Oreos & Peanut Butter

K-Pop: Mnet Needs To Go

Screenshot of Jung Yunho in ‘The Real’ MV. Copyright goes to ATEEZ and KQ Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

So, I initially wasn’t going to write about this topic today because nothing has been confirmed yet. But from past allegations we’ve seen about Mnet and more and more workers for the company coming out and confirming some stuff, I think this needs to be talked about. My sister and I have talked about the mistreatment of idols several times on our blog. Both by companies and fans themselves. And as more information comes out, it almost seems that no company treats idols quite as badly as Mnet. You might have seen all the trending tags on Twitter regarding several groups and especially what happened at the MAMAs (Mnet’s award show) this year, and if you haven’t I’m going to cover everything recently that happened with them and all the other allegations against Mnet. Because I will not stand to see any idols be treated this way. If any of this is even slightly true, which it looks like it is, this treatment of idols is nothing less than atrocious and almost monstrous.

BTS Clean Up:

So, I’m going to start out with this because it’s the least of the issues I want to talk about. Many fans were complaining that BTS won all of the major awards and some of the minor awards at the MAMAs and said that they wished BTS would leave awards to groups who need the recognition. I hate to say it, but we’re going to see this for a while and there’s nothing we can do about it. Obviously, I’m an ARMY and BTS is the main group that I stan, but I do also see that smaller groups need the awards more than BTS does. But the fact is, all the K-Pop centered awards shows have no choice but to acknowledge BTS and if they’re up for an award, they are probably going to win it. That’s just the way things are going to be for quite some time. I understand the frustration, but it all comes with how popular BTS has been and continues to be. BTS themselves have no control over their nominations or whether or not they win. So please don’t pin the blame on BTS themselves.

TXT Cut Off:

Now that that is out of the way, let’s get into the stuff we all can fully blame Mnet for cruel behavior for. TXT actually won an award at this year’s MAMAs, but that’s about all the respect that Mnet showed them. In a picture lineup for all the performances from this year Mnet conveniently left out TXT and also did very little to acknowledge Enhypen either, leading many fans to rightly accuse Mnet of having prejudice against HYBE groups. Most people already know that BTS was not present at this year’s awards. And we’ll see if HYBE even sends any of their groups there again after this year. The apparent prejudice continued when TXT won an award and went up to make their speech. American fans are definitely familiar with having heard that an award show purposely played out an artist before they were done with their acceptance speech. That’s exactly what was done here. And TXT had barely said anything before Mnet decided to essentially kick them off the stage, including turning the lights off on them. The microphones were also malfunctioning throughout TXT’s performance. Many people might think that this was just an accident and a technological problem, but history with Mnet makes this behavior suspicious. Because Mnet has been known to tamper with artists mics before, especially on their competition shows to try and make some artists have less votes than others. I’ll get back to that.

ATEEZ Snub:

I think we all know that ATEEZ performed at the MAMAs by now because they got some of the premiere performing slots. And their performances really blew up! I was especially proud as a Yunho bias that “that blonde guy from ATEEZ” started trending after their performances. Yay to more Yunho recognition! But many also noticed that ATEEZ weren’t actually nominated for any awards. Yes, you read that right. One of the most popular fourth generation groups was not even nominated for any of the awards. It wasn’t even that they just didn’t win any. And with ATEEZ’s rapidly increasing fanbase, especially internationally, it was clear that their performances were used much in the same way that the Grammys used BTS. They put them in premiere performance slots for the viewership of their fans without actually giving them anything in return. I have absolutely no idea why they would do this, but ATEEZ was definitely used. Yeosang also said that their mics were having issues, which is also not the best.

ATEEZ and ‘Kingdom’:

Oh, you thought the ATEEZ mistreatment was over? It’s actually ATEEZ information that’s getting Mnet in so much trouble right now. And part of that is because, right after their snub at the MAMAs, information on the full scale of how ATEEZ was treated on Mnet’s competition show ‘Kingdom’ was released. And the list of mistreatments toward ATEEZ by the Mnet staff is a long list. The first accusation claims that ATEEZ members were frequently yelled at to get them to do tasks faster. Most Atiny know that the filming of ‘Kingdom’ actually coincided with the release and promotion schedule for ATEEZ’s latest album at the time. ATEEZ members even admitted to only being able to sleep a couple hours on some nights and on others not having the time to sleep at all. I can’t even imagine having a schedule like that. And to hear that they were yelled at during all of this is even worse. But that’s not all. ATEEZ were given worse accommodations than every other group on the show, contrary to popular belief that Mnet was favoring them during the competition. They received the smallest dressing room of all the groups, they were often forced to eat their lunches on a tiny rooftop space, and (most notably) they were given the least comfortable accommodations for their reaction filming. Most other groups were given pretty luxury looking rooms with giant sofas, while ATEEZ’s room appeared to be small and they were all sitting in office chairs. This was something that people picked up on while watching the show because it was easy to notice the difference. This and the fact that their performance of ‘Rhythm Ta’ was actually cut to feature as much reactions as the performance itself, forcing Atinys to go to Mnet’s Youtube channel to watch any satisfactory length of the performance. On top of this, ATEEZ were not informed by Mnet that there would be a sports outdoor episode, so the members turned up in the wrong kind of clothing. And Mnet described ATEEZ as only having seven members and did no research on the member positions of the group or their ages. They even listed San as being a part of ‘The BOYZ’ on one occasion. Despite how good their performances looked, it is clear by this that they received no preferential treatment form Mnet and more than likely experienced the opposite.

Past Mess Ups:

I want to note that, though these instances are more recent, Mnet has done stuff like this in the past. For example, EXO fans were once told that they weren’t allowed to bring their lightsticks into the venue, which would have effectively given the group a black ocean. One of the worst performance reactions you can get as a K-Pop artist. The members of EXO were also overworked and treated poorly by staff. One member of the group was even forced to throw up into a water bottle on the side of the stage because he was sick from being overworked and Mnet staff wouldn’t let him off stage. EXO has not been back to the MAMAs since this incident. BTS fans will recall one performance of ‘Airplane Pt.2’ where the performance itself looked amazing but nobody could actually hear any of the boys because their mics were turned down so low. You would think that if this microphone thing wasn’t malicious, they would have done something to fix it after three years of this consistently happening. But none of this is new. Mnet has been treating idols horrendously for years. And we shouldn’t just forget about it until the next awful thing comes up.

If you take anything from this, please make sure that you stop consuming any and all Mnet content. And this is more than you think. Even I have had to be hyper aware of this. Just this morning I was watching Namjoon fancams and clicked on an Mnet one only to then realize what I had just done and immediately stop watching the video. Mnet is a huge channel on Youtube for fancams, so please stop watching their fancams and instead watch fancams by literally any other of the dozens of groups that film them as well. I would also highly recommend deleting ‘The Real’ by ATEEZ off of any downloads if it’s the one that was released on the ‘Kingdom’ album. ATEEZ just released their own version on their own album, so make sure to stream that one instead. We can’t keep letting Mnet get away with this horrendous treatment of idols. Idols are human beings, they aren’t robots. This has to stop now.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Sci-Fi/ Superheroes: ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Review

Screenshot of Finn Wolfhard as Trevor, Mckenna Grace as Phoebe, and Logan Kim as Podcast in ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’. Copyright goes to Columbia Pictures, BRON Studios, and Ghostcorps.

Hey! Hallie here!

I finally got to see the long awaited ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ in theaters! This is definitely a bit late but, as many who follow this blog know, I live in a bit of a conservative area that makes me warier than most to go out to the movies. However, ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ was the one movie that released this year that I knew I wanted to see in theaters. After waiting for the demand for this movie to die down a bit, and desperately avoiding spoilers in the process, I can finally review it! To start this off I want to confess that I’m a giant ‘Ghostbusters’ fan. The first film was the first “scary” movie I could sit through and genuinely enjoy as a kid who was scared of almost everything. As such, this entire franchise holds a special place in my heart and this movie was my most anticipated film of the last few years. So did it live up to my expectations? Yes. The answer is yes and then some. I loved this movie so much and I’m going to talk about it all in a second, but here’s your SPOILER warning. I’m hoping most of you have seen it already, but if you haven’t, tread carefully.

The Story: So many people were skeptical of this movie before it even came out because of the fan service that is obviously present. This seemed to indicate to some fans that the movie would try to stick too closely to the premise of the original ‘Ghostbusters’ film. I can now say with confidence that this movie does nothing of the sort. It isn’t about a bunch of scientists starting a ghost busting business. It’s a deeply personal story about family. The whole movie starts out with Callie, a single mother of two children, being evicted from her home. This winds up being the worst news she receives that day though she learns of her father’s death right before it, whom she despises for abandoning her. Despite her original interest in getting whatever money she can from what her father left her in his will, her sudden eviction means that she can’t just sell the house he left her, she has to live in it. And even that isn’t as temporary as she hopes once Janine shows up (Yay!) and tells her that she’s likely to be facing more debt rather than more money for her family. Meanwhile, her son, Trevor, is trying his best to fit in as fast as possible after a fast-food worker, Lucky, catches his eye. He lies about his age, gets tricked into doing the work everyone else hates at his minimum wage job, and worries that he’ll be stuck forever in a place he considers to be “a dump”. As for his sister, Phoebe, she hasn’t ever fit in anywhere. To the point that her mother worries that she’ll always push the people around her away. And yet, it’s Phoebe who manages to adjust the fastest to their new life and brings her family together. This family is the center of the film, and the fact that its major action comes from their adjustment to difficult circumstances while Phoebe uncovers her family’s past makes it wildly different from the original, but just as heartfelt.

