#I am a Japanese who hate modern Japan | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

slickfordain · 1 year

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𝐘𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞! 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐱 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐞! 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

This is a modern set AU. Since Liyue is based off of China and Inazuma is based off of Japan— they will have brown / black hair. Every character with unrealistic hair color will have blonde / ginger / brown / black / brunette hair. Of course, dyeing is a thing— but not used much.

Oh how they loved you the very moment you stepped inside the school with your [Hair color] hair, and those pretty [Eye color] eyes. How could they not love you? Everybody in this school had their eyes on you and— believe it or not— you were paranoid thinking they didn’t like you. Curse yourself you sweet thing, how could you ever think so when they adored you?

You were a mess though so I understand why you thought nobody really admired you. You do commissions in 3 AM, sending the art piece right off the bat at 4 AM, and then you drink your favorite drink without eating breakfast… You’re… Concerning. But, that didn’t mean they couldn’t love you, because what if those commissioners already died for bothering you without paying in return?

They were scammers, darling, you surely would understand and not think about it too much… Ah, but it seems like you never noticed the commissioner being dead. That’s the loveliest part.

Now, let’s get onto Lumine and Aether— two blonde twins who had recently helped numerous of people, they never were able to get a slack. Every single fucking commission;; was about you. They never knew who you were so, they mostly didn’t care… They had to be obedient unless they wanted the principal Celestia to send their asses kicked out of Teyvat high school. They had to obey… Not like they couldn’t speak Chinese, Japanese and German all in one.

Until that unfortunate day when they did meet you.

❝Oh shit—❞

It was a simple mere curse word, making Lumine and Aether alerted they’ve bumped into someone and did a fast reflex. Aether caught you by the waist while Lumine was behind you with her hands behind your shoulders— balancing you. Their eyes were widened at first, but sighed in relief as Aether’s free arm picked up your phone.

❝Woah there…❞ Aether smirked a little with slight hesitation as he had let you go. ❝Careful where you’re going, sir.❞ Lumine continued with an awkward laughter as the twins stood by one another again and was about to expect you to ask for help needed— until your lips started murmuring out a thank you and started leaving immediately that had them frozen there.

…

Weren’t you… Going to ask them if they could… Help?

…

Why did you leave? No, WHY didn’t you ask them for help? Did you not acknowledge them? Did you not have any commissions for them to do? Oh, so weak you looked, so, so, weak.

They could ruin you.

Lumine covered half of her face that was blushing by the very moment you were out of ear-shot, while Aether was just a blushing disaster at this point. Blinking so many times he didn’t understand.

For so long, the twins had to clean up everyone’s mess, having to talk to the person they’ve fallen in love with. They finally understood… Who that person was… There was no doubt the unknown student, was you. They’ve cleaned everyone’s mess and they dared hiding such a pretty boy like you? Bunch of bullshit students if you ask them.

They were going to— No. they ARE going to keep you safe. They wanted to corrupt you. Please, oh pretty please let them hold you. You looked so genuine back there for saying a simple thank you and then just that! You left! How more can you surprise the twins?!

But of course. The twins just had to realize it’s not just them who feels this way. Momently a while ago, they could hear the Fatuis— delinquents— wanting to lock you up in a janitor closet and keep you there until they’ve decided to kidnap you. This makes the twins’ bloods boil, especially when Childe is part of this.

Aether hated Childe and has fought with him beforehand to stop bothering other students, but Lumine’s hatred for Childe was on another level. Even before she noticed you. I wouldn’t want to explain much about how many times Childe almost died because of her— but it’s fine if you didn’t know, right?

…

If only it was that easy to get rid of someone.

You felt even more paranoid after just meeting the twins… You felt more eyes staring at you, as if you were a mouse trapped in a death trap. Except, this death trap is more gentle, sweetie.

Speaking of which;; Ningguan has memorized your schedule all in one, so you’ll never leave her when she knows you’re free~ ♡ Keqing and Jean would excuse themselves to be “sick” when all they ever want was you to feel pity for them. Any empathy from you will make them feral. You’ve also encountered Albedo many times, who always wants to help you improve your art.

Might I say, you were more comfortable with Albedo since he was your art partner, so you two stuck to one another like glue. And this is why it started Albedo’s possessive behavior… You’re so dumb, stupid, it’s horrendous. But Albedo dared not to say he quite enjoys your stupidity. You didn’t know math? He will teach you. You didn’t know science? Allow him to teach you so. It’s an excuse for him to be closer to you.

Guizhong would especially try making toys for you, y’know, knitting. Always allowing you to get things for free, if it means she could have your soul hugs. She just really adored you, you wouldn’t leave her would you? Of course not.

Nobody wanted you to leave them… Especially Scaramouche, the student who always stalks you. He’s most likely the number one stalker you’ve never had before, it’s bizarre. He’ll follow you EVEN if your parents are driving inside the car with you in it. He will follow.

I may, or may not, safely say that most of these interests have stolen your things. Some have even stolen your pencils you’ve chewed on— and God damnit those costed a lot. But that’s okay~ at least, Pantalone could pay you another one, but that’ll always lead to an argument with Childe who claims to be richer. It never ends well.

Or, maybe if they all stalk you, without each other knowing that all of them were stalking the same darling. In the same day. But that didn’t matter right now, they were watching you wearing your black tank-top and black shorts— eating popcorn as you watched your favorite show/series/movie.

You looked so stunning, so pretty. Fuck. They might just die from looking at you— you’re too pretty that they refused to let your presence be known to other schools. It wasn’t a surprise that they’ve learnt you dated a girl beforehand because she loved you for being pretty— they didn’t blame, but it was a shitty excuse to date someone.

Ah… And how you’re trapped with Sumeru characters. Tighnari asking you to partner up with him, only for Kaveh to snatch you right off the bat. Cyno and Al-Haitham would have more of a brutal fighting than reasoning it out. Yes, Al-Haitham speaks with reasons, but everything’s a mess when it’s you.

Everyone’s at each other’s throats to the point even Celestia fears them. Celestia has to one way or another, expel you. But that won’t happen because a certain blonde and a tanned man will kill Celestia for daring to take you away.

Anyway making dreaming freedom story

#various x reader #various #yandere x reader #yandere genshin au #yandere genshin impact #reader x yandere

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yuri-is-online · 30 days

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So I’ve got to ask, would you recommend Tokyo Revengers from your experience so far? Does the story and characters outweigh the (alleged) obnoxious currency system and money grabs?

So my gut reaction is to say no, I do not because I just cannot feel comfortable recommending this game in the state it's in, but I am going to make a pros and cons list to help maybe give you (and anyone else curious) a basic idea of where my head is at right now and help you make your own decision.

Cons

THERE ARE NO CAMPAIGN REWARDS. I cannot stress that enough there is nothing being given out to day one players to help you get started, and honestly it's super hard. Saving up for pulls feels like a foreign concept, there are so few opportunities to earn gems I have no real idea how I would even start building a stash let alone a team with the few characters I currently have. They don't give you a free SSR like twst does to help out, just the free SR from choosing your guy at the beginning though they do have a paid free SSR function. Now Twisted Wonderland does too, but like I said they give you a free one with unlimited re-rolls at the start.

Someone actually did the math about pulls and I agree with their assessment here: the cost isn't the worst I have seen in a gacha, but when you couple that with no free SSR for f2p, lack of reliable way to earn gems and I can feel it being a nightmare if the game progresses any further without a re vamp of some sort.

There really is no point to the combat or team building in this game beyond being a road block between you and the story. It's full auto which could be neat if there were nice animations but there aren't. It really might as well not be there, and that's before you get to the SSR rates...

Neither Pro nor Con

You might have noticed the above reddit user talking about the distinction between joseimuke vs otome and the reason for that is way back when this game was first announced it was supposed to be an otome game, which implies a level of explicit romance and relationship between the MC and the characters that is not typically present in joseimuke games. The current version of the game has a cast that seems to have completely changed, both character and voice actor wise. The stated reason for this and the delay was "changes in the market." It was originally supposed to be based off of Tokyo Ghoul? And was supposed to release in 2019, but was delayed until 2020, then put on indefinite hiatus until it's release now.

On an unrelated note, OG Obey Me! was released on December 11, 2019, Twisted Wonderland was released in Japan on March 18 2020, and Genshin Impact's world wide release was on September 28 of the same year. Make of that what you will.

"Yuri why did you bring up Obey Me?" Well Solomon's ring is introduced as a plot device... which could be interesting if they are going the direction I think they are with it but I don't know if I have enough faith in them for that.

The Pros

The characters in this game are honestly really fun. I really do mean that, I am not sold on their dorms/houses but the dynamics between the characters themselves are good for what they are. But the tone is very goofy compared to Twisted Wonderland (despite featuring more explicit topics) and I don't think these characters are as well developed as twst's are, but I think that can be chalked up to one of these games having been written by a manga author and the other having not.

I am a little bitch who hates horror stuff and is easily spooked but I really love how they are using modern internet horror monsters in this game. The first book features a creepy pasta monster that I was legitimately afraid of as a kid and I love their take on him. This second book features a ghost from a popular Japanese creepypasta. I'm a sucker for people being creative and using things that have become a part of popular culture without making it cringe, and I think this game succeeds at that.

Wrap Up

This entire situation has made me think about two animes I really like that I think sort of fall into the same dynamic as Twisted Wonderland and Tokyo Debunker. The first I am sure you have heard of, it's called Komi Can't Communicate and follows a girl with trouble communicating who really wants to make friends, and ends up accidentally befriending a guy who wants to help her out. The manga started being released in 2016 and is still going. It's quite good and I like it a lot.

