing on writing, translating etc. If I do listen to music while writing, it needs to be instrumental as lyrics distract me. My go to soundtracks for that are Lord of the Rings, The Man in the Iron Mask and Armageddon

20 - Do you prefer writing AUs or canon fics?

Again, I'd say It's Complicated. There's mostly always a few minor AU elements in my stories but they do follow the main canon of the franchise in question. BUT not always the whole part of said franchise when later canon entries don't agree with me. In Star Wars, I only use the first six movies as my canon. In my X-Men verse I famously ignore everything past X2, as the first two movies are a whole different multiverse entry for me, happening outside and before all those timeless messes (and far worse newer movies) happened. I take inspiration and faceclaims from parts of franchises that I otherwise ignore but I do take the liberty of not incorporating what I hate. Such deviations are always noted in the tags and/or story notes, so people know what they're getting into. I also often enjoy changing one comparatively big thingm like the main ships in these first two X-Men movies, but stick to the rest of the canon all the more accurately as this What If is what makes fanfiction fascinating for me, really. What I hardly do is huge AU settings aka historical, no powers, coffee shop AU etc. Those don't really hold an appeal to me.

37 - What fic has been the hardest for you to write?

Again, if I only focus on my current fandom for these questions, that would probably be the non con stuff happening in series part 8 of Weathered I. That's some ugly stuff going on there and as much as I love my hurt/comfort, there's stuff I definitely don't enjoy writing for my characters, even if they have their place in a fic.

43 - Is there a trope or idea that you’d really like to write but haven’t yet?

I still want to write more and especially smut things for trans!Kitty and Piotr but since as a cisgender person, I'm not deep enough into the subject and don't have personal experience, I'm kinda anxious to try my hand on it.

61 - In My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold, what’s your favorite scene that you wrote?

While I had lots of fun with weird kid!Laura, I'd still go with the very first chapter since I'm a horror girl through and through, and that whole haunted mansion thing was lots of fun.

77 - Why do you enjoy writing fanfiction?

Basically, I can make my favorite barbie dolls kiss, what's not to love? It's all about seeing and reading the stories that canon won't give me.

[teathattast]

I'll be under your window in the moonlight

Oh, I tend to keep my heart locked, watertight

All you gotta do is meet me after, meet me after midnight

You're poetically inclined

Scrambled words painting a heart in technicolor

[lullabyes22-blog]

What made you decide to ship Silco and Sevika?

Tbh I didn't start shipping it until the 3rd watch - but then I noticed there was a very layered dynamic there :/a

My partner was actually the one to point it out - how their interactions held none of the distance and tension that's present in Silco's interactions with other characters. They don't have UST so much as a weird matter of fact intimacy. By their first scene together, they're non verbally communicative, he lets her get away with gripes about Jinx while still drawing a "Hey, that's my kid" boundary, he's got no issues being all fashionista and doing his make up in front of her, he listens to and takes her childrearing advice and shows a frazzled state in her company without trying to be scary and stoic, she's almost 'checking in' on him in the elevator scene when he heaves that little sigh etc. Then there's the final scene where Sevika is camped on his sofa, trying to smoke his cigar while his empty desk is framed behind her, and What Could Have Been plays the lyric - "Why don't you love who I am?"

Given how little the show does by accident, it just seemed a curious coincidence. Especially with a character like Silco, who has such trust and boundary issues - and one like Sevika, who seems to show such little softness at face value.

Also - on a sadder note - fandom (still) generally tends to ignore WoCs as credible romantic interests. They're either exoticized, eroticized or demonized when they're not being sidelined entirely as just either scenery or 'one of the dudes.'

Sevilco is just one of my pet possible ships from the series, tho. The man is a thot - you could ship him with Jayce's left tit and still churn out plenty of fandom content ❤️

[packedice]

what genres of music does each aqours member like to listen to? i think all of guilty kiss are metal fans

This needs to be under a readmore. i... genuienly thought i coudl get through this without needing it but im pausing like halfway in because.... yeah she needs it

Something tells me you listens to like the most radio pop ever. just anything about YEAAAHH LIFE IS AWESOME LETS PARTY ABOUT ITTTT!!!!!!! and also mildly angsty poppunk stuff (and thinks about the Great Chikariko'ing of her life from s1)

and chika is of course a theater kid... im influenced by anju (her seiyuu) being a MASSIVE THEATER KID but also every one of her solos is theatrical soooo. Who's overthinking it its not me!!!!

Ruby of course listens to jpop the most. i think she tried to get into kpop (time period accurate ofc so 3rd gen ish iirc) but i think some of the industry differences + the general Sound Differences make her not very interested. I think also ruby would like izone (i never was into them so idk about canon time accuracy but imagine.)

and then dia loves jpop too obvs but i think she genuinely listens to a litlte bit of everything. i think mari's metal interest (youre so right btw about gk) bleeds into kanadia because once that throuple stops being toxic they are INNNNSEPARABLEEEEEEE..... but dia genuinely likes anything. shes into idol music, shes into more heavy stuff, shes into radio pop, shes into retro, while she doesnt love ANY SONG OF ANY GENRE, she can definitely get into SOME SONGS of any genre! i think dia really really enoys music as a hobby in general so she enjoys trying and finding new things. growing up being fixated on idol culture and music will to taht to you.....

