Music Monday!!!

Yep, it's Music Monday.

So, this is another kind of hardcore song, but it's not bad. In fact, this is probably one of the most inspirational songs I have ever heard. And the band We Came As Romans is awesome and amazing and I love them.

I love this song.

Fandoms, Feels, and Fangirling on Friday! - Free! Iwatobi Swim Club

Ok, just a warning, THIS WILL INCLUDE SO MANY FANGIRLING!!!!!!!!!!! And, yes, I realize that made absolutely no sense, but I'm a fangirl, and I don't even care. Especially when it comes to this show.

There are so many feels, you don't even know...

So, this show is called Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. (And I have an entire fanboard on Pinterest devoted to this show.) Let's start with the basics: Characters. Oh, and this is an anime that is NOT English dubbed, so it has subtitles (WHICH I HATE, btw), but I love this show with most of my heart. (After all, I can't say ALL of my heart because it's split into WAY too many fandoms to count...) Even though I usually can't stand subs, I watch Free! because of the beautiful men amazing plot. I say "beautiful men" somewhat jokingly because I really do love the plot, but the guys are very attractive. And I just get so emotionally attached to the characters that I have cried MANY times while watching this show. Anyway, let's get on with it. Characters. In the order that I like them. (Not that I hate any of them, I love them all.)

First up: Makoto Tachibana. And, just because little Mako is probably one of the most adorable things I have ever  seen in my entire life, here's a gif:

And, here's another gif of him because he's an angel:

I could watch this gif all day...

So, Makoto is the captain of the swim team and his specialty is the backstroke. He's a little bit of a scaredy-cat, which I find super adorable. Plus, he's super sweet and looks out for his teammates. I think he's my favorite because he kind of reminds me of my best friend (who's my soul mate in best friend form), and he's so precious!!! I mean, look at him sleeping! He's so cute!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Ok, enough fangirling about Mako. Moving on.

VERY close second favorite is Rin Matsuoka (Shark-Boy).

AND RIN IS TOTALLY ADORABLE, TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

And here's another gif of him when the sharky grew up:

See what I mean?! Beautiful men... *drool*

Anyway, what was I talking about? ...

Oh yeah. Rin. Haha. Just because this picture makes me laugh every time I see it, I need to put it on here.

(I'll get to who's with him in a minute.)

Rin. Ok, at first I absolutely HATED the sharky, but I grew to love him by season 2. And this show's ongoing, and they've done 10 episodes of season 2 so far.

Ok, I am getting REALLY distracted, and I apologize. This is my inner fangirl making itself known, ok?! Don't judge me!!!

Anyway, Rin. He doesn't go to Iwatobi high with Mako, Rei, Haru, and Nagisa. He goes to their rival school, Samezuka (which is an all boy school). But I love Rin so much. He swims the fastest with butterfly, but he swims freestyle because his lifelong goal is pretty much to beat Haru... That's another reason I love this show. The characters are so much deeper than you think they would be.

If I talk about Rin anymore, I might start crying, so we're moving on.

Moving on to Haru!!!

*cue tears because of all the feels associated with this character*

Haruka Nanase is pretty much the main character, I guess. He's totally obsessed with water. Like, he swims in the outdoor pool at Iwatobi high when it's probably, like, fifty degrees outside. That's how much he loves water.

Next up is Rei Ryugazaki.

Rei is totally adorable, and he's... He's a nerd, honestly. He's all about calculations and beauty. But he's definitely an interesting character.

Sometimes I worry about the fandoms that I'm in...

Next up is Nagisa Hazuki.

'Nuff said. This kid is the adorable, shota type who you can't hate at all. Plus, he loves food. And he's a pretty deep character. When you get into season 2... GAH, FEELS!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, there are a lot more characters I could talk about, but let's just end with Sosuke Yamazaki (aka the one I hate in season 2).

(And, yes, even though this gif is SUPER adorable, I still hate him.)

This kid... UGH. There are WAY too many feels to even tell you about from this show. Like, I honestly can't even. I was watching the latest episode on Wednesday (cause on Wednesdays we swim free!!!) and I got five minutes in and I was honestly bawling my eyes out. FIVE. FREAKING. MINUTES. IN. GAH!!!! Too many feels that it just hurts. And not in the way the Attack on Titan or D.Gray-Man does (aka killing off all the characters that you love). It's a... It's a more realistic way, I guess. Like, in the way that it could happen to anyone.

And I just love the relationships the guys have. It's just all so amazing and I love it.

And that's the fandom for this week!!! (This one will probably be my least coherent one... Just cause there are way too many feels and I can't even...)

