#Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World

[doyouknowthismusical]

[centrestagereviews]

Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World - The Other Palace

[lucy90712]

I saw that you requests was open, could you mby do a Hector fanfic 💋 ty xx

Football has been part of my life for as long as I remember my older brothers have always played so from birth I was taken to matches to watch them play. As soon as I was able to I played too and I was good at least people told me I was I developed so quickly as a player that I was put into boys teams under the advice of my coaches so that I could continue to develop. That's when my life really changed after one particularly good match my parents were approached by someone from Barcelona's academy offering me a place there. Of course I wanted to go but it was a tough decision for my parents letting their little girl go to play football when there is no guarantees of making it but I begged them enough to convince them so at 10 I went to La masia. 

La masia is the best place in the world or at least I always thought it was for a kid who loved football getting to play almost everyday while still doing school was the best thing ever. It was there that I met all my friends all of the girls were close as there wasn't as many of us but we also made friends with the guys like Hector, Lamine and Pau. They were rough but they made us all better players and I like to think playing with players who have made it now like Lamine made me a better striker. At just 16 I started to play for the women's b team which was a fantastic experience my first few games were tough but then I figured it out and since I've been scoring goals consistently most matches. 

During my time at La masia I got really close to Hector we used to play together after school I'd try and beat him to score goals which helped us both practice our skills one on one. That innocent childish relationship changed as we got older we both developed feelings for each other which Hector was brave enough to admit so from that moment we've been together. That happened when we were 15 and now we are both 18 and still happily together. Throughout that time we were the power couple of La masia the star striker and defensive protégée of the academy. Then Hector started playing for the first team while I stayed with the academy and for a while that hurt. Watching him do so well with the first team was amazing and I love watching him live his dream but it did hurt deep down as I was still stuck playing for the b team. 

Hector has been great at encouraging me he still comes to all of my games that he can make and celebrates every goal like it's my best or likes it's the champions league final. He will practice with me and he makes Lamine train with me so I can learn from him too. That's all nice but the best thing he does for me is just be there when another match goes by that I don't get called up for he is there to comfort me if I cry or to listen if I need to vent. Even when the men's team is winning and doing well he can put that behind him and be there for me which is one of Hector's best qualities. He believes in me more than I do sometimes so it's his support that keeps me going and his encouragement that keeps me motivated to keep going and keep proving that I'm worthy of a chance. 

After training today I stayed behind to practice for longer which is when the manager of the first team came out to the pitch and walked in my direction. I panicked thinking I wasn't supposed to be out on the pitch but when he got closer I saw he had a smile on his face which calmed me down a bit. 

"Just the person I've been looking for y/n it's nice to meet you" he said 

"It's nice to meet you too coach" I said 

"I have some news I think you'd like to hear it's been a long time coming but I'm going to call you up for this game this weekend" he said 

"Thank you so much I appreciate the opportunity I won't let you down" I said

"I don't doubt you'll be amazing we have training tomorrow at 9 I expect you to be there" he said 

"Of course I'll be there" I said 

Suddenly I no longer wanted to train I just wanted to go and tell Hector he didn't have training today and I told him I'd come over when I finished training. I made sure to call my parents and tell them the good news they were incredibly proud of me but they couldn't make the game as they are both out of town for work. My brothers were the next people I told and they promised they'd try and make it to the game but I know they won't be there they never are they are jealous that I'm the one with the football career and they have to work normal jobs. Their jealousy doesn't bother me anymore I have plenty of people who care about me and are proud of my achievements. The person I really care about is Hector and I know he'll be over the moon for me and I can't wait to tell him. The drive to Hector's felt like an age but eventually I got there and I ran up to the door jumping around on the spot waiting for Hector to open the door. 

"Hey love I wasn't expecting you here yet" Hector said 

"I was going to stay late but I just had to come here and tell you something" I said beaming 

"What is it?" He asked 

"I'm being called up to the first team for the match this weekend and I'll be training with them all this week" I said 

