#then found out there's a Japanese dub group that posted something for him instead

[quincyhorst]

Before continuing with the next Red Matador group, I'd like to post this specific headcanon with Querardo. Back before the whole wiki edits happened, I had a little theory of his name's origin (Given "Queraldo" does not actually exist in Spain), buuut the whole thing was proven false by the whole "Gerardo García León" thing. Nonetheless there's still things that have to be answered in-universe, such as... Why Querardo?

So, here's some little backstory regarding the spanish captain and his name. Mind you, includes OCs/fabricated family members.

Our story all starts with León Naval, a famous spanish matador, who participated in bullfights all across the country. But although he was born in Seville, he settled in Navarre after finding the love of his life: Victòria. By marrying her, he was also given partial ownership of her family's bull farm. Something the only girl of the family wasn't allowed to inherit...

During their honeymoon, his wife offered him to visit a place important to her own family; the Queralt Sanctuary, located within Berga, Catalonia. Despite its remote location and few fame, the man was amazed by it and the saint it hosted. The fascination had been so big, that when Victòria became pregnant, León insisted to use the name Queralt for their child. There was a catch though, and this name was only used for girls. So when their child turned out to be a boy instead (Unlike what prior ultrasound scans had proposed)... Both felt cornered.

...Maybe not on León's side. As a plan B, the name "Gerardo" had been resonatining within his mind for a while, given it belonged to his biggest inspiration in the bullfighting world. Orginally they wanted to just go with it, but then the matador went even further: He decided to combine both Queralt and Gerardo, as to form a name that was related to what he and his wife found important.

And yeah, that's how Querardo's name came to be.

To this day, he's quite... Neutral with it. Sure, its cool that's quite unique, but... That's a double edged sword. Everytime he shares it with someone new, most likely it ends with that person being confused by how rare it is. At least they are quick to get used to it.

Though, the worst part of having Querardo as a name are the jokes. And no jokes are the worst like the ones coming from Igor and Pedro.

Igor: ¡Oyeeeeee! ¡Capitán! ("Heeeeey! Captain!")

Queraldo: ¿Qué? ("What?")

Pedro: ¡¡¡¡....RARDO!!!!

(?)

...Besides, going back to his family -and regarding Querardo's childhood dream of becoming a matador-... The moment León realized there seemed to not exist a (spanish) bullfighter with Q as a starting letter, the moment he got way too board with his kid's idea. He just wanted to create history, plain and simple. Little Que didn't mind this at first, but as he grew and his worldview started to shift... Conflicts started to grow within.

-----

Some little notes:

Yes, I encountered the name "Queralt" as I was searching for possible clues of where Queraldo could have come from. I think its similarities with the spanish captain's name is just a coincidence (Specially given with how rare it is), though I do believe its interesting to point out nonetheless.

It's writing in japanese is 「ケラルト」(Keraruto), so that also adds up.

Important note: Queralt is a spanish name in usage, BUT it does not belong in its language. It is a catalan name, whose meaning is "tall stone". And Que is earth affinity, hmmmm....

...Honestly though, I enjoy the concept of Querardo having some sort of catalonian influence on name/family, overall. Quite interesting to mention, but this is one of the few autonomous communities that has banned bullfighting. Unfortunately things aren't perfect (as some other controversial traditions persist) but still, sweet irony...

If I make another encounter or change Que's backstory, I will of course notify it here.

Also yes, in the dub universe León just went "LET'S CALL HIM JUST LIKE MY WIFE!!!! Because I love her!!!" Is this worse or better than having a made-up name? You decide.

[lunammoon]

The Problem With Hetalia (As told by someone who actually in the fandom until like, 2016)

I'm hoping this post will explain to people who are still into Hetalia why a lot of people have an issue with from the perspective of someone who knows a lot about the show. 

TL;DR: By making the WW2 axis powers come across as a lovable idiot, his serious friend, and the stoic voice of reason, it downplays the serious nature of what the Axis did and seeing as the real-life Axis harmed real-life people, many people have a justifiable huge issue with this. 

I will go more into depth about this under the cut.

A lot of people are talking about how Hetalia is coming back after 5 years and a lot of people are rightfully annoyed at the show. But what I'm seeing is that a lot of the people who are upset are people who clearly haven't watched the show and therefore are unable to explain to people who have watched it why it’s bad. The most that you hear is:

"it glorifies the Axis Powers" (which isn't 100% accurate although the assessment that they are portrayed in a way that makes them seem less bad is accurate) 

"Hetalia Cosplayers wore Nazi uniforms in front of a Holocaust memorial" (which I'd say is more of an issue with fans than the show). 

That is not to say that there isn't an issue with the show, because there really is. But these observations are unlikely to mean much to someone who watches Hetalia. So, in this thread, I'm going to explain why Hetalia is Problematic with the added context perspective of someone who was into the show during most of middle school and until Freshman year of high school. 

I knew the human names, used to jam to "Always With You" and "Pub and Go" and “It’ll Settle Itself Somehow” and “Light my Heart” and “Absolute British Gentleman” and “Mein Gott” and “World Rondo” and “Excuse Me, I’m Sorry” and so, so many more. 

I lost my shit with everyone else when the season 6 ep dropped and Italy danced like he was possessed by a demon. When I hear “ACE” family, I don’t think of Youtubers. I actually took a side on the FruUK vs UsUk debate and if you look in my archive, you can probably find some Hetalia posts that I’m too lazy to delete.

The point here being, I’ve actually seen the show so I know what I’m talking about. This isn’t an outsiders perspective is what I’m saying.

So, let’s get right into it. While technically only seasons 1-2 are officially actually called "Axis Powers" (Seasons 3-4 are called "World Series" Season 5 is "Beautiful World" and Season 6 is called "World Twinkle") WW2 and things relating to the Axis Powers are an important part of every season and appear prominently.

While Hetalia has covered many things from all different time periods, the two most common periods covered are the modern-day and of course, the second World War. The show is Japanese and (I assume) because Japan was on the Axis side, these portions focus more on the Axis Powers of Italy, Japan, and Germany. The Allies do come into play. And while the Allies aren't directly like, evil, which would've been FAR WORSE they've got a kind of Team Rocket-esque thing going on? They're not exactly mustache-twirling villains but they're clear antagonists. Make no mistakes.

I think the deserted Island arc is the best example of the problems many people have with the show.

Take for example, that beach fight. If you've watched Hetalia, you'll know the one I'm talking about. The one that they reused like, 50 times. The Allies are clearly shown as the antagonists/aggressors while the Axis are literally just vibing on a (kinda) deserted island and defending themselves. 

Now, if this was three dudes chilling on the beach and they suddenly got attacked by another five dudes also on the beach who they then fought off until the five attackers ran away that’s be one thing.

The issue is that this is supposed to be a representation of WW2. It's basically saying "oh, Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy were literally just vibing, not bothering anyone when suddenly, the Allies attacked for no reason. Luckily, they (the Allies) retreated because the Allies are Cowardly but they keep coming back and bothering them,". Do you see the issue there? Most of the beach arc seems to be the writer forgetting that these are supposed to be Nations, not a random Italian dude, a German dude, and a Japanese dude.

“Oh, but they don’t glorify Nazi Germany. They don’t really even talk about what Germany was doing! Look at this pic of Germany in a lab coat holding a dandelion :)“

That’s not the defense that you think it is and it’s actually a main part of the issue that I, and many other people have with Hetalia.

I think the scene where this issue is the most obvious is the one where they are gathering around a campfire and talking and one of them comes up with the name "the Axis". The whole scene has the same energy characters in a moe anime coming up with a band name.

They’re sitting on a beach at night. I think there might’ve been a campfire, the stars are out, and the three of them talk about their dream of making a world that revolved around them. One of them comes up with the name “the axis” and then they all talk about how you would translate "axis" in their language. It’s all very found family-esque. The way the scene is framed is to encourage you to route for them to reach their goal. It’s the same kind of tone you’d see in a shoujo with a girl telling her friends about how she wants to win the singing competition no matter what or in Sword Art Online when Kirito talks about saving Asuna.

The issue is that their goal isn’t to win some competition or to save someone they care about. It’s to spread facism, imperialism, and bring about genocide.

There of course don’t SAY that that’s their goal, and outside of a one off line in the English dub that’s been since censored, they don’t really bring up what Germany was up to during WW2 vis-a-vie the Holocaust and if they did bring it up, I either wasn’t paying attention, it was in the manga, or it was in one of Germany’s character songs.

The issue is that during WW2 the show seems to at best forget and at worst, gloss over it that the main trio that they're focusing on are the villains. And not like, fantasy villains. Actual real-life villains that hurt real people in the real world. Imagine if instead of Ludwig Beilschmidt and Feliciano Vargas, it was Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. 

Are you seeing the problem yet?

I get why people like to watch the show. Ignoring the WW2 bits, it’s actually pretty good. I, as an American, really like Alfred F. Jones and the way he’s portrayed.

If Hetalia had stuck to non-WW2 related things such as that episode where the nations all talk about how horror movies differ in their nations, or they talked about their Christmas traditions. Or the ones where America and Japan are roommates. Or when they showed that time when America airdropped XL condoms on Russia labeling them as "small" for intimidation reasons. Or that series of episodes where they talked about Micronations. Or that time they all had to come together to fight aliens. Or the bit where they talked about the WW1 Christmas Armistice. Then it would be fine.

The issue is that they didn’t.

If they kept WW2 stuff for SOME reason. They had two options. 

Make the axis as proper villains

 Be explicit in showing that the nations will doesn't reflect what their leader wants. 

The first option wouldn’t be ideal if they wanted to cover any time period other than World War 2. The axis would be too unlikable and I doubt that an anime where Japan is the villain would appeal much to Japanese audiences.

But what about the second option. Have a bit where Ludwig is passing out White Rose pamphlets or smuggling people to safety.

Have Kiku (Japan for people who don’t watch Hetalia) purposefully looking the other way as Sugihara writes visas to get people to safety and covering for him against his boss. SOMETHING!

But instead of doing either of those, they took the bad third option which was, their choice to instead make the axis seem like likable individuals who are a group of three good friends who work together will in contrast with the “bumbling Allies” who are barely cohesive and constantly fight and argue. At best, makes it seem like both sides had a point and at worst, makes it seem like the Axis was a better than the Allies.

All of this is to say that liking Hetalia does not make you inherently a bad person, but you need to be more critical of what you watch and understand that there is a reason that some people have a genuine issue with it and they have a very good reason for that. You can still watch it the show, but do keep this information in the back of your brain as you do

[frozenmiwa]

Review: Rise of the Turtles part 1 (TMNT 2012)

I know, I know I promised to post this during summer but instead I ended up editing my TMNT 2012 fanfiction. I ended up having some technical difficulties with this post. I did watch the episode but somehow all the screen shots I took just vanished. My guess is some form of Windows update happened and poof, all screen shots were gone.

I actually just got the first season on DVD yesterday – I finally ordered it online three or so weeks ago, I’ve been looking for Finnish release of the show ever since 2014 when it started to air in Finland but we got nothing. Not that I minded, the dub was decent but definitely lot worser than the dub 2003 series got from the group called Dubberman. So I’m more than happy to have the UK release of the first season.

Firstly I’d like to address one thing: I was hesitant to watch this show because I don’t like CGI that much anymore since it’s everywhere these days, but I was interested in it after scrolling some Turtlepedia especially after I saw one of my absolute favorite character from the 2003 show, April. When I read about Donnie’s crush on her, I recalled their relationship in the 2003 series – seeing Donatello and April interact was one of my favorite things about the show so naturally I was interested to see how well 2012 series pulled that off. Then I had this boring weekend and I decided to give it a try. I did and absolutely loved the show, I loved the turtles, I loved what they did with Splinter, I even loved this one character I thought I wouldn’t, what I didn’t love however was April – instead Karai became my favorite character.

But we get to that when we get to that. Let’s start this thing!

Like with the previous post I’m not going to do full plot summary here, instead I’m doing this brief summary. If you are interested in full summary please go to sites like Turtlepedia for that!

Now this episode starts similarly to the 2003 series. We are introduced to our main characters as they are in training session. It turns out the turtles are celebrating their fifteenth birthday today and wish to go top side for the first time even though Splinter is hesitant to let them go. Eventually he does and the turtles get to see the what the world looks like outside sewers. It seems to be full of wonder… and dangers. Turtles witness a family of two, father and daughter getting kidnapped by a group of identical men, but are unable to rescue them due to their inability to work as a team. And Mikey finds out those men weren’t exactly human… but no one believes him. The group returns to the lair and they get scolded by Splinter for letting the kidnappers getting away because they couldn’t work as a team – then again, he does admit it’s partially his fault as he never trained them to fight as a team. While Splinter suggest they have another year to wait until their next visit to the top side, Donnie isn’t having it as he wants to save the poor kidnapped girl, he fell in love with at the first sight. After some convincing Splinter agrees to let them go and save her. Before they go however Splinter makes Leonardo their leader – the group does need a leader in order to function correctly after all, but as to why he chose Leo, isn’t clear. So, to the back side we go, after some time they manage to find one of the kidnappers and chase him until his car falls over. When Raph opens up the back door to the car a mysterious cannister filled with green ooze rolls over – looking a lot like the one broken cannister the turtles have in their lair, the one that had something to do with their current forms. And with that the first episode ends.

What I liked about the episode

+ Turtles actually acting like teenagers. I don’t think we have seen that in any other incarnation despite the show being called “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”.

+ What they did with Leo’s personality. I was so used to Leo being this perfect serious leader who’d win any training session against Raph, seeing Leo actually losing against Raph not to mention having this kind of geeky awkward side to his character was refreshing to see.

+ Master Splinter. I liked how he looked nothing like his former counterparts, I loved how they brought up his personality and most of all now he actually felt like a caring father to the turtles instead of being just their teacher. Not to mention how cool his design looks in this show!

+ The plot in general. For a pilot episode it did good job at presenting our four main characters, showing they, each have different personalities without spending too much on that. It had this sense of wonder when we see the turtles discovering the world for the first time. And there was action included as well but not in a way that our heroes just swoop in and save the day, I liked the fact they messed it up on their first try. I also liked how the episode didn’t end with turtles saving the day but rather with a cliff hanger because that would get viewers to want to catch the next episode – unlike 2003 series where it just ended, personally I wouldn’t have waited to see the next episode, unlike with this 2012 show.

+ Interaction and comedy between the turtles was well done, I definitely did have some laughs here and there.

+ The way flashbacks and ending stills are done in this version. What can I say? I just love the comic book style they went with!

What I didn’t like about this episode

- Well in general I liked this episode fine; it really didn’t have much to complain about, characters were solid, their backstory was solid, story was solid and the action was solid. Over all I’d say it’s a good episode. But if I had to pick one thing I did not like; it would be the way April was presented. Unlike the turtles she didn’t seem like a character, just a pretty girl shown to our faces who needed to be saved. I know that’s how it was intended but if I’d have to pick one thing I didn’t like about the episode, this would be it.

And now let’s say few words about the dub my country eventually got...

When this series finally started to air in Finland you better believe I got up every Sunday to watch this show, not because I hadn’t seen it, it was January 2014, I had already seen the episodes couple of times in English but I wanted to check out the dubbed version especially after seeing the voice cast. Just by looking at the voices seemed like this dub would go either way. It could be good or really bad. Like with seasons 3-4 and 6-7 of TMNT 2003 a group called Dubberman. And I wasn’t completely trusting for the fact they would do the show justice. I mean they did skip over the season 5 in 2003 series – and later season 3 in 2012 series so…

The dub was decent, not great, not the worst we could have gotten but decent. There were some errors like they called Raphael “Rafaello” or “Rafa” for short like in the dubbed VHS/DVD release of 1980 series – luckily, they stopped doing that after few episodes because it bothered me a lot. Another thing was how those Japanese phases were pronounced – in this episode by Leo. They didn’t sound right at least when you compare to the original version.

The voice cast was okay. It consisted of some familiar and great voice actors like Jon-Jon Geitel as Leo who has also voiced characters like Jack Frost from the Rise of the guardians or Jake Long from American Dragon: Jake Long – I think this is where I first heard his voice acting. More recently he voiced Aladdin in the live action version from 2019. Another familiar voices we had were Aksu Palmén as Donatello who had voiced characters like Hiccup in How to train your dragon, and Markus Bäckman as Master Splinter – It’s better I won’t go in too much details on his voicing career because he has done a lot of good voice acting in TV and Disney movies. These two were probably the most suited for their roles. Especially Markus Bäckman as Splinter. He sounded just right for the part. Then there was Henri Piispanen who I hadn’t heard much voice acting from before TMNT. I think he was solid pick for Raph – not as good as Sean Astin but they could have gone for worse. Then there were couple unknown actors Miro Loopperi who voiced Mikey and Ella Jaakkola who voiced April.

Miro Looperi did fine job as Mikey but he didn’t really sound like him. This reminds me of 2003 series as Mikey had a voice actor in the Finnish dub that I liked, but one that didn’t sound like him when compared his original voice. This has the same feeling to it. And now Ella Jaakkola, she had this high-pitched kind of bitchy voice I found annoying but at the same time I thought it kind of worked for April’s character because I knew what would become of her character in season 2. I remember thinking: “I can’t wait to hear this voice in Mutation Situation!” – Too bad they changed her voice for season 2.

