#that scene where he asked in a roundabout way how to propose to her. it was sweet. also the way he stuttered was really cute.

[ispridestillasin]

So I decided to watch a bit of Bridgerton with my mother, which I'm not really interested in (I don't really like period pieces unless it's a fanfic for a ship I like) but it's a show she enjoys so I sometimes catch her watching it and join her, and literally the only takeaway from the stuff I've seen with her is that Colin, Lord Debling, and Penelope should have all been poly

[wangxiandecoded]

Episode 7 (& Wangxian Meta)

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(Spoilers for the whole show ahead!)

The Chosen Ones

Lan Zhan, if this scene foreshadows anything, it’s that he’s certainly going to become a part of your domestic affair.

There is something powerful about the first and only female Lan clan leader giving them her blessing and saying it was destiny that they found their way to her just as she’s about to fade into oblivion. Wangxian are the archetypal Chosen Ones who have been entrusted with keeping the Yin Iron safe. And if this was yet another straight adventure story that delivers poetic justice, we would expect it to conclude with these two people ending up together - and that’s what The Untamed does in a roundabout way with our heroes.

Nothing to see here. Just two guys tripping over each other because the sacred string of fate pulled them towards each other.

Lan Zhan, I’ll Be Your Secret Keeper!

This episode is full of instances where Wei Ying refuses to tell other characters what really happened in the cave, then turns around to look at Lan Zhan with a proud look that screams, “I’m so good at keeping secrets, aren’t I? We are soulmates! Come on, validate me, Lan Zhan!”

The expression on Lan Qiren’s face when Wei Ying calls Lan Zhan his confidant/soulmate. No words are needed. 

The Yin Iron Secret™ is obviously bringing them closer and they begin to share loaded glances that convey everything they wish to say without actually having to. Thus begins the process of everyone third wheeling Wangxian.

Jiang Cheng thinks Wei Ying should move into the Cloud Recesses since he’s hanging out with Lan Zhan all the time. Lan Zhan hears that and appears to be a tad bit disappointed Wei Ying might never actually do that since their lifestyles are leagues apart. It’s tough being Wei Wuxian sometimes.

The Lantern That Started Everything

We are here, folks! The moment that started it all, the scene that defined Wangxian’s story. Once again, Wangxian are framed in contrast with the two straight couples. 

Lan Zhan and Wei Ying are standing together and look at each other while making their wish, just like Yanli x Jin Zixuan, and Jiang Cheng x Wen Qing.

Lan Zhan says he is used to doing it alone and Wei Ying comments old habits can be changed, which just points to the latter’s impact on the former’s life.

Wei Ying has another accomplishment to cross off his list : Finally made Lan Zhan smile today!

Mian Mian asks Yanli why she didn’t make the lantern together with Jin Zixuan, as praying together is a custom followed by couples that are to be married. And that tells you everything you need to know about Lan Zhan and Wei Ying’s relationship.   

The first of many times that Lan Zhan rushes in to hold Wei Ying back.

Lan Zhan for a second believed Wei Ying finally learnt his lessons and crossed over to the lawful good side.. but come on, you love him precisely because he would never do that. And those ants are cute.

Jiang Fengmian proposes to cancel the troth between the clans to marry Yanli and Jin Zixuan. It is worth mentioning that Jiang clan’s approach to marriage is to never force their kids into a lifelong relationship they are not sure they want as they believe in “following one’s nature”. When even straight relationships are progressive and value happiness above all else, what is to stop the show from selling us a central gay romance that ends happily? Absolutely nothing.

We’ve now seen both the protagonists reject the romantic idea of spending their life with a woman. 

Missing Lan Zhan Hours Now Open

Wei Ying pouting like.. What do you mean we have to leave already? Lan Zhan literally just started acknowledging me as his soulmate. 

Oh no, Lan Zhan.. Why aren’t you including your soulmate on the super secret plan™?!

Wei Ying’s reason for wanting to say goodbye to only Lan Zhan out of all the disciples is, “Why can’t I admire his talents? You’re all losers who can’t fight me and he is my Match (Made In Heaven), I desire for an equivalence (and a meaningful union between souls.)”

The camera moves from the Yunmeng siblings squabbling to Lan Zhan observing them from a distance. Zewu Jun joins him and comments that after Wei Ying’s departure, Yun Shen will be silent once more. Lan Zhan’s face falls a little, understandably because he was getting more than used to Wei Ying’s chaotic presence in his life.

Zewu Jun is worried if Lan Zhan will be alright on his journey alone and raises the idea if he should tell Wei Ying about his quest. But Lan Zhan, our beloved idiot, still needs that extra push to come to terms with his feelings and realize Wei Ying will instantly drop everything for a lifetime by his side if he were to only say the word.

Rabbits Symbolise The Chinese Gay God

Even before the fandom taught me that the Chinese god of homosexuality is literally The Rabbit God, so the inclusion of rabbits is gloriously queer subtext, I could gather that they symbolised Wangxian’s feelings for each other. They both talk to the rabbits when the other is not there, Wei Ying paints a rabbit lantern for them to wish together, Lan Zhan raised Ah Yuan among these rabbits because they reminded him of Wei Ying and after 16 years, Lan Zhan drunkenly admits he likes rabbits (the equivalent of saying he’s always liked Wei Ying), they buy the rabbit lantern together and finally come back to find these rabbits in Cloud Recesses. The rabbits are a part of the Wangxian family.

The reappearance of the rabbits when Lan Zhan and Wei Ying’s dynamics have changed 16 years later is very telling. Their relationship by then has survived death and the miraculous return from death; it’s gone through the whole cycle of the promise of love, the pain of loss, the joy of redemption. The rabbits bring their life full circle to denote the certainty and comfort in the fact that they have each other after the trials and tribulations their romance has withstood. Wei Ying even says he isn’t scared of what happens anymore in that scene. There is nothing that can separate our heroes after this, they just have to brave whatever comes together.

And then there’s this promo picture and scene from a later episode where two rabbits are kissing.

This is how The Untamed screamed gay rights : “We’re not saying the heroes are gay, but the Yunshen rabbits are definitely gay and no one can do anything about it!” Only, the rabbits are such a huge part of this love story. 

Wangxian’s Promise of Love and Honor

When they make the wish together, Lan Zhan looks at Wei Ying with a kind of awe and reverence like, how did I not recognize him from the moment we met? He eyes the pouch containing the Yin metal and realizes they are both more alike than he thought, that this guy is possibly and most definitely his soulmate. This is an important stage in their relationship.

When he hears Wei Ying wish that he wants to eliminate evil and protect the weak in exchange for a life without anything weighing down their hearts - I think it is at this point he begins to see him as more of a life partner with whom he can share everything, than just a friend. Because Wei Ying’s impact on Lan Zhan’s life is so profound it alters his being, tilts his axis and expands his perspective. Wei Ying brought with him a free-spirited, flexible measurement of morality and an ardent quest for truth that no 3000 rules of the Lan clan had ever laid down. He realizes the rules he grew up on are right but Wei Ying, with all his moral complexity, can also be right. Wei Ying’s companionship introduced Lan Zhan to a fluid perception of right and wrong that he found perfectly acceptable. This shows Lan Zhan and Wei Ying belong to the new generation that is here to reform the broken system built by their ancestors. In this moment, by choosing to view him as his unequivocal soulmate, by acknowledging their paths are to be forever intertwined, Lan Zhan liberates his mind from the monochromatic perception of life he was brought up on. By making this wish together, Lan Zhan trusts Wei Ying to always do the right thing from now on and trusts the both of them to lead a life that they are proud of.

He doesn’t know right now that staying committed to this wish is going to demand everything from them in the future, but he does know that Wei Ying is the greatest person he has ever met and the first one who is so compatible with him. And that is a revelation to Lan Zhan because there are easily a million things that set them apart. All the same, he sees his own core values reflected in his soulmate. He decides it couldn’t be the worst thing in this world to stand by Wei Ying’s side especially when he’s doing the most honorable thing they both know to be true. This common ground means something to Lan Zhan, even if we don’t hear him admit that. Because here is Wei Ying telling him he doesn’t need to be alone anymore even though he’s used to it. That he doesn’t have to go through any of it alone as long as he is there: fight for justice, vanquish evil, or even simply go through everyday life. Lan Zhan’s face in this scene is understandably the face of a man who is falling in love.

The promise they make to each other on this cliff was in a way, a promise to follow their own path that ended up operating above the constraints of and reinvented the cultivation world’s jurisdiction. There are going to be many forces trying to convince them it's not the right way, but the path they share, which is both the literal path of justice and their love for each other (they are synonymous, after all) is the one they courageously forge and painfully commit to when their world is unable to go on existing with the faulty principles it was founded on. That is why their romance survives every obstacle in the end. It is founded on a love that runs so deep it recognizes and respects the other in the many lifetimes spent serving their just cause. Their love, and the extents it goes to in order to thrive, is the answer to all the troubles that ail their world. And it all began with this lantern. 

This is why The Untamed is the gay drama and Wangxian are the gay warriors the universe has been waiting for. It staged gay romance in a realm ruled by gentry and the supernatural, giving us equal parts of gore as there is swashbuckling, gut-wrenching drama. Literally never been done before.

In conclusion, Episode 7 deepens the bond between our heroes and sets up the main struggle in their romance as we wait to see what will become of the wish they made together. But one thing is clear : They are bound together forever, not just by their love for each other but also by their common cause. That is why the road they walk on can never be different. It will forever be the single plank road they will always find their way back to.

[bestworstcase]

"[Rapunzel] stops accepting blame for things that aren’t her fault". I've seen this mentioned before on other blogs talking about Rapunzel's character growth over the series, but I don't understand what it's referring to. Sorry if this is too vague/broad an ask, but what are you thinking of in seasons 1 and 2 when you say that Rapunzel has learned to stop taking the blame for things that aren't her fault by season 3? Apart from Rapunzel's Enemy and maybe QFAD, I can't think of anything.

i think this is one of the more understated things about rapunzel’s characterization in that there is never like, a specific moment where rapunzel Verbalizes acceptance of blame for things she clearly isn’t responsible for, but it still imo informs a lot of her behavior?

and it goes all the way back to the film. right out of the gate we see that guilt tripping and blame passing are two of gothel’s chief weapons: when rapunzel’s feelings get hurt by one of gothel’s “jokes,” gothel chides rapunzel to “stop taking everything so seriously,” which is abuser-speak for “nothing i say is wrong, it’s your fault if you’re hurt.” 

then there’s digs like “oh, rapunzel, you know i hate leaving you after a fight—especially when i’ve done absolutely nothing wrong...” 

and the big one, after gothel loses her temper and yells at rapunzel, and then immediately collapses disconsolately into a chair and says “ugh, great—now i’m the bad guy.” overtly blaming rapunzel for “making” gothel snap at her. (this of course gets called back to at the end of the film, though it’s less a guilt trip there than it is a threat.)

aaaand right before “mother knows best (reprise)” when rapunzel asks how gothel found her, gothel says, “oh, it was easy, i just listened for the sound of complete and utter betrayal and followed that.” this one imo is the clearest illustration of how all this impacts rapunzel emotionally, because she goes from scared/alarmed/startled to just. sagging, in obvious guilt. 

but then of course there’s also the scene right after rapunzel leaves the tower, where we see her oscillating wildly from jubilance to despair and guilt as she frets over what her leaving will “do” to gothel, how mad / upset / betrayed gothel will feel, etc. so even when gothel isn’t there, actively reinforcing this behavior, we can see that rapunzel very much feels that gothel’s feelings are her responsibility—and if gothel is upset, that’s rapunzel’s fault. 

anyway!! all this adds up to rapunzel leaving the tower with this subconscious mindset that all problems are her problems, and we see this expressed very early on in s1. i would even argue as early as before ever after... with both frederic and eugene. 

BEA goes really hard right out of the gate with driving home how restless and uncomfortable rapunzel feels in corona; how stifled she is, and how badly she wants to go out and explore the wider world. but it also shows how hard she tries to stuff it down, because her success as a princess is “important to [her] dad.” she tries to bring up her discontent with eugene, but in a roundabout way so as to avoid actually saying she’s unhappy—and then when he says that he’s perfectly happy and content, rapunzel takes a deep breath and agrees with him. it isn’t overt text, but she’s still in “managing other people’s feelings” mode, and there’s a reason the only person she is honest about her own feelings with is cassandra—because cassandra signals very clearly that she is not going to feel hurt, offended, or disappointed if rapunzel is less than happy in corona. quite the opposite, cass is the one who suggests sneaking out in the first place!

now obviously, neither fred’s nor eugene’s feelings are rapunzel’s responsibility and i think both would be horrified to know that rapunzel feels like it’s her job to make them happy... but that doesn’t really matter, because rapunzel has been trained all her life to do this and that’s not a pattern that just goes away overnight. 

and then also in BEA, we see how quick rapunzel is to castigate herself for doing something that upsets someone else... when eugene proposes and she panics and runs away, her reaction is “i feel horrible about eugene” and to feel guilty/upset about not wanting to marry him Right Now.

aaaand of course caine blaming rapunzel for stuff frederic did goes entirely unremarked upon, partly because things like the hair reveal took priority over that but partly also, in my opinion, because rapunzel just kind of Accepted That because she’s so used to being blamed for everything.

this is sort of a recurring theme throughout a lot of s1. you mentioned RE, but for the sake of completeness—i think the most telling thing in that ep is that, when rapunzel finds out what booing really signifies, her first question is what could i have done to this person?, because the concept that this might be a HIM problem doesn’t even cross her mind. she assumes that it’s her fault he doesn’t like her. 

and then there’s stuff like pascal’s story, which i think is an interesting one because like... frankly, it’s not entirely rapunzel’s fault that she stood pascal up. yes, as the princess she could have stood up at six o’clock on the dot to say no more petitions, i am going to dinner. but also she’s the princess, and she’s busy, and pascal’s story is as much an episode about pascal learning that just because rapunzel is busy that doesn’t mean she doesn’t still love him as much as it is about rapunzel learning how to navigate work/life balance—but it’s also very clear that rapunzel’s perspective is “i have been a HORRIBLE friend and i need to put EVERYTHING ELSE on hold until i have FIXED my TERRIBLE BEHAVIOR” when the reality is more like “rapunzel and pascal are both going through a major adjustment period and need to have a realistic talk about expectations now that rapunzel is, like, training to rule a country.” 

in painter’s block, rapunzel feels so traumatized by the (largely correct) decisions she made in QFAD that she can’t make any decisions at all and falls prey to sugracha’s manipulation, and i personally think this is the beginning of the tipping point for her where she begins to see that hey... she’s just a person, she literally cannot be responsible for every bad thing that happens, she can’t be in two places at once, she can’t fix everything for everyone... and sometimes she needs to prioritize one problem over the other. that’s why the emotional climax of that episode is rapunzel saying “difficult choices are what make us who we are.” that’s her letting go of the horrific guilt she felt about choosing corona over varian, and letting eugene and the others put themselves in danger to save her parents. 

that epiphany carries her through SOTS and enables her to make the tough calls she needs to make re: stopping varian, but it also doesn’t mean that her tendency to blame herself for stuff that isn’t her fault goes away altogether. just look at BTCW: while she’s trying to make sense of how/why eugene could be marrying stalyan, her first instinct is to blame herself. to wonder if maybe this is a response to her kind of sort of turning down his kind of sort of second proposal. 

and the rest of the vardaros arc is like... i would say half rapunzel delaying moving on because she’s scared of what waits for her at the end of the black rock trail (as freebird confirms) and half rapunzel making vardaros’s problems her problems and trying to fix them because she feels responsible. 

curses is... not a good episode (canardist, why) but the plot basically hinges on canardist successfully making rapunzel feel guilty / dubious enough about taking back her own telescope that she starts buying into the curse stuff and psyching herself out. 

*as a sidebar here, there are also instances in this same period of rapunzel acknowledging her culpability in stuff she DID do wrong, for example in under raps—but in these cases, it’s interesting to me to note that her apologies actually aren’t very good apologies. in the under raps example, for instance, she also foists off blame on cassandra (saying basically, well i wouldn’t have interfered and put you in danger if you had told me everything, even though i am terrible at keeping secrets and we both know it). and this makes sense, because gothel certainly did not model good, healthy apologizing habits for rapunzel, lol. so she’s in this weird zone where she tends to feel guilty for everything / feels responsible for other people’s feelings but when she DOES mess up for realsies she also doesn’t really have the skills to navigate a true apology. this poor girl

i would say that RATGT is about the point where rapunzel switches gears from accepting blame (both for things that aren’t her fault, like all this stuff, and for things that are, like when she apologized to cass for being a dick in goodbye and goodwill or when she apologized to pascal for belittling him in king pascal) to sort of... overcorrecting and entering her “i’m right, you’re wrong” phase. RATGT is when she starts overtly shutting cass down, and RATGT is when cass’s injury happens—something so horrific and scary that i tend to think rapunzel just cannot process the guilt. it’s too much, too painful, and not something she is emotionally equipped to hold onto or work through in a healthy way...