The Kids: I do like the adults in this film, and I’ll talk about them in a bit, but the kids are where this movie really shines. Lucky is probably the least focused on of the four kids in this movie, but she’s always fun to watch on screen. She’s refreshingly grounded and confident, which plays nicely against Trevor’s constant anxiety over being liked. Trevor has a bit more depth. His insecurities are well explored during the film and his loyalty towards his sister is very touching. The real stand-outs in this film though, are Phoebe and Podcast. These two get to do the most ghostbusting and they’re definitely the most fun to follow. Podcast first gets introduced by thrusting a microphone into Phoebe’s face while dramatically narrating her mysterious appearance in town. It’s all part of his podcast, hence why he calls himself Podcast, where he discusses spooky mysteries that he comes across. This whole thing could come off as really annoying, but this character avoids annoying entirely and jumps straight to endearing. He’s outrageously supportive of everything Phoebe does and demands to be by her side when she begins to explore her ghostbusting heritage, even when things start to get dangerous. Everyone wants a friend like Podcast. I leave probably the best for last with Phoebe. Phoebe is outrageously smart for her age, even blowing away seismologist Mr. Grooberson when she meets him. But she isn’t some perfect girl-genius. She’s painfully awkward and so bad at making friends that she starts to learn adorably terrible jokes in order to relate herself to others. Seeing her come out of her shell as the mystery of what her grandfather was doing before his death unfolds, is perhaps the most rewarding part of the movie. Especially as she begins to connect to her past, feeling understandably betrayed by her mother for not telling her that she was never abnormal, but rather following in the footsteps of Egon Spengler, a fellow scientist and her grandfather. She’s the heart of the film and I would pay for much more Ghostbusters content starring Mckenna Grace.

The Adults: Callie and Gary Grooberson don’t get as much focus as the kids, but they’re still fun characters. Mr. Grooberson is played by Paul Rudd, which makes it absolutely impossible to dislike him. Grooberson’s a summer school teacher, but he doesn’t take the job too seriously. He takes up class time to play old VHS tapes of ‘Cujo’ and ‘Child’s Play’. His true passion is science and seismology, making him the first person in the town to notice that their frequent earthquakes are abnormal explosions rather than actual earthquakes. He’s not the most level-headed guy. He’s definitely the type of person to blow something up in the name of science. But he’s the type of guy you’d want to hang out with, and that’s enough. Callie, on the other hand, is hard to pin down. She’s a loving mother, but her prejudice against her father makes her flawed. She doesn’t tell her children about the giant supernatural event that occurred to her father in the 80’s or even who their grandfather is. Anytime Phoebe begins to wonder that there may be a purpose to her grandfather living in the middle of nowhere, Callie shuts her down to the point of driving a wedge between them. But that makes her story all the more rewarding when she finally interacts with Egon’s ghost, guiding her down to all of the pictures he kept of her. By learning that her abandonment was a sacrifice rather than a willing choice, she gets some closure. She’s also badass in the final battle and quick to throw herself in front of Phoebe despite knowing nothing about ghostbusting. I definitely enjoyed our keymaster and gatekeeper this time around.

The Ghostbusters: These guys get a section all to their own. Its was so nice to see Dan, Ernie, and Bill back. All of their dialogue was authentic to their characters, which makes sense because the actors had quite a bit of say in that regard. I loved that Ray is still working at ‘Ray’s Occult’ and that he still talks a mile a minute about topics that are seemingly unrelated to the problem at hand. He also 100% WOULD be the only subscriber to Podcast’s podcast. Peter’s relationship with Dana, as shown mostly through the end credits scene, is perfect, as are all of his quips to Gozer. Winston went on to start a lucrative business, which makes so much sense for his character. I loved that he was financially supporting the rest of the guys while keeping his eyes on the firehouse in the hopes of buying it again. Given the end credits scene, it even seems like he might be the one to start up a new era of Ghostbusting. All of it was tastefully done. Even the ending where they come in to save the day. Ray, Peter, and Winston help the rest of the characters take down Gozer, but it’s still the kids who do most of the work. In my opinion, it’s the perfect passing of the torch. My only issue was Ray’s fall out with Egon. I don’t dislike that Ray and Egon had a fall out. In fact, picking Ray as the one who tells Phoebe that Egon can “burn in hell” is the most impactful choice you can make. But there has to be a really good reason for it, and Ray not believing Egon’s warnings about the apocalypse isn’t one of them. I can see Peter or even Winston getting angry at Egon for driving away business with a claim like that. But I can’t see a scenario where Ray wouldn’t hear Egon out on his Gozer theory. Although, I can believe that Ray would be hurt by Egon stealing so much equipment.

Egon: And finally, the most emotional element of the movie as well as the most controversial. I thought Egon’s presence was done perfectly from beginning to end. In the opening sequence we see Egon die in an attempt to use a giant trap he rigged to stop Gozer. Some fans didn’t like this death, but I thought it made perfect sense. The mystery of Egon turning his back on his family and friends is revealed to be because he stood vigilant trying to keep them all safe. It only makes sense for him to give his life for that cause. Not only that, but his spirit would only linger if he had unfinished business, and that certainly counts as unfinished business. I especially loved that this sequence never revealed his face. It’s respectful and doesn’t feel excessive. As the film goes on we feel his presence in every scene in his house. He plays chess with Phoebe to reveal himself and leads her to a trap in an attempt to get her to finish what he started. I loved the moment where he helps Phoebe fix a proton pack and shows off his PhDs in the process. He even helps Trevor start up the Ecto-1. But the moment every Ghostbuster fan is going to remember for years to come is the moment where his hand closes over Phoebe’s as she fights Gozer and we get to see Egon for the first time in many years. Egon stands with the other Ghostbusters for one final time while they all apologize for not keeping in touch, saying a last goodbye. He gets to fully interact with his grandchildren for the first time. And he hugs Callie, closing up her storyline as well. After that whole scene the film didn’t wait for the credits before giving us a giant “For Harold” sign in the sky. Not everyone is happy with his presence at the end, and I understand the hesitation. Using the likenesses of beloved actors who have passed on can too easily be mishandled. However, they took the perfect precautions for this sequence. They chose to involve Harold’s daughter in the design of Egon’s spirit, chose to keep Egon silent, and decided on footage of Harold as Egon, not of Harold himself, in order to honor his memory. The care and concern behind these decisions comes through.

Those were my thoughts on ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’. This movie is one of the best editions to the Ghostbusters franchise I could have hoped for. It was exciting, heartwarming, and had the perfect amount of respect for the films that came before. I fully sobbed for the last ten minutes of this film and I don’t regret a thing. The movie did pretty well at the box office, especially considering quarantine, so I hope that it indicates that more movies are coming in the future. I can’t wait to see what Ghostcorps gives us next!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

BTS: Reminders and Rewatching

Screenshot of Kim Namjoon from the ‘Permission to Dance’ Online Concert. Copyright goes to HYBE and BTS.

Hi! It’s Annie!

There’s a lot that’s happening right now with BTS, despite the fact that they are on a break, and I really want to talk about all of it. Because some of it is really nice and makes me excited and other things are… not so great. And by that, I’m not at all talking about anything that BTS is doing and I am entirely referring to some behavior from ARMY that I’m going to ask people to rethink. So this post in general is going to be a lot of different topics on our boys as well as some looking back at the concert because of the recent online rewatch of day four of the concert. Which just so happens to be the day that I attended! So with that, I’m just going to get into it!

Jimin and Taehyung Attacks:

So, I’m going to possibly single out a section of the fandom here and I apologize for that in advance. But there’s a lot that I want people to consider. Recently, Jimin was attacked by people who say that they are ARMY entirely because Jimin and Jungkook got more recorded time at the recent concert together. Why would that be a bad thing to anyone? Because shipping, that’s why. Fans of the ship between Taehyung and Jungkook started attacking Jimin because they felt oddly threatened by the footage. Which then caused fans of the Jimin and Jungkook ship to attack Taehyung in turn. We’ve said this several times on our blog, but if you don’t like every single member of BTS, then you aren’t an ARMY. I am generally very lenient with what I consider it takes to be part of any fandom. If a person likes the thing and considers themselves a fan of that thing, then they’re a fan. But you can’t be a fan of BTS if you don’t like all seven members. BTS is seven. If you spew any sort of hatred towards any member of the group, you cannot call yourself an ARMY. And do you really think that Taehyung and Jimin, who are best friends, would approve in any way of hate being spread towards each other? I also want to point out the dangers of shipping here. Shipping real people is not ok. Many people think that shipping real people is harmless; but ARMYs who know better having to show love to Jimin and Taehyung to bury the hate brought on by a shipping war proves this wrong. Shipping is not harmless. Shipping can make the subjects of your ship uncomfortable and it can also cause hate like this to spread. Never mind the fact that we shouldn’t be assuming anything at all about their personal lives. Speaking of which…

Namjoon and Instagram:

I think we’re all pretty much aware at this point that during their break, all the members joined Instagram. Which has been amazing so far! I especially like seeing some of them complain about the app in extremely hilarious and relatable ways. But possibly my favorite thing that the app has brought us, is Namjoon constantly posting pictures of himself Namjooning. Which I love! What I don’t love so much is people looking at the pictures the members post and trying to pry into their personal lives. Namjoon has posted several pictures with a guy whose face is always covered by an emoji, and people started assuming that this person is Namjoon’s boyfriend. This is ridiculous. I’m not saying Namjoon can’t have a boyfriend, but there is no way you come out of this a respectful ARMY if you are continuing to spread this. Firstly, many people see this as a joke or at least an extension to the whole “Namjoon has a wife and children” joke. When it comes to real people, spreading jokes about their personal lives like this isn’t funny. Because whether or not you actually view it as a joke, you are still helping to spread the rumor by posting it. I don’t think any of our boys deserve the spread of any rumors of any kind about them. If you do believe this to be true, despite the fact that it is still a rumor, spreading this information is still problematic. Namjoon obviously covered this person’s face for a reason. On the chance (that none of us could possibly know) that he is dating this person, he obviously hasn’t made it public for a reason. So spreading it is still not what Namjoon wants. I’ve seen a lot of ARMY being called homophobic for making the argument I just made, which is also awful. Some ARMYs who have been supporting this argument are actually part of the LGBTQ+ community themselves. The point here is to not assume anything about their personal lives, because it is none of our business and we are not entitled to that information. You shouldn’t assume any of their sexualities, and that includes assuming that they’re straight. Seriously, just don’t assume anything at all. What I find even more ironic about this situation is that Jin has mentioned fishing with one specific friend for a while and no one assumed anything about that. And just a couple weeks ago the same people now saying that Namjoon has a boyfriend were swearing up and down the wall that BTS’s performance with Megan Thee Stallion at the concert was irrevocable proof that Namjoon had a crush on her. It comes down to this. If Namjoon himself has not verbally confirmed it, it is a rumor. Period. And we are not here to help the spread of rumors about our boys. It does more harm than good. And if you were spreading this as a joke, also reconsider. Jokes about the rumor still help in the spreading of it. Leave their personal lives alone. None of us are entitled to that information and they share enough of their lives with us as it is.

