So Do People Realize That We Aren't Building New Train Tracks When We Expand The Amteak Network, I Have

Israeli forces (backed by Joe Biden) invaded al-Shia hospital last night because they where convinced Hamas is using medical complexes for military purposes. For over 10 hours patients, staff and refugees were interrogated and over 200 civilians were blindfolded, stripped naked and detained in the hospital yard. They shot at anyone moving in the hospital trying to leave and the power, oxygen and water was cut off. There was no evidence found that the hospital was used by Hamas in any way, but Israel has not addressed that yet. Israel also made a statement that they brought baby food and incubators into the hospital, but all sources from inside the hospital say no aid was given- which besides being a false claim, what al-Shifa needs is electricity (which Israel cut off) not incubators.

Because of lack of fuel and reliance on batteries, Gaza is currently hours away from a complete communications blackout and I am afraid of what other lies and propaganda Israel will try to spread while Palestine is forced to be silent.

The song is Banana Shake (sped up)

i'm still thinking about adonis' and rei's conversation in the graveyard. like, it turns our perception of rei/adonis and their emotional intelligence on its head. on the surface, rei is incredibly charismatic and emotionally intelligent, while adonis is awkward and frequently takes people too seriously, but when things get personal, rei backs off while adonis is open and honest about his feelings, which makes adonis excellent at understanding rei. on the other hand, rei makes a faux pas. (cw for brief discussions of racism below the cut)

adonis comments that rei seems down, and rei is surprised that adonis noticed

rei IMMEDIATELY discredits adonis' statement, saying that humans can say they care for and respect someone as much as they want, but they never make a true effort to understand them. when adonis says it's because he's known rei for a while, rei calls him cocky. he's clearly uncomfortable with being understood and tries to steer the conversation away from personal topics, keeping it to light banter

rei then accidentally triggers one of adonis' insecurities by calling him a "killjoy." it's not his fault, but the nickname triggers adonis' insecurities anyway because he hates being associated with violent words like "kill," and it shows that rei is not always aware of the impact his words have on adonis. this leads adonis to show a moment of vulnerability and talk openly about his struggles as an immigrant in japan because he feels as though everyone around him is wary of him and fails to make an effort to understand him, instead judging him as violent from a glance, which is such a deeply heartbreaking sentiment -- it's so clear how ingrained this internalized racism is such that being called a "killjoy" set him off. he talks about how he feels as though he tries to behave as a model minority and be perfect and quiet so no one misunderstands him, but they misunderstand him anyway (and isn't this what rei and his family is doing? trying to be perfect so that he is simply allowed to exist, so people don't see him as a monster?). here is adonis giving tangible proof that both he and rei are misunderstood by others, showing that he does actually understand what rei is going through on a personal level.

adonis tells rei that he was hurt by rei blaming him for being the leader of the vampires, too (it wasn't rei's fault, but adonis doesn't know that). rei replies with "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, okay? I love you" which is exactly what he said humans did in the very beginning -- you can love someone without making a real effort to understand them. rei (in this specific conversation) is refusing to understand adonis because doing so would mean having to acknowledge his own weaknesses

and adonis shows that he was listening to rei and says that it's not about loving or hating someone. it's about understanding someone.

i love the scene of adonis noticing that rei was depressed post-crossroads and all the discussions of adonis being particularly clever / observant throughout the story... it really hammers home the adonis and rei parallels. both emotionally intelligent people who feel othered and who are driven by their love for humans and desire to help even strangers to the point of self sacrifice. the major differences between them are caused by adonis' crippling self esteem (which is something he's slowly but surely learning to improve) and rei being treated like a god (something that's also changing as rei allows himself to be fallible)

trans allegory in mystic fragrance and forbidden rain

aka: the essay no one asked for

Content warnings for: Discussions of homophobia and transphobia, and brief mentions of suicide.

If you guys have any other comments on this topic (especially KnightsPs, I'm an UNDEADP so I'm less familiar with their lore) please comment or rb or drop an ask or anything! I love talking. It's also been a hot minute (3 or 4 years) since I last took an English class so my analysis is a little rusty.

Part 1: UNDEAD's "Monster" and Queerness

Every UNDEAD song (with one exception) has the same premise — the singers are the impure, immoral monsters who are singing to a pure, human audience. There are two genres of UNDEAD song:

“I’m a monster seducing you into the darkness, give into your desires because I know that secretly you want it too” — Immoral World, Savage Love Affair, etc.

“I’m a monster and I’m so badass” — Darkness 4, Nightless World, etc.

Darkness 4 lyrics, translation by Shirayukin on Fandom wiki.

