#And than I would still have to rewatch misfits and magic because I never watched the last episode or the specials

[sleeperagentclone]

Am I completely like disconnected from D20 right now? Yes.

Am I still falling asleep to my fucking pitch perfect Figayda playlist tonight? Abso-fucking-lutely.

[carriagelamp]

I read more books this month than I anticipated. I should probably wait before doing a February book round up, but I already feel like I’m struggling to decide which ones to cut from my list so I’m doing it this weekend instead of next. If I read much next week I’ll bump ‘em up into March’s round up

Asterix and the Missing Scroll / Chieftain’s Daughter

I got the last two “new” Asterix books out of the library so I could officially say I had read them all. Over all my opinion is… they’re fine! None of these would ever become one of my favourites, but they’re all fine stories. The art is good, it is completely in-line with the original, and the stories are… fine. I liked The Missing Scroll quite a bit more than The Chieftain’s Daughter but I never find a ~hurr hurr teenagers~ plotline that interesting, whereas I do enjoy seeing Romans get chased down by unicorns so that’s probably not surprising. There’s some spark I can’t put my finger on that the new Asterix books just seem to be missing though… a bit of humour or cleverness or something. Still, they’re fine reads if you’ve been hungry for more Asterix and I’m glad I read them. (Though the library gave me the American translation of The Chieftain’s Daughter, something I didn’t realize until I started reading and realized that this is wrong??? I’ve been reading these books since I could read and I know this is wrong??? What the hell is happening??? The I realized the publisher was different and I simmered in fury the whole time I read it — WHY ARE YOU CHANGING NAMES AND WORD CHOICES IN A WELL ESTABLISHED SERIES THAT ALREADY HAS AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION YOU ANIMALS WHY ARE YOU DUMBING DOWN THE LANGUAGE AAAUGH

The Bride Was A Boy

This one was cute! The Bride Was A Boy is an autobiographical manga written by a transwoman recounting her experience with transitioning, meeting her boyfriend, and eventually getting married. It’s mostly done in a 4-panel style and is interspersed with lots of information about the LGBT community, particularly in Japan. A lot of it was stuff I was already familiar with, but I still found it adorable and a very worthwhile read. it would be a fantastic book for young queer people who are looking for more of an introduction into international queer space

Cul de Sac: Children At Play

Cul de Sac is just a weird, fun newspaper comic series about the children who live in a small neighbourhood. It fully taps into the children-as-semi-feral-chaos-agents, and there’s something hilariously nostalgic about the whole thing. Lots of times when stories try to portray children there’s always something… wrong about it, something that doesn’t mesh with true childhood, but in this comic I can see glimpses of my grimy, dirty-covered self as a preschooler running around the pages. I would definitely recommend trying them!

The Cremation of Sam McGee

I reread The Cremation of Sam McGee and The Shooting of Dan McGrew and man, they don’t stop being buckwild. These are two really famous Canadian poems that were then illustrated by equally famous Canadian artist Ted Harrison. Harrison’s style is gorgeous and distinct and given what strangely grisly stories these poems are they fit the mood perfectly. Everything feels just a little tilted and wrong and unsettling. If you enjoy an occasional poem (especially ones that are super fun to read out loud) and haven’t read these before, I would recommend them! Or do what my teachers did, and read Sam Gee to a young child in your life and watch them be baffled and concerned and horrified.

There are strange things done / in the midnight sun / by the men who moil for gold...

The Gryphon’s Lair

The second book of the Royal Guide to Monster Slaying series written by Kelley Armstrong; I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book! It’s a very cool fantasy series because it really leans into environmental stewardship and the importance of studying animals and conservation so you can find ways to live alongside a healthy ecosystem. In this book Rowan is officially accepted as the Royal Monster Hunter, which means a whole new set of trials and burdens. She has to contend with a baby gryphon that is becoming increasingly large and dangerous, plotting family members, doubt about her abilities, a potential curse, and a daunting quest deep into the mountains in order to set things right. If you’re looking for some very gentle high fantasy, this series delivers.

Hogan’s Heroes comics

What to say here. Anyone following this blog has suffered the knowledge that I’ve been rewatching Hogan’s Heroes lately. When I found out that there was a short-lived, shitty comic series in the 60s? Of course I had to hunt them down. And so I’ve read them! And they sure were a shitty comic series from the 60s! They were, shall we say, of wildly varying quality. Some were actually really funny (like #5, it easily had the best art and best jokes imho), others were a slog, and most were fine and amusing enough to read the whole way through but not much more.

If you don’t know what Hogan’s Heroes is about: it was a 1960s sitcom that took place in a WWII POW camp, in which the Allied prisoners trapped there had a massive, complex sabotage/spy ring right underneath the camp. The whole show is about constantly outwitting the bumbling Germans while keeping up the pretense that they’re all just normal prisoners. The show is hilariously funny and I would recommend that, even if I can’t say the same for the comics unless you’re like me and are just really thirsty for more content...

Magic Misfits: The Fourth Suit (Ripley)

The final book of Neil Patrick Harris’ middle grade series, The Magic Misfits. In this fourth book, the group is fragmented and forced to meet in secret to avoid notice from the mysterious and powerful Kalagan whose cruel machinations have already turned the quiet little town on its ears, putting people’s lives in peril and destroy Leila’s fathers’ magic shop. The Misfits are going to need all their skills to finally unmask this sinister magician and break the mesmerism he seems to have placed over the entire town before it’s too late to save no only the town, but their friendship and trust.

Super charming series, and the illustrations are gorgeous.

