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kimyoonmiauthor · 11 months

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The Slightly Humorous Story About How Straight People made me Queer.

Let’s be clear here, when I was in Korea, I was halfway tripped up on Korean dramas. Korean dramas which didn’t have kissing until much later in the series, and lots of small romantic gestures were on screen. From what I know, I liked cartoons and TV shows to block the noise from my parents arguing all of the time. I disliked the Japanese occupation drama that was popular at the time because it had loud guns in it. So I’ve always loved rom coms the most on television. They gave me comfort. I also watched Historicals with my aunties.

I had to figure this out on my own, by putting things together.

So when I came to the US (adopted), I had this really strong notion that went something like this...

I would get married, have kids, I didn’t know how. And then my husband would tragically die of natural causes or we’d get divorced or something of that sort and he’d disappear. And then I would have dogs and be a widow.

No straight person has a thought like this when they are five years old, and maybe it should have clued me in that people usually don’t kill off their spouses in their heads that maybe just maybe I was not straight.

I had bouts as a kid, too, of loving frilly pink things, then hating it, etc, though this got confused under all of the Second wave feminism my mom liked to shove on me, which often was white feminist and racist and oddly anti-LBTQIA.

I liked pink for a while, because it was girly, then converted to purple, because it felt more neutral, but then couldn’t identify with any color after that. Maybe this, too, was part of the harassment my mom had around colors, insisting that I wear black because it was “practical” but I couldn’t really perform gender that well. I would really, really try to conform to one gender, but then feel highly uncomfortable with it.

I wanted to learn girly things to know it, but I didn’t want to perform it. I wanted to do sports, and learn various types of things that were told to be gendered--but honestly, I saw it as kind of pointless to call wiffle ball a “Boys game” and girls “Cooking.” I never felt stable. I would flux and convert at turns a little, and I was comfortable with that. I didn’t see the point of gendered pronouns. WTH. I got constantly corrected on them for years probably because I couldn’t feel them in myself either. And the thing was, I liked dressing up in costumes, I didn’t care about the gender of the clothes. I also absolutely loved anything that played with gender roles and expectations. I was drawn to it.

I found myself drawn to queer books, though a lot of the romances I read were het, maybe as a remnant of watching too many het romances on television from very young and also because reading queer romances would have exposed me more.

At the same time straight kids would endlessly tease me for being a lesbian, gay, or something. And I was puzzled over sexual attraction and romantic attraction for myself. I thought people were lying in television shows--also maybe because of the gap between US television and Korean. US--two seconds, in bed. Korean 10/16 episodes in and you get a kiss. And for a kid that doesn’t feel primary sexual attraction, this was quite confusing--I didn’t know that kids could know their sexuality at five years old.

From the time I knew sexual attraction was a thing(TM), I was thinking, unlike the kids that teased me to be gay and lesbian. I was fine with “whatever” the most ace thing in the world. (Though if it was a woman in my head, I thought things like, well, if I’m attracted to women, well, the dying early thing won’t be in the cards. I’ll figure it out then.) I was fine being bisexual. As long as I could punch my schedule of having kids and a dog. (This is kinda ND to me... which might also be why I got bullied--besides being Asian. I didn’t think like most other kids and I was extremely precocious.)

At one point I was asked if the “Backstreet boys was hot” when I was nine and in a fit of NDness, probably, I watched their music videos to figure out *why* that person liked them, and I couldn’t figure it out at all. Totally went over my head. Was it a personality trait they had?

But nothing happened for a long ass time. And then aesthetic attraction happened. I thought aesthetic attraction was the same thing as sexual attraction for the longest ass time. It took me a long, long ass time to realize people actually do want to have sex upon looking at someone and saying “I’d do them.”

Even the kissing games like spin the bottle and dares, etc, I stayed out of with the thought of, “I don’t see the point if you don’t have feelings for each other.”

I also thought probably because of a steady digest of rom coms, Victorian romances, and so on, attraction would be this magical moment of floaty clouds, etc. But I found it extremely annoying in part and I wanted to distance myself from it. At other points I didn’t want to deal with it at all. And I was told it was the greatest thing in the world.

My friends asked why I didn’t date anyone and I answered with the most ND answer ever in my head. “I didn’t have a large enough pool of people to be attracted to.” The other thing I thought was, “There is no point of dating in Middle School and High School if you’re going to break up with people,” *cough* Grey-ace, maybe? Have a clue.

But I had no terms for this, or my kind of half-hearted attempts at presenting cis. Presenting fully as a woman and performing it was too much work in my head. And I know some women just don’t like makeup, and some nonbinary do, but putting the effort in to perform being a woman 24-7 felt like too much for me. I kept slipping every time I tried. I never quite felt comfortable in the gossip circles women do--it also might be because I was also extremely precocious and ND-ish that it was harder to fit in.

But straight people kept flagging me over and over trying to figure out why this or that was true. Why I had no attraction to anyone. Why I couldn’t perform womanhood, even though I knew how. The feedback from straight people told me over and over I was very queer. And I felt an attraction to queer culture, but I didn’t know how I slotted in and I couldn’t place it because the dominant labels were not me. But I didn’t feel straight either.

I semi-dated long distance a guy I felt romantic attraction to (after I got to know him for a while), but I didn’t feel sexual attraction to. In truth, I probably wasn’t that committed and the long distance hampered my ability to feel attraction since we separated in early stages.

I did finally date someone I had sex with, but I still don’t get why people love sex that much. My sex stance is sex indifferent most of the time, sometimes favorable, but rarely, so it was a meh moment for me. I liked sex for the intimacy, but sometimes I felt like it was kinda pointless. I did feel sexual attraction after knowing the person for a while. I’m not clear on my secondary sexual/romantic attraction orientation completely, though. It’s like trying to reach past a brick wall. I’m not against it being more omni/pan/bi still.

And the guy of the time was straight--also had this weird relationship with trans people where he kept harping on it. So I closeted my NBness really hard during that relationship, but I kept slipping and he kept on me for why I didn’t perform womanness correctly. lol Maybe I was also trying to get that man dies before I’m 80, but we have kids thing going too.

lol Queer people kept semi-kicking me out though I kind of had an attraction to queer people as in I think I’m one of you, but I don’t know how. So I struggled a lot to find the correct labels.

I wish I knew earlier that this was a thing, though, since I was destructive in some ways when I thought I was straight, but a little strange and trying to fit into the allosexual/alloromantic/cis box. I could have sorted it out faster and better and probably gotten past the grey-ace/aro wall by approaching it differently.

All straight people kept cluing me into the fact I was queer. It wasn’t queer people that told me, hey, you, you’re queer. It was 100% straight people--though they got the brand of queer wrong often. I just couldn’t perform their straightness to their standards no matter how hard I tried.

So no dog, no kids, but hella queer? I do have reptiles. But I do plan to eventually have dogs. The straights converted me to queer.

#pride #asexuality #ace spec #aromanticism #nonbinary #sexuality #queer #all about mi #memoirette

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ithisatanytime · 8 months

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Astra King - First Love (Official Video)

one piece sucks, not the netflix adaption the cartoon is just as bad if not worse than the cartoon, you just have bad taste when it comes to narrative story telling and thats fine. there were no great animes made after 2001 and maybe one or two good ones that honestly you could skip and not really miss out on anything. anime was good for a narrow window of time because kikifying a country is a process and it takes time, for a short window japan had all of this tradition and folklore that resonated with the western spirit and access to technology required to make decent art from that frame of mind. as the years wore on they could still make the cartoons look colorful but it was gutted and soulless. any show that goes on for more than 2 or 3 seasons maximum is gonna be shit with maybe one or two exceptions, dragonball works because it was always for kids! and it had a good message, work hard, be good etc, shows like naruto and one piece act like they are for kids but they are actually for teenagers and adults with very bad taste in narrative stories, and it shows in the final product, dragonball was a power fantasy that served the aim of installing good morals and attitudes in children, naruto, one piece, etc are just pure power fantasies for weak malformed men, in a lot of ways its similar to stranger things but for men where as stranger things served that same function for women, every time eleven used her psychic powers she would like tilt her head down and forward to make her eyes appear dark, and i cringed so hard it literally helped cost me a fucking relationship i just couldnt handle it. if you are a man who likes one piece odds are you are fucking gay and about one bad week away from trooning out, if you are a male who likes naruto the good news is you are just gay. btw i hardly consider dragonball past a certain point “Great” its just good while still having many of the same faults that these terrible modern animes have and i wanted to highlight what distinguishes the two kinds of long running serial animes a litte bit, i think prior to GT akira toryama had some vision, there was something he aimed to achieve and he more or less acheived it, even gt which is TERRIBLE has moments of genuiness sprinkled throughout and id rather watch the entirety of gt twice than a single season of naruto. i dont watch anime because im not a fucking child, i dont care about it tbh, what i do care about is the subculture thats sprung up around it literally decades after anything worth a shit came out of japanese animation, these people are automatons, mainly the men as women liking anime, even bad anime is fine in my opinion weirdly its actually a sign they she sucks less than the average woman but thats a post for another time as this is already getting long, modern anime fans the men mainly, are npcs, without question or exception. if you are a man and you still watch movies and television and you have a vision of a future in which you are not wearing dresses and or sucking cock just stop before its too late, watch some old cowboy movies! im dead serious once you let your attention defecit disorder adjust to the slightly slower pace you will find old cowboy/samurai/noir movies have everything you were looking for in anime and more, with the upside that its not literally going to turn you gay which modern anime will, how many of your anime friends are gay or trans or nonbinary? how many of my friends are any of those things? zero. cowboy movies, samurai movies, noir films, no later than the eighties. all modern anime fans are literally guy, if not openly, in private.

#youtube

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omg-im-such-a-masochist · 3 years

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SECOND CHANCE

Prompt: Just some good old fluff with Finny boy

Word Count: Long, bitch! So fucking long

Pairings: Finn Bálor x Reader

Warnings: Angst, fluff, smut (implied)

Editor: @thenightmareismyreality

Tag: @theworldofotps , @new-zealand-chic , @sassymox , @waywardwrestlewritingwaif , @yungbludjazz360 , @starwithaheart

Notes: Found this in an old file (wrote this about two years ago, maybe?) But I kinda like this little story ❤️ If you’d like to check out my previous works, you can find them on my Masterlist 😉

A deep sigh of relief left my lips as I brushed my damp hair. I heard a commotion in the living room, and began to dread the potential fight I would have to break up between a four and six year-old over a remote control.

“Mommy, mommy, mommy!” Caleb screamed in excitement, while bursting through my bedroom door like a maniac

“You’ll never believe who’s downstairs with us” He jumped with a cheeky smile

“Cal, who’s downstairs?” I ask worryingly, instinctively reaching for the gun that I kept in my nightstand

Caleb laughed and ran downstairs again.

As a homicide detective, my cop instincts combined with my motherly instincts took over me and I ran to the living room in only a tank top and panties, with my gun already aimed to shoot.

Although, the last person I thought I would see standing there, braiding my daughter Maeve’s hair in a style reminiscent of queen Elsa, and watching Caleb showing off his somersault technique was HIM…

That caught me off guard and he must have sensed it, because the first thing he did was look up.

“Hi” He said shyly

“What are you doing here, Finn?” I asked, putting my gun down on the dinner table

“I swear I didn’t break in” He laughed, attempting a joke

“What do you want?” I decided to ignore the small talk...there was no need for that, not after everything he did

“I have an injury. So I have some time off for a while and I wanted to stop by to see the kids and you” He whispered the last part

“Injury, huh? Is it bad?”

Even after everything he did, I couldn’t help but worry about his well being, you know, for the kids sake!...

Ok fine, I still love him, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“No, nothing serious. But I got two months off and I was excited to see my family” He looked at me when he said that

“Are you going to see your parents?”

“Yeah and I was thinking if it would be ok with you if I take the kids with me?”

“Of course! Why would I mind?”

His family was always very loving and kind to me, and we became very close once the kids were born. Sometimes I would take them to Ireland on my vacation so they could see their grandparents or they would travel to New York so they could see the kids.

“Because of...you know” He trailed off

“Neither your family or the kids have anything to do with that. I’m a grown woman, Finn. I know how to separate the sheep from the goat, ok?!”

I could feel the air becoming thicker with the tension, until Maeve said

“Mommy, why aren’t you wearing any pants? Are you feeling hot? I can get you the Japanese hand fan daddy gave it to me, if you’d like” She smiled

“Thank you buttercup, but that won’t be necessary. I’ll be right back”

......................................................................

Now, properly dressed, I made my way towards the kitchen to get dinner ready.

“Do you need any help?” Finn asked from behind me

“No, thank you. You can go stay with the kids” I didn’t even bother to turn around to face him

“Y/N, can we talk?”

I sighed “There’s nothing worth talking about, Finn”

“Please?”

“What can you possibly say that will change what happened? Nothing! It will be a bunch of empty sorry’s and excuses, so let’s just save it, ok?!”

“It’s not empty, I truly am sorry”

“You should’ve thought that before you believed the bunch of lies she told you”

He opened his mouth to say something but Caleb began calling for him to go watch the cartoons with them.

......................................................................

“Mommy, can daddy have dinner with us?” Maeve asked

“Of course, pumpkin. If he would like to”

“Yay” She screams “Daddy, come!” She beckoned him

The subjects of conversation at dinner were mostly controlled by the kids. They, as per usual, asked me how many bad people I had taken down that day, but also asked Finn about his traveling, which state or city he liked the most, the best foods he’d eaten, which LEGO set was he building, if the hotel beds were soft and ‘what about the blankets?’

“Alright, I know you two are very excited to see daddy, but we need to brush those teeth! So, let’s go kiddos” I got up from my chair

“I’ll do it” He grabbed both kids, resting one on each side of his hip and went up to brush their teeth

When he came back down alone, I give him a questioning look

“They’re asleep” He smiled softly

“Oh, you already put them down for bed?! Thank you” I said, cleaning the kitchen island.

He nodded “I just didn’t bathe them because they said you already did”

“Yeah, that’s the first thing I do when I get home. Or my mom does it for me if I get caught up in a case, but most of the time I do it”

“How’s work?” He asked, sitting down on one of the high benches.

“Good, Richard is my superior again, so he helps me a lot with my shifts, because of the kids” I smiled

“The old man is still working?” He laughed, amused

“Yeah, he already said he will only leave his badge when he’s dead” I cackled “How’s road life? Amazing, I presume”

“Nah, don’t let the bright lights fool ya” He laughed, bitterly “I love wrestling, being in the ring, performing for the audience, but once I pass through the curtains backstage it gets lonely” A little bit of sadness could be heard in his voice “It’s very lonely... it’s different from when I came back home to you and the kids. Now I just get back to an empty apartment, wishing I could get back home” He looks at me

“Finn, please”

“I love you! Why can’t we just try again?”

“Because no!”

“Why?” He pleaded

“Because you don’t know what it was like ok?! You don’t know how much it hurt me, the things you said, the fact that you believed some envious woman’s gossip about me having an affair with Lucas! He’s married for fuck’s sake! To a man!”

“I- I didn’t knew Lucas was gay, Y/N”

“Yeah, you didn’t! And why is that? Oh yeah, because you did not trust your own wife, all you saw was the fact that he is a man and my work partner so you just bought the assumption that woman sold you, choosing to believe her instead of me!”

