#he still can put it on dvd. by himself. but that would cost money and time. so i don't think he will | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

writingsbychlo · 4 years

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let me down slow (prologue)

word count; 3432

summary; you’re in love with stiles stilinski who will never love you back, and mitch stilinski is freshly heartbrokenand home to try and redeicover himself. after being ditched by stiles, mitch offers you some company.

notes; let me just make it clear that there is no wolves in this, also, she’s 18 and Mitch is 20. OH, and a big thanks to @stylesharrys for proof reading this for me. I love her.

warnings; smut, unprotected sex, underage drinking, that’s pretty much it.

Your toes caught on the slightly uneven paving stone on the front garden of the Stilinski household, noting the absence of the cruiser on the driveway, the space beside it clear of the usual powder blue jeep that was never clean, but a black jeep that was clean sat in its place, a precocious vehicle that and you roll your eyes in a heatless judgement.

In some ways, Mitch Stilinski was the opposite of his younger brother.

He excelled at lacrosse, earning himself a scholarship to a college on the other side of the country, and handing down his famous ‘24’ number to his brother, who had finally tried out for the team at the beginning of junior year after his brother left. He was clean, and he worked out and ate healthy foods, and he had a car from this century that he actually respected. There was something under one of the seats of Stiles’ jeep that was unrecognisable at this point, and you didn’t particularly want to question it.

Despite this, there was a lot they both had in common. Their sarcasm, and loyalty, and passion for the things they loved. Not to mention, the spooky similarity between them both.

Though, Mitch possessed the ability for growing facial hair, which had started coming in his sophomore year, and now in his senior year, Stiles still had a baby face that was smooth and soft, and entirely hairless. It was adorable, really.

So, no, the absence of the blue jeep didn’t immediately clue you in to something being off, because you assumed he may have pulled into the driveway to make space for his brother’s car. Instead, you remained positive and sunny, a collection of DVD’s clutched in your arms and a change of clothes in your bag for the sleepover you were intending to have with your best friend, pizza money tucked into your bra for the food you would undoubtedly order and your heart skipping a couple of beats as you waited patiently for your spastic best friend to swing the door open following your series of knocks.

A few beats passed, before the lock was clicking and the door was shifting, and you dragged your eyes up along his chest. It was not the skinny and plaid covered frame you’d anticipated, but that of the messily cut tank top of a broader and more muscled older brother, a piece of candy hanging from his lips as he chewed it slowly, staring at you expectantly with a blank look.

“Mitch. I see you’re home, then.”

“Well, well, well. Aren’t you the observant one?” His words were sneering, and you scowled at him, used to his moody attitudes from over a decade of knowing the Stilinski boys, but not missing the colder than usual undertone to his words. The banter between the three of you had always been playful, somewhat teasing but his lips would always flicker up at the sides and you’d always been able to see the amusement sparkling in his eyes - much like his brother’s - but this version of Mitch just seemed empty and angry. “What do you want?”

“You’re being awfully rude to someone who knows your real name. I’ll post it under your next status update on Facebook. I wonder if the lacrosse team at Syracuse knows how to properly pronounce Polish names.”

Your threats about revealing his name always got a laugh out of him, or at least a fond roll of the eyes, but this time he just grunted at you and pulled a sour face, sighing like he had somewhere else to be, despite the fact that he was standing with bare feet and a pair of sweatpants on, and clearly had no other plans.

“Fine, be moody. Is Stiles here?”

“Do you see his jeep on the driveway?” Your jaw dropped at the tone of his voice, your shoulders slumping as you glanced back for a second, and when you turned back to him, you didn’t let your eyes meet his. Heat was crawling at your cheeks, and you took a few steps back from the doorway, swallowing down the beginnings of the lump forming in embarrassment from your faith and optimism, and Mitch let out a groan, lifting a hand to run through his hair as he swallowed the last of the candy stick he’d been nibbling on. “Wait, wait. I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have been so rude to you.”

“It’s not the first time I’ve seen you in a bad mood, Mitch, it’s alright.”

“I’m still sorry, kiddo.” Once again, you were scowling, the nickname he knew annoyed you so much peeking through, and at your distaste for it, he was grinning at you cheekily, and just like that the tension between you both had been brushed away, no matter how many months passed between seeing on another. “Stiles isn’t in, though. He went out, like, a couple of minutes before you got here, I’m surprised you didn’t catch him before he went.”

“Well, did he say how long he’d be?”

The elder actually cringed, leaning on the doorpost and looking out at the surrounding of the street for a second, before fixing his attention back on you. “He told me not to wait up, so I'm assuming he’s going to be a while.” His eyes then dropped down to the bundle in your arms, and a pitiful look took over his features. “You had plans, didn’t you?”

You simply hummed, feeling your body deflating sadly as your plans fell through, and while you were disappointed, you couldn't exactly say you were surprised. Lately, your plans had been coming second in his eyes a lot, and he let out a sad sound himself. Something between attempting to comfort you, and annoyance at his younger sibling, and your cheeks twitched to show a barely present smile, one shoulder rising and falling as you tried to brush it off. “I bet he said something about Lydia needing him, huh?”

“He did, actually..”

You nodded, more to yourself than to him, before doing your best to perk back up, adjusting the belongings in your arms and trying to mask your disappointment. “Right, well, that’s all good. I can just catch up on some reading, anyway, it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine, it’s a shitty thing for him to do.” His voice was a little sharper than usual, and you let out a laugh, nodding at his words as he stood up a little further and opened the door for you. “Why don’t you come in, anyway? You can hang out with me?” You paused, eyes narrowing at him for a second as you studied him, and he raised his brows at you in his own silent analysis of your reaction. “You’re in love with Stiles, it’s been written all over your cute little face since you were freshman, and my girlfriend broke up with me, and you’re not the worst of his friends. So, why don’t you bring your broken heart inside, and we’ll order some takeout, and wallow in self-pity and misery together?”

Once again, a blush was covering your face, splotchy patches of warmth that made you uncomfortable. You wanted to get in your sweats, and order food and laugh with your best friend, but now Mitch was holding open the door for you and looking at you with a little grin, and you accepted, taking a few steps forwards and over the threshold and into the house as your emotions bubbled up and over.

Dropping your bag beside the front door and kicking off your shoes, the man plucked the armful of belongings from you and moved away for only a second, placing them down on the table and coming back to stand before you. It was an uncomfortable tension, but it was unusual. You had hung out with Mitch on multiple occasions, but never just the two of you. You sniffed lightly, and he let a rumbling sound out from deep within his chest, before placing an arm around your shoulders stiffly and pulling you into a loose hug. “I’m sorry about my brother, he’s an ass.”

You nodded into his shoulder, before bringing your arms up around him and squeezing him tightly, your hands bunching up in the back of the thin cotton shirt he was wearing. Only a second later, he was wrapping his other arm around your waist, and pressing his nose into your hair, letting out a shaky breath over your skin, and suddenly you were clinging to one another, your sniffling breaths muffled against his body.

You were trembling, you could feel it within yourself, the rush of emotions all making you feel weak, and yet no tears came out, because you weren’t entirely sad. You felt comfort in the arms of your friend, you felt safe, and you felt understood. His own pain made you feel less pathetic, and the way he was holding onto you just as tightly gave you the understanding that you weren’t suffering alone, and so when you were finally ready to pull back, his cheeks were a little damp and you gave him your best smile, bumping your forehead against his chin before stepping back.

“You promised me food, then?”

“That I did. What do you feel like?” He beamed, dragging a hand down his face and walking towards the kitchen letting you follow of your own accord and hop up onto one of the stools at the counter to watch him as he sorted through takeout menus. Passing them over to you, you glanced down at the pile of laminated and colourful leaflets, and you looked back up at him, shrugging.

“Stiles normally just orders us pizza, I brought a twenty because he likes the stuffed crust ones and to put his own toppings on and it adds one hell of a cost.”

He chuckled, rubbing his hands together and leaning his hands on the counter. “Yeah, that does sound like him, but what do you have?” He fixed you with a look when you gaped a little bit, before sighing and spreading out the collection before you. “Next time Stiles goes to just order a pizza, tell him what you want. These places are good if you want Chinese, but the Blue Dragon is my favourite because they do some pretty awesome spring rolls and dumplings. There’s also a Korean place, or an Indian place if you want something spicy but I don’t know if they deliver, we may have to go get it. If you really want pizza, there’s a place in there that’s better than Dominos, they just aren’t as popular so Stiles doesn’t bother with them.”

Upon finishing his spiel, your eyes were wide, and you thumbed through the other booklets, noting the way some of them had meals and dishes circled or highlighted, and the shiny blue of a fold-out menu for the Blue Dragon caught your attention, and you shifted it to the top.

“Do you really want Chinese food, or are you picking this because I said it was my favourite?”

His voice was stern but playful, and you opened it up, waving him off idly as he laughed at you and he circled around to stand beside you, the warmth of his body flushing over your side as he waited patiently. “I do actually want Chinese food, by the way. But since this is your preference, I figured we could order from here. You can tell me what’s good, and you get the stuff you like. Win-win.”

“Alright, I’ll take that deal.”

The two of you debated for a couple of minutes over the choices, before he was pulling out his phone and sitting up on the counter beside you, legs swinging as he orders all the food you both wanted, indulging you each time you poked at his leg and added onto the order when you came across something you liked, and you were sure you’d spent considerably more than you had on an unnecessary amount of food, but if you didn’t have the funds, you could always pay Mitch back.

He was holding up a bottle of whisky, offering you a glass with a few chunks of ice in the bottom, and you accepted it happily, following him through to the living room and collapsing on the couch. It was a little awkward, to begin with, the two of you chatting between yourselves and sipping on the drinks you had, before eventually settling on a movie. When it began, however, you were a few drinks in and suddenly the conversation was flowing smoothly, the dialogue and plot of the film falling away as the two of you inched closer to one another from opposite ends of the couch, more and more enthusiastic about the topics you ricocheted between.

Food had arrived, and you’d eaten, between laughs and jokes and his eyes lingering on you each time you tried new portions of the meal so that he could watch for your reactions. You loved them all, his recommendations panning out, and soon, half of the bottle was gone, and you were laying out across the couch with your legs across his lap and you head in the cloud, warmth filling you from head to toe.

He had a hand on your knee, full-bellied laughs coming from his mouth as he stroked up and down your leg gently, the movie had faded away into the background. He had listened as you poured out your heart to him over his younger brother in your tipsy stupor, and he in return had shared with you the truths of his break up.

You told him about the way you hated that Stiles seemed to never have time for you anymore, and that he continued to chase Lydia years later than his original crush, hopelessly falling at her feet when she’d only just become aware of him and was using him for her own gains. He told you about Katrina, the blonde bombshell whom you remembered. She was a cheerleader at Beacon Hills high and Mitch’s high school sweetheart, and she went to a college in New York like him, but after the first year the spark began to fade, and the distance may as well have been ocean’s wide, because they had drifted. What hurt him the most was change, the nagging feeling that he could have done something different, that she could have been the one if he’d made more visits to her on the weekends and more trips to see her on the holidays.

The confessions had only ever been shared with one another, and suddenly the two of you had a bond that nobody else could touch, because your deepest fears and secrets had been exposed to one another in a night of greasy takeout and almost a full bottle of whiskey, but the absence you’d felt when your best friend wasn’t by your side was filled in an entirely new way by Mitch.

It was playful and refreshing and relaxing, it was everything you didn’t know you were missing. Until it wasn’t.

Somewhere between the end of the movie and the end of the bottle, the atmosphere between you both had changed. Somewhere between the time his thumb has stopped rubbing at the skin below your knee to move up to his fingers digging into your lower thigh, and when you sat up to talk to him and found yourself almost seated in his lap. After you told him to stop calling you kiddo, and he called you kitten instead, the energy between you both was different.

His eyes were darker and he was licking at his lips and then his mouth was slotted against yours, tongues tangling and hands roaming and the temperature in the room shot up to boiling. You were in his lap, grinding and letting his hands wander, and then he was thumbing at your tits and mouthing at your neck. Somewhere between him moaning kitten into your mouth and sucking on your lower lip to the way he was bucking his hips up into you and suddenly, it was more.

He was dragging your panties to the side and you were tugging down his seats just far enough, and then you were riding him on the couch. Sloppy and messy and a combination of the need for connection and the wish for affection, you were all but sobbing into his mouth as your eyes rolled back and his fingers dug into your bare flesh, and then it was over.

You were sweaty and hot, and you felt boneless as you let him lift you off of his body, pressing one more long kiss to your lips before he was tucking himself into his sweats and laying back on the couch and chuckling at you with a dark smirk when you wobbled on weak legs as you went to clean yourself up. It wasn’t awkward when you returned, it was calming and relaxed and you grabbed yourself a second plate of takeaway food and settled back down onto the couch with your feet in his lap once again, and a new movie on the screen.

The night passed with the rest of your movie collection, and eating a surprising amount of candy, and you inevitably changed into your comfy clothes when the hour passed midnight. You had teased him about his long hair while running your fingers through it, and he had made you flustered in return by speaking through his food and telling you how you weren’t complaining while tugging at it and bouncing on his cock.

It wasn’t until you heard the rumbling of the jeep that you felt that same dread and loneliness slip back into your body, the squeaking of tires on the stones and the slamming of the door one side, and you rolled yourself off of the couch with a groan, a scowl taking over in place of your smile as you scooped up everything you had and tried to shove it haphazardly into your bag, booking a cab in the process and leaving you phone on the side.

He began to grab at the rubbish littering the surfaces with you, the two of you stumbling and scooping up empty food boxes as you crammed them all into the kitchen bin, and did your best to clean up after yourselves, when the door finally opened, the sound of Stiles kicking off his shoes and hanging up his cute, humming happily to himself as he walked through the house.

“Oh my God, it smells like food in here. Did you get takeout? Did you save me any an-” He paused as he saw you, your eyes avoiding his as you grabbed your phone, smiling at the boy you had spent your evening with as he slid it towards you. The easy and lightweight vibe you’d found so easily with Mitch was now thick and tense, and you wanted to leave as soon as possible. “Hey! What are you doing here so late?”

You purse your lips, a tight smile on your face as you pushed past him without a word, and Mitch simply fixed him with a disbelieving look, the hyperactive of the pair of brothers was watching you go curiously, and both followed you to the front door as you pulled on your shoes.

“Are you mad at me, or something?”

“Yes, Stiles, I’m mad at you.” You bit your tongue from saying any more, wanting to let him wallow in it a little longer, and his jaw dropped and brows furrowed as he watched you go. Leaning up to press a kiss to one stubbled cheek, you patted his shoulder as you opened the door and stepped out, pulling out your phone to check on the taxi, only to see it pulling up to the curb, and you flashed him a toothy grin. “Thanks for being such great company while your brother was a jerk.”

He leaned against the door, muffling the sound of protest from Stiles behind, his body filling the doorway as he winked at you cheekily. “No problem, kitten.”

With that, their front door slammed shut, and you were stepping into your cab, tired and buzzed and ready to get into your own bed, and try to forget that the boy you loved had once again forgotten about you to chase after a girl who would never see him as anything more than friends.

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mammoney-honey · 4 years

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Summoning Circles: What to Offer the Brothers GN!MC

MC doesn’t need to set up anything to summon them since they have their pact but sometimes its just nice to add a bit of drama. It’s also a good way to get the brothers to accept Just Because gifts. So what would would MC lay out as an offering for their favorite demon in their pentagram?

Lucifer

Lucifer is hard to get gifts for because hes a man of few words and fewer guilty pleasures

MC does their best to keep an eye out for things he does like and finally sets things up when they feel that Luci needs a bit of a break

They mostly offer things that would make for a good date night but with one small exception: special gourmet dog treats

He won’t admit it, he says Cerberus is just a well trained guard dog, but that big boy gets only the best and MC knows that Lucifer will appreciate the gesture

The rest is all about setting the mood so Lucifer couldn’t possibly say no to staying

The first thing to accomplish this is the finest bottle of hellfire aged wine, a special request put through to Diavolo for whatever he thought Lucifer would like most

And to accompany a good drink you need some good food as well. A charcuterie board supplied with recommendations from Barbatos and Luke. The little guy should be called a mouse rather than a dog with how much he loves cheese. It took a long time for him to stop talking about it

One of the things that MC looks most fondly on of their time with Lucifer was quiet nights in listening and dancing to new music. They didn’t always share the same tastes but they were always willing to give it a go

So MC would find a vinyl, the only thing Lucifer would listen to the purest that he is, of their most recent favorite song or band so that they could share it with him

The last thing offered is that which Lucifer would want above all else as his own, MC

They can think of nothing else that would gain Lucifer’s attention more than offering their full and complete self. His pride could never allow him to deny taking MC when they offer themselves so willingly

He appears in full demon form, he can’t think of who would be ballsy enough to try and summon him and he has to pull back on his full power once he sees its MC

“MC, my dearest love, the pageantry is appreciated but overall unneeded. All you ever have to do is call my name, all I wish is to hear my name on your lips. But now that I’m here lets make sure you are screaming it”

Mammon

He is another one who is hard to gift things to but for the opposite reason as Lucifer. He likes too many things, wants everything and so it makes it impossible to tell what would actually mean something to him

MC tries their best to lay out things that will show how much they love and appreciate their favorite demon

Money of course is the first thing that is set out but not just spare Grimm or human cash

No, MC will put gift cards out for Mammon’s favorite places or for a date that they can have together. It feels more personal that way and they hope it shows that they pay attention to the things he likes

Mammon has a wardrobe to rival Asmo’s but he insists that it all has to do with his job as a model. Gotta keep up appearances and all that yanno. Hes just a label whore though and everyone knows it

He also just melts at the idea that MC might be thinking of what he would look good in so if they put out a new outfit or accessory, even if its just new sunglasses or a belt, he just about explodes

He will scoff and say that hes not sure if human styles are really his thing but of course puts whatever it is on quickly

Next would be a very special edition of the TSL dvds, a directors cut that even Levi couldn’t get his hands on. He has watched it with MC so many times he could practically recite it but they were always borrowing from Levi so it was about time to start wearing out their own copy

The last two things are more personal, something that shows just how much MC thinks of and misses being with him

The first of that is MC’s favorite set of pictures they took with Mammon, a silly photo booth strip that captured their first kiss. MC had surprised him on the first snapshot and it showed a progression of him getting redder and redder before finally kissing them back

Lastly is a page from their diary, as intimate an offering as they can possibly give. Its from a day where the longing for Mammon was at its strongest and filled with sweet words of how much they miss their first man

Mammon is freaked out at first thinking he is being summoned by another witch and is confused to see MC before taking it all in

“H-hey you don’t have to go through all this. I mean of course The Great Mammon won’t say no to the the things he deserves but ... b-but you only ever need to say my name, there is no where I’d rather be than with you”

Levi

Levi has a bad habit of just buying whatever he wants but considering that he has so many fandom’s its not hard to find some piece or another he doesn’t have

MC feels like his brothers don’t give much thought to his gifts though, just typing in a name they know and getting whatever they find. They want to give him something more personal and can’t just be bought and shipped in two days

MC starts to watch a lot of craft, cooking and cosplay YouTubers to try and put everything together themselves. It felt more genuine that way at least to them

MC tries to keep things diverse, hitting a couple of Levi’s favorites but mostly avoiding anything Ruri related since they are afraid of messing it up lmao

Instead they focus on the anime’s and games that they watched and played together. Almost like a collection of inside jokes that they are using to summon him

The first thing MC sets out is a prettily decorated plate of macrons, doing their best to replicate the colors and flavors described in the one bakery time management game they always played

MC also went through Levi’s super secret fanfiction accounts I will fight you he is totally a fic writer because he has so many self inserts and fix it fics and wrote out comments for every single thing he had written. They printed them out not because they didn’t think he read them but to show that they were the ones that left them

Along with the comments MC also created art for Levi’s most beloved OC, creating cute enamel pins of them in chibi form with the cannon character he paired them with

The last two things came as a sort of combo, a couples cosplay from the romance anime they had watched together. The protagonist had been a shut in otaku who had found his soulmate when they were reborn into his world and Levi had latched onto him immediately

It had taken a lot of blood sweat and tears trying to get both of the outfits cannon perfect but damn it MC was not going to settle for anything less

At one point they forgot they were making it for Levi and just got caught up in the the drama that was finding the perfect buttons and trim color

Overall they were so proud of the sewing skills they just wanted to call on him the moment they were done so he could see but they got a hold of themselves so they could set up what they had planned

Levi was summoned into the circle still wearing his headset and fingers tapping at a controller that had been left behind

His demon side comes out at having been cost a serious match from the sounds of it but his anger turns to confusion at seeing MC and then into wide eyed amazement at all of the things in front of him

He started to gush about every single thing he saw before he realized that MC was there beaming at him

“You went through all this trouble to prove that you aren’t a normie and yet you summon me this way?? J-just say my name like you’re supposed to! I kind of like hearing you say it anyway ...”

Satan

Satan surprisingly doesn’t like being the center of attention and thus doesn’t really like surprises or receiving gifts. He also doubts that anyone understands him enough to give him what he wants cocky ass that he is

The idea for the things to set out in his summoning circle came to MC when discussing love potions with Satan and Solomon one day. They were talking about how smell plays such a strong part and Satan let slip some of the things he might smell after MC listed some of theirs

So while MC doesn’t have much, well any, experience in magic or potions they do want to try to stir up those feelings those smells produce in Satan

The first thing he had said came as a surprise to no one, the smell of parchment and ink

MC used each of them as their own separate offering on the pentagram. They used a fancy new calligraphy quill dipped in green ink that matched his eyes to write a long love note for him

The ink was still wet on the parchment that they set down and left the quill and remaining ink as the second gift

The next thing he mentioned was another one MC expected: tea leaves

So MC just walked into their local tea shop and let their nose lead the way. Anything that caught their attention or made them want to keep smelling they bought, creating their own special blend just for Satan

It wasn’t necessarily something that Satan would say for himself but MC had started to burn different candles in their room when he would come to rant when he was angry, trying to find a scent that he could associate with being calm when they helped him work through the anger

Whatever candle seemed to work the best is the candle that MC sets out for him. Probably something woodsy, pine or balsam or even sandalwood. It brings back good memories for MC, kissing all those worries of his away and hopes it does the same

The last item is one that made MC blush when they heard Satan admit it, he had liked the scent of their shampoo

He hadn’t said that specifically but he had closed his eyes and described a scent that he couldnt place but that he adored and when MC was taking their shower that night it clicked

It might have been a little lame, leaving a bottle of shampoo out for Satan but MC knew that when he realized what that scent he loved so much was that he would get the cutest blush

They weren’t disappointed when they summoned Satan. He hid his shock of being summoned this way well, taking his time to walk around the circle and examine each offering. He immediately knew where they had gotten the inspiration and teased them about being such a sap

He stopped when he got to the shampoo though, not sure how that fit into the equation until he smelled it. It dawned on him and there was that blush that he tried to hide by turning his face away

“You always did like to make things difficult on yourself didn’t you? I’m only ever a call away for you kitten. Now come here and let me really breath you in, you’re simply intoxicating to me and I can’t stay away.”