Update: We just got an update to this. Namjoon posted two pictures of interest on his instagram page that pretty much dismantled boyfriend rumors. One was a picture of him and another guy who’s face was once again covered by an emoji, but this man had a completely different haircut than the one in the last picture we saw. The other was a picture of four silhouettes, Namjoon, two men, and a woman. Some are saying that the woman is his mother. Namjoon did say that his family was at the LA concert, making it likely that he is actually traveling with members of his family. They could be his friends though. We don’t and shouldn’t know. People are now claiming that they always knew that the guy in the one picture was not his boyfriend. Really, this should go to show all of us that we can’t possibly know their personal lives and that spreading rumors of any kind is always misled. Again, if he has a boyfriend that’s awesome for him. But that isn’t our place to know and none of us know him personally, so we can’t know the full story. And we also should not keep completely ignoring the members of BTS when they say they have no time to date. I mean, they just got their first break in two years. Would you have time to date with that schedule?

Jimin and Instagram:

This is my last lecture section, I swear. A lot of ARMYs have been trending Jimin lately on Twitter because of his lack of posting to Instagram. And while it is true that he’s been the least active on the website of the members, trying to get him to come back or trending him in an effort to get him to “come home” is a misled endeavor at best. BTS are on a break. This is their first time having the holidays off in years. Yes, some of them are choosing to post on Instagram. But that doesn’t mean that all of them have to. Jimin can do whatever he wants with his break, including choosing not to post to Instagram. Leave him alone and let him enjoy his break.

Rewatching the Concert:

On Saturday the final day of the concert was re-run on Weverse and I definitely was there to watch it. That was one of the best nights I have ever experienced and of course I wanted to relive it! I also have to admit that while I was there I wasn’t watching the screen much because I was too enamored with the fact that they were actually physically in front of me. So I missed some of the smaller interactions between members. For example, I didn’t realize that Tae was smiling conspiratorially before Chris Martin came on stage. And my sister didn’t see Tae and Jimin’s mirror reflections reach towards each other during ‘Blue and Grey’. Can we talk about the fact that Namjoon is so tall that he was at level with his mirror? Anyways, though the internet wasn’t great where I was at, I loved being able to experience the concert again. I especially liked being able to fully hear and take in what they were saying during their goodbyes. Namjoon’s heartfelt explanation of his own experiences hit even harder the second time around. And I think the full force of the fact that I saw them perform ‘Blood, Sweat, and Tears’, which is where it started for me in falling in love with the group, hit me completely while watching this. I seriously would love to relive this concert for the rest of my life. Though I do admit that the screen effects, especially the hands that covered the boys some of the time, weren’t the greatest choice. At least we got to see the boys making fun of Jimin up close during “Save Me”! I miss them so much already and I hope I can see them again very soon! I’m so glad so many ARMYs were reliving it too!

So, I’m still experiencing the last bits of post concert depression. I feel like Namjoon may have become my comfort person after all of this. But I also wanted to talk about some of the things we’ve warned against on this blog before. There are a lot of ways that ARMYs can accidentally delve into private bits of the members lives we shouldn’t know without knowing that we’re doing it. We’re so used to them being open with us that sometimes we feel like we should know more information or even feel that we do know more information about them. Most of us have been guilty of this at some point in some way. I just ask that as an ARMY you try and be as respectful as you can and as wary about delving into their privacy as you can. Each and every one of them deserves our full respect and that also means respecting their privacy in every way we possibly can. I hope that will be the last time I have to cover some of these topics for a while. My general experience with ARMY is that it is made up of incredibly nice people. But every once in a while some ARMY will get to be a little too much, and that can also scare potential newer fans away as well as make the boys uncomfortable. I also want to confirm here that I am not actually going to talk about Monsta X’s new album. “The Dreaming” itself was a beautiful song, but I’m not sure how much I have to say here. I still recommend the group though, but this will be the last time I mention the new album most likely.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

ATEEZ: Comeback ‘ZERO: FEVER EPILOGUE’

Promotional image of Song Mingi, Choi Jongho, Jung Wooyoung, Kim Hongjoong, Kang Yeosang, Choi San, Park Seonghwa, and Jeong Yunho for ‘ZERO: FEVER EPILOGUE’. Copyright goes to KQ Entertainment and ATEEZ.

Hey! Hallie here!

‘ZERO: FEVER EPILOGUE’ finally dropped yesterday and if you’ve been on this blog this past week, you know how excited I was for it. I gushed about the “Turbulence” music video as well as how emotional the song itself made me. From just that song I expected great things from this comeback. And this comeback exceeded by expectations more than I ever could have imagined. It isn’t the hype album we tend to expect from ATEEZ. ATEEZ generally does albums full of badass concepts and thrumming beats. This album definitely has some of its own faster songs as well, but the primary pieces on it are slower and more heartfelt. If anyone thought ATEEZ could only do one type of style before, ‘ZERO: FEVER EPILOGUE’ proves them miserably wrong. The slower ballads here are some of the best I’ve heard in the entire K-Pop industry. Every member shines in each song and delivers a side to them we haven’t fully seen explored in past works from ATEEZ. I could talk about how gorgeous the album was all day, but let’s focus up and look at these songs individually.

“Turbulence”:

As I noted above, I actually already did a deep dive on this song. When the music video came out I very much felt like I needed to talk about how much I personally related to the lyrics. The song discusses feeling lost in life. Feeling like there’s a goal you should be meeting, but being unsure how to get there or even what that goal is. It goes through struggles with patience, trying to discover what you should be doing when it’s hard enough to be true to yourself, and even battling against depression. But ultimately, the song encourages all of its listeners to strive to be themselves above all other things. The song is relatable to many, especially those who were left without a direction during the pandemic. And it’s delivered expertly, by each member. Yunho and Seonghwa ground each verse with calmer, sweeter tones that each pair with Yeosang’s deeper vocals. I love how Yeosang is stepping out and getting much more time in each of these songs, and his lower register is perfectly somber throughout “Turbulence”. Wooyoung and San interject most through the choruses and their voices are impactful. I was blown away watching the power these two had while doing a live performance of this song. Mingi and Hongjoong, as usual, deliver amazing rap verses here. They don’t get a ton of time overall in this album, but their rap verses are low and melodic, and we even get to hear both of them sing at points. And, of course Jongho’s voice is unmatched within the industry. He comes in during the chorus each time to tug at your heartstrings, and I don’t think anyone can resist the emotion in his voice, nor his incredible range. Despite my love of all the songs on this album, this one remains to be my favorite.

“Be With You”:

We have another ballad! This song is very heavily piano based which gives it a simpler, pretty feel. Until it gets to the chorus and the rest of the instruments kick in to pack an emotional punch. Yeah, that’s right. Even after “Turbulence” you’re not allowed to escape the emotions. If ATEEZ’s goal was to make me cry for the entire album, I’d say they succeeded. This song describes being there for someone who’s struggling. It does this by both confessing how painful it is to see someone you care about going through a tough time, and pledging to stay by their side. I’m not sure if this was the point, but I feel like this could very much relate to the way ATEEZ has been attempting to be there for their fans throughout the pandemic. Whether it is or not, the message of the song is still very strong. Though this is another ballad, I was surprised to hear some differences in the way some of the members were utilized here. Yunho and Seonghwa both deliver some sweeter vocals throughout, but Seonghwa also gets quite a bit of time in the chorus both for the bittersweet ending and the powerful beginning. Every time the chorus came up I was blown away by his contributions. Yunho, meanwhile, hit some notes I didn’t even know were part of his range. San and Yeosang both also surprise with a much higher range here than they had in “Turbulence”. Wooyoung shows off the power his voice holds in the chorus of this song once again. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him belt out notes like this before this album, but I’m appreciating it so much. Mingi and Hongjoong get very little in this song, only appearing once towards the end where they switch off singing. I do like their singing voices, though! And Jongho’s here to hit you with his incredible voice and all the feels once more. What’s not to love?

“The Letter”:

Finally, we get a little bit of time to breathe and wipe our tears. “The Letter” is a peppier song, but in a way that’s still very calming and easy to listen to. The message is similar to “Be With You”, but with a bit more of a positive spin. The song alludes to being there for each other through difficult times, but it’s more about being thankful for the time spent with one another. Here we get some great, calming vocals from all members. We get some more Wooyoung and San showing off the belt they both have showcased in this album, just in an easier form. Yunho and Yeosang both give us some relaxed vocals in a higher range than you might expect from either of them. Seonghwa is back in the chorus for this one to demonstrate how insanely versatile his voice is. And Jongho shows us how his incredible voice can also be used for the lighter-feeling choruses. We do get much more Hongjoong and Mingi for this song too. Their verses are slower and more melodic, but definitely not somber. It feels more like their styles are coming through here and I always love hearing that. This one is just nice to listen to.