...so she shoves it away and blames cass instead, very openly. she transmutes her guilt into anger, lessening the pain she feels. and she sticks to that throughout RDO, throughout the rest of s2, and evidently through the rest of the series given she literally never apologizes for it. which is outside of the scope of what you asked alksdfjklsfd but i tend to think basically, rapunzel is not very good at distinguishing between “i feel guilty, but it isn’t my fault” and “i feel guilty, because it is my fault” so in the process of unlearning the former behavior she also forces away the latter, and at the end of s3 she’s in a place where she needs to re-learn how to feel guilt in a healthy, reasonable way. because guilt isn’t always a bad emotion, sometimes it’s just your brain’s way of saying “i did something bad, and i want to make up for it” and That’s Good. 

[dodgergilmore]

1: Idk about Rory having a regressive effect on Logan, since he shifts from bad to good (and then bad again) in the series as their relationship goes on, but he definitely seems to have a regressive effect on her, at least when it comes to her romantic relationship with him. Those 'hot takes' from their fans always annoy the fuck out of me though, because it's not actually them being like 'well they're both kinda terrible so

I guess they deserve each other', it's them basically showing that they'd sooner have their ship as an affair than anything else, while desperately clinging to this idea that it's somehow a good thing, when it's obviously not. Rory knows that the 'agreement' they have is bad in AYITL, and even though the Paul thing is suuch a badly written joke (and something that I can never really see Rory doing), for the latter half of the series, you can see her begin to realize that it can't go on with Logan, and she actually chooses to break it off herself both times. The whole thing with her being pregnant doesn't mean that she'll automatically get back together with him, esp when she already broke up with him AND went to ask her own father about Lorelai raising her on her own. And imo even if she has the kid on her own, (which is a valid choice since it's her body), that doesn't mean that Logan can just swoop in and save her? Esp when she made it clear that she didn't want that from him at the end (lol for a fandom that loves being all 'uhm Rory loves Logan!' they certainly love ignoring Rory's choices whenever they involve not choosing him). Anyway, Logan imo def represents someone who brings out Rory's more negative sides because she always goes to him whenever she wants to escape her own life and issues (and this happens several times in season 6 before she goes back to Lorelai).

Yeah, as I was typing that I was like “hmm I don’t think regressive is the word I’m looking for here...” basically what I had in mind was the ‘Logan changes for Rory’ line of thinking – he makes these quick decisions in their relationship that appear to be growth, like when he wants to be in a committed relationship and then brings her to dinner with his family in the same episode. But after Rory rejects his proposal, Logan ends up in much the same place as where he began: in London working the family (I think?? I don’t even remember lmao) business, tied to a dynastic plan and romantically uncommitted. All of that is a roundabout way of saying that Logan may make positive changes while with Rory because he wants to be with her, but ultimately those changes don’t progress his character in a meaningful or lasting way.

Even when non-shippers say they deserve each other just because they dislike both characters after the revival I’m like... really, though? You’d rather have two characters continue to spin around in a cycle of bad, repetitive choices rather than see how the characters can come back from this and be better? I watch a lot of television and have thus been disappointed by many shows and this sort of thought has just never crossed my mind, so I struggle to wrap my head around it. Find something more interesting to do with the characters!

The fact that Rory is the one to break it off with Logan during AYITL is pretty significant, I think, considering she is never the one to make that definitive choice: Dean in S1 and his public breakups in S3 and S5; Jess goes to California and only sees Rory on the bus because her first class was cancelled; the one-sided breakup from Logan’s end during mid-S6 and then when she says no to his proposal, which he makes out to be all or nothing; even Paul is the one who does the breaking up. The only exception I can think of is when she doesn’t want to casually date Logan anymore but that choice changes within the same scene. In these instances, Rory is only able to react to what’s been done because she can no longer make an active choice in the matter. Obviously a child would change the circumstances but Rory has made her choice with regard to Logan as a romantic option, and kids can’t act as band-aid fixes... especially to what has clearly run its course. Sometimes, love just isn’t enough and it seemed like Rory realised that throughout the revival. Yep! Logan has pretty consistently been a source of escapism, which can only go on for so long until it inevitably ends.

(I definitely think the running Paul bit was given no more thought than ‘this would be such a funny joke haha’ which is highly annoying because it comes at the expense of Rory’s character, ugh!)

While we’re on the topic of AYITL and characters making their own choices, I suppose I’ll just let out how wild the talking point of ‘Logan would’ve broken off the engagement if Rory told him to!’ during that whole “Are you really going to marry Odette” scene is to me......please, he is a grown man! If he doesn’t want to marry her then he doesn’t have to, and he shouldn’t be sitting around waiting for someone to tell him not to because like I said, grown man. Logan could break it off and live his own life whether Rory wants to be with him or not, but he chooses to stay because to some degree he must be content with his life. So if Rory were to "choose” him, that leaves them with two paths: Rory stays with him in London in a life that has little room for her, or Logan uproots his life – potentially dropping all stability in his life – to wherever Rory is in a life that has little room for him. This paragraph started off as me being annoyed with people babying a grown man and placing so much of the responsibility on the woman but I think I managed to find a point there lmao

[newobsessioneveryweek]

Love is a Battlefield

I have a wild HC that Warrior is bisexual and no one has the power to change my mind.

So here's something I wrote when I was supposed to be rehearsing for an important exam. Enjoy.

Fair warning: it's not very good

Summary: Warrior has a boyfriend named Alex who is a total sweetheart.

♤♡◇♧

After spending the longest month of their lives in the exceedingly dangerous era of Wild's Hyrule the band of heroes saw their newest switch as a welcome change of location. AFter a quick survey it was declaired that they had landed up in Warrior's Hyrule where well armed soldiers milled about with hard expressions and stood guard at the enterance to Castle Town while others stood stiffly on the battlements.

Warrior breathed a sigh of relief as he gazed across the familiar land and revelled in the busy, yet grounding atmosphere of the place he called home.

He turned to his comrades. "Welcome to my Hyrule for once," He said with a grin. They had never been transported to his home town so this change was well-needed. Warrior finally felt like he could breathe. Apart from this being his home, Warrior desperately wanted to meet with someone before they were forced to depart. He just hoped he had the chance to see them.

The group was making their way toward the entrance to the city, making small talk about the military feel of the place, when Warrior stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing a familiar guard stationed outside the gate. Even from this distance he instantly recognised him. How could he not? His guard's helmet couldn't keep those memorable blue eyes hidden. The group stopped behind him, startled by the sudden change in Warrior's expression. His eyes were firmly locked on an individual standing outside the huge metal gate blocking their entry inside the magnificent walls.

"Hey, what it is? Aren't we going in," Legend asked. Warrior remained still, staring at the figure. He felt a tap on his shoulder but didn't tear his eyes away from his target. "Ay! Princess, what's the hold up," Legend continued nagging.

Legend stepped to Warrior's side and looked at the figure on whom he was so intensely focused.

The figure shifted and turned his head in the Links direction, probably having felt the gazes, and visibly stiffened, his grip growing tighter on his halberd. His lips moved, saying something the group couldn't make out, but by the formation of his lips, Warrior presumed he was calling his name.

Warrior took a tentative step forward. The rest of the Link's stayed back, not wanting to get involved in whatever reunion was taking place.

"What's happening," Wind inquired from his place next to Time."

"I think I have a good feeling," Hyrule chimed in with a smirk on his lips. The group turned to him with questioning looks.

They noticed the guard noticing Warrior and decided to watch the scene unfold before making any attempt to interfere. They were probably good friends seeing each other for the first time in nearly three months.

Warrior took step after step toward the guard, who by this point had removed his helmet. He had raven black hair tied into a small ponytail. He had sharp, piercing blue eyes and a chestnut complexion. He gazed at Warrior as he approached and started making his way toward him as well, starting slowly but gradually picking up the pace the closer they got and, before they knew it, they both started running towards each other.

The other Link's watched as they met in the middle. They were expecting a hug, but what actually happened was much more... intimate.

Time covered Wind's eyes, but ended up nearly smothering the young boy with his big hands. Wind simply pried his way free and Legend nearly toppled over during the couple's affectionate reunion. The others had similar reactions, though leagues less dramatic.

Warrior was elated. The love of his life was right in front of him again after three months. He couldn't have imagined feeling so overjoyed during the time he was away, but now, with him, he felt liberated.

"I missed you," he heard him say and he nearly shed a tear at hearing that voice, deep and sonorous, thick with the accent of a land far away. Warrior embraced him again and kissed his forehead. They were roughly the same height, making the action easy.

"I missed you too," he said, and the end of their long separation brought a bonafide tear to Warrior's eye.

He felt his beloved's strong arms around him and, for the first time in a very long time, he felt truly safe; like the dangers he often faced and will face again soon could not hurt him.

Then a realisation occurred to him.

Warrior reluctantly pulled himself from the embrace and turned around to his friends, who were watching the couple with varying expressions of surprise and gladness.

He cleared his throat. "So, um, this is Alex," he started. He cleared his thought again. "He's my, um, my boyfriend."

Alex gave a polite wave and snuck his arm around Warrior's waste, his hand finding its place on his hip.

"Heh, didn't think you had it in ya," Legend commented in his expected snarky tone.

"What's that supposed to mean," Warrior asked, genuinely curious.

"I mean that I didn't think you'd land yourself a decent fella- or fellow in this case- let alone keep them around." He nodded to Alex as if to say 'no offense' or something along those lines.

"Luckily for you I'm used to tuning you out."

There was a moment of awkward silence until Alex decided to ask about Warrior's relation to the foreign heroes.

"I don't think I've ever seen you around here. From where do you hail, if I may ask," he asked. Warrior almost melted. He loved hearing Alex's voice, smooth and formal and never faltering. He was never one to forget his manners and he would always think before he spoke. One could never win an argument with him.

"Trust me, you'd rather not hear this story," Hyrule supplied after his question.

Alex looked surprised but didn't question the response. "I was told that Link was to make a long journey, but I was unaware that he had company. What are your names-"

"You always ask so many questions. Let's leave the formalities for later." Warrior said this more as an excuse to be alone with Alex than anything but he really didn't want to explain the timeline story. What a schlep.

Warrior escorted the group inside where they would speak with Zelda to garner some knowledge from her on their predicament after giving his beloved one last kiss on the hand.

♤♡◇♧

Like a teenage girl Warrior threw himself on his bed and squealed his joy through a pillow much to the enjoyment of his friends, but Warrior didn't care. He was happy and he sure as Hell was going to show it.

"I can't believe it," came Warrior's muffled voice through the pillow. He lifted the cushion from his face and revealed the brightest smile that has ever graced his face. Beaming, he continued, "what am I even doing here? I have to see him," he made to dart out of the room but was stopped abruptly by Time.

"Woah there. Calm down. We have work to do. Remember the princess gave us a task. Once we finish that you can go see Alex."

Warrior visibly deflated, melting into his disappoint but resolved to get his task done as quickly as possible. There were hordes of Bokoblins stationed near the fortress. The Links' jobs were to take them down. Warrior armed himself swiftly. "Well what are we waiting for then? Let's go."

"Hold on for goddesses' sake," Legend complained, "Some of us are trying to relax after a month of torture in the land of Wild."

"Hey," Wild exclaimed but knew there was nothing he could say to defend his Hyrule or counter Legend's attack.

"Urg, fine. I'll wait, but I'm not happy about it."

"Aw, come on, absence makes the heart grow fonder," Sky reassured.

"It's been three months of absence. My heart is filled with fondness," Warrior proclaimed, frustrated.

"Well that's great princess. Keep that fondness while we relax."

Warrior grumbled some more before the group eventually set off to destroy the monsters.

♤♡◇♧

"Link!"

Warrior turned around and saw Alex making his way toward them. "He stopped in front of the group, pulling his perfect jet black bangs out of his face. "I implored the princess that I may joining your party. She was perfectly accepting of my proposal. May I accompany you to the battle my love?"

Warrior stood there for a moment and blinked. "That's a very roundabout way of saying you want to spend some time with me, but yes," Warrior smiled in delight, "you may accompany us."

The rest of the group was a little surprised at the question but had no qualms. Without any complaint the group left the castle.

0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0

The Links arrived at the Bokoblin camp with their unexpected guest.

"Ok, Legend, Wind, and Four, you take the left, Sky and Wild, you sneak up from behind, Twilight, War-, um, Link and I will take the left," Time instructed.

"What about me? I will not watch from the sidelines," Alex complained.

"Oh, right, you can move with Warrior- I mean Link," Time corrected.

Alex nodded seriously. Before long they spread out and led their attacks.

0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0

AN: I don't know how to write fight scenes. Sorry!

0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0

“Link, can I talk to you for a moment.” The group stopped in their stride outside their room.

Warrior perked up at the question and turned to face Alex. “Oh, yes, of course.” While the rest of the Links went inside Warrior and Alex spoke. “So what did you want to talk about?”

“There’s,” Alex took a long pause and Warrior started getting concerned. “There’s something I’ve been keeping from you… for some time now.”

“What is it,” Warrior asked hesitantly. He was becoming worried this was something he wouldn’t like.

“I-I been seeing someone else- while you were away. I’m sorry,”

Alex continued to speak but Warrior didn’t hear a thing. The statement playing in his mind over and over again: ‘I’ve been seeing someone else’.

Soon Warrior picked up Alex’s strong voice again as it asked, “Are you okay Link?” No. No, he was not okay.

“How could you do that to me,” Warrior asked calmly, too calmly as he tried to process exactly what he thought was some kind of sick joke. “Do you honestly think I’m okay?”

“Link-“

“I’ve spent two years with you and you betray me like this? Who is he?”

“He… Bianca Campbell. I didn’t- Link I am so sorry. She came up to me one night and we-“

“Yeah, I know how these things go. I just,” Warrior paused, turned and left.

He didn’t know where he was going, only that he needed to get away.

"Link wait!"

He just kept running...

And running.

Then he stopped in front of Zelda's door.

He knocked twice until the door slid open, revealing the groggy princess

"Link? What's wrong," she asked. She must have noticed Warrior's tearful expression.

Warrior sniffled. "Can I talk to you," he asked in a broken voice.

0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0

Warrior had never felt so utterly heartbroken. The one he loved whom he thought loved him betrayed him without a second thought. Warrior could take revenge... but what would that solve? It would hurt Alex, but would that really make Warrior feel better. Would he be satisfied by his pain.No.That would be stooping down to the level of a traitor.And he hates traitors.

The next day the group left the castle, the portal having opened to their new destination. Warrior didn't look back at Alex as he stood amongst the throng. He didn't shed a tear.

0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0

That last line was meant to be ambiguous by the way.

Hope you enjoyed my lousy story. I'm sorry there's no conclusion. Alex was supposed to be a nice dude, but I had other plans for him.

No beta. We die like men.

[gallantgautier]

Ooc, what are Sylvains most positive traits and strengths?

ooc: I’m so sorry this took me forever to answer, I got distracted. And when the mun gets distracted they forget about things sitting in their inbox. But considering the sheer amount of Sylvain angst I’ve been writing, both in threads and in meta, I feel now is a good time to get into this. Under a cut that I stealth edited in because this got long.

Strangely, this topic is actually a little harder to talk about than his flaws, and it probably has a lot to do with the fact that those flaws are so deeply intertwined with the positive aspects of his character that, as far as examination goes, they get overshadowed by the act of actually unravelling his personality to get to them, it’s what makes Sylvain such an interesting character, really.

That, and I think one of Sylvain’s biggest strengths of character is that, despite it all, despite his disillusions, insecurity, bitterness and inner conflict, he doesn’t let it completely consume him.

Let’s briefly touch on a big aspect of Sylvain Meta I have been focusing on a lot lately, both in previous character examinations and in my head because damn if the bug hasn’t bitten me hard. I won’t get too much into it, there’s a whole lot over here if you’re interested, but it focuses on the negative and that’s not what we’re doing today.

Miklan.

All that stuff considered; it would be so easy for Sylvain to hate Miklan. (He says he does. He doesn’t.) It would be so easy for him to hate the world, and I suppose he does in a way. He hates the world that’s put so much stock into Crests and those who bare them. In general, it would be so easy for Sylvain to hate everything and lash out.

Yet he doesn’t.

