#2 i think reincarnation is more or less similar but in my book anythings a positive even memory loss like? could be worse yunlan | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

recurring-polynya · 3 years ago

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POLYNYA please tell me about the sea/your Soul Society sea(s)!!!!! (I also wanna talk about the sizes of things but I will save that for later, haha.)

My entire writing/worldbuilding self is just an agglomerate of about 10 different books/comics I read when I was 19, and one of those is Books of Magic. The major thing I took away from Books of Magic, a thing I think about every single time I read or watch something with a magic system, is the idea that humans have their own magic which is fundamentally different and in some ways more powerful than the magic of magical beings, and that they aren’t bound to a lot of rules and restrictions that magical beings are. A lot of media that features other worlds tends to split into the human world (which has no magic) and the magic world (which has magic). Sometimes the human world has technology and the magic world doesn't, I don't care, that is boring to me and I reject the idea that magic is technology you don’t understand. The thing about Books of Magic, which featured a lot of traffic between the human and the faerie realm, was that humans can do magic that faeries can't. Faerie magic is all illusion and glamour. It cannot affect real change. It is much harder for humans to do real magic, but their magic can actually transform things.

This is foundationally the way I approach worldbuilding in Soul Society. It seems like Soul Society is more powerful and magical than the World of the Living, but that’s only true for a limited set of circumstances, and much of Bleach takes place within those circumstances. Taken in a broader sense, though, Soul Society is not a complete world, it is a projected world, constructed of memories and ideas. Hueco Mundo is the same, but it's even less complete. My husband always gets really irritated by physically impossible moons, like this one:

but I actually think that's appropriate, because it's not the moon, it's the concept of the moon and this is a very romanticized concept of the moon. You cannot build a rocket in Soul Society or Hueco Mundo and get to the moon. The earth is not round in Soul Society. Its borders are limited.

What is Soul Society even for, anyway? I have been watching Hotel del Luna, a kdrama about a hotel where ghosts can stay for a little while and rest and work out some of their issues before they go to the afterlife. I feel like Soul Society is the next step after this. It is too big a shock to go from being a human to becoming a few motes of reishi, so you get another stage of retaining your human form and living a half-life where you don't need to eat or drink and your family has the idea of being a family without all the actual past-to-future connective tissue of a family. It's my impression that when you die in Soul Society, you don't get reincarnated as yourself. You become reishi, and that reishi gets mixed up with everyone else’s and new souls are created when new human children are born. Soul Society is also a sorting mechanism for separating out powerful sources of spiritual energy (that is, shinigami) and putting them to work as balancers, while letting the less volatile soulstuff flow through the reincarnation cycle without cavitating the impellers, so to speak.

That being said, seas are important. I have lived my entire life on the east coast of North America, never more than a few hours from the Atlantic Ocean. I think about moving inland sometimes and I think I would die. My husband grew up in the mountains and he feels a similar connection to the mountains, you can feel him becoming more powerful every time we drive north. I think it is necessary that Soul Society contain the geographic features that anchor people to the physical world, because ghosts need these things to feel as though they are still people and not vague amorphous spirits.

You need a sea. Also, as noted in the post that inspired this one, people in Soul Society eat a lot of fish and it’s gotta come from somewhere. So I think there is at least one sea in Soul Society (I like to put it in East Rukongai), but this is a sea built on human memories, it is not a sea based on the power of the sea, because that is not a thing that can exist in Soul Society. You can fish in the sea and you can swim in the sea, and an ocean god visiting from another realm might be able to pull a little power from this sea, but it is not a true sea. You need a different magical realm for that, a Sea Society, if you will. The Living World, in contrast, is a true world with true oceans, which draw their power from the Sea Society, just as there is death in the Living World because of its connections to Soul Society and other assorted afterlives. (it has been 2 sentences and I am already sorry I called it Sea Society).

Earlier, I mentioned that the borders of Soul Society are limited, and I think that it is surrounded by impassable no-man’s-lands on all sides that, if you could cross them, would lead you into a different dimension. This is not my original idea, it’s something I have picked up from numerous fanfics, but I think it’s a good one and I am adopting it. I think that, as a border between Soul Society and something else, each of these borderlands represents different kinds of death. I think I’ve figured they are a jungle, a desert, a mountain and, of course, an ocean.

The power of the ocean encompasses both life and death, but this ocean or at least this part of this ocean is only death. It is cold and it is dark and it is full of things with horrible teeth. If you sail a boat into it, you will not come back. I do not think that dimensional borders are, well, two-dimensional, so to speak-- if you could somehow cross this ocean, you might end up in Sea Society, or you might end up in some other death realm, because a lot of afterlives are connected and you get to a lot of them via waterways. The Slavic afterlife, Nav, for example, is ringed with a river, and you cross the Styx to get to Hades. Come to think of it, both of these are sometimes portrayed as being full of unhappy spirits, so maybe the death ocean is an afterlife in and of itself.

This is a little off the topic of oceans, but it is on the topic of natural resources. For all we know, everything that everyone eats in the Seireitei is grown in reishi vats, like the chickienobs in Oryx and Crake. That actually makes more sense, honestly, than fishing and farming, but I have always assumed that many of the upper districts of Rukongai do, in fact, have Nice Things, which turns into jobs and commerce and an improved class of life. The quality and quantity of these resources thins out severely as you go outward. Why don't people in Inuzuri grow their own food, I asked myself? Well: poor soil. Unpredictable, violent weather, so if you can get anything to come up, it either bakes or drowns. A general miasma of low-grade toxins in the air that tend to stunt growth or prevent things from breeding true. Obviously, I think about South Rukongai more than I think of other directions, but I think it’s easy to imagine this process also working as you approached cold rocky mountains with cutting winds and rockslides, or dry, dusty desert where it never rains.

The canon concept of Soul Society is that everything in Rukongai sucks and everything in the Seireitei rules, but this honestly vexes me constantly. It must be ungodly expensive to own and maintain property in the Seireitei, which is why most of the shinigami seem to lead solidly middle class lifestyles and take advantage of on-base living arrangements even though they are allegedly the best of the best. If you're a noble, and especially not Great Family noble, I think it may make sense to maintain a large estate in a pretty part of Rukongai as opposed to a townhouse in the city-- I've mentioned the Kira family estate before, in North Rukongai, which, in my mind, is sort of overgrown and run-down, very Wuthering Heights. Alternatively, if you are super-rich, maybe you have a second property out somewhere nice, hence the Lake District. Did I just make these places up because I want to set a fanfic there someday? Probably yes.

When I was writing Between Tides, the most basic, raw part of that story was just "Rukia and Renji get sent on a lonely mission near the sea" that was the thing I wanted to write. Back when it lived in my head, it originally took place in Soul Society, but I wanted it to have a melancholy, tourist-town-in-the-off-season vibe, and that didn’t feel like a place that would exist in Soul Society, so I moved it to the World of the Living. I guess I feel like if there’s beach tourism at the Soul Society Sea (I should name it but then I would be forced to write a story about it), it would be sort of Old Timey, and I’d don’t know much about what an Old Timey Trip to the Beach would look like in Japan, if that’s even a thing.

Anyway, sorry this was so rambling, this concludes my thoughts about THE SEA in Soul Society. I am happy to hear everyone else’s headcanons, please and thank you.

#THE SEA #soul society #bleach worldbuilding #everytime i write something like this i feel like you all must think i am a person who owns a lot of crystals #i am actually very practical #also i know just enough about how geography works to know that i am shit at worldbuilding #that if i tried to construct an Actual Map some d&d-loving dudebro would slide into my mentions #and criticize my river placement #and i would turn into dust and blow away #the idea of soul society being built on a shared concept of the shape of the world and not Physics is actually very comforting to me

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pi-cat000 · 4 years ago

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Magnus Archives/BNHA (1)

Fandoms: Crossover between The Magnus Archives & My Hero Academia

Characters: Jon and Martin (friendship)

Summary: Jon and Martin are reincarnated into the BNHA universe after failing to prevent the apocalypse. They compare their quirks to their respective Entities.

Will probably post on ao3 at some point.

(Part 2 here)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

“They registered my quirk as Veracity you know.”

“Veracity?”

“Yes. Quite abstract. I suppose they thought they were being poetic…” Jon mutters, bitterness colouring his tone. He stares out at the playground, watching his age mates run about in a boundless display of youthful energy and innocent excitement.

From his place on the bench beside him, Martin hums, halfway between sympathetic and thoughtful, “I think it’s a nice name. It softens the edges a bit.”

“I should have expected it…to have a quirk like this… after we saw what your one did,” he curls his small child hand into a fist, “I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.”

Quirks. The strange and wondrous abilities gifted to people of their new reality. Jon had hoped, when he hadn’t presented with one at the usual age of four, that he would remain quirkless. He had suffered enough with having terrifying abilities in his previous life. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t get his wish.

Martin reaches out, hesitates, then pats him lightly on the knee, “You’re taking it a lot better than me. At least you didn’t breakdown and spend the night in hospital.”

“I suppose,” he frowns, glancing sideward, “Though our situations are hardly comparable.”

Martin’s quirk put any person he touched with both hands into a fog-filed, alternate dimension/temporal pocket. Its similarity to The Lonely had been poorly received by both of them. Especially, considering Jon had been the one to suffer through its first accidental activation. While he had found himself lost and alone in a grey, fog filed, void, a hysterical Martin had been rushed to hospital. There the doctors had had to wait for him to calm down enough that a Quirk specialist could walk him through the process of reversing the effect.

“You thought you had trapped me for good. Of course, you would take that poorly.”

The quirk specialist had banally called it ‘Cloud Prison’ like it wasn’t the residue of a primordial fear god leaking into their new reality. Not even six years of a second life could dull the pain and terror that had been their final moments before the apocalypse. To suddenly have such a stark reminder shoved in their faces had shaken them both.

“I would never have done that to you on purpose,” Martin murmurs, probably drawing the same connection as Jon, “It just happened so suddenly…”

“Yes, well, I am now painfully aware of how volatile and uncontrollable a quirk can be.”

Martin winces, “Does it activate every time you ask a question? You can’t control it at all?”

“It seems to be automatic. If I ask anyone a question they must answer truthfully. There is also a lovely mental component,” He lets his resentment grow, “so I can feel their unease when they answer. I’ll know if the person is trying to fight or when they’re trying to leave out an important detail. It is very similar to…before.”

He grits his teeth. There were no Entities in this word, aside for the residue that lived in their memories but sometimes that could be just as bad. The last thing his recovering mind needed was a reminder of how he had slowly lost his humanity.

“I also feel them. The people I trap alone in the fog.” Martin adds and shivers, “It’s horrible.”

“Yes. It is.”

They both sit in silence as the light began to fade.

Their time at the park is almost done. Soon they would have to return to the foster home they both shared. Jon, being a mentally unstable adult trapped in the body of a child, had been too much for a young single mum who had never wanted children. He barely remembers her leaving him at a local shopping centre being hardly old enough to walk at the time. Martin’s parents had died in a villain attack, because, alongside fantastical powers, this reality was full of brightly coloured Heroes and Villains like they had woken up inside a comic book. Six years in and it still felt too surreal to be real.

“Well, we don’t have to use our quirks. It’ll just never touch anyone with both hands, and I’ll ask all your questions for you so you won’t have to worry either.”

Jon scoffs, “You can get away with wearing gloves. No need for anything dramatic.”

“You know what I mean Jon.”

“Reo,” he interrupts, “please remember to call me Reo. We already attact more attention than is probably good for us.”

They weren’t Martin Blackwood and Jonathan Sims anymore. That life was behind them. Here, they were Jiro Shirakumo and Reo Tsukauchi and the sooner they acclimatised to using their new names the better. Maybe, one day, he would even start feeling like ‘Reo’ and ‘Jon’ would fade away like a bad dream.

“You’re one to talk. We would attract less attention if you would loosen up a bit. I mean, I’m not perfect, but kids don’t talk so formally.”

“I would rather not suffer through the indignity of dumbing myself down on top of everything, thank you very much.”

“It’s not that bad. Why are you always so prickly?” Martin pokes him in the shoulder, grinning now, forcing Jon to shuffle away, “Normal kids smile every now and then you know.”

“I think you enjoy being a ‘normal’ kid a bit too much.” Martin had settled into his second skin with more grace than Jon had. Not that he was trying very hard.

A laugh, “Well yeah, I mean, no responsibilities, no nightmare monsters, no conspiracies, no apocalypse. It’s nice.”

“Oi Jiro!”

A heavy-set kid, two years their senior, stomps up and glares at them, “you and the weirdo coming or what because I don’t want to miss dinner again,”

“He has a name you know,” Martin reprimands, smile quickly turning into a stern frown, “Maybe you should try using it.”

“Tch. Whatever. Mrs Suzuki said to be back by five and I’ll get in trouble if I leave you losers behind, so you better hurry up.” The boy storms away, back to his group of friends, who all look their way and laugh.

“I don’t remember kids being so mean when I was young the first time around,” Martin complains, standing and brushing himself down, “You would think they’d have better things to do.”

He shrugs. Child bullies were so far beneath him that he barely registers when they shout insults at him, shove him into walls or knock books out of his hand. Not like he didn’t deserve a little hardship after dooming his entire world. Besides, Martin took offence enough for the both of them, getting into plenty of arguments on Jon’s behalf. Of course, now they both had somewhat threatening quirks, their fellow housemates were a lot wearier when it came harassing him.

“Come on.” He stands as well, “I for one do not want another lecture.”

“Mrs Suzuki does like to drag them out,” Martin agrees as they trail along behind the older kids.

Their neighbourhood is full of two-story apartment blocks and tightly packed houses which line the relatively quiet streets. It is only a short ten-minute walk from the park to the share-house and one he is intimately familiar with seeing as his carers force him to take it twice a week for ‘the exercise.’ At least the weather is pleasant here.

In the fading light of the afternoon Martin’s wispy, cloud-like hair and blue pupilless eyes catch the glow so they are almost orange. Martin’s strange physical features had become more pronounced since his quirk’s activation. Apparently, it was genetic, something a quick glance at the few photos Martin had of his biological family confirmed. This world sported many people with odd features and he just hoped that his own plain appearance, straight black hair and dark eyes, would remain that way. All he wanted was fade into the background and live his second life as peacefully as possible.

...

(Part 2 here): Jon learns more about his truth-quirk and deals with other people learning about his truth-quirk.

#the magnus archives #tMa #jon sims #martin blackwood #bnha #Baku no hero academia #CrossOver #angst #reincarnation #they are both about six years old in this fic #loney martin #the eye jon #fanfic #Hero/Archivist Au

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keepholdingontobooks · 3 years ago

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BOOK REVIEW: DARK RISE (DARK RISE #1) BY C.S. PACAT (LIGHT SPOILERS)

REVIEW:

“When the past is forgotten, then it can return. Only those who remember have the chance to stave it off. For the dark is never truly gone; it only waits for the world to forget, so that it may rise again.”

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

Set against the backdrop of a magic-less 1821 London, Dark Rise starts with a sense of urgency. Things half-told, and hinting at what’s to come. Details that should be kept in mind for when the inevitable comes, make all the more sense.

“Long ago,” said Justice, “there was a world of wonders—of what you and I might call magic. Great towers and palaces, fragrant gardens, and marvelous creatures.”

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

Will Kempen has been on the run since they murdered his mom and her last words to him were run and a promise forged as her dying wish.

Told from multiple points of view, all the characters in place add to the layers of this complex and dark story.

Will, a boy on the run after his mother was killed

Violet, a girl forced to turn against the only family that she’s ever known

Cyprian, a powerful Steward-in-training who is searching for his lost brother

Katherine, a girl whose aspirations to secure an auspicious marriage put her right in the heart of danger.

James, whose dark magic and ruthless cunning make him a foe to fear and admire

(Excerpt from Edelweiss)

Usually, I’m not a fan of stories told from multiple points of view (more precisely, 2+ POVS). Only because I find myself invested in a certain character and want to know about their POV and storyline, and adding so many different perspectives loses that connection. It waters down my connection and makes it harder to root for someone if I’m constantly being shifted. With Dark Rise, although I didn’t absolutely love or particularly bid my time for all the different POVs, I will say that they lent themselves screen time.

“—Sarcean, the Dark King; the final eclipse; the endless night, whose dark reign will bring about the end of our world.”

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

We follow along with Will’s journey in learning about the Old World where heroes and villains grappled in a war between Light and Dark. Magic, secrets, betrayals, control, were things that went hand in hand in this old world. Little by little, Will is introduced to this old and new world. Where descendants from the Light, have had a long vigil for the day that the Dark King returns with his evil beings, weapons, and his reign come again.

“I think what people were is less important than what they are. And what people are is less important than what they could be.”

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

In the middle of all this history, he begins to question his place in the legend. What he must do, and why everyone seems to be looking for him.

Readers aren’t ready for the Dark Rise trilogy.

One thing with reading advance copies so far out of release day is that not only do you have to wait for release day for other readers to join you in a journey, but then you have to wait even longer for the next installment. And here I thought it was a duology and that everything will be laid out within the next book, so I didn’t have to worry that much. Yeah…somehow I missed the word trilogy and just jumped into the synopsis.

If you’re wondering if C.S. Pacat will hold back being a young adult novel, you really don’t have to worry about anything. When the dust settled, I was left kind of shocked that she would have gone there. For what she did to the characters in every sense of that statement. I’ll get a bit spoilery later on and will tag it. For now, I will say that although the characters are teens, readers have to keep in mind that this is a story that spans centuries. Though the characters are in a new time, there are old times at play here. A lot of secrets and revelations that I think don’t even scratch the surface.

“Was this how it had been in those ancient days? The lights in the world going out, one by one, as the Dark King’s forces marched toward victory?”

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

Now, if you are waiting for another Captive Prince, you will not find Damen and Laurent within this story. Does James remind me of Laurent? Yes, maybe, perhaps. The similarities run in the shallowness of blonde hair, and in the veneer of calculating demeanor. Yet, there is a softness, a vulnerability that makes itself known until the last chapter. So no, this isn’t another story of Damen and Laurent. This is something entirely new, but with the cleverness of something dark and twisted that looms at every chapter.

“He was beautiful. A golden beauty, he might have been carved from fine marble by some master, but there was no one in the world who looked like this.”

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

Will harbors a cleverness that quickly surmises the actions and unfolding of things and those around him. He holds a type of magnetism with his genuine and rightness that people come to him and believe he can be the hero they’ve been waiting for….

He harbors cleverness and quickly adds up the information

That last sentence in Dark Rise? Imminent.

Throughout the 464 pages, I felt like I was bracing for something. Like I was being kept from something. Although, I kinda deduced it still doesn’t take away from anything that happens later on.

“Later he would think back on it as the moment when he had understood, all the pieces fitting together into a picture he didn’t want to see.”

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

Since I had a bit of a theory whilst reading, I looked at the details and the information through that lens. Pacat has said that she likes an unreliable character, and that comes through here as well. I do wonder how this trilogy will play out since I can’t see a good way out of it.

It almost hurts for everyone when some of the truth is unraveled (for some characters, and some of the truth because there has to be more to it). The last pages are even bittersweet. That dance of one knowing and the other believing in one thing whilst the opposite is being played out to the unsuspecting (this makes sense once you read it). And then when you take in the different players and how this truth changes everything.

There are some things that still don’t make sense, especially from Will’s involvement and knowledge that I hope is cleared up in book two.

As for romance, I would say in this regard we can look at the blueprint of a slow burn. Of things at a realistic pace. The connections in this book are…transcending and interwoven. There is a lot to unpack and theorize. If anything, it speaks to Pacat writing in introducing characters, situations, and consequences that are complex and can’t be predictably resolved.

I’m really looking forward to how everything will progress from book one to book two, and to its conclusion. There are just too many questions, and too many theories swirling around right now. Obviously with nowhere to go because the first book isn’t even out yet.

If you’re looking for that romance across enemies lines, the tension between a hero and a villain…Pacat heard you but one-upped you.

“There’s one thing I do know so well that it’s part of me. Him. The fact of him. The feel of him. It’s deeper than memory, deeper than self, carved into my bones. And I can tell you this. “Simon isn’t a tenth of him. Simon’s plans, his power, his ambitions are nothing. Simon can’t comprehend him, as the warmth of a single day can’t comprehend a night that lasts for ten thousand years.”

-Excerpt from Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat from Uncorrected Proof

This is where I get SPOILERY, so please do not read on.

It should have been a clue when Pacat cited Lord of the Rings as her main inspiration for the series, but wanted to focus on the “enemy within.” Because what do you do when the biggest enemy is out there but within you?

Again, spoiler—but, though I don’t know how there will be a good outcome, say that you’re told a big villain who wants to bring chaos, destruction, darkness to the world. That it wants to subjugate humans, and only those with powers, magic, having a place in the world, will one day come. That you must defeat it. Only to find out that that person is actually within you.

