#they’re the main source of drama/storylines

[tonicandjins]

sh**ting stars

characters: wonwoo + reader word count: 7.8k genre: all fluff :) summary: long story short, sh**ting stars AU note: miss me? :P

please help me see seventeen on december!

***

God, you hate him.

Jeon Wonwoo is, as you like to call it, your karma. Your karma for not taking up a medical course as advised by your parents (seriously though, you did everything you could to dodge reading those biology books stacked up in your older sibling’s room back home, and that includes taking PR as your major—no biology and physiology books for sure, but you got Jeon Wonwoo instead); your karma for tenaciously dreaming about being rich (money, money, and only money are three things that make you happy); and lastly, your karma for trying to sabotage his rising career when you two were in college (it’s a story for another day).

He struts his way to your desk. Bellowing your last name, Jeon Wonwoo enters the vicinity and you start to see red. Even from afar and with sunglasses hiding his mischievous eyes, you just know that he’s here to ruin your day.

“How’s my favorite PR manager?” He starts, and it’s only now that you notice a new piercing on his left ear. You gasp, disappointed but never surprised at this point. Jeon Wonwoo only lives to make your life hard.

“Wonwoo!” You screech. “Didn’t we agree not to change your appearance for your next project? Which part of keep people out of your face did you not understand? Jesus. Seungcheol’s going to kill me.”

Wonwoo gets rid of his sunglasses, throwing the pair on your desk. “Nobody touched my face. It’s just a piercing, Y/N. Don’t be so dramatic.”

“You’re doing a cameo for that international film we were talking about just last week, Won. The character is supposed to appear the complete opposite of your garbage personality: a good boy. Another piercing, really?”

“Hey, good boys can have piercings!” he defends. “You are so judgmental. What do I expect?”

You sigh, defeated. As much as you would like to throw the nearest item within your reach (a stapler) to his face, you have to admit that Jeon Wonwoo’s face is your main source of income. “What brings you here anyway? We don’t need you here until the day after tomorrow to discuss the script and storyline for your new drama.”

Your eyes and attention go back to your screen, reading Wonwoo’s “statement” regarding his new drama one last time before giving Sooyeon, one of the PR associates, a nod—an approval to upload it on the agency’s website.

“Why? I can’t visit my favorite PR manager?” Wonwoo asks, defensive.

“I am your only PR manager.” You scoff, eyes still on the screen. “Come one, Won. What’s going on?”

Wonwoo sighs, makes himself comfortable on the lazy boy on the corner of the room. You turn to look at him; he pouts, eyes pleading. You only know what it means.

“Girls,” you call the associates’ attention. “Go out for lunch today.”

The girls squeal, and ask where you should go. You shake your head, handing them the corporate card instead and letting them know they can get themselves whatever they want as a reward for an exhausting week. They leave in a matter of minutes, but not without bowing to Wonwoo and bidding polite goodbyes to him. You walk them out of the room, locking the door behind you.

“Alright,” you breathe. “They’re gone. Talk.”

“I do not want to be in that drama,” he says.

You are disappointed, but then again, not surprised. Wonwoo was gone for a year to pursue his international film career (successfully if you may add) and had expressed as soon as he came home that he doesn’t want any projects for the next 6 months—at least. Somehow, despite the bubbling hatred towards the star, you feel awful that the agency continued to force projects after projects on him—one commitment after another, one interview after another, one drama after another—and he’s just over it. But at the end of the day, Wonwoo’s hands are tied with a rope called contract.

“I know, Wonwoo,” you reply. “But we’ve already agreed to it. We’ve signed commitments and a press release has been made about it. We can’t just take it back now.”

Wonwoo sighs, tired, and it pinches something in your inside. Working in PR, you believe, somehow made your worry about this devil. It’s a part of the job description after all.

The drama had been the talk of the town. The director and producer for the project were well-known. The story is a remake of one of the best films of the decade called Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, in which Wonwoo would take the role of Hong Banjang—who you have personal affinity with because of how great the character is in general.

“I’m not doing it,” Wonwoo says, closing his eyes as he leans back to the couch.

“Seungcheol’s going to kill you,” you retort.

“I’m the one filling his bank account. He won’t do anything to harm me. He will kill you,” he spats nonchalantly. “I mean, that’s not going to be a problem for me. Good riddance, if you ask me.”

“Wonwoo.”

He says your name back, with the same tone, same determination.

“Jeon Wonwoo,” you firmly say, standing from your seat and walking towards him. Wonwoo opens his eyes and finds you towering over him. “You have to do it. I’ve already said yes.”

“I’ve already said yes,” he mocks. “You’re literally worse than my parents. I’ve never had someone tell me what to do every day until I met you.”

“And I’ve never had someone make my life a living hell,” you answer. Wonwoo raises an eyebrow, as if he’s asking if you’re being serious. “Come on, Wonwoo.”

Wonwoo bites his lips, looking at you in the eyes.

“No,” he says again, smirking. “No. Never.”

“Please.”

“Oh, she says please now,” he answers. “What’s the deal with this project anyway? Why is Seungcheol so desperate for me to get this role?”

“Two other actors from our agency were cast as well,” you answer truthfully. “You taking the lead role will guarantee attention and fame for those two. Also, their offer per episode is the highest one for you so far. Seungcheol’s hitting two birds with one stone.”

“What’s in it for you, then?” he asks.

“Seungcheol will not kill me,” you answer. “That’s it for me. Come on. Stop being a brat.”

The next thing that Wonwoo does takes you aback. He stands from his seat, towering over you, and walks forward, making you step back—eyes shivering, mouth dry, hands shaking.

“What’s in it for me?” he whispers as soon as you’re trapped between his lean, tall body and your desk. “What’s in it for me, sweetheart?”

“Don’t—okay—don’t, don’t call me that,” you stutter. “Money. You get money.”

Wonwoo shakes his head. “I want you.”

Your knees are shaking at this point. Wonwoo places his hands on the either side of your hips, gripping the table and leaning closer, until your can almost feel his nose against yours.

“What?” you ask, swallowing.

“I’ll take the role—”

“You already did.”

“The two rookies will get the head start they need for their career; I’ll make sure of that. Seungcheol’s wallet gains more weight. You don’t get killed by Seungcheol,” he states. “And I get you. A win-win for everyone.”

Wonwoo’s voice is low, as if anyone else can hear what he’s saying, and you’re about to run out of breath.

You don’t say anything. You might have actually forgotten how to speak at this point.

“Every day, you’re coming with me,” he says—commands. “You’re taking me to and from whichever location this drama takes me.”

“That’s what your road manager is for, Wonwoo,” you finally answer. “That isn’t my scope. It’s not a part of my job description.”

Wonwoo leans closer. At this point, he’s staring at your lips and you’re looking at his. Closer, closer, closer, eyes fluttering, closer, closer—

Wonwoo’s laugh makes you open your eyes.

“Then, no,” he says. “I’m not filming that drama. Goodbye, Y/N.”

And just like that, Jeon Wonwoo leaves.

Seungcheol is most definitely going to kill you.

***

Joshua Hong is charming, to say the least. One could be mistaken whenever Joshua is seen around the area. He could easily pass off as an idol or an actor, if he wasn’t busy working in one of the biggest law firms in Seoul.

His eyebrows are furrowed as he reads the agreement through his laptop. He is sitting right across you as you express your dilemma with him.

“Seungcheol is definitely going to kill you,” he confirms as he finishes the document. “It also says here that Wonwoo is promoting most of his endorsements in this drama, meaning nine businesses are also involved as they have already sent the terms to Seungcheol, to which he had agreed on. You’re not only losing the drama, but you’re also breaching against at least 10 terms related to this project.”

“Joshua,” you plead. “Save me from this.”

“Make Wonwoo do it,” he replied. “Find the reason why he doesn’t want to do it. Give him flowers. Make his coffee. Clean his shoes.”

“Josh, if you’re thinking that I’m going to slave my ass for Jeon Wonwoo, you are,” you stop. “Right. You are right. God, I hate him.”

Joshua laughs, closing his laptop. “Wonwoo likes you.”

You scoff, reaching for the cup of iced americano between you and the lawyer. “Joshua, Wonwoo and I have been in each other’s lives—involuntarily if I may add—for ten years. We’ve shared feelings with each other and him liking me is quite impossible at this point. He hates me; I am disgusted by his entire personality. That’s just how we are.”

The attractive lawyer across you licks his lips, watching you as you drink your cold coffee. “Do you like him?” he inquires.

“Didn’t you hear a word I just said?” you retort. “I would rather die than admit to have any positive feelings towards Jeon Wonwoo.

Joshua nods and slips his laptop back to his bag. “Then it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“What shouldn’t be a problem?”

Joshua smiles and starts to walk towards the door, leaving.

“Josh!” you exclaim. “What shouldn’t be a problem?”

He turns, looking at you with eyes so bright—it’s unreal, his eyes—and beaming. “It shouldn’t be a problem when I take you out for dinner on Friday at seven.”

You feel heat on your cheeks and chest, but you beam at Joshua.

“I’ll see you then.”

You don’t see him on Friday. Something holds you back, and you’re not sure why.

***

“Why?” is Wonwoo’s first word as soon as you answer the phone.

You squint, confused at the question, and also why Wonwoo is calling you at—for a second, you take your phone from your ear to check the time—3 in the fucking morning.

“Wonwoo, do you know what time is it?” you ask, yawning, your back stiff from the position you were in while sleeping. “What are you talking about?”

“The drama,” he sighs, as if you should’ve gotten the question in the first place. “Why do you want me to do the drama so bad?”

“I’ve told you,” you breathe out. “Seungcheol’s going to kill—”

“I know that of all people, you’re not afraid of Seungcheol,” he answers. That is true to some extent. Jeon Wonwoo, having known you and made your life miserable for ten years now, is right.

You sigh, closing your eyes, feeling the sleepiness wash over you again. “Wonwoo. Talk to me at 8 am. That’s when I clock in.”

He says your name. His tone is solemn, curious—pleading, if you may say so yourself.

Giving up, and knowing you can always blame it on the fact that you’re half-asleep later, you answer truthfully: “Hong Banjang is my favorite character from the big screen,” you start. “And you are my favorite actor, despite your asshole nature and your tendency to ruin things for me daily. I would love to see you in a different light for the first time. You’ve always played the roles of CEOs, chaebols, stars, bad boy-with-internal-traumas, and the like. Hong Banjang will be different, Wonwoo. And you will do a fantastic fucking job winning the hearts of every woman in the world.”

Wonwoo mumbles something on the other line. The question is hazy when you hear it. You ask him to say it again. He says never mind and tells you to sleep because you’re ugly enough—a pair of dark under-eyes won’t help. Fuck you is the last thing you say. Wonwoo says it back, laughing before ending the call.

***

Jeon Wonwoo agrees to take the role—as if he had a choice in the first place; you were willing to do anything for him to do it anyway.

The table reading had begun two weeks after your 3 am happenstance with him (which, by the way, you have already forgotten about—or at least, that’s what you have been telling yourself to save your face from embarrassment), and the shooting starts this week.

Wonwoo is getting ready, and you’re waiting for him in his living room after packing all of the things he would need until the end of next week. The location is set in Jeju-do, and you will be joining him as per Wonwoo’s terms to play the role (for you to stay with him while filming—though you were able to negotiate and make him understand that you’re also working for other artists, therefore you would only stay with him for two weeks straight, go back to Seoul for one week, then back to him for another two weeks; this will be the arrangement until he finishes filming the drama). You still have no idea why Wonwoo is being a baby about it and why your presence is required for him to do the film. You reckon it’s because he would eventually get tired of faking kindness with other people, therefore he needs someone who knows his true evil self so that he can still be himself when he’s away from cameras.

Seungkwan, the new manager, ever so bright, carries two of Wonwoo’s bag for you and tells you that he’ll be waiting by the van instead. You nod and thank him, feeling bad that the kid had to endure staying with Wonwoo until, well, until he gives up like so many other managers that have come and gone.

“Wonwoo,” you call out. “Come on. Our flight is in an hour. We’re also expecting paparazzi waiting from the departure area. It’s going to take some time for us to get in.”

As if on cue, Wonwoo comes out of his room, hair still damp from the shower.

You are out of breath for a second. The back of your mind asks what is so mesmerizing, because it’s not like Wonwoo is even naked, but a part of your mind fills in for you. Jeon Wonwoo is an attractive man—that, you can never deny—and if it weren’t for his garbage personality and his tendency to absolutely make everything a living hell, you would admit this to his face.

“What the fuck are you looking at?”

There you go. A reminder that he isn’t all that because he’s attractive. You wish you could hit him square on his face for once, but then again, that face is your source of income. Breathe in, breathe out.

You smile, standing from his couch, “My favorite celebrity’s face, of course!”

Seungcheol had instructed you clearly to keep making Jeon Wonwoo happy until the drama is done. You and Seungcheol know for a fact that if Wonwoo changes his mind about one thing, he wouldn’t think twice to drop it. In this case, it’s the drama. Wonwoo had, time and time again, expressed his disinterest towards this project—which is why Seungcheol wants you to ensure that he doesn’t bail out.

Wonwoo only rolls his eyes at your statement and throws you his jacket. “Wear something warm, stupid.”

It’s only then that you had realized how little clothing you have for someone traveling: a pencil skirt and a blouse paired with heels.

“Who wears a corporate attire when traveling, anyway?” he asks and by habit, picks up your bag from his couch, carrying his own along.

“I’m traveling for work, hence the whole outfit,” you answer in defense and follow him towards the door. Wonwoo mumbles something you can’t really understand.

“Wonwoo, one second please.”

Wonwoo turns to look at you, eyes soft, and—what are you saying?

You shake your thoughts and reach up to fix his damp hair, knowing that he hates seeing pictures of himself with messy hair. Wonwoo’s eyes watch you, and they linger so you pull away from him. He doesn’t say anything and moves on, leaving you to pull yourself together and breathe.

What’s with you today? And yesterday? And even the days before today?

You have been looking at Wonwoo more these days. Sure, you look at him all the time, making sure he doesn’t have any boogers or anything in between his teeth, always checking if he needs a quick visit to his dermatologist after a shoot, or if he needs to put on a sheet mask before going out in public. But these days, you’ve been looking at him for a second too long.

In the last ten years, you have managed to memorize all the details of Wonwoo’s face, but recently you realized how he purses his lips when he’s shy and that his nose scrunches when he’s genuinely laughing at Seungkwan’s jokes—not like the laugh he breathes out during interviews.

You wonder why you’re looking at Wonwoo more than usual, and if this is why you bailed out of that date with Joshua two weeks ago. It gives you shivers thinking about it, but you shake the thought and file it back to the crevices of your mind.

It can’t be, you whisper to yourself.

You can’t have feelings to Jeon Wonwoo.

***

A small fan meeting is held in between shooting the drama as per Wonwoo’s requests.

At first, you had been reluctant, knowing how hectic this will be for him. Everyone in the industry knows how busy drama shootings are, especially when your artist is playing the lead role. In between takes, Wonwoo had to keep his fans updated by going live on his Instagram and he had to promote some brands throughout the whole series, hence there’s a good reason why you refused at first when he asked to hold a fan meeting.

But Wonwoo had been so upset about your rejection of his idea, saying that this could be the only time he could hold a fan meeting in Jeju-do. He had said that every time he would visit Jeju-do, it would only be for a day or two for work, and that many of his fans had been waiting to see him and all they get is a wave from afar. Seungcheol didn’t agree as well—mostly because Wonwoo wants it to be a free fan meeting and there wouldn’t be any profit at all, only expenses—but eventually said yes when Wonwoo contacted one of his brands to sponsor the fan meeting. (Jeon Wonwoo, always one step ahead of everyone.)

Which is why, currently, you and Seungkwan are running around to make sure that no one touches him too boldly or goes closer than they should.

Jeon Wonwoo smiles for the camera, eyes shining, like he’s at his happiest, and greets every fan who comes up to him for a signature. Beads of sweat forms on his forehead, but he wipes it off before anyone (but you, of course; you notice everything) sees it. He smiles, and smiles, and smiles, and—

He’s tired.

