#Being the protagonist is suffering y'all

[sparkling-nov]

HEY HEY GUYS GUESS WHAT THESE TWO FEMALE CHARACTERS HAVE IN COMMON?!

Their Both called Selfish, Mean, A Monster and the Real Villain For not Complying to their male antagonist's Selfish and Unfair Rules😍🤩

Princess peach is selfish and mean cause she cares about her Family and Community lives and Refused Bowser's *Forced* Marriage proposal.

Asha is selfish and mean cause she cares about her Family and Community wishes and wants people to be able to pursue their dreams themselves But King Magnifico Scams people out of their wishes and lies straight to their faces that he'll grent them but never will and won't let people pursue their dreams themselves either.

You don't know the Shock i felt when i find out that people really think princess peach was "too rude" Towards bowser and may i remind y'all, bowser in the movie is evil, like really evil, he killed one of his koopers cuz he knowledge the Possibility of peach Rejecting him, he Kidnapped Hundreds of Innocent people and Forced peach to Watch them Slowly Descend into Death! Like i was so Flappergasted when i saw people out right Ignoring or Sugar coating the things bowser did and Victim blaming or painting peach as the "real villain" all because she rightfully rejected bowser's Forced marriage!, then thats when i Thought to myself "wait...this reminds me of how people act Towards asha and magnifico!"

Bowser and King Magnifico Actually do have some Similarities Between them

They both sing a song that shows their """"""love"""""" for someone or something, being "Peachs" and "At All Costs" but they both have Selfish meanings to them.

They both went after a star that does NOT belong to them.

They both hit the person that they """"love"""" near the end of the movie.

They both get Imprisoned at the end, bowser in a jer and king magnifico in a mirror.

And if their Subjects don't Agree or Obey them then they will Hurt or kill them.

Now bowser is Worser then king magnifico in some cases with Destroying kingdoms, Forcing a woman to marry you or else he'll kill everyone she's love etc etc, but if anything that makes it worse, Because bowser did all of these Horrible Unredeemable things to princess peach and others only for people to Completely ignore or sugar coat for the Sake of "but...but bowser make cute sad face for 1 second 🥺" and "but bowser did everything for peach🥺" and also "BUT HE'S HOT" And making up Traumatic back stories for bowser as to why he kidneps princess peach Really does open my eyes that even if king magnifico was more "Threatening" it Wouldn't Matter because people Still find itVery Hard to Emphasize with the Female Character even with princess peach A Character who has been Around For Years and Suffering from the Abuse of Bowser for as long as her character has Existed Gets called a "Real Villain" for Saving her people, it all too much reminds me of How people React Towards King Magnifico and Asha,

People Excusing or Ignoring the Fact that King Magnifico locks up MOST of people's wishes Never to be Fulfilled or Given back While lying to Hundreds of people that he will grant them, All Because he let's people have free Houses is the same as People Excusing and ignoring the fact that Bowser Threatens peach to Agree with the Marriage or he'll kill toad All Because bowser sings a song about how much he """""Loves""""" princess peach and his Proposal starts off """""Gentle""""", Letting the Manipulative Male Antagonist off the hook Because he did something "nice".

People Calling Asha Selfish, Cruel and Evli Because she wants people and her 100 year old Grandfather to live out their wishes is the same as People Calling Princess Peach Selfish, Cruel and Evil Because she wants to keep her people safe and not Marry A Whole Terrorist, Vilifying the Female Protagonist for Challenging, Questioning, or Not Complying to the male antagonist's Selfish and Unfair Rules.

By the way I'm not saying Scaming People out of their wishes is the as Forced Marriage, no. I'm saying the way people Treat asha and princess peach are the same, the way people treat bowser and king magnifico are the same. Sometimes it just looks like A Male Villain is not really allowed to be a villain no Matter what Horrible things he does, just a guy who needs a hug when the in question Hero is female, And the Female hero is not allowed to be a hero, her Story has to be morally gray or just a Straight up bitch and the real villain no matter the Heroic things she does, Asha and Princess Peach actually are selfless and careing, they fought for their kingdoms and others but because their antagonists are Attractive man, the heroic things she did get Ignored and Casted aside.

[mackerel1522]

Hey guys, have we already considered that maybe Fyodor is the same as IRL!Dostoevsky?

We know he already met Bram at least a few times and Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is set in the late 19th century - the same century IRL!Dostoevsky lived in.

What I'm trying to say is: What if our Fedya was actually born in 1821 just like the real author? What if our Fedya is actually the Dostoevsky?

First: Dostoyevsky's Works

Fyodor's character/ability/environment containt lots of references to most of his works:

- Crime and Punishment: the crime is being killed and as a punishment he take over the body of the killer + his character is heavely Raskonikov-coded

- The Demons: Fyodor is often refered to as a demon (or as the "Northern Devil")

*also another title of this novel is 'The Possessed' which heavily refers to his ability too

- Notes From The Underground: Fyodor's philosophy has a lot in common with the one of the "Underground Man" (the narrator and protagonist of the novella)

- The House of the Dead: his organisation "Rats in the House of the Dead" is based partially on the novel

- The Gambler: we see him play at the begining of the manga against Ace (and nails it) + later the Sky Casino where he sends Sigma

(The list continues but it'd take way too long for me to cover all of it TuT')

- The Double: his double-personality-faking after his breakdown in mersault is "The Double"-coded

- The Brothers Karamazov: in an interview, Asagiri revealed he based most of Fyodor's personality on a scene of the novel (the one where Ivan Karamazov talks to 'the devil')

Secondly: Rodion Raskolnikov

Fyodor and Rodion share a lot of common points - Fyodor being heavely Raskolnikov-coded:

First and most obvious: Fedya's ability is C&P and Rodya is the protagonist from C&P

The complex personality: Fyodor is a highly intelligent and enigmatic character. He is confident, exceptionally intelligent, manipulative and can easily see through his enemies' desires and plans. Rodion, on the other hand, is a lonely former student who actively rejects the society's morality. Just like Fedya, Rodya considers himself an exceptional man and wants to test the limits of his own freedom by committing murder. His personality is also tormented and complex.

Common themes: Both characters explore deep themes such as guilt, suffering, redemption and human nature. They both embody dark and complex aspects of the human psyche.

Thirdly: Dostoyevsky and Dostoyevsky

IRL!Dostoyevsky and Our!Dostoyevsky also have a lot of common points:

Personality/Lives:

Both were born on November 11 in Russia

Both have been sentenced to death/sent to prison

Both are very religious people

Both traveled a lot around the world

Both have chronic illnesses (epilepsy/anemia)

Both share a similar philosophy (Orthodox Christianity and Utopian Socialism)

Common themes: religion, redemption, guilt, suffering, human nature, gambling, death, chronic illness, psychology, etc...