The way I see it is that Will, like James, is a Reborn, and although they’re from that time they don’t remember what happened during that time. Will has the Dark King within him but perhaps is awake yet. Will he develop different personalities, of sorts, when the Dark King is awakened? Will it take over Will (does Will want what the Dark King wants, will he fight to not be like the Dark King?), the door waiting to burst open, and for him to claim his throne? How do Reborns work in this world

One thing I will say is that sometimes with reincarnation and descendants I’m a bit unsure with logic. This might be what Pacat meant to do in the narrative, but at one point, it feels like we’re supposed to be feeling that Will might have a romance between Katherine and/or James. My problem with the logic is that just because someone is a descendant of a person you might have loved, doesn’t mean you’ll feel a connection/spark/passion/love with a descendant. You mean to tell me that the great granddaughter/son is going to give you a connection just because you loved their great grandmother? What if they have multiple siblings, who will you feel a connection with? Reborn, I get.

I’m intrigued with how Pacat will develop James and Will’s connection (I’m trying to be vague here), but damn. Pacat really loved the complications. THERE ARE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

SPOILER END.

Dark Rise though rich in details, secrets, magic, and darkness, it’s really just the beginning. There is a lot to come, of that I’m sure. The sense of something wrong remained through the entire novel until slowly, things start to unravel and slot to start the bigger picture.

In conclusion: C.S. Pacat is back.

(I highlighted so many passages/quotes, but I'll post after release day.)

#dark rise #c.s. pacat #dark rise spoilers #spoilers #light spoilers #book review #mine #keepholdingontobooks

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apsaraqueen · 4 years ago

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For the ask: Love & Sleep. I started listing questions and then realised there were only 5 I missed out, so... ALL OF THE QUESTIONS PLEASE. I WANT TO KNOW ALL YOUR BRAIN THOUGHTS ABOUT LS.

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

There’s a lot of ways to interpret this question! In terms of substance, I wanted to write the kind of classic “the Shitennou come back” fic for Jadeite and Rei (my OTP, of course) that I’ve always wanted to read - something long and layered that deals with what happens after the initial shock, distrust, etc. of the return and delves into what the process of forgiveness and rediscovery might really look like. And to be clear, I’ve definitely read a lot of wonderful takes on this concept, it’s not new and so many other authors have done it better, but I haven’t found any that focused on my favorite couple (if there’s one I’ve missed, PLEASE SEND IT TO ME). And then stylistically, I just kind of wanted to write something...indulgent. For myself, really. Slow-paced, dreamy, gentle. I hope it hits the mark.

2: What scene did you first put down?

Boringly enough - the first scene! Where Jadeite, now called Junin, comes back, taking place on the grounds of the shrine. I had the image in my head for a long time before I started the fic.

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

I...have no idea. It honestly changes all the time. I’ll just pick a random one I like. It’s of Rei watching Junin (the reincarnated Jadeite) sleep. Not creepy at all, right? I like the level of comfort between the two it implies, and it’s just a tender, quiet moment with her thinking of him, and of what draws her to him.

Junin slept on his back, one arm tucked under his nape, the other tossed across his front; the length of his legs extended several centimeters past the rumpled sheets’ edge. A book propped on his chest bore an English title that made little sense to her. She knelt by his head, suddenly concerned he might be feverish, or taken ill. He wasn’t sweating, nor ashen. The priestess touched his forehead and found the temperature not dissimilar to her own.

Under her palm his eyebrows bristled, permanently arched where hers ran like the ties of train tracks. She felt fine sun-lines there that she couldn’t see. Against her fingers his hair was dense, grown now slightly off the scalp, lightened more from working outdoors. She took back her hand, put it in her lap. From time to time it still startled her, to be able to look at him like this, unrationed. Even here at rest, she thought there was control in his features, a kind of ruthless calm she’d never been able to help responding to.

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

This is really hard because I wouldn’t call this a dialogue-driven fic. Why, you ask? Because I can’t write dialogue to save my life. A lot of this fic - maybe even the majority - exists between the spaces of what’s said, so the dialogue is pretty.........formless. If I had to pick, I’d probably go with this.

“I killed you,” she said, and couldn’t help but add, “twice.”

“You were right,” he told her.

“And I didn't want to,” she went on dully. “When you came I – thought you were a ghost.”

“You wish I were?”

“I wish I didn’t remember. What we did.”

“Them,” said Junin. “Not us.”

She said, low: “I wish we’d done – anything else.”

I liked writing this because while I definitely think there’s a part of Rei struggling to forgive Junin for what his past self did, I also think there’s maybe even a larger part that wishes none of it happened at all, that their history could be erased and they could start fresh, that recognizes culpability is often complex and not as one-sided as you maybe want it to be (this of course depends on how you headcanon the Silver Millennium going down - I like to imagine it wasn’t necessarily all Shitennou=bad, Senshi=good).

5: What part was hardest to write?

Urg. Writing the first Silver Millennium flashback was pretty hard. It took me forever to figure out the right tone that didn’t sound horribly stilted and Lord of the Rings-esque. Also hard trying to convey the differences between Mars/Jadeite and Rei/Junin along with the similarities. Rei, for example, is a lot more wounded and careful with her emotions, for obvious reasons, than Mars ever was. And while Junin is still capable of being somewhat morally ambiguous, he’s also genuinely a nicer guy than the more politically-minded Jadeite could be. I wanted to get that across without getting mired in irrelevant details about the past……….which I maybe need to save for another longwinded fic altogether. *bangs head on wall*

After the first flashback things fell into line, more or less, but I must have rewritten that first one, like, ten times.

6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

It’s longer than 12,000 words! AND took me more than double that to get to any smut! In seriousness, I think this is the first multichaptered fic I’ve written since, like.............high school.

7: Where did the title come from?

From the poem of the same name by A.C. Swinburne. It’s quite sexy, and the woman described in it sounds very much like Rei to my mind.

8: Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?

Normally, with most of my fics, I’d say yes...but in this case, not really. Other than the food. I most definitely drew on real-life inspiration - delicious things I’ve eaten, particularly while in Tokyo - for the food. You’ll never find me writing a fic without some gratuitous food pr0n in there for good measure. The wagashi shop the girls meet at is based on one I visited while there, actually.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Not really. You could say this is in some ways an alternate version of another fic I wrote a while back, Tragedia? When I wrote that one I had in the back of my mind that someday I should write the same concept with a very different ending...and here we are.

10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?

Because I love them! And I feel like I rarely see them happy in fic (to be clear, I do love my RxJ angst, so that’s not a bad thing!). I wanted to write a story for them that felt realistic and for lack of a better word, adult - that progressed in a natural way. I wanted to challenge myself to do it in a way that was slow-burning and relatively low-drama but not boring. And I wanted to see if I could sustain the tension and intimacy that makes their relationship so interesting to write, without resorting to my usual go-tos of smut (at least not immediately!) and angst.

11: What do you like best about this fic?

I’m happy with the atmosphere it conveys - sometimes moody, mostly serene. I worked really hard on that aspect and I feel like it maybe, kind of, sort of paid off!

12: What do you like least about this fic?

I wish it was wittier, more humorous in some places - I feel like it would add a sense of balance. That’s my biggest failing as a writer, I think; I really have no clue how to do comedy. I am not funny in the slightest.

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

I had just seen Call Me By Your Name when I started writing it, so a lot of the soundtrack for that. Mystery of Love in particular. Also a lot of Rhye.

14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

Learn? No, I don’t think so. Just trying to put more of my OTP out in the world in hopes of inspiring more of it!

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

So much. Like I’ve noted above, this is the longest thing I’ve written in a long time and honestly I’m kind of amazed I’ve been able to stay motivated! Writing something longer requires, obviously, patience - you can’t just fire all your guns at once, you think of things you want to write RIGHT AWAY but then have to save them for later, you have to actually, ugh, have a structure………….this is all patently clear to a competent writer, but these are things I was pretty sure I’d forgotten how to do, so it’s been nice stretching myself this way.

Thank you for the ask, @coppercrane2 - this was so fun!

#fic asks #jadeite x rei #rei x jadeite #mars x jadeite #jadeite x mars #hino rei #jadeite #senshi x shitennou #shitennou x senshi #sailor moon fanfiction

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cavesalamander · 4 years ago

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My brief thoughts on this season of anime!

Just a quick review of the ones I’d recommend and/or keep watching. I managed to find all of the below on Funimation or Crunchyroll or Youtube!

Horymia: (Yes) This is looking to be a very funny romcom slice of life style anime, and seems to be a fairly good one! Had me laughing a lot. The Main couple are a nerdy quiet boy who’s actually dumb as a sack of bricks using his disheveled appearance to hide his tattoos and piercings, and a popular pretty girl who’s actually a total homebody. Their friends seem to have a lot of potential to be fleshed out as the series progresses and I look forward to seeing how it goes!

So I’m a Spider, So What?: (Yes) Whooo another isekai (excited)! This time a girl and her entire class!? Get isekai’d in a massive explosion. The main character reincarnates as a trash monster in a dungeon and must fight her way up the food chain just to survive. Meanwhile her friends who have mostly reincarnated as Cool Humans or the occasional elf or baby dragon, have mostly found each other, and want to figure out what happened/why and if they’re all okay. It’s genuinely pretty funny, though leans a little too hard sometimes on the gamey aspects of this new world. I think it may get darker as it goes along too.

Mushoku Tensei: (No) Whooo another isekai (derogatory). 34 yo old man gets reincarnated and uses his worldly experience to Learn Magic Fast and creep on his mom and prepubescent tutor. If you can stomach that stuff, it actually has a fair amount of potential? It did set itself up to touch on some interesting stuff down the road, but I’m kind of Over the horny toddler/young boy trope and it kinda just seems like the protagonist is Just Awesome At Everything but not in a remotely charming way.

Cells at Work Code Black: (Yes) If you liked Cells at Work, this is that but dingier, and is able to tackle some darker themes - like what stress, smoking, drinking, and probably eventually STDs can do to your body.

Kemono Jihen: (Yes) I don’t wanna explain TOO much about the plot of this one because it looks to be a mystery series, and the first episode sets it up the characters very very well. A man from the city is called to a rural town where animals are being mysteriously killed and found rotting. He’s tasked with finding and killing the perpetrator, assumed to be a monster of some kind. It does the horror very well, and even in the first episode manages some twistyness.

The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter: (No) Even for a blatant fan service anime this one is just......... stupid. It might have a scrap of joy to it if the protagonist were anything other than a boring sycophant. His harem just all seems to be random girls who’s singular personality traits are to be in love with him in various stereotypical ways, that he just uses to min max his Cool Stats. But like, it’s not even self aware enough to make that into an interesting premise.

Sk8: (Yes) It’s a racing anime that seems super stylish and fun and very well animated. The protagonists have some cool chemistry already, and it really leans into the Underground Illegal Racing part of the fun - all the various characters who battle in death defying races through this abandoned mine, all have seemingly ordinary day jobs. Definitely worth a shot if that sounds up your alley.

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies moved to a starter town?: (Probably) Okay so the premise is just there in the title and is actually pretty fun. Think: a random NPC who is considered pretty weak where the monsters are lv 50 moving somewhere where the monsters are scary at lv 5, shenanigans ensue. The MC boy is hilariously oblivious to the fact that anyone with a shred of sense can see he’s insanely over leveled to the area, and just trying to be nice and polite to everyone ^u^. The tentative nature of my recommendation is that it is kind of leaning harder on the Girls are Obsessed With Him train than is ideal. How much it depends on that as opposed to utilizing the premise to its fullest extent will have an enormous bearing on how fun the show is to watch going forward.

Ex-Arm: (Absolutely not but yes) It’s a fucking train wreck.

Heavens Design Team: (Yes) God decided to outsource creating animals to a team of angels, and works as a client giving weird ass requests for the angels to fill. Hilarity ensues, and it is peak edutainment to boot. It’s so much fun learning weird shit about animals, or trying to guess the animal these seemingly random train of failed attempts leads to.

Dr. Ramune -Mysterious Disease Specialist-: (No) It has a promising premise and some good moments. The main characters are solving these weird “diseases” that people get by finding the actual emotional cause and using magic of some kind to monkey paw it into a resolution. This could be really fun and interesting, but something about the execution just... falls flat? Like maybe it picks up as the season goes on but for now it’s not rly worth it.

Vlad Love: (Yes) I was going through the list of anime this season and was like wtf is this and literally just now watched episode 1. It’s about a girl with a blood donation kink and her vampire girlfriend. Literally. It’s rly funny and over the top ridiculous but like, gay vampires.

Back Arrow: (No) It’s like... fine. It’s about these two warring kingdoms surrounded by a wall with a mountain range between. They worship the wall as god, and occasionally get gifts from beyond it, in the form of mech suits they use to fight each other in. One day a boy shows up from beyond the wall in one of those suits and no memories of anything and he wants to get back. Which... could be promising I guess? But something about the show just didn’t grab my attention.

Skate-Leading Stars: (No) It’s like Yuri on ice if it was less gay and less well written I guess...? The first episode set up the Drama competently enough, but I just... couldn’t give a shit.

Project Scard: (No) For some reason part of Tokyo has been turned into a post apocalyptic hellscape where people just murder each other. They also have super powered tattoos and use them to fight each other. Animation is very similar to Handshakers - which is an Aesthetic that may not appeal to some. The first episode didn’t rly do much for me but I could see it going somewhere if it tries.

Wave!!: (No) Might have been a tentative yes if I hadn’t gone on and watched the second episode. First ep went hard with the queerbaiting cause they want to be the new Free! but with surfing, but Ep 2 just forgot all about that entirely. Dialogue is mostly boring and there’s like 3 sets, which becomes painfully obvious very quickly by ep 2.

Idoly Pride: (No) Literally looks like they ripped off the waifus of a bunch of other more popular anime and made an idol anime with the most basic ass idol plot. Nothing exceptional here.

Gekidol: (undecided) It’s an idol anime... set after a mysterious apocalyptic event? It’s mostly so far seemed intriguing as hell but not my jam. Mysterious craters destroyed parts of Japan, and its rebuilding and the MCs wanna bring light to the world. Maybe aliens exist? Idk! I’m intrigued.

I*Chu: (No) Another idol anime but this time it’s cute boys! Idk maybe this is a decent idol anime but it rly didn’t grab me and idol stuff isn’t usually my jam. I couldn’t tell anything exceptionally unique about this one from just the first episode.

WIXOSS Diva: (No, but) I don’t normally watch spin-offs of series but I didn’t realize until halfway into this that it was one cause Crunchyroll didn’t attach it to the core line. It’s like... magical girl battle idols in VR! Which honestly if you’re a fan of that it might actually be worth checking out.(edited)

Idolls!: (No) Another idol anime! But this one uses mocap 3d models. Phoned in plot line delivered by a weird tiki statue that tells the girls what to do. Seems extraordinarily low budget, and more just a way to sell music. The whole episode happened in a single set and was basically just... girls want to make it big as idols... oh no... gotta book a stage! Yay they got one! Now must get an audience! Like... ok

Hortensia Saga: (No but) Sword and sorcery fantasy setting that’s mostly sword, main character is a princess masquerading as a male knight alongside the son of her dead parents’s also dead bodyguard. The first episode is very lore heavy and felt kinda like the prologue to a video game. So it ended up feeling a little expository and trope laden, but it has potential. Seems a bit Game of Thronesy? Wasn’t like... bad or anything, so if it’s your thing you might enjoy it.

Otherside Picnic: (Yes) I think it’s gay first of all, two girls going exploring / treasure hunting / monster hunting in a bizarre mirror world to their own. Girls are cute, it’s very interesting premise and writing seems solid.

Wonder Egg Priority: (Yes) It deals with some HEAVY themes? But it’s... a bit of a psychological horror but in a way that feels very like it’s dealing with some of the real life issues. The main character girl comes across as neurodivergent, and it’s just... idk man the first episode was good and left me wanting more.

#Winter 2021 anime #Its of course flavored by my personal preferences but idc

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 4 years ago

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Misfit of Demon King Academy 1 | Healin’ Good PreCure 13 - 14 | Lapis Re:Lights 1 | God of High School 1 | Muhyo and Roji’s BSI s2 1

Misfit of Demon King Academy 1

This originally had the ecchi tag on its anime entry on AniList…or, at least, that’s how it was in my memory…but now that I see it doesn’t have that, it’s just another reincarnation isekai-type series. Let’s dig into it!

I…think this guy is meant to be portrayed as “hot” because he has the piercing eyes and he’s tall (against the girls in what will presumedly be his harem), but he kind of looks like your standard Potato-kun in a white outfit…so, uh…*shrugs*

Uh…is that guy meant to be Indian? You can’t get more obvious than the “Indu” family. Update: You see his brother later and Leorg has fairer skin, so maybe not.

LOL, “Flame of Darkness” makes someone nothing but a chuunibyou.

Uh…this is called The Misfit of Demon King Academy, y’know? Anos (Anoth?) is gonna get in, you bet your butts.

The owl is cute.

…guy, that 3 second rule thing was actually funny, but the more you think about the joke, the less funny it gets. Show: 1. Me: Infinity -1

Just from appearances, I wanna guess Misha is an ice or light magic user, or whatever equivalent the show has.

Is this what Assassin’s Pride could have been…?

How did the mother (Anoth’s) think her kid maturing that fast wasn’t weird?

Mushroom gratin? Is that an actual dish?...Yep, seems so. Sounds nice. I like mushrooms.

What’s up with young mothers in anime these days? Then again, the only other point of reference I have is Masamune-kun’s Revenge…

I thought it was the other Indu guy we saw earlier. This guy’s…not that bad-looking, though (LOL, my preferences ring out loud and clear…)…welp, spoke too soon. There he is. Update: Leorg kinda looks like Hakuto Kunai from Demon Lord, Retry!, come to think of it.

If Zepes died several times over the course of this episode…would one more death actually matter? (Not really, to be honest. Zepes is a scumbag.)

Come to think of it, this anime got postponed due to COVID, yeah? Was that why there was a sakuga spot earlier…?

Was that Sasha (Misha’s sister)? I found her name while checking if the anime was postponed.

I like the colour choices in this show, at least.

I don’t think this show has the best sense of comedic timing. Let your jokes breathe, dammit! That’s what comedic beats are for!

In a season with more offerings, I might get rid of this or pause it, but the season’s fairly sparse as it stands (darn virus!) so it stays.

Update: I didn’t notice, but an Anime News Network staff member wrote that Anoth’s surname is familiar…if you read Harry Potter.

Healin’ Good PreCure 13

Gotta start in the middle for this and work our way back. Note I did watch the 1st 2 eps without subs earlier this year when they were on the official PreCure YouTube, so I’m ahead of most people.

(From wandering the wiki and the news) I’ve seen nothing but pink/blue/yellow Cures these days, so I kind miss the more adventurous colours like green and orange…but then again, I never really liked green. It’s the colour of envy and…as petty as it sounds, I think I developed that bias because green is stereotypically the colour of rot, vomit (aside from anime’s rainbow vomit) and stinky things.

I didn’t notice this, but there’s a faint highlight on the Cures’ eyes (red for Grace, purple for Fontaine and blue for Sparkle).

It’s a drone! In PreCure! Yay! (It finally hit me exactly how much of a distant dream it’s been – from watching Suite and episodes of most of the other PreCure ‘til now – watching PreCure legally as a simulcast is! It’s crazy and it only took, what…5 years between Suite and this? 16 if you count from Futari wa to Healin’ Good.)

Is it that drone?

Hah? This is almost like the electricity-themed PreCure I came up with on the fan wiki. It’s not like I could sue Toei for it, though…they own that stuff, I only own what came out of my own imagination.

The subs say “Rate”, but “rate” has a meaning in English. No wonder the initial wiki translations say “Latte”, especially because the queen is “Teatine” to match.

Okay, so Mei is the sis and Yota is the brother. Got it.

Hey! What if there was a PreCure where the villains had devastated another world before? That would really raise the stakes.

“[T]hunders” (sic)? Thunder is the sound, lightning is the flash. Which one is it?

I see. As soon as they identified it as the Element of Lightning, I sort of guessed they could add it to their repertoire later, and I was right.

Its’s nice to see they put a woman in the moving company as well. Proves that girls can do anything they set their minds to, even what are supposedly “men’s jobs”.

I guess from the face I should’ve expected the element to talk, like the Fairy Tones from Suite, but I didn’t really figure that out until I saw it talk,

I feel like Hinata should’ve gone to see how Mei made her juice. That way, the two might be able to make similar-tasting juice…but that’s just an idea.

Healin’ Good PreCure 14

I feel like Byogens were responsible for Nodoka’s sickness, much like they are for Latte.

“Energy Source” seems to refer to a place where energy appears…I know that sounds a bit dumb if you don’t realise genki hakken means something like “appearance of energy (for a person)”, but…yeah, the PreCure series is like this. Unfortunately, that’s what you have to deal with.

I feel like this “teamwork overcomes all hardships” message is important in this time of COVID-19.

Guaiwaru = “condition is bad”, or ill health (guai ga warui).

Is that the element of air? I thought the PreCure would’ve used their element of lightning to fix the steamer, but hey, teamwork works too.

I’m a weeny bit peevy they translate minna to “girls”. It’s correct in context when it’s been translated that way, but minna means “everybody”.

I imagined Hinata saying “Watashi no smartphone ga!” instead of “Atarashii sumaho ga hoshii!”

Lapis Re:Lights 1

Eh…COVID-19 means I gotta sample things I’m not so crazy about.

Why is one of the first lines in this show “My behind hurts!”?

Bristol? Is this England?...Nope, it’s a place called “Mamkestell”.