Now, an argument can be made that he lashes in, and he does, in a big way. It results in his interactions with people – mainly women – being fake. It results in his lack of trust in people in general, evidenced in that, if we don’t include Byleth seeing as they can reach S rank in all their supports across avatar gender choice, Sylvain only has four supports that go higher than B. Only two of those go to A+, and they’re both with people he’s known all his life.

And yet, Sylvain is very genuine in his friendships. Sure, there’s a colouring of playing around, and while he may not fully trust other people in his life he calls friends and may never let them see the person underneath, he cares and it shows.

I present to you exhibit A; his support with Bernadetta.

Now, this is a subject we’re probably all close to, receiving praise for your writing is forever going to be awkward, but we can see in this conversation that he isn’t just saying “Yeah! This is really good!” Sylvain makes a point of highlighting the details he enjoyed, and more importantly, why he enjoyed them. He also states in his letter that he hopes he inspires Berie to write more, and when we consider how little Sylvain thinks of himself, it’s hard to imagine that he’d think of his opinions as ‘inspirational.’ We can conclude, then, that Sylvain is sharing his thoughts not because he thinks anyone would be interested in hearing them, rather that he thinks having them heard will help.

Let’s move on to his second positive trait. He’s very insightful.

Now, we all know he’s smart, way smarter than he’d like to let anyone think. We see this easily in his supports with Annette, not just how easily he understands the text she’s studying, but also his recognition that the formula is over-complicated. It’s proof that he really does understand the subject and hasn’t just memorised it.

But that’s a display of his intelligence, not insightfulness, that comes later in the support with “Guys like me who hate hard work and sorta get by on our wits? It all falls apart eventually.” Now, I suppose this is a somewhat weak example, as it’s more self-awareness than insight, still, I do think it’s a bit of both, to know that he can’t just get by on luck forever.

Still on this topic, but in radically different context, I’d like to point your attention to Sylvain’s support conversation with Dedue, where he comes to the conclusion that the people of Duscur are innocent. Now, Three Houses intentionally halts certain supports from progressing if they contain story spoilers or if they require certain events to have occurred before them, either because the support itself references those events, or so that the player has context to understand the gravity of what happens in the support.

As such, this statement from Sylvain can happen incredibly early in the game, and potentially is one of the first occasions where a student alludes to a third party pulling some strings. Now, Sylvain doesn’t go that far in his conclusion, doesn’t even have a conclusion, really. But the fact that he even questions it, that he’s looked at the evidence and found that something doesn’t add up, speaks for an insight that, so far, I haven’t really found in the “supporting cast” for lack of a better term.

The final positive trait I want to bring up, one that he doesn’t attempt to hide because honestly he has no need to by virtue of the reasoning I’m about to get into; how important promises are to him, how lightly he doesn’t make them, and how he keeps every single one. He doesn’t hide this simply because it’s a rare occurrence that only happens around people he trusts.

I’ve trawled through Sylvain supports, the word “promise” comes up a grand total of 13 times across all 17 characters (that’s a total of 42 separate conversations.) You’d think for a guy who is personified as being a cheat would make a helluva lot of empty promises, wouldn’t you?

That number isn’t even accounting for the fact that half of the time in these supports, it isn’t even him saying the word.

Let’s discount one of these right off the bat. He says it, but it’s to Hilda, and half of it is a joke, where he tells her to “stop lying, take responsibility, and fall madly in love with him.” He asks her to promise him these things in exchange for forgiveness for taking a tongue lashing from the librarian that was meant for her. None of this is overly important to my point, save the fact that it’s the one time where the word doesn’t carry all that much weight, but it’s not an exception to the rule and still a reinforcement as he’s not the one making it.

Two other occasions I want to bring up next are his supports with Byleth and Mercedes. These aren’t like the previous where it doesn’t carry weight, quite the opposite, but he says the word only once for each. For the former it’s right at the end of his marriage proposal so… Kinda a “well duh” moment, doesn’t really require any analysis. The latter is also at the end of the final support conversation, and it comes in response to Mercedes asking if he will “protect her in turn.” Considering this is a support required for their paired ending, we can sort of take this as a marriage proposal too, but I place more emphasis on the fact that during this portion of the conversation, Sylvain has let his guard down around Mercedes, to the point where he actually cries. That’s pretty significant.

The remaining ten mentions of “promise” come in his supports with his three childhood friends.

Let’s look at Dimitri first, as he only has half of the number of conversations with everyone’s favourite philanderer that the other two do. The word comes up, across both conversations, four times, and only once by Sylvain himself, in which he promises to “do better” and focus more on his studies etc. The other three occasions come from Dimitri, first questioning whether Sylvain will keep to his word, the second is in the B support where he confirms that Sylvain actually did, and the last is Dimitri promising to help Sylvain out with “…something he knows how to help with.” (The last isn’t all that important really, save for keeping count.)

So that leaves the final six, considering we discounted one at the beginning, that’s half. And wouldn’t you know, as well as being part of the Original Childhood Friend Quartet, these two are the only people he can obtain an A+ rank support with. Coincidence? I think not.

Between Ingrid and Felix’s supports, Ingrid’s contain the majority with four, but unlike with Dimitri, it’s Sylvain saying it three out of those four times. However, this time we have the one occasion where he doesn’t completely stay true to his word. Like Dimitri’s support, his first promise to Ingrid is in regards to his behaviour, but, despite his own opinion on the matter, Ingrid expresses exasperation that he’s still playing around. However, it’s worth noting that this promise comes after Ingrid has chewed him out for events that happened a number of years ago, in public, and in a manner that by all accounts is pretty belittling. It’s probably the one occasion he’s made a promise out of frustration and to just end the conversation, evidenced by how he tacks “ Are you happy now?” on to the end. This, I think, is the exception to the rule, rather than the occasion with Hilda, but an exception I think proves the rule.

The second mention is from Ingrid asking Sylvain to stop acting so nonchalant about getting hurt or killed,” and the third is him making that promise right after. It’s never strictly mentioned if he actually does keep it, however, his following support with her involves scenes with him taking his training and combat situations seriously. I believe this is him making an attempt to minimise the possibility of getting hurt in the first place. It’s a roundabout way of keeping his promise, sure, but one that definitely works, dealing with the root cause rather than the surface issue, as it were.

The last comes with “It’s not a joke that you’re beautiful, but I wasn’t trying to hit on you or anything. Promise.” This one, at first glance, doesn’t seem much to read in to, and at face value, there really isn’t. I think this ties in more to the way Sylvain regards promises, and that (hopefully) Ingrid knows that aspect of him too. It’s an emphasis on him being genuine, that he truly means what he’s saying.

Lastly, we have Felix, arguably the most important one. I have a lot of headcannon surrounding this, we’re not going there today, we’re going to stick with what we know.

It’s only mentioned twice, both by Sylvain, and it’s a reference to the same promise, that they’ll “stick together, until they die together.” It’s worth noting that he brings it up specifically on the second mention, but on the first, it comes after Felix being concerned (angrily, because it’s Felix) that Sylvain actually will die, and Sylvain stating “Nah, I won’t die on you. I promise.”

At first, it’s a bit of a throwaway line, until later in the support he talks about The Promise, it paints the first line in a whole new light, that in reality Sylvain is saying “I’m not going to break my promise.” And if you get their paired ending in the Azure Moon route, he really doesn’t.

It’s also brought up outside their supports, if you recruit one and not the other, they talk about it pre-combat if you set them against each other. Please don’t do that. It’s rather poignant, I think, that game mechanics are the only way to get Sylvain to break a promise.

To summarise, Sylvain’s strengths of character manifest in how much he truly cares about people. How he can find the strength to lift his friends up despite the weight he puts on his own shoulders. How he might be crumbling but ultimately will not break. And just how dependable he is by virtue of how he won’t ever make a promise lightly, nor will he break one.

[yenrz1314]

LET’S (attempt to) FIX/REWRITE KH 358/2 DAYS

Let me preface this: I love Roxas, Xion, and Axel A LOT. I have been thoroughly blinded by nostalgia as much as you have and I don’t really care. I’ll continue to love them even after I’m finished destroying their game here. Keep in mind I’m not hatin’. And, fun fact, I think that Days is perhaps the best written game in the series regarding character writing. Still doesn’t mean I think it’s actually good though.

I’m going to start off saying something kind of controversial. Axel, Roxas, and Xion weren't that great of friends. 

Yes they were the best friends that they ever had, but when you're constantly surrounded by the melancholic mundane, any sort of friendship is the great friendship. They weren't that great at being friends to each other because they dealt with conflict in the most incompetent way possible. As far as I know, there was barely any communication whatsoever between them, which is really disappointing because Roxas is like the most understanding person ever. Most of their conversations concerned small talk. Not necessarily boring small talk, but small talk.

I really wish we could at least have gotten a talk between Xion and Roxas when he was on that mission to chase her down before Axel came in and knocked her out. The only real communication about Xion’s situation is between her and Axel, and we rarely get to see any camaraderie between her and Roxas. We do see a decent amount between Roxas and Axel but I’ll just attribute to the fact that they’ve existed as characters longer than Xion has.

Xion’s inherently pretty bad at communicating. To Roxas especially. Even though Axel tried to talk her down, she didn't really explain herself much. Axel honestly had to figure it out himself.

If Days gets remade I hope to death that we have at least one scene of Roxas and Xion having more meaningful talks. Alone. They were close. Its just that Xion kept stonewalling, and Axel would always be dodgy with his answers, which makes you question if they’re truly all that close. I mean, you wouldn’t just not tell one of your best friends anything about something you’re really struggling about.

Though I guess you can’t blame them since they had no memories of their past and were learning based off of watching those around them, and they did live with the organization

And to be fair, you’re a part of an organization with a leader the answers basic questions like “Who is Sora?” with vague af answers like "the connection".

Also they’re stupid teenagers. I’m already giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Honestly I would normally be fine with her lack of communication and accept it as an character flaw.  In fact, under normal circumstances, it would be a reason for me to be invested in her character. But the truth is that we don't see enough scenes of him and Xion having meaningful bonding time for me to be accepting of that lack of communication. There was that one absolutely adorable scene of Roxas and Xion on the clocktower discussing about how much they worry about each other...but the rest of the time they spent together is superficial, mostly consisting of just kind of empty small talk. It’s kind of rare that we see them actually talk about their relationship and/or any chemistry. A lot was just them sitting next to each other eating ice cream or on missions and we did have a lot of skips of one of them being asleep or missing.

The main problem KH has in its writing is that it really likes to display the cute little quirks or tressings of a relationship but absolutely fails to write any core to that relationship. Like, for example, the seashells they leave for each other when they’re sleeping is absolutely precious, but there’s not that much of a core dynamic between these characters that this really cute character interaction can be built upon. And in the end, but just because something is tragic doesn't mean it has substance

Because Days doesn't give me enough meat of writing to bite into, it just ends up as a frustrating tale of Roxas just being confused the whole time. Sure, Roxas is the main character, but he literally has almost no agency throughout the entire game. And I find that pretty insulting to his character. This guy is literally one of the most well written in the series. And no, I’m not pulling the ‘xion’s a mary sue stealing the spotlight’ card. I’m totally fine with her existing, but dang if I had the opportunity to change ONE THING about Days I would totally rewrite the cutscene Fracture on day 298, the day when Xion was captured.

So the original scene goes like this: Roxas tracks her down, asks her to come back, he tries to comfort her, asking why she won’t come back to him. She just says "I can't" and GETS SCARED WHEN THE MOST TRUSTED PERSON IN HER LIFE REACHES OUT TO HER. Okay. breathe. I understand if she’s scared. It’s a bit of a stretch, yes, if we take into account that she’s in the depths of emotional turmoil trying decide between her friends or Sora. I understand if she really doesn’t want to go back to the organization. My problem is that Roxas really doesn’t pose a threat to her at all here.

But then again, it could be that Xion’s a very delicate person, emotionally. And that she’s easily disturbed and is flighty. BUT THE THING IS: We don’t see this anywhere else. Days, as is, doesn’t really do a good job of establishing Xion’s personality at all anyways. So we can throw that excuse out the window.

BUT. BUT BUT BUT. THE ABSOLUTE WORST WAS WHEN SHE TURNED HER KEYBLADE ON ROXAS.

SERIOUSLY I would have totally been fine with everything up to this point except her turning on him like that

Again, he is literally no threat to her at all! I can understand her being scared, but he didn’t threaten to take her back or yell at her or anything

Like why. Why isn’t she willing to tell him anything about the truth about her existence. It's not like she's trying to keep it a secret. I understand how jarring it must have been for her to have that sort of existential crisis knowing that she’s just a puppet created to copy...But telling Roxas absolutely nothing is ridiculous. ESPECIALLY because Roxas was the one who always was breaking his back for her. He was the one who first approached her to join him at the clock tower, he was always trying to reach out to her, understand her. Heck, even when Xion was the aggressor, both times in Fracture and in the final battle, Roxas still sees her as the victim, the one who was in the right, and it's both very sweet and a bit unhealthy that he views her in such a positive light. He always does his best to give her the benefit of the doubt. And this is clearly shown in his actions.

I would rewrite it like this:

Keep everything the same up to the point right before she turns on him. She walks away and he stops her and everything, but after that she stops and thinks for a moment. And she asks quietly for him to let her go. Roxas, of course, let's her go because he's freaking Roxas

And she tries explaining to him what's going on in a very roundabout way, for the sake of being consistent with her established character. I'm not asking for her to explain it word for word. She's as flighty as a deer. I understand her not being direct. And then Roxas tries talking to her how they could work this out. Hell, this would be the PERFECT TIME to incorporate that scene from the manga when Roxas proposes they run away together. Xion is shocked and ask if he is serious, and he says yes. And THAT'S when Axel comes in and stops the party, and everything plays out the same till the end of the cutscene.

Also if this writing was implemented, then that would be a payoff point. The pacing in Days’ story is kind of whack, and adding a breakthrough moment like this would be super satisfying to the viewer.

Also it makes sense that Axel would come in then because he can't just accept both of his friends leaving like that. In the og game, Axel pretty much just let his two best friends walk away from him.  The only time he shows any protest is when he is ordered by his superiors to go after them. Xion in particular. Sure this works, as it’s implied that Axel is respecting his friends’ autonomy by letting them go.

But maybe we could make it better by having Axel go through a mini arc where he accepts his friends' departure with a bit of a struggle. You’ll see more below.

The only change that would have to be made is that the organization would have to actively keep Roxas and Xion apart to keep them from conspiring together. Or when they're together, always have a third party member to keep a watchful eye. I’m guessing this would mean no more ice cream time either. For now.

Xion’s communication is just a trickle the first few days, but over time it slowly opens up, gradually telling more as they interact when they have the occasional mission together. She would mutter things like 

“The organization is keeping so much from us, Roxas…” 

or telling snippits like that when the third party member/chaperone isn’t watching.

Eventually, the organization takes note of this and orders for the two to be kept completely separate at all times, and Axel knows that this will absolutely kill their friendship so he does a solid by confronting Saix about it to propose a compromise. He’s like: 

"I'm a trusted member of this organization. Hell, I brought them back for you.  So how about this: I'll watch them for you instead" 

And Saix accepts that compromise. And the result of that compromise is that we get more trio missions, something we ALL LOVED. And also those would be opportunities for them to talk. ALL THREE OF THEM

Okay so the three talk on missions and at the clocktower again, Xion knows her purpose and desperately wants to leave. She won’t disclose Riku or Namine's location. Axel protests fiercely to the thought of her leaving. Meanwhile Roxas is trying to mediate as always, but he leans more towards helping Xion leave at least. However, he would still show how he emotionally would rather have her stay. He has an internal struggle when Xion tries to explain their connection with Sora and how they need to go back during a few talks with them alone that Axel allows. She needs to be the one who tells him he needs to come back to Sora.  Someone who he trusts and can help him through this process. Not a stranger like Riku or Namine.

And then this time of communication all abruptly comes to a halt when the Org. starts pitting Roxas and Xion against each other in missions. Also, let's have Xion be less heartless to Roxas here and not be so eager to leave. Of course, she desperately still wants to, but Roxas is her anchor keeping her there. She knows that it'll all be for naught if Roxas doesn't go with her anyways. Also she doesn't want to hurt him by just leaving like that. She cares.

So, back to the rewrite, the talks stop when the organization starts pitting roxas and Xion against each other in those missions. Axel stops them like he did originally, and they have a talk about how crazy ridiculous this all is. Roxas agrees with Xion and Axel agrees too but hides it because he's a coward and is the org's lapdog, and just tries as hard as he can to keep them together. Roxas is dismayed that his existence is possibly ending, but at the same time agrees with Xion that this is all crazy. Axel shuts them down for the day. 

And the next day is the day Xigbar, Axel and Xion go on that mission.

