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dropintomanga · 1 month

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Initial D - The First Stage to the Overall Magic of Anime and Manga

Seeing this display at my local Kinokuniya Bookstore branch made my day and got me reminiscing.

In the early 2000s', I was still in my phase of consuming everything Dragon Ball. I followed Dragon Ball GT at the time and knew it ended around 1997. Since simulcast streaming wasn't a thing, I had to rely on Chinese-dubbed VHS tapes to rent for all the episodes.

When watching one of the final episodes of Dragon Ball GT on a tape I got, there was a trailer (which was actually the opening) for another anime that played before the episode. It wasn't for a Shonen Jump series and I heard some really cool-sounding techno music.

youtube

That opening began my journey into a series that highlighted what anime and manga was really like outside of American marketing - Shuichi Shigeno's Initial D.

For those who don't know, Initial D is about a young man named Takumi Fujiwara who gets himself involved in the mountain street racing scene. He drives a car that isn't suitable for street racing, the Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno. The car lacks horsepower and speed, but Takumi is able to utilize amazing drift techniques to make up for it. While reluctant at first, Takumi gets pulled into a race when a street racing team called the Akagi Red Suns challenges Takumi's local team. Takumi beats one of the Red Suns' top members and he slowly becomes a legend as he encounters more street racers who want to challenge him. The manga lasted 49 volumes, had 6 anime seasons in 16 years, and a Hong Kong live-action movie adaptation of the manga (which I appreciated as a Cantonese speaker) was made in 2005. The series also inspired a good amount of people all over the world to get into Japanese cars due to every car featured in the series existing in real life. It did not hurt that fans loved the Eurobeat music that played in races throughout the anime.

As you can see from the photo I took, Kodansha USA decided to re-release the entire Initial D manga in a 2-in-1 omnibus print format for a newer generation as the original English manga release by Tokyopop in the mid-2000s' left a lot to be desired for translation reasons.

After watching the OP teaser in that one tape of a DBGT episode, I decided to watch all of the First Stage season of Initial D in Cantonese Chinese on VHS. I became hooked. I absolutely loved the music. I appreciated how analytical some of the characters were. Even though I didn't understand a lot of the conversations being had due to my Cantonese not being good enough to talk about vehicle intricacies, I had the help of Initial D fansites to summarize things. I became obsessed when the manga was ongoing at the time to see who Takumi was facing. Fansites helped to bridge the gap.

Speaking of fan-related material, I learned about yaoi/boys' love through Initial D. I saw many fanfiction sites about the relationships between the major male characters. In a sense, I got to see why sports-like series appealed to female fans way before the current sports series boom we have now.

Initial D also helped me get close with my dad. He actually watched the anime with me. During the years when I was so depressed, my dad always spent time with me. We played a lot of basketball, talk sports, and watched Initial D together. It helped that he was into car culture, so he helped explain a few things to me about certain cars.

One more thing Initial D did was that it got me to go to my very first anime convention in 2003. It was the Big Apple Anime Fest and the Third Stage movie was screened. While I watched the Third Stage movie before, it wasn't dubbed in Cantonese. This time, I got to see the full film with English subtitles. I stayed for the 7:30pm screening and was excited with so many fans around me. The convention was also where I finally got to connect with a friend who lived in the same area as me. I still talk to and hang out with them today.

While Dragon Ball got me into anime in the first place, it was Initial D that got me to expand my worldview about anime and manga. The series gave me a glimpse of the other anime/manga communities out there. I got a first glimpse into series that weren't mainstream yet loved by passionate fans.

When both the Initial D manga and anime ended in the 2010s', my anime/manga interests were in a different place. But I still enjoyed Final Stage when it came out because I got to see Takumi grow immensely over time and the payoff was good. The final battle felt like two very similar individuals trying to impose their superiority over one another. It was a perfect way to end Takumi's story, given that almost all of his opponents were different from him.

I know Initial D isn't talked about as much as Dragon Ball or Sailor Moon in terms of impacting people's lives, but it has done wonders for me in genuinely seeing what the world of anime/manga fans was like outside of the usual fare. I know I'm not the only one.

So I want to say that if the super-mainstream anime and manga series aren't your thing, it's okay. There will always be something that will catch your eye and maybe change your perspective for the better. And maybe it will find you a community that you love being around and help you grow.

To quote one of the Initial D opening songs sung by the group, m.o.v.e, let's move into the brand new world and let's dive into the brand new trip.

For more perspective on Initial D's impact on its fans and car culture, this post from a car enthusiast is worth a read.

#Initial D #manga #anime #street racing #mental health #fandom #community #Asian culture #Youtube

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goggles-mcgee · 1 year

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Hey Goggles, as someone who likes Maribat fics but isn't super invested in DC, how should I get into the batman and DC community? Which comic should I read, which shows or films should I watch, ect. I mean, my main knowledge of DC pre-Maribat was general public knowledge + my dad.

The DC community is huge! As is Batman so I understand not wanting to jump into the deep end and honestly that's not something I recommend. For Batman, it really depends because Batman is one of those things that has a lot of branches. Not just in terms of comics, live-action and animated, but in terms of all his kids too because they add on to him and his legacy in my opinion.

But strictly speaking Batman if you're wanting to get into live-action I say sample them all as each live-action is different than the other. Adam West is great for the more comedic Batman. Keaton is a great Bruce and Batman in my opinion and will always have a special place in my heart because his Batman has the Prince soundtrack. Val Kilmer was an okay Batman but to be honest I don't really care for him as an actor so I didn't really care for him as Bruce Wayne nor Batman. George Clooney is another Batman movie near and dear to my heart he plays a great Batman and Bruce in my opinion and the movie feels very much like a comic book, I know people have mixed feelings about it but it's a favorite. Bale was a good Batman and Bruce but his Bruce sometimes just left you wanting. Affleck was an okay Bruce but I did not care for his Batman. David Mazouz was a great Bruce Wayne! I know some people didn't care for Gotham but I thought it was a fun retelling of the Batman story, it had it's faults but Mazouz as Bruce was brilliant and if he took on the role again as well as Batman when he's older I truly believe he'd be wonderful. Pattinson is a great Batman and Bruce Wayne in my opinion! He's Bruce and Batman in Year Two and it shows and I adore it! He hasn't gotten a handle on his playboy put-together persona yet, he's still obsessed over the passing of his parents and it's just great!

Animated, there are a lot of movies to watch and I recommend a lot of them as well as some of the TV series! Batman the Animated Series is wonderful as is Batman Beyond. Movie wise Batman Year One, The Long Halloween, Batman Under the Red Hood, and others but that's are pick and choose kinda thing as well.

Comics is where things get messy. Because there are different comics set in different Earth's. I.e. different adaptations that everyone likes or dislikes. This one is very much pick-and-choose. My favorite comic though is The Long Halloween and Mad Love but that's not surprising given I'm a Harley fan.

If you want condensed but a vast set of knowledge I recommend these books!

The Batman Files by Matthew Manning, it is a bit pricey but it is a great book written by "Batman"

Batman a Visual History by Matthew K. Manning (same guy just for some reason he has his middle initial here) it goes through the ages and everything and is around 20 bucks!

For other media I've always been fond of the Batman team-ups with Scooby-Doo!

#batman #dc #maribat

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willywarfy · 10 months

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Welcome! Please read before interacting!

This is just a silly little rp blog, I've fallen back into WKM and WMW obsession and crave the characters SO MUCH so why not make yet another social media account centered around them

Admin intro!

Wilford's is further down

But hey, call me Night! Ooc i am 22, I don't rp nsfw with anybody under 18. My time zone is EST and am most active from 4 pm to 2 am. My rp style is literate, sometimes more or less depending on who I'm roleplaying with. My favorite tropes are angst, fluff, enemies to lovers, and action. In addition to rp I will be posting fics, headcanons, and art here as well.

Wilford intro!

Certainly crazy, but not as much as you might think.

After literally taking the lives of others and seeing them get back up, with the help of how weird reality seemed to be afterwards, Wilford forgot. He forgot EVERYTHING. A subconscious decision his mind made for him for him to cope. Now he's a crazy, happy, party animal. He loves martinis and disco. He insists he doesn't have some weird magical abilities, and claims he's just "learned to adapt to the world around him." He can appear anywhere he wants to in reality, and can read people's thoughts if he wants to. He can bend some images of reality to his liking, nothing major but just little details. Like if he needs a small object.

