#probably yugioh or naruto is the first one i remember but i put other

[animusharmonia]

At about the beginning of last school year, I began logging the random stuff I’ve heard or seen around the wonder that is high school. Admittedly, some of this contains some of my shenanigans, because who am I going to pay more attention to other than myself. Writing every single thing all at once would take a while (the document I’ve been using is nearly to 16 pages as of now), so this is just a collection of some of what I deem funnier or more bizarre. 

Class split into groups of 4. The four Asian kids teamed up. The one guy of the group whispered “Asian Invasion” 

The manga section of the school library had two volumes of yaoi

The manga section of the school library being mixed in with the comic section

The comic and manga section of the school library being in the middle of the non-fiction area because “its cultural”

“I can’t reach the top shelf in my house, and who’s going to help me there? My dog? I don’t think so.” 

“Wow! That’s so cool! I don’t care, I might tomorrow. No, wait! It’s Saturday!”

“This one is fancy heels, this one is fancy pants”

“Wait, it’s a different Louis?” “There are a lot of Louii”

“And then the guillotine was too slow, so they shot them instead” “...okay”

“This is due Thursday, right? Let’s discuss who’s doing what slide and leave it at that because yay, procrastination”

The Latin teacher teaching us how to say “Go to hell” in Latin when she told a story about someone in the Latin 3 class having asked what the phrase in question from one of their books meant

The radio was playing music over the gymnasium. My Immortal came on. “I’m so tired of being here” “Hah, same”

“Everyone knows what a coup d'etat is, right?”

We got the majority of the class

“An overthrowing by the military”

And we got this kid

“It sounds like something from Lion King”

“???”

Someone said “Coup d’etat” slowly, to the tuneish of “Hakuna matata”

The realization and understanding dawning across the class

Waiting in those minutes for class to end, a few people sat there quietly singing Hakuna Matata

“A coup d’etat-ta, what a wonderful thing”

“And this guy was like “Hell yeah, we want change…””

“Probably using different words”

“Well yeah, he used French”

“Is that a lacrosse ball?” “Yeah” “We’re in theater, how the fuck did you get that?”

One girl sitting on one of the plastic desk chairs with her knees to her chest, calmly eating a salad as she participated in the class discussion

One girl dislocated her arm in sports and, instead of keeping it in a sling, got this exoskeleton thing made to keep her arm at a 90 degree angle. She was way too excited to discover it was at a perfect angle for dabbing.

“I swear, if we have a pop quiz in that class I’m going to cry. Or kill a man. I can’t tell which anymore”

One girl all but sprinting down the hall as she let out some low shrieking noise, only stopping when she got to her friend’s side and leaned far enough in front of him to make eye contact.

“I was doing, like, six things at once and thought ‘What if the building fell right now? I would get nothing done.’ Because hey, it’s the end of the year, I got all this stuff to do, and it would be really inconvenient.”

One guy had a table in the lobby and stood, roll of tinfoil in hand and tinfoil hat on head, yelling about the Illuminati, aliens, and government. He was passing out tinfoil hats to anyone who wanted them

Someone walked into my Latin class wearing one and magistra asked if the guy was talking about the “Alluminati” instead of the Illuminati

One girl’s promposal where she called out the other girl’s name to get her attention as one friend to her right began playing “Never gonna give you up” and the friend to the right held roses. The sign she held read “It would meme a lot if you went to prom with me” in large shiny foil letters, meme in purple as opposed to the gold of the others, and a pepe in the bottom right corner. It was adorable.

“I nearly got a detention for reading in reading class. I was tempted to continue just for when people asked me what I was in for”

On a Latin test, there was a section where you were given 7 names and you had to give a fact about 5 of them. For Vulcan, the Roman god of fire, someone put “A species of alien that appears in the series Star Trek” and he got a point for that.

