#{ And I tend not to be great at tsundere characters. }

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

On the discussions of leadership and leona finding fulfillment in the future, i’ve always found the times he’s stood out most in twst to be when he is mentoring someone. Subtly, never giving people answers but guiding them towards them, using language and examples they understand. We see it with ruggie, jack, jamil, all of savannaclaw and so many other characters.

which gets me thinking: what if leona becomes a teacher? he’d get the acknowledgment for his skills and ability he needs, but also be able to help improve sunset savanna by educating and equalizing the playing field for the next generation.

Ruggie’s dream got me thinking about it and now i can’t get it out of my head as a possible route to where he can get the things he ultimately needs to thrive.

Relevant posts: [ Does Leona need to be king to be happy? / Would Leona be a better king that Falena? / Catching up with him in book 7 ] [My thoughts on the book 7 part 11 Leona update is here!]

I agree that Leona tends to shine when he’s in a leadership or mentorship role to younger students! This occurs multiple times over, both in main stories (notably book 2, 3, 6, and 7), vignettes (his Camping Gear, Epel’s Union Jacket, etc.), and various voice lines (typically from younger students remarking on their admiration for him). He's actually really good at explaining things to others in a simplistic enough way and with realistic examples that slot neatly into their worldviews. I don't know that I would call it "subtle" though, there have definitely been times where Leona just outright tells others what to do or what's wrong with their way of thinking (mainly with Jamil in book 6, or ordering around his fellow magift/spelldrive team members). I think when you say "subtle", it's more like Leona has a way of leading others to acting in his favor, as he can occasionally have his own ulterior motives in imparting wisdom. (For example, he helps out the first years with mining for magestones so he can nap without being disturbed.)

Mmmm… I do think the idea of Leona as a teacher is interesting, but I don’t know if that would feasibly work. I think we as the players can appreciate, say, the NRC staff, but in reality teaching is often a thankless job (though it’s a respected profession in Japan) where parents and/or the school board will blame you for students not performing. You also need to put in several (unpaid) hours of work outside of class grading, preparing lessons, going to meetings, etc. I don’t know that he would be satisfied with “grunt work” like that. I think he’d also have to go back to get his masters/teaching license, which means more studies 💀

I also think the scale of teaching is too small for Leona’s ideals. Yes, technically your lessons will have a continuous or long-term impact because your students might then graduate and go on to change the world thanks to your teachings. But, in my opinion, it better suits his grand ambitions to be the one establishing schools and then leaving others to run those institutions for him; he’d have a much larger impact (and more immediate results, which is what Leona is after) that way, similar to how it is portrayed in Ruggie’s dream. A single teacher, by comparison, can do little to change the system for the countless people who need it (for example, the starving children in the slums). Additionally, it’s easier for Leona to control his own projects as some higher authority, whereas it’s not do easy for him to control what students do once they leave his tutelage—and for Leona, bring in command is important (he had no vice dorm leader because of this).

I also have to wonder if teaching is really the right field for Leona to get into…? I think people often confuse “being good at something” with “liking something”. This is also true of many fandom depictions of Leona; fans tend to claim he’s just “being tsundere” when he acts grumpy around his juniors other nephew Cheka and that he secretly harbors great love for kids. And while I do love me a wholesome take, I just don’t see that 💦 His official profile states his pet peeve is “dealing with kids”; why would objective information from an official profile be a lie? His annoyance seems pretty consistent and genuine when he is assigned some kind of babysitting-adjacent task, and he acts like he would rather not if given the choice but has to anyway in order to avoid graver consequences for himself, a dorm leader. I don’t think he would want to intentionally sign up for a job that means he has to put up with kids on a daily basis—and especially rebellious teenagers that won’t necessarily do what he tells them to.

I guess the comparison you could make here is Crewel, who also seemed to be wild in his youth and also seems to dislike children and disobedience—yet somehow he changed careers from fashion designer to science professor. He had a lot in common with Leona, so I think it could be argued that Leona could still potentially go down the teacher path. If I recall correctly, Leona has also tutored Ruggie and helped him achieve okay grades in present day—so Leona has a track record with teaching. We don’t know for sure what could happen; a lot can change and the future’s unpredictable! But for now, I definitely still think Leona’s ambitions wouldn’t stop at just teaching classes; he’d want to do way more.

… Imagine the insanity of having a literal big-boobed PRINCE as your professor though 💀 I don’t know if I would be able to concentrate properly in that lecture…

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 鬓边不是海棠红/Winter Begonia

Winter Begonia is the tale of the intertwined lives of a wealthy, westernized businessman and a bratty, dramatic Peking Opera performer as they navigate the historical landscape of 1930s China.

It is a slow historical ramble of a show, to the point where I couldn't really say it has a single plot. Events just happen in their lives, and the show follows them with a pleasant steadiness. Characters go away, and sometimes they come back. Interpersonal conflicts rise and then get resolved. Sometimes you just get to sit and watch part of an opera happen. The last third of the show develops a slightly more cohesive narrative, but even then, it's still mostly a loose constellation of events related to larger goings-on in the culture.

So if you're looking for tight plots and fast-paced action, you'll want to look somewhere else. But if you're the kind of person who likes to wrap up sometimes in a gentle warm blanket of a beautiful show, I have five reasons you should give this one a try.

1. Oh, they're in love

Perhaps the most notable thing about Cheng Fengtai and Shang Xirui is that they spend the entire show smiling at one another, staring longingly at one another, and/or making each other laugh.

A lot of danmei couples depend on having at least one partner who, if not outright tsundere, is at least stoically long-suffering -- which is romantic, sure, but also exhausting in real life. These two read about as married as any danmei pair I've ever seen because they make one another smile all the time. They're incredibly touchy and affectionate from basically the moment they meet. They're not just in love, they actually like one another.

Now, don't get me wrong: These two are both absolute exhausting gremlins who deserve one another so they don't have to be anyone else's problems. But they're good-natured enough about their respective gremlin natures that when one of them lets loose with his rascality, the other tends to think it's hilarious.

They don't even have the mandated danmei breakup! They're never mad at one another for more than the length of an episode. Most of the time they're just refreshingly normal about one another (or, you know, about as normal as two drama queens can be). And when they're being not normal about one another, it's because the circumstances they are currently enduring are not normal either.

They're so in love that by the time you get to the last episode, everyone in their lives is like, gee, those two sure are in love. For the main couple in a Chinese-censored BL adaptation? That's pretty darn in love.

2. The costumes!!!

Of course I have to gush over the costumes. Several major characters are professional opera performers, and their wardrobes are just stunning in complexity and detail -- and accuracy, apparently.

But they're not even where all of the wardrobe budget went! Everyone looks great, from the dapper upper class to the household servants to the street performers.

I also can't get over how everyone looks so cozy in their winter outfits. The show really wants to hammer home how cold Beijing is, and so most non-opera clothes are either heavily quilted or furry. Not a single outfit in this show is slimming (except maybe for some of the gorgeous gowns Cheng Meixin wears). It's all about conserving body heat, which means a lot of people walk around basically wearing mildly tailored quilts all the time. I love it. I envy it.

3. Oops! All bottoms!

This is a show of very soft men. It helps that very many of them have spent their whole lives playing female roles, but even those that haven't tend to be pretty darn soft.

(And I'm not even talking about the way people keep handing Cheng Fengtai babies and he loves it.)

Du Luocheng and Shang Xirui are absolutely what happens when you get two soft gay guys who are kinda into one another, but they're both too lazy to top, so they just become best friends instead.

Fan Lian stands as a testament to how you can be the only heterosexual in the show and still be soft as hell.

The old married gays. Softness level: off the charts.

Chen Renxiang's role is that of the opera frenemy, and he's incredibly soft about it. (This actor is also apparently in the Sha Po Lang live-action adaptation! Maybe someday it will be released...)

Opera underling La Yuehong hardens up later in the show, but even when he does, there's still a tragic softness to it.

Even the baddies are soft! Pretty much all the rival opera bitches fall into the "love to hate" category -- and nearly all of them win at least some sympathy from you before they leave the story for good.

There's one more soft boy whose presence surprised me, and that is Xue Zhicheng/Kujo Kazuma, a sympathetic Japanese character. Every other Japanese character in the show is sinister somehow -- not surprising, considering the drama is set during the brutal Japanese occupation of Beiping/Beijing.

But this little guy is a gentle, well-meaning opera fan who just wants to watch his favorite performers! When his actions cause trouble, it's only because he's so well-meaning that he couldn't see how anyone could disapprove of his attempts at cross-cultural undertanding. He even comes to the rescue a few times, at significant personal cost!

Moreover, the show uses him to make it clear that there's a difference between the Japanese occupying force and Japanese people and culture. In fact, the show is pretty critical of people who conflate the two and use interest in the latter as evidence of support of the former. That is not a level of nuance I've seen from other dramas set in this time period, and I was pleased to see it.

In conclusion, the critial war shortage in 1930s Beijing was not food or medicine or ammunition, but tops.

