Split Screen: A Call to Action

Hey there, Split Screen readers! It’s your intro host Madelyn here, with the caffeine jitters in anticipation for this blog! This week, Coffee Prince takes things to the next level after a tragic revelation, and My Hero Academia lets the kids sit at the adult table for some reason. Press play and let’s go!

(New to Split Screen? Binge the whole series here!)

EDITOR EMMA: Hey there, folks. Co-opting the intro for a moment to address something.

We’re pretty far ahead on these shows from where these posts are- this one was written a month or so ago- so our commentary is a bit behind on current events. We’ll catch up to it around MHA episode 10, so a few blogs from now. Just wanted to give that disclaimer and say we totally understand if this is not your jam right now (especially MHA).

But, as I hope everybody reading this knows, black lives matter always. Please make use of many resources to find out how you can help in the real world

Coffee Prince Seventh Cup (from minute 31)

M: Coffee Prince never fails to bounce off the walls. 

E: It really just goes for it, every episode. 

M:  We started with Eun-chan being fired from the cafe. As we predicted, that lasted all of fifteen minutes. 

E: Just to sum up the whiplash progression this episode, we started with Eun-chan being fired and ended with Eun-chan kissing Han-gyul.

M: And what a roller coaster along the way!

E: Yeah, I really thought their fight was gonna stretch out a little longer than it did, but I’m not unhappy that it ended quickly.

M: I have very low tolerance for fights among obvious endgame pairs. Why must I subject myself to the pain of the fight when I know they’re going to get over it?

E: I mean, it’s theoretically a nice opportunity to get the characters interacting with other side characters, but this show doesn’t really need that opportunity in the first place.

M: We stan Min-yup.

E: Min-yup protect.

M: I love that all of Coffee Prince, even Sun-ki, wanted Eun-chan back. 

E: I mean, from their perspective, Han-gyul is totally in the wrong in this argument. Plus they all like Eun-chan better.

M: An argument that was about putting whipped cream on cafe au lait. 

E: It was because the customer sent back their drink like four times and Eun-chan was not being a consummate professional about it, if I remember correctly.

M: The whipped cream was supposed to cost fifty cents more! A fortune to Eun-chan. 

E: Anyway, they make up from their fight thanks to Han-gyul taking some advice from Yoo-joo very literally. So thanks, DK.

M: Their game of phone tag was so precious. I love Eun-sae. Eun-sae is an underrated character. 

E: She just does what she wants, and I can respect that.

M: Look, their mom is going to end up marrying poor one way or  another. Eun-sae’s got to ensure a future for the family. 

E: Gotta have the money for her popsicle stash.

M: What a huge quarantine mood in the Ko household. Eating ice cream, hunting for lunch right after breakfast, rolling around in your futon. Highly relatable. 

E: Not even twenty four hours before they all started annoying each other.

M: Go back to work, Eun-chan! Do it for the rest of us, while you still can. Anyway, I wish I regularly received calls from people who have wronged me just yelling food options. Or for theatre tickets, to be honest. Smooth move, DK. 

E: Donkey Kong is incredibly smooth.

M: What Broadway show would DK choose, I wonder? 

E: You know more about the fabled, historical Broadway of the bygone days.

M: Ah, the Great White Way. We miss you. There aren’t 4pm Broadway shows though, so maybe it was downtown. 

E: Are matinees more like 1pm?

M: Usually 2pm, yeah. 

E: Anyway, I’d definitely rather hit the Chinese restaurant than the theatre. Oh man, it has been so long since I had takeout.

M: As today’s ads reminded us, you’ve got to support your local restaurant! See how much chicken you can fit in your mouth!

E: See how much you can get your boss to drink even though he lacks a liver.

M: Am I meant to believe he kept drinking, or that one cup of sake had him frolicking in public fountains?

E: I think it was more like a half cup of it actually.

M: Man, it doesn’t surprise me this guy has a weak nose. 

E: To be fair, Eun-chan did use to teach….tae-kyon-do? Karate? One of those.

M: Oh yeah. A backstory I completely forgot. Remember the children’s butts? 

E: I miss those devilish children.

M: This show has so much chaotic energy, it’s crazy. Han-gyul and Eun-chan singing about how they have the hots for each other was a lot. 

E: It was a little on the nose there. And I don’t mean the nosebleed.