Asmo

Asmo is never shy about when he doesn’t like gifts that people have given him but he has only ever cherished what MC has gotten him. Every small trinket and gift he has on full display in his room and he will wear something that MC got them when he misses them the most

He also will do it when he wants to bother his brothers and show off that MC simply lavished him in gifts (Mammon and Levi are the only ones who fall for it lmao)

So MC decides to offer Asmo things that will allow him to parade around their love for him, things to keep them close when MC isn’t there

The first thing that MC gets Asmo is new nail polish, a color that they agonized over finding because they wanted it to match his eyes perfectly

Asmo has a very organized planner, its how he keeps track of all the events he is invited to, when he has dates, who hes slept with, who hes going to sleep with and everything in between

MC commissions custom made stickers for him so he can decorate the pages of his planner even more. Specifically a whole sheet of cute stickers of them together he could use for when they planned date nights

The next thing was something for Asmo’s room which he was always changing and refreshing so it looked forever interesting for Devilgram pics

MC gets a large print of Asmo’s favorite picture of them together and puts it in a beautiful frame that perfectly matched his favorite decorating style. Perfect to show to the world that Asmo was their favorite demon and that they looked so good together

And so they can take even more pictures of themselves together MC buys a Polaroid camera for Asmo. His phone will always be his favorite thing to take pics on but this way they could have them printed instantly and it continues to let him be trendy

Lastly MC gets Asmo a necklace. A dainty rose gold chain that he can wear with practically everything and with a diamond accented heart shaped locket that could easily be tucked away if needed. It was an enchanted locket, thanks to the help of Solomon, and it warmed when MC was thinking of him

Its the first thing Asmo grabs and quickly puts on, showing it off for MC

“Oh MC you are simply the cutest thing I have ever seen~ I’m sorry I don’t have something to give you in return. I hope the fact that my heart beats only for you will make up for it, now come here I’ve been without kisses too long.”

Beel

Its SO hard not to just grab whatever is in the kitchen at the time and throw it in the summoning circle and call it a day for Beel

But he is more than just his hunger and MC is always striving to show him that they understand that

It was harder than expected, just because asking anyone what Beel might want always got them food answers. They thought Belphie might be helpful but only got told “he probably just wants a nap ... its what I would want”

MC starts to think of all the most special moments they had with Beel, trying to think what about them made them so memorable and they knew for a fact that it wasn’t the food

The first thing they come up with is a banner that MC made to cheer him on at one of his games. It had gotten a little tattered and torn because it had rained that day but they just couldn’t let it go

Mostly because Beel after winning had ran up into the stands and kissed them for the first time. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t ever kissed but they had always been the one to make the first move but this time Beel had come to them. Of course in the biggest gesture possible

It was cheating a little bit offering a cookbook, it was still food related, but it felt better than putting in actual food

This particular cookbook was special to MC too, they had spent several months trying to recreate one of the recipes from it down in the Devildom when MC didn’t have it. Even their D.D.D had been no help in finding the human world dish they were trying so hard to recreate

It had finally been Beel who had found someplace that sold the food they had been craving. He had even been able to bring it back completely untouched just so that they could have it all though he didn’t complain when they offered him several bites from their fork

MC pulls the next thing from their own shelves at home, a well read copy of Lord of the Flies. The spine cracked and little notes about their favorite parts scribbled in the margin

It was one of the human novels that Satan had and one of MCs favorites from school. Beel had caught them reading it and thought the title was ironic but the more he watched MC get engrossed in reading the more curious he got

He eventually asked MC to read it to him, he actually liked books even if most didn’t take him for the type it was just that he had a hard time actually reading himself. He always got distracted by food but audio books always worked well for him when he was working out, it turned out to be even better when MC read to him when he was eating

It was the best of both worlds for him and he found the story actually pretty funny, slightly worrying MC but they figured they couldn’t blame a demon for getting enjoyment out of a story like that. He did find their lack of food concerning though so at least there was that

One of the things that Beel often complained about when MC was living in the devildom was that when he went to go eat they weren’t always there. Sure Beel would ask them to tag along whenever possible but it didn’t always happen. He would call them from the kitchen at times and tell them that he missed them

MC was sure the other brothers would have something to say about it but knew that Beel would genuinely enjoy the next thing MC offered. Amagnet with his favorite picture of them. It was MC caught in a candid he took, mid bite in a dessert he had made them and his hand could just be seen wiping some whipped cream off MC’s cheek

It was a way that Beel could have MC with him at his favorite place every time

The last thing that MC laid out was something that was inspired by Beel. He had once given them a coupon for a free meal by him and they had thought it was just about the cutest thing ever

They made him a whole coupon book of favors ranging from cooking any meal he wanted to recording his workouts for him and of course lots of coupons for hugs and kisses

Beel isn’t used to being summoned at all so hes slightly disoriented when he finds himself suddenly in the human world. As soon as he sees MC though its nothing but smiles and he doesn’t even notice the gifts until after

“MC did you know I was thinking about you? Sometimes I just say your name and hope you will appear ... so if you ever think of me just say my name. I want to be here, even if its during dinner”

Belphie

Belphie is not one to beat around the bush at all. He is a creature of habit and just wants more of the same things that he already has. Dont fix something if its not broke right?

So its fairly easy to fill his summoning circle with things that he loves, just adding to his ever growing collection of happy nap time things

That isn’t to say that MC just grabs whatever blanket or pillows they have laying around, they still want it to be special for him

So yes the first two things they offer to Belphie is a pillow and blanket, there was never going to be anything else but MC spent a long time putting their love into finding just the right ones for him ... and still couldn’t find what they wanted

MC used this as an excuse to create something themselves for their sleepy boy. They dived deep into youtube and pintrest and spent more money than they care to admit on materials until finally they made what they wanted

The first was a quilt large enough for three cause the twins like to make MC a sandwich in a cow print pattern that matched his pillow and demon form marks, lined with the softest fabric she could find that was the same purple as his eyes

His pillow was another quilted design, this time of a cloudy night sky with a sleepy cow jumping over the moon. MC stitched his name in pretty gold thread on the back long with a sweet ‘I love you’

There was one last fluffy thing to give to him, this one MC knew he would probably scoff and tease them about but they couldn’t help it. They saw the angry looking cow plushie and just could not walk away

They have actually been sleeping with it when they miss him most and even if he doesn’t like the plushie the fact they have slept with it so much will make him a bit fonder of it

Even though they were pretty sure that Belphie knew every star in the sky MC couldn’t help but get a book with stories about the constellations. He might already know them all but they thought that he might still enjoy hearing them read to him as he drifted to sleep

The last thing MC has to offer him is also star related. A star map of the day that they made their pact. It was the day that MC had fully forgiven everything that had happened before and their relationship had truly began

When Belphie was summoned he was half asleep but knew who it must be even in his sluggish state. He gave a big yawn and looked around at all the things around him

“At least things are already set up for the perfect nap, including having you. MC next time just say my name alright? Its much more of a drag this way ... and I want to know when you are dreaming of me”

#obey me #obey me hc #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me levi #obey me satan #obey me asmo #obey me beel #obey me belphie

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morgana-ren · 3 years

Note

I noticed youd said that you get more shiggy requests. So, if you'll indulge me for a sec.

We've had gatos input on how strade would be if the roles were reversed. Mc somehow had him under their control with the shock collar on.

I want your input because your writing is so detailed i know id enjoy reading what a submissive little bitch he'd become.

Please and thank you Morgana.

ily :3

Oh OH You know me so well! This is one of my favorite things to daydream about when I get angry or annoyed because since Strade is such a garbage human being, it tickles me so much to think about how cathartic it would be to turn the tables.

So as well all know, Strade, while very experienced, is not the brightest bulb in the box. He’s got years of know-how behind his expertise in kidnapping and torture, but there’s some shit that just kind of evades him sometimes. Double checking your ropes after he gets a little too excited and wants a dirty basement floor romp, for example. Thanks to his overexcitement and shit-idiot brain fungus he’s got going on, it’s entirely possible for you to slip your bonds. This mistake, in canon, costs him his life.

But what if MC wasn’t so kind?

With a level head, you might be able to scrounge around his torture room for a little bit. Maybe he has a needle with some knockout liquid hanging around for “difficult” catches. Maybe you just wait around behind the door until he walks in and smash him on the head as hard as you can and knock his ass out. Either way, he’s got plenty of restraints, and now he’s the one cuffed to a rusty pole. The look on his dumb face when he comes to is priceless.

You’re not making the same mistakes he did. He’s triple tied to that thing. You know he’s strong, and you’re playing on his home field. You’ve got to be prepared for everything. At least long enough to get upstairs and find help or call the police. Right? Right?

But what if you don’t?

What if, after he comes to and is sputtering and howling and hissing things at you in German that would make Lindemann blush, you decide not to go for help? He’s mad. He’s oh so very mad. He does not like this, not one bit. But he’s panicking beyond what you’d expect, even for a serial killer who’s been two-timed by his own victim. There’s something else in those dilated eyes. Something you’ve become very acutely familiar with over the last few days. You can still smell it lingering on you the same way it’s staining his shirt now.

Fear. He’s afraid. And not of death or capture.

I mean, he very well might be terrified of those things, but whatever it is he’s feeling right now is far overshadowing that. His face is red, and you can practically see the veins in his neck popping in rhythm with his thrumming heartbeat. He’s sweating extensively, and while that’s not uncommon for him, there’s not that macabre jolly smile plastered across his face. He’s baring his teeth and snapping at you like a feral hound, swearing to end your miserable life in a manner that would make the ghosts of his past shudder in horror for you.

You don’t put it past him to snap these ropes any second and wrap his hands so tightly around your neck that your eyes pop like overinflated balloons. Even if the cops show up and try to escort you to safety, there’s an unspoken darkness in his glare, something that promises pain in your future even if they manage to subdue him. A promise that you can’t guarantee yourself that he can’t keep.

It strikes you that you know nothing about this man.

Surely someone out there knows about this. Someone knows about him and his little hobby. Monsters run in packs and even if you can’t see them, you know they must be there. Best case scenario, they can’t have him spilling their secrets so they find a way to end his life before the police can. Worst case scenario? Worst case, they come for you.

You’ve seen enough Hollywood horror movies to know just how wrong it can go if justice is left to the authorities. You haven’t seen much of it, but this looks like a pretty nice house. If he has money, he can just buy his way out. Who is to say that he doesn’t already have a deal with the cops? Kidnapping people is risky business, especially when folks begin to notice that you’re gone. Surely he has some safety net?

What if he’s part of a network of psychopaths? There’s been enough late-night conspiracy youtube binges in your existence to know that shit like that is perfectly plausible. What if he’s just one of many? What if they have the pull to see him set free even after you’ve gone through the proper avenues to get him locked away? What if, one night, when you think he’s rotting in a 6 x 6 cement cell miles away from you, you wake up back here in this basement with even more Strades with different names and faces but each one shares the desire to see you ripped apart at the seams and devoured?

No. HELL no. You’re not going to be the cliche victim. He can bark and screech at you until his throat is sore and his gums bleed, but the plain and simple fact of the matter is that you have this monster on a leash, and you’re not about to hand that leash over to someone else.

How many people has he killed? How many have met their end in this godless basement? How many unsuspecting people has he dragged here only to take them apart piece by piece until their eyes glaze and their final breath moistens his cheek as he watches the light in their eyes extinguish? Do you even want to know? Would it make you feel better or worse to know that, at least for now, you’ve narrowly escaped such a fate?

You have to know.

His screaming turns fearful as you ascend the stairs. Again, not for fear of being caught, but because he already has been. It’s so odd to hear the phrase “Don’t leave me here!” from his quivering chest when he’s apparently in the place he values most, and there’s a sick sense of catharsis that settles in your gut as you listen to him begin to whimper and whine. You don’t let yourself dwell on it but you do slam the door behind you loudly enough that he will be forced to acknowledge that his pathetic pleas mean nothing to you.

His house is painfully average, at least for someone like him. He’s even got portraits up with what must be friends or family or someone that cares enough to pose for a cheesy photo with him. If you didn’t know better, you’d say an upstanding, if a little tacky, upper-middle class man lives here. The furniture is unremarkable and well cared for but lived in enough to not raise suspicion. His kitchen is filled with expensive appliances that might as well be fresh out of the box. His fridge, as expected, is filled with beer and various quick meals. Not much of a cook, you guess.

The car sitting in the garage costs in the six digit range and looks like it’s the most beloved thing in the entire area. It reeks of Armor All and disinfectant, and you’re willing to bet that if he was so inclined, he could put it on a showroom floor right now. He’s got tools and cables of all sorts thrown about, but not the kind you’ve gotten so used to. Maybe he actually does use them for their intended purpose sometimes.

As you walk the length of his home, you notice a distinct lack of screaming. You can’t hear anything, not even a peep from the basement, and you are very certain he’s crying up a storm down there. Interesting. He’s go this place sound proofed. You’re not sure what you’d expected, but it’s good information to have regardless.

After you’ve sated your curiosity by observing the dragon’s den, you make your way to the upper level. He’s probably not foolish enough to leave any sort of evidence behind where friends and neighbors can see it, so whatever it is you’re looking for is going to be somewhere a little bit more personal. Perhaps like a bedroom?

Bingo.

His bedroom, much like the rest of his house, looks about what you’d expect. King sized bed, wooden dresser with a TV and player on top, and a desk beneath the window. Sliding closet doors with all manner of free range dad apparel inside, and honestly, it’s the closest you’ve been to laughing since you got here. He would wear cargo shorts and plaid, wouldn’t he? A scrounge through the drawers of his dresser and closet reveal nothing remarkable, but you’re willing to bet your injured thigh that there’s something special in the desk.

Just like you’d expect, the desk is locked, but you’d noticed a pair of keys sitting willy-nilly out in the living room and you’d picked them up. About 7 key changes later and the desk pops open for you like a cheap whore. He really isn’t too bright, is he? Or maybe he just wasn’t expecting this to ever be a problem. Either way, you’re grateful he’s a moron.

Inside the drawer seems to be loads of DVDs, unmarked except for dates. It feels like you’re the unprepared cop in a serial killer movie as you look down at them. You don’t need to watch them to know what they are, but you’re going to anyway. You have to know. You need to know just who you’re dealing with here.

You pick one at random and pop it into the DVD player and the scene that greets you seems all too familiar. A hunched figure, bloodied and tied to the pole you’d become so intimate with over the last week. This person was in much worse shape than you, however. You could see shadows moving off screen and the camera fuzzes and refocuses repeatedly as what you assume is Strade messes with the controls. Not long after, he emerges, practically skipping into frame. Even though most of his face is concealed behind a hideous bandana, you can tell he’s smiling. It reaches his eyes.

He says what appears to be a rehearsed greeting and you’re left wondering just how crazy is he? Is he talking to his future self? You can see him making these videos to relive his sick, sadistic fantasies but talking to himself like an absolute lunatic is just a little disconcerting. However, you also acknowledge that the only reason you’ve even thinking about this is to distract yourself from the fact that you’re watching a homemade snuff film that you almost starred in yourself.

And then he begins.

Despite the visceral horror on display before you, the urge to vomit never comes. You watch, blank faced, as this poor soul is faced with every horror a human mind can conceive. It goes on for long. Too long. And Strade never stops talking.

The realization sets in that’s because he’s not the only one watching.

He’s not talking to himself. He’s responding. This wasn’t for him. This was for them.

If you had any emotional energy to give, surely you’d be absolutely horrified, but you don’t and you can’t. You’re not even surprised. Someone like Strade, that bubbly personality and 1,000 watt smile, of course he’d find a way to utilize his talents. He’d found a market. He had a hobby and he made money from it. ‘Love your job and you’ll never work a day in your life.’ and you are just so willing to bet he loves his fucking job.

You let the video keep playing as you sit up from his bed and leave the room. You make your way down the stairs, back to the living room, and then back to the basement door. You open it and immediately are bombarded with the sounds of his screaming and hateful vitriol. It doesn’t phase you. You’re not sure anything will ever again.

Calmly, you walk into the room and stare at him. He doesn’t cease his incessant threats until he realizes you’re waiting for him to finish so that you can speak. He finally silences himself, though he continues to rip and tear at the ropes holding him hostage as you tell him you found his little home video collection.

“Let me out.” He demands, and you realize he doesn’t quite understand that he’s not the one in control anymore. Of course a dog without a tangible leash will continue to run wild. You needed to drive the point home.

You turn your back to him and begin to ruffle through his various cabinets, searching around the nooks and crannies for something that will help him understand just what position he’s found himself in. You make a very interesting discovery next to his med kit. A collar. A literal collar.

Poetic justice.

It’s thick and burdensome and more than a little hideous. It’s definitely homemade, because not even the most fucked of BDSM sites are going to offer something like this. It’s accompanied by a small remote with a large red button and not much else. You push the button and yelp in pain, the collar clattering to the floor as it slips from your fingers. It shocked you. It was so very painful, but you’re smiling.

You retrieve it from where it fell and pop it open, observing it curiously. Strade watches you through wide eyes and sniveling, trembling lips. The look on his face is a dead giveaway that you’ve found something you really shouldn’t have. The toothy grin you flash him shows him that you understand that.

Without a word, you approach him, holding the open collar in your sweating palm. His struggles begin anew and before long he’s practically yanking his arms out at the sockets trying to get away from you and your newfound toy. He’s throwing his weight around and doing whatever he can with his limited movements to make damn sure you can’t get that terrible thing around his neck, but it’s all in vain because energy is finite and he’s been expending a lot of it over the last hour.

He’s breathing heavy and you could swear he’s begging between heaves as you clap the collar around his thick neck. His flesh bulges from the side and you’re fairly certain it was made for someone much less burly than himself in mind. You get the odd urge to adjust it on him like a necklace but he’s still dangerous, even caged. You feel weirdly... proud.

“Stop-! you don’t know what you’re doing!” He hiccups, and as he pulls his head upward, you can see he is indeed crying. “Please! Don’t!”

You’ve never thought of yourself as particularly sadistic, at least in that sense, but some ghostly force pushes your thumb down on that big red button. Watching his eyes go wide and his body convulse and seize fills you with a sense of sheer euphoria that can’t properly be conveyed. The utterly satisfying clang of his head hitting the pole at mach 5 as he shakes and bumbles almost humorously while the collar sends x amount of volts through his body makes you giggle.

When you finally pull your thumb off the button, he’s still shaking from the residual shock, drool and mucus bubbling from his mouth and nose and sloping down onto his chin. He looks defeated; utterly pathetic. Is this how you looked to him all those times he stood over you grinning as he gifted you pain the likes of which had been unthinkable to you before you met him? The desire to push down again is overwhelming but you’re determined for him to understand there’s a point to this misery.

There’s a thousand thoughts going through your mind right now faster than you can comprehend them all, but they all have the same general principal. This man is a murderer. This man is a rapist. This man is contained. This man is afraid. This man is at your mercy.

And unfortunately for him, you just ran out.

‘How many’ you ask, despite already knowing. If the videos upstairs are any indication, there’s more than he can probably count. More names and faces than he can practically remember and they’re dead because of him. He looks up at you through wet lashes with a trembling lip, already caught on to the fact that there is no correct answer. Your thumb hovers over that seductive red button and he’s quick to spit out whatever he can regardless.

“I don’t know! I don’t!”

You don’t doubt that he’s being honest, but it sickens you none he less. You press that button for half a second and he jolts up off the floor as much as his restraints will allow. When he comes to, his eyes can barely focus in on you and when his slumps over, you can see the burns from the collar already settling in on his tan skin. You’re not sure how to turn down the voltage or how lethal it is, but you don’t really care at the moment. If he dies, he dies. You’ll deal with the complications of that later.

You could sit here all day and grill him, literally and figuratively, about his track record of atrocities, but it won’t bring you any peace. You’re not sure that peace is something that you’ll ever feel again, all things considered. Meeting the monsters that dwell in the dark is drastically different than simply acknowledging that they exist, and through some twist of fate, you’ve been given the opportunity to show this particular monster that he’s no longer at the top of the food chain. There’s so much you could do, so many things you want to do, and it’s at that moment you realize you’ve spent too long staring into the abyss to try and claw your way out.

You’re being offered the chance they never were. You’re holding the controls now. He’s already crying and you’ve barely touched him, barely done anything besides shock him a little. You remember that feeling well. If you recall, you were already crying before he put that knife to your thigh on your first day with him.

Truth is, you decided the second he fell unconscious what you were going to do.

Maybe a revenge like this isn’t yours to take, but you’re taking it regardless. For yourself, and for every sorry sap that’s met their end in his cement hellhole. They died for you to have this opportunity, and you’d like to think that maybe they’re there with you in this moment. Even if you never knew them, you feel a strange kinship with them. After all, it was almost you.

He continues to babble underneath his breath, various pleas for mercy or sympathy or any form of compassion you can muster from your still aching body, and though you desperately wish you did, you can’t find any. You’re certain when you look in the mirror next, it won’t be your own eyes looking back at you anymore, but something closer to his. Maybe you did die in this basement, because whoever you were before you met him is long gone and has been replaced with something so much more empty.

