#not rly it’s like the first case arc but like Still

[rosemary-bells]

[quuuueto]

a few dragon ball doodles!

[lokh]

kyojuro makes me want to write the opposite of a fix it fic

[arolesbianism]

Y'know I should talk abt Otto more. I may have not that many thoughts on them but they're my special lil guy who torments me everyday by having the fun writing quirk of being actively misgendered when no other nonbinary character is to my knowledge. I also think they're a transfem nonbinary egg.

[eideticmemory]

blurb about kinky spencer what do you feel about that like early seasons to late seasons what his into it ☝🏻💥

ik everyone has their ideas about spencer reid’s sexuality between ages ~18-24 and cm rly never says much about it BUT i’ve always imagined that during college/grad school and the early seasons spencer was actually very sexually confident. i don’t mean that as in he could see someone across the room and cruise them and take them home but i think he knew what he liked. he is beautiful, that’s obvious so i imagine that when he got onto a college campus and started getting validation from all these pretty girls and pretty guys that he was like “wait…..i actually kinda have sex appeal?” and that was good bc even tho he was super insecure and younger than his classmates he was still as horny as everyone else!!! im a bi spencer truther and i think his first sexual experience was with a man and i think he felt anxious about sex with women for a while. his first time she probably had to throw herself at him but his brain was just like ???? ok??? i think shes having a good time?? but?? she cant get a boner so i cant quite tell?? this is getting long i’m sorry 😭

but i think anatomy helped him a lot. it was something he could contextualize and i can see him looking up vagina diagrams or even watching porn to figure out What To Do. and as he becomes more sexually active he becomes very good at reading body language. fucking someone and thinking “ok their legs are shaking, thats good, thats a good sign. oh they’re breathing’s faster, better keep this up” but what he liked the most was just being spoken to. he liked verbal validation during sex very much, someone who would grab his hands and put them where they wanted bc he could figure out the rest from there. once he gets out of his head a little bit is when he starts becoming vocal himself. i imagine he got a lot of questions during sex like “ru ok? ru enjoying it?” bc he would just lay there and whimper quietly bc he was overthinking everything. then one time its so good that he forgets to think and he’s moaning like a whore and it finally clicks for him “oh wow it feels even better to just let it out. oh wow they like it when i let it out” i think his kink was just pleasing someone, being good and feeling good, being able to tell himself that he did good.

in the early seasons i think he enjoyed sex and the idea of being that close to someone. i think he was touch starved and craved intimacy and he seeks it less as the show goes on. his experiences at the bau (especially the anthrax case) encouraged his germaphobia and yeah he would still get horny but he struggled to find anyone whose touch didn’t gross him out. i think that was a struggle for him for a long time. then especially after maeve he was constantly chasing the touch of a woman he had never even seen or gotten to hug. it was weird to think about while grieving her but his mind and heart craved her so much through their relationship so his body did too. he thought one day he would let someone touch him. someone he loved! and then she died in front of him so that was shot to shit. he grieved sex he would never have. i would describe his kink here as “someone i love so much i’d die for it. they could have anthrax on their tongue and i’d kiss them just because its them.”

in the later seasons after cat adams and the prison arc, i think he loses a lot of his inhibitions. basically a revelation of “i don’t have the energy to ponder on what i like and who i like” bc he feels it instantly. the moment he makes eye contact with someone, he can feel it in his tummy that he would have sex with them if they wanted. and when he feels it he flirts with humor. there’s nothing he loves more than when he banters with someone cute, making them laugh and catching a sparkle in their eye. like if they can understand each other’s minds then surely they might understand each other’s bodies. in bed he’s superrr vocal but not necessarily dirty more like “do u wanna be on top? yes i want that to” “can i take your shirt off? thank you” and putting a titty in his mouth. “can i bend your legs back a little more? i just wanna get a little deeper. tell me if its uncomfortable though” a lot of “yeah yeah yeah” when he’s drowning in it and then looking down and saying “yeah? yeah? yeah?” bc at the end of the day he stills needs to know he’s doing good

[victimized-martyr]

Do you think Kenny actually likes cartman? I’m not so sure since the reading of his will in s9e4 (https://youtu.be/QGx92r8NLIM)

I feel like nobody likes him but Kyle is the only one who thinks he can possibly get better at all.

I agree on some level with that last statement. Due to Kyle's morals and complicated attachment to Cartman, he would be the only one willing to nurture the potential Cartman has, though I'd say Cartman isn't universally hated as one would assume. I think Kenny and Cartman's friendship deepened off screen since s9. It shows itself strongly in the covid specials and post-covid (not post covid the special, I mean like.. after the actual irl covid and.. ARGH mattrey u make my life so difficult)     

      Kenny was the one to approach Cartman about the fragility of the broship and inspires Cartman to be the one to make sure the gang stays together. That's a level of openness and vulnerability that frankly, I haven't seen him share with Stan or Kyle. Quite the opposite in fact-- When Kenny finally admits he's immortal, Stan and Kyle dismiss him in their own way. Neither have made the move to sympathize with him since, especially at the level Cartman does in the covid episodes. Now, Cartman's "sympathetic" method of coddling Kenny wasn't the best thing to do I'd say, the show was clear  Stan, Kyle and Cartman weren’t handling the broship fallout well, but Cartman definitely proved himself as the “best friend” the show has claimed he’s been in prioritizing Kenny during Covid. We even get a verbal reminder from Cartman and Kyle in Post-Covid that despite it being the literal worst future for everyone, Cartman and Kenny’s friendship thrived. With the opposite lives they lead, it's astounding they remained best friends for forty years.

