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narwhaltortellini · 9 months

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Yes thank you @deadgodjess for diggign that up! This is new to me so I'm still mentally chewing but...Yeah I have no problem with him originally only seeing them as platonic, but there's...a dismissiveness and slight aggression to his phrasing there that doesn't sit well :(

I do think it's entirely possible that he has had time to interrogate and reconsider those feelings. Especially with the way just in general that non-hetero relationships and fannish activity (I think?) have trended increasingly mainstream and accepted through the years. I hope that's the case, but it'd be nice if he said something about that change. (Or maybe even better, wrote some of that conflict and those changing feelings into this season of the show.) Without it, it feels...kinda gaslightey?

That on its own feels gross, and then doubly so when you think the flip flop could all just be for $$$. I have a lot of mixed up feelings about that. There is definitely a significant part of me that misses 'the good old days' when mainstream creators were not as aware of the power of slash fans and the $$$ it could bring them to shovel on some low-quality ambiguously (or not so ambiguously) gay content. And cringes when I see people gobble it up...Yet when I see how much joy it's bringing people...it's hard for me to not love in some way the thing that brought that joy and all the lovely fannish activity, whatever the motivations. And just think 'there are things I do and don't like here, but this is just what the awkward, messy, mid-journey slog through the bog parts of progress look like sometimes.'

In general. But in the specific, like specifically Gaiman saying that stuff and then doing this, yeah I would like to hear how that thought process went. <_<

I just could not stop thinking about those blog posts where he acknowledged A/C shipping and seemed pretty clear it wasn't a thing.

Which was fine for me at the time. Like, he didn't see it as a romantic relationship that was that, my shipping preferences and speculation don't rely on canon or the author to be valid to me.

But then they Did The Thing. And I just. Wut? And there's no acknowledgment of the fact that uh, this very much contradicts what he said on the topic in 2006 & 2003. And maybe he's changed the way he sees it, now, maybe he went back with fresh eyes and less heteronormative bias and went "oh actually if one of them was a woman/woman-shaped I wouldn't have hesitated to frame it as a romance."

But that doesn’t actually seem to be what happened, here. His super vague wording wrt to whether the ship would be canon back in 2019 ("Their relationship will be the same as in the books" to paraphrase), to encourage people to view the relationship as romantic once the story is out without actually seeming to actually confirm anything (from what I saw), getting a lot of credit for work he didn't actually do. Then this season drops and Crowley is kissing Aziraphale and I'm just.

They weren't canon until it stood to make him and Amazon a lot of money.

That on top of just the absolutely vicious way people were acting in 2018 & 2019 before S1 came out listing all the queer characters he'd written (mostly women) as proof that their favorite white man was the best ally actually and how dare you? How dare you question our God fave author?

Anyway I found those posts where he said that shit and like, maybe I'm reading it wrong but lol yeah pretty sure he has 0 fucks to give about interpreting their relationship as anything but friendship before he realized shippers have money & attention to give him.

From this post

@lemanzanabizarra and @narwhaltortellini, one of my friends has very helpfully compiled the information you asked for! I’ve been out and about with @one-eyed-bossman and my in-laws all day, so my capacity for handling asks today has been somewhat limited.

Thank you, @deadgodjess.

#good omens #good omens 2

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narwhaltortellini · 9 months

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I hope this will reach the niche group that is people who like both leopika and aziraphale/Crowley

#audience reached #not even a big crossover person but ngl i woyld watch this #like seriously all four of them together #aziraphale and leorio could be humanity loving idealists together #kurapika and crowley can be cynnical together #but in the end they will stick with their true husbands cause no one pisses them off quite like they do and that's a turn-on for them #hxh #hunter x hunter #good omens #leopika #crowley x aziraphale

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narwhaltortellini · 9 months

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Normally I'm a "I can't pick a favorite book/movie/show, they are all good for such different reasons" kind of person. But man, if anything had ever made me seriously doubt that position, it is the original Hikaru no Go manga/anime.