The second is a little show called Aharen-san wa Hakarenai. It's manga started in 2017 and it received an anime adaptation around the same time as Komi san was being adapted. It follows a girl who has trouble communicating who really wants to make friends who accidentally befriends a guy who wants to help her out. I have no idea if Komi-san inspired Aharen-san nor do I really care because once you get past the generic set up, the routes the story takes are completely different as are the personalities of the characters. Komi is a slice of life and coming of age story in addition to a romcom, whereas Aharen is just a straight up romcom with a really cute main couple. There is room for both to exist because both stories do their own thing, just with a similar premise. There really is no reason Tokyo Debunker and Twisted Wonderland can't do the same, provided TD gives itself room to breathe and fixes it's damn grind.

Well assuming it picks up in Japan, it doesn't seem super popular over here right now.

#<3 asks #tokyo debunker

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erinsintra · 7 months

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The different species of Weaboos

Yesterday, I was watching this video about all the different sub-types of weebs, and while I do agree on everything said there, I feel like James didn't go far enough down the rabbit hole. So I decided to list a few of the "kinds" of weaboos I have dealt with on the internet.

(James is an awesome guy btw. You should watch his videos)

Weaboos

Possibly the most famous one. These are people - usually American or from other Western or West-leaning countries - that are obsessed with Japanese culture for one reason or another; usually due to overexposition to anime and/or manga. I have to admit, I was a bit of a weeb myself in my emo days, but it didn't go further than that. Some weebs, though, manage to sink down into some bizarre pipeline that turns them into a bizarre version of a Japanese nationalist. They start claming that Japan is the greatest country in the world, and anime is the perfect form of art, and Japanese girls are the epitome of (wo)mankind. It doesn't take long before they also start denying Japanese war crimes and defending their occupation of Korea. How they went from liking anime to endorsing war criminals is beyond me.

Koreaboos

Whilst weaboos are usually teenage boys (with the occasional thirty-something neckbeard thrown in), koreaboos are almost always teenage girls. They are people obssessed with Korean culture (specifically South Kora), or at least their weird version of it. Like weebs, most of their experience (or lack thereof) comes from popular Korean media, like K-pop and Koream dramas. They also love to idolise South Korea, claiming it to be a perfect society full of hot twinks with coloured hair, and as the above example, some of them tend to become political extremists as well. It's kinda funny to me how weebs and koreaboos hate each other due to their obssessive worship of rival countries. I used to know this kpop fangirl who once told me she hated wacthing anime because of what the Japanese did to Korea. That's like, I don't know, refusing to eat a hamburger because of the American Civil War.

Chinaboos

They aren't very common, but they are slowly growing in size as China herself expands her influences. These are people obssessed with Chinese history, Chinese dramas, and Chinese pop songs. I kinda dislike this kind a little less than I dislike the others - mostly because I am a admirer of Chinese culture myself -, but they have this weird tendency to deny the existence of China's misdeeds - while I am yet to see a chinaboo outright deny the Tiananmen square massacre or the Uyghur Genocide, most chinaboos I've met claim that China is and has always been the world's biggest superpower, and "dethroning" America is her fate. Crazy stuff.

I couldn't find a good image to put here, so here's one of Zhang Yong's tweets.

Teaboos

These guys are funny as hell. They're people who are obssesed with the UK, specifically England and the English monarchy. The type of people to stay awake for the entire night watching the new king's coronation, or the queen's funeral. They also frequently endorse the British Empire. I've had people come to me and say to my fucking face that they wished that Britain had colonised our country. People who idolise celebrities are already weird, but foreign politicians? That's a whole other level of screwed up.

Ouiaboos

I will never understand this. People who idolise France, praising their sophisticated culture and their chesse and wine and unpronounceable words. Some also like to endorse Napoleon and claim he was the most influential human being in modern history and an absolute gigachad.

I have never seen ouiaboos defending French colonialism, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

Wehraboos

The worse there is. People who idolise the Third Reich and their "efficient way of running things". If they were that efficient, why did they lose the war? They are almost always racist fucks.

Kaiserboos

The older cousin of wehraboos. They idolise the Kaiserreich and love the German monarchy, sometimes Prussia and Bismarck as well. Though not always racist, they usually have quite the controversial opinions on WW1. Guaranteed to be an EU4 or HOI4 player.

Romaboos

I kinda hate those guys for staining the image of Rome. These are people who idolise the Roman Empire, claiming it was the peak of Western civilisation at a time where "men were men" and "things were proper". Have you ever seen an incel on Twitter or Discord whose pfp is a Roman marble statue? That's one of them. They are usually very sexist, racist and homophobic, completely ignoring the fact that Rome was an incredibly diverse empire where homosexuality and gay marriage was about as common as brushing your teeth.

Leeaboos

Named after Confederate general Robert E. Lee, these are people - always Americans, thankfully - who idolise the Confederate States and the American Civil War. Like Wehraboos, they are guaranteed to be racist and sometimes also pro-slavery, claiming that it was an unjust war where the glorious freedom of their rebellious country was suppressed. Nevermind that the Confederacy was a barely-functioning oligarchy that lasted less than a decade.

Imperiaboos

Pretty much the Brazilian version of a leeaboo. They are people who romanticise imperial times and wish for the return of the Brazilian monarchy. They will go on and on about how the Empire was secretly one of the greatest economies in the 19th century (it wasn't), how they had the manpower to conquer the entirety of Latin America if they wished (they didn't), and how they were so cool they even scared off mighty Brittania that one time (which is actually true, though not as glorious as they claim). They are also frequently very racist and pro-slavery. Every time we have a shitty president (which unfortunately happens more often than not), they pop out outta nowhere claiming that "The Emperor would never allow that!" and so on.

Soviaboos

It always striked me as funny how so many soviaboos are of American origin. These people like to endorse the Soviet Union - or, in rare cases, the Russian Empire - claiming that it was the greatest superpower the world had ever seen, and openly wishing for its return. They commonly refer to their friends as "comrades" and tend to idolise Communist symbols and aesthetics in general. Generally very unpleasant to be around, though at least they are anti-capitalist and anti-american imperialism, so that's already a step on the right direction I suppose.

Thank you for reading all of this! I suppose I should get back to writing my novel now.

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burnersideblogjustincase-ies · 10 months

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MY TIME HAS COME. IVE BEEN HERE TOO LONG AND SEEN TOO MUCH. Most of the hate I see Jess and Jason get publicly is for bad writing choices, but. Uh. THINGS RUN MUCH DEEPER THAN THAT! Here's a big compilation, of both serious and less serious things, that people have gripes with Jess and Jason for.

Disclaimer: A lot of this stuff is sourced from twitter, which I do not use. I am a MCD fan and have been here since MCD Season 1, I also am not a Mystreet/modern content fan. There could be stuff/context I'm missing for some things. I'm trying to keep this post to stuff I can provide links/sources for, in order to prevent that.

Tw for discussions of homophobia, racism, abusive workplace, uncomfortable IRL age-gaps, fatphobia, and depictions of abuse and incest. This post is long, be warned.

Homophobia:

Jessica is a fetishist of gay/mlm relationships. I feel this is pretty visible through her actions as a whole, but in case you don't believe me, here's her tweeting about being a Septiplier fan.

(Ship between Jacksepticeye and Markiplier. Yes. She really tweeted this. https://twitter.com/_Aphmau_/status/748004225305677828)

And this.

And the video she did where she publicly supported the "ship" of her IRL employees/coworkers (Mithzan and YourPalRoss), which she then publicly reblogged a clip of to her tumblr here: https://www.tumblr.com/aphmau/142601660059/mithross-ahaha-thank-you-so-much-for-this

AND back when they did fanfic readings/reenactments on the channel, one of these videos was devoted to Septiplier.

(This video has since been privated, but you can see someone's... uh.... ""reaction video"" to it? Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jodpDmeqES0)

Yeah.

This fetishization does leak into the content Jessica creates. Jason himself has confirmed that the way Jess wrote Laurance and Garroth was intentionally written as queerbait.

The person he was replying to is no longer visible, but the tweets are still up here: (https://twitter.com/jasonbravura/status/802295131218984960)

Racism:

Yeah so remember how Jason said that they'd never have someone on the team make the skintones of characters to be lighter. Remember how he said that in those tweets above. Yeah well they did that they absolutely did that. They do it in the official poster merch, in the official music videos, thumbnails, and in the skins/ingame footage as well.

(Lots of the in-game whitewashing seems to be a side-effect of the shaders they are using, as they overexpose the footage and make everything lighter as a result. The difference in skintones is glaringly obvious, and definitely would've been tackled by the team by now if they cared about whitewashing as an issue.)

It took until Season 3 of MCD to have a single black character purposefully placed into the show. He had potential to be more than a side character, but the show was cancelled soon after his introduction. As far as I'm aware, Teony is still the only black character in all of Mystreet/Phoenix Drop High. She is a side character who is not included in the minigames or other modern content. Unless I'm misremembering, she doesn't appear in Mystreet in anything beyond Season 2.

Let's talk about Nana Ashida now. Or as she was known as up until late parts of Mystreet, "Kawaii-Chan." Good news! Jessica and crew realized that having an anime-obsessed neko-girl who works at a maid cafe and loves "shipping" and all things "Kawaii" was offensive, and changed her name as a result. Bad news! They confirmed this character to have Japanese heritage through changing her name, further enforcing every single stereotype she carried and more!

(Though it's not as if there was a very good out for this aside from acknowledging the stereotype, tearing out everything about her character, and rebuilding her from the ground up. Either you make your Japan stereotype Japanese, confirming she's a walking stereotype, or you make your Japan stereotype a white girl, and confirm that she the character is stereotyping Japanese people. Either way, they wrote an offensive stereotype and refuse to fix it, because the stereotype is intrinsically tied to her character, and all that is supposed to be appealing and likable about it.)

Fatphobia:

I don't even know what to say. Here is a roleplay video from 2018, where the sideplot is that Aphmau eats too many hamburgers, causing her to hiss at fruits and vegetables like a feral cat. She goes for a jog with aaron, where she fails miserably until being deceived that there is a... "wild hamburger" in the bushes. The video ends with her bursting into tears over turning down a cookie. Eating and food humor are common in this era of video from the Aphmau channel, and these topics are never handled well.

