Oreos & Peanut Butter

K-Pop: KBS Song Festival 2022 Aftermath

Professional shot of (from left) Son Dongju (Xion), Lee Seoho, Yeo Hwanwoong, Lee Keonhee, and Kim Geonhak (Leedo) at KBS. Copyright goes to KBS, ONEUS, and RBW.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I was going to write about something completely different today, but the ‘KBS Song Festival’ was yesterday and I specifically need to talk about the way that it affected two of my favorite groups. Particularly, I’m talking about ATEEZ and ONEUS. Both of these amazing groups were able to show what they had on stage and there were some pretty great milestones for both of these groups here. But at the same time, there were other things that cropped up that I want to address. Really, the ‘KBS Song Festival’ made the internet blow up for so many different reasons that it feels like a crime to not at least address most of them. At least with these two groups. If you’re going to take two of my favorite groups and throw them into the middle of news, I have to talk about it. So strap in! And also PLEASE note that this article will contain mentions of racist language due to a past controversy. No racist language will actually be featured, but it will be mentioned. Thank you.

ATEEZ:

‘Guerrilla’- Firstly, these have to be some of my favorite outfits that they’ve ever performed this song in. And that’s saying something because I’ve seen all of their public performances and was lucky enough to see them perform this live. Part of what sold these looks was literally just Seonghwa himself. His bleached blonde hair paired with the leather look and the fur hood pulled up at the beginning was absolutely stunning. It made the entire internet make the Jedi comparison again, which I am always thrilled for Seonghwa when he gets those Jedi comparisons because we all know for a fact that he loves them! But the leather, studs, and furs on everyone was amazing and I wish they didn’t have to use a public performance outfit only once. The performance was also themed, as they always are, and showed the boys actually fighting the corrupt government in the universe that they are now in. Particularly San started us out with some fight choreography. We need to talk about Hongjoong with the cane, because damn that was powerful. Hongjoong always does so well when they give him a prop, but this felt like straight up villain vibes. Mingi always looks completely confident in a suit look and especially with his bleached hair. The bleached hair almost feels like a new era for Mingi. My only qualms with this performance was that I wished that Jongho’s suit had been a little bit more in the style of everyone else’s outfits, but this was another amazing performance from them!

‘T.O.P’- This is where things start getting a little more complicated. Was this performance great? Yes! I loved the start out with ‘Swan Lake’. They really went all out in showing off some of the vocalists here in particular. Yeosang’s deeper voice was such a soothing contrast to the more high pitched music and he got the chorus pieces! Yeosang killed being given more and he just needs more lines overall! I also loved Wooyoung’s breathier style and Yunho actually got some belting notes here! I love when they give Yunho high notes! And Jongho’s note towards the end practically took me out! But besides those things, there were some issues here that had nothing to do with ATEEZ. The song is admittedly a bit more low energy than we get from ATEEZ, which I’ve seen some complaints about. ATEEZ always does the absolute most with what they have and I really think that they did that here. I don’t mind seeing some different themes from ATEEZ! Though I do agree that it was a little jarring to see this performance when they’re in such an intense phase in their regular releases; I don’t think that it’s necessarily a bad thing. In the end, it did feel as though the song and the choreography did not fit their powerful style. The biggest controversy to come from this though, was the song itself. For those of you who don’t know, this song originally had an incredibly racist term in it. The original K-Pop group who performed this song did not see a problem in using the term at the time because this was before most K-Pop idols were educated on any of this. That’s not really an excuse though. But the song itself has been controversial ever since because of that. Hongjoong did take the term out. I don’t think any of us ever doubted him; he’s one of the most educated K-Pop idols in the industry right now. But there was some backlash over the song being used at all. Hongjoong did explain that the second songs that most groups performed this year were all assigned to them. They did not choose the song. I do not understand why ATEEZ is receiving any of the blame for any of this. But I do want to express how incredibly proud I am of Hongjoong for addressing all of this calmly and for having taken the term out in the first place.

ONEUS:

‘Same Scent’- I love ATEEZ, I absolutely do. Their stages always kill it and are often the best stages in any show that they perform at. But I can’t deny when an artist comes out and steals the entire show, and ONEUS stole ‘KBS’. They proved to everyone that they can more than survive controversy; they can absolutely obliterate it and still come out on top. I’ve already watched this version of ‘Same Scent’ way too many times and I want this reimagined version of the song to be downloadable. Everyone absolutely loves how gorgeous ‘LUNA’ is and the more traditional take in music and MV made it stand out even more when it came out. They changed ‘Same Scent’ so that it had that more traditional feel, complete with hanbok. The dancing is gorgeous as always and they also incorporated what felt like a full scale production with the changing backgrounds between cherry blossoms and traditional Korean architecture, and several dancers with fans. They spend most of the performance in white with blue fans and they briefly change it out for a look with red and red fans that seamlessly changes back into the blue color scheme. Each member also individually stole the show with this performance. Hwanwoong started it out with a gorgeous solo dance and premiered his amazing rap style, Seoho was lifted and had a graceful fall and disappearance in the choreography, Keonhee got his close up moment were he looked simultaneously confident and graceful and even winked at the camera, Xion premiered his long hair once more proving that he is the prettiest idol out there, and they gave Leedo an entire section with a samurai sword to add to the badassery that he’s usually associated with. The performance almost reminded me of BTS’s full fledged ‘Dionysus’ performance. They focused on each member individually and almost created a world within their performance. It felt immersive. I will be watching it over and over again for weeks!

‘SexyBack’- So it seems as though the song ONEUS was assigned was this one and it honestly surprised me. The performance didn’t involve all of the members either; it was only Leedo, Seoho, and Hwanwoong. And it was a dance cover rather than a full cover of the entire song. However, this is one of the moments of ‘KBS’ that went viral and that’s for good reason. The number involved revealing outfits, there was lots of thrusting in the choreography, and both Leedo and Seoho took off their shirts at the end. We didn’t see full bare chest because they showed us their jackets sliding down their bare backs, but it was enough. Leedo is known in the industry for taking off his shirt, but I was honestly surprised that Seoho did as well. Hwanwoong remained with his shirt on which is completely understandable and his outfit was a nice bridge between Leedo’s and Seoho’s. But I don’t think I’ll ever get over the image of all of them unbuttoning their jackets/vests before the final pose. Clips from this performance have been circulating everywhere and I feel like I need assistance breathing after every clip that I see. I’m just so glad that they’re getting the recognition they deserve. I am so proud of them for everything that they came out with for this show. It’s their first major television appearance since the controversy and the subsequent major change because they’ve been touring and they are still in the middle of touring. They have all talked about how difficult of a time this has been for all of them and to come out with these performances and steal the entire show is a testament to how strong the five members of this group are. Seriously, if you haven’t bought tickets for their tour yet, do that. I don’t understand how in the world they aren’t selling out every arena!

It was so nice to come out of ‘KBS’ and see so many people saying so many positive things about two of my favorite musical groups. Of course, there was some controversy involved as well, but most people seemed to understand that the negative opinions were entirely undeserved. Most of what I saw was how much both of these groups did an amazing job and I absolutely loved waking up this morning and watching all of the performances. I am so proud of both of these groups for everything involved with ‘KBS’ this year from their confidence, to their well thought out performances, to their calm demeanors in dealing with any negative press that they might have gotten for either past controversies or recent controversies. If you for some reason haven’t started stanning either one of these groups yet, this is your sign to do so. They are both groups with an amazing amount of talent who continue to prove themselves strong. Have I mentioned how proud of them I am???

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Sci-Fi/Superheroes: The DCEU Might Die Soon

Screenshot of Henry Cavill as Superman. Copyright goes to DC Studios and Warner Bros. Discovery.

Hey! Hallie here!

It seems that ever since Warner Bros. and Discovery joined together we’ve only heard bad news come out of the company. Projects are constantly struck down, fans become angrier as the days pass, and bewildering decisions seem set on driving the whole thing into the ground. DC is one of the biggest franchises Warner Bros. Discovery is majorly fumbling right now. It seemed as though the DCEU might be saved thanks to the newest ‘Batman’ film and the appointment of fan-favorite James Gunn as co-president of DC Studios. But after this bright speck of hope we were thrown into even more horrible news, to the extent that most DC fans are now throwing their hands up in defeat. Fans have even begun to demand that James Gunn step down after his appointment was widely praised. So does the DCEU really look like its final days are around the corner? Well, the best way to know that is to look at the most recent DC projects and decisions made by Warner Bros. Discovery. And knowing Warner Bros. Discovery, it’s going to look pretty bleak.

‘Superman’:

Let’s get the biggest news from yesterday out of the way. Henry Cavill will no longer be playing Superman. You know how Henry Cavill announced he’d be back in the DC universe around the time James Gunn made a statement about how central Henry Cavill’s Clark Kent would be moving forward? Yeah, that was evidently a mean joke made at Cavill’s expense. Both James Gunn and Henry Cavill made statements about this situation, but while both statements are very polite, they paint the situation in two entirely different lights. Gunn is adamant that this is just a result of the Superman movie he’s planning being a “young Superman” movie, but he says he talked it over with Cavill and discussed possible ways for him to return in the future. Cavill’s version of events seems much more irresponsible. Cavill says the company forced him to announce his return in October even though they hadn’t officially hired him yet, and now he will be moving on from the DCEU entirely. If there’s any plans for him to come back, he definitely doesn’t seem aware of it. This is, to put it bluntly, a catastrophic mess. Not only did Cavill already make an on-screen appearance returning as the character in a mid-credits scene for ‘Black Adam’, but the announcement that Cavill would return was one of the more highly fan-praised decisions to come out of DC. The intense backlash is no surprise, especially with how Gunn seems to be trying to soften the blow with false promises of Cavill still having a place in the DCEU. But this is definitely not the only thing that’s gone wrong recently.

