Split Screen: REDACTED

Hey, thanks for tuning into Split Screen! It’s your friendly intro host Madelyn, ready to guide you on this journey through our weird little anime and k-drama worlds. This week, we have the most absurd episode of Boys Over Flowers in several months, and an extended debate on the legal system of My Hero Academia. That didn’t sell you on the blog? There’s also fire love songs, viral fame, and the Hand Crusher. You don’t want to miss out!

(New to Split Screen? What took you so long? Catch up here.)

Boys Over Flowers Episode 15 (from minute 34)

M: This was not the best half of an episode,  but man, did it have some excellent moments, both good and cringey.

E: Yeah, I wasn’t super enthused about most of this episode, simply because it felt even more contrived than usual. Like, it’s always dramatic for drama’s sake, but the ways the drama happened this time felt random or inorganic, I guess? Do you agree?

M: I do. We should talk about this in more detail later, because even though there were some contrived set-pieces, I do think that they were at least based on appropriate character traits. So, it wasn’t a disaster. It felt like a return to the first few episodes, where we didn’t know anyone and everything felt crazy and off-the-wall.

E: It’s all the new haircuts, they’re throwing me off.

M: Boy haircuts are a real game of Russian Roulette, but F3 has pulled it off.

E: They all look better now! Yi-jung’s is a little much, it’s a little high, but overall, a nice glow-up for all three of them.

M: They all got the classic junior year of high school ‘trim the mop’ look, but make it fashion.

E: Woo-bin especially was looking fly this episode. He wasn’t starting from much as far as haircut was concerned.

M: His purple suit was a fashion win too.

E: Best of the three suits.

M: Backtracking a bit to before things went off the rails. I really liked the series of moments with Jun-pyo’s sister, whose name I can’t remember, per usual.

E: Jun-hee, maybe?

M: That sounds right. Unnie, we’ll call her. It was nice to see some wholesome girl bonding, even if it did end up having the message to  “wait for Jun-pyo.”

E: She could have explained herself to Jan-di a little better. Instead of just saying “wait for him,” say “this seems very unlike him, probably that old witch is involved, whatever Jun-pyo calls her, lemme look into this.” That would have been a little better, I feel.

M: It seems like some of the tone could have been lost in translation too. Regardless, I was glad that the writers still don’t have the heart to make Jan-di deceive people for more than two minutes. That’s something I do really appreciate about the arc of this show. No one keeps a secret for more than half an episode at a time. And while we’ll be talking about some very contrived moments this episode, for the most part, Boys Over Flowers avoids the manufactured, dramatic irony-based plots. I like that I can’t get too far ahead of the show.

E: Yeah, I don’t mind dramatic irony stuff to a certain degree, particularly if there’s other stuff going on and that’s not the main conflict for long. Still it is nice that they try to avoid it as much as possible, if only because it’s an easy crutch to use when writing conflict (especially in romances).

M: I’m especially grateful because I can’t imagine tolerating that nonsense on our half an episode a week watch schedule.

E: We’re getting there! Next week, we start our last episode with a 6. Wow!

M: You’re funny. So, thumbs up for girl support. We want more of that always.

E: Ga-eul also provides some girl support with an assist from boy support Yi-jung and his ridiculous vehicle.

M: That was a sick ride. Come on. I mean, I could never own that, for a number of reasons. But that’s a pretty impressive car.

E: I’m just saying, if that car came to a sudden stop next to me, I would be running away, not trying to see who was driving.

M: Oh come on, how many people in Seoul could possibly own that car?

E: How many times has your friend Jan-di been kidnapped by random rich people?

M: Usually it results in a dope makeover, so sign me up!

E: Where was my dope make-over montage this time?

M: They’re bored of it, clearly.

E: Don’t they know it’s the highlight of their show? I don’t want travel montages, I want fashion montages only.

M: Maybe next time. I really thought that Manager Jung had come to invite Jan-di on Jun-pyo’s behalf because he’s a shipper. 

E: Apparently, however, it was the Chairman/Chairwoman who wanted Jan-di to come to Jun-pyo’s birthday party. We did not find out how old he was, by the way.