(https://youtu.be/PnOCMK1i-hQ)

Basically every character who is implied to like food (aside from Nana/Kawaii-Chan, because of course a Japanese stereotype Cutesy Icon™ can't be fat, because being fat is not appealing in the eyes of the writers) is implied to also be both unhealthy and overweight. Three out of Four of the trivia bullet-points for Betty (FCU character) are about her love of food, because she genuinely has no other memorable traits. If I have to tell you what is wrong with this, I can't help you.

(https://aphmau.fandom.com/wiki/Betty_(MyStreet))

Abusive Workplace Allegations:

Back while it was still known as BluJay, Catface Studios was reportedly not a good place to work. Here are some twitter testimonies from ex-employees, ranging from things such as PTSD, to possible legal threats for speaking out about working conditions/experiences. (Some of the text is very small, click through to read better.)

A lot of these tweets are, at this point, deleted. Especially the more negative/accusatory ones. Some of them can still be found online, search for them if you're curious.

(And context for people unaware, _Castr_ aka Castor is the same person as The Chicken Shaman in MCD. He used to work on/be a part of a lot of Jess' old content, and was a writer on various projects for her for a VERY long time. I believe he was involved in the writing of MCD since Season 1, but if anyone has a source on that so I know I'm not misremembering, feel free to let me know. His sudden release was VERY shocking to me personally, seeing as how long he's been a part of Jess and Jason's work.)

Jess and Jason have also pretty iconically had beef with Sebastian Todd, the voice of Laurance. This beef is why Laurance rarely appears in videos, and was written out of Mystreet. I personally don't really care for either of the involved parties, but here's what Mithzan has to say about Sebastian:

Child Labor (???):

I literally don't know how else to describe it. This tweet (and linked google doc) from 2015 is the source of this one:

(This tweet is still up and available at this link by the way: https://twitter.com/_Aphmau_/status/661051379234922497) The bit.ly link (http://bit.ly/1Q10LEA) leads to a google doc (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yPd1dsY99sOwIl_fITmUryfH4s00zVgiSuwodfcNiK8/edit) describing what a body actor is and where to apply to work as one for Jess. In case you don't feel like clicking links, here's just the "terms and conditions" and all listed requirements:

Yep, that's right, kids as young as 13 were encouraged to apply for this! Or even 12, if your birthday was close enough to the application date. Though it mentions "promotion", there is no payment mentioned or listed anywhere on the document. Presumably promotion is referring to asking for more important jobs, such as writers or voice actors, though I don't know for certain. Despite the mention of "credit given to you as the body actor" I do not remember seeing body actors ever credited on Aphmau videos of this era. (If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me, but I checked a couple MCD S2 episodes that came out a couple months after this, and could only ever find VAs credited.)

I don't know how young anyone who applied or was accepted was, and I don't know what their working conditions were like. I personally doubt anyone accepted was paid for their time at all, though I have nothing to back that up.

(Also, I don't know if that email is still active. And don't plan on testing it. I'd encourage not sending anything, just in case.)

Aggression towards fans:

This is more a point towards Jason specifically, but multiple times he has spoken out very... I don't even know how to phrase it. Agitatedly? Blame-y? Against fans on twitter for seemingly minimal or nonissues.

These are some of my "favorites," and by favorites I mean "I cannot believe a grown man actually said these things to young fans on twitter, for the crime of... wanting to see more non-Aarmau ships with Aphmau ???"

(These tweets are ALSO still up: https://twitter.com/JasonBravura/status/866345911571562496)

I'm sorry, but "whoring Aphmau's character out" is an INSANE thing to say about your literal actual IRL wife.

(Also he went real jokercore this one time I still cannot believe this is real.)

This is less of a serious accusation in comparison to some of the others, but looking at it with the following in mind makes an interesting picture:

Jess and Jason's Relationship:

Hate that I have to make this a bullet point given how fetishistic and weird people online are about celebrities/internet personalities' IRL relationships, but unfortunately this is necessary. The summary is, Aphmau and Aaron's 4 year age gap (Freshman and Senior in highschool) displayed in Phoenix Drop High is based on Jessica and Jason's real life relationship. Here's a better post breaking this down: https://www.tumblr.com/dantes-gf/648264700307668992/jess-and-jason-a-disturbing-dating-history

As of making this post, I believe Jessica's IRL age is 33 and Jason's IRL age is 37. They met before Jessica was 18, seeing as she moved in with him when she turned 18, as stated by Jessica herself in her Draw My Life video. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekOog6xKDMQ)

TLDR: Assuming the timeframe displayed in PDH is correct, their IRL ages suggest that Jessica was 14 and Jason was 18 when they started dating. This age gap is disturbing for obvious reasons.

Some fans have also found Jason controlling for things like this:

(I don't feel right commenting on this given the whole "This Is An IRL Relationship I Am Not A Part Of, And Thus Will Never Have As Much Insight Into As The People Who Are In It" thing, but here it is regardless. You can make your own judgements on it if you wish.)

Irresponsible Depictions of Abuse/Incest:

Ein is a character. He's certainly a character. If you don't know who he is, he appeared in Mystreet and Phoenix Drop High as a villain who wanted to romantically abuse and manipulate Aphmau. In some cases he succeeded. Towards the end of Mystreet Season 6, he was revealed to be Aphmau's sister. In contrast to his villainous persona in the main-story content, he appeared as friendly, teasing and even flirtatious in the mini-game and non-canon content. Many fans were upset to see him treated as a friendly member of the cast, instead of as the incestual abuser he is in canon.

Around mid-late 2018, many fans on tumblr were vocal about how they found Ein's story and character handled to be upsetting and uncomfortable. A voice actor for the channel (condescendingly) responded that depictions of bad things do not necessarily mean the writer is bad. This post was then reblogged by Aphmau's official tumblr account, without any commentary.(https://www.tumblr.com/aphmau/179882946599/hey-so)

Obviously writing about problematic things does not make you a bad person. You cannot have a story without conflict. What is concerning is writing about this content irresponsibly. Many fans around this time failed to understand that Ein should not be shipped romantically with Aphmau. This behavior was most alarmingly seen by (younger) fans who looked to the out-of-character minigame content of Ein for how he should be treated, and began shipping Aphmau and Ein without understanding the full force of their actions.

(Tumblr) Fans were then concerned about the responsibility involved in displaying this kind of content uncritically to younger audiences, especially since this time was when the mini-game videos became very clearly more aimed towards younger kids. This was Jessica's response, posted on tumblr: (https://www.tumblr.com/aphmau/179945128104/the-audience-of-my-channel)

It touches on the topic, but falsely identifies the main concern of fan backlash of mini-game and overall channel content becoming kid-friendly, instead of the real concern of irresponsibly exposing children to """friendly""" depictions of incest and abuse.

Making funny, silly content of abusers does not successfully condemn an abuser's actions. Making funny, silly content of an incestual relationship does not convey to the audience that the writer sees these actions as wrong. Without knowing that these text posts exist, the average fan would likely never even know they supposedly saw these things as an issue.

Not only has Catface never apologized for this, they later tried to retcon it out of existence:

This post sums it up pretty well. (https://www.tumblr.com/dantedeservedbetter/655931596641353728/oops-this-rant-was-longer-than-i-expected-but)

TLDR: Jessica/Catface has acknowledged that Ein was written to be Aphmau's sister multiple times, including a mini-game video in 2019 that directly referred to them as siblings in the title and thumbnail.

At some point after this comment was made, they changed the video title to be consistent with the "red herring" statement.

To spell it out, after defending their irresponsible portrayal of this abusive and incestual character for years, Catface quietly pretended like it was never an issue and erased all references to his sibling status, so that they did not have to keep trying to explain themselves or apologize.

If you need more proof, check out this tumblr post below where Jessica does not contest Ein's sibling status, which is directly mentioned and discussed in the ask prior! If it really was a red herring, then go on Jessica! Why not correct it here, when the sibling discussion is causing issues all the way back in 2018? That you yourself took credit for writing IN THIS POST! https://www.tumblr.com/aphmau/179877266199/i-think-jasons-a-really-good-guy-but-im-never

I think it's very clear why nothing about this was ever corrected earlier, and it's because they saw it as nothing needing correction. There is no red herring. Just a poorly-handled retcon.

Many characters are given this treatment in canon, where their poor writing was later friendly-ified or excused for little to no reason:

The treatment and attempted "redemption" of Derek, Aaron's abusive father in Phoenix Drop High/Mystreet, is another clear example of this poorly thought-out behavior.

As well as Travis and Katelyn's abusive relationship, which is initially handled seriously, then comically, then swept aside altogether.

As well as Ghost, the undead form of Emmalyn from Minecraft Diaries, who repeatedly forces herself upon Mystreet Zane, because she has confused Mystreet Zane and Minecraft Diaries Zane, and for some reason has also confused Minecraft Diaries Zane, the man who killed her husband... With her husband. Makes sense /s.

As well as.... whatever the hell is going on with Aphmau and Aaron's relationship in Mystreet altogether. Remember that time in Season 4 when Aphmau threw a rock at Aaron after he just got done freezing to death or whatever, because the person that helped him not die... was a girl...... ?????? and she was...... jealous ??????????? so she tried to hit him with a rock??????????????????? was this supposed to be cute??????????????????????????????????

Okay now here's the less serious stuff. Reasons people dont like Jessica and Jason beyond the horrible stuff.

Because the original asker was just asking why people are mad at Jess and Jason, and despite all of the above being very prevalent I mainly see people angry at them for the following:

Bad writing. It comes from both Jess and Jason. Stuff that isn't bad because it's offensive, but because it's just plain bad. In all produced rps, they frequently forget their own lore, characterizations, and write things that just plain make no sense. A lot of people get frustrated with that, understandably.