Fourthly: Crime and Punishment

"I am crime. I am punishment. Crime and punishment are close friends. Borders vanish. Rooms awaken. The incarnation of death, the master of the ability-consuming fog… Eat, howl, and make violence as your instinct desires. This is neither a loss of control nor a singularity." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Bungo Stray Dogs Dead Apple)

There is definitely more to Fyodor's ability than "just" possessing the one who just killed him. For instance we have what happened in Dead Apple but we also have some more details that should be noticed (I think): Don't you find it intriguing how everytime before he dies his eyes are light but once he is resurrected his eyes turn dark again? The same happens when he fakes a double personality after his breakdown in mersault: his eyes turn the lightest we've ever seen him have but once he abandons the act they turn pitch black again.

Y'all remember how Harukawa said something like "the darker the eyes, the darker the personality, the lighter the eyes, the closest they are to the good side"? (sorry I don't remember the correct quote but it's something like that)

Intriguing, huh?

Finally: "Dostoyevsky is immortal!"

In his novel "The Master and Margarita", Mikhail Bulgakov says "Dostoyevsky is immortal!". In the manga, we just learned Fyodor's ability which, as said before, consist basically in taking over the body of the one who just killed him. Based on all the canon events of the manga, mostly everything conducts us to think Dostoyevsky's, in fact, immortal. Could Asagiri have been inspired by this quote? That could be possible. (Would it be extremely cool? Hell yeah.)

What if our Dostoyevsky is the Dostoyevsky but in a reality where he is, in fact, immortal?

What do you guys think about it? Do you have another theory? Do you wanna add something? (I'm open to everything! Tell me what you think - whether it's the same or the opposite, I'm curious!)

[chaos0pikachu]

Okay, you've been relogging TharnType gifs (which I appreciate as one of the cursed TharnType's enjoyers, sue me) but where are the hot takes? Where's the meta?! Pikachu, speak, please!

Anon what's this cursed business I enjoy tharntype without shame I don't gaf what the discourse says the show is a bodice ripper mess with some truly genuinely well done char development especially for Thai BLs in 2019/2020

I'd rather watch tharntype again than 2gether or 1000 Stars I said what I said bake that hot take in your pie Ms Lovett

Speaking of tharntype tho I saw this twitter thread talking about it and was like yeah ppl ARE weird about tharntype and some of that weirdness is understandable and some of that weirdness is sus as fuck hot take dos putas

tell me I'm doing "doing being queer wrong" b/c I like some dumbass soap yaoi like baby go outside, knit some mittens for some kittens at least Type has an actual char arc unlike a ton of squeecore BL protagonists hot take tres chepies

look if ppl don't like tharntype idc y'all do you I don't like a lot of popular BLs - wait till the episode on Until We Meet Again drops on the pod lmaoooo - I even GET why ppl don't like the show and I think some of the critiques are valid but god damn some ppl be WEIRD about the show and Mame to the extreme l

ike jfc I saw someone call Mame a bigot for tharntype - but the dude director of the series got absolved he was gucci lol - some of the weirdness just feels less about genuine critique and more Christian rebranded moral high groundness and I have no time for that hot take cuatro

Anyway pour one out for Techno he was the one really suffering in Tharntype my little dude, my funny man, my ever suffering dude

[ultfreakme]

Riki's Thai BL drama recs!

I'm pretty sure 99% of anyone following me don't usually watch these considering I was an anime/manga blog, then a comic blog, an ATLA blog and only very recently an unhinged Thai BL blog but hey! Maybe I can convert some of y'all to the dark side so here are my recs in no particular order!

A Tale of Thousand Stars

I lied about the order, this one's my top favorite hands down.

Plot: Tian is rich, young and spoiled but his seemingly perfect life takes a turn when he learns that he's suffering from a terminal heart disease which requires a transplant to save his life.

With little time left to live, he grows reckless and is rushed into a heart transplant after a car accident. He learns that his new heart is from a young volunteer teacher named Torfun who died in a car crash.

Feeling undeserving of his second chance at life, he follows Torfun's footsteps and becomes a volunteer teacher, using her journal to learn that she wanted to fulfill a wish- to count a thousand stars at the remote and distant Pha Pun Dao Cliff. He also learns that she was growing very close to a forest ranger named Phupha.

Phupha thinks Tian is just another city kid volunteer here to take a few pictures for his socials and leave, without giving proper care to the children and villagers he protects, but as time passes, Tian and Phupha grow closer as they learn more about one another and themselves, with Tian realizing that his motive to stay at Pha Pun Dao has grown from being about Torfun, to his own blooming ties to the villagers and the children he's teaching and perhaps... a particular forest ranger too.

My Thoughts: OKAY this??? This is a freaking beautiful show. The plot and pacing is very well done. The show sinks you into the village of Pha Pun Dao and makes you fall in love with the village the same way Tian does. The side characters and village residents are all unique and charming, the children Tian teaches are adorable and you really get to know the setting and understand why both Torfun and Tian are so attached to this place.

It's a story about gaining back freedom, about finding yourself and finding community. Tian is an amazing protagonist who grows and learns from his mistakes(and boy does he make a lot of mistakes). Phupha is a little cold and closed off but he's charming and so clearly cares and puts his entire heart into the village.

If you enjoy classic slow-burn romances with amazing chemistry and character development with an almost fairy tale-like quality, this one's for you.

2. Triage The Series

Plot: Tin is a third-year ER resident student who's forced into a time loop until he is able to save his patient, a university student named Tol, who seemingly got into a drunk-driving accident. Tin is forced to figure out a way to extend the time he's been given to save Tol, and in the process, he learns more about him and the two fall in love. But what do you do when your lover forgets you every time the clock resets? How do you save the man you love?

My thoughts: The plot is exquisite chef's kiss. The execution is so good every episode makes you want to immediately catch up on the nest. Tensions are high, and while at the start you wish for the time loops to just stop much like our main character Tin, we start wishing for more loops, more chances, as we get to know Tol.

It's a story about how people can change and should be given the chance to do so. How forgiveness, communication, empathy and understanding are key to better ourselves and others. Tin starts the series off as an indifferent, jaded medical student who believes there is no justice due to a past tragedy in his life. He has no motive to save Tol other than to get back on with his life but as he gets to know more about Tol, he starts seeing how significant and important every decision is. Tol is arrogant, spoiled and unaware of the effects he has on the people around him but he grows through his relationship with Tin and does his best to better the lives of people around him.

