Tumgik
#either that or the spoiler i saw was exaggerating their relationship
canonically47 · 2 months
Note
here I am :) review?
I LOVE YOU ANON!!! <333 (seriously you are the best!! i love sharing my thoughts and receiving your message straight after the episode is over you are the best ever <3)
as always, let's break this down in bullet points!!
SPOILERS FOR DCAS EP 4! (duh.)
right off the bat, i gotta say, why is yul so VIOLENTLY racist? 'curry girl' are you KIDDING ME??? oh my god WHEN is he leaving?
they are... running out of ideas for the challenges, just like in TDAS lol. what do you mean an ALL-STARS CHALLENGE is a race to dig up sandbags LMFAO?? we really are getting TDAS quality with this season, pushed relationships (grett & yul, connor & riya), exaggerated antagonists (riya when i catch you riya), well at least the generations are interacting with each other :3 not all in a good way though
also why are they still in their swimming stuff i don't. get it did they forget to redress them? i get that they were around digging in the sand but i think they could've done that in clothes no?
jake continues to piss me off and despite her sob story i continue to care very little about ashley. i like what they're doing for her i think?? but i really don't care about her shrug
TOM AND AIDEN FRIENDSHIP WOOOOOOOO I LOVE THEM SMSMSM MY FAVORITE M/M FRIENDSHIP IN THIS SERIES EVERRR
jake got ran through the DIRTTT in this episode I AM LIVING FOR IT also he talked SO LITTLE WOOOOOOOO FUCK YOU JAKE I AM LIVING FOR THE JAKE ERASURE
VILLAINS ALLIANCEEEEEEEE <333
oh my god miriam literally scared the shit out of me with that reveal. this series is so unpredictable so i was ready to say goodbye to alec BUUUT if we go by writer/total drama logic we know that his arc not being finished (i.e. him not having made up with fiore, which is clearly his main plot point) means he would not be going home anytime soon. i really expect, by this logic, for him to last long. i think there are 20-21 episodes this season, and i expect him to be there until at least 15. he will definitely make the final six, and no way will he not make merge. i'm rooting for the guy so hard
i never expected to cheer at miriam's elimination, but here i am. she's been asking for it this season i think... and she actually got really downgraded?? like her whole shtick was "omg the youngsters can't communicate i gotta talk some sense into them" and that. was it. which was SOOO BORING i KNOWWW you can do better queen!! :( and i hateee how they made her rude again like her whole thing in s1 was becoming less rude through her friendship with jake come onnn how can you mess up THE QUEEN HERSELF
so, i have a theory, which immediately everyone started talking about in the chat but i'll try to speak it into existence quicker so it seems i am original: grett voted for yul. i am going to stand by this until i die. we didn't get to hear the sixth vote, but there was no need. grett voted for yul. we know connor, alec and yul voted for miriam, so that's her three confirmed votes. we know miriam voted for alec. that leaves riya and grett; and while i do admit that it's likely riya voted for him because she dislikes him, and i hate to say this because i hate her, riya is smart. she knows yul is a bitch boy and not a threat. she would absolutely jump at the chance to vote either miriam or alec, so that's another vote for either of them. grett. voted. for. yul. and i am so excited for where this will take us.
although i enjoyed this episode, i think it was one of the weakest of the season. the challenge was absolutely boring, jake existed which like?? ew?? also yul was there so massive thumbs down, and riya was there so automatic dislike, also jake and yul had lines? disgusting ew. yul and riya had some plot relevancy this episode which disgusted me.
but seriously jokes aside the episode was pretty solid aside from the challenge, that's a hill i'll die on. ellie and alec still have a good dynamic which is GREAT to see, i cheered when i saw alec pop out of that bush to talk to her, and i am so happy to see the four s1 and two s2 villains uniting forces. i cannot wait for the fanart we'll get of these six (says girl who wants two of them dead)
11 notes · View notes
urne-buriall · 8 months
Text
spirit of the west daily commentary for August 14 (with some excerpts from future updates) incoming:
today marks the first time Dean vocalizes his awareness that John will one day kill him if this situation continues. he says it to Sam, almost in passing, mid-argument
“It’s not that simple,” said Dean, shaking his head. “Dad would kill me if I left.”
and it's heard in passing too, not taken at it's true depth because it sounds like hyperbole, and it sounds self-contradictory (if you left, you'd be getting away from the threat), but we as readers know that this has been building for some time. specifically, it comes to Dean's consciousness after the throttling incident (strangulation is a significant predictor of lethal violence), and at the halfway point in the story when everything changes on the second day of the Stampede
It wasn’t even that he thought John might hit him. He could stand that. It was that things were getting worse. A broken arm. A near throttling. John was okay right now, but the next time he blew up, who knew how far he’d take it? These thoughts were dramatic. Unfair. Nonsense, really. His dad didn’t want to kill him. His dad would never do that. And yet, when he looked at John he sometimes felt like death stood in the room with him.
we also see a racehorse die immediately after this. which could mean nothing.
after this, Dean starts thinking in these terms all the time, especially around his relationship with Cas and how John would react to that
How the hell was Dean supposed to have a life with Cas when John would kill him if he knew about it?
Tonight they were undiscovered, unencumbered. They had not been divided by disaster or time. One day Cas might tire of him, or fate might separate them, or John might kill him for how he loved.
If he looked only at the present moment, his reality had never been brighter. But the future hung over him like a death sentence.
it's been on his mind. that first quote, to Sam, he says it aloud for the first time. I don't know if he even hears himself, but it's become a truth he's certain enough of that he can say it. we're getting into future updates here if you haven't read the whole thing, but I'll keep the spoilers light either way
the second time he says it aloud, it's to Zepp. don't tell me saying it to a horse doesn't count because we are in Dean's world and it COUNTS, horses are people too and Zepp doubly so
“If I stay with Dad, Sam’s dead to us. I’m dead if he finds out about Cas. You’re dead if he learns about you.”
and finally, rule of three, he says it out loud to someone who hears it and really listens, who makes sure of its meaning and knows that Dean is serious
“When I saw you, I thought John had found out about us.” “I think he’d have killed me for that,” said Dean. Their eyes met, Cas’ looking for the casual detachment of exaggeration, but not finding it.
and I think Dean does need to be away for him to fully understand it, too. it's hard to wrestle with awareness of death when we have hitherto only known surviving, somehow. we have a bias saying that we have lived through everything else, surely we will continue on. there's this double-cognition where he both knows and can't know the direct peril he's in while he's in it
20 notes · View notes
balladofmyramblings · 5 months
Note
Have you seen the prequel movie? If yes🌹>>>
A. In your opinion, please rate TBOSAS movie with 1-10 scale.
(1 = I hate it, 10 = I love it.)
Things that you like :
Things that you don't like :
B. For people who also read the novel.
Your opinions about the difference between the book and the movie :
Thank you 🎼
@curiousnonny
Yes, twice!!
As a movie? A solid 6. I think it’d be very hard to follow (as evidenced by my grandma and sister who didn’t read the book who saw it with me and kept asking questions), and feel very rushed.
As an adaptation? Maybe a 6.5. There were a lot of things I think they could’ve done better, but I don’t think for either category it did BADLY.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
One thing I liked? Tigris!! While her importance was downplayed a lot (to the point if she hadn’t been in the movie, it would’ve been easily fixed and unimportant), but I LOVE how they showed her relationship with Coriolanus slowly deteriorating. That last scene where she was like “you just like your father, Coriolanus” was very well done, and I like the progression it showed rather than just leaving it up to interpretation.
I liked Lucy Gray’s songs a lot too! I was looking forward to those and they did NOT disappoint. I also really liked Lucy Gray. The accent was amazing, the singing, the acting, it was perfect.
I also LOVED Lucky Flickerman. Amazing addition. I think I laughed every time he was on screen.
One thing I disliked? Lots to choose from!
I disliked Dr. Gaul seeming crazy and out of control. In the books, she was much more collected (even if she was crazy and out of control, she was never crazy and out of control about HERSELF), and NEVER would’ve said she didn’t care if there was a victor OR let everyone chanting change her mind no matter what.
I disliked what they did to Clemensia!!! Firstly, it made her seem like a total attention hog who was going to take all credit for the assignment. She wasn’t. She simply said they discussed it and she printed it out. It was very annoying. I also didn’t like that it left it up to interpretation if she was DEAD?? In the books the snake venom had lasting effects on her that I would’ve liked to see (the scales, her refusal to feed Reaper).
I can’t decide if I like or dislike what they did to Sejanus. He was more aware of his actions in the movie, and his influence (imo) and was more defensive when it came to his classmates teasing him than in the books. That opening scene made him more unlikable, and his attitude towards Coriolanus when Coriolanus was trying to save him and himself from the rebel plan seemed very…smug? He seemed a lot more smug in the movie and I didn’t like it at all.
I can see that this movie might be an exaggeration of Coriolanus’ views, which could explain why Sejanus was more smug and Dr. Gaul more crazy and not under her own control (instead listening to Coriolanus) but honestly I don’t care if it was? I think narration would’ve been a fantastic addition to the movie and would’ve showed his decent into villainy very well.
I also can’t decide if I like the addition of the recording being played at Sejanus’ hanging. On one hand, it takes away from the mystery of is Sejanus knew it was Coriolanus who turned him in, but on the other hand, it made the moment that much sadder for Sejanus.
I didn’t like that they made the games more fast-paced than in the books. In the books, EIGHT tributes die (I think- please lmk if it’s not, but it’s around a third if I remember correctly), and there’s not a bloodbath at the beginning. The fact they added that in, and took away the WEEK it took to start the games to make it more exciting for viewers…rubs me the wrong way.
I didn’t like a lot of the games part, actually. As I already mentioned, the shortening of time. Because how would Coriolanus be in the hospital while Lucy Gray is onstage WITH a guitar, if he never could’ve gotten it to her? It’s such an unimportant detail but it’s very annoying to me. I know it’s because Pluribus was cut out from the movie (another thing I didn’t like but I understand why they did it), but it just irks me.
Another thing that irked me was the tribute’s outfits. Lamina is described as having a rope belt and a potato sack dress (or something of that nature). Why are all the tributes dressed in almost modern clothing? I saw one person theorize that parents wanted their children in their Sunday best to better humanize them to the capitol, which I understand and which connects it to the OG trilogy but still bugs me.
And Coral as an entire character. The pack was true (parts of it at least), but she never targeted Lucy Gray or had that dramatic scene with the snakes. I get why they did it but it again just irked me because she wasn’t even part of the last three. I’ve seen a lot of people calling Coral a “they/them Starbucks barista” and…yeah. She was the most modernized (by that I mean 2023) out of all of them.
Reaper’s small changes (his death, mostly) I didn’t mind, because I felt like it still showed him well enough and fit with the movie. I’m VERY glad they kept his stint with the bodies and the flag, and I’m glad they still died with him.
I also understand why they had to downplay the Covey (Barb Azure isn’t even mentioned by name), but it was still disappointing and I didn’t like it.
However, I do think they did a much better job with the second half of the movie and how it related to the book, so that’s good at least!
Anywho, sorry if this comes off as very negative- I don’t mean for it to be, that’s just how it seems. My apologies.
Thank you for the question, @curiousnonny , and feel free to debate but not argue in the replies/reblogs!
4 notes · View notes
biipbop · 6 months
Text
I recently started a new job so I currently have 3 to 5 jobs depending on who you ask (2 of which are gig based so its not as intense as it seems). Last night my friend had a halloween themed story telling night I couldnt go to bc I m being drained by work
Instead, i read some gay horror stories on CG and I really wanted to ramble about it.
I ended up reading Human Mold and didnt know how I felt about it when I finished. I thought I was kind of indifferent about it, but now that Im out of work I can honestly say Im disappointed bc I was really enjoying it.
I cant critique the quality of the translation but i really enjoyed the way it was written. Something about the writing was scratching an itch in my brain in that it was descriptive enough to keep me interested but not overwhelmingly so where my adhd will kick in and make me have to reread everything.
But also, it had enough horror in it to justify the horror tag. I personally started feeling dread when the protagnoist had to deal with the mold seemingly getting worse. I kinda wish there was a more psychological element to it where it seems to everyone else that its not that big of a deal and he might just be overly stressed making the mold problem worse then it actually is (but thats a "in my fanfic..." kind of comment. Not an actual critique). Either way, the execution of the horror and gore was well done.
The dynamic between the ml and protag was interesting enough for me to want to see how their relationship would develop. Spoilers but, Im kind of glad I was misled in thinking that the mold man was going to be the ml. Also, the demon's backstory had me excited bc it reminded me a lot of priest novel's where you get a character who in any other story would have been the antagonist but instead the true antagnoist is systemic oppression or in this case a corrupt elite who dehumanize the poor.
This all was, in my opinion, a perfect set up for a horror rom com slice of life story with the mold man being a reoccuring threat and I was there 👏 for👏 it 👏.
So it was very disappointing for it to just end there. I m going to look up the author in a desperate attempt to get more.
That's all to say Human Mold was pretty good.
...
..
.
Then I saw I'm a Male Mom and the Nightmare Game
Y'all...
So I m going to unnecessarily explain. I read disabled tyrants pet palm fish bc I heard the premise behind it and it sounded ridiculous. A mute ml who gets his male fish pregnant? My poor morbid curiosity.
So I read it all. Was it the best use of my time? Absolutely not. Would I go back in time and stop myself from reading it? Never. I love bringing it up to my less normie friends bc its ridiculous and surprisingly cute.
So having that mindset, I stupidly thought it would also be a similarly ridiculous story I could casually bring up in conversation like the little weirdo i am.
I wish I was exaggerating when I say I finally found something to scratch the horror itch that Kaleidoscope of Death left in my brain. That birth scene??? The gore after that?? Im so invested.
Im trying to keep my expectations low because it is only the first few chapters but y'all I m invested.
0 notes
itsallyscorner · 3 years
Note
I was wondering if you can write something about reader x marvel cast where they go on the tour bus with James Corden. Maybe reader is dating a costar (you can choose who)
💌
We Are Avengers
Pairing: Marvel cast x reader, Sebastian Stan x Fem!reader
Summary: Basically what happens during James Corden’s Star Star Tour😌
Warnings: None :)
Hello darling, thank you for the request! I apologize that it took so long for me to write, but I’ve been busy with school and I’ve been lacking motivation in general. But thank you so much for this request, it gave me the chance to rewatch one of my favorite Marvel cast videos so thank you for that as well, it never fails to make me smile. I hope you don’t mind that I chose Seb as the co-star you’re dating! Also, yes, I know I’ve been writing a lot of headcanons but writing this as a headcanon seems like the best way to write it for me😭 I’m gonna add in some pictures that the cast took with their disposable cameras, so enjoy😉
。・:*:・゚★,。・:*:・゚☆
Tumblr media
(GIF from Pinterest)
✧───── ・ 。���★: *. ☽.* :★. ─────✧
When it was mentioned that you and some other members of the Infinity War cast were going to be on James Corden, you were very excited.