Stringing fans along. New MCD/Mystreet/Roleplay content is continuously promised and not followed up on. Seasons/series are left unfinished without warning, or rushed to completion in order to throw them in the bin and stop having to write them. Lots of fans have grown tired of hoping for new content for the things they originally followed for. The Aphmau Fantasy Stories channel is inactive for a reason.

Related to above, she mostly just does clickbait-cocomelon-styled videos targeted towards very young children now, which frustrates a lot of old or returning fans looking for more serious content.

Also related to above, retiring or benching main/beloved characters for seemingly no reason. This is most demonstrated by Laurance, but can also be seen in characters like Garroth, Daniel, Lucinda, and Vylad. (One commonality seems to be that this "benching" frequently happens when there are difficulties with employing the voice actor.)

Shipping. Yeah Aarmau is basically the only Aphmau ship featured anymore in all her content, and has been for a while. So people who don't ship that often don't like Jessica, Jason, or their modern content, since the characters are their self-inserts and it's basically their fault.

Content stealing. A lot of her work references other established works, such as making the wyvern dragon language in Minecraft Diaries just being the dragon shout language from Skyrim, taking the titles and sometimes names of the Divine Warriors from mythical figures featured in Final Fantasy, or, most egregiously, stealing the entire Mystreet Season 6 Finale from Fullmetal Alchemist. Yes, they really did do that. In my opinion, some of these seem like simple references to media she enjoys, while some of these (looking at you Mystreet Finale) just feel lazy at best and incredibly deceitful at worst.

The baby voices. All the VAs, including Aphmau, pitch their voices up to sound cartoony now. It's grating.

Jess learned the word "himbo" and now it is Garroth's only personality trait. It's grating.

The Fucklist, or sometimes referred to as The List, is a list Jessica made and posted on her tumblr of characters who, in a less child-friendly version of MCD, would have fucked. The sentence alone is upsetting enough. It's upsetting to read as well. And she didn't even include the canonical Aphmau and Aaron fucking, because it was spoilers at the time. Maybe this doesn't belong here, I don't know if this is the One Reason why a fan has turned on her. But it's probably been the straw that broke some poor camel's back out there.

Some Mystreet fans don't enjoy the more lore-heavy later seasons, and prefer the sillier slice-of-life first couple seasons that the series was originally written with the intention of following.

Similarly to above, some Mystreet fans don't enjoy the MCD crossover lore added late in Mystreet Season 6. Some MCD fans don't enjoy that the series now crosses over with Mystreet.

And more im probably not thinking of at the moment.

You cannot unlearn what you have learned here today.

Sorry.

#jessica bravura #jason bravura #long post #queerbaiting #queerbait #qlsur #racism #racism tw #fatphobia #fatphobia tw #abuse tw #incest tw #age gap tw #all images should have embedded image descriptions. let me know if one is missing and i will fix it.

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citronsucre · 1 year

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retournement de veste !

All the kpop idols being invited to fashion events and becoming houses ambassadors made me think about how fashion luxury houses are so fast to turn around and try to seduce a public they used to turn their backs to. In fact, these companies have always wanted to dissociate themselves with certain groups and figures. The Kardashians are a great example of this phenomenon, luxury houses didn’t really want anything to do with them until Balmain’s creative director Olivier Rousteing took an interest in the family.

In France, owning luxury items is popular in urban areas leading to a love and hate relationship between fashion houses and these populations that don’t fit the image of said houses. The derogatory, racist and classist term “Lacoste TN” designate young black and north African men living in urban areas dressing in Lacoste tracksuits with AirMax TN sneakers. The term is widely known and shows the popularity of this style mixing streetwear and luxury. Unfortunately for these houses, this is not the lifestyle and outdoor activities they are trying to promote :( The luxury tennis outfit oriented brand Lacoste especially, whose popularity in the suburbs is incredible, has been vocal about not wanting to associate with this group. Eventually, with them playing quite a large part in Lacoste’s sales in France, the house ended collaborating with french rapper Moha La Squale.

France is not the first country encountering this behavior. Actually, the popularization of streetwear, monogram, sneakers and chunky jewelry in luxury is due to the African American community in neighborhoods of New York and Hip Hop music. Dapper Dan was an amazing designer from Harlem, is influence on black music and the style associated with it is huge. His work at first consisted of creating knock-offs of luxury items and playing around with logos. That is how the monogram print was popularized. Luxury houses which excluded black people, did not want to be associated with them or their music, called their style tacky, ghetto or ratchet started reappropriating these creations and selling them to white rich people in the suburbs.

When European luxury houses first made their first steps into Asia, whiteness and the Parisian style was the goal. Boarding school uniform inspired preppy was in vogue in Japan starting from the 1960′s. I have always found it odd how 30 years later, with the rise of Harajuku fashion and the popularity of streetstyle photography magazine FRUiTS, these brands never tried to collaborate or work with young Japanese artists. It was maybe too tacky for them, too out of pocket or too “street” since it seems like it is a global problem. So it is funny now to see how Heavn by Marc Jacobs collaborated with FRUiTS Magazine’s photographer Shoichi Aoki and tried to mimic an aesthetic by watering down alternative asian fashion culture and manufacturing it to sell it to the mass while the whole purpose of the movement was to protest against social norms by being unique and creating unique in the world pieces mixing traditional and modern clothing. I am not trying to say i hate the brand, I actually liked it at first, I am juste a girl in my twenties who likes asian fashion so of course I liked it. But when thinking about it, nothing new has been created, everything they sell is already available on the market. It just caters down to mass consumerism and the “weird girl aesthetic” that for some reason makes me think of the manic pixie dream girl except it is fashion.

Now with the influence of Korean culture you know they had to ! Houses will go out of their way to have at least one Korean celebrity sit at their show, idols being the golden ticket. Even if this is not new and even if I am glad artists get this opportunity, I find it sad and sometimes reducing to invite pretty faces instead of actually working with them on interesting projects, especially since South Korea is a buzzing spot for emerging designers and small artists. It is like non white people have two options: be excluded or be a totem.

(if you want to know more about Heavn i suggest you watch this video ! it is really interesting and i agree with everything being said)

#citron sucre #high fashion #fashion industry

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gear-project · 11 months

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Annon-Guy: Sorry if I already asked this, but what are your thoughts on Tsundere's, including the ones who comically attack their love interest? They tend to get a lot of hate for being "abusive". Example: Kagome from Inuyasha.

GP Mini-rant on Manga ahead: Readers HAVE BEEN WARNED!

I'm actually not very fond of Romcoms (Romantic Comedies) in terms of my personal tastes.

There have been stories like Seto no Hanayome (My Bride is a Mermaid) which takes abuse of the male protagonist to the extreme… and sometimes I have to wonder if there is some disconnect between people who understand men versus people who are fans of the female gender in Japanese Culture.

You have this "idea" where women are the dominant force in all relationships in the manga writing, be it Tsundere, Kuudere, Yandere, Yuri etc…

And counter to all this you have all these reincarnation stories where the male protagonist dies and gets reincarnated with god-like powers to dominate his own harem as an act of "revenge" against the women (mostly) who wronged him.

While I do like some elements in Fantasy stories (and even Harem stories on occasion)… like I said, there is a huge disconnect between Japanese culture and more realistic relationships out there, which suggests to me that Men or Male culture in Japan is highly diminished and separated from real interactions with women.

I'd also argue it's not all that different here in America, and let's not even dive in to the sub-categories of gender preference that people have enforced these days.

Rather, the traditional concepts of romance or even marriage and family has been tossed in the gutter, if not forgotten altogether by modern culture and beliefs if you ask me.

Maybe there are a "few" stories and manga/anime out there that claim to embody the genre "slice of life"… But which slice of WHOSE life? What's "normal" anymore?

I'm not saying that it's all bad or inconsistent writing, or even that the manga out there isn't worth reading… some stories are REALLY GOOD… But I am saying that a lot of it is unrealistic and not very wholesome to readers without understanding the underlying culture as context.

There's different ideas of what is "funny" or "humor" and minor differences in culture without any explanation can really transform a joke between friends in to a controversial offensive debate.

Inuyasha (and its spinoffs) have been around for many MANY years… so that brand of gag humor is consistent with the author themselves, but a lot of that humor is better expressed in the manga, rather than how it is interpreted in the Anime adaptations… especially considering the idea that Kagome's relationship with Inuyasha is much more seriously expressed in the Anime itself… (you can actually see this expressed more in the sequel to Inuyasha: Hanyo no Yashahime, particularly when the girls encounter their parents who legitimately love their children despite being half-demon).

It's somewhat like trying to explain Tsukkomi and Boke/Manzai comedy to people who don't get why it's funny (and even then, you can't guarantee that that brand of humor would be considered "funny" to some people).

Well… at the end of the day, there's manga you like and manga you DON'T like… and that applies to everyone.

I've got my share of reading lists, and not everyone likes what I read (in fact I often see a lot of people dropping the manga I read sometimes).

What this all boils down to is that if you want to find a type of character (male or female) that you "like", sometimes you won't find it in some cultures.

For example… if I were to describe my "ideal romance"…:

The woman is aggressive and passionate but also respectable and honest with herself… and the relationship is healthy and still reasonable (meaning they do consider marriage as a prospect in the future and don't take things too far unless their intentions are to stay together).

The man is adaptive, also reasonable, understanding, but also has his own standards but isn't particularly portrayed as perverse or obsessed with the female gender, rather he'd be "obsessed" with the person he falls in love with and have wholesome and healthy reasons for that.

The relationship wouldn't lean entirely on the man for support OR the woman… and you'd actually GET to see what a healthy relationship is like for a potentially-married couple. The responibilities and burdens both sides have… and how they support and help one another in a realistic setting.