That level of loyalty is kicking Stan and Kyle in the dirt and laughing rn. Look at Dikinbaus! Cartman and Kenny had a blast “planning the business” (ie living it up as owners and mutually taking advantage of Butters to just pal around) and Cartman once again concedes to Kenny when he lets him work from home. It’s a gag first and foremost, but still, I think it works as part of character analysis lolol. I’m analyzing this a lot from Cartman’s perspective, or at least his actions, but I don’t rlly have much to go by on Kenny’s end and I hope y’all can see why lol. excluding the Mysterion arc and the s22 Halloween episode, he’s a passive character. things rly just are happening to this dude. 

Cartman's attachment to Kenny has grown exponentially since the early seasons ("I hate yew guys/ specially kinny/ ah hate em the most/") whereas we've heard directly from Kenny what he thought of Cartman at the time s9 was written but we don't really know what he thinks of Cartman presently. Now, mattrey have written Kenny's quietness and frequent disappearances as part of the charm of his character--the mysteriousness with a pinch of hidden sadness, maybe a dash of loneliness--and not like, a serious writing pitfall of not knowing what to do with one of your main characters, not giving them the chance to let the audience see their motivations. So the uncertainty surrounding Kenny's true opinions, in this case of his friendship with Cartman, isn't by accident. I'd say it's fair to assume Kenny now views Cartman as a best friend, given how much Cartman has done for him.

I’d also say it’s fair to assume the pity for Cartman hasn’t changed.

[ca-suffit]

ohh in that case I absolutely agree with you, there will be a lot of people, especially poc, stop watching, but it probably won't "matter" if the overall numbers rise since they'll get a bunch of white (maybe the racist ones who skipped s2) fans back or in general new people who only see this season as a campy funny vampire show. And yeah, from everything we know so far, it feels like they won't revisit anything from the past, not 1x05, not the trial in any meaningful way. I can see them either pull a "Lestat actually was forced" or they'll just gloss over his involvement since it would completely negate the reunion scene in the finale, wither way, both alternatives are not what I want to see. Watching this show I really had hopes to see them do what is essentially an interpersonal horror story for Louis justice, ultimately ending up for eternity with his abuser who killed his daughter, top tier gothic horror romance, but they seem to have decided to ignore the first two things in that genre. I was also looking forward to devil's minion, but that excitement has also just ended for me. I think in part of why I can't see them go forward with an engaging story is because they killed both of the audience stand ins. Claudia is dead and Daniel is not human anymore, I think that outside perspective is really what made the first two seasons and now we have none of that.

they were always banking on rabid anne rice fans bcuz they're the ones who kept her rich even decades into her books being shit. so they can literally do anything and it'll be "successful." it won't be memorable tho if they rly fuck it and ppl will be more wary of trusting a formula like this again. this has already always been shaky with the race swapping, but they did so well with it up until now. idk, we'll just have to see where it's going.

wrt lestat, his version of IWTV *is* part of his book, so I expect he'll comment on it somehow. we'll just have to see how far. accepting that he was wrong in the fight was a step, but I rly want a lot more out of that. I don't want to say a ton of book stuff theyve hinted bcuz of spoilers but combined with a lot of other stuff it's not making me feel great. sam said some stuff I liked about akasha's arc with lestat. I'm just hoping they give some responsibility for lestat's actions and personality to lestat and don't just always say it was another influence. that would be shit.

"I was also looking forward to devil's minion, but that excitement has also just ended for me."

is that bcuz of the S3 promo or....??

"Claudia is dead and Daniel is not human anymore"

they've heavily p much admitted that claudia will be haunting ppl, so I don't think that aspect is "gone" gone yet. the grief of her death is a constant part of the loustat relationship. so there's some hope there, maybe?? maybe not for what exactly ur saying but just throwing that out there. also there might be hope for daniel too, as he's *very* young compared to the other vampires and we've possibly seen lestat already go after him for annoying him (the coughing). he's still *rly* vulnerable compared to the rest and prbly doesn't have much of any powers or ability to use them well, if he does. idk if that helps any but he's still "weak" compared to them.

[danphantom]

a while back i saw some ppl heavily criticize agit to the point of saying it was a shitty graphic novel, and they had a lot to say that i could retaliate with even more of my own words, but i wont do that to yall. i do wanna highlight one thing they complained about tho and that was how the gn gave dan a second chance (they included vlad in this but im talking about dn rn)

my initial, simpler thought was "girl shut up" which i still also feel. but my more thought out response is...wasnt that the point of the ending of tue??? not necessarily in dan's case per se, but the whole "maybe that's all anybody needs--a second chance" line, and "you've given everyone else in your life a second chance--why not you?" honestly tell me that (whether on purpose or on accident) they were implying everyone--EVERYONE--deserves a second chance, and to me that includes dan (and vlad).

not only that, but the people were complaining about how dan and vlad got some flavor of redemption arc at least starting, and how theyre "supposed to be villains". girl what. not every villain has to be irredeemable and die awfully all alone. also, maybe....just maybe....they were aiming to make vlad and dan just a bit deeper than a fucking puddle. yknow. give them a LITTLE bit more dimension, like good characters would have.

its early in the morning so i wasnt able to properly articulate all that i had thought when i saw these responses..but i hope i got the gist across?? idk. people were being OVERLY HARSH about the execution of this graphic novel, and while it particularly hurts me to see because i absolutely adored it myself, i also think theyre just generally being overly critical of something that i think was actually rly fucking good and needed and welcome.