You enjoyed making appearances on late night talk shows; Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel—they were always fun to be on. Though you’ve always loved making appearances on James Corden’s show.
When you first heard about being on The Late Late Show, you were expecting to do a typical interview in the studio that would lead to playing a game later on in the show.
What you didn’t expect was to be led out to the parking lot with the rest of the cast, only to be greeted by a double decker bus with James’ face plastered alongside it.
At first you were all a bit confused but one of the producers came up to you all and explained the segment you were all filming.
Everyone was buzzing with exhilaration waiting to get on the bus. One by one you were called up, you being paired with Sebastian.
Wait, he would make you go up the stairs first so he can stay behind you, making sure you don’t fall. Omg and he would place his hand on your lower back too😭🥺
“Wow—Marvel’s own power couple, it’s such an honor to have you both on here. Thank you for coming!” James greeted the both of you. Partially acting because the cameras were rolling.
You and Sebastian beamed at him, proud of the title the fans and your cast mates have given you both over the years. “It’s always a pleasure to see you, James.”
James gives you both your name tags, pausing mid way while he was handing Seb his. James’ gaze shifts between you and Seb, “I’m sorry, you’re just both so beautiful.”
Seb bashfully thanks him, pulling you towards the seats, as you giggle behind him.
You and Seb sit towards the back, behind Don and Tom.
You all sit tight, talking amongst yourselves as you wait for the bus to start. In the seats were disposable cameras and some Late Late Show merch.
The bus hasn’t started driving yet, but you were all having too much fun with the disposable cameras.
Everyone was just taking pictures of each other. You and Seb took a couple selfies and some stolen shots of the others, mostly Anthony.
You even got a cute shot of Don and Tom:
Tumblr media
Yes I know they used disposable cameras but I decided to tie in my ‘Polaroid’ series into this even though they’re not using Polaroids—just go with it😭
Tumblr media
Being the more social one in the relationship, you were going up and down the aisle talking to everyone.
Seb stayed towards the back with Anthony and Winston. While you were at the front talking to Lizzie and Chris.
Being sad when you were all told to go sit down because you had to leave Lizzie.
Tumblr media
Though it probably wasn’t shown in the video, I just KNOW that the filming for this segment was chaotic as fuck.
Chaotic in a good way.
But the whole bus was loud I just know it.
You could hear Mackie across from you talking loudly and laughing that contagious laugh of his.
You, Lizzie, Pom, and Zoe attempting to talk to each other from different spots on the bus over everyone else’s voice.
Chris and Paul can also be heard laughing all the way from the back.
James feeling like a parent because it felt like he was babysitting a bunch of toddlers.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The whole thing was freaking chaotic from the start, I mean ya’ll started the ‘tour’ with Benedict and Chris rubbing sunscreen on James’ legs.
Everyone passing around the sunscreen after, because it was sunny as hell and no one thought of wearing sunscreen.
Seb being a cheeky asshole and ‘accidentally’ smearing sunscreen across your face.
“Sebastian!” You gasped before a flash of light went off on you. When your eyes recovered from the flash you see Seb holding up a camera at you, snickering to himself.
James began to act as your guide, pointing out things like a coffee shop and explaining what it is.
All of you being childish and pretending to not know what a coffee shop or what a line is.
Laughing at Don when he got out of his seat and took a picture of the coffee shop. Like how he got into an over exaggerated position just to take a picture was funny.
Everyone being childish and acting as actual tourist in Los Angeles. Like pointing things out and asking about them or taking pictures of literally everything you drove by.
When Reggie Watts began that sing along thing everyone joined in, bopping and dancing along to the beat.
Like you guys are just having a really great time, happy to be in each other’s presence.
You could hear Sebby singing along to Reggie beside you, and you couldn’t help but just adore him singing and having fun.
He’d notice your stare, he may have had sunglasses on, but you could see the crinkle of his eyes from behind his sunglasses as he smiled at you.
“Na, na, na, na, na, na!” Seb repeated, leaning towards you to press a kiss on your temple.
Throughout the whole ride, he’d have his arm along the back of your seat or have it across your lap.
After the sing along, James went back to acting as a tour guide. He pointed to a red building—whatever it was—and deemed it as “Barbra Streisand’s holiday home”.
Josh Brolin, who was sat along at the back of the deck, raised his hand. “Excuse me! I—uh don’t mean to interrupt, but I have to use the bathroom. Can I use the bathroom?”
James pretending to cringe and telling him that in order to use the bathroom you have to be in three or more Marvel movies to use the bathroom—end credits don’t count.
Everyone being childish once again and yelling “OHHHHHHH!” Like a bunch of school kids.
James points to Tom, “Tom Hiddleston do you need the bathroom?”
Tom, with his soft voice and a small shrug says, “I’m actually okay!”
James then points to you and Seb, “My lovebirds at the back, Sebastian, (Y/n), do either of you need the bathroom?”
You and Seb glance at each other, “Nah we’re good.” Your boyfriend answers.
“Yeah, I used the bathroom before we came here.” You look behind your shoulder at Josh, a smug expression on your face, “Unlike some people.”
Josh flipping you off while everyone laughs at him.
Tumblr media
Since Anthony and Seb aren’t sitting together, I just know that Anthony would be yelling at Seb from across the bus to get his attention.
No seriously, I saw them in the background of the video and even heard Mackie yelling lmao😭😂
“(Y/n) call Sebastian!” Anthony yelled at you from across the bus, pointing to the man beside you with a grin on his face.
You chuckle and nudge Seb, “Your boyfriend’s calling you.”
Seb would shake his head at you and turn his attention to Anthony; who just wanted to take a picture of Seb from his side of the bus.
James trying to get spoilers out of all of you but thankfully you all aren’t Tom Holland or Mark Ruffalo.
“Does anyone on this bus die in the next Avengers?” James asked. Suddenly you were all quiet, not a word coming out of any of you.
Until Paul began to scream his infamous line, “snITCHES END UP IN DITCHES!”
Getting confused when James suddenly asked the bus to stop and ran off the bus.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Next thing you know, you’re all hopping off the bus and walking into a comic store with a Spider-Man statue at the front.
Seb motioned to the statue and looked back and Anthony, “We gotta get a picture with that.”
Anthony instantly agreeing—he was willing to do anything to tease Tom Holland.
Seb’s not that huge with PDA, but he always needs to be touching you. So he’ll be interlocking your hands with his the moment you walk off the bus and all the way into the comic store.
Feeling thrilled to surprise the people who were shopping at the store.
You all walked around, mingled with some fans, taking selfies with them, and signed a few things.
You were looking at some Funko Pops with Lizzie when you felt a small tap on your leg.
You looked down to see a small girl looking up at you with wide eyes full of admiration. In her tiny hands was a Funko Pop of your character.
You and Lizzie instantly coo at the toddler, crouching down to her level so you can talk.
“Hey, sweetheart!” You greet her, taken back when she suddenly wraps her arms around you into a hug. You laugh wrapping your arms around her small figure and hugging her back.
“I love you so much!” She squeals into your ear, arms tightening around you. Your heart swelled as she excitedly babbled about how much she loved your character and how you were her favorite.
“I love you too! Oh my gosh, you’re so cute!” You decide to carry the toddler, who you later learned was named Lila. Her parents scolded her for distracting you from the other fans in the store, but you brushed them off, your attention focused on your tiny fan.
You carried her around while you met other fans and signed more comic books and merch.
You even introduced her to your other cast mates.
Sebastian’s heart absolutely melting at the sight of you with a baby.
Homie wants to wife you up one day and seeing you with a baby made his baby fever sky rocket.
“Lila, this is Sebastian! You know who he plays right?” You ask the toddler in your arms. Sebastian ducking a bit so he could hear her over the commotion in the store.
“Yeah, he’s the wiener soldier!” She replied. Both you and Seb had to hold back your laughs at her answer.
Lila bragging about how she loves you more than Sebastian.
Seb having to agree because he doesn’t wanna make a toddler cry.
Before you all left, you took pictures with Lila and her parents and signed a bunch of her merch.
Tumblr media
^ the boys got their picture.
You guys get back on the bus only to come back to rolls of paper under your seats.
You all sang the “Avengers” song, singing screaming the lyrics dramatically.
Don and Anthony bringing on the vocals.
Before you guys get off the bus you all take a selfie together.
Leaving Chris Hemsworth on the bus and walking off the bus with your heart all warm and fuzzy because you had an amazing time with your boyfriend and your friends :)
This is so long holy shit
。・:*:・゚★,。・:*:・゚☆
🏷 Tags ↴
*if there’s a line through your username, Tumbr won’t let me tag you*
Marvel Cast/ Avengers Tags
↪︎ @ximaginx @lozzypoz321 @sunwardsss @pokemonbong @pjokotlcmarvel201 @whoslili @111111111111111sblog @marvel-is-a-mood @blckyungblood @astroponyo @universemarvel @imthebadguyyy @roseke @bi-myself-forever @httpscarletwitch @millenniumloki @cristin-rjd @swords-are-cool @melaninfalconbucky @deamus-liv @elvish-sky @catsandbooksandsstuff @ellajoy419 @moonlight-babe99
Sebastian Stan Tags
↪︎ @theresnoplatypus @wintersoldierlover @peacelovehobbitness @milea @sunwardsss @thedenimjacket @roserose26
General Tags
↪︎ @quxxnxfhxll @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @thegirlwiththediary @agustdowney @bi-lmg @rqmanoff @sesamepancakes @stardustofreading @dracoswhore007 @swiftmind
3K notes · View notes
niksofia21 · 2 years
Text
Personal rant.
Don't like Annabeth Chase, don't read.
SPOILERS ALERT!!!
So... I went to look at Percy Jackson tags because i was rereading the books and... People...
You all are quick to judge Annabeth, but have you ever thought she is almost a mirror of Hermione? She's also one of the first girl characters that are a boss and not just cute and etc that i read about and that validation was important.
About she not being feminine: there is one of the tales (from somewhere) that she is dressed up for a date with Percy. She is "dressed up", in her own way, for her date with Percy in Battle of the Labrinth. She's not against vanity, she admires Piper and Silena for getting time to do it. I personally identify a lot with that. Working from home and before, i didn't had time to be dressed between work and uni.
It's just as bad to judge her for not being vain as judging someone for being is.
About the unbalanced relationship with Percy: she spent all the SIX FKING MONTHS he desapeared looking for him. I am sure she made the fabric they burn when they don't have a body in Battle of the Labrinth. I see a lot of people judging her but you know what? I think she saves Percy as much as he saves.
Her intelligence: she is clever, and in the books, she doesn't SHARE her knowledge because she is SCARED of being right. This is proved right about the Labrinth, the giants, the mark of Athena. She projected the fucking Olympus and survived on the streets before Luke and Thalia found her.
Delusional about Luke: Not inteligentt, but understandable. Different from Percy, Luke was family to her. Like Thalia, and Thalia had abandoned her. Family. More family than her father and brothers and stepmom, as it's pictured.
She have problems being abandoned (all the shit with her brothers and stepmom? Her father doesn't seem to rise and protect her?). That explain her jealously. Doesn't justify. But she is not as unreasonable about it as they made it. She is teen. There are people that are jealous, there are people that aren't. She isn't obsessed as well. Exaggerated, yes. Not obsessed. But, again, a teen. Percy has his anger issues as well.
Talk about the others trauma but not hers? And she faces it. She goes after the statue and faces an army of spiders. Did someone even remembered how she behaved in the first book, Lighting Thief, the carnival, the spiders? She doesn't like Tyson, but she learns to live with him even if her nightmares are about cyclopes. This looks like character development for me.
Pride. Her fatal flaw. Whats the problem in being proud? I saw people stan Percy hero complex, as long as he respect boundaries and, be sincere, she swallows her pride and jealously for the sake of the mission in Battle of Labrinth when Rachel joins them, even if she don't like it.
She is cunning. She lies and talks her way out of a lot of situations because that's her power. She doesn't have any other thing but intelligence and talent for artcrafta that came from Athena and not a supportive family in the background.
She makes allies AND enemies as fast as Percy makes friends. Reyna? Sadie? Magnus, a cousin she didn't talked with since she was seven? She is more friendly with Nico than Percy is (about Nico. It's not either Percy, Annabeth or even Will to heal him. Don't understand, read six of crows). Her pride and jelouslly may make easier to make enemies but, she makes just as much friends (not deep friendships, but she isn't untolerable).
Also, she swallows down all the other pantheons they throw her way. Romans hate child of Athena and she goes there, with a plan to heal the rivalry, to save Percy. While Percy and Carter exchange magical contacts, she and Sadie exchange phone numbers. It is much more sensible. She helps prepare Magnus to stop Ragnarok.
In any moment i am invalidating the other characters but, Annabeth has a complicate personality. What's the problem with that?
What's the problem with not being vain, liking to think? She has a problem with Aphrodite kids, but i can also bet they judge her. Silena was nice with, but the Aphrodite kids judge as much as they are judged. Piper was bulied there.
Even looking at the mortal side, Percy is the skater, problem boy and Annabeth is no different. She run away from home, stabs people, she chooses to keep using a dagger, she used a hammer do fight monsters. She is also as laid back on her appearance as he is.
I think is valid inform that there was a time where girls were just pretty. It was difficult to find characters that didnt needed to be pretty to be useful. Now, we know its healthy to be vain, or don't be. It's a matter of choice. Annabeth was the representation we needed, and there's nothing wrong with her to be the way she is as well.
That's it.
Bye.
50 notes · View notes
nitpick7 · 3 years
Text
Ayo anyone wanna see my essay on why removing Anybody Have A Map made the Dear Evan Hansen movie worse? It is slightly long
Disclaimer: I did like the movie (I cried three times), but I think they made some stupid decisions with it.
