#mio's plot to unite the world is to make all of it part of her dad's polycule

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 175 Rundown

The Witch from Mercury: So IMMEDIATELY after Sul’s duel with Gaston everyone goes ‘wait aren’t the suits that suck the life out of you banned because our war chief is a bloodthirsty dictator?’ and she immediately gets arrested and kicked out of school. Meanwhile Mio’s been told that she’s no longer forced to marry the school’s top pilot and her father is cutting out the middleman and just arranging a marriage for her which she’s like what 16 even for a high business monarchy style thing it seems a little early to lock that down that hard. Also just kinda wondering what the point of even playing at the ‘oh it’s whoever the best is’ if you’re just gonna immediately cut the façade whenever it’s someone you don’t want like why not just force a marriage from the start. Anyway Mio’s like ‘bitch I wanted to marry the gay girl how dare you take back your orders and give me new ones’ like she doesn’t like being told what to do but explicitly seemed a lot more chill about it when it was Sul. Gaston gets beaten by his father for losing and we allude to him being slightly less shitty than we were initially led to believe since he did send some people to clean up Mio’s garden. The bigwigs are all having a NERV-style meeting of shadowy figures and our resident obligatory Masked Gundam Character Prospera is like ‘yeah it looks and functions exactly like a Gundam but it didn’t suck her soul out so it can’t be one, right?’ and no one’s fucking buying that and also it’s a bunch of old men high on their own power so they’re just like ‘well you’re under arrest for building something that functions exactly like the thing we banned then’. Meanwhile Mio shows up, redicrecting her escape attempt to Earth to save Sul and telling her father off and basically having a badass teenage tantrum in a shareholder’s meeting, like it’s kinda cool how blatantly petty and personal her grievances are that it takes some balls to bring it up the way she does surrounded by the most important people in the world that just sentenced a masked lady to jail for technically not breaking the law. She challenges her dad to fight the Aerial and reinstate her engagement to Sul which he has absolutely no obligation to accept given idk if Corporations should really work on Klingon rules anyway and if you’re gonna take shit from him say if you win you get the whole company, go big or go home. But the group discusses that the illegal suit is pretty dope and they wanna get some more data out of it so they agree to let Sul fight to save her Gundam and her lesbian fiancée so that’s good.  

Inuyasha The Final Act: Inuyasha and co. are still soaking in Kikyo’s death and Koga gets an admittedly nice sendoff where he gets to leave on good terms with Kagome as well as get enough out of a rise out of Inuyasha to snap him out of his post-Kikyo coma and get him to resolve to make Koga’s sacrifice worthwhile. I like how Koga intentionally says the most triggering shit just to piss him off at this point like he’s really become self-aware as a character and knows what his role is. Also as another character that embodies the ‘the power to achieve your dreams is inside you’ moral of the story he started out seeking the jewel to obtain the power to unite the wolf demon tribes and ends up so strong that losing his jewel shards is basically just a minor inconvenience and ends up in a relationship that does in fact unite the fractured parts of the tribes. Meanwhile Sesshomaru is talking to his mom about trying to master Meidou Zangetsuha and ends up getting Kohaku and Rin dragged into the underworld during the training. I feel like Sesshomaru’s mom is such wasted potential like she has so little screentime and is basically a plot device they could’ve done so much more with. Once she reveals that Rin can’t be revived again by the Tenseiga Sesshomaru’s grief and compassion evolves both the healing and the meidou side of Tenseiga so he can purify a hundred souls as it was originally stated and create a much larger Meidou Zangetsuha, though Rin still has to be brought back with Mommymaru’s necklace of convenience. It’s really funny that Jaken takes it upon himself to be Sesshomaru’s emotion translator at this point since he knows he’s stoic enough not to cry when Rin dies despite wanting to and also won’t  thank his mom for saving her despite being thankful. Last but not least she tells Kohaku he also can’t be saved by Tenseiga in case people were starting to think that now that he and Sesshomaru are together, apparently you only get one free get out of death free card regardless of the source so yeah. Inuyasha’s group make it their new mission to hunt down and protect Kohaku so they can figure out what to do now that Naraku has 99.9% of the jewel.  

Castlevania: So I’mma be honest, this is where the Internal Vampire politics get kinda frustrating, like I’ve had it in the back of my head that all this infighting may just be a way to ruin Dracula’s otherwise impregnable plan and have a heroic victory while both evil sides are fighting each other and I’m still worried about that considering we’ve spent more time with them than with Trevor this season but in this episode we even find out that all the shit Carmilla wants to do Dracula would’ve just let her do anyway like he doesn’t give a shit, she wants to usurp his armies and the one move that she’s been gunning for since she walked in the door they’re just like ‘sure go nuts’ and the planning of the past like three episodes has basically been for that. I’m getting ahead of myself, Trevor’s group stuff first since we actually make some progress on that this episode. Basically Alucard gives Sypha the reverse speech that Trevor gave her last time about how he’s a dick and they can’t really trust him and like 75% of this show at this point is untrustworthy vampires telling people they can’t trust people. Sypha wisely asserts they’re both morons and they’ve gotta suck it up and get to world-saving or else everyone’s fucked. But yeah back on Carmilla’s weird warpath they don’t know Godbrand’s dead and Isaac is called by Hector to get him to sign off on going to Braila and get in on the Carmilla cult. Isaac is not down for Carmilla but he is for the Braila plan since it means everyone can shut up about it and Carmilla can stop whining so the politics of it don’t functionally matter, like it’s been such a long fight for this and it doesn’t functionally matter because they just do it anyway. Granted Isaac does it because it means their traitors are all in one place with a name and a face and Hector does it because everyone that talks to Carmilla is like ‘Carmilla is always going on about how she doesn’t trust or respect anyone but I’M DIFFERENT, I’M THE SPECIAL ONE’ like Godbrand was a fucking moron so that was fine but geez she’s not even being seductive enough for them to be thinking with their dicks they’re just idiots, she’s not even good at the manipulation considering if she’d just asked Dracula to do it he’s so done at this point he prolly would’ve. She doesn’t even bother to pretend this was Hector’s independent idea and follows him into the room coaching him and shit. Like the only functional thing this does is make Carmilla the Commander in Chief for this fight for… some reason, and like it’s not even a good argument because the two sides are ‘do something’ and ‘do nothing’ and Carmilla has the balls to be all ‘haha now you’re in too deep Hector so I don’t have to pretend to like you anymore’ like BITCH AS LEAST WAIT TILL YOU ACTUALLY HAVE THE REINS like holy shit all you did was convince Dracula to do something he wasn’t all that adverse to doing in the first place you’re not exactly Sosuke Aizen and she has this weird girl power bent to some of her speeches and I’d really rather girls just do the badass girl power thing instead of talking about how girly and empowered they are all the time. Long story short I don’t really like Carmilla and this plot had a really weird end to this section of the season for basically taking up half the runtime. Meanwhile, actual girl power girl Sypha found a way to trap Castlevania in one place as long as she can jerry-rig an ending to the spell that’s like 80% done but she doesn’t have a lot of time because the castle just showed up like… five minutes ago.

