#watching episodes for the 4th or 5th time and I focus a lot more on the characters in the background of scenes

[pinkcrocss]

On Andre...

So, I've been picking up on a lot of negative feelings towards Andre within the fandom (some warranted, some unwarranted in my opinion). And I think it comes down to two things:

-Andre is probably one of the least developed of the core group in terms of writing.

-Andre's actor (Chance Perdomo) has some problematic views irl.

I want to focus on the first point however, cuz I'm interested in the character not the actor (Patrick Schwarzeneggar and Claudia Dumit also support Isreal, so I'm choosing to focus my feelings on characters, not the actors if I want to enjoy this show at all).

When I first watched Gen V (before the hyper fixation had kicked in), Chance's performance had been one of my least favourites. I didn't like the weird voice he was doing (turns out he was Brit doing a pretty decent attempt at an "American Jock" type accent) and I thought the actor kept doing a lot of awkward stammers and tics that didn't feel in line with the character (I assumed, that's just how the actor was irl). That is until I watched a cast interview and I learned 2 things:

He is a Brit.

He's actually a very smooth and clear speaker. Which means those mannerisms were an intentional choice by the actor.

Later, once the hyperfixation had truly set in, I was watching a boatload of cast interviews, when I caught a comment underneath one of those videos that totally changed my view of that character and performance during my 4th (maybe 5th) rewatch.

You know how each of the core group's abilities hurts them in some way and thus works as an allegory for some form of personal issue that they are overcoming? i.e.

Marie -> Cutting/Self Harm

Emma -> Eating Disorders

Cate -> Consent

Jordan -> Gender Identity/dysphoria

For a while, I don't really see how Andre's abilities could serve as an allegory for anything. like, yes later on we learn that his powers will cause him damage over time, but that kind of seemed ham-fisted at the last minute, and not really connected to his ability to bend metal.

But back to that one Youtube comment. I can't remember word for word the comment, but to paraphrase, essentially:

The commentor spoke about how they connected to Andre's character a lot because when they were in college, they had developed an auto-immune disease that essentially made them chronically ill.

They talked about being unable to keep up with their peers, while they were supposed to be in their prime physical years, and how much that taxed on their mental health. Constantly feeling left out, constantly self-medicating, and the chronic pain that they just had to grin and bear.

And as soon as I read that, everything I didn't quite understand/connect with in Andre's character suddenly made sense.

What is one of Andre's core personality traits in the group? He's the stoner.

From episode one, there's a scene of him doing drugs in every episode. Cate is constantly asking him if he's high... he's self medicating.

The slow way he talks, the constant blinking and squeezing his face (note the scene when he's yelling at Tek Knight, or after he takes that first hit from Sam, or after he stops the helicopter)... he's in pain.

So many tics and nuances in his behaviour that I initially wrote off, was actually a much more nuanced performance from Chance Perdomo.

And it all coalesces in that final scene when Andre is at Vought tower and learns of his dad's diagnosis. His powers are slowly killing him, making him weaker (like an auto-immune disease. the body attacking itself).

And the doctor asks him if he ever feels light-headed? has he noticed any uncontrollable tics? Andre is hesitant, almost like he's in denial. But you look back at his actions/behaviour throughout the show, and he's been showcasing both those things.

Finally, the scene with the helicopter. Where it's more or less confirmed that Andre's powers are doing to him, exactly what his dad's powers did. I've seen people very critical of that scene. Saying things like, Oh! He's all of a sudden being affected by the use of his powers, but we hadn't seen that previously (which I disagree) and how it seemed "too convenient".

But keep in mind, stopping a decelerating helicopter is the biggest feat of Andre's abilities we'd seen so far in the show. Of course it's going to take a bigger toll on him than all the other times (not to mention he was in pretty big emotional distress. His dad, Cate's betrayal, an attack on the school...). Stress exacerbates illnesses.

The other critique I've seen is, why are Andre's abilities having this affect now? He's supposed to be in his 20s, but his dad made it all the way to his 40s/50s before it was detected... and that's a fair question. I have some theories:

Like certain genetic illnesses, this issue is hereditary. It's not Impossible, that Andre just inherited a stronger ability than his father, and thus stronger blowback on himself.

Andre's chronic drug use might be a chicken or egg situation. Where maybe his chronic drug use exacerbated the damage his abilities were causing him, and as a result he started self-medicating with more drugs, causing a continues cycle of him increasing the damage to himself.

His dad has been shown to have a very stubborn personality (note how he refused to acknowledge when Andre revealed to him the damage their powers were causing them). Perhaps, he had started feeling the symptoms around the same age Andre had, but just kept ignoring it and pushing through up until he reached his limit in his 40s/50s.

Some other reason that writer's haven't revealed yet. The show has been renewed for a second season, and it's obvious these characters have been set up to be integral to the overarching storyline of the boys as a whole. It's entirely possible that there is more potential development for Andre's character in the future, and I think it's fair to give the writers leeway to explore that.

All in all, I just wanted to get my thoughts out about this, and maybe see how everyone else views Andre's character. He seems to be one of the least discussed in the core group, and I feel like his character has a lot of room for more development in the future if the writers approach it correctly.

[bcofl0ve]

kaia book club brief: the lover with olivia baes. watch it here!

pre interview chatter: doesn't like being asked what her favorite book is because its like picking a favorite kid

but she's answered that question before with ‘the lover’

says she's been holding out on doing book club with it because it's so special to her

wanted to do something different then just book club on like- the themes of the book which is why she's gonna focus the conversation on translation.

kaia is SO excited lol she's so cute ugh i love seeing ppl talk about things that make them happy

first q for olivia is how she became a translator. not gonna type out her whole answer but i know nothing about this field and found her response interesting! she has an ma in cultural translation.

2nd q is asking her to describe the art of translation

says she thinks of it like acting/getting into the skin of the author and says its almost spiritual. its not just looking at the dictionary, there's more layers.

3rd q: asks if she's afraid of stripping the essence of the stories she's translating, esp with authors like draus.

olivia says shes always worried about that- how the texts makes you feel is just as important as the actual words on the page. but you just have to let go and follow the rhythm.

kaia circling back to the lover, says she's given the book to so many people and they all end up having a different relationship with it.

4th q: how do you translate harder more chaotic writing to elicit the same feeling in the reader

olivia: translation is the most up close and personal you will ever get to a text. isolating sentences from the whole can make it confusing but you just have to let go- doesn't know how to describe it, but speaking it out loud helps.

5th q: what do you do when you find yourself stuck on a certain word or sentence.

olivia brings astrology into it in a jokey way, kaia says she's a virgo so she gets it LOL re: being a bit of a stickler about organization.

kaia: i think it does duras a disservice to over intellectualize her work.

i think this is the bit that's on instagram so im not gonna type it word for word

next q for olivia: why she thinks duras disregarded this book.

olivia said she feels like it's the most accessible of her books and that she thinks that plays into it, and that it's the 15 year old her who wrote that book in a way.

kaia says she read it for the first time when she was 16 and has a very different relationship to it now, esp reading it again now to prepare for book club.

olivia agrees to that sentiment, says when she first read it she felt very seen, looking at it ten years later having grown more she felt touched thinking about who she was when she first read it vs now.

kaia says she first read it (as 16) as a love story centrally, but reading it now that doesn't feel like the central part of the book.

says she felt like reading it again recently softened her towards the version of her that read it as a love story 7 years ago.

asks olivia why she thinks duras lovers tend to get so obsessive, makes a quip about she falls into that obsessive category about her writing too.

olivia says the fearleessness that runs through her work, something we all seek.

kaia says she really likes that you feel like you're experiencing everything with her, it's not like everything in retrospect.

says she likes that's not afraid to ask controversial questions, especially about love and the definition/s of love.

and it essentially wraps up there with a little more talk about translation. like i said- more academic in comparison to other episodes which may not be everyone’s thing but i still found it interesting! as someone who sucks at language learning i have a lot of respect for people who make it their life’s work 🙏🏼

[nosleepwriting]

What WN means to me:

i watched it initially for Avatrice, ofc i did. one day during lockdown i randomly saw a crack vid of avatrice and decided to watch it. not even knowing if they end up together or if they kiss or if they become canon. i didnt watch the whole vid so i wont spoil everything, which was weird because ever since lexa, i dont watch shows without knowing that the sapphic couple would be together and happy.

did you know where i stopped? i stopped during the part where ava phased out of the wall, breathless and scared, and beatrice was there to catch her. maybe it was the way she looked, the way kristina's eyes shined as beatrice holding alba's ava in her hands that convinced me that yup these two are in love. or at least bea is. this isnt a crack ship. this is real.

so i watched s1. tbh, im one of the people who thought s1 was slow bec if im being rlly honest, i watched it for avatrice. but i wasnt expecting to love ava, that running on the beach scene loving life, alba's acting of laughing and crying and breathless under the stars with the sand below her and the ocean just in front, and watching THAT during the fucking pandemic ???? that saved me from a lot of dark thoughts swirling in my head. i wasnt expecting a family. a real found family that even when mary and lilith were fighting each other to death you can tell that there's love, there's history. there's sisterhood. i wasnt expecting that from a show with 'Warrior Nun' as a title. and not bec i thought it was silly but bec i thought it was one of those female-led show made for men.

long story short, i finished it. search tumblr for a bit for content, then twitter, then ao3, as one usually does and then nothing. i moved on, peacefully. even if that s1 cliffhanger was far from peaceful. bec i was sure there would be an s2 with that kind of ending. i went on with my life and continued to consume other media.

until october 2022. i didnt even knew they were filming s2. i saw the s2 trailer in yt randomly again. there they were. dancing. i was like how did these two go from fighting an angel?-jesus-like-incarnate in s1 to dancing casually in a bar?? i was scared at first, maybe this isnt the same show that i'll come back to bec lets be honest most s2 of a really good s1 most of a time is a let down. but then i saw the "your jealous" "that's absurd" part and i was like yup those two are in love and im going to watch this just so i can see how they do it.

for extra context (i know this is getting super long but i honestly dont care im doing this for me), im reviewing for the boards and getting invested in anything other than my studies would be really bad. i was catious with what media to consume because i need to focus on my studies. even so, i watched the final ep for context and carry the feeling before watching the first episode. the legendary fucking first episode. the hands behind teasing walk, the kiss cheek, the dance, the stare (i dont have to explain this, u know what im talking about) i replayed all of those moments 10 times bec WOW they weren't holding back.

then everything else. the little moments leading to the big ones were satisfying and so perfectly excuted that i cant even watch it with my girlfriend bec she gets mad that i keep repeating the scenes and slowing them down to take it all in. halfway through s2, i knew i was gonna watch it again. and i only really did that for 2 other shows (shera and the wilds s1, atla and tlok dont count bec i rewatch them periodically and not right after finishing) but u know what i didnt do to those other two that i did with warrior nun? i watched it a third time in a bigger screen just so i can see more. i watched in a 4th time with my girlfriend. i watched it a 5th time just so i can move on with my life and i watched it a 6th time because i missed them and i can't. i watched it a 7th time because i won't. and at this point i lost count at how much i rewatched the show. i would stream it during studying just so i could have them on screen and be inspired with finishing so i can watch them.

im just really heartbroken right now. with all this.