He didn't say anything he just picked me up and spun me round while kissing all over my face. Once he put me down he told me how proud he was and he promised me he'd be at the game whether I played or not he said he wouldn't dare miss my first game. I was there for his first game with the first team and the first time he played and now he gets to do the same for me. He said we have to celebrate so he ordered dinner from my favourite restaurant for dinner and we got to cuddle while watching our show which is exactly how I wanted to celebrate this occasion. 

~~~~~~~~~~

It's match day and I've been so nervous all day. Last night I stayed with Hector as he didn't want me to be nervous alone as he was alone before his first game and he swears it made him more nervous. He made me breakfast and drove me to the training ground so I could meet with the rest of the team to go to the stadium. That's when we had to leave each other but I didn't want him to go I need him by my side to keep me from getting too nervous he's been through this he knows how it feels and how to cope and I need that knowledge. He stayed for as long as he could but eventually we had to leave and get on the bus so he gave me one last hug and kiss on my cheeks and lips before handing me an envelope. 

"I know you'll get nervous so open this before the match and if you need to read it again at half time but remember you're amazing and you can do this you wouldn't be here if you weren't I believe in you so you should believe in yourself" he said 

"Thank you" I said 

"Now tell me that you can do it" he said 

"I can do it and I will do it" I said 

"Thats my girl now go and kill it I'll be there to watch every second" he said 

I ran onto the team bus holding the envelope smiling knowing I could do it. That confidence carried through right until after the warm up when it realised this was actually happening. I started to panic until I remembered the envelope so I grabbed it from my bag and opened it. Inside was a handwritten note from Hector reminding me of all my achievements and telling me that I'm more than capable of doing this and if I wasn't I wouldn't be here. His words really helped they reminded me that I'm not just some kid I have 12 goals in the first few matches of the season for the b team I'm a professional footballer and I deserve to be here. 

As I thought I didn't start and nor did I play any of the first half then some subs were made and I still didn't get to go on and then another few subs were made and still I was just warming up on the sidelines. Then it happened I was called over and told to get ready to go on I thought I'd feel anxious in that moment but instead I just felt excitement I was finally getting my debut and all I wanted was to prove that they made the right decision in calling me up and bringing me on. While waiting at the side to come on I looked up to the stands to find Hector who was right where he was said he would be beaming ear to ear and gave me a thumbs up for encouragement. 

I stepped out on the pitch not expecting much to happen but straight away we were on the attack and I had the ball given to me but I wasn't in the right space to get the shot in but I managed to pass it back so we could rebuild. The next time the ball was coming my way I was in a much better position I wasn't sure if I was slightly offside but I made the run anyway and somehow the ball landed at my feet right where I wanted it to be so instinct kicked in and the next thing I knew the ball was in the back of the net. It didn't feel real but when the rest of the girls all ran to me cheering and hugging me it hit me that I just scored on my debut for the first team. I've never had a goal celebration but in the moment I couldn't stop my hands from making a heart and thanking the crowd. 

The rest of the match felt like a blur I managed to score a second goal which had me on cloud 9 the match couldn't have gone any better until I found out I'd received player of the match so I had to go and do an interview straight after the match even though all I wanted was to find Hector and celebrate with him. I did my interview to the best of my abilities before I was finally let go and managed to find Hector stood at the entrance to the tunnel waiting for me. Before he could even move I ran up to him and jumped in his arms which luckily he was ready for and he caught me and managed to spin me round. He treated me like I was simba in the lion king it felt like he was holding me up to the sky to show me off but really he was just so happy he didn't know how to process his emotions. I was thrown in the air a few times before Hector put me back down on the ground and kissed me in front of everyone still in the stadium which was most people which I should've cared more about as I don't like everyone seeing the private parts of our relationship but in the moment I couldn't care less. 

"You were amazing out there I couldn't believe it when you scored the first goal let alone the second now don't tell anyone this but I cried a little watching you celebrate that first goal" he said 

"If I wasn't so full of adrenaline I might've cried too" I said 

"I can't even put into words how proud I am of you but you should be even prouder of yourself what you did out there was amazing you proved exactly why you should be here every week" he said 

"Thank you I don't know if I'll be able to play for the first team again but this has been an amazing experience" I said 

"Oh you will be back here trust me" he said 

He gave me another kiss before we were approached by a tv crew wanting an interview. Hector tried to step aside to let me do the interview but they asked if he would stay as they captured our moment together earlier and wanted to give their viewers an insight into what this game meant for both of us. I was nervous about doing it but when Hector squeezed my hand I knew it would be ok so I agreed to it. 

"So y/n this is your first match for the first team and to score two goals that must feel amazing" the interviewers said 

"It really does I wasn't expecting to score at all let alone two goals I feel invincible" I said 

"Now you two had a heartfelt moment after that match Hector you must be incredibly proud of her" the interviewer said 

"I couldn't be prouder of her I'm proud to call y/n my girlfriend I was proud before but now I'll be shouting it from the rooftops I just know she's going to be an incredible player and she already showing that" he said 

"It seems we have a new power couple in Barcelona on our hands" the interviewer joked 

"She's certainly a star I'm just lucky to be along for the ride" Hector said 

The interviewer thanked us both and finally we were able to walk down the tunnel and get some privacy. I quickly got changed and grabbed my things and met Hector right outside the door to the locker room so we could go back to his place and celebrate as he promised me we'd do that no matter if I played or how well I played and seeing as things went so well we have a lot to celebrate. 

[spineless-lobster]

Okay so it is 1:20am and I should be going to bed but instead I’m gonna contribute to the endless conversation about how fucking fantastic the representation in hades is

Like as a queer person of colour I just get this massive wave of joy when I see my favourite characters look like me. Like I often forget how underrepresented people like me are in the media until I actually see it and it changes me fundamentally lol

Orpheus and eurydice have afros LIKE ME! Athena, ares, zeus and patroclus are black LIKE ME! Dusa is asexual and trans LIKE ME! Chaos is nonbinary LIKE ME! There’s also east/south asian representation via hermes and dionysus. And it’s all portrayed so casually, it’s not there to tick off a diversity box. Supergiant actually put thought and care into these designs and stories and that’s just so amazing to see especially within the gaming industry

To quote the creative director of supergiant from this article (which you should DEFINITELY check out)

“As we discussed and researched the Olympians from canon sources, something stood out that in retrospect was obvious: They’re called the Greek gods because they were worshiped in ancient Greece, not because they themselves are ethnically Greek.”

“Zeus rules all the heavens, not just the airspace over Greece, Poseidon rules all the sea and land. They sprang from the Titans, who sprang from primordial Chaos, the source of all creation. So it stands to reason that the gods represent all the people of the world, at least indirectly.”

Not only is it great to see sexuality represented but it’s represented well. Like everyone just knows zag is bi, there’s no coming out story and there’s no threat of discrimination. It’s just like yeah this is zagreus he likes men and women and pissing off his dad. When zag asks dusa about her body and she declines to talk about it he apologizes saying that he didn’t know any better. Everything is treated with so much respect it’s just so great

Again, my heart feels so full when I see portrayals like this. I looked in the mirror the other day and made a joke about how my hair looked like orpheus’ and that honestly made me so happy and giddy it was a little embarrassing lol

Anyways, I think I had more to say but I’m tired and my brain is foggy but I needed to rant about this because otherwise I might’ve exploded lmao

I just love this game so much

[ladysomething]