“It wasn’t like that, ok?” He tried to explain

“It wasn’t like that, you say? When you were the one who came in here filled with accusations! Saying that I had an affair with him, that I cheated on you, that you wished you would’ve slept with half of the women who throw themselves at you everyday, doubting that those kids upstairs are yours, when they’re the fucking spitting image of you! You said all those horrible things, Finn. Not me!”

He stared at his knuckles as I continued, now crying

“How do you think that made me feel? To listen from my own husband how much he wished he had cheated on me. Bragging about all of the hot young women who are waiting to be fucked by a wrestler...You know it was always hard for me to accept that you wanted me and not some hot girl in the locker room, that you had chosen me, that I got lucky enough to not only marry a man who’s physically breathtaking but also such a beautiful person on the inside. And still, it was that same Prince Charming who became the frog! I never thought that” I had to stop myself from saying the next horrible words roaming through my mind

“You never thought that, what, Y/N?”

I shook my head

“Say it”

I shook my head again and he got up from the bench, coming to where I was standing

“Say it, love. I can take it”

“I don’t want to say it” I whispered as more tears rolled down my cheeks

“Shhh, it’s ok, love” Finn pulled my head to his chest “Please don’t cry, I hate when you cry” His arms are tightly locked around me, providing me the sense of comfort that only he could give. And I hated that!

“Let me go” I tried to push him away

“What’s wrong, Y/N?”

“Just don’t touch me” I said, shoving him away

He knew that I was closing him off, I could see it in his eyes

“Say it! You never thought that what?” He insisted, more forcefully this time

“I never thought that someday I would regret meeting you! Marrying you, starting a family with you. If I could do it all again, I wouldn’t!” I spat

“You wouldn’t?” He scooted closer

“No” I answered with venom in my voice, trying to turn my undying love for him into hatred

“But I would!” Finn said firmly

I shook my head in denial, as he cupped my cheeks in his calloused hands, making me look up to meet his blue eyes

“I would do it, all over again. Meeting you, dating you, marrying you, having kids with you, in the future seeing the kids graduate high school, college, be at their wedding, take our future grandkids to the park, and spend the rest of my life with you! I would choose you over and over and over again! I choose you everyday, Y/N”

I squeezed my eyes shut

“You’re lying! Stop lying, Finn” I whispered

“Am I though? Open your eyes and look at me. I was never able to hide ANYTHING from you, I can lie to anyone but you. You can always see through me, so just look at me and tell me if I’m lying. If I am, then I promise you, I’ll leave this house right now and you’ll never have to see me again! Just open your eyes” He kissed each closed eyelid

After a few minutes, I gathered the courage to finally look at him and I could only see love, regret, pain and truth.

“I love you Y/N and always will. Yes, I was dumb to listen to some random gossip and I’m paying the price for it, but the only thing I ask you is: please, don’t give up on us! I’ll give you whatever time you need, just promise me that we’ll fix it. That we’ll be together again...You, Caleb and Maeve are my life! I would die to save you in a blink, love. If I had to choose between your life or mine I would choose yours, becau-“

I placed two fingers on his lips

“Stop talking like that! You know I don’t like it. It attracts those bad vibes, you know?”

Finn lightly chuckled “But I mean it”

“Stop! I don’t like when you talk like that... I hate to think that something bad could ever happen to you. You know, because of the kids” I tried to hide my feelings

“And you wouldn’t miss me, not even a little bit?” He teased

“I miss you everyday” I quickly slapped a hand over my mouth when I realized what I just said

He smiled sweetly, leaning down to place sweet and innocent pecks all over my face.

Finn started on my forehead, then he went to my temples, followed by the cheekbones, apple’s of the cheek, jaw, chin, side of my lips. Finn pulled back to search for any resistance signs and when he found none, he kissed my lips. A lazy kiss, that grew more urgent by the minute.

“Fuck, I missed you so much” He moaned, now kissing my neck

“Finn, wait. Wait a minute” I tried to pull his head back by his hair but that only made him moan.

“Finn!” I said harshly, finally having his attention

“What’s wrong, love? Don’t you want it? I thought that-“

“Have you seen anyone since we broke up?” I asked, not even letting him finish his sentence

“We didn’t break up! You asked me for some time and-“

“Finn, just answer the fucking question please” I pleaded

“No, I haven’t been with anyone in those 8 months. Except for my hand when I look at your pictures” He smirked

“You’re so ridiculous” I whispered in relief as my arms circled his waist

“So...do you still want to make love?” He eagerly asked

“We never made love, Finny. We’ve always fucked senseless” I laughed

“No! We’ve always made love it’s just that we’re more frantic about it” He chuckled

“Ok, we sleep together and then what?” I asked

“Then you stay here and I go back to my apartment” He simply said

My heart sunk in my chest as a faint “Oh, ok” left my lips

“So I can pack my clothes and bring them back home” He said, as a devilish smile grew on his face “That’s of course, if you want me here”

“Asshole” I lightly punched his chest “I thought you just wanted a one night stand and that’s it. You scared me!”

Finn chuckled, beckoning me closer to him

“You could never be just a one night stand, love. You fuck too good to be just a one time thing” He winked

“So you just want me for my bedroom skills, huh?” I teased

“Yes and no” He giggled “Yes, because no other woman fucks like you do” He bit my neck, growling “And no, because there’s so much more about you than the bedroom” He hugged my waist “You’re my best friend, my nurturer, my supporter, the air that keeps me alive, my everything!” He kissed me passionately

“Can we try again? Start over and leave all that shit behind us?” He whispered

“If you promise me that if we get back together, you won’t listen to other people’s gossip and will come to me whenever you hear somethi-“

“Yes!” He pecked my lips excitedly, as a wide smile took over his face “I promise you, love! That’ll never happen again, you have my word!” He gave me a bear hug and spun me around the kitchen

“Finn!” I squealed, when we almost fell to the ground “We’re going to wake up the kids” I giggled

“Oh no, shhhh” He shut me up with a kiss “We can’t let that happen! Because as much as I love our children, I haven’t gotten any in eight months and I can’t wait to change that with you right now” He pushed us towards the couch and laid on top of me

“But I thought you were going to go and get your clothes”

“I don’t need clothes, woman! You know I like to sleep naked” He winked

And roamed his head down to...

Please, if you’re comfortable with it, let me know your thoughts on this? Feedbacks are always appreciated 🥰😘

#finn balor one shot #finn balor x reader #finn balor fanfiction #finn balor imagine #finn balor #nxt x reader #nxt imagine #nxt #nxt wrestling #wwe nxt #nxt fanfiction #masochist writes

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clearsky · 3 years

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My Top Comfort Characters/Kins and My Main HCs For Them

(Note, not all my kins/comfort characters are on here, just the ones I have more than 5 hcs for)

CW: Korekiyo Shinguji (DRV3), Himiko Yumeno (DRV3), Shinsou Hitoshi (BNHA), Kyoko Kirigiri (THH), Tsuyu Asui (BNHA), Entrapta (Spop), Ibuki Mioda (SDR2), Celestia Ludenberg (THH), Funtime Foxy (FNAF), Peril (WOF)

Korekiyo Shinguji (DRV3)

Nonbinary

He/They pronouns

Autistic

Chains and loose accessories are for stimming

Likes the feeling of silk and cotton

Can't stand the feeling of anything rough or bumpy

He likes collecting small trinkets and the bones of small mammals

Can't stand anything salty. He'll eat it but he certainly won't enjoy it

Dating Rantaro

Can flirt, but only if he doesn't try

Petnames are a hell yea

Gets sunburnt really easily

Group dates with Celesnaegiri and Ikuzono

Can't cook for s h i t

Had a scene kid phase in middle school

Went to the same middle school as Celeste and Maki

Knew them when Celeste went through her "I'm not like other girls" phase and Maki was a Band Kid™

Himiko Yumeno (DRV3)

Female

She/Her pronouns

Lesbian

Can force herself to fall asleep within seconds regardless of where she is

100% forces herself to fall asleep when she doesn't wanna listen/talk to someone

Himiko/Angie/Tenko relationship. I'm calling them the Traffic Light Trio

She likes taking naps in the forest

She prefers enclosed/tight spaces more than open ones

Has several hundred stress balls and squishies laying around

She overheats easy

Shinsou Hitoshi (BNHA)

Questioning his gender, but goes by any pronouns

Knows he's Asexual, at least

Has no clue what his romantic orientation is though

The kind of person to carry treats in his pocket just in case he runs into a cat

Will stop to pet literally every cat he comes across

Great at reading people

Doesn't talk unless it's 100% needed

Hangs with Tokoyami, Jirou, and Denki most often

Aizawa has 100% unofficially adopted him

Fosters kittens

Not a big fan of physical touch

He is 100% in the bakusquad. Anyone who says he's in the Dekusquad is a c o w a r d

He and Tsuyu vibe

Knows a bunch of random facts

Dark humour? Dark humour

*skates backwards into his therapist's room slowly sipping from an absurdly huge cup of coffee* Candice you're not gonna BELIEVE the shit I just went through

In case I forgot to mention it, he skates

Kyoko Kirigiri (THH)

Mtf

She/Her

Bi with female preference

Burns go up to her shoulders/collarbone/chest

Prefers to just listen as opposed to saying anything

Knows a ton of random trivia about everyone else in her class

She keeps a notebook she fills with all the trivia

Doesn't celebrate her birthday. She just doesn't see the point of it

Doesn't hate sugar/sweets, but if given the choice she would choose literally everything else

Cuts her own hair

A cat person

Permanent dark circles

T-Tall 😳

Like,,, 6'1 at LEAST

Only person taller than her is Yasuhiro (6'3)

Canon no longer exist

Ahahaha healthy life habits? What are those?

Can't handle horror games

She's the kind of person you'd go to if you needed to rant but didn't want any advice

Polyamourous yo

Celeste/Kyoko/Makoto

She's a dom yall are just scared to admit it

Tsuyu Asui (BNHA)

They go by They/Them

Lesbian

They and Ochaco are dating

They like to hang with Shinsou

Which mainly just means the two sitting in one of their dorms in near total silence doing whatever

Can speak English and French as well as Japanese

Learned English from cartoons

Picked up French bc they thought it'd be fun

Prefers to stay neutral in the whole Bakusquad / Dekusquad thing

They're invited to all outings/events by/for both squads

They like puns

They're a dumbass but willingly, and for fun

Like "someone says they like dark humour and they'll turn off the lights before telling a joke" kind dumbass for fun

Great at poker

Likes Disney Movies

Very touchy once you get close enough

Not in a sexual way, just likes physical contact

Especially fond of piggyback rides and cuddles

Extreme fear of needles

Entrapta (She-Ra)

She/Her or It/Its

Doesn't bother trying to figure out whether she's cis, trans, nonbinary, or what

Was AMAB though

Short as fuck (4'7)

Strong as fuck though

Cuddle game strong

Physical touch is a fuck yes

Cuddles

Piggyback rides

Hugs

Anything where she's touching someone is wonderful in her book

As long as she's the one that initiates it

Anyone else touching her without her permission makes her freak

Prefers being high up

Makes it harder for anyone to sneak up on her

An ace at video games

When it comes to sexuality she just says she's Questioning

Ibuki Mioda (SDR2)

Any pronouns + Pup/Pupself + It/Its

No idea what their gender is otherwise

Biromantic Asexual

Just likes sexual jokes

Gets distracted easily

Has severe hearing problems

She's plays her instruments as loud as possible, with the amp right next to her, without ANY ear protection

It's caused some damage

She talks so loud bc she has no idea how loud is considered acceptable

Wears hearings aids most of the time

Several piercings and tattoos

Likes hearing things jingle

She has a bracelet with a few bells hanging from it

She'll shake it whenever she's bored

LOVES hair accessories

Ribbons are a particular favourite

Occasionally she'll hang little charms from her hair "horns"

The kind of person who never takes any pills/medicine bc she keeps forgetting she has to

Frequently uses emojis

Skates everywhere but she isn't very good at it

She keeps crashing into everything

Has broken every bone in her body at least 3 times

Most of which was bc she keeps trying to kick in doors and skating down the stairs

Celestia Ludenberg (THH)

Nonbinary

Any pronouns, mainly goes by She/They

Bi, 70:30

Collects mini hand sanitizers and can tabs

Has single handedly gotten Mario Kart, Mario Party, Monopoly, Uno, and Clue banned a grand total of 17 times (and counting)

The kind of person to purposefully target someone regardless of what game was being played

Favourite victim is Byakuya (bc he gets so upset about it and she finds that hilarious)

Mains Waluigi

Celeste/Kyoko/Makoto

Has several banned Twitter accounts bc whenever she's bored she'll start discourse on purpose

Hangs with Korekiyo, Ibuki, Byakuya, Yasuhiro, and Leon most often

It's a weird friend group but everyone's sorta gotten used to it

She and Byakuya gamble together occasionally

She tries to avoid it bc he'll willingly blow his entire fortune in an attempt to beat her

Autustic

Can't stand the feeling of water

Mainly bc she can't swim for shit

Horror movies? Hates them

Gets flustered super easily

Taka is her twin brother

Kotoko, Kokichi, and Gundham are their half siblings (Same father)

Peko and Toko are their cousins

She sucks ass at go fish

Fuck canon she's 4'11 now

C h u b b y

Freckles

Once she gets comfortable enough with herself she dyes her hair in the peekaboo style

Either black and red or black and blonde

Haven't decided yet

I'll be doing Celesnaegiri hcs as a seperate post but I just feel it's important for you to know that she expresses her affection verbally and is a very touchy person

Went to middle school with Maki and Korekiyo

Has horrible eyesight

She wears contacts most of the time but she always puts off buying more

After the 5th or so time she ended up blindly stumbling around a week after her contacts ran out Kyoko convinced her to buy glasses as well

Religious accessories yo

Like chokers and dangly earrings with crosses and pentagrams and shit

Likes wearing wacky earrings

Can run and do all sorts of tricks in heels

She and Mukuro are exes yo

Keeps her hair short so it's easier to manage

Hair never gets longer than her shoulders if she can help it

She seems like the kind of person who'd keep her bangs grown past her eyes regardless of how frustrating or inconvenient it is

She's a sub yall just don't wanna admit it

Funtime Foxy (FNAF)

I'm going on the record to say this

Funtime Foxy is genderfluid and that is that

Goes by Funtime

Any pronouns, They/Them most commonly

Plays music (keyboard and guitar mainly)

They and Funtime Freddy (Freds) mainly play with the kids

Freds mainly tells stories with Bonbon while Funtime more so plays one-on-one

Has nicknames for everyone

Circus Baby - Ringleader

Ballora - Bells

Funtime Freddy - Partner

Bon Bon - Bun

Peril (WOF)

I like both Nonbinary She/They Peril and Mtf She/Her Peril

They're both such good concepts

She's a lesbian, Harold

She only had a crush on Clay bc he was pretty much everything she was supposed to like in a guy

Gimme a moment while I force all my mental disorders onto this poor child

Autistic, Anxiety (Social anxiety, mainly, but she has most types), Adhd, PTSD

I'd like to reiterate yet again that She's a lesbian

Sunny and Glory were her gay awakening

Peril in Book 1: Damn, Sunny and Glory sure are pretty. Anyone would be lucky to date them. Clay would probably go for them over me. He would be stupid if he didn't. I myself would willingly date them over someone like me. They're just so pretty :(

Peril waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of arc 2: WAIT-

Rarepair alert but Peril/Sora

Peril meeting Sora: "Hmmm She's attractive. I would love to date her. Too bad I'm straight and in love with her brother lmao :P"

Peril, a mere month later, waiting for Ruby to leave Jade Mountain, pacing in her cave, running face first into a wall: WAIT-

I remember reading this one amazing story where Sora taught Peril to read/write and Peril found out she set off the bomb and comforted her/convinced her her run so that's canon now

Btw if anyone can remember what that story was called/what platform it was on and could tell me I'd appreciate it very much

I'd even be willing to draw a character of your's or make you an icon or something

I usually don't accept requests bc I get burnt out easy but this is a special case

She runs into Sora again sometime between the beginning of TOP and the end

I like to imagine she just goes wandering around

Anyway she confesses like a mere few minutes after running into her again bc Peril is just subtle like that

The actual confession takes 15 minutes and the entire time Sora is just sitting here like "👁👄👁 sure"

Bam Peril/Sora

Peril plans to keep it a secret for a little while longer but she spends 3 seconds around Clay and pretty much blurts it out

Clay, who wasn't even aware that Peril was a lesbian, is just "👁👄👁"

I wanna say Clay doesn't know what a lesbian is but in my canon Sunny is a lesbian so Starflight has already told him

Anyway he's super supportive

From that point Peril is sorta open about her sexuality?