[missing-sector]

Goes Wrong Show plays (not including the drama festival) ranked by how good I think the Goes Right versions would have been because I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.

List under the cut because it gets rambly.

Unranked: The Pilot (not the pilot)

Full of so many historical inaccuracies and chaos that I genuinely do not know what the Goes Right version would be like. How the hell does the cloud scene fit into a spy thriller.

9th place: Summer Once Again

I adore the Goes Wrong version because of how unwieldy and confusing it is - but those same things would make the Goes Right version terrible. The story is very long - too long for a ~30 minute play in my opinion. And the disdain Robert has towards Chris would make the whole thing kinda awkward and uncomfortable - because in the Goes Right version this wouldn’t be pointed out for the audience to laugh at.

8th place: The Spirit of Christmas

I’m not big on christmas and without the Goes Wrong humour The Spirit of Christmas is just a cheesy christmas play. Not something I think is bad - just not what I would enjoy.

7th place: The Nativity

Again - a christmas episode. This one ranks sightly higher because I think having the set be a giant book is a cool design choice.

6th place: There Is No Escape

It’s a standard prison escape. Entertaining, sure, but I feel that certain things would be rushed (eg: Stu and Billy becoming friends, Wallace joining in on the escape, Rex becoming part of the team). Still somewhat entertaining, but watching it I’d feel that there were parts of the story that had been omitted. This one would be better as a TV series or a book to allow for character dynamics to evolve naturally.

5th place: Harper’s Locket

I think Emily is an excellent character even in the Goes Wrong version. Annie adds so much sass to the character and I love that. The main romance plot wouldn’t be as entertaining to me without the chaos of Goes Wrong but the potential dynamic between Emily and Celeste makes me think I’d enjoy this one.

4th place: A Trial to Watch

The story itself is kinda predictable (of course the main guy gets the girl, of course the sketchy looking guy is guilty). But the set design is one of my favourites and (if acted properly) the flashback scenes could be really tense - with tiny changes upon each iteration keeping the audience intrigued.

3rd place: The Most Lamentable Tragedy of the Prince of England and His Long Lost Twin Brother, Prince Regent of France and the Problems Therein Experienced by All When they came to Know of One Another after a Battle

Ok the title is ridiculous, but that’s a minor part of the play. If you can get past that you’re left with a Shakespearean play including: secrets, family betrayal and a jester who knows more than he should. All of which would be fun to watch - though I think it would be better if Malcolm manages to kill Louis as he is killed, resulting in Queen Isobel taking the throne.

2nd place: The Lodge

This one could be very unsettling if done right. Being trapped in an unfamiliar place with death referenced constantly - that’s brilliant for horror. Plus the shock when Emma (the mother) turns on David and then her own daughter. And it has a final scare at the end which I imagine could be slightly terrifying to watch live.

1st place: 90 Degrees

A story that is relatively simple, but still keeps you engaged - and it has a twist ending! I love stories with a strong focus on family dynamics and how complex they can be and 90 degrees definitely has that. Three siblings reunited for the first time in years because of their father’s ill-health, with two of these siblings appearing to be more interested in money than their own family. Yet they still feel sorrow at their father’s death.

The seemingly kind Larry revealed to be having an affair with his brother’s wife just as you think you have his character figured out is brilliant. Nothing is as it seems and everyone has secrets.

The set design is simple in the Goes Right version and technically not much happens - it’s just a bunch of characters talking. But I think that’s a good thing; it pulls your attention towards what is being said and how it is being said and what this could mean for the characters involved.

Some lines don’t add to the plot - neighbour Joe could be removed without altering the overall story - but they do add to the atmosphere, to the feeling that the characters are part of a bigger world.

Obviously this is all speculative - there are no Goes Right versions to watch. And the ranking is very subjective, but I’ve had fun!

Feel free to reblog with your own list, I’m curious to see what others think :)

[littlestofstorytelling]

I recently finished the 5th season of the Crown and I have some thoughts

I liked the first three season and i think the acting really was amazing in the 4th season. And while it was clear that it was fiction, I liked the way real life events were incorporated and how it drove the story and the growth of the characters. Most importantly it (to a person who did not grow up with the British royal family) felt somewhat a well balanced perspective without clear favoritism. You could find arguments for and against the monarchy as well as arguments to like or dislike the individual characters. So, overall it was a very solid show and put my expectations quite high for the 5th season.

Season 5

I did like watching it, however, it lost a bit of that really good story telling and character growth through events that was present in previous seasons. Normally the monarch would be shaped by the events in her country since they are so closely tied, but this season that seemed to missing (the link to the royal cruise was also a bit on the nose with its parallel to the queen and they kept going back to it for some reason) as it was more about family drama and divorce, which wasn’t even very interestingly showed in my opinion.

Most of it was very propaganda-y in Charles favour this season. Last seasons he wasn’t the villain but his flaws were shown, whereas in this season only his more positive attributes were shown without showing any flaws, and even some of the more “flawed” passages like the interview he did where very down played, and smoothened. Not to mention he was played by an actor that looked a lot better than the prince himself at the time, which would have been fine if the flaws of the character had been shown more. The focus for this character was on his stances on climate change, modernization and overall being the voice of reason when it came to the monarchy. But then his flaws such as his ego, the blindness to some if his privileges and his public perception were rarely shown if at all.

Diana is where they really dropped the ball in my opinion. Season 4 did a great job with her, season 5 put her in an extremely bad light for some reason (linking back to the Charles propaganda bit). The scene that really bothered me was when she went to her friend in the hospital because her friends husband was being operated on. After the doctor informs the friend Diana can’t stop talking about the doctor and her friend has to tell her multiple times that she doesn’t care how he looks as long as his hands safe her husband. That scene was very unnecessary and made Diana out to be egoistic, narcissistic and inconsiderate as well as a bit dimwitted. The scenes where her relation with her son is shown is also reflecting negatively on her while the son’s relation to Charles is never really shown, only mentioned once in a throw away line and forgotten. Her character really did not work well for me, she barely even spoke. The only episode I liked her in was the third one.

Speaking of which the third episode is my favorite one and really reminded me of earlier seasons, even though the royals were barely in it.

All this being said I thought prince Philip was very good in the role, I liked his side plot, as did I princess Margaret. I just would have liked to see more global or national events and less divorce drama, because to me both parties were unlikable and it was boring storytelling

I think that was it

[adriartts]

a bunch of rough pose practices with twd

[curedigiqueen]

This year I spontaneously watched Appmon nearly 2 times, and I have thoughts about it. And what better way to acknowledge it than on its 5th Anniversary. (Or 4th anniversary of Our Singularity). I'm planning on at least covering my thoughts on the main 5 kids this month, in an order based 100% on who I want to talk about first.

It's Astra.

I think Astra is generally the least liked Appmon character, or perhaps more accurately, is the character I see the most disdain for. And, honestly, I can understand where it comes from. But he’s my favorite Appmon character actually. In a cast with a non-conventional protagonist, a blackbelt idol, and a hacker, Astra’s “Apptube” is well, just kind of there. Like a more modern version of Eri’s idol career. His personality is clearly meant to be representative of the target audience, the group whose number one career aspiration is Youtuber. So, he’s kind of cringy and kind of annoying, especially to an adult audience. I get it. But Astra’s a character I found to have a lot of stuff going on.

I admittedly tend to have a soft spot for the babies of any team, especially if they are assertive enough to keep up with their seniors. And Astra does fit the bill. He’s generally seen to be on equal footing with the others, and his rather aggressive way of talking to the other doesn’t exactly make you think baby of the team. He doesn’t use honorifics, and in general Astra’s referred to in the same terms as Haru and Rei. (As near as I can tell, anyway with my nonexistent Japanese skills, correct me if I’m wrong). The fact he’s in elementary school is a bit more incidental than anything.

We learn the most about Astra’s family and upbringing compared to the other characters, and it is central to his arc. We get a lot of information straightforwardly in the show. He had a lot of pressure on him as the heir to the school, and felt pressured to act the part of the perfect heir. Throughout the show we see him struggle with the pressure of being the heir. As a child he was extremely dedicated to following his father's footsteps. He didn’t seem to see himself as anything other than the heir to his father's school. He seemed set apart from other children, seemingly due to the closed-off way he acted. This dedication to being a good heir was to the detriment of his happiness. Until Musimon came into his life allowing him to loosen up and seek his own happiness. Classic stuff. But Astra is a little more at war with himself than may be obvious by his “annoying” attitude.

While we first learn about Astra suppressing his own eccentricities, in his debut episodes, it’s not until later that we learn about his mother, and learn that this side of his personality didn’t come out of nowhere. His mother is very similar to him, which gives us the question of why he ever became so disciplined in the first place if his behavior isn't out of place in his family, and his mother is a strong advocate for him doing his own thing. In fact, Astra seemed initially a bit embarrassed by his mother when he introduced her to the other Appdrivers. Of course this is almost certainly because his mother calling his friend “pretty” and gushing about her husband and how they met is embarrassing, and even if Astra himself acts just as obnoxious. But even so, he's clearly less respectful towards her. The reasons behind why Astra calls his mother by her first name are unclear, though it doesn't seem to stem from a lack of love for his mother.

But regardless, it helps build the idea that more likely, he was trying to win the approval of people outside his immediate family. After all, as shown in episode 7, it was the assumption that Astra would inherit the school by others that prompted Astra’s response to his father. Even if Astra’s father does have a desire for Astra to inherit his position, he also understands that it's first and foremost Astra’s life to live. Astra however does have a lot of respect for his father and seems to value his opinion immensely, he recognizes that not inheriting the school would be disappointing to his father and does not want to disappoint him. So while I think there is something to be said for Astra’s behavior relating to a desire to impress his father, I don’t personally think it's the origin in its entirety.

