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empressawesomecoolness · 3 months

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Doctor Who: The Ultimate Speedrun Marathon - Series 3 (2007)

The semester’s keeping me busy but trust me I’m still trying to keep this speedrun going and get caught up on everything before May, so I’m glad to say I finally finished Series 3 yaaaaayyy! It was a lot of fun, especially in how it carried over from Series 2 into 10’s adventures with a new companion after Rose. Aight let’s get into it…

General Thoughts

Right off the bat, I loved Martha as a companion. Similar to Sylvester McCoy, I was familiar with Freema Agyeman from her stellar work on Sense8, so I was already a fan of her’s as soon as she popped up on screen. She’s got her own brand of intelligence and spunk that bounces off of 10 really well. Don’t get me wrong, I love that Rose was carried over from Eccleston’s tenure into Tennant’s, but I believe that Martha meeting 10 as he is for the first time in this series was beneficial to them building a better chemistry. Also, it’s great and refreshing to see the Doctor get his first black female companion in the show’s history. Overall, probably one of my fav companions so far, if not my favorite.

Not much to add in regards to David Tennant’s performance as the 10th Doctor, but I’ll heap praise anyways. He’s just as charismatic as he was last season, never phoning it in for even a second. All of 10’s big emotional and personality quirks can really be chalked up to Tennant’s clear love of the material, which was also apparent in the previous two Doctor actors I’ve covered thus far.

Besides the Doctor and Martha, Series 3 also had a really big moment that I was pleasantly surprised to see be built up so well: the return of The Master. Last time I saw that character in this speedrun watch-through, he was ‘90s Eric Roberts doing his best impression of an effeminate man. I was wondering how he’d inevitably return after his fate in the TV movie, so I genuinely felt the rug pulled out from under me when he was revealed to have been hiding right under my nose as Professor Yana in Utopia. Derek Jacobi played both the unassuming professor and the menacing Master really well, so props to him. As for his almost immediate successor, John Simm as the 7th Master, I must admit…. not really my thing. I will admit he had some great moments that made me truly hate him (which in turn made me like him more cuz well y’know he’s the villain duhh), but the over the top flamboyance just gave me major BBC Sherlock Moriarty vibes. idk, again I still haven’t seen the classic series in its entirety yet, so maybe that’s just how the Master is, but I’m inclined to believe Stephen Moffat is the common denominator in this specific characterization. Despite my criticisms tho, Simm’s chemistry with Tennant was really fun. Much more dynamic than the complete diva Paul McGann had to act off of.

Favorite Episodes

• Blink

• The Shakespeare Code

• The Lazarus Experiment

• Human Nature

• The Family of Blood

• Daleks in Manhattan

• Evolution of the Daleks

• Utopia

Favorite Moments

• The entirety of Blink was a really clever well done treat for me. It felt a lot like an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it just played with Doctor Who’s version of time travel so well and to such great effect. The Weeping Angels are now some of the Doctor’s most iconic foes, which is well deserved because they are super memorable and scary as fuck. Also it was funny to see baby Carey Mulligan here lol

• The moment Professor Yana reveals himself to be The Master was so crazy cool. Like just a few seconds earlier when he started acting weird and jaded I was thinking “holy shit is he the Master he’s gotta be the Master” and I was right 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎

• I appreciate that Martha mentions how William Shakespeare doesn’t look exactly like he does in the famous portraits we have of him. It’s still kind of a topic of speculation as to what exactly he looked like in his youth, so I liked that she’d pick up on that.

• “Come on. We can all have a good flirt later!” “Is that a promise, Doctor?” “Oh, 57 academics just punched the air.” I love this show

• They should induct Blink into the National Film Registry for preservation just for the introduction of the phrase “wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff” alone

• Captain Jack Harkness (great to see him back btw) is THE FACE OF BOE????????????????? not sure how to feel about that. points for creativity tho

• tryna just chill and watch The Lazarus Experiment then BOOM!!!!! MARK GATIS JUMPSCARE AHHHHHHHHH

• The sound of a militaristic drumbeat constantly playing in the Master’s head is a great motif. One of the things I did like about Simm’s portrayal was how well he got across the maddening effect of the drumbeat’s sound in his head.

• The series finale was soooo crazy. I loved how the consequences of the Master’s plan were shown to have been so hard to crack that it took a whole year for them to even get close to him. It really built up the Master as a new kind of villain for this revamped version of the show. Also, fucking good on Martha for busting her ass to travel the globe and gather the support of millions. She’s such a badass

• “Good old J.K.!” *thousand yard stare*

Alright, that about wraps it up for Series 3! I had a great time with this series, even if it took me a bit to get through. Time to crack on, though. Gotta keep this speedrun train going. Onto Series 4, which (for the most part) marks David Tennant’s final tenure as the 10th Doctor.

#doctor who #doctor who: the ultimate speedrun marathon #the tenth doctor #david tennant #martha jones #freema agyeman

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astro-break · 6 months

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Thoughts on the 5th ep of Hypmic Rhyme Anima+. Spoilers beware

Season 1 | Ep.1 | Ep.2 | Ep.3 | Ep.4

fragrance nagoya??? did badass get dragged into hifumi's clubbing thing lmaoooo

im still scared tho, what did those white coats say about jinguji being the final member of MTR like two episodes ago?

they are making his office their home i love that silly family like dynamic

i love that jyushi's eyeshadow is animated its so simple but cute

Hifumiiiiii and Doppo!

I love Kijima's performance as Hifumi so much its always such a treatt

the power of puppy eyes! and love

LMFAOO poor doppo that company is so black

Chanichiii thats such a cute nickname and also very Hifumi to put the prefex infront of the name

LMAO did kuko just beat up a bunch of gangsterss that hilarious, they're kneeling too

oh his phonecase is studded, how cute

the kinshachi! return of the kinshachi! I do like how Doppo went to all the famous visitor locations

Jyushi is such host material its actually cute

I love the flowers that accompany each character, each one is so indicative of their personality

yellow roses are Hifumi's Flower TM. its everywhere in his design from his suit to his speakers. It means friendship, sympathy, respect, and compassion. For a host its not a good flower because its a very friendzone flower but its perfect for trusting and empathetic hifumi

I don't know exactly what flower is behind Jyushi, it might be purple roses, but the prominent stamen might point to purple asters instead. They symbolize daintiness and elegance, but also a wistfulness for things that could have been. It is also a symbol of loyalty, very fitting for jyushi

I believe Hitoya's flowers are clematis. They represent wisdom and aspiration but also a sharp mind as its status as a climbing plant symbolized working around tough issues. It's also called the leather flower, for our resident leather motorcycle enthusiast

I think Ichiro's flowers are marguerite flowers which is a flower that has been used a lot in the arts, fitting for this idiot. It speaks of hope and renewal, new beginnings as well as devotion and optimism. All very indicative of Ichiro. Hilariously though, perhaps its most famous appearance is in Shakespeare's Hamlet where Ophelia hands marguerite flowers out to symbolize the loss of her sanity. whoops

ofc Jakurai's white lillies is very Jakurai. The purity is clear but it also means innocence

oh they are so silly a;skjdhf;ajklsdj JAKURAIIII

Aww doppo cleans up well in a host suit, that choker is everything

but wait isn't Jyushi technically underage too?? why is he also working? He's in highschool like Jiro??

kyun! Hifumi is so cool!

Yes, this is only episode 5, it won't end this early ww

aww, kuko still likes his old friends too. thats cute, he's a guy who really values those kind of things.

Hifumi being happy is cute and that smile is so healing! he really has a cute smile when he's not exhausted

expositionnnnnn those two people are definitely the same no doubt about it. I mean its Hypmic of course it will be

They are so super sentai ww no names only their work positions www these villains are so fun i think thats something i like about the hypmic anime. they lean into the silly and funny

Doppo literately smacking them over the head with words is hilariouss

I've know enough about hentai to know where this is going

Honestly the song quality this season around is actually so good! I like a lot more of the songs this time around, last season was a mixed bag for me but this one is just banger after banger

damnn how he do that, thats wild

I love how jyushi and the bystanders and just staring at Doppo like he's crazy ww

YYOOOO the way that jakurai's hair is animated is just muaaahh such good flowy motions!

Doppo's fit is so comfy i love it. A good balance between fancy and comfy.

Fling Posse episode next lets gooo i can't waittt. I wonder what will happen with them since they have very little connection with the villains. something something the Beginning Gate company having connections with the clone project? Idk but I hope they don't honestly. It would be interesting to have at least one completely impartial team

#hypmic #hypnosis microphone #Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle: Rhyme Anima+#hypnosis mic rhyme anima #hypmic spoilers

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brigdh · 1 year

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I was talking with some people about a role-reversal AU, where Stede is the famous vicious pirate legend, and that is all well and good and fun to think about, but I was having trouble conceiving of Ed’s life in this world. Because what would he choose, if not piracy (I mean, if piracy is an option, not like in a modern AU)? I couldn’t think of anything that felt right.

One of the people I was talking to suggested that, well, he’s charismatic, he’s good at playing a part, maybe he runs away from home to join a traveling theater troupe who performs Shakespeare for Caribbean nobility. And years later, after he’s become disenchanted with this life, there just so happens to be a famous pirate who wants a performance of Titus Andronicus on his ship....