If interacting pre WMW:

He still doesn't remember anything. Abe hasn't found him, and he's spent his days happy. If someone were to make him remember, it would be a really hard blow to his mental state. He'd try very hard to hold on to the peace he had found, trying to block out everything as he did before. But it wouldn't work, as he now is hanging around (your character) who reminded him of everything. It would be very hard to break down his walls and get him to talk about anything he was feeling, but it would be clear that he is struggling from his demeanor. But, if he doesn't remember what happened, he would be a crazy, happy party animal still.

If interacting post WMW:

He's not as happy as he once was. With his memories of his trauma and the causation of others traumas, he's changed. Not completely. He's still kinda crazy, definitely eccentric, but he's a bit more understanding of his fellow human beings now. He's more caring, and wants to be there for others- those he likes, anyway. He spent so long feeling nothing but happiness that now he feels every emotion very intensely. He loves deeply, rages occasionally, and gets depressed at times.

My ships and muses!

Muses:

Wilford Warfstache (obviously)

Damien

The colonel

Actor Mark

Darkiplier

The Host

Abe

Irl Mark occasionally

Ships:

ABESTACHE!!!! I prefer abestache over anything else!

Darkstache

Wilford x Actor Mark

Wilford x Yancy

Wilford x Engineer Mark

Other ships:

Damien x Actor Mark

Damien x Abe

Actor Mark x Abe

Darkiplier x Actor Mark

And you can suggest a ship not listed and I will let you know what I think! Very rarely I'm open to OC pairings, and I only do mxm ships.

Headcanons!

Wilford lives in a small one bedroom apartment, everything decorated with pink and rainbows.

Wilford is pansexual and is open about his sexuality

He is genderfluid, specifically between male-aligned and some non binary genders. His pronouns are he/him.

He likes dabbling in femininity, though cautious about who knows that if not a modern setting.

He loves the idea of settling down with someone, despite how much it seems to be the opposite

He either owns or will buy an axolotl, because "it is a strange but beautiful creature, like me!"

Loves alchohol and sometimes worse things

Rules

Not much, just be respectful. I will let you know if I won't be able to answer for longer than a day, and if I haven't explained that and haven't answered in 48 hours you can remind me. Just send a reminder, don't resend your rp reply. That's kind of rude in my opinion. I am open to nsfw, only if you're 18+. We'll discuss triggers together, I have a few headcanons that may be triggering to others so I won't post those publicly. I find anything less than a couple sentences to be boring and am never really motivated to answer those. Respect my rules, I will respect yours!

Rp tags!

Louise- #themadmansregrets

Abe- #dancingwithmadmen

Dark- #themadmansforgiver

Other Wilfords- #matchingwiththemadness

Celine- #madlovelongforgotten

And yeah that's it! I may add a few things here and there. My dms and asks are always open, so feel free to start a convo or dm to rp!

For asks, just clarify if you're speaking to pre or post WMW Wilford, as that will determine how he answers.

Thanks for stopping by!

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velvetgoldie · 1 year

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Peter Pan and Wendy: a review

Directorial decisions, backlash, and final result

I don't usually seek out reviews, and even less so write them, but I had been waiting for this new Peter Pan adaptation ever since it's been announced (2016!), and as such, was anxious to see what people had to say about it.

And, well, considering the vitriolic reviews this film has gotten, I wanted to balance the negative critics out a little. I didn't hate the film -- although there are things that could have been managed better (but those are not what you would expect). More under the cut.

On directorial vision:

David Lowery's style is extremely subdued, for lack of a better term. You can go through one of his films and expect a big climax, only to realise at the end that all changes happened gradually, so much so that the story has displayed its meaning without you noticing.

His films are mostly focused on the "within", with a huge focus on personal turmoil rather than big events.

For Peter Pan and Wendy, this approach remains: he took the original story from the book, and apparently drew out the elements which mattered to him the most (the fear of growing up/the bitterness of aging) and translated them into a very personal vision (which extends to the visual aspect of the film: its green hue, the worn-out aspect of the costumes...). So rather than present the story as an epic series of adventures, he rerouted the narrative to tell one singular story (my first thought, finishing the film, was actually "It holds up quite well!"). It tells a simple story, with a definite beginning leading to a definite end -- but as such, can feel rushed and uneven.

On the pacing of the film:

Lowery has one main issue, and it's his obsession for perfectionnism. As a former video editor, he's liable to cut, re-cut, and re-edit up until he's told to stop (see how plenty of the material from the first Green Knight trailer hasn't made it to the finished product). I believe it's the same with this film: especially with the Covid-19 hiatus and the interception from Disney studios (because they surely veto a lot of things in these kinds of productions).

The director and screenwriters had a story to tell, but spent so much time on it that they lost track of the smaller details for the sake of the bigger picture. It's quite visible considering the repartition of the main acts of the film, which are as follow:

Introduction of the Darlings and flight to Neverland

First introductory adventure with the pirates

Meeting the Lost Boys and Skull Rock adventure

Break at the Lost Boys hide out and "death" of Peter Pan

Climax (fight on the Jolly Roger)

Conclusion.

What's obviously lacking here is a middle adventure: we've barely become accustomed to Neverland that the climax is already reached. We should have had another scene, not only to give the viewer a chance to breathe, but also to better introduce secondary characters (the underdevelopped Tiger Lily, for instance).

This seems to be the result of over-editing: a middle adventure wouldn't have been necessary to understand the story, so off it went. But as such, it causes pacing issues. This is really my main problem with the film.

On the realistic aspect of the film:

I've seen people take out of a context a quote about Tinkerbell's lack of glow ad nauseam, and while it's typical Tumblr 'Chinese whispers', it needs to be addressed because I don't want people hating on the film for wrong reasons.

The question on how Tinkerbell should glow concerns practical rendition of an animated version. When you have to translate effects which were easily done with drawings, you need to ask yourself how it would be done practically (like, how to make the Beast look realistic in a Beauty and the Beast live action?). The quote does not mean Lowery hates on fantasy elements...

The film does have a realistic, down-to-earth look, though. That's obviously pointed out by Wendy, realizing that Neverland is "a different kind of real". But that ties up with Lowery's style, as mentionned before. He's not making an over-the-top, theatrical epic: he chose to translate the story in his style, and that's fine. We don't need another 2003 Peter Pan, because there already is a 2003 Peter Pan. As much as I love this previous adaptation, I am, for one, glad of the change. There's a Peter Pan for everyone, and maybe this one could be yours, if you look past the first knee-jerk critics and give it a chance.

I'd like to conclude on what @not-wholly-unheroic said about the film, because it sums things up quite nicely:

"I think the problem is largely that the audience was expecting an epic adventure and got a tearjerker instead. In a lot of ways, this version of the story was more for the adults than the kids… but those adults largely have a nostalgia for the adventure story they grew up with and wanted something closer to that than what they got."

There's much more that could be said about the film, but for the time being, I only wanted to counteract the overwhelming, and sometimes undeserved, negativity surrounding the film. I am not for Disney live actions at all, but I consider Peter Pan and Wendy as a David Lowery project first and foremost. Perhaps, if it had been produced by another studio, it would have been actually more imaginative and personal. It did a great job in producing an original retelling of a well-known story while taking liberties, but keeping true to a certain spirit from the original book. Barrie's Peter Pan feels very personal to each reader, and this is a personal film as well. I hope it will be revisited in time by children who have grown older, just like the adults of today keep on returning to their own favorite version of the story.

#peter pan and wendy #peter pan 2023 #david lowery #disney live action #live action remake #peter pan #tinkerbell

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ilovescaredysquirrel2 · 1 year

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What I think of the live action Disney remakes 🤮😡

Okay, I'm going to start off with making it clear that I like SOME Disney movies, but not all of them, and that includes live action remakes. The 2016 Live action Cinderella, Live action Jungle Book, and Live action 101 Dalmatians were incredible. The ones I have complaints with are the Live action Mulan, and the others that are currently being crapped out one after another. I'm not complaining about the Live action Little Mermaid for racial reasons, because her skin color doesn't matter, it's a 200 year old fairytale adaptation and her skin color was never confirmed. Snow white on the other hand, frankly it doesn't make much sense and feels a like changing everyone's skin color is a bit awkward (I mean, she is Snow WHITE). However, people with differnet skin colors may feel different and if they approve, then I approve too. I'm not one of those people who grew up with the old Disney movies and got overly attached to them... instead I grew up and got obsessed with cartoons from Nickelodeon, Sprout, and Qubo.