I went into watching it TO MAKE FUN OF IT with my college roommate cause the premise sounds like some kind of self indulgent childish Yu Gi Oh ripoff.

It did take a while to hit its groove (I find the parts before the internet go arc so-so. Can't remeber how far we got through the remake, but it did drag some there too I think), but once it did IT. WAS. SO. GOOD.

I've only seen some of this new remake (watching it at a snail's pace with a friend) and so I can't say if I would agree it's an improvement on the source material. It did have its areas of potential improvement, so I will grudingly admit it's possible. But I can confirm it doesn't appear to be a downgrade, and after all these years it's nice to have a fresh take on it.

Basically what it sounds like to me for sure is that if you choose to consume this story, there are no *coughstraightcough* bad versions, only differing degrees of excellent.

Go. Watch. Read. Seriously.

Hey, you! You should watch Hikaru no Go!

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: Hikaru no Go/Qi Hun/棋魂.

Based on the manga of the same name, this drama is the Chinese live-action adaptation of a story about a boy who plays Go, the spirit only he can see who teaches him how to play Go, and all the friends and enemies he meets along his journey to become a good Go player.

...Wait, no, come back. I swear it's more interesting than that makes it sound.

What it is, is a character-driven tale of a charming young boy who, among a bunch of weird and wonderful people who love him, grows up to be a charming young man.

(You see how his shirt says SWEETIE CUTIE? That is because he is a sweetie cutie.)

It's a sports manga, so you've got Training Montages and The Big Game and all sorts of tense moments like that. But there's also lots of fun, gentle plotlines that are equal parts tearjerking and heartwarming. It is incredibly written, act, and produced, and I can't believe that it's not more popular, because it's so good.

Here are five reasons you should watch it:

1: GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

Word of Honor is merely the second gayest thing I have ever seen a c-drama do. Hikaru no Go is gayer by an order of magnitude.

I think the way they got it past censorship was by saying, oh no, this isn't gay, it's just a sports rivalry! But come on, what do you mean sports rivalries aren't gay, have you seen how all those Canadian and US hockey players keep marrying one another? This is that. This is the tale of two boys who've been in love since they were seven figuring out that they've been in love since they were seven.

(And speaking of seven-year-olds, the kid casting is amazing.)

I mean:

This is an actual still from the show.

So is this.

These are not taken out of context. The context would make them gayer. That's how gay they are for each other.

But you know what the best part is? They're not the only pairing. And I don't just mean this like, oh, here's two other cute boys, you can imagine the times they kiss -- I mean, the show itself has its own ships! Ships you wouldn't expect! Intergenerational gay Go solidarity!

Now here's the catch: You have to wait for it. But oh boy, the payoff had us clutching our heads and screaming as quietly as we could because it was after midnight and we were losing our minds.

That last episode!! You have to see it to believe it!!!

2: EMOTIONS!

Bring the tissues. There are parts where it was kinda hard for me to watch because I was sobbing.

Because it's a sports manga, there are lots of triumphs and tragedies. Not everybody can make it to The Big Game. Not everybody gets to live out their dreams. Sometimes you try your hardest and it's not good enough. Sometimes you play your best and you still lose. Some people have to give up on what they love. Some people who were there with us at the beginning don't get to make it with us to the end.

What really makes it is that the show sits with its emotions. Events will affect people's emotional states for multiple episodes to follow. People who have sadness don't just snap out of it. Loving someone doesn't automatically fix them. Shit's hard!

Of course, this contrast makes the triumphs even more wonderful. I will tell you that the show has a happy ending, but not always the ending you would expect would have been their happy ending. It is overall an incredibly uplifting show. You'll need tissues for that, too.

3: (Nearly) Everything Is Pretty Dang Normal

Part of what I mean by that is that while a lot of the actors are real pretty, they're also done up in ways where, like, if you met this person on the street, you would think, this person is pretty! and not, what the hell fancy-ass magazine cover did you just step off of?