You can tell by the way his cheeks are shaking a little after every snap from the cameras. You can tell by the way his eyelids, for half a second, droop and how he keeps blinking hard to moisturize his eyes.

You call Seungkwan’s attention and hand him a small bottle of energy gummies. “Let Wonwoo take one. He’s tired.”

Seungkwan looks at you, confused. “He doesn’t look like he is…”

“Seungkwan,” you sigh. “Please. Just do it.”

The manager nods and quickly goes on stage, behind Wonwoo to subtly make him take one gummy.

Jeon Wonwoo sighs in relief, thanking Seungkwan, before throwing the gummy in his mouth and moving on to the next fan.

Wonwoo turns to look at you for a minute, as the MC asks the audience that it’s now time for question, smiling softly.

He’s saying thank you.

You smile back.

You’re welcome.

***

The leading lady is beautiful.

That, you can admit aloud.

“I’ve seen more beautiful ones,” Wonwoo interrupts as you admire the woman from afar. “You should see women from New York, they’re—”

“Wonwoo hyung!” Seungkwan calls and hands you and the actor a bottle of juice. Four weeks into the project and overall into being Wonwoo’s manager, Seungkwan has learned so much about you and Wonwoo: the food you like and dislike, what you’re allergic to, what you like to drink based on the weather, and to be honest, it’s only when Seungkwan himself had told you how you and Wonwoo are similar when you realized it.

“Are you ready for the kissing scene?”

You freeze, ever so gracefully; you hope Wonwoo doesn’t notice.

You haven’t come to terms with exactly what you feel. See, this is why whatever you’re feeling isn’t supposed to exist. Wonwoo is an actor (Jesus, the way he’s making you feel now all seem real with how good he is in acting), and you’re, well… you’re his PR manager.

First of all, what would Seungcheol say? Isn’t this one of the code of conducts when working for an entertainment agency? Didn’t the contract say in bold, read letters to NEVER HAVE FEELINGS TOWARDS YOUR ARTIST? Maybe it didn’t exactly, but that’s the unsaid rule, right?

You’re not supposed to like Jeon Wonwoo, Asshole Extraordinaire; not even when his eyes are always beaming when you’re talking to him; not even when he randomly quotes a line from his favorite books; not even when he identifies himself as a cat and you couldn’t agree more; not even when he (attempts) secretly makes your life easier; not even when he carries your purse even when it shouldn’t be the other way around; not even when he massages your hands while you’re asleep in the van (Seungkwan had told you); not even when you miss him when you’re apart from each other.

Not even when it makes your heart ache when he starts the scene with his leading lady, him leaning in for a kiss, his lips so close—no.

You’re not going to watch it.

You pretend to call someone important when in reality, you just want to get rid of the heavy feeling in your chest.

It doesn’t go away.

***

Jeon Wonwoo doesn’t hate you, okay?

He’s just, well, he was confused at first.

Wonwoo didn’t understand why he needed your attention during study sessions when you were in college. He didn’t quite get why he kept on looking forward to your feedback when he auditioned for his first role, not when you were barely a friend with how you and him bicker most of the time if not always. He’s uncertain why every time he wins an award, whether it’s from a small recognition or as big as a daesang, your face is the first one he finds in the midst of a huge crowd. It’s unclear to him why, even long before becoming his PR manager, you’re the first person he looks for when he needed comfort. He has a unique way of showing it, sure, but Jeon Wonwoo finds comfort in your insults and harsh words.

In the beginning, he was certain that he would never want to lose against you. He was, to say the least, intimidated by how much of a strong competition you were back in college, despite majoring in two entirely different programs; him in performing arts and you in public relation. You had been the talk of town as soon as you transferred to his university. Jeon Wonwoo was the king of Korea National University of Arts until you came along, your head held high as you were known as the top student from the college you came from. You hadn’t been studying acting like most students, but you studied about everything else apart from acting—playwright, directing, stage design, until you decided you wanted to be in marketing and PR. Always in the background, as Wonwoo says in his mind.

He started being confused about… how he feels towards you (let him put it that way, okay? He isn’t as good in words as many people may think) when you and him were apart for a year.

Seungcheol had decided that it was time for Wonwoo to venture the bigger screen: Hollywood.

Jeon Wonwoo had been scared, to say the least, and nothing else mortified him than going big but coming home as a flop. He didn’t want to despite the deals that he was getting. Seungcheol and the team from the higher ups were forcing him, calling him day and night to say yes. The calls and pleading and offers from Seungcheol and brands and television stations were giving him anxiety. He didn’t want it. (Perhaps he did, but he didn’t want the baggage that came with Hollywood. Besides, if he were to go to Hollywood, he wouldn’t have an excuse to take you with him because another PR team would have to handle him overseas.)

But you, oh God, you had held his hand.

Wonwoo remembers how his hand trembled at the thought of moving to California for an entire year, per the contract handed to him, and how he had asked Seungcheol and everyone else to leave before he signs anything. Except you, of course, always except for you.

You had stayed inside the meeting room with him, silent for a few minutes, until you reached out to hold his trembling, sweaty hands.

“Wonwoo,” you had softly whispered. “It’s alright if you don’t want to do it,” you had said.

“But,” he stuttered. “This is a good thing, right? This is good for me, right?”

You had smiled softly, shaking your head, disagreeing. “It’s a good opportunity, yes. But you decide whether it’s good for you or no. What do you think?”

Your voice had helped him calm down, breathing in and out. “I will be able to learn a lot of things,” he had started. “Working with new directors. Learning the language. Seeing new places and new people. It’s good.”

“But?” you had offered, knowing well that he had a lot of things to say.

“For the same reason. It’s out of my comfort zone,” he had answered. “Working with new directors who speak a different language and who probably has different expectations compared to the ones I’ve worked with. Learning the language, which by the way, both of us know I am shit at. Seeing new places and new people, which means I can get lost and get killed. It’s bad.”

Wonwoo remembers how softly you had laugh, not to embarrass him or invalidate how he felt, but to lighten up the mood. Your hands had held his tighter, your fingers drawing circles on the back of his hands.

“Jeon Wonwoo,” you had whispered; Wonwoo had thought it’s intimate, how you and him were whispering to each other even when there was no one else to hear. “Jeon Wonwoo, you’re a star, and you are meant for great things. Have you seen the way people gravitate towards you? How we continue to spin around you because of how talented and charming and kind you are?”

We, Wonwoo had noted. It means you gravitate towards him as well.

“The directors will love you. It’s rare to find an actor in Hollywood who respects his job enough to actually get a degree for it,” you had continued, but Wonwoo is still stuck at the fact that you admitted that he’s talented and charming and kind. “The language, well, I can’t say anything about that. You are shit at speaking English.”

Wonwoo had laughed at that, feeling his chest lighten up, hands still warm against yours.

“The places and the people,” you had been smiling, eyes looking at him with so much warmth. “Will be new. But the universe always conspires to make things right and easy for you, doesn’t it? You have seen how it worked wonders for you, all because you deserve it. All because you deserve this.”

The melody of your voice was sweet, almost making him melt. And you had said these words over and over, until Wonwoo had it engraved in his mind. You deserve this. You can do it. You will make it big in Hollywood.

Wonwoo had wanted to kiss the breath out of your lungs that day. But he didn’t.

Instead, he had signed the contract, and three weeks later, he was in a flight to LA to work for another dream.

Wonwoo remembers how frustrated he was when you hadn’t called as soon as he landed, even worse when he didn’t see a single text a week later. He recalls how many nights he hadn’t been able to sleep, tossing and turning on his bouncy, fancy hotel bed, as he waited for you to call him. He had resented how cold you were, how unwavering you were, how seemingly unaffected you were with the distance.

You had known each other for a good decade, and Wonwoo had thought that he would mean so much more than a colleague at that point. Besides, he didn’t have a lot of friends in the industry (apart from a producer from the same agency named Jihoon, and an idol named Soonyoung), and he thought that you would at least ask him if he had eaten or if he had remembered to take his vitamins like how you did when he was in Seoul.

Wonwoo, not long after, had figured that perhaps you don’t see him as anything more than an artist that you are working for. To say that it had broken his heart would be an understatement.

Hence, Wonwoo had stopped trying to get your attention, had stopped hoping you would call, and had decided that he would just get rid of these feelings in silence.

That is until he came back home and realized he’s doomed.

As soon as he saw your smiling face while waiting at the arrival area on the airport the day he came home, Wonwoo had known that he was a goner.

What’s worse is that Seungcheol wants him back on the job as soon as he landed, handing him projects after projects and Wonwoo just wants to rest. Not from the job—never—but from having to work with you and knowing that he would never get a chance with you. At some point, he even considered asking Seungcheol to get him another PR manager, but that would be risking his career. Despite how cold you were, Wonwoo knew you were the best in your field.

Wonwoo wants out, but you were, Lord Jesus, persistent.

You had done your best to persuade him to accept projects—holding his arms when you’re pleading to get a yes from him, pouting when he says no, following him around until he agrees. The one that made him agree completely was that one happenstance at 3 am, when he knew for sure you were asleep, but he just really wanted to talk to you and ask why you were so interested for him to take the role. Wonwoo had done many roles and had been offered hundreds of which. Wonwoo had said no to quite a few, to which you never had any problem with, that’s why it was natural for him to be curious why this one project was so important to you.

“Wonwoo. Talk to me at 8 am. That’s when I clock in,” you had answered when he asked.

Wonwoo had only said your name, as though he was pleading. He had heard a sigh from your end, until you had said what truly, embarrassingly broke Jeon Wonwoo.

“Hong Banjang is my favorite character from the big screen,” you had said. “And you are my favorite actor,” Wonwoo is truly, evidently doomed. “Despite your asshole nature and your tendency to ruin things for me daily. I would love to see you in a different light for the first time. You’ve always played the roles of CEOs, chaebols, stars, bad boy-with-internal-traumas, and the like. Hong Banjang will be different, Wonwoo. And you will do a fantastic fucking job winning the hearts of every woman in the world.”

Wonwoo’s heart had leapt. “Even yours?” he had whispered, but you didn’t understand.

Never mind was what he had said when you asked him to say it again.

Fuck you was the last thing you had said. It had torn something in him a little, a reminder that you would never really see him the way he sees you, but he had said it back, laughing it off before ending the call.

Among the many confusing happenstances that made Wonwoo’s heart swell and sometimes nervous, there was one very solid moment which he knew was the turning point: the confirmation that Jeon Wonwoo, the most sought-after actor in Asia, is indeed in love with you.

It was when not-good-looking attorney Joshua Hong had visited the agency one afternoon. Part of his job or whatever he does was to visit the agency once a week to touch base with everyone and to ensure that all is well in terms of compliance and regulation. Joshua Hong had been talking to you before he left the meeting room (not that Wonwoo had his ear against the door 3 minutes before the lawyer left in attempts to listen your conversation), and had a stupid smile on his face, which made Wonwoo nervous.

Wonwoo had known for a while, that something had been going on between you and the agency’s lawyer. Seungkwan talks a lot while driving. Wonwoo doesn’t normally listen, but the manager had mentioned once that there were rumors going around about you and Joshua.

He didn’t want to believe it, until Joshua Hong told him that you agreed to have dinner with him on Friday that same week.

Wonwoo would be lying if he had said it didn’t affect him in anyway. By default, Jeon Wonwoo Asshole Extraordinaire had started looking up different PR managers again, but he knew too well that he couldn’t replace you.

Wonwoo remembers how anxious he had been the next couple of days, even worse on that Friday you were supposed to go out with Joshua Hong. He had an interview that day and you were helping him answer the questions.

“Quickly, Wonwoo,” you had said with a sigh. “When was the last time you cried?”

“I never cry,” he had answered confidently.

“Let’s see,” you trailed off. “Was it when you got your first Daesang?”

His first grand prize, right. Wonwoo had recalled how ugly you were crying among the audience when he went up to the stage to receive the award. He was smiling so wide, so happy, even when your tears had left a wet stain on his suit when you hugged him as soon as he got off the stage.

“Ahh, even better, when you passed your first audition?”

Wonwoo’s first audition was surreal. He was up against already known actors from prominent agencies. He had no one else—no group of make-up artists or stylists, no acting coaches, no managers to get him a drink—apart from you. You had waited for him outside, hands trembling as you were just as nervous as him, and hugged him as soon as he came out of the screening room smiling, satisfied with himself. In the same manner, you waited with him in front of your office desk’s computer as the producer announced who got the part. Wonwoo remembers how tight you had hugged him.

“Or maybe we can say it’s when your first Hollywood film trailer was uploaded.”

You had called him that day. Wonwoo didn’t hear much from you apart from reminders to apply sunscreen on his face and when you send him e-mails about upcoming projects he needed to prepare for, so to say that he was surprised to receive a call from you that day would be an understatement. You had switched on your camera. Wonwoo had noticed how you lost some weight on your face but he didn’t say anything. You were talking about an interview he was set to do for a Korean magazine when a notification distracted the two of you: the trailer was out. You and him watched it together; Wonwoo had shared his screen and you watched from Seoul, tears pooling on your eyes.

Wonwoo was smiling as soon as the memory fades from his mind. “Quickly, Wonwoo, please,” you said, tapping his forearm. “The writers need this in half an hour. Which one?”

“It’s just funny,” he had said softly, smiling. He looked at you, wishing you could read what’s on his mind so that he didn’t have to say it, hoping you could see right through his eyes.

“What is funny?” you had replied, eyes not leaving your laptop as you type away. Wonwoo didn’t say anything until you looked up to meet his eyes.

“How all of those times you were with me.” Stay with me, Wonwoo had wanted to say. But you were quick, eyes leaving his and typing away.

You and Wonwoo wrapped up at 8 in the evening, and you asked if he wanted samgyupsal for dinner or if he wanted the gourmet burgers he was talking about earlier in that day. He had opted for the gourmet burgers. You had called the restaurant ahead as you and him were on your way to the place to ensure that there are no paparazzi.

It was only the next day when Wonwoo had realized that you spent almost the entire night with him as he drove you to your apartment (this was a routine, despite you being his PR manager, he always drove you home first), which had only meant that, please help Wonwoo’s trembling heart, you didn’t meet Joshua that night.

There are times when Wonwoo thinks that you might feel the same.

Like the time he didn’t have to say anything to you or anyone for you to know that he was tired during the fan meeting. You were about six meters away, yet you knew exactly what he needed. He liked to think that you were looking at him a second more than you should, and he even asked Seungkwan to observe you to see if he sees any spark in your eyes when you’re with him. Seungkwan tells him you knew him best; he says that you deeply care for him, beyond a PR manager would, and that you would always smile when looking at him when he’s sleeping on the back of the van. Even Seungcheol had told him the same thing: that you were shying away from your feelings because of the obvious circumstances—and that Wonwoo is just as bad.

But then there are instances when Wonwoo confirms that you don’t feel the same.

Like when you constantly remind him the whole trip to Jeju-do that you’re tagging along for work, never for Wonwoo. And now.

He had just finished his kissing scene with Kim Dayoung, his female co-star, and you were nowhere to be found.

He calls Seungkwan and asks for you. Seungkwan says you were in an important call, and Wonwoo pouts.

“More important than me now?” he asks aloud, to which Seungkwan laughs at. Wonwoo playfully hits him.

“Hyung,” Seungkwan calls. “Don’t you think telling her how you feel would make it easier for both of you?”

Wonwoo raises an eyebrow. “You mean easier for me, right?”

Seungkwan smiles. The director calls everyone back to shoot another scene. Wonwoo shakes his head and turns to leave.

“Oh, hyung,” Seungkwan sighs. “You should have seen her face before you and Dayoung-ssi kissed.”

Somehow, that gives Wonwoo a little push.

***

His life isn’t as crazy as people think.

Crazy things do not make sense, and Wonwoo likes to think that his life makes sense.