Marsupilami

HOUBA! I watched a very bad TV adaptation of this as a kid that still managed to find a place in my heart, and so I decided to finally try reading some of the original comic! On one hand: it was exactly what I had hoped! The art is cute, the marsupilami is so dynamic and fun to see on the page (and has a way better characterization than he does in the show), and it’s really funny! Unfortunately! It is also pretty racist! Yikes! That seems to be a reoccuring downfall for some of these older Belgian comics... I also tried reading the first book of Les Tuniques Bleues and aye ye ye… I couldn’t actually get through that one. That being said, these were older volumes and frankly, North American media was also real fucking racist at that point so I’m not gonna write them off either. I really liked most of this book, and will probably try to get my hands on one of the more recent volumes of both Marsupilami and Les Tuniques Bleues to see if they get better with time. (If you’ve read either of those series and have volume recommendations hmu)

The Pagemaster

I’m a sucker for novelizations, I have no excuse beyond that. I recently rewatched The Pagemaster and decided to read the chapter book. And it was a solid little adaptation! It’s about Richard Tyler, a young boy with a head for statistics which unfortunately means he lives in constant fear of (in his opinion, statistically likely) injury or death. However that fear is put to the test when he gets caught in a horrible thunderstorm and has to shelter in a nearby library with halls and shelves that stretch beyond the imagination and with untold perils hidden among the pages of the books. Richard, with only his library card and three novels that hope to be checked out, has to venture through the different genres and horrors housed int he library if he ever wants to find the exit and get home to safety.

Pumpkinheads

A very charming little graphic novel. Cute art, and really loveable characters. Josiah and Deja work every year at a local pumpkin patch, and are best friends during those weeks. However this is their last year working there before going off to university and as the last day at the patch comes to a close they realize that they both still have regrets. Deja sets off on a mission to avoid work, eat all the interesting snacks around the patch, and get Josiah to find the girl he’s been crushing on every year and has never worked up the nerve to talk to.

After being deprived of human contact for almost a year, this book really hits you right in the heart.

The Screwfly Solution

A deeply upsetting scifi/horror short story! I read it on the recommendation of a friend and, yes, can confirm that this fucked me up a bit. I honestly don’t even know what to say about this that wouldn’t spoil it, but frankly with everything being as it is, this hit a little bit too close to reality. (That being said, it was very well written, like this is a very good story on a literary level and it does exactly what it sets out to accomplish.) If you feel like reading twenty pages and being really disturbed, give it a go! Otherwise go and read any number of the much happier books on this list!

The Whipping Boy

This was a book I remember reading as a lit circle book back in elementary school and really loving. After telling myself I’d reread it for years, I finally sat down with it again. If you somehow got through school without reading this one, it’s about a brat of a prince and his whipping boy — since it would be unspeakable to strike a prince, when the prince misbehaves it is Jemmy who gets whipped. Unsurprisingly, there is no love lost between the two of them, because the prince is always intentionally causing problems that Jemmy has to suffer for. Things begin to change though when the prince decides to run away and drags Jemmy along with him. On the run, being chased by highwaymen, and desperately trying to hide their identities, these boys go on a fast-paced adventure beyond the castle walls. It wasn’t as special as I remembered it being as a kid, but it’s a fine little chapter book.

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Elizabeth Rowandale

Elizabeth Rowandale has 16 stories at Gossamer spanning from 1995 to 2012, plus she has more at AO3 (other fandoms too). She's been giftng the fandom with stories for a long time! I've talked about some of my favorites of her stories before, including Hallways and Water's Edge. Big thanks to Elizabeth for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

Yes and no.  When I find myself suddenly caught up in a fandom that has already lived its glory days (which happens a lot, I'm habitually late to the party), I am always ravenous for fic written during the original run - it always has a different perspective and voice and it's like a little bit of the experience captured in time -- so I can understand how others would be interested in my past.  That said, some of my early stuff is pretty awful. LOL.  I have left it online for two reasons: 1. Nostalgia, 2. I know there are some fics I've read in my life that may not have been the best written in a literary sense, but just had something magical about them that fed exactly what I needed.  And I would hate it if the author took down that work and I could never find it again (which has happened).  So I try to respect that same sentiment should it appear in one of my readers.  I'd say by about 6th or 7th season of the original run, my work became presentable. :)  My largest X-Files work ("Water's Edge") was begun during the original run and completed about a year after the show ended.  That one I definitely still claim as my work, even though there's certainly stuff I would fix if I were writing it now.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

So many things!  Let's start with my husband. :D  I met the love of my life on the X-Files newsgroup in spring of 1995.  We were married a year later, and we are still married 24 years later and have a 20 year old daughter.  One of the most important friendships of my life came from being part of this fandom - she began as an "Edgehead" during the original posting of "Water's Edge". The fandom brought me my family, friends, and made me believe in myself as a writer and, in some ways, as a person worth being friends with, for the first time in my life.  It's kind of crazy, really, how different my life would be without it.  The experience was not without its flaws.  There was a lot of judgementalism, a lot of cliquishness, a lot of snobbery.  I was condemned almost as much as I was welcomed.  But in the end it was all worth the life experience.

As far as the fic itself, X-Files was my first real experience with fanfic, and it thoroughly spoiled me for all other fandoms forever, because the sheer VOLUME of professional quality work being put out there was mind-boggling.  I expected all fandoms to be like this, and the fact is this is extremely rare and precious.  I think I could read X-Files fic for the rest of my life and never run out of pieces worth reading.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

I started out primarily on a.t.x.c..  Then progressed to mailing lists (especially Scullyfic/E-muse!), and later was very involved on The Haven.  The Haven was quite a magical experience.

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

I think I answered this by over-babbling on the question above. :D  But ultimately, I think I would have to say my belief in literature as a tool to connect people on an intimate level that almost nothing else can.  To give people a brief moment of sharing their precious internal worlds and inviting someone else to step into it with them.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