Look at these normal goobers:

There are two exceptions to this. The first is Chu Ying, because he is a ghost energy being from the distant past, and ghosts energy beings from the distant past get astonishing eyeliner.

The second is Fang Xu, because his actor, Han Mubo, is an actual idol. Congratulations on your face, sir.

However, I also mean that the story is delightfully mundane. Sure, there's that one supernatural element to it, but everything else is just a regular story about regular people who have regular human problems. There are characters who disappoint their parents and mentors, struggle to pay their bills, try to balance school and extracurricular activities, have crushes, argue with teachers, flake on responsibilties, get lost in the woods, and do some pretty normal human things. Nobody's avenging anyone or trying to slay anything. It's just people being people.

It's even a bit of a period piece -- the show starts out in 1997, then jumps forward to the late '00s, so everything's just charmingly slightly outdated. Damn, I love everybody's flip phones.

4: Actually Good Television

Okay, if you like c-dramas, you know they can be ... janky. Episodes sometimes end practically in the middle of sentences. CG leaves much to be desired. Obvious cuts and last-minute overdubbing really stand out. You can tell where the censorship mandates got in there and started mucking around with things. That kind of jank.

This show feels different. It feels like someone thought out each episode, start to finish, and then created each piece to fit that vision. Every episode even has a title and beautiful title card. They start and end in dramatically logical places. The cinematography isn't anything particularly artful or experimental, but it's solid and clean and lovely. (And if you're sick of shows so dark you can't see them, you've got no worries here.)

The CG in the show is unobtrusive, and most of it is spent making Chu Ying subtly transparent.

There are a bunch of secondary characters, but to me that never felt overwhelming. Most of them are interesting, three-dimensional characters, no matter how short their screen time is. And while there definitely could have been more female characters, the show itself is pretty open about how sexism in the Go world means that it's mostly a boys' club -- and the ladies that are there are great.

In short, this is a show you can show to people who don't have c-drama brain and thus are less inclined to overlook some of the more cringeworthy aspects of their productions. I bet that your Average American Television Enjoyer Who Can Handle Subtitles would have no trouble getting into the groove of it, which I imagine could be very useful for those of you who have people you'd like to watch c-dramas with, except you don't feel like stopping every five minutes to apologize for one thing or another.

5: Better Than The Source Material?

This is the point where I have to admit that I myself have never read the manga or seen the anime. I came into this with only the vaguest familiarity with the source material. I can only tell you that the live-action drama is good; I can't swear that it's better.

However, @jianghootinandhollerin can speak to this comparison more authoritatively than I:

When I was 20, Hikaru no Go (manga) was my favorite thing, the primary obsession, the source of multiple livejournal themes, custom winamp skins, and a fanfic where Hikaru got a go stone stuck up his nose. Because of this deep love in my history, I was dubious about a live action version and the changes it made, but hey, turns out, those changes were exactly what the 20 years older version of me needed. This version of the story benefits so much from having the full, completed story to work from from the outset. The manga didn't know where it was ending when it started, but this show got to, and the story gets to be richer and the characters' stories get to be deeper thanks to that. And also, very importantly: everyone is older and much, much gayer.

Look, I understand if "but it's not the original manga/anime" is a dealbreaker for you. There are adaptations of things I can't watch because no matter how good the end product may be, I'm going to hold it against it that it's not the source I'd rather be seeing, and that's not a fair standard. That's fine. It happens.

But if you can, give this a go (pun unintended). It does not replace the original thing; it is a different take on the same idea. And yeah, it's one that really speaks to me here, on the other side of forty as I am. Maybe I would have missed it at twenty, but the person I am now really respects its attitude that while Being The Best is all well and good, it is not the only thing, and it is absolutely not more important than being yourself and doing what you love with the people you love. Sometimes you peak and can't advance anymore, so you become a teacher, and you know what, that's better than okay, that's actually pretty great. (Do I overidentify with Bai Chuan? Listen: maybe.)

Have I convinced you to watch it yet?

