#the sls was there for a few eps for sure

[dramarants]

the whiplash of seeing the scum of earth chaebol rapist from military prosecutor doberman as the warm, smitten, devoted second lead in the forbidden marriage

[single-malt-scotch]

i have watched bdubs and scar and so im gonna talk abt SL again like i did before. obvs spoilers!

i keep my posts pretty meta/only about the game, its mechanics, balance etc so i have no bias on players own actions. but i do want to talk about players and the final moments for a minute here!

obvs i like bdubs a lot and hes been very good at getting to almost the finals in all the series. hope ppl realize that more. if he had more hearts like scar did im sure he could of have gotten further too. etho's ep isnt out but i saw him die in scar's and scar's ep was wild for sure. i mean damn, there was hardly a way etho could have escaped scar when he landed right on top of him, insane. obvs i dont have a view on the others i havent watched but it was interesting to see how they ganged up in this series for the end. scar winning made me happy too, hes a really good player!!

bbut onto the gameplay. i dont wanna repeat myself so im kinda using this as an overall conclusion + specific thoughts about the finale.

its been established clearly that mods assign specific tasks to people at times. and the warden/wither + bogey were not something i enjoyed. this season felt way too "directed" as it went on... and i also think the tasks ability to grant you so much good stuff (a LOT of hearts) is what kept everyone out of being red so easily! which is probably why they did the bogey zombies. which is really just poor balance that no one clearly tested (i recall grian implying before that they dont really test anything but dont quote me on that). maybe a way to have improved that would have been reds were the only ones to gain hearts, and yellow/greens could not. i knew from the start that the heart giving mechanics this season were kind of pointless or overpowered. gifting one heart? really...? that doesnt add up to much of anything in the long run imo unless you manage to get hearts from multiple people. and then on top of that you get hearts back from the secret keeper too. i would have loved if this season was simply "no regen and thats it!" like a sorta UHC deal where you only can heal with specific items (and not 30 hearts prob? bc i understand the tasks were kind of a way to possibly make them die).

on big forced tasks it only made sense with this episode, since everyone is red, so i dont mind that. but again.... they had to force this to happen which is annoying to me. also in terms of balance i really wished they bring back strict rules on enchantments because that also gets frustrating to watch. but perhaps i just like fairness in combat due to watching so much UHC, which also is a death game.

the other issues i had were with reds and red tasks. as pointed out they forced reds in the previous sessions but no one had any time to do red tasks?? and admittedly it was kind of boring bc people couldnt interact about it without failing. but they could not team up properly and i think that is what red life is all about. all the reds coming together because they *need* to face yellows and greens, and hunt people down. but instead the few reds there had to be alone to do their traps, another social issue with this series where tasks often pulled people away from others and left them with videos where they were very alone. there being no space for greens and yellows to exist and get hunted is something i think is great in previous seasons too and it just didnt happen. all that getting forced in that one session just didnt flow well to me.

really even trying to look back at episodes, i cant recall any notable interactions between people i enjoyed minus some brief pauses when they were traveling to do their tasks. there just wasnt a lot of typical socializing! and thats what i didnt like with this series. this plus the balance issues of lives just made this series feel messy, and the length of the episodes due to tasks could be kind of boring if the task was boring or even felt too stressful to force them into places where they could just die (these kinds of dangerous tasks given to greens or yellows felt unfair, as if it was trying to force them to die, and as a viewer i wouldnt want the game make my fave die!).

and as i mentioned in a different post, the lack of fixing some issues in multiple seasons is wild to me. this season faced the same issue as limlife where deaths were not in chat. the episode after, they fixed it (still with some bugs). and then it happened again last session.... and they didnt fix it! this is also annoying bc people dont react to the deaths at all which you kind of wanna see you know? actually im not even sure why they still did it this way. i imagined the clock running out made it more complicated for the system of fying to work. but why this season....? seemed like pretty forward deaths. idk the tech side, but they had 3 solid lives like all the other season, and there were never issues with the death messages happening at all.

but anyways. theres multiple parts of this i mentioned above that just made this gimmick feel so messy and unbalanced, and sometimes not super interesting to watch. it was way too complicated some times. i know theyll likely never do a repeat of the old versions but man idk if i cant find myself liking future seasons if they start stacking so much on top of what is a simple concept. it has started to feel like the three lives havent mattered at all/arent really the focus-- the anxiety of having three times. and the stakes become less and less due to some of these new gimmicks (the ability to gain lives in so many easy ways- limlife and secret life- is why imo) makes death feel less of a problem especially when we know how buddy buddy everyone is now. people need to be limited like before, and be more anxious. 3L, LL, and DL had people quickly establishing their friends bc they knew right from the get go that the series really depended on them being alive and nothing else. the only focus was to stay alive and not die. DL was where ppl kinda chilled a bit on alliances bc they knew each other more but, death was still right around the door with health being tied, it still brought a similar kind of anxiety for players.

i do hope people like grian can recognize these issues behind the scenes bc genuine critique for this series/season is important. like i hope they dont brush off the fact "hall monitors" were an issue-- they can ignore them openly in their videos.... but there is a reason why its a problem that started at all. the concept was way too subjective and hard to judge! so id hate for them to decide "eh, lets not listen to them, im gonna keep doing this and not consider the issue for a new season" right? and hour long episodes? thats crazy, and i dont think it was good for a lot of cc imo, because it made me way less likely to watch or even finish others' episodes. i hope that makes sense... stakes need to be raised, and i think limlife still achieved that to some degree because time was still very sensitive and risky to take. but then SL comes in bringing way too many things that keep them alive far too easily, leaving very little concern as long as they got their task in.

and last thing is from the outside pov i get concerned about this season happening only 6 months after the last one. because that would very very easily cause a burn out/inability to make more gimmicks real quick. i find this particularly odd bc this season too place through multiple holidays...! not sure if they thought this one through very well. considering how much limlife changed things in a way that was a bit more complicated, and then have SL with even more going on.... id just be worried about how much new stuff would even be made after this.

before this season started i was thinking to myself that i would be fine if this was the last one (it was speculation off some posting 3L compilations that was being me think itd be 'over' bc that was the first season). and truly i would be fine if they stopped forever for for a long time. i dont want to start disliking this series if they keep going in this direction... i will ALWAYS enjoy seeing these people play together and it will no doubt keep me watching but, i would hope that i will enjoy what they do for the next seasons and not fall down this path of convoluted, unbalanced and complicated concepts.