M: Two candles, two years old.

E: No wonder he has so many temper tantrums.

M: I am so excited for the day that Manager Jung truly goes rogue.

E: He’s still pretty constrained by the whims of his boss, so, of course, the invitation gets Jan-di into an embarrassing situation.

M: It’s a little weird that Yi-jung has their measurements now, but I’m glad he took care of them with fashion.

E: Maybe he’s just got really good people who can look at a photo and immediately know exact measurements. But also they’ve both gotten makeovers before with one or more of the F4 gang, so they probably just have a nice little file for emergencies.

M: I can’t trust Clickbait Boyfriend to buy me the correct size button-down, and Jan-di gets a tailored dress every week.

E: You didn’t find a rich boy, Madelyn. You should have been looking for a rich business heir, a rich potter, a rich musician, or a rich gang lord.

M: My mistake. So, tell me your thoughts on Chairman Mama’s, or rather, Chairmama’s invitation

E: I understand why she invited Jan-di- she wanted to make her uncomfortable and also to let her know about the engagement and therefore close off any remaining idea she might have had about being with Jun-pyo. What I don’t understand is the malicious and frankly dumb invitation to Jan-di to play piano. It’s just petty, whereas I feel like her motivations up til now have just been “get her away from Jun-pyo.” Putting her on the stage when Jun-pyo can see her clearly hurting is not getting her away from Jun-pyo. And it’s just dumb when you were already planning to announce the engagement. Like that’s plenty. That’s all you need.

M: I hear you, but I just remembered that she’s also the woman who hired a male model to seduce Jan-di away or possibly try to suffocate her to death. She’s definitely made some questionable moves to facilitate this break-up.

E: Okay, I’m not saying she’s not over-the-top, but it’s always been with a goal. Money, threats, the introduction of some romantic rival to Jan-di’s life, that’s all understandable if dramatic ways to tear apart people. The piano playing is just like a spoiled child crowing about winning. It doesn’t have a goal beyond her humiliation.

M: I agree. I just think Jun-pyo gets some of that spoiled child behavior from someone. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

E: Would have liked to see that manifest before, that’s all I’m saying. If they were going to characterize her that way, they should have characterized her that way.

M: That’s fair. I appreciated it enough as yet another Pride and Prejudice homage that I’m willing to be a little more charitable. Also, I don’t think Chairmama thought for a minute that Jan-di would actually accept the offer. It was stupid to offer it at all, but I think she just thought she was rubbing some salt in Jan-di’s wound by even talking to her. I don’t think she actually planned public humiliation by piano.

E: I also found it a little dumb later after the engagement announcement when she said to Jan-di “that’s the kind of woman you need to be.” When fiancee girl was literally dragged in kicking and screaming. Literally, I’m using literally correctly in this case.

M: It’s definitely a rough translation or maybe just rough dialogue. Clearly what was meant was that you need to have that kind of family stature to play in this arena. But it did not come across well.

E: But we haven’t even gotten to the most contrived dumb thing that happens this episode.

M: Wait wait, I wanna talk about this week’s highlight first! The high that balances out the arm-grabbing low: Jan-di coming out of nowhere with adequate piano skills and a decent voice to literally sing a love song to Jun-pyo at his mom’s invitation. You go girl!

E: Yeah, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief that Jan-di could ever conduct herself that well in front of a crowd, because that was very satisfying.

M: I was thrilled enough when it became clear she’d been taking lessons with Ji-hoo the past six months. And then when she started that fire love ballad? Oh man. All bets were off.

E: Woo-bin gave it a standing ovation!!!

M: Woo-bin is the MVP of this episode.

E: Even if the Hardy Boys failed us.

M: This is why one of them needs to die in our Ultimate Crossover Game. And it’s Yi-jung.

E: But as we’ve referenced, some of the artificial drama comes this episode when Jun-pyo, clearly speaking to Jan-di, takes her by the arm to talk to her elsewhere- but wait! Oh no! Jan-di and his fiancee were standing too close together! And he grabbed the wrong arm by mistake! And couldn’t recognize that the voice telling him to stop was the wrong voice! Oh no!