(they also said really fucking mean things about the art, even going as far as saying it was worse than BUTCH'S, so i actually dont think these people were speaking in good faith in the first place lol. but thats another post i guess)

[coredrill]

this post is not abt bravern but it Is abt my Bravern Feelings

i miss this show so much already SOBS. i did enlist another g roup of irl friends to watch it w me though and we are starting tomorrow so yay :] and also beware the rewatch posts

[guy who has said that i'm glad i watched this live every week voice] i'm rly glad i watched this live, but this time its bc. i think there is something so truly and genuinely special abt the way that the theories abt bravern himself evolved week to week.........like at first everyone was like Well maybe he's an evil alien who is gonna Kill isami. and then everyone was like Well maybe he's a death drive and isami is his lulu. and THEN everyone was like Well there's still some knuth in there so. but none of that was the case!!! none of that was true!!! it was literally just this one guy and all of the love he has and Absolutely Sucks Shit at expressing!!!!!!! and i just. idk. that hits me rly hard that maybe it was percieved as sinister at first just cause it was a little Off but in the end it was something really really sweet :] it also just feels like yet another way of the show doing its "we know audiences aren't willing to accept optimism at face value these days" schtick like they mentioned in that one interview and just. showing how bravern himself evolves in the eyes of the viewer. it's rly special to me :]

i know bravern speaking german in ep2 was a nod to the translator he uses on superbia later but. what if someone loved you so much they became german (if i ever mention kyouji again in a bravern context just fucking shoot me)

WILD to watch the finale and then see the isami hate train take off FKSJDHFJ cause i feel like i adored him so much in that ep LMAO. my guy really felt every emotion known to man in the span of 22 minutes and then started makin gup new ones. he's very human!!! and i love that abt him!!!!

although some takes. i'm ngl. i know we joke abt subtext and cowards but it becomes less funny when the subtext that is there is missed LMAO

sorry to keep bringing up ep4 but i think its SO interesting how like. the way that bravern seems to helps isami out emotionally in that ep actually ends up not helping him in the long run aswell? like getting to know all those ppl care abt him is good ofc but it also feeds Directly into his hangups in ep5. and i remember being a little confused as to Why that was the case on first watch cause ep4 was So abt his beef w lulu (FLSDKJFH) but w the smith being a human again thing in the end it makes. so much more sense!!!!! i can't wait to rewatch the show w it still fresh in my mind and find even more!!!!!!

and omg the beef with lulu. literally nothing is funnier to me than "we are gonna have one Rival Fight in this show and that position is gonna be filled by isami and smith's fucking KID" SOBS. LIKE. it kills me FKSLDJFHL. though i will say again that i think it is So fucking special that in ep10 lulu specifically calls out isami taking care of her after smith dies and it apparently happens to such a degree that like. he is worth her time traveling back to save independently aswell? even though there was no way that he "took care of her" for more than a couple days? which i think just says so much abt isami in the sense that like. at no point before ep6-7ish in his arc would he have even entertained that idea. uwu

i think i said this before but ikd if i included the screenshot but. the fact that while bravern is dying he sees THAT SAME FUCKING PICTURE is just evidence that men do not take enough photos i think

there is literally Nothing more onbrand for bravern than the fucking. "ep13 abema listing" (if anyone who has not heard abt that sees this. it was just a rebroadcast of ep12 mislabeled) sending everyone into a tizzy regarding like. Secret Episode Question Mark except half of everyone being convinced its an april fools joke and the other half being convinced that the april fools joke is that we didn't expect it. and then it turns out to not be interntional atall and the real april fools joke is Fry Pan. SOBS

Crunchyroll I Am Begging You If You Dub This Please Dub The Songs Too Oh My God (<- delusional)

anyways!!!!!!!!!!! again i know recency bias is the killa but god. i really loved this show a lot!!!! it might be an alltime fave story for me in general!!!!!! even if it's not it was a really special experiance and story on the whole and i'm just really really happy i get to carry it in my heart forever :]

[carefulfears]

can you pleeeease please pls pls talk about piper maru/apocrypha theeee apex of the early myth arc obviously i just rewatched it and also you rewatched it a few months ago but i rly would like to hear you get super into it. talk about watever you please but i wld love 2 hear stuff about specific scenes/line or plot implications or performances or technical stuff you liked or what have you. i love you xoxo mikey

okay coming back to this because we just watched these together lol but the thing about piper maru/apocrypha is that like...they speak so much for themselves. and they have a lot to say, about the core themes of the series. it's not just the apex of the myth-arc, it's a subtle love letter of everything that the show believes in.

firstly, i've said this before, but that opening sequence of first scully and skinner, then scully and mulder, is so much of what it all boils down to. and, almost in contrast to the rest of the arc, it's relatively loving and hopeful. just not in the sense that everyone wants things to be.

the government is not going to pursue melissa's murder investigation. the FBI does not care. those in power do not care. they have the tools and technology to piece together any crime, but, as scully says:

"in a case of a woman, my sister, who was gunned down in cold blood in a well-lit apartment building by a shooter who left the weapon at the crime scene, we can't even put together enough to keep anybody interested."

scully is always bubbling with this benevolent indignant rage, just under the surface, and it's so moving when it breaks. it's her sister. and no one is even interested.

it matters that skinner tells her that he's fighting it, he's going to appeal. he's going to go over all of the evidence personally, make sure nothing was overlooked. i love the way he tells her that he got the memo last night and debated calling her at home, you can tell that he's been sitting with it all night.

when she goes downstairs, and mulder is buzzing about some ship wreckage that he's already researched coordinates and weather and radiation spots before anyone else got there that morning, the way she smiles is the end of any confusion as to why she stays. it's been 23 years since the last time anyone cared about his dead sister, and he's down there digging. ("i'm just...constantly amazed by you.")

it's nice that someone stays interested. it's nice to spend your life with someone who cares, when no one else does.

later, in san francisco, i always cry when scully drives onto the military base where she grew up, and sees the kids playing. and it flashes to the kids as her and melissa. once again, this episode is a love letter to everything this show believes.

and when she speaks to her old neighbor, it's spelled out in my favorite quote of the franchise: "we bury our dead alive, don't we?"

i always think of @scullysflannel's post on this thematic arc:

But then I also think about “we bury our dead alive” and “nothing disappears without a trace” and how The X-Files is always in conversation with its ghosts...It matters that the show is saying both everything ends and nothing’s ever really over. You can’t stop moving forward, but there’s also a duty to remember, both out of love (“I want to remember how it was”) and to prevent the same things from happening to anyone else. The future won’t be any better unless people honor the ones who came before. Progress on The X-Files is this constant push and pull between hope and tragedy; you can’t have one without the other.

the x-files is always in conversation with its ghosts, and everything buried still speaks.

when the first installment of this two-parter ends, skinner is shot for his unwillingness to abandon melissa's case. and krycek's soul is overridden with visible darkness, before mulder's eyes.