Dear Evan Hansen movie + musical spoilers under the cut, plus a fair amount of DEH neg/crit
Instead of Anybody Have A Map, they just have Evan's mom say "Hey are you writing those letters to yourself? Also you should ask the kids to sign your cast" before he goes to school and sings Waving Through A Window. They ignore every other part of the song and quickly insert the only thing from the song that's absolutely needed to understand the story so Evan can go be angsty at school. We don't even meet the Murphys until they meet Evan in the principal's office to tell him about Connor.
Disclaimer part 2 electric boogaloo: I complain about Evan a lot here. It's not because I think his experiences aren't valid and it's not because I'm trying to demonize people with mental illnesses or something. I know that his own struggles influenced his bad decisions. That doesn't mean they weren't bad decisions. He still did shitty things and he wasn't justified (listen to Words Fail), but I know it was influenced by his mental health.
On with the complaining!
First of all, the movie opens with Waving Through A Window? It feels like they're putting the most popular song first as a desperate grab for your attention to convince you the movie is good and like... they really didn't need to do that. Waving Through A Window is right after Anybody Have A Map, it's not like anyone's gonna walk out of the theatre after one (really good) song.
Anybody Have A Map establishes a few things: it shows us that both of these families are struggling so that we know immediately that the Murphys' perfect facade is fake, it shows us that Connor was a dick to his family (this is very important), and obviously it tells us why Evan was writing letters to himself. It also introduces us to the two main families at the same time so we know this story isn't just about Evan.
By starting the movie with an Evan solo song instead of the group song, they frame Evan as the one main character, the only person whose perspective we need to understand. But Evan is incredibly flawed, just like everyone else, and by making us think the story is only about him, it immediately makes us (the audience) more inclined to believe that Evan is always in the right and less inclined to consider everyone else's side of the story. Evan is an incredibly unreliable narrator, he's always going to frame his actions as correct, or at least excusable, even when he's actively hurting/lying to other people.
All of the Murphys get introduced through interacting with Evan instead of interacting with each other. This makes it seem like the Murphys only exist for Evan, but the entire point of the climax is that everything doesn't exist just for Evan! Evan is not part of their family, he can't just use everyone around him for his own benefit, and all of the Murphys have lives outside of him. When they're introduced through Evan, they're introduced as existing for Evan. Anybody Have A Map introduces them separately from Evan instead of attached to him.
Without Anybody Have A Map, we never actually see Connor being mean to Zoe, so she just looks like an asshole for not being sad about her dead brother. To make up for it, she's constantly having to tell the audience why she hated him, tripping over herself to talk about all the shitty things he did to her because we don't have Anybody Have A Map to show us their interactions. Zoe ends up complaining about her brother the entire time, so when it gets to Only Us and she says that she doesn't want everything to be about her brother, it seems out of character for her.
And with the removal of Anybody Have A Map, we don't ever see Connor interact with his own family in the movie. Anybody Have A Map is the only time we get to see Connor with his family. It shows us that Connor really was an asshole to his family, it justifies Zoe hating him, and it gives his mom more dimensions by showing her struggling to keep her family together even with everyone fighting against her. Without that, the writers ended up ignoring the most basic piece of writing advice - "show, don't tell" - to fill in the missing information from the song.
In the movie, all we get of Cynthia Murphy is... her being sad about Connor and refusing to admit that he ever did anything wrong. She's just boring and annoying in the movie, but in the musical, we get that bit at the beginning that shows her as an actual person with actual motivations! By cutting Anybody Have A Map, they made her into a more one-dimensional character.
So in a bit of a conclusion: Anybody Have A Map establishes the Murphys as main characters separate from Evan and shows us Connor's relationship with his family instead of telling us about it. It sets the scene for the story before just jumping into "Evan is sad and alone uwu anxious depressed soft boy" and makes everyone a better, more three-dimensional character. Getting rid of it meant that they had to do backflips to justify everyone's decisions during the movie instead of setting everything up at the beginning.
I do think the movie could've benefitted from Disappear but then again, it could've benefitted from the whole "Connor being the visual/vocal representation of Evan's justifications for why keeping up the lie is helping people" thing in general, but they got rid of that so Disappear wouldn't have worked. (I am salty that they got rid of that thing but whatever) The Anonymous Ones worked instead and it was a good song, so sure, why not I guess? /neutral
I could also complain about how they got rid of To Break In A Glove, Disappear, and Good For You, but none of those decisions actually impacted the story too much. To Break In A Glove and Good For You both got replaced with some tell-not-show cutscenes that gave us the same information in a less interesting way (and Larry got less character development without To Break In A Glove), and Disappear got replaced with an Alana song which was honestly pretty good so i'm fine with that one.
Now for some good changes that the movie made!
The Anonymous Ones was a good song, I actually really liked that. I'm disappointed that they got rid of Disappear, but they replaced it with another song that served the same purpose while also giving Alana more screen time and character depth! And it was a genuinely good song, I really enjoyed it and it made me like Alana more!
I really liked the ending of the movie. In the musical, there are literally no negative consequences for Evan, Zoe even forgives him at the end. She fucking forgives him for lying to her entire family about their dead son and and taking advantage of them because it "brought them closer together". And the internet never finds out what he did! He does all this terrible shit, lies to the entire fucking world, and gets away scot-free. And he never learns anything real about Connor. The movie changes all of that.
Connor's song was also a great addition! Every time we saw Connor in the musical, he was either being a dick or he was a fantasy version of himself made by Evan and/or Jared. Seeing that Connor can, in fact, be a nice person, that Cynthia's belief in him wasn't misplaced, was so satisfying. He really was just a meaner version of Evan a troubled kid lashing out at the world in self-defense. He wasn't an entirely bad person.
The Murphys still decide not to tell anyone what he did, but then Evan decides (on his own!) that he needs to own up to what he did. He records a video of himself admitting to what he did, shifts all the blame to himself, and then goes out of his way to fix his mistakes in any way he can. He says that his biggest regret is not getting to know Connor while he had the chance, so he goes online to find anything he can. He reads Connor's favorite books, tries to find anyone who might be able to tell him what Connor was like, and when he receives a video of Connor playing his song in rehab, he takes the time to send the video (through the mail, on a flash drive) to the Murphys, Jared, and Alana.
Evan doesn't contact Zoe at the end, she contacts him instead. She doesn't forgive him, and he doesn't ask for forgiveness. He knows what he did was wrong and he owns up to it and tries to fix it as much as possible, knowing full well that it could ruin his life. He does the right thing for the first time in the entire fucking movie (that's hardly even an exaggeration) and it's such a good ending. It makes more sense and is more satisfying than the musical.
The Dear Evan Hansen movie was not nearly as bad as the reviews say it was. It wasn't as good as the musical, it had its own problems, but it also made some good changes that I think made the story better. It wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed it and most movies aren't perfect anyway. It really could've benefitted from Anybody Have A Map, though.
54 notes · View notes
cinemaisfemale · 2 years
Text
I watched S4 of Cobra Kai and I did not enjoy it at all. It is so frustrating because I was really looking forward to the new season. I didn’t even know how much I enjoyed this show before I witnessed this bad writing. I was thinking “what the hell? i hate it heeeeeeere” the whole time. Not gonna lie I skipped through a lot of the scenes because they were either pissing me off or boring the hell out of me so I can’t really write a deep analysis or whatever. And maybe I will rewatch it without skipping someday and have different or more nuanced opinions but I just need to share some of my thoughts right now or I will implode (nobody probably will read it anyway so).
I don’t know that much about the writers so if anybody in the fandom has any theories about what went wrong this season, please share. Because it feels like totally different people were writing this season and they hated the direction the show was going before.
SPOILERS AHEAD
First of all, even without going into lame arcs, confusing character choices and overall bad writing of the season… am I the only one who thinks that fighting wasn't as good as it was in previous seasons? Finale of S1, first tournament? Really got me on the edge of my seat. School fight? Fucking iconic! Peak chaos energy. The fight at LaRusso’s? Again totally awesome. The tournament at the end of the S4? Meh. They dedicated two episodes to the tournament and it still does not compare to the previous seasons’ finales. Come to think about it… It does all tie in with the overall bad writing. Fights in the previous seasons were so great partly because they were the perfect exaggerated resolutions to all the high school drama that was building up through the whole season. Obviously most of us did not participate in hand to hand combat with the people who pissed us off at school, but it sure felt just as crazy sometimes. And watching the kids just go at it is soooo fun and satisfying. I have so many serious thoughts about the characters and themes of the show but I also just want to see some good fights!
Johnny and Miguel’s relationship this season. HATE. Their relationship is one of my favorite things about the show and it was just not there this season. Sure they should have some drama because in many ways Johnny is like a teenager himself. But. The way the writers went about this relationship (and about Johnny’s character in general) was just so confusing to me. What is going ooooon.
The fact that Johnny and Daniel were unable to work together. HATE. Wasn’t it the big lesson they learned the previous season - that they have to work together to defeat bigger evil? Of course I knew it wouldn't be smooth and was expecting some hilarious moments and some pettiness and ridiculousness. But them reversing to the previous state of things just makes no sense. I might be completely wrong because like I said I stopped paying close attention at some point but. In the end when Johnny enters an empty dojo in the strip mall… Was it like a hint that he may even return to that place? So like season 3 and 4 didn’t even happen, Johnny and Daniel are still working against each other at their respective dojos but now there is also Silver’s Cobra Kai? I hope not...
Hawk was done dirty. His arc this season is what pisses me off the most. He is my favorite character. He deserves so much better. HATE HATE HATE. The way he ended up in MD just because otherwise they will have nobody to compete in the boys division… SCREAM. I hated that it was implied that Hawk won the fight because Robby was distracted by Kenny drama. And it’s just some of the many issues I have with what happened to Hawk this season.
(It actually reminded me of Mayans MC. I always pick some character that is not the main character of the show to obsess over. And my absolute favorite character on Mayans is Coco. But I just stopped watching Mayans at episode 4 of season 3 because I saw where the writers were taking Coco and I could not bear to witness it. I still don’t know what actually happened on the show. I don’t want to know, I'm afraid to look it up. It’s not the bad things that happen to the characterthat I hate, it’s the fucking OOC of it all . But I digress)
The almost complete lack of interaction between Hawk and Miguel… HATE. And I don’t even have the mental energy to go into all the ways Miguel was done dirty this season.
Aisha appeared on the show for like a second of screen time and it just made me sad. And she spent most of that screen time giving advice to Sam? She should have said: “ I can’t believe you drove all this way just to complain about your shit”. Aisha’s cameo that I want is for her to meet up with Sam (or better still Tory) and kick some ass. Like get into a fight in Santa Barbara (that's where she said she lived now right?), idk fight off some random assholes on the street together. I think the details of her move to Santa Barbara indicate that she will not make a reappearance on the show and it is so unfair. I want her baaaaack. She is the best.
Hated almost everything about the prom except for Robby and Tory.
The only arc I truly enjoyed is weirdly Tory and Amanda. Tory is one of my faves and I think it’s nice to see her grow and sort her life a little bit. And actually I always liked Amanda and I thought it was pretty in character for her to help out Tory after the whole mess of Amanda coming to Tory’s work.
If I understand correctly they already filmed S5? I seriously doubt it will be any better. If it was written and filmed right after S4 I suspect all the problems of S4 still will be in S5. But I will probably watch it anyway.
26 notes · View notes
along-came-atsushi · 3 years
Text
The search for yourself – An analysis about Tachihara
Tumblr media
Several characters in BSD express a wish for home and family. Most of them have either lost their families or were abandoned by them. Especially for those characters, the word ‘family’ expands the definition of being related by blood.
In BSD ‘family’ doesn’t mean people who are related to you, but people who accept you for who you really are and who truly care about you. Some examples would be the relationship between Fukuzawa and Ranpo, or Sigma and how he sees his customers.
Tachihara’s arc deals with the same theme and his search for who he really is.
[Beware: Spoilers for the whole Hunting Dogs Arc!]
His Past:
It’s been shown that Tachihara and his older brother are granted with a similar ability: The ability to create and/or manipulate metal. But Tachihara seemed to be less talented or able to control his ability than his brother, at least in the eyes of his family. When his brother died in the war they were outraged and sad about his death. At the same time, they openly told Tachihara to be the one that should have died in his stead, showing complete disregard for his existence:
Tumblr media
Tachihara’s brother thinks positively about his family, given how he talks about them. He knows that they miss him and he himself wishes to return back home. Due to this it’s possible that he doesn’t even notice the difference in his family’s treatment between him and Tachihara, since he never addresses that problem anywhere. Tachihara on the other hand has to feel that no matter who he is and what he does, even ultimately if he’d die, they wouldn’t care for him.
He has been compared to his older brother his whole life and was never accepted as his own person, which leads to him in not understanding who he is and what he should do.
[Side note: I’m not a psychologist, but I read that parents that treat one child as the golden egg (Tachihara’s brother), while treating the other as the black sheep (Tachihara) is a trait found in narcissists. With this they try to have one person who admires them (Tachihara’s brother) and the other who fears them (Tachihara). Considering this and the way Tachihara has been treated by his family, it is highly possible that he is the victim of a narcissistic upbringing. It might be that one family member was a narcissist and with their treatment of Tachihara influenced the other family members to do the same. They joined the narcissist in their behaviour out of fear (acting as enablers), so that they themselves wouldn’t get viewed and treated by the narcissist and others the same way.]
.
Joining the Hunting Dogs:
After his brother’s death Tachihara ran away from his family and decided to live a life on the streets, trying to survive by stealing and doing other criminal activities, where he then was found by the Hunting Dogs and invited to join them:
Tumblr media
The Hunting Dogs highest priority is to protect their country and its citizens, no matter what it takes. They have been shown to let people join them when they realize that those people have an intention to protect others, or are willing to self-sacrifice in order to protect something. (e.g. Jouno offering Kunikida to join after he saw that Kunikida wanted to protect the ADA, Fukuchi offering to train Akutagawa after he realized he was fighting for something.)
.
But the problem of the Hunting Dogs’ mentality is that they have a black and white view regarding “justice” and “crime”, or people they perceive as “good” and “evil”. They immediately hunt down the ADA without further investigation on their assertions (that they’re innocent and all was a set-up), even expressing joy about torture and killing, when a person is a “criminal” and therefore “evil” in their eyes.
The only way to get rid of your crime is to join them and in this way being useful to them. This results in people involuntarily joining them, because they have no other way, which has been the case with Tachihara. He was found being guilty, because he stole something from them, and then offered of being freed from his crime, but only if he joins them. Which means that he doesn’t join them on his own accord and is then pressured into their black and white morale.
