teo ★彡

Korrasami Week 2024 - Day 4 - Cooking

Korrasami Week 2024 - Day 1 - Sparring

Stakes - What would happen if the protagonist failed? Would it really be such a bad thing if it happened?

Thematic relevance - Do the events of the story speak to a greater emotional or moral message? Is the conflict resolved in a way that befits the theme?

Urgency - How much time does the protagonist have to complete their goal? Are there multiple factors complicating the situation?

Drive - What motivates the protagonist? Are they an active player in the story, or are they repeatedly getting pushed around by external forces? Could you swap them out for a different character with no impact on the plot? On the flip side, do the other characters have sensible motivations of their own?

For example, I recently learned that Disney+ had an original film called Crater. It’s scifi, family friendly, and seems cool - I would love to buy it as a holiday gift for my little brother! But: it’s exclusive to D+ and THEY REMOVED IT LITERALLY MONTHS AFTER ITS RELEASE.

The ONLY way I can directly access this film is through piracy. The ONLY available ‘copies’ of this film are hosted on piracy websites. Disney will NEVER release it in theaters, or as something to buy, and it may NEVER return to the streaming service. It will be LOST because we aren’t allowed to purchase it for personal viewing. If I can’t pay to own it, I won’t pay for the privilege of losing it when corporate decides to put it in a vault.

tl;dr: conrad's speech about souls is not something we're supposed to take as objective fact about the stampede universe — the thesis isn't dependent plants don't have souls, the thesis is oh holy shit, they're doing eugenics.

conrad's not an unbiased narrator. he's a half-dead, guilt-stricken eugenicist parroting the talking points of an obsessive cult leader whose history book was the bible.

so let’s break down exactly what the fuck we’re being told, because it’s not exposition we’re meant to take at face value.

(under the cut for length, spoilers, and discussion of eugenics, ableism, christianity, cults, experimentation, and sexual assault — both as metaphor and taken literally, as seen in ep11)

[DL] P@T@LLIRO! [HD]

It’s because of love - oh jealousy♪ - the BanMara perspective

Pt.1 What makes Patalliro so special compared to other 2.5D productions?

Suggested reading : Beauty is Sin for sufficient context from the 1st play to understand why BanMara is where they are in the 2nd story.

In the manga, Bancoran was introduced first in the story and didn’t meet Maraich until a few more chapters later. Thus readers had a better understanding of who Bancoran is before Maraich came into his life (i.e. when he’s still single and whoring around). Maya-sensei didn’t initially create Maraich to be a reoccurring character so it took him time to incorporate Maraich into the story as a regular instead of killing him off as he originally intended. But because Maraich became such an important character to the series later on, the stageplay will have no time for the pre-Maraich side stories. Not only must Bancoran and Maraich be introduced into the story at the same time, but Bancoran’s playboy lifestyle was also significantly toned down. That explains why in the 1st play, they fell in love at first sight and spent the rest of the play chasing each other.

（(^w -)—❤; 2016）

Similarly, after they became a couple, there were a number of manga chapters that illustrated Bancoran’s paradoxical attitude towards Maraich. On one hand he always tries to get away with cheating, but on the other hand he remains deeply, deeply in love with Maraich. Bancoran’s infidelity is a running gag in the manga, but to tell the truth, what matters most to fans is that he still sees Maraich as the love of his life DESPITE his uncontrollable dick, so eventually we tolerated this character flaw even though nobody actually likes that about him. But in the play, the audience simply do not have the time to digest how Bancoran can be devoted and unfaithful at the same time. The anime likely saw the same issue, so in both anime and stage, Bancoran never once cheated on Maraich, only intentionally/unintentionally flirted with others from time to time.

Along with the toning down/elimination of Bancoran’s philandering, the play also made Bancoran more expressive. In manga/anime, though we know Bancoran is very in love with Maraich, he is stoic and seldom voices his feelings, especially in the Stardust Project arc where he never properly addressed whether he was over his dead ex (whom he killed btw) so Maraich was left hanging all the way till the end. The manga had other chapters to follow to make up for that, but in a play such subplots need to be properly wrapped up. On top of that, Tsune sees Maraich as crucial in his portrayal of Bancoran. He has repeatedly explained in interviews how Bancoran cannot exist as a character without the presence of Maraich. So he really sees Bancoran’s love for Maraich as an indispensable part of the character. With that in mind, Tsunecoran is not only a lot more affectionate towards Maraich, but he is also constantly reminding you that he is proud to love and be loved by Maraich.

And then there is Maraich. In the manga/anime, before he met Bancoran, Maraich was also rather cold. He seldom smiled and liked wearing monochrome outfits. To put it in his own words, his life before he met Bancoran was like a “nightmare” every single day. But after they started dating, Maraich showed his more emotional and even hysteric side. He started to dress in colorful and adorable clothes. He threw childish tantrums to his older lover (keep in mind that Maraich was still a teenager in the canon). All because he finally found love and shelter in Bancoran with whom he no longer had to twist himself to please someone just to survive. Bancoran is the light of his life and loves him for who he is. 

Sana read the entire manga, so he obviously understood this very well. That’s why just like Tsune, Sana also puts Maraich’s love for Bancoran at the center of his approach. Since the 1st play in 2016, Sana spent more than a year to prepare for this role, and his biggest focus was on Maraich’s love for Bancoran. He put a lot of thoughts into it. He envisioned their life together, what their shared home would look like, how they’d interact like any ordinary couple… In the 1st play, Maraich was desperate and scared but ultimately saved by Bancoran’s love. In the 2nd play, not only did Sana perfectly portray the “paranoid lover” Maraich, he also added his very own boyish, bratty demeanor into the mix, making him distinct from the anime Mariach who was voiced by a woman.

