#this adds a lot more context to the Cinderella scene

[novelist-becca]

Me:

My brain: Kyo saw and heard literally everything Akito said to Tohru outside the vacation house and had to be physically held back from intervening

[daisyswift3]

Meet Me at Midnight—The Complete Guidebook

So I just had several epiphanies at once…..I think Taylor might’ve given us a guidebook for her entire plan this yr (and possible coming out?) several months in advance w the release of Midnights (very mastermind of her). Looking at the vinyls and bejeweled mv again this becomes evident. I’ll explain (Also please see this excellent analysis as it provides lots of context and evidence that aligns w this theory).

The moonstone vinyl is obviously related to bejeweled and is a light blue representing the 1989 era. Others have pointed out the numerous 1989 references in the bejeweled mv: rising to the 5th floor, 2013 vsfs aesthetic, lots of light blue, short hair, NYC vibes, her ghosting the prince and living her best single life, etc.

Moonstone symbolizes light and hope and new beginnings. These things have been shown symbolically in the recent pap walks. Light and hope: the sunshine rings. New beginnings: 🦋 on the jeans and no beard. There’s also the connection to the feminine: the girl squad. Cyclical change: her returning to the 1989 era w her squad boyfriend-free; the tides, moon, and sun also undergo cyclical change (blood moon lunar eclipse?).

A clock can also be thought to undergo cyclical change and Taylor chose to use this as the main symbol that represents Midnights. Taylor has said multiple times "It's a clock, it can help you tell time" which now I'm thinking means it can literally help you know when she's gonna make certain moves, like dropping the beard and returning to the 1989 era for example. TN posted this during the Midnights promo. The clock is split into 4 quarters. The moonstone/bejeweled vinyl is the first quarter which I believe we have just exited and I'll explain why shortly. This vinyl contains the numbers 12, 1, 2, 3 which could be related to "exile ends in 3...2..."

Going clockwise we end up in the 2nd quarter—blood moon or glitch. If the 12 hrs represent 12 months, then each vinyl or quarter of the clock would represent approximately 3 months (Jan-March, 1-3 for the moonstone vinyl which adds up bc the toe breakup was said to have happened mid March). I know the pap walks were done in April so this might be more of a rough outline for events. This means a “glitch” would happen roughly April-June…A blood moon represents chaos, disruption, and change, hidden information rising to the surface (gee kinda sounds like what’s happening right now 🧐). The lavender vinyl is also in the 1st quarter and seeing that it’s a song abt bearding it makes sense. But it also seems like this vinyl is supposed to be completely separate from the main 4 vinyls so it could have a different meaning. There are a bunch of great posts analyzing the blood moon/glitch, see here and here.

Sidenote: More on the bejeweled mv numerology and symbolism—she enters the moonstone vsfs-esque room on the 3rd floor. The clock Taylor’s sitting on is pointed at 3. There’s a ton of speak now easter eggs bc 3rd album. There’s 3 step sisters instead of 2 like in the original Cinderella story. The Queen Pat scene shows multiple motifs we’re all familiar w—angels, lions, a queen/royalty, an eye?? There’s probs a ton I’m missing. But yeah all that to say it seems she’s trying to connect bejeweled/1989 era 2.0 to the number 3 or March and to one leo VS supermodel angel woman. So it’s almost as if KK was still a part of this new 1989 era despite being absent from the pap pics.

Next vinyl is mahogany which would presumably take place from July-Sept. The last date scheduled for the eras tour is in Aug which would fall in this quarter. Strength and resilience are needed during this time? There have been a ton of exile, 8/3 references lately.

The last quarter/vinyl is jade green (Oct-Dec). It represents serenity and tranquility, perhaps symbolizing the peaceful acceptance of any ensuing consequences of making a life altering decision? Dec would be the 12th hr on the clock. So could New Years be the “last page” where we finally meet the real Taylor? I mean it is one of the most important midnights of the yr. In that post I mentioned earlier others pointed out how the Cinderella story fits into the general themes of Midnights. I think Taylor keeps using Cinderella imagery bc once the clock strikes “Midnight” on New Years the facade will be gone—“Shred my evening gown” // “Dappled w the flickers of light from the dress I wore at midnight leave it all behind” // “Spring breaks loose the time is near…moments that we stole on begged and borrowed time” // “You know when it’s time to go” // “If you wish to romanticize the woman I became then say you’ll remember me standing in a nice dress.” She’s telling her fans that the Taylor they love is a carefully crafted persona and the real her is not nearly as pretty and will be disillusioning to look at.

Furthermore, Taylor has really emphasized that she rejects the notion of a picture perfect 1950s life. "She would've made such a lovely bride what a shame she's fucked in the head" // "He wanted a bride I was making my own name" // "Picture perfect shiny family holiday peppermint candy" // "All they keep asking me is if I'm gonna be your bride.” Also think of all the wedding imagery she has used lately. "The bride was willing to risk it all." This video of her in a wedding dress singing champagne problems. The countless speak now easter eggs which would be overkill if she was just simply trying to tease a re-record. "Don't say yes run away now." I think she's saying that she's going to shred her wedding dress and the heteronormative fantasy swifties want for her and burn her house, a symbol of her life’s work, past selves, and closet, to the ground. Bringing it back to the serenity/tranquility symbolism, others pointed out in this post that in the eras tour wildest dreams visuals she looks perfectly content, peacefully sleeping while the world burns around her. She’s finally ready to shatter her glass closet and break free from her cage.

Jade is also the “Gem Supreme”: king of my heart; “Jewel of Heaven”: angels roll their eyes, no rules in breakable heaven, halo hiding my obsession, etc you get it; stone of the heart: again king of my heart, lover. This vinyl could be related to snow on the beach—“I searched aurora borealis green….your eyes are flying saucers from another planet.” Perhaps a reminder that she’s setting off but not without her muse?

With all this in mind I think it’d be good to revisit the Midnights prologue.

Of course this could be completely wrong and if she tours internationally and into next yr then it wouldn’t really make sense to come out yet. It could also be the case that the clock is meant to be read a different way or represent a 2 yr period rather than 1 yr. And maybe sometimes it’s meant to be read backwards instead since there have been some references lately to things being reversed? Idk what do you all think? Please feel free to add onto this !!

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket Manga Review ch (90)- First pages ONLY.

I skimmed thro ch-89 to know the context of ch-90. it was Cinderella’s play. In this chapter, Kyo says early on, that time has passed since the play & that they are NOW starting their third year in high school. cool.

This part will ONLY focus on the 1st few pages of ch 90 abt (kyo & tohru) & stop before kyo’s memories starts, because the early pages contain:

Tons of new unexplored analysis of (kyo & tohru) characters that unfortunately was intentionally cut & worse! “changed” in the anime.

No space to add kyoko’s story in this post.

Kyoko’s story is full psychologically & socially.. I need to take a deeeeeeep breath before I unpack it. very deeeeep breath!

-Glimpses of Tohru (the silent grieving girl) Subtle Writing of Grief:

Right from the beginning, I hate how much insight into tohru’s grief & weakness as a human being is already there in the first few pages of ch-90 than the entire 3 seasons of the anime! From few pages we have:

Tohru’s seemingly delighted watching a video. Subtly, showcasing tohru’s grieve & paving the path for tohru’s trauma exploration later in the story. Grief is not sth you quickly past, that’s the most tragic misunderstanding of grief. Time will pass, so, you’ll be better & healthier. Really?!. Tohru’s inner desire to see her mom alive manifested in her words: “ like a photo comes to life” T_T.

The story/writing/manga is acknowledging tohru’s heartbreaking & NOT cute habit of talking to her mom’s cold dead photo! In the anime, tohru talks to her a lot in se01 & it’s up to you to see as as “ cute” as all the canon characters do or actually feeling it IS wrong. Kyo’s  “ what would she do if there were a video of her mom”! “ drives the point more abt tohru being a sad grieving human~not the “advice-giving, optimistic angel, & rain-stopping sunshine in the anime.

Tohru telling kyo to NOT catch cold connecting it to se01, ep 9 (haru’s ep) when tohru was afraid that yuki might catch cold & kyo noticed that! so now in se03, they’re dropping this plot altogether within the main anime, for what? we dont even know if this part would be included in whatever “ kyoko’s” spinoff content would be. -_-’.

That’s how you write subtle trauma such as (grief) for a main (female) MC. subtlety is the key. Respect the viewers intelligence & do it.

You don’t have to give her the long speeches or the many focused ep that yuki had. he’s the kind who confront himself inwardly constantly.

You don’t have to showcase drama, confrontation & force the emotions out like you did with kyo. he runs from his trauma & punishes himself.

Tohru buries her feelings! she’s different from both kyo & yuki. So, with her subtle & symbolic scenes are enough!!!The viewers will catch it if you show it, but ignoring it, cutting it & hoping the viewers will magically predict what you cut, is weird. But the anime isn’t even into us predicting nor subtly showing her cuz this tohru is NOT the tohru we have in the anime. How?

Simply cuz there is no kyo’s inner thoughts abt small things such as tohru’s photo obsession which subtly shows her grief & trauma. If kyo didn’t monologue abt her, tohru does not exist as she’s meant to be. You loose the subtle insights into tohru if you cut kyo’s inner thoughts. Not everything kyo thinks abt in regards to tohru is romance!!! That’s a very narrow & superficial look into the writing of kyo/’tohru dynamics. Flip the pages, hmm..cut this kyoru scene here & there cuz we dont want the anime to be only their love story.. But the story itself IS NOT only their love story at all. These pages/scenes here are abt tohru as a PERSON. Not tohru the lover...

- Writing Clashes between manga & anime: (Kyo’s Conscious Gradual Psychological Exploration vs Shock Value & Drama)

In ch 90 i really love all the inner self talking that kyo’s doing. It really explains why he ended up rejecting tohru so strongly. Also, going for a trip into kyo’s mind is hella exciting, new, refreshing & full of analysis-worthy exploration! Kyo’s inner psychological argument with himself is a psychologically-informed presentation of a tried guilty mind:

“ Why can’t I stop thinking of (kyoko’s words) lately? Acknowledging that he IS remembering kyoko & never forgot her. This is also supported in the anime itself. When he apologized to a sleeping tohru in se01, ep14 & se02, ep9 , confronting yuki in the stairs & other instances as well. 

“ It’s like a lid been opened & all the memories came pouring”. Acknowledging that kyo DID open his lid since se02, ep9 byt chose to run & not confront it due to his guilt of ruining tohru’s happiness by confessing his connection to her mom. 

“ pretending I didn’t know, pretending I forgot”. Here is a blatant clash in kyo’s writing (1) between the anime & manga (2) between the anime’s episodes themselves!!. In the manga, again kyo chose to ignore & pretended to forget. Death is NOT sth you forgot. Kyo saw kyoko bleeding & dying.  The anime chose to make him totally forget & it could’ve worked if they didn’t included all the canon moments of him actually remembering & pretending to forget. Is that lazy writing? or was the director for se03 different from se 1 &2 &? chose to NOT watch the two previous seasons? Why would you consciously include a contradicting depiction of your character on screen for thousands of confused viewers? Was the scene of kyo’s shocked gave upon seeing kyoko’s photo that artistically appealing that you forgot everything? I really have NO problem of kyo forgetting kyoko if that was written in the anime since se01, but it wasn't. that's why it sucks. 

“Is this payback? maybe I want to blame ME?” augh! i love this line so much! Directly hinting to the viewers that this is kyo’s one-sided guilt before his story with kyoko even started! subtly paving the path for the reason of his rejection of tohru” I dont want forgiveness. I want to blame ME.

-I don’t mind that the anime left kyo’s thoughts of kyoko until the climax in eo8, cuz ep 8 was SO well-done! Se03, ep 8 pacing was very suitable to (1) uncovering dark secrets & death, trauma, & guilt. (2)  for exploring the effects such secrets on kyo’s character, decisions, mentality. Also, the animation of kyo’s face all ep 8 was one of the most expressive facial expressions the anime has ever delivered! The eyebrows, eyes, mouth, tears, body languages, heartache was all 100% perfect. The fact that the following eps didnt have much time to express everything & chapters were cramped is not ep 8′s fault but the decision to have 13 eps. Kyo’s delayed trauma deserved to have its own ep.

-What I DO mind is the added scene of ep 6 where he freaked out upon seeing kyoko’s picture, the concept of shock is perfect & so suitable for an anime but was NEVER properly written into the anime itself from the beginning. On the contrary, the anime itself contradict such usage of such value. Good job ruining an otherwise perfect-depiction of two traumatized characters (kyo & tohru) with ONE scene.. -_-

Side Notes:

I thought tohru is narrating the 1st page in ch-90, turned it out it is kyo!!!! Kyo narrates sth? Kyo monologues? kyo has a POV? Just the setting of kyo doing that feels different! I duno if it cuz when that happens in the anime it’s always clash & drama! lol, or cuz it’s sth original!