i was re reading the chapter where pierre and lando come over so they could ‘smooth’ things over, and while i don’t particularly like lando in this book since i mean he’s causing chaos for charles and max however i can see landos point of view. i understand him completely and i don’t think his reaction is a little too out of the ordinary, to lando, charles has a perfect life who gets to have max and anyone he wants all to himself and everyone is always so inlove and all over him since he doesn’t know about the auction, the yatch party and how the fact that everyone is so inlove and all over him isn’t actually a good thing for charles. lando just wants what charles has. and while everyone here collectively hates lando, i think it’s great that we can also see his view on the situation. i’d love to see that if lando ever was to find out about the auction or how charles truly feels if his view on charles would change. i know you have mentioned that this book is a symbol of gender representation (i think??) and i think you are doing such a great job of it. you have truly done an amazing job of showing how women are always jealous and envy each other and will always be against each other instead of trying to understand and i think the way you captured it with lando and charles is just immaculate. honestly a fantastic chapter (and book) though and i cannot wait for what’s to come !!

controversial take, but I love lando in wygig. not like I love Charles and Max, but like how I love Cersei Lannister. I want to study him like a bug. maybe that's also a little bit because I know where his character is going lmao.

but what do you MEAN he's been in love with somebody for years who just used him for sex

what do you MEAN he's just trying to protect Max from somebody he thinks is using him

WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND HOW OMEGAS ARE TREATED IN THE WORLD AND IS THIS JEALOUS OVER SOMETHING HE CAN NEVER BE OR HAVE

lando has never been told no once in his life and does not understand that Charles has been put in a terrible, terrible position, and as such is so incredibly misguided. but lando, sweet lando, wants two things in his life, and that's Max and a Championship and Charles STOLE them from Max and cheated to do it!

he's jealous and envious but has never had to step a mile in Charles' shoes, and it's making him do terrible, awful things, because he is incapable of any level of reflection on the situation.

and Charles ... Charles took one look at Lando, and got so jealous of HIM, that he said "if you go low, I'll go lower."

they're caught in a death spiral, and they're both actively making each other worse people because of it. an intriguing dynamic!!

(ps. yes, this is my dissertation on gender dynamics, and thank you so much for saying I'm doing well!! it's very hard haha)

[shadowgast-recs-weekly]

MODERN AU: A Shadowgast Rec List

This week, we have modern AU! Check under the cut for a whopping 24 fics that all take place in modern times, and don't forget to comment and kudos if you like them!

LOVE & OTHER ENCHANTMENTS by LivThael (2092, General) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

An imagined review and synopsis of a movie about a Shadowgast modern-setting bookstore AU.

Reccer says: Hilariously awful, I say with great love, and by that I mean it purposefully and artfully swan dives out of the AU tree and hits every trope on the way down. This was written to be as cursed as possible, and Liv really delivers both that and non-stop laughs. This is clearly a love letter to terrible romcoms, cliché fanfic tropes, and the Shadowgast fandom as a whole. A+ satire, PLEASE read this!

like 80/20 on the kinsey scale by jakia (2772, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Caleb bangs his hot TA and panics about it the next day. Beau did not sign up for listening to this.

Reccer says: Caleb -- who's only dated women before -- discovers he LOVES the D.

ask to be unbroken by chaotic_geeky (40038, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes, Unfinished Cliffhanger

Caleb gets a last minute chance to be a photographer at a big runway event. He meets the star model at the afterparty, and things go from there.

Reccer says: The premise is great, the story is excellent, and the characters are enthralling. It does end on an unfinished cliffhanger, but the beginning is so good it's worth it.

Fundamental Forces Other Than Gravity by mllekurtz (TheKnittingJedi) (40676, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

How cold, ruthless and lonely Essek Thelyss (a brilliant student with a secret) accidentally makes some friends and falls in love: a Shadowgast college AU.

Reccer says: This is a fantastic college AU! And the characterization is done so well it's phenomenal.

a smile is more than showing teeth by thought (13642, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

"you are welcome in Zadash should that be an option for you," Caleb had written, "and I would be pleased to set aside a few days to work with you in person." Or How to seduce your academic pen pal through basic kindness, stolen sweaters, and books. Mostly books.

Reccer says: This is the start of an incredible AU with two more after it in the series. I love this version of Essek and Caleb falling in love. SO MUCH.

Paradigm Shift by full_time_dreamer_behold (114291, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Caleb joins a law firm. He meets Essek, the IT manager. Things happen. They fall in love

Reccer says: It's a super sweet slow burn!! Essek and Beau have a really fun dynamic and the budding romance is very satisfying.

(your face in my hands is) everything good i need by mllekurtz (25884, Mature) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Academics Caleb and Essek are nerds and fall in love over the course of a conference

Reccer says: I liked it!

like colored indigo inscribed with my name by KmacKatie (kmackatie) (30648, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

An exploration of tradition, culture, what is worth sacrificing in finding yourself and family. Essek learns how to make a new family.

Reccer says: This is an incredible pic with a lot of beautiful world and culture building set into it. Though I love the idea that Essek knits, I am especially fond of the other handcrafts that the Dynasty may do culturally, and this one does such a great job with it. And the interpersonal relationships are absolutely incredible!

we learn to live with the pain, mosaic broken hearts by vegabondfirelily (5777, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Sometimes things don't go as planned. Caleb will always be there for Essek, though, even after a life-changing accident. Non-linear narrative, angst with a better ending

Reccer says: I love this pic, even if it makes me cry every time. It is emotional and brilliant.

the fire kept closest (burns most of all) by Mousecookie (21822, Mature) Reccer's Content Notes: Major Character Death

Takes place on a modern Rumblecusp, Essek and Caleb are volcanologists. Absolutely bonkers genre mashup of scifi disaster thriller ghost story romance that somehow works. There is a MCD warning but it is also tagged as Happy Ending and that does come through!

Reccer says: The writing style is like watching a movie and it made me cry both sad and happy tears.

Starting with your heart (bright heart) by 2manyboys (9914, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Essek and Caleb have been taking showers together, but it's totally platonic, they swear

Reccer says: I liked it!

scene: a shift in tempo by hanap (6790, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Essek, first soloist of Rosohna Ballet, comes across the mountains in an exchange to be Caleb's new partner.

Reccer says: A beautiful fic! I love the way the AU fits our characters so beautifully, and how it honors ballet while also subverting it just a little. Gorgeous!

A King in Cat's Clothes by royalgreen (1544, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Frumpkin is extremely suspicious of this interloper Essek who keeps visiting Frumpkin's domain (the cat cafe) and sniffing around Frumpkin's human

Reccer says: Frumpkin's POV is utterly hilarious. He is so angry that Essek is sweetly romancing Caleb.

read between the lines (everything is gradual) by SpottedEnchanse (SpottedEnchants) (3047, General) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

A series in which Caleb owns a cat cafe. It's amazing.

Reccer says: SpottedEnchanse's writing can do literally no wrong ever. It's like flossing for the brain

the golden thread around your neck whispered visions of my undoing by MarsBar2019 (191412, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Essek is the CEO of an arcane tech company in Roshona where Caleb gets a job as his personal assistant.

Reccer says: A tense slow burn that's sexy as hell, one of my favourite fics.

Sleep, With Benefits by KmacKatie (62272, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Caleb tries out his coworkers' mattress. That's definitely all and not that he has a major crush on Essek.

Reccer says: I liked it!

take chances by 06151126 (3021, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Essek left Formula One and came back, but his return isn't going well. He hires Caleb to help.

Reccer says: This is the second work in a series, and the whole thing is wonderful! Well written and honest, it's very cool to see how Essek and Caleb come together over the course.

Empire of Lights by mllekurtz (TheKnittingJedi) (17215, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Rosohnans call it the rainy season: a time of humid days, heavy showers, and suffocating heat. Caleb, who feels less and less like a stranger in the city he recently decided to call home, finds it's also a time for revelations.

Reccer says: This is a fantastic, sweet AU of our wizards getting together and I love it.

A mile high by Mousecookie (545, Mature) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Caleb and Essek (try to) get frisky in an airplane lavatory.

Reccer says: It's cute and funny.

The Kitchen Sink by mousecookie (17126, Mature) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Essek is a supermodel and Caleb is a jack-of-all-trades, and they keep meeting in increasingly unlikely circumstances. WIP with 6/12 chapters.

Reccer says: It's funny and the writing style is almost Pratchett-esque at times

The following fics each received 2 recs each!

Something to Believe in by AwesomeFroggy (108948, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Essek's mother sends him to Nicodranas as punishment, where unbeknownst to her he already has a friend. Jester thinks he'd really get along with her friend Caleb.