‘The Flash’ and ‘Wonder Woman’:

A few days ago it was announced that Warner Bros. Discovery would no longer be going through with their plans for a third ‘Wonder Woman’ movie. ‘Wonder Woman’ has been one of DC’s most solid franchises. The first film in particular was groundbreaking to women when it was released. But now ‘Wonder Woman’ is being tossed into the trash heap alongside so many other DC franchises and projects. This decision feels like it’s coming completely out of left field considering the popularity and success surrounding this character. But this decision is even more condemnable when you compare it to news about the still unreleased ‘Flash’ movie. ‘The Flash’ has outlasted two major female-driven projects now that we’ve seen the cancellation of ‘Wonder Woman 3’ and ‘Batgirl’. Not only is this really worrisome to women who were hoping to see more representation in the DCEU, but it’s worrisome because Ezra Miller is a really troubling person who definitely belongs in jail. At this point they’ve faced lawsuits related to abuse, assault, kidnapping, and burglary. And multiple accounts of all of those. Most people have already decided to boycott this movie when it comes out. I certainly won’t be watching it with Ezra Miller as the lead. But somehow Warner Bros. Discovery is still pushing its release despite multiple delays, and now we even have reports that a second script has already been penned and is ready to be put into production. I really can’t understand how anyone could possibly think this is a good idea. People were actually looking forward to ‘Batgirl’, a movie with a woman of color at its center as well as the return of Michael Keaton. ‘Wonder Woman’ has become a staple of superhero movies since Patty Jenkins introduced her version of the character. And yet we’re only getting the movie no one wants to see anymore. It’s baffling.

‘Black Adam’ and the Recent Films:

Putting aside the mass of bad announcements recently, let’s look at what movies came out recently. The most recent DC movie was ‘Black Adam’. ‘Black Adam’ was not well received by critics and had a mixed reception amongst fans. While viewers of the movie disagreed on whether or not Dwayne Johnson saved the movie or gave a bad performance, almost everyone agreed that the movie had a messy plot and its value was mostly found in its crazy action sequences. So overall the movie wasn’t an amazing DC entry by anyone’s standards, and the messy plot paired with ok CG action sequences brings us back to the first DCEU movies where fans were hopeful but still critiqued the poor writing. ‘Black Adam’ seems to say to fans that the DCEU isn’t progressing even after all these years. The movies just before this one were promising, though. James Gunn’s ‘The Suicide Squad’ got him his job as co-president of DC Studios, and ‘The Batman’ was very well received. But amongst those releases were also the various versions of ‘Justice League’ that received mixed reviews, ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ which also received a lukewarm response, and ‘Aquaman’ which, once again, received both good and bad reviews. Then there’s ‘Joker’, which may or may not be part of the DCEU but was rightly criticized for the way it sympathized with its main character (And is now getting a musical sequel nobody asked for). The DCEU is incredible at putting out movies that aren’t bad but certainly aren’t good, and failing to connect them in one cohesive story. Sure we haven’t gotten anything as bad as ‘Batman v Superman’ or ‘Suicide Squad’ lately, but I’d argue that the good movies in the DCEU are just as rare. DC keeps failing to prove to audiences that their loyalty will be worthwhile. And the way they keep dropping projects that fans are looking forward to doesn’t instill confidence in them.

So will the DCEU die soon? It’s very likely. Even ‘Shazam’ fans are expressing their desire to leave behind the sequel and the DCEU altogether. James Gunn does say that he has a plan for the DCEU moving forward, including movies that will finally connect. If that’s true, it makes sense why so many projects are being dropped. But it still doesn’t explain all these strange decisions. ‘The Flash’ is still getting made, which will be a weird tie in to the projects DC is currently dropping and stars a person no one’s willing to support. James Gunn’s ‘Suicide Squad’ characters will very likely continue to play a role in his new universe even with their awkward ties to the old DCEU movies. So why drop other fan favorites? It doesn’t make sense. Especially during a period where fans already have no confidence in the franchise going forward. But even beyond this, Warner Bros. Discovery is making many mistakes with all of their franchises. To the point that they’re rapidly losing money. So who knows? Warner Bros. Discovery might die entirely before DC even has the chance to. Either way, it’s not looking good for DC fans right now.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

International Dramas: ‘Falling Into Your Smile’

Promotional shot of Cheng Xiao and Xu Kai. Copyright goes to ‘LINE TV’ and ‘Netflix’.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Finally, I welcome you to me ranting about another one of my favorite dramas that I’ve ever seen in my life. Seriously, I don’t think there’s any getting over this one and it could just be my favorite drama now. I’m highly debating starting it all over again because I loved it that much. It feels so good to be writing about a drama that I’m absolutely head over heels for again. This checks off a lot of what I look for in dramas. It has a really adorable relationship between two incredibly likable characters, feminism, a group camaraderie factor, an action type backdrop, and no weird twists at any point. Are you sold yet? I’m certainly convincing myself to watch it again. I have so much to say about this drama (I actually took notes this time which I don’t always do), so I’m just going to get into how much I absolutely love it. As always MAJOR SPOILERS ahead. Seriously, maybe watch this and then come back. I don’t think I would be able to recommend it more than I already am. But if you don’t care about spoilers and want to know my full thoughts on it first, then let’s go!

Summary: Tong Yao is a female casual gamer who is gaining immense popularity in the E-Sports community. After breaking up with her boyfriend, she only continues to become more popular; eventually catching the eye of the professional E-Sports group ZGDX who just became short a mid-solo due to a hand injury forcing his early retirement. When Tong Yao joins the group, she must face several challenges being the only woman on any of the Chinese teams. And she must face the surly Captain of the group, who doesn’t seem to want her there. But maybe there’s more to the famously handsome Captain than meets the eye.

The Wins:

Tong Yao- I am absolutely not kidding when I say that she is quite possibly my favorite female lead in a drama. She’s amazing. Not only do they tackle all kinds of issues regarding feminism with this character, they also make her so relatable and extremely capable. She absolutely knows how to stand up for herself, she’s just as good as any of the men at professional gaming, and she doesn’t need to be saved. In fact, there’s a lot more of her working out some of her character flaws within the romance than there is of him saving her. Tong Yao is an adorable lead with an amazing tough streak. It is not often that a female lead in a drama will be my favorite character. She is right up my alley of female characters that I absolutely adore, and I don’t usually get that out of a drama. I wanted her wardrobe (Yay pastels!) and I wanted to be as fearless as she was throughout the drama. I could talk about her for literal days, I love this depiction of a female lead so much. I often find that female leads don’t have a personality so that the supposed woman watching can just project herself onto the blank slate. I really hate that approach; I want my female characters to have an actual personality. She has so much of a personality and it’s fierce. Have I said that I love her too many times yet?

Lu Si Cheng- I am sometimes hesitant with the more surly and brooding type of male leads. Because that is often used to just promote a major masculine feel and not give the main male lead much in the way of emotion. Men have emotions too! Lu Si Cheng takes this overly masculine toxic type of character, and turns it on its head. Because guys can be surly sometimes and still have actual emotions. Lu Si Cheng cries in this show! Let me repeat, they show the main male character crying! Hell yes! There are several moments where Tong Yao cries and Lu Si Cheng comforts her, and they actually do the opposite of this where he cries and she has to comfort him. I was so happy to see that in this, because we don’t get nearly enough of it in any show from any country. Lu Si Cheng is also an incredibly caring individual who is very protective of his teammates. He’s the type of character who will walk on screen and you automatically feel safe or like everything is taken care of. And the drama also addresses how much stress he’s under and how difficult it is to be that type of safety for the people around you. And how much he can go overboard sometimes. No perfect boyfriend syndrome here. He has flaws too! Yay! I want Lu Si Cheng to be real very badly. Just like Tong Yao is probably my favorite female lead in any drama; he’s probably my favorite male lead. Which surprised me because characters like this aren’t always my type. I guess they are now!

The Romance- I simultaneously swooned and wanted to cry at my singleness. This felt like my ideal relationship. Once again, they don’t show their love for each other by making out as much as they do by genuinely supporting each other. I already talked about how they mutually comfort each other when the other cries. Tong Yao is put in a tough situation where fans start attempting to pin things on her because they are uncomfortable with a woman being in the industry. She has a really tough couple of mental health days that Lu Si Cheng completely helps her through, including holding her while she cries. On the other hand, Lu Si Cheng loses a game because of the immense stress he’s been putting on himself to solve all of the team’s problems without asking for help or letting the other members of the team know about it. Tong Yao talks him through it before he finally lets her into his room to cry into her shoulder. On top of this, they slowly develop complete trust in each other as it goes on. And when the two finally get together and she worries about all of his fans who want to date him, he tells her that he likes her and that that opinion is more important than his fans wanting to date him. Not to mention how cute all of their moments together are. There’s an episode where they mutually take care of each other because he’s sick and she’s having bad period cramps. And they never break up! They solve all of their issues together and the show actually shows us how they are as a couple. We get to see the hand holding, the meeting the parents, all of it! This is what I want more dramas to do instead of throwing in a weird unneeded twist because they don’t think that the couple actually being together will keep the viewers interested. And the kissing is cute too and reciprocated, though it is mostly closed mouthed because this is a C-Drama and there are still censorship issues.

