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magioftheseas · 4 years

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Hand stomp with any pairing from Hnk

With everything falling apart, why NOT write for this godforsaken manga while we’re at it lmao. That said, this short fic’s focused on Phos and Adamant, and isn’t exactly what you’d call shippy. Sorry, anon, but when it comes to them...

*cries a little cries a lot*

Anyway, this is for the @badthingshappenbingo with the prompt: hand stomp! Taken from my card here. With the Ao3 link here.

Warnings: Violence and mental stability. The Phos-related suffering you usually get from hnk proper. Spoilers for the manga btw up to... Chapter 93? I think?

Hands are tools. It’s a fact that goes unstated, but it obvious even for them to understand. Hands are tools. They mold structures, they steady, they wield weapons, and they’re very important for extending to one another.

“But if I did that,” they whined. “My arms would just break off.”

Sensei does pause between writing. Another thing hands do. He paused, and then he smiled. With that hand that had shaped them and could so easily break them into pieces, Adamant simply pats their head.

“Just a kind gesture is significant,” he said. “Your feelings are sincere, and that is what truly matters.”

“Truly matters,” Phos repeated, unconvinced and unimpressed. They throw up the flaps of Adamant’s robe before hiding underneath. “Dunno about that.”

Sensei’s response then was to lift them with such ease. With such gentle hands.

They were especially gentle after Phos lost their own, reaching for the ice floes calling out for help. Just as their arms shattered when they reached out to save Cinnabar.

Hands are tools. With the golden alloy, their hands and arms can be utilized much more efficiently. Now they can reach and reach. They can steady theirself, can piece their body back together if needed, can wield any weapon really, and they can mold that gold to suit their fancy.

It delights their siblings to see flowers of gold and the like. Antarc likely would’ve been impressed as well, had Phos not failed to save them. All that said, however...

“They are different,” they murmur. “They’re not really...like actual limbs.”

“They respond to you,” Adamant said, patting their head as before. “They are a part of you. Do not forget that.”

“I’ve already forgotten so much.” Phos sighed. “Sensei, who am I?”

“Phosphophyllite.”

Gold wells up in their eyes, and it’s still the strangest sensation. Adamant wipes away the alloy, placing the drops oh so gently in their hands to rejoin the rest.

Sensei then blocks the sun from their gaze. The gold still catches the shimmers of daybreak, and it’s near blinding. Without thinking, their arms stretch outward. Reaching as far as they can, even though Antarc has been taken so far beyond their grasp.

Next time, it’ll be different.

(It wasn’t.)

It wasn’t any difference because of how useless they were. What was even the point of their changing body, their evolving capabilities—if nothing else changed?

Worthless, worthless, worthless.

“I hate when you get into one of those moods,” Cairngorm griped. “You get everywhere.”

They do note the gold seeping all around, how Cairngorm is skittish around the increasing puddle. How that’s their fault, too. But, Cairngorm had been kind afterwards.

But they’re not so kind as to not recoil when Phos reaches for them, the alloy of their arm so unsteady it still drooped close to the ground.

Eventually, Cairngorm stomps their foot, grumbling as they to gesture for Phos to get up.

“Come on,” they urged. “Come on.”

The really do look like Antarc. Ironically, they’re nothing like Ghost, who would’ve been smiling down softly and would’ve taken their hand. Phos does wonder how Antarc would’ve acted—surely they would remember...

“Come on, freak,” Cairngorm whines. “We have scouting to do.”

“It’s alright,” a voice lilts, and before Phos can respond, Euclase hops by, taking their misshapen hand to squeeze. “Jade and I are going to take over, Phos.”

“Eh, is that alright?” Cairngorm asked as Phos’s head lowered.

“We’re all working together,” was Euclase’s easy response. They pat Phos’s head. “Thus, Phos shouldn’t overwork it. Especially not with you, Cairngorm.”

It’s a kind gesture. One loaded with the reality that Phos has endangered two partners before. Phos can’t say anything. They just sit there, silent and sullen as Euclase skips away.

“You’re so spoiled,” Cairngorm griped at them. “I won’t allow it, though. Antarc was strict with you, right?”

“...I’ll get up.”

There were still other things to do—other things—surely something they can do—

Cairngorm still refused to take their hand.

“I’m just happy knowing you are back.”

“We still need you.”

“Even if that is your wish, I cannot.”

Hands are tools. They mold structures, they steady, they wield weapons, and they’re very important for extending to one another. That’s why—it’s always essential that the hands be broken first. Actually, for gems, it’s best to just break them into pieces the first chance you get.

Phos is very sure crush the hands in particular under their heel. Stomp, stomp, stomp—even though they’ve long been shattered.

They can’t piece themselves together, Phos knows. But that doesn’t matter. It’s best to be safe.

They can’t get anything done until they’re sure all obstacles are broken and shattered. If they’re broken, then they can’t hurt. Can’t be further hurt either.

It’s still with such satisfaction that Phos crushes hands under their heel.

Because I’m angry. I don’t want to crush Sensei’s hands, though. The hands that had pieced me back together, had always been so kind—

The hands that needed to pray, even if Phos had to force them together personally.

Once Sensei prayed, it would be okay. All this pain wouldn’t matter—it’ll stop forever. It’ll all be over.

Once Sensei is dealt with, we’ll be safe. If it wasn’t because of him, if it wasn’t because of him—

It’s such a long way dragging their body there, but once they get there, it’ll be fine. There’s no one left to stop them, after all. Everyone’s been shattered, and unlike Phos, they can’t piece themselves back together. Even if they had working hands. Ha. Ha. Ha.