Shigure’s “ it’s broadcasted all over the nation” is epic! XD! you know poor stupid kyo would fall for that! XD. kyo, you really are an idiot! XD... man this scene would’ve been epic comedy~ lol.

Tohru not knowing what a “dvd” is is outdated for the anime, but to still keep the sentiment of “her wishing she’d have a video footage of her mom”, they could’ve replaced her words with “ It’d be fun watching this play years from now & remembering all the details”. I know that to some, it feels weird that tohru doesn't have video footage of her mom in this era. but trust me, this is more common than you might think. My late brother, who’s way younger than me, doesn't have much video footage, he always felt awkward & preferred not to be filmed. We got photos for him tho~

Even if you want kyo’s knowledge of kyoko to be in the climax only. You can always include this scene of tohru & kyo in the first pages in the anime somehow. It doesn't even need to be abt the dvd even tho that’s manageable. Cutting this short scene of them talking abt videos, & catching cold is cutting tohru’s trauma from its core. Then, the old grandpa’s narration from se03, ep6 would at least have some backup in the anime’s canon.

Momiji & shigure are perfect as a comedic duo!

I can’t get over tohru’s art~ <3

Pinning kyo at the beginning is epic~ kyo always gets the BEST romantic lines when he talks to himself. “ burning (tohru’s ) memories into my head or forgetting everything”. The torturing fire inside him is only distinguished by loving her but is also ignited by loving her~ what’s the solution~

[gracielitamargarita]

Thoughts on Kyoru in Fruits Basket: The Final as a manga reader

(and bad metaphors about lava cake)

So with next week's impending shit storm of a Furuba episode next week, I've been doing some reflecting on our favorite Mutual Pining Idiots, Kyoru--and thinking about how the anime adaptation's choices in rearranging or removing content has impacted things, specifically with Se3E6.

And just to preface, I think the anime adaptation has been terrific overall. I also think loving something and critiquing something aren't mutually exclusive either. The goal of what I'm about to write is not to incite negativity, just to get some feelings out about my favorite pairing from my favorite manga series and provoke some deeper thought, I guess.

ALSO, I hope you don't mind metaphors--specifically ones about chocolate-raspberry lava cake, because that's what I've decided works best for explaining Kyoru. So FASTEN THOSE SEATBELTS PEOPLE 

MANGA SPOILERS regarding previously omitted content as well as VAGUE ANIME SPOILERS that can be implied/inferred from the ending of Se3E7 under the cut.

I think one of the (many) reasons I find Kyoru to be such a satisfying ship is because of the slow-burn element. Come season 2 through the beach arc, their chemistry is palpable, natural, and growing stronger and stronger with each episode. When Kyo finally admits to himself that he's in love with Tohru in Se2E9, it feels like we've been rewarded with a chocolate lava cake topped with raspberry sauce--it's delicious, complex, and full of gooey and satisfying substance.

Now like many, I'm a sucker for the pining idiot trope--let alone the MUTUAL pining idiot trope--and we do get to see this through the end of season 2 as Tohru's feelings for Kyo become more apparent to everyone BUT her. It's like we're LOOKING at the chocolate-raspberry lava cake, so close that we can ALMOST touch it, but we as viewers aren't allowed to cut into it yet--which makes every little encounter between the two of them all the more exciting, because we wonder what's finally going to allow us to ravish this goddamn lava cake (sorry).

Which is why I realized I'm actually struggling more than I initially thought in the final season. As it's been widely speculated, discussed, and now officially confirmed, we're getting 13 episodes this season. And while like most everyone else, I'd be thrilled with two cours, I don't know the ins and outs of anime production, AND, while I'm bummed, I've accepted that it is what it is--and that it isn't the reason I'm writing this post.

Of course not every panel or fleeting moment can be adapted from the manga to the anime. There were small little cuts here and there over the course of the first two seasons, but nothing in my opinion that's really SO substantial that it drained the lava cake of its filling--maybe some of that raspberry topping, but generally, the good stuff is all there. (Though I do love this moment below from chapter 82, which was skipped over in Se2E19)

The final season has been different, though. As we know in the manga, the inner turmoil for Kyo--and Tohru to an extent--really starts escalating immediately after Cinderella-ish with Kyoko's backstory and Kyo's nightmare from chapters 90-93. I also understand that Cinderella-ish was Se2E23, and with only 2 episodes left in the season, it made sense from a directorial standpoint to end with the Kureno/Akito reveal versus Kyoko's backstory and Kyo realizing he needs to know his place.

But without this context, it leaves moments like the flower scene from Se3E2 less impactful--like a lava cake made by someone who skimped on the filling. To an anime-only (and even as a manga reader), it's likely still a satisfying moment to watch: we know that Tohru clearly has a lot of inner turmoil following her conversation with Kureno. Kyo's turmoil following his nightmare, however--and overall, the sentiment of him thinking he needs to stay away from Tohru, yet still finding himself drawn to her above all odds--is deeply diminished.

Which leads me to the main reason (finally, sorry) that I wrote this post--Se3E6, or the episode when Tohru finally admits to herself AND to Rin that Kyo has taken the place of her mother as the most precious person to her. 

In the manga, Se3E6 is made up of chapters 107, 108, 109, AND 114, spanning the end of volume 18 through the beginning of volume 20 of the TokyoPop mangas. Volume 19 in particular is one of my all time favorite mangas in the entire series for one clear reason: just as we've seen Kyo get to do in season 2, we finally get to see Tohru slowly own her feelings for Kyo, and MY GOD, is cutting into that lava cake and enjoying that delicious filling satisfying AF. The Mutual Pining Idiots are in full swing here, both dealing with inner turmoil but also being unable to stay away from one another either. In addition, they're dealing with normal teenage awkwardness too, which feels like a bonus topping (would nuts go well, do we think? LOL) to the Kyoru lava cake.

But between the producers adapting Momiji's arc prior to episode 6 AND the producers ending episode 6 with a 2-minute horror movie essentially--AND, lest we forget, none of the Kyoko backstory at this point--we lost essentially all of that satisfying filling. 

And again, I understand, only 13 episodes and the producers are trying to make shit work and I do see why they made some of these changes in the overall big picture of things, but I wish it weren't at the expense of Tohru's character development and also for Kyoru, which had been so thoughtfully and delightfully well-developed in the first two seasons.

My biggest issue BY FAR with episode 6 is Tohru's confession to Rin happening before the sheets scene. The producers combined 109 and 114 for the second half of episode 6. In the manga, Tohru is able to openly admit that Kyo is the most important person to her BECAUSE of how he accepts her after she "opens the lid" to reveal the ugly feelings she's been harboring for years about her father. And in the manga, since we have the context of Kyoko's backstory and can see how she nearly committed suicide and left Tohru alone for days, it is gut-wrenching to finally hear Tohru confront and express her trauma in her own words. 

The sheets scene is arguably my favorite scene in the entire series. The anime portrayed it beautifully. Jerry and Laura ripped my heart out with their performances. It was a deeply moving scene (even with all of the changes) and the romance and pining was there--but, I hate to admit it, the feeling of cutting into that delicious lava cake to reveal that even more satisfying filling was not.

And now, come the end of Se3E7, we're approaching the climax of the series that we've been salivating for for so long now, the result of all of this inner turmoil and secrets and deep, deep longing for one another--and it almost feels now like the cake was baked too quickly, in addition to being drained of much of its filling. 

I was debating waiting to write this until next week after we see how Se3E8 goes, but my thoughts have been swirling about and this clown couldn’t help herself. I'd like to end this post on a hopeful and more forward-thinking note, though, if you've made it this far into my novel LOL.

There is definitely the potential to add a little more about Kyoko's backstory in next week's episode. I also expect that we'll hear more of Tohru's inner narrative and thoughts, which I’m really looking forward to. As several others have speculated as well, I predict that we'll be getting chapters 119-122 next week. Despite it being 4 chapters, everything should happen in sequence (versus with episode 6) and there's a lot of action, so I do feel like it won't feel rushed or disjointed. And while I could see them possibly ending with 121, 122 would be my preferred ending for many reasons (manga readers know where I'm going with this ;P) and I honestly see it fitting best there.

And regardless of what happens, I'm looking forward to eating whatever variety of lava cake is served to us next week.

And at the end of the day, we'll always have the manga, which will probably always be my favorite lava cake of all.

(and now I'm hungry for an actual lava cake)

[wondereads]

Personal Review (03/20/22)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Why am I reviewing this book?

This was a part of my ranking of Cinderella retellings, which can be found here. This book took a well-earned second place, and I thoroughly enjoyed my reread.

Plot 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Cinder is a mechanic in the Eastern Commonwealth, but she's worse off than most workers. Being a cyborg, she's a second-class citizen, but things start to change when Prince Kai asks her to fix his android. Cinder's life picks up significantly as the emperor dies, the power-hungry, mind-controlling Lunar queen, Levana arrives in the Commonwealth, and Cinder discovers she might hold the cure for the devastating disease, letumosis.

Even though I've read this book before, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. The plot is really amazing with so much coming together to make a story with no boring spots. Even the quieter, slower moments are by no means boring. While the main plot is centered around thwarting Levana’s power grabs, things like letumosis and cyborg discrimination, things that aren’t exactly necessary, add a lot of depth to the plot. There’s always something happening, which makes it all rather fast-paced.

Maybe it’s just my incessant fantasy consumption, but the worldbuilding feels pretty fresh. It walks the line between sci-fi and fantasy. Although it has a scientific explanation, the Lunars’ gift is just mind control. It adds another layer to the world that makes the threat so much more intense than just a dictatorial government.

Characters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Cinder is such an intriguing character. A cyborg mechanic with an special ability that makes sense in her backstory that also somehow makes the “secret princess” trope feel unique. She’s brash and uncouth, but she also has a soft side. I won’t lie, her unyielding morality sometimes irks me (I’m a firm believer that sometimes murder is okay, especially when it’s characters I like), but it represents her strength of spirit. A small detail that makes it so much better is that Cinder knows who Kai is. So many times in Cinderella retellings the main character either doesn’t know who the prince is or doesn’t care, but Cinder knows and is rather starstruck, even if she does a good job at hiding it.

Speaking of Prince Kai, he was a joy to read about as well. He’s sweet and lovable but still has a hint of snark that definitely shows itself in his scenes with Levana. He seems a little mature for 19, but I suppose that’s what happens when you inherit a throne before you’re ready. As for Cinder and Kai’s relationship, it doesn’t have the simmering sexual tension most romances do nowadays, but it doesn’t really need it. They both just have the utmost respect and admiration for one another, and it’s so nice to see a healthy relationship being built off of that.

In Cinder, Levana is fairly one-dimensional. While I’m aware she gets a ton of depth and backstory in the later books, including her novella, she does lack it in this one. Still, she’s an appropriately horrifying villain who is so easy to hate.

Of the side characters, my favorites are Peony and, of course, Iko. Despite Peony barely being there, the audience has an immediate emotional connection to her. Iko is there all the time, but I could never get sick of her. I normally don’t like the “always peppy best friend” archetype, but the context around Iko’s character makes her so much more likable.

Writing Style 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The pacing of this book is pretty much spot on. It moved quickly, I was never bored, but I was never overwhelmed either. The setup to a longer series is done perfectly, resolving some issues while leaving plenty hanging in the balance. Even if I had just sort of liked this book, I probably would’ve kept going.

The writing itself is very clever, especially with writing from the perspective of a cyborg. Things like Cinder’s in-eye portscreen, her built-in temperature control, and especially her foot, are interwoven into the story that makes them seem like the most natural things.

My only suggestion is a map. I want a map.

Overall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Cinder is often thought of as one of the YA classics, and it has rightfully earned its place. The plot is intriguing, the characters are likable and well-developed, and it takes a fairy tale retold multiple times and does something completely original with it. I know some people have issues with the representation in this book, but for something released in 2012, aka the height of white, straight YA, this isn’t bad at all. It leads seamlessly into the rest of the series, and it definitely deserves its popularity.

The Author

Marissa Meyer: American, 38, also wrote Heartless, Renegades, and Gilded

The Reviewer

My name is Wonderose; I try to post a review every two weeks, sometimes once a week, usually over vacations. I take recommendations! Check out my about me post for more!

[crazy-loca-blog]

Personal thoughts on Open Heart Second Year… and the mess with the Ethan plot

Note: As the title says, these are just personal opinions on Choices books and chapters. Of course, you may agree or disagree with them, I only use this platform to express my thoughts on what I read every week and what I’d like to see in the next chapters, because none of my friends play Choices so I have no one to comment the books with.