I was thinking this girl…I think the reviews said her name was Tiara…was going to sing to the flower to make it perk up again, but nup, she whistled to it. That seems a bit irrelevant, to be honest. (I would prefer an all or nothing approach to a wish-washy approach like this…as in, if this is an idol show, then either go all in with the singing and dancing, or do something else that’ll catch my attention.)

Tiara’s face looks hella generic.

For some reason, I get this ominous feeling when the word “witch” is mentioned…must be the instinct from Madoka popping up again.

Lemme guess. Lynette is the bookworm?...*sigh* Just another method of showing a character is a bookworm without actually showing their reading a book, which I think is counterintuitive.

Get some protective gear, girls!

Rosetta keeps saying “Yes” (in English).

Lemme guess…people ship the dumb one and the smart one? They’re like a gender-flipped Dice and Gentaro, only the smart one is more uppity and the stupid one is more sporty.

The word appears to be noumei, but that exact word doesn’t seem to exist. Lavie seems to say the word is the opposite to something else, but I can’t tell what that is either…

Albino rabbit, eh?

…people probably ship Rosetta and Tiara too, right? *sigh*

So there’s…no singing in this fantasy/idol show. Whistling is how you invoke magic…so how is someone who can’t whistle supposed to invoke magic?!

Whose idea was it to put the OP in the middle of the episode?

It was “Neechan, daikirai!” “Forget you” is a fairly loose translation…

Little Miss Rosetta = Rosetta-chan.

I think Tiara called Rosetta “sensei” when the former wanted the latter to take care of her (i.e. take her to their dorm).

Titi = Tiara. I didn’t actually figure that out because I thought it referred to the rabbits.

Gah! These almost-real-world names (or real world names, in regards to “Bristol”) are gonna drive me NUTS!

*sigh* Boob jiggle.

*sighhhhhhhhh…* Lemme guess, there’s a potential expulsion on the horizon? Update: Yep. Dropped.

God of High School 1

First Webtoon series I’m covering here.

Oh, I checked out the first chapter of the webtoon because CR linked it to their anime page. The only difference I’ve seen from that, aside from fleshing out the backgrounds, is…that creepy skull (?) on the wall.

You can tell it’s Korean when I don’t understand what the text says. (I don’t know Korean, but I do know some Chinese and Japanese.) Update: This is Japanese-dubbed, but they left the Korean text in.

That intro is much more powerful now that the backgrounds are fleshed out.

Ooh, the colours in the OP are very nice!

Hmm? They’re starting with the grandpa, rather than starting with “I’m Mori Jin, 17 years old”? Good choice.

The expressions in this show are funny. I like them already.

Waittttttttt…I dunno how Korean names work. Is Mori Jin’s first name “Mori” or “Jin”? Update: I checked it up, and I got even more confused!

KORG Arena seems to be…from Marvel? Like BnHA references Star Wars???

*sigh* Moonbucks? Again?...and of course the girls only talk about “hotties”. We need a Bechdel test in this thing.

The comments on ch. 1 said “A new Luffy is born”, so now I agree with it…but they’re not going to show how Mori Jin was enlisted for GOH (as they seem to abbreviate it)?

There’s Japanese, English and Korean in the afro dude’s comments.

I’m amazed that tall dude with the spiky hair wasn’t more surprised about Mori Jin and the girl passing by…

Would those glasses on Mori Jin’s head be any help? Update: Turns out those aren’t “glasses��…they’re a sleeping mask.

Kamina glasses!

They put CR and Webtoon advertising over everything in this anime…geesh.

These red parts of people’s noses are gonna bug me, aren’t they…?

It should be battle royale, right? Update: Okay, so I checked and both are correct spellings.

This seems like the sort of thing that would never get funded because you need to pull off every battle scene right.

They cut the initial fight with “Blondie” out, but that actually makes things more interesting! Good choice.

Lemme guess – Mori Jin is going to have to fight this Kang Manseouk guy at full power one day? *shrugs* (Can I stop referring to people by their full names already??? I can’t stop until I know which is the first name and which is the last.) Update: So the wiki finally helped me out and Mori is the first name and Jin the last, meaning I can call him “Mori”. Got it.

*Mori suddenly pulls the prisoner’s pants down* - That was…random.

I liked it more than I thought I would! (Just for reference, the other protag dude is called Han Dae-wi and the girl is Yoo Mira.)

Muhyo and Roji’s BSI s2 1

(Update for the Tumblr fans: I finished s1 outside the seasonal format.)

Kokkuri-san never goes well in anime…

Where does Nana work again…?

I don’t think Muhyo and Roji are legally (magically legally?) obligated to tell Nana anything about what they do.

Yay! Goryo is animted for the first time! He has such a beautiful voice~!

Notably, Roji wouldn’t have had a smartphone in 2004 (or whatever year close to that when the manga put this bit out).

Goryo (5) vs Muhyo (6). Didn’t figure this out at the time I read the manga.

I think the subbers misgendered Goryo. Goryo is a dude, as can be gathered from the name “Daranimaru”.

“Waka”? Does that stand for “young head [of the office]” or something?

Okay, whose bright idea was it to pair Now on Air (female vocalists) with Muhyo and Roji’s (a series dominated with dudes)…?

Ah, Funimation is on the production team of this anime. That would explain the dub rights.

#simulcast commentary #Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation #lapis re:lights #god of high school #healin' good precure #misfit of demon king academy #Chesarka watches HGPC #Chesarka watches Muhyo and Roji's BSI

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snkpolls · 5 years ago

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SnK Chapter 120 Poll Results

The chapter 120 poll closed with 1,375 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,314 Responses

This chapter is less popular than most, possibly due to its abrupt ending and feeling of incompletion. Still, 86.5% of the fandom rated it a four or five making it another solid contribution to the series as a whole.

PATHS are awesome, but I hope there's a satisfying narrative payoff to its inclusion

A lot of mixed opinions on this chapter from everybody, but I personally loved it. It went by fast but it's something you gotta read a few times just to get a good feel on it.

Best chapter since Attack on Liberio

I LOVED this chapter. Paths explained! Baby Eren! Little Mikasa! The OG Levi Squad! School caste Armin and Mikasa!!! I literally began to cackle when Eren straight up told Zeke his plan was stupid. I loved it, I've been waiting for that moment ever since ch114.

Character expressions were beautiful. Isayama's art keeps improving.

Easily one of my top 5 favorite chapters. The artwork was fantastic, the double crossings had me shook, & the Paths converging at the Coordinate is Yggdrasil. Love it!

Felt way too short and paths just got more confusing

I actually had to count the number of pages because I couldn't believe it was over yet. Seemed so short! But at the same time, many questions were answered.

Timeloop theory is out, multiverse theory is in! :)

This chapter was a gift from Isayama to all the Jaeger fans. Thanks Isayama.

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 1,342 Responses

18% of the fandom was thrilled to see Eren reiterate his “born into this world” sentiment as he rejected Zeke’s ideology. 16% found themselves moved by Zeke hearing Grisha apologize to him in his dreamstate. 14.6% were excited to see Eren rejecting Zeke’s plan, and at a near-tie 9.9% most enjoyed Zeke pulling a double betrayal on Eren, while 9.8% loved the moment when Eren woke up to see the Coordinate in front of him.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF ZEKE CATCHING EREN’S HEAD? 1,323 Responses

It was a meme, and now it’s canon. What did you all think of the resolution to last month’s cliffhanger? 42.2% felt it was a bit goofy but still worked, 29.5% thought it was amazing, 16.5% liked the moment but wish it had flowed better and not cut up over chapters, and only 7% thought it was absolutely ridiculous.

All those times playing catch with Mr Xaver really paid off!

It wasn't bad but just hilarious how memes have predicted it

I guessed it would happen after finishing reading chapter 119. In AoT nothing goes the way the characters want it, except for the Yeager bros.

I thought it was really heartbreaking and absolutely traumatizing.

I was very sad for Zeke at that moment, he seems in deep despair, there was no way to know that it would work to make Eren's survive. It was obviously more instinctive like Colt wanting to hug with his brother while he knows it will cause his death than reflexive

I totally called it and was thrilled it really happened

It was expected, but I believe we can't fully know how to feel because it's still a moment in development. I mean, it makes sense, it was the only move. We all saw it coming but it doesn't take anything from the awesomeness

Great payoff to Zeke's obsession with baseball

Eren could have given him a heads up... Zeke almost didn't catch him

WHICH ‘FROZEN IN AN INSTANT” MOMENT ARE YOU MOST EXCITED TO SEE PLAY OUT? 1,330 Responses

When the action returns to the battle, the majority of the fandom are eager to see “Armin and Mikasa vs. The Cart” (27.4%) and “The aftermath of Gabi’s shot” (26.7%) play out. On a more lighthearted note, was “that one bird” (3.7%) received more votes than “Niccolo and the Braus family” (1.6%).

WHICH TITAN MEMORY MOMENT WERE YOU MOST EXCITED TO SEE? 1,328 Responses

“Mikasa from chapter 1” was not only the largest memory shard, but also the moment we were most excited to see (24.3%). “Present day Historia” was our second choice (19.9%) and “The mysterious dark haired boy” was third (12.4%). At the other end of the spectrum, once again “those birds” rule, beating out “the horse” (0.4%), “the ocean” (0.8%), “that bowl of food” (0.2%), “the colossal titan peering over the wall” (1.1%) and “that one person in the bottom left (1.1%) Faye (0.6%), the blimp (0.1%), the basement key (0.4%), Jean’s horse face (0.9%) and even Hange (0.5%).

WHO IS THE BOY NEXT TO MIKASA IN THE MEMORY SHATTER? 1,303 Responses

“A child from the Mid East Alliance” has taken the majority (31.8%) with Rod Reiss and Tom Xaver following, each with about a quarter of the vote. Eren Kruger was fourth with 11.5%. We also had plenty of write ins.

A child from the Mid-East Alliance, as he's wearing a Fez. It's probably a memory from Lady Tybur's youth, as we know the Tybur Family had connections with nations all across the world.

All the memories here have been from either te Attack Titan or the Founding Titan. Thus I don’t think this is a boy from Warhammer Titan’s memories. Possibly it is Eren Kruger’s memories, in which case this cannot he Tom Xaver as it’s much too young for them to meet. Eren met Tom when Tom was a doctor and able to falsify his blood documents is he could join the Marley police. This is a new character.

At this point i really don't know it could be fucking king fritz himself isayama would probably do it

Eren's future son

Frieda’s brother

I think he's ms. Tybur's friend, eren's memories in here kinda mixed up so it makes sense he sees tybur's memories

It’s rod. You can tell by the vest he’s got on. But I do like the few people calling him the Arumika lovechild.

Probably Eren Kruger's friend / brother / child idk, or a future character that we don't know yet.

Someone from Ymir Fritz's time

The child from the last рanel

DID YOU LIKE THE INCLUSION OF CASTE ON TITAN CHARACTERS IN THE SPREAD PAGE? 1,249 Responses

Let’s be real… The manga has had a depressing tone for quite a while now, and some humor (assuming that’s what this was!) is probably good for us. 72% of poll respondents agree with this notion, and loved the inclusion of Armin and Mikasa from the high school AU. 18.3% weren’t quite so keen to see this easter egg, however.

I knew Isayama said something along the lines of incorporating this AU in the canon so it was nice to see that. Whether he plans to make a reincarnation AU out of this or just an easter egg is up to him.

I think it's cute. It's small and out of the way so it's not like it's disturbing the story.

Idk I'm confused. Isayama really likes to play with us

If you mean Nerd!Armin and Goth!Mikasa, yes I did like it. Could you PLEASE call it Highschool AU or similar, I spent like five minutes trying to understand what 'Caste on Titan' meant!

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE BEST IN-STORY EXPLANATION IS FOR CASTE ON TITAN BEING INCLUDED? 1,266 Responses

Well over half of the fandom agree that the inclusion of Caste on Titan (AKA the high school AU fake previews) in the memory shatter was merely an easter egg for the fans to enjoy, rather than Isayama canonizing anything. 20.9% feel differently, feeling that Isayama has canonized Caste on Titan as an alternate universe. 10.7% feel that it is a possible future or reincarnation.

Above Ymir Fritz, in a dimension higher than PATHS, lies the one true God and Creator Isayama-sama, who casually screws His people's minds on a monthly basis with images like these.

It is the actual reality

Canon?? FUTURE?? WHO?? WHAT??

Reincarnation AU is canon, baby

I have never heard of Caste on Titan.

Really it's probably just an easter egg, but it also kind of canonizes AUs which is fine by me.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE LOOK AT THE PATHS DIMENSION IN THIS CHAPTER? 1,331 Responses

What did the fandom think of a whole chapter focused on paths? 80.2% loved the deep dive into them, 15.3% liked the information but don’t love paths as a story mechanic, and 2.1% dislike paths immensely and just want to go back to the battle.

Being someone who loves time-travelling stuff, I'm intrigued. I see a lot of theories around and the loop seems a little weird to me. I believe Isayama has a great, unique concept and I'm excited to fully comprehend it.

Enjoyed it a fair bit, but we need to know more! Especially about how this dimension came to be in the first place.

I can't wait to see this in the anime!

I sort of wish it was more alluded to and not shown too much

I wish isayama was good enough a writer so that he wouldnt have to rely on this bullshit for long-term, grand-scheme storytelling

It's awesome, we need a break from battle, right? I can't wait it'll be animated beautifully just like Ymir one back in the season 2

The most fascinating aspect of the story by far. I just want every single one of their mysteries to be revealed.

I really want to know more about the PATHS. But not from Zeke. I think he is definitely lying about some things here. And I loved that double betrayal.

I didn’t know what the heck was going on

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE COORDINATE AS SHOWN IN THIS CHAPTER? 1,321 Responses

A part of the in-depth look at paths this chapter was a visualization of the coordinate itself. Just over half of the fandom are excited that the theories of Norse Mythology influences might have paid off with the coordinate appearing similar to the mythological tree Yggdrasil. 18.2% of you are unsure what Yggdrasil is and how it relates to the story, 16.5% think the coordinate is supposed to look like a tree but Yggdrasil isn’t a direct influence, and 13.1% think it’s just a beam of light that branches off.

I just thought back to most of the depictions in books of Ymir and the Devil. A good number of them had an object behind Ymir, that being a tree. Coincidence? I think not!

It really does have Yggdrasil vibes, and sorta looks like a tree branching off, but for now I can’t quite put it anywhere. Looks dope though.

It symbolizes a tree, and I hope it in turn connects to the tree Eren sat against in Chapter 1

Yes! more norse mythology references! Yggdrasil baby!

I loved how the trails in the path sky were the expanding branches of the Yggdrasil tree from SnK. Different space, different rules of time and matter...

It's shiny, glowy and pretty, and gives rise to loads of amazing fan colorings. Seriously, that full-page panel with Eren standing in front on it is a work of art.

It's the Tree of Life, Yggdrasil but also the Sephirot, among others. Norse Mythology confirmed with the name Ymir, the Norse proto-giant whose body was used to create the nine realms.

Maybe it's Yggdrasil, maybe not. I like the symbolism, but I can't confirm it actually is Yggdrasil.

Tree of life, much original, v cultured

PATHS converging as ROOTS.

BETRAYAL! WHAT DID YOU THINK OF EREN TURNING ON ZEKE? 1,331 Responses

Who doesn’t love a predictable but good betrayal? 70.5% of respondents were more than happy to see that Eren didn’t agree with Zeke’s ideals, even going so far as to support the demeanor in which Eren delivered the blow. 20.9% are happy he doesn’t agree with Zeke, but feel he could have gone a little easier on him. A small percentage feel he should have sided with Zeke…

Expected but still immensely satisfying. Kinda felt a little bummed for Zeke getting rejected like that.

I loved the twist which was made even better with a double-twist!

Assuming Eren wants to go through with the Rumbling, then both plans are crazy

Eren revealed his cards too early. Although, I can see Eren making that mistake.

It was what I'd hoped would happen eventually, however, it's still another example of Eren doing whatever the fuck he wants without consulting his plans with anyone and hurting people as a consequence

Harsh, but Zeke had it coming and it felt kind of great on an emotional level in terms of a true loss to Zeke, who has done some pretty shitty stuff.

Eren’s plan is stupid, you could’ve told Armin and Mikasa about this but nooooo you gotta be an ass.

I knew Eren wouldn't go through with Zeke's plan. But Zeke also deserves to see the errors in his plans, that he has no right to euthanise his fellow Eldians!

I'm not surprised about Eren's betrayel, it was obvious from the start that he would never agree with Zeke's ideology. But currently I feel very bad for Zeke. For first his parents only want to used him for their plans, because of his royal blood and Eren only used him for the same thing. Poor Zeke ;___;

Zeke had a lot of time the overthink everything that has happened in the timeless paths realm. Even if Zeke did not realize before, he definitely thought about the betrayal during said time.

DO YOU THINK ZEKE IS CORRECT THAT THE GIRL IN THE PATHS DIMENSION IS OG YMIR? 1,331 Responses

Zeke assumes, along with 76.5% of readers that the girl we see roaming paths is Ymir Fritz. However, 19.5% of readers disagree with Zeke on this one.

I was but, after reading a theory posted days after the release, it makes sense that she's actually the OG Christa.

I think it’s Ymir, I don’t think ymir is who they think she is

I think she is indeed Ymir... But could also be the Earth devil.

Hearing all these theories about Eren asking Zeke how he could know, and Zeke just responding with (while logical) a not for sure answer makes me mixed

It seems wierd to me that the Founder has no will or personality of her own, it seems to me that shouldn't be the case, but well... I was hoping she would have some more additions to the story of the titans but she seems like a walking corpse

It's the most likely answer, but the fact he's just assuming makes me not want to claim for sure. Yams likes to seize on assumptions.

Kind of, it's the person they call Ymir but it's really the character of Christa

No. At least not fully, many characters have claimed what happened in the past, but none of them have been entirely right. I don't see why I should see Zeke as entirely correct either.

An empty shell of ymir caused by King Fritz messing with the cordinate

I think Zeke, Eren, Historia and this girl (I think it's Eren's daughter) are all Ymir.

WHY DID YMIR PASS BY EREN? 1,328 Responses

Over half of the fandom (57.7%) agree with Zeke’s theory on this one - Ymir gave Eren the brush off because the Founding Titan is basically a pawn of the royal family. 28.1% are suspicious and believe that she’s got other plans we’ve yet to be clued in on.

Nepotism over cronyism, I guess

She's being controlled by Zeke due to his royal blood so she probably got no choice. Maybe if she gets released she'll cooperate with Eren

The grown woman-child doesn't like boring edgy teens, maybe?

In his time in the paths, Zeke gained enough control over them to make since illusions for eren. This chick is just as illusory as his chains. Zeke is using her to manipulate Eren because he needs Eren to control the founder.

Zeke is technically alive. Eren isn’t. She’s going for the living shifter.

Eren is too hot for her, she can't handle the Yeager

That’s not not Ymir.

She really dosnt have a free will and is being controlled by an even higher power

Zeke has created those chains and that girl to trick Eren

Ymir herself is a slave to the royal family. The royal blood in Zeke calls out to her.

WHAT MEMORY OF GRISHA’S DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST? 1,335 Responses

With lots of heartwarming moments to choose from this chapter, 32.7% most enjoyed seeing Grisha turn away from the Reiss chapel and choosing instead to focus on being a good husband and father to his family. 28.8% enjoyed seeing how Grisha spent his time in the basement and the possibility of him seeing Zeke from the future. 19.7% got the dokis over seeing Grisha be there for Eren’s baby milestones.

Loved baby Eren and it was really nice seeing Grisha so caring for his family (I missed Carla too, so good to see her again)

Baby Eren is the cutest baby in the whole universe and if you disagree you need glasses

IN LIGHT OF THIS CHAPTER, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT GRISHA NOW? 1,330 Responses

Nearly half of the fandom (47.2%) admire Grisha’s ability to change and work to become a better father and husband after learning from his mistakes. 21.1% are glad that he was much better with Eren, but still can’t look past the way he treated Zeke as a child. 19.3% have always had faith in Grisha and enjoyed his character.

One of the reasons why SnK is as good as it is. The way goodness and horribleness exists within him at the same time, the way it makes him so imperfect, so deplorable, so sympathetic and so human, it's a testament to how well he is written. I love him. I love him so much.

I didn't like him before, but now I have a little more sympathy. I felt like crying when he was dreaming about Zeke and wanted to see him badly. I hope they will have a chance to talk in paths.

I'm amazed by the forgiveness other readers are giving him. It's as if they're ignoring what he actually believed and did. I don't believe many people are beyond redemption, and the fact that Grisha managed to get caught before he could actually murder anyone works in his favour, but I hold him to the exact same standard I would any real person who tried to bring back a regime he himself believed was exceptionally violent and bloodthirsty (before the Owl delivered the 'nice' history of Eldia). Overall he *could* be forgiven, but so far...holding your cute chubby son and choosing not to commit your original sin *again* is not it.

No matter how much he learned from Zeke he still cursed them both with 13 years at the end, so it doesn't really make a difference for me.