(i also want to talk about krycek lying, in the airport, and telling mulder that he didn't kill his father. but i think that may be a larger post on krycek/mulder and trust.)

(it literally can't be stressed enough that krycek briefly becomes an alien in this episode and mulder doesn't notice. mikey like that one time you were like "if i were possessed by a demon and a guy who i know personally sat next to me on a twenty hour flight and didn't notice at all i would be so mad")

moving on to apocrypha...well...the x-files is about love, you guys. i love scully running into the hospital and holding skinner's hand. most of this episode is a whirlwind of allies, of understandings. and a testament to how much it matters, to have allies. to have someone you can call. to have three friends who will pull off an elaborate ice-rink locker heist. to have someone who will come hold your hand, chase down an ambulance to watch over you.

back at the FBI, pendrell breaks down the data they've collected on skinner's shooter. partial prints and saliva and secretors and hemofactors and chromosome-stains and hair fibers. i love the run-down that they give, it really drives home the point that scully was making in the beginning. they have all of this equipment and all of these resources and all of this science. but what does it matter when no one cares enough to follow through?

ultimately, it's scully that pieces together the evidence, and realizes that the man who shot skinner is the same man who killed melissa. (at the same time, the syndicate is starting to grow impatient with CSM, as the man suspected in the shooting is: "one of yours, isn't he?")

but in the end, there's nothing. they're pulled out of the silos without finding any evidence. they lose krycek, after learning of his involvement. the man who killed melissa is dead in his cell. "nothing vanishes without a trace," but everything can be controlled.

when mulder goes to melissa's grave to tell scully that cardinale is dead, it's one of my favorite details of the series that he's holding flowers. it just makes me tear up that he stopped to bring missy flowers. even though he was just going by to tell scully news. (it was only a year ago that it was missy sitting having coffee with him, or banging on his apartment door. that it was missy who didn't give up on him, when scully was gone. these sisters linger. there's a kind of reverent respect.)

"You know I thought... when we found him, this man that killed Melissa, that...that when we brought him to justice, I would feel some kind of closure. But the truth is no court...no punishment is ever enough."

four years before the show concludes "there is no closure," scully quietly betrays, there is no closure. nothing would ever be enough. her sister is gone. there are no answers, there is no justice, that would make it better. (and what a statement to make)

and the episode ends on scully repeating back: "maybe we bury the dead alive."

as we cut to krycek, locked in the missile silo, banging on the door, crying, screaming for help.

it is on this note that the x-files leaves its most thematically relevant arc. there is no closure. we bury our dead alive. and no one is ever coming to save you.

[theinfinitedivides]

this is so random but i would love to hear your opinion on mydramalist as a fellow asian drama lover. because it’s obviously well known as a reliable wiki of sorts in dramaland but i beg to differ. (the only plus i feel being the summary and cast list for info)

i mean, i’ve not seen a single comsec w more than two brain cells as a whole? there’s always complaints about female leads rooted from misogyny, they are never happy about story progression, and i just find so many of them kinda dumb sorry lol. like zero media literacy to be found, insufferable arguments, etc. the star ratings are rly just given to popular dramas w high profile actors too.

and i personally find it disheartening that so many ppl end up referring to mdl when considering dramas because so many gems are then lost and not given appreciation.

anon. anon anon anon if you know the way i sat straight the f*ck up when i saw the notification and then read through this ask bc yes. yes to everything here that is exactly it. almost three fourths of what i've watched this year was either 1. not received well by the general MDL crowd (Moon in the Day. where is the taste brethren to not like MITD and not even for reasons that actually make sense), 2. received well but had a good chunk of people bitching in the comment section, or 3. received well but had the main point of the show (and its relevant characterization) go over their heads. (The Worst of Evil aka TWOE comment section, i am f*cking looking at you. i can count on one hand the number of people who understood what that show was supposed to be about) the one fourth that managed to escape was bc the toxicity did not reach the comment section and everyone was pretty f*cking civil. alas if only it could be like that all of the time

case in point for the ratings example, since we've already briefly tackled the lack of media literacy—j-dramas on MDL are notoriously rated much, much lower than either k- or c-dramas. half of the time that's bc there are less users watching (and rating) them therefore the average is lower but the other half it's bc people simply do not understand good media when they see it. don't get me wrong there's some freaky ass sh*t in the j-drama world that i would not touch with a Grinch level pole but to see MDLers out here talking about how slow j-dramas are and that nothing's happening. have you considered that you are either watching the wrong genre or you shouldn't be watching j-dramas in the first place bc their entire setup and general narrative framing arcs are not your style. have you even thought about that for six seconds or are you too busy expecting it to read like a typical tropey rom-com k-drama with your trending oppas. (no hate on my tropey rom-coms with [most of] said oppas, i need them when i don't want to think i just want to see sh*t on my screen and scream about hot people and the Hand Umbrellas in the Rain and the Back Hold when the male lead catches the female lead before she falls and you have the fifteen second focus on their faces just looking at each other)