M: Look, it’s bad writing. It’s clearly manufactured to keep Jan-di in the dark about Jun-pyo’s feelings for another episode. That’s lazy, I agree. However, is this something, on a much smaller scale, in a much less obvious situation, that Jun-pyo would do? Yes.

E: It’s not just Jun-pyo though, we’ve seen that this fiancee girl is a black belt or whatever. She probably could have stopped him at any point after he grabbed her. It feels a little dumb and out of character for both of them. Which is what makes it so annoying to me.

M: They’re setting this girl up as a posh Jan-di, right? Jan-di gets dragged everywhere, she frequently doesn’t say or notice obvious things. I can forgive her not being able to get a word in edge-wise or being so thrown off by this nightmare of a party that she didn’t say something right away. Jun-pyo getting all the way outside is what’s contrived.

E: I’m actually seeing a lot of potential for her to end up as Ji-hoo parallel with Jun-pyo as the Jan-di in this case. Especially since she’s met Jan-di before and heard her talk about her boyfriend. I can see why she wouldn’t recognize Jan-di all dolled up and on the heels of realizing that she’s engaged, but I think that’ll come back and be a source of conflict there.

M: I will be upset if the show turns this into a legitimate love triangle. Because like it or not, Ji-hoo is a legitimate love interest. I hate it. I am very vocal about that every time we watch the show. But he’s a real threat.

E: See, I don’t get that at all. He clearly likes her, but in no sense have I ever felt- since Jan-di started dating Jun-pyo for real- that that relationship could return. Like I’ve just never gotten that feeling.

M: That’s fair. I don’t really see him as a possible end-game, obviously. And the end of this episode did make it seem like that door is probably really closed. But will he make some kind of dramatic love confession at the worst possible time? Probably.

E: He’s gonna be a little busy with other stuff next episode if the Next On is to be believed.

M: That was a CRAZY next-on.

E: I can’t believe that it’s all going to be in next episode. Like, how? How could it possibly all fit into one hour?

M: It always does.

E: But the Next On introduced some promising elements. Woo-bin flirting with fiancee lady, fiancee lady possibly having a dog, Yi-jung and Ga-eul doing some sort of date-y thing, Jun-pyo and Jan-di at a hotel doing something??????

M: He had showered! What does it mean?

E: And, of course, something going down with Ji-hoo and doctor man.

M: And Ji-hoo realizing he could have taken advantage of vulnerable Jan-di in that car and that he missed his chance.

E: Why do you read so much into Ji-hoo?

M: I don’t mean like physically taken advantage. I’m just saying if he had told her he still had feelings for her, he could have really messed with her head. And he didn’t! The Mom-hoo won out. But clearly, he’s dealing with the repercussions of that next time.

E: We only saw him with her at the doctor’s office in the Next On though, so let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. Because I’m sure that will have some psychological effects on him.

M: When is Yi-jung’s dad coming back? More importantly, when are we meeting Woo-bin’s father?

E: The one thing that would make me forgive all faults of the show, is if we meet the Woo-bin clan. I want them all to be played by the same actor.

M: That would be too good to be true.

E: Uh, predictions?

M: For Romance Tracker, it really looks like next episode Jan-di is going to get on the same page with Jun-pyo. OR, big or there, she’s only with him because she thinks Yi-jung is taking advantage of Ga-eul and she needs help breaking that up.

E: That’s what it seemed to look like to me, one because the Yule seems seemed a little like something Jan-di was imagining and two because Woo-bin was also in the scene with her and Jun-pyo, and he’s the one to be like “he’s nicknamed Five Minute Killer” or whatever.

M: My Hero Academia crossover.

E: Damn, we should really start mashing episodes up.

M: It would be on brand.

E: No, actually, I take it back, I would go mad.

M: So my Romance Tracker is that the whole Yule thing is the secret plan or last resort or whatever Woo-bin said, to get Jun-pyo and Jan-di together, but this time it’ll be Yi-jung who has the feelings and Ga-eul who’s faking.

