#something for the female protagonist to get for her troubles lol

[darcyolsson]

clary fairchild neurodivergence summary pls

i said that kind of jokingly without too much thought behind it but honestly. i think clary is neurodivergent coded in the way that virtually all 2000s/2010s female YA protagonists are neurodivergent coded, that is to say, because she's written to appeal to and represent bookish teenage girls, she ended up accidentally ND coded because guess what! people who obsessively read tend to not be completely neurotypical lmfao

that being said, clary has a few symptoms of both adhd and autism:

emotional dysregulation: do i even need to explain this one lmfaooo. one thing about clary she is always angry (as she should be!!!). for most of the mortal instruments, we watch clary go through traumatic events, which she processes by getting very upset at minor things/the wrong people. especially when it comes to her anger, she pretty much isn't capable of controlling it AT ALL

rejection sensitive dysphoria: clary continuously gets very upset when she experiences something she interprets as social rejection (even though most of the time, she's not outright being rejected). this is mostly aimed at simon. even though he invites her along, because she feels so threatened by his relationship to isabelle, she feels rejected regardless:

lack of social skills: it's mentioned several times that clary felt like she did not fit in at her high school. she also has trouble picking up on implications/hidden meanings when people talk to her. though jace and simon both hint heavily at simon's crush on her, she doesn't pick up on it until simon very explicitly states it:

(side note, clary for some reason always assumes people are gay and it's really funny to me)

hyperfixations/special interests: to be fair, we don't exactly know how much clary's interests play a role in her life, but we know she's at least very passionate about art, anime, manga and fanfiction (yes really)

poor impulse control: one thing about clary fray is that she will run headfirst into dangerand interrupt people while they're talking lol

(my ebook search function couldn't handle the actual amount of interruptions, so this is just the first 8 chapters of CoB lol)

it's also worth mentioning that clary's story can be read as a very elaborate metaphor for neurodivergency. clary is fundamentally different from everyone else, but she mostly managed to get away with it until her teenage years when all of a sudden it became impossible to ignore. she finds out she perceives the world differently than most other people. initially, she thinks of this as something negative, but by connecting with other people who feel the same she realises that it's not necessarily something bad, and she connects with them in a way she can't connect with most people.

i've only read about 3/4 of cob so far, so i'm sure there's a lot more in the rest of the series, but these are the few things i noticed while reading so far :)

#LOVE it when people come into my ask box and ask me to write an essay this was so fun to do #thank you for enabling me lmfao #vic reads tmi #tmi #meta #faithfromanewperspective #answered asks #tsc #tsc meta

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

s1ep16

at this point these aren't even episode specific lol but i'll start with smth episode specific

i really hate how in one shot, chat noir is clearly solemn as he takes timebreaker's freezing hand for ladybug but in the next, when ladybug is running from timebreaker, you can see him grinning like he's about to kiss her. there's just smth extremely icky abt that bc we're supposed to think this as a noble sacrifice and hint at his feelings for her, but instead it's treated like a joke where ladybug doesn't even get a say in their relationship.

hawkmoth is just a worse dr. doofensmirtz lol.

i have a third thing but it relates to what i'm going to say about what i was thinking about during this episode this time. and it's that white men really shouldn't be writing shows or movies likes these, with a female protagonist (a mixed girl, even!) that's supposed to be a role model for young girls since young girls don't get superhero role models often still, unless they have like a team of female/women sensitivity readers

bc the thing is, ladybug may be the title character, and the protagonist (to chat noir's deuteragonist counterpart) but she's not treated that way in the narrative. like yes, there's smth to be said about how the narrative treats chat noir, and trust me i have seen that discourse. (and as an aside, i find it frustrating that the writers can't think of more creative ways for him to use his cataclysm that's actually useful and doesn't seem like he's just doing it to do something otherwise fans will complain about their imbalance. which fans did anyway!)

but the way ladybug is treated doesn't make it feel like she's the protagonist. like sure, as a protagonist it's okay for her to make mistakes and learn from them, but watching this now, when she's not there to deliver the cake and then her parents scold her for not being there, becomes a pattern in the show where she never grows from that. and it starts to feel more like the narrative and the writers are punishing her and not letting her move on from that. not only that but adrien is never faced with dilemmas like that. his absent father who is also akumatizing ppl hardly pays attention to him, which is very convenient. and we never see him get in trouble for being late for a photoshoot or leaving a photoshoot or smth bc he had to go superhero. it's only ladybug. why does the narrative think she's the only one who has to be taught lessons?

i think i got off on a rant. what i'm trying to say is that i think that ml was written with a layer of misogyny because of who its creator is/was idk it's canceled. like sure there may have been writers who were women on the team, but ultimately, the creator had the most and strongest say in how things shook out. and yes, i know that his girlfriend at the time also had a big hand in helping with the episodes. this doesn't excuse any acts of internalized misogyny she perpetuated. which is also why i think it would need to be a team of writers who are women or a team of sensitivity readers who are women to make it more well-rounded.

also kinda relates to why alix is the one who has the learn the lesson. her reason for giving it to alya is valid! she's on skates, going fast! she, out of everyone there, would know best where to store a small, fragile, delicate item. what if she crashes or falls on the item? it's safer for someone to hold, even if it's ultimately her responsibility to take care of at the end of the day. sometimes, responsibility is letting others help you.

marinette was right, in that alya should have taken care of it when alix asked her to, instead of handing it off to marinette. (you can hold your phone with one hand??) or, she should've been more vocal about not being able to hold it bc she wanted to record the race before the race started. it's not wholly alix's fault. and it's a weird thing to teach kids that responsibility is solely on their shoulders, rather than thinking logically about something like whether or not a pocket watch would actually be safe on someone who is speed racing in roller blades.

and i'm back to sailor moon comparisons bc again the creator said! i'm all over the place with this one but i wanted to at least talk about it a little, bc the difference in sailor moon is that usagi is the title character. she is Thee protagonist. but importantly, mamoru isn't the deuteragonist. her friends are. mamoru/tuxedo mask is a just a side-piece of eye candy.

and there's nothing wrong with chat noir not being that, but the narrative simultaneously treats him as a side-piece of eye candy while also treating him like the protagonist. and they have to choose one.

adrien can't not have trials and tribulations like marinette has, and he can't not learn and grow and evolve (tho, it could be argued that these trials marinette is put through don't even help her character arc or growth, they're just put there to be there, which is such shitty writing) while also being the deuteragonist. like sure, it's second fiddle, but narratively, a deuteragonist is still important!! we also want to see them learn and grow alongside the protagonist!

yet adrien doesn't get that treatment. the narrative coddles him. he never learns anything. he's either teaching marinette something or not doing anything at all but being a piece of eye candy!

anyway, basically i think the creator and his at the time girlfriend has some misogyny to work through and that also contributed to why ml was so shoddily written.

#chirp.ml #chirp.txt

[gravedangerahead]

Hi, Rapha! I have a question, and feel absolutely free to not answer if that makes you uncomfortable (it's not my intention).

You seem to like a lot of romance movies and you're aro. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it if you have any.

Because obviously, we don't only consume media that we relate to. But I'm wondering because I, myself, used to not be a fan of romance bc I couldn't relate to it at all! I used to identify as a lesbian, and all I knew were straight couples in movies. It's not like I hated it, but I didn't quite like romance bc seeing straight couples all the time was something that... I didn't quite enjoy. I felt like it was something so far from me, if that makes sense.

I guess my question is... what is your view on heteronormative movies as a queer person, specifically while aroace?

Oh, wow. I've actually wondered about that myself, but I don't actually know?

One thing I thought about is that sex and romance are so ubiquitous, and fiction gives me a lens through which I can interpret these things that are absolutely everywhere and are considered super important. So that romantic song isn't about an experience that's completely alien to me, it's about my OTP!

I usually like romance that's actually given importance by the narrative, if it isn't fully central, that side romance that seems to be in every story because it has to be there leaves me cold. When they put two hot actors next to each other and then expect me to root for them to get together just because it's very frustrating. I never used to see a romantic relationship between characters unless it was explicitly intended by the narrative. When I started engaging with fandom more I would start seeing it after having actual fan content for it . So I didn't project it there.

Romantic stories are some of the ones that focus the most on interpersonal relationships. Who these characters are, what makes them tick, what makes them good for each other, what causes rift, how they need to grow to work things out, internal conflicts arising from the characters and not just external conflict. I do also love stories about found family, about siblings and about friendship for similar reasons. I usually care about characters and relationships more than I care about plot. And I like cute, sweet moments which is also common in romantic stories.

And there's curiosity about a thing I don't experience. I already liked romance since I was very little, and I was convinced it would happen at some point. I really invested on the late bloomer narrative, then on the right person narrative,  because I thought it was just the natural progression that at some point I'd have a cute relationship like my parents, or like in fiction. I idenfied as demi for a while, with no reason to believe that, before admitting I was just plain aroace. But now that I know I still retain a bit of a fascination with romantic stories.

But as you said, we don't only like stories we relate to. I often relate a lot to the characters in romantic stories, but even if I don't relate to the romance itself it's still fun. I think romantic stories have some clearly delineated progression and resolution for you to hang cuteness and funny shenanigans on.

Sorry for the delay on the answer, I'm very wordy and I was boxing up books for the move all day today. I hope this is at least somewhat coherent.

Also, I watched Lisbela and the Prisoner when I 7 and I just stole my whole personality from it, so there's that

#Rapha rambles #aroace #aromantic #asexual #asks #answered asks #I was watching cowboy bebop (the original) and I still have some episodes to go but it feels like a wasted opportunity #the characters are good but I don't see the relationship between the characters developing much so far #firefly was another space cowboy set up that I adored because I actually saw the relationships between the characters develop #Honestly there are also a lot of ''romantic'' stories I like where I didn't actually care about the guy at all and he was just a sexy lamp #something for the female protagonist to get for her troubles lol #but I didn't go into that because in those cases the romance wasn't the appeal #I do also like female protagonists actually that seems to be more common in romance too #when I say my parents are cute I mean they are very cute #long post

[msindrad]

an insanely long crazy-ass post about the dollars trilogy, I’m so sorry y’all

I FOUND THIS POST. I DID IT. I FOUND IT. JESUS. I spent the entirety of my yesterday searching for it.

I’m going to tag everybody who participated in this discussion and whose posts I‘ve found while searching for this discussion on the off-chance that they still might be interested in, yeah, discussing these films.