About the live action Little Mermaid, again, who the heck cares about her skin color, I'm just mad that they didn't make much changes to her outfit. Like, they could have gave her a little top made of seaweed that covers the breasts more, but I do approve of her newer outfit over the 1980s movie. Like, nobody hates Ariel's design more than I do, in fact it's the second thing that comes to my mind when I think of bad character designs (The firsts are Tim burton stop motion, and Goat story's designs, do not ever watch goat story, it's the scariest thing!). I'm also angry about Tinker Bell's design too, in both the live action and 1950s movie, she's supposed to be 12! Betcha didn't know that, huh? If I were to redesign Tinkerbell I'd actually give her a full length dress to fit in with the time period, plus she's a fairy. I'm just really uncomfortable with the old movies portraying underage girls as "Sexy" and no one seeing anything wrong with it for all these years. Does it make me think the live action movies are going to be any better? NOPE!

The ones I'm most angry about are the live action Lilo & Stitch and the live action Moana because those are actually Disney's own stories that aren't based off any fairytale or story, and making them live action is like a slap in the face to the original animated version that people worked hard on. I get that Lilo and Stitch doesn't have the most aesthetically pleasing art style (I think the old 40s and 50s ones look worse) but it's an amazing movie for it's time, and it stands out as being an original story and not adapted form anything. As for Moana, it came out in 2016 and it's way too soon to make a remake of it. Like, I understand for something like Little mermaid or Pinocchio because they're old as dirt, but for Moana? Like, there's nothing politically incorrect about Moana that they need to change to fit in with today's standards. If they make a live action Moana they have to make a live action Tangled too.

Another big thing that ticks me off is when they forget about ACTUAL live action Disney originals like Teen Beach Movie and Enchanted. Especially Teen beach Movie, that was incredible and creative and it had girl power and I love it! Ross Lynch and Maya Mitchell both did an amazing job, especially Ross. Anyway, not all live action Disney movies are horrible but these ones that they've been announcing lately, like I swear they announce a new live action movie every week, thinking that people will get excited but really they don't give a darn. Wait until Disney makes a live action Finding Nemo with kallmeKris as Dory, the world is gonna go insane! (I'd rather have KallmeKris than Ellen)

#my thoughts #my thoughts on live action disney #my opinion

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saviourkingslut · 8 months

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okay but curry can we PLEASE talk about how fucking PHENOMENAL like action Mihawk is. Had me on the brink of mental collapse 24/7 bc I kept thinking about his magnificence- he knocked it out of the PARK GODDAMNIT!!! Who's your fave from the live action cast and what are your thoughts?? Personally I think it's very good, I just wish Sanji's arc hadn't been cut (tho Don Krieg sucks as a villain, ngl, kinda happy Mihawk got rid of that bitchboy so easily ☠️☠️☠️), but other than that I'm SO proud of everyone involved, they really put in lov and dedication and respect for the series, I'm looking forward to more!!! How about you??🌸🌼🍀

ok full disclosure lest anyone think i have read the manga or seen the anime: i haven't, it's way long and i've never felt particularly drawn to it. HOWEVER i've seen my fair share of (shounen) anime and when i saw they were doing a live action of one piece i really thought it was going to suck bc the live actions always suck. boy was i wrong. everyone working on this from screenwriters to cinematographers to costume department to the actors themselves clearly love the source material and knew exactly what they were doing, and the vibe is Exactly Right. it's camp and fun and a little stupid like shounen anime tend to be and it fully embraces it and so it feels completely natural. of course the cat-themed pirate crew hiss and wear knife-gloves. of course there's characters with blue and green and whatever colour hair. of course the officers in the marines have personal Themes. we don't need any explanation, the world is just like this. and it's balanced exactly right so the more emotional, serious aspects of the story carry the weight that they need to without feeling out of place.

also, as a someone who hasn't engaged with the manga/anime, i think the series cut away/kept enough of the original material to come out of it feeling well-paced, understandable to newcomers and filled with fun recognisable bits for long-time fans. perhaps this meant, as you say, cutting out some pieces of character development/background that might have been enjoyable, but it's a well-made sacrifice bc it prevented the story from feeling too bloated. i think it was just right like this: gave us background on everyone and simultaneously left room for the story to process, without too many things at once to focus on. you could still sense that it was based on a manga bc of its little arcs - usually two eps with a minor boss to beat each time, and a bigger, badder boss at the end of the season. so i feel like keeping that theme in a narrative sense also really helped to make it reminiscent of the material it draws from and made it well-rounded and well-structured overall.

ANYWAY. mihawk. oh my god. i rewatched his scenes. multiple times. he was gorgeous. effervescent. insert the lady gaga meme. again i haven't engaged with the og material but i know these kinds of manga characters and there's so many ways to do them wrong but steven john ward really said 'i was made for this role actually' and he served absolute cunt. definitely up there among my favourite characters in the show - and that's saying a LOT bc im obsessed with almost everyone in it fr. they made me like the fucking clown (i hate clowns) buggy is genuinely incredible. the main cast? what the hell dude. they just found luffy living irl like... genuinely what the fuck. iñaki was born to play him and he did it so wonderfully - guy who is fatally optimistic but also insane and it works. nami's really cool as well - i've heard/read some stuff abt the writing of women especially in the earlier parts of the manga (woman in shounen main character group syndrome) but i think she was solid here and her interactions with the rest of the cast were great. also usopp! is so cute! so much potential to not have that kind of character work out in a real life adaptation but he's so lovable

and on that note the fucking. interactions amongst the main cast? im sobbing screaming crying they're everything to me. the way they're so supportive and proud and protective of each other and yet they talk shit the whole time too. there's so much chemistry among them and they truly do feel like people from different backgrounds who (sometimes reluctantly) come together and would do anything for each other. like real friends who have fun and make fun of each other too, it's a great dynamic and they really hit the mark there.

as to who's my favourite, well, as i said, mihawk's definitely up there, and im a simple hoe - i love zoro. but i think i enjoyed sanji's scenes the most and not just bc of his ass. heard he's kind of pervy in the og material? well the direction they took him in the live action where they kept the 'imprints on woman' but is overall sweet about it and generally less moody than he is in the anime/manga was a great direction i think. he's supremely enjoyable as a character. the accent? the facial expressions? the smiles? the jokes? im on my bed swooning and giggling and kicking my feet he is so fucking funny and i want him so bad. 'apologies madam i didn't see you there.' 'oooh back for seconds must have liked it' i literally re-watched every scene he was in at least once. his kicks were so nicely choreographed too it was really satisfying to look at, very clean (taz did god's work on his training). sometimes at home ill be doing nothing in particular like ill be standing in the living room and i'll mutter to myself 'cotelette. collier. epaulé. poitrine.' and go on with my day he lives in my brain rent free.

so uhm yea i think the series is really good and 1) sanji 2) mihawk 3) zoro if i had to put them in order i think lmaooo

#shanks was in it for two minutes but he slayed as well.#i love his relationship with mihawk #they're giving 'asked for the divorce papers and then neither of them actually ever signed and they both know it but they act like they did #only character who started to get on my nerves after a while was koby.#possibly also bc he had literally 1 facial expression/way of speaking through the whole 8 eps and it got tiring after a bit.#like ok we get it you look and talk like a scared rabbit all the time. but maybe that's just me idk he's prolly like that in the og materia #sorry this got so long you probably weren't waiting for an unhinged essay but you got one anyway #thanks for asking :)#shoutout to klahadore/kuro as well i frogot his ass but. he served.#asks

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taohs · 11 months

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To my knowledge.. Just about every Black Lagoon fan I've seen really enjoys the series. And I've never seen people say negative comments. I'm not saying there might not be people who don't enjoy that series, but I have never seen or heard anything negative about Black Lagoon at all. But either way, I could understand why those graphic plots may make many people uncomfortable whether you're a fan or not.

Yeah! The anime and manga are mostly the same with only just some differences between each adaption. I am in the middle of catching up on another series. So I will have to finish that before getting back into the Black Lagoon manga. I prefer concentration on only one series at a time, if I'm able to do it that way. Anyway. You saw for yourself. Both versions are basically the same between the anime and manga, but in a different order for the arcs. I don't know why the early arcs were just switched around. I was really confused the first time I noticed that.