[Side note: Tecchou seems to be the only one able to look on a more greyish view regarding “good” and “evil” people, as seen when he talks with the café owner and promises to not kill Lucy and the ADA. Fukuchi feels guilty for at least having to kill children in the past.]
.
The Hunting Dogs seem to stick together because they have to, less because they want to. Jouno is annoyed with Tecchou’s behaviour and Tecchou is annoyed by Jouno’s actions. Teruko dares Jouno not to read her heartbeat and with that tries to keep him from getting to know how she truly feels. She also seems to be afraid of Fukuchi for some reason, hence why she butters him up in an extreme and exaggerated way:
Tumblr media
Ultimately, Fukuchi their own captain, is the one who plays them all and lies to them the most. They are bound together by their duty and have no real trust in each other.
Tachihara has been shown to feel somewhat uncomfortable when being with the Hunting Dogs and is sometimes weirded out by their behaviours. Even though he is the only one who has no quarrels with his colleagues and gets along with them pretty well, openly expressing concern when Teruko is wounded. But at the same time, he keeps his distance to them and addresses them formally or by their ranks.
While Tachirara talks with Yosano it can be understood that he didn’t join the Hunting Dogs out of his own conviction, but because that way they wouldn’t kill him for his crime. By joining and fighting for them he had a purpose in life and people who needed him because of his ability. He claims to have turned into someone who was “neither my older brother nor his opposite” and that “orders make me who I am.”
.
Infiltrating Port Mafia:
When Tachihara joins the Port Mafia as a spy and works for the Black Lizard, he is met with a different mentality regarding loyalty and justice. As explained above the Hunting Dogs have a black and white view regarding justice and crime, and people they consider to be good or evil. They express joy about killing and torturing, even though they are considered to be “the good guys”. While the Port Mafia is also known to be extremely cruel, they are not considered as “the good guys”. In other words, the Port Mafia are represented as the “villains”, and the Hunting Dogs are represented as the “heroes” in the eyes of the government.
Although it’s been mentioned that you shouldn’t get too close with anyone in the Port Mafia, forming a close bond with others is still possible. Something that differs the Black Lizard from the Hunting Dogs is that they stick together, e.g. when Higuchi saved Akutagawa, despite the fact that she could’ve died doing so alone, which is something that Tachihara was concerned about:
Tumblr media
In the end, the Black Lizard stood behind Higuchi’s decision and followed her, saving Akutagawa in the process. They did so not solely because she was their superior, but because they have trust in her and respect her.
Tachihara playing the Double Agent is similar to Ango’s role during Dark Era. They both joined the “evil” side as a spy, but found people they got close with and care about. Both of them aren’t able to shake off their feelings regarding these people who became dear to them, despite their original orders and mission.
Characters in the BSD universe make friends with people who are on the opposite side or who are their enemies. They also tend to ally with their actual or former enemies, if it means to achieve the same goal.
Tachihara acts way more casual with his Black Lizard colleagues. He calls Hirotsu “gramps”, Higuchi “big sis” and Akutagawa “big bro”, suggesting that he sees them as his family, even though he may do so unconsciously. The Black Lizard have shown to truly care about Tachihara as a person as well, even without knowing about his ability.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
They are relieved to know that he isn’t hurt or dead. Furthermore, Hirotsu highly compliments Tachihara and admires him for his mindset and actions. In return, Tachihara feels guilty for having to hurt Hirotsu and Gin, back then already not able to fully betray them.
.
Playing the Double Agent:
Later on, Tachihara’s true intentions for joining Port Mafia get revealed. He realizes that he used his brother as an excuse, and understands that in reality he was just trying to find his true self. Before that, he told himself that he joined only to get close to Yosano for revenge. During his whole childhood he had been compared to his brother, which left him with major self-doubts and a lack of self-identity. If he wasn’t as good, as useful, as heroic like his brother, he would be nothing. He would have no value:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Tachihara states several times that he “wanted to become someone”. Too insecure and afraid to identify with who he is, he simply decided to take the opposite way his brother took, and identified with the role he was given. First, he was a delinquent and simply “bad”. As a Hunting Dog he was then given the role of a military officer, whose job was to catch terrorists. When he got his order to infiltrate Port Mafia as a spy, he probably tried to identify with just that. But this given mission helped him to get away from his role as a Hunting Dog, and he found a place where he feels he truly belongs to.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that throughout this arc he gets portrayed in a mirror-like way:
Tumblr media
It’s supposed to point out his search for himself, and which side he will choose in the end, now that he is learning to trust his own instincts. He slowly steps out of the shadow of his brother and accepts the person he is.
This is possible for him to do, because he has the support of the Black Lizard. During his time with the Hunting Dogs he simply followed orders and had no opinion of his own, but a purpose in life. He did this to please them and being accepted as someone worthy by them. When he rejoins the Hunting Dogs, but secretly still works as a spy in the Port Mafia, he realizes that his mindset already follows that of a Port Mafia member:
Tumblr media
Since the Port Mafia has a more greyish view on crime and justice and have clashed with the ADA several times in the past, they turn out to be the ones to truly believe that the ADA were set-up by someone and are not terrorists.
Hirotsu and Gin both encourage and support Tachihara to form an opinion of his own, when he asks them about the ADA’s case, and not to simply believe the false facts:
Tumblr media
This is furthermore emphasized by Mori as the Port Mafia’s boss discussing the ADA’s case with the Black Lizard and with this, stating his trust in them:
Tumblr media
Due to the circumstance that Tachihara is treated as an equal among his Black Lizard peers and treated with trust, he’s starting to be able to question the accusations against the ADA and comes to the logical conclusion that something is wrong. This later leads him to take the search for the real mastermind into his own hands, instead of simply following orders.
It’s his own opinion and own choice what leads to the tearing of the page and its power, and with it the Decay of Angel’s plan:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
This in itself is a very nice twist, because it was something neither Fyodor nor Dazai could know about or orchestrate. They both could only make people go so far and act in a certain way, but not tear through bonds people share with each other. Which gets confirmed when Dazai said that it’s the people on the battlefield making the world turn, and not those planning schemes.
In the end, it’s Mori as the Port Mafia’s boss to decide whether he keeps or kills Tachihara for his betrayal. It’s a rule to kill those who have betrayed the Port Mafia. But Mori already knew which side Tachihara will choose and which side he feels he belongs to, even before Tachihara himself did.
Tumblr media
- - - - -
Last but not least, I want to thank the person who requested this meta from me. I hope you enjoyed reading this and that it was worth the wait. I had immense fun writing about characters who usually aren’t on my radar that much. Thank you very much!
[Edit: “he simply followed orders and had no opinion of his own, or a purpose in life” was changed to “he simply followed orders and had no opinion of his own, but a purpose in life“. Which was phrased wrong by me in the original post!]
322 notes · View notes
jacketpotatoo · 3 years
Text
Dear Evan Hansen Movie: Review (spoilers)
It says review but trust me, it’s more of a well worded rant than anything. Taken from my Letterboxd
Where do I even begin.
Okay, I enjoy the original musical. I have listened to the soundtrack more times than I can count and I've watched a bootleg of the original Broadway run, as well as many, many animatics. I was one of the people who saw the trailer and went oh crap - Kaitlyn Dever from 'Booksmart'? Amy Adams? From the people who brought you 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' and 'The Greatest Showman'? This must be in good hands, Ben Platt looking way too old for the role aside.
Haha.
Something that makes the musical actually work is the fact that it acknowledges the morally squicky situation and constantly calls Evan out on his bs. They allow you to sympathise with him while making it clear that hey, Evan is in the wrong here.
THE FILM CLEARLY DOESN'T GET THAT.
Instead, Evan is portrayed as the victim and they spend little to no time dealing with the moral and ethical complexities that makes the source interesting in the first place, even when that would be totally something that could be done with more emphasis on film than on the stage. They cut out 'Does Anybody Have a Map' - a song that sets up (arguably) the emotional core of the musical which is the mothers and their relationship with their sons and family. They cut out 'Good For You' which is (and I don't know how to emphasize this enough) SUCH A CORNERSTONE IN THE PLAY. It's the song where Evan has to face the consequences of his actions head on. But noooooooo. All we get is zero fricking resolution with the side characters that the film wrote pointless songs for to accommodate and Evan and his mum NOT talking things out realistically and lashing out like humans. I cried while watching that 240p bootleg of 'So Big So Small'. I felt nothing here. Instead, all the emotion the stage offered is put up in a blender of terrible sound mixing and hilariously bad VEVO music transitions.
Speaking of that, my gosh was the editing awful in this movie. The stupid, stupid quick-cuts during 'Waving Through A Window', the asinine repeated shot of Evan falling down the tree, THE ENTIRE 'Sincerely Me' I MEAN WHAT WAS THAT?? The whole film visuals felt like the Nexus ad in WandaVision. Y'know. The dreary antidepressant advertisment. Except one was ironic and the other was completely genuine. 
The thing with adapting Dear Evan Hansen into a movie in the first place is that it's a low-key kind of musical. Most scenes are confined to 4 walls and include very few people just conversing with each other. It works fine on stage but when you're shooting 50% of your film in the same location and all the shots are either framed similarly or are straight up comical, it's going to be a problem. It was visually, either uninteresting or plain bad.
I didn't think the performances were terrible, aside from Ben Platt (oh we will get there). I liked Kaitlyn as Zoe (I will admit, I am biased), the others were... alright. They were passable. I blame it on the direction and script because they're clearly good performers.
And now we get to Evan Hansen himself. The 'too old' thing has been talked about to death but it genuinely takes you out of the film as you can't suspend your disbelief that he's playing a teenager, especially when his peers actually do look like teens. Ben is also overacting so much. When in theatre, the exaggerated slouches and ticks work because he's on the stage. Most people are far away. But on film when everything is close up, his stuttering and shaking come off as so forced. I genuinely don't understand. I've heard great things about him in The Politician and he's fine in the Pitch Perfects so what went wrong?
The only thing I sort of maybe liked was them getting closure with the video of Connor playing the guitar. But then, they went and got Jared to look sad for Connor when he literally has been doing everything to propel his social status and has no emotional stake with Connor, only with Evan for using him. WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN CLEAR IF THEY INCLUDED 'Good For You'.
I have calmed down since writing this and all I feel now is numb. I listened to songs from the original Broadway Soundtrack after the movie as it auto played on youtube and felt. Now I’m just upset that people would probably never give the stage version a shot anymore. Thanks movie. *sigh*
38 notes · View notes
justxright · 3 years
Text
Zeke Yeager x Reader - “Traitor”
Chapter 3 - “A Flash of Thunder”
Tumblr media
Summary : It’s been weeks since you willingly left with The Beast Titan in order to survive in exchange for information on the Scouts and whatever strategy they had. Over time you had grown close to the Beast Titan, also known as Zeke Yeager, whom told you the truth about everything in the world. Now as battle grows closer to you and Zeke, you have to make a decision whether or not you’ll leave with him or go back in the arms of your older brother, Levi.
Warnings : Spoilers for season 3-4, gore, mentions of SMUT, and a bit of Stockholm syndrome.
The tent you slept in grew cold as the wind lingered on your backside side while the wind crept in through the tent’s entrance. Drowsy and half naked you turned over to notice the empty spot next to you. Where’d Zeke go?... Usually the man was always asleep next to you keeping you warm, but suddenly it seemed he had vanished.
The cold wind froze your bare skin and you quickly reached somewhere in the tent to search for your sweater. Well, his sweater. You hastily threw the sweater on and crawled towards the entrance of the tent. Peaking your head out, you could see the fire was lit and the smell of black tea seemed to be brewing, or at least that’s what you thought it was. Zeke never really told you what is was.
There he was. The man you had been staying with for nearly a month now was there sitting on one of the boxes. However, he was not alone. Your eyes widened as you saw them. Reiner and Bertholdt. They were back so soon? Reiner noticed you peaking your head out and slowly waved. “Good morning Y/n. Sorry, Zeke didn’t want to wake you.”
You shook your head and coughed awkwardly. “Oh no, it’s no worries. It’s still a little dark out so I figured it was still nighttime.”
It was so weird seeing Reiner and Bertholdt like this. All this time, and you wouldn’t have guessed it. The Colossal and the Armored Titan were them this entire time. You had only found out when Zeke told you everything the second day you had been with him. It made you reconsider everything about going home. Eren was the ‘Coordinate’ or the ‘Founding Titan’. Something they do desperately needed in order to return home to Marley.
It only broke your heart even further the day Reiner and Bertholdt came back to Zeke with Ymir. The minute she had seen you though, she talked about how Levi had so desperately wanted to find you. “Why are you here Y/n?! Don’t tell me you’re a Titan shifter too!”
Visible confusion spread across your face that day. She was a Titan shifter like them? No it can’t be. Reiner had her keep her mouth shut while he continued to escort her away. “Shut up, she's no titan shifter but let’s just say she’s traded it up.”
Ymir scrunched her eyebrows in confusion and shock. “W-Wait! Hold on now-! Y/n?” Suddenly being pulled away, Pieck had held your hand and managed to get to to walk away. “Ah, don’t worry now Y/n. I promise that things will be okay. You’re making the right decision here...”
“Y-Yeah...” Ymir’s yelling and bickering echoed as you walked away from her. Levi was mentioned and you knew that might drive Zeke nuts. It certainly drove you nuts. Hearing that he was so desperately looking for you while you willingly stayed because you thought this was the best decision for humanity. Let’s face it, the people living within the walls really did have no future if Titans were to roam the Island forever. Or perhaps maybe if Eren handed over the coordinate, Marley would negotiate and leave this island to rot powerless. Either way, you also didn’t want to leave Zeke.
Suddenly snapping back into reality, you left your thoughts alone. What’s done is done. You loved Levi, but he didn’t seem to care too much for humanity and you did. Now you only hope that he’d understand your reasoning if you guys were to cross paths again. Turning slowly from his seat, Zeke turned his head and smirked. Seeing the bruises around your neck made him want to go back into that tent and finish what he had started. He knew you’d grow to like him, and he definitely grew to like you after you got pass the skittish, timid phase with him. “Good morning darling, care to join us?”