What can I say? That Ethan thing escalated quickly. And for some reason, after romancing this character for two books already, I feel like I need to share my POV about all of this.

In all of my posts about Open Heart, I try to do my best to cover or at least to have some knowledge of what’s happening on every LI route. I watch videos on YouTube or I ask people to share screenshots or to tell me what happened so that I can understand how everyone is progressing. And I don’t do it just to please everyone or to try to be neutral… I do it because I’m convinced that the Open Heart series has given us one of the best sets of LIs in this app. Trust me, I’ve been playing Choices for over three years now and there are only a few books where I’ve seen people this level of confused about who to romance because every LI is awesome.

But the truth is, even though I make my best efforts, my MC is romancing Ethan (and I’m a sucker for that man), so his plot is the one that I know the most. So welcome to my TED Talk about why Ethan’s route seem to be all over the place now. I really hope this post help people to understand why Ethan stans are mad (because I feel like everyone is arguing or complaining, but no one has taken the time to explain this thing) and also to understand that this isn’t something against the rest of the LIs, but only something very specific about Ethan’s route, especially in the last few weeks.

In case you’re not romancing Ethan, let me explain this to you to put things in context: even though after the hiatus there was some stuff that was already weird, during the last two chapters, people who’ve been romancing Ethan have been feeling that something just doesn’t add up. We all know he’s the slow burn of the series and we’ve been dealing with it for a long time now, so that’s nothing new to us as we signed up for it. But after the incident, the romantic relationship between the MC and Ethan moved forward and then you had the choice to have a “secret relationship” or to “keep things informal” (they’re literally “whatever they want to be”). And things seemed to be fine until Chapter 17… the gala. Not only we got a very public display of affection, but there were also some dialogs that led us to think that Ethan had finally got rid of his morals and that they were finally having their “happily ever after”. But then, Chapter 18 felt like going back to Book 1 all over again, you had this constant feeling of Ethan pushing our MC away. The same behavior was repeated during Chapter 19 and it was especially evident when they had their last scene at Edenbrook. Sure, it worked perfectly fine if you’re not romancing him, but to see them basically saying stuff like “goodbye”, “thanks for everything” and “you’ll be a great doctor” sure sounds like “wtf” after all you went through if you’re romancing him.

As you may see, things felt so weird, that it got us all wondering what happened between Chapter 17 and 18 that their relationship changed so much. And today, there was a post where someone (sorry, I can’t remember your user now!) explained what the original plot for Ethan and the MC was and why now there are so many things that don’t make any sense if you’re romancing him. The original plot was basically Ethan and the MC having a secret relationship that was discovered by someone. After they’re discovered, this person blackmails them and Ethan breaks up with the MC to save their career. In the original script, by the time of Chapter 18 and Chapter 19 they are not together, that’s why Ethan is so distant… but what about the gala? The gala was originally meant to be part of the final chapter. Does this make any sense to you now? I really hope so!

Now, in my very, very personal opinion… I think this actually stopped being about Ethan a long time ago. To me, this is now about all LIs in this book and how awful has been the rewrite for all of us, despite all the content that was added. When I look at this series, I always felt like the relationships were moving differently. I always perceived like Bryce and Jackie were the ones that were going faster, Rafael was like two steps behind them, and then Ethan was like five steps behind them all (because slow burn, you know). But during Book 2, I felt like Ethan was moving, Rafael just disappeared for half of the book (the worst and most disrespectful move ever!), and Bryce and Jackie sure made some improvements, but overall the relationship seemed to be a little stuck. And this is where I think there are two brilliant moments that were awfully wasted:

1. The incident: this was the opportunity where we all had a chance to deepen the bound with our LI, not only during the incident, but also after the funeral. And honestly, I’m still wondering why the writers only took that route with Ethan and not with the rest of the LIs. I assume it has to do with the original plot that I explained before but still… why the relationships with Bryce, Jackie and Rafael didn’t progress into something more serious at that time? What was the excuse to just not doing it?

2. The gala: this is another great milestone that could have worked even better than the first one. This was THE moment of the book where FINALLY all LIs seemed to be at the same level in their relationships, like… it was so evident to me that everything was there for them to move on… and sure they did, they went “public”. But it almost felt like a Cinderella story where after midnight everything goes back to what used to be normal a year ago: if it weren’t for the individual scenes we had with the LIs in Chapter 18, you could say that not only Ethan was pushing your MC away, but also that your MC was only having a hook up with Jackie, Bryce and Rafael. Too much work at the hospital? Maybe. But we had just taken this huge step in our relationships during the gala and then it felt like “nothing” happened for a long time!

If you follow my posts, you know that I adore Bryce with all my heart and soul, that I was the happiest person when Rafael wasn’t killed (and that I’m dying to see PB exploiting this new bound with the MC), and that I couldn’t be more proud to see how much Jackie has evolved as a character throughout the series. So I really hope you know I strongly disagree with people who want the original book back because no, I’m really glad that they didn’t kill Rafael and I’m really, really happy that the rest of the LIs got more scenes and that we had more bonding time with our friends, that’s absolutely out of question to me. However, I don’t know if I’ll ever understand why the writers had to quit that Ethan plot to make room to that new content, especially when Open Heart is by far the most popular series in the app at the moment and a lot of people not only would have loved to see extra long chapters, but also wouldn’t have had a problem with paying for those extra diamond scenes that could have been part of the plot.

[amyltia]

From Jo and Laurie to Rey and Ben : a story of heroines in denial

1. Laurie and Jo : if you don’t acknoweldge it, it won’t happen

Talking with @fairychamber I came to think about the scene in Little Women, between Jo and Laurie on the sofa with Laurie flirting with Jo and Jo using the rough pillow as a shield. I love this scene and I realized it hasn't been much adaptated in movies. I think the mini serie has it but not exactly (I'm not sure).

But I think this scene is a great scene for Jo and Laurie, a great summary and metaphor of their relationship. Jo using the pillow to reject him with subtlety and by doing so refusing to acknowledge that he IS flirting with her. Because as long as she doesn't reject him directly,  there is no acknowledgement, no commitment. The more I think about it the more I love the tension of this scene (I'd love to find more characters dynamics or scenes like that).

She can deny and doesn’t have to admit that their relationship has changed and that Laurie is flirting with her. That’s why she is so afraid of him proposing because if he does she can’t delay and deny it anymore, she’d have to face it.

In the pillow scene, she is using a pillow to keep him away, she is using a family convention (this pillow means no one goes near Jo) but Laurie who knows it doesn’t respect it, he transgresses that family convention. And he has to, in order to step up and alter his relationship with Jo. He wants to go beyond family innocent and childish love so he oversteps the conventions and try to give their relation a new direction.

There is a lot if indirect communication : Laurie’s flirt is an indirect and implicit communication and Jo’s use of the pillow is full on implicit. Jo’s strategy is to remain on the level of the pillow’s implicit so she never has to reach the flirtatious implicite, because as long as she doesn’t acknoweldge it, it won’t happen. 

N.B. I saw a video on how similar the proposal scenes in Little women of Jo and Laurie and the mini serie Anne of Green Gables with Megan Follows between Anne and Gilbert. Both heroines saw it coming but by fear of losing their current relationship and because they still hadn’t find themselves yet (Jo still felt like she didn’t fit in and Anne wanted to live her dreams and confront her illusions of a fanciful and romantic life) - and for many other reasons, like the fact that Jo don’t love Laurie and Anne didn’t know she loved Gilbert at that moment. They need to grow and are not ready yet. Like any fairy tale, the heroine has to grow before she is ready for love (Bruno Bettelhein on The Uses of enchantment sees the sleeps in Sleeping beauty and Snow white for exemple as a metaphor of the heroine hiding from love and maturity until she is ready).

This fear of confronting a romantic relationship heavily reminds me of Rey from Star wars.

2. Rey and Ben :  Ben scarier than Kylo ? Or Rey facing love/hate

Actually it’s the same with Rey and Ben : as long as she can deny it she doesn’t have to face it. That’s what the TLJ novelization suggests by :

“He advanced on Rey, the ignited lightsaber held loosely in one hand. But there was no threat in his approach. Somehow, suddenly, that scared her even more.” - TLJ novelization

I read it a few months ago, HOW DID I MISS how reylo it is ?

This is set right after the throne room scene, Rey and Kylo have fought the Praetorian guards, and are left by themselves. Kylo walks towards Rey, and then comes this quote.

In the context of only TLJ and TFA, it is still very reylo, because it assumes in a very paradoxal way that Rey is more afraid of a harmless Kylo than of a threating one, that she is more scared by Ben than by Kylo. Why ? Of course because she is more afraid of love, of her and Ben’s feelings, and because letting her rage go at Kylo, only fighting is much more easier for her.

Sounds familiar doesn’t it ?....like their whole dynamic in TROS ?

YES. Now in the context of TROS, this quote from the TLJ novel sheds light on TROS and specificaly on TROS’s Rey. I was confused by TROS’s Rey at first, and for a long time, but I like to think that this quote actually sums up her behaviour toward Ben. Each of their encounter is Ben trying to speak to her and Rey starting a fight. (Many great metas explain it very well)  

The TROS novelization is very useful too : especially the Pasaana scene where Kylo’s ship go straight towards Rey and she destroys it, almost killing him. I was wondering : did they really try to kill each other ? what were they, each of them, thinking ? The novel is very interesting on this point :

“Rey turned off her lightsaber. She hoped he was dead. No, she didn’t. She hoped...she didn’t know what she hoped.” - TROS novelization

Unlike fairy tale maiden, Rey can’t get into a protective and regressive sleep to protect herself from an adult relationship she is not yet ready for. She is confused : she wants him dead and away so she would be safe, but ....she doesn’t really of course. She is forced to face it more that she is ready for, thus the confused feelings and intentions. That’s probably how Sleeping beauty or Snow white would feel if they couldn’t stay away from the difficulty the prince is presenting to them : would they be running away but still coming back to the ball every evening like Cinderella ?

3. The non-magical form of the sleep in fairy tales : denial

So Rey’s character relies on another form of hibernation or sleep : in TROS she is overly violent. She pushs Ben away and she can because he is still Kylo Ren but also she can’t because except on Pasaana he usually just want to talk...Of course, like the TLJ novelization shows, him talking is much more scary for Rey than fighting him. Because if he talks to her he does get to her, he reaches her. And as many great metas on tumblr have said, she is much more afraid of this intimacy. While she tries to put herself into hibernation, he keeps trying to get to her. The only solution left is to maintain a distance and forge a wall of violence : this is Rey’s form of “Jo’s rough pillow”.

For those two characters, Rey and Jo, who can’t put themselves into a magical and protective sleep, not listening is the best way to stay away. Jo and Rey prevent Ben and Laurie to say their love and to reach to them, because they refuse to listen. If they don’t listen, they can’t be reached : this way they refuse to acknowledge the boys declaration of love. They build a wall (of violence to interrumpt the communication like Rey, or a physical and symbolical wall made of a pillow full of implicit familial codes like Jo) to mimic the magic sleep. And it works (but only for a time in both cases) because both Rey and Jo deviate the communication as Ben and Laurie try to start it :

Ben wants to talk as a neutral party (not ally not enemy) / Laurie flirts

Rey remains on the enemy relation / Jo uses indirect familial codes to keep him away (but it works less)

It’s about who will control the direction the conversation is taking : Rey wins because they end up fighting and not talking, but Jo doesn’t because Laurie simply ignores the indirect codes. Ben accepts to stop talking but Laurie doesn’t and Jo can’t make him stop because it would mean admitting that he is flirting. It’s important to notice that Ben is less direct that Laurie, even he doesn’t directly speaks or acts in a flirty way, he is only stage 1 : not being mortal enemies. Laurie is already stage 2 (appreciating each others, being friends) and tries to reach stage 3 (romantic relationship), so he can allow himself to be more directly flirtatious.

Why did it work less with Jo ? When we think about it, what Jo really does is using a family convention to stop a flirt, so in the end, she already has lost because Laurie makes her transpose something family-related to react to something love-related. Both of them know what the other one is doing, but they mutally agree to pretend like Jo is just acting on a familial basis, even tho they both know that she reacts to a love declaration. Just reacting to love is already playing the love game. In this implicit agreement we see the premices of Laurie’s eventual declaration of love : Jo had already lost.

(I’ll add I an annex on how Jo’s attitude is half-denial because Laurie and her knows she reacted to love, but Rey’s is pure denial because she only answers to Kylo from a ideological divisons perspective and pretends like she doesn’t even see the implicit of his speeches.)

