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absolutebl · 1 year

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This Week in BL - When good chemistry goes bad

May 2023 Wk 3

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 4 of 10 - yes it jumped to the top of the standings, the kiss was THAT good, best of the year so far. So soft and yet so sweet and yearning and with a proper chemistry - body, breath, everything. Also... there was plot happening this ep, but who cares about that? Some additional thoughts, now my brain has rebooted from that kiss. I do suspect Pat of still being a player: he is awful smooth, and he may want revenge for being jacked along for 2 years (I would). Ep 4 is early for a kiss like that, which means pacing-wise we may be in for a separation/break up around ep 8.

Step By Step (Thai Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 5 of 10 (MDL still says 12, but Gaga still says 10) - Pat, dear, your gay is squirting all over our screens. Meanwhile… That is the smallest presidential suite bed I’ve ever seen. Lucky for us of course. And lucky for Jeng. Me with the side dishes = UH OH.

Our Skyy 2 (My School President) eps 9-10 - Alt reality where Tinn is in charge of the music club and Gun is the school president with the crush. Basically, it’s an excuse for them to play each others’ parts (which just highlighted how well they were cast, originally). Ultimately, Gemini is a better piner, and Fourth is a better tsundere. Although the reversed “holding it over his head” was v funny & Fourth IS a decent seme. (I also realized what I like so much about Fourth, like Saint he’s one of those rare full body actors.) Sound was a great uke and I loved how they changed his makeup for the role (did you notice?). TiwPor were as adorably ridiculous as ever. I liked the minor baby pairing for Aun, too. Still my NO SIGNING holds (although there was lots of dancing to counterbalance). In the end, all this really did was make me wanna rewatch the original. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. FYI The MV was a parody of HCTM, BB, 1k*. 8/10

A Boss and a Babe (Fri YouTube) ep 12fin - It was a cute sappy ending for a cute-ish sappy-ish show. I cannot abide that the mom who condoned the rape of her daughter got forgiven. No. Stop it GMMTV. Review below.

The Promise (Thai Weds YT & WeTV) ep 9 of 10 - I'm in trouble when I'm rooting for everybody BUT the main couple. I guess Nan doesn’t have a NO SINGING policy. Also I guess Nan was waiting for Phu all along? This show. ALSO could we not have just ended it here?

Past-senger (Thai Weds Gaga) ep 11 of 12 eps - I don’t understand. What? Where did all these new characters come from? Do we care about the hets? Not even slightly. What is anyone doing? What’s going on? do I care abotu anyone anymore? No. Please make it stop.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 7 of 10 - OMG so adorable, so repressed, so reserved, so soft, so awkward, so special. Heart melting. Also. Hungry. The WAY Minoru looks at Yutaka when he’s eating (now that he knows the history). The way we got to see the exact moment that Minoru realizes he is in love. Perfection.

Star Struck (Korea iQIYI & Gaga) ep 1-2 of 8 - Zuho (Kpop SF9 - noted good egg) opposite rookie actor Kim In Sung (the one with the crush). icky is being weird about it but it looks like Gaga also picked it up? Depends on your territory I suppose. Anygay: Friends since childhood, jock/nerd, puppy/cat and I sense bi-himbo confusion and pining introvert gay. There’s family strife plus class issues and it has some interesting things to say already about the nature of friendship, romance, and jealousy. I like it, weirdly reminds me of something that might have come out of China. Not early CBL, but some of the later stuff that was censored but hearkened to Addicted. This has the feel of what China could have made now (were things politically different). Because of this feel, I’m not confident in this being an HEA or even a true BL but it is interesting enough for me to bump it way up the ranks.

Happy Merry Ending (Korea Thurs Gaga) eps 7-8fin - I get why SJ pushed JH away, but I kinda agree that SJ is too much work. Abused or not, I wouldn’t put in the damn effort - so I guess I’m glad SJ took a year off to figure his shizz out? Far be it from me to agree with a year break in a Kdrama, tho. I didn’t even mind that they were separated most of these 2 eps: it was nice to see a Seme told no, who actually backed off and did as he was told. Plus the running of the gays (how Japan of you SK). I’m assuming that this was the final episode and that Viki thinking that there are 2 more is bonkers? Because this felt like a finale. For me this one had a stronger finish than any other aspect of the show (odd when the couple spent the bulk of it apart). Oh! And someone give Shin Myung Sung (the surfer bestie) his own damn BL, m’kay? Review below.

Love Mate (Korea Thurs Viki) eps 5-6 of 8 - Longest elevator ride in the world. Honorifics discussion! My favorite! And, “there is only one bed but they slept together on the floor anyway” trope. A BL staple. Also the tie/lanyard grab. Another fav. Still pushy puppy stalker remains creepy manipulative obsessive warped hotness. Basically KBL version of trash and… I’m into it. We all got our kinks, I guess.

Vian the series (Vietnam YouTube ) - Such a cat. I’m reminded of Milk. It’s cute. They cute. I like it.

Naked Dinner AKA Zenra Meshi (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 6 of 12 - So is the nude dining meant to be some kind of weird allegory for repressed gayness?

It’s Airing But ...

My Story (Pinoy Sat YouTube) 10 eps - I bounced at ep 4. Someone will tell me if I should bother with the rest.

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) 12 eps - I bounced at ep 3. Will binge if told it is worth it at end.

The Day I Loved You (Pinoy YouTube) eps 6-7 of 10 - Terminal illness for the sunshine. I bounced at ep 6. DNF.

Ended this week

Love Syndrome finished its run on WeTV (I stopped at ep 2) - anyone wanna weight in with thoughts on the ending and whether I should binge or not? I do love Lee Long Shi.

Happy Merry Ending - Stars Lee Dong Won (KNK) as an ex-idol turned wedding singer with an abusive ex and a panic disorder + the sunshine pianist who falls in love with him. Timid tsundere & sweetheart gay is an interesting match. They’re gentle together, almost kindly and there is a calm ache to their pairing. However, it lost its way as a BL, being more about the main character’s struggle than the romance. It had a strong finish but ultimately the premise & characters meant this was never going to be one of my favorites. 8/10

A Boss and a Babe - With an inconsistent narrative and self-sabotaging characters this was not the Thai BL office romance I was hoping for. I spent most if it feeling manipulated without good reason and sorry for ForceBook. They did their best with a shoddy script (AGAIN!) and none of its flaws were their fault. This show was all over the place and so am I about it. It’s better than Enchanté but that’s not really saying much. 7/10 I guess

In Case You Missed It

BL Express reported that Taiwanese production companies have announced 7 new BLs (4 of these from Vidol.) Stories range from office romance to crime drama.

Someone did a survey on KBL watchers.

Build Jakapan has been cleared of all charges.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting this week:

5/26 Be My Favorite prev title: You Are My Favorite (Thai YouTube) Adapted JittiRain y-novel (2gether, FUTS, ToL, Vice Versa) one of those “rewrite the past to change the future.” Stars Krist (SOTUS) + Fluke Gawin (DBK, Not Me). Expect this to be v low heat, full of LIES and manipulation.

5/27 The Luminous Solution (Thai ????) 10 eps - Thana is having trouble at work and in his relationship. He can't seem to catch a break. So he makes a wish to change everything. The wish has a price.

5/27 Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa (Japan) - NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS (but that has never stopped Japan before) and no, I have no idea where to get it, why would I ????? (Say it with me everyone: Oh Japan, must you?*)

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

This Week’s Meta Moments

naturellement (Step By Step naming its trope.)

The Promise calling out the uke archetype, Mary Sue much?

ALL THE DANCING. Live the dream! Live the trend! Live the trope!

4 tropes in one! Drinking, piggyback, feed him, product placement. Very nice GMMTV & GeminiFourth. I’m impressed.

nash

(all My School President’s Our Skyy - kinda a masterclass in using ALL THE TROPES and ALL THE BL references.)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

The unmitigated irony of so-called fans of ZeeNunew coming after this show for this moment (not to mention the self sabotage). Truly mind boggling. (Step by Step)

The two boys who didn’t win the boy but totally should have. This show makes me wanna drink too. Next week... soju! (The Promise)

Yes please and thank you GMMTV. (My School President)

I do love the kinkification of Phi. (Boss & Babe)

These tiny idiots it turns out are, in fact, totally hilarious. La Pulie (side dish friendship group)

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? Key & Taeyeon’s Hate that... (which if it wasn’t an OST SHOULD have been)

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smilingperformer · 1 month

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Me: "Yaaaay it's Horizons anniversary soon!!"

Others: "It's been a year since Satoshi's journey ended"

I... I didn't even think about that |D

Guess I was that ready to just let him leave the story.

Considering that none of the original series staff stayed in the writing team, they were too.

Since it's soon been a year and we're reaching the end of act 2, I can confidently say this is like, my favourite Pokémon series. Alongside Sun & Moon. And both are favs for wholely different reasons, as in, love Sun & Moon for tackling mature topics and for having wonderful humor, alongside good world building and nice focus on family theme. While Horizons I love the story focus shift from normal, cast that is super enjoyable and a take on a found family type of group, new original villains that I've come to like a lot, etc etc.

I love how different both shows are. I love how both dare to try new things out in different way. Liko is one of THE most relatable characters to me, and I love the whole entire cast to bits. I even adore the Explorers, esp. Sango is slowly making a hole in my heart that wants me to call myself a fan of hers. Yes. She's been that enjoyable to me. Even Amethio's grown on me immensely, I like how his character works, and excited to see his role this upcoming ep.