The side characters are so fleshed out and play important roles, the romance is interwoven with a much darker storyline that starts unfolding through the side characters. The time loops are done really well and the show tries to be medically accurate when it can.

If you're looking for some time travel, plot-heavy, character-driven stories with a bit of an epic romance, this one's for you.

3. Laws of Attraction the Series

Plot: Chan is a high profile lawyer who takes cases in terms of how rich and influential he can get, and in this pursuit takes on the case of a rich politician's son who kills a 11 year old girl in a drunk-driving incident. He hopes to clear the son of charges and gain the politician as a client but the politician fires Chan with no warning. In his quest for revenge for this slight, and growing suspicious of the politician's motive for taking him off the case, Chan finds himself a client in the form of the 11 year old girl's uncle, Tinn, who has been seeking justice for his niece to no avail due to how powerful the politician is.

Tinn hates Chan's methods and motives, Chan thinks Tinn is naive for seeking justice in a system he knows is broken beyond repair. Despite this, they find themselves growing ever close to one another.

My thoughts: The story keeps you on the edge. Like you think you've got all the information, everything seems clear, until you start uncovering the case in further details along with Chan and Tin. You start off thinking 'yeah of course Tinn's right' and he is for wanting to seek justice for his niece, but Chan is also unfortunately right about navigating the legal system. The side characters are so distinct, I think this is the one drama that has you just as invested in the side characters as the mains. You will adore all of them, especially Chan's bff Rose and her gf Maya, and Tinn's grandma-Galaxia. The little girl, Tankhao is dead by ep 1 but she is a prominent character throughout the series and you grow so attached to her, it makes the case so much more personal and painful.

The production value is kinda...not the best, out of all the shows I'll be recommending I think it's visually the least good but you won't even notice it with the plot and the romance going on.

If you like plot-heavy crime and mystery stories with a morally dubious protagonist, this one's for you.

4. Moonlight Chicken

I'm giddy and already crying at the thought of this one

Plot: Jim(or better known as 'Uncle Jim') is the owner of a small chicken rice shop in a tourist hot spot that has faced a huge hit after COVID-19. He struggles to keep his restaurant afloat and raise his rebellious nephew, when one night, he sees a customer passed out drunk in the store. The customer- Wen- is instantly attracted to Jim and after a night out together, they have a one-night stand with Jim stating he isn't looking for romance.

But Wen's fallen hard and fast, finding a sense of comfort and safety in Jim who greets everyone with food and a smile, building a little safe place through his restaurant. Jim, who refuses to let any more people into his life finds himself falling for Wen, who is lonely and unable to move on from his past relationship.

In between this, Jim's nephew Li Ming finds love with an isolated boy named Heart whose parents keep him away from people due to him being deaf. Li Ming's isolation and hopelessness from hsi financial circumstances, and Heart's isolation due to no one around him accommodating his disability leads the two boys to learn from one another and let each other find company and community through one another.

My thoughts: Look, look I know this story sounds basic as fuck, but this series is so on the nose about the queer experience. You see the generation divide between the young queers and older queers. The loneliness is so palpable and heavy.

Jim is the oldest, he's like 40, he's raising his nephew and running a business. He grew up in an environment where being gay was shameful with zero family support so though he is out about his queerness, he's still holding onto a lot of shame that was unfortunately instilled in him. Wen is about a decade younger and he's a lot more open, but understands where Jim is coming from and slowly shows him that lowering your walls and letting people in isn't bad. Jim especially is affected very much by all the restrictions queer people face legally(his ex's parents exploiting him and taking away all his money and assets because he and the ex shared a bank account but the parents claim it was solely the ex's).

Li Ming and Heart are teenagers, Gen Z. Li Ming doesn't understand Jim's apprehensions and worries and just wants to be himself. They're both gay, you'd think Jim would be immediately accepting but Jim's past experience is making him worry. Being gay has not been great for Jim, he had to run away from home and start anew.

This is also one of the few shows that show the effects of COVID. It's ALWAYS there. Every single thing in the plot is affected by it. Wen's relationship with his ex, his loneliness, Jim's restaurant, the entirety of Jim's neighbourhood being torn down- ALL FROM COVID. You just can't escape it and this entire show IS SO RELATABLE.

ALSO, Jim and Wen's chemistry!?!?!?! I feel high looking at them, Wen looks at Jim like he's the last glass of water in a desert where he's been lost for weeks, like he wants to eat that DILF alive, like he's addicted to him. Their kisses are just, so.....[unholy screech]. THIS is CHEMISTRY. If you didn't realize, they're the same actors from A Tale of Thousand Stars(ATOTS). They have perfected the art of longing gazes. If anyone looked at me like these two look at each other, I'll melt, I'll combust, I'll dedicate my life to them. And I think Jim and Wen's actors, Earth and Mix respectively, are super hot and very very good as actors(Earth is 29. this man looks young. but the way he ACTS fully sells the life-weary 40-year-old father figure to a teenager thing). Mix has the strange ability to make honorifics sound hot as fuck. In ATOTS, Mix calls Earth 'Chief'. In Moonlight Chicken, Mix calls Earth 'Uncle'. Now you might think the latter just cannot be hot under any circumstance but hear him say it, and you will understand.

If you enjoy slice of life romances that are character driven, focusing on the queer experience, you'll love this.

5. KinnPorsche: La Forte the Series

This is actually the Thai adaptation of Goncha-[gets shot]

Plot: Porsche is a down on his luck bartender who's trying to pay off his family debts in any way he can, participating in illegal underground fights to scrounge up money. On his break from his bar tending shift, a stranger runs up to him and offers him a hefty sum of money to protect him from people chasing after him. Porsche does so but doesn't trust the stranger- Kinn- to make good on his promise so he steals his watch.

Turns out Kinn is the heir the Theerpanyakul mafia family, and tracks down Porsche to hire him as his bodyguard.

My thoughts: You've likely seen extremely beautiful gifs from this series in wondrous colors as characters fuck each other senseless. Or torture each other, It really depends. All the shows I've recommended, I think, are better appreciated by an older audience, but this one is firmly 18+ officially. There's violence, gore, torture, sexual assault, drug abuse, alcohol abuse and a million other things that I forgot because my god this series goes to some dark, dark places.

Yes the sex scenes are great we stan but despite how thirsty the fandom can seem and how the show presents, there's so much more going on in the show in terms of plot.