@clinteastwood-blog @geekboots-blog @istadris @sybilius @bleak-nomads @thenotsobad-thebad-andtheugly @bloncos @mcicioni-blog @unrealthings @stephantom @colonelmortimer

Also, please feel free to ignore me and my analytical outburst if you don’t feel like talking about the films or talking about them with my crazy hyperfixated ass specifically, lol. I didn’t mean to be rude by calling you out of nowhere, it’s just that sometimes people get excited when there is an enthusiastic newbie in the fandom and gladly return to their beloved canons.

Anyway. The dollars trilogy.

I’ll start with The Good, the Band and the Ugly (and will probably make myself instantly unlikable by nitpicking things, (sigh)).

As stupid as it might sound – the film being an absolute masterpiece, a cultural milestone that is timeless, epic, work of genius, love it, will write and draw about it with pleasure etc. – I’m kind of inclined to find the GBU the weakest film in the trilogy storywise. Don’t get me wrong: the plot is interesting and strong, every scene is entertaining, smart, and instantly quotable… But.

There are a few things that make the story, taken holistically, weak to a degree, especially in contrast to the other two films. Now, let me explain my bold-ass claim.

The first reason I couldn’t even pinpoint for myself until my best friend asked me: yeah, it’s all cool and fun, but what has really changed at the end of the film? They stopped the battle/blew up the bridge (kudos for the pacifist message), they killed a few folks on the way including Angel Eyes, but what did the story amount to in the end? Was their relationship changed? Have they themselves learned something about life, universe and everything? Tuco is still on the rope, Blondie still shoots the rope. They both got their money, split it 50/50. Sure, now it’s an insane amount of money but will it make them reconsider their ways of life? I don’t know, and I don’t necessarily think so. They’re really back to square one. If you consider the graphic novel The Man With No Name canon, then (spoiler) Blondie gives his money away to help rebuild the monastery of Tuco’s brother, and Tuco himself doesn’t really invest his share in anything other than booze, and sex, and troubles, so. Then, Angel Eyes got killed off, but he had even less backstory/character arc than, for instance, Captain Clinton, not to mention that his image, as memorable as it was, kind of lacked certain complexity, so, does it really matter storywise (although he is a great, stylish character, but I hope that you get what I mean)? (Note: Angel Eyes should have been the film’s ultimate personification of the war (inhumanely ruthless, only interested in money, extremely goal-oriented etc.), which, the war, kind of is the main antagonist of the film if you think about it; but the way he was used in the plot, the way he acted, and was generally presented, communicated it only in a limited way, imo).

Everything about the adventure was fun, smart, entertaining, one of the best films ever made, I agree 100%, and I rewatched it with pleasure many times. But I believe that stories have to bring about some palpable change in their world in order for them to be successful and finished. The GBU, in my opinion, doesn’t do it because it doesn’t want to be a story-story, and it’s fine with just letting its characters exist in a magic Western/a cowboy fantasy/a fairy tale. And I guess it’s also one of the reasons why the story didn’t go anywhere from the GBU – there is nothing to add to a basis like that. And I can’t help noting that it’s super ironic that the only film in the trilogy that truly seems to be all about money-money-money has no “dollars” in its title.

Another thing that I think is super important: there is almost no female energy or presence in the film. And it’s not even a matter of representation that bugs me, although I think it’s very important. It just feels like there is a deficit of something vital that renders everything even sort of unrealistic. In AFOD we have Marisol and we have Consuelo Baxter, and they’re relevant for the plot, and they have goals, motivations… lines. In FAFDM we have Mary, who has only a few brief moments, but she’s memorable, endearing, and she has a small story/motivation of her own, and we also have Mortimer’s sister, who is EXTREMELY important, and who also isn’t just symbolic, she herself makes a plot-relevant decision on screen, although a really horrible one from my personal moral standpoint. In the GBU we have what? A prostitute that’s beaten up by Angel Eyes (I never watch this scene), another woman at the hotel where Blondie stays in that is shut up and called an old hag or something like it, and another woman that makes a comment about Tuco’s hanging. None of them are memorable or have motivations on their own, and to me it makes the film lacking some really important counterpoint in terms of dynamics etc.

And nobody needs me to describe all the things that the film is awesome at because everybody knows that the film is one of the best films ever made, so painfully gorgeous that it’s difficult to praise it. So, I’ll move on to the other two films but will briefly talk about Tuco and Eli Wallach.

Eli Wallach is considered one of the best actors ever to appear on film for reason, so, I’ll just say about my personal impressions from his performance: he really made me emphasize with Tuco. His acting is incredibly rich, nuanced, concentrated, and, imo, just leaves you no choice but to think of Tuco as a real complex human being, not a film character. And Tuco is a superb character. Over the course of the story he gets to be loathsome, humane, funny, silly, terrifying, and cunning, - often all those at the same time. That’s one hell of a captivating character who’s just very, very interesting to watch and to analyze, regardless whether you like him or not.

Then, we have A Fistful of Dollars. I’m a huge fan of classic adventure stories that are gen, plot-driven, and have smart main characters figuring out a way to get what they want without being destroyed by other characters for wanting or trying to get it in the first place. I think it’s very difficult and very rewarding to write a good story in this genre. AFOD is exactly this kind of story, and this kind of stories is only as good as their protagonists’ maneuvers are. And Joe is, like, a tactical genius (the barrel! the fire!). And it’s much better to rewatch the film to remind yourself of how smart he is than have me talking about it, so.

But apart from that he is also humanized by his deeply personal motivations that appear completely irrational especially in contrast to his clever manipulations of the Baxters and the Rojos. And he doesn’t do it egotistically, to “get the girl,” which wouldn’t make him particularly sympathetic one way or another. Sure, he makes a good buck at the end, but his primary motivation still is justice for Marisol and her family (and then protection of his friend). Additionally, Joe gets his fair share of punishment for providing said justice, which further humanizes him and kind of makes you worry about him. And Silvanito with his scolding, humor, and skepticism helps with it a lot, too.

And then, there is the fact that the film wants the audience to either want to be Joe or want to be with him, sometimes both at the same time. Everybody on screen is a single Joe’s wink away from swooning because how he practically oozes charisma (only Silvanito is immune to his charms). I can’t blame them, though.

And I also want to point out the last lines of the film: Joe says that he doesn’t want to get involved into politics because that would be too much for him, and I think that it’s very fitting. The film just showed how cool he is, but he knows his limits, and he knows that he operates on a different plane.

So, all in all, it’s a masterfully done story.

Finally, we have For a Few Dollars more. I love all three films, but FAFDM is my favorite, there’s no doubt about that. I’ll start with the fact that it’s perfectly structured and perfectly balanced. We have three big players, Mortimer, Manco, and Indio, and the film shows how dangerous and how smart each of them is, so that the conflict between them ends up being very, very suspenseful. Not to mention the fact that it takes Manco and Mortimer almost 40 minutes, I think, to finally properly meet – by that time we are already speculating who will be the winner in the end, how will they react to each other, how will they interact, how will they work together etc. We get to know them quite well first, and then their relationship allows us to explore their characters even deeper through their interactions, their differences, and their similarities. For some time, storywise they become a single unit. While the story of Indio’s assault on Mortimer’s sister is revealed parallel to the plot.  

Indio himself is terrifying as hell without being cartoonish. He is a really dangerous, broken man that is also methodical, smart, and ruthless. He is so bad that he kills the opponent’s family just to make him bitter enough to draw on him. And he is so bad that he is okay with killing off his own gang.  

Speaking of which, Indio’s gang is colorful. He has interesting interactions with them at the beginning, in that church. And Klaus Kinski made his Wild stand out to me. I swear, the moment he almost cries in that saloon when Mortimer takes away his cigar, I feel bad for him every single time. And when he recognized Mortimer, it was tense. He even had a cool witty one-liner after Mortimer said that he should come to him in ten minutes to help him light that match and smoke: “In ten minutes, you’ll be smoking in hell!”

By the way, Indio’s tendency to get unnecessarily physical with his gang looks even more unnerving when he touches Manco to check his wound/shares a smoke him with some clearly visible eroticized subtext, which gets even creepier when you realize that he is a rapist. I swear, I was worried about Mortimer when I saw the film for the second time – that is even though I knew the plot – because Manco brought up that family resemblance between Mortimer and his sister, and we all know what Indio did to her.

What else? I could bring up all sorts of things, the action, the final duel, the small smart details that allow the plot to happen the way it happens (e.g. how Manco manages to hide the bag with all the money on that tree before Indio’s gang capture him and Mortimer – only to re-collect that bag at the end of the film), the humor, the street kids and all the other cool-cool secondary characters (Joseph Egger’s informer probably is my favorite), the opening sequence and the title card (oops, already rambled about this one) really, anything and everything including the perfect chemistry between Manco and Mortimer.

But I’ll just say that the music in this film is special to me. Every single composition by Ennio Morricone is special, unique, memorable, and intriguing, it’s true, and so it feels redundant and banal to say something like this. The Ecstasy of Gold is almost extraterrestrial, the main theme of Two Mules For Sister Sara imitates actual mule sounds, how genius is that, etc., and you must be dead to not be enticed and mesmerized beyond words by the main theme of the GBU, which is a hymn of all spaghetti Westerns now, a universal call for adventure (I feel like a bad person saying this, but I’ve always wanted to joke that Ennio put sexy back into the “waah-waah”… no, I regret nothing).

BUT. To me personally, the music in FAFDM is as personal as the film itself, and dare I say even more important to the story than in the GBU, despite the theme of the GBU being a kind of Greek choir throughout the film. The personalized sounds for Manco and Mortimer accentuate their personalities to the point where they almost create a reflex in you. The pocket watch chime is literally part of the story and plays a huge, crucial role in the plot! And it’s decidedly one of the saddest musical scores I’ve ever heard. It’s minimalist, mournful, and yet also nostalgically bittersweet. It feels like a reminder that there’s no going back whatever that might mean in the actuality. And the famous moment where Manco asks Mortimer whether his question was indiscreet and Mortimer says that the answer could be… I feel personally touched whenever I watch the scene. For me, it doesn’t feel like just an amazing scene, it triggers some deep emotion that is hard to express and almost gives me the urge to cry. Something along the lines of respectful and compassionate “I’m sorry that it happened to you,” “I’m sorry that I can’t help you.” The feeling of personal tragedy is conveyed infinitely better than a three-volume backstory ever could.