[delicatebluebirdruins]

Shadow and Bone

This will contain spoilers (duh) some names being forgotten and its going to get long and some context less chaos

I hope i got the image ids right

Episode one (23rd April)

- ahh so the Fold= Dark Island form VoDT but with less summoning of monsters?

ID: Ben Barnes holding onto the wheel of a boat

- Many smol beans

Brief interlude with Nausicaa Valley of the Wind

Episode 1 cont. up to midway episode 7 (24th)

- magical brown trouser time my good sir

- buddies!!

- they’re not going to leave Alina alone to her existential crisis are they?

That tent looks like a circus tent to me and I have no idea why

- hmm hello completely innocent fallen branch

me: turns to sis and asks if we can we take brief intermission for this headbanger (which we did)

Turns out our brief intermission for the song was useless because after pressing play again it started buffering

we were talking about it and Dad misheard it as shaggy bone

Imagine the darkling but in pastels and black lace

- how the flipping heck can you fake bleeding light

- do you want to get lost Alina?

On Ben Barnes beard: 50% hot damn and 50% fight me (the way he tilts his head in this makes us want to hit him in the jugular)

Episode 3

- ooh look at the stag

- i love the bathroom

- damn Nina

- I wish Alina had time to get some magic tips but oh well

- replays Ben Barnes saying Moya Tsarieta twice

- how?! (Look I told you there was going to be bits where the context is tricky to pin point)

- i love the goat

- oh Jesper

- blue and gold is a great colour combination

- about the dinner scene: if this were me it would be the very rare time I stand up for myself

+ I want to add a small thing about the food taster... one is dream job/ i like him/ and imagine a taster eating something and it goes down the wrong way

- yes Jesper hug the goat- and

ID: a man with his thumb up gif from The Hunger Games; with him saying “nice shooting sweetheart” but I couldn’t find a gif of him saying it

- true north? I am never going to be free of bellarke am I?

- oh that hurts

Episode 4

- “our saint has arrived to late” 🤧

- ohh the stag is so pretty

- horses!!!

- time for a heist- i love this goat

- aww wishing fountain bonding

- the darking is growing on me

- i love Mikhail and Dubrov

- I love what we get to see of Nadia and Marie and Kaz and Inej and Jesper and basically everyone

- i love a heist (this isnwhat the hobbit should of been but you know with more dragons

- Mal is baby

- poor Nina

- ah ha a vicious cycle against the Grisha and Fjerdan

- I thought Arkens reaction was a bit odd

- oh Alina sweet heart- flashback time

- the map room is a aesthetic- using Aleksanders own words against him

That shot of the two of them is great

- poor Alina

- yas queen

- oh the stag!

- oh the machine gun; Mal poor buddy and of course flashback time

- i knew she was going to get the scar removed

Episode 5

- poor Mal

- Nadia is me

- Genya is amazing

- hi David and great minds think alike Alina (i had the same expression on my face when they were flirting)

- oh the creepy masks had a purpose

- “you’re not Ivan” you don’t say

- aand height difference... this first kiss is kind of weird to me

- oh Jesper you flirt

- I’m sorry firey people you’re going to be outshined

- Inej is so beautiful

- Dima?!?!

ID: two people from a scene in the Anastasia Musical the song My Petersburg

- what is the librarians dudes problem?

- Genya you badass... poor Marie (does Alina learn about this?? It would probably be forgotten just like her causing the death of her fellow mapmakers)

- I love the costumes

- Tofin (Idk his name) we don’t know you sorry you’re dead

- oh the kissing

ID: a gif showing two people kissing

- and him giving her the flowers is kind of cute but where did they come from?

- *pinched nose* I hate cryptic messages Baghra... holy shit... i mean I kinda knew he was immortal but still holy shit

- oh Kaz... Inej! Collect your bloody knives

- *snorting* The crows being sent to kidnap Alina and Jesper just watching her climb into the getaway carriage will always be hysterical (i personally would be laughing and thats why anything involving stealth is off the cards for me)

Episode 6

- rest in pieces Arken

- Alina broke Inej

- I love Ivan (remember the thing i said about forgetting names/ getting them mixed up? This is it.. I love Feydor a lot more than Ivan but they are both so cute together)

- my heart will go on starts playing?

- i like that horse statue in the background

- i love the beach... look at those waves... the wet look is great

- you done mess up Alina but also cool

- Mal is burly squid

- “burly squid” wheezing nosies

- now hug

- Kaz I love the cane

- “I see you now” aww

- I knew they were going to snuggle... those cute laughs

- the alarm clock though... i knew Inej should have taken the knife... i love Jesper... poor Inej... clever boy Kaz

- does it hurt? Mal? Does it hurt?

I have a habit at picking at things that hurt and well fictional characters aren’t safe from me wanting to poke something painful

- ride OR die bitches

- aand more height differences... getting very close there guys... Matthias please don’t let her fall.... they are kind of cute

- David through a book... 😂 they carriage jacked the Darkling

- David raising his hand is me... but damn it

- Alina is amazing... please remember you’re wearing the ring... Mal is best boy

- “adorable” snorting noises

Episode 7

- horsey!!!

- ahh the return of the VoDT hair (see first gif)

- Luda is familiar...

- yikes

- poor Aleksander being turned into a pincushion is not a great time

- poor Luda

- holy shit

- rock and hard place

- fuck off Baghra

- he wanted to help 😔

- ah so its like the hollow from Charmed

Image ID: gif from the og Charmed with text saying “ohhh she’s a demon!”

- this shot is beautiful... ah so I guess this could have been what happened if Caspian resurrected the White Witch... i guess

- hi stag.... oh okay 😔 poor Stag poor Mal

Flashbacks to Cinderella and Snow White (the one with Krisien Sterwart) natually it follows along with Snow White

- *squishie noises* poor Jesper... we love you Jesper but please stop talking to Inej just in case she sews her finger to the wound

- i love the crows and i love the chat about the crows

Buffers

The next day (25th) episode continued

- David looks so sad

- personally I would downsize the fold just as reminder of it

- that looks like that hurt

- I love Milo and Jesper 💖

- don’t look at it Alina... Genya is right that colour is horrible... tell her off Alina... poor Genya

- I think Jesper had fun playing a guard

- I knew the Darkling read the letters

Sister: why does he look like Tom Ellis right now?

- oh Mal

- blow dart... lol Kaz

- Milo!?! Oh the bullet you clever boy Mal

- i like the tent... he’s not wrong... we want to play with that dangly bit... oh the angst

- I thought you looked older (idk context)

- I love the outfit but couldn’t the necklace be anywhere else?

- “no mourners no funerals”

- I love the music

Episode 8

- I don’t trust that opening

- me too Crows, me to... how could you not know who Milo is

- I love Nina and Matthias so much... they are so pretty... I am not a fan of taxidermy... oh his name is Feydor sorry we kept getting you mixed up

- God damnit Kirigan.. a not so sneaky Mal... the honorary Crow... pick a side already darkling... Sun Queen?... did anybody notice her being tied down?... Good Mal and good Inej

- Jesper is amazing... so much death... bad bitch Zoya... I love Inej kissing the knife and nailing the Darkling with it... head shot... hello buddy??... this music though... badass Alina... fucking Ivan... holy shit and of course music is amazing

+ brave Kaz

- Inej and Alina bonding time... hugs? No hugs ☹️

- he offered her his hand 😞... Inej wants to hug... finally some hugs... Zoya has grown on me... i love Kanej (is that the ship name)

- Matthias oh no buddy... hill house flashbacks

- i love Jesper so much... Nina going “someone say heartrender??”

Image ID: someone turning around and raising eyebrows at camera

- Kaz saying “she’s a saint” made my heart happy

- I doubt the Darkling is dead...... i was right

- well shit/ coolness of making shadow monsters follow you (please let there be a flashback for this)

Bonus

+ imagine of Matthias and Nina decide to sleep rather than get food and were caught cuddling by the Grisha... I thought of this as I was getting into bed that night and i got up ran to my sister told her my thought she found the idea funny then went back to bed

+ people who own trains are evil?? Looks at snowpiercer

Bonus: the soundtrack is on spotify and itunes

Image id: someone bobbing along with headphones on

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Fruits Basket 2019 2nd Season Ep20 [”Are You Okay?”]:

After a few episodes of distilled pain, things are now moving back into fun high-school hijinks as Yuki continues to slowly grow as a person, and thing get more fleshed out with the student council.

Also wow I just realized that there’s only like five episodes left for this season, lol.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut.

Going along with how the last episode moved things around a bit in order to focus more specifically on Tohru and Rin, this episode covered chapters 81 and 83 in order to focus pretty much entirely on Yuki and the student council. Which I think helped make the pacing a bit smoother than it was in the manga.

Funnily enough, even though this episode technically adapted less than two full chapters because of how a little bit of chapter 81 was adapted last week, this episode still felt really long. Not in a bad way, though. It’s just kinda surprising that it felt so long even though they didn’t even add anything to it. At first I thought the stuff about deciding the roles for the play was moved up from a few chapters later in the manga, but after checking it again this is actually where it happened originally.

Either way, this episode was a lot lighter than the last couple, and mostly just serves to set up for the next couple of episodes and give us some emotional downtime after the whole Rin arc, but there’s still developments and reveals in it.

Mainly, this is where we start actually learning about Kakeru and Machi’s whole backstory together, and the fact that they’re siblings. Which really just reminds me how little I’ve cared for this whole part of them as characters, lol. Thankfully I haven’t seen anyone dislike it yet, but I still feel like it’s kinda tacked on and unnecessary, at least for Kakeru. It explains his whole attitude, but it still kinda feels completely unrelated to him as a character in practice. Though tbh my opinion on this is also kinda tainted by how even more tacked on the stuff later on with his whole history with Tohru was. They don’t really have anything to do with each other, but it kinda just leaves me not liking anything about his backstory, lol.

At least Machi gets to have her moment to be a badass and beat down a door with a chair.

Yuki’s also continuing to develop, but basically this whole episode was setting up for the big backstory section we’re gonna get next week, so not as much really happened with him here.

He had a nice moment with Kakeru where they bonded a bit over their family troubles, but I still kinda feel like Yuki’s whole message there was a bit unintentionally depressing. Maybe it’s just because of how notably extreme all the abuse and neglect in the Soma family is, but it doesn’t really feel like “oh well, we’re stuck with each other, what can you do :)” is super appropriate, lol. I more or less agree with what he’s trying to say, but in the wider context of the show as a whole it feels kinda uncomfortably defeatist. It probably doesn’t help that Kyo’s going through his own whole process of straight up resigning himself to a fate of imprisonment at the hands of his family.

I do still really like the whole bit about Yuki pointing out how unhelpful it is to just have Machi say she’ll never do anything destructive again and leave it at that, though. I’m not entirely sure how to put it, but it reminds me a lot of various experiences I had when I was younger, mainly in school.

Anyway, this episode was pretty 1:1 with it’s adaptation so there’s not a whole lot to talk about there, but I think it’s interesting how they cut off Yuki’s monologue at the end halfway through, so it doesn’t actually spell out the fact that he views Tohru as a mother figure like in the manga.

On the one hand I think it’s nice that they’re a bit more indirect about it, and they let the viewer fill in the blanks for themselves, especially since with how this episode started it’s pretty obvious even to an anime-only viewer what he’s trying to say. But on the other hand I think they probably just did this to remove some of the redundancy it’d cause to go straight from that into an entire episode going over Yuki’s backstory and explaining why he views Tohru that way. If they end the next episode where I think they will, it’ll also end on another line of him talking about how she’s a mother figure to him, so they probably didn’t want to be too repetitive with it.

I haven’t really thought much over the last few weeks about how I expect the rest of the season to be paced out, but now that we’ve only got around five episodes left I may as well lay some of my speculation out, lol.

I think it’s pretty safe to assume that the next three episodes will adapt the next six chapters, ending at chapter 89, which is the end of the whole Cinderella arc. I think that’ll work out pretty neatly, and continue the whole pattern of them adapting two chapters per episode on average.

I’m way less sure about how they’ll handle the last two episodes of the season, though. In the manga, we get the Kyoko backstory arc after that, and since that’s four chapters long it could easily cover the last two episodes [and it wouldn’t be the first time they spent two episodes on a backstory arc], but I’m just not sure if they’ll want to end the season off with that arc, or if they might move things around so that they end it on a different scene, and the Kyoko backstory stuff happens at the start of season 3 instead. I guess it’s entirely possible they might just stick to the manga’s pacing and end season 2 off with that arc, but who knows.