“Sensei, who am I?”

They don’t remember. They don’t remember the teal-haired bright-eyed gem that passes them by, either. But just with a glance, Phos can tell that they’re weak. Not an issue—cute, though. Precious, even.

They followed that gem to Sensei, and just like that, Phos was alert. Twitching and simmering, they begged once more.

Sensei still regards them kindly, and frowns so sadly.

“You really can’t pray?” Phos lurches forward. “Then, break!”

He smiles again when there’s a long resounding crack before Phos can even reach him.

#Magi answers #Magi fics #anonymous #land of the lustrous #bad things happen bingo #bad things bingo

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mainadjacent · 6 years

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Sticking to the Script

Pairing: Gwilym Lee x Reader, one-sided Ben Hardy x Reader

Summary: You are the star of the hit TV show, “Winthrope Manor” and you’ve just got a new costar, Gwilym Lee who happens to bring around his friend, Ben Hardy, to set. You develop feelings for Ben, but they’re not well received. Lucky for you, your costar is there to help make things better.

Author’s Note: I’m just getting the hang of fic writing so hopefully this is coherent! I’d like to thank the lovely @sevenseasofky for being so kind and inspiring me with her fic, “Nothing but a Number” which this fic is heavily inspired by. Really, if you haven’t read her work, you are missing out.

PART 1

“Bohemian Rhapsody” star Gwilym Lee joins the Award-winning Cast of “Winthrope Manor” as possible love interest

You sigh exasperatedly at the Google Alert on your phone. You knew that this was going to be a possibility, the press has a habit of making a big deal of your show’s guest stars and it really took away from the quality of the show. It wasn’t even like he was the most important guest star you’ve ever had.

“Anything wrong,” asks your costume designer, Nicole, as she laces you into your corset.

“Nothing,” you say nonchalantly, “just a bit tight is all.”

“Sorry, but you know how they want it, it has to be authentic.”

“Right, right, the good name of Winthrope Manor rests on the tightness of Violet’s corset,” you grumble.

Nicole giggles but does not loosen your laces, and even though you’ve been doing this for a whole season, you can feel your own organ rearranging painfully.

It’s a small price to pay, really, as much as you complain to Nicole about it. You are consistently at a loss for words at how lucky you are to be in this position: one of the stars of the award-winning television show, “Winthrope Manor.”

“Winthrope Manor” or “American response to ‘Downton Abbey’” as critics often put it, was the story of the wealthiest textile family in America at the turn of the 20th century. It was soapy and dramatic and lots of fun. You played Violet Winthrope, the intelligent and determined oldest Winthrope sibling who was constantly trying to establish herself in the industrial world while dealing with all sorts of romantic and personal entanglements.

The show premiered to critical acclaim in part because of the writing, in part because of the star-studded cast, and the amazing production value didn’t hurt either. “Winthrope” had had an amazing first season, sweeping in awards, amassing a pretty impressive fanbase and gaining all sorts of acclaim. Apparently, Meryl Streep was in negotiations to play your grandmother for the upcoming season.

As for you, you were still adjusting to the fame since you hadn’t really had much exposure beforehand. In a way, “Winthrope” had really changed your life in that aspect; you were relatively unknown before it—most of the younger cast was—and now you had been catapulted into some sort of fame. You weren’t super famous, it wasn’t like you were getting mobbed by paps constantly, but you had gained a substantial following. People tweeted you, approached you on the street, and even had whole internet presences dedicated to you and your character. It still took a while to get used to it, but you were trying to handle it with the most grace you could muster, but you would be a liar if you said it wasn’t exhausting at times. It was a small price to pay though.

Nicole finished with your laces and you gave yourself a second to adjust. Speaking of prices you pay.

As Nicole is pinning up the hem of one of Violet’s evening gowns, you hear a knock at the trailer’s door.

“Come in!”

You were expecting any one of your female costars, as this was the woman’s costuming trailer, however, you were surprised to see your character’s newest love interest and the subject of internet articles, Gwilym Lee.

“Hi,” he says as he awkwardly stands at the trailer’s threshold.

“Hey” you great him coolly while holding the hem of your dress up as Nicole took measurements.

“Right, hi, anyway. I was wondering if you had lunch plans today? One of my friends is on the lot today and I thought we could all get lunch together?”

You lean down to fix the train of your dress while you think about it. In the last month on set, Gwil had never invited you to do anything, which you were completely fine with. You had tried to keep Gwilym at arm’s length for the last few weeks of table reads and preliminary filming. You’ve learned not to get too close to the leading-man type, and you have yet to figure out whether or not he is someone you can trust enough with your friendship. Your experiences have been mixed with male actors on your set, to say the least.

“Who’s your friend?” you ask, slowly rising upright.

“Ben, Ben Hardy. We were in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ together. He’s on the lot doing some post for ‘X-Men.’”

“Um, sure,” you say, although you’re not entirely sure why.

“Great, so, I’ll see you then,” Gwil takes one last look at you before heading out the door.

You catch Nicole giving you a long look.

“What?”

______

You spend the first half of your day in fittings which is pretty exhausting. Nicole remains cryptically silent on the significant exchange this morning, which strikes you as odd because she loves to talk about any possible set drama. Instead, you keep the conversation light and talk about how nice it is to be back on set and what each of you did over the break. While Nicole and a few other designers pin and prick and pull at your complicated wardrobe pieces the tv hums in the background and you comfortably set into a rhythm. You are too entertained that you don’t even notice three short knocks at the door, you also miss one of the seamstresses letting your costar and his friend into the trailer.