Jujutsu Kaisen: It’s Mahito versus Nobara time and apparently Mahito’s clone can’t transfigure souls and can only do the Clayface body warping shit and Nobara actually figures this out and uses the clone’s body as a substitute Straw Doll like she did with the other guy’s arm cause semantically the clone is basically Mahito’s arm and she wrecks him up from long distance, saving Yuji from an ambush in the process and giving him the opportunity to beat the shit out of Mahito while he’s stunlocked. Rather than keep going through that shit, Mahito employs the Joestar Family’s Secret Technique and books it the fuck out of there. The two Mahitos actually meet up and switch, the real one attacking Nobara while Yuji beats the other one’s head in. Mahito gives Nobara’s face a quick tap and isn’t sure if he killed her, like this whole exchange is excruciatingly vague about whether she’s dead or not but we jump straight into her backstory which isn’t a good sign. It’s basically a fleshed-out version of the story she told in the beginning of the series. I feel like this happens a lot where characters in long-running series have simple backstories at the beginning and then have a secondary supplemental flashback to beef up the tragedy or reframe the original flashback, half the cast of One Piece has done this at this point but for Nobara it’s an interesting retelling of her story through the eyes of her friends and giving a ‘this is your life’ type deal about who she’s loved and why she’s done what she’s done that gives a lot better of an idea of who she is than her original introduction. But yeah her eye fucking explodes which is weirdly not how we’ve seen Mahito’s powers work anywhere else but it was just a light tap while he was in a hurry and maybe her energy resisted it or something. Given that and the vagueness where even Mahito’s not sure if it was enough to kill her I’m tempted to say she’s not dead because usually you don’t want to be ambiguous about that shit unless you’re gearing up for a big return but as far as I know the manga’s already fighting Sukuna at this point and she’s yet to make a comeback so who fucking knows.

Delicious in Dungeon: After Laios’s sword gets busted he tells the story of how he got it fighting a bunch of living armor in the dungeon and how he fucked up and died the first time, confirming that death does indeed have no consequences which explains Marcille’s dialogue in the first episode and why no one seems too worried about rushing to get Falin. Still I’d say if death has no consequences in your series that’s something you’d want to establish right away because that is kind of an investment breaker, something like how DBZ put limits on the dragon balls at first and made loopholes harder so death isn’t just meaningless like it is in the Buu Saga. Still I kinda like this episode since it’s mainly focused on one thing and the food stuff doesn’t get in the way of the storytelling too much. They manage to sneak past the living armor colony and Laios fights Ornstein and it turns out it’s a bunch of mollusks living in the layers of the armor and doing weird goopy Alphonse Elric shit. They cook them and Laios gets Ornstein’s sword but it has a mollusk living inside it still so he’s basically got a living weapon which is pretty neat.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End: Frieren confronts Aura and surprisingl the Autistic Elf Power Hour has its second encounter with Living Armor this week, what’re the odds? Aura basically has the Millenium Scales except instead of summoning a demon to eat a Musuem Curator she weighs their power level and just instantly controls anyone weaker than her with the caveat that if someone stronger than her shows up she just automatically gets controlled instead. I’m kinda sad this means Aura doesn’t actually have a demon army like this was just a plot by four guys and not a whole organized force but I guess it’s fine. She uses an anti-spell spell to dispel the control instead of blasting nameless husks into the ground and desecrating their corpses because Himmel yelled at her last time for disrespecting the dead. Aura asks her why she cares what a corpse thinks and oh it is ON now. Meanwhile Fern and Stark are preparing for Stark to book it out of dodge and try and get Frieren back to fight the other two demons when they get caught in an ambush by Blood Sephiroth and the little girl. Turns out the little girl’s powers are Unlimited Blade Works/Sharingan shenanigans where she can create a weapon and mimic a fighting style by watching it enough and she’s just so happened to have copied Eisen’s style during the first war and decks Stark with his own moves but better. Meanwhile it seems Fern’s ability is Quick Draw and she can just fire off spells crazy rapid and puts the push on Blood Sephiroth in a really cool fight that creates literal fireworks. Stark takes Eisen’s words of “Just don’t die, stupid” to heart and does that thing from Samurai Champloo where if you leave yourself wide open enough it leaves the enemy wide open for their counterattack and destroys the little girl so yay, two down two to go.

