#wasn't even on my watchlist

[fairweathermyth]

SUMMER STRIKE 1.01 An Underpaid Pushover at Work

[books-are-my-life-stuff]

Finished series, Fall 2023: Akuma-kun (2023)

"What is happiness to all humans? Are they happy if there's ample food, clothing, and shelter? Do they want self-fulfillment? Recognition from others? The psychologist Maslow said--" "Hold on. Hey, Ichiro. What is happiness to you?" "To me?"

[hellisharchive]

・﹒・ saintly guardian

Summary: Your life could be better, but you were alive, that's all that mattered. After an extremely shitty day, you were shocked as an angel appeared in your livingroom claiming to be your new guardian angel from Heaven. At least he was cute

Warnings: 18+, implied sex, accidental voyeurism

Paring: Saint Peter x human!GN!reader

Notes: This is a long one! Hope you enjoy! Also my shit is never beta read so forgive any mistakes

You sighed loudly as you collapsed on your couch, so glad to finally be home after one of the worst days you've had in a while. Digging into your food, you browsed Netflix trying to find something good to watch so you could just sit back, eat, and relax. Even though you had an entire watchlist, nothing seemed appealing as you just threw on a movie you already watched ages ago just to have something on.

After finishing your food, you walked into the kitchen that was just a few steps away as your apartment was a studio, you put the dishes in the sink to clean later and refilled your drink. As you poured the liquid into the cup, a bright light suddenly engulfed you, causing you to flinch and get your drink all over the counter and floor. Covering your eyes, you gripped the glass as you wondered what the hell was that? After a few seconds, you deemed it to be safe and slowly removed one hand and opened your eye. Turning around, you gasped as you saw what looked to be an angel with white blonde hair and a worried expression looking at you. You couldn't believe your eyes.

"I'm sorry if I scared you! I didn't mean to are you ok?" The last sentence was rushed as he panicked, quickly walking over and making sure you're alright as he gently grabbed your shoulders. What was going on? Removing your other hand and opening your other eye, you just stared in shock and awe. You were nervous, very nervous. Were you dreaming? Did you die somehow? Your breathing got heavy as your mind raced with a million different possibilities when the angel cupped your face and spoke to you again, making sure you were looking at him.

"Hey, hey don't be scared! Oh Peter it's your first day as a guardian angel and you already scared your human..." He spoke to himself, very scared himself that he scared you. Wait- guardian angel?

"You're my...guardian angel?" You stared at him in even more shock. Angels are real. Guardian angels are real. And he was yours. Who even was he? You placed your hands on his shoulders as he smiled, it was a soft and awkward smile.

"Yes! Angels are sent down to Earth to watch over humans every so often to make sure they're on a path set for Heaven! You just so happened to be my assignment this time!" His mood instantly switched to happy and excited to talk about why he was sent down. You still were in a state of shock, slowly calming down from the inital scare as he removed his hands from your face and grabbed yours from his shoulders, holding them. The hold was firm yet gentle.

"And if this isn't all some dream...what is your name? Can I know the name of my guardian angel?" You spoke carefully, almost as if speaking any louder would fracture this whole interaction and you would wake up passed out on the couch. He then let your hands go and you started to mess with your fingers, biting your lip as you waited for his answer.

"Saint Peter" Saint Peter...that name was familiar. Wait- was this the same Saint Peter from the bible? You were familiar with Christianity but wasn't a believer, however you still couldn't fully believe depsite an angel straight up holding you.

"Oh well...my name is ___. Although, you probably knew that" You cracked a small smile yourself, the tension finally snapping and you started to accept the fact that this was real. There was no way you were tripping, you never did any hard drugs and barely drank alcohol, you were completely sober.

"Yeah, I uh...I did. Sorry if that's weird! I just-"

"No, no! It's fine! I would expect Heaven to know everything about me...God at least...or the other angels. Honestly you appearing out of nowhere was the weirdest thing that happened in my entire life so, you knowing my name is nothing" You chuckled and you watched as he chuckled with. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, you realized that he was incredibly cute. He was adorable!

"I'm still so sorry about that! This is the first time I ever was assigned to someone so...I got a little excited! Is there anything I can do to make up for it?" God- can you still say that?- he was the cutest thing ever. Oh no, were you forming a crush on him? On an angel? Your guardian angel?

"Hello? Are you there?" Peter's voice awakened you from your thoughts, shaking your head, you realized he was only a few inches from your face. Flustering and face warming, you jumped back and held your chest, damn! He was close! Too close!

"Oh shit I'm so sorry again! You weren't responding and I got concerned because you were staring off into space and I can't believe I scared my human again and-" You placed a hand on his shoulder as he started to ramble and look at the floor and you gave him a warm smile.

"It's ok Peter! You just wanted to make sure I was alright and you're new at this. If it makes you feel better- I'm glad I was your first assignment" His face went from anxious to awe, he stared at you with wide eyes and pale face turning to gold. Did angels have gold blood? Was he blushing?

"I- t-thank you! But seriously, if there's anything I can do to make up for scaring you twice now, please let me know!" He was so insistent on making it up to you, it made your heart do flips and butterflies form in your stomach. He might have been the only angel you've met, but he was certainly the cutest.

"I'll get back to you on that"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━・

One month had passed since Saint Peter revealed himself as your guardian angel and your life hadn't gotten any better, well, it still sucked but he was always there to cheer you up. You couldn't help but slowly form an all-consuming crush on him, how couldn't you? He was the most pure being you ever met and he was always there to make you feel better after a bad day.

However, the crush didn't stop there. It turned into something so downright sinful you couldn't bear to let Peter know that you wanted to fuck him. But how could you not? He was so innocent and pure it made your heart do flips and butterflies always swarmed in your stomach when he was around. Honestly it was hard not to just grab him and kiss him and touch him. But you didn't want him to do things he wasn't comfortable with and without consent. And you also didn't want to risk going to hell. So you kept it secret and all your rather...intimate nights alone thinking about him.

The day was going normal, it was a day without Peter as he didn't stay with you 24/7 but that wasn't a big deal. Sure, you missed him a lot when he was gone, but you're sure he had duties back up in Heaven too. You sighed as you sat on the couch, mindlessly scrolling through your phone before becoming bored of that and tossing it on the couch. You stare at it as you pick up the remote and try to find something on the TV to watch, also ending up being in a mindless state of searching. Then, you thought of Peter and how adorable he was, and then, you were horny.

"Fuck" You cursed at how easily you got horny, especially for him. You had a choice- be pent up and force yourself to not masturbate, or masturbate. "Shit," standing up, you tossed the remote on the counter and grabbed your phone, heading to your bedroom.

Shutting the door, you sighed and put your phone on the nightstand before opening the drawer to reveal the plethora of sex toys. It was a decent amount- you had needs that needed met. However shamefully, you had gotten a few more because of Peter. Laying down and leaning back on your pillows, you had grabbed one and placed it on your sex, turning it on and biting your lip as you started to masturbate. Moaning Peter's name, you thought of him and it made you feel so dirty.

Unfortunately, you didn't hear the door open until it was too late, the sound of gasping made you freeze. Wiping your head up, you saw as a panicking Peter had covered his eyes and turned away from you in the doorway.

"I'm so sorry I heard you call my name and I thought you were calling for me I'm so sorry!" The poor angel was entirely gold- he did mention that angels have gold blood- as he blushed at the fact that he caught you masturbating about him. Now you're the panicking one as you shove the toy away under your sheets. You couldn't bring yourself to say a single word before you watched him hurry away, however, you brought yourself to say one.

"Wait!" You held out your hand as he froze, breathing heavy, you said it again as you considered carefully about what you were going to say.

"I'm the one that should be sorry! I-I never should have thought about you like that...I...understand if you don't want to be my assignment anymore..." Shame flushed through your veins as the weight of the situation finally hit. This wasn't some silly crush for a normal human guy- it was of an angel who was the most purest being you had ever known. He probably thinks you're disgusting now, someone that does deserve to go Hell. It was silent for a good while, you're not sure for how long, but the one who broke it was Peter.

"I...you're not the only one. And it's wrong I know I know!" He turned and removed his hands from his face, causing you to stare at shock at what he said. He felt the same?

"Angels should never fall for humans but you were so cute and I just had these dirty thoughts I couldn't get rid of and-" He was speaking so fast but you managed to cut him off before he could ramble even more.

"And why can't you get rid of them?" You teased, confidence suddenly rising as you smirked at the angel. Crawling towards him on the bed, he stood completely still as you got closer, wearing nothing but your shirt.

"I-uhm you just do something to me I don't know why! You're adorable and attractive and I just...I shouldn't...pleasure myself it's wrong!" Bless his soul...you pat the bed and said "come here" Peter gulped as he obeyed, soon standing right up against the edge. He stared at you like a deer in headlights and it was the cutest thing. Then, you decided to be bold. You rushed up and grabbed his neck, pulling him into a kiss. At first he didn't move, then he started to kiss back a little. You could tell he didn't have much experience with other people if any at all. Your heart was beating as fast as can be as he shakily wrapped his arms around you. After a few minutes, you pulled away, completely out of breath and he was too. Taking his arms off of you, he looked down at his mouth before putting one of his hands up to lightly touch his lips.

"I think I'm in love with you" You barely heard it, but it made your heart swell. That was your key to grab him again and drag him down, kissing him even more than before running your hands through his hair. This time, he was more eager to kiss you back, he was ready.

"Call this the favor. You're not going to be able to walk after tonight"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━・

You awoke not with nobody by your side, but with your guardian angel all deshelved sleeping so soundly. That was the best sleep of your life. You had to untangle your body from his as you quietly shuffled to the bathroom to pee. You almost didn't want to leave him, but your bladder was too loud to ignore. Kissing his forehead, you made your way to the kitchen with only a large shirt on as you started to make breakfast.