Like, she gives Clay permission to tell the rest of the D.O.D bc she isn't about to risk being in front of them when they hear the news

(When Sunny starts actively seeking her out as a hang out buddy and Tsunami, Glory, and Starflight appear to tolerate her presence just a bit more afterwards she pretends she isn't confused by the change)

She's pink, white, and blue bc I said so

If you look at a certain angle in the right lighting her eyes, mouth, fire, and under her scales all look purple

But her fire is normally white and blue bc I said so

Also she pale as fuck bc in my canon their fire just sorta burns their colour away

You know how you leave something outside for too long and it gets sunbleached? Where it gets all washed out?

Like that but more extreme

By the age of 10-12 firescale dragons are just white with pale eyes

That's right not even the eyes are safe

Ram horns :P

I'm also fond of Peril/Sunny

Or maybe Peril/Sora/Sunny

But Peril/Sora is the main thing

On the topic of that bringing in my hc that if one sib in a sib group is fire resistant all of them are

She,,, She can change her scale colour

But only slightly and only if her emotions are strong enough

Bc I don't give a fuck about Darkstalker's scroll we were robbed of hybrid Peril

Unfortunately all of Peril's emotions are strong

Rainwing ruff along her head and neck

It's like a hood

It's mainly smoothed to her sides but when she's startled it flares out

RAINWING PUPILS

Y'all will know what those look like as soon as I get off my ass :P

She,,, She can mimic bird cries

Hates the summer

She has more than enough body heat already and the outside is just hot enough to add on and make her feel sick

She can somewhat control her heat but most of the time it's based on her emotions

It can go from standing-in-the-middle-of-a-burning-building-cant-see-your-nose-smoke-is-so-thick heat (Strong emotion) to Hey-thats-a-nice-cozy-campfire heat (Calm/"weak" emotion/Sleeping)

I'm just gonna make a different post with all my Peril hcs cuz there isnt enough room for all of them here

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canonicallysoulmates · 3 years

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Hellers wanna talk about censorship and the dub being proof of it.

Let me give y'all an actual example of LGBTQ+ censorship that involves dubbing, and how dubb does not take precendence over the intended language.

Disclaimer I'm not an expert on the discussed example show, I'm just somebody who grew up watching it.

Back in the 90's there was this little anime called Sailor Moon. Some of y'all have probably heard of it, it's what introduced many in the Western market to anime.

Incredibly popular it also suffered infamously of censorship and bad dubbing. A glaring example being the relationship between two of the characters Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. In the American English dubb of the show, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune were introduced as cousins.

Thing is they were actually a couple! And since they were written and animated as a couple...it made for some very interesting watching in English.

The reason they were introduced as cousins instead of as the couple they were is because in the US at least, back in the 90's parents had nothing better to do than bitch about representation in children's cartoons claiming that kind of content was innapropriate for kids.

Now y'all will be happy to know that Sailor Moon has been re-dubbed and keeps Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune as the couple they were originally written as but the point of this example is:

So since Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune were presented as cousins in a dubb version of the anime...does that mean they're cousins? No! They're a couple.

Are they a couple because there was some secret scene that fans uncovered and so the original creators/writers had no other choice but to turn them into a couple? No! That's how they were always intended.

Are they a couple because the fans decided they like the version were they're a couple better and so they did a campaign and changed everybody's minds? No! They're a couple because it's how they were written in the Japanese version aka its intended language. And that's why in the new dub they are kept and acknowledged as the couple they have always been.

LGBTQ+ censorship does happen. But that is not the case with d*stiel. A non-gay character being kept straight, a fanon gay ship remaining fanon is not censorship. You're just a bunch of entitled little brats throwing a tantrum but disguising it as giving a fuck about representation and trying to claim it's censorship.

#anti destihelllers #anti destiel #mine

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backupblogforjg · 4 years

Text

The racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism and cruel tropes in Voltron

So, it’s the anniversary of the ending of Voltron. And I’m getting really, really tired of people saying that only shippers hated the ending. There were many issues with Voltron, and they were neither limited to shipping nor to S8.

So, I’ve decided to compile a list.

It gets LONG. Turns out there was a hell of a lot of racist, sexist, ableist and cruel tropes in VLD.

In fact, I had originally planned on writing a list of both the terrible tropes and the plot holes. But there just wasn’t enough room for both. The post is huge as it is, and with the plot holes, it would have been twice as long, so I had to focus on only one thing.

Salt, obviously. So, so, so much salt. I could turn a lake into a sea here. You’ve been warned.

RACISM:

1) The Alteans are genocide survivors. Out of all the Alteans, only the black Altean was used for a Reverse Racism story where she resents a teammate for belonging to the race that exterminated hers. The white Alteans are totally cool with him, and with his race in general, and only hate the bad people. But the black one had to be taught that hating people because of their race is wrong.

2) VLD Allura is also the only version of Allura who is black. In every other Voltron media (several different cartoons and comics), Allura is blond with blue eyes. All the white versions of the character get a happy ending, while only the black version ends up dying to save the world.

While "hero sacrifices their life to save the world" is not a bad trope in and of itself, it becomes bad when it kills off one of the extremely few black female characters in leading roles. You kill off a white male hero, there are 463278462387 more. You kill off the black female hero, you are kinda screwed. Making it worse, Allura had been portrayed as suffering from depression throughout the latest seasons, so that her death comes across less as heroic sacrifice and more as suicide.

3) The brown Cuban kid who dreamed of being a pilot, and never once in 78 episodes ever expressed anything but sheer love for an exciting life, in the final two minutes of the final episode ends up realizing that the place for him is a farm.

4) As told in interviews, Lotor was meant to be a bad example of mixed-race person, to contrast him with Keith as good example of mixed race person. Do I even have to point out how messed up this is?

5) Even before they became Space Nazis, back when they were still on the side of the angels, the Galra invaded and conquered planets. This is portrayed as totally cool when they happily name the prince after a "hero" who invaded and conquered a lot of worlds, and the peaceful Alteans think the guy is just as heroic as one of their greatest scientists. Apparently there is such a thing as ethically killing people to steal their land.

6) They whitewashed Keith, a character who is poc in every other iteration of Voltron.

I’m sure a lot of people are going to get angry here, claiming that I hate Keith. Let me assure you, I don’t. I love Keith, and I hate what was done to him. I hate that they took a traditionally poc character and went to frankly ridiculous lengths to erase that part of his character. Keith should be Asian, and it would be incredibly easy to make him so in VLD (seriously, all they’d have to do is update the freaking bios, an intern could do it right now in 5 minutes). But they refuse to do it.

A lot of people don’t realise that the surname “Kogane” in VLD is fanon.

I’m serious. Check his official bios page. Keith is not actually called Keith Kogane in VLD. Fans started calling him that in fanfiction, and it stuck, but it’s not canon.

In every other Voltron media, Keith is an Asian guy. But in VLD, they:

- went out of their way to always avoid giving him an Asian surname

- gave him a Texan father

- refused to confirm his race, even when every other character had a specific race. Again, check his official bios. All the other characters got a race, Keith gets “human.” It got so ridiculous it would be funny if it weren’t sad. It pretty much went like this:

Fans: Keith is half alien, but about his human half, what is his ethnicity? EPs: oh, we couldn't possibly say, because the story takes place in the future, and in the future, everybody is mixed up! So, Keith is HUMAN, we can't give him a specific race because there are no specific races in the future! Fans: ok. And what are the races of the other characters? EPs: Pidge is Italian, Lance is Cuban, Hunk is half-black half- Samoan, Shiro is Japanese. Fans: but Keith...? EPs: HUMAN! There is no such thing as race in the future!

Some people at least hoped that Keith's Texan father had Asian ancestry because he kinda looked like Shiro, who is Japanese. But the EPs confirmed that the resemblance was just a coincidence, they never meant for the dad to look Japanese.

At this point pretty much the only evidence that Keith is Asian is that he is voiced by an Asian person. But then, Josh Keaton is not Japanese, is he?

7) After whitewashing Keith, they claimed he is the best leader of Voltron, better than his poc predecessor, because he has Galra blood.

So, instead of bringing up any sort of legit reason to justify why Keith should be in charge (like his empathy or pilot skills), they go with "the half-white guy is also half space-nazi and that's why he should give the orders instead of the poc guy."

If you think I’m bashing Keith here, please ask yourself why you are getting angry at the person pointing out the whitewashing instead of getting angry at the whitewashing. Especially when, again, making VLD Keith canonically poc could be done anytime with zero cost and zero effort, and DW just doesn’t want to.

- Hunk, the half-black half-Samoan guy, was going to be killed and replaced as Paladin by a blue alien. The EPs were pissed when DW forbade them to, and complained in the interview about it.

SEXISM:

Every single woman who is ever put in charge ends up going insane, making terrible decisions that endanger her planet, or losing all of her authority.

Allura starts out as co-leader of Voltron and leader of the Coalition. Ends up as a foot soldier who takes orders from the new leader and his right-hand man, and is treated as a cadet by the Earth military.

HOMOPHOBIA:

1) Dreamworks, Netflix and the EPs very, very, very heavily promoted S7 as GLBT-friendly. The EPs gave whole interviews about the past relationship between Shiro and new character Adam, retweeted a ton of posts celebrating Shiro’s homosexuality, and enthusiastically sent tweets like "you are going to see more of Adam in S7! :D" from their personal accounts after they showed the episode that introduced him.

In S7:

- Shiro's homosexuality is so ambiguous that even the Brazilian voice actor didn't realize that he was supposed to be gay. Just by watching the show, without knowing the World Of God, you can’t tell he and the other guy were engaged.

- Adam gets about 30 seconds of screentime after that one episode they had already shown. Then he dies screaming in pain and terror in a fire.

A lot of people claimed that it was okay to kill Adam because Shiro was supposed to be our rep, not Adam, who was a brand new character we knew little about. And, out of context, that would be true. Adam was pretty much a NPC, why would his death matter?

But the problem here is the context:

- Shiro is closeted in S7, you need to read interviews to know he is gay. So, if only Shiro is meant to be the rep, they couldn’t even do that right.

- They very heavily marketed both Shiro and Adam as gay rep, and specifically talked at length about Adam in several interviews.

In THAT context, REGARDLESS of what you ship, killing off Adam revealed a complete willingness to manipulate the audience to the point of outright lying. Even if you hated Adam, even if Adashi is your NOTP, the clear evidence that the creators had absolutely no problem making empty promises was NOT a good sign.

2) The moment Shiro is revealed to be gay in interviews, he is practically quarantined from the Team.

3) Shiro is also given a Totally Not AIDS deadly disease.

Making it even worse, Shiro never actually gets cured in canon. We are told he is cured in interviews, but the show itself drops the topic entirely. Depending on where you lean in the Word Of God VS Death Of The Author debate, Shiro may be doomed to die.

4) A female villain is revealed to be a lesbian. 30 seconds later she gleefully tortures a little girl. Then she, too, dies in a fire.

(Fan outrage about pulling two Bury Your Gays in the Season that had been very heavily promoted as GLBT-friendly caused DW to retcon her death and bring her back in S8, but she was originally meant to die in the explosion)

5) Shiro ends up marrying a random character who doesn’t even get a name in the show.

ABLEISM:

1) Shiro's PTSD magically disappears offscreen. In interviews, the EPs claimed that he "got over it" between S6 and S7 because "he is a professional." Wow! Who knew being a professional magically cures mental illnesses!

2) Shiro is an amputee. The EPs admitted that they never put any thought into his status as disabled rep, they just wanted a character with a cool-looking arm. It literally didn't occur to them that making him lose his arm (TWICE! First up to the biceps, then up to the shoulder) meant anything. Also worth noting that Shiro’s new arm makes him look like the guy who tormented him.

3) Shiro is systematically robbed of his agency.

- He is the only Paladin who never gets to use his bayard.

- He loses his bond with Black for no given canon reason (and the reason they give in interviews makes no sense, they basically say that transferring his soul out of the Black Lion makes her stop loving him. But she still lets Zarkon fly her!).

I know that Keith is traditionally Black’s pilot in Voltron media (although that shouldn’t matter, because VLD made a lot of huge changes to the traditional status quo). But if they wanted Black Paladin Keith that badly, they could have given some non-insulting reason for it. For example, say “because Shiro has spent so much time within Black, their bond is now so strong that he will get absorbed again if he flies her again.” Or co-pilots in Black (if Pidge can co-pilot with Matt, why can’t Shiro co-pilot with Keith?).

- He is defeated not only by Sendak, but also by a bunch of random Alteans. He basically can’t win a fight anymore unless it’s played for laughs.

- His new robot Atlas is bigger than Voltron, but also much weaker, and can only buy a few minutes for Voltron to come save the day.

- Every single enemy he ever defeated comes back to be finished off by somebody else (even the friggin' Gladiator from S1 comes back in S8). In the epilogue, he retires in his twenties.

4) Narti, the disabled General, is fridged shortly after her introduction. For a while at least it seemed like her death had affected the remaining three Generals, but then it turns out that the "For Narti" line was a trick and they never actually planned on avenging her.

CRUEL TROPES:

1) They intentionally baited the fans by pushing the plot thread that Lotor would be redeemed. They named the episode where he defects "A New Defender," they kept saying in interviews that they come from Avatar and they are very familiar with Zuko *hint hint*, they showed his family as incredibly abusive and Lotor himself as desperate, they showed that Lotor was a victim of severe racism (he is mixed race, and as stated above, the Galra are Space Nazis and are pretty obsessed with blood purity).

Then, after revealing him to be a villain, they gave an interview where they practically dislocated their shoulders by patting themselves on the back as they gleefully bragged that "we made them think we would give them a Zuko, but we gave them an Azula!"

(Nevermind the fact that Azula herself was a 14-year-old child, not a monster, and that Aaron Ehasz himself confirmed that he always wanted her to be redeemed).

When fans who are survivors of child abuse told them that the bait-and-switch was really hurtful, they laughed it off, and claimed that Lotor was just beyond redemption. Then they proceeded to redeem Lotor's abusive parents, who were objectively much worse.

2) Shiro’s clone, who sincerely believed he was Shiro and always meant well, was dehumanised, demonised and discarded like his life meant nothing. His short existence was full of pain from literally the moment he first opened his eyes, as Haggar kept torturing him with migraines to manipulate him. In the end, she brutally violates him body and mind, and brainwashes him to force him to turn on the family he was so desperate to find in The Journey. He dies in incredibly questionable circumstances, without ever getting to learn that his family survived Haggar’s plans. He is victim-blamed for the things she forced him to do against his will with mind-control, and is never mourned because the only family he ever had writes him off as a “thing” and “evil.”