At the start Roy felt a tad bit too alike to Satoshi, and at times I can see that similar type of "forget about a skill and then do the skill" writing from Satoshi era is thrown on him, but he's still mostly his own character. But that is probably why I'm more drawn to the likes of Liko, Dot, Friede, Amethio and Sango, because their fighting styles are so refreshing for me. I even like how Onyx and Sango pairing works, with Onyx fitting Sango's oni-speaking pattern (srsly wtf that must have been intended and now I want to know if dub has ANYTHING to match this speaking pattern with.)

There's been clear growth, clear character progression, much much slower team progress than whatever the fuck JN did (not jabbing at anyone who likes JN but I won't deny that I really hate how fucking fast most Pokémon evolved there. It seems Horizons knows not to rush things).

Act 1 suffered from pacing issue where stuff happens in one episode and then the next ep sort of shrugs it off and continues the plot in a really weird tone-shift, but I don't think act 2 had that, which I liked. But act 2 also had more fill-ins compared to the action-packed act 1. But imo, it was good to have a more slower, calming pace for a while. It helped build on the characters more, and show how the Rising Volt Tacklers exactly live like. Which makes the Brave Asagi breaking in recent episode ever so more heartbreaking aaaaaaaaah-

I'm also kinda glad I was wrong on the "only a one year long series", because so far I'm quite attached to the cast and definitely wouldn't have felt happy to see them go yet. So knowing that Horizons seems to follow the usual 3 year pace (maybe 2, maybe 4, who knows) makes me happy. And I totally look forward to act 3 that is definitely caused by the Brave Asagi needing long, long time for repairs.

So um yeh. This was a weird ramble lol. But like, love Horizons, don't exactly miss old show as I felt it told whatever it wanted to and had the danger of just, butchering characters further from what I enjoyed it for. Sometimes it's better to let go. Fanfics and fanarts will still exists for a long long time, I'm sure. But my enjoyment on Horizons has definitely caused me to not miss the old days at all. And I'm glad.

(Do I want Satoshi to return? Honestly? No. 26 years is long enough for me.)

#pokemon #pokeani #anipoke #pokemon horizons #discussions

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phantomoftheorpheum · 3 months

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can i ask you to ramble about the artful dodger please?? your gifset is sooo pretty so im curious what its about!

Oh my God, have you come to the right place. There is nothing I would love to do more rn. Okay, so-

The Artful Dodger is basically (pretentious film & tv people are gonna absolutely despise this description) a post-canon/slightly canon divergent fanfiction set in the world of Dickens' Oliver Twist, following Jack Dawkins (The Artful Dodger) 15 years after the events of Oliver Twist.

So, quick recap of Oliver Twist (spoilers, obviously) for anyone who isn't familiar with that story- Oliver is this little orphan kid in England in the 18(30/40s?) << I don't believe the exact date is stated, but it was seemingly contemporary to when Dickens wrote it, which was 1837-1839. Oliver runs away from an orphanage to London and ends up meeting Jack (The Artful Dodger, AKA "Dodger" or "Dodge"), a street kid in London who takes him in. Jack is known as The Artful Dodger because he is particularly talented at pickpocketing/thieving, which is what he and the other kids he lives with do to survive. They are all "looked after" by a character called Fagin, who is basically using this child gang to support himself and his greed (listen, we can talk about Fagin's character in the show vs the books at some point if you want, but I want to keep this section brief), and Jack is the favorite because he is the best. Anyway, stuff happens, Oliver ends up having a long lost inheritance and gets to live a life of wealth, Jack is caught pickpocketing and sent to Australia (at that time a penal colony), Fagin is arrested and hanged.

*This post is relatively spoiler free for the show, but not 100%, since it's impossible to talk about without discussing character's actions, personalities, relationships, etc. However I'm doing my best to avoid any major spoiler plot points.

This show, The Artful Dodger (Hulu/Disney+) picks up 15 years later, with a few small alterations to the Oliver Twist ending. In the canon of this show, Jack was arrested for pickpocketing, but escaped prison, joined the navy, and was taught to be a surgeon. After his time in the navy, he now lives in Australia and is a doctor in a town called Port Victory, but seeing as he is also an escaped convict, he would be hanged if his past were discovered. Fagin (who dies in the original version of Oliver Twist) was spared by Oliver, and has now been sent to Port Victory as a convict. Obviously this will be a problem for Jack, who is hiding his past.

SO, with that out of the way, the premise of the show is basically this-

Jack is now a surgeon trying to live a lawful life, which is disrupted when Fagin arrives in Port Victory and threatens to expose his past and attempts to draw him back into a life of crime. Simultaneously, Jack meets Belle (totally OC for this show), the governor's daughter, who wants to be a surgeon and is willing to go to extreme lengths to get there. Unsurprisingly, Jack and Belle (who are both pretty stubborn and sassy personalities) clash in many ways, but also share common passion & interests, and thus the stage is set for the show.

So you've got two key dynamics to the show- Jack & Fagin, who have a long history (Fagin often tries to claim to be a father figure in Jack's life, which Jack rejects, as Fagin abandoned Jack when he was arrested in order to save himself) and different priorities/agendas, and Jack & Belle, who have just met, and are still trying to figure each other out. They are of very different pasts, class, mindsets/life philosophies, and this dynamic provides a lot of tension/humor/emotion (if your ask is talking about the gifset that I think, then you already know a bit about where this leads).

The show has elements of comedy, adventure, crime, romance, medical drama, etc. There are additional side plots/characters, but Belle, Jack, and Fagin are at the center of it. It's a lot of fun and only 8 eps, so I definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested! TW: blood/surgery shown on screen quite often.

Anyway, on a personal note, this show feels like it was made for me. I had this absolute obsession with The Artful Dodger character as a child; he's one of the first characters I was ever super emotionally attached to, and led to me wanting to write. For this reason, I paid to have an Artful Dodger tattoo designed while I was in college (though I have not gotten it yet, as it's part of a bigger piece that I'm still mentally workshopping) like as a reminder of why I love telling stories. So I was incredibly nervous for this show, since it was touching a character who has been fundamental to my own creative passions, so I am happy to report that it exceeded my expectations. It probably helps that I've been part of the fanfic community for a long time, so seeing "alternate" versions of characters I'm familiar with doesn't faze me too much, and I think all the actors did a great job with their performances/characters.

So if you're still here at the end of my ramblings and you think that the show sounds like a fun time, definitely check it out! I'd be willing to do a more spoilery version of one of these at some point, but I didn't want to get into heavy spoilers in a introductory post.

Thanks for asking!! <33

#the artful dodger #the artful dodger hulu #jack dawkins #belle fox #norbert fagin #ask #answered #text #long post #the artful dodger spoilers #<< but not a lot just like setting the scene (mostly stuff in the trailers)#e rambles #personal

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tio-trile · 9 months

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finally someone else who didn’t like the pre-fall scene 😭 honestly I didn’t like a lot of the early flashback stuff - why does everything need a dramatic backstory now days?

One of the things I love about the opening scene in the book is it feels like aziraphale and Crowley are making awkward small talk during a smoke break.

They could have met 5 minutes ago - it doesn’t matter!!! Nothing about their relationship pre fall matters!!!!!! because what brings them together doesn’t have to be tragedy or destiny or tied up in a great celestial war - but actually their mutual appreciation of the earth!!!!!! you know - the plot of s1!!!!!!!!!

It’s the same as in ep 2 when they make out like Crowley ‘tempted’ aziraphale into eating the first time - surely it’s more meaningful that they both discovered earthy pleasures on their own and became closer after finding someone to share it with????

Why over explain their stories (almost to the point of retcon)? Why does their romance have to hinge on being essential to every major decision in their lives and just not be about realising you’re not the only celestial/infernal bastard stuck on this rock who also quite likes the stuff the hairless apes have come up with?

Surely thats more meaningful than shoehorning in extra scenes that weaken the rest of the story????

(Thank you for reading my rant 😅 I’ve loved your art since I first read the book and it’s nice to find someone else who was a bit lukewarm on s2 - have a good day!)

Yes, what you said!!!! "Making awkward small talk during a smoke break" with your hereditary enemy is perfect XD the scene in ep 2 where Crowley tempted Aziraphale into eating was honestly quite horrifically shot. I'm not sure if they wanted it to be cute but I sure thought gluttony was a sin after watching that. Additions to A&C's backstories is bound to happen not in the way we'd like when the show has them as the main characters -- it was to be expected. Thank you for your kind words, although I don't think I'm "lukewarm" on S2......I'm ice cold 😎

#ask #anonymous #long post #good omens critical #good omens season 2 #gos2 spoilers

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atouchofireland · 11 days

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Since I want some things to really change, and I know many other things have to within an adaptation, I have been trying to predict rather than speculate for s3 of Bridgerton after having read book 4 a while ago and following s3 of Bridgerton recently.

I just want to speculate on information from the book & show, using photo stills, the trailer and their book. And I really can't tell if the "unmasking LW" plot will be part of the story, or if that drama with Cressida and Colin knowing was shifted to Eloise entirely. I do really want the Pen & Lady D bonding to still happen though!

Semi-predictions:

Ep 1: Colin returns from abroad, Pen is snubbed by Eloise at an outdoor occasion (and possibly Colin). She sets up her whole new wardrobe she debuts at the ball. Colin asks her to dance and Pen says no (rmb), Penelope is mocked by Cressida (possibly dress torn) after seeing her buddy up with Eloise, Pen heads outside leading to the famous sneak peek. After that ball, Pen feels alone and more determined than ever to marry.