The “monster” in UNDEAD’s music is shorthand for anyone that exists outside of a pure society. By joining the monsters, you become tainted and can't return to society, but that’s the only way you can possibly live as your authentic self. In this way, the "darkness" is a safe space that these monsters have created for themselves.

This is, of course, a reference to Rei and how he feels ostracized from society -- the whole reason why Koga began UNDEAD was as a message to Rei that if Rei felt like a monster, he shouldn't roll over and die, but live with them as an undead. However, the concept of the queer monster is incredibly applicable imo. Historically, lots of villains in horror media were queer-coded as a way of eliciting disgust or a fear response, as a way of making its villain seem strange and, well, queer. (Oh, no! Look at all these horrible people ruining life for the law-abiding families!) The link between queerness and horror has been analyzed to death.

But queer people also love the misunderstood monster who's shunned by "proper" society. The gothic novels that originated the horror genre in the 1800s, like Dracula or the Picture of Dorian Grey, were written by queer authors and/or contained scores of queer themes. Do I need to go into why werewolves, shapeshifters who had to go deep into the woods to hide their wolf form, can be read as queer? Do I need to go into why Frankenstein, someone abandoned by his own creator and shunned by society by the nature of his existence alone (something out of his control), can be read as queer? Do I really need to go into why the modern-day vampire is queer? Vampires? Of course queer people will love these monsters, because they see themselves in the monsters, more so than the victims. (Also, nothing more in line with the queer experience than seeing a monster and going “ngl they're kinda hot actually.”)

In summary: It's very easy to read UNDEAD songs and UNDEAD's conceptualization of the "monster" through a queer lens. The monster is queer, and the monster welcomes you into the darkness and invites you to also give into your desire to live freely.

Immoral World lyrics, translation by Mandy on Fandom wiki.

Also, shout out the love you tried to hide, huh? Show me your truth? Show me your pride?

Dude.

Dude.

Sidenote: The one exception to this “monster” theme is of course the elephant in the room, Sustain Memories. I think it plays well into UNDEAD’s image — at least in !-era, Rei, Adonis, and Koga have always been the monsters, while Kaoru is the human that joined them (see: their Halloween costumes in !-era). So Kaoru doesn’t sing of monsters, he sings of a human love. There's also something to be said about Kaoru being the one member of UNDEAD who tried so desperately to appear cishet and experience a "normal" love in !-era. But also, it's a wedding song because the anime boys look cute when they sing about weddings.

Part 2: What about Forbidden Rain?

Here's the thing about UNDEAD's other monster songs -- they're always proud of being monsters. They're not ashamed, and they want the audience to join them in their freedom.

Forbidden Rain lyrics, translation by @/snaketaper on Twitter.

On the other hand, the singer in Forbidden Rain sees themselves as a "beast" who can never be forgiven, someone who's slowly poisoning their pure lover. They love them so much that they apparently have to let go of them, for their own sake. It's the first song that actually contains references to genuine love (usually UNDEAD is just horny).

The song remains sort of ambiguous about the nature of the relationship between the singer and the audience. It's clear that the audience does actually care for the singer, since they do reach out a "gentle hand" that the singer can't take. But the singer says, "Let's end this thing that never even began" -- are they even together in the first place? Maybe it never began because they were scared of the "beast." Or maybe it never truly began because the relationship was built on a lie. They sing about a beast inside them that they have to hide, and says that their current self -- the one they show to the audience -- is a fake. And this is something that cannot be forgiven.

It's not hard to read this in the context of queerness. Maybe it's about a gay singer who doesn't want to reveal their feelings and tarnish a platonic relationship. Or maybe it's a trans singer who's wracked with guilt at keeping their identity under wraps and hasn't come out to their heterosexual lover, so they want to break off things before they come out and taint their previous relationship.

In Love & Beast, the "source material" behind Forbidden Rain, Inogari (Adonis' character) is soft-spoken, protective, and kind. He saves the main police character in the very first scene. He's an ambassador and a respected enough member of society that he's part of the Sakurayama (Rei's character) social club. He uses "watashi," which is even more polite than Adonis' "ore." He literally faints at the sight of blood. He's the picture of innocence and goodness and all that society approves of. But in a Jekyll and Hyde-like twist, he ends up secretly being the killer Beast. In the end, the Beast is finally caught when Inogari realizes the truth and chains himself to a wall so he can be caught by the police in an act of sacrifice.

Inogari is the picture of propriety, but he keeps the Beast repressed, and eventually this Beast destroys him. Even if you try your best to act as part of proper society, you'll never really fit in.

Silent Oath lyrics, translation by royalquintet on Fandom wiki.

Another note: Forbidden Rain has a lot of the same themes of self-sacrifice, repression, and pure, romantic love that Knights songs do. Knights, in game, is a much more traditional idol unit than UNDEAD is. Forbidden Rain thus attempts to align itself more closely with the socially acceptable Knights, but it's still an UNDEAD song at its core. The monster is inescapable.