“Still Here”:

“Still Here” feels very much in the same vein as “The Letter”. It’s peppier, but slower and with a somber undertone that’s enveloped by a more hopeful message. This song is about feeling far apart, but still feeling the happiness of one another’s presence with the promise that they’ll always be there regardless of distance. This one is definitely about quarantine, and it’s a really touching message for ATINY. I love when San and Wooyoung pull out their higher, sweeter sound, and they definitely do that here. Which is also why it’s so fun to hear Seonghwa go a bit deeper in parts of this song. The range of ATEEZ, everyone. Yunho always manages to sound so comforting in these songs, which also makes it insane when he suddenly starts with something more powerful during parts of the chorus. Yeosang’s deeper vocals get more spotlight here once again, which I always love. Also, there’s tons of Hongjoong in this song. His style here is less melodic but even more addictive. There’s also a back and forth moment in here with him and Seonghwa that I could listen to over and over again. And Jongho tops it all off with the perfect ending to the chorus to make it feel satisfying. If only Mingi was in more than the outro of this song. It’s very likely only because he wasn’t present when they first started performing it.

“Better”:

This song’s message is more on par with “Turbulence”. It’s very much about struggles with anxiety and feeling like you’re being held in place when you want to move forward. However, the song is just as much about how you aren’t the only one experiencing those feelings and that all of us can come together and appreciate that we’re still improving day by day, even when we don’t feel like it. While Yeosang shows off his deeper range again, I was surprised by how neutral toned and sweet, Seonghwa, San, and Yunho all sounded together. Their voices all blended together nicely and there was the added appreciation of San not joining in on configurations like this all too often. Wooyoung’s belt was even a bit sweeter here, which I thought was a nice touch. And, as usual, Jongho kicks the chorus up a notch by ending it with even more of a belt. Hongjoong and Mingi sing in this song once again. Although I wish we had heard more rap verses on this album, I really love the consistency of Mingi’s deep voice and the unique sound Hongjoong has when he sings. It’s another slow piece, though it doesn’t really match a ballad or the peppiness of the other songs. Still, it’s very comforting.

“The Real” MV and ‘Kingdom’ Songs:

We’ve talked about the ‘Kingdom’ songs on this blog before while reviewing the competition show, so I won’t spend too much time on these songs. What I will say, though, it “The Real (Heung Version)” is even better than the original. The traditional sound matches the song so well! The music video for “The Real” also dropped with the release of this album. It’s definitely a stark contrast to the “Turbulence” video. This MV is extremely high energy, with a lot of really cool looks to discuss. The whole thing takes place in a high school where we see all of the members separated. Hongjoong and Seonghwa get the traditional outfitting, both in various shades of blue. Hongjoong’s newly dyed black and white hair pulled back is so incredible, meanwhile the pastel of Seonghwa’s hair is perfect against the white background. The confidence these two radiate when they’re together is extraordinary. Wooyoung and San sit in a class together, both wearing varsity jackets. It’s a laid back look, but it pairs well the well-fitted suits they rock later on in the MV. Yunho and Jongho sit astride motorcycles in leather jackets. Need I say more? This concept always works. All of the members change into school uniforms at some point in the video. Mingi wears the uniform most and it’s loose fitting look fits him very well. Yeosang, meanwhile, stands on a rooftop in a nice suit and pearls. This Is such a striking look that I understand why he needed all the time alone to show off. The dance battles that occur in this music video are the most entertaining part of the whole thing. It feels like the members are all having fun, and if you watch the behind the scenes clips, it’s because they were. As for the other songs “WAVE (Overture)”, “WONDERLAND (Symphony No.9)””, and “Answer (Ode to Joy)” are all perfectly epic for their performances on ‘Kingdom’. I seriously recommend looking those up if you haven’t.

And that’s it! This comeback surprised me more than I thought it would. When I heard “Turbulence” I wasn’t sure what to expect. I expected greatness, obviously, but making the center piece of this album a ballad was surprising for ATEEZ. But ATEEZ proved that they are more versatile than any of us expected by giving us a whole album of slower, emotional pieces. And there isn’t a single song on it that I would skip. Go check this out if you haven’t! ATEEZ is changing the game and you don’t want to miss it!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Marvel: ‘Hawkeye’ Episodes 3 and 4

Screenshot of Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton and Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop in ‘Hawkeye’. Copyright goes to Disney and Marvel Studios.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I know this is probably just a little on the odd side considering that my sister started this series review, but I have absolutely fallen in love with this series. So far, it is definitely my favorite Marvel series (and series in general) to come to Disney+ since the release of ‘WandaVision’. It’s just the right amount of lighthearted and action-packed and I already love the bonding between Clint and Kate. And Kate Bishop is one of my favorite characters I’ve seen in anything in a while. While the first two episodes were mostly just lighthearted fun, it’s the last two episodes that really picked up the story and the action. And though I was definitely a fan of all the lighthearted fun, it is definitely interesting to see all the characters in a more serious light where it feels like the stakes are a little bit higher. To be completely frank, I don’t have anything very negative to say about these last couple episodes, so I’m just going to talk about my reactions and theories with everything going on. As always, MAJOR SPOILERS ahead!!!

Episode 3:

Kate Bishop- As always, I freaking love Kate. Her sarcasm and more lighthearted attitude is amazing. But the way she acted towards Clint in this episode was absolutely my favorite part. I loved when she was firing the trick arrows while Clint was driving and her quips throughout that scene. But the standout moment for Kate for this episode had to be when Clint couldn’t hear during the conversation with his son and Kate helped him by writing out what his son was saying. This was such a heartwarming bonding moment between the two and one that I was very happy to see. Their bonding is paced well in that it’s gradual, but it’s always adorable and I like the way that it’s building up.

Clint Barton- I think it was very important to explore Clint’s hearing after they established the use of his hearing aid and that he is now learning sign language. Having Echo break his hearing aid was a brilliant choice and explored a lot of what I was really looking forward to them exploring! I love the miscommunication with him and Kate both in the car and later when they were in the train. Them having the same thoughts about walking Pizza Dog and not being able to communicate them was one of the funniest bits in the entire episode! And we’re starting to see just how desperate he is to get back to his family here. My heart broke when he started crying after talking with Nate. I’m definitely here for some more Clint and Kate bonding time though!

Echo- I already absolutely love the character of Echo and what we’ve gotten from her so far. I think representation like this in any media is incredibly important and it makes me so happy to see it. Echo is the most badass antagonist I’ve seen in Marvel in a long time and her combat skills could even rival Natasha Romanoff. Her breaking Clint’s hearing aid was a brilliant move for her character as well as Clint’s because of her own beliefs about hearing aids and I loved how smart she was for doing it. But most of all I really liked delving into her backstory. I have a feeling that the person who killed her father was not Clint based off of how little we saw. We saw someone in a hood, but we didn’t even get close enough to see if that was the Ronin costume, and knowing that Jack is ‘The Swordsman’ from the comics is enough to put some speculation on him. There’s also that mysterious uncle of hers who seems likely to actually be Kingpin, but I guess we’ll have to see as this goes on.

Episode 4:

Kate Bishop- This had to be one of my favorite episodes of Hawkeye so far and it definitely picked up more than the last episodes. But, once again, my favorite part of this had to be the bonding between Kate and Clint. When Kate’s mother starts talking about wanting to be around her family at Christmas, Kate immediately thinks of how miserable Clint must be. What follows is one of the cutest montages of a Christmas celebration night that I have ever seen in anything ever. Kate decides to bring pizza and Christmas movies, accidentally writes on a picture with permanent marker, and Clint teaches her how to knock someone out with an ornament. The most wholesome Christmas themed episode I have ever seen. I also loved to see Kate get more badass scenes in the rest of the episode. This was the first time we really got to see Kate and Clint completely fight together in a hand to hand combat situation, and I love to see that Kate can really take care of herself. Clint did try and send Kate away at the end, but let’s be real, we all know she isn’t going anywhere. And I loved that Kate figured out that Clint was Ronin without him even having to tell her. She’s incredibly smart and I love it!

Clint Barton- Clint really had a difficult time this episode reminiscing on Natasha and other things. We know that Clint is still scarred by Natasha’s death, but seeing Kate fall off the side of the roof really brought things back for him. Not only that, but we got to hear Clint talk about what he thinks of his past, and we learned that he views himself exactly as Natasha viewed herself. Clint believes that his only job has been to hurt other people and the only reason why he’s viewed as a good guy was because the right people got a hold of him and aimed him at the right enemies. He even calls himself a weapon. But the thing that interested me even more about his past was the Rolex and what it might mean for Laura. If anything, this show proves that Laura Barton is much more capable than any past appearances have made her out to be. Laura, when speaking to Clint, starts speaking in German and also gives Clint the location of the mysterious watch. When Kate asks what the watch is for, Clint tells her that the watch could give up the identity of someone who has been out of the game for a while who is also a very close friend. He even sounds pretty terrified when relaying this information. I can’t help but think that this has something to do with Laura herself. I would love to see more of what Laura was up to before we met her and how she and Clint met. I honestly kind of hope that the watch is tied to Laura.

Kate’s Mom- There was something very suspicious about her this episode particularly. She’s always been suspicious, but I think we’re starting to see more of it. Like the fact that when she was seeing Clint out of the house, she asked Clint to let go of the case he and Kate are working on entirely rather than just asking him to not involve Kate in it. And then there was that shady call that I think might have had to do with how Yelena was able to find Clint and Kate at at the end of the episode. But that’s just me theorizing. With how secretive she is, she could turn out to be even more shady than Jack. I hope Kate at least goes back to Clint’s family with Clint at the end of this if her Mom ends up being as much of an antagonist as I think she’s going to be.