Astra over the course of the series is very independent and marches to his own beat, Astra, like Eri, had made the first step to change prior to his introduction, but that doesn’t mean he was already completely different from the boy who acted stiff to prove himself to others. Astra’s second episode deals with him succumbing to peer pressure in his new activity, and his final episode is about not succumbing to his uncle's expectations, the old expectations that kept him down for so long. (But it's also a bit about fulfilling Hinarin’s expectations, expectations he agreed to).

Despite Apptubing being the career choice where Astra does as he pleases, his final episode isn’t about him Apptubing because he wants to but as a way to help someone else. Particularly his cousin. While it isn’t explicitly clear if Astra knows it’s his cousin the fact of the matter is that he’s helping his family through his Apptubing, even if it is something he picked up for himself. (A reasoning perhaps parallels Eri’s reasons for being an idol, wanting to bring smiles to her mom, despite it clearly being something she herself enjoys). His care for his family is exactly the reason he continues to train to be the heir, but that doesn’t mean even if he doesn’t uphold expectations that he can’t be a help to his family.

Astra’s arc deals with expectations vs. a desire to help. Astra in large part is assertive about not having to help other people out and doing his own thing, recognizing he doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to. But his actions consistently betray his care for others. I think this is most evident in the way Astra acted as if he wasn’t going to help Eri out with her elections, but did so anyway, even if he antagonized her a bit in the process, but ended up being the proudest of her accomplishments. Not to mention the way he continues to train as the heir, albeit on his own terms. Over the course of the series, he becomes more open with his care towards others, culminating in the jailbreak episode, but he’s always been shown to care. He’s finding that balance between living his own life and helping others.

It’s clear that Astra doesn’t hate being heir at least. He’s extremely determined to do both. And personally, I think it’s very possible that he sees Apptubing as a hobby. He after all proposed the half-hour limit himself. Even at the beginning with his most abrasive. He dutifully kept it to a relatively small impact on his life. For all that it’s brought up as an important element in his life, and he is shown breaking his own rule on occasion without consequence. One of the longest times we see him Apptubing is when he’s helping Eri out. Of course on the flip side of that, we have episode 8 where he breaks the rule because his videos aren't doing as well as he likes, but that's definitely tying back to his desire for people's approval. While he is for lack of a better word, tempted into giving up training to be an iemoto to dedicate himself to Apptubing, it isn’t something he seems to seriously consider at all.

The biggest thing Musimon gave him was not the courage to be an Apptuber, but the courage to be himself. Indulging in Apptubing for fun is merely a small part of that. Astra is still the good heir, but he is no longer letting that define his entire life, sometimes forgoing certain parts of training. But that doesn’t mean that tea ceremony is a bad part of his life. There’s also a certain balance in his personality between the abrasive “annoying” boy at the start of the series and the passive boy prior to the show's beginning. I don’t feel that the polite Astra is completely disingenuous. Astra is capable of acting calm and grounded, and this side of himself becomes more apparent as the series goes on, particularly with Eri who, in contrast to him, throws herself into her idol career with more and more genuine passion. When he supports Eri with his videos but asks her to take a break, which tracks with what we know about his fathers working habits. It’s his final focus episode where he is shown to be acting, more in someone else's interest, and even shown to be a bit embarrassed by it. In contrast to an Astra who even in episode 19, was not taking much seriously. I think it’s only fair to say Astra did genuinely inherit some of his father's more grounded and dutiful nature.

And while earlier I did say Astra’s age feels incidental, I don’t think that is to say it has no bearing on his role in the story. It's part of the reason Eri is so dismissive of him at first, Sure, the other’s treat him as equal, and are in no way particularly protective of him, nor do they expect him to be any less capable than him. But this isn’t to say Astra’s relative youthfulness isn’t apparent when with the others at least in the beginning. Astra is definitely on the more immature side of things, he after all is the one who started the rivalry with Eri because his ego was bruised (not that Eri's initial dismissal of him was helping matters any). As I said earlier, Astra mellowed as the show progressed and I think it’s a fair assumption to say he’d continue to do so. Not that he’ll lose his energy, but that he’ll be able to act with more maturity and consideration for others. The most common complaint about him I’ve heard is “annoying”, which is understandable. But that’s not accidental, even in-universe (hah), others seem to find him to be a bit much at first at the beginning of the series. His “annoying” personality is him testing the waters beyond the role of dutiful heir he’s always played. He’s annoying because he’s an 11-year-old boy who does not always know how to act in ways appropriate to his situation. He’s the kid of the group. I do understand if that still makes watching irritating. Watching should be fun after all, but it’s more of a matter of opinion than an objective flaw.

Unlike Gatchmon, Offmon, and Dokamon whose personalities seem to clash a bit with their buddies, Musimon and Astra are consistently on the same page, after episode 8. This is exemplified in episode 29, where Musimon runs away for fun rather than because he wants something from Astra, and Astra is the only partner who seems to have not been worried, recognizing what Musimon was doing. Of course, their fight in episode 8 was about Astra not being true to himself, thus naturally conflicting with the one who is on the same page as his true self. Musimon shares Astra’s high energy but caring nature. I’m not an expert on the Japanese language by any means, but there is something notable about the fact Musimon uses “Boku” to Astra’s usual “Ore”. Musimon and Astra are without a doubt very similar, the only difference in their demeanors being Musimon is perhaps a bit less confrontational. If Musimon being Astra’s buddy says anything about Astra, it’s probably that Astra is by his nature not quite as aggressive as he seems. Which for someone who clearly used to takes people's opinions of him to heart, seems about right.

Astra’s arc is all about expectations, expectations as an Apptuber, and as the heir. Astra living up to, or disregarding expectations based on what he believes is best. Living the life he wants to live.

Some final observations from me in regards to Astra, is that he’s paired with Fakemon for God Grade. While it’s probably in part just how things worked out logistically, it also makes a bit of sense as a foil. Fakemon is constantly being disingenuous, while a huge part of Astra’s arc is being true to himself, while also fulfilling other people's expectations of him. Also of note, Entermon is described as a Digimon who exists wherever you can find culture something that is particularly relevant to Astra.

While being biracial is not directly important to the story, it’s not incidental and clearly is thematically related to him being trapped between the traditional and the modern Japan. While in story Astra’s story is simply about outside expectations of inheritance, It’s possible to read Astra prior to the series as trying to overcompensate for his foreign mother in the eyes of the people at his father’s school. This is something I find notable considering that Appmon’s assistant producer, Akari Yanagawa, went on to become the producer of 2019’s Star Twinkle Precure, a season of Precure notable for the franchise's 2nd biracial cure, whose personal arc more obviously alluded to racism than Astra's, though still very indirectly.

[aquaburst3]

Fic asks: 2, 5, 8, 11, 13 and 14.

Undercut, because long and spoilers...

2. What character(s) do you find the most difficult to write for? Why?

So far, I guess Grim (Twisted Wonderland). While he’s a fun character and I love how he’s one of the few mascot characters in anime who gets character development, he’s a bit of a handful. That’s an understatement. I have to try constantly think about how he would act in certain points in the story, and how my OC would react to him.  

 I also find it’s hard to incorporate Grim into scenes. Sometimes I want my OC to be alone talking with someone or be by herself. Since the MC dragged around Grim in the game so much, I have to think of a way to include him in or think of a reason for him to stay out of it. 

Jamil and Kalim (Twisted Wonderland) are also hard to write for that similar reason. I want to make the Pomefiore arc happen earlier in the fic, so I have to constantly think of how to write them pre-character development in an arc that takes place after they grew as characters in the canon. But unlike with Grim, it’s in a fun challenge sort of way. Because it has a bit of a butterfly effect on the story. 

(If you don’t play the game, the Pomefiore arc is the 5th one. But I decided for a few different reasons, which I don’t want to get into, that I want to make it the 3rd, make Octavinelle 4th that happens during December finals season and Sacrabia the 5th, which happens over Spring Break. So because it’s bumped up in the timeline, my OC knows those two a lot better compared to the canon, and spent a lot of time with them in the Pomefiore dorm over the month and half leading up to the competition. Their arc is gonna hurt a fuckton more.)  

5. Do you listen to music when writing?

I enjoy listening to lyricless movie soundtracks or nothing at all. I find it’s easier to concentrate that way. Music with lyrics are way to distracting to me, since my mind latches onto them and I’m much slower at writing. 

11. How would you describe your style? (Character/emotion/action-driven, etc)

Honestly, it depends on the story. Some of my fics can be fluffy while others have dark aspects to them and others are character driven. 

How I would describe my writing in a general sense, both fics and original stories? I guess I would describe it as character driven with plot driven elements. I tend to focus on character first and foremost, because I think it’s important for readers to have a compelling character to get attached to push the story forward.  (I had several people say that my biggest strength as a writer is character). But I have a lot of fun and engaging plots, mostly action/adventure, to have these character engage with. I also enjoy doing world building a lot as well. 

The voice for my OCs (both in my TWST fic and in my OG works) is down to earth and witty. A lot of my characters tend to have a sense of snark to them as they try to process the insanity around them, but they still can still feel a wide range of emotions like fear, anger, etc. Though, there are some characters that go against that (like the MC in my reverse isekai original story). 

13. When did you start writing fanfic?

Right in the middle of high school. I got into it, because one of my friends at the time had a FF.net account, and I thought it would be fun to write stories on there. Here I am almost a decade later. 

It’s also how my love of creative writing started, too. My elementary, middle and high schools never taught creative writing in class, and I never took any for my diploma. So, yeah. I’m a self taught writer. 

14. How do you feel about your older work?

Depends on how far back we’re talking as well. If it’s my stuff made during high school, I don’t like most of it outside of a couple expectations. But if we’re talking about my stuff from college and after, it depends on the story. There are some stories I’m pretty proud of years later, expect for how I phrased sentences (before I began learning how to start some sentences with things other than “I” or “Insert Character Name Here”) and odd word choices. Others I think are just weird or outright suck. I think regretting some choices in your past work is normal for any writer. I’m always trying to improve as a writer to create better stories in the future. 

Bonus...since I really want to answer this one...

1. What’s your favorite character(s) to write for?

I love writing for Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls), Pacifica Northwest (Gravity Falls), Vil (Twisted Wonderland), Jamil (Twisted Wonderland) and Ace (Twisted Wonderland). 

Bill Cipher is a chaotic ball of shit. Writing his wit and sass is a lot fun for me. Back in the day, I loved writing him interact with different fictional characters. Though, I only did it for Atem (Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters) and Judai (Yu-Gi-Oh GX) back when I was still into that franchise. (Because I’m certainly not as an adult in my mid 20s.) Might do it for other characters in other franchises if the idea strikes me. 