Butterflies seemed to flutter around in your stomach as he looked back at you. Nodding your head, you got up from the tent and walked out to sit by Zeke, who immediately threw his arm about you. Visible hickeys were littered around your neck and you felt Bertholdt”s eyes stare them down. Yes, it was slightly embarrassing but you knew it was exactly what Zeke wanted. He wanted everyone to know that you were his in all ways possible. Pieck even teased you the other day that Zeke won’t ever neck your neck clear up again. 
The smell of tea and honey filled the air while the sound of pouring liquid accompanied it. “Here you go darling.” Zeke handed you a cup of tea, the warmth of it in your hands made the rest of your body heat up. You took slow sips, but little by little since the tea turned out to be broiling hotter than it usually is. As time went by, you listened to the three men talk about Annie and the reveal of her identity. Honestly, the reality of it al seemed so surreal and it was almost impossible for you to wrap your head around. Titans eat humans in desperate hopes of regaining their humanity. Just like Ymir ate Marcel... and gained his humanity and powers. 
“War Cheif Zeke.” A distorted voice came from below the wall that made you jump in your seat. The rapid sounds of footsteps echoed as the three men, including yourself, ran to the edge of the wall. There she was, or at least the titan form of her. Pieck had grown to be one of your good friends. The kindest being you had ever met and despite being a “devil” from the Island, there was never a moment where she wasn’t kind to you. Zeke especially trusted her with you. The relationship between him and Pieck was solid. They just had that brother-sister bond that made you feel relaxed. Something you and Levi had, only he was much more blunt and rough about your feelings. “Enemy troops are approaching. They’ve reached the foot.”
Slowly, your throat went dry when you heard her words. They’ve reached the foot...enemies. All your friends are enemies. Right, you weren’t on their side anymore, and they don’t even know it. Levi doesn’t know it. Had he given you up for dead yet? No, that was very unlike him. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin don’t even know what’s coming for them. All your friends would no longer be your friends after this battle. But you figured if you finally got your hands on Eren, then maybe this could all end. After all, you finally saw light in Marley’s point of view after Zeke had repeatedly told you over and over again what their plans were.
There was a slight pause before Zeke nodded at Pieck and took you, Reiner and Bertholdt back to the fire pit. He poured you all a fresh batch of tea in each cup before clanking the cups together as if it were a celebration. “My brave warriors.” He spoke triumphly. “It’s time to settle this here and finish our mission once and for all.” Reiner and Bertholdt both seemed relaxed and prepared, but deep down you knew they were both terrified and you know that Zeke didn’t want you involved. You would be staying on Pieck’s gear with the rest of the boxes so that you’d be safe. In case of emergencies too, Zeke allowed you to fix the ODM gear he had taken from Miche while he was with you. That way, in case something happened to Pieck or himself, you could escape.
Everyone slowly took a sip from their teas, sipping slowly from the yummy sweet boiling hot tea, until Zeke had startled all of you. “Ah-! Hot!” He covered his mouth and looked at you slowly. “Ah, sorry. Perhaps I boiled the tea too harshly. Careful dear.”
Reiner raised an eyebrow and grinned. “Oi, what about us chief?” He chuckled and nudged Bertholdt.
Zeke rolled his eyes and turned to give him his famous bored look. “Oh please, I couldn’t care less about you being hurt. You’ll end up regenerating anyways.” Standing behind you, he suddenly put his hand on your shoulders and began to lightly massage them. “My dear Y/n is not able to regenerate. Which is why she’ll be staying with Pieck. I will not risk her getting hurt.”
“Oh please. I’ve seen her fight with my own eyes.” Reiner crossed his arms and spun the liquid around in his cup, probably a learning habit from Zeke. “She’s a killing machine.”
Blushing, you giggled lightly and shook your head. “Oh stop, you’re exaggerating Reiner...” Your voice was like silk to Zeke, but he didn’t like the way you softly spoke at Reiner. Nor did he like that he was praising your skill, making you want to go back into the field and risking your life. Absolutely not. Zeke will not allow it. “Hey Reiner... shut it. Y/n will not risk her life for our plan. How many more people have to die for your mistakes?”
Your heart completely stopped, and you saw the life from Reiner’s eyes drain while Bertholdt just stood there completely lost for words. Those words definitely hit Reiner hard, but you knew not to interfere with those stories. “Come now, Y/n. We must prepare.” He brought you away from them slowly and back towards the tent. Once you were fully in, he took you by your chin and kissed you softly. “I’m sorry if that was intense back there. I just can’t risk you getting hurt.”
The usual familiar feeling of your face being caressed by his fingertips made you bite your lip. “Oh no... I understand.” You took your hand then rested on his cheek. “But I also don’t want to lose you either... So be safe?”
Zeke’s heart raced as your fingertips touched his face and your gentle look stared at him. It was a feeling that no one ever gave him, and in his mind he promised he’d be safe. He would end this all so that he could finally bring you back home with him and end this Paradis Island nightmare. Sure it’s been nearly a month or more, but he was certain about you and he’d do anything to make you his. No woman at home ever suited him. So ignorant and void of the world. They either cared about his title as a war chief or his Eldian blood that he carries. Most Marley women did not want him because of that.
He remembered the horror and heartache of his former friend Tom, who had a wife, child and stable family. However, it fall apart because his wife had found out he was an Eldian, and because their son carried his blood, she had killed herself and the innocent child. Zeke feared that if he had a child with a woman from Marley, she might have second thoughts about caring for a child with Eldian blood and might eventually kill them. Afterall, acts like that were not uncommon.
“Oh Y/n, my dear...” His voice grew softer with you as the days went by. “I know I was rough on you that first week, but I’d do anything for you. Honestly, you’ve stolen away a part of me that you’ll always have.” A wave of electricity zapped through him as he finally had full control over you. Never did you ever think twice about the things he said, and you never thought twice about giving all your trust to him. “I will be safe. Don’t you worry.”
Zeke moved in both his hands into your hair and began to caress it, while you gave him a smile of relief. Of course you knew he’d be okay, he is the war chief. Nobody could ever outsmart him. “Now then, go get ready and meet with Pieck at the bottom of the wall. She’ll be waiting.” He leaned in to kiss the top of your head and embraced you in one last hug. “Stay safe, and stay put understand? Then this will finally be over.”
The smell of cigarettes and black honey tea hit you in the face while he embraced you. You prayed and prayed as he held you in his arms. Please be safe... you’d miss the smell of him and you’ll never be able to get it back from if he didn’t survive. “I will be safe, don’t worry.” Your voice echoed in his mind as you mumbled your last words to him. Softly speaking as you always do.
And with that final embrace, Zeke let you go. It was time to end this battle on Paradis Island.
The wind grew silent and the earth was too still. Even though you were sitting in a rather comfy box and being transported, you knew the sky and earth would collide and rumble. Zeke’s plan was just all too perfect, and you were about to witness the death of everyone you once held dear in your heart. Pieck stayed out of sight, preparing to roll the boulders to Zeke while you sat in the luggage on her.
Both you and Pieck waited for the signal. Then you heard it. The transformation of Reiner. They found him...
Then it grew quite once more and then you counted.
3...2...1...
Suddenly the ground shook and the scene around you grew brighter than it did before. You looked up from where you were and the sky was blinding yellow. Lighting stuck the Earth, and dozens of Titans appeared with it, surrounding the Scout’s only exit. The center piece of all those titan of course, was the the Beast. It was just as terrifying as you remembered it. The grin spread across its face didn’t help the situation either.
The long arms of the Beast reached out and grabbed the boulder. The position and the pitch itself was all too perfect as Zeke threw the boulder miles towards the wall, and perfectly blocked their only exit. Back and fourth, back and fourth. It felt like hours while you sat in Pieck’s luggage, watching and seeing her collect boulders for Zeke. Until you heard that familiar roar of his titan. The roar you heard when he took you with him to the outskirts of Wall Rose and made you watch him turn Connie’s village into Titans.
Suddenly, all of the 2-5cm titans that surrounded the walls began to run full speed at the wall’s entrance in attempt to kill the scouts that were stuck. This is power... Everything was at the mercy of Zeke and nobody else could interfere with it. Oh but it didn’t end there. Zeke picked up the barrel next to you that carried Bertholdt inside, and threw it further into the walls. Good luck...
Zeke just threw in the Cossal Titan and you knew what would happen from there. It was a god of destruction and a part of you prayed that Levi would make it out alive. The other part prayed that he wouldn’t have gotten involved in the first place and stayed to clean the stables back at home.
The last part of you prayed that you wouldn’t have to reunite with him on the battlefield.
Note : I can��t thank you all enough for the positive messages and love that you guys been sending to this story. It baffles me that this story has been sitting in my mind for weeks, and when I finally wrote it out, it got this much love. Seriously thank you guys, I can’t thank you all enough. <3
Tags : @mother-ting-ting
243 notes · View notes
dreamkidddream · 3 years
Note
I really enjoyed your writing on the ADA members with a younger sibling like partner <33 I was wondering if you could write the same scenario but with Chuuya and Fyodor? Except the younger partner in question has a rough past and cheery/joking personality similar to Dazai(?) I'm super excited to see more of your writing!! c:
Hi anon! Thank you for the compliment and for reading (here’s the scenario for those that want to read it)! The only difference is that instead of this reader being pure, they’re going to be like a mini Dazai (or at least similar to him). One change that I did make was that Reader isn’t as suicidal as Dazai (ie. constantly trying to find a way to end their life), but Reader is ready to go whenever and wherever, whether it’s on their terms or not. Reader is gender neutral and hope you enjoy!
Also ayyyeeee my first time writing for Fyodor! Hope I did him justice cause his part took a while lol
TW: Mentions of suicide, dark moments (Reader is a bit sadistic, but nothing graphic is mentioned) small spoilers for Dark Era arc and Season 3
Acting as a Younger Sibling with a Rough Past and Personality Similar to Dazai with: Chuuya and Fyodor
Chuuya
Well he was extremely disturbed to say the least. Okay extremely may be over exaggerating, but the way you acted got underneath his skin bad
You reminded him too much of Dazai, minus the suicide attempts and the animosity towards him. Although that didn’t stop the morbid jokes from happening
“Hey Chu-Chu, what did the librarian say to the guy that wanted to check out a book on how to commit suicide?”
“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that!-“
“Go away, you’re not going to bring it back. HA! A knee slapper, am I right?”
He wondered if Dazai got to you first like he did Akutagawa, and if he did, that was just another reason to strangle him
You were his partner, and you were young. So seeing the way you interacted with everyone and everything with such a pessimistic attitude while still being cheery was alarming
Not to mention how easy it is for you to just readily accept death at every turn. You’re the literal embodiment of “guess I’ll die” and it drives Chuuya up the wall every time
He remembers the one time an enemy held you hostage how you were so cheerful to finally be rid of this joke you called a life, and that you told the guy who was holding a gun to your head to “put it between the eyes, it looks 10x better that way.” And “don’t be afraid to blow my brains out either! But you do you, but I think it’s a rather stylistic choice if I do say so myself.”
The man thought you were trying to distract him at first, but when he figured out that you were serious he honestly got so nervous he was ready to just let you go and suggest therapy lmao
After he handled the situation, he took you directly under his wing. Sure, you were already his partner, but he was really going to look out for you including outside of work. If it meant that he had to “babysit” you, then oh well
Plus he didn’t want to face Mori if he just let you die while under his care
You realized what he was trying to do when you two would go off to “collect information” and would be doing the complete opposite. “Hey, I’m kinda hungry, let’s take a break and grab a bite to eat.”
“I thought we had to get this info back to Mori ASAP. Not that I care if he’s mad, he’s been holding out on me and this is the perfect way to take revenge.”
“Holding out how?”
“I told him that since he’s a doctor he would be the perfect teacher to show me some new techniques.”
“...on?”
“Torturing, duh! My methods are getting kinda stale, and I do want to perfect my craft after all. I want to be good at something before I kick the bucket, Chu.”
Poor man is honestly in so much distress because of you please help him
And the way you interacted with the other members was both entertaining and horrifying to watch at times. Majority of the time, you were this happy go lucky kid with a dark sense of humor (you still made people smile, although sometimes it was tense or apprehensive, but whatever a smile is still a smile). But when you were having a bad day or a mission was going wrong, everyone knew to steer clear of you.
A new recruit tried to cheer you up one day, telling you that “it could always be worse”. You then got pulled into the office with a very angry Chuuya and a mildly disappointed Mori.
Chuuya finally had enough after months of this occurred. It was like a never ending cycle: except your behavior was getting increasingly more reckless and dangerous. It was driving him crazy trying to figure out why you were this way and if it was any way to snap you out of it
He wasn’t a stranger to death, he’s seen it with his own two eyes, end even killed people with his bare hands. But the huge difference between you two is that he didn’t particularly enjoy killing, if it had to be done then he had no problems doing so; it comes with the job y’know? But with you, you took actual pleasure in killing. It filled you with a sick sense of glee, and it even made his stomach turn
The bond between you two grew from just a typical work relationship (as far as working in the mafia goes). He knew that from underneath your rather concerning persona, you were just troubled. Someone or something made you this way, and while he had his own troubles growing up, he was able to deal with it and overcome his issues. It just seemed like you just...gave in to yours. And it made him feel pity for you.
You didn’t mind Chuuya at all. You actually liked being his partner! He was pretty much the only person that you didn’t feel a need to harm or kill. And he was fun to be around, when he wasn’t being such a party pooper (I mean what’s the point of being in the mafia when you can’t purposely spill some blood every now and then for fun?). The only thing you didn’t like was how he would try and get you to talk about your past. You honestly didn’t see a point in it, it’s called the past for a reason, why didn’t he understand that?!
But no matter how many times you would shut down or try to change the subject, he would always try again, and again, and again. It was very annoying. And you didn’t like to talk about it. Why didn’t Chuuya understand that?!