Ep 2: Colin goes to the Featherington garden to apologize to Penelope and she remains sure of herself, let's him know she needs to take a husband and he offers to help. Then (the succession of these events are kinda fuzzy) the two promenade for suitors, Pen is embarrassing/embarrassed, they go to that fair where he reassures her in the tent, then she asks for "dating help" basically. They're in the B family drawing room... in the middle of the day... ALONE, practicing flirting- Hence the freak out at the end of the sneak peek. He gets her to hide/to the study and the HAND INJURY SCENE occurs in some capacity. Important things that would transfer: Colin is thinking "Why am I so desperate to kiss this hot woman in front of me??" and Pen asks for a kiss.

Now, here's where I think it differs based on all the promo: Pen immediately takes it back/Colin refuses on account of her honor. THEN, they go to the ball where Pen is wearing the cute snowflake necklace and they're laughing. Colin realizes suitors still aren't really courting Penelope/maybe he is accidentally scaring them away. SO, in his guilt, he agrees to kiss her but it has to be later that night in private. (He might not tell her this, but just decide this then show up and tell her, then kiss her) This would be the chin-hold in the garden still.

Ep3: Oof so here's where things take some turns, based on spoilers of sequence of events and certain scenes. In my head, the episode starts with the confirmed dream of C & P in the garden, and instead of the more chaste kiss he most likely gave her in Ep 2, he goes a little... more feral. And that leads to the clip of him shooting up in bed. There's an event in one of the houses where Pen meets Debling. Then, the outdoor festival where the boys are pulling ropes and something goes wrong leading to the Pen & Debling super close in public still. From screeners, this ep is apparently another time Colin is with sex workers BUT this time is different and he can't get it up. The is a ball (of course) and Pen dances with Debling, Colin's sad and broody.

Ep4: Gotta be honest, feel like this episode was shown the least in the trailer, obviously for good reason. So, in the book Pen doesn't have a suitor so this narrative shift a lot of the Polin stuff I think. I believe this is the episode with the scene of Colin asking his mother if friendship is the best foundation for love. And my kind of out-there prediction is that: Colin confesses he has some feelings, Debling tries to propose, Pen is overwhelmed and doesn't accept, Colin rushes out after her and..... the CARRIAGE SCENE happens and the cliffhanger is him proposing.

I believe the second half will be a lot about the tension with Eloise, the families learning of and accepting the engagement, Colin maybe finding out about LW, and Colin finding himself and his passions.

#bridgerton #bridgerton season 3 #bridgerton spoilers #colin bridgerton #penelope featherington #polin #romancing mr. bridgerton #rmb

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letoilepourpre · 7 months

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New King AU basics

this is basically an introduction to the New King AU, since you all enjoyed the premise! It has some personal headcanons included, but for now I'll just make the basis settled so you all can accompany whatever I post about it from now on!

Basics:

In this AU, the soul jam doesn't make cookies immortal, just makes them live wayy longer than an average cookie, and the ancients got old. Cacao was the last one to give up on his jam but, eventually, passed it to Caramel Arrow.

The main plot evolves around Caramel, but Raisin, Choco and Royalberry also get soul jams. Still haven't decided on stuff for the Golden Cheese Kingdom though, I'll wait for when ep 18 is out ASKSMMR

This AU has my personal HC where the soul jam changes its holder's physics. I think you already noticed Caramel's horns already but yeah she gets more dragon-like traits and abilities, Raisin gets crow/angel like features (a mix of Vanilla's angelic appearance and her own touch) and Royal's dragon features are more evident (him being a hollytaya child in this AU. They divorced but eventually get back but it's a whooole story that I might explore later). Choco's appearance is never consistent as Dark Enchantress' soul jam is corrupted, but it's always something to do with shadows.

There are some changes in the kingdoms! I might go in depth with it as the AU expands.

Cacao Kingdom:

Cacao gives the throne to Caramel after the Affogato incident happened, as he doesn't believe he's capable of ruling over a kingdom anymore, that he should've passed the soul jam through before all of that and that he knows that the kingdom will be fine in Caramel's hands. (He already didn't feel too confident in the start of the og story I just kinda focused on it 🤷🏽.

Also Cacao didn't randomly tried to kill Choco in the middle of the story he just felt bad for being the reason for his son to have joined the dark side all because of their fight long ago, another reason for him to pass his throne and jam to somebody he trusts.

Affogato didn't manage to run away, instead getting caught by the Beast Tamers and jailed until Caramel was crowned and decided what to do with him. She makes him join the Beast Tamers as punishment (knows he doesn't like getting dirty)

A lot of cookies didn't like that decision but Carrow has Principals™ and wouldn't kill anyone who was defenseless (now that Affogato didn't have followers, weapons or venom or whatever). She acknowledged that at the same time as she still hates his guts.

Vanilla Kingdom:

Pure Vanilla passes his jam to Black Raisin after she saved everyone's asses in the end of ep 12. They rebuilder the kingdom and then she got the jam. Kinda became the leader of the kingdom since she doesn't like a title like "queen", feels too abundant and she doesn't like it.

Umm nothing changes much rlly. Everything's fine until the odyssey stuff happens (I'm still getting into it)

Hollyberry Kingdom:

Hollyberry being gone was the last straw for Pitaya, who took the kingdom for themself to try and get her attention (misses their wife). A princess contest was made to settle the next heir after Royalberry just to be sure, as the soul jam was kept a secret from Pitaya so they didn't use it to get Holly's attention too. For that, Royal didn't have the power (or courage) to confront Pitaya using it, and even ordered the royal guards to not mess with Pitaya, even Wildberry (look at what divorce leads to /silly).

Like in the story, Princess invades the context and wins it, giving Royal courage to use the shield with the soul jam and fight confront Pitaya with Princess in the only way Pitaya would listen: in a fight. Hollyberry eventually joins in too, her role is very similar to the one she has in the og story, except she was thereby get the soul jam back but decides to let Royal stay with it.

Cookies of Darkness:

Choco got White Lily's/Dark Enchantress' soul jam as he's the most powerful (combat-wise) of the cookies of darkness. Even if upset about not being chosen to be its holder, Pomegranate stills obeys her master and keeps controlling Choco with his blade (now powered by the soul jam) to get to her goals.

After ep 14 Choco doesn't give up on the sword, as Pomegranate stops him before he does. He still thinks about running away for a while though, but since Pomegranate has even more power over him because of both the cursed sword and the corrupted soul jam he still has to find out how to make his body stable without Pomegranate's help.

He eventually does, taking the soul jam and Poison Mushroom with him. He still struggles with how corrupted his body became, but finally the voices are gone and he can focus on himself. He only took Poison Mushroom because he felt bad leaving a child behind (and mayyybe he got attached. They reminded him a liiittle bit of Caramel from when he first started training her)

#new king cookie run #new king au #cookie run #caramel arrow cookie #crk #cookie run kingdom #black raisin cookie #cookie run au #crk au #royalberry cookie #pure vanilla cookie #affogato cookie #dark cacao cookie #hollyberry cookie #dark enchantress cookie #dark choco cookie #pomegranate cookie #poison mushroom cookie

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sepyana · 29 days

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Noir 2001 Ep. 1-10 Thoughts

I really love her France Shirt dhshbd

I figured stopping at Chloe's introduction would be the best idea. From what I know this should be when the main plot picks up.

First, the bad:

The first episode was really jarring to watch. The cuts were awkward, the music was too loud at parts and certain scenes dragged out for too long. Maybe this is just me, but I didn't realize the music was coming from the watch until the end of the episode, which made things really confusing.

From then onwards isn't like this. Maybe I just got used to it, but the cuts didn't feel jarring and the flow between scenes was smooth enough.

There is a lot of reused animation, which is fine for the most part. It's not as elegant about it as shows like Utena but it's not a big deal.

What annoys me is sometimes the plot will screech to a halt to show you a falshback you have already seen before. Personally, I'm fine if a conversation is just one still frame or made of reused animation. The flashbacks and the occasional training is clearly there for budget reasons and nothing else. That's why it takes me out of the story sometimes.

Kirika and Mireille don't have much going on. They are pretty bland which makes it hard to care for them. The "I will kill you when this is over." thing is the most interesting bit. There is still plenty of time to develop them so I'm not that bothered about it.

The show feels rather empty at times, if that's the word. It feels like onthing is happening. For example: the information we get about the main mystery is not enough to make any conclusions or draw connections, so whenever a new development happens I can only think "Oh, we learned this now". We don't learn anything about what our protagonists are like either. The quiet moments are great for that, but I still feel like I know nothing about them.

I don't mind the censorship but it can be really funny sometimes. Kirika will get hit but her arm will look completely fine, making it impossible to tell how bad she was hurt until she reacts.

When I started episode 7 I genuinely though I skipped an episode. They don't make it even slightly obvious that a time skip happened.

This one is really stupid: I can't seperate Mireille from Misato in my mind. I'm sure Noir fans are annoyed by the comparison by this point but I'm really trying guys (ﾉД`)

Okay,, we can get to the good stuff now:

The atmosphere is great. The backgeound art is lovely and complements the animation well. They definitely achieved the aesthetic they were going for.

The soundtrack is pretty nice. Again, adds to the atmosphere.

Kirika especially can be super clever, making the fights fun to watch (only about 50% of the time though)

The composition of the shots draw your eye to the focus well. It's a good way to make shots interesting with a small budget.

It's fantastically homosexual, while also not being about romance at all. All the notable characters are women. That might add to the yuri vibes I guess.