You explain to him, as gently as you can, that it’s your turn now, and his resistance will only make this harder. You don’t delight in seeing him in pain (whether or not that’s a lie has yet to be determined) but it’s a necessary evil for all he’s done. You don’t believe his life is yours to take, but you’d be as terrible as him if you let him loose on the world again. You can’t trust anyone but yourself, and since this situation is so delicate, you need a bit more time to think on it.

He doesn’t seem to understand, at least until you’re binding his legs and securing his head snuggly to the pole. Maybe it’s overkill considering the man looks like he belongs in a shibari magazine right now, but there’s no precautions you can’t take. You can’t have him escaping. It’s far too soon, and you have such wonderful things planned.

Were you a kinder soul, maybe you would put him to sleep because it’s so apparent he’s terrified. Being bound like this has really brought out his inner little bitch, and the way he’s looking, he’s going to piss himself. But its a price it’s only fair that he pay, all things considered. You don’t know what time it is or even where you are, but you know you’ll return to him when you’ve been rejuvenated, eager and ready to begin on him. You’re only a few steps toward the door when he begins shouting, words barely discernible between his emphatic weeping and sobbing hiccups.

“D-don’t leave me here in the dark! Let me go, let me out! You can’t! You can’t leave me here like this!” You grin softly, turning slowly to face him, and tell him that you can and you will. You ask what he’s so afraid of, but you don’t wait to hear the answer as you step through the frame and shut the door behind you, leaving him to rot in his personal dungeon. It’s only been an hour and he’s already so pliable. You wonder what you can make him do when you really make it hurt. Psychology says it takes 7 years to brainwash someone and coerce them into absolute compliance, but you’re willing to bet you can have it done in a few months.

You already know one of his fears, and are very clearly not ashamed to exploit it. How many else does he have, you might wonder, already planning tomorrow’s festivities. Maybe you were sicker in the head than you thought. Maybe Strade just brought out the worst in you, stripped away all that made you human and left you with raw hurt and despair.

It’s tempting. To give in. To sit and massage your aching body while listening to his screams as they echo through the soundproofed basement. But you’re tired, and you haven’t slept in a bed in over a week. His looked awfully nice. Maybe after that, you’d wash the dried blood from your battered body, order some food, and appreciate the niceties that civilized life had to offer. Niceties you took for granted.

After that? Well, after that you had a new pet to train.

#snaspants #Strade #BTD #NSFT #tw torture mention #im mean just mean lmao #IM LOVE YOU GIRL!!

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x0401x · 4 years

Text

Asahi Shinbun Interview with Akane Kazuki

“Original animes are now showing their true value.” - On the feelings that director Akane Kazuki has put into his latest work, “Hoshiai no Sora”.

One challenging TV animation began airing in October 2019. The title of the series is “Hoshiai no Sora”.

In the past, many TV animes were original works, but as of late, animes often have a source material. It can be said that the ratio of “anime adaptations” of source materials is between over 60% and over 80%. “Hoshiai no Sora” is an original anime, which is rare nowadays.

Akane Kazuki-san, the director, original creator and screenwriter, had made three original animes until now. Yet all of them were sci-fi and fantasy, their stories unfolding through “unrealistic” themes. However, unlike Director Akane’s works up to this point, “Hoshiai no Sora” is a “realistic” story that has the youth of middle school boys as its theme.

Why did he decide to make one more original anime, with a theme that he had never written about before? The motive was hidden in the roots of Director Akane’s entry in the anime industry.

Raw || Index

Coming in contact with the possibility of an original anime through “Gundam”

One of the reasons why Director Akane decides to aim for the anime industry was that he “felt the potential of anime”. At the time, many directors, such as Miyazaki Hayao and Tomino Yoshiyuki, were creating original works that did not have a source material and enlivening the anime industry. Director Akane was greatly influenced by them.

“When I was a child, after watching Steven Spielberg’s ‘Encounter with the Unknown’ and George Lucas’s ‘Star Wars’, I began looking up to international live action movies. There were many works amongst the live action movies from overseas that were exciting, fun and insane to watch, and I could feel an essence of entertainment from them. On the other hand, several of the Japanese live action movies were focused on realistic artistry and not very entertaining.”

“Then, I watched the works of Miyazaki-san and Tomino-san and they had me going, ‘This is entertainment! Japan can also make entertainment-type works!’. At the same time, I felt that we could be entering an anime era from that point onward.”

After graduating from university, Director Akane joined Sunrise. Under Director Tomino Yoshiyuki, father of the “Kidou Senshi Gundam” series and one of the people who motivated Director Akane to aim for the anime industry, he was in charge of the production progress of original robot anime works.

Starting with the Gundam series, Director Tomino created countless original animes. Director Akane was charmed by the way that Director Tomino made his series.

“In Tomino-san’s settings, I already required to insert my own ideas. With Tomino-san’s plots as base, the writers would make the scenarios, and the responsibility for their content fell upon the storyboard writers, but if we made storyboards that were exactly like the screenplay, Tomino-san would get angry. ‘Put more ideas into it,’ he would say. ‘I’m already giving so many ideas, so why won’t you guys give some too?!’ (laughs). For original animes, in order to make the series interesting, we had the duty of sprinkling and hammering our ideas into it while having constant questions about it. Witnessing this at twenty years of age, I came in contact with the enjoyment of making original animes.”

From this experience, Director Akane started to think that making original animes was something natural for animation directors.

The decline of original animes | The sense of two impeding crises that he had been observing

Having left Sunrise and turned into a freelancer, Director Akane birthed original animes one after another. He worked as the director, original creator and series composer of “Geneshaft” (2001), “Heat Guy J” (2002) and “Noein: Mou Hitori no Kiki e” (2005). However, along with the passage of time, the difficulties of creating an original anime increased. This was because the fact that the public became able to purchase anime films (VHS and DVD) gave rise to a climate of concern for the film sales in the industry as a whole.

“Original animes take a great deal of workload and costs for the production and advertisement. Still, you have to release them in order to know if they will be a success. On one hand, animes that have a popular source material such as mangas, light novels and games have their stories and characters ready, and you know they will sell to a certain extent even if there is not much propaganda for them.”

And so, the number of projects for original animes saw a steady decrease. Currently, most of the animes being broadcasted are series that have source materials. In these circumstances, Director Akane claims that he can sense two impeding crisis.

“The first is: I feel that the viewers have begun to grow tired of anime. When they have a source material, people can get excited over the developments even without watching it in earnest. I wonder if they are becoming unable to watch anime seriously. If I had to say it, anime is turning into a sashimi accompaniment nowadays. Social medias are the sashimi and anime is the grated radish. People watch anime in order to talk about it in social medias. Anime is becoming a tool for communication. For us, the creators, this is destructive.

The second is the decline of the anime industry. That is because the people who have the know-how for making original animes are disappearing. Many of today’s young animators enter this industry after watching animes that have source materials. The number of people who aimed for this industry out of wanting to create original animes has truly decreased. It is exactly because things are this way now that we need original animes.”

Breaking the patterns of traditional animation and opening up a new path

youtube

“Hoshiai no Sora” is the original anime that Director Akane took roughly fourteen years to make after “Noein: Mou Hitori no Kimi e”. With the sense of impeding crisis as his trigger, the thought that “we must advance with new ramifications and possibilities of animation” sprouted within Director Akane himself.

“When I thought about what young people use their money for these days, I concluded that they use it for ‘experiences’. That they might be paying to experience things they would not be able taste anywhere else, such as live concerts and events. When I pondered what could be the equivalent to a live concert in terms of anime, I figured that original animes feel like lives. Original animes, I thought, can create experiences that you can only have a taste of through them, since nobody has seen them before, so there is excitement when they are watched for the first time upon being broadcasted, and all sorts of emotions stir up because you cannot predict the future developments.”

In order to have the viewers feel that “experience”, what he was particularly conscious of was the “story”. Until now, he had been the creator, director and series composer of his original animes, but this time, he was the creator, director and screenwriter. Moreover, the setting this time was not a fanciful world of sci-fi or fantasy, but instead is a “realistic” story that depicts the youth of students. As “unrealistic” stories about the isekai theme have been increasing in number in the past years, Director Akane has put into it his intentions of being able to further amplify the feeling of a live concert through a realistic story.

“In ‘Hoshiai no Sora’, the story is portrayed through breaking the barriers of conventional anime. Several of the animes being aired nowadays have the role of ‘a place to escape to’. Many series depict impossible things in hilarious and crazy ways, forgetting about common life. That is by no means bad, but I believe anime should also have other functions. I aimed for a story that would not be simply funny, comfortable to watch or emotional, but that would throw themes at the viewers and make them ponder on ‘What do you think of this phenomenon?’ with me. I want to reflect the conflicts and troubles shouldered by the people who are living in the present, as well as the current era, through anime. Additionally, I want to show a new path not just for the audience but also for the people currently involved with anime production, that ‘this way of making anime also exists’.”

“Hoshiai no Sora” portrays children of the current times

And so, on October 2019, “Hoshiai no Sora” aired at last. Starting with its project, this work took a period of about three years to be made. In regards to its production, Director Akane states that he interviewed young people who are from the same generation and environment as the featured characters.

“This time, when I received the story, I reminisced to my childhood first-thing. The child characters who appear in anime look like they are having fun and are portrayed as though they symbolize nostalgia, but is it really like that in real life? When I looked back into my childhood, there was a lot of constraint, irritation towards myself and others, those kinds of things. So above all, I wanted to depict this properly. But this time, even though I could write as much as I felt like about my own childhood frustrations, I wanted to write about the frustrations of present-time children. The environment that children are put in nowadays is becoming much more complicated than in the era I was raised. I wanted to write about the children who live in it through anime.”

“That is why I did interviews first of all. In those interviews, I found that, along with the evolution of the times, children felt things that adults are incapable of feeling. Nevertheless, when adults do not understand this, I noticed that they often disavow young kids without listening to them. I thought that, if I also portrayed this part of it, the younglings might watch the anime seriously as if it were them.”

What livens up this crafted story is the “art style”, which gives off a soft impression. It is said that the adoption of anime-like cutesy illustrations in contrast with the realistic story was the producer’s suggestion. Since people cannot tell what kind of story an original anime with no source material will be until they watch it, he made use of the idea that they would be drawn into the anime by its art and gradually get pulled into the story. Introducing people to a realistic story through an unrealistic element - one could take this as a form of expression that can be achieved exactly because it is an anime.

In 2005’s “Noein: Mou Hitori no Kimi e”, “new” techniques were adopted, such as the CGI outlines and the fact that the animation style changed on every episode, which was rare for the animes of the time. Just like that, Director Akane always shows us viewers a new “something”. This deepened the expectations that “Hoshiai no Sora” would also surely show us something novel.

“When watching the series, one might at first have the impression that it is about the activities of a middle school boys’ soft tennis club, a sports thing. However, it is a drama that depicts not just this, but also the frustrations and troubles that middle schoolers shoulder these days, including the adults who cause them. It reflects the nature of the current times and presents questions, as we have tried all kinds of devices to make people think, regardless of whether they are young children or adults. It is different from the patterns of anime that people have being seeing until now, so there might be viewers who were at loss. I think they could not have imagined how the story would turn out (laughs). With this included, I want everyone to have fun watching it.”

#hoshiai no sora #hns #stars align #fyeahsportsanime #sportsanimedaily #hoshisora #katsuragi maki #shinjou touma #akane kazuki #anime #interview #my translation

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imperatorium · 3 years

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Hello. I hope you don't mind me asking this...So, before I found your blog I was a big fan of Terrance. I believe one can separate the art from the artist, but I'm still conflicted on whether it'd be wrong to, for example, buy AMS merch or see them live the next time they tour or whatever. On one hand, I don't condone his actions at all, and someone once pointed out to me that at the end of the day I wouldn't be contributing much money to him personally. (1/3)

I know I’ve made commentary about separating art from artist before, so know that I absolutely don’t disagree with you on that front. I think a perfect example that may be more relatable and widespread is my residual love for aspects of Harry Potter that I will always continue to engage with, long after JKR is canceled for good for being an unrepentant transphobe (among many other awful things). Her loathsome behaviour doesn’t undo the way I felt about some of the characters and the incredibly important connections her work brought into my life - but. I don’t feel comfortable giving any degree of financial support or credence to someone who has used their platform to be ignorant at best and intentionally hateful at worst, personally.

Similarly, Terrance is someone who personally (and mostly unrepentantly) hurt me, directly...but I still have a great love for some of the characters he created and stories he told. (In part because one of them turned out to be mine, but that’s kind of its own separate thing.)

AMS was something that started towards the end of my time with him/in his world, so I’m not super educated about it or its content (other than what I remember him putting together shortly before we broke up, eight years ago) or how well it’s doing or even really who is involved, at this point, I guess besides Saar.

That being said, unless things have changed since my last understanding of it, it’s an independent project. It’s not like Repo! being held hostage/ruined by a big studio that didn’t care about it, fucking the creators out of credit and financial return they deserved for their work. It’s not even like TDC which, had it not been shot dead in the water for a number of reasons, I would still tell people to support because it was supposed to be a series that tons of people I care about would have benefited from being involved in.

As I understood it, AMS was his own vanity/passion project that he (and Saar, I guess) have complete control of. Like with other self-driven projects he’d started when I was involved, money would be going to cover the costs of materials/merch/work others are doing and owed compensation for, and after that it...does directly benefit him. Anyone else who is involved has either already been paid or is doing it as a favour, because he’s really good at making you believe that’s worth something.

(I’m reminded of the years I spent as his personal assistant, for which he paid me in...the dates we would have been going on, anyway, because we were in a long-term, serious relationship. I’m reminded of the time I expressed gratitude for one of the times Darren paid me for the work I’d been doing and his response was to snap at me, “It’s not his money, it’s mine,” as if he was angry that I thought I had any right to compensation for the hours, days, weeks on end I spent boxing DVDs, mailing merch, working customer service, managing social media.)

It’s been at least a few years since he’s done anything that affected my life and going on seven since he was actively in my life, so I don’t know what kind of a person he is anymore. I just know that he used to be a terrible one - and not just to me. If he is still a jerk, then actively supporting is work is telling him that he is wanted, is worth something, has a platform he can continue to use to prop himself up on (and kick others off of). It gives him power to hold over friends and fans alike and use them both in, at best, the unkind ways I remember and occasionally hear continuing rumour of.

I have no judgment against you for enjoying the work, but I do think it’s very irresponsible in regards to him or anyone in a position of power who is being abusive that, “He’s going to be a creep no matter what I do.” With absolutely no malice, I do hope that this gives you a little bit more of the context to understand why I think that’s the case.

#anonymous #asks

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hyper-fic-sation · 5 years

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Jack-O-Lanterns and Candy Corn

Here’s another re-upload of one of my older works but I really hope y’all enjoy it because I based it on one of my favorite older movies, Re-Animator! Please leave likes and comments down below!

So much had changed since his childhood, everything from style to speech to entertainment to medicine, hell, even the cost of money changed!

But each of these changes, with time, had become the new normal for Bucky Barnes. Eventually a twenty dollar book didn’t give him heart palpitations and words like “Hootch” and “Horn” faded from his vocabulary.

The one change that had perhaps shellshocked him the most though came in the month of October with the arrival of Halloween.

As a child, Halloween had been the best night of Bucky Barnes’ life. His mother and Steve’s would have worked weeks on their costumes, transforming them from boys to beasts, and would let them roam throughout the city streets, knocking on neighbor’s door for candy, Bucky promising Sarah that he would watch out for Steve, and then promising his mom the same for Rebecca. They would return home late at night and sneak into their rooms, swapping candy for candy, talking about particularly scary house decorations, and discussing their plans for next year. It was a night where magic became real and where everything truly scary and frightening about the world slipped away, covered up by toilet paper cobwebs and sheets with holes cut out for eyes. On that night, he didn’t have to worry about whether his best buddy would make it to see sixteen, or whether they were gonna have to sacrifice dinner so the twins could have diapers. It was a time where he was just free to be a kid and nothing else. It was no wonder why it was his favorite time of the year.

But these days? Halloween was different. Costumes were more about being sexy than scary, and here in the city, few kids ever went trick or treating alone. The occasional scary decorations that had once seemed so impressive were now pitiful when compared to the new plastic skeletons and automated hand grabbing candy bowls. It was almost entirely unrecognizable as the day of magic that it had once been, instead it became just another foreign experience upon a pile of other ones.

He still tried to make the best of it, however, he really did, but it just wasn’t the same anymore. After everything that happened to him, everything he’d done, he couldn’t find it in his heart to get excited about a night of playing monsters when, in his mind, he already was one.Add to that the fact that almost all the Avengers seemed to think Halloween was just another day and it was even more difficult to get excited. In fact, he could only think of two teammates of his who were genuinely excited for the day.

The first was Tony, who was apparently planning a crazy costume party the night of that all the Avengers were invited to attend.

The second was (Y/N), who just seemed excited for the day as a whole. The whole month was seemingly leading up to this day for her. She practically skipped around the house, leaving lit pumpkin spice candles in her wake and the sound of some song about skeletons ringing in your ears.

She had come to the compound around the same time as Bucky had, her powers of flight and telekinesis landing her onto the Avenger’s radar during her final year of college where she was trying to graduate in peace with a Bachelor's in Journalism and Communications. Right away she had swooped in with her sarcastic personality and wit and secured her place inside every one of the Avenger’s hearts, even his which he had thought of as nothing more than a block of ice in his chest until then.

His feelings for you had been stirring inside him for a long time, he had tried to ignore them at first, tried to repress them and keep them hidden from view, but, with one smile from you it was as if all his hard work were for nothing. His heart would soar and his own lips would spread into a grin, and he would feel a little bit of that ice begin to thaw before he would remind himself that you would never, ever give him the time of day, maybe once, but not anymore, not after all he’d done.

“Hey, Bucky,” your voice called out, snapping him out of his thoughts and returning him to the real world where he was currently sitting in the Avengers’ tower common room, “do you wanna watch a movie?.

He turned up to look at you and instantly he was enthralled, it took him a few moments before your question fully registered, “what kind of movie?” he asked even though it didn’t really matter, you could have wanted to go jumping off cliffs and he would follow you.

You smirked, “what kind do you think, Buck? Do you even know what time of year it is?”

He laughed a little at your dramatics, “alright, what movie is it then?” he asked. A smile lit up your face, so wide he thought your cheeks might burst from the strain, “it’s called The Re-Animator,” you said, “it’s a cheesy film from the eighties, I’ve seen it like a thousand times.”

“Do you really wanna watch it again then?” Bucky asked.

You nodded, “yes, yes I do,” you said, “it’s one of my favorites so will you please watch it with me? Please, please, please, please!”

Bucky laughed and nodded, “alright doll, I’ll watch it.”

Almost instantly after his reply she launched herself into his arms and kissed his cheek, “and this is why you’re my favorite Avenger!” you squealed and Bucky blushed at the sudden display of affection, not that you seemed to notice though, pulling away and rushing back into your room only to return a few moments later in a pair of pajamas carrying the DVD Case proudly in your arms.

“What’s this movie even about?” Bucky asked as you put the disk into the player and worked your magic on the television to make the movie play.

You rolled your eyes, “will you please just let the movie happen?” you said, “I wanna see it through a first-timer’s eyes.”

And so that ended most of the conversation for the duration of the movie. The story was about a doctor named Herbert who used a special green sludge to bring people back from the dead, and it was safe to say that the film was different from anything Bucky had ever seen before. Topless girls filled screens, fake blood and guts spewed from corpses, morbidly funny jokes had him laughing one minute and gasping in shock the next. It all came to a head however in the film’s climax where the doctor was strangled by a corpse’s small intestine and the screen cut to black leaving Bucky in suspense.

“What, that’s it?” he cried and you laughed.

“What happened to Herbert? Did the serum work on Meg? What is Dan gonna do about all the dead people just roaming around?” he cried out before looking at you desperately, “please tell me there’s more!”

You giggled, “there’s a sequel,” you sighed, “but it’s not very good…”

“I don’t care,” Bucky responded, “I need more!”

So there the two of you sat for the rest of the afternoon and night, glued to the television watching a movie that in all honesty kind of sucked after the first twenty minutes, but neither of you truly caring, just too wrapped up in the characters to mind the terrible plotlines and inconsistent character development.

When the movie finally came to an end and the credits began to roll, you launched into an excited discussion on Herbert West’s motivations and Dan’s inability to touch a patient without immediately killing them. It was some of the most fun Bucky had had in awhile, and, for a second, it was almost like he was a kid again ready for Halloween to arrive.

“Can I tell you a secret, Buck?” you asked leaning into him, so close he could practically smell your strawberry shampoo.

He nodded, “of course,” he said.

“No,” you said, “I mean, it’s like top secret, like, some CIA shit, can I still trust you?”

He smirked, “what, are you gonna tell me you’ve been reanimating people on the side?”

You laughed, “no, the only thing I bring to life is the spirit of Halloween in this place,” you said, “so, can I trust you or not?”

Bucky nodded, “lay it on me doll,” he said and he could swear he saw a faint blush creep into your cheeks.

“Alright then,” you said, glancing away for a moment before returning to meet his eyes, “it’s about my costume for Tony’s Halloween party.”

The got Bucky’s attention. You were notoriously secretive about your costume for the party, deflecting any questions aimed at you about it, hiding it away behind the locked door of your bedroom, even refusing to ask for help when you came out of your room bleeding from sticking yourself with sewing needles one too many times. The fact that you were willing to trust him with your secret costume was something of an honor.

“What is it?” Bucky asked?

You smiled, “not so fast,” you said, “why don’t you tell me what you’re going to be.”

Bucky’s excitement faltered as he contemplated lying to you and saying something basic, he’d gone to the party store with Sam and Steve who’d tried to rope him into being the third stooge with them, but he’d refused, it just hadn’t felt right, none of the costumes they’d suggested had, in the end, he’d just decided not to go, he just wasn’t up for it, but he knew telling you that would be the most disappointing thing ever.

So he just shrugged, “I don’t have one yet,” he said, “I’m still weighing my options.”