A girl put “Got a Yugioh card named after him” in small font for Regulus, but filled in 5 others seriously

One girl who is Very Passionate about Yugioh

The teacher was making hand gestures as he spoke. He paused in gestures with his hand outstretched, still addressing the class, and the person sitting right beside him reached out and gave him a high-five

The guy who gave him the high-five had hacked his (the history teacher’s) computer earlier that year

The common “Final” for jazz band is that the teacher brings in Rock Band and they play that

“I’m amazed, you can hear the lack of brain cells”

One meme of a girl wrote “I’M SCHLEEP” on the whiteboard in band. She took a picture of it and walked away satisfied with herself. A few minutes later, the band director piped up from the back of the room. “Hey, Ashley? What does ‘schleep’ mean?” “I dunno”

Someone hiking up their shorts to the length of girls’ shorts, pulling his shirt down so you can’t see them, and Naruto running a circle around the room

Due to state testing, classes were shortened. On the day of the final band concert, those involved went to their first three classed but remained in third (concert band. Those from wind ensemble were pulled in as well) and lurked there for the rest of the day to practice. Pizza was ordered and soda was brought for a celebration of sorts. The 32 pizzas ordered were emptied within around half an hour.

A group of three girls and two guys. The third girl declared herself the fifth wheel of the group, staring tiredly at the two couples.

She didn’t really seem to care, though, and generally could be found latched onto one of her friend’s arms. Both the friend and friend’s boyfriend didn’t really seem to care either.

The other couple, meanwhile, was fluent in innuendos and suggestive comments that tended to scare away the asexual fifth wheel.

“Freshmen, do not climb into the trash cans, thank you.”

One girl convinced some guy in class that Inside Out ends with the girl dying

“That’s not possible.” “It’s magic, shut up.”

“Why is the final cumulative? I can’t remember shit.”

One girl’s realization that graduation was the following day (seniors have been out for well over a week, it’s hard to tell) and the complaint at how “WE HAVE TO PLAY AT THE FREAKING THING, WHY DOES NOBODY TELL ME THESE THINGS?!”

One kid brought in wasabi candy. He offered some to his table mate before telling him what it was. He ate the offered treat with hesitance and a shrug, but the underlying regret was visible before long.

“I hope you know my scoliosis doesn’t like you.”

Some people (4 or 5?) in the corner of the room, taking the Rice Purity test and comparing answers

Apparently the sole girl of the group had the worst score

A math teacher who doubled as the theater director had his yearbook picture taken in a ghillie suit

The ghillie suits had been gotten for the production of Little Shop of Horrors the year prior

“I love getting stepped on!”

Someone was complaining about how their hair looked bad. Our teacher just “Yeah, tell me about it,” gesturing to his own balding head

One of the freshmen band kids after graduation reverently whispering “You’re free” to every graduate they passed

For graduation, all of the people of the band and choir were wearing muted colors - whites, blacks, pale blues, soft floral patterns, etc. - and then we have one cackling flutist in fluorescent orange

“If Kim Kardashian doesn’t feel ashamed, neither should you” - the fucking valedictorian speech

It contained other golden moments such as “I got to work with some of these students due to my participation in The King and I,” (Note: he was the king) “and one of them said something profound that stuck with me. He beckoned me closer and made me lean down and he whispered in my ear… “yolo.” Now, according to Urban Dictionary, yolo is “a term that should have stopped being used five years ago and means You only live once””

He kept looping back to yolo. “What does yolo mean to you”

Next day some of us from the musical had been talking about that the next day. The collective statement was “Hudson. That was Hudson”

“We were the first class to take keystones, and the last generation to not get touchscreen laptops. What a time to be alive!”

The “corner crew” of Latin class (the people who had taken the Rice Purity test) decided to get a group picture with the teacher. One person in the group is my book-nerd friend who had been placed there by the teacher in an attempt to break up their antics (it didn’t work, they absorbed him, much to his exasperation). My friend is the smallest out of the group, so they decided to pick him up. The picture was taken with “Te Amo, Latin” written on the board behind them, my friend held aloft horizontally, and magistra slightly crouched in front of the group with an unsure smile.