[embossross]

2023 in anime

i give ratings out of 10 stars based on a rubric that considers the following:

2 points / ambition of what the anime is trying to achieve 3 points / effectiveness of the anime in achieving its aims 4 points / my personal, subjective enjoyment 1 point / pacing +1/-1 miscellaneous

so with that said… ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (2 anime)

revolutionary girl utena – heavy breathing panting crying what a fucking roller coaster nanami the child you are anty the child you were utena the child you choose to be – just one of the true masterpieces of all anime. took a few episodes to realize that this show understood tone and comedy perfectly and wasn’t just a wonky children’s show and by golly! the nanami in season 3 gutted me unlike anything else

attack on titan: final season (for real this time) – decent conclusion to maybe my favorite anime of all time

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (10 anime)

school rumble – so goddamn funny and i cared about every goddamn character. it’s witchcraft!

trigun – good ole saturday morning cartoons

golden kamuy s3 – how does it keep getting better???!?!

fruits basket – i was a certified hater after s1, but slowly but surely i gave into the melodrama. akito and shigure were EVERYTHING

nana – the most disappointing ending of all time! for one of the greatest anime of all time. manga pls save me!!!

rascal does not dream of bunny girl senpai – i’m embarrassed. i cried.

princess tutu – expressionistic, dedicated to storytelling, tremendously kind-hearted. you have to let it move you

blue lock – i’m officially a sports anime girlie

cyberpunk: edgerunners – this was just so slick!

chainsaw man – nothing needs to be said here

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (8 anime)

yamada-kun to lv999 no koi wo suru – adult romance that hasn’t been stripped of all conflict and maintains momentum nearly to the end

oshi no ko – my expectations were non-existent after ep 1 but then it crept up on me. i can’t even fully put my finger on what works so well? but it does! it knows when to take itself seriously and when to be nonsense.

demon slayer s3 – best season of demon slayer to date, i actually cared

durarara!!x2 shou – this is a confession. my inner edgy teen loves durarara. i appreciate huge casts of characters acting in opposition in atmospheric tokyo.

gintama – i finally finished gintama one of my favorites of all time. the end pulls all the threads together but it does so at the expense of the laughs so loses some points

chihayafuru – amazing background anime. just consistently fun and engaging.

perfect blue – i feel stupid and uncultured to not give this a 10

vinland saga – askeladd is so hot wow

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (7 anime)

buddy daddies – funny and sincere in degrees but a truly annoying little girl character

serial experiments lain – god you’ve gotta appreciate the wild swings creatives were taking in the 90s

durarara!!x2 ten

great teacher onizuka – ugh he’s a creep but also heh he’s funny

trigun stampede – they yassified them!

mob psycho 100 s3 - meandered a bit but the characters are forever favorites

to your eternity – the first 3 arcs are extraordinary. march is one of the great child characters of all time. the end drags.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (8 anime)

zom 100 – crazy good first episode that earns its premise and then a slow descent into mediocrity; cool colors though!

terror in resonance – utterly forgettable

dororo – way too long with way too many hit or miss episode arcs

bungou stray dogs s4 – the cracks are showing but the rampo backstory is dope

lycoris recoil – those cute girls shoulda been lesbians

classroom of the elite – is it edgy? yes. are the quotes frustratingly misused? oh yes. is it fun? ugh yeah actually

romantic killer – pretty cute and the edge of danger at the end really sells it

free – solid watch but it left my brain like sand in a sieve

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 anime)

wolf’s rain – what passes as deep when children are your primary audience

hell’s paradise – boring and i liked the manga so.

durarara!!x2 ketsu – the conclusion falls short

land of the lustrous – bold but was too slow for me

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (3 anime)

tomo-chan is a girl! – sometimes funny but the conceit does not justify 13 episodes and it loses steam fast

mushishi – some of the vignettes were beautiful but felt repetitive

bleach: thousand-year blood war – sleek, hype, plagued by all the old bleach problems

no game no life season 1 - confused that this was such a phenomenon when it came out. it’s fine i guess.

⭐⭐⭐ (5 anime)

kamisama kiss – trite imo

given – god save us from anime about perfect people being perfect with each other – but this time set to music!

tokyo revengers s2 – 🤷

natsume’s book of friends – i don’t need vibes this cozy

sasaki to miyano – and i really don’t need vibes this cozy

⭐⭐ (0 anime)

⭐ (0 anime)

& then ongoing shows that i’m not going to rank until i finish them (but actually all are pretty good so far) – skip to loafer, heavenly delusion, spy x family s2, apothecary diaries, jujutsu kaisen s2, frieren: beyond journey’s end, vinland saga s2