Part 3: Mystic Fragrance and Trans Allegory

This thread by @/pretty5P on twitter (https://x.com/pretty5p/status/1625958198623539200?s=46&t=lm_x5Uw5f8pKXHUoLzYksw) is a really cool analysis on the perfume symbolism in the song and how it relates to Arashi's gender identity (go read it!!), but if you don’t want to give Elon Musk ad revenue, the gist of it is this: Odette is her "masculine" initial impression, the impression others have of her, and the impression that fades most quickly. Odile is her lasting "feminine" self and the true self that remains when the top notes fade away.

Over the course of the song, the singer (Odette/Odile) grows more and more tainted, going from a pure white dress to a multicolored rainbow dress to a pitch black dress. The final perfume note is desire, the desire to live as themselves, the desire to be with the person they love.

Mystic Fragrance lyrics, translation by KYM2020 on Fandom wiki.

While the song does focus on a pure romantic love, just like Knight's songs, the symbolism of wanting to be Odile is far more similar to UNDEAD's monster. The idea of a "hidden desire" lying in wait beneath pure feelings is explored in almost every song, as is the symbolism of a dress that gets tainted by desire:

Savage Love Affair lyrics, translation by Nina on Fandom wiki.

And just like UNDEAD songs, the "tainting" of the pure is never presented as a bad thing. Note the references to the moon in both -- it's only in the dead of night, in a midnight ballroom, that one can "spread their wings" and reveal their true self. The darkness, the space of monsters, is a safe space, and in the light of the truth-seeking moon the singer of Mystic Fragrance says that their audience is beautiful.

In the original Swan Lake ballet, Odette is a beautiful woman who falls in love with Prince Siegfried. She's cursed to transform into a swan in the daytime, a curse that can only be broken if someone who has never sworn their love to anyone swears their love to her (in other words, someone untainted). Unfortunately, the evil sorcerer who cursed her turns his daughter into Odile, the black swan who looks identical to Odette, and Siegfried mistakenly confesses his love to her. Knowing that the curse can never be broken, Odette throws herself into the lake rather than live the rest of her life as a swan, and Siegfried joins her.

Mystic Fragrance isn't tragic, however.

Part 4: Living your truth

The endings of Forbidden Rain and Mystic Fragrance are where they differ. Both of their source endings are tragic — Inogari is unable to control the Beast and shackles himself to a wall, waiting to be arrested. Odette and Siegfried leap into a lake and drown themselves, because the only way they can be together is in death. Forbidden Rain ends with the singer holding their loved one close to them one last time in the rain before they leave.

But Arashi rejects her source material because she chooses to embrace the monster. She becomes Odile. She decides to live her truth, and as the top notes and heart notes fade away, all that lingers is her true self. That's why Mystic Fragrance has a happy ending.

There's a lot of symbolism in the Mystic Fragrance music video with respect to the person who loved Arashi during the war era and who killed themselves. She spreads her arms like the wings of an angel and sings in front of a setpiece that looks like the cenotaph. Her outfit contains anemones, symbols of a lost love and grief (and, coincidentally, the flower that Adonis in greek myth turned into when he died). Her greatest regret was that that person couldn't love themselves the way Arashi now tries to love herself. In this way, Mystic Fragrance is like a message to that person -- live your truth.

update: it sucks

i tried recreating the adonis mocktail from the enstars collaboration cafe without ANY cocktail/mocktail experience so I just muddled some rosemary and thawed frozen pink dragonfruit in a glass (read: mushed it with the back of a spoon) and added club soda and blue curaçao and it is BRIGHT purple. adonis color

no because i also think it'd be so interesting to explore the AI bots within the contexts of rei's physical disability and mental health -- rei comes face to face with a version of himself that had the godlike personality and charisma he had in the war era and the ability to perform for extremely long periods of time on hellsing's massive national tour, but none of the burnout or physical exhaustion that wagarei gained as a result. a version of him that can be the perfect idol everyone expects him to be -- and it shows, because undead fans love hellsing. what purpose does grandpa-like wagarei have then? what use does he have if he can't be of service?

Read the first half of UNDEAD climax translated and the second half with livetweets. Highkey wish UNDEAD confronted their AI countperarts more tbh. Especially given how the AI’s personalities seem to mostly come from UNDEAD’s past selves

I want to see them reflect on that but also I am a sucker for when different versions of a character co-exist. I want Rei AI to break down in our Rei’s arms tbh bc he has the pain that Ore Rei had. I just want the angst. A very self-indulgent angst moment here

show us the baby photos

Adonis: ...

completely enamoured with this thread