One way or another, after all that we’ll get into season 3, and that’s when I really start being less sure about how the adaptation will play things out. Mainly because my memory of the whole final third of the manga is way more foggy, lol. But I feel like it’s also where the story becomes notably more ‘free-flowing’ with it’s pacing, and there’s fairly big chunks of the story that cover a relatively small period of time, so in a lot of ways the pacing changes a fair bit at that point, and it makes it kinda hard to tell how season 3 will work.

Also there’s the fact that once this season is done, there’ll probably be around 43 chapters left for season 3 to adapt, which means that they’d probably have to either slow down the pacing at some points or add in original content, since if they stick to the two chapters per episode pace they’ve been following on average thus far, then that’d lead to 22 episodes of content [taking into account how the final chapter is twice as long as a usual chapter]. It’s possible they could try and do it was a 1-cour season instead, but that’d probably just feel rushed. I just kinda worry that season 3 might end up feeling dragged out if they spend multiple episodes only adapting one chapter at a time, or if they do some entirely anime-original stuff.

But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, lol. At this point I have faith that they know exactly what they’re doing, but it’s hard not to be a bit worried.

[thewickedmerman]

My Fan-Cast for the Live-Action Remake of The Swan Princess

As some of you might be aware, there is going to be a potential live-action remake of the 1994 animated classic, The Swan Princess. The original movie is one of my all-time favorite movies, not just in animation but in general. It has fantastic songs, a lovely score, great characters, beautiful animation, a cool villain, awesome action scenes, funny comedy, and an engaging romance. So I am both very excited and cautious about the live-action remake, due to how much the animated movie means to be (I was actually born only twenty-one days before the movie was released in theaters). I don’t want it to be an exact copy but rather tell it in a new way while staying true to the original, as well as justify its existence. The creators of the original Swan Princess, it’s two hand-drawn sequels, and its terrible CGI movies are wanting to make a live-action remake of the classic. They are really awesome with how they interact with their fans and even accept that most of the fans really hate the computer animated movies. They appreciate praise and criticism, unlike some studios that only want praise. Anyway, they created a concept trailer, which is pretty much like what a pilot for a TV series is. It’s to give an idea of what it could be rather than being a finished product, so the actors in it aren’t necessarily going to be in the actual movie, as well as the effects/CGI not being finished. They are looking for the right studio to help make the film a reality. To get an idea, here is the concept trailer.

Anyway, despite being a little nervous about the movie, I am also excited for it because I want to see how they bring it to life. Besides, just like many fans, I’d much rather see a live-action remake of The Swan Princess than one of their computer animated movies, but I won’t go into that. Something I will go into is my dream-cast for this movie. As many of you know, I have a thing for doing my own fan-casts for movies. I’ve even made a video of my fan-casting choices as well, which I will include at the very end of this, which shows their acting and singing abilities. However, I did not include the animal sidekicks (Jean-Bob, Speed, and Puffin) or Bromley and I replaced Bridget (The hag and Rothbart’s little minion) with Rothbart’s daughter from the original Swan Lake ballet, the Black Swan herself, Odile. Let me be clear, I have nothing against those characters AT ALL. I love all of them! However, I feel like their very cartoony and Looney Tunes style of humor wouldn’t work in a live-action setting. So without further ado, here are my casting choices.

Jennifer Morrison as Odette’s Mother

If you have seen Disney’s live-action remakes, you’d know that they have a thing for actually showing the dead mothers of Disney Princesses. Cinderella’s mother, Belle’s mother, they revealed that Ariel’s mother is going to be in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, and while Jasmine’s mother didn’t make a physical appearance, she was mentioned a lot. So why not do the same with The Swan Princess? It could be added to the prologue and have her die giving birth. Jennifer Morrison has proven in Once Upon a Time that she is really incredible in labor scenes. Emma giving birth to Henry is considered one of Jennifer Morrison’s best performances, if not her absolute best. She also has a beautiful singing voice, which could make for a lovely new song in the movie, like a lullaby to Odette before she dies from childbirth. Maybe it would be one that could foreshadow Odette’s journey like the song “All is Found” from Disney’s Frozen II. Plus, Emma Swan is basically the Odette of the Once Upon a Time world. She’s too old to play Odette but she can still play her mother.

Kevin Kline as King William

I instantly thought of him for King William because of his role in the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast. He showed such tenderness and a loving fatherly nature as Maurice that he would be perfect for King William, who is protective of nurturing towards Odette. He can also be funny and charming, which is another part of King William. He’d be able to show what a loving father and an entertaining character he is, which will make his death all the more heartbreaking and you could even show flashbacks to Odette’s childhood that shows how much she misses her father. The live-action remake should show more of how Odette is traumatized by her father’s death and how she didn’t get to say goodbye, hug him one last time, or tell him that she loves him for the very last time (But still have the main focus be on her relationship with Derek and try to develop it further). So it would add a layer of depth and complexity to Odette’s character and showing some flashbacks of their bond will make her refusal to give Rothbart her father’s kingdom even more powerful than it already is. She’d also wonder if she’d be the kind of queen he wanted her to be or he would be proud of, which he would be because she’d be putting the needs of her people ahead of her own by not giving into Rothbart. Kevin Kline is a strong actor that would exemplify everything that would make for a great King William and help with Odette’s own journey as a character with her wanting to make him proud. Not to mention that Kevin Kline has Broadway experience and can really sing. He actually has a better voice than what he had displayed in the remake of Beauty and the Beast, which will be important for the musical sequence, “This is My Idea.”

Josh Gad as Chamberlain

I can’t imagine anyone else as Chamberlain! I mean, he’s flamboyant, he’s hilarious, he doesn’t rely on shouting or being loud for humor, he can be subtle, he can act, he can dance, he has so much charisma, and he can sing. Josh Gad IS Chamberlain! His credits speak for themselves with his Broadway work, voice acting, and film work. Sure, his singing voice is higher than Chamberlain’s but he actually can sing in a lower register. Even if he can’t, he still has a phenomenal voice and so much energy that it wouldn’t really matter. He’d bring alive the musical sequence, “Princesses on Parade.” He’d be able to make the humor of Chamberlain feel like it’s more natural in the live-action remake the same way he managed to make Lefou feel more grounded in the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast.

Sandy Duncan as Queen Uberta

This won’t take much explanation because of the fact that she is the original voice actress for Queen Uberta in the original film. She’s the right age to play her in live-action and even said she could do Uberta now. She’s known as “Funny Girl, Sandy Duncan” for a reason. She will be able to bring Uberta to life with her humor, charm, quirkiness, and charisma. But also show her caring and motherly side. Besides, it would be a great callback to the original movie to have her reprise her role in live-action.

David Hyde Pierce as Lord Rogers

This would be absolutely PERFECT! I mean, if you have seen him in his most iconic role, Niles Crane from the sitcom Frasier, you’d know he would be able to capture the dry wit that Rogers is known for. He can also do physical comedy as well, which Rogers does some of. Not to mention he can also pull off the wise and caring mentor aspect that Rogers is to Derek. He has such an appealing sounding speaking voice that is 100% right for Rogers. He’s the right age and still has a lot of energy in him, despite his age. He also has Broadway experience, so he’d be able to pull off the singing aspect as well.

Bella Thorne as Odile

I know a lot of people hate on Bella Thorne, but that doesn’t change what a brilliant actress she is with A LOT of experience. She’s been acting since she was six-years-old and even played a villain at the age of eleven (Maybe even younger) in the movie Forget Me Not. She has experience playing villains in movies like The Duff, You Get Me, The Babysitter, and The Babysitter: Killer Queen. She can be very frightening, especially in You Get Me, despite the film not being very good. Just the look of her eyes shows how intimidating she is. She can be very sassy and make it come off as very natural and not feel forced. She puts her heart and soul into every role she’s in. It’s always clear that she is giving it her all. While her movie Infamous was received negatively, her performance received critical acclaim. One critic in particular compared her talents to award winning actress, Sandra Bullock. Her acting talents have even been praised by award winning actress, Jessica Chastain, as well as many other celebrities that just loved working with her (Which is pretty much everyone she’s worked with). She’s very seductive, which Odile is known for, and is absolutely gorgeous. She also has a lovely singing voice. Nothing great but still good enough for a movie musical. If they included her in the movie and decided to make her a redeemable villain, Bella Thorne would be able to show that with her wide range of acting. Crying real tears is something that comes very easily to her. She’d be able to show the complexity and dimensions of the character.

Either way, it makes much more sense to have Odile be in the role of the Black Swan instead of Bridget. The Fake Odette is supposed to act seductive and also give Derek some hesitation to show that he has a feeling something isn’t right. It shows how he isn’t only interested in Odette because of her looks. This makes more sense with Odile because her behavior and mannerisms should be more like her own rather than like Odette’s, which doesn’t work with Bridget. In all the scenes that Bridget is in, she’s very comedic, wacky, silly, and over-the-top in her behavior and mannerisms. That makes her entertaining, but it doesn’t make sense in the context of the Black Swan trick. Just an observation I have. Not to mention that it could give Rothbart more motivation for wanting the kingdom, because of his love for his daughter. Besides, a lot of fans are hoping that Odile will be in the live-action remake. In my opinion, Bella Thorne is the only real choice for the Black Swan. She’s a phenomenal actress, she’s a good singer, she’s sexy and seductive, and she’s gorgeous. With a major movie like this, she could end up getting an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress and have people finally take her seriously as an actress. I think she’s the most talented actor on this fan-cast list (I don’t care what anyone says) and that is saying something because this cast is phenomenally talented.

Toby Stephens as Rothbart

First of all, I cast a real redhead as Rothbart because I’m not ignoring gingerism like a lot of people are. Second of all, talent is in his blood, since he is the son of critically acclaimed actors, Robert Stephens and Maggie Smith. With brilliant talents like that for parents, you know that he has to be a brilliant talent as well. He is a phenomenal actor with many credits to his name. He’d be able to capture the gruffness of Rothbart but also the class, anger, sinister nature, wit, and energetic charisma of the character. He can also sing, though out of all the actors here, he has the weakest voice. However, his voice suits the character. It’s deep and raspy, which is perfect for the musical sequence, “No More Mr. Nice Guy.” He’s the second most talented actor on here, next to Bella Thorne, which makes sense because villains tend to be the ones to steal the show. Everyone loves a good villain. Honestly, I can’t imagine anyone else as Rothbart but Toby Stephens.

Derek Klena as Prince Derek

I mean, he already has the name for it, though that had nothing to do with this casting choice. He has an incredible singing voice and a lot of Broadway experience. He even played another Non-Disney hero on Broadway in the musical Anastasia as the love interest, Dimitri. YES! I’m aware that Disney bought 20th Century Fox and therefore own Anastasia. However, I still don’t consider Anastasia to be Disney. Anyway, his voice has a love of passion, power, tenderness, and is just the voice of a prince. He also has experience in screen acting and not just stage acting, which are two completely different skillsets. He demonstrates a lot of charm and charisma in his acting, so he’d be able to bring the character to life. When he sings, he shows just what a great actor he is as well as a singer. You can instantly connect with the character he’s playing and what he is feeling/going through. Not to mention that he is really handsome. But I hope that they won’t give Derek that ugly hairstyle that he has in all of the movies.

Demi Lovato as Princess Odette

Now for The Swan Princess herself. I bet some of you think that this is an odd choice because of how Demi is a pop star. However, that doesn’t mean she can’t be a princess. Look at Mandy Moore as Rapunzel in Disney’s Tangled. Besides, look at Demi with blonde hair. She looks exactly like Odette! Demi Lovato’s voice may not be as light as Odette’s usually is, but she still has a voice that would translate very well into the Broadways style music. Her vocal abilities speak for themselves and are undeniably brilliant. Not only that, but she’s a great actress, which a lot of people seem to forget because of how she focuses on her music career. It also wouldn’t be the first time she’s played an elegant princess, since she was in the Disney Channel original movie, Princess Protection Program. I also feel like she’d be able to capture qualities of Odette that people often overlook. Odette in the original trilogy (Especially the first movie) was feisty, strong-willed, and defiant. Demi represents those qualities perfectly in everything she does. She can capture Odette’s kindness and caring nature, since she is such a loving soul, but also manage to represent other qualities that make Odette who she is. She isn’t afraid to go against Rothbart, find a way to get out of her bad situation, and even defy her father in wanting Derek to tell her what he loves about her besides her looks. She even has some experience with voice acting, so she’d be a natural when having to do voice acting for Odette when in her swan form.

She’d also be able to capture the sexy and seductive behavior that is required for when Odile is disguised as Odette. If you have seen any of Demi Lovato’s music videos where she’s very provocative, she’s clearly able to capture that perfectly. Plus, if the movie does have Odile and they cast Bella, it would work because of how Demi and Bella are actually really good friends, so they’d be able to work together to make sure that Demi could imitate the mannerisms that Bella establishes for Odile.

