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number5theboy · 4 years

Text

ALRIGHT

THIS SEASON

IT WAS A LOT

my liveblogged thoughts under the cut

Episode 1

· Exhilarating! I love Ben

· Ben already has more lines in these first five minutes than he had in the first season

· This montage is good

· ALLISON BABY

· Luther yelled for Diego first I love this

· Diego is immediately in vigilante mode…….hot

· THE SHOT PARELLING VANYA’S FIRST WORDS

· Vanya is a mess we love to see it

· The shot of Five’s feet hitting the puddle? So aesthetically pleasing

· The battle scene is such a smart way of reintroducing everyone’s powers and their Final Form™ succinctly

· I love Hazel. So much.

· The Umbrella Atomic Explosion™ is SO clever I love it

· ALRIGHT UNCHARTERED TERRITORY LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOO

· Oh Hazel and Five make me soft

· Agnes and Hazel had a good life

· Hazel is so dead

· Welp that took no time at all

· “How many times did I say bulletproof briefcases?” ily mister five

· I love the Swedes they’re stupid

· Are we ever gonna know what Agnes made Hazel promise?

· Five is honestly world’s best character

· FUTURE HEADQUARTERS

· “Well the truth is out there!” abkdkblhlkbkhl

· I shouldn’t make quick judgments, but conspiracy nut guy is nice and I hope he doesn’t turn out evil, because I also through Harold was nice in the beginning

· Diego got himself arrested already what an idiot

· Asddjgflkflhfl Diego’s problems all put out

· Okay, set-up for Diego’s character arc of self-actualisation we love to see it

· Lila is awesome, but I hope they don’t make her crush on him excessively

· Diego and Five is an underrated duo

· THEY ARE SO BICKERY

· Five is jut gonna murder him sometime along the way

· I LOVE FIVE SO MUCH WHAT A LITTLE SHIT

· Oof Vanya is so cute in that outfit

· This scene perfectly encapsulates women having to listen to men

· VANYA’S GOING TO MILFTOWN Y’ALL

· I cannot tell white men apart, does Carl look like conspiracy nut guy or is it just me?

· As usual, Ben and Klaus are bad at everything

· “neither does your beard” icon Ben Hargreeves

· I support Ben pummelling Klaus

· I passionately hate the beard and love the coat

· Why do all the white men look alike, I thought this poker dude was a Swede

· I KNEW BEN WAS LYING

· “Pick a better time to self-actualise!”

· I still hate the beard, let’s see if it grows on me

· Yusuf Gatewood………….hot

· By far the hottest couple so far in TUA

· Please tell me she’s not still hung up on Luther

· Yes she is goddammit

· The moon thing is cute though, I can appreciate that

· Luther finally gets a well-soundtracked fight scene I love it

· OI THAT WAS BRUTAL HOLY SHIT

· Oh Luther is pulling a Five in feeling bad about his excessive violence

· I already hate his boss

· Raymond marry me pls

· Allison marry me pls

· OH MY GOD VANYA LAUGHED

· Sissy and Vanya have excellent chemistry

· Oh I see the deliberate parallel with Vanya, Umbrella Academy, you aren’t fooling me

· SWEDISH ASSASSINS BABY

· Do you think they’ll say a single word or?

· Literally the only way this show knows how to signal danger is through flickering lights

· Two bopping fight scene and Five hasn’t been in any of them

· Lila and Diego have no braincells between them it’s beautiful

· Alright, she knows how to fight……..supicious

· If this show wasn’t so hellbent on making Luther and Allison a thing, he would be best ace rep

· Lmao “I don’t give a shit” I love you Luther

EPISODE TWO

· ALRIGHT THE HANDLER IS BACK???????

· Okay so Hazel and Cha-Cha are dead but that pestilence still runs around??? Bruuuuuuuuuh

· Kate Walsh is still hot though

· AJ??????

· THE FISH SMOKES?!?

· God the Commission is such a capitalist hellhole

· Oh there we have 743

· H E R B

· Okay I am here to see her humiliated but please no redemption arc for her

· I love the deliberate parallels between Five and the Handler

· “Like a masseuse?” IDIOTS

· Oh Five is so lost and vulnerable baby boy

· Also the character developments in Luther!!!!!

· “Dad should’ve left him on the moon.” Five is, simply said, an icon

· Oof Sissy is SO cute

· I’m already not ready for Five to find Vanya

· Lila is so extra can we keep her

· Great now I have sympathy for Carl

· Luther’s new outfit looks so good on him

· OH LUTHER IS THE FIRST ONE TO SEE HER

· Well that was dramatic and didn’t lead anywhere

· Alright two episodes in, Civil Rights plotline hasn’t been fucked up yet

· WHAT THE FUCK IS THE SWEDE DRINKING SO CONSCPICOUSLY

· ELLIOTT IS THE NAME OF MISTER CONSPIRACY

· “cousins on my robot mother’s side”

· “Imagine Batman, then aim lower.”

· Lila is great I love her

· Diego is gonna throw both Five and Lila through a wall at some point

· Five is so ready to throw Diego under the bus

· Klaus Hargreeves, world’s worst cult leader

· ……….did Klaus built a cult on pop lyrics?

· Klaus and Raymond bonding I love it

· DIEGO AND FIVE BEST TEAM

· REGINALD IS THE UMBRELLA MAN

· OH LUTHER IS GONNA FIND HER HOLY SHIT

· THE BARN FROM THE PROMO PICTURE

· This scene is so good

· “You shouldn’t be the one to apologise.” I’M GONNA CRY

· Tom Hopper and Ellen Page are so good in this scene

· WHY DID HE LEAVE

· What the flying fuck is up with the Swedes

· BRO WHAT THE FUCK

· Is Five ever gonna bring up the fact that he was supposed to kill Kennedy or?

· Raymond is wasted on someone who doesn’t give him her whole heart

· What the FUCK, Klaus

· Why does she remember her name tho

· The violin starting up when she talks about the callouses on Vanya’s hands

· Brotherly bonding is my new favourite scene

· Do the filmmakers know that your scene can be suspenseful and well-lit

· Okay maybe baby Pogo is cute

· There is gonna be no Five murdering spree, the blood is solely from Pogo

· Next well-soundtracked fight scene

· The choreography of this!!!!!

· Man Reginald is a shitty dad before he even becomes a dad

· Diego cannot catch a break poor baby

EPISODE 3

· SHITTY WIG ON KLAUS ALERT

· THE LEVITATION IS BEN I HATE THIS

· So far, all title card umbrellas have not disappointed

· You are running in a straight line you really should hit her

· Yep, Watchmen flashbacks

· Luther remains cute and awkward

· THEY ARE TALKING TO EACH OTHER BABY

· S E Q U I N S

· SNEAKY LADY ALLISON IS BACK

· FINALLY

· A HUG

· Allison and Klaus are so cute

· What in the goddamn Looney Tunes is this outfit lady

· WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU LADY

· ALLISON HARGREEVES YOU QUEEN

· This spooky ghost show is great

· Everyone going off on Five is great

· @ this show stop ripping Vanya and Five apart and let them be soft

· Diego is so naked this entire season

· Diego and Lila are a good dynamic

· Elliott is a babe I love him

· The Handler continues to be creepy about Five

· So much driving

· Luther is baby and Raymond deserves better than to deal with all the baggage from all the Hargreeves brothers

· HE SHAVED THE BEARD

· Ouch this is awkward

· I don’t get why they didn’t cast normal Dave to play young Dave they’re not that far apart in age

· Oh he’s gonna have to let Dave go

· Oh this scene must be so triggering

· Oh shit’s bad and it’s only episode 3

· PUPPY???

· WE WERE RIGHT ABOUT LILA

· WHAT DO YOU MEAN THANKS MOM

EPISODE 4

· Oh my god the Handler is pure fucking evil

· She learnt the fighting from her mom alright

· THE RED BOOTS WERE THERE ALL ALONG

· Man I hoped that the antisemitism was gone

· Vanya being protective of Luther :’)

· Luther only has shitty father figures

· I can’t believe they were better organised last season

· Why do you hate the Vanya/Five dynamic so much, show?

· Five got an extra dose of asshole today this season huh

· Reggie is probably the twelfth

· Oh boy Klaus is a trainwreck

· That marriage is also a trainwreck

· I understand Ray though

· Why is there Styx on this soundtrack

· Oh Klaus baby

· GALA NIGHT BITCHES

· Five is a smart young old man

· Oh baby is eating his heart out

· Oh the hug makes me soft though

· Honestly, Tom Hopper and Emmy Raver Lampman have such cute chemistry

· AWKWARD DARLING MAN

· “Doomsday” *nervous chuckle*

· Ballroom lessons as kids

· This is an excellent dance scene

· OH MY GOD MOM WAS MADE AFTER A REAL WOMAN

· THIS SHOW MAN THIS SHOW

· Reggie is gross

· Diego’s mommy AND daddy issues are put on blast this season

· Sissy is such a babe

· Man we got budget BUDGET for this season

· Alright, the white violin can revive people now cool cool cool

· How different her powers are when powered by love

· I love Elliott I hope he survives the eason

· I am down for Luther and Elliott getting high together

· LET’S GO LESBIIIAAAAAAAAAANS

· God Allison and Klaus make me so soft

· I am very supportive of Elliott and Luther becoming bros

· You already shanked one son, go poker stick another one

· YES EXCELLENT FIGHT MUSIC

· They both?????? Just left him to fend for himself??????????

· Ancient Greek??? Bitch what

· This show is rated for violence and we have barely seen any!!!!!! What!!!!!!!

Episode 5

· Okay baby Pogo and Grace is adorable

· Why is Pogo in space now

· THEY KILLED POGO

· AGAIN

· Hargeeves got a hug before Five did what the effing fuck

· He might be a dick but his instincts are good

· Haha old cowboy

· Ben is so done

· Vanya……..Sissy……..my heart

· Wow Reginald continues to be a massive arse

· Luther/Diego/Five are DUMB and I love them

· “No, bro, he shanked your heart.”

· God the Handler!!!!!!

· THE MUSIC AT THE REUNION

· We didn’t even see Five reunite with Allison and Klaus!!!!!

· GOD WHAT A SISTERLY UPGRADE

· KLAUS VANYA AND ALLISON HUGGING

· Allison and Diego rights babey!!!

· Are the Swedes ever gonna say something or

· LILA AND FIVE TEAM-UP LET’S GO

· I’VE MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH I’M GONNA CRY BABY

· The red-blue dynamic in Luther and Diego I live for that

· Luther and Diego are gooooooood together

· What is up with that

· Klaus, Vanya and Allison are dumbasses and I love them so much

· Alright where are the Swedes doing and why is that tree so creepy

· Oh the youngest Swede just went tits-up

· Please tell me Five is finally getting a fight scene

· Excellent fight scene

· Great, now I feel sad for the Swedes

· They deffo have a cooler aesthetic than Hazel and Cha-Cha

· This cover is beautiful

EPISODE 6

· This wig looks better than Klaus’

· Also Ben has barely been in this season where is he at

· Oof Ray is so cute

· The Handler and Five have such good chemistry holy shit

· Diego, Luther and Vanya are a god-tier dynamic

· We love the CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

· BENNY BOY HAS A CRUSH

· Wait how is this only episode six I feel like this is already the pensum of the first season

· Clothing montage baby!!!!!