I LOVE THIS IDEA. I love it so much. Let me copy-and-paste my thoughts on it, because I really want someone to write the 100k words it deserves but I don’t want to do it myself:

This would be FASCINATING! Because yes, evil pirate king-Stede would totally still want Shakespeare performances on his ship. But this Ed – he would have gotten to be around fancy things and rich people plenty. He wears gorgeous clothes (as costumes), he gets invited to upper class parties (as entertainment), people send him gifts of marmalade and pearls (as payment), maybe he even has the occasional affair with a bored noblewoman – but none of it's really for him, is it? It's all hollow, just part of the performance, and if he ever deviated or acted different, they'd turn on him and he'd be nothing again. It'd be such an interesting reversal of what parts of himself Ed shows too, because a famous actor would probably be expected to be a little bit effeminate, prone to flights of imagination and silly games, unsurprising if he lazes around in dressing gowns and mopes in blanket forts and sings bad songs. But never legitimately angry, never smarter than his audience, and especially never, ever, ever considering violence against the people who use him. And Titus Andronicus specifically! <3 It's perfect! Because who does Ed normally play? Titus, as the lead? Lucius, as the handsome hero who comes in at the end to restore justice? I know it's way too late to have male actors doing female roles, but you could also do such interesting things with this Ed as Lavinia (used, voiceless) or Tamora (the outsider who assimilates until her own desires betray her)? But! This Ed, specifically, as Aaron! (Who I love, love, love.) "Let fools do good, and fair men call for grace, / Aaron will have his soul black like his face." It could be such a moment.

#our flag means death #aaron is my fave fight me on this #<- that is a tag I already had and I feel conveys the strength of my feelings for this post #anyway I really want actor!Ed/evil pirate!Stede now #also this is yet another example of my attempts to cram Shakespeare into OFMD. BUT THERE ARE SUCH GOOD PARALLELS WITH SO MANY OF THE PLAYS #nonnies made me do it

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theninjazebra · 9 months

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As someone who has watched too much tv for a long time i thought i should share with the group.

TV recs for the upcoming drought:

Some of these are harder to find, the tone and quality vary wildly, they're in no specific order. I tried for not too obscure, but not too obvious. Some are still airing, some are 20 yrs old. I swear I have a life.

Slings and Arrows. Early 2000s Canadian dramedy about theatre and shakespear. Fun without being shallow, aged ok, lovely performances, great writing. nuclear grade comfort watching.

Halt and Catch Fire. 2014 - 2017, US drama. Follows four characters through the 80s tech industry. First time I got the hype around Lee Pace. S1 is ok, but nothing special, s2 is a lot more interesting but kinda goes round in a circle. S3 and 4 and some of the best tv I've ever seen.

Somebody Somewhere. This is actually a new show, but has 2 seasons out if u want a gentle but never shallow comedy. Fills my sad gay heart with joy. And if want more new tv with middle aged gays Deadloch is streaming on amazon atm.

The Expanse. Finished recently. The sci fi I've always wanted. Big and scary and wonderful and pew pew pew space battles and adventure. Balances the grim with a surprising amount of hope? Has repeated themes of redemption. Also a whole book series should u need more.

This Is England. UK drama. A film and 3 mini series set from 1983 through to 1990. Grim, sad af, also funnyand sweet? And characters that I love. The start of my undying love for Vicky McClure. Big ol CW for violence, sexual violence, and era specific racism (esp the first film). Very good, but very hard tv.

Kingdom. 2014. Can be a pain to find because so many shows are called Kingdom. About MMA fighters having drama. Also families, mental health, addiction, etc. Excellent performances. Both a very dumb and very sweet, painful show.

Animal Kingdom. Legit only watched it because I was searched Kingdom posts and AK was out around the same time. Awful family having drama and heists. Adaptation of an Aussie film into a southern California TV show. Kind of a mess? but very compelling mess.

Obligatory Succession (Kardashians for annoying people, aka me. I am the annoying person. this is my perfect tv show), The Bear, (hospo stress and family grief show) and Severance (people talk about workplace horror, but tbh it also gives big mega church horror vibes too)- new shows that live up to the hype, esp if you like sad people. I don't think they really need recs, but i really liked them.

The Thick of It. 2000s UK political comedy? Tragedy? Though these days it looking fuckin utopian compared to UK politics now. Feels a bit like a partial villain origin story for Succession. I like how sad and broken hearted it is.

Outrageous Fortune. 2000s nz dramedy that is the source of my love of family crime drama. Aged badly in places, but still very good character drama. Also, for The Boys fans, Antony Starr at his absolute best. It's a big nostalgia fest for me now. Cheryl West is a forever fav.

Justified. 2010 - 2016ish. i'm lazy i'm not looking stuff up. Yes a cop show, yes a dad show, but also rock solid tv writing and timothy olyphant in a hat. I've watched it so many times, and every time it rewards. and yes, am watching Justified City Primeval atm.

White Collar. A dumb, total fantasy art crimes and capers show. Shit, but if you need to not think and also have Matt Bomer do a shirtless painting montage for vague plot reasons then oh boy there is no other.

Being Human UK. A ghost, a vampire and a werewolf share a flat. it's sweet and agonising and 10+ years later I still love these characters so much.

Legion. 2017 - 2019. Why make tv comic adaptations that are trying for realistic and boring? When they could all be like this? Why make anything that isn't as visually interesting as this?

Doom Patrol - same for doom patrol - superhero tv that cut out the boring bits and just went for the weird and painful. I read a couple of random doom patrols years ago and was so surprised and delighted and loved them. the tv show has the same effect.

The Boys. new, and still going, as far as I know. but two kiwi leads means under nz law i have to be a fan? also it's awful, pulpy vicious popcorn viewing. appeals to the shithead 12 yr old in me. yes, it's vicious anti corporate thing is deeply ironic for an amazon show, but considering amazon saved the expanse with no sense of irony at all I figure take all their money and keep yelling.

Preacher. Another comics adaption. The Boy's weirder, less obscene, more disturbing cousin. Tulip is another forever fav tv character.

Banshee. Continuing the tradition of heth and i starting dumb Dude TV and then getting overly attached. kinda pulpy trash, but if you can stomach the violence it's surprisingly good.

All Star Treks. I love them so much. They're so weird, and uneven, and dumb, and they're all the best and I love them.

One season wonders -

Trust. about the John Paul Getty III kidnapping. also about italian countryside.

State of Play. UK. the tv show, not the film.

I dunno. I could do a whole separate post for sit coms and brit coms and the weirder, more obscure shows and movies, but ffs this is so long.

#tv recs #see my justification is that i can draw while watching #this is my list so i doubt everything on it would appeal to anyone else #but some of it might #i fuckin love me some dramedy #i have a lot of thoughts and feelings about tv #as a medium and it's role in my weird life

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fivedayshakespeare · 6 months

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10/27/2023-10/31/2023: Titus Andronicus

Well, that was bloody! People were very into revenge, back then. I'm not sure if I mean Shakespearean times or the Roman times that the play is set in, but dang.

This was a little awkward to read, as I swapped from the cheap Complete Shakespeare I had on my Kindle to the full-and-fancy new Oxford collection. Its official title is "New Oxford Shakespeare: Modern Critical Edition: The Complete Works" and I guess it came out six years ago. Still, that's pretty recent, right?

Anyway, this is a fancy version created by academics, so it's rife with weird decisions. Like, and this is what specifically slowed me up, the act breaks aren't well indicated. They just run all the scenes after one another and it's up to me, the reader, to tell if Scene 7 goes in Act 2 or 3. And this specific play transfers from Act 1 to Act 2 in the middle of a scene, which, as you can imagine, is a little confusing if you're used to "ACT 2" in giant black letters.

The Oxford collection is great, to be clear. It's got two kinds of footnotes. The ones at the bottom of the page are vocabulary, and I am using them much less than I expected to. But there are also performance notes on the right side of the page, and that's really interesting.

Sometimes the performance notes are like "He probably is carrying a sword, since he says he sets one down in a few lines," and those are great for setting the scene in my mind. But also here are the last two notes for Titus Andronicus:

Lucius is dooming Aaron the Moor to be buried up to the chest and then starved to death. Because REVENGE. He says

If any one relieves or pities him For the offence he dies. This is our doom. Some stay to see him fastened to the earth.

The performance note here is "This is sometimes done onstage, using the trapdoor as a pit (as it was used by Aaron earlier against the Andronici). If not, the timing and nature of Aaron's exit are unclear, but performances usually make the most of it."

So first of all, I think it is very interesting to include information on the way these lines have traditionally been realized, which is different from "Shakespeare's intent." But also, I enjoy the editorializing, which I take to be saying "Aaron really makes a meal out of this part." And that provides a fun flavor to the lines.

The last line in the play isn't dialogue. It's this:

Exeunt [removing the bodies]

The note is "This may be done ceremoniously, accompanied by military or funereal music; or it may be brutal, messy, or casual." And I love that. "We've researched every known performance of this weird play, and here are some of the options people went with here" and that reminds me, the reader, that I should be considering options like that.

Anyway, I guess I should rewatch the Julie Taymor Titus pretty soon, since I remember it being excellent.

Next up: Edward III, because we're still in Very Early Shakespeare. I shall probably skip The Tragedy of M. Arden of Fevershame, although the Oxford assures me that Shakespeare wrote some of it.

#shakespeare #titus andronicus

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classicallymar · 1 year

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1-7 Shakespeare asks?

1. which plays have you read?

Romeo and Juliet, Othello, The Taming of The Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV, Henry V, Richard II, Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Merchant of Venice

2. which shows have you seen/watched performed or filmed?

I've seen filmed versions of King Lear, 1&2 Henry IV, Henry V, Othello, and part of Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing

3. favorite play overall

1 Henry IV. I'll save my specific thoughts on the play for question 6, but here I'll say that I think the histories are quite underrated! There's a lot to unpack with all the different characters and their relationships, but that's part of the fun of reading & analyzing Shakespeare for me! (I have literally used a bulletin board and yarn to trace out relationships in some of the histories. It helps.

4. favorite comedy?