（(｡•ˇ‸ˇ•｡); 2018）

Putting all these factors together, what was initially marketed as a “love triangle” in the 2nd play didn’t feel all that obvious.Because for every moment that implied Tsunecoran’s conflicted feelings towards Andresen, there were three other instances where he explicitly voiced his love for Maraich. So there really isn’t a place where you felt that Bancoran was indecisive. There was never really any doubt that Maraich was the one on his mind.

In the 1st play, BanMara passionately kissed and made out to show you how they fell in love. In the 2nd play, they did not kiss for the entirety of their Tokyo tour, and only added a brief peck on the lips in the last 5 performances in Osaka which I was lucky enough to see.

But the brilliance of the 2nd play is that you actually don’t need to see them kiss and fuck to know how in love they are. On stage, they are almost always standing close to each other and lovingly touching each other’s hair. And because they omitted Bancoran’s pre-Maraich life in the 1st play and reduced Bjorn’s presence to a short flashback in the 2nd, it really feels as if Tsunecoran has never truly loved anyone before he met Sanaich. In the manga/anime, Bancoran almost never blushed in front of Maraich(I can remember only 2 or 3 instances in the entire story). But on stage, Tsunecoran looks at Sanaich with such pride and tenderness in his eyes, even to the point of flustering like a teenager, you honestly do not need to see them get physically intimate to know how in love and inseparable they are. In the manga/anime, Bancoran can get all workaholic and neglect Maraich’s needs and feelings. However, you really cannot imagine Tsunecoran be that kind of guy because he is so attentive and Sanaich seemed to be absolutely spoiled with love.

（Patalliro cockblocking his gay parents; 2018）

One important difference the play made to the original manga story is that it gave Maraich a bigger voice. In the manga/anime Stardust arc, Maraich’s role was very much marginalized and his feelings were not properly responded to by Bancoran. But the playwright(a shipper) made sure to give Maraich the center stage and all the time he needs to address his feelings to Bancoran, as well as let Bancoran answer to those feelings in a clear, unambiguous manner. They adore each other, remain supportive of each other throughout, and both had an outfit with their partner’s name printed on it because they are disgustingly cheesy like that. They are each other’s biggest fan.

（The secret outfit that will not be in the DVD; 2018）

Underneath their sweet interactions was a strong sense of trust in each other. They are both very flawed and problematic human beings, but neither pretended to be someone they are not in front of their partner. They love each other despite their flaws, and opened themselves up for the other to become their biggest weakness. That is especially obvious in Tsunecoran who otherwise is an invincible man with no weak point either physically or mentally. But just like what I told Tsune in my fan letter, Bancoran’s greatest courage came in the form of his love for Maraich, that he was willing to make himself vulnerable because he fell in love. That’s where his true bravery lies and it really shines through in the plays. Last time, he purposely missed a shot to save Maraich’s life, and this time, he is willing to make mistakes and even risk his own life to do the same.

（The moment when you forgot this was a comedy; 2016）

And Sana’s performance just makes it so clear why Maraich is so special to Bancoran. Sana has this insane ability to swim all over the masculine-feminine spectrum, making a thousand faces and changing multiple voices in the same song. His Maraich has such a strong presence on stage I can never take my eyes off of him. He can be both delicate and rough, lovesick and strong-minded, cute and vulgar, understanding and jealous. It’s so much fun to watch him on stage because you have no idea which mode he’d enter into in the next moment, but you just know whichever face he decides to show, he will make sure you never forget it before changing to another face and surprises you again.

And like I have said in the past, Maraich is unique because his love for Bancoran is so straightforward and dignified. He exposes his true self to Bancoran, loving him with all his heart and demands to be loved with the same force. Sana’s natural boyishness gives this love such a raw, unstoppable energy that is both hilarious and extremely endearing.

（Tfw you just called your boyfriend an asshole but you also don’t want to hear other people call him an asshole; 2018）

In the end, the underlying message from Stardust Project is not so different from all the other stories BanMara got themselves into in the manga: there is nothing in the world that could break Bancoran and Maraich apart, and anyone who dare to stand between them will end very, very, very badly.

Beauty is Sin

Patalliro the Movie (buy here)

Sana Hiroki as Maraich Aoki Tsunenori as Major Jack Bancoran

緻密な役作りから熱烈キスシーンまで…加藤 諒×青木玄徳×佐奈宏紀が明かす、舞台「パタリロ！」の裏側

http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/14141868/?p=1

OK this is probably one of the best RyoxTsunexSana interviews in existence, see my thread here on what they discussed: https://twitter.com/vvlin91/status/954249712021815296

Note: Everything I documented here actually happened.  Please always remember that it’s not right to ship real people. 

Bancoran and Maraich(BanMara for short) of Maya Mineo’s signature series Patalliro! is one of the oldest and most iconic same-sex couples in manga history, dating back to 1980 and portrayed without ambiguity in a family hour anime.

And this is the story of how Aoki Tsunenori(b.1987) and Sana Hiroki(b.1997) brought them to life on stage for the first time in 2016, mostly in their own words.

Made this gif from the second T&B opening because this shit is so GAY. At first t thought the person holding the phone was Barnaby, but after staring at it for a while I think it's probably Kaede? Either way, she's holding Kotetsu's phone, flipping through his pictures, and finds what appears to be a candid shot of Barnaby, shot romantically at night, looking at Kotetsu. The person holding the phone pauses, possibly surprised, and Kotetsu quicky takes the phone from them. Why did you take that picture, Kotetsu??? Like there's other candid shots of the heroes and Kaede but the one of Bunny has a distinctly different vibe.