Your smile grew wider, “would you like to do a partner costume with me?” The proposition was shocking to say the least, taking him by surprise. Halloween was two weeks away and you’d been working on your costume for months, did you really expect him to just have something ready?

“What is it?” he asked.

Then you leaned closer, your lips touching the lobe of his ear and sending shivers down your spine, and you told him, and his smile only grew. When you pulled away he nodded excitedly.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

“What’s up with Frosty and the Little Girl?” Sam asked confused though Steve could barely hear him over the music blasting throughout the party room, “they’ve been spending a lot of time together lately, and now their both late, what’s up with that?”

Steve shrugged, “I didn’t think Bucky was coming, but (Y/N) surprises me, would’ve thought she’d be the first one here,” he practically shouted to be heard. “I know! That girl is crazy about Halloween, and I wanna see this costume she’s been obsessing over,” Sam replied.

Steve was just about to say something else when the doors to the party room opened and in stepped you with Bucky in tow. You were clad in a disheveled looking, blood covered dress shirt and suit with your hair pinned back to make it look shorter and quoiffed. A skinny tie was around your neck and you held a vial of what looked like green glow stick fluid in your hand while a pair of huge glasses took up most of your face.

Bucky stood behind you, his outfit was much simpler with a blood-soaked white tank top and a pair of bloody blue jeans, his hair had been styled shorter too, and in his hand he carried a blood-stained axe.

Steve had absolutely no idea what you two were supposed to be, but you both someone worked it so well that he didn’t care. You two had the biggest smiles on your faces both relishing in their parts.

He approached you and smiled back.

“What the hell are you two supposed to be?” he asked.

“You remember that movie I tried to get you to watch a few weeks back?” Bucky asked.

Steve rolled his eyes, “you mean the really crappy one from the eighties?”

You gasped with mock outrage, “how dare you! It’s a tour de force!”

“We’re the main characters from it, Herbert West and Dan Cane,” Bucky explained further.

Sam laughed, “you two are such dorks,” he said.

You just beamed and entwined your arm with Bucky, “yes,” you said, “yes we are, and we’re gonna go kill it on the dance floor now, so if you’ll excuse us,” you pulled Bucky towards the crowd of dancing people and both of you were quickly swallowed up by the crowd.

And that night, dancing with you, laughing until his sides hurt, taking terrible pumpkin flavored shots, and wearing one of the best costumes in the world, Bucky felt every real struggle and fear melt away from him, he felt his heart begin to thaw and he remembered just what he loved so much about Halloween. It truly was a night of magic.

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barns x reader #james buchanan bucky barnes #steve rogers #captain america #sam wilson #tony stark #iron man #avengers #cute #fluffy #reanimator #halloween

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bald-tales · 5 years

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Witness Protection at the Bears Den - by Titan

Part 4 “What the hell!”cried Dan, jumping up from his chair, “What do you think your doing Ken?” He quickly moved over to Ken who was standing beside the heavy chrome Barber’s Chair. Ken was screwing the top on what Dan realised now, was a bottle of chloroform, after having emptied a few drops on the towel covering Jerrod’s face. The chair was still fully reclined – up until now; Dan had been enjoying himself watching his boss get a makeover! He couldn’t get over the radical Mohawk with shaved sides his boss was now sporting. In fact, he’d been getting off on it, unbuttoning his pants and letting his 9 inch boner out so he could stroke it whilst watching the haircut proceed. “Relax Dan!” said Ken, placing his large hand on his friends shoulder, “I know what I’m doing.” “But you’re going too far; this guys my boss.” “Yeah mate, and you’ve been bitchin about him as long as I can remember. About him giving you nothing but agro, always stealing your ideas!” continued Ken, his tone sounding angry. “ Wouldn’t you like to get back at him?” “Well yes, sure!. But not like this Ken.” Dan said excitedly, tucking his exposed cock back into his pants. “Why not like this? You sure looked like you were enjoying yourself over there.” Ken went on, motioning towards Dan’s hard-on. “Surely your not doing this, just for me?” replied a slightly embarrassed Dan. “No Dan, admittedly there is another reason.” “What do you mean?” Ken went on, “I recognised Jerrod’s name as soon as you introduced him.” Dan’s eyes widened, “You mean you know him?” “Know of him to be more correct. We’ve never met before, but he and Bart have.” Ken continued as Dan looked more and more stunned. “You see, about 7 years ago, Bart was working for a top IT company in Northern California. He was into one of the other guys whom he had seen at one of the local gay bars a few times. This guy continually ignored Bart, or told him to quit bothering him. This guys name was Jerrod. He knew he had the looks and he always played on that. He told Bart he wasn’t into leather types, he found that whole scene disgusting, and this was about the same time Bart was starting to experiment with the leather scene. It wasn’t long before Jerrod got a promotion- in charge of Bart’s department. Well, this angered Bart even more, as he’d been next in line, however Jerrod had spread some lies about Bart’s ‘alternative’ lifestyle, which ruined his chances. Jerrod kept dumping all the work he couldn’t handle on Bart’s desk. He had to put in more and more hours to get it all done, while Jerrod got the credit for the work he had slaved over. Anyway , Bart had been a customer of mine for some time, and I had been making Bart try different hairstyles. Got him to grow a decent beard to go with the H’n’T flattop I’d been styling. Jerrod told him to get rid of the beard, and to get his haircut into a more conservative look. Bart, too embarrassed to come to me, went to another Barber and had the beard shaved off, and his hair styled into a short crew-cut. Well, a few months latter, Jerrod decided to go against his boss, and when he returned from holidays, he had grown a mustache similar to the one on Jerrod now. I had shaved his head bald, as he was looking to completely change his conservative look. It went well with the tan he had got on his holidays. Finally we pierced his ears, and two small gold rings appeared in each earlobe. When Bart turned up for work, Jerrod said that was the last straw. The big, fat balded Biker look, was too freaky for the office, Bart was out. I told him he could have fought it as I was pretty sure it was unfair dismissal, he just said to leave it. He was miserable, and it took him along time to get over the whole thing. Anyway we started getting closer, and that was when I asked him if he’d like to come into a partnership with me, to buy the run-down bar nextdoor – the rest is history as they say. I always told Bart, his old boss would get ‘his’ one day! That day has finally come, and I think a leather biker, is great revenge, don’t you Dan?” “Unbelievable story,” Dan answered, “I never knew much about Jerrod’s past – he always kept to himself at work.” “You can trust me it’s all true!” Ken replied. “But you’re ruining a great business opportunity – you could make a lot of money having Jerrod on side.” “And I still will Dan my boy. It’s just that Jerrod, though technically in charge of your department, will be leaving the day to day running of it to you.” Dan asked, “but how? I mean won’t he go to his superiors or even the cops!” “No he wont, friend, “ continued Ken pointing to the large LCD television on the back wall, “and that’s the reason.” Dan had noticed the new TV earlier, but hadn’t had time to comment about it with all the excitement of the last few hours. “A recent acquisition through a very good friend, along with the modified barbers chair. It’s all cost me a small fortune just to satisfy my hobby, but it’s really going to be worth it now!” Ken laughed as he brought the chair around so Dan could study the back. Dan’s eyes widened as he saw a complex unit in the back of the chair containing a small led screen with a series of switches around it. Seeing Dan’s interest Ken went over to the TV and flipped a switch on the side where a small DVD disc ejected.” This is what I used on Lucas. This TV contains 30 different DVDs; all of which I can control remotely from the chair. The technology behind this is actually from NASA, something they were experimenting with a few years back. An ex of mine, in their employ, decided to finish the project, of course it wasn’t a mind control machine originally. This guy knew my interest in mind manipulation, and offered me a good price.” “Are there others that know of this machines existence?” asked a more interested Dan. “No, let’s just say my test case was my ex – it wasn’t a good split originally. You’ve actually met him; his names Cooper!” “You mean the old guy that helps around the bar on weekends?” asked Dan, his voice wavering. “The one and only”, answered Ken, looking more satisfied than ever. Dan was more and more intrigued. It looked like Ken had the means to rid him of his obnoxious boss and what’s more, Dan would finally have the control of his department that was owed him. How strange, Dan smiled to himself - looking down at the sleeping Jerrod- this was the same guy who was continually telling Dan to lose some weight and grow some hair on his head. Then he wouldn’t look like such a thug. “Well, look whose looking like a thug now.” Dan said out loud. “Hmm, what was that?” asked Ken, beginning to make some adjustments to the chair control panel. “Just thinking about all the great things we could do with that machine of yours Ken.” Ken knew Dan was seeing his way now. “Yeah Dan, and we can enjoy ourselves along the way. Jerrod’s going to join us on our little adventure too, whether he wants to or not.” Ken started to remove the towels that had been on Jerrod’s face. Dan now had a closer look at Jerrod. He was already on the way to looking freakier, and Dan had seen what Ken was capable of with Lucas. His friendship with the big, burly Barber went back to when they were in college – he trusted Ken. “Hell! Let’s do it,” Dan suddenly said. Reclining the chair once more , Ken replied, “Okay then. Let’s do something about that pissy little excuse for a moustache. Jerrod was very insistent we not shave it off, so seeing he likes it so much, let’s give him one he can be proud of.” And with that, Ken grabbed a bottle from a nearby cabinet, that seemed to contain dozens of jars and bottles. Dan watched by the side of the chair as Ken applied the contents of the bottle to Jerrod’s neat, blond moustache, rubbing it in to the roots. Next he grabbed another unbranded bottle of green liquid. “Some of my home-made herbals,” Ken said looking up at Dan. This liquid was very oily looking and as Ken applied it, the green oil seem to stay thickly where it was applied. Ken carefully spread it along the jaw and chin area, up onto the cheeks, up to the top of each ear. He then said, “a formula that thickens and increases hair follicles, the other I used on his face, accelerates hair growth.” “Maybe you should patent that for the ‘hair replacement industry’, you’d be rich overnight!” Dan said. “Yeah, but too many of us would stop shaving our heads then, there would be no such thing as MPB. Don’t think I’d like to contribute to that Dan. Besides, at the moment it doesn’t grow hair where there are no neighbouring follicles.” Next Ken got Dan to help him undress the sleeping captive. He cut most of Jerrod’s designer gear away with huge scissors. “He certainly has a great body under all these clothes, he must spend a lot of time at the gym,” Ken commented, running a finger down Jerrod’s tight abs. Now with his body exposed, Ken, applied the green oily liquid to Jerrod’s chest and abdomen area, his pubes and balls, down his legs, up his arms, but left the back and arse free. “This kid was way too smooth, nothing to shave! This way we can decide where he needs barbering and where he doesn’t.” Ken said as he put the empty bottle down and produced a syringe from a small box in a counter drawer. Jabbing him in the arm, he emptied the contents into Jerrod’s bloodstream. “ Now you’ll love this Dan, I’ve mixed a combination of growth steroids with high calorie weight gainer, much like we use in the beer next door. Now let’s leave him to develop while we go grab a beer; I’d like to tell Bart about my new customer.” “How long will he be out?” asked Dan. “Oh, hours, I put a strong sedative in that shot as well”. Dan was impressed, Ken was definitely a clever and organised guy. Part 5 The bar next door to the Barbershop, discreetly located down a flight of stairs, was starting to get busy. Known as the ‘Bears Den’, this was the bar that was jointly owned by Ken and Bart, although Bart ran the day to day side of things. Ken and Dan were filling in Bart on what had been happening next door, whilst downing a couple of frosty beers. Bart just couldn’t believe it, his former boss next-door at this very moment. And not only that but he was getting one of Ken’s “special” haircuts. “ This I’ve got to see for my……..”, Bart said with a grin from ear to ear. “Now hold your horses Boy! Not just yet,” Ken interrupted, “You’ve got to stay and look after the customers, besides, his out cold. Just stay here and I’ll bring him out when his ‘finished’. Bart reluctantly obeyed his partner, but he knew he was in for a good night! The two friends returned upstairs to the shop, after a few hours, and Dan couldn’t believe the change already in Jerrod’s face and body. Jerrod’s moustache had thickened and spread down over the sided of his mouth in an untidy fu-manchu style. “Now that’s a more manly moustache”, said Ken examining his handiwork. Dan couldn’t believe the other changes ether. Where the oil had been used to stimulate hair follicle growth, was indeed hair! A very thick dark five o’clock shadow was evident on the previously smooth, boyish skin. The oil had done the same for the rest of his body, there was the beginnings of hair growth all over the legs, arms chest and abdomen, tiny dark hairs at the moment, but very dark and very numerous. Dan also noticed Jerrod’s whole body seemed to have bulked up, the face was fuller, a small double chin was evident, his stomach had lost that tautness’ he’d earned in the gym, and his pecs seemed to be flabbier. “He’s looking better already, don’t you think?” said Ken grinning. “You really are a magician Ken, I mean this has all just happened in a couple of hours,” replied Dan. “Now we need to trim up that moustache and maybe give him some more facial hair, he’s not quite ‘bear’ material yet’. Ken set to work using the lotion that accelerated hair growth, on the dark stubble on Jerrod’s chin. Next he rubbed it all over Jerrod’s chest down his abs into his bush and into his ball sacks. He continued to use enormous quantities of the thick, green liquid on the legs and arms. “If he want’s a body shave, there’s going to be plenty to keep my razor busy”, Ken said staring up at Dan. When he’d finished, he applied some of the liquid to Jerrod’s Mohawk saying, “I think he needs a bit more length up here don’t you?” “Yeah”, said Dan, “make him into one freaky, looking biker”. “As you wish”, replied Ken who was now wheeling over a small cart to the chair.”At least he won’t feel this,” Taking a needle-gun, Ken pierced each ear-lobe, and inserted two large gauge silver rings in each. Next he went for the left eyebrow, fastening a large barbell. He pierced the bottom lip, and used a spike here. “Now for those boy nipples”, Ken said as he used some forceps before piercing each nipple. Now Jerrod had 6 gauge silver rings hanging amongst his steadily growing chest hair. “Fucking amazing!” Dan muttered, “He’s lost that yuppie executive look for good.” “How about a nice Prince Albert, “ returned Ken, more to himself than to Dan. Before long Jerrod was sporting a large ring through his piss hole. “Any more?”, asked Ken. “What about his nose?”, offered Dan, really enjoying himself now. “Okay Dan”, and with that Ken pierced the septum. “Let’s try a silver tusk”, and Ken pushed a long metal tusk through the piercing. “Hmm! I still have a few rings left” and with that, Ken pierced the whole outer left ear. Soon Jerrod was wearing 10 small rings in their place. “Perfect”, said Ken as he packed up his equipment. Next thing, Ken’s wheeling over his tattoo equipment, “I think this biker needs a little ink,” said Ken as he fired up the machine and began to freehand the outline of some barbed wire around Jerrod’s bicep. The high pitched buzz of the needle filled the shop, as Ken continued to permanently mark the virgin skin. As the time ticked by, Jerrod’s tattoos were gradually filled in and coloured. Turning the needle off, Ken wiped his brow and stretching said, “That took some doing but that will do for now. We can add to them latter. Besides the barbed wire on the biceps, Ken had added a snake design down his left forearm. On his chest he had old English writing that said, ‘Barbers razor boy’, with a Barbers pole drawn over his left pec. Dan never realised how good a tattoo artist Ken was. “Your talents are even more remarkable than I first thought!”, said Dan as he examined the tattoo on the chest. “Well, I had a bit of practice. Where do you think all Bart’s body art comes from?” replied Ken as he went to the small bar fridge in the corner.”How about a brew? This transformation stuff sure works up a thirst!” As they drank their beers Dan pointed to Jerrod’s face, “That hair growth goop you used on the chin and hawk has sure kicked in.”. The Mohawk had grown in length, now falling over the shaved areas. A thick blond goatee, had formed on the chin, along with the increasing thickness of the mo, totally changed Jerrod’s look. Jerrod’s body was covered in hair now, thick and course, everywhere except the tattooed areas, which Ken had dry shaved. It didn’t matter too much as those areas would soon have hair growing back in a matter of an hour or so. “Now to clean him up a little,” Ken said starting up his lather machine. Taking a pair of small high-pitched trimmers, Ken started on the now incredibly thick moustache, revealing Jerrod’s top lip again. He then fashioned the goatee into a more manicured style, where it didn’t join the moustache but was left with a tail back under the chin and following the jaw line, finishing at the ears. Taking a straight razor after applying warm lather to Jerrod’s face, Ken carefully shaved over the stubble he’d trimmed down. He fashioned a designer stubble on the side levers, cheeks leaving a precise line between the stubble and the shaved parts. He shaved the neck clean and stood back to look at his work. Taking a jar of moustache wax, he spread it through the long luxurious moustache, fashioning it into a walrus look. “Now that’s a tache”, said Ken. “He’s like a yuppy biker now! What do you think Dan?” “Well, I for one thinks he looks a lot better – but I don’t think Jerrod would agree.” “Let’s see then”, he said smiling, as he raised the chair upright. Ken then got some leather restraints and got Dan to help him apply them to Jerrod’s wrists and legs, with an additional one around the upper chest. “Just for insurance”, said Ken. “now what about a cigar, Dan while we wait for this stud to come round?” It had been a fair while since Dan had enjoyed a decent cigar, “Sure, I will if you will.” Both Bears were soon puffing away on a couple of Cubans.

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chambersmyers67-blog · 5 years

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Friendly Furniture Aids For Movement.

I am specific that you have actually perhaps listened to or seen mobility device platform lifts that will certainly give individuals that are mobility device bound a means of entering and also out of their automobiles. In attaining power you have to establish particular individual qualities like looking into a beneficial location to start, check out and create the sources needed to acquire a desired position as well as do something about it. Simply under 6.6 million individuals go to a gym regularly, below a peak of more than 6.7 million six months ago. Using the power of the Zeo Crystal, Tommy, Kat, Rocky, Tanya as well as Adam ended up being the Zeo Rangers, Planet's last resort versus the Machine Realm. It consists of the electromechanical head which is in charge of reading/writing data on the CD/DVD and consumes great deals of power. Also if a gym does not allow a youngster to join, they may prolong babysitting services. According to lots of fitness center sales pitches, you'll drop weight, you'll transform your body and your total lifestyle will boost if you join their fitness center. When it comes to high quality of wheelchair lift, convenience and also convenience is the very first standard for purchaser. It has 11 gyms in Spain as well as 4 in Portugal, in addition to 5 outlets in Australia. With a mobility device system lift the individual has the power to set their wheelchair on the lift and also secure it right into area. The three sorts of face lift treatments are the deep plane lift, the mid lift and the string lift. The genuine power of Power, however, is that ... it's putting African-Americans at the heart of a TV pattern - the antihero - that previously has largely been the district of white men. If you're new to the fitness center you might be daunted, but if you follow these basic standards, it will ease your change from lazy person to fitness center rat. The Bowflex Sporting activity residence fitness center does occupy a fair bit of room; the impact of it is larger than what many people anticipate. The only means for any of the Rangers to call one another would certainly be their independent wrist devices, which really did not count on the Megaship for power. The Bowflex Sporting activity house fitness center is a versatile maker that covers basically every muscle group of the body. Some fitness centers do not allow any person under 18, while some nationwide chains, such as 24-HOUR Health and fitness, allow minors ages 12 to 17 to join. Mention punch power and individuals have the tendency to recollect huge, protruding arms and triceps muscles. When you are looking for the mobility device lift van or you are intending to have van customized, it is suggested to you that you deal exclusively with a credible member of the National Flexibility devices dealerships association when you are have to purchase a mobility device handicap lift van. With the matches still in his hand, he struck up an additional fire, illuminating the opening, showing a collection of actions heading to a reduced degree. I looked up to see what can be the last time Jack checked out me with love in his eyes and afterwards counted on encounter my back to him as i raised my leading to disclose my bare back to him. Although the concept of power is not inborn but learned some individuals have it and also others do not. I additionally like his summary of the cost of power; lengthy hours, hard work, as well as loss of family members as well as individual time. He raised his hand as well as i tensed my body, wheezed as well as closed my eyes all set for the discomfort. Sports Direct stated its ₤ 5 deal was being tried at its brand-new purpose-built fitness centers as well as maybe turned out at the former LA Health and fitness websites in the future. The health club is 142,000 square feet as well as consists of equipment such as outside as well as interior swimming pools, 12 tennis courts, exercising weights, machines and 120 health and fitness classes in a week. It has 40 gyms in huge cities around the UK. Conversely, everyday membership prices just ₤ 5. The majority of regional recreation centre gyms could be used on a PAYG basis. These wheelchair lift vans are specially made to accommodate wheelchair bound person. Enhancing temperature levels incorporated with the damaging contaminants released by nuclear power plant contribute to unhealthy air high quality, activating asthma assaults and various other breathing harms. Pfeffer (Glad this is a created review I have no suggestion how you can state that name) is an academic that specialises on organisational behavior, as well as this book is basically his advice on the best ways to acquire, preserve, and also recognize power. The gamers handled to prise open the lift doors as well as were handed containers of water, coffee as well as sandwiches as temperature levels increased inside. Each time we placed ourselves right into package we shed our power since at this moment we shed the ability to recognize our limitless possibility. What interests me extra is how in each story human life is placed relative to law and political power. The oppositions could not doubt whether the Clean Air Act authorizes EPA to limit carbon dioxide pollution from nuclear power plant. The emphasis of his book is the result power carries those who do not have it. He breaks his analysis down into 3 measurements of power: the initial is straight negotiating and also engagement, the second is the exclusion of the helpless from that bargaining process and/or agenda-setting by the effective, and also the third is the internalization of the ideals, worths, and also choices of the dominant by the controlled. Rather counter-intuitively, the quicker removable quad lift has the same uphill ability as a fixed-grip quad. An old gym at the site closed in 2012 as well as the centre was demolished and reconstructed by the Royal District of Kensington and also Chelsea, who spent ₤ 29million. To me, this is really sad since as I claimed, it was hand made equipment by Joe Gold himself and also has a particular worth to it if nothing else than for historical factors. Then she entered 8th quality and also participated in track, swimming, then softball period came. After the Turbo Rangers lost their powers, he effectively led the team into room, where they discovered Andros as well as the Megaship. I have actually had numerous unforgettable miracles given that I discovered the Secret and now I'm expecting enjoying the things I've developed in the past, caring every little thing in my present, and lovi While the Secret is the legislation of attraction, the Power is the regulation of love. It deserves having a look at which Pokémon are in the health club you intend to attack prior to opting to enter into battle to make certain you have the appropriate sorts of Pokémon to prosper. L'entraînement par accélération sur les plates-formes Power Plate ® acquire une foule d'avantages notables put atteindre, voire dépasser, les objectifs de problem body. Lewis, pushing the ground, blood dripping down his face, reaching out for the last vital to his power. So while energy power plant fitness centers may not generate blinding light, their presence does leave a bit much more light at the end of the passage. Individuals who frequently flock to cosmetic surgery clinics to have a mid lift are those in their 40s or 50s. Stood under the largest shower she had ever before seen she delighted in the feel of the water as it moved down her, sighing with satisfaction as the power shower gently massaged her body. The no-frills health club group, which is managed by exclusive equity house CCMP Funding Advisors, had hoped to provide the business in London following the ₤ 250m float of its main budget rival, The Fitness center Team, last November. Push-ups and also pull-ups are the most standard upper-body motion to establish power endurance. This workout equipment is frequently gone along with by a display screen that tracks the heart price,. in addition to other details like the number of miles run or calories melted. Il est vrai que j' y consacre a peu prés 4 heures par semaine chez moi en musique et je peu vous dire que je ne price aucune séance tant je me sens bien après mon heure de power plate. There are various other basic functions of patio PL-P mobile wheelchair lift are as adheres to. The High court already determined that question also in American Electric Power v. Connecticut, in 2011. Both fitness centers have actually moved the inner city location of Sparkhill as well as cater for a mainly Muslim clientele. The Lumo Raise costs ₤ 80 in black, white as well as grey with black and silver magnets. If you stroll into the gym with reduced power or really feel as if you have flu-like symptoms, the very best point to do is to delay your workout for a couple days. There is an alternative available to you if your objective is to lift weights and also get a cardio benefit at the same time. People waste a lot of money on unneeded cardio equipment, multi gyms as well as overpriced specialist products that quite frankly aren't specifically helpful in an industrial gym, let alone a house training area. Going to imp source was as essential to a Roman as mosting likely to the gym was to a Greek.