And then, there is this huge potential for all the stories about Manco, and Mortimer, and Blondie, and Tuco, and Angel Eyes, and even Joe to explore... Well, I better stop here.

So, yeah. It turned out to be a crazy long post, and I‘m grateful to anybody who reads it till the end. And if you haven’t watched these movies please do. Cheers.

#the dollars trilogy #dollars trilogy #spaghetti western #sergio leone #clint eastwood #lee van cleef #eli wallach #the gbu #the good the bad and the ugly #for a few dollars more #a fistful of dollars #joe #manco #blondie #colonel douglas mortimer #angel eyes #tuco #klaus kinski #out loud #the spirit of the west #ennio morricone #two mules for sister sara #the man with no name #mantimer #mancomer #blonco

[ri-translates]

Translation: Itaru Chigasaki [Schoolhouse at Dusk] - Heart-Throbbing! Kasugamine Academy Part 3

Izumi’s heart-throbbing story comes to a close as Itaru pitches an idea to Sakyo.

NOTE: Part of this backstage story does take place in the play of the “I Come with the Night” event. While it isn’t a spoiler for the event itself, please be aware that it does feature the characters and vaguely follows the story of the play.

Part 1 || Part 2

Izumi: Haa, haa…. Umm, I turn right here, then ring the doorbell up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right twice… [1] Hm, the command….?

When I messaged the LIME ID written on the card, I got a reply back from Tadano-kun saying, “Teacher, help me….!”

He sent a message with an address and a map simultaneously, so I quickly headed in the direction of that location.

Izumi: (I don’t know if something happened, but it seems like an emergency.... I have to hurry!)

I thought I should’ve messaged Futami-sensei, who’s responsible for Tadano-kun’s class, but it’s in the late evening, and in the first place, I don’t even know Futami-sensei’s contact info.

Not being able to get in touch with him his vexing, and in a panic I rushed to the location without a second thought.

Izumi: (If I remember correctly, Shinbashi-kun is a part of Futami-sensei’s class, right? I’ll try asking him if he has Futami-sensei’s contact information later. I have to get in touch with him.) Haa...Haa...I-Is this the place? (It seems like it matches what’s on the map, no doubt about it. Even so, is it really this building? It seems kind of hard to enter….) (I’m a little scared, but….because Tadano-kun wanted me to rescue him, I must go.)

…..Okay.

Shigeto: Oi.

Izumi: Kyaa!?

Shigeto: ……

Izumi: Oww…. W-What is it? (Who is this person? He suddenly grabbed my arm, and on top of that, it’s like he’s glaring at me…)

Shigeto: *sighs*…. Even though I went through all that trouble saving you in the afternoon, to think after all that it’d end up like this….

Izumi: Eh…..? (Saved me in the afternoon? But that was…No way, that’s not possible.) No, I believe this is the first time we’ve met….?

Shigeto: *sighs*…. Well, that reaction is a given.

Izumi: Eh…..? W-Wait a second…!?

(Isn't his face suddenly inching closer!? He’s got a solid grip on my arm, I can’t move my body!)

Shigeto: I won’t wait.

Izumi: (“I won’t wait,” he says! He’s within breathing distance...!) [2]

Shigeto: You still don’t know even after looking at my face this closely? I am….

Shinbashi: Izumi-chan!?

Izumi: Sh-Shinbashi-kun!?

Shinbashi: Let go of her!

Shigeto: ……

Izumi: Why are you here, Shinbashi-kun…..?

Shinbashi: I happened to see Tadano- at the station, and I thought it was strange at this hour so I quickly chased after him, but I lost sight of him midway through. When I took a good look around, I went searching in this area because this isn’t a place high schoolers come to at all.

And then, I saw you get involved with this guy, Izumi-chan.

Shigeto: ….I’m not involved in particular.

Izumi: Oh yeah, I also got a message from Tadano-kun on LIME….

Kondo: !! Eh, why are you…..

Tadano: ……

Izumi: Tadano-kun and Kondo-sensei!? Eh, why are the two of you together?

Tadano: Izumi-sensei, help me!

Kondo: Hold it, oi! Tadano!

Izumi: Ehhhーーー!!

(What does he mean by, “help him?” What kind of relationship does Tadano-kun have with Kondo-sensei….?) 

Based on the situation where she doesn’t know what’s going on, the first thing Izumi says is….

Options: A: Just who exactly are you, Shigeto?

B: Shinbashi-kun, what should we do in this situation?

C: Kondo-sensei, what kind of relationship do you have with Tadano-kun?

D: I’ll save you right away, Tadano-kun!

Itaru: ...So with that kind of feel, what do you think about trying to make and sell a romance game paralleling the play this time?

Manager: It’s a great ideaーー

Sakyo: Rejected.

Tsuzuru: This totally feels total déjà vu.

Itaru: Ehh, but I think we should sell something a little different once in a while though~

Tsuzuru: I’ve never heard of a theatre company that sells homemade romance games for profit! Speaking of which, mind telling me what kind of content occurs in each route after the branching point?

Itaru: In Kondo’s route, the heroine’s talent for sports suddenly blooms, and they aim for the three-legged race in the Olympics! In the true end, they get the gold medal.

Tsuzuru: Well, Kondo’s character setting is a married man.

Itaru: In Tadano’s route, the heroine is invited to an illegal gambling house where she awakens her talent for gambling, making a killing as a female gambler! Cha-ching!

Tsuzuru: Isn’t this completely deviating from the romance?

Itaru: …...I guess, to each their own. Of course, there’s not just happy endings but bad endings as well. We’ll need a walkthrough for that.

Masumi: And if you pick my route, the director and I will be husband and wife in the ETERNAL HAPPY END…..

Tsuzuru: I can’t even make a comeback for that!

Sakyo: *sighs*.....

Chikage: What if you make it yourself, Chigasaki? Why not demonstrate your true ability as a gamer, huh.

Izumi: An Olympic athlete and a gambler….

Sakuya: Romance games are amazing!

Manager: Why does curry bread pop up every now and then?

Izumi: But that’s what I’m really excited about.

Chikage: You thought even the director would agree to it if you messily tossed in mentions of curry, huh. 

Sakyo: *sighs*.....He’s not necessarily wrong about that, though.

Tsuzuru: What a schemer…..

Itaru: I wonder who you’re talking about?

Citron: A frightening romance game! [3]

Manager: But it’d be fascinating if we actually make it happen! Please let me handle the BGM!

Itaru: Right? I thought it’d be a good experience for Tsuzuru to try writing a full-scale scenario for a game.  Game scenarios have various peculiarities with choices and branching points.

Tsuzuru: No, thanks. Spare me.

Itaru: But you said you’d write a game scenario for me someday where I’m the protagonist with my own harem. You’re just gonna have to get used to writing this kind of stuff while you can. [4]

Tsuzuru: Of course it’s related to that!

Itaru: ….Can’t you?

Tsuzuru: Even if you make that face, “no” is no!

Itaru: Ehh.

Sakuya: Itaru-san’s passion for games is really amazing, isn’t it!

Citron: Itaru's held strong, too. [5]

Tsuzuru: I think he means, “headstrong.” [5]

Masumi: …..I also want a romance game with you. I’ll make it myself and have Tsuzuru write a happy ending for me and the director.

Izumi: Ehh!? Hold up, Masumi-kun!

Citron: Ooh! In that case, I’ll have Tsuzuru write a lovey-dovey princess game about me and the director….

Sakyo: All of you, every single one of you, utterly rejected!

TL notes and comments:

[1] ↑↑↓↓→←→←

[2] Izumi says 息がかかりそうな距離なんですけどっ....！and I’m gonna be honest, I’m not sure how to translate this but I think this is what it means. 息がかかる can mean “having someone’s backing/having someone’s personal support” but I think it can also mean “breathing.” Throw in 距離 or distance, and the fact that Shigeto is in the MC’s face, I’m gonna assume he’s so close to her, he’s basically within breathing distance.

[3]  Citron says おそろしい, meaning frightening or terrifying, which might be wordplay on 面白い, since Isuke’s mentions that the game would be 面白い, interesting or fascinating, if they make it.

[4] This whole sentence is a disaster. 綴はいつか俺が主人公のハーレムゲームシナリオ書くんだからさ、こういうノリの執筆にも今のうちに慣れておかないと. BUT BASICALLY that’s the gist of it. Itaru is reminding Tsuzuru that he promised he’d write make Itaru a protag with harem so writing Heart-Throbbing! Kasugamine the romance game is a good opportunity to get accustomed to writing romance games like this professionally. He should do it while he still can.

[5] Gotta love Citron and his Japanese (i feel). He says  渋滞 (traffic jam) which I decided to translate as “held up” then mangled it further to “held strong” because it sounds similar to “headstrong,” which is what Tsuzuru says (しぶとい).

Huge shoutout to my amazing friend Medu @hanevma​ for providing me with the story!! 💕💕💕 Itaru day is still on going so I’m hoping I can get one or two more translations up before it ends in the west. Stan a man who plays all kinds of games, even otome games LOL

As always, thanks for reading! If you spot any mistakes or translations errors please don’t hesitate to let me know! I am not a professional translator or localization pro so take this translation with a grain of salt.

Part 1 || Part 2

#a3! #a3! translation #chigasaki itaru #ikaruga misumi #tsukioka tsumugi #settsu banri #matsukawa isuke #furuichi sakyo #usui masumi #citron #minagi tsuzuru #sakuma sakuya #utsuki chikage #itaru chigasaki #misumi ikaruga #tsumugi tsukioka #banri settsu #isuke matsukawa #sakyo furuichi #masumi usui #tsuzuru minagi #sakuya sakuma #chikage utsuki #ri translates #my two brain cells are dying #itaru: kasugamine academy

[laufire]

I'm curious and feel like another meta from you: could you talk about Elena/Clarke protagonists and what it is about them that grates on your nerves? (I would ask what you think makes them *bad* protagonists but I felt like that might be too subjective a question. Either way...)

(sorry this ask sat for so long in my inbox... I kind of wanted to wait until The 100 was over in my classical “if I speak about Certain Things I might jinx my desired endgame!!” paranoia lmfao)

I’d definitely hesitate to call them bad protagonist, if only because I’m not comfortable saying that when I’m so obviously biased against them xD. So in the “what is it that grates on my nerves” column...

The cognitive dissonance between what I feel I’m being told vs. what I see on the screen. This, IMO, lessened significantly as their respective shows progressed, and that’s a big part of why I became more lenient, sometimes even appreciative, of their characters over time (in an opposite journey to the rest of the fandoms, apparently xDD).