· God they look so good together

· Oh Allison can be RUTHLESS

· THE BINGO CARDS

· Oh no no no no I didn’t think Klaus and Dave could be even more tragic

· THEY TALK

· God she is so fucking creepy stop lusting after a child

· World’s most satisfying elevator shot

· This scene is chaos I love it

· God everyone just harps on Diego’s daddy issues jesus

· Oh baby no

· Oh babies no

· NO NOT THE DISSOLUTION OF TEAM ZERO

· Why are there so many antisemitic dogwhistles in this

· This scene between Five and Reginald is good

· NOT ELLIOTT

· Oh no no no no Carl

· Alright at least this promises a good fight scene

EPISODE 7

· This polka music bops

· Wait how did he get to 1982

· HE SAID FUCK

· Man Carmichael was out so quick

· No fish-eating?

· Awwwww Klaus and Ben have a heart to heart

· Oh God, Diego and Luther have no brain activity between the two of them

· That is a Look

· Oh this montage of Ben rediscovering touch

· The writing of this show was oddly prophetic

· Oh wait Vanya’s gonna be incarcerated too right????

· Oh this is heart-breaking

· Really?????? Ben’s the dorky one???

· Oh my god Ben is getting a hug and Diego is so soft

· Man why are Five and Vanya so antagonistic

· FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

· Dude a fight between them would have been so epic

· Diego

· You idiot

· Oh Allison really loves him and he loves her

· Oh I am so sad

· Yeah this episode is infinitely worse than the day that wasn’t

· FUCK YEAH BACKSTREET BOYS

· What the fuck

· Yo that is sadistic as fuck Allison what the flying fuck

· This scene might ruin the song for me

· There definitely was an easier way out

· They fucked it up

· I am not surprised

EPISODE 8

· Oh she speaks Russian

· Five just snapped and honestly deserves it

· Yeah I feel for the Swede

· What is it with commission assassins and axes this season

· “Your vagina needs fresh glasses.”

· Nepotism

· Oh Grace is turning on him baby!!

· Ha remember when we were all like ‘oh no they’re making Reggie sympathetic’

· Yeah so much for that

· Five and Luther are……..soft

· What the fuck is up with that

· AYYYY BUTTHOLE SURFERS ON THE SOUNDTRACK

· Oooooohhhhhhh trippy kid scene

· Also Reggie is bad at German

· I love Luther and Five so much

· We finally get to see older Five’s tie pattern

· Alright Lila makes me uncomfortable

· FIVE IS GONNA GO FERAL Y’ALL LET’S GO

· Man after the last rampage you’d think they’d upped security in this place

· Herb for president!!

· Some catch Diego’s ego is going berserk

· Oh not again

· Dot is a rebel now

· Everyone is ragging on Five, even Five

· This is so trippy

· Oh yeah the brains. Forgot about those.

· I……….sad

· Oh my god oh my god oh my god

· Of course it’s all the government’s fault

· Love how they just walked into an FBI building

· Bro what the fuck is going on

EPISODE 9

· Allison is always there for Vanya and I love her

· Hello Klaus and Diego are so cute

· Oh my heart you go Klaus

· So much for that

· BUT BEN

· YOU ARE CLIFF-HANGERING BE INSIDE AN EPISODE

· Crazy Five is an idiot I love him

· “I’m the daddy here” is not the gazelle, but it’ll do in a pinch

· The 743!!!!!!

· Oh God, Harlan is in danger

· She loves him?!? You barely know the man!!!!!!

· WHAT’S ON THE PAPER

· Oh it’s her file

· HELLO LET US SEE THE FIVES TYING TO OFF EACH OTHER

· This continues to be trippy

· These visuals are so stunning

· This is my favourite scene so far, this is so good, this is an excellent talk

· NO

· NOT BEN

· “I’m askin’, Carl.” You go Sissy, love you, you’re doing excellent

· Alright, we have a mini-Vanya here

· Oh I hate the Handler so fucking much she is the worst

· What a plot-twist

· Oh god so much is going on in this season

· Oh we get fish-eating, but it’s not Five? That’s lame

· Why are they all so hell-bent on making stupid decisions

· Klaus you idiot

· Oh that SON OF A BITCH HARGREEVES

· What the fuck what is on the dark side of the moon

· What the flying fuck what the fuck what tebdjbdgkbjdsgkbjgsdjgnj

· WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE GOING TO WAR

EPISODE 10

· Oh the kids are back for Ben’s funeral

· I hate this

· Reginald is just. The worst.

· My emotions are all over the place

· Oh……..babies

· OH MY GOD DIEGO

· AND FIVE

· It wouldn’t hurt to go to an abandoned farm

· God this is a family of shitty choices

· I don’t want Ben to be gone

· FAMILY TIME

· Oh shit I totally forgot about the last Swede

· BRO THE STAKES

· YEAH THIS LOOKS BAD

· ALRIGHT Harland is gonna be alright

· All these assassins have shit aim

· HE’S MATRIXING

· LILA’S ONE OF THE 43

· SHE CAN ABSORB AND REDIRECT THEIR ENERGIES

· ONE OF THEM ONE OF THEM ONE OF THEM

· Awwwwww they love each other

· Oh great THEY’RE DEAD AGAIN

· Oh now LILA will have to fix the timeline

· Wait now they’re all dead

· The swede to the rescue?

· Please tell me she’s dead for good this time

· We love a de facto protagonist saving everyone’s asses once more

· GO VANYA SAVE THE BABY

· Dot and Herb are precious dumbasses

· This is heart-breaking, but I understand Sissy so much

· WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS CLIFFHANGER

#tua spoilers #not that you'd understand much if you don't watch the episodes #personal #come yell at me in my inbox please

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venus-says · 5 years

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Symphogear AXZ Episodes 01-04

One day, I’m sure we’ll know true strength.

Starting the engines for the final part of this marathon!

Like I said yesterday, I’m super excited about these next few days because from here on now everything will be new content to me, I didn’t check anything about AXZ since 2017, neither have seen anything about XV this year, so except for their posters I’m going totally blind on this and I’m loving every second of it, I feel like a child discovering new thing about the word. I can’t wait to see what this season has in store for me.

So without any further ado, let’s get going!

Croitzal ronzell Gungnir zizzl

So Episode 01 starts very interestingly. At first, I was pretty shocked with seeing the girls going on a military mission using their gears, it seemed very odd considering how reluctant Hibiki is about using her powers on other humans, but then it comes the twist and the military are somehow using alca-noises and that’s when shit goes down and this episode already won me over.

You see, Magical Girls who fight against the evil humankind do to ourselves is my perfect dream as a pitch for a show, yes I love my regular Mahou Shoujo stuff and I don’t see any problems on it but since “dark Mahou Shoujo” is a thing this is what I wanted to the most. And I got a little bit of that in here! And I’m very happy about it.

And even without this element, this is still a pretty badass fight with everything that it has going on for it. Like Hibiki stopping the shoot of a tank, and the way she completely destroyed another tank with her hands, how cool is that???? And Tsubasa’s sword getting gigantic and slashing that big ass air fortress in a single swing like if she was cutting butter? And Chris flying on top of the helicopter like a boss??? Even Maria, Kirika and Shirabe who didn’t do that much fight were pretty cool in here as well. I dare to say, this was the best initial fight we had since when G started this trend. Like c’ mon this one was just amazing.

I also like that they let the action play out smoothly first to just give us a roundabout of everything that was going on in a flashback afterward, it makes for a more dynamic episode imo. I like the concept of the Bavarian illuminatti, having a villain or a secret organization behind events from past seasons can be very good if it's worked properly, my only problem with is that I think it would be more interesting to see this in the final season and use this to tie in any plot point that may be loose from the past seasons, but I still like the concept and I’m open-minded to what they can do in this season.

And since we’re talking about the villains we get to see some of them this episode and for what was shown I think I like them? The only thing that makes me step back from having a final decision is that it seems that one of the girls is supposed to be trans, and it seems that she is the most sexualized from the group and I don’t know if that’s the best way to portrait the character...? Now I may be wrong, maybe she’s a biological woman, but I’m pretty sure her voice actor is a man and I don’t see why they would make this decision unless they were trying to make this very clear and... ugh. I just hope they’ll handle this in a proper way, I'm very doubtful, but if they manage to make her at least decent I’ll be happy with it.

Before moving to the next episode I have three questions: 1, how much time has passed from GX to AXZ?; 2, why is LiNKER still a problem? I thought the chip Ver gave to Maria was to fix this problem; and 3, is the Magical Girl Incident the name they gave for the events from last season or is this a whole new thing that happened in between? I hope we get some answers from here on now.

So before getting into episode 2 let’s give some appreciation to the new opening and ending. While I don’t really like the song the scenes playing in the opening are just amazing, even though we get some minor spoilers from there I still quite like it, my favorite moments are Hibiki, Shirabe and Maria in the training montage, they’re just too good. About the ending, while the pictures in there are nothing that special this probably my favorite ending so far.

Now to the episode itself. To starters let me leave my ode to Maria in this episode. Even though she herself hasn’t snagged any victory in this episode she still shone like no other. Her new song was great and she was amazing in her battles, especially in the second one, she was brilliant. And also that moment of her with Elfnein was just so adorable. Best girl.

The other battle of this episode was pretty interesting as well. I believe this is the first time we see a symphogear hurting a civilian and it’s quite shocking. I don’t necessarily know if shooting the boy’s leg was really the only way to save him but regardless of it is still a pretty interest conflict to develop. Now, I do think that making the boy the brother of someone who we’ve never seen before and that has a very complicated relationship with Chris was a bit too much, but I’m interested to see what comes out from it.

The backstory of the Illuminati is quite interesting as well, but they’ve shown that to us in the most boring way ever, and also I don’t like how Saint-Germain's (that’s her name right?) speech is so out of place in that situation. Like, you’re with two comrades that are on your side and probably already know the history, making her state that in that moment is just off. Just like that weird relic, which I have many questions about but I know they’ll explain it later (at least I hope so).

Episode 3 is probably the worst one of this batch. It does some nice things like giving more information about the Illuminati, I’m particularly curious about this new autoscorer and it’s weird resemblance to Hibiki, Maria and Tsubasa escape from the noise attack is also pretty good, and in the second fight, we get probably one of the cooler attacks we’ve seen so far. But that’s pretty much it and this isn’t enough to hold this episode against the bad things it has going on.