Lets also not forget that she could help write an original song for the movie, which could get an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. Demi’s songs, more often than not, have a story-telling quality to them. Her songs have her emotions and feeling out on her sleeves for people to know about and sometimes even have something of a character arc. Combine that with a traditional Broadway score by Lex de Azevedo or maybe even with the score from the original Swan Lake ballet by Tchaikovsky. Besides, with her MASSIVE fanbase, she would draw in a LARGE crowd, especially since they would love to see her in a movie musical, particularly one that would have a theatrical release. I wouldn’t be surprised if she got an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

BONUS MATERIAL:

For some bonus material, I’ve included who I would choose to sing the end credit songs from the original movie, “Far Longer Than Forever” and “Eternity.”

“Far Longer Than Forever”: Jordan Fisher and Coco Jones

These two singing a duet together would be absolutely HEAVENLY! They have absolutely amazing voices with wide and versatile vocal ranges. Jordan Fisher is pretty much a male version of Mariah Carey. Coco Jones is pretty much a younger version of Jennifer Hudson. Not to mention singing the end credit song to a remake of an iconic and beloved animated movie could help her get the recognition she deserves. She was done dirty in Hollywood because of her being a dark-skinned black woman. Singing the end credit version of “Far Longer Than Forever” in the live-action remake could be to her what “Reflection” was for Christina Aguilera. That song is what helped make Christina the massive star she is today, so much so that she came back to sing a new version of the song in the live-action remake of Mulan.

“Eternity”: Anneliese van der Pol

Anneliese van der Pol is such an UNDERRATED talent! She has one of the most amazing voices I’ve ever heard in my life. It’s so powerful, she can seriously belt, has such an old fashioned beauty to her voice reminiscent of singers like Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand that is rare to find nowadays, she can be full-on but also tender, and is a Broadway singer. She would do the song justice and would stay true to the spirit of it. I mean, listen to her cover of the song “Candle on the Water.” Usually with Disney Mania, it’s almost always modern style music to classic Disney songs, however, Anneliese’s cover was in the same style as the original song, which is unique. In fact, her cover was better than the original.

Lastly, did you know that The Swan Princess has an OFFICIAL Youtube, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram? They even interact with fans A LOT! Take a look!

https://www.instagram.com/swanprincessofficial/

@theswanprincessofficial​

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm_Q3k32sEVQbrANS7-vSjA

https://www.facebook.com/official.swanprincess/

You can even send an email to Odette@swanprincessseries.com where you can ask a question and it might be chosen for the monthly Chamberg Daily News (Chamberg is the name of Derek’s kingdom).

[bullseyegames]

3, 4, 6, 7 For the Meta Asks

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

Oh goodness... so when I was making rough draft ideas for the Toymaker, one of the originals involved Tugger being a prince and having essentially a big courtship masquerade ball to find him someone to marry (kinda Cinderella esque). Misto reluctantly attends, but halfway through the evening he has to use magic to clean his clothes and decided to add a little more sparkle than his uncle would have normally allowed. When Misto re-enters in new attire no one recognizes him and Tugger falls in love.

Long story short, Misto is magical and magic is illegal so they realize the only way to be together is if they flee to a country that allows magic. Tugger can’t leave of his own volition as a prince, and they want to make sure his family doesn’t think he’s in any danger so they decide to have Misto come in during a ball in disguise and teleport them both away after proclaiming their love in front of the entire court. I have wanted to write this scene for years, but if I did it would be the last chapter in the book and I just couldn’t build up the nerve to write the rest.

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

“The day was beautiful. After a week of rainfall the sun had finally managed to poke through the clouds, illuminating the damp world below in a gentle glow. The grass shimmered as the sunlight caught the drops of dew clinging on to the frail blades, and the trees rustled gently in the warm breeze. April showers had, as was often said, brought May flowers and the garden was blossoming beautifully. The ivy climbing the white stone walls was a vibrant green and rustled slightly as a hand idly rubbed a leaf between its fingers. A pair of birds fluttered past the window that he sat in, chasing and playing as the bright day allowed. Yes, Quaxo had to admit the day was truly beautiful. It had been the perfect weather for the funeral.”.

Not only an I proud of this because this is the first paragraph of my first ever fanfic, but it also perfectly encapsulates how I enjoy writing: way too much description. XD

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

Oh I have a lot of fun writing children and children’s perspective. It’s so much fun to write from the perspective of someone so curious and excited by everything. In terms of characters though I really enjoy writing Mistoffelees in my current fic. The entire fic is going to be written from his and one other characters perspective for a reason, but we won’t see who that other character is for a bit. :3

7. What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

I’m very descriptive and will often over describes the most simple details (like Victoria’s dress in the first chapter of The Toymaker). This also shows up in my rp’s whenever I’m describing a room or even the look in a cats eyes. It’s a habit. My teachers tried to break it. They failed. >:3

[fyrapartnersearch]

a slew of embarrassing things (slice of life, disney, detective pikachu/pokemon, medieval fantasy)

INTRODUCTION

—Call me Racket!

—21!

—Central time!

—Email only! (You can reach me at electrimming@gmail.com)

—Multiple paragraphs! I roll out 300-350 words on average, maybe? Two paragraphs at the barest minimum if it's a very slow scene for some reason, at least!

—Active either every day or every 3 days or so depending on work!

—Earnest! I'm an enthusiastic partner, I love investing in our characters and getting to know each other! ^^

—Romance! I'm a romantic at heart! I've dipped into a lot of M/F lately so I'm currently returning to my roots and only looking for M/M or F/F!

WHAT I'D LIKE FROM A PARTNER

—18+! Even if nothing on the mature side happens in our RP, I generally stick to writing with people 18+! All characters will be 18+ as well, I usually go 20+ minimum!

—Multiple paragraphs! Seriously, I know this sounds harsh but don't contact me if you are a very lax writer/go for rapid replies or write a paragraph or less on average!

—OOC chat is highly preferred because I like getting to know people and gushing over our characters!

—DON'T CONTACT ME JUST SAYING YOU'D LIKE TO RP, OMG! Again, I sound super harsh but I'll seriously just delete it! Give me context and substance to work with so I can get a feel for who you are!

—Smut's not mandatory but I don't mind it!

—If we don't talk much OOC, communication is key anyway! I want whatever we do to be a roleplay we both enjoy!

Figured I'd get the important stuff out of the way off the bat! I think you can grasp from the title what I'm rooting for this time around, but click onward for the specifics. :)

ROMANTIC SLICE OF LIFE

—Well, I'll be honest. I went out of town for the weekend and caught the tail end of those really horribly cheesy Hallmark movies, and I (being a romantic at heart) wound up caving with the whole... cliched, cheesy romance movie theme.

I've written romance in the past, of course, but never as a major focus of a roleplay! It's always been at the side of a story, so I figured I might as well try something new here. You know the drill. Every cutesy, goofy, overused romance trope in the backdrop of slice of life that you see in Hallmark movies? Throw them at me.

Single parants, divorcees, struggling bakers, big city person moves to a small town in the country, opposites attract, childhood friends, drama, anything else you can think of? I'm for it. Even the age-old "royal/wealthy person moonlights as a regular person or falls for the charmingly clumsy but endearing person hired for [job]". I'm ready for anything.

DISNEY

—To piggyback off the above, I caught some Disney movies while I was home on account of my younger cousins, and it made me think of some older ads I'd seen on here.

Basically, just re-imagining any classic Disney tale with M/M or F/F. You know, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Tangled, Hercules... Really anything, that's just all I've got off the top of my head!If you want to stick to the main story but adjust the characters to fit with M/M or F/F, great! If you want to make a story of our own with OCs and have everything be inspired off of a Disney tale, also great! Really, I'm down for it all. I've never been a big Disney person, but after watching the movies, I'm surprised at how quickly I've taken to falling for them by re-imagining it all with M/M or F/F.

DETECTIVE PIKACHU/POKEMON

—After watching the Detective Pikachu movie, I really just fell in love with Ryme City. The entire concept, seeing Pokemon come to life like that — it killed me. In a good way, of course!

To preface, I'm a Pokemon veteran. Played every game and have been a fan since I was eight. So we don't have to work with just Detective Pikachu! I'd just love to do something with our own characters in the Detective Pikachu universe, either in Ryme City or in another location we make up. Building a region of our own? Who knows, the possibilities are endless!I'm also a sucker for pokemon journeys, so we don't have to stay in just a city if you'd rather go elsewhere. Just seeing regular people with pokemon really got me into it, so I'd have a complete blast with characters like that stumbling on a bigger issue or conspiracy like in the movie! (Not the same plot, of course!) I've been entertaining lots of character ideas, like a conman and an ex-model and an ex-battler... (I've kind of been thinking of something like a thief roping in an everyday person into an exciting adventure, hehe.) I really think DP brought up a whole new aspect of Pokemon to explore, so I'm there 100%. ;o;

Buuuuut like I said above, I'm a longtime pokemon fan so don't worry if you haven't seen the movie or would rather stick to the games! I can very easily do that too. Just. Pokemon!

MEDIEVAL FANTASY

—Can't go wrong with the classics! This one's planned the least, since I've no plot or really any idea I'd like to do. It is, however, much more time-consuming with planning and world-building than my other proposed plots! Fantasy's always been a genre I've been more inclined to world-build for, so I'd like to have a central plot to lean into with this.

Political drama, mythological creatures, secret romance, royal/knight, spells and curses, journeys, prophecies, etc! Anything and everything fantasy, roll it my way. I'm a sponge ready to soak things up. That sounds really gross, actually. Forget I said that specifically but the sentiment is still there. And that said, we also don't have to do any of that, those are just examples! Tell me what you've got and we can go from there. :)

Aaaaaand I think that's about it! Oh, but before I forget: I mentioned earlier that smut is perfectly okay, but I should add that I don't really write top/bottoms after so many years of getting lumped with writing dominant tops for other people. I write verse characters, but if you're inclined otherwise we can talk it out! :)

[hamliet]

Disney Princesses as Strong Women: Pocahontas’s Power to Choose Her Path

That one Disney Princess movie without a happy ending.

As per my requisite disclaimer, there is absolutely room for (a lot of) legitimate criticism of Pocahontas, especially around its portrayal of culture, history, and race, and this is not going to invalidate any valid criticism of the film or of Pocahontas, but rather offer a different perspective on her film and specifically on Pocahontas as a Disney character in the Disney film, not as a real person.

Out of all the Disney films, though, I do want to add an extra disclaimer for Pocahontas. It has a lot of cringe-worthy and outright inaccurate and offensive racial portrayals. The song “Savages” in addition to having extremely racist terms used in it, equates Native Americans with the colonists, and while the message of the song would make sense in the Romeo and Juliet situation the film portrays it as, it does not work in the context of a real historical issue where there was a clear aggressively racist, genocidal, and plain morally wrong side (the colonists), especially when the oppression of Native Americans is still very much a thing. However, I want to focus this meta on Pocahontas’s fictional character within the film, because I think there’s a lot to like in terms of who she is. That being said, divorcing from context is hard, so there’s a tension there. If anything I say is insensitive, please let me know.

So Pocahontas opens with the colonizers setting sail from England with the song “Virginia Company,” which includes the lyrics:

For the New World is like heaven And we'll all be rich and free Or so we have been told By the Virginia Company So we have been told by the Virginia Company

The emphasis on “so we have been told” sets up one of the themes Pocahontas’s character exemplifies: the idea of choosing your path versus following lies and promises given by people who are probably motivated by their own selfish desires (Governor Radcliffe). The riches the song describes are, of course, not there, but the colonists follow the hope of it and wind up missing the forest for the trees. Essentially, Pocahontas encourages critical thinking and moving one’s concerns from just one’s own life to one’s place in the world.

The beginning also sets up John Smith as a foil to Pocahontas. From the very beginning, he’s fundamentally concerned about himself, constantly talking about his wants and adventures. In the song, “Mine,” which emphasizes the greed of the colonists, Smith, who has no interest in gold, chimes in “hundreds of dangers await/And I don’t plan to miss one!” He’s only thinking about his own desire for the next thrill, telling the other colonists that he’s “been to dozens of new worlds” and doubts this one will be unique, and comments that he expects the Native Americans to be basically the same as other people: “If they’re anything like the [people] I’ve fought before...” His perspective is entirely centered on himself: he views adventures and new lands and other people also as things for himself, instead of seeing himself as part of a whole world.