In fact, the horrific treatment of Kuron foreshadowed S8. The Medium article “It never stops at one - Why Voltron: Legendary Defender's tragic ending wasn't a surprise and why more DreamWorks' series will follow suit” explains how.

The tl;dr version is that, when a story posits that the circumstances of your birth determine the value of your life, so that good intentions and hard work mean nothing, and long-established bonds can be discarded with zero thought and care, and your very humanity can be revoked over something you have absolutely no control over, and the whole sociopathic disaster is celebrated as a happy ending... it really, really can’t end well. Not just for you, but for the entire cast.

#voltron critical #vld shiro #vld keith #vld lance #vld allura #vld lotor #voltron #voltron salt #takashi shirogane

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soyouareandrewdobson · 4 years

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The first comic: Maturity or rather the lack thereoff.

Something I commonly saw within the last decade was people arguing that animation has reached a new peak by the amount of quality in storywriting put into them and some even claiming cartoons have become more mature, particularly compared to shows of the 80s and 90s. Dobson too joined the trend and as such made this little comic in 2015 titled “Mature”, in which he argues that cartoons for children are more mature and handle serious subjects better than any media tagged with an r-rating or not following the format of animation.

While I admit that the comic is not the most offensive and insulting thing Dobson has ever created when soapboxing about nerd/american culture, I do think “Mature” actually in composes quite a good insight in how Dobson does not understand concepts of storytelling and overhypes the achievements and merits of children entertainment to a degree that is hurting the “cause”. Which greatly annoys me as a fan of storytelling and animation in general and paints Dobson as incompetent in the field of work (cartoonist, comic writer/artist) he tries to engage in. And I can bring this lack of understanding by Dobson down by just one simple question:

What exactly counts as a mature subject here?

Dobson randomly accuses any form of fiction that is not a children’s cartoon or comic to have no idea how to approach a “mature” subject, but he can’t even give an example of what he defines by this term.

See, for me a mature subject is e.g. an social, emotional or political issue we as humans can correlate to in the real world. Either as a result of personal experience or a bigger picture in our history and culture (such as racism, poverty, existential dreed, personal/emotional growth, any form of oppression etc.) Something that does not only drive a story forward as a source of conflict or a character’s backstory/arc for the sake of entertainment, but may even make us think afterwards.

And as much as I like cartoons, I do not think this is something children cartoons do most of the time.

And before I get accused of thinking cartoons are only something for kids or that a thoughtful story can not be told via the medium of animation, let me put a few things into perspective.

Unlike Dobson, I do not have an educational background in animation. However, I grew up with a lot of cartoons, animated movies and comics from all over the world and thanks to the wonders of the internet read up here and there on the different ages of animation and certain tidbits in what went into the making of certain works of fiction and why they may have been a huge thing in the time periods they emerged in.

As such I know that the medium of animation can be used to not only create “child appropriate” content, but also movies like Barefoot Gen, Fritz the Cat, Felidae, Animal Farm and so on, which tackled themes of social issues, political worldviews and personal/historical tragedies.

Then there is the fact, that depending on the culture, there are very different interpretations in what can be considered “child appropriate” in certain parts of the world and therefore what themes a cartoon may tackle. Like how in European children cartoons such as Alfred J. Quack there was a story arc resembling the rise of Adolf Hitler in power, to tell about the heroes of the show working in the underground against an obvious fascist regime. Or how in certain Japanese children shows the subject of death can be rather common, while in American cartoons just mentioning the word “die” seems a red flag to some studio executives. Lastly, a lot of early animation, (particularly western animation) did not even start off as something targeted primarily at children. Animation started off as a technique to tell a story through “moving pictures” and some of the first animated shorts ever had a huge fanbase of adults and children. “Snow White”, Disney’s first animated movie back in 1933 was a technical marvel at the time. A movie we nowadays mostly consider a children’s movie with a slightly dull story compared to other Disney outings, was back then a risk that earned Disney multiple Oscars and was appreciated more by adults than it was by children, despite being based on a fairy tale. A type of story mostly considered “appropriate” for kids.

What I am trying to say is, that I am aware of how not all children cartoons are the same and can vary in terms of “maturity”. Something I think Dobson can’t, because he also can’t see that there is a huge variety of “children” cartoons.

Despite his background and claims to consider animation an art, Dobson has shown a huge lack of knowledge or admiration for shows/movies that do not fit into the specific mold of “western animation primarily targeted for children and airing on american television”.

And that is not a claim I make half-heartedly. I have done research on the guy, I know how he likes to brag when he considers he found a great cartoon or something interesting. So I find it telling that aside of nostalgia for certain 80s and 90s cartoons we all know, Dobson’s recommendations and taste in shows seems to be primarily focused on just the most recent stuff everybody else likes/a very small pool of rather generic shows. I am not saying he should be contrarian on principal and e.g. dislike Gravity Falls, but he lacks initiative to look out for new and old stuff himself.

I in fact remember when he asked twitter first if he should give Wander over Yonder, one of the best cartoons of the last decade, a chance, cause it seemed he was too chicken to have an opinion on his own.

Then again, weirdly enough, Dobson actually tends to be contrarian for the sake of it, till someone he respects or sucks up to tends to have a different opinion on a show/movie. For example, while he acts like Frozen is a great movie franchise and defends the second movie to the point he becomes anti-feministic when a woman has a different opinion than him on it, he actually gave the first movie a terrible review on deviantart back in 2014. Accusing it of “same face syndrome” and a shame to the name of Disney. Obviously that was also before the hashtag #GiveElsaaGirlfriend became popular and he went so far as to hint he thinks an incest ship with Anna was great. And Legend of Korra? According to first deviantart posts by him garbage. Which was an opinion swiftly changed the moment Korrasami became popular in the fandom by season 3.

The point I want to make with this digression is, that there are a lot of past actions by him hinting on the fact that Dobson kinda despises animation, when it does not fit within a very narrow niche of things he likes. Further indicated by his disdain for “adult” animated shows or hostility towards foreign animation, except the occasional movie by Studio Ghibli for example.

Because of this lack of a bigger picture, I do not think Dobson is aware how in terms of story, cartoons can heavily vary. And when it comes to mature subjects, you can’t really engage with them if you lack a story carrying them in turn. Let’s look again at the comic. What cartoon characters do you see in it, when Dobson talks about how he believes children cartoons “treat these (non-defined) mature subjects with FAR more respect than the hardest “dark, grim and gritty” stories”?

Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony, three main characters of Spongebob, Steven Universe, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Blossom from the Powerpuff Girls and Mickey Mouse. You want my opinion on them? None of them are from any cartoons tackling mature subjects in a huge manner.

However, they are from great shows. (Well, everyone but Steven, but I explain that later.)

See, this is where putting cartoons into perspective within the vast history of animation, comes in handy. Cause looking at them it is undeniable that people put effort into these shows. Effort in the animation and the writing in order to create an entertaining product, decent enough that not only little kids can enjoy it as a mindless distraction, but even older people can find merit in it, thanks to characters with decent personality, good humor, world building and even an engaging story. But all of that doesn’t make these shows or any story necessarily tackle a “mature subject”. Sure, the latest incarnation of My little pony was not as saccharine as its predecessor but rather cartoony as a good 90s show, but that doesn’t mean the new version is the Schindler’s List of animation (excuse the hyperbole). Same for the other cartoons, with Dobson also not acknowledging the fact that Spongebob e.g. had quite some dips in quality over the years (and even made pretty awful jokes about serious subjects such as suicide) or that Steven Universe, while tending to tackle mature subjects for its story (like trauma, war, abuse, self esteem issues, racism, rape and homosexuality) has failed multiple times over its run (even back when this comic was made) to treat these subjects not just as plot and drama points, but also with enough respect within the narrative, to the point a lot of former fans of the show turned their back on it, cause they had enough of the issues they could relate to being simplified and resolved in a cookie cutter manner so Rebeca Sugar could tell a whimsical story about gay space rocks and forgiveness.

Let us not even forget the fact, that while there is a huge number of cartoons with decent writing and value to them (and that those were not only created within the last 10 years or so), there is also just a lot of garbage out there that counts as “kids animation”. Cartoons and movies that were written with not a care in the world and at times outright more mean spirited as some of the stuff Dobson likely hates in life action. Are you telling me those toilet humor driven garbage piles of creativity are mature?

The point I try to make is, Dobson’s GENERAL statement that kids cartoons tackle mature subjects better than other form of media, is factually wrong, because a lot of shows don’t even try to be mature in the first place. Which however does not mean, there aren’t attempts made at being mature or tackle a mature subject.

Growing up with cartoons since the 90s, I saw quite a few cartoons once in a while having episodes with themes to them that were surprisingly “dark”, dramatic or related to issues I and other kids could also see and relate to in the real world. Bullying going out of control, eating disorders, school violence (even school shootings), dealing with the passing of a loved one, to name a few basic ones. Gargoyles and Hey Arnold were two very important cartoons for me in that regard, with Gargoyles showing me how dramatic a good action cartoon could be when compared to other action cartoons at the time (like Ninja Turtles) and Hey Arnold episodes like “Helga on the Couch” giving me a rather somber look into what “therapy” looks like closer to reality, while normally being a show with the slice of life adventures of a kid in the big city.

And I do highly appreciate that nowadays there are more cartoons doing ongoing storyarcs and as a result of actually having more drama to them, adding tension and character development to their plots. Things we did not quite have to the degree we have nowadays back then in the average show. But it is debatable if those things are equal to “mature subjects” such as racism, abuse or trauma. Cause at the end of the day, a lot of kids cartoons tend to only scratch the surface of those things in order to flesh out a plot, instead of making the plot about those issues. Which at times is even for the best if you ask me. Cause we should not forget, these shows and movies are made for kids. And because of their age, a lot of kids lack at times the knowledge and experience in life to properly understand the themes and subjects some people may try to convey with their work. Particularly when you want to tackle subjects such as trauma, abuse and war which lets be honest, a lot of people can’t even comprehend in their complexity as adults. So how are kids supposed to comprehend them? One way, in my opinion, is by simplifying them and turning them into part of a narrative instead of the main focus of the narrative. But that in itself doesn’t always work and can have negative consequences in multiple ways. For example by making the story suddenly non engaging, delivering the subject in such a manner that people can get the wrong message of what you are trying to say or (at worst) simplifying it to such a degree, it becomes outright offensive to others.

A good example that comes to my mind for that would be how Captain Planet back in the 90s tried to tackle the subject of AIDS in one episode. On one hand, considering how the disease was a big deal back then but no one openly talked about it, you kinda have to give credit to Captain Planet to tackle it. On the other hand, is a subject such as a deadly disease that back then was barely researched and killed millions, really something you want to tackle on an overly preachy (but considering whose company produced it, also very hypocritical) kids show, where most of the time the solution to a problem was not even grounded in reality? And spoilers, the episode treated AIDS not even as the big deal it was, but as something the villain would exploit to spread a rumor on the ill kid, because that somehow equaled a chance to pollute the world more. Not really mature, if you ask me.

What all of this ranting is boiling down to, is that Dobson failed to make a case for how kids animation is able to tackle mature subjects, by not putting his opinion in the bigger context of what animation is/can be and what he means by the term “mature theme”. All he did was just indirectly soapbox that he thinks every other form of media is incapable of being about a serious issue, in doing so also insulting the art of storytelling in itself by disregarding anything not expressed in funny pictures specifically made for children or manchildren on tumblr who want to act they are the big boys, cause a cartoon horse made them feel sad.

He did so by making a very weak argument, not being able to present it in a manner that was hard to debunk and by drawing a comic in which everything looks surprisingly lifeless and like the least amount of quality and effort (things I argued can make a great cartoon) was put into it.

Which ironically, is the total opposite, of being mature.

And lastly, can’t believe I have to say that, but Dobson, the Pokemon’s name is Butterfree, not Butterfry. Butterfry is what you get when you make a statue of a Futurama character made out of something you put on your bread.

#comic #my little pony #adobsonartworks #maturity #western animation #steven universe #syac

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letterboxd · 3 years

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How I Letterboxd #9: Julie Collette.

Christmas movie lover Julie Collette tells Jack Moulton all about her seasonal movie habits, the best big screen Santa Claus of all time, disability visibility in festive films, and some of the weirder holiday picks.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: when Letterboxd members turn to the Neverending Christmas List to help plan their Christmas movie viewing. Arrange it by highest rated, arrange it by newest release, or by popularity—any which way, there’s something for everyone, from corny TCM romances to obscure seasonal horrors.

Created six years ago by Canadian member Julie Collette, the list runs to more than 4,300 titles, and contains the word ‘Christmas’ 1,837 times at last count. Julie and her husband are die-hard Letterboxd fans, having allegedly used the platform every day for the past nine years. She’s logged every film she’s seen in theaters since 1996.

A message from John McClane in ‘Die Hard’ (1988).

What inspired your Neverending Christmas List? Can you please explain the minimum requirement for eligibility? My husband had told me about a list on Letterboxd of Every Horror Film Made from 1895–Present and that gave me the idea to start the neverending Christmas list. My eligibility rules are not strict at all. It can be a film that centers on or around Christmas time. Even New Year’s counts in my book—as long as there’s a moment in the film that has a Christmas song, a Christmas scene, or Christmas decorations. Die Hard is definitely a Christmas film. First of all, it takes place on Christmas Eve at an office Christmas party. There’s that great note that John McClane sends to Hans Gruber on a dead guy’s shirt: “Now I have a machine gun, ho-ho-ho.” Now that’s Christmas! There are a couple of titles that test my relaxed requirements. Examples would be Psycho—there are a few Christmas decorations at the beginning [and Bryan Fuller agrees]—and the documentary Beauty Day by Canadian director Jay Cheel, which has Christmas lights at the end.

And what percentage of the films have you seen? As of right now, I've watched 20 percent—that’s 882 of the 4,322 films on the list. I’ve got a lot of homework to do. Here’s a few hidden gems I recommend: Mon oncle Antoine, Holiday Affair, Remember the Night, Olivia, On the Twelfth Day…, Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas and One Christmas, which is Katherine Hepburn’s last role.

David Bowie and Bing Crosby sing ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ in ‘Bing Crosby’s Merrie Old Christmas’ (1977).

When does your Christmas movie viewing season start? I usually start mid-November to try to keep up with the TV rom-coms because they start to air even before Hallowe’en. This year on Hallowe’en night we rewatched The Night of the Hunter and I had forgotten that there was a sequence that was set at Christmas time. It was a perfect segue between Hallowe’en and Christmas, so I started November 1st. As far as how I pick what to watch, I go through my list and randomly pick some. I try to watch as many first-time watches and mix up the genres. But the closer I get to Christmas, the more I want to watch my favorites—for the most part I go with the flow. Christmas Day is usually a day of family time, but I try to sneak in one favorite if I can.

What was the first Christmas film that got you into all of this? I’ve always loved Christmas and growing up I watched the yearly airings of vintage Christmas cartoons and A Muppet Family Christmas. When Home Alone came out it was an instant obsession, then Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was just as good. Even now it’s our yearly tradition for my husband and I to watch the Home Alones while we decorate the Christmas tree.