If the manga story I've just described rings any bells to you, GOOD, that means there's still people out there who understand what realistic romance is like!

Well anyway… that's enough discussion on THAT topic… But well.. I do like my weird subgenres… reincarnation god mangas, super harems, monster girls, and other ODD stories… but well, even if they ARE unrealistic, at least a few stories have the sense of self-awareness to point that out to readers (I've seen a few good harem stories actually DO that with the struggles each female character HAS inside the Harem).

Part of the reason I read Harem genre is "because" it's complex, like a juggling act, and history has shown poligamy to be this mystical concept few people comprehend in romance because of our basic selfish nature to want to be FIRST in our significant others' thoughts.

Well that's it for now… If you ask me though, there's not enough Mecha and Science-fiction genre manga out there, emphasis on the SCIENCE.

#GP reads Manga #Romantic Comedy #Manga Subgenres

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gdwessel · 1 year

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The Thrill Of Anticipation

[This was originally written back in February or March of 2022, pitched and accepted by FanFyte back when it was still a thing. It never ran, although I did get a kill fee for this, so in that respect I did get compensated. I miss FanFyte and I would have written for them forever. C’est la vie. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this. If you want to see the match I am talking about, links are below after the piece.]

As New Japan Pro Wrestling is in the midst of its 50th Anniversary year in 2022, one might be tempted to recount the glorious matches, brutal feuds and classic moments that made people become fans in the first place. However, as a quick look at this very website will tell you, wrestling is made up of a lot more weird ideas, goofiness, and noble failures than it is made up of classics.

NJPW’s founder Antonio Inoki is one of the greatest wrestlers and promoters ever to have graced the business. This much cannot be argued against. Inoki had a LOT of ideas about how pro wrestling can, could, and should be. Not every idea hit the mark. Occasionally, the reason was, the idea was way ahead of its time.

The Bed Of Nails match between Antonio Inoki v. Umanosuke Ueda that took place on 2/8/1978 at Tokyo Nippon Budokan, the penultimate night of that year’s New Years Golden Series tour, could definitely be seen as one of those Way Ahead Of Its Time ideas. But was it a bad match in of itself? That is debatable.

First, some context for those not familiar with Inoki’s opponent on the night. Umanosuke Ueda was born Hiroshi Ueda on 6/20/1940 in Yatomi, Aichi Prefecture. His eventual ring name would come from a historical figure of the same name, a samurai who was part of the Shinsengumi, the shogun’s personal police force from 1863 – 1869. He debuted in 1961 for Japan’s original wrestling promotion, the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance, whilst Rikidozan was still the top man in the company. He would also wrestle in Los Angeles and other NWA territories, bouncing around various promotions, including a brief stint in All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1973, and the IWE promotion in Japan, where he would briefly become an IWA World Heavyweight Champion.

What set Ueda apart in those days, were his look, his style, and his alliances. Ueda was the innovator of the bleached-blonde hair look in Japanese wrestling, which nowadays is pretty common, but in the early 1970s was considered scandalous in Japan. He was considered a “traitor heel,” not only because of his looks, but also his lawless brawling style. Wrestlers such as NJPW’s Tatsutoshi Goto and FMW’s Mr. Gannosuke would find inspiration in Ueda’s look and antics. More recently, NJPW talents Toru Yano and EVIL would be influenced by Ueda for their characters.

Then there was the matter of Ueda’s chosen partner by the time he arrived in New Japan in 1977 – the hated foreign nemesis, Tiger Jeet Singh. Inoki’s rivalry with Singh is pretty storied, and the combination of Singh and Ueda brought fan animosity that most heels would kill for in this age of wrestling. It’s worth noting, that the combo of Ueda & Singh were the first tandem to ever win titles in both NJPW and AJPW.

The pair ran roughshod, terrorizing NJPW, until the match was made for the biggest date of the 1978 New Years Golden Series. Antonio Inoki would face Umanosuke Ueda in a match where the ringside floor area would be covered by boards with nails sticking up from them. A decade before the advent of FMW, W*ING, and what we know now as deathmatch wrestling, and New Japan Pro Wrestling was running what they dubbed a “Nail Floor Death Match” in the hallowed halls of Budokan.

When you advertise a Bed Of Nails deathmatch, it comes with certain expectations in the modern fan’s mind. Did it meet those expectations? Well… not quite.

The match started off as you’d figure. Ueda was seconded by Singh, both wearing matching red and white outfits (I think – the video quality wasn’t the greatest), complete with t-shirts reading CAPITAL on the front, with their names on the back of the shirts. Inoki meanwhile arrives in the ring in his customary robe and scarf. Inoki is presented with not one, but two floral bouquets in the ring. Ueda had to dodge trash being thrown at him. Clearly, ownership has its privileges.

A VERY BUFF REFEREE forces Singh to leave the ringside to much drama, as the match begins with some good ol’ RASSLIN. Inoki is the first to gain control here with an early enzuiguri that nearly sends Ueda over the ropes for the first tease of a spill into the nails, to the crowd’s delight.

Ueda manages to get Inoki on the ground with a double wristlock, but Inoki powers out of it, almost dumping Ueda over the ropes to the waiting nails below. More of the same comes when Inoki ducks a clothesline from Ueda, Ueda nearly falling over AGAIN, but that transitions into a Boston Crab from Inoki instead.

The biggest moment of suspense comes as Ueda does finally get Inoki on the ground, and begins kicking him out of the ring, under the ropes, trying to get Inoki to fall. Inoki deftly hangs on to a rope for dear life, as the crowd screams, not wanting their hero to fall and injure himself in the nails below.

Inoki manages to get to his feet, and get himself around the ringpost to apply an armbar to Ueda through the ropes! This leads to a minute or so where it looks like BOTH Ueda and Inoki will go to the floor with the nails waiting for them. The crowd is on needles and pins, so to speak, eager to see whether or not one or both of these men will hit the floor.

Ultimately, Inoki and Ueda are both in the ring once more, as Inoki attacks Ueda’s arm and shoulder. This leads to a towel flying into the ring, as the bell rings, with Inoki winning via TKO. Inoki continues to attack Ueda’s arm, with Ueda with yet another tease to the outside. Ueda’s arm is put into a makeshift sling with the towel, once the VERY BUFF REF and Singh manage to get Inoki off the prone Ueda.

Despite the stipulation, despite the teases and suspense, neither Antonio Inoki nor Umanosuke Ueda ever actually make it onto the boards of nails outside the ring. Was this a waste of a stipulation? Did the match fail because of this?

The answer is: it depends on what you were looking for to begin with.

Had this match taken place in the mid-90s, the time of Kawasaki Dream (aka “King Of The Deathmatch,” the infamous tournament won by Mick Foley) and exploding rings, there would have been, at minimum, three spots with Inoki, Ueda, or both going full on into the nails, blood gushing from them. No question about that. But by then, the definition of what a “deathmatch” was had changed.

Audience expectations had changed by then as well. In 1978, Bed Of Nails deathmatches were not common at all. Barbed wire matches were a thing, but usually with the wire wrapped around the existing ropes. Wrestlers were not shy about bleeding either, even back then.

On the other hand, take a look at the horror genre. Some works are atmospheric, with fog and shadows, merely hinting at the terrors lurking, in order to create a mood of suspense. Others are gory, filled with jump-scares and visceral imagery. Neither are a wrong method, neither one is intrinsically superior to another. It all depends on what the expectations are, and what’s trying to be accomplished. The old Universal monster movies, FRIDAY THE 13TH and DARK WATER all work as horror, for many and varied reasons. For the pro wrestling audience in Budokan in February 1978, the mere anticipation of one of the two, or both, competitors MAYBE going into the nails was enough. And going back and watching the match, the fans were engaged and into the match all throughout. Sure, the danger was never actualized, so perhaps it fails the Chekhov’s Gun test. To the fans in Budokan, that didn’t matter.

Would the nail boards not being there in the first place have changed the match itself? Beyond a few spots, most likely not. All that said, the nails on the floor did add a little extra juice to it going in. (A very good example of a great Bed Of Nails deathmatch? Look up Ryuji Yamakawa v. Tomoaki Honma for the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship from 6/20/1999.)

Antonio Inoki liked to experiment. Experiments don’t always work. Perhaps the most infamous of his “deathmatches” was the Island Deathmatch, from 10/4/1987, a literally 2+-hour match on an island between Inoki v. Masa Saito. I don’t recommend it.

Of course, less than two years after Inoki’s “epic” on Ganryujima, Atsushi Onita would form Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, and forever alter what a “deathmatch” meant to wrestling at large.

Inoki’s experiment on 2/8/1978 may not have worked through modern eyes, and modern expectations of that match stipulation. As a match, it was just fine. Sometimes, it’s the thought that counts.

Links to the match: Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uamsWjxvIno

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDZHlAaYeXQ

Part 3:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBY8y1eacuc

#NJPW #new japan pro wrestling #Antonio Inoki #Umanosuke Ueda #deathmatch wrestling #horror

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thoughts-of-a-social-worker · 2 years

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Stories Shape How We See the World

Today I listened to a 2009 TED Talk where Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie spoke on what she called the danger of a “single story”. The central point of her message was that when we have a single story about a person or a place, it tends to become the only story. She argued that the single story creates stereotypes – when a group of people has the same story centered on them and shared repeatedly over time, that is what they become in the minds of others. Stories have power over us, and it is easy to fall into the single story trap.

When Adichie spoke about how the single story influenced her through books as she grew up, I started to consider how stories in books impacted me as a child. My family was poor and lived in a small Iowa town, but my mother was an avid reader who would not let a lack of money keep us from reading. We went on regular walks to the library, and I still remember the excitement of scouring the shelves in the children’s books section. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized how many stories were missing from those bookshelves. It’s true that there were many books filled with girls who shared my skin color, but most of the similarities ended there. The books I read had happy, middle-class families living in a house with a mom and a dad. They depicted girls with crushes on boys and boys who crushed on girls. Normative identities were placed in the spotlight and marginalized identities were left in the wings.