This episode starts very off and the ending of the fight that started on the last one was very anticlimactic. Then we have the big boss of this season saying to destroy the gears when this was something GX has already done. We get a boring part that was all just exposition about the gears. And the most boring part was all that technical talk about the subspace pocket that just made me confused as hell. Also, just episode 3 and we’re already over-dependant of the ignite module as it seems... I hope this doesn’t mean another mechanic that’ll make this one (THAT IS DANGEROUS ENOUGH ALREADY) obsolete and banalize another mortal thing.

I wish they’ve done more with Chris struggle more than just mention it and not really dig on it, maybe this would balance things out a little and make this episode less frustrating. Sadly that wasn’t the case so I’ll just move on before I fall asleep and don’t finish this post in time.

I’ve said 3 was the worst, but actually, thinking about it now, episode 4 is probably the worst.

How to begin this one?

For starters, what the hell was the writing team thinking when they just explicitly told that using condoms isn’t good????????? Like, I understand y’all are trying to make people fuck so the birth-rate can rise again BUT HAVE CONSCIOUS ABOUT THIS THING YOU DUMBASSES, CONDOMS DO MORE THAN JUST PREVENT CHILDREN YOU FUCKS. Gosh, I’m so mad at this I just wanna kick some people in the balls.

Then we have that Cagliostro fight THAT SERVES NO PURPOSE AT ALL. She basically just got kicked in the ass and neither sides got anything from it. It was such a waste of time, and they even managed to revert Chris to the “let everything to me, I can handle it” bullshit that pissed me off last season, I thought we were over this by this point.

And don’t you look at that, in the second fight the Ignite Module doesn’t work anymore, and suddenly the girls are way weaker than the enemies, and now Elfneim will have to spend time trying to make something THAT IS ABLE TO STAND AGAINST NUCLEAR FUSION instead of making LiNKER so the whole team can fight this treat together.

You know, I was excited about the Faust Robe thing, I liked Carol’s last season, why wouldn’t I like it now? WELL, I’M NOT GONNA LIKE THIS SHIT NOW BECAUSE THEY’RE USING IT AS SOMETHING SO OVERPOWERED THAT A FINAL BOSS COULD BE USING IN THE CLIMAX OF THE SEASON, IS LIKE TRYING TO BEAT THE POKÉMON LEAGUE WITH A MAGIKARP THAT ONLY KNOWS SPLASH. FOR GOD’S SAKE.

At least the guy gets naked when he’s practically making a small sun on his hand, I think I’d be even more upset if they didn’t, seeing how they don’t think twice before sexualizing any of the girls. So I guess that’s a positive.

The ex-FIS team also did pretty well this time, probably the only time I wasn’t scratching my head or upset at this one.

I kinda want to continue watching so that I won’t go to sleep with such a bitter taste in my mouth, but I’m sleep depraved and I need my bed more than anything right now so I’ll be going.

I wonder if I bite my hand I’ll get some sweetness from it since humans are kinda like the tomatoes from that old woman? 🤔

#Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ #Symphogear AXZ #symphogear

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steve0discusses · 6 years

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Yugioh S2 Ep4: How to Go on a Date Without Actually Going on a Date

Ah, summertime! Love is in the air, can’t you feel it?

Well uh...thunderclouds. I guess. It’s ominously pouring rain. It’s as if the show has turned in it’s squeaky swivel chair said to us “look, we’re giving you a date episode...but don’t you be gettin’ any ideas!” and then swiveled right back around to face a blank wall.

I’m sure that they will put in some sort of cute backdrop...eventually.

While mopping the gross purple floor and talking about Joey’s nuts soap opera family.

Y’all did they get reference for this shot? I sure hope so. I sure hope that in some animation studio in Japan, two dudes fumbled together to assemble this particular formation, and then a third dude was like “Perrrrfect, now can you hold that for five minutes for me so I can draw it out?”

(read more under the cut)

So here and now, suddenly inspired by the very romantic tableau of threatening rain and thunder, Yugi sees an opportunity to fill out that bucket list, as it is the end of the world and all. So, he cracks his knuckles, remembers the advice from his Grandfather, wisely decides to forget that advice, and stumbles through the absolute weirdest way to officially ask out the girl you’ve been unofficially dating since you were like 10:

...

Start over.

So...he goes up to Tea...starts asking her out--but then makes it into a blind date with the ghost in his body? Because he’s...concerned about Pharaoh?

OK kid.

It’s just very Muto in that not only does he ask this girl out in the pouring rain, probably hoping for a lightning cue that thankfully never came, but this date can only be done through the medium of a very sad dead guy.

And even Tea wonders “I talk to Pharaoh kind of a lot, what the hell are you going on about?”

But what do you do, girl? Looks like you got stuck on a date trap with a dead dude! At least he has the better butt!

Now, you might say “Rach, he didn’t use the word “date” so this isn’t a date.” but y’all must’ve had a very different high school experience than I, because, unless forced to go to a socially obligatory dance, High Schoolers generally never say “lets go on a date,” they make sneaky date traps.

This is universal, the classic “I REALLY need your help with something I can easily accomplish myself. Meet me at the mall, although we could do this probably right now at school. Don’t bring Joey.”

So, Yugi either has a lot of trust in Pharaoh, or he’s seeing this as a clever way to avoid the actual dating part of dating Tea.

Dude...he’s on to something here. This is an ascended level of friend-zoning. Here I was thinking Yugi was pretty worthless with that puzzle, and then he just BAM unlocks it’s actual, true potential with the ultimate dating dodge. Like, Tea can’t even be mad. He’s on the date even. But also--*not on the date*--gets to enjoy the fun stupid stuff-- *doesn’t have to do any boring stuff*--Goes on a date--*but can’t call it a relationship if it wasn’t hypothetically with yourself* like this actually a pretty great set up and at first I was like wow, what an idiot, and now I’m like 5 paragraphs later and low key jealous I can’t do this Schrödinger's Date nonsense myself.

Anyway, despite how awkward he made it, Yugi is SUPER excited about this date. It’s ALMOST as if he’s going on it himself--which again, he is not. He’s just fretting in a mirror going all “Pharaoh’s gonna freakin love this. I love setting up my friends! Especially when they share the same body as me! Hahaha don’t think about it!”

But apparently Pharaoh was totally sleeping when Yugi was talking to Tea (and probably is whenever Tea shows up, lets be real) because he has no idea that Yugi has done this.

First off--Yugi’s art on the wall.

Ok, glad we all saw it together.

Second off, I love the motif of “kid is going on a date, so he throws everything he owns onto his bed and throws on the other half his closet to make the most ridiculous joke combo” because here it means Pharaoh has to wear the same weird ass outfit.

Y’all I cannot believe this anime is doing this three-way I just cannot. It’s been like a full season building up to it but it still feels VERY sudden.

And, as you know, I have a superpower that makes me immune to shipping, I dunno...maybe it’s because I grew up with the nuts Harry Potter era of ships (freakin Snape/Lily)? Or maybe that I come from the era of Kingdom Hearts-style romance twists (whooo will he eat ice cream with)? I feel like I can’t throw too many rocks at this ship because I know when my house is glass. Especially since I enjoy shows that are bonkers, I’ve seen some weird ass dating stuff that didn’t make me bat an eyelash. I watched Season 2 of Seaquest where at least 2 people accidentally ask out their own Mother. I would double check, but it was so awful Netflix pulled it (or trust me I’d be recapping that show, too)

Personally, I have never wanted to date a ghost but I guarantee other people have thought about it. And, youknow, if it’ll make the 2002-era tweens that were super excited about this ship happy, lets get these kids on a date and get this over with. With the Pharaoh that died at hell knows what age, was reborn so hypothetically you could also argue he’s only like a couple years old, and was mind wiping up until basically a couple weeks ago. Whatever, it’s a new season, he’s a new boy, just, don’t think about it, sit back and enjoy it for what it -- HOLY CRAP

What fake-goth funeral date are you going to here!? Wow. This is...This is a bad choice of clothes! It’s the middle of the day! Other people are in shorts. He is wearing so many chains from his neck, to his bracelets...also he still has that massive bike lock chain on - the one that went through a FIRE.

And does his shoes have freakin studs?

At least neck belt is still here.

I’d say he doubles as a stage tech but with those 7 bangles he’s got on, he would make too much noise. He’d sound like a freakin wind chime.

Anyways, Yugi switches places and Pharaoh freaks the Hell out like he’s been pranked. I wish it were a prank, y’all, I wish it were. But this is actually happening on this television show where the only other legit romance we saw was Pegasus macking a ghost.

MAN ghosts gets a lot of action in this show.

Now, this anime gets a lot of flack, but it does do one thing, and that’s make me appreciate something I forget a lot of the time when I see character designs in pictures rather than in motion. And it’s that that character design’s aesthetic includes physics. Sometimes--like very often in Yugioh--the aesthetic is mostly about those physics and what all these separate pieces do when they move.

In Yugioh, the designs are a hot mess. I can’t say they aren’t. But, there is a reason why he has all those moving bangles--it’s because he holds cards a lot and that’s where is camera is. I guarantee, when jacket comes back it’ll be flowing in the wind 100% of the time. Every single one of Yugi’s weird bangs can sway around like a weather vane.

So, while this looks not great from the get go, by the time you’ve watched Yugioh for a while, it all comes back together somehow. That’s the thing--that’s what Yugioh proves, it’s that no matter how freakin weird and abstract your design is, if it has the right physics, you’ll have a good time, and that’s an aesthetic all in itself that can’t be described in photo caps.

BUT

but

but, it’s still hella fun to roast Yugi for it because like--look what he’s wearing.

First stop on their date: a diner of lies that gave us no anime food. Just some nondescript milkshake. Every time we see a diner and I don’t get to see anime food my heart shrivels a little smaller like the Grinch.

Yo I assumed the neck belt was attached to the belt-shirt before--but I guess not. Oh man was belt shirt a turtleneck the whole time??? A belt TURTLENECK?

Tea decides to pull out her idea. The idea that Yugi asked her to give Pharaoh--that she could have just...given...straight to Yugi...but here it is. Here’s the big Tea idea.

Tea suggests “Listen, you don’t know who you’re going to be, but that’s true of everyone” which kind of ignores destiny and prophecies and the end of the world, but she’s gonna be a dancer, OK? And because Pharaoh hasn’t seen very much of the world, and is as impressionable as a newborn lamb, he just soaks it right up.

And so they decide not to go to the Museum because Pharaoh’s not feeling it. Probably also has a sixth sense that the museum is currently staffed by the most boring Millennium Item.

FYI this is exactly what my local Dave & Busters looks like floor to ceiling. It’s a real disappointment. It has only 1 DDR machine and one off brand DDR machine, unlike this place.

Yugioh has more diversity than most Anime I’ve seen, but it’s still a work in progress. Also, it’s hard to spot but keep an eye out for this guy’s fringe moccasins.

...Someone brought their briefcase to the arcade? Wh...why?

This whole episode is a whole lot of why.

WHAT?

Everyone just kinda watched this go down?