and the misogyny. oh God do not get me started on the dichotomy that was the Cult, as we affectionatly called ourselves, on the feeds while THEE sageuk of the year My Dearest was airing (beloved show [that i still need to finish. JangChae i'm sorry ily life hates me like the mf it is 😭], beloved commentary on the feeds. they saw the vision on the feeds) vs the sh*tshow that was the landmine field of the comment section (the takes i saw on Gil Chae, Eun Ae AND Ryang Eum respectively.......... the misogyny wasn't enough we had to add the homophobia into the mix. buy one get one free deal fr fr). you mad man. that sh*t was insane there was a point i banned myself from scrolling farther than the cast section until the show finished airing. i kid you not on average they didn't have even half a braincell. maybe a quarter of a quarter of one. f*cked up just say you are not decent people and go

this is not to say that all of MDL is like this. i have gotten tuned into absolute masterpieces of content (and have tuned others, amen) bc of a comment comparing a show i'm watching to another one or a review being posted in the feeds about a film with less than 500 people interested. i have reconsidered my choice to not watch something after having spirited discussions in private messages discussing the pros and cons of the premise and whether they managed to get it done without f*cking sh*t up. i still contribute semi-regularly by adding relatively unknown actors and crew members to the database so they can get the credit due them. if you know where to look, you can get some good sh*t out of that place. problem is most users who are new to both the site and East/Southeast Asian cinema as a whole don't know where to look, and the cycle continues, and the ratings continue to be skewed/bloated and no one pays attention to the plot, if there even is any to pay attention to.

tl;dr: begging people to not let MDL be the be all end all for their drama recs a la 'well MDL doesn't like it so i won't watch it'. babe we have said MDLers complaining about how the ratings on Viki are too high but in my entire time watching dramas i've found that in the past two to three years the Viki ratings are making more sense than the MDL ones. sit with that for a sec. when you're done branch out and see the world (literally and cinematically), i promise you will be a better person for it

[dateamonster]

Opinions on the parental situations in liar satsuki? On one hand, it’s very pessimistic/realistic in the sense that it’s actually really hard to get rid of bad parents if you don’t have the option of moving out + the parents are more realistically shitty? they’re mad at their kid, want control over their kid, etc?

ive got mixed feelings abt the portrayal satsukis family situation as well as the class reps (sry cant remember her name rn ;;) mostly in the sense that i wish there was more time devoted to rly digging into them. i feel sometimes the narrative comes off as dismissive of abuse or neglect that isnt rooted in the physical.

THAT SAID the portrayal of akiras familial struggles and her backstory in general is one of my favorite aspects of the series. it helps that the question of "should akiras dad have been allowed to live" is one that haunts her and satsukis relationship all throughout the story, but even besides that i find myself really compelled by the way her mother is characterized. ive read a drama manga or two before and i rly expected the resolution to akiras arc to be wrapped up neatly with a "and then it turned out her mom never really wanted to leave her and she loves her so much and now that theyre together everything is fine" type ending, but the reality that akiras mom never wanted to settle down and just isnt a very maternal person in general is in a way more like personally satisfying to me.

i think theres an instinct when u grow up with a shitty parent (whether theyre abusive to the degree akiras dad is or not) to sort of cling to the other parent, or the fantasy of the other parent in the case that theyre not around, regardless of if theyre any more deserving of that affection. its a punch in the gut to watch akira coming to terms with the fact that her mom, while clearly the better and safer of the two and instrumental to getting free of her dads control, isnt really any more of a parent than her dad was. it makes it feel like even more of an emotional triumph when she proclaims to satsuki that she isnt defined by what her dad believes or expects of her, that she has to live for herself regardless of where she came from, because theres definitely a sense that as she says this, its the first time shes really internalized the sentiment.

i feel like even when she truly hated him, the part of living with her dad that weighed heaviest on akira was that there was a part of her that still wanted to understand him and find reason in his actions. even if her situation is far from ideal, it feels very powerful seeing her choose to leave an abusive home, knowing that living with her mom likely wont offer any better protection or guidance, but choosing to go anyway because in doing so she is choosing herself.

it gives a real feeling of "no one came to save you when you needed it, and no one is coming to save you now, but thats okay because now you know what you need to do to save yourself". its emotional shit!

[xtinaangelicax]

Random Theory: Hu Jing's Weapon

Barges into the DR:DT fandom half-asleep I just had some random theory yo.

Idk if this will have anything to do with the outcome of the chapter 2 trial, but: I just remembered that Hu Jing's weapon given to her by MonoTV was a Wire. And the thing that Nico used to try and kill Ace but failed to? Was also a wire. Somehow, I can't help but feel like that's too coincidental and that they might be (or are LIKELY to be) the same wire, and I haven't actually seen anyone point this out yet, so imma do so now. (I didn't even realize it myself until I was re-watching the Chapter 1 Trial.)

If I'm correct, then I wonder what it would mean for the trial 2 outcome if anything.

Nico's murder attempt may or may not be irrelevant to Arei's death. But still- if this is the case, like, was Hu Jing complicit in Nico's murder attempt? Did Nico steal her wire? Maybe Hu caught them stealing it, and was stunned or threatened into silence? (Or since she likes Nico so much, maybe they made an excuse and she bought it?) Hu has a complex about needing to be "useful." And combining that with Nico asking for her weapon either via threatening means or feigning innocent intentions, and maybe this is a stretch because it'd probs be pretty dumb and I'm half asleep, but what if Hu partially kinda always defends Nico in the trial cuz she's intimidated by them or she doesn't want it to get out that Nico almost killed with her weapon... or maybe Hu's desperate urge to be helpful is that deep (probably not, but, I'm talking off the top of my head)

(OR: maybe the obvious explanation my primitive brain is not considering: Hu Jing rly just doesn't know Nico stole her own weapon for murder and it's gonna be a point of drama in the next episode lolz. Actually, I think its that.)

CAUSE in that case, Hu might have an arc of being betrayed twice now: First David, then Nico pulling this… considering Hu's hidden quote: "I want to pay for what I've done. But I also want to live." (not the exact words, but-) I strongly suspect she'll be a blackened, if probably not in chapter 2, then in the near future following it.