Eventually, his pestering worked. One day after a rough mission when he had to patch you up, you opened up to him. You didn’t immediately tell him everything, but you gave him small insights to what happened, to what lead you to be this way
You could tell that he was grateful that he was finally getting somewhere with you. And you yourself was surprised that your dynamic didn’t change. He didn’t look at you with sympathy in his eyes, he didn’t baby you, he wasn’t disgusted by you, everything was normal. The only difference is that Chuuya told you that it was okay to talk to him, and that you shouldn’t be scared to approach him (psh you scared, yeah okay)
Chuuya felt like a weight lifted off his shoulders once you opened up. You were still a bit sadistic (but you did tone it back after the recruit incident, and after you saw how repulsed he looked, so you just did everything behind closed doors now) and had your cheery persona on, but it felt a little bit more real now. It felt genuine. It gave him a good feeling to see some spark in your eyes instead of the full he felt himself getting used to. And he would never say it to you, but it also gave him a warm feeling with him being your role model (you knew but didn’t want to burst his bubble yet)
Your change wasn’t very noticeable at first, but that’s okay. No one needed to know, it was fine with just you and Chuuya. You still felt the desire to just be done with life, but it wasn’t your focus whenever you were with him. You hadn’t made peace with your past yet, but you felt you could one day with him by your side. He was someone that you didn’t knew you needed (or wanted to admit to), but it worked out in the end. You had doubts that you could or would ever change, but if you did, growing to be someone like Chuuya would’nt be the worst possible outcome
Plus, whenever he did run into Dazai with his new sidekick, he is 10000% bragging about how much better and cooler you are, with him being the superior between them both. He can’t WAIT till you guys can whoop their ass
Fyodor
Well weren’t you such an interesting character
To see someone as young as you ready to just leave this world in an abrupt way was intriguing, and he realized that he could use this to his advantage. Maybe even give you something to gain in exchange
He found you hiding inside a disgusting abandoned building (a fitting place for a rat if he would say so himself), drenched in blood. Fyodor didn’t necessarily care why, but he was curious about one thing: why were you smiling? Your eyes were so lifeless, yet here you were smiling so bright, as if you weren’t covered in someone’s blood
Fyodor found himself smiling down at you. Did you think he was prey, that he was going to be your next target? He wanted you to try, he wanted to see what you were really capable of
“Tell me, what is going to be your next move? Do you wish to attack me?”
“If you do something that I don’t like, then yes, that’s the plan. Why are you here Mister? You wanna have some fun too?”, your smile turned into a smirk, twirling your very sharp knife in your hand. “You’re not even from here, so why are you trying to bother such an innocent kid like me?”
He matched your smirk, “You are from innocent, child, even a blind man can see that. To see just how full of sin you are. This wasn’t your first atrocity that you committed nor would it be your last. Which is a shame, it might be too late for me to cleanse you of your filth.”
Oh, he was going to be very amusing to mess with. But you weren’t stupid. Something wasn’t right with this man. No one would walk up to someone with copious amounts of blood on them, holding a weapon that caused said blood, while berating them about being “full of sin”. What was his ability? Did he have people with him? Was the building surrounded or booby trapped? These questions swirled around your head, all while he just kept smirking at you. He was pissing you off, who the hell did he think he was?
But you kept your anger at bay, plastering a cheerful smile on your face. “Sin? Cleanse me of my filth? I guess I do kinda stink but who exactly do you think you are, some type of God?”
“That’s exactly what I am. I’m here to free this world from this wretched curse that has been brought upon.”
...huh? Did-did he escape from the asylum or something? Did he seriously believe himself to be a God (not even a prophet but an actual God)? Seeing your confusion, he continued on, “The curse of ability users. They plague this Earth, and they need to be eliminated.”
“Why is that? What’s wrong with having abilities? Hellooooo, some people’s abilities are actually pretty cool! If you just have a terrible ability, it’s your problem, not the world-“
“Why not let me show you why it’s indeed a curse?”
“And how would you do that? You must be crazy if you think I’m going anywhere with you. I may be dangerous but I’m not dumb!”
“You poor, misguided soul.”, he tutted at you. “Look at where you have ended up at. These people with these so called “cool abilities” have failed you, have they not? Yet you still idolize them, not believing that they are the reason for your misfortunes. If they were truly your idols, they wouldn’t have left you to fend for yourself, to live among the rats. They left you to rot, do you not see that?”
He was hitting too close to home, he was getting too personal, too close. He didn’t know you at all, you’re a complete stranger to him, but why did his words hold some truth to them?
“Come with me, and I will prove to you first hand why this has to be done.”, he was now physically close to you, staring you deep into your eyes. “It would be such a waste for you to die without knowing the truth, wouldn’t you agree?”
You didn’t have much, he wasn’t wrong. But if he could take you somewhere with real food and not scraps you had to fight to find, and to have real shelter, then fine. You agreed. And if you felt that something was up, you’ll just kill him, run away, or both
After he took you away, he kept to his word. It seemed like he was really was telling the truth, you getting first-hand experience like he promised. It was scary that he was right, but you were also indebted to him. He not only allowed you to live in luxury (at least it was luxury to you considering what you had before), but he opened your eyes to what the true problem is. He gave your life a new purpose. If you two were able to successfully complete his goal, then your problems would be gone forever right? You would finally be able to feel a sense of peace, and you can’t wait till that could happen
You and Fyodor, after he opened your eyes, bonded easier than in the beginning. You were smart enough to not fully trust him after leaving with him, but after just a couple of pulled strings to cause certain things to happen, you slowly melted and molded into the way that he planned. You would be an excellent pawn in his grand plan, and you would do well in keeping him entertained at the same time
You were a joyful child, even when carrying out his dirty work, you did so gleefully. After joining the Rats in the House of the Dead, you tried to spread that joy among the other members. They didn’t find it very amusing, but you didn’t care and neither did Fyodor. You were far too important to let go of now
You were always by him, it seemed. Always in the same space, whether he was planning his next move, and playing the cello, you were always there with this look of awe directed at him. Every time he would catch you staring, he would simply chuckle and softly reprimand you about, “how rude it is to stare, but you simply can’t help it.”
He even taught you how to play the cello!
You sounded terrible but practice makes perfect
As time went on and the end goal seeming to be closing in, he came to see you as more than just an expendable tool. He found out about your past, but simply proved to you once again why you two had to make sure the curse was ridden as soon as possible. No one wanted a repeat of what happened to you to happen to anyone else, so the mission had to be success. Failure was not an option
Fyodor didn’t see himself as a cruel man towards you. He just didn’t mince his words and he made sure that you were dealing with the truth, and not some lie that was attempted to be twisted as reality. If anything, that was the way that he showed that he held some compassion for you, he wasn’t willing to let you be lead astray from the truth again, not while he was here. You had somehow wiggled your way into his mind, where he had been accepting of your close bond, and he took that into consideration
Once his goal is achieved and he has truly made his place known as a God, he’ll make sure that you gain your rightful place among him as well. You were worthy in Fyodor’s eyes, and as long as nothing came in between your bond and the end goal, then everything will work out. He will make sure of that.
280 notes · View notes
nengojo · 3 years
Note
Could we please get some relationship headcanons for Ann, Makoto, Futaba and Haru?
i kinda went overboard and wrote more than I expected... but i am a sap for relationship hcs!! also saw that 4/23 is makoto’s bday, which is very cool and convenient for me hehe ,, hope you like this <33
word count: 1.549 warnings: SLIGHT STORY SPOILER IN HARU'S PART tags/genre: fluff, just all of it
requests are open!
Tumblr media
Takamaki Ann
She loves to pamper you. Be it buying you stuff, treating you her favorite desserts, or staying over at your place and dressing you up with cute outfits. You try to do the same for her and she enjoys it as well.
A LOT of PDA, though it’s not over the top. She’d pepper kisses all over your face whenever she’s excited. Or always bury her face in your neck whenever she needs to be closer to you.
Even though Ann hasn’t dated anyone before you, she definitely learned and read up on how to be the best girlfriend. Probably read those relationships magazines (she denies it though)
Ann prefers simpler dates at the park or karaoke, but she wouldn’t mind making reservations for fancier restaurants if there’s an occasion. Would definitely choose buffets over the 5-star restaurant though.
Speaking of occasions, she’s the type to have celebrations for every little thing you guys do together as a couple. It can range from monthsaries, your first beach date, or your first night together. Ann keeps trinkets with her from every date you two go on.
Ann always has you on her mind. If she sees a new cheesecake shop, she buys it thinking that you would enjoy sharing it with her. When she saw cute phone charms, she bought a pair so you and her would have a “couple-y” item.
Would be into double dates, she doesn’t say it, but it definitely comes from her competitive side of showing off. Ann wants everyone to know she’s dating the best person ever. 💕
Introduces you to her parents through Skype. Ann says she couldn’t wait till her parents come back from their trips, so you could properly meet them. She quells your nervousness by saying that they already approved of you.
Petnames are minimal, but it’s very sweet when she does use them with you. You think it’s because she enjoys the flustered expression on your face when she calls you “baby” or “sweetie”.
Ann’s just a proud girlfriend! Be ready to be treated like the royalty you are, as you made her feel her worth once more.
Tumblr media
Niijima Makoto
Similar to Ann, she values your relationship and you greatly. Makoto would be careful as possible around you. Always tending to your needs, mindful of what she says and does around you. There’s constant communication between you and her.
Probably would overheat out of embarrassment if she tries to cling onto you when in public, so hand-holding and touching knees while sitting together is enough for her.
Makoto DEFINITELY researched every possible tip and ‘guide’ on how to be the perfect girlfriend. You insist that she doesn’t need to incorporate all those into your relationship, saying that she’s perfect as the way she is.
With all that studying though, she actually sets up the best dates for you two. She always invites you to a newly-opened restaurant or gets the best seats whenever there’s a film showing nearby.
That said, she still prefers dates in secluded areas, places similar to Leblanc. She has this favorite nature trail that she found out about in dating forums and would take you there on nightly walks, talking about everything and nothing.
Makoto doesn’t announce your relationship to others, thinking that it’s better if people found out naturally. She likes the look on people’s faces when she admits to having a significant other while she acts all innocent and pure about it.
Her sister would openly confront her about your relationship, but Sae is lowkey super supportive of you and her. She says it’s good that someone is at Makoto’s side when she isn’t there.
She acts composed around others, but you’re the only one she lets see her vulnerable side. You tell her it’s adorable that you can easily tease her. (please don’t tease her too much or she’ll implode from being too flustered)
Makoto would think she’s too mature for petnames, but you don’t hold it against her, especially when she says your name with so much love in her voice every time.
Makoto is an observant girlfriend! She says it’s because she wants you to know that she genuinely cares and that she’s grateful to be yours.
Tumblr media
Sakura Futaba
Futaba’s relationship with you feels natural from the start, despite her insistence that she would suck being a girlfriend. You reassure her at the start that she would do great with little to no effort, and she does :)
Wouldn’t even think twice about PDA, She feels safe and secure when she’s closer to you, so the more contact, the better. If she could, Futaba would shamelessly cling onto your back like a koala. (and you’d let her)
She says that experience is the best teacher, so she went into your relationship completely blind. The whole thing had its setbacks; she tried to kiss you out of nowhere one time, since “that’s what couples do, right?” You told her that there was no rush, and she was grateful for that.
She’s a fast learner though, and it manifests in her innocent but sincere gestures. When she thinks that you’re sad, she tells you jokes or shows you a meme she liked on her phone. Futaba thinks that whatever makes her happy, might cheer you up too.
Absolutely loves talking about her interests to you, because she knows that you would never judge her or question what she likes. You enjoy being on the listening side, since the way Futaba lights up is enough for you.
Alternatively, she’s a very active listener whenever you would talk about your day or share something about your interests. Futaba encourages you to tell her more about it, and on her own time, she learns about your said interests so she can participate in the conversations better.
In terms of interests, she convinced you to play video games with her (if you don’t already play) and it’s already a date for the two of you. Dates always involve either trips to Akihabara, arcade hopping, or the park when she wants quiet times with you.
Sojiro enjoys seeing you two interact whenever you guys stop by at Leblanc. When Futaba was in the restroom, he whispered to you saying that he hasn’t seen Futaba this energetic ever since she was a kid. That meant a lot to you.
She started calling you exaggerated names like “my lovely sweetheart babycakes” or “little fluffball whiskers”. Other than that, her favorite petname for you was “bub”, since she said the funny word fit you well. You love hearing it from her too.
Futaba is a heartfelt girlfriend! Your bond with each other has always been close, and now you get the chance to be closer.
Tumblr media
Okumura Haru
Haru would be reserved from openly showing affection at the start, but you give her all the time and space she needs. She appreciates it greatly and reciprocates the effort in kind.
PDA is a no-no, although she does unknowingly flirt with you in the sweetest way. She has a way with words that makes the simplest compliment seem like the highest praise, and it’s enough to make you feel loved.
With her training for marriage, she obviously knows the basic aspects of a relationship. Taking care of you comes naturally to her, yet you were there to show her that she can receive the same amount of love that she readily gives to you.
You teased her about how she acts more like a mother to you, and she misunderstood and profusely apologized (poor sweetheart). Haru explains that she loves seeing you thrive and be happy, which in turn makes her happy.
It started as an innocent suggestion, but Haru wanted to write love letters to you from time to time. In most instances she would pass it onto you after a date, saying that you should read it when you get home. Other times she would quietly slip it in your bag as a surprise for you to find.
You’ve come to appreciate the craft that Haru puts into the letters. She always chooses the delicate papers, sometimes scented. And other letters had pressed flowers in the envelope. The most precious thing in the letter though was her confessions and affirmations.
Haru lets you choose your date locations since she wants to be more accustomed to city life. You once brought her to a conveyor belt sushi place, and you couldn’t handle the joy in your eyes when you saw her be fascinated about it. “It just moves in little trains! It’s so innovative and cute,” she says.
When you were closer with her, she opened up more about her father to you, even inviting you to visit the shrine dedicated to him in the mansion. That was the first time you saw her cry, and you promised yourself to do your best so you never have to see her like that again.
Romantic petnames suit her well, but she only uses them when you two are alone. Hearing Haru call you “my lily” or “my light” always caught you off-guard no matter how many times you have heard it.
Haru is a compassionate girlfriend! She treats you as delicately as she acts and you know that you’re in good hands with her, as she is with your own.
100 notes · View notes
iron--spider · 4 years
Text
I woke up at 3am yesterday to watch The Devil All the Time and I’ve been thinking about it since. I’m gonna put my thoughts and feelings and a review of sorts behind the cut, because I am gonna talk about it freely, so there will be spoilers! So don’t click if you don’t wanna see. I’ll also be discussing the content of the film and I know that might bother people, so that stuff is in here, too! And it’ll be really long because you know I can’t shut up.
Tumblr media
So, I loved it. I loved it loved it loved it. I read the book a long time ago when I first found out Tom was gonna be in it, and the only problem I had with the book was that the POVs would change in the middle of a paragraph lmao, but other than that I thought it was pretty perfect. I knew the movie was gonna be pretty brutal, because the book is brutal, so I was prepared.