It's kind of a tragedy, actually, especially for Porsche. The show is his corruption arc. He does things and acts in ways that he doesn't want because he fell in love with the wrong guy. They're trying to protect their love in a world filled with mistrust. I think the story is about cycles of abuse and violence, and the attempts to escape them.

For Porsche, he's stuck in a cycle of debts and being passed off from one ruling figure to another. In the beginning of the series, the debt collectors rule his life. As a bodyguard, the mafia rules his life. He's always under someone's thumb and he's trying so hard to get out.

For Kinn, it's the mafia. He doesn't want to be the heir, he doesn't want to do any of this but he has to because that's just what his family does. Porsche is a brief glimpse at escape but unfortunately, they're both dragged in.

It's not perfect, but it's so fun to watch.

If you like mafia romances that actually show the mafia side, angst, action and mystery, and are chill with all the trigger warnings this show has, this one's for you.

[eremorte]

Royal/Rebel swap au 2/7

This section covers Ashlynn, Hunter, Blondie, Cupid, Cerise (and honorarily) Ramona.

So technically Ashlynn and Hunter count as wave one and I didn't realize that at first, so whoops. I haven't read the books in a while so if anything is explained there and is heavily contradicted y'all can let me know.

Also, most of these are more cannon compliant than I realized once I typed them out. It might as well be me rehashing cannon but with context.

Ashlynn:

Rebel->Royal

Ashlynn's father by nature of destiny is a serial husband. I will assume that Ashlynn's dad is the prince, but as destiny demands (or perhaps this is just how he is) he has to follow in the footsteps of Ashlynn's Grandfather (maternal). However because he's a prince, women flock to this man in order to achieve the coveted trope of rags to riches. Once they realize they're not the protagonist but the villain they become bitter and cruel. Ashlynn realizes this and does not fault her stepmother and sisters for their rightful anger. However due to their abusive actions towards she hesitates to help them. (This is basically cannon why am I typing?)

One thing she tries to do is run her shoe store to accumulate enough money for herself to leave so that she doesn't have to suffer for too much longer and her step family can live the life they were "robbed of" although that is secondary to her freedom. Her other goal is to find a way to make the rest of her mother's life easier because she wants to take her too. Her parent's marriage was one of convince and over the years Ashlynn can recognize the true love was desperation, she's seen it first hand from her abusers.

When she meets Hunter and befriends and then falls in love she realizes through their conversations that her father's influence/policies have also given him a harder life than necessary and reluctantly goes back to being a princess to change that, though with a new found confidence that Hunter has taught her from being the lovable dope he is. (and then she passes some law that is ballroom worthy and hosts a massive party with the hope of finding Hunter in the crowd somewhere)

Hunter

He's a sympathetic Rebel like Madeline in that his main reasons for rebelling don't actively contradict his moral code in the fairytales he's a part of. He just falls in love above his station that's his only crime. He heroically saves Snow White from the evil queen, and he has to cut a wolf open because the wolf has eaten a girl who is both someone he knows and is actively being digested (both wolf and girl live in the end too).

Making him actively a Royal would just be getting him to acknowledge that marrying rich is actually a thing for guy's too, or rather, the main focus of Cinderella isn't that she marries a prince (admittedly the easiest way to escape the situation she's in given the resources this man has) it's that she has the means to escape her abusive household. Which Hunter provides already. He can be proud of his destiny with her in his life. (in Farrah's diary they make Hunter the next Cinderella because he's the poorer one).

Blondie:

As a journalist she is persistent and reports on whatever she can that is interesting and eventually her thieving hands unwittingly capture hard won proof that Headmaster Grimm and the system is garbage. Although being the kind of person she is she has to find that out for herself she cannot be told by anyone else what to do. She has no sense of danger at all.

Cupid:

As a myth Cupid is free to pick a lot of destinies and personally I am not about to research this. The first myth that comes actively to my head is Eros and Pysche as told by OSP but as she originates from Monster High I'd like to imagine that a more "Royal" Cupid is more Freaky-fabulous, the kind of Royal that boosts the untold stories and would call into question how stories are chosen to be told at all.

Cerise:

Her parents shower her with love and affection, but that's roughly the only place she receives it being truly herself. When you're bombarded by the message that a part of your heritage is evil day in and day out by everyone else, you're bound to internalize something. I imagine Cerise both in cannon and in this hypothetical one having massive imposter syndrome (cannon Cerise just manages better). She's not scared of Ramona, she's not scared of her destiny anymore because she know's breaking free is possible. Her parents, herself and her sister, are proof of that. She's just paralyzed with fear and dread because she doesn't know how to climb out. Her destiny doesn't involve her leaving Hood Hollow, she has to make the best of it here. The easiest thing to default to is destiny because she knows how deeply everyone believes. One day she's bound to crack under the stress and wrongly trust someone that she shouldn't and be hurt by it. (Raven is a good call, but Cerise was also terrified when Kitty threatened her with her secret. I wouldn't be surprised if she was willing to tell someone else had Raven not been where she was). Self fulling prophecy and all that.

Ramona:

Because there's so little proof of her existence anything goes really. This part isn't so much rebel/royal as it at this point a better counterpoint for Cerise more extreme anxiety.

I'd like to imagine Ramona is more proud than scared of her wolf heritage like Cerise would be. Before Professor Badwolf officially obtained his teaching license and could manage a classroom, he and Ramona schemed ways to protect the family and keep them afloat. Badwolf discouraged it because she shouldn't have to worry but Ramona insists/found ways to include herself. (small head cannon example: Badwolf was a landlord to the three little pigs).

Because of this she has become massively resourceful and she believes in her capability no matter the odds. However convincing Cerise the same in herself doesn't work the way Ramona hopes. Despite their fights they are fiercely loyal to each other and someday Ramona will find a way to break through to Cerise and convince her there is a place for both of them, even if that means leaving home.