The smell must have woken Peter up as he walked into the kitchen as well, yawning and rubbing his eye. Hair all down and messy, one wing up and one wing down, and his body was covered in your marks from last night and he was wearing nothing but his underwear he must have shrugged them on as they weren't even on all the way. Smiling, you watched as he sleepily slid into a dinning room chair.

"Good morning, my sweet angel"

[isa-belle1367]

Ferral desmond has my heart. So here are some feral desmond head canons

1. Extremely flexible and amazing at hiding even before the animus

2. blast the most aggressive music with a straight face. Like his headphones will be screaming about murdering people for drugs, and he'll just be chilling.

3. He definitely takes insane amounts of melatonin to fall asleep like 40+mg (please don't do that that is not safe).

4. Has started multiple bar fights on purpose.

5. Has connections to gangs.

6. Has never paid taxes, the IRS hates him.

7. He got really drunk and decided to have an energy drink with it. He ended up hacking into government intelligence and had to skip town because the fbi had tried to kill him

8. He is really good at throwing knives but can't shoot a bow to save his life. Like give him a set of throwing knives, and he can take down abstergo in an hour, give him a bow, and he'll be dead.

9. Once he learned how to fall safely, he started jumping off tall buildings for fun

10. A complete adrenaline junkie he spends most of his time at 6 flags

11. His feral-ness is not helped by the fact that he has the diet of a pre-med student reheated coffees with a side of hope and prayers

12. Prefers sleeping on the floor will 100% take the floor over a bed the only reason he has a mattress was so his friends had some where to sleep when they came over.

13. When he gets high, he either has questions that could get him on a watchlist or he's climbing the walls

14. He enjoys scaring children

15. Is very picky about keeping things a specific way. He can sense when someone is trying to reorganize his spice cabinet

16. LOVES spicy food. If he's not crying by the end, then it wasn't hot enough

17. His notes app is so fucking random like he has his grocery list, a hit list, the Geneva conventions, the bee movie script, the fucking Bible (he's not even Christian)

18. Once, he fist fought a gang leader and won.

19. He has had to disappear on multiple occasions because the FBI tried to revoke his life subscription

20. The only reason he got taken by Templars was because he was about to skip town again, but then Abstergo walked in and he was like "sweet I won't have to run across the country again thanks guys!"

21. Back at the farm, Bill had smacked one of his friends, and desmond had to be held back by 5 people (3 of which were seriously injured after)

22. He doesn't typically get angry, but when he does, everyone scatters bc he is punching concrete, and- *how tf did he just crack the concrete with a single punch?*

23. Never sleep (he might be batman)

24. "Do it, you won't" has been said to him too many times, and each time, he proves that he will, in fact, do it

25. If you gave that man a full 8 hour sleep along with a proper meal, he would be able to take over a country

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: KinnPorsche, and Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist Edition (Part 2)

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I conclude a two-part series on my thoughts on KinnPorsche, my very first Thai BL, and the impact that I think KP has had on the Thai BL industry since 2022.]

Top of the morning (or whatever time zone you're in) to ya! Yesterday, I ruminated on KinnPorsche's foundation in regards to how the show wasn't as innovative as newbie members of the Thai BL fandom, like myself, may have thought in 2022 -- but was rather a great example of a show that derivatively used a lot of excellent past Thai BL influences in order to make a newly stylized show that I think, for the most part, worked well.

Harkening back to the outline for these two pieces that I laid out yesterday, this post will concentrate on:

3) How I think KP has impacted how other studios approach, market, and write Thai BLs now, and 4) A quick passing thought on BOC's own continued influence on the Thai BL genre and industry since 2022, particularly by way of Dead Friend Forever.

Before I get fully into point 3, I wanted to take a second to offer one more thought on an element about the KinnPorsche series itself that I didn't unwind on much yesterday, and one that'll connect with point 3 in a second. I mentioned yesterday that I personally (in my own opinion, I am accountable here) don't think that some of the VegasPete elements of the show helped the show's flow and continuity at all times. After my rewatch, I think the show could have stood for more episode editing to better its flow. I very much know how beloved VegasPete are in much of the KP fandom (thanks so much to dear friend @wen-kexing-apologist for the conversations about this during my rewatch!), so I don't want to pooh-pooh very hard, because at the same time, I think Bible as an actor was valuable to the show regarding Vegas's interactions with Porsche -- that side storyline offered intrigue and depth particularly into Porsche's mindset at the end of the series. At the same time, I think the VegasPete scenes contained enough questionable takes on trauma and attraction that I think now contribute to the show's legend and status as a uniquely heaty drama, but (in my opinion, people, I own this!), I think some of those takes could have been removed, smoothed, or tamped down for editing's sake, vis à vis those questionable takes in particular.

Taking VegasPete's trauma-and-kink-driven storyline, and KinnPorsche's romps and unravellings, into consideration, along with the show's excellent use of comedy as a plot driver: I think that KinnPorsche has clearly had an impact on how subsequent "heat" BL dramas have been created and marketed since KP's run. I'm thinking in particularly of some big ones (heh heh), including 2023's Only Friends, and 2023-24's Playboyy (which I did not finish, FYI).

Heat -- and the increasing use and management of it -- has long been an important element of the Thai BL industry. Like I said yesterday, MaxTul (my beloved) were pioneers of it in Together With Me and Manner of Death, and MAME consecrated episodic heat in 2019's TharnType, and even introduced enough of it notably in 2018's Love By Chance by way of those awesome spicy AePete scenes. And the WONDERFUL Lovely Writer offered meta commentary about the dependence that the Thai BL/Series Y industry has on heat in order to drive in fans, oftentimes to the detriment of more interesting and/or fulfilling and/or emotionally complicated plots.

KinnPorsche's lengthy marketing, from its Filmania days in 2020 and 2021, to its eventual 2022 premiere through Be On Cloud, certainly helped to drive interest and intrigue in the show, from the debut pairing of MileApo, to the clear use of heat that the show was promising before its airing. (Red Peafowl could never.)

Looking at the moment we are in right now -- early spring of 2024, with the ability to look back on the conclusions of both Only Friends and Playboyy -- I see the influence that KinnPorsche had on these shows being HUGELY marketed as cutting-edge-entrées to a high-heat and high-interest slice of Thai BL, particularly for Only Friends, which was GMMTV's own first step into really high-heat territory.

Both of the shows ended in meh territory (and both shows were written by the same writer in Den Panuwat, who may very well have a monogamy kink). Both shows ended up putting pure monogamy on a pedestal, and seemed to judge extra-monogamous sex as a "mistake" that was worth rectifying through "true," i.e., monogamous, love.

I posit, and I'm glad, that KinnPorsche did NOT go this route. Extracurricular sex wasn't even in the show's genes anyway, but -- the heat that KP marketed at the time of its premiere was solely associated with the centralized romances of the two main pairings. KinnPorsche didn't have to get extra-monogamously messy in its bones (huh huh) in order to be hot -- and it makes me curious to wonder why shows like Only Friends and Playboyy felt the need to promote relational messiness as a way to hype up their heat, all of which kinda putzed out in the end run of both of those shows.

Of course, we've still had heat in many other shows since KP's premiere, including in directions that roundly surprised the larger fandom, such as Pit Babe's take on omegaverse, and maybe even the vets Earth and Mix getting hot and heavy in Moonlight Chicken, a direction that Aof Noppharnach has been known to not take for the sake of keeping the ratings on his shows kid-friendly. But I do find it interesting that the heavy promotion of Only Friends and Playboyy led the fandom to think that these shows were going to have progressive takes on sex and sexuality, when they ultimately did not (I'd even argue that both of these shows ended up being judgemental of sexual experimentation). And while I don't think KinnPorsche's takes on heat were necessarily progressive, I do think the marketing of their actors getting into that, particularly as compared to Apo's previous career path in leaving acting for a while, was notable -- and as well, the care that the show took to depict heat scenes with excellent cinematography makes many of those scenes so memorable today.

I want to make one final note about KinnPorsche's and Be On Cloud's general influence on the Thai BL industry, in that I'm impressed by their investment in generally good-to-great writing and directing. As I overviewed yesterday, KinnPorsche heavily featured veterans from across the BL landscape, and Be On Cloud's latest serial offering, Dead Friend Forever, continued that trajectory, having an OG BL director in Ma-Deaw Chookiat partly take the helm of that show. Very importantly, Ma-Deaw Chookiat has been the screenwriter and director of a number of seminal Thai queer films and shows, including 2019's Dew, and more impactfully, 2007's The Love of Siam, which is considered a harbinger of the television Thai BL industry, and a film that has notably influenced important Thai BL creators, especially New Siwaj, who doesn't hesitate to include references to LoS in many of his shows, including Until We Meet Again, My Only 12%, and more. Chookiat has also screenwritten and/or directed three shows written by the notable Thai Y novelist, Sammon, in DFF, Manner of Death, and Triage. Sammon has been on a tear recently, as she will be the screenwriter for BOC's upcoming drama, 4 Minutes, as well as Spare Me Your Mercy, the hugely anticipated BL drama starring Tor Thanapob and singer Jaylerr.

Going back to my thoughts earlier about big marketing of big BLs: we've seen some duds recently from shows that were marketed at a big tip, from OF, to Playboyy, to Idol Factory's The Sign. From what I've gathered from the Tumblr tag regarding The Sign -- it seems that show suffered mostly from a lack of editorial context and plot sensibility and tightness, and that there could have been a good show, if the show had spent less money on CGI, and more money on the script.

Be On Cloud seems to mostly be putting its money where its pen is. I say "mostly" as a caveat. Was the ending of DFF fantastic? No, and I totally admit as much: while the show mostly stuck to its slasher genre conventions (thank you so much to @lurkingshan, my genre guru, for explaining this to me), the show seemed to poop out in the end by giving us a PheeJin BL ship, instead of Phee's and Jin's gruesome deaths. Womp womp. The pull of BL, and the need for clean-ish endings for the fujoshi crowd, may still be too economically enticing for studios, including Be On Cloud itself.