But instead of Xion jumping ship, Riku comes in to take Xion, kidnapping her without a fight because he knows he can't take survive one against two other org. members. Axel doesn't do anything to stop her because he's accepted it at this point. Also seeing Xion as Ven really made him realize the gravity of the situation.

This really upsets Roxas because he thinks Xion was taken against her will. Axel doesn’t have the heart to tell him about Xion’s current extremely unstable state. And this sets him off since he's been putting up with so much BS at this point and he runs away as originally written as well as to search for Xion, because he knows the org. will never let him look for her himself. Everything plays out the same after that.

 On the clocktower where Roxas and Xion meet, there's one change. When she shows him that she's almost Sora, she *explains* as best as she can what’s happened to her, since she’s under the control of the org. now. She makes him realize that it's inevitable that she must die or she'll cease to be herself. And then they fight as originally scripted, Roxas’ motive for fighting being that there still might be a chance for them to go on if he finishes things himself.

When the fight is over and she begins to die, Xion's final request is that he join back with Sora. That is were it this all leads and she knows it. We're changing that because in the original she, when Roxas and Riku are fighting, for some dumb reason, retracts her final wish???? Like… that's got to be one of the most contrived things in this story.

Also I'd like to cut that dumb pointless plot device that Roxas forgets who Xion is right after finishing his final battle with her, Because by golly did the writing team really want Roxas to be as clueless as possible even as his best friend is dying. Geez wtf.

Honestly, you can keep the memory loss, just please make it so that he remembers her SOONER, so they can actually COMMUNICATE AND SO THAT HE CAN ACTUALLY SAY GOODBYE.

FUACK.

“Promise me...you’ll come back...to Sora. That way...we can be together again...”

Or something like that, make me cry more. 。ﾟ(ﾟﾉД｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡

But then what would Roxas’s motive be for going back to The World That Never Was and fighting Riku then? Just wait a moment and hold on to your seat because I’m going to take the original situation and make it even more badass AND make it work with my rewrite.

Also this blog is finally almost done good job for making it this far.

Let's have Roxas know about the heartless nobody cycle. He can have learned this after maybe sifting through the organization’s research files or something. It wouldn’t be hard to stick it in the story somewhere. 

What was the most heartwrenching thing about Roxas’s final day in the real world? I would say his rage, grief, and desperation over his entire life. So let’s take that, and multiply it by a couple dozen times. After Xion's death, his motive to destroy the organization will be more about his rage at the unjust way he was treated. Him and Xion. They messed up his and his friends’ lives.

“Well if I die, then whatever I'll just go back to Sora. Kill two birds with one stone.”

Regardless of however you write Days, angsty, bloodthirsty Roxas is a requirement. It’s what makes Roxas Roxas. And as a result his grief is amplified tenfold. He doesn't even care about preserving his own life anymore.

And Riku confronts him. Asks him what the hell he's doing. He tells him he's going to fuck up the organization. And Riku's like ‘don't be stupid they'll just capture you and hold you hostage to keep Sora from waking’

Roxas looks at him, points one of his keyblades towards him.

"You don't know that." 

"I'll end every single one of them before they get the chance. You want me to prove it..? WELL HERE'S MY PROOF!” 

AND THEN HE FREAKING STRIKES,

AND THAT’S THE FIGHT

And let's hammer in the fact that Roxas is his own freaking person. Instead of the line "C'mon Sora! I thought you were stronger than that!" from Riku, instead he says to Roxas something akin to this:

"C'mon Sora...I know you're stupid, but not to this extent!"

And then Roxas doesn't give him a Sora-ish line.

“You’re the one calling me by the wrong name.”

Riku sits defeated and despondent on the ground.

"...Why...? It's not supposed to be this way...Sora..."

This breaks a nerve in Roxas.

"This again?! I'm me. NOBODY ELSE. Get that through YOUR thick head!"

And the rest is history...

..................

THAT’S THE REWRITE KIDS.  YOU’RE FINALLY FINISHED READING THIS RIDICULOUSLY LONG BLOG. THANK YOU FOR READING \o/

Fun fact, this was all borne out of a late night discord chat with a friend of mine.

Edit: this is the headcanon for what happened in Days now. Goodnight.

[tatselk]

PSOH Passage Hen: Chapter 4 “Degagement”

Back with another (long) summary/review of the PSOH Passage Hen chapters!

My summaries/reviews of the previous chapters can be found here: [1], [2], [3].

SUMMARY

1. This chapter began with Sofu D and Victor at Victor’s place. The two had just finished watching a musical performance by female Japanese entertainers (I think they are geishas?). These entertainers were in town for the Paris Expo and Sofu got to know them through the Japanese ambassador who was based in Paris.

2. They were abruptly interrupted by an old friend of Victor’s whom he hasn’t seen in half a year (who’s like a louder, scruffier and ruder version of Leon). I’m not sure what this guy’s given name is (might be Alphonse) so I will be referring to him by his surname Dubois. Dubois is an explorer/ hunter who is tasked by zoos and museums to bring back animals from all over the world. Dubois brought Victor a frog as a present from his most recent expedition to the Guiana Highlands.

3. At some point, Dubois made some disparaging remarks about pets being mere playthings and compared them to the entertainers whom he sees as overly servile in pandering to men. He also added that he preferred strong pets and women whom he could spar/ do battle with. Sofu smirked and said that the petshop can offer that.

4. Sofu, Victor, Dubois moved over to the petshop. In the underground tunnels of the shop, they came across a Japanese-looking wooden house. As they went in, arrows and shurikens suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Sofu presented Dubois with a katana and Dubois was thrown into a sword fight. After being quickly defeated, everyone (other than Dubois’s opponent as she was still a novice) sat down to a banquet where it was revealed that Dubois’s opponent is one of the abovementioned entertainers, who is also a warrior.

5. We cut to the novice entertainer/warrior (Nadeshiko) who is in the petshop backroom telling one of the petshop trainers from Chapter 3 that she doesn’t want to go to sleep yet and that she wants to attend the banquet. The petshop trainer chuckled and said that the Little Princess was still too young. Nadeshiko protested that she isn’t a kid anymore and that her elder sisters and deceased mother were already married at her age.  

6. The petshop trainer’s younger brother, Lou (the male escort/ hyena who also appeared in Chapter 3) appeared and teased Nadeshiko about being a kid. The petshop trainer told Lou off for teasing Nadeshiko and informed him that Nadeshiko is a special guest whom Sofu entrusted to her to mould into a proper married lady. Nadeshiko bowed down before the siblings and requested for their guidance in becoming an outstanding woman. She also mentioned that she left Japan for her family’s honour and for herself to avenge her father’s death.

7. We cut to Sofu and Victor who are out on a walk. They met Japan’s ambassador, who was busy overseeing the construction of the Japanese site at the Paris Expo. Dubois also turned up: he was involved in the Paris Expo as there was a plan to exhibit rare animals from all over the world at the Paris Expo. A long discussion re: animals, mythological creatures, the expedition to the Guiana Highlands, cultural differences ensued. At one point, Dubois mentioned that when Japanese people said “We will handle it in the appropriate way. Let’s discuss it tomorrow.”, they really just meant “no”. Sofu noted that this is similar to what Chinese and Korean people do. At the end of the discussion, Dubois asked Sofu to arrange for a meeting between him and Nadeshiko. Sofu simply smiled and said, “I will handle it in the appropriate way”.

8. We then cut to Nadeshiko who is learning how to arrange flowers. Distracted by her thoughts on Dubois, Nadeshiko made a mess of the flowers she was arranging and stomped off. Nadeshiko asked the petshop trainer for permission to go out onto the streets to look for the man who killed her father. But the petshop trainer basically told her “no” in a roundabout manner.

9. The scene cuts to Dubois who was trying to find his way around the Parisian underground tunnels. Undeterred by Sofu’s diplomatic refusal of his request to meet Nadeshiko again, Dubois decided to sneak into the petshop at night to meet her. At one point, Dubois was attacked by what looked like cat-fox hybrids with bat wings. Just when it looked like Dubois was going to be eaten alive by these hybrids, Nadeshiko turned up and put a stop to things.

10. Dubois was about to launch into a conversation with Nadeshiko when they heard voices of people(?) who were frantically looking for Nadeshiko. Nadeshiko grabbed hold of Dubois and dragged him away to escape them. They eventually emerged above ground near the Luxor Obelisk. Nadeshiko bandaged Dubois’s shoulder injury for him and they talked abit about the moon and Japan before coming to the main point. Dubois got all excited when he heard that Nadeshiko wanted to meet him again. BUT it turned out that Nadeshiko wanted the chance to spar with him again because she enjoyed the challenge. So Dubois asked if she wanted to try a different kind of challenge.

11. We cut to the so-called challenge which Dubois proposed, which is… essentially going out on a date at a café. Which happened to include a near kiss by Dubois disguised as an attempt to lick cream off Nadeshiko’s face. Which resulted in Nadeshiko drawing her katana and preparing to attack him with it. Dubois only managed to avoid serious injury to himself for the second time that evening with the intervention of Lou.

12. Back at the pet shop, a Serious Conversation took place between Sofu and Nadeshiko. Sofu reminded her of her mission and of how she had to return to Japan to get married to her fiancé or else her family would be destroyed. He also asked her not to get too chummy with Dubois. Nadeshiko said not to mention Dubois since it gave her a stomach ache just thinking about him (seems that she just has a crush on him but she doesn’t understand it as such) and abruptly went off to bed. The petshop trainer and Lou turned up to tease Sofu about not knowing how to handle a young girl like Nadeshiko. Sofu dropped an ominous-sounding line that he was alright with her crush if it would bring her happiness BUT that she cannot be with Dubois. HMM…

13. Sofu and Victor are at the Japanese site of the Paris Expo again. They admired a vase with a very life-like crab carved on it and the Japanese ambassador mentioned some belief that objects will come alive/ gain a soul when they have reached 70 years old. Some discussion about religion ensued. As Victor and the ambassador turned away and walked off, the crab on the vase waved to Sofu. Sofu shushed the crab and walked away whilst looking back with a fond little smile. After leaving the site, Sofu and Victor had tea at a café. Sofu was pissed at Dubois taking advantage of Nadeshiko whilst Victor tried to smooth things over and apologised on his friend’s behalf.

14. We cut to the petshop backrooms with Sofu telling Nadeshiko that Dubois wanted to invite her to his house to apologise for his behaviour. She was reluctant to do so until she was goaded into it by the petshop trainer and Lou who asked if she was too scared to face her enemy.

15. Sofu, Nadeshiko and Victor are off to visit Dubois’s place in the countryside! Dubois greeted them whilst dressed formally. Sofu began picking at what he sees as Dubois’s inadequacies but Victor quickly distracted him with desserts. This left Dubois and Nadeshiko to talk to each other in peace. Dubois then showed Nadeshiko to a room full of weapons, told her to take her pick and they happily began sparring with each other.

16. In the middle of their sparring, Dubois suddenly confessed his feelings for Nadeshiko and asked her how she felt about him. Nadeshiko mentioned that she had a fiancé in Japan and that it was her duty to marry him since she was the only female left in her family etc. Things took a dramatic turn when Dubois pinned her down and said that he always gets what he wants. In turn, Nadeshiko punched Dubois, held him down with her katana against his neck and told him that she would choose her own husband and then… kissed him full on the lips. Wow ok. (blinks)

17. Sofu and Victor overheard shouting and quickly went over to the weapons room. They found Nadeshiko standing over Dubois and looking as though she had drunk his blood. Nadeshiko ran off into the woods surrounding the house and Sofu chased after her, where it was revealed that she is actually a wolf.

18. We cut back to the house where Victor was helping Dubois up. Dubois was confused as to what happened because he thought things were going great with the kissing so he stuck his tongue into Nadeshiko’s mouth and got bitten by her. Even Victor was kinda done with Dubois at this point. Lol. Also, Dubois seemed to like Nadeshiko even more now than he had seen her fighting spirit…? But anyway, we discover that what really freaked Nadeshiko out wasn’t really Dubois’s forwardness but him showing her his collection of taxidermied animals. We then cut back to Sofu/ Nadeshiko where she was crying about how Dubois was the one who killed her father (a wolf in Dubois’s taxidermy collection).

19. Back at the petshop after the visit, Nadeshiko was still upset over her discovery about Dubois. But Nadeshiko pulled herself together, declared that she would avenge her father herself and asked Sofu to pass an invitation to Dubois in which she challenged him to a duel. An intense discussion between Sofu and Dubois ensued with Victor desperately trying to keep the peace (and not have this blow up into something affecting France-Japan relations).

20. The duel between Dubois and Nadeshiko was an intense one. When Nadeshiko got knocked to the ground, she basically transformed into a wolf in her rage and bit Dubois on the neck. In turn, Dubois turned into a werewolf and then a wolf.  Victor freaked out and Sofu calmly explained that this was the Beast of Gévaudan which Victor had asked Sofu to show him (refer to Chapter 3). It turned out that one of Dubois’s great-great grandfather, who was like some beast who looked like a human, married a human woman and had a son with him. So Dubois is like half-human, half-animal I guess?

21. Just when Wolf!Dubois looked like he was going to kill Wolf!Nadeshiko by biting her on the neck, Victor shouted at Wolf!Dubois to stop. Wolf!Dubois realised what he was doing and licked Wolf!Nadeshiko instead, who licked him in return. They gradually turned back into human form and Dubois asked Nadeshiko to marry him. Nadeshiko looked towards Sofu who’s all, “Fine. Do what you want. -_-‘’”. The couple then turned back into wolves as they ran off happily into the woods. Victor shouted out his congratulations after them and told them to come back and look for him if they ever got cold or hungry.

22. Internally, Sofu ruminated and still had doubts about whether allowing Dubois and Nadeshiko to be together was the right thing to do. This then cut to the last page where it was stated that in 1905 (5 years after this story), the last male Japanese wolf died and the Japanese wolf became extinct.

THOUGHTS

1. I quite liked the overarching theme of dealing with cultural differences (e.g. communication styles, religious beliefs). But I thought more could have been made of these to contribute to the conflict between Dubois and Nadeshiko, rather than just more or less collapsing it into a “you killed my father and I will avenge him” storyline.

2. Heh, Sofu D just looked So Done with all the romance that went on in this chapter (at least 80% of his expressions were like this: -_-‘’). Whereas in Chapter 3, he was all supportive of Kalina’s goal to exact revenge on men by becoming a famed demi-monde. Now there’s the cold and disdainful Sofu I know from PSOH! XD

3. For the first time ever in this series, Victor looked like the Serious and Responsible One because Dubois is even more (ridiculously) frivolous and flirtatious than the self-admittedly hedonistic Victor.

4. Since I began reading this series, I was convinced that Victor is an adorable cinnamon roll. But with every chapter that I read, I keep getting MORE evidence of his cinnamon roll-ness. :) On a side note, the difference in the dynamics between Sofu/Victor and D/Leon seems to be that the former is like a Slytherin/Hufflepuff relationship whilst the latter is more of a Ravenclaw/Gryffindor relationship.

5. I am kinda fascinated with the winged cat-fox hybrids. Were they planted in the tunnels by Sofu to protect the petshop? Were the winged cat-fox hybrids the inspiration/ models for Sofu’s Q-chan form in PSOH?

[themastercylinder]

  SUMMARY

In the film’s prologue, two geological researchers for the American multinational corporation NTI encounter an ancient alien laboratory on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. In the lab is an egg-like container which is keeping an alien creature alive. The creature emerges and kills the researchers. Two months later, the geologists’ spaceship crashes into the space station Concorde in orbit around Earth’s moon, its pilot having died in his seat.

CREATURE, 1985

NTI dispatches a new ship, the Shenandoah, to Titan. Its crew, consisting of Captain Mike Davison (Stan Ivar), Susan Delambre (Marie Laurin), Jon Fennel (Robert Jaffe), Dr. Wendy H. Oliver (Annette McCarthy), David Perkins (Lyman Ward) and Beth Sladen (Wendy Schaal), is accompanied by the taciturn security officer Melanie Bryce (Diane Salinger). While in orbit, the crew locate a signal coming from the moon—the distress call of a ship from the rival German multinational Richter Dynamics. Their own landing turns disastrous when the ground collapses beneath their landing site, dropping the ship into a cavern and wrecking it. When radio communication fails, a search party is sent out to contact the Germans.

In the German ship, they find one of the containers from the prologue breached, as well as the dead bodies of the crew. The creature appears and kills Delambre when she lags behind the escaping group. Fennel enters a state of shock at the sight and Bryce sedates him. When they return to their own ship, the Americans find that one of the Germans, Hans Rudy Hofner (Klaus Kinski), has snuck aboard. He tells them how his crew was slain by the creature, which was buried with other organisms as part of a galactic menagerie. He proposes returning to his ship to get explosives, but the crew are unwilling to risk it.