Sure, the cameras and lights have been bothering him for six years now. As soon as he got his first acting gig, the lights and cameras hadn’t left him. The noise also follows him everywhere—in a club with his friends, in a restaurant with his family, in a park with an actress for a publicity stunt—and that is why he likes staying home most of the time. It’s also surreal how directors and producers are after him, sometimes he can’t believe it himself, but he wouldn’t really describe that as crazy, because to some extent, Wonwoo knows that being sought after is the fruit of his hard work. It is also very odd how things he randomly use or mention get sold out within second; like that one time he was live on Instagram and randomly applied lip balm on his chapped lips, and the next day his team received a thank you e-mail and an offer to endorse from the brand, alongside a screenshot of how their sales went up exactly 412% more than usual. But then again, he wouldn’t really describe that as crazy.

This is crazy. This doesn’t make sense.

You are in his apartment at one in the morning, helping him sort his things to find some valuable things for an auction for a cause. This is crazy because how can you be so beautiful in his clothes?

(This had been something that Seungkwan had forgotten to remind him. There was an auction for children with cancer and he was supposed to send something the next day, but of course, you were there to save the day as always, asking if you can stay the night in his apartment to look for items to sell for auction. You had told him he could just give you a box of things you were willing to sell and you would sort it out for him, ready in the morning. Wonwoo had agreed—too quickly, too obvious—and now here you are, in his clothes because a skirt and a blouse aren’t comfortable to sit on his living’s room floor and rummage through his things.)

“Wonwoo, go sleep please,” you plead. “I can take care of this. I have five items now: a hat, two shirts, a signed magazine, and an old phone case. Five more and I’m done.”

Wonwoo is not sure if it’s the fact that it’s one in the morning or if it’s the sight of you in his clothes that drives him mad and give him courage. In a second, he is suddenly kneeling beside you, taking his things from your hands and dropping it among the mess you had created.

“W-what?” You stutter.

“Can I kiss you?” he asks suddenly. Wonwoo can’t read what exactly you are feeling, but your eyes soften at his touch.

“Wonwoo,” you whisper. “We can’t.”

“Can I?” he asks again. “Please.” A plead.

You and him stare at each other for a long time (fifteen seconds, but Wonwoo felt as though it’s longer than that), and then Wonwoo says it:

“Why do you never see me?” he asks but doesn’t let you answer. “I have been in love with you for a long time. I haven’t been able to express it well, but these days I’ve been trying.”

“Wonwoo—“

“So hard. I’ve been trying to get your attention, and God, Y/N, this is making me really nervous—I might actually be having a panic attack right now.”

“Breathe.”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he assures. “I have been head over heels for you for God knows how long now. I assume it’s been so long, but I realized only when we were apart. Please, please, please let me kiss you, or else I will combust because I can’t contain this anymore. I can’t pretend anymore.”

“Wonwoo,” you call again, but he continues blabbering. Wonwoo can barely hear you over the beat of his heart thump, thump, thumping.

“Fuck, I even forced you to stay with me during the shooting of the drama with Dayoung, thinking that you would at least be jealous and maybe realize you were in love with me, too. Now that I said that, I feel awful—like an asshole as you would say it, why would I force you to do something you don’t want? Like now, right? I’m pleading, begging you to let me kiss you. Almost as if I’m forcing you. Now, I know you only think of me as a—”

Wonwoo shuts up when he feels your lips against his. He relaxes from his kneeling position and realizes that you are now completely facing him. He feels your hands reach up to his cheeks and your lips pushing softly against his trembling once.

When you pull away, eyes closed, Wonwoo swallows.

“Wonwoo,” you start. “I’ve felt the same for… a long time. But I haven’t come to terms with my own feelings until recently. I’m sorry it me this long; I’m sorry it took us this long.”

Wonwoo breathes, for the first time since the kiss, and holds your face with one hand, your waist to pull you closer with the other.

“Why are you trembling?” you ask.

Wonwoo leans closer. “Because I like you so much.”

Then, he closes the gap between you for the second time, kissing you a bit harder than the first, in hopes of letting you know how much you mean to him. Wonwoo moves, pulls you with him, until you are both sitting comfortably on the floor, your bum on the cold tile and in between his legs, your legs on the either side of his hips, his arms around yours. Your lips are full and soft and wet from his, and Wonwoo licks and kisses and bites and he almost forgets about how nervous he had been about this.

Wonwoo kisses you like a confession. I’m in love with you. Like he’s screaming on top of his lungs how deeply he cares for you and how he wants to be with you, but without using words.

And as you two sat on his floor, giggling in between kisses, Wonwoo starts to think that perhaps the rest of his life had been the crazy part, and this, kissing you, is the only one that ever made sense.

#seventeen au #seventeen scenarios #seventeen fluff #seventeen fic #jeon wonwoo #wonwoo au #wonwoo fic #wonwoo fluff #wonwoo scenario #tonicandjins

[angelasscribbles]

Something New....

So….I watched one episode of Unsolved Mysteries and a whole thing happened.

First of all, I have always been a huge fan of both crime and medical procedurals. If you don’t know what I mean by procedural, here is the Wikipedia definition: In television, "procedural" specifically refers to a genre of programs in which a problem is introduced, investigated, and solved all within the same episode. These shows tend to be hour-long dramas and are often (though not always) police or crime related.

After both @harleybeaumont and @dcbbw encouraged me to do something with the fact that the unsolved mystery sent my head spinning in a million different directions, an idea was born. An idea for a procedural-type series, with each multi-chapter episode a stand-alone mystery, with overarching storylines for the main characters woven throughout every episode.  

A series that has very little to do with canon. No one is royalty and it’s set in the good old U.S.A. The name of my fictional city is a nod to canon though: Cordonia City.

Thanks so much to @harleybeaumont @dcbbw @karahalloway and @aussiegurl1234 for helping me tweak and revise the blurb found below. Extra special thanks to @harleybeaumont for spending the better part of a week bouncing ideas with me and working on the visuals for me.

What lies in the heart of Cordonia City?

Situated on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, Cordonia City is the largest metropolitan area in the country. Renowned for its culture, it’s an epicenter for artists of all types, world-class culinary establishments, and financial institutions. But there’s a dark underbelly to the city, one that never sleeps.

Law’s End, the largest of the boroughs, is rife with turmoil. It’s a place where wealth and privilege live side by side with poverty and squalor, where passion intertwines with betrayal. A place where lies and deceit are commonplace, politics and corruption rule, and crime and violence flow through the city streets.

These are the stories of the people that fight against the tide of injustice, and the woman who chronicles those crusades.

Liam Rys is a strait-laced cop who won’t step outside the lines of the law for any reason, even if that means the bad guy walks. Rules are rules and they’re there for a reason.

Drake Walker is a jaded PI who believes the ends justify the means. He treats lines and rules as suggestions at best and things that stand in his way at worst.

Maxwell Beaumont is a multitalented photojournalist with mad cyber skills. He doesn’t necessarily care about the lines, the rules, or the ends, he’s just along for the ride.

Riley Brooks is an investigative journalist assigned to the crime desk and an up-and-coming true crime novelist who is looking for her next big story. She’ll go to great lengths to get what she wants, and she never reveals her sources.

With Olivia Nevrakis as the DA, Hana Lee as the medical examiner, and Madeleine Amaranth as mayor, anything could happen.

Welcome to.....

#trr au #trr fanfic #crime drama #the royal romance #angelasscribbles #trr #drake walker #liam rys #the royal romance fanfic #choices #riley brooks #choices fic writers creations #cfwc fics of the week

[biblioflyer]

Discovery S5E1 first reactions (spoilers)

Every season, Star Trek's ugly duckling starts finding its footing a little better. I'm actually sad now its at its end.

I was prepared to be grumpy. For the first half hour or so, I was a little bit of a sourpuss. All the classic Discovery sins were on display in full force.

The main character syndrome. Burnham is leading from the front. Again. Didn't we have a whole season character arc about how captaining means sometimes you have to delegate?

Okay, okay, don't at me. The reasons for her to Kirk it up in the thick of things were reasonably well thought out.

I'm really torn between appreciating the whole "Iron Man" sequence in space as a smart, logical extrapolation of the technological development of the series and just being somewhat numb and feeling like the whole thing was rule of cool from start to finish.

They better not skimp out on Raynor's backstory and motives, because thus far every call he's made has been even more devoid of compassion as Captain Shaw, but critically none of his hard man making hard choices directives make sense. He's being set up as an Ahab type character.

Now this isn't the first time we've have a Starfleet Ahab. Ben Maxwell was just such a character. Critically though, he was a renegade that our hero characters were called in to hunt down like a mad dog precisely because, understandable motives or not, he was so far outside the bell curve for acceptable Starfleet standards for rules of engagement, compassion etc. that he was on the verge of provoking a war with the Cardassians.

A war that a lot of revisionist fans, mapping Cardassia and its ultimate alliance with the Dominion to Russia and the invasion of Ukraine, have come around to thinking a preventative war was good and cool, rather than risking an apocalypse. I've talked about this a few times, but the fact that the protomatter, temporal, isolytic, trilithium, biological etc. weapons haven't been deployed in quantity in the wars that have been depicted in Trek means everyone got damn lucky. Strange New Worlds has even seen fit to remind us that even with just conventional weapons, its not hard for casualties to run up into the millions given the scale of the civilizations butting heads.

But that's a rant for another time.

So Raynor being within spitting distance, if not wholly inside of the Section 31 anything for the mission mentality, is irksome. I'm probably not doing my due diligence by complaining without watching episode two yet, but still its a bad look. Its a nasty callback to depictions of casual jerkiness and military caricature from Picard's third season and Discovery's first.

Also I don't care about Burnham and Book’s relationship. I just don't. Nor am I particularly interested in Tilly finding love. They’re all fine and interesting characters without needing to inject relationship drama into the mix. This show has really started to feel like it doesn’t need to rely on cheap sources of melodrama. Finding love isn't the only pathway to character development. I don't watch this franchise for NCC-90210 storylines.

And I'm also a raging hypocrite because if anything happens to Saru and T'Rina, I will be even grumpier! Same with Culber and Stamets.

I may have a soft spot for warm, lived in, tender relationships and minimal patience for stories about relationship drama among the stars.

Also, I do appreciate that at least in the first episode, the Burnham - Book "ship" feels less overwrought. The awkwardness between them reads as a more mature, more nuanced incarnation of the relationship. Even when they inevitably patch things up, I really hope its less showy and melodramatic, and more cozy.

Grumpiness aside, I have to compliment the cast, writers, and crew enormously. This show has matured so impressively in the sense that the cast are able to find the characters in a natural and seamless way. The writers are putting better dialogue in their mouths even if I don't always necessarily want to see the specific storylines playing out.

Its a testament to the idea that art is a thing you practice and the human beings involved in producing this stuff need time and space to get it right. By legacy TV standards, Discovery is only just starting the equivalent of its third season. We used to talk about the two season rule for legacy Trek. The idea that it really only got good, not merely watchable if you have a good tolerance for cheese, but actually good in the third season.

The action sequences, mostly, were really good too. Well composed, clear and easy to follow while having a decent amount of drama and uncertainty to them.

The chase sequence really managed to capture the power and physics of having starships operating inside the atmosphere of a planet and what they can do. Although I'm sure the tech fans will froth at a number of obvious inconsistencies in scaling, at least we actually see some interesting consequences of ships interacting with planets.

Additionally it also accidentally portrays one of the world building problems with the version of the Star Wars universe depicted by the Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith Incredible Cross Sections books. Yes, I'm one of those kinds of fans who has argued both sides of that particular controversy. I've always found Dr. Saxton's attempts to quantify just what is going on and then contrive explanations for how its possible fascinating, but ultimately it presents serious world building problems. Like the idea that one scoundrel with one relatively diminutive ship, like the Falcon or Slave I, could utterly wreck a populated area in seconds causing thousands, if not tens of thousands of casualties if they're having a bad day. Such are the elemental forces and energy levels at the disposal of even common riff raff in Dr. Saxton's depiction of Star Wars.

In Discovery, we see what happens when a couple of scoundrels have their back up against a wall, and it comes within a hair's breadth of tragedy.

BIG SPOILERS

The callback to the Progenitors is also really interesting. I'm curious as to what the MacGuffin will ultimately be, because if you scrutinize the various technologies of the week in Trek, most of the mature space faring peoples already seemed to have the capacity to do what the Progenitors could do: seed a planet with life and then guide that life across billions of years of evolution to a desirable endpoint. The main thing that is missing is the ability to ensure, in the style of Expanse's Protomolecule Builders, that your project can babysit itself without direct intervention for all that time.

Also kudos to Discovery for its cutesy storytelling device of grabbing a background character and turning them into someone of great significance. This is something that can be overdone, see also: Star Wars, especially the Legends continuity; but I have a soft spot for lore nerds.

Also speaking of Lore, I'm a little curious as to whether this is the last we'll hear of Fred. Synth "death" is kind of an ambiguous thing. They were able to harvest usable data from him, but perhaps there's a meaningful difference between the systems responsible for consciousness and memory storage? Perhaps the ocular memory is a sort of buffer in which information is triaged, analyzed, and then either committed to long term memory or deleted.

#Star Trek #spoilers #Star Trek Discovery #Discovery s5 #Discovery s5e1 #michael burnham #Saru #Curtis Saxton #Star Wars Incredible Cross Sections #t'rina #discovery spoilers

[quinnfebrey]

okay, i finished first kill, and off the top of my head, here’s my initial thoughts upon first watch. it got obscenely long, so it’s going under a read more.

note: i will NOT be commenting on aspects of the cgi or production value because it was out of their control and irrelevant the quality of the show as a show:

tldr: i thought it was a VERY strong pilot season, and i absolutely loved it. i think that if you go into it with preconceived ideas (which i did) you might not click with it for an episode or two, but once you let the show shine for what it IS, not what you thought it would be, you can fully enjoy it. the standouts of the season to me were, of course, juliette and calliope both individually as well as together, talia, elinor, and the friendship between ben and juliette.

things i liked:

in general, the entire concept of a vampire and a vampire hunter (but make it high school) is super interesting to me and is what drew me in in the first place

the chemistry between the actresses for juliette and calliope make the show imo. not once did i EVER doubt that juliette was head over heels for her. playing on a constant loop in the back of her mind is “heart eyes” by coin

i loved the way they styled and based the homes/clothes/etc of the vampires as traditional classic and the hunters as modern. it wasn’t thrown in your face like “look how clever we are,” it was just a very smart, classy non verbal way of dividing the two even more.

the main families were pretty interesting, especially the burns family, and i felt like they added to the story well

i liked the subplot of juliette’s dad not being a legacy or vampire by blood. it helped humanize the mom and gave her family an interesting dynamic too

this is such a small thing but the childhood best friends to lovers trope with juliette and ben being spun into childhood friends to lovers to gay awakening for both of them was so nice

i also love that being gay is NEVER a source of conflict even though it’s addressed explicitly. i know that coming of age/coming out/homophobia storylines help a lot of people, but personally i’m really sick of watching every single queer story be devastating or depressing or highlighting how many people in the world hate people like us/me. juliette being out without being overt, talking about girls with her best friend, being teased about her crushes? that was me in high school! and i love to see it without being reminded about the fact that yes, some people are homophobic. i know. let my little gay people on screens be happy.

this show exemplifies how to do “bad people as good characters.” there are some characters for which you are shown time and again that they are NOT good people, but it’s still enjoyable and interesting to watch (and at times even root for) them because you understand completely WHY they did what they did, what their motives are, their fears, their joys, etc. there isn’t a single character that’s just “i do bad things because that’s my job as The Bad Person,” each and every one is some sort of gray with their own lines of thinking that, to them, are logical

hell, even when the good people do bad things, you understand it too! it’s never “wow good person does something completely out of character for drama,” you completely understand why they’re doing what they do or why they believe what they do, and that makes it even MORE heartbreaking. the theo storyline in the finale was so so so tough not because i thought it would be sad if he did die but because i UNDERSTOOD why his dad wanted to do it, AND i understood why the mom didn’t. there was no win, and no loss, no matter what happened, but you couldn’t look away. that’s tough as shit to do well, and first kill nailed it.

i LOVED the breakup. i hate that they broke up, but i love the way it happened. here is a full post about it

calliope’s mom, talia, is ELECTRIC. she was the star of the finale and was such a constant throughout the entire show. she’s magical to watch on screen, and her character is one of the most well-written and complex on the show.

things i didn’t like:

i felt like they tried to fit too much plot into episodes 2, 3, and 4, and it got a little bit overwhelming and unrealistic considering how little time they’ve known each other

the pacing of the relationship early on was a little rushed too (but you could argue it was due to the bite bond)

i wish they developed the guild a little more; what are their rankings based on? how were they started? how do they recruit?

oliver was just a really confusing addition and felt like a plot point more than anything

i wanted a little more info on the legacies’ limits and powers. like, i feel as though any vampire media that follows twilight HAS to address whether animal blood is good enough 🤷🏻‍♀️ i literally could not stop thinking about that the whole time lmao

as a personal opinion, i felt like the rapidly changing main plot and endless side plots were not interesting enough to carry the show as much as it did. this is the kind of show i watch for the characters, not the story, and so the plot was actually kind of taking me out of it

end notes/what i might have changed:

as someone that has zero professional experience in storytelling, screen writing, or tv show production, BUT has watched a shit ton of it, here’s what i would have done

first, if they really wanted to, the entire show could have been the first episode elongated. like, show me juliette and cal getting to know each other for weeks and slowly show me their families, their dynamics, cal realizing juliette is a vampire, juliette realizing cal is a hunter, etc. i would watch the shit out of that

BUT that’s not what they were going for and i respect that, so keeping more plot in mind, i felt like they could have spent at least two whole episodes on building juliette/cal and world building their families. then ramp up the plot slightly in which the big climax is juliette’s big party and cal’s family crashing it.