Feminism- Women in E-Sports is still not common. This is one of the most male dominated industries that I’ve ever seen. In fact, a few years back there was a woman who played Overwatch who was much like Tong Yao in this. She became extremely popular for being one of the best Overwatch players despite being a casual player. When Overwatch leagues started picking new players, she was eligible and fans felt sure one of the leagues would finally choose one of the first professional female Overwatch players. Every single team passed on her despite her being the best new pick. When they were asked why they didn’t choose her, most of the team representatives said that they didn’t know how dorm situations with a woman would work and thought it would be too expensive. They didn’t even try to pretend that it wasn’t about gender. Of course, in this drama Tong Yao is actually chosen and they delve into how difficult it is for women in this field or any male dominated fields. Tong Yao is attacked for the possibility of her dating players on the team before she even gets into a relationship with Cheng. She is blamed for every single defeat that the team has because of her gender and very closely scrutinized. She is blatantly told on multiple occasions that she’s not good enough because of her gender. One of the things Tong Yao has to learn throughout the show is to stop looking at comments online because of the way they affect your mental health. Not once does the show blame women for being weaker than men or prove any of the people saying that she can’t do it correct. Tong Yao beats all of the odds by herself and proves that she’s the best mid-solo in a male dominated field. And the show also shows a really amazing female friendship between her and her best friend, who is rich and provides for herself. This drama champions women, and I want to see more of this in every drama that I watch!

Tier A Side Characters- So I have split all of the main side characters very evenly into two tiers. One of the groups was amazing while the other group fell pretty flat for me. In this tier I first have Ming, who I wish we would have gotten more of but I understand that it wouldn’t have completely fit to give him more. Ming is the former mid-solo of ZGDX and becomes their coach after his forced retirement. He is the main mentor of this group and, if Cheng didn’t exist, I would have spent this entire drama wishing he was the main love interest. He’s such a sweet character and I loved every time a character would go to him for advice. I also liked K, who is the Jungler of ZGDX. He has an entire episode to himself about how his parents abuse and misuse him because they don’t think of his career seriously. The message here is to respect the careers of young people and let them follow their hearts. He also absolutely has a thing with Cat and you can’t tell me differently. They flirt on multiple occasions. Though Cat wasn’t my favorite and Ming really stood up for K against his parents, which made me kind of ship K and Ming instead. That aside, K was a hilarious and very dry Jungler and I loved all of his dialogue. I also like Jinyang, who I’ve talked about already a little. She is Tong Yao’s best friend who is incredibly confident, self sufficient, and probably the resident badass of the show. When she starts getting flack for her relationship with her E-Sports professional boyfriend, she takes it in stride and buys his company. Yes, you read that correctly. This show wrote some of the best women I’ve ever seen in any drama ever. Lu Yue was the other main side character that I liked. I liked his redemption and how upbeat and playful he was. They made Lu Yue so understandable. And of course, the close camaraderie in all of the friendships is part of what made this drama for me.

E-Sports- Not only did this drama actually focus on making E-Sports highlighted and interesting within the main romance plot, but it also succeeded in making it absolutely action packed. I was on the edge of my seat for every competition and I loved the animation style they used when they were showing what was going on within the game. I also loved how in this gorgeous animation they would show interactions between the characters Tong Yao and Cheng were playing; but the show didn’t care about the genders of the characters they were playing. I was worried that the show would make all of these romantic moments between the animated characters gender specific and they didn’t. It didn’t matter if they were both playing female characters, both playing male characters, or she was playing a male character while he played a female character. I loved that this didn’t matter in the animation. And I would have watched this drama for how beautiful those animation sequences were alone.

Private Lives and Fans- They acknowledge that all of them are celebrities in their own right and have to struggle with online perceptions, not looking at comments, and people trying to pry into their lives. Many times the characters choose not to let this get to them and sometimes you see the very real repercussions of fans attempting to steer their favorite gamer’s private life because of selfish reasons. I was very happy that this drama had the message of leaving your idols alone as well as acknowledging both toxic and non toxic fans. While they showed the consequences of toxic fan behavior, they also showed fans being sweet and supportive. For example, at the end of the show they decide to show this team that we haven’t really followed before as they end up having to leave the national league. At first I questioned this decision until I saw that the show was trying to have a positive outlook on failure while simultaneously showing the support of true fans and how much that really affects the people we support. What stuck out to me most here was a fan telling the former Captain of the group; “I didn’t come to you because you were at the top and I won’t desert you now that you’re at the bottom.” Which is such a beautiful idea and something that I immediately connected to one of my favorite K-Pop groups. If you follow this blog, you probably know the one I’m talking about. I loved the way this drama addressed everything that they did within fan communities.

The Losses:

The Side Plot Romance- This is between Jinyang and her E-Sports playing boyfriend, Ai Jia, who is on a different team than most of the main characters. I just didn’t think this was cute most of the time. There were moments where they threw public opinion aside to openly show off their relationship that I found really touching. But other than that, this relationship felt very one sided and otherwise unbalanced. A lot of the time it felt like Jinyang didn’t even like or care about Ai Jia. When the show starts they are exes and the development to them getting together was pretty nonexistent. Later when Jinyang finally decides to go to one of Ai Jia’s games to support him, she’s on her phone almost the entire time. And he seems really clingy most of the time, which is something she doesn’t appreciate. Neither of them feel comfortable within the relationship; he seems to think it’ll end at any moment and she seems to not care for him as much as he does her. And when she buys his company she becomes his boss, which creates yet another unbalanced dynamic with this couple. So this really didn’t work for me. Which was odd considering that the other relationship in this is so amazing.

Tier B Side Characters- Chubby, the support of ZGDX, was often only there for the other characters to make fat jokes. For a drama that seems progressive in a lot of other ways, this felt disappointing. He also cyber-bullies Lu Yue at the beginning of the show by releasing a video of a fight that Lu Yue got into in his past purposely to get him banned from the team. This is meant to be understandable, but I don’t find cyber-bullying to be acceptable for any reason. Cat, the top-solo of the group, is very temperamental and doesn’t get much time at all. I would have loved for him to have more, especially with K, but he mainly just got angry when they needed someone to be angry. Ai Jia expressed some of the most sexist views for being with Jinyang and he never got much character development aside from his occasionally overly clingy show of emotion. Rui, the team manager, is a character that feels largely unneeded and I wish his entire character had just been given to Ming. Ming could have easily also been the manager as well as the coach or something like that and it would have given Ming more time. Rui just didn’t have enough character for me. But none of these characters were extremely offensive. They just didn’t really hold up compared to the other side characters.

As you can tell, there’s not a lot of bad that I have to say about this drama. It was action packed, swoon-worthy, and otherwise amazing. I don’t become absolutely head over heels for a drama easily, as you can probably tell if you’ve seen some of my other reviews, and I’m so glad to find another drama that I love so much. I could talk about this drama for several more paragraphs but I’ll limit myself and stop here. If you love adorable romances, watch this. It’s amazing! Just note that it will make you feel very very single if you are like me and not in a relationship.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Marvel: My Top 3 Phase 4 Shows

Screenshot of Aramis Knight and Iman Vellani in Ms. Marvel. Copyright goes to Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Studios.

Hey! Hallie here!

This is technically a part 2 to a post I made a few days ago, so if you’re interested in my entire ranking of all the Phase 4 Disney+ Marvel shows, go ahead and check that one out! This post will just be dedicated to my top three Marvel shows of Phase 4 and it will have SPOILERS! This Marvel phase has been a mixed bag for me. All the shows underneath my top three are shows that majorly frustrated me in one way or another. These top three shows are the only ones I absolutely adored to the point I could watch each of them over and over with no complaints. Honestly, I don’t have many negative things to say about any of them, although not all of these shows necessarily show promise for Phase 5. But I’ll get to that in a bit. For now, let’s get to my ranking!

3. ‘Hawkeye’. ‘Hawkeye’ doesn’t generally make it to the top of many people’s Phase 4 lists, and I don’t really understand why. Granted, it isn’t the most hard-hitting or emotionally gripping show. But it doesn’t need to be. ‘Hawkeye’ sets out to be a fun, light-hearted, coming of age story for Kate Bishop. The whole point of it is to pair up the naturally hilarious and upbeat Kate Bishop with the naturally disgruntled and sarcastic Clint Barton in a student/teacher relationship. And it succeeds at this and the hilarity that comes along with this concept. Kate and Clint are such a fun duo to watch. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the car chase sequence where the two are tasked with communicating while Clint has no hearing aid. It’s so satisfying to see these characters learn how to work together as partners, as well as come to care for each other in a very father/daughter way. Kate Bishop herself is an intensely likable new character who I am happy to follow into future MCU projects. And I’m already anticipating a future team up between her and Yelena, who also kills it in this series. Yelena gets several amazing emotional beats here, including her reaction to the Blip and her fight with Clint due to her grief over losing Natasha. But she’s also so funny. Her slightly threatening conversation with Kate over Mac and Cheese is one of my favorite parts of the series. And then we have Echo, or Maya Lopez, who is our first deaf representation in the MCU and is actually played by a deaf actress. She’s a badass who definitely gets enough time and intrigue in the show to hype me up for her own solo show coming soon! This series is just so much fun and is full of so many powerful female characters who are playing major, promising roles in upcoming MCU projects. I personally can’t wait.