Again, I’ve never actually played DDR at an arcade because it’s always taken by two sweaty high schoolers who are sweating like ALL OVER the handlebars, and I’m just like...I could ask them to move or...I could not touch their sweat? So, long story short, if DDR involves elbowing each other in the face, this is news to me, and I have been missing out.

Long story short, she wins. We actually get to see Tea use her one and only useful skill--dance fighting. We’ll probably never see it again. Glad they gave us a very long narcissistic Tea dancing montage while they were there. Wish it was done to ska, but you can’t have everything.

And right when this settles into a romantic sunset I start to worry because we’re getting VERY close to a non-vague situation. The show senses this too and just, out of no where, pulls any distraction to get them away from said sunset.

Y’all how do you even manage to draw a spike mullet with dreads?

And here we all thought we’d get through this episode without cards!

JK, you were absolutely right for thinking that.

In her defense, he did try to elbow jab her in the head.

Anyways, after seeing Tea tear through Johnny Steps, Pharaoh feels like maybe he can handle whatever crazy thing happened to him 5000 years ago. He decides “Lets go recklessly open that Pandora’s box!”

I just noticed his second belt has a fanny pack on the butt for his cards.

Well, that was...still vague somehow. Good. Got me worried there for a second.

Next week, on Yugioh:

Bets on how long it takes for the show to never mention this date again and immediately forget these two were an item, I’m betting at the very beginning of the next episode? Are we going to get the same exposition but for the second time--will I even have anything to recap? In the dark is Yugi just a pair of swinging arms?

#yugioh #yugioh recap #s2 ep4 #yugi muto #tea gardner #johnny steps #so many belts #so many bangles #the other day it came to my attention that the tag for yugioh is ygo #and that is the most 00's thing I've ever heard #hell did that happen #obligatory date episode #would you even date a ghost #if the ghost shared the same body #as your most awkward freind

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queen-of-hearts92 · 6 years

Text

Revue Starlight 1: I can’t believe it’s not Ikuhara!

GRANT ME THE POWER TO REVOLU-wait. Wrong show.

If you haven’t read the prelude for this, you should! Please go here!

Otherwise come on in for the episode summary and discussion! This will be fun! ouo

Note: I have NOT seen episode 2 as of this post/typing. All this is based on the first episode and the first episode alone.

>RAISE THE CURTAINS Y’ALL, IT’S STORY TIME!

The episode starts with our main character, Karen Aijou, repeating a story she’s seeing on stage which she is also performing in with her childhood friend, Hikari Kagura, who also recites the story. It cuts back to the audience and now Hikari and Karen are little kids watching the play that their teenage selves are performing in. The play is called Starlight, it's about goddesses that were drawn into the glowing of heaven. That’s about it for the play summary. Teen! Karen speaks about ties that bind others together, Teen! Hikari counters that they still can be pulled away from each other anyways and never see each other ever again. She refers to the story as sad.

Next we get this amazing shot, I pulled it together so it’s one screenshot cause we gotta see it in its full glory. I hope it looks alright!

I WARNED YOU ABOUT THOSE STAIRS BRO

It seems like on these stairs they are underneath the Tokyo Tower, which seems to be quite relevant to this series cause this isn’t the last time we will see it. Not by a long shot lol. Anyways, Karen declares that she and presumably Hikari are gonna go to the stars together and we get a very Ikuhara looking title card. (It also comes in black!)

Is that the Tokyo Tower? God damn this tower is EVERYWHERE.

We then start with how most anime starts, getting up for school. Karen is woken up by her roommate, Mahiru Tsuyuzaki, because she slept through her sweet dino alarm clock going off and they gotta get to school (side note: a framed picture of little Karen and Hikari sleeping on a bus is on Karen’s desk). Karen, isn’t a morning person at all but she gets up and dressed and sleeply waits to cross the road with Mahiru. Karen realizes she left her crown barrette in her dorm so they run back to get it. Mahiru isn’t a fan of running back just for a hairpin but sometimes you do wild shit just because you have a crush on your roommate.

The two make it to school not only right on time but they are the first ones there, the first class of the day seems to be dance so the two of them suit up and start doing stretches and warm ups together in the dance room.

We also find out that Karen’s class is the 99th one here and she’s student number 1. Mahiru’s student number is 17. Soon the other girls in their class start showing up. Student number 25, Junna Hoshimi walks in first. Junna expresses surprise that Karen got up in time this day, student number 11 Claudine Saijou also comments on that but in song because she’s a theater kid. Student number 15, Nana Daiba aka Banana-chan (yes that’s her nickname), twirls Mahiru and says Karen getting up on time was probably because of Mahiru’s help. We are then introduced to number 22 Kaoruko Hanayagi and number 2 Futaba Isurugi at the same time, I also like to call them our resident Haruka and Michiru descendants lol. Student number 18, Maya Tendou, strolls in with a sparkle sound effect and makes her way to the center of the room. All the girls follow and stand for the morning class.

We learn there are 28 girls (this is before Hikari comes) in this class all together and that they are Class 2-A which means they are most likely second years (as it goes for anime set in high schools). It’s also May 14th, I dunno if dates will be relevant but we should make note of it anyways just in case.

Karen gives us internal exposition explaining the school is 100 years old and it’s a theater training school. She also says they are classmates but also rivals at the same time but it’s cool they all get along. We then see more of the pretty school grounds and then we go to the girls having lunch.

During this lunch scene we see more glimpses of what the characters are like and their quirks. At the table with Karen are Mahiru and Nana. Junna comes over and gives them flyers for something called the Seisho Festival, even though this festival isn’t until next year Junna says they are preparing to get ready for it anyways. According to the flyer, Karen’s class will be performing the Starlight play we saw a bit of at the beginning. Nana is nostalgic about the first year they performed this play but Junna scoffs and says what they did was amateurish and they needed to do better than last year.

We learn that this class at least will perform the Starlight play every year of them being in high school for this festival. Karen is jazzed about doing the play again. Mahiru comments that maybe next time her and Karen could be the “fated couple”. Karen is like, nah Claudine and Maya will probs be the leads since they are the best in the class. Junna disagrees with this assumption and shows her disagreement via dipping Karen and saying they shouldn’t assume who will be getting the roles in the play just yet.

Back in class, Karen is sitting in the back row by the windows (as many protags have) and she...She has a vision/daydream of some sort. We get a shot of gears turning and smoke and then she’s on the top of the Tokyo tower, overlooking the city. Karen admires the view and wonders how she’s getting such a great view when suddenly Hikari walks up behind her and pushes her off the tower. Karen falls backwards in slow motion, the background music turns distorted and off putting. Karen recalls that the tower was where she bought her crown barrette. She talks about a promise coming true and then we get a symbol with a giraffe on it and Karen lying on the classroom floor.

Mahiru and Futaba (I think) asks if she’s ok and Karen is like its cool I’m fine. We cut to Junna’s phone and on its screen there is the giraffe symbol and it says underneath “Auditions Day 1”.

If you want to prove your love you-wait no thats bears not giraffes

Karen thinks about her weird dream and then the teacher announces there is a new transfer student and, bam it’s Hikari! She has the number 29. Karen is super excited to see her childhood friend but Hikari doesn’t seem like she feels the same way. Hikari has been at the Royal Drama Academy in England for the past 12 years. Karen and Mahiru show her to the dorms after school, on the way there Karen comments on the promise and it has something to do with their barrettes (Hikari’s barrette is stars/sparkles).

Karen wants Hikari to stay with her and Mahiru, much to Mahiru’s distress, but Hikari says no and goes to her own room. Hikari doesn’t have a roommate btw. Karen says through the closed door of Hikari’s room “let’s be stars one day”, the tower is shown again.

We then get a montage of Hikari being amazing at everything because she’s a anime transfer student, that’s just how these things go. Next we go to everyone but Hikari in the showers (don’t worry, we don’t see anything at all) and Karen is fangirling about Hikari and how cool she is. The other girls join in on the fangirling and it’s commented that Hikari seems rather cold, Karen defends her saying it just means she’s cool and mysterious. The other girls playfully tease her about that statement. Afterwords Karen realizes Hikari isn’t around and looks for her.

And I must mention this line is said:

Is this foreshadowing? We just don’t know.

I could be wrong but have a feeling this will be important later down the line.

Anyways. Maya comments that she can’t “see Hikari’s heart” and then we go back to Karen. She goes to Hikari’s room and finds it empty, she also finds Hikari has the same picture of them as kids as she does. Karen then notices Hikari outside running off somewhere and decides to follow her. This leads Karen to the school, Hikari seemingly has disappeared. Karen notices a strange elevator she’s never seen before, she steps in and presses the down button cause thats what you do when you find strange elevators.

And then.

The fucking elevator rapidly drops down screeching all the way, speeding down like it’s a fucking rollercoaster. The gotta go fast elevator takes her to the “Underground Music Theater of Seisho academy”, this stage is under a recreation of the Tokyo Tower. A voice declares that day one of the auditions has begun. We are shown center stage, the voice says the competitors are aiming to be “the top star”. Karen is flung into the air and lands safely in a audience theater chair. The stage lights up and Hikari and Junna are seen decked out in a fancy uniform. The two start singing and then, they start dueling. Hikari has a dagger and Junna has a bow and arrow.

Karen is confused, she asks “Is this Starlight?” which means that the songs they are singing are likely from that play. A stray arrow whizzes by Karen’s head and then its revealed she’s not alone in the audience. There's a giraffe. A talking giraffe.

*Insert Spongebob joke here*

This giraffe was the voice from earlier. The giraffe says the revue has begun and talks about the wonderful combo of song and dance and fighting. He says the person who presents the “most sparkling revue” will have the path to the “top star” opened to them. He also says the top star will get the “heavenly tiara”, a tiara is then shown. There are suddenly stars on stage everywhere as Hikari and Junna fight.

Karen is still confused, the giraffe says “they understand” and says “they are desperate” and thats what makes them Duelists Stage Girls. He asks if Karen has the same determination. Hikari is struggling, Giraffe says if the metal pin/button on her jacket falls the revue is over. Hikari gets pinned to a wooden star decoration via arrow and loses her weapon, it seems like she’s going to lose. Giraffe says that those who don’t wish to play lead don’t get chosen and asks Karen to leave. Karen gets on Giraffe’s neck, he tips over and she leaps off his head towards the stage declaring she and Hikari are going to become stars together.

Then, the transformation sequence happens.

Maybe one day she’ll become a car to revolutionize the world.

After she transforms Karen, wielding a sword, announces her presence on stage. Junna tells her to fuck off and Hikari seems horrified that Karen is here. Karen then smoothly charges to Junna, blocking her arrows with ease, knocks Junna’s pin/button off and smoothly dips her finishing the duel. There’s a very brief shot of Junna kneeling on the ground in the dark defeated before a curtain falls on her.

Karen stabs her sword into the ground declaring “Position Zero!” and we get this shot of curtains/ribbons covering tower like a fucked up christmas tree.

We can’t go without our phallic symbols you know.