If not Home Alone, what is your all-time favorite Christmas film? It’s a Wonderful Life is up there for me. Partly because growing up I watched it every Christmas Eve and kind of forced my dad to watch it with me. I think he secretly didn’t mind. As a kid, I didn’t dwell on the sad parts of the story, I just wanted to go to that candy shop and run in Bedford Falls like George in that beautiful thick fake snow. Now as an adult, I appreciate the story about a small town coming together to support a man at his lowest of lows more. Jimmy Stewart is amazing as George Bailey and we can all see ourselves at some point in his journey in the film. The chemistry and comedic timing between Stewart and Donna Reed is one of the best. Every time they sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’, I always get a bit misty-eyed.

メリークリスマス Japanese style, in ‘Tokyo Godfathers’ (2003).

What have you noticed about the ways in which Christmas films have changed over the years? In classic Christmas storytelling, there are a lot more religion-centered ones like The Bishop’s Wife and It’s a Wonderful Life. The ’80s and ’90s were about the blockbusters that the whole family could enjoy; Batman Returns, Home Alone, and The Santa Clause. The last twenty years have brought us a lot of different movies, but I do find that the start of the 2000s had a better crop of Christmas movies; Love Actually, Elf, Tokyo Godfathers, Far from Heaven, Bridget Jones’s Diary, About a Boy and so many more. The last decade has been saturated by the rom-coms of Hallmark, Lifetime and their imitators, but from the last five years, a few stand out that could be destined to become Christmas classics: Carol, Little Women and The Night Before.

The best, most rewatched Christmas stories tend to be remade. Do you have a classic Christmas story that you always love, no matter who’s telling it? Hands down Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. From my favorite—Scrooge—to The Muppet Christmas Carol, to Scrooged. Growing up, I had the book of Mickey’s Christmas Carol and I loved the cartoon adaptation. I love to see the different actors’ excitement and elation at the end when Scrooge wakes up on Christmas Day. My ultimate favorite is Alistair Sim in 1951’s Scrooge. He’s so jubilant asking the maid what day it is and wishing himself Merry Christmas in the mirror. It’s a bit darker than others. When I was a kid, the intro with Jacob Marley and the build-up of the chains scared me, but I couldn’t stop watching. Patrick Stewart’s Ebenezer [in the 1999 TV movie] is also great for his relief that he survived the journey through time. What an actor! An honorable mention to The Shop Around the Corner, In the Good Old Summertime and You’ve Got Mail, which are all based on [the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklós László].

A Christmas Treat in ‘Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square’ (2020).

Treat Williams stars in not one but two of this season’s films (who knew he could sing?!). Which actors bring that special spark to festive films for you? Yes, and boy can he sing! Another actor who can sing and puts me straight in the Christmas mood is Bing Crosby. Those classic songs in White Christmas and Holiday Inn are favorites of mine. Jimmy Stewart is an obvious one. He has that charm that’s perfect for Christmas movies, especially in The Shop Around the Corner.

What’s your guiltiest pleasure on the list? Why do we love cheesy movies so much?! Every year I watch TCM’s Classic Christmas marathon [but I also watch] the Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas rom-coms. For me, I love them partly because there’s always a happy ending. I love to see all the decorations and all the cute small towns—some I wish existed so I could visit them because they’re so darn cute! Another reason I love them is the nostalgia, as some of the better ones star TV actors from the ’90s and ’00s like Candice Cameron Bure, Lacey Chabert, Jonathan Bennett, Adrian Grenier, Mario Lopez, Alicia Witt, Alison Sweeney and so many others.

One of the other great Christmas-themed lists on Letterboxd is the one about Christmas movie posters with white heterosexual couples wearing red and green—though many members pride themselves on having seen none of them. I like those movies because I can zone out and enjoy the predictable Christmas ride. However, like other Letterboxd members, I know that these aren’t Oscar-caliber films—though some are better than others! I’m glad that the powers that make these movies are starting to be more inclusive with more POC and LGTBQ+ characters. As a wheelchair user with a physical disability, I was happy to see that Lifetime has an upcoming one called Christmas Ever After, starring Ali Stroker.

Ali Stroker finds love in ‘Christmas Ever After’ (2020).

Indeed, our Make the Yuletide Gay list is an attempt to highlight queer festive films, but the pickings have been slim. Yes, very slim. There’s been queer characters in Christmas films but it’s your stereotypical gay friend or something like that. This year I feel there’s a shift in the air to be more inclusive. My favorites this year so far have been the star-filled lesbi-rom-com Happiest Season, The Christmas House—featuring a landmark first gay couple in a Hallmark festive film, Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square and Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey—with Ricky Martin! I’m looking forward to checking out A New York Christmas Wedding, The Christmas Setup and Dashing in December.

What is the scariest Christmas film that your horror-loving husband has made you watch? The best one is Black Christmas. I love that it’s female-centered and ahead of its time in their portrayals. The killer’s POV really gets me into it and still to this day puts me on edge, so much so that an ornament fell off our tree while watching it this year and it freaked me out!

Also, should we be watching The Nightmare Before Christmas on Hallowe’en or on Christmas? I watch The Nightmare Before Christmas on both holidays so you get the best of both worlds—the ghoulishness of Hallowe’en and the merriment of Christmas!

What other films on your list show Christmas in an unusual light? The first weird one that popped to mind is The Star Wars Holiday Special. That was weird! Also, from what I’ve watched I would say Eyes Wide Shut, The Ref and 3 Godfathers are not your usual Christmas films. I do have quite a few on the list I have to watch that seem weird and unusual like Elves, Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

[Editor’s note: Previous How I Letterboxd interviewee Dave Vis urges you not to watch Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny under any circumstances.]

Which actor is the quintessential Santa Claus? For me, it’s the Santa in Miracle on 34th Street, played by Edmund Gwenn. He truly embodied the part in the way he plays Kris Kringle. The gentleness and innocence he shows throughout the film is magical. It’s no wonder he won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his performance.

Gunn Wållgren in ‘Fanny and Alexander’ (1982).

Of course, so many films in the Christmas canon are American films. What are some of the best Christmas films from around the world? This question makes me realize I haven’t watched enough Christmas movies from around the world. With that being said here’s a few; A Christmas Tale from France, A Child’s Christmas in Wales from the UK, Tokyo Godfathers from Japan and Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander from Sweden. Mon oncle Antoine is a great Canadian film set in a small mining village during Christmas. It reminded me of the stories my mom and grandma talked about their Christmas traditions in their small village.

Are there any overrated classics you want to protest? I didn’t watch A Christmas Story growing up, so when I finally did watch it as an adult, I didn’t connect with it. The iconic scenes are funny and all, but it’s just okay. Now I’ll be on my hubby’s naughty list!

Does the film marathon continue through that purgatory week between Christmas and New Year? Do you have any film-related traditions to ring in the New Year? It does continue during that week to a certain extent. Some years after Christmas I’m done and what I haven’t watched goes to the following year but other years I can watch a few more and not feel overwhelmed. On New Year’s we have no traditions per se, but this year we might do a Tarantino marathon.

Christmas season is also synonymous with awards season. You keep track of a lot of Academy Awards history. How are you feeling about the awards season this year? First off, like many others, I haven’t even set foot in a theater this year and that is sad. I hope that the theater-going experience is not irreparably damaged. One good thing that came from the pandemic is film festivals streamed online and we were fortunate to watch some great titles from TIFF from the comfort of our home in September. I saw Nomadland, and it’s going to be a frontrunner for many of the main categories. I hope Regina King’s One Night in Miami gets some love. Miranda July’s Kajillionaire script is so unique—Evan Rachel Wood and Richard Jenkins should be contenders. I haven’t watched a lot of docs yet but Boys State stands out. I’m also eager to see First Cow, Minari, Ammonite, The Truffle Hunters, Soul, Mank, The Father and Promising Young Woman.

This Christmas is going to be weird for a lot of people. What’s one film you’d recommend for a guaranteed happiness injection? Weird indeed. If I have to pick just one it would be John Favreau’s Elf. Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf instantly brings a smile to my face. You can feel his joy for Christmas from start to finish. From the classic claymation, to New York City at Christmas, to eating all that sugar, to that hilarious scene with Peter Dinklage—it’s Christmas gold!

And finally, are there some other Letterboxd members you recommend we follow? Emily, Flurryheaven, Guyzo997, Peter Spencer, Michael Dean, Brent Vanhomwegen, Ara Hiddleston and also some more Christmas lists.

#letterboxd #how i letterboxd #letterboxd community #letterboxd culture #letterboxd members #christmas #christmas films #christmas movies #holiday movies #holiday films #jack moulton

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pangtasias-atelier · 4 years

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An Inexperienced Ghost Agent (unedited story from 2014)

Just to preface this, this is a fic I wrote way back ago when I was still a sophomore in highschool. This was probably like one of my first ever attempts at any type of story. So it's bad. Like, really bad. And it honestly does make me cringe, but it also makes me happy to see my level of writing be way above this. (Not that my current level is far from average lmao) Nothing explicit or bad in this. The worst is the awful like se/me u/ke relationships in typical BL fashion. The last portion is where it gets kinda bad too. Though it's more cringey than anything lmao. But again, happy to see myself move past those stereotypes that had been ingrained in my mind as a young gay still unsure of anything. I remember telling myself that I couldn't be gay cause I'm Mexican lol. Which is admittedly really sad, but like, that's growth there! Anyways, enough about my stupidity, this fic is from 2014 and about the now defunct gacha, Ayakashi Ghost Guild. This work is entirely unedited, so it doesn't even have an ending. I wanted to preserve its age by not altering it in any way. So yeah. I doubt this'll be enjoyable to anyone, but I hope at least someone gets some good laughs over how mediocre this is!

Edit: actually, there are some edits, but it's just me combining paragraphs and cutting off dialogue marked by a lack of a response aka "..." Cause this story actually exceeded the 250 paragraphs limit on Tumblr sbdksnksnslalansma

_______________

"Nnngh. That felt really good. How long was I asleep?"

"For a pretty long time. Trust me I was beside you the entire time." I turn to my right and see that Santa Claus is right beside me.

"Why are you on my bed?"

"Because you're so comfortable." Santa Claus said it so matter of factly.

"Please get off."

"No. I wanna lay down with you, so get used to it." Barely a second goes by and I hear an arrow wiz by.

"Leave Alex alone Santa Claus."

"You're just jealous that I can cuddle with him. Besides, you missed me."

"I never miss my mark. It was intentional."

"Just because you transmigrated doesn't mean that."

"Do you want to find out." Kyu raised his bow and pulled it back; ready to shoot it.

"Stop it you two! Let go of me Santa Claus, and put your coat back on; the Anniversary Event is already over." He's so pressed up to me that I can feel his chest on my back.

"I know it's over. That's why I took it off. I can also take off the rest of my clothes if you want me to." I can't stop the blush on my face. Kyu sees it and he scowls.

"One more remark like that and this arrow is going straight for your neck." Would Kyu really do it? I didn't want to find out.

"Stop it Kyu. And let go of me."

"Sheesh Alex no need to be rough. Of course I'm going to be rough to you later tonight." That last remarks makes me blush even more and before I can make a retort Mira steps in.

"I think it's time for me to step in before Kyu and Claus kill each other." Thank God Mira stepped in! I wouldn't doubt them killing each other either. Wait, she has chocolate on her cheek.

"Were you raiding the fridge for some pudding Mira?"

"Yes master. That's why I barely came." She puts her head down in slight embarrassment and shame. If she's eating some pudding then that means it's night.

"What time is it Mira?" Thankfully Kyu and Claus have finally shut up.

"It's 1:37 a.m."

"Screw it. I'm watching some anime with you Mira." Before Santa Claus can tighten his grip on me I quickly get off the bed and go into the living room.

"I'm going back to my room." Thankfully Kyu left which just leaves Santa Claus on my bed *sigh*.

"Thank god I have such a big house. They'd probably kill each other already if they lived any closer." Mira just laughs at me. When we finally arrive at the living room, Ranmaru is sitting there entranced by the TV. "Why is Ranmaru with you this late?"

"I'm not a kid anymore! Plus I wanted to see if you people correctly got how all of us looked in the Sengoku period. How do they know how we look? Technology sure has gotten far." It takes me awhile to understand everything he said. He's half right about not being a kid at least. When he transmigrated he grew up but he still acts like a kid.

"Wait, they're actually right on how all of you look!"

"Yeah look at me and the cartoon of me on the TV!" Oh my god they actually are.

"Is their depiction of Nobunaga right?"

"Especially him!" I take note of how he looks in case we ever run into him. Mira just sits on the couch laughing at Ranmaru's reaction.

I go into the kitchen feeling a bit peckish. "Do either of you want pudding." I know Mira wants one, so I grab her one on reflex.

"Yes please." They both reply unsurprisingly. Ranmaru being childish obviously would have a sweet tooth.

"Here you go you two." They simultaneously replied with a thank you and I sat down on the floor. A while passes and the show is finally over. Ranmaru and Mira are absolutely hooked on it but I'm just tired to the point I'm tempted to sleep on the floor. The front doorknob starts to shake and I quickly get up out of fear. Then I hear that a key is being inserted into it and then curiosity takes over. Who the hell is out this late. The door opens and I see that it's rat clan boss in his anniversary getup. I quickly go up to him all worried.

"What is it Alex?"

"Your jacket is covered in blood! What were you doing out so late?" I yell even though I didn't mean to. I hope I didn't wake anyone up.

"It's not my blood. Don't worry."

"That makes me all the more worried. What did you do?" While I'm no longer yelling I'm still somewhat raising my voice to him.

"Calm down don't get your panties in a knot. Come with me."

"Wait, what are you doing? Let me go!" He walks up to me and hoists me up to his shoulder and he carries me like a sack of flour. Since when did I start to get pushed around. I'm the ghost hunter here. I fought mostly everyone here and I beat everybody that I fought.

"Calm down. We're going to my room. You can sleep with me for tonight." Before Rat Clan Boss can react Ranmaru suddenly appears before us.

"Oh no he's not. Let him go Nezumi "

"Nezumi? The hell did you get that from; that's not my real name. "

"It means rat in Japanese you idiot. Now let go of Alex." Oh dear God. Ranmaru just drew his sword. This isn't good. Then they'll both fight. I need to stop to them.

"Stop it both of you! And Nezumi I'll come with you if you promise that you'll let me go with you whenever you leave so late.

"Fine I don't see a problem with that but you be careful when you come with me. Now let's go." He starts to walk towards his room. I turn around, embarrassed to see Ranmaru's and Mira's reaction.

"Don't worry. I'll take good care of him."

"Shut up already." Ranmaru is still confused about the situation but I hear Mira calling him over and then I hear whispering. What are they saying? I turn around towards them and they both give me a wink. I blush and turn back around regretting looking at them. Once we're out of sight Nezumi takes me off his shoulder and carries me bridal style.

"How cliche."

"Anything to woo you." He smirks at me. When we finally reach his room, he gently puts me on his bed.

"Get me the blanket, please."

"I thought we were going to have some fun before we go to sleep." Not this again.

"No. Now hand me the blanket."

"Fine. I was only teasing you." He drapes the blanket over me while he changes. I quickly turn around to face away from him.

"Don't care. Just go to sleep. *sigh* I'm tired. And if you sleep in the buff I'm leaving." The warmth from the blanket is making me even more tired.

"Calm down already. I don't. I need to be prepared if someone attacks me."

"What do you mean if someone attacks you?"

"It's out of habit. No need to worry. I feel more comfortable carrying it when I go to sleep."

I wonder what he means by 'it' until it finally clicks with me. "You better not carry a knife with you while you sleep."