Pocahontas is a bit different, but she also struggles to learn responsibility throughout the film. It’s noted to Powhatan in his introduction (when he asks where his daughter is) that she “takes after her mother” and “goes wherever the wind takes her.” Cut to Pocahontas and Nakoma (a good friend, this movie miiiiight pass the Bechdel test? It’s kinda borderline), and Pocahontas jumps off a cliff. However, Meeko jumps after her and is terrified, symbolically warning that even though her freedom is not the selfishness of John Smith, her choices still affect others both positively and negatively at times as well, as we’ll see them affecting her father, Kocoum, Nakoma, and more.

Powhatan tells her "you are the daughter of the chief. It is time for you to take your place among the people," and gives her the necklace that belonged to her mother. Pocahontas is often compared to her mother: the first two scenes I mentioned, and Grandmother Willow also tells Pocahontas her mother once asked her the same question about what path to take in life. There is perhaps the suggestion that people are expecting Pocahontas to take her mother’s path, but as Grandmother Willow encourages, she has her own choices to make.

The answer, after all, as Grandmother Willow says, is to “listen.” Empathy and learning are paths to being able to make wise decisions, after all. This will be emphasized later when she begs her father to “try talking to [the colonists]” instead of resorting to war. Towards the climax of the film, Smith comments that the colonists won’t want to listen to reason because "everything about this land has them spooked." A creepy figure then appears, howling as if to emphasize his words--but it turns out to be Percy, Radcliffe’s dog, symbolizing that what’s really spooking the colonists is themselves.

When Smith and Pocahontas meet, he almost shoots her, and then falls in love with her, which is the story calling him out on the violence he previously bragged about.

When she runs, he tries to stop her from leaving by forcing her to stay via grabbing her canoe.

But Pocahontas is not having that. He tries to speak to her in English and they realize they can’t understand each other, so he offers her his hand--symbolic of listening. Notably after this the language issue goes away which again, don’t think too hard about it it’s a children’s story, but symbolically it seems to represent the idea that once they’re listening to each other, they can understand each other.

When Smith goes all White Savior on Pocahontas, claiming that “we'll show your people how to use this land properly... build houses” and Pocahontas points out their houses are just fine, he patronizing counters “you think that your houses are fine only because you don't know any better." And she leaves. Pocahontas is not here for your racist patronization instead of listening to her. They then launch into “Colors of the Wind,” with its fitting lyrics about how they all have a place in the world, but it’s essentially not all about them and encourages respect for “every rock and tree and creature.” You desires matter, but so do other people’s.

When she says she has to go because she can hear the drums signifying that her people are in trouble, the exact same scene as their first meeting plays out, except this time he lets her leave instead of trying to stop her. He lets her make her own choices. 

When Pocahontas starts spending more and more time with John Smith, Kocoum warns Nakoma “tell her not to run of... she listens to you.” In response Nakoma snorts and says, “Sure she does,” because well, Pocahontas doesn’t, and she doesn’t tell her best friend what’s going on until it’s too late. This leads to tragedy when Nakoma tries to help her by sending Kocoum to help her because she worries for her friend’s safety, and Kocoum is killed. As he dies, he tears Pocahontas’s necklace from her neck, symbolically threatening to tear her connection with her mother’s free path.

And yet John Smith is unquestionably the one more at fault for bringing about the tragedy. Radcliffe tells an impressionable Thomas that “a man's not a man unless he learns how to shoot.” Oh hey white America hasn’t changed at all.

Smith then gives him advice, teaching him how to shoot from his presumably many experiences shooting...

...but Thomas then uses the gun to save Smith but kill Kocoum.

Smith then takes the blame for Thomas, sacrificing himself for a kid who’s really naive and was only trying to follow in the footsteps of Smith, his idol. And Pocahontas then throws herself onto Smith, protecting him at the risk of her own life as well. As she runs to save him, she sings “I don’t t know what I can do/Still i know I've got to try" jumping over a gap between two rocks because symbolism.

This shows Pocahontas growing, taking responsibility for what is about to happen to Smith. They stop the war, but Smith is shot because he again realizes that he should take responsibility because he’s the one who came here in the first place (and the... smokescreen... reason the colonists were marching on them) and jumps in front of Powhatan to save him.

He asks Pocahontas to return with him. Her father gives her his blessing to do so. But she turns him down, though she loves him, because she says, “my place is with my people.” But instead of having her path written for her, she has made her own choice, and she made it by listening. It was time she take her place among her people, but she needed to define that place herself, and listen to the world around her to arrive there, instead of simply acquiescing. 

And so he leaves and cue a tragic ending, but for the children. But Pocahontas’s character has a lot of power and emphasis on growing up and what that entails: learning, listening, guidance, making mistakes and growing from them. I really like her character a lot, and it’s certainly one of the more thematically... realistic as opposed to optimistic Disney films.

Up next, one of my favorites: Esmeralda! Yes I know she isn’t technically a princess but to quote the Genie from Aladdin, she’s a prince[ss] to me, so I’m writing about her :P For previous entries in this series, see here:

Snow White’s Self-Esteem

Cinderella’s Courage and Compassion

Aurora’s Autonomy

Ariel’s Adventurous Spirit

Belle’s Bravery (and Boundaries)

Jasmine’s Justice

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Dumbo (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day after the movie is first released in the U.K, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie, go and see it and then read on.

General Reaction:

/I have fallen in love with Tim Burton’s take on Dumbo, the character not the movie. He is so adorable in places just so full of innocence that it is impossible not to fall in love with him by the end of the movie. The movie is a slow-burn I think depending on your level of enjoyment of the 1941 animated movie as well as your willingness to believe in the Disney magic. I always at least a toe in the pool of Disney magic with any Disney movie I see and that 1% of pure belief actually thought Dumbo was real.

Now when it comes to the movie as a whole, I had a good time. Just like I would if I went to the circus or an amusement park in real life, I enjoyed the spectacle and the wonder what the movie offered me. However, the fact the original animated movie is just 64 minutes whereas this 2019 version is 112 minutes did flare up red lights for me as I didn’t know how exactly they were going to add pretty much an hour of extra content to a movie that pretty much drags as it is from what I remember.

I haven’t seen the original animated movie for about 15 years if not more, but by memory the movie was “A stork brings baby Dumbo to his mother who is part of a travelling circus but he has big ears so everyone sees him as a freak and dress him up as a clown-act. He befriends a mouse who gets him drunk and he sees pink elephants, they both discover he can fly with a feather after meeting a quartet of racially-stereotypical crows who help him reunite with his mother...end of movie”. This was definitely a more fleshed-out and, in my opinion, more adult adaptation while still maintaining Disney’s family-friendly nature.

Focusing on more human characters than just the one ringmaster when you haven’t got that first-hand perspective of talking animals is definitely the right decision, and fortunately they did not pull focus from the start that is Dumbo himself. However, all the main human characters were rather compelling and charming in their own way and all of them simply aided to making Dumbo that much more adorable and cute.

When you hear Tim Burton is directing a movie, you are looking for the wonder, the macabre and the unique Burtonisms that brought us Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman and Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter....in the first Alice movie. However, for the first half of this movie I was not seeing what I was expecting from him, until Dumbo’s first circus performance where we and he see the acts before he goes on...including Burton’s reimagining of the pink elephants. With the original Dumbo had Dumbo drink and see them, I was slightly Burton was going to make a live-action baby elephant drink, fortunately thought it was merely part of the circus performance with pink elephant bubbles that somehow came to life, believe in the Disney magic!

The scene that had me on the edge of my seat was the clown scene when Dumbo was trapped on that ledge with the fire and I was holding my breath so worried for him. When a movie can make me care that much about a CGI elephant it’s something special.

Also, it is slightly concerning that the villain of the movie is essentially Corporate America, in the shape of Michael Keaton. If there were villains in the original I feel it was simply humanity in general whereas here they showed the good, the bad and the corrupted sides of humanity and that, to me, is a lot more realistic and better storytelling.

But when you consider that Keaton’s amusement park “Dremland” is very similar to the theme parks of today and this inspires Danny DeVito’s ringmaster of the circus character to make his circus more family and animal friendly whih also seems to be a very early version of DisneyWorld is either Disney commenting on themselves or on theme parks in general.

Cast:

Aside from the animals, you had many supporting human characters both in the Medici Bros. Circus and Keaton’s business associates. Front and centre is Colin Farrell who is surprisingly a WWI soldier who lost an arm during the war, this was a surprise because it was never revealed in the trailers and the only shots we see of him are most likely with the prosthetic he has. I thought the loss of his wife wasn’t as heavily felt in the movie but his for for his kids was.

The kids were okay, I am not seeing anything great here but I never really see anything great from kids in Disney movies usually, with the exception of Mowgli in The Jungle Book.

Eva Green was fabulous in this movie, I have not yet seen her star power fully shine yet because I am still seeing Helena Bonham-Carter-lite probably because Burton seems to be turning her into that. I thought the French “Queen of the Skies” they created for her was very well used in the context of the movie, the only thing I believe will hurt the character, and Eva Green, is the fact that we have very recently seen a flying trapeze lady with Zendaya’s character in The Greatest Showman and while Colin Farrell’s Holt and Zac Efron’s Phillip Carlyle are different characters, both fill that kind of middle-management/underling in their respective circuses and while Holt and Colette never explicitly have a romance in this movie it does just draw comparisons.

Danny DeVito as a circus ringmaster calls back to his turn as The Penguin in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns because Cobblepot there led a circus troupe although slightly more demonic than this group. Also, from when we first meet Medici, I had so many callbacks to his other Disney role as Philoctites in Hercules with his talk about “Rule number 1″.

As I said Michael Keaton is the villain and reasonable as a villain, although I do feel it draws more on campy than threatening at times. There are a couple of moments when he enters a room and almost sing-speaks to the point where I thought he was going to burst into song, being a Disney movie. But fortunately the only song in this movie is Baby, Mine and not sung by him.

The actual troupe are great diverse characters, however much like Shazam! it does seem to be where the diversity is.as the main cast are all Caucasian. The snake charmer, the strongman and the mermaid are the three that stand out and surprisingly the mermaid is Rae from My Mad Fat Diary. Interesting to see how far people come. She was very wooden, particularly during the song, but she was passable. I particularly loved the elephant breakout plan at the end of the movie as it felt like they all used the strengths that made them circus performers in the first place.

Going Forward:

Because Disney does only really seem to be wanting to be showing updated versions of these animated classics, I don’t see this movie going anywhere after the conclusion of the film. But honestly, that scene where Dumbo and his mother are freed from the amusement park and find safe haven in India along with a herd of their kind was beautiful and seeing Dumbo flying around the grove was the moment where I welled up because it was just so perfect an ending.

However, if they wanted to somehow attempt to link up these live-action movies, they could have had an adult Mowgli appear looking over the grove or seeing Dumbo fly by. I know it may never happen but it would have been exciting, even as a mid-post-credits scene.

Recommendation:

I had a lovely time watching this movie, I never felt bored or like I wasted my time. I would gladly see it again and do remember most of the key moments. If you are someone who wants to believe in the Disney magic then you will see it here, if you are someone who wants an updated version of the animated movie then you will have that. If you just want a great family-friendly movie then you will definitely have that. Just go and have a great time.

Overall I rate the movie a 7/10, it’s a good live-action adaptation ahead of Cinderella and Oz but below Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book. Somewhere on par with Maleficent and 101 Dalmatians. I enjoyed myself and I am glad I saw it.

So that’s my review of Dumbo, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Disney Movie Reviews as well as other Movie Reviews and posts.

[izumines-blog]

Mafumafu’s Second Hiki-Live in Makuhari Messe Hall (3/20 & 3/21)—Live Report

This is a translation coming from the original post in natalie.mu. There are also photos from the live and can be checked out in the original post! Enjoy the report~!

Mafumafu and his friends to Makuhari [Messe hall] again! “Shadow Announcer” Ono Yuuki’s unbelievable entry too (3/20-21)—Live Report

March 20 and 21 in Chiba, Mafumafu’s live event “Hikikomori demo LIVE ga shitai! ~Ashita Iro World End Release Commemoration Performance~ (I’m a Shut-In but I Want to do a LIVE!)” took place in halls 9-11.

Last year’s February in Chiba as well, Mafumafu’s one-man live was carried out in the Makuhari Event Hall. This year’s performance is to commemorate two days, which is done over and over, for the releasing of his latest album “Ashita Iro World End” last October 2017. For each day, there was approximately 15,000 people, and to add for both days, there were 30,000 fans who came to the Makuhari [Messe hall]. In addition to Mafumafu, he and other fellow artists participated in “Hikikomori demo LIVE ga Shitai!” In this article, we will report the second day’s flow.