Jack- He’s just plain creepy. And what was with the random dancing and kissing in front of Kate? Gross. But, more importantly, we learned that Jack is actually working directly with the Track Suit Mafia. Is anyone really surprised? Probably not.

Echo- We didn’t get much of her this episode except the kicking ass part. I loved that she was the first to recover from the sonic arrow. But she did leave pretty early on in the fight. And she’s also keeping tabs on Clint’s entire family, which seems like a dick move to me.

Yelena- Yelena finally arrived this episode! She’s here to do what she said she would in the end credits scene for ‘Black Widow’. Take out Clint. And she definitely unsettles him. It’s unclear whether or not Clint knows what her relationship to Natasha was, but he definitely does know that she’s a Black Widow assassin and he’s very shaken by this. In all fairness, he could have gotten this information simply by her weaponry and that’s what I’m assuming for now. We’ll have to see what happens when he figures out that she’s Natasha’s sister. We also saw a mirroring moment with Kate and Yelena and Clint and Natasha. Earlier in the episode Clint talks about the shot he never took; the time he couldn’t take out Natasha. Clint somehow could feel that she was a good person and wanted out, so he didn’t take her out. This time we got to see Kate look at Yelena as she was about to get a clean hit and then lower her bow. Probably because she felt the same thing that Clint did. It was an adorable moment and I loved its inclusion. I can’t wait to see the bonding between the new Hawkeye and Black Widow as the new MCU goes forward.

And that’s it! I love having a lighthearted Marvel show about mentorship and bonding every week. It just makes me so happy! And I’ve always loved the glimpses of Clint’s caring nature we’ve gotten in the movies, so I’m so happy to see all of that more fleshed out. And most of all, I absolutely love Kate Bishop. She’s everything I’ve always wanted in a female superhero character and also relatable as hell. She’s a joy to watch every week! I can already tell that this show is going to become a comfort watch for me. I’ve already watched every episode that’s already out twice! It’s not even over and I can tell you that it’s re-watchable. I can’t wait for the next couple episodes to see how it ends! And then I’ll continue to rewatch!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

ATEEZ: News and Controversy

Promotional image of Jeong Yunho, Park Seonghwa, Choi San, Kang Yeosang, Kim Hongjoong, Jung Wooyoung, Choi Jongho, and Song Mingi for “Deja Vu”. Copyright goes to ATEEZ and KQ Entertainment.

Hey! Hallie here!

ATEEZ has a lot of releases and performances coming up in just the next few months. Between album releases, multiple music videos, and a full concert tour, they’ll definitely be busy for a while. And even with some of these not having occurred yet, most of them have already made news. You’ll definitely see posts about some of the upcoming performances and their newest comeback in the future, but for now I’ll go over what we know so far. All we really have right now is the excellent “Turbulence” music video that I’ll get into in a second. There’s also a lot of mixed news in regards to their tour which I will try my best not to be too negative about addressing. So let’s look at ATEEZ’s crazy schedule!

‘ZERO: FEVER EPILOGUE’:

First I’m going into the song, and music video, that was already released! “Turbulence” is a slower piece than you would expect from a leading song on their newest comeback album, but don’t let that chase you away. This ballad is incredible and has such an important message behind it that I become emotional every time I listen to it. The song is about trying to find your place in life, a concept I’ve been struggling with a lot lately. It describes how impatience to find a purpose can turn quickly into feelings of depression and anxiety. It even describes how frightening it can be to wander without knowing which direction is the right one. The chorus asks what we should all aim to be in the future when it’s so difficult to just be yourself most days. But at the end of the song, ATEEZ encourages the listener to strive only for being true to yourself and assures us that it’s alright to appreciate where you are right now so long as you’re still pushing forward. Many people can relate to the feelings expressed here, especially with the state of the world as it has been. I definitely have been feeling lost and aimless lately, which made this song feel like it came at the perfect time. All of the members have their own moments to shine here as well. ATEEZ is getting better and better at making sure all eight members get plenty of time. Jongho’s voice stands out quite a bit in the chorus, as it always does, but all of the vocal line show off the strength and emotion in their voices throughout. Meanwhile Mingi and Hongjoong’s verses are rhythmic and soft, and both even sing at parts of the song. The music video is tastefully angsty, with the members separated into different locations, mostly around a city. The muted colors and hazy lights feel both sad and wistful at the same time. I also really liked the use of cozier outfits in this video, including warm jackets and sweatshirts, to make the whole thing feel more personal. “Turbulence” already ensures that this new comeback is going to be incredible.

So what else is on the album? Fortunately, we already have the entire tracklist available to look at. After “Turbulence” we have two more new songs, “Be With You” and “The Letter”. Then we’ll be getting the Korean versions of “Still Here” and “Better”. The rest of the album is mostly songs we all heard on the competition show ‘Kingdom’. These songs are “The Real”, “Wave (Overture)”, “WONDERLAND (Symphony No.9 “From The Wonderland”)”, and “Answer (Ode to Joy) (Feat. LA POEM)”. The last track on the album will be “Outro: Over the Horizon”. I’m excited to hear the new songs, but I’m also excited to be able to own some of the really amazing variations of their previous songs we heard on ‘Kingdom’. I’m also excited to see the music video for “The Real” that ATEEZ just teased earlier today! We’ll be sure to talk about that MV once it drops!

Concert Tour:

ATEEZ released the news a few months ago that starting January they’ll be going on a world tour. ‘The Fellowship: Beginning of the End’ will start out in Seoul and end in Madrid. ATEEZ will also be doing fan sign events in New York, LA, and Madrid during the tour. All their concert dates sold out in minutes, an incredible accomplishment not many acts can boast. As all ATINY are, I’m so proud of them! That said, there is some controversy surrounding both the concert and the fan meets. For one, the company did nothing to limit the amount of scalpers who could buy tickets to ATEEZ’s concerts. Doing a quick search online will reveal that scalpers got their hands on quite a lot of tickets for these concerts and are already selling them for much more than they’re worth. Many ATINY are frustrated and upset that no tickets are available to them aside from insanely overpriced resale tickets. As for the fan meets, you must enter into a raffle by purchasing ATEEZ’s album to see if you can attend. However, the album is much more expensive than past albums have been, especially where shipping is concerned. This is outpricing a lot of ATINY, especially those who want to enter into the raffle more than once. While this is extremely frustrating for all of us, be sure not to direct your anger at the members. They have nothing to do with these decisions. Plainly put, KQ needs to get better at organizing events like this and they need to catch up to all of the other K-Pop companies who have already come up with safeguards against scalpers. Even with those things in mind, though, ATEEZ did succeed in selling out all of their concerts. Scalpers wouldn’t have been so interested if there wasn’t so much demand. So let’s all keep being incredibly proud of ATEEZ for continuously building up their popularity!

Christmas Performance:

This is something to look forward to, but unfortunately those of us who live outside of Korea won’t be able to see this performance until Christmas day. ATEEZ appeared on the show ‘Immortal Songs’ where they performed three songs we can look forward to. “The Real”, “FANTASTIC BABY” by BIGBANG, and “Nillili Mambo” by Block B. For those who don’t know, Block B in particular has always been a major influence on ATEEZ that you can hear in both the style of their songs and see in some of their pirate concepts. While I love all of these songs and can’t wait to see their performances of all three, “Nillili Mambo” is one of the best K-Pop songs I’ve ever heard and it’s one many ATINYs have wanted ATEEZ to cover for a long time. It’s so difficult to wait to see them perform this song when so many of us have been waiting for so long! I just want to see which members do which parts!

And that’s all of the news for right now! ATEEZ has so much going on to be excited about! They keep surprising me with each new release and performance. They’ve grown so much in such a short amount of time and I can’t wait to see what’s next for them! As for right now though, I hope all of their current projects go really well and that they’ll be able to take a break soon afterwards. Unlike BTS, it seems ATEEZ will be working through the holidays. I’m happy for them, but I hope they can also balance all of this excitement with self care.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

BTS: Happy Birthday WWH!

Promotional photo of Kim Seokjin for “Butter”. Copyright goes to the HYBE Corporation and BTS.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I am still very much not ok after that concert. Post concert depression is very real and all I want is to be back at a BTS concert! I literally sat down after the concert ended and just cried. I miss the boys so much already! And I could talk all about that or how much Namjoon absolutely wrecked me this concert. Because I was not prepared for that either. There’s also other news to talk about, like the release of clips from Monsta X’s new album which I can warn you now I probably won’t talk about at all. It’s not really my thing from what I heard. But of all of these things, the thing to really look at right now is Jin’s birthday. I could do a summary of some of his work, but I’ve already done that a couple times. So I’m just going to go over what happened this year for his birthday because that’s a lot of content to cover. Jin’s birthday this year was spectacular, especially because of the mix of BTS’s concert return and the brand new showcase that he released for his birthday. Let’s get into the amazing ways ARMY celebrated this amazing man this year!