At this arc in the manga, it really does seem like Rock and Revy are in a very good mental state. They don't seem aggressive, manipulative, or any negative mentally where they are constantly violence like they were earlier in the series. But that might just be my opinion though.

A fucked up plot twist to me is.. That Rock becomes the dark one and Revy becomes the light one. I don't know. There's some theories from fans believe the only way for Rock is to become even darker, and that Rock would be the one to even get rid of characters like Balalaika and Chang so he can be the new leader of an organized crime syndicate. I don't know. There are a lot of different theories. When it does end, I'm not sure how it might end because I can see different possibilities for this story. So I don't know what to think about anything yet.

That's how I am. I'm fine with age gaps in relationships if the people are consenting adults, not an adult and child, or even an adult with a teenager either. I know children and teenagers have crushes on many adults, which is fine, because that happens. And I know Garcia is the one to have kissed Roberta. But that really makes me uncomfortable. There's a difference between having a crush compared to acting on it in any way. I don't know if that makes sense to you? I don't know. But if Roberta, Garcia and Fabiola ever come back into the series.. then I'll see what happens if and when they ever to do come back again.

I hate live action adaptions. I'm critical, a perfectionist, over details so I'm overly obsessed about details. I'm mental that way. So I ever see a live adaption that doesn't live up to my expectations, I'll automatically hate it. My expectations are different from another person's. So that's one of many reasons why I've never been fond of live adaptions of the series I get into. So I'm an extremely picky, finicky, fussy - whichever term you can think of - person when it comes to lots of things for me.

I do have some characters in mind. I might do one character at a time though, only because certain characters (like Dutch) could have more than one person in mind to portray them. And I know you're ever able to post a certain amount of pictures and gifs at a time. I will say that.. Not every one I choose is an actor though, some are actually models and musicians. But I'm also mainly basing their physical appearances for the characters too, and I'm even trying to also keep the ethnicities to what the characters are if I'm able too. So I'm trying with that too.

Most of the characters I have in mind are for the female characters, compared to the male character who I only have a few in mind for at the moment. And I am having some difficulties with characters, so I'll say those characters might take me some time if and when I do post about them. So I will only post the characters that came to mind first.

For female characters.. Revy, Shenhua, Sawyer, Balalaika, Fabiola and maybe even Yukio are some characters that I definitely have in mind of who they can be. I might have someone in mind for Yolanda (except the person in mind is an actor who's already died). Eda is one character that I am having difficulties with, but there might be quite a few people I imagine as her. Roberta, Jane, Li and other females are a bit difficult for me because I can't find the right people for them yet.

And for male characters.. Benny, Dutch and maybe Chang.

Those are the only characters that I can think of at the moment.

- 💋

ooo one of the fun thing about black lagoon is all the different theories on how the story can go. i cant visualize revy becoming lighter without rock, unless rock becomes that much more villainous that it surprises even revy. i’m not sure if rock will be capable of getting rid of the biggest bosses like balalaika and chang either, he has the smarts and the capability to manipulate, but i wonder how he will get the power necessary to go against them. at the end of the day, he has no actual power backing him. i can’t exactly visualize a happy ending for everyone in black lagoon, but at least i hope everyone will be able to get a good closure

yes! i also think it's totally normal for a younger child to crush on an older figure, but garcia was way too bold to actually act on it... i think in those situation, it's up to the adults to set boundaries because they know better, but in roberta's situation, would she have been willing to turn him down especially since he's her master?? their whole power dynamic is also a problem with their relationship too. i dunno. i would like to believe that roberta knows better though. or i can delude myself into thinking that it was just a platonic kiss to pull her back into her senses. but i really hope they don't go anywhere with the relationship because it's too gross

that’s fair! many live adaptations can be a hit or miss, which i understand. it's not easy to adapt certain things from anime, and if the actors are lacking even a bit in acting skill it can be awkward to watch. again i mostly enjoy it so i can appreciate my favorite characters in real life form lol 😂 i'm interested in seeing who you have in mind for the characters of black lagoon, whenever you get the chance!

#answered #💋 anon

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staydandy · 1 year

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I did not expect to reach 100 followers before the end of the year! This community is great! Thanks so much! It's been a blast so far!

So, um.. Hi! I'm StayDandy!

I live in USA .. English is my first and (sadly) only language, but I want to learn Korean (I've gotten to the point of knowing the alphabet, being able to read/sound out words, understand a bit of the sentence structure, and recognize/remember a precious few words).

I started to get into Asian dramas and music early 2021. I've been watching & reading anime & manga/manwha, since college (*cough*, 10 years ago *cough*), but my interest had faded over time. Until last year's nose-dive back into dramas (Prison Playbook cracked the door, and I slammed it open!). I've been obsessed ever since! 😆 The interest in K/J/C-Music is newer; I hadn't really explored it before this past year (unless you count when PSY originally released Gangnam Style lol) .. I still listen to American music, but K/J/C music has taken over my Spotify, it's now the dominant genre (throw in a little Swedish power-metal and that's basically my Library in a nutshell).

I started exploring the whump community on Tumblr this past April - I was honestly amazed there were so many people with this interest, same as me! I started posting in May - I wanted to join in the fun, & contribute my own backlog of lists (I'd been writing them for over a decade after all, might as well put them to good use).

So.. idk if there's any interest.. I thought I'd share a detailed look at my List posts .. some of it is rather self-explanatory, but some of it might not be .. maybe this'll clarify what & why I format them the way I do.

But if you're just looking for a place to start exploring my page, I'd suggest My Directory. It breaks off to everything else. I organize everything manually so it's as accurate as I can make it.

Thanks again for Following along!

Post Breakdown (below the break) :

I'll use this surprisingly popular post as an example (really would not have guessed that Bridal Mask would receive the attention it did).

First, of course, you get the show title (in English & it's original language) .. a picture for the show (I try to use a pic that has the whumpee(s) in it) .. then a quick synopsis of the show. Simple, self-explanatory.

At the end of the synopsis I include a direct link to an official data site for the show (usually it's MyDramaList for Asian shows, and between Wikipedia or InternetMovieDatabase for English shows). • I include the "AKA" because there are quite a few shows that go by multiple names because of different translations/interpretations of the original title, or even official title changes before it aired. I've had the issue before of trying to find a show using (unknowingly) an uncommon translation of the title, which made it difficult to find what I was looking for. So, JIC, I include them here.

If there's multiple whumpee's I will color-code them, which carries throughout the list. • The links on the actor names are searches of my Tumblr. It's an easy way to see if I have any other lists with said actor in it. (I don't include them on English lists because I rarely have multiple lists with the same English actor. In the case that I do, I'll add the link)

The country links back to that country's whump list library.

Next are the notes about the show (any interesting details, what it's adapted from, ect.).. notes about my list.. &/or just my general thoughts on the show.

I use ellipsis ( ... ) for when there's a break between whump scenes. • Every now and then I will include my own thoughts amongst the whump, usually "subscript & in blue" • You can see the color-coding in action (I wish Tumblr had more color options). • When there's multiple whumpees I use a kinda "tag-you're-it" system : -- I mention a Character (A) and their whump until [chronologically in the episodes] something happens to Character (B), any whump following is (B)'s whump.. until (A) is mentioned by name again, then everything after is (A)'s whump ... and so on and so forth.

(Apparently Tumblr only actually uses the first 20 tags on a post, which is incredibly unhelpful. I still try to include all the key-words in my tags, but they're more for my own quick reference when I manually organize my posts.)

Hello again!

Thanks for reading! I've had people tell me I have an "interesting" way of organizing, & I tend to over-think things (you should see the organized chaos that is my bedroom! lol).

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer. Or if you just want to chat, I'm cool with that too.

And for those of you who've made it to the end of this post; If you see a show in one of my Libraries that is not marked as a "full whump list" (whether it's been posted already or not), but you're interested in seeing a full list for that show, let me know! I'm already going back and updating some partial lists here and there, but if you ask I'll prioritize your request!

Hope ya'll have a good Holiday season and New Year!