Much Ado About Nothing. I adore Beatrice, and I think she & Benedick deserve more focus than Hero and Claudio (I have nothing against Hero except her taste in men. Jesus.) Of the plays that I've watched, this one actually doesn't make it into my top 5, but that's because I tend to prefer histories and tragedies to comedies. (If you're curious, my top 5 in order are 1 Henry IV, King Lear, Hamlet, Othello, and Henry V)

5. favorite tragedy?

King Lear. I learned that the fool and Cordelia are often played by the same actor when I was 17 and I've been insufferable ever since. King Lear, more than any of the other tragedies I've read, really forced be to consider the idea that sometimes the tragedy is that we can't fix our mistakes. I truly believe that Lear was doomed from the first scene, which is something you could say about most tragedies, but I would argue that Lear is particularly evocative of.

6. favorite history?

1 Henry IV. I have a lot to say about the entire second tetrology but there are some really specific things that I love about this piece of it. First thing: Falstaff is my least favorite character in the play. I find his scenes obnoxious. The one exception is his battlefield scene, which... I still don't like him but he is an excellent mouthpiece for that *particular* train of thought. Second thing: Hotspur's last words, and Prince Hal's response to them. I have written multiple papers on this section of that scene and you can pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

7. play(s) you didn’t like?

The Taming of the Shrew. I hate this play so much. I love Katherine with all my heart and I am absolutely enraged that it ended the way it did. I know this isn't how Shakespeare classification works, but it is a tragedy. I also have pretty mixed feelings about Twelfth Night because I enjoyed reading it and I really like Viola, I don't think I would read it again because I can hardly stand Orsino.

#shakespeare stuff #literature stuff #ask

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wildwood-reader · 1 year

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OCTOBER 2022 BOOK WRAP-UP

I finished a total of 3 novels, 1 novella (+ a shorter novelette in the same book) and 1 graphic novel this month. 👻 Overall, I'd say it was a pretty successful reading month, despite my struggles with trying to find something good in my ebook library. I did read some pretty good books. 💪🏻

The books will be in the order that I finished them. My favorite book¹ of the month will be marked with a 🌟.

The Spiritglass Charade by Colleen Gleason

◇ Book 2 in the Stoker & Holmes series

◇ Finished on October 15

◇ First Read

◇ Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑

◆ What I disliked: I enjoy a good rivalry like any other girl, just not the "not like other girls" type. Yes, Mina and Evaline are pretty much polar opposites and have different interests and strengths, but that should be cause for celebration in their line of work, not disdain for the other. Mina especially gets a bit on my nerves sometimes with her superiority complex over Evaline, though Evaline's POV can be a bit frustrating to read sometimes, too. They both bring useful skills to the table and I really hope they start to realize that in the next book. That plot twist in the end certainly added an interesting new puzzle piece.

I also still find the whole Dylan-from-the-future thing a bit odd, but I assume the connection of his circumstances and the red thread throughout the series will make sense by the fifth and last book at the latest, so for now I'm just going to be patient.

◆ What I liked: The setting is really fun. I really like that this version of the late 19th century has a lot of cool technology and I look forward to finding out who had it developed. Something tells me it might have something to do with how Dylan ended up here.

Despite my qualms with Mina's and Evaline's rivalry and better-than-you behavior, I do think they're both interesting characters. Evaline's connection to my favorite series of Colleen Gleason's, The Gardella Vampire Chronicles, is fun and I really hope she gets to meet Sebastian at some point. Her relation to Bram Stoker as his sister is also fun, but doesn't feel very relevant aside from its existence. I kind of wish we could see them interact a bit, to really get a feeling for what they're like as siblings.

Same thing with Mina and her family. We have seen her interact with her uncle Sherlock a couple of times, but I kind of wish we saw more of her relationship with Mycroft, her father. As for her progressively romantic relationship with Dylan, it's fine, but I actually prefer them as friends. Inspector Grayling feels a bit of a more fitting partner for her, but as of yet I don't really feel a whole lot of chemistry, either, but that might change in the future.

The case in this book was alright, nothing mindblowing, but I enjoyed it.

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🌟 If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

◇ Standalone

◇ Finished on October 21

◇ First Read

◇ Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

◆ What I disliked: It took me a long while (over 50 pages) to really get a feeling for who the individual main characters are; at first they were just one mixed mesh of names I couldn't really distinguish between. Due to that, it also took me a while to really get into the story.

◆ What I liked: I absolutely loved the atmosphere of the book and the slow unraveling of what happened when the characters were in college. The sequences of them rehearsing and performing their Shakespeare plays was also really fun and less dry than I would have thought, so yay.

Once I had a feeling for who the characters are, I practically flew through the book because I wanted to know the whole story. Dark Academia is still a rather new genre for me to read, but I can totally see why If We Were Villains is considered one of the staples of it, it really fits the vibe and criteria perfectly.

One of the things I ended up very surprised at enjoying was the tragedy between two of the characters, and the sad but also somehow bittersweet end of it. It fits in well with the other themes in the book, and while I would have wished them a happy end together, it did make sense for it to end the way it did.

Fall isn't over yet, guys, so there's still time to pick it up and give it a read if you're intrigued. 😉 Since I read it as an ebook, I'm probably going to pick up a physical copy of it at some point, because I'd really like to have it on my shelf.

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The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

◇ Volume 2

◇ Finished on October 25

◇ First Read

◇ Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

◆ What I disliked: I felt like this one was a bit slower and harder to get through than Volume 1. I originally started reading it back in August, but not far from the end found myself a bit unmotivated to finish it, so I put it down for a few months until I finally finished it in October.

◆ What I liked: The characters are still the most enjoyable part of the story, especially Shen Qingqiu's commentary about everything. The System is also often very hilarious, especially in moments where Shen Qingqiu could really use a helping hand. Now that Shen Qingiu knows how Luo Binghe feels about him, I look forward to watching their relationship develop over the last two volumes (though I still very much have a softer spot for Shen Qingiu x Liu Qingge 😋).

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The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

◇ Standalone; edition also included the story The Bottle Imp

◇ Finished on October 27

◇ First Read

◇ Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌖🌑

◆ What I disliked: I think the story could have had great potential to be a longer novel and I'm a little disappointed that it was so short.

As for The Bottle Imp, it felt to me like a very white-centric view of wealth. I am not indigenous to Hawai'i, so I can not speak to how well the representation of the indigenous characters was handled, but some of Keawe's decisions, especially in the beginning, felt a bit odd to me.

◆ What I liked: Robert Louis Stevenson's writing is really pleasant to read, I really enjoyed it.

What I also liked was that we only got a perspective of the title characters through other people's eyes in the beginning before we got Dr Jekyll's perspective of the whole events at the end.

I was only familiar with various film versions of Mr Hyde before, so it was a surprise to me how differently he is actually described in the book. If there's ever another film iteration of the character in the future I'd love to see a more accurate portrayal of him. He definitely is a very fascinating character.

Despite my sadness over the shortness of the story, I liked the fast pace which allowed for a very quick and breezy read-through.

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Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell, illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks

◇ Standalone

◇ Finished on October 31

◇ Re-Read

◇ Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕

◆ What I disliked: Honestly? Nothing really.

◆ What I liked: This is one of my most favorite fall reads. 🍂🎃 It's so cute and beautifully illustrated and just the perfect cozy story for an autumn day, especially Halloween. I love the characters, I love the adventure and I wish I could go to the pumpkin patch in the story. I recently went to a farm with a similar theme, which was very fun, but the one in this book just seems even more magical, and much larger.

And there you have it, these are all the books I read this month! 👻

What are your favorite fall reads? Let me know if you'd like! 🍂

¹ Only first reads are eligible for this, re-reads don't count

#october wrap-up #monthly wrap-ups #books #reading #booklr #jengreads

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totopopopo · 2 years

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Don’t read this lol

Ughhhh the Macbeth thing was so good but now I’m sad bc I’m thinking abt my high school Shakespeare class which was just me and 4 other kids who were my best friends and my prof who was just. The best dude ever and it was so fun and one of my best friends in it is an actress who went to a really incredible acting conservatory but I remember she used a Lady Macbeth monologue to get into it and I remember our prof helped her with it and gave her all the Macbeth productions he had access to and I remember she performed it alone just for him and for me as I sat on the floor and he was so proud of her and I was so proud of her and I love her so much and I can’t hear that monologue without tearing up because it’s Her Monologue and I love her more than the universe and. I remember my other friend whose an artist drew lady Macbeth as my mother on the whiteboard in class because everyone agreed she has the same intense energy as my mother (which was a high complement). And I remember when sitting around the table in that class with my best friends and favorite teacher in the universe we were discussing Macbeth and I accidentally smacked myself in the face with the book (because my friend said something and I got excited and jerked my hand while holding the book) and the corner jabbed into my eye and I sat there for a full 3 minutes trying soooo hard not to react but my eye was watering soooo much and I was in soooo much pain and also I’d knocked my contact out and finally our teacher was like what is wrong with you and I was like. Can I please go to the bathroom. I have injured myself. And he and my friends. Who were used to my shit (this was a regular occurrence.) were like. What the actual fuck phoebe. And idk why but I needed a key or something (I don’t remember why??) but he my teacher had it and he threw it at me because that was the kind of dude he was. Is. And I remember when we read midsummer nights dream we were very tired and stressed because we were seniors in high school and we were waiting to hear back from colleges and had so much shit to do and classes were really piling it on so my teacher announced that he wanted to do something Fun to break the monotony and give us something good and productive to work on so he had us put on a production of the play within the play in midsummer and we had two days to put it together and he thought it would just be us like. Reading from the book and maybe moving around a bit but we loved him so much and we loved each other so much and we loved Shakespeare so much and we loved being nerds so much so we made it into a FUCKING PRODUCTION. I was the director which I was born to do. We made costumes and we did staging and my friend who is an artist (the same one who drew my mom as lady Macbeth and also the same one who is a real professional animator now and whose short film about Prometheus you should all watch) made ALL the costumes she made a huuuuge wall costume and we found wigs and dresses and I wore a cape and there was a lion mask and we used the black box theater because there wasn’t a class at the same time and we put on the scene and the only audience member was my professor and a kid we had recruited to help read lines of the audience members and a person we recruited to film and we put it on and it was the best production of a play within a play that has ever been performed and it was so fucking fun and we were so good and so stupid and so happy. And later we decreed we would do the same thing for a scene of the tempest because it had been so fun. And I worse my prom dress which was a pink sequence gown. And we didn’t even go to prom because all of us and that professor skipped prom to go see my friend who was also in that class of 5 people (who was also an actor and whose now got a degree in production design and stage management) in a production of Jesus Christ superstar where she played Judas and it was the first time I’d ever seen it and I didn’t know anything about the plot because I was not yet the religion person you know and love and in fact I barely knew who