Vinland Saga: War has reached Ketil’s farm and he’s got about 300 farners with pitchforks versus Canute’s 100 Jommvikings and Royal Theigns so yeah it’s basically the coughing baby versus the hydrogen bomb. Luckily Thorfinn’s met up with Leif and Leif’s a fucking chad and agrees to take on all of Thorfinn’s extra baggage he’s gathered over the past season and transport Arnheid out of there while the fighting’s going on. Snake tells his men that Ketil is a fraud and was never a war hero because he knew the guy his name was actually based on and came to him for help but at the same time he feels indebted to the family that’s taken care of him all this time and it’s really funny to watch his speech about how Ketil’s a fraud and not worth dying over right as he goes out to die for him fires his men up more than anything, like actions really do speak louder than words. Ketil’s kinda bought into his own hype at this point and isn’t listening to the dozens of people telling him he’s going into a meatgrinder and yeah it’s a fucking massacre, I imagined Thorfinn would be more upset watching this or trying to actively broker peace talks but I guess he’s got other shit on his plate right now since Arnheid’s on death’s door and got her ghost husband’s permission to go say her last goodbyes. Meanwhile Thorgil’s just gonna pop out of the ocean buck naked with a sword and try and cut Canute’s head off behind enemy lines so that’s… a plan I guess. I have no clue how he intends to get out of there even if he succeeds but okay, you do your naked regicide.

[ffamranxii]

I draw a manga/write a light novel series based on that manga, which is essentially an amalgamation of my favorite series and giving some of my favorite characters, who I feel were shafted in their source material, a better ending. That series is called C’est la Vie 5, because it originally featured five fandoms that I LOVED enough to have created an original character for.

Now, like many people, I’ve created a fuckton of OCs for a fuckton of series. However, unlike, say, Dragonball Z and Pokemon (RIP to Son Mei and Cissy the Eevee breeder), I still use these characters. I am still active in these fandoms. Some of these characters are nearly as old as I am. Some have gone through so many iterations that they’re nearly unrecognizable from their original forms (looking at you, Haruhi, Suzuka, and Kinoko). But they have ALWAYS been there.

C5 the way it is now started as a fun little project in college to help me memorize my Japanese vocabularly. It was a series of one shot or 4koma doodles in the margins of my notebooks, featuring PGSM+Hina. Then the doodles got mutated. I replaced Makoto with an original character named Sun Hwa, who then was replaced with Ayumi Yamada from Honey and Clover. I added in Hagumi Hanamoto from H&C too. Ami was renamed Moeco, and her appearance changed. I ended up splitting Ami in two, because I loved her Dark Mercury arc so much, and ended up with Moeco and Akumi. I added Mio Kuroki but called her Arisa Kuroki, because my Usagi at the time was called Mio. I added Mikasa from Attack on Titan. Misa Amane (named Erika after her actress in the live action). And it spiraled from there. C5 went through a TON of iterations as well over the past ten years. There was a character called Haruhi, but she was from the Haruhi Suzumiya series.

Now it’s pretty ironed out. The cast is so big I’ve split the series into a set of volumes into one big volume, so it doesn’t become Naruto. Each volume has a set of plots, two of which are contained within that volume. It’s pretty easy and I like it.

HINA is a mishmash of three fandoms (two if you count PGSM and Sailor Moon as one fandom). I fell in love with Boys Over Flowers (the Korean version) after discovering the live action Sailor Moon, and had a complete fit the entire time that Jandi chose Junpyo. (WHY, Jandi. WHY. Jihoo was BETTER for you. BETTER!) I had a Korean friend in my Japanese class, and it was at this period that my Makoto doodle was replaced with Sun Hwa (another Korean) and that Hina Kusaka (who is exclusive to PGSM, and whose name I stole for my OC) became Hina Ku (after the actress who played Jandi, not Goo Junpyo). Hina and Sun Hwa had small side conversations in Korean that my friend taught me, while the group as a whole reinforced my Japanese lessons. C5 has plenty of Boys Over Flowers characters (a mix of the Korean, 2019 Chinese, and Japanese versions), but I never made an OC for the series. Hina filled both roles. In PGSM and Sailor Moon I kept her name as Kusaka, but in C5 it’s Ku, and she is a zainichi - Korean-descended. Hina also plays a different role depending on which series I’m using her in. In PGSM, I used her as Sailor Sun. Sailor Sun has been a character I’ve had since I was five years old. She’s changed style and looks considerably over the years, but she’s always been there. In every other iteration of Sailor Moon, I prefer the theory that Naru and Unazuki are Sailors Earth and Sun, and Hina is one of Usagi’s many friends. In the pre-C5 era, she, Usagi, and Erika were part of the 3 Bakas, for their bad grades. 

AKIHO is my newest OC and holy shiiiiit I have cleaved to the Persona series hardcore. Rather than create a new OC for each entry in the series (though I may change my mind when Person 6 comes out), Akiho’s look, style, and role in the story changes (I reconcile this to be something akin to Clara Oswald in Doctor Who). In P5, which she was created for, she’s a Phantom Thief. The idea came to me when I learned there has never been a playable character of the Temperance arcana, Hifumi was supposed to be a PT, and the general consensus that Mishima and Shiho should have been PTs. Akiho has been through several iterations herself but her general look is based on Tae Takemi from @scruffyturtles ‘s Adult Confidant AU. Her personality seems very calm and serene, but she is a secret metal head and a huge fan of Eikichi Mishina’s band Gas Chamber. Her PT mask is based off a butterfly. Her role in C5 is a shrine maiden, where she gets along with Rei (Sailor Moon), is the sister of Akira Kurusu (who is a separate person from Ren Amamiya), and the daughter of a pair of mobsters.

KINOKO is my second oldest OC, having been around since I was twelve. Her original name was Cherry (like every other Tokyo Mew Mew OC) and her original animal is lost to the sands of time. Luckily, my favorite animal is a red data animal, so she can be fused with that now! Kinoko has been through so many iterations it isn’t funny. In the TMM world, her hair is an auburn, a dark brown with red undertones, mimicking how some mushrooms (where her name comes from) appear. (It’s a callback to her original name). Her Mew outfit has also changed considerably and I still haven’t settled on it completely. The Mew Mews are not a unit in C5. Zakuro is a model with Ann and dating Minto, Ringo (LOVE Ringo) is a middle schooler who hangs out at an arcade and is best friends with Bu-Ling, Ichigo is a waitress with Berii, Retasu works with Ryou. And Kinoko works at a karaoke bar, chasing troublemakers like Bu-Ling out. She also interacts with the new Au Lait boys.