Giraffe declares the first day of auditions over. Karen is pretty pleased with herself, Hikari on the other hand is crying and says “Baka Karen!”. The episode ends here.

We get to see the opening and its pretty cutesy but, we all know ops can lie about what the tone of a series is don’t we?

This looks a little different from when I did theater. Less giraffe.

>If 9 girls worked for Love Live it can work here!

Alright now, Imma go over all nine of the girls very briefly and then we can move on to the episode breakdown.

Karen: Our protagonist! I find she’s starting off the series about as standard as protags get. She’s passionate, kinda weird, and determined. However there's one particular thing that stands out about her to me, she’s not untalented or struggling with the craft she wants to do. Quite the opposite in fact! Like she won that duel with pretty much no problem and doesn’t seem like she’s struggling in any of the classes! Her classmates tease her about her being a sleepyhead but they never tease about what she can do nor imply she’s behind everyone in someway. I find that to be quite unusual for this kind of protag character. I’m interested to see where she goes from here.

Hikari: Hellllooo mysterious transfer student! I’m getting strong Homura Akemi vibes from her, as in she knows more than she lets on and really doesn’t want the main character to get involved into whatever crazy shit is going down. It will be interesting to learn about her as the show goes on.

Mahiru: She’s very cute but all I can think is “oh this girl is gonna get her heartbroken isn’t she”. I’m getting a strong vibe she has feelings for Karen but is too shy to confess, and unfortunately it seems like Karen only has eyes for Hikari. This, could get messy.

Junna: Serious business girl here. I like her design, I can’t say I’ve seen this particular look for a character before. Specially the bell decorations. Unfortunately for her, she’s the one who loses these stage duels first and we will get to see via her what happens when someone loses. If anything. Could be nothing. Or she’s fucked. Guess we will know next episode.

Claudine: If this show was made in the 90s, Claudine would have the “ohohohoho!” laugh. This is based off her looks alone btw. She’s one of the top students and she reminds me of a classmate who was in choir with me in Jr High and she would sing opera in the girls locker room nearly everyday. It seems like she’s not a “mean girl” and gets along with her classmates, except for Maya. She and Maya obviously have a rivalry going on, to a point they compete with each other over eating lunch. But they were also the leads the the play last year so there’s probably more than meets the eye for their relationship for sure.

Nana: Her nickname is Banana and I just. I dunno if I’ll ever call her that, but her hair does look like bananas. She’s interesting, it seems like she’d interested in Junna since she took like three pictures of Junna with her phone in one scene. She might be the “is sweet but 100% can kill you if she wanted to” type. She also seems pretty nostalgic, talking about how fun it was to do the play last year and such.

Kaoruko: Ah yes, one part of the couple of this series. She and Futaba are always seen together, even on the steps from the start of this episode and in the op. Kaoruko is the femme in the relationship and seems to have a knack for traditional dancing, but she’s also a bit childish. She’s super sleepy in the morning and when Futaba drops her she complains and during lunch when she finds a food she doesn’t like she plops it into her girlfriend’s plate. I like her.

Futaba: The other part of the couple of the series, always seen with Kaoruko. Futaba is the butch in the relationship and her skill lies in stage combat if her wiping the floor with everyone during practice is any indication. In the op she’s seen riding a moped. She seems pretty patient with her gf’s antics. Sighing and rolling her eyes like she’s super used to it, like when Kaoruko dumps the food she doesn’t like onto her plate. I like her too.

Maya: The other top student and rival to Claudine. Maya seems to be very confident in herself, she walks like she’s all that and a bag of chips in her first scene and she isn’t intimidated by Hikari’s talents. It seems like she might know something is up with the not seeing Hikari’s heart comment but it’s hard to say for sure right now.

>Holy Zettai Unmei Mokushioku Batman!

-This anime nails down the Ikuhara style excellently! Especially in the last half of the episode, the part with the sewing(?) machines when Karen enters the stage reminded me of the Utena movie when Utena turns into a car. The action scenes are amazing and I’m really impressed with them! You could legit replace the soundtrack of this show with Utena’s and it would work just the same (in fact I went ahead and did just that!). I’m very impressed in this regard for sure.

-Something that I picked up on right away is the fact that Revue Starlight starts similarly to shows like Utena, Princess Tutu, Madoka Magica, and Penguindrum. A standard not so new plot is happening and then PSYCE you are going down an elevator 2000 mph and there's a secret stage underground and a giraffe is there. I think this is a reason why this show gives me a good feeling about it, cause it opens the same way shows I love have done.

-The fact that this school’s specific age was said makes me go HMMM. To my memory, that’s not something you state in anime unless it’s important to the story or becomes relevant later. A 100 year old school is nothing to sneeze at anyways.

-I’ve seen some folks saying that the underground stage bit is imaginary and it’s really just a normal audition but I very much disagree with that. It’s too mysterious for such a simple explanation, Hikari is way too dodgey about going there for it to be normal, and we see Junna get the call for this weird audition in the classroom. No this is real, giraffe and all.

-Speaking of the Giraffe let’s talk about him a bit, so it’s clear he knows what’s up and he acts as a referee of sorts at the very least. I looked up to see if giraffes have any particular symbolic meaning but I can’t find anything concrete, just spirit animal websites which isn’t a reliable source to say the least. So, let’s look at this from a historical perspective briefly. Giraffes are subjects of African folklore unsurprisingly, it seems these tales revolve around how the fuck it’s neck got so long. Outside of folklore, giraffes have captured people’s fascination for a long time. They were often kept as pets on the continent and especially overseas. The Greeks and Romans thought giraffes were a camel and leopard hybrid and called them camelopardalis. Giraffes have often been used as showanimals so to speak, their owners would travel around the world to be like LOOK AT THIS LONG THING. They were liked because they were pretty and elegant looking and yet they are also very powerful animals...hm possible meaning here?

I also must mention Qilins.

A Qilin is a mythical animal from east asian cultures, and they are based on giraffes. A giraffe was brought to China and the Emperor declared them to be magical creatures (I don’t blame him, giraffes are amazing). Quilins are basically very small dragons that sometimes have unicorn-like horns. In Japan, Quilins are called Kirins which is also the modern word for giraffe in Japanese. In the power hierarchy of mythological animals in Japan, Kirins are at the top with the phoenix and the dragon right behind it. There's a lot more about Qilins/Kirins to say but for now I think it’s a being to keep in mind going forward. It might be relevant or not, we will see.

-I refer to Futaba and Kaoruko as the Haruka and Michiru of the group because let’s face it, ever since they’ve appeared in the 90s they’ve been a source of lesbian couple inspiration in anime and other media. Honestly that’s what I think of first when I see couples in anime like Futaba and Kaoruko, even if their personalities aren’t 100% like our favorite early 90s gays. Now if they will be like them in their actions it remains to be seen though.

-Hikari seems really upset Karen became a Stage Girl, that’s one reason why I’m thinking there's more than meets the eye for these auditions. She seems way too upset, to the point of crying, for it to be just “oh crap we gotta be rivals now”. Her cold demeanor also extends to this, trying to push Karen away so she doesn’t get involved. Whoops she got involved, you tried Hikari.

-The Tokyo Tower is seen EVERYWHERE in this episode and it’s even in the title card! I don’t know if this takes place in Tokyo but even if it doesn’t that doesn’t change the fact it’s in places it shouldn’t be. The only relevance for why the tower is around as of right now is it seems to be the place Karen and Hikari got their barrettes and made their “promise”. There might be something else that happened there too though.

-On the shot of the girls sleeping/knocked out on the stairs, there's something odd here. The narrator says 8 women, not 9. And Karen, isn’t there. Her cape and sword are at the top by Hikari but Karen herself isn’t there. Oh dear, this can’t be a good sign for Karen.

-I find that the curtain falling on Junna after she loses interesting, especially with how fast it comes and goes. Took a few tries to get a screenshot, which will be below. Symbolism? Besides a pun that is, “IT’S CURTAINS FOR YOU” being a phrase that describes when someone has lost. Or the curtains falling meaning the ending of a stage performance. We won’t know more for sure until we know if anything in particular happens to those that lose.

Plot twist the curtain literally ate her.

-Cool thing about the elevator, when it drops down its styled to look it someone cut the dang thing out with scissors. Like a cut of reality? Anywho, I just think it’s neat.

-I like the glimpses we got into the girl’s dynamics and personalities. Claudine and Maya are rivals and possibly more than that. Futaba and Kaoruko are together all the time. Mahiru is the responsible friend who might have a crush on Karen. Nana is friendly and sweet and likes to reminisce on the past. So on and so forth. It makes me curious about seeing more of them that’s for sure.

-On wikipedia, it states this anime is 12 episodes long and while I’m still not sure if that is correct, I’m gonna assume that’s what we will get until told otherwise though.

-I like how the teachers don’t look like, ya know super young and childlike. No their teacher looks like an adult and you can tell she’s one compared to the teenagers. I really like that. I’m curious if we will see other staff members of this school but it’s hard to say if we will or won’t right now.

-I wonder how big this academy is? The dorms appear to be at least a few blocks away from the school itself judging by when Karen and Mahiru leave in the morning and when they show Hikari where the dorms are. It’s not as wild as Ohtori’s design but I want to see more of this campus for sure.

-The musical part sounded good BUT it was really hard to hear over the fucking giraffe talking. I’m gonna assume this won’t happen next time cause Karen is in this shit now but it was a little annoying. I get why, had to explain shit, but I was like aw man when he was talking over the song.

-Hikari’s cape is blue while everyone else's is red. Interesting. SYMBOLISM?

-I’ve seen some people say “oh this is an idol anime?” no. No it isn’t. The girls aren’t idols, they are stage theater performers. I can’t say I’ve seen a ton of idol anime but no this ain’t an idol anime. And just because it has a game coming out for it doesn’t make it one either, if it did we should consider Fate/Stay Night one then lol.

-A Stage Girl eh? Hm, the fact that they are called something like this concerns me. Like it’s a mark of being fucked over like duelists in Utena are.

-There are flower petals all over the opening and the last shot of the opening is Karen and Hikari holding hands. Interestingggg.

-This show is hardcore using Utena as a basis and invoking Utena imagery, just look at the official art! The opening, the dueling outfits, the fact that dueling is occurring and how they are won, the title cards, the transformation parts, the flowers (what kind of flowers I dunno), the tower, even the god damn title all invoke Utena imagery. I’m hoping this means we are going to good places.

>Gogai! Gogai! Speculation and Questions time!

-So this is a school that's there to recruit girls for a very specific dancing group which appears to be named after a, I assume, tragic play. And the recruitment process is done in an underground stage and it appears this class and solely this class have been chosen for this audition. I don’t know about all of you, but this sounds awful ritualistic and just plain fishy to me. There's something wrong with this group, or whoever is running the group behind the scenes. At least it feels that way.