You can watch it on iQiyi, or you can watch it on iQiyi's YouTube channel. I hope you love it as much as I do.

#hikaru no go #hikago #rec post #qi hun

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narwhaltortellini · 10 months

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A Good Omens hot take on “queerbaiting” below. No spoilers, but lord knows people have talked this to death, so I’m sorry in advance:

As a queer person, I didn’t think the first season was queerbaiting. I know some folks did and that’s fine, I’m not here to change your mind and I respect your opinion. But to me, while it was somewhat ambiguous, it was very obvious the two loved each other, that it was a love story and regardless if it was platonic, romantic or “whatever these two got going on”, the text was clear that all of those perspectives were valid. Especially since it was a close adaptation of the book. Never did I get the feeling that the show was mocking me for thinking it could be romantic, or just playing around: it felt like the show respected that read.

Now, as season 2 comes up, I think the show has set itself up to fall into queerbait if they keep things ambiguous. This mostly has to do with regards the marketing. The marketing has been pretty damn romantic in a way season 1 wasn’t: Amazon Prime clips on youtube label the pair as a couple. Like this ain’t subtle:

The playlists being full of love songs (Take Me to Church? Really?). The Twitter ship teasing quite a bit. Outside of marketing, Neil describing the season as romantic. Having a romantic couple (Maggie and Nina) mirror the main pair (the lesbians are not queerbait of course, it’s the mirroring that can be an issue: Supernatural pulled this multiple times). This is pretty classic queerbaiting should this be left ambiguous. It is one thing to have a relationship be open to interpretation but have the narrative respect each interpretation equally. It’s another to imply a specifically romantic relationship and then never actually follow through.

“But Iz-“ You say. “They’re supernatural beings, they aren’t interested in sex-“ I never said there had to be sex. Hell, there doesn’t even have to be kissing. Holding hands or a love confession I think would be entirely acceptable for me (not for everyone, this is just me personally). I think you can have them be supernatural beings and still denote a relationship as queer without a huge make out scene. My concern here is that we get something so ambiguous that the build up feels deeply dishonest. Where you constantly hype up something as a romance and then when the curtain is about to fall, go “but it’s all up to the viewer, why would you guys think it HAS to be a romance, you can if you want but that’s just your read!” Like yes, it is just my read, but you’re the one who has been advertising this as a romance for months, not as a “odd couple who can be romantic if you want!” There’s a difference there to me. The second feels like making fun, and in a way that’s kind of mean.

I am of course, one lesbian, so don’t take my word as gay gospel. Just my thoughts.

(And don’t @ Neil or anything. The show isn’t out yet and even if it was and my concerns prove valid, I don’t need to staple my critique to his internet door)

#good omens s2 #yes all of this

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narwhaltortellini · 10 months

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Apologies to all the other things I was reading and watching and listening to, for suddenly and mysteriously putting you on hold to have an absolute freak out about Good Omens season 2 coming out in a couple weeks.

Apologies to anyone looking at this, because I just have to, like, dump my feelings somewhere.

Before the freak out, did I know Good Omens season 2 was coming out soon? Yeah, sure, I was kinda cautiously looking forward to it a little. Had I already seen the trailer? Yeah, I thought it looked good. Are David Tennant and Michael Sheen like probably literally the human embodiment of these characters? I mean, yes, how dare you even question that. (Esp. Michael Sheen omg so, so so…aaaah)

I’m not entirely sure what is going on with me. Good Omens has always held like a weird mixed but precious place in my little fannish heart. I read it back when I was a little BABY high schooler getting real obsessive about Terry Pratchett but who didn’t even know what ‘shipping’ or m/m was. I loved some things about it and didn’t love others but one thing was absolutely sure: I was just so terribly charmed by the demon and angel characters. They really were good buddies, such good friends, yes indeed. Probably be ROOMMATES or something some day, huh? <3

I had both mixed feelings but was also really obsessive over it, trying to get others to read it and posting something real agro on LiveJournal when I fell for a joke someone (was it Terry Gilliam or one of the authors?) made about how they were approaching the then-planned-but-eventually-ill-fated movie adaptation. (Gosh I wish I remember what it was but it was so over the top clearly terrible and a joke and it’s been over 20 years and I still feel embarrassed about falling for and publicly ranting about it to this day but also makes me feel kinda nostalgic like lol what a dumbass kid, aww.)