Now, don’t expect me to do this thing for all the episodes where I talk a little bit about the Finnish dub as I’ve only seen the first season dubbed – I don’t even know when season 2 aired. And I don’t have many notes about the dub. Nor do I remember much of it. I have notes for I think five or so episodes and very good memory for Karai’s debut episode but that’s about it. As I said earlier so far now DVD releases have been made in Finland so I would only have access through streaming services to seasons 4 and 5 – which I haven’t even watched completely yet. I can only hope Netflix or Viaplay would upload the dubbed versions of TMNT to their servers but as we lack DVD releases or reruns of seasons 1 and 2 and season 3 in general that’s very unlikely.

And now some screenshots!

Would you look at that? Leo actually lost to Raph.

Is that supposed to be Splinter? He looks kind of cool - were my first thoughts when he appeared on the screen.

Happy Mutation day! I just love their expressions here.

And it’s flashback time! I really love the way they did and animated the flashbacks in this version.

Splinter holding the broken mutagen canister.

...And Mikey giving it a hug.

They are finally able to go to the top side. Look at how happy they are - I mean even Raph is smiling.

Well I just like this shot of Splinter.

Leo and Space Heroes. I love how proud he looks here.

“Hai, sensei!” - This is probably one of my favorite scenes in this episode. It shows that over protective side of Splinter which is one of the many things I love about the show.

Turtles entering the top side for the first time.

Donnie geeking out at computer stuff while Raph is not interested. Personally being a geek myself, I see lot of myself in Donatello during this moment.

Turtles are about to find out what pizza is.

Oh, look at that it’s a love interest... I mean it’s my least favorite character... I mean it’s April.

And Donnie is in love with her. Just like that.

I know April is supposed to be scared here but I find her expression hilarious. It cracks me every time.

Fighting is not going too well here.

Or here.

Saving April.

I really like this shot of Donnie smiling. He looks kind of adorable. I mean who would scream after seeing that adorable face?

April of course!

I find Donnie’s reaction and posture here priceless, it’s like: “Oh my god, what did I just touch?”

April is being cornered by creepy men.

And Donnie’s offering to help her.

But that doesn’t really work out. Mikey looks adorable though!

I guess The Kraang didn’t fancy April’s screaming either.

And here’s Mikey, facing a suspicious man all by himself.

...That is not a man at all.

Okay what the hell is that thing?

You know what Mikey, I totally agree with you.

Turtles are having a conversation about the leader stuff. And they all can’t believe what they just heard.

Here is Leo facepalming. One of my favorite scenes in the episode.

“I thinking of something green. Green.” “Is it Raphael again?”

Cornering Snake.

Ending still.

Anyway, this was my review for the first episode of TMNT 2012. Next time I think I’m doing review for the second episode of 2003 series, so stay tuned for that. Or something.

[emotionalgirl101]

Question | Chapter 6

Words: 3,111

Genre: college au, angst, fluff

Pairing: SKZ x reader

Summary: Your best friend, Minho, had been refusing to introduce you to his other group of best friends for months now, with no explanation as to why. One night after getting drunk after work together, he gave in to your pleas. Oops.

Warning: Contains mature content (such as coarse language, violent themes, etc).

A/N: Sorry guys! I know it’s been so long, but since it’s uni break, I’m back for a while. I hope you like this chapter. I really like were the story is going and I hope you do, too! Also, shoutout to @omniligence for asking if I planned to continue writing. I honestly might have forgotten that I have the freedom to do it again. (longest chapter yet!)

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7

-------------------------------

Thursday rolled around, and you weren’t exactly sure why, but you were dreading it. After all the antics of the past week, you were finally seeing Minho. It was kind of surprising it took you two this long to hang out. The last time you saw him was the morning after the drinking night with his roommates. Maybe that’s part of the reason you felt uneasy?

You had slept in his jumper again that night, but somehow remembered to wash it between now and then. You left it folded on the coffee table so you wouldn’t forget to give it to him when you got back from lunch. It was quarter past twelve, meaning he was due any second. You guys usually planned timing quite loosely, knowing the other would text you when they were on their way, or if anything came up affecting your plans.

You took the opportunity to fill in the small amount of spare time you had to check your work schedule. You had previously arranged to switch shifts with one of the girls that was going to a wedding on Saturday, and forgot to get the day off. Thus, your assigned Sunday shift had moved to a Saturday again. Specifically the afternoon. You texted Eunwoo this new found information. The two of you had been trying to find time for a girls night, and with the lack of a shift on Sunday, Saturday night sounded perfect.

As the message went out, Minho came in. You had left the door unlocked, but even if you hadn’t, you’d trusted him with your spare key. You’ve needed to use it once or twice since you met. Isn’t it strange how you can be closer to the people you’ve known for the shortest amount of time than those you’ve known your whole life?

He wandered over and fell into the couch with a relative amount of grace, stared forward, then rolled his head towards you. He just looked, and you read his mind. Bringing your legs up onto the couch, you moved to face him. “What’s up, Lee?” Slipped effortless from your mouth as you rested your head in your hand, arm propped up on the back of the couch. You analysed him. You knew his mannerisms better than your own, and this was the ‘something’s bothering me’ expression. Yes, he looked like that most of the time, but the detail that defined the difference was the emotion held in his eyes.

“So, something happened the other day.” He knew better than to trying to avoid telling you what was on his mind, and it seemed in this case he wasn’t planning to, anyway. After seeing half his apartment occupants over the past few days, your mind went to the other 8 boys he had for company. Was it about the prank they played on Felix? Was it something to do with running into them so much recently? Did something happen at the house? You couldn’t help the flood of questions that began to swim around in your mind. This happened often. You liked to joke that overthinking is your ‘hobby’.

“At the bar.” He deadpanned. His eyes stared into thin air. Your curiosity peaked. He continued. “My manager is acting completely different. He’s forgetting his shifts, ignoring the casual roster and being an absolute dick over all.” He shifted again, eyes meeting yours. You expected them to be filled with annoyance at his boss’ antics, but they held none. Instead, they were overflowing with concern. The room felt tense. He meant it. Something was off. He drew a sharp breath, then relaxed. He continued.

“It’s just not like him, you know? At first I thought it might be some guys threatening the bar. There are the usual shady guys that come in occasionally, but none of them have been giving off a bad vibe, and I haven’t seen anyone dodgy coming around the place. I just can’t figure out what’s wrong. It’s so unlike him. Like, do I say something or…” he trailed off. He didn’t expect you to answer. He just wanted you to listen. He needed to get it off his chest. Neither of you said anything for a while. Until you broke the silence.

“On a lighter note, I’m starving. Please can we go get food?” You stood up and began to grab your things. With a humorous scoff, Minho nodded, rising from his seat and picking up his jumper that he had noticed you left on the coffee table. “Where are we going?” He looked to you for instruction as he opened the door. You walked through the frame and waited for him to pull the door shut. He checked that the door did, in fact, lock when he shut it behind him, then lead the way to the elevator. Once he had called for it, you looked at each other and, as if on cue, spoke in unison, “Hirai”.

-

Hirai was your go-to Japanese restaurant. It was reasonably priced, some level of authentic and the half way point between your apartment and the boys’ place. You had stumbled upon it when you first moved in.

Minho went to order for the both of you. It was normal for one of you to pay for lunch and the other to pay for whatever dessert, snack or drinks you ordered later in the day. You took the opportunity to flick through your notifications. There didn’t appear to be anything noteworthy, so you were about to lock your screen when Facebook alerted you to a post on your university’s page. You weren’t one to go on Facebook. It was more of a way to find out about promotions from food places and occasionally tag friends in memes. You clicked the notification, and your mouth dropped as Minho took his seat across the table.

“It’s happened. Again!” You seethed, turning the screen to let Minho scan over what you’d just read. “Are they serious? They’ve been saying they’d close the place for months and now their backing out? Don’t they know the reputation the frat has?” He was just as annoyed as you.

One of the few boarding houses your university had a bad reputation, with dozens upon dozens of scandals from academic violations to vile crimes. The student’s had dubbed it ‘the frat’ as it was the closest thing the university had to a frat house. You’d only ever gone to one party there, and what you encountered put you off for the rest of your uni career. It was supposed to be shut down at the beginning of last semester, but with the majority of the guys living in the frat being well-off, their parents probably gave the university a nice payout to keep it’s doors open. It disgusted both of you. “I wish I had that much money.” Minho appeared to have also been running the situation through his head. “I’d be free of uni debt and-”  

“Become a crazy cat lady?” You giggled as he signed in annoyance, prodding his ramen with his chopsticks. “Shut up.” he mumbled under his breath, and you erupted into giggles again. He tried to stifle a laugh, but was cut off by a voice that was familiar to the both of you.

“Hyung? Noona?” You turn to be met with a beaming smile from Han Jisung, Changbin following closely behind him. You were pretty surprised, but it made sense to see the two boys there. It was close by and Minho probably would of told them about your little spot. It was just that you’d never seen them there before. The coincidence was uncanny. Your best friend’s roommates truely were everywhere lately.

You thought you heard an irritated sigh slip through your best friend’s lips, but convinced yourself you were hearing things. “Jisung, Changbin,” you smiled up at the boys, “What’re you doing here?” Minho said in unison with you, though his tone held a lot of annoyance in comparison. He mentioned on the walk that he had left to the boys having their own mukbang party, and that he wanted to spare you from Felix’s ASMR.

“The boys overcooked half the food, so we’re picking up Japanese instead.” Changbin replied, his voice relaxed and a small smile playing on his lips. Minho gave a small grunt, stuffing his face full of ramen to avoid the confused stare you sent his way. What’s up with him?

Before you could reply, Changbin spoke up again, “Will you be coming over again soon, Y/n-ah?”. You kinda just stared at Minho. He stared at his ramen. You rolled your eyes. “Hopefully! It was fun getting to know you guys. Plus, then I can be involved with the next prank on-”

“You know about that?!” Minho’s voice had raised considerably, earning a ton of strange looks from everyone around, including yourself and the the two boys standing beside you. He gathered his composure. “How?” He asked, feigning nonchalance.

“I was out with Eunwoo the other day. We found a cafe and it just happened to be the one Hyunjin and Jeongin work at.” The boy’s face was still plastered with shock and confusion, eyes big and round, looking at you. “Jeongin has a job?” He looked stunned that you knew something he didn’t. About his roommate no less.

There were eyerolls all ‘round. “You really don’t pay much attention do you, hyung?” Changbin smirked. You smiled at him, eyes briefly connecting with Jisung before looking back to Minho. He was beyond annoyed. “Can’t I just eat in peace?” He huffed, playing with his ramen.

“Yeah, that’s our cue to go. Hope to see you soon, though.” Jisung smiled and placed a warm hand on your shoulder, moving towards the restaurant counter. Changbin gave a nod, leaving you alone with Minho once again.

You just sat there for a second, staring at him. He looked up hesitantly after feeling your eyes boring into the top of his skull. “What?” He shoved more food in his mouth, opting to focus on the table rather than meet your eyes. You just shook your head, half smiling at the idiot sitting across from you. You brushed off his weird behaviour and went back to enjoying lunch with your best friend.

-

The both of you were walking around the neighbourhood aimlessly. Neither of you had anywhere to go after lunch, and it seems like Minho didn’t particularly fancy going home. Honestly, neither did you. So you did what you always did when you both felt like this. You wandered.

You’d made some great discoveries on trips like this, the little adventures you and Minho went on frequently after you met. That’s how you figured out he lived so close by. You were quite strategic when it came to moving into your first solo apartment. At least that’s what you’d like to think. Majority of it was dumb luck. You had moved into a relatively lively suburb. Busy enough to have some level of a community vibe, with restaurants and cafes and shops dotting every street. However, not so much that it was loud or filled with obnoxious people driving through or yelling at 2am on a Saturday night. You just happened to receive a job offer from one of those shops, and wandered past the bar a few blocks down one afternoon with Minho.

“I work there.” The boy lazily pointed. You nodded at first, not particularly interested in filling the void in the conversation. Then you realised just how close it was. “Wait. I live near here. My work place is a few blocks back, and I live that way.” You gestured in the general direction of where you vaguely thought the apartment building was. “Huh,��� a smirk took place on his lips, “you’re only a few minutes away. My place is further up this way.” He nodded in the direction you were headed. That’s probably a contributing factor to how you guys grew to be so close. It was just easy.

“This is new.” Minho exclaimed, snapping you out of the memories you were reminiscing upon. Your head jerked to see what he was looking at. What was once an old antique shop that had been closed for months was now a bright, pastel-themed bubble tea shop. You exchanged a look, both shrugged and walked in, because why not? Minho grabbed a menu for you both to look through. The amount of flavours was overwhelming, but neatly categorised for your convenience. Something you were grateful for.

Minho decided quite quickly. He tapped your arm, gesturing for your card. You were so wrapped up in your own thoughts you forgot it was your shout. He took a step into line as you tried to figure out how all the toppings, ice and sugar levels worked at this place. You finally settled on a flavour you guessed you’d like and were willing to try. Minho had ordered. He handed over your card, giving you a sly smile as he spun around towards a seat in the waiting area. What is he on? You rolled your eyes, approaching the counter.

You had to stifle a blush. The guy standing opposite you was attractive, but he seemed unaware to it. His smile was almost blinding. It was hard to concentrate on anything else. Was this why Minho looked at you like that? Did he know you were gonna have a crisis because the guy behind the counter was inhumanely attractive? Your thoughts were cut short.

“Hi,” he beamed down at you, “what can I get you?” You smiled back, somehow feeling more at ease with his focus on you. You surprisingly managed to get through your order without making a total fool of yourself. He looked at you the whole time, listening intently and nodding every so often. Only after you’d finished did he start inputting your order. You stood patiently.

“You haven’t been here before have you?” He said with a knowing tone of voice. He looked up at you briefly, still filling in your order. You hadn’t expected him to start a conversation. “U-uh, no. My friend and I just found it while we were wandering around.” You were hoping you managed to smooth out your words enough for him to miss the tremor in your words. He looked up from the screen at you again, and the smile he gave seemed a little less pure. “Well, I’m glad you did.” He smirked slightly.

He told you the price, gesturing to the EFTPOS machine between you, asking your name as you tapped your card. “Y/n” you smiled back once you knew the transaction went through. The embarrassment of your card randomly declining was the last thing you needed. He just nodded to himself, taking note. He handed you the order number. “It shouldn’t be too long,” and just like that, he set to work on your order. Your head was spinning from how charming this guy was, but it wasn’t in a like ‘I’m a player’ type way, more of a ‘I’m just a genuinely friendly guy’ way. You shook the thought out of your head. No point to get your hopes up. You’d probably never see him again.

Minho was smirking at you. “Shut up!” You mumbled under your breath and hit his folded arms. You knew he was teasing you. It was probably obvious how flustered you were. To him at least. You were about to ask him why he gave you that look before, but were cut off by the same voice that served you moments ago.

“Number 2, number 3” His eyes met yours with a small smile. Minho stood up to get your orders, taking both numbers with him. You waited by the door, expecting Minho to be on your heels by then. You were taken aback when he was still at the counter. They’re talking? Since when was Minho so friendly with random people he just met? By this point, you were beyond confused.

“The hell is going on with you today?” You pushed once you were further down the block. Minho just sipped on his tea, feigning innocence, “What do you mean?” You gawked at him, channeling all your exasperation through your eyes. It was to no avail. He acted sheepish, ignoring you, eyes looking ahead. “Do you like it?” Referring to your drink.  

You took a sip, nodding back at him. “It’s actually really good. Want to try?” You went to offer but he waved his hand. “I’m good. I like mine.” You shook your head, giggling at his antics.

“Can I try?” You went to grab the cup, but he manoeuvred it out of your reach. He was protecting it like it was his firs- born child. “No~,” he whined, “it’s mine~” Boy, was he melodramatic. After seeing you pout, he rolled his eyes and gave in. Handing it over, you took a sip. “That’s nice. I like mine better, though.” He laughed. “Of course you do. I’ll try it if we go back.” You nodded in agreement. He practically snatched the cup out of your hands. You could almost hear him saying ‘that’s enough!’ Inside his head. A giggle broke through your lips, rolling your eyes in sync.

He stopped walking, placing his tea on the window ledge of the building you were passing by. He had been holding the jumper this whole time. It surprised you that he managed this long without getting aggravated at the inconvenience. He tied it around his waist, stopped, then retied it so one sleeve came over his right shoulder, and the other one from underneath his left arm. He paused again, reevaluating the whole situation. You burst out laughing. “Shut up.” He whined, tying it around his waist again. “You should’ve left it.” A statement equivalent to ‘I told you so’. He began walking again, giving you a light shove as he spoke, “Just drink your tea.” You didn’t miss the knowing curve of his lips. You were satisfied with your victory.