I liked Silvana. She is one of the few side characters that have anything going on. Her relationship to Mireille is intriguing to me, they have met only once. But it's clear their one interaction has left a big inpression on not only Mireille but also her, especially since they were kids at the time. Her pulling out a knife and cutting the crown off of Mireille when she says she is scared tells us everything we need to know about her.

There is also something to be said about the crowns. Mireille's innocence being destroyed by Silvana. It's important to Silvana that she has control, removing the crown she gave to Mireille is a way fot her to feel superior, I guess. Even at a small age.

Mireille is still scared in their final confrontation, but she fights anyway.

I am very interested in Chloe because clearly, the two maidens who gover death are suppose to be Kirika and Mireille. However, she is insist she is Noir. I imagine things will go south when she realises that's not the case. (I doubt it's the case). The woman we see is most likely using her and Chloe is dependent on her validation. That's what I am guessing.

#i changed my mind we are doing this #sepya watches noir #noir 2001 #↪ posts

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xion92 · 1 year

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TMMN: Masaya/Ichigo relationship analysis, episode 13

And after 6 and half months, I’m ready to continue TMM couple relationship analysis! This episode is full of things, so it will be a looong post.

Let's start with the opening. Masaya and Ichigo have a single scene, but what a scene! Cat Ichigo is running away from the fat cat and finds safeness in Masaya's arms, with a kiss she returns to normal, with a nice elegant dress on, and while he holds her in his arms like a bride they exchange a happy expression (I suppose it’s a metaphor for Masaya who saves her and protects her from danger). It is the first time in New that I see Masaya so happy. I'm sure S2 will give us a lot of stuff!

The very first scene depicts Ichigo crying. But be careful, not that she just cries, it seems to be a very specific scene, only that being blurred you don't understand what it represents. It’s obviously one of the nightmares that Masaya is beginning to have. In the manga they started much later and didn’t herald a specific scene, instead they heralded that he would be the cause of her suffering. Obviously at this point Masaya can't know it, and I think this is one of the various reasons that trigger his transformation into the Blue Knight.

This is the face I had the morning after episode 13, after not sleeping a wink from brooding all night. 🤣

Masaya dear... never ever wonder what Ichigo is doing, trust me, lol

Yes, we understand that they insert foreshadowing all the time, I’m sure this recalls the fact that Masaya from lover will become the enemy and he and Ichigo will have to fight each other.

So, the first part of the episode focuses about ichisaya relationship, one week after their confession. This is only the point of start, it’ll surely evolve from here throught the series. Here is a nice change that we already see in Masaya: contrary to what happened in S1, he is no longer ashamed to confirm his bond with Ichigo, and goes straight to her friends to make them understand the news (indiscretions say that in the next episode he will even with the other girls). Sure he's still shy, they've been together for a very short time. But I'm sure he'll unlock as the series progresses. Masaya is a character who has no leaps in characterization, but proceeds slowly and steadily. This, of course, unlike the old series, where this poor man was treated only as a plot twist, and not as a real character. In that series, he and Ichigo remained quite distant, sometimes they didn't even seem engaged, while I have the impression that with New things will be very different.

Girls... even in ep 7 he called her by name in front of you. Have you forgotten?

And here is a scene that overturns, in a certain sense, the first episode of the series, although I will be cautious in this part of the analysis, because a report from a Japanese fan seems to confirm that this part will be explained better in the next episode. So what does Masaya say here? As with S1, watch out for subtitles! When there is any doubt about the actual characterization of a character, the first thing is not to trust the subtitles. And in fact… even here they are wrong! Masaya here doesn't say at all that he fell in love with her on that occasion. First he says she's been on his mind since he first saw her, because he'd seen her "smiling so happy." Then he says "mitore chattanda", which means "I was fascinated". Fascinated, but he absolutely didn't fall in love, in the truest sense of the word, that time. And even the fact that he is impressed by Ichigo's character does not lead to an infatuation like Ichigo's when he saw him. Masaya is only slightly blushed, certainly not like Ichigo. So we understand that he was just captured by a detail of Ichigo, the first that he noticed, and this has remained impressed in his mind. So from this flashback we understand a few things.

First, ep1 was NOT Ichigo's first day of school, but she had started high school for at least a few days. Second, he noticed her even before she noticed him. Third, both have a parallel and a contrast. Both are captured by something about each other the first time they see each other. Except that Ichigo, who is a normal person, is fascinated by his appearance and by his "winning genes", to put it in reproductive terms. Masaya is not captured by her appearance, but by a trait of her personality that strikes him, as it is something that he lacks at that point in the story, her cheerfulness and her happiness. This is a very different flashback from a similar scene in episode 39 of the old series, where he said, superficially, the same thing. There he said that he simply noticed her, and that's not good for Masaya's character. He is captured for the first time by something emotional, which must be specified. Without specification one might think that the first thing he noticed was that she was pretty, and this would go against his character. He first notices and is impressed by personality and character, then, if these "pass the test", by the appearance, which comes later. Obviously he couldn't know then that he was captured by her, he only understands it later, when he realizes he loves her and is able to reconstruct in retrospect how he started to like her.

It must be said that, when in episode 1 the two of them collide and talk, it doesn't actually seem that Masaya has ever seen her before. But let's remember that it is Masaya we are talking about. When he first saw her, he probably didn't even mentally realize that he was fascinated by her. So, partly because of this, partly because he is used to behaving in a kind and detached way with everyone, he went back to behaving as usual even with her, until he… saw the ticket. This is a scene that can be re-interpreted. Without episode 13, one might think he was just happy with the subject matter of the show. But by episode 13, his thought, obviously unconscious, may have been this: "The girl that fascinated me has the same interests as me!" And in fact it is only at this point that he, in the first episode, lets himself go a little more with her, and he seems really interested in her, as well as in the exhibition itself. I'd say it all adds up. And also, maybe in the next episode we will know something more about it…

Just excuse me...

...they’re gourgeous! Notice how in this episode, now they stay together (yeah, I say that because in my language we say “stay together” to mean two people are boyfriend and girlfriend 😁) they have often the same expressions. It’s another hint or their deep bond.

How cute in this scene, walking side by side to get home, clearly happy but still embarrassed and still not bold enough to holding hands. They are still awkward, like two real fifteen year olds in their first (and only, in their case) love experience.

Here we can see that when Masaya talks to her about volunteering at the aquarium, she is fascinated by it. I've already said it: in my opinion these two will end up working together on these issues.

He’s adorable, period. Like her, he’s ashamed to say she's his girlfriend. However, unlike episode 9, he easily manages to invite her this time. It's even little things like this that show his progression. And besides of that, I don’t think the employees asked him first to bring his girlfriend. I mean, how could they know he has a girlfriend only a week after their “getting together”? To me, it’s clear that Masaya asked them first if he could bring his girlfriend, and they answered yes. He’s only too embarassed to admit it 💙

And here THE SCENE starts: poor Masaya, his faces clearly show he’s thinking to be ended in a house full of crazy people!

Here he’s thinking “that time, when Ichigo invited me to the museum, I should have invented another commitment”. 🤣

However I really like that after his initial shock, he quickly recovered and introduced to her father, holding his gaze, and Shintarou accepts him almost immediately. Basically they represented in a few minutes scene a concept that in the old series took a whole episode!

Here Masaya has just realized that Sunday lunches, from here until his death, he will have to spend with them. Amazing how he has to hold back not to laugh. How can you not laugh in such a situation? 🤣

More mirroring expressions 💙💖

Later, it’s so good to see them doing normal teenage couple things: the little goodnight chat! Of course, for Masaya it must be unusual to see such an spontaneous family, when his is practically absent.

Oh, and Ichigo was fast to buy a new cellphone, huh?

Another mirroring expression. They’re adorable.

So, here we have a scene where he gets through his 2 different sides: his happiness, because he’s with his girl, in a place he loves, doing with her a thing they both love and they’re passionate about, but then he becomes sad, like in ep1, and says this.

I must admit that this scene is not very clear to me. Is it Deep Blue speaking through him? Or rather, does Masaya's personality come into contact with his and says between the lines that the planet belongs to aliens and not to man? On the other hand, it is a sentence in accordance with what Quiche will say later. I'd love to read the opinions of other fans!

And here something happens that I really wanted to see again: the concept of the first episode is resumed, in which Ichigo wonders why Masaya sometimes seems so sad. It is actually a theme that had not been touched upon since the first episode, it had to be resumed. Probably, clumsy as she is still with him, she is ashamed to ask him. She doesn't even have the courage to hold his hand, she certainly can't go and ask him something so intimate and personal. But over time she will understand for herself the reason for these occasional moods.

At this point, the plot arrives to bother, Masaya and Ichigo get separated, and Masaya begins to go into severe stress over losing her.

Ehm, she WAS having a fun time, before you arrived 😂

And here Ichigo does something he should never have done. Something for which I had written a post praising her, precisely because she had kept silent so far. But now… she clearly tells Quiche her boyfriend's name. Girl, have you lost your mind?? You are dealing with a dangerous madman, psychopath, armed and obsessed with you. And you, instead of keeping quiet, are you going to tell him that you're in love with someone else, a normal guy who can't defend himself? Now you think Quiche won't go looking for him? Congratulations for being so clever… And in fact…

...dear Ichigo, what did you hope to obtain by telling him so? (btw, wrong subtitles again. Quiche just says he gets in the way).

However, I really appreciated that Ichigo decides to transform when Quiche threatens Masaya, and, despite her being the first to be in danger, always thinks of him, and when the Mew Mews arrive, the first thing she does is ask them about him.