4. A whole lotta ladies

Again, not even counting the fact that one of the two main guys, many of his buddies, all of his heroes, and several of the antagonists professionally dress as women.

The most notable of them is Cheng Fengtai’s wife, Fan Xiang'er. They've been married for years by the time the show starts, and they have a son together. Theirs is an arranged marriage that they've managed to make work so well that they've actually wound up liking one another ... most of the time. Remember what I said earlier about his being exhausting? She knows that better than anyone.

(Sidebar: If you are uncomfortable with a love story where one of the participants is canonically married to someone else, this may be one you want to skip. That said, there are several male characters in this show who have multiple wives and/or mistresses, so the metric of what counts as infidelity in this setting is ... loose.)

Beyond her, though, there are many more female supporting characters in this show, from all different socioeconomic levels, in all different kinds of situations.

A caveat: Some of the women (one in particular) are at times frustrating as hell because they're too often written as jealous shrews who believe all the terrible gossip they hear and act on it without having actual adult conversations with anyone first. I dislike this trope, mostly because it relies on making some smart women artificially very stupid for the sake of forwarding the plot. I have little patience for situations that could have been solved five episodes ago if somebody had just been willing to ask clarifying questions.

That said, I can't be too mad about that, because there are many, many more women who are not written like that. Some of them are good and loyal! Some are sneaky and self-interested! Some are callous and manipulative! Some are meek and traumatized! Some make terrible decisions! Some make terrible decisions but, like, you get it! You know, just like in real life?

The answer to better representation is almost always more representation. When a character is the only one of whatever they are, everything they do is kind of an indictment of that category, especially when that category has a history of stereotypical negative representation. When there are several others, the characters stop being representatives of that category and start being just plain characters.

5. It just feels good to watch

Don't misunderstand: This is not a happy fun time show where everything in sunshine and roses all the way down. There are plenty of tense and emotional parts. Not everyone we like makes it out of the drama alive. Not all love stories get a happily ever after. People disappoint one another all the time. Awful things happen when soldiers occupy civilian populations. Poverty is a bitch.

But the show itself remains a nice viewing experience. It's absolutely a feast for the senses, what with all the music and costumes and sets and props and old-fashioned cars and everything.

The story is very straightforward. It's never trying to do any complex schemes or mislead you before some big reveal. I imagine this could be a good show to put on in the background while you're doing something else. You're never going to be too desperately confused about what's going on if you zone out for a minute -- and if you are, just hang on for a bit, because by next episode, it'll probably be onto whatever storyline comes next.

I have not read the novel, and I cannot judge anything against its standards. However, my friend who has read parts of the novel tells me that the adaptation is much preferable, because in the novel, you get to hear everyone's internal narration -- and everyone's internal narration makes it clear they're all bratty, insufferable assholes. That is not the case here! Or, rather, they are often bratty and/or insufferable, but from outside their heads, it's a lot more charming.

Finally, it's legitimately a very good love story. Shang Xirui is the only person in Cheng Fengtai's life who loves him for who he is, not what someone else needs him to be. Cheng Fengtai goes from being enraptured by this beautiful little weirdo to basically wanting to wife him. They spend a lot of time taking care of one another, sometimes in the only ways they know how. They're capable of operating independently -- there are several episodes where their storylines diverge completely -- but they'd prefer not to. They've just each found their soulmate, and that's all there is to it. (The red thumbprint in the palm is about the most romantic thing I've ever seen.)

I'm a little surprised by how little I hear English-speaking fandom talk about this one, especially since (see below) it's a widely available, high-budget show that even has a Shang Xirui figurine, and there's no question about how in gay love these two are. But if you hop over to AO3, there's only 257 works total in the Winter Begonia tag, a scant 57 of which are in English, and if you've tried looking into the Winter Begonia tag on Tumblr, you know it's pretty quiet 'round here.

I can't be sure, but I'd assume that's partly because this is both a) a relatively low-stakes drama, and b) so enmeshed with actual historical events and concepts that you'd have to do at least a baseline amount of research before making any fan media. I would imagine that for some folk, this is a barrier to entry.

And it is 49 slow, gentle episodes long. I saw Tumblr posts asking which episodes are important, because the posters don't want to or can't commit to watching the whole thing. But the answer is ... all of them? none of them? There's no plot you'd be getting or missing with specific episodes. There are very few things I can think of that would even qualify as spoilers. It's just a walk through a couple very eventful years in the main pair's lives. I understand if folk aren't up for that, but if you are, this is really a gem.

Have I convinced you to give it a try?

I would say that Winter Begonia is perhaps the most easily watchable of any c-drama I've come across. Here's where you can find it:

iQiyi

Viki

Amazon Prime

YouTube

We watched most of it on YouTube, where the subs were perfectly fine. However, there was one episode where we had to switch platforms because the English subs were all out of synch, so we went to Amazon and they were fine there too. Other than that, I don't really have a sense of which translation experience is the best. Try them all!

(PS: If you feel like putting on a tinfoil hat, I'm just going to say, they look at one another like that in real life, too.)

[baxndaid]

Hii, can I please order sweet mushy cheesy red son headcanons?? Mb like jealousy and comforting... Or him getting blushy at gn reader!

redson x reader

𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 ! established relationship // this ask is so cute xx i love annoying ass mfing characters like him this tsundere looking freak ANYWAY

✧ you are a relatively social person, like you can get chatty once your up and going

✧ because of that, you’ve been able to make friends pretty quickly, including MK and co.

✧ red son doesn’t like it when others get all buddy buddy with you

✧ like he’ll pretend he’s like fine with it, crossing his arms and staring somewhere else that wasn’t at you and MK chatting up a storm

✧ and he gets so snarky with it too LMFAOO pipe down

✧ “ermmm NO?? there isn’t anything WRONG, how DARE you even think that” 🤓 typa mf

✧ it’s so obvious 😔

✧ he tends to overthink your interactions with others, it’s not like he doesn’t trust you, he just doesn’t trust other people

✧ though after a while he’ll snap out of his pity party, his arrogance shining through his eyes as per usual and the cycle would continue

✧ one day, you had enough of his weird behavior

✧ you see, you and Wukong were yapping about something, something dumb, as Redson would say

✧ Wukong flung an arm on your shoulder while laughing at a horrific joke you made and the minute Redson SENSED the monkey’s hand on your shoulder he saw red, it’s over 😔

✧ he dragged you away from the great sage while mumbling to himself, you looked back at Wukong with an confused, yet amused expression

✧ you held his hand once the two of you got to a quiet area, and you could feel him sweat at the contact, his ears already reddening

✧ by anger or embarrassment???? who tf knows 💯💯

✧ or maybe he’s about to burst into flames let’s be real

✧ you turned him around, his body as stiff as a board and gave him a quick kiss on the nose

✧ then you demanded why he was acting like a fiery weirdo all of a sudden 🙏

✧ “i dont like it…” he hesitantly started, you cocked your head to the right, encouraging him to keep going

✧ “i don’t like it when you talk to that annoying NOODLE BOY and that horrendous APE!”

✧ dang

✧ it took all of the energy in your body to stop yourself from snickering at his blushing, enraged face

✧ you failed, flop ass

✧ “WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!”

✧ you choked out a few apologies before bringing him into a loose hug and playing with his vibrant red hair

✧ you placed your head on his shoulder as his stiffened at the feeling of your breath on his ear and neck

✧ you whispered reassurances to him as you felt him melt into your embrace, his body growing warmer

✧ you pulled away, enough to see his tomato-esk face, his eyes looking at the ground behind you, and a small pout on his lips

✧ you leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips while playing with his hair

✧ you pulled away, he froze for a few seconds, before completely shutting down

✧ like dead the mf is DEAD goodb ye 🔥💯

lego monkie kid masterlist

[fieldsofmistria-confessions]

I made a whole post about this on my blog, but I'm going to be a little but more 'honest' here.

I wish people were mean- er to March in fiction. It bothers me that even in fanfic it feels like the farmer is always nice to him. People tend to focus on the grumpy vs sunshine trope, which imo is kinda boring; most of the time it feels like the "sunshine" character is fixing the grump.

In universe, your just Some GuyTM. It feels like the town puts you on a pedestal at times. Even though its just a game, it makes me feel like "wow I can't let these people down" & that includes being nice & friendly to everyone. I like that March doesn't give us that treatment (even if its entirely due to his ego). I feel like you can be more of a person with him. He feels... safe, in that way. I wish more fics would lean into that dynamic.

Fuck maybe I'll just write my own fic lol.

Wow, I am so sorry, I just finished writing this and I realized you might not even want to hear my opinion. Anyway I'm just yapping here, feel free to ignore me.

I understand where you're coming from. In my opinion, it's a case of "You're the protagonist, you're the hero, let's let you have that spotlight and be treated nicely by most characters", even if it might not be realistic. It's all about bringing comfort to the player.

March, of course, being the exception. And you can be kinda mean to him in-game! When they give you dialogue options there's always a nice one and a more harsh one, so I don't think that how you treat him is entirely out of your control.