With a meaningless sigh, you filled the small silence by examining your tea. Looking down at the label, you made a mental note for when you go there again to order the same thing. That’s when you noticed it, and a smile crept onto your face. There was something different on your label, scribbled in black ink.

The name ‘Jaemin’, followed by a 10 digit number.

“What are you smiling about?” Minho cocked an eyebrow your way.

“Nothing.” You sung, smiling down at the pavement as you made your way home.

>>

——————————-

Side note: Teehee Dreamies are featuring in here too~

[studioweus]

NOTES: This article was originally posted on the 28th of January, 2017. This was when MAS 0094 (now ONEWE!) were properly starting off their careers in the music industry. The article (which is linked as the source) outlines interesting information about their predebut ventures so I decided to translate it if you wanted to know more about their prior activities in 2015! If you wanted to repost somewhere, you’re free to do so - but please take out with credit! There may be minor translation inaccuracies but the idea should remain the same throughout. 

Kanghyun (Guitar), Dongmyeong (Vocals/Keyboard), Harin (Drums), Yonghoon (Vocals/Guitar), and CyA (Rap/Bass) are members of the band MAS 0094. The group, who released their first single in August 2015, focused on starting out through consistent busking performances instead of broadcasting activities.

2017 was their year to leap forward from that. Releasing their second mini album 'Make Some Noise' earlier this month, MAS 0094 has advanced to performing in various music stages, all the while showing off their intense skills to the fullest.

Composing a song for the victims of sexual slavery and performing for children with developmental disabilities, I sat down with MAS 0094, who is dubbed as a "concept band," to talk about their New Years resolutions and wishes.

-- Your team name is unique

DONGMYEONG: 'MAS' means MAKE A SOUND. The '0094' part refers to the the members that were born from 1994 to 2000 in that order. It's also always been a dream of ours to passionately perform various songs. Since it's hard for the fans to pronounce, we just ask them to call us 'MAS.'

-- There must have been a lot of episodes  [of pronunciation mishaps]

KANGHYUN: The numbers change when we go to events sometimes. There were foreign fans who were like 'Ah so they're called MASU 0094.' Others mistake the 00 (zero zero) as the letters OO in English.

DONGMYEONG: We met senior SHINee Jonghyun on a radio program and he said '[MAS 0094] looks like a jet plane name.' (laughs). Despite the occasional pronunciation mess ups, I'm pleased with the name since it's quite easy to remember.

-- I'm curious to know how you formed this team

KANGHYUN: We originally had three members. The three of us (Kanghyun, Harin, CyA) all went to the same academy and we matched quite well. But we didn't have a vocalist then - all we did was perform with instruments. As my interest in how the music of the band will transpire grew, we met CyA's close friend Dongmyeong.

HARIN: We met Yonghoon at a K-Pop contest at Suwon-si in 2015 where we went as part of a session. He showed off his amazing singing abilities and was awarded a grand prize. We immediately offered him a spot in our band after.  

YONGHOON: I was in college at the time. The grand prize was one million won [roughly $850 USD] and I competed to earn the money. I never thought I would come across these guys. They were brave enough to offer me a position in their band, and at first, they were even playing hard to get (laughs). I found out that they were exceptionally talented so I decided to join them.

--In 2015, you released your first song called "Butterfly, Find the Flower." I heard this song was composed for the women who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese militaries?

DONGMYEONG: That's right. CyA had that idea when he first learned about it in a WebToon. When we heard the story, the members thought about how we could offer our help to the victims.  

KANGHYUN: We wanted to give the grandmothers happiness. So we gathered profits made from our busking activities and also found the time to volunteer at The House of Sharing*

[The House of Sharing is a nursing home for the “comfort women” (I do not recommend describing them as such since they’re ultimately victims, and this term seems to carry derogatory meaning with it, thus the quotation marks) who suffered through sexual slavery]

DONGMYEONG: We spent a year busking and then visited the grandmothers at The House of Sharing, and it was the first time we felt that we accomplished our goals. This is something that I won't forget for the rest of my life.

-- I heard you also did other kinds of volunteer work.

KANGHYUN: We also set up a performance for children with developmental disabilities not too long ago. We even met with the MC in person and let him know about the instruments. We get to learn more that way instead of just performing. We promise to work even harder as well.

HARIN: It makes me feel happy whenever I do good work. When you see how much fun these kids have, a smile just naturally appears on your face.

YONGHOON: We also performed for their parents once. Then for some reason, I couldn't control my tears and I started crying. I thought that this was the reason why we perform and do music.

-- Let's talk about the new mini album you released earlier this month - 'Make Some Noise'

CYA: The album has this sort of feeling where we're just messing around together and not thinking about anything else. The title track "Make Some Noise" was created to mimic the kinds of stages you see in rock festivals. That's what we had in mind when the song was made.

DONGMYEONG: As we were preparing for the performance, I wondered "do we have any songs that are exciting?" and we improvised, we felt good about it, and we even recorded it. The company's response was also favourable so it became the title track.

YONGHOON: We've also tried different genres like ballad, jazz, and hip hop. This time around, when we combined EDM with band-style music, we soon realized that it created good synergy. We're thinking of going a bit further with that style in the future. But we won't be sticking with just one genre. Since MAS 0094 is a team that composes its own music, we'll be trying out various things as well.

-- What are MAS 0094's pros?

YONGHOON: I'm confident that we have the most on-stage experience among the rookie groups. We typically busk at Hongdae, Suwon, Hangang Park every weekend. We learned a lot from the senior groups that we've met (No Brain, DAY6, BOL4) on stage.

HARIN: We’ve also tried putting ourselves in the audience's perspective, instead of just thinking about going up on stage. As we see everyone take their seats, we want to make sure that everyone feels comfortable and can see clearly, and that their view of the stage isn't being obstructed.  

-- What is the most memorable stage for you?

YONGHOON: I'm afraid it's difficult for bands when it rains. One time, I suddenly got scared when the power [electricity] coming from the microphone shot up.

CyA: The performance in China was also memorable. I felt a new kind of energy and realized the status of KPOP. That recognition was more than when you copy [do a cover] of popular Chinese songs. When we sang Block B and Big Bang seniors' songs, you could hear the audience doing the fanchants.

--This was the first time you've ever done an 'actual' stage [compared to busking activities in the past]

YONGHOON: We have more music show schedules this time around. We're seriously standing in front of the general public. We want to show a stage with a different style and a good performance.

KANGHYUN: We'll be showing you the 'Mannequin Challenge,' which has been popularized nowadays. We've also been preparing for '007' 'Rewind' versions.

--I'm curious to know about your goals.

CyA: For MAS 0094's presence and songs to be known everywhere. I also want to see us go up in the charts. I also want to go to 'Infinite Challenge' as well. Seeing Rose Motel, Chang Ki Ha, and Hyukoh in person would be really cool, too.

-- What kind of team do you want to become?

HARIN: Boohwal seniors are my role models. They've had a lot of hit songs and have been doing activities [together as a band] for a long time. I want us to become great band stars like them as well.

-- What are your wishes for the New Year?

YONGHOON: I wish we could receive a "Band Award" at the end of the year ceremony.

DONGMYEONG: I hope all the members stay healthy. And also, I wish people are filled with happiness whenever they listen to our songs.

HARIN: #1 on Gaon Chart! I want to accomplish that someday, if that doesn't happen this year.

KANGHYUN: I hope we can release a full-length album. With that album release, I also want us to hold a large-scale concert.  

[yasbxxgie]

Satire and Subversion in Ishmael Reed’s “Conjugating Hindi”

Back in the 1800s, South Asian men arrived in the United States as peddlers or seamen. According to historian Vivek Bald in Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America, they were single, and instead of creating enclaves of their own, they assimilated and married into Black and Puerto Rican communities in areas like Harlem and New Orleans. The fluidity between Black American and South Asian American communities didn’t disappear, but continued into the Jim Crow era, when some Black Americans put on turbans and pretended to be Indian to avoid harassment. Some used exotica to sell the illusion, and at that time of pre-yoga, when people knew even less about South Asians than they know now, the ruse worked. People could not tell the difference between Black people and the people identified as “Hindoos.”

Due to the United States’s immigration laws and policies, over the last several decades, professional Indians have become much more visible to the mainstream than working-class South Asian immigrants had previously been. Their collective economic success in the United States has been used to produce the harmful model minority myth, a myth that aggressively omits the numerous structural factors that have conferred advantages on members of this group: caste, class privilege, Brahmin and other upper-caste networks in America, India’s affirmative action laws, socialism built into India’s constitution, and learning English due to India’s prior status as a British colony. Although many Indian Americans subscribe to the model minority myth, Indian Americans as a bloc have been reliable Democratic voters for decades, and there are notable Democratic politicians with South Asian ancestry such as Kamala Harris and Pramila Jayapal. But more recently, several Indian Americans have risen to prominence under an anti-Black, anti-immigrant, far-right agenda (much to the mortification and embarrassment of their progressive counterparts who have set up a Desi Wall of Shame): Dinesh D’Souza, Nikki Haley, Ajit Pai, Raj Shah, Seema Verma, Dimple Shah, and Shalli Kumar.

The history of affinities and tensions between Black and Indian communities in America, as well as how White conservatives and liberals have exploited Indian immigrants over the last few decades to justify and produce further discrimination against Black communities, sets the foundation for Ishmael Reed’s ingenious, razor-sharp, seriocomic novel Conjugating Hindi, published by Dalkey Archive Press. Like other Reed novels, Conjugating Hindi is not only a novel, but is also a graphic novel, heavily illustrated with provocative hand-drawn cartoons. In the novel, you can see the aforementioned history upended and satirized for the Trump era.

***

“California is still the world’s biggest hideout,” the novel begins. Peter Bowman, or “Boa,” is a Black professional who is fleeing something from his past. He moves to North Oakland, where he teaches at a community college and explores the gentrified city. After taking an early retirement, Boa becomes a public intellectual and is invited to debate with a right-wing Hindu “intellectual” egomaniac Shashi Paramara on the subject of “Was Slavery All That Bad?” The Columbia Speakers Bureau tells him: “There’s an opportunity for you to make some more money. You’ll be able to break out of the Black History Month ghetto.” Boa mentally notes that the event, like Oakland, was being “gentrified” by non-Black people. Facing a tax audit, Boa needs the money offered for the debates, and reluctantly participates. Shashi argues that slavery wasn’t that bad, and is received with open arms and adulation by self-serving White right-wingers. Boa argues the opposite, standing in as a kind of straw man, and is ignored by Shashi, as well as the rest of the audience.

Shashi has a radical sister, Kala, a professor of Post-Colonialist Studies, with ink-black skin and who doesn’t fit in with her Brahmin family. She believes English is an imperialist language and demands that only Hindi be spoken in India. Boa is immediately intrigued, but his young Black chauffeur warns him off: “Indians can be as racist toward Black people as Whites. Some have called them the most racist people in the world. Not only do they hate Blacks but they have problems with the darker members of their own families. You got mobs beating African students…”

Boa worries, “A new bunch of racists coming into the country adding to the ones who are already here?” The chauffeur tells him that to Shashi and his Brahmin entourage, “[Y]ou’re a Dalit. An Untouchable.” Boa assumes this is ridiculous, citing Gandhi, but this gets him thinking, and he goes down the rabbit hole of learning Hindi (hence, the title) and exploring literature about South Asia.

Political tensions escalate. Eventually during one debate, the moderator announces that India just shot down an American passenger plane. The conservatives who had been nodding along with Shashi call him an Indian N-word and try to beat him up. He’s rescued by security. Meanwhile, Boa is rescued by Kala, who pulls up on a Harley and drives him home before heading off to her host’s home in the Berkeley Hills (her host is a Black woman whose best-selling memoir is entitled My Triple Oppression). Before she leaves, Boa asks how the mob missed her, and she responds that White Americans are always mixing her up with a Black person, that being Black doesn’t work in India, but in the United States it comes in handy for her. Boa is baffled.

The plane incident triggers all-too-believable xenophobic and racist mayhem. Indians wearing traditional clothing are dragged off BART. Indians bus from Silicon Valley to the San Jose airport and face racist insults. Mobs start hunting Indians. A Fugitive Indian Law is debated in Congress. Shashi comes to Boa, asking to hide out in his place, dressed like a “hip-hopper” in order to avoid being harassed. Boa agrees to let him stay, a shrewd callback to how South Asian peddlers sought and received refuge with Black and Puerto Rican communities in the 19th century.

The novel goes heavy into informal debate at this juncture, with Boa eventually confronting Shashi on his anti-Blackness (which Boa comes to recognize also as a kind of self-loathing and determined refusal to face facts regarding the British Empire). In his satirical rendition of the informal debates between Shashi and Boa, Reed nails the Dinesh D’Souzian failure to comprehend basic historical facts about both America and India. He sketches Shashi as both a naïve innocent and opportunist. The novel turns at points into a graphic sex comedy, with sex itself as another kind of border crossing — for really, how else could Boa communicate deeply with someone as obtuse as Shashi? The debates and sex comedy give rise to action, and then to tragic climax. The denouement genuinely satisfies.

In a reprisal of Reed’s Blues City: A Walk in Oakland, former mayor Jerry Brown is given a tongue-lashing in Conjugating Hindi for the “ethnic cleansing” and gentrification of Oakland that he believes has transformed it into a “hipster playground.” This serves as a symbol for the gentrification of Black History Month as well. The novel is more descriptive than Mumbo Jumbo, not only of Oakland scenes, but also of Boa’s internal landscape, which is shaped by academic texts and movies. Blended into factual material are fictions — the president at the time of the novel is “Kleiner Fuhrer,” for instance. In the kind of self-referential and darkly hilarious note also found in brilliant novelist Percival Everett’s work, Ishmael Reed himself makes appearances as a character throughout the novel. Also appearing is Chappie Puttbutt — Reed’s fictional Black literary critic who sides with whomever he can to get tenure in Reed’s 1993 novel Japanese by Spring (one of Chappie’s books is entitled What If I Prefer Beethoven Over Coltrane?).

***

Conjugating Hindi is a further exploration of Reed’s alternative Black aesthetic of Neo-HooDoo, informed by bricolage and jazz improvisation. It is not quite as poetic or gnostic as Reed’s 1972 masterpiece Mumbo Jumbo, but it is brilliant — the same sort of experimental brilliance observable in the fiction of Thomas Pynchon or the cut-up technique of William S. Burroughs — and more accessible. It hews to the satiric register of Reed’s Japanese By Spring and Juice.

The novel is what some academics have dubbed a trickster text, a text informed by the mischievous, shape-shifting, slippery figure of the trickster, found in folklore throughout the world. Implicit in Reed’s formal style, as well as his content, is the trickster disregard for caste of any kind. Heedless of boundaries and resistant to being pinned down or hemmed in, the novel is driven almost entirely by Reed’s deep, free-wheeling curiosity about why things are the way they are in regard to the use of the model minority myth against Black communities.

Reed’s incorporation of caste into the fictional debate between Boa and Shashi is fascinating and insightful — he understands the rigidity and cruelty of the caste system far better than many American writers and critics, who assume caste is a relic of the past or synonymous with class, rather than something far more insidious. This remains a set identity that a Hindu possesses from birth, describing his degree of “purity” or “pollution,” and consequently his entitlement to respect, as well as a script for social relations, including arranged marriages. There are moments where Reed brings his exploration of caste and race together in a way that felt a touch too pat, binding together a little too neatly anti-Blackness with the Brahmin identity of Indian immigrants assimilating into the far right. Hinduism can be fairly described as heterogeneous and protean and it does have trickster-like figures such as Krishna or the mohini, but the Brahminical mindset is a strongly anti-trickster perspective, and so those with this mindset could find equally appealing certain strains of center-left thought that push rigid identity, scripted social relations, and endogamy. In any case, by novel’s end, Reed’s novel surprises and delights and for the most part, he takes every opportunity to be artistically more subversive, more slant, more true.

The most famous Dalit intellectual of all time, B. R. Ambedkar wrote in The Untouchables,

It must be recognized that the selfish interest of a person or of the class to which he belongs always acts as an internal limitation which regulates the direction of his intellect. […] A Voltaire among the Brahmins would be a positive danger to the maintenance of a civilisation which is contrived to maintain Brahmanic supremacy. […] If any non-Brahmin were to make such an attempt the Brahmin scholars would engage in a conspiracy of silence, take no notice of him, condemn him outright on some flimsy grounds or dub his work useless.

This is an observation that holds true in the Indian-American diaspora, too. So far, nobody in the United States is publishing any Voltaire-like satires of caste and race by a Dalit American or a non-Brahmin Indian American, but this bold and memorable novel by a brilliant Black author is the next best thing.

Conjugating Hindi is a firebrand’s novel, the crackling, overflowing, pugnacious novel of someone who doesn’t care about genre boundaries any more than he cares about historical boundaries, but who does care deeply about innovating. In an interview with Callaloo that was conducted in 1988 at Reed’s home, Reed commented:

Well, Afro-American artists have always had to struggle against the middle-class. […] I mean when you write the truth, sometimes the black middle class complains or the white right wing will complain or the left wing will complain. […] I think most Afro-American artists catch it from all sides. I think most ethnic artists catch it from all sides.