I adored this scene, it’s another introspection that wasn’t in the manga. Masaya really gets frustrated because he wants to find Ichigo, but he can't because he is blocked by the crowd. The Mew Mews arrive and, having superpowers, jump over the crowd and reach her, while he is forced to stand there, powerless. It is precisely the last straw, which triggers the transformation.

We arrive to the Blue Knight scene, which has been changed a bit from the manga, as usual for the better.

1. Ichigo manages to defeat the monster by herself, it is the recoil that makes her fall from the building; however I don't understand why falling from a height would be a problem for her… can't she just turn around and land on her feet?

2. The BK has long pants, and a pink ribbon clearly placed there to call Ichigo; as a hint to his true identity there is also the structure of his hair; the tufts on his head and forehead are exactly those of Masaya, no other character has those particular tufts;

3. The BK doesn't kiss Ichigo on her chest, so Ichigo doesn't feel that he is cold, and he doesn't tell her that stupid sentence that Ryo had told her, which had nothing to do with BK and Masaya’s personality;

4. And there's a reason for that: viewers immediately learn that the BK isn't Ryo, or even Kei, although tant doesn’t mean Ichigo won't suspect it. Actually the series, by showing us the previous scene of Masaya (which Ichigo didn't see) and not showing him during the BK scene, immediately makes it clear to the viewers that he is the BK. Whether or not the characters will have this dilemma remains to be seen;

5. The BK doesn't put Ichigo down before attacking Quiche, but hits him with her in his arms, thus with a weight that slows him down and having to do without a hand. What a great warrior! And speaking of that, is the BK so skilled with a sword because Masaya is skilled at kendo, or is Masaya so skilled at kendo precisely because he was created by a god who uses a sword as a weapon? Hmmm…

6. While Quiche loses his mind, the BK, very imperturbable, doesn't even turn his head, but casts his eye backwards just as if to say "you're really nothing". He really took his revenge from episode 9!

7. Thank God (actually, to the authors) there is no scene where Ichigo looks at the point where Quiche disappears saying his name, and the BK hugs her from behind to get her attention. In New Ichigo absolutely doesn't care about Quiche, her attentions are instead all for the BK, as it should be.

8. Did you notice this? In ep 3, he says to her, basically, “you’re mine”. 10 episodes later, “I’m yours”. 💙

9. The kiss he gives her on her forehead is so sweet! It's really a transformation dragged by his feelings. Even in his unconscious, Masaya can't help but show his love for her, always in a delicate and respectful way. It's a very different forehead kiss than the one Quiche gave her last episode.

Masaya, sweetheart, who never stops looking for her. Of course, because contrary to episode 9 in which he only waited for her calmly, having seen that the monsters had been killed and therefore she was safe, here he has no confirmation even if he saw the other Mew Mews arriving, therefore he continues his research until he has confirmation that Ichigo is okay.

What a beautiful hug they give each other, him keeping his chin on her head as a sign of protection and care. I love how they are so spontaneous in their interactions, even though they are still shy. In the manga, when they found each other it was only him who embraced her, here instead they literally rush into each other's arms.

But isn't something missing? Well, the whole manga scene where Masaya interacts with Mew Ichigo. But I noticed that in the anime they redistributing the various events to not rush everything, so I'm sure this scene will be reinserted later, in a different context.

And that was ONLY ep 13. Ichisaya fans, be prepared, because we’ll get fat, very fat, with this season!

#tokyo mew mew new #ichisaya analysis #masaya aoyama #ichigo momomiya #ichisaya #tokyo mew mew

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forgottenghosty · 1 year

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Dang I miss Immortal/Undead Male Whump with possible wholesome romance as tv shows...

I just got done rewatching FOREVER (2014) and Moonlight (2008) and want to watch more shows and even movies of the similar tastes and it’s hard to find.

(Forever 2014)

(Moonlight 2008) (Fun facts, the character Joseph from the show voices Terra in the Kingdom Hearts games. A book was published years after the show that inspired the series called “Angel of Vengeance” by Trevor O’ Munson. The show went on hiatus due to the writers strikes and received 4 new episodes before ending, being cancelled, and not being picked up again.)

I miss seeing shows where the male lead has to keep the secret or deal with someone knowing their secret and trying to live with it. All of it based more in a realistic reality of the actual world, while still be fictitious enough to have things that could never happen in reality as well.

I know there are some show or movies out there similar, but they don’t fit my tastes or I did watch them for a time and then stopped cause they started getting crazy or boring for me.

I’m not one for watching something with sex in it, nor a lot of demonic things in it either. Some exceptions have been Angel and Buffy, but those are more supernatural fiction. I tried watch Vampire Diaries and did enjoy it for a time, same with the Teen Wolf series, but they both got to a point I couldn’t stand them and just stopped watching and couldn’t get myself to watch them again. I’ve tried with Teen Wolf, but just got bored.

I did try watching some of True Blood to see what it was like and only came out enjoying the theme song and left that quick. I don’t think I made it past the first episode.

Tried watching Penny Dreadful and same thing happened. The Sabrina remake as well. One ep and then I ditched it. I hated the the demonic stuff and just dipped. Made me miss the 90s show I grew up all the more.

I used to watch Forever Knight as a kid, She Wolf, and Beauty and the Beast as well, but not really into watching the super older shows of late 80s early 90s right now.

Also sucks how I can’t get season 2 of Invisible Man (2000) in the US. UK is lucky and got the second season of Invisible Man, we only got Season 1, which I bought up so fast. Though based more in science, Invisible Man was another good one. Poor guy couldn’t catch a break. Miss it so much.

(The Invisible Man (2000) (Thankfully, though only 2 seasons, the series got to end with an actually ending.)

Thankful we keep getting Psych movies every few years or so, though movie 2 and 3 haven’t been available to buy yet, which is frustrating since they only show it on peacock, though 2 was on USA recently and 4 is in the works.

(Psych (2006-2014, Movies ongoing)

Enjoyed watching Dracula, the NBC, not the BBC one. That one I hated. I enjoyed Jekyll and Sherlock, but Dracula was horrible.

Dracula NBC ended too soon.

(Dracula (2013))

One I didn’t see until after it aired, that for a time was free to watch on old Hulu, was The Crow: Stairway to Heaven. Very 90′s, but enjoyable all the same.

(The Crow: Stairway to Heaven (1998) and yes that is Mark Dacascos probably known by many as The Chairman of Iron Cheif.)

Which I recently found out they finally have made a remake of the 90′s movie with Bill Skarsgard that I hope will be good. Just leaves adding any vfx and so on they need to before release.

Many will know him more as Pennywise the Clown and leads into why I sat through watching all of Hemlock Grove.

Only good reason to watch that show on Netflix.

It has Vampires and Werewolves and more, but man, it isn’t worth it in the end with the plot they give.

So, yeah, really wish we got more immortal / undead whump with possible wholesome romances.

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potahun · 2 months

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If you're willing to distribute wisdom, as someone looking to sentence themself to watch dmbj... what the heck is up with the different versions lol, and does it matter which one one starts with?? And also maybe where can they be accessed?

I don't know if I'm the best person to ask this to, actually, because my opinion on dmbj is extremely....biased and picky as someone who only likes 2.5 adaptations, and is mostly a casual fan since 2016. im sure a search will reveal much more complete posts reccing the adaptations in the right order and such, so this is just my personal two cents:

more enthusiastic fans can correct me, but what I understood is that until a certain point in time, due to the books' popularity, different people wanted a go at adaptations, until NPSS, the author, decided to take the whole franchise under his wing and now no one except his own company can make adaptations. now, his own team's adaptations led to things like DMBJ Reboot (2020), which i ended up loathing despite it having zhu yilong, so im not...super enthusiastic about any adaptations in general anymore

having said that, here's what i watched in approximative order, and whether i liked them:

The Mystic Nine (2016)

The Lost Tomb 1 (2015)

The Lost Tomb 2 (2019)

Ultimate Note (2020) - I actually watched this one after Reboot, but this is where it should be, I think.

Sha Hai / Sand Tomb (2018)

DMBJ Reboot: The Sound Providence Pt 1&2 (2020)

One of the Heihua specials

Out of these, i adored The Mystic Nine and Ultimate Note, I relatively enjoyed TLT 2, and......that's it.

The Mystic Nine is about the predecessors and previous generations of the families that make up the main protags of DMBJ. A lot of it is so bad it's good (especially CGI and censoring issues made up for a hilarious watch for me). The plot revolves a massive human-shaped tomb that some of these nine families have found, and what it hides. It's set around the 1930s, so.... of course, there's some of the typical stuff you can find in a plot concerning that time, too.

Ultimate Note is set in DMBJ "present", covering books 4-7 of DMBJ. It's the only DMBJ adaptation and only Wu Xie that I truly enjoy. Also the only Xiao Hua and Hei Yanjing I swear by. and boy, did i enjoy UN so much. Did it feel jarring to watch it without a good understanding of the previous books? Yeah. But personally, I find DMBJ to be a series where you can dive in more or less at any point, so it's the only adaptation I can wholeheartedly recommend. It also has a homebaked feel, between the very green actors and the occasional bad CGI.

I relatively enjoyed TLT2 while watching, but if you asked me what happened in it now, I wouldn't be able to tell you. I know it has my favorite Pangzi of all times.