[fandomanimatic-tournament]

Fandom song animatic tournament: Side A Round 1

Your Stupid Face - Kaden MacKay

"I just really like your face You don't have to look so happy I'm not really into love that you flaunt In some glittery font But if that's what you want Make it snappy"

Ready as I'll ever be - Tangled the series

"So gather around now (ooh) It's time to sing It's bittersweet (ooh) but it's a hell of a silver lining I tell the same old stories As y'all get your wings And I get better every time I kiss a weathered cheek And watching doves fly Sooner than me I guess I'm ready, ready as I'll never be"

Remember that we're voting on how Iconic they are for ANIMATICS, not for the song itself. In order to make things fair, the tone and mood of the song should not affect how iconic it is (for example, a serious song should not be considered more iconic than a joke song just because it's serious)

Propaganda and animatic links of the songs under the cut:

Your Stupid Face - Kaden MacKay

Propaganda:

Ultimate enemies to lovers potential as it starts with tge singer hating the other party and slowly growing to love them. Also has an excellent tma animatic (haven't watched any other animatics for it but a quick search shows there's a lot)

Animatics with the song:

Helluva Boss Stolas x Blitz

Don't Starve Together Wxwood

The Magnus Archives

DSMP TNTduo

Toilet Bound Hanako Kun Mitsuba Animatic

HFJONE Sodapack

Ready as I'll ever be - Tangled the series

Propaganda:

I can list at least three full animatics for this song for every major fandom I have ever been a part of, and still it's so hard to find them because there are so goddamn many

It's an absolute banger from the absolute King Alan Menken, originally from the pretty underrated Tangled the Series. I've seen animatics for this for like every fandom I can think of, and it deserves it because it slaps and has great vocal performances from Jeremy Jordan and Eden Espinosa.

i'm pretty sure this song is more well known than the show it came from is lol. i looked up "ready as i'll ever be animatic" on youtube just to confirm and counted 20+ of them, and i didn't even finish scrolling. it is a genuinely really good song from a /surprisingly/ good show that imo is super underrated. i definitely would recommend checking it out if you get the opportunity!

it's a fandom song that transcended its fandom and became a hit for twist villains.

The song really fosters creativity with how many animatics can create a darker AU where the usual protagonist (or a close associate) is made to be the antagonist because of injustice suffered and the other characters have to fight against them

I've seen *at least* one animatic of this song in almost every fandom I've looked into

It has a lot of Animaniacs because it is sung by an ensemble cast It is good for demonstrating a lot of different conflicting perspectives of characters for your big dramatic fight and its catchy and I love it

I mean everyone loves a scenario where one of the main cast becomes a villain for tragic reasons and the rest of the characters have to fight them while dealing with the betrayal and attempting to make them see reason

How in the actual hell does a song from a Tangled spinoff series go this spectacularly hard? More to the point, how does it have an animatic/AMV for practically EVERY FANDOM IN EXISTENCE?! Yeah, most people know it from that one Warrior Cats MAP, but there is SO much more. Not to mention the bucketloads of people who used this song for their own OCs, which is always a bonus.

Animatics with the song:

Star Vs The Forces Of Evil

Miraculous Ladybug

Sander Sides

Danganronpa V3 fantasy AU

BNHA Villain Deku Animatic

DSMP

Please keep in mind that I don't know all the media and fandoms of the animatics provided as examples and I don't have the time (nor the will) to research them all. Don't come into my notes or my ask box complaining about them being included, I will simply block you. HOWEVER, if a ship animatic includes a minor and an adult, do tell me, I'll remove it.

[shera-dnd]

I got the game Soulstice for free in the Epic Game Store like ages ago and finally decided to play it

AND OH BOY

That was not what I was expecting and I mean that entirely as a compliment

Game feels like a lower budget Devil May Cry. The aesthetic is beautiful, the world is fantastic, the story is cheesy at times but still really good, and I'm simply in love with the two main characters

The gameplay is a bit rough around the edges. Like it's very clear this is this dev team's first attempt at making this type of game, but they have plenty of interesting ideas and takes on classic mechanics that will only get better as they gain more experience

Not sure if that has been announced yet, but I'm fully convinced that Soulstice 2 is gonna be a fucking banger

Anyways I highly recommend this game to anyone who loves dark fantasy and has an itching for some good DMC-like action

But well this is my blog and y'all know what I'm about.

IT'S TIME FOR THOSE SEXY FUCKING THEMES BABY!

short version: this is a story about relationships and how people help each other survive their shared trauma

Like our main characters are a scarred warrior and the ghost of her little sister! LIKE SHE'S LITERALLY HAUNTED BY HER DEAD SISTER! THIS AIN'T SUBTLE!

ANYWAYS

Now it's time for the long version under the cut, so be weary of spoilers!

Alright let's do some set up here

Okay so our girls, Briar and Lute, are a "chimera" which in this setting means two souls placed into a single body

So guess what the shared trauma that those two have to get over is THE DEATH OF EVERYONE THEY KNOW INCLUDING THEMSELVES

And that's the trauma all chimeras in the game suffered. They all had to die to become what they are now. They all suffered and they were all changed by that suffering

And to top it all off, every chimera at some point will become so changed by their transformation that they'll lose all sense of the person they were before and turn into a destructive monster

This is known as transcendence, and every chimera would rather die than transcend

AND THAT, MY GOOD BITCH, IS THE CENTER OF MY ARGUMENT HERE

Because we see plenty of transcended throughout the game. The 3 big bosses of the game are all transcended chimera, all people who are just like our protagonist. People who were changed by their trauma and lost themselves to it

And the thing is Briar and Lute transcend too, but instead of it consuming them and turning them into a monster, it makes them stronger.

And why the fuck is that? well, it's because of the way they deal each deal with their trauma and how they relate to each other

Like Jared and Jadon

They straight up DON'T deal with their trauma. They don't unpack shit. They just try to move forward, act tough, and be loud and boastful.

When they transcend that's all that remains of them. Their humanity is lost, replaced only with that drive to never stop moving, never stop fighting, be loud, be strong, take on the next challenge, and the next, and the next, and the next.

Armina and Damian are somehow even worse. They're entirely fueled by spite and a sense of superiority. They hate each other and their hate is what keeps them going, that and the act they put on of being better than each other

When they transcend they get consumed by their self destructive tendencies, fighting for control over their body and constantly belittling each other. Hell their transcended form literally features a pair of hands wrapped around their own neck

THIS ISN'T FUCKING SUBTLE!