“Hello,” says Gwil, “is this a good time?”

You look up from the inseam of a pair of riding trousers you’re trying on. Gwil is back in plainclothes and behind him is a shorter, blonder man. You recognize him instantly from his feature films and even though you knew to expect him, you’re caught off guard by how handsome he is. He smiles flittingly at you and you can feel a blush creeping on your cheeks. It’s at this time you realize that you did not have a shirt on and instead were still in your 220th-century underthings. Now you’re really blushing.

“Oh, sorry, we kind of lost track of time. Give me a second,” you say as you step down from the fitting platform as you try to keep cool, “let me change.”

Two costumers usher you behind a partition and both try to help you out of your costume and back into your plainclothes which is an affair all of its own.

“Hi nice to meet you!” you say as you stumble out from behind the partition extending your hand out.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Ben,” the blond man chuckles as you reach to shake his hand, “I’m sorry we barged in like this but Gwil just wouldn’t stop raving about his beautiful new costar and I wanted to meet the famous Violet Winthrope myself.”

You can feel yourself growing redder by the second, Ben Hardy had called you beautiful.

“Well, I hope I don’t disappoint, Violet is much more interesting than I am.”

“I beg to differ,” Gwil says, reminding you of his presence.

The three of you decide to eat close by since Ben only had 30 minutes until he had to be back on set (“Those angel wings take forever to get on!”) so you find one of the cafes on the lot.

While you eat, Ben tells you about his recent shoot on the “X-Men,” what he hopes his next project and asks you if the Richard Winthrope was going to lose ownership of the family business to his brother.

You laugh, “There is no way you watch ‘Winthrope Manor’!”

“What do you mean by that?” Ben gawks playfully, “I will have you know that I am very interested in the rich tapestry of 20th century American life woven by ‘Winthrope Manor’ and maybe I might have had a crush on the beautiful and charming Violet.”

You blush, which you seem to be doing a lot today, “Well if you must know—”

“We aren’t allowed to spoil anything!” Gwil interrupts forcefully.

“Right,”—since was Gwil so concerned about spoilers? —" I guess you’re just going to have to watch and find out!” You smile cheekily.

You and Ben carry most of the conversation during the short lunch, which you really don’t mind. You would be lying if you said you didn’t find yourself utterly charmed by Ben: he was funny, interesting and very attractive. Before you knew it, though, your short lunch came to an end and the three of you had to go to your respective sets. Before leaving, Ben shares that he would be on the lot tomorrow for some time too and promised to try and stop by your set if he could. You try to not look too giddy when he says this and instead play it cool while you bid him goodbye.

______

“He’s nice,” you say casually to Gwil as the two of you walk back to the set. He hadn’t talked much during lunch and while you did not know him well, usually Gwil was talkative between takes and during reads. He had always struck you as someone who was naturally friendly, as someone with something to say.

“Yeah, Ben’s a nice guy,” Gwil says, his brows furrowed.

“Yeah, I mean, I can see why the two of you stayed friends after filming ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.”

“Right.”

A beat of silence.

“I’m sorry, did I do something wrong?” you ask, and regret it almost instantly when you see the look Gwil gives you.

“No, why would you think that?”

“Well, it’s just,” you sigh, “you just seemed really quiet at lunch and now it’s like you don’t want to talk to me. Which is honestly confusing, considering you invited me to lunch.”

“You think I’m confusing? You’re the one that won’t say more than a sentence to me at a time but when Ben I’m-a-literal-angel Hardy shows up suddenly you can’t stop talking.”

“Wait, this is about me being friendly to Ben? I thought you wanted us to get along, he’s your friend,” you stop in the middle of a crowded lot.

“No, that’s not it,” he reaches a hand to his temple, “its just that, we’re supposed to be playing love interests and you barely talk to me. At first, I thought you were just shy, so I invited you out with someone else to make it easier for us to get to know each other, you know? Without so much pressure. But you aren’t shy, at least not with Ben which sort of leads me to believe that you just don’t like me, which is fine I guess, you’re not obligated to like me, I just thought—”

“You worried that I don’t like you?”

“Well, you never really talk to me and whenever I’m around you find a way to not spend time with me unless you have to,” Gwil says, almost sheepishly, “and with everyone else, you’re so nice and personable.”

It’s true. You had been avoiding Gwil, but it wasn’t because you didn’t like him. Up until this point, you hadn’t really formed an opinion on him.

“You’re right, maybe I have been avoiding you, but it’s not because I don’t like you. I just haven’t decided what to make of you yet,” you say, biting your lip.

“What?”

“Well, last season I got involved with the guy who played William, Charlotte’s love interest. The actor’s name was Aaron Mayfield and, well, it ended badly, like, really badly. Lucky for me, William died on the front lines, so I didn’t have to see Aaron again. After that though, I decided to keep my relationships with any new costars as professional as possible, until I could figure out if I could trust them to be friends with. I guess I didn’t really think that through though, because now I’ve hurt your feelings and you actually do seem like a really nice guy,” you say all this with your eyes trained on the ground, part of you relieved to have come clean.

After some silence, you look up slowly, hoping to gauge Gwil’s reactions. His head is tilted to one side, and he looks like he’s trying to figure out some sort of mathematical equation, his bright eyes catching the midday sun.

“So, does this mean we can be friends?”