Really, it was inevitable.  It has all the classic tropes that have always spoken to me - Supernatural horror, law enforcement partners, partner UST, misfits as heroes, haunting soundtrack.  But amusingly enough, my first impression of it was negative.  My mother and I had been religiously watching "Sightings", a FOX reality show (before "reality shows" were a thing) on the supernatural.  Then that got cancelled and they replaced it with some show that was about fictionalized encounters with and investigations of the paranormal.  And we were like WTF we don't want that, we want real investigations and evidence!  So I didn't watch it out of protest. :D  Then one night I stumbled upon it when I had nothing to do and watched "Lazarus".  I thought the show was okay, but that I could never really get invested in it because there was no real chemistry between Mulder and Scully (yes, you can laugh me out of the room now :D).  But the thing is, you can't FIND the significant moments in that episode unless you're already embroiled in their world.  Like when Mulder calls her "Dana" on the phone and we all know he's panicking big time -- this was my first episode, so I assumed he always called her Dana, no big.  Some time passed, then I saw Conduit.  And Tooms.  And I started to get really sucked in.  Then I saw Genderbender.  Now, if you know me at all, you know since I was about 6 years old, my life has revolved around my current muse.  I get obsessed with a certain actress/performer/character, and that becomes my lens for the whole world (yes, at 6 it was Lynda Carter as Diana Prince).  I have always moved from one Muse to the next, and the few times I've been without a focus person I'm very untethered and unproductive.  So, I'd been in one of my longest dry spells following my Madonna and Vivien Leigh obsessions, mostly focusing on reading Dean Koontz books, when X-Files came along.  And this obsession was unique in that I can actually pinpoint the moment I fell.  I was sitting in my bedroom watching Genderbender, and they were outside the general store and Scully had just been touched by Brother Andrew and was a little tripped out and staring after the horse and cart when Mulder stepped up to see if she was okay, and...I actually felt myself falling for Gillian Anderson.  And there was this moment of both elation and bittersweetness, because I knew how all-consuming my obsessions could be and the emotional rollercoaster they could entail (especially when I was younger, I'm a little better armored now :)).  But I have no control over when and where they hit.  But I knew by the end of that episode that I was off on another wild ride of the muse. :)

So, the short answer is -- Gillian Anderson. :D

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

Truthfully, I can't experience anything without writing fanfic in my head.  I've been doing it in one form or another my whole life, I just didn't know until the X-Files (and the internet) how many other people were like me!!  I started writing X-Files fic before I was even online.  In fact, The X-Files was the reason I got my first internet service - because the fandom was moving online and I didn't want to miss out.  I read my first fanfic in the Unofficial X-Files Fanclub monthly zine and it fascinated me.  I wrote my first X-Files fic, a first season story called "Silent Lines", before I had ever been on the internet, and I had it published in that same fanclub newsletter.  (I was already writing original fiction, hoping to make writing my career).  Later, after I had joined the internet XF community, I wrote a post-ep to "Irresistible" that I posted online.  That was my first online fic.  Some time after (and a few more fics down the road) when all the rights to "Silent Lines" had reverted to me, I posted that online as well.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

I dabble now and then. :)  When the reboot came about, I came back to the old stomping grounds and reconnected with some of the Old Guard.  I still have a fair amount of pretty Mulder and Scully on my Twitter feed, and I continue to follow all Gillian Anderson's new projects.  But it's not my primary focus at the moment.  (My serial monogamist muse has another lover this year. :))

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

Several (Stargate, Sanctuary, Xena, Battlestar Galactica, Once Upon a Time, etc.).  As I mentioned before, almost none of them had anywhere NEAR the quality and quantity of fanfic The X-Files has to offer.  The closest I experienced was the Xena fandom.  There are some AMAZING Uber fics and Conqueror fics, many of which went on to be published as original novels.  Some fandoms were colder and more cruel than The X-Files.  Some were warmer and more generous.  I was most prolific during my years in the Stargate fandom.  I wrote something like 80 fics.  It was crazy.  I don't think I'll ever be that prolific again.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

Just from anything?  From television Dana Scully, Stella Gibson, Laura Roslin, Sharon Raydor, Regina Mills.  I love powerful women with scars.  Kind women at heart who will fight for what they believe in and whom they love.  Mothers - whether in actuality or at heart.  I love women who prove strength and power can be completely synonymous with femininity.

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

A couple of months ago my husband and daughter and I finished a complete X-Files rewatch (original series and movies), taking our daughter through it for the first time.  It was awesome to re-experience it all through her eyes.  She grew up hearing about it, but had never seen more than a handful of episodes (and, sadly, the reboot LOL).

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

Every now and then I indulge in X-Files fic, yes.  Sometimes new stuff, most often revisiting old favorites.

I definitely read in my current fandoms.  For a few years I didn't, but lately I've been at it again.  Right now my primary muse is Mary McDonnell, so I'm obsessing over her various roles through the years.  Been reading fic for "Major Crimes", "Dances with Wolves", "Battlstar Galactica", "Passion Fish", and "ER" (specifically pertaining to Eleanor Carter).

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Of course. :)  Mish's "No Quarter Given" will always own my soul. [Lilydale note: It’s a 3-part story: 1, 2, 3.] "Black Hole Season" by Penumbra, "Above Rubies" by Rachel Howard, "Blinded by White Light" by DashaK, "Sounds of Silence" by GirlGone, "Blood Oranges" by Syntax6, "Absolute Zero" and "Never Enough" by August.  So many more.

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

From X-Files, I can't really choose between "Water's Edge" which took the most out of me) and "Bridges" (which I wrote just a couple of year ago).   I wrote them from very different places and I am proud of what I accomplished in each case. YMMV.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

Never say never? :D  I still feel badly that I left the sequel to "Water's Edge", "High Tide", hanging after posting just a few chapters. I never should have started it. My muse jumped ship to another fandom, and there was really nothing I could do.  And I'm such a different person now, I don't know if what I would write now is what people who loved the first book would actually want to hear.  I came back with the reboot and wrote "Bridges" and that largely said everything I needed to say about what happened to Mulder and Scully after "I Want to Believe".  So, realistically, that was probably my XF writing swan song.  But I would never say I won't ever post another fic.  As the saying goes, "It all comes back to the X-Files".  (And, yes, there's PLENTY of half-finished fic on my hard drive. LOL)

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I do.  Now that my kid is grown, I'm trying to seriously pursue a professional writing career from here forward.  And I do still dabble writing fic in my current fandoms.  Right now there is a Major Crimes fic sitting on my hard drive waiting for me to work up the nerve to post it.;)

Where do you get ideas for stories?

Once I'm inside my POV character's head, the narrative in my brain won't shut up.  I flesh out and what-if everything.  I fill in every moment that doesn't appear on screen.  I talk to myself a lot and live in my head and sometimes scare family members.  I get some sort of orgasmic high from things like seeing Laura Roslin grasp and tuck into her own hair when she's crying while my inner voice screams "OMG IT'S CANON SHE SELF-SOOTHES WITH HER HAIR!!!!!"  I maintain a surprisingly sane outer presentation for the crazy obsessed artist I am within.

What's the story behind your pen name?