M: Very, very funny. The camera work in that scene, as you pointed out, was very specific. Certainly a bold choice. 

E: They definitely could have found an angle where the water did not obscure their faces completely, and yet they opted not to do that.

M: I really thought they were going to kiss. I’m bad at these predictions. 

E: I really did not think we would be progressing there until after Eun-chan revealed she was a girl. 

M: I’m thrilled about it. I thought Yoo-joo was going to spill the beans to Han-gyul at the coffee shop, since her boyfriend was out chilling with Eun-chan until 2am.

E:  I doubt she knew he was with Eun-chan which kind of makes it worse.

M: She suspected though. 

E: Listen, direct your hate back to Han-sung if you have to hate a character. Yoo-joo is just doing her best.

M: Yoo-joo needs to get back with Donkey Kong ASAP. Han-sung is doing her dirty. 

E: Has Han-sung ever called to ask when she wants to go to the theater? I don’t think so.

M: Has Han-sung ever considered that amateurs shouldn’t touch his expensive music equipment? I don’t think so. 

E: All respect to Eun-chan, but I wouldn’t let her near anything expensive and fragile.

M: Six feet away, at least. 

E: Anyway, judging from the next on, their weird relationship is gonna progress.

M: Whose weird relationship? Which one?

E: I was talking about Han-sung and Eun-chan, but all of them. Works for all of them.

M: There’s so much more we haven’t talked about. How is that possible? 

E: Shout out to Sun-ki who shows his support for Eun-chan even as he is attempting to track down his child. Remember that?

M: Forget it, we’ve got more important things to talk about. Min-yup has no gaydar, for one. Min-yup, the great defender!

E: Min-yup just wants his future sister-in-law to be respected.

M: Mr. Hong is the only one who knows what’s up. And this episode, he chewed a piece of gum from off a window. The bar is low for street smarts.

E: I’m 90% certain that was his old gum that he was storing there. Because it was too perfectly placed in the middle of that drawing’s face, like a nose. Hey, maybe that was foreshadowing.

M: No. Stop that.

E: Gum is a weak nose.

M: We need to talk about the most important moment of the episode: Sweeper in the car. 

E: They were feeding Sweeper human food! 

M: How much of that fluff is fur and how much is chunk?

E: But all of it is love.

M: Another most important moment: Han-gyul full on role-playing with his Lego world. 

E: Another big quarantine mood.

M: And finally, the real one: Han-gyul’s grandma is dying, which isn’t a surprise. What is a surprise is the boldest not-gay kiss in television history. 

E: I don’t understand her thought process there. To be totally honest.

M: He’s been pretty obvious about being into her. Still a ten thousand percent bold move, though. 

E: I really thought she was gonna go in for the hug, to mirror the beginning of this(?) episode when they hugged? Or was that last episode? Regardless. That’s what I thought.

M: Based on the next on, he’s dealt with enough of his internalized homophobia to at least kiss back a little. 

E: This poor man.

M: Unless those bottles on the counter really were gin, and not cologne. 

E: The bottles look similar in fancy brands, but 85% sure it was cologne.

M: Romance Tracker time: where the heck is this going?

E: I predict there will be some drama. Some drama and some drama.  

M: It feels like she should tell Han-gyul now. 

E: It does feel that way, yes. So. She definitely won’t.

M: This is a disaster. 

E: Look, I’m very happy for Han-gyul and his bi awakening, but also like…poor guy.

M: He’s being catfished. In-person!

E: I can’t wait until he runs into her in girl form again and she introduces herself as Eun-sae.

M: I can’t wait for him to somehow date both male and female Eun-chan at the same time and two-time both of them. 

E: Nooo. No, show, that’s not allowed.

M: That’s the iconic rom-com plot I need. 

E: Well, if we know Coffee Prince by now, we’re in for a wild ride.

My Hero Academia S4E6: “An Unpleasant Talk”

M: Why are the kids here? 

E: Hello, Mr. Keyblade Hero.

M: You don’t get to call him that. I had to point it out to you. 

E: I know his Quirk and his hero name, and the keyholes on his costume make a ton of sense, I just somehow never registered that they were there.

M: You didn’t trace the connections?

E: Dear god.