As the United States’s ideals come under increasing attack, we need more flame-throwers like septuagenarian Ishmael Reed — more fighters, more tricksters, more eagle-eyed observers with an incendiary spirit, more dazzlingly original artist-writers — willing to defy what is permissible to say, willing to catch it on all sides, and willing to run over boundaries of all kinds into genuinely new or neglected territory.

[medea10]

My Review of The Promised Neverland

[officialinuyasha]

Official Art is free use as long as it is not used for monetary gain, and I will never ask anyone for money for my pictures, and I was told I am the only person that actually credits the official animators and artists. Each image of the anime is directly ripped RAW Japanese versions, that are ages old by the way. There are probably better ones out there now. Because had these when the English dub hadn’t came out on my Windows XP. About that, they should be in 1080, but since they were used into WMM I had to recolor all of them and increase their quality myself. I don’t like taking screenshots from YouTube like most people do. Not only do I increase the quality but there are assets I enjoy changing them from the anime. Most people can’t even tell it’s changed because it’s “that good” they say. The only thing I ask if you are sharing my edits, just credit me for taking to time to increasing the resolution, ripping, and alters. I do a lot of screen-stitching also. There’s a lot of them and some I haven’t even posted. But here are some of my favorites -

Besides that, I also like posting basic screen caps with my watermark on it. Because I did it. I don’t have to explain myself on that. Because it originated from my RAW rips, I have every right to credit the official animators and myself for doing the work. I see a lot of people post their watermarks on official images, even when it comes to illegal manga scan sites. I don’t see anyone complaining about that.

If you see my watermark on it, like Max’s it’s because I have his permission to slightly alter it as a Profile Picture! - and I usually have their credit or their watermark on it also whether in the image or in the description! Since Max intentionally made art for me also, it’s kinda a given.

I always see @redrobelover talk about bullying and certain fandoms. I can tell you what I see.

Here is what I see most of -

People “bully” others if someone is asking where a certain fan art came from - With absolutely no intent to steal it. They know they didn’t make the art.

But as soon as someone constantly credits each individual animator, they don’t care and the official animators are swept under the rug. These people are paid, just like fan artists. But they are way less known. I hardly ever see anyone talking about the animators of InuYasha. When they do, it makes me very happy and excited.

They also think it’s okay for someone to share Fan Art from a person that intentionally left because of drama like this. Basically, “this person left, probably because their art was being stolen and sold on Chinese merchandise. But I’m going to share it anyway.” And to them, that’s completely fine.

Can you see where all this hypocrisy is?

-

I’ll tell you all a story. Our friend was from Tumblr since 2009. I won’t give out her identity, but a lot of these people know. And she recognizes a lot of this toxicity and drama. She used to write a lot of fan-fictions and became really well-known. She was a very popular role-player.

She knows and can name people, can predict how people are -exactly- on here.

Well she actually left because people wouldn’t stop fighting, making fake accounts to go and attack everyone. This stuff is stupid. I just don’t get what’s so fun in that.

-

A story about me.

I had a friend on here I knew for years. She used to take a lot of my edits and I wouldn’t say anything because she was my friend. Even if it bugged me, I felt like she wasn’t doing any harm in that. All I asked of her was to at least tell me or credit me. Which I don’t think she ever did. It was always odd to find out from another person that she was doing this, or stumbling upon it myself.

The sad part was, I saw her as a really close friend of mine. And when my life began ta change dramatically I went and told her everything. I wrote a whole novel for her. In hopes that she was going to be supportive of my life changes and choices I was making during my transition and the person I am meant ta be with. Like most of my friend are supportive of it and asked me a whole buncha questions about it. They were happy.

Unfortunately I never got the ecstatic answer from her. Instead she ghosted on me and I think blocked me. I never understood why. But I was told it was probably because we have the same mind set in a lot of things. So I will never hate on her ever. I don’t have a reason to. I just wished things like that was better.

-

We are all a family. We all like InuYasha. InuYasha is supposta be a safe space.

-

Something I wrote in August 20th, 2018

My name is InuYasha, yes legally. Yes I'm the only person on record with that name in the US atleast. I am a transman. I've been on hormones for two years now! 💪💉 Damn those "emojis" look hella weird... August 2016 was when I started my hormones. Anyway. I'm in a relationship with @officialkagome , her name is Kagome she's a transwoman! I really came around on YouTube 2007 as TheHanyouInuYasha, now displayed as "OfficialInuYasha". I also run the FaceBook group "Official InuYasha Group" which is increasingly popular and extremely active with almost 5,000 members now! My sister really helped push me to go for the doctor's appointment for my transgender diagnosis in order for me to start my hormones. The series InuYasha really helped me get in touch with my true self, as InuYasha I see myself as one with. Being an outcast and having to make my own world was very, very difficult. I went through a lot of depression and anger during certain times and was told I could not be "InuYasha" because they told me I was a "girl". Just like in the series how the ignorant people also pestered InuYasha being half demon, that it was "unnatural" to them. I continued on, struggling as InuYasha. I started cosplaying InuYasha around 2005. I remember going to my neighbors house to watch it pre-recorded in Japanese dub! I was only about 10 years old. My grandma helped me make my first outfit. We made the top from a Wizard robe and Dancer pants patterns. I have gone through four different outfits, now 7 wigs, and 6 different Tetsusaigas. My current wig was made by Alichii from deviantART since 2004 based on Katie Bairs method, made from 3 different wigs. A historical wig. My current outfit is the Officially licensed VIZ Media outfit! It's my treasure. Kagome in the series really helped me alot to learn and to love. I have had many issues with haters, stalkers and copycats. Keh! But that won't stop me!

- The response @officialkagome wrote after me -

My name is Kagome, yes; it really is. InuYasha inspired me to share my own story. I am a transwoman, and have known I was a female my entire conscious life. I was told I couldn't be Kagome because I wasn't a girl. I was punished a great deal and abused for being trans. I was told I was wrong, and sick for 'thinking' I was a girl, I was invisible to everyone around me. I grew into an aloof teenager that thought I knew the evils of the world, until when 14 years old; I was sexually assaulted by three men while at a house party without my parents knowledge. My world fell to pieces, and who I was died. I spiralled, I lost all respect for myself. I never was dated, I gave myself to bad guys. I made horrible choices and I still carry the shame of what those men turned me into.  I watched InuYasha a lot then, and I found similarity in myself and Kagome. She was everything I always dreamed of being. Kind, brave, beautiful and pure. My first Impression of InuYasha was that he was a jerk; but I got to learn more about how he felt different in his world, and didn't belong. Before I knew it, I fell deeply in love with him. He saved my life and made me feel like that strong woman I knew I was. I spent the next 13+ years submitting to the fact that I would never really be able to see InuYasha, I begged for dreams, If I could only see him.. Meanwhile, InuYasha was going through the same exact thing. We crossed paths on so many occasions, even unknowingly, we grew up in the same cities, our whole lives lead up to us finding one another and life blessed me, and brought InuYasha to me in the most ironically fated way. We are BOTH trans! He gets me, And he waited for me just as long as I waited for him. There is so much coincidence in our meeting. It's haunting. He looks at me, a pile of my trauma; and he loves my broken pieces back together. InuYasha has ALWAYS come for me, and I may have lost faith; but I am glad I didn't. InuYasha found me in the darkness; and now together we move towards tomorrow. We have always been the same since the very beginning. We ARE InuKag~

-

Thank you for all the asks.

I will respond to each one. All will be animated, which I know they are piled up.

So send all Asks. Let’s see how fun we can make this -

-

- Inu-Yasha -

[sideofwritingsandramblings]

A little salt, A lot of Sheith Meta

Alright... So there’s just a lot of things that have been on my mind since the big reveal. (Updated with even more meta!)

Beware there are some s7 spoilers under the cut. (And since I wrote this instead of the prompt for sheith month today I’ll use this as my entry instead @sheithmonth​ if it is considered appropriate / next)

So as probably most everyone in this fandom knows by now, Shiro has been confirmed gay with the release of the first episode of season seven. As I explained in a previous post, Shiro being confirmed queer has made me beyond excited, simply on the basis of what incredible representation this is. 

However, once again I have heard a bunch of people (honestly... probably not actual sheith shippers) yelling “Sheith is dead” because of Shiro’s ex-boyfriend. Well, first of all, it is an ex-boyfriend according to the vld staff. And, while I will admit I have not seen the full episode nor will I seek out any more spoilers, I can still say with full confidence that Sheith is not dead. Which, honestly, I think most Sheith shippers would agree.

(Also, side point: a ship cannot even “die” like... the point of shipping is looking at two characters and thinking they would be interesting together regardless of canon.)

Anyways, I’m just going to go ahead and break down exactly why I actually believe Sheith to be closer to canon than ever before.

I usually never have hope for a canonically queer ship, mostly because I’ve learned to not expect it. Voltron, however, has amazingly made me hope again. And I even dare to hope that the canonically queer ship will also be my otp.

However, my bias aside, there is plenty of evidence pointing to canon sheith. Starting with the entirety of season 6.

Like, don’t get me wrong, I was shipping Sheith from seasons 1-5 too. Keith’s very first scene in the show is his rescuing Shiro, followed by tenderly touching his face while saying his first word of the show: “Shiro?” Following this scene we see how Shiro and Keith have the deepest bond of the group and are consistently looking out for each other. In season two we have Shiro trusting Keith to succeed him as leader and the Blade of Mamora trials with the famous “Your friend desperately wants to see you.” Since then we’ve gotten hugs, tender looks, and promises of: I’ll save you “As many times as it takes.”

Despite all of this I still doubted they would become canon, but then season 6 came along. 

First of all this post which is not mine but goes in to all of this a lot, talks about how many of the romantic scenes expected for other ships happened for Sheith instead. Things like: Sheith’s bond being the focus of the season, Keith’s mom picking out Shiro because Keith told her so much about him, backstory, sacrificing themselves for one another, and even an emotional confession of “I love you.” Honestly, if we were looking at any sort of heterosexual ship, they would already be considered a couple by now.

Additionally we have seen some incredible parallels for Sheith as well. Both with Sheith and Keith’s parents and with Zaggar. On one hand we have the very similarly animated rescue scene between Keith’s dad and Krolia vs Keith rescuing Shiro in episode one. On the other hand, we have the very telling jaw-dropped reaction of Shiro with Keith and Zarkon with Honerva.

And now, with the new information from season 7, it adds a whole other layer to Shiro’s reaction. We were joking about his stuttering and complete focus on Keith during that scene was him being a gay disaster. But the truth is he is a confirmed gay disaster. Literally, how else do you explain that scene? Plus, while I know the 2 year jump wasn’t some move by the showrunners to address the “too big of an age gap” claims, I still think it’s an important moment for Shiro. Shiro has never treated Keith like a kid in the series, and they have been shown to be best friends and reliant on each other since the beginning. But I genuinely believe that this moment was when Shiro realized that Keith really has gotten older/more mature/(hotter). “You really have changed,” Shiro said. 

And, if we take the parallels a step further (and while some people may call it a stretch, I personally really enjoy this one). We all know how Lauren and Joaquim also worked on Legend of Korra, another show that pushed for lgbt rep and that ended with canon Korrasami  The ending scene of which had a very visually similar theme repeated in Voltron. A pillar of light between the two queer characters.

But, regardless of all the observed parallels and incredibly heartfelt moments, we now have an interesting problem(?) on our hands: the introduction of Shiro’s ex-boyfriend Adam. I will reiterate that I have not actually seen the new episode in full (and correct me if I’m wrong), but a lot of the episode’s focus is on pre-Kerberos backstory.

Within this backstory we meet Adam, someone Shiro loves and cares for deeply, to the point that they were practically (if not actually?) fiances. However, as Shiro deals with a chronic illness and pursues his dream of piloting in space anyways, Adam leaves Shiro and tells Shiro that he will not wait for him.

Now, from this information alone I immediately believe that Adam is meant to foil Keith. Where Adam (for whatever reasons, good or bad) could not stand by Shiro through everything, Keith has repeatedly proven he will do anything to protect Shiro and stay by his side.

Additionally, from a narrative standpoint, it really wouldn’t make sense to make Shadam endgame. Now it is true that anything is possible in 26 episodes. It could turn out that Shiro will have his reconciliation with Adam on Earth and they will get back together. In the event that this happens, (and if it happens in a way that is healthy and is good for Shiro), I hope everyone will support the relationship regardless of ships. Because that will still be amazing representation!

However, I doubt that would happen. Simply because we have never heard of Adam before. If the vld staff was shooting for this big queer couple for a while, why only mention him in the last 26 episodes? Especially since a majority of the episodes of season 7 (I assume) will be them just trying to get to Earth, leaving very few to flesh out a Shiro/Adam story. From a story-telling standpoint Shiro should have been talking about or mentioning Adam from the start to more easily introduce this couple to the audience. However, Adam only gets brought up when Shiro has to face the reality that he is making it back to Earth and there is a chance he will see Adam again.

[Edit: Plus, just think of how much has changed since Shiro left. He has been imprisoned for a year by the Galra and forced to fight, had his arm replaced with a robotic prosthetic, been experimented on, has become part of a universe-defending team fighting in an intergalactic war, literally died, spent who knows how long as just a consciousness in a giant robot space cat, and then revived and given the memories of a cloned version of himself. He’s been through a lot. And who knows what Shiro’s gone through better than Keith?

Adam, on the other hand, has most likely had no idea what happened. If I assume this correctly, for this entire time Shiro’s been gone, Adam has believed Shiro to not only be dead, but responsible for the Kerberos mission’s failure. I would assume when the mission was called Pilot Error, Adam would have had his fears confirmed: by taking the Kerberos mission despite being ill, Shiro put his life and the crew’s lives in danger. I honestly cannot even imagine how Adam must have reacted when he heard the news. I honestly can’t wait to see how he reacts to Shiro being alive. 

After everything they’ve gone through, will they really be able to rekindle that old flame so easily?]

Additionally, we can argue that season 6 was one of the biggest Sheith seasons of the series. We got that two year age jump with Keith that has Shiro reacting like the disaster gay he is. Plus, Shiro’s reaction to Keith saying “I love you” (while not reacting to the “you’re my brother” line) still sticks with me, along with Keith refusing to let go and accepting to fall to his death with Shiro. We got Keith astral projecting himself by screaming Shiro’s name and then cradling Shiro in his arms in the last five minutes of the season. And to now immediately follow up that season (that was so focused on Shiro and Keith’s bond) with a confirmation that Shiro is gay? I really don’t think that’s a coincidence.

[Edit: Not to mention how I’ve seen multiple posts going around talking about the different dubs. One being the German dub’s ich liebe dich, which is apparently for a stronger/more profound love than ich habe dich lieb. And of course, the Japanese dub’s aishiteru which is also much deeper than the more commonly used daisuki. Like, if you’ve ever watched subbed anime, confession scenes will almost never use aishiteru. Aishiteru is rarely used because it denotes a deeper love akin to saying “I am in love with you from the bottom of my heart.” It is almost exclusively used between romantic partners, and rarely (if ever!) used between family/friends. The choice of aishiteru over suki/daisuki is honestly incredible.]

[Edit: Also, something I wanted to add before but couldn’t find a source at first: I found this article by DenofGeek from this past February very intriguing. It said that quote: 

“Montgomery adds, ‘When we set out to make this show we wanted to make one where no one character was solely defined by being in a relationship.’ She’s quick to clarify that the Avatar and Korra characters were of course incredible and fully formed characters themselves but, ‘when we really looked at what was at stake with this show (Voltron) the relationship or romance aspect of it just didn’t feel as important as the work that they were doing to save their universe.’ Both showrunners don’t rule out the possibility of it happening down the line, but only if it happens naturally within the story. ‘We’re not going to try to just put it in there for the sake of needing romance in the story,’ Montgomery explains.”

The parts I bolded were what stood out to me from this article/interview. The showrunners have never wanted the focus to be just on relationships. The focus has, and always will be, on these characters defending the universe together. However, they will include romance if it happens naturally within the story. I really believe that if we were looking for a naturally developing relationship in the show it would be Sheith, and not between Shiro and some brand new guy (or at least new to the audience). In order to truly convince us Shadam is a good ship, the showrunners would have to focus on it a lot in the remaining two seasons. Why go through that effort when they could instead develop the relationship Keith and Shiro already have in the show?]

Not to mention, despite the introduction of Adam in the episode, the episode’s main focus was still on Shiro and Keith. The new episode has yet another Sheith hug, Keith worrying over Shiro in a pod, and many pre-Kerberos scenes (without Adam) that feature Keith and Shiro’s history. (Oh and I just got spoiled this next screenshot, there is apparently a rainbow above Keith and Shiro in one scene?! Also, it’s yet another example of a sunset as a romantic backdrop between them.) In other words, I really believe that Shiro will ultimately have his reconciliation with Adam, but they won’t get back together. Shiro will probably end up having feelings for Keith instead. 

Although, I can’t know that for sure and anything could happen. But then, I can’t help but go to stuff outside of the show as well. 