But I'm optimistic for BOC's upcoming shows, with the talent and money they're putting into scripts and directing. And we know that BOC's first film, the non-queer Man Suang, was an important artistic point for the studio as it continues its investment in MileApo and experimental content to market within and outside of Thailand. It was important enough that Dead Friend Forever, emanating from the Thai BL world, took on an entirely different genre instead, and literally presented that back to BL fans on a silver platter. I hope 4 Minutes can tread similar experimental territory. And I'm glad to see Be On Cloud being able to invest in high-quality writing and directing after the publicly major obstacles the studio experienced last year during the Build Jakapan scandal.

From the time I discovered Thai BLs in 2022, to now: I would not have expected KinnPorsche and Be On Cloud to start such a journey in my personal drama fan life. As well, considering how many damn shows I've now watched from Thailand, I also didn't expect this rewatch of KinnPorsche to be so much fun. AND, I truly didn't realize I had this much to say about it -- but there was a lot of say, especially by way of how referential the original KinnPorsche series was, which touched my little nerdy BL heart.

With that, I say ta-ta to my entrée to this fun world of Thai BLs, and move on to the next one!

[OKAY! We are kind of back of the grind, although my ability to watch dramas has really been hampered by real life obligations and schedules. BUT: I'm trucking along through War of Y, and I have some fun rewatches coming up in The Eclipse (my first-ever GMMTV BL), as well as two new-to-me dramas in GAP (the first GL on the list, WOO!) and My School President, which I can't wait for.

I've made a few tiddly adjustments to the list below, including adding Dead Friend Forever as an important addition, and I'm deep in my giggles with 23.5, which I am LOVING. ONWARDS! For more details about the ongoing list, please checkity-check here!

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 3) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 4) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 5) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 6) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 7) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 8) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 9) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 10) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 11) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 12) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 13) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 14) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 15) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 16) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 17) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 18) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 19) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 20) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) (and notes on my UWMA rewatch here) 21) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 22) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 23) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 24) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (review here) 25) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 26) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (re-review here) 27) Lovely Writer (2021) (review here) 28) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review here) 29) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review here) 30) Not Me (2021-2022) (review here) 31) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 32) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) (review here) 33) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch (Links to the BBS OGMMTVC Meta Series are here: preamble here, part 1, part 2, part 3a, part 3b, and part 4) 34) Secret Crush On You (2022) (review here) 35) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here)  36) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For the Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist (part 1 here)

...interrupting the OGMMTVC list here to watch War of Y (2022) (watching) in chronology to decide if it gets listed...

37) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 38) The Eclipse OGMMTVC Rewatch to Reexamine “Genre BLs” and Internalized/Externalized Homophobia in GMMTV Shows  39) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 40) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 41) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 42) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) 43 La Pluie (2023) (review coming) 44) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) (I’m including this for BMF’s sophisticated commentary on Krist’s career past as a BL icon) 45) Wedding Plan (2023) (Recommended as an important trajectory in the course of MAME’s work and influence from TharnType) 46) Only Friends (2023) (tag here) (not technically a BL, but it certainly became one in the end) 47) Last Twilight (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as Thailand’s first major BL to center disability, successfully or otherwise) 48) Cherry Magic Thailand (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as the first major Japanese-to-Thai drama adaptation, featuring the comeback of TayNew) 49) Ossan’s Love Returns (2024) (adding for the EarthMix cameo and the eventual Thai remake) 50) Dead Friend Forever (2024) (thoughts here) 51) 23.5 (2024)]

[buddhamethods]

10 BL Characters I Want Carnally

AKA I'm just a person with two keen eyes and dubious morals when it comes to enjoying media so don't take it seriously, I'm here for a good time.

Thank you @sndrys for tagging me! This was an eye opening experience putting this together. As it turns out I might have a type (ew).

1) Guy from Bake Me Please (2023)

The sole reason for me creating this list! Look, I dropped Bake Me Please almost immediately because it just wasn't for me BUT I've been lowkey watching through my dash. And let me tell you, my fingers gain consciousness and hit reblog everytime this baby's face pops up because...well...LOOK AT HIM. He is beautiful and he should get the guy (hehe get it) in the end idc.

2) Yok from Not Me (2021)

Yok is such a beloved character and for good reason! He is sexy, he is gay, he sets buildings on fire and steals cops' wallets on accident because HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT GUY HE WAS STALKING WAS A COP??? I love you Yok, never change.

3) Palm from Never Let Me Go/ OurSkyy2 (2022-23)

The anger I felt for all the injustice and mistreatment our beautiful Palm had to face in this show took literal years off my life. It's rare for me to get this passionately protective over a character and yet here we are, in the Palm Protection Squad headquarters. Even Nueng is on the watchlist!

4) Tonhon from Tonhon Chonlatee (2020)

Not to out myself as an enjoyer of silly goofy times , but I did have fun watching Fish Upon The Sky and Secret Crush On You, so OFCOURSE I thought I would like this one too but GOD was it rough. Did I still finish it? Yes. Did I fawn over PoddKhao pairing and have been quietly praying for some kind of reunion ever since? Also yes. Was I foaming at the mouth barking everytime Tonhon AKA Podd was on my screen? I'm not gonna comment without lawyer present.

5) Tew from My Dear Gangster Oppa (2023)

Speaking of Tonhon Chonlatee...AH! Ai Long Nhai (TC's spiritual prequel of sorts) was sure...something. And by something I mean I saw Meen and decided I will never speak ill of men ever again, feminism quite literally left my body. And then a year later My Dear Gangster Oppa came out and guess what??! MEEN IS THE GANGSTER OPPA! Dreams really do come true, kids.

6) Wen from Moonlight Chicken (2023)

(or Tian from ATOATS or Mueang Nan fron FUTS). Mix...I will eat you. Always so dewy and healthy and sparkly-eyed. But Wen from Moonlight Chicken is something out of the realm of my imagination. The sex appeal? The maturity?? The gentleness??!! Somebody sedate me before I say something I will not be able to justify in court.

7) Vee from Love Mechanics (2022)

He is a pretty bisexual who makes the most abhorrent stupid decisions known to men and then weeps and suffers for them WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED? Once again, is the show flawless or even remotely coherent? Absolutely not. That being said Vee brought me so much joy by being stupid I'm forever grateful.

(also YinWar are so back GO WATCH JACK AND JOKER TRAILER)

8) Prapai from Love In The Air (2022)

To a certain extent I've enjoyed every MAME show I've watched. To do that you need to possess the rare ability called "I abandoned every shred of moral integrity to gawk at hot men". And Prapai? MAN is this bitch hot. Tall dark handsome? Check! Bisexual on a bike? Check! Stubborn and annoying? CHECK!

9) Xiang Hao Ting from HIStory3: Make Our Days Count (2019)

*incoherent wailing and sobbing* IM NOT EXPLAINING SHIT ABOUT HIM LEAVE ME ALONE

10) AlanJeff from Pit Babe (2023)

My newest obsession! I refuse to separate our local senior citizen and his favorite prophetic mechanic. Both of them are hot as shit in their own way. Alan is a sexy dilf with so much weight and responsibility on his shoulders it's a miracle he retained his optimism and youthful awkwardness. And Jeff is a prickly baby-cow-baby-deer eyed baby that is so touch starved it's actually a little funny. SO I GUESS ALANJEFF SANDWICH IT IS.

(don't be shy tag yourselves besties <3)

[king-bumis-armpit]

hihi, let me just say i love ur writing omg it’s so good

i was wondering if you could write a maiko fic about fire lord Zuko and fire lady Mai, post war, where zuko was put to do business and he comes back early after finding out mais been attacked by another assassination attempt (obv) and he goes borderline insane even if she’s just really chill about i, you don’t have to ofc just thought it was an idea 💗💗

You're my Peace

Summary: “Kiyi! It's good to see you again. Where are Mai and Izumi?” The Fire Lord was eager to see his wife and daughter. He had been forced to travel urgent diplomatic business, and it had been nearly a week since he was home.

Kiyi refused to break their embrace, “Izzy’s with mom and Mai… is okay. There was another attack.” Zuko’s world shifted. His inner fire turned to ice. His mind stopped.

Author’s note: HELLO!! Thank you, @darkacdemiasworld I absolutely loved this idea! Thank you so much for suggesting it <3 And thank you for your kind words! Zuko is such a protective person and if there’s one thing we all know about Mai it’s that she doesn’t need any protection, lol. I changed the premise just a tad. I thought it would be more dramatic if Zuko didn’t know what had happened until his return. But I hope you enjoy! Again, thank you so much for the ask!

My inbox is always open! Sometimes I take a while to respond, but I love all of the ideas!! I’m terrible at writing from scratch so they really help me. 

ALSO! Thank you to everyone who's reading right now. It brings me so much joy that I can share what I write with all of you. So thank you <3

This fic is cross-posted on Tumblr and ao3

TW: Stabbing, strangulation, death of a side character, and one raunchy joke. 

Expanded warning: Somewhat detailed description of an attack on Mai’s life and the resulting injuries, specifically stabbing and strangulation. It is also mentioned that a minor character dies. If these topics are triggering, please sit this one out. I’ll be posting something fluffy on Thursday or Friday for everyone to enjoy.

WC: 2,798

“Zuko!” His youngest sister barrelled into his arms as soon as he entered the palace. It was hard to believe she was already twenty.

“Kiyi! It's good to see you again. Where are Mai and Izumi?” The Fire Lord was eager to see his wife and daughter. He had been forced to travel to Yu Dao on urgent diplomatic business, and it had been nearly a week since he was home.

Kiyi refused to break their embrace, “Izzy’s with mom and Mai… is okay. There was another attack.” Kiyi finally pulled back and Zuko could see the anxiety in her eyes. His world shifted. His inner fire turned to ice. His mind stopped.

— —

“I need you to take a deep breath, Zuko.” Kiyi clutched the long sleeves of her robes so she wouldn’t fidget. She didn’t want Zuko to think she was upset, even if she was. 