2. ‘Ms. Marvel’. Once again we have a more light-hearted show, but this time it does veer into more serious and emotionally impactful moments. First off, I want to note how visually stunning this show is. The bright color palette is irresistibly fun, as is the artwork that occurs throughout the show. The beginning of ‘Ms. Marvel’ demonstrates that Kamala Kahn is into art and has a uniquely cute sketching style, and that art style appears everywhere after the fact. Its usage feels like we’re seeing the world through Kamala’s eyes, but it’s always used tastefully and integrates itself well into each scene. Moving past that though, this show has absolutely everything I wanted out of it and more. It has a realistic view of high schoolers without making them appear too mature, including some great school friends for Kamala like Nakia. It explores feminism with its main characters, especially involving a plot where Nakia becomes a board member at the New Jersey mosque. It has a very funny and yet respectful view of fandom culture, which only helps to endear us Marvel fans to the major Marvel fan that is Kamala Kahn. It has a really wholesome familial center, specifically focusing on Kamala and her mother coming to understand one another. It has gorgeous and impactful nods to Kamala Kahn’s Pakistani and Muslim roots, showing Kamala and her family attending a mosque and highlighting her families’ Partition story as a major part of the series. Genuinely, the reveal that Kamala actually played a role in reuniting Sana with her father during the Partition nearly had me in tears. And although I wasn’t all that interested in Kamran by the end of the series, the Red Dagger is definitely a character I’ll be looking out for in the future. This was an amazing show on every level and I’m excited to see more of Kamala.

1. ‘WandaVision’. No other Marvel series has made me as obsessed as I am with ‘WandaVision’. I personally feel it’s both a stylistic and writing masterpiece amongst streaming shows. The love letter this series is to each era of television makes the whole thing worth a watch at least once. The fact that we go from black-and-white 50s television complete with old-fashioned effects, to 80s ‘Full House’ nods starring an Olsen herself, to modern-day mockumentary style sit-coms, is beautifully done. The series also perfectly mixes the comedic feel of the type of television shows ‘WandaVision’ is emulating, with the dark mystery lying underneath. In between laughing at all the corny jokes and falling in love with Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen’s chemistry, you find yourself disturbed by how much feels off or wrong. And the audience isn’t the only party trying to figure out this mystery. We’re essentially trying to figure it out alongside Vision, whose insane intelligence and genuine care for Wanda makes him the perfect character to follow. In between we also get characters like Darcy Lewis and Jimmy Woo, both of whom appear at their most funny and most awesome in this show. We also get to follow Monica Rambeau, a character whose own personal loss makes her empathetic and interesting. Plus, she has one of the coolest superhero transformations in the entire MCU. And finally there’s Wanda, who goes through each stage of grief in this series to the point that you can’t help but understand her mistakes and feel her pain. And all of it comes together in her epic adoption of the Scarlet Witch persona. That said, I can’t say I’m looking forward to more of her character. ‘Multiverse of Madness’ threw her back into a grief stage despite the fact that the whole purpose of this show was Wanda learning to cope with grief. And then there’s the issue of her focus being entirely on either Vision or her sons at this point, which is stereotypical and irritating. Hopefully Monica fares better.

And that closes off my ranking of the Phase 4 shows! Once again, this list is 100% effected by my own personal biases. I clearly prefer more light-hearted shows, though I have no problem with dark content. I also like shows with strong character relationships and deep, emotional moments. But regardless of my personal tastes, I do feel that this phase might have been too off the rails between the amount of content that spanned multiple genres, and the Multiverse introduction. I’m sincerely hoping for something a bit more stable in the near future. But I didn’t dislike this phase. I appreciated the exploration of new concepts, many of which centered women and people of color, and I have a lot of hope for the MCU continuing to expand on what superheroes can look like. This feels like a rougher, transitionary period for Marvel, but I do think we’ll come out of this with even better content to adore.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop: ONEUS MVs

Screenshot of Kim Geonhak (Leedo) in the ‘Come Back Home’ MV. Copyright goes to ONEUS and RBW.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I’ve been really anticipating the ONEUS concert in a couple months and so that, for me, means that I watch MVs over and over and over again. And watching ONEUS’s performances and MVs is always entertaining for the stories and imagery that they use in each of them. Some of them are more story heavy than others, but I’m always a fan of the way they utilize each of the members individually as part of the MVs. I personally think the imagery in ONEUS’s MVs is some of the most gorgeous imagery in the K-Pop industry. Part of it may be their more graceful style of dancing that pairs with their beautiful and unique songs; but part of it is also definitely location and mood. After all, ONEUS did originally capture my attention because of intriguing thumbnails to their MVs. So I’m going to go through some of my favorites of their MVs and what they entail that makes them so addicting to me personally. This is your one and only MAJOR SPOILER warning. If you want to go into the MVs blind, then don’t read beyond this point!

Come Back Home:

This has to be one of my favorite MVs of theirs because of the storyline alone. This is also one of the main MVs that started the association of sword imagery with ONEUS. This MV alternated between individual shots of the members dressed in white, a dance performance at a theatre, and the middle of a medieval battlefield. All of the members are sword fighting with men in black and seem to be losing for much of the MV. Most of them are pretty scraped up and, heartbreakingly, in the middle of the battle is a child who is very obviously crying. While all of them defend the child to the best of their ability, one of the men in black traps him which causes Leedo to jump in front of the kid and take the blow for him just in time. This was an apt choice in member considering Leedo closely connected with the child actor on set and chose to get his college degree in child development. Thankfully, Knight Leedo doesn’t die. He’s able to turn around and take down the assailant. At the end we see the members of ONEUS all surrounding a throne that the child is now sitting on; meaning that the Knights of ONEUS were protecting their King this entire time. I’ve always loved Medieval themes to literally anything and was absolutely thrilled when I saw this MV. There’s sword fighting! What’s not to like?

LUNA:

If you want to see the gorgeous imagery I was talking about, this is the MV to start with. Each of the members have their own personal background themes, which distinguishes each member more. I kind of wish more groups would adopt this idea in their MVs because it really is a great way to make each member of a group stand out. Leedo starts out the MV on a rooftop at night with the moon in the background and holding a fan, Seoho continues with a more military style inside a gorgeously decorated house, Xion appears with long hair and a red background with a staircase to a traditional style painting, Hwanwoong appears in a room only lit by lanterns, and Keonhee appears in a low lit setting with perfectly pink cherry blossoms. This MV is particularly lovely for the traditional Korean imagery and the fan choreography. And the backgrounds do change for some of them, with some of them appearing inside with traditional decorating or outside the house under the cover of night. Each image makes you want to be transported directly into the video.

No diggity:

This is definitely a more hardcore song and the imagery reflects this. Hwanwoong gets a lot of the choreography that feels hard hitting and has a more playful graffiti style to his personal shots. Leedo is extremely intimidating in an all red suit with a half ring of fire behind him or he crawls on the floor next to a cannon. Keonhee has crystals underneath his eyes and sits at a table surrounded with people as he messes with them. Seoho has some extremely awesome looking black eye makeup in a hallway that is flashing between red and white. Xion is in a room that is on fire in the background with a statue of a horse in it. They all are very obviously villainous in these roles, and they look intimidating as they sing at a potential rival to back off of their girlfriend. For the lyrics of the song you might have expected a more noble type of theme, but I really like how they went for a more villainous and intimidating vibe.

Twilight:

This MV was obviously done on location at this beautiful historic building. It looks like an old fashioned style mansion and it has gardens all around it. It’s the perfect site for the choreography for this song, which is really graceful and incorporates a lot of lifts. This is the perfect MV for showcasing how much ONEUS has a focus on unique beauty. I don’t think any group quite captures this regal feel like ONEUS does.

Bring it on:

This is another one that features a more villainous theming for them. We begin the MV with the members all in the back of a van with sacks over their heads and their hands bound. The majority of the MV seems to take place at an odd amusement park that looks more creepy than fun. Leedo once again starts us off inside the theater at the park where he is still tied to a chair; though this also cuts to a shirtless Leedo looking villainous in a run down bathroom. Hwanwoong is in an elevator that shows a cityscape but he’s also playing a dangerous looking card game with Xion. Keonhee is in what appears to be an arcade, but not long after we see him it becomes apparent that there’s a bomb counting down with him. We see Seoho outside behind a fence outside of the park with some clown imagery in the background. Xion also appears to be in a dangerous situation as he is strapped to a wooden board that is made to look like a playing card, while also playing that dangerous card game with Hwanwoong. They all appear at the end running on the top of a moving train that, by the end of the MV, they appear to have taken control of.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE:

This MV is based off of Shakespeare which makes sense considering ONEUS has used Shakespeare in a few performances before. For example, if you haven’t heard their cover of ‘Be Mine’ by Infinite, I highly recommend it. I love it so much, it’s such a beautiful rendition of the song. That one adapts ‘Romeo and Juliet’, though I do feel it doesn’t focus on each individual member enough. In this, the members are depicted in a thorn like cage as well as their performance shots. Hwanwoong starts us off this time in a white room full of pure white flowers, while Seoho appears to be in between laying in white sheets and also strapped to a post with red lighting, Leedo is in a bathtub filled with what appears to be blood, Keonhee is in a white room where he is blinded by a blindfold and surrounded by flowers, and Xion has black running over his hands in a room with a gnarled tree in the background. But along with this we also see Keonhee standing above what appears to be a bleeding and dying Seoho whose situation only gets worse as the MV goes on. All of them are tempted by the same crown that they all seem to reach for but are tormented by. At the end of the MV they are all fired upon by a firing squad, but all endure despite it. At the very end, Keonhee ends up wearing the crown they were all tempted by. Go Keonhee!