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magic5ball · 3 years

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Nature Trail to Hell Arc III: The Blood Curse of Tako Shak (5)

Chapter 5: The Part Where I FINALLY Get to Tako Shak

I spent seven days in that monster reflecting on my sins, though it does depend on your definition of ‘reflecting on sins’. Mine is looking at the sun and playing rock-paper-scissors. I even managed to win every single game I played, though this didn’t exactly make me feel better about being trapped in an oversized sponge. Or leaving F-Bomb for that matter, even if it was the right thing to do. I had to drink the water from Karma Chameleon’s skin, vampire style, and as for food, I just didn’t eat. I wondered if I might be trapped in the thing forever, but as the days went by, I found the space around me was getting tighter and tighter until ‘POP!’ out I burst from the reptile’s back like some alien parasite. I looked at the limp corpse below me. Sun must have dried it out. Speaking of which, if you ever decide to get one of those magic grow animals, remember to keep them out of sunlight, so they don’t start shrinking. Think of them like little spongey vampires.

So where was I again? Oh right! I was in the woods, feeling all balmy because of the noonday heat (PA can get pretty hot in the summer). Not bad on its’ own, but when combined with an empty stomach (apple rings are one of the least filling foods in the world. Heck, if I had to choose between air and apple rings for a weeklong hike through a desert wasteland, I’d choose the air, no question) made me feel a bit delirious. And when I get delirious, I make bad decisions. This wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d landed near some dime-a-dozen suburb, but the luck of the Tostigs works in mysterious ways, and when I emerged from the forest it was in front of none other than a friendly neighborhood Tako Shak.

If you’ve never been to planet Earth before (or maybe just some guy dwelling in a bunker in the wake of the inevitable Takopacalypse), Tako Shak is a Mexican themed fast food chain. The largest in the world, actually. Also, the Tako isn’t a play on ‘taco’. It’s short for Takoyaki. For why they did that, your guess is as good as mine.

They say it all started in the sixties (as these things usually do) with some hippie named Marty Dinklemann. Marty had opened a Taco stand, but it wasn’t doing real well, because hippies who make good business decisions hadn’t been invented yet. Anyway, one day Marty decided to snort a can of churro sugar and had this bogus dream where the Devil said he was going to claim his soul unless Dinklemann kept expanding his fast food franchise. Well, Dinklemann was sure it was just a bad trip, but he really didn’t want to take any chances. The next day he got a tan, legally changed his name to Guadalupe ‘Loopy’ Sanchez and made fast food history. At the time I walked right through those automatic sliding doors, there were over a billion Tako Shak’s worldwide, five of which sit right in the Arctic Circle. As for Sanchez, nobody’s seen him in over thirty years. Word has it his body started rotting, so they put his brain in a nuclear-powered robot underneath their headquarters in Death Valley, Nevada.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. So there I was, sweltering delirious in the summer heat to the point I might as well have been drunk when I swaggered in, hoping I could at least use the bathroom, to which the greasy faced creep manning the register pointed to some sign telling me yesterday a new policy had been enacted, so only staff and customers could take the old wiz. Wouldn’t have been a problem, except I didn’t have any money on me. In fact, I had less than no money on me, seeing as I was in debt from those apple rings. You know you’re in financial straits when you can’t afford a churro that, if I was doing the math right, cost a whopping negative five cents!

For a moment I thought of bartering off my tommy gun, but that thing was just too awesome to part with.

However, there was something I could afford, something that, despite being delirious from heat, I somehow remembered. You see, Tako Shak is a fast food chain, and like any fast food chain worth its’ salt packets, it had a secret menu. I first heard rumors about it back in second grade, when my friend Mayes and I watched the legendary B-Movie ‘Nature Trail to Hell Part 9: Shak of Darkness’. In it, there’s a scene where the characters talk about what they want to order from Tako Shak, unaware that the fry cook is actually a serial killer who baked their friends into tako meat (which was somehow still more appetizing than the real deal). As we were watching, we noticed there was this two second clip where the audio had been weirdly distorted. After that, we spent hours on the internet, desperately trying to find out why. (Okay, so maybe half that time was wasted playing LEGO Racing. Sue me.) We finally hit a breakthrough when we accidentally hacked into an 18 years or older chatroom, where this guy said that apparently the edited part revealed a clue to discovering the Shak’s secret menu. A couple more hours, Mayes discovered said secret menu involved watching the employee training video. Several phone calls, secret messages, decimated evidence, one FBI investigation, and several bouts of ‘pretty pretty please’ later, me and my friend Mayes finally got a video tape. THE video tape. (think of it as a black, overweight DVD. Who is also a rectangle.) After fiddling around with the tape a bit, we saw none other than Sanchez’s brain himself list off the menu, most of which had too many vitamins and minerals and not enough Silly Cheez for Mayes and I to ever buy.

But there was one thing on that menu, one I still remembered that cost something I didn’t exactly have on my person. In fact, you could say it was my person.

I looked into the pale face, the dark, sunken eyes, the sickle fangs that, had I been more aware, would have betrayed the cashier as a hippie. Instead, I raised a finger.

“One Blood Curse, please.”

The cashier looked at me like I’d just asked him for the square root of gilbitydop (27, if you’re curious), then he went to the back of the store.

“Hey Boss! Do we carry anything called a ‘Blood Curse’?”

A few minutes later, he emerged from the back with a piece of paper and a plastic knife.

“Well, little guy, it’s you’re lucky day. It seems like we do have the droid you’re looking for! Just sign here please.”

In one swift motion he nicked my finger with the knife. Barely thinking, I signed the contract with my own blood. Tako Shak officially owned my soul.

In the back, I could hear maniacal laughter as lightning flashed outside, despite it having been totally cloudless just a few seconds earlier. Only then did it dawn on me just how stupid what I did was. In one final, twisted joke, just as I tried to dash out, to back out of the worst mistake I’d ever made, a black tentacle emerged from behind the register, dragging me to my DOOM.

#My writing #Nature Trail To Hell #fast food #Tako Shak

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mirai-eats · 6 years

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Laughed for Twenty Minutes

Keith needs to come up with the perfect gift for Lance and Shiro isn't really that much help.

Voltron, klance/laith, 3,534 words, rated T, modern/college AU

MASTERPOST

“Good morning, sunshine. I know you hate me and everyone else in the world right now, but you have work in an hour.” Shiro’s voice cut through the thick fog of sleep that blanketed over Keith before Shiro tore off the actual blanket that covered him. Keith struggled and kept a firm grip at least on the top sheet. Shiro tugged ceaselessly on the blanket as he continued to try and talk Keith out of bed.

“I’ll open the curtains. Don’t test me. I’ll open those curtains right now if you don’t get out of bed,” Shiro warned. He stopped tugging the sheets and stepped towards the window. The dangerously bright streak of sunshine that slipped through the center split where the curtains didn’t quite touch was like a warning.

Keith groaned, begged him not to do it. Just ten more minutes.

“I don’t speak sleep talk, buddy. You need to get up and take a shower. I’m pretty sure you haven’t bathed in over a week.”

Another groan.

“Alright, I warned you.” That was Shiro’s last warning before he yanked open the curtains to let in the blinding, mid morning light.

Keith hissed and attempted to roll over, but his grip had slackened and Shiro was able to rip the sheet off and roll him out of the bed in one solid swoop.

“Go take a shower. I’m making coffee and eggs,” Shiro said simply as he gathered the blankets and headed toward the door.

“How are you awake? The last of finals was yesterday and you’re taking more classes than me.” Keith groaned from the floor.

Shiro froze at the doorway, turned, looked Keith directly in the eye and said. “I forced myself out of bed with sheer willpower and chugged a whole Rockstar and a Five-Hour Energy. I’ve already accepted death. My will is under the bed.” He turned and left.

Keith spent another ten minutes on the ground in an attempt to come up with the will to stand on his own.

The four exams, five papers (one of which ended up being a solid thirteen pages with academic sources, thank you Corey), and two presentations in the span of three days can really knock a guy out. He managed to roll himself into the shower and under the hot spray at some point.

It was during that shower while thinking the usual shower thoughts when a certain train of thought decided to run him over at top speed. Keith felt his hands freeze while lathering soap in his hair, his eyes widen before he opened his mouth and shouted: “CHRISTMAS IS COMING AND I DON’T HAVE A GIFT FOR MY BOYFRIEND!”

Seconds later, Shiro pounded on the bathroom door and shouted through the wood. “Please don’t yell. This is a tiny apartment and Christmas is still two weeks away.”

Keith quickly rinsed the soap from his hair and tumbled out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. “Yes, but Lance is taking a trip to Florida to spend Christmas with a bunch of family over there next week so technically I only have a week to buy the most perfect present ever for him.”

“I don’t think it has to be a top notch million dollar gift,” Shiro frowned. “I think whatever you get him he’ll love because it’s from you. And please put some clothes on, I’m cold looking at you.”

“Oh hush up it’s only like fifty outside.”

“Cold,” he grumbled and went back to the kitchen.

Keith dried himself off and shoved on some jeans, a t-shirt, and a pair of socks with little green aliens provided by his boyfriend for his birthday. The source of Keith’s panic was that Lance had gotten Keith a whole gift box of over the top gifts for Keith’s birthday the month before last, and Keith had loved every single item in the box. From the complete DVD box set of the X-Files to the little green alien socks, the whole thing easily cost Lance a few hundred dollars. They technically didn’t start dating until almost a week after his birthday, but a few days into their budding relationship Keith had let slip that they had just missed his birthday. A few days later, Lance showed up at his and Shiro’s apartment with a large gift bag, a four-pack of market brand cupcakes, and wore one of those stupid party hats.

“It’s because I love my boyfriend and he deserves the world,” is what Lance had said.

Keith had been stressing out since then over what to get Lance. He needed to top that damn X-Files DVD box set, but that was hard. Lance’s only real expensive addiction was socks and Sephora. Easy, he could ask Allura what Lance would like from Sephora. And the socks Keith could go on Amazon and find something silly, it doesn’t matter Lance would wear them regardlessly. The more senseless the better, is what Lance would say. But that’s barely the first hundred.

“Shiro, what do you think I should get Lance for Christmas? He got me such an awesome birthday gift and I need to top that,” Keith said as he wandered into the kitchen to made himself a cup of coffee.

Shiro took a second to gulp down the remainder of his coffee before he answered. “I know he likes socks. Like, he was wearing those socks with taxi cabs all over them last week. Yesterday they were floral and said, ‘not my problem’. I want to know where he gets them, they’re glorious.”

“I think there’s a website. The fun patterned ones are from a monthly sock subscription,” Keith said. He stirred some creamer and sugar (it was a lot) into his coffee, stared down at the light beige brown it had turned as though it would tell him what he needs to know.

“Well, I’m gonna go to Costco after this to pick up groceries and toilet paper. I had a panic attack when I went to poop earlier and saw how low the roll was. Thankfully, it was a clean poop.” Shiro dumped his mug in the sink already overflowing with dishes and headed towards the door.

“COSTCO,” Keith shouted.

“Yes, Costco. I have a membership. They have a lot of toilet paper there.”

“No, Costco. Lance has always told us he wants one of those giant teddy bears that they sell there. How much are they, I’ll get him one?” Keith was practically jumping at the idea.

“I dunno, a lot. I can check. You better get ready for work I’ll see you in the afternoon.” With a wave goodbye, Shiro was out the door with an armful of shopping bags.

Later that afternoon, Keith came through the front door after his shift at work a little worse for wear.

“Hey, Keith?” Shiro was already in the living room sprawled across the loveseat, a bag of Sunchips in his lap. His dusty sweatpants and fingers proved he’s been there a while.

“Hey, how was Costco? Did you get the bear?” Keith dropped his keys in the bowl by the door and kicked off his boots before proceeding into the apartment.

“No. The teddy bear you want to get Lance is $280 and I love you, buddy, you know I do, but I’m not letting a seven foot teddy bear hurt my credit,” Shiro huffed.

“That’s fine, I can go get it. Scoot over.” Keith nudged Shiro with his foot to roll over and let him sit. He settled into the couch squished against Shiro.

“Sold out.”

Keith jerked back and stared wide-eyed at Shiro. “What?”

“Out of stock until the twentieth. Popular gift this year.”

“Shit, Lance leaves the eighteenth. How are they sold out of $280 teddy bears?!”

Shiro shrugged. “If I wasn’t poor I would get one for myself, too. Sell my bed and sleep on that.”

“What am I gonna do now?” Keith physically felt his his lungs shriveling up inside his chest. “He literally deserves the best.”

“Keith,” Shiro turned down the volume to the TV then turned to face him. “Look, I have no idea where Lance got the money for those gifts, it was very sweet of him, but don’t go thinking you need to try and top him. You could literally buy him Tupperware and he would love it because it’s from you. Don’t think about the money in it, think about what you think he would like.”

“I know, I know. I just want to spoil him for once, you know? He always buys me food or anything I show an interest towards. Like, he works at a preschool, where does he get all this money?” Keith frowned.

“Camboy? Maybe he’s a stripper. Oh! Or maybe he draws furry porn on the side,” Shiro snickered.

“Why would Lance do any of that? He’s kinda shy about any of. . .” Keith hesitated for a second, a little reluctant to share any of their bedroom matters to Shiro. “That kind of stuff. And furry porn?” He arched an eyebrow expectantly.

“I found out last week Matt draws furry porn on the side to make extra dough. People are willing to pay a lot of money for kinky anthropomorphic pornography,” Shiro shrugged. “He bought me dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with furry porn money.”

Keith groaned and threw his head back against the couch. “God, I hope not.”

It was much later that evening Keith sat on the floor in front of the loveseat with his laptop on his lap. He’s been sitting here for a good hour with at least four different websites open and carts loaded up with stuff he would consider gifts but will go back and clean through later. At the moment, he had turned to Amazon for the giant teddy bear.

“Pst, wake up,” Keith said sharply and gave Shiro’s side a firm poke. Shiro jerked awake with a snort, one side of his hair stuck straight up and had a line of dried drool on his chin.

“Whassup?” He mumbled.

“Look at this bear. It’s 76 inches when the Costco one is 93 inches. Do you think Lance will notice the almost two feet height difference? Plus it’s only $109.” Keith shifted the laptop so Shiro could get a look.

“Only $109. Yeah, sure. It’s your money, so whatever. Get the tan one, the white would stain too easily.” And with that, Shiro gracelessly rose to his feet, then stumbled down the hall into their shared bedroom.

Keith added the bear to the cart and bought it immediately.

Over the course of the week, all of Lance’s gifts arrived. Of course, he had bought little somethings for the rest of his friend group and Shiro, but Lance’s was probably the most important in his book. On Tuesday afternoon when Keith got home from work, he got stopped by the landlord saying that he got a pretty big package for him to pick up in the office.

After the large but incredibly light box had been pushed through the apartment door, Keith went straight for the kitchen to get a knife to cut it open.

“Shiro, come here and look,” Keith yelled as he stabbed the tab of the box.

“Please be careful. Don’t maim our large friend,” said Shiro as he got up from the loveseat and came over to where Keith stood in the entryway with the box.

“That would suck, but it’s early enough. I could probably get a refund and order a new one.”

“Would they even take it if the box is stabbed open and the bear just happened to be torn where the box was stabbed?” Shiro mused.

“Only one way to find out.”

With a quick slide of the knife through the flaps of the box, Keith pried open the top and removed the layer of the packaging bubbles to reveal the very large, smiling face and torso of the $109 bear.

“Man he’s cute.” Shiro reached in and stroked the chest. “And soft, holy shit.”

“Can we even take it out?” Keith frowned. “He’s kind of packed in there and I don’t think I’ll be able to put it back in.”

“Then don’t. Close it up and wrap it in the cool silver and blue wrapping paper we have.”

“Shouldn’t we check to make sure it’s not defected or damaged?”

Shiro shrugged. “Probably. But like you said, we probably won’t be able to put it back in the box. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? A really bad manufacturer error that left the bear legless?”

“Lance would probably love it even more for being legless,” Keith said and closed the box.

That following Saturday, the group decided to get together before Lance left for his trip on Monday and Hunk left for New York on Wednesday. They all got together at the Holt’s house, where Sam turned on the fire and Colleen had lit candles and brought them Christmas cookies and eggnog to snack on. Pidge had requested everyone to wear sweaters for the sake of the holiday season.

“Pidge, it’s like 70 outside. That does not warrant a sweater,” Lance frowned.

“It’s the thought that counts. This is a fucking cardigan.” Pidge pinched the end of Lance’s oversized, beige knit cardigan with a sneer. “Allura and Shay got the right idea. I’ll give Matt and Hunk points for trying but the zipper and buttons don’t count. Shiro, that’s a very good try, at least it’s a pullover. Keith? This is bad. You’re not even wearing a sweater so you get one less cookie than everyone else.”

Keith shrugged and grabbed another cookie.

“I dunno, I think he should get some points.” Lance sat down and curled up next to Keith on the couch. “The leather looks nice, babe.”

“Thanks, babe.” Keith gave Lance a soft peck on the cheek to hide his blush.

“Ya nasty. Don’t do anything over T-rated on my couch.” Pidge squeezed into the couch between Lance and Allura and snuggled into his side.

“I think,” Hunk declared with a booming clap of his hands, “that we should open gifts. Shay and I have to leave soon, and I think Allura has work in the morning, so let’s get this show on the road.”

“I bet that really big gift in the back is for me,” Lance said loudly. He pointed towards the gift Keith and Shiro had lugged earlier with a comically smaller box on top attached by a large, sparkly silver ribbon that encased the whole thing.

Hunk checked the tag. “It actually is. Guess who it’s from.”

“You, my sweet. You shouldn’t have, bro.” Lance put his hand over his heart and gave Hunk a love stricken look.

“It’s actually from Keith,” Shay giggled. It took Hunk and Shay together to carry the gift over to where Lance sat on the couch.

“Holy shit, Keith,” Pidge laughed.

“I feel like there’s some favoritism here,” Allura smirked and held up her own gift, which was a small, blue gift bag. Everyone else had small gift bags from Keith.

“Sorry,” Keith winced.

“Don’t be, babe.” Lance leaned over and kissed Keith’s cheek, then whispered for only Keith to hear. “I dunno what this is, but thank you. I know I’ll love it.”

“Aren’t smaller gifts better when it comes to Christmas, though?” Pidge asked.

“That applies to fancy jewelry and wads of cash in comparison to large children’s toys,” said Matt.

Hunk and Matt finished up passing out gifts then settled into their spots. All eyes were on Lance.

“I don’t know what that is but God do I wanna know. Please go first, Lance,” said Allura.

“Hell yeah,” Lance said, then proceeded to gently take off the ribbon and tear into the first package. He pulled out a couple layers of tissue paper and unwrapped the first gift, which made Lance gasp. “These shark socks look like they’re eating my feet!” He laughed. “Ooh my gosh, Keith, they’re awesome! Thank you!”

“Keep going, this one’s technically from both of us.” Allura wiggled her eyebrows.

As she said that, Lance tugged out a metallic silver and hot pink box. He made a shrill sound when he saw the label, eyes wider comically.

“Oh, you did not just spend $70 on the Glamglow limited edition holiday set, you total asshole!” Lance’s voice had gotten incredibly high. He yanked Keith into a firm kiss, a giggle on his lips. Pidge and Allura made a loud, gagging sound.

“Open the next one, I really hope you like it,” Keith said softly.

Lance gave Keith another peck then stood up so he could reach the the top. “Hey Pidge, come help me out.”

Pidge sprang up and started to unwrap the silver and blue wrapping paper from the large box. With the two tearing at it almost frantically the Amazon smile was quickly revealed and then buried again with them tearing open the lid and ripping out the tissue paper like animals. The squeal of surprise indicated they reached the gift.

“Keith no,” Pidge howled with laughter. Lance’s squeal had turned into a drawn out, high pitched noise of delight as he reached into the box and tugged out the overlarge bear.