The fact that said cognitive dissonance was that I was told they were selfless/great leaders/etc. vs. me seeing them as instinctively manipulative (with Elena being far more effective at it ofc) worsened that because it’s something that touches me personally lmfao. It’s one of those things where real life and fiction touch for a second for me, because this is a type of person that absolutely drives me crazy IRL. And I HATE that often, if they’re talented as this, calling attention to their MO gets me in trouble because they’re a lot more sociably savvy than I am lmfao. So my reaction to seeing a fandom buy into this is OMG HOW DON’T YOU SEE THEM???? XDDD

Tendency to shift blame and responsibility. Clarke’s mantra of “I had no choice”, Elena’s advantage of having the men in their life commit atrocities against other women for her so she doesn’t have to face backlash for it... Related to that, their “I don’t want power/I don’t want to survive at others’ expenses” bullshit can bite me. I’m not buying it, girls! I will always, always take an openly ambitious and ruthless character over this, any day.

A victimistic attitude. Another point where RL and fiction touch LOL. And I can admit this might be hypocritical of me because different wangsts hit me... well, different lol, and although sometimes I can point something qualitatively different about it (i.e., are they ~bleeding over others, especially those they themselves have hurt in the first place?), my predisposition towards a character or another is a factor.

I almost immediately latched onto another female character (Caroline, Raven) who was introduced into the narrative to show how much better the female lead inherently was, in both cases via romantic humiliation, among other things (Caroline was rejected by Stefan, abused by Damon, constantly put down by Matt and dangerously ignored by all of her friends in a time of dire need, and her relationship with a divorced Liz was very strained in contrast to Elena’s idealized parents; Raven was cheated on by Finn, and was indirectly and negatively compared to Clarke on matters of familial support and socioeconomic status too). If things had been different I might not have come to dislike them so much, even been interested in them... but I’m bitter and petty and competitive, what’s new xDD. In general, feeling that there are characters I love forced onto their knees so a protagonist can seem to stand taller drives me nuts. I think this is the most important point tbh.

Acting choices. This is another area where Elena had a leg over Clarke, because Nina Dobrev was a better actress and improved a lot over time, but the way she played Elena, especially at the beginning, with this... earnestness whenever she was massively wronging someone without admitting to it (I’m thinking back to that scene where she tries to talk to Bonnie after Damon and Stefan turned her mother... ugh). It just annoys me, period.

There are protagonists I find very similar in personality and type but that I didn’t have this type of reaction to, like Mary Stuart from Reign or Alicia Florrick from The Good Wife, and I’d say this are the key points of divergence for me: I didn’t feel that dissonance, and if there was a different POV expressed by character it felt as it was simply a different POV; the shifting blame/victimism wasn’t nearly as present because both those women needed to demonstrate harshness too due to their roles (monarch/defense attorney); I loved a lot of the characters around them and even felt moderated bitterness on behalf of some of them, but there was definitely no Caroline and no Raven on sight; and neither actress ever bothered me in their role, the opposite.

And I can’t forget the fact that I find both these women really attractive lmfao. Shallow stuff matters (I think Dobrev is pretty, but I’m not as into her). And even with all that, neither character was anywhere close to being my favourite in either show, so.

#nectargrapes #replies #talking to the void #my thoughts #plecverse thoughts #t100 thoughts #plecverse #the vampire diaries #the 100 #ah the dilemma of how to tag these lol #elena gilbert for ts #clarke griffin for ts #lol clarke #antielenagilbert for ts #anticlarkegriffin for ts

[reachexceedinggrasp]

Okay, so for my clannibal people, I have two recs where something very like The Dynamic has recently appeared in media. The first one has far more caveats than the second, but the first one is also the one where the ship is canon and has kissing.

The Method a Russian series from 2015 (it’s on Netflix). It’s about a young ingenue who decides to become a cop because of lingering trauma around an unsolved violent parental death (check), she’s accepted as the protege of an eccentric genius (check) through somewhat shady circumstances with some kind of ulterior motive (check). He, the eccentric genius, is not a serial killer- he’s a detective, but he is an absolute human disaster whose erratic behaviour and extremely questionable morals are tolerated by the police because they can use him as a weapon. He has totally killed people.

‘Byronic Hero’ is a vast understatement.

This show is grim, graphic, and very dark; it takes an extremely dim view of humanity in general and it doesn’t provide the hope or catharsis that Clannibal does- the protagonist does not get to have it all, so be forewarned on that. The implicit worldview and assumed ethical framework of the series is honestly appalling and the main characters are all fairly reprehensible by the end, so if you’re not prepared to deal with a whole lotta ugliness I would say don’t watch it.

The selling point to me is that the characters are interesting and the ship is very compelling. Again, it’s canon, so you will get satisfaction, but the actual romance is somewhat subtextual most of the time. Their connection is the lynchpin of the series, but it’s more about the protagonist’s ‘education’ into his world and an exploration of what that world is than it is focussed on them falling in love. He has no illusions or intentions about having a future (with her or otherwise), he’s trying to pass on his ‘method’ to a worthy successor, so his attitude is heavily informed by that. She is being broken of what idealism she ever had (told you it was grim).

Anyway, their relationship is very fucked up and the series has a legit horrifying (also aggressively stupid) conception of what mental illness is like, but it was very engaging and it was totally unapologetic about the romanticism of the dark love story, so there is a lot there for you if you want to see something like a Clannibal dynamic again. Just don’t expect the positive turn or healing. The ending is not happy or hopeful in any sense. You could make a good argument it’s a full-on tragedy, though I don’t think that’s quite the intent. And the tragedy is Titus Andronicus. If that gives you an indication of how grim we’re talking.

The plot does completely fall apart by the end (it’s like if OUaT were an r-rated crime show, it becomes that much of a mess), but the acting is good and it remains very compelling because of the characters.

Tell Me What You Saw a kdrama from this year. THIS is what I’m talking about. A young ingenue decides to become a cop because of lingering trauma around an unsolved violent parental death (check), she’s accepted as the protege of an eccentric genius (check), through somewhat shady circumstances with some kind of ulterior motive (check). She has to go visit him alone in a giant, creepy old building where he is confined (ooo, new check). He, the eccentric genius, is on the side of the angels and is again not a serial killer lol. He is a legendary criminal profiler and ex-detective who spends most of the series as a somewhat morally ambiguous anti-hero. He’s brilliant, he’s troubled, he broods and plays mind games from on high, and he’s always 17 steps ahead of you. I love him. Also, crucially, he is hot:

The first six episodes have great build-up to a not-totally-unpredictable but still fairly epic twist and then, sadly, the following episode is a bit of an anti-climax from what felt like it should be the jumping off point where the series kicked into high gear but turned out to be a bunch of wandering around aimlessly in very loosely connected episodic plots. There’s narrative justification for this, but I did feel like someone slammed on the breaks and switched gears. It takes a while to regain momentum and is never quite as focussed or well-balanced again.

The pros of the series are its very strong characters played by mostly very strong actors, quality atmosphere, great action, good suspense, and loads and loads of interesting relationships brimming with potential. The one that interests me most being, of course, the one between the protagonist and the profiler. It’s pretty much exactly the clannibal dynamic- he picks her apart and challenges her for his own reasons and then comes to enormously respect her; she is at first intimidated and angry but gives as good as she gets until she reaches a point of growth where she can challenge him in return. And, in the end, he has helped her self-actualise and become who she wanted to be and she helps him heal from his past to the point she can radically alter his outlook on life.

Their relationship is ultimately very positive for both and remains central to the series throughout. There are complicated feelings at play that are given some time in the spotlight, but it is sadly underdeveloped from what it should have been imo. Especially on his side. And there is no romance or explicit attraction, though I think the show supports her at least having a crush on him. If it had ‘gone there’ it would not have shocked anyone, let’s put it that way. They could have gone there. It is one of those flawed canons with good characters super ripe for fic. (Please watch this show and write fic so I can read it, is what I’m saying.)

The cons are that the story ends up being ridiculous on multiple levels and there are some intensely irritating moments of characters being profoundly idiotic and unreasonable just to keep the plot going. Incoherent motivation, mainly for the heroes, is a BIG problem. Apparently rampant police incompetence (including from all the main characters) is the second biggest problem. There is a fantastic female character who is the team leader for our main cops and she gets hit with both of these possibly the worst of anyone. The big reveal about her also makes no fucking sense. There was a maybe cliché but perfectly serviceable route they could have gone instead without changing anything, it seemed like they were setting it up, but they just go with... nothing. And in retrospect this undermines her entire character for the whole series. Which hurts because she was genuinely awesome.

So yeah. There are logic problems and all three ongoing major questions in the overarching story basically have terrible ‘solutions’, but it is extremely well-made in every other respect and the characters remained compelling enough that I couldn’t stop watching. The single-episode mysteries are usually very good with good pacing and satisfying resolutions. It’s consistently entertaining despite the frustration and it manages to pull out a fucking GREAT A+++++ ending right when you’re about to get super pissed off about more deterministic grim teenage nihilism ruining everything. The protagonist got to learn from all her experiences without losing her optimism, rise above adversity and be rewarded for her faith, and it was honestly so nice to get that. So unexpectedly hopeful and uplifting. I love a story that gets dark but never despairs.

If they make a second series with the same cast, I will be there with bells on.

#clannibal #media recs #tell me what you saw #the profiler is very OP in the best way I love this character type and I'm not ashamed #give me a super OP mess and I'm so happy #(as long as the narrative realises that they are a mess) #( if it doesn't then it's just ugggggh and probably heading for PCM at best and studom at worst) #anyway this is the same actor as played the insane love interest in Fated to Love You #Korean Johnny Depp #jang hyuk #he's pretty great #he's also an ex-boxer and real life martial artist whose entire body is rock hard so he's got that going for him as well #this show is very nearly Peak Aesthetic for him (all black clothes sunglasses shoulder length hair unnnf) #he needs the long hair #short hair does not suit him #(I realise I'm biased but it really doesn't) #this opinion has been reinforced mightily by this show and the show I watched him in where it was even shorter than in the shit half of FtL #(which is Wok of Love which I do not recommend at all it's terrible) #although that show also had bad lighting/direction which I'm sure didn't help #I mean it's Peak Aesthetic until they inexplicably decide to dress him exclusively in giant fluffy coats he never takes off (yes i'm salty) #why does this character have five different giant black coats what's that about #back to TMWYS now btw #my tag rambles are getting more confusing #he had a smart peacoat in the beginning and then it's all huge parkas #I understand it's apparently always freezing in studios and it was winter but cold is temporary looking cool is forever lmao #kdrama

[lost-soul-of-silver]

Ayyy for that character meme, do Khoury, Lyra, and Bede :p

I LOVE YOU

This is going under a cut cuz this gets lengthy lol

Khoury

How do I feel about this character: Honestly idk why I like him so much. Yeah, I’ll admit he’s bland, boring character-of-the-day material but I always saw some potential in him. At the point he debuted we never really saw any reserved, anxious, pessimistic characters in the anime and being reserved and anxious myself, I found him relatable. Traveling alongside Lyra, who’s almost his exact opposite, he’d be able to grow a lot--hell, in the couple episodes he’s in he even shows some growth! Seeing a bit more of their journey, maybe through Chronicles-esque episodes or something, would’ve been really interesting and I’ll forever be annoyed that they passed up on that opportunity.