There are so many other ONEUS MVs and all of them are so worth watching. Their imagery is breathtaking and the choreography always packs a punch at the same time it always looks so graceful. And it’s interesting that the group seems to enjoy covering both noble aesthetics as well as handsome villain aesthetics. And I’m very glad that they put so much effort into singling out every single member and giving each their own aesthetic and theming for most of their MVs. I know that a lot of idols have talked about struggles with not being distinguished from the other members of their group enough and I definitely understand the want to be seen as an individual within a group. ONEUS makes this a priority, which I always love to see. But seriously, if you haven’t started stanning ONEUS, this is your sign to do that. Their music is gorgeous, it’s unlike anything else in the industry, and they’re constantly passed over when they shouldn’t be. They deserve more than they get and I hope that they get some more recognition for their amazing contributions to music as a whole. I can’t wait to see them in concert! And so close!

Note: I did not want to address this again, but the situation is still a bit out of control. I know that these MVs contained another person. Due to Leedo’s words and the wishes of every single member of ONEUS, the omission of this person was entirely purposeful. ONEUS is a five person group and wishes to be seen that way. It’s that simple.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Marvel: Ranking the Phase 4 TV Shows Pt 1

Screenshot of Tom Hiddleston as Loki in the Disney+ series ‘Loki’. Copyright goes to Walt Disney Studios and Marvel Studios.

Hey! Hallie here!

After a year of taking some time away from Marvel, I’ve officially caught up with the Phase 4 releases! And just in time for Phase 4 to come to a close as well! At some point in the future I’ll make a post about the Phase 4 films, but for today I’ll be focusing on all of the shows that were released on Disney+. I have to say, Phase 4 has been an extremely mixed bag for me. Where a few past MCU phases were completely consistent all the way through, this phase feels like Marvel threw a bunch of concepts at the wall to see what would stick. Which explains the vast differences in genre, and the massive amount of content and characters we received. Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate the fact that superhero projects are now expanding their horizons thanks mostly to Marvel. But Marvel’s recent projects vary in quality and many just don’t fit well together. To be honest, I don’t really see a cohesive story emerging out of all of this content. But that doesn’t mean I disliked Phase 4 either. I’m not sure where the MCU is going, but there are several projects that hint at a bright future for it. I’m just going to get into my ranking, so here’s your SPOILER WARNING. I’ll be talking about spoilers and details for each of these series, so if you aren’t caught up, come back later!

8. ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’. Putting this show last in my ranking is a bit dangerous considering all the blatant misogyny we saw directed at it as a form of “criticism”. So while I didn’t really like ‘She-Hulk’, I want to make clear that I had no problems with the character of Jennifer Walters or the obvious feminism in this show. In fact, my favorite part of ‘She-Hulk’ was the fearless way the show discussed women being ignored or mistreated in the workplace, women receiving clearly unwanted advances from men, and even something as dark as revenge porn. I loved that Jennifer Walters’ problem with the She-Hulk persona wasn’t about a lack of control, which makes so much sense for a female character who experiences a lot of ridicule in their day-to-day just for being a woman, but about the way She-Hulk twisted her public and personal self-image. Also, unrelated, Matt Murdock was a joy to watch in this.

All that said, She-Hulk had some huge problems. The biggest one was She-Hulk’s attempts to go meta. Moments where Jennifer Walters breaks the fourth wall to speak to the audience are few and far between leading up to the finale. It’s jarring whenever it happens because she does it so little, and almost every time she does it she’s acknowledging a writing problem with the show. I see writers do this all the time, where they perceive a problem audiences could see with their writing and figure that being self-aware about it makes the issue funny rather than irritating. This tactic NEVER works. So whenever Jennifer addressed that the show was using too many cameos, or a plot point came out of nowhere and halted the progression of the story, or even that the finale wasn’t doing a good job of tying up all the major storylines, I was extremely irritated rather than charmed. Speaking of the finale, despite how little ‘She-Hulk’ utilized fourth wall breaking, they decided that the finale would be an entirely meta episode where they threw out all their plot points and had Jennifer Walters confront a writing AI named KEVIN (Kevin Feige) so she could get the ending she wanted. Which was jarring and came across as though the writers didn’t know how to end the storylines they’d introduced. Add in the fact that all of the female characters who weren’t main characters were portrayed as dumb valley girls (Titania, the woman who befriends Wong, the woman whose wedding breaks up the plot), and this show rubbed me the wrong way. All of that and I didn’t even mention the questionable CG in some scenes.

7. ‘Moon Knight’. This was presented as one of two “dark” projects Marvel was attempting for Phase 4. ‘Moon Knight’ didn’t wind up going as dark as some people expected, but it’s definitely darker in tone than most other MCU projects. There’s quite a bit of brutal killing, explored trauma, and depressing scenes compared to other MCU shows, though it does keep the classic Marvel humor. I personally found that Moon Knight walked between the usual tone of the MCU and the darker subjects it was handling very well. I also appreciated the amount of love and work that went into representing each Egyptian influence on the story. The highlights of ‘Moon Knight’ for me though, were the costume designs for both Marc Spector’s and Steven Grant’s Moon Knight, which are now some of my favorite superhero costumes we’ve ever gotten on screen, and Steven Grant himself. Steven’s the character you’re meant to relate to when the series starts and continually succeeds at endearing and anchoring the audience throughout the rest of the show. He’s adorable and so likable, to the point that whenever he’s gone you spend the whole time missing him.

But clearly, overall, I didn’t love this show. None of the characters, not even Marc Spector are developed well enough to endear them to the audience. I firmly believe that Steven Grant only avoids this because he’s such an obviously cute character who’s easy to root for, but even he isn’t developed well enough in the plot. The only episode where I felt Marc and Steven were given enough development was the second-to-last episode where Marc and Steven’s past trauma was front and center. But that still didn’t do an amazing job at explaining why Marc had been such a jerk to literally everyone for the whole series, or how Marc and Steven’s co-existence within their body had been rapidly changing throughout the series. Then there’s Layla who looked awesome in all the trailers, but barely gets any time to explore her character and never gets a wrap-up in the finale despite having just become a superhero. And of course there’s Arthur Harrow who, aside from his hilariously bad attempt at Mandarin, holds no interest and has no personality. ‘Moon Knight’ definitely had some interesting concepts, but it never got me to care about the characters. ‘Moon Knight’ also could have benefited from doing more research into dissociative-identity-disorder before attempting this kind of plot.

6. ‘What If…?’. ‘What If…?’ is a mix of both good and bad episodes. That’s because all episodes are stand-alone’s, with most of them tying together in the finale. Episodes like ‘What If… T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?’ work really well by giving us in-character stories that still reimagine how a character might have turned out differently with a completely new backstory or set of circumstances. Episodes like ‘What If… The World Lost It’s Mightiest Heroes?’ go for darker concepts that might not appeal to children, but still come across as movie quality with enough intrigue to make the story worth every minute of its run time. Plus, this episode also has the best and most badass version of Natasha Romanoff we’ve seen in the MCU. But other episodes, like ‘What If… Killmonger rescued Tony Stark?’ fail at making anything interesting out of their plot despite a promising premise. There’s even an entire episode dedicated to what would happen if ‘Doctor Strange’ was just about fridging Christine, which is a terrible premise no one asked for. Ultimately this show is extremely worth it for those episodes that hit the mark, and not worth it at all for the episodes that miss it entirely.

5. ‘Loki’. Damn I wish I could put this series higher. Episodes 1 and 2 of ‘Loki’ are some of my favorite pieces of content we’ve seen come out of Phase 4. The amount of character development they do for Loki in just these two episodes is extraordinary, especially paired with Tom Hiddleston’s acting. And Loki’s relationship with Mobius is both hilarious and endearing. I could have seriously just watched these two banter back and forth for the entire series and been completely content. But then we got to Sylvie. Don’t get me wrong, I love Sylvie. She’s a badass with a promising future in the MCU, and I found her a very intriguing character to follow. But once Sylvie comes into the storyline Loki abandons Mobius to follow around Sylvie like a puppy dog. The playful banter, and the fun Loki schemes we got in the first few episodes, give way to Sylvie’s ambitions for revenge while Loki’s character development slows down to a crawl.

And then there’s Loki’s romantic relationship with Sylvie, which is a whole other problem. First, there’s the issue of the two being the same person. Considering they both have memories of the same family and presumably some genetic similarities, many people, including myself, immediately saw them as siblings. So you really can’t blame the audience for being caught off-guard when the two suddenly kissed. And the writers, due to the backlash, gave us two extremely stupid and contradictory reasons for putting Sylvie and Loki together. One of them implies that these two are completely different people, and the other implies that Loki is exhibiting self love through his relationship with Sylvie. Clearly Loki and Sylvie aren’t completely different, but they are different enough that I wouldn’t call a romantic relationship between these two a version of self love. Not to mention that just before the two kissed, Loki was confirmed as bisexual in a throw away line, which made it seem like Marvel was throwing scraps to the LGBTQ+ community while still refusing to put any major relationship on-screen that isn’t straight or straight-passing. Add on the cringy moment where the Loki variants scoff at the idea of a lady Loki existing and you have some really poor writing decisions.

4. ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’. Yet another series I wish I liked more than I actually do. This series does justice to both Sam and Bucky as characters. It was a joy to see Sam explore what the title of Captain America would mean to him as a Black man, especially with the amount of racism he frequently experiences in modern-day America. It was also really nice to see Bucky finally dealing with his Winter Soldier trauma, all while delivering sarcasm in the most endearing and amusing way possible. I loved seeing these two bond over the course of the series. I also loved seeing Sam Wilson step into the role of Captain America in another one of my favorite superhero suits we’ve seen in the MCU, while shining a light on the way society sweeps those in need under the rug at the first sign of violent resistance. And, somehow, this series endeared me to Zemo, a character I considered to be one of the worst villains in the MCU. I’m still genuinely bewildered by this.

This series had a lot of issues, though. First there’s John Walker, who they’re now clearly expecting us to embrace as a redeemable character, or at least an anti-hero, considering his act of heroism at the end of the series and his upcoming return in ‘Thunderbolts’. But John Walker is not only a very firm symbol of racism and intolerance in this series, but he also straight-up beheads a guy with the shield. Then there’s the treatment of Sharon Carter who is turned into a villain because they didn’t know what to do with her, I guess? But she barely gets any time anyways so she might as well have not been in here at all. Along with these we also have extremely underdeveloped villains, once again, and horrible pacing that leaves us with Sam and Bucky fixing a boat right when the show is nearing its tense finale. With a little more organization this show could have been a lot better.

I didn’t expect that I’d have so many things to say about the Phase 4 shows, so I’ll leave my top three for my next post! There’s so much I’ve really liked and really disliked about Phase 4 so far. But I do think it’s worth noting that while I feel my praises and critiques are valid, my ranking is also effected by what kinds of media I like to consume. I’m not as big a fan of darker themes or situational comedies, which explains why nothing really made up for the problems I saw in ‘Moon Knight’ or ‘She-Hulk’. But that’s what’s nice about this phase. There’s something different for everyone and everyone’s lists will look extremely different as a result.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

BTS: ‘Indigo’ by RM

Promotional image of Kim Namjoon for ‘Indigo’. Copyright goes to Kim Namjoon and HYBE.

Hi! It’s Annie!

We all knew that when Namjoon released his new album it would be lyrically amazing and undeniably comforting. Namjoon seems to relish in the emotionally relatable, and his music is raw and real and makes everyone feel as if they are not alone. And I think we could all do with reminders like that, especially now. Namjoon packed every moment of this album with feeling and meaning. I don’t think you’ll ever find any kind of basic song without much meaning in the lyrics in a Namjoon album. Though that’s not necessarily bad; some musicians focus more on the sound than the lyrics. But Namjoon has said multiple times that he’s a poet and a lyricist first. So you aren’t going to find a song that only focuses on the sound and not the lyrics here. The album is also going viral because of how all of the people Namjoon collaborated on it talked about him in interviews afterwards. So I’m going to go through all of the specifics of the album, including songs and thoughts, and at least try to give back some of what Namjoon gave me through the release of this amazing album.

Yun (with Erykah Badu):

This piece has a funkier sound to it and is a perfect mix of Namjoon’s rapping style that is all his own and Erykah Badu’s unique singing style. It did not surprise me at all when Hobi announced that this was his favorite of the tracks on the album. The song itself talks about learning to be a human being before you are an artist or anything else. Namjoon talked about how this song encourages people to live life to have the experiences for creativity and was a lesson that he holds very dear to himself. I love that he’s sharing these life lessons from his twenties with us!

Still Life (with Anderson Paak):

This has a more hard hitting rap style and a more pop-like sound to it in general. Namjoon was cited at saying that he felt this song had a more western sound and would therefore be one of the most popular tracks in the states. Namjoon said that he wrote this song based off of the term “Still Life” that English speakers use to define paintings. He felt that this term was interesting and could apply to a wide array of things. Such as the fact that, like a painting, he is constantly observed. But like the objects portrayed in many Still Life paintings, he is very much alive and breathing and has a side that the observer does not see.

All Day (with TABLO):

This is more of a pure rap style piece and it is, once again, very hard hitting lyrically as well. The song is more about trying to find yourself in a society that tries to force you into a specific mold. The song also discusses living for yourself rather than others and even tells potential haters to turn away if they don’t want to observe your life. It’s an amazing take on individuality and the importance of self that we don’t often see anywhere. I also really appreciated how heartfelt this collaboration was between two friends who have experienced similar feelings.

Forg_tful (with Kim Sawol):

Namjoon really went all out on experimenting with all types of music genres in this album, and this piece specifically goes into an almost folk sound. This track also features Namjoon singing for pretty much all of this and his deeper register contrasts beautiful with the lighter more playful sound of Kim Sawol. This piece specifically has a very comforting sound to it and Namjoon said he wrote it because of his friends joking with him about his own forgetfulness. But the song mostly addresses how he isn’t able to do simple things he likes, like go to the park, because of his fame. It has a sad and warm feeling all at once.

Closer (with Paul Blanco and Mahalia):

This song was created by another team of writers who specifically had Namjoon in mind when they wrote the song and reached out to him. When he found the song to be right up his alley, it landed a place on this album. This is another one with a bit of a slower but funkier sound and it discusses wanting someone that feels unreachable. Namjoon turned the tables on fans by saying that he found the song personally relatable from an on stage perspective. He wants to date but finds other people so unreachable with his lifestyle. It’s not only fans who see idols this way, but a universally relatable thing with this business. Damn.

Change pt. 2:

This is another one really personal to Namjoon as it talks about how he has personally changed. He even condemns Wikipedia pages written about him or old interviews, because he is a person who, like everyone else, constantly changes. This has a more gritty feel to it than other tracks on the album and feels both cozy and serves as a reminder to fans that Namjoon is a person who changes. People constantly change especially throughout their twenties, and just because he said something in that one interview a while ago doesn’t mean that you can accept that totally as his current reality. Such as when people expressed disappointment when Namjoon said he didn’t want to have kids anymore. That doesn’t mean something happened to him to make him feel that. Sometimes, people just change.

Lonely:

What I love about lonely is that it has a weirdly comforting upbeat sound to it while having some of the saddest lyrics on the entire album. Namjoon said that he wrote this particular song when he was in Vegas and the members of BTS were attempting to cheer each other up while all feeling like they couldn’t leave their hotel rooms. Loneliness is a feeling that we all get, but Namjoon said he felt it so intensely then that he wanted to smash something. Hence why this song was created with so many expletives. He also expresses the feeling of wanting to be home, or somewhere familiar, and I think we all can relate to that at some point.

Hectic (with Colde):

Namjoon created this song because he really liked the English word “hectic” and how it gives a new and more dramatic feeling compared to just saying that you were busy. The song talks about his hectic life and how he can’t often find something to make the day feel meaningful for him, despite being busy during it. I have been feeling this way too hard at my part time job lately. The song has the kind of feeling that makes you think of a traveling scene in a movie. Seriously, this entire album could be a soundtrack for something. It has that type of beautiful and comforting music.

Wild Flower (with Youjeen) and MV:

This is probably my favorite song on this album (I’m going to get back to that later) and Namjoon said that this is currently the most meaningful song on the album for him personally. The song itself talks about how he sees himself versus how the world sees him and how he crumbles underneath that. If that didn’t make sense for ARMY already, in the MV he compares the purple ocean at their concerts to a flower field. This comparison shows how the fame can be overwhelming to him and how in his heart he just wants to be as natural as he possibly can be. The MV has the comforting wildflower field, as well as an anxiety inducing storm, all leading to the concert arena that even made me overwhelmed just watching the MV. It’s beautiful and terrible and completely raw at the same time. The vocals from Youjeen pierce my heart every time I hear the song. It made me cry the first time I heard it because it was so raw. Namjoon said that he didn’t think this song would be for everyone because it was so raw, but I think that’s what makes it even more relatable. Both Hobi and Namjoon now have songs released about how their fame has been negatively affecting them. This is not something we can just ignore.

No. 2 (with Park Jiyun):

This is named the way it is because Namjoon views this song as the beginning of his second chapter after his twenties. This is another relatable song, because it addresses a fear that everyone has had at least once. Namjoon worries about his past self and the fact that he may have regrets and this is mixed with the sweet singing, comfortingly telling the audience and the artists themselves not to look back. This feels like a rainy day song and the fact that it refers to the listener as “dear” while instilling the lesson that you shouldn’t look back makes it feel like a hug. Especially if you’re like me who has constantly been looking back recently. I needed this reminder, and I’m so grateful to Namjoon for giving all of us one.

Namjoon Himself:

I think we all need to talk about the way the artists who collaborated with Namjoon on pieces talked about him. They all described him as a very sincere, determined, and humble person to work with. He has clear ideas but was always open to feedback and seemed to have very sincere conversations with all of the artists about the feelings attached to each song. This is definitely something that has been in the making for years. Namjoon said that he wrote some of these songs at very different times during his twenties. This album is very personal to Namjoon and with how relatable he wanted this piece to be, it will definitely become very personal to plenty of others who listen to it.