Jesus was and my professor sat next to me and had to whisper answer all my stupid questions with growing exasperation and alarm at my ignorance and he said phoebe next year when you’re in a college religious lit class when you know nothing about this stuff do you know who they’re going to judge? They’re going to judge ME, as the man who was SUPPOSED to TEACH you these things, that’s on MY head, and also I had a bet going with my friend the artist that I wouldn’t swear because I swear all the fucking time and I had to pay her a penny every time I swore and she bankrupted me and every time I swore during the musical quietly under my breath because I was so impressed with my friend playing Judas my teacher held out his hand palm up without looking at me and I had to fish out my coins and drop them into his palm and that was on may 5th 2018 and four years later on may 5th 2022 I had my thesis defense and Jesus was involved and if we’re talking about whose head that was on it was on my high school teachers and I hope I made him proud just like I know he must be proud of my friend who is an actress who graduated from an acting conservatory which she got into because of her monologue from Macbeth which was the unsex me monologue which in the performance I watched tonight Ruth Negga delivered and it was so fucking good she was so fucking good but the thing is if I am being honest she wasn’t as good as my friend when she delivered it to me and our prof in that classroom as I sat on the floor with my back pressed against a desk and looked up at her and thought I had never loved anybody more and I can’t wait til I’m sitting in a seat in a broadway theater sipping an overpriced but delicious cocktail watching her up there on stage where she’s always belonged saying “unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” and I can turn to the person next to me during intermission and say hey I directed and starred in a production of Pyramus and Thisbe from Midsummer Nights Dream with the woman who plays lady Macbeth when I was eighteen years old. And yes it was every bit as brilliant a performance as you would think.

#the thing that makes me. the most angry. well not the most but one of the most angry. is that I don’t remember a lot of my senior year of #high school. the memories are there but I have to go through twelve layers of cotton and repression. which isn’t what I wanted !!#everything bad happened and it. made me. it’s really really hard to fucking remember my senior year. which sucks because before may 14th it #it was the best year of my life and the happiest I had genuinely ever been. and my life was so full of memories I wanted to cling to.#memories I would cling to each day.#and then. everything happened. and now those memories are. SO HARD to get back to. and I can. but theryre foggier than the other memories #like wading through mud. like wading through fog. like wading though celephane #and that breaks my heart #especially because all bad memories will sometimes spring unbidden out of the mud and the fog and the celephane like an electric shock #and it’s in crisp high definition surround sound.#why are those memories so much More Present. and why do they make the other ones. the good ones. hurt so so much.#why can’t I think about those good things those good days without crying. why did I start shaking so bad while writing this post that I had #to put down my phone because I couldn’t physically hold it.#I haven’t stopped shaking.#god I hate June.

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lowkeyorloki · 2 years

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hi phoebe anon again! hahahah okay i have so many opinions on the lorde thing you have no idea but most of them end up boiling down to some form of “shut the hell up none of you know what ur talking about!!!!!!!” or “keep my wife’s name out ur fucking mouth”. LMAO

like 1) why are you guys just now circulating these videos as if the melodrama tour didn’t happen 3 years ago, 2) the people being like “imagine paying to go to a concert just to have the singer shush you” ...guys it was literally for 30 seconds at the end of a very dramatic song. you guys the album is called Melodrama i need you to understand this. please. this is not like a routine thing that she does. she is so sweet at her concerts and is very appreciative. and 3) the people that aren’t her fans being so offended by it (the ones making the most jokes about it) are making me so 😭😭😭😭 like we all know she’s a little bit weird!!! and that maybe it was a bit over the top!! and that’s okay!! like i think famous people are a little weird sometimes! i love you for saying that the crowds singing at concerts are annoying though that’s SO valid lmao

sorry i am totally rambling but this just reminds me of this one tweet that was like “Phoebe Bridgers is allowed to be annoying on twitter because she wrote motion sickness. the same cannot be said for the rest of you.” and like. yeah when you (not you, you know what i mean lol) make albums as good as Pure Heroine and Melodrama then maybe you’ll be permitted to make fun of her.

long story short these people need to leave my wife alone i had like five people ask me “omg did she shush you🤪” when i told them i went to see her and it just makes me really sad that that’s all people think of her now😭😭😭 idk how it got so out of hand lmao

also i actually haven’t seen Juno! but it’s been on my watchlist forever and i’ve heard it’s really great so i will definitely be watching it when i get the chance❤️ anyway goodbye i’m sorry that was such a long response that im sure you did not want lol

Yes to all of this! Also not to harp on my prev. point but "imagine paying to go to a concert just to have the singer shush you” okay imagine going to a concert only to not be able to hear the person you paid a gross amount of money to see only to be unable to hear them because of a tone deaf and flat audience???

i've also seen a bunch of viral tiktoks of people saying they don't care she shushed the crowd they just care that lorde 'sounds bad.' it gave me flashbacks to when i was a theatre kid in high school (gross) and everyone in the plays with me would judge broadway performers for not being perfect all the time.... like.... we were 16 and the people who were so vocal about criticizing the actors weren't getting more than ensemble in a high school production and i always just wondered where they thought they got the credibility to shit on people's careers. i have such a vivid memory of this one girl saying she hated the "good for you" number from dear evan hansen because dierctors "would force whatever actress playing evan's mom to try to sound like alanis morissette". girl what. they're just sounding angry lmao emoting anger can only be so unique. i know that gets into iffy territory of "if you don't have (x) you can't have an opinion of (x)" but i feel like with something like talent and voices it's fine to look at a bunch of 16-23 year olds who have decided they can hit whistle notes and tell them they might not have a single clue what they're talking about, lmao. lorde puts on a performance much more than she just... sings her hits. her "'''bad''''' singing is part of that. like you alluded to... lorde wrote pure heroine/melodrama and she has a record deal and we don't, so... :)

lmao i bet we sound crazy to everyone reading this but this is exactly why i left acting and singing it's just not enjoyable and even if you find someone who isn't balls to the wall judgmental they're obnoxious. in my shakespeares studies course in COLLEGE i was the only non theatre major and all the girls said that hamlet is shakespeare's most misogynistic character. HAMLET. like. miss ma'am every single male character in titus andronicus and taming of the shrew are right there...

ANYWAY ty for talking i was just SO curious what your opinion was haha! and you should totally watch Juno, i think it's on hulu right now. It's an early 2000s movie with Eliott Page and Michael Cera and tbh that should be the only incentive you need, lmao

#put this under a read more bc idk if anyone cares abt my thoughts lol #ask #phoebe anon

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mariinara · 3 years

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A/N: THIS ONE'S AN ELITE ONE AND I HAD TO GET TO IT FOR MY HOMIE SHEA (@lilsnatch). HERE YOU GO, HOMIE, I HOPE YOU LIKE IT <3 (P.S. Of course I'll include Nate. He's THE uncharted boy!)

Q: What kind of drunks are the uncharted boys?

Nathan–

-Nate really isn't a chaotic kind of drunk. But when he does drink?

-Oh, boy.

-First of all, it takes a lot to get a Drake drunk. Especially this guy.

-But, he always needs to have company. He knows shit'll hit the fan, most probably, and someone responsible will have to hold him up and remind him to slow down or give him a ride home.

-Bar-hopping with you was his favorite thing, though. And it was yours as well.

-He was a flirty drunk. At least he'd start off that way.

-"Oh, hey, gorgeous!" He'd exclaim, turning his head towards you with a goofy smile on his face, "You come here often?"

-You have to physically restrain yourself from bonking him every time he does/says shit like that, but you also can't help but fidget and smile and take a VERY RESPONSIBLE swig from your beer bottle.

-And when he drinks more? He gets emotional.

-Overall, Nate was classified as your typical emotional drunk.

-Also performs a lot of magic tricks for the whole bar to see.

-Existential crisis, whining, rubbing his head against your shoulder like a hungry stray cat begging for affection, and then crying. He doesn't even realize he's crying. He just rambles and he cries mid-way.

-And then he'd get clingy. Smooching your cheek when he could, leaving you a hot and bothered mess as you contain him, sheepishly smiling at the bartender as you rub Nate's back and tell him that it's okay. Whatever's bothering him.. or not bothering him.

-His withdrawal symptoms include passing out, snoring, and sleep-talking, which means you have to take him home and stay over until he wakes up, an advil and a bottle of water on his nightstand and your body laying a safe distance from his, your position suggesting that you've been watching over him.

Sam-

-The living, breathing, walking example of fucking disaster.

-Much like his younger brother, he can handle alcohol pretty well.

-Unlike his brother, though, he doesn't really care whether he hops bars alone or with company. Although he prefers company, literally nothing will stop him from walking into the closest bar to his home and having a pint. Or two.

-Maybe ten..

-He's the sort to start a party if the place is just not uppity enough.