The corner crew also had done a presentation on how Canada is just a government conspiracy and also the government is run by shape shifting lizards

“Did you really assign a project? Mr [Last name], I am appalled! There are four days left in school”

It was a 6 prompt essay. All prompts had to be answered with proper sources and everything.

That got a lot longer than intended, so I only covered the happenings of last year (still 6.5 pages of nearly 16)...

[beneaththetangles]

Q&A with Our New Staff: Josh, sleepminusminus, Joseph, and Paris!

Over the last couple of months, we’ve brought in four new staff members to join our ministry. A couple of them have been running our social media accounts for weeks now, so you may have been reading their work without even noticing a change, while the remaining two are brand, brand new!

With this being our 10th anniversary year, it felt very appropriate to throw back, as we’ve done all year, and introduce you to them in the way we once did: through a Q&A! So here we go—introducing Paris, who will be covering conventions and doing cosplay content for us; sleepminusminus, one of our writers, who just dropped a guest post for us last week (like I said, brand new); Josh, who helps run our Twitter account and also contributes to the blog; and Joseph, our Instagram admin and the podcast team’s video editor.

-----

Question 1: How did you become associated with Beneath the Tangles?

Paris: Funny enough, Charles found me on my personal Instagram—not my cosplay Instagram! He saw that I went to Dallas Theological Seminary and wanted to recruit me onto the team, but at the time I was still in school and an active member of of another group, so I didn’t have time to make any commitments. Now I’m graduated and excited to be a part of the team!

sleepminusminus: It’s been so long… I must have looked something up about Christianity and anime and found BTT in the results. I’ve kept up with the blog on and off ever since.

Josh: Charles and I were `both members of the Christian Anime Alliance forums. Years later, when I started up my own blog, Charles was so welcoming and so encouraging. A true inspiration. Fast-forward a couple months and I’m coming off a really, REALLY stressful time due to a blog article I wrote that was not received well by some. Charles helped me out of that dark time and when all was said and done and my brain was no longer a quivering mass of goo, he asked if I would like to join BTT. I had to think and pray about it for a while before I said yes and, well, here I am.

Joseph: I met Charles in college and we went to the same church for some time. I always thought it was cool how he used something as secular as anime to evangelize, but it didn’t cross my mind that I could do the same thing until I saw some of my classmates working for BTT too. Then after I graduated, I asked if I could join and here I am.

Question 2: How did you become an anime fan?

Paris: I guess I was kind of born into becoming an anime fan—being half Asian. On my birthday each year, my uncles would take my brother and I to this anime store back when VHS was still a thing, and we could rent as many anime VHS tapes as we wanted! Some of my first anime included Ranma ½, Kodocha, and Yu Yu Hakusho (we weren’t censored as children). I related so much to Sana Kurata that I literally wanted to change my name to Sana, haha! (I think I still do relate to her lol)

sleepminusminus: At first, Youtube clips of visual novels served as the gateway drug into a deeper obsession with anime. After some personal struggles with pornography, I took a break from anime for around a year. When that year ended, some close friends started watching Nagi no Asukara and invited me to watch along. I’ve been riding the slice-of-life train ever since.

Josh: Okay, first of all, Paris is awesome because I have heard very few people talk about Kodocha and the fact that was one of his first is amazing. Second, SleepMinusMinus is awesome because…well…Nagi no Asukara is awesome, and I also am a happy passenger on the Slice-of-Life train. But I digress. My anime switches were flipped one night in around 2002-2003. I was up late and I was channel surfing. I came across this show that ended up being Yu Yu Hakusho. It was so cool as I had never seen anything like it before! Then…then Cowboy Bebop came along and that’s when I realized there was this whole bigger, wider world of those funny Japanese cartoons than Digimon, Pokemon and Monster Rancher. I came back the following Saturday, and the Saturday after that. Before I knew it, I was writing fanfics and joining online forums. Then I was buying DVD’s and Newtype USA magazines. Next thing I knew I was going to cons and meeting other fans. My ascendance into the world of anime has been quick and amazing.