#just me #follower milestone #100 followers #post breakdown

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lee-scribbles-and-doodles · 3 years

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My Top Ten Overlooked Movies With Female Leads In No Particular Order

Note: When you see this emoji (⚠️) I will be talking about things people may find triggering, which are spoilery more often then not. I mention things that I think may count as triggers so that people with them will be aware before going in to watch any of these.

Edited: 3/16/21

Hanna (2011)

So, before I get into why you should watch this movie, I just want to take a moment to say why it's near and dear to my heart. Growing up as a queer kid in the early 2000s, seeing portrayals of people like or similar to myself on anything was rare at best. It was mostly in more "adult" movies or shows that my parents would occasionally let me watch with them that I'd see any lgbtq+ rep at all. Often times they were either walking stereotypes, designed to be buried, evil, or all three.

Then here comes this PG-13 action thriller with a wonderfully written main female lead who, at the time, was close to my age, and who got to kiss another girl (her very first friend, Sophie) on screen in an extremely tender and heartwarming scene. To say the least, it was a life changing moment for me personally.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, Hanna is a suspenseful movie about a child super-soldier named, you guessed it, Hanna (played by Saoirse Ronan) and her adoptive (?) father Erik Heller (played by Eric Bana) exiting the snowy and isolated wilderness of their home and taking on the shadowy CIA operative, Marissa Wiegler (played by Cate Blanchette) who wants Erik dead and Hanna for herself for mysterious reasons.

It also has an amazing soundtrack by the Chemical Brothers, great action scenes, and it has an over arching fairytale motif, which I'm always a sucker for.

⚠️ Mild blood effects, some painful looking strikes, various character deaths, and child endangerment all feature in this film. However, given its PG-13 rating, a majority of viewers are presumably able to handle this one. Still, be aware of these going in.

Sidenote: It's recently gotten a TV adaptation on Amazon TV, although I have not watched it, and do not know if Hanna and Sophie's romantic/semi-romantic relationship has transferred over.

A Simple Favor

A Simple Favor is a "black-comedy mystery thriller" centered entirely around the relationship between two mothers, the reclusive, rich, mysterious, and regal Emily (played by Blake Lively), and the local recently widowed but plucky mommy blogger, Stephanie (played by Anna Kendrick). When Emily suddenly goes missing, Stephanie takes it upon herself to find out what happened to her new best friend.

It's a fantastic and entertaining movie throughout, with fun, flawed and interesting characters. The relationship between the two female leads is also implied to be at least somewhat romantic in nature, and they even share a kiss.

⚠️ The only major warnings I can think of is that the movie contains an instance of incest and one of the main plotlines revolves around child abuse, although both of these potentially triggering topics are not connected to each other, so there is thankfully no csa going on.

Edit: I legitimately forgot there was drug use in this movie until now. So, yeah, if that's a trigger, be careful of that.

I Am Mother

I became mildly obsessed with this movie when it came out. I Am Mother is a sci-fi film that centers entirely around a cast of two woman, and a female-adjacent robot who is brought to life on screen with absolutely amazing practical effects.

The plot is such, after an extinction-level event, a lone robot known only as Mother tasks herself with replenishing the human race via artifical means. She begins with the film's main protagonist, Daughter. Years go by as Mother raises her human child and the two prepare for Daughter's first sibling (a brother) to be born. However, on Daughter's 16th birthday, the arrival of an outsider known only as Woman shakes Daughter's entire world view. She begins to question Mother's very nature, as well as what's really going on outside the bunker she and her caretaker call home.

⚠️ This movie features child endangerment and reference to child death.

Lilo and Stitch

When I decided to add a single Disney film to this list I initially thought it was going to be hard but almost immediately my brain went to Lilo and Stitch, and specifically about the relationship between Lilo and Nani.

On the surface, this film is about a lonely little girl accidentally adopting a fugitive alien creature as a "dog," but underneath that the story is also about two orphaned sisters and the older sister's attempts to not let social services tear them apart by stepping up as the younger sister's primary guardian. Despite its seemingly goofy premise, Lilo and Stitch has a very emotional and thoughtful center. It's little wonder how this movie managed to spawn an entire franchise.

Despite the franchise it spawned (or possibly because of it), I often find that Lilo and Stitch is overlooked and many people only remember it for the "little girl adopts an alien as a pet" portion of its plot, and I very rarely see it on people's top 10 Disney lists.

⚠️ This movie could be potentially triggering to people who were separated from their siblings or other family members due to social service intervention. There's also a bit of child endangerment, including a scene where Lilo and Stitch both almost drown.

Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind

Unlike the above entry, I did struggle a little bit with picking a single Studio Ghibli film. Most media of the Ghibli catalogue have strong, well-written, unique, and interesting female leads so selecting just one seemed like quite the task.

However, I eventually settled on this particular film. In recent months, Princess Nausicaä has become my absolute favorite Ghibli protagonist and I'm absolutely enchanted by the world she lives in.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world overun by giant insects and under threat of a toxic forest and its poisoness spores, Nausicaä must try to protect the Valley of the Wind from invaders as she also tries to understand the science behind the toxic forest and attempts to bridge the gap between the insects and the humans.

For those who have never seen the film, I think Nausicaä's personality can best be described as being similar to OT Luke Skywalker. Both are caring, compassionate, and gentle souls who are able to see the best in nearly anyone or anything. She's an absolutely enthralling protagonist and after rewatching the film again for the first time in well over a decade she has easily become one of my all time favorite protagonists.

Whenever I see people talk about Ghibli films, they rarely mention this one, and when they do mention it, it's often in passing. In my opinion it's a must watch.

⚠️ This movie contains some blood, and the folks who either don't like insects or who have entomophobia may not appreciate the giant bugs running about throughout the movie. (Although most insects do not directly relate to real life bugs, and are fantasy creatures).

A Silent Voice

A Silent Voice is an animated movie adaptation of a manga of the same name. While I've never had the pleasure to read the manga, the movie is phenomenal. It covers topics such a bullying, living in the world with a disability, the desire for atonement, social anxiety, and depression in a well thought out manner that ties itself together through the progression of the relationship between its two leads, Shoya and Shouko. It's also beautifully animated. Although very popular among anime viewers, I've noticed that it's often overlooked by people who watch little to no anime. So I suppose this is me urging non-anime viewers to give this film a chance.

⚠️ As mentioned above, the movie deals with bullying, anxiety, and depression (with this last one including suicidal thoughts and behaviour). If discussion of those topics are triggering to you, than you may want to proceed with caution or skip this movie all together.

In This Corner of The World

Another manga adaptation, this one taking place during WWII-era Japan. In This Corner of The World follows the life of a civilian Japanese woman, Suzu Urano, as she navigates simply living and her new marriage as the wartime invades nearly all aspects of everyday life. I think this movie is a good representation of what it must be like to be living as civilian in a country at war where the fight is sometimes fought on one's own soil. It was also an interesting look into pre-50s Japanese culture in my opinion. It's also beautifully animated featuring an art style I don't see often.

Despite it being well known among anime fans, I never really see it be brought up, even among said anime fans themselves.

Side note: I've seen many WWII dramas centering around civilians but they've almost always been about American or UK civilians. This was the first movie I'd seen that features the perspective of a Japanese civilain.

⚠️ Features the death of a child and limb loss. There's also a disturbing scene featuring a victim of one of the atomic bombs near the end.

Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki

This film follows Hana, a Japan-native woman who fell in love with a magical shape-shifting wolf-man, and her trials with raising their children, who can also magically shape-shift into wolves, on her own. It's a very heartfelt movie about a mother's love and the struggles of doing right by your children when you have limited resources to actively guide and care for them. All the characters feel unique and alive in my opinion. Also, the animation is so good that my sister and I initially mistook it for a Ghibli film.

Again, like the previous two anime entries, I don't see it ever brought up outside of anime circles.

⚠️ There's some child endangerment present in the film, although none of it is the fault of Hana as far as I can remember.

Roman Holiday

Roman Holiday is about the fictional Princess Ann (played by Audrey Hepburn), who while on a whirlwind tour of Europe, finally reaches her breaking point over having her entire life be one big schedule and all her words and actions being rehearsed. In the spur of the moment, she runs away in hopes of experiencing what life is like for other women. Unfortunately, she was previously given a sedative, meaning she doesn't get too far before it takes effect. Fortunately, she is found by the kind reporter Joe Bradley (played by Gregory Peck). Believing her to be drunk and unable to get an address from her (because she has none) he ends up taking her home for safety's sake and allows her to sleep off her suppose drunken stupor. The next day, he realizes who she is, and decides to take her on a fun sight seeing trip across Rome in hopes of getting the big scoop. Along the way, they begin to fall for each other.