SUZUKA is also an old OC, her name having originally been Meiling. She’s from Fushigi Yuugi, which I was obsessed with as a child. She’s nearly as old as Kinoko - I was introduced to the series at around the same time. Suzuka’s original role as Meiling was Miaka’s attendant and general Mary Sue, and she was one of my first attempts at exploring fanfiction (along with Kagami the cat demon and Teiten the Thunder Sister from Inuyashs, RIP), because I couldn’t decide which of the original Suzaku warriors I loved most. Everyone had such a wonderfully tragic, lovely backstory, and I needed to give them all blankets and hugs, and Miaka was just a dumbass, okay? (I think I settled on Tasuki. Love me some Tasuki.) Anyway. Suzuka eventually morphed into the Priestess of Kouryuu once I learned that Fushigi Yuugi was based on real Chinese legends, and one legend sometimes included Koryuu, the Yellow Dragon of the Center. (Fun fact: There’s a video game that explores this option, but in it, Kouryuu, is treated as a false god.) In my OC world, Kouryuu is the Great Unifier, only able to be summoned once the first four priestesses have summoned Suzaku, Seiryuu, Byakko, and Genbu, and it is he that will stop the war that threatens the four countries of the Book of the Universe of the Four Gods. In C5, Suzuka works at a bookstore owned by Hifumi Togo that specializes in rare books.

HARUHI is the last old OC, but she’s also new? Haruhi was, for the longest time, existant in a stage of limbo. Fruits Basket was introduced to me as a teenager, when I was about thirteen or fourteen, and I didn’t quiiiite embrace the message, behind it. I couldn’t get past the art style (I was very picky about what I visually consumed back then), I couldn’t get into the anime for the same reason, and I couldn’t quite get past the whole “it’s called Fruits Basket wtf and also they turn into animals? And it’s not a magical girl anime? What in the actual fuck?” But like many things I of course loved the characters, I adored my baby Kyo, and I of course made an OC specifically for him, because I back then did not ship Kyoru (sacriligious, I know). I don’t even remember what Haruhi’s original name was. I just decided that she was a Sohma and the rooster, because the curse of the original rooster was broken, and broke a long time ago, so it was entirely possible for Kyo to have a love interest who was a Sohma and the rooster who was around his age (in my teenage mind). That old Sohma OC, is of course, RIP. I can’t even. And recently, I discovered Fruits Basket Another, and I somewhat resurrected that OC in the form of Haruhi, but as the child of the OG cast. Sawa needs more friends, more protectors, and there’s no tsundere besides Hajime. It always bothered me that Kagura never got any canon love interest or story wrap up after she let go of Kyo, and then in Another she doesn’t have children. :( I love Kagura, so Haruhi is hers! I’m also sad that no one in Another dresses in kimonos when so many in Furuba did (Ritsu, Akito, Shigure, Kazuma, Kunimitsu), so Haruhi dresses in them when she isn’t in school. 

KEIKO is special. Not only is she the newest, but she is also the only character exclusive to C5. While the other characters in C5 are based on characters from other fandoms and have their personalities and such shaped by the new series, Keiko is entirely unique. Her name is a combination of the two things that birthed the series: Sailor Moon and Persona 5. Keiko is for Keiko Kitagawa, the actress who played Sailor Mars in PGSM; and Makigami is for Kazuya Makigami, a major character in Persona 5 the Daybreakers. Kazuya is also Keiko’s brother in C5 and he is... not a great person lol. Neither is Keiko. Her appearance is based on how I wear my hair irl and the clothing of Jim Hawking from Outlaw Star, my favorite anime of all time. (I sadly never made an OC for that series. I tried but I am not good at space opera.)

None of the OCs ever cross paths in C5. It would create a temporal paradox and probably result in one of them fainting or dying lol. Since they’re all essentially the same person. Fun fact: I, Ffamran (known in-universe as Bideru the author) also occasionally make cameos, and I also cannot cross paths with the OCs. Luckily Tokyo, where C5 is set, is a very big place. 

If you stuck with me through this very long post about OCs, thank you! I just really wanted to go off about them since I’ve been in a writing mood and I’m on volume 2 of C’est la Vie 5 now. 

[venus-says]

Aikatsu Friends! Episodes 52-57

The best of both worlds. Or is it?

⚠ ⚠ Warning! Very long post ahead, be prepared. ⚠ ⚠

I have a lot of things to say about this batch of episodes so I’ll skip an intro and go right away to it. Also because of the sheer amount of stuff I wanted to say I wrote this as a review instead of my reactions like I usually do with Aikatsu posts here on the blog. Anyway, let’s go.