And then years later when I’d managed to get a whole lot less naive about my fondness for reading/watching male friendships, I pick up the book for a reread and was like ‘um…wait a second….’ and go look up the fanfic and yep there it is, the book of my late childhood in a totally different light XD

When the tv show came out, I once again had mixed feelings. It was fun to revisit the story and fantastic to see it reach more people, but there’s some humor that just doesn’t work for me quite as well spoken/acted vs written down, and Pterry’s humor is definitely that way for me. I felt like Crowley and Aziraphale were a little extra flirty and intense about each other in the show, something part of me enjoyed and part of me wasn’t sure I loved. Partially I just prefer a slightly more understated romance and partially…well, in these days where it feels like queerbaiting is kinda all the rage, it can make one feel a little uneasy…

And then I hear there’s going to be a second season and I’m like…that….MIGHT be fun? I mean…Pterry is gone, and that’s super shitty, but we’ve still got Neil and there are other good writers and I HAVE been curious where they were planning to take it…

And then less than a week ago I hear murmurings that this second season is maybe even supposed to be more romantic-ish? Or…I don’t know maybe I heard things maybe I didn’t (did I hear something? DID I???? Something people were upset got revealed but I totally didn’t click the link so I don’t know only maybe I did click the link for just a second and then I saw a four letter word that jumped out at me and I left because nope nope nope don’t want to know don’t want to know and I don’t know the context of that word so what do I know I KNOW NOTHING I KNOW NOTHING). Anyway I hear things (about the first and this season both) with words like ‘romance’ and ‘a love story’ being thrown around, but what is that really? It doesn’t always mean a lot to me when someone says a story is about that, because that can mean a lot of different things, especially when your characters aren’t exactly human.

And, like, I shouldn’t be so curious about this because this isn’t even a direction I was overly interested (nor opposed) in seeing this go. IF it even really was going that way at all. Except now when I watch the trailer and hear that quirky rendition of Everyday I like faint from excitement (I swear if they released a full version I’d just listen to it on repeat till July 28), and I always did like the addition of Gabriel in the show and now we get more of him in such a fun looking way omg and that new Muriel character just instantly looks SO. FREAKING. CUTE. and hey now we get to see something that was truly written for the screen which could be super cool and where are they going to take our angel and demon now and aaaaaaaaah.

And now I’m just like Good Omens on the brain at an intensity level where it makes it hard to function like a normal person. Like I’m supposed to go see a movie and have dinner with non-fannish friends tomorrow and how am I going to survive that long without saying something weird HOW???? I do a kind of tuneless whisper of the lyrics to Everyday under my breath all the time. It sounds kind of threatening, and I don’t think they will appreciate it. You just know at some point during the conversation they are going to be like:

‘Hey. HEY. Are you even paying attention?’

And I will be like:

‘Y-Yes. Yes I am paying attention and not thinking about angel and demon sex.’

And they will be like:

‘....’

And I will avert my gaze and be like:

‘...’

And then after a while of that I will be like:

‘Everyday…it’s a-getting closer…’

I don’t know what to do. But, I mean, I’m also really, REALLY enjoying it. Like this is going to blow your mind but DID YOU KNOW that there is significantly more fanfiction in the Good Omens section now that it is an amazing popular tv show vs when it was just some book written in the 90’s? CRAZY RIGHT?!?! So much. Omg, new friends, you have been so busy, so generous with your time and writerly efforts, I LOVE ALL OF YOU THANK YOU. If I pretend to take a long dump in the restaurant bathroom tomorrow so I can sit on the toilet and read fanfiction, know you helped me do that, each and every one of you. Bless.

#good omens #good omens s2

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