This is my favorite black and white, old romance film. I think the relationship between the main characters is absolutely beautiful and I have a lot of fun watching it.

⚠️ I'm not entirely sure what kind of warning this film would need. However, it was released in 1953, so values dissonance will probably be at play for many viewers to at least some extent. For example, early in the film Ann is given sedation drugs by her doctor for her behavior, something that is very unlikely to happen today. Also, Mr Bradley deciding to take Ann home to keep her safe rather than call the police or an ambulance is a very pre-90s decision in my opinion.

#hanna 2011 #a simple favor #i am mother #lilo and stitch #nausicaä of the valley of the wind #a silent voice #in this corner of the world #wolf chilren ame and yuki #wolf children #roman holiday #black and white film #anime #disney #studio ghibli #movie recs #top 10

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ourmondobongo · 3 years

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I've been reading vol.33 again and I still can't fathom how anyone can think eren was right. Seeing him crushing all these innocent lives was chilling and just wrong, even if they hated the people of paradis they were just as ignorant as the yeagerists who held the same unbased hatred born out of fear. Hange, Armin and the rest had the right idea, they needed more time for negotiations and to learn about one another, it wasnt out of reach. The one who disagreed was the impatient, raging, impulsive boy who was trapped in his childhood and the childish logic that if you kill your enemies it's problem solved. Just because he had all that power doesn't mean he was finally free. He was just more powerful than the others and thought that gave him freedom to do as he pleases. Half-hearted apologies be damned, Eren deserves no redemption and shouldn't be hailed as a tragic hero or receive any thanks.

Hey ya!!

Let me get on board on the rant time because what you said is really great.

Ugh, I also hate that a significant deal of people glorifies Eren for what he did, and with the excuse of "his love for Mikasa" and "his friends"!

And Eren lied left and right after RtS, and gave in to his obsessive, anarchist, and immoral idea of freedom instead of accepting his powerlessness against a invisible enemy (humanity’s irresponsible, fear and hate-driven mentality), and he gave up of trying to find a solution for everyone with the help of others because his visions of the future mainly showed his dreams would come true (the Titans eradicated). And he helped killing his own mother (and his whole blood family actually if you consider his and Zeke’s grandparents). And after all the killing he had just done, the guy literally said he would have flattened the whole Earth and let it "full of carrion fattened insects"?

This terrifies me and grosses me out so much. Especially because this part of him is monstrous but easily falls forgotten with his pathetic confession about Mikasa and Armin's conflicted attempt of "thank you - though I can't understand you, I still love you, bro". And instead of for once let things absolutely clear, with the route Yams choose to end snk (changing from a dark ending to a bittersweet/more peaceful one), this all just made Eren's case more complicated.

And you're so right in your talk about Hans, Armin and the others needing more time! True options for peace through communication and diplomacy didn't have time to develop on their times properly! However, this problem runs deeper, and from way sooner than just the latest chapters...

So, if you don't mind, now excuse me while I turns this rant into something longer 😅 Because I think there is something uncommon about Eren's character and AOT's world, and it's adaptation into anime, and Isayama's Schrödinger writing that makes people take many things at face value, or further confused about what we should "support" in the snk journey.

Disclaimer that this is just my particular view, and that I have a tendency to look for the human part of the characters. Maybe my INFP side explains this lol

I fully agree that Eren shouldn't be viewed as a tragic hero! And that he shouldn't receive any thanks for the genocide!

However, considering everything Eren had lived, and how much he helped Paradis (and our loved ones) up until chapter 90, I find it hard to see him as a whole monster - as if he alone was carrying all of AOT's sins on his back. Because otherwise, imo, this becomes a way to excuse the responsibility of all other characters of their World who did nothing to change the Eldian race calamity.

I know there is a hate treatment toward Eren too - as if he had always been "like this" - but I can't take part in it because while of course I'm disappointed and condemn Eren's later actions, a few things I do not forget are that:

1. he saved Mikasa from becoming a sex slave child at 9 years old; 2. he witnessed his mother being eaten by a giant monster while he was still 10 years old; 3. he ate his own father; 4. He saved Armin, Mikasa, and the SC many times up to until the Ocean moment...

So - while only Ymir knows how he manipulated the timeline (that's kinda conflicting) -, whatever happened up to the moment Eren saw the whole thing on the Ceremony, Eren did it unconsciously at each given moment. Which holds some value for me, in the way that I do condemn his actions, but I can't bring myself to hate him. I suffered years with Eren's pre-Marley arc, hoping he wouldn't lose the last ones he loved, and that his powers could continue to save my beloved ones...

On the other hand, when I learned that Yams wanted to draw a "dark ending" for snk, I was hoping Eren would destroy everything, but learn the last minute lesson and show us a very painful ending but with a satisfying sense of "lesson learned" over "what happens when we give too much credit to ourselves or give in to our dark nature". Bittersweetly, I don't think I got either 🤡 Just a 19 teenager that I used to cheer on and suffer with being called incel because his pathetic jealous display is really pathetic for the story in THAT HEAVY MOMENT, or the retinue of Yeagerists praising a mass murderer as if he was a hero 🤦‍♀️ And let's not even talk about Mikasa and the bird thing...

I would rather Yams could have gone for a full dark ending and ripped my heart out with suffering or astonishment with something unique than getting this weird soup of "I want to hurt the reader, but more peacefully" LOL. Also, I wish he had handled his gag ideas better in the manga. (Hanji trying to talk to a car and them buying carrots is another stupid joke that I facepalm whenever I re-read that chapter 😒)

About Diplomacy in AOT

Again, you're so right! Hans and Armin needed more time! But the problem with communication is very old - since Hanji’s time trying to communicate with Titans... Which also leads us to another problem - the use of physical and verbal violence to achieve results.

Generally speaking, when we readers/anime watchers, as humans, love to be on the "right side", and grow attached to our characters, we sometimes agree with violence as being a path to solve things; we support it when it benefits us; we support it "because the real world is like this", and there was "no other alternative". We excuse it when our favs are hurt or in danger, as it's their right for being hurt first, and they need to survive. We support it because it looks cool, or brings forth some advancing results... In other words, when everything else fails, violence seems to always work because of the fear they evoke that makes people take action/to submit/change their minds/produce the necessary results when time is short.

However, if you reread the whole thing, from the beginning with Annie freaking out in the forest under Levi's threat to cut her up; to Reiner showing his split personality in the forest after kidnapping Eren and Ymir; to Armin using Annie's supposedly torture to destabilizing Bertholdth during Eren's kidnapping, and again in the RtS battle; to Ymir not staying in the Island to tell the truth about the world; to RBA killing Marco; to the Yeager Brothers not talking things through with no one; to Eren hiding things from Hanji; to Levi doing Zeke's interrogation about the same topic over and over expecting a different answer he knew that wouldn't come like that; to Zeke downplaying the chances to talk and only focusing on the cruelty of the World while he held undeniable power as a Shifter with Royal Blood; to Marley refusing to admit their wrongness over all Eldians by they themselves turning people into monsters (either literally, as Pure Titans and Shifters, or by increasing the fear and hate Marley people and other nations had over Eldians in general, perpetuating the hard to break cycle of hate); to Kiyomi admitting that she hadn't tried all she could to help Paradis... when we notice the details within those moments, we see that everyone, at one point, failed to understand and communicate properly.

One of the things that stuck in my mind while rereading snk is that Isym wanted to draw the different reactions people had under the pressure of living some kind of apocalypse/ human extinction. And something that was pretty much evident through the whole manga was the terrifying sense of fear and being driven into an impossible corner to make decisions.

Taking this into account, I always remember what happened in chapter 128:

They all used to be friends before this. They fought for their lives together against Titan at the beginning of the manga. And here they all hesitated to kill each other in this sequence. Yet, because of their overwhelming fear and the urgency of the situation, they couldn't settle their differences properly. They were on the same side, but human nature is treacherous when dominated by fear.

Which brings me to something you pointed out:

Seeing him crushing all these innocent lives was chilling and just wrong, even if they hated the people of paradis they were just as ignorant as the yeagerists who held the same unbased hatred born out of fear.