For the longest time I didn't know how to feel about him but this chapter cleared up a lot of things and I absolutely love him now

While he ultimately failed at parenting twice, it is good to see he learned from some of his mistakes and that his actions here reflected that. In the end, he still went for the royal family before the breach of the Wall and treated Eren to the serum instead of spending his time looking for a better, less 'child' host for his titan.

DID BABY EREN SEE OLDER EREN AND ZEKE? 1,335 Responses

While it may not impact the story, the vast majority of the fandom (70.9%) feel confident that baby Eren was able to see his future self. Only 2.8% selected “No” for this question.

DID GRISHA SEE ZEKE AT THE END? 1,333 Responses

We don’t really know how it happened, but it sure does seem like Grisha saw Zeke at the end of the chapter when he noted his aged appearance. 79.1% agree that this appears to be the case. 2.7% disagree, chalking this up to nothing more than a coincidence. Eren and/or Zeke being able to interact with the past in any way has some striking implications, so hopefully we get some answers soon!

WILL ZEKE CHANGE HIS MIND ABOUT GRISHA? 1,333 Responses

46.3% of respondents feel that the narrative is pushing Zeke to forgive his father and let go of what happened in the past. 38.6% see the potential for him to forgive Grisha, but don’t want to say with confidence that he definitely will. 11.5% believe that there is nothing that will ever cause Zeke to forgive his father.

At his core, Zeke wants his father to love him and treat him as a son instead of a tool. Knowing that Grisha still thinks of him and feels guilty about the way he raised him must have stirred something in him.

Partially. Yes, Grisha grew from that. But it just meant that Eren got the childhood he wishes he had and that in his eyes Eren got preferential treatment.

If anything I think he's mostly going to be jealous of Eren and regrets not being born at the right time. That being said they haven't reached the memory where Grisha passed his titan to Eren.

Might lean more towards him not changing because of his very single-minded way of looking at things. Maybe a smaller chance, don't know how I'd feel about it, though in terms of storytelling.

I hope. I am so ready for a Zeke redemption to take place even if the chances of it happening are low. I want to see the Yeagerbros working together.

I don't think so. If Eren shows him the next memory in which Grisha gave his titan powers to Eren and forced him to end his mission by going to the cellar and learning to control that power, Zeke would think that he was right about his father that he brainwashed him. Maybe Grisha was a good father in Eren's younger years but at the end he shouldered his burden to his second son and gave Eren a new reason to continue the cycle of hatred, to avenge his mother. I don't think that Zeke will change his mind so easily...I have the feeling that Eren has to convince his Brother otherwise, but I could be wrong.

While his opinion about Grisha May change slightly, that won’t change his opinion about euthanasia.

I love how that in the midst of all the plot development and the PATHS, it still boils down to the characters and their relationships in the end. The Zeke/Grisha parts make this chapter, imo. The boy who wants so much to be loved by his father, who vilifies his father as some sort of coping mechanism, realizing that his father loves him, misses him and regrets the way he treated him, realizing his father is only human... it never fails to tug at my heartstrings. I can't wait to see where Zeke will go from here.

WILL ZEKE’S MIND BE CHANGED ABOUT WHAT THEY SHOULD DO WITH THE FOUNDING POWER? 1,329 Responses

As we step away from the action-centric battle, we move into a battle of philosophies, outlooks, and plans. Zeke has attempted to sway Eren, but will Eren be able to convince Zeke to change his mind about what to do with the power they now possess? 38.8% think he will in fact be able to do just that; and only at about 1% behind, 37.9% don’t know what the outcome will be, and 20.3% don’t think Zeke’s plan will change.

Zeke's mind is already made up. What may change is his motivation. He just may lose all will to execute his plan and let Eren do his thing.

His euthanasia plan is instilled into him primarily by Xaver, his father-figure, someone whom he holds very much in high esteem. So if Zeke should change his mind about that plan, it has to be through changing his current opinion on Xaver.

It will seem he agrees with Eren. And then, out of rage and despair of his ideals being broken and Eren getting the life he wishes he always had, he'll cause the Rumbling to lash out at the world for how cruel it was to him.

No, he's far too stubborn for that. But he still needs to return the powers of the Founder to Eren somehow. So I can see him being cornered in a way that makes him realize there's no happy ending.

Probably, but it shouldn't be because of some Grisha shit, it should be because Eren has a better plan

Yes but he‘s still an ass who had fun in killing. Maybe he‘ll redeem himself by showing remorse but whatever, he just rubs me the wrong way.

I sure hope so, because eugenics really doesn't make sense even if you support the reasoning. If it can be done by a royal titan then it can be undone, and they're literally planning to keep a pack of royals as spares.

I hope so, because I really want to see the brothers work together. Zeke has done a lot of terrible thing (including what he did to poor Levi) but I want to see his redemption arc

I think that Zeke will come to the realization that he is doing to same thing to Ymir as Grisha has done to him.

WHAT DOES EREN WANT TO SHOW ZEKE? 1,324 Responses

This chapter ended abruptly with Eren about to lead Zeke into “The next memory.” But what could that be? 36.3% think he’s going to show Zeke scenes from his own life, 32.1% believe there will be an even deeper dive into Grisha’s past, 19.7% think it will involve Tom Xaver, and 8.6% think Eren Kruger will get more time to shine.

A mix of all of them: More of Grisha's memories up to his death, his own life and experiences (Attack on Titan greatest hits coming for the 10th anniversary chapter), and then finish off with some Xaver reveals if he indeed worked with Kruger.

Bit of Kruger's, Eren's memories, and little bit of Grisha's. Maybe Ymir's or Karl Fritz

Definitely something involving Xaver, probably him in cahoots with Kruger to fool Zeke.

Don't feel like he wants to show Zeke something, just telling Zeke to move it along

His true motives and what lead him down the path he’s been taking since chapter 91

That one exchange between Grisha and Frieda in the cave we still didn't get to see when Eren kissed Historia's hand.

The memory where Grisha turns Eren into a mindless with added dialogue to hit us all in the feels.

Warhammer memories

I hope it could be something around Kruger and Xaver, and finally enlightening Zeke view of his "dad" and their plan. From here they could move around some really interesting scenarios, there are so many possibilities and I AM HERE FOR IT! ("If you want to save Mikasa and Armin..." quote for example idk).

Fall of wall Maria, Dina eating Carla

Some hype ass shit.

WILL EREN BE DEAD AFTER THE INSTANT IS OVER? 1,327 Responses

The majority (77.8%) are confident that Eren will find a way to make it out of the paths dimension alive, while 11.5% are much less optimistic about Eren’s fate. A smaller percentage believe that he’s already dead without any chance of coming back.

I have this weird theory: since a shifter's consciousness can be transferred into the spine or in the Paths dimension in some capacity, what if the consciousnesses of two shifters can be "exchanged" in the Paths dimension? Zeke may end up dying (willingly or not) while Eren lives.

I don't know. I think he'll either come back alive, or find a way to communicate with at least Mikasa and/or Armin before he dies.

Zeke promised that he will never abandon his little brother. Even if their ways differ in the end and Zeke’s mind isn’t changed, I don’t think he would leave his brother to die. He has already stated that he will command Ymir to reconstruct Eren’s body. No way he would treat Eren like that

No. Eren recovered in paths just like Zeke did so there's no reason for him to be dead

It would be a fresh plot twist and I would like him to stay dead because of it but I doubt Isayama has courage to do it.

i think it would be weird for eren to die right now, especially before seeing Armin & Mikasa again

DO YOU THINK ZEKE WILL COME OUT OF THE PATHS DIMENSION ALIVE? 1,328 Responses

Zeke was in pretty good shape when he went into the PATHS dimension, so it only makes sense he would make it out alive - or at least that’s what most of us (81.9%) think! A minority (18.5%) think (or hope?) he will not be so lucky.

WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,339 Responses

More than half the fandom wants chapter 121 to be the continuation of A Zekemas Carol. 18.9% would rather take a break from the PATHS dimension to see what’s happening with Levi and Hange.

Been wanting to see Annie, Levi, Historia for many chapters. Now just want these amazing memories to continue! This part of the story is incredibly powerful.

I know this paths fuckery will continue for another chapter or two but after that yams pls gib annie i beg

A moment of silence for the amount of hope I had to see Hanji and Levi, if you will. It will be missed.

All I'm asking for is one panel with Levi and Hange... Is that too much?

Annie in paths Annie in paths Annie in paths Annie in-

Eren in the next chapter is going to open a door from Eren Krugers past showing interactions with Tom Xaver

Heh, as much as I want to see Hanji & Levi, I'm 99% certain we're staying in PATHS zone :)

I feel bad that I didn’t choose Annie for any of these answers, but this moment in the story is literally the only thing I’ve wanted to see for years

I just want to know Levi is alive

I want to know who Ymir really is and what her motivation is! I want to see the story through her eyes!

I don't care about Zeke. Please show me the Present Day Historia memory. I beg you OG Ymir. Amen.

whatever it is im gonna pee myself regardless

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,263 Responses

While Reddit and Tumblr continue to make up the majority of our respondents, the Attack on Titan fandom is everywhere. Wherever you choose to discuss the series, we appreciate your support of the chapter poll!

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER?

"Where's the rest of it?" - Zuko

I liked Eren's "surprised Pikachu" face when Zeke broke the chains.

Great fucking chapter, Eren and Zeke are a riot as a brothers duo.

Why is Grisha so attractive

Boy am I glad Xaver trained Zeke in baseball instead of football.

Grisha Redemption Arc, let's go!

a chapter without reiner is automatically a bad chapter

At the beginning I thought it’d end up being boring but the ending showed me otherwise. Attack on titan never disappoints

Awesome, beyond my expectation. We get more info about PATHS and yeager moments that i nearly don't care about others lol. The cliffhanger is more painful than previous chapter tho

Chapter in a nutshell: "I have more resolve!" "No, just kidding. By doing this I have MORE resolve!" "Well guess what? I have a piano. End of discussion, I have the most resolve."

I kind of dislike the whole concept of the Paths. I really dislike the "enslaved little girl builds Titans out of sand" angle when there was so much potential for a science fantasy explanation instead. At least Eren's acting like Eren again, that's all I'm asking of this manga at this point.

How did Ymir have three daughters when she looks 13 years old and presumably died 13 years old?

I put a 2/5 due to how empty and anticlimatic this chapter was. I'm more than okay to explore the pathverse but I didn't expect 10 pages of filler and recollection, 10 pages where the brotherly betrayal gets quickly resolved with both Eren and Zeke's emotions being turned down (Zeke just told Eren he had no freedom in his decisions ffs) and the rest being Daddy Issues TM.

Dope. Loved it. Answered so many questions. So, the PATHS meme is a little less true now. It'll probably become even less so with the next chapter and so on.

Eren and Zeke this chapter were basically that one spiderman meme you know the one.

Glad the memory manipulation theory was wrong, didn't expect this walk through memory lane however. I'm excited to see if and how Zeke's outlook on his father and whole ideology will change.

Eren out here playing 5D chess against Zeke when he was playing 4D chess and thinking Eren was playing 3D chess. Eren a legend

Eren’s sarcastic attempt at convincing Zeke was a welcome reprieve from the “excuse-me-what” nature of this chapter

Every time Eren appears in a panel I stare in awe at how beautiful he is. Shaven face + Hobo hair = Peak Eren.

I love how abrupt the ending is, specially if Isayama's going for what I'm thinking. I suspect chapters 120, 121, and 122 will all feel connected as one single big chapter, with action outside paths only unfreezing at the end of 122. The main issue is how some parts of this chapter feel like stalling for the inevitable anniversary chapter next month, but I believe it's gonna pay off.

I was laughing like a maniac by the end of the chapter. Eren is truly an incredible little sh*t, and I'm super excited to learn more about his actual motivations. Interestingly enough, Zeke won't shut up about Grisha the father, and seems to have conveniently forgotten (which I did as well) that one of Eren's biggest motivations in his life has come from his mother, who told Shadis all those years ago that Eren was special BECAUSE "he was born into this world". As much as I reeeeeeally wanna see an update on Levi and Hanji (IT'S BEEN SIX MONTHS, ISAYAMA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO US), this walk down memory lane is turning out to be the most entertaining part of the arc so far

I'm SO HAPPY to see Eren talking again and to see that fiery determination and his snarky attitude! Go Eren!

Just . . . I'm really tired. Now Grisha's father of the year all of sudden. I'm still waiting for Eren to like, suffer real consequences for his war crimes and his shitty treatment of his "friends." And Annie is probably never going to be relevant, Historia is going to stay stuck in her chair. Like, the whole point of this series was that it's hard to tell what the truth is, right? And now there's MAGIC and Eren can literally take Zeke into his memories to show Zeke EXACTLY what happened with Grisha as if that's the real truth? Isayama's gone soft or given up, I dunno. I'm just tired.

Anyone else expect Isayama to just carry on with these flashbacks for four chapters just like the basement.

This chapter hurt me. In fact, this whole arc has. I think the point where I started being really confused was when Zeke got resurrected. I get the point of it. You wanna show what PATHS is? Ok. You wanna show how titans are built! Sure! You wanna explain that this is a pocket dimension and time moves by super slow? Perfect. You wanna show the person making the titans? Cool. But the mechanics with the royal family are so inconsistent. IF ZEKE CAN BREAK THE WILL, WHY CAN’T FRIEDA OR URI OR LITERALLY ANYBODY. Is it because he isn’t the direct founding Titan? Is he bluffing?? I don’t know. I want Armin and Mikasa please.

One redemption for the monky boi, please.

So Eren did all he did, sacrificed so many lives, hurt his friends etc. just because he only hoped he’ll be able to use the Coordinate? Seriously that was his plan? Give me a break please. I’m very disappointed Erwin was not there in the ‘important moments’ page - he was one of Eren’s childhood heroes after all and the person without whom Eren would’ve never gotten this far.

#snk spoilers #snk poll #snk polls #poll results

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of-bug-and-beast · 5 years ago

Text

Okay, before we go anywhere with this, I do not wish MatPat any actual harm. He may have annihilated the last of my brain cells with his most recent theory (as of 2:27 PM, 07/07/19, when I started writing), but I will not advocate actually hurting him for all that. His channel is run for fun, and dare I say, attention. And I can understand that to an extent.

But with that said, he pissed me off this close to my birthday and I am having none of that shit.

Second, I will be calling the player character (the Knight) Ghost, as this is how Hornet has named them, and it has more or less become their name at this point.

So, are we good? Then let’s get started with this.

There is no way Ghost is the Pale King’s reincarnation.

I will concede that, as @take-a-bug has brought up here, this would make an excellent AU. But as a theory, even by MatPat’s standards, it literally has more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese.

First and foremost, Ghost is literally seen about five feet away from the Pale King himself in the flashback cutscene, as most of the comment section of the video has brought up.

If Ghost really was simply the reincarnation of the Pale King, there would have been no reason for them (who is clearly moving and doing things without him) to be in the same room as the clearly-living Pale King. Quite in fact, it solidifies that we were indeed a rejected vessel.

But let’s pretend this never happened, as MatPat clearly had. Surely the “theory” holds water now?

No. It sure doesn’t.

Let’s progress as he had.

Point #1: The Lore Tablets.

The tablets indeed refer to “Higher beings.” Now, the answer to what are the “higher beings” is a subject that, as far as I’m aware, has not actually been closed, especially with the Wanderer’s Journal that was published. But the one most seem to follow- including myself- is that the Higher Beings are the god-like beings of Hallownest, as this is supported by Team Cherry’s dev notes and AMAs[1] as well.

The Pale King is among the ranks of the Higher Beings, then. But how would Ghost be able to read these tablets, if they weren’t officially called such? Godseeker sure doesn’t recognize them as a god, at least not until they become the Shade Lord. This fact also makes the “theory” very suspicious; if they really were the Pale King’s reincarnation, where’s the godly aura? She should have recognized them as such.

Admittedly, her behavior as a whole kinda throws everything for a loop. But in the end, there’s still this.

Ghost, along with every other vessel to exist, is child of the White Lady and the Pale King. Or perhaps the term might be was, as they were kind of dumped into the Abyss, and the Void kinda seems to hate the Pale King’s guts and likely his kids too. But may they be a reanimated corpse filled with void or simply a product of not one, not two, but three incredibly powerful entities, the White Lady claims Ghost as her own spawn. This is directly stated with her stating that “Your companion's eyes burn with a familiar flame... Success then for the scarlet heart, and irony, to use my spawn to grow its own.”[2]

Likewise, Hornet- daughter of Herrah and the Pale King (the White Lady confirms this by bringing up how she was born of a dalliance between the two aforementioned parties)- refers to the Hollow Knight as “Our birth-cursed sibling.”[3]

Not “my.” “Our.”

She is the vessels’ half sibling, sure, but this shows she recognizes them as the children of the Wyrm as well.

And being born of such powerful beings, it would be strange if they couldn’t read the text at all.

Now, the alternative possible meaning of “higher being” is those given mind by the Pale King, or similarly originated from Hallownest. Ellina from the Wanderer’s Journal book had shown no signs of being able to read the tablets in the Basin[1], which begins with the same phrase as those in the cliffs.

That in itself means nothing; after all, she is no god. But there is a lore tablet in the Howling Cliffs that rather supports this.

Higher beings, these words are for you alone.

These blasted plains stretch never-ending. There is no world beyond.

Those foolish enough to traverse this void must pay the toll and relinquish the precious mind this kingdom grants.[4]

It seems odd that the gods would so heavily rely on the narrow range of Hallownest, and since none (save for maybe Grimm, who has definitely not been here the entire time, judging from the looks of things but also has a very good knowledge of what has transpired) actually seem to have left, it seems near pointless to have the tablets.

However, we do know a bug that has left Hallownest, and came back with impaired memories besides Ghost themself: Quirrel. Now, perhaps it has to do with Monomon’s mask as well, but most likely being of Hallownest himself, he could have easily have been affected by the beyond. Those who were implied to have come from elsewhere (such as Tiso[5], Cornifer[6] and Iselda[7], Cloth[8], Ze’mer[9], and Zote[10]) have also shown no signs of memory loss despite having to have made the trek through the wastelands.

Now, Ghost has been out there, and apparently has memory loss, which does support that the wastelands do indeed strip the minds of some. Being born in Hallownest (or the Abyss, to be a little more specific), they would have been among those that would have a mind originating in the kingdom.

“But no mind to think!” you may cry, if you are one of the few people who actually think Ghost is a pure vessel. “They don’t have a mind!”

Au contraire. All the other vessels have shown to be imperfect, so they must have had at least one of the traits they were supposed to lack: will, voice, and mind. The Pure Vessel- later Hollow Knight- was tarnished by “an idea instilled”[11], which is likely tied to the cutscene at the end of the Path of Pain. But even then, the moment they had paused to glance back at Ghost, they were clearly impure; a creature without mind would have not hesitated to follow its master, yet they did. And they were judged the purer one between Ghost and themself.

In addition, if we take into consideration what we do in-game, they have made strategies to defeat enemies (or just rammed headfirst into fights until it finally worked out, which requires will and mind as well) and can choose to listen to what others say and retrain the information for their own use. They have a mind. They have a will. And what memory and knowledge they had was locked away, only able to be unlocked by some more forceful means.

So, conclusion to Point 1? Ghost can read the tablets not because they’re the Pale King, but because they are inherently tied to him and the kingdom. This can still be wrong, but it seems likelier than the suggested alternative.

Point #2: SOUL

While the Pale King has been suggested[12] to have a great ability of SOUL manipulation, it’s not far off to suggest that his kids might be able to do something similar. Hornet’s silk, as shown by the Silksong demo, seems to have a parallel to the SOUL meter back in Hollow Knight, mainly in part that it takes blows against enemies to fill it up.

But let’s ignore that for now, because there’s a more pressing thing at hand.

Guess where Ghost learned most of their spells from!

The snail shamans.

Hell, Ghost didn’t even know anything related to SOUL besides Focusing (healing), and it was only after meeting Mr. Snailman in the Ancestral Mound did they have any combative use for it. But even after getting all the spells (and out of these, Howling Wraiths, Shade Soul, and Descending Dark are likewise given by Snail Shamans, albeit dead ones), it doesn’t compare to what the Pure Vessel has.

Why do I bring them up? They were the one to be raised under the Pale King. SOUL manipulation seems a likely part of training. And between the “Focus” attack and the two “light lances” attacks, they do seem to have a firm grasp on SOUL. In fact, Ghost’s spells like quite untidy in comparison. But they weren’t the Pale King, either, and likely his abilities outshone their own. So, as the Pale King was likely a master with SOUL, why would he fall so low to be worse than his void child? Losing memory might at least leave him with something more than a rather sloppy heal.

So, as shaky as my arguments are here, it seems a little more plausible that Ghost just has the ability to manipulate SOUL because they are the Pale King’s child, and Hornet seems to support this as well, as mentioned before.

Point #3: Elegy for Hallownest and Ghost’s First Appearance

I’m not going to deny that the poem is directed to the Pale King. I mean, it clearly is.[13] But that being said, while MatPat’s logic seems at first glance slightly plausible, I remembered something that reftes this entirely. The first thing we see directly after the poem is actually the Hollow Knight in their prison, not Ghost.[14] Does this mean the Hollow Knight is the Pale King? No, it doesn’t, and don’t you dare suggest otherwise because the Pale King sure as hell locked up the kid with the Radiance in their head. It’d be kinda dumb to also be in the Hollow Knight beside his enemy, and as messed up as he was, the Pale King never struck me as that stupid.