“I can’t believe you, oh my God!” Lance practically shrieked. His eyes were crinkled due to the broad smile draped across his face. He giggled hard into his hand, in an attempt to hide how big his smile was maybe but that didn’t slip by Keith. He reached into the box and bodily jerked out the overlarge bear, eliciting loud shouts of varying levels of shock and amazement.

“You did not buy him a Costco teddy bear and us these shitty gift bags, you absolute whore,” Matt shouted over the chaos.

“Hey, I put a lot of thought and love into your shitty gift bags. Besides, Costco was sold out so went to Amazon so it’s not as big. Sorry, Lance,” said Keith.

“I don’t care at all. It’s from you, so I love it.”

Lance was still trying to tug the bear from the box, the cardboard caught around the waist. Hunk came over and held the box down so Lance could take it out easier. Once freed from its cardboard confines, Lance let out a satisfied giggle but was quickly turned into a loud gasp, then full-out laughter. The body of the bear was out, but it’s legs kept going. No matter how much bear Lance pulled out the legs seemed to get longer and longer until at least over half the body length was its long legs. The feet finally plopped onto the floor and Lance held up the six foot six inch, 60% leg monstrosity. Lance’s laugher was reduced to silent heaving, his eyes wet with unshed tears. If the room was chaos before, at this point it was absolute madness.

“Keith holy shit!”

“The legs, man!”

“Why didn’t we check the box.”

“Nice legs daisy dukes makes a man go AAAHHAHAHA”

“I’m going to poop myself, oh Jesus shit.”

“The legs!”

“That’s a long boy.”

Everyone was yelling and clamored over each other to try and touch the bear and its really long legs.

Keith buried his face into his hands and groaned loudly. “No, no! We should have checked it, Shiro. God it should have been legless.”

“No, oh my God, Keith. Look.” Shiro was snickering and held out his phone to show Keith their shared Amazon orders with the bear he ordered on screen. Shiro swiped over the images to show the full size of it lengthwise in the arms of a smiling girl, it’s legs as incredibly long in the photo as it was in real life. “They’re supposed to be long.”

“Why would someone make that? Oh God, Lance, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize how bad it was I’ll take it back and-” Keith was absolutely mortified that his gift, the one he was most excited to give his boyfriend, was a disaster. They were all laughing at it! Lance was the worst of the group, he was still silently wheezing.

“Keith, shut the fuck up, I love it. I’ll kill everyone in this room including myself if something happened to this long boy don’t you dare try and take this joy away from me.” Lance leaned down and gave Keith a gentle peck on the cheek. “I really love it. Don’t worry okay? This could have been legless and I would have still loved it because it’s from you.”

His mouth felt dry and face overheated. “I- really?”

Lance smiled softly. “Really.”

“I know I said I wanted to sell my bed and sleep on that,” said Shiro. “But I change my mind. What if I fall between the legs in the middle of the night? That would be awful and bad.”

It took them all a good twenty minutes to stop laughing at the too long legged bear before they were able to move onto the next gifts. At one point during their laughfest Colleen came in to personally tell them to shut it before she kicked them all to the curb.

#voltron #klance #laith #keith kogane #lance mcclain #takashi shirogane #vld #Voltron legendary defender #fic #twenty minutes

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thesearchforphantaman · 7 years

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SUPER-COOL NEWS!

Hey, guys! It’s sure been a while since I posted here. I’d thought the trail on this had all but dried up, but just the other day, out of the blue, I got a LENGTHY and super-detailed email from an individual named Andy Shepherd!

Mr. Shepherd has apparently been looking for Phantaman separately for quite some time, though fell out of it recently due to getting busy... go figure! How cool is that, though?

I’ve included most of it here under the read-more label. Have a look-see!

Hi. My name is Andy Shepherd and I saw your page/Tumblr post (Search for Phantaman) and thought I would share some things with you.

Ogon Batto (Golden Bat) was dubbed by Bill Ross and his wife Japanese wife, Michie, at Frontier Enterprises in Tokyo. They rechristened the show ‘Fantoma’ for sales in the English speaking territories. I think Ken Fujita hire them to do it. More on Ken later.

Ross/Frontier was the go-to guy in Japan for a bit of comparatively inexpensive dubbing (when compared to Glen Glenn Sound, Titra, etc.) for Japanese media that was being distributed/shopped overseas. Bill died a couple of years ago, but I and a few others (Steve Ryfle and August Ragone) corresponded with him via email and snail mail. I spoke with him several times by phone over the course of a couple of years, and I have at least one taped phone conversation with him.

Frontier/Ross hired local expats and military personnel living/stationed in Japan in the 1960s. The series, according the scant records Bill sent me copies of (which I cannot find at the moment), was titled “Fantoma” and the only English audio clip that has survived the decades bears this out. Not sure where alternate spellings/names, Fantaman or Phataman, come from. Maybe it was printed this way in the Aussie TV guides/promo material. I’ll have to ask Kelly Patrick Lannan about that. He’s in the weeds on the series and films shown only in Oz (i.e. The Samurai, Phantom Agents, Gazula, Space Ace, Fantoma, etc.).

Although, Ross never kept records of the people he hired to dub these things, he did recall a couple of names and those were enough to start the dominoes tumbling for me. The narrator on the Fantoma ‘coming attractions’ audio clip is Burr Middleton, once known in the business as Burr Hoyle. He’s an actor and announcer, and you can catch him eps of Matlock, Hunter, and such things. During the 1960s, he was stationed in Japan (military, I think) and was hired by Ross for dubbing in Fantoma and Princess Knight (confirmed). He also acted in the Bill Ross-co produced sino-American sci-fi movie, The Green Slime. [...] But he confirmed for me his voice in the Fantoma clip. He also voiced Duke Duralumon, the villain, in the little-known Princess Knight/Choppy and the Princess dub, which finally saw a release in the U.S. a few years back, after decades of legal issues and copyright mishandling. I can try to ask Middleton who else worked on the Fantoma dub. Maybe he’ll remember.

Also, you’ve got the two ‘K. Fujitas’ mixed up. Yep, two. Kiyoshi Fujita of Video Promotions was also known as K Fujita in the 1960s, but he shouldn’t be confused with the other and, I think, more important, K. Fujita of K. Fujita & Associates. Kazuhiko (a.k.a. Ken, or just ‘K’) of K. Fujita & Associates was one of the first, if not the first, to have the idea of marketing Japanese movies and tv content outside of Japan. For years, little more than an enigmatic name found only in the end credits of Speed Racer, Marine Boy, The Amazing 3, Star Blazers, etc., I hunted for years for him and finally my persistence paid off, found him semi-retired in Japan. We became friendly and got his story.

He first took sample footage of what was to become Astro Boy to shop around in the states and was pretty much laughed out of New York by the folks at NBC, ABC, Screen Gems, etc. Until he later sold a b/w live action Samurai series to Mexico. It was such an enormous success/ratings hit, south of the border, that the Americans were more ready to listen to him on his second pass. However, when he returned again to the states to negotiate a sale for Astro Boy, he walked away from the puny deal at NBC Films. Then, along comes Kiyoshi Fujita, of Video Promotions, apparently now negotiating on behalf of the Japanese producers/Mushi and accepts the same shitty NBC deal, or so I was told. The Japanese needed whatever NBC offered in order to bankroll future projects. I think Kiyoshi Fujita of Video Promotions may still be around. I don’t know him and have never spoken with him. Since Kiyoshi Fujita of Video Promotions had made the deal with NBC, he/they were well-positioned for the Kimba deal. You can read most of this in Fred Ladd’s book. Fred directed the dubs of both Astro Boy and Kimba for NBC Films, as you know.

The upshot is that Kiyoshi Fujita of Video Promotions, while he maybe still around, isn’t the K. Fujita of K. Fujita & Associates that sold Ogon Batto and the other anime and live action Japanese series in Australia. It was Kazuhiko (or Ken as he liked to be called by his western friends) who did that. Sadly, Ken passed in 2012. Kiyoshi probably won’t be much help to you in your search.

Kelley Patrick Lannan and Glen Johnson in Australia have been poking around for years for surviving prints of some of these series, including Fantoma. Kelley, if remember correctly, works in the TV industry, there, and he has his tentacles out, forever groping and prying to see if somewhere in Oz, somebody has 16mm prints of these series in storage, an attic, a basement.

Sometimes, all of the groping and prying by fans pays off. Episodes of both b/w live action shows “The Samurai” and “Phantom Agents” were finally located and released on DVDs. Unfortunately, the “Space Ace” and “Fantoma” dubs seem to more elusive. When I asked him, Ken Fujita couldn’t remember the names of the producers he sold/licensed the properties to. He’d thrown out 40 years of old paper work from his former companies, along with tons or original artwork and cels from his company’s (Japan Tele-Cartoons) production of “Marine Boy”. I nearly had a heart attack when he told me that. He simply had no idea anybody would be interested in having it, much less paying money to own it.

[...]

Starting in the mid-1990s, I decided that I hated reading misinformation/incorrect crediting in all of the animation reference books and articles about 8th Man and Princess Knight, and spent subsequent years researching Copri, Frontier, and Titra dubbing facilities. There wasn’t much information out there at all. I was starting from scratch. I would get one half remembered name from somebody, which then led to another half remembered name from somebody else, and so on. I finally got enough to put a picture together of the Miami dubbing outfit in the mid-1960s.

I’ve shared this information over the years with Fred Ladd, Dave Merrill, Glen Johnson, August Ragone, Chris Palmer, etc. and now it’s public information, which is good. The Copri and Frontier folks, unlike the Titra dubbers (Pete Fernandez, Fred Ladd, Corrine Orr, Jack Grimes, Paulette Rubenstein, Earl Hammond, Jack Curtis, etc.) never got credit for their work because of how it was done (under the table to skirt the union rules and union pay scales in Florida for Copri) and in Japan, it just wasn’t thought important and seen as an added (unnecessary) cost (i.e. cast list/end titles). Besides, the Florida and Japanese casts were local actors, school teachers, disc jockeys, moonlighting military personnel and their bored wives, etc. Nobodies, really. So, what did credits matter to them? They got paid few shekels and had some fun. End of story.

Many of the folks are gone, now. I was lucky that I got to know and speak with many of them and get their stories for posterity. I have a number of taped phone interviews, and still have some chapters of Pete’s unpublished auto-biography, hand typed, that he sent to me. He was a real sweetheart, and he is missed. I’ll what I can do about digitizing this stuff to post for everybody to enjoy.

In any case, I’ve written more than I intended. Sorry. I hope you find it some of it useful and if not, at least interesting.

It’s been years since I was actively researching. Just got busy. But I can try to reach out to Kelley Patrick and Glen to see if they’ve made any headway on the Fantoma and Space Ace hunt.

Regards,

Andrew Shepherd

What a surprise, right? As you guys following this blog know, I spoke with Mr. Burr Middleton myself, and he confirmed for me that he voiced not only the Narrator for Phantoma but also Gabby, Dr. Zero, and the big golden skeleton himself! (Though, granted, Phantoma didn’t exactly have a lot of dialogue in the series -- mostly laughing.)

As I mentioned to Mr. Shepherd in my response, I also discovered some Australian TV listings from the time, which is where the title “Phantaman” came from. My post about that can be found here:

https://thesearchforphantaman.tumblr.com/post/143665817167

Regardless, this is such exciting news!! Hopefully we’ll be able to continue the search from here.

Hailey out!

#phantaman #golden bat #ogon bat #ougon bat #fantaman

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gplusbfics · 7 years

Link

Came across this excellent short essay I’d bookmarked on the episode “Inquisition” as well as Alexander Siddig’s role as Julian Bashir and the several ways DS9 was ahead of its time. It’s over on AO3, as part of a long series of reviews, and I’m linking to it, but in the interest of having it shared and discussed here on Tumblr, I’m posting it in its entirety below.

- Wendy

I Read It So You Don't Have To: Book Reviews, Television and Film Ratings, and Short Media Essays by tb_ll57

Chapter 9: Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (Series 6, Episode 18)

You know, I once spent money on DVD sets. It's sort of annoying that it's all on the internet now. I mean I bought it for the Extras, and joining all the dots it's a good thing I had the DVDs as those VHS tapes really didn't last too long, but still.

Anyway, it's incredibly refreshing to watch a show like DS9 and realise how amazing and thoroughly good television can be. DS9 has a lot of the usual Star Trek faults in its early series, but something happened to it around Series 4. It transformed into a heavily serialised, character-orientated storytelling and cinematic art form. Each episode became a mini-movie; the production values are fantastic, down to the carefully plotted camera shots, the rhetorical flourish of the snappy dialogue, the narrative that built larger and larger arcs and yet was never afraid of a call-back. There's very few shows on today that match the quality of those 1990s types of shows; the sheer dedication long-form narrative is probably unparalleled in today's mainstream television format. It requires and expects a commitment from the audience that producers seem to fear these days. The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and other American cable series are reaching for the same thing, but it's almost quintessentially anti-British. I imagine it has a lot to do with budget, but it also seems to be a cultural artefact. British television lends itself well to shorter series, episodic plotting, and set-pieces rather than long-form character development. When we try to go American, we end up with Downton Abbey, and I'm sure I speak for many at this point in time when I say we quite wish we wouldn't.

Then, too, DS9 was politically prescient. Did you know that DS9 invented both the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (UK)-cum-Patriot Act (USA) and the rendition of Arab men to black-site prisons? It's true. I'm talking about, of course, the excellent episode 'Inquisition'. 'Inquisition' is one of the best of DS9's episodes, reaching almost unsurpassed heights of tension, character development, narrative twists, and sheer Aristotlean prowess of conflict creation.

It builds on a character who'd been a little lost in previous series. Dr Bashir was hardly a cypher, but he was more archetype than fully-fleshed human being until about Series 5. 'The Wire' explored Bashir's humanity-- his expansive compassion, with all its consequences and its personal costs-- but we essentially hadn't learnt anything new about Bashir since the pilot. He's a good doctor, he's a nice guy, he's a little arrogant in his abilities and intellect, he's both open-minded and naive in that way of liberal bleeding-heart Star Trek heroes, and... that's about it, until the Series 5 revelation that he's genetically enhanced. Suddenly he's not just those things-- he's those things and a fraud. A liar. A man who's hidden a dangerous and explosive secret for thirty years, perhaps so deeply that he himself didn't even think about it most of the time. But the intimation that Bashir had any kind of depths to him created instantaneous layers. Suddenly the slightly contradictory facts of his childhood come into focus. Suddenly the blank slate of his life previous to his post on DS9 is deliberate, not careless, writing. His friendship with Garak, the consummate outsider, becomes a desperate search for personal truth looking into a mirror of a future of a exile, not a foil of Otherness.

And most importantly of all, Bashir's history of questionable decisions must come into new light. He's not just a naif with a youthful zeal for saving life in all its forms, even his enemies. When you wrangle with that amount of genetically enhanced intelligence, you have to anticipate that he weighed the consequences and chose his path knowing more than you did about how it might end. That's where 'Inquisition' is so brilliant. Julian Bashir is not an easy character-- he was hard to love in the beginning, then hard to beat, and suddenly he's hard to accept as part of the Star Trekparadigm. To confront him within the bounds of that very paradigm-- that truth, that justice, that very rigid moral code that demands an odd kind of obedience to a uniform way of life-- Bashir suddenly looks suspicious.

'Inquisition' took everything we knew about Bashir and re-interrogated it. Why is he so dedicated a doctor? Is he really saving lives-- or is he just trying to be better than all of us? Does he express such compassion for aliens and enemies because he views all life as equal, or because he's secretly in sympathy for their Otherness? And for being different, Bashir is interrogated, stripped of his rights, treated like an outsider, vilified by his own command. His Captain, that father figure Sisko, doesn't believe him when he says it's a frame job.

And the show very deliberately puts the audience in the dark. Our sympathy is always with Bashir, but we're allowed to doubt him along with his friends-- to the point where Julian even doubts himself. And suddenly the colourless world of Star Trek has a dark-skinned man being accused by white police of complicity in a war with religious and imperial overtones; he's a spy, he's a liar, he's taking advantage of our open society to bring us down from within. Julian Bashir becomes a literal darkness within Star Trek's pristine lightness. The layers in 'Inquisition' are amazing. Remember, too, that this was written in 1996. An Arab character gets accused of being a sleeper agent and, when the accusation builds to the right pitch of hysteria, the white policeman accusing him uses an executive order of unimaginable reach and power to remove Bashir from his right to counsel and protection to a secret prison to undergo enhanced interrogation techniques. Damn, Star Trek.

But that's not the end. Bashir's innocence is perhaps never truly in doubt. While we wonder and while we view him in a new light and while Bashir himself is pushed, eventually, to admit that he's made decisions that he wouldn't take back but which understandably place him outside the realm of Star Trek's bright moral universe, we know in our hearts he's not an evil man. So the revelation that he's actually innocent is no real shock. What is-- and here's where 'Inquisition' goes from good episode to great episode-- is that the same qualities that cast Julian into shame and doubt are the qualities that make him a perfect spy for real. Julian gets an offer to join Star Trek's equivalent of MI5, or the KGB, or the CIA-- and being the wonderful Julian Bashir that he is, he of course refuses.

And then-- when this goes from being a great episode to a fantastic episode-- his captain orders him to join them anyway. To spy on them from within as a double agent.

It's important to remember that the Original and Next Generation Star Treks would never have risked something so dark, something so grey-edged, and something that implied such serialisation. Picard would have thundered and clashed with his admirals and reamed them all out at episode's end. Sisko admits that Section 31 exists and decides to go after it-- but not on his own terms. He puts his crew in danger to do it. And Julian is a particularly vulnerable character, for all the reasons 'Inquisition' has just explained. There's very little protection for Julian if he does as he's ordered, and his grim, confused expression at the end suggests he knows it. And knows that for all the reasons he's vulnerable, he also has to do as he's told. He's too suspicious if he doesn't provide his commanders reasons to trust him.

Alexander Siddig has gone on to play a range of Arab-ish baddies since he's left Star Trek, in the post-terrorism age. It's interesting to look back at Star Trek and recall that he was cast not as an Arab doctor, nor even as an English one; in the peculiarly American slant that Star Trek always had, Bashir was merely a little exotic, but almost blandly so, a little high-class but not identifiably so, a little foreign, but still totally familiar. And he was cast in foil to Elim Garak, the most obvious 'Outsider' that ever was, so the image of a brown-skinned doctor born to lower-class parents who enhanced their physically and mentally retarded child is all too easily lost against the background of aliens and lost souls. But I think Bashir was one of Sid's best creations: someone fully human, maybe even super-human-- enhanced, yes, but also superlatively sensitive to the demands of humanity because he knew better than most how easy it is to be stripped of that humanity. In the most haunting line of 'Dr Bashir, I Presume?', Bashir says to his father, 'You're not my father. You're my architect.' 'Inquisition' preys on every fear we have about our own foolish youth, our rash actions, our innermost doubts about our identity and our inclusiveness and our ability to be related to by our fellow humans. At the end of the day, we want to be believed in. It's all too easy for that facade to crumble.

[ original source: AO3 ]

#julian bashir #alexander siddig #ds9 #deep space nine #star trek ds9 #star trek #90s tv #90s tv shows #arab actors #inquisition #section 31

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x0401x · 4 years

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Music Natalie Interview with Akane Kazuki

Interview and cast comment featuring director Akane Kazuki, who aims for a contemporary Japan version of “Stand by Me”.

The original TV anime “Hoshiai no Sora” started airing on TBS and other channels as of October 10th, 2019. Akane Kazuki, who is in charge of this work’s script and direction, is a veteran director with a history of over 30 years in the business, who has been making series such as “Tenkuu no Escaflowne”, “Noein: Mou Hitori no Kimi e”, “Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito” and others. With a boys’ soft tennis club on the verge of disbanding as its stage, “Hoshiai no Sora”, which he is delivering as his “new challenge”, is a multi-protagonist narrative that portrays the problems shouldered by second-year middle school boys. There were probably many spectators who were surprised by the last scene of the first episode.

Why did director Akane, who produced several sci-fi and robot series, challenge himself with this theme now? In this special feature, we had director Akane discuss in detail about the process until “Hoshiai no Sora” was created, and of course, about the sense of crisis that he feels from the anime industry. In addition, we are including and delivering a Q&A with cast members Hanae Natsuki, Hatanaka Tasuku, Matsuoka Yoshitsugu, Satou Keisuke, Amasaki Kouhei and Yamaya Yoshitaka, revealing memories of their middle school days and things to pay attention to in the series.

Raw || Index

youtube

Director Akane’s Interview

“I want to write a proper human drama with brilliant animators.”

——Director Akane, in a pamphlet interview from the TBS Anime Festa 2018 (see: Pamphlet Interview with Director Akane Kazuki), where the title “Hoshiai no Sora” premiered, you talked about your belief that “animation had to move forward onto its new weapons and possibilities”, right? First of all, could you tell us the process until the point where you bound this feeling to the series named “Hoshiai no Sora”?

Blunty put, anime nowadays has fallen down to a “in what way can we make money with this” kind of thinking. Of course, it is commercial anime, thus it cannot be done if it does not give returns correspondent to the costs, but the time I entered the anime business was the period when Miyazaki Hayao-san and Tomino Yoshiyuki-san’s works were starting to be released, so I looked up to the innovation of their animations as video media. Like, “So there’s a part of this industry that can make proper dramas like these and manage to do new things animation-wise”. Yet, looking at the past ten years, there has been nothing but repeated copies of things that sold well, with a “that work was accepted, so let’s get on the bandwagon and make something” kind of feeling to them. I think that a feeling such as, “The animes made by Miyazaki-san and the like are different, so isn’t it okay if we keep doing our thing on this side?” has been going on all along.

——This side of it might have come to light precisely because the number of late-night anime fans increased and the market for them established itself to some extent.

A few years ago, when the so-called “moé anime” was trending, I was told, “Once you start doing it, there’s no helping if it doesn’t sell. It’ll be more accepted if you use cute girls and include erotic scenes”, but I thought, “That’s not true”, because I believe that we are becoming unable to sell anime Blu-rays and DVDs as a result of making a fool out of our spectators like this. When we do that, the younger directors cannot challenge themselves at all, even if they have the sense to. Therefore, it has been over 30 years since I have entered this business, so I wondered if I couldn’t create some sort of new path once again, even if it were an animal trail.