It becomes apparent that the creature’s undead victims are controlled by the creature through parasites. Unsupervised in the medbay, Fennel sees the undead Delambre through a porthole and follows her outside. She strips naked, and he stands transfixed while she removes his helmet. He asphyxiates, and then she attaches an alien parasite to his head. Now under alien control, Fennel sends a transmission to his crew mates, inviting them over to the German ship. Hofner and Bryce are sent to get some air tanks for the Shenandoah and stand guard over it, while the rest of the crew go over to the Richter ship.

Hofner and Bryce stop over at the menagerie on their way, and are attacked by Delambre, who has had a parasite attached earlier. The rest of the crew go over to the Richter ship, and find Fennel with a bandage on his head to conceal his parasite. Davison insists that medical officer Oliver examine his head, so Fennel has her accompany him to the engineering quarters to feed her to the creature. Davison and Perkins notice Fennel doesn’t sweat and go check on them. They are too late to rescue Oliver, who is decapitated by the creature, but Perkins blows up Fennel’s head with his pistol.

Soon afterwards, Sladen runs into an infected Hofner. She escapes the ship, and in her haste, only puts on her helmet after exiting. Perkins spots her outside and opens the airlock. Now unconscious, Sladen is carried in by Hofner to lure the others. They fight, and Davison manages to defeat Hofner by ripping off his parasite. The three survivors formulate a plan to electrocute the creature with the ship’s fusion modules, which can only be accessed by going through the engineering quarters.

Alarms suddenly sound as a creature makes its way through the ship, committing sabotage. Sladen and Davison go through engineering to construct an electrocution trap, while Perkins goes to the computer room to monitor the creature. Sladen finishes rigging the trap just in time for the creature’s arrival, and they apparently electrocute it to death. However, when Davison leaves, it captures Sladen.

CREATURE, Robert Jaffe, Klaus Kinski, 1985

Davison and Perkins follow her screaming and find her locked inside engineering. Studying the ship’s blueprints, they find another entrance to engineering and sends Perkins to lure away the creature while Davison retrieves Sladen. On the way, Perkins locates one of the bombs Hofner had mentioned, just before the creature jumps him. Dying, Perkins manages to attach the bomb to the creature and set off the countdown so Davison can jettison it through the airlock.

It climbs back aboard, however, so Davison tackles it, throwing himself out the airlock in the process. When the bomb fails to explode, Bryce appears and shoots it, which sets it off and kills the creature. She recovers Davison and dresses his wounds, then they reunite with Sladen and finally launch the ship.

  Director William Malone

BEHIND THE SCENES/ PRODUCTION

Even though in space, nobody can hear you scream Bill Malone still wants you to try. The 37 year old director of SCARED TO DEATH is getting ready to try and scare audiences again with his second feature, THE TITAN FIND. The $4.2 million production is set to open this spring, and Malone is cautiously optimistic about its chances.

The film is set in the near future, when the commercialization of space is well under way. On the surface of Titan, a research ship has discovered the remains of an ancient alien laboratory and its collection of specimens. One specimen, however, turns out to be much livelier than originally thought, and kills all but one of the crew. The survivor lives long enough to make it back to Earth, setting off a race between two competing multinational firms for whatever is there, both unaware of just how deadly the alien is.

Despite its small budget, the film boasts good production values, with set design by Robert Skotak and effects by the L.A. Effects Group, and stars international weirdo Klaus Kinski as a German space commander.

Malone, a baby-faced man who resembles DREAMSCAPE’s villain David Patrick Kelley, explained the roundabout way THE TITAN FIND got off the ground. “After I did SCARED TO DEATH, I was trying to get another project going.” said Malone. “One of the people my producer Bill Dunn and I went to see said they’d really like to make a picture like SCARED TO DEATH. They signed us up to do one of our projects, MURDER IN THE 21ST CENTURY, a detective story. After we did the screenplay, they didn’t think it had enough exploitation value. ‘What else do you have,’ they asked, and can you have it to us by tomorrow morning?’ This was in January, 1984.

“On that short a notice, all I could do was go through my files and see what I had kicking around. I found a two page story synopsis of THE TITAN FIND which I had written six or seven years earlier, and I took that in to them. It was basically just the beginning of the picture as it is now. I read it to them with some background tapes of classical music and they loved it. I said to myself, ‘Great…, now how do I make a film out of this?”

Not only was how a problem, but where as well. With a tight budget and little lead time given the company, it would have been nearly impossible to get studio space to shoot the film. The production’s answer was to create its own studio, setting up shop in an abandoned industrial plant in Burbank. The small warehouse became a tight maze of different bits of spaceship interiors and planet exteriors, with Malone’s crew shooting on one set, while another was torn down behind them and another built just ahead of them. Filming began June 25th.

Construction of the bridge of the NTI spaceship ‘Shenandoah

“We’ve been on it now for 8′ weeks, and I’m tired,” said Malone. “This has been a particularly tough picture because everything’s got smoke and dust and lava rock, which not only creates a lot of noise when you step on it, but makes this gritty dust and gets into everything. We’re forever wearing filter masks. Initially it sounded like a good idea doing everything in one location where you wouldn’t have to be moving people around, but after a while, all you want to do is go outside and see some sun.”

Malone is taking a lot of liberties with the Titan setting. “Well, I figure it will be a long time before anybody gets there to find out what it is actually like,” he said. “Everything’s got this sort of Dante’s Inferno look to it. There are these tremendous lightning storms going on all the time. The picture almost winds up looking like gothic horror. In fact, when we designed the miniatures, that was the instruction, make them look like Dracula’s castle. From the dailies, someone said they thought it looked like a Mario Bava picture, which I take as a compliment.”

To get the most out of the sets and special effects, Malone decided to shoot in widescreen Panavision. “A space picture practically demands that kind of format,” said Malone. “I had to do some fast talking because most of the people involved didn’t want to go anamorphic. Initially it’s a pain in the ass to deal with the Panavision company. If you’re not a major company, they tend to want all their money up front, and that’s very hard to deal with, but once we had set the deal with them, they were easier to get along with. Using Panavision really paid off in the long run, because it gives the picture a bigger look. With Panavision, you gain about 40 percent in image area, and it tremendously improves the image and clarity. This is only my first Panavision picture, but after working with it, you get kind of spoiled.”

Robert Skotak on the set of the Richter Dynamics spaceship from ‘Titan Find

One group that found it a little harder to work up enthusiasm for the widescreen format were the people involved in physically producing the special effects for the film, the year old L.A. Effects Group headed by Larry Benson. The company includes Alan Markowitz, director of animation and optical effects, and Corman effects graduates Robert and Dennis Skotak. Robert serves as director of visual effects while brother Dennis is director of photography.

“The single biggest problem we had was the anamorphic format,” said Dennis Skotak. “Bill Malone likes widescreen, and I like widescreen, but for a limited budget, it’s a problem. It’s real hard to force depth of-field because you have to have a great deal of light to close the camera aperture down.

“Because the budget was so low on this picture, we had a limit on how much time could be spent building the models. The ships are not large enough for a lot of the things that are necessary. One of the producers wanted a shot of the Shenandoah much closer than what we had planned it to be. I had to pull out the bag of tricks to get it done. We had to have the ship so close to the camera that it was grazing the film magazine.”

“I storyboarded the film, designed all of the miniatures (except for the American ship, The Shenandoah, which Bill Malone designed himself), and worked closely with Bill on the planning and staging of each shot,” Skotak explains. “He pretty much left me with a free hand to design the look and layout of each scene. His input was heavily along the lines of what the mood and coloration of something should be, the things that were important to convey a building feeling of suspense. For example, when the ships are approaching Titan, they’re not zooming by. They’re moving very slowly, almost serenely. Then as they enter Titan’s atmosphere, there is all of this lightning going on around them and huge dust storms everywhere. “In the same way, we wanted the interior of the Richter Dynamics ship, where a lot of the action takes place, to look very German Gray, functional, much like a battleship. We wanted it to look like a weird place without getting ludicrous. I made it a little expressionistic, gave it buttresses and bulkheads to shoot from behind. There is also a geographic quality to the bridge; the area is broken up into planes by several different shapes.”

An Early Concept

Robert Skotak’s Creature Design

Skotak also designed the look of the alien, which Malone finally approved after choosing elements from dozens of different sketches that Bob drew. Mike McCracken and Don Pennington were among several people who contributed molds and mechanics to the snakish suit, but it was Doug Beswick, who was called upon, under a heavy deadline, to pull the whole suit together.

“I was real skeptical about it being finished on time,” Beswick recalls. “Bill could only push the shooting schedule back 13 days. The neck and jaw had to be rebuilt to give the creature a larger bite radius, the fingers had to be extended and given long claws, legs and arms had to be built, we had to get a truly vicious look into the face.

This is the small scale maquette, which estabilished the look for the Monster — which would have only minor modifications. It was built by Michael McCracken’s team.

“We would have liked to have done more, but it was a very limited schedule. Considering that, I’m very happy with the way the thing turned out. I haven’t seen many dailies, but what I’ve seen looks good. They are shooting it right, taking their time to light it correctly. I hesitated at first to take on this job, because of the time limit, but I was able to do it and I’ve learned quite a lot, so now I’m glad that I took it on.”

Beswick also built a mock up version and a one-third scale gelatin replica of the rubber suit, both of which will be used in surprise special effect scenes. But monsters from other planets aren’t all you’ll be cringing at. Besides your basic assortment of gouged necks, chewed limbs and decapitated skulls, Titan Find will grace screens with the spectacle of ripped faces, exploding heads and flying cow bellies.

Special effects makeup was originally designed by Bruce Zahlava, who left the production due to creative differences halfway through the shooting. Jill Rockow, a makeup veteran of The Howling, Frightmare, Deadly Eyes, Conan the Destroyer and Friday the 13th-The Final Chapter, among numerous others, is responsible for the daily applications. One of her primary tasks was to destroy parasite victims Robert Jaffe and Klaus Kinski from the inside out.

“Robert Jaffe has the most makeup of anybody.” Rockow explains. “He attacks people and spits blood at them. His face deteriorates and pulls off. In fact, it’s my hand that rips his face off! The actress he’s fighting with in the scene had to go home, and the actual ripping was done with a fake head. I just reached into the frame and pulled off a section of it to expose the underneath, which was a duplicate of the makeup Robert had on.

Jill Rockow Applies Prosthetics

“His face peels off more later on, to reveal this whole bloody and slimy underface. Eventually, his head explodes completely. That was done with another fake head and pyrotechnics. The head was filled with cow bellies, cow brains; it was a real party there. It was made out of gelatin and we planted pieces of primacord inside it. Primacord’s an explosive that is so powerful that a piece of it wrapped around your neck will shoot your head right off. It cuts things off clean. People who do blasts for oil wells use it.

“Robert Jaffe really gets destroyed in this. He’s a producer as well as actor; he produced Motel Hell and Demon Seed. He was wonderful to work with, very cooperative. We went through five hours of makeup application every day and two hours of taking it off. He never moaned once.”

Three overlapping appliances are used to create Klaus Kinski’s makeup. The chin goes on first, then the nose, and the forehead and cheek pieces last. As his character starts to deteriorate, plugs on his cheeks and chin are pulled out to uncover the monstrous mutation going on underneath. Rockow and her crew, which included Jerry Quist and Paul Rinehard, have their work cut out for them with these designs; because of the limited budget (estimated at $4 million), Kinski does not appear in all of his scenes, and two doubles, neither of whom resemble the Polish actor, or each other for that matter, have to stand in for him in a number of action scenes. Luckily, Rockow’s foam rubber appliances cover the entire face, so the differences in actors is impossible to detect.

“The alien itself and all the parasites were covered in K-Y,” Rockow explains, “and everyone’s face was K-Y’d too. We tinted it a yellowish-brown for all of the decomposing human stuff. The neat thing about K-Y is that it dries about an hour or so after you apply it, to a point where it’s not slippery. A lot of makeup people use Methocel for creating slime, but that dries hard and you’ve got to peel it off before you can put a new batch on. This stuff just keeps dripping until it dries.

“About the gore, I tend to sort of pull back in that area,” says Malone. “There are some dramatic scenes that have some gore in them, but I think that if you do it all the way through, then it loses its punch. My basic approach is that I really like suspense more than gore, but the problem is that you have to remember that we also have to try and sell the movie overseas. There are countries that won’t buy your picture without a certain amount of gore in it. Look at the Italian zombie movies, and Japanese kid shows, they have people getting hacked to pieces and arrows that go through eyes … that sort of stuff, so you have to have some pretty heavyweight material in your picture for them to be interested in it.”

Regarding Klaus Kinski

Surprises and difficulties were in store for the live action crew as well. No sooner had Malone worked out the story line for the film and started work on the script when his backers threw him a curve. To help give the film a stronger selling point, his investors had gotten a “name” actor, Klaus Kinski. The problem was that they only had Kinski for a week, and there wasn’t a part in the film that would suit him.

“Previously, we had clues in the original story as to what happened in the German ship, and the audience was supposed to draw its own conclusions,” Malone said. “But once we had Klaus, it seemed the best thing to do was make him the commander of the German ship and work from there. I think he enjoyed working on the film, but it was very hard to tell. He’s got an unusual personality. He worked with me on his part in the script, and actually, I think he would make a very good story editor. He was very helpful with suggestions and with working with the other actors.

I think it helped everyone else too because they really seemed to be working harder because they were working with him.

“Klaus was crazier off camera than the part I wrote for him, and I wrote him as a total looney. The first day of shooting he shows up, and the first thing out of his mouth was, ‘I raped my 12-year-old daughter, you know.’ I thought, oh great, this is going to be fun. “Halfway through the first day of shooting, the crew came up to me en masse and said, ‘Billy, we want you to know we’re all going to take Klaus out back and beat the shit out of him.’ I said, ‘Look guys, you have to wait until the end of the week, and then you can do everything you want.’ He was a madman, really, but I will say this, when he’s on screen, he just lights up the screen. He’s definitely one of the best things in the picture. He really added a lot to it. When we write a script, a lot of times the actors don’t give you what you heard in your head. Klaus was one of the few people who gave me exactly what I was writing, the intonation and delivery that I heard for this stuff.”

A running gag on the set occurred after Kinski tried to make a pass at the female makeup artist who was applying his makeup by sticking his knee between her legs and telling her, “That is not my knee, that is my cock.” From then on, whenever anyone on the set bumped into someone else, it became de rigueur to say, “That is not my knee, that is my cock,” regardless of the circumstances.

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ALIEN rip off?

 “You have to understand that this movie has turned out to be a lot bigger picture than we set out to make. We started out small, but after the second week of shooting, the investors looked at the footage and said they loved it and wanted us to make it bigger and better, so they kept throwing money at us, which is really a filmmaker’s dream. We’re using a Dolby stereo soundtrack, which isn’t something we were originally designed for. When we put together a rough cut of the movie, we decided it would add a lot to the film, even though it was going to cost another $80,000.”

Aside from the technical aspects of the film, Malone knows he’s going to run into objections about the film: is it an ALIEN rip off?

“I don’t know what to say about the ALIEN question,” Malone continued. “I guess it depends on whether you consider ALIEN an original story. I don’t look at that many films as real originals. I know ALIEN had elements of several films in it that I could name, but beyond that, most genre films are pretty derivative. I think that THE TITAN FIND has got some unusual and interesting things in it. Certainly the film is going to be compared to other films, but I don’t think you can help that. I actually think there’s a lot more of 1950’s science fiction in it than anything else, and that it resembles ALIEN because Dan O’Bannon and myself were probably inspired by the same pictures. I like Spielberg’s JAWS also. I think it’s probably one of the best monster movies ever made; when I was writing Klaus Kinski’s part, I wanted to try and capture more of the feel of Robert Shaw’s part in that, than ALIEN.”

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Cast

Stan Ivar as Captain Mike Davison

Wendy Schaal as Beth Sladen

Lyman Ward as David Perkins

Robert Jaffe as Jon Fennel

Diane Salinger as Melanie Bryce

Annette McCarthy as Dr. Wendy H. Oliver

Marie Laurin as Susan Delambre

Klaus Kinski as Hans Rudy Hofner

  Directed by   William Malone

Produced by William G. Dunn

Screenplay by William Malone Alan Reed

  Produced by

Moshe Diamant       …       executive producer

William G. Dunn      …       producer (as William G. Dunn Jr.)