Episode 52 starts promising, the stone appearing on Mio's bed is strange but that doesn't bothers me. The scene with everyone struggling at the 0 gravity room is fun and until this point the episode had me with a smile on my face. Even Aine's joke about the stone being cursed was good. But then it comes my first problem. Hibiki's back story doesn't add up with what we learned before from Mirai and Karen. From last season what's implied is that LMT went against Hibiki and Alicia in the zone and that was what made them "stop" aikatsu, this was the reason why LMT was so concerned about Mio being in the zone and the reason why Karen was afraid of doing it again. But from Hibiki's story the split up occurred before their turn on the DFC, and yes that could be a possibility - Alicia got the news, they went shaken to the stage, they lost, Alicia went back to her country and it would seem to everyone that the loss was the reason for the break up. But if that was the case we would be ignoring the fact that even though Hibiki and Mirai are rivals they're seem to be in very good terms with each other so she could tell her "No, it's not because of you guys, this happened so we're on hiatus" or something. And you can say "yeah but Alicia didn't want to go back and this and that", but Hibiki says she went to Alicia and the response she got was that she's not worthy of being her partner which means that in this scenario, for the people involved the problem would be on Hibiki, not Alicia, so once again Mirai would be able to openly go to her and talk things out. This seems like a small thing and it could be just a retcon, but if this is what they're considering the truth than this invalidates the entirety of the drama around the Aikatsu Zone from last season. And then we come to my other problem with this episode. First Mio gets selfish again, if you're a team you should strive to shine brighter with your partner. If you shine more than Aine things get uneven and Pure Palette goes anywhere, so this speech being part of the thing that triggers the jewel DOESN'T WORK. Second all of sudden they come up with "omg mio has a live today" and this is very unnatural, but this is a flaw of the format because for some reason they think they need to have a CG live every episode -which they don't need-  and this creates situations like this, this live is completely non related to everything else we've saw in this episode alone. Which brings me to my next point, Mio getting her JLR in THE SECOND EPISODE OF THE SEASON. I'm sorry but to me is hard to believe this rock would acknowledge? Mio's radiance just from being with her for a single day, and a day where she didn't do ANYTHING. "We wanna showcase her new song" okay, you can do that, just don't make her JLR appear in the first time. This takes off the value of these coords and make them feel not special. And honestly this isn't something that difficult to write. You can leave everything as it is till the moment Mio is alone in the chamber, when she have that moment in space make her just feel something weird on the rock. On the live make she feel that same thing again. She can try to figure out what that rock is trying to say to her in the next episode, then in episode she does the live again and the change happens. This would have been SO MUCH BETTER. Yes is a quick resolve, but at least it would make us feel something. I don't feel nothing but rage after seeing how they made it happen in this episode, it doesn't feel worth of anything, just feels like protagonist plot armor. But hey, at least Sekai was Mawaru is a bop, I guess that's something good.

Episode 53 does a complete 180º turn and is basically perfect. Hibiki's prank show was amazing. It works perfectly as both comedy and drama. We can laugh hard at the extremely weird situations Hibiki comes up with and still feel how strong the bonds between each unit are. It's a great starting point for Hibiki's character to grow and is the first glimpse of hope we have for her relation with Alicia, and this pays off a little later on the episode with Alicia starting to reply back Hibiki's texts as she shows signs of wanting more of her than just being an unit on stage, and eventually picking up her call in the end. That's really good pay off. Even Pure Palette's live going on here makes sense, is to show Alicia what  they can become once they come back again. The impact would be more impressive if PP performed Soko no Shikainai Mono in their diamond dresses, but oh well, this isn't enough to turn the episode bad.

One thing that is sad though is that PP new aura is so bland :/ not that I liked their old aura, but at least it was unique, this is just generic. But most importantly this episode gave us great reactions from Kaguya...

... and Mio being a freaking furry again.

Just perfect. XD

Episode 54 starts promising, is kinda of a call back (in a very smaller scale) to that episode where Aoi became Mizuki's manager for a day. Also getting to finally know Wakaba seems very exciting. But right before the opening we already have a red flag. Another magic rock is here. And judging by how Mio's episode went my excitement went all the way down to the underground. The episode pick itself up though. We have and amazing first half with Aine trying to be mature to impress Wakaba and being very weird at it. And I like how this plays out with the jewel disappearing since Aine's not acting as her true self and trying to be something that she's not. There's a good message on this.

Also Hibiki is having a Vegas residency outside Vegas and is just great to see. I also like Hibiki's speech about labels being bs and that you should thrive to be your natural self on situations, I think is very important to have a kids show putting these things out living on a world that seems to care more for appearances and how you fake yourself out to cause a good impression to others more and more each day. But then we hit a wall again. The rock being back makes sense, the rock turning into a jewel does not. There's no pay off here, and once again they make the jeweling dresses seem not special at all. And this, at least to me, makes an episode that was great become bad/medium. We're only 4 episodes in and all of the jeweling dresses introduced in the first part of the game are already here. And none of them feel special, not even Hibiki's. I can't say about Hibiki since she got her jewel before the season started, but Aine and Mio didn't work at all to receive these coords that are supposed to be worn just by idols who prove themselves worth of it. Disappointing. And is sad because Aine's JLR is my favorite of the 3 and I wish it had something more special going for it. Oh well.

Also wtf was that shady moment of Hibiki at the end asking who would get the next jewel? Did they forgot that she's not Elza, they just share the same VA? Like that was so random, we don't need this, stop.

Side note: Wakaba is adorable!!!

Episode 55 got me really excited. By the preview it was what I've always wanted for Friends and with my favorite characters, how couldn't I love this??? And well I loved it. Though I have a few points I dislike that would like to discuss. To start off, I don't like how they were so keen on showing that the shuffle wasn't a good thing. The impression it gives is that the show is saying you can have friends but only one person can be your best friend, and I think that's such bullshit. I was watching that I was like "uhhhhhh no". I understand Tamaki not being that happy because in a business stand point yes it is an anuisance but still if the girls get along, let them be. The second point I didn't like is how rushed everything was, yeah I get that this is a one episode only thing and they can't drag things for a long time, but it felt so uneven and so rushed the way they portrait the units. Which brings me to the next point of I don't really think that rock was necessary. I do believe they could come to all of those decisions on their own and the time spent with them going to the shrine could be used to show us more moments of the girls together to make the experience more meaningful to us.