As for the cutscene, I know this for a fact, because besides seeing the many videos of the game on YouTube, I’ve spent a lot of them playing this game, and I have seen a lot. The intro is no exception to this. So screw you and your misleading words.

Point #4: Usage of the Word “Dream” and “Ghost”

Surprisingly the most solid of his work, it’s a little harder to refute.

But this said, Elderbug may very well be meaning “dream” of grandeur, not the Radiance’s, or even the Pale King’s. His usage of the word “ghost” for the vessel is not unique either, as Ghost is given this moniker by Hornet as well[15]. Since her first pieces of dialogue in Greenpath, she refers them as “ghost” or “little ghost,” before eventually even calling them “Ghost of Hallownest.” While she gives no real explanation for the name, Ghost’s silence could easily be a main part in this.

Dreams and ghosts are also not always tied to the Radiance or the Pale King, either, as the Pale King’s palace is in the Dream realm (yet still away from the Radiance), and there are a lot of ghosts in Hallownest, if you know where to look.

So, do these words really have a deeper meaning? Not necessarily.

Point #5: Being Compared to the Pale King

Also a little hard to refute, but I’ll do my best.

The lines used to support this idea were “I almost feel like I'm once again in the presence of my beloved Wyrm,” from the White Lady and “Your noble bearing reminds me of our dear King,” from Ogrim, the Dung Defender (or White Defender, if you’re picky).

Let’s start with the first. Now in full, it actually goes “Ahh! So it bears our once-fractured soul, now complete. Such strength, such resolve, such dedication! Is it more than simply a Vessel? I almost feel like I'm once again in the presence of my beloved Wyrm.”[16]

She refers to the Kingsoul, the charm symbolizing the holy union of two higher beings[17], in this text first, before saying she almost feels like she’s in the presence of her husband. The Kingsoul would, by some degree of logic, have something that reminds the Queen of the Pale King, as half of the union was him. Besides that, Ghost has the Wyrm’s heritage, which could hypothetically amplify the effect.

But most important is still the Kingsoul. Half of it is based on the King, and that’s enough reason to remind the blind White Lady of the Pale King.

Quite in fact, she recognizes both Grimmchild and Carefree Melody to be linked to the Grimm Troupe (she tells them that “[… Ghost has] been consumed in the ritual of that scarlet clan.”[2]), so the actual presence of the primary higher being linked to the charm is unnecessary.

As for Ogrim, he says, “How funny that I see you in my dreams too, little one. Your noble bearing reminds me of our dear King. When he returns, I'll ask him if you can become a Knight! What jolly adventures we will have...”[18]

Noble bearing. Ghost literally could literally be holding themself up as if they were noble. In addition, Ogrim also recognizes Ghost as a vessel like the Hollow Knight, as he realizes that “...So there were others...” and even apologizes for the “cruel means” the Pale King used, despite his otherwise near-blind loyalty to the King.[19]

As for the Royal Retainers bowing to Ghost, there’s not much to say. While, yes, they do bow to you regardless of having the brand or not, it’s not far off to think they would have still bowed to the Hollow Knight back when it was a child, as it was the product of their beloved King. Ghost resembles the Hollow Knight, so it could easily be that. That said, since most would actually have the Brand by the time they go to the White Palace, it could also be a coding oversight. With the King’s Brand, Ghost is the King. This does not mean the Pale King, of course, but the King as in the ruler, as the brand has marked them as such.

And what does their Hunter’s Journal say about them, as MatPat so clearly points out? “The most loyal and devout servants of the King.”[20] Not even the Pale King, but simply the King. Doesn’t argue against the aforementioned points much, does it?

So, does it have to be that deep? No. Absolutely not.

Ghost’s heritage and the fact they hold the Kingsoul could essentially cover all the bases here.

Point #6: The Pale King Can Transform

This is a true fact. However, the most damning evidence here is that the King’s Brand in the Wyrm’s corpse seems to be on an egg, as Ellina states in the Journal.[21] This is likely the place the Pale King “hatched” from. Since we find no such egg near his corpse in the White Palace, it appears he’s pretty damn dead and isn’t coming back.

Bardoon may say that the death of a Wyrm may lead to “More transformation methinks,”[22] but that’s not quite solid enough to say that the Pale King had molted again. Bardoon also shows no signs of thinking of Ghost as a Wyrm, despite recognizing the Pale King and his brand being linked to such.

Point #7: Void

Let’s make this simple. The Void hates all forms of light, as seen by the lighthouse. The Pale King was using Void as well, and the Void hates his guts for that. To be reborn as a being primarily made of Void? He would probably self-destruct.

The Pale King also left the Kingdom in stasis, as Hornet states,[23] which could easily explain the “But yours is potential, eternity potential, force that could deny Time,“[4] quote.

MatPat also said he believed the egg near the throne room is where the Pale King hatched, and I think this has already been mentioned to likely be otherwise.[21]It’s more likely a failed attempt to hatching vessels in his little lab, as this resembles the egg Ghost had presumably hatched from.

Point #8: The Nursery Musicbox

This one’s also hard for me to explain, but it could also be MatPat made it illegal that leitmotifs are apparently not allowed to just be a callback.

I’m one to hate refuting a theory with another theory, but it has been suggested (and mentioned above) that the vessels may be the reanimated corpses of children of the Pale King and the White Lady. In this case, it would mean the children they had once been may have heard the song long ago, and the Shade remembers this past life.

Alternatively, the way Ghost and the Hollow Knight’s tales are entwined may also explain this, as it could have been the Hollow Knight’s room, once. But it’s shakier than the theory above.

Point #9: No Cost Too Great

This is the man who sacrificed millions, if not more, children just to contain a problem he caused. The cost was never directly tied to himself. Also, sure, maybe he’s redeemable somewhere, but I really cannot see him reincarnating into an even shorter entity.

And again, Ghost had hatched while the Pale King was still alive.[24] So. No.

Point #10: Ghost Can Wake Up Bugs from the Infection

I know we rouse Sly and Bretta from the infection’s clutches. But if we could really do this to any bug, why didn’t we do this with Myla? Or anyone else infected?

The first two seemed in a very early stage, maybe like sleepwalking at most. They could likely have been awaken by anyone else, had not the world been filled with infected individuals already.

Point #11: Monarch Wings

This is more my headcanon territory, but I would like to think that the Pale King could summon his own wings, and that set of wings? Might have been the Broken Vessel’s. Besides, we’re never given the opportunity to see if someone else can use the item.

Point #12: ...Father…?

Cut dialogue should always be taken with a grain of salt. That said, this could be a plea to their father, who Ghost does apparently remind some others of. Their mind has long since fell to the Radiance, so it’d be no surprise if they can’t distinguish the two. But this doesn’t mean Ghost is their father. The Hollow Knight was given a purpose by the Pale King, and they seemed to have loved him, and wanted to please him by being perfect, so to call out to their father in their weakest moment, wondering if he’s even out there…

Well, they were given the World Sense.[4] If they couldn’t find him that way, their resolve might have been shaken, but they’re still trying.

The rest of the cut Dream Nail dialogue[25] reads as if from the Radiance instead of the Hollow Knight, which leads to some interesting things. While “usurper” and “ancient enemy”[26] could hypothetically be linked to the Pale King, the Void is as much her enemy. Through Myla, she calls Ghost “the Empty One”[27] instead of “Wyrm” or some other term. She also states that “...THE LIGHT CANNOT BE CONSUMED...” The Pale King never consumed the Radiance and he is also of his own pale light.[28] But (while it can be held back by light) the Void wishes to snuff such radiance. In both the Dream No More and Embrace the Void endings, the Radiance is literally consumed by the Void. This makes it seem that in the end, she’s not talking to the threat of a Wyrm, but of simply a being of Void, no longer affiliated with Wyrm or Root.

Conclusion:

MatPat is a little shit that really should research more.

This is not to say I’m correct. Hell, I’d be glad if I’m even half correct. But when I can piece together an argument against that without too much issue, there’s something wrong here.

I need a source on this, but I remember seeing a post on Tumblr on how Hollow Knight is a game of acceptance, of who you were, of your past, and ultimately, your fate. It’s not about redemption.

It’s just achieving peace with your regrets and moving on, stronger.

Or at least, that’s how I’ve seen it.

I don’t see myself as right, but at least, I think I wrote something vaguely more solid, and found evidence to back it up. If nothing else, it was an excellent writing exercise. And for that I am thankful for the video.

I hope this was an enjoyable read for you, and I thank you for persisting this long.

SOURCES

1: https://youtu.be/dofQaoqecDk?t=920 – Mossbag brings this up. I do not own the book, nor have dived that far into either code or reddit.

2: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/White_Lady#The%20Grimm%20Troupe – source of quote.

3: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Hornet#Black%20Egg%20Temple – source of quote.

4: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Lore_Tablets_of_Hallownest – source of quote.

5: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Tiso#Dirtmouth – while I have seen all his dialogue, the fact remains he never outright says that he is from beyond. However, his line of “Hallownest... What challengers await in its ruin?” does seem to imply such.

6: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Cornifer#General – the fact he has only recently moved to Dirtmouth and expresses such wonder about Hallownest gives the impression he is from beyond the kingdom.

7: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Iselda#Additional%20dialogue – Iselda likewise supports this with her statement of “Of all the places to end up, we've picked this dreary town. I'd thought it a temporary stop, then my husband became obsessed with that old ruin.”

8: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Cloth#Ancient%20Basin – though vaguest of the list, her use of “this kingdom’s beasts” does imply she’s seen some others.

9: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/White_Lady#Delicate%20Flower – while she herself never said such, the White Lady says, “Not of me that flower, nor of this kingdom. Far it travelled to reach this place, brought by one beloved, fair knight of lands serene.” The Grey Mourner, presumed to be Ze’mer, was the one to give you the flower, and refers the blossoms as hers, with her words of “Che's sacred, precious, one of its kind flower,” at the quest’s fail.

10: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Zote#Colosseum – while the article likewise states he’s from beyond, he does outright say he came to this kingdom. Hard to come into a place you’re already in.

11: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/White_Lady#General – source of quote.

12: I have no memory of a source, but the entire fandom seems to have taken it as at least a headcanon, and it’s bound to have reasoning somewhere.

13: To those who may not remember the poem, it goes as follows:

In wilds beyond they speak your name with reverence and regret,

For none could tame our savage souls yet you the challenge met,

Under palest watch, you taught, we changed, base instincts were redeemed,

A world you gave to bug and beast as they had never dreamed.

- From 'Elegy for Hallownest' by Monomon the Teacher

14: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y6DKBqXlmU – intro footage; self-explanatory.

15: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Hornet#Greenpath – the page also has all her other dialogue pieces, but this is the first of her many uses of the name.

16: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/White_Lady#Reacting%20to%20Charms – source of quote

17: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Kingsoul – has charm description.

18: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/White_Defender#Defeats – source of quote.

19: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Dung_Defender#After%20the%20fight – source of quote.

20: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Royal_Retainer – source of quote.

21: https://youtu.be/dofQaoqecDk?t=735 – Mossbag brings it up; again, I do not own the book.

22: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Bardoon#General – source of quote.

23: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Hornet#The%20Abyss – Hornet says, “A difficult journey you would face, but a choice it can create. Prolong our world's stasis or face the heart of its infection,” as seen here.

24: https://youtu.be/kOHdVy1BFNE?t=295 – Birthplace cutscene.

25: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hollow_Knight – the cut dialogue is in trivia.

26: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/The_Radiance – the Radiance’s own dream nail dialogue is found here.

27: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Myla – Myla’s dream nail dialogue is found here.

28: https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/The_Last_Stag#Additional%20dialogue – while I do not actually remember who said “pale light” (I do remember hearing it), the Old Stag also called the Pale King “bright and radiant in visage.” So it works.

#hollow knight #The Not-Quite-Fluffy Queen (OOC / Mun)#//i said i'll write a paper and there you go #//six hours of screaming #//and almost 4k words including sources #//i'm going to die #//also i am a more casual completionist so while I have indeed radianted Markoth I am no lorekeeper.#//so bear with me #//i am big dumb.#//but this is my best effort!!#//no beta we die like men

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blackcat-in-the-rain · 6 years ago

Text

Writing your Craft

going through the list created by @baduhennasraven

1. What draws me to witchcraft?

I’ve honestly always been drawn to it, even before I knew the word for it. It just always made sense to me from a very young age.

2. How do I see the divine?

I believe that there are many spirits, energies, Gods, and Goddesses in the world. People have connections to them, and often it’s to one particular or more that are their patron Deities.

3. What in witchcraft makes me happy?

When I’m able to help others by giving them a spell or by knowing.

4. Do I want to follow a path that has to do with a little nature, or a lot of nature?

I follow a path that has a good deal to do with nature.

5. What areas of witchcraft would I like to learn more about?

I’m not very good at knowing plants and their properties

6. Where do my witchy talents lie?

My talents lie more in things I don’t have any control over like reading minds and just knowing things. But i’m also good with spirit sensing and divination

7. What kind of deities, if any, do I want to honor?

My patron Goddess is the Morrighan

8. How do I believe magic works?

Through will and energies, everything is connected by threads and with the right energies you can manipulate them or read them.

9. Simple or elaborate spells/rituals? Why?

Depends on the reason. Though sometimes the more simple spells can cost the most energy (says the Witch who fell asleep during her last ritual because she asked for a vision). Really, whatever it takes to get your energies up and flowing and working for you.

10. What are my views on cursing/hexing?

Do it.

11. Do I want to practice something similar to my ancestors?

I don’t know what they practiced... but I do want to talk to my Grandma before her memory goes anymore. She often used to talk about how she and I were sensitive, but I was never given the opportunity to look into what she means by that.

12. What are the basic morals and ethics I feel I should live by?

The world is harsh enough, I can be a gentle force within. However I also believe in “don’t fuck with the Witch” mentality.

13. What in nature am I drawn to; the ocean, animals, the trees, etc?

Rain, the moon, stones, animals, rivers, shadows, and fire.

14. Which (witchy) holidays, if any, would I like to celebrate and how?

I want to celebrate more of them

15. How do I believe divination works?

It’s like a spider web, I am currently reading your current path (tarot cards). If we want to discuss changes I need to pull out my oracle cards though as those are the only ones that I can get to talk about different possibilities.

16. Would I like to work with a group some of the time, all of the time or not at all?

I suppose this leads me to my insecurities. I enjoy working with groups even though they make me second guess myself on some things. So most of the time I like working by myself in the dead of the night like I used to growing up.

17. Which aspects of witchcraft appeal to me most, which the least?

The most: controlling myself and the weird things I have done. The least? Memorizing certain plants and their properties and which ones combined together is a no go.

18. What do I believe happens to us when we die?

I think that depends on which Deities you’re attached to. If you’re attached to someone like the Abrahamic God then you have the heaven hell debate. However I believe I’ll be going through reincarnation.

19. How do I see mythological creatures?

Some of them are cryptids that we just haven’t found yet. Some of them are energies and spirits.

20. When do I feel most magical?

When I’m walking barefoot in the rain feeling everything around me as the rain soaks into my clothes and weighs it down.

There’s one memory that I have where I was dancing in the rain in the trailer park when I was 11. I had skipped into my prettiest dress and went twirling in it, and just singing into the wind and feeling the electric pressure of the storm. Only to suddenly stop. Make eye contact with a black cat and was watching me. Upon seeing me looking at it, the cat got up and slowly crossed the road with me watching and then disappeared into the shadows going into the backyard of our trailer home. That is a moment in my mind filled with magick.

21. How much is witchcraft woven into my daily life; is this too much, too little or just enough?

I think it’s too little. I don’t really have a daily devotion as I’d like. I have an emergency witch kit in my car, but it is in need of updating and replenishing.

22. What kind of witch do I feel I am?

I don’t know... probably closer to a HedgeWitch. A little urban, a little thrift, a little nature based. I’m trying to go through traditional training and they want me to focus on Divination.

23. Which texts/quotes best describe my current path?

I honestly can’t think of any.

24. Do I like research and gathering info, or do I like things handed to me?

I mean... who doesn’t like things being handed to them? But I think I like something in the middle, I like researching and drawing my own conclusions, but often I have trouble finding resources to go through. I have a strange problem where I’ll try and try to search for something and then someone else searches it with me right there. Same words. And NOW the item in question pulls up for them. I think it has to do with my initials being EMP by birth and I have had many instances where I lived up to it.

25. Which things about witchcraft worry or scare me?

Not being ready in the case of emergency. I’ve been a Witch for 25 years and I feel woefully unprepared should there be demon activity.

26. What is my favourite element?

Water is probably my favorite element, despite my fear of big bodies of water and the times I’ve almost drowned.

27. How do I see gender (roles) in witchcraft?

Meh. What gender roles. I see them more in the lines of defense and offense. Archetypes! The Healer, the Fighter, the Seer, the Thief, etc.

28. Am I interested more in magic, or spirituality?

To me they’re more or less the same thing. I need to know more about the Morrighan for my spirituality, but I have many gaps in my knowledge of magick as well.

29. Do I like to be told how to do things, or would I rather figure it out on my own?

For science! Magickal science. Figure things out and let things blow up in my face so I get a feel for what should be handled how.

30. What rules, if any, do I live by when it comes to witchcraft and magic?

Don’t ask if you’re not ready for the consequences.

31. What do I gain from witchcraft and magic?

Feeling more in touch with myself.

32. Formal or informal rituals/spells? Why?

Depends on the occasion. I go very formal for Coven rituals/spells because then it’s uniform between all of us. I go informal for stuff by myself because it’s how I feel my relationship with the spirits are.

33. What subject do I love to study?

Silly as it is, I love creatures. Cryptids, spirits, mythological creatures. All the legends and the stories.

34. What is my favourite type of magic; candle, sympathetic, sigils, etc?

Color magic is my favorite fall back. That way I can see how I’m feeling and work some magic into the cloth of what I’m wearing that day. Not feeling good? Pulling out the grey for some invisibility magick.

35. What would my perfect witchy day be like?

Waking up to it raining, eating breakfast and drinking a warm drink while watching it fall with my kitties curled up next to me. Going to run some errands and help a few strangers along the way. Go for a walk late at night and feel the lingering thrum of the storm and smell the richness that is left behind, kind of exposing the wounds of my environment so I can experience it’s health for myself. Then curl up with the kitties eating something tasty while watching some Witchy media.

36. Would I want to be dedicated/initiated?

Have been. Honestly it’s not all that, but I do like my Coven members.

37. Who do I honor (ex: deities, ancestors, myself, etc), and how do I, or would I like to, honor them?

I really want to get some kind of daily devotion going for the Morrighan. But I also should get a self care ritual going so I can start the healing process and mending my spirit and physical self.

38. How do I create a sacred/witchy space?

I sing. I harmonize with the energies and I bless the space.

39. What do I believe is needed for a succesful spell/ritual?

Intent. Enough tools that you feel confident with. Doubt is the best way to hinder yourself and curse your work.

40. Which cultures do I draw from in my witchcraft?

I don’t know. I just work the neopagan wiccan stuff I’ve read with what I was doing before I could read.

41. What is my learning style; books, websites, videos, more hands-on?

Hands on, video, books, but honestly if you could give me it in story form it will never be forgotten. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I wish there was more Witchy memoirs out there.

42. What, if anything, in my mundane life influences my witchcraft?

Everything probably. The pain and wear and tear on my body makes it hard to do everything I want to do.

43. What are my hobbys, how do I (or can I) incorporate them in my witchcraft?

I like to write, I like to craft things, learn new crafts. I’ve already incorporated them a bit, though I would like to do more Witch writing.

44. Where do my non-witchy talents lie, how do I (or can I) incorporate them in my witchcraft?

I am good at writing, so I can use that to create more Witch media that I want? I cannot incorporate my perler beading due to the plastic and how easily they melt. I’ve already incorporated my singing, even though I don’t particularly think of it as a talent.

45. What would my dream witchy life look like? What steps can I take to work towards it?

I first need to konmari my place to help the flow of energies. Learn more about different aspects that I’m lacking. Get my anxiety under control and handle my emotional healing that needs to take place so I can better help others. Address my caffeine and sugar addiction so that tea is enough and I don’t need all these creams and sugars in my coffee.

I would love to one day be the lady that people came to more when they need help.

46. What would my dream sacred space/witchy home look like? What steps can I take to work towards it?

I guess that’s not too far from the one above. I just want the energy to flow better, more comfy pillows and plants.

47. What symbols correspond with me; runes, animals, flowers, gemstones, etc?

Not sure if i feel comfortable sharing all that lol

48. Am I an open and proud witch, or do I (need to) hide my craft?

I’m usually a very proud and open Witch, though I have to hide it at work since I’m now at a very religious school that probably wouldn’t take too kindly to this. I spent most of my life having to hide it so I’m not terribly keen on having to do it all again.

49. What are my favourite witchy items/tools; divination tool, ritual tool, décor, clothing, etc?

I actually need to replace my very witchy hoody lol. It had sigils on the inside and was huge and comfy and would help make me feel comfortable enough to focus on my craft.