-Will get up on the counters and dance and sing awfully loud.

-Will 100% get people singing with him and gathering around him.

-Will have a drinking competition with a complete fucking stranger and he will 100000% win.

-Gambles, too.

-"If I win, you give me your girl for the night."

-The girl approves.

-"Is that the best you could do?"

-Proceeds to down like twenty kamikaze shots.

-Basks in the attention, even when drunk.

-These are all in the cases when he's alone.

-If you're there with him, though?

-It's a completely different story.

-You'll pinch his ear and yank him close when things are getting out of hand.

-You'll yank him down from the counter top and bring him back to sit and not make a scene because there are cops in the area and you're not prepared to bail his drunk ass out.

-He's not allowed to drink as much when he's with you and you explain how he'll definitely ruin himself.

-And while he thought he'd be annoyed by it, he found your concern quite endearing.

-He was definitely sure that he drank that much when alone because he was upset he was alone but would rather swallow a denim jacket than admit it.

-But, God, he'd definitely drink enough to give you an unsolicited kiss on the cheek, despite not being your boyfriend.

-You had feelings. Just never got around to talking about them.

-He'd flirt with you when sober, of course, but the amount of sexual innuendos that had the bystanders either chuckling softly or squirming in their seats was.. astonishing.

-Your face would instantly heat up and you'd cover his mouth.

-He's the kind to lick your palm when you do that and laugh at your reaction, though.

-Might pull his pants down and walk around half naked in public so have eyes on him at all times.

Rafe-

-Drinks a lot. Knows his liquor.

-Expensive taste so he's really hard to please.

-He's used to very specific alcohol concentrations in his drink.

-Doesn't do tequila.

-But, being the absolute hoot of a girlfriend you are, you make him do tequila.

-And then quickly realized why he doesn't do tequila.

-That's an angry fucking drunk if you've ever seen one.

-"The fuck did you just say to me?" at someone who was minding their business.

-BAR FIGHT!! BAR FIGHT!!!!

-The kind to go for the first punch but pass out on the floor mid-swing.

-Like he completely shuts down.

-If he's not swinging punches, he's demanding sex from you in very loud slurs and barely open eyes.

-Or hugs.

-No inbetween.

-And that's when you know you have to take him home and sober him up.

-Then laugh at him because, wow, heavy liquor is not for rich boy.

Harry—

-Handles his liquor just as well as the Drakes do.

-Downright horny drunk.

-When I say horny, I mean he'd be willing to unbuckle his belt and take you on the barstool.

-Dick out, no fucks given.

-Heavy liquor for DAYS.

-You'd just look at him and he'll voice how turned on you make him.

-BAR FIGHTS!! BAR FIGHTS!!

-But just cause someone was staring at you.

-Performs magic tricks that he stole from Nate.

-He will a thousand percent fuck you silly up against a wall in a bathroom.

-And you love it because he's all dirty talk, generally, but he's all filthy talk when he's drunk.

-Is not afraid to be loud during drunk sex.

-Talent? Walking in a straight line even when hammered.

-Sings pitbull songs very loudly.

-His belly gets very red when he's had too much to drink. His ears and cheeks too. It's just adorable.

Charlie—

-Philosophical drunk.

-He knows so much about everything. The man is a damn encyclopedia, even if he doesn't look like it, the man sounds like scholar.

-Can recite Shakespeare from the top of his head while raw-dogging you.

-Make sure you're on birth-control because he will not be pulling out. Nope. Not even if you tried.

-The only person who can beat Sam in a drinking competition.

-Smashes bottles on the ground when done with them.

-Existential crises. All the time.

-Likes watching the discovery channel while drunk. He just stares and laughs.

-"He said horse cock."

-"I know, Charlie."

-"You know who has a horse cock?—"

-"I know, Charlie."

-He gets very hungry and he's always craving a salty snack so you make sure you have a bag of pretzels or salty peanuts for him.

-Likes to rest his head on boobs when he gets a headache.

-Fun history facts.

-Practically indecipherable most of the time.

#I LOVED DOING THIS #there you go #they are all terrible people to go to bars with #nathan drake #sam drake #rafe adler #harry flynn #charlie cutter #uncharted

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miserablesme · 3 years

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The Les Miserables Changelog Part 1: Barbican Previews

Hello everyone! I'm starting out a blog which will look at my favorite musical, Les Miserables, and will discuss the various changes it has gone through over time (musically and lyrically). As it turns out, a LOT of edits have been made over the years so this will doubtless be a series with several parts.

This first part may well be the most difficult and will almost certainly be the most incomplete, as previews can be a time of extensive editing and experimentation. At least for the first few weeks or so, it's perfectly possible any one day of previews will be slightly different than any other day. However, I only have access to two audios from the Barbican Theatre previews of Les Miserables, meaning it's likely that lyrical variants exist which I have no way of hearing.

I am aware of the existence of a third audio which is fairly early in the run of previews, as the tape's master has told me that Gavroche's death scene is in its original form (I'll clarify that later). However, that tape has never been traded, and has sadly only been listened to by its master. I am also aware of a video proshot of the Barbican era that exists in the Royal Shakespeare Company library, but currently have no access to it. I plan to inquire about whether I can look at it sometime (though I'm not sure a blog like this is "official" enough to warrant it for research purposes). As such, this comparison only entails the two widely circulated audios from the Barbican run.

Now that we've gotten that cleared up, let's get started!

First, let's look at the opening "Work Song". In the earlier recording I have (let's call it R1), the beginning music (the same tune used, for instance, at the opening of "At the End of the Day" and "One Day More" and for Marius and Cosette's meeting in "The Robbery") stops. Then, a few moments later, the more familiar opening that leads directly into the prologue begins. By the time of the later recording I have (let's call it R2), the scores have been combined so that the first tune directly transitions into the second one.

Meanwhile, in R1 there is a sequence of lines that goes as follows:

I've done no wrong

Sweet Jesus, hear my prayer

Look down, look down

Sweet Jesus doesn't care

I killed a man

He tried to steal my wife

Look down, look down

She wasn't worth your life

I know she'll wait

I know that she'll be true

Look down, look down

She's long forgotten you

Most fans of the musical recognize the middle sequence of lines ("I killed a man" through "She wasn't worth your life") as no longer being lines in the show (for good reason, as we'll get into in a later edition of this blog). However, R2 keeps the lines. Instead, it deletes the third sequence ("I know she'll wait" through "She's long forgotten you"). I have no idea if this lasted only a few performances or made it all the way to the end of the Barbican run, or somewhere in between.

During "On Parole", specifically after Valjean is underpaid for his labor and sings about his frustration, R1 uses a variation of the "Work Song" theme which, to my recollection, is heard nowhere else in the musical. It can be heard here. By R2, it was switched to an in-tune version of the number with a unique opening. The musical retains that version to this day, but in case you can't recall it you can hear it here.

Minus an unintentional line flub in "At the End of the Day" in R2, the two Barbican recordings seem to use the same libretto and score from this point until "The Runaway Cart". At this point, R1 has a rather extensive scene leading up to Valjean saving Fauchelevent, which goes approximately as follows (the dialog is difficult to make out):

(VALJEAN)

Is there anyone here who will rescue the man?

Who will help me to shoulder the weight of the cart?

I will pay any man thirty louis d’or more

I will do it myself if there’s no one who will

We can’t let him die like that down in the street

Can you all watch him die and do nothing at all?

(FAUCHELEVENT)

Don’t approach me, Monsieur Mayor

The cart’s not gonna be holding

Not my poor mother would care if I should die

(TOWNSPEOPLE)

Don't go near him, Monsieur Mayor

There's nothing at all you can do

The old man's a goner for sure

Leave him alone

Most of that dialog is deleted in R2, so that it goes directly from "Who will help me to shoulder the weight of the cart" to "Don't go near him, Monsieur Mayor". I really like the idea of the original version; it seems reasonable that Valjean, having become a more trusted man, would expect the townspeople to help him. It's more meaningful that Valjean is good enough to do what's right when there's more time to establish that no one else is. Having said that, the original version did take quite a while and didn't really contain any relevant information that wasn't in the final version. I think the cut version as heard in R2 is a good compromise and retains the general mood and pacing to make Valjean's ultimate action satisfying (something that can't be said of later cuts, as will be discussed in a future edition of this blog).

Additionally, at the end of the number Javert refers to "the mark upon his skin" in R1 and "the brand upon his skin in R2 (as well as literally every subsequent performance since then to my knowledge). I have no idea if the "mark" line was a minor flub or was actually the original lyric.

"Who Am I?" is an interesting one. The musical content is identical in R1 and R2, but in R1 after his high note, Valjean shouts "You know where to find me!" with emotion so dramatic it sits right on the border between awesome and campy. By contrast, Valjean is totally silent after his high note in R2. Neither version would see its final day just yet, although the latter certainly has become more traditional over time. More on that in future editions.

From this point until "Master of the House" everything is the same between the two recordings. Roger Allam even comes in slightly late in both "Confrontation" scenes (making his line "-jean, at last...")! However, in the opening to "Master of the House" the following lines occur in R1:

(THENARDIER)

My band of soaks, my den of dissolutes

My dirty jokes, my always pissed as newts

My sons of whores

Spend their lives in my inn

Homing pigeons flying in

They fly through my doors

And their money's good as yours

(CUSTOMERS)

Ain't got a clue what he put into his stew

Must've scraped it off the street

Hell, what a wine

Châteauneuf de Turpentine

Must've pressed it with his feet

Landlord over here

Where's the bloody man

One more for the road

One more slug of gin

Just one more or my old man is gonna do me in

All of those lines would be scrapped in R2. Personally I prefer this shortened variant than the one that would occur much later. Sure, some fun moments get lost, but nothing that actually adds any substance or characterization to the musical (unlike the later cut, which I'll discuss in a later edition of this blog). Some have speculated that this is simply lost dialog due to a tape flip of degrading, given that future performances would retain those lines. However, there is firsthand confirmation that the cuts were in fact part of the performance. To quote Trevor Nunn on page 87 of 1990's The Complete Book of Les Miserables (a page which elaborates that "the cost of overtime incurred after three hours could be crippling at a time when Les Miserables was still trying to find an audience"):

"Cameron wanted major cuts, which would have reduced its length to two and a half hours. I resisted, refusing to discuss things on those terms... Some of the other proposed cuts - like the removal of the "Master of the House" scene-setting preamble - were tried out in previews and then restored as the scenes would not work without them."