I don't even want to cover my opinion of the rest. I already mentioned i ended loathing the reboot (i loved the first dozen eps, so the fall afterwards felt worse), and that hate-watch to see if my opinion could be changed at the last minute was part of decisions i regret... it deals with a much much older Wu Xie and iron triangle, in any case. Sha Hai takes place a bit before the reboot, but also deals with an older Wu Xie and has a completely different protagonist. I personally wouldn't start with these two, therefore.

Now. Some people only swear by those two, saying they're some of the best DMBJ adaptations. So again, my opinion is just an opinion. Please have a look at more complete, less biased rec posts and good luck to you in your watch!

#dmbj #replies #as for where you can access it youre on your own #it's been too long

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absolutebl · 2 years

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This Week In BL - The Rankings have CHANGED

Oct 2022 Wk 3

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying the most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

My Only 12% (Fri iQIYI) 11 of 14 - pretty disingenuous of iQIYI to muscle in an ad for its own app and not show it immediately serving ads to the boys. In other news, I still love Peak on screen, the years have not changed my delight in that boy. (I may need to do a Make it Right rewatch.) The question is does Cake feel left behind and jelly as a friend or is he actually in love with Eiw? And if he is, does he realize that about himself? The conflict is so good with this show, so well established, entirely based in characterization, and not an ounce manufactured. I couldn’t be happier it this BL got handed off this this pair, it was made for SantaEarth. I do think, since we got a ton of family life establishment (not to mention Love of Siam reference) that the big separation for these two will be family driven in ep 13. But first we get a whole ep of adorable boyfriends! Yay!

Big Dragon (Sat Gaga) 3 of 8 - bathroom drama, naturally. This is a true enemies to lovers, these two spy on and bully each other. They even talk about non-consent. It’s the harshest version I’ve seen since China existed the field (aside from the Japanese dark stuff, of course). But also this show is using actual BDSM to drive plot and character (not just touring kink), the stuff Unforgotten Night couldn’t even dream of and Mame has never bothered to research. We got Dom voice, roll play, service submission, orders, humiliation. It all turned out to be a tease but the point was also to show these two have compatible kinks (which means compatible intellectual and physical chemistry, so the narrative arc is going to be around emotional chemistry) and that they both know the scene. Someone behind the camera knows what they’re filming too.The way these two transition between anger, resentment, titillation, and flirting (and the way, with kinksters, this can all be the same thing) is really well done. I guess what I’m saying, ultimately, it that this BL is proving itself to be a lot more sophisticated than I expected. I could not have loved the Domme rep more, quite frankly. I’m excited for next week as Big is playing the faen fatal and I love him.

The Eclipse (Fri YT) 11 of 12 - A very tense 11 doom ep but also... off. I did see the twist for the teachers but not the students. That’s because the teacher twit was set up but the student betrayer twist was... not. If Thua was so into the truth why never tell it himself? The resolution was abrupt and most of the second half very odd. It made me wonder if this had a really intended to be a 15 episode arc, in which case they compressed the last 5 eps into 2? The pacing felt totally off from all the previous eps and the pool scene felt like reused footage.The rapid fire character and relationship changes and shifts in arcs was rushed and confusing. But the flirting and claiming was cute, I guess. Also horrible suspicion we may get a sad end now? Truth or another round of Bad Buddy suckering?

Ai Long Nhai (Mon iQIYI) 4 of 10 - I don’t know what to say about this show. I’m enjoying it but I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t be. (This happens to me a lot with pulps.)

Ghost Host, Ghost House (Weds YouTube) 3 of 8 - Honestly I speed though all the ghost stuff for the few BL moments. But it’s worth it because Pluem delivers the softest most seductive krap ever and watching them flirt over noodles is an unalloyed pleasure.

Remember Me (Sun Gaga) 2 of 8 - The BL parts are good, and JaFirst excel. But it moves incredibly slowly with way too many establishing shots, just like The Yearbook. If it’s Mean directing again, he’s gotta shake of the New-yoke right quick.

Hard Love Mission (Sat WeTV) 1-2 of 4 - it’s a short run, so what not? Well because the subs are terrible, everyone looks like they should be in high school, the acting is awful, there’s a dumb feen fattale, the actor/seme seems to have been chosen on the basis of height not talent, and they already leaned in to awkward in a big way. On the bright side the uke is older then the seme and v cute, tropes are dropping thick and fast (there’s only one bed!), and the size difference is vast (if that’s a thing you’re into). All in all, it’s not good but what the hay?

Work from Heart (Thurs YouTube) 5 of 7 - I like the lead pair better in this show then their last one but its nothing on JeffGame, and the lack of plot is challenging for me.

Love in the Air (Thurs iQIYI) 9 of 13 - I still mostly think Pai’s a douche, but it’s nice to see him taking care of Sky, especially as Sky clearly needs someone to do it so badly. Still Sky could do better... and Pai still has to. DUMPSTER FIRE TRASH WATCH ALONG HERE.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

My Tooth Your Love (Taiwan Fri Gaga & Viki) 3 of 1 - Honestly it’s such a relief to watch something from Taiwan in amongst all the Thai folderol. I might be liking this that much more because it’s restful by comparison. I could not be happier with the bratty rich kid kissing a waiter to make a point to his parents. I know, consent, but also... great characterization. I fucking love the ultra-grumpy bar manager character. And the dentist with the sad eyes who worries too much. And our poor boy who needs a therapist more than a dentist. They are all so awkward and broken and CUTE. GAH!!! (I’m getting very @heretherebedork level emotional about this one.)

Roommates of Poongduck 304 (Korea Thurs Viki) 2 of 8 - Poor JaeYoon, HoJun is so mean to him. The camera work in this drama has much more voyeuristic gaze than most KBL. In other words, the directing of this show makes it feel a bit more genuinely gay than a lot of the other BL that comes from Korea. It is fun to watch these 2 slowly become friends. I wish we had enough time to watch them also slowly fall in love. But since this is KBL, that part will be a rush job.

Kabe Koji (Japan Mon Viki) 3 of 10 - I guess this episode was a little bit better. The show is just so painfully EXTRA. As is often the case with Japanese stuff, I keep feeling like there's bones of great story in this drama. And I get glimpses of it, but then it’s covered again - like tasty steak smothered in Kewpie mayo. Oh, Japan.

It’s Airing But I’m Not Watching It

War of Y 20 eps - it’s just all too much for me.

My Roommate 32 eps of 2 minutes each + terrible production values? - I’m not bothering.

Fahlanruk (Sun GaGa) 12 eps - I cut my losses at ep 5. Someone can tell me if the 2nd half is worth it, after it finishes, but I’m not gonna bother to watch it every week. I don’t like any of the couples and the fujoshi framing is repulsive under the context of a narrative trying to be this authentically gay. I’ve lost all patience.

Oh My Sunshine Night 20 eps - I’m scared it’s gonna be sad, so I’m waiting for spies to tell me it’s safe, so far reported to be quite the soap opera.

To Sir With Love AKA Khun Chai 28 eps - dito

2 Moons 3 Thai (Mon ??) 10 eps - I searched for it in a lacklustre manner but couldn’t find it legally anywhere convenient. I will watch it if it’s easy to do so. Possibly as a binge. Rumor is it’s quite banal.

SELF (Thurs ??) - same again without any rumors

Wish Me Luck (Sat ??) - seems to have be delayed into next year

In Case You Missed It

That’s Work From Heart, The Staircase is back.

Gossip

I’ll have more for you next week as I process the Nov release announcements.

UWMA rewatch! The plan was: one UWMA ep a day for the 17 days before Between Us launches on Nov 6. However, I missed the start date (stupid work) so I’ll start tomorrow (Mon 24) and double down on the days when there’s no other BL airing (see calendar below). Wish me luck!

The UWMA Praise Watch along (opposite of a Trash Watch) will happen here on this blog.

Next Week Looks Like This:

October 2022 line up is here.

This week’s best moments?

Ai Long Nhai serving up the Gay Advice Dads!

That’s Aye for ya, brutally honest.

I love a bit of self reference.

I will love her forever. (Big Dragon) Viva la bisexual rep!

Look could we please get a BL featuring this boy? I love him.

Gay identity ownership in BL is still so rare, I cheer every time it drops. (My Only 12%)

Ouch.

(last week)

Current earworm? N.Flying - The Night (Pairs well with My Only 12%)

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yumeirochaser · 5 months

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finished mobile suit gundam

finally….it is over. okay so i think this show is like….conceptually good? with a strong start and an insane end. but it kinda suffers from underdeveloping the charas and having looooong stretches where basically Nothing happens. it's a shame tbh. like i can't say it's a Bad bad show bc it has a lot of good concepts and ideas. it's like decent, but also very very flawed. i liked amuro and the white base crew a lot by the end, i wish they had gotten more stuff and more focus eps. i think amuro and kai got the best deal out of the main cast, since they got their own arcs and stuff. char only becomes interesting in the final eps. i do wish they used the zabis more bc they were good villains for this show tho. ALSO LALAH IS INSANE AND I KINDA LIKE HER A LOT? SHE DOESN'T GET MUCH WRITING OR IS MUCH OF A CHARACTER BUT HER CONCEPT IS FUN. it's kind of a shame a HUGE chunk of the show is less about the emotional consequences of war (like it was in certain eps) and more like. War Logistics Simulator 79. that was very lame. also please PLEASE give the charas actual writing, they deserve better than this. this show's main flaw is that it kinda drags a lot and doesn't really focus on its cast tbh. that hurt the experience for me also i wish cameron, sleggar and matilda a very stop appearing in media and die forever. adults suck. i don't think this show's problems are like, a result of tomino, bc his memos do have pretty solid concepts and plots. i think it's more on the writers not really knowing how to go from point a to point b or how to fill the eps lmao. i wish the white base kids got a better show, honestly……and better futures too, oof.