When I began removing my real name from the internet (for you young folks, we all started out using our Real Names and building our virtual houses on Geocities, then got warned from everywhere of the scary scary place that is cyberspace and started NEVER EVER using our real names, then Facebook came along and now everyone and their dog is out there with their real names, and Gen X is still going WTF ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!??), I simply chose what I found to be a pretty last name (Rowandale).  Elizabeth is my real name.  Along the way, when I had started to feel confined by expectations for my writing based on my reputation, I challenged myself to be more honest in what I wanted to write by using the mental trick of a pen name no one knew was actually me, and invented "Rowan Darkstar" (the darker "edgier" side of Elizabeth Rowandale).  "Rowan" was taken from Rowan Mayfair in Anne Rice's "The Witching Hour", my favorite novel at the time.  Later, I went public with the fact I was Rowan Darkstar, and when I moved into my next fandom, I did so with that as my primary name.  I have written in most of my fandoms as either Rowan Darkstar or LadyRowan with the exception of anything else Gillian Anderson related wherein I carried over the Elizabeth Rowandale since there were many crossover readers from X-Files.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

Many of them do, yes.  For many years my mother was my primary beta reader!!  Sadly, she now suffers from dementia and can no longer fill that role.  My best friend came into my life through my Stargate and Sanctuary fic, so there's no hiding from her, and she is now my beta.:)  My husband met me in the fandom.  So...yeah, most of my close friends know.:)  In my 'other life' as an Army wife (now retired) and suburban Mom not so much.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

The most reliable place is probably AO3.  It doesn't have much of my older stuff, but I generally post anything new there.  I'm Rowan_D on Twitter.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files?

No, you can't be red/green colorblind and be a field agent for the FBI.  No, soul groups don't work that way, Scully would have been his lover in some lifetimes, too.  Yes, someone with Scully's education and deliberate precision of language WOULD say "for whom?" and not "for who?", you are quite right to cringe.  No, you can't drive to Quantico and back to downtown DC and have it still be morning.  And lastly -- The Kansas town after which they modeled "The Rain King" is NOT brown, it is NOT flat, it HAS a regional airport, and the residents are educated and intelligent.  I lived there at the time -- There was a whole layout in the local paper about the crew visiting for "authenticity."  I still marvel at how that is even possible.

(Posted by Lilydale on August 25, 2020)

[broadwaybaggins]

4,5,9,12 (because I am desperately bored and constantly looking for suggestions of ways to keep myself from going insane)

4.  What’s your go-to show that you like to binge watch? Why do you like that show?

I’ve said it before, but Call the Midwife. I really don’t know why. It’s just comforting at this point. Sometimes it makes me laugh, it usually makes me cry, and it’s just so well done. I have thoughts on the later seasons, especially the current one which isn’t grabbing my interest fully just yet. But the early seasons? A work of art.

I’ve also been watching a lot of Brooklyn 99

5.  Are there any shows that you‘ve been planning to start watching? Why do they interest you?

So what I do is I tend to start a show, really enjoy it, watch a couple of episodes, and then...nothing. So I need to finish some shows I’ve started, and in some cases that will mean going back to the beginning. These shows are The Witcher (watched the first three episodes) Anne with an E (watched two episodes), The Borgias (watched the first season and half of the second, never started up again for some reason?) Outlander (haven’t seen past season 2), Medici (need to rewatch if I want to see the final season). I also want to start Peaky Blinders and Babylon Berlin.

9.  If you had to recommend an art or craft for people to get into, what would you recommend and why?

I do pen pal letters, and something I’ve found really comforting in this time of quarantine is doing collages. These can go on the outside envelope (just make sure you have enough stamps) or inside the letter as a fun extra thing. I have a plethora of stickers, washi tape, and pretty paper, and it’s fun to just kind of let my mind go and move things around until they look pretty. Unfortunately, that’s about as crafty as I get right now. Other than the old standby of adult coloring books, which I’ve also been doing a lot of!

12.  Recommend a book or book series to read!

I’ll do a couple:

1. A Darker Shade of Magic (series) by V.E Schwab. Adult. Fantasy involving multiple universes and versions of London. For when you need to escape our world.

2. Red, White, and Royal Blue (standalone) by Casey McQuiston. Adult. M/M romance involving the prince of England and the son of the US President. So, so sweet, touching, funny, and absolutely immersive. I’m still thinking about it months later. “History, huh?”

3. Lady Hotspur by Tessa Gratton (standalone, but in the same universe as her other book The Queens of Innis Lear). Adult. Queer, genderbent retelling of Henry IV. Amazing characters. For when you need a read with some serious girl power.

4. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi (series, second book due out in November) YA. A group of misfits try to pull of a heist in an alternate history version of Paris with magic. Think Six of Crows meets Moulin Rouge.

5. Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake. (series, complete). YA. Three triplet sisters compete to be queen in this amazing matriarchal YA fantasy. So many twists and turns!

[ettadunham]

A Buffy rewatch 7x05 Selfless

aka be careful what you... you know the drill

We did it, guys! We made it to the last season! Also, hello if you’re new, and stumbled upon this without context. As usual, these impromptu text posts are the product of my fevered mind as I rant about the episode I just watched for an hour (okay, sometimes perhaps two). Anything goes!

And in today’s episode, it’s Anya time!

Selfless as a title is a word play on the two different Anya’s we meet at the beginning and the end of the episode. Anya or Aud in her old life was a bit of a misfit, but she was also selfless in her earnestness. And the Anya of today is struggling to find not just her place in the world but her entire identity. Her sense of self.

I know that some people dislike and find Anya’s background to be a bit of a retcon. Like how she apparently was always considered a weird person, and her behavior wasn’t just the product of her being a vengeance demon for a 1000 years. And I think those criticisms were in my head during the earlier flashbacks, and maybe that’s why I find those to be the weakest parts of an otherwise excellent episode.

But as the story went on, and we met Anya at different points in her life, I realized, that that won’t be my take here. No, I like that Aud was somewhat of a well-intentioned outcast. It explains why Anya didn’t bother to get familiar with human social norms – she never quite fit them in the first place, and she was even less interested once she became a vengeance demon.

Also, I’m putting this out there without much more elaboration because I don’t have the knowledge to expand upon it, but Anya may be on the autistic spectrum. So her character always having some of her socially non-conforming traits feels in line with that.