Joseph: I grew up watching all of the classic kid’s shows like Pokemon and Yugioh with my brother. At night, I remember we would always be excited to watch Inuyasha because of how much more actiony it was compared to American cartoons. I don’t think I realized that I was watching anime until in middle school though, when one of my friends asked me if I watch anime, citing Inuyasha as an example. Then he recommended I watch Code Geass and after I watched that, I realized that there was more to anime than just really cool fight scenes and have been watching since.

YYH is an important starting anime for Paris and Josh (art by つ ゆ / reprinted w/permission)

Question 3: How would you describe your place in the fandom?

Paris: I think my place in the fandom would be a cosplay enthusiast and entertainer. I love Instagram and Tik Tok right now but I’m also hoping to start doing Visual Novel walk throughs on Twitch.

sleepminusminus: In public, I’ve mastered the art of the lurker, only peeking out to mark my completed shows on AniList. Most of the time, though, I watch anime with IRL friends and make fun of bad CG. I also spend excessive hours on rhythm games while procrastinating work.

Josh: I think my place in the anime fandom right now is as a mature anime consumer who has just enough writing talent to put his opinions, thoughts and ideas to a word document or in a 240 character tweet and have it make some kind of sense.

Joseph: I don’t really take part in online discussions, but I know most of what they talk about and the references usually (even the memes). I also try to keep up with the actual industry itself too, like what studios are up to or what the directors are doing. Fandom wise, if anyone mentions the Monogatari series, be ready to listen to me rant for an hour on how it’s a masterpiece.

Question 4: What anime or manga are you excited about these days?

Paris: Right now I’m most obsessed with Re: Zero and My Hero Academia.

sleepminusminus: Kyoto Animation has been consistently good recently. I just finished the Haruhi series and I’m thinking about picking up Lucky Star (but only for the Haruhi references). Beyond that, I’m hoping the new Higurashi remake is better than the original. Oh, and the new Made in Abyss movie had better not disappoint.

Josh: Of course, I’m beyond excited to see where Digimon Adventure (2020) is going to go. It’s been a fascinating watch so far. Seeing these characters who I know but don’t know has been a real prodigious experience. It does feel like we’re moving pretty fast though. Sticking with Digimon, I’m also excited to FINALLY get to see Digimon Adventure Last Evolution Kizuna. I grew up with the Adventure ‘99 crew, and knowing this is their final curtain call is bittersweet, but I’m interested to see how this whole thing plays out. Getting away from Digimon, I’m really excited to see the Stone Wars arc of Dr. Stone. I’m completely caught up with the manga so I know what’s to come, but I still want to see it play out in anime form.

Joseph: I’m really excited for the new Maeda Jun original next season: The Day I Became a God. Re:Zero has got me on edge every week and probably will until next year. The Violet Evergarden movie was just released in Japan and hopefully it finds its way here soon. Oh and Haruhi is back in print with the next light novel coming out soon, so that’s been a long time coming.

Season two of Re:ZERO has us all excited (art by 茕榕 / reprinted w/permission)

Question 5: QUICK FIVE

Best live action anime adaptation?

Paris: Ghost in the Shell sleepminusminus: I’ve only watched Detective Pikachu… Josh: Death Note (2006). Chairman Kaga is Light’s Daddy. Joseph: Alita: Battle Angel

Digimon or Pokémon?

Paris: Pokémon sleepminusminus: Pokémon Josh: Digimon Joseph: Pokemon

My first cosplay was…

Paris: Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul! I was really into Facepaint and FX makeup in High School so I literally just painted the mask onto my face. sleepminusminus: Lurkers don’t cosplay Josh: My first cosplay was supposed to be Izzy from Digmon at MechaCon this year, but COVID happened and… Joseph: Kagamine Len from Vocaloid. I like make easy and not hot outfits to wear at cons.