Tune in next week (or, more likely, the week after) for the next fandom, which will probably be either D.Gray-Man or Attack on Titan!!! :D

UPDATE/EDIT:

So, Funimation bought the rights to the second season of this show, and I am SO freaking excited for who the English cast is going to be. I so called some of them.

Makoto is being voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch. I am super excited because his voice is beautiful, and I can totally see it. Plus, he sings the lead in his band Eyeshine. It's also quite the good fit because the Japanese guy who voices Makoto also sings the theme songs, and the lead of his band OLDCODEX.

Rin is being voiced by one of my absolute favorite VA's ever, Vic Mignogna. Although, I'm a little skeptical because Rin's voice is low and kinda sexy, but Vic's voice isn't as low as Rin's Japanese voice is. And I LOVE Vic, but I'm kinda scared he'll screw it up...? I dunno. I won't knock it till I watch it. Fun fact: he voiced Tamaki Suoh in Ouran High School Host Club.

 Haru's going to be voiced by another one of my favorites, Todd Haberkorn. I did not see it coming, but I am completely ok with him. I really do love Todd as well, and at first I was a little skeptical. But there's a scene later in the season that absolutely breaks my heart, and I'm excited because when I watched it again, I could totally hear Todd's voice doing that part (in my head). So, I'm pumped. Fun fact: He voiced Hikaru Hitachiin in Ouran.

 

Rei. I TOTALLY called who Rei was going to be voiced by: J. Michael Tatum. When I started watching Free! I wanted Tatum to voice Rei SO BAD. AND HE IS, SO ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD. I was so happy when they announced him, because I told myself that if Tatum wasn't voicing Rei, then I wouldn't even watch the English dub. But Funimation did well, and chose him. Tatum is also a favorite. (Plus, he's also pretty handsome...) Fun fact: He voiced Kyoya Otori in Ouran.

Totally called Nagisa's VA as well: Greg Ayres. He voiced Kaoru Hitachiin in Ouran. (I'm sensing a pattern here, yes?) But he's done a lot of characters that are kind of boy-ish, shouta-ish, so I wasn't surprised by this one and totally called it.

I really wanted Sosuke to be voiced by Travis Willingham (who did Mori in Ouran) becuase I LOVE his voice and he's great, but he's not. Which might've been a good move on Funi's part, because a lot of the fans are upset that the Ouran cast seems to be getting back for a reunion, but I am TOTALLY ok with it because I love all of the VAs. But Funi has a limited cast, so I'm not surprised. Plus, I don't get why people were getting so worked up about the Ouran people reuniting, because they've done it before, people just haven't really made a big deal about it before. At least, not that I've noticed.

Anyway, Sosuke's being voiced by Ian Sinclair. I'm ok with it, because he has the timbre to his voice as Travis does, so I'm ok. Plus his eyes are freaking BEAUTIFUL. I MEAN, LOOK AT THEM!!!!!

Music Monday

Music Monday is going to be a new thing I do. So, here's the first installment.

Recently I've discovered the amazing world of screaming heavy metal, thanks to a coworker. And, despite my original thoughts to avoid it at all costs (because, y'know, being a Mormon and everything, we avoid things that have the potential to drive away the spirit), I really enjoy it. If you actually listen to the lyrics, they can actually be really motivational. For example, my new favorite song is called "Run Free" and it's by Asking Alexandria. Here's the official music video:

I've also learned something recently... Well, not really recently, because we're all told this from the time that we're little, but it never really sunk in until now: You can NOT judge a person by the way they look (like if they're super scary and intimidating looking). I've just started to realize that. I mean, there are some people that I just wouldn't associate with at all because they were all tattooed up and just very intimidating looking. But I've recently figured out that that's not always the case. A lot of times people who have tattoos are extremely nice and... I don't know. I guess it's just that I've realized that, and it hadn't really ever made its way into my life because I haven't really known any people with tattoos.

I was talking to one of my coworkers and we were saying how people judge other people who are super tattooed. I think it's just the stigma that's stuck criminals with tattoos. However, if you take the time to talk to people who have tattoos, a lot of them are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Like, they're nicer than some other people around the world.

But you just can't judge people. That's what I'm getting out, I guess. I guess I've just had my eyes opened to things that I'd never thought about before for some reason. I suppose I've actually been using my brain (trying to, at least...) instead of just thinking about nonsense like I usually do.

But enough about that, cause this is Music Monday, not weird Existential/Ranting Monday. But, yeah. That's my rant for today, and I'll see whoever the heck reads these things next time! (Maybe...)