And to my last bad point, the stages on this episode were just disappointing. First Mio's live at the beginning was completely unnecessary, if they needed something to use as starting point they could've shown HC watching the live on a tv or something and having that discussion somewhere else. Second I would like to see the shuffle units performing together, if not for a full live show us just the chorus. Heck I would be happy if it was just a png moving around of the girls performing each other's songs. But we got nothing of that, instead we got a recycled live of HC, which to me doesn't make any sense since RM was also a part of the shuffle and they could hold this event together and have both perform, and to make things interesting finally giving them their miracle auras, I bet everyone would like this more than just the DFC stage being recycled. Such a missed opportunity. But despite all of that, I still love this episode. Seeing my favorite idols interact in such a good and fun way was amazing, and even though I had those bad thoughts crossing my mind, I truly enjoyed watching this episode. I was so happy I didn't even took notes while watching, all I did was press the auto screenshot key all the time because I would start fanboying everything happening on screen. ALSO THANK YOU AIKATSU FRIENDS! FOR GETTING MY TWO KIDS TOGETHER. AT LEAST THIS YALL GOT IT RIGHT.

I don't have a lot to say about Episode 56. I'm glad they touched the subject I was complaining about on episode 52, but that still doesn't make things right. Hibiki could and should have talked about the matter with Mirai before. I like Karen confrontation with Hibiki, it was necessary. What I don't like is how after giving all that speech to Hibiki LMT just let's things to PP to resolve, and they do it in a very dumb way. I honestly don't know how that audition was supposed to help Hibiki. Oh well we could see space Mirai and space Karen who had outfits 10000x better than PP so. All flashbacks in this episode were kinda good, but honestly what a horrible name "I Believe" is for an unit??? Ang I guess that's all I have to comment on this episode. They made that mistake on Hibiki's card showing Garnet instead of Ruby but honestly I don't really mind it. Alicia was way too mean in the end imo, but I also don't really care. This episode got me really bored after that scene in the boat, I just can't be bothered too write more on this, sorry. XD

If I already had few things to say about 56, I have even less to say about 57. Specially considering that not a lot has happened here.

This episode seemed to be about Aine messing up her preparations before the trip and I think I'd have enjoyed if they went that route, it'd be funny to see Aine running around trying to get her passport. But instead they just threw all responsibility to Tamaki, which to be fair would be the right thing to do since she's an adult and their manager, but by doing that they take away everything that could make this episode interesting, specially because nothing else happened.

We had a press conference -that was unnecessary-, then the next few scenes are of Aine and the girls just sitting down, when was the time for conflict to finally start they just ignore it, then Aine magically has her passport and is in her home packing, then she has a live and they're on the plane. Nothing interesting happened.

We had a few cute scenes with Hibiki, I specially like her moment with Reflect Moon, but that's all this episode has going for it.

I also have a question. If Alicia really vetting the girls on her country, like she said last episode, couldn't she just deny their visa? This could make for a way more interesting conflict. Imagine PP and Hibiki having to think of ways to get inside the principality and the final decision they make is to go in as spies in the best Charlie's Angels fashion? Yes, is not realistic, but if they can have magical rocks who follow idols around they can make this.

And that’s it. Kagayaki no Jewel started very promising at first but there’s just SO MANY BAD DECISIONS. Is just sad. I’m very against the idea of it being a season of just 26 episodes instead of the full year but honestly if they keep doing this may it is for the best to be a shorter season.

Anyway, thanks for sticking by. See yall later.

[benbarnesescape]

Blood, Sex and Whiskey - Part 3

Paint It Black

Warnings: Violence, hints of sexual innuendos, language 

A/N: I figured it out – my life that is literally dictated by Mr. Barnes. Here is Part 3, finally some plot action! Its also the end of what I made a Part 3 series but never fear luvs, never fear........ 

Tag list: @iheartbinbons @binbonsadoration @delos-mio @lafemmedemon @la-fille-en-aiguilles@ladyblablabla @drinix @padfootagain @princesse-de-ravenclaw @lovelysiriuss

It was the ringing that consumed your senses first. It was high pitched as it consumed your senses and you lolled around. That was when you realized the restrictions. Your wrists were bound by rope to something hard, the stiff material making it hard for you to move. You fought through the blackness that you had found comfort in and tried to open your eyes, a bright light consuming you, making you squint your eyes back close for a second.

You had to focus.

You took a deep breath, your lungs instantly spazzing from pain. A sore pain that you couldn’t pin down and you prayed you hadn’t broken a rib. You took a couple more breaths, content that you were probably just badly bruised before focusing on other places in your body. Your legs weren’t bound but the way you were sitting -  tightly bound to the stiff wooden  chair - made movement awkward. Your breathing was shallow but you knew you weren’t too bruised and could find a way to escape with a little time on your side. That and the heavy pounding in your head to go away, distracting you from focusing on anything else. 

You reopened your eyes, trying to gauge your surroundings. Hoping to hell that you were alone.

You weren’t.

Billy was across from you, leaning against a desk with his hands crossed, watching you deliberately. There were two other men in the room with you but that’s all the detail you could gather for now.

It was obvious that Billy had patiently been waiting for you to waken, the bruise on his forehead crusted over with blood as he methodically swung a bat in his hands. The two henchman behind him were playing cards, your presence long forgotten.

This was not a good situation.

“Surprise to see that you’ve waken from your slumber sleeping beauty. Your prince,” he points to himself, a dark smile plastered on his face. “He’s been waiting on you.”

You’re silent as you watch him carefully as he pushes off the worn desk, striding toward you. That dark grin never leaving his face.

“You normally have such fantastic witty responses. What’s got your tongue beauty? Are you unhappy with your beast?”

When he’s in front of you he places his hands on either side of you, his long finger tips barely grazing you and despite being disgusted by him you can’t help the way he makes you shiver. He notices though and leans closer into you until he’s at eye level to yours.

“You know, I meant what I said earlier. I haven’t fucked someone as good as you. It’s the main reason why you’ve stayed alive as long as you have.”

Before you can react he slaps you across the face hard.

“Who the fuck do you work for princess?”

You grimace as you turn back to him. Then, with as much force as you can muster, you spit in his face, causing him to laugh as he pulls away from you.

“There she is. I was wondering when she was going to come out and play.”

You’re eyes burn into him as he wipes his face away of your saliva.