PART 2

#bohemian rhapsody fanfiction #gwilym lee #gwilym lee x reader #ben hardy #ben hardy imagine #ben hardy x reader

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femnet · 6 years

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Have you ever gotten tired of the girl gets the prince trope in media? Have you been looking for some kick-ass female characters or LGBTQ+ rep? Do you love fantasy stories?

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black is the book for you! In this story, *SPOILER ALERT* the boy gets the prince and the girl is his royal champion.

Rather than gush about this book in an incoherent way, I’m going to let Goodreads cover the basics:

Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for. Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once. At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking. Until one day, he does… As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20958632-the-darkest-part-of-the-forest?ac=1&from_search=true)

Now that you know what’s going on, let’s get into more specific reasons why this book is so incredible.

LGBTQ+ Representation

As previously stated, this book is quite gay. This is not the story of Hazel getting the prince, it’s the story of Ben getting the prince. Hazel actually has her own love interest and is tragically heterosexual. I would have paid big money to see these two each get their own gay, happy endings. (A gappy ending, if you will!)

Without spoiling too much, this book ends with just about the cutest confession of love I have ever read or seen in any media and it just about brings me to tears from cuteness every time. Ben x Severin is the true OTP.

A Badass Female Protagonist

The majority of the book is actually focused on Hazel. She’s no princess looking for a prince, she’s a warrior ready to fight for the people she loves and what’s right at all costs. We get to see her go from a normal girl to a knight fighting to help the prince she could once only dream of. It’s much like the games she used to play with her brother in childhood, except this time the stakes are much higher. The world of faeries is tricky, but Hazel can handle it.

By the end of the book, she is even named Severin’s official royal champion while Ben becomes his significant other.

An Unforgettable Fantasy World

The world of Fairfold is incredible. I have always loved faeries so this one got me from the beginning. The concept of having a town with a lot of urban legends surrounding a certain character is also actually what inspired me to create the town of Hollaway in my book All the Dark Things. So, you could say this book has influenced me quite a bit.

I love the way Holly Black sets up her world. We get to see how the boy in the glass coffin was a normal part of life for the people of Fairfold. Kids would even have parties around him. We get to see how this mystery boy and the other faeries have shaped the town so dramatically and made it what it is. It’s details and lore like this that make stories extremely exciting for readers like me.

In conclusion, these are only a few of many reasons why you should check out this book. I recommend anything by Holly Black, but especially this one. Of all the books I’ve read from her, this was has left the biggest mark on me and I really wish more people knew about it and could appreciate it with me.

Enjoy and watch out for mischevious faeries!

#the darkest part of the forest #holly black #tdpotf #tfota #book recs #media #by jess #september 2018

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bronsonthurman · 7 years

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Review: Netflix’s Death Note

Recently Netflix released its version of Death Note, one of several anime adaptations in the works by major American studio. While it credits the Weekly Shonen Jump manga series as its source, it likely benefits far more from awareness of the 2006 anime adaptation. American viewers of that series surely featured prominently in the calculus of producing this movie, providing a ready made market. Unfortunately this movie is a vapid attempt to exploit the premise as American teen horror and just looks that much worse for its comparison to the unique psychological thriller that was the anime.

Aside from the requisite spoiler alert, I would advise readers who haven’t seen either of these productions to immediately watch the anime. The Netflix adaptation will spoil its surprises without delivering any rewards. The anime is only 37 episodes in self-contained entirely and though it occasionally detours into the ridiculous and convoluted, as anime is wont to do, its characters and plot are fresh, engaging, and thought provoking..

If it were not for the superior source material the movie might have seemed like just more mediocre teen targeted commercialism instead of an outright dumpster fire. Protagonist Light Turner (Nat Wolff) is a troubled, brilliant teen making extra cash by selling homework and creepily staring--oops, I mean longing for--beautiful cheerleader Mia Sutton (Margaret Qualley). We are supposed to believe he is good at heart because he tries to defend her against a generic male bully, but the audience can’t help but notice he only gets involved after she has the courage to intervene; Light butts in with an outburst of machismo he tries to back up by being a ineffectual smart ass. All in all the introduction brings to mind school shooting tragedies in a manner that only adds ick, not substance. It preps the viewer to feel wary of what they’ve gotten into, and rightfully so.

Into the hands of this unfortunate protagonist falls the titular premise, the Death Note, really a Death Notebook wherein owners can write names, dates, and manners of death for people they wish to kill. Hot on its heels Light is visited by the prickly, hunched demon Ryuk, who is served well by darkly lit computer animation and proves that Willem Dafoe is enjoyable even when he’s taking it easy, if not exactly just phoning it in. Ryuk serves as an unpersuasive argument that the devil made Light do it. Luckily for the viewer there is only one bully ready to be a target of Light’s wrath, who is decapitated gruesomely. The two-dimensional cruelty presented as justification does nothing to avoid the disturbing appearance of a shitty person in desperate need of psychological help getting bloodily murdered instead.

In better hands Death Note could have been a shocking and significant co-option of the property to explore a decent-at-heart kid pushed to the edge of good and evil by youthful callousness and falling into an abyss of high school violence. Director Adam Windgard, perhaps recognizing his own limitations, giving us instead exactly what we should expect from a director of mediocre horror like the Blair Witch reboot, V/H/S, and You’re Next: more flimsy, forgettable horror. Windgard tries to make Death Note into Final Destination with a few improbable and modestly gory set pieces, strung together with music videos with terrible soundtracks, in between trying to establish conflict between mysterious FBI consultant L and a cringe inducing loser-gets-the-girl teen romance. Sad to say this sub-plot’s only redeeming quality is being perfunctory and it only gets worse when Mia’s motives take a sinister turn.