Pacifica is a complex and interesting character. She started off as the stereotypical mean girl. But with the NWMM episode, we got to see a whole different side of her, which added a lot of layers to her character. I love writing characters who add more complexity to the popular mean girl trope, because I always found them a lot more interesting than the dull MC in bad rom coms. 

Vil never showed up in any of my fics yet, but I’m writing parts with him in it thanks to writing some parts ahead of time. Vil is in a similar vein as Pacifica. In any other story, he would’ve been the one dimensional, vain pretty boy. But instead, he’s a hardworking guy, who wants everyone around him to shine their brightest. He hates lazy people. In that sense, he breaks a lot of tropes. Though, he has his fair share of faults as well, like his control freak tendencies, too harsh with his words and the way he treats Epel isn’t right. As a bi woman, I also love how he’s a guy who wears heels and makeup, but is never once mocked in the game for it. I do the same in my writing. Go, dude. Fuck those gender norms! 

Jamil is a blast to write, because he seems like a layered character to me. He’s a calm guy and collected guy, who he loves wearing hoodies way too much. But he’s also an intelligent, sly, cunning and manipulative guy. He seems loyal at first, but in actuality, he has a trick up his sleeve and wants to take Kalim down. His reasoning for as to why he’s doing this, while doesn’t excuse his actions, are understandable due to his family being in servants to his and him taking out his anger for his situation at the one thing he possibly could. He also has a lot of elements that humanize him as well, like the fact that he enjoys dancing, basketball and watching parrot videos. Tackling a character like him is a lot of fun for me as a writer, just due to how complex and interesting he is. 

Ace is probably the easiest character for me to write. He’s funny, mischievous and cheerful, but yet abrasive, bold, blunt, temperamental, willing to call out other’s bs and a bit of an ass. It’s pretty easy for me to get a handle on him, and understand how he would react in different situations. (As a side note, Ace reminds me of how I used to write Atem and Malik back in my YGO fics that I wrote in high school in that regard. Unlike those stories, he’s actually in character here, instead of extremely OOC like the YGO ones.)  

[mysterylover123]

BNHA Rewatch: Episode 34 “Gear up for Final Exams”

 mysterylover123

I always break this one out around Finals week.

Pictured: Deku and Kacchan in 10 years.  (Of course episode 34 opens with the Mineta bit).

Now to count down the Students in Class A from least to most smart:

20TH & 19TH: 

Kaminari is constantly frying his brain with his own quirk, and Mina is used to just kinda coasting on her quirk and athletic skills, so they’re both last.

18th

Aw poor Aoyama. Not exactly great at anything.

17th

I dunno why but I thought Sero would be higher.

16th

OMG Tooru is eating lunch with the Dekusquad! Is that where she falls? 

15th

Kirishima 15th, same # he placed in the 1st popularity poll oddly enough

14th

The biggest surprise of the bunch - introverted doesn’t =brilliant.

13th

I think I thought Ochaco would be higher on the list. She’s not dumb, per se, just middle of the road.

12th & 11th

I dunno i guess they’re supposed to be middle-of-the-road in everything.

10th

Congrats on the midway points Shoji!

9th

Why.

8th

Oji you do good. 

7th

Nice, Kyoka!

6th

Tsu did good too. I didn’t think she was dumb or anything, but she’s not geeky like Momo so it seems surprising. 

5th

The third smartest of the Big 3? Wow, Shoto. Always second best, aint’cha?

4th

My best boy is so smart and cute. 

3rd

The biggest surprise of the poll - at least, first time around. You assume Bakugo is dumb. He’s not.

2nd

Iida is Class rep, but still second in grades to...

1st

Best of the best! Momo Yaoyorozu I love you. 

Aw Shoto noticed she’s feeling down. Let the Todomomo/BKDK arc begin!

Ooh Uraraka looks really mad about Monoma being mean to Iida. (Or maybe it’s supposed to be Deku. I don’t care. Iichaco hc)

So if Monoma is Class 1B Bakugo, who is Kendo? Iida? Deku? Kirishima?

Kendo mentions an older classmate, and my HC is that it was Nejire. She hangs with Nejire in the Culture Fest Arc. I think they’re friends.

LOL This scene is like a rundown of all Bakugo’s most popular ships.

KACCHACO

Because Uraraka knows exactly what Bakugo is thinking.

TODOBAKU

Because Bakugo makes sure to challenge Todoroki too.

KIRIBAKU

Because Kiri talks about him like a spouse.

and of course, BAKUDEKU

PAY ATTENTION TO ME. (More in the corner)

“You’re getting worse than I thought” Gotta love that villain FauxShadowing. 

This is how y a do The Power of Friendship right, in my opinion.  

Now a rundown of my ships taking the exams/Studying!

Kamijiro!

Todomomo!

BKDK!  (Oh my god they’re the two halves of me taking a test)

Kirimina! 

We’re just missing Iidaraka

An approximation of my initial response to learning that the next arc would be about pairs of students fighting their teachers: YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TODOMOMO VS AIZAWA?! I’M TOO BLESSED COULD IT POSSIBLY GET ANY BETTER

OH MY GOD

YES IT CAN

BAKUDEKU VS ALL MIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG BEST PREMISE EVER (Or so I thought at the time, not to know that it could be topped. That’s MHA, always topping itself). Can I also just say that the design of the Final Exam arc is brilliant. I noticed this a lot in comparing it with the PL Exam later on, but I personally think of it as Hori’s own License to Print Character Development, and I absolutely approve.

This is probably the arc that changed the most from adaptation in manga to anime - and although I adored this arc in the anime the first time I saw it, there are a few changes in it that I think are actually not for the better. That’s to say, they make for more entertaining television, but they also change the characters.

Firstly, changing it so the tests happen one after another, instead of simultaneously like the manga, means that the characters have different amounts of time to strategize ahead of time. This puts a certain light on the big character moments in the arc, particularly Momo, Shoto, Deku and Kacchan. 4 of the top 5 smartest kids in class, and they don’t even try and strategize beforehand? Made sense in the manga where they had no shot, but in the anime, not so much. 

Second, also, Uraraka isn’t really the type to do this, she’s too laid back and Type B, so the anime having her strategize with Deku...I guess it’s a way to throw in some ship tease, but other than that it does nothing for her character arc, or any of the other seemingly random characters they throw into the strategy room along with them. Basically, it’s anime filler, so I don’t really care about any of it except Deku’s observations, since those are from the manga (he observes the others after he and Kacchan pass).

For the record: Manga Order: Todoroki and Momo vs Aizawa, intercut with Midoriya and Bakugo vs All Might; Todomomo first, BKDK second. Deku then observes the other teams for a few chapters as they all pass, with Mineta being last. 

So Fight #1 in the anime: Kiri and Sato vs Cementoss. There’s this lady on Youtube who did these really great analyses of the first four fights of the FE arc (never got around to doing the rest) so I’ll put links to her (Excellent!) analyses of those four fights. LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUABh3SiaMs

I’ve noticed that Kirishima is often the first one thrown under the bus in school exercises. This, the Joint Training Arc, the training camp...maybe that’s where his insecurity issues stem from. And with a little tease of Tsuyu and Tokoyami vs Ectoplasm, we leave off.

So yeah, another episode I really enjoy. I gotta tell you guys, the Final Exam arc is definitely a favorite of mine. I actually like it even more in the manga than in the anime, for the reasons I’ve outlined above, but it’s still a blast and I was so happy to see it as the next arc. i wasn’t ready for a new villain-based arc yet, and the sheer premise of BKDK Vs All Might is so amazing, I’m hyped as hell just remembering Episode 37. Oh, speaking of...

BKDK CORNER

We focus in on Deku, contemplating his Great Destiny, as Mina and Kaminari talk about how complacent they are in their chances of success. Cue Kacchan, like an embodiment of Deku’s subconscious, telling them off.

I’ll stop the world and melt with you.

This line has a bunch of different translations, all basically meaning ‘I’ll beat you’. The Shippiest is the English Dub, where he says “I’ll show you how much better I am.” Which plays into his Notice Me Senpai hidden attitude towards Deku. I think it’s a mix of both “I want to beat you” and “I want to impress you”. Deku is quiet here. He’s very quiet about his feelings for Kacchan throughout all of Season 2, but he still quietly demonstrates the importance of that dynamic through his actions in the Sports Fest (inspired by Bakugo) and his Full Cowling (also inspired by Bakugo).

Aw they were already standing together.

I’ll talk more on the symbolism of BKDK fighting All Might in Episode 37, but oh man, this is the best. Like, THE BEST. I love this fight. To Sum: They both want to be All Might, each is half of the whole, and they both have to expel that perfect-imperfect image of him they have to make it. Also, I totally think Aizawa and All Might ship it. “I went with relationships” Yup. You sure did, Aizawa.

BEST GIRL OF THE EP: No new best girls this ep

RANKER: Final Exam Arc Fights

10: MINETA AND SERO  VS MIDNIGHT

This one is really dull because Midnight just doesn’t do very much to win the fight. You need the teacher putting up more of an effort!

9. URARAKA AND AOYAMA VS 13

They just...kinda fluked their way into winning.

8. SHOJI AND HAGAKURE VS SNIPE

Poor Snipe, There’s not a lot he can really do in this situation

7. KIRI AND SATO VS CEMENTOSS

Short and quick and to the point.

6. MINA AND KAMINARI VS NEZU

Poor dopes never stood a chance.

5. IIDA AND OJIRO VS POWER LOADER

Short but kinetic and exciting.

4. TSUYU AND TOKOYAMI VS ECTOPLASM

Some good strategy here and Tsuyu did really great.

3.  KODA AND JIROU VS PRESENT MIC

Jiro is underrated best girl. 

2. TODOROKI AND MOMO VS AIZAWA

A brilliant fight of strategy and character development.

1 BAKUGOU AND DEKU VS ALL MIGHT

How could it be anything else?

[sammysreelreviews]

Counting Down My Top 10 Netflix Original Tv Shows

Netflix has 593 original tv shows and counting. Yes you read that number correctly but, this also includes shows that are made by other networks but Netflix has the international rights to stream them for example: Peaky Blinders and The End of the F***ing World or shows they’ve saved like Lucifer and You but those won’t be included in this list. I’m always asked “what do you recommend to watch on Netflix” and these are my holy top ten that I know you’ll love. Once again, I’ve decided to make the list solely off of Netflix produced shows so shows they saved like You and shows they share like Peaky Blinders are unfortunately not on this list which is a shame cause I love the fookin Peaky Blinders. These shows are not only amazing they’re all shows I’ve rewatched many times like y’all these are my ELITE ten! I was gonna have this up weeks ago but I dead ass forgot to write/wasn’t feeling well mentally but here it finally is so enjoy my absolute Netflix favorites! Spoiler free!