[theinfinitedivides]

the MDL comment section for this drama is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to (bad) takes on Gil Chae and Ryang Eum, and so i thought i should copy something i posted over there in response to several people calling Ryang Eum 'toxic' and a 'liar', as well as add a few extra things:

if we're going to bring up lying, then first off we have to establish that every member of this love triangle have lied to each other at at least one point or another during the series. Gil Chae lied to Soon Yuk about marrying him after he came home from the war if he protected Young Master Yeon Joon and also lied to Jang Hyun about said young master being the one she was thinking of when she called him husband at the end of ep 4, Ryang Eum lied to Jang Hyun about who Gil Chae had looked at when the announcement of war came during the sixtieth anniversary celebration in ep 2, and Jang Hyun lied to Ryang Eum about losing the dagger he had given him as a gift (token of love *cough*) when he had actually given it to Gil Chae to defend herself while they were on the run. it's probably not a good idea to start ranking the lies by the percentage of morality/who got hurt as a result bc that's mostly absent here—a driving concept in MD is that nothing is truly black and white—but that levels the playing field pretty evenly imo.

now the story Ryang Eum told in ep 8 on the journey to Shimyang is not toxic, by any means. it is a well-known folktale in Korea that has been retold both in various folk song recordings and in a 1972 film, and the basic gist of the story is that Gap Dol and Gap Soon loved each other but never quite said it directly/strongly enough (Jang Hyun and Gil Chae dancing around each other anyone?), hence Gap Soon getting married off to another man (Gil Chae's miliary officer suitor) and having his children. there are variations that have Gap Dol coming to ask Gap Soon to run away with him (besties if this keeps going where we think it might we're in danger), but that story was brought up in response to Jang Hyun's query of if it was possible to have one man in your heart for so long and not change, after his conversation with Gil Chae on the ridge; Ryang Eum said that it was, although he did note that 'you cannot do it by effort. nobody, no one can touch that forever until the day you die'. did he use this to partially warn Jang Hyun off of pursuing Gil Chae out of selfish reasons (i said in the tags of a previous post that that line sounded like he was talking more about himself than her)? yes. is he also genuinely concerned about Jang Hyun getting his heart broken by someone who is apparently in love with someone else despite her actions? yes.

we know, by now, that Ryang Eum is in love with Jang Hyun. we also know that Jang Hyun has squarely friendzoned him, though it's still up in the air whether he knows about Ryang Eum's feelings or not. so far, up to ep 8, he hasn't done anything we can really consider as sabotage to the main couple, and from what i've seen of the commentary on ep 9 hasn't done anything in that regard either (except return home early and possibly run into Gil Chae, but we all know the editing on these things when they want to conceal sh*t is shady af). if he really did decide to not to carry Jang Hyun's message in ep 10 specifically so that Gil Chae would go and get married anyway, then we can talk about crossing the line and entering the toxic SL arc and that, by extension, would warrant whatever tf is going on with him in the apparent ep 10 preview. (i have heard the rumors. they're not good) to me, he's not quite there yet. if he was, then we'd have to bring up Gil Chae and her multiple attempts to draw Yeon Joon away from Eun Ae early in the series, and i can hear the misogyny and Gil Chae hater brigade coming back again to join the party from here. if that doesn't happen, then, there's probably another reason why he and Jang Hyun are at odds. not sure if anything can be truly worse than that, but we'll see ig sksksksk

[klaineownsmysoul]

G/Lee practically limped to thr finish line at end of S6.. they had a reduced no. Of eps coz of decreased viewers.. they had nonsensical and absolutely ridiculous SLs.. Dalton burning?! Dedicated eps for a spoilt brat who non one liked, seriously who looked at that character and Said oh he's so inspiring!... Why are there rumours of reboot swirling is beyond me..

I believe the industry term you are looking for with regards to glee's ratings towards the end is "dumpster fire." Oddly enough, that term also covers the storylines and plots those of us who were left had the distinct displeasure of enduring. "Clusterfuck" would also be applicable here. Everyone I knew IRL - including my bff who turned me onto the show in season 1 - had long since abandoned it, which is why I was pretty sure it was just like me and 3 other people watching by the end.

Season 5 was dropped from the usual 22/23 episodes down to 20 and season 6 was limited to 13 eps and held until mid-season: that doesn't really inspire a lot of confidence in the direction of the show, does it? If show quality is any measure, it was pretty clear that RIB was done with glee by that point. They were completely checked out and just wanted to get this over and done with so they could move onto other things. Between them not caring, RM's love affair with his golden girl LM (more on her later), and his immature vendetta against the best thing he accidentally did - Klaine - there was very little to enjoy over those final 13 eps. When you focus so heavily on a main character who is as unlikable, selfish, and just downright horrible as Rachel, shit gets old real fast. I'm also pretty sure they had some kind of competition going in the writers' room to see who could come up with the worst storylines that allowed them to continually push Klaine to the backburner. Every week it was some new bs to focus on that wasn't their core couple: an out of left field sort of "romance" between Rachel and Sam that ended just as fast as it began but made sure to suck up plenty of story and song time while it lasted, that awfully stupid plot with the screechy 11 year old that made no sense at all but was the focus of an entire show, Kurt getting to do exciting things like holding Rachel's purse for her and continuing his lot in her life as second fiddle and ego booster, and let's not forget adding in a whole bunch of new kids no one asked for as the show moved back to a place (Lima) that no one wanted to see again, and of course the piece de resistance: the terrible horrible no good very bad thing with Blaine and DK.