As for why people are nice to him, I'd say it's a combination of a few factors. One, people really like tsunderes. And they want March to like them, so they treat him nice. Two, they might see themselves in him, and they treat him nice because that's how they wish they were treated. Three, they're just nice and they want to be nice to everyone!

I definitely think your idea is great, about relying more on him for his honesty since you don't know the extent of the others' 'fake' niceness (although this is a pretty safe game and I don't believe any of them are outright malicious, Juniper might be the boldest).

You should write that fic! I'm sure you're not alone in that sentiment, and it would be refreshing to see for sure :)

[thecurrator]

𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 @quimichi

Your match is...Jack Howl!

You would catch his interest the moment he sees you because wow, someone nice in NRC? Unheard of. He loves the way you're polite and respectful (he is too! well, maybe not the polite part) and how you try to help other people. He's quite standoffish, but he does make sure to help the people he respects.

You seem to like a lot of nature related things, which is great because he does too! Stargazing would be a common date for the two of you, exchanging stories and playful banter as the stars blink down at you two cheerfully. He'd be excited to bring you to his hometown someday. He's sure you'll love it there, since you enjoy snow and winter. He could teach you to snowboard if you don't know how to. And if you do, he'll race you down the hill!

Your love for cacti suits his cacti growing hobby very well! If you're well versed at taking care of them, he'd start considering his cacti your babies as well (he'll do it even if you don't). If not, he'll happily tell you about it as he tends to his cacti.

He doesn't have much of an interest in video games, but he's willing to play with them you if it would make you happy. He'll match your competitiveness when you challenge him, putting up his best fight despite his rather embarrassing lack of experience. He prefers the games he can play together with you, especially the ones with character customization. He likes when you both have matching avatars standing side by side.

Acts of service is likely one of his main love languages, along with quality time, so he'd cut watermelon and strawberries and bring them to you in the summer. He could just bring you the strawberries as they are, but he enjoys cutting them into little hearts to impress you sometimes. Do praise him for his efforts.

As a beastman, he has enhanced senses so he shares your dislike for strong smells. Scented candles and aromatic diffusers are his enemies, so be pleased to know he wouldn't go near such things.

Overall, I matched him with you because he fits all the traits you're looking for in a significant other. He'll treat you with the utmost care and affection (in his own tsundere way). Wolves mate for life, so he'll stick by your side as long as you want him.

Runner-up: Riddle, Trey, Cater (I was originally thinking of pairing you with someone from Heartslabyul until I remembered that Jack Howl exists. There aren't that many kind people in NRC 😭😭)

[pancake404]

Speed/Lazuli/Silvia: a Romantic Relationship that's not great...(1)

Alright, I said I might do this so here we go.

Speed the Jolteon and Lazuli the Glaceon, as probably everyone who has read the comic would know, are the main romantic pairing in Eeeveelution Squad. It’s a pretty big part of the reason why Eeveelution Squad got popular; due to this, people began wanting the relationship to happen eventually, and then came the shipping wars and all that with people arguing on who Speed in particular should be with as well as other characters but the focus is particularly on him. Then came Silvia which made things worse.

I’m not going to fully explain who these characters are because most likely, if you’re reading this then that means you're probably already aware of the characters so let’s just continue to this romantic relationship which I tend to describe as, “way too liked to the point it’s kind of concerning" as well as, "Speed's Bad Ending"

Now as the...two people who saw my drawings and opinions of the characters of Eeveelution Squad might guess, I’m not exactly in favor of Lazuli and Speed's relationship happening at all or the fact that it did happen in its weird way. To be blunt, I don’t like it whatsoever and I have several reasons why and a decent ton of examples proving them(this not only goes for Lazuli and Speed but also Silvia and Speed at the same time but the ladder might come a little later).

So before anyone that does ship these two or three assassinates me for whatever reason you feel like taking it this far because I say your ship is not good, do me at least the small favor and read through this before the assassination attempt…or just, scroll past this.

Also, I'm not holding it against EV for the writing and having to be forced to set them up together but I don't think enough people realize just how bad the relationship is written to be which I'll be showing a lot of examples for this.

This is will be the first post/part of my rant and it'll mainly focus on Lazuli's treatment of Speed from the start and onward. There are more I want to get to which I can't in this post because there are a few limitations like the amount of images but I'll get to them later.

Now, without further to do, let’s begin.

Starting with Speed/Lazuli:

Let’s start with the basic reason why I don’t like it which is shown in the comics pretty frequently and it’s the constant physical violence that Lazuli commits against Speed. For me, it’s problematic when the first thing that pops up in my mind when thinking about this relationship is just Lazuli hitting Speed and beating him up throughout the whole comic. I understand she has this tsundere trope but here’s the issue, or rather the issue I have with it, it doesn’t make sense nor do I support hurting others, especially those that you supposedly love which is where the trope is often found. But it goes a little further for Lazuli’s case where it’s confirmed that for the first few months(or at least a decently long time), Lazuli did hate Speed which also means that those punches were genuine either from embarrassment, pettiness, or just an argument that Lazuli 99% of the time turns physical.

Speaking of examples, here's a list of them:

I'm willing to give her an "out" for this one as it could be chalked up as accidental as Lazuli quickly apologizes for running over Speed, thinking he's just some random Pokémon in the way.

Lazuli insults him the first time they truly meet, keep this in mind.

Personally, Speed is in the right here, given what we see, Lazuli bumps into Speed, quickly says "sorry" and runs off. Then once Speed comments on it being "a bit late" and that he almost fainted, Lazuli insults him by calling him weak(she has no idea how wrong she is).

Afterward, her way of an apology to this new individual(Speed) is just demanding forgiveness and when Speed shoots back, Lazuli escalates it to a punch already starting their streak of Speed beatdowns which is going to be consistently happening throughout the comic to some degree.

Previous to this exact moment(Chapter 1), Speed calls her nasty but this time is more of muttering to himself as he doesn't yell it out, Leaf doesn't notice this leading me to assume that Speed didn't intend for it to be heard. Again, Lazuli escalated this to physical violence.

Despite it, this is the moment where the ship began in most heads I believe. However, if you look at it from the context and see what's being displayed here, Lazuli is embarrassed and Speed looks disgusted, and even if you count Lazuli's blush as flustered or a hint that she may have liked it, Speed's reaction does not at all show that at all.

Speaking of that moment previously, we see the aftermath and there are bandages wrapped around his ears, head, and sides of his head, and on other panels, we see his chest and possibly stomach. Keep these moments in mind.

Surprisingly, Lazuli makes an effort to apologize but then she demands an apology from Speed which he rightfully questions as it isn't his fault for anything that happened and he was also the one getting beaten up for it. Then Lazuli straight up threatens to take that apology back which hints that she might not be truly sorry or she's pretty good at giving a reason for Speed to not like her.

Not only that, a small thing to notice is that in the previous page, Lazuli gets up and close to Speed, Speed is on the ground and the ball hits Lazuli on the back of the head causing the damage Speed took. Although I would agree it's accidental, Lazuli is more or less the one that set them up like that.

Now imagine yourself in his position, someone that had beaten the crap out of you for them getting knocked into you, which led to you both kissing on accident(somehow), finally apologizing later that night. But then imagine they demand an apology from you even if you did nothing wrong and if you refuse, they raise an arm to beat you up again. Sounds like they're not truly sorry and just want forgiveness because, in reality, they don't truly care as much. Of course, some may make the argument that they don't know each other but that's the issue, this is how they started off and it'll continue on for longer which makes the ship problematic but let's continue.

I'll be also doing these examples to try to put it in the perspective of Speed because this is what he would be thinking and experiencing if this was real life.

Special Chapter 8, before Lazuli had any feelings(doesn't change much regardless).

Kris straight up jumps on Speed to wake him up, however, the difference between instances with Lazuli and instances with Kris is that while Lazuli gives Speed injuries bad enough to give limbs wrapped with bandages, Kris at her worst seems to just give Speed a mean awakening but otherwise, he's completely fine.

Meanwhile Lazuli:

Another punch to the face hard enough to give Speed a nosebleed, all in front of Sunshine by the way.

She also quickly assumed that Speed was being a creep even though all he did(and he explained) was he was just waking her up. Also, Lazuli clearly did not notice Sunshine standing there as it would quickly disprove the likelihood of Speed planning something since his adopted daughter is standing right there.

That would be correct.

Alright then, some may argue that Lazuli didn't have a crush on Speed back then and that's why she was most aggressive with him/those moments don't count. Now, it's established she does now like him romantically or at least interested. You would think she would begin to change her ways as so far, she's been doing nothing but hurting him physically, right?

Let's see how she's doing after this reveal:

You are right about that alright.

If you look closely, Speed is tearing up, that is how hard he got hit in the head for just simply forgetting that he promised Lazuli to take her to the bookstore (which he does later that day with Silvia).

Because Speed is not aware that Lazuli has a crush on him(which is fair, why would he assume that when so far she continued to hurt him), in his perspective, Lazuli is going from hurting him throughout the months to now attacking others. This is also one of the only times Lazuli aims at someone else besides Speed...which I'll get to later.