Reccer 1 says: I liked it! Reccer 2 says: This is an amazing incredible story! I love it so very much! The story is complete, though it is marked as one chapter left as no epilogue is out. Don't let that stop you from reading! I love every single second of this story so very much.

I’ve been lost before (and I’m lost again, I guess) by toneofjoy (165k, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Rock climbing AU! Caleb is the new athlete to the gym and Essek takes over his training. Despite the specter of their pasts, feelings blossom.

Reccer 1 says: It's well written, most of the esoteric climbing stuff is explained well, and I really enjoy their characterizations. There's a good balance between the relationship-building and the climbing part. Reccer 2 says: This is top three Shadowgast stories ever. It's a wild, beautiful, heartfelt ride. It's worth every second of time it takes to read. Also, this will make you want to take up climbing or at least start watching climbing. It's so well written and enjoyable. Everyone should at least give it a try!

The Secret Romance of Caleb Widogast by Cardinal_Daughter (15680, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

All Caleb wants is a peaceful, romantic weekend alone with his boyfriend. The boyfriend none of his friends know about. Naturally, nothing goes quite as planned.

Reccer 1 says: a sweet and silly story where we get a glimpse of the absolute chaos of a M9 group chat Reccer 2 says: A fantastic AU with a brilliant sequel. I love it!

coping skills by eldritchmochi (251061, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

BDSM fic for a disabled Essek and the trials he experiences

Reccer 1 says: There is so much good about this WIP! The depiction of both Essek’s disabilities and the kink community are so well done, and the characterization is super fun. Well written and super hot. Reccer 2 says: This is one of the best long fits out there for a modern prompt. It is an absolutely wonderful story, heartfelt and meaningful, and the characters have so much depth. And I'm a sucker for a well written chronic illness/chronic pain Essek, and this one is so realistic it walks the line to uncanny. I love this!

Aeor is for Lovers is an 18+ Shadowgast Discord server. The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. All fics, unless otherwise specified, will primarily feature Shadowgast. Have any questions about what this is? Check out the FAQ! Next week, we’ll be back with WIPS

[toughtink]

anime/manga i really enjoyed in 2024:

i wanted to do some kind of end of year recap because i really got back into watching anime and reading manga this year and last!! here's some of what i loved~

~dungeon meshi~

action, adventure, cooking show, and necromancy! i honestly thought the premise of “classic dnd style adventure party kills monsters and cooks them into iron chef-worthy dishes” sounded boring and that it’d get old fast, but it was actually a fun way to do world building!! and they change things up just as the episodic nature of the monster food starts to feel too repetitive, unlocking waay more depth than i ever expected for this story! find your inner senshi to treat yourself to something delicious and nutritious, your inner chilchuck to know your own value at work, and your inner marcille to remember that “forbidden” is really just a strong word for “super cool” when applied to magic.

the manga is complete (english box set available + there’s an extra companion book about the world you can get!), and the current anime has season 1 out in full which gets about halfway through the story. it’s become well known in fandom spaces for having a main character who is often read as autistic and has a relationship between two women central to the storyline. though it’s not explicitly made romantic, it’s easy to read it that way. it should be noted that this is not a romantic series, but the (platonic) relationship building is superb. warning that this show can be violent at times and they don’t shy away from bones and flesh, but it's not so much a gratuitous gore fest as mostly just informative, tbh.

~apothecary diaries~

half historical drama, half episodic mystery show—and then there’s the slow burn romance…like really slow burn…like i binged the anime and then the manga and now i’m wondering if i gotta get my hands on the light novel. maomao is a fantastic lead character, and i honestly can’t get enough of her dry wit.

the light novel series, manga, and anime are all ongoing. the storytelling is often goofy but also has many more somber moments as it does deal with serious themes such as sexual exploitation, child loss, and extreme power imbalances due to the hierarchy of the palace. for example, the main character grew up in a brothel and is kidnapped and sold into servitude right at the beginning of the story; the plot revolves around her job in the inner palace where all of the emperor’s concubines live and try to give him heirs. it’s based on imperial china, but technically its own world.

~skip & loafer~

i haven’t fallen so hard for a slice of life since…ever? the plot is kind of meandering, but we're here for the sweet and slow growth of friendships and romance in adolescence! the first season of this anime technically aired entirely in 2023, but i've been keeping up with the manga and loving every second.

the main character is a small town girl moving to tokyo for high school with big dreams to return and save her dying town. she lives with her glamorous aunt nao (who we later learn is trans and has some of THE best writing i've ever seen in manga for a trans character) and slowly builds a group of great friends, including the school's "popular" boy. it's about first impressions and assumptions and the awkwardness of growing up. the creator has an ethos that treats every character as fully rounded, no one is just a side character. it's hard to pin down what exactly i love about this series so much, but it's sweet and earnest and made me feel both nostalgic and also more compassionate to who i was as a teenager--as well as all the other teens around me just trying their best to get through it all. it's just lovely and calming, and i highly recommend getting your hands on the manga while we wait for the second season of the anime!

~dandadan~

this anime landed on the radar of my husband and me around the same time but separately—he thought it was a supernatural horror series, and i thought it must be a romantic comedy based purely on fanart. turns out, we were both right! it's chock full of references to classic horror and sci fi with a teen romance b-plot and an outrageous sense of humor. no really, i've seen way more outrage about this one than i ever expected. i'd compare it's energy and level of ridiculousness to kill la kill, maybe less kinky but definitely still raunchy!

the plot revolves around two teens who have run afoul of both their local ghosts/yokai and space aliens who want to use/collect human reproductive organs. i've seen multiple people shocked by the creepiness of the aliens strapping down and stripping the main female character in the first episode, so here's your warning! the MCs unlock their own supernatural powers to fight back the baddies, but our male main character realizes he needs to get back his own genitalia which becomes the main plot. like i said: raunchy! outrageous! maybe not for everyone! the creator is pretty clearly just throwing whatever sounds fun as the next monster of the week for the crew to face up against rather than agonizing over drama or anything, which is sort of refreshing to see. this series certainly gets creepy at times but never grotesque, at least not to me (i feel like i have a relatively low tolerance for grossness?). it's honestly been shockingly fun and goofy, and the friendship and blossoming romance between momo and okarun is very, very sweet. that said, it may not be for you if yokai stealing balls isn't a premise you can get on board with.

[revvethasmythh]

okay I HAVE FINISHED. a few final thoughts below the cut

-yes, i romanced lucanis. yes, my personal canon has rook is a throuple with lucanis and davrin. we exist

-i was very aware going into this that there was criticism of the lucanis romance in general and honestly i don't even know if i can judge it accurately considering how much time i spent dicking around before moving the story along. my suspicion is that the romance plays pretty fine if you're consistently moving along, but has heavy lags if you're spending a lot of time dicking around as I did. i still enjoyed it! especially the final romance scene after coming back from the fade, that was good stuff. it's hard to build a romance with a character who is really scared of a relationship and is frightened to act on things, but i think there was room for one more small scene after you commit and before completing his personal quest, probably. just to smooth over the whole experience. i have thoughts, but they're kind of vague so put a pin in that. but again, overall i liked it and would do again. it ain't the fenris romance but, then again, what is?

-it was fun seeing the inquisitor and dorian back at it again! bonded for life after in hushed whispers best friends fr

-choosing harding for the distraction team AND bellara to deal with the wards absolutely felt like the perfect choices in my playthrough. harding's sacrifice hits very hard because she was always very "whatever it takes" about this and "if you need me like I needed you, i will be there. that is my promise to you" and her belief that the world is good and people can change was genuinely inspiring in that it made rook choose to take the high road and give solas one last chance to potentially fuck her over to see if she could save him (which he almost did, but didn't because of The Convocation Of 3.5 Women Needed To Change His Mind). rook would simply have not made that decision if she wasn't trying to honor harding's memory as best she could.

-bellara taking control of the blight FUCKED. there was NO waffling, no uncertainty, no "ifs" or "maybes" or "mights." she said "I CAN do this" and then she DID and I think it felt like fantastic character growth for her. great choice, no notes, honestly glad i chose her for this instead of neve (because it would have felt like neve whump at that point, she'd been THROUGH IT this game).