OR have the build up to their relationship, skip the raid, and then spend more episodes on the murder mystery part

both the raid and the murder storyline were interesting for different reasons, but to do BOTH felt like it was so much in such a short amount of time.

that being said, i absolutely LOVED the show as it is, and i need a season 2 stat.

anyway if you read all the way to the end, would love to chat. feel free to slide into my inbox!!

#* #first kill spoilers #first kill netflix #juliette fairmont #calliope burns #calliette #first kill

[filmperidot]

High School TV Show Top Picks

Shows set in high school can be delightfully funny and bittersweet, or horribly embarrassing failures. Nowadays (it seems more often than not) your classically fun ‘teen show’ is a rare find. In a sea of shitty, and bizarre shows (looking at you Riverdale), there are still some good ones out there. As someone currently in highschool, I’d like to share a little guide to some of my top picks.

Before we get started, I also want to note that I think there’s a pretty big difference between shows that happen to be set in highschool/feature teens, and shows where their highschool experience is a large part of the plot. Coming of age is really a blanket term that can take a lot of different forms! For this post, I’m going to give my top picks for coming of age shows that are actually dedicated to the high school experience. While I love coming of age shows such as Stranger Things, and intense dramas like Euphoria, the main focus of those shows isn’t actually the fact that they’re in highschool. So this list is going to largely feature slightly more grounded comedies and dramas.

Derry Girls (2018-2022, 3 Seasons, TV-MA)- Derry Girls follows a teenage friend group in Ireland during The Troubles. It’s honestly one of the funniest teen shows I’ve ever seen. Each of the characters are nothing short of delightful, and their families are just as fun. To this day, it’s shocking to me that the cast are in their 20s and 30s- they truly nailed what it is to be a teenager. At only 19, 25-minute long episodes, it’s a pretty quick watch for a TV Show, but an endless source of serotonin. It’s extremely enjoyable for any age.

Sex Education (2019-, 3 Seasons, TV-MA)- Sex Education follows Otis, an awkward teenager who’s mother is a sex therapist, and his friends he attends school with. This show is a similar delight. It’s laugh out loud humor is well balanced with true poignancy, and it’s actually quite educational. Give this a watch if you feel like your high school health classes failed you!

Heartstopper (2022-, 1 Season, TV-14)- Heartstopper is a romance between two teenage boys set in England. This one was mostly included because of its overall sweetness. Its incredibly heartwarming, and quite refreshing to see such authentically kind and honest characters in a teen show centered around romance. This show is perfect for you if you enjoy teen romances, but are tired of seeing them portrayed as overly edgy, dramatic, or heavily sexualized.

Freaks and Geeks (1999, 1 Season, TV-14)- Freaks and Geeks tells the story of two groups of friends in the late nineties. Sadly, this show was cancelled before it could get a second season, which I consider a true tragedy. It’s funny, authentic, the characters are great, and the storylines are still as relatable and relevant today as they were when this show first aired.

I Am Not Okay With This (2020, 1 Season, TV-MA)- This show is about a character named Sydney, who’s dealing with highschool, family drama, romance, and superpowers on top of that. I Am Not Okay With This is really the outlier of this group of shows, since it does have a supernatural element. But I decided to include it here anyways because (as I stated previously) the actual highschool experience is still relevant and very relatable. Sadly, this is another show that was canceled after only one season. Now, I’m typically doubtful of most shows that have gotten canceled by Netflix. I watched a few of the ones that have received outrage for being canceled, and let’s just say I wasn’t impressed, which has made me a bit of a skeptic. But I can say, wholeheartedly, that the outrage was deserved for this one. The humor is fantastic, the actors perfectly embody their characters, and much like the rest of this list, the comedy is well balanced with deeper themes.

Please give these shows a try if you haven’t seen them! I’ll probably be making a post for my favorite broader coming of age shows, or maybe one for coming of age movies?

#tv shows #high school tv show #teen shows #netflix show #high school #derry girls #sex education #heartstopper #freaks and geeks #i am not okay with this #tv recommendations

[kanohivolitakk]

Honestly my hot take is that,contrary to popular belief whether a piece of fiction has a high transformational fandom doesn’t have as much to do with whether or not the source text is objectively “good” or “bad” (or even whether or not it’s satisfying) but instead whether or not there’s potential to expand the sourcematerial beyond the text itself.

What I mean by this is that when I look at something that has potential to be played with, I look at something that has potential to be expanded on and explored. Whether it’s stuff like missing scenes, expanding the worldbuilding or characterization, or playing with the storylines or even the themes itself, I’m always loking forward to expand a story, to have a dialogue with the text and to play with the world and characters I have so hard fallen in love with.

And the reason we often conflate potential with flawed canon is that...a story that is flawed but has a lot of potential is really appealing. Sometimes there are those stories we love the ideas of and which had elements we liked, but which  execution (for whatever reason) didn’t really appeal to us. But there is stil that something that makes us wish that it was done better, whether thats that it should’ve been more coherent, more compelling or more narratively satisfying.

But at the same time I don’t think having potential is a sign of the story being bad? Especially since often there’s a very specific story the writer wants to tell or a message they want to send and as such stories, even the most large scale epics, tend to be narrow with their focus. This is why some characters get more fleshed out than others, why characterization can be unrealisticb at places, why certain concepts aren’t as needed as others: because the author has a very specific story to tell, and as such other things aren’t focused as much on.

This is kinda why good stories often are seen as “something without transformative fandom” because they tend to be so narrow, so closed and so specific that there isn’t really potential to explore the story. For instance I really like small character-focused dramas whether it be a coming of age story, or a character study, because they tend to portray serious issues well while also telling an engaging and melancholic, yet hopeful story. But at the same time these types of stories tend to not really be suited for transformative fandom material because they’re just a snapshot in a persons life, and while there are other characters, they tend to be written in such way that either you’re satisfied with their stories in text, or they basically serve as support to the main characters story and/or as thematic mouthpieces. (These types of stories also tend to not be fantastical, which is another reason they don’t really invite that potential).

However, there exist those stories that while still narrow and satisfying on their own right, have lots of potential to be expanded on. Because while the main story itself is satisfying, there’s still room to play with the story, world and characters. The supporting characters are still interesting enough to want to expand on them, the story is still malluable enough that while the canon story is satisfying you want to see where it could’ve gone had it. Having a story be GOOD and have it be MALLUABLE arent mutually exclusive ya know

So for me, a good story can have potential to be expanded beyond the story itself.

#Kirika Talks #meta #fandoms #media #fiction #transformative fandom #fandom analysis #fandom culture #fandom meta

[denimbex1986]

'I’ve been excited for this film since I heard it announced last year, though perhaps not for the same reasons as everyone else. While most of the Internet went wild over the news about Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal being cast as gay lovers, I was more intrigued by what Andrew Haigh would have to say through the unique source material he chose for the project. The original Japanese novel Strangers follows a straight protagonist, but Haigh, who is a gay man himself, added a twist by making his protagonist gay. That in theory added a whole new emotional element to this story of meeting your parents after they’re long gone and saying all the things that went unsaid back then. How would the protagonist’s queerness affect his relationship with his parents as an adult? And as I suspected, this film packs an emotional wallop, with some of the most poignant and emotionally-resonant scenes of any film this year.

One thing I did not expect from this film was its deep meditation on loneliness in the modern age. Our protagonist, Adam, lives alone in the big city of London and doesn’t really have friends or relatives that he can talk to on a regular basis. This is mirrored in his living situation, as he lives on the 26th floor of a massive high-rise apartment building where seemingly nobody else lives. Adam mentions that he used to have friends in the city, but they’ve all since gotten married and moved out to the suburbs to raise families. As someone entering his 30’s and starting to experience this phenomenon himself, I felt personally attacked by this storyline – one doesn’t have to be gay to know the pain of losing friends to changes in lifestyle as we all grow older.

Adam strikes up a relationship with his neighbor, Harry, who is also experiencing his own bout of loneliness. The narrative shifts between Adam’s budding romance with Harry and his increasingly-frequent visits to see his “parents” in the burbs. He lies to them initially about his life, but eventually comes clean about his homosexuality, which brings out complicated emotions from his traditional parents. His mother has difficulty understanding it at first, while his father had suspected it all along, having worried about young Adam fitting in at school but never being able to bring the topic up with his son. It’s clear to me that Andrew Haigh put a lot of himself into this character and storyline; the film was partially shot at his literal childhood home after all. What I appreciated is that this queer storyline does not detract from the main one at all; in fact, it complements the theme of loneliness as Adam feels that his being gay sets him apart from other people somehow. That’s an interesting take that I haven’t seen much in queer media, which usually depicts the more freewheeling, easily-sociable side of the coin.

Adam’s visions become increasingly more erratic and nightmarish as he grows more and more dependent on his “parents” for validation and comfort. One particularly harrowing sequence sees Adam take ketamine at a nightclub with Harry, then have conflicting visions of his parents and of Harry, sometimes overlapping one another. He even takes Harry to his parents’ old home at one point, insisting that they are still in there, freaking Harry out and causing him to leave. There is a minor subtheme of mental illness underlying this story; Harry is clearly suffering from some kind of condition, and Adam is increasingly succumbing to his own worst tendencies as his visions spiral out of control. Haigh emphasizes that such issues stem from isolation, and that these characters’ loneliness amplifies these negative feelings that cause us to self-sabotage ourselves.

I was on this film’s wavelength until the very end, but have some issues with the way it wrapped everything up. **SPOILERS AHEAD!!** Adam eventually realizes he has to let his parents go, accepting that clinging to the past will not solve his problems and he has to move forward in life without them. He then goes to visit Harry, only to discover that he killed himself on the first night they met (when he initially rejected him) and Harry has appeared as a vision ever since. Rather than dismiss the ghost like his parents, Adam embraces him and acts as though nothing has changed between them. To me, this kinda undermines everything that came before it and leads to some mixed messaging. Why does Adam need to let his parents go, but then clings on to Harry immediately after? So it’s okay to use Harry for comfort but not his parents?? I’m not sure what takeaway I’m meant to be left with, or if it’s even a happy ending or not.

Still, it wasn’t enough to totally spoil my enjoyment of the film. All the emotional beats before that hit hard, especially the scenes with Adam’s parents. When his father apologizes for not being there for him when he cried, or when Adam told his mother about all the things he imagined them doing together if they’d survived, I was deeply moved. This is largely to do with the phenomenal acting, particularly from Andrew Scott. Apparently it’s the year of grown men embodying pre-teen children, as between him and Charles Melton in May December, there’s a lot of stunted growth and arrested development going on. Claire Foy and Jamie Bell were also believable as Adam’s parents, each with their own unique personality and not just the archetypal accepting, loving figures – they are complicated people in their own right. Paul Mescal was also good, though a bit one-note for me…he has charisma in spades, but he never quite felt like a real person to me.

Conclusion

All of Us Strangers doesn’t quite stick the landing, but it’s still a poignant and emotional meditation on loneliness and letting go of the past. Even as someone who isn’t gay and who still has both of his parents, I was affected by Adam’s story and connected with his feelings of isolation and yearning for something just out of his grasp. The acting ensemble is all great and the script by Andrew Haigh explores its themes well. An underrated gem!

VERDICT: A-'

#Andrew Haigh #Andrew Scott #Paul Mescal #All of Us Strangers #Strangers #Claire Foy #Jamie Bell

[newsblog12]

How To Create Intrigue In Screenplays — Writers Guide.

Introduction

In the realm of storytelling, screenplays are the blueprints that bring captivating narratives to life on the silver screen. But what sets a great screenplay apart from the rest? It’s the ability to create intrigue, to hold the audience’s attention from the opening scene to the closing credits. In this writer’s guide, we will explore the art of crafting intrigue in screenplays. Whether you’re a budding screenwriter or a seasoned pro, these techniques and insights will help you keep your audience on the edge of their seats.

The Power of a Compelling Opening

Intrigue begins with the very first frame of your screenplay. A gripping opening scene can set the tone for the entire story. It should pique curiosity, introduce a central question, or present a scenario that demands attention. Consider using an unexpected event, an enigmatic character, or a dramatic setting to draw your audience in. Think of iconic movie openings like the suspenseful heist in “The Dark Knight” or the mysterious alien encounter in “Arrival.” These scenes immediately engage the viewer’s imagination and set the stage for a riveting narrative.

Character Development and Arcs

Intrigue often centers around the journey of the characters. Complex, multi-dimensional characters are more likely to capture the audience’s interest. Develop backstories, motivations, and internal conflicts that drive your characters. A well-structured character arc, where individuals evolve emotionally or morally throughout the story, can be a source of continuous intrigue. Consider Walter White’s transformation in “Breaking Bad” or Michael Corleone’s descent into darkness in “The Godfather.” These character arcs keep viewers invested in the unfolding drama.

The Art of Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is the art of dropping subtle hints or clues about future events in your screenplay. It creates a sense of anticipation and makes viewers feel like they’re solving a mystery alongside the characters. Effective foreshadowing should be subtle enough not to reveal the entire plot but significant enough to be recognized upon reflection. Films like “The Sixth Sense” and “Fight Club” employ foreshadowing masterfully, leaving audiences in awe of how they missed the signs upon their initial viewing.

Maintaining Tension and Suspense

Tension and suspense are vital elements of intrigue. They keep viewers engaged and eager to see what happens next. Strategies to maintain tension include controlling the flow of information, building obstacles and challenges for characters, and utilizing the element of time. Consider the nail-biting tension in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” during the infamous shower scene. By controlling what the audience knows and when they know it, you can manipulate their emotional response and maintain intrigue.

Subplots and Layering

Well-crafted subplots can add depth and complexity to your screenplay. They provide opportunities for additional layers of intrigue. These subplots may intersect with the main storyline or run parallel, providing fresh perspectives and complications. Think of “Pulp Fiction,” where multiple interconnected subplots create a tapestry of intrigue. When done right, subplots enrich the narrative, offering viewers a richer experience.

The Importance of Dialogue

Dialogue is a powerful tool for building intrigue. Engaging, authentic conversations between characters can reveal their motivations, hidden agendas, and conflicting interests. Subtext, what characters don’t say explicitly, can be even more intriguing than what they do say. The famous “I could been a contender” scene in “On the Waterfront” is a masterclass in subtext, as Marlon Brando’s character reveals his inner turmoil through loaded dialogue.

Twists and Surprises

Plot twists and surprises are essential for maintaining audience engagement. They challenge viewers’ assumptions and keep them guessing. When incorporating twists, consider the principle of Chekhov’s gun — if you introduce an element early in the story, it should have significance later. Films like “The Usual Suspects” and “The Sixth Sense” are renowned for their game-changing twists that redefine the entire narrative.