-BUT I think the critics HIGHLY HIGHLY exaggerated how bad the content was. Like, seriously, they acted as if this was gonna be a Saw movie. I was preparing for blatant, horrific gore, but it didn’t live up to their dramatics at all. There’s blood and nasty situations, but every single episode of Game of Thrones is worse than this movie, as are most episodes of any crime drama on a paid network. I actually thought they were super, super tactful of all their horrific shit. The dog death was off screen and the shot of the body (described by the critics as literally traumatic) was so quick (enough to shut your eyes) and in the dark. I also argue that particular moment is extremely important for Arvin’s journey, because it’s the moment he truly turns on his father and turns on religion entirely, and he carries it with him his whole life (it’s what he flashes back to when he says “I know what my daddy did” because it’s the marker of all Willard’s mistakes) and it winds up being one of the last things he does before he leaves everything behind. Burying Jack’s bones. So, like, I despise dog death or any animal death in my entertainment, but it’s important here and handled well. And all the worst death scenes are either extremely fast (Helen’s and Gary Matthew’s) or shown in negative (all the photos). I think Bodecker’s headshot with Bobo is probably the worst and is also pretty quick. I don’t know if this means I’m a jaded bitch, but God the way they were all whining and crying, I thought it’d be a million times worse. It could have been, with the book’s descriptions, so it was actually pretty tame. Lenora’s death affected me the most and they cut away from that, too. I guess it’ll still bother some people, but there are many, many mainstream things that are far more violent and gory than this was.
-I thought it was a beautiful movie. I never mind films that are slightly slower but I love ones that use their time to lay things out and really show us what’s going on, build the ambiance and the relationships. I loved the narration (which I was worried about), and it really made me feel like we were visiting a moment in time that was important. Like something that was written and should be learned about. Rumors in a town you’re passing through. The ghosts of past trauma and transgressions looming over everyone that’s left.
Tumblr media
-I liked the changes they made with Roy and Theodore because I thought that storyline kinda meandered in the book and I’m glad that Roy was actually gone the whole time and not just neglecting to come back to Lenora.
-The only real complaints I can make, I’ll get out of the way here: I wanted a little bit more time with Carl and Sandy. Carl was really creepy, but he could have been much creepier. In the book he was the one looking at the pictures constantly, Not Sandy, and that really showed that he was the one with the sickness, the one pushing them forward and orchestrating it all. I thought they did well with showing how Sandy deteriorated in her efforts with him through the years, but I would have liked to see a bit more of their personal lives together and her fear of him and her genuine feelings about what they’re doing, because the book goes into that a lot more. I also wasn’t a fan of Lee finding the picture early and knowing some about what they were doing, because I liked how it was a surprise to him in the book and yet he still did all he could to cover it up. And lastly, in the book there’s a scene with Arvin after he kills Sandy and Carl where he’s in a motel and he takes like 18 showers because he can’t get the grime of what he’s done off of him, and he looks at the picture and has a nightmare about killing Sandy, and I really would have loved if they’d kept it in. It would have been another ‘acting’ moment for Tom, and it would have been nice for us to see his direct trauma and reaction to everything that’s piling on top of him.
-BUT that’s it. I loved pretty much every single other thing and decision that they made. The cinematography was TOP NOTCH. You could tell they filmed on 35mm film, you could see the grain, and it really, really added to it. Antonio Campos is a very skilled director and I trusted him at the helm of this story. Everything looked so authentic, all the sets and the costumes. The soundtrack and score were AMAZING and enhanced the film. Technically it was just perfect in every regard to me.
Tumblr media
-Acting! Acting! God this was like...a massive testament to the casting department and the talent of these people. Everyone was on their A game. Bill Skarsgård has been on my radar since Castle Rock (which I recommend to everybody, both seasons) and he was so natural and great in this role. Haley Bennet was absolutely adorable as Charlotte, I loved her cute face and her sweet relationship with little Arvin. Riley Keough was so great as Sandy with the limited amount of time she had, and Jason Clarke is one of my favorites but he was unrecognizable in this as creepy ass Carl. Harry Melling was a far cry from Dudley Dursley and he did a great job with his screen time, too. Same with Mia Wasikowska, who didn’t have much to do (same as poor Helen in the book) but she was able to garner our sympathy anyway. Seb Stan was slimy and gross but he pulled it off so well. Eliza Scanlen has been one of my favorites since Sharp Objects (another one that’s brutal as hell but I recommend it, she’s so scary) and she was so, so great here. Robert Pattinson was ALRIGHT, everybody talks him up over this but he felt a little hammy to me and a little too over the top, but there’s no denying his talent.
Tumblr media
-Now, the reason we’re all here. Tom. My God. As soon as it was over I just didn’t know what the hell to do, I didn’t even know how to....go on, lmfao. We all know he’s talented, that’s why we’re here, that’s why we love him, but his performance in this is just BEYOND all that. Beyond comprehension. The man is only 24 years old and he’s out here outacting people who have been in the industry for longer than he’s been alive. He is SHOCKINGLY good. I knew he’d be perfect for Arvin as soon as I read the book, but he just completely embodied this role in a way that I couldn’t have imagined. He doesn’t show up in the movie until about 45 minutes in (which doesn’t hurt it because of the strength of the leadup, Bill’s performance and the performance of little Arvin’s actor) but God, as soon as he’s there the whole thing comes to life in a way that it hadn’t before. Tom is literally just a shining light, and he draws your eye in every single scene he’s in, and when he’s not there you’re wondering when he’s gonna come back. Arvin, to me, is a very complex character—he has been inherently changed by how his father twisted religion in his childhood, how deeply he betrayed him by his behavior, but he still has a kind heart and a protective streak and the need to be strong despite the pain nearly breaking him apart from moment to moment. Tom is just outrageously good at portraying all Arvin’s little nuances, how he clenches his jaw, how his voice breaks when he’s afraid or trying to convince someone of something or get his point across, how his hands tremble after he’s done something he wishes he didn’t have to do, how his whole body wilts when he realizes he’s emulating his father. And his eyes. Tom can do so, so much with his eyes that it’s unbelievable. He tells you so much with just a simple look, a glance, a wince, a long blink. I’m not exaggerating when I say he’s just an absolute revelation in this, he cements his place in Hollywood with a firm hand and a tender look, and I will not be forgetting what he did here anytime soon. There’s a reason that everyone called him out for being so stunning in this. He is magnificent. He has a gift.
Tumblr media
-I wanna say, in particular, how much I love Arvin’s relationship with Lenora. Their lives were both marked by such tragedy and pain and Arvin just took up the torch of protecting her from the moment he said hello as a child. He wants so badly to be tough, and he IS, but there’s just miles and miles of love in this boy’s heart, and it manifests itself for his family—for his uncle, for his grandma, but for Lenora in particular. I loved how he just showed up when she was being harassed and just ran in there without thinking, and it’s purely devastating that he was out taking care of her bullies while a worse predator was cornering her. The scene where she was sick wasn’t in the book but it was a beautiful addition. Tom sometimes wears this very open, unguarded, honest expression, and this is the only scene in which he shows it, and it really expresses the love between them and how much she means to him. Arvin didn’t find Lenora’s body in the book, but it was the right change for them to make. Tom was devastating here, and that pain and that moment truly fuel every second of his journey through the rest of the film. “My Lenora”. The saddest siblings. Both Eliza and Tom did so beautifully with this relationship and I hope they work together again.
Tumblr media
-Favorite acting moments for Tom: when he’s in the car in the rain after beating up the bullies, when he’s in the church crowd and realizes Preston is insulting his Grandma (the way his face changes oh my GOD), when he finds Lenora, when the cop comes to tell him Lenora was pregnant (this is just....so damn good), when he was telling his uncle to look after his Grandma, THE ENTIRE CHURCH CONFRONTATION (the way he trembles when he’s trying to get his attention, how he speaks the whole time, how he slowly gathers his strength), when he thinks Sandy has shot him, the moment where he’s over Lee’s body and just....pleading with his eyes for him to listen and realize what he’s done. And the last scene, in the car, all the emphasis on his face....once again, he can do so, so much with a look, with his eyes. Someone called out the beautiful last shot in the film, and of course, it’s Arvin’s sleeping face. And it was so beautiful (and devastating, to think of him enlisting. Tom draws so much sympathy that you just want Arvin to have a normal life so badly. He deserves it, he does, but will he get it?)
Tumblr media
-Last thing I’ll say, I really loved how, despite turning his back on religion, that God seems to be protecting Arvin the whole time. He’s terribly afraid confronting the preacher and that could have easily gone badly, especially when he tosses the book, but Arvin was somehow able to get a shot off and get the upper hand. And with Carl and Sandy, he senses something is off immediately once they pull off the road, and he would have absolutely been killed had Carl not switched out Sandy’s bullets for blanks. And in the confrontation with Lee, he once again shoots at the same time as him, shoots without looking, and manages to come out unscathed and on top. A few spoiler reviews pointed out that the last person that picks Arvin up is supposed to be a Jesus-like figure, almost like he’s finally been saved. It hurts that everyone around him that he loved is almost forsaken by God, but he himself is protected. It’s such a complicated commentary on religion throughout the entire piece, but it’s so interesting and engrossing.
Tumblr media
So I’d recommend this movie to anyone that loves movies, loves Tom, can deal with a gritty story that takes its time laying out all the chess pieces. It is definitely heavy subject matter but it doesn’t go overboard with the horror as it easily could have. Yes, there are triggers to look for, but the critics hugely over exaggerated how awful it was. I can probably go get time stamps for certain things if people wanna ask me after reading this, but if you can get through a Tarantino film or any HBO drama, you can do this. And Tom’s performance is one for the ages and not one that deserves to be passed over or downplayed. It is beautiful and heart-wrenching—a magnificent turn that displays his monumental ability to reach out and guide you into any world he decides to make his own.
I loved The Devil All the Time.
Tumblr media
294 notes · View notes
medea10 · 3 years
Text
My Review of Flowers of Evil
Tumblr media
How did I get into this anime? Because Flowers of Evil is something no one says, “Oh I want to see that, this looks like a masterpiece”! Oh, I was well familiar with the rotoscope nightmare stories from this and hoped to God my randomizer wouldn’t curse me with watching Flowers of Evil. I was however intrigued to learn that there was a yandere in this anime that’s on Yuno Gasai AND Shion Sonozaki levels. But intrigue can only get me so far when you spend 13 episodes watching…
Tumblr media
THIS!
No this is not an exaggeration. Everyone has this kind of cringe face throughout the entire anime series. Be afraid children.
Tumblr media
So the story is about this guy named Takao Kasuga. He loves to read and he loves the class smarty-pants Nanako Saeki. He doesn’t just love her, he sees her as his muse and his Venus and all that bullshit. But this is an admiration from afar. Pretty sure Saeki doesn’t even know he exists! One day, Kasuga forgets his book in his classroom. And on the ground, he notices a gym bag that belongs to Saeki. Oh come on, he’s not gonna go down the perverted route and steal a girl’s gym…
Tumblr media
So he steals Saeki’s gym uniform. And surprise, one person knew what happened. The class loner, Nakamura! She forces Kasuga to form a contract with her. It wasn’t written or anything, just verbal. However, that doesn’t stop Nakamura from forcing Kasuga to do whatever she wants. But does Nakamura really like Kasuga or is she just into torturing this shit-faced pervert?
BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: You know, I’m too thrown off by the animation here that it has temporarily paralyzed me from catching voices or even giving a damn. I’m familiar with only two of the cast mates and the rest is literally my first time hearing it. Okay, I have one comment here. I often forget Mariya Ise could do some damn-ass scary characters like Nakamura. And when she does those murderous screams, forget about it! Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.
*Kasuga is played by Shinichirou Ueda
*Saeki is played by Yoko Hikasa (known for Bea on Pokemon Journeys, Rias on High School DxD, Mio on K-ON!, Hina on Domestic Girlfriend, Kirigiri on Danganronpa, Frieda on Attack on Titan, and Diana on Little Witch Academia)
*Nakamura is played by Mariya Ise (known for Bonnie on Pokemon XY, Levy on Fairy Tail, Ray on The Promised Neverland, Stocking on Panty & Stocking, Mika on Durarara, Dorothy on Black Clover, and Yuuko on Yuri on Ice)
SHIPPING: Oh please, anime Gods, do not turn this into another School Days fiasco. I find myself praying for this a lot these days. But in this anime’s case, please do not go down that route!
So, it was clear from episode one that Kasuga had a crush on Saeki. But this got very perverted very fast when he stole her gym clothes and that lead to the contract with Nakamura. Now is Nakamura romantically invested in Kasuga or is she just a crazy bitch. Let’s chalk this up to a 50-50 split here.
Tumblr media
It wasn’t until the fourth episode where Kasuga and Saeki actually spoke to each other. And one episode later, they go on a date and end up in a relationship. One has to wonder if Kasuga would have one day acted on his own and ask Saeki out. All of this happened because he was being forced by that psychopath Nakamura. She tortured this kid and forced him to do so many unethical things. Stripping him naked and putting Saeki’s uniform on him for one! Who does that? So would Kasuga have done these sporadic actions if Nakamura wasn’t in the picture? After he stole that uniform, anything is possible. Now here’s the crazy shit here, Saeki loves Kasuga and she doesn’t care that he stole her gym uniform and did fuck-knows-what with it. She’s mad that Kasuga hid it, but still loves him.
Girl, the fuck is wrong with you?! You must be some special kind of crazy!
Tumblr media
By the end of this series, you do see a shift in Kasuga and who he wants to chase after. Saeki or Nakamura?! Let’s just say that during a running away scene, Kasuga was going to go home with Saeki until he saw Nakamura and he chases after her. That’s a pretty good sign that Kasuga has switched gears on who he likes. I won’t delve any further than that as the anime only gives us so much and the rest of this love turmoil between these three characters is covered only in the manga. Probably a sign I should read the manga!
Tumblr media
LOOOOOONG NO DIALOGUE MOMENTS: Dude, I know you’re trying to set the mood for certain moments, but I think you can dial it back a bit. This complaint isn’t just what happened at the beginning of episode 9; it took forever to get the main gist of this story in the very first episode. I had no idea what the main premise of the story was until the last five minutes of the first episode when Kasuga stole Saeki’s gym uniform.