-This series could be a metaphor/symbolic for two things, it could either be about the competitive nature of stage theater and how it can make or break relationships we have with each other. Or, if they are going deeper than that, it’s about all the struggles of those who do theater professionally/want to do it and everything that comes with it including exploitation, being overworked, sacrificing relationships, and, if they really are going for it, homophobia. It will really depend how much creative freedom is here. I’ll talk about that a bit more later.

-There MIGHT be a deeper reason to why Hikari left Japan all that time ago. To chase her dreams? Something darker? Is there more to the Tokyo Tower beyond them just getting barrettes together? Why the dream sequence at the start? Was there a falling out there? Too little to go off of just yet.

-So, this is the 99th class right. The first years below them are 100th then. Does, that indicate anything? Why was this particular class chosen and why now? Unless this happens every year to the second years? Many questions.

>But is this really such a good idea?

This anime shows A LOT of promise, I haven’t been this excited for a new anime in a long time like I said in the prelude. However, I’m worried that my gut feeling is wrong. It’s mostly cause of who produces this series. I’ll explain my two big concerns here.

-Revue Starlight looks A LOT like an Ikuhara work, that is for sure. But, is it going to talk the talk if it’s walking the walk? Will this just look like an Ikuhara thing and not commit storywise? I’m not expecting Utena levels of greatness or discussion here, I just feel if you are gonna imitate Ikuhara you need to have something to say. But, what is allowed to be said is unknown here. You see, like I said in the prelude, Bushiroad has its hands in this project. These are the guys that have made Love Live and Bandori, their usual target demographic is male otaku that want to imagine themselves in relationships with fictional girls and buy all the merch and blu rays. This begs the question, is the Revue Starlight anime going for that crowd?

It’s not airing at “Otaku O Clock”, which is a time period late at night that specifically airs shows for male otaku (RS airs around 4/5pm btw). But that doesn’t mean it won’t be an issue nor does it say what the target demographic is. Revue Starlight is going to be a multimedia project, it has an rpg mobile game planned, as well as a stage musical. So that begs the question, how much creative freedom is here with the anime? Will it be limited because they want to appeal to and not upset the male otaku? If so that might prevent this series from being more than just a superficial Ikuhara look alike. However, Bushiroad has also produced Watamote which is a jab at socially awkward otaku but Watamote wasn’t gonna be a multimedia project so. I dunno if that should indicate anything at all.

-Even though I’ve been referring to the girls in this show having romantic feelings for each other, the other thing I worry about is the use of lesbians/wlw here. You see, shows like Love Live and Bandori don’t have a whole world inhabited by girls for no reason. Having little to no male characters in these types of shows is so there isn’t anyone to get in the way of the entitled male otaku’s fancys of being in a relationship with one of the girls. In turn, any and all gay romantic tension in these shows aren’t for the girls benefits nor are they for any queer person watching, it’s so the entitled male otaku don’t feel threatened and for any yuri fans.

In these shows, there will never be a canon gay couple or even any girl that will admit that she’s gay. Most will call this queerbaiting but that would imply that this is for any queer people, cause it isn’t aiming to bait queer folks. So I’ll refer to it as Yuri Baiting, sure the girls can flirt with each other and “act” gay towards each other but nothing will ever come of it! As a gay lady myself, it’s frustrating to watch. Love Live is annoying enough with it but Bandori, oh man. It hangs around the borders of committing but it just doesn’t, legit theres a character flirting with every girl she sees and she’s pretty much all but gay without saying anything but they never will say as such! Despite me being a fan of both these series, I really really hate seeing this.

Now I’m gonna clarify what I mean by committing, I don’t mean that the characters have to kiss or even be like “THIS IS MY GIRLFRIEND”, you can have gay characters without them ever declaring themselves as such. Utena is a great example of that, Anthy and Utena fall in love with each other and even though they don’t kiss in the show (beyond a frame in the second ending credits) you can tell that’s what's going on via the language of visual storytelling. Granted Utena made this even more obvious in the movie where they do kiss, hell it’s one of the last shots at the end! Another example is with Haruka and Michiru, they don’t really like say they are together romantically but you can tell they are via how they are shown interacting with each other and how other characters see them and comment on it. You can do this without even saying the word lesbian! Hell even before Ruby and Sapphire of Steven Universe got married you can tell from the moment we meet them they are very obviously a romantic couple. In the same vein, you can tell Pearl was romantically in love with Rose from Rose’s Scabbard (and even before that) onwards. In Legend of Korra, reading Asami and Korra’s interactions as romantic is very much the correct read because they become the official couple at the end even if it’s never said within the tv show. I haven’t seen Yuri on Ice but my understanding is Victor and Yuri, while canon, also shows they are romantically into each other via visuals. Visual storytelling is useful like that!

Hence you can tell in things like Love Live that it isn’t going to do that, I’m using Love Live as an example cause it’s so fucking clear it’s Yuri Baiting that you can’t fucking miss it. This is super 1000 times more obvious in the mobile game where, sometimes the girl on your screen will hit on you or flirt with you (please stop I am 26 YEARS OLD). And while yes, in universe the player is another student at the all girls school but that doesn’t matter. Their dialogue is directed to the person playing and when the target audience is male otaku well, that is who they are really speaking to.

Gdi one time Riko, one of the girls in Love Live, blatantly buys yuri doujin/manga but does that mean anything? Nopeeee! AND, the same anime has probably one of the biggest examples of Yuri Bait in this particular series! There’s an episode of the anime Love Live Sunshine where Chika and Riko are standing by a beach, looking in each others eyes and holding hands and the sun slowly comes up all romantic looking and the music swells and Riko tells Chika “I love you.” and that’s where this episode ends. Now you’d think this would go somewhere, but NOPE. No it sure fucking doesn’t! It’s never fucking mentioned again. When I first saw the ep I was like “Fucking christ this isn’t gonna go anywhere isn’t it.” and ta dah I was right! Cause fuck you if you think they’d ever commit to anything that isn’t pandering to their shit tier demographic and anyone who is queer can go fuck themselves cause all we are seen by these people is fetish bullshit that fucking hates you and fucking christ I’m SO TIRED OF THIS SHIT! AaaaaaaAAAAHHH!

This Chu Chu is here to prevent me from ranting too much about off topic stuff. Please stand by as I scream into a corner.

Ok. I’m good now. Ok. Sorry about that.

I could go on but I won’t. My point being here is I’m worried that the Revue Starlight anime will backflip into this direction. If it does then any and all romantic looking interactions are a fucking lie and fuck you if you think it’s anything else but fetish pandering. I’m hoping it doesn’t do that in this anime, but it’s hard to tell at this point. So I have this fear anyways. I am hoping I’m concerned for nothing, I really am.

>Starlight, Starbright?

So, after all this I am left to wonder if my good feeling about this show is correct. I’m either right or the visuals are tricking me and this show is either really mediocre at best or outright bad. Right now, concerns aside, this show feels very very promising. The fact I’m able to write this much about it is a good sign to me.

Well, that’s all for now! I promise the next post won’t be as long, or at least I’m thinking so but who knows? Thanks for reading!

Meet you back on the stage for episode 2!

#shojo kageki revue starlight #revue starlight #moo watches revue starlight #long post

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arimayusa · 7 years

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thoughts on the tokyo ghoul movie

so I saw it yesterday and woAH the movie was amazing, but I ended up knocking out before I finished typing up all my thoughts, but now that i'm done with all my work for today, it’s time to post my opinions about the live action tg movie!! :D

(this is really long and includes a bunch of spoilers about the movie so it will be under the cut)

Masataka Kubota is an awkward adorable dork, case closed & Hide was really well casted too!

his cheerfulness and loud attitude really emphasized how opposite and introverted Kaneki is in comparison

I was happy to see that Kaneki’s desk was littered with books (like a crap ton of books), basically mplying he was a literature major without actually stating so + showing his love for books

SEN TAKATSUKI!!!! (sadly she wasn’t there but at least her name was mentioned)

omg Kaneki had such a stupid grin after looking at his calendar marked with "date with Rize"

only noticed it cause I saw it at the TG cafe, but Kaneki had a picture of him and Hide in elementary school taped on the top of his desk

the whole date with Rize was super awkward (especially the pasta part lol) but I think it created a strange (in a good way) tone leading up to the surprise of Rize’s reveal

omg the actress who played Rize was so good too :0 like the the shift in the pitch of her voice from shy and cute to the deeper, sensual one like in the anime when she revealed that she was a ghoul was so gooood

pretty sure the two people I went with were weirded out by how much I was giggling as Kaneki got flung around like a ragdoll by Rize

I thought the funeral scene was a nice touch, showing how Kaneki's been alone for so long (except for Hide of course)

Hide's drawing of a ghoul from the manga was still included even though it didn’t happen in Anteiku in the beginning (instead it was by on Kaneki's Campus notebook which was also on display at the TG cafe)

when Kaneki hallucinates Rize in his room, her shadow was a centipede on the ceiling!!!

that was a neat reference thrown in for the fans since we don't make it to Aogiri arc in the movie

that was one of the many things that only manga readers would've understood (which made the movie even more fun for me since that means if was made with that intention and care)

askdflkef when Touka threw cake at Kaneki after getting pissed off I was just like "lmao he's gonna get you a cake for your wedding later you know"

once again, of course Nishiki was perfect casting

I laughed a little too hard when Kimi was embarrassed & Nishiki kept staring at her chest with a blank stare while Hide and Kaneki just kinda stood at the door to his room

the Kaneki licking Hide's face scene™ was so funny (there’s all the Hidekane we gonna get y’all)

one thing that was real cute (cause it happened several times throughout the movie) was Touka telling Kaneki that he was an idiot and to stop crying and after the 1st time (when he learned he could drink coffee), Touka started saying it in a teasing tone rather than an angry one

the scene where Mado and Amon were introduced was actually pretty intimidating, it was right after they killed Hinami’s dad and Mado had Amon smash the ghouls hands with a rock that got bloodier as he continued (luckily the hand was off screen) in order to open

Amon's actor whoo boy (even my mom thought he was hot lmao)

oh my the scene where Mado held up the donut and asked "can you fall in love with this,” Amon was just staring at the donut (but we all know he was nodding inside guys)

(ok now this is me writing the day after aka today and I'm already forgetting the order of certain scenes so this may be slightly out of order rip)

Yoriko was so cute!!!! her actress was really pretty I wish we saw more of her...