There is a meaningful discussion overdue on female capacity for vengeful judgmentalness, violence by proxy, and vileness typically relegated to men. These subjects are hinted at, but this film is no place for something so nuanced, so the betrayals and come uppance we are subjected to feel like the cinematic equivalent of a basic bro screaming “that’s what you get bitch!” Whether coming from the screenplay by Charley and Vlas Parlapanides or from director Wingard one of them should have realized how it would reflect on the men behind the film. It just feels gross.

Efforts to weave plots around the endless rules included in the Death Note may appeal to some devoted hobbyist geeks, but even a casual hobbyist geek like me was underwhelmed. The only respite comes from the fact that Dafoe has a great voice and Lakeith Stanfield gives a competent performance as L that seems aware of what made the anime equivalent of his character interesting. Mentioning the acting in this movie feels spiteful--the actors are hardly to blame, going through motions as they were surely expected and giving basically the appropriate emotional cues to support the dialog, such as it is. That Qualley’s flat performance as Mia seemed fitting is not so much a complement to her, but rather another strike for the subtle stink of chauvinism exuded by her role and plots.

Eventually there are confrontations, a chase action sequence that doesn’t contribute anything or know when to quit, something like a climax, and an attempt at a twist ending. Attempts to redeem Light Turner ring hollow and false. None of it matters or convinces, none of it draws the viewer in. Even the guilty pleasure of really tearing apart something awful wouldn’t have kept the movie on for its full running time if I weren’t penning an article--I walked away only minutes in before deciding I couldn’t suitably insult it if I hadn’t sat through it all.

The degree of animosity here is not entirely due to the film in isolation. Alone it wouldn’t merit a full viewing and I would have left feeling mildly resentful that I had wasted 15 minutes on a teen horror movie that really was intended for teens. It speaks to its target audience in a cynical, exploitative way, not in a Buffy-the-Vampire-Slayer-will-appeal-to-your-inner-adolescent way. Sometimes that’s still passable, pressing the intended viewer’s buttons just how they want them to be pressed by a particular genre. But this movie takes deeply interesting source material and uses it to compel me and countless others to sit through it for 101 minutes. That it was free with my subscription makes it worse, not better, because if I had to pay for a theater ticket to see it, I wouldn’t have, just as I didn’t see Ghost in the Shell, an adaptation of a franchise I am much more personally attached to. This pops up on Netflix as if to say “you liked Death Note, right? We have more Death Note for you,” only to insult me by abusing its source so badly.

This is the cause of angry reddits, comment section tirades, bad user reviews, and poor returns. Hollywood doesn’t understand the genre. Whitewashing it a big part of it; stories are products of cultures, infused with those experiences and values. Its not just the race of the actor that matters, though racism under the guise as marketability is truly an ugly reality that deprives many fine actors of work and us of their performances. In the case of anime adaptations the whole story is being whitewashed to force it to fit Hollywood’s limited realm of cinematic experience. This robs of us of fine stories that are highly original, at least from our cultural norm.

This adaptation robs us of Light Yagami, a model Japanese youth with a bright future ahead of him, diligent, conscientious of his responsibilities in a distinctly Asian way. When this fine young man becomes convinced that he should use the Death Note to make the world better by eliminating criminals, we believe him, at least at first. He matches wits against his opposite, the misanthropic but just L, sacrificing his rationales of justness bit by bit along the way. The audience takes a gripping psychological trip to the realization that our protagonist is the villain. His crazy girlfriend isn’t just a bitch, she’s an outright obsessive who is perversely the subject of obsession herself as a teen idol. The police are bastions of mundanity, trying to bring sanity back to a world split by public knowledge that this grim god of vengeance exists. The chase alternates between methodical procedure and inspired drama. The series is anything but a formulaic rehash of a genre which American audiences already have in excess.

Ultimately that’s all Netflix’s Death Note is. It adds nothing, and it sacrifices much. It wastes the viewers time and insults fans drawn in by the licensed property. It subjects the viewer to some of the tackiest songs I’ve ever heard in a soundtrack. It’s sure to disappear from Netflix suggestions soon, in line with their strategy of producing as many things as possible by scatter shot and just being quiet about the failures. Don’t bother searching for it.

#film review #netflix #anime #critique

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hvmcnisms-blog · 6 years

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“ you're too good a fighter to kill, but if i die because of you, i’ll beat the shit out of you in hell. ”

━━ AELIN ASHRYVER GALATHYNIUS.

01. when the virtual reality shut down, what was your muse’s reaction ? how did they handle the dark period?

SPOILER ALERT FOR KINGDOM OF ASH!

aelin was standing on her balcony with her husband, admiring the kingdom she had fought for, bled for, and helped revive, when the world went dark. her initial reaction was fear -- fear that the unspeakable evil that they had only defeated mere months before had somehow come back. that the barely there doubt that tickled the back of her mind had been right about erawan’s defeat. right about maeve not actually having been dead. but when nothing else happened, aelin began to grow suspicious. she did the best she could to keep those within her domain calm, but even she had many questions about what was happening.

that’s when the programmers showed up.