Anyhoo...to your question about why rumors of a reboot are swirling around now? Its fairly simple I think: another stop on the LM Redemption Tour and a trip back in time for RM to his biggest hit. 2 birds, one stone. LM's career and image have taken a massive hit over the last couple of years and so why not go back to the role that made her a household name and work with one of the few people who not only tolerated her awful behavior but seemed to actually reward her for it with whatever she wanted, no matter how much the overall product suffered. RM could use a hit and so why not reboot his biggest and most lucrative one? The problem is that people are a little more hip to things now: consider the massive backlash he got when RM posted that little rumination about a reboot a while back on Insta. It was so bad he ended up deleting the post so you would think he'd have learned from that but apparently not. If he's involved and if the show goes forward with something resembling the idea posted in the blind - focusing on a Rachel-like character - that would be the easiest and quickest no I've ever uttered. No second thoughts necessary. No hemming, no hawing. Just No. No No No.

How would that be any different from the show we watched the first time around? I've had enough of Rachel to last me 3 lifetimes so there's no effing way I'd want to start a new show that I know going in will center around someone as insufferable as her.

No Klaine = no me. Its a simple equation. I don't think C would ever want to work with RIB again so no C = no Kurt so I'm out. You cannot recast them because no one else will have the chemistry that C and D shared as Klaine which is what made them special. We all know there are people out there capable of giving Klaine well written and meaningful stories to tell but those people do not include the ones who created them in the first place. The idea of someone else getting praised and cheered online for giving Klaine the kinds of moments they deserved would be such a massive hit to the oversized ego of RM that I don't see it happening.

I truly don't know who would watch this except for the Rachel and LM stans who think both are perfect angels. This is a bad idea that doesn't need to happen. Its nothing more than a pathetic attempt to relive old glory and the irony of it all is that the person wanting to go back is the one responsible for the original show's own downfall.

[elvispresley1935]

Slowly but surely…<3

Based loosely around anytime after the comeback special to the mid 70’s Elvis.

You are the childhood best friend with one of the members of Elvis’ Memphis Mafia, Jerry.

Jerry invites you on the road with him…

Priscilla doesn’t exist in this!

Hope you enjoy, part 2 on its way soon! <3

Despite this being your first time on the road you were enjoying it, a lot. Granted, this new lifestyle takes a lot of getting used to, the late get ups, late nights, partying and drinking. You feel like you’ve missed out on a lot when it comes to enjoying yourself, you’ve always been too focused on work, but before that was your education. You felt like you owed it to yourself.

You remember the day when your best friend called you one afternoon…

*the phone rang out in the office and you answered. “Hello this is y/n spea…” before you even got chance to finish your sentence, your best friend Jerry was on the other end. “Hey, look y/n, you know how I work for Elvis and all?” “Yes, what’s wrong, everything okay?” You questioned carefully. There was a break in him speaking, you could tell whatever he was about to say was somewhat making him nervous. A small smile started to form on your lips. “Well, I was wondering if you would like to come join us on the road, only thing is, it’s six months long…? What’d you say? I’d love to have you there?” Now you were the nervous one, you would love to, god, you’d jump at the opportunity, to be with your best friend and to meet THE Elvis Presley, in the flesh, but your work, home and parents came flooding to you. “Hello y/n, you still there? What you thinkin?” Jerry said breaking the silence, also breaking you from your spiralling thoughts. “Aw what the hell hey, people always say I need to ‘lighten’ up’. This place will fall apart without me anyways, when do we leave!?”

With that being said, the two of yous sorted all the arrangements out and hung the phone up. The rest of the working day couldn’t come to an end fast enough if it tried, once the clock struck 5pm, you were gone. You had just over an hour to get six months worth of your belongings into a few suitcases, which you initially thought it was impossible to do so, but you managed.

With a knock on the door, you hurriedly unlocked it and let Jerry in wrapping him in a massive hug, squeezing your arms around his neck tight. Your nerves were getting the better of you, but it was all excitement, no doubt in sight, after all, you needed to let your hair down and have some fun, you deserve it. “Ready to go?” Jerry asked with a huge smile pulling at his face. You nodded quickly and picked as many bags up as you can. “Jesus y/n, you’d think you were going away for months with all these bags…” Jerry said sarcastically whilst looking at you with knowing eyes.*

With that thought you were snapped back to the land of the living when Jerry came and stood on the outside balcony with you, nudging you with his elbow against yours. “Hello earth to y/n… anyone home?” “Yes, hey jer, I’m fine, just reminiscing… apparently. Best decision I made!” You both giggled to yourselves overlooking the Las Vegas skyline, it was so pretty, all the twinkling lights, the noises from down below. It was safe to say it was completely different from home.

“Hey y/n we’ve all got to go get ready for another show but how do you fancy meeting us at the after party at EP’s suite, you know actually showing up to a party every once in a while won’t hurt you yeno…” Jerry taunted as he said this. “Sure, I don’t see why not, I’ll see you there then!” And with that being said Jerry was called away to help out kissing you on the cheek on the way past.

Since you were going to the after party you had plenty of time to kill, two shows worth of time, so you went shopping for a new outfit! It was the only right thing to do, right?! After strolling throughout all the shops in Las Vegas’, you finally found this cute little dress shop. It varied from long dresses, short ones, long sleeved or short, off the shoulders, even frilly. You name it, they were all there. You stumbled into the changing rooms with as many different outfits you could carry, trying each one on to make sure they suited you. What felt like hours you finally decided to settle on this tight fitted red off one of the shoulder strapped dress. You felt confident in it. You placed the unwanted dresses over to where you found them and wandered over to the till to make the payment. “Is there anything else I can get you today?” The employee asked cheerily. “No, that’s it tha… actually yeno that little black blazer, I’ll have that too please.”

Back at your hotel room you decide to get ahead of the time and start getting ready for the after party. After your shower you stood in your bathroom, thinking about your outfit, the after party, and of course Elvis Presley. You’ve been to one of his after parties before so you knew what was going to happen, but he has never spoke to you, he’s seen you but that’s as far as it goes.