E: Oh no!

M: The tables have turned!

My Hero Academia S2E18: The Aftermath of Hero Killer: Stain

E: Hey, ho, we almost got a real lawsuit in this episode of My Hero Academia.

M: You don’t want to start this with me.

E: I really don’t honestly. But the readers, Madelyn, the readers must know the events of the episode.

M: After a brief news segment where the general public gets to see Shigaraki and his complete inability to dress himself like he isn’t a villain, we pick up with the cute boy sleepover.

E: Look at this boy, Madelyn! He matches his cords and his loafers. Red loafers! Villains don’t wear loafers!

M: In that image, he looks like he’s wearing sweats. Which sure, that’s a little less villainous. But come on dude! You gotta work in some bright colors. Red shoes don’t count. Red is an evil color.

E: Kurogiri, meanwhile, looking sharp in contrast.

M: Anyway, the boys had a great night in the hospital until the family dog came in and pooped everywhere.

E: Woof.

M: I can’t believe that entire character. The way they set it up to seem like All-Might and then we get what might be the only Bad Boy who has ever existed.

E: Madelyn’s joining Todoroki on the hate speech wagon.

M: I cannot believe that Todoroki used an ethnic slur against the chief of police.

E: You know, I don’t know if it’s an ethnic slur because it’s not like there’s a dog race necessarily? It’s like a genetic difference. Ablelist?

M: This man, if I can even call him that, like, his mom birthed a dog. And you’re telling me I have to get more specific about what kind of slur was used?

E: Never mind. Anyway, this doggy dude comes to inform the students that by engaging in violence, using their quirks, against the Hero Killer, they’ve broken the law and could be liable, along with their supervisors, for legal action.

M: I’m going to try to hold my rant about this to a reasonable length. I get the purpose of the law. Heroes have to be licensed and you can’t hurt people with your quirk without a license, sure. It does feel like there should be some leeway during these internships to break that rule, but I get that they ran away from their supervisors, so maybe that doesn’t apply in this case. Still, I think that only Iida could really be said to have broken that law as it’s intended to be enforced. Deku was abandoned by Gran Torino, he was told to stay on the train but he panicked, that seems reasonable, and he stumbled into trouble. He did try to text people about it, granted, the wrong people, but still, Gran Torino does not seem like someone who would own a cell phone, so he was trying his best. He can’t like, call All-Might.

E: He could call the police. Also, before you get much farther, I do think they are allowed to use their quirks under supervision during these internships, but they used them outside their supervisor’s purview and without permission.

M: Sure, I’ll grant that. But again, Deku could very well have just stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time. He didn’t, but no one can prove that. Similarly, Todoroki could very well claim that Endeavor sent him to investigate. His dad would back him up.

E: Would he though? Because I feel like the bigger fault and issue actually lies with supervisors as implied by the fact that they all seemed to get penalized even despite the police deciding to use a different story as the official line. So if Endeavor said he sent a child to go scout out the Hero Killer without supervision I think that would perhaps result in even worse legal action. I think Todoroki has a defense because he did inform pro heroes as to where he was going, but even then, he probably should have brought one or two with him as opposed to going in by himself.

M: Okay, Todoroki’s lawyer here with a few clarifying points. Number one: everyone knows how Endeavor treats his son. Did you see the Sports Festival? Of course he would send him into danger.

E: There’s a difference between suspicion (and even open secrets) and things stated on the record with proof.

M: Number two: Todoroki did not know he was going after the Hero Killer. He got what seemed to be a distress signal from a classmate. That doesn’t seem like a bad way to get a fourteen-year-old mini-hero out of the line of Nomu fire. If anything, it’s responsible to send your son to investigate a stupid little lead and get him out of the way.

E: Again though, I would say that there does seem to be police presence in this world, and I can only imagine that there must be some sort of pro-hero hotline, so perhaps the better action for both Deku and Todoroki and Iida to have taken was to call authorities. Even if they did end up using their Quirk in self-defense, if they had taken any action to avoid that situation first, there might be less of a problem.

