#mix in some main female character hate syndrome

[wisebeth]

“Sakura is toxic because she made fun of Naruto for being an orphan–”

She regretted it the second after Sasuke rightfully called her out and even opened a therapy center for war orphans.

Ino fatshamed Choji, Shikamaru was a misogynist, Neji misplaced his anger at Hinata, but no one ever calls them out. They were all kids, they all made mistakes.

“Sakura is abusive because she constantly punches Naruto–”

She only hit him in the manga when he did something perverted or disrespectful, it was heavily exaggerated in the anime.

It's called slap stick comedy. If you think it's aBuSiVe, I hope you have the same energy for Jiraiya who peeked at the women's bathroom without consent and gets brushed off as ‘comedic purpose’, double standards much?

“She has Stockholm Syndrome because she loved Sasuke after he tried to kill her–”

They're shinobis. Unlike our real world, it's the norm there to fight each other to death and then make up. Don't get it mixed up.

Naruto forgave every single villain in the series, including Pain who killed his master and destroyed his village. Obito, who killed his parents, started a war, was the reason for the deaths of countless people such as Neji, and Shikamaru & Ino's fathers, formed a terrorist organisation (which was responsible for multiple war crimes) yet no one bats an eye. Lee forgave Gaara who attempted to kill him, Hinata forgave Neji who tried to kill her for something which wasn't her fault. It's the norm there, deal with it.

Sasuke also tried to kill Naruto, Kakashi & Karin and they all forgave him but for some reason only Sakura gets shit for it? Double standards again.

“Sakura is a bitch who loves Sasuke and ignores Naruto who loves her–”

Sakura cares for Naruto, as a friend and her teammate. She's not obligated to return her feelings if she doesn't want to. Naruto doesn't ‘love’ her. He had a childhood crush on her, and it used to be mentioned less frequently than in the anime. SP exaggerated his feelings.

Kakashi didn't return Rin's feelings. Sasuke didn't return Ino, Karin and Sakura's feelings (until ch. 699 in Sakura's case). Naruto didn't return Hinata's feelings until The Last. Tsunade didn't like Jiraiya back. Then why is Sakura hated for something so ridiculous? She's allowed to make her own choices.

“She is shallow, she only liked Sasuke for his looks–”

If her feelings for Sasuke truly were shallow, she'd have moved on after he left the village, she'd have moved on after he became a criminal, like Ino did. She saw Sasuke at his worst and still chose him with all his flaws.

A ‘shallow crush’ wouldn't last for so many years. If her feelings weren't strong or deep, Sasuke wouldn't choose her in the end. If her feelings were superficial she wouldn't risk her life to save him against Gaara. If she didn't love him, she'd not be able to stop his curse mark. If they were superficial, she'd have moved on to date some other handsome man instead of crying over Sasuke.

“Sakura is useless as a main character–”

That's not her fault. That's a criticism for the author. None of the female characters in the series have as much complexity, fight scenes or power as the male characters. It's a shonen centric more to the male characters.

Sakura IS a main character because she contributes more in the manga than other female characters but she's not going to contribute as much as Sasuke or Naruto because the series revolved around men more than women.

Take Attack on Titan for example, it's a shonen where the contribution of male and female characters were distributed equally. In Naruto, it simply wasn't distributed equally.

“Sakura is selfish because she tried to lead on Naruto–”

I can agree here that she was entirely in the wrong and made a very stupid decision. But that's exactly what makes Sakura a realistic character. She's flawed. She makes mistakes. She can be irrational. And that makes her human. She didn't lie to him because she thought it would be fun, she did it to protect. She had good intentions even if she took the wrong approach.

Sasuke, as another of the main characters, did more harm to Naruto than Sakura's confession did but everyone understands and forgives him. Obito started a war and killed people and was forgiven. Itachi killed his entire clan and traumatised Sasuke but the fandom forgives because of his reasoning. Nagato killed people, and was still forgiven.

Then why can't you all be more understanding of Sakura? She did not even half of the terrible things which other characters did but gets more hate for it.

“Sakura is a bad friend to Ino–”

Sakura was SEVEN when she announced Ino as her rival. I'm sorry y'all are morally uptight who's never made a single stupid decision as a kid that you feel the need to accuse a child of being a villain for acting like a child. And it has been implied very clearly Sakura wanted to get out of Ino's shadow and only used Sasuke as an excuse to do so.

And if Sakura was this horrible bitchy friend you guys think she was then I don't think Ino would immediately jump to protect her during chunin exams. Sasuke did more terrible things to his best friend than Sakura did but once only Sakura gets shit for it.

And they never stopped being friends, only their dynamic changed, it included friendly bickering and rivalry. Ino never was mad or bitter with Sakura and even proudly told her she bloomed into a beautiful flower, this doesn't sound like a person who's been unfairly betrayed by a best friend over a crush?

In short, Sakura Haruno is fucking amazing and maybe if y'all didn't hold female characters to such a ridiculous high standard and bothered to understand the manga instead of watching filler episodes, you'd know.

[we-pay-for-everything]

I've watched all available episodes of Nancy Drew and am rewatching season 3 (can you tell I ship Nace), and here are some of my thoughts no one asked for:

The biggest plot twist was the reveal in season 3 or 4 that Nancy's mom hasn't even been dead for a year. It's fucking crazy how each season spans a few weeks?? You're telling me that in less of a year Nick and George fell in love, got engaged, and then broke up? And Nick's on his third relationship. Bess fell in love 3 times?? She loved the FBI agent, called Odette the love of her life and is now seriously in to the new girl? And how many boyfriends has Nancy had? Nick, Owen, Gil, Park, and soon Ace? Plus she had a thing with the other detective? And now Ace is the love of her life? Carson really started dating that cop as soon as his wife died and is now seriously dating someone else? He's probably still paying for his wife's funeral. Do normal people move on this fast? Also, in less than a year the gang decided they would die for each other, unquestioningly? Intense.

Season 2 was a mess. Season 1 was legit fucking scary and the plot was amazing. After season 1 the show felt completely new. Season 2 was the worst because they did a whole concept change with the case of the week format, which imo didn't work. The episodes were all dry and there was nothing driving the story forward. Seasons 3 and 4 are a mix of seasons 1 and 2, with the episodes having some continuity and still standing on their own.

Season 2 also had the issue of Odette. I hated that storyline. The actress honestly did a very poor job. I couldn't connect with her at all. Season 4 is way better so far.

It's fucking weird how it was an issue when underage George dated Ryan (ewww), but Nancy (or the show) doesn't apparently see a problem with three grown-ass men being into a teenage girl? She's so smart but doesn't think it's inappropriate for them to date her? Especially the cops??

I'm sure Nancy gets on everyone's nerves, but she really has the unfortunate main female lead syndrome. She's insufferable most of the time. She's always getting everyone in trouble, never listens, puts herself and her cases first. When Ace got in trouble and asked her to solve the chocolate box riddle, she literally ignored him while he still asked about her case and told her to be careful. Although he was scared and in danger, he didn't mind being told no and stopped to talk with her. The hilarious thing is that she later solved the riddle in like 2 seconds lmao. The show takes it too far. She's smart but her photographic memory is ridiculous.

To be fair, the characters were also unfair to Nancy when they blamed them for their death curses in season 2. They said it was her fault because she was selfish, but they literally insisted on going with her to call on the Aglaeca. She told them not to.

Bess's best love interest was Odette. I didn't like the actress's performance, but it was cute anyway, and that one kiss they shared was magical.

I started noticing something between Ace and Nancy in season 2, and now I ship them, but it's also weird seeing them together. They fell in love even when they were dating other people?

One of the best lines in the show was when George's grandma said something like "It's not a path if it goes nowhere. That's a hole in the ground." Made me laugh the two times I heard it.

I wish the show had stuck with the season 1 format.

I shipped Owen and Nancy and he's still my second favorite boyfriend of hers after Ace.

Nancy saying Ace isn't letting her move on in season 4 is absurd. How is her stopping her??? But the dude shouldn't have let the ferret go just because he got jealous. He went through all that trouble just to catch it.

I still don't fully understand why George and Nick broke up.

I love Ryan and Carson's dynamic, and their dynamic with Nancy. It's like found family, with a twist. Ryan is Nancy's biological dad but he literally just found out and Carson raised Nancy but she's not his biological daughter. It's also cute how Ace is tight with Carson. He was really nice to him.

After Nancy absorbed all the lust in the chastity dress, she later said it was refreshing to just feel desire, but that was so cheesy. I'm sorry, but when does she not allow herself to feel desire? That girl is not repressed in any way - only emotionally.

I'm not super fond of George either. My faves are Ace, Bess, Ryan and Carson. Nick and George's sisters are cute too.

I had other things I wanted to say but I can't remember them...

Also, if anyone wants to chat about Nancy Drew, my ask box and "DMs" are open!

[petorahs]

i'm just gonna: ☀️ anon. There.

Anyway: I can see where you're coming from and like I said it has been forever since I played the Answer and I don't /hate/ it. But I guess I always had an issue with Yukari, because she seemed to me needlessly mean to others sometimes? Like she was right and others are wrong so its fine if she can be mean? But that is just what I /remember/. And while yeah, characters are allowed to be mean and not perfect and allways kind, especially female characters, because GOD FORBID women do anything- it also doesn't mean I have to LIKE her. I guess it's because to me Yukari felt like someone who would unironically call someone having fun "cringe", which for me personally is a dealbreaker. But Persona ALWAYS had this issue with having the male bestie be the buttmonkey of jokes, some kind of pervert and dunked on by the other characters and Junpei is still having it the best?? (Yosuke, Ryuji, you boys deserved so so much better).

In any case, I guess I couldnt give her as much leeway or credit because her personality didn't really mesh with me. But now being older I also think that it is BECAUSE of the writing. Persona Games have all extremely low points and extreme high points. The entire first palace is great in persona 5, Persona 4s social links with the Dojima family are really gripping and persona 3 is still one of my faves because it just came at the very right time in my life. (Who would've thought that a game about DEATH as its core theme would SAVE me.) But the writing is not always very consistent and the characters really suffer for it, usually for very stupid reasons like """""humor""""". I guess I am just trying to say that I get what you mean, but Yukari is just not my fave so I guess it is easier for me to lose patience. Like there are characters I'd go to war for in the persona series, so its easier for me to see the GOOD writing aspects, while others might greatly dislike them and therefore have a far easier time seeing the writing from more negative perspectives.

But your analysis has really given me some food for thought. I will definitely try to pay it more attention on a replay!

Oh ONE MORE THING!!!

It always felt like Yukari was pushed as a sort of "main love interest" which always kinda felt off to me when persona games do that. maybe its because i am gay and therefore see myself more representated by same sex couples/queer couples, maybe its because the persona developers believe men and women cant just be friends it always has to be something romantic, maybe its because the romantic writing always seemed forced and reliant on little events like in a romance shoujo manga- idk, but that was also something that rubbed me the wrong way. But that has been issues in P3-P5 throughout. And i feel like p3 got it the worst??? At least in later games you could opt for just a friendship even tho the writing still made it APPARENT THAT THE GIRLS ARE IN LOVE WITH YOU SPECIAL BOY!!! Sorry Yukari, that's not really your fault, thats a systemic fault.

yoo valid as hell though i get wym. if the character isnt for you then they arent for you and again, im not here to convince you otherwise of anything!

when you say it like that i can see why yukari's a bit of a mixed bag. i still like her tho she kinda a baddie and as a guy i like when girls are kinda mean to me so agree to disagree

ah yes the persona lovers arcana girl suffering from pushed "main love interest" syndrome.. i havent played any other aside from p3 and p5 but i heard rise gets worse. but like you said it is a systemic fault. to be real with you none of the romance options in p3 really enticed me despite 3 being hailed as ""the best dating sim"" out of all three modern games. maybe i just need to play portable. or be able to romance ryoji as makoto lmaoo (i saw a screenshot with ryoji saying he'd like you regardless of gender and. 😭 thanks for nothing i guess atlus?)

hard agree on the persona series as a whole having a tendency of doing something really good but then!!........ not. sticking the landing at all. theres so much to be said about it god these games are a hot mess on average its funny. as much as i adooore it, p3's pacing was so ass that i got severe tonal whiplash on oct 4. couldnt even begin to grieve cause i was so shocked

if you ever replay the answer (which. godspeed to you thats a whole grindfest i wouldnt wish on my worse enemy) i hope youre able to have fun and find new things about it to like! overall we can agree that its good so theres that. talk to you soon o7

[tazzmanien]

Signal - tvN Kdrama review

What a ride!!! I love this drama! Definitely the best Kdrama, no scratch that, one of the best dramas ever made!

I have read only great things about this drama and wanted to keep it on my watchlist in case I ever needed particularly good entertainment. After almost 6 years this moment arrived. I finally watched it! And I’m not disappointed one bit. Well the last was a lie, the ending is making me kinda nervous.

First two important things:

All of you who have been watching this series on a weekly basis while it was airing must have nerves of steel. Teach me your ways Senpai!

And even worse, you were waiting for season 2 since 2016... HOW EVEN??!?

My review:

The drama has everything one needs! Definitely a must watch!

Positive:

Great story, acting, music, vibe, suspense, cinematography, pacing, message, characters and villains (I hated them, which is a good sign for villains).

The 3 leads were charismatic, intelligent and were of different ages which is so refreshing! Oh and the female lead was finally normal (strong enough and still had feelings/empathy), what a surprise!

The motives and behavior of all characters were believable and kinda human. They all had weaknesses and strengths.