Up until the age of 9, my view of the world was quite limited. I had no idea how much the stories I read, and the stories I heard told around me, contributed to my deep shame and embarrassment in childhood. As the daughter of a young, single mom, I actively avoided conversations about fathers. I was excited to attend friends’ sleepover parties, but when asked by friends about sleeping over at my house I made excuses. It embarrassed me to think about my friends seeing our small apartment, and I feared they would judge me. When I noticed myself having strange feelings for some of the girls in my class, I immediately shoved those feelings down as far as I could. Every story I had ever been told was about boys and girls, men and women, dating and getting married. In our predominantly conservative Christian community, a story was told that the way I felt was wrong. It was a sin. At such a tender age, I bought into every one of those stories, and I hated myself. I thought I had been built “wrong”.

I think it was the advent of modern-day internet, and a little bit of cable TV, that helped me expand my horizons past age 9. I heard new stories – stories that blossomed out of Japanese popular culture – and I learned that there was more to the world than the stories told in this small Iowa town. Anime and Japanese music, history, and traditions captivated me. Ultimately, these new stories led me to save up funds through high school so I could travel to Japan for two weeks as a student ambassador. So much of what I learned about myself in those two weeks built the foundation for who I am today.

Right now, I am completing my final year of graduate school to become a master-level social worker. I actively seek new stories. Like Adichie, I have learned to recognize the power – or what she called nkali, which roughly translates to “being greater than another” – in stories. Who tells a story, how they tell it, when they tell it, and how often they tell it matters. A single story is only one piece in the larger puzzle. If we are to truly understand ourselves and each other, we need to be voracious story seekers. I took a course this summer that focused on the concept of wonder as a way of navigating conflict. The goal was to look beyond a harmful statement, or story, and to internally process the “why” behind how the statement harmed us and why the person may have said it in the first place. When we use wonder to approach situations that trigger strong emotions within us, it allows time to pause and process – to seek additional stories. This helps us move outside of ourselves to see the larger picture of what is actually happening and helps us begin connecting with others rather than conflicting with them. Adichie spoke of this rejection of the single story as something that helped us reach a place of paradise.

I don’t believe that there is any set number of stories to collect that will make us experts in this art. However, I do think continual dedication to the pursuit of new stories is vital to creating deeper and more meaningful connections with others. Individually, we only exist in a small space on this planet, and there is so much out there that is foreign to us. Many of us are taught to demonize and fear the “other” but, by learning others’ stories, these same individuals can be humanized in our eyes. Personally, I believe the world would be a better place if we could simply 1.) recognize that single stories are not the only stories and 2.) promote and seek more opportunities to hear new stories. That’s how we create connection, build bridges, and work toward creating a more equitable and just world.

#social work #social worker #chimamanda ngozi adichie #stories #growth #being human #equity #social justice #books #learning #journey #connection

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lindasipsandspills · 15 days

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The Setting Sun

By Osamu Dazai

A review that may certainly contain spoilers.

General Information:

Edition:

Translated by Donald Keene from A New Direction Books in e-Book-format.

Author:

Shūji Tsushima, known by his pen name Osamu Dazai, was a Japanese novelist and author. He was bron on 19 June 1909 and died on 13 June 1948. A number of his most popular works, such as The Setting Sun and No Longer Human, are considered modern-day classics.

Short Synopsis (via goodreads):

"The post-war period in Japan was one of immense social change as Japanese society adjusted to the shock of defeat and to the occupation of Japan by American forces and their allies. Osamu Dazai’s The Setting Sun takes this milieu as its background to tell the story of the decline of a minor aristocratic family.

The story is told through the eyes of Kazuko, the unmarried daughter of a widowed aristocrat. Her search for self meaning in a society devoid of use for her forms the crux of Dazai’s novel. It is a sad story, and structurally is a novel very much within the confines of the Japanese take on the novel in a way reminiscent of authors such as Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata – the social interactions are peripheral and understated, nuances must be drawn, and for readers more used to Western novelistic forms this comes across as being rather wishy-washy.

Kazuko’s mother falls ill, and due to their financial circumstances they are forced to take a cottage in the countryside. Her brother, who became addicted to opium during the war is missing. When he returns, Kazuko attempts to form a liaison with the novelist Uehara. This romantic displacement only furthers to deepen her alienation from society."

Page count:

175 paper pages.

Trigger warnings:

Mention of suicide, death, sickness, alcoholism, prostitution, affairs.

Initial thoughts post-read:

What an unsettling book indeed.

Reading it was an experience that stirred a mix of emotions. From the start, it unsettled and even frustrated me, yet I found myself unable to put it down. I was consumed by a need to understand the fate of the narrator, to understand her journey on a deeper level and not just take it on a surface level.

The loss of the narrator's mother, compounded by her brother's drug and alcohol addiction as well as his eventual tragic suicide, struck a chord within me. Despite the overwhelming grief, there was a sense of pride that she didn't succumb to the same fate. I couldn't help but wonder if it was the lack of maternal love that drove her to seek comfort in physicality rather than emotions. Was that why she only understood herself to be worthy once she had lain with her brother’s sensei?

I'll admit, I approached the book with reservations, expecting to dislike its unsettling themes. Yet, as I delved into the story, I found myself drawn to Kazuko in ways I didn't anticipate. Her struggles resonated with me on a personal level. I suppose that’s why I cannot hate the book for what it represents and for what it did to her as a narrator. Kazuko's story has left an indelible mark on my heart.

Quotes:

I asked with a little smile, "Doesn't it make any difference to you that I don't love you?" He answered seriously, "It doesn't matter for a woman. A woman can be vague." - "But a woman like myself cannot think of a marriage without love. I am fully grown. Next year I will be thirty." I was taken aback at my own words.

All men are alike. - I wondered if that might be a philosophy. I don't believe that the person who first thought up this extraordinary expression was a religious man or a philosopher or an artist. The expression assuredly oozed forth from some public bar like a grub, without anyone's having pronounced it, an expression fated to overturn the whole world and render it repulsive.

I wonder if we are to blame, after all. Is it our fault that we were born aristocrats? Merely because we were born in such a family, we are condemned to spend our whole lives in humiliation, apologies, and abasement, like so many Jews. I should have died sooner. But there was one thing: Mama's love. When I thought of that I couldn't die.

#aesthetic #book classics #book commentary #book criticism #book recommendations #books #the setting sun #dazai osamu #japanese #japanese literature

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straycatboogie · 2 months

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2024/03/29 English

BGM: Original Love - MILLION SECRETS OF JAZZ (U.F.O. Remix)

This morning, I started reading Brady Mikako's book "Listen To Broken Britain" [ブレイディみ��こ『ブロークン・ブリテンに聞け』.] Her works (literally, ALL writings by her) tell me various splendid truths about politics, and also life itself. This time, I was really impressed by her truly clever, "critical" opinions which spot how the Leftist people tend to look at this world in their too narrow, self-righteous, hypocritical ways. I need to read this book so carefully to find out where can be different from my own opinions.

In my opinion/impression, she gazes at the current, actual scene with her really keen, strong eyes. So, whether I agree with her or not, her writings deliver her truths so vividly. This is great, critical POP art for me - as actual as Banksy's art (sorry, but now I'm already 49, therefore don't know any fine "modern" art and rock music!).

This book has an interesting topic as a column, which says we can be divided into two kinds. The people who can work or live anywhere (she says these are "anywhere people"). And, the ones who have to belong somewhere ("somewhere people".) Then, I can be the one who can belong "nowhere"… Sorry, I'm joking.

This topic is so impressive because I can remember that once I had been possessed by the idea/obsession of becoming an international, perfect person in this global world (an absolute "anywhere" person.) From this narrow, tiny country (or simply this closed island) to the wide, open world - That obsession actually trained me a lot to make my logic so hard, so diligent enough to become a "universal" one. In a way, I hated this Japan itself.

But, probably since I started quitting alcohol and also started learning English from the primal level at 40 (although this can sound so ironic,) I started trying to commit carious communications in English and Japanese actually with a sweaty spirit. And, that has brought me a tiny truth - the more I get into learning English to learn the outer world, the more I have to reflect on myself retrospectively - into the Japanese essences. In a way, I am becoming a nationalist (or almost a patriot) who has to belong to this country as a homeland…

#english #diary #journal #tumblr diary

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thesketchyheartist · 2 months

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03/26

Kersten- Neo-Nationalism and the "Liberal School of History"; Kobayashi- Sensoron

Today's post would not be an anime but a manga and scholarly article, focusing mostly on the manga.

Fun fact: our professor translated the original for this course because according to Wikipedia, official translations are not a priority. Considering how much early manga (ones that the average international manga reader probably never heard of) got translated about a decade ago, this says something. After reading this, I wonder if "no plans" means there was a plan to avoid translation, whatever that could mean.

The mangaka (is it even manga?) is the self-insert narrator who presents and argues why modern education on Japanese history, specifically from the wars and violence from the past 100 years is both inaccurate and detrimental to Japan's future. While the passion to argue and purpose to the argument is real, I am skeptical on the medium of choice.

Given the time this was written, I know the Internet and colored television should be relatively available. I don't know how scholarly articles were shared in the past, but I imagine books are timeless, and even argumentative essays are more sophisticated than manga. Not to slander manga, but the use of chibi style mixed with black and white photos does not feel like a good contrast to create a mood, rather I feel confused as to what I should consider.

Nevertheless, I can still see a long essay written into a book with the same pictures, and even the same emotional anecdote example to convey a point can still be effective in a book. I imagine the audience, and I believe Kobayashi mentioned it as well, was geared toward younger and a broader audience. Be that as it may, the photos are quite blurry, even for a manga. I know I should research the photos myself and not criticize them without consideration, but I don't think the author knows what he is talking about.