What do I like/admire about this character: He’s shy and easily scared but also has a hidden brave side that wants to see and learn new things. I’m honestly not sure how much of that is actually headcanon lol but that’s the impression I get from him.

What do I dislike about this character: ...Yeah I got nothing

Favourite moment for this character: Surprisingly hard to narrow it down haha. I liked when he caught Gible and also when he accepted Lyra’s invite to travel with him.

Who I ship romantically with this character and why: Mainly just Lyra, because I feel their contrasting personalities balance each other out but they still find ways to support each other unconditionally.

Who are my platonic ships for this character and why: Lyra for the same reasons as above. Marina, because out of everyone in the New Bark Squad (Khoury, Lyra, Jimmy, Marina, and Vincent), I feel she and Khoury are the most mellow, which I know is saying a lot considering Marina’s a world-famous Idol haha. Jimmy, because like Lyra, he pushes Khoury to become more confident and bold and chase his dreams. And Vincent, because he’s got clever jokes and puns that only someone of Khoury’s IQ is capable of appreciating. Also, Brock is a great mentor to him and I like thinking about their dynamic. (There’s a lot of others but they’re all basically crack platonic pairs and I won’t get into it lol)

Things done in fanfiction with this character that annoy me: I’ve read one fic where Khoury was an asshole. Like, I know he’s a little negative but REALLY

Things done in fanfiction with this character I want to see more of: Him. Just him. Please acknowledge the boy unlike the anime writers/producers.

Lyra

How do I feel about this character: I adore her, she’s so precious and funny! I liked that she collected Gym Badges and it irks me that she just got thrown aside as a walking-talking HGSS advertisement because she’s one of the rare cases of a female Trainer collecting Badges. Her matchmaking bit is funny, she’s snarky and has clever battle techniques from what we’ve seen. It would’ve been great to see how she fares on her own journey with Khoury, and how it’s similar yet different to Ash on his travels.

What do I like/admire about this character: As I said, she’s funny and clever and rather snarky as well. And I love her energy. Judging from the cave bit in the Gible episode, I get the feeling she’s the type to act confident but actually scares easily, which I like in contrast to Ash’s seemingly constant, never-wavering bravery.

What do I dislike about this character: Her whole “ohhh Ash is amazing!!” thing bugged me a little, and she’s pretty hypocritical too. Calling Dawn “Dane” also annoyed me as well. I didn’t see the point of it.

Favourite moment for this character: The part in the Gible episode when she’s alone in the cave and Khoury comes to rescue her. I also like all the times she’s all flirty with Khoury c:

Who I ship romantically with this character and why: Mainly Khoury. Same explanation as above.

Who are my platonic ships for this character and why: The whole New Bark Squad. Already explained why with Khoury and Jimmy, Marina, and Vincent are all like older siblings to her. Or, as Lyra would put it: Marina and Jimmy are like the squad’s Mom and Dad and Vincent is the weird uncle. Lmao. I liked her relationship with Dawn and even Ash, too! I feel like she could be friends with anybody so I platonically ship her with everyone haha.

Things done in fanfiction with this character that annoy me: Making her really passive? I don’t know, I can’t describe it but I’ve read a few stories where she’s basically a doormat and it makes no sense. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anyone write Anime!Lyra, though.

Things done in fanfiction with this character I want to see more of: Her spunky personality.

Bede

How do I feel about this character: I honestly didn’t like him at first cuz I thought his design was ugly, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Then I became kinda indifferent, like “yeah okay you’re here,” and now he’s one of my favorite characters ever.

What do I like/admire about this character: he pretty. I also like his team lineup and his character development, even if I don’t like the progression of his development.

What do I dislike about this character: His character development felt rushed and mostly off-screen, and also only available in DLC? Like he destroys the mural, doesn’t show remorse for it until the Isle of Armor, gets taken in by Opal to succeed her as Gym Leader... and then disappears until the Champion Cup. It didn’t feel like he made much impact as a character before becoming Gym Leader, aside from influencing Hop’s character arc.

Favourite moment for this character: “PINK! PINK! AND PINK!” God I was pissing myself from laughinbg

Who I ship romantically with this character and why: Gloria. It’s mostly because of fanart lol. But his admiration for the protagonist and determination for surpassing them, and how he gets so riled up about it, contributes to me liking them together. I kinda also ship him with Hop (enemies to loversss) and Marnie, but not so much Victor.

Who are my platonic ships for this character and why: Gloria, Hop, Victor, and Marnie. I just imagine that they’re a group of fucking trainwrecks raising hell together and I love it.

Things done in fanfiction with this character that annoy me: I’ve noticed a lot of writers seem to confuse “troubled teenager being snobby and conceited” with “cruel and abusive” and therefore characterize Bede that way and sometimes it’s disgusting. Especially post-character development Bede?

Things done in fanfiction with this character I want to see more of: I’m at a loss here lol, Ao3 has some AMAZING writers that basically satisfy my Bede needs

#answered asks #hal-cyonn

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

Time for The Witcher episode 4!!

So the last episode was Intense(TM) and also I finally realized that the show isn’t happening all at the same time but it’s following multiple timelines, which, better late than never. Now things make more sense...

Alright, bando alle ciance and let’s do this.

“Ciri! Ciri” Cirilla: yes? “Not you, I was talking to Siri. What’s the weather going to be tomorrow”

That’s such a stupid joke. Unfollow me right now, it’s okay.

Glowy Forest Intensifies... oh, there’s people now. Forest Dora Milaje aren’t happy to see her, which is understandable, I guess. But the boss arrives.

Meanwhile, except not meanwhile, a man has had a very bad day. Apparently the nickname White Wolf has stuck. Remember when we thought the MCU was going to make Bucky into a Black Panther character as the White Wolf, official media outlet even used the White Wolf as a title for Bucky, and then it ended up in nothing? Sorry for the digression but I really hoped we’d get Bucky written by Ryan Coogler and I was really disappointed when that didn’t happen but *waves around* all of that happened instead. I mean, technically it’s not too late to make it happen but Bucky is a Disney+ creature now, so, bye.

Hello Jaskier! My boy! I missed you.

Ah, the new media image campaign is working. 

“You never get involved, except you actually do, all of the time” I love this XD “I don’t do emotions or attachments” character who does emotions intensely all the time and gets attached to everyone they meet paired with “sure Jan” character who calls them out is a very good dynamic.

Ah, yes, this is perfect. I’m sorry but dark brooding protagonist and bubbly comic relief sidekick is my secret weakness.

No offense, Geralt, but those clothes did need a good washing after your latest job, so don’t make that face.

Blah blah royal affairs I should probably pay attention to.

“I am not going to protect you” [*Spongebob font* five minutes later...]

But yeah, the princess is Cirilla’s mother, I suppose, and I’m sure the marriage that produces Scream Princess is super important. She is very pretty and has lovely hair. Sometimes I wish I had long hair I could braid artistically.

The princess doesn’t want to get married to some strange dude, but the queen is A Very Strong Woman(TM) and has no time for silly things like her daughter’s feelings over the most life-changing decision in her life. She’s an interesting character for sure, and the narrative doesn’t try to frame her as either definitely good or bad, which is interesting.

Oh! Rat Boy isn’t dead! That’s great. That makes sense narratively, native forest women who suffered genocide from colonizers wouldn’t kill an elf boy who went through the same thing.

Promised husband is a shitty dude. Queen Calanthe likes Geralt, which, relatable. But she and her entourage are racist assholes, and the next scene with Cirilla and Dara tell us that their anti-elf talk isn’t just talk.

By the way, now we know for sure how much time there is between Geralt’s timeline and Cirilla’s.

The queen doesn’t like feminine dresses. Lady is trying to overcompensate a lot. But her banter with Geralt is entertaining.

The first suitor is from Nilfgaard, and in hindsight it would have been a wise choice to unify the two kingdoms... C’mon, poor guy is just awkward, he doesn’t deserve the humiliation. Or is he the guy who’ll make war later? The pilot threw too much new information at me the other day.

Yennefer is bored... and apparently 30 years has passed since the last we saw of her. (I refuse to try to understand when in relation to the other plots that puts this scene. Things will click together at some point or I’ll just accept whatever happens and nod along.) And coincidentally she is paired with a woman who laments being only considered important as a baby-producing womb. Oops. Awkward.

Not relevant to the show but my parents never get inside my room as often as while I am watching something on Netflix.

Yennefer thinks life as a court mage sucks, queen Kalis thinks life as a baby-maker sucks. They envy each other for what the other has, but they’re probably both right.

Well, boredom is no longer a problem.

Oh, poor queen, her husband paid to have her killed because she’s only given him daughters. Two episodes in a row about female heirs to kings, plus queen Calanthe being female and having a daughter who’ll have a daughter. Theeemes!

You can’t be rude to the only person who is your only hope not to die horribly, girl.

Queen Calanthe is frustrated she isn’t a man, which we could guess. She also likes the simplicity of killing, which we could also guess.

Oh! It’s almost pre-decided husband’s time to claim the girl’s hand in marriage, but New Guy appears! He’s been cursed and Mr I Don’t Pick Sides Ever No Matter What, guess what, picks a side. The audience is shocked. No one could foresee this unexpected turn of events.

Noooo the baby!!! Yennefer loses a rare chance to acquire a baby. This is sad. Damn this show doesn’t shy away from killing children, such a different feel from most stories we’re used to.

These people are weird with destiny. Calanthe says fuck destiny, Geralt says lol mood but just because you’re a queen doesn’t mean you’re above sacred rules.