From a historical perspective that quote is invaluable. As will be brought up in a later blog post (notice a pattern today?) the musical would in fact be cut much later to avoid overtime charges. When people like myself have expressed the opinion that these cuts come at the expense of artistic integrity, I've seen others defend them by claiming that the overtime costs never were relevant to Cameron and the gang until Broadway sales began to go down, and that if they were taken into account the musical may well be in its shortened form from the beginning. However, this quote proves that argument to be false. Right from day one, the crew was aware that retaining a >3 hour runtime would come with severe financial costs, but this was deemed a worthy sacrifice in order to tell the story they wanted told. Indeed, it sounds like Cameron Mackintosh was waiting quite some time to enact his infamous cuts! (Cameron Mackintosh valuing profit above art?! Crazy, right??)

But I digress. Going back to the musical, the "Waltz of Treachery" number is mostly the same. However, after Valjean's "It won't take you too long to forget" line, R1 has over a minute of wordless vamping which leads right into the rather awkwardly-placed "Stars" song. By contrast, in R2 this vamping (which is still a minute long, mind you) leads into a humming duet between Little Cosette and Valjean, similar to the duet right before the number. A nice little bookend that makes the scene feel all the more resolved. (Much later this duet reprise would ironically be scrapped again, though!) The remaining segment of R1's vamping now plays after this sequence in R2.

Minus some unintentional missed lines at the beginning of "Stars" in R1, the recordings seem to follow the same libretto right up until "One Day More". Here, R1 uses the following lines:

(EPONINE)

One more day with him not caring

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

Was there ever love so true?

(EPONINE)

What a life I might have known

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

I was born to be with you

However, by R2 this scene is in its current form:

(EPONINE)

One more day with him not caring

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

I was born to be with you

(EPONINE)

What a life I might have known

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

And I swear I will be true

And that closes act one! Going on to the second act, the opening barricade scene has a few changes. First off, following the opening notes, R1 features a rather odd tune bearing resemblance to "Do You Hear the People Sing" (which can be heard here) before transitioning to a more true-to-form instrumental reprise of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" By contrast, R2 goes straight from the opening notes to the true-to-form reprise.

Next, Enjolras proclaims "Have faith in yourself and do not be afraid" in R1, while in R2 he instead states "Every man to his duty and don't be afraid". It's unknown if this was an intentional libretto change or if it simply reflects a flub during R1. A later sequence uses the "Have faith in yourself" line, meaning he may have just sung the wrong line for that particular scene.

Finally, R1 includes the following sequence (at least I think this is how it goes, since the lyrics are a little hard to hear):

(PROUVAIRE)

And the people will fight

(GRANTAIRE)

And join with you

Who gives a speech in the square

Fortunately, R2 uses a much less clunky (though still somewhat so) sequence:

(PROUVAIRE)

And the people will fight

(GRANTAIRE)

And so they might

Some will bark, some will bite

This isn't quite its current form ("dogs" and "fleas" will soon respectively replace the two usages of "some"), but it's pretty darn close.

I've heard that the very first Barbican preview(s?) didn't have a finalized opening to "On My Own". Sadly there is no known audio record of this, so I cannot comment on what exactly it began as. As such, the next major change takes place during Gavroche's death scene. This honestly is probably the biggest of all the changes between the two recordings. R1 uses the following death scene (in the tune of "Look Down" right up until the "So never kick a dog" verse, which is in the tune of "Little People"):

How do you do, my name’s Gavroche

These are my people, here’s my patch

Not much to look at, nothing posh

Nothing that you’d call up to scratch

Some fool, I bet, whose brains are made of fat

Picks up a gun and shoots me down

Nobody told him who he’s shooting at

He doesn’t know who runs this town

Life’s like that

There’s some folk

Missed the joke

That’s three, that’s three

That one has done for me

Too fast, too fast

They’ve got Gavroche at last

So never kick a dog

Because he’s just a pup

You better run for cover when the pup grows...

By contrast, R2 uses a much shorter variant which is set entirely to the tune of "Little People":

And little people know

When little people fight

We may look easy picking but we've got some bite

So never kick a dog

Because he's just a pup

You'd better run for cover when the pup grows up

And we'll fight like twenty armies and we won't give...

This is much closer to its current form, although the last two lines are inverted (we'll get to that in a later edition).

We now fast-forward to "Dog Eats Dog", which while recognizable is very different from the number we know today. The chorus of R1 claims that "It's a dirty great sewer that's crawling with rats", which R2 changes it to "stinking great sewer" instead. I'd definitely say the revised lyric better captures Thenardier's and the sewer's grossness.

Additionally, regarding Marius' ring, Thenardier originally exclaims that he "didn't mean to waste it, that would really be a crime". By R2, the line changes to "wouldn't want to waste it", which I'd say makes a lot more sense.

"Javert's Suicide" has changed a lot. R1 features the following remarks following "Vengeance was his and he gave me back my life":

Damned if I live in this caper of grace

Damned if I live in the debt of Valjean

I'll spit his pity right back in his face

Is this the law or has sanity gone?

(I'm a little unsure as to how accurate the final line is.)

By R2, the lines have been replaced with the current ones:

Damned if I live in the debt of a thief

Damned if I yield at the end of the chase

I am the law and the law is not mocked

I'll spit his pity right back in his face

In R1, the "Where's the new world, now the fighting's done" line is absent, and there is nothing but instrumentals in the segment where it is usually sung. By contrast, it is sung as usual in R2. My guess is that an actress simply forgot her line in R1 and it was always supposed to be there, though I can't say for sure.

The final change occurs at the wedding scene. The singing which opens the number is repeated in R1. By contrast, R2 has it sung once and then done with, as it currently is (and as it should be in my opinion, since the music isn't particularly pretty and contributes nothing to the plot).

Later in the same scene, R1 includes approximately this exchange (again, it's quite hard to make out the exact lyrics):

(THENARDIER)

I was there

Never fear

Even got me this fine souvenir

He was there

Her old dad

*indecipherable* and fleecing this lad

Robbed the dead

That's his way

(MME. THENARDIER)

That's worth five hundred any old day

(MARIUS)

I know this...

By R2, everything between "He was there" and "Any old day" were removed, which makes sense given that they essentially just rehash what was already said.

Finally, there's a subtle difference in the epilogue, specifically during the "Do You Hear the People Sing?" reprise. In R1, the ensemble sings "They will live again in glory in the garden of the Lord". R2 replaces the word "glory" with "freedom", and that word remains the one used to this day. I suppose "freedom" is more appropriate for the context of peace and prosperity. To many, I'd guess that "glory" conjures imagery of knights, battles, and the like; just the kind of violence that the characters wish to move away from! I have no idea if this was why the writers changed the lyric, but it's my hypothesis.

Towards the end of the show, the chorus in R1 sings "Even the darkest moon will end and the sun will rise". By R2, this is changed to "the darkest night". Makes more sense to me, since moons aren't known for being particularly dark!

And that just about sums this part up! If I missed anything feel free to let me know, as my goal is to create a changelog as thorough and complete as possible. I plan on making more parts in the near future covering all the changes that have been made in the show up until this day (discounting concerts). Any feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated.

As a side note, both for this project and my own enjoyment, I want as complete a collection of Les Miserables audios as possible. I already have most of what's commonly circulated, but if you have any audios or videos you know are rare, I'd love it if you DMed me!

Until the turntable puts me at the forefront again, good-bye...

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eurydicees · 3 years

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top 10 ouran manga-only arcs

this is going to be such a long post i apologize in advance. the ranking system has absolutely no criteria other than "does this pass my vibe check.” bonus points were awarded if i could think about tamakyo while reading it; points were also awarded every time tamaki did something cool. this was a delight to make. anyways, without further ado, here are my personal top ten favorites, and no i will not be taking criticism.

1. THE TAMAKI EXTRAVAGANZA

(vol 16 chp 73 - vol 18 chp 80)

PLOT:

So much happens here that I couldn’t think of an actual name, and uh does it count as a single arc? Probably not, but I’m counting it as one because it has a single thread: Tamaki. My beloved. So. First, Tamaki finally, finally, finally moves into Suoh mansion #1, but when he gets there, he gets told that he’s only allowed to study the Suoh business and go to school and nothing else— meaning he has to quit the host club. Shizue threatens to out Haruhi as a girl and ruin her reputation— possibly losing her the scholarship— if Tamaki doesn’t break off all ties with her.

The Host Club disbands. Kyoya begins an Investigation™ into Tamaki’s mother— she had been incredibly weak and unhealthy when Tamaki was a child, but when Kyoya met her, she was pretty healthy. After some sleuthing, the hosts minus Tamaki discover that she probably had Bisco Hatori’s fictional version of lupus, which was cured by a mysterious foundation— which they discover was run by the Grantaine family, funded by the Suoh corporation, and actually researched by the Ootori conglomerate. Literally everyone is in on it. It’s fucking wild. Like. Huge “holy fucking shit I need to stop and take a breath” moment.