I dunno, this is probably making less sense now, I just wanted to explore the possibility of Nico's murder attempt wire and Hu Jing's wire, being one in the same wire and it turned into a trainwreck of thought. take my rambles I guess lol!

[waynedunlaptheorgandonor]

i resent very much that i am writing twd meta this late in the year of our lord two-thousand-twenty-two after my long journey to distance myself from it, but the words are rattling around in my mind grapes, and because i am incapable of keeping things to myself, how about one more go for old time’s sake?

i think the main thing that i want to say to y’all is that we didn’t imagine it

obviously caryl has had chemistry from the very first scene they had together, but even these past few years, where we’ve dissected and meta’d every second of their screentime together under kang’s watch to death, and been like “here’s how bernie can still win!” we weren’t being delusional. the romantic beats were all there. the narrative was set up that way. she was wearing a ring in that dream sequence. he brought her a cherokee rose on a tray. they longed for each other, and planned to run away together, and it was never once foolish of us to believe otherwise, bc the only reason it didn’t happen is bc the narrative got eaten by amc’s desire to beat the shit out of twd for every drop of money it could possibly give them, and in the process they contracted Chris Charter Syndrome, which is unfortunately fatal

for those unfamiliar (tho with this group there’s probably enough crossover that i don’t rly need to explain), chris carter, the creator of the x-files, is notoriously dense af about how much of his show’s popularity is driven by his ~amazing lore~ vs the audience’s desire to have mulder and scully fuck

every conversation with him, to this day, goes p much like this:

[chris carter: people love the x-files for the mystery and intrigue and they don’t want resolved sexual tension, they want to watch our mains constantly will-they/won’t-they while battling government conspiracies until the end of time

the audience: we would watch one hundred billion hours of mulder and scully searching for bigfoot but comically missing him every time bc they get distracted by fucking each other, we could not care less about your plot. your plot doesn’t even make sense

chris carter: they just can’t wait to see what twists happen next

the audience: we are tired of the twists, and we want them to bone. in fact, here are graphs and studies and stats that all say that we would be much happier if you would just give us mulder and scully fighting silly monsters and stop trying to be gritty and dark with your plots that even you admit you don’t understand

chris carter: i am very good at my job

the audience: you are not good at your job]

rinse and repeat

if this sounds like gimple, that’s bc he has the worst case of CCS i’ve seen in a long time, and it’s unfortunate bc it’s contagious, and those who are especially susceptible are misogynistic money-hungry dudebro companies who think that what people want are GRIT and BLOOD and MAN PAIN, even when their statistics consistently tell them that they are wrong. a key component of CCS is an undeserved inflation of one’s ego and the inability to recognize the fact that one is making an ass out of oneself, which is why the past 84 years have looked like this:

[gimple: man, people love my negan and rick man-pain arc

the audience: no we don’t

gimple: i know what the ladies want, they want jerk-off contests between mediocre men while i kill off all their faves

the audience: no we don’t

amc: hmmm, while i’m picking up what you’re laying down, gimple, let’s see what this other showrunner can do for a minute

kang: people want stories about people. they want to see the seeds of character development that were planted at the very beginning bloom. they want to see the characters with chemistry go down on one another

the audience: yes, this, this is what we want

amc: interesting concept

amc: however

amc: that sounds suspiciously like conflict/resolution, and if things are neatly resolved then we can’t make money out of it anymore. i know that all the statistics say that caryl is our top ship, and that we should get them together, and let them have a concluded, peaceful ending

amc: BUT

amc: let’s instead launch a spin-off with one (1) of the duo (the male, obviously), and then let’s leave their storyline ambiguous bc that way they’ll follow us to the shitty spin-off, but also anyone who just has the hots for daryl/norman reedus will also watch bc he’s still an Eligible Bachelor ;) 

amc: this is a good idea that will make us lots of money

the audience: no it will not

amc: gimple, we need your wisdom again, btw, the people miss you

the audience: no we do not

gimple: who’s ready for some GRIT AND BLOOD AND MORE MAN PAIN?!?!?!

the audience: for the love of god]

it’s stupid and exhausting, and i have Mad Respect for those of you who have been putting so much effort into making sure our voices have been heard. ( @my-mt-heart , @gunmetal-ring​ , @lighteneverything​ to name just a few) plz know that your voice WAS heard, and i fully believe that you DID make an impact. it’s just that, when push comes to shove (i.e. when you’re dealing with misogynistic rich white men), CCS is one helluva disease

and it’s sad! it’s very very sad! i’ve been spending my time away over in the “our flag means death” universe, and y’all, it has been WILD. all of the interactions with the show’s creator and the cast have been “oh you enjoyed that? we’ll be sure to keep that in mind so that we can cultivate a show that you will love, bc it makes more sense to listen to our viewers than to ourselves sometimes, bc they’re the ones who keep us from driving ourselves directly into a ditch! thank you for your feedback, we appreciate and love you!”

like??????