"And what if I do." I slowly turn around to yell at him, but I stop when I see him wearing nothing except plain boxers. I quickly turn around out of embarrassment. It takes me a while for me to calm down, but when I do I'm absolutely annoyed.

"I don't want you stabbing me when I wake up!"

"I won't carry a knife then. Hold on a bit." He gets something from one of his shelves and grabs a bottle filled with liquid.

"Are you going to drug me!?"

"It's to clean my piercings so they don't get infected. Calm down already. And quit yelling."

"*yawn* Fine." I'm too tired for anything else so I start to get comfortable.

"Since you won't let me carry a knife while I sleep, how 'bout I hold you for tonight." He laid down on his bed with me and wrapped his arms around my chest. I can feel his bare chest against the light fabric of my shirt. His biceps are pressing into my arms.

"Let go of me! Stop it." I'm so tired that it sounds halfhearted.

"You know you sound cute when you're tired."

"Whatever. I'm going to kill you when I wake up."

"Goodnight." He tightens his grip on me even further. Maybe I should talk to Eisuke how to deal with this tomorrow. I'll look for him at the institute.

"Goodnight." Finding no way to get out I snuggle up to him.

"Someone's getting comfortable."

"Shut up. Now let me go to sleep."

"I wish we didn't have to go to sleep." I shiver from how softly he says it right into my ear. "This is a lot better than carrying a knife. Looks like I'll have to take you from your bed from now on."

"Don't. Now let me sleep I'm tired." I don't care at how whiny I sound; I want to go to sleep.

When I wake up in the morning I see Kyu and Pearce staring at me in Nezumi's arms.

"What?" Maybe I should ask Pearce how to contact Eisuke.

"Get up."

"Do you honestly think that if I could get up that I wouldn't." Does Pearce honestly think I'm that strong.

"Move his arms Kyu."

"Fine."

"Don't. He's a light sleeper. I'll wake him up myself. Just leave the room real quick. I'll be out in a bit."

"Let's go Kyu." Pearce forcefully drags Kyu along with him. At least he listens to me still.

"Thank you. Now get up you!" I start to flail my entire body to wake him up not caring about being nice. I did promise to kill him.

"Give me a kiss first."

"When I'm in hell. And what about Koko?"

"We're not going out. She's just popular with the henchmen. Now about that kiss."

"Never."

"Then I guess you're not leaving this bed." I hear movement behind the door and the sounds of struggling. Most likely Pearce stopping Kyu from barging into here.

"Fine." I give him a quick peck on the cheek. "Now let me go."

"I mean a kiss on the mouth. Now give it to me."

"You just said a kiss. You never said on the mouth!"

"Doesn't matter."

"I can't if you don't loosen your grip!" He completely lets go and before I can risk quickly running away he speaks.

"If you even try to leave before you give me a kiss you're going to be in my arms all day."

I get up to give him a kiss and when my face is right in front of his he puts his hand on the back of my head and he brings my head down to his and he forcefully kisses me. I close my lips so he can't put his tongue inside my mouth but he doesn't get the tip so he bites my lips with his teeth and I open my mouth out of reflex and that's enough time for him to slide his tongue into my mouth. Once he's done I can barely breath from the lack of oxygen and the heat rising to my face. Yet he doesn't stop there, he brings his lips down to my neck and he bites down. HARD. His sharp teeth pierce my skin. I whimper from the pain and I realize Pearce and Kyu are outside the door.

"Pearce help!" He quickly barges through the door and he notices what Nezumi is doing to me. He rushes to the bed and he forces Nezumi off of me.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" The way Nezumi says it is pretty scary. He quickly stands up to punch Pearce but I put both of my hands on his arm to stop him before his fist and Pearce's face make contact.

He turns back at me surprised and when he sees that I have tears in my eyes and I'm slightly bleeding where he bit me on my neck. He embraces me in a hug. I don't even want to give him a hug so he knows that I don't forgive him.

"I'm sorry for hurting you."

"Just let me go please."

"Again I'm sorry." Thankfully Ne- no rat clan boss let me go. As I leave the room with Pearce I turn around to see that he's sitting on the bed silently crying. I quickly run to his side and give him a hug.

"I forgive you. Just don't do it again please."

"Okay I'm sorry." He grabs a handkerchief and starts to clean my tears and then proceeds to clean my blood. "Sorry if it hurts." He hugs me one more time and tells me to do whatever I was going to do.

"Goodbye Nezumi. See ya later. Let's go Pearce. " I wait until we're both out of Nezumi's range of hearing before I talk to Pearce. "Where did Kyu go?"

"He went to go get his bow and arrow." Right after he says that Kyu comes to us running.

"Darn you and your large house master. I got lost again." He sees my neck. "What's wrong with your neck."

"Kyu. Leave our master alone. Let's go Alex." Pearce drags me by my hand and exit out the front door.

"Tell everyone I'll be gone for awhile. Okay Kyu." I close the door and I turn to Pearce. "Thank you. Do you know how to contact Eisuke."

"We need to go to the institute. He's always there at this time of day."

"Let's go then." We quietly walk together to the institute and when we enter I walk up to the receptionist desk. "Excuse me Mrs. I'd like to speak with Eisuke. Is he currently here ?"

"My such manners, and cute as well. No wonder you went with him Pearce. Yes he is here. He is currently in his room. Pearce should know where it is."

"Thank you mam. Have a nice day." How embarrassing! I turn to Pearce and see that he's smirking at me. I turn my head around not noticing the way he frowns when I do. He stands in front of me and he leads the way. When we finally reach Eisuke's room he motions for me to knock. I do so and I hear Eisuke loudly speak.

"Coming." When Eisuke sees that it's me he's surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"We want you to know that we're going out." What the hell is wrong with Pearce!

"Wait what!" Eisuke looks at me wide-eyed.

"Ignore him. I need some advice from you."

"I'll be out in a sec. Come on in." He opens the door further and both Pearce and I enter his small apartment. I sit on the couch and I glare at Pearce. He smirks at me again and he wraps his arm around my waist.

"What are you doing!? Let go of me Pearce."

"You didn't seem to mind when Rat Clan Boss did this to you." The fact that he knows embarrasses me. Oh god Kyu was there too!

"That was different. Nezumi and Ranmaru were going to fight. I had to stop it somehow." I turn away, embarrassed. "Just not a way I preferred."

"Liar."

"Shut up." I face forward again, ignoring the fact that Pearce still has his arm around my waist. Damn his height.

Eisuke, appararently, starts to choke on air at what Pearce said. It takes awhile for him to calm down. Aaaaand he's even more annoyed. Perfect.

"And how am I supposed to help you."

"Do you know a way to control them."

"If this has to do with sex I'm done."

"No it isn't! I just need to keep them under control! How do you keep your Daemons under control."

"I'm not an idiot like you. I honestly don't know what to do. It's your fault." Eisuke has a small grin and he's trying to wipe it off his face.

"Quit smiling or I'll-" I get interrupted by a knock on the door. Eisuke gets up to get it. Pearce and I turn around to see who it is.

"Is Alex here?" All three of us are shocked at who it is. Pearce slightly loosens his grip on my waist; seeing my chance I quickly get up and run behind Barbatos, clinging on to him for dear life.

"No wonder they get aroused." Eisuke turned around after saying that.

"I never said they do!"

"I could make the connection. Especially with the way you're groping him."

"I'm not groping him!"

"I don't mind him groping me. But only because it's Alex."

"Shut up!" I quickly unwrap my hands from Barbatos. "Why are you here." I quickly try to divert the conversation from what just happened. He's amused by the conversation.

"Gargoyle is frantically looking for you. He should be on top of the building by now."

"I'll go right now. Eisuke, how do I reach the rooftop?"

"The daemon can show you himself."

"I don't think- "

"I know how to reach it. That's how I got in."

"Let's go then. Come on Pearce." Pearce silently gets up of the couch and stands beside me. Before he can wrap his arm around my waist, Barbatos wraps his arm around me. Knowing it'll annoy Eisuke further I save it for later. "Bye Eisuke. Thank you."

"I hope you know that this is all your fault."

"I know. Thanks." He closes the door, but not before giving a small chuckle. Once the door is fully closed I yell at Barbatos. "Stop it!"

"I'm just enjoying myself. Being with you that is."

"This is all just a game to you isn't it."

"Maybe." He smirks at me. Once we arrive at the rooftop, Barbatos lets go of me. Less than ten seconds pass by when Gargoyle tackles me to the ground.

"Get off of me Gargoyle." While he can barely talk, he's been getting better at speaking in something other than growls.

"Sorry."

"That's good! You're getting better now. You said it without stuttering!" I raise my hand to pat his head, but he grabs it before I can. In an instant he grabs me in his arms and he jumps off the roof. "Were going to die! What's wrong with you!" I scream all the way until he starts to flap his wings at the very last second. He slowly lands on the ground.

"Y-you okay?" What did my screaming suggest! That I was having the life of my time?! "

"No! That was scary! I'm traumatized because of you!"

"Tra-tra-mu-ti-tized?" While he was able to say it, almost, correctly. I'm too scared, annoyed, and angry to congratulate him.

"Let's just go home." I don't even want to touch the ground. I stay in his arms clinging on to him. As he slowly walks back to my house, I can feel that people are staring at us. Thankfully nobody can notice Gargoyle's wings or horns because they haven't been attacked by a daemon. As he's walking, we get knocked to the ground.

"Watch were you're going you- Oh hey Alex." Great. It's Dora. Just who I wanted to see.

I slowly start to catch my surroundings. Once I do, I see that I'm right on top of Gargoyle. When we make eye contact he gives me a wide grin and brings me down to him. People are starting to gather around now. "Let go of me." He slowly does so. Damn my head hurts from all this. I quickly get up and when I can properly do so he puts his arm around my waist. Why does everyone have to do this?! While the crowd is dispersing, some of them give us disapproving glares. Dora on the other hand.....

"What a couple of idiots." Dora on the other hand laughs at us. Seeing a chance to ask for her help I quickly ask her before she runs off to wherever she was going.

"Hey Dora? Do you know-" I get interrupted by Gargoyle poking my thigh. I instinctively ball my hand and punch him in the shoulder. He ignores it and points behind me. To where Dora is currently running to. So much for that. "Let's go get ice cream. It's almost time to eat but whatever." Gargoyle reluctantly nods his head. He walks behind me this time. Once we reach the place, I order the both of us vanilla ice cream. We sit on the chairs provided outside the place and eat it quietly and peacefully, that is until Barbatos and Pearce find us.

"Enjoying some quality time with Gargoyle are you."

"Quit being such an idiot Barbatos."

"Can I have some ice cream."

"No. But Pearce can." I give him enough money to buy some ice cream.

"Then I'll just have to get some of yours."

"No way. You-" I get interrupted when Barbatos stupidly decides to shove my ice cream on my mouth. "What's your problem!" I reach to grab my napkin, but Barbatos grabs my wrist and kisses me. His grip is too strong to the point I can't even resist him. I start to have trouble breathing until Gargoyle yanks him off of me.

"Get soft him!" As much as I want to laugh at Gargoyle, I'm absolutely livid to the point where I just leave all three of them. I ignore their stares and everyone else who saw what happened.

Once I get back, I'm just relieved that I'm away from Barbatos. I decide to not eat dinner today. I'm way too tired. I enter my room unnoticed and change into my pajamas. I lie down on my bed trying to go to sleep early, until I notice Santa Claus is on my bed.

"So you've come to sleep with me huh. Normally I'd have to put you on the naughty list but I can make an exception for you."

"This is my bed. Go to your room. I'm tired and I want to go to sleep alone." I manage to get off the bed before he can get a hold on me.

"But don't you think that sleeping together is a whole lot better." He pats the part of the bed that I was just on in an attempt to make me go in. As tempted as I am to sleep in my bed I start to walk away.

"I'm going to the living room. Bye." I don't have the energy to deal with anything right now. Much less one of my daemons. I go to the living room and lie down on the couch. I try going to sleep but it's hard when it's cold and with no blanket.

"Good evening Alex. How are you today." Kill me now! Can't I be allowed to go to sleep!?

"Hey Ikutachi. I'm sorry but can we talk tomorrow; I'm really tired."

"Oh, I'm sorry. But why are you sleeping in the couch?" His concern is very nice but I'm tired. I know it's not his fault, so I try to calm myself.

"Santa Claus is in my room and because I don't want to deal with him right now I'm sleeping here for tonight."

"You can sleep in my bed tonight. I'll sleep on the floor."

"It's fine Ikutachi. I'll sleep here. Now can you please let me go to sleep. I'm sorry, but I'm really tired." Ikutachi looks sad, but he decides to leave. I feel terrible for saying that, but if he didn't leave in a bit I'd have probably snapped at him for no reason. Thankfully, without any other interruptions I fall asleep within minutes.

I start to wake up later when it gets hot. I feel a blanket over me. A lot of blankets. I'm starting to sweat. I sit up and see that the T.V. is on.

"Who turned on the T.V.?" Ugh I'm still tired from everything.

"It was Ranmaru."

"No it wasn't! It was Yukimura!"

"Stop yelling you idiot." God help me now. I can't deal with the two of them.

"Can you turn it off please?"

"Okay. Let's go." At least Ranmaru is understanding.

"Why should we?"

"Because Alex is trying to go to sleep and we should be polite."

"He should go to his room."

"Why aren't you sleeping in your bed master." It seems that what Yukimura said piqued Ranmaru's interest.

"Santa Claus is in my bed. That's why I'm out here." Ugh, I'm so sweaty. "I'm going to go take a shower." I take off all my blankets, and go into my room quietly. I quickly grab a change of clothes and a towel; I get out of my room and go to one of the bathrooms. I take a fast shower and I dry myself. I don't have enough time to put on all of my clothes, before the door is knocked down. Even though I have boxers on, I cover myself with my towel just in case. Hercules comes in, shirtless as usual, passes me, and throws up in the toilet. I run to the kitchen and run back bringing a bottle of water for Hercules.

"Thanks, but I'm not drunk. I ate some disgusting meat." He opens the bottle and drinks all of it within seconds. "Thanks again."

"Why were you eating so late?"

"I was hungry so I thought about eating something with protein. I walked into the kitchen and found some meat on a plate. Then this happened."

"You shouldn't eat meat that's just lying around. It could have bacteria or something."

"Now that I threw up, the bacteria should be gone. I took a bite of it a minute ago."

"Well you can't be to sure."

"Thanks again." His gaze suddenly goes down when he notices I'm almost naked. "Why are you only in boxers?"

"I just got out of the shower!" I grab my towel from the floor and cover myself. Despite how ridiculous I look, as long as he isn't staring it's better. His demeanor then takes a full 180.

"You know you shouldn't let anybody else see you like that." He cups my chin with his hand. When I try to back up, he uses his other hand to hold me. He doesn't even budge when I resist further. His grip is too tight to the point that it's suffocating. "Any sane person wouldn't be able to control themselves with you." His thumb catches on my lips for a second, before he tugs off my towel. "I know I can't." He presses our faces and he deeply kisses me. I pound my fists against his chest, push him away, and even try to escape. Whether he's purposefully ignoring me or I'm just that weak I don't know. "Come with me." He whispers into my ear and it makes me shiver from fear as to what will happen. He takes me to his room and he puts me on his bed.

"Wha-what are you doing?" I try to sound brave but instead it came out pathetically.

"You'll see." He lies down on top of me putting a lot of pressure. "What happened here." He points to where Nezumi bit me. His voice is really serious and he glares at me.