This information is suddenly released to the public, and then the Suoh corporation all vote Shizue out of her position, saying that she’s no longer fit for the job. She locks herself in her room and refuses to speak to anyone, breaking Tamaki’s heart. But now that she’s no longer top dog, Anne-Sophie can come to Japan— Yuzuru is super hyped and expects Tamaki to be as well, not understanding that Tamaki’s family fantasy includes his grandmother. Tamaki stops going to school and plays piano every day in order to cheer up the house, eventually luring Shizue out to listen to him play their shared favorite songs from J-dramas.

They begin to bond and Shizue sees that he’s not a failure because of his parentage, but it’s too late because Anne-Sophie is about to fly back to France. All is hopeless.

EXCEPT THEN. All of the hosts and all of the clients realize what’s happening and rush to help him get to his mother. They all adore him so much, and give their all into getting Tamaki to the airport. Shizue finally encourages him to go, realizing— with the help of Haruhi— that she has been bitter and selfish and Tamaki deserves better. They rush to the airport, and through a series of shenanigans that are no match for the combined power of the hosts and every single girl at Ouran, Tamaki makes it to the airport. They make it there JUST in time, and Tamaki gets a five minute reunion with his mother. Haruhi finally confesses to Tamaki that she loves him.

WHY I LOVE IT:

oh my God oh my God oh my GOD. Like. This is just. So much. So Much. We all know that I’m like. The #1 Fan of Tamaki Suoh. Like. President, vice president, treasurer, and secretary of the fan club, all at once. I love him so much, and this just gives him so much development. There is so much opportunity for him to grow and you not only really see who he is as a character, but you also see how much he’s grown as a person from his first introduction. You also get more of a glimpse into the world of Rich People, and the way that all of their families interact with each other, and then also with the way that they interact within their families. It’s just such an intense arc and it’s so beautiful and I love it so much.

2. THE SPORTS COMPETITION

(vol 10 chp 46 - vol 11 chp 49)

PLOT:

This one is HARD to rank, because I love it, but it also Hurts. Like. I genuinely cried over this one, though that’s not actually saying much because I cry at everything. So. Here’s what’s up. Tamaki gets into this idea of a sports festival, and then Kuze wanders in to fight Kyoya again, so Tamaki suggests a competition between the two of them. This is a very Tamaki thing to do, but Kyoya gets fed up with it and refuses to participate— until Kuze accuses him of being “Suoh’s pet” and that he’ll always let Tamaki win, and then Kyoya gets fired the fuck up.

But he’s still bitter at Tamaki for starting this, so the two of them stop talking and my heart breaks. This does not stop Tamaki from having heart eyes for Kyoya 24/7. Hikaru and Kaoru are assigned to competing teams, and begin their Very Long Journey into not being so codependent— Hikaru is on the red team with Tamaki, Haruhi, and Kuze; Kaoru is on the white team with Kyoya and Honey.

Essentially, each team goes through rounds of races in different areas that are like. Complete bullshit games, but whatever. It’s Rich People World. The white team gets ahead; the red team performs a scene from a Shakespeare show to rally their losing team together and begins to win, until they’re on even footing. The final race is between Kyoya and Tamaki.

There’s a heartbreaking series of panels of Tamaki just… thinking about Kyoya. I cannot get enough of it. Then there’s an even more heartbreaking series of panels of Kyoya just… thinking about Tamaki. You realize, alongside the other hosts, that Tamaki pushed for this race not really for benefit or fun, but to give Kyoya a chance to compete in something for real, without having to set it up so that Tamaki wins (as we see in the race for the central salon). It’s a chance for him to win and not put his family first. Tamaki still tried his best, because Kyoya would hate him if he threw the race, but he lost because Kyoya fought with the intention of winning for HIMSELF, and not just playing support to Tamaki or impressing his father.

Finally, in the last panel, it’s revealed that the class trip will be to France.

WHY I LOVE IT:

God it burns so good. So Good. The Tamakyo, the Hikaru & Kaoru character growth, the Kyoya development, the Tamaki being so so so good, the Kyoya being so brilliant, everything oh my lord. This is really one of the biggest points of Kyoya’s character development, and it’s the first place I’m going to point to when thinking accurately about who he is as a person. It shows who he is, and who he believes he is, and who he wants to be, and who other people see him as. It’s also just a Tamakyo goldmine, even though they don’t ever actually talk. It’s so beautiful and it makes me cry.

3. THE ORIENTEERING RACE

(vol 14 chp 66 - vol 15 chp 68)

PLOT:

In an attempt to make Tamaki realize that the hosts all love him just as much as he loves them, the hosts sans Tamaki put together an orienteering race. There are six checkpoints, each one with a task to be completed in order to get an ingredient that will make the best meal at the end of the race.

Hikaru and Kaoru play the return of the “Which one is Hikaru?” game, knowing that Tamaki has been able to tell them apart for a while by now; Nekozawa’s checkpoint is a quiz on cursed items, knowing that Tamaki is familiar with Beelzenef; Honey’s checkpoint is a game of whack-a-mole with little mini Usa-chans, knowing that Tamaki isn’t afraid of making him upset over a game, though all the girls are; Mori’s is a sword slicing thing to show that Tamaki will never give up on something; Haruhi’s is a “tell the truth or never pass” kind of thing; and Kyoya’s is a crossword puzzle of all the answers made up of things from previous club themes.

Tamaki pairs up with Konoya— who is in love with him and is the “perfect Haruhi” trope— and realizes that she’s incredibly different from Haruhi, and that he loves Haruhi for who she is and not who he thought he wanted her to be. He also realizes that— because the hosts have gone through all of this for him— they do love him for who he is, no matter what, no matter the bad parts of his personality, and they’re never leaving him.

WHY I LOVE IT:

Look. We know that anything about Tamaki is gonna make me happy. I am a simple woman and so easy to please. This is literally just three chapters about how much all of the hosts love Tamaki and want him to be happy. I cannot express in words how rewarding it is to watch Tamaki realize how important he is and how much he’s loved— because he is loved, he’s so loved, he’s so so so loved. This is also the arc with the building block / building a home metaphor, and it destroyed me both physically and emotionally (vol 14 chp 66). This is where the found family is really solidified, and we all love a good dosage of found family.

4. RACE FOR THE CENTRAL SALON / THE SCHOOL FAIR

(vol 6 chp 22 - vol 6 chp 26)

PLOT:

This is where the anime diverges from the manga, and I have to say that this version of the school fair is just so much better than the anime version. Like. Just So Much Better. Basically, the club is setting up for the school fair, and the best spot to set up— essentially, the spot that will get the most foot traffic form the parents— is in the central salon. To figure out which club is going to get the spot, they all compete in a literal race, both mind games and physical games and it just slaps overall.

The b-plot is that the Host Club is getting threatening letters telling them to drop out of the race, alongside blank papers that are sent with the notes; the hosts have to figure out who is sending the notes and confront it. This is the arc that introduces both Kuze and Yuzuru Suoh for the first time. Kuze is captain of the football team and Kyoya’s rival and also definitely his secret ex-boyfriend. Chairman Suoh is… just. A lot. Just. That’s it. A Lot. He’s A Lot.

Anyways, part of the winning race is capturing this crown that’s hidden on campus, which turns out to be at a swimming pool. The football team gets there at the same time as Haruhi, and Kuze pushes her into the pool and goes for the crown. Kyoya and Tamaki reach her at the same time— Tamaki’s instinct is to go for Haruhi, but Kyoya tells him to get the crown and thus the glory of winning, while Kyoya rescues Haruhi.

Later, it turns out that Yuzuru was sending the blank papers with harmless messages written in invisible ink as a prank to emphasize the literal hate mail that the hosts were getting. The follow up to the race is the actual school fair, where we meet Yoshio and Shizue. Fuck Shizue, not even going to get into that right now because I WILL cry, but just know that it’s even worse than it is in the anime. Yoshio, though, is eons better in the manga than in the anime— he is genuinely proud of Kyoya and says that he actually wouldn’t mind appointing Kyoya as heir.

WHY I LOVE IT:

Volume 6 does SO MUCH for Kyoya and Tamaki and we all know that I’m ride or die for the two of them. Kyoya finally gets a chance to shine as team leader and it’s what he deserves! Tamaki takes a little more of a backseat, which I don’t even mind, because Kyoya does such a good job of pulling attention here. The scene at the swimming pool is just so good— it really shows the huge amount of trust between Tamaki and Kyoya, and does a good job of setting up the relationship they need to have as Rich People, outside of their friendship, which is something that we don’t see a lot of. Overall, it’s a very Kyoya-centric arc, and it does amazing things for the development of his character and personality. It’s one of the biggest insights into how he functions as a kind of mastermind for the club. We also finally get Tamaki’s full-ish backstory, which genuinely makes me cry every time.

5. THE HITACHIIN FAMILY

(vol 10 chp 45 / vol 11 chp 51 - vol 12 chp 53)

PLOT:

So this is technically two plot lines, but I’m going to count it as one because it’s all about the twins, my loves. In vol 10 chp 45, we get a little insight into the life of the Hitachiin family and why the twins are as fucked up as they are. Quick rundown— their parents can tell them apart but pretend not to for whatever godforsaken reason; Kaoru admits he’s in love with Haruhi for the first time and Hikaru remains oblivious; Kaoru begins to realize how unhealthy he and Hikaru’s relationship is and how, one day, they aren’t going to be able to have all of the same things; there’s a cookie metaphor; Tamaki gets lost in the Hitachiin manion; it’s all a good time.

In volumes 11 and 12, we begin the actual split between the twins, where they realize that they can’t stay the way that they are forever. They can’t be one person forever. They realize this in a fight over Haruhi, where Hikaru suggests they “share” her as a sister, and Kaoru rightfully thinks this is bullshit. They get in their first— and only— genuinely real argument. Hikaru breaks down in Mori’s house, Kaoru breaks down at Honey’s place, literally no one is happy and I am crying.