If I could meet one person in the anime industry, it would be…

Paris: Laura Bailey! She’s my favorite voice actress. sleepminusminus: Honobu Yonezawa, the author of the Hyouka novels Josh: Amanda Winn-Lee. I’ve interacted a lot with her on Twitter and she’s so nice. Joseph: Yamada Naoko, director for A Silent Voice and K-On! The Movie.

This anime character would be my best friend:

Paris: Tomo Takino from Azumanga Daioh sleepminusminus: Kyon from Haruhi, for his continual complaints and stream of grandiose allusions Josh: Mimi from Digimon Adventure. She’s an awesome character that needs a good friend to tell her to “hush” whenever she goes ditzy. Joseph: Chitanda Eru from Hyouka because she always wants to do something

Our staff is curious—at least sleepminusminus and Joseph are! (art by ちゅんころもち / reprinted w/permission)

All-time anime crush?

Paris: Kyo from Fruits Basket. For some reason, I always end up loving the angry boys… sleepminusminus: Mayaka Ibara, our tsundere queen from Hyouka Josh: Hinata from Naruto. How can you NOT like that lavender-eyed cutie? Joseph: Holo from Spice and Wolf because of course she is.

Favorite food to eat while watching anime:

Paris: Pho Tai w/ an order of eggrolls and Thai Tea sleepminusminus: Instant ramen (no crumbs!) Josh: Nice cold Muscadine grapes. Joseph: Fruit Basket (Preferably strawberries)

An anime that more people need to watch:

Paris: Kodocha; the manga is good too! sleepminusminus: Hyouka (notice a theme yet?) Josh: Planetes. It’s a great space slice-of-life show that gets little to no love. Joseph: A Place Further than the Universe. Very well rated but I don’t think enough people watch it because of its silly premise.

An anime that is way overrated:

Paris: DANGANRONPA. It’s horrible. Change my mind. Other than the Fate series, I haven’t had much luck with Visual Novel anime adaptations— (let’s not talk about School Days) sleepminusminus: Madoka Magica: watch Steins;Gate instead Josh: My Hero Academia. Come on guys, it’s the same old comic book superhero “I wanna be the strongest ______ ever!” shounen show we’ve seen over and over again. Joseph: One Punch Man. The title tells you what the show is going to be about you guys.

Poor Madoka… (art by 薯子Imoko / artist allows reprints)

Do you like gore / dark anime?

Paris: yes. It’s my favorite. sleepminusminus: Sure Josh: Depends on my mood, but not really. Joseph: Gore for the sake of gore (Another), not really. But everything else I can enjoy!

Shonen or slice of life?

Paris: Shonen sleepminusminus: Slice-of-life Josh: Slice-Of-Life all day everyday. Joseph: Slice of life

Best Ghibli movie:

Paris: Spirited Away sleepminusminus: None yet… recommendations please Josh: Ponyo. It’s just so freaking adorable. Joseph: Princess Mononoke

Ever been to Japan?

Paris: I was supposed to go this Summer, but Covid… sleepminusminus: No Josh: HAHAHAHAHA…on my salary? Heck no! Joseph: Yes two times now!

Question 6: Where can our readers find you other than here on the blog?

Paris: Instagram / Tik Tok / Twitch / Facebook / YouTube: Pariscosplays (in progress) / Email sleepminusminus: You can find me on Twitter. If you’re fortunate, you might catch a tweet once a year. Josh: Blog / Twitter – Heads up on my Twitter, I tend to get very political and I sometimes go off on tangents. I give fair warning for both. But overall, I’m pretty chill! I do have an Instagram but I don’t update it too often, and I do have a Facebook, but I keep it on lockdown. Sorry! Joseph: I don’t really use any other social media actively