10. Stranger Things (2016 - )

I mean we all know of the Sci-Fi phenomenon that is Stranger Things. I really wanted to rank this after season 3 came out and I’m not gonna lie I was a tad disappointed. This is a spoiler free post so I won’t give anything away to the people who take forever to binge shit but I felt like this season was dull, too cheesy, expensive but not in a good way, and directionless? Beside season 3, seasons 1 and 2 are immaculate and I hope season 4 is on point this time.

Status of show: Has been renewed for a 4th season

9. Atypical (2017 - )

This comedy about a teenage boy with Autism is one of the funniest and heartwarming shows EVER! Keir Gilchrist is absolutely brilliant in this and it really shows a side of autism we don’t normally see in the media. There’s family drama, lots of laughs, and some tear inducing moments. It’s a show you can binge super quickly so please give it a chance there’s nothing else like it!

Status of show: Renewed for a 3rd season

8. Big Mouth (2017 - )

The vulgar animated show that shows the trials and tribulations of puberty is a show that’s so fucking crazy it works. This is a show you can rewatch multiple times cause I promise you there are some jokes or scenes you’ll miss in the background. The planned parenthood episode is not only hysterical but also so well written its genius (also within the time I took to post this this exact episode was nominated for an Emmy). Nick Kroll, Maya Rudolph, and John Mulaney deserve all the awards for their voice acting.

Status of show: Season 3 should be coming soon

7. Bojack Horseman (2014 - )

Bojack Horseman is not only one of the best animated shows ever created but also one of the most depressing? Don’t get me wrong Bojack is indeed a comedy and it is HYSTERICAL but once you dig into Bojack’s past and really get to know him it makes you self aware in a way. I don’t like when my cartoons get sentimental but Bojack talks about mental health and if you know me I am all about checking your mental health.

Status of show: Renewed for a 6th season

6. Dear White People (2017 - )

The show based off the film of the same name about black kids in a mostly white elite college is very relatable, funny, and informative. Dear White People has drama, great conversation starters, and tons of laughs. Coming from a black girl in a mostly white area and going to private mostly white schools my whole life this show is like everything I could ever say. The writing is impeccable and is one of Netflix’s highest rated shows on Rotten Tomatoes.

Status of show: Season 3 is currently streaming on Netflix

5. Quicksand (2019 - )

This is a show I have literally BEGGED people to watch cause it’s just so well fucking done! I’m not gonna repeat myself and go on again but I will tell you the plot. Quicksand is about a girl who is the only one left standing after a school shooting happens in her classroom. The question is what the hell happened? The show then goes on to flashback on the events that happened before the shooting. This is a Netflix international show from Sweden and the acting is phenomenal, the story is powerful, and as chilling as it is you’ll wanna watch it again so um, FUCKING WATCH IT.

Status of show: Sadly unknown

4. Dark (2017 - )

It’s exhausting how many times I’ve told people to watch this sci-fi masterpiece but here I am again begging y’all to watch it. Dark is about a small German town where two boys go missing and what happens next no one could’ve prepared for. This is a show that’s so well written it’s scary like you can tell everything was planned out to the T. I just want y’all to know that this is probably the best show on Netflix. It would be number one on this list but the next three shows I’ve probably rewatched one thousand times. Any who, Dark is ending with a third season and it should be out in late 2020 so binge binge binge!

Status of show: Season 3 will be the last season

3. On My Block (2018 - )

The show about a group of high schoolers dealing with love, school, and gang violence is a show I’ve rewatched like way too many times to count. What I love about this show is that the cast is all people of color and while it is funny as hell when it gets deep it really tugs on your heartstrings. The characters are all so easily to fall in love with and I can not wait for season 3! Also the season one finale... whew!

Status of show: Season 3 is currently filming

2. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015 - 2019)

The quirky show about a woman who was kidnapped in her teens escapes and moves to New York is one of my favorite shows of all time. The references and situations on this show are even more special because sweet Kimmy (Ellie Kenner) only understands things from the 90’s since she was trapped underground for 17 years. The cast also includes Titus Burgess, Jane Krakowski, and Carol Kane. Everyone pulls their own weight on the show but Titus Burgess as Titus is literally one of the best performances I’ve ever seen on television. He should’ve gotten all the awards for his Lemonade episode ALONE! Not only is Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt funny but it deals with sensitive topics like #metoo and immigration in lighthearted ways. It’s repulsive how many times I’ve watched this show but honestly there is not a funnier show on Netflix. Periodt.

Status of show: Ended BUT, I heard there’s going to an interactive episode coming out so that’ll be interesting

1. Narcos (2015 - 2017)

This is now the 5th time I’ve mentioned this show on here. I’ve described it best in my last article here. For the love of Godney Spears please watch this fucking show.

Status of show: Ended BUT they focus on the cartels in Mexico in Narcos: Mexico which stars Diego Luna and is also a Netflix original

[bunnymcbunnister]

SPN Season 15 Spoiler Sheet, update 11/4

There were a few nice tidbits from DCCon about the latest filmed episodes (9-10). These have been a busy few weeks for me, so if I have missed anything or messed it up, let me know! I had a detail from ep 10 listed as 9, which is fixed now. Remember- this is for fun and somethings will be wrong! Enjoy the episode this week after a week off. 

DISCLAIMER: This is gathered info from various sources. This is not confirmed information. Stuff in this WILL be wrong. Don’t take this too seriously. This is for fun. 

General Info (oldest to newest)

There is likely to be 20 episodes

They are filming the 4th episode 1st, which Jensen is directing

Returning this year are: Rowena, Ketch, Eileen, Amara, Adam, and Kevin

Jared and Jensen know the ending. Jensen struggled with it at first. Misha does not know the ending as of SDCC

Matt Cohen and Richard Speight Jr. will direct

Sam, Dean, and Cas will struggle with the concept of free will and if they ever really had it

The focus will be more on Hell than Heaven

There is hope to wrap up some Wayward Daughters storylines in the back half of the season

They are adding a whole extra day to filming to do the final scene (Implies logistics- lots of returning people?)

Brad Bucker used the word “romance” when asked about Sam and Dean’s arcs. Did not specify who. 

Chuck will be more of an absent protagonist in the 1st half of the season (but he in in ep 4)

At the beginning of the season Dean and Cas will still have a rift. They will reconcile “at some point”. Jensen claims as of script 4 they still have friction. This has been repeated several times, from Misha as well. He indicated Dean is still mad at Cas, but Cas doesn’t feel to blame for Mary’s death. 

In an interview, Kripe indicated that the series ending would have “peace” for Sam and Dean

Not much new at the TCA’s, but it was said it is “unlikely” Jeffery Dean Morgan will be back since his last appearance was such a good end note. There were some jokes about a Castiel spin off. Hell, I’d watch. 

There will be a special tribute ep, not clear if its one of the 20 or additional

Misha will be in 15 out of 20 episodes this season

According to Dabb, Sam and Dean are going to start to lose people who, in past seasons, we would’ve never lost — and lose them in a very real way. Our guys are going to realize there’s a certain finality, and some of the things they’ve relied on to get through the day — people, talents, things like that — they are no longer going to be able to roll out. And that’s going to throw them for a loop (Unfortunately, my guess in Rowena)

Also according to Dabb, Jack is still in the empty and “he’s not coming back in the near future”

Cas’ deal with the Empty may come up later in the season. 

Kevin will return.

Season 15 promo: https://youtu.be/V232RpcCdTY

Christan Kane (Leverage/Angel) will star as “Leo” an “old friend” of Deans. 

Dabb intimated that Chuck was inherently responsible for killing Mary when asked how the boys would respond to Jack. 

Adam Rose, who played Aaron Bass from the golem episode vauge-tweeted about working a show with two badass leads. Could be Supernatural, but I think the timing is off- he indicated he was filming late Friday night. 

General season 15 promo- more of a retrospective: https://youtu.be/_hlkNQL5Ecg

Dabb compared Chuck and John Winchester, claiming that Dean would have to break free of “conditioning.” Also, for Jack “there have been cosmic forces fighting for his attention since he was in the womb — and that will continue. As much as this season is about Sam and Dean finding agency, it’s also about Castiel finding agency, and it’s about Jack finding agency. As always, death is never the end. It’s just part of the journey and that’s certainly true with Jack.” 

Per Variety: At the outset of the season, the “Supernatural” foursome of Dean, Sam, Castiel and Jack are split up, but Dabb notes they won’t be for long because “ultimately this is a found family, and they have deep emotional bonds” that make up the most important part of the show.

Sam’s wound from the equalizer gives his powers/an advantage of some kind (per TVGuide)

Jack will be a critical part of the ending of the show

The cage/Adam is looking like it will be coming up for midseason

Shaving People, Punting Things: https://youtu.be/azTwku2uosA

The shaving promo, punting things promo shows glimpses or Lucifer!Sam and MOC!Dean, as well as bearded Dean in tactical equipment. Recent interviews by Dabb seem to indicate that these are glimpses into other universes, a la Apocalypse World, and other endings from Sam and Dean. 

According to the MarySue and other interviews, Sam’s bullet hole will give him a connection and insight to god- like a tin can telephone string.

In the cage, Micheal and Adam have formed a working relationship (MarySue)

Dean and Amara’s connection will be explored

There will be a bunker themed episode (MarySue)

According to Misha (Cinablend) Dean and Cas will have discord up to ep 8- which is the mid-season finale. 

At a convention, Jake Abel was asked to share two lies about Adam’s return and a truth. The said 1. Adam is not upset about hell 2. Adam kills someone 3. Adam bring someone back. I am assuming its the bring someone back (Micheal?)

Episode 15x04 (filmed out of order)

Title: Atomic Monsters

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: JENSEN ACKLES DIRECTS – Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) investigate the mysterious death of a girl and the disappearance of another. Jensen Ackles directed the episode written by Davy Perez (#1501). Original Airdate 11/7/2019.