I thought the food scene was kinda awkward though since it's wasn't at their school, but it was funny when Kaneki asked to have some too and Touka wouldn't let him have any

I was trying to look for Touka's bunny charm but I didn't notice it!! I did see something on Yoriko's bag though???

the “shuu” kanji scene was done a little differently but I liked it more

lol Hinami first asked Touka how to read the kanji but she didn’t know (because Touka-chan is bad at Japanese) so Kaneki explained

then Touka was just like "haha yeah that's it" pretending that she had just forgotten and Hinami straight savage calls her out, saying that Touka didn't know in the first place

Kaneki and Hinami both giggled at Touka and ahhh it was so cute, they felt like a family

the process in which Amon, Mado, and Kusaba determined who Ryouko and Hinami were made A LOT more sense in the movie than the animeit showed almost the entire process of them finding evidence starting from simply a string of fabric left behind on Hinami’s father’s clothes

*winks aggressively at Ishida and the director for the graffiti of a scythe and XIII in the background*

Hajime made his cameo the same way he did in the manga (and BOY DID I WANNA SLAP HIM RIGHT THERE that kid has a shady look on his face already I stg)

oh yeah the kagune! I thought they looked pretty decent actually

I liked how the scales shimmered and stuff, but of course some scenes kinda looked too CGI-y (especially the fight with Nishiki)

#blessed that they included the "I would be sad if you died Touka-chan scene"

the training montage with Kaneki and Touka / Amon was so cooooool (ok stfu Alyssa you just loved it cause you got to see strong Touka & shirtless Amon)

omg Kaneki apologizing after landing a hit on Touka for the first time was adorable ok

Touka's overalls when they went to HySy were really cute. I want to draw it when the movie comes out online later

idk why but I kept laughing at the little wrist watch radios that Amon and Mado had on their arms to contact each other???? it was just really weird and funny to see for some odd reason

ohh ok probably one of my favorite scenes was when Kaneki just started fucking speeding towards Amon's car which caused him to jam the brakes (bc some random hooded dude is just sprinting towards you in the middle of the street what else would you do)

then Kaneki just freakin jumps on it all slow mo and flips it over because he's dramatic like that

idk if this was in the manga but Doujima rotated and grinded Kaneki's kagune during the fight (which made more sense then a lollipop that Amon just swings around)???

besides some of the awkward shots in the movie, my only other criticism was that some of the fight scenes were drawn out way too long

Amon and Kaneki's was ok for the most part, but Touka and Mado's fight felt REALLY drawn out. they kept just standing and talking a lot

I tried it on when I was at the cafe but seeing Kaneki wearing the mask during his fight was way cooler and the shot of him unzipping it was noice

when Kaneki started losing his sanity during the fight with Amon, Kubota had this really psychotic laugh that made me giggle a lot ahhh

yo guys there was a bloody tear from Kaneki's ghoul eye that dripped onto Amon's right eye (his future ghoul eye)... like much wow such foreshadowing director/ishida

near the end, Amon brings flowers to Mado’s grave, but sadly Akira doesn’t show up cryy

all in all I thought it was a very enjoyable, pretty accurate adaptation (definitely one of the best anime live actions & *cough* better than the anime)

I went with two people who knew very little about TG, except for it’s premise, and they thought the movie was really good themselves (although a little too much blood in one of their opinions). Throughout the movie there was a bunch of hidden stuff for fans & probably a bunch more symbolism that I missed so I can't wait to rewatch it in the future (I wish I could go see it again this week tbh) and find even more stuff!!

oh one more thing! the credits were really pretty with BANKA playing in the background and there was some cool art during the scroll

I got pictures of three of them: the Owl/Dog/Ape, Touka's kagune, and Hinami's kagune!

#tokyo ghoul #tg #tg movie #kaneki ken #kirishima touka #amon koutarou #i really recommend going to watch it if you have the chance!!!#it was sooooo good

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the-hope-in-my-galaxy · 7 years

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My BTS WINGS Tour in Chicago Fan Account

THIS IS A LOT. Like 4 whole pages in google docs 😬. Don't feel obligated to read the whole thing just because you follow me. If you have any questions to ask me feel free to message me :-)

OK first things first shout out to the uber guy who was blasting a kpop spotify playlist when he pulled up to get me lmao

He told me he personally wasn't into it but that he had been driving people to the venue since like 11:00 AM and he already saw people lining up so i was like 💀

I got to the venue by 6:30PM and had to wait like 5 minutes to get in

OK…..so I ended up getting an ARMY bomb ewhvfqghrlhotw

And….here’s the kicker……….it was $60 🙃🙃🙃

It was impulsive af but i had the money and i was so afraid i wouldn't get anything else because shiz was selling out fast so i panicked 😬

I waited in this long ass line because i knew I had to get some kind of souvenir but by the time i got to the front the ARMY bombs were the only things left

And you know what's hilarious? i ended up not even using the ARMY bomb because after waiting in the second line i didn't even have enough time to charge it 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

So i was just like Fuck It and bolted to my seat which was 2nd tier

Even though my seat wasn't close to the guys...it didn't feel too far away? The venue is really nice tbh like i was of reasonable distance and could see everything fine.

My seat was at the end of a row in the middle seats so i didn't feel squished which is a HUGE bonus cuz that was my main concern so overall I think my seat was pretty good.

Before i talk my head off about the performances i want to give a big shout out to the people who filmed, did artwork and put together the VCR’s throughout the concert. Everything was so beautiful and fit the themes and songs well.

After the first VCR, which was arguably an art film, these guys came out with Not Today and y’all….

It wAS SO HYPE

That was honestly when i realized that this was...Actually Happening.

Like these guys i care about so much were performing right in front of me

I screamed so damn loud lmaooo

After Not Today they did their introductions and they were all SO CUTE ☺️

Ofc Hobi did his iconic “I’m your Hope!” and my heart fell out of my ass LMAO

Yoongi was so freakin Extra™ he took his damn ear buds out and made that cocky hand gesture where he closed his eyes and put his palm to the back of his ear to get everyone to scream for him I CAN’T with him 😒

But.. i still screamed as loud as i could 😏

I screamed for all the members everyone did

After their cute introductions and small talk they continued on with the concert where they performed Am I Wrong (an under appreciated tune), Baepsae (LIT 👅👅👅 they all looked so hot) and the Dope which i hadn't listened to in a while so i felt nostalgic jamming to it.

And then we got to the solo stages...

Jungkook is such a talented kid tbh. Like i joke about him a lot in my tags but he looked so cool performing Begin. His footwork was something else 👌🏾

After him was Jimin with Lie and HE HAD HIS TIDDIES OUT (I’m calling his mama lmao). But no it was just a reallllllly low cut shirt like 👀 I see you chimchim. The performance was literally art in motion for me with the choreography and background VCR, and the song itself is just a masterpiece, my fave solo after MAMA. Jimin is so captivating to watch.

After him was Yoongi with First Love and it was so beautiful and passionate. The background VCR had really well done art and complimented the beauty of the song. Yoongi has such a cool energy to him, very confident and unafraid. I really appreciate what he had to offer.

And look... I already knew Yoongi was a good looking dude but like…Idk what happened but this concert made me realize how beautiful he really is??? Hobi is my bae you guys know that but Yoongi had me swerving a couple of times jesus 👀

After that they came back together as a group perform Lost (vocal line only, and another under appreciated bop) Save Me (my favorite group performance, when Hobi’s part came on I screamed and then loudly repeated the only english line he had in his verse,”The best of me!”) and then I Need U (a classic)

After that was Namjoon who performed Reflection which was very mellow. It is a very vulnerable song that encompasses emotions I think anyone can relate to. I am glad he could openly share those feelings in a song. When he go to the part where he repeats the “I wish I could love myself” line we were all chanting WE LOVE YOU like the fans at Brazil and Newark. It was so sweet ☺️

After him was Taehyung with Stigma and HE DID THAT. Tae really gave his all during that performance. I still worry over his vocal technique tho cuz he is a natural baritone and that solo had a lot of high notes. But he was so immersed in his song and it was so soulful like 😭 I’m super proud of him.

And after him...MY MAN CAME OUT 😰 😰 😰

Y’all i was NOT ready Hobi KILLED IT. Mama is such a bop but the meaning behind it is so gorgeous this boy really does love his mom. He danced, rapped and during the ending chorus he had his lil singing adlibs and I was just felt so content and happy seeing him perform with all his energy. He really is our Hope 😭😭😭😭

And during Hobi’s solo they showed soooo many baby pictures 😱 they showed pictures of him I never seen before including awkward pre teen photos of him posing like a superhero and I LOVED THAT cuz we all have those super awk photos we took when we were 12 thinking we looked badass and then we see them now and we’re like 🙄 so I’m really glad he was confident enough to show that he’s just as human as everyone else. And then...

JIN’S SOLO MADE ME CRY 😖

ALRIGHT so here’s the deal…

Hobi is my Official Bias™ and Yoongi is my now confirmed Bias Wrecker™ but…

Jin is…idk I can’t explain it but he has such a special place in my heart. He gets overlooked a lot and in his solo song Awake he sings about this. Feeling like he is sometimes not a part of his own group and I’ve felt that way before so many times. Hell all my life even. When he was singing his solo I honest to god teared up like he’s just such a great guy with a great sense of humor who works so hard in everything he does. I sang most of the song and I screamed so loud for him, everyone did. I just hope he felt loved that night ❤️

Jeez i teared up just writing that…

And then….after that was the cypher 💀💀💀

EVERYONE was hyped, rap line went off, it was around this time were my voice was starting to hurt 😥

After that was Fire, another hype song

And then it was a huge mashup of their debut/rookie years title songs. It made me realize how far they’ve all came when it comes to music.

Diring that they performed Run which is the era i really started to stan them. It brought back some more nostalgia, mainly back to when the fandom life didn't feel so damn dramatic 25/8 😒

After that was when the started to talk with us again. They talked about how they spent their time in Chicago and how happy they felt to be there.

HOBI WENT TO THE CHICAGO AQUARIUM AND GOT THIS CUTE SHARK HAT AND HE WAS SHOWING IT OFF LIKE IT WAS A TROPHY IT WAS SO CUTE!!!!!!

Namjoon said he went to look at Lake Michigan and the Michigander in me was like 😵😵😵

Like yes boys come to Michigan sometime! Swim across the lake lmao 😭

Namjoon also said that if he had to chose any US city to live in it would be Chicago which i thought was super cute and everyone around me was going nuts. I like Chicago a lot too and i hadn't been there in such a long time so it was good to come back for the concert. Hopefully I can stay longer next time

Also! The Chicago Armys did the rainbow project as well!!! It was so pretty. The organizers did such a great job. I remember when American Armys were first talking about making a project with the light sticks but people (including other American fans) were sort of putting them down because they thought we should leave making good fan projects to the Korean Armys which made me go??? But you guys really pulled it off!!!! Im proud of y’all.

The boys looked shocked that the American fans did it again because they had already did the same project at the Newark concerts, they all looked so happy and commented on it and how grateful they were.

After that they performed their more recent songs off the WINGS album including 2! 3! Hope For Better Days which had a beautiful montage of all the members from debut era. I know i keep saying this but it was obviously nostalgic

The also performed the WINGS Intro which I LOVE and wish it were made to a full song but for the concert they made it longer than usual so the boys could goof off and interact with fans and the stuffed animals the fans tossed at them. Jungkook wore these cute bunny ears ☺️ ☺️ ☺️ super cute. They all looked like they were having a blast with the fans at the floor seats. That was the only time I felt jealous of not getting a floor seat. There’s always next time tho!