“Where is Mai?” His voice sounded calm. Impassive, even. But Kiyi knew better. She could see the slight quiver of his bottom lip. He was blocking out every emotion in order to deal with the situation as quickly and efficiently as possible. It was a coping mechanism he’d picked up from his wife.

“Mai’s okay. She's gonna be fine.” 

“Good,” he was grinding his teeth. “Where is she?”

“It was another assassination attempt. The assailant was one of her father’s most loyal followers. All that stuff with the New Ozai Society happened so long ago that he wasn't even on the watchlist anymore. But–”

“Kiyi!” Zuko interrupted, “Where. Is. Mai.”

She put on her stern voice. “Fire Lady Mai told me to debrief you before letting you go to her. She said she would be too tired to answer all of your questions.” Zuko humphed but Kiyi could tell this put his mind at ease a bit. He knew that Mai was conscious and communicative at least. 

“This guy held a serious grudge against her for betraying her father. His journal had a bunch of misogynistic stuff about how she should have been prepared to sacrifice everything in her father's name.” 

He grabbed her shoulders, “Please, just get to the point!” Zuko was begging now. Kiyi really didn't need to be going into so much detail. She hated keeping her brother in suspense, but she was hoping he would regain some more of his composure before she told him what happened. And Mai really had asked her to explain everything to Zuko before she saw him. She didn’t want to make her sister-in-law relive her own attack in another round of questioning.

“He posed as a member of the kitchen staff, and took a tea tray up to Mai’s office. It seems she had fallen asleep at her desk. He stabbed her in the right shoulder, but Mai woke up before he could remove the knife. He– he tried to–” Kiyi felt tears sting her eyes. She had wanted to be the one to tell Zuko because she knew that if anyone else did he would probably light them on fire, either on accident or intentionally. But she hadn't accounted for her own feelings. She loved Mai too and this awful man– “he tried to strangle her. She has bruises…”

By this point Zuko's face was buried in his hands. He let out a strangled sob, and repeated his refrain, “Where is Mai?”

“She's in the spare room in the West Wing of floor 2.” The location was chosen because it was private and easily defensible, but still close to the Royal Healer’s office. However, Kiyi did not have the opportunity to explain as Zuko was already moving in that direction. Kiyi watched her brother run, formal robes trailing behind him, and she said a silent prayer to Agni that everything would be okay.

— —

He ran with abandon and burst through the door. “Mai!”

“Zuko, you're back.” She sounded as unaffected as ever. Hearing her voice for himself again jolted his world into focus once more. He stopped to catch his breath. Mai was sitting in the center of a large bed that he remembered well. This was the very same room where Mai delivered their child. So much pain, but in the end even more joy. 

He couldn’t say the same for today. Mai was wearing a white robe so that the healers could spot it if she began to bleed through her bandages. The wrappings peeked out through the collar of her clothing, and he wondered how far they extended. As Kiyi had said, Mai had haunting bruises on her neck. He could almost see the patterns of fingers. He inhaled sharply and looked away.

Azula and Ty Lee were in the room as well, sitting on either side of his wife. There was another chair halfway between Azula and the door, but Zuko strode past it and perched himself gently on the edge of Mai’s bed. He didn't want to cause her discomfort, but he would also die inside if Azula was sitting at his injured wife’s beside while he was relegated to the corner. He sat on her left to minimize disturbance to the wound.

“Are you really okay, darling?” Zuko searched her face for the slightest bit of pain, but as usual her expression betrayed nothing. 

Mai gestured for him to move closer to her. “I'm truly fine. I trust Kiyi filled you in?”

“She gave me the basics. I was… eager to see you.” Zuko forced himself back into composure. He needed to be strong right now. For Mai. He gently tucked her hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead.

“Bleh!” Azula made a face. “I thought you two would grow out of your sappy phase.” In the past years, his sister had a change of heart morally, but her attitude remained intact.

Zuko clenched his fists and felt his anger invigorate his chi. “I can and will have you escorted out of here right now!”

Mai took his right hand in her left and brought his knuckles to her lips for a quick kiss. “It’s okay, Zuko. Azula and Ty Lee have been looking after me.” She moved their joined hands into her lap. Zuko felt awful. His poor, injured wife was comforting him because he couldn’t keep it together around his sister.

Ty Lee stood from her place. “A calm aura is important for convalescence. I’ll have the servants bring us some–” she remembered the manner of Mai’s attack and her face went pale.

Zuko felt queasy, but Mai laughed. “Oh c’mon, we can’t let this ruin tea for us. What will Iroh say? The assassin could have just as easily been bringing dinner and I would still eat.”

Azula nodded, “We can’t project fear. In the next few days, we will have to make a public statement about the incident.” She eyed her brother warily. “Do you think you’ll be up to it?”

“Of course,” he stated with more bravado than he was feeling. “But I didn’t really let Kiyi explain the whole thing. When did this happen?”

Mai looked down at their hands. Azula answered for her, “It happened two nights ago. The day before yesterday.”

Zuko blinked. “You– you didn’t send word to me immediately?” He tried to keep the hurt out of his voice. He didn’t want Mai to feel guilty or anything, but he also felt genuinely confused.

Mai leaned into his side, not meeting his gaze. “We didn’t want the public to know, and you were coming home so soon anyway. I didn’t want to worry you for nothing.”

Zuko pursed his lips. He wasn’t satisfied with that answer, but he also knew that it wasn’t the time to argue.

“Okay.” He managed a small smile and tilted Mai’s chin up so she was finally looking him in the eye. “Do you want me to write to Aang and Katara? They can probably be here in a day or two.”

Mai bit her lip, and Ty Lee piped up. “We already did. According to their return message, they’ll be here in a few hours.”

She told them before she told me. Am I really so useless as a husband? Zuko pushed the thoughts away. “That’s good. Hopefully Katara can speed up the healing process a little bit.”

He let his eyes wander to the bruises on her neck once more. Rage lit a match in his heart, and it took like dry kindling.

Mai, sensing the shift in his mood, reassured him, “Really Zuko, I’m alright.”

“As long as you’re alright, Firelily, then everything is fine.” But everything was not fine. He was going to visit that man in prison and light every single hair on his head on fire until he told him everything he knew about everyone who could be a potential threat. And then he was going to find those people and he would–

“Izumi missed you,” Mai said calmly. 

Some of the heat left Zuko’s body. Their baby girl was only six, and Zuko despised being away from her. Ever since her birth, his absences were few and far between. Of course, an assassin would capitalize on the opportunity. “I should check on her before bedtime. Poor thing. I’m sure she’s worried about you.”

“She is, but she acts so brave. I talked to her as soon as I was stable so she could see me, but I don’t want her to spend too much time in here. I don’t want her fixating on my injuries and having bad dreams.”

“Have you seen her today?” Zuko asked. 

Mai nodded, smiling in the radiant way she reserved for talking about her daughter. “We had breakfast together. She tried to feed me with her chopsticks so I wouldn’t have to move my right arm.”

Zuko felt tears welling up in his eyes again. Family breakfast was such a mundane thing. He didn’t realize how much those moments meant to him until he was faced with the prospect of their end.

Ty Lee was still standing awkwardly by Mai’s side, unsure if she was joking about wanting tea. But Azula took control of the situation. “How about we all have a family tea? Ty Lee, you can bring the tray. Zuko, you and I can get mom, Noren, Kiyi, and Izzy. Mai, you’re due for a check in with the royal healer. They said they should be able to dress you in something more substantial by now. If you’re feeling up to it, we’ll regroup here when the Healer leaves.”

Mai nodded again. “That sounds really nice, actually. Thank you, Azula.”

Zuko wished he had his sister’s confidence and calm. He should have been the one to think of that and get everyone in order. It was a very Fire Lord-ly thing to do. He, on the other hand, was about to cry or commit a felony. (Could you commit a felony as an absolute monarch? He was going to find out.)

— — 

As he and Azula made their way through the palace halls, he realized she was leading them off course. “Where are we going?”

She looked at him sharply. “We’re taking the long way. You need time to pull yourself together. I’m not taking you back to Mai until you’re fully under control.”

He huffed. “I thought I was doing a good job, all things considered. I had half a mind to march to the prison myself and find the pathetic–”

Azula raised her hand, stopping his tirade. She had led him to the fountain, where he had tackled Mai as children. His heart seized. If his sister was trying to make him less emotional, this was a bad choice.

“He’s not in prison, Zuko. I killed him,” Azula reported in a disinterested tone.

That brought him up short. “What– When– How– Are you… okay?”

Azula shook her head dismissively. “Of course I’m okay. Ty Lee and I were entertaining Izzy, but she started getting fussy. I volunteered to go find Mai. When I opened the door, that bastard had his hands on her throat. She pushed him off and I… I filled him with enough lightning to arc across the ocean.”

Zuko’s mind was racing. He hadn’t been there, but Azula was. Would he have been able to do what she did? To take a life? In his anger, he’d thought about it, but he had never followed through. Even in the war. When Uncle spoke about his experiences, he could tell they haunted him. 

He put a hand on Azula’s shoulder. “Umm… Thank you. And I’m here if you need to talk.”

Azula rolled her eyes. “Mai’s my friend too, remember? Even without you, she would still be a sister to me. It was the least I could do after everything in our past.”

Zuko withdrew his arm. “I know that. But I’m still grateful. If you hadn’t been there…” He choked on his words. “Azula, I wasn’t there! I’m her husband and I wasn’t even there! She didn’t even tell me. I don’t understand. Doesn’t she trust me? Why can’t I do anything right?” The tears were flowing now and he collapsed on the ground. 

Azula lowered herself awkwardly beside him. Comfort was not her strong suit. “Listen, Mai loves you very much and she trusts you completely. Why she does those things is beyond me.” Zuko shot his sister a watery glare, but she continued. “But she made the decision to not contact you because she’s the Fire Lady. She knew you would be forced to choose between her and your duty to the Nation.”