And if a word is mentioned more than three times, it's probably important: the uncomfortable issue of comfort women. Earlier in this course we read about how comfort women were implemented by the Japanese government to pacify the occupied American soldiers post-WWII. However, Kobayashi argues that such a concept does not exist and that women were already selling themselves, so there is no issue outside of their pre-existing presence in history. Of course, to win back the audience he assures the audience that there is sympathy needed given how feminism was not as strong as it is now, but I should say this was the rise, but not the boom, of the #metoo era. Getting back on track, he then goes on to say that by having people argue about the coercion and abuse these women faced, it distracts them from the "issue[s] at hand".

My main issue is really the logic. Say the Westerners want to practice imperialism on the Allies' powers post-WWII treaty; of course, any power dynamic that gives one entity the superior class and another the inferior class regardless of the benefits the inferior class can receive from giving power to the superior class, it still doesn't make it "right' because sooner or later, even a sliver of power imbalance will eventually give rise to the inferior receiving abuse and the superior receiving hate and prejudice.

But his approach to education is faulty. Where have people seen in history a country enforcing its power under the guise of justice and righteousness over another to ensure they will not repeat their sinful mistakes? I expect everyone to name at least a handful because thousands of years of human history have seen this everywhere, every time. And what has the "superior" empire (or its descendants) done? We sweep it under the carpet never to be seen again so as to not "horrify" the descendants' eyes of their cowardly ancestors, but we never see ourselves as "bad" citizens because of them. Ideally, we tell the truth: yes, your ancestors or founders committed an unforgivable sin against these people. You only live the luxuries you have because of that. But, we cannot wallow in guilt or else they will continue to live that way, nor can we ignore it because they will still live that way. We must learn and LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES.

Likewise the inferior class: it may be easier to play the blame game (it is being played, but that's why learners must seek truth from ALL sides UNbiased) without making themselves look like weak damsels that were "tricked by the conniving [insert superior's derogatory name]." Ideally, people learn not to hate each other for hurting or getting hurt (that easily) because the people who committed those sins are not you. We can only focus on who we are now. I don't know what is the best approach, but I'm glad I learned the one of billions of ways not to heal a generation.

It may be confusing what to do now. All my life I was only who I am because I grew up in where I was. Now I'm here in a place I do not know where. I'm expected to just be happy because I have grown from where I was. But where I was was home for as long as I know. This is not home. At least home was a place I could be, even if not myself. Look around you, you are free as you say you are to be. When you realize you are not, you are still free. Now go be free to make that new world the way you want. Ironically, parties are called "wings" but we are not birds, we are flightless mammals who must depend on others and our brains to survive.

Google had like max 20 photos of this manga, and I'm pretty sure one was from a blogger from this course that I refuse to use. Pretty sure kids would be censored from this stuff, but what do I know? I'm just The Sketchy Heartist.

-03/26/24

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multimediajournaljfh · 1 year

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Multimedia Journal Entry 2: Get Out

Get Out is a psychological horror movie written and directed by Jordan Peele. The movie stars Daniel Kaluuya as Chris. A black man who is visiting the family home of his white girlfriend, Rose. When Chris first meets his girlfriend's family they at first appear to be accepting, but there are some things they do that make things awkward. For example, Rose's father mentions that he was a big fan of Obama and would have voted for him a third time. The hyper awareness that Chris is black and the ham-fisted appeals to black sensitivities make for a lot of uncomfortable scenes involving race.

It's hard to say what genre Get Out is exactly. Online it's categorized as a psychological horror, and while it is one on the surface there is a lot more to it that that. It's also a social commentary and a biting satire on the way wealthy white liberals view Black people. Often in movies the racists are skin-heads, ignorant rednecks, or literal KKK members. This movie flips it around and instead the white racists are wealthy, educated, and aware of social injustices Black people face.

The attitudes the white people have in the movie are not outright hate of Black people or viewing them as inferior. Some of the attitudes are fascinations with the physical prowess of black bodies, possibly a social commentary on the disproportionately large percentage of black athletes in sports like basketball or football. Then there is some implied sexual fetishization when it is implied that one black male character's in the movie is the sex slave of a white women 30 years his senior.

In class many of the readings were about historical issues of racism that still linger today or are deeply embedded into our social structures and economic systems. This is a social commentary on modern issues involving race. One of the more interesting issues involved Chris's girlfriend, Rose, who seemed to have something of a White Savior complex going on. Often trying to consul Chris after he talks to her parents about something they said even though he just wants to move on.

Another interesting issue is that Rose's family has what are essentially black servants. Rose's father insists that he knows it "looks bad" but is not because of any racial reasons and comes up with a reason about why he has them. The message I get from this is that even though Black people are no longer enslaved, they still end up in positions where they are subservient to White people. A real life example that I have witnessed is when I worked at a hotel. There were many black and brown people working as housekeepers, janitors, or in food service, but then all the management was white.

Overall, I think it's both an entertaining movie and an insightful one. It has a lot to say about modern race issues and I would recommend it to people.

As a side note, since I am living in Japan I watched this on Amazon Japan Prime Video. The movie is available in both English with Japanese subtitles and dubbed in Japanese. It was interesting to read the reviews left by Japanese people as well as the comments on the Japanese trailer for Get Out. The movie seems to be mildly popular in Japan with around 1350 reviews on Amazon Prime and around a million views on the official Japanese Trailer. It seems like a lot of people watched it to try and understand social issues in the United States so I think the movie has been pretty effective at being a social commentary when it's being talked about outside of the US.

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chinchilla-silver · 3 years

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Too old-fashioned, corrupt country "Japan"

　Should I hold the Tokyo Olympics? Unfortunately, today's Japanese have no power.

　Also, it is very late to think of "Japan" as a community as a country. Members of the ruling party have values that go against the spirit of the Olympics.

　Still, they have only a biased view that "LGBT" people are "contrary to species conservation."

　Surprisingly, the Japanese government is inflexible. Is it okay for the Olympics to be held in such a country? I think there is a lot of disagreement about this.

　However, as an ACoA with one mental illness, there is only doubt.

　Perhaps overseas people asked, "What do Japanese people mean?" "What are you thinking?" "Why don't you speak out more?"

　I would like you to know how Japan is pretending to be a "good country".

　Most Japanese people will have a sheep-like adultness that is harmless. But when it comes to politics, we leave the action to politicians.

　People can no longer be called "thinking reeds". Also, politicians are only thinking about the next general election and self-protection. Japan may eventually rot and not even leave bones. I speak here as "Japanese who hate modern Japan".

#japan #LGBT #japanese #depression #ADHD #acoa #I am a Japanese who hate modern Japan

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zhenjun · 3 years

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white people, your cosplay is yellowface

Content warning: images of yellowface that may be upsetting below

Note: I have made the decision to remove the images of modern-day cosplayers. I stand by my initial choice to include them, as I believe actually seeing images of modern cosplay side by side with “real” yellowface was essential to understanding the point. However, this post has gotten much more attention than I ever anticipated. I had, at the time of making it, fewer than 30 followers.

In addition to harassment from sockpuppet accounts, assertions that my opinion on racism is less important because I am in the diaspora, misinterpretation about what this post was initially about (several people claimed cultural appropriation), threats to report and suspend me, and, apparently, discussion on twitter, for my own mental health, I am taking these images down.

I will no longer be responding to criticism or questions on the post, but I will happily answer DMs or asks on the subject. If you disrespect this or try to start more discourse, you are getting blocked, not because I want to silence your voice, but because I am a real person who can choose not to engage with people for reasons as seemingly unfair as my mental health and not wanting to continue filling my blog with the same post that honestly is upsetting for me to look at (as I already stated within the post).

If you have been blocked by me it is either due to disrespect and/or some form of unrelated drama due to how I like to interact with fandoms (i.e. ships like Ch*ngxian, Xu*xiao), not because I am trying to silence you. As I have so few followers, I am sure you can make your own post and gain even more traction than I did.

If you are white, please stop cosplaying MDZS/TGCF characters. It often looks like/is yellowface, and honestly there’s no way to respectfully do it when these media are based so heavily on Chinese culture. I’ll try to sum up why these fandoms need to be more mindful. You can find links and citations at the bottom that read best on my desktop blog theme.

The goal of yellow face in the past wasn’t always to look “authentically Asian;” white directors, actors, set designers, and playwrights set out to use what pieces of East Asian culture they found most inspiring, fun, cool, violent, or backward. Sometimes, white people had "good" intentions" with their use of yellowface and were not "trying" to demean our cultures, but the practice itself did so regardless.

To summarize, white people of the past did yellowface to erase our identities, take aspects of our culture that they liked, or ridicule us. Most modern-day cosplayers are doing the first two.

Below are examples of early Hollywood yellowface and modern-day theater, as well as modern-day cosplay:

[Previously pictured was a white Xie Lian cosplayer who was very receptive after seeing this post and has since removed these images from their social media. If you happen upon any of their cosplay or other social media, please do not send them any hate.]

As you can see actress Katharine Hepburn in “Dragon Seed”[1][2] is in very traditionally inspired Chinese clothing. The previously pictured Xie Lian cosplayer was in a similar hat and wearing white robes. They both had some sort of eye makeup; Katharine Hepburn darkened her hair for the role while the cosplayer was wearing a dark-brown/black wig.

Of note, the character Katharine Hepburn plays in "Dragon Seed" is supposed to be positive; an adaption from (white) author Pearl S. Buck's novel about a brave Chinese woman who stands up to Japanese imperialism. Like modern day cosplayers of Chinese media, just because the white people creating this film did not intend to be harmful does not change that it was yellowface and racist.