Then there's Donovan and Hannah. By the triarchy, these two

Donovan, the good and kind father who clung desperately to his dying daughter. Clung so tightly in fact that all he did was prolong her suffering. He held on until Hannah's death consumed and destroyed him

Donovan is a mindless being in this transcended form, only Hannah's pain and resentment remains

So in short, they all suck. They hide their pain and cling to these masks, and these toxic relationships. They refuse to change until change becomes inevitable and fully consumes them

And so they're all destroyed by their own pain

And sure they're antagonists, but the story constantly asks you to understand them and their pain. None of them are like this because they wanted to, none of them became monsters by their own choice. None of them chose to suffer this trauma

And neither did Briar and Lute

They constantly talk about the pain of becoming a chimera, of how this change was forced upon them and how it was never their choice

They feel like they're less than human and that they can never go back to who they once were

They too are on the path to transcendence

But the difference is that Lute and Briar make each other stronger. They help each other move forward and even deal with the past trauma that led to their new existence

Hell your major power upgrades are straight up locked behind flashback sequences in which they confront the events that led to their death and subsequent rebirth as a chimera

Not to mention that they have other people to help them deal with their crap. They have Layton (begrudgingly) and Donovan (for a bit) to help them process everything that has happened and IS happening to them

And in the end our girls realize that... yeah, this sucks. They got changed by forces beyond their control and made to suffer for it

But that doesn't have to define who they are and what they do. Their trauma changed them, but it isn't all that they are

They support each other through the pain and when they transcend it's (for the first time) by their own choice

They accepted their pain, they confronted their trauma, and they chose to change. So unlike every single other transcended in the game, they get to remain themselves, they may look different but they're still Briar and Lute

their deaths, their transformation, their pain

None of it gets to decide who they are

And my god does that lead to a lovely ending sequence

Genuinely cannot wait to see what comes next for these two as they go after the people behind all that pain and try to help more of their fellow chimera

so uh... yeah. Cool game

[chidoroki]

182 Days of TPN - Day 154

Chapter 154: "A Breakthrough"

Hearing someone declare that they wanna turn their life around and live hits the feelings hard every single time. From Ray, to Yuugo, with Norman now and eventually with Isabella as well, I'm glad they all found something to cherish during their lives.

Imagine planning out this entire extermination idea, creating a poison to wipe out the demons, going out to destroy farms and make alliances, keeping the paradise hideout under control, on top of dealing with such troublesome seizures. Not to mention that he suffered from them during his time at Lambda when he had to worry about the daily tests and preparing an escape in secret away from the staff's eyes. It's a miracle Norman didn't crash sooner.

Emma doesn't look too happy that he kept such a serious problem to himself but at least Norman's apologizing for it now. Still wish he apologized for not waiting for her & Ray to return like he promised but I understand the extermination plan couldn't wait since it had a set date, on top of the Lambda crew all slowly dying.

Forget about the medications, Vincent needs some serious chill pills.

Cislo best Lambda child confirmed. He's seriously so sweet. He needs more love.

I like how well "supposedly" is used here because it's true how Ray, Emma, Don & Gilda wouldn't truly know for themselves if Adam had any seizures during the last couple years since the four of them were away from the shelter the majority of the time while searching for Cuvitidala & the Seven Walls.

Of course our medics Anna & Sandy are already testing stuff out but I love how Rossi is there helping too since we saw him learning from Lucas in ch97. It's cute how him & Jemima are trying to keep Adam distracted and calm. I wish we got to see more of this group figure out a cure for the seizures, especially since it would give more focus to characters like Sonya, Nat and the two troublemakers who we all haven't seen them do much of anything recently. Granted, they didn't have much time to work out a solution between Jin informing everyone of the situation and the demon soldiers attacking the base, but it would've been something. We don't hear much of this issue again until ch181 when we learn the medicine was already developed and everyone in Lambda had their side effects taken care of.

I know I praise Emma for getting back up after her stab wound from Leuvis, but Barbara is on a whole other level seeing how this girl didn't pass out once. She doesn't even have protagonist plot armor to rely on. Lambda kids are totally built differently.

How did y'all not hear or see Legravalima get back up?? She's pretty hard to miss!

Favorite panel/moment:

I can't get over how good of a boy Cislo is. He knows his boss well.

All the younger kiddos being happy with Adam (although being reminded that Chris is still unconscious is upsetting!).

And lastly, Cislo's face here.

[tarmac-rat]

10, 13 and 25, please?

10. worst part of fanon

This is so mean of me to say and I really hate to do it but..........some of the modded clothes y'alls Vs wear for VP photoshoots...................guys if I worked an actively-strenuous job and had latex stretched over my rack and cooch like that to do it, I think I would literally set myself on fire in the middle of Corpo Plaza.

I need to clarify that this is not a "I'm against revealing outfits" opinion, this is a "Do you have ANY idea how tight rubber feels against your nipples?" opinion.

13. worst blorboficiation

Johnny's an obvious contender, and because he's a main character there's a lot more discussion centered on him for people to blorbofy, but I'm gonna go and say Rosalind Myers gets this a LOT. It's honestly kinda startling how many people I see using Rosalind as a vehicle for shipping fodder when she's arguably the overarching villain of the entire DLC, and I don't think the game really intends for you to sympathize very heavily with her. But if you check her tag it's full of people using her for ships or discussing how cool she is. Yes I like morally-questionable women but I like ADDRESSING that the women are morally questionable before letting them top me.

I also think it's unfair that people will bend over backwards to debate the morality of people like Reed and Songbird and not bat an eye about the woman who called in a hit on the former that led to them being stranded in Night City for a near decade, and used the latter as a literal Blackwall probe for god knows how long. Wonder fucking why.

Other characters who I would've given this to are Takemura-- a corporate-trained bodyguard/assassin who I feel like sometimes gets shoehorned into a weird 'malewife' role in fan works, fuck if I know why-- and Kerry-- the guy's charismatic I get it but I feel like we kinda just gloss over the fact that he was more than ready to shoot three 20-year-olds for literally no justifiable reason.

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

So many, but I'll go over my personal highlights:

"Johnny should've been a love interest!"-- I like SilverV don't get me wrong, but I'm a firm believer in the fact that shoehorning a romantic relationship between the two of them into the narrative would've nuked Johnny's character development. Protagonists don't always need to get together romantically guys, friendship is allowed here.

"Panam is a spoiled brat!"-- Panam is suffering from what people in the industry like to refer to as 'a character flaw', which is a helpful little tool that will allow her to experience growth at a later point in the game.

"I can't believe they made one of the love interests a cop!"-- such an annoying complaint that I actually addressed it this week.

"There's such a huge focus on promoting fem!V now! What about masc!V??"-- 1) masc!V was the center of all the base game promotional materials from 2018-2020 so it makes sense that fem!V gets to be the center of promotion around the DLC, 2) the game is pretty much over so they're hardly advertising it anymore, and 3) advertising in the video game industry still relies so much on the male eye and is still so male-dominated in terms of thinking and ideation, having fem!V get a little bit of the promotional focus is fine. It's an RPG that's 4 years old, literally who gives a shit anymore

"The game's not cyberpunk enough!"-- I don't agree nor disagree with this opinion-- I do think the game could've gone a little further with its messaging-- but I'm fucking sick of hearing people parrot this talking point blindly because the game lets you participate in consumerism by buying cars and occasionally working with corporate clients. There is nothing worse to me personally than a stale, repeated argument from someone who played the game for 2 hours and refuses to engage with the text.