Ronnie Hadar          …       executive producer

William Malone        …       producer

Don Stern     …       associate producer

    Art Direction by Michael Novotny

  Stephen Glassman  …       scenic artist

  Special Effects by

Wayne Beauchamp …       pyrotechnician

Doug Beswick         …       creature coordinator / miniature construction

John Eggett  …       pyrotechnician

Michael McCracken …       creator: “Titan Find” creature

Gerald Quist …       special effects makeup assistant

Paul Rinehard         …       special effects makeup assistant

Jill Rockow    …       special effects makeup assistant

Robert Short …       weapons creator

Bruce Zahlava         …       special effects makeup supervisor

  Visual Effects by

Larry Benson          …       visual effects executive producer: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

Suzanne M. Benson          …       visual effects production associate: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

Bob Burns     …       effects technician: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

Steve Caldwell        …       effects technician: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

George D. Dodge    …       effects cinematographer: The L.A. Effects Group Inc. (as George Dodge)

Judith Evans …       effects technician: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

Alec Gillis      …       special thanks: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

Sanford Kennedy    …       model maker: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

John Lambert          …       optical consultant: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

Alan G. Markowitz   …       animation supervisor: The L.A. Effects Group Inc. (as Alan Markowitz) / director optical effects: The L.A. Effects Group Inc. (as Alan Markowitz)

Pat McClung …       special thanks: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

Jake Monroy …       mechanical engineer: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

Jay Roth       …       model maker: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

Dennis Skotak         …       director of photography: The L.A. Effects Group Inc. / stage supervisor: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

Robert Skotak         …       special designer: The L.A. Effects Group Inc. / visual effects director: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

Kathleen Spurney    …       effects technician: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

George Turner        …       effects animator: The L.A. Effects Group Inc.

Steve Benson         …       visual effects supervisor (uncredited)

    REFERENCES and SOURCES

Cinefantastique v 15 n02

Fangoria 041

      Creature (1985) Retrospective SUMMARY In the film's prologue, two geological researchers for the American multinational corporation NTI encounter an ancient alien laboratory on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.

[sixmorningsafter]

A Thesis on Chapter 13

Despite all the almost sexy times last chapter, I think this is my favorite so far. There are less “I don’t know you”, “who do you think you are”, “can you just leave me alone” vibes but that doesn’t mean everything (or everyone) is comfortable.

A/N: LMAO this thesis is the greatest thing that’s ever happened, I’m dying. Is there a more appropriate way to review the rambliest fic in the known universe? Always adore your feedback and this is no exception, and I can’t stress enough how happy/giddy I was reading over this and seeing how much thought you put into it, man. Ugh. Cassie’s such a doll, y’all.

Anyway, onto the chapter: lmaoooo not even remotely comfortable, but yessss, the tone is definitely less belligerent and more so just unsettled (at least for Bamon) in 13. Stefan and Caroline were probably more intimate in 12 but hey, every action has an equal an opposite reaction, ja feel? Reality checks await. 

Putting the rest under a cut because your glorious long-windedness combined with mine is a chapter in and of itself. 

Bonnie: I like her introspection a lot, and I can relate to it (I too try to check myself before wrecking myself). I like that she’s hyper aware of the latent anger and her tendency to hide it away ‘cause then its hidden from her. 

I love how she thinks Damon might possibly feel violated by her advances the previous night. Girl, please. And lol “magical fucking reverse-dementor”? Gold.

Oblivious Bonnie. Oh, the hilarity.

A/N: She’s a mess, but she’s trying. I think much like Caroline, she’s convinced that if she drops her guard and removes the tight lid she keeps on parts of herself, disaster will strike, and I think much like Stefan, Damon’s going to play a part in proving that’s not what’s going to happen. Obviously a major difference is Bonnie keeps the lid on to protect others (friends, etc) from jagged parts of herself and Caroline’s is more self-preserving. And LMAO yeah needless to say, Damon’s not feeling particularly violated but bless Bonnie.

Baroline: Bless you. I like this scene a lot. Bonnie tackling a sleeping Caroline; Caroline being a “ferocious blanket monster”– love it. As a writer, it’s a gold mine ‘cause you can casually throw in some flashbacks, but as a reader, it’s a gold mine 'cause you get casually thrown into a fuller picture of who Caroline is– a force to be reckoned with, especially when it comes to the people she holds close. God, I live for Bonnie telling Caroline she came out of one of the worst situations as a “goddam warrior”–ugh, slay me.

Baroline + Tyler feels, love it.

Lol at the “messes” exchange. This is me and any of my best friends lol. Headcanon: Baroline gets messes forever as their matching bff tattoos. 

A/N: YAY, Baroline feels! I really wanted to balance out their relationship since so much of the last chapter was Caroline’s side of it, and given that Bonnie was in a ‘fuck everyone’ state it was lopsided, so writing out that scene and having Bonnie assume the role of Caroline’s no. 1 fan felt necessary. So glad the little moments and flashbacks painted a more detailed picture! I think we’ll see more of that ferocious friend side of Caroline in the upcoming chapters, when there are dinners to plan and she’s back in work mode and stuff. I have a fun scene planned where Stefan’s getting pushback on a work call and Caroline sort of snatches the phone and works her magic. And YES, #messesforever tattos! All the Tyler cameos. 

Stefan: The trademarked “Fix It” with the “associated apology tour”, that made me laugh.

I liked that Bonnie knows Stefan has callouses for her lashing out, 'cause he’s literally like, welp that wasn’t so bad.

Again, Stefan acknowledging Damon is more than meets the eye is good. I think it’s funny how he has these unrealistic views of people, but he also doesn’t, like when it comes to Damon. I suppose it’s just the women in his life. Unfortunately, his “Caroline is a partially ajar door” epiphany struck me as correct, but only as a reader, I would know that. I kind of like watching Stefan sort himself out. Idk if you made a Stefonnie parallel on purpose, but both are introspective in a very academic way. Unlike Daroline who are equally introspective but built a stone armour around themselves, Stefonnie built, like, a two-way glass armour, you know? God, Stefan would probably hate me for turning him into a metaphor ;p

“People weren’t tropes”, Stefan says as Gabi writes him as a trope. I literally said aloud, “ah the not-trope trope” lol. But I like that he’s self-aware. Unlike canon, where it seems like he embraces the Hero Hair wholeheartedly.

Ooo, such a great point - Stefan and Bonnie definitely take a much more logical approach to analyzing themselves than Caroline or Damon, who are like captains of the National Deflect Team. I think Stefonnie both have lowkey hero complexes and that might factor into it a bit: Bonnie fucks up and her first thought upon waking up is ‘fix it fix all of it’ - she’s more concerned about the people she might’ve affected last night than herself. So she rationally dissects everything she did and figures out the best strategy for making it better (though notice she doesn’t actually come up with a strategy for fixing her coping mechanisms). Stefan wakes up and rationalizes the fuck out of him and Caroline while downplaying the fact that hey, bud, regardless of all this rational mumbo jumbo, you felt something last night. You felt something tighten in you when she put the wall back up. You didn’t like it. So yeah, they’re both a little fake mature in that sense, like they think they’re taking the high road or being logical but they’re also kind of denying reality a bit in the process. And then there’s Daroline, lololol, who’re just like ‘sitting down to critically analyze our problems sounds like a GREAT conversation and all but here’s another suggestion: flinging ourselves off a bridge’. 

Stefonnie: Like that ask you answered, I didn’t know how much I needed Stefonnie until this scene. I really like how Bonnie’s approach to her Steroline apologies are to wrap them in light scenarios (like the stories about Caroline and Shark Week with Stefan).

And their hug, how fucking sweet. 

God, I love how awkward both of them are when it comes to discussing their currently lowkey romantic ships. Lol, like I tweeted in response to Bonnie’s “I just hope it wasn’t too tense”, it was too intense (har har, I’m funny). And Stefan’s “hope it wasn’t too carnal”, I loved this word choice–thank you. And their stumbling over their own words with one another, like in this “you’re my bestie I can’t lie to you” kind of way.

The parallel, seen in the end, with Stefonnie being clueless when it comes to the romantic ships has me screaming. Wake up people! 

A/N: Stefan and Bonnie are totally the clueless problematic cinnamon rolls of this fic, man. Like I know Bonnie has a dark side, but they’re both still such naive koalas, it’s so dumb. So glad you caught the ‘I can’t lie to you’ vibe between them because I was totally going for that - they never explicitly lied but they definitely skirted around the truth, and as you’ll see especially from Stefan in 14, he really doesn’t like it. It’s not their style. Especially given their loaded history with Bonnie cutting him off and trying to leave him out of a whole part of her life - they’re not fans of not telling each other stuff. So yeah, that tension’s definitely there, but sandwiched between some fluff that I’m so glad you liked!

Steroline: YES I KNEW IT WAS A SEX PRE-COITAL CONTRACT AGREEMENT. And I think you should take that as a compliment 'cause its so characteristic of Caroline.

Lol at “how would we go about tracking our decibel levels”? Like how did she even come up with the right decibel levels? Like, as writers, we look up some crazy shit, but as Caroline, I feel like her research history is… more than abundant. 

“Would we be doing zumba on the side”, fucking Stefan lmfao. Idk if you watched the canon Steroline proposal, but he has this roundabout way of proposing, saying something like, I was thinking you’d wear this ring or whatever, and I think its interesting how this SMA line kinda parallels to that canon one, in terms of Stefan’s silly side (which is a rarity in canon). Like I feel like Paul insisted doing the proposal his way.

Stefan is such a dope. Like when Caroline is “demonstrating”, and he’s like “probably should’ve seen that coming”. Ugh, this dummy.

A/N: Caroline’s so extra it’s unreal. Like sometimes when I write her and I want to incorporate her more anal-retentive side, I have to literally stop for five minutes and just think up ridiculous shit. I’m the least detail-oriented/list-making person on earth so I basically have an out-of-body experience whenever I write Caroline, lololol - it’s a ton of fun, though. I really wanted to make that moment a canon nod to Stefan finding her control-freak side amusing/endearing. In SMA, he didn’t really know that side of her before they were snowed-in (it was sort of buried under the general frostiness and party girl persona), so I think it makes her feel more human to him. He likes catching glimpses of the real her. And yessss, hahaha, SMA Stefan is definitely like taking all of canon Stefan’s silly/trolly moments and just condensing them into the whole character. I kind of feel like without all of the vampire and Damon/Katherine nonsense in his life, though, Stefan would’ve been a much lighter, sassier person, so who knows. Totally a dope, though.  

Bamon: Bonnie’s sex fantasies– FINALLY. As canon Damon would say, “Glad to see you’ve boarded this train to crazy town, Bonnie Bennett” (yes I looked this up, no I have no regrets).  

Damon’s reaction to Bonnie’s apology is good lol. I like this. With Stefonnie and Baroline, it was teary-eyes and heartfelt-ness, and then there’s Damon. She connected with a stranger (in more ways than one), and she's just trying her best. Lol.

I didn’t realize this until Bonnie points it out, but I like that she recognized how self-centered their personal conversation had been. How she twisted everything about like it was a competition.

Lol the “can we just forget this happened” conversation is hilarious. It reminds me of when Defan are talking about the space heater, and Damon keeps toying with Stefan LOL. Idk if you intended that parallel, but its golden.

Ugh and I love how she’s like, “last night she’d be tangled up with a street kid”. I like that realization, 'cause it was kind of one for me too. Like, Damon looks like a babe, but Bonnie’s got him pegged.

A/N: Love all of these insights so much! So on point. ‘And then there’s Damon’ should really just be his tagline, I feel like. He’s kind of a constant question mark/occasional pleasant surprise in general to everyone, but to Bonnie, he’s proving a total wildcard. Majorly throwing her off her typical routine, slipping right under that stubbornly even-kiln skin - she really is just trying her best to adjust to it, lololol. But once again, she’s using suppressing techniques to do it, and if 12 should’ve taught her anything, it’s that he’s not afraid to poke through that. You’ll see her hit a much more comedic breaking point in 14 and some long-time-coming stuff comes out of it. And re: the Defan parallel, I didn’t really think about that but it’s totally true - Damon’s just a giant troll. I think his conversations with Stefan and Bonnie will usually have similar tones in that he’s this boundary-less shit-starter dealing with people who are used to having civilized, tactful interactions with people, vs. with Caroline, she’s just as blunt as he is so it’s much more abrasive-with-an-undercurrent-of-affection. 

Damon: So his line “I heard you loud and clear about last night, kid” (and okay, his insisting on calling her kid, as like a way to, idk, distance himself from her, for her sake and probably his own, is so deflating for me, 'cause they’re getting somewhere and then they’re not) is so telling. Just so very telling. “But she’d literally looked like she was going to crawl out of her skin whenever he was near her… He didn’t love it.” Honey, your need for affection is showing. Annoying? Yeah, annoying how you won’t admit you have a crush on her.

The scene with his reflection, even if it was only a snapshot of the past, it was good. So, idk if you do this on purpose, but the way you reveal Damon’s story is wildly different from the other three, and it’s very consist with his character. And it’s well written. Very, very good job. Oh, and reverting back to that line “pointless”. Mmmmm my poor baby.

Awww, haven’t heart this interpretation of kid yet! Could totally see some merit to it - I think it’s definitely telling of an unusual endearment Damon’s starting to feel for her, one that (despite how sexual their relationship got last chapter and the undercurrent of it this chapter) has surprisingly little to do with sex and more to do with this spunky, weird, stubborn, complicated little thing who keeps surprising him. Even if there is any intent to create distance (and maybe subconsciously there is), I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t stop calling her that even if they were together. And lmao re: his ‘annoyance’ with her aversion to him - not obvious at all, right? Everyone in this story is so dumb idk why I write it. 

Re: different writing strategies, I actually got a really cool ask about this from someone about the couples, and I think it’s the same deal where it just naturally happens? Like Damon lives stubbornly in the present, he doesn’t care what happens tomorrow or what happened yesterday, so having him go down long mental meanders through memory lane just doesn’t come out of my fingers, you know? His reveals kind of come in quick flashes - bursts of dialogue or action that only last as long as it takes him to recognize what he’s doing and pivot away from it. I know this fic is technically third person, but I write it a lot like a first person PoV (not really italicizing thoughts, writing the descriptions with run-on sentences and fragments like dialogue), so I feel like because of that, I naturally shift my style a bit for every character’s head. You’ll definitely get more Damon reveals up ahead, though - a lot of the Bamon dynamic has been focused on Bonnie in the past few chapters, but as that gets more under control, Ms. Fix It hasn’t gone anywhere, and she’s going to start putting some of the spotlight back on him. Her finding his wallet in the sneak peek is kind of the start of that. 

Daroline: LMFAO. You already know about my Daroline brotp feelings, so I’ll keep this short. Besides the hilarity that is defensive Caroline and shitstarter Damon, I really like that, because of their history, Damon’s first real sincere moment is with Caroline. Like, he prods and jokes about stuff with Bonnie and Stefan, but he’s not being helpful. With Caroline, though, he’s doing the friend thing.

Again, you probably did this on purpose, but I can’t help to point it out: Daroline knowing there’s something going on within the romantic ships has me geeking out. 

Yay, Daroline! I get way too much satisfaction from writing two characters who started off as explicitly sexual having entirely non-romantic emotional beats and becoming ain’t shit friends. I feel like in a way, it’s almost a little necessary in a fic like this, because otherwise every sexual relationship I’m writing leads to love and I really don’t think that’s true. I think it’s super possible for casual sex to be exactly that, and I think Daroline kind of spits in the face of the idea that two people who have been or are physically attracted to each other can’t be friends. Of course they can be. Sex and love are different. Sex is instant, easy. Love is layered af. And on the converse of that, we have Stefonnie as the ‘guys and girls can absolutely be best friends’ PSA, so yeah, I think the m/f brotps help balance the fic a bit. 

Defan:

God, it’s a great time just watching these idiots. “Steffy bear and I are getting married.“ Defan = Major/Ravi feelings. There’s only this scene at the end, but it’s really fun and there’s no drama between them, so it’s wholeheartedly silly.

Total Major/Ravi vibes! So glad you’re digging them - I haven’t had a chance to do a ton with them so far (outside of little beats here and there and references to offscreen/page bonding) but I’m definitely going more into Defan soon - they open up chapter 14 and it’s super fun/introduces some dynamic shifts for them. I think I get way too much of a kick out of making the most problematic canon ships the least problematic in this AU, lmao.

Bonus Round– the "Kai” scene: It strikes me as seriously mental of Bonnie to think she could face Kai on her own. Like, okay, so he may not be a serial killer, but he’s still fucking creepy! (though I love it tbh). I love Steroline’s protectiveness over Bonnie (“Yeah, I don’t know what kind of hangover brain she’s on, but you’re absolutely going with her”). Damon’s hardcore acting as the disgustingly affection bf (“It’s so cute it makes even us cringe”). Bonnie’s deadfish acting.