Pacing and Timing

Pacing involves controlling the rhythm of your screenplay. It’s about when to accelerate the action when to linger on a moment, and when to provide a breather. Intrigue often benefits from well-timed revelations. For instance, the revelation of a crucial piece of information at just the right moment can be the turning point that rekindles or heightens intrigue.

Visual Storytelling

Cinematic storytelling isn’t solely reliant on words — it’s equally visual. Visual elements like symbolism, metaphors, and motifs can add layers of depth and intrigue to your screenplay. These visual cues provide subtle commentary or foreshadowing that can be more powerful than any line of dialogue. Consider how the recurring use of mirrors in “The Silence of the Lambs” adds intrigue by symbolizing the duality of characters.

Editing and Refinement

The journey doesn’t end with the first draft. Editing and refinement are crucial steps in perfecting your screenplay. It’s during this phase that you trim the excess, clarify your narrative, and ensure that each scene serves the overarching intrigue. Editing allows you to fine-tune the pacing, tighten the dialogue, and eliminate anything that might distract from the central mystery or drama.

Feedback and Collaboration

Screenwriting is often a collaborative effort. Receiving feedback from others, whether fellow writers, directors, or producers, can provide fresh perspectives and highlight areas where intrigue can be enhanced. Collaborative efforts often lead to innovative ideas and solutions that elevate your screenplay.

Conclusion

Creating intrigue in screenplays is a delicate balancing act, where words, characters, and visual elements come together to captivate

https://www.alltalent.com/blog/how-to-create-intrigue-in-screenplays-writers-guide

[trulymadlykiki]

these reality shows need to stop hosting reunions of key cast members aren’t in attendance cause then what’s the point???

#they’re the main source of drama/storylines #andthe most talked about castmember #they’re essential!

[johnmulaneys]

ok. rebelde 2022 thoughts from someone who has been a rebelde 2004 fan since it originally aired 

let’s start with: i don’t like the netflix 8-episode seasons, they don’t give me enough time to actually know everything i need to know about these characters and get attached to them (it’s the same issue i had with young royals tbh). rebelde 2004 was a telenovela that aired almost daily for basically 2 years. they could spend 5-6 chapters with some b-plot storyline going on and still have us hooked with other storylines and all that, and then move on to a completely different storyline the next week, you know?

so having jana be like “i thought what we had was real” to esteban after (what it feels like) only knowing him for 3 days? blargh. also having them as the main couple was just... a terrible idea. they’re boring, very troy and gabriella which is nothing like the rebelde couples we love. mia and miguel? diego and roberta? the blueprints of enemies to lovers. maybe the 2022 romantic dynamic that hit the closest to a rebelde dynamic was dixon x mj, with dixon being the more wildcard, rebellious one and mj being more sweet and innocent (a similar dynamic to lupita and santos) and even that still felt a little rushed (again 8 episodes... not enough); i also really liked andi x emilia but thats because rebelde 2004 didn’t have gay people so 2022 wins there.

also that jana x esteban break-up at the end felt so out of the blue. it lacks drama, it lacks silliness, it lacks everything that made the og rebelde so good.

another thing: the personalities for these characters felt really flat. out of the main 6, luka was the one with the most distinguished traits, i feel like he was the one that was the closest to having a whole “hero’s journey” going for him (obviously he’s my favorite). the thing about rebelde 2004 that really worked was that the main 6 characters were very flawed, completely different from one another and very cartoonishingly so. 

mia was an extremely girly-girl-spoiled-bratty-most-popular-daddy’s girl ever, roberta was the most rebellious-rock-n-roll-post-feminism-punk girl, lupita was the peak angelic-church-going-innocent-eternally-virginal type, etc. all these characters were very distinctively different from one another to the point where watching them learn how to get along felt much more interesting and rewarding. and even the supporting characters, the teachers, the parents, etc., all of them felt very unique. meanwhile in 2022 these traits that are supposed to tell them apart are kind of... flat. i can kinda compare them to the og 6 but i cannot right away categorize jana or esteban in any kind of archetype, all these 2022 characters feel like a bella swan-ification of the og main 6 and it’s boring tbh

don’t get me started with la logia... 2004 la logia were truly terrifying. they’d specifically target scholarship students, it was some sort of neonazi allegory, using anonymous threats and real violence and it was genuinely scary whenever they were around. like you’d be fearing for these characters’ lives when they were caught by la logia, people would end up in the hospital fighting for their lives fr!!!!!!! and now... la logia catches the newbies (regardless of status) and makes them... sing? laughable

and “you can’t compare the two” won’t fly here. it’s a direct continuation of an iconic piece of entertainment, and i am a fan of the source material, i am exclusively watching it to make comparisons. not to mention, the characters themselves made direct comparisons - which actually make me dislike them a little more (jana cohen you will never be mia colucci)

and a few lore issues:

so pilar and tomás just... broke up? i guess it happens, of course not all of the couples that ended up together in the 2004 version would be together forever but when you’re making something for people who watched the material source... maybe a little explanation wouldn’t hurt? i wasn’t even that invested in pilar and tomás (i’m more of a lesbian pilar truther tbh)

celina was pregnant when the og rebelde ended. where is the child? that child would be 15-16 in 2022 which is the perfect age for them to be in elite way school... being a character... causing trouble...

speaking of elite way school: this new version is so fucking ugly. the og ews was this DREAM school we all ENVIED and the students would use their laptops in class (i remember being so jealous because laptops were still like. A Big Deal) but this new one is like: concrete. here’s all these students with this wannabe 2000s aesthetics, but this school will be just boring concrete. ugly as fuck and looks tiny

why were there no celina and pilar scenes? they’re literally the two characters that connected us to the original story and they’ve known each other for a long time. celina now has pilar’s dad’s job! and i would’ve felt it in my heart if, in that final scene of the nonames (i refuse to call them rebelde) singing that iconic song, celina and pilar had just fondly smiled at each other because of the good ol’days..... but then didn’t do it! ugh

but let’s go to what i liked:

luka. i’d be biased anyway because he’s a colucci but as i mentioned before he felt like the most distinctive character out of the main 6 and his journey felt the most rewarding to follow.

the anita twist: was genuinely surprised by that. maybe i wasn’t that interested in the logia storyline since it felt so silly compared to the og but seeing her in that revelation scene was quite surprising

diversity: something rebelde 2004 really lacked and the 2022 version managed to do better (we can always keep improving though).

andi x emilia: although it still felt rushed (fucking 8 episode season), it was very refreshing to see a queer storyline in the rebelde universe

lourdes: she was very likeable (even though she purposefully tries not to be), loved her attitude with the students and i wish we had seen even more of her

the covers: i actually enjoyed the covers (although i thought the salvame mv was very corny but not in a camp way like the 2004 one, you know?), listening to songs i’ve loved for more than half of my life in new versions was fun and i’m always up bop to tras de mi .

these are my first thoughts tho. if i think of anything else i’ll keep talking about it i guess lmao

#rebelde 2022 spoilers #rebelde 2022 #rebelde netflix #rebelde

[traincat]

I feel like I've read a ton, but I'm honestly still pretty new to comics rn. That being said... What is one more day? Ik we don't like it and it happened a while ago, but that's about it [,=

Time for Spider-Man History With Traincat: Highly Controversial Storylines! And that feeling is totally normal with comics with huge canons -- you can read a ton and still have some fairly big blindspots in your understanding of the total picture. That being said, this is kind of a big one, both in terms of Spider-Man history/canon and in terms of how Spider-Man fandom functions. I would say probably no other storyline has had quite as much impact on how the fandom views and interacts with the source material as One More Day/Brand New Day. It's been the Wild West out here ever since it happened. (Which was in 2007, so like, yes, fairly long ago, especially when you look at how Spider-Man canon has evolved since, but in the grand scheme of things, also kind of recent. One More Day is not old enough to rent a car.)

So when people talk about Spider-Man's One More Day, they're usually actually talking about two related arcs: One More Day and Brand New Day. For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to be covering both. For the sake of transparency, I am going to admit that I think One More Day, as a self-contained story, is good, actually. This is controversial! I admit that! But I stand by my stupid opinions on this blog, for some reason. I think One More Day when you examine it on its own, by which I mean you ignore the decade and a half worth of canon that came after it, as a Spider-Man story and as a PeterMJ-centric story holds up under scrutiny and that people who don't like it don't like complicated love stories and might actually throw their own mothers under buses. No offense to the OMD haters. Little bit of offense to the OMD haters. Brand New Day, which is the continuation of One More Day, on the other hand -- largely bad. Very largely bad.

But let's backtrack. One More Day is a four issue crossover storyline that takes place directly after Civil War, during which Iron Man and Captain America got divorced and divvied up the superhero community and Spider-Man made some startlingly bad decisions and made a fugitive out of himself and his family in a manner that got Aunt May shot, and Spider-Man: Back in Black (Amazing Spider-Man #539–543) which examines Peter's actions immediately after Aunt May is shot and ends with him humiliating the Kingpin in front of an entire prison. One More Day consists of Amazing Spider-Man #544 -> Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24 -> Sensational Spider-Man v2 #41 -> Amazing Spider-Man #545. In One More Day, Aunt May is dying, all of Peter's efforts to save her have thus far failed, and, consumed by guilt, he is rapidly running out of time. Approached by Mephisto, a literal demon from hell, Peter is offered a deal: Aunt May will live -- and Peter's identity, which was previously revealed to the world at large during Civil War, will once again be hidden from the memories of all but a select few -- if Peter trades him his marriage to Mary Jane. Peter and Mary Jane struggle with this, but eventually both agree to the deal. The clock strikes twelve, the deal is done, and Peter and Mary Jane's marriage fades into history.

(ASM #545) A reasonably simple premise for a story that caused so many problems -- most, I would argue, not actually the original story's fault. So obviously, this was an unpopular move -- Peter and Mary Jane had for a long time been a fan favorite Marvel couple, and in a fictional universe where most relationships are doomed as soon as they begin, the enduring Spider-Marriage was sacred ground. And then, with a snap of its fingers, it was gone: Peter wakes up in Aunt May's house, no longer married, with Mary Jane out of the picture. (She would not return to the book on any sort of consistent basis for over 50 issues.) In the wake of One More Day began Brand New Day, which is basically what it sounds like: a promised "brand new day" of "exciting" Spider-Man content and a publishing schedule where Amazing Spider-Man came out three times a month. (Which sounds good on paper but I think in practice caused more problems than it created good storylines.) Peter, newly single again, had new love interests! And also Harry Osborn was alive again for some reason! I generally like Harry's post-BND stories so that part's fine with me.

But overall? Brand New Day is a mess. It knows it wants to tread new and exciting ground with Peter -- tell new stories! ensnare new readers! make them fork out for a book three times a month. -- but it doesn't know what those stories should be. Readers who were invested in Peter and Mary Jane's relationship -- a major facet of Spider-Man comics for decades at that point -- felt rightfully betrayed that the marriage could be so easily traded in and that Mary Jane herself, perhaps the second most important figure in Spider-Man comics after Peter, could be tossed aside. From a personal point of view, I think Brand New Day fails in large part because it abandons what has always made Spider-Man such a compelling series, and that's the mix of Peter's personal life with his vigilante life. BND sees Peter with new friends, new jobs, new love interests, etc -- it is very much a brand new day! But it isn't a better day compared to the stories that came before it. I do like some post-BND stories, especially American Son (ASM #595-599) and Grim Hunt (ASM #634-637), but compared to pre-BND where I think the majority of canon is good, it's a very lacking body of work that is hurt by the way it divorced itself from the PeterMJ marriage as Spider-Man's central relationship.

"But Traincat, I thought you said you liked One More Day?" Yeaaaaah. I do. This is why I keep saying I like One More Day on its own merits, and not on the merits of the stories it opened the doors for. I like a good romantic tragedy in fiction, and the way Peter and Mary Jane's final scene in One More Day plays out is beautiful. I like the idea of Peter caught in this impossible situation, being asked to choose between two women he loves more than his own life. A really common criticism I see leveled against One More Day is that Peter should have chosen his relationship with Mary Jane over May's life, which is -- okay, I think it's weird that people keep insisting on this, not in the least because by asking Peter to sacrifice his aunt's life they're essentially demanding he commit a callous, out of character act in order to further his own interests. It's also weird because the thing is, Peter already chose Mary Jane over May -- that's what gets them into this situation. It's literally in the scene where May is shot:

(ASM #538) When the gun goes off, Peter's spider-sense kicks in, and he covers Mary Jane, leaving May in the path of the bullet. He does choose Mary Jane over May, regardless of whether he realized what he was doing. And that's why he can't make that choice a second time. His actions in One More Day do make sense for him as a character, whether or not any individual reader likes them, and Mary Jane's actions make sense, too -- after all, she's the one who ultimately tells Mephisto that they agree to the deal when Peter can't bring himself to voice it.

A lot of people also like to nitpick One More Day by going, well, why could (x) or (y) with life saving powers save Aunt May which is like -- yeah, I guess, but if we're going to ask that about this specific comic book near death setup, you kind of have to do it with every single one, and I'm not going to stake every single moment of comic book drama on whether or not that gold kid from the X-Men was busy at the time. Comics are soap operas in flimsy paper form: serialized longform storytelling that relies heavily on melodrama. Sometimes you have to go with things. Sometimes you sell your marriage to the devil. Stuff happens. That in and of itself doesn't make One More Day a bad story -- and while some people blame the Spider-Marriage's dissolution entirely on One More Day, I think that's a little shortsighted when you look at the history of Spider-Man since the turn of the century. It's clear -- and Marvel themselves have been perhaps a little too open about this -- that Marvel in the past few decades has had trouble with the direction they want to take Spider-Man. They WANTED Spider-Man to appeal to a distinctly youthful audience that they didn't think they were actually reaching -- understandable, considering that Marvel nearly went bankrupt around 2000 and was saved by Ultimate Spider-Man, an out of main continuity series which retold Spider-Man from the beginning and focused heavily on Peter as a teen -- but the problem was Spider-Man in the main continuity was at that point in canon a happily married man who was pushing the dreaded 30 whether or not they wanted to admit that. This is also why Marvel has continually pivoted away from Spider-Man having kids, because they feared that making him a dad would age him too much and make him unrelatable to their coveted audience of Teens. (This is also why almost every new Spider-Man property, especially the live action movies, perpetually stick him back into high school, despite that occupying a very small slice of 616 canon.) So around the year 2000, they started trying things in relation to the Spider-Marriage, which was viewed as a major problem -- after all, what's more adult than being married and liking your wife. First, they had Mary Jane presumed dead. Then, they had Mary Jane and Peter separate. Then, when Mary Jane and Peter had only recently gotten back together, One More Day struck. If One More Day specifically hadn't gone the way it had, it's pretty clear that the Spider-Marriage was going to go one way or another -- it's a little bit of a shame it happened when it did, because OMD is the end of J Michael Straczynski's run, and JMS wrote a really beautiful Peter and MJ relationship. But Marvel as a company and especially editor in chief at the time Joe Quesada viewed Peter and Mary Jane's relationship as a major problem in how they wanted to portray Spider-Man and thought that striking the relationship from the books would allow them more freedom in their portrayal of him as younger and more relatable to their Desired Audience of people who I guess really wanted to see Peter sleep with characters who weren't Mary Jane.

(ASM #546. Younger! Fresher! Less attached! Kissing random women in the club!)