but see, that’s the difference between creators who are in it for the story vs. creators who are in it for the money. if you are solely money-driven you’re never going to be able to dedicate yourself to the narrative, bc narratives have concrete endings. they require you to not always be looking for that next spin-off, or to not sacrifice a character’s integrity to fit it inside of a bad plotline. they are shows like the good place, that had an ending in mind from the start. they are shows like ofmd or what we do in the shadows, where the audience’s opinion gets listened to. even supernatural (mother fucking supernatural, you guys!!!) catered to its biggest fanbase better than twd did. it might have been clown shoes, but destiel’s last-minute confession was at least explicitly romantic. amc was too cowardly to give us even that, bc it might “jeopardize” their spin-off 

what we can take solace in, tho, is the fact that they are in the end stages of CCS. they think they’ve given enough to string caryl fans along over to the spin-off era of twd, but they haven’t. they’re going to crash and burn, and go out the way of GoT, in that everyone is going to be like “wow that was... let’s just not talk about that one, huh?” and it will be satisfying to watch them fizzle out into nothing when they get hit with the grim reality that they should have gotten their heads out of their asses and listened to their fans who told them that, yes, your “hot male lead” needs that middle-age grey-haired woman you cast to the side so carelessly, and that fact doesn’t change just bc you can’t fathom people caring about a woman over the age of 25

whatever. it is what it is. what matters most here is what i said up top, which is that we didn’t imagine it. we did not waste our time. we were not stupid. we had these beautiful characters laid out before us, and a storyline that supported them, and we took it and ran with it in the right direction. it’s not our fault that the narrative didn’t follow

our retribution will be the fact that now it’s our turn not to follow. instead, we can finally rest, not having to worry about the future, bc who fucking gives a shit about their dumb taunts, trying to get us to watch the spin-off for the “possibility” of caryl way down the line? we’re over it. we’re not chasing anymore carrots. we’re happy here in our caryl sandbox, with our li’l aus and headcanons and fix-its, and we don’t have to fucking discourse at each other every week anymore. we can come and go with a lightness we haven’t felt maybe fucking ever, bc it’s over now. it’s not in their hands anymore, it’s in ours

it was real. the feelings we felt, the relationships that were made between us, they were real. and it will all continue to be real in whatever way we decide to keep it. we can and should grieve what could have/should have been, and we can and should be mad, because there’s no question, we were wronged, but let’s not stay in that negativity place forever. let’s not forget why we all were drawn here to begin with, and let’s not forget what we’ve gained from each other 

it wasn’t “just a tv show.” it was, and is, a community that has influenced lives to the point of changing their entire trajectory. i have written over one million (1,000,000+) words of caryl fic, and bc of that i have been able to self-publish my own book, and get into freelance writing. bc of caryl, i have been able to ghostwrite and collaborate with published authors, and am on my way to making my actual day job being writing, which is something i’ve wanted since i was itty bitty. bc of caryl, i have traveled the world. bc of caryl, i have made relationships and connections that have, quite literally, changed my entire life. amc can’t take any of that away from me. it can’t take any of that away from YOU

so yeah, shit sucks, but hey, i got something for you:

we are fine, fam, or we will be, once we’ve had a chance to lick our wounds, because we are the holders of the narrative now. caryl is OURS, finally

so, when you’re feeling up to it, come join me in the sandbox, and let’s have some fun

stay hype, stan each other, bc twd is in its grave, but caryl is forever,

-diz

p.s. felt weird not having a 30 rock reference in here anywhere so:

k bye 4 real

[onehunnit]

Cinema Studies Minor Gets Super Into Analyzing K-Pop Videos 2.2

Disclaimer: I'm still a student, no where near an expert, I will be wrong in some technical aspects. Also my interpretations are my opinion which means you may disagree and that's okay. Awesome even! Just be normal about it fr. This is also very out of order bc that's how my brain works. Also I am but a baby loretiny, which means my interpretations are shaky at best compared to what's been established. But the lore is confusing anyway so....

The World EP.FIN: Trailer Analysis pt 2: Sections

THIS WAS WRITTEN NOVEMBER 11TH 2023

Structure, Lines, & Perspective

Yo, Get This Camera Out Of My Face

Who Put Stanley Kubrick In My Album Trailer?  

The Entire Set Crew Needs To Be Sucked Silly (Again)

Black and White In The Lore

Structure, Lines, & Perspective:

There are so many fucking lines. There are SO. MANY. LINES just look at the trailer again for me okay? Try and find a curve in the set. There are so few, it's astonishing. 

Now for a place called Strictland, you may expect to see strictness. Well, you'd be right! 

To touch back on German Expressionism, lines are used to imply rigidity and structure. Strictland is strict, and thus characterized by straight lines and sharp, clear angles. There is little softness, it's all hard [insert other adjectives here]. 

The lines in general lead our eyes to the action and provide awesome contrast with our characters. I would insert screenshots however. I will not

Yo, Get This Camera Out Of My Face (why he smiling like that?) 

Close-ups and lighting are on the mind due to watching The Passion of Joan of Arc and talking about low-key lighting with my film professor for an hour. Low-key lighting is very even, and in this case I think it's used for cosmetic reasons. Listen, flawless skin is not just skincare and make-up, lighting is huge in it too! 

But it gives off the effect of being youthful, which helps since the youth are the new generation and Loreteez are ushering in a revolution and change comes with that.

Who Put Stanley Kubrick In My Album Trailer? 

Yeah so Hongjoong is doing the Kubrick stare. The subject tilts their head down while looking directly into the camera. This naturally casts shadow and is unsettling as it breaks the fourth wall. Originally used to depict characters who just tipped over into madness/insanity and its rly creepy, which brings into question Hongjoong's intentions. Is he happy that the girl rejected him? Is he planning something more sinister?

The Entire Set Crew Needs To Be Sucked Silly (Again)

Note: Loreteez is used interchangeably to mean the members in the lore as a whole and as the “A” Universe members. Halateez is used to describe the “Z” Universe members. 

I just want to talk about a few shots in particular that made me go crazy insane when I saw them. This is where the interpretations start going by the way.

This one is soooo perfect to me. You don’t understand. So let’s get into it. 

Mise-en-scene (MES) is a term that boils down to everything you see on screen: set, props, costumes, actors, blocking, lighting, anything! 

It’s separated clearly into foreground (desk and Wooyoung) and background (Yunho and the machines), though for our purposes we’re going to call Yunho’s field of depth the mid-ground and the curtains the background. 

In all fields the technology is old and anchored, contrast that with the futuristic holograms in this shot: 

Which emphasizes the binary between old and new. This is also the first time (if i recall correctly) Loreteez is using this technology, which indicates growth in their cause over all. 