02. what was their reaction to finding out they were fiction ? how did they feel about the offer to become human ?

aelin, the girl who has never reacted well to anything in her life, certainly didn’t react well to this news. no, she lashed out, asking question after question until the programmer herself got uneasy, as though she were forgetting that it was she who controlled aelin. the queen was angry beyond belief to find out that she was fiction. after suffering for so long, losing so many people, losing parts of herself that she could never get back -- to find out that all of it was fake? that nothing she had endured would have had any lasting effect on the world? it was devastating. devastating, and angering, and confusing, and when all of those emotions combined, in it’s wake was a very, very calm aelin. murderously calm, you might say. as if she had slipped back into her assassin habits, the small smile on her lips promised nothing but pain and misery to those who dared to cross her in those moments.

for right then, she was not aelin ashryver whitethorn galathynius, queen of terrasen. no, she was celaena sardothien, heir to the assassin’s keep, calculating every move that everyone made, and always remaining five steps ahead. she had been tortured for months all in the name of winning back her kingdom, only to find out it was never really there to win back at all. something inside of her cracked, and from that crack bloomed a new darkness that has yet to arise in aelin’s human life as phoenix. a human life that she did not agree to, but was forced into by the programmers once again for others enjoyment.

03. before the island, where did they live ? what was their reset life like ? who are the significant people in their lives ?

annalise regium was “born” into a wealthy life in high society new york, to two a-list parents ( actors ) who loved her more than humanly possible. a spoiled little girl she was, always getting what she wanted right then and there, no questions asked. it was a lovely life for a child, though when she turned eight, the programmers came to a crossroad. do they traumatize the child the way that she had been traumatized in her previous life, or do they allow her to continue living lavish like she would have? we all know the programmers can be dicks! so they went with team trauma. on a night that the little girl was plagued with nightmares of demons and darkness, she snuck into her mother and fathers bed and fell asleep. come morning, she awoke to find both of her parents dead. the authorities said there was a possibility that it had been the doing of a hit man called by a rival business man, but young phoenix didn’t want to hear about what had happened. no, she didn’t want to hear anything. so in the dead of winter, in nothing but her nightgown, the little girl ran away.

she was found later that night, half frozen to death by a self defense instructor who ran a gym nearby. he took her in, and even when news reports of the girls missing status came about, he did not turn her in. instead, he gave her the name phoenix, and he taught her all he knew and when she was old enough, brought her into his world of underground fighting. he would send her into the ring, money bet on her success. it was during these nights of ‘fight club’ that phoenix was arrested, someone having tipped the police officers off about where that nights secret meeting would have been. she spent a year in juvenile detention, and was bailed out by someone who knew who she was. someone who had been looking for her for quite a while, to offer her the company that rightfully belonged to her. after running away from who she was for so long, phoenix was finally returning back to high society new york, a changed person from the child she had been, ready to take on her role as ceo to the company her parents left behind.

04. what drew them to the island ?

she likes to say that the move to the island was to branch out her newly inherited company, but it was really because she felt unnaturally drawn to elysium. that was the trackers work, of course, but she has yet to figure that out.

05. does your character have any secrets ( big or small ) that they think are private when in reality they were broadcasted live to the whole world ?

phoenix has no shame whatsoever, so anything that the audience has seen is something she would gladly do again in public.

06. what are the major similarities between the character’s canon life & their reset life ? what about the differences ?

so many differences, though most are minor. a lot of that has to do with the fact that the book takes place in a time period very different from the world she now lives in. personality wise, they’re exactly the same. story wise, very different.

07. how much of their old life will they remember when their memories return ?

when aelin finally regains her memories, she will be able to remember everything, and she will not be happy about it in the slightest.

#reset:intro

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stcrseternal · 6 years

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“ you’re too good a fighter to kill, but if i die because of you, i’ll beat the shit out of you in hell. ”

━━ AELIN ASHRYVER GALATHYNIUS.

01. when the virtual reality shut down, what was your muse’s reaction ? how did they handle the dark period?

SPOILER ALERT FOR KINGDOM OF ASH!

aelin was standing on her balcony with her husband, admiring the kingdom she had fought for, bled for, and helped revive, when the world went dark. her initial reaction was fear – fear that the unspeakable evil that they had only defeated mere months before had somehow come back. that the barely there doubt that tickled the back of her mind had been right about erawan’s defeat. right about maeve not actually having been dead. but when nothing else happened, aelin began to grow suspicious. she did the best she could to keep those within her domain calm, but even she had many questions about what was happening.

that’s when the programmers showed up.

02. what was their reaction to finding out they were fiction ? how did they feel about the offer to become human ?

aelin, the girl who has never reacted well to anything in her life, certainly didn’t react well to this news. no, she lashed out, asking question after question until the programmer herself got uneasy, as though she were forgetting that it was she who controlled aelin. the queen was angry beyond belief to find out that she was fiction. after suffering for so long, losing so many people, losing parts of herself that she could never get back – to find out that all of it was fake? that nothing she had endured would have had any lasting effect on the world? it was devastating. devastating, and angering, and confusing, and when all of those emotions combined, in it’s wake was a very, very calm aelin. murderously calm, you might say. as if she had slipped back into her assassin habits, the small smile on her lips promised nothing but pain and misery to those who dared to cross her in those moments.