Written by: Davy Perez

Director: Jensen Ackles

Filming Dates:  7/18-7/29

Airdate: 11/7

Photos: http://www.ksitetv.com/supernatural/supernatural-spoilers-atomic-monsters-description-photos/197700/

Promo: https://youtu.be/YjEHDwocD9M

Sneak Peak:

Castiel? Probably not  Jack? Probably not

Guest stars:  Rob Benedict 

Other Spoilers/info:

Jensen mentioned  a guest star “fan favorite”  that hasn’t been seen since season 7 that is no longer in the business. Guesses include Becky, who hasn’t acted in a while but isn't exactly a fan favorite, Meg, who hasn't acted but she was in season 8, and Balthazar or Frank or Jo or Rufus, but all act frequently. Jensen doesn't always have the most accurate season memory, so he could be off on the season. Since this seems like a Chuck episode, my guess is Becky but I hope for Meg. SOURCE UNCONFIRMED- I haven’t seen this in a reliable source, so take it with a grain of salt. UPDATE- it sounds like Becky’s voice in the Shaving People, Punting things trailer. UPDATE- Jensen talked about a returning character in an interview with Variety in a completely contradictory way to this- a favorite male character of his that is busy working. Another guest? Or was he wrong the first time?

There was a beaver mascot on set… it looks like they are filming at a school called Beaverdale

Jensen and Jared filed outside in fed suits

Chuck will be in this one. Jensen directed him first alone with his beard unshaved (so maybe a solo Chuck scene or him interacting with others/not the boys). There are also theories of a time jump in this ep.

This will be a one off, classic monster hunting episode with some ties to ongoing storylines. Sam and Dean will leave the bunker to keep their skills sharp

Jensen directed

Misha will not be in this ep

SD Comic Con was during filming

Dean will be in the bunker in tactical equipment with a BEARD- fighting someone

 Episode 15x05

Title: Proverbs 17:3

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: RICHARD SPEIGHT, JR. DIRECTS – Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean’s (Jensen Ackles) routine case turns out to be anything but. Richard Speight, Jr. directed the episode written by Steve Yockey (#1505). Original Airdate 11/14/2019.

Written by: Yockey

Director: Speight

Filming Dates:  9/4-9/13

Airdate: 11/14

Photos: 

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel? No  Jack? doubtful

Guest stars: 

Other Spoilers/info::

This will most likely be Yockey’s last episode.

Matt Cohen was around, but I imagine he is following directors to prep for his own debut directing. 

Scenes were filmed in the bunker and in a wooded area. A woman could be heard screaming in the outside scene. 

The bible verse referenced is: “The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: But the LORD trieth the hearts.”

 Episode 15x06

Title: Golden Time

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: OUT OF DIFFICULTIES GROW MIRACLES – Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) are visited by an old friend. Castiel (Misha Collins) investigates the disappearance of a local teen. John Showalter directed the episode written by Meredith Glynn (#1506). Original Airdate 11/21/2019.

Written by: Meredith Glynn

Director: Steve Boyum

Filming Dates:  9/16-9/25

Airdate: 11/21

Photos: 

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel? Yes Jack? Not sure

Guest stars: 

Other Spoilers/info:

Misha tweeted from set in costume, so Cas. 

Misha also tweeted a pic in blood spatter with two bullet holes in his shirt

At least Jensen and Jared filmed in Rowena’s apartment 

This will be a witch episode- Witches will invade Rowena’s apartment looking for books. They are very powerful. Dean gets thrown into a wall and Sam uses magic to stop them (from TVGuide)

 Episode 15x07

Title: Last Call

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: 

Written by: Jeremy Adams

Director: Amyn Kaderali

Filming Dates:  9/26- 10/7

Airdate: Dec 7th is what Christian Kane tweeted…. But that is a Saturday. Dec 5th maybe?

Photos: 

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel ? Yes Jack ? 

Guest stars: 

Other Spoilers/info :

Misha posted from set in new shoes- very shiny with well tailored pants. (The next day he posted in full Cas costume, so are the shoes a one off? Another outfit with new shoes?)

Misha and Jensen made a video from set. I feel like if Jared was around he would have been in it since it was about money raised?  Maybe a Dean Cas scene?

There will be a battle scene in this that Jensen mentioned he was looking forward to and we would enjoy. 

After NJ Con, it appeared that Jensen returned to work, Jared and Misha stayed an extra day and then Misha went home.

Jensen and Christian filmed at a bar called Swazey’s. This was the fight scene Jensen was referring to. 

At some point, Sam might be shirtless or we can see part of his chest- Jared had his anti-possession tattoo at the weekend convention.

Per TVGuide, Leo and Dean will have a wild night out in an effort for Dean to recapture his mojo. Dean will become the lead of a band called Dean and the Impalas, which is made up of Supernatural crew. 

Osric Chau popped over to set, but he is filming on Legends of Tomorrow in the same studio. Sebastin Roche also indicated he would come by, he is filming on Batgirl. Unfortunately, neither Kevin or Balthazar will appear in this one. 

 Episode 15x08

Title: Our Father Who Aren’t in Heaven

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: 

Written by: Buckleming

Director: Speight

Filming Dates:  10/8- 10/18 (no filming 10/14 for Canadian Thanksgiving)

Airdate: 

Photos: 

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel ? yes Jack ? 

Guest stars: Jake Abel, Shoshannah Stern

Other Spoilers/info:

Jake Abel posted a script with the caption “hell hath no fury like a brother scorned”

Shoshannah Stern was spotted on set- Eileen!

This will be the midseason finale

At BurCon, Misha mentioned Dean is still acting like “a dick” in the ep they were filming- which is this one. 

 Episode 15x09

Title: 

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: 

Written by: Berens

Director: Singer

Filming Dates:  10/21-10/30

Airdate: 

Photos: 

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel ? I can’t tell but maybe not Jack ? maybe

Guest stars: Rob Benedict, Kim Rhodes, Jim Beaver

Other Spoilers/info (newest to oldest):

Midseason premier episode

Misha was at home for the first week of filming

Alex and Rob were hanging out- Chuck and JACK?

Kim Rhodes posted in front of the SPN set and with her trailer- Jody looks very likely. She also had dyed hair and she has been rockin the grey for the past few Jody eps. Maybe a flashback/AU?

Jim Beaver posted from set- Bobby!

Jensen shared that in this episode, Dean will pray to Cas to “confess” why he has been treating Cas the way he has. 

Episode 15x10

Title: 

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: 

Written by: Dabb

Director: Showalter

Filming Dates:  

Airdate: 10/31- 11/11

Photos: 

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel ? Jack ? 

Guest stars: 

Other Spoilers/info (newest to oldest):

Misha texted some local fans from set in costume about an WA election, but after the convention was in NYC for a couple of days. 

The story will be about Sam and Dean as heroes from the good and bad side (from MarySue)

At DCCon, Jensen shared that  this a bit of a wacky episode- Sam and Dean lose their abilities to fight, Dean gets cavities and Sam gets a cold.

[sohmariku]

RIKU’S RANDOM LIFE: THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF... AUTISM?

Yesterday  What do I need to do today? Finish decorating the Christmas tree? Reminds me, I still need to by a Christmas stall. But the kitchen really needs to be cleaned too. It’s also about time I finish the Winter set-up of my nendoroids. Crap, I absolutely need to vacuum the house today! Laundry can wait another day,...can it?

*Proceeds to watch another episode of Avatar: the Last Airbender*

Thankfully I’ve managed to cross out most of the tasks I had to do by today, but the Christmas tree still lacks decorations and my nendoroids are still disorderly shoved on the shelves. Maybe tomorrow...?

(I came to come to the conclusion I still have dry laundry hanging on the clothesline... I estimate it’s been up there for about a week now.)

While my mind is usually in a state of “semi-organised chaos”, the last couple weeks it’s mostly been “pure chaos”. Due to an overload of responsibilities, birthday parties and other holiday-celebrating occasions, I can’t seem to keep up with even the most basic tasks. 

In short, I’m mentally exhausted and need a break.

Last time I blamed my kitten for the lack of progress on any subtitles, but... I’ve come to the realization it’s been not just that. The seemingly never-ending string of social responsibilities has drained away all my energy... to the point I could barely be bothered to eat breakfast some days. Of course my dumb-ass mind was too tired to realize what was going on and... Hello Meltdown Yesterday. 

In hindsight, I really should have skipped that birthday dinner party, but my boyfriend was already guilt tripping me into going, before I even could mention I didn’t want to go. His father would be so happy if I’d be there, he said. Mind you, I had completely forgotten about that party until my boyfriend called around 4PM telling me he was on the way home, so we’d surely get to the restaurant in time. That day was supposed to be MY DAY OFF! Because I could feel I had reached my limit. Nope, that evening is gone! Though I was literally on the verge of crying, I decided to push through, because his parents feel they don’t see me around enough already and gotta keep them happy, sorta.

The effect showed immediately, because it took me two days to even realize I had forgotten my scarf at the restaurant! And I only noticed, because I couldn’t find it when I forced myself to do the grocery shopping I absolutely didn’t feel like doing, because I was still recovering from said dinner party. Of course, as the responsible adult I am, I didn’t call the restaurant, but instead texted my boyfriend “I think I might have forgotten my scarf at the restaurant!” and prayed he’d solve the problem without me literally needing to ask him to make the call for me. Because if there’s anything I hate more than making phone calls, I hate making phone calls to admit I’m an absolute airhead who forgot her scarf! Thankfully he fixed it without me needing to spell it out word for word. Got my scarf back. 

But really, this whole debacle really shows how on-edge I was that evening. I clearly remember thinking to myself “don’t forget your scarf” and then came the waiter who handed me a little rubber duck. (because apparently every female customer gets one) And boom, I became a happy little penguin with my rubber duck. It was all I could focus on ad when people started to leave, I quickly waddled outside (after saying some painfully awkward goodbyes to people I don’t actually know, but who do know me) and totally forgot about the scarf. Until days later! But yes, I got it back.

(To add to that, I lost that same scarf again today but in the Garden center, because I was too focused on a text conversation on my phone. Took me a lot of courage and agonizing to ask the staff if anyone had found it. They did, I got it back. Also, when doing some grocery shopping last week, I forgot my empty shopping bag at the cashier. I didn’t go back to ask if anyone found it. I could get a new one for only 58 eurocents after all. Anyway, notice a trend?) 

If that wasn’t enough. The worst part is probably, I know I’m not out of the woods yet. Choir practice on Friday (20), Christmas Market Choir performance on Sunday (22), Christmas Evening Church Mass with choir on Tuesday (24),Christmas with family (parents/siblings) on Wednesday (25), Christmas with extended family (grandparents/uncles/aunts/cousins) on Thursday (26)... 

Somewhere in between all that I need to find time to properly clean my whole house (which hasn’t happened in forever), because I’ll be the one hosting the Christmas gathering on the 26th (It’s way too late to back out now...) and my aunts are already judging me enough as it is.I don’t need them to think I’m living like a pig. (It’s the first time they’ll see my house, so they’ll be sticking their noses everywhere most likely...) My house isn’t dirty per se, but it could definitely be cleaner.