LMAO Bonnie’s definitely got some priorities to sort out. And yay, so glad you liked protective Steroline - I think it’s fun to make them so at odds about so many things and then suddenly when Bonnie’s the subject boom, team up. Damon’s affectionate boyfriend act is only going to get worse after some things that go down in 14, and Bonnie’s deadfish isn’t going to fool anyone. More apeshit Kai ahead!

Okay, I copy and pasted this into a Word doc, and it’s a full 5 pages. Yikes. I’m done. You’re amazing, bless you, continue doing the good Lord’s work, amen. <3, Cassandra

LMAOOOOO five pages of GLORY. I seriously can’t tell you how much I appreciate your super detailed, thoughtful, hilarious reviews - in fact, it took me this long to answer because I was like ‘I need to find a time where I can sit down and write a thesis back’. You’re amazing, bless you, continue doing the good Lord’s work, amen. <3 Gabi

[thedramafilesblog-blog]

Appearing before the Dramacourt: Boku Unmei no Hito desu Ep 3

***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

Issues:

Whether Mitsukuni is one of the worst second lead males

Whether Yotsuya Mitsue’s love ideology (hexagon) is correct

Whether Yamapi God is the best roommate ever

Whether the co-workers give the best comedic relief

Whether it was reasonable for Makoto to take such a long time to ask for her number

The Rule(s):

No!

It depends.

Totally! He’s so fun, hilarious, and so jokes.

Definitely!

Kind of. He was lucky that fate was on his side.

Analysis:

Jubiemon J: I really enjoyed this episode as well! I loved how different aspects of fate were played again. This time, this drama mostly used classical music as a way to hint what’s to come. When the rival came, they played a classical song that resembled the Devil. When Makoto and Haruko shared a cute phone call where they both saw the moon, Claude DeBussy’s Claire de Lune played. They played the wedding song when Mitsukuni proposed to Haruko. They picked pieces that most people would be familiar with, so that made the scenes even more hilarious or relatable. Plus, we had a co-worker who talked about how she thinks she met her fated one. There were the coincidental meetings between Makoto and Haruko and the boss’s dinner party that led to Makoto bumping into Mitsukuni (the rival). Finally there was that baseball scene with the kids whose surnames were “Akai” and “Ito” and the scoreboard ended up being Makoto’s phone number.

Makoto for the top part and Akai Ito for the bottom – Scoreboard = half of his phone number

Side note: Akai Ito = Red string of fate. It’s an East Asian belief that the Gods tie a red string to two people to string them together. In Japan, they usually believe that the red string is tied to the pinky finger.

Kids looking like . . . biotch plz, we are helping u!!! We did u a favour and played baseball with u!

I also liked the contrast shown between fate and choice, which is definitely a predominant theme throughout this drama. There’s Mitsukuni who is very aggressive and a total go-getter. Then there’s Makoto who is shown again as someone who is very passive and agreeable. Makoto is the one relying mostly on fate, while Mitsukuni carves his own path. Mitsukuni finds it super easy to ask for Haruko’s number. He also proposed to her in this episode; before in high school, he confessed to her and got rejected. Meanwhile, Makoto struggles to even get her number! During a group setting where we have Mitsukuni, Haruko, Mitsue, and himself, he is very quiet and doesn’t really serve the people. Makoto also does a huge roundabout when trying to ask for Haruko’s number. He doesn’t directly tell her; instead, he tells her that he’ll prove to her that they have fate via the baseball scoreboard. If he can get his full number on the scoreboard, then they’re fated to be together. (This is the final moment when he has the courage to actually try to tell her his number. I’ll get to the details about this later.) Before this scene, Makoto definitely had so many missed opportunities. I do like those because they show that it’s not just fate that’s important. You have to make the choice to act on fate.

Mitsukune telling Makoto he’s gonna propose to Haruko. Makoto: P-P-Propose?!

Makoto finally getting the guts to ask Haruko out ~

Other highlights of this episode would be Yamapi God love advice as well as the minor characters’ comedic relief. The co-workers are hilarious! I laughed a lot when they showed up. Yamapi God’s love advice was great too.

Yamapi God: Crisis! Crisis!

Yamapi God: Crisis! Crisis! Crisis! What are you gonna do? Crisis!

Yamapi God: It’s your own fault. You didn’t even get her number nor did you give her yours. Someone like you has no right to be with her!

Issue 1: Whether Mitsukuni is one of the worst second lead males

Jubiemon J: Yes! I really, really disliked how Mitsukuni was such a jerk and kept trying to make Makoto look terrible in front of the girls. Okay, I get he is the rival, but he totally doesn’t play fair at all. I haven’t met such an annoying second lead male till now. I usually root for the second lead male; I tend to suffer from the second lead male syndrome. However, this time I’m totally for Makoto. Mitsukuni definitely reminded me of those stereotypical sly Wall Street bankers or those stereotypical sleazy car sales people. Ugh! He purposely suggested that Makoto and Mitsue should date because they shared similar tastes in food. There were just two similarities: they preferred not to dip some meat in sauce and they liked dipping French fries in ketchup. Okay, just because they liked to do that doesn’t mean that they should date! Of course Makoto was completely shocked and said no way. Then Mitsue got all annoyed because she believed he was rude for rejecting her like that. (To be honest, I’m like Makoto, so I get his frustration. He’s a very straightforward guy and isn’t super sensitive to how his reactions would affect other people’s feelings.)

I totally blame Mitsukuni for making the whole atmosphere awkward. If he hadn’t made that “joke”, Makoto wouldn’t have been put in a tough spot. If he said yes or hinted that, then he’d be making a go at Mitsue. However, if he outright denied that, she’d get hurt. There was just no good way to save himself. Mitsukuni . . . sly guy. -0-

I also really didn’t like how Mitsukuni was super aggressive. He only had like one or two outings with Haruko and then he wanted to propose to her. Like what? Sure they’ve known each other since high school, but I really think he was forcing her to accepting him far too quickly. Plus I really hated how Mitsukuni thinks way too much/tries way too hard to get Haruko. That scene where he came out in cosplay as a singer and played a song with his guitar was so cringey and cheesy! Yuck!

The F is this?!?!?! Who does that a restaurant?!?!?! How’d he get his wig too? -0-

Makoto: … (Me too. Me too.)

Okay, so Makoto does try to ask her out too and seems to pop here really often, but I find Makoto’s actions to be reasonable. He hasn’t forced marriage on her. He only wanted to ask her out to dinner.

Even worse, Mitsukuni was a total jerk towards Makoto’s co-workers. They asked Makoto if he wanted to join their dinner party. Sure, they were interested in chilling with some hot co-workers that Mitsukuni was with, but Mitsukuni denied them. Okay, he had like 6-7 girls chilling with him and he seemed very happy about it. How is that being dedicated to Haruko? -0-”

Sleaze ball with his gals =___= . . . loyal my ass.

Makoto’s co-workers: If you want us to kill him, we will gladly do so. LOL!

 Issue 2: Whether Yotsuya Mitsue’s love ideology (hexagon) is correct

Jubiemon J: Mitsue and Haruko started off the episode with a presentation she did for her company. They were researching on what women consider the ideal marriage partner. The two presented this hexagon that showed the six points that are the most important for women when finding the ideal guy: (1) personality; (2) appearance; (3) income; (4) outlook on life; (5) humour; and (6) dependability. Mitsue stressed that because Mitsukuni is above average in all six aspects, he would be the ideal guy for Haruko. Of course, these points seem to be quite reasonable for a marriage partner, but I think Mitsue’s love ideology (hexagon) is flawed in a few ways.

Not everyone would weight each point equally, so even though Mitsukuni would average out to be above average in all areas, there could be a few points where he scores very low. Those low points could be what Haruko really values. Moreover, not everyone would have all of those six points down as what makes their ideal marriage partner. Another point of consideration is as Haruko subtly mentioned: sometimes the points could be too sharp and cause pain. Let’s take “appearance”. Scoring high in appearance could result in the guy having more female pursuers or potentially being too narcissistic.

Although this love hexagon might be kind of flawed, I did like how the writer decided to throw in this other POV towards finding the right marriage partner. I think this balances out the heavy emphasis on “fated love” and also hints that love sometimes might not be as “logical” as some people might make it out to be.

Side note: The kanji for marriage is 結婚. This is the same in Mandarin as well. In Mandarin, when you take the second character, 婚, you will notice that it’s made up of two other words which are woman  (女) and dizziness (昏). To get married, your mind must have been “dizzy” (ie you weren’t thinking that clearly). Love blinds you. If you wanted to take it a step further by combining the woman and dizziness together, you could potentially say that the woman needs to have been blinded by love. I prefer thinking that both partners need to have some sort of irrationality to choose marriage. 

Issue 3: Whether Yamapi God is the best roommate ever

Jubiemon J: Yes! Yamapi God is perfect as a roommate. He gives the best love advice and shows up in the funniest ways like appearing in Makoto’s closet. Yamapi God constantly bitched at Makoto for being too passive, yet when Makoto finally had the courage to ask Haruko out, Yamapi God celebrated the win by drinking beer with Makoto.

Yamapi God: Yellow Card! Why’d you creep her office huh? If you had asked her number, you wouldn’t have need to have done that.

Cheers to asking her out! (So cute these two!)

Yamapi God doesn’t baby Makoto and pushes him to go for love. I think Yamapi God is really motivating Makoto to be less passive in life. Makoto is too easygoing and sort of lets things slide by, so Yamapi God often has to lecture him to “Yolo”. I seriously love how “God” here doesn’t just reward you for nothing. You actually have to work for something to get some reward. He made Makoto memorize 100 classical pieces which would allow Makoto to share a similar hobby as Haruko and to know what was to come. (I’ve talked before about how music was a foreshadowing of what would happen.)

Yamapi God: Happiness isn’t gonna come to someone who doesn’t love music. (Word.)

In addition, Yamapi God also didn’t constantly interfere with Makoto’s actions and wasn’t always all forgiving. Yamapi God would remind Makoto of his last chance to ask Haruko out since Mitsukune was going to propose to Haruko the next day. After Makoto still failed to ask her out the Nth time, Yamapi God got disappointed in him and disappeared for a while. Some tough love here . . . but it was necessary to push Makoto to do something!

Yamapi God: It’s your own fault. You didn’t even get her number nor did you give her yours. Someone like you has no right to be with her!

Yamapi God: Stop giving me this ugly face! You were looking for me all this time. Makoto: Do you even know how I feel right now?!?!? He’s gonna propose to her..

Yamapi God: This is your last chance! Go!

Issue 4: Whether the co-workers give the best comedic relief

Jubiemon J: Gosh the duo can be so annoying, yet so hilarious at the same time! They bothered Makoto about his love life. They bitched at Makoto for not letting them crash at some drinking party when Makoto went out with the “Goddess” ie Mitsue. According to the co-workers, if they were able to ride the elevator with Mitsue then they’d get the best luck for the day. Lol!

Not to mention, I laughed pretty hard when the co-workers were so excited to be able to drink with the other company since Mitsue worked there. The next scene then showed them drinking with the 1 older female boss and their faces were hilarious! Honestly without these two, the humour for this drama wouldn’t be complete, so I’m totally looking forward to what more they have to offer!

Issue 5: Whether it was reasonable for Makoto to take such a long time to ask for her number

Jubiemon J: Kind of. I get that Makoto is a shy type of guy and Haruko has a colder type of personality, the sort that’d outright say “No” to someone. Therefore it does make sense that Makoto would be more hesitant to ask her out. No one wants to be rejected. However, I think I got a bit impatient waiting for him to make a move. I was totally on Yamapi God’s side when he lectured Makoto. Makoto is super lucky that he has fate on his side to remind him to do this or that. If there wasn’t that scoreboard or the kids to ask him to play baseball, I doubt Makoto would have had the courage to ask Haruko out in the end. Plus, the part where he was trying to interrupt Mitsukune asking Makoto to marry him was so pitiful. Makoto was telling her he needed her opinion as to where the water fountain could be installed at this spot at her family’s house!

Even though what he did was cringing, I still liked how he tried his best. I also did like how when Makoto did tell her his number or at least half of it, he did that directly! That was good because he finally was putting in 100% of his efforts.

Conclusion: Appeal Allowed.

Rating: 4. I’ll give you a cookie! (I was getting impatient waiting for Makoto to ask for her number . . . > _ <)

File No: Boku-Unmei-no-Hito-desu-Ep-3 Appearing before the Dramacourt: Boku Unmei no Hito desu Ep 3 ***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

[readbookywooks]

In which Passepartout receives a new proof that fortune favors the brave

The project was a bold one, full of difficulty, perhaps impracticable. Mr. Fogg was going to risk life, or at least liberty, and therefore the success of his tour. But he did not hesitate, and he found in Sir Francis Cromarty an enthusiastic ally.

As for Passepartout, he was ready for anything that might be proposed. His master's idea charmed him; he perceived a heart, a soul, under that icy exterior. He began to love Phileas Fogg.

There remained the guide: what course would he adopt? Would he not take part with the Indians? In default of his assistance, it was necessary to be assured of his neutrality.

Sir Francis frankly put the question to him.

"Officers," replied the guide, "I am a Parsee, and this woman is a Parsee. Command me as you will."

"Excellent!" said Mr. Fogg.

"However," resumed the guide, "it is certain, not only that we shall risk our lives, but horrible tortures, if we are taken."

"That is foreseen," replied Mr. Fogg. "I think we must wait till night before acting."

"I think so," said the guide.

The worthy Indian then gave some account of the victim, who, he said, was a celebrated beauty of the Parsee race, and the daughter of a wealthy Bombay merchant. She had received a thoroughly English education in that city, and, from her manners and intelligence, would be thought an European. Her name was Aouda. Left an orphan, she was married against her will to the old rajah of Bundelcund; and, knowing the fate that awaited her, she escaped, was retaken, and devoted by the rajah's relatives, who had an interest in her death, to the sacrifice from which it seemed she could not escape.

The Parsee's narrative only confirmed Mr. Fogg and his companions in their generous design. It was decided that the guide should direct the elephant towards the pagoda of Pillaji, which he accordingly approached as quickly as possible. They halted, half an hour afterwards, in a copse, some five hundred feet from the pagoda, where they were well concealed; but they could hear the groans and cries of the fakirs distinctly.

They then discussed the means of getting at the victim. The guide was familiar with the pagoda of Pillaji, in which, as he declared, the young woman was imprisoned. Could they enter any of its doors while the whole party of Indians was plunged in a drunken sleep, or was it safer to attempt to make a hole in the walls? This could only be determined at the moment and the place themselves; but it was certain that the abduction must be made that night, and not when, at break of day, the victim was led to her funeral pyre. Then no human intervention could save her.

As soon as night fell, about six o'clock, they decided to make a reconnaissance around the pagoda. The cries of the fakirs were just ceasing; the Indians were in the act of plunging themselves into the drunkenness caused by liquid opium mingled with hemp, and it might be possible to slip between them to the temple itself.

The Parsee, leading the others, noiselessly crept through the wood, and in ten minutes they found themselves on the banks of a small stream, whence, by the light of the rosin torches, they perceived a pyre of wood, on the top of which lay the embalmed body of the rajah, which was to be burned with his wife. The pagoda, whose minarets loomed above the trees in the deepening dusk, stood a hundred steps away.

"Come!" whispered the guide.

He slipped more cautiously than ever through the brush, followed by his companions; the silence around was only broken by the low murmuring of the wind among the branches.

Soon the Parsee stopped on the borders of the glade, which was lit up by the torches. The ground was covered by groups of the Indians, motionless in their drunken sleep; it seemed a battlefield strewn with the dead. Men, women, and children lay together.

In the background, among the trees, the pagoda of Pillaji loomed distinctly. Much to the guide's disappointment, the guards of the rajah, lighted by torches, were watching at the doors and marching to and fro with naked sabres; probably the priests, too, were watching within.

The Parsee, now convinced that it was impossible to force an entrance to the temple, advanced no farther, but led his companions back again. Phileas Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty also saw that nothing could be attempted in that direction. They stopped, and engaged in a whispered colloquy.

"It is only eight now," said the brigadier, "and these guards may also go to sleep."

"It is not impossible," returned the Parsee.

They lay down at the foot of a tree, and waited.

The time seemed long; the guide ever and anon left them to take an observation on the edge of the wood, but the guards watched steadily by the glare of the torches, and a dim light crept through the windows of the pagoda.

They waited till midnight; but no change took place among the guards, and it became apparent that their yielding to sleep could not be counted on. The other plan must be carried out; an opening in the walls of the pagoda must be made. It remained to ascertain whether the priests were watching by the side of their victim as assiduously as were the soldiers at the door.

After a last consultation, the guide announced that he was ready for the attempt, and advanced, followed by the others. They took a roundabout way, so as to get at the pagoda on the rear. They reached the walls about half-past twelve, without having met anyone; here there was no guard, nor were there either windows or doors.