“It’s that venom that knows how to get men all riled up. Isn’t is Lady Viper?”

Your eyes don’t betray you as the two men stop their card game to look over at you, new curiosity embedded in their face. Everyone knew who you were. Lady Viper was an assassin that no one knew the identity of minus the fact that if you got under her poison, you were most likely going to end up dead. You had murdered so many men, the world had lost count. You were a for hire and didn’t discriminate on which side you were on.

At least, that was what you used to be like.

You couldn’t lead a life like that anymore. You had traded in your daggers for a gun and a badge and worked, for America’s top intelligence communities. For something more than the power and murder.

But they didn’t know that.

“Is that what they say about me? Glad I could instill fear in the hearts of you boys,” you look past him to the two men who were watching you now more intently. “If I were both of you, I’d make a choice. Stay and have to deal with me. Or leave and I’ll make sure to wipe your face from my memory.”

You look back at Billy who is watching you with a smile as the sound of metal scratches against concrete.

“You boys better be moving to take a piss and monitor the outside.” He throws over his shoulders but he knows better. Knows that you’ve won in the mental game as they stuttered their responses.

When the door closes behind them and you’re alone with him, he returns to swinging the bat again, watching you carefully as he moves from side to side in a slow pace in front of you.

“Vipers. They were an elite class of assassins weren’t they? Part of a prime unit of fighters from across the globe. Trained in extreme and severe cold and hot climates. An elite class of women who knew how to turn anything into a weapon of their choice. Kidnapped as children to become cold-hearted killers. Lonely hearts club is what they called your victims.”

You fall back on your chair, quirking up an eyebrow. You didn’t want to let on that you were actually impressed that he knew more about your past. Impressed that he didn’t mistake you for an isolated fighter messing with him for something as basic as territory and political power.

“You know my class.”

Its a statement - not a question and he chuckles, leaning against a pillar as he watches you.

“Knights. Pistons. Shadow Walkers. Vipers. Military Weapons, A Class, Four Subdivisions. Unit File Z, right? Didn’t think there were any of you left. Thought all that serum they pumped into you – making men and woman going infertile, depression, hysteria, schizophrenia – thought it all killed you in the end. How’d you make it?”

You watch him coolly but if he could feel you, your heart pounding against your chest as your brain searched for some witty response, he would know how afraid you were.

Only 1,200 people in the world, as far as you knew, were briefed on Unit File Z. Sure they shared their stories with thousands of others, but the truth got lost in translation. Became myths, ghost stories that undercover gangs and mob bosses worldwide shared with new recruits. No one believed that there were people who were involuntarily submitted worldwide into a science project that was supposed to make the ultimate weapon.

Knights – Foot soldiers that waged wars on the streets.

Pistons – Elite snipers to bring down top leaders and political factions.

Shadow Walkers – A group of trained spies that gathered data to report to Piston and Knight leaders.

Vipers – highly trained assassins that could do all three without a moment’s hesitation. The ultimate weapon. 

There were only six of you in existence that you were aware of, and of the six you were the only left that was alive. He had got that much right.

Billy Russo wasn’t just the dumb, pretty boy that everyone talked him up to be.

“Former military?” you ask, drumming your hands against the chair and he shrugs.

“You going to tell me all your secrets Viper?” you respond back with a similar  shrug, your fingers methodically moving against the hardwood.

“Show me yours and I’ll show you mine.”  You part your legs a bit, just a bit, enough for you to watch the way his breathing hitches as he watches you under hooded eyes. You smile as you close your legs, taking a deep breath.

“Army.” He lolls out.

You nod, assessing the room though your eyes stay trained on him. Two exits. One directly behind him and, thanks to the reflection of the small window in the door, another door to the left of you behind you. No windows, just piping. Probably in the hotel basement.

Now you needed to figure out how you were going to get out. Which meant you had to keep him talking.

Because if you knew anything about Billy Russo, it was that he loved talking. Especially about himself.

“CIA.”

He laughs and you know he doesn’t believe you.

“Vipers don’t belong to anyone.” He finally lets out.

“They don’t. But they are for hire and right now, I’m hired by the CIA.”

“To monitor me?”

“To monitor Frank Castle.”

A tick. His arm momentarily stops swinging his bat before it continue in its motion and you shift in your seat, faking trying to find comfort. In honestly you were trying to assess your physical damage. Your ribs weren’t as sore as they were when you initially had woken up and though your legs were asleep, they weren’t damaged. All you would need is to break the chair enough for movement and you could easily handle Billy and his goons.

But not before coercing more information out of him.

“Everybody is just so interested in Mr. Castle.” he mumbles and you give another non-nonchalant shrug.

“Your employer is,” you say, stretching out your legs. Causing your chest to heave up and his tongue flicks over his lips. “So much so that he asked you to take care of him.”

He shakes his head, leaning off the pillar to walk by you. He stops at your chair for a second, bending down to whisper in your ear.

“Guess I have you to thank for stealing my little note that outlined my next target. Tell me, was it before or after you had my cock wrapped around your mouth that you found to steal my information.”

You give a low laugh, turning toward him. Trying to ignore how close your face was to his, the way his dark eyes looked into your own.

“It was during luv. Haven’t you learned by now that I’m a great multi-tasker?”

Your breaths mingle together as you stare each other down, your lips inches from the other, begging to be kissed. The attraction between the two of you was undeniable and you both knew it. Also knew that like everything else in this world, it was complicated and unrealistic to pursue something that didn’t belong.

“Not sure if I’m attracted to you because of your natural charm,” you snort as he stands, walking past you. You hear the clinking of glasses and the soft sound of something being poured behind you before the faint smell of whiskey tickled your nostrils. “or the fact that you were trained to seduce and I can't fight it.”

“Tell yourself whatever you want sweetheart.” You roll over your shoulder sarcastically and his chuckle resonates in the small space.

Silence.

You weren’t going to break and he didn’t know how to make his next move.