M: Finally though, what was Endeavor’s punishment? Fame and fortune?

E: Well, Gran Torino had his salary cut and his teaching license suspended for a bit. In order to protect the kids from legal action, they had to use Endeavor as their cover story. It explains the burns, and also like who else would anyone believe captured the Hero Killer by themselves?

M: I get it. I’m just saying, nobody would dare punish Endeavor.

E: I imagine he probably received a similar punishment, it’s just kept on the DL as opposed to broadcasted through extensive court cases or whatever.

M: I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s clear that no one really knows what happened in that alley. If the kids had played it cool, the police would have had no case. Native was dead on the ground and there was a ton of chaos everywhere in Hosu. You’re telling me they wouldn’t believe that a couple of fourteen year olds running away from giant bird men with exposed brains couldn’t have accidentally stumbled on this?

E:  They didn’t play it cool though. That line of action was gone the minute they told anyone. And clearly they did.

M: What dummies. Anyway, I do wish the show had given me a better idea of what the punishment awaiting them was. Because again, these are freshmen in high school. It’s hard to believe that similar situations, albeit maybe not quite as extreme, haven’t happened before, or frankly, haven’t happened on a regular basis. Doggy Chief seemed to imply a pretty steep penalty here, which seems out of proportion.

E: I think the steep penalty is more for the people in charge of them. I do agree that it would have been helpful to be more specific, but I imagine that it would have something to do with the kids being able to get their hero licenses or continue their education. Like, they wouldn’t be able to do hero stuff until they became an adult for instance. I don’t really think it was jail time or anything, I just think that it was “you don’t show the responsibility required to be a hero or a hero-in-training right now.” Not like, “you’re a filthy criminal.”

M: I didn’t think it was going to be jail time. What bothered me was that at no point in the series up to now did we hear that using your quirk without a license, in a dangerous situation like this one, was illegal.

E: I think it’s because none of the three of them were acting in self-defense. They were once Stain started attacking, but all three of them instigated their encounters with him without making any effort to follow appropriate steps.

M: Again though, these are fourteen year olds who at this point seem to have received only combat training. Obviously there are a lot of classes we probably haven’t seen, but the way it looks right now, UA just seems really negligent in not instilling these procedures in their students before sending them out to be interns in the field.

E: Yeah, I agree.

M: So the real lawsuit should be against the school!

E: I’m sure U.A. would have also ended up in hot water had this gone public.

M: Woof.

E: Speaking of going public, the age of the Internet! Of course, somebody recorded Stain’s little speech about the hypocrisy of society and did research into his history and viewpoints and of course, that is proliferating across the digital realm, serving as an unintentional promoting strategy for the League of Villains.

M: It’s a kinda fascinating examination of the role of the internet in radicalization which I was not expecting from my hero anime. It shouldn’t’ come as a surprise I guess, but these people are gonna be pissed when they meet the nasty teenager in charge of the operation.

E: Yes, we got a nice little sneak peek at a bunch of possible villains. Zombie boy. Girl. Lizard man. All our faves.

M: They’re gonna make a great team, especially when they’ve all been harvested for Nomus.

E: It is interesting how coincidental this League of Villain connection is, because Stain was honestly not connected to them. He spoke to them once and didn’t like them. But because Shigaraki sent out his Nomus in a fit of rage and happened to get caught on camera, it’s helping him through no effort of his own.

M: Dude is not ready for viral fame. Problematic fave.

E: He wants it though, he’s very upset that he’s not on the front page.

M: Speaking of contrived things, did you love all the casual exposition that Gran Torino dropped in that phone call? You have to tell him about the greatest, the evil, the one who put a hole in your stomach, the one we hate more than anything. Like, All-Might knows the name.

E: Hey, Gran Torino’s an old guy, he likes his dramatics. I wanted him to end it with like a “eh, what’s his name again?”

M: See, that would have been better.

E: But apparently this All for One guy both killed the previous holder of One for All (and I promise there’s a reason the names are like that) and is the one to have injured All-Might.