50. What is holding me back in my craft?

Insecurities really. Worried about people judging me, when I know that shouldn’t matter to me. I was in an online coven once and it turned into a cult and really did a number on my self esteem.

51. What is my pre-spell/ritual routine?

A walk or a drive to get my energies flowing and amped up.

52. What are my ultimate witchy goals and how can I work towards them?

I want to be someone others can come to. So I need to make a list of things that I’m not knowledgeable on and start working towards them. Of which I already have an extensive list created for what I consider would be my ultimate grimoire so I could just work on filling that out as it would also help fill in my gaps of knowledge.

Also to be more helpful to others I first need to heal and work on myself. So a ritual set up to address my self esteem and physical ailments would be ideal.

I also need to get used to offering what I know instead of waiting for those rare moments someone is drawn to me and asks for help not knowing if I can help them or not.

#writeyourwitchcraft #witchcraft

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exhoe-imagines · 6 years ago

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All of them! ㅇㅅㅇ 💕

Ok anon, you asked for it, and we tried our best to deliver!! I’m sorry it took us a while, but we had to think a lot about some of these questions. With that said, all of our answers are below the cut, so please enjoy reading all of them ~

If you want to know more about us admins/our fics, I would recommend reading/skimming over the answers below!!

1. what’s your name? do you use any aliases? what about your ghost writer name?

We both use aliases for writing, at least on this blog. Jewels’ is based on her first name, and mine is based on my last name. I do have my first name on my main blog though, so if you’re curious enough, you can dig around for that 👀 ~ Admin Ruby

2. name your favourite books; why are they your favorite books and do they affect your writing?

The Lover; Duras’ writing has inspired me to try and achieve complex emotions with simple concise language. Memoirs of a Geisha; capturing nostalgia and romanceTwilight; It was one of the first things I read seriously, and it helped me develop an understanding of internal conflict – which is often not expressed through dialogue. Demian; It showed me how to use symbolismAlso, anything by Jane Austen. I love her plots. ~ Admin Jewels

I’ll be honest when I say that while I love reading, I haven’t read a lot. I think I have a lot of books to explore, so I don’t think it would be fair for me to choose a favorite with my limited knowledge. On that note, when I do read, I try to look at the style of the book the most. How would I change it? Is there anything I want to take from it to include in my own writing? ~ Admin Ruby

3. name your favorite movies; why are they your favorite movies and do they affect your writing?

Along with all of the film adaptions of the books previously listed, I also love Film Noir and French New Wave movies. They have unusual plots filled with mystery and intrigue which I try to include in my writing. ~ Admin Jewels

Sci-fi, crime, and emotional movies are my favorite. The futuristic and supernatural aspect of the first give me a million ideas for AU’s, and the emotional and crime side of films help me delve deeper into my inspirations for characters. They make me think about what the characters are feeling, and what extremes they could be pushed to under certain circumstances ~ Admin Ruby

4. why do you like writing? what inspired you to put pen to paper?

My undying love for my men tbh ~ Admin Jewels

Writing gives me a way to express my thoughts and feelings, something I’m not good at verbalizing normally ~ Admin Ruby

5. what’s your favorite place to write? do you need a certain atmosphere?

I have to be unrushed and in a quiet environment. Writing on my laptop in bed is nice ~ Admin Jewels

I love places away from home. When we went on our beach vacation, I was able to get so much done. Also, whenever it rains or is super cold!! ~ Admin Ruby

6. tag any writers that you want to collab with!

Collabs aren’t a top priority of ours, at least right now, but if we were to consider one, it would be with a close mutual/friend ~ Admin Ruby and Admin Jewels

7. when writing, how do you begin? how do you end?

I begin by setting the atmosphere of my universe. That includes scenery and excessive description of the mood. I like to keep my endings simple and uncomplicated ~ Admin Jewels

I usually start with a rough outline, basic character descriptions, and an overview of the plot. Towards the end, I focus on editing and making sure the emotions I wanted to be presented are visible through my writing ~ Admin Ruby

8. how many wips do you currently have? which one is your favorite as of the moment?

I have 4 current works in progress, all of which are series. My favorite is The Knowing because it fits my current vibes ~ Admin Jewels

Oh, I’ve got easily 15-20+ right now. Some are just basic outlines while others I’m a couple thousand words into. My favorite as of now would have to either be the reincarnation au that Jewels and I are working on or the Yifan oneshot I just finished planning!! ~ Admin Ruby

9. what time of the day your write best? what season affects your writing the most?

I write best at night. As for seasons, I find that I tend to start fics in the summer and return to them in the fall and winter ~ Admin Jewels

I usually write best in the afternoon or super late at night. Each season gives me different feels too. Summer makes me think of exciting and adventurous fics, spring is soft and fresh, fall is warm and nostalgic, and winter is sad and lonely ~ Admin Ruby

10. describe your writing in five sentences or less.

My writing attempts to capture the scenes that I visualize throughout my daily life. My ideas are a mixture of memories but also of plots I haven’t lived. I use a mixture of inspiration from movies and books, and try to capture my feelings of the ideas into words to explain them ~ Admin Jewels

I want my writing to be as descriptive and powerful as possible, and I’ll write in any way that I think that will come across. Some of my fics are super long and drawn out. Others are short but strong. All of them though, express a simple idea, but with a complex view of life hidden underneath ~ Admin Ruby

11. describe yourself when writing in ten sentences or less.

I’m recording the scenes as if I’m living through them. I try to capture the feelings and essence of the characters as if I am them. I want it to be similar to a movie, where you can feel the characters emotions and actions as if they were your own ~ Admin Jewels

I focus a lot on the words I choose to describe things. I want my reader, whoever they might be, to feel what I’m trying to express. I try to use descriptive language that appeals to all of the senses and pulls the reader into the story. By doing so, I feel that they can relate more to the characters and the emotions in the fic ~ Admin Ruby

12. what do you associate with each of your stories? with your writing in general?

My scenes always include rain and emo music, along with some hunk, whether it be Sehun or Yoongi ~ Admin Jewels

I always think of my scenes having a free and even reckless feeling to them. The decisions my characters make might not always be the smartest, but they take some guts ~ Admin Ruby

13. what themes/images are you most comfortable with writing about? what themes/images are you most uncomfortable with writing about?

I am uncomfortable writing mundane or plotless fics, and try to stick to shocking or forbidden themes (ex. Kidnapping, crime, prostitution, etc.) Instead of focusing on cliche and commonly understood aspects of human psychology, I try to explore the deeper and darker workings of our minds ~ Admin Jewels

I’m comfortable writing a lot of things. Darks themes or images aren’t something that scare or intimidate me too much. If I were to mention anything that puts me on edge, though, it would be toxic relationships. It doesn’t matter who the love interest in the fic is, if they pose a ‘threat’ to the reader, I don’t want to romanticize it ~ Admin Ruby

14. write a personal history/mini autobiography/author description that you don’t mind sharing.

I think one thing to mention about me is that my mindset of writing has changed a lot since writing on here. Originally, when I first joined the blog, I was writing for my own enjoyment. Now, however, I find myself gaining joy from bringing other people’s fantasies to life ~ Admin Jewels

I’ve been writing for a little over two years now, with many writing blogs and accounts across many forms of social media, and I have to say, I haven’t lost the spark for it even now. Being able to connect with others through my stories, and having people genuinely enjoy them makes me super happy ~ Admin Ruby

15. three pieces of your writing that people need to read to understand your writing and you?

Faithful part one and the introductions to The Knowing and Don’t ~ Admin Jewels

Definitely Riptide... For sure... Probably Can’t Hold Back and Farewell Summer too ~ Admin Ruby

16. three pieces of other’s writing that people need to read to understand your inspirations and you?

Crumbling Down by @yeolsmuffin , Pink by @soobadnoonecanstopher , and The Pawns and The Kings by @kreatingkpop ~ Admin Jewels

Blanc et Noir by @duizhangdeluxe is for sure one of the ones I think of off the top of my head, along with these two mxm fics on AO3 (x) (x) ~ Admin Ruby

17. three films that people need to watch to understand you?

Mother!, Highway, and the 90’s Dracula ~ Admin Jewels

Love, Simon, Your Name, Anastasia ~ Admin Ruby

18. make a playlist for people to listen to if they want to understand you.

El Condor Pasa - Simon and Garfunkel Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye Yayo - Lana del ReySweet Dreams - EurythmicsStrangers in the Night - Frank SinatraClair de Lune - Debussy

~ Admin Jewels

Girls like Girls - Hayley KiyokoJet Black Heart - 5SOSMagic - ColdplayParadise - Fanxy ChildLoser - BIGBANGKing - Lauren Aquilina

~ Admin Ruby

19. how often does real life segue into your writing? is any of your writing based on events from your own life?

The feelings and emotions are usually based on what I’m feeling in real life at the time, but thankfully I’ve never been kidnapped by a mafia boss *wink wink* wouldn’t mind though if it were vampire!Yoongi *wink wink* ~ Admin Jewels

You can totally tell what kind of mood I’m in when I’m writing. My emotions heavily influence my writing, along with some events. With that said, like Jewels’ fics, the plots are exaggerated LOL ~ Admin Ruby

20. describe your writing life in one sentence.

My writing life is an outlet for repressed emotions ~ Admin Jewels

My writing gives me a way to express emotions and thoughts I can’t express verbally ~ Admin Ruby

21. which self-doubts plague you the most often? which ones don’t you worry about?

I find myself most insecure about the plots of my fics as well as character development. I don’t worry about smut or descriptive language ~ Admin Jewels

Angst is for sure one of the things I worry about the most. I never feel like I capture it the way I want to. Slow burns too. I worry I rush them too much. I think I do pretty good with supernatural or mystical aspects of fics though!! ~ Admin Ruby

22. your favourite characters to write and why.

I like misunderstood or emotionally repressed romantic interests that open up to the reader over time ~ Admin Jewels

Determined characters!! Whether it’s the reader or another character, I always enjoy writing them trying to achieve a goal ~ Admin Ruby

23. what emotions do you like capturing the most? what emotions are the hardest to capture when writing?

The easiest emotions for me are angst (especially grief and jealousy) and under the influence. It’s hard for me to write a lack of emotion, even if the reader is in a content state ~ Admin Jewels

I think I capture anger pretty well. On good days I think my fluffy/loving writing isn’t that bad either. I would say shock is a hard one for me to grasp ~ Admin Ruby

24. name one fact about yourself that you want your readers to know about you.

I’m currently studying Political Science, which I think heavily affects my writing ~ Admin Jewels

I’m super emotional...like extremely so. I think my writing shows that a bit, but not as much as I think it could ~ Admin Ruby

25. one piece of advice that you want your readers to have; writing and non-writing pieces are okay.

Let go of any notions you have of “perfect” writing. Create your own style that suits you best ~ Admin Jewels

Don’t let anyone diminish how you feel about something. As long as you don’t express your emotions in a way that harms others/yourself, then you shouldn’t apologize for them ~ Admin Ruby

26. what are your writing goals for the week? for the month? for the year? how many words/poems do you write per week?

My main goal is always to keep up with my series, not necessarily under a time constraint though ~ Admin Jewels

I try to finish a fic/writing piece once a week, no matter how small it is ~ Admin Ruby

---

Well, that was a long list. If you’re reading this, anon (or anyone else who got this far) I hope you enjoyed all of our answers!! Thank you for the ask ~~

#ask game #get to know the admins #get to know the blogger #get to know the writers

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pellicano-sanguino · 6 years ago

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Random thoughts while watching... OSK Revue?

I finally saw my first OSK Revue show (Dracula, 2017), so thought I'd write about it. This is not a proper review, just a bunch of random thoughts. I will be making a lot of comparisons to Takarazuka in this, and please understand that I do not mean to imply that OSK is just a zuka copycat, I simply wanted to compare the two and see what they have in common and what not (also, all opinions are about this production and these actresses only, I'd need to see more shows to form a proper, better educated opinion on OSK's style as a whole.).

First impression was a surprise at how small the production is. I knew OSK isn't as big as zuka, but still, the theater's stage was very small and there were only about ten actresses, many of them pulling several roles, I think. I felt like I was watching a Bow Hall show cut in half both by stage length and actress numbers. Having a small number of actresses causes there to be some slower, quieter scenes, where a character monologues for a while so that everyone else has time to do the costume change.

Even so, it still felt very similar to zuka. Despite the small stage, they do dance, including a post-show minirevue that includes the main otokoyakus dancing in pretty, sparkly tailcoats and a duet dance with the main leads. The makeup is similar but there's some small differences that I'm not expert enough to point out (don't know anything about makeup). There are some stylistic differences in zuka makeup too, so it felt like I was watching a sixth zuka troupe and this was their troupe's personal style.

Minirevue dancing (and look, some parade feathers. Small feathers but feathers none the less.)

Otokoyaku still sing like otokoyaku and musumeyakus sound just like zuka musumes. I liked the leading otokoyaku's voice, it was pleasant to listen. Though she has to do a lot of angry angsting throughtout the musical, which is occasionally bad for her voice, making it sound like she has a bit of a sore throat. The songs were ok, nothing particularly memorable or catchy. A lot of the music is rather simple, like piano music and such.

I admit, when I was putting the disk in the DVD player, I was chanting in my head ”Please follow the book at least barely, please don't be weird and rewrite the story wildly.” Well, no such luck, this isn't a book faithful adaptation. Which unfortunately leads to me not having a clue what the hell is going on most of Act 1. But I am happy that it's not a comedy or a super weird adaptation.

I have to say that seeing a completely serious take on a vampire musical is a breath of fresh air and something I wish zuka could do. Don't get me wrong, I love the lighthearted vampire shows like Seal of Roses (which maybe didn't aim for lighthearted but kinda accidentally became one). Zuka always makes the vampire stories, well... kinda weird (I've already ranted about the randomness, plot holes and inconsistent vampire lore in my Random Thoughts While Watching Zuka #4). I appreciate them thinking outside the box and surprising me instead of recycling the most generic vampire story plots and tropes, but as a vampire lover I would die for vampire show that actually takes itself seriously. I suppose the Poe Family show is a serious take on the subject (no comedic parts or weird story elements), but that is probably thanks to the source material. Zuka can do cool&dark, they've done Elisabeth, so if they wanted they could make truly awesome vampire shows.

While I said that this is a serious take on a vampire story, there's still a short comedic song number in the beginning of Act 1, where a bunch of reporters try to interview Dracula after his arrival at London, only to have him scream NO COMMENTS at them.

This show uses sound and screen effects a lot. Most of the time they make sense (like hearing the sound of a train in the station) but there are moments where I hear a random noise or see strange images projected on the screens and go ”What the hell was that?”

There are only three big roles in this show: Dracula, Mina and Jonathan Harker. There's also this one lady in black who I suspect to be the spirit of Dracula's dead wife, who he grieves and longs for all the time. So yeah, the beginning of Act 2 reveals to us that this show has taken inspiration from Coppola's Dracula and lifts the vampire's origin from the movie. He was a warlord in medieval times (which means he's dressed in armor and has a sword YES me likey) and somehow a false letter was brought to his wife claiming that he had fallen in battle, which led to her committing suicide. When human Drac got home to discover his wife dead, he was devastated and broken, that is, until he hears that the church refuses to bury his wife because suiciders are sinners who go to hell. There's a literal DUN DUN DUUUUN sound effect as the count builds up rage, then curses God and allows the forces of evil to corrupt his body in order to revenge. He then proceeds to kill all of the priests/monks/whatever the church folks were supposed to be.

This slaughter of innocent unarmed humans would be brutal and super dramatic, but the fight choreography leaves... much to improve. Yeah, zuka battle choreos can look like they're from the 60's Batman too, with punches that miss by a mile, but here... the stabs are so lazy it looks like the poor victims are literally walking into his sword.

If Heaven won't accept

my suicided wife

I'll follow her to Hell!

(...and lick her knife.)

Not gonna lie, this is something I haven't seen zuka do. Sure, they've implied licking things, but it's always done quite swiftly and * elegantly * and not, well, like this. Tongue out and all, literally licking the knife prop.

I was curious to see if the kisses are still fake or not, since OSK is free to have their own traditions and don't have to follow rules set by Hankyu. Also, I keep hearing rumors that OSK is supposedly more daring than zuka when it comes to love scenes. Not in this show, at least. The romantic scenes are very chaste and more cute than sexy (also, the blood drinking scene, while definitely romanticized and very nice&dramatic, not any hotter than the blood drinking scenes in zuka). And the kisses are very much fake. Oh well, the actresses are spared of messing up their lipstick.

Speaking of messing up lipstick, I know that stain is supposed to be blood but it looks like a group of amorous ladies gave the count several sloppy kisses.

So, my guess for the plot is that Dracula comes to London in search for the woman who is the reincarnation of his wife. To lure women for him to see, he puts up... a fashion show or something? Dresses are on display, including dead wife's wedding dress. Which Mina gets to wear, and Dracula is immediately convinced she's the incarnation and for the rest of the musical never calls Mina by her real name, just by the wife's name. Which is... Elisabeth. I don't remember what the wife's name was in Coppola's movie, but still, the dramatic way Dracula pronounces this name does make it sound like it was lifted from another musical.

In Act 2 Jonathan, on his way to rescue his girlfriend from the vampire's castle, meets an annoying little kid. And yeah, just like in zuka, there are no child actors in OSK, children are played by adult women using cutesy kiddie voice and being super genki. But then the kid finds the knife that Elisabeth used to suicide herself and turns to face the audience while holding it, and I was like ”Great. The annoying kid has turned into a creepy kid.” If the child had turned out to be a vampire and in team Drac all along, that would have been an awesome plot twist. But instead he's actually an angel or something like that, providing Jonathan with the weapon that can kill the vampire.

Dracula has a bunch of vampiric minions at his castle, not just the three brides. I have to ask, what is it with vampire shows having one main vampire who behaves normally and then having a bunch of background vampires/minions who speak/sing like they're high as a kite and lumber around dancing artsy inteeeerpretive dances? It's... weird. Why are some vampires normal and some complete fruitbats?

This Dracula must be the angstiest version of the character I've ever seen. There's occasionally great moments where he's charismatic, seductive or in rage mode, but the majority of time he is either silently depressed or actively whining (even many of his angry scenes come out as more whiny than aggressive). It's a very dialogue heavy show and because of the language barrier and free adapting of the story, I have no idea what his angsty dialogues are about. But whatever he says, he actually manages to win Mina's sympathy and they dance together. Even if they kiss, I still think Mina's feelings are more pity and less sincere romantic interest. Also, I should point out that I have nothing against depressed, angsty, reluctant vampires in general, it's just that I don't usually associate that kind of behavior with Dracula (depression and angst is more sir Francis Varney's thing.). Dracula is cold, ruthless, cunning and irredeemably evil, not some emotional lovelorn wreck.

I have said this before and will say again: Dracula does not aishiteiru.

Jonathan makes an attempt to save Mina but doesn't get to kill the count. Which is good because while the Jonathan of the book would definitely want and be able to fight the count, this musical portrayed the character as a cute and awkward softie nerd (I approve, not all male heroes need to be tough guys) and avoiding getting his hands wet with blood was a good move. Poor guy would be traumatized for life, even if it would be to save his girlfriend, he's just not a killer. Instead, Dracula decides to let the lovers go free and suicides himself, like he usually does in adaptations where they make him have a romance with Mina.

You know how in zuka there's the tradition that in the end the dead characters make an appearance dressed in white, to sing and prance around in an afterlife epilogue. Well, not in this show, but there is something kinda similar. In the ending scene the spirit of Elisabeth appears behind the dying count and poses dramatically with him, spreading her cape like white bat wings, taking him with her to afterlife. I think it looks cool.

To end this, let's talk about the blood drinking scene. In all vampire stories, these are the most important scenes, in my opinion. Blood drinking is what vampires do, it's their trademark thing, and if you chicken out of showing it or handle it lazily, then why the hell are you making a vampire story in the first place. You don't make Phantom of the Opera adaptation and fail to have the unmasking scene be the most dramatic and memorable scene, and similarly, you don't make a vampire story and fail to deliver the blood drinking scenes properly. Yes, I have weirdly strong opinions about this, deal with it.

Very early in Act 1 we see Dracula suffer from malnutrition, his hair turning gray and his knees failing, making him slump to the ground, very visibly suffering. For emergency he empties a small vial of blood that doesn't seem to make him get any better. And it is this moment when Jonathan decides to visit him for the first time for work-related reasons (no idea what his profession is in this story. In the fashion industry?). So, we have a thirsty vampire and a nice, cute bloodbag in the same room all alone.

Me: Drink him!

Dracula: Nope. I'd rather suffer. :)

What the hell? In the book he totally noms Jonathan. Is this because he's a male? This Dracula afraid to drink from someone who has icky boy blood? Oh well, he gets better later anyway, so I assume he gets some blood off-stage. But still, it was very confusing to see a starving vampire not take advantage of an opportunity of some easy blood.

Well, later Dracula is introduced to Mina and immediately decides ”This is the One.” And I cheer him on.

Me: Drink her!

Dracula: No. Now is not a good time. :)

Me: Damnit! DRINK SOMEBODY!!!