The Concert:

The hype for Jin’s birthday was overwhelming even before my sister and I stepped into the venue a couple days ago. There were makeshift areas set up at all sides of the arena for the Moon Project for Jin. Many ARMYs had brought their own from home or were helping to assemble them. And other ARMYs were going up to every person standing in a line and passing out signs with Jin’s name on it in Hangul. Both of these were utilized at different parts of the show and many ARMYs who weren’t even part of the stations for these projects initially, helped in passing out materials for both projects. The concert started out with the signs with his name on it which Jungkook ended up pointing out to Jin. Jin already looked very happy with those signs, but the big project that had been planned for months was the Moon Project. This was the one that ARMYs used when we were all singing “Happy Birthday” to Jin. While the light effect did not go quite as many people had hoped, it did end up being something noticeable to Jin in the end. Jin towards the end of the concert noticed the moons and admitted to ARMYs at being choked up by the gesture. He also said that he had been expecting something from ARMY and thought it was gating rather late in the concert. BTS and staff also pitched in with pictures of Jin in pigtails from a previous concert day and a rainbow banner. Between BTS’s surprise for Jin and ARMY’s surprise, there was a lot of surprises going around the arena. And all of it was aimed at a very happy Jin. Jin also made ARMYs laugh later in the concert by wearing his BT21 character, RJ, on the back of his head and remarking that he felt embarrassed by the thing on his head because of his age. But he then said that he just did it for all of us, which was so cute! His remarks and the RJ on his head later proved to be a lightening of the air after we all sobbed at Namjoon’s speech that recounted many of our shared depression during quarantine. Namjoon hit the nail on the head and then Jin cheered us all up. Very much like them if you think about it. We also saw Jin having the time of his life at the concert for his birthday. Like jumping around with Namjoon or hugging Chris Martin from Coldplay. Their friendship has always been so wholesome. I also can’t express how handsome he looks up close. I definitely freaked out when all of them started moving around the arena on moving platforms that were right at my eye level! Jin was faced away from me and towards the floor seating crowd most of the time, but I still saw enough to tell you that that man glows. He’s gorgeous.

Celebrations After:

As usual, in South Korea there were blocks of Jin banners all around the HYBE building and a completely decorated cafe. But more than that, we also got Jin’s chaotic V-live with a more chaotic candle display than Namjoon’s. Jin lit one giant candle that then opened to smaller candles that played “Happy Birthday” on loop. There he talked about just how touched he was at the Moon Project from the concert and commended ARMY because the boxes were all handmade. He said it was one of the most touching moments of his life, which right away made me teary eyed. There was also a giant multi-layer cake for Jin at the Jingle Ball too. The cake was wheeled out onto the stage which elicited a loud “Wow” from Jin who cutely walked towards it in his large white reindeer antlers. The cake itself was adorable, intricately decorated, and even had the BTS logo on the top. Everyone was celebrating for Jin this year and I absolutely love it! He deserves every bit of it.

“Super Tuna”:

I think everyone knows about the song that’s only about a minute that Jin released. It has been called a cure for post concert depression by ARMY. With a music video set on a beach, the MV depicts nothing but Jin and two dancers doing choreography planned by BTS’s dance team designed after choreography that Jin had done in the past. Jin was too busy with the concert himself to make the dance, but he killed it! Jin took a good chunk of time on his birthday V-live to talk about the creation of “Super Tuna”. Jin noted that he had always wanted to make a song about fishing just as a joke (recently while he was visiting the US he went on a fishing trip), and he created the song with a friend. He was half expecting the song to never be made and said he would have been fine with that since it was a joke. The joke was taken rather seriously by everyone else involved though and the project just kept getting bigger. Jin felt that it was funny, though also very embarrassing, and this was only reflected by the fan reaction. ARMY made the song go viral and started the ‘Super Tuna Challenge’, which hilariously caused Jin to plead with fans on Weverse to stop the challenge twice. First Jin said that it was embarrassing and then he voiced his fear that the company would make him make a second song. I just want to thank all the ARMY that blew up this song, because though Jin is embarrassed, it is very nice to see Jin getting this much attention and love. And the song is a bop!

Jin as well as Jimin and Jungkook are now safely back in South Korea and HYBE has announced that BTS will be taking a well deserved and very much needed break after their busy LA schedule. We know that part of that is because once a person returns to South Korea they must enter two weeks of quarantine. Namjoon, Hobi, Yoongi, and Tae are still in LA for a little longer, though we don’t know how much longer they’ll be here or exactly why they waited behind. Many ARMYs have joked that they’re recording “Cypher Pt. 5′” which would be amazing if it were true. It’s more likely that it’s for safety reasons. But I’m glad that Jin is back and safe after so much celebration around his birthday. I’m glad that because of the concert we were all able to make it a big one for him this year!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

BTS: Permission To Dance on Stage LA (Day 4)

Promotional poster for the Permission To Dance On Stage concert in LA featuring Kim Taehyung (V), Jung Hoseok (J-Hope), Kim Seokjin (Jin), Park Jimin, Jeon Jungkook, Min Yoongi (Suga), and Kim Namjoon (RM). Copyright goes to the Hybe Corporation and BTS.

Hey! Hallie here!

There’s so much to talk about today. For one, it’s Jin’s birthday! Happy birthday WWH! There’s also ATEEZ’s new MV and the news that BTS is performing in Seoul in 2022. But I attended the last day of the Permission to Dance LA concert and my brain has been completely stuck on that ever since I left SoFi Stadium. This concert was incredible. I had imagined on multiple occasions what it would be like to be part of the Purple Ocean, but nothing I’ve ever imagined could have lived up to how amazing the experience really was. I have so much to talk about and get emotional over, so let’s get into this!

First Set:

Before I start with the first song, I do want to mention how great the MVs were before the concert. BTS usually plays all of their music videos up to their most recent one leading up to the start of the concert. It was so fun to sing along and scream along with the rest of ARMY before the concert even started. And the excitement that built from just the ARMY Bombs turning on for the “Permission to Dance” music video was incredible. After that we got our opening VCR, which was essentially the prison concept we saw in the “Butter” music video. That led us into the members’ entry to the stage. Starting out the concert behind prison bars was such a power move. They immediately started performing “On”, one of the most perfect opening songs of all time. It was at this point it finally hit me that I was in the same room as BTS and I lost my mind a little bit. From what I did register though, those white outfits were incredible and the glasses on J-Hope took his outfit to an entirely different level. As usual, the choreography was also on point and looked even better with the amount of backup dancers they had with them. From there they transitioned into “Fire”. It was pretty cold the night of the concert so we all felt that song was particularly important for the night, particularly because the stage was literally on fire. It also struck me during this song that Yoongi goes incredibly hard on all of his verses in concert. To end this huge opening piece we got our first major audience interaction song, “Dope”. Hoseok and Namjoon in particular spent a lot of time on the side of the stage facing me and I adored every second. Once “Dope” ended opening remarks were made. Jimin and Namjoon started out the night with hilarity when Namjoon yelled at Jimin to grow up and find his heart on his own while he rifled through his clothes looking for it. Meanwhile, I was still shell-shocked that I got to join Hobi’s trademark call and response. Jin also got to see the birthday signs some ARMY handed out for the concert! Afterwards the boys riled up the audience with a performance of “DNA” (Jimin’s finger heart mid-song was adorable) before leaving us to the next VCR.

Second Set:

I won’t spend a ton of time on these VCR’s because there wasn’t much of a story. There was a lot of the members jumping around and partying, and some fun strange moments in the middle like a momentary secret agent plot and a creepy man scolding the boys for being too loud (Based on the crowd response I was very much not alone in being unsettled), but no major story. I did appreciate the time to catch my breath, though. “Blue and Grey” exceeded my expectations. The members faced away from the audience, which is unusual for a show, but they faced mirrors where pre-recorded versions of them looked back with such slight differences, you couldn’t decide if they were reflections or not. That was, until the members turned around to walk out to the audience at the end of the song with their reflections staring after them. Meanwhile, the ARMY Bombs turned off for the song, leading ARMYs to turn on their phone flashlights. The members appreciated it very much, so I thank whichever ARMY started that on day 3 of the concert. “Black Swan” was one of my favorite songs of the night. The opening of the song is incredible. Backup dancers formed a swarm in the middle of the stage to hide all of the members while each came up individually, taking their place in the center. The backup dancers did an incredible job configuring themselves into wings, and the flapping and unfurling effects blew me away. I especially appreciated how seamless the transition between each member was. And, as usual, the choreography with just the seven of them left me speechless. Here the members did an audience check in and cooled off a little bit before jumping right into “Blood Sweat and Tears”. They didn’t do much of this song, but I love this song so much and really appreciated seeing it live. “Fake Love” was where most of the emphasis was put, and for good reason. The fan chant was never louder than it was during this song. You’ve also probably seen this going around already, but Jungkook’s button had trouble holding itself together during “Fake Love”. Many ARMYs are very thankful for this button.

Third and Fourth Set:

Next we had my favorite on-stage set pieces. The members came out on a giant bed to sing “Life Goes On”. I really enjoyed the on-screen effects during this song as well. As the song continued, the screen filled up with pictures taken in real time. The members prepared for this with mostly adorable or funny poses, making the whole thing very wholesome. For the next song, “Boy With Luv”, the members had already transitioned over to the giant couch set piece. They used this song for more really fun audience interaction. Yoongi also had trouble sitting on this couch which, sorry Yoongi, was hilarious. From there Jin played the hype man and used his power of being unfairly cute to prepare ARMYs for “Dynamite”. As this concert was in LA, the audience was probably loudest singing along to both “Dynamite and “Butter”, which were performed together. Taehyung stood out during “Dynamite” simply for his sunglasses, meanwhile Hoseok floored me during “Butter” when the camera focused on him during the dance break into the song. The crowd went wild at his smirk, and I was definitely with them. After a break they came back with a mash up of “Airplane pt 2” and “Baepsae”, both of which I adored, before giving it over to Hobi to start “Disease”. I love that “Disease” has been a staple of the last few concerts because it does an incredible job of showing off the talents of all of the members. During “Telepathy” the members separated onto vehicles to move around the venue. I was on the first floor stadium seating, so I was right at eye level with them as they went around and I just about died. This was also the first time I could fully see all of the boys’ facial features and yes, they are all gorgeous in person. (Also, Jungkook caught a flower in midair. How?)