The staff have repeatedly shown support for Sheith or at least the bond between them. We have the famous “Shiro Loves you Baby #he’s looking at Keith” from Chris Palmer:

Art supervising director Kihyun Ryu drew this miracle:

And Eugene Lee’s recent Keith he drew on Chris Palmer’s Shiro’s chest like some kind of romance novel:

[Edit: And I almost forgot these two gems (which, while I know voice actor’s don’t have much control of the show’s story, they’re still great): The fact that Josh Keaton (Shiro) at the very beginning of Voltron coined the ship name “Sheith” and Bex Taylor-Klaus’ (Pidge) famous snapchat and quote:]

The staff’s support of the ship, in both fanart and interviews has been incredible. This post has an entire masterlist of the support the staff has given Sheith or their strong bond.

But, anyways. Overall, regardless of where the story heads I will always ship Sheith. If the staff decides that Shadam is the way to go for positive representation I’ll happily take it, but it doesn’t end my love for Sheith.

Honestly though, I think Sheith’s chances of becoming canon are better than ever before and I’m so excited to see how these last two seasons play out.

[natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk]

Saori Hayami - Interviews

I just read a few really interesting articles. The links are sourced, and I’m just going to be copying and pasting my favourite responses here. Due to the length, I’ll only be doing a snippet of the first interview here.

SAORI HAYAMI INTERVIEW: OTAKON 2014

Interview Info:  Originally Posted 12/08/2014 (August 12, 2014) Written by Ray for Anime Diet

You decided to become a voice actress in elementary school. Why did you decide to pursue that so early in your life?

Well, looking back—I really did start very early! But I think that was the time when I had the most energy about my dream. I didn’t think so much about the process of getting used to it, but I was thinking more like  “Oh, there is this kind of job. Wow, it must be fun!” So I decided very quickly to pursue it that way.

You play piano and draw well, we heard. Have you ever won any awards for them?

(Laughs.) I never actually entered a contest, but I did have piano recitals. As for drawing, as you might have guessed from my laughter... I’m really not that good at it. But when I was in elementary school, I had private drawing lessons and the drawings from those lessons were shown at the Ueno art museum. I mentioned that once on a radio show, and for some reason that was picked up and included as part of my profile. But my drawings are totally opposite from the ones you might imagine.

In Mahouka, you play a sister who has strong emotional feelings toward her older brother. They almost act like lovers. What’s your opinion on brother/sister relationships in anime?

I don’t have brothers or sisters—I’m an only child—so I don’t know what it’s like to have siblings at all, let alone falling in love with them! I can imagine if I had a brother, but to fall in love with him, I couldn’t ever see that in my life. Still, my close friends who have siblings don’t think they can have a romantic relationship with them, so perhaps if I ever had a brother, I don’t think I would have a romantic relationship with him either.

[Nat Note: JUST SAY NO. INCEST IS NEVER OKAY. IT’S WRONG. EVEN ONLY-CHILDREN KNOW THAT!]

Otakon '14: Saori Hayami interview

Interview Info: Originally posted 24/08/2014 (August 24, 2014) Written by Jeff Cheung for Japanator

What is your approach to voice acting? How do you get in character and create a voice?

If I don't know the work, I use the resources provided by the audition. I would skim the material and create an image for the character.

Do you try to become the character? Or do you understand what the character first and then do what you think the character would do?

[...]I'm not the type that would first understand the character to become the character. I would first get the feel, the aura of the character to first get a grip on it. As the story moves on then I would be inspired by that, as the story moves on and develops the character, to flesh out the character.

Can you share with us how it is dubbing western TV shows into Japanese?

I haven't done enough dubbing to say "this is how it is or ought to be," but in my opinion dubbing a film into Japanese can really bring out a new angle or change the feeling of the film. [...] A typical 2-hour movie will take a day to do the recording, so there's a degree of difficulty in dubbing a whole 2 hour in a single day. It's always interesting to see how the film is expressed from a Japanese perspective given the Hollywood movie probably took much more time to create. That said, I'm always a bit more nervous when dubbing a movie, so I don't really have much time to stop and think about it. I did a dub for a movie[...], but I am too embarrassed to go see it.

How do you feel about performing at anime or game events? How do you approach that as a voice actress?

So there are a lot of types of events in Japan that I participated in. There are talk events, singing events, autograph, handshake events. Then there are things like drama CDs, Blu-ray commentaries, etc. I see events being a way to come face-to-face with people who enjoy my works. While it might be nerve-racking at times, until then, I don't know or see the faces of the people out there that enjoy my work. It's important for me that I get to see these people and understand that my work matters.

Any parting comments for your overseas fans?

I feel happy being able to see everyone. There is a great distance between Japan and the fans here, but I feel today that the distance may not be all that great. Using anime/manga as a window I hope we can share our ties together, despite the physical distance. Lastly, I want to thank all my fans for the continuing support.

Interview: Saori Hayami

Interview Info: Originally posted 7/01/2015 (January 7, 2015) Written by Daniel Briscoe for Anime News Network

Growing up, was singing and working in entertainment always your dream, or was there something else you wanted to do when you were younger?

When I was small, I found performing in front of other people a bit tough. I actually avoided it as much as possible. When I would go to one of those sentai shows at an amusement park, the heroes would ask for a courageous kid from the audience to help them defeat the bad guy, and I would never raise my hand. My mother would tell me, “Come on, raise your hand! You can do this!” But I was not one of the “courageous kids.” I didn't want to. At the same time, I loved singing and acting, and I loved to perform things from my own imagination. Now here I am, doing the things I thought I could only imagine doing in reality, through songs and voice acting.

As you began to develop your voice, did you have a moment when that stage fright went away and performing was no longer as scary as it used to be?

It started when I first entered school for training in voice acting. I was still a child who couldn't perform in front of people and couldn't express myself to their faces, but I really wanted to go to this school. I couldn't tell the people around me that that's what I wanted, though. Instead, I left a flyer for the school on the kitchen table. When my mom came home and saw it, she said, “What is this?��� I answered, “Voice actors seem really interesting these days. I think it might be an interesting occupation.” Then my mother said I should give them a call, and that first step was when things started to change. I realized that I have to be brave and do something in order to change anything. My mother pushed me to make that call and apply, but she was never going to do it for me. It was all up to me, and that was a big realization for a girl that was only 12 or 13 years old.

After you finished your formal training, how long was it before getting your first performance job? Can you describe how you felt the first time someone said “We want you to sing” or “We want you to do voice acting for us”?

I was actually in school for seven years, but our school has a program sort of like an internship where at the end of each year, people who are successful will be chosen to enter the industry. It was at the end of my second year that I was chosen to take my first job, and after that, it was a mix of work in the industry and training in school going on simultaneously. It's like before I was even out of school, I was having to face reality, and I was facing the real tests without having learned any of the theories behind the answers. In school, they mainly tell you how to behave and perform in front of the mic, so there was a lot I didn't understand about the much larger process. [...]I was terrified and I was put on the spot a lot, without my mother there. Those first years were nerve-wracking. My parents couldn't be there with me most of the time, and there was just a lot to handle.

What music was influential for you when you were growing up? Do you have an artist or group that influences you still, or maybe one that inspired you when you were younger?

Music [of all types of genres] was constantly being played in my household, so I grew up with a lot of variety. My mother especially loved funk or soul music, and I don't think I could tell you the names of the groups, but if I heard the music now, I would know it and I could tell you when I first heard it because it became such a deep part of me. The music from those times is what I remember most strongly. Japanese music, especially rock-style music, is the kind that I could actually sing along with so I would practice singing along with those songs. Apart from that, I also learned piano as a child, so I love classical music too.

Do you have a favourite [director] to work with, or maybe someone who taught you something new while you were working with them?

That is a very hard question. For every project I have worked on, the staff has given me at least one new thing to take home with me. Specifically, the sound director for the “Eden of the East” films, Kazuhiro Wakabayashi [...] taught me a lot. It's not like he hammered lots of stuff into me while we were working together. [...]He would tell me how to see a scene or what to do over a dinner, conversationally. He is more like a fatherly figure than a boss. I learned many things from him not just about technique, but as a person. It's hard to choose one person over another when you've worked with so many because they become like family.

[ndgo-nebula-violette]

I’m here to guide you weary souls that tried looking into the RWBY fandom and found nothing but salty fans. I’m here to give a light spoilers guide to the anime RWBY. (less spoilers then wondering off to the wiki would do)  So you can know what it is about, from a person who absolutely loves the show.

Quick note: The series calls it’s Seasons “Volumes” and it’s Episodes “Chapters”

1.  RWBY is an American made Fantasy Anime. Made in 2013. You even get to this fact without finding some salty person going wElL hOw CaN iT bE aNiMe If ItS aMeRiCaN? Well let me tell you how.

RWBY is created by a lovely person named Monty Oum. Who unfortunately died in 2015 between making Volume 2 and 3. But He wanted to make sure the animation style was in line with that of Anime. As an Asian American man I trust his judgement well enough. (Please don’t diminish his death. He was hard working enough that he planned years of the show with the other writers-- so they still have a guide that follows in his name)

And if that’s not enough for you. In 2014 Japan got the rights to Dub RWBY in Japanese and in 2015 that Dub was released. And in fact, similar to most anime’s, but in Japan it became quite a popular anime. (And it had some quite famous Japanese Voice Actors)

On top of that a manga was made and released November 2015. (Note: I’m not sure how canon these are.) Manga volume one link [x]

And then on top of this. I’d like to add. Jack Pattillo’s words. Cause I think it’s great. But there was an Off Topic. If anyone can let me know which one that would be great. But I clearly remember the group talking about anime and him asking the group if “they go to high school. If they go to school then it’s an anime.” Or something along those lines. And the characters in RWBY do in fact go to high school.

2. RWBY is a show about girls fighting monsters.

At least that’s what the premise is. RWBY follows a team of girls who are training to become hunters and huntresses. Those of which fight the monsters of the world called Grimm. Yes, Grimm. As in the Brother’s Grimm. As in Fairy Tales. Because the anime and characters all have Fairy Tale themes to them.

Overall that’s what it comes down to. It's girls fighting monsters. (light spoilers ahead) and then there’s the whole subplot that leads up to where we are currently in hiatus as we wait for Volume 8 to come out. But we find out that the ultimate goal is to destroy the creator/master of Grimm.

But if you want to know even more about the lore and backstory of the show you can always watch World of Remnant. Youtube. [x] It explains a bit more on the Grimm and explains the Maidens a bit more. But for a simple explanation Maidens are similar to the Avatar (Avatar the Last Airbender) in which they control the weather and are more powerful. Except there’s 4 of them instead of just one and they are based on the seasons. They could also be used to fight the Grimm. 

But if you really really want to avoid spoilers this is all you really need to know. It’s a simple concept, but there’s a lot of depth to it. Thus this post continuing.

3. RWBY is an acronym.

Okay so the show mainly follows the main character Ruby Rose. And her (volume 1 spoilers) team RWBY. RWBY (pronounced Ruby)  is an acronym for the names of the characters in Ruby’s team. Which stand for --

Ruby Rose. [ Voiced by Lindsay Jones -- Dubbed by Saori Hayami ] Weiss Schnee.  [ Voiced by Kara Eberle -- Dubbed by  Yōko Hikasa ] Blake Belladonna. [ Voiced by Arryn Zech -- Dubbed by Yū Shimamura ] Yang Xiao Long. [ Voiced by Barbara Dunkleman -- Dubbed by Ami Koshimizu ]

If you want to know more of the voice actors, English and Japanese alike. This is the one time I’ll say the RWBY wiki is safe enough spoiler-wise. [x] It’s fun cause we get a mix of Rooster Teeth staff and notable Voice actors. (like Elizabeth Maxwell)

RWBY is also a pun on their names. Cause majority of the characters and team names are based on Colours. So Red/White/Black/Yellow as what matches their Colour Aesthetics.

These 4 are the main characters. They are what is important in the show. They get the most screen time cause they are who the show is following.

But of course there are other side characters and teams that we all love and adore. The noted ones are team JNPR, team CVFY and team SSSN. They follow the same rules as the original team. In which the letters represent the names of the characters in the team. Often the first letter of the team name usually matches up with the name for the team leader.

Luckily if you end up a fan of team JNPR (pronounced Juniper) you’re in luck. They become part of the main supporting cast.

If you happen to be fans of team CVFY (pronounced coffee) or team SSSN (pronounced Sun) you’re in luck. As of 2019 we have canon books. Written by E.C. Myers that follow these teams and talk about their back story and such. If you want to avoid spoilers I recommend not picking them up til after you see Volume 3. But it’s not required. If the animation is something you don’t like, but you’re still interested in the concept I highly recommend these.

Amazon Link book one [x] // Amazon link book two [x] 

If you happen to be fans of team NDGO (my url sake) or team BRNZ well too bad you get nothing. Love the characters while they have screen time. (light spoilers) And it seemed we got slightly lucky with team FNKI they got more screen time, and here’s hoping for more.

Fun note: The writers are cheeky and even called the crew that works on the show CRWBY which they also have a show on the behind the scenes if you’re interested in that [x] (you do have to be a first member for this one tho) 

4. The weapons are important. They also have “powers” This is just what makes the show cool.

Quick run down. Hunters/Huntresses are what they call those who fight Grimm. They all have their own weapons, which seems to work with their fighting style and Semblance.

Semblance is what they call their superpower in this show. Everyone has one. Some are not as remarkable as others. It’s very very similar to Quirks in the anime My Hero Academia. It’s kind of a one time use per battle type thing. But it tends to match the personality of the characters.

Aura is what they call their life force. But works more like MP opposed to HP in video game terms. It’s more of an internal personal power source, and running out makes you very weak. Aura is your shield. It’s what protects you from dying. You can heal with aura or you can use your semblance with your Aura.

Their weapons use an artificial power source called Dust. You can use your Aura to amplify it. Dust is just gems you use to power things. Most of them are elemental based. Fire, Ice, Lightning, Gravity, Hard Light, Plant, Earth, Steam, Water, Wind.

There might be more, but that’s what we’ve for sure have seen used. Add the Dust to your weapon, and use the Dust as needed. Majority of that time is bullets. Because a lot of their weapons have gun elements to them. For the weapons transform. Most of the weapons are a 2-in-1 type special. But some are more than 2. Depending on the fighter and their needs. Every weapon is highly personalized.

The weapon’s of team RWBY is as follows: Ruby has her weapon called Crescent Rose, a sniper rifle that transforms into a large scythe. That scythe is used a lot in promotional things involving the show RWBY. Ruby simply uses bullets, which she often uses for propulsion around her environment.

Weiss’ weapon Myrtenaster is a Rapier which transforms into Revolver. Which honestly, i don’t often see it out of the Rapier form so I almost forgot about this fact.

Blake’s weapon Gambol Shroud is a Katana, Cleaver, Pistol and Kusarigama. This one is particularly useful. For the most part this weapon is often transforming to her needs. She’s very much a fast moving, thinking on her toes type fighter.

Yang’s weapon Ember Celica is a Gauntlet shotgun. It’s literally guns she wears on her wrists. Like Ruby she also takes advantage of the gun for propulsion.

It’s really neat that they have names for all their weapons actually. That tells you how important the weapons are in the show. 

A lot of the weapons are fun tho. And some are harder to tell what they are until you see them in action. The most notable is that of one Velvet Scarlatina. Her weapon Anesidora was a fan favourite due to its secrecy. For you only see it as a box introduced in Volume 2. Which had all the fans guessing what would be in the box. Including myself [x] which got noticed by the voice actor Caiti Ward herself. But ultimately the reveal in the end of Volume 3 was well worth the wait and was quite satisfying. (this i refuse to spoil) 

5. A bit of plot, but I got to mention the Fantasy Racism™

So there’s a fantasy race called Faunus. Which are humans with animal traits. It could be any animal trait, belonging to any animal. But only one trait. The most common seems to be ears or a tail. On top of that, the majority of Faunus get the ability to have night vision. (volume one spoilers) The most notable is that of Blake Belladonna and Sun Wukung (leader of team SSSN, Voiced by Micheal Jones --Tomoaki Maeno)

Blake having Cat ears and Sun having a monkey tail. Whenever the story focuses on the Fantasy Racism™ It focuses on these two the most.

It is a large subplot of Faunus' rebellion and such. It’s really interesting how they handle this.

On a more touchy topic. There is also the matter of LGBT characters. Now in the canon we have at least two canon Lesbians and one canon Trans character. This is one of the things the fandom gets the most salty about. The writers are trying their best. They even claimed they handled the setup badly and so things are slowed down a bit when it comes to representation. They have done a decent job since. They have hired a new writer since.

6. It’s a well thought out show.

Look I can babble about this show forever. But overall I don’t want to spoil too much of it. I might still make a second post that’s a bit more plot heavy. Of the show up through Volume 7. A here’s what you missed on type thing. But to keep this post mostly spoiler free I’m going to wrap it up.

RWBY also has its own guide book [x] which if you really want to know more about the semblances and weapons and characters and such it’s very useful.