We have to wait all the way to the end of Act 1, but finally, we get a genuine on-screen blood drinking scene. Just as important as the moment of blood drinking itself is what leads up to it. In this musical it's Jonathan piecing together all the clues and finally getting Dracula's real identity (in a rather nerdy monologue of stuff like ”...Dracul means Dragon, and the A at the end makes it Son of the Dragon... wasn't there a warlord named like that in Romania hundreds of years ago...”).

Nerdsplaining time!

Terrified with his discovery he tries to save Mina, who Dracula has just kidnapped, spilling the beans for her as well. The revelation of Dracula's vampiric nature scares the two humans and there's plenty of dialogue that goes over my horizon, but I do get that the thing that makes Dracula snap is when Mina confesses to loving Jonathan.

The jealous vampire then starts to torture Jonathan by... some kind of Darth Vader mind-choking magic. Well, I suppose it's choking, because Jonathan holds his hands around his throat as if struggling against invisible fingers, but the sound effect doesn't suggest choking at all. It actually sounds much more gruesome and painful, a nasty ripping sound, as if the count is telekineticly tearing the poor man limb from limb and simultaneously flaying him alive. Eww, it's a gross sound effect.

Mina obviously can't idly just watch as her boyfriend is painfully tortured to death while she has the power to put an end to it. To save Jonathan, she loudly exclaims that she doesn't love him. And the count, being a little bit of an idiot here, buys it. Strangely, Jonathan seems to buy it too, crying Mina's name in disbelief. The torture ends (thank goodness), and to make sure no harm comes to Jonathan, Mina tells Dracula that if you're really a vampire and if it's blood you want, you can have mine!

Just let me gather this bothersome veil...

...and Behold! Vampire bait.

She dramaticly pulls the veil of the wedding dress on one shoulder and reveals her neck. I love this. And so does Dracula. This is the one moment where his eyes actually light up with passion and while he attempts to stay cool, you can see his chest rise as his breathing gets faster with excitement. Darn right, count. Blood offered by free will is the best stuff there is. And it was about time you finally drank someone.

It's always interesting when humans offer their blood to the vampire out of free will, because there's usually good and complex reasons behind it, and this is no exception. Mina doesn't offer her blood out of sympathy or under the influence of vampiric hypnosis or even being seduced by the pretty blood drinker. It's offered by free will but it's very much not concensual. The offer of blood is the only way she can distract the vampire long enough to let Jonathan escape and get help. By playing along with the count's delusions about Mina being the reincarnation of his wife, she is cleverly buying time, manipulating him. Only, unfortunate for these two, there is no van Helsing or any other member of the book's league of merry vampirehunting men in this show for Jonathan to run to, so all he can do is to follow them to the castle and attempt a lone rescue mission (which fails).

Frankly, the one who eventually defeats Dracula (kinda) is Mina, who manages to win the count's sympathy (making him learn the good old ”if you really love someone, you'll want what's best for them and let them go instead of selfishly trying to force them to stay with you”). And this blood drinking scene is the first time we see that she is aware of the power she has over the vampire. Maybe in the end she didn't exactly intend to make him commit suicide, just trying to make him let them go, but old Drac was living a horribly depressed and angsty unlife anyway, so it doesn't surprise me that he decided to end it. That's why the (kinda). Mina has great influence over Dracula but I do think his decision to die a final death seems to be not a result of manipulation but a genuine decision. Though he still technically makes her do it, by forcibly placing the knife in her hands and then grabbing her wrists, stabbing himself, making her involuntarily deal the killing blow. Kinda dick move (Mina is quite horrified of this, understandably), but at least I'm happy Mina doesn't kill herself too in this one (yes, I'm still angry at that ending in 2011 Wao Youka's Dracula. The count kills himself so Mina can go back to being human and back to Jonathan. And then the dumb woman makes the count's sacrifice completely pointless by throwing away the life he attempted to save.) Dracula ends his unlife but Mina and Jonathan return to the world of the living, where they belong.

Final random thought: Knightly warlord Dracula looks a bit like Lancelot’s long lost, dangerously unhinged brother. (it’s the wig and the silver armor with blue details. The actresses are very different.)

#osk revue #dracula #random thoughts while watching osk

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loumauve · 6 years ago

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@aimofdestiny tagged me

long ass, rambly response under the cut:

1. Are there any tropes you’d like to see more of in pro fic (aka… traditionally published books)? If so, which ones?

tbh, I haven’t really picked up any books lately. whenever I feel like reading I feel like a v specific set of characters and setup, and fanfic is perfect for that while traditionally published fiction is not.. but ??tropes?? idk. are they all tropes? who ever cares. STUFFS I love include:

COFFEE SHOP/BOOK STORE AUs (geonncannon has some p cool published fiction with similar content; also Ferry Tale... dudes and dudettes... pls read that. I know I say that every year but I really do mean it), CROSSOVERS of any kind, when I feel sentimental SOULMATE AUs (but mostly the less traditional ones. like.. friend soulmates are v cool too), anything SUPERNATURAL like GHOSTS!! or vampires/werewolves (teenage me was v into those and sometimes still gets to run around and play), ANYTHING KINDA TWISTED AND MESSED UP tbh (don’t ask me to explain that pls omg.. imagine dub-con, ppl fucking themselves up bc they’re messed up and need years of therapy, all of that. I’m a terrible person, lol....but then also THE HEALING PROCESS!!!), if done right - PIRATE AUs, ANYTHING POST-APOCALYPTIC, PRETEND RELATIONSHIPS (wherein all parties harbour feelings for the other(s) but think they oughta keep it to themselves), HURT-COMFORT (of course! I mean.. you get it, right??!?), REINCARNATION (esp the kind where it takes them a looooong time to get it right, and they keep DYING and messing it up and killing each other time and again... I just love it all. make it hurt, lol), TIME TRAVEL (again, IF DONE RIGHT), ANDROIDS/ROBOTS with self-awareness and feelings, anything to do with SPACE and travel therein, FOUND FAMILIES!!!

tldr: all of them, but mostly the above.

2. What art and/or craft would you like to pick up but haven’t for whatever reason?

anything I’m into and haven’t picked up is bc I tried it once, wasn’t good at it right away and promptly decided to give up on it, lol but if we’re talking as if I could do it, and do it well - hm.. I guess I’d love to be better at building things from scratch (think furniture, houses, the like) and also engineering abilities... I admire people who can do that shit and make sth cool, even if it’s shitty robots (SIMONE, YOU PERFECT JELLY BEAN - ILY)

3. What is your favourite cold/iced beverage?

there’s this one non-alcoholic cocktail... Mosquito I think? that’s p dope. but if we’re going all basic then it’s prob a tie between vanilla coke and cocoa idk

4. What is your preferred spice level? How hot is too hot for, idk, chili or curry or hot sauce or wasabi?

look, I so pale... I like spicy foods, but my body hates them. and they make my mouth burn and my eyes water and it’s nice when I’m sick, but otherwise I think I’m prob p bland in my choices of spice. the whole stereotype of white ppl and pepper+salt being their only spices doesn’t exist without reason, lol. I wish I could tolerate them more, bc I like chili and curry and loads of pepper, but it just hurts and I’m all about keeping my body (and asthma) on safe levels.

5. Rec me a youtube channel you like. Can be anything. Go on, I know you have a fave.

FUCK!! don’t make me pick, you jerk! I’ll give you a few options, cool? cool!

Kati Morton - for mental health stuff and just having a caring person talk about stuffs Peter Draws - bc he does what he says and he’s a p cool, p weird guy but he also cares about you and wants you to do you, and I dig that. (also his voice is super calming and sometimes I watch his stuff so I can doze off when I’m having a hard time falling asleep) Cooking with Sros // Rural Life (I think that’s where I first started watching her videos) - bc it’s calming to watch her cook super neat dishes that are traditional where she lives (also - sometimes she walks around in her garden and just PICKS STUFF UP bc IT GROWS THERE and I just think that’s the coolest bc you couldn’t even get some of those ingredients here, so like... that’s an entirely different thing I’ll prob never know enough about Simone Giertz - bc she’s awesome and so FUNNY!! and cute and awkward and hella smart, and... before the whole brain tumor thing I would have said I’d love to have a peek around in her brain, but now.. if all goes well she’ll have an actual picture of it to look at, and maybe it’s not cool to be excited for her..?? but yeah, she builds stuff WITH HER OWN TWO HANDS, and she has to know SO MUCH to do it, and just... DAMN CRUSH MATERIAL right there. like, I’m so weak. but also I just want her to have everything. I want her to be able to do to space. fuck

6. Do you keep mementos of old relationships? Why/why not?

HAH! FUCK. I do. have. will? sometimes I ask myself why I keep them and don’t just burn them or whatever (throwing them away wouldn’t be nearly cathartic enough an experience for me), and maybe this is still the grieving part of me that’s looking to haunt itself? idk

all I know is that so far I’ve kept letters. I’ve kept hoodies. and.. idk what I kept out of that one relationship.... can’t remember atm, but that one hurt far too much to keep a lot of reminders around.

7. What sort of music do you put on when you do chores, like dishes or laundry?

my go-to song used to be Eye of the Tiger, but these days it’s mostly podcasts or the music of the mood/day/week (those songs you listen to on repeat for hours after you’ve (re)found them.)

8. Is there any scent you particularly love? Which one?

it used to be musk, like.. those scented burning sticks..(that’s prob not the right English name for them, lol) but I guess... the good rain smell maybe? (not the bad smells-like-snails-and-slugs-and-dead-worms rain smell). also some roses and some paeonies.. I’m picky tho. and forever fave LAVENDER

9. Do you like to cook? What’s your signature dish?

I do, actually. when my kitchen doesn’t look like shit bc my emotional state and therefore life has derailed

and eh.. it’s like a paprika bellpepper tomato soup.. with salami and feta cheese and sometimes corn, sometimes rice, sometimes minced meat. always depends on the mood and what I have lying around. not so much a signature dish as it is what I make most often, mostly for myself.

10. What’s your fave ice cream flavour that you can’t get in most places?

it’s gained in popularity, but - after-eight. for sure. anything minty with chocolate is amazing to me.

11. What’s your current favourite outfit?

uhm.. I don’t really have favourite outfits, I just have favourite articles of clothing (THEY’RE MY FAVOURITES. THEY’RE ALL MY FAVOURITES. ALL OF THEM) and I tend to mash them together without a care in the world... well, mostly I care about temperatures and sun exposure bc I burn like a crisp in the sun, it’s not pretty.

but lately I’ve been wearing the european tour shirt from the My Favorite Murder live show bc I WAS THERE AND IT WAS THEEEEE SINGULAR BEST THING OF THE YEAR (aside from getting through my final exams). also, I love my old pair of Chucks, the blue leather kind, and the soles are falling apart and it’s all kinds of battered and worn out, but I love them. they make me happy. also there’s some striped black and white socks and some white dotted black underwear and some super comfortable black shorts. but what really is just LOVE still. and prob always. until death do us part - I have this super soft, super floofy, sways around in the wind, lets all the wind through the knitted structures of it, blue-ish, button-able long swishy swooshy ...jacket? apparently it’s called a cardigan, AND YES I HAD TO GOOGLE THAT. I DON’T KNOW THINGS!! JEEZ LOUISE

#meme thingie #aimofdestiny #not tagging ppl bc I'm tired and I need to sleep and it's only 7:30 but you can bet your ass I'll be lying down in a sec despite the sun #hope this satisfies your curiosity Aim

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spideymybucky · 7 years ago

Text

Its mutual part 2

Bucky Barnes x Reader, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, Bucky x Dot at first, Wanda, Tony Stark, Sam WIlson, Pietro, a lot more.

Word count: 1k+

Loosely based on the movie Its a girl boy thing, promise its gonna be different but at first might be very similar.

Summary: Both Reader and Bucky have hated each other for years, but an unexpected event will bring them close, so much closer than they wanted.

Warnings: Insults, bullying, idk what else.

Part 1 Part 2

(Y/N) woke up with the annoying sound of her alarm, the beeping never seized to stop. Her (Y/E/C) eyes shifted towards the clock, which was stating 6:30 am. She had to get up if she didn’t want her mother to come in, but her body refused to move. Her bed was warm and cozy, plus her brain needed five more minutes of sleep.

“Honey, Wake Up, your breakfast is getting cold!” She heard her mother scream. A groan left her lips while she stood up from her pink bed. Her same old routine started, first she stretched her muscles and after that she grabbed some clothes, took a cold shower and changed into her usual clothe: a pair of jeans, a blouse and her snickers. She had a tendency to dress smart, preppy some would say. Finally she directed herself down stair to the kitchen, where a big old bowl of oat meal awaited her.

(Y/N) sat in from of her mother, smiling at her. Appearance was what ruled in this house, it was a must-have to smile or else her mother would pester her till no end. The woman in front of her kept talking and talking, a never ending conversation. It was hell. God, did she wish to leave.

“Whats your opinion (Y/N)?” Her mother unexpectedly asked.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“(Y/N) (L/N), You should be paying attention to everything. Is this how you’re going to answer at your interview? Yale wo-“

“Have to go mom, school awaits.” She stood up and left rapidly, annoyed at everything. She hated how thing were turning but it was the only way to get out of her mothers way.

“Don’t be rude and interru-“ (Y/N) slammed the door shut and looked at the phone. Fuck, she thought, Late yet again. She ran to the bus stop but it was too late. The school bus left without her, fucking hell. All she had to do now is walk.

——————————————————————————————————————————

“James Buchanan Barnes, Wake Up! Your gonna be late again!” Winnie, is mom, screamed from the top of her lungs. Bucky stirred in his lips, mumbling incomprehensible words. God, did he hate weekdays.

“Hey, douche wake up. I need a ride to school!” Becca stated, while throwing a pillow towards him. Bucky groaned more, slowly raising his middle finger towards his sister. The smell of greasy bacon made his stomach stir, which finally made him get up. He slammed his door closed, hearing the laughter of his annoying little sister and sizzle of food. He rapidly changed and left to eat whatever was on the table.

“Mornin’ Ma” He said kissing her at the cheek. He was much taller than her, even taller than his dad.

“Hey Pops.” He slouched on the chair, in front of his dad and started eating some pancakes and bacon.

“You ready for Fridays game son?” Bucky nodded, not saying a word.

“He’s always ready George.” Winnie interjected.

“I’m just saying, if football doesn’t work out he can work at Wins with me.” Bucky stood up, abruptly, and left. Its was always like this, a routine that he had. A car horn resounded through the house, as he left.

“Hey Steve” Buck screamed, as he jumped into his sit.

“Hey Buck, everything all right?” Becca jumped into the back, hugging Steve and whacking Bucky's head.

“Hey, fuck off Becks!” She laughed, and Steve pulled off just like always. It was all so monotone to him, and his only hope of getting out of this was the game on Friday.

——————————————————————————————————————————

(Y/N) started walking to school when a red car came into view. It was Steve Rogers red convertible, a classical. She loved it from a far, bur right now she was desperate for a ride. She was willing to do anything.

“Hey! Over here, Hey!” She screamed. Bucky looked at her, and the only thing he did was turn the volume up. He didn’t want to give her a ride and if Steve heard with all his chivalry ways, he would do anything to help her.

“Sorry, next time!” Bucky screamed at her, laughing with enjoyment. (Y/N) tried to run faster, catch up with them, but she only ended up tripping into a huge puddle. God, she hated her life. She hated Bucky. She hated this stupid town. She couldn’t wait to leave.

She walked all the way to school, soaking wet, She felt gross and stupid. Hell, she hated this, all of this, but the year was going to end soon and she was going to leave. Leaving was her comfort, her motivation. She hated this unforsaken town, so much.

She watched from a far, how Bucky paced through the grass and towards Dot, his beauty queen girlfriend. She was drop dead gorgeous but a total bitch. Everyone feared her, and how could you not if she was the she-devil, Satan’s reincarnation, Lucifer himself. She was worse than a venomous snake, she put the snake emoji to shame, and now (Y/N) she had to pass through them to get in. Life hated her.

“Oh my god, look it's a she-man.” Dot said, pointing directly at (y/n). Everyone laughed, but (y/n) didn’t really care.

“God she just uglier by the minute, I hope I don’t catch whatever she has” Sharon retorted. Steve nudged his girlfriend Sharon, and looked at (Y/N) with an apologetic gaze. She walked straight through them, ignoring Steve, and into the school hallway. The first warning bell rang, as she made way towards her first class, literature.

As class ended, (y/n) was fed up with the amount of work she had to do. All her classes were advanced, expect art. She had to fight her mother for that one, and she was glad she did. Leaving the class room towards her locker made her feel relieved, the books she carried around were agonizing.

The closer she got to her locker, the more she realized that Bucky and Dot were kissing there. Life really hated her these days. She stood in front of them for a while, clearing her throat but they still seemed occupied.

“Damn it, can you please leave my locker?” She sighed. Bucky and Dot broke the kissing, looking at her but deciding to ignore and continue kissing.

“Don’t you know its grotesque to see two people having sex in the hallway? Its unlady like, and so disturbing.” (Y/N) said louder this time. Dot broke the kiss, stepping away from Bucky and looking at her.

“It seems to me that you’re just jealous .” Dot stated. (Y/N) rolled her eyes, really not interested in Dots stupid games.

“Well she is, you know she’s never had a man before.” Bucky continued. (Y/N) closed her eyes and turned around.

“I don’t need a man to feel wanted or important, less to feel loved. Any way, I’m not jealous of you, why would I be? Because the way I see It, you…” She pointed straight at Bucky, who just stared at her.

“You are gonna end up marrying Dot after school, and because you couldn’t get into a college you’re gonna end up working at Winnies with your dad. Years later, you all are gonna be unhappy, with a few kids and pounds too. You’re gonna be thinking ‘Oh how I regret not studying or paying attention’…” Dot just looked at her dumbfounded. Her mouth was hung open, not knowing what to say.

“So no, I’m not jealous of you, because I’m going to go to some great school and be a professional instead of staying in this god-for-nothing town.” (Y/N) slammed her locker, turning around and looking at both, Bucky and Dot. They just stared at her, not really knowing what to say. (Y/N) turned around and left them.

Bucky just stared at her, not being able to forget her words. He wasn’t going to work at Winnie's, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to live his whole life in this town. He was going to prove her wrong, god he had to win Friday night.

#bucky barns x reader #bucky x reader #james barnes #james bucky barnes #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers #sam wilson #wanda maximoff #natasha romanoff #pietro maximoff #vision #tony stark #marvel #marvel cinematic universe #maria hill #sharon #steve x sharon #peter parker x reader

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shipaholic · 4 years ago

Text

Omens Universe, Chapter 15

Link to next part at the end.

(From the beginning)

(last part)

(chrono)

---

Chapter 15

Crowley and Aziraphale sat facing each other in the dying firelight.

They’d made themselves more or less presentable. Aziraphale had reconstituted most of his clothes from the firmament. Crowley had done the same, and looked immaculate, but had slung a blanket around his shoulders like a cape. He met Aziraphale’s eyes and saw his own seriousness reflected back.

“OK,” he said. “We need a plan.”

He left a pause, in the vague hope Aziraphale would fill it with a bullet-pointed list of Anti-Antichrist measures he’d prepped in advance.

When this didn’t happen, Crowley gave a little cough and went on.

“I know him pretty well, I think. I was basically there his entire childhood. He thought I was imaginary, but I don’t think that matters.”

“Any information will be helpful, I think,” Aziraphale volunteered.

“Hmm.” Crowley scratched his head. “OK. Uh. Friendless kid. Except for me. Maybe I could appeal to his better nature.”

He realised this was stupid as he said it. Adam was literally the reincarnation of Satan. On top of that, he’d had a tailor-made demonic upbringing. The better nature ship had sailed.

He drew a blank on helpful things to say. What else was there? He was utterly detached from humanity? He could remake reality on a whim? Fighting him would be even more pointless than trying to reason with him?

“He hates Hastur?” he managed.

Aziraphale looked blank.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said.

Crowley let out a breath. It sounded like a pressure valve wobbling under strain.

“OK, never mind. I’ve got to admit, angel, I can’t think of much that’s useful. It doesn’t look good, basically. Maybe we should cross that bridge when we come to it. Improvise something.”

He could tell by the look on Aziraphale’s face that this was already off to a poor start.

“Why don’t we start at the beginning? We need to get off this planet.”

That should be a bit better. Aziraphale was the ideas man when it came to getting from Planet A to Planet B.

Aziraphale looked put on the spot.

“Ah,” he said. “Er. We could fly?”

“Fly?”

“Right, sorry. That would take years.” Aziraphale fidgeted. He did that when he was stressed. This wasn’t going well.

“How about a portal?” Crowley suggested.

That somehow went over even worse. Aziraphale practically squirmed. Crowley thought portals were his thing.

“Portals are very complicated, Crowley.”

Crowley gestured with both arms. The cape moved with him. He was a bit fond of this cape.

“Don’t you just draw on the ground with chalk and pray?”

Aziraphale gave him an affronted look. “There are calculations involved.”

“Well, you’re clever. Can’t you figure them out?”

Aziraphale sighed. “Honestly, without reference books, or a clear idea of our current coordinates…”

Crowley tried not to sound as frustrated as he felt. “Well, just remake the one from your bookshop and… adjust it a bit?”

Aziraphale’s expression contained volumes.