This backstory and Anya’s route to vengeance also fills in some interesting parts of her character. Anya was angry with Olaf, but it wasn’t some fiery rage that took her over. And it wasn’t just Olaf she was angry with. Anya felt slighted by the world, not just alone, but rejected by society. She didn’t have anyone or anything to turn to.

There’s also a pattern here of Anya hyperfocusing on something or someone in her life. First it was Olaf – it didn’t matter that the town didn’t accept her, because she had Olaf to build her life around. And when he betrayed her, she had vengeance. Halfrek even remarks upon how Anya wouldn’t enjoy life around her and was all work no play, but Anya didn’t even understand what she meant by that. She had vengeance. Vengeance was her life. And that was enough.

And then, when she didn’t have that, there was Xander. In season 4 especially you can see this singular focus Anya has for Xander. It’s only by season 5 that she even starts to integrate and connect with the rest of the Scoobies – which I think is part of why returning to vengeance proves such a difficult task for her.

Losing Xander made Anya want to return to her old patterns, but she was unable to put all her focus back into vengeance, because she didn’t lose her old connections. Not to the Scoobies, and not even Xander.

Anya’s stuck between worlds. And what’s even more painful, is the fact that she didn’t use to feel that way when she was a vengeance demon. While in the human world she was constantly looked down on and rejected, she fit right in with D’Hoffryn’s family. But now, she’s criticized for not committing to vengeance enough.

And make no mistake, she never felt quite accepted by the Scoobies either. Not all the way. But it was still more than she was used to, and it allowed her to make some real human connections. The first in millennia.

It was enough to keep her grounded to the world and humanity. Enough so that she could find no enjoyment in inflicting pain.

It actually hurt her.

But she felt trapped. If she couldn’t commit to vengeance she had no place with D’Hoffryn anymore, and she had nowhere else to go. So she tried, even if it made her feel horrible, maybe hoping that if she went too far, it’d numb her to the pain. Or that if she passed the point of no return, she could finally focus back on vengeance.

And there’s someone who definitely gets that. Willow.

So, following my big lightbulb moment about how Willow and Anya would actually work perfectly as a season 7 ship, Selfless just proved to be even more fodder to that idea. But you don’t even need to ship it to appreciate the dynamic of what’s happening here.

When Willow meets Anya on campus, and realizes that something’s off when she sees the blood on her hands, she doesn’t confront Anya about it. She knows better than that.

Instead she enters the frat house (it’s always a frat house, isn’t it), already expecting the outcome. She also has a weird moment of Dark Willow as she’s doing a protection spell against the spider monster, which… I wanna talk about that?

So, I distinctly remember interpreting Dark Willow as separate from regular Willow during my first time with the show, someone who emerges when Willow uses magic. Which is a dull take that I don’t really like these days, but I can also see teen-me coming to the conclusion from this scene, seeing the abrupt change in Willow’s personality.

But in reality, that outburst is Willow lashing out at the girl who made the wish that killed all those boys in the frat house. It’s not even just the trauma of seeing all those bodies; it’s the realization of what it means for Anya, and the inevitable confrontation with Buffy.

So instead Willow keeps those details to herself for the time being. She only tells Buffy that there’s a spider demon out for blood, while she goes to talk to Anya herself.

WILLOW:  “Anya, listen to me. You're in trouble. You know it. I'm here to help you.” ANYA:  “You're here to— Well, that's great, Willow. Flayed anybody lately, have you? How quickly they forget!” WILLOW:  “I haven't forgotten one second of it.” ANYA:  “What do you want?” WILLOW:  “I want to help you.”

Anya’s broken repetition of “they got what they deserved”? God. This scene is so good.

Still, when she doesn’t manage to convince Anya, Willow knows what she has to do. She tells Buffy.

Now, I’ll circle back to this scene, because we’ll also need to talk about Buffy, but for our purposes now, I want to highlight how the Scoobies see the situation. Buffy knows that as soon as Anya becomes a real threat, she has to deal with her accordingly. Xander meanwhile refuses to even engage with the idea that they might need to kill Anya to stop her.

And Willow? Willow’s right there in-between. She understands fully the threat Anya poses, but also the inner conflict present. She doesn’t argue or fight Buffy on killing Anya, but she also refuses to help. She doesn’t go with her to support or stop her. She can’t.

When Xander and Buffy argue, they bring up Willow’s case, but Buffy says that it was different, because Willow’s human. However, you get the sense that Willow herself isn’t making that distinction. She’d expect Buffy to try and stop her by all means necessary if it came down to it once again.

But when Buffy tells Xander to help her find another way, it ends up inspiring Willow. So she uses the amulet D’Hoffryn gave her back in season 4 to summon him, and to offer Anya something that nobody else bothered.

A choice.

So, essentially, Willow is the one that saved Anya in this episode. Not by any life-saving grand gesture, but by giving her a chance to decide for herself. Even if it meant for Anya to choose her own death over those she caused recently.

But D’Hoffryn of course had to go and twist that choice, where he instead killed Halfrek to make Anya suffer. This is the most overtly malicious and threatening D’Hoffryn ever gets, living up to his vengeance demon patriarch title. We’ve seen him prey upon these women in their moments of weakness, and here, he finally shows his real colors openly.

Anya’s devastated. This was her oldest, and for centuries, only friend. And she died in her stead. It’s cruel.

But Anya now Is also free. And not just from vengeance, but from her dependence from it. Or Xander. She’s free and she’s lost, but now she has the opportunity to find herself yet again.

And then there’s Buffy, who knows exactly who she is.

(On a sidenote, how delightful is it when Buffy just throws the axe up to the trees to catch the spider demon? I love her so much, you guys don’t even know.)

During the majority of the show, Buffy struggled with her identity, with who she is, what it means, what she’d have to do, what her purpose is… But by season 7, she’s mostly settled into her role, embracing all that came with it.

But that in itself will lead to her struggle this season. Buffy has the power to fight evil, and protect the rest of the world, so she feels responsible to do so. And she knows that she can’t expect someone else to make the hard choices, because there’s no one else. She can’t make someone else wear her burdens, and she can’t trust them to make her own choices for her. No one has the answers. In the end, we’re all just human.