Song Snobbery:

Ok, so I unfortunately want to address this because it came up specifically surrounding this album. But it comes up with anything BTS does now. It’s become a trend on TikTok to judge people for liking certain songs in an artist’s discography. With BTS, this started with the very innocent and understandable want to push people to listen to BTS’s Korean music and not just the music they released in English. It is always very disappointing that some people won’t give BTS the time of day if they aren’t speaking or singing in English. There’s something that feels pretty racist about that. Other people have taken this understandable movement and are now using it for the purpose of showing uncertainty for people when they express that their favorite song on an album, any album, is the promoted song. I’ve already seen people make TikToks judging people for saying that their favorite song on this album is “Wild Flower”. Considering Namjoon chose this as the main song for a reason and has even said that it is his own current favorite, I really don’t understand where these people are coming from. Yes, give the entire album a listen! But “Wild Flower” is a gorgeous song that hits really hard. Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re wrong for having the same favorite song as the literal creator of the album.

This album is so good and I feel like Namjoon’s solo projects always come during a time when I need them the most. I was having a really awful week when this album released, and it felt like a genuine warm hug from Namjoon. His lyrics make me feel like I’m not alone and give me so much comfort that I will never be able to describe how much it means to me. This album is full of important lessons, raw emotions, and comforting words. It’s like a breath of fresh air after being in a cramped place for too long. Once again, Namjoon has created something brilliant. This is an album I will cry to in the future.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Marvel: ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special’ Review

Screenshot of Pom Klementieff as Mantis and Dave Bautista as Drax in ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special’. Copyright goes to Marvel Studios.

Hey! Hallie here!

For those who have been following this blog for a while, you probably know that we’ve recently cut down on our Marvel posts. Between the sheer amount of content and feeling less satisfied with some of Marvel’s recent projects, both my sister and I decided to step back from this fandom for a while. But the trailers for ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special’ looked really wholesome, so when my family started scrolling through Christmas content to get us in the holiday spirit, we figured this was worth a shot. The premise is really simple. Mantis and Drax, two of the most obliviously chaotic members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, hear a story about a bad Christmas Peter Quill once had. They also notice that Peter isn’t feeling all that happy this Christmas, either. So they decide to give him the ultimate Christmas present: Kevin Bacon. Yes, this is a kidnapping Kevin Bacon story. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this, but I was pleasantly surprised! This was just as wholesome as I hoped, and paired with some comedy, it really stuck the landing for me. Let’s get into the good and bad in this special! SPOILERS AHEAD!

What I Liked:

Mantis and Drax: This Christmas special wouldn’t have worked if these two couldn’t carry the special. They’re the main characters, yes, but both of these characters are comic relief characters. Some comic relief characters can be irritating to follow without someone rational to balance them out, and others just aren’t strong enough to stand on their own. That’s not true of either Drax or Mantis. The two are hilarious in this, but they do a good job of balancing each other out without needing some kind of outside party. Drax is definitely the most outrageous of the two, with some of his comedy involving doing grievous harm to other people. In this way Mantis becomes the straight-man, as she actively works to stop Drax from doing any permanent damage to anyone or anything. But before Mantis dips into an area where she might seem too serious, Drax is able to lighten up the mood and involve her in more crazy antics. On top of this, for a Christmas special there’s really nothing wrong with having two characters who set an overall light tone. Both characters have an adorable bewilderment that endears you to both of them and casts the comedy in a heartwarming light. The humor here doesn’t dip into obnoxious purely because it’s going right for the heart of the audience, and that benefits the special and the characters greatly. As for the role these characters play overall, Drax is pretty much there for the good times. That’s respectable, but I think this is where Mantis truly steals the show. Mantis knows that Peter is technically her brother and she doesn’t really know how to tell him. Because of this, her misplaced desire to present Kevin Bacon to him as a Christmas gift becomes a journey to make her brother happy and find the courage to tell him that they’re related in the process. This character motivation is the most gut-wrenching, lovely part of this special, and is definitely one of the biggest things that will draw me back to this project every Christmas.

Kevin Bacon: Kevin Bacon does exactly what you want Kevin Bacon to do in this special. He screams a lot, makes fun of his own career, and ultimately ends the whole thing by singing a song and embracing the Christmas vibes. He does a very good job of matching the comedic timing of all the other characters. His interactions with Mantis and Drax when he first meets them are fun, mostly because he’s terrified. But his chilled out state of being after Mantis uses her abilities on him is even more hilarious because it allows for moments where Bacon has to react to lines like “We hate you” with happy acceptance. Kevin Bacon just looks like he’s having an amazing time throughout the whole special and it’s so fun to watch.

Kraglin and Nebula: Kraglin isn’t in this special a lot, but I do really love Kraglin. While he’s just as oblivious as many of the other members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s quickly become the heart of the team. His conversation with Kevin Bacon highlights this so well. He demonstrates a clear caring for the other Guardians and Peter especially, as well as a self-awareness about the things he and the rest of the group don’t quite understand. But none of this is revealed in a preachy speech made to Kevin Bacon about why Mantis and Drax’s hearts are in the right place. It’s casual and grounded, as if Kraglin had accepted Kevin Bacon as a friend who he can chat comfortably with. I got the distinct impression that Kraglin would be incredibly easy to talk to and that impression alone warmed me to him. As for Nebula, she’s in this even less but it’s so nice to see her reluctantly but happily integrating herself into the family she’s made. I can’t get over the way she helped Mantis and Drax present Kevin Bacon to Peter, or the smile on her face after she gifted Bucky’s arm to Rocket. Nebula deserves the world and I’m glad she’s found some peace with the Guardians.

“I Don’t Know What Christmas Is (But Christmas Time is Here)”: This song is at the very beginning of the special and it’s probably the funniest part of the whole thing. It was written by James Gunn and performed by a band he’s loved for many years, The Old 97s. You have to listen to this song. It’s so unexpected, so wrong, and so outrageous in all the best ways. I completely lost it at Mrs. Claus working the pole.

What I Disliked:

Kevin Bacon’s Reaction to Mantis and Drax: I’m going to get nitpicky here because I don’t have many things in this special that I dislike. Why did Kevin Bacon assume Mantis and Drax were two crazy people in costumes? Why did he continue to assume this after they started exhibiting superpowers? Why did he act as though they were abnormal beings? This is the Kevin Bacon of the MCU. Where the general public has been made painfully aware of superpowered individuals and aliens because of frequent disasters. You would think Kevin Bacon would have more of an idea of what he was up against when he first met Mantis and Drax. It was strange that he was acting as though he had no idea what they could be.

“Here It Is Christmas Time”: I know they decided to use this song because the Old 97s have performed it before, but this is a really weird Christmas song that took me out of the special’s ending a bit. The lyrics don’t go well together and overall made me cringe with both their strangeness and overly obvious wording. It’s just an awkward song and I don’t think it suited the emotional beats of the finale.

Lost in LA: I think the sequence where Drax and Mantis first show up to LA went on for a bit too long. Especially when it came to the two spending time in the nightclub. Already the scene where Mantis and Drax kept getting stopped for pictures in front of the Chinese Theatre took a bit more time than I expected. But I felt the sequence of them spending time in LA really started to drag once we transitioned to them getting drunk. I could have done for less time on one or both of these sequences.

Clearly I don’t have much to complain about with this special. I wouldn’t say it’s a work of art or anything. But it’s really fun and makes a great addition to whatever Christmas movies you revisit each year. It has the perfect amount of heart, family focus, and comedy to keep you coming back for more. And more than anything else, it’s the first time I really feel like I was given enough of Mantis and her personality to fully appreciate her character. If for nothing else, watch this special for Mantis and Pom Klementieff’s amazing performance. This has officially made me like the character, and that alone makes watching ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special’ so worth it.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

ATEEZ: ‘Paradigm’ and MonTEEZ

Promotional image of (from left) Choi Jongho, Jeong Yunho, Jung Wooyoung, Park Seonghwa, Kim Hongjoong, Song Mingi, Choi San, and Kang Yeosang. Copyright goes to KQ Entertainment and ATEEZ.

Hi! It’s Annie!

This is the comeback that we were all waiting for after it started becoming apparent that there were more releases on the way from ATEEZ. Oh my god, it did not disappoint. It seems like ATEEZ has recently been making more of an effort to embrace the sexy vibes that became extremely popular especially after the release of “Deja Vu”. Of course, their recent performance of “Cyberpunk” more than embraced those vibes, and everyone’s (rightly) obsessed with it. So the clean cut suit vibes that cut to the darker aesthetics are exactly the escalation of this that I wanted. But obviously, all the music that comes out of ATEEZ is unique and amazing. Some of the most underrated and amazing songs ATEEZ have released have been on their Japanese release albums. This is no different from the brilliance of any of those, so I’m going to get into it! I’m only going to talk about a few of the new releases, so this won’t be a review of the entire album. And I did want to include another announcement that made me so so happy this week!

“Paradigm”:

After first hearing the snippet of music in the teaser, I had a similar feeling to when I first heard the snippet of “Deja Vu”. Though not as intense; it was still the overwhelming feeling that the song was going to be awesome and unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. This songs is the perfect mix of hard hitting beats and lyrical melody. The first few times I heard it, I couldn’t absolutely piece it together because it felt like I wasn’t expecting the equal amount of hype throughout the song. There’s so much going on at the same time it fits together so perfectly. And I love seeing ATEEZ continue to make things so even among all the eight members. While Yeosang still lacked some sung lines for this song, I didn’t feel as though he was lacking much considering their dedication to continuously giving him other lines whether they are sung or whispered. And they also have been using Yeosang reliably in other ways that I’ll get to later. This is the perfect mix of beats and a showcase of vocal ability; I just think everyone would have a better week if they listened to this song.