It has a lot of realism (without being boring/annoying) with a cool scifi aspect to it and a pinch of a love story (no forced “they have to kiss once at the end” and not really a 2nd lead).

It has no unnecessary CGI or stupid overdone fights (everything felt real and yet exciting).

Negative:

On a contrary to many, I like the ending, it fits the whole vibe. But it makes me nervous, so I can’t say it is a great ending. I need season 2 to be able to sleep better. Is there any hope we will get one?

Up until the end I wasn’t 100% sure if what they portrayed between Park Hae Young and Cha Soo Hyun was only respect/friendship or should show some kind of one-sided love on Park Hae Young’s side or the start of a new love between them both. I loved their friendship and wish it was meant that way/will stay that way. However, at moments I felt conflicted, because they would make a great love pair... I would have preferred they would not have given me mixed signals tbh. Does anyone get me or am I the only one seeing things? Maybe I'm just having a permanent 2nd lead syndrome. :(

If you are watching this for a love story, then you will be disappointed. It’s not the main driver of this show. It’s just a nice touch to it.

Trigger warning:

This is not a deal breaker for me, because it is needed for a crime series to be good. However, some of you might not like the violence and themes of the crimes they try to solve... Not much is shown, but still, some of you might not be comfortable watching this.

Now, guys go watch it if you haven’t and if you have please talk to me. Tell me it’s going to be alright!!!!!

[emsylcatac]

not to be bitter but why does Chloe in fandom have like 10x more analysis that analyze her behaviour and how shes secretly a great person, compared to people trying to understand Marinette's behaviour in s4 (or even in general?) which instead had people giving her way more scrutiny😭😭? i like both characters but maybe I'm just confused on why the protagonist gets less effort in analyzing her and less empathy/sympathy, compared to the girl that acted nice like 4 times.

Don't worry lots of people analyse Marinette's character in S4 and in the show but it's to say that "she was an asshole to chat noir in season 4 😠😠 nd she caused many akumas!! more than chloè 😠😠 and she's a bitch to chloè she didnt give miraculous to her!! grrrr 😠"

Joke aside (that's not a joke actually rip) and I hate that you're right, there are loooots of reasons I'm afraid (none of them are good though). I would go over each one of them but I think we've said it a lot in the past already and I believe that you too anon knows the answer to this 😔😫

(something that I'm wondering though, is why people are waaayyy madder and intense about Chloé not getting the development they think she deserves (because they're impatient and like being mad but shhh), compared to people hoping, say, Nino would get more onscreen development 🫣 like, we still haven't seen his parents while he seemed introduced as one of the main secondary character since S1, even some white blue haired dude took more importance than him as of late, but weeeeirdly enough that doesn't bother people as much as "Chloé loosing the bee miraculous and being done dirty by the writers uwuwuwuwuwu". I really wonder why hmmmmmmmmm 🤔🤔🤔🤪)

[starfire-s]

here’s a list of the best, mediocre and worst kdramas i watched in 2020

no one asked for this but it’s happening because i have thoughts (also all opinions are my own if you disagree then get well soon i guess... no i’m kidding make your own posts about it don’t hate me please) ahsjsj anyways click to read a lengthy post and if you actually read the whole thing then thank you i hope you enjoy this wild ride! 

THE BEST KDRAMAS -

mystic pop up bar - this show had everything i ask from a kdrama literally i can name it all found family (to real family), well thought out characters, a mystery plot, special effects, soft romances that were well written, a happy ending! no show in 2020 even comes close to how good this one was! the writers literally guided you throughout the whole thing so you could come up with theories and didn’t do a ‘aha! gotcha’ thing where they want to prove the audience wrong but they wanted us to be right and satisfied! the worst part about the drama is that it’s still so underrated and people just brush it off as some random fantasy show but it’s so much more than that! 1000/10

flower of evil - who doesn’t want to see lee joon gi being the son of a serial killer, living with the name of a man who is in a coma, and hiding his real identity from his wife who is a detective? this show constantly had me at the edge of my seat on a weekly basis so the emotions i went through while watching this are unparalleled! the writers also did such a good job on writing a coherent story that made sense and tied up all the plot points in the end. just a really satisfying show to watch! 10/10

where your eyes linger - i literally bought a $8 viki pass to watch this show so it should tell you everything you need to know about how i feel ahsjsj the episodes were 10 minutes long but we got a good story with well written characters who got character development in a total of 80 minutes it’s insane! honestly it’s still hard to believe this show had rookie actors because they were just so emotive that you could feel all the happiness, sadness, yearning and pining! probably one of my fave kdramas this year because of the acting that i always constantly rewatch! would recommend 10/10

crash landing on you - okay so this drama was actually released on my birthday last year and it was a time in my life when i was going through a lot so maybe it’s the comfort this show provided me through that time this is why i have such a soft spot for it? like the romance was good, it was funny, there was found family, the nk soldiers were all softies, there were strong female leads, soft male leads!!! ahh!! no other show on this list made me think about the unification of south korea and north korea irl because i wanted se ri and jeong hyeok to be together 4ever! but the only issue i had with this show was the ending they gave seung jun if they didn’t do that i’d give this show a 10/10 but just for that they get a 9/10

psycho but it’s okay - this was one of those shows where you’re literally like ‘wow everyone here needs therapy’ but this show was amazing i loved the story telling and how each episode related to children’s book/fairytales! the writers also did a good job with how carefully they talked about mental health in depth without villainising their characters but actually tried to make the audience understand why they were this way which included all the side characters too who had a well thought out story in each episode! also the dynamic between moon young, kang tae and sang tae was everything to me the actors all did an amazing job portraying their characters, it truly was a healing drama. the only thing i didn’t like about this show was the whole plastic surgery plot with the mother like that was very far fetched but it provided drama so i’ll let it slide because the rest was amazing. this show is a solid 8.5/10

18 again - another underrated gem! who would’ve thought a remake of that zac efron movie could be this good!! lee do hyun stole this show for sure the way he portrayed his character and gave heart eyes to his kids (when he’s only 25 irl was the best thing i saw this year ahsjs) i loved the family dynamics in this show, i loved how it talked about what it’s like to be young parents and how society still think it’s taboo to be divorced! it’s a show that makes you laugh and cry at the same time and that’s why everyone should watch it! however, the biggest clown thing this show did to me though was that i got sls for the first time while watching a kdrama... hwang in yeop if u’re reading this i love u and u deserved better 🤡 that aside this show was a 8/10

itaewon class - i actually didn’t watch this drama as it was airing because i thought i wouldn’t enjoy the plot but when i watched it i binged the whole thing in 2 days and my biggest regret is i didn’t watch it sooner! everyone knows i have a soft spot for park seo joon since he’s my favourite actor i’ve literally watched all his dramas like he could star in the trashiest drama out there and i’d still watch it and be like wow (looking at she was pretty 👀) this show aside from the acting had one of the best revenge plots in a kdrama! just watching a character realistically hustle his way to reach the top while fighting the corrupt man whose son killed his father was so so satisfying to watch! however, the love triangle in this show was questionable idk what they were trying to do with that but it personally annoyed me! but still i’ll give this show a 7.5/10 because i enjoyed it a lot!

do you like brahms? - kim min jae and park eun bin.. that’s all you need to know about why this is a good kdrama! i’m usually not a big fan of melodramas and everyone knows i prefer rom coms but this show was just so perfectly melo that i loved all the angst and pain we got!! also just watching two introverted people awkwardly fall in love was amazing! the characters story arcs were also handled pretty well with song ah finally learning to speak up for herself and joon young learning to express how he truly feels! but... the love square? was probably the most annoying thing the rest in my opinion was nicely done! i know people had mixed feelings about the ending but i loved that after all the pain joon young and song ah went through they got a happy ending together! 7/10

find me in your memory - okay this show started off very slow and it was confusing at the start but as it progressed everything in the plot started to fall into place! i mean this show really took opposites attract to a new level where the male lead could remember every single detail from his life but the female lead had to forget some of her traumatic memories to help her cope with her life! they were also tied together through a mutual character who was a big part of their lives in a different way! just an interesting melodrama with interesting characters i liked it! and moon ga young... i love you queen!!! 7/10

THE MEDIOCRE KDRAMAS -

more than friends - was the storytelling in this show groundbreaking? no. was the acting decent? yes. also probably the main reason i stuck with this show until the end! i think we can all agree lee soo had the best character development on this show he started off as a bad boy who wore one ear stud to actually becoming a well liked character... who else did it like him? no one. also the chemistry between the mains was 🔥 but the second male lead was so annoying is there a opposite word for second lead syndrome because i had that for sure! i think the best part about this show was the people i watched it with on here... shoutout to the five of us ahsjsj also this show introduced me to a talented actor/singer like ong seong wu (y’all know my kpop knowledge is nonexistent so no i didn’t know he was in a band called wanna one) all in all a predictable show but i had fun watching it so 6.5/10

tale of the nine tailed - i didn’t actually watch this show i watched it through gifs and instagram posts ahsjsjs so am i qualified to talk about my opinion definitely no... will I talk about it anyways yes lmao. lee rang deserved better that’s all goodbye and take care. 5.5/10

start up - probably one of the most awaited opinions. y’all thought this would be in the worst kdramas section but i decided to give this show some rights. the show started off strong, lost it’s way after episode 6 and then the last episode gave me what i wanted so i have mixed feelings. the writing was not the best i think we can all agree, love triangle as a plot device? wow so groundbreaking 🤡 the characters on the other hand... i loved every single one of them i mean ship wars? i don’t know her. the show had a lot of potential that was wasted but we also got some cute moments between the characters so there was really no winning or losing with this show? but in all honesty you can’t put a talented cast together like this and then just decide to give the audience a mediocre plot but the writers did exactly that! i think i can redirect y’all to my ‘crimes this show committed’ post for a in-depth analysis. lastly nam do san was a GOOD and REFRESHING male lead and ji pyeong was also a GOOD and FUN second male lead!!! this show gave me the ugliest ship war ever that i was transported back to my high school tvd days so thank you for that!! but the cast was loveable and all had a lot of chemistry together so here’s a 5/10 maybe that's too generous but... i think the reason why i didn't enjoy watching this show as much was definitely because of the tag on here lmao

THE WORST KDRAMAS -

the king eternal monarch - i miss clowning this show so much. the amount of braincells i lost while trying to understand this plot... i should be compensated by the writers. however, woo do hwan was a treat to look at on a weekly basis... however the writers kept decreasing his screen time even though he had a dual role... make it make sense? and i cannot comment on the plot of this show because i still don’t understand anything? also in my opinion tae eul and lee gon were the most bland couple of 2020, there was no chemistry between them and there was just a random kiss in episode 5 and they randomly said i love you... where was the development? also lee gon was soooo boring and such a one dimensional male lead! literally all the side characters were so much more interesting and the cast was good... but this plot. 2/10

do do sol sol la la sol - i wanna fight the writer who decided that the plot twist on the show would be that jun is a minor? i had no expectations from this show but it looked cute and nonsensical but that plot twist made me run the other way so fast that i never looked back! just because jun is a boy they really thought this would be excused like lmao we all have critical thinking skills???? the clown behaviour. a solid 1/10

record of youth - i hate this show so much. imagine not utilising park so dam who just starred in the biggest oscar winning movie to her full potential. imagine just making her a love interest to park bo gum’s character in the year 2020. i watched it up until episode 6 and i kept waiting for her character to get development... but it never happened so i dropped this show. also this show featured the MOST useless love triangle i have ever seen in my life like what was the point? also park bo gum’s characters family was straight up annoying (minus the grandpa) but they got so much screen time like that should’ve been given to park so dam... also villainising a gay side character for no reason at all in the year 2020? this show was a waste of my time i want the 6 hours i spent watching this back. -100/10 

backstreet rookie - i watched one episode of this and literally wanted to rip my eyeballs out of my head. idk what ji chang wook was thinking when he signed this drama i think he lost his ability to read because that's the only reasonable explanation for why he chose to star in such a dumpster fire show! this show had a racist character... had a high schooler kiss an adult... sexist jokes... just the worst things you can think of in a drama... this show had it. i still can’t believe so many people watched this show to the point where it had better ratings than pbio... really made me question everyone’s taste? but sorry can’t relate my taste is excellent so here’s the rating this show actually deserves -1000/10

if you made it this far... thank you for reading. let’s continue to love some kdramas together and get clowned by others in 2021! looking forward to it 😅

[shinylitwick94]

Finished ‘The Time Traveler's Wife’ by Audrey Niffenegger.

It wasn’t as bad as some of the other popular bestsellers I’ve read, but it still lands as a very solid ‘meh’. Granted, Romance is really not my genre so I’m not surprised I didn’t love it.

Still, a few thoughts/impressions.

The time travel mechanism is remarkably similar to the one used in Slaughterhouse Five, which I had just finished reading so it made my life easier, and it’s not too hard to follow, and I thought it worked well for the purpose of this story.

The first part of the book up until when they get married was probably the most interesting. You’ve seen a bit of the story from her perspective/timeline, and then you get to see the same from his end, and it’s quite fun putting the puzzle pieces and moments together. It’s one of those books that is very easy to read. For a relatively large book, the first part flew by extremely fast.

The second half of the book both slows down considerably, and takes a turn towards the depressing and bizarre, which made it a bit of a slog to get through.

That is made worse by the fact that the main characters are just...not particularly interesting. Their whole lives and interests and motivations spin around each other pretty much all the time.