You shake the silly thoughts out of your head, you’ve been a fan of Elvis’ your whole life, his music, his films, everything. You’ve always had a soft spot for him, like every other girl out there. Except the only difference is that you get to go to the parties that he hosts. Plus, your here with your best friend. Not to have a moment over his boss.

You done your hair and make up just the way you like it, your hair loosely curled and a face of make up, to finish the look, you had a smokey black eye shadow and eyeliner situation to match your blazer and heels. Some blonde strands of your hair fell in front of your face, to be honest, you never go all out like this so looking in the mirror at yourself was strange.

“Y/n, are you ready?” Jerry said casually just letting himself into your hotel room, forgetting that he had helped himself to a copy of your room key. “Good job isn’t it eh Jer! When people like yourselves just come barging right in.” You say laughing at him. He stops dead in his tracks and falls silent, “you look stunning y/n, seriously.” You blush at this but can’t help but say “thank you Jer, you ain’t too bad looking yourself.” “Come on, let’s go, otherwise we’ll be the last ones to join… again.”

When the lift doors open to the top floor, you could instantly hear the music, laughing, talking. Jerry was probably right, we are the last ones to join again. You and Jerry entered the suite together but parted ways soon afterwards, leaving you to mingle and get to know anyone or even everyone. You learnt that there was another person in Elvis’ mafia named Charlie, he seemed lovely but was already way beyond tipsy and had already wanted to start to get to know you. Asking questions like how you know Jerry, how long, where you’re from.

And that was the moment that Elvis decided to get to know you…

While in mid sentence, Charlie stopped and started to rub the back of his head. Someone had threw something at him. While turning round to see who could be the culprit, you and Charlie were met by his oceanic blue eyes and that gorgeous lopped sided smile. “Will you leave the lil darlin’ alone Charlie, you’ve been harassing her for the past hour.” Said Elvis as he slowly strides over to you and Charlie. “She knows Jerry, been friends with him for years… grew up in the same home town and all…” he trailed off “and she’s really pretty” this you blushed at and smiled gently. “I know this Charlie, and any friend of Jerry’s is a friend of mine too. She is downright gorgeous, not just pretty.” Elvis looked at you while saying the second half of his sentence. Looking you up and down, he had that twinkle in his eyes. “Now Charlie, go do us all a favour will ya and go and find someone else to talk to…”

You couldn’t quite get over the power that he had over his people, how they all listened to him, respected him. They all respected each other. This left you standing in place with Elvis, watching Charlie walk away. “Now, let’s go get you another drink shall we?” holding his hand out for you to grab, leading you to the bar. This was surreal for you, you had dreamed this day a hundred times over, to be in the same room as Elvis Presley, but for him to be talking to you, getting you a drink, it was definitely the icing on the cake.

“So, now you have your drink, what is your name honey and how do you know Jerry?” He asked “Well, my name is y/n and I’ve been Jerry’s friend since we were children. We’ve always been real close, no secrets, nothing. But that’s all we are friends. And when he asked me to come on the road with him, and yourself of course, I couldn’t say no. I’m like ur bigg…” you had realised that you have just been ranting your whole life story to Elvis. You were so embarrassed that your cheeks had started to become the same colour as your dress and you couldn’t hold eye contact with him. But when you did, you noticed he was fully into what you were saying, hanging of every last word you said and he was wearing his trademark looped sided grin that was in full effect at this point. “Aw nah, come on now, don’t stop there, we were getting to the good stuff.” He said jokingly. “Well… yes I’ve been a fan of yours for years. Seeing you is unbelievable.” “In a good way, I hope.” He cuts you off “yes of course it’s a good thing!”

There was this silence between the both of you, you were you just stood there taking one another in, the music from the party was still booming but it felt like yous were the only two in the suite. It was at this moment that he was realising that he liked you, like really liked you. He needed to know the whole story about you.

“I’ll tell ya what. Why don’t I get you some tickets to my next show tomorrow and then you can join me up here again and we can get to know each other some more, how about that darlin’?”

You couldn’t quite get over who you was talking to and what he was saying to you but without hesitation you agreed to everything. “That sounds amazing Mr Presley! I’ll see you tomorrow then, I best go and find Jerry and get back to my room, got a full day tomorrow.” You say with a knowing look in your eyes and a cheeky smile. “Please, call me Elvis. I’ll see you tomorrow y/n, good night!”

As you exited the suite with Jerry, little did you know that Elvis had watched you leave, eyeing you up and down from behind. It was at this moment that he knew he was in trouble and was falling deep for you. He’d get you to be his girl eventually. Slowly but surely…

[tantawans]

I actually don't enjoy the few laklorns I have watched I don't like the toxic mls in there but I also don't like the FLs that treat the ML like crap either and only come around in the final episode almost makes me wish they had more eps so FL can chase after him or something this is when we have a sweet male lead though when that happens but fl chooses a jerk of a second lead so hopefully I find some good ones like Flash Marriage you renewed my faith in them lol Well, the thing about love

triangles is they're supposed to get the leads to get together but to me it just causes pointless issues and makes me not want to watch her being with the second lead 95% of the drama I know the FL doesn't always get with the SL but she still hangs out far too much for my liken where ML feels like a side character idk I think american shows got me burnt out on love triangles I want something more refreshing seeing them more of a power couple.

yeah i definitely think that the biggest flaw of lakorns is the level of toxicity! so many lakorns normalise and romanticise abuse but if you look hard enough you can find some real gems! and more recently i think they are stepping away from that. i also think its common for thai dramas in general and media in general so i don't like to say it's just lakorns but i'm also not ignorant to the fact its an issue! yeah i feel like love triangles are a lose-lose situation because you either like the second male lead more and are disappointed when she doesn't end up with him or you hate the second lead but have to sit through scenes you don't care for so most of the time they're pointless and annoying! but a couple of shows i have my eye on and plan to watch when they're airing are phetra naruemit and eclipse of the heart! i cant be sure since i haven't watched them yet but i think they have a lot of potential to be cute and not too toxic!