Now I’m not knocking serious moments where there is no dialogue between characters for a long period of time and we just watch the animation of them walking or doing something. Hell, Neon Genesis Evangelion had famous scenes like that. But the elevator scene didn’t last six fucking minutes. Neither did the scene where Shinji kills Kaowru. In episode 9, we watch Nakamura and Kasuga walking from the school to home and watch the whole walk after destroying the classroom. I guarantee you, you could leave this episode running, fix yourself a bowl of cereal and toast, eat it up, go to the bathroom to have a good yank, then finish it off with watching a Che Guevara documentary…and Nakamura and Kasuga would still be walking home! I’m exaggerating and I don’t care. I feel like being an asshole here.
Tumblr media
OH DEAR GOD, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!: Very rarely will I ever look at an opening or ending theme song in literal fear. In fact, the last one to be so morbid was with Attack on Titan’s second season ending. I mean, the imagery alone should tell you that this is full of spoilers and possessed by the devil itself. Now that I think about it, that’s still undefeated. But Flowers of Evil’s ending theme is a close fucking second. Have you heard this thing? It sounds like Bjork singing in Japanese, synthesized, while a cat walks on a keyboard and having a seizure at the same time. Thank God there are no actual visuals for this other than the flower featured on Kasuga’s book. I don’t think we can handle anymore animation from this nightmare fuel.
ENDING: The writing is on the wall!
Tumblr media
And the floor, the ceiling…that classroom is just a fucking mess!
Kasuga’s one bad deed led to another and another in a domino effect. And instead of a little devil on his shoulder, he has a classmate that’s a sociopath. Kasuga has guilt about hiding so much from Saeki in this relationship and he wants to tell her everything he did. Nakamura says, “Nah, you’re going to write it all over the classroom and let the whole world know what a piece of shit you are”. Let’s just say Nakamura and Kasuga went overboard and completely destroyed their classroom. Kasuga gets a bit of a lucky break as the other vandalism covered up his name on the chalkboard confession. But two people have caught onto Kasuga’s crime, Saeki and Kasuga’s mother.
Saeki put two and two together when she noticed the ink smearing on the ground resembled the flower art work on Kasuga’s book “Flowers of Evil” and her stolen gym uniform was placed right there. As for Kasuga’s mother, she put two and two together when she heard what happened to his classroom and noticed Kasuga’s behavior and dirty clothes from the night of the crime. Won’t be long before everyone knows what Kasuga did.
What now, shit-face?
Tumblr media
Run away with Nakamura to the next town. Yeah, why the fuck not?! Saeki ends up tracking them down and tried to convince them to come back and for Kasuga to be truthful. Saeki wants Kasuga and I almost want to say the same, except hanging around this psycho-bitch for a while has caused him to try to stop Nakamura from leaving. Having Saeki see Kasuga go after Nakamura isn’t really a good look! At this point, it really feels like his love for Saeki was nothing more than lust.
Tumblr media
Dude, isn’t there a rule about not messing with crazy…like, don’t stick your dick in crazy?! This dude has got one crazy bitch on psycho-yandere levels and the other that’s about to turn into Kotonoha from School Days in about five seconds. Well, no one left town today as the police were called to look for Saeki because her parents are overprotective types and they take the other kids in.
We get a small time-leap of one month after the night in the police station. Nakamura’s been ignoring Kasuga and Kasuga ends his relationship with Saeki. Dude, stop trying to stick your dick in crazy! Kasuga tries to speak to Nakamura again and it fails. So he visits her at home and meets Nakamura’s father and grandmother. Then, he sneaks into her room and reads her private journal that talks about Kasuga a lot. Dude, you are stepping in uncharted territory! Drop the journal and get the fuck out before Nakamura comes home. So Nakamura comes in her room and finds shit-face reading her journal.
Tumblr media
*sighs*
First, I would like to acknowledge that Mariya Ise has one hell of a throat to scream as much as this crazy bitch does. Second, the fuck did I just say, ya dumbass?! Here we get another chase scene between Kasuga and Nakamura. What follows is…I can’t place my thoughts on this. Weird imagery, out of place dialogue, and possible scenes of future stuff to happen! A rape scene involving Saeki, a festival, a hideout, a knife, and fire! Thanks for the cryptic message guys, really appreciate it! Either the anime ran out of money or they’re fucking with the audience. Kasuga says he wants to form a contract with Nakamura and that’s the end!
Hmm, this anime came out in 2013 and it is now 2021. All the buildup and no word on a sequel! We all know that sequel ain’t ever coming. You have a better chance of a continuation to Haruhi Suzumiya than you do with this hunk of shit.
Okay, maybe ‘hunk of shit’ is too mean. This wasn’t a terrible anime. It was weird as fuck, the animation leaves a bad impression, but overall it wasn’t that bad. Now the manga to Flowers of Evil is a favorite to many. Probably because the characters don’t look like a cringey meme and there aren’t so many awkward pauses with no dialogue. Unless there’s a whole volume of Flowers of Evil out there where we just look at pictures of Nakamura and Kasuga walking home where they don’t say a fucking thing! I am not letting that go! Charlie Brown movies didn’t go to that level you guys did!
I was interested with each passing episode to see what Nakamura was going to do next and what she was capable of. I couldn’t make out if she was going to be homicidal or suicidal or just impact psychological warfare on her prey. It was the latter for this series, but I heard of some attempted seppuku going down in the manga. I’d like to think maybe one day a different studio would pick up this series, but I seriously doubt it with the rotten reception this adaptation received. It was said that the director to the anime saw this more as a live-action series than an anime and that’s why we have the rotoscope animation. It wasn’t until 2019 that we got a live-action adaptation to Flowers of Evil. Not sure how people felt about that adaptation, but even I have a feeling that it was much better than the anime. Hell, a Netflix adaptation probably would have turned out a better product. It would be nice for this to get a reboot, different studio, different director, and smash everything that has the word ‘rotoscope’ on it
Yeah, if you can get over watching the animation, give it a watch. Episode one drags, but it picks up the second Nakamura confronts Kasuga.
If you would like to watch Flowers of Evil, Crunchyroll and Hidive have all 13 episodes available for streaming.
Okay, now that I’m finished with that sociopathic nightmare let’s pick another Sentai Filmworks anime.
Tumblr media
HELL NO! I am not reviewing, “My Teacher Accidentally Made Me Horny”. That’s what I’m calling it and you should all do the same. NEXT!
Tumblr media
Okay…I have no idea what the hell this anime is, but it looks harmless enough.
13 notes · View notes
sta-bright · 3 years
Text
My First Tumble
Hi Tumblr,
I was inspired to get a Tumblr account, believe it or not, from Netflix's 2021 four-part docu-series "Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel." Although I highly doubt anyone cares enough to read any of my posts or has the attention span to read anything longer than a few sentences written by a 23 year old with her boobs out, *just in case,* SPOILER ALERT.
The (main) topic of the show focuses around Elisa Lam, who vanished in early 2013 when she was staying at the Cecil Hotel and was then found dead in one of the four water tanks on the roof 19 days after being reported missing (I think I have that correct but don't hold me to it, imaginary readers. It was something like that.).
Anyway, "...to make a long story short"... "too late" #cluereference, Elisa had a Tumblr blog. It seemed to be a good setup for how she was writing very personally, which is what I want to do, so here we go. I have a blog page for the business I own, but to be honest, it's geared more toward, well, business, so I don't feel like I can write freely, or only like the "good" or "normal" part of myself, the good stuff geared at an audience without scaring people away or whatever. So for this one, I don't really care as much about proper grammar or spelling, just somewhere to write my real thoughts if and when I can focus enough to sort them out enough to put them down. I have a bunch of journals, but they are all over the place and I can't write fast enough, so I'm going to try this out. I have a lot to say, and I think even just putting it out there even though I know no one cares might help me feel a little bit of relief, even if anyone does read it and might think I'm an idiot or whatever.
I wasn't sure what to name my blog, and I'm not sure if there's a way to change it in the future, but for now I have decided on "Sta-Bright." Most of my family and some of my close friends call me "Sta" and my partner David calls me Sta Bright, which I think is really cute and makes me happy, so here we are. I use the word partner because I think the word boyfriend is a little too young for us and our relationship warrants a higher level than that. ANYWAY, there is the background information for you, my new friend, Tumblr. I already feel better.
So, this show really pissed me off for a few (many) reasons. I've legitimately been pacing around all morning. First, even the title of the show is misleading. The death of Elisa Lam was not a "crime." It was a devastating incident of accidental death highly likely (as confidently confirmed by all professionals involved) related to a psychotic episode of her mental illness, Bipolar I, which I also happen to have. Netflix using the title "Crime Scene" to lure watchers in is disgusting within itself. Good for you, Netflix. Holla for the dollas! Make that money, baby.
Then, beyond the fact Netflix milked four episodes out of a glamorized case that was ruled an accidental death for this reason not even long after finding Elisa, it is the whole ordeal of the reality and dramatizing of this saga that is so sad.
Upon the release of the famous elevator footage the day she went missing, it went viral almost instantaneously.
*Hold please* I actually just read an article by BBC.com where director of the series, Joe Berlinger, says, "For the average viewer it's another compelling story you watch and then move on to the next. But for who this happened to, it's the worst moment in their life. It's a real tragedy for that person and that family." LOLOLOLOL OKAY JOE!!!! Is this why you spent FOUR EPISODES talking about bullshit theories to keep people hooked and open more discussion? You know that this is not out of respect. Shame on YOU!
"If you look at the other tellings of the story, you'd see she's the victim of some horrible, evil presence that took control of her.
"Those kinds of narratives, I think, are incredibly disrespectful and probably why the family just didn't want to deal with another show that was going to exaggerate the circumstances of the tragedy."
So is this why you made a show exaggerating the circumstances of the tragedy? Lol. "We need to talk about the ghost stories" Or do you need to talk about them to open a can of worms to more losers who fixate on the case? OR IS THAT JUST ME? I don't know. Lemme tell ya what. If anything ever happens to me, please make sure this Joe Schmuck doesn't make a pathetic docuseries about it.
Then, aside from the pathetic profit of Netflix, the actual details of what happened and how society and the "web sleuths" investigated, obsessed, and chimed in on this case is a whole other ballpark about society's minimization and lack of knowledge or respect for mental illness on its own.
THEN, there is a quote by Amy Price, the manager of the hotel during the incident, who is now profiting on a book she is writing about HER experience:
"I want to share my story," she says.
"But this isn't a horror story or anything like that. This is a story about struggle."
Okay, Amy. Whose fucking struggle are you writing about here? I legitimately don't know if she is referring to hers or Elisa's, but either way, it's gross.
It makes me so sad that this whole situation warranted MILLIONS of theories, millions of internet trolls writing articles about the "BIZARRE" death of this girl. This case is not fucking bizarre. It is unfortunate but it is not bizarre. This case was plastered all over internet lists with the titles "bizarre, unexplained cases of missing people." It's not unexplained, and it only was not for long.
These "web sleuths" were busy having a blast, going to the crime scene, smiling as they recorded, posting videos about their stupid theories. Trolls posting their dumb, far-fetched theories without knowing all of the facts, thinking they know better than the professionals, who DO have the findings, did do the labs, did do the investigations. And people still insist that THERE HAS TO BE MORE.
Of course, I don't know all the facts either. BUT, according to the actual professionals involved rather than the entire population of people who love a good "mystery," Elisa's toxicology results showed that her levels of the medications she was supposed to be on signified she had not been taking them as she should have been. They also found bottles of her medicine that had more pills than prescribed, also showing that she had not been taking them.
THEN, she was removed from the room she had been sharing with a few others due to "odd behavior" leaving weird post-its telling them to go away, or whatever. THEN, apparently going into the hotel lobby and screaming "I'm crazy!" or whatever it was.
Although all experiences with mental illnesses are unique, all of these details plus the footage, both detailing erratic behavior, leave no doubt in my mind that the professionals, SHOCKINGLY, CRAZILY, may be right! Who thunk it! I have legitimately acted in the ways described and shown in the video. I don't and couldn't understand HERS, but I understand MY paranoia, hallucinations, experiences I have had, and the actions that are presented, and I guarantee some would look very similar to that footage. Ask the few people who know me best what it's like when I'm not on my meds or fuck them up. I legitimately saw myself in her actions.
Yet, the internet losers had to fixate on a death metal artist who had stayed in the hotel for a few days A YEAR before any of this happened and legitimately ruined his life. His alibi was completely valid and he was dismissed by investigators. He was out of the country, he had tons of substantial paperwork and proof that he was, but that didn't matter.
Because no one takes bipolar disorder seriously, dismissing it as just mood swings, people being dramatic, seeking attention, being lazy, and everyone needs something more sensational, THIS wasn't even an option. They needed to fixate on crazy, fun conspiracy theories, watching the footage over and over and over again, sitting in their caves with their thumbs up their asses writing about their ballpark theories, internet bullying innocent people instead of doing any research on bipolar disorder, instead of defending or considering that it was a psychotic episode, which literally all of the official facts and footage present.
Clearly I'm not a professional either, but like... watch the show and you tell me. You tell me what you think is likely. You tell me what the professionals agree on. But before you make that call, try reading a little bit about bipolar disorder. Try reading about the psychotic episodes that can come with it. It probably won't change your mind, but oh well. It probably is just the hotel being haunted, ya know. Right? This is just my little rant that doesn't matter.
If you want to think it was a ghost, a demon, if it was a murder even though she literally had zero signs of any physical violence and there was zero evidence of it and all evidence the other way, you do that, boo. Have a blast. Hey, I 100% could be wrong, right? Absolutely. Who am I? Just a little dramatic, stupid, crazy nobody.
That's just my take, no better than any other internet trolls, I suppose. When all is said and done, in my little fantasy world, I guess people would just take bipolar disorder seriously and understand the severity of it. People would take it to consideration for the actions and words of those who have it. That's not fun, though. Everyone loves money, everyone loves a good story. Everyone loves making fun of people. Everyone loves a disability you can see. Everything I do is just me being an oddball. Everyone loves to be an internet bully.
I'm sorry for Elisa and her family who have had to deal with years of this. Years of people dismissing the severity of mental illness and obsessing over ghost stories, obsessing over the number of likes or views they get, money they make off of it.
Wow, that was a blast. I'm fairly confident no one will read this, but I feel a lot better that I put that out there. Again, I'm a little nobody, so nothing I say matters, but that's just my take on all of it. I've given up trying to convince anyone that I'm anything but weird, because I know no one will care or accept that. I'll just keep making people feel uncomfortable and keep looking like an idiot. Woe is me, am I right?
You have a blessed day now.
15 notes · View notes