"Someone bit me." My voice barely comes out to the point even I strain to hear it.

"What happened. Tell me now." He's even more angry at me. His glare intensifies.

"Someone bit me." I'm absolutely terrified as to what's going to happen now.

"Who was it."

"···" The longer I remain silent his glare intensifies even further. He wraps his hands around my wrists.

"You belong to me now." He starts to nibble at my neck.

"Ah! Stop it." I uselessly try to move my neck around but it doesn't work.

"···" His nibbling soon turns into biting. At first it's a bit ticklish but then pain starts to spread around my neck when his biting becomes stronger.

"Stop. Please." I desperately struggle against him once more, but it's as futile as the other times.

"···" His biting starts to hurt even more now. Even when it was Nezumi it didn't hurt this bad. And it hurts even more because he's biting me multiple times. He finally removes his mouth from his neck, and he raises his head to face mine. He gives me a wide smirk. He removes his hand from my wrist and he harshly caresses my hickey. He brings his face down to my neck again and he bites at my hickey.

"Stop! That hurts." With my left arm finally free, I punch him in the face.

"What do you think you're doing!?" His voice is so harsh compared to how it was when we were first talking.

"That hurts! Please stop."

"I would. But I don't want to."

"I said stop it."

"No." He grabs my hands to make sure I won't stop him and he continues to bite my neck. Awhile passes before he stops, but at that point the pain is insufferable. I'm crying heavily from how sore my neck is. He once again cups my chin in his hand. "Don't cry. I just want people to know that you belong to me. They shouldn't take what isn't there's. Now let's go to sleep. Even I won't force you to do that until you're ready." It seems that he still has some sanity left but he still terrifies me.

"O-okay."

"Don't be scared." He wipes my tears away, and he tries to sooth me. It doesn't work and instead makes me more afraid of him at how his attitude changes quickly. "Remember when I saved you at Yggdrasil?"

"Yes"

"You were unconscious when I first met you. You're daemons were carrying you and I thought they were kidnapping you. I fought them and won. When they were tired I took you from them. "

"I know. When I woke up I was scared of you. But you treated me kindly and I trusted you. You didn't act like this back then."

"Don't be scared. I love you. Now let's go to sleep." I don't understand how he thinks love would include forcing yourself on that person, but I don't voice it knowing he'd get angry.

"Okay." He gets off of me; then he pulls me closer to him. "Can I change first please."

"You look so much better like this though. I know what will make you feel better." He gets up from the bed and I hear some rustling. Knowing that's he's undressing and not wanting to wait to see what would happen I immediately get up from the bed and make a beeline for the door. With my hand on the knob, Hercules grabs me from behind and covers my mouth as well. It somehow manages to be even more suffocating than before. He holds me tightly against him as he takes me back to his bed.

When we're finally on the bed he starts to cry. "Don't ever leave me again. I don't know what I would do if you left me." He's holding me extremely tight. I can't even move at all. Neither can I sleep from how afraid of him I am; at how quickly he changes emotions. My neck is in a ton of pain and I can't even do anything to ease it. Finally realizing the futility of it all, I start to cry. "What'd I say about crying? Cheer up. You shouldn't be sad now that we have each other. If you don't stop then I'll cry."

"What's wrong?" Does he honestly not know. "Please tell me. I can't just let you cry."

"···" It's creepy how fast he can go from crazy to loving. I need to get away from him as fast and as far as I can.

"If you don't want to talk about it now we can talk about it later." He brings me right next to him. I can feel him entirely, now that's he's only in boxers. "I just want you to know that I'll love you forever and I'll never leave your side. We'll always be with each other. Goodnight."

"I'm sorry." That's the last thing I hear before losing consciousness.

When I wake up, I notice that I'm back at Yggdrasil. I slowly stand up and notice that I'm near the top of Yggdrasil. I start to check my surroundings and seeing as how no one is here to stop me, I start to achingly run down Yggdrasil. When I go down a floor I see Hercules coming my way. I look around hoping to find a spot to hide, but I find nothing. Before I can go back where I was, Hercules spots me. He drops all of his stuff and he comes running up to me.

"What are you doing down here? Were you trying to escape? Do you not want to be with me?""Answer me!" He embraces me in a ridiculously tight hug and he looks about ready to break down.

"I was looking for you." I force myself to cry to make it more convincing. "I couldn't find you so I thought something had happened." Whether it was because i was convincing or because he's unstable, Hercules believes me.

"Don't worry. I'll never leave you alone." We go to where Hercules dropped everything and I help him carry the stuff. When we arrive to where I was earlier Hercules starts to set up camp.

"Why are we here?" Right now I need to not sound afraid of him.

"This is where my country is. You're going to live with me now. You're going to be my king."

"Wait what!" Just how insane is he? His face changes from happiness to confusion yet I can see a small trace of malice so I quickly change attitudes. "Won't people get upset at that though? The fact that first of all I'm not a bug and second of all I'm a guy?"

"If anyone tries to stop me, then I'll cut them down." He quickly embraces me in another hug. "I won't let anyone separate us. But right now hold on a minute. I still have to get the rest of your stuff. Stay here. Okay." His last sentence is said with such severity that if I disobey it then serious repercussions would happen.

"Okay." Hercules starts running back down. Taking his warning seriously I patiently wait for him. A few minutes have passed when I hear some rustling from some bushes. I stay quiet, waiting to see what is causing it. The rustling dies down only for Yggdra Leaf to pop out.

"Yggdra Leaf!" I'm so happy to see someone that isn't Hercules.

"Alex? What are you doing here?"

"Hercules-" I stop when I hear footsteps once more. "He's coming! You have to hide!" Yggdra Leaf looks at me confused. "Just hide! Quickly!" Yggdra Leaf gives me one final look as she goes back into the bushes.

"Who were you talking to?" Despite Hercules saying it kindly, I know the hidden malice behind his question.

"No one. Why?" I put on an innocent face.

"Okay. Let's go." Hercules grabs everything and he starts to head for the bushes.

Why are we going there?"

"This is where my kingdom is." He kicks away the bushes and nothing is there! He presses a button and suddenly an elevator appears! "Come on." I slowly walk behind him when I hear some more rustling from some other bushes. Dread starts to slowly well up in me "Who's there!" Hercules drops everything and puts himself in front of me. He quickly unsheathes his sword and points it towards where the noise came from

"The person who will end your insignificant life. You cockroach. "

#random #do i even wanna tag this as my writing???#i guess #but old ass writing #my old writing

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recentanimenews · 4 years

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Sympathy for the Devilman: The Legacy of Go Nagai's Magnum Opus

I've always had a thing for villains. Unlike my brothers, as a kid I'd always choose the "bad guy" action figures. If they went for the ninja turtle Leonardo, then I'd go for the uber-buff Super Shredder. I personally identified with villainy because of how it connected to the idea of "evil." I personally see evil as a generalized concept that expresses antagonism toward violent and dominant societal structures. Due to a coercive religious upbringing, I now see how my younger self unconsciously found ideologically-oppositional comfort in "evil" art. This eventually led me to��one of my most cherished pieces of fiction: Devilman.

Devilman has left an indelible mark on manga and anime creators over the last few decades, inspiring major industry heavyweights such as Hideaki Anno, Kentaro Miura, and Kazuki Nakashima. The series was created by Go Nagai, a manga auteur also responsible for Mazinger Z, Cutie Honey, and Violence Jack (which is a Devilman sequel). Although Devilman retains much of the explicitness native to Go Nagai's usual fare, it uses these graphic elements uniquely to deliver a haunting, unforgettable, and compassionate message.

Let's explore the surprisingly relevant political and social significance of Devilman, along with a few of its animated offshoots. Read on but be forewarned, this article contains major spoilers!

Devilman (original manga, 1972)

via Seven Seas Entertainment

The Devilman manga is a dark antiwar narrative in deep contrast to the standard monster-of-the-day, "evil fights evil" set-up of the anime (which ran at the same time as the manga). Ryo Asuka — who turns out to be Satan, the leader of all demons — helps convince the world that anyone dissatisfied with the status quo could turn into a demon and needs to be killed. Every nation starts a war with each other, and Japan creates the "Demon Busters" to murder anyone suspected of being a demon. This plot twist is the most explicitly political angle in Devilman and a clear critique against the genocide of marginalized peoples. One page features a taste of the global hate brewing around the world: a collective white desire to murder Black communities, the renewal of German anti-Semitism, and hatred for any protestor. There are also many moments that display the horrors of historical genocide when Akira and Ryo travel through time.

Devilman builds additional nuance around this theme with Ryo's character. In the manga's final scene, Ryo describes how demons were once oppressed by God, and that they in turn preyed upon humans in the same way that God preyed upon demons. Ryo recognizes that he continued the same cycle of genocidal hate and marginalization he once suffered. This is a striking moment that functions as a cautionary warning against abusing imbalanced power dynamics, and how even once marginalized groups are still capable of enacting horrors against those with less power.

via Seven Seas Entertainment

Ryo's character also made a groundbreaking stride in the representation of marginalized gender and sexual identities. His true form as Satan is easy to interpret as trans, possessing emotional, mental, and physical traits that defy the standard gender binary. The manga also makes it clear that Ryo considers Akira more than a friend, and is actually in love with him. Amazingly, Go Nagai does not use Ryo's trans-coded self or his queer love for Akira as fodder for insulting or disrespectful commentary from other characters. Ryo's gender-variant form is certainly mentioned, but it's never negatively framed or conflated with his murderous attitude toward humanity. Additionally, the manga never suggests Ryo is evil because of his romantic feelings for Akira (a simple, yet important distinction). It feels all the more impressive when you remember that this was made in 1972. Devilman's subversive portrayal of non-normative gender and sexual identity could still be considered groundbreaking even by today's standards.

Devilman OVAs

The first OVA, The Birth, covers Ryo and Akira's discovery of demon existence, with a very brutal early sequence that shows the bloody survival-of-the-fittest origins of life on Earth (which beautifully expands upon and mirrors the same sequence from the manga). It concludes with a gore-soaked finale where we see Akira's fateful transformation into Devilman. The sequence is filled with face stabs, top-notch body horror, and decapitations galore as Devilman rips apart demon after demon in a nightclub setting.

The second OVA, The Demon Bird, had the same crew that worked on the first OVA and contains a very similar feel. This OVA is more action-oriented than the first since it doesn't spend time on the build-up and exposition leading to Devilman's initial appearance. The animation and art design is probably even better than the first episode, which is most notable during the fight with Sirene. On a side note, the Manga Entertainment dubs for these first two OVAs are absolutely essential if you're seeking a fun evening with fellow anime nerds with a decent sense of humor. Their typically sleazy dubs — where Manga Entertainment excessively hyped up the seedier, more "adult" side of anime in order to market their products as wildly different from cartoons for kids — contain an assortment of unnecessary profanity and generally crude dialogue compared to the Japanese source material, to great comedic effect.

The third OVA, Amon: The Apocalypse of Devilman, is based on Amon: The Darkside of Devilman manga, an alternate-universe offshoot by Yu Kinutani. This OVA contains a reworked version of the end of Devilman and has a much darker edge compared to the first two OVAs. This entry in the series has an ugly, grim quality to it – such as the horrific depiction of Miki and her brother getting slaughtered by an angry mob — that initially felt off-putting to me. I started to enjoy it more on subsequent viewings however, when I remembered that, well, the entire Devilman mythos is pretty damned bleak in general. I think the desolate mood would have been more bearable had Akira felt like the compassionate, tragic hero of the manga.

Actually, overall I'd say that Akira's portrayal is one of my biggest complaints about these OVAs. He displays a cold lack of care for human life — like in the Demon Bird when he unconcernedly tears through an airplane while fighting Sirene and allows its passengers to presumably plummet to their deaths — that for me, offsets one of the biggest strengths of Devilman's core: that although Akira has the body of a demon, he never loses the tender heart of a human. With that in mind, let's explore Devilman Crybaby.

Devilman Crybaby

Devilman Crybaby is my favorite animated incarnation of Devilman, period. I might be in the minority with that opinion, but I think there's a lot to love. Masaaki Yuasa is already one of my favorite recent anime directors — Kaiba, Mind Game, and Lu Over the Wall are highlights — so it's no surprise I'd be head over heels for his take on a classic Go Nagai story.

Yuasa impressively shifts the '70s setting of the original into modern-day Japan: The group of surly highschoolers from the manga are replaced with rappers and smartphones are everywhere. In the hands of a lesser writer, a modern setting would be no more than a cosmetic, surface-level change of scenery to an already-written narrative. In contrast, Yuasa avoids this trap by using the modern setting to make incisive social commentary relevant to our times: social media is the means for both horrendous and beautiful moments in the show. It leads to Miki's murder when she posts on Instagram to defend Akira, but also serves as the online catalyst that unites Devilmen across the globe (in contrast to the original manga, where a set of demon-possessed psychic monks unite the Devilmen). Yuasa explained this in a 2018 Japan Times article:

"Today's situation is a lot closer to 'Devilman' than it was when Nagai wrote it in the '70s," he says. "The popularity of social media means people are a lot more connected, for good and bad – like someone getting shot over a video game. We learn about unarmed black people being killed by police, people being tortured and the rise of nationalism in politics. In Japan, too, where a lot of problems are openly blamed on foreigners.

"But it can also help spread good that we wouldn't otherwise know about. We see people coming out as gay or trans on social media, and there's a greater opening up and acceptance of different opinions and lifestyles."

Another beautiful aspect of the show is how Yuasa amplifies the queer elements present in the manga. Ryo and Akira's relationship feels even more loaded with romantic undertones, and Yuasa also introduces two queer characters unseen in the original manga. One of the characters is named Miki Kuroda, initially portrayed as a jealous antagonistic foil to the Miki we all know and love. Miki Kuroda changes as the episodes progress and she becomes a Devilman, and we eventually see her sacrifice herself in an attempt to save Miki Makimura, who she confesses her love to before dying. It's refreshing to see a queer woman represented in a story that previously had none, and incorporated in a way that feels organic and thoughtfully integrated within the larger narrative.

In contrast to the Akira of the OVAs, I absolutely adore this incarnation. Yuasa did a stellar job showing not only Akira's horny goth-jock side but also his compassionate traits. As the name implies, there's a lot of crying in Devilman Crybaby, and Akira is responsible for at least half the tears throughout the brief 10-episode series. Akira evokes such intense compassion and cares for people around him, which is a noticeable deviation from his cold demeanor in the OVAs. The human heart at the core of Devilman is on full display here, taking the emotional elements from the original and turning the volume up to 11. Though the art style and setting might be drastically different from what you'd typically expect of a Devilman remake, Yuasa did a masterful job honoring the source material while injecting it with fresh life and even fresher modern resonance.

What other aspects of Devilman — or its many incarnations — did you find important or interesting? Let me know in the comments below!

Do you love anime? Do you love writing? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

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#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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moonshadowbitch · 5 years

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I’m so sorry for being voltron on main after I swore I’d break the habit but... after all this time has passed since the final season I’m still fucking FLOORED by how much it sucks to be Shiro. It’s one thing to be the character that the writers use as a flimsy attempt at gay rep by mentioning a dead lover a grand total of once. It’s an entire other thing to be so thoroughly shat on by writers who have no clue where to go with so many dangling plot threads.