OOOOH Calanthe says fuck sacred rules and it does not go well. Is this happening because she tried to mess up with the order of the world and chaos said hi? Was the princess always magical or did this happen because destiny will have its way no matter what?

Ah, her grandmother had it, she never manifested it before until now, when circumstances awoke it.

Queen Calanthe acknowledges destiny, and of course they’re all dressed in green like the mages of Feminist Hogwarts aka Chaos School. I should have paid more attention to colors but green seems to be the color of magic slash chaos slash destiny.

Then bam, red. Men. Violence.

Everyone in the forest is also dressed in green... Colors aren’t really my thing, you might have noticed that I rarely analyze colors in Supernatural and I’m not particularly into what which color means and I only notice things when they’re very obvious like the purple of transformation-slash-death, so, yeah, I am not the kind of person who notices colors until they slap me in the face. I guess this is my slap in the face by this show’s color palette XD

Also consider that I watch everything with f-lux on, so I don’t even see colors the way they actually look, I guess that’s why it’s harder for me to notice colors when everything looks orange.

Alriiiiight *disables f.lux for current app*

Oh. Oh. So this is how this show looks like.

Awkward. This is so embarrassing.

I should rewatch the whole thing with real colors now... well, another time.

Anyway, Dara has drunk antidepressant juice, but it doesn’t work on Ciri, because she is Relevant(TM) to destiny so she can’t forget her past otherwise the plot destiny can’t happen.

Sleep well baby.

Aaah husband’s curse is broken! Yay.

Geralt accidentally acquires a bond with a baby. One baby dead and Yennefer’s potential bond with her lost, one baby on her way and Geralt’s future bond with her created. So this is all about parallels based on babies and births. Cool.

In the future, destiny has arrived and indeed wrought calamity on the court and the city. Someone makes something gross with Calanthe’s dead body--a spell to learn the location of Cirilla. Trouble is coming.

Oh! It’s him, he’s not dead? And taking something from Calanthe (that will be relevant later)?

Ciri drinks stronger juice and goes to the ancestral plane, er, I mean has a vision of a Very Important Tree, sorry I had Black Panther stuck in my head from before.

Well this is very interesting and things are starting to click together and yeah it’s a weird ride but I’m enjoying it! I suppose only at the end of the season you get the full picture of why and when everything has happened so I’m just sitting here metaphorically eating popcorn waiting for things to make sense on their own rhythm. There’s a theme of motherhood and babies and it seems that Geralt’s destiny is to become a metaphorical mother for Cirilla? Or am I mixing him up with a similar kind of character with a tendency to become everyone’s mom? Anyway, I’m looking forward to see what happens.

#the witcher

[emperorren]

Do you listen to What The Force podcast? They have this crazy weird but interesting theory that Palpy wants to marry Rey to control her and obtain power...And I don’t know what to feel about it because it’s such a weird thing to consider that Palpy is gonna be romantic rival lol But it could happen mainly because a lot of stories have this kind of trope...but Palpy?! I have mix feelings bcuz I dont even want Rey to entertain this idea at all. She can be tricked who knows. What are your thoughts?

Yes, I’ve listened to it! I joked on twitter that all I can picture now is this:

But seriously, I can say I’m definitely intrigued, and I don’t think it’s that crazy, though I’m not sold on the /romantic rival/ part. I don’t think it will be literal.

So this theory hinges on the trope of the “dark suitor”: usually some kind of demonic figure or evil magician archetype that tries to lure/force the maiden-heroine into a dark marriage to harness her power—or, in more prosaic stories, her resources. This is quite common in Disney and dark fairytales, particularly those that center on a female protagonist: Beetlejuice (as above), A series of unfortunate events, Legend, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty and the Beast to some extent (Gaston might not be an evil magician, but he’s a dark suitor nonetheless, someone who lusts after the heroine out of a desire to control her)—The Little Mermaid has a gender reversed version of this trope, with Ursula trying to marry Eric (a male proxy, in this case) to permanently steal Ariel’s magical voice and keep her as a slave. As the podcast put it, it’s not about a love triangle per se, but about controlling feminine power, often in a sexualized way. I think it’s important to note that the dark suitor trope differs from the more general “villainous crush” because the villain in question doesn’t have a genuine crush or feelings for the heroine, but tries to seduce her for his own personal gain, or because he’s simply evil personified, an inherently dark force that only exists to corrupt and enslave. In contrast, the real love interest is the one who lets the heroine go, learning to respect her freedom and giving up any attempt to control her (see: the Beast leaving Belle free).

Now, this is pure speculation based on an analysis of tropes and archetypes, but this time not based on canon material, merely on predictions of how those tropes could evolve, so I recommend taking it with a grain of salt. Our theories about the force bond or Reylo being reminiscent of Hades/Persephone, Beauty and the Beast, Bastila and Revan etc. were so strong because they had a lot of canon evidence or foreshadowing to rely on. (think of how many hints of the force bond were in the tfa novelization, or how much the cinematography screams “Hades” and “Grim Reaper” when Kylo comes on screen). Otoh, we have nothing in canon to predict what Palpatine’s role will be in relation to Rey, other than a brief glimpse of Dark!Rey from the sizzle reel and, well, Palpatine’s own track record with seducing people. We haven’t even seen a glimpse of Palpatine himself in this trilogy so far.

We have, of course, our understanding of the trilogy’s main themes and what they’re trying to accomplish as the final word on an entire saga. Namely, redemption, healing the wounded masculine through the feminine, and incorporating the former into the latter and vice versa, in a “divine” reconciliation of opposites (a wound opened by Anakin’s choking Padme and falling to the dark side via Palpatine’s orchestrations).

One thing that imo the Reylo fandom got completely right is that the Feminine—Rey’s femininity—is really crucial to this trilogy. Rey being a heroine defines and changes everything, from the nature of her heroic journey to her dynamic with the villain(s). So I think it’s definitely plausible—almost certain—that Palpatine will identify in her the ultimate bride apprentice to seduce, exploit & maybe subdue, PRECISELY bc she’s a woman (“Padmé reborn with the Force”) and NOT a Skywalker (a bloodline Palpatine has now a BAAAAD track record with). Whilst Snoke, who tried so hard and failed to be Palpatine like Kylo tries and fails to be Vader, targeted Kylo and ignored Rey, Palpatine will do the exact opposite, and try to get rid of Kylo (or maybe use him as a bait / cannon fodder / sacrificial lamb) to get to Rey. Because he knows where the real power resides. In essence, he’ll throw Ben/Padmé under the bus to secure Rey/Anakin’s powers.

(but exactly like Snoke before him, he will underestimate both Ben Solo and Rey, and his hubris will be his downfall)

My main issue with this is that I don’t think Rey’s weakness is her need for romantic love, so I find it unlikely that she’ll be tempted by a second romantic suitor. She longs for a belonging, for connection, yes. But Kylo offered her exactly that in the form of a romantic proposal, and she was able to turn him down. So why should she fall for Palpatine’s seduction, instead? Even if he manifests himself in the form of sexy Matt Smith? What does he have to offer, that Kylo does not? How can he seduce Rey when even Kylo, the man Rey falls in love with in TLJ, could not?

well,

unlike Kylo, Palps is incredibly good at manipulation. Kylo’s proposal was naked, blunt. Join me and together we will rule the galaxy. He said she was nothing but not to him, but that’s kindergarten manipulation compared to Palpatine’s skills (it’s not manipulation at all, actually, but that’s another issue). He didn’t try to blackmail her, bargain her surrender in exchange for her friends’ lives, offer to reunite her with her parents, offer her to resuscitate her parents, NOTHING. Hell, he actually tried to heal Rey’s conflict over her parents, forcing her to confront her suppression of her abandonment, accept it and MOVE ON. We been saying that a real Sith, on the other hand, would let the wound fester, and fester, and fester, and then strike, because an apprentice with a huge achilles’ heel is much easier to manipulate into the dark side. 

this “dark marriage proposal” might not be literal, but symbolical. The sexual symbolism of such a union might be hidden, disguised as something else—something Rey needs desperately, or thinks so. A father figure. Something Kylo repeatedly called her out on. 

Related to point 2: what if Kylo’s proposal failed because he explicitly presented himself as her equal (and potential mate, scaring the shit out of her, because she’s in the adolescence phase in TLJ and she’s confused by her sexuality, and still clinging to the childhood version of herself, see her *regression* in the last act of the movie), rather than as her… daddy? If not as her literal father, as an older, wiser, trustworthy, authoritative male figure that plays into Rey’s need for guidance and belonging. We thought she was over it by the end of TLJ, but what if she hasn’t fully processed it yet? 

Now enter Palpatine, the ultimate demonic figure in this entire story, with unparalleled skills in disguise and manipulation and vast experience in mentoring young, troubled apprentices with abandonment issues, either presenting himself as a seductive young(ish) man claiming to be able to bring Rey’s parents back / tell her the REAL truth about them, or literally pretending to be her father. Enter an Elektra complex, that would be a great counterpoint to the vastly documented oedipal subtext in Anakin and Ben’s narratives. Make it REALLY ambiguous as fuck. And here’s your “weird” story.

The nice thing about this theory is that it’s a subversion of the villain x heroine narrative we’ve been watching so far (and reviled for liking by the rest of the fandom). We thought Kylo was the Murderous Snake, the evil seductor, the dark suitor. And he was, but only because he’s Rey’s Shadow. In truth, he’s an angel in demon clothes. Underneath the monster, there’s the real Heroic Love Interest. He’s the darkness that Rey needs to incorporate and reconcile with; Palpatine is the darkness she needs to reject.

Another thing—whether or not this theory comes to fruition, I’m fairly certain there will be a moment where Palpatine, seemingly in control of Rey, urges her to kill Ben (remember that “kill him!” in the TFA novelization?). Because that’s what Palpatine does—he’s the Devil whispering in the Lovers’ ears, turning them against one another. But because this is reverse anidala, Rey will succeed where Anakin succumbed, and categorically reject to hurt her lover. The Lovers will be stronger than the Evil Magician this time.

#anon #asks #theories #podcast #palpatine #evil magician #dark suitor #dark union #tros spec #palpatine and rey #villainous crush #tropes

[noddytheornithopod]

Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls Playthrough

So yeah, I finally got UDG and now I’m playing it. Will give thoughts after each session.