Zuko took several deep breaths until he trusted himself to speak. “I still don’t get it, Azula. Doesn’t Mai know that I will always choose her over everything else? I took a vow before Agni to put her first in all things.”

Azula patted his back, hesitantly. “Yes, I think she knows that quite well. In fact, I think that’s why she made the choice for you. Whether she was right to do so or not, Mai wants what's best for you and for the country more than she wants what’s best for her. She’s not someone who thinks of her own pain as consequential. Her wounds aren’t fatal, so she’s hardly taken account of them.” 

Zuko sighed. When did his wife get so altruistic? No, she was always like that. She always put him first, even when they were angsty teens who hated the world. When had he stopped noticing? He needed to be attentive and start listening to the words that she left unsaid. When she was fully healed, they could have a long conversation about communication. Again.

He wiped away his tears. Mai was alright. The man who hurt her was dead. His family was safe. And Azula… was empathetic now? Perhaps life wasn’t so bad after all. 

“Change of plans,” Azula’s voice brought him back to the present. She was standing above him now. “I’ll find Ty Lee and tell her to delay tea. You go back to your wife and sit with her for a bit. But we’ll be joining you in an hour so don’t do anything obscene.”

Zuko rolled his eyes. “She’s injured. Have some decorum. But, thank you. That was almost sweet.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Azula offered a hand and helped him off the ground. “Don’t get used to it.” She punched his arm, harder than playful, and the two went their separate ways. 

— —

When Zuko was readmitted to Mai’s room, he found she was indeed wearing a slightly heavier red robe. He took it as a good sign that the bleeding was under control. The healer had also secured loose bandages on her neck, purely to hide the marks.

“Hey,” Mai greeted him with a small voice.

“Hi.” Zuko resumed his place next to her on the bed, even though they were now alone and the chairs were vacant.

“Are you mad at me?” Mai asked. “I didn’t want to hide anything from you but I knew you would worry and get all worked up for nothing.”

Zuko didn’t think an attack on her life was nothing. He took a lock of her hair and twisted it around his finger. “I could never be mad at you. Not really. I’m angry at myself.”

His wife looked surprised. “Still? After all this time?”

“No,” he laughed humorlessly. “Again. I wish I was better at anticipating your needs. I want to always be exactly what you need. I wish I could have been by your side and prevented all this.”

Mai held his cheek. “You are always exactly what I need. You’re Zuko.”

“And you’re Mai. My fearless Fire Lady.”

“And we’re still here.” Mai brought him in for a kiss, and for a few minutes he felt peace.

[notesbutnotfromunderground]

About the 25 Lazari miracle??

Hullo dearly beloved Good Omens fandom.

So, we all know by now that between hell and heaven, heaven is the one more strict when it comes to tracking and monitoring miracles; RE, Aziraphale once mentioned he was reprimanded for doing so many miracles (or something like that).

So, about the 25 Lazari miracle. Kinda makes me wonder now that when the half-miracle Crowley and Aziraphale did to hide Gabriel was supposed to be a "tiny miracle", why is it that only Heaven was alarmed or triggered? And even when Crowley was hinting on Shax, "Who says it wasn't me?", Shax pushes it off. I mean, my point is, why was Crowley's miracle detected by Heaven and not by Hell?

[For now, I take this as more than a hint towards Crowley being a former Archangel of sorts, not necessarily Lucifer (well, since NG already said they were different, and this is a topic for a different day)] I'm definitely not the first one to think of this.

Like, did I miss the part where heaven can also monitor the miracles being done by demons, such as Crowley? Or a part where Hell just doesn't care about demons miracling miracles away as Crowley does. But that's kind of off because Crowley has been on the watchlist of some of the demons, so someone must noticed his miracles, particularly that big of a miracle. And also, when he did a good deed, he was punished and pulled back to hell for some time.

[Edit: Beelzebub would have noticed something's off as well and she would've confronted Crowley by then as well. She might have been able to put the pieces together and figured it out by herself. But that didn't happen. Shax was the one who has been going up and down.]

I guess what I'm really trying to ask is: somewhere in the ineffable bureaucracy of heaven, does Crowley's miracle(s) still count as a(n) angelic miracle(s)?

But then again, we do see him literally pull his miracle upward, pulling from down hell, compared to Aziraphale's downward hand gestures as pulling from heaven.

We can definitely factor in the following as well:

- they were holding Gabriel, so the miracle could have been amplified

- Crowley is a really powerful Angel demon

- Crowley and Aziraphale complement each other, and they are therefore powerful together (which some of you have already pointed as the reason why Metatron is trying to rip them apart)

Like I know Aziraphale is not just a low ranking or a weak angel because after all, he was the Guardian of the Garden of Eden. But he doesn't seem to be the kind to be making 25 Lazari miracles in just a tiny effort.

Oh, Crowley, you Pandora's box.

How did you become the Angel who "Let there be light." to the Demon who vaguely sauntered downwards?

And what specific sets of questions did you ask for you to fall from God's grace?

What part do you play in this ineffable chess game? Or are you, just like God, watching from the outside?

[pharawee]

🖇️BL WATCHLIST FEBRUARY

🎬To Be Continued - 3PLUS | NETFLIX - I won't be able to watch this as it airs which doesn't stop me from making heart eyes at Fluke Pongsapat. 🥰

🎬Time - GAGAOOLALA - I'm mostly watching this so I can figure out what M.Flow saw in this script.

🎬1000 Years Old - GAGAOOLALA - New favourite show detected.

🎬Playboyy - GAGAOOLALA - 🍌🍍🍈🍎🍑🍐

🎬For Him - IQIYI - Messy uni bl my beloved.

🎬City of Stars - IQIYI - This is going to be my new low-stakes comfort BL - in best Star Hunter tradition.

🎬The Sign - YOUTUBE - The fantasy lakorn BL of my dreams.

🎬A Secretly Love - WeTV - My long awaited oldschool uni BL with Kut and Kimmon is finally coming. If this doesn't have an inter release I'll cry.

🎬Dead Friend Forever | DFF - IQIYI - Okay, now I'm invested - mostly in Jin staying alive.

🎬The Whisperer - YOUTUBE - Will we ever get to watch that last episode?

🖇️COMING UP

⭐Pee Nak 4 - CINEMA - I love these movies and I'm counting the days until I can finally watch this. Maybe this time we'll even get some MeanPlan as a treat.

⭐Man Suang - NETFLIX - It's supposedly coming to netflix globally and in an extended version.

🖇️FINISHED

🎬7 Days Before Valentine - WeTV - This beautiful show has my whole heart and I'm going to miss it.

🎬Pit Babe - This wasn't supposed to consume my whole llife.

➕ MDL | ABOUT | ALL WATCHLISTS | COMMENTARY TAG | THAI BL NOVELS

[bellysoupset]

Soup! Rn I would looooove to see Luke and sick Vince with Luke being the comforting force this time? Just wanna see those two beans talk and recheck how much they care about each other @writing-whump

Some sickific with heavy brotp, the chef's special.

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

Wendy groaned, pressing her forehead to the cool surface of the chilled water bottle she was holding. She had the start of a headache, from stress, from the lack of rest, from heartbreak...

Vince had just plateau, after almost two whole days shaking with a high fever and throwing up everything he had ever eaten, he was finally sleeping and seemingly able to keep water down. Just when she had considered dragging his ass to the hospital.

Jonah had left early morning and now it was well into the evening, almost night, and Wendy knew she should be getting something to eat for them both... She was just so tired.

Her cellphone startled her and Wendy nearly dropped the water bottle, squealing as she caught it just before the hard plastic could hit her toe and then grabbing her phone before it could wake up Vince sleeping a room away.

Bella's pictured appeared on the screen, her sleeping with her head tilted back and a cowboy hat sitting upon wild curls and blocking most of her face.

Wendy rolled her eyes at the picture the ginger had assigned herself and picked up the call, "hello?"

"Hi Wen," Bella's voice was a touch too soft, but that was expected. Wendy had talked with Luke the day before and learned the ginger had also caught the flu, "how are you?"

"I think I should be asking you that," Wendy chuckled nervously, leaning against the sink of her kitchen and rubbing a hand over her face, "Luke mentioned you got sick as well."

"It'd take a lot more than the flu to knock me out," Bella scoffed, "I'm fine, I'm bored out of my mind and wondering if you wanna come over?"

Now!?

Wendy frowned, "I- what? Come again?" the question was so out of the blue and weird, given the circumstances, that Wendy wasn't sure what to make of it. Girls night while Bella had the rest of a stomach flu and Vince was down for the count in Wendy's bedroom?!

"Yeah, I'm- Luke, I'm telling her, would you wait-"

"Give me the phone-" Luke's voice travelled through the line and Wendy muffled a giggle as she heard them wrestling for the phone. Then it was Luke talking with her, instead of the ginger.

"Can I go over?" straight to the point. Wendy raised her eyebrows and nodded, before she remembered he couldn't see her.

"Yeah, Luke, of course-"

"Let's switch? You can handle my darling wife - stop pinching me, Isabella! - who's bored out of her mind and I can watch Vince?" Lucas' voice was breathless and Wendy's heart squeezed. She felt a weird sense of camaraderie with him, which was entirely misplaced, given Luke knew Vince would be leaving for weeks before Wendy did.

Water under the bridge, she knew it, since Vince was leaving and she was still dating him... But the resentment was still there. Resentment that she couldn't find in her when Lucas' was clearly out of his mind with worry over Vince.

It would be good, to have Luke come over and clear the air with Vince. Make things normal again, so Vince could stop looking like a kicked puppy all hours of the day... Besides, she could use the rest and Bella was already ahead of recovery than Vin was-

"Wendy?"

"Yeah, of course. Can I spend the night?"

"You're gonna end up catching this bug, Wen," Lucas said, sounding relieved, "yeah, we can trade places in the morning, how does that sound?"

"Honestly sounds heavenly..."