#mecha #gundam #gundam 0079 #rambles #stuff happa watches

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nitewrighter · 3 months

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On the The Adventures Of Superman radio show kryptonite arc, I’d love to hear your thoughts about it!

I’ve wanted to chat to someone about this for a while, but somewhere in the the 33 ep long arc, when escaping Clark, now an amnesiac from the liquid Kryptonite hitchhiked and catches a ride. The driver then proceeds to mention they’re going to go to Central City.

I know TAOS technically isn’t Superman canon. And, I’ve listened to only about 600 episodes of the show, but I’m fairly certain that’s the first time Central City is mentioned at a point where it didn’t technically exist in comic canon & wouldn’t for nearly half a decade. At the time Keystone City was where Jay Garrick’s Flash operated & it wouldn’t be til Barry Allen when Central City would be introduced.

I just think it’s so funny that they chose such a generic name that comic writers accidentally reused it half a decade later for another hero.

Also, I genuinely Loved the section of “Bud Smith” becoming a world-record breaking minor league baseball player, especially because baseball was something that was on the radio then and announcers and producers at the time got great at how to make a baseball game entertaining and fun to listen to. Though the tearing-my-hair-out-and-beyond-frustratingly-miscommunication-issues-in-a-40s-radio-show-plot-device during the last ep were So Bad.

It was a fucking wild arc to listen to & I hold it dear to my heart. I want a cameo of Bud Smith in the comics so bad. If there is one I unfortunately haven’t been able to find it.

..."Only" 600????

Ahhh unfortunately I'm not that far in--I'm only to the Happyland Amusement Park arc because I also tend to listen to a lot of audiobooks through Libby and since I more or less have consistent access to TAOS through spotify, that tends to take a backseat to Libby because with Libby I only have like, 2-week timeframes to listen to the books I want to (And yes, I know Spotify has audiobooks, too, but Libby means I can up my local library system's digital borrowing metrics). I'm definitely looking forward to the future arcs though!

But I love all the generic city and town names in not-super-canon DC titles--I collect them like pokemon because they're useful to have on hand if I need to throw in a suburb or make the setting feel bigger or smaller.

Something similar happened with National City, though, too! Before the Supergirl TV show, way back in 1997, National City was the stomping grounds of Xer0, a futuristic (thoroughly 90's) super-spy like hero whose gimmick was that he was black, but disguised himself as white (mission impossible mask style) when he was doing his super-spy stuff. Which sure is... something. Basically sales sucked for that title so bad that he never really got slotted into any crossovers, though Xer0 did fight Doctor Polaris like, one time. And eventually National City was forgotten about until they decided to plop Supergirl on the West Coast.

Fun fact about Happyland Amusement Park, though! That eventually did make its way into comics canon with Kirby's Forever People!

#dc #the adventures of superman radio

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galaxyhanart · 2 years

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CABINET MAN AU Timeline Information

So I’ve talked about it a little bit but I want to go into more detail about the different timeline of the AU!

this is what i was thinking when i first started the AU and so far I’m sticking to it except for one change! Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitsu is going to hapen AFTER Skybound now, simply because Skybound and Seabound are so close to each other and it seems cruel to put Jay through those seasons nearly back-to-back. Not gonna go into Crystalized yet cuz i still haven’t watched the rest of the season but I’m gonna lay out some key details for the rest of the seasons

In terms of the AU itself, the ones that are the most important are

- Prime Empire (of course) - Hands of Time - Skybound - The Island/Seabound

“But Leo, Hands of Time is not a Jay-centric season and the CMAU is a Jay-centric AU so why would that one be important?”

Hands of Time is the AU that happens after Prime Empire, so it’s kind of the catalyst for the timeline of the AU to get fucked up. In the AU, Hands of Time takes place around a year after Prime Empire! Within that year, Jay was readjusting to life outside of Prime Empire and beginning his ninja training. In that time, he became very close with Master Wu, Morro, and the rest of the ninja. Because of this, even though that season isn’t centered around Jay, that’s when Jay will be doing his first “official” ninja stuff

PILOT EPISODES - DAY OF THE DEPARTED

I’m not thinking too hard about the changes from the pilot eps through Day of the Departed. Because of the way the AU works there are obvious inherent plot holes - Jay is a key member of the team, not only as one of the Elements of Creation and protectors of the Green Ninja but also his inventing skills and such. So don’t. Think about it too hard lmao Nya picks up the slack in those seasons!

The most major change that involves that AU directly is that Morro ends up returning from the dead alongside Cole in Day of the Departed! Neither of them expected that to happen and everyone’s kind of shocked and confused, but Wu welcomes Morro back with open arms. It’s obviously... tense. At first. It takes a lot of getting used to but everyone makes their way around to Morro being a part of the family eventually.

Not gonna go in the specifics of timing for the AU but by the end of it, the ninja + morro are in their early 20s

PRIME EMPIRE

The obvious start to the AU! This takes place over the span of a few weeks, and the aftermath is where Jay reconnects with Ed and Edna, meets Morro (who was away doing some much needed self-discovery this whole season), and starts getting taught by Master Wu. During this time he also gets to know his team! He fills a void that the team hadn’t even realized was forming, and while Jay is beyond relieved that he finally has people around him, he’s worried about how to act to make sure they don’t abandon them like Unagami did.

Unagami goes home with Milton Dyer and the two reconnect like in canon! Jay visits every so often, but there’s an unspoken rift between then that they both have a lot of growing to do before it can be undone

HANDS OF TIME

This season is accurate to what happens in the show BUT Jay is like. A lot closer to Wu than in canon and Morro is also here!! So there’s a lot of stuff involving them - Jay’s episode with his parents still happens but like. Plop Morro down next to him those two are kind of joined at the hip at this point (although when not with Jay, Morro’s usually watching over Wu) also! Jay is trying EXTRA hard to prove that he’s a good ninja and deserves to be on the team (which was never in question to anyone but himself)

SONS OF GARMADON - MARCH OF THE ONI

SOG and Hunted are pretty much the same as canon, not much changes there except for Morro exists. However, since it’s my AU and I get to make the rules, March of the Oni happens. Very differently. Because honestly I find canon MotO to be the worst season of the show but it UNFORTUNATELY sets up key elements for Garmadon so like. I can’t just ignore it (if you like MotO i promise this isn’t like a slight against you i just think it’s poorly written ahhhh) but tbh it’s been a minute since i actually WATCHED the season so I’m not going into it here

SKYBOUND

EEHEHEHHEHE THIS IS MY I GET TO HAVE FUN SEASON :D

so i really don’t like a good chunk of Skybound and it’s writing so grabs Skybound and chucks most of it in the trash my turn with it

FIRST THINGS FIRST NADAKHAN IS NOT GOING TO BE CREEPY WITH NYA BC I HATE THAT

i haven’t decided if i’m gonna keep the forced marriage plot or not because I can’t think of a good replacement yet but at the VERY LEAST if it stays I’m pulling a Musical Beetlejuice where he’s doing it just for the powers and is like “YEAH IT’S A GREENCARD THING” because that’s the only way i can touch this season without being disgusted but anyways

This season keeps its “the public love the ninja as if they were celebrities” thing especially since Jay practically IS one. He’s stepped away from a ton of his idol pop star stuff since becoming a ninja but he still has lots of fans

His wishes are pretty much the same but they’re driven by his fear of abandonment rather than the canon “i’m not good enough for nya” stuff

Jay’s captured on Misfortune’s Keep for around three weeks (two weeks felt too short and anything longer than a month felt way too long). He gets. Kinda really fucked up lmao not only does Nadakhan get real frustrated he can’t get his wish out of Jay he’s like. EXTRA pissed about him trying to get the venom to stop him after he was able to avoid wishing himself into the blade in the first place and all that. so yknow. my excuse to make whump and angsty content heheehhehehe

ALSO THE BIGGEST CHANGE OF ALL: THE SEASON DOESN’T GET UNDONE BC I HATE THAT TOO

how does nadakhan get back in the teapot then? great question i’m unpacking that later BUT that means that the rest of the gang doesn’t completely FORGET all of Jay and Nya’s trauma. And they have. So much trauma.

also i’m redesigning nadakhan cuz i don’t like that he’s Orange okay i’m done rambling about skybound now

SECRETS OF THE FORBIDDEN SPINJITSU - MASTER OF THE MOUNTAIN

These seasons don’t have many changes either! Other than the placement of them of course. Also this is when the second image of Jay’s design comes into play!

THE ISLAND/SEABOUND

Oof the Pain Season

The Island is fun because it’s a bunch of people pampering Jay and he’s like OHOHOHO OF COURSE JUST LIKE THE LEAGUE OF JAYS I MISSED HAVING THIS LEVEL OF FANDOM and then his friends are separated from him and he’s having Less of a Great Time due to his abandonment issues but he’s fiiiiiine

Seabound is obviously,,,,, upsetting. I’ve posted a little about it before but I’ll go into more detail here. Nya and Jay are incredibly close, even if not implicitly romantic in the AU (although as i write this i miss the jaya dynamics so that might change tbh lmao but for now its platonic) so the entire season Jay is incredibly worried for Nya - AND Morro, who shows up at the monastery with his powers also going kinda fucky. Everything pretty much happens the same way, the battery scene kind of fucks Jay up for a while but it’s also a bit cathartic - he’s CHOOSING to use his powers as a battery to save his friends, even though it’s risky.