——You were aware of a sense of crisis regarding the industry and of nurturing the next generation.

Companies must equip themselves with new technology just for making new things, so at first, I talked to the CEO of Eight Bit, Kasai Tsutomu-san, about firstly levelling our footing with a hop-step-jump feeling and then gradually accelerating it in “Hoshiai no Sora”. But out of a bad habit of mine, I end up suddenly stepping onto the pedal with all my strength when I start doing something (laughs). It is modern, so I believe it is still easier for the staff to make it than near-future sci-fi.

——I also want to ask about that point, director Akane, but when the topic is you, we do get the image of sci-fi and robots after all, and from the words “new possibilities of animation”, I reminisced to sci-fi with flashy footage, action and things in that direction. But “Hoshiai no Sora” is the complete opposite of that, and in a way, while having a puny soft tennis club from a present-time middle school as its stage, it is the story of a very small world.

About that, to tell the truth, the first animation work I looked up to was Takahata Isao-san’s “Sekai Meisaku Gekijou” series. I adore “Anne of Green Gables” and such, like, “You can stage human mentality so sensibly with animation, as if you’re approaching the viewer”, and I always thought that I wanted to try doing it. In the beginning, when I entered Sunrise, it went to a point where I asked in an interview, “Isn’t it fine to also aim for something masterpiece-like, an animation that only compels human drama?”. The sci-fi personnel kept telling me to “do what would be accepted”, so I included that because I had no choice.

——Eh, was that so (laughs)?

But now sci-fi has grown obsolete, so I thought that, this time, I would be able to make something pieced together from nothing but human drama; something that could project a sense of the current times with this, which is what I had always wanted to do ever since I entered this business. After all, far more than our generation did, children nowadays carry with themselves several kinds of issues. Besides, a number of old animes were less skillful in comparison to now when it comes to depiction methods. The power of animation and portrayal of “Sekai Meisaku Gekijou” series is absurdly high, so it managed to portray extremely sensible changes of heart in people with art, but it is a work that could be made because genius animators like Miyazaki-san, Kotabe Youichi-san and Kondou Yoshifumi-san were gathered for it. But in the past few decades, the number of brilliant animators increased a lot, and compared to when I entered the industry, where the quantity of series became so big that we cannot deal with them all, the quality of the animators has grown far better. Wouldn’t I be able to direct the depiction of a proper human drama if I were with children like them? If so, I thought, I wanted to try creating a scenario that would be in accordance to this.

“I wanted to make a contemporary Japan version of ‘Stand By Me’.”

——By the way, other than “Anne of Green Gables”, was there any other work that you had as an image of something along the lines of “I want to make a series like this” during the conception stage of this one?

Something I thought of wanting to do was the movie “Stand By Me”. It makes you reflect upon the mood in America during the period when the Vietnam War had just ended, and the suffering of children who cannot let go of their parents is properly written in it, so the question “Then how about making a ‘Stand By Me’ with present-time Japan as the setting?” was always within me.

——So the idea of making a multi-protagonist story about boys comes from there. It sure makes sense.

There is the fact that animation is a media essentially watched by young people, so even as I said that I was going to make a human drama, I did not want an old man as protagonist (laughs). When I remember about myself, I think that the time around the second year or so of middle school is a period where the entrance to adulthood starts becoming visible, but no matter what, you cannot escape from the restraints of your parents, so it becomes a turning point in the formation of people’s growth. Moreover, I decided to add sports to it, in which you can easily insert a balance for entertainment, but I have a twisted personality (laughs), so I thought just normal sports would not be fun, thus I tried choosing a somewhat minor sport such as soft tennis.

——When you went on-stage during the TBS Anime Festa, you said, “The number of competitors in soft tennis is really huge in middle school, but it becomes smaller as people grow up, and they end up forgetting what they felt during those times. This overlapped with my image of the so-called ‘adolescence’”, and it left a big impression.

There is also the fact that I used to play it, but I believed that, if it were soft tennis, the wordly thoughts of adults would not barge into it. Whenever parents have their children do something, no matter what, the greed of grown-ups is often involved. I despise things such as doing something while aiming for victory and throwing everything away (laughs). I thought it would be better to write about a more innocent kind of sport where one would say, “I do it because I like it”.

——Director Akane, looking at your previous works and interviews, I feel like you always have your eyes on the children, so to say, and that you want to make animes that remain in children’s hearts, but are you conscious of this?

No, just because the protagonists are children does not mean that I am making animes aimed at children. I believe I cannot make a kids’ anime (laughs). Isn’t the “children gaze” something that everyone is supposed to have experienced before? That’s why, when I make the protagonist a child, I am aiming it at “general audiences”.

——I see.

It would be great if I cause adults to remember their childhoods and think things such as, “I used to be more serious, huh?” or, “Aren’t I hurting my child?” with “Hoshiai no Sora”. Even though they were supposedly hurt by adults in their own childhoods, when people become adults, they pretend that they forgot about it for some reason. Of course, I would also be happy if middle school kids watched it, and I want to tell them, “You’re not at fault for anything; you don’t have to blame yourselves”. Adults are human beings too, so they are not right about everything, and it might not be your fault that they are scolding you. This has both a “it’s okay to be aware of that” and a “it might be okay to make others understand that” side to it.

“The last scene of episode one was an unexpected finale.”

——From here on, I am thinking of asking questions also related to the contents of the first episode, but the background music by Jizue bears a sense of presence. I had a very “present-like” impression of it, and having that post-rock-style instrumental as anime soundtrack felt fresh.

When I told our music producer, “I don’t want an OST and theme songs that are wholly anime-like”, he made arrangements with Jizue-san. Jizue-san’s compositions are unique and interesting and gave us good influence even during the staging. I decide everything by myself as far as music pieces for the middle of the story are concerned, so I believe the music and the drama are in sync.

——One more thing I felt to be fresh was the character design. Itsuka-san, who made the concept drafts, is an illustrator that has over a hundred thousand followers on Twitter, draws covers for several novels aimed at teenagers and is extremely popular amongst young people, right? You told us that you were introduced to her by someone from your staff.

Yes. I believed that, story-wise, more realistic character designs would be better at first, but on the other hand, I thought that, in the end, unless you also have people at around their late teens watch an anime, its life force as an animation drains out, so I concluded I had to make the art into something that children at this age would want to see. And then the one who Producer Kasai from Eight Bit introduced to me was Itsuka-san. Her drawings are soft, so I had wondered if they would be able to handle the hard parts of the story, but when it was animated by the photography director, Takahashi (Yuuichi)-kun, and the characters started moving, it was praised with a, “If it’s this, it can work”.

——Just as you say, even though the characters are deformed, I thought this was an unexpected finishing touch that allows their facial expressions and the scenarios to feel realistic.

When it was selected to be animated, I repeated countless manuscripts. In the beginning, I tried making it more real, a bit removed from Itsuka-san’s art, but when I did that, it somehow ended up looking like an “average anime” to me. Itsuka-san had gone through the trouble of drawing it, so I went over trial and error in order to have it leave its mark. When we actually finished the first episode, I thought it synchronized quite well with the story.

——And when people watched episode one, what really left an impression was the last scene, which reveals that Maki is abused by his father. I had somewhat heard about the contents of it, but when I actually watched it, the shock was bigger than I thought it would be. The mood felt unpleasant from the moment that his father came, so to speak, and at Maki’s aspect as he was hit after rebelling once, then crouched down and became unable to move, I was at a loss for words, like, “Uwah…”.

That scene was entirely written by Takahashi-kun, but it was a finale that made me think, “My, that’s terrible…” more than I had imagined, so I was also surprised. In our own childhood, there was a fair number of parents who hit their children, and I believe it is not rare at all for children to have this sort of home circumstance, but if we had portrayed it objectively, people would go, “Something so cruel doesn’t exist”. I think that it went well performance-wise because it came in the form of facial expressions and that it would be great if people felt lots of things watching that scene.

“That means you watch too much anime.”

——Speaking of which, there are already several club members just in the soft tennis one, so how did you create the image of each?

They partly hint novels that I have read up to this point and movies I like, and I also insert all sorts of elements from people I have met until now. Such as, “They had this kind of reaction back then, didn’t they?” or, “That kind of guy was there”. There are also episodes that include real stories. This is why I think that it would be good if the viewers do things such as having the person next to them in mind or imagining the person they are with in the character’s shoes as they watch the series.

——I was thinking that Touma was going to be the so-called protagonist-like story teller, but his lines are much fewer than I had expected. Maki is also flighty, and the tennis club members around them are careless too… The fact that you cannot see the true thoughts of anyone and that there is no storyteller was also fresh.

If you feel that to be fresh, it certainly means you watch too much anime.

——Ahaha, I cannot deny it (laughs).

If it is in movies, isn’t that completely normal? Explaining too much through lines and monologues is a bad habit of anime. I think people come to like characters even more when they ask themselves, “What’s this guy thinking?” and then figure it out. This is a particularly strong trait of original animes, so I hope people ask themselves about what kind of characters they are. All the hints are supposedly depicted there.

——As you say, I think the first one was exactly the type of episode that draws out a “What kind of people are these kids?”.

“The sort of performance that real actors do can also be portrayed through animation.”

——Regarding the animation, it is mostly hand-drawn and it seems even the 3D is devised to look hand-drawn. Director Akane, I wonder if this is not because you are against CG, but was the obsession with hand-drawing meant to match with the story in this case?

In a previous work, I tried seeing what would happen if we used CG to the utmost limit. The operator was also an awfully brilliant person, so I believe he did all he could, but in the end, I thought that it could not win against action hand-drawn by human beings. The more we maximized with CG, the more I perceived once again the greatness of action drawn with human hands all too well, so this time, I believe I want to depict these boys with the sensibility and flexibility of hand drawings. It is not that I am against CG, but in the end, there is something wonderful in the art drawn by actual animators. Of course, there is the pre-determined condition that they have to be skilled (laughs).

——So animators who can make this possible are gathered in “Hoshiai no Sora”.

Right. This applies to Takahashi-kun’s art in particular, for he makes drawings so delicate that the faces can change just by moving one line. For example, he portrays very deftly those facial expressions of Maki’s where you cannot tell what he is thinking for a moment, as well as Touma’s air of inflexibility, or the fact that he sometimes suddenly has on an anxious-looking gaze. I want to leave behind this kind of fineness by hand-drawn animation. I want young animators to realize that the detailed performances that actors do can also be portrayed with animation and it would be great if the viewers could understand this too. You said earlier that Maki’s suffering was conveyed very well in the last scene of episode one, and I think this is exactly because it is not live action but animation.

——This is part of the power of art, and there is also the facet that one can relate emotionally to it precisely because it is entirely fiction. After all, we sometimes end up feeling that it is “just acting” in live action, but the anime characters are not putting up an act.

Aah, that is right. There is also the fact that I made the protagonists be children, and in Japan, gathering just seven to eight good child actors for making a live action series with lots of children is really difficult. That’s why it would be fake no matter what, but it looks true in animation. I believe this is something that cannot be done with live action, and that we can achieve because it is an anime. The voice actors, too, can play the boys regardless of being already past their twenties.

——Now that you mentioned it, this time, it seems the casting was decided only through the tapes, without anyone looking at their names or profiles at all.

Yes. In the tape audition, we picked just by their numbers without looking at the names. Except, even if we select them without look at their names, we ultimately choose the good ones, and all the popular ones are good. I only asked for Itsuki’s actor, Matsuoka (Yoshitsugu)-kun, to be selected before-hand this time, because when we were together in my previous work, I thought that “he’s so good”.

——There are many young actors, but do you feel any difference between the voice actors of before and now?

No, nothing of the sort. Whenever I was the director, since long ago, I would often favor the rookies. From the very start, I was fond of voice actors who performed in a natural way, so I believe that we have chosen mostly people like that this time as well.

——During the advanced screening, too, everyone in the cast was hinting at each of the worries that the characters bear, so as to call the attention not only to Touma and Maki, of course, but also to the other club members.

This is a series that started out from all sorts of challenges, so I believe the story will not progress the way people may picture it, and the story might not come down as imagined from the title “Hoshiai no Sora”. Developments that you cannot expect may be something unpleasant to see at times, but I think this will turn into pleasure if people bear with it and that there will be no disappointment from watching it. I also look forward to them coming up every time. The staff is doing their best, so I hope people will enjoy how the story will advance.

“Hoshiai no Sora” Cast Comment

Hanae Natsuki (voice of Katsuragi Maki) / Hatanaka Tasuku (voice of Shinjou Touma) / Matsuoka Yoshitsugu (voice of Ameno Itsuki) / Satou Keisuke (voice of Takenouchi Shingo) / Amasaki Kouhei (voice of Ishigami Taiyou) / Yamaya Yoshitaka (voice of Asuka Yuuta)

Q. How is director Akane Kazuki during the recording?

Hanae: The director talks to us quite a lot even during breaks and whatnot. Maybe he is quite the worrywart, since he asks things such as, “Was it fun?” and, “You guys okay?”. The fact that he is very hyped towards “Hoshiai no Sora” really conveys, so we also feel like we should do our best.

Q. This is a work that depicts the troubles of middle school boys, thus I believe it made you all remember how you felt during that period of your lives, so if there is any episode that stayed in your memory, please do tell.

Hanae: When it comes to the episodes that we can talk about, I remembered a time when I had a class where we had to go out in groups, and I had brought gum with me and my teacher found out when I was eating it, so they gave me a battered earful.

Hatanaka: I wanted to be popular… I wanted that, so I played basket. But I did not become popular at all. It was truly hard, so I would like people not to laugh at me.

Matsuoka: There was once an extracurricular lesson at school where we had to pick grapes and turn them into wine. But the field was super large, so no matter how much we picked and picked, and we had to repeatedly put the grapes in a big container in the middle of it when our buckets were filled up, and I got sick and tired of it, so I kicked my bucket flying and the health teacher saw it and it was a shock to me when they said, “Matsuoka-kun, I didn’t think you were the kind of child who did things like this”.

Satou: I rode to school by bicycle when I was in junior high, so I had to wear a helmet, but I hated it. A student who had the status of school leader did not wear it and he told me something like, “You take it off too!”. But I was conflicted… because the teachers would get mad at me if I did so (laughs).

Amasaki: I remember one time when swimming class had ended and the girl I liked whispered in my ear, “Amasaki-kun, you had belly rolls, huh?”, and I was extremely hurt (laughs).

Yamaya: There was a girl I used to like in my class, and she liked anime, so I started watching anime in order to have common topics with her. It is thanks to this girl that I am now a voice actor.

Q. Please leave messages for the people who have watched the first episode and who will watch it from this point on.

Yamaya: From the impression that the art gives off, I believe many people will watch it thinking that it has warm and cozy world-building, or that it is a multi-protagonist drama about refreshing youth where schools and club activities appear. I think they will be dealt a shock, but please do look forward to the developments ahead.

Amasaki: I think that, surely, anime is something that you watch with all sorts of feelings. There are people who watch with lighthearted feelings while eating snacks, and people who watch levelheadedly with fixed sitting postures. The people who want to eat snacks should finish eating fast! Please watch the latter half of it steadily. There are many scenes that are a waste to miss out on, so I hope people will watch with all their mights from the first episode onward.

Satou: The director and everyone from the staff made this while obsessing a lot with minute details, so I hope people will see even these delicate parts of it.

Matsuoka: Please watch it with your family while having dinner. I believe this series is related to everyone’s futures.

Hatanaka: The way each character is written is extremely sensible and the things they bear are heavy, so I think there will definitely be people who will be pained to watch it, but I would be happy if they could watch, with these feelings also included, how these children will face it and move on. I believe there is always something to be found in the aftermath of a painful feeling.

Hanae: I think it is an anime in which the way you feel towards it changes from person to person, and there are also lots of characters, so I think that how people will relate their emotions with a given character also changes depending on each person, so I want all sorts of people to watch it. How the club members will unite through soft tennis is also depicted there, so please do pay attention to it.

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olusegundare · 5 years

Text

Lovers Story: Brother Samson and Sister Debbie 5

Lizzy went and priced the cloths and on getting to her brother’s shop she told him what the cost of the cloths were, and her brother gave her the money for the cloths. The need of the family makes brother Samson to take the second loan.

Consideration

The singles; spinsters and bachelors living in the building are most of the times ecstatic as shown by the noise they make, increasing the volume of their DVD players not minding if co-tenants neither like what they are playing nor noise. They bring different kinds of visitors into the house daily, they live their lives as if they are in the dormitories on the campus.

The married ones seem not to be moved by their actions, “they are youths, this is the time they can do such” Mr. Mosunmoba said, while Agba adds that, “I was even louder than they are when I was at their age, let them enjoy themselves, it is for a period”.

Mrs. Agba replied her husband that she does not like noise at all, it is my daily prayers that we move out of this building”. After saying this she left her hubby and Mr. Mosunmoba where they are to go to the central kitchen at the backyard.

The attitudes of those singles do piss off brother Samson and few weeks after moving into the building he considered leaving the building because he is the type that do not like the kind of noise they are making in the house. Except when there is no electricity or maybe when they are not in the house that is when there won’t be noise in the building.

Whenever he returns from work and hears that their stereo player’s volume is high, he will appeal to them to please reduce the volume which they often do.

“How long will I continue to go to them that they should please reduce the volume of their DVD player?” he asked himself one day and another thought cropped up in his heart that he should leave the building. “How would I know the building where the inhabitants’ noise would be minimal?” He again asked himself after thinking about this. No agent neither any landlord will tell you negative things about the house that one wants to rent, all they will show you are the good things that the building has. The good things possessed by the building cannot and would not make the inhabitants of the building sensible.

If they are neither making noise nor playing music to disturb others in the building that I moved to assuming I moved out of this building what of if they are into another thing? What of if they are not loving there? And they fight everyday there? The place will look like hell, it will look like island’s cemetery ground.

A place where there is repeated fight, law enforcement agencies will be visiting the building regularly and at times the entire tenant would be arrested and invited for questioning. If that happens it is sure that one would part with some amount when leaving the place. I can’t be living in a building where they are fighting without wanting to meddle into the rift and that may lead me to another thing. I may become injured while doing that.

I remembered that when I was in secondary school something like that happened when I was trying to separate two girls who were fighting, as I pulled a lady away, the other furious lady stood up, thinking she was holding the cloth of the lady she was fighting with but unknown to her that it was my cloth that she was holding, she pulled my shirt with all her strength and tore it. If not that, that day was sports’ day and I have in my bag my sporting cloth, I would have walked home half naked.

My class mates exclaimed, while some what could come out of their moth was “Ha! Ha!! Ha!!!

The lady who tore my cloth started begging me, but the deed has been done.

Other friends and onlookers started saying sorry, a boy Klenly, said, it is a person who settles fight that gets wounded”.

After he said this, I remember the adage and said to myself that this is very true. I left the scene, and walked to where my bag was, and took off the tore cloth and put on my sport wear. This is allowed on the sports’ day in our school and when other teachers entered to teach, they did not raise eye brow to the dress I was putting on. I suffered loss of cloth that day.

When I got home from the school that day and I told my parents what happened all that my father said was, “be careful next time” and he left me with my mum. My mother said that you have shown that you are God’s child because the bible says, “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God”. After saying this she continued thanks to God that you are not physically harmed.

“Uhm, though I was physically not injured, really, but my cloth has been torn. Assuming I do not have another uniform at home won’t I miss school sessions till I get new cloth sown for me? I would have been affected educationally.” I echoed dryly to my mum.

Mrs. Laka, Samson’s mother is a woman of bible, hardly could she utter a word without salting it with the scriptures, how she knows appropriate words for each occasion still baffles his children, yet she was neither pastor’s daughter nor wife, in fact she was not even born into a Christian home and she does not hold a position in their church unlike her husband who has been appointed an elder in the church. She says she is okay with that because the office of the woman is bringing up her children in the ways of the Lord, giving her husband peace of mind in all ramifications. If this could be achieved by a woman, the woman is fulfilled. If all women of substance could achieve this, the world would be a wonderful place to live in she would say.

She is though found to always be with her bible, any of her free periods that she is found not to be sleeping, her bible will be found on her laps reading it or some Christian literature written in the Polyglot Island’s language. She is not very good in English language, but she is good in reading things written in her language.

Mrs. Laka says, “Son, I understand what you said, but the bible says, in everything we should give thanks.”

“I give thanks to God on this but not with a fill heart because of the proverb my friend uttered when my cloth was torn, and I thought the proverb is true”

“What proverb”, his mother inquired

“He said, “it is a person who settles fight that gets wounded”, he replied her mother

“Well that is our fore-fathers’ observations which is also true to some degrees, but that does not erase the word of God that those who settles fights shall be called sons of God, because it is only God who settles fight, devil cannot and will never”.

“Uhm mm”

“You should also know that you would have created some things in the hearts of your mates in the school with what you have done earlier in the day. What you created will surely be positive in their hearts. This may not be revealed now or many years to come but the truth is you have made a positive impact by that.” She said as she asked Samson to get for her a cruet of salt. After given her the cruet and adding salt to the soup she was preparing, stirring it, taken off the spoon from the boiling soup on fire, she puts droplets of the soup in her left palm, taken the palm to her protruded tongue to lick it. After doing this she nodded her head in satisfaction that the quantity of the salt added to the soup is okay. After doing this she continued to talk with Samson, “now this is the reason why you need to be thankful unto God in full. As your friend said, “it is a person who settles fight that gets wounded”, you have to thank God that you were not wounded by any of them. For assuming you were, you will be taken to the school clinic and God forbids it, if the injury is severe you will be referred to hospital where you may spend days and afterwards discharged. But after being discharged it is most likely that you will still be nursing the wound, this may take months if not years depending on the severity. In addition to this your cloth will most likely be damaged and another one will need to be sown for you. You will still miss classes if injured and may in fact not finish the term with your mates. In addition to these, we; your siblings, father and me will be involved physically, financially and psychologically because after you have been taken to the hospital, your teachers will not be the ones who will pay for the hospital bills, they will not be the ones who will be staying with you in the hospital and after a day or two at most it is sure that they will think less of you, but your siblings, father and me will continue to think about you, everything we shall be doing will be revolving around you during those periods. But now that God has not allow that to happen, other than your cloth getting torn, don’t you think we should be grateful to God?” she conclusively said.