-i wish there was more of a discussion to be had with taash about what happened with harding or some resolution to it that wasn't one line of dialogue when you get back to the lighthouse. i wanted to do a proper check in about that (and be like! hey! don't say everyone you love dies! please let me help you taash!). but that's overall a part of the fact that there's little follow up at the end of the game, which, it is what it is. da2 did also just kind of END, so like. been there, done that i suppose.

-i had a lot of fun! there are clunky things and some awkward writing and it's an imperfect game, yeah--but i really, genunely did have fun and will play this more than i ever will inquisition or even origins. not to repeat myself but: it ain't da2, but then, what is?

[sasaranurude]

I'm a loser who both spends too much time playing gacha games and loves to hear myself talk, so here's another game review style post, this time covering my first day playing Break My Case. This time I'm not even being a little hater! I'm a lover! I'm cringe! I'm free! I love you Coly! I love you ikemen gacha games!!!!!!!

Break My Case is a new puzzle-music-adventure mobile game from Coly, the developers behind Mahoutsukai no Yakusoku and On Air. More relevant to BMC/BreMai is their game Stand My Heroes, with which it shares a writer, some gameplay elements, and of course a naming convention. Coly has developed a bit of a cult following for their unique status in the Japanese mobile gaming world: they're a company that was founded by women and hires women to make games for women. They put a lot of soul into their games. From the start, BMC is no different!

"Could you have pulled a clean version of this image from the internet so it didn't have all the game junk" no. it's my tumblr and you get my screenshots.

I (with help from friends) overviewed the initial Break My Case announcement back when it dropped. You can read that here! I said in that post that I thought a "dark rhythm game" would be a really cool direction for the game… and that's more or less what we got! GO ME!!!!!

First: the game's presentation is fantastic. Super slick graphical design and just amazing atmosphere. The sound design of this game is incredible. Genuinely. Really, really, good. All the music is amazing—I'm not knowledgeable enough to say anything other than "IT SLAPS!", but it totally does slap. The illustrations for the cards are all wonderfully atmospheric in and of themselves, and are just a delight to look at on the homescreen with its chill background music. Even just navigating menus is a sleek, seamless experience. The live2d is well-done, although it clashes a tad with the art style for a bit of an uncanny look at times. 

The atmosphere! The atmospheeeeeeere!!!

Of course, the draw to this game is the characters and story, so let's jump into that. I'll admit right now that I read the story through a machine translation—I have aaaalmost enough Japanese knowledge to fill in the gaps, especially since the story is fully voiced, but I'm definitely not getting the full nuance of the story that someone fluent in Japanese is going to get. THAT SAID, after completing the prologue, I was definitely intrigued enough that I want to continue slogging through the MTL just to read more! There's a great setup, centered around the bar Aporia and its three modes—a daytime cafe, a nighttime members-only bar, and, secretly, a "fixer" service who'll help anyone with any problem. Our main character, a woman who was just forced to quit her job at a corrupt company, gets hired to replace Aporia's eccentric owner while he goes on a who-knows-how-long vacation. The owner also has the role of "tail"—as in, the tail a lizard sheds to avoid being eaten. If anything in the fixer service goes wrong, it's the owner who takes the fall and the blame. This hasn't come to mean much in practice yet in the (quite short) prologue, but it's a fascinating setup. The story promises to touch on themes of the threads that weave our lives together, how small meetings can lead to massive life changes, and whether any human being is truly replaceable, even in our modern corporate world where people are treated like cogs in a machine. According to a staff interview, there are a handful of references to Stand My Heroes in BreMai, but the games' settings aren't otherwise closely linked.

Rough translation in alt text. The Aporia manager Ai may be the most mysterious, intimidating character, but he also beefs with a parrot the first time you meet him, so...

All the characters are staff at Aporia with various unique roles and background. The prologue just gives you a little bit of each of them, but everyone does show up, and they all have interesting dynamics with each other already. Ai, the stern manager, has some history with the MC that he refuses to divulge, and goes so far as to force psychologist Riku to agree to not look into it. The range of relationships among the staff run the gamut from the calm and mature friendship between fortune teller Kiho and art teacher Kyoya, to the unfaltering dedication of Yu to his ex-mafioso savior Tomose, to the ridiculous Takeru and Soyogu who spend their first appearance waking up after having gotten black-out drunk together the night before. My favorite dynamic of all so far is that of Kou and Mao—Kou is a playboy who insists he's not a playboy, and is introduced evading a woman by… asking the icy Mao to pretend to be his boyfriend so that she thinks he's taken and gay and leaves him alone. Which Mao exasperatedly agrees to, telling Kou that he's used up his allotment for this month which ohmygod how often does Kou do this. Kou if you're asking this guy to pretend to be your gay lover so often he gives you a monthly limit I think you might just have to admit you want him to actually be your gay lover, Kou, oh my god— 

Rough TL in alt text. Kou is letting the implication do all the heavy lifting here. He technically never said he was dating Mao. Technically. 

On to the gameplay. There's gameplay! Unique gameplay! Good unique gameplay! Oh my god, uncharted joseimuke territory! The main gameplay mode is a match-3 puzzle game with rhythm elements. As in other rhythm games, each song in the game is its own level, more or less. (Each character has two unique songs, and three songs shared with the other members of their unit.) You set up a team with cards you've collected from the gacha, which determine your power level and special skills. The "leader" of the team has to be the character whose level you've selected. The puzzle gameplay is a tile-swapping match 3—think bejeweled or candy crush—but the tiles you've matched are only cleared once a bar sliding across the screen hits them, clearing them in tune with the song. Everything cleared in a single swipe of the bar ups the combo counter. There's also a life system, where if the bar slides across the screen without clearing a single match, you lose a life… But the bar moves pretty slow. You're not likely to game over or even lose a single life any time soon. There are more difficult versions of the levels I've yet to unlock, so I'm sure the life meter becomes relevant then. There's also "auto" and "loop" features if you want to grind a level over and over for exp and items, but, of course, the computer can't score as high as you playing it yourself.

And, really, it's fun to play, so why would you want to!? The sound of matches clearing with the music is so satisfying and really makes you want to combo as high as possible. Once you've matched some tiles, you can't move them again, nor use them in a second match (eg, in a cross shape), so if you want to maximize your combo and make as many matches as possible with what's on the board, you have to think ahead about which matches you're going to make. The bar slowly crossing the screen adds a visual timed element that gives some urgency to putting all the matches together. It definitely feels like a game you can pick up an instinct for over time, which is super fun. 

All in all, a really solid, enjoyable little puzzle game. It would be fun to play even without the promise of anime boys. Stand My Heroes is also a match-3, for the record, which is what really cements the two games as being part of the same series.

Admittedly, the anime boy staring at you while you play musical candy crush is a little disconcerting.

The second gameplay mode is "Snap'n Spin", a… gameplay-lite mode that just puts chibi characters in random strange situations and lets you take pictures of them. The mode is explained to be a video game within the world of BreMai, so it's not even trying to be realistic or relevant to anything else in the game. Once you take your pokemon snaps of the boys, they get a fun little caption. You can save up to 40 pictures in your album. Other than being cute, the main way this mode interfaces with the rest of the game is that it's the primary way to unlock card stories for the cards you pulled in gacha. 

This gameplay mode is... cute? I guess? It being so disconnected from the style and aesthetics of the entire rest of the game felt weird. The chibis are adorable, so it has that going for it. And I do like some of the captions you get on the photos afterwards. My favorite were the scenes you catch of a character drinking, and then the caption reveals their current favorite drink. That's a delightful detail for a game set in a bar. Mostly, though, this mode left me wondering "why?" ...And I imagine the answer is something like "because merchandisable chibi characters are a requirement for joseimuke games." This mode could've been anything so long as these cute, starry little dudes were in it.

Urara here hated the drink and the caption revealed that, lately, his favorite thing is sparkling water. He's the youngest character in the cast, so I guess he hasn't grown into booze yet...