[Everyone behind the concert] shocked the fans with a surprise that the seiyuu*, Ono Yuuki, is in charge of [being] the shadow announcer; and the number of illuminations and monitors were used as Mafumafu entered the dazzling stage. He starts off with an upper tune of “Rinne Tensei (Reincarnation)” and “Tachiiri Kinshi (No Entry)” successively, then at once, the enthusiasm [of the audience] on the floor boosted. The first guest that appeared, nqrse, played with a new song “Nectar”, in addition to “ECHO.” With Mafumafu’s soft voice, nqrse’s moody rap happened. (T/N: ‘seiyuu’ - voice actor)

As the session number “Satsuki Ame (The May Rain)” was played by the backband, the guests UraShimaSakataSen entered with the balled number “Oborozuki (Hazy Moon).” Mafumafu changed into clothes that has the same design as their (USSS’s) costumes, then joined in the guitar performance. Just before this performance, the new song “Toshi ni Ichiya no Koi Moyou (Overnight Love Pattern of the Year)” was released in Niconico Douga and YouTube, then the venue was engulfed in UraShimaSakataSen’s carefree voices while they walked towards the runway. Cheering voices were heard in every direction inside [the venue] as they warmly smiled while they looked over the fans.

Soraru entered [the stage] as Mafumafu joined voices with him in “Suisei Ressha no Bell ga Naru (The Comet Train’s Bell is Ringing).” Furthermore, Soraru’s main vocals worked for “Merry Bad End,” then a voluptuous atmosphere was created, [making] the audience fascinated.

During the MC, the audience was delighted after [Soraru and Mafumafu] revealed their enthusiasm for their activities in their unit, After the Rain; saying that “it’s a lot of fun to do” and “anyway, we’re making a lot of songs!” and that they were becoming even more active.

Then Amatsuki participated in “Mikazuki Resize (Crescent Moon Resize)”; he lead the performance with a powerful and boyish voice. Then in “Non-Fantasy”, he and Mafumafu said “I like you” at the same time while the venue was wrapped in a yellow cheer. During the MC, Amastsuki said—surprised at the feeling of a scale, and after Mafumafu’s tired state wherein he lie down on the corner of the stage—“Makuhari Messe is cool, huh. It’s so huge!” The audience laughed at Amatsuki’s concern when Mafumafu muttered, “It’s no good... water is not enough...”

After the backband’s session number of “byakuya”, Mafumafu—whose body is wrapped in an angel’s raiment—appeared in the center runway. After performing “Byoumei wa Ai datta (This Disease Called Love)” and “Futari Bocchi (The Two of Us Alone*)”, he talked out how he felt; “I think that from diverse scenes of people to various things people have taught me, and things that I have [learned] from experience, and while cherishing Niconico (Douga) and an utaite’s culture, I’m going to have a better surrounding.” He looked back, then continued, “Why don’t I go away from NND for a while? Even though there are people who will worry, this (Niconico Douga) will always be my platform. I won’t change, but I want to try and make a difference.” After that, he performed “Suisai Ginga no Chronicle (Watercolor-Galaxy Chronicle)”, then [while he was performing], not only the stage but also the sides of the audience’s seatings and the whole area were lit up. The entire hall become a starry sky—there was a scale-like atmosphere—then the performance was brought to an end.

At this part is the encore where all guests entered, wearing cat ears as the curtains rose to “Super Nuko ni Naritai (I Want to be a Super Cat).” The well-known call, “niboshi (sardines)” flew around as a giant balloon floated around the hall. During the MC, everyone looked back on this year’s performance, and we could see how close the performers are to each other by Amatsuki fixing Soraru’s cat ears, and Mafumafu removing his cat ears while Soraru is gone. Furthermore, during the encore, the responsible shadow announcer, Ono Yuuki, also appeared on stage. There was a premium surprise of everyone singing together with Mafumafu of “Gikyoku to Deforme Toshi (Drama and the Deformed City)” and “Batsu Game (Punishment Game)”, and the audience was greatly excited.

A smile came across Mafumafu when he saw the delighted audience enjoy the collaboration with Ono, and said deeply in the bottom of his heart, “Because today only comes once, I will burn this scene into my memory and keep it in my heart.” And in the last part, they performed “Shuuten (Terminus)” and “Yume no Mata Yume (A Dream in Another Dream)” then the curtains in the second day of the Makuhari Messe Hall performance closed.

“Hikikomori demo LIVE ga Shitai! ~Ashita Iro World End Release Commemoration Performance~” March 21, 2018 Makuhari Messe Arena, halls 9-11 Setlist

01. Rinne Tensei (Reincarnation) / Mafumafu 02. Tachiiri Kinshi (No Entry) / Mafumafu 03. Fury / Mafumafu 04. Akuma no Shoumei (The Proof of the Devil) / Mafumafu 05. ECHO / Mafumafu, nqrse 06. Nectar / Mafumafu, nqrse 07. Oborozuki (Hazy Moon) / Mafumafu 08. Mafumafu Band Session “Satsuki Ame (The May Rain)” 09. [Anonymous] / Mafumafu 10. Kachou Fuugetsu (The Beauties of Nature) / UraShimaSakataSen, Mafumafu 11. Toshi ni Ichiya no Koi Moyou (Overnight Love Pattern of the Year) / UraShimaSakataSen, Mafumafu 12. Suisei Ressha no Bell ga Naru (The Comet Train’s Bell is Ringing) / After the Rain 13. Yuudachi (Evening Rain) / After the Rain 14. Merry Bad End / After the Rain 15. Mikazuki Resize (Crescent Moon Resize) / Amatsuki, Mafumafu 16. Non-Fantasy / Amatsuki, Mafumafu 17. Mafumafu Band Session “byakuya” 18. Byoumei wa Ai datta (The Disease Called Love) / Mafumafu 19. Futari Bocchi (The Two of Us Alone) / Mafumafu 20. Koi to Bitansan Soda (Love and the Carbonated Soda) / Mafumafu 21. Nemureru Mori no Cinderella (The Sleeping Forest’s Cinderella) / Mafumafu 22. Suisai Ginga no Chronicle (Watercolor-Galaxy Chronicle) / Mafumafu

ENCORE 01. Super Nuko ni Naritai (I Want to be a Super Cat) / Mafumafu, nqrse, USSS, Soraru, Amatsuki 02. Gikyoku to Deforme Toshi (Drama and the Deformed City) / Mafumafu, Ono Yuuki 03. Batsu Game (Punishment Game) / Mafumafu, Ono Yuuki 04. Shuuten (Terminus) / Mafumafu 05. Yume no Mata Yume (A Dream in Another Dream) / Mafumafu

TRANSLATION NOTES:

- Futari Bocchi - I translated it as “The Two of Us Alone” but it may be translated differently; though its basic context is two people alone.

- Because today only comes once... - Mafumafu was trying to say something like “since today’s a once in a lifetime experience, I’ll forever remember this scene deep inside.”

I haven’t posted live report translations in seven months, and here I am, back with a translation of Mafu’s HikiLive last March! It’s pretty old, but I’m trying to catch up with my translation waitlist.

[shipcestuous]

"Suffice it to say, I'm not supposed to feel this way about you." (Submission)

There’s a new visual novel out called Cinderella Phenomenon which, aside from being a damn good game (especially for freeware!) in its own right, also has the main character’s stepbrother as one of the canon romance options.

Long story short, our protagonist is Lucette, the crown princess, whose father remarried a baker woman after the death of Lucette’s mother, and with that marriage, Lucette gained a stepsister and stepbrother, Emelaigne and Rod.  She was always cold toward them, resenting them and their mother for replacing her late mother, and because her father was more affectionate toward them than toward her.  Emelaigne tried to reach out to her but was rebuffed, and Rod acted basically indifferent to Lucette.

The story begins with Lucette falling victim to the Fairytale Curse: she goes from riches to rags, and everyone forgets her status as crown princess, with the exception of people who are also victim to the curse.  It turns out that one such victim is Rod, who lost his voice due to his curse (he talks using an enchanted bunny plush named Sebastian; it makes sense in context).  Lucette finds out that she can break the curse and regain her former life if she does three good deeds, and chooses to seek help from someone in learning how to do good (that’s how the romance route is selected).

On Rod’s route, he is reluctant to help Lucette because, as it turns out, he flat-out hates her for how cruel she is to his big sister and his mother.  She offers to help him with his curse in exchange for his help, but he insists that he doesn’t want to break it and urges her to seek help from someone else.

Well, Lucette is having none of that, so she manages to get a job at the palace as a maid to Emelaigne–who continues to treat Lucette kindly, even though she’s only a servant as far as she knows.  As you might expect, Rod is less happy to discover Lucette’s presence in the castle.  Even when he finally agrees to help her break her curse, he snaps that he’ll never accept her as family.

Now around this time, Emelaigne is supposed to have a ball in order to pick out a suitor, but she gets Rod to teach her to dance instead of an instructor because she’s more comfortable with him.  Emelaigne takes this opportunity to brag to her “maid” about how talented her little brother is, embarrassing him. (Honestly, Rod and Emelaigne are pretty shippable in their own right.  Cheerful big sisters + grouchy but devoted little brothers are great.)

In order to visualize the steps better, Em asks Rod and Lucette to demonstrate the dance for her, and they reluctantly agree to it.  (Might I add that their CGs together are really cute.  The art in this game is so pretty too!)  He’s all embarrassed because “I didn’t think I would ever have to dance with you is all.”

It’s awkward for both of them, but it does make Emelaigne happy which leads Rod to start warming up to his stepsister.  Around this time, Lucette also starts reevaluating her opinion of Em and starts to genuinely become her friend.  (Okay, I basically ship these three in all possible combinations, even if Rod/Lucette is my favorite because we see the most of them in canon.  I can’t help it, they’re all dynamics that I like.)

Then there’s this really cute scene where he takes Lucette by the hand to lead her somewhere and apologizes for being cold to her before, and then his bunny plush/thought translator Sebastian murmurs that her hand is really warm.  Rod gets flustered, and Sebby is all “well, you were thinking it too loud.“  Not long later, Sebby lets slip that “Rod thinks your smile is pretty,” embarrassing *both* of them.  Sebby says he’s been talking more lately because Rod keeps saying things that contradict how he really feels.  Basically, the little guy is such a gift.

There’s another scene where they dance together, this time alone and of their own volition, and it really showcases how much their relationship has changed since the last time.  Rod tells her that her eyes are beautiful, and then he gets embarrassed and flees.

Then it turns out Emelaigne was watching their dance, and she suggests that the two looked like a good couple.  Lucette is embarrassed because not only is she a maid right now while he’s the prince, but he’s also her stepbrother.  And she tooootally doesn’t like him in that way, not at all.  (I swear, they’re both tsunderes, it’s great.)

Then she goes off alone and he chews her out for putting herself in danger–and admits, when she wants to know why he cares, that she’s his family, and she’s important.

Long story short, treason and stuff happens at the ball, and afterward, Lucette realizes her feelings for Rod and, as you might expect, feels kinda guilty about it.  She also learns that as a result of the circumstances of his curse, Rod is fated to die on the day of his former crush’s wedding.

She confronts him about it and demands that he let her help him, and the next thing she knows, he kisses her.  As you might expect, he quickly gets embarrassed and leaves.  She chases after him and he apologizes.  “Suffice it to say, I’m not supposed to feel this way about you.“  Of course, he doesn’t elaborate, because that would involve talking about his feelings, and he doesn’t like doing that.

More plot stuff happens, and Lucette breaks Rod’s curse–breaking her own in the process, so everyone remembers she’s the crown princess. She and Emelaigne have a nice moment, and Em remarks that even if things will be complicated for Lucette and Rod, she will support them.  Then she leaves the two alone together, and Rod explains that his curse was broken because he unknowingly fell for Lucette and she returned his feelings.

So then they have to talk about what this means for them because they’re stepsiblings.  They end up having secret meetings in order to be together, while Emelaigne covers for their absences so people don’t catch on.  It is sad that we don’t get to see what happens if/when their relationship is discovered, but honestly, Rod’s mother is a very accepting person, so I feel like everything would turn out all right in the end.

Sorry for talking so much, but I really love this story!

ETA:

Cinderella Phenomenon anon (ha, try saying that 5 times fast)–I forgot to mention, in another route, there are 2 side characters who were childhood friends, but because of Jurien’s father’s frequent absences, she lived with Garlan’s family a lot and even called him her brother, annoying him. As adults, the two eventually get together. (They’re really cute.)

Oh wow! I enjoyed reading this summary so much. Rod is kind of my type of guy, my favorite type of guy character for shipping purposes, so I love the idea of him with both Lucette and Emelaigne. Lucette has such a great journey!

I’m so glad this visual novel is freeware! That’s really cool. It sounds so great. 

Thank you for writing this up. I appreciate it so much!!!