Kaoru asks Haruhi out on a date, and then ends the date by explaining that he could never date her knowing that it would be hurting Hikaru. Haruhi is, understandably, very confused by this whole thing, and no one is telling her anything.

Kaoru then makes up with Hikaru, saying that he’ll give up on trying to pursue Haruhi, but tells him that they actually do need to live separate lives at some point— and that point might as well be now. He wants to break apart entirely, but Hikaru explains that while they need to break apart in a lot of ways and find their own identities, they can never fully forget each other. They agree that they can influence and love each other without depending on each other for a personality.

They keep up the incest ACT at the club, though. Bisco Hatori couldn’t manage to write her way out of that one.

WHY I LOVE IT:

So this one just. Really hits home for me. It’s a genuinely heart wrenching arc, and the progression of the whole thing was just so slow and so steady and it was so well done. The twins are two of my favorite characters in the show/manga, and their relationship is something that I can analyze for days, and this arc is a huge part of why it’s so interesting. It does amazing things for both of them as developing characters, but it does even more amazing things for their character growth as people. It also provides a nice catalyst for the Hikaru/Tamaki/Haruhi love triangle. Anyways, it made me cry and apparently that’s my only criteria.

6. THE FRANCE ARC

(vol 10 chp 46 - vol 12 chp 56)

PLOT:

On the Ouran 2nd year school trip to France, Kyoya decides he’s going to spend the trip searching for Tamaki’s mother, rather than spending it with the other students. He works himself to death trying to find her— he ends up literally falling asleep on the ground because he’s so exhausted from searching and taking literally no breaks. Kyoya finds her eventually, and has a really nice conversation with her— she has a bunch of photos of Tamaki, and clearly is constantly thinking about him. When he gets back to Japan, he tells Tamaki about her— about how beautiful she is, about how she smiles, about how she thinks of her son every day.

We get more of Tamaki’s backstory, and his close relationship from his mother and how his mantra— living life in Japan to the fullest and being as happy as he can be every day— all comes from his mother. She told him that she’s happiest when he’s smiling, and so when he leaves her behind in France, he decides to be smiling every day and make everyone around him smile as well.

While Kyoya is in France, Tamaki stays behind in Japan— he gets closer to his father, who offers to begin to train him to take over the Suoh business. He visits Haruhi, and tells her a little bit about his life in France, and Haruhi’s love for Tamaki begins to make an appearance for the first time.

WHY I LOVE IT:

So I went into this list thinking that this would be my favorite plot, so it’s wild to me that it didn’t even make the top five. It’s kind of weird and I didn’t expect it, but I’m still satisfied with this list. Anyways, I really love this one, even if it’s not the top five. It’s like. The ultimate Tamakyo story, and there’s just. There’s just so much to unpack there. Like. We don’t have time for me to go through the whole thing and analyze every part of it because there’s just so much of it. It’s so good, and it makes my heart grow three sizes. It’s another brilliant development piece for Kyoya, and shows his softer side, as well as just how much he loves Tamaki.

7. MORI AND HONEY GRADUATE

(vol 15 chp 71 - vol 16 chp 72)

PLOT:

Honey and Mori announce that, after graduation, they’ll be splitting up and going to different universities. This proceeds to emotionally destroy literally everyone except for them. Mori is challenged to a series of duels at the Kendo club in which he has to fight every underclassman who wants the honor of fighting him before he graduates. He’s exhausted and worn down, and he loses to a second year, which is bad for like. Honor reasons. RIP. Anyways. He reveals that he’s just been really worried about something but before he can tell anyone, he has to duel Honey. It hurts.

They start preparing for the fight— which Kyoya is capitalizing off of via movie rights and betting rings— and scare everyone that they’re going to never speak again. When the fight comes, they fight on the Windswept Hill™ at Ouran (the same place that Chika and Honey fight on way back when). They go for it and pull no punches, until Honey tries to do a flying kick and Mori catches him and gently places him outside of the boundaries of the fighting ring, thus winning the duel.

Because he won, he pulls out a sheet of paper in which he’s written down all of the things that Honey needs to do in university because Mori isn’t going to be there to take care of him: brush his teeth, cut down the cake by 90%, and stop bringing Usa-chan to classes. Mori felt that he didn’t have the right to tell him these things until they were on equal level because he had won the duel.

They make up and everything is okay— they graduate, everyone cries, including me. Kasanoda gives Mori flowers, it’s all very cute. Haruhi makes cookies, and when Tamaki goes running down the hallway to find her, they bump into each other and drop all of the cookies. While they’re picking them up, they share the classic ~accidental kiss~.

WHY I LOVE IT:

This is one of the only Honey & Mori-centric plotlines that gets fully fleshed out and like. More than a chapter. It really does lovely things for their relationship, and it’s the end of an era. Even though it’s the end of an era, though, the resolution is incredibly satisfying— Honey and Mori’s stories are wrapping up, but it’s really well done. It’s sad, but it’s a really rewarding ending. They’re such sweet boys. Also, it’s not like they’re gone forever, so it’s all okay.

8. REIKO x HONEY

(vol 10 chp 41)

PLOT:

Reiko is part of the Black Magic Club, and falls in love with Honey when he gives her a hand in getting up after she trips over Usa-chan. However, she believes that falling in love with Honey is equivalent to him “stealing her soul,” and so she uses “curses” to steal his soul back. These curses are basically just love spells.

In the end, Honey tells her to just, like, be herself. Talk about her interests. Get to know him. Be honest. Then she won’t need love spells to make him like her. Even if she messes up or is awkward or says something weird, he’ll still like her because she’s being true to herself. This is one of the only Honey-centric chapters, and Reiko is one of my favorite side characters.

WHY I LOVE IT:

They’re the OG goth x pastel couple. The blueprint for all other couples. Icons. I love them so much. This makes it on the list just because I love their relationships. I also love the whole Moral Of The Story, in that it’s important to be true to yourself. It’s so sweet it hurts.

9. HARUHI AND TAMAKI’S FIRST DATE

(vol 18 chp 81 - vol 18 chp 82)

PLOT:

So. Right after the two of them confess their love to each other, everyone expects them to get together and be a couple right away, but Haruhi is just kinda chilling. She’s not super stressed about dating, it’s just a relief to have said it out loud. Meanwhile, Tamaki is kind of a mess, stressing out over their first date and trying to make it as perfect as he possibly can. Seeing him so stressed, all of the hosts band together to help him out in planning a date. When Tamaki finally gets up the nerve to ask her out, he falls in the fountain and Haruhi has to fish him out. She’s then the one to ask him out to the amusement park.

In true Tamaki fashion, he gets incredibly stressed out again. He gets fashion advice from a series of unfashionable people. The hosts sneak around the amusement park and follow them around, finding out that it’s actually going really well, as long as they’re not interfering. After the Lobelia girls show up and try to sabotage the date, Tamaki and Haruhi run away— while Kyoya Handles™ the situation— and they go to her mother’s grave. There, it’s revealed that Haruhi will be going on an exchange program to America.

WHY I LOVE IT:

It’s just. So cute. Like. I’m Tamakyo for life, but I do adore them so much. It’s lower on the list because of the sheer amount of second hand embarrassment, but overall, I loved reading this one. Tamaki is just so genuine and earnest about everything he does, and I think these chapters do a lot to show why the two of them work as a couple. It also does lovely characterization points for Haruhi, and begins to wrap up the ending. Bonus points for a jealous and heartbroken Kyoya.

10. PRINCESS MICHELLE

(vol 9 chp 38 - vol 9 chp 39)

PLOT:

Princess Michelle comes to Ouran to do a week of school in Japan. After meeting her, Tamaki essentially puts him and the Host Club at her beck and call, doing anything that he can to make her happy, no matter how insanely extravagant her demands are. Everyone else finds this infuriating, until Kyoya points out that Michelle looks similar to Tamaki’s mother, saying that the last time Tamaki saw his mother, she was crying— and if he sees Michelle smile for real, it might help him picture his mother smiling again.

Overall, it’s just a very soft arc that begins to unfold Tamaki’s family-related trauma. It also kickstarts Tamaki’s realization that he’s in love with Haruhi and doesn’t actually have paternal feelings for her (that’s the whole next chapter, but make it funny rather than introspective); and it’s one of the moments that Haruhi realizes that Tamaki is genuinely just a good person.

WHY I LOVE IT:

I wasn’t sure that this one would make the list at all, but I do really love this story. It’s pretty short, just two chapters, but it’s overall really sweet. I like Michelle as a character a lot— she seems a bit like a bitch at the beginning, but she gets fleshed out and given an actual personality as the chapter goes on. It’s a really good example of Bisco Hatori’s writing.

HONORARY MENTIONS:

Mei (character): probably the most significant character in the manga that doesn’t appear at all in the anime, which is pretty tragic, but I think that the anime really wanted to emphasize that Haruhi doesn’t really have any female friends / friends outside of the hosts. But anyways, she’s Misuzu’s daughter and Haruhi’s friend; she’s lowkey transphobic but she’s getting better! Had a brief crush on Tamaki but she ends with being the #1 Tamaharu stan. Great friend to Haruhi.

The masquerade ball: Haruhi's going away party, and the reveal that she's a girl.

Haruhi gets kidnapped: Haruhi is kidnapped and held for ransom, the hosts find her and break down doors to get there.

#ohshc #ouran manga #ouran koukou host club #ouran high school host club #ouran liveblog #ouran #ouran high school host club manga #please rb this i worked SO HARD on it #also please add your opinions #there are a few different lists that are valid. and many that are not.#i will vibe check your lists if you post them

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