One last feature I want to mention is the jukebox. Like many games, BreMai has a music player that lets you listen to tracks from the game… But its music player is, genuinely, a fully-featured music player app with shuffle, repeat, lyric displays, and even background play that works when you're in another app or your phone is off. What! Wild! When I first learned a few days ago that BreMai had a built-in player for its BGM tracks, my first thought was "Well, what's stopping someone from downloading the game just to use the music player and never spending a cent on it? Wouldn't you rather have the songs on spotify so you at least get a pittance of ad revenue, in that case? It's more than nothing."

But having played the game now, I see what they did to prevent that, lol. You don't unlock the songs in the jukebox until you get an SS score on the song's level. Which, I mean, that's normal rhythm game stuff, of course. Can't fault that decision. But, as in other gacha rhythm games, your score in a level depends on the power of your team of cards, and the cards you get from the initial handful of pulls aren't gonna get you anywhere near an SS score without significant investment. So you're either buying in-game currency to buy upgrade items, more gacha pulls, or both. Of course, you can also put a bunch of time into grinding for upgrade items—they drop from levels. Gacha currency is harder to come by. So you're not getting songs in the player without actually playing the game lmfao. The character solo songs in particular (the ones with vocals rather than just instrumentals) also require you to build up rapport with that character—the game calls it "Nice". You build up Nice with them by playing their other songs and using their cards in levels. It takes 1000 Nice on a character to unlock their song. In my first day of playing, I was able to get one character to about 250 Nice, another to 200, and a handful more with a few points, so it builds at an okay pace. There's ways to pay to speed up the grinding for Nice and for upgrade items with things like level skip tickets. So, basically: you're not getting that music player to a useful state without investing either money or time, lmao. Is paying-or-grinding to get cool music you can listen to while not playing the game more "worth it" than the usual freemium game goals of better units, new in-game outfits, or prettier card illustrations? ...Honestly, maybe it is? It's novel, at least.

All gacha rhythm games have the same card select screen, don't they. These were my cards' levels after my first day of play, and you can see they didn't quite reach a suggested score of "A", much less the maximum "SS".

But I do want to stress, the monetization is, for the most part, pretty easy to ignore. Nothing in-your-face. The button to go to the shop screen is a different color, but it's not flashing with an eternal indicator, it's not popping up at every second, it's just sitting there alongside all the other menu buttons. The game isn't shoving timers in your face at all times—there's a stamina meter, which is mildly annoying, but you get ten plays when it's full, and if you're just playing casually you're probably not going to want to play the puzzle game over and over enough to fully deplete that. I know the bar is on the damn floor here but Tokyo Debunker seriously made me realize how bad it can be with mobile game monetization. BreMai is freemium, yeah, but as far as dark patterns go, it's not egregiously bad.

So, the verdict: if you're a joseimuke game fan and aren't afraid to play a game that probably won't get an English port and doesn't even have a fan translation yet (which I realize is already counting out 99.99% of people), definitely give this one a try. See if you like the gameplay—it really is worth trying—and do check out the story if you've got the ability. Or just look at the pretty anime boys. 

[thebrilliot]

As a straight white cis dude, I find it entirely rude that other straight white cis men are not trying to teach me to love myself and others, and instead are selling me cryptocurrency and superhero stories. Don't give me that fake hero-and-money-glorifying crap. Give me the real stuff, like being a kid of divorced parents and trying to survive high school, or a multi-generational story all about community and family in a mountain town in Colorado, or making an unlikely friend in the big city, or even good romance.

Do you know how good girls have it reading literature written by women for women about real women's struggles? Book stores are alive because of women's literature. They're packed full to the brim with books written by women for other women. They're just writing poetry back and forth to each other! It's beautiful! These women love each other! Meanwhile, the only thing I can find that is written for men is sci-fi and fantasy and geez it's all the same thing. I don't need fantastical anymore. I don't want to spend another 6 hours figuring out the story behind your world. I don't care if it's epic and grand. Give me some good, reality-grounded, relatable stuff.

Here's what I want to happen in pop culture. I want men to say, "let's talk about forgotten people in history and lift each other up and support each other" which is Six the Musical's message to women. Which is way healthier than what men write for men. Don't try to convince me that I should idolize a founding father who pulled himself up by his bootstraps (by marrying into an influential family where both daughters were in love with him - and note that there is no evidence that Angelica Schuyler ever had feelings for Alexander Hamilton - because who else would I want to idolize other than a man whom women find irresistibly attractive) and single-handedly against all odds created the American financial system, cheated on his wife, paid hush money to keep cheating on his wife, then publicly revealed the affair because he would rather be seen as a cheater than a traitor to his country because hOnOr Is So ImPoRtAnT, then got his son and himself killed in two different duels because AGAIN hOnOr Is So ImPoRtAnT. Nowhere in the entire plot of Hamilton did Alexander Hamilton actually do something purely because he cared about someone else. The revolutionary war and every political dispute was fought and won through pride and stubbornness. John Laurens died in a different part of the country. He didn't pause his work to spend time with his family. He didn't abandon honor to protect himself or his family.

I didn't mean for this to be a rant about Hamilton, but it is a great example of the literature and art that men create for other men. Great music, pacing, etc. but riddled with things that keep bothering me about patriarchy. Stop telling me to be a hero that does everything by himself. Just tell me how to be happy and love the people I love! Don't tell me that because I'm average and feel overlooked that there's actually something special about me that makes me some sort of chosen one. That's not real! I already got told enough of those lies in school. I grew up in gifted and talent student programs through grade school and they told me the same thing. "YoU'rE gOiNg To ChAnGe ThE wOrLd." Actually, probably not, but because I'm a good kid and just the right amount of neurodivergent, I'm going to take you seriously and put an unhealthy amount of pressure on myself and also then fail to reach any of my vague and lofty goals, especially because no one is telling boys and men that community is a crucial part of human life, happiness and fulfillment, mental health, change and progress, and personal growth and accomplishment.

Maybe I don't want to change the world, and maybe I don't want to do things all by myself, and maybe I don't want to rely on finding a wife and having children as a way to find or create a community or a support system. Maybe I get fulfillment out of things other than fame and sex. Where are the men who are writing to me as an audience?

Anyway, the patriarchy sucks. Fuck patriarchal messaging. I reject that. Men, be better. Write something worthwhile for once.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Jojolands 13: Ohana Means I'll Set Your Ass on Fire

Dragona dropping some great truth about the absurd in this bizarre adventure. We finally got a peak behind that mask. I love it and I hate it, if you've read the chapter already you know what I mean. We'll get to that, because this right here isn't spoilery and it was such a cool nugget.

I love the way Dragona talks about the "absurd." Chance moments that alter one's life for better or for worse. The things that just don't make sense. Especially paired with Dragona opining about nearly losing their heart in the same chapter that last part about hearts being destroyed hits hard. I'm definitely sure we're looking at a trans narrative here and one we'll see play out. The chapter does a good job of implying what we need to know. Nudges at an early theory you've been changing your body with Smooth Operator. We ready? What follows is no place for beginners or sensitive hearts:

Oh HELL yes! As if I needed a reason, these two were well on their way to top Jojo status and now the dynamic duo of the Joestar Siblings are definitely there. Mean girl sets her sights on a much more timid Dragona who we now know looked way more masculine at 14 than 18. Talking physical build and not just fashion. You know, I don't expect an 18yo to have all that figured out and with this I do think we'll see her keep coming into her own. But holy shit that was fucked up and I sincerely hope we can get through the rest of this with no more sexual assault on my Jojos blorbo.