Okay, some of these shots of Komaru are pretty uncomfortable. The moment we get a female protagonist, the camera has to perv on her. It’s... uncomfortable.

This game definitely has a more brutal tone. We’re seeing dead bodies and violence everywhere. It’s... a lot.

I’m not exactly into the constant format changing for cutscenes and dialogue? Like, we get some as 2D anime, some in the game’s 3D style and then we have in-game stuff with the 3D models but with the character sprites next to the dialogue. Oh, and then we get stylised 2D in the vein of Danganronpa executions, and flashbacks that play out like in-game stuff from the other entries. Granted we end up getting less of the anime, which sucks because that’s the best looking format. I’m not really a fan of the 3D animation style, it just doesn’t look fully realised? Like, it reminds me of a parody or something people would make on YouTube, especially the way they move as they talk. And I mean, them moving as they talk while they have a sprite on screen conveying their emotions more effectively makes at least one of them redundant, right? But yeah, there’s a lot of style switching and I’m not a fan.

Yay, Byakuya! Our favourite prick is back to save Komaru... but apparently he gets kidnapped on the way after she escapes her prison. Kinda surprised they didn’t have it be Makoto given he’s Komaru’s brother, and it would raise the stakes, but then I guess they needed to get Toko involved too so I’ll see how it plays out first (or they kidnap both lol).

Towa City sounds interesting, the idea of a place that escaped the worst of the tragedy from their advanced tech and being wealthy bastards, except now the Warriors of Hope (which TOTALLY aren’t with the Remnants of Despair... I mean, they have an army of fucking Monokumas) are causing trouble there.

I think I’m getting used to the controls and kind of game this is? I’m managing fine at least. Fire rate is slow though lol

Komaru, even for someone isolated for 1.5 years (so I guess this is six months after Trigger Happy Havoc) can still have some pretty dense moments. Runs in the family? :v

Fucking Nagito Komaeda is here and is a servant to the Warriors of Hope. Even as we know he’s a Remnant of Despair, you can tell there’s more to him than just being a slave salivating over Junko. Wonder if he has his own thing going on, or he’s just gonna be a slave to kids. Also... that is such an edgy look for him. Seriously. :v The freaking chain especially. And gosh, even here we have to hear him call Komaru boring and uninteresting.

The Warriors of Hope I’m not sure on yet. Monaca despite not openly the leader is clearly the one in control with how theye look to her, thought also god I HATE the “disabled villain” trope. Unless she’s faking, which also sucks. Jataro and Kotoko have potential I think even if they’re currently a bit one note, Nagisa already seems more complex which is cool especially with the more serious attitude and obvious affection for Monaca, but Masaru is annoying. Not really into the loud boastful extrovert type. Also IDK what this Hope’s Peak Elementary thing is all about.

So the Warriors of Hope have taken over and are killing adults to make some paradise for kids, and Komaru is released back into the city to be hunted. Also when they were saying how great it will be with no adults, I believe Kotoko saying that it will be great because there’s gonna be no paedophiles got a legit laugh out of me.

Genocide Jack/Toko coming back in was pretty cool, and given we’re more focused on her I’m getting into her character more than before. That being said... WHY? To whoever decided to add the Byakuya fantasies... WHY? WHY???? What if someone in my house heard me and I had to convince them it’s just a weird perverted video game and I’m not actually watching porn on my TV? WHY????????????? Also... the white splatter as the fantasies fade out just makes it even worse.

IDK if it’s just me but some of Komaru’s design reminds me of Kaede’s? The face at least.

Toko is still gonna be Toko I guess, lol. Also makes sense she can’t properly be in the Future Foundation because of Genocide Jack. Also lol, she even referenced Hina and Hiro even being in... albeit not in the most flattering way.

Look, as... whatever the fuck the Byakuya fantasies are, the pig thing kinda got a laugh out me be because of how ??? it was?

Finding books is a cool mechanic actually, especially how it ties to the characters. Also gives the chance for fun interactions. Also... Toko calling out that book for making light of DID? Is this Danganronpa poking fun at itself? Just because you make fun of it doesn’t absolve you. :P The thing with Komaru being an anime fantasy certainly was.

Speaking of poking fun at itself, they’re definitely self aware here lol. Even here it’s still constructed like it’s a game. Also WTF are the Monokuma headed kids.

Why is the save mechanism... that? I guess it’s for the kids, but... still? Why???

Hotel was actually a pretty cool setpiece.

#danganronpa #ultra despair girls

[terramythos]

TerraMythos' 2020 Reading Challenge - Book 3 of 26

Title: Shriek: An Afterword (Ambergris #2) (2006)

Author: Jeff VanderMeer

Genre/Tags: Weird, Memoir, Historical (like... in a fictional world lol), Horror, Fantasy, War, Mushroompunk (yeah), Postmodern, Female Protagonist, Disabled Protagonist, First Person, Unreliable Narrator.

Rating: 7/10

Date Began: 1/19/2020

Date Finished: 1/29/2020

Shriek: An Afterword is a pseudo-memoir by a woman named Janice Shriek about the troubled lives and relationships of her and her brother Duncan Shriek in the strange, fungus-riddled city of Ambergris. While Janice believes Duncan is dead, he's apparently found her manuscript and makes extensive edits and commentary throughout the story. (This is indicated in parenthetical sentences, like this one.) 

The closer I get to the end, the closer I get to the beginning. Memories waft up out of the ether, out of nothing. They attach themselves to me like the green light, like the fungi that continue to colonize my typewriter. I had to stop for a while -- my fingers ached and, even after all that I have seen, the fungi unnerved me. I spent the time flexing and unflexing my fingers, pacing back and forth. I also spent it going through a box of my father’s old papers -- nothing I haven’t read through a hundred times before... On top, Duncan had placed the dried-up starfish, its skeleton brittle with age. (I kept it there as a reminder to myself. After your letter to me -- which, while reading this account, I sometimes think was written by an entirely different side of your personality -- I wanted to remember that no matter how isolated I might feel, separated from others by secret knowledge, I was still connected. It didn’t help much, though -- it reminded me of how different I had become.) 

To qualify my rating, I have to be honest. This book is officially separated into two parts, and I found Part I -- which makes up about 60% of the novel -- pretty boring. On the other hand, Part II is brilliant, and everything coalesces beautifully in this second act. Is it worth it? I thought it was, but I understand anyone who tries and gives up. 

Even though Shriek is technically a standalone, I would strongly recommend you read City of Saints and Madmen (#1) first. Both Duncan and Janice are key characters in two of those stories (The Hoegbotton Guide to the Early History of Ambergris and The Transformation of Martin Lake, respectively), and there are references and connections all over the place. I’m not sure if Shriek does a great job introducing Ambergris to new readers, so people starting here will be pretty lost without reading the first book.

Just to clear the air, I really liked this book... overall. As I said, the first half-or-so of the book was pretty rough, but the second half redeems it in a lot of ways, even justifying certain writing/plot decisions that didn’t gel with me at first. However “it gets good eventually” is not really an excuse for the rough first half. Hence the mediocre rating. I was close to giving this book a 6/10, but I found that I appreciated the first half much more by the time I got to the ending, so that bumped it up a little. Maybe I’ll enjoy this book more on a reread when I can see the patterns and know where they’re leading ahead of time. 

Before I dive into my issues with it, I’d like to discuss the strong points of this novel. 

At a base level, VanderMeer is a great writer. He has a mastery of the English language that always delights me when I read his stuff. So even when I struggled to like this story in the first half, his wordplay and prose were entertaining and thought-provoking. 

I loved the format. The story basically has two protagonists, since you see things from Janice’s point of view and then Duncan’s interpretations-- but it’s in a very postmodern way, not just a perspective switch like most novels do. Duncan’s commentary often brings much needed humor or heartbreak, depending on the situation. 

In particular, any scene in which Janice and Duncan interact directly is brilliant. Janice recalls a scene, but her memory is faulty (like anyone’s), so sometimes she forgets what they talked about, or interpreted an interaction in a certain way. Then Duncan dives in with his own commentary, supplying information Janice didn’t include or forgot, or correcting something she said, or offering an alternate interpretation... these scenes were fascinating to read and some of my favorite parts of the novel. 

There’s a lot of fun revelations and Easter eggs for people who read City of Saints and Madmen. In particular: 

My favorite story in the first book was The Cage, which is a work of fiction  within the universe of Ambergris by a man named Sirin. In particular there is a very creepy and distinct monster that plays a pivotal role in the story. However, since it’s technically fiction within fiction, that monster and the events didn’t really happen in canon... right? Imagine my surprise in this book when Janice encounters and describes a very similar monster. This struck me as odd, until I got to epilogue/afterword at the end... written by Sirin, and everything clicked. He got the idea for his “fictional” monster from Janice’s account in this story. He doesn’t state this outright, but it’s the only explanation that makes sense. I loved that. It was like putting a puzzle together and it would have been so easy to miss. And there’s the extra horror that something like that really exists in this world. There was other stuff like this but this one stood out to me, and I’m sure there’s other things I missed. 

This mostly concerns the second half, but the war sequences and memories are horrific and brilliant. It's very World War II-esque with a unique twist to it (the awful fungal bio weapons one of the sides uses). In particular, the war is introduced with a chapter about a ceasefire opera staged in the broken city... without spoiling it, it’s an excellent and intriguing self-contained story. 

And the horror chapter about the Festival, which is conspicuously absent in the rest of the story? Just so goddamn good. VanderMeer strikes just the right chord with me when it comes to horror. It’s always fresh and intensely creepy. 

If you told me this during the first half, I wouldn’t believe you -- but I ended up loving the characters and finding most of their relationships fascinating. This is a heartbreaking story and it really hit home by the end. 

With that lofty praise, what’s my issue with Part I? The simplest way I can put it is that the struggles Duncan and Janice face are so mundane. They would maybe be interesting in a generic work of fiction, but here they felt out of place. For example, Janice’s arc concerns her rise to fame, which leads to success, which leads to lavish parties and orgies, which leads to excesses and a drug addiction, which leads to a suicide attempt, which leads to rehab, which leads to a diminished life of poverty. Yes, these can be interesting and harrowing problems in the right context, but the strongest point of these books is the setting, and there was nothing that tied these events to Ambergris. You could easily go through and change the character/place names and it wouldn’t seem off. 

Duncan is a little more interesting in this regard, because his is a story of obsession. In particular, he’s obsessed with the gray caps (strange humanoid mushroom creatures that haunt the pages of these books), and it takes over his life until he becomes totally discredited as a historian. But even he falls into this trap when he becomes a college professor and has an affair with one of his much younger students (Yikes! Though it is treated as creepy within the story, at least). That takes over most of his character’s emotional core from that point. 