Still, you may ask, isn’t Buffy human too? Doesn’t she make mistakes all the same? And the answer is yes. She can mess up, and if she does, it can affect the lives of everyone around her. That’s why it’s not the final end to Buffy’s arc.

When Faith told Buffy in season 3 that they were the law, she rejected it. But now, she echoes it. Of course, back then, Faith was trying to deflect responsibility, while Buffy emphasizes her own responsibility using the same words. Both roads lead to a sense of superiority nevertheless, it’s just one is an empty façade, masking an inner struggle, while the other is an acceptance of the power and responsibility that was already thrust upon it.

I don’t think Buffy’s approach of taking this all upon herself is the right answer ultimately, and neither does she by the end. But much like with Anya, she doesn’t see another way, and it’s an understandable response to how everyone’s been relying on her to make these decisions for many seasons now.

That’s what stings about Xander’s attitude here. They’ve been all expecting Buffy to deal with things, whether it’s her own trauma or the apocalypse, to take responsibility and make the hard choices for them; and then turn around and judge her for it. It’s also what makes the scene so cathartic, as Buffy calls out Xander on his own hypocrisy.

XANDER:  “You think we haven't seen all this before? The part where you just cut us all out. Just step away from everything human and act like you're the law. If you knew what I felt—“ BUFFY:  “I killed Angel! Do you even remember that? I would have given up everything I had to be with— I loved him more than I will ever love anything in this life. And I put a sword through his heart because I had to.” […] XANDER:  “This is different.” BUFFY:  “It is always different! It's always complicated. And at some point, someone has to draw the line, and that is always going to be me. You get down on me for cutting myself off, but in the end the slayer is always cut off. There's no mystical guidebook. No all-knowing council. Human rules don't apply. There's only me. I am the law.”

Still, Xander has a point in arguing too of course. Someone has to argue for Anya’s humanity and challenge Buffy’s authority on life and death.

It’s also worth mentioning though that by the end, Buffy also closes with the aforementioned “then please find another way”.

Buffy isn’t necessarily shutting Willow and Xander out in the way she’d used to. She just assumed authority, made the call and asked for their help.

Oh yeah, and also, we finally get a resolution to Xander’s lie at the end of season 2. Kind of. It gets kind of brushed past, but it’s out in the open now. After 4 and a half seasons.

I just love this show and its stupid brilliant long character arcs.

[bewareofchris]

Infinity Wars Rewatch 1

in the spirit of the MCU Rewatch I did, I have rented Infinity Wars and am going to watch it, leaving my surely inspiring, lovable thoughts here for you.

Pre-Title:

Just, never ever going to get over them letting Loki die like that.  Regardless of whether or not he’s genuinely dead?  No.  

Also, its especially depressing how Asgard dies following the whole events of Ragnarok.  

Is Heimdall the only not white person in Asgard?  I can’t remember now

Cable > Thanos as far as Josh Brolin characters go

“Hulk isn’t scared of Thanos” yeah.  Right.

ya know, its especially amazing how they never actually explain how the rainbow bridge/Heimdall’s sword really work so they can just make up shit whenever its convenient.

also, I don’t know who Thanos’ band of misfits are and I don’t care so I’m pleased nobody wasted my time trying to make me care

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY STONES ON EARTH??  

Again.  Everything that happens with Loki here makes 0 sense.  I disagree with it all.  Unless there’s a massive amount of trickery involved.  Like so much trickery.  Loki is off talking the Grandmaster into intervening or some shit.

Does Tony get choked in this movie?  

Other than getting Bruce Banner back on earth to tell everyone what happened, what exactly was Heimdall trying to do by sending Hulk back to earth?  I mean, that’s a noble goal.  And sure he knows Bruce knows the Avengers but it seems very convenient.

WAIT DID Dr. Strange just Magic-Girl transform into his wizard costume and I didn’t notice it?

New York 

I genuinely love Tony’s running outfit here

Tony: I needed to pee.  We should have a baby.

NO NO THIS IS DETACHABLE.  He takes off that and then puts a little cap over the gaping hole in his chest.  It’s totally 100% safe.  No problems

Dr. Strange needs to work on conveying his information better.  But also nice recap on the stones.  Nobody really watched the Thor movies anyway.

I adore Mark Ruffalo.  

“Protecting your reality douchebag”

LET ME TELL YOU HOW I HAVE BEEN ANTICIPATING MARVEL  COMPLETELY IGNORING THE ENTIRE CONFLICT BETWEEN STEVE/TONY SINCE THE END OF CIVIL WAR.  LIKE THE THING THAT PISSED ME OFF THE MOST ABOUT CIVIL WAR WAS THE FEELING THAT IT WAS ENTIRELY IRRELEVANT EVEN WHILE IT WAS HAPPENING.  TONY DIDN’T EVEN CARE ABOUT THE ACCORDS WHILE HE WAS ACTIVELY HUNTING DOWN HIS FRIENDS.  (Ok, he might have, but then when it was inconvenient for him to abide by it, he went ahead and ignored them.  If he hadn’t ignored them, and he’d just let Steve and Bucky deal with Zemo then the ending wouldn’t have happened the same.)

THERE WAS NEVER GOING TO BE ANY LASTING CONSEQUENCE FOR STEVE.  EVER.  

But also, the fact that Tony sounds so guilty about the fallout pisses me off.  Why?

BECAUSE CIVIL WAR WAS A WASTE OF OUR TIME.

MOVING ON

I’m sorry.  I’m deeply, deeply sorry about this but why is Steve Rogers more likely to be able to find Vision than anyone else?  doesn’t Vision have the stone from Loki’s staff?  Didn’t they use the Staff to hunt down the tesseract?  Or something like that?  Isn’t there probably 100 different ways that Tony could find Vision?  

It’s not an achievement to say that Cap can find someone if the only reason he gets mentioned is because the Wizard and the 2 Super Geniuses are all just trying to include him.  

What the fuck does Steve Rogers even have that they don’t?  A beard?  Rolled up sleeves?  A plucky attitude?  

Poor Bruce Banner, he’s like what the fuck?  Constantly what the fuck.

I love how Tony just walks out into the massive destruction like it’s nothing.  Tony.  Tony you’re 100% human my guy.  Please take care.

It’s ridiculous how much time the bad guys give them to try to get Hulk to show up.