[Previously pictured was a before and after picture of a white Xue Yang cosplayer with blue eyes, brown hair, half of which was dyed blonde in the before image. In the after, they were wearing a long black wig, heavy eye makeup, newly shaped and darkened eyebrows, and robes made to emulate CQL in warm lighting]

Here are before and after pictures of actress Katharine Hepburn in 1944[3] and, previously, was a white Xue Yang cosplayer in 2020. Both had altered their eyes and eyebrows as well as donned black wigs or darkened hair.

[Previously pictured was a Jiang Yanli cosplayer in a black wig and robes meant to emulate the donghua]

Yellowface does not always involve modification to the eyes. In these two images, neither Mary Pickford in Madame Butterfly[4] nor the previously shown modern Jiang Yanli cosplayer have done anything noticeable to shape their eyes. They were, however, both wearing black wigs with traditionally inspired outfits. Jiang Yanli wore a modified version of Tang Dynasty fashion.[5]

[previously pictured was an image of a Wei Wuxian cosplayer with face powdered white and rouge around the eyes. Their eyes were still blue as the Madame Butterfly’s were on the left, and they were wearing a long black wig as well as robes designed to emulate his. This image has been replaced and amended with an additional example of modern theater; the production of The Mikado where one actor is wearing a black wig, the other a Japanese inspired hat, and both are wearing Japanese robes]

The final comparison was an example of a stage actress from the 2015 Fargo-Moorehead Opera production for Madame Butterfly[6] on the left (the earlier movie is an adaptation of the play). [This image was previously erroneously attributed to the Knoxville Opera which faced backlash for their production as they had an all-white cast depicting actors in yellowface in 2019.][7]

Honestly, these images just had a strange similarity to me so that’s why I chose to put these two together. Most importantly, was the similarity in makeup, hair, and East Asian clothing. Though the image is not there any longer, but just google Mo Xuanyu cosplays and ask yourself, if you didn’t know the fandom, would you be able to spot the difference of which one is supposed to be worse?

The new image is just another example of modern yellowface in theater, where the actors do not necessarily wear extensive eye makeup to emulate East Asians but, much like modern cosplayers, nonetheless are trying to look like the Asian characters they play in a Seattle production of The Mikado.[8]

As you can see, it’s pretty sad and disturbing to see how the rise of East Asian media is creating a new modern wave of yellowface. I think white people tend to think that black/brown/yellowface is only about darkening the skin, but that is just not what many depictions of yellowface have been for East and Southeast Asian people.

I know a lot of people recognize this is wrong and I appreciate those of you that do, but if you didn’t recognize the past parallels, please read up on the links below! Researching this was honestly triggering and emotionally taxing and caused a mild breakdown, so if you clown on this post you’re getting blocked.

Despite the post losing effectiveness to an extent from taking down the modern day photos, I suggest a quick google search of cosplays from the series during/after reading this. And if you don't agree with me, feel free to block and don't send more hate to me! I'm not trying to get into fights. I just wanna feel like I have a semi-safe space in the fandom but if this annoys you, it's better to just block me.

HISTORY, Casting White People in Asian Roles Goes Back Centuries[↩︎]︎

Youtube, Dragon Seed (1944) Trailer [↩︎]︎

NBC News, 'Correcting Yellowface': One Woman's Project to Fix Whitewashing[↩︎]︎

IMDB[↩︎]

Stony Brook University, The Influence of Chang-An Culture to Korea and Japan: Cultural Diffusion in the Glorious Age of Tang Dynasty[↩︎]

Howard Sherman, Yellowface Bait-And-Switch With ‘Madama Butterfly’ In Fargo[↩︎]︎

OnStage Blog, Knoxville Opera Forgets It's 2019 and Opts for Yellowface for "Madame Butterfly"[↩︎]︎

Seattle Times, The yellowface of “The Mikado” in your face[↩︎]︎

#mdzs #tgcf #the untamed #racism #madame butterfly #dragon seed #❁#yellowface #when I describe the behavior in the note please do not assume it is about you if you've interacted with me #there are probably dozens of people I've interacted with who I may have already blocked etc.

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pikkubang · 3 years

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AOT (SNK) HEADCANONS

What their favorite curse words are or which ones they would use in a modern setting. -Includes the Warriors ofc ^^-

TRIGGER WARNING: you guessed it. Curse words and mentions of slur usage (slurs not included ofc).

Eren (S1-3): he would definitely go with the usual “fuck” and “bitch” but have an unhealthy obsession with words related to balls that everyone hates and makes Mikasa give him dirty looks every time he says one.

“Bro you fucking piece of shit, I swear I will kick you in those fucking hairy bollocks you call a face”

Eren (S4): this man just says the most offensive slurs (unprovoked and with no visible emotions) that make the entire room go QUIET.

Mikasa: doesn’t curse too often, but when she does, she mostly uses some Japanese curse words that she picked up from her mother, such as:

“くそ! (kuzo!)”: meaning “fuck!”

“ちくしょう (chikushō)”: meaning “oh shit”

“わるがき (warugaki)”: meaning “brat”. Mostly used towards Eren when she is annoyed.

Fair to say that she doesn’t shout them, she just says them in a low voice.

Armin: we all know it’s really unlikely that he’ll ever insult anyone during an argument, but for some reason i feel that he enjoys to say things like “holy guacamole!” when he stubs his toe in the couch and stuff like that djdjdjhs

Sasha: loves weird word combinations and long curse words to say at any given moment such as: “what in the mother geewillikers’ bazooka trunk is that?!?”

No one really knows how she comes up with these.

Connie: DEFINITELY uses stinky and ass way too much.

“Hey Connie, yo mama-“

“LISTEN YOU STINKY ASS MOTHE-“

Jean: is the one who actually makes the “yo mama” jokes to Connie ALL the time. He likes to get creative.

“Hey Connie, yo mama so fat that Thanos had to snap twice”

“Hey Connie, yo mama’s forehead so big that she can make a pita out of sourdough bread by giving it a headbutt”

Historia: on a daily basis, she uses refined curse words to refer to the people that she dislikes, such as “bastard”, “miserable”, “wretched” and such, but OH- we all know that when she’s either comfortable or really mad she can say (and probably knows) more curse words than everyone in the troops combined.

Ymir: she just needs cursing to live and most of her sentences consist of phrases with random curse words intertwined into every single one of them. Special mention to “shit” because she likes it a lot and most things that aren’t related to Historia are just “shitty” to her.

“I SWEAR TO GOD REINER YOU SHITTY FUCKING DICKHEAD! STAY AWAY FROM HISTORIA”

Erwin: oh, our good suburban dad Erwin. He really likes “bloody hell” and will throw random dammits at small inconveniences like “staining” his shirt with a little bit of coffee or a pen falling from his desk.

Levi: he will for sure call everyone an “asshole” because he simply thinks everyone is. Period. He doesn’t care who you are. To him, everyone is just a “stupid asshole that doesn’t deserve his time and effort”.

Yes. He learned this word from Kenny. Now cry.

Hange: they absolutely love researching funny and currently unused curse words on the internet just for the laughs. Hange doesn’t really feel the need to curse at everything and everyone, but will randomly throw some of the ones they learned when everyone is angry and cursing to just “get in the mood”.

Ymir: “he’s just shitty, I guess…”

Connie: “JUST SHITTY? HE FUCKING SUCKS ASS”

Hange, passing by: “zooterkins! he sounds like a zounderkite. Did you two know that is the victorian word for idiot?” *laughs and leaves*

Reiner: his favorites were “son of a bitch”, “motherfucker” and “whore”, and he mainly used them to insult fellow men when he was at Paradis. Now that he’s back in Marley, he just doesn’t have the energy/tries to avoid doing it for the kids.

Bertholdt: my good man right here would never insult anyone but himself when he is frustrated (which mostly happens in his mind, of course), but sometimes, when he says these things out loud, they’re like:

“Come on Bertholdt you’re such an idiot!”

“Dumb. I am dumb. Goodbye”. *storms off in tiny anger*

Annie: is definitely beyond basic “rat kid insults” (in her words) like “pussy”, anything to do with balls, “whateverfucker” and randomly saying “fuck” or “shit” in every sentence, so she usually goes with the useful basic when needed:

“Fuck off”. Yep, that is definitely a favorite.

Pieck: definitely knows how to curse properly but chooses not to, so don’t be fooled. She might look soft, and she is. But she has also been on too many missions with too many soldiers and definitely knows way more insults and jargon than you.

She doesn’t really have a favorite one, though. She just enjoys the looks on people’s faces when she lets them know that she understood every single word that they said and that “calling her a “carechimba hija de su puta madre” won’t suffice”.

Yelena: will straight up HEX you in russian and occasionally bring up some slurs💀. I know, I’m sorry Yelena but we all know it’s true ㅠㅠ

Zeke: this man is still -sadly- not over “balls and penis curse words”, so you can imagine for yourself what his common expressions are and how he goes from “ballsack sucker” to whatever sounds like it.

Porco: uses the classical “fuck”, “shit”, “bitch” and so on, but additionally tries to incorporate curse words or even slurs that he doesn’t know how to use or what they mean and their implications, only to be met by Pieck’s stare seconds later; and you guessed it: she usually has to explain to him what they mean and why he shouldn’t be using them.

Falco: will mostly say those weird “filtered bad words” that are children-safe, such as “fudge nuggets!” and “snickerdoodle!”, but you cannot tell me that Gabi hasn’t taught him the actual stuff and he secretly uses “shit” on the internet and some others slip out when he’s playing with his friends and gets mad at Gabi for cheating.

Gabi: knows the entire classic curse word dictionary. Occasionally uses slurs pretending she didn’t know that she couldn’t say them.

One day, she called Falco a “piece of pixelated b*kk*ke” because she heard it somewhere and thought it meant “shit”, so Pieck had to step in and age-appropriately explain that it was something that “bad men did to punish women in Japan and that it was not funny at all”. Gabi never said it again.

Casually picked up “suka” from Yelena because she thought it sounded funny.

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