"See you in a bit then- Oh my god, Bella, give me the fucking remote and stop messing with my watchlist-"

Wendy chuckled as he hung up and she made her way back to the bedroom to pack an overnight bag. Vince was curled on his side, the empty bucket sitting on the ground next to his head, his black curls sticking out everywhere.

She put everything away inside a backpack, the dropped it by the door and climbed on the bed, combing her fingers through her boyfriend's hair.

He was still overly warm to the touch, a fever that just wouldn't break, and even in his sleep his brows were nearly meeting in a frown. Probably cramps, she thought sympathetically, feeling Vince's tummy growl since she was sitting on his side.

"Vin," she whispered, debating waking him up or not, "Honey...?"

She always forgot he was a light sleeper, because just with that small whisper Vince stirred on the bed and his eyes fluttered open. Drowsy and lost, he struggled to focus on her.

"Hey," Wendy rubbed his arm, "how are you feeling?"

"Gross," Vince groaned, curling up further, "what time is it?"

"Around seven," she stroked his cheek, "Luke and I are exchanging places, okay?"

Vince's dark eyes widened and he suddenly was a lot more alert, "Luke's coming here?"

"He's worried," Wendy shrugged, deciding not to tell Vince just how exhausted she was as well. This could be all pinned on Luke for all she cared, "and he misses you, honey."

"Well, he's the one not talking with me," Vince scoffed, before grimacing as his belly let out a growl. She pressed closer to it, kicking herself mentally for enjoying the sensation and sound when it clearly was making him feel like hell.

"So you'll be an adult and talk with him," she squeezed his bicep, "do you remember anything from the last days?"

"Nearly crushing you to death twice," Vince groaned, closing his eyes, "and barfing everything I ever ate."

She rolled her eyes, "worst is past now," Wendy promised, even if she wasn't so sure. His fever refused to break and he seemed to not be as nauseous, but the way his tummy was churning wasn't promising, "I want you to try some water again."

"It's just gonna come back up," Vince's face scrunched up and Wendy sighed, ignoring the complaint as she reached for the water bottle.

"Just a sip, Vin."

He was pouting as he obeyed, taking a small, tiny gulp, then a larger one when his stomach didn't immediately reject the previous one. He fell back against the pillow, wrapping a hand around her wrist and bringing it to his mouth, pressing a kiss to her pulse point.

"I'm sorry I'm being such a hassle, and right when I'm leaving as well--"

Wendy rolled her eyes, scratching at his scruff, "I don't mind taking care of you, I just wish we didn't spend our last days together with you feeling so wretched."

"I know," Vince pouted, "but I'll see you in five days and-"

There was a knock on the door and Wendy sighed, "hold that thought. I'm going to go, you'll be alright, okay? Text me if you want me to come back, I'll kick Luke out in a heartbeat."

Vince chuckled at that, "I can handle Lucas, he's an idiot, but I sadly love the guy."

She hated how sweet Vince was, it woke up a viciously protective part of her that Wendy didn't know what to do with. She leaned in, pressing a kiss to his brow, "I love you. Don't let Luke be a prick to you."

"I love you as well, have some fun with Bell. Catch some sleep, you look like you need it, honey."

"Uhm, I do," Wendy yawned, kissing his cheek and getting up.

Lucas was waiting in the hallway outside her apartment, with a backpack thrown over his shoulder and grocery bags in his hands. Unlike Wendy, who felt dead on her feet, he looked like he had chugged an energy drink.

"Hi," Lucas said, bouncing on his feet, "thanks for letting me come over-"

"If you make him cry I'm gonna have your liver," Wendy warned him and Lucas couldn't help but open a wide smile at that.

"I know," he nodded, "I swear I'm not here to fight... How is he?"

"Sleepy," Wendy yawned, rubbing her eyes, "watch out for the fever, it still hasn't broken and I'm a little worried about it."

"Yes, ma'am," Luke hit two fingers to his forehead in a salute, "get some rest, Wen."

"Yeah," she yawned again, "thanks for proposing this, I could catch a break... Have fun."

"Sooo much fun," Luke teased her and they crossed the hallway, Wendy leaving and him entering.

The house was fully silent, so Lucas dumped his backpack on the couch and then headed to the kitchen, putting away the multiple bottles of gatorade, the canned soup and all the medicine he had brought, just out of precaution.

There was a noise and he turned around just in time to see Vince slumping against the kitchen's threshold, with a blanket wrapped around his shoulder's like a king's fluffy cape.

"Hi," he said roughly, his voice all raspy, "nice of you to show up in time for my funeral."

Luke rolled his eyes, feeling something horrible settle in his stomach. Guilt, "dying of the flu is just sad."

"Uhm," Vince leaned against the wooden frame that separated Wendy's cramped kitchen from her dining room, pressing his forehead to the surface, "are we gonna talk about it or...?"

"Sure," Luke wrung his hands, quickly regretting even coming over. He wasn't sure how to put into words that he wasn't angry, he was just... Just sad, "I'm sorry. I've been a dick, ignoring you since graduation- Uhm, that wasn't cool."

Vince raised his eyebrows, letting out a bitter huff, his forehead still pressed to the wooden frame, "not cool indeed," he groaned, "why are- Why were you acting like that?"

"Because I don't want you to leave!" Luke blurted out, unable to keep the words in, "because I think you're- You're making a stupid decision and I don't want you to leave and- and I'm afraid you're gonna go and we won't be friends anymore and-"

"Jesus, Lucas," Vince interrupted with a groan, pinching his nose bridge and glaring at his best friend, "I could move to fucking Italy and we wouldn't stop being friends, you're the one who's being stupid. It's four hours, I don't know why you people keep acting as if I'm moving to a different country."

"It fucking sucks to be left behind, sorry," Luke exclaimed, bitterness he wasn't even aware he possessed coating his words, "everyone's got their shit together and big plans and I don't know what I'm doing and- And I thought you'd be here with me, but you won't be and I'm not sure of what to do with myself."

"Luke..." Vince sighed, rubbing his face, "man, you're making a much bigger deal out of this than it is. I'm not going to war, I'm going to teach 4 hours away from here. I'm coming back on the weekends. It's not the end of the world..."

A heavy silence settled over them and Vince turned around, so he could rest the back of his head against the kitchen threshold, instead of his forehead. He was really pale and gulping down...

"Do you want me to go?" Luke asked quietly.

Vince frowned, looking at him, "no, of course not."

More silence.

"I'm really sorry I haven't been there for you," Luke said, his voice even smaller and Vince's knees gave up on holding him up, so he crumpled down and fell on his ass, trying to make it look like he was purposefully lowering himself down.

If Luke noticed the farse, he didn't say much, only watched him intently, looking extremely out of place in Wendy's pink kitchen.

"I forgive you," Vince shrugged, leaning forward and resting his forehead to his knees, breathing through his mouth, "...Do you forgive me?"

"Nothing to forgive," without looking up Vince could hear the relief in his best friend's voice.

"Uhm- I don't feel good, Luke..." he finally voiced it. Part of him meant the past couple of weeks, though mostly he meant the current state of his body and its lack of cooperation.

The water Wendy had forced him to drink was churning in his belly and his head felt heavy.

"Wendy mentioned your fever didn't break," Lucas' voice suddenly was much closer, the other man crouching next to him and planting his cool hand to Vince's forehead. He instinctively leaned on the touch, letting out a breath.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Vince groaned, gulping down nervously when his mouth filled with salty saliva, "...I'm so tired of feeling shitty."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Luke whispered, grabbing his arm, "c'mon, back to bed."

Vince swayed as Luke pulled him up, fully leaning against his best friend and turning his face, burying his nose on Lucas' hoodie. He felt like crap... And better than he had been feeling in a long time.

"You're gonna get sick too," he warned and heard a small scoff, Luke's hand in the middle of his back rubbing in circles as they stumbled through the apartment.

"Definitely," Lucas agreed, but instead of pulling them apart, he pulled Vince closer.

[nabs-draws]

Today I'd like to show you a piece which was heavily inspired by two Images: The Poster of Oshi no Ko (I haven't seen the Anime yet, but it's on my watchlist) and a Hatsune Miku Fanart by Bankman.

What I wanted to capture was the magical Moment of Miku being on stage, while everyone move their glowsticks in the rhythm of the performing song. While painting it, I remember my first introduction to Vocaloid. It must be around 2011 when a friend of mine showed me "Love is War" by ryo. At first, I wasn't really into it. It sounded a bit too artificial for me and I clearly wasn't open minded enough to embrace this kind of music in my life. It was until I came across "Matryoshka" by Hachi and "Rolling Girl" by Wowaka, which lured me into this Fandom and Vocaloid became a big thing in my life ever since.

For the image itself, I once again wanted to challenge myself with the lightning. Even when the color Palette itself was clearly in my comfort zone (given that I've been drawing with this palette for a while now), the lightning clearly wasn't. But I personally feel like I learned a lot while doing this image. (and probably will continue to experiment with this type of Lightning in the future)

In the End I have a question for you: Are you listening to Vocaloid? And if so, what is your favorite Song?