Back to the first shot. While the foreground has all this older technology, it still fits in with Strictland as, from what we have seen, don’t have modern/future tech at their disposal. And why would they have it readily available if their whole deal is suppressing human emotion (“The disease is human emotion” - The Awakening of Summer (Rhythm Ta) Kingdom Stage) and expression. You don’t have a need to develop better technology. 

The mid-ground is much of the same; straight lines running straight across. Everything is old etc. But there are some round lights that break it up. Roundness? Out of the ordinary, right?

The background is more interesting though, because you finally get some curvature in this. The curtains are loose fabric and they drape which adds a different texture and shows that it’s not constrained to fall a certain way.

Pictured: Notes written on the screen.: Structure in machines, straight lines ins background / Fabric = loose, curves, along w/ circle and roundness

In all, the progression of structure to flowiness presents how Loreteez is, looming over the background, and a change from the rigidity of Strictland.

The second shot comes later, with Hongjoong stopping in front of the Academy student. She is standing in a cubby created by the walls angling upward, dividing the scene. Obviously too, Hongjoong is in all black while she is in white

Black and White in The Lore

As a quick aside: Black and White in the Ateez universe is so curious to me. Black in our society is understood as “bad” and white “good” and Ateez uses that binary to create shades of grey (which we WILL be discussing more thank you very much!) and nuances to the social issues being presented and critiqued. Strictland is white, and in that society, it is the “good”; saving its citizens from a disease. Loreteez are “bad” because they are rising against the norms and trying to change them, threatening the institutions Strictland has put into place. 

While initially we saw Halateez as “evil” due to their masked appearances and black garb when they first appeared, it became clear in Answer that they are not the antagonists, rather on the same side as our protagonists, Loreteez. 

But beyond that lineation: In this particular shot, the lines of the wall and the people walking past make an invisible line for Hongjoong and the girl to cross to be pulled to either side, good or bad.  The invisible line being made of people in movement and the inanimate wall is not lost to me either; showing how barriers are not just physical but can be social/psychological

But beyond that lineation: In this particular shot, the lines of the wall and the people walking past make an invisible line for Hongjoong and the girl to cross to be pulled to either side, good or bad.  The invisible line being made of people in movement and the inanimate wall is not lost to me either; showing how barriers are not just physical but can be social/psychological

14 comes up here, that is a # to look out for. Maybe the number of songs? JK LMAO that'll never happen 😭 <- I wrote this before the trackless came out okie?

Despite all my black and white talk, the curious thing about the color grading is that there is no true white in the costumes, it is all grey. There is a mix, we have moved on from the clarity and have moved into the murky soup. The grey and nuance are exacerbated in the next shot.

In this, the only thing I can think of is the idea of yin and yang, that at the heart of good and evil there is the other. Again, there is an invisible line separating the girl and Hongjoong. On the girl's side are her white shoes and the darkness behind her. On Hongjoong's side is the black of his attire and the highlights in front of him. But it is not white, rather it is grey, which is a transitional color.

But at the end, the girl does not take his outstretched hand, she walks on, he smiles (quite evilly tbh, go back to the Kubrick stare section). Out of what? Pride maybe? Everything is going to plan? He's certainly not unhappy so…

But that concludes part 2! I might do more, but who knows?

[moodr1ng]

now i stopped playing pentiment in the middle of act 2 and just checked wiki articles to see what takes place in the rest of the game so maybe im missing some crucial gameplay that wouldve fixed all my issues but. at the risk of being excommunicated (lol) i was rly disappointed w the games structure and thats why i didnt keep going. dgmw i really enjoyed the setting and most of the gameplay and throughout act 1 i was really invested in the story and mystery and investigation, and the game was really cool in a lot of ways. but. in the end. a mystery/investigation story that doesnt have an answer and whoever you accuse will be found guilty and there is no right or wrong just does not work for me and i can only see it as a poor decision.

yes ik that in the end you can uncover the "big bad" mastermind who provoked the murders, but to me putting a twist villain who isnt the actual culprit but who motivated the culprits in the end of the game doesnt make up for, like, the rest of the game? an investigation story where your investigating is meaningless does not make sense to me. was that the point of the game, maybe? to make me feel like nothing i did in the game mattered and i had no power over the setting? i certainly felt that way at times - in act 2, i felt like i had kind of spent the entire first act playing a role (in the rpg sense - as in it definitely felt as if i got to make a lot of choices about who andreas is, what he values, what his morals are) only for that to not matter at all as in the next act i had to play as someone who had made choices that seemed meaninglessly selfish and was in the uncomfortable situation of apologizing in-character for stuff that the character i had previously been playing as, who i thought i was making meaningful choices as, who i had been trying to make as considerate and kind as possible, would not have done.

i think if the point is that i dont actually have control in this game, not over the main character, not over the events, not even over figuring out the truth, then yeah, i had that impression. but thats not really the game i thought i was playing? i thought i was playing a game where my choices mattered and where i was solving a mystery and that was not the case.

idk. maybe i had specific expectations i shouldnt have had, or maybe i just failed to get something about the game, but despite being very beautiful in its graphics and having a lot of fun stuff and interesting characters.. when i finished act 1 i still thought "fuck, i didnt play well enough, i didnt uncover all the clues i shouldve and i didnt get to the correct conclusion, im gonna need to replay this to figure out who the actual culprit was!"... only to find that actually what felt like i had failed this part of the game was the intended way it would go down, and i even had accused the person who imo was the best choice of culprit.. i feel like getting to the end of an investigation arc with what should have been the most satisfying ending for me and instead thinking i had fucked it up and played wrong is a very unsatisfying way to write a mystery and it put me off enough that im not really interested in doing it all over again just so i can finish the game.