Because whether he liked it or not, he liked you. You were like a shiny new toy that he just didn’t want to get rid of just yet.

“You and Frank old war buddies?” you ask randomly, annoyed with the silence and the fact that he was out of your line of sight. Needing to put clues and pieces from your scouting of him and what you knew of Frank together. 

More silence. Its when he grabs your hair, yanking it back so hard that you tilt back in the chair that you know you’ve hit a sore spot.

“What did you say?” he sneers and you laugh, despite the pain from your scalp.

“That’s what it is. Frank Castle, decorated ex-army war hero stole your glory and so when he started to stir up trouble he got on your boss's radar. And when you found out he needed to be disposed of, you were eager to take care of the problem. To prove you were the better man”

He doesn’t release your hair, but tightens it around your scalp as he pulls you back further until you are dangerously hovering in the air. You don’t quit.

“Oh, Billy can speak big when it comes to how supreme he rules in this underworld. But everyone knows that beyond all the glitz and glamour of the towers up high – you thrive in the gutters of our society. Your boys – your cute little mini army is just a way to distract you from the fact that your army for hire is a failing business in the legitimate world and all the true men of power would rather have Frank than you.”

His dark eyes loom dangerously over you until he pushes you forward and you have to check yourself so you don’t spill out of your seat.

“Seems like you Vipers live up to the hype.” He walks past you, placing his empty glass on the abandoned table his goons previously had occupied.

“Thought I could have one last hoorah with you. God, I’m going to miss your tight little cunt. Gonna miss the way I feel with it clenched around my cock. But you’re more trouble than you’re worth. Guess you were right about that.”

He turns and looks at you one last time, before smiling.

“Get one final look at this honey. Because it’s the last time you’re going to see anything this handsome for a long time.”

Then he’s passed through the doors, leaving you alone. You smirk at the high pitch voice of a man complaining, Billy’s deep voice saying, “She’s tied up. She can’t do anything to you.”  You wait a couple more beats, listening to the soft voices in the hallway before the door swings open, the earlier misplaced goons walking in.

“Billy said that we should make it quick.” one of them muttered to the other, avoiding eye contact with you. The other grunts, looking around the room haphazardly. You sigh, stretching out your legs one final time before muttering, “Told you boys to run. Now I have to do something you’re both not going to like.”

“She can’t do anything.” the first goon mutters and you smile, looking at him.

“No?”

You propel your weight forward a bit before thrusting yourself backwards, the sudden impact weakening the chair, setting you free from the tight rope that had kept you bound to it. You roll backwards, hunched in a predatory stance, not paying any attention to the way blood quickly rushes throughout your body as you watch the men looking at you in disbelief.

“Shoot her!” the quiet one yells and you smile, standing and twisting your body out of hte way of the sporadic bullets. They were scared, their aim off as you spring up in the air, twisting your body before kicking the first goon in the face. You land on the pads of your feet, turning toward the second as he raises his arm at you. You grab his arm, twisting around him and bringing it to the back of his neck, aiming it up.

He throws his had back in pain and you grab his trigger finger, causing the gun to go off and shoot him through the brain before grabbing it from him his lifeless hand and turning to the second goon scrambling to his gun.

“You could have made this easy.” you mutter, aiming the gun and shooting him between the eyes. You walk slowly to his gun, picking it up and sticking the extra bullets between your bra. You sift through their pockets, picking up a hotel room key and a cell phone before you walk toward the door. You exhale, rolling your neck around before you slowly open it.

You walk down the deserted hallway, then up a flight of stairs. 

Emptiness.

You were surprised. Billy didn't seem like the type of man that played with chance. You move past the hotel employee locker room, bodies moving past you and sneak in, grabbing a pair of sneakers and a jacket before moving past it toward the exit. You slip the cell phone and key in your pocket, your gun prepped for anything as you slowly push open the door. 

Its when you step out into the crisp night air, the partially empty parking garage echoing all sounds that you hear his voice.

“Need you to make sure that none of the hotel staff are aware of what happened.” it's a soft command but it resonates in the spaces as you slowly snake around cars, inching closer to where you can pinpoint his location.

It's a level above you where you find him, a group of a dozen or so men around him as he steps into the car, a few of them joining him in closely parked cars.

“Confirm the body. Get rid of the kill. I have to check in with Stefan’s squad. Make sure that they eliminated the Castle threat.”

The head one nods as Billy rolls up his window. Its seconds later that you feel light buzzing in your pocket, the phone from earlier gathering your attention and you press yourself against a car, watching the men as they positioned themselves throughout the garage.

“Joseph tell me you shot the bitch and you’ve started to dispose of what's left of her.”

His voice bites through the earpiece and you peek around the car, counting the men as they started to disperse through different levels.

“I shot two bitches actually. They made it all to easy.”

You can’t help but smile at the silence on the other end before a soft ‘fuck’.

“Thought you wanted me killed? Thought you’re handsome face would be the last one I’d see? So far I’m looking at 12 of your ugly ass goons and I got to say, I don't like it when people don’t follow through with their delivery.”

He guffaws now though the fear, the small inkling he had earlier, was laced through the throaty laugh.

“I may have underestimated you.”

“I’m going to kill you before you get to Castle and his family.”

He laughs harder now and you watch as a man inches closer.

“Good luck with that. If you can tell Castle and his family apart by the time you get to him you are more than welcome to.”

You close your eyes, pressing yourself against a car before you whisper. “I’ll kill you Billy. Kill you if you’ve done anything to his family.”

“I look forward to it doll. Though I doubt you’ll make it out of there alive. Until then.”

Then a click and you’re left looking down at a bright screen.

Great.

You check your gun again, before waiting a few beats. The large man walks by the car before you swipe him at his feet, causing him to fall face first. You grab his neck swiping it, checking his body for a gun before pulling it aside. You look through the rear view mirror at the five other men left on this level and sigh.

This had really turned into a long night.