SO OF COURSE MARI LISTENS TO METAL. i think though new winding road is a really interesting tell into her other interests. (...ignoring that her seiyuu is an insanely talented traditional singer (is that the right word. im sorry im high and blanking. please correct me ifthis is like... weird white person vague and i will fix im just soo high and cant think)

hanamaru listened to music but i think was not much of a "Music Consumer" until she was a little older so i think as a result she mostly listens to songs her friends listen to too... her and kanan both i think listen a lot to the actual style Of azalea songs. like edm or whatever. kanan is also a pop radio kinda girly. just whatever plays in her parents shop while shes working etc

yohane liste4ns to ANYYYTHINGGG metal and ANYYYTHINGGG thats like Ohhhh i hate m,yselffff Ohhh im so evillllll... any genre if the lyrics speak to her not being the biggest fan of herself side OR her "little devil" hehe Im evil for fun side.... Ya. its on the playlist. Forrrr sure. To me also the most yohane gk song is kowareyasuki and because of t hat i think songs that sound similar to that are also super up her alley

I will admit i have not been a friend of riko until recently starting to like her a little more.... so my answer is very basic with metal and like piano instrumental/ballads/cute poppy love songs

[goongiveusnothing]

his pr tactics are getting old and he is not branching out in any way.

I think if he really worked on his music and improving his voice and was actually able to give some good responses when talking about his songs and the process for writing them, etc, it would make a world of difference. I have actually heard him say some meaningful things during certain interviews during 1D so I know it's possible. I just think he either doesn't care or puts in minimal effort with a lot of things these days. Even if he did a collab with another big artist, it would be something different for him. Can you imagine how many people would go wild if he did a collab with someone like Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran? I think something like that would actually go over well. But I think if it ever came down to it and he was losing popularity for some reason, his team would just ramp up the "queer image" and start dressing him in more women's clothes or he would openly flirt with/kiss more men to draw in the Larries/Gayrries again. Or as a very, very last effort he would reunite with 1D or at least heavily hint at a reunion with them.

he can't improve himself musically because he's not a musically gifted person. he walks into a studio saying "make a song sound like this other famous song but not exactly" and the band gets to it. then he inserts his weird creepy dick against the leg lyrics to it and that's his work done.

has he truly ever said anything about the music writing process? i think when people were younger and listened to him he probably sounded smarter because i've realized i've never heard this man say anything eloquent or intelligent about anything, yet his fans have spent a decade acting like he's one of the beatles opining about all his great lyrical works at various points and i just can't recall this ever happening.

harry specifically said he didn't want to do any collabs, it's obvious he sees those as beneath him.

i agree completely. when his popularity starts faltering this man will go on a queerbaiting spree. kissing other men onstage. videos with other men. maybe some larrie baiting. he'll attempt to share political opinions that'll sound fucking stupid and ignorant as shit. he lives in such a bubble and has been living in one for so long that when he tries to come out of it we're in for more of whatever the fuck DWD was.

just thinking about his pleasing friends haven't been a hit and won't be a hit because some corporation he works with came up with them so they have no relatability or connection to him or his fans and you can see how starved of creativity or intent or meaning this man has. imagine if taylor swift or some other celebrity had weird itchy and scratchy cartoon "friends" they'd make them relatable to their own lives, would try and draw them by hand maybe, and would make them secret injokes or references to herself. but harry can't ever do that because his life is boring as fuck and he has no creativity.

[simarcana]

🎂 , 🎭 , ✏️ , and 👖 for Sin~

🎂 BIRTHDAY CAKE - when is their birthday? do they like celebrating it? Sin is a libra! And his birthday is one day before mine, October 20th! He doesn't care about it that much, though. Usually they just let it pass like any other day.

🎭 MASKS - do they act differently around certain people? what's different between the way they act around friends, family, strangers, etc.? I tried SO HARD to answer this one but it's incredibly challenging to put what I know into words! Because Sin is pretty consistent in his behavior but specific, tiny changes depend on SPECIFIC PERSONS? I'm sorry I failed you

✏️ PENCIL - is there a particular quote / lyric that you associate with them?

"I mean that I want to live life, I would do anything to live it. There's so much, so much to make me crazy, it doesn't matter, I can even become crazy but I don't want to miss life, I really crave it, even if it hurt like hell is to live that I want"

i traslated it from an italian book, it's not much but it's honest work.

👖 JEANS - what is their go-to outfit? Believe it or not, Sin is VERY insecure deep inside. He was the ignored bad-looking kid until 10th grade and it stuck with them. Still, he wears what he likes and makes him happy! That being said, I'd choose his everyday outfit or EVERY WEIRD JACKET IN THIS WORLD.

Sin's mum thinks he's very groovy