And when you think the “suffering” finally ends... my boyfriend has a compulsory day off from work (27). So, I won’t get a fully quiet day until Monday (30). My plans for New Year’s Eve (31) are still unclear. But then my boyfriend has another compulsory day off  on New Year’s (1) and he also decided to take Thursday (2) and Friday (3) off too. Now my grandmother’s birthday is on the 7th, but she might very well be celebrating it on the 4th or 5th. Or the weekend after that (11-12). Plus in either of those weekends my boyfriend’s parents very much want to go out for dinner with us too...

In short, that means I’m not expecting any “true” down-time until well into January... And just that thought alone is enough to drain away the last bit of energy I had left and dread the rest of the month. 

Always love the holiday season... //hear the sarcasm// 

If it was up to me I’d go into hibernation and wake up somewhere in January.

---

Note: Though I have no official diagnosis (and not sure if I’ll ever pursue one), in hindsight, I’m pretty clearly on the Autistic Spectrum. It’s only been a year ago since I really came to this realization, I’m apparently pretty good at masking, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. My autism affects a great deal of my life. For one, any social interaction requires a lot of energy. It’s worse if I’m meeting with a large group of people. And even if I’m not in the same room, having another person in the house will somehow keep me on edge to a certain extent. I’m well aware that full schedules are exhausting to everyone, but to me they are “extra” exhausting. For example, it can take 2 full weeks to fully recover from a gathering with extended family. And when I’m in recovery, it’s very hard to do anything productive on a day. As I’m writing this, it sounds insane. And it doesn’t always happen, but it does happen and that’s extremely inconvenient. 

This post became a lot longer than I expected, but I guess it’s good to finally talk about this? Though part of me is feeling really anxious about it. How dare I claim to be autistic without an official diagnosis? It’s silly. My life is all about silly worries. This is just one of them. The anxiety is real. >< Guess I’d better just post this already... and then regret it all night... have trouble to fall asleep... while I dread the reactions people might have. Yes, that’s how my mind works. By morning I’ll realize I had nothing to fear, I hope... O.O;;

By the way, congrats if you made it all the way to the end of my rambling!

[venus-says]

Aikatsu Friends! Episodes 64, 68-69

Look who’s back.

Finally back! I've been in a terrible mood for the past few weeks and also a succession of bad things was happening so I deliberately neglected this blog for quite some time. But now that Friends is officially ending I have to tackle these episodes so I can have time to binge-watch 5 seasons of Aikatsu before October so that I can come to On Parade! with full knowledge of things.

In any case, enough of apologies and let's get back to this thing. Before I start talking of the episodes I'll be tackling these episodes in 3 different posts because I wanna focus on Wakaba's debut arc and I Believe's comeback separately going 64, 68 and 69 here (because I consider them "filler"), 66 and 67 next (Wakaba), and last but no least 65 and 70 (the I Believe focused episodes). Hopefully following this plan I can comment on Episode 71 still this week and try to catch up on everything very soon. Okay, time for the episodes.

Episode 64 is the Honey Cat episode I was so excited about last time.

And well... I would be lying if I didn't say I was disappointed. But I think this is more of my fault than anything else? Because the episode wasn't bad per se, yes it's not perfect but also it's not terrible and I enjoyed while I was watching.

But I expected more. I wanted more. After all Honey Cat are my favorites and I wanna see them growing and evolving in the same level as Pure Palette does, but it feels like they're stuck. Even with the show saying "they're doing things, they're going places, they're becoming bigger and bigger" I don't feel a single bit of that.

To me is like the're still stuck in the third quarter of season one, we didn't even get to see Maika and Ema perform in their second PRs and they had opportunities to do it. Like for example in this episode, why not put GBA and Okemaru with the new PRs instead of having a super out of place perfomance by Karen and the same Let's Find It performance that at this point has been repeated for the 4th~5th time?

But no, all they get are some filler episodes, that are nice but don't contribute with the bigger plot of the season, and the same repeated performance over and over again, they don't even bother to give them their Miracle Auras. And it just deeply saddens me because they deserve more. *sigh*

At least this episode gave us some nice interactions of the girls with Hibiki so they scored a lot of points with me.

68 is the useless racing episode. Honestly, this one was just as useless as the kouhaku episode was. And how they were making such a big deal out of this thing like if it was really that relevant got me rolling my eyes over and over more times than I can count. But we got some lore out of it so I guess it wasn't all that useless?

I think it's lame to bring back the "Sorbet Kingdom is suffering" card again, but aside of that, I don't have much problem with it. When you look at it isn't difficult to imagine that on a country in the old times people would gather to sing and dance with the jewels as an offering to the gods so this whole thing doesn't bother me as much. I's a decent piece of lore for me, decent enough to not make me feel offended by it at least.

My problem is how everyone was thinking so highly of PP when they aren't all that, and we all know in the end they will be the saviours of Sorbet so that's also another BS that is hard to take. I also don't like that they used their JLR instead of those unit coords they introduced, but I guess I can't complain that much because at least they were decent and left the major transformation of the dresses to happen at the climax of the season and just teased it in this one instead of giving they right away. Is not the best way they could've done it IMO, but it wasn't completely horrible.

I don't have much else to talk about this one, I like how Tamaki was very reasonable and tried to cut PP off there in the beginning, and I also like that we got to see Baby Pirates again even if it was for less than a minute. And that was pretty much it. Very boring episode.

And we finally are here on Episode 69, the beach episode.

I think I've mentioned before that I don't like beach episodes, so I wasn't thrilled about watching this one. But I had a glad surprise and this was a very nice episode actually. Nothing really happened so I don't have a lot of things to say, but I really enjoyed how laid back this episode was.

Alicia was definitely the highlight of the episode to me, watching all of her scenes was a delight, I love her relationship with Penne and how good they get along, and the struggle with the heat was very relatable to me so, Alicia was the best.

Other things that I like are Mirai and Hibiki competitions, they were a joy to watch, I also really loved the alternative hairstyles some of the girls got in this episode, it's always very refreshing to see something new. Something I really like as well was seeing the staff again! I feel like recently we've been only seeing Tamaki, so it was good seeing Chiharu, Ken and Hariu. I also like how Hariu is integrated with the original production team now and they all seem to get along very well. I wish we could've seen them more, like a mini second plot line for them and seeing Lovely Friends get more integrated with them as well, but I'm already glad with what we got right now.

If there's a bad thing to say about this one is that the performance at the end wasn't really needed, but again I'm not offended by it, Wakaba's song grows in me each time I listen to it so seeing it again wasn't a bad experience. Overall a pretty good episode.

And there we have it. I'm oficially back and hopefully this time around I won't take too much to get back. I already have the post about the Wakaba's episodes ready and that's probably coming out later today, I Believe episodes are coming tomorrow. See you all soon~

[amisbro]

Soooo Broccoli

Apparently the boys over at Brocc decided it was a good idea yesterday to drop some big news on us and then ,like they are apt to do, walk out of the room and leave us a speculation NIGHTMARE Fortunately for y’all...I’m here so we are going to go over the items that Broccoli mentioned and things are going to be interest going into the next DECADE and there is a phrase we need to learn the meaning of So in the immortal words of QUARTET NIGHT at the beginning of “The Dice are Cast” READY... SET... GO!!