[myechoecho]

A few of thoughts....

Hye Jin saying that she doesn’t want to be the centre of gossip because someone saw her coming out of Duk Sik’s home one morning and then she had people blatantly gossipingthat they broke up in front of her and the town council (I’m looking at you gossiping lady) is NOT the same as Hye Jin willingly putting herself out there to help Ju Ri, no matter what Duk Sik says.

I’m pretty sure that picture is Duk Sik’s girlfriend/wife and their child, whom I assume are dead.

Cho Hui’s first love is not Yeong Guk, but Hwa Jeong. She barely looked at him at the talent show but was constantly looking at Hwa Jeong. I haven’t decided if Hwa Joeng is actually jealous of Cho Hui of if it’s Yeong Guk she’s jealous of

I can’t believe it took to the end of ep 6 for all 3 of the triangle to show up but I’m oddly looking forward to it since I’m not 100% sold on Hye Jin and Duk Sik. However I’m not looking forward to it since if I do get sold on the SL, I’ll just have SLS (and I generally don’t get this)

[riverstardis]

my spring trailer (even though spring doesn't start for over a month yet) thoughts:

- no rash >:(

- far too much matthew. obviously I hate him but I would be prepared to give the sl a chance if I actually thought osi okerafor had the acting ability for it, but that table flip is just,,, not it.

- also stevie you can do better than matthew cmon now

- the robyn stuff looks like it's all from today's ep so not much to wonder about there

- i'm so glad sah is finally getting some time to shine!!

- i wonder what's going on with teddy

- poor luka but i really wish this wasn't a faith sl

- i'm excited to see ollie again

- iain putting himself in danger to save others? yeah no surprises there

- looking forward to the rest of the dylan and paula sl

- the ceiling caving in?????

- surely they aren't about to kill anyone else off so soon??

- ethan seeing fenisha???? yeah i'm ready to cry. also of course he's not ready to move on yet it's been barely any time?? so i wonder what the context of him saying that is

overall very exciting it looks like it's going to be a good few months!!!

[hikarielizabethbloom]

Charmed ep. 11 review

Ok! I’ve finally had the chance to watch the ep live again and I was lucky enough that the ep was actually really good. 

Macy and Harry ❤️: my shipper heart exploded! Now, I’ve seen a few people saying that Macy’s sl has been all about hacy and I don’t really agree. Shipper status aside ( we’re capable of rationality even if we like a pairing, that’s odd right?), Macy’s sl this season has been actually pretty good. She started the show as a young woman afraid of opening herself to love (every kind of love) but now she’s so full of hope and happiness. I don’t know, I actually enjoy watching this woman fighting for what she wants and loves. We’ve seen her more open to her sisters (even if we still lack Macy and Mel’s scenes) and to the man she loves, we’ve seen her fighting for her job, fighting against society... She’s so vulnerable and so strong and I love her and I want her to have everything she wants! And I’m totally on board with Harry losing his immortality but keeping his whitelighter powers! 

Maggie (and Jordan): Maggie’s been the more consistent character on the show. I’m glad that she’s trying to figure out herself and her desires. Still, all this nemesis thing is kinda childish? I don’t really see the point of Antonio. I’m sure he’s there to show how difficult it is for women to get the same kind of recognition men have easily. I mean, Maggie seems more capable than him anyway, even if the show implied that she only got the internship because he had an incident, which sucks! Anyway, Antonio has no point on the show for now! As far as my man is involved, I don’t really know what to say. He is perfect as usual. I know it’s a slow burn but I’m enjoying every moment! 

Now Mel: I don’t really have anything to say about my fav because her sl was a bit weak. But the thing about Mel is that, imo, she shines either way, because she is just that good of a character. I wish the writers would recognise more her talent! I’m a forever bitter Mel fan! 

Josefina: I don’t know I just love her! I’m glad she’s here to stay and that she finally got her powers (very cool, btw). That scene with her and the tco was beautiful! She’s so cute! 

Abigael: look Poppy is an amazing actress and I’m sad she was stuck with this poor writing. Abigael could’ve been an incredible villain and I will mourn the missed opportunity. This said, THIS IS EXACTLY MACY’S STORYLINE FROM THE FIRST TWO SEASONS. THE SAME! I’M NOT EVEN SURE THEY CHANGED THE DIALOGUES. IT’S BS! 

(btw, Jordan is me)

Overall, I really liked the ep. The only thing that leaves me meh is the allergy. I understand covid restriction, but the moment you let Mads and Rupert kiss, the social distancing is pretty useless. Just get over it. 

Special mention to Mo! You will be missed after the tco will vanquish you! 

[xiyao-feels]

I was about to be like I'm not sure why people think LXC didn't know about JGY doing awful stuff for JGS and then I was like oooooh yeah right, people think LXC didn't know he was killing the people in ep 23. Looking forward to finishing current project so that I can go explain my reasoning for that one, but as a short version check the visual presentation of the people we see JGY killing vs the people we see Zixun killing a couple scenes down.

But putting that aside for now, I'm kind of confused what people think LXC thinks about the whole Xue Yang situation.