[invested-in-your-future]

For years people tend to go "they can't just give everyone trauma because this specific character already has it" and like...

That's not how any of it works.

For one, that's not how trauma works.

There's no singular "trauma" that fits everyone. Trauma can differ at it's very source and in its nature. Traumatic experience can be a specific event that affects a person or a specific event can turn into a continuous part of life. Or there can be no specific event even. Not all trauma is PTSD. A person can have experienced a traumatic event that shaped their lives and decisions and not even consciously realize (which is part of why mental health is important).

And secondly. Contrary to popular belief - trauma is not some rare occurrence. Statistically in US alone, traumatic experience is something more than two thirds of the population experienced. Sometimes more than once more than one type of trauma. Worldwide there are studies indicating over 70% of respondents have experienced trauma.

To imply that in a story there's a specific "quota" that once filled means nobody else ever can get an adverse reaction to events within their lives is just...crass?

And lastly, more specific to RWBY - have y'all actually looked at premise/setting???? Everything is trauma.

It's a setting about moving forward in a world scarred by literal world war, within the order built by the generation that lived it. A world besieged by ghastly creatures that specifically are attracted to strong negative emotions. The world itself has gone through multiple traumatic events and has recurring permanent consequences for some of them.

And that's not even going through the lead characters too!

The show stars the protagonist who built her entire identity on an idealised worldview based on her late mother because of the tragic circumstances of her death. As she faces new trauma, she struggles with her escapism and.avoids actually parsing her trauma.

And her team?

A young woman running away from an abusive over-privileged and toxic family while also dealing with subconscious biases and toxic elements of personality shaped by such an environment.

A young woman running away from an abusive relationship and haunted by her past, unsure of her future, while also dealing with race-based cumulative traumatic stress and the pressure of hiding her own identity.

A young woman unsure of her place in the world or her own identity, dealing with similar traumatic elements as her younger sister, but without an outlet and without the benefit of being in denial about it. Someone who always struggled with self blame and lack of sense of self worth and belonging and thus overcompensated by living through others instead trying to put on the air of careless hedonism

And that's just the beginning. That doesn't even get into all the traumatic things that happen to pretty much all of them through the course of the three volumes. Nor does it really deep dive into other issues characters have.

You can expand it to side characters too, as you have a secondary team made up of an individual shaped by social expectations of toxic masculinity, an individual shaped by peer pressure and social expectations and individuals that very likely have survivor's guilt. And it goes beyond them too. Literally everyone is dealing with something.

All characters suffer from traumatic experiences and live in a world built upon an extremely traumatic experience that scarred it

Who wouldn't be traumatized by something in a setting like that?

The show's big message is all about the importance of perseverance and moving forward. Moving forward from/through what? The writing team of the show has long since forgotten what it is about but it certainly ain't about moving through a forest location for entire volume that's for sure.

[burr-ell]

@essayofthoughts asked me to choose violence for CR and FE3H, so here is the FE3H post.

the character everyone gets wrong

Byleth. And admittedly I can see where it's difficult, because the game suffers from trying to make a protagonist who is an individual character while also acting as a self-insert, but Byleth isn't truly a self-insert. Her whole story starts out with her in isolation and ignorance and ends with her being literally enlightened and having the goddess dwell within her, and she discovers that she finds herself at her most complete when she's teaching and guiding and that she has a hidden talent in faith and healing magic. She discovers part of her heritage in a race that was nearly destroyed, and she keeps that legacy alive in her leadership.

Genuinely, as a Christian who's done a lot of deconstructing over the past few years, that story is really meaningful to me. And that doesn't mean it has to be meaningful to everyone, just that it's frustrating when it gets misunderstood as just "what Rhea made Byleth do" or something or even outright rejected as "Byleth should be fully HUMAN because humans are BETTER". Again, I get where it comes from, but full offense: neither of those stories are interesting.

10. worst part of fanon

The "Crest system". Y'all I cannot stress this enough: the Crest system doesn't exist. Yeah, some people have magic dragon blood, and some of that magic dragon blood is abused to help perpetuate an aristocracy. But there are several noble families that don't have the magic dragon blood who are more powerful and respected than the families who do, and blaming the Crests for everything is completely ignorant of the fact that abusive systems would exist completely independent of the magic dragon blood and that this is in some ways part of the point. Also, some of y'all are real weird about how you talk about Rhea in this context.

13. worst blorbofication

Ugh, probably Claude. He represents a middle ground among the factions who primarily wants to learn the truth, and his route is in many ways about his own enlightenment alongside Byleth's; he's the one who ends up actually ending the threat within Fodlan's shadows. But he keeps getting flattened into this "let's smash the church bestie" character at best because tons of people in the fandom like the idea of tearing down religion but just don't want to be violent about it, when that was very much not the point Claude was trying to make.

[galateaencore]

For the choose violence ask game: 1, 9, 22

i think these are exactly the questions i got asked last time, which is interesting. but im not gonna peek! these answers are fresh from the oven:

the character everyone gets wrong

just one? i think last time i answered avallach and attributed it to his character being substantially changed for W3, and i still quite like that answer. another character people get "wrong" is ciri, who i think suffers from protagonist syndrome in that obviously many of us identify with her because we spend so much time in her head, so in the end her fanfic characterization often ends up more the writer's projection of their personality and preferences onto the character rather than the character herself. i'm def guilty of that though so like, not throwing any stones.

9. worst part of canon

again, just one? i don't remember what i said last time and i have so many spicy takes tbh. so here's a random one: i don't think the women in witcher are very well-written. like all of sapko's female characters are well-developed, interesting, textured characters, and some of the "women's issues" he addresses were certainly forward-thinking at the time, but like, it's still very maley-gazey as in it reads like a man writing women. as an aside, it's interesting how much of the witcher is about motherhood or rather the rejection of motherhood and "traditional" female roles in general, which in one sense is super feminist reeee but in another, like, it'd be great if being an individual wasn't juxtaposed to engaging in some of the basic characteristics of life, such as reproduction, in which women happen to get the short stick. A lot of sapko's female characters, including ciri and yen, are giving ovid's camilla in that they're super awesome widely respected professionals until penetration happens, and then it's a symbolic death.

but like the notion that you can be a person in society or a woman is a common and so far indelible feature in many slavic cultures, so im probably just a lil triggered. but if anyone still wants to cancel me, that's totally fine!