10th Anniversary focus So according to a translation I have from a tweet here they said they will be focusing on the TENTH Anniversary which is next year.  I don’t THINK they are gonna leave us hanging on the 9th because that would be pretty bunk but the big anniversary is 10 years so they are going to want to put a focus on that.  If we don’t get A LOT of big time announcements this year I don’t think we need to be too upset (Like I was last year when it was all music related) but what will they announce for this Anni? WELL New Mystery game and console decision So its been announced that they have a new game coming out which...is interesting and its even MORE interesting because the console/device has not been decided. To sort of understand this we have to go back almost THREE YEARS to when Broccoli announced “Dolce Vita”.  This is important because remember at the time when they announced the game on the SIXTH Anniversary the characters that would be in the game are the Senseis ,Shining and then QN and STARISH respectively right? Well when 7th Anniversary happens it gets announced that they were making an update to the cast and that update would BE...Raging Otori and the 7 “Renegade Princes” from HEAVENS so there was THAT announcement.  Remember though that this was in 2017.  For two years there was no update or even a screenshot for the game and I want to say when we got close to 2018 it would be announced that the VITA was stopping production in Japan.  THIS is a big deal because of the fact that the game was to be on that system AND there was supposed to be a “port project” where all the games UP TO DOLCE were supposed to be released in sequential order starting with Repeat and ending with After Secret. SPOILER:  That project got abandoned Well...there was a good reason...kind of We have to remember that around August in 2017 Japan was starting to get Shining Live.  That game would end up coming out IN ENGLISH in 2018 in January.  I remember that because it was around then that I had to get my current computer when it completely crapped the bed on me which sucks but what can you do right?  Now this still led us to a situation because in 2018 we still didn’t get any update on Dolce right? WELL... 8th Anniversary becomes a thing and when it happened it was focused solely on the music (which DOES kind of make sense since the series’ literal translation is “Prince of Song”) but we hadn’t heard much about Dolce and at this point we are at 1 year since the HEAVENS announcement and 2 years since the game was announced AT ALL...what was going on? To be honest I don’t know but if I had to completely speculate what happened with the game it was a # of things and one was writing and recording HEAVENS’ parts (not sure about routes) for the game.  Well during the time they were doing this Sony announced stopping the VITA and the game card production outright. Because of THIS I think this caused them to pivot and they started to figure out if they were going to take the project and move it to a console or just outright scrap it!  I THINK when we get to 9th Anniversary we might learn the fate of Dolce and I think it has to do with this new game.  If I HAD to hazard a guess the console it was going to be on...THAT’S TRICKY! See the PS4 is on its way out (or at least games will slow production probably for 2020) so the idea would be to put it on the PS5 when that releases BUT they also could drop the game on the switch and make the game the first that I think would be on a Nintendo system (NOTE:  There WAS a theme for the 3DS but no actual games were made for a Nintendo console I don’t think) so we have to think about that.  I think it would do Broccoli well to put the game on the PS4/5 AND the Switch because UtaPri has been a staple in the Sony library in Japan so if it just up and left then I don’t know how fans in Japan would feel.  It would also be an interesting situation for HEAVENS fans because ,if we assume that this game will have them in it, then how many fans will get it for the switch beit domestically OR Internationally (NOTE:  The Switch is NOT Region Locked so importing is easy to do) so that is something to look at.  There are a lot of questions to deal with JUST on this subject and its why it took a bigger bulk of this post because of ambiguity but I am going to guess we will learn more at 9th Anniversary and I think it WILL RELEASE before the 10th Anni! Now another interesting part of the notes is that they are going to be focusing on Seiyuus and Lives...not sure what that means yet but we will find out in time This next part is SUPER IMPORTANT After the 10th Anniversary they will focus on making UtaPri “Everlasting Contents” Alright...I THINK I need to explain something I forgot to at the beginning here So when this tweet came out that someone was kind enough to translate EVERYTHING I am mentioning here was going UP TO 2022 so that’s a little over 3 years or so from now right?  Things have started to get more interesting here! So NOW the question becomes this “What will the plan be as far as an Anime goes?” If I am 100% honest...I don’t know...I know what my plan would be for 2021 and 2022 if they wanted to put one final bow on the Anime and wrap it up with one more 2 season arc but MY IDEA would be drastically different probably than that of the fandom...but I’ll share it in the future. You know what’s crazy about all of this as far as the timing of the news goes? THIS It had recently been announced that ,at the showing for “Maji Love Kingdom” (Or I guess more appropriately now called “Maji Love LIVE Kingdom” if you saw the second PV) they will have the cast there for a special talk...usually when something like that is gonna happen some stuff is gonna go down and IT MAKES ME WONDER if there isn’t something behind this...could we get a 5TH SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT or could it just be for a social thing?  If there is one thing I have learned about Broccoli’s methods in the years I have watched what they do with April Fools and so forth I wouldn’t put it past them to do that...it should ALSO be noted that at this time (and for the past 3 years) the 4th season website is still up!  There is a part of me that STILL BELIEVES if they were done with the Anime Project they would have outright taken down the website and used the official site to redirect to the movie...that hasn’t happened yet! Now someone will say (and I can see this in a reblog ,reply or message already) that “Doing a 5th season AFTER doing the Tokyo Dome in MLKingdom doesn’t make sense from a story perspective” and I hear that...but not quite right! IF we are to assume that I’m right and they do one more two season arc what could they do? WELL I’ve been told there is a place BIGGER than the Tokyo Dome called “Nissan Stadium” and so they could do THAT but if they did THAT then the idea would be “Well next for them would be a world tour” and then you run into the idea of “Do we do ANOTHER TWO SEASON ARC (although that might be 3) or do we finally put the Anime to bed?”  Remember the current plan is for AT LEAST 2022 but they ALSO want to create “everlasting content” too right? I have wondered this Since the “STARISH Solo Series” was announced was that Broccoli’s way of “closing the book” on that group?  If it WAS (and I don’t think it was objectively speaking) then you could do a two season arc with HEAVENS and QN and the STARISH boys could make cameos?  Hell I think I proposed an idea once where Otoya took over the school from Shining and then QN would become HEAVENS’ mentors but that part requires HEAVENS to break off from Raging and I don’t know if that would happen considering that the universe is currently built to have two different Agencies so...there IS that! Here is another interesting tidbit that might interest you I once looked up the largest stadiums in the world and like EIGHT OUT OF TEN OF THEM ARE IN THE US!  YES KIDS IF YOU WANTED TO DO THE BIGGEST STADIUMS A BUNCH ARE HERE?! Gets better too because like a bunch of them were College Stadiums...ponder that! (Although real talk:  I wouldn’t mind seeing UtaPri in America for an episode...THAT’D BE COOL!) So now we have to ask this question at the end of ALL OF THIS “Alright Joshua...WHAT do you make of all of this?!” Here’s my answer Broccoli has like ZERO intention of killing off the series!  I know the plan is up to 2022 but I have a feeling in the next 3 years they are going to really work on building it up even more and making the Lives that they do reach farther beyond the boundaries of Japan.  I think that was their plan from the start when they announced “Expanding the world of UtaPri” and they knew that was going to take some work.  They are just revving up the engines and stopping it cold NOW would make a lot of people upset as far as fans IN JAPAN and OUTSIDE of the country.  Broccoli HAS to know that their properties are getting popular outside because it wasn’t that long ago that they took off the lock for their YT channel in the US!  I think they are starting to see the value in expanding to the west and they are now looking at what to do to keep the “Foreign Market” interested. I will also say this DON’T be surprised if the next game gets some kind of localization with how SL has done outside of Japan.  Okay its about 100K people that downloaded the game in the US but that might have given Brocc some pause and go “Wait a second...maybe we got something here” And who knows...MAYBE they have a plan to get the game over here!  We probably WON’T KNOW until maybe a little past 9th Anniversary but I’ve been surprised before Alright alright one more thing With Idolish7′s second season looming in the distance and with I-Chu getting an Anime Adaptation soon I could see that as a big reason that Broccoli DOESN’T want to kill off the Anime Project yet.  They know their stronghold that they have and giving up the spot of “King of the Idol Anime” is NOT something you do without a fight and by God they have a plan to do it and now we are going to be in for one of the craziest 3 year periods (and beyond) in the history of a genre that I stepped into back in 2014 and now here we are in 2019 and its looking like a good fight kids...I’m just happy to have a front row seat! NOW...Imma ask you guys and gals Based on the announcements we got from Broccoli now what directions do you think UtaPri could go into and where do you WANT to see it go?  I got a lot of ideas in my dome for sure but the question is...what say you Oh and I almost forgot to link the tweet that was the source of all of this so do be a friend and check out the tweet...here’s the link https://twitter.com/ohayaho_news/status/1117801981517627392 take care lads and lasses

[rairix]

Season 2 of Big Mouth is so good

Wanted to wait till I watched all of season 2 twice so I could make sure I caught as much of the good as possible. Very small brief summaries of what I remember. I feel it was much stronger and funnier than season 1, also less gross humor since it’s a lot less about guys jerking it and porn.

1st episode dealing with being behind or too far ahead of the rest of your class

2nd episode Body image in girls (mostly) and boys. Complete with a great musical number about loving your body.  Talking about girls who “all of a sudden” develop and having guys just looking at them. Favorite episode of the season (funny enough the 2nd episode of season 1 was my favorite too)

3rd episode talks about shameful stuff you do during puberty. From shop lifting to rubbing one out to a swimsuit. Also Shame Wizard makes me think of Vax of crit role if he was old.

4th episode a lot of focus on the coach finally having sex, with a musical number that would be good if not for the voice. It’s a very meh episode

5th episode is about Planned Parenthood and tells you a lot about what they do. Also another good musical number, and talk of Blue Waffle not being real

6th episode kids getting high on edibles and liking someone to just get off. I didn’t start getting high until my mid 20s but also only on edibles and yeah I’ve had both of Nick and Jessie’s experiences while high

7th is decent, I think lots of kids question why their parents are like that (weak, overbearing, ect), and having Andrew realize what he did to Missy was horrible.

8th getting to 2nd base. Also the little puberty monster is horrible. The nod to the American Girl Doll Maddie not having shoes or a birthday is also fucked up and I love it. Dudes talking about getting to 2nd base, and girls being jealous of other girls for getting more attention for their bodies

9th, such a good episode, a musical number, dealing with slut shaming, masturbation and sexuality in general. Kids going wild because their is no adult supervision. 2nd favorite episode of the season. Wonderful joke about how horrible Sacramento is. Mathew dealing with being the only gay kid in the school

10th, dealing with depression, and how if you need help you need to say something because sometimes others won’t notice. Also Jay realizing he’s bisexual and treating it respectful. Realizing you need shame so that you won’t be a huge douche pervert at every turn.

So yeah season 2 is so good. Like a 9/10 because there is a bit too much of the coach for my liking. He was funny in season 1 because he wasn’t a main focus. Now he’s a Randy Marsh for about half the season. A very good watch. Also remember the characters are designed in an ugly way because it’s the worst/most awkward/ugly feeling time of your life and the characters represent that.

[tarysande]

What are the chances that we'll see Lucifer and Chloe properly together (all in) inS4?

Sorry for the tardiness of this reply; you caught me just as travel turned into getting slammed at work. Now that I have a moment to breathe, let me answer :D

Realistically? I’d say it’s a hard maybe trending not likely that they’ll get to full in-a-relationship status in S4. It depends on what arc the writers are planning to develop. From what I’ve read, S4 on Netflix is going to be what would’ve been the fall half of the network season (ending on what would’ve been the fall/winter finale).

Sidebar: I am not at all worried about Lucifer getting a 5th season and beyond. By amassing the fandom under one streaming-service roof, as it were, Netflix should not have the same issues Fox did with, say, episodes airing early in other markets and piracy screwing up their numbers. I suspect the force of the fandom binge watching S4 will probably mean Netflix announces at least an additional season shortly after the 4th season airs.

I will say this, I don’t think we’ll get more will-they-won’t-they stuff, dragging out the relationship without good reason. However, Chloe has a L O T to process---not just about Lucifer, her feelings, etc., but also about having to navigate and negotiate a world where the truth of the divine/supernatural has been irrevocably revealed to her. For an agnostic/atheist like Chloe, that’s going to take some coming to terms.

And Chloe, quite frankly, deserves to take her time with that understanding. We have literally walked side-by-side with Lucifer for three seasons as he navigates his issues; Chloe and her issues deserve some time and attention. I think she will always love Lucifer and will, of course, get to the point where she’s willing to go all-in even though the love of her life is the actual Devil (Chloe, after all , often sees the truth of things; she sees the heart---and so much of the show has been about chipping away the extremely hard, protective shell Lucifer built up around himself. Chloe’s “Not to me,” still counts for a lot, here, and I’m certain she’ll get to a place where she believes it again). I’m also willing to wait for their relationship if it means the psychology of her actions (and inaction) rings true---and I will be disappointed if the writers (or the fandom!!) don’t let her have enough time.

I will also say that I hope (and suspect) the focus of the plot arc in S4 will be supernatural in origin. (This could even be part of the reason Fox bailed on the show; they knew what the writers were planning, after all. They may not have wanted to go full gods-and-monsters.) I will be very disappointed if the hinted-at “intimate friend from Lucifer’s past” isn’t a supernatural being. (I’m also not really interested in it being a former love interest because we’ve been given every reason to believe that Lucifer’s never experienced with anyone else what he experiences with Chloe.) By having a supernatural arc, Chloe will essentially have a season of immersion therapy, which could accelerate her understanding/healing (and which could eventually being her to a point where she sees how much Lucifer has genuinely survived and overcome without being totally destroyed).

I have some ideas about what I think S4 might look like, though chances are I’ll explore those via fic rather than meta (especially since there’s going to be some time to work with; I don’t have to figure it out before Sept/Oct ;D).