THIS IS SO TRUE! But also this goes to the root of the problem in the AOT world: that the majority of people just DIDN'T WANT TO LOOK FOR UNDERSTANDING.

This by no means justifies what Eren did to them, tho. Eren WAS WRONG, period. Killing everyone who disagrees with you is not the answer! But the lesson here - looking beyond his despicable actions - is about our human nature.

And by Magath's realization in chapter 128, as well as Marleyans and Eldians of the Continent in the depths of despair (135), it seems to hint that the world could have been better if people had actually acknowledged what was wrong with it, and tried to change it for the better rather than furthering their hell. And while older (but still present) generations refused to acknowledge their mistakes, nothing would really change.

So, (putting Eren aside) some questions that linger are - why do humans wait for the worst things to happen to them to finally acknowledge their responsibilities and mistakes? Why do humans need to get on the verge of death, and their worst nightmares come true, to really seek change? Why do humans alienate their personal responsibilities over making the world a better place to be passive in the face of injustice and unfairness with the wrong majority?

Which brings us to this panel right:

"They'll want to know what we saw" is almost equivalent to "they will want to hear because they'll want to understand how such thing happened."

And that Levi's bubble was initially "the pain we feel" hurts even more along with his face because, imo, it shows again how much suffering and loss he/they had to endure from the beginning to the end - until their world finally started to learn with their mistakes. Still, thankfully THEY LEARNED for as long as Levi was alive. My only consolation with this snk ending was that Levi died in peace.

The one who disagreed was the impatient, raging, impulsive boy who was trapped in his childhood and the childish logic that if you kill your enemies it's problem solved.

Ngl, imo, Eren wasn't even caring much about killing enemies or not. Idk, I still have not settle my thoughts about his ending, but Eren seems to have fallen into the glorious delirium of finally turning into the most powerful being in the world, and tried to deceive himself with the idea he was doing all that destruction for people's sake while in fact, Eren was doing it because he WANTED and COULD.

And he also used the excuse of eradicating the Titans to fuel his destructive intentions even more. So he surrounded himself with reasons to do what he already wanted to do, and this I think is what is tricky about his "redemption arc". Which I now tend to see not exactly as a redemption attempt, but once more like Yams with his Schrödinger writing letting readers decide whether what happened was worth it or not while his characters bear the consequences of Eren's disastrous actions. Unfortunately, he didn't make it explicitedly enough what he REALLY wanted to accomplish with Eren's character.

Back in 2009, Eren started as a powerless victim of a hellish world where people were eaten alive by giant naked people; and up to 2017, he fought nails and teeth to save his friends. And now in 2021, he ended up as the killer of his own mother, Hanji, and 80% of humanity. This had everything to be a perfect dark and hurtful story if Yams hadn't rushed and lost sight of what he was trying to tell...

I wonder though, if Eren had done all the Rumbling and the Titan curse hadn't been broken, how he would have felt about his own actions. Because Eren seemed to have found at least some real motivation in knowing that his terror Mikasa's actions would lead to the eradication of every last one of those animals that's on this earth™. And while I would love to have seen Eren falling in the pits of despair like the end of the movie "The Mist", the Titans were indeed gone.

So the only thing I can realistically keep questioning is: Was the end of the Titan curse done like that really worth it all tho? Even for the devoted hearts?

#answering devoted hearts #again #sorry the essay #i don't even know if i expressed myself properly tho #but the thing is #aot speaks so much about our failed human nature #fear and wrong common sense is really dangerous #and the more i reread snk the darker it gets #i really wish Yams had kept it up #i hope the anime can make at least a few things better tho #sometimes I wonder if Yams was secretly trying to do a social experiment with his readers LOL #i hope we have some more interviews with him too next year

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gayregis · 4 years

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Oh yeah that reminds me of another question I've been meaning to ask (sorry to jump on you like this haha) but which vampire canon change in B&W annoys you the most? For me it's the whole 'even touching silver will harm a vampire' (when it's explained that Syanna figured out Dettlaff was a vampire because he wouldn't directly touch a silver candlestick). I just choose to ignore that detail bc I don't think it makes much sense haha

omg this is such a good ask im so excited to answer

first of all, i really agree with you, even when i hadn’t read the books fully i had read that one passage in lady of the lake where regis gestures with a silver fork at the banquet, and blood and wine tries to make it so like regis and dettlaff are the same “kind” of vampire, so this obviously doesn’t make any sense, and since it’s just such a small detail i tried to ignore it, like, maybe dettlaff just wanted to keep the silver candlestick fingerprint-free, ever consider that, syanna? you’re gonna pawn something, you don’t want like a billion fingerprints mucking it all up... and then syanna thought this made him a vampire, when in reality he was a vampire but the candlestick had fuckall to do with it

but yeah i think i’m gonna do like a top 5 style: TOP 5 THINGS CDPR GOT WRONG ABOUT THE VAMPIRES. im not gonna do a countdown because im a very direct person and think its best to get the worst out of the way.

1. their society and relationship with humans.

the thing that upsets me the most that cdpr changed is how vampires exist on the continent. stuff like tesham mutna and the unseen elder breaks canon lore so hard it makes me physically upset.

this is a bad thing because not only is the trope of “vampires control everything from the shadows as a secret society so they can feed on human blood” incredibly boring and overdone (it’s a trope, so it’s something that the witcher should stand to invert since that’s pretty much the purpose of the witcher), but it also has origins in antisemitism (the myth of the illuminati or “reptilians/secret societies controlling the world”, blood libel), so it’s super gross! i don’t want the vampires to be that trope, that’s completely unfair.

they already were something other than that trope, they already HAD their own society (or lack thereof) as part of the canon lore. maybe it is personal preference, but i think that their “anti-society” is super interesting. how does something like that function with no rules or figures of authority or customs? it’s incredibly different to the ways humans function in this universe, who are mostly bound around their nation, city/town/village, and home unit, and abide by strict custom and systems of authority. it’s really something to be explored from a lore perspective, there wasn’t a whole lot explained in canon (for good reason: see #2) so it has perfect potential to be elaborated upon in the adaptational spinoff that is the witcher games.

it makes them super boring and trope-y to have them all kowtow to One Figure Of Authority in the area. plus CDPR states that the reason toussaint is so perfect is that this secret society controls toussaint as an area to perfect blood, when toussaint literally existed as a fairy-tale duchy to be an OBSTACLE to geralt and his hansa in the saga. it was the “leave-your-quest” test. think of the island of the lotus eaters from the odyssey. it’s a perfect place, there’s no reason as to why it is perfect, it just is, and it keeps the company hostage there for months so they will get distracted and eventually forget what they came there for.

in canon as well, vampires do not seem to care much about humans. regis certainly does, but he is regis :). there was little conversation about how vampires view humans, rather about how humans view vampires and project their innermost fears and desires to them. further breaking some vampire tropes. in blood & wine. instead of that trope-flipping, we get... “vampires tortured humans out of curiosity and selfishness.” what? why would they do this? there is not much to gain, and it would take a lot of cooperation and effort to get to this point, which leads me to ask, HOW could they do this? as regis says in bof, there were only about 1,200 vampires when they arrived on the continent, so they were completely and utterly outnumbered as they were likely scattered around. they wouldn’t be able to build a castle and re-engineer toussaint to fit their needs. i understand that he is massively biased, but i feel like regis calls these first vampires “hapless survivors” for a reason, and also since regis is regis, i do not feel like he would feel this way about them if they committed massive crimes against humanity.

tl;dr for this point: not only is it fucked up for no reason but to be gross/shocking to the audience, but it also removes their purpose as a metaphor, which is #2.