They came back to the stage to sing “Stay”, which got the audience excited enough to go right into “So What”. “So What” is fun at every single concert, and the smoke machine guns the members got to play with ensured that. Although, Namjoon decided to stick with soaking the audience with his water bottle instead. Meanwhile, Jin was an absolute menace. He blasted Taehyung right in the face at one point, and at yet another portion of the song he and Jungkook cornered Jimin on the floor. Everyone was laughing for most of the song. Another check in lead into “I NEED U”, which received some of the loudest screams of the night. “I NEED U” is such a good song with amazing choreography, and the fact that it’s one of their older songs makes it exciting to hear it after so many years. “Save ME” came next. Jungkook’s voice always floors me during “Save ME”. Half of the members spent this song making fun of Jimin as well. It happens every time and it’s always hilarious. This set ended with “IDOL”. I never felt more powerful than I did singing along with “IDOL”. Hearing so many ARMYs sing “You can’t stop me loving myself” around the entire arena reminded me exactly how powerful BTS’s message is. The experience of joining in during this song made me so appreciative of BTS.

Encore:

These songs were all different for day 4 of the concert. The encore started with “HOME”. I never expected to hear “HOME” live, so hearing “HOME” alone was enough to start getting me emotional. But then BTS had to pull out “Mikrokosmos”. “Mikrokosmos” makes me very emotional every time I listen to it. It’s been so inspirational to me and I always pictured that song in particular whenever I thought of joining the Purple Ocean. I didn’t expect it to be part of this concert at all, which is probably why I started crying the moment it started. I wasn’t the only one either. Plenty of the ARMYs beside me were crying too, and Taehyung was visibly emotional during the song. However, ARMYs were quick to cheer up in anticipation of what came next. The members requested a wave, which we delivered on though we had a bit of trouble matching the wave between levels of the arena. And then we all sang “Happy Birthday” to Jin! At this point all of the ARMYs who knew about the Jin project put their moon boxes over their ARMY Bombs in honor of his song “Moon”. The effect didn’t translate as well as I might have liked, but the ARMYs who were participating close to the stage made it so that he was able to fully appreciate the effect. He confessed to tearing up at the gift, though he also jokingly confessed to expecting something grand from ARMY. His cheeriness made me feel slightly less sad to be going into closing statements.

Most of the members were crying. Hoseok managed to keep himself together during his heartfelt thank you’s, though he had to pause in the middle and had to take a minute to himself afterwards. Jimin talked at length about his hopes and fears for the future, which I think many ARMYs share. He was very grateful though, and he managed to keep himself together. Namjoon ensured there wasn’t a dry eye in the arena. He talked about his struggles with depression over quarantine, something many of us can relate to, and how healing it was to return to performing. When he began to cry, ARMYs did as well. Jungkook showed off his amazing progress in English while expressing his desire to meet again soon. Jin cheered all of us up slightly by frequently referring to the RJ precariously positioned on his head. Yoongi then took over to tell the future, claiming that BTS would have more live performances and hopefully a world tour soon, only to have the Seoul concert announced a few hours later. Lastly, Taehyung ended it crying, unable to use the English phrases he had prepared but still hopeful that they’d be able to see ARMY again very soon. It was all so emotional that going into “Permission to Dance” was almost jarring. But I’m so grateful that the members are so open with ARMY and so clearly love us just as much as we love them. Just as they expressed their thanks for the night, I really can’t thank them enough for the night they gave all the ARMYs watching. “Permission to Dance” was a nice way to end the concert. It’s light and so fun to dance along to that you almost forget the concert’s coming to a close. But the concert didn’t come to a close. Because then Chris Martin from Coldplay ran out on stage and “My Universe” started. The scream I let out was a bit undignified, but I really didn’t feel alone in that regard. Seeing the eight of them perform together was so heartwarming. Chris Martin and Jin in particular spent a lot of time holding hands and dancing together. It was such a beautiful way to surprise ARMY and leave us all happy for their final exit from the stage.

Now that I’ve been to a BTS concert I can wholeheartedly confirm what Yoongi says. Once you go to a BTS concert, no other concert compares. Between the effects, the dancing, the singing, the rapping, and the audience interaction, I can’t believe how perfectly epic this concert was. I’ve honestly been a bit sad ever sense I left the stadium. Also, to those who were blaming baby ARMYs for not screaming or chanting loud enough, my experience with all ARMYs at the venue, baby or not, was loud support and a very clear love for BTS. Every type of ARMY at the concert deserved to be there and we all enjoyed our time at the concert. BTS concerts have become a place of love and acceptance. Sometimes I feel ARMYs need a reminder of that. But, either way, I loved my time at the concert and I can’t wait to tune into the replay on Saturday to see everything I missed! Thank you BTS!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop: Everglow ‘Return of the Girl’

Promotional photo of (from left) Heo Yoorim (Aisha), Jo Serim (Onda), Han Eunji (Mia), Wang Yiren (Yiren), Park Jiwon (E:U), and Kim Sihyeon (Sihyeon). Copyright goes to Yuehua Entertainment and Everglow.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Tomorrow is the final day of the BTS concert, and the first one for me! Yep, my sister and I will be there tomorrow! And I have been hyped this entire week, but I also have nothing to talk about regarding BTS since I’ve been trying to keep well away from spoilers. And also, I want to be positive going into it and there are some ARMYs who have been really making me angry. Going after other ARMYs or using the term ‘Baby ARMY’ as a bad thing just because some people don’t know the fan chants or because you can’t hear the fan chants is absolutely atrocious. We’re there to have fun, not put pressure on other people. Especially not after the year we just had. So, in the interest of not absolutely blowing up before the concert, I decided to focus on something positive for my night before concert post. Because yesterday one of my favorite K-Pop groups that deserves more recognition dropped an amazing mini album. Seriously, so many groups have comebacks planned for the next couple months and I am loving it! And while I was more of a fan of their last single, “FIRST”, more than this mini album, I really loved this one too! I feel like there’s so much to talk about here, so I’m going to actually get into it!

Pirate:

The title song of the album. To be completely honest, I was not sold at the teaser for this song that dropped a few days ago. The chorus felt cheesy and overly repetitive to me. I really needed to hear the chorus in the context of the song and I needed to listen to the song a few times before it all settled with me. This wasn’t a song like ATEEZ’s “Deja Vu” where I heard it once and was immediately in love with it. But this song did grow on me after every time I listened to it. Though I still do have some problems with the song. My sister and I listened to the song completely separately and both came back with the exact same initial feedback, which was that the song didn’t feel consistent. There’s the beat drop chorus that features the actual use of the word “pirate”, which feels like a completely different song from the “girls all over the world” portion which has more of the feel of a lighthearted power ballad. As always, I love the messages of their songs. They are one of the major female groups that consistently covers the topic of girl power, and their message that girls can be anything goes right up there with their other inspiration messages towards women in past songs. And while the song does come together more and get more understandable the more you listen to it, there still is that slight tonal discrepancy that doesn’t quite go away. But damn, I have never seen them give Aisha this much to work with. As always Mia and Sihyeon kill all the major vocal parts and Yiren and Onda still don’t seem to be getting too much. But I am surprised how much E:U and Aisha have switched in regards to lines in their singles. E:U really didn’t get much, and Aisha got a massive amount of lines here. I’ve noticed that ever since Sihyeon was made leader, E:U has been getting less focus and I wonder if that’s just coincidence.

Pirate MV:

I always love Everglow’s MVs for subverting the stereotypical girl group concept every single time they come out with an album. Instead of doing a more modern Ariana Grande concept or an overly girly-girl feeling one, they always do something insane. Lately they’ve been going for more sci-fi related concepts and I love them! Instead of doing any of the regular stuff, they spend this video on motorcycles in sci-fi landscapes, doing complicated choreography in all black, and messing around with medieval swords. You know, everything I could possibly want in an MV! Hell yeah, I want to see women with medieval swords in a sci-fi concept! Did they peek at my Christmas list? Anyways, as well as Aisha being given a major chunk of lines for the song, they also had her center for much of the video. I love to see a concept with Aisha center! Of course, Yiren was also centered for much of it and Mia got her own dance moments. We’re still not seeing much dance focus on Onda, which is a shame. But we haven’t seen many of the on-stage performances of this yet and their most prominent one was actually recently pushed back. From what we have seen, it doesn’t look much changed. But they all looked badass in this MV nonetheless. I love Onda’s orange hair in pigtails, Mia’s diamond sci-fi eyepatch was badass and a moment, Aisha on a motorcycle is a power move, Siheyon is always as graceful as her vocals and was giving woman president vibes holding that flag, E:U in that white dress with a bow and arrow is everything I’ve always wanted to be, and Yiren looked elegant in that giant pink dress! The girls were amazing, as usual.

Back Together:

This is the first song on the album, even though this isn’t the promoted single for the album. And there’s a good reason for this. The song is a heartfelt slow ballad about getting back together after everything that’s happened. It’s the welcoming song on the album because it feels like a hug from the girls rejoicing that in some way we can share this space again. This song is beautiful, touching, and hopeful and better than any other way they could have opened their album. But, that doesn’t mean there aren’t flaws. Most of the flaws come from line distribution, as usual. Yiren, Onda, and E:U get maybe one line each in this song. This is mostly sung by Sihyeon and Mia with actually quite a lot of lines for Aisha as well. But it feels like this song was only sung by half the group, and that’s because it kind of was. I usually don’t try to point out line distribution as much as I used to, because the freak outs over BTS have gotten way too much and most other groups have actually been getting better at it. But Everglow is not a well established group quite yet and they still struggle from some extremely uneven line distribution. If it wasn’t this extreme, I wouldn’t be mentioning it. Yuehua Entertainment said a while ago that they were going to work more with Yiren and Onda on vocals. But if they have, they aren’t given enough lines in songs to show it. And, as I said before, E:U has been pushed into the background more and more lately. Mia, Sihyeon, and Aisha are amazing all-rounders and complete power houses. They are some of the strongest singers/rappers in the industry in my opinion right now. But it shouldn’t feel like they are the only three people in a six person group.