They’re also written in an oddly detached manner that made it very difficult for me to care much about either of them, even when all the horrible stuff started happening (and there was a fair amount of that, more than I expected going in). There are plenty of occasions where I feel like I should have cared but instead I was just watching a Barbie doll and a Ken doll make out in a bizarrely perfect house. Oh yes, they’re also stupidly rich, even before the lottery, just ‘cause.

Henry, in particular, suffers from male romantic bad boy love interest syndrome. He’s handsome, of course, and great in bed of course, he is also a womaniser, an alcoholic and has a violent streak, but only until he meets the main female character. This serves the dual purpose of highlighting that he is stereotypically manly, but is also utterly non-threatening to the protagonist. Everyone warns the protagonist he’s ‘bad news’, except that these behaviors immediately disappear after they get together and do not affect the plot in any way shape or form. He was just changed by the magic of her presence! So a mix of perfect from the start and ‘I can fix him’ vibes. Blergh. I really hate this thing, especially when it’s done surreptitiously like this.

That being said, I thought it was an OK read. It was kind of fun and exciting at first, got quite boring when the novelty wore off, and left me without strong feelings either way by the end. It’s fine if you like this sort of thing. It’s not particularly painful if you don’t.

[lecafedezola]

NOT OKAY

#IamNotOkay —this is the catchphrase of the stunning, fresh new Shephard Quinn satirical movie, starring an incredible Zoey Deutch, a Mia Isaac whose performance doesn’t feel like a performance, but a very real, raw feeling, like the breath-holding “spoken words'' speeches she delivers, and a Dylan O’Brien who mastered the laid-back prick, and who we love to see again and again. The trend of criticising and blaming social media for any and everything has been going on ever since social media have been going on, so it’s not that much of a surprise that the news of a new movie about this very subject announced it, with the exclusivity on the growing platform HuLu. Yet this is not your typical modern-day satirical fairy tale, with the “be yourself, don’t lie for attention, and live in the real, IRL, 3D life” morale-incorporated happy-ending, teens have been getting since 2010s. Here, we get real anti-heroes (Colin, who dumps girls after fucking them raw in the fancy restrooms of some private clubs, Danni, manipulative, unapolegetic, two-faced perpetual liar who we can’t quite pinpoint if she’s truly okay or #notokay) and Shephard excels at writing this truly detestable, cunning, narcissistic, egoistic yet irrationally universal weirdo who doesn’t have any friends, looks over real struggle and pain for attention, was born into wealth class and race privileges and is doing all of this for a guy. I insist on the “anti-hero” aspect of Danni as a female character, and would not describe her as a female villain —because it goes beyond that simple dichotomy, and that I genuinely believe that we need more unredeemable female characters without weaponizing them and villainizing them just because they’re women (just like we get anti-hero male characters and their masculinity/gender identity is never an argument of their villainification). It’s honestly such a fresh movie about minority voices whereas it’s queer and LGBTQAI+ characters, the importance of talking about survivors and their own struggle, and young Black girls, feminist values in a real world with real, flawed characters : Shephard allows her character to be flawed and unredeemable and this is feminism also because it’s not naive and her feminity is not weaponised. Though the ending left me wanting more —leaving me with the need for more of the monster, more of the ever-going cruelty of the character we hate loving and relating to of the watcher's guilty craving, I can honestly assure you that you’ll experience something you may not have experienced often. Not to mention the visual effort to make this work pretty to look at (whose movie poster, I find, feels off and as if unrelated to the overall artistically on-touch influencer-moodboard aesthetic and softly eccentric character of the movie and its main protagonist and her milieu). The mix of neatly designed costumes and props and settings and the time bomb-structure of the movie is an attractive combination : you’ll never really get this gut-wrenching, ‘when is it going down’ feeling out of you until the third half of the movie and you’ll never find yourself lost among the fast-paced narrative thanks to the sequenced and titled subparts.

the paris effect & the emily in paris satire

I could spend hours writing about the Paris effect (meaning, the high expectations and excitement foreigners have upon the prospect of going to Paris, seeing the Eiffel tower, going to Le Louvre, eating a baguette and simping a cup of espresso with a croissant at the terrace of a cute little café by the Seine, watching beautifully styled people —if this gave you an orgasm, you suffer from the Paris effect, but don’t worry as it also works on French people, romanticisation of places and cities can work wonders sometimes) and its evil twin, the Paris syndrome, or in Japanese パリ症候群 as it seems to be a Japanese people thing, which is the extreme sense of disappointment when visiting the city which will never be what you expected, and is in fact quite a dirty and overly priced place (to be fair to Japanese people, I think French people suffer from a Tokyo overhype, too). This duality of Paris in cultural products, because this romanticisation that is responsible for the, it appears, inevitable disappointment that the city offers is ultimately imagined, constructed and perpetuated by Hollywood movies like Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen movies or any movies with these parisian apartments that display the Eiffel tower on all its window, but also French movies like Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain, binge-watchable platform shows like Emily in Paris (the ultimate guide to the numb and dumb romanticisation of Paris, a common point with NOT OKAY is featuring influencers), aesthetic, unrealistic Pinterest moodboards and Instagram posts that must include haussamien buildings streets, baguettes, croissants and cup of coffees, glasses of rosé, gold, beige and soft pink tones, the Eiffel tower or le Sacré coeur melting in front of photoshopped sunsets, and these keywords : #paris #parisfashion #eiffeltower #parisvibes #parismonamour #parisianstyle #parisjetaime #montmartre #emiliyinparis. We understand that Quinn wanted to mock these products by showing ultra-American characters like Colin finally listening when it comes to Paris, Paris the ultimate glamorous city of love, art and all your life’s opportunities, and addressing the romanticisation of a city that already suffered from at least two terrorist attacks in the last 10 years. We won’t miss either the satire towards Emily in the “now, where is my baguette?” scene, a clear reference to the pain au chocolat scene.

All in all, NOT OKAY depicts in a very smart, yet not always subtle (but the point of this movie doesn’t seem to be to be subtle) way the glamorisation of the city of love, that is also the city of terrorist attacks and tourist disappointment, using Emily in Paris, and all that the Netflix show represents, as a widely-known, cultural reference point for its satire.

the ninth of august twenty twenty-two

[silverbyuls]

( lee hyeri, cis female, muse i ) oh snap! is that SHIN EUNBYUL they work over at high volume where some of the other employees have labeled them as THE AVERAGE JOE. that’s probably because they can be a bit ( optimistic. ) but also pretty ( dishonest. ) they’re TWENTY TWO and they’ve been living in woodstock for TWENTY TWO YEARS. it must be their shift because i totally hear THE CRANBERRIES blasting from the record store. ( a little tikes piggy bank tucked under the bed, clothing label sticking out from the back, snap clips with varnish peeling off, jelly shoes with the strap taped together, leaving lisa frank stickers along record crates ) @volumeupdates

BIO

the luke hemsworth of the family but middle child

goes by byul

tried to go by ‘e.b.’ but her mum went berserk because she’d reduced her name to two letters for the ease of her yt friends and her brother bullied her for being e.t’s ugly sister so now she tries to go by silver star (her name translated into english) but it doesn’t quite stick

claims that her older sister and younger brother stole all her beauty, brain cells and height

family invested everything into older sister so she could go to college in new york: savings, loans, moved to smaller house which is even further from the town centre

brother requires all attention as he has high hopes of getting into college on a baseball scholarship and she lowkey can’t wait until he’s far away from woodstock

her grades have always been average so no one expects her to leave – her parents talk about how nice it is that she’ll be with them forever but she knows that’s because they want her to take care of them when they’re old … which she would! if they didn’t live in woodstock

she tells them she’s going to move to california, but they think she’s as serious about that as she is about wanting to go to college, or becoming supermodel of the world, or an olympic swimmer, when she has average grades, of average height, and can’t even swim

if her life was a movie, she’d have fallen asleep in the first ten minutes – it has always been so boring and uneventful, so she lives up in her head with her fake scenarios to keep things interesting – most of the time, they’re taken straight from a book or magazine

sometimes these thoughts spill over into reality because she can’t fathom the idea of people realising she’s as plain as she is, and her little white lies give her a bit of sparkle to stand out (in her opinion)

but she will get to california!

she even has a plan:

she’s been working at freddy’s diner since she was fifteen, escaping to high volume whenever she can, a place where she can pop her headphones on during her breaks and pretend she’s getting ogled at on venice beach, but she’s terrible at saving so seven years later she’s still grinding

once she graduates high school, she has enough time for a second job and she’d dropped enough hints in front of jerry for him to kindly offer her a job. after all, she spends as much time in high volume as she does at freddy’s so there’s not much of a difference once she becomes an employee -- still floating around the place, sipping on her coke can, either people watching or people chasing -- except now she has access to the register

after a big argument with her parents, she ended up moving out into a place in the middle of town. that was never part of the plan because saving was easier when she lived at home. she’ll say things got really bad but really, she was just getting closer to her target and she wanted a valid reason to put it off for a bit longer

she was only supposed to do it once – stealing from the cash register. it was just right there, no one was around, and she thought it was going to be her last shift because jerry was angry at her for being late again (granted, he hadn’t actually been mad, but it was one of those days when everything felt personal)

besides, she’d overheard a group of girls she’d idolised in school talk about how they stole some underwear and they made it sound so cool

she felt like everyone could hear her heart thumping against her chest as she walked out of the store but the day after, no one said anything about it, no one even noticed, and she wasn’t fired. so she did it again, and again, and again, and eventually she didn’t even bat an eyelid

the extra money was supposed to help her reach her goal faster but, again, she’s terrible at saving and her parents are so hardworking, she can’t help but feel guilty and buy nice things for them every once in a while and when they ask where she got the money from, she lies and says jerry gave her a bonus for being a good employee

on the other hand, if they’ve had an argument, or they’ve forgotten about her again, she’ll have a full on les-mis-i-dreamed-a-dream episode then splurge out on a cute jacket because it’s hers and it’s new! rather than worn out hand-me-downs from her sister or brother!

started her own side hustle called the separation agency – inspired after a customer at high volume asked her to help him break up with his boyfriend. so she’s the messenger for people who have things to say but don’t have the balls to say it to someone’s face themselves. usually they’re horrible messages, like break ups. she’s had like three customers and tries to promote her side hustle whilst on her shift at high volume

she thinks her “business” could actually thrive in a bigger city which is just another reason why she needs to get out of woodstock – it’s holding her back!

anyway, jerry’s missing, which is perfect for her because she gets to come in late and not get told off, and maybe steal a little more than she usually does

PERSONALITY:

when she’s around people, she seems like an extrovert: bubbly, talkative, dramatic ... which uses up a lot of her energy and her social battery is weak, so needs her own space often, and likes doing nothing by herself so sometimes she’ll lie to get out of plans or bail last minute 

she has big dreams, and talks about all her big plans, but has leaving anxiety which is why she’s shit at saving and makes up excuses as to why she can’t leave just yet 

has main character syndrome -- likes to live her life as a romcom, most of her lies revolve around her love life because she wants to be seen as desirable, but also will overanalyse everything 

sensitive, passionate, immature, sympathetic, fickle, clumsy, dramatic, caring, head in clouds

will pretend to knows things to fit in like ~hipster~ bands or anything really, depends on the crowd

could gladly spend all day talking to customers at work then the next day she’ll prefer to day dream in the storage room

rides a bike to and from work and almost everywhere else too -- the only one out of her siblings who had to bike to school because small car and siblings took up all the space -- she’s had the same bike since high school 

loves spice girls but feels like she’ll be judged so keeps quiet and plays it when she’s closing

honestly could hate you one day and have a crush on you the next but you wouldn’t even know it -- a vicious cycle 

collects stickers and leaves them everywhere and on everyone - often passive aggressive through them, basically uses them like emojis

will try to order food and get others to pay for it - especially kfc, never gets to eat the drumsticks at home so will honestly cry if people steal the drumsticks from her

buys lottery tickets and scratch cards because she has a 50/50 chance of winning

WANTED CONNECTIONS: (current connections)

start up: stolen str8 from a kdrama that ruined my life hehe her parents set her up with a pen pal to keep her busy out of guilt because they’re so busy with her siblings and work and obviously she romanticises it !!! her parents would’ve asked to lie a little bit, just so she’d be writing to someone she’d easily obsess over -- love island vc: someone who ticks all the boxes 

xoxo gossip girl: someone who loves a good gossip sesh -- they probably send 👀 at each other across the store when things feel a bit tense, which is code for ‘meet me in the storage room’ so they can chat away for the rest of their shift

lunch stealer: she makes her own lunch every day and is extremely protective over it but one day it went missing and she knows it was them (maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t) so now they are her sworn enemy

sister’s/brother’s friend: therefore an automatic enemy

shut up: someone who just tells her to shut up because she chats so much shit and she’s insane - just sandra x dina vibes from superstore (x)

carpool karaoke: she hates cycling in when it’s raining, so either she’s trying to get them to be her designated driver or has already succeeded and is annoying about it

crush #1: someone she has a crush on (more of an infatuation) and they’re not interested in her in the slightest but in her head they’re giving her mixed signals and she has made up a fake boyfriend to try to make them jealous

crush #2: someone she thinks has a crush on her. either because they’re nice or tease her or just mean, it doesn’t matter, she’s insane so she’ll interpret it however she wants

ex: they never broke up, or even dated, but she thinks something almost happened between them and she thinks she cut things off by giving them space

separation agency: someone who once used the agency either out of the kindness of their heart or for a different reason entirely and now she won’t stop pestering them to try and get them to use it again

no thots just vibes: i just like this gifset tbh (x) and we can brainstorm ! 

[travllingbunny]

Tribes of Europa, season 1 - thoughts

I finished season 1 of German post-apocalyptic Netflix drama Tribes of Europa a couple of days ago, and I have... lots of thoughts and mixed feelings.

It's a standard post-apocalyptic show with all the usual tropes, but mostly well done, and has potential. I ended up liking it better than I expected, mostly because one of the storylines (Kiano’s) turned out to be pretty good/interesting.

The main problem of the show is that most characters, so far, don't have a lot of depth. An exception is a female villain who has proven to be quite complex and interesting. On the other hand, while  I loved seeing Oliver Masucci, in a role completely different from Ulrich Nielsen, and he's great and charismatic, I feel like I've seen the exact same lovable rogue-turned-mentor character a dozen times in various shows and movies. The main trio of young protagonists have the potential for interesting character development, but it remains to be seen what saason 2 does with it.

At least there's one thing that makes the show different than most post-apocalyptic shows I'm aware of - I can't think of any others that take place on the European continent? Usually it's North America, Australia, or UK. So, that's interesting... But then, after I finished it, I started thinking a bit more about some of the elements of the worldbuilding, which are a bit... questionable? I'm reserving judgment till these things are explained.

Spoilers under the cut.

In the first episode, the show did the GoT thing of introducing us to a likable family and then having siblings separated by fate and trying to get back together, while having different storylines. But they should've spent a bit more time with them together and explaining their history.

The show also does that thing where the siblings look nothing like each other and are played by actors of different ethnic origins, so I was waiting to hear they were half-siblings or some other explanation, but there was none. Well, OK then.

One thing I wasn't crazy about is that Kiano had a girlfriend we saw for about 20 seconds and then she apparently got killed for no particular reason. I can't say it's even fridging, since he never even mentions her afterwards and he has a lot of other reasons to hate the Crows.

But Kiano's storyline turned out to be the most interesting , and most disturbing, the kind that can make or break the show, depending on how it deals with issues like slavery, rape, trauma. So far, the show has dealt with it well, which made me like the show more than I thought. (It definitely beats The 100 - a show it was the 100 in the Netflix promo campaign - in that respect. I was already scared it would do something similar to The 100, which really dropped the ball when it touched on such issues in a really clumsy way in season 3.)

Lord Varvara has turned out to be the most interesting and compelling character, and excellently played by Melika Foroutan. (I wish I could say the same about the Crows’ big boss, Yvar - but whether it is mostly due to the OTT costume and makeup or the similarly OTT acting, I had a hard time taking this guy seriously.) She is not exactly morally grey - she is definitely a villain, slaver rapist and murderer, but her role as a former slave - a victim of abuse turned abuser, and someone who upholds the ideas of Social Darwinism - makes her role very interesting and ambiguous. I think that (especially based on some hints) that she used to be a sex slave, too, and if she was also made to be a Crow by her former slave master, that would probably mean Yvar used to be her master. That could lead to some interesting tension and conflicts, as she probably hates this guy deep inside, but still has to vie for his approval, even now that she has “made it”.  And she sees to see something in Kiano that makes her think they are similar, that he is 'strong' like she thinks she is (on the other hand, she despised her other slave who had a huge Stockholm Syndrome for her).

I'm curious how they deal with Kiano's character development next season, and how far into moral greyness or darkness it will be willing to go with him. Varvara is a blueprint of what he could become.  He didn't exactly show much concern for the lives of other slaves, except his father.  

Liv's storyline was also pretty interesting. with her navigating the political issues of the Crimsons. I liked that the Crimsons as a whole turned out to be more morally grey than I initially expected - with their strict military discipline to the point of authorianism and lack of tolerance for dissent. 

I don't know if the show expected me to side with the general (aka "Father") or think his views were right, as Liv did? I did not.. "Let's make peace and unity with slavers"? No, dude. But I’ll go with the idea that we are not necessarily supposed to side with him rather than David just because Liv did; or that a third option may be found (such as causing a rebellion among the Crows themselves, which would be my preferred direction of that storyline). 

(I also rolled my eyes whenever he started going on about "old European dream" or whatever he called it. No, my dude, you need to brush up on your history. Your plan is nothing like the EU, unless your plan is to go and deliver a bunch of demands to the Crows:  "Unless you guys: abolish slavery; ensure human rights for everyone; install a viable non-slavery based economy etc.. - we're not letting you into our new unified Europe!" He also may needed to be reminded EU was formed after Axis powers were defeated.)

I've heard that a lot of people didn't like Elja's storyline because they found it the least interesting, and sure, it wasn't very emotional and didn't have much character development, but I'm very curious about the mystery of the Black December, the Atlantians etc. so I liked it.  And I liked the fact that Elja wasn't a naive kid and could deceive people and keep secrets when he needed to.

But there are certain problems I have with the show’s world-building... which, at its worse, may end up being just as problematic as The 100′s was.

While I like the idea of a post-apocalyptic show set in continental Europe, and with languages other than English - almost all of the characters are only speaking German or English (the latter, I guess, for the same reason it's widespread today - people speak it as a second language and use it to communicate). We should really see more people who speak other languages. So far, that’s only happened sporadically - but my problem is more with the fact that the most villainous tribe, Crows (murderous, slave-owning Eurotrash-like villains with very Social Darwinist views) -  even though they speak German or English 99% of the time - very notably use certain words from Slavic languages - and only for specific terms like "lubovnik" ('lover' - actually sex slave), "boi" (fight/battle), "svobodnik" (free man?). These were very recognizable. I have no idea what "Bozie" means, but I read somewhere it comes from Russian. What's supposed to be the backtory behind that? Sure, I am for more language diversity, but did a German show have to give the kind of barbaric-version-of-fascist villains these questionable Slavic references?  That would be uncomfortable in so many ways.... It's not just Slavs, because another notable Crow character, Grieta at some point used Romanian (and the actress is Romanian), but I hope they're not going with the Evil Barbaric Eastern Europeans here. To be fair, many Crows were clearly slaves at the beginning, which complicates things... but Varvara says her real name - slave name - was Sophia, which could be anything - while her Crow names is Varvara - which definitely sounds Russian or Bulgarian (or, I guess, it could be Greek).

On the other side, opposed to the Crows, we have the more “civilized” tribe/army of former Eurocorps, whose members have so far only been heard speaking English, German and, at one point, Dutch - curiously called Red Crimson Army (!), I have so many questions...

Another questionable thing, pointed by the host of the Culture Cave YouTube podcast, who did an overall favorable review of the show, howeverpointed out that the Crows - the villains - are the only ones who don't conform to gender roles? And the males who are the most 'effeminate' looking are baddies. I didn’t even think of that initially, but thinking about it... yes, it has been like that so far, hasn’t it?

I’m reserving judgment till next season, but I only used to give The 100 the benefit of doubt with its questionable world-building, and we know how that turned out.

[wearetakingthehobbitstogallifrey]

Kdrama recs Part 1

Hullo and welcome to the kdrama life @camsthisky​! The following list is not in any particular order, other than the fact that I start with a more rom/com vibe and head toward more romantic/action or action. All the following kdramas are set in the modern day, and part 2 of my recs for you will be either darker kdramas set in present day or historical dramas.

Let the list begin!

1. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon: 

Do Bong Soon is a v smol woman who has super strength and who wants 1. To create her own video game 2. Get her police officer crush to return her affections. Which like, police officer is kinda cute but he ain’t that special. Bong Soon winds up becoming a bodyguard to Ahn Min Hyuk, the extremely rich, kinda spoiled, ridiculously extra CEO of a gaming company who does not like the police for secret reasons, and sadly does not have a good relationship with his family. (He a lonely boy underneath everything.) Min Hyuk finds out about Bong Soon’s powers, is in TOTAL awe of her, offers to train her in fighting, and literally falls head over heels for her.

The caveat with this show is there is a subplot or two that annoy me, BUT I just use the 10 second skip button and it is totally worth it because the romance is super cute—SUPER CUTE (also I have a list of favorite actors and Park Hyung Sik is def on it—one minute he is an adorkable, blushing bby the next he can be intense and sad)

He cute

2. Her Private Life: 

Hello fake-dating!! Ryan Gold (an adoptee who didn’t live in Korea for a while) is a former artist who stopped painting because he couldn’t deal with his Stendhol (?) syndrome (among other traumas). Deok Mi is the classy art curator of a famous museum who definitely does not have any secrets she wants to keep from the world—well, other than the fact that she is the number one fangirl of kpop idol, Cha Shi-an (who also appreciates art) and has a major crush on him. Ryan becomes director of the art museum and there is a whole thing with getting Shi-an involved in an art show.

Following this and a series of unfortunate events a false rumor starts that Deok Mi and and Shi-an ARE dating. It’s a little complicated to summarize, but basically what you need to know is that Ryan and Deok Mi become a fake couple so there won’t be a scandal for Shi-an or violence done to Deok Mi by rabid fangirls. I enjoy the fake-dating trope a lot, and how it becomes real for both of them! The leads are played by Kim Jae Wook and Park Min Young, who both have incredible range. Lots of soft moments in this one! Good kisses, a scene where the faves bake together, and also Ryan wears a lot of deep v-neck shirts and jackets which is an attack on me personally.

The show also contains a bit of angst, which I LOVE. Hand-holding becomes an important theme 😊

RYAN NO

3. Crash Landing on You: Rich South Korean heiress/fashion designer Se-ri accidentally winds up in a North Korean village, and really REALLY wants to go home. Mostly because there are no scented candles or spa-like bathtubs in the vicinity, but also because she could easily disappear into a NK jail and never return. A North Korean captain named Ri Jeong Hyeok finds her and decides not to turn her because, one, he’s a good guy who doesn’t want to turn an innocent person over to what might be her death, and two, turning her over might get his four underlings in trouble for reasons. Said underlings are his family, basically, and they are a deLIGHT. One is an argumentative proud sort who likes to drink and to feel important and who tries to provoke (and gets provoked by) Se-ri at every opportunity, one is a lover of banned South Korean dramas, one is a 17 year old bby who misses his mom, and one is the silent but most loyal follower of the captain. 

Besides all these people, there are two other characters (including a surprisingly wise conman) who become faves and major players in the plot.

There is a great mix of humor, romance, found family, and angst, and I love it very much. A few things don’t go the way I want them to near the end, but a bit of imagination and fanfic can fix anything 

ALSO I FORGOT THE CAPTAIN GETS SUPER SULKY FROM TIME TO TIME AND IT IS HILARIOUS

Show of hands, who thinks they will meet again

4. Are You Human Too: A FAVORITE SHOW OF ALL! TIME!

What do you do when your husband dies and your evil mega-rich father-in-law takes your son away from you and keeps you from seeing him ever? Well, if you are scientist with more genius than positive coping methods, you build yourself a robot son who looks exactly like your real son. Great solution, am I right?

Nam Shin III is the name of my favorite robot son, played by the inestimable Seo Kang Joon. He is the purest bby you will ever meet, being designed so that he never lies and so that he will immediately go to hug anyone who cries. He seems quite a contrast to the bitter human Nam Shin, who hates his gilded prison life, hates his Grandpa, and tries to sneak away from his right hand man, Secretary Ji Young Hoon, his only friend in the world. The girl in the show is Kang So Bong, an ex-UFC fighter who was so badly injured she had to quit. She is at first a bit jaded and mercenary because of her past, but she has a golden heart that just needs to be reminded of its existence.

Not going into details to avoid spoilers, but everything upends when the robot Nam Shin has to take the place of the human Nam Shin. The show is a soft, funny, angsty exploration of what it means to be human, with some good found family throughout. The character development is phenomenal, and the connection between So Bong and Nam Shin III is *chef’s kiss*. I just want to give a shout out to Seo Kang Joon who plays a duel role like you wouldn’t believe, to SKJ’s smile, to the soundtrack, and to the character of Young Hoon, a loyal, steady, and self-sacrificing secretary that we do not deserve  (gosh tho he looks good in blue!)

Look at my robot son getting a long-looked for affirmation! (his lil smile!!!

5. W: Two Worlds: 

This show unique because it  meta as HELL! Oh Yeon Joo is a junior doctor and the daughter of a webtoon artist whose big hit, W, is coming to a close. Much to her surprise, she gets pulled into the world of the comic where she encounters and saves the main character, Kang Chul, a former Olympic shooting champion who was blamed for the murder of his entire family, and whose sole desire is to find the real killer. It’s a good romance between them, and I also love Kang Chul’s relationship with his hyung, which, tho it is not always a main focus, is present and wonderful. Kang Chul himself is both intelligent and adorably bratty, charismatic and angsty, soft and fierce, and he is one of my favorite kdrama characters for sure.

As for the meta, the show does a fantastic job exploring the rules of the comic world, of how one can enter and leave, the importance and power of main characters and supporting characters, and the purpose of an author. There is always another twist coming, and it is just so much fun!

UM SIR PLS POINT THAT ELSEWHERE

6. Healer: 

I watched half this show and never realized that the female lead is played by Park Min Young, same actress as in Her Private Life. Someone had to tell me lol! She’s just so good at playing different people. In this show, she is Chae Young Shin, a reporter for a celebrity tabloid who has big dreams of becoming a famous reporter who investigates stories that actually mean something. She is a bit quirky, very cute, very brave, and probably one of my favorite female leads. She lives with her dad above his coffee/teashop bakery and is friends with all the ex-cons he has defended while doing his other job of lawyering.

Anyway this show is more of a romantic/action drama. To get an idea of the titular Healer, picture what you would get if you took some of Batman and Nightwing’s aesthetics (wearing black, hanging out on rooftops, punching people, flipping around, etc) and put them into a night courier who likes to watch National Geographic and dream about one day going off to an island where he can live all by himself for the rest of his days because oh yeah he is a loner whose only friend is an older woman who sets up his jobs and whom he has never actually met.

There is also an older reporter that Young Shin looks up to, the fun tabloid office where she works, a heck lot of mystery surrounding some tragedy involving a group of reporter best friends/found family back in the 80’s/90’s, and of course both members of the OTP have childhood trauma that has made them who they are today. One of my favorite things that happens in the show is that Healer has to go undercover for a while, Clark Kenting it up in Young Shin’s tabloid office, which overnight becomes a real news agency for reasons.

The action is LOTS of fun, and the romance is really soft and cute, and better still, when there is a misunderstanding or something that gets in their way, they almost immediately talk about it and resolve issues. They TRUST each other and give the benefit of the doubt where many tv couples would break up or get in big fights. I find it (plus the character development) very refreshing.

I couldn’t find a gif of my favorite fight sadly. This will have to do

7. Lawless Lawyer: This has Lee Joon Gi. Watch it.

Just kidding, there are many other reasons to watch the show, but it is true that Lee Joon Gi is one of my favorite actors. The man has phoenix eyes, a jawline that could cut silk, diamonds, you name it, and such a deep well of emotional acting that it literally kills me when his characters rage/weep/love/etc.

Anyway, in this legal thriller/romance/action drama, LJG’s character Bong Sang Pil is a beautiful, very extra ex-gangster/now lawyer who opens his own office, ready to fight villainy and avenge his mom with the law or with his fists, whichever is more useful at the time. He has a right hand man named Manager Tae and recruits a bunch of thugs as his minions, and they all become a weird sort of family as the show goes on.

Ha Jae Yi is a quiet badass lawyer who has no time for sexist idiots and gets her license suspended for smacking one of said fools. She gets recruited to assist Sang Pil, and they find their goals align as both their mothers were destroyed by the villains.

Speaking of the villains? EXCELLENT acting by them all, like they need to go down obviously, but you can’t help but be in awe of a few of them or even get attached to one or two in a weird way. Props to the show for having one of the best female villains I have ever seen

What an icon

Here you get two gifs of him

Sorry I needed to make it a magical three lol

~~

Tune in next time for historical dramas and modern dramas that are a bit darker!

[daeneryswhitehorse]

Dany hate throughout the years.

( This is base on a reply I made in post create by @yendany . I also want to precise that it is only my perspective of the fandom as a dany stan, other people probably have a different opinion of what was going on. )

I came in the asoiaf/got fandom in 2011, when the show first came out. I fell in love with dany on my first watch and still like her after reading the books. I started to get involved in the fandom because I wanted to learn more about her.

I didn't know tumblr at the time so I was on westeros.org. The mad queen dany theory was already a thing, mostly for the persons who didn't like that dany could be azor ahai and not one of the male character. But the forum still liked her for her baddass moments in asos or her portrayal in the first season of got.

Everything changed when adwd came out. The incels in this site really didn't liked dany having sex with daario after rejecting jorah/quentyn. They also didn't understood her plot, were tired of her staying in Essos or not interacting with main pov character. It was enough for them to think she was boring.

From then on, there were a lot of bad take of her character. Grrm wanting to talk about the consequences of her mistakes and her decision of staying in meereen was understood as dany being dumb and incompetent as a queen. People made fun of her long list of titles and thought it make her look arrogant. They claimed she was nothing without her dragon, in contrast to male character like stannis. Or not a true warrior because she spend her battle hiding in her tent, unlike stannis or jon who fight with swords. Or that she didn't car about the common people, because she try to negociate with the meereeness nobles. Most of those claimed exist to prove why character like Jon or Stannis would be azor ahai or the true king of Westeros.

After season 3 of the show came out, a lot of people were rightfully offended by the final scene with daenerys where she surf on a sea of brown people. A lot of fans start seeing Dany as a white savior in both books and show, and a lot of essay were about how how her storyline was rooted in racist orientalist ideas. If you were a person of color and still stan her, it was probably because of internalized racism.

Before this season, feminist critized the butchering of most of dany storyline, like they did with other female characters. But none was as talk about then Sansa's, because the most popular female character like Dany, Arya and Brienne were seen as the cash grab of the show. It was considered more important to defend her in particular, and liking Sansa over them was seen as resistance act against D&D misogyny.

The intellectual part of the fandom really went out of their way in defending her. They liked her because she was a gateway to the political part of the story in King's Landing and the Vale. They didn't like how some fans victim-blamed her for the abuse she suffered with the Lannister, and praised the fact she didn't end up with stockolm syndrome like Dany or Theon. "Not everyone can be an Arya" did they said, as they wanted people to acknowledged she was the more relatable point of view and how her traditional feminity shouldn't be put down. They emphasis a lot on her kindness, her emphatie, or her observational skills but and said those qualities were unique to her and are what separate her of the rest of the cast. She was the representation of humanity in this crapsack world. And after outsmarting Littlefinger would probably be rewarded with an important political position and would be one of the builder of the new world after the apocalypse.

All of this probably wasn't meant to be interprete as hate toward other female and some of the male characters, but it sure did for the Sansa stan! Who would then create their entire defense meta around putting down any character they found and upliftting her above them. Their favorite target was Arya, but you could found from time to time one on Dany. I remember someone defending Sansa innocence in trusting Cersei in the first book, by emphasing on her age and naivety, and putting down dany for not knowing mirri maz durr would get revenge on her khalassar.

Talking about Dany, the intellectual part of the fandom didn't really like her. I mean they didn't hate her, and didn't diminish her importance in the story, but she clearly wasn't a fan favorite.

There was two angle in their analysis of daenerys: the political leader and the messiah.

For the first part, they were trying to define daenerys position in the story, and came to the conclusion she was the destroyer of the old world. In their point of view, dany didn't free the slaves in asos for pure reason but because she couldn't pay for an army, and then didn't know how to build a new economy, leading to the horrors in astapor in adwd and her failure in maintaining peace in meereen. For them, Dany is unable to control her emotion and confuse revenge with justice. They also think she is an incompetent queen who make decision on a whim and never listen to her adviser. Her relationship with Daario represent her want for easy solution through war, wich she embrace at the end of adwd. When she can't remember Hazzea name, it meant innocent would die in her violent path in twow. Because of this, the expression "the path of hell is paved with good intention" became popular to define her arc from asos to beyond.

For the second part, they were clearly interressed by the mystical part of her story. Dany has a lot of prophecy around her that can be used to determined the next plotlines post adwd. For some reason, they pushed their own obssession with it on Daenerys, who they now believed is blinded by her own destiny. They claimed she think she is the hero of story and is unable to see when she does something wrong. This until she will blow up King's Landing in ados. This would push her toward her true destiny in the fight against the others where she will sacrifice herself for the greater good.

And lets not talk about the weird part of the fandom who are obssessed with deconstruction and who would only acknowledge dany as azor ahai reborn if it meant the hero is actually the true villain of the story, and the Others misunderstood victims.

2015 arrive as well as season 5 of got. This season was so controversial it manage to divided the fandom in three.

The first one were book purist who were disguted by the total butchering of affc/adwd plotline to replace them with offensive mess, and decided to stop watching the show and focus on the books. While some of them were dany friendly, they all seem to favor character like Sansa, Stannis, Brienne, the Lannisters, or the Martells. A lot of effort were put into their metas to uplift their book plotline and personality above their show counterpart.

The second part is similar to the first one, exept they didn't stop watching the show but decided to view each season through critical lense to try to understand the sexism and racism of D&D. They were mostly Sansa and Martell stan.

Both of those point of view were seen as too radical and annoying by the dudebro show apologist. Being a Martell and Sansa stan also become a sign of being a woke feminist, a book purist and a show anti.

The third part of the fandom decided that the failure of season 5 was the responsability of Grrm for not finishing his books in time, and that the show writer had run out of material and were forced to improvised. Plus the book plots were too complex and boring to be adapted, they had to simplify them. And they were also given futur plot point by Grrm that could explain some of the controversial decision this season. Like Sansa wedding with Ramsay, it was probably made because the character would end up in the North in one of the next books.

Thoses three point of view are important to understand why when the theory saying dany is a villain not a hero became more popular, dany stan were pretty isolated.

And why did this theory became more popular? Well it's a mix of all thoses perception of daenerys that I mention above but mostly because of the peoples who decided that dany in season 5 was Joffrey.02. Like I say there were people who thought that D&D were now working with futur plot point given by Grrm. And since dany storyline was read as one of a white savior, and the fandom believed Grrm can't do no wrong, and dany did some stuff this season they disapproved of, they decided it meant dany should be seen as a villain. And in a way, it manage to reconciliate the feminist anti racist and the pro D&D point of view , now united in hating daenerys. It allowed them to still trust the show, because it meant it was not D&D and grrm who were racist but dany, and it made them feel smart for having figured out this big plot point. Plus a chunk of the show!jon stan decide the parallel between them this season meant he would become the true hero of the story. Because they thought janos execution was more honorable than mossador's, and jon fight against the wight walker to defend his brothers and the free folks was contrast with dany running away on drogon.

But there were people who didn't like dany and didn't think she would become a villain. Thoses people were feminist who thought daenerys, as the face of the show, was the embodiement of D&D fake feminism responsible of the ruined of character like Sansa or the Martells. Sansa in particular because they felt the show hated traditional feminity which is something Dany was not, which was what allegedly gave her more priviledge and love by the writer and fandom. When season 6 came out, they criticized the double standard between Cersei and Dany, where the former was demonized for burning a Church and the later was celebrate for burning the khals in their holy place. Obviously, the criticism of orientalism and racism within her story didn't make her very popular with feminist.

Season 6 end, and the sansa fandom decide to ship their fav with Jon Snow. But unfortunalty for them, it was obvious that jonerys would become a thing in later season.

Now Sansa was pretty well beloved by the fandom. Like I said earlier, the intellectual part of the fandom and the sansa defense squad really went out of their way to give a better image of the character, wich was fairly popular now that show sansa had a more active role. Plus the feminist adore her!

On the other hand, daenerys was seen as either a villain in the making, or the representation of the show fake feminism and racism. At this point dany stan were considered the dumbass of the fandom.

So, what happen when the jonerys vs jonsa shipping war happen? Well the jonerys shipper were seen as the big bully who victimized the poor sansa stan. Since in their point of view, dany stan were racist people who can't read, and the sansa stan were the woke book purist. Since Sansa was the underdog unfairly hated by the dudebro of the fandom, but beloved by the intellectuals. And Dany was the popular girl who got dumb stan and is only loved by pop feminism. People were naturally more incline into believing jonsa shippers as the victime of this war.

Even when the sansa stan were saying the most heinous things about dany and other female character to prop her up. Even when they were using the villain dany theory, the dark!dany theory, the white savior theory that had now become about dany being a colonizer and imperialist, or the ableist mad queen dany theory wich they backed up by diagnosis her with all the real life disorder they hated. It was seen as normal and dany stan just can't handle criticism. Even when multiple blog were created on tumblr to hate on daenerys which had almost no equivalent for the sansa/jonsa fandom, the jonerys shippers were the bad guys.

Jonerys was made canon in season 7. The intellectual part of the fandom either accept it but thought it was a cliche uninspiring ship, or they defend it for the themes but didn't see it as a complex relationship like jaime with cersei or brienne. The feminist, particulary the one who hated house targaryen, were shocked that grrm could romantize incest. And obviously, the jonsa hated it, and there ugliness started to be notice more with the weird theory they builted, like political!jon. The Jonerys fandom were finally getting some justice.

Plus more big name essayists in the fandom started debunking of the baseless incel hate dany receive post adwd. Dany had now the right to sleep with Daario, Jorah was a creep, Dany rejected Quentyn for peace, and Drogo being Dany rapist was getting more believed by the fandom.

During the hiatus before season season 8, @rainhadaenerys wrote down a lot of meta as a defense against the worst claimed that the fandom made about Dany. It gave hoped to dany stan, but it was crushed by season 8 with D&D deciding to make the mad queen theory canon the worst way possible.

Now the feminist and the intellectual part of the fandom are both defending daenerys. But there is the dominant idea that certain event of the last season could happen in the books, like dany burning King's Landing. And the possibility of her going insane should be accepted by the dany stan, and if not, it mean we are not real asoiaf fans.

[wingsofwhales]

Romantic Comedies: Where’s the Beef?

My guiltiest of guilty pleasures: Romantic Comedies. Not that I’m guilty about my love for Romantic Comedies (though being male, society would probably like if I were guilty). Almost all big name Romantic Comedies prior to 2016 (or even earlier) typically followed a strict guideline in terms of how their stories progressed. Not only that, but they typically followed a strict guideline regarding their character’s gender, sexuality, and race. That shouldn’t be a problem for most individuals. I’m not most individuals, though.

I’m the big G word.

I’m gay. I’m not only gay, but I’m hella gay. I’m a hella gay boy who grew up watching hella heteronormative movies who made great sweeping claims about romance and love. Not only is there a lot to unpack in terms of how that idea of love portrayed in media emphasized toxic masculinity, but there’s plenty to unpack in terms of what the media portrayed on who can love: white, cis-gendered, straight couples. I am only one of those things (one and a half if you wanna be pretentious about my mixed heritage).

I’m not salty about it, though. I’m kind of salty. If I think really hard about it, I’m really salty, so I try not to think about it too hard. I am, however, not salty about Chris Evans in any of these movies because Romantic Comedies introduced me to what a man he is.

Love Behind the Big (Terministic) Screen:

“When I speak of “terministic screens,” I have particularly in mind some photographs I once saw. They were different photographs of the same objects, the difference being that they were made with different color filters,” Kenneth Burke describes his definition and idea behind terministic screens (Burke, 45). It’s a pretty simple analogy and one that works well with describing how we, as humans, view our world. In particular, it gives us a great lens with which we can view media because media is simply a number of filters one on top of the other, both literal and figurative.

Love is one such screen and is described in so many works and movies, but it mostly comes center stage in both movies about love (The Notebook and other Nicholas Sparks stuff) and Romantic Comedies (27 Dresses and a lot of Chris Evans movies). What all of these movies have in common and what’s prevalent in Romantic Comedies is the notion that love is between a man and a woman and if you dare see “a gay” in these movies, they’re typically the main lady’s best friend. Not touching on the fact that they’re typically stereotypes. Moreover, it’s that these movies not only label love as between men and women, but between white men and white women. I mean, name a Romantic Comedy with two black leads that isn’t a Tyler Perry production. Okay, you got me: Just Wright with Queen Latifah was amazing, but so are most of her movies. Regardless of that fact, there’s likely 5 Romantic Comedies that got more praise (they don’t typically get a lot of praise for their predictable and often unchanged format) for every Black Romantic Comedy out there.

Why is that?

It’s because society has labeled love as something that’s white, heteronormative, and cisgendered. And we’re born into that. We look at our movies and our shows and we see a white couple and immediately understand that that’s the American Dream. Any notion of something beyond that, or different to that is often considered ‘pandering’ to a small audience or adhering to a liberal, SJW agenda. Why can’t it just be the fact that there’s all kinds of love out there? And that not all of it is white, straight, and cis?

That’s Pretty Gay Tho

Kenneth Burke defines man as a symbol-using animal, “We must use terministic screens, since we can’t say anything without the use of terms; whatever terms we use, they necessarily constitute a corresponding kind of screen; and any such screen necessarily directs the attention of one field rather than another” (Burke, 50). In this effect, as humans we use language to define certain things and in a more complex realm, we twist language into media and media defines even more things. Language will always remain a tool for humans to define things in our lives, but our mediums are ever evolving and getting even more widespread. It’s why it can be both a boon and a disaster when we use media to define ideas that society has perpetuated and will continue to perpetuate until humans start defining things differently.

Being the big ol’ Gay has been on the negative end of this desire to provide a lens for certain kinds of perspectives. Homosexuality is defined as less than men, not even men, but also as a tool for the white woman to satisfy the needs her other female friends can’t and certainly not her love interest. But, furthermore, homosexuality has its spot in the media: tragedies. Because what is being gay if not either a walking neon sign or a big ass tragedy. There’s a reason a media trope has been named after us: Bury Your Gays.

Bury Your Gays, as defined by TV Tropes, “Often, especially in older works (to the extent that they are found in older works, of course), gay characters just aren’t allowed happy endings. Even if they do end up having some kind of relationship, at least one half of the couple... has to die at the end” (TV Tropes) And the quote it takes from The Guardian discussing A Single Man nails the trope right on, “Colin Firth simply drops dead for no reason. Presumably Overwhelmed by sheer homosexuality, his heart can no longer keep beating. Beware, non-heterosexuals: Sudden Gay Death Syndrome can strike anywhere” (Rawson).

To slam that nail right into the coffin, TV Tropes has an entire list and descriptions of how this happens in various forms of media from Anime and Manga of all things to Video Games. It happens everywhere and it’s frankly tiring. Why does my life have to be a tragedy? I’m not a tragedy. I don’t come from an abusive family. My mom and dad are conservative Republican assholes who I haven’t come out to, but they wouldn’t suddenly hate me and kick me out. My life is average. My life is full of love. And I don’t want to die. Why can’t movies show that to me? If life really does get better, then why isn’t media showing me that I, a Filipino Mid-Western Homo, can find love and the hilarity of life just as easily as the white straight man or woman?

It’s 2018 and society is just now deeming it okay to put funny gay love stories on the big screen.

Love Simon just released this Spring and it was the type of mediocre Rom-Com I was looking for. Well, it wasn’t mediocre, I actually loved it... but I can’t be asked about the quality of a film I’m so biased over. I can’t critique the film because I’m just too happy that I can see a part of myself in it. That I can laugh and laugh and not worry about sobbing sad-angry tears in the end because the main character or his/her/their love interest has just died of AIDS... again. Those stories need to be heard, yes, but not in such a way that we aren’t allowed to see other, happier versions of our stories.

And then we have the fact that not many of these Rom-Coms show diversity. It took 2018 to put a big Asian cast on the big screen (no, Scarlett Johansson is not in this movie).

There’s a lot to unpack and it’s hard not to be passionate and angry about it. It’s about time that these movies are seen and that they battle the terministic screens we grew up with, that our parents grew up with, and their parents before them. This idea of the American Dream isn’t just white anymore and it isn’t very realistic either. Where is the other half of my two-and-a-half kids? Why is a kid only half a kid? I know it’s some weird average based on statistics, but that’s just so weird to say.

But, regardless, terministic screens can be used to our advantage and they’re necessary in our every day lives. We need to set terms and we need to see them through specific lenses, but sometimes we need to see them through multiple lenses. You show Andy Warhol the same picture in different sets of colors and he’ll display all of them. So, why can’t we do the same thing? Why does there only have to be one set of terministic screens in which we are taught is the normal and everything outside of it is other, is tragic, or is not worth telling? Love isn’t just white. It isn’t just cisgendered. And it isn’t just straight. Love comes in many different shades and its about time that Rom-Coms realize that and show use the hilarity of a transgender protagonist without making their gender the butt of every joke. Or an overweight protagonist. Or a bisexual protagonist. Or an older woman as a protagonist cause old people can still fall in love and they’re still beautiful, thank you very much Hollywood. Of all things that we need to broaden the screens for, Love falls under that category.

Just stop killing the gays off please. Please. And please let Chris Evans play a gay protagonist... it’s the one thing I hope for before I die.

Works Cited Stuff

Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action. Empire State College, State University of New York, 1973.

“Bury Your Gays.” TV Tropes, tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BuryYourGays.

Rawson, James. “Why Are Gay Characters at the Top of Hollywood's Kill List?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 11 June 2013, www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/jun/11/gay-characters-hollywood-films.

[bitchy-peachy]

To Anon

Not responding in ask itself cos the ship got mentioned without spaces and that would make the asks appear accidentally in ship tags (and I'm on a device that doesn't seem to be programmed for screenshots at the moment, lol)

I totally agree with everything you say. You know what I used to call shounen manga in the past? Friendship Porn.

Cos the shounen genre sometimes wanks the hell out of friendships instead of romance (unless said shounen is mixed in with shoujo like for example Inuyasha that was in both those genres instead of one. Just adding that in cos in the past whenever I said shounen wasn't romance some dumbass would bring up Inuyasha as if unaware that said manga was categorized as both so of course that manga had blatantly romantic moments going on along with the shounen elements)

Naruto is the very definition of Friendship Porn that while it did have its shippy undertones for the pairings that eventually become canon, it was always overshadowed by the friendship theme. Shippers went crazy thinking that because their ship had their bonds concentrated in such detail that it was "romantic" when Kishi himself said that his manga was friendship themed. So while the non-canon shippers complain about development and say "it doesn't make any sense when we have all this pro ship evidence" the sad fact is that all their "evidence" was friendship. Tbh one of the ships that had a lot of panel time and was romantic love as it was stated repeatedly throughout the manga, gets a humorous amount of hate by people who shipped the characters of said ship with their friends. Don't get me started on the Mira/Tsun shippers that suffer the same syndrome as NS shippers.

I kinda hate how platonic love is downplayed a lot by the fandom. Its such bullshit. Love comes in all different forms, and platonic love is still love. Some shippers need to stop acting like they're getting murdered with this, lmao. They can still ship it romantically in fanon like I do, but hearing facts and knowing them shouldn't hurt them so much. Cos canon and fanon go separately and if they can't admit canon then... No wonder they're always complaining instead of enjoying their pairings. (And its true that it gets annoying to go to a shipping tag and seeing your ship treated as a brotp in said tag when you already know that shit but enjoy another version of your ship. So brotp and romance fanon should sometimes be kept separate, lol. I know it sounds bitchy but that's my view on it. Saying it cos I go to actual ship tags that talk all the time about friendship without tagging it as brotp to not upset shippers. People can ship or brotp whatever they want but jfc. I'm not just saying this as a shipper but as someone that knows people ship wlw pairings as brotps. Just like shippers wouldn't want to see "its platonic and bffs" in the tag, I doubt brotp shippers would want to see nsfw and wlw romantic headcanons. These things need better tagging so both sides are satisfied )

I ship that pairing you mentioned too but I knew it wasn't going to be canon and I'm not necessarily butthurt about although it would have been very cool to have it become canon (I knew they were just best friends but I still enjoyed the idea of romance. Tho my main ship is SS so I write that other ship you mentioned as a very close female bond that doesn't go romantic, okay I'm rambling). I also have m/f brotps. Two brotps of that sort that have been proven as just friendship and they're beautiful friendships cos I've got guy friends like that irl and it never turned romantic.

I'm not straight myself and I've seen my sexuality butchered by straight writers constantly. My sexuality gets written as promiscuous and into orgies, ffs. So I don't get why some people are so desperate for obviously straight writers to give them representation and if they're not given any representation, they complain about h/mophobia. If they want it so bad, they should create their own characters, or write fanfics (I write fanfics for my fave same sex ships. One which I wish was canon but I understand under the circumstances that it wasn't ever going to be canon) or whatever instead of complaining about a writer not giving them what they want cos in the end of the day, this is a fact...

They're not the ones in control of the story, the writer is, and if they don't like it they should maybe move on and create their own content.

And tbh I don't get it what is it with this whole "we hate straight people but want them to write us" bullshit. But that's a separate subject. 😂😂

[missjackil]

Glad I Came When I Did...

I came to Tumblr in July of last year, I had only been watching SPN since the March before, but I had watched everything from the beginning and was all caught up, and well into my rewatches when I got here, and I am so thankful that was the case. When I got here, and saw what many of you say about the show, characters, writers and show runners, I wondered what show you all are watching.  For one thing, the show wasnt “better” in the Kripke era, it was just different for the first 3 seasons, but that was just laying the foundation for what the show was building up to. Sure, it was nice to have just Sam and Dean in every episode and not muddied down with side characters, but this show literally being an epic, needed to get bigger. It wouldnt have lasted 13 years and counting,if it just stayed Sam and Dean hunting shifters and vampires. Season 4 changed everything, and keep in mind this was Kripke, not Gamble or Carver, we got Cas and other angels, it got darker and more personal when Dean went to Hell and was tortured and ended up breaking the first seal, and Sam was drinking demon blood and became addicted, and ultimately raising Lucifer, we learned that that the brothers were part of a big Heavenly plan, and even had Gospels written about them. The great battle of Armageddon would be fought by them! Had the story not exploded like that, the show never would have gotten a 6th season. So many of you just said “It never should have gotten a 6th season anyway” but youd sit there and whine for the next 2 years about how badly it ended. Sam sacrifces himself to save the world and ends up alone in the dark? Dean ends up with a chick he hardly knows? How does this make a good ending to such a great story?  Next, Dean is not an abusive masogynist, and Sam is not the pseudo-female that bends to Dean’s every whim. I’ll agree that Dean hit Sam too much in the early seasons (remember? back with it was “so much better”?) but Sam is a big guy and it was always a fair fight whenever he faught back, he just chose not to fight sometimes. Not because he’s afraid of Dean, but because its Sam’s nature to just not want to fight, Those of you who treat Sam like a battered wife from the 50s, or Stockholm syndrom gone wild, are just really projecting your political agenda on a show that wishes to not take part in ANY political agenda.  Sam and Dean fight. In any drama with brothers, they fight. Since early S7, Dean hasnt hit Sam without being under a supernatural influence, and no one seems to want to accept that that part of Dean has changed. Why? Because youre putting Sam in the battered wife position, where you would tell a battered wife, that the abusive husband wont ever change. Not where he SHOULD be, as a big, strong man, fully capable of kicking Dean’s ass if he wants to, but he doesnt because he loves Dean, and knows Dean loves him, even if he hasnt always known the right way to show it. 