2. the removal of their purpose as a metaphor in the story.

originally, the vampires are not meant to be the focus of the witcher series or even a smaller part of the series at all. they are simply a metaphor for aspects of human society so that regis can have a backstory. the vampires are nothing more than a fictional means of exploring the effects of alcoholism, and a thought experiment as to what an authority-less, family-less, custom-less society would be like. the question “what do youth do when they have no support and no guidance?” already is one of the witcher’s major questions as a saga, the vampires and regis’s backstory serves to be another one of the stories within it that fits this theme. except we add more conditions to the thought experiment this time, like “what if these youth never aged and were powerful enough to survive on their own?” there would be no reason for them to ever change or grow out of their behavior. it’s quite interesting, because it’s meant to reflect upon human nature, the vampires are metaphorically humans. there is no reason for regis to even be a vampire, except that he needs to be able to survive death and learn from his mistakes. a human would have died had he hit rock bottom like regis did, but since regis wasn’t human and could rise from the grave, he had the chance at a new life. humans don’t get second chances. this is the point of the entire story being about vampires.

now, i understand that the purpose of the witcher games is to entertain, unlike the point of the witcher book series, which are like any other books and serve an author’s message. so, it stands to reason that the vampires do not have to prove a strong point here, but they should retain their essential traits and serve as the metaphor which was already really interesting and deserves more explanation and thought. i think using a fictional lens to take a look at real-world issues can be helpful sometimes, when done respectfully and when still using creativity. even if it’s just to entertain, that doesn’t mean it should be brainless and throw all of the commentary out of the window.

the vampires as a subject for the game to focus on should really be a vessel for thought and critique. it should mean SOMETHING for them to be there, because they were originally a message and a metaphor.

but in blood & wine, they are incredibly shallow, only there to exist for the attention-getter of gore.

does it MEAN anything that dettlaff regenerated regis from his own flesh and blood? or does that just happen because we needed a convienient way to bring regis back and tie him to the antagonist? does it MEAN anything that dettlaff cuts off his own hand? or is that just because it’s cool and kinda gross. does it MEAN anything that the vampires attack beauclair? or is that just because there needed to be some violence and conflict.

there is no deeper meaning! it’s all just flashiness to shock the audience! it’s incredibly shallow and because it is shallow, it becomes boring and forgettable.

blood & wine focuses on details about the vampires that are gross, gorey or bloody, uncomfortable because of how nasty they are. and these elements have NO PURPOSE to the story other than to gross you out, like regis being regenerated, dettlaff skewering regis like a kebab, dettlaff cutting off his hand and that hand being handled by the bruxa, geralt, and regis, regis going crazy in a cage, syanna also getting skewered, etc. ... it’s this focus on the physical action that is happening on screen with little thought as to any deeper meaning that makes me tired and nauseous. why treat the vampires as savage animals?

as a mention in this topic, i am going to comment on how they deliberately changed the lore to “make childrens’ blood taste better than adults’ blood,” because that is mega-gross. why change it to focus on child endangerment? that’s nasty! why make orianna feed on children when it was LITERALLY canon that the “best” blood was that of strong adults? if you want to make orianna morally grey, she could have owned any other kind of place to get blood from. see #2 for more discussion of this.

3. their focus on the conjunction of the spheres.

the vampires never had this obsession with “returning home.” i... have no idea where this comes from. remember how i just said that i appreciate a metaphor for real-life when it is done respectfully? CDPR gave us this awkward metaphor for the vampires “wanting to go home” because they have to “assimilate” in this new world, apparently every vampire ever misses their homeland. ... it’s the story of immigrants who didn’t have a choice to be born in The New Land, but they were anyways, and now they want to go home. and it’s the story of minority groups, who are overshadowed by the society they live in, but cannot be themselves in, because it would mean violence.

this is an incredibly awkward metaphor just because it’s not done well, but also CDPR literally just focused on how extremely violent the vampires are, and how they also control everything so they can use the humans they were thrown in with to their own fancies. this is... i didn’t know that the metaphors for fantasy racism in the witcher could get any worse than sapkowski’s were.

also, there’s some weird lore-breaking moments when regis says he misses the vampire homeworld or whatever, and i just am left staring at my laptop like. you’re only like, 4 centuries old, regis. the conjunction of the spheres occured more than 3 times your age in the past. plus the fact that regis in baptism of fire calls himself a “descendant,” it’s obvious that someone at cdpr just didn’t do their research when writing those lines.

4. their power level and exactly how powerful they are.

let’s take a moment to think about a grain of truth. the second story in the witcher books, it was written before sapkowski had a lot of the vampire lore down-pat. geralt says things like “it’s silver, this blade is silver” and “an ordinary vampire couldn’t come out in the sun,” which are incongruent with what we learn in baptism of fire about vampires. but nevertheless, there’s a lot which is still accurate to the vampires, such as that VEREENA ABSOLUTELY KICKS GERALT’S ASS. geralt very nearly DIED in that fight, he was ABOUT to die, but nivellen saved him at the last split-second. geralt finds out that vereena is a bruxa, and he is alarmed, he shouts and then falls on his ass. he scrambles, he’s unprepared to deal with a foe THIS powerful. he manages to land his sword on her during the fight, but it barely harms her. she dodges incredibly, and swipes of his sword that should have hit do not. she screams terribly, and geralt is in incredible, writhing pain. he uses his signs to help him, this is no normal fight with a normal foe. flash forward to in baptism of fire, when geralt meets another vampire, one that is considerably more powerful and unique than vereena was. dandelion asks geralt, if ... potentially... maybe... and geralt responds that he sincerely doubts that he could beat regis in a fight, and he really does not want to have to try.

geralt was BESTED by vampires in the books. he was as close as a witcher can get to being INTIMIDATED by their power. but what happens in blood & wine? there’s like 8 bruxae and alpors ganging up on you and you can easily vanquish all of them with your silver sword and by knocking back maybe a glass of black blood and white raffard’s decoction. it’s fine, it’s easy to kill vampires. geralt doesn’t hesitate to fight dettlaff. he doesn’t worry, he doesn’t tell anyone that he sincerely doubts that he could beat him in a fight, that he doesn’t want to have to try. instead, it’s regis talking geralt out of the fight, trying to advocate for peace.

CDPR massively nerfed the vampires just to make them easier targets for the player. i think this is unfair to how the vampires were powerful threats to be reckoned with in the books, foes that even geralt, a witcher, did not want to face. not even out of geralt’s pacifism and apprehension to slay innocent and/or sentient beings, but out of not wanting to fucking hit that die button

i also understand that regis was supposedly less powerful now because he was just tired from being regenerated, but vampires like bruxae should have been able to turn into giant bats. there’s nothing stopping them besides cdpr not wanting to code it in, just like how they didn’t want to code in bruxae or alpors wearing clothes (because vampires do wear clothes in canon).

5. their classification: adding new vampire species, distinguishing between “higher vampires” and “TRUE higher vampires”

just plain annoying to me. there’s only seven types of vampires, as regis says in baptism of fire:

“In the case of higher vampires, never, I agree,” Emiel Regis said softly. “From what I know alpors, katakans, moolas, bruxas, and nosferats don’t mutilate their victims. On the other hand, fleders and ekimmas are pretty brutal with their victim’s remains.”

“Bravo,” Geralt said, looking at him in genuine admiration. “You didn’t leave out a single class of vampire, Nor did you mention any of the imaginary ones, which only exist in fairy-tales.”

so there are seven classes... five of which are higher vampires which can probably be classified by having sentient thought and not harming their victims, two of which are lesser vampires, which are quite violent with their victims and more animalistic for this reason.

also i am confused as to why CDPR made fleders the least likely to sustain flight, when their name i’m pretty certain is taken from fledermaus, the german word for bat, which just means flying mouse (feel free to correct me if i’m wrong, idk german), so “fleder” should just mean “flutter,” or “to fly.”

SO. it’s total bullshit to be like “there’s some higher vampires and then TRUE/REAL higher vampires, which cannot be killed...” and it confuses everyone as to who is ACTUALLY a higher vampire and who is not, when the system we had before wasn’t broken at all!

BONUS. general changes to vampire powers

it annoys me how they turn into puffs of mist/smoke instead of vanishing, simply vanishing. no deeper reason why, it just bothers me because you’re not supposed to be able to see them at all, that’s the point of turning invisible/incorporeal.

there was no mention or demonstration of how regis can hypnotize people, even though that was probably his most frequently used vampire power in the books asides from turning invisible/incorporeal. it showed that even though he was very powerful, he opted to use his passive powers and nonviolent routes of dealing with people.

i think it also makes the vampires way overpowered to be able to regenerate each other with each other’s blood ... and it takes away from the finality of stygga... also them just flying and turning into bats whenever they want, as if regis didn’t say that he can only turn into a bat during a full moon. they made them overpowered and still made it super easy for geralt to kill them. alright

#ask #vamp squad #regis #dettlaff #dol--blathanna #long post /

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