Samson who has been following the line of her mother’s reasoning could not but agree with her mother and he said “oh, yes, I should be grateful to him in full”.

“Even assuming you do not have another uniform at home, we still need to be grateful unto him that you have not been wounded”, she echoed silently to him as she starts to serve the food.

Brother Samson vividly brought this incident back to his memory and said living with noisy but accommodating people who could be checked is still better off than getting another room where in a building where it will be fighting everyday. Apart from this, he thinks about his business that his business needs to grow. For the business to grow more capital needs to be injected into the business and this wouldn’t happen if he continues to change rooms because money paid would not be refunded once if refunded at all by the agents and the landlords. To get new room it means he will need to dip his hand into the money he has planned will see him through till he started making gains from the goods he is selling which he does not want to do.

Since he is not ready to dip his hand into his savings again and neither is he ready to get a self-contain room where he will not share toilet, bathroom and kitchen with anyone, it is better he keeps enduring so that his business will grow and if God blesses the business as he has been praying, he may even not need to get another apartment but will actually move to his own building. Nothing is impossible with God, he reasoned. With this he dropped the idea of relocating from the building to another one.

Uncommon Favor Auditing Conglomerate (UFAC)

The recently opened permanent site of Uncommon Favor Auditing Conglomerate’s outside premises was shown. The landscape designer of the outside premises did a very good job. The artisans and other workers that executed the design were nothing but professionals because I doubt if there is any design like this in Polyglot Island. The horticulturists and other workers beautify the outside premises of the Auditing Conglomerate that’s sited on five plots of land along the Famous Street in the Island.

The acronyms of the conglomerate were written with flowers on the outside of the fenced premises. Soil on which the flowers were planted was made to make about 30 degrees to the horizontal, while the flowers are planted up the soil to show the acronyms UFAC on both sides of the gates outside. The gate is partitioned into two by a raised pavement from the asphalt layers through which vehicles can enter or leave the building complex of the firm.

Within this pavement are well trimmed flowers planted with three street lights powered by solar that joined the Famous Street. In between the flowers is a signpost erected with welcoming words to anyone entering the firm’s premises while on the opposite side of the signpost is words of appreciation to those leaving the premises for patronizing the Auditing conglomerate.

The gate and fence are about 300 meters off the Famous Street which makes the layout to be distinct and beautiful. The height of the fence surrounding the building is about two hundred meters on the surface level. Metal poles about 50 meters apart from one another which hold bulbs that will give light to the compound at night powered by solar are all around the premises. These metal poles are erected close to the fence. Security cameras are on each of these metal poles.

Inside the fence, the works of the landscape architect can also be seen. The flowers, well layout trees, the road connections make the interior of the fence of the Uncommon Favor Auditing Conglomerate adorable such that people wonder when they entered the premises.

The building is a two storey building with different offices and different departments. On the first floor and the entrance into the main building is a receptionist and securities. One security is at the door that leads to the receptionist lobby from the outside while another security is at the other door that leads to the building where offices are.

The receptionist lobby is with full air condition with fiber-optic security cameras strategically placed. There are chairs and sofa for those who are not authorized t enter into the main building premises to sit on while televisions are placed at vantage positions for the people to be watching pending the time that the person they have come to see comes out of his or her office to attend to them.

The staff canteen, also fully air-conditioned is located to the south side of the receptionist lobby outside the main building premises.

The building of Uncommon Favor Auditing Conglomerate is a well planned one and has the touch of experts on its construction. Hardly could anyone believe that such building exists in the Polyglot Island where things hardly work.

Sister Debbie

A lady in her mid twenties of about 169 centimeters in height, slender with a round face, straight legs, small breasts with well plaited hair, who has folded her pink colored scarf into a single strand which she tied round her head leaving her long plaited hair to be seen touching her back is seen alighting from a taxi at the main road, Famous Street.

She is bidding someone in a taxi she has alighted from bye by waving at the car as the taxi zooms off.

This lady puts on pink shirt which is covered by blue jacket and blue skirt that is about 3 centimeters below her knees. She is wearing black shoe and pink ribbon is placed on her left breast jacket. One her left shoulder is pink hand bag with metallic handle hanged.

She stopped waving to the person in the taxi when the taxi could no longer be seen and she turned to face the direction of Uncommon Favor Auditing Complex started walking briskly towards the gate of the complex on the pedestrian path.

One of the securities on motor bike riding out of the premises of the firm bent his body on the bike as he greets this lady walking into the complex while she also waived back at him. Few seconds afterwards she was at the main gate to the complex. One of the securities at the gate opened the gate for her to enter. She waited a while at the gate as she exchange greetings with the security personnel males and females manning the gate.

She moved back to the pedestrian side, and then she started opening her bag. After opening the bag she took out of it an Android phone, she threw her head back for the coiffure to fall back to her back, as she used her left thumb to slide the surface of the phone sideways and then puts the phone to her right ear, “hello”, she said as she momentarily stopped walking.

“Oh Thanks to God. I have been trying t reach you and your sister for a while…”

“It must have been network brouhaha, you know networks are bad along the road until one gets to my place of work”, she replied interrupting the caller.

“I know sweetie. So, are you in the office now?” the old woman’s voice on the other side of the line asked.

“No, I am yet to be in my office. I have just entered into the gate of the complex, I am few minutes away from my office”, she replied the old woman on the other end of the line.

“That means Linda has gone to her school”, the old woman on the other end said

“Yes ma. If she has not gotten there by now, she will be few minutes away from the gate of her institution. Is anything the problem?” she asked the old woman

“Oh, no, not really. It is just that I saw one of her notes on the center table. She must have forgotten it when you were asking her to hurry up”, the old woman said.

“Oh gosh! That’s bad. Sorry to hear that but she is now a big girl, she will sort herself out when she finds out in school”, the lady replied the old woman, waving with her left hand to a lady that walks past her as she starts to walk towards the reception lobby of the building

“She better do”, the old woman’s voice replied.

“But, assuming we are yet together do you think she will turn back to get the notebook?” the lady asked the old woman

“Yes, I think so. That is why I have been trying to call before you get out of reach, but it was quite unfortunate that I couldn’t reach any of you on time”, the old voice replied the young lady.

“Mama, stop worrying yourself on the notebook she forgot. I am telling you Linda is now a big girl, she will sort herself out, I am sure of it”, The young woman replied the old woman on the other side of the phone

“Okay. Okay. It’s you that said so”, the old woman said.

“Yes oh mama. I am the one who said it because I know my sister”, she replied the old voice.

“Oh, darling, lest I forget before ending the call, please do not forget to buy those fruits and juice for me after the day’s work and you are on your way home.” The old woman said at the other end.

“Thanks mama for putting me in remembrance because I have forgotten. What’s in my mind now is our prayer meeting…”

“What about it?” The old woman interrupting asked her daughter

“Nothing mama, it’s just that when Linda and I were in the taxi and we were discussing we remembered that today is our prayer meeting day, “Open Zion”, and both of us have been thinking of how to meet there…”

“Oh, that is true. I have also forgotten. That means both of you will come home but late today” old woman replied her daughter

“Oh yes mama. In anyway, as you have put me in remembrance now, I will see to it. I will put it n my list of activities in the evening so as not to forget”, she replied her mum.

“That is good of you honey”, the old woman said

“And mama, please don’t stress yourself today oh”

“I won’t darling”

“Promise me?” she replied her mum

“I promise”, her mother replied her.

“I have to go mama, I am about to enter the reception lobby now.”

“Okay”

“Love you mum”

“I love you daughter”, her mother replied as her phone discussion ends.

As she approaches the receptionist area, the security man opened the door for her to enter, after greeting the man she saw the cleaner cleaning the floor and the woman said, “good morning madam”

“Good morning ma”, the young lady stopped, turned to the woman who is about the age of her mother and said, “mama, but how many times have I told you not to use “madam” for me again?”

“Sorry ma”, the cleaner responded, continuing, “before I get employed here, where I used to work before, that was how I used to address everyone, even those younger than you are there but who are my boss in the office, that is how I used to greet them and if I do not greet them like that, hell will be let loose that day. Having known that, that is what they cherished, I have been trying to give it to them. ever since I have been doing that I have known peace and my salaries are not affected unlike when I used to look at them as my children’s age mates that I won’t add “madam” to my words of greetings to them”

“Was that so?” The young lady asked looking bewildered, “Do people still attach such importance to something like that?” she asked

“Oh yes madam, people still do oh. It is you who do not see anything in it…”

“That is funny”, she said coldly

“Since I have been greeting them like that it has become part of me that is why I have found it difficult to change over the years. It is even reflecting in the way I address my children at home. My first child has to call me to order not once or twice”, the cleaner said unto the young woman

“Old habits die hard the people say”, the young woman replied

“That is it oh madam. I cannot change suddenly, “ the cleaner said to her

“In as much as I try to understand you, I want to say, in case you have forgotten my name, my name is Deborah and people call me Debbie, please ma, for God’s sake just address me as sister Debbie…”

“Heh?”, interrupting Sister Debbie’s words looking surprised

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theplaguezine · 5 years

Text

HAMMERFALL

Interview with Joacim Cans by Daniel Hinds

(conducted October 2003)

Though the hype that surrounded HammerFall when they first broke on the scene six years ago has died down, the band hasn't slowed down a bit. Releasing their fourth record late last year, the band proceeded to tour the States with Dio and King's X, a very successful venture for all. While the band has really only progressed in terms of production, they continue to pump out quality heavy metal the way it was meant to be made - heavy and fast, but tempered with melody and emotion. Chatting with vocalist Joacim Cans was a blast, as he's a very nice guy as well as a talented singer… How's it going? Pretty good. I'm just watching a soccer game. I know you don't like it over there, but it's pretty entertaining. Sweden is doing pretty good, playing Portugal. How do you feel the new album turned out? When I sit here with the results in my hand, I feel this is the ultimate HammerFall album. It's much more powerful than the previous albums. To say it's more raw, maybe sounds wrong, but powerful is the best word for it. Also the production, the guitar is tuned down even lower on some songs to get this really raw sound to the guitars. It's more of a mid-tempo album compared to the previous releases. You have the diversity in the songs with a track like "On the Edge of Honour" (the fastest song) and the acoustic ballad "Dreams Come True." It's by far the most mature album we have done I would say. Every single note on the album is there for a purpose. It's really well thought out without losing... I mean, we don't sit down and make a plan like, 'We need five songs in that tempo and we need two fast ones and a ballad.' We just sit down and start writing it and this is how it turned out in the end. Are there any songs that are particularly personal to you, lyrically? Not really. This time I have been trying to link the songs together but without making a concept album. That's too hard and too many people have done that and some people made it and some didn't. It takes more than just a little story to make a concept album. It's kind of a cliché, but it's the battle between good and evil, between heaven and hell so to speak. To me, since this album is more raw and more mid-tempo, these type of lyrics fit perfectly with the music. The ballad on the album is probably the most personal one but that was written by Oscar himself. I think he's the more romantic type, I don't know (laughs). I'm the evil guy! (laughs). How did you settle on the title Crimson Thunder? Always when we try to get the title, we want to have one of the tracks. Naming an album where you don't have a song with the title is a bit awkward to me, but Crimson Thunder is more of a feeling that you have. It comes from a song on the first album, the song "Unchained," where we talk about "the crimson thunder running through your veins." It's kind of the blood that you have, it's hard to describe in English for me sometimes. It's a feeling. When it comes to the title track, it goes, "Follow the sign of the crimson thunder." It could mean to follow your heartbeat or follow your instinct, but when I wrote the lyrics it was more thunder in its true sense. I think it's a cool title for the album and that's enough sometimes. I see you worked with a different producer in a different studio this time. How did you decide on that? First of all, as a band, we were really satisfied with the outcome of the Renegade album which we did in Nashville with Michael Wagener. But in the end when it is time to pay the bill for the studio, especially when you use one in the States, it's pretty expensive. Of course, we wanted to invest a lot of money, but in the end it didn't really pay off. When you have to pay your bills and the rent, you can't tell the company, well, sorry I don't have any money - we spent it all in the States. But we wanted to have a production equal to Michael's' but lower cost. So as always, you sit down and listen to your favorite albums and check out different producers. And I found Charlie Bauerfiend who has done amazing work with Helloween, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, and we thought that he would be the perfect guy for HammerFall without losing the personal sound of HammerFall. When I listen to his productions, he adds more of the band's personality. Some bands go to a producer who has produced a certain band and in the end they sound exactly like the band that they had as an influence. That's a big problem sometimes, but with Charlie we hoped he would make HammerFall sound more like HammerFall. In the end, we absolutely sounded more like HammerFall than we ever have before; if that's possible I don't know (laughs). But it was like, 'Yes! Finally!' Charlie, when it comes to backing vocals, I knew already what I wanted to have back on the debut album in 1996, but I didn't know how to do it. For the second album, we tried even more to get this Acceptish, football choir backing vocals, but we didn't know how to make it. I just described to Charlie what I wanted and when I listen back to this album it is exactly what we have been struggling for ever since 1996. With Charlie, he came up with a good plan on how to record this album so that in the end we wouldn't lose too much money but still would make a worthy follow-up to Renegade. That was the best decision that we've made so far, to work with Charlie. He's easy-going and, even though it's kind of a cliché to become the sixth member of the band, it was more or less a very friendly atmosphere and he was really nice as a person. And really professional when it was time to work, really kicking our asses sometimes. Especially the first three days, I was about to leave the band and go back home. No matter what I did, he said, 'No, come on! Put more edge to it! Push harder!' And I'm like, 'No, I sound like this, please give me a break!' (laughs) But then when I understood what he was trying to tell me it became kind of obvious. So this is as close as you've come to what you originally imagined for the HammerFall sound? Maybe not the overall sound, but for me since I'm doing all the vocal arrangements, I finally found someone who understands what I wanted to have. I'm not a studio engineer or producer or anything, I just get these visions of how I want it. And you need a person who can understand what you're trying to say, even though sometimes you don't even know yourself. Hopefully we can work with Charlie for the next album and maybe for the next five or ten years, if we last that long. Did you learn anything in particular from working with Michael Wagener? To have fun in the studio. I mean, that was a joy ride working with Michael. Both Michael and Charlie are Germans and Germans are kind of strict. They're marching to the studio more or less - they're not walking, they're marching. (laughs) But Michael has been in the States for so long that he's Americanized by now, so it was more relaxed, 'Hey, come on, it sounds good, leave it like that!' Charlie was the total opposite: 'No! Do it one more time, you can do it better!' But did I learn anything working with Michael… I learned how to cook better, how to be a better chef. (laughs) I think Michael gained ten pounds when I was there because I made him a meal every day. The new DVD is great, a really good mix of performances and behinds the scenes footage. Were you happy with it? Does it reflect pretty well what it's like to be on tour with HammerFall? Absolutely. I think some people actually complained, 'Oh, this is really bad footage, too much bootleg' but hey, you know, that's the only way you can show what's going on behind the stage. You don't have a professional camera guy with you. Because if you do, then all of a sudden, there's acting going on. A lot of this footage is when people didn't know there was someone standing behind them with a camera, so then you get the most honest stuff. I think it really represents the band 100%. Both me and Oscar sat down and went through 30 or 40 video tapes with each 2 hours of footage just to find the best pieces, it was really tough. I don't think we could do it better and I don't think we could show HammerFall from a more honest way than we have on this DVD so I'm really satisfied. HammerFall has always had a rather positive message, lyrics like the chorus to "Destined For Glory." Is that an important part of HammerFall to you? In general, to me it is a way of escaping from reality for 45 minutes. When you put on a CD or vinyl, I just want to get carried away. When I write the lyrics, I want it to be entertainment, to escape from reality and feel better. A lot of the lyrics talk about medieval battles, the Templar crusades, things like that, but there's always a little message they can interpret in two ways. You can draw parallels with the lyrics. I'm talking about the medieval battles to daily life. The importance is to always tell people is that, even though your life maybe bad today, you can make a change. But you always have to remember that you have to take the first step yourself. There's a song on Legacy of Kings called "Dreamland" where I talk about 'the ivory gates' - you have to go through the door yourself. We're just pointing out directions to people, but still in the end, it's up to you. And also the importance of following the beat of your own drum. Why follow a trend when you can create your own? To me it's important to not make depressed people even more depressed. And also we're not trying to act like Jesus or something, 'Follow us and your life will be much better.' We're just handing out some tools and then people have to decide for themselves. I like the fact that you've stayed away from dealing with religious themes in your music. Is that an intentional thing or just not a topic that interests you enough to write about? I'm a musician and if I wanted to talk about politics, I would have become a politician. I think that says it all. I don't want to bore people too much. If you turn on the TV, switch on the radio, you'll hear about the bombings in Bali on every channel. There was a bombing in Finland the other week and it was on the TV 24/7. If you feel depressed and you turn on the TV, you get more depressed. I just want to give people 45 minutes of relief from all the misery in this world. On the new album, though, there might be some parallels since we are now talking about the battle between good and evil. Because there is so much evil in this world, there might be some parallels, but that is up to the listener themselves to decide how they want to interpret the lyrics. But religion - nah. Nothing really there I want to talk about it because it just pisses me off sometimes. There's too much lack of respect in the world today and I just want to change the mode with people. You guys pick the coolest songs to cover - how did you decide on Chastain this time around? Was it a spur of the moment thing? No, that was actually two or three years ago, I played this song for Oscar, I made a mix tape for him. I included that song along with other more or less obscure songs that he had never heard. He freaked out when he heard this song, he thought it was a fantastic song, and I had the same feeling when I heard the song for the first time. So much emotion but with some pretty poor production. We started to play around with what this song would sound like, first of all, with a proper production and second of all, with a male vocalist. I was a little scared because when you hear a female sing, it doesn't sound that high, but they are a natural octave above the male voice, so I didn't know if I was capable of doing it or not. But then when I started to sing along with it I realized that it wasn't that high after all. For the Renegade album, this song just didn't fit at all, so we put it in the 'maybe for the future' pile. Then when we started to talk about covers for the new album, we didn’t want to have a cover on the actual album, we only wanted to have it as a bonus track, so we decided to do an Yngwie Malmsteen cover for the European release, we did a Loudness song for the Japanese release ("Crazy Nights"). So we just wanted to have something special for each territory and wanted to have the Chastain cover for the US. But then when all the original songs were done, I told Oscar that I'd really like to have this song on the album because it really represents the rest of the songs and it feels like we made this song a HammerFall song, even though it's a cover. So that's why we decided to put it on the actual album for all the territories and ended up doing a KISS cover for the States. It's not an obscure thing to do "Detroit Rock City," but what the hell. We wanted to do Malice's "Sinister Double," but then I realized the vocals are a bit high and if you take it down and don't do the high screams, people go, 'Oh, why couldn't you sing like that?' No, I'm sorry I can't, I have my limits! (laughs) What are your thoughts on the current state of heavy metal now compared to when you first started out? I think it's a big difference in Europe because metal is pretty big over here, especially in Sweden. With Renegade, we were #1 on the charts in Sweden, we were #1 on the video charts, we had a gold album and we were doing pretty big tours. So in Europe, it's pretty huge, but the problem is that now you have too many new bands coming up. And they're not ready to record yet. You ask them, 'What do you guys sound like?' and they're like, 'We sound like Gamma Ray.' And you listen to the album and they do sound exactly like Gamma Ray, but it's a bad version of it. The power metal scene, now they want to put labels on each and every band that comes out. HammerFall, we play heavy metal, but people say, 'No no no, you play Epic Power Heavy Metal' or 'True Epic Power Heavy Metal.' And we're just like, 'Nooo, please, we play Heavy Metal and nothing else.' The scene in some countries it became more or less mainstream again, even though radio and TV are trying to close the doors, we're trying to force ourselves through the doors, 'You HAVE to play our music!' And to a certain extent it worked, but I see that the more melodic fast metal is on the way down. A few more years and it's hard to predict what it will be like, but the heavier side of metal will survive longer. You don't have the same problem in the States because the European power metal is not that big. We gotta make a change, gotta force-feed the Americans with European metal! (laughs) Please do! (laughs) I understand you went to MI at one point? Stefan and I went there. I studied vocals there for a year and Stefan was there for almost two years. Well at least he was there playing guitar for one year, I don't know what he did the second year... drinking and partying, living the Hollywood glamour life, I don’t know! (laughs) It was a cool thing to do though. I was unemployed, didn't have anything to do, didn't want to play music or anything. Then I got a phone call from a friend and joined a band. I realized I never sounded like Geoff Tate like I wanted to, I sounded more like Lemmy. That was a problem, so I thought, 'Well, maybe I should give it a try and go to this school everyone is talking about and see if I can learn how to sing.' I didn't have any expectations and still thought I was the crappiest singer in the world, but I came there and people said, 'Wow, you sound great man!' and I'm just like, 'What are you mental or something?' (laughs) When I asked Oscar a couple years ago to describe each member of the band, he said you were "goal-minded, full of ideas and very visual." Would you agree with that? Yes, maybe not as much today as I was two years ago because I've realized that there are more things in life than just music. I'm still the person who if I come up with an idea at 4 in the morning, I give Oscar a call. (laughs) It can't wait. If I get an idea, I need to start working on it right now. I think a lot. I realize that my brain has a big hard drive and processor but the processor is getting slower, maybe out of date, but I can't really update it (laughs). That's why I have to reconsider things; maybe I should focus more on my family. I formed a record label and now I have my publishing company. I know that in a few years, metal might be totally dead. I don't know, I can't predict the future, so I don’t' want to sit here and in the end I can't do anything else but sing. So that's why I have so many ideas going on at the same time. I'm writing a musical, I have a staff of song writers in my publishing company. Of course, I'm probably going to die of a heart attack at age 39 because it's too much to handle for one person. I think Oscar was pretty right though. (laughs) www.hammerfall.net

#HammerFall #interview #oct2003

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