Speed then apologizes for rightfully snapping at her and Lazuli turns down the flowers, which in his perspective, is just a decline of a apology gift which is way more effort than Lazuli had ever shown so far.

With more Speed abuse, he is getting cornered and integrated by Lazuli who is assuming too quickly, Silvia is messing with Speed with the "big brother thing", and now others are judging him for it because of these two.

Speed truly is just getting screwed over half the time and a lot of the times is from Lazuli or others which eventually lead to another beatdown.

Flashback to their earlier times, keep in mind, this is what Speed sees and remembers. One of them is a reference to chapter one and it's just showing Lazuli beating the crap out of him by...banging his head or more punches, either way, it's something that Speed will certainly remember.

Lazuli...complains that Speed didn't take the punch.

Also, it has apparently become so common for Speed to get hurt by Lazuli that everyone else including Speed's siblings is not even slightly bothered by it.

Besides one time with Silvia, so far in the comic, Lazuli had not attacked anyone else besides Speed. She feels bad because everyone else is being nice to her which could mean that nobody(but Leaf sort of) has directly called her out on it in these past months which also means Speed had been getting punched, beamed, etc. without anyone stepping in truly besides a few rare times.

Anyway, this is another thing that happened in Special Chapter 8, this is how they started off and continued to be after the first day. Also, once again, Lazuli escalates an argument to physical violence.

This is so far one of the more truly friendly interactions between the two and this is also around the moment where Lazuli develops feelings for him. A bit too bad that she didn't change her treatment afterward as much.

But I will give this moment some props as it shows that they don't have to be hate each other and that they can in fact get along if both sides want to. This also shows Speed's character as being this older brother/parent figure to most which I'll get to later.

One last punch...should've been done a while ago.

Now of course, others could argue that all of these times where Speed gets hit is because it's just a "funny gag", or since Speed is level 98, he'll be fine so it doesn't matter, or the fact that's it's not just straight up physical abuse(which it is).

But I disagree on all three of these reasonings, this "funny gag" that is presented happens so often where it doesn't become funny if it ever was and it just becomes uncomfortable to watch or read. Also, the fact that Lazuli later in the comic feels guilt and Speed in this exact panel yells about the abuse seems to already show that all of those punches were not forgotten about and it shouldn't be forgotten about. Not only that, for other shows or pieces of fiction that presents abusing the main character or...any character, a decent ton of them doesn't include injuries bad enough where bandages are needed and don't happen as often as it does in Eeveelution Squad. Seriously, until like the last four chapters, the only chapter that Lazuli does not hurt Speed in was like Chapter 3(Speed did expect a punch to come showing how that's his first response).

Secondly, the fact that he's level 98 or "should be fine" doesn't excuse on what Lazuli did throughout the whole comic. She still clearly was hurting him and he reacted to all of it negatively.

Even EV themself agreed and talked about how this sort of relationship would not ever work in real life and should not have worked even in the comic, that the only reason why Lazuli got her wish come true is that because the fans wanted it so badly.

Speaking about the fans, all I hope is that throughout the years that Eeveelution Squad was cut short and cancelled the reboot, there was time to think and mature(or maybe you just don't care anymore which is fair). Even if you support it the relationship or not, all I hope is that this gave you some other perspective to consider.

Although I have more to say like Speed's feelings later on, I'll say it in a different post but I will end this portion off like this(I still have Silvia and other examples in Eeveelution Squad to cook up as well as other thoughts), in the comic from Speed's perspective. They first meet on a bad start and they quickly despise each other, throughout the months in Speed's perspective, Lazuli mainly targets and physically hurts him for a variety of small reasons and assumptions. Nearly every interaction involves a punch to the face. This goes on for months straight and Speed of course would not think that Lazuli might have romantic feelings for him later on, because why would he? If she did, why does she keep trying to hurt him? If this was real life, if someone keeps hitting you for small reasons, the last thing you would think is that they have a crush on you.

I think it's fair to say that we should start normalizing being respectful and caring to those we might have romantic feelings for instead of being rude or be physically violent with and that is something EV had expressed when they discussed the issues with Lazuli and Speed.

All of this is not really about hating the writing and wished a different ending and all of that as I'm sure others already expressed that well enough but rather, I think not enough people understand and I also felt like expressing my opinions.

It could have worked sort of if Lazuli was aggressive toward everyone instead of primarily Speed in the comic and she began developing feelings for Speed as she realizes that despite all of her treatment toward him, he still tried to be respectful and caring because that's who he is unlike others who still don't like her. But also in the same time, her treatment of others and especially of Speed shows a lot more in the consequences. Like Speed might be able to forgive Lazuli but decides to not share her feelings because her actions still happened and he isn't going to forget months of that treatment quickly.

If I had to give a quick writing suggestion for anyone(and also myself), try to treat characters like humans, it's okay for it to be fictional but have some relatable real-life aspects that makes the audience be able to understand how or why a character is struggling or what challenges they face. It's okay to mess up in your first attempt in a story, or your second or third, as long as you use what you learned from the last one to improve the current one, then write till your content.

Now anyway, back to working on Silvia later as I said, there is a LOT more I can talk about.

[kimbap-r0ll]

May I request Vil, Ace, and Jamil with an s/o that looks like a small and cute angel but her voice is deep and mature?

Hi, thank you for the ask!

Vil, Ace, Jamil x s/o who has a cute appearance but a deep/mature voice

Vil

He tends guess a person's voice by their appearance from time to time (he's gotten good at reading people and what they might sound like) but when it came to you he was completely off of the ballpark

He doesn't have a preference for physical features at all, as long as the person can coordinate their looks he thinks they look great. Meanwhile for voices, he's a bit pickier. Lucky for you, he tends to like deeper voices since he feels he has a higher voice (you two could duet for example lmaoo)

You probably saw his face slightly surprised when you first spoke to him (he had seen you for a long time but never actually talked to you) but he quickly shakes that surprise off and just compliments your outfit.

If anything, he says you could have a career in acting, especially with the "cute appearance but tough character" tropes that have been a trend in the media. Who knows, you could make a cameo appearance in his next filming haha

Ace

He really thought you would be some kind of cute, dainty person with a higher voice and sort of like Disney's bambi type. However, when you talked to him it felt like he was talking to Malleus haha

He really doesn't have an opinion on physical appearance but he might want someone that he can "protect?" He wants to be someone you can go to when you need help for example, and with your appearance that just doubles

Will he tease you about how your voice and your looks clash? Yes. Will he make a ton of compliments about you though? Yes, though it might be laced with some tsundere remarks

He was definitely surprised when you first talked to him, he might've asked if you were trying to intimidate him haha. However, he finds himself liking you for who you are, but he will blush whenever you come up and do anything remotely cute to him haha

Jamil

He really is the only one in the group that didn't care what you sounded like or looked like. He also didn't think he would get to talk to you, if anything you probably didn't know he had a crush on you until Kalim brought it up to you during your lunch break

You went up to talk to him and when he heard your voice he didn't realize it was you until he turned around. He becomes all flustered and all because of how you're talking to him and he didn't mentally prepare to talk to his crush haha

He does find himself wanting to take care of you because he's used to being sort of like a mom friend to everyone. However that might have been catalyzed by your cute appearance. He will be tsundere when helping you out, but you can catch him blushing a lot

Jamil loves you for your voice too, it's really smooth to him and he just likes listening to you a lot. He may ask you to talk about your day, your likes, dislikes, anything.

[blue-grama]

A little Film/Jam requeim

Upon the news that these two are not planning any projects together in the future, I was pondering Thai actor pairings and why I liked this particular one. First let me say I'm very in favor of actors not getting joined at the hip forever -- I doubt that's why anyone gets into acting, and while I get the financial reasons this happens in Thai entertainment, I'm generally in agreement that it tends to limit creativity, since the brand often has to come before the story. My only gripe is that now they're off doing lakorns that will never get subbed in English and it's not fair and look, I need to see The Empress of Ayodhaya ok?? I don't think it's a bad thing to have actors with great chemistry appear together in multiple shows, however, and I wanna say that I think these two used that opportunity right. Look, we have Tian:

Utter cinammon roll, too pure for this world, total sweetheart. He's a little scared and a lot beaten down, but he still has a burning spark of respect for himself that he doesn't let extinguish. He spends 73% of this show in the throes of a mental breakdown but still manages to take control of his narrative in the end. It's actively insane that the murder glitter show has such fantastic characters.

And then you have Charn, who is...

... also beaten down by this world, but evil about it. It's all manipulation, manwhoring, and complicated smiles belaying his real feelings with this guy. Refreshingly, he only has to reform himself a little bit to get his happy ending.

Meanwhile, Jiu. Assassin, kind of a tsundere. Marshmallow center, obviously. I'll never be over how after he and Tian first had sex (under the influence of a beetle fungus, OBVIOUSLY), he got deeply hurt that Tian said it was a mistake and accused Tian of doing this to all the boys. Possibly my favorite Jiu moment. ANYWAY.