M: But really though, I know Aizawa made an excuse for including the kiddos, but someone in the school administration with more power than the freshman homeroom teacher needs to step in here. 

E: You presume that Nezu gives one single…mouse tail.

M: Noooooooo. 

E: Aizawa is right about at least Midoriya though. If he took him off, Deku would just go in, guns blazing by himself in the true spirit of All Might, and he’d die.

M: There are so many solutions to that problem. Have Cementoss encase him in cement! Have Midnight pheromone him out every couple hours! Lots of options here. 

E: That’s not a great way to teach a kid though. That’s only an option for Bakugo when he won’t go accept his sports medal. Otherwise, way too far.

M: Have Snipe harass Deku inappropriately until he doesn’t want to leave his room! Or just have Snipe shoot him a little so he can’t move. Have All Might sit on him!

E: All Might can only hold his muscle form for about ten seconds now, so that wouldn’t stall Deku for long.

M: Have All Might cough blood on him so he has to keep washing his costume!

E: All great solutions, I’m really glad that you’re a tutor. 

M: You’re having trouble focusing during the new online tests? Do I have a solution for you! Cementoss! 

E: Nothing keeps you on task like being encased in solid cement.

M: Have the BMI Hero suck him in. 

E: Fat Gum believes in the children, even if Kirishima has absolutely no idea what’s happening.

M: To be fair, the explanation was pretty inadequate for anyone who wasn’t already aware of this yakuza situation. 

E: They’re producing bullets that take your quirks away, probably. Likely made from small unicorn child. That’s all you need to know.

M: As opposed to Eraser Head’s genetic blockers. 

E: The “damage your quirk gene” thing is a little silly.

M: That’s not how genes work. If he used his power on Tail Man, would his tail disappear?

E: No, they’ve established that Eraser doesn’t work on heteromorphic types.

M: If it’s genes it should all be the same. If blocking the DNA prevents quirk activation, then theoretically all of the quirks are just these manifested properties that can be turned on and off. 

E: Well, the way the people look don’t always correlate to their Quirks. Maybe Tail Man is actually Quirkless, but just has an awesome tail.

M: That’s a lot right there. Could he block Dark Shadow? 

E: Yeah, I believe so. I dunno for sure though, I don’t think it’s come up yet. Just not his bird head though.

M: It feels like they should get a lot of the heteromorphs on the task force. 

E: They’ve got Lizard Stain. Who else do you need?

M: Lizard Stain is a villain. Lizard Cloud Strife is on the villain team. 

E: I don’t know why I interpreted “task force” as “League of Villains” but that’s definitely what my brain did. Maybe because I was thinking about Aizawa and what his Quirk can block.

M: They should just throw all the Tail Men of the world on the front line of the headquarters invasion to block all the bullets. 

E: Hm. Interesting idea. Although I think if there’s damage to the quirk gene, let’s roll with it, that would still affect people with tails. Considering that there are changes on the literal genetic level, and the tail is definitely from genes at least.

M: Unless, as you said, it isn’t a quirk. I need geneticists on this. 

E: Anyway, the heroes have come to the conclusion that it’s likely that the bullets are being made from the blood of Overhaul’s daughter. Which means her quirk has to do with removing other quirks, somehow. Also means Overhaul is a dick. But hey, we knew that.

M: They haven’t actually proved it’s from her. 

E: I mean, I think the assumption comes from the fact that his quirk has to do with destroying and remaking matter and considering that she’s related to him, it would make sense for her quirk to be similar. Destroying genes, I guess, is somewhat similar.

M: How are they sure she’s his daughter?

E: They’re not! He said so. So. They’re working off of that.

M: Ah yes. Irrefutable proof. The villain said so!

E: Fair. I mean, why lie about it though? Eh, then again, why not lie about it? Anyway, they’re working off very limited information at the moment. And, regardless, it is probably good to get the scared child out of the yakuza den. Unless, her father is Kiryu.

M: Because she’s been trafficked. Kidnapped. Lots of reasons to lie. 

E: Yeah, yeah, I thought about that once I started speaking. But even if she had been kidnapped, then there’s a reason they want her. Hence, again, supporting the theory that it has to do with her quirk.

M: Fair enough. Where the hell is Kiryu though? 

E: Kiryu, get this yakuza clan under control!

M: Kiryu, stop winning toys for children and shooting student films. Come help!