The problem with One More Day has always been in the follow through -- from the content of Brand New Day to the pacing of events to the fact that Marvel withheld key information for such a long time that it allowed misinformation to thrive. After all, what does it MEAN to trade Peter and Mary Jane's marriage to the devil? It altered the events of canon in Peter and the majority of other characters' memories so that the marriage didn't exist, but it left people wondering -- did the relationship as they remembered it existed? How much of Spider-Man canon was altered? And the answers didn't come for over 100 issues of Amazing Spider-Man. One Moment In Time or OMIT (Amazing Spider-Man #638-641), which revealed that while Peter and Mary Jane never got married in the altered canon they did continue their long committed relationship up until just after Civil War, was published in 2010, so essentially readers were hung out to dry without answers for three years. That's a long time to string people along, but not as long as it took Marvel to confirm that the popular fan theory that Mary Jane retained her memories of the original timeline as part of her own deal with Mephisto was also true, which happened this year. I would say, at least from my perspective, a lot of the frustration doesn't come from the individual One More Day storyline so much as how Marvel has continually dragged out the aftermath, using the promise of a Spider-Marriage return to keep fans on the hook. Which is why One More Day continually comes up in discussion of current Spider-Man, because Spencer's run has relied very heavily on imagery from that period with a serious question of whether or not there actually was going to be payoff, something which is still up in the air.

This has been Spider-Man History With Traincat, brought to you by anonymice like you.

#traincat talks comics #long post #*replies

[life-rewritten]

The doomed futility of Sisyphus; Sisyphus The Myth Kdrama Analysis

Before we start this analysis, I did have a lot of help getting to understand what's happening in this show especially the logical rules of time travelling, due to this website bitchesoverdrama, we have a great community over there we talk about shows and comment our thoughts and the way packmule sees things in shows is so inspiring. So even though this is my theory it is based of her own theories and opinions on what's going on in the show. 

Sisyphus The Myth Ep 1-4

Let's talk about Sisyphus. The Korean drama that everyone seems to have something to say, mostly negative because they don't understand where the storyline is going, and because of that frustration of lack of understanding, they go to insults, and annoyance, and lack of patience to wait it out, they call the show ridiculous with it's terrible directing and also outlandish action scenes and unreasonable logic. The first mistake these people made is going into this show, thinking it was a logical sci-fi. There is another show where people have mistaken a mystery fantasy plot (as the writers announced it was, in an interview)  for sci-fi because it includes scientific rules sometimes and discusses time travel. Do you the know the show? It's The king's Eternal Monarch. So because logical people have it out for writers using specific sci-fi plotlines to write a romantic mystery show; that doesn't actually base its self on the realism or logic of the science they expected, people call these stories dumb; they say it's ridiculous and should not have been done. And it's hard for people like me who completely gets bored at the idea of a sci-fi show, I'm not logical. Let's first get that out of the way; I won't be calculating mass, and time, and velocity and use maths and science as a base for my analysis.  In fact, I usually run away from anything to do with sci-fi. But there's something funny about this, that with TKEM and now Sisyphus, mystery fantasies that do incorporate a piece of the sci-fi genre, actually make me enjoy them. 

Perhaps it could be argued that it's because I'm not smart and I like ridiculous things, I only want romance with shitty writing, and maybe that's it. However, I disagree, what I see in these stories are a different sort of basis; instead of relying on scientific logic rules, or whatever is seen as appropriate in a sci-fi plotline, they use meta; they use other things to make their world mean something. For TKEM, it was literature and fairytales, and stories, and for Sisyphus actually named after the  Greek myth, it's the same. In order to understand where a show is going when it uses a literature base, you have to first understand the source. What is the source saying? Why have they chosen this source to tell this story? But people clock out and don't want to wait, aren't connected to the characters enough to care, or just plain detest anything that doesn't follow a specific set of logical rules, and that's fine; you're allowed to like or want whatever you want to see on TV, it's your experience, but  for the others who do want a show that is maybe deeper, interesting, laced with a good plot and love story that is sad, futile and also romantic, then I would suggest Sisyphus being for you. This isn't going to have a lot of support, and I already know this. Still, I do want to write about this show and explain why I'm into it because it has everything I like, a mysterious plot, fantasy/sci-fi elements, and a romance that is very angsty but also very deep. The show's director maybe not be as great as the others before him, but I think he's doing an okay job showcasing what he wants from the story. So yes, Sisyphus has so many scientific questions to ponder about, but I want to get rid of all that and focus on the bare bones of the story. How does this myth connect to this story, and why does it foreshadow how good this plot could be? This doesn't mean, this plot will be great because it all depends on the directing and writing skills, I'm not familiar with their work and with the director. I don't particularly care a lot about what he offers. But I know how he makes shows, I know the themes he's into and from this myth analysis, this show is definitely up his alley. So for now, I'll keep enjoying it and analysing, but it doesn't mean I think it's the best thing ever to exist in this genre. Okay, now we have that out of the way; let's learn about Greek Mythology, shall we? 

An Introduction to a Genius

So who or what is Sisyphus? When I hear about Sisyphus, I think about the guy who tried to run away from d*ath but ended up being captured by Zeus for even trying to think he could do that. He ends up basically with this painful task of constantly rolling a boulder uphill. In a way, it's depressing AF, and it really holds this theme of futility and punishment. So it's interesting to see we have a character who is being punished for his brains and his cunningness to evade situations and save people, and it seems unfair that he gets this ending. It also makes me worry about Tae Sul, our main character in Sisyphus the myth, who begins the first episode evading d*ath by saving tons of people on a plane and then also wanting to revert a specific family member's demise that he feels guilty about. Taesul is just as smart and cunning as Sisyphus; he uses his skills, his brain and his talent to help people. So it's a bit disturbing because already from looking at him, it's unfortunate he's destined for a futile, sad ending; he's destined to be punished by powers be, for being an obstacle. And will you have it, the whole plot revolves around him being chased by people who want to get rid of him because it seems he's found a way to prevent d*ath and prolong the lifespan of the people he loves. What a surprise. Honestly, it's that simple; the boulder represents him having to take on weight constantly because of his actions and live with that repeatedly being chased by the thing he tried to avoid. The episodes scream that it's because he tried to bring back his brother from the past, but the thing is, there's more to the myth of Sisyphus than just this outline. So before we can truly understand the big picture and where this plot is, we need to truly go back and understand the real story of Sisyphus, the myth. 

Let's go back. So yes, Sisyphus is cunning, smart, witty, he has many moments since he's apparently a king, royal full of influence and power. He really cares about protecting people, including himself, yet the way people see him is actually harmful. They see him as childish, sneaky, heartless and a player. Surprise. The thing is, this is precisely how we are introduced to Taesul. He's a big flirt, a big child who complains and acts immaturely with his company. He's someone of influence, in fact, significant impact; so much money and prominence, and yet he doesn't seem like he cares about anything. So yes, you can understand why people have a wrong perspective of our Sisyphus. However, he doesn't want to care about anything because he's self-destructive, broken by the guilt of letting pride, money and greed stop him from preventing his brother from being eliminated.

 And it's something that lives with him every day; in fact, he's dependent on self-medication to get rid of the haunting figment of his brother. Now he says he doesn't care about people and others, but we know he's lying; he's clearly someone who's destined to protect, he does care even when he acts nonchalant, for example, saving a whole plane from crashing and hurting people, especially when he has said he is waiting and has been excited to leave the world, if he were selfish he would have let the plane crash, he didn't care as he said, but something in him still went back and provided the solution to help. 

So this is really vital, this idea of Sisyphus being misunderstood by people in a way he's actually with a saviour complex, he protects, and he saves people with what he has yet even his actions are deemed evil or selfish or a natural disaster for them. So again, it's obvious the plot is based on whatever he has done to create this apocalyptic future we see in the show that is being misunderstood. The people who are out to get him are seeing him and hating him when in reality, it's obvious this was meant to better the world/ also himself because as much as Sisyphus has a saviour complex, it doesn't mean he's selfless; in fact, he's a very selfish character, he'll put his own needs above the world at times. This is where Taesul will make a mistake. Because for him, his only goal is to bring back his brother, even when warned he shouldn't, even when there are hints that him unveiling the truth will lead to suffering and the end of the world as we know it, it's still all he wants to do. Is it just that though? I'm getting ahead of my self I still need to break down this myth. 

The Problem with Cunningness

So Sisyphus is someone with cunningness, knowledgeable and powerful, so when the first time he sees an opportunity to get rid of this thing we call mortality for people (not just him), he's punished when the gods aren't happy. Especially the god of war himself, Ares, who is frustrated at Sisyphus for chaining de*ath,  Ares is upset; he is annoyed that Sisyphus is getting in his way, making people lose the meaning of war, what's the fun of war if no one is being removed? Which is interesting because we also find out in Sisyphus that Taesul's actions and mistakes and his own demise will lead to a war that will end everything and some organisation isn't happy they were at the losing end of that war. They hated the result of Taesul being alive to either cause or prevent that war. So they're sending people from the future who look creepy as hell and also like don't have limbs because they're rushing the process of uploading or just using a fake uploader with more errors (not yet sure which), but they are here with one goal; to get rid of Taesul, like Ares. Wow.

 So Sisyphus punishment is actually that he is eliminated and sent to the underworld. Wait, so it wasn't the boulder that was his first punishment; his first punishment was to be chased by De*ath (I'm going to find another name for this we're gonna say D  because of this stupid flagging system in Tumblr) just like Taesul is suffering in the present time in our show. Oh, okay, so where do we get the other punishment, the one Sisyphus is really known for. This is where the plot of this show unfolds, surprisingly. Because there's another character connected in this Sisyphean myth, Seohae, meaning Sisyphus had a wife. So when Sisyphus ends up, you know, getting axed, he still has a few tricks up his sleeves; he asks his wife to do something for him, not to bury him or respect his body wishes appropriately, in fact, to drop him naked in the middle of the city (that's obviously a parallel to how people are being downloaded into the past in the show visually). So because he did this, he's able to trick Hades and Persephone into letting them allow him to run back to the past to his wife to have a go at her, to tell her she didn't respect his wishes. And oh boy, oh boy, does he end up again evading D. Genius, in fact, he ends up going back to his wife and staying a very long time because it was his plan all along; he wasn't back to the underworld; they were all chumps who allowed his escape. So Sisyphus is a funny character, he chooses to go back, and he again avoids D; however, when he finally reaches his old age, he has to face everyone, including the gods; Zeus isn't happy with Sis; he says it's a bit of an insult really for what he has done, so Zeus basically punishes him with that godforsaken boulder. 

Okay, hold, that's a lot to unpack. So what happened here is we're still seeing Taesul as Sisyphus in this second part of the myth, right? So he's going to find a way to avoid Sigma always and survive, but we know he doesn't. His story ends truly when his demise leads to the war if we're following a timeline mentioned by Seohae. So what is this second punishment about a boulder?  Because this is the most crucial plot for every Sisyphus myth. 

Our Surprise Sisyphus

Well, look at it carefully;

 it has themes of running back to the past to criticise a lover,

 it has themes of trying to prevent a lovers demise, 

it has themes of futility and repetitive actions, it has themes of being punished by a powerful source,

 it also has themes of someone who is rebellious and doesn't want to let D win. 

It's Seohae. And that blew my mind. We don't have one Sisyphus in the storyline; we have two. The show's title is Sisyphus the myth because the love of these two is actually the role of Sisyphus; let me explain. 

The first acquaintance with D is Taesul's story he's the one who invents a way to chain D and then is punished by being taken by D. The person who ends up wanting him to save himself is not himself in this show; it's Seohae her whole goal, her whole reason to want to go back is also to evade D for her mother (she mentions this in episode 1 to her father) but also to stop Taesul from being eliminated, to stop the war but more of all because she loves him, she's married to him, they're meant to be lovers. However, she doesn't have all her memories of everything. All she knows is that another version of her self has told her she needs to go back in time to warn Taesul, so he doesn't make this mistake, so they live happily together after marriage, and the war doesn't happen. 

Ohhh, that's what's happening. So who's Zeus, you ask? It's the ICB, the Control Borough, that has to find balance and makes things right with all of the time travellers; they're looking for Seohae because she's illegal; she's not meant to be doing what she is doing. Just like Zeus has to intervene to punish Sis. So alright, we're getting there, we have Taesul, he's going to do something to avoid D, but unfortunately, he is going to be found by D because someone does not want him to succeed. Okay, however, we have Seohae; she is in love with Taesul and is determined to keep him safe. Hence, she finds a way to go back and warn him to prevent D from finding him; she essentially tricks the system to find and save the world, but also selfishly to go live a happy life with the guy she loves. So what's this about this boulder then?

The boulder; A heavy frustrating punishment

 Well, unfortunately for our two characters, it's pretty apparent Taesul always ends up being eliminated #, and it always leads to the war that destroyed earth. But also we know Seohae gets shot; during her wedding, she also is fated to suffer and be eliminated if she goes back to save Taesul. Her father warns her repeatedly about this. She doesn't listen. The clue here is the boulder keeps on being pushed; Sisyphus is in a constant struggle of the futility of his punishment; he can't escape; he is tied to this boulder to keep trying to push it to a destination, but all he does is repeatedly keep pushing the boulder infinitely.

Oh, wait, a show about time travel, a show about the futility of trying to change the past, a show where the future versions can go back with regret and meet their past versions which make the same mistakes over and over again, no matter how much Seohae tries to stop Taesul from opening the stupid suitcase that starts everything, he always opens it, it's useless, they're in a time loop. Each time he always creates the uploader, and each time the war happens, Seohae returns to stop him from being eliminated each time they always fail, and Seohae somehow leaves her diary telling her next self to do the same. It's an eternal loop. She's stuck being punished for carrying that weight, constantly relive that story over and over again, to try and save Taesul; her destination is always the start again. Like Sisyphus with the boulder. 

The only thing is why does she not remember or why is she acting like she doesn't remember, because it's different versions of her, it's a paradox, she always goes to find her next self, and she leaves that diary starting this all over again, her next self has now instructions always telling her to find Taesul, to save him and when she's going to be eliminated. (her wedding probably). Each time she goes back to save Taesul, she falls in love with him, they get closer to the wedding, and she gets shot. For Taesul, we see that the wedding leads to him making an ultimate decision, remember Sisyphus evades D twice. Seohae does this all the time to escape D for her mum and Taesul.

Meanwhile, Taesul only does this to avoid it for Tae san, his brother. Who is the second person? It's Seohae. They're Sisyphus for each other, surprise, Seohae ends up becoming Sisyphus always to try to prevent Taesul's demise and the war, but Taesul has a choice on the wedding day to choose either Seohae's life, or the world, what do you think he chooses? That's why I think he continually invents the uploader because of her, to save her, more than anything else. He always chooses futilely to save her above the results of the war. In doing so, he always ends up being the one who gets eliminated, but she always ends up determined to prevent that situation. 

Her dad was indeed right; she shouldn't meet with him; they both are in this repetitive loop, and the world is always a victim because of it. See how Sisyphus can try to be good and protective but still be seen as evil, a disaster, and a curse. So, in the end, both Seohae and Taesul are Sisyphus; both are punished every time. One by Taesul continually being caught and two by Seohae constantly losing her memories and forcing her self to repeat the journey again, to push that boulder over and over again. But with TKEM, we entered a timeline where change could happen after being stuck in an infinite loop forever, and that's interesting. With this show with how many times it seems Seohae has always written more instructions each time she travels, could we be in the timeline where things may become different? 

Sisyphus; A chance to change the past futilely

It seems like it more things are being revealed to them, that might be new information, Jung apologising and realising his mistake in probably being the one who takes Seohae's life in the wedding because he thinks she's evil (lied to by ICB) might be a new occurrence in this new timeline. There's more information slowly being added each time we do this time loop; the question is, where are we now? As I said, I don't know the science or calculations needed to understand the time travel aspect of the show, but that is important. 

So we have a star crossed romance that is being torn between the claws of D, two people punished continuously for just wanting to be with each other and putting the world at risk. We've seen what the results of Taesul's actions lead to; it leads to an apocalypse, a disaster and more; we've seen his stubbornness and determination not to let that stop him. All he wants is to evade D for his loved ones. But Seohae also becomes like that; she's also stubborn, also determined just like him to protect her loved ones despite both being advised not to do anything more, not to shake fate, not to mess around with time and life. Still, they never listen; they've put themselves in a time loop where they're being punished, and their punishment leads them again to do the same thing because of their desperate need to be together. 