Like......just imagine that you’re Shiro. You start out with a chronic illness that will eventually destroy your muscles. Your fiancee gets mad and breaks up with you because you decide that welp I wanna go to space and possibly die. Ok cool story bro. Then you go to space and get captured by aliens who make you fight old-time gladiator style and oh yeah they take your fucking arm. You get a weird probably cursed new metal arm and stuff happens and then you get blasted back to earth and you get rescued by a kid you kinda adopted a few years back BUT then it turns out you’re gonna pilot a giant metal lion from space and there’s an alien princess who’s like “you’re the ChOSeN one.” So anyway now you’re hanging out with a bunch of teenagers all the time and there’s no television or actual internet in this spaceship that’s also a castle and you get constant migraines that may or may not have to do with the evil emperor you’re all trying to defeat and y i k e s there’s no tylenol. Okey-dokey so now you’re having a bigass space battle with the evil space emperor and you ACTUALLY die. You are LITERALLY dead. Your soul is inside your giant metal lion. That is a thing that happens. Your evil clone is running around and getting all the good fanart and fan content and gets to be in the DnD episode and you’re fucking dead. Neither the writers nor god can help you or make your role relevant to the story anymore. You get brought back to life but now no one knows how to write you anymore. You’ve been through the trials of growing up gay, being chronically ill, falling in love, losing love, becoming an amputee, suffering from PTSD, getting drafted into a space war, not finding one single goddamn starbucks in the entire motherfucking galaxy, and your only friends are awkward, sweaty teenagers.

And then you finally finally finally go back to earth and your old boss tells you your fiancee/boyfriend/sort-of-ex is dead.

in cnclusion sooooooo after making it through this ordeal of a netflix show you realize you’ve been watching a gay disabled japanese-american mentally ill man who’s literally been dead before get treated as a punching bag just because the showrunners couldn’t plan ahead or lobby for studio support to save their lives. this cartoon character in a show for ten-year-olds has been through worse than your average game of thrones character. you cannot unwatch any of this. you’re struggling to pay your student loans and taking antidepressants yet this is the show you decided to stick with.

#voltron legendary defender #vld #takashi shirogane #shiro #vld critical #i'm drunk and i wrote all this in ten minutes #praise me

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nosybookworm · 5 years

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Thoughts on Care-A-Lot

I was recently acquainted with the new Care Bears cartoon and for some reason my thoughts turned to how I wished the show was written.

The general Care Bears theme is of course to teach lessons to kids in a kind of fantasy setting that deals in a load of rainbows and glitter (and I’m not begrudging it’s aesthetic you can’t have a Care-Bear without rainbows) and well the episode I stopped on was very clearly teaching something like “Beware your ego, practice makes perfect!” and the one needing the lesson was of course a Care bear which is where my musing took off into la la land.

Not to sound old but in my day the Care Bear series every once in a while would introduce a human child that needed help or a lesson from the Bears (and at times were the ones to teach the bears). With how cartoons have been lately, less about pushing toys into loving fans and more about the story, Like Star vs. the Forces of Evil with its strong female characters and their push to change the status quo on racism, Steven Universe and its theme of just love, and Gravity Falls that dives into mystery head first I wished the recent Care Bear series would use that and be more than a Trolls: the beat goes on look alike.

What I mean by that is instead of the bears or baby bears learning the lessons I wish the bears where imparting lessons they’ve learned to a human child that hasn’t in a pay-it-forward kind of method. I don’t want their help to be random but I don’t want them to save the world, I want an offer to help to a child they see know could do good if given a little help and a push in the right direction.

Grumpy bear being the only introvert in a world of extroverts could teach a kid self expression. That it is okay to want to be alone and recharge away from friends. That having different interests is okay and they are allowed to be expressed as long as they don’t hurt others. That it’s okay to be angry, sad, scared, or whatever because your feelings matter.

Cheer bear could impart the much needed lesson that happiness is not a sustainable state of mind. Could wipe away that idea that we need to be happy or that we require certain things to be happy in order to have a full life. That happiness is different for everyone and its okay not to be happy.

Bedtime bear could teach self care. Healthy eating, exercise, a full nights rest, and so on. It’s weird typing this out for Bedtime bear but I think it would be fun to have a character often depicted as the most lazy actually be the most healthy. And he doesn’t need to draw up a diet plan or organize a schedule he could drop little helpful tidbits that any child could use if they wanted like what helps him get to sleep when he’s too energized or when his mind can’t stop racing, simple meals/snacks that don’t require an adult to oversee or resources that could help a child without enough at home, easy exercises that are fun rather then intense, and soothing methods of falling back asleep after nightmares.

Tender Heart could of course teach empathy and its importance.

Fun Shine bear could explain that while jokes are nice and fun they can go too far and when that happens the joke needs to stop.

Love-A-Lot bear could teach how having a big, open heart can be as sweet as it can be bitter. Explaining the different kinds of love, and how sometimes you can love them when they don’t love you or the reverse and that everyone has a right to how they feel and you can’t force your love on them or force them to feel the way you want them to. That even mutual love can be unhealthy explaining with care how to spot the signs of a toxic love and how to separate yourself from it or how to ask for help.

Brave Heart lion teaching the very important lesson of just being yourself. Whether your asexual, aromantic, bi, pan, gay, non-binary, transgender, straight, female, male, just quiet, too loud, an otaku, a brony, American, Mexican, Japanese, or any other label you use to describe yourself, your heritage, your culture through it all your you. You have the right to be you, and so does everyone else.

The point here is instead of lessons like:

“Sharing is caring!”

“Don’t be a grouch have some fun!”

“Do your best and good things happen!”

“Love is unbeatable!”

“Honesty is the best policy!”

I would rather have things I struggle with today (as an adult) to learn and internalize be taught to children so that they at least have a basic foundation to build up rather than starting from scratch. And if this kind of show someday actually happens I’m going to be so jealous.

#Carebears #wishes #cartoons #thing i wish someone taught me early on

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buri-art · 5 years

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If you don't mind me asking, how come you're able to live and work in Japan (and China?)? Where did it al begin? I'm just really curious! Thanks!

I don’t mind, thanks for asking! Turns out I’ve been doing some advising on this topic lately. (Scroll to the bottom for specific advice!)It all began with Digimon…

I’ve always had a history of moving from one obsession to another, starting back with Barney the Dinosaur. Then when I was 11-years-old I found myself very curious about that weird Japanese show on Fox Kids, which looked so different from the Western cartoons I was so fond of. What I caught of it kept me surprised–my stereotypes about it were wrong, the characters and their situations were complicated, and plot had depth? What was this and why did it make me care so much??Well, once I decided I was hooked, I was hooked. Obsessed overnight. I needed to know everything there was to know about it, including the country it came from. Guess I better learn Japanese, I thought.

That thought didn’t go away. I generally got obsessed with anime and Japanese culture, anything I could get my weeby little hands on. Wanting to know everything about Japan led to curiosity about China too, because if you’re going to stretch far back in the origins of Japanese culture, eventually you’re going to get interested in the big collection of nations and time periods known as Ancient China. (Stuff like Fushigi Yuugi and the anime rendition of Condor Hero sure helped drive that interest.)I stayed obsessed with Japan all through my teen years (and started Japanese study in earnest when I was 16) and I chose a college where I could start studying Chinese. It seemed like the natural progression in my studies by that point, but I guess other people thought it was surprising. Or they called me a traitor. (I can tell you now that lots and lots of people wind up studying both.)

Anyway, I went in to college with a pretty wide knowledge of East Asia, but studying it from all sorts of angles, getting good advising in school from nerdy professors, and studying abroad certainly made my understanding more nuanced. Going to a small school where it was easy to stick out also helped me get a good handful of work-study experiences and special attention for my particular passions. (It helps that a couple teachers were enamored with traditional Chinese culture, another loved Heian aesthetics, another wrote a dissertation about the production of shoujo manga, and another loved to give students free food. Now those are my people.)What most people find surprising was that even though I had a heavier course load in Asian studies, my major was Economics. I was concerned about finding work with only nerdy Asian studies, and I felt like I needed to save the world by working at an NGO and sacrificing my personal happiness for the sake of the poor and underprivileged. (I still feel like that, but thankfully there are more ways to support NGOs than only by working in them.) In my research topics I usually had a special focus on developing nations in Asia, and I made sure to get a good understanding of the whole region, not just, like, Edo period gay samurai fanfiction (yeah, that was totally a thing).Well, anyway, I never worked at an NGO. I went to grad school to keep working on my Chinese while keeping up independent Japanese study (including the JLPT), then I worked for the one international company in my hometown doing stuff for their Asian side of business. It was cool if you had any interest in engineering, but I didn’t. I like culture. The weeb shit, as it’s known. All according to keikaku, I became a Coordinator for International Relations on the JET Program (it’s not all English teachers!), and had the time of my life in Matsue (my love for that place is seeeeerious). That’s when I took my wide knowledge of Japan and started getting deeper knowledge, by doing anything and everything, especially practicing naginata, tea ceremony, and competitive kimono dressing. (I like to say I broke the weeb scale a long time ago.) Even among CIRs, who all speak Japanese fairly fluently, I guess I was noteworthy for my nerdy knowledge of obscure pieces of local culture, and my enthusiasm for sharing it. That’s just me being my obsessive self, folks. But yeah, lots of JET Program participants are obsessive and eager to go out and experience things. Aaaahhh, my people. After that, I felt I needed more experience in China, so I got a teaching job (which is relatively easy to do, if you’re a native English speaker). Due to my work schedule and living in Shanghai as opposed to like, Wuyishan or even Hangzhou, I didn’t devote as much as to cultural classes as I originally planned on, but I did practice tea and martial arts throughout my time there, and I continued to work on my Mandarin and gaining obscure cultural knowledge, but especially gaining experience melding with society there. Although it was more overwhelming, I do feel much more competent with my Chinese skills now, and I still love a lot of the culture and have so much more traveling I want to do there. I can still nerd out so hard for so much there.Moving back to Japan felt like a very natural course of things. I know a lot of people who have been happy to be Japan-nerds from a distance, or do the JET Program for a while and then just go back to visit, but at least for now, I don’t see myself happy with only visiting. I have personality flaws, like being very inflexible, that make me work very well in a rigid society like Japan. I’m too used to good convenience stores to live happily without them. I enjoy speaking Japanese all the time instead of taking occasional opportunities. Also, my niche skill set is kind of useless in my part of the US. I did try to find work here, really. That being said, having niche skills means that when I’m useful, I’m super useful. Job searching from outside of Japan was a lot more challenging than applying for the JET Program (which any JET applicant can tell you is not a simple process, but once you’re in, you really appreciate how much they handle for you in matters of moving abroad). It was really, really nerve-wracking to turn down two very good corporate job offers in favor of a somewhat new hotel chain. I really wanted to enter the tourism industry because this feels like the only place (outside of academia) where I can use all my obsessive studies of mainstream and obscure but especially traditional culture, and where my gushing about how much I love stuff is actually useful. Plus, it’ll make use of all three of my languages, not just one or two at a time. I hope this will work out for at least the next few years, if not forever. I also hope that if I live in the US in the future to be closer to family*, then I’ll have enough industry experience to work in hotels here or start a tour company targeted at Asian clients. (*Family is the primary reason I still consider long-term life in America, and it’s a big one, and worrying about them is the hardest part about living abroad. Excessive humidity in a lot of Asia is another reason I might choose to live in the Western US.)But like, now my hobbies are my job. While it won’t be the bulk of it, wearing kimono and performing tea ceremonies is no longer something that makes me cool and special and unexpectedly useful, it’s going to be what I need to be professionally competent in (eeeeeeep). This is the kind of stuff that obsessive teenage Buri would have swooned to know, but also totally expected. Career-Buri is a little more level-headed about it and also very grateful to have these opportunities. So anyway, advice!!—If you think you want to do anything in China or Japan, START STUDYING THE LANGUAGES NOW. Yes, I know they’re difficult. No, there’s no perfect program. Whatever you’re going to use, just do it consistently. Fluency is not actually required for a lot of jobs, but hot damn, some language skills will help. (For reference, I passed N1 of the JLPT before starting JET, and passed HSK5 while I was in grad school. I studied for HSK6 while I was in China and would have had a 50/50 chance of passing, but chose not to because it’s not actually that useful for the price I’d pay for it.)–To get a work visa in either country, 99 times out of a 100, you’re going to need a Bachelor’s degree. Your major is not usually as important as simple proof of graduation. Many places will care about your grades, though, so try to keep them up. –Teaching is still the easiest way to get there. There’s a wealth of programs to recruit you, but I suggest trying to steer clear of places that only provide a stipend instead of a salary, or small dispatch companies with questionable reputations. The JET Program is probably the best way to teach in Japan because of the level of support you get, but I’ve known people who had good experiences on the larger dispatch companies like Altia or Interac as well. For more direct hires, there are English tutoring companies (like English First (EF) or Coco Juku) where you might have students of all ages, as well as companies that focus on very small children (where you’ll basically be a glorified preschool teacher). On that note, many kindergartens and other for-profit education companies (like what I did in China) will hire directly, but your experience can vary widely. Finally, you can also look into international schools, but your teaching credentials will be much more important. Any background in teaching, or TESOL certification, will be a boon to your application (and at some places, your paycheck). –All of these places will want to see that you are a dependable, flexible person. Getting experience abroad, being able to speak frankly about challenges you’ve dealt with, and showing a willingness to go anywhere and do whatever is needed will look really good on your interviews. I say this a JET Program interviewer; the people who displayed the most patience and maturity were the people we felt best about giving a high score to. Those are the people we like to send out into the communities. –As we like to say in the JET Program, every situation is different (ESID for short). That applies to every teaching situation you might yourself in abroad.–You don’t have to be a teacher (after all, I only did JET because of the CIR position, I loved it!!). But you’re going to have to be really competent in whatever else it is you’re doing. Headhunters, such as at Pasona Global (which has branches in many Asian countries), are really, really good to work with, but they are most likely to hook you up with corporate jobs in big cities. If that’s what you want, awesome. (I wound up finding my hotel through a Japanese job searching site specifically for tourism related work. Other industry-specific fields may have their own job hunting sites, possibly in English, possibly not.) Language competency will be a lot more important if you take this route. –If at all possible, STUDY ABROAD!!! Many people will get the experience they want doing this instead of dealing with the frustrations of working and residing abroad. It’s a good way to see how much you love it and decide if the frustrations are worth it. Plus, it really helps your job applications. –Even if you can’t work abroad due to your personal situation, PLEASE TRY TO TRAVEL THERE!!!! When you’re interested in another culture or a foreign language, it means so, sooooo much to be there, even if it’s temporary. I don’t just say this as someone who has chosen tourism as my calling (though I am more than happy to give travel advice), I say this as a passionate nerd. I feel you. I get you. You need this. –Back to studies and stuff though, if you’re going to major in some form of area studies or foreign language, it is difficult to get jobs with that alone. Consider double-majoring in something that will play into that, or which will open other career options. Money is kind of important, especially if you’re going to have to pay for flights across the Pacific.

–That being said, study what you care about too. You know how oddly useful my elective class about Non-Western Theater has been!?!? And if something in anime catches your attention, for goodness sake, you’re on THE INTERNET. If you liked Jubei-chan, go study samurai, if you like Fruits Basket, go learn to make onigiri, if you like Mob Psycho 100, then go—well—um—go work out, being physically healthy is also important!!

Well, anyway, that’s long enough. Good luck to all you nerds out there!! KEN TANAKA LOVES YOU and all that good stuff!!

#wow this got long #tl:dr #I'm a nerd and that might help you too

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