They also have their own DC comic books. [x] Which i think is really really cool. but i’m lame and haven’t been to the comic book store in a long time and i don’t feel like paying for shipping. 

So as I said earlier, the animation style isn’t for everyone. Especially within Volumes 1-3. So the comics and books and manga are a great way to get into the series.

They also have a brand new show. A DND campaign based on the show’s setting. If you like the concept of the show but want it in an DND setting. RWBY the Grimm Campaign. It’s really fun. (and you get new teams to love like team SMMK) RT site [x]  (this one you can watch the first episode for free and after that you gotta pay to be a first member) 

The music is really epic and composed by Jeff Williams. Most of which are songs song by his daughter Casey Williams. The songs have been known to drop some foreshadowing for the show. This person [x] is nice enough to have a playlist on youtube. And there was a nice surprise last Volume, the lovely Caleb Hyles sang one of the songs. Here [x]

They also have a show called RWBY Chibi which is non-canon silliness. Drawn in more of a cartoon style.  Which is basically an OVA. Which is 64 episodes which are all less than 5 mins. RT site [x] or youtube playlist [x]

And since it’s become such a big show, with lots of support we’ve been blessed with things like a mobile crystal game [ RWBY Crystal Quest ] and even a video game [ RWBY: Grimm Eclipse ] and a board game [ RWBY: Combat Ready ].

The board game is actually lots of fun. I’ve played it with friends. 

But yes. Please. Give RWBY a chance if you haven’t. It’s fun and great. No matter how salty the fans get. 

[yeonchi]

Change My Mind: Freedom of Speech, Censorship and Cancel Culture

This is something I’ve wanted to talk about for a while, but I never managed to work out how to say it because there are so many facets to this. People tend to lean one way or the other and there is no one right way to balance the two sides out, so I’m going to be a devil’s advocate and list my thoughts on the subject and invite people to share their views in the hope that they can, at the very least, get me to reconsider my views.

“Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences”, more like “Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from people who overreact and try to get you fired or deplatformed”.

First of all, allow me to set some ground rules here. I believe that people are innocent until proven guilty beyond all reasonable doubt. I’m also not going to profile anyone as being a target or an exemption from anything I’m trying to say because it would take too long to profile them all. Instead, I’m going to focus this on the general populace, because most of them have no affiliation with hate groups or the like.

As both a victim and offender of cancel culture before the term was popularised, I sometimes have doubts whether some of the things I did were right. Was I right to repost attacks from English sub fans while debunking their viewpoints? Was I right to shame people for their ad-hominem attacks? Was I right to do all this in expectation of retaliation by my fans? I don’t know, but I try to stand by what I said or did back then and judge myself by what I am now.

Perhaps my biggest attempt at cancelling someone was a few years ago, when I encountered someone who claimed to be against greed in Western games, but was somehow against dubbing localised Japanese games into English, claiming that they were not meant for a Western audience. I called him out on his ignorance and he proceeded to block me from his page and attack me with fake accounts when I continued to elaborate why his viewpoints were misguided. A few months after, I got pretty pissed off with him and that was when a whistleblower came to me with information about him that essentially proved my thoughts on him all along.

So I made a full-on callout post, similar to iDubbbz’s Content Cop videos. Admittedly, I had just discovered those videos around that time, so I didn’t have a full understanding of how he followed up on those videos. I ended up making two more posts before making a Content Deputy post. In that time, the guy started getting sneaky on me, which included vandalising pages of a wiki I worked on and reporting my Facebook posts. As a result, I found myself postblocked for 24 hours, then three days, then a week without any opportunity to make an appeal. I even tried reporting his accounts as well, but Facebook found no issue with them. Keep in mind that our fanbases were relatively obscure and that the other guy once boasted about wanting to be the next PewDiePie.

It was then that I published the Content Deputy post, stating that I would move on from the feud in the hope that he would stop reporting my posts. It wasn’t until I found that he was impersonating me on Facebook and Tumblr, making parodies of my posts, that I angrily called him out and told him to kill himself, like iDubbbz did Keemstar. It was only then that we agreed to end the feud there and he rescinded all the other reports that hadn’t gone through.

I know there are some areas in my story where I did the wrong thing, but I’m telling my story as it is because there’s a point in what I’m trying to say. People like the other guy will do anything to take down people like me and the lack of regard or regulation by social media is enabling this behaviour. Basically, they just leave it down to bots and while some truly hateful content is rightfully taken down, innocent content can be caught up in it, even if we’re the ones trying to call out hateful people.

Or, to make things worse, people can take it a step further and even try to make them unemployable, getting them fired from their jobs and whatnot. This is more for people who allegedly say offensive things online, whether as a casual comment or they’re deeply rooted into those beliefs. I’m not going to try and make justifications here, but to get someone fired because they said something offensive on social media just sounds petty. If they were actually found being offensive at work, that’s a whole different matter. Admittedly, when I make the Content Cop, I had the intention of sending it to his wife and work to tell them how much of a scumbag he was on the internet, but I thought better of it. To criticise someone for what they said on social media is one thing, but to take it out in real life is another.

Moving onto the topic of freedom of speech, the First Amendment (which only applies to the US) states that the government can’t prosecute you for what you say and as such, private companies or entities can do whatever they want. For small businesses and such, that’s fine, but where social media is concerned, it’s a whole other thing altogether. The Amendment was adopted in 1791 and lots of things have changed since then, which is why I think this subject (not the Amendment) should be reviewed.

Some people have stated that censorship by social media companies makes them publishers, not platforms, and that their definition of what violates their terms of service has basically changed to whoever can cry the loudest and whoever ticks their boxes of victimisation. Unironically, after having experienced what I did, I somewhat agree with this. I would believe that some sort of government intervention would hopefully stop the moving of goalposts, but President Donald Trump calling for Section 230 to be revoked might be a bit much because social media companies would be held responsible for what is on their platforms and huge waves of censorship would result.

Copyright is another problem that relates to censorship, but that’s on a different level to everything else I talked about here. Hearing about YouTubers having problems with things like ContentID, COPPA and that is turning me off uploading on YouTube, and I’ve never had plans to do that in the first place. Additionally, individuals and companies are exploiting copyright reporting systems such as DMCA to get things they don’t like taken down. This goes back to everything I’ve been saying here.

There are other things I would cover here, but I don’t want to drag this out for too long in case I don’t know how to say it. Basically, I’m hoping for a drastic or complete reform on content moderation in social media. As the title states, if anyone wants to try convincing me to change my mind about anything I’ve said here, they are welcome to do so. I’ll leave you with this Jonathan Pie video that really sums up what I’ve been feeling recently. There might be others who have said things like this and chances are that they also sum up how I feel, but they are merely part of a wider spectrum because this topic is too broad to completely target all at once.

[littleartistthoughts]

Romeo x Juliet

Sooo. Sometime during my middle school years, I was on the AMV side of YouTube. I stumbled across an AMV of the anime, Romeo x Juliet, to the background song: “Romeo and Juliet.” Out of curiosity, I searched up the anime, and I found it on YouTube. I think I watched the final scenes of the last episode first, without any context. I guess I was interested enough to start from the beginning. 

And I became obsessed. By obsessed, I mean, seriously, seriously, obsessed. I fell in love with everything -- the main characters, the music, the world. The romance was touching, the story was impacting, and it was just perfect. I cried sooo hard. It became one of those things that touched me so much to the point I thought about it for weeks and weeks. I searched up AMV’s and fanart and scoured the Wikipedia page over and over, so eager to have more. 

I even tried to burn the entire series on DVD because I wanted to watch it whenever I wanted (so I had to learn how to burn a DVD, though I don’t think I ever actually succeeded). Eventually, though, by some luck, I found the DVD at Best Buy, and my dad bought it for me. 

I shared it with my friends. I sent them all home to watch it, and I felt overjoyed when they came back to school the next day saying they binged it and cried and loved it. We became something of a fan club. Lol. 

Then time went on and I thought of it less and less, though I was always fond of the memory of watching it. I remembered it as a sad, beautiful anime that I loved so much. Actually, it impacted me so much that I’m borrowing some elements of the story for my own works. To this day, I reference the show when I’m wondering about the design of my own fantasy universes. 

These days, I’m slowly molding my Sol Verynda universe. I’ve been doing that for about four years now. I keep changing things or developing them further. Sometimes, I run out of inspiration. I’m still dragging details out of the world where I can find them. Sometimes you just need a giant push. 

I don’t remember the reason, but sometime during this past week or the last, Romeo x Juliet popped into my mind. I think I was just reminiscing the story. And then I decided to just watch it. You know. For the heck of it. 

So for the first time in a very, very long time, I watched the series. 

I’m a lot older now and more mature than I was in middle school, which means there’s a lot more that I can understand now. That means I’m also a lot more cynical now. And critical. And the devil’s always on my shoulder. Plus this raging depression that just won’t go away is in my mind. So I re-watched the anime through a different lens. 

Still me, but a different version. 

I watched the series over the course of a few days (busy with school and work). I decided to watch it in Dub because that’s the original way I watched it, and I wanted to recapture that feeling I got when I watched before. Even though my sister gave me such a hard time about it. Like, seriously. She came into my room and slapped my phone out of my hands because she was so disgusted. I retaliated. 

I like the Dub also because the script is so lovely in English. They incorporate some Shakespearian speak (I learned later that it’s really called iambic pentameter). So the characters sometimes speak like it’s the 14th or something century, and it’s pleasant to hear. I also just really like hearing them speak poetically in an American accent. 

Buuuut, I caved out of curiosity. I searched the Subbed version on YouTube and watched a few minutes of the first episode, just to see the difference. And, well. I get it. The show was made specifically for Japanese, and so that version is actually very fitting. Buuut, I still continued on with the dub. I’m thinking now, though, that I’m going to rewatch the show in the Subbed version sometime soon. It’ll be like seeing the story again, but with a different feel. So, yeah. 

Anywayyyy, so the story. The show takes liberties with the adaptation. I’ve never read the original play, but we all know how it goes. And I think I watched Romeo + Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio, so I had an idea. In the original, Romeo belongs to the Montague family and Juliet belongs to the Capulets. Their families hate each other, but they fall in love anyway. After a string of events, Romeo and Juliet die together, and the family conflict is resolved by this tragedy. 

In the anime, Romeo’s father, Leontes Montague, murders every member of the Capulet family so he can take over the city, Neo Verona, as ruler. Only Juliet, who was rescued by her family’s loyalists, escapes. She’s two years old. Fourteen years later, Montague is the tyrannical king of the city, and Juliet is forced into hiding. She disguises herself as a boy, named Odin, though she was never told the reason why she had to do so. 

Montague is on the hunt to find her. In his tyranny, he allows his guards to torment the citizens. And so Juliet, disguised as a man, takes on the persona of the Red Whirlwind to defend the people. 

Eventually, Juliet winds up at the palace, dressed as a girl, for the Rose Ball. And she and Romeo meet. And it’s a love at first sight moment. 

Later, Juliet finally learns of her heritage, and her world becomes chaotic. 

One thing I didn’t realize when I was younger was just how much of a sweetheart Romeo is. He lived a rough life in the palace. His father was emotionally and physically abusive. His mother left him to join a convent (though she deeply regretted leaving him). He was alone at the palace except for his best friend, Benvolio, and his Dragon Steed (basically, flying pegasus), Cielo. Despite that, he had a big heart. He was nothing like his father. He genuinely was a good person. 

And Juliet just deserved so much better. The girl could never catch a break. She and Romeo had similar temperaments. She was really sweet and considerate with a good, forgiving heart. But she was also this badass swordsman secret vigilante who was a fearless leader and fought for justice. We see her character develop over the course of the series. She slowly matures after all her mistakes. And in the end she’s the one to save the world. 

The love shared between these two is really the driving force of the story. It’s the reason the two fought so hard to create a world of love instead of hatred. Instead of revenge, Juliet’s focus was on freedom and happiness. Without Romeo, she might have actually killed Montague and gone with the route of hatred. 

The series did get a little cheesy and naive sometimes, I felt while watching. That’s the cynical adult in me. However, the show doesn’t hesitate to admit that. For example, when Romeo’s trying to motivate a group of exiles to cultivate a dead land, his words do seem childish and idealistic. And several inmates point that out. But they do eventually try. 

I don’t know. To me, it’s a reminder that the idealism of children is so powerful. Adults don’t have that same spirit. A lot of us are always worried about the bad outcomes of things. We’re always tired. We’re so used to seeing bad things that we become cynical. But kids aren’t so used to it yet, so they still have these grand hopes. 

It can be a disadvantage, of course, such as when Juliet jumped into an opportunity out of her naivety, just to see her loyalists fall. 

But, still. We get characters like William (a caricature of Shakespeare himself), who is so childish and idealistic and perpetually inspired. 

When I was in middle school, I hadn’t yet experienced a real relationship. So it was fun to imagine what it would be like. Watching Romeo and Juliet’s relationship blossom gave me such a warm, fluttery feeling. You know. I wanted a romance like that. 

Re-watching it, post-heartbreak from my FL and other “romantic” endeavors, I view love a lot differently now. Honestly, I haven’t felt fondly about it for a long time. I’ve come to a point where I almost detest it. I detest boys and the hurt they can cause me. It’s hard to imagine myself in a good, loving, idealistic relationship again after all the guys I’ve encountered. 

Well. My heart is still too broken for a new love, but I still felt my heartstrings pulled by the anime. Maybe it’s too soon to tell, but I think my opinion has shifted a bit. I forgot, really, how amazing romantic love can be. How consuming. Even when I’m not a part of it, just seeing it unfold is so precious. It makes me feel all warm and happy inside. And inspired to write. 

Anyway. 

One other thing that I’m really noticing now that I just didn’t before is the symbolism. That scene where Romeo asked Juliet (without knowing she was present) what flower she would prefer for a garden, she answered with a “rose.” I remember feeling confused. The entire series, the white iris was the symbol of their relationship. But why would she answer a rose?

Well. The iris is on the Capulet family crest, and the rose is on the Montague family crest. Juliet was saying she wanted him. 

Also, Leontes Montague entered the family by becoming a ward, and then poisoning his way to the top. Also, his father is a Capulet, meaning Romeo and Juliet are distant cousins. Oof. 

Also, I know more about art and architecture now thanks to Art History courses. So seeing all the reliefs and structures in the series was astounding. Seriously. Astounding. There’s this constant image of a goddess with angel’s wings in prayer. It appears in statues, reliefs, statuettes, paintings, etc. There was a goddess statue at the fountain where Romeo and Juliet first met. 

In the end, we learned this goddess is a symbol of Escalus, the grand tree that serves as a life force to the continent. 

If anything, I really really really wish there was a prequel or something that went into the history of the Capulet family and the tree of Escalus. There were so many unanswered questions. Like, why was Neo Verona floating over the sky the whole time? How? Why did Escalus keep it afloat? Why did the Capulet family have to be the one to make sacrifices? Why the girls? Who was Ophelia, really? What’s the history? When they fell from the sky, did they just rejoin the larger world? They mention Christian and Greek mythos, so how do they know about it? They say Escalus is the patron goddess of Neo Verona, so are there others? 

Sadly, we might never find out. But it’s all still very interesting. 

Neo Verona is a living, breathing world. It’s a fantasy world that we fall in love with. 

All the side characters make us care for saving the world, and Juliet mentions this, too. She decides her sacrifice would be worth it if it meant her loved ones would get to live. And we agree, too, because we come to love all the minor characters. Every single one. Even though we don’t want her to die. 

Watching it this time around, I also started to understand Montague, and admire him as a villain. He’s layered. He’s vicious. He’s ruthless. He’s a little insane. He was never loved (he says this in his final moments). His mother died when he was young. He told Romeo he deeply cared for him, which I kind of believe. In a twisted way, I believe he did love him. I believe he also loved Romeo’s mother, Portia. When he visited her, he started by saying she could have lived in luxury with him if she didn’t leave. 

Montague also seemed to genuinely care for Escalus. For some reason. Maybe he didn’t want to the world to end with him in it. He seemed to be searching for a genuine solution to the problem. 

Anytime Montague was on screen, he was riveting. Truly terrifying. Charming with some, like Hermoine and other lady nobility. But murderous. And a swordsman. Underneath it all, all his heinous acts, he just wanted love. In the end, he died in Juliet’s arms. 

The mythos of the world was incredible as well. I’m a sucker for fantasy, and the show really runs with all my favorite things. Prophecy. Ancient things. Sacrifice. Enhanced nature. 

I haven’t watched anime in a long time. Honestly, I sort of shunned it from my mind when “Asian things” became more and more shameful. Well, that thinking is shameful. Because anime is truly beautiful. It captures humans in a different way. Anime knows how to do romance. It knows how to build tension and longing, it knows how to invest the audience. Every anime I ever watched has hooked me to the romance (something American TV can’t ever do with me). 

I just love the tone of anime. The wittiness, the playful scenes, the heavy moods, the characters and their attitudes. It’s all entirely distinct. I don’t know why, but it really gets you wanting. Plus the expressiveness of 2D animation that can do absolute wonders. 