It's heartbreaking; however, there's a slight hope for a happy ending, one because this director does stories of couples torn apart by forces and things they can't control (Master's sun, Dr Strange etc...) being tied to each other's downfall and growth, being pulled away no matter how desperate they want each other. Their need to be with each other puts others at harm, but he always ends it in a happy ending. Sisyphus actually gets his goal a bit, not how he wants it, but he gets to live a long life with the woman he loves. However, it's after he lives that life; he goes back to being punished. So maybe this timeline Seohae may succeed and live the married life she wanted with Taesul (she does not know she loves him, she will fall for him repeatedly each time they do a loop, both of them always do); however, the sad truth is it was not her first version/authentic version that got to live that happy ever after,  it might be this version though who knows? Either way, her original (her first-ever version, always suffered and had to be the one to push that eternal boulder with no end, she didn't get to see her ending) but this one or another future version may do. Taesul also has a chance to have a happy ending because even though his story ends with the first part of Sisyphus, Sisyphus finds a way to get out of the underworld and go back to his wife, so again it's like yeah, his first version did get punished, did get eliminated, failed, but this version or a future version may get a chance to spend that time with this Seohae. 

Do you get me? It's not their original versions that get the happy ending, but it's still them that gets a chance to live old and have a happy life. So I'm hopeful, is what I'm trying to say. Thought that infinite loop of futility and failure to escape mistakes isn't a great sign. Let me know what you think about Sisyphus so far. Are you like me? Are you intrigued by this love story, and what are your theories? Let me know. 

#sisyphus the myth #sisyphus #kdrama #sisyphus the myth kdrama #cwg #march #korean drama #park shin hye #cho seung woo

[dancedance-resolution]

andi mack friendom, are you interested in some more thoughts about my andi mack / american girl crossover (which is actually just a thinly veiled info dump about american girl history and drama)? if so, you're in the right place!

the andi / buffy / cyrus doll set i designed would be a contemporary line.

CONTEXT (forewarning, this is basically just an ag info dump about the 2017 contemporary line) (also, tagging @kirstensleepey because i think this write up might be useful for the ag project you're working on <3):

so in 2017, american girl did a brand new thing. they released 3 dolls who were contemporary characters but not girls of the year. (prior to these dolls' release, which are called "the contemporary line" by the ag fandom, the only categories of ag dolls were historicals, girls of the year, and just like yous.)

the contemporary line was controversial for many reasons.

first, we have our main character, tenney grant. (tenney is basically taylor swift as a doll, if taylor were uncool and a r*publican lol.)

one of the reasons why tenney is so controversial is that she overshadowed the girl of the year (henceforth abbreviated as goty) 2017, gabriella mcbride.

tenney was released only one month after gabriella's release. ag's social media gave much more focus to tenney than gabriella. upon tenney's release, gabriella's store displays were downsized (which is unheard of for a goty). tenney even had a larger collection than gabriella!

why are we mad about tenney overshadowing gabriella? well, gabriella was ag's first (and as of 2021, ONLY) black goty. also, gabriella was ag's first doll to have an explicity confirmed disability - her stutter.

BRIEF INTERMESSION - SOME STATISTICS ABOUT DIVERSITY IN CHARACTER DOLLS:

only 7 out of the 22 total historical characters have been dolls of color. only 3 out of 22 historicals have been black (one of which is now retired). only 2 out of 22 have been aapi (one of these dolls, ivy, was just a best friend doll and is now retired; and the other doll, nanea, has a problematic face mold. i wrote an essay about why her facemold is problematic here!). only 1 historical doll, josefina, is hispanic, and ag has actually misspelled her name as "josephina" on their social media before.

only 1 doll EVER has been native american, kaya'aton'my, who is a historical character from 1764. (not even any of the just like you dolls have had kaya's face mold! kaya is truly the only indigenous doll!) in fact, ag has had more colonizer characters than indigenous characters. felicity and elizabeth are white character dolls from 1776, and their books fail to address the issues surrounding colonization and treatment of native americans. and kirsten is a swedeish immigrant to wisconsin in 1854. her book does acknowledge the existence of native americans, and kirsten has an indigenous friend named singing bird. (i haven't read kirsten's books and i'm not indigenous, so i can't comment on this storyline.) ag actually had a controversy about kirsten just this year - in 2021, the t-shirt design for kirsten said "settlers gonna settle", and ag actually ended up changing the design to "cabin sweet cabin" after backlash.

moving on to the girl of the year line - out of 21 goty dolls, gabriella is the ONLY black goty. only 6 out of 21 gotys have been dolls of color. there have been 2 hispanic characters (luciana, who is generally regarded as an excellent doll; and marisol, who is controversial because her book talks about how her family moved from pilsen chicago - a real area of chicago that is home to many hispanic immigrants - to a white suburb due to crime. this storyline involves racist stereotypes.) also, goty 2016 lea clark (slightly tan skin, blonde hair, light green eyes) is 1/8th brazilian, and some brazilian ag fans consider the emphasis on lea being 1/8th brazilian racial feticization. next, there have been 3 aapi gotys. one of these dolls, sonali, was one of two best friend dolls for chrissa (goty 2009) - yep, you heard that right, yet another doll of color that is a side character! sonali is the bully in chrissa's books, but she gets a redemption arc. to this day, sonali is ag's only south asian character doll. [additionally, there has been some criticism that all of the aapi gotys are mixed race - jess mcconell (goty 2006) has a japanese mother and an irish/scottish father, kanani akina (goty 2011) has a french/german mother and a japanese/hawaiian father, and sonali matthews has an indian mother and a father of unknown race/ethincity. perhaps notably, the only aapi historical doll who is not currently retired (nanea) is also mixed race (hawaiian mother and scottish father).]

as for the disability thing i mentioned - ag also has a disappointing track record regarding disability representation, lol. it was very lightly implied that mckenna (goty 2012) had a learning disability, but that was never confirmed. mckenna's tutor, who used a wheelchair, was ag's first big disability rep, but she was just a side character in mckenna's story. then, many ag fans were disappointed when mary ellen, a historical character released in 2015, was able-bodied (in canon, she had polio as a child, so it would make sense for mary ellen to be disabled and use mobility aids). finally, in 2020, goty joss gave us some disability rep - she has a hearing aid.

ag's lack of disability rep is very frustrating, especially considering that doll companies, like our generation, have made some really cool disabled dolls. and ag has been doing this ad campaign with the paralympics that feels performative to me - like, they want to seem inclusive by featuring dolls with prostetic legs, but they don't even sell dolls like that!!!

lastly, religious diversity - iirc, there are three jewish dolls (rebecca, goty 2001/2002 lindsey, and goty 2009 chrissa). the rest of the dolls are either christian or of unspecified religion. there has never been an explicitly muslim, hindu, or buddhist doll, or a doll who is a member of any religion other than judaism/christianity/unspecified. (there is some hope that we might get a muslim doll, though, since an outfit with a hijab was leaked, and ag trademarked a persian name that i can't recall off the top of the head at my moment. but take these with a grain of salt - ag trademarks a ton of stuff that they don't use, and the leak could be false or just a truly me outfit.)

END OF INTERMISSION - BACK TO THE TENNEY/GABRIELLA CONTROVERSY:

so, we get our first black goty, and she's being totally overshadowed by tenney.

here's where a conspiracy comes in:

we can track when ag trademarks their character names. goty names are usually trademarked early in the year prior to their release (by may). but gabriella mcbride wasn't trademarked until october, iirc.

and gabriella is a very underdeveloped character in comparison to most gotys. one of her main hobbies - dancing - was the same main hobby as both marisol (goty 2005) and isabelle (goty 2014). her store displays were underemphasized in comparison to tenney's, as i mentioned before. she was the first goty who didn't get a movie in six years (since kanani, goty 2011). and gabriella didn't even have a big ticket accessory item available until summer!

so, we get our first black goty, and she's underdeveloped, underemphasized, seems to have been rushed (due to her trademark date), and overshadowed by tenney just one month after her release. why is that?

well, some people think that tenney was actually supposed to be goty 2017! (i agree)

tenney was trademarked earlier, had more development, had a bigger collection, etc. we think that tenney was supposed to be goty 2017, but ag decided to do a doll of color (gabriella) at the last minute. (keep in mind the climate of 2015/2016 - ag probably wanted some clout for doing a black goty, and they also probably heard the ag fandom's demands for more dolls of color.)

so that's tenney.

next we have logan everett. logan was ag's first boy character doll. i'm glad that ag had a boy character doll, but logan kinda missed the mark for me. the main source of controversy surrounding logan is his face mold: he, a white boy, uses the kaya face mold. !! it kinda felt like a slap in the face to many indigenous ag fans - kaya is literally The Only Doll with the kaya face mold, and when we finally get another doll with her face mold, he's not even indigenous.

lastly, we have z yang my beloved <3. z yang was done dirty - she is yet another doll of color who is a mere side character, and also, she was available for only a total of 20 months before being retired!

so, that's everything i have to say about the 2017 contemporary line.

now i'm going to talk about the 2021 contemporary line :3

so, it's summer 2020. the black lives matter is becoming more mainstream. brands are now getting clout for appearing "woke."

so, admist this climate, ag is (as always) facing demands from its fandom/collectors to diversify its doll line. so they announce that they're going to be doing a new contemporary line, to be released in "the second half of 2021"!!!! and they promise that the contemporary line will have a black lead character

fast forward to modern day. thanks to ag's trademarks, we can safely assume that the new contemporary line will be called "world by us." we can safely assume that the line will have 3 characters. the 3 characters all live in washington dc and are best friends :) we can safely assume that the characters will be maritza ochoa, evette peeters, and makena williams. i talked about makena and maritza on that ask regrettable-username sent me about my andi mack/ag headcanons! personally, i'm excited for world by us, and i think it has a lot of potential!

alright sawyer, that's the end of the ag info dump fhjhdhfskf.

now for my andi mack friends:

i think the andi/buffy/cyrus line would be structured similar to world by us: andi is the main character, and buffy and cyrus are her best friend dolls :) all 3 dolls would be released at the same time. andi would have 3 books that have buffy and cyrus as side characters, and buffy and cyrus would have one book each.

the big ticket item for this collection would be andi's andi shack. i'm imagining its design sort of like kira's tent mixed with lanie's camper mixed with blaire's farm. andi the walls of andi shack would open up so that when it's fully opened, the four walls are on an even plane with the back wall and extended out like wings. you remove the roof before opening up the walls. the shack is tall enough that the doll can comfortably stand up even with the roof still attached, and wide enough that all three dolls (andi, buffy, and cyrus) can comfortably stand next to each other inside of andi shack.

andi shack would come with a ton of craft supplies inside of it. it would also come with a little flower box that has cece's african violets, like blaire's flower box. (thanks to regrettable-username for coming up with the african violets idea fdjfsj.)

alright i have to go now, so these are all my andi mack/ag thoughts for now, but i might be back later with more thoughts fhdfjs (hopefully not though, since typing this out took me over three hours [sweating emoji]).

sorry for any typos and sorry for how scatterbrained this is! also this may have some forgotten things/mildly incorrect things bc my only source is my brain (and a photo of all the dolls so i can count how many dolls for the statistics portion) and my brain is not the most reliable thing on earth lol.

#long post #american girl dolls #i feel kinda bad about putting this in the andi mack tag since it's mostly ag related; but it does include info about my andi mack/ag au #and the friendom has seemed to be really enjoying the andi mack/ag au (nostalgia i guess) so uhhh hopefully you guys will enjoy this? lol #andi mack

[rickyandgina]

Season 2 Predictions

Section 1 characters- Nini: YAC. I'm almost 100% sure that she goes, it would be such a shame if she didn't take this amazing opportunity and allow herself to experience something on her own. But if she doesn't then what? Well as we know there is going to be rival school in the next season. North high. Maybe she goes here? In the limited amount of promo photos released from season 2, she's absent. Aside from what seems to be the first episode. My theory is that she may not get as big of a role in play and go somewhere else where she feels more appreciated . IDK but I'm guessing there is going to be a major arc for Nini venturing off to find herself outside of East high and her relationship with Ricky. Whether that be Youth Actors Conservatory or NHS. We wanna see growth girl!

Ricky: Ricky, I'm more unsure about. I think he's complacent in his relationship with Nini and is comfortable with having his security blanket back. Obviously the news from Nini is going to shake him and mirror his breakdown after his parents and them separating. Do they separate though? I don't think so... It would such a fan disservice to spend all season building them up only to break them down again an episode later. What I do think is that his main strory-line is going to be learning to cope with people not always going to be around and how to make relationships work that aren't always 100 percent perfect. Also I think that we will see him really getting into theatre for himself and taking it more seriously the second time around.  Without Nini there I don't think he will try out for the main role- I'm guessing Gaston as there's promo photos of him acting out a scene that just seems so like that character. Also there's the question of Gina and his relationship with her being unresolved,,, but I'll talk more about that later.

EJ: Oh, I am so excited to see his character next season. He arguably got the best development last season and we can already see this change. With Ricky maybe out of the picture? I think we'll see him try out for the main role and get it. The beast just fits his storyline so perfectly and I think it would be such a shame for them not to go that route. It's also his last semester at the school and nice way to wrap up his storyline and send him off. Or they could go the route of Gaston for him, but ehhh Idk. It just seems like reverting. BUT there's also episode 2 (type casting) so we will see. Overall I think we will see him be the person he was becoming in the last few episodes. More kind, caring, and not so into himself (maybe a little tho). His relationship with Gina is obviously is going to develop- hopefully friendship- and I think that it is going to be nice seeing these two characters who were so vain and focused on winning last season be able to lean into one another. Let's look forward to likeable EJ.

Gina: My girl. My bean. My ride or die. I am so excited to see her next season, it's a little unhealthy lol. Okay, so for her I am also uncertain where they are going to take her character. She obvi stays from the promos. But what does that mean? Clearly she was struggling with her decision so I think that will be her main story line for episode 1- in the end her choosing to stay. I think this will be mirrored with Nini choosing to leave, then from there just straight up DRAMA. From the promo photos we see her, Kourtney, Ashlyn all in the auditorium trying out. From the looks of it, it seems like they are all trying out for the same part. Belle??? If she gets the part... I don't think so. It just doesn't seem like her time yet. So where does this leave us? Maybe she also goes to North High where she can shine brighter and bigger... maybe she stays. I could see it both ways, Gina is not used to being somewhere for long and it is so in character for her to go off to find something new and better for herself. This could lead us to her having to face off against her friends and roommate, struggling in doing so. Or they could have her stay, not get the main role and snag a smaller part. Having her stay would allow them to develop her relationship with Ricky. Especially with Nini gone. Idk either way I'm excited to see her and all her new friendships with the crew.

Carlos: I think once again we will see him as Ms.Jenn's right hand man. Running the play and being his beautiful controlling self. Maybe he gets a smaller role in play as well. These are only the minor parts of his story. What's the big stuff? SEB! I really think they are going to develop this relationship more, hopefully we will get to see them together and happy. Not just happy though, what's a good romance without hardship? Being queer and in high school is not easy for a lot of teens, though while in their bubble of theatre kids they are all accepting and happy, maybe they will show the other side of this, of people who aren't so willing to see things differently. Out of the two I think Carlos would be the one to struggle with this. Clearly Seb is not afraid to be who he is and own it. So maybe we will get to see them struggle through this together, and obviously come out on top in the end.

Seb: I'm hoping he will get a bigger role in the play, what role though? Idk its hard to say. But as we know he's becoming a series regular so we will get to know more about him. Maybe about his home life and the relationship he has with his family. We know that his family works on a farm and he's expected to do that too. So maybe we will see him stand up to his parents and take control of his life.  Overall I'm just hoping and thinking that they will develop his character more and allow us to see a different side of him outside of the theatre and in a more realized setting.

Kourtney: She is so going to shine this season! Main role? You bet ya.. I think she's getting the part of Belle. Or at least fights for it. From the way the last season ended and them alluding to having more in store for her, and the announcement of the second season, all dressed in yellow. It just makes sense. This girl is so talented and ready to take center stage. I'm also thinking they're going to introduce a romance for her... hopefully. It would so fun to see her get her love story. I'm thinking one of the new characters that is going to be introduced as there really aren't any prospects in the cast already. We'd love to see it! On the other side, maybe she doesn't and goes to North High? IDK Tim said that people go over there, so we will see.