Said student -- Mary Sabon -- is a core antagonist in the story. Janice in particular obsesses over her and her personal vendetta against her, and honestly even with the second part I was never really sold on this or cared about it all that much, so I was disappointed it took up so much of the story. 

All of this would be one thing, but there’s all sorts of tantalizing hints about more interesting things. The gray caps probably have some ulterior motive that no one knows! There’s this crazy eldritch Machine hidden underground! Duncan is sort of turning into a mushroom! But these are only teased before the story pivots back to something comparatively uninteresting. Rather than encouraging me with the cool foreshadowing, it just got grating because it meant there were more interesting events and stories going on that I didn’t get to see for some arbitrary reason. Janice also rambles and goes back and forth quite a bit. This is clearly intentional (after all, you learn in the end this is a mostly unedited draft -- at least in the fiction of the story), but even so, it can be hard to follow at times. 

Part II justifies a lot of this because these hints do pay off. You DO get to see a lot of the interesting stuff in detail at this later point of the story, and it’s not always what you expect. There’s overt and subtle dramatic irony and contrast between what characters go through in the first half versus the stranger, more profound traumas of the second half. You learn Janice is suffering from some severe PTSD and it explains a lot of the manic style in the first half. But again, is it worth 245-ish mediocre (to me) pages? I think that probably depends on the reader. I had a problem with it-- but clearly a lot of people don’t, based on reviews I’ve skimmed. Many put the book down and don’t finish it, but that’s true for any book. Hell, lots of people preferred the first half, so who knows. 

Ultimately, I’m glad I read this book. For me it really does come together in an amazing way toward the end, and I found myself really caring about Janice and Duncan. If you read City of Saints and Madmen and want more of the characters and the world, then definitely give this a try. But it is a pretty niche book as these things go, so I can’t recommend it to everyone. 

Anyway, I’ve come this far -- so I’m going to read Finch, the final (for now?) installment in this universe. 

#taylor reads #7/10 #2020 reading challenge

[the-prince-and-the-thief]

🔥 for the hot take you mentioned

//Were my takes not fiery enough for you? Because I do have more. 

Unless you meant about Akechi. Because uh... yeah. I can talk about that ALL DAY. But I don’t wanna torture you people. 

I guess my angriest hot take is this: “Naoto is trans” and “Kanji is gay” are shallow interpretations of what actually happens in the games. 

I’ll concede Naoto definitely is not gender-conforming entirely, and I’m pretty sure Kanji is bisexual. 

However the actual POINT of these shadows is I thinks something that got lost in translation. Rise gets it the worst but people don’t really try and give hot takes on Rise thankfully. 

Naoto- In Japan, there are “male” professions. There is still a lot of sexism in the workforce. It’s improving, but women have trouble getting into careers either because it’s a boys club or because they’re expected to get married and have children, thus must be housewives by default. I’m very pleased to say that this is changing a lot even now-- my host mother was working part-time while raising two kids, while her husband worked full time running a store. They’re both allowed to have careers, though obviously she’s taking charge with the kids. It’s becoming less of the norm. That’s not the case with detectives though. Naoto basically grew up being told that her interests were too masculine, that she was too young and female to be anything in the field she was passionate about, and that essentially, she couldn’t be a girl if she wanted to be successful. She wanted to be a boy because she wanted to be accepted for who she was. Which leads to Kanji!

Kanji- The reason he’s a walking gay stereotype (aside from rule of funny I mean) is mostly that that’s what he fears others see him as. He’s overcompensating on his masculinity because he was interested in girly things growing up and was basically told “you’re a freak, are you gay??? you’re gay right??? because you like girl things??? go away gay boy”. Boys thought he was weird and girls thought he was weird. They ignored him. He felt like nobody would accept him for just... liking fabric. It’s a crazy thing by western standards, but Japan isn’t exactly known for Johnny Versace, now are they? Japan has higher gender expectations than the west and he felt constrained by them. Also, he was having a gay panic, because he met a hot detective prince and didn’t know they were a girl. (Hence why I concede Kanji is bisexual, totally-- he liked Naoto regardless of what gender they appeared to be.) 

The point of their character arcs was “Gender conformity destroys people and makes them repress who they really are” 

not 

“LOOK GUYS WE HAVE A GAY GUY AND A TRANS GIRL WE SO PROGRESSIVE” 

I get how from a western lens it looks like these things??? and I don’t have a problem with people writing gay kanji or trans naoto! I like both of these things! I’m just tired of people taking a 5 second look at the shadows and going “yes, this is their entire issue. Let’s just ignore all the subtext and cultural critique and reduce them to look it’s a gay, be happy, there is a gay.” I want people to push for real representation in Atlus works. They’ve done it in the past. Jun Kashihara is a thing. WE HAD A PROTAGONIST THAT WAS A LOSER BISEXUAL BIKER. But people are looking for representation where it isn’t, and then other people who don’t know better are making these out to be bad representations of the LGBT community when that wasn’t the point these characters were made to express. 

(Also, do y’all REALLY want the gay bathhouse dungeon as a symbol of LGBT in video games???? I’d much rather have Yosuke coming to terms with his complicated sexuality and feelings towards Yuu Narukami any day.) 

I’m probably gonna sound like an asshole saying all this but I just wanna clarify?

I’m not saying you can’t think Naoto is trans. I’m not saying you can’t think Kanji is gay. I’m just saying there’s more to them than that, and I wish people would actually try to learn about the culture that creates these games and ideas so they could really understand the depth that’s in these games. I see a lot of people judging art entirely on how THEY view it rather than understanding the author’s intentions, the message presented, and then adding their interpretation onto that. 

Media analysis is something that I’m super passionate about. I’ve been that way since I grew up being told that my hobbies would make me a killer. (Decades later I’m still a pacifist, Fox News. Just saying.) So it’s... frustrating to me. I wish more people were taught to be media literate. There’s so much value in the persona series, in art, in learning about other cultures, and in trying to understand a culture through their media. I wish more people could get that out of the media they watch. 

I’m gonna stop bitching now lol. 

#ooc #god i'm such a whiner #don't ask me about media theory unless you want to see pure rage #I majored in media.... #Masked Shadow

[brynwrites]

(1/2) Hello! I was wondering if I could get your opinion on something? So, I have the protagonist for my first novel all mapped out (a 23y/o plus-sized Woman), but I was wondering, as a stylistic choice, do you think it would be good/bad/weird to be purposely vague about certain characteristics (hair/eye/skin tone)? I was thinking that it may (or may not?) help readers to imagine themselves in her role more-so than if I were to clearly depict every single one of her physical features.

(2/2) I’m considering this because, as a child/teen I always had trouble relating to characters in stories with female protagonists, because they were always some version of the societal ideal. With there generally being few stories featuring plus sized protagonists, I would like my character to be as universal(?) as possible without there being a barrier due to her physical characteristics. This probably makes no sense at all, but I’ve been thinking about this idea for a while lol. Thank you!!

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with choosing not to describe specific characteristics of your main character. 

The best parts of a character’s description are generally not their eye or hair color, but the little things that make them them: the way they style that hair or apply their eye makeup, the funky accessories they choose, the way they live in their own body! A person’s genetics don’t tell us much about them, but the way they choose to present themselves does. 

I don’t know if removing these physical characteristics will actually make the character easier for readers to identify with, though. 

Having a plus-sized character will certainly be great for plus-sized readers to identify with, but I don’t think a plus-sized light skinned woman with brown eyes will feel any less able to identify with a plus-sized character just because she has dark skin and blue eyes (granted that the character’s personality and backstory aren’t going to change no matter how she appears), and not designating any physical characteristics outside of plus-sized means you’ve missed an opportunity to have a plus-sized South Asian woman or a plus-sized woman with natural black curls or so-forth.

But the choice is up to you and what you feel is best for your character and story! Either way you’ll still have a character a ton of readers will love and identify

#writeblr #writing tag: characters #writing tag:other #other tag: description #oneofthecacti

[bthump]

this is so petty lmao, but the fact that guts fucking that female apostle makes g*tscas/guts fanboys so mad and it's the very first panel in the manga...well it gives me spiteful joy

lmao are guts fanboys mad about that? I had no idea, I would’ve thought they’d be into it.

But regardless I support you and your spiteful joy lol, nothin wrong with liking something for extremely petty reasons sometimes.

Though ngl I actually do like that opening scene, like genuinely. I don’t think it’s ooc at all like a lot of people seem to, and as a tone setter and character establishment for the rest of the story it’s completely ridiculous and so utterly wrong that it crosses over into perfect imo. It starts you off with a false v tropey and ott image of Guts that pulls in a certain audience, and then the story immediately proceeds to start subverting that image, starting right after Guts blows the apostle up when he looks back at her corpse looking troubled:

It completely fits Guts’ actual modus operandi, which definitely isn’t banging women lol but is in fact doing literally anything to get close enough to a monster to blow its head off, and the actual sex with a woman part is so out of place after we learn more about Guts that it basically (probably unintentionally but w/e) just highlights how unlike a typical manly het protagonist Guts is (moreso pre-Eclipse imo but yk).

Also it’s kind of great as an early instance of Guts being compared to an apostle, by using her own tricks against her. “You’ve fallen into my trap!” “No you.” Super cliched and dumb, but also apt.

And then you got the Freudian imagery, which suffice to say, completely fits in with every other suggestively sexual take on violence we get throughout the story.

Honestly I think it’s a perfect introduction to Berserk lol. It starts you off with a completely false preconception of what the story’s gonna be which makes it more fun to tear it down throughout the rest of the Black Swordsman arc and early Golden Age, while simultaneously making perfect sense and fitting in with the story and Guts’ character on levels slightly deeper than the surface appearance.

Also it’s so cheesy. It goes perfectly with the rest of the Black Swordsman stuff, which is all about being campy and ridic but with little hints of actual depth scattered throughout.

#Anonymous #ask #a #b #if i was adapting berserk i would legit start with this scene #make it just as ridiculous and cliched as it is #cut to credits as soon as guts' canon arm explodes just to be extra dumb #and then return back with a much more sober mood as guts glances back at her charred corpse and walks away #embrace the cheesiness #berserk is about ridic extremes kept afloat bc of thoughtful characterization and emotion behind them #arc: bs #character: guts