E: Deku and Mirio are now feeling bad about not getting Eri out of there when they found her, but I really think that trying to get away with her would have just resulted in Deku’s death, to be honest. 

M: It seems like Mirio has a useful quirk here. He’s always powerful, of course, that was pretty minimizing. But since his quirk is all about the physics of being able to break his atoms apart, it seems pretty relevant. 

E: When we’ve seen Overhaul use his quirk at this point, he’s always had to touch the person too. Which, again, does make Mirio’s quirk useful.

M: Deku needs to improve his total concentration breathing a lot for this mission, clearly. 

E: Madelyn please don’t incite any heated Demon Slayer vs My Hero Academia debate please.

M: All for One Full Cowling is literally the same thing. Broken Arm Breathing First Form. 

E: The different Smashes are basically just forms.

M: American Breathing. 

E: Doesn’t have the same ring to it.

M: So, can Aizawa and Keyblade Hero One just form their own task force? Nighteye is a weakling. 

E: I mean. It would absolutely suck to look in someone’s future and watch them die because of this mission or something else. Especially since he seems to believe that there’s no changing it.

M: Then why is this functionally quirkless dude leading this? 

E: Well, he uses it sometimes. I think it’s more that he doesn’t want to look far into the future. Like, he looked at the three minutes he was fighting Deku, for instance.

M: Just do it a day at a time. Sorry you’re afraid of death, buddy, but you’re a pro hero. Suck it up. 

E: He’s not afraid of himself dying. I think that’s the difference.

M: I still think it’s wussy. 

E: Also if he uses it, he can’t use it for a day. 

M: I mean, I’m glad he told that to this room of F-list heroes for my benefit. 

E: That’s rude.

M: They even admitted it.

E: They’re just local guys. Even smaller towns have heroes. Especially when there are apparently yakuza hideouts near them.

M: Where’s Naga Rider when you need him? This is my crossover day, apparently. 

E: Lawsuit Watch?

M: I am ready to file a suit against Aizawa. 

E: I was gonna say that relationships between bosses and employees are fraught with legal complications. Also catfishing.

M: I don’t think you can sue over being catfished. 

E: Can’t you? For, like, damages?

M: I am not a lawyer. 

E: But you play one on Broadway. 

M: Ah, remember Broadway? 

E: So long ago. Nobody can prove you didn’t now. Because nobody will ever go there again.

M: Don’t say that. I need to have a job. 

E: I apologize. 

M: I’m ready for the next episode title!

E: Season 4 episode 7 is called “GO!!”

M: Just two?

E: Also all caps.

M: Is it an acronym?

E: No. It’s just a very specific amount enthusiastic GO!!

M: Well, my first prediction has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with the stinger scene. 

E: Oh no. Here we go.

M: Neck beard is going to fail miserably at his task of entertaining the unicorn child, so Overhaul will kidnap Deku to be her slave butler/jester. 

E:

M: Put a picture of Pietro, please. That’s the vibe I’m feeling for Deku. 

E: Nooooo.

M: Prediction two: maybe this is another episode where we spend time with a bunch of minor characters. We’ve got all these mini heroes with lots of missions going on. I have a feeling Hawks is going to get involved in this, since we established that he’s far away and these missions are far away. Oh my god, maybe we’ll see Tokoyami without the bird head! When he gets neutralized!

E:

M: Prediction three: everyone in class 1-A is sitting in their classroom waiting for school to start. Where’s Aizawa?

E: *laughs hysterically* Aizawa trying to teach them math is really funny all of a sudden. Sorry.

M: Do your job. Where’s the emoji?

E: It’s okay, Nezu is here to give them a lecture about proper hair care.

M: Cue Kirishima saying “I don’t understand this.” Prediction four: I really think Nighteye is going to be reckless with Midoriya’s life because Midoriya doesn’t care. Aizawa is going to have to be with him on patrol ALWAYS. 

E:

M: Prediction five: Shigaraki is going to do something dumb. Or, maybe, Eri is going to take a real shine to him for some reason and he will be her jester. 

E:

–

Hey everyone! Thanks for tuning into Split Screen! As always, we’re watching MHA dubbed on Funimation and Coffee Prince on Tubi.

Next time! The wait for the start of the operation is agonizing while the fallout of the kiss…well, falls out.