“What,” said Crowley. “Would we end up inside a volcano on Jupiter or something?”

“No. It’s far more likely it would do nothing at all,” Aziraphale said, a little snide.

“Great.” Crowley lost the battle. He sounded frustrated. Fine, he might as well let it out. “You may as well try it, then. The only alternative really is that we start flapping and hope we run into another spaceship.”

“Yes, all right. I suppose we have no choice.” Aziraphale’s voice was clipped. Fine. They could both be annoyed.

“Damn right. I’m not flying for four light-years without a break.”

Crowley stood up and stretched his legs. He felt bad already for being snappish. It wasn’t fair on Aziraphale. He was, once again, going to be the one doing all the work. Crowley’s stomach gave a guilty squirm.

“Can I bring you anything?” he asked, a little gentler.

Aziraphale’s gem glowed, and a piece of chalk fell into his hand.

“The coffee machine should work inside the café Zadkiel made.” He still sounded a trifle cool.

“No problem.” Crowley hesitated. He bent down and kissed Aziraphale’s head. Some tension left his shoulders.

Crowley strolled out, leaving Aziraphale to begin the preparations.

~*~

???, ? days until Armageddon

Everything was bloody awful.

Crowley didn’t say it. Neither of them did. But it was hours later, maybe the next day on Earth already, or even the day after that. Adam could have razed the place to the ground by now, and they had accomplished absolutely sod-all.

Aziraphale’s fingers were stained with chalk. So were the ends of his hair. Crowley tactfully wasn’t mentioning this. It wasn’t as if he could get rid of it with a miracle, anyway.

Crowley’s job had been to fetch coffee, which he had done on a loop for the past however many hours it had been, to the point he’d practically worn a footpath between their front door and the café. Unfortunately, Crowley had never so much as switched on a coffee machine in his life. He had a similar heavy industrial device back at his flat, but he had always snapped his fingers to operate it. He listened to the whir of machinery, thought contentedly about how much electricity it was using,[1] and collected the perfectly made cup without further speculation of how it had got there.

Crowley’s attempts to wrangle some coffee out of the infernal[2] machine in the café, however, had gone about as swimmingly as Aziraphale’s attempts to make a working portal.

There was a chalk circle in the centre of the living room. It was around the same size as the one in Aziraphale’s bookshop. However, the squiggles overlaying it looked as though Hieronymus Bosch had had a go. It was as though Aziraphale had tried to duplicate his old portal, and then rotated five degrees and done the same again, laying copies on copies until the pattern that arose could make a physicist’s brain dribble out of their ears.

Crowley’s contribution to the endeavour was about twenty espresso cups filled with congealed liquids[3] that had been undrinkable when they were fresh, littered around the room.

He glumly handed the latest one to Aziraphale. Aziraphale accepted it, eyes wide and slightly mad. He raised it to his lips, reconsidered, looked into it, raised it to his lips again, smelled it, and put it down beside the last one. Crowley, for want of anything else to do, started collecting them all up. He’d stack them in the kitchen. Zadkiel had made them a kitchen, although it didn’t include a sink. Washing up had never been a thing that happened to either of them before. Crockery just got summoned from the aether and banished again when it was dirty.

Aziraphale scrubbed more chalk dust into his hair. He made a noise best described as that of a distressed penguin.

“I’m sure these runes are wrong,” he moaned.

Crowley risked a peek over his shoulder. “Which ones?” he hazarded.

“Who even knows. This is hopeless. I’m making this up as I go along and then filling in the gaps with nonsense. We’ll be lucky to end up in the right solar system.”

Crowley carefully avoided saying anything unhelpful about how some other solar systems were a bit of alright, really. He sat down beside Aziraphale.

“Maybe we should just get it as good as you think you’re going to and test it out.”

“You know we could teleport into a volcano on Jupiter, don’t you?”

“So we’ll climb back out and make another portal on Jupiter. At least it’s closer.”

Aziraphale tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling with bloodshot eyes.

“You know what’s really eating away at me? Not getting a proper look at that book. I’ve never ignored a book before. It was a terrible time to start.”

“A book of prophecy’d be useful right about now,” Crowley admitted.

“I’m sure that young lady back in the Bentley mentioned an Agnes. She can’t have meant…”

Aziraphale trailed off. The prospect that his personal holy grail was within two feet of him for the entire day without him noticing was a thought too excruciating to contemplate.

He gasped, rummaged in his trouser pocket, and pulled out a tiny, charred scrap of paper.

“I forgot about this until now! Look, Crowley! This blew out of the book.”

Crowley scooted over. They both read it.

When alle is fayed and all is done, ye must choofe your faces wisely, for soon enouff ye will be playing with fyre.

“That’s cheery,” said Crowley.

Aziraphale mouthed ‘choose your faces’ several times in a row. His face crumpled. Crowley patted him on the arm.

“Were you hoping it was a portal diagram?”

“Slightly,” Aziraphale confessed.

“It’s good news, in my opinion. If you think about it. We must get through this crisis in order to end up in, er. Another crisis.”

“Unless this isn’t about us at all.”

“Must be.”

Crowley had no hard evidence for this. It would just be really irritating to him, personally, if the one useful thing they’d turned up in the last two days wasn’t even anything to do with them.

“I reckon we should test the portal,” he said.

Aziraphale tossed down the chalk. “Fine. Why not. I’m going cross-eyed staring at the blasted thing.”

They got to their feet, wincing as joints popped. They’d acquired a few middle-aged human traits by accident over the years.

A quick dance and a fusion later, Zadkiel snapped his fingers for candles. They floated into place around the circle and lit themselves. He sat back down, cross-legged, and put his hands together in prayer. It gave his demon half a little headache, but it was ignorable.

He reached out to Her with a question and waited for Her answer.

Like a house with faulty wiring, the portal began, very faintly, to flicker.

Zadkiel prayed with all his might. He screwed his eyes tightly shut and reached into himself, offering himself up. There was something here, he just had to find it.

The portal blipped on, briefly.

A little smoke fart went up in the middle. All the candles blew out, emitting an unpleasant smell.

Zadkiel sat perfectly still. His cheek twitched.

“Fuuuu -”

He split apart.

“- ck!” Aziraphale remained sprawled on the floor. He looked on the verge of tears.

Crowley pulled himself into a seated position. He poked Aziraphale in the side.

“I didn’t think that was a bad start.”

“Yes, clearly we’re in two minds about it,” Aziraphale snapped.

Crowley withdrew his hand. He felt a little stupid. Bit hurt, too.

“I’m a pathetic excuse for an angel,” Aziraphale almost whispered.

“Hey!” Crowley felt, ridiculously, offended on Aziraphale’s behalf.

“It’s true. She made me to love humanity, and I abandoned them.”

Well. That. Crowley’s mouth opened, then closed.

“But She abandoned them too!” Aziraphale pushed himself upright. He looked anguished. “What kind of loving Creator would do that?”

“Er,” Crowley said.

He’d personally grappled with questions like these millennia ago, when he was young and angry - angrier - and arrived at the vague sense that he’d drive himself mad trying to understand some people, so he might as well just get on with things. He wasn’t sure how to handle Aziraphale suddenly plunging into the beginning of what was, for Crowley, a lifetime’s worth of existential angst.

“And I don’t even have time for a crisis of faith right now! This is all my fault. This entire scatter-brained plan was my idea. All I’ve done is strand us light-years from home in the middle of nowhere. I thought I was being so clever, Crowley. And daring, to turn my back on Heaven and flee into the night. But I should never have turned my back on Earth. It’s unforgivable.”

“That’s my line,” Crowley joked, feebly.

A tear rolled down Aziraphale’s face. Crowley pressed close and kissed his temple. He had no idea what to say. Scraps of the wrong words tumbled across his brain, but nothing at all that was helpful.

He had to say something, though. No matter how badly it went. He drew a breath.

“OK, so we’ve both been massive cowardly idiots, that’s pretty obvious.”

“That’s incredibly non-reassuring,” Aziraphale hiccupped.

“But it doesn’t matter. You know what we need?”

Decades of pop culture flashed before his eyes. Oh, yes. He could do this.

“A redemption arc.”

Aziraphale looked up. On the plus side, he was no longer crying. On the other, he looked like he might vomit a tiny bit.

“Crowley, please tell me that isn’t a cinematographic reference?”

Crowley held up a hand. “Hear me out. We’ve both been incredible idiots and cowards. True enough. But you know what I’ve learned from humanity? If you show up late after messing everything up, give a speech that’s mostly about yourself, and save the day, everyone will forget the stupid, selfish stuff you did until that point. People have short memories. It’s the worst, best thing about them. You can be a flaming shit ninety percent of the time and turn it around at the last minute, and it only makes them like you more. But.”

He looked into Aziraphale’s eyes. This was the important part.

“You do have to actually save the day. Otherwise you look like an arsehole. So just focus on that. If we pull that off, we’ll be heroes, no matter how often we ran away and put ourselves first and let everyone down.”

Nailed it.

Aziraphale stared at him, mouth ajar.

“Crowley, that was the worst speech I have ever heard in my life. I actually feel worse now.”

Crowley’s confidence wavered. He pulled it back up by the fingernails. Stick the landing. He could do it.

“No, angel. My point is… people are forgiving. They’ll forgive you even when you can’t forgive yourself. That’s… the thing, isn’t it? Grace? Humans have it. You’ll never find it in Heaven, we both know that. You’re right - it was another thing entirely to abandon Earth. So let’s make up for it. I know you can get us back there. And we’ll save them all, together. And if you still want to beat yourself up, I won’t let you. We are on the same side. And you may be an idiot, but you’re also the cleverest person I know. So. Be clever.”

A faraway look appeared in Aziraphale’s eyes.

Aha. Crowley tried not to lean forward expectantly.

“I just thought…” Aziraphale said. He sounded like a man basking in a sudden epiphany.

Crowley held his breath.

“...You obviously learned to write motivational speeches in Hell.”

OK. Fine. He wasn’t as moved as Crowley might have hoped. Crowley was willing not to mind, so long as they got a plan out of it.

“She said, playing with fyre…” Aziraphale read the scrap of paper again. “Could she have meant hellfire?”

Crowley frowned. “I don’t know how to make a portal to Hell either, if that’s what you’re -”

“What would happen if our sides summoned us back?”

Crowley blinked. “Kill us on sight, presumably?”

“Well.” Aziraphale looked disconcertingly blithe. “We could always cross that bridge when we came to it.”

So far, Crowley didn’t love where this was going, but he held his tongue. Aziraphale stood up and paced.

“We can’t make a portal from here to Earth, that’s a total dead end. But I can get to Earth from Heaven. And you could get back to Earth if you were in Hell. It’s as easy as stepping on the lift. All we need to do… is get on their radar. Perform a miracle as ourselves, unfused. They’ll see someone dallying around in space instead of preparing for Armageddon and summon us back.”

“And kill us on sight.”

“It’s mad enough to work!”

“I’m not sure about this -”

“We’re supposed to choose our faces wisely. She wrote us a clue… she means us to outfox them.”

He had a point. Crowley took the slip of paper from him and read it again.

“OK. I trust you. Let’s puzzle this out.”

~*~

An angel and demon faced each other over a scuffed chalk circle.

They had made their preparations. If things went according to plan, they would see each other again on Earth. If not… then this was goodbye.

Aziraphale leaned in and straightened Crowley’s tie. They exchanged smiles. Nothing that needed saying had gone unsaid.

“See you on the other side.”

They snapped their fingers.

Crowley made a shower of sparks. Aziraphale, a bunch of party balloons.

There was a pause, long enough for a pair of beleaguered actuaries to go, “hang on”.

Twin thunderclaps rang out.

Both of them were sucked into the air and vanished.

---

[1] None. None of Crowley’s appliances ran on electricity. None of them were even plugged in. Crowley didn’t understand this, however, so he mistakenly believed his coffee maker churned through factory-level quantities of electricity. It gave him a warm glow as he sipped his morning cappuccino.

[2] For once, not a compliment.

[3] And some solids.

(Link to next part)

#omens universe fic #omens universe #good omens #good omens fic #ineffable husbands #steven universe #second big swear #I'm glad Aziraphale and Zadkiel got to split it #why do Crowley and Aziraphale follow up every major romantic moment with needless bickering?#because they're both assigned bitch at birth #I think Crowley learned to read from those demotivational posters hung up in Hell

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purpleswans1 · 7 years ago

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My Favorite Hidden Anime Gems

I’ve been watching Anime for several years now, and I’ve watched a lot of really good series (and a couple of bad ones). Among them are some series that are a lot of great series that I believe don’t get the attention and following they deserve. Some of them may be more popular than I realize, or they were popular a while ago and just faded over time. But all of them are, in my personal opinion, definitely worth a watch.

Quick note: I tried to put down why I believe some of these shows aren’t as popular. More than one of them is because the original material comes form Light Novels, which aren’t a readily available to the western fans as manga and anime, which alienates those fans since they believe they are missing some of the story.

Now, on with the list:

1. Kemono no Souja Erin (Beast Player Erin)

I can’t express to you how much I love this show. The best way I can summarize it without giving to many spoilers is that it’s a coming of age story about a girl who wants to be a beast-veterinarian like her mother, and follows her as she grows up That doesn’t really go into the juicy bits though. It has strong women in positions of power and male-dominated fields, brilliant world building, and the main focus is on the relationship between mothers and their children. It’s very refreshing, and I think tumblr would love this.

Now this one actually has a lot of reasons why it is less known. First of all, the original source is a light novel. In addition, the anime’s art style is much more simplistic than most anime a fans are used to. Finally, although the plot is entertaining for all ages, the show is actually geared towards kids. As anyone who’s watched Gravity Falls or Steven Universe will tell you, this doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. This does mean though, that the audience that it’s intended for doesn’t have easy access to it. That being said, I definitely suggest that people watch this.

2. Saiunkoku Monogatari (The Story of Saiunkoku)

This one is a court romance, and a really great one at that. The story begins about a sensible girl who is asked to turn the king of her country into a decent ruler by becoming his wife, but the story grows into something greater, focusing on politics, the magic of the kingdom’s origin, and the girl’s dream of becoming a court official. There are several well-done female characters, some who take on traditional feminine roles and some who want to be in male-dominated fields. There’s a little bit of a reverse harem situation going on, but the main character is well-rounded and most of the boys are just supporting from a distance. the main focus ends up being on the political drama rather than just the romance.

The animation is a little old, and the original story is from a light novel. In addition, I suspect that the second season ends before the ending of the light novels so we still have some unresolved business that we’d have to track down the light novels to find out. One of these days I’m going to find and read them. Still, this is definitely worth it!

3. Zetsuen no Tempest (The Civilization Blaster, Blast of Tempest)

Okay, I’ll admit that this one is a little weird, and completely shifts narratives halfway through (which, now that I think about it, happens in several anime I know) but is still worth the watch. I swear the two main guys are kind of psychopaths, but they’re also very real and their relationship is a very interesting take on friendship and complex relationships. The story is set in a world where everything in civilization starts being devoured and people are dying, but these two guys get roped into helping a witch trapped on an island save the world because she promised to help them get revenge for the one guy’s sister. It’s also full of dialogue and plot references to William Shakespeare’s works (especially “Hamlet” and “The Tempest”) and who doesn’t love a good reference to the bard?

I… really don’t know why this anime isn’t that popular. Other than the narrative being a little confusing at times and some of the characterizations being incredibly unique (i.e. not cliches) It’s a really good anime, and you guys should check it out.

4. Guilty Crown

Okay guys, I’ll be honest with you: the first time I discovered this anime (back when my experience consisted mostly of Inuyasha and Code Geass) I described it as a Code Geass fanfic with a slightly altered preface. Which… really isn’t what it is at all. There are still some similarities though. The actual story is about a world where japan was decimated by an Apocalypse virus and has become entirely dependent on foreign aid, making it into a kind of military state. People are oppressed, so a terrorist group forms and a certain socially awkward boy gets a special power that was intended for the terrorist, and he gets roped into joining them. It has a lot of interesting characters and characterization, since part of the boy’s power is to reveal people’s hearts in physical form.

I’m not sure why this one isn’t very popular, other than having several troupes that are in other shows. If I had to guess, it might be related to how he narrative changes halfway, and how I swear the thing must have been funded by the band Egoist considering how much they are referenced in the show.

5. Seirei no Moribito

Oh man, this one… *deep breath* The main character is a spear wielding woman bodyguard in her 30s. She is tasked with protecting an adolescent prince, who after being infected with a magic egg (more significant than it sounds) is being attacked by his own country. They end up forming a mother/son bond over the course of the story and that is the main relationship focus. Oh, and the woman has a love interest who’s basically a healer with some mystic abilities, and they are so not subtle about the reversed gender roles.

The story is based on a light novel series by the same author as Kemono no Souja Erin. However, it only tells the story of the first book, so we end up with a well put-together story and maybe potential for season 2? someday? *goes and cries in a corner because that would be amazing*

6. Shiki

Kudos to @quasiplatonickarinhina for introducing me to this.

Okay, so you know how Twilight spurred a rise in popularity for vampire stories? Only, instead of being the Anne Rice and Bram Stoker bloodsucking-monster variety, they became excessively romantic good guys? Yeah, this isn’t like those neo-vampire stories.

By any chance, does anyone remember the first season of Supernatural? You know, back before it became a cult-followed soap-opera, and instead was basically a series of rural American horror stories crammed into an hour a week? THAT is what this story is like.

The preface is that a mysterious family moved into a small rural town, and gradually people start dropping dead mysteriously. Things gradually escalate, and the story dives into a lot of heavy psychology with some statements on humanity in desperate situations thrown in. If you like Tokyo Ghoul for the psychological horror, you’ll love this.

The series has a very slow build-up before the climax, so that might be the main reason why it isn’t very popular.

7. Shounen Omnyouji

You know that Abe no Seimei guys that will pop up occasionally in exorcist or historical anime? Well, this is about his grandson, who has resolved to surpass his grandfather as an Omnyouji and finally get out of his shadow.

I should also note that this is probably one of the only shounen protagonists I know of that actually shows respect to his elders and superiors (which probably says a lot more for the general trend of shounen protagonists than anything else, but it’s still refreshing.) Seriously, one of the biggest running gags is that he’s in his room yelling about his grandfather expecting him to do the impossible or having to big of shoes to fill, but he’s still very respectful when he’s actually around the guy.

Also, his love interest is… not annoying? Sorry she’s not really that awesome of a character, but she manages to be a traditional princess and not painful to watch. Which is unusual.

Oh, and there are all these super-powered Shikigami who gradually develop respect for the MC and have their own issues with one another. That’s always cool.

This series was originally a light novel series, and to be honest even I wouldn’t know about it if I hadn’t been looking for a different Omnyouji series. I should warn you though, this one has a kind-of-cliffhanger ending, and I don’t see much indication of a season 2. You can always hunt down the light novels though.

8. Arslan Senki

Not sure whether this anime is unknown enough to be here… No, it does. It hasn’t gotten the following it deserves. The light novel series has been going on for decades and that might part of the reason why the fandom has faded, but the most recent manga adaptation is by the Mangaka behind FMA, and apparently she’s done some changes to the original story. Which is cool.

Also, the whole thing clearly has some thematic and stylistic roots in the Crusades, and that’s got to appeal to western audiences right?

9. Tokyo Ravens

You remember those exorcist anime I mentioned a while ago? Well this is one of them. The short explanation of this series that that it’s about a bunch of high school students studying to be Omnyouji. Which makes it sound a lot like a Japanese Harry Potter, which admittedly it kinda is. Only not. There’s a lot of plot derived from the reincarnation thing and some family politics crossing actual politics.

This is another one where the original source material is a light novel series. It also ends in a sorta-cliffhanger, but I have a bit more hope for a season 2 for this one.

10. Rurouni Kenshin

Okay, this one probably doesn’t need to be on this list since it is still popular, just really OLD so the hype has simmered down, but It needs to come back because WE HAVE A NEW MANGA ARC!!!!! (Can you tell how happy I am?)

Now I could go on and on about how much significance this series has for me personally (I literally discovered online scanlations and the dark web for this series guys) but I’ll spare you the hour-long monologue. Elevator pitch: This is a historical fighting manga with a lot of interesting characters and themes and quite honestly a classic. I’ll admit that there are some issues with the story that weren’t as troubling to high-school-aged me, but overall it’s still a wonderful tale. I mean, the manga inspired a long anime series and 3 live action movies, so that should say something (I feel no urge to watch the OVAs, so let’s not mention them)

11. Silver Spoon (Gin no Saji)

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that i usually am not attracted to slice of life stories. But a friend recommended this series to me and mentioned it was one of Arakawa’s mangas, so I decided to check it out. A decision I do not regret. The basic plot has to do with a city boy who decided to go to an agriculture high school. Its chock full of culture shock, interesting characters, and a realistic take on the agricultural industry. I identify with this story on a personal level, both because i grew up in a rural area and know how some of the agriculture stuff works and also because the MC is searching for a direction after loosing his “dream.”

Like I said, this series is a slice of life, which generally doesn’t get as much attention as the action-adventure stories.

Got any other animes you think deserve a larger following than they currently have? Feel free to recommend them to me!

#I'M SO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE THIS #I go distracted #and have been getting settled in the new apartement #anime #recommended

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