On that same topic, Sam is not the female architype of this story, though sometimes a male/female formula is used. Normally however, Sam and Dean are Butch and Sundance or Luke Skywalker and Han Solo the way Kripke created these characters. Sam has feminine qualities, and so does Dean, but all men do, and all women have some masculine qualities.... thats just being realitic. I am just as tired of hearing about Dean’s “Toxic masculity” as I am about hearing that Sam is a woman with a penis... well, we’ve never been shown he has one, so a woman with facial hair? I dont know.... but feminize either of them in your fan fic if thats what youre into, but don’t write it into the show, when that’s not what the show is telling us.  Neither Sam nor Dean are bisexual, and I dont care if Sam has never said he’s straight, or if he sumonned a male crossroads demon, or Dean and Cas breathed the same air, or Dean made a mix tape. After 12 yrs, if neither of these boys have canonically dated a man, we can safely assume they never will. Even if Wincest was canon, it wouldnt mean they have any interest in men aside from each other.  Sam gets blamed for a lot, he does, but not everything all the time and Dean never blamed Sam for anything (after S4) that he didnt blame himself for too. in S5 Fallen Idols, Dean reminds Sam that he broke the first seal, and tells Sam he couldnt have known killing Lilith was a bad thing, In S8 when Dean tells Sam what things he could confess, he isnt throwing blame on him, but acknowledging that these werent good things, and may need confessing.... ignorance is no excuse for the law right? And Dean puts blame on them both for releasing the Darkness. In my time of watching this show, free from Tumblr, never once did Sam come off as stupid, evil, or less important than Dean. Either in the show or where the writing was concerned.  Dean may asstert himself as the boss or the leader, and most of the time, he is the leader, and thats alright, theyre a team, it doesnt minimize Sam at all, he has said basically he prefers to follow because it’s easier than leading, but he certainly can lead when necessary. Dean is the infantry and Sam is the tank. Thats not making one greater than the other, thats stratagy. But as far as being Sam’s boss, look again.... Dean barks orders at Sam sometimes, but Sam gives orders subtly, he tells Dean to stop, he stops, he gives him a bitch face, he stops, he puts his hand out, Dean doesnt get cake, he says “dont kill him” Dean doesnt kill him, Sam flashes puppydog eyes and gets basically whatever he wants. Sometimes Dean defies Sam, and sometimes Sam defies Dean... see that? The narative does not favor Dean over Sam. Again, I state that Sam has never looked weak or stupid or habitually wrong in my time of watching. A few times Dean says “Im always right” but that doesnt mean he is written to be always right. Its just a Dean thing. Dean is not the “fav” of the writers because he has more speaking lines either. Sam is a quiet character, and since Jared isnt comfortable with long monologues, that works out pretty good. Sam has more personafications than Dean, more pain and affliciton... this isnt “HEY WE HATE SAM SO LETS MAKE HIM SUFFER!! HAHAHAHA!!” This is showcasing how well Jared acts pain, or takes on a different personality. This doesnt put Dean/Jensen down, his strong points are comedic parts, making long dialogue not sound boring, and showing full emotion while still being able to speak clearly. Put these exceptional talents together and it makes for 2 awesome main characters that are defined individuals and not mirrors of each other, and yet they stay similar enough to be believable brothers, best friends, and soulmates. I dont begrudge anyones opinion on anything It’s yours, you have it, and I respect it, but it appears that a lot of you are wasting your time on a show you hate, that goes against everything you stand for, and treats your favorite actor/character like a meaningless extra, and sadly, some are following you and theyre not having their own experience, they’re living yours. I cant tell you how often I hear someone hasnt watched a certain episode, or a certain season because Tumblr people hated it, so they thought it not worth it. and I have to explain that Tumblr people hate everything, and mostly wont ever be happy with the show unless whatever ship they ship becomes canon, which none of them will. So may I suggest, lighten up. take the show at face value, dont sit there, arms crossed, phone in hand waiting to meta on something you want to be there that isnt, and just laugh and love and cry with the rest of us :)

[chocominnie]

Desperado —  01 (M) | JJk.

Pairing: Badboy!Jungkook X Reader

Summary : A messy situationship at it’s finest. You don’t even know whats headed your way, just even engaging in the slightest within him. See, he has an assignment to complete. A mission granted by his father thats do or die. You just so happen to be a major pawn in that assignment. He didn’t mean to take an interest in you. Surely it was an accident right? Only except. you hold much value in this game that he’ll do anything to complete it. Oblivious is what you are. Poor thing. Poor.. Poor thing.

Genre: Mature/ Mafia!Jungkook

Trailer: xxxxx  preview

Word Count : 4.6k

Warnings : This honestly isn’t for the light hearted and the weak…High angst, usage of drugs, drug mentions, mental illness, switch!jungkook, Brat reader, possible stockholm syndrom, kidnapping, assault, death of side characters, weapons, usage of weapons, masturbation, physical violence, blood, alcohol, weed, unprotected and protected sex, spanking, honestly its a lot of aruging

Copyright:  please do NOT repost, translate, or modify my works in any way, shape or form, on any platform. If found doing so , it is considered as plagiarism and appropriate LEGAL action will be taken

‘‘ Here is the first room on your schedule.. now i’ll have Mr. Brock if he’ll have someone that has a similar schedule as you, to help you around.’’ 

You nod your head at the assistant principle and gulp. The nerves that you had somehow subdued is starting to creep back up again. Nothing or nobody in the hallways which makes the tension and nervousness in the air even more thick.

He places a hand on your back, ‘’ You’ll be fine Miss yn. If anybody bothers you, you know where my office is now right?’’

‘‘ Right..’‘

‘‘ Good then. Now go inside, im sure the class is ready to greet you.’‘ He chuckles, his cheeks puff out with a hearty smile. It’s somewhat creepy.

Taking a deep breath in, you turn around and put one hand on the door handle. Thoughts intrude your mind of such all the horrible things you could think happen. It doesn’t help that your heart is beating at a fast pace. It feels like it could burst any second now.Your hands tremble as you open the door slowly, in reward it lets out a creaking noise. 

The muttering sounds of student’s suddenly stop. A man, about 5 foot 9 looks over at you. You take in his features. A westerner. Finally someone of your kind. He has dirty blonde hair and is clean shaven. There’s a mole on the left side of his full set of lips but not to noticeable, just the right size. He can’t be anymore than twenty eight years old at the max.

‘‘ Welcome! You must be yn! Come in, Come in.’‘ He shows off his pearly whites smiling proudly. You keep your head low to not make any sorts of eye contact with the class as you make your way over to him.

‘‘ Class please Welcome yn!‘ 

You can practically feel the eyes burning on you but your head remains a little lowered. Some chatter begins once more along with some whispers and giggles of teenage girls.

‘‘ Why don’t you tell us about yourself hmm?’‘ The teacher, Mr. Brock, politely asks.

You finally manage the courage to raise your head up. It’s a bad idea you soon regret doing it. The faces all stare at you in silence, waiting for you to do as told.

Swallowing hard, you look at the teacher and then back at the silent classroom. “I’m yn, I’m uh.. new here and I just transferred from an international high-school. I moved here when I was eleven due to my mom’s job. I was born in the United States, but soon Canada had became my home after being born.”

‘‘ Wow! A foreigner!” One person bursts out. Then suddenly, all of the questions start coming in at once.

‘‘ How is it in Canda? ’‘

‘‘ I’m visiting the United States over the summer!’‘

‘‘ Is it true that Americans are obese?’‘

Questions are thrown left and right. You try and answer each one of them but your mind and mouth clam shut. It’s not like you’re from America anyways. So all you do is just stand there opening and closing your mouth trying to get a correct answer out.

‘‘ Enough!’‘ Mr. Brock gives one stern look to the class and they all fall silent. You silently thank him in which he nods and turns back to the once more silent class. ‘‘ She surely doesn’t want to be bombarded with questions. Just welcome her class. Shall we begin teaching once more?’’

’‘ Yes teacher.’‘ The class says in monotone.

Mr Brock sends you to an empty seat in the back. On your way to the back, there are more giggles and murmurs but you get past it. Besides, it would be harder for them to stare since you’re in the back.  Your eyes are kept low as you pull out the materials needed for the class. The teacher resume’s what he’s teaching all while you think of how many ways you hate this new school.

The bell rang a chime-ful ring that almost makes you want to mentally drown yourself. At your old school they did not have that annoying chime. Instead it was a regular 10 second dull ring. This just adds on the list of why you really don’t want to be here.

‘‘ Hi, I’m Ayami! Nice to meet you!’‘ Your thoughts are interrupted by a short girl with long dark brown hair, smiling and holding her hand out. You eye her up and down and hesitantly take her hand and shake it.

‘‘ You’re new yeah? Can I see your schedule?’‘

You furrow your eyebrows as she hold she hand out to see the schedule. You give it to her.

She scans over it and hands it back with a smile on her face. ‘’ We have all our core classes together. I play the Violin and I also take Fitness class. So we will only see each other three times out of the day and in lunch also.’’

The two of you start walking down the noisy yet not crowded hallway. Each time a person passes you they chuckle or whisper. You keep your head forward with hopes of the day going by fast.

‘’ Fitness?’’ You didn’t know it was an option. 

‘’ Yeah it’s like P.E with no teacher. Only two gyms, one for boys and one for girls. You basically have to fight for slots in scheduling for a spot. They give you a blue card to swipe to get inside the gym.’‘

‘‘ They did not tell me that.’‘  You frown.

‘‘ Well you did come in the end of the year. Plus you have to be academically good for them to even consider letting you take fitness.’‘

Academically good? Just for a workout? ‘’ Why is that?’’

‘‘ Because.’‘, She chuckles as you both turn down the corridor,  ‘‘ You have to take an hour off your performing arts class in order to get fitness. Hence why your grade in that class and others have to be good.’‘ 

‘‘ Oh.’‘ You nod. ‘‘ That makes since now because you would have to do good in that class. I get it.’‘

You both stop at a classroom. The blue sign on the left of it reads AP Psychology. You can’t help but to smile because it’s always been one of your most favorite classes. 

‘‘ You are in your last year correct? Have you chosen your major and college?’‘ She waves to the teacher as you follow behind her. You look at the female teacher and she gives a warm smile.

Ayami makes her way to the back of the room and points to a desk next to hers. You take it as her wanting you to sit there so you do. ‘’ My major is Psychology. I haven’t chosen a University.’’

‘‘ I chose SNU. I’m going in the medical field as a Pediatrician. Oh how I just love kids.’‘ She beams. You chuckle at her sitting position. Elbows on the table with her head in her hands and a smile to top it all of.

‘‘ Then why choose Psych as a class?’‘ You ask. 

Ayami shrugs her shoulders while adjusting her seating position. ‘’ Maybe I’ll need it one day.’’ 

By the time the class is over you’ve written down every word and notes that the teacher had provided. Ayami had slept for half the class but managed to get some of the notes down. Maybe she’ll ask for them later. That defeats the purpose of her being so called academically well though.

‘‘ And this is the cafeteria. We have 4 main lines of lunch choices. European food, Korean food, American food, and Japanese food.’‘

Your mouth drops at the sight of the huge cafeteria. It’s very spacious with a set of spiral stairs leading up to another seating area upstairs. Two cafeterias? What doesn’t this place have? Each flag of all over the world hangs on the perimeter of the ceiling in the two huge cafeterias. You try and count them one by one but end up disregarding it seeing as though there are so many.

‘‘ We have two vending machines. One with juice and the other with little snacks.’‘ She points to the farthest corner of the cafeteria. There stands two brightly colored machines filled with snacks and drinks. Wow.

You and Ayami begin to walk towards Japanese cuisine line. It wasn’t pretty full in the lines or cafeteria in general. ‘‘ Amazed? Yeah I remember being the same way after I moved from Japan to Seoul and as placed here. I got in by auditioning and recommendation.’’

Grabbing a tray, your mouth waters at what you see before your eyes. All the foods that the lunch lady’s prepared looks so delicious. ‘’ You’re from Japan? You speak english very well..’’

‘‘ Yes I’ve studied hard. I practice a lot too. I speak three languages total. Japanese, English, and I had to be forced to learn Korean and the hangul alphabet.’‘ She chuckles at the end.

‘‘ Can I just have whatever she gets?’‘ You look up at the lunch lady and she nods in approval after you hand her your dark green tray. After the tray is filled with enough food, you and Ayami thank her and move down the line.

‘‘ Try this, it’s sweet in the inside.’’ 

You watch her as she drops two biscuit like circles onto your tray with her chopsticks. ‘’ It’s kind of an overwhelming sweetness, so you’ll only need to eat a little bit.’’ She says.

Once you two have payed for your two meals, she leads you to a table in the middle of the cafeteria. You notice two females and one male which makes your anxiety even more high than it was. New people and you don’t mix together. Its just an awkward scene waiting to happen.

‘‘ Minlee, Crystal, Sungmin, this is my new friend YN.’‘ Sitting her tray down, you feel a tug on your skirt informing you to sit next to her in which you do. They stare at you for a bit, making you look down at your lap to avoid the eyes.

Ayami sighs, ‘‘ Idiots! Say something nice.’‘ 

‘‘ I’m Crystal. I like your eyes...’‘

You look up at her and take in her beauty. Clear skin with strawberry red, long hair and bangs. Her figure seems to be very slim and tall. Full lips with a tiny mole on near her right eyebrow, and a nice nose. Surgery maybe? 

‘‘ Thank you.’‘ 

‘‘ Sungmin. Art is my kind of thing.. what’s yours.’’

Your eyes almost buck out of your head when you make eye contact with him. He has a sharp jawline with a protruding collar-bone and semi long neck. But it all makes up for his tall height and hands that are big also. Double eye-lids with white teeth and a cute yet sexy baby face. One that looks innocent but might be the opposite. To compliment his face, he has short wavy tresses with bangs covering his forehead.

‘‘ The piano..’’ You say, ending the eye contact that was made. You look down at your plate of whatever delicious looking food it is, but your mind goes blank when you realize there are no forks or spoons, just chopsticks. Your worst enemy.

‘‘ Oh how nice. I’m Minlee. I play the viola.. I also draw a bit.”

She’s pretty too. A short bob cut and fringe bangs. Her cheeks are full and just look so pinchable, even with her two dimples. She’s a little on the shorter side but not too short.

Sungmin notices you staring at your tray of food. A look of concern comes across his face in which you try your best to still not make eye contact with him. .’‘ Do you not like the food here?’‘ 

‘‘ Oh no no no the food looks so good. It’s only that...’‘ You trail off not wanting to reveal something to embarrassing. What would they even think of you. An eighteen year old who doesn’t know how to use chopsticks.