03. before the island, where did they live ? what was their reset life like ? who are the significant people in their lives ?

aelin galathynius was “born” into a wealthy life in high society new york, to two a-list parents ( actors ) who loved her more than humanly possible. a spoiled little girl she was, always getting what she wanted right then and there, no questions asked. it was a lovely life for a child, though when she turned eight, the programmers came to a crossroad. do they traumatize the child the way that she had been traumatized in her previous life, or do they allow her to continue living lavish like she would have? we all know the programmers can be dicks! so they went with team trauma. on a night that the little girl was plagued with nightmares of demons and darkness, she snuck into her mother and fathers bed and fell asleep. come morning, she awoke to find both of her parents dead. the authorities said there was a possibility that it had been the doing of a hit man called by a rival business man, but young aelin didn’t want to hear about what had happened. no, she didn’t want to hear anything. so in the dead of winter, in nothing but her nightgown, the little girl ran away.

she was found later that night, half frozen to death by a self defense instructor who ran a gym nearby. he took her in, and even when news reports of the girls missing status came about, he did not turn her in. instead, he gave her the name celaena, and he taught her all he knew and when she was old enough, brought her into his world of underground fighting. he would send her into the ring, money bet on her success. it was during these nights of ‘fight club’ that celaena was arrested, someone having tipped the police officers off about where that nights secret meeting would have been. she spent a year in juvenile detention, and was bailed out by someone who knew who she was. someone who had been looking for her for quite a while, to offer her the company that rightfully belonged to her. after running away from who she was for so long, aelin was finally returning back to high society new york, a changed person from the child she had been, ready to take on her role as ceo to the company her parents left behind. she has since been running the company for nearly 6 years and does so with grace and compassion.

04. what are some of the events, twists, or turns that the fans voted on ?

the fans got to vote on whether or not aelin’s life was going to mirror that of her fictional life. spoiler alert, majority ruled that yes, it should parallel her old life.

05. does your character have any secrets ( big or small ) that they think are private when in reality they were broadcasted live to the whole world ?

aelin has no shame whatsoever, so anything that the audience has seen is something she would gladly do again in public.

06. what are the major similarities between the character’s canon life & their reset life ? what about the differences ?

07. how much of their old life will they remember when their memories return ?

when aelin finally regains her memories, she will be able to remember everything, and she will not be happy about it in the slightest.

#exploit:intro

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movietvtechgeeks · 7 years

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Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/agents-shield-changes-everything/