“He exhausts me” (you and half the Avengers, and most of the world, my guy.  Tony is exhausting.)

If the bad guys were smart they would have just killed them during all that time

THE SUIT

This suit looks much less hippy than previous ones.

I love this Spiderman

“Your powers are quaint.”  Ok but he just got started.  Imagine how powerful he’ll be after he studies a bit more.

Where is Cap’s shield?  I only ask because Tony’s using a shield.

LOOK AT HOW THEY CUT THAT DUDE’S ARM OFF.  SEEMS SO CONVENIENT.  SO SIMPLE.  SO APPLICABLE.  SUCH FORESHADOWING.

Why is FRIDAY dependent on the internet?  How is he controlling the suit without it’s operating system?  Or is there a separate operating system and she’s just like Alexa?

thank god the burner phone landed somewhere easily located.  That’s not too convenient.

The Guardians

I cannot be fair to Chris Pratt.  I just don’t like him

I actually like how Groot has aged in the movies.  He’s adorable.

THANK GOD STILL ALIVE THOR HIT THE WINDSHIELD

I’m glad we spent all this time making these jokes with the Guardians.  

Should have listened to Thor.  He had so many excellent points.

Earth Again

“vis”?

I didn’t even notice she dropped the accent until someone else pointed it out to me.  

I honestly cannot make myself care about Wanda and Vision.  (But also, not even Vision gives a fuck about the Accords anymore.  Or ever, since he’s been hanging out with Wanda for 2 years.)  

I wish they’d let Wanda be more consistently immensely powerful.  Because I feel like she definitely could have killed both these motherfuckers right here.

THANK GOD “CAN THROW A THING” MAN HAS ARRIVED TO SAVE THE DAY.  God knows the two super powerful beings didn’t stand a chance until Cap showed up dramatically in the shadows.

THANK YOU CAPTAIN.

Because nobody cares about Civil War

“Home?”

And then after they stopped over there, they decided to go to the Avenger’s Compound.

Gamora

fuck you Thanos

I feel like the people who wrote this might never have seen a real child before.

Thanos needs to go to a nail salon

Fuck Peter Quill too.

Your Mama is so disappointed in you Peter Quill

Again, so happy we could have this time with the Guardians

Unrelated, isn’t the Collector like some ancient powerful being of his own?  Like the Grandmaster? I don’t read comics, but I thought I read that somewhere.

I also adore Benicio Del Toro.

Roll Credits, Gamora single handledly took care of it.  All done, pack your shit.  We’re finished.  That wasn’t even an ordeal.  Never would have suspected it.

Also, Gamora crying hurt my soul.

I COUNTED ON IT.  JUST LIKE THOR SAID

If more people killed more of their enemies instead of leaving them alive, then all these movies would be a lot shorter.  I’m not advocating killing anyone that inconveniences you but there’s 0 reason why Cap and the gang shouldn’t have killed Thanos’ two idiot helper friends, and 0 reasons Thanos shouldn’t have actually killed the guardians.  He obviously has no qualms about killing.

And that’s all for today.

[recentanimenews]

Crunchyroll Remembers Their Favorite Lupin the 3rd Stories

On April 11, Kazuhiko Kato—better known to his fans by the name Monkey Punch—passed away. Kato created many amazing works in his time, but the best known and most beloved of all was easily Lupin the 3rd. For many of us here at Crunchyroll, it was one of our earliest anime, if not an actual gateway series.

  Today, we here at Crunchyroll News and Features are taking a look back at our favorite films and episodes, as well as what made us love this crazy series. We'd love to hear from the rest of you, too: tell us in the comments what makes you love the Lupin Gang and what story you loved most. If you're new to the series, we hope this encourages you to check out one of the standards of anime.

  Thanks to everyone on the team who took part and shared their memories!

    Paul: The true genius of Lupin III is that the characters are archetypal, and so they can map onto whatever story the writers and directors want to tell, from slapstick nonsense to hard-boiled, noir-style thrillers filled with murder and gratuitous nudity. Lupin, like Batman, means something different to everyone, and there is so much more to the character than simply “red jacket”, “blue jacket”, “green jacket”, etc.

  My first experience with Lupin III was The Castle of Cagliostro, and I've got a lot of time for The Woman Called Fujiko Mine and Jigen's Gravestone, but I'm sure everyone and their cousin has some kind words to spare for those entries, so I'll devote a few phrases to the weirder animated entries: The Fuma Conspiracy, The Mystery of Mamo, and The Legend of the Gold of Babylon.

  Although I own two different DVD releases of The Fuma Conspiracy, I remember almost nothing about the film itself except that it involves Goemon getting engaged, the entire film is basically an extended (and exquisitely animated) chase scene, and the AnimEigo release had to fudge Lupin's name as “Rupan” because of the lawsuit with Maurice Leblanc's estate.

  The Mystery of Mamo has clones, a giant space brain, ridiculous cameos and product placement that got scrubbed from the Geneon release, like 6 different English dubs, and perhaps the single greatest visual rhyme in anime cinema history, which juxtaposes Lupin teasing Fujiko's nipple with world leaders pushing the Big Red Button for a nuclear missile strike.

  The Legend of the Gold of Babylon is so goddamned weird that is makes The Mystery of Mamo seem “two bedroom one bath white picket fence in the suburbs” mundane by comparison. I haven't managed to sit through the entire film in one viewing, but it's co-directed by Seijun Suzuki and it's arguably the most divisive work in the entire Lupin III franchise, so it merits a mention.

  But none of these wild and woolly adventures would exist without the original manga from Kazuhiko Katou, aka “Monkey Punch”, and while straight manga Lupin with no chaser is way too raw for me, it's the primordial essence from which all other interpretations of the characters spring, and the world is a smaller, meaner, and pettier place without Lupin's creator in it.

    Carlos: I’ve always loved the phantom thief genre in any medium. I loved it as a Super Sentai, adored it when Persona 5, and of course, couldn’t get enough of it in the eclectic series of Lupin the 3rd.

  Kazuhiko Katou’s legacy has truly been immortalized in Lupin’s escapades, being one of the earliest examples of the phantom thief trend in Japan and modernizing Arsene Lupin’s adventures for generations of fans to enjoy. The anime world has lost an old time visionary, but he left us with his timeless classic that I’ve loved for so long, and will enjoy for years to come. Whenever I sing “Memory of Smile,” I’ll raise a glass to Monkey Punch.