There isn't as much distance between Jiu and Tinn as there is between Tian and Charn (from what I've seen, Jam maybe doesn't have quite as much range as Film, or at least hasn't been asked to demonstrate it). But Tinn is a more open and straightforward character, the moral center of Laws of Attraction versus a guy who assassinates several people with scissors without remorse in Khun Chai.

Point is, we don't always get this with repeated actor pairings. A lot of the time, you have an underlying dynamic that comes through in all the pair's shows, and it can't wander too far from its origins - I was thinking about this specifically with regards to Only Friends after listening to this excellent debut of the Part 5 (of 4) podcast, which talks about the way Force's Top turned into a completely flat character, possibly because "interesting" would conflict with the whole True Love ForceBook dynamic that GMMTV needs to sell. An appealing dynamic can be great -- hey, I read fanfic, I get the joy of putting the same guy in situations -- but I really liked how Film and Jam went with/were given quite different characters in their two projects together. This could be a lakorn vs. BL thing, but it'd be cool to see more paired actors take on more disparate roles together!

My disappointment over no more shows from these two comes down to wishing I could see what else they might pull off. Jam as the rich jerk instead of Film? Both of them playing morally grey? It could have been fun.

Oh well; I'll just be over here lighting candles for English subs from One31, because at least this hot murderous royalty nonsense looks exquisite.

And if you've read this far, please feel free to drop me recs in the tags or comments of other pairs that have played really different roles or dynamics with each other. I love seeing actors show their range!

[misc-obeyme]

Hiiiiii, yandere veteran here! :'DD

I saw your post about yandere and stuff, so i thought i could explain a few things! Firstly, there are different types of yandere out there! Clingy submissive type, sadistic yandere, the subtle manipulator yandere, possessive, obsessive, Yangire, Yeredere, Delusional, Intelligenct, quiet etc.

You can even combine two archetypes together, for example, Tsunyandere (Tsundere + Yandere) and kuuyandere (Kuudere + Yandere). There's even a slight difference between female and male yandere! Male tend to be more violent and possessive meanwhile Female yandere tend to be more passionate and submissive.

Generally speaking, the term "Yandere" associate with someone who is so into you and possessive that they would go to great lengths to monopolize you. Yanderes start sweet and overly affectionate, and then they get possessive and possibly violent. A classical yandere goes after the people surrounding their target first and tries to separate the love interest/target from everyone else. If that means locking them in a cage, so be it. Doesn't necessarily have to be bloody and/or gore. Again, it depends on the yandere type!

This is gonna be a little personal, but for me, I like yanderes a lot because I like the idea of someone loving me so much they'd do anything for me. I fell in love with the idea that someone loves you so much, they're willing to do insane, socially unacceptable things for your love. Of course, this doesn't supply to real life.

Anyway, moving on to Belphegor, i would say he's more of a "mild yandere" and possibly leaning more towards the "Nonviolent/Manipulative yandere" those types of yandere never bring direct harm to someone, and never will directly kill someone themselves, but will manipulate others to achieve their goals. It's the psychological and emotional manipulation that makes it so interesting. And seeing how much of a brat he can be, i would say that fits him the best.

Fun fact: There's an old devilgram story, i forgot the name, where belphegor poisoned Satan bc he was flirting with mc, lol.

Moving on to Barbatos, the reason fans suspect him to be a yandere is bc of his character song "Crazy About you," in which he sings the following lines:

"My heart in turmoil

Having you with me makes me want you

I’m crazy about you

I, too, cannot stop this billowing feeling

I wish to please you always

Please leave everything to me

But your poor manner will not be tolerated

Not matter how many times

Let me give you a lecture in calm

I will not hand you to anyone else, oh

I can’t take this

My feelings for you

I’ll make you mine"

"Crazy About you" does give off some yandere vibes, but does that make Barbatos a yandere? I don't think so. Considering all the characters had their "yandere" moments doesn't make them Yandere per say. But Barbatos does seem to be possessive in his song about Mc. Honestly, considering that his sin is greed, that makes quite a lot of sense. If i had to categorise him to a Yandere trope, then he would be the "Intelligenct/quiet yandere." Those types of yandere plan far in advance and fight more with their brains than with their brawn. It's almost similar to the "Manipulative yandere."

He could be absolutely terrifying, a yandere able to manipulate time and space? That's absolutely scary IF he was a yandere.

unironically, the closest thing to a yandere in Obey Me has is Mammon. He's shown that he constantly wants Mc to himself and seeking their attention, even getting in the way of his brothers and constantly reminding everyone that he's Mc first pact demon. In the beginning of the OG, obey me, he even said “I want to be the one who saves you, and if I can’t be, just die already" and remember that ONE NB lesson where he lost control over his Greed and wanted Mc to himself? Yeah, yandere moment definitely.

Anyway, what i'm trying to say is there are different types of yandere, and not everything has to be bloody. Sometimes, yanderes can be subtle with their motives.

Hello there, anon!

Okay see I had a feeling there was more to it than what my basic search of the term had indicated. I have seen some of the other -dere types because someone asked me about that and I had to look it up lol. But my knowledge of the different yandere types is pretty much nonexistent, so thank you for this explanation!

Okay, okay, so I wasn't taking Barb's song into consideration at all. The songs are all fun and there are certainly parts that are informative of character, but generally speaking I don't really think about them in terms of their characterization. (Not that it's bad to do that or anything, that's just a me quirk lol.)

That being said, I think any character can be written as a yandere if that's what the person writing the story wants to do. I would say most characters edge on some of those qualities, which really just boils down to them being a well rounded character.

Especially because Barbatos has this kind of vibe that's he's always holding something back. Not just truths about himself, but his own feelings, too. I think it'd be easy to say that he just doesn't allow himself to act in the way he really wants to.

And in that case, I think the concept of subtle yandere could apply to him. But again, this is all something that I think would need to be explored in fanfiction. I just don't think that in the story itself there's any indication of Barbatos having secret yandere motives. But I don't think it's a stretch to give him some in a fic by any means.

Interesting point about Mammon, though! I think his general tsundere personality probably overshadows those other yandere moments lol. I've never seen anyone refer to him as such, but it sounds like it fits to me! Then again, as I stated, my knowledge of these terms is very limited.

I like what you said about Belphie too - his whole thing is manipulation so that checks out to me!

Anyway, I like when characters have flaws and act jealous or possessive because it makes them feel more real to me. But that means it's only one aspect of who they are, so I don't tend to focus only on those traits when I write about them. But this is just a personal preference and I think that if you like yandere characters, it's perfectly reasonable to make your faves yandere even if they aren't in the source material.

Thank you for this thorough explanation, anon! I'm glad someone who knew more about it was able to add more insight and nuance to the discussion! It sounds to me like we're in agreement that Barbatos has some yandere moments, but in general is not a yandere.

[perfectlovevn]

Hello hello! How are you doing? I hope you're doing great!!

Anyways, I was wondering a bit

What are the sexualities of the characters? Eris, Ryan, Milo, etc... Do they have any sexualities? Like preference, gender etc...

And another question. What will all the Milo do if they see Eris/M/C sleeping ?

Hello hello! Thank you for all the fanart! I always like seeing what you end up drawing next.

I think some of this has already been covered in the ship templates but I will go over them more in depth.

For the Milos I think that they will fall for anyone they think will give them attention or will love them. I just put them as player sexual since it depends on Eris/the player. I think he likes people who are confident though since it’s not a trait he has, but really I think being nice to him is enough.

Eris is kind of a weird case since while they have a strong personality, they are still a self insert character, so they can be any gender or sexuality the player desires them to be. Their preference is “someone who is easy to manipulate and is easy to control.” Classic Eris.

Ryan.. I also have no idea, but it likely depends on Eris as well. I think I put him as omnisexual though since I feel like he would try to get with anyone with a pulse ( though that’s what I think).

Valli is bisexual with a preference for women. She and Holly dated for a while before Holly ended up betraying her so now she hates her.

Desmond is demiromantic. He and his girlfriend Iya are childhood friends though they both are kind of tsundere with each other so they tend to fight a lot. Iya is demisexual.

Seph is… what’s the word, Teratophilia? He’s only area he’s to monsters and specifically the monster he mentions, the one who lives in the woods. He has no interests in humans.

Poison is… nonbinary I suppose? She goes by she/them so I just swap their pronouns every time I talk about her. I can imagine they’re pan sexual because she only cares about if the person is a good challenge physically aka can you keep up with them in a fight or brawl. She likes people that challenges them and has no interest in weaklings.

How would the Milos react to a sleeping Eris?

PreMilo would probably tuck Eris in, put a blanket on them and make them feel comfortable where they’re sleeping. They’ll try to not wake them up as best as possible.

Violence Milo would go either into guard dog mode, making sure that nobody would get near them while they sleep or try to hug/cuddle them. If they have the stalking trait, whatever happens in the stalking route while Eris sleeps also applies.

Manipulation Milo might take a lot of pictures or record Eris. They might hold Eris’s hand as well and maybe stare at them really closely, analyzing their pretty face. I can also imagine them trying to get Eris to spoon him before he sweats like crazy next to them.

[neolxzr]

Literally a genuine question no ill intent

What do you like about Aira? As much as people are absolutely adamant Akira is projecting (I really don't think he is (I'm not saying Akira is innocent) I just think he's trying to address the prejudiced thoughts the average Japanese person will have on the Ainu) Aira's weird comments and behaviour to Hiiro have been there since day one. And I also think Aira being the one who says all this is because he's supposed to reflect the fans and the average Japanese fan probably isn't that educated on the Ainu + there can be a good few racist enstars fans...

I'm not trying to sound heated about this I'm just coming from a genuine place, what appeal is there in Aira?

Also, as much as the Aira fans are talking about blaming Akira, I feel like there should absolutely be a focus on Hiiro right now considering that comment was... yknow said to him. I just think we should actually be talking about the Amagis considering that comment was intended to discuss the Amagis and their culture and the discrimination they go through.

i had someone ask me a similar question once but not in the context of all thats happening currently so you can read that here if youre inclined

buuuut what made me like aira so much in the first place was honestly that his concept as a character is really funny. i made a post a long while back that went into the funny meta jokes that you could make using aira as a character before i really knew much about enstars at all. having a character in your idol series that loves idols and canonically reads fanfic about them is just a funny concept in general. and as i continued to read more he continued to be funny and annoying and endearing (his little mini interaction with midori comes to mind immediately. there is something wrong with him)

also i tend to gravitate towards characters that give me like. little sibling energy. i love having a favorite little guy to dote on

but afterwards what really drew me to him was the main story!! thermometry specifically comes to mind (ouuugh,,,,). his feature scout stories are also great and so is feather touch! i wont like. go into detail really cause my blog is covered in me talking about aira already

his dynamic with hiiro is one of my favorites too, especially in mainstory. their dynamic isnt JUST aira says shitty things to hiiro and thats it. their relationship develops really far to the point where aira admits that he needs hiiro as much as hiiro needs him. they're young and inexperienced and kind of codependent as they're trying to keep themselves from going under in a sort of cutthroat industry. i think thats really neat. their relationship is really sweet to me and aira is a great tsundere type of character. he regularly is shown to actually like hiiro a lot as mean as he can be to him sometimes i.e. here. and you know the whole holding hands thing (which they also fucked up in the climax story but Whatever)

theres also this. which i think about regularly. the hiiai shipping fuel is vast

and additionally i think aira has some really great relationships with other characters too, alkaloid especially. feather touch develops his relationship with tatsumi a lot and its one of my favorite aira moments. i couldnt find my screenshots for this one but basically aira gives tatsumi his unlocked phone (something VERY important to aira since hes a little screenager) and it shows tatsumi just how much aira trusts him and he realizes how important aira is as a friend to him. being someone with a history like him aira's friendship is sort of new to him and it helps them both grow

he loves his friends so so much and he’s had a positive impact on all of alkaloid. he is its heart after all

but in any case i'm not going to like, defend myself for liking aira. i am aware that the shitty stuff has been there from the start but i've said something similar in the past that was like. aira isn't real and he cannot take accountability for what he says. he's a character written by real people who doesn't have any control over how he acts. so i guess that's why when i think the writers write something i dont think he would do or say in my own personal aira opinion i can sort of brush it off as just bad writing.

and not in the sense that i dont recognize that enstars sucks, because it does. enstars can be terribly racist sometimes and not just when concerning aira, and thats important to talk about (i.e. the orient cards, the king of thieves cards, etc). but at the end of the day the most important thing to recognize is the people and company behind the game as well as the real people who play the game and are affected by it. and not like, the specific characters in the game. cause they didn't actually do anything or feel anything you know

[riftdancing]

Blink Vaniro : Smash or Pass?

...I hope you have a good therapist for even entertaining this.

Quick Facts:

Height: "I'm as tall as you are smart." ((5'2" Do not call her short.))

Age: "None of your Gods damned business." ((42 Years))

Gender: "..." ((Female))

Sexuality: "Piss off." ((Bisexual))

Pronouns: "Enemy #1" ((she/her))

Pros:

Say good bye to your frequent flyer malms because this ace pilot will take you anywhere your heart desires and show you so many more places you likely don't even know about. (Welcome to the world of Sky Pirates and some of the best hidden locations in the sky... not to mention some of the best sunsets you've ever seen.)

Blink is an easy ace up your sleeve. Whether you need her to fight your battles or fight along side you, this woman is tough as nails and rarely backs down from a fight. She's spent most of her adult life learning various forms of combat and can utilize this knowledge even in the most dire situations. While her most proficient combat skills are with guns, Blink handles herself well when it comes to improvised weapons and combat.

Blink is a survivor. While this can be interpreted a multitude of ways, in this specific instance I mean she's great in the wilderness. You could dump her in the woods and she'd resurface in a few weeks pissed off, but still thriving.

If you've managed to get close to her, trust me, she cares about you. She'll tell you she doesn't. She'll act cold and disinterested. But she cares, even when you think she doesn't and while she'd never admit it, she'd do anything in her power to protect those closest to her, including putting herself in harm's way or even sacrificing herself for those she cares about. Her life is nothing if you cannot press on. Because of this she tends to have a matronly nature which leads a lot of characters around her to thinking of her as a Mom type character.

I don't usually list my character's looks as a pro... but I'm doing it here. Blink's body is a masterpiece of various battle scars. She may be on the shorter side but she's also incredibly athletic and my GOD the things I would do to her abdomen... Trust me, Vaniro is a snack.

Cons:

Not for the feint of heart. It's incredibly difficult for me to ship her with other characters because in truth, Vaniro has a lot of relationship bound trauma. She also has a lot of trust issues.

It takes a very specific type of character to keep her interest. I want to say Blink is incredibly selective, but to be honest I don't even think she thinks about relationships like that. They just sort of... happen. Vaniro doesn't crush on people. If she's flirting with you its more likely she wants something out of you than she wants you. ...If she's flirting with you, honestly, be scared. That's not normal.

Vaniro, despite having a deep love for the people she cares about and remaining incredibly loyal to them, is not a good person. Her background is rooted in criminal activities. Even today, though she's staying on the right side of the law, it doesn't mean she isn't finding ways to bend the rules. Blink will forever make her own luck no matter how she has to get there.

This woman is as stubborn as they come. You will not sway her unless you have a dominant edge over her (this is almost impossible) or you manage to convince her to see reason.

You're going to likely have to be at a better part of your life than she is and be ready to help her through a hand full of problems dealing with her past which can tread some pretty heavy topics. Blink comes with baggage... but she's worth the extra work.

If you don't like Tsundere characters, this woman is not for you. If you look up 'tsundere' in the dictionary you're likely to see her portrait as the definition.

Extra Details:

Sexuality: I think the best way to look at this is to consider her a switch. For the majority of the people around her she presents as a top. In fact, in that regard she wants to be in control. But there is always someone in her life who out ranks her. She needs someone in her life who out ranks her. In truth, Vaniro craves subordination in order to hold her place of authority above others. She thrives in being the right hand man, or woman in this case. Naturally, this goes beyond sexuality as well. But it is also true in the bedroom.

Romantically: Romance is a new experience for Vaniro, one she still hasn't quite wrapped her head around. But if you think kissing a woman who could kill you and watching her systematically short circuit mid sentence because she has no idea how to react, you'd probably enjoy pushing this certain tsundere's buttons frequently.

So, tell me...

Tagged by: @thefreelanceangel

[absolutebl]

This Week In BL - Everyone is back with a will

July 2023 Wk 1

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Step By Step (Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 11 of 12 -This was a proper ep 11 with everything coming to a head (pun intended). All the high risk reality of coming out in a conservative job environment. I like that they brought it back around to Up’s actor character. Still not sure how I feel about the side couple. Although it was meant to be heart wrenching, only the wig made me cry... Seriously just take all wigs away from Thailand on grounds of chronic abuse and misuse. 

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 11 of 12 - This got a bit messy and heavy for me (you know I prefer my BL frivolous). Not sure how I feel about the “hearing soulmate thing” being violated as an established rule of the universe (via Lom) No, I do know. It feels disingenuous. Am I supposed to doubt my belief in everything including the show now? Is that the point? The character’s doubt true love, thus I doubt the narrative? I have to say that I think this show is betraying the courage of its convictions but also that it must do that to stay a BL. (Just imagine what this story would’ve been like in the hands of Japan. Soul destroying.) Ultimately La Pluie is going to end happily, but that doesn’t feel right (to ME who LOVES HEA). Bah. I don’t know where my head (or my heart) is at with this. Only next week will tell, I suppose. 

Low Frequency (Sat YouTube?) ep 1 of 8 - Mon can see ghosts and he’s not happy about it. This was more horror to start than I expected (I’m not going to go into the long tradition of “gayness as monstrosity” you can read the flim crit on the subject if you’re interested) instead I’ll just say I tend to cast a jaundice eye on “my ghost boyfriend” as a trope for more reasons than “new meaning to kill the gay” trope. I mean there is a reason China loves both much, they do adore a dead homosexual... but this is Thailand and a pulp so... here we go! NO SINGING. Boy after my own heart, doesn’t date actors. Smart cookie. Although not smart enough to sniff a set-up a mile away. Lube huh? We never see that. It’s a very chaotic cut together first ep and I’m a bit confused but the relationship development, but it is more pulp than horror so I’m game...

Dinosaur Love (Sun iQIYI) ep 2 of 8? eps - Rak stood up for himself, good for him. Also I like how queer his friendship group is. This reminds me the most of My Engineer, but I like this lead couple better.

Be Mine SuperStar (Mon Viki) ep 1 of 12 - You know me, I don’t like stalker-fan types, wigs me out. BUT It’s nice to see First in a serious non-tsundere roll (although I didn’t get much off of him, his character is reading a bit flat). AND It is nice to watch Ja take the lead in a drama, he has a very likable screen presence and I know he can carry it. You know what else I likey? Bosston and the gorgeous 1 night yummy doctor he’s paired with. I suppose it’s a JaFirst piece but I didn’t expect high heat this fast and certainly not from Bosston. All in all? I’m not mad that this is now my Monday.

Be My Favorite (Fri YouTube) ep 7 of 12 - NO SINGING. Trash watch here. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Tokyo in April is... AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 4 of 8 - This is one of those shows where I feel like I should save it for Friday, so I can watch it with more frivolous things, because it is so heavy - weighted by symbolism, emo yearning, and an odd kind of compassion. Ren’s backstory is SO SAD. How will they recover from that? Oh, it’s also great. Must you, Japan? Seriously? 

Stay By My Side (Taiwan Fri Gaga) 1-2 of 10 eps - The premise is a little bit like Mr. Unlucky (a take on fated mates), but it’s very Taiwanese with all the trope’s: they’re roommates, enemies to lovers, baby is a clumsy bunny,  paranormal (it even starts with crash into me = Taiwan’s favorite trope). Familiar faces too. Fun fun. (I like that the credit sequence is basically a micro boyfriends episode.) I like it, it feels almost 2015 or something. Weeeee.....

Stupid Genius (Vietnam Fri YouTube) ep 5 of 6 - They cute. It’s very sweet and very high school but low angst for all that. Also the reason the nerd has a crush on the jock is so charming. That is it, they’re charming! I am charmed.

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu ????) 1 of 12 eps - Less of a time jump than previously reported just 3 months. But I’m still annoyed no one has changed or evolved - same territory as ever. I do not like second seasons. I do not like blushing maiden tropes. I do not like manufactured drama. I am annoyed yet I LOVED season one so I am gritting my teeth. say it with me everybody... oh Japan, must you?

Tie The Not (Pinoy YouTube) ep 4 of 8 - The brothers are cute and it’s a little wistful and sad. 

Vian the series (Vietnam YouTube ) ep 10 of 12 - Boys argue. Boy gets hurt. Boy cooks apologies. Boys gaze yearningly at each other.

It’s airing but ...

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) 12 eps - I bounced at ep 3. Will binge if told it is worth it at end.

Stay (Pinoy YouTube) 7 eps - It’s mostly English & set in LA (shudder) so I’m not bothering.

Ever After (Pinoy YouTube) 12 eps - Spies reported that it's a real mess and not a hot one.

Stay With Me ... NO I WILL NOT! And you can’t make me.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting:  

7/9 Hidden Agenda (Thai Sun GMMTV YouTube) 12 eps - JoonDunk are back. Zo, a college freshman whose never been in love, decides to change it by making the college’s star Nita as his gf. He approaches Joke, Nita’s ex, for dating advice. What he fails to realize is that Joke has had his eyes on him for a long time and uses this opportunity to approach Zo. We have all seen this a million times before, but Thailand never executed a successful formula it didn’t want to repeat a million times over. Welcome to Thai BL. 

7/15 Laws of Attraction (Thai Sat ????)  Stars the pair from To Sir With Love and with the same production team - cryptic description, but it seems to be Manner of Death esk. Up to and including being impossible to get hold of. 

Still coming in July: 

7/19 Wedding Plan (Thai Wed YouTube & iQIYI)  - It's Mame and she's coming for our GL. She's such a misogynist IMAGINE what we will get with a GL? It's going to be absolute carnage. To crane your neck as you drive by the car wreck or not... that is the question. Me? I'm wallowing in the guts.

7/20 Jun & Jun (Korea Thu Viki) - From 2022 (TutorYim rumored to cameo) this office romance features 2, yes 2! Bls. Seme looks aggressive, we in classic yaoi territory. There is an idol involved. Past failed flirts. I am very excited about this one.

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Ouch.

More ouch. (both Step By Step) 

Love the suspenders, hate the tie. (La Pluie) 

What? They are reposting My Ride to YT and I just found myself doing a rewatch. 

(Last week.)

[phaerlax]

you as the WolfBoyGuy and me as someone who has just recently seen the puppy light, do you have any tips or what you'd consider Required Reading to get a good grip on writing wolf boys? moreso karu than garu just because i personally have a hard time writing dudes with as much bluster and "doesn't tend to default to conventionally agreed on niceties". i have (admittedly mild) torments I'd like to put him through >_>

Anon is asking me about blorbo... I have been training for this for so long... behold now the ramblings of a man possessed by two wolves. I'll talk a bit about how I approach writing Karu and then include some curated recs.

It took me some time to really get going on wolfboy fics; I also found it challenging to handle Karu's characterization. Two big reasons why:

Tsunderes are just difficult to do if you're grounded in realism. It's a very 'anime' archetype and people don't behave quite like that. This makes it harder to naturally reach for reasonable/appropriate responses when putting the character in situations. The big want/think/say/do splits can also complicate straightforward scenarios (e.g. the character wants something and does what he needs to do in order to get it. This path is often closed to the tsundere).

The game gives little insight into Karu's inner world. NU: Carnival is very dialogue-heavy in its narrative. When we do get introspection, it's often Eiden-focused. This means we basically never get to see the thought process that leads Karu to act this way or that, except in the rare instances in which he talks to himself (like in some H scenes when he goes "ugh it feels so good but-").

The style that I ended up developing for my angry wolf boy writings follows these principles:

Keep him silly. This is because I fundamentally see Karu as a comical character. Yeah, his personality can be traced back to traumas and there's a lot of interesting stuff to explore in that regard, but I am not personally interested in that tbh. The reason I love him is the wacky nonsense and ridiculous behavior that we see in the game. It was at first sight for me. I didn't need depth and I still don't XD Any advice and references I provide are skewed by that. I have a preference for almost never taking him seriously.

Mind his 'narrativization' tendencies. Karu is comically very enamored by the idea/narrative that he's a mighty warrior with many great skills who will conquer humanity and who should be respected and served. On some level, he knows this isn't entirely true, so he will sometimes (try to) avoid situations that would bring attention to his shortcomings. But most often he's trying to prove himself and get others to share his narrative. When something or someone reinforces the narrative, he gets proud, pleased or happy-flustered. When something or someone goes against the narrative, he gets annoyed and angry-flustered. He is very good at ignoring reality, however. Even though he'll seemingly take exception to every little slight, he moves on very quickly and pretends nothing happened. And though he's stubborn, he's also willing to surrender, cut his losses and 'try another day' when he's foiled.

Mix his narrativization with the narration a lot. This kind of free indirect discourse is just my style in general, but with Karu I find myself using it more intensely, to such an extent that the narration can get quite dialogue-like in how it expresses his thoughts. When I want to portray a 'tsundere stumble' moment, I sometimes make the narration interrupt itself as Karu consciously aborts a line of thinking that would lead him to unacceptable conclusions.

Let him just be rude for no reason and with little consequence. Karu's default way of addressing and dealing with people (other than Kuya) is rudeness. At best, he attempts some form of condescension in which the reason he's doing something 'nice' is because you're so weak and he's so awesome or whatever. Most characters seem to simply not mind his behavior and, again, it's usually played for laughs anyway.

Bibliography of Karu Studies

Keep in mind that many Karu fics are kuyaru, and Karu in kuyaru is quite different from the core of the character, since he's uniquely eager to please Kuya. Still, even kuyarus can have some nice insight.

who let the dogs out has a lot of juicy Karu inner conflict, and it even explores the ways in which such hangups make him outwardly grumpier. Due to kuyaru, it ultimately leads him to a place of submission, but his initial thoughts are very in-character.

Baser Instincts is a kuyaru in which Kuya gets to see the pups in a new light, because they help him in a difficult situation. It's another great source of inspiration for Karu struggling to express his feelings.

Bow Down! explores how he might react to Eiden letting him top, in a very true-to-character way.

Lonely at the Top is Karu/Dante, which means you get to see Karu at his prickliest and most insufferable, and how that can be managed.

A Matter of Pride is a good example of the 'concessions' dynamic that can be done in Eiden/Karu.

Goshujin-Ai is an older Karu/Yakumo and a good example of Karu feeling comfortable and doing the 'attempts at condescension' thing I mentioned before.

Slave number one, rub my chest again is me speculating on what it might look like for Karu to ask Eiden to do things to him and try to control sex.

Warden slander wolf Commander is probably a good example of the 'fine I give up but I'll get you next time' potential of Karu, as well as the kind of bleed-heavy narration I talked about.

Master, do you have another wolf besides me?! delves into Karu's potential for jealousy as a way of expressing affection. It's pretty canon-compliant because most of it is adapted from NEON Carnival.

There are many other fics in the Karufic Archive, but I think the ones above are among the best for the purposes of thinking about the writing.

Please feel free to talk to me non-anonymously if you ever want to discuss wolf boy content! As you can see I am cursed with thoughts and need places to put them. I'm also always very happy to do anything that I can to shepherd and sponsor GaruKaru content; if you go ahead with your impulse to write about them (please do) and want a beta reader, don't hesitate to ask~

[tdlosk-concepts]

if there was a saiki k x proseka crossover, i think these would be the units.

some characters do not have comparisons; and before i dive in, i would like to tell you why. there are simply not enough characters in the disastrous life of saiki k. you may think, "but there are most definitely over twenty characters," and while you would be correct, i am only using pk academy students, and furthermore, virtually only main characters. i highly encourage you to enjoy thinking of either your ocs or the proseka characters being in the group, because i am very aware that without these characters, the story would not be possible!

there were three tdlosk characters i wanted to include, but could not. these are mera, hairo, and arisu. i just couldn't make them fit anywhere, i apologize. i felt like untrained reverse-hermit mizuki every time i had to type out that no character could fit properly into a slot.

be warned, i go on paragraph-long rants in here. like, almost an essay about teruhashi. actually, my vbs rant is very long overall, composed of like two essays. enjoy!

L/N; Nendou(Ichika), Chiyo(Honami), Reita(Saki), and Saiko(Shiho). Most of these are the OGs, and I could see them doing a school band. Don't ask why I thought Saiko belonged here, I hink he would be cute in a school band setting. Or maybe I'm biased. And I think Nendou would play the role of "getting the group back together," and if that makes Nendou play Ichika, so be it. Reita would play the role of "sickly little guy," and also the one ti set everything in motion, so that makes him the Saki of the group! I think Chiyo as Honami explains itself, but it's mostly because I think of Chiyo as having sweetheart/caretaker vibes. Saiko as Shiho, however, seems like an odd comparison. To simplify down so that I'm not blubbering about it nonsensically, they are both relatively tsundere, and while they do want a friend group, they tend to act like they don't need or want it.

MMJ; Suzumiya(Minori) and Makoto(Shizuku). Nobody could possibly fit into the role of Airi or Haruka, and sadly, they both had to be forcefully excluded, and I apologize. Now, onto the hard conclusions I drew and stretching I did. Fair warning, MORE MORE JUMP! is my least favorite unit. I haven't read its main story, and I know next to nothing about the members. However, from what I can tell, Minori, while clumsy and unlucky, has the spirit to do great things. That, I would compare to Suzumiya after her guardian spirit is rehabilitated. While not setting of explosions every other minute, she's still naturally clumsy, and she also has rather high spirits despite that. Makoto as Shizuku was a hard task to pull off, and I feel it may be a disgrace to Shizuku's name. However, considering that Makoto is famous within the TDLOSK-universe, I couldn't not put him in MMJ. His placement as Shizuku was only because I view Makoto as relatively tech-illiterate, so that headcanon of mine allowed me to draw at least one connection. I apologize for the weak conclusion.

VBS; Satou(Kohane), Kuboyasu(Akito), and Kokomi(Touya). Sadly, I couldn't think of anyone to compare to An, I apologize. Teruhashi as Touya explains itself, but I think I should explain why I chose it over Teruhashi as Mafuyu. The reason is; Teruhashi would start singing street music out of spite for her brother, like Touya and his father. As far as I have learned in proseka, while Mafuyu did do lyrics as a method of rebelling from her mother, that wasn't the only reason. While Touya did ENJOY singing, it wasn't something he was set on doing until the end of the main story. With Mafuyu, she already wrote music before meeting Kanade and the others, and still made music outside of Nightcord at 25:00, and it was one thing sje was sure she enjoyed. Teruhashi doesn't seem like the type to be set on something unless she was made to realize she enjoyed that thing seriously, and not just as a method of rebelling. In the show, she, sadly, doesn't do much outside of what she thinks will make her seem like the perfect pretty girl, most exemplified when she goes for ramen with Nendou, Kaidou, and Saiki, and even though it's disgusting, she thinks that not eating it makes her stuck-up. I relate this more to Touya, instead of Mafuyu, because the one person she doesn't act in front of is Makoto. Mafuyu still acts like she is very in-line with her mother's views most of the time, as exemplified by the fact that even when Mafuyu's mother upsets her, she usually holds her tongue. On the contrary, Touya is shown to correct his father, and show his anger to him, such as when, in the VBS main story, his father states "And to think it was from just one bad influence," to which Touya retorts to "leave Akito out of this," because it wasn't Akito's fault he rebelled. Teruhashi is shown to correct and yell at Makoto when he pisses her off, which lead me to connect her to Touya. Moving on from that, I should explain some if my other examples. Satou as Kohane is a strange one, I know, but it works out in my head. Satou is very ordinary, and that is how he views himself. He has plain ambitions, plain interests, and plain hobbies, much like how I would describe pre-Vivids Kohane. This is including the mild social awkwardness. Satou is shown to be a perfect ambivert, knowing how to navigate a social situation, but not typically starting his own conversations. Even before meeting An, while Kohane did have friends, such as Minori, and she could have full conversations with those friends, she has not, to my knowledge, been shown to have started many conversations before she and An started the Vivids. Satou is shown to have only three friends, as far as I can remember, and never does he start a conversation with them, it's always the friends that start the conversations. I feel like if Satou explored hobbies outside of the regular, he, much like Kohane, would find something that brought him confidence and that he enjoyed doing. Kuboyasu and Akito are relatively self-explanatory, but there is some explaining to be done. Kuboyasu, much like Akito, is self-conscious reguarding how he appears to others, and is VERY focused on getting to what he wants, and where he wants to be in his life. In the same way that Akito wants to surpass RAD WEEKEND, Kuboyasu wants to be a normal highschool boy.

WxS; Kaidou(Tsukasa) and Kuusuke(Rui). A strange duo, I know. HOWEVER. Kaidou has an intense need for attention, making him a perfect candidate to be the equivalent of Tsukasa. Kuusuke as Rui explains itself. I sincerely apologize for having two blank spaces in a unit again, but nobody fully fit.

N25; Saiki(Kanade), Akechi(Mafuyu), Aiura(Ena), and Imu(Mizuki). I feel like I'm vaguely insulting Mizuki by comparing them to Rifuta, but simplifying a character's personality is NOT below me. I think I should start with the weakest connection, that being Akechi as Mafuyu. I chose this over Akechi as Emu, and honestly, I'm not sure that was a good decision. The only reason, and I mean ONLY reason, I chose to compare Akechi to Mafuyu, was because I view Akechi as having had a bad and possibly abusive relationship with his father. It could be me taking a comedy show too seriously, and I won't go too in-depth about the headcanon, because it's not currently important. But anyways, moving on. Saiki as Kanade is very self explanatory, given how they both have wished on multiple occasions to "disappear" or "sleep forever." It's also about Saiki's guilty conscience, relating to Kanade blaming herself for her father's coma. Aiura and Imu as Ena and Mizuki respectively are both very self explanatory.

Please tell me if you have other ideas!!!

[miyamiwu]

To my shounen fandom mutuals who crave complex female characters in a shounen-esque setting, I absolutely recommend you watch Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master

It’s not shounen, but it has fantasy, mystery, and some action scenes, so it will give you a thrill similar to what you enjoy in a typical shounen that you usually won’t find in a shoujo (where the actual focus is on women).

The story is set in ancient times, and it involves court intrigue and a selection rite featuring four noble ladies vying to be the Crown Prince’s wife. However, the two protagonists are male (the Crown Prince and his attendant), so we mainly see their POVs.

But even then, the story does not brush aside the ladies/reduce them to mere caricatures, nor does it make everything to be only about the men—and this is what makes it so great.

I had thought I would be irritated with the women for all revolving around one man, but that wasn’t the case at all. They actually have a life outside of being “love interests,” and they are not one-dimensional at all. You don’t get to label any one of them with a typical character archetype and call it a day (a tendency I’ve noticed in stories featuring one man and multiple love interests is that the latter tend to represent just one Personality, e.g. the Tsundere, the Quiet, the Strong+Independent one, etc.)

So in the end, I also enjoyed watching their drama play out on screen.

And if you’re not up for straight ships (as this show inevitably has because of its premise), the double male protags’ dynamic is also quite cute~

Edit: I forgot to mention… but the Crown Prince doesn’t visit the ladies at all until it was time for him to choose. So we’re following two different stories separately (the ladies’ side and the men’s side)