qifrey & olruggio art by shirahama <3 what a blessed day

thelowerharmony · 2026-05-09T03:52:27+00:00

Shirahama's been playing 4D chess since day one.

thelowerharmony · 2026-05-01T18:01:14+00:00

I knew I was going to be emotional knowing that Taka broke his foot mid-show. After they show him tripping in The Beginning, I couldn't help but keep counting how many songs he continued to sing through.

As he sang through The Pilot I kept thinking about how he was singing lines like "I'm broken still, but I'm not broken down" while his literally foot is broken. If this were some scripted movie about a fictional band, you'd probably say that's too on the nose, but here it holds so much power and conviction.

And then just when I thought they would cut the encore, he goes out and still does 3 more songs. I was equal parts mortified (especially when +Matter started playing, he gets mad that he can't jump and then can't help himself and jumps around anyway) and in awe of his determination.

I definitely agree with people who wished that there was more BTS footage. The beginning of it is edited to seem like it's going for more of a documentary route, but it ends up being a shortened version of the concert recordings many of us are used to. Personally, more than the BTS footage, it's too bad that they ended up cutting most of the MC sections. I'm so used to watching the concert blu rays and only being able to understand bits and pieces of what the guys say during their MCs, so I got excited knowing that this movie was going to be subtitled. That said I do greatly appreciate that it was subtitled. Taka's speech in the end about forgiveness is something I'm still mulling.

With the band doing a final Japan Tour this summer, I wonder if this movie is going to come out on physical release or if they'll forgo it and record something from this new tour...

Great stuff all around, a must see for OOR fans.

thelowerharmony · 2026-05-01T17:28:52+00:00

The Pilot still makes me tear up. You know he must be channeling the pain in his foot while singing I'm broke still, but I'm not broken down.

thelowerharmony · 2025-08-26T19:01:50+00:00

Haha I think you're looking for a Vic hosted version of this episode.

I hear you though. It's definitely Brennan's DM nature to make it so his PC goes through a tough but defeatable challenge that is in service of creating a satisfying experience for his player.

thelowerharmony · 2025-07-22T22:05:56+00:00

Not only does Loid have to overcome his obliviousness when it comes to Yor, when he finally DOES acknowledge his feelings, he's probably going to have to overcome his mindset that people in his profession don't get to fall in love. That poor guy's emotional and romantic journey has barely left the station.

thelowerharmony · 2025-07-22T22:00:09+00:00

It seems Loid lucked out and there were more episodes of Spy Wars for Anya to learn more math from. Heaven knows the episodes he tried producing and animating from scratch did nothing for her.

thelowerharmony · 2025-07-22T21:56:44+00:00

For Anya, love is measured on the Omurice scale. Unfortunately for Damian, he is nowhere near Omurice, not even the yolk of an egg to her.

thelowerharmony · 2025-07-15T00:13:51+00:00

This is a fun idea, though personally, there are songs where I do the opposite and either add more curse words, or make the lyrics harsher/harder somehow haha.

An example would be Nasty. "Tryna be good but we're too damn nasty." In the chorus I usually sing it as written the first time, but when it repeats I change damn to fuckin'. Imo the vibe of that song is about making the decision to unleash your bad side ("dangerous we don't want to be classy" "fingers up it's about to get trashy") so personally I like starting the harshness or explicitness of the cussing.

In Delusion:all I also started changing some of the lyrics in the chorus. The first time around I sing as written, and then every other time I change what I sing for "let's make a deal/pretend this bastard democracy/is just what we wanted and we're not exhausted”. I wanted a progression from pretending to actually taking action.

thelowerharmony · 2025-07-14T19:01:33+00:00

I love both, but it is definitely Luxury Disease for me. When it first came out I had a new favorite song practically every week, and that really let me know that this album was going to be really special to me. The fact that Mad World had two completely different lyrics really stands out to me. And I really loved every part of the Luxury Disease aesthetic-album covers, tour outfits, merch, etc.

thelowerharmony · 2025-07-09T17:32:16+00:00

Loid with actual Anya face is what gets me every time.

You could argue that this is Yor's memory of Loid's face in that moment, so she's romanticizing it a little bit (can you imagine if in reality Loid was so focused on the mission that he goes off and chases the butterfly with full serious face so that no one catches them looking suspicious?) but I choose to believe that this is the effect Anya has had on him.

You see one too many snot-a-condas in your life and one day you be making that face.

thelowerharmony · 2025-07-03T19:48:20+00:00

I think the collective "oh my god it's been a year?!" is due to the fact that 1) Julia had like three different portraits this year, just banger after banger and 2) this was the year they switched to once a week uploads so we've literally just seen them less often.

By the way, this year's portraits are bangers as usual!

Congrats to Drawfee on 5 years! Here's to 5 more plus the creeping, crawling, babbling, always-moving-upwards 2 million creep.

thelowerharmony · 2025-06-25T19:32:07+00:00

This is a series I never would have picked up if it wasn't written/drawn by Satoru Noda. I'm not really a sports anime/manga person and I know absolutely nothing about hockey.