Don’t Speak:

This song is adorable and possibly my favorite song on the entire album. This is also the other song on this mini album that they’ve started doing actual performances for. And it’s super cute. This is also one of the most surprising on the album in terms of line distribution. Onda actually gets quite a bit in this song and Yiren gets some stuff too! E:U gets the least, but usually she gets more than Yiren and Onda. Still, it isn’t much. But this is one of the songs on the album with the most in the way of even line distribution. When it comes to performance for this song, both Yiren and Sihyeon are focused on most for the dance portion. Mia is also focused on a bit. But you don’t often see Sihyeon get this much when it comes to choreography and she killed it! Can I also say how much Mia’s lower register killed me in this song? The choreography is both adorable and has some hilarious interactions between the girls mixed in. I loved watching their performance and I love the sound of the song. But the message of the song here isn’t my favorite. It’s about falling for a bad boy type and though it’s pretty innocent, sometimes I get a little tired of the romanticizing of “bad boys”. But this song is so cute!!!

Nighty Night:

This is another one that took me a few listens to like, but I do really like it now! The chorus is addicting, as it switched between Mia and Aisha and Aisha’s sweeter vocals really solidify it as an ear worm. This song is one of their ones where most of the lines went to Mia. And I’m already seeing comments complaining about how many lines Mia gets and attacking Mia again. And I’m really annoyed by this now and not here for it. If you actually look at line distribution for literally every other song on the album there’s a pretty even emphasis on Mia, Sihyeon, and Aisha throughout. It is not Mia’s fault that she is getting focused on, nor is it Sihyeon or Aisha’s faults. They don’t decide line distribution anyways. We’re just not getting a lot for Onda, Yiren, and E:U. Onda and Yiren do get a couple lines each in this song, but E:U doesn’t even get a full line. Besides all of that, I do like this song as well. It really has a badass feel to it and it’s already stuck in my head! There’s not really a message to this song, it’s just a fun sci-fi chase song lyrically. Which sounds confusing, but that’s what it is. It’s fun!

Company:

This has another badass theme with a pretty great message. The song addresses everything from how women are trapped in societies meant to hold them back to people only valuing celebrities for their status. This is another one that focuses on Mia, Sihyeon, and Aisha again where the other three don’t get much. Musically this song can get a bit too repetitive to me, but I still like it though it isn’t one of my favorites on the album. I immediately downloaded this entire mini album as soon as I listened to it because there’s not one song on this album that I didn’t think was good. And though I may have more to say about some of the other songs, this one is still a highlight to me!

So, I think I can sum up my general thoughts on this album pretty simply. Every song was a bop. Mia, Sihyeon, and Aisha absolutely killed it. And Yuehua needs to stop treating Yiren, Onda, and E:U like they aren’t part of the group. When people told them to stop giving so many lines to Mia, they didn’t mean that they only had to even up the lines with Sihyeon and Aisha. And I’m still really sick of people singling out Mia with all of this anyways. But right now it feels a bit like E:U, Yiren, and Onda are back-up singers. They seem to be trusting Yiren more with choreography, but not much else is happening. I understand that Onda and Yiren are still working on vocals, but I think they sound great. And E:U is an amazing rapper, so I don’t know why they keep pushing her back. I want this group to feel like it’s a group of six rather than feeling like it’s a group of three. All that aside though, this mini album and comeback are amazing! They all look so happy and there’s not one song on this album that I dislike! They prove to me once again why I love them so much with every comeback! If you haven’t checked this one out, I highly recommend it! Everglow does not disappoint! And now I will go back to hyperventilating over the BTS concert!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Sci-Fi/ Superheroes: ‘Cowboy Bebop’

Promotional image of Jet, Spike, Faye, Ed, and Ein from ‘Cowboy Bebop’. Copyright goes to Sunrise and Bandai.

Hey! Hallie here!

Plenty of people have already discussed the new Netflix live-action anime remake that was released a little over a week ago. But remaking an anime as infamous as ‘Cowboy Bebop’ begs plenty of attention, so I’m jumping in on this conversation as well. I’m not a long time fan of this series. I’m one of those people who was frequently told to watch ‘Cowboy Bebop’ by friends, but gave up on that goal when I couldn’t find it on any of the streaming services I can access. However, the promotional content for the live action remake caught my interest almost immediately, mainly because of the fun colors, cool costumes, and John Cho. So when I saw the original anime series drop on Netflix to help add to the hype of the new series, I realized I had no more excuses. I had to watch it. The series is really interesting and it’s very clear why so many people like it. The way it plays around with three very different genres and manages to blend them together seamlessly is ridiculously impressive. However, I wouldn’t say I’m now a huge fan of the series. So know going into this that this review is coming from someone who only recently watched the original and didn’t love it nearly as much as many others do. I’ll explain myself more later, but as for now, know that there will be SPOILERS ahead while I give my opinions on Netflix’s newest huge project.

What I Liked:

The Three Leads: I’ve seen various complaints hurled at all three of the main cast. I really have to say, I don’t agree with most of the critiques for these three. First off, John Cho is not too old to play Spike. I actually found him to be a pretty faithful adaptation of Spike. He’s aloof and cool with that hint of genuine empathy hidden behind it all. Plus a hilarious love of jumping into danger headfirst and leaving Jet exasperated. His dynamic with Jet doesn’t change at all either. Jet, as usual is the rational one in their friendship. Not to mention the fact that the real life ages of the actors have no bearing on the ages of the characters. Mustafa Shakir is an excellent Jet. I actually found him to be my favorite of the characters to watch. Jet’s storyline was never a major draw for me, but I felt that the focus on Jet was really well done and I enjoyed the added attachment to his daughter as well. Racism isn’t welcome here. I have some mixed feelings about Faye, but that isn’t Daniella Pineda’s fault. She plays an extremely badass Faye. I appreciated the avoidance of a lot of the more sexist parts of the original anime. Because, let’s be honest here, the character of Faye could get pretty sexist. She was the femme fatale, one of my least favorite female tropes to ever curse the screen for blatantly treating women like sexy objects. The moments where she’s meant to prove she’s more than the trope also don’t feel genuine when her breasts are abnormally large and half of Spike’s dialogue about her surrounds the “unreasonable” nature of women. None of this is present in the Faye of the series. My only complaint is that this series falls into the trap of avoiding femme fatale by writing out most of the feminine aspects of the character. Which doesn’t help things either. But overall, I feel this character took major strides the original didn’t.

The Atmosphere: This series does an excellent job of setting up the world of ‘Cowboy Bebop’. Every set feels like it came directly out of the anime and every new location is gorgeous to look at. Between the fun vibrant colors and the mix between Western streets and Sci-Fi establishments, it feels like a place you might actually want to visit. And the soundtrack. Yoko Kanno returns for this soundtrack and it’s just as addictive as it was in the original anime. I love how it contributes mostly to the Noir feel of the show. Say what you want about other aspects of the show, but it does a good job of creating the world anime fans came to love.

What I Disliked:

The Syndicate: The syndicate, and by extension Vicious, gets way too much time in the show. I didn’t really love Vicious in the original ‘Cowboy Bebop’. I couldn’t help but feel as though I had seen several villains like him before. But the show did an excellent job of making him seem intimidating by limiting his presence in the show. The remake feels like it returns to him every two seconds. He’s also not very fun to watch, and I feel like the fact that he’s still in a relationship with Julia drags both of their characters down. Most of the time it feels like Vicious is spending his screen time whining at her. Meanwhile, making her seem like she’s helpless to escape him isn’t the way I wanted Julia’s character to be expanded upon in this show. I wanted her epic escape and what she got up to afterwards. Not whatever this was. And yes, having her decide she wants to control the syndicate is cool. If the show had built up to that decision at all. But they didn’t, so I still left this show disappointed in her character. And please, I don’t ever want to hear the really silly names they came up with for everyone in the syndicate ever again. Fearless never happened. Can we move on?

The Side Characters: I found that a lot of the side characters were rewritten in mostly disappointing ways. The first character that comes to mind is Gren. Gren was horrendously written in the original anime. This was because their status as a nonbinary individual was made to be a freak accident rather than an actual exploration of what it’s like to be nonbinary. I really appreciated that they let go of that entire part of their plot, but in the process they also removed all of Gren’s plot relevance. They finally made Gren a better representation of nonbinary individuals only to push them aside. Katerina also comes to mind. One of the most tragic parts of the first episode of the original ‘Cowboy Bebop’ occurs when Katerina kills Asimov, realizing that she needs to end his tirade even though doing so will kill her and her dreams of living on Mars. In the new series, Asimov dies in a fight and Katerina cries over him before being killed, removing both most of her importance in the episode and the emotional weight she carries. This series really wanted to prove it was different from the original, but in doing so it mindlessly wrecked some of the plot points in the process.

I could also talk about how this series was too cartoony, but pretty much everyone has mentioned that and I don’t think it was the biggest problem here. I very much disliked their attempt at ‘Big Shot’, the bounty hunter show the main characters watch, but that was my biggest issue with the cartoony feel. As far as the Netflix series goes, I think it simply doesn’t capture what everyone liked about each episode of the original ‘Cowboy Bebop’. Every episode was short and full of stereotypes, but they also had a hidden brilliance that unfolded as each episode played out. There’s no well thought out brilliance hidden in the live acton remake’s episodes. Overall, I think Netflix just needs to stop adapting foreign shows for American audiences and just start promoting the original shows to American audiences instead. We could all benefit from watching and appreciating content from outside our country.

See You Space Cowboy,

Hallie