M: Those names, man. I can’t do it.

E: I mean, it’s like one for all is like All-Might for the people and All for One is like hey people work for me or whatever villainous thing, but there’s an actual explanation too.

M: Please insert a screenshot of Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Sora and/or Riku saying “all for one and one for all.” Thank you.

E: Last notable thing from this episode: Todoroki is the Hand Crusher. Fear him.

M: That was pretty funny.

E: He was totally serious though. He wasn’t just playing the straight man, he was like legit worried he was cursed.

M: That’s why it was funny.

E: So watch out for your hands y’all. Watch those hands.

M: Okay, we started this discussion, but let’s continue: Lawsuit Watch?

E: Well the My Hero crew avoids legal action. Could the people uploading that Stain video over and over again get sued/be the suer?

M: It’s unclear what the laws are on censorship and freedom of speech in Fakekyo, so kinda murky waters there.

E: Can people sue about being entered into an engagement without their consent?

M: An engagement is not a legally binding thing, so I don’t think so. I think the real possible lawsuit is that Deku seems to have already told everyone that he fought Stain.

E: Well, technically he just sent his location seemingly to everyone in the class. Who seem to be dumb enough to not read into it too much.

M: He definitely told it to Uraraka, which, by the way, we didn’t discuss best mentor ever, Gun Face.

E: “Was that a boy?”

M: Gun Face is the hero we need and the hero we deserve.

E: I don’t know if he necessarily told Uraraka. He might have just said. “Oh man, I was in Hosu, there were some Nomus there, dang, super danger.”

M: At least two of his classmates will figure it out. Especially when Iida comes back with a severed nerve hand.

E: Deku’s also in that video being uploaded of the Hero Killer. So that might be problematic.

M: Again, woof. Oh, you know who could sue? Captain Mutt.

E: For hate speech, you’re right. Todoroki was way out of line tbh. No need for such charged language.

M: Okay, I am prepared for a useless title. Nothing you give me could be worse than my expectations.

E: It’ll give you a little something. Next episode is called “Everyone’s Internships”

M: Finally, a light internship check-in with everyone else. This is going to be tonally great.

E: We forgot about Bakugo wearing jeans.

M: I hate Best Jeanist or whatever his name is.

E: He’s you. You see too much of yourself in him.

M: It’s true. It’s like looking in a mirror.

E: Anyway, have you stitched together any sort of tapestry of next episode with the threads of thought that the episode title have given you?

M: I will rip you to shreds.

E: (´༎ຶ ͜ʖ ༎ຶ `)♡

M: That wasn’t a prediction. Okay, doing my job, prediction one: the rocky boys continue to be perpetually tardy. They probably are going to have to repeat their internships next year because Fourth Dimension, whatever his name is, is going to fail them.

E:

M: Prediction two: that patrol that the Hot Squad is going on is not really going to be a patrol. They’re walking the red carpet or trying to give the paparazzi a “Stars they’re just like us” shot.

E:

M: Prediction three: Mineta is having a grand time with Mt. Lady. He might not even return to class and just work for her full time.

E: (͡o‿O͡)

M: I’m desensitized now. Prediction four: Invisible Girl has stopped showing up. No one noticed.

E:

M: And Prediction five: Uraraka…well I don’t know, I keep waiting for her to have a bad time because she’s crying on the phone in the credits. I know it’s from the sports arc, but still, foreshadowing.So here’s the prediction: she and Gun Head have been getting along great, but he’s going to give an evaluation saying she should not be an attack hero and it will devastate her.

E:  

M: Shot in the back.

–

Hey everybody, Emma here! As always, thanks for tuning in to Split Screen! If you want to watch My Hero Academia and Boys Over Flowers with us, we’re watching the dub on Hulu and the sub on Netflix, respectively. You can probably just dive in where we are now if you’ve been reading our posts.

Next time! This fiancee of Jun-pyo’s spells trouble for our characters as the plot to fix our central relationship begins. Meanwhile, the other students are facing their own challenges at their internships, chief among them being our favorite frog.