Ashlyn: Another one of my favs, can't wait to see her and Gina's relationship. She is obvs going to be like a big sister to Gina, guiding her and helping her through her second semester. Again, I see bigger things for her in this upcoming series. Big Red, need I say more? So clearly they are going to showcase this couple and develop them more as the season goes on. Big part of her story line this season. Moving onto the play, again, in the sneak peeks we see her with Gina and Kourtney trying out. I think she is going to take a leap and tryout for Belle and fail. Maybe this takes a shot to her confidence and we get to see her struggling with not being chosen. Having to take a back seat again, IDK. I could see it happening. Anyways, I think the points of her plotline are mainly going to be about her relationship with Big Red and her stepping up and into the spotlight.

Big Red: The Lefou to Ricky's Gaston? Probably. I think this season he will get a role in the play, it's only fair. Larry is sooo talented they have to let him tap dance his heart out and kill his role in the production. Again we will see him be support a system for Ricky and him dealing with Nini and all of their drama, but he's going to have his own going on too. I think that we will see A LOT of miscommunication between Ashlyn and Big red. They just aren't that great at communication. Clearly. This could be a big source of drama for him and his story line and allow us to see more of him and the writers to develop his character outside of the nerd archtype. I really hope.

#high school musical the series #hsmtmts #hsmtmts s2 #predictions #nini salazar roberts #ricky bowen #ej caswell #gina porter #kourtney green #Ashlyn Caswell #big red #ricky x gina #rina #watch me be soo wrong #lol #we'll see

[silhouettica]

Disclaimer: image shown above is not mine; source is linked to the image.

____________

It’s been a long time since I’ve written an anime review, but this one is too well-deserved to pass up.

I tend to have a love-hate relationship with the sports-shounen genre in the manga industry. On one hand, good quality stories have great characters, undeniably well-drawn images, and okay storylines... but--- technique-wise, there was just too much suspension-of-disbelief required to go on reading.

Take for instance, Kuroko no Basuke and the legendary Phantom Sixth Man who is capable of magically disappearing in court; or, there’s Prince of Tennis and the gravity-defying non-arc path that their tennis balls traverse -- OR do not traverse, as do those which avoid the Tezuka zone. Basically, most popular and long-running sports genre mangas have a tendency to go borderline fantasy in many elements, or otherwise tend to sport some rarely-seen-in-a-thousand-years genius to spice up the story, which is understandably unrealistic (after all, this is fiction we’re reading). But perhaps, after almost two decades of watching anime and reading manga, my personal preference is now leaning towards the comfort provided by the slice-of-life genre, and against typical expectations, there’s that lingering desire to taste the slice of life in a sports manga...

Enter: Haikyuu.

Haikyuu was already a famous anime when I heard that it revolved around volleyball. When I heard that, the first question that occurred to me was, How much plot can be formed around such a sport as volleyball? Don’t get me wrong -- I’ve only ever been involved in two fields of sports: one is track and field, and the other is volleyball, so I at least like the sport. But since we’re used to being exposed to mangas centering around basketball or some martial arts, a story revolving around volleyball was foreign territory. But it was already famous, and with fame comes expectations --- thus, for fear of suffering from failed expectations, I deferred, or more like skipped out on Haikyuu.

But, well, with FB Watch capable of being a demonic source of temptation, Haikyuu showed up in my Watch Feed, and poof! - I was hooked. Manga was finished in less than a few weeks, and episodes repeatedly watched on FB (still ongoing, haha). In my personal list of top mangas, it has far surpassed even One Piece. It’s that good.

What’s so attractive about Haikyuu is that above being refreshing character and plot-wise, it was also obviously painstakingly created with so much attention to detail, in terms of the technical aspects of volleyball. I mean, just watch the videos contrasting Haikyuu to real-life volleyball matches - there’s almost no difference to be seen. The accuracy is admirable. In this regard, suspension of disbelief is very minimized --- well, except for the repeated overtime in matches; but if they stuck to the usual 15 or 25pt matches, we wouldn’t have much screentime to make a viable story, now, would we? So it’s an understandable adjustment to accommodate for the sake of cultivating the story.

Beyond this, Haikyuu boasts of a roster of interesting and complex characters littered throughout the storyline. Honestly, I can’t hate any single one of them. Your heart would go out to every character in every team. It’s amazing how the mangaka depicted each character differently, with all their bias and flaws, besides their refreshingly non-OP strengths, all combined to portray each individual’s humanity. And gah, when they’re made to mix together - the rapport between and amongst such variety of personalities is just fascinating to behold. And then comes character development - whoosh. How one person’s evolution affects the quality of a team’s mixture is another feast to behold. So much respect for this mangaka for bringing to life such abundance of quality complex characters. Seriously. Shounen x Sports x Slice of life + epic ups and downs + epic ending arc (MOST SATISFYING ENDING TO SPORTS GENRE EVER).

This is plain epic.

At first glance, any reader/follower would be drawn to the main characters - there’s Kageyama, Hinata, Ushijima, Oikawa, etc., all those OP-level players (or at least potentially so, for Hinata). 

Well, Hinata is the main character, as the story is dominantly affected by his actions and skill development. Watching his character growth is a treat, in and of itself. Seriously. Hinata may be boke at times, but isn’t really stupid. He’s just less-skilled than others (understandably so, given his lack of experience), but he more than makes up for it with his bottomless enthusiasm. And that innocence... Kawaii~. His love for the game is just contagious. Freakin’ want to buy a volleyball just to start playing on my own.

Kageyama may be called a genius setter, but really, he’s far from being the complete package. And he’s one of the more complex characters that really steals your heart. Like Hinata, he just overflows with love for the game, but his innocence is of a different level. After being shown his blindspot, he tempers his snobbishness, and literally BEGS for help --- I mean, look how he bows to Tsukishima for help in acads, or towards his senior Oikawa, in order to improve in volleyball. He’s mostly snobbish only towards those who don’t do their best (besides being just plain socially awkward). But he’s a very good kouhai, and it’s especially touching how he and Hinata paved the way for Asahi’s attack against Date Tech. I appreciate that he’s not so OP-level that he didn’t need anyone to improve -- he was helped by their coach, he was helped by Oikawa, there’s his senpais guiding him somewhat, etc. He’s not the Echizen-type who can learn on his own. He has so many blindspots, but he listens and asks for help once he’s shown that they exist.

There are a wealth of other characters worth mentioning, but recently, when I think of relating to the characters, what I easiest to resonate with are Yamaguchi and Ennoshita. Tsukki is another runner-up, being one who’s overly phlegmatic, with a defeating inferiority complex, but with a taste for vengeance... Bokuto’s answer to his existential question on why they play volleyball was very insigtful --- you don’t enjoy volleyball probably because you suck in it. HAHAHA. Isn’t that true for all of us - how we superficially hate some things when actually it’s because we just aren’t good at them. But at the very least, Tsukishimi Kei has so many qualities that puts him above others, it’s hard to compare oneself to him. On the other hand, there’s Yamaguchi the one-trick pony and Ennoshita the returning quitter. Sometimes I think of quitting when the academic “training” gets tough, but coming to think of Yama, I’m reminded that this is my one sword. The only reason he enters the court is as a pinch server - apart from that, there’s nothing else. So if he gets cold feet and settles for an easy serve, he forfeits the right to enter the court. If he lets go of the jump float serve, he has nothing else. Similarly, there’s Ennoshita who actually quit the team, but returned because the comfort became uncomfortable... I dunno if I’m the only one who’se quit in at least one point of my life, and took an easy way out or through something, but Ennoshita’s lesson is true for all of us - we’d regret quitting. Quitting is a no-go.

Anyway, I can’t describe all the other characters, else, this would be too long. But it’s just so amazing how Haruichi Furudate was able to create so many complex characters, each with their own backstories (okay, unrealistically, no sob stories here since this isn’t a drama) and no antagonist to hate, but the story was was just so complete and wholesome. I mean, take the Nekoma team, for one - they’re supposed to be Karasuno’s biggest rival, but they’re the ones who gave them a fighting chance to improve. Sportsmanship really dwells high on this one. Bokutooo, that once-spoiled ace... Oikawa, that snobbish great king who only recognized Kageyama as his junior when talking to Ushijima... The side characters who made up each respective team’s coaching, managerial, and cheer squad... There’s just so many personalities to admire and be thankful to the author for.

Haikyuu is truly a story about volleyball --- it’s not a story about inter-high, it’s not a story about high school; rather it’s a story that explores the different aspects surrounding volleyball - from childhood, as between friends, to high school and inter-high competitions, to the coaches and managers and trainings behind the scenes, to (SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!) in-house vs. beach volleyball, to a professional career and international competitions. It’s really volleyball in different seasons of lives of a variety of people.

One poignant fact is that for most people, playing sports would be limited to high school. After inter-high, teammates would separate and a new team will be formed, year after year. That’s why it’s so precious how (SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!) the manga showed the fanatic-highchoolers-turned-professional players being watched by their previous volleyball teammates and competitiors --- something I’ve never seen in other sports mangas (which mostly had to do with players getting some injury, going to rehab and recuperating, and so). Previous teammates faced each other as competition, and previous rivals became comrades. It’s just. so. epic.

Anyway, thank you,  Haruichi Furudate-san. May the anime remain top-notch in quality. Viva Haikyuu!!

#Haikyuu #volleyball #manga #annime

[cloudy-reverie]

Hello I want to ask you something about Mars Red (I don't mind about spoilers) tell me what happened with Maeda and Yamagami-san in chapter 13 and also, do you think the anime was good enough? Thanks.

Hi there! I’ll answer both of your questions under the cut, as this will be a long post.

Do I think the anime was good enough? Well, I have mixed feelings about it, and I’ve been thinking of doing a full post of my thoughts after I’ve watched it all a second time now that it’s complete and easy to marathon. I enjoyed the anime immensely, but I’m not above critiquing things I like, either.

I started reading the Mars Red manga last year, and even now after the anime, I still prefer the manga’s version of events. I haven’t seen the stage play, the original source of material, so I can’t account for how accurately the manga or the anime adapted its events. As I understand it, the anime gained attention just for being an adaptation of a stage play, which doesn’t happen very often. Usually, it’s the other way around. That explains the interesting use of cinematography in the anime, the emphasis on drama and soliloquys and so forth. Some people might find the anime pretentious in that way, but, well, it is what it is, being adapted from theatre. Being an English Literature major, I didn’t mind it, and I also like the occasional artsy series.

Anyway, as a manga reader, I had different expectations going into the anime. The manga is more character-driven, whereas I feel the anime was more plot-driven, and the addition of anime-only characters – as interesting as they are – made the series seem crowded with only 12 episodes to pack everything in. The manga fleshes out the regular cast more (the anime didn't fully touch upon Defrott and Suwa’s pasts, left out Takeuchi’s shock over a revelation, erased parts of Maeda’s personality, left out some fun Code Zero moments, Aoi encountering Code Zero early on, etc.), and it definitely toned down the violence for a more mainstream audience because Shutaro’s manga rescue of Yamagami was far bloodier and terrifying, as Shutaro, agonizingly, begins to realize what he’s capable of and who he may become.

And one example that I still complain about (lol) is that in the manga, Shutaro and Aoi’s relationship is highlighted in the first chapter alone and emphasized in subsequent chapters. It’s clear they care for each other. It’s clear they’re among the main stage players. It’s easier to be emotionally invested in what happens to them by the end.

In the anime, Maeda takes centre stage instead, with the first episode introducing us to his fiancée, Misaki, whom he has never met in-person until she becomes a vampire. From that point onward, their what-if relationship and Maeda’s regret is frequently alluded to, culminating in the final episode.

Typically, whoever you introduce in the first chapter/episode are the characters that you’ll be going on a journey with, so it was a bit jarring for me when I realized Shutaro and Aoi and the rest of Code Zero wouldn’t be introduced until the second episode (well, Aoi did make an appearance, but they had her interact with Maeda more). We never get to see all of the flashbacks of Aoi and Shutaro, never are shown how much Aoi is determined to find Shutaro. We never even get to see Shutaro's “dream visit,” and then that silly vampire (sorry, Shutaro, I still love ya) left visible footprints in her yard after claiming he was a ghost, and she definitely noticed, so she knows something is up. Had if we had received all of that, perhaps the rescue and the finale would’ve been far more emotional for anime-only viewers invested in their relationship.

Instead, there was more feeling for Maeda and Misaki because the anime took care in telling their story. The anime was good in that aspect because they made Maeda and Misaki’s tragic relationship the focus, and so we were able to reach full circle by the end. Meanwhile, with Shutaro and Aoi practically being sidelined, I saw comments from anime-only viewers confused about why they were suddenly a main couple or getting the spotlight in the end. The anime could’ve avoided that confusion by tightening up their storytelling and fleshing out Aoi and Shutaro more as characters.

I also feel the anime focused a lot more on the politics and military, too. There were so many lengthy meeting scenes when it’s more balanced in the manga, I find. Also, just the other day, I was rereading some exchanges between Shutaro and Yamagami, and laughing, and thinking about why the anime didn’t include those because they were funny daily life scenes. There are also anime reviews complaining about the pacing, the random tone changes, and other things that might’ve compelled them to rate the anime higher.

So, do I think the anime is good? I might be biased, but I enjoyed it; it wasn’t a masterpiece, but it was good for what it intended to deliver. Also, I like series based in the Taisho era, so that was a bonus for me. The manga isn’t 100% perfect, either; it might disappoint Maeda fans, for one thing, and it does tell its story quickly (I wish it was longer). I personally prefer the manga over the anime, but I love both.

The way I view Mars Red anime and manga is like this: Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009) are both favourite series of mine. FMAB is prefered by most people, and is widely considered one of the greatest anime series ever, a modern masterpiece. It adapted the manga completely – only because the manga had finished by then, and I absolutely love the manga. However, it doesn’t mean FMA ’03 is bad in comparison; it just has a different but no less unique storyline that Arakawa also liked. With the manga still running at the time, FMA '03, being as popular as it was, had no choice but to go its own way for completion's sake.

This is the case for me here: I like the Mars Red anime and manga for different reasons. I’d probably recommend the manga first due to my preference for deeper character development. But the anime also tells an interesting version, though it could’ve done with a more streamlined focus. Karakara Kemuri adapted Fujisawa Bun-o’s stage play in her own way, presumably keeping to the general storyline but also adding personal touches of her own (you’ll know if you’ve read any of her works before); Signal M.D. studio handled the anime adaptation with their own team of writers while striving for the theatrical atmosphere of its roots. They accomplish different results.

And now that there’s a game with more information about the characters, the Mars Red universe seems so much bigger in an exciting way.

Now, to your second question:

MAGComi is a monthly manga magazine, and you can read chapters online for free for a limited time. They made chapter 13 available to read while the final chapter 14, newly released, is for premium subscribers. Chapter 12 is still available to view, as well.

Since I can’t read Japanese, I will be excitedly awaiting a translation from Laughing in Quarantine scanlations until I get my officially licensed volumes in English this year and next. Thus, I can only make guesses based on visuals alone while factoring in the anime’s events.

So, in the previous chapter 12, Code Zero encounter Nakajima, as they do in the anime, though the context differs slightly. It’s more menacing, and Maeda is revealed to be inside one of those vampire unit mechanical suits, already a vampire himself, near mindless. Yamagami is enraged. A fight ensues. Then, the Great Kanto Earthquake occurs, as it does in the anime.

In chapter 13, as you can see, the fight continues, dangerously close to shafts of sunlight; the rest seem trapped by the rubble, unable to get to the two in time. Yamagami sees Maeda shed a tear, and they exchange words, and Yamagami seems determined to save Maeda’s humanity. Yamagami then pushes himself and Maeda into the sunlight. They grin at each other, exchanging more words, as they are both swept up into flames, dying together.

Then more incredible stuff happens in the rest of the chapter, as you can see! We’ll have to wait for the scanlation team to provide us more solid answers.

#mars red #ask #these are just my thoughts and opinions; no one has to agree #my post