Minlee smiles and finishes off for you, ‘‘ You can’t use chopsticks right?’‘ She puts hers down and grabs yours, breaking them apart. You watch her as she folds up a piece of tissue to the point where it is thick. Then takes a hair tie from her wrist and slips the block of tissue in between the chopsticks then wraps the hair tie around them.

‘‘ Trainer chopsticks. There you go.’‘ She smiles, putting it back onto your tray. You thank her as your cheeks begin to heat up. ‘‘ Sorry for the inconvenience.’‘

‘‘ Wow. How do you eat at restaurants and at home?’‘ Sungmin leans forward from his previous position waiting for your answer. You bite your lip and begin to pick up a dumpling. ‘‘ I order out or either pick it up at a restaurant. We have forks and knives and spoons at home.’‘

‘‘ You’ve lived here for so long, how do you not know how?’‘ Crystal giggles and takes a sip of her berry-like beverage. ‘‘ I try and practice but give up after the first try.’‘

‘‘ Ah I see. Well we can help you work on that if you like.’‘ Min-lee takes a bite of her pizza and nods. ‘‘ Thanks. Although you guys might not be very successful. I’m short tempered.’‘ You chuckle, plopping another dumpling into your mouth.

Crystal lets out one of her cute giggles again, ‘‘ Non sense. It took me till i was ten to stop using trainer chopsticks. I hated when my mom made me use regular ones.’‘ 

You laugh with the whole table again. This might not be so bad. Four new friends on the first day of school. Wow, being the anti-social person you are it’s a new record. You only had a total of 2 friends at your old school, but something inside you thought that they weren’t really your friends because they talked to you whenever they felt like it. 

‘‘ Oh they’re coming! Look guys look!.’‘ Crystal points and squeals at the entrance into the cafeteria. ‘‘ Oh god. Here she goes again.’‘ Sungmin rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

She punches his arm and does a harsh ‘shh’ sound. Sungmin rubs his arm and curses under his breath making you smile at the two. ‘‘ Shut up idot! I need to have quietness while i intake their handsomeness.’‘ 

‘‘ Those boys are nothing but trouble.’‘ Minlee says, shaking her head also as Ayami agrees with her.

You turn to look at the entrance to see who they’re referring to. But you freeze and begin to choke on a piece of noodle as they walk through the cafeteria.Tears form in your eyes as your coughing becomes more violent.  Ayami ferociously pats your back until the noodle becomes un-lodged in your throat and onto the ground. 

‘’ Damn it yn! What’s wrong?’’ Ayami says, eyes wide of fear and curiosity. You shake your head as your breathe hard, ‘‘ I just didn’t expect it to be the boys from this morning.’‘ 

Sungmin hands you his un-opened bottle of water in which you take and thank him just before taking multiple sips.

‘‘ They’re beautiful aren’t they? Jungkook, Jimin, Namjoon, Seokjin, Hoseok, Taehyung, and Yoongi.’‘ It doesn’t help that Crystal is in a dreamy like state with her hands on her head and a slight smile as she stares off into space.

You turn to get a good look again. They sit in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where you guys sit as possible.There’s seven of them and they laugh and talk amongst themselves. They aren’t looking or staring at you, unlike the other students who did so all day. So it’s declared safe to stare at them without fear of making eye contact. 

They certainly don’t look like blood brothers. The one from this morning has muscles with dark brown hair and a serious jaw-line. Another is taller, leaner, but still muscular, and has black hair with a dimple when he smiles. The third one has ginger hair and an eye smile when he laughs. His full lips also catch your attention. The forth one is less bulky with a brown haired mullet and facial features to die for. Fifth one has a bright personality coming from the way you’ve seen him smile and laugh way more than the others. He has blonde hair. Sixth one has what it seems like a dull personality. He sits with his legs crossed with a neutral facial expression that doesn’t change. But something tells you he might be the biggest sweetheart ever. The very last one looks like he could be a model like the mullet guy. Broad shoulders and a squeaky laugh. How adorable. You just could not look away from them. They’re so beautiful it’s unnatural.  They are like the faces you see on a fashion magazine. Or maybe even skin care. 

‘‘ Who are they?’‘ You turn back to them at the table. ‘‘ You were staring at them for like five minutes.’’ Ayami shakes her head and finishes up the last of her ramen. ‘‘ They’re trouble that’s who they are.”

‘‘ No.’‘ Crystal interrupts, ‘‘ They’re handsome men that make this school worth going to.’‘ Sungmin scoffs and sits back up from his slumped position. ‘‘Yeah right. I’m number eight after them on the schools ranked handsome list.’‘

‘‘ Exactly. Number eight, idiot.’’ Crystal roles her eyes earning a fake hurt expression from Sungmin. ‘‘ I swear if you weren’t my sister I would say something so insulting.’‘

So they are brother and sister. Interesting.

‘‘ I’ll tell you who they are.’‘ Min-lee sighs and pushes the tray away from her while clearing her throat. ‘‘ They came two years ago. All of them came together. Nobody knows where or what school or district they came from. Rumor had it that they didn’t need to audition like the rest of us to get in. That’s when people started to speculate and get interested in them.’‘

‘‘ I did not have to audition..’‘ You say, confused. ‘‘ It’s because you had a good recommendation from someone that’s of higher level.’‘ Ayami says.

‘‘ Oh. Keep going.’‘

Minlee continues, ‘’ They wear all this rich-like clothing and have always walked to their core classes together like they were some type of high-class boys. But in reality, someone found out information on them, and who they work for.’’

You furrow your eyebrows. Work for? What does that even mean?

‘‘ Supposedly they are all in this gang. It’s one of the most notorious gangs in South Korea. Say the name and everyone knows who you’re talking about. But nobody knew who they were. The principle had denied the rumors and speculations when it was brought to her attention. But it was too late. Now everybody believes that they’re truly apart of it. And guess who’s father is the of the gang.’’

You had no idea. You sat there waiting for her to continue as everyone else became quite at your table.

‘‘ Jeon Jungkook. The dark browned haired guy with the killer face.’‘ Minlee sits back with a smirk upon her face. You don’t know how to take all this in.

Seven boys apart of a gang? But go to a performing arts school? It doesn’t make sense at all.

‘‘ So he and his friends work for his father correct?’‘ You ask. They all nod their heads at you. ‘‘ That means that they might be killers?’‘ You swallow hard, trying not to look back at the seven boys.

‘‘ And drug dealers, and criminals.’‘ Ayami rolls her eyes and sighs. 

‘‘ They’re all ruthless. They might seem like they care about you, if you’re pretty to them. All they want is sex from girls and money from doing their dirty job.’‘ Minlee says.

‘‘ Non-sense, I know a few girls that have dated them.’‘ Crystal frowns while gazing over at them. ‘‘ And how long did it last? Did it end well.’‘ Sungmin’s sarcasm comes out of his mouth. 

‘‘ Nobody asked you dummy. I was just saying.’‘ Crystal lets out a huff of air, picks up her tray, and starts getting up. ‘‘ I’m going to toss my trash. Anybody coming?’‘

You just so happen to get stuck with the night shift before someone comes in and does the overnight. You wish someone would have covered your shift for you. It makes it even worse since you’re utterly exhausted from getting used to your new school today. All you wanted to do was go home and sleep, but work calls and money must be made. 

‘‘ How was school?’‘ 

‘‘ Eh. I need more time to get used to it.’‘ As you bring in the last boxes of ordered candy, you thank the vendor and watch him leave the store.

‘‘ Really? I would kill to go to a performing arts school.”

You chuckle at Sejun, your coworker who manages to keep you sane at the store. ‘’ It’s not all that. The uniforms are ugly.’’

‘‘ Uniforms? Ha, nevermind I wouldn’t want to go. I can’t just wear one single thing for the whole school week. You know I’ve got to express my fashion in any way honey.’’ He snaps his fingers together and does a striking pose.

You stifle your laugh with a hand coming across your mouth. He likes putting sarcasm on the stereotypes of him, which is funny to you. Such a silly person, but a blessing to work with. When you met Sejun you thought he was the flirty type because he’s always hands on and touchy towards the staff. But after one day you had asked if he liked you, he laughed right in your face for a good two minutes. It was embarrassing, so you thought, but all in the end he shook his head no and told you he is gay, in English, in his Aussie accent. 

It was a relief to you but you saw that coming out of no where. How could you not have known? Till this day it still shakes you up , but in a relieving good way.

‘‘ The group at school misses you. I told them to come into the convience store to see you one day this week.’‘ 

Sejun takes half the boxes from you and starts slicing them open with a box cutter. You carefully hang each pack of candy onto the metal hanger with ease. ‘’I’ll be looking forward to it. We need a night out all together.’’

Stacking an empty box on-top of another, ‘’ But exams are coming soon. I heard from one of my new friends at school that they also test each quarter on your performing art skill. We have this big one coming up, as my teacher said today.’’

Sejun hands you a box of blue raspberry candies that belong on the row you’re working on. You take it from him and toss it next to you to work on when you’re done. ‘’ Yeah. Maybe an end of the year graduation party. A big one.’’  He says.

You nod your head in approval as you hang the last bag of strawberry candies up, ‘’ Sounds great. Lets rent a place shall we?’’

‘‘ Yes. We could invite anyone and everyone! Let’s plan this out more later on okay?’‘ Sejun giggles of excitement. ‘‘ Besides, I need to meet new people. Preferably a handsome boyfriend who can handle all this ass and sass. ‘‘

You almost choke on your mint flavored gum when he says that. Sejun giggles once more and pats your back, ‘’ I’m totally not joking. We need to get boyfriends. Any cute boys at your school? No down-low ones for me.’’

Your mind instantly goes to the group of boys. You don’t know the names by heart yet. But you do know the one who confronted you, Jungkook. The leader of the group at school, and son of a mafia-drug lord. 

You swallow hard and shake your head no quickly, “No. I don’t.’’

Sejun smirks, getting up from his crouching position and placing his hands on his hips. “You’re lying. Come on spill it to me mama.”

Looking back up at him, you try and hide your burst of laughter that comes tickling up your throat. “Im,.. serious..’’ 

‘‘ Who is it. Let’s go behind the counter and talk. Some customers might come in soon. It get’s busy around 5 till 7. ‘‘ He holds out a hand to help you up. You pick up all the little empty boxes and then grab his hand for him to yank you up.

On your way to the counter you toss the boxes in the huge recycling bin by the soft drink machines. ‘’ Honestly, it’s really nothing.’’ 

‘‘ Oh so it’s more than one boy hmm? ‘‘ Sejun smirks again. You roll your eyes playfully and stand right next to him, leaning on the counter. ‘‘ Okay fine. It is more than one and they are all handsome but i’ve been warned about them.’‘

‘‘ Spill it Now.’‘

‘‘ Seven boys go to my school and its rumored they are in the mafia. Get this, the leader of the gang spoke to me this morning. Of course they’re all stuck up and rude. They laughed at me when the leader scolded me for being in their way.’‘

You shiver at recalling this morning’s entrance scene. ‘’ The leader is nonchalant with a bad attitude. He’s got a great face though. The rest are all very handsome. Like they all belong on some modeling contract and on the front page of some magazine.’’

You notice Sejun’s mouth hanging open which makes you furrow your eye-brows at him. ‘’ What? You know them or something?’’

He raises his finger slowly out of your direction. Your eyes follow to where he’s pointing and your breath hitches for a quick second. No way. No fucking way.

The door’s bell rings signaling someone has entered. But it wasn’t just someone. No, it was more than one person. Those seven boys. Laughing and being loud as they walk inside, barely even noticing you or Sejun.

‘‘ Are those the ones you were talking about? Because they’re hot as hell and-’‘

‘‘ Shut up Sejun.’‘ You whisper harshly. You can’t believe with your own eyes what you’re seeing. How is this even possible. On-top of that, how did you not see those on them before.

Sejun whispers, ‘’ okay but all of them are covered in tattoos.. major turn on oh my god.’’ 

Your mind or body doesn’t pay attention to him talking. All you cant think about is how Jungkook’s neck, biceps, arms, and chest are covered in tattoos. The deep, black v-neck on him portrays his collar-bone making you just want to melt right then and there. 

Tattoos? Who knew that tattoos could look so fucking good on a person like him. It’s obvious to why he covers them in school, but jesus christ they look to damn good on him.

The ripped black skinny jeans show off his very muscular thighs. Is this heaven right now? You can’t even stop yourself from staring so hard. The blood rushes through your cheeks just imagining him shirtless with all the tattoos showing.

‘‘ Yn.. Yn.. come back to earth he’s coming up to the counter damn it!’‘ 

Sejun shaking you makes you come back to reality. Before you know it, he’s standing right in-front of you with a case of beer and condoms. Not any regular sized condoms either.

‘‘ Well well well, it’s little miss entrance ruiner. ‘‘ He smirks, eyes never leaving yours, brown eyes burning right into your soul. ‘‘ Ring these up for me baby-cakes.’‘

You bite your lip and break eye contact first while grabbing the scan gun. Your hands shakily scan each item not even daring to look back up. ‘’ Your total  is $22.34... cash, credit or de-’’

He cocks his head to the side with a sly grin on his face, ‘‘ Cash.. if you don’t mind.’‘ 

‘‘ N-no problem.’‘

He gives you a twenty and a five dollar bill in which you put it in the cash register and take out the change back for him. Ripping the receipt off the printer, you hand it to him first and then the change. 

‘‘ The name’s Jungkook.’‘ 

He smirks once more before grabbing his items and leaving out with the rest of the boys trailing behind him. Once the door closes, you finally let out a puff of air.

It still doesn’t hit you that what just happened is real. It can’t be real. You did not just hold an actual conversation with a possible gang person. A sexy one at that.