[sakuracoloring]

Cami's Commentary #6 - Random

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「ようこそ！」　。。。

Good morning/afternoon/night to whoever may be reading this! It's late but I feel like writing stuff, so here we go :)

JLPT: I did the JLPT/日本語能力試験 (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) on Sunday for the N5 level for the first time :D Honestly, I feel like I went well (my main concerns were my phone ringing out of the blue, even though I had turned it off nicely and it was in silent mode, and not being able to hear the audio part, but thankfully everything went well) and I really hope to pass. If I do, I'll probably start studying for N4 as soon as possible (though I don't think I'll be prepared enough to do the December test already), but let's see how it goes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I've never been so excited during a test before lol

MOVIESSSSS: I surprisingly woke up early today and chose to not be a lazy bum who watches youtube shorts on her bed for like 2 hours, so I decided to watch some movies! (yippeeee) :D I started out by watching Little Darlings, which I really liked. The story was pretty interesting, the main leads had believable acting (which is hella important), and shaggy hair Matt Dillon my beloved was there (which is even more important). Kinda unrelated but I feel like his shaggy hair era is a bit forgotten :( Idk, I just find more about his Outsiders era and nowadays on here and pinterest, so that's kinda the impression I get from the fandom/fanbase (Idk if I should call it that). Anyways, it was funny and emotional at the right times (and Randy was adorable), so I'd give it an 8/10. I then watched Juno, which has been on my watchlist for a pretty long time, and I loved it :3 It was better than I expected (though I did not expect to see Dwight's actor and Spiderman's J. J. Jameson's actor there lol), and the ending scene made me squeal as if I were watching a cute cat video. Solid 10/10. Finally, I watched Liar's Moon. It was pretty good ngl, (Matt looked so handsome wtf) but the whole possible incest plot twist thing was hella weird, so I'd give it a 7.5/10. Feel free to give me any movie suggestions :) (especially if Matt Dillon is in it lol)

The Outsiders on roblox: Idk if any of y'all play roblox, but I do (been using the same account from 7 years ago lol, it holds many memories) and I thought of searching ''the outsiders'' on it to see if there were any games ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and so there's these two(?) games, but only one of them is mainly played by roleplayers n stuff. So a few weeks ago, I remember going there and always seeing the same two Ponyboy and Johnny roleplayers (I even remember talking to a girl who wasn't roleplaying and she was pissed that people shipped the greasers together lol), and like, they were ALWAYS on there. I'd log in at 7am, then like 9pm of THE SAME DAY and they'd be there. I also tested this on multiple days. And just them yk, not even a Dally or TwoBit to be there too, and even now when I don't see them that often in game, I always ask myself ''are they gonna be there?'' lol Also, I've also played the Cherry Valance obby (not bad), and the beginning of the obby mentions it's based on the Darry obby, which I haven't been able to find, so if anyone has the link, please lmk :3

I have to sleep rn (doctor's appointment tomorrow), so that'll be it for today. Thank you so much for making it this far into my written yap session :) I really appreciate your attention <3

See you next time! ☆

-Cami

[greyias]

I have made it through the pilot episode of my silly forgotten spy show from 2011! The yellow subtitles are super duper distracting, and sometimes cover up the actual subtitles when they start speaking in other languages. I persevere though! Beggars can't be choosers when it comes to nearly lost media.

Thoughts below the cut!

First up, apparently my memory lied to me right off the bat, and I had forgotten the show wasn't "four white guys", it was "three white guys" and the main character, Ricky Martinez, who is Puerto Rican. Whoops. My bad.

Okay first, since likely no one has seen this show, our cast:

Pictured: 4 wild and crazy guys, on a future adventure I've already forgotten

On the left, our main character, Ricky Martinez. The newbie. Again, the least white man here. A little baby. A sparkly eyed ingenue, who has always dreamed of being a spy.

Next up is Michael Dorset, played by Eric Close. He's the team leader! His personality is "dickishly controlling", I guess, but he somehow fades into the background in the pilot. But that's mostly because standing to the right of him...

...is Billy Collins, played by James Murray. My beloved, my baby boy, the inexplicably Scottish spy that works for the CIA(?). This is explained very quickly in that he used to be part of the British Secret Service, but then got deported (???) "on account of boyish mischief". To my recollection, this is the only explanation we ever get. He's just Scottish and he's there. Accept it.

And finally we have Casey Malick, aka "The Living Weapon". He's like if Elliot Spencer was extremely deadpan all the time. An average guy surrounded by supermodels for coworkers. He doesn't seem to mind.

Now that my oh-so descriptive introductions are out of the way. Onwards to the plot! After a very questionable historical narration of the CIA, it starts with our little fwesh faced, cherubic wannabe spy Ricky going to his first day at work! He's so excited to start his dream job, and I guess in this universe, if you get a job with the CIA you're actually allowed to tell your mommy, because she packed a lunch for him for his first big boy day at the office! (Who he apparently doesn't live with so did he make a pitstop on his way to work?). Unfortunately, the lovingly prepared Asopao De Pollo is quickly deemed a "suspicious liquid" and Ricky is detained as a suspected terrorist, because oopsie! The CIA accidentally merged their new hire list with the terrorist watchlist. AS YOU DO.

But that's all sorted out quickly enough, although I think lunch may have been ruined in the process, and our derring do protagonist marches onward to the office of the deputy director of the CIA to report for duty, only to be informed that he was laid off as of five minutes ago. WOMP WOMP. After giving a rousing speech about how obsessed he is with being a spy, the director, seeing the perfect patsy, basically assigns Ricky to be a tattletale on the team of troublemakers who are constantly irritating him.

So he immediately goes to meet/spy on his new coworkers, who introduce themselves to Ricky and the audience, and then when Ricky tries to bluff out his reason for being assigned to the team, SUDDENLY get called on a super duper urgent mission just a few blocks down (it's on American soil, but that's okay because they're rebelllllls), and they let Billy drive, which seems to be a mistake because he's either forgotten what side of the road to drive on, or thinks he's actually playing Grand Theft Auto. I started to try and count how many civilians he nearly plowed into as he literally DRIVES OVER SIDEWALKS and almost causes several accidents as they race to find... uh, I don't know. Somethingsomething plutonium. I should note, this isn't even ten minutes into the episode's runtime.

So the three senior spies chunk our poor fresh faced baby spy onto the road where he has to run down and climb into a moving vehicle to give an envelope to an operative who turns out to be Russian, and as understanding dawns on poor Ricky, he's thrown on his ass again into the street, where the little rascal senior spies pick him back up and are like "aw how sweet we got photos of that", because you know, spies. And blackmail. And the relentless hazing of the newbie begins.

Other things they do to this poor man in this episode alone include:

cockblocking him on a date (granted, it's a date with Michael, aka leader dude's ex wife)

trick him into making a toast with a drugged flask of whiskey

glue an earpiece to his eardrum(???)

send his unconscious form on a horse so he'll get kidnapped by the villains of the week (for reasons)

decide to wake him up by nearly shattering his eardrum with the sound of bagpipes

at the end of the episode they cockblock him again by waiting for him in the dark in his own house, just because

Anyway, plot of the week is rescuing a journalist who's been captured by... *heavy sigh* Sudanese rebels. Because while this wasn't made closer to 2001 post-9/11 reactionary, it's still, you know, close enough that we're still in that era of television. So they all commit a little grand larceny (although is it grand larceny if the money you "acquire" for a hostage exchange is counterfeit?), Ricky has to go get his vaccines, somewhere in this Billy actually tries to be friendly to him and give him advise, Ricky causally proposes bombing some potato farmers because the deputy director is trying to teach him about the viability of intel, and they have to fly coach, the HORROR, before we finally get to...

The Scene™.

The one scene that once I saw it again, made me vividly remember cringing as it aired back in 2011. Like, it wasn't great then, and it aged even more poorly... the scorpion scene. It's... it's... yeahhhhhh... I have a vague memory they didn't lean too heavily into the racist stereotyping later in the series, unless my memory just completely blanked all of that out. But yeah... it's not great. And CBS was like. SUPER proud of this scene. In all of the promotional trailers and lead up to the pilot airing, they include the 🦂 incident in a lot of them.

🦂 🦂 🦂 ANYWAY. Let's move on from that 🦂 🦂 🦂

Anyway, then the drugging incident above happens, which was done so Deputy Director who just won't spend any $$$ to authorize rescuing non-Americans needs a bonafide American in danger to send in the helicopters. Also there's like, at least a dozen rando hostages just to up the ante I guess. After being rudely woken up by bagpipes (courtesy of our resident inexplicable Scot, of course), the cavalry arrives! And Ricky gets super tazed in the process, because he didn't have enough going wrong in his life. Anyway they rescue the hostages, Ricky decides he wants to be part of this group of charming rascals and joins the team officially.

Thirteen years later, and writing all of that out, I truly question his sanity.

So how does the pilot hold up? Well, ahem, certain scenes aside... it's not so bad? I mean, all of the above does sound chaotic as fuck, but I mean, when you literally name your show CHAOS, I guess there's a little of that to be expected. And by the end of the episode, Billy at least starts to feel a little bad for them being unrelenting assholes to poor Ricky. Maybe this was why he was my favorite character back in the day (I mean, other than the fact that he's played by James Murray).

And now... onto the ratings!

Rating*: 🍸🍸🍸/5 Shaken Martinis. I subtracted an entire two points for the gd scorpion scene. CBS was way too proud of that in their marketing for this show.

* - I'm grading this show on a curve, considering it's been so neglected.

Idiot Spy Boyfriend Award: Since we have four lovely hunky spies to choose from, each episode I will give the following award to whoever acts the most like Theron Shan this time around. A completely bewildering metric for anyone who has not played SWTOR, but this is my blog and I make the rules. Today's winner is, of course, Billy, for needlessly playing GTA5 in traffic, nearly committing vehicular manslaughter about 15 times before I lost count, and also just… having a sound file of Scottish bagpipes at the ready???? Ricky, you do not get it for the 🦂, because that scene doesn't deserve to be rewarded. Try better next time.

Will there be a next time? I have no idea. I'm already wanting to rewatch the second episode, but we'll see if I have the spoons to do any more recapping.

[curelore]

I can already tell from this episode that I'm going to really like the character relationships this season, and it feels a bit found-family-esque even after only two episodes!! I'm really looking forward to the introduction of more characters!!

I think that Mary is really sweet for wanting to protect Precious from danger, and the idea that he (as someone who's whole job it is to fight the Bundoru Gang and find the Recipepes) already kinda lost the ability to fight alone and he's already struggling with feeling inadequate is super interesting. Their team-up to beat the Ubaou-zo was super cool!! I think that Mary is definitely higher in strength than a typical human though, so he's definitely not as inadequate as he thinks, lol

I would love to have a replica of this that wasn't made of plastic that I could actually drink out of ToT alas, the toy version will do, I've placed a few listings on my personal watchlist, so if I get halfway through and still want this item or others, I'll bite the bullet and order them :3c

[everysongieverwrote]

Under the Bridge flying under the radar because Hulu just had Shogun is so unfortunate. Not that Shogun doesn’t deserve all the attention and appreciation it’s getting. (It’s literally is the best thing on TV since the earlier seasons of Game of Thrones). However a smaller show with smaller budget is so easy to get sidelined come award season. Especially considering how both of them are limited series and will be competing in the same categories.