The night was dark. The moon, on the wane, scarcely left the horizon, and was covered with heavy clouds; the height of the trees deepened the darkness.

It was not enough to reach the walls; an opening in them must be accomplished, and to attain this purpose the party only had their pocket-knives. Happily the temple walls were built of brick and wood, which could be penetrated with little difficulty; after one brick had been taken out, the rest would yield easily.

They set noiselessly to work, and the Parsee on one side and Passepartout on the other began to loosen the bricks so as to make an aperture two feet wide. They were getting on rapidly, when suddenly a cry was heard in the interior of the temple, followed almost instantly by other cries replying from the outside. Passepartout and the guide stopped. Had they been heard? Was the alarm being given? Common prudence urged them to retire, and they did so, followed by Phileas Fogg and Sir Francis. They again hid themselves in the wood, and waited till the disturbance, whatever it might be, ceased, holding themselves ready to resume their attempt without delay. But, awkwardly enough, the guards now appeared at the rear of the temple, and there installed themselves, in readiness to prevent a surprise.

It would be difficult to describe the disappointment of the party, thus interrupted in their work. They could not now reach the victim; how, then, could they save her? Sir Francis shook his fists, Passepartout was beside himself, and the guide gnashed his teeth with rage. The tranquil Fogg waited, without betraying any emotion.

"We have nothing to do but to go away," whispered Sir Francis.

"Nothing but to go away," echoed the guide.

"Stop," said Fogg. "I am only due at Allahabad tomorrow before noon."

"But what can you hope to do?" asked Sir Francis. "In a few hours it will be daylight, and--"

"The chance which now seems lost may present itself at the last moment."

Sir Francis would have liked to read Phileas Fogg's eyes. What was this cool Englishman thinking of? Was he planning to make a rush for the young woman at the very moment of the sacrifice, and boldly snatch her from her executioners?

This would be utter folly, and it was hard to admit that Fogg was such a fool. Sir Francis consented, however, to remain to the end of this terrible drama. The guide led them to the rear of the glade, where they were able to observe the sleeping groups.

Meanwhile Passepartout, who had perched himself on the lower branches of a tree, was resolving an idea which had at first struck him like a flash, and which was now firmly lodged in his brain.

He had commenced by saying to himself, "What folly!" and then he repeated, "Why not, after all? It's a chance perhaps the only one; and with such sots!" Thinking thus, he slipped, with the suppleness of a serpent, to the lowest branches, the ends of which bent almost to the ground.

The hours passed, and the lighter shades now announced the approach of day, though it was not yet light. This was the moment. The slumbering multitude became animated, the tambourines sounded, songs and cries arose; the hour of the sacrifice had come. The doors of the pagoda swung open, and a bright light escaped from its interior, in the midst of which Mr. Fogg and Sir Francis espied the victim. She seemed, having shaken off the stupor of intoxication, to be striving to escape from her executioner. Sir Francis's heart throbbed; and, convulsively seizing Mr. Fogg's hand, found in it an open knife. Just at this moment the crowd began to move. The young woman had again fallen into a stupor caused by the fumes of hemp, and passed among the fakirs, who escorted her with their wild, religious cries.

Phileas Fogg and his companions, mingling in the rear ranks of the crowd, followed; and in two minutes they reached the banks of the stream, and stopped fifty paces from the pyre, upon which still lay the rajah's corpse. In the semi-obscurity they saw the victim, quite senseless, stretched out beside her husband's body. Then a torch was brought, and the wood, heavily soaked with oil, instantly took fire.

At this moment Sir Francis and the guide seized Phileas Fogg, who, in an instant of mad generosity, was about to rush upon the pyre. But he had quickly pushed them aside, when the whole scene suddenly changed. A cry of terror arose. The whole multitude prostrated themselves, terror-stricken, on the ground.

The old rajah was not dead, then, since he rose of a sudden, like a spectre, took up his wife in his arms, and descended from the pyre in the midst of the clouds of smoke, which only heightened his ghostly appearance.

Fakirs and soldiers and priests, seized with instant terror, lay there, with their faces on the ground, not daring to lift their eyes and behold such a prodigy.

The inanimate victim was borne along by the vigorous arms which supported her, and which she did not seem in the least to burden. Mr. Fogg and Sir Francis stood erect, the Parsee bowed his head, and Passepartout was, no doubt, scarcely less stupefied.

The resuscitated rajah approached Sir Francis and Mr. Fogg, and, in an abrupt tone, said, "Let us be off!"

It was Passepartout himself, who had slipped upon the pyre in the midst of the smoke and, profiting by the still overhanging darkness, had delivered the young woman from death! It was Passepartout who, playing his part with a happy audacity, had passed through the crowd amid the general terror.

A moment after all four of the party had disappeared in the woods, and the elephant was bearing them away at a rapid pace. But the cries and noise, and a ball which whizzed through Phileas Fogg's hat, apprised them that the trick had been discovered.

The old rajah's body, indeed, now appeared upon the burning pyre; and the priests, recovered from their terror, perceived that an abduction had taken place. They hastened into the forest, followed by the soldiers, who fired a volley after the fugitives; but the latter rapidly increased the distance between them, and ere long found themselves beyond the reach of the bullets and arrows.

[thedramafilesblog-blog]

Appearing before the Dramacourt: Boku Unmei no Hito desu Ep 3

***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

Issues:

Whether Mitsukuni is one of the worst second lead males

Whether Yotsuya Mitsue’s love ideology (hexagon) is correct

Whether Yamapi God is the best roommate ever

Whether the co-workers give the best comedic relief

Whether it was reasonable for Makoto to take such a long time to ask for her number

The Rule(s):

No!

It depends.

Totally! He’s so fun, hilarious, and so jokes.

Definitely!

Kind of. He was lucky that fate was on his side.

Analysis:

Jubiemon J: I really enjoyed this episode as well! I loved how different aspects of fate were played again. This time, this drama mostly used classical music as a way to hint what’s to come. When the rival came, they played a classical song that resembled the Devil. When Makoto and Haruko shared a cute phone call where they both saw the moon, Claude DeBussy’s Claire de Lune played. They played the wedding song when Mitsukuni proposed to Haruko. They picked pieces that most people would be familiar with, so that made the scenes even more hilarious or relatable. Plus, we had a co-worker who talked about how she thinks she met her fated one. There were the coincidental meetings between Makoto and Haruko and the boss’s dinner party that led to Makoto bumping into Mitsukuni (the rival). Finally there was that baseball scene with the kids whose surnames were “Akai” and “Ito” and the scoreboard ended up being Makoto’s phone number.

Makoto for the top part and Akai Ito for the bottom – Scoreboard = half of his phone number

Side note: Akai Ito = Red string of fate. It’s an East Asian belief that the Gods tie a red string to two people to string them together. In Japan, they usually believe that the red string is tied to the pinky finger.

Kids looking like . . . biotch plz, we are helping u!!! We did u a favour and played baseball with u!

I also liked the contrast shown between fate and choice, which is definitely a predominant theme throughout this drama. There’s Mitsukuni who is very aggressive and a total go-getter. Then there’s Makoto who is shown again as someone who is very passive and agreeable. Makoto is the one relying mostly on fate, while Mitsukuni carves his own path. Mitsukuni finds it super easy to ask for Haruko’s number. He also proposed to her in this episode; before in high school, he confessed to her and got rejected. Meanwhile, Makoto struggles to even get her number! During a group setting where we have Mitsukuni, Haruko, Mitsue, and himself, he is very quiet and doesn’t really serve the people. Makoto also does a huge roundabout when trying to ask for Haruko’s number. He doesn’t directly tell her; instead, he tells her that he’ll prove to her that they have fate via the baseball scoreboard. If he can get his full number on the scoreboard, then they’re fated to be together. (This is the final moment when he has the courage to actually try to tell her his number. I’ll get to the details about this later.) Before this scene, Makoto definitely had so many missed opportunities. I do like those because they show that it’s not just fate that’s important. You have to make the choice to act on fate.

Mitsukune telling Makoto he’s gonna propose to Haruko. Makoto: P-P-Propose?!

Makoto finally getting the guts to ask Haruko out ~

Other highlights of this episode would be Yamapi God love advice as well as the minor characters’ comedic relief. The co-workers are hilarious! I laughed a lot when they showed up. Yamapi God’s love advice was great too.

Yamapi God: Crisis! Crisis!

Yamapi God: Crisis! Crisis! Crisis! What are you gonna do? Crisis!

Yamapi God: It’s your own fault. You didn’t even get her number nor did you give her yours. Someone like you has no right to be with her!

Issue 1: Whether Mitsukuni is one of the worst second lead males

Jubiemon J: Yes! I really, really disliked how Mitsukuni was such a jerk and kept trying to make Makoto look terrible in front of the girls. Okay, I get he is the rival, but he totally doesn’t play fair at all. I haven’t met such an annoying second lead male till now. I usually root for the second lead male; I tend to suffer from the second lead male syndrome. However, this time I’m totally for Makoto. Mitsukuni definitely reminded me of those stereotypical sly Wall Street bankers or those stereotypical sleazy car sales people. Ugh! He purposely suggested that Makoto and Mitsue should date because they shared similar tastes in food. There were just two similarities: they preferred not to dip some meat in sauce and they liked dipping French fries in ketchup. Okay, just because they liked to do that doesn’t mean that they should date! Of course Makoto was completely shocked and said no way. Then Mitsue got all annoyed because she believed he was rude for rejecting her like that. (To be honest, I’m like Makoto, so I get his frustration. He’s a very straightforward guy and isn’t super sensitive to how his reactions would affect other people’s feelings.)

I totally blame Mitsukuni for making the whole atmosphere awkward. If he hadn’t made that “joke”, Makoto wouldn’t have been put in a tough spot. If he said yes or hinted that, then he’d be making a go at Mitsue. However, if he outright denied that, she’d get hurt. There was just no good way to save himself. Mitsukuni . . . sly guy. -0-

I also really didn’t like how Mitsukuni was super aggressive. He only had like one or two outings with Haruko and then he wanted to propose to her. Like what? Sure they’ve known each other since high school, but I really think he was forcing her to accepting him far too quickly. Plus I really hated how Mitsukuni thinks way too much/tries way too hard to get Haruko. That scene where he came out in cosplay as a singer and played a song with his guitar was so cringey and cheesy! Yuck!

The F is this?!?!?! Who does that a restaurant?!?!?! How’d he get his wig too? -0-

Makoto: … (Me too. Me too.)

Okay, so Makoto does try to ask her out too and seems to pop here really often, but I find Makoto’s actions to be reasonable. He hasn’t forced marriage on her. He only wanted to ask her out to dinner.

Even worse, Mitsukuni was a total jerk towards Makoto’s co-workers. They asked Makoto if he wanted to join their dinner party. Sure, they were interested in chilling with some hot co-workers that Mitsukuni was with, but Mitsukuni denied them. Okay, he had like 6-7 girls chilling with him and he seemed very happy about it. How is that being dedicated to Haruko? -0-”

Sleaze ball with his gals =___= . . . loyal my ass.

Makoto’s co-workers: If you want us to kill him, we will gladly do so. LOL!

 Issue 2: Whether Yotsuya Mitsue’s love ideology (hexagon) is correct

Jubiemon J: Mitsue and Haruko started off the episode with a presentation she did for her company. They were researching on what women consider the ideal marriage partner. The two presented this hexagon that showed the six points that are the most important for women when finding the ideal guy: (1) personality; (2) appearance; (3) income; (4) outlook on life; (5) humour; and (6) dependability. Mitsue stressed that because Mitsukuni is above average in all six aspects, he would be the ideal guy for Haruko. Of course, these points seem to be quite reasonable for a marriage partner, but I think Mitsue’s love ideology (hexagon) is flawed in a few ways.

Not everyone would weight each point equally, so even though Mitsukuni would average out to be above average in all areas, there could be a few points where he scores very low. Those low points could be what Haruko really values. Moreover, not everyone would have all of those six points down as what makes their ideal marriage partner. Another point of consideration is as Haruko subtly mentioned: sometimes the points could be too sharp and cause pain. Let’s take “appearance”. Scoring high in appearance could result in the guy having more female pursuers or potentially being too narcissistic.

Although this love hexagon might be kind of flawed, I did like how the writer decided to throw in this other POV towards finding the right marriage partner. I think this balances out the heavy emphasis on “fated love” and also hints that love sometimes might not be as “logical” as some people might make it out to be.

Side note: The kanji for marriage is 結婚. This is the same in Mandarin as well. In Mandarin, when you take the second character, 婚, you will notice that it’s made up of two other words which are woman  (女) and dizziness (昏). To get married, your mind must have been “dizzy” (ie you weren’t thinking that clearly). Love blinds you. If you wanted to take it a step further by combining the woman and dizziness together, you could potentially say that the woman needs to have been blinded by love. I prefer thinking that both partners need to have some sort of irrationality to choose marriage. 

Issue 3: Whether Yamapi God is the best roommate ever

Jubiemon J: Yes! Yamapi God is perfect as a roommate. He gives the best love advice and shows up in the funniest ways like appearing in Makoto’s closet. Yamapi God constantly bitched at Makoto for being too passive, yet when Makoto finally had the courage to ask Haruko out, Yamapi God celebrated the win by drinking beer with Makoto.

Yamapi God: Yellow Card! Why’d you creep her office huh? If you had asked her number, you wouldn’t have need to have done that.

Cheers to asking her out! (So cute these two!)

Yamapi God doesn’t baby Makoto and pushes him to go for love. I think Yamapi God is really motivating Makoto to be less passive in life. Makoto is too easygoing and sort of lets things slide by, so Yamapi God often has to lecture him to “Yolo”. I seriously love how “God” here doesn’t just reward you for nothing. You actually have to work for something to get some reward. He made Makoto memorize 100 classical pieces which would allow Makoto to share a similar hobby as Haruko and to know what was to come. (I’ve talked before about how music was a foreshadowing of what would happen.)

Yamapi God: Happiness isn’t gonna come to someone who doesn’t love music. (Word.)

In addition, Yamapi God also didn’t constantly interfere with Makoto’s actions and wasn’t always all forgiving. Yamapi God would remind Makoto of his last chance to ask Haruko out since Mitsukune was going to propose to Haruko the next day. After Makoto still failed to ask her out the Nth time, Yamapi God got disappointed in him and disappeared for a while. Some tough love here . . . but it was necessary to push Makoto to do something!

Yamapi God: It’s your own fault. You didn’t even get her number nor did you give her yours. Someone like you has no right to be with her!

Yamapi God: Stop giving me this ugly face! You were looking for me all this time. Makoto: Do you even know how I feel right now?!?!? He’s gonna propose to her..

Yamapi God: This is your last chance! Go!

Issue 4: Whether the co-workers give the best comedic relief

Jubiemon J: Gosh the duo can be so annoying, yet so hilarious at the same time! They bothered Makoto about his love life. They bitched at Makoto for not letting them crash at some drinking party when Makoto went out with the “Goddess” ie Mitsue. According to the co-workers, if they were able to ride the elevator with Mitsue then they’d get the best luck for the day. Lol!

Not to mention, I laughed pretty hard when the co-workers were so excited to be able to drink with the other company since Mitsue worked there. The next scene then showed them drinking with the 1 older female boss and their faces were hilarious! Honestly without these two, the humour for this drama wouldn’t be complete, so I’m totally looking forward to what more they have to offer!

Issue 5: Whether it was reasonable for Makoto to take such a long time to ask for her number

Jubiemon J: Kind of. I get that Makoto is a shy type of guy and Haruko has a colder type of personality, the sort that’d outright say “No” to someone. Therefore it does make sense that Makoto would be more hesitant to ask her out. No one wants to be rejected. However, I think I got a bit impatient waiting for him to make a move. I was totally on Yamapi God’s side when he lectured Makoto. Makoto is super lucky that he has fate on his side to remind him to do this or that. If there wasn’t that scoreboard or the kids to ask him to play baseball, I doubt Makoto would have had the courage to ask Haruko out in the end. Plus, the part where he was trying to interrupt Mitsukune asking Makoto to marry him was so pitiful. Makoto was telling her he needed her opinion as to where the water fountain could be installed at this spot at her family’s house!

Even though what he did was cringing, I still liked how he tried his best. I also did like how when Makoto did tell her his number or at least half of it, he did that directly! That was good because he finally was putting in 100% of his efforts.

Conclusion: Appeal Allowed.

Rating: 4. I’ll give you a cookie! (I was getting impatient waiting for Makoto to ask for her number . . . > _ <)

File No: Boku-Unmei-no-Hito-desu-Ep-3 Appearing before the Dramacourt: Boku Unmei no Hito desu Ep 3 ***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***