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

i still remember and like my last answer to this: i love the random minor characters giving us perspectives on like the political stuff coming from different slices of society. the first chapter in blood of elves, the one where it's a bunch of talking heads at the oak tree, is like one of my favorite chapters in the entire series.

my fresh answer is a bit of a copout as in it's obvious: the aen elle stuff is fascinating and y'all are SLEEPING on it.

[dimdiamond]

So true y'all tbh herge overdone it with writing captain crazy with drinking or tripping over smth or being clumsy at some point I just felt sad for him cause surely a man at the age couldn't be this clumsy just for jokes lol,I wish we could've seen more different acts or plots of him except this two topic of being drunk or clumsy,you know obviously tintin is the main hero and like herge said he wanted to fill his environment with more different people or colorful jokes it's true but I wish we could've also seen more of captain's different and good acts,in all of the books from first he appears he almost always trips over smth LMAO I know this is funny but at the same time taking him seriously is a bit hard

Damn so true, I wish we could have more arcs focused on Haddock and his past! Like for god's sake there is so much potential for old adventures or mysteries being brought back to the present from all these years of his life before meeting Tintin! Surprisingly for someone who is so popular and appeared in most of the books as main character, Haddock is criminally underused.

The jokes with him being clumsy are actually my favourite because they play a lot with the thing of sea legs and relates somehow with both his profession and his character. I love the contradiction between how clumsy he is on land and how stable he is on deck, especially during storms or crisis. Also seeing an older man being so childishly clumsy is somehow charming in my eyes and works well with contradicting the protagonist. Tintin is also clumsy (and in general clumsiness is played a lot for laughs in the series) but comparing to Haddock he is the most stable man.

I like how this trait of his is used in Shooting Star and in the moon case. In the first because the contradiction between on land and on ship is executed really interestingly and funny. In the second because he and all the cast are aware of his clumsiness and yet others are getting into accidents.

The only time I truly felt bad with Haddock's clumsiness and thought it was overdone was in Prisoners Of The Sun- good lord he suffered so much there.

I doubt Herge wanted us to take seriously any of his characters, not even Tintin, and yet here we are all together analyzing them and giving them all the importance that he didn't fully committed to (but I do believe he might have wanted to do so).

[taintedsoul-if]

is there anything that's beneficial for the mc in T's route? anything at all? because all i see is a route of suffering 💀

Yes there is.... angst. Lots and lots of angst.

Trysten/Trista wears the protagonist halo. With that being said, they're blessed by the gods with immense power. The MC does have a bit ot use actually. By simply touching the "mark" on the MC wrists, Trysten/Trista will be able to take away MC new found abilities. 💀

Beneficial for the MC? There isn't... Even if MC has grown to see this world as a real world. They'll only ever be a stepping stone. So no. MC just be existing, while Trysten/Trista be sucking away their abilities from their body. The only benefits MC will be given, is to once again be forced to serve the emperor. 👀👀

But if y'all are bummed about the not being empress thing, don't worry, a huge change is coming to Nasmar soon. 🤧

[fictionkinfessions]

I am once again begging YouTubers to stop making fun of my source creator 1. having schizophrenia 2. being a murder victim and 3. having a wife with suicidal ideation. If you want to make fun of me, by all means, have at it. I made some dumb decisions. But mocking a murdered mentally ill man whose wife suffered from deep depression... something is wrong with YouTubers in a way I can't describe. Y'all need help. I don't mean that in an ableist way, I mean it very sincerely, this is not okay. - the protagonist from Drowned God

🐑

[grassbreads]

I've been trying for a while to write a proper recommendation post for No Pollution, No Public Harm, and it's been oddly hard, but man. I do need some of y'all to read this novel.

It's no Tai Sui, but No Pollution, No Public Harm is absolutely my second favorite of the Priest novels I've read. It's probably in my top three web novels period. It's way too good to have the absolute lack of fandom that it does. Let me try to sell y'all on this story.

NPNPH is a wuxia novel set in modern urban China. It centers on a once-great, now withering community of martial artists and the question of what place their traditions have in the modern world. It's a story about progress, generational conflict, and regret. It's also a fairly brilliant love story.

The protagonist of NPNPH is Yu Lanchuan, an incredibly straight-laced white collar workaholic who unexpectedly finds himself named the leader of his local "Martial Arts Alliance" after his late great uncle leaves him the position. Much of the plot of the novel hinges on Yu Lanchuan being forced to mediate progressively more and more complicated problems within his new community, struggling to live up to his role as "leader."

However, the real star of the novel is Yu Lanchuan's love interest and deuteragonist: Gan Qing.

Gan Qing is one of the most blorbo-shaped fictional women I've ever seen. She's Yu Lanchuan's neighbor, a poor woman working as an "astrologer" (conwoman) that sells charms in a small accessories shop. She also, through her own past, has a deep connection to the martial arts community and the mysteries that Yu Lanchuan begins to uncover.

No Pollution, No Public Harm is a story about the question of how to cope with regret. It's about how to move forward in life weighed down by the feeling you may have done wrong. And Gan Qing is one of the characters most wrapped up in that central question. She's funny. She's tortured. She's violent and downright terrifying when she needs to be. She self-sabotages. She yearns for happiness. She is, as all Priest love interests must be, incredibly annoying (affectionate).

I know m/f romances can be a relatively hard sell in my corner of tumblr, and I know wuxia/martial art stories aren't the most popular genre. Frankly, I didn't expect to get nearly as into this novel as I did myself! But No Pollution, No Public Harm is just very good at doing what it does. Though I'm sure familiarity with wuxia would only add to the experience, I'm a testament to the fact that it's not necessary to enjoy the story.

This isn't a perfect novel. It suffers from some of the same casual ableism, fatphobia, and police apologia that is unfortunately endemic to priest's work. It's not a spectacularly grand, sweeping story like some of my other personal favorite web novels. But it is an achingly personal story. It's a sometimes-melancholy meditation on how both people and communities can struggle to move forward when they're wrapped up in the pain of the past. It's a goofy romp about a straight-laced salaryman struggling to balance martial arts duels with his busy schedule of overtime. It's a 380k word reflection on whether it's possible to do real good in the world, or if simply not doing any active harm is the best "good" people can hope for. It's the only novel in the world to feature my beloved girl Gan Qing.

It's available in English in full on the website of Chai Translations, and I highly recommend it to all of you.