I’m a really big fan of Game of Thrones, don’t get me wrong, and maybe the show just butchered the story, but for a while I just wanted to make a story similar in spirit to Thrones. You know. The realism. The darkness. The unfairness. 

But I forgot that you can make your own worlds with fiction. And your own rules. Life is life. It’ll always be unfair and tragically beautiful, and there are lovely stories to capture that. But then there are those stories that are an abstraction of reality, like Romeo x Juliet. Not totally realistic, but spellbinding. You’re thrown into this world, and you just want to be a part of it. For a while, you can escape the real world and join this one. 

It gets one inspired about living in a different world. 

So while realism is great, fiction and world-building are just so much more fun. And impactful. And creative. And magical. And fan-service isn’t a bad thing. 

I cried during the final episode, once right after Romeo died, and again during the Epilogue. Everyone who lived got a happy ending, and I was so sad and happy seeing them all enjoying life. After all the darkness that they went through, they all ended up living in the bright, joyous world that Romeo and Juliet dreamed of. 

That’s fucking inspiring. To the max. A little cheesy, but in a way that feels so earned and so right. 

So anyway, I’m glad I decided to rewatch it. I was in my early teens when I last watched it, and now I’m 21. Oh, and the decade is ending. Seems fitting. Maybe it’ll help me set the tone for the next decade, which I hope will be one of creativity. And maybe some romance. Maybe. Maybe it’ll have that attitude. 

It’s still one of my favorite stories of all time, and I’m definitely going to rewatch it again in the future. Next time will probably be soon. I have to spend some time recovering from the emotional roller coaster that I went through. Maybe next month. I’ll watch it in Sub, the way it was meant to be, I guess. And I’ll see the difference. And I’ll probably write another post about how I felt about it. 

Until the next time. 

[mewts-guide]

Insight: Mewt Keys- Happiness EP.01

Well, shit… I just want to talk, so I’m just going to talk.

I don’t have anyone at the moment to talk to, so i’ll just type it out and post it and see what happens from there.

I don’t remember the exact day or time or what, all the important things are missing from my memory.  Sorry.

Ive been working on a string of songs lately and this has got me thinking about what I actually want to convey with this pseudo album. I say pseudo album because I’m starting to think that working on albums right now, in my current condition and un popularity in the music scene, would not benefit me. I say this because it doesn’t do me any good to put all this work into albums when no one is listening to it. Doesn’t mean no one is ever going to listen to it, eventually (I hope) people will come around, but at this moment I need to focus on getting the people here.

So i’ll have this little piece of literature or whatever this is, to fill in the gaps where you can look into it and put two and two together pertaining to my music.

Let’s Talk about the first four songs ill be releasing ( have released??)

Most of these will be connected and have a story behind them and what that story really is.

Wrinkle In Time:

So, I started writing this song back in August 2019. I had just started getting into the synth wave thing and I’d say that I was fairly good at it but I wasn’t hitting it the way I was hitting house music. Theres another song that I started at this time and that song is “You” thats actually dubbed, “The Next Com Truise” because at the time that’s what I was shooting for and I never really listened to synth wave really aside from Com. So Com is the only artist I know that makes this kind of music. I know, I know… there’s tons of great synth wave artist. What I’m saying is, I only know Com Truise.

The only thing that stayed the same in Wrinkle is the beating pad that plays from start to finish of the track. Sounds almost like an oceans waves rushing up to shore and i like to think that the ocean is full of mysteries. 

The name came from Madeleine L’engles novel, “Wrinkle in Time.”

(Duhhh…)

But the reason why I chose this name is because of the actual story itself, not so much the story of the book but what it actually gets at. The ability to traverse time and space. There are a handful of books and movies i’d say that influence me to this degree and thats Interstellar (movie), Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and Wrinkle In Time, Timecop and this other movie where he kills people that were sent back in time from the future.( I honestly don’t remember the name of the movie.) The power to traverse space and time. The power that that gives you is insane when you really begin to think about it.

I often think about what i’d do if I could go back in time or travel to an alternate universe. Would you do things differently? I mean if you went back in time, we often don’t think that we could possibly relive our teens when we’re in our late 40’s. Let’s just say that if I traveled back to when I was fifteen, would I also be fifteen? This idea was planted in me after reading Dark Matter.

This is about going back in time to that day.

This is about going to a different dimension.

This is about the alternate universe.

This is about you.

The short vocal chops that drone on throughout the song constantly chant, “Not out there. Anywhere,” and, “She’s not out there. She’s not anywhere.”

The choice in these words was influenced by Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter being in that the main characters sets out to find his wife and son in an endless sea of universes, often times running into versions of his wife that never existed, never was and never will be. We see the character break and crumble after constant failure. I think this is what stuck out to me the most of this novel.

In L’Engle’s Wrinkle novel, this feeling was reinforced due to its similarities, but somewhat more fantasy based world had more of a lighthearted touch.

Im not sure but I think the book was for kids or young adults (I’m guessing that means Teens), so it doesn’t hit as hard as maybe it would possibly hit a kid. Also I’ve heard the movie sucked ass so I won’t be watching it at all.

The arppegiator that plays on the drop I built on serum and its called tesseract. Though you won’t know that unless you’re reading this. It’s you being taken to another time. it’s what traveling time might sound like.

The next songs are all that you might experience in your journeys.

You:

As mentioned above, You, is my introduction into the genre but I think is one of my more solid arranged tracks so far. I really didn’t have direction when I was working on these songs, I just want to make something a bit more playful and colorful than I had been doing with my House shit. The dubbed name of, “The Next Com Truise” came about because I actually thought this was going to make me stick out more in the music scene and somehow I’d be just a great or even better than Com Truise, which I think about now and have to disagree. Im even worried in the sense that people may think I’m just a rip off or copy cat version of him and his music, which scares me a bit because I do love his music but I don’t want to be considered a replica of something that is already great therefore would make me average or mediocre at best.

I want you to listen to my music and think, “This sounds familiar.” But stay because I’ve brought something to the table thats differed from other artist’s in the genre. If I have brought something different. I can’t be the judge of that.

I would consider this song to be sad but I’ve heard a lot of people just mention that the whole of these songs is just super chill and nothing too sad. I think at times, for the most part, people need to hear it through lyrics for sadness to translate well with the listener… Or maybe I just suck ass at translating that emotion through synths… I could be at blame here.

I wrote it to be a sad song.

I would say I’m generally a sad person. I don’t think it’s one of those things people do to be trendy or to have an excuse at being lazy or whatever the reasons are. I think I’m just a sad person. So when the name of the song is called, “You” I really mean me. I noticed I did this a lot throughout these group of songs, where I say you but I’m really talking about myself. I mean it in a way as in you as in me not you as in you, if that makes any sense. I hope I described that well enough for you to understand what I mean. I’m referring to the self.

There aren’t any lyrics to this song but I definitely play around with the idea. I wouldn’t mind adding some phrases or words into it, but I can never really catch on to anything. A part of me thinks maybe it’s because the song is done the way it is and it’s always been finished.

I guess…

Selver:

Im not going to spoil the whole story behind this one, so if you want to know, I suggest you go and read Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel, The Word For World Is Forest.

I had originally dubbed this track Outside, because the name fit but as I continued to write and work the track out, I was reminded of a forest and that forest was that of Selver’s home and planet. The version that was released, is different from what I had initially planned. Though I cant say which one I enjoyed more. If you do know of this novel or do read into it, let me know what you think. I’m always up for talking shop.

Maria:

This one I had named from the start and knew what I wanted to do with it from the beginning.

I wanted to talk about something that had been bothering me for a long time, but to be fair, I had also been asking for this to happen for a long time.

So i’ll get down to the core of the song instead of talking about exactly where this song came from instead.

I’ve often held on to the memory of less important things than those of importance, which is strange because you’d think a person would retain memories that made them happy rather than sad. I’m going on a whim here, I’m not sure if this is true, but at least in me I find that I hold on to memories that I find nostalgic, wether those be sad or happy and I’m not sure where this one sits, maybe somewhere in the middle. Importance usually has no play in if i remember or not.

Im trying to be honest with you guys, without exposing my true self to anyone who stops by and read this, whatever this is.

Im trying really hard to say goodbye to these memories and I think when I make songs like this I make it harder for myself to let go which drives me insane because I would love to just pour my heart and soul into this type of work, dust my hands off and move on to the next thing. But things don’t work that way with me.

With its chords and weird sounds constantly floating in and out, I tried to covey some sort of haze, like a dream. What inspired me to do this was a scene from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, where Snake is inside the A.I. pod pulling memory board from the unit and with each pulled board, the voice of The Boss is rambling on and on about lazy foxes and Japanese train stations. Where this gets me more is towards the end where she begins to call to Snake as, “John”.

Her voice slowly deteriorating.

This leads me to where I am now.

I had a friend like that, at least I would like to think so.

The first words I added were, “Are you feeling down? Take a potion or two. You’ve been lost for a few.”

I added this because this friend to me was a helpful and in a way an oasis of peace with often words of advice and comfort.

I don’t think at any point of our friendship she took a selfish stance towards me for her own personal gain.

I thank you for that.

“On my way. . . Not today.”

A slow curve. This was caused by me.

There were plenty of times where I had failed to commit to my promises.

“It’s been a while. Hey, it’s been a while. The last time you were off to bed, I got lost on my way but now I’ve been found.”

It really has been a while. I think this song is important for two reasons, it’s been a long time and it’s time to say goodbye. I think, at some point people need to let go and move on. After a while, I think this type of mentality is unhealthy and somewhat creepy. Im not say this person and I were romantically interested in each other but I don’t think it makes a difference at this point. The way I see this, or the way I would like to think I wrote this is that I let this person down.

Me going, “off to bed,” symbolized me being unaware. Falling asleep. My way of dealing with problems in real life is often sleeping, and we all know that that doesn’t absolutely nothing to change our situation. It only postpones it.

“I got lost on my way but now I’ve been found.”

Though she never let me lose sight, I failed to help. Someone else helped her and it wasn’t me.

“Are you feeling down? Feet off the ground? Take a potion of two, you’ve been lost for a few.”

Of course this a personal attack on myself. When feeling down, I often lose myself in fantasy. In a make believe world. Im floating around on auto-pilot and i’m not really there at all.

Often fantasizing about things that make no sense or things that aren’t, I’m not saying I sit around all day thinking about women. I sit around all day failing to accept things for what they are, often blaming others or things but never myself.

At this point in the song, things take a more calm favor.

What Maria is saying is self explanatory.

A lot of outside influence worked their way into this song alone. I’d say that this song is by far my favorite and there’s reason behind it. For one, I’m being honest artistically here. Im not hiding so much behind songs like Selver and Lemon Tree or even Ub!K.

Songs like Goodbye From Famicom Sessions, Lighthearted Farewell and Cosmic Interlude played a role in the creation of this song.

I really wanted to tell you that this song, is about something real that happened to me and maybe you’ve been there, maybe you will be there or maybe you won’t ever experience what I’m talking about here but either way I just thought i’d share with you, whoever you are that’s reading this.

This year I plan to work on a lot more releases like this and giving little bits of insight. Im lining up the next set of four songs to be released. I plan to be more honest with my words.

It’s time to let go and say goodbye.

[republicstandard]

I am a Pro-Brexit Immigrant. Britain is Not a Racist Country!

Annie G

I never miss a chance to remind people that I am an immigrant living in England.

Specifically I am a Greek-Cypriot immigrant. I don’t know why I feel the need to state this so many times, but it has to do with the fact that British people lately seem to have been let down by the immigrants they so much welcomed and embraced in the past. A nation that welcomes everyone. A state broadcaster that in a desperate effort to embrace diversity bans white people from specific vacancies. Native people so scared of the label racist that they allow illegal and alien cultural practices to go unchallenged and unpunished. A British legal system that is softer on immigrant criminals. An establishment that on a daily basis proves itself to have forgotten the people it should serve, work for and favor. Chaos in already tense working-class communities. Look there, in the forgotten corner; the so-called Nazis, fascists and racists, pleading for their country to be returned.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Even though I have been in England on and off since the age of seventeen, I never felt, until now, the need to get involved in the internal machinations of the country- let alone her politics. I have been a silent observer for many years thinking:

“Annie, you are a guest, you have no right to interfere”.

All this has changed in the last three years.  The never-ending unmasking of so-called Asian grooming gangs (though we all know these men are not Japanese), frequent terror attacks, and the frankly galling observation of the British establishment attacking its own people using my immigrant status as an excuse to justify restrictions on civil liberties and free speech, I felt it was time for me to speak up.  Speak up about my personal experiences with Islam, for sure, but I must speak up in defense of the British people. People that seem to my eye to have been abandoned by the world, and their own leaders.

Have you lost your mind?

this a question I am often asked by the self-proclaimed saviours of immigrants and refugees. Not only those leftist political activists, but also by random people with a genuine interest as to why I so passionately support British people, Brexit, and patriots like Tommy Robinson, and Anne-Marie Waters. Yes, I must have lost my mind. I voted for Brexit so the British government can deport me once Britain is out of the EU!

Yes I must have lost my mind, and I support Tommy and Anne-Marie, Britain’s worst ‘Nazis’, so they can dub me a Greek hairy monkey that should be deported. Indeed, I have been insulted with these words; but not by the people who the left-wing in Britain has branded Nazis. Quite the opposite. It is offensive, not to mention an insult to my intelligence, that many people think that I support people that hate me based on my race or skin color. It cannot be that I, a foreigner, agree with the ideas of people who are not like myself. I must vote in line with my ethnic group. So much for the vaunted racism of the right wing, when it has only been the left in this country who has ever cared about my ethnicity instead of my opinions.

Yes indeed, I voted for Brexit! The British Government on the 23rd of June 2016 gave me my democratic right to choose between Leave or Remain in the referendum, deciding the fate of the UK in the European Union. I am entitled to my vote no matter what I chose, without the fear that I would be branded a  racist if anyone found out that I voted to leave. I and thousands of other immigrants were allowed to vote in a referendum deciding the future of the British people.  Doesn’t that sound crazy?  I was allowed to vote because my nationality is Cypriot and my country belongs to the Commonwealth of Nations.

In a curious turn, my first cousin -born and raised in Greece, but holds a Cypriot nationality due to her father being Cypriot-  was also allowed to vote. She is not allowed to vote at the Cypriot upcoming presidential elections in January because she hasn’t lived in Cyprus, but somehow she was allowed to vote as a student in the UK in one of the most important referendums about Britain’s future. It feels that no matter what British people do, they cannot win. There is always going to be a loophole in the system to suppress their interests or wishes over the interests of immigrants or minorities. Despite this weighting and relentless fear-mongering in the press, the British people voted to leave. Who could have imagined such an incredible victory?

Before I came to the front lines of debate, showing off my British patriotism, I had to answer the question myself- Where does my loyalty lie? Britain or Greece & Cyprus? If Britain tomorrow goes to war with Greece or Cyprus which country would I support? Questions like this that have troubled me. After deliberation, I came to the conclusion that my loyalty will always be to the country that took me in as a broken and damaged youth and turned me into a self-confident woman. That is Britain. A country that gave me a home, and allowed me to bloom.

Contrary to the whinings of the Remoaners, who foretell my imminent doom, I have never believed that post-Brexit Britain will deport me or the other hard working immigrants that do offer a great deal to this country. How could Britain do such a thing, when it fails to deport jihadists and potential terrorists? If, after careful consideration, I decided to put my adopted country's interest above the lies and fear-mongering of a biased media and political elite and voted for Brexit; why I have no regrets. If liberals think I have lost mind; let it be so. A comment on my old twitter account (before it was suspended, slapped wrists all round for wrongthink) read something like:

“poor girl, probably her English boyfriend told her to vote for Brexit and she did without knowing she will be kicked out soon”

Unable to think for myself because I am foreign, or a woman, or both. People branding me mentally inferior, failing completely to acknowledge that my vote was not forced by anyone. My vote was a mature well-thought decision. What troubles me the most, is that it is people who claim to be my advocates that are trying to take away my agency. The threat to my status as an independent individual, capable of making decisions are not the people I am told to fear daily, by the Mainstream Media and the establishment. Brexiteers have done me no wrong. The culprits always are the people that took it upon themselves -without consulting me first- that they know what’s best for me better than I do. Staying in the EU is what is best for me personally, so that is why I was wrong to vote how I did. Doesn’t that reveal everything about the Remain camp? So selfish, one-dimensional even.

Tommy Robinson, Anne-Marie Waters and the people that follow them or belong in this patriotic movement are people I have been told to fear. To be a patriot in the United Kingdom is to be as close to a Nazi as one can get. One such person according to the media is Tommy Robinson, a man who a decade ago rang the warning bell against the inability of Britain to deal with Islam, and has been branded a fascist ever since. Yet Tommy Robinson has been a person that on more than one occasions took the time of the day to give me counsel and support me on personal issues. I consider him a friend, and as far from a racist as one can be. Anne Marie Waters, accused by her former political allies of Nazi beliefs has come to be one of my closest friends.