    Noelle: My first introduction to the series was Castle of Cagliostro, having also grown up on Ghibli, and something about that was just so fun and enjoyable.

  The Detective Conan crossovers are also a bit of lighthearted fun- Lupin exists everywhere!

  All Lupin works embody the phantom thief sub-genre, but instead of being something heavy and ominous, they are free-spirited. Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon all have chips on their shoulders, but that doesn’t stop them from causing trouble and generally having a good time while doing so. Every installment is witty, clever, and I’m always eager to see how the gang will come out on top.

  The truest Lupin installment that greatly stuck with me is of course, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, which ranks as one of my favorite anime series to this day. It doesn’t focus on Lupin himself but Fujiko, and her adventures of self-discovery and living her own life. This one was a far more serious series, especially compared to the far more carefree Lupin series that I’d been exposed to, but it worked.

  I’d usually watch Lupin whenever I wanted something that I know I’d enjoy, but also makes me feel good. There aren’t many series that manage to do both.

Rest in peace, Monkey Punch.

    Nicole: It’s been hard to reconcile with the fact that Monkey Punch is gone... My first encounter with Lupin came from Castle of Cagliostro, where I immediately fell in love with the Miyazaki directed version of Lupin as a dashing thief and the misfits that followed him around. I remember hearing from a lot of people when I first wanted to expand that “Oh that isn’t really Lupin, that’s a sanitized version of him,” and over the years I kind of find myself disagreeing with that more and more. Lupin is a lot of things to a lot of different people, and I think Monkey Punch really created a unique and amazing set of characters that various directors then worked with and left their mark on. I still find myself rewatching Cagliostro whenever I get a chance, and I find it an amazing ‘first anime’ movie to show to people who have never really seen much anime at all before.

  The Lupin TV series are filled with so many amazing episodes, and when I originally drafted up a top ten list last year, I ended up starting to rewatch the whole thing again. Even though some adaptations of Lupin are a bit better than others, I would say that anyone who likes the idea of a master thief and his madcap capers will find a lot to love almost anywhere in this series, and I hope that maybe in this sad circumstance of Monkey Punch’s passing, people will get curious enough to investigate the series and fall in love with it too.

  Some of my favorite Lupin memories and moments, aside from Cagliostro, have to be those dealing with Zenigata. As much as I love the Lupin crew, there’s just something charming and attractive about Zenigata’s character that always made him so much fun to watch. As I mentioned in my list, there are a lot of interpretations of Zenigata, but I always prefer the hard-boiled, semi-noir detective version of him that episodes like “Until the Full Moon Passes” or “The Woman the Old Man Fell in Love With” depict. I think the reason I always liked Zenigata so much is that he’s really important for Lupin to play off of, and without Zenigata, I don’t think you’d really enjoy Lupin as much as a character! The moments where the two of them really face off, or even work together, are some of the most magical moments in the series overall; on that note, I really recommend curious viewers to check out “The End of Lupin III”, another great pick.

  Finally, I’ve come to appreciate the Miyazaki influence in Lupin more over the years, and realize that without Monkey Punch, we probably wouldn’t have Studio Ghibli today; those who are curious to see where Miyazaki got some of his original directing starts might want to check out his Lupin episodes, and of those, “Farewell, my Beloved Lupin�� is amazing (and keen Miyazaki fans might see a lot of similar designs here to later movies!) and of course the amazing Miyazaki take on Fujiko in “Wings of Death: Albatross”! I’m sure there’s so much more I could talk about or recommend, but I’ll just say that Lupin, in all of his incarnations, is worth it, with something for everyone, from various movies and tv shows to spin-offs like the amazing Woman Called Fujiko Mine, I hope that creators will keep honoring the vision and memory of Monkey Punch and deliver us more amazing Lupin content in the future.

    Joseph: Like many people, my first exposure to Lupin as a character was in Miyazaki's Castle of Cagliostro feature, which I still think is his best movie as a director. That characterization of Lupin, I would go on to learn, is just one of many, and I would soon see just how different his origins were when Tokyopop started publishing Monkey Punch’s original Lupin manga in English. Looking back, it's probably not the best representation overall, but it's still interesting to see how the character has evolved since those rough early days.

  The next time I caught him in action was back when Part 2 would air on Adult Swim—*checks paper* almost SIXTEEN YEARS ago?—and I've kept up with him and the rest of the gang irregularly over the years. My favorite thing about the franchise is just how flexible it is in general. While the broad strokes of each character may remain along the same lines depending on the jacket du jour, Lupin offers up a distinct canvas on which artists can apply their own unique sensibilities. I especially appreciate stuff like 2012’s The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, which is about as decadently artsy as Lupin gets.

    Kara: I spent two semesters in my college's anime club my freshman year being generally okay with anime. It was Castle of Cagliostro that got me all the way in. I remember when I finished watching it, I turned to my friend and said, "I'm actually kind of sad there's no more movies with these characters in them." I had no idea how ridiculously wrong I was.

  I loved earlier specials and series, but what I'm loving now is the flexibility the characters have after 50 years. We had The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, which was downright surreal but ultimately rewarding when the other shoe drops. The new movies have been fantastic as they bring in a largely new cast. And for me, Part 5 was some of the most satisfying anime I've ever watched, Lupin or otherwise. It felt so in the spirit of Kato-sensei's original work, while still creating new riffs on it.

  For me, anything Lupin is my go-to on a bad day. I know it's going to be funny, I know the "good guys" (whether or not Zenigata sees it that way) will win the day, and I know there's a lot of heart in every single version. It's hard to believe the gang's creator has passed on, but I'm also glad he got to see his work beloved by the world, and that it will continue strong for new fans.

  Series available on Crunchyroll:

>> Part 1

>> Part 2

>> Part 3

>> Part 4

>> Part 5

-----

Kara Dennison is a writer, editor, and interviewer with bylines at VRV, We Are Cult, Fanbyte, and many more. She is also the co-founder of Altrix Books and co-creator of the OEL light novel series Owl's Flower. Kara blogs at karadennison.com and tweets @RubyCosmos.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!   

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com