Like... he's got to know that XY is actually guilty, which means he knows that JGY is working to free and shift the blame from and protect from all consequence a man who up and killed a clan! And in CQL, worked with the Wen, entirely willingly!, and killed a bunch of NMJ's men, as well. Even if we say he doesn't know about the Tingshan He—and I think you could argue he would know at least some of what happened, but it's not like the text says either way to my knowledge—there's also the Jin clan's campaign of pressure against Chang Ping to withdraw his testimony, which JGY is at least complicit with and quite probably involved in or directing. And then XY goes and kills SL's temple and blinds SL, so it's not like that's harmless!

I always think this bit in ch 30 is pretty telling, for what it doesn't say as much as what it does:

This time, with his experience of wiping out a sect, he made sure to not leave any evidence. Although everybody knew that he was the one who did it, what would be the use of that? There wasn’t any evidence. And, with Jin GuangShan’s deliberate protection and the death of the violent ChiFeng-Zun, nobody could do anything about him.

Wei WuXian found this a bit strange. Although Lan WangJi looked as if he didn’t care about anything, from Wei WuXian’s past experiences with him, he absolutely couldn’t stand wrongdoings, possibly even more than Nie HuaiSang’s brother. Back then, the LanlingJin Sect had some dishonest ways of doing things, and Lan WangJi never bothered to be subtle about them. Even until now, he always refused to go to their sect’s Discussion Conferences. If two cruel massacres happened, the news would’ve probably spread over the entire cultivational world and Lan WangJi definitely wouldn’t have turned a blind eye to them. Why did he not go and give Xue Yang what he deserved?

Just as he was about to ask, he remembered the scars that the discipline whip gave him.

One lash of the discipline whip would already be quite severe. If Lan WangJi made some sort of a grave mistake and received so many lashes, he had probably been grounded for a few years. It was likely that he was either going through his punishment or waiting for his wounds to heal during the years when the incidents happened. No wonder he said had only “heard” about what happened.

WWX finds it strange that LWJ didn't do anything—but LXC was there! JGY ends up hiding behind him at the initial confrontation about XY! And WWX doesn't find that strange, at all. For that matter—LWJ heard about it? Who did he hear about it from? I'm not actually saying it has to be LXC, but it or some of it certainly could be...

I'm not saying LXC knows all the details, but with the exception of killing NMJ I don't think JGY is exactly like—actively concealing them. It's more like—well, what would be the point? JGY still has to do this shit, and they both know that; it would just distress LXC uselessly, and JGY definitely prefers not to distress er-ge.

And then JGY becomes zongzhu, and because he doesn't actually go around wiping out clans for fun and profit when he's making the decisions, all this shit stops. (Unless the profit is like. His life. And maybe the success of the watchtower project if you buy that—but it's nothing like JGS.) And instead you get a giant and wonderful infrastructure project—exactly as LXC would have predicted! He was working with JGY on thr watchtower proposals well before JGS' death, we see it at the stairs incident.

...and then they both live to be two hundred and fifty and retire together and live happily ever after...if only :'(

[lonelier-version-of-you]

Every time I watch old Holby eps, which I’ve been doing a lot recently because my mom wanted to watch the whole Gaskell storyline, I miss the old theme music even more.

I still can’t fucking believe they didn’t even use the original theme for the finale, but then I guess that goes to show how much Holby disregarded its own history by the end. :(

Edit: Anyway, Sacha predicting the entire outcome of the Gaskell SL, basically - “Gaskell is potentially dealing in a fantasy off the back of a miracle.”

Edit 2: Also, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it recently, but I LOVE the way John’s body language is so reminiscent of Henrik’s. Still markedly different, but yet you can really see similarities too. I’m sure it was deliberate on Paul McGann’s part and I love it.

Also also, a line from John about picking candidates for the trial - “Emotion can play no part in the selection process.” That’s very early!Henrik.

Edit 3: Ooh. Ollie mixing up pronouns regarding a patient - “He’s... she’s waiting on an abdominal CT?”. Of course, Henrik goes on to do the same thing 10 episodes later right before his meltdown: “Right, he’s nearly... she’s... forgive me.” (And Ollie laughs at him for the mixup!)

Ollie also saying “here endeth the lesson” - I can’t recall the exact scene but I know Henrik’s said that before.

Just thought those little things were interesting.

Edit 4: I think this episode was one of the last times Fletch was worth watching - the subplot with Raf’s record collection is actually really emotional. Raf was Fletch’s soulmate and I’ll never stop believing that, sorry not sorry.

Edit 5: Not to be sappy but the kid patients on this show always get to me.

Edit 6: I’d forgotten they did actually did give an explanation for why Henrik wasn’t in the first few episodes of this series - he was pretty much isolating himself in his office and avoiding as much social contact as possible. (From John - “Hanssen’s locked himself away. I’m the next best thing, right?”)

Edit 7: Really interesting dialogue from John about removing a patient as a trial candidate because the risk would be too great. “[The patient’s father] will blame himself for making the wrong call. Believe me, it’s better the decision is taken away from him. Give him someone else to blame.”

Edit 8: The thing about alternating between watching early Henrik episodes (as I am in my personal Henrik and Sahira rewatch) and Gaskell episodes (which I’m watching with my mom) is that it REALLY makes you realise how similar Henrik and John actually are. The whole “I am you and you are me” didn’t come from nothing. John’s simply willing to take disregard for morality to a greater level than Henrik is.

Edit 9: Fletch REALLY should have left in early series 20, shouldn’t he? It was just the most natural point to bring Fletch’s time on the show to a close. He shouldn’t have stayed an additional 4 years and still been there when Holby ended.

Edit 10: I’d forgotten Jac and Essie shared all these scenes together.

Edit 11: Roxanna really had basically no personality but at least she was hot. (Seriously, if only she’d had things to do other than be a plot device for men. Hermione Gulliford was perfectly capable of playing an actual character, we saw that when Roxanna showed glimmers of personality.)