If they do...Jodio will fuck you up. Set a whole damn bus on fire! And while I'm not looking forward to having to relive the impetus in the inevitable anime adaptation, since we've already had the cop I kinda like the perpetrator being a girl here. For one because it shows a side of this kind of bigotry that often goes underrepresented. You see a little more space made typically for trans men who had bad experiences with men prior to coming out, largely because it tends to overlap with those who found a comfortable half-step in something like a radical feminist group. But this sets up Dragona pretty well for a realistic other side of the coin to that. Your experiences with bullying might make you a little skittish of girls your age, you keep a foot in this criminal world even if we keep showing you (not unlike Okiku) as someone who doesn't fit super well, all this would certainly explain why you'd gravitate towards a figure like Meryl Mei. Why there's great potential for drama if she shows a nastier side. It's all great for a trans story that justifies still figuring yourself out through it...but sticks to a fairly realistic path for a lot of young women who find themselves running with gangs.

All that said, Jodio you absolute freak. Burning the whole bus is metal, it's scruffy, he's protecting family. Doooooope. These two are fantastic and I can't wait to explore their story, their dynamic more. Jodio & Dragona's sibling bond is the beating heart of this part. As much as I love Kiku/Izo & Killua/Alluka yeah this is gonna be a banger. Speaking of, this chapter was also the second time we nudged at Jodio getting shit for looking fey too. These two are ride or die for each other and their awesome mom Barbara Ann. How this all ties into their family falling apart and their desire to become filthy rich? No need to ask...

In lighter news. They. When Meryl learns of the other lava rock that got smashed. We're all clear on who's the brains and who's the firepower in the dynamic duo right? I trust Meryl as far as I can throw her and she's a big lady. But for now everything seems on the up-and-up. Charmingman seems to have passed the sniff test and yeah it looks like he's just going to hang around. I like this new setup. Scouting a shadowy company to see if we can get more lava rock.

All in all one of the best chapters of Jojolands so far. I'm loving it, this is the exact direction I hoped it'd go. The backstory made this pretty heavy and I hope we can have more fun with this gang on the new excursion.

[centrestagereviews]

Interview: Rachel Seirian - Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World

Interview: Rachel Seirian - Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World

The empowering smash hit pop musical Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World is coming to London this Summer!  Based on the popular book by Suffragette relative Kate Pankhurst, this inspiring, joyous show has won over audiences across the UK with its catchy pop soundtrack, inspiring heroines and TikTok favourite choreography. Ahead of their London opening we’ve spoken with Rachel…

[ananke-xiii]

If man is five, then the devil is six, and if the devil is six then god is seven…

(general content warning: this post is about "The Substance" which is a body horror movie so I will mention blood&other stuff)

I was very curious about “The Substance” because everything about it, from the trailer to the music, from the actors to the visuals, promised something veeery good. At the same time, however, I was also a bit anxious because the internet content my algorithm had decided for me seemed to suggest that the movie was great for two major reasons: its references to 80s movies and its critique of the toll the beauty industry exacts on women. And I was like “Okay, fine but I hope it’s more than that” and I’m happy to say that it totally is!

Before watching the movie I wrote that, based on the information I had at the time, the movie’s core theme seemed to be the myth of Demeter and Persephone. After having watched the movie I can confirm my theory, although what I watched was a bit different than the usual interpretation of said myth. There are a lot of GREAT movies about the theme of woman/duality but, as far as I remember and as far as I personally know, in almost all these movies the main element is the relationship between two women (which is amazing and I wouldn’t ever change that). This is not (just) what I’ve seen in “The Substance”.

I think that the main element in the movie is the impact that the negation of natural cycles has on people. It’s not just the beauty industry that denies us to embrace the cycles of life (we can’t stay young forever, this is just an obvious fact that we all know), it’s the whole system we live in which doesn’t accept change and favors replacement of what’s known for something similar (and therefore considered “normal”) against the exploration of what’s new and different (and therefore considered “abnormal”.) In our society a “normal” thing like aging thus becomes “abnormal”… monstrous.

Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are PHENOMENAL and I truly hope more and more awards come their way because they deserve them all. However, what struck me the most is how the movie doesn’t rely on dialogue at all, everything and I mean everything it’s in the visuals, the photography, the movements, the body. Coralie Fargeat really had a clear vision inside her mind and she managed to transfer that vision from her own inner world to the outside world. While I was watching the movie I had the feeling that all the people working on it were doing their best to give birth to her vision and it was a fantastic thing to watch.

What I personally took from this vision of hers is that, to the surprise of probably nobody, the main character of the movie is the Substance itself. So what is this mysterious Substance exactly? The first “surprise” is that it’s not merely a thing, a miraculous product but it’s a process. It’s a routine that one must stick to without fail. The balance must be respected: it’s a commandment that demands respect and that doesn’t even bother to tell you what the consequences might be in the event said balance is disrespected. Just obey it.

Elisabeth means “God is my oath” and this is what she does in the movie: she promises that she will respect the balance and obvisoulsy things won't go well. But Elisabeth also means “God is perfection”, “God is seven” so I want to take a look at what this means in the movie.

The process that taking the Substance entails has different stages: the first one is taking the Activator which, the movie tells us, must be taken only ONCE. Once the Activator has been used Elisabeth’s body gives birth to Sue, who’s not only herself but a “better version” of herself, the version she dreams about, perhaps. The Activator stands for the Aristotelian concept of semen as an “activator”, the “active principle”, the thing that creates and gives life and shape form while matter is the passive aspect of the process, the thing that get molded and shaped. The Activator also stands for God: Eve from Adam, Sue from Elisabeth.

Like Creation took seven days to be completed, the process of the Substance lasts seven days after which the balance must be restored. So this specific Creation seems to be a little bit imbalanced to my taste: the weight given on the Created is way too big, the process’ targets seem to be both desperate, lonely people and obedient, docile people. The combination of blind desperation and required obedience is a recipe for disaster. The balance never was balanced in the first place: as ALWAYS the game is rigged.

But seven is not just a biblical number, it’s a magical numbers in many different traditions. 7 times 4 is 28 and oh, look! These are days of the lunar month! There are also the days of an "average"(more or less, it's very difficult to define "average" when it comes to menstrual cycles but I digress) menstrual cycle. If I’m not mistaken Elisabeth starts the process in May, during full spring, while things precipitate at the beginning of winter… on Dec 31st, New Year’s Eve according the solar calendar.

As I’ve said, this movie, at least to me, speaks about time and its cycles and specifically about how societal time is not in tune with nature's time. Elisabeth is 50 and, even if it’s not said, it’s implied that she’s reached menopause, aka the end of her menstrual cycle, a cycle of life that society has decided to be the period when a woman stops being a palatable object of desire. A period of life that's undesirable. Fertility and desire are connected in a way that’s supposed to be “normal” and “natural” but that it’s clearly not. On the other hand, Sue is not a better version of Elisabeth but the version of Elisabeth that society deems palatable. Society wants to eat Sue and Sue wants to eat Elisabeth and be done with her.

One of the things that I loved about the movie is that it used the snake symbolism in such a brilliant way, like I was “woah!”. “The Substance” starts with one egg that, after being pricked with a syringe containing the Activator, becomes two. Moving on, the chicken has a prominent role in the story and it’s mainly associated with Elisabeth, but I really, really enjoyed how the film subtextually framed Sue as a snake that doesn’t eat eggs/chickens but that… eats herself.

Sue doesn’t come from Elisabeth’s rib but from her spinal column. The scar that’s left on Elisabeth’s body is serpentine in form and, of course, it is believed that the Kundalini snake “rests” at the beginning of the spine, in the lumbar area, and, if awaken, raises its head until it reaches the skull. Sue and Elisabeth, but specifically Sue because of her misuse and her desire to eat Elisabeth/herself, feed off the other’s cerebrospinal fluid that’s collected via a lumbar puncture. So what Sue is basically doing is feeding off Elisabeth’s Kundalini energy, which is a sexual energy. An energy, thus, very much connected to desire, fertility and pleasure.

Another thing that I have ADORED is precisely that, the choice of the cerebrospinal fluid. I mean, the easiest, most obvious way would be using blood for its blatant reference to menstrual blood and life but not! Fargeat knows what she’s doing and, instead, she uses the bathroom as the primary location in the show but she doesn't use blood to show Elisabeth and Sue's relationship. I can’t speak for everyone but personally, as a woman, a girl and a kid I’ve always had the closest relationship with bathrooms. I used to do everything in the bathroom, even to hide there and this is what Elisabeth/Sue also does to the point that Sue fucking builds a secret room inside her bathroom to...hide herself/Elisabeth. Genius!!!