The last songs they performed were Boy Meets Evil(Hobi’s other solo that was the album intro, and ofc he freaking killed it!!! He is such a talented dancer and i hope he goes on Hit the Stage one day so everyone, especially non-fans, can finally see how great of a dancer he is) BST(LIT!) and Spring Day(Beautiful performance, a great way to end the concert)

The boys stayed on stage for the longest time even after Spring Day ended. They all took their sweet time doing final bows and saying goodbye to the fans. They were so sweet this whole concert and always kept the crowd hyped when they could talk to us throughout the concert. I'm so thankful I saw them. I'll never forget this and I hope to see them again.

#bts #wings chicago #bts wings

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junker-town · 7 years

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‘Hard Knocks’ Recap: A business trip to beautiful Jacksonville

The Bucs travel to Jacksonville; Jameis Winston throws a hilarious interception; Chris Baker humps a tree; everyone eats wings.

On this week’s episode of Hard Knocks, the Bucs traveled to Jacksonville for a couple days of practice against the Jaguars before the two teams played in the preseason. These are the main takeaways.

Stop Trying to Make Doug Martin Happen

The Bucs are filled with fascinating characters. Gerald McCoy is as intelligent and entertaining as he is intelligent. Jameis Winston — caveat here — is a fascinating combination of leadership and talent capable of head-smacking stupidity. Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson have a heartwarming bromance. Brent Grimes and his wife Miko — I swear this is a compliment — should be studied by psychologists. Fringe cornerback Robert McClain is a talented artist with a beautiful family. And on, and on, and on.

For the first two episodes, I kept wondering, “Where the heck is Doug Martin?” He showed some promise as a physical entertainer when he briefly appeared last week to usher some rookies offstage, but he was otherwise absent until this episode.

And now I know why: Doug Martin is the dullest person on the team. His voice is a natural monotone. He referred to his time in rehab as a “journey” while saying nothing about addiction or his treatment (he tested positive for Adderall, but the show gave no specifics beyond “violating the league’s drug policy”). Entering his sixth year, he says he needs to “start” acting like a veteran, even as the head coach singles out rookie Riley Bullough for his leadership. In a noble but failed effort to give him some personality, HBO showed him riding an electric skateboard (he didn’t want to rollerblade or ride a bike in college).

Martin isn’t bad or unlikable, he’s just boring. Now I know why he didn’t want to be called Muscle Hamster: he doesn’t deserve a nickname that interesting.

The Chucky and Rex Show

Three episodes of Hard Knocks, two appearances by Jon Gruden. There are perfectly good reasons for this that are not necessarily related to the Bucs’ present coach being Madame Tussaud’s version of Pete Carroll, but the optics aren’t great. Still, I welcome Chucky and his Mark Davis haircut, especially since the ESPN crew working the Bucs’ preseason game have brought along rookie broadcaster Rex Ryan, who’s just here to trash his former quarterbacks and suck on some toes. AND HE’S ALL OUTTA TOES.

REX (to Jameis Winston): You know, I’m jealous. I never had a quarterback like you, you know what I mean? That’s why I’m sitting here, and I’m pissed off about it.

GRUDEN: You think YOU’RE pissed off about it? [everyone laughs] I gotta LIVE in Tampa!

REX: Look at the guys you had. Shit, my guys were better than your guys.

GRUDEN: I got my four ki— three kids wearing Jameis Winston jerseys.

Here are the things I love about this exchange:

Rex Ryan blames his firings on having shitty quarterbacks. And buddy, I’ve got your back when it comes to Mark Sanchez and Geno Smith and Greg McElroy (not to mention backup Tim Tebow). But Tyrod Taylor is pretty good, and Buffalo’s rushing attack was excellent the two years Ryan was there. That Bills defense, though? Not exactly the result of a supposed defensive mastermind.

Rex openly states — unprompted, on video, in front of his co-workers — that he’s pissed about having his job.

For a moment, I thought Gruden’s “You think YOU’RE pissed off about it?” was an excellent burn on Rex — and from the reaction, so did everyone in the room. Alas, he was talking about his proximity to the Bucs, and how often he sees Winston practice and play.

Rex states that Gruden’s dogshit quarterbacks were worse than HIS dogshit quarterbacks — which isn’t true, but it IS funny that Ryan doesn’t pick up on the subtext: if Gruden won a Super Bowl with worse quarterbacks, what does it say about HIS ability as a coach?

Jon Gruden is unsure how many kids he has?

SWAG CHECK

Oh hell yeah: we’ve got a packing and traveling montage! Time to get some slo-mo walks to the buses! We’ve got some GQ mofos going from Tampa to Jacksonville:

Watch out Russell Westbrook! The intentionally gaudy shirt isn’t my cup of tea, but it’s of the moment and fitted to his big frame. With the chain and stylish sunglasses, he looks good, and he knows it.

Gerald McCoy continues his flawless scene streak in Hard Knocks. August heat in Florida won’t keep him from looking good in tight black pants, and he’s made the most “stylish adult” decision of all: the only way to look truly good with luggage is to spend a lot of money on it and carry it in your hands.

Oh my goodness. Did my channel somehow change to a network airing a dramedy about a fabulously charming lawyer? Ladies and gentlemen, SPORT is in session!

And wait, are those ...

... CHERUB CHAINS?!?! Help, my TV is melting from this heat. Honey, cash my 401(k), I have to pay this man whatever it takes to be my personal stylist.

Okay, who’s next?

... oh.

Becky, your dad’s here!

Beautiful, Scenic Jacksonville

The First Law of Hard Knocks is: If something can look epic, it will look epic. Tacky team headquarters will be captured with breathtaking drone footage panoramas. If a garbage barge passes by, it will be shot in low-angle slow-motion during the golden hour. If a team travels to Jacksonville, Florida — our nation’s sprawling ode to shipping containers and jungle rot — then it will look like a goddamn postcard.

To be clear: that is a screenshot I slapped some text on. I know, it’s a little slapdash. But I’m not going to shell out for Avalon font just so I can make the Internet a better Jacksonville postcard.

A Moment for Chris Baker

Defensive tackle Chris Baker (pictured humping a tree) has been a delightful trash talker in every episode this season, getting more air time each week — and with good reason. Here he is talking with some Jaguars fans:

You crazy, boy. We out here destroyin’ y’all. Y’all got to be the angriest fans in the world. Cuz y’all ... is going to get at least three wins.

He also split a sideline hot dog with Gerald McCoy during the second half of the preseason game at Jacksonville.

McCOY: Hey Bake! (waves hot dog) You so fat. You gotta be the fattest dude I know.

BAKER: Where’d you get it from, bro?

McCOY: Don’t worry about it. You want half?

He pulled a Sanchez! Don’t disrespect the game!

Lunch is on Gerald

While in Jacksonville, Coach Koetter informs the team that McCoy has arranged for three food trucks to provide ribs, wings, and snow cones for lunch, all paid for by the star defensive tackle (McCoy to Baker: “Except you, Bake.”)

This is an awesome gesture. I love hot wings and ribs.

BUT. Giving 90 massive pro athletes — many of them over 300 pounds — as many hot wings as they can eat ... for lunch ... in Jacksonville ... in August ... seems like an act of war on the hotel’s plumbing. My heart goes out to those poor toilets.

GOAT RESCUE

THE SCENE: Quarterbacks Jameis Winston, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Ryan Griffin ask about Sefo Liufau’s girlfriend. A condensed version of their discussion follows.

LIUFAU: Her family has four goats.

WINSTON: Oh, so she rich?

GRIFFIN: You’re so country.

WINSTON: If you got goats, you got MONEY. I’m from Alabama. If you got some cattle, you rich.

LIUFAU: I’m pretty sure they got the goats from goat rescue, they’re only like $100.

Jameis Winston LOVED the idea of a goat rescue operation that worked like a dog shelter.

Elsewhere in the realm of quarterbacks, Fitzpatrick had some excellent, subtle digs at Winston. The best was following a pregame huddle with the offense, in which the players repeated each line of Winston’s poem about beating the Jaguars. After the interminable scene, Fitz, sitting next to Winston at their lockers, leaned over and deadpanned, “You rhyme was a little long.” But I also enjoyed this:

FITZ: Would you say Muhammad Ali is one of your biggest inspirations?

WINSTON: Yes.

FITZ: When you talk, when you break down, I can, like, I can just feel that you’ve seen a lot of his stuff.

This conversation was immediately followed by a clip of Winston speaking to the team, and Fitz is clearly right: it’s like a cross between Ali and Ray Lewis.

“First you get the money, then you get the goats!”

Disappointed Dirk

He threw this.

Okay, first: if you have not seen Winston GLORIOUS interception that was overturned because he was ruled down, you must go watch it now.

The exchange that happened next was beautiful, because Dirk Koetter has never been more relatable. For one minute, Koetter is the football version of “extremely pissed off dad who is trying to be loving and constructive with his son, but is also JUST SO PISSED AT HIM.”

DIRK: Jameis. You’re fuckin’ playing a great game. You’re playing a great game. And then your greed takes over. If this is real football, that’s so fuckin’ stupid. That’s guaranteed points! You’re so much better than that! You’re so much better. You’re playing a great game. You just threw a great, perfect spot to O.J., GREAT go route, and then you fuckin’ do that!

JAMEIS: I got you. I got you.

DIRK: You can’t do that! Ever! Ever! Ever!

I hope Winston NEVER cuts down on his turnovers. Just an entire career of every TV announcer raving about how talented he is while he throws 18 picks a year. “Such POISE while throwing that backbreaking pick, Troy.”

The Cruel Business

This episode’s rookie undrafted free agent to fall in love with was Maurice Fleming. We get the full, nasty arc of his tragedy over the course of one hour: we meet him hanging out in a pool with other rookies. He shines in practice. He wakes up before sunrise to train on his own.

The coaches praise him. In the preseason game, he injures his knee as the Jaguars make a desperate final drive. He can’t cut. He can barely run. But he stays on the field, because he has to stay on the field to make the team. He makes the game-saving pass break-up.

But this story doesn’t have a happy ending, because it’s the NFL. Fleming gets X-rays and an MRI on his knee, then waits for a small eternity to get the results. He’ll be out four weeks, so he’s out of a job. The Bucs waive him.

What a crap-ass league.

MONTAGE RANKINGS

Jameis Winston workout montage

Doug Martin game footage montage

Team walk-through montage. An odd choice, I know, but I liked that it was (a) scored by the director of team security playing a hotel piano, and (b) showed this extremely weird-looking thing that every single NFL team does before a game.

Food preparation montage. I’m very hungry right now.

Sucking at practice montage

Offense clicking montage

Gassers montage. Don’t make gassers a montage unless you deliver on a puke shot.

Players’ day off montage. This didn’t have enough music or quick-cuts to be a true montage, I just wanted to point out that Ali Marpet spent his off day reading a book, eating sushi, and playing his ukulele by himself on Picnic Island.

haha, look at this lonely nerd!

But for real, he seems nice.

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