When Nya becomes the sea? Oh boy.

Jay gets so distraught - he’s tired of losing people, he’s tired of people leaving him, so he isolates himself by choice this time. If he keeps losing everyone around him, he’s going to get himself lost first. That’s how he ends up alone in the lighthouse. The only one who he sees in that entire period of time is Morro and Pixal, who check up on him from time to time. Everyone else is too wrapped up in their own grief.

#i've still got a lot of things that i need to work out for how specific things would go lmao #prime empire and skybound especially since they have the biggest differences #also march of the oni bc it's STUPID and i wanna make it better #cabinet man AU #jay walker #ninjago #prime empire #lego ninjago #lego #galaxyhantalks

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raayllum · 1 year

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i feel like people were expecting something as impactful as s3 felt, especially after the 3 year wait and just the hype in general for s4 – which, imo, it was more about the Saga returning and new plot points taking shape + ppl had a lot of personal opinions over the hiatus of how the story should go and which character should do what, so i guess this is making some reactions feel... biased, at least from my standpoint

I think what gets me is that structurally and pacing wise, the season isn't that different from basically any other in the show. A lot (not all of course, but some) of the S4 criticism just feels like people not giving S4 the slack and/or patience they gave every other season of the show. Which is a pet peeve of mine that I've talked about before specifically re: people's complaints at S3 Rayllum back in the day, when it was beat-for-beat very much the same amount of plot focus and importance they'd gotten in the previous seasons. If you're gonna complain about something show wise, I expect that complaint to be consistent (probably bc of my autism) not just when it occurs to someone that it is a Thing that is happening that they Suddenly don't like (as though again, it hadn't happened in every other season)

Eps 1-3 are typically set up (we see this in s1 and s2 first hand). The kiddos have a more specific goal than ever before (going to see someone somewhere specific, i.e. Rex Igneous at Umber Tor) and it's more detailed than just "seeing the Dragon Queen just somewhere in Xadia" and with very little reference in universe as to how close to the border the kids are at any given time up until 2x07, lmao.

Now that Claudia and Soren have been fully bumped up from side characters (S2, S3) to main cast members a lot of their previous screen time is allocated to Janai and Amaya's subplot. Viren's subplots were often disconnected entirely from the main plot (i.e. anything after 1x06 for Viren never affects the main characters in any significant way until approximately 3x04, and even then, only with Ezran) but nobody complained about that, because it was compelling and interesting to watch. And if the Sunfire elf stuff wasn't to someone, okay cool - but again, very subjective. Now Viren's plot line has been merged with Claudia's, so again, it's about the same amount of time allocation.

(And part of the reason I know that is because I once did the math to see literally how much screentime Rayla and Callum - and often including Ezran - get in previous seasons, averaging 50+ minutes in S1 and S3 and under half an hour in S2, due to the flashback episodes and no interaction in the first ep and minimal interaction in 2x08. I would expect S4 to be over half an hour simply because a scene like the end of 4x01 would count and once they're together, they're rarely apart / not talking about each other.)

Like 1x05 and 1x06 are some of my favourite eps in the whole show, and they are effectively filler, particularly 1x05. You could remove Viren and Amaya's plot line and remove very little (particularly because Gren's imprisonment didn't amount to anything in the first arc, and likely won't in the future since we already know Runaan is in the coin). 1x06 is plot relevant for Viren and Claudia but arguably only plot relevant for the trio at the very end. As expressed before, significantly more is established and discussed in 4x01 than almost any premiere except 1x01; very little substantially happens in 2x01 and 3x01 besides either 1) worldbuilding or 2) travelling. 2x04 is another one of my absolute favourite episodes, and it is entirely filler. The Amaya-Janai storyline doesn't come back all season and purely exists to set up their S3 storyline and Callum's struggles with magic. Of course all these filler eps do the work of furthering the trio's and particularly Callum and Rayla's bond, but outside of emotional stuff, they are filler in regards to the plot

But suddenly 4x05 and 4x06 are too filler-y? Episodes in which the kids determine their specific goal is to hunt down Claudia, go to Rex Igneous, stop Aaravos, the immediate fallout of the possession, starting to actually mend Callum and Rayla's relationship (they hadn't gotten a significant scene together since the beginning of 4x03, after all), demonstrate Soren's place in the group, etc etc? The purpose of these episodes and the plot beats are exceedingly similar to 1x05-1x07 smushed together (with 1x07 again being mostly filler, there to set up how Claudia does the tracking spell and how the kids find out about the 'miracle healer'). There is a shit ton going on amid setting the stage for emotional beats, giving room for some to happen, and getting the rest of the season's plot under way.

I've also seen some people saying that that indications we've gotten that Rayla has changed isn't enough bc it's only a couple of scenes, but 1) the girl who was once like "I don't have to explain anything to you" / "time for my least favourite course of action: reason" is now leaping up like "I love talking" because she wants to make things work and 2) her "We can't save everyone" scene in 4x05 hits so hard because it's her most basic core character trait that's been utterly decimated in a major way. Not completely, as we see in 4x09, but like, this is her Core Character Trait. Every season show us this. Forget a needle in a hay stack in terms of big flashing lights of This character has changed!! It's like smashing a sledge hammer into a wall. It does what it needs to because they know where to hit the hardest in the time they have

And once again, we see this pattern in earlier seasons. Rayla has one (1) scene expressing doubts regarding being an assassin in 2x06 before the immediate next episode is building on that to set the stage for the entire conflict of 2x07 and the rest of the season by extension. We get one (1) scene of Callum being interested in magic and Ezran sneaking around the castle before it's being utilized by the plot and Callum being a mage is his main drive for the first three seasons. If anything I like that we're give this sledge hammer moment, its immediate consequences, and a meta-narrative reflection that since the one person Rayla routinely opens up to doesn't want to talk to her, we're not privy to what she's going through either, and that it's given time to stew.

And I'd be more willing to take structural criticism of the season seriously if there was one that acknowledged the structural similarities 1) virtually at all and 2) so much of S4 criticism wasn't couched in very subjective opinions. Like for me, S2 is the season with the slowest pacing in some ways for the first half of bc 1) 2x01 isn't my fave although I have grown to appreciate, 2) Viren and Aaravos' plot line isn't that engaging to me personally up until like 2x08, and 3) 2x04-2x06 is virtually all filler that just reaffirms things we knew or gives more context to events prior, but the flashback eps are absolutely crucial theme wise. And again, S4 is doing some major thematic heavy lifting that I want to explore further, so like - for me it just doesn't compute why that has to be so dissimilar in public opinion?

Like yes, the search for Soren leading to the path to Rex Igneous and N'than's existence is convenient. But so is Ellis' existence (we see the path the kids take on the Caldera and a 9 yr old child carrying a heavy wolf pup in her arms somehow took the same path completely by herself?) and the fact that Claudia and Soren somehow reached the 2x07 town a day behind the trio (who travelled by boat and flight) while not being able to even use their horses because they had Corvus with them, thereby having to travel on foot? Or Opeli and Corvus' one line mention of going to Duren (not even Aanya by name) and relying on people listening for her name when Opeli lists off who's attacked and noticing who's not there leading to the event that allows the heroes to win the Final Battle in the first place? That Janai's forces just happened to go to the Storm Spire at all?

None of this makes the previous seasons bad by any means, but the writing is as consistent as it's always been. But no, season four is the breaking point, Apparently, of suspension of disbelief or a willingness to give slack / time for things to play out

Again, I don't want to dismiss anyone's feelings about season four. People are allowed to feel how they wanna feel! I waited like four years for "Blood of Olympus" to come out and it was the last PJO book I ever read and it was ultimately disappointing to me like, I know it can suck. But the book wasn't bad because I'd waited so long and then it didn't progress enough or anything like that. My experience reading the book would've been completely the same in terms of my enjoyment whether I'd waited four years or four weeks.

One of my big worries going into S4 was that during the hiatus, I'd gotten too attached to what I thought had to happen that I wouldn't be able to enjoy whatever did happen. Things like Callum had to go after Rayla because she'd never come back of her own accord. Aaravos was going to get out by the end of the season. Big stuff like that. I found the Rayllum reunion anti-climatic on my first viewing. Now it's one of my favourite scenes of the season and I love how much it parallels their first meeting (Rayla pursuing) while also inverting (lovers rather than enemies, Callum not wanting to talk vs talking to stall/convince her) and giving so many emotional layers at once

All of this being a very long winded way of saying

4x01 is my favourite premiere after 1x01. I think S4 did the best job at incorporating bouts of flashbacks without bringing the plot to a stand still in order to do so. 4x07 is probably my favourite ep7 after 2x07, and I adore 2x07. S4 does some of the most interesting thematic and character work in the whole show, mostly because we have three seasons of context to draw comparisons and correlations from, and it knows how to draw on those things exceedingly well. The most filler eps of the season is before Rayla even shows up, so how could time before her home coming be even effectively re-allocated to after?

Season Four is not what I expected in almost any way. It surprised me, did some of what I expected, plenty I didn't, and then so much more in a lot of ways.

I love(d) it, and I think my opinion and affection for the season is only going to grow as time goes on, tbh

#tdp #the dragon prince #analysis series #the english major strikes again #bc that is my tag for Structural things #arc 1 #analysis #s4 is my best friend #s4 #arc 2 #parallels #thanks for asking #arcmagecallum #like honesty ezran and janai's season and i loved that for them #feel like i just ran a marathon lmao #i said 'okay brain look at the structural parallels i give you permission' and this came out

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