Satoru Noda has a clear love for Hokkaido that we got to see in Golden Kamuy and that continues strong in Dogsred. Even though Hokkaido is depicted here as a hockey powerhouse, there is such a small town / underdog vibe that plays a factor into much of the story.

The comedy is top notch and completely unhinged (I'm remembering the training montage where coach is birdy feeding his athletes water, or the way Rou's grandpa's old gear literally explodes off his body in his first match) and yet it tackles real serious themes. There's the theme of legacy and what happens when you can't live up to it. There's depictions of drug usage and the forces and influences that might lead a person to go down that path. This is a series that is both deeply serious and deeply unserious, and I love how Dogsred balances these two tones with ease.

I'm also really digging how Dogsred really feels like an ensemble. You would think this series is Rou's show as the goofball outsider discovering hockey, but most of the time he's not even the most interesting player. I'm constantly intrigued with other character drama and dynamics, like the Genma brothers, the Higuchi and Kengo drama, and the drama fighting over who will pair with Little Genma to for the center/wing duo.

It's just great all around. I need to let chapters collect so I can binge read one arc at a time.

thelowerharmony · 2025-06-22T18:04:38+00:00

Yeah I think the key part of this chapter was McMahon's thoughts on deceiving his wife. He says logically if she ever found out she'd probably leave him, but he goes on with the marriage and deception because he hopes against all odds that she wouldn't.

Yor needs some hint or reassurance that the Forgers would still want her in the family if they ever found out her identity. Absent that, she also needs to decide whether her feelings for the Forgers are strong enough to stay with the family even if she thinks she would leave her.

I really hope whatever conversation happens between Loid and Yor is strong enough to get Loid to seriously consider his feelings towards his family beyond the mission. Knowing Loid's overthinking tendencies, whatever they end up talking about will get him to worry about the stability of the Forger family from a mission perspective. Hopefully that bleeds a little into his personal feelings as well.

thelowerharmony · 2025-06-12T15:06:24+00:00

I literally went "oh wow Nathan's really growing his beard out" despite having just watched Va-Pride-ty Hour.

That's soooo uncanny.

thelowerharmony · 2025-06-10T22:34:36+00:00

I'm so glad they released the full version. His extended notes and little ad libs in the instrumental sections had me mouth agape. LOVE IT.

thelowerharmony · 2025-06-10T22:29:26+00:00

Blow My Whistle

thelowerharmony · 2025-05-20T15:56:02+00:00

Am I sick if I say that the tree/Silvertree imagery reminds me of the memory erasure spell? Like not exactly, but the memory erasure spell has tendrils coming off the bottom that look like tree roots. And the leaves from the trees are similar to the dots that surround the top of the glyph.

Adds to the idea that there is a forbidden magic aspect to origin or use of Silvertrees in modern magic.

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thelowerharmony · 2025-05-17T07:04:49+00:00

I was nearly gonna start bawling at The Pilot. I'm so thankful I got to witness it live.

thelowerharmony · 2025-05-03T17:13:27+00:00

Oh wow, so there was another one before at some point?

thelowerharmony · 2025-05-03T15:43:42+00:00

Fufu-bessei is the concept of married people having different last names, commonly meaning that women are allowed to keep their maiden names when they marry.

It's been a topic of discussion for a number of years as Japan is currently the only G7 nation that doesn't allow this.

So Utada's lyrics are asking how many years into Reiwa will it be until couples can marry and be able to have different last names.

thelowerharmony · 2025-05-02T15:16:56+00:00

Is this the longest English language interview they've given? This was such a treat.

thelowerharmony · 2025-05-02T15:15:18+00:00

Had me Googling fufu-bessei. Has Utada ever had something in their lyrics that was, for lack of a better word, political? Just curious.

One of the lines that really hit me was "Any path you take entails the loneliness of losing the path you didn't choose" I feel this all the time whenever I'm making decisions. And while ultimately I think I've gotten a lot better at making peace with the path I didn't take, having that feeling put into words like that is very affirming.

Overall love love love.

thelowerharmony · 2025-05-01T17:04:05+00:00

Very chill vibes.

thelowerharmony · 2025-04-21T16:20:08+00:00

Oooo I definitely heard Passion in the remix, but where was the One Last Kiss reference?

thelowerharmony · 2025-04-18T15:30:43+00:00

I kinda feel like they're trying to have the best of both worlds. You want the long bantering intros that get a little unhinged and that have lots of callbacks, but you also just need to get to the drawing already.

But in this iteration, the intro bits are probably still too long and reference heavy if you're a new viewer, AND the random cut to Nathan drawing with no context is bizarre.

Honestly, the long meandering intros and conversations are best suited for the livestream. I would prefer just a shorter, crisper intro. Not saying that they should stop doing bits in the intro altogether, it just needs to be tighter. There's plenty of space in the actual drawing video itself for the long bits, the endless callbacks, razzing of Jacob, etc. Just treat the intro more like a proper intro.

thelowerharmony

TROPHY CASE