The supporters of these two public figures have become something like a big family to me. I received over fifty Christmas invitations in 2017 from people around the nation, so that I wouldn’t spend Christmas alone as I don’t have any family in England. More than fifty so-called racists and bigots were willing to put an extra plate on their family Christmas table, so that the Greek hairy monkey immigrant didn’t spend Christmas alone. This is not the xenophobia we are told exists in the heart of Britons. This is the hospitality and politeness of British legend.

The myth of far-right extremism, Neo-Nazis marching in our cities and lurid headlines are pushed through the British mainstream media to establish fear and hate towards British citizens among the British people. There is also the stench of classism, that the working-class alone are victims of some xenophobic cult, because they are stupid- because they are inferior. So say the media.

It took some courage the first time I attended one of these so called Neo-Nazi rallies, I will admit. However, it only a little bit of an effort to make my own reading and research into what these Neo-Nazis are all about.  Being a Greek means one is well familiar of political parties like Golden Dawn who believe that Mr. Hitler did nothing wrong.  Like any self-respecting person, I don’t want anything to do with groups like this- and I can assure you that Tommy Robinson, Anne-Marie Waters and their organizations couldn’t be further from the fascism of Golden Dawn. The right of a person in a secular society like Britain is to be free to criticise any religion.  For over 150 years, European intellectuals have done so to Christianity even in the face of harsh censure. The shoe drops when the working classes protest against a faith that is not as placid as Christianity. This is impolite, it seems. Never mind the cost to British children. Never mind the arranged marriages and exploitation of women. The working classes must know their place.

This is why Robinson and Waters are hated.

I fail to see what have those people done that is so wrong, that they deserve to be branded as fascists and deserve to be excluded from the rest of the society. I have lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and have experienced life among Wahhabist Islamic communities. I have seen Sharia Law being practiced and thus possess an understanding of Islam I argue is superior to that of most British liberals. Yet, I fail to see why the people that criticise this religion face such a backlash and condemnation in the United Kingdom.

In all honesty, England feels like is not the same country today as it was in 1999 when I first arrived. The Islamic population has risen dramatically and Islam is making more noise than ever through advocacy groups like the Muslim Council of Britain. While migration is not solely an issue concerned with Islam, it is the most pressing topic. I will return to Islam in future articles.

As an immigrant that arrived in England completely alone, I have never ever experienced any kind of racism based on my nationality, skin color, race or my status as an immigrant. I have only experienced fair treatment and acceptance. So please, I am asking you dear reader to take a step back and try and see things from the perspective of concerned citizens.  The Britons have opened up their country, their communities, their welfare state  and often their homes. To what end? Only to see a healthy proportion of us immigrants not being appreciative, taking advantage of their social systems, demanding their society changes and adapts so it fits our wills, disrespecting their laws, their history, their culture, their women and their soldiers. With the support of their own establishment and left-wing activists we criticise and slander them if they dare to raise any kind of concerns, brand them as fascists, ruin their careers, and point the finger.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

It is beyond the pale to my mind that this is not just allowed, but encouraged. To those who take advantage of this great nation, how dare you make me feel guilty and embarrassed by your actions? You shame us all, regardless of color or creed. Where is the outrage of my rest fellow immigrants that respect their adopted country? Where is your appreciation of Britain and its people, that took you in when you were in need? How dare you turn your back now that the country needs you the most? How dare you not condemn the actions of this significant few?

For propagating this idea I have been called crazy. I would be crazy if I supported the self-proclaimed refugee advocates that never miss a chance to roll out the banners bearing ‘refugees welcome’ or painting ‘sex with refugees is jasmine-scented and beautiful’ murals.

The same activists have punched and kicked me for my political beliefs. I would have gone crazy if I supported the people that were screaming at my Black Muslim friend Ishmael that he is a “white supremacist” because he attended an event with me, associated with Tommy Robinson.

My adopted family, my friends Tommy Robinson, Anne-Marie and their supporters are not Nazis. Actually, they couldn’t be further from that. So please, my leftist friends- nobody appointed you my bodyguard or my protector. I can speak for myself, as we are not in an Islamic theocracy.  I am not a hijabi, I do not bear shame for being an outspoken woman- isn’t that feminist of me? Calling me a racist doesn’t work. I am not a Nazi.

The movement towards a free Britain is growing, and we are aware of the long road ahead. The name calling doesn’t work on us anymore. All we ask is for our shared concerns to be heard- as an immigrant myself, I am clearly not anti-migration; and nor is the Brexit movement itself at large. Being concerned with migration does not correlate with xenophobia, save for in the minds of the weak. We are a movement that wants Britain to reclaim a British identity that has been sorely wounded. Brexit and British patriotism itself is a movement of love, not hate. I love Britain as much as it has loved me, a Greek from far away.

Follow Annie G. on Twitter

from Republic Standard http://ift.tt/2mpK23E via IFTTT

[meowsaidmayaanime]

What I'm Watching July 2016 as of 7/30

7/30 Kaleido Star

This was surprisingly good. A friend got me into this anime when she was moving out and trying to get rid of stuff she had to make the move easier. Kaleido Star is a children's anime about a Japanese girl named Sora who goes to LA to join a world renowned circus/acrobatics group housed at Kaleidostage. With her dream of becoming a Kaleidostage star, she goes through hardships, makes friends, and changes the people around her and herself for the better. It's an incredibly heartwarming story.

Even though it is a children's show, it doesn't feel like one. (the DVD boxes rate it as PG, but myanimelist rates it as PG13? Yeah no, this is definitely PG). The show doesn't consist of stand alone's rather each episode builds off of each other. Occasionally there will be a side story, but a large portion of the show dedicates back to back episodes about the obstacles that appear. It also doesn't try to force life lessons in each episode or give you random stories that have nothing to do with the plot. If anything its more for the older children because it tells a story, and a good one.

It has two season with 25 episodes in each, which makes it surprisingly short for a kids show. It's very good, and a good one that any adult would be able to watch along with their children. (in that its not unbearable). Admittedly it took a while for me to really get into it. I watched half of the first season then set it aside for a few months (also for the reason that the DVD was stuck in my dead laptop for a while...), but once I picked it up again and reached the climax of season one, I couldn't stop watching it and finished both season within the next few days.

My only main critique (aside form the dub) is that they do not really show you much of the performances, and what they do show ends up being stills rather than fluid animation. I understand if they had a limited budget, but I would have liked to have seen the acts and maneuvers that we spend so much time watching the characters practice for, (so much time). It sort of feels like a let down to me when all this effort and trial and emotion and character grows comes from training for specific maneuvers and yet we as the audience don't see much more than still of... Regardless its a great show, just that I wish it had more budget to spend on the actual performances. It would have made this show even better than it already is.

If you like anime intended for young audiences, or even sports anime, or series about overcoming obstacles and character development, I would recommend this one. Especially since it's nature of being a kids show doesn't let it wallow in dark topics for long. Just whatever you do, don't watch the English dub, it is absolutely terrible.

7/25 Parasite: The Maxim

This was a really interesting anime, that turned out to be surprisingly philosophical. It's about teenager Shinichi who wakes up in the middle of the night to this very creepy worm like creature burrowing itself into his arm and moving quickly towards his head. He manages to stop it by wrapping the cord of his earbuds around his upper arm. Soon the creature turns out to be a parasite which has taken full control of his right arm and has its own separate intelligence.  Shinichi learns that there are other parasites that were successful of taking over the heads of humans, and kill other humans to feed. The entire time I was watching it I could not stop thinking about Tokyo Ghoul. While in Tokyo Ghoul the ghouls are born from other ghouls and have human emotions, these parasites came out of nowhere suddenly and are incapable of human feelings and values, acting and thinking only in extreme rational survivalistic ways. There are numerous other comparisons to make, but I don't want to spoil anything in this post for either anime. I may make a separate post devoted specifically to those two though.

Either way I enjoyed this anime a lot. Although unlike with Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul where I was able to relate to and sympathize with him throughout the entire series. I found that, after a specific event, I was steadily losing my ability to relate with Shinichi. The reason why makes sense, and the reason why this happened follows logical means which is what the show was about. However despite their attempts to make Shinichi more relatable, or a more sympathetic character, it just never worked for me. And because of that the show gradually started to lose me personally as a viewer. I don't know if anyone else shares that opinion, or if they think it was an intentional aspect that makes the anime. It doesn't make the anime bad by any means, it just makes it more of a thinker rather than a feeler if that makes any sense.

I still enjoyed this anime and would still recommend it despite the fact that it may not be on my personal likes. If you like Tokyo Ghoul I would say to check this one out. Or if you like philosophical and psychological anime this is a good one to watch.

7/21 Tanaka-Kun Wa Itsumo Kedaruge (Tanaka-Kun is always Listless)

This is an adorable somewhat plot less slice of life. It follows the daily life Tanaka, a very listless highschooler, and his friend Ohta who takes care of him while at school. I say it's somewhat plot less because while there is no story arch, the episodes do follow a set time span and use information gathered from previous episodes. But all in all its a story of trying to find out just how listless Tanaka can be. The series ended halfway through the school year, and while I would like to see more episodes, because the show is funny and adorable, I don't think there is much of a reason to make a second season. All in all, it's an adorable anime that would be perfect for winding down after a more intense one.

I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys laid back slice of life~

7/19 Haikyuu!! TOP PICK FOR THIS MONTH

I have boarded the sports anime train, and I don't think I'm ever getting off. This is the fifth sports anime I'm watching and I think it may be my favourite. It's funny too because I only recently started watching sports anime when I watched Free! last December.

This anime is fabulous! I know I say that a lot, but it is so true! Haikyuu!! is about Hinata who joins his high school Volley ball team. The rest of the show is about the developing relationships between the team, the development of their characters and skills, and their relationships between the teams they play against as they try to make it to the Nationals.

I love so much about this anime, every character is different, has their own reasons for playing, their own personalities, their own skills, and their own developmental journey. The characters are amazing!! On top of all that the animation is great, they animate the games incredibly well, and whenever someone does something that's particularly fast or strong they do a fabulous job of showing it through the art style and movements. Ah, I could watch this show for days, well, more days than I already have. (Click the image to view the gif, cause for some reason it won't automatically play...)

Look at the smooth animation!!

Speaking of the art style, It's different than whats common in anime, feeling a little more like a manga, but that's what makes it so great. The style allows them to make fabulous faces/expressions and movements. and Oh man the faces are great, I LOVE an anime that's able to use such a variety of expressions on so many different characters. Look at these faces!

Its such a feel good anime, its so light-hearted, and bright, and funny, and intense! There are only two season out right now, but the third season is to air this fall! I'm so excited!! so, So, SO excited!!! AAAHHHHHH~

This is a must watch. It doesn't matter what genre of anime you like, everyone should give this one a chance.

7/14 Sound! Euphonium

This is really beautiful. It's a slice of life following the main character Kumiko as she makes new friends and joins the high school concert band. The animation, visuals and music were amazing! Much like Your Lie in April, all the motions (from what I could tell, I've never played in a concert band but do have years of classical training (violin) under my belt) were correct. They had detailed finger motions, movements of the players while playing (rather than just standing still while the music is going, I'm looking at you 90% of the other anime who don't do any animation, or do waaaay off animation when a character plays an instrument). The story is well done too, and a completely natural slice of life. I was going to go on about how they ended the season at 13 episodes with so many questions left over, that is until I just now checked that a season 2 will be airing this fall 2016. Which I am excited about. At the same time, I do wish that instead of breaking it up into two half seasons, that they had gone for one full (22-26 episode) season. I feel as though a lot of things were left out and perhaps a little rushed during this season. Also I believe that the 'extra' episode they give you at the end of the season could have been worked into the previous episodes and served to further round out the characters. Especially since we did not get to see much of them during the latter half of the season. (Click to view the rest of my opinion, which includes spoilers. Once you get to the page enter 'givemethespoiler' to view it)

Either way, this is a really good slice of life. And I recommend it to others who love slice of life and/or great music. It caught me off guard quite a few times, and I can't wait to see more of the relationship between Kumiko and Reina!! And Natsuki, and Atsuka, and Shuuichi, and Taki-Sensei, yeah this anime definitely should have been a full season... Unfortunately I can't even see with the original source material if the anime is properly following it because this was adapted from a light novel series not translated into English...

7/10 Kamisama Kiss

AAAAAAAAA.  I love this anime!!! It's been so long since iv'e found such a great comedy romance, and it's the kind of anime I used to watch a lot of back in the day. It has gods, a really good premise, two seasons (with the third coming later this year!!) and its just great! It starts off when a girl named Nanami, left with no home, suddenly becomes a land god~ She gains a rather interesting familiar ( who not ony has the same voice actor as Kyouya senpai, but also the same personality~!) and shows their adventures of Nanami's life as she learns to be a god as well as the deepening relationship between her and her familiar.

I havn't been so excited for an anime in quite a while, at least not like this. In fact the last time I felt like this was when I was reading the Fruits Basket and Ouran Hist School Host Club manga. If you like either of those you will certainly love this! I can't wait for the next season!! I'm too hyped up right now that all I can do is gush about this show.

Ok, ok, to talk seriously about it, it feels a lot like a harem. Female characters other than Nanami are few and rarely seen. In fact I was dissapointed by the sudden addition of another male character to be constantly around her in the second season. As feminine as Tomoe is (oh he's so cute), we need more X chromosomes to add to the mix. There were also one or two lines to the effects of 'but your a girl' which really bothered me. It may just be a cultural thing and was overlooked, but it still bothered me quite a bit. Especially considering that Nanami is very capable in terms of her character. Despite the fact that I now realize that the story, while in a completely different environment, is one that has been told and told before. It's by no means new, but it is good.There's a reason why people keep coming back to it, because it's one that people love. And one that I am fond of, when it is put to good use~

It's not a show for everyone but if you want a good shoujo comedy romance you will love this!!

7/8 Inari Kon Kon

An anime about a girl who saves a goddesses familiar and in return has her wish granted. However, the wish doesn't turn out and end up causing quite a few issues. This anime is adorable, and features a look into the world of Japanese deities (which I also have a weakness for in terms of anime). Though its not a particularly noteworthy show. I like how the show handles the interactions between characters, and gives them real personalities. It's like a semi-natural drama, natural humans with natural reactions, and I'm very appreciative of that. Further, the struggles that each character faces are also natural struggles. They talk about jealousy of others, and the fear of approaching others to form meaningful relationships.

I wish I had been able to see more into the world of the gods, and really more of the anime itself for that matter. I feel like they left what could have been a huge factor, Inari's brother, too far out of the picture and did not build up the climax enough. It was only 10 episodes, and the plot was resolved so there is no chance of more content. Basically it was cute, but not something I would particularly recommend...

7/7 Kumamiko

This show is absolutely adorable. I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately, but it is absolutely true. It's a slice of like about a miko waaay out in the boonies whose village's heritage involves bears, and whose guardian is in fact, a bear! She wants to go to high school in the city, but is absolutely unprepared for any life style other than the middle of no where life she lives. She is scared of crowds and of modern day appliances. That being said, we follow her daily life around the village and at the shrine, as well as watch her steadily try to adapt herself to be able to 'handle' being in the city.

Its a rather wholesome light comedy, filled with realistic characters and situations. Which, if you've been able to tell by now, is what I want out of my slice of life. I want my slice of life to be just that! Realistic and almost as though it was taken directly from a real experience, with real people, real reactions, and nothing that is absolutely outrageous. (If I want outrageous I would go for a pure comedy rather than an anime that is mostly slice of life.)

If you love slice of life, this is definitely the anime for you!

7/3 Re:Life

Holy crap this anime turned out vastly better than I ever expected it to. The premise is that 27 year old Kaizaki Arata is unable to get a job after he quite his first job after only 3 months of employment. Now he has become slightly recluse and very much dispirited from being constantly turned away at interviews because of this and is unable to support himself. Until an agent at this company developing the technology to make a persons appearance young again with the offer of paying for Kaizaki's living expenses for one year while he goes back to high school using the drug in order to turn him into a productive member of society. After reading that I was intrigued but also expecting a total 'boob-fest'. Instead the show turned out to be very real, down to earth and focuses on many social issues and the development of relationships from classmates, to coworkers, to friends, to even (a little) romance. It's absolutely fascinating and doesn't have the stereotypical characteristics of a high school anime. The characters are wholesome and well rounded, following their journey of self discovery and growth. This series is also the first series on Crunchyroll to be fully released all at once. So while it is technically a 2016 summer anime, the full 13 episodes were released July 1st. Which I think is really cool. I'm sure there will be another season considering this season (from what I heard) only barely scratched the tip of the manga. It did not reach the end of the '1 year as a high school student' instead this season covers only half of the school year. But despite that, the ending of the season was not rushed and came to a wonderful (temporary) close. Because it was JUST released, no one quite knows when the second season will be released or if Re:Life was confirmed for one, but hopefully we will get to see more soon.

This is an anime I would definitely recommend anyone give a chance. Simply because it is very well done. If you like character development/self-discovery, school or slice of life anime, you will love this one. It is not fast paced and does not have fan service (i'm glad), so don't go into this expecting any of that!

10/10 would watch again. Here's the trailer.