'Agents of SHIELD' What if changes up everything

Mallory Jansen has a new fan. She’s so gorgeous as Madame Hydra in the latest episode of Agents of SHIELD, What If. This is her third role in the series which covers three story arcs of Season 4. Ms. Jansen was first introduced as the Life-Model Decoy AIDA in the Ghost Rider arc and later as the person AIDA was modeled after Agnes Kitsworth in one episode of the LMD arc and now as the gorgeous Madame Hydra in the Framework/Agents of HYDRA arc. Hopefully, in this new fascinating Matrix-like take on the world, the show’s ratings would spike and keep the show alive and proceed with syndication. Their comic-book like take on the story arcs keeps the show fresh and removes the drag factor that often makes TV series suffer like in the Netflix series. The Netflix series are quite good, and the best we can say about Iron Fist is that it’s nice, but they seem to have more episodes than necessary. Last we saw in Agents of SHIELD, everyone in the team except for Daisy and Simmons were captured by AIDA and Radcliffe and were put into their Matrix-like Framework. Even Radcliffe himself fell victim to a now malicious AIDA (who seems to have broken the three laws of AI) and had his consciousness exiled in his own creation with his body let out to ‘dry.' With the SHIELD base crawling with LMDs of their former teammates, Daisy and Jemma enter the framework themselves to rescue their teammates. Daisy, however, wakes up to an unfamiliar room with Ward as her boyfriend (SkyWard fans rejoice) while Jemma’s name, in a cliffhanger, is shown on a tombstone. Fitz looks rich ushering an unidentified girlfriend out of a car, Mack is living at home with his dead daughter, Coulson is teaching an anti-Inhuman awareness class, and May looks happy in a now rebuilt Triskellion with a HYDRA logo. The show’s fans are locked in anticipation of what comes next and hopefully; the general public would bite in and just catch up on Netflix. SPOILER Alert as we recap this latest episode of the series. Just mosey on to the last paragraph if you don’t want to get spoiled. Thank you for staying with us as we knew you’d like to know what we think here. The show begins with Daisy waking up to the scenario previously described. She’s not affected by the new reality as she anticipated that Lincoln was the guy she slept with which turns out to be Ward. She instinctively held out her hand to use her powers but surprise, it didn’t work. Another surprise is that Ward called her Skye. Apparently, this version of Ward is the guy from Season One. Quick on her feet, Daisy adapts her dialogue to suit the scenario. Ward himself doesn’t suspect anything and makes fun of the hand thing. He later gives Daisy, or Skye her ID, and she looks at it with dread because instead of SHIELD, the logo is HYDRA. The Agents of SHIELD logo then changes into Agents of HYDRA introducing us to the title of Season 4’s third arc. Later on their way to work, it’s shown that Inhumans exist despite Daisy not having her powers and as shown in the previous episode, persecuted. Skye is later surprised to see the Triskellion intact despite it being destroyed in Captain America: Civil War. At her station, Skye looks up Lincoln’s status and later is distressed to find out that Jemma’s dead. She later meets May who is no nonsense and authoritative as usual. Skye, however, is glad to see her, but May doesn’t recognize her as Daisy. She leaves her station for the briefing leaving Jemma’s profile on her screen. The show didn’t make us wait regarding what happened to Jemma. Last episode, we were shown her tombstone leaving viewers asking, was Jemma instantly killed upon entering the framework? Apparently not as she breaks through her grave lying on top of her own ‘corpse.' At some point in time, Jemma’s counterpart was murdered unbeknownst to Fitz. Jemma leaves her grave site and hitches a ride in a woman’s car. They encounter later a roadblock which is an Inhuman checkpoint and Jemma is forced to leave the car because everyone in this reality is required to carry their HYDRA issued IDs except her ID is SHIELD. Back to Skye, the briefing turns out to be about an Inhuman detainee named Jason Rajan who Skye knows for a fact is Vijay Nadeer. Skye and Ward are given the job to interrogate him after Skye showed some interest. Skye outs Nadeer because she’s prompted to by May and accuses Nadeer of conspiring with a HYDRA insider because of Vijay’s perfectly made fake ID. Jemma meanwhile goes into a diner and tries to swipe a car and a disguise but immediately gets picked up by a couple of HYDRA agents but manages to get away. The scene then goes to Coulson teaching several students, social studies or history perhaps. He then explains the reason for the Inhuman persecution and points to an incident known as the Cambridge Incident which involved the little girl that May was forced to kill in Bahrain. The girl apparently used her powers to kill inside a classroom. SHIELD took he fall for the incident, and HYDRA stepped in. One of his students questioned Coulson about HYDRA’s Nazi roots, but Coulson angrily corrected him and threateningly held his shoulder which showed viewers how different Coulson is in the Framework just like May. Two men suddenly stepped in asking for a suspected Inhuman student and Coulson casually surrendered him. Back in the interrogation, May steps in, but Vijay taunts her about Bahrain. Skye stops her from killing him, so May orders him taken to see ‘the doctor’ who apparently is dreaded among the Inhumans. Skye takes him to see ‘the doctor’ who turns out to be Fitz. We switch back to Jemma on a park bench and took a device hidden beneath a stone. The bench is hers and Daisy’s assigned meeting place in the Framework. She marks the bench as a sign that she’s okay. She goes back to the HYDRA agents’ car which she stole and looks up the rest of her team and finds Coulson and goes to see him. Coulson doesn’t recognize her as he apparently didn’t sign up with SHIELD. It was revealed before by the Coulson LMD that one of Phil’s regrets was signing up with SHIELD and giving up a normal life. The same as with May. May’s biggest regret was killing the little girl in Bahrain which is actually the basis for the Framework’s reality since May is the framework’s first subject. Jemma emotionally tries to make Coulson remember to no success but tells him about TAHITI prompted by a Hawaiian statuette. The statuette suggests that TAHITI is embedded in Coulson’s subconscious. Jemma fails and leaves, and Coulson reports her. Jemma encounters Coulson’s subversive student who vandalized the agent’s car. She convinces him that she’s on the good side and the student gives her his car. The student suggests the existence of a resistance movement which he’s willing to join. The exchange, however, was witnessed by a drone. Remember the drones Fitz brought along on missions? They’re now everywhere. Back to the Triskellion, Vijay is subjected to one of Fitz’ torture machines. Skye tries to rouse Fitz’ humanity but fails. May comes in and reports to Fitz about the events at school which makes Skye aware of Coulson and Jemma. Fitz orders May to investigate with all resources available. Skye also goes out to do the same thing but is confronted by Ward. She brushes Ward off by acting on what Ward said earlier about wanting space in their relationship. Back to Coulson, he looks back on some memories and looks up Tahiti but sees nothing but a paper containing nothing but ‘It’s a magical place’ repeated over and over. There’s a nod to season 1 about his violinist girlfriend and a picture of a car resembling Lola. Skye goes to the park bench and happily meets up with Jemma. It turns out that Ward followed Skye and points a gun at them. He suggests that Jemma may be in the resistance but both deny it. It turns out that Ward is actually in it and may be the mole within HYDRA that Skye suggested earlier. It seems that in whatever reality, Ward has a problem with the governing authorities and is on the opposing side. He helps the girls evade capture by HYDRA agents. Ward said he had Skye screened for Inhuman DNA and has been protecting her ever since. They decide to leave the Framework to come back later using the device Jemma picked up, but it didn’t work. It turns out that AIDA anticipated their arrival and messed with their plans. They’re now trapped in the Framework. Now for the attractive looking part of the episode. Mallory Jansen is now Madame Hydra. The mysterious woman Fitz was ushering out of the car. Madame Hydra, if she’s actually AIDA, appears more human and undoubtedly prettier with the hair and dark green attire. Fitz wanted to see the video about the events involving Jemma but gets denied. Madame Hydra/AIDA is preventing Fitz from knowing about Jemma which could trigger his humanity, but AIDA also seems to have developed an attraction for him as shown by their kiss. Lastly, Coulson heads home in his car but is confronted by Daisy in the backseat. Daisy forces him to remember. Without her mentioning her name, Coulson remembers. Events happened rather quickly in this episode as it tries to be worthy of a season starter. The end scene shows that the show doesn’t waste any time dragging things around by making Coulson remember himself immediately and by having Ward play a significant part in the plot. It seems by bringing Ward back, the show suggests that Daisy is still reeling from Ward’s betrayal in Season 1, or it could be just AIDA messing with our heads. The Framework does not acknowledge the events of the Avengers film ad Phil didn’t get around to assembling them and that the ‘incident’ refers to the Inhuman child from Bahrain and that incident somehow erases the MCU. The case of the child too also makes a play on the issues regarding the chaos of immigration policies in our world. Not tethered to the MCU, writers are free to do whatever they wish, but this disconnects the show from the MCU more than ever before. That aside, this episode is fast, this episode is great and scary, and hopefully, the others are just as good.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

#Agents of Shield #Featured #TV Recaps

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movietvtechgeeks · 7 years

Photo

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/agents-shield-changes-everything/

'Agents of SHIELD' What if changes up everything

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

#Agents of Shield #Featured #TV Recaps

0 notes