But yeah hats off to the performance of every single actor. Even though at times I felt like Roy, Scott, Manjit, and Kelly come off like caricatures, they reign it back in pretty quick. My favorite performances so far have been the portrayals of Suman, Raj, and Warren. Their performances feel so grounded and seasoned. And such great work by the teens who did Jo, Dusty, and Reena too. It’s so refreshing to watch actual kids play kids.

And what can I say about Lily and Riley that hasn’t been said already. I genuinely believe they’re two of our finest actors in the show business right now. The way they light up the screen is so magical to watch. And it doesn’t even feel like the directors have to do anything special when they’re performing. They’re both just really good and steal every scene they’re in. So lucky that we get to witness their greatness together.

I'm gonna be honest here, I haven't watch Shogun yet (it's on my watchlist tho) but I've kept up with the Emmy talk and from what I've gathered, a lot of people have decided that when it comes to limited series, Shogun is the clear winner as best series and RDJ might win for best performance (and I get it the guy just won an Oscar). Many don't think that shows like Under The Bridge and We Were The Lucky Ones (Hulu's most recent limited series) are gonna get nominated, but that Lily Gladstone will get nominated for an Emmy. That's all just speculation, of course. But I can see where they're coming from. It's also kinda funny that the two Hulu shows that are being a little sidelined deal with kinda similar themes but who am I to judge?

Obviously, this is also a kind of "side-effect" from the strikes. The shows could've been released with more space between them (UTB seems like the perfect fall/winter show, doesn't it?) But many productions were stopped or delayed during the strikes and now everyone has a bunch of shows ready to go and an Emmy deadline getting nearer and nearer everyday. Maybe if Hulu wasn't trying to get all their Emmy qualifying shows out before May 31st, the show would have gotten a bigger chance to truly shine. But hey, both the show and Lily already got nominated for a Gotham Award, so there's hope for the Emmys, at least.

I know I've praised the show a lot (and it totally deserves it) but the show is, of course, not perfect. No show ever is. Take the latest episode for example, the character arcs and storyline were great, and the acting was absolutely amazing but there were too many cuts and some of them were kind of awkward and a little... brutal. Some of the acting is a little cringe at times, which might be intentional in the actor's case (it might be with Kelly, she has to come off a certain way, so I don't blame Izzy G for some of her acting choices) or it might be that some of the actors have difficulty saying the lines and acting the way is necessary for their characters. It might be the writing or the directing, while an actor can make or break a scene, so can the writing and directing choices. And some of the lines and angles are a little bit awkward, ngl. But all in all, the show is great and it truly deserves more attention but I know that this kind of show is not everyone's cup of tea and I'm glad it has so far only attracted the people who have a true interest in it.

Lily and Riley are absolutely amazing, both separate and together. I'm slowly turning into their fan, I truly want to see more of their work... but later, of course. Right now they're Cam and Becca for me and I like it that way. I realize that was a long rant and I'm sorry but I truly have a lot of things to say about this show.

[neonscandal]

As a fan of both bnha & jjk, can I ask you somethings?

-which majority of characters will survive if their universe is swithed (jjk charas in bnha verse or bnha charas in jjk verse)

-people in jjk verse have stronger mental state than in bnha verse because the death rate is higher in jjk than bnha (do you agree?)

- from plot and art, which do you think is better (jjk or bnha)?

-dynamics between bakudeku or satosugu, which is written better as a duo? why?

I asked this because in twitter I found a jjk fan and bnha fan have a heated discussion to prove which is better, and that's why I want to know your opinion, thanks.....

I feel like I'm getting tagged in. Excuse me while I stretch before I jump into this. As always, thank you for the ask! ❤️

Put me in the game, coach!

DEADPOOL

Please. If JJK characters' cursed techniques were quirks, they'd all be alive and going to amusement parks and eating crepes.

In the reverse, Midoriya would be a Yuta like drop in considering all of his techniques, maybe, and most of Class 1A would be wiped. Hell, I think we can all agree there are students in Class 1A that shouldn't even be in Class 1A (this is a Minoru Mineta call out, at the very least). But that's also why Jujutsu Tech has a class size that hasn't exceeded 4 students that we've seen. I could see Midoriya, Shinso (cursed speech user), and Tokoyami (shikigami user) in a class. With Todoroki (legacy family + technique) and Bakugo (Todo-esque brute force regardless of technique) over at Kyoto. I'm not saying they'd all survive but I could see it.

MENTAL ACUITY

I think trauma, or one's ability to handle a breadth of it, isn't based on the trauma itself. Even if Midoriya had never experienced loss, he'd repeatedly experienced the inequities of systemic and social oppression from being quirkless compounded by a dad that seemingly peaced out. Kid took hit after hit before being able to have a shot at his dream which he then slowly realized wasn't as cut and dry as it seemed. He keeps on trucking though.

If anything, I think that most characters in JJK are a belt loop getting caught on a door handle away from losing their shit and becoming curse users because of the higher death toll. The students of class 1A might be slowly losing hope but Yuji is constantly swimming in sea of despair, survivor's guilt, and has a 1000 year old curse whispering obscenities to him. For all intents and purposes, kid should be on a watchlist. And you mean to tell me that Megumi "Watch What These Hands Do" Fushiguro is the picture of mental health??? Nah. Buddy has been looking for any opportunity to take a curtain bow with Mahoraga since day 1. Gojo meant what he said when he had to make sure Nobara was crazy in Season 1 because that's what it takes to be a sorcerer if you want to live. You have to be a little deranged so the losses don't take you down the same path as Geto or breed an even bigger problem by generating a curse. The only easy, breezy, beautiful cover girls in JJK are the villains as they are regularly shown to be leisurely enjoying the beach, soccer, mahjong... all while 16 year olds are fighting for their lives and losing.

WINNER TAKE ALL

Plot

Taking into consideration the fact that we're in late stage My Hero Academia and, at best, half way through Jujutsu Kaisen, I think MHA has it on plot. This take is based on being able to now, with most of the story having taken place, see how everything comes together, though. Bear in mind, even at the end of the story, we still don't know how things are going to play out. I've made a lot of wild accusations though (here, here, here, here, here and, inevitably, more are bouncing around my head). What's funny about this is the fact that, there's not really a question of how it's going to end in the grand scheme. We know that Deku will be triumphant in defeating or liberating Shigaraki. I think, through all his subversion, Horikoshi will still write a story where the good guys win. But the subtler details of how the story will end are what everyone's getting fired up about regarding BakuDeku and if anyone will die.

Regarding Jujutsu Kaisen's plot, as readers, we're still too lost in the forest of the culling games to understand the overarching reason. It's still a 5/5 in my book until proven otherwise but, from what we've seen, Gege Akutami buries details that are pertinent later. His exposition style is uniquely different from Horikoshi's (and Iseyama's for that matter). Moreover, Akutami knows how to illicit rage, angst, tears even in the midst of a multi page description of one man's cursed technique (yea, I'm talking about Hikari). They are a troll with a pen and I cannot take that away from them. So, I'm trusting in the process while also acknowledging that this story is not going to echo that of shonen series' before it. Gege Akutami could very well write the end of the human world as we know it, the entirety of the main cast dead, and I wouldn't even be surprised and I would read every. single. panel. Happily.

Art

Again, it's kind of unfair to compare the refined art of a series with 39 volumes versus 24 volumes especially when they stylistically differ so much. So, instead, I'll say what I appreciate for both.

Horikoshi's unique character design, even going so far as to use different illustration styles where appropriate circumvents the issue of Same Face Syndrome while also adding a lot of dynamic visual texture to the cast. Also, hands are like a big part of the story? Which he's managed to make a focal point where it matters. I will also say that he has, in recent chapters, delved into the horror aesthetic beautifully.

Gege Akutami is just a silly little guy. By that, I mean, there will be these AMAZING spreads or panels. Then, on the very next panel or page, there will be a silly lil doodle and it doesn't even feel out of place. In fact, it's very on par with Yuji as a character. I don't think this story is told from Yuji's limited perspective where MHA is largely from Deku's POV, but, when Gege breaks down the behind the scenes, it's broken down as if it's for someone as simple as Yuji. Stylistically gory but also humorous, there are definitely some chapters that are perhaps churned out faster than others, but the art still speaks for itself.

BATTLE OF THE SHIPS

This is a hard one in the sense that BakuDeku is being explored in real time, at length whereas SatoSugu we've only gotten wisps of even though they are, foundationally, what sets off the entire chain of events that sets the story for JJK. There's something to be said for wanting and I think what makes SatoSugu so compelling is truly the tragedy of it. Gojo lost his only equal, his everything (which Geto never thought himself to be) and Geto lost his everloving mind. MHA's whole story is hinged on BakuDeku but the brainrot for SatoSugu decays so poignantly because, while both series are effectively about child soldiers trying to stay alive, SatoSugu is the after. What happens when youth aren't protected, what do they lose?

FINAL VERDICT

Just because you can read them both in Shonen Jump does not mean they're a monolith.

Considering they aren't actually in the same genre, it makes no sense to compare the two. They may have some similarities. But that's like saying a horse is similar to a cow because they are animals with four legs and tails.

It makes more sense to compare JJK to the other two unhinged stories that make up the dark trio, "Chainsaw Man" or "Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku" because the stakes are the same. Anyone can die. For the most part, there aren't miraculous revivals (like Best Jeanist and whoever else 👀).

A/N: I don't care, I know Nobara's coming back if only for Gege to kill her again.