Edit 12: If I had a nickel for every time Donna treated a lesbian couple but Donna’s own bisexuality wasn’t mentioned, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that Holby did it twice.

Edit: Guess who said it: “Didn’t I make it clear that emotion has no place in this room?” Gaskell, or early Henrik?

(It was Gaskell but it could SO easily have been early Henrik.)

[chubbyskater]

So I see opinions on the last ep of sls and... I don't get it? I'm even more confused. What was the point? What did we learn? What where the characters' motivations? I don't want to ask what was the soundtrack, cause I'm almost sure there was none. Like, maybe in a few days I'll come up with some conclusions, but rn I'm happy it ended. It wasn't even a guilty pleasure kind of thing, it was uuugh, let's see what else can go wrong experience, and all I smell is lazy story telling and shortcut solutions.

[yuriio]

I finished ep one and started ep two of Skate Leading Stars and I’m already loving this oh my god

I was excited for a new skating anime but also a little... idk. nervous. Because Yuri!!! On Ice did SO much for me when it came out and still inspires me. I didn’t want to have standards so I kept an open mind on SLS and BOY am I glad. 

I’m ALL here for feral bois committing crimes to skate. Hayato is fucking god tier trash boy and I love him. Maeshima is just. A Lot™ and I see myself in him a bit when it comes to skating (scary hhhhhhh)

I don’t quite have opinions on any of the others yet, but I’m sure I’ll love them. Shinozaki is really pretty, I love his design. His personality as of now just WORKS for him. 

I know a lot of people are going to be busy comparing this to YOI but honestly? As a die-hard YOI fan (trust me, nothing can replace it) I really like it! Try not to compare them too much, they have a few things in common but really the plots are pretty different. I like it, and I’m really looking forward to following it and seeing what becomes of it!  TL;DR - New Ice Skating Anime Good And Has Pretty Feral Boys Committing Crimes. Make Brain Go Brrrrrrrrrrrr

[tolrais]

Tgcf Ep 6

!!!!! I loved it!!! Stuff is starting to happen! I think the thing with TGCF is that, once you've read it, the first few chapters seem kind of slow (palanquin scene not withstanding), but Ban Yue (for me) is the first place that TGCF starts to really feel like the rest of the novel, and the Donghua doesn't disappoint. Like...if the first few chapters are escaping from Helgen and the Riverwood quests in Skyrim, then Ban Yue is the first Dragonborn quest, if that makes sense?

I need to rewatch cause my internet was being shitty so I had to keep pausing, and I missed a couple of bits cause the subs go so fast (also are kind of hard to read at anything lower than 720 :/) but I'm so stoked!! The bickering between San Lang and Fu Yao and Nan Feng was great - I said last week that I was looking forward to it, and it did NOT disappoint. 

 I'm loving the fact that Haoliners are really going for the Yearning Looks - just THE CLOTHING ADJUSTMENT in the sandstorm, and Xie Lian offering Hua Cheng his hat and the GAZING. AHHHHHH. 

That said, it's really interesting to see how the little changes affect San Lang's character. Donghua!SL does seem to be more vulnerable and open than novel!SL at this point in time, but I don't know how much of that is because of things getting lost in translation between the original text and English, but I actually really like the adaption choice - even if it is further confirming my Novel = Xie Lian POV Donghua = Hua Cheng POV theory? Joke? Not sure what to call it.

Also Xie Liannnnn ❤ I loved how his robes were animated in the wind, and the contrast between their simplicity and the idiot duos outfits was also beautiful. And like I know everyone is talking about this scene me included 😅  But can we get a moment of appreciation for the expressions??? When he was threatening/fighting the puppet? Oh my GOD Dianxia. I don't how Haoliners somehow got such a good 'I was a martial god and this will go poorly for you' into like, 2 2D expressions but they did it.

Look at this face!!!!

Also!!! First glimpse of Lady Wind Master!!!! She’s so pretty!!!!! 

Also tried to sketch a lil San Lang cause the scene it paused on when buffering was funny, but I think it came out looking more like one of the idiot duo 😅

[gonuclear]

💕💎🎶

i have very little self-restraint so i'm doing three different special interests :)))

💕 i just got finished watching a couple episodes of mha and there was one (1) single frame of my baby mirio and i just......aaaaaaaa! honestly i wasn't sure what his deal was cause when he first showed up i was really behind, but when i started that first ep with him at the end of s3 i knew it was all over for me LMAO. like he is just So Good and is honestly so integral to the story beyond the shie hassaikai arc i wish he got more recognition. he's really one of the few characters left in mha who fully has the best intentions at heart and believes in what a hero should be/do instead of an idealized version of heroism. and plus, he's really cute 😌

💎 for this one i'll share a fun fact about haikyuu—so the ics logo they use for all the equipment/jackets/etc is kinda a pronunciation-based pun on how the brand asics (which is a really common brand used in irl volleyball) is pronounced in japanese. there's another part that relates to why the logo is a foot, but i'm tired and i can't quite remember what it is hldsjafldf

🎶 okay honestly i love all the black clover openings but i have such a MASSIVE beef with the actual score. like i pay way too much attention to anime scoring and some of the leitmotifs in black clover make me want to throw a chair. i will say nothing can be as bad as the db score, though naruto comes excruciatingly close. but! black clover!! god in heaven the ops are so fucking GOOD. not only do they sl a p music wise (hello, grandeur my beloved) but the actual animation that goes with them always has such incredible imagery and musicality it just makes the op 100 times better. and it utilizes one of my favorite things ever, which is ops changing as the narrative crosses certain points. like this and jojo definitely have some of the most well thought out ops i've ever seen