The MV:

The sharp dressed members of ATEEZ go in between a dark and a light setting for this MV, with red in between. This isn’t like “Don’t Stop” where we got some more ATEEZverse story. This MV actually reminds me more of “HALA HALA” because it’s a dance showcase more than anything else. Yeosang is centered for a lot of it and, as we all know from “Cyberpunk”, pulls off these sexy themes very well. Mingi absolutely slayed me in his glasses that I was not expecting them to put him in. I love how Hongjoong gets his arm band into every outfit, it’s such a badass calling sign for him. Seonghwa’s light shift “shhh” in the video took all of us out. San continues to put us all in our graves with his facial expressions. How did they get Wooyoung to look so damn intimidating? Jongho looked like the romantic CEO of a company here. What did I do to deserve that Yunho hair flip and oh my gosh he looked so suave when he started out the MV. Nothing about any of the members in this MV was fair. And they continue to show everyone that when it comes to dancing, no other group is as technical and fluid with it as they are. The flashing between aesthetics in the MV matched the song by giving the impression that so much was going on. It was kind of difficult to keep track of everyone, so it forces you to watch the MV time and time again so that you can catch absolutely everything. But who’s complaining? We’re all trying to stream this one anyways! They are once again making this song into a dance challenge. I wonder if other groups will be up for the amazingly intricate choreography this time around. We’ll have to find out!

“Intro: The Siren”:

I loved the way this intro sounded partly because it reminded me of the hype of the concert. There’s something very profoundly like introducing the audience to the show in this piece. I kind of wonder if the person talking is all Hongjoong, a collection of various ATEEZ members, or even someone else entirely. But I think this piece is such a great introduction to the corrupt government in the current ATEEZverse, and I loved how much story, importance, and gorgeous music such a small piece still packs.

MonTEEZ:

For those of you who haven’t been following the series of videos labelled ‘MonTEEZ’ on ATEEZ’s Youtube channel, now is the time to do that! I am ecstatic that it looks like we’re actually getting some ATEEZ designed plushies. This is where so many K-Pop groups hit me in the wallet the most. I am very susceptible when it comes to plushies. Like San, I just love a good plushie so much. So, I always knew that when ATEEZ announced that they would be releasing literally any kind of plushie, I was going to be all over it. And I love that they’re going with several versions of Yeosang’s original Hehetmon design. I am already in love with all of the final product designs and now it just feels like a matter of time before we get the official announcement. I’m just hoping that they release these new plushies in a wide variety of places, because I can’t afford the shipping for the KQ Entertainment Store website. But, I’m going to be honest, I already know my money is forfeit. These new designs include; Hongjoong’s which adorably has his own Hongjoong bangs and definitely bears a similarity to his designer, Seonghwa’s who stays true to the original Hehetmon design with some new touches and a star on his head, Yunho’s who is very cheesily giving two thumbs up with a large thumbs up on his head as well as an adorable tooth, Yeosang’s which is the original Hehetmon design but with a new and improved hat, San’s which consists of two friends holding hands with different outlooks on the world, Mingi’s who has a clover on his head and looks very chill, Wooyoung’s which consists of two vastly different friends in what appear to be teacups, and Jongho’s which has lots of purple and a look of adorable determination. There’s something for everyone here and I just can’t wait to see the final plushie designs any day now. I love how original these designs are and how they stem from something that’s been fan loved for years now. Thank you to Yeosang for the original design that now got us these cuties!

I’m going to be completely honest, I’ve been having a really tough and exhausting week. And none of that is in a good way by any means. My week has been pretty bad. The release of ‘Paradigm’ and the announcements surrounding MonTEEZ have put me in such a better mood. And Seonghwa and Yunho recently did a live as well! These ATEEZ releases have been keeping me from spiraling this week and give me something amazing to look forward to every single day. I am absolutely in love with all of these! I will be listening to “Paradigm” every day and staring at pictures of MonTEEZ until they finally are for sale. This is exactly what I needed to help me through the week. I just want to thank ATEEZ for working so incredibly hard and being in the business of making the days, weeks, months, and even years for so many of us so much better.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Comfort Entertainment: ‘Belle’ Review

Screenshot from the movie ‘Belle’. Copyright goes to Studio Chizu.

Hey! Hallie here!

‘Belle’ was one of the biggest anime movie releases from last year. There weren’t many places you could go on the internet without hearing one of the songs from this film or seeing someone cosplay the title character. I really wanted to watch ‘Belle’ when it came out, but for various reasons I wasn’t able to see it. And then it completely slipped my mind until I saw it pop up in my recommended list on HBO Max. I had really high expectations. This has excellent reviews on most websites and was given a very long standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. And the songs drew me in long before I was able to watch the whole movie. But, to be honest, this didn’t live up to my expectations. In fact, I thought this movie was extremely messy. I have a lot of mixed thoughts about ‘Belle’, so let’s just get into it! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Good:

The Songs: The music in this movie is incredible. As a disclaimer for this section, though, I did watch the English dub of ‘Belle’. So when I talk about the voice of Suzu/Belle, I’ll be referring to the angelic voice of Kylie McNeill, who was only around eighteen when she voiced the character of Suzu. You would never guess the voice behind these songs belonged to a teenager. The amount of control she has is enviable. She switches easily between light, sweet notes and strong belting. The dynamic nature of her voice works extremely well in fast-paced, fun songs like “U”, but even better in slower, more heartfelt pieces like “Gales of Song”. I will never get over how amazing “Gales of Song” is. Beyond just the singing though, the soundtrack of this movie is gorgeous. It really does transport you to another world and embraces more of a fairytale feel than I expected. I highly recommend the soundtrack for this movie. It’s addictive and excellently crafted. I also want to note that it fits well with the movie itself. Moments where the main character breaks out into song are made natural by the fact that she’s well, a singer. And the songs serve to move forward the plot by reflecting the inner turmoil and thoughts of Suzu. I don’t really have anything negative to say about the music here.

Animation: Visually, this is a near perfect movie. The 2D animation style is aesthetically pleasing, especially when it comes to the scenery. The bright colors are gorgeous between the green of the forests and the blue of the frosty bridge. But the seamless transition into 3D animation is where the movie really shines. The online world of U is not only just as colorful as the 2D locations, but is also complicated and vast in its design. It really feels like another world that’s worth exploring. The character design in ‘Belle’ is also mind-blowing. The title character herself is absolutely stunning. Her soft pink hair, bright blue eyes, and facial markings all lend themselves to a unique and unforgettable look for the character, and the 3D animation embraces the fluidity of the 2D animation while also breathing more life into her. Another design I love belongs to the Beast, who manages to look like a traditional Japanese painting and a lifelike creature all at the same time. I don’t blame cosplayers for jumping at the chance to tackle the designs from this movie. It’s hard not to love the characters when their designs are so gorgeous.

The Bad:

The Story: It’s really unfortunate that something so influential to the movie failed almost entirely. Especially when the setup was so good. Suzu is a character that’s extremely easy to relate to. She’s insecure about herself, can barely talk to other people, and doesn’t feel that she’s able to accomplish much. All of this is tied to past trauma concerning her mother, who died attempting to save someone else’s child right in front of Suzu. Because of that, Suzu feels both a pressure to live up to her mother’s kindness, and an anger for being essentially abandoned. Also tied to this trauma is her inability to sing, which was one of her favorite things to do with her mother when she was alive. You really feel for Suzu and share her happiness when she realizes that in U, because she can hide behind her avatar, she can sing. But just when it starts getting into the juiciness of her hiding behind her persona, the Beast plot line gets dropped on the story. And that’s where it goes off the rails. For those who don’t know, ‘Belle’ is based off of ‘Beauty and the Beast’, specifically Disney’s version. So when the Beast came in I thought he was a love interest, likely her childhood friend who might be able to tie more directly into Suzu’s storyline and help her heal more of her trauma. But instead the Beast takes over the entire plot, including Suzu’s character development. They spend half the movie trying to figure out who the Beast is while Belle protects him from the internet cops, Belle forms a bond with him so quickly that you as the audience don’t understand what her obsession is with him, and then the story ends with the reveal that he’s a random kid who’s abused by his father.

I suppose the final sequence, where Suzu sings a song dedicated to the Beast without her avatar as a means to convince him to trust her, is supposed to demonstrate that she’s developed the self confidence to stop hiding. Except it doesn’t do that. Instead of revealing her true self because she’s grown more confident, she does it out of an obligation to get the Beast out of his abusive situation. And her confidence doesn’t actually seem to grow before or even after this event. She feels like the same character at the end of the movie as she was at the beginning of it. Not to mention that the whole way she and her friends go about trying to help this abused kid is ridiculous. Really? She and her teenage friends are able to guess his location because of the placement of two buildings and some quick googling? And then her friends, some of whom are adult women, send her off to deal with this abusive father on her own? The whole finale is so ridiculous that it takes you out of the story entirely. I really wanted to see Suzu learn to love and accept herself. I wanted to see her come to terms with what her mother did instead of deciding, unprompted, that she was done talking about her mother halfway through the movie. I didn’t want the movie to pivot to a random, unrelated character who’s storyline was resolved by Suzu’s friend group briefly turning into Mystery Incorporated.

Overall this movie couldn’t make up for its faults. It matched gorgeous music and jaw-dropping animation with a lacking story that just got worse as the movie continued. I so badly wanted to walk away from ‘Belle’ with a new obsession, but honestly, I’ll probably forget about it in a few weeks. I won’t forget about the music though. I’ll still be listening to “Gales of Song” after I’ve forgotten ‘Belle’s plot, and it will probably be better for it.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie