#''are you male or female?'' ''I'm an Alchemist''

[coockie8]

"ed is non binary in the sense he has more important things to worry about" i literally love this so fucking much 😍😭

Some Military Rando: So are you, like, a boy or a girl?

Edward: Yeah sure, whatever.

[ratskal]

Diversity win! The war criminal that destroyed your home is transgender!

I just think he has transmasc "I'm like a boy if a boy was a girl" vibes. Real gendercreative. Sun & moon type of bitch.

[hellkeepers-if]

DEMO (prologue out) UPDATES

Set in an alternate version of Singapore, you're a fresh university graduate bumbling through life as you desperately look for a job.

...Or that's what your mother thinks. In a world where occult ceremonies are as common as an existential crisis, there's no way you were ever going to be a perfectly average office worker. Just like your twin brother, you work for the International Society Of Exorcists (ISOE) which deals with supernatural occurrences, demonic rituals, and the like.

When a tragic event befalls your older sister, it uproots your entire life and everything you ever knew about the supernatural. With it, comes a forced need to come to terms with a family history straight out of the movies. 

After all, how the hell did it take twenty years to find out that you're descended from the freaking king of the underworld?

"I have a duty to myself, but more importantly, my family."

——————

Inspired by Supernatural, Fullmetal Alchemist, Noragami, and the Percy Jackson series, Hellkeepers is a +18 urban fantasy/paranormal interactive fiction, involving elements of Chinese and Southeast-Asian mythology. In every playthrough, you will...

• Play as a female, male, or non-binary Chinese demigod/ess.

• Determine the relationships between you and your family members. After all, they will play a big part in your story...

• Peel apart the full truth behind you and your siblings' birthright. Your parents can't hide it forever.

• Learn more about Chinese and Southeast Asian mythology as you warp into different dimensions, unlike anything you've seen before.

• Learn more about who you were in your past life.

| Nishimura Kazuo (he/him)

Age: 26

Ethnicity: Japanese

With a penchant for mischief and a charm that woos even the most stubborn of grandmas, Kazu is the wildcard of your organization. You think he's an anarchist, and the only reason he's tied down to the ISOE is so that he has an excuse for whatever havoc he wreaks on the supernatural. 

The A-ranked exorcist is your colleague and your brother's mentor, though you rarely ever see him in his office. But if you ever need him for demon fighting, he'll be there. Most of the time.

"Mind taking that pesky thing out for me while I take a quick nap?"

| Quentin Khanh (Quan) (he/him)

Age: 25

Ethnicity: Vietnamese

Quentin, more affectionately known as Quan, was your childhood friend. After he moved overseas, the weekly texts you sent him fizzled into nothing but a lost friendship.

Since then, he's returned to Singapore as a forensics pathologist and researcher under your organisation. Whether you like it or not, you have to no choice but to work with him for most of your investigations.

"If your bribe doesn't involve a penthouse worth of money, don't talk to me."

| Reyna Aliyah Santos (she/her)

Age: 23

Ethnicity: Mixed (Filipino-Chinese)

You've never quite met someone like Reyna. A halfling with a demon mother and a human father. Being raised in Singapore all her life with little knowledge of her parents, it's natural that Reyna would come to the ISOE for help at the mere instance of a fox tail and white fur.

You've been tasked to help her mask and get comfortable with her supernatural powers, but she won't make it easy for you. After all, foxes do bite. 

"Technically, I'm not stealing anything if they don't notice."

| Song Huayun (she/her)

Age: ????

Ethnicity: "Uhh...from Hell?" Chinese

| You don't know too much about Huayun, except for the fact that she lives in Diyu, the Chinese Underworld. As Diyu's gatekeeper, Huayun has seen countless depravities committed by humans before their deaths. That alone has made it hard for her to like them, and the contempt she shows you is no different than what she shows everyone else.

But with time, maybe she'll finally learn what it is like to feel human…and what a smile is.

"If it isn't the star of tonight's show. Welcome to Diyu."

| The Arbiter of Fate (m/f)

Theyre a stranger, or so you say. But this deity knows everyone...especially you.

[aretheyqueer]

List of Canonically Trans/gnc Characters

My own list in this post is anime, manga, games mostly but in the spreadsheet you can add anything.

Following my tierlist of them, I realized I should make a public list so theyre not just kept in my head, since I spent quite a while finding these characters. If you want to watch/play anything with trans or gnc characters, you can use this list.

They range from good rep to bad, characters viewed as "traps" or not taken seriously to ones that the whole fandom understands is trans. I've added trigger warnings to the characters and fandoms I know can be triggering. I've also put certain names in bold to show that they're a main character, but i've only watched a few on this list so some are missing.

I would add trigger warnings for "bury your gays" and similar tropes, but I want to avoid spoilers. Maybe you can look it up first if you're worried. I've tried to exclude characters that are referred to as hermaphrodites.

The "crossdressers" section obviously includes some spoilers.

Enjoy :D

Transfem

Alice Arisuin from Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Prefers feminine name and terms but doesn't care too much).

Arachne from Angel Sanctuary

Arashi Narukami from Ensemble Stars

Astolfo from the Fate/Grand series

Leonardo Da Vinci from the Fate/Grand series (unsure)

Cassandra Igarashi from The Wicked + The Divine

Dahlia Carpenter from Carole & Tuesday

Victoria October from Batman

Elendira the Crimsonnail from Trigun Stampede

Giselle Gewelle from Bleach (The fandom is very transphobic)

Grell from Black Butler (Unnecessarily debated)

Hana from Tokyo Godfathers

Okasan from Tokyo Godfathers (Could be a drag queen)

Hibari Oozora from Stop!! Hibari-kun!

Isabella Yamamoto from Paradise Kiss

Kanamori from Heaven's Design Team

Kano Ienaga from Golden Kamuy

Kaoru Anesagi from IDOLiSH7

Kaoru Hanase from Tamako Market (Speculated to be a trans woman)

Kenji Hikiishi from My Hero Academia

Kikinojo from One Piece

Mariandale/Marian from Ixion Saga DT

Mizuki Akiyama from Project Sekai (Heavily implied)

Momoko from Shangri-La

Kikyou Motoki from Itazura Na Kiss

Nao from Skip and Loafer

Nathan Seymour from Tiger & Bunny

Perfuma from She-Ra and the Princesses of power

Petrichor from Saga

Ruka Urushibara from Steins;Gate (Transphobic fandom)

Saber from the Fate/Grand series

Stephanie from Majutsushi Orphen

Ushiyama from All Worlds Alliance

Hiroyuki Yoshida from Wandering Son

Shuuichi Nitori from Wandering Son

Yuujirou Shiratori from The Highschool Life of a Fudanshi

Transmasc

Hachiro from Gintama

Kite from Japan Sinks: 2020

Kusuo Saiki from The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. (Turned himself into a boy when he was in the womb, otherwise never mentioned)

Ryo Watari from Boys Run the Riot

Shou Fujita from Stars Align (Very minor character)

Tooru Mutsuki from Tokyo Ghoul:re

Yamato from One Piece

Yawara Chatora from My Hero Academia

Yoshino Takatsuki from Wandering Son

Nonbinary

Anne Faulkner from Paradox Live

Asra from The Arcana

Alucard from Hellsing Ultimate (genderfluid)

Chaos from Hades

Berg Katze from Gatchaman Crowds (androgynous)

O. D. from Gatchaman Crowds

Daishikyou from Gintama

Chevalier D'Eon from Fate/Grand series

Enkidu/Lancer from Fate/Grand series (Inherently no gender/sex)

Double Trouble from She-Ra and the Princesses of power

Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist (can transform into any gender)

Francois from Dr. Stone

Halara Nightmare from Master Detective Archives: Rain Code

Hange from Attack on titan (Fandom mostly refers to them as female)

Ivankov Emporio from One Piece (i'm not sure what they identify as)

Juniper from Xenoblade Chronicles

Kaoruko Someya from Okane ga Nai (Okama)

Kimera from Kimera (nb or transfem)

Kyuubei Yagyuu (Born female, raised male so has an unconventional relationship with gender)

Vanitas of the Blue Moon from The Case Study of Vanitas

Milo Belladonna from Monster Prom

Mogumo from Love Me For Who I Am

Najimi Osana from Komi can't communicate (Unknown gender)

Nakuru Akizuki from Cardcaptor Sakura (Sexless, identifies as female)

Nico from Tokyo Ghoul (Okama)

Opera from Marimashita! Iruma-kun

Orochimaru from Naruto

Ryuuji Ayukawa from Blue Period (Unsure, can be gnc/transfem/nonbinary)

Satan from Devilman

Shion Zaiden from RWBY

Someone (yes thats their name) from Shimanami Tasogare

Xanthe Zhou from Prime Earth

Yuuta Asuka from Stars Align

Intersex

Asuka Ran from Devilman Lady

Luca Esposito from Asra Lost in Space (identifies as male)

Desmond from Carole & Tuesday (Became intersex due to universe stuff but is at peace with this)

Megumi Yoshikawa from Princess Princess (Raised male before she found out she was genetically female, decides to live as a girl)

Richard III from Requiem of the Rose King (Struggles with his intersexuality, feels his body and him are unloveable)

Yoite from Nabari no Ou (Lives as male but they're unsure of their gender)

Crossdressers

Aki from Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi

Azumi Agonoske from Gintama

Buzam A. Calessa from Vandread

Ferris from Re:Zero (I've heard that the novel version is transfem)

Haruhi Fujioka from Ouran high school host club (Nonbinary coded)

Ranka/Ryouji Fujioka from Ouran high school host club (Drag queen)

Hatsuka Suzushiro from Call of the Night

Hazumu Osaragi from Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl

Kurako from Kuragehime

Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4 (The reveal can be triggering)

Chihiro Fujisaki from Danganronpa (The reveal can be very triggering - I recommend looking it up first if you're worried.)

Nuriko from Fushigi Yuugi (Unsure)

Rui Ninomiya from Gatchaman (May be transfem)

Cis characters that are gnc

Haruka Tenou from Sailor Moon

Kaoru Orihara from Oniisama e... (not sure what gender)

Kashima Yuu from Monthly Girl's Nozaki-kun

Complicated

Angela from Black Butler (Changes form)

Berg Katse from Gatchaman (Changes form)

Fushi from To Your Eternity (Can change into female but presents masc)

Ginshu from Amatsuki (Raised male, turned genderless, dressed feminine. Idk their gender identity)

Inazuma from One Piece (Can present as both male and female, okama)

Izana Shinatose from Knights of Sidonia (Genderless to female due to universe rules)

Kou Seiya from Sailor Moon: Sailor Stars (Has a male and female form, I think)

Mahiro Oyama from Onimai: I'm Now Your Sister! (Was turned into a girl against his will)

Mermaid Sisters from Carole & Tuesday (I don't know, man...)

Natsuru Senou from Kämpfer (Transformed into a woman)

Shi Qingxuan from Heaven Officials Blessing (Can transform)

Ranma Saotome from Ranma (Changes between them)

Hinata Tachibana from Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout (Gets transformed into a girl, goes on a quest to get their original body back)

--------

If you see anyone missing, feel free to let me know if I should add them. Input on who is a main character, triggering themes and offensive characters can be commented or sent to me.

[monstersandmaw]

Male 'yautja' x female reader - alien 'reverse harem' - Chapter Two

Due to Patrons' enthusiasm over on Discord and your comments on the previous chapter (thank you!), here's the second chapter! As I said on Discord, this is gonna be a mix of reader POV and 'hunter'/yautja POV. I'm not giving away our friend's name in this one, but future 'hunter' chapters will have their names in. The next chapter is reader POV again, and we meet the rest of the crew.

Also there's this:

(text is a screenshot of a Discord message: Ghosti: It’s basically just an excuse for the reader to boink different aliens (sometimes more than one at once) but I’m really enjoying writing it so far.)

So yeah, this is just a fast track to 'how many aliens can the reader boink?'

Content in this chapter: young (but still adult) horny alien POV, self-deprecating attitude and self-worth issues, non-human anatomy referenced ('slick, sheath'), and his quite severely injured state continues...

Wordcount: 2690

<- previous chapter (free for anyone to read on Patreon)

Preview:

I wake slowly and painfully, blinking up at the ceiling of my ship and wondering how I came to be there, when the last thing I really remember was scrapping with the Enemy.

A series of rattling clicks rises in my throat and my mandibles twitch in indignation. Surely one of the others hasn't come to help me? It was my First Hunt, and they were honour-bound to let me make my first kill, or let me die trying! I had actually thought I was going to die when the Enemy’s tail spike punched through my gut like that. And my shoulder.

Actually, now that I think of it, I’m surprised that I’m alive enough to be surprised at all.

Fuck. Ouch.

Oh, fuck, my guts hurt.

Nothing in training ever hurt like this. It does hurt less than it did when it first happened though, and all because…

…because the human helped me.

Fuck.

Did this even count as a successful First Hunt if… No. I killed it. I ripped its damned head right off. I feel a growl rumble up from my chest and my mandibles flare. Nasty fucker. The growling makes my stomach hurt though, so I force it to stop.

Where is the human now?

Carefully, I sit up and discover that the healing gel has closed off the wounds and kick-started the healing process. My flesh beneath the hardened patches of gel feels itchy where my body is already knitting itself back together, and it’s so tender, but at least it’s healing. I’ve always hated feeling weak and small. Ever since I was a pup and I was made to feel less than worthy because of my runty size. Well fuck everyone who said I’d never make a Blooded Warrior. I’ve found my squad now and we hunt together. And now I’ve completed my First Hunt and killed an Enemy by myself. Even Stark tolerates me, though I can tell he still thought I wouldn't survive this hunt.

Well, I did it, so fuck him. Actually, if I know Stark, it’ll be the big guy getting fucked, not Stark himself. He’s the only one of us who never takes it. Whenever he fucks me, I always end up walking funny afterwards. Bastard. Gods, it always feels so good though…

Despite my injuries, my cock twitches deep in its sheath at the memory of getting pounded by Stark only a few days ago, and I groan. Now’s really not the time to think about being fucked. Alchemist is only a few years older than me, but no one else on our squad seems to have as high a sex drive as I do, damn it. The Old Man says it’s natural and healthy – desired even – in one my age, but I can’t help feeling a bit embarrassed that it takes quite so little to set me off. It’s not like I’m a randy adolescent in the communal barracks anymore. Gods, that was… inconvenient.

Fuck.

All the same, I’m halfway to slicking myself already at the mere memory of Stark’s aggressive snarls and the way his claws had actually punctured the skin at my hips while he drove his cock repeatedly into my dripping wet slit…

Fuck fuck fuck. Not now, you moron.

With another chittering sigh, I ignore the way my sheath is throbbing, and swing my legs off the bed before I leave a mess on the sheets. When my clawed paws hit the cold ceramic floor, I have a go at standing up. It takes me two goes, but I get myself upright eventually, and then I cast about for my helmet.

Read the whole thing right now on Patreon and get access to the 9k word monthly story, featuring a huge Shire centaur who tows the reader's truck for them when they break down...

[room-surprise]

Daydream Hour Page - How to make an Elven Communication Fairy (Homunculus)

I just did this using Google's machine translation tools, and I didn't clean it up, but you can get the gist of it. I saw Japanese fans on twitter going wild with this information the day the Daydream hour came out, so I already knew there was something about blood and semen, but it's so fun to get more information about how the fairies work!!!

Keep an eye on Savaralyn 's tumblr because I'm sure they'll post a better, cleaned up version of this soon, and reblog that one because it'll be easier to understand but... This is just so cool! The fairies are homunculus, and so the reason they look like their owners is because they're literally made of their semen (reproductive fluids) and fed their blood. Blood and semen and other body fluids are frequently used in real world magic or religious rituals so it's really cool that Kui is being unflinching about using it here, even if it's "gross" to us modern people... I love seeing it acknowledged in a fictional work! tl;dr alchemists used to believe that there was A Little Man inside the sperm but because the baby sometimes looks like the mother, they are absorbing traits from her through the Blood.... and so if they can make a baby Only With Sperm they can make a little man 100% in their own image. But Dungeon Meshi and especially the elves don't seem to have the same sexism that we have in the real world... Real world alchemists wouldn't think about how women are supposed to do alchemy without semen, they just would exclude women I'm pretty sure, but elves don't seem to exclude female elves so, how are female elves getting their fairies? Either: - Only male elves can make a fairy and so they construct them for female elves. - Female elves need to get semen from a male elf (or whoever, does it have to be elven semen?) to make their fairies. - Female elves use female ejaculate (Ryoko Kui confirming female ejaculation real in Dungeon Meshi universe??? Joking) - Female elves use menstrual fluid that has a shed egg in it instead of semen (equivalent reproductive fluid to male semen)

If you have to get someone else's semen for your fairy does it not look like you? Does it look like a mix because you use your blood and their semen? Does the blood need to be regularly given to power the fairy? What if someone doesn't have enough mana - can Tallmen make fairies? Would they be able to make a fairy if they had an extra mana source (like a dungeon, or an elf) to regularly feed the fairy blood?

This is just such a cool bit of worldbuilding in such an unlikely place!!! Everything in Dungeon Meshi is so fascinating. I can't wait to get my Daydream hour in the mail from Japan. In case you haven't seen it, here's the other page we've gotten on the fairies:

As you can see, only Mithrun and the Queen's fairies look substantially different from them. Possibly the queen's bodily fluids are too sacred/precious to be used in this manner? What if somebody tries to usurp the throne or something (more problematic with a male ruler but still an issue if you have magic maybe...) and Mithrun... well, hard to get semen out of him. So his may be made by someone else but fed by him with his blood? (Could have been grown from a donation by his brother? The hair color is right but not the eyes... but Mithrun's blood may be influencing the appearance?)

[kaethefangirl]

And I'm back, women in anime are depicted so terribly its wild. I just wanted to come and say, fuck elizabeth (nnt/7ds), fuck orihime (bleach), and fuck hinata (naruto, but fuck her a little less cs i kind of like her)

It makes me angry that in almost every shonen, the main character has a personality and a life and things that they go through and have to overcome... and then theres the love interest. Always airheaded, always soft spoken, always kind, with no willpower at all. In bleach, I would ship rukia with ichigo so hard if she wasn't perfect with renji.

Bleach was actually insane because literally every female character had a personaltity except Orihime. I do like that Fairy tail is set apart from the rest because Lucy is kind of sort of the main character so she gets to have a personality too. Fanservice is like an obvious thing that I hate about anime and it takes away so much. If an anime was a 10 before factoring the fan service, it would be brought down to a 7 or 6 afterward. Orihime sucks over all, 2/10 love interest.

I'm pretty sure most of my hate of Winry (Fullmetal Alchemist) is stemmed from the countless anti-winry fanfiction I've read but she's a great standalone character. The only flaws I see in her is that she does the crying for the male mc thing, which is really out of character for her when I think about it. She has willpower, she's strong and independent, if anything she'd be travelling with them and staying strong for them because she understands that she's a liability if she breaks down crying at every bruise they get. That's more in character to me, but I suppose she is also a teenager so... I can't be too mad at her. All in all, Winry is an amazing female love interest. 9/10 love interst/mc.

Haruhi from Ouran Highschool really breaks the stereotype and gives us a refreshing view on women in anime. She wasn't obsessed with love, she didn't really care too much about anything. She wasn't the typical "yells at you for literally anything" female mc, or the "nice shy and airheaded" female mc. She wasn't even unique and I love that, she's genuinely a regular ass girl, and she was so hilarious. She's probably my favorite girl in anime if I'm being honest. 10/10 female love interest/mc.

Let's talk about Elizabeth. Elizabeth from 7ds is such a disgrace.. She sat and let Meliodas molest her and didn't care at all. You can tell when an anime is written by a man, and not to knock ALL anime written by men because there's some amazing ones out there, but things like that just make it so obvious. Diane and her obsession with Meliodas was weird too, it seemed a bit too much like a harem anime in season 1 and bits of season 2. Elizabeth was the typical soft spoken and overly kind love interest that I hate. Not a drop of personality there and then she has to blush with everything she says.. All in all, 0/10 love interest.

Last but not least, my dear Tohru Honda... Words cannot describe how much I love her. On the outside it looked like she was the typical soft spoken and overly kind female mc but she actually blew my mind. Her willpower is incredible, the fact that she stayed after finding out what Kyo really was and refused to leave. It wasn't a weird kind of moment where she was just blushing and refusing to leave because that's what the writers decided she was gonna do, but it was actually a great scene that showed who she was at her core. I loved how at the end of the series she disagreed with Kyo. "I might be nice but I do stand my ground." God, I love Tohru. It's like her kindness was genuine and real and so was her worry and concern for the Sohmas. All in all, 10/10 female love interest/mc.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Lily's views on action shows are very confusing. She wants to see female protagonists mow through their enemies with ease, and the second there's any kind of conflict, she'll either complain about characters moping like Luz from The Owl House, or claim that a character being hurt in an action show is being "tortured" like Korra.

Which you know, is a little eyebrow raising when you look at Lily's own writing, mainly her Star Wars fanfic. Didn't Aliana get injured more then once, even needing a prosphetic??? Does this not count as writing torture porn by Lily's logic. After all, if a character gets hurt in any way in her eyes, its either torture porn, a fetish or something along those lines. Or is it another Lily's allowed to do it because insert how she does it better then any other writers....I mean I ain't gonna lie, I'd watch Fullmetal Alchemist over reading Lily's writing if I wanted disabled characters at this point, given how I swear Aliana's prosphetic took its sweet time showing up in art drawn for the fic, let alone how she depicts other disabilities in other writing.... And I would point out how Lily TECHNICALLY reduced Rey to being depressed forever when with Aliana when she's out here acting like Luz being slowly depressed over everything is bad....but I'm pretty sure Rey being depressed in the fic is a fetish for Lily because...Aliana never does anything about it and seems to enjoy the smell of Rey when Rey's not showered at all, let alone thought it was good to say Rey would just end her life when Aliana died, acting like Rey has nothing left to live for and the couples kids and grandkids would be fine with it....so if anything, I wonder if Lily hates Owl House for Luz being depressed for a bit because its not depicted in a romantic light like Lily does in her writing, its depicted as a bad state for Luz that she eventually gets out off. The same going for Korra actually now that I think about it. It's never once depicted in a light that Lily herself can romantize or fetish. Korra is in constant pain in the torture moments and has PTSD from it, PTSD she has to slowly recover enough from so she can be the avatar again. Lily saying the writers/animators enjoyed doing the scene, acting like they into torture porn is major projection on Lily's part, but also clearly her being mad the show doesn't give into her fetishes.

But like beyond fetishes....Lily and action shows is just: *Lore? Bad. *Plot? Bad. *Male characters who are white? Bad. *If your character struggles and gets injured and shit? TORTURE PORN. Like it'd be one thing if she just said she didn't like the damn shit shes talking about, but no, she just makes up bullshit and acts like she's right and if you disagree, your insert whatever thing she can come up with.

[olderthannetfic]

I know about the origins of the Bechdel Test, but I do think it's inaccurate to say it's not meant as a criticism of movies that don't do that. I think that when people stop thinking in binary terms of "is this feminist?" or "is this anti-feminist?" and instead look at things more holistically, that you can recognize both that a character like Mako Mori is great, a step in the right direction for female characters in action movies and especially WOC, go forth and stan her and write all the fanfic you want.... but yeah, it is also a valid criticism of the movie (and many others like it) that she doesn't talk to or have relationships with any other woman in the film.

I think one thing to help people realize just HOW much of women's lives are being left out of media representation when we never talk to other named women about something other than a man in movies, is to just think about your own life. I talk to my mom every day, and if we are not talking about my stepdad or my brother-in-law (and I don't think we've ever had a conversation that wasn't at least IN PART not about them or another man), then it passes the test. I'm a professor and when I talk to a female student about her homework or project (which is, again, something that happens pretty much every day I teach), that's passing the test. If I order food from a female cashier and she has a name tag, that's passing the Bechdel Test! It's literally just constant for the vast majority of women on the planet, and that's what's being left out of our stories.

Like, I like the takes I've seen about how part of the joke in Dykes to Watch Out For is that this is *particularly* alienating to lesbians - as a lesbian myself I agree - but I also think it should be frustrating to straight and bi and ace women as well, because like unless you are like exclusively interacting with your husband or male relatives every single day + you work in a workplace where you are literally the only woman, you are almost certainly passing the test constantly. That's a pretty big part of women's lives that Hollywood is leaving out!

But I think it's important to view it as just one piece of the discussion about feminism and women's representation in film, not the final judge on if a film is feminist or not. Which it wasn't intended to be - as you said, it was mostly a joke on the extreme maleness of 80s action movies. Honestly, I do not miss those days on Tumblr where people were obsessed with declaring certain movies/TV shows/other fandoms they liked as "feminist" or "anti-feminist" and the really bizarre granular discussions people would have between two works that BOTH had a long way to go in terms of representing women. I remember people in the Fullmetal Alchemist fandom would use this to argue about if the original anime or Brotherhood/the manga was better - when both have some fantastic female supporting characters, but are ultimately male-centered stories where even a lot of those women's lives and stories are centered around their male love interests and family members. It's better than a lot of shounen, but if that's your bar for feminism - either version - you have a long way to go (and need to watch WAY more anime because there's sooooo much of it that is female-centric). I also remember people coming up with other tests that were blatantly silly: like I thought the Mako Mori test about "if a woman has a motivation/story that isn't centered on a man" was fair because it did point out a legitimate criticism, but there was that ridiculous "Tauriel Test" where it was "a woman who is good at her job." And it was entirely about someone just disliking that movie critics and feminist commentators alike were down on the Hobbit movie trilogy, which a) were bad movies, sorry you have bad taste, b) are absolutely not where you should focus your attention if you're so concerned about women's representation in film, Tolkein has always been a sausage fest! And her big thing was being mad that people thought Judi Dench's M in Skyfall was a better female character, and so she arbitrarily decided she was "bad at her job" and Tauriel was "good at her job" even though that's completely subjective and can be challenged in both cases.... but also, once again, why are you looking to the fucking JAMES BOND franchise for movie feminism! There's nothing like comparing the relative "feminism levels" of JAMES BOND and LOTR to make it obvious that this is 100% about validating your subjective taste preferences by giving it a "progressive" excuse, not actually about feminism and not actually caring about women's representation beyond how it makes you look good. And yet SO many people took that transparently stupid post seriously. I'd see professional articles mention the Tauriel Test as "one of the new tests" like there was anything serious about it.

And then on the flip side, over-reliance on the Bechdel Test alone led to some clueless conclusions especially in anime fandom, given that anime has an abundance of shows that exclusively feature female characters in school clubs being cute, where those characters are nonetheless two-dimensional archetypes designed for the male gaze. Someone like fandomsandfeminism did a presentation at an anime con that called one of those types of shows "feminist" and some Japanese user eviscerated it, but that just led to the equally shallow fandom analysis of "everything a Japanese person says about anime is automatically more valid" and "any Westerner who wants to criticize anime on feminist/progressive grounds is culturally appropriating and ultimately coming from a place of ignorance, even if they literally have a degree in Asian studies."

Wow, this turned into a rant about the history of bad "feminist media criticism" on this website. Sorry about that, I think I had a point in here somewhere. I guess that the Bechdel Test is indeed a joke and those origins should be understood, but also, I don't think it's wrong to say that it identifies a real problem and one that people could probably take MORE seriously than they do - but as just one part of the conversation, not the Feminism Litmus Test, and certainly not as a dick-measuring contest about whose fandom gets them more progressive brownie points.

--

I think as long as we grasp that the joke is "The bar is so far under the ground that we might as well go home and eat popcorn there", it's fine.

The real issue with the test is that people started thinking a pass was meaningful.

If you say something like "X% of 2020s movies can't even manage this weaksauce level of women existing", that's a meaningful statistic. Even if you got a couple of data points wrong, you're not factually wrong enough for it to matter because X is going to be some massive, massive percentage, and the overall trend is so clear.

But a pass is nothing to celebrate, and that's where we went wrong.

Like you say, litigating which of two big franchises that barely do anything with women wins on tumblr points is idiocy.

I think people are so unaware of what media that genuinely centers women even looks like that it's hard for them to even begin having a discussion.

I personally have been a massive fujoshi type from adolescence, and media that centers female characters isn't actually what I typically want. (Though media that is by and for women and that doesn't give a fuck what men think of this is.) I am also not much of a fan of slice of life in general...

But when I was coming out and figuring my shit out, being able to go buy collections of Dykes to Watch Out For was incredibly valuable to me.

Ditto the other lesbian comic books that were just sitting there in the bookstore. I'm sure if I went back and reread them all now, I could find things to nitpick or ways they were more for lesbians and less for me as a bi girl, but the really distinctive thing they did was let me exist in a world where media isn't all 80s sausagefest action movies where women are not people.

In fact, they were a world where men don't matter terribly much—not because they're dramatically rejecting men in some facile and reactionary way but because... who cares? They just had other priorities... and this was normal.

It feels like people who've never taken a vacation from really mainstream media just have no concept of what it would feel like to exist in some other space.

And I think that's a pity even if, like me, they later choose to go read mostly BL later instead of focusing on female characters or they genuinely love trash 80s action movies despite everything wrong with them. It's not just sexist media that's the issue: it's that feeling like the fish can't see the water it's swimming in.

[limetameta]

been thinking abt my fmab hunger games au all day and its so convoluted lmao

So there's three timelines we gotta explain right away

First timeline:

Riza Hawkeye won a la guns (in this au u get weapons and can use alchemy) thus became the victor for her district (like the equivalent of district 12 but i cant be bothered to have 24 ppl in a cast therefore we splitting this as arakawa intended- east district)

Second timeline:

Edward Elric was reaped. Al could not volunteer because he knew that if the capitol (aka central) ppl find out about his body theyd not only punish him but theyd probably also kill ed for comitting the taboo

Now!

It's WINRY who volunteers for some random girl because she is eds mechanic!! And he can't survive out there without her!! She is doing this for you Ed!

Riza is their haymitch. Roy Mustang, exists in this au but I'm torn between two routes for him

He's like a Gale character for Riza but the reason why he didn't volunteer to be alongside Riza for her HG was because he was too old by that point. Riza was like 18 when she got reaped.

Roy Mustang is a capitol boy who is the main schmoozing bitch that gets riza all her sponsors because that woman has 0 rizz. Effie but a man whore.

Ed and Winry win much alike Katniss and Peeta do in the first HG. I don't care for this. My fic would start with the 2nd quarter quell when all of the previous winners gotta fight.

Third timeline:

Winry gets chosen for the 75th HG. Riza steps up for her. They know she won't be this lucky again how she was last time.

Ed is the only East District male tribute.

Reason why riza stepped up is because these hunger games are going to be a bloodbath.

Olivier and Alex Armstrong will he competing. And they're careerists. (See this is where it gets kinda weird how to plan because if I have Central be capitol then that means we can't have Armstrong in this but which district would I put them in if I can't have this- lmao Olivier and Miles as North District tributes maybe - Miles may have volunteered for Alex because Alex came out of his HG completely traumatised (much alike in ishval))

Comanche and Izumi from the south district (also careerists or just built like that lmao)

And that just leaves us with the West District

This random boy gets reaped but oh! Oh! Don't worry - because there's someone who REALLY wants back in that arena! The one and only Crimson Lotus (that man would RELISH in all of the fanfare and the centre of attention he'd play the game very well and would always be like: no fair, why are we doing this w kids we should invent a new hg for us :/ (lmaooo a sponsor sent him a ph stone during his initial hg could u believe that and then he went ham thatd be so funny honestly)

Anyway Sheska is the female tribute because plot reasons.

Ishval is its own district let's say and we get Scar (volunteered for his brother in his first games and now is the only male tribute from the Victors)

I guess an OC there aren't a lot of female characters to choose from.

Anyway I love my pandemonium *kicks legs* it'd be so fucked up especially because I have ideas how to nerf the alchemists to make them more equal with the regulars when they're running for that cornucopia.

[nerdgirlriot]

back in the early days of my anime weebdom i, of course, spent a lot of that time obsessed with Fullmetal Alchemist. I stumbled upon an Edward cosplayer, but the person was wearing a facemask that covered their entire head, like mascots or Disney meet n' greet characters. And they looked so convincing, as if Edward Elric was inhabiting a 3D space for the first time. I was kind of enamored with how this was done. I did research on what sort of cosplay this was, how the masks were made, etc.

I will ramble a lot here, and also include a lot of pics of my own kigurumi cosplay. Because enamored.

Note: This got REALLY long, really quickly. Sorry! Be warned!

I found out that this was called kigurumi, and the style of costuming was actually pretty common in Japan, where anime meet n' greet characters often had this style of mask.

And yes, I figured out that it was a kink pretty quick.

I'm gonna ignore that for the most part but I'm certain that 99% of all kigurumi cosplayers are male enthusiasts as female characters. I even think that most female kigurumi cosplayers have female characters. Because female characters are ADORABLE and I agree! I would love to do a female kig cosplay eventually.

But first, a part of my weeb brain was transfixed by that Edward kig cosplay.

My research back then led me to believe that a kigurumi mask would be too cost-prohibitive. All masks had to be custom-made from resin and hand-painted. The work would probably cost close to $1000 and I gave up on my dream cosplay quest pretty fast.

Fast forward to this year, and during the time I was looking at Etsy for my Spider-Gwen cosplay, I got recommended a store that had kigurumi masks. In the ensuing years since my initial research, kigurumi masks have gotten less cost prohibitive. 3D printing means that the masks don't have to be hand-made. There are even small companies which mass-produce base masks ready to be customized, and this is what the Etsy seller uses to make their masks.

I was still enamored, and eventually, thanks to a sale (and thanks to also THE NEWS HAPPENING EVERYWHERE) I decided to just take the plunge and purchase a mask. I wish to be happy in the face of possible apocalypse. Instead of going for a custom for my first mask, i got one of the seller's pre-made, more generic designs. But after wearing this first mask, I might be hooked.

It might be a problem.

Initially I based my kig's look on Billie Joe Armstrong during Green Day’s American Idiot era. Short sleeve black shirt, red necktie, wristbands. The mask had black hair and red/pinkish eyes which I thought would go well with the clothes.

More research. I got a bodysuit because with short-sleeves, my skin would be exposed, and the illusion would be ruined. The suit is just a top. Head and arms are completely covered. I got a men's shirt which fits my smaller frame. A short necktie.

Oh yeah, and then there's the boobs.

But I've always been small in the chest, so a sports bra was enough. I've heard that many female cosplayers use chest binders when they crossplay but I guess I should be happy for my less than ample bosom, at least in terms of crossplaying.

What would be difficult for me is hiding my hips. I have very curvy hips and I know if I ever decide to take this guy out in public i will have to conceal them somehow. Probably padding around the stomach to de-emphasize them but that's not a now issue.

The mask itself actually has decent visibility, which I was surprised with. You look through the character's eyes. They're basically sunglass lenses with the pupils printed on them, so no one can see in but you can see out. No peripheral vision to speak of, but that's true of all full face masks.

And here's the initial cosplay test, sans the wristbands because i was so excited to do this I forgot to wear them. He needs a name, though. I'm leaning towards Billie-kun to name him after one of his main inspirations.

It's thrilling to wear a cosplay that you've taken time to put together. I've done multiple femme!Doctors, but this is the first time I've really crossplayed and it feels FUN in ways that the other cosplays didn't. Truly hiding one's identity behind a mask, truly embodying this character.

Edward Elric in 3D vibes. I found it again. 15+ years after my initial encounter with kigurumi.

EDIT: OMG I FOUND THE EDWARD ELRIC KIG COSPLAY PAGE

Gonna indulge in some more photos.

This was the first photo taken. You can't tell how much I was vibrating with excitement:

I have precious few things of clothing that would be appropriate for a male character, but this coat seemed fine:

Me realizing that I could see out of the character's eyes for real:

Pondering whether I should just be a bishie forever to mentally prepare myself for the horrors:

With the wristbands finally. I like how much more the red pops against the black:

No tie because SOMEONE had to go and break the adjustable bit in their excitement to put things on:

Found a hoodie that matched well:

With t-shirt of our lord and savior Hitori Gotoh from Bocchi the Rock:

If you've read through this entire damn thing, thank you very much for sharing my journey into kigurumi cosplay. I still would like to someday do that Edward cosplay but there's so many other possibilities, male and female, that I'd love to try.

Orrrrr Billie-kun could just be a one-off, unicorn of a bishie who is too perfect and can never be duplicated or replaced

GIFs because reasons

[argentvive]

Taylor Swift's "The Alchemy"

When the setlist came out and "The Alchemy" was on it, I posted that I wondered if the song might actually be literary alchemy. Now that the new album is out and I've seen the lyrics, I have to say I don't think it is. I have a few thoughts, though. Here are the lyrics.

This happens once every few lifetimes These chemicals hit me like white wine What if I told you I'm back? The hospital was a drag Worst sleep that I ever had I circled you on a map I haven't come around in so long But I'm coming back so strong

[Chorus] So when I touch down Call the amateurs and cut 'em from the team Ditch the clowns, get the crown Baby, I'm the one to beat 'Cause the sign on your heart Said it's still reserved for me Honestly, who are we to fight thе alchemy?

[Verse 2] Hey, you, what if I told you we'rе cool? That child's play back in school Is forgiven under my rule I haven't come around in so long But I'm making a comeback to where I belong

[Chorus] So when I touch down Call the amateurs and cut 'em from the team Ditch the clowns, get the crown Baby, I'm the one to beat 'Cause the sign on your heart Said it's still reserved for me Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy? These blokes warm the benches We've been on a winning streak He jokes that it's heroin, but this time with an "E" 'Cause the sign on your heart Said it's still reserved for me Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?

[Bridge] Shirts off and your friends lift you up over their heads Beer stickin' to the floor, cheers chanted 'cause they said "There was no chance trying to be the greatest in the league" Where's the trophy? He just comes runnin' over to me

[Chorus] Touchdown Call the amateurs and cut 'em from the team Ditch the clowns, get the crown Baby, I'm the one to beat 'Cause the sign on your heart Said it's still reserved for me Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy? These blokes warm the benches We've been on a winning streak He jokes that it's heroin, but this time with an "E" 'Cause the sign on your heart Said it's still reserved for me Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?

[Outro] This happens once every few lifetimes These chemicals hit me like white wine

The words "the alchemy" appear several times, but always in the same phrase, "who are we to fight the alchemy?" Why use that somewhat esoteric word rather than just "chemistry" or "destiny," both also three syllables? The short answer is that I think she wants to be more indirect, mysterious, but that her intended meaning is pretty close to "destiny."

What Is Alchemy?

There have been some pretty wild takes on this in the TTPD discourse--and maybe some of them even align with what Swift thinks. But if you want to go back to the original meaning of alchemy in the Western tradition, Michael Maier's diagram on the creation of the Philosopher's Stone is a good place to start (Atalanta fugiens, Emblem 21).

The alchemist (on the left) joins together the Male Principle of the Work, who corresponds to fire and air, sun, red king, heart, etc., and the Female Principle of the Work, who corresponds to earth and water, moon, white queen, mind, etc. The Male and Female are opposites. Their reconciliation and joining creates the Philosopher's Stone, a red or red-purple stone. The alchemist then projects that Stone onto base metals to convert them to gold.

(The popular idea of alchemy is that the alchemist bends over and boils a chunk of lead in his cauldron and converts it directly to gold, omitting the creation of the Philosopher's Stone entirely.)

In any case, the key idea is that the alchemist is in charge; the Male and Female Principles are passive in the process. It seems that that idea survives in Swift's line "Who are we to fight the alchemy?" In other words, she and her partner are destined to be together by forces beyond their control.

She could have simply said ""fight destiny"--or "fight our destiny," to keep the same number of syllables. But she didn't. What else does she get from using the word "alchemy"? Most fundamentally, alchemy is transformation. If she knows that, then the song is suggesting that the lovers coming together is transforming them, elevating them to gold.

I'm sure this is a coincidence, but in the two lines before "Who are we to fight the alchemy," Swift's lover is marked as heart.

Cause the sign on your heart Said it's still reserved for me

As noted above, "heart" is a defining characteristic of the Male Principle of the Work. She doesn't define herself as "mind," though, at least not in this song. (You could read her reference to knowing Aristotle, in "So High School," that way.)

Another coincidental alchemy reference is in the line "ditch the clowns, get the crown." The Male Principle is often called the Red King (and the Female Principle the White Queen). You could read this line as her telling her partner to get the crown of the Red King. Or, you could just say it's a reference to the Super Bowl.

Trismosin, Splendor Solis.

If you believe that the song is about Travis Kelce, then the Kansas City Chiefs' colours being red and gold work wonderfully well with alchemy: red, the colour of the Philosopher's Stone, and gold, the objective of the alchemical process.

[aurorawest]

Reading update

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers - 3.75/5 stars

I hate myself a little bit for using this word to describe this book, but it's a meditation on modern (western) culture, the drumbeat of living a purposeful life, and, imo, the millennial condition.

It also, separately from that, made me think of the song 'New Constellations' by Ryn Weaver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13EX7qGdUGI

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles - 5/5 stars

This book features Gareth Inglis, a member of the gentry whose father shipped him off to his uncle when his mother died. Gareth never saw or heard from his father (who remarried and had another child) again, and no one knew he existed because his father was a piece of human garbage. Which meant I couldn't stop thinking about my former father-in-law, who had two sons from his first marriage whom he, as far as I could tell, never had any contact with after remarrying and having another child. Life imitates art?

Anyway, it's KJ Charles, so you pretty much can't go wrong. I saw someone refer to this as enemies-to-lovers and realized my toxic trait is railing against people who want to apply enemies-to-lovers to everything. Spoiler alert, this is not enemies-to-lovers. But it is lovely, and includes Gareth and Joss Doomsday (a smuggler) bonding over beetles.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by SA Chakraborty - 4.5/5 stars

It was no Daevabad Trilogy, but then again, I remember finishing City of Brass and being like, yeah, it was fine, I'll probably pick up the sequel at some point. It wasn't until Kingdom of Copper that I grew to really love the series, so I'm hoping the same happens with this. This book was a lot of fun, and the fact that all the characters were middle-aged was pretty delightful. I'm definitely excited to see where this series goes.

The Long Run by James Acker - 5/5 stars

Excellent YA book about two lonely jocks in New Jersey.

Feel the Fire by Annabeth Albert - 3.75/5 stars

His Accidental Cowboy by AM Arthur - 4/5 stars

Brida by Paul Coelho - 1/5 stars

One of the reviews for this book on Storygraph says it 'aged like milk' and I can't put it better than that. This is a soul mate AU where souls undergo cell division, essentially, and your soul mate is from your same base soul from before the soul split in half. Okay, great. Oh but wait, the soul always divides into male and female. And your soul mate is always someone of the opposite sex, even though that doesn't make sense because as souls divide again and again, that means there are a lot of people out there who came from the same original soul as you. Also, witchcraft? Also also, even though the book is called Brida and is ostensibly about the title character, her whole journey was really just to serve the unnamed male character, the Magus. This isn't implicit either, it's completely explicit. At the end it's like, 'sometimes young women come along to show men the way' (I'm paraphrasing but...not much).

This went straight to my give away pile, and I hated it so much that the rest of my Coelho books joined it (except The Alchemist).

Enlightened by Joanna Chambers - 5/5 stars

Or, For The Love Of God Please Give David Lauriston And Murdo Balfour A Break, And Preferably A Happy Ending.

They got one, btw.

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao - DNF

Honestly, the Mad Libs YA title should have warned me off of this one, but I always give my Illumicrate books a try. Cartoonish villains and protagonists I find myself liking less the more we get to know them. The prose is quite good but not enough to make up for the character deficiencies.

Solomon's Crown by Natasha Siegel - 5/5 stars

Blurbed by no less than Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness supremacy!), Rainbow Rowell, Freya Marske, and CS Pacat. Did I go into this book with insanely high expectations? Yes. Did it mostly meet them? Yes! If you're a Captive Prince fan, this one's for you.

Siegel tells us up front, before the book even starts, that it's a romance and not historically accurate. So don't go into this expecting a historically accurate love story between King Richard of England and King Philip of France. It is, however, a gorgeous romance. The world-building is top notch. Even if it's not totally accurate to the High Middle Ages, it feels accurate, if that makes sense? Siegel really captures the feeling of being in a different world. Lush writing, amazing sexual/romantic tension, lovely sad boys. Highly, highly recommend.

Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots by Cat Sebastian - 4.75/5 stars

I docked .25 stars because it bugged me that they didn't move in together at the end. Idk, just felt too 'look, I'm subverting romance conventions!' Still good, obviously.

Like Real People Do by EL Massey - 4/5 stars

A very wholesome and low stakes hockey romance. I found myself often thinking that the interactions of the men on the hockey teams seemed unrealistic, but it was charming and sweet enough that I didn't care.

The book reads like fanfiction, which is because it was fanfiction—but it's in a mostly good way, not a bad way (*cough* All The Way Happy *cough*). Apparently the original version was Check, Please! fanfiction, which I am vaguely familiar with as a thing that exists. Apparently it's a web comic? Anyway, I enjoyed the book enough to pick up the sequel.

[novelmonger]

For the character ask: 4 for Steve Rogers, 5 for Al, 8 for Winry, 12 for Mustang, 18 for Hawkeye, and 25 for Ed, please?

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in? (Steve Rogers)

A book. Written by me. It would be called Whole Shards :)

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them? (Alphonse Elric)

"Faceless" by Red

I'm not, I'm not myself Feel like I'm someone else Fallen and faceless So hollow, hollow inside A part of me is dead Need you to live again Can you replace this I'm hollow, hollow and faceless

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise? (Winry Rockbell)

Hmm...I can't really think of anything too heinous the fandom does, except maybe forget about her? ^^' Especially when shipping Ed with somebody else. Shippers are gonna ship, but I often feel like there's a gaping hole left behind when they don't account for where Winry is and why she's not upset about Ed going after someone else.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character? (Roy Mustang)

We're told that he was raised by Madame Christmas, but I like to headcanon that she also adopted all the women who work in her bar and become Roy's intelligence network when they go on their fake dates. So Roy grew up in a highly unconventional setting with a dozen adopted older sisters, all orphaned or abandoned. He goes from a female-dominated living situation to a male-dominated one when he joins the military XD

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire? (Riza Hawkeye)

Royai. Are both Mustang and Hawkeye a bundle of issues? Is Hawkeye in particular perhaps unhealthily dependent on Mustang, to the point that if he were to die, she would kill herself? Yes. But their complete and utter devotion to one another, and the way they show love to each other in a thousand ways without being able to even hint at the way they really feel, is something I've always admired.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now? (Edward Elric)

Looooool, my introduction to Edward Elric was a fanart depicting him as an angel holding a claymore XD When my brother showed it to me, I was like, "Okay, we have to watch this Full Metal Alchemist thing now!"

Naturally, we soon discovered that particular fanart was more...imaginative than we realized at first. But by then we were hooked anyway. Now, obviously, I don't think of Ed as an avenging angel :P He's still inspiring and heroic, but now I also know him as a total dork with a bundle of issues, but also the biggest heart for his little brother you could possibly imagine <3

Character ask game

[northern-passage]

I assume you get a lot of questions of people asking if you have read/played witcher and if tnp is inspired by it, so instead can I annoy you with a different question?

Have you ever heard of the manga(or the unfinished anime) Claymore?

It's about an order of half mutant women who hunt Yoma(humanoid shapeshifters that prey on humans)

Due to having half yoma blood, their powers are very unstable and they can transform into creatures even more dangerous than the ones they hunt, the monster designs in the later parts of the story get very creative.

Not even asking if tnp draws any inspiration from it, just curious if you have ever heard of it.

ah yes.... my nemesis, the witcher...

i was just talking about this with someone the other day actually, i always find it interesting that people compare it to the witcher but no one ever says anything about grey wardens, which is actually where i got most of my inspiration from. it will probably become more obvious as the story continues... but i suppose the witcher did influence it in some way, just probably not in the way most people think... i could never get into it (sorry everyone i find geralt to be the most boring protagonist alive and could never connect with him) and i barely managed to get through even an hour of both the first and third games combined. tnp is kind of my response to a lot of the genre being quite boring and male-power-fantasy centric... so in that way, the witcher did inspire it, hahaha.

anyways, as for your question, i have not heard of it, actually! i can't say i'm a big fan of the human character designs (where are their organs and how is she lifting that sword with those twig arms) but to be fair i feel that way about a lot of animation in general when it comes to female designs. that being said i actually think the art style is pulled off better in the manga than in the anime, and i like the look of a lot of the monster designs. i really like whatever the hell is going on here:

some of the designs remind me of H.R. Giger's work which i always love to see.

i don't really watch a lot of anime or read any manga, unfortunately. it's probably obvious that i have seen and read Fullmetal Alchemist, the way the hunter's transmuational alchemy works is directly inspired by it, but other than that i've only watched Cowboy Bebop and Wolf's Rain, which i both only saw when i was a teen.

thanks for telling me about this, i'll keep it in mind if i ever feel the itch to read some more manga. if nothing else i really liked checking out the art and the monsters :-)

[frankie-bell]

Mika has always been my favourite ever since she stepped in the scene.I have never been vocal about it because the fanbase collectively decided this 18yo scared girl is unforgivable and needs to be assaulted violently to pay for her crimes(?!).I am glad things have changed(somehow)as of late but I wish they never paired Mika with Ginoza.On top of men wishing assault on her now we have Ginoza fangirls going nuclear on her.I think people have such a hard time acknowledging her growth(which is one of the most profound in the series)because she’s being paired with a fandom fave male.There’s like 10 of us Mika fans did we really need the additional hate?This is not to hate on Ginoza of course.He’s good.I would just rather not have his fans on Mika’s case.

I totally get where you're coming from. Although I'm a hardcore GinoMika shipper, I hate how the writers pairing them together has resulted in even more Mika hate (as if my girl hasn't dealt with enough BS from this fandom). I touched on this briefly in my essay, but there's a troubling trend -- particularly in comics and anime -- of female fans vitriolically hating any woman who gets in the way of their yaoi ship or self-insert/OC ship. It's honestly super disturbing and demoralizing, and you see it in every fandom, from Psycho-Pass, to Attack on Titan, to Trigun, to Fullmetal Alchemist, to every American comic book that's ever existed. It doesn't matter how strong, complex, and multi-faceted a female character is; if she has the audacity to either (a) stand up to, disrespect, or disagree with the fandom's male fave or (b) fall in love with him, then she deserves to die a slow, painful death. [Note: I have nothing against self-shipping/OC-shipping, as long as those engaging in it aren't calling their faves' canon or canon-implied love interests "bitches" and wishing death upon them. Seriously, it isn't that hard.]

But you know what? I'm not gonna let those people win. I love Mika, I love Ginoza, and I especially love them together. And no matter how much the haters rage about GinoMika, I'm gonna keep shipping what I love. Toxic fangirls need to learn that you can't eradicate a pairing you don't like by clogging the tags with hate and bullying its fans. No one's saying you have to ship it, but at least have a modicum of respect for those of us who do. And stop couching your anti-feminism as concern for flawed male characters who don't need you to defend them and instead ask yourself why you hate certain traits in women but love them in men.