Of course, blood is still central in the movie but its main usage is saved for the last scene. Monstro ElisaSue doesn’t make it to the new year because Time as construed by society doesn’t allow monstrosity. Elisabeth and Sue can live provided that they are separate and they obey and respect the balance. They cannot live together, in fact living together as in One person is seen as a monstrosity. You, quite literally, cannot be yourself AND the self society deems it's your "better version". Humans must stay divided, severed, separated in themselves first and foremost because the balance feeds off this separation, this is why the game must stay rigged. If there’s nothing to compare against there is no need for a scale.

So yeah, to me this movie is surely about the issues with the beauty industry today but this is just a facet of a bigger, deeper, more complex issue: cycles can only happen in nature, they’re just a convention because we need a calendar to mark the days and control the people but the same people cannot live their natural cycles. Life itself is denied to them. They must stay young and beautiful and perfect. Forever.

[ghoulsbeard]

ooo the Fool and the World??

ahh thank you mouse :) <3 !!

Where did Rook's journey begin? What were they doing before joining the Veilguard?

Cracks my knuckles evilly… Mikal is honestly one of my favorites sfgds and she has the big indulgent backstory… she grew up in the free marches, became a friend of red jenny at the end of the “old guard” (when the jennies were a little bloodier and grimmer), fucked over the merchants’ guild, fucked over the coterie, lived to tell the tale… became the inquisition’s enchantment expert. she and dagna have dissenting opinions on the fade and love each other for it…she and varric do not get along but he really respects her so she ended up called in for the solas hunt (mostly by tessa and charter’s doing, they both thought she’d be a great help, and she does like them both.) i think she was on tessa and vaea’s team and saw the others infrequently before she was moved over in the last year to helping lace and varric; she and lace got along fairly well in the inquisition and worked together great.. she and varric clashed a lot as usual, especially since he’d begun to get more sentimental about solas... I think a hunt of ten years wore on him a lot.

Vasiliki was an old watcher; well known as a bit of a troublemaker for years before she got put on leave for antagonizing the nobility (again)… she grew up in Cumberland alienage i believe, if i have my cities right, and worked on a fishing trawler before she became an apprentice at the necropolis. she’s always prodded at a few of the traditions of the Necropolis - the organization of labor, for one- so she wasn’t at all surprised when Myrna told her to take a vacation, though it was a blow as the necropolis is her home the wisps and spirits are her family and neighbors... i think varric and lace persuaded her to join them by promising her plenty of fade weirdness

What does happily-ever-after look like for Rook? Is it attainable, or just wishful thinking?

they’re both very pragmatic women, they live in the present, mikal’s big pie in the sky dream is to see the thaigs of Rivain but besides that they both roll with the punches so to speak.. not much wishful thinking for either of them..

Mikal is pleased to live day by day.. she wants to see her family as much as she can before she dies, explore the world and see new artistry and craftsmanship, read widely as she can, create whatever burns in her mind and soul… she romanced bellara so i think they visit bel’s clan and mikal’s family together :) mikal’s family has a tradition of engraving a stone to honor those who have passed, and mikal does one for cyrian as a gift to bel. I think they’d be happy to explore and travel together, no matter where they end up living mikal will be a friend of red jenny and bel will be a scholar of dalish magic, and she’ll have mikal read her drafts, and mikal will show her the plans for her designs, and they’ll collaborate on enchantments and so on and so forth… :) clan lutare and the glavonaks celebrating together. i think it would be great

vasiliki would be pleased just to sit by the sea and have a nice meal with someone she likes. I think if she and neve decide to make it work, they’d want to go long distance and visit a few times a year or vasiliki would consider moving to minrathous… she might do so.. her faith in the watch is deeply rattled by johanna.. she’d be a great shadow dragon all things considered, she enjoyed the work while the dragons were scattered post-dragon attack and she and neve balance each other really well … if she hadn’t romanced neve i think she’d move to Rivain, learn more about spirits… not sure what she’d do for a living though… she’s honed herself as a mourn watcher and it’s a particular set of skills

I did briefly lament that she should have been a decade younger and romanced davrin… she would have relished the challenge of training griffons & thumbing her nose at warden politics as the order changes… she and dav have a fantastic and very fun dynamic. ah well </3

[smilepebble]

ok funnyposting aside here's my spoiler free review/recommendation of trigun (1998). it's a bit long so it's under the cut

trigun is... a show that you can watch! and by that i mean it has its really really good moments... and it's really really bad moments. i won't water it down: trigun has significant flaws that caused me a lot of frustration at times. that said, i still found it to be an overall enjoyable show.

here's the basic concept for those uninformed: trigun is a sci-fi western set on a desert planet riddled with inscrutable ancient technology. the most notable of this technology are the plants, giant lightbulb shaped power sources that a lot of people rely on.

the story follows the life of vash the stampede, a bandit with a $$60,000,000 bounty on his head. our secondary protagonists are meryl stryfe and milly thompson, associates from an insurance company whose job is to find vash and mitigate the destruction he causes. what meryl and milly find, however, is that the $$60,000,000 man is actually a happy-go-lucky pacifist who loves donuts. hijinks ensue.

trigun has fantastic worldbuilding and fascinating themes, along with some very cool cinematic moments. it has a great overall concept as well, and it plays around with your expectations of shounen anime. the show is also not afraid to challenge and question its own central theme of absolute pacifism: even if you don't kill anyone with your own bare hands, if you've still hurt someone, or deprived them of their resources, are you really not responsible if they die because of that? is that truly pacifism?

... but despite the great themes and worldbuilding, trigun is also a 90's shounen anime. which, in most cases, means it's going to be misogynistic. and... oh boy is it. im mostly going to be talking about meryl and milly, but pretty much anything i say can apply to every other female character in this series. like it's Bad. but anyway.

oh meryl stryfe and milly thompson... you did not deserve this... as previously stated, meryl and milly are our secondary protags. and overall, they're important to the plot! but, well, that's pretty much all they get (aside from some good character designs). meryl and milly are almost immediately fit into misogynistic little boxes. they're designated vash and wolfwood's love interests (side note: i don't respect wolfwood. im calling him nick from this point on). milly is characterized as this stupid and naïve girl who loves her family as well as getting drunk and taking off all her clothes. meryl is characterized as (possibly my least favorite type of misogynistic characterization) the "annoying naggy bitch" type character. but don't worry they both have character arcs! ...all revolving around their respective male love interests! it's frustrating, to say the least.

alongside meryl and milly being reduced to misogynistic stereotypes, they are also subject to a lot of sexist jokes, typically made by our male leads. you get to hear groping jokes, "WOMEN, am i right???"-type jokes, everything inbetween, and more. a good amount of which comes straight from our protags mouth! and of course vash is not a real guy whom i can punch in the face for doing so. but it does make it a little hard to like him as a character (same applies to nick). and don't get me wrong, i did ultimately like vash and nick as characters. but the sheer amount of misogyny that comes from those two eventually starts to detract from the effectiveness of their stories. ill get into this a bit more later.

... and of course trigun is a 90's anime, so the racism is also there! im not sure it's as in your face as the misogyny, but it is very much present still. most, if not all of the major non-white characters (and there's not a lot) are either racist stereotypes, villains, or both. all of the towns our main characters visit and all of the crowds in the backgrounds are mostly white. and as our main cast travels the world, there is little to no change in architecture, food, clothing, traditions... there's no distinct cultures! which makes most locations in trigun feel very plain and replaceable, which hurt the overall themes about the wonder of humanity and such! i find it both boring and extremely improbable that humanity settled on a desert planet and built only american wild west looking towns. when your fictional world features only one kind of biome, you would want to create some kind of variety in your locations, so they're memorable, right? well, not in trigun.

trigun's issues hurt its story significantly, and additionally, like many older anime adaptations of manga, there are pacing issues. in trigun's case, i felt that the bigotry directly correlated with that pacing issue. when you mistreat your characters and world like this, it hurts the overall story you're trying to tell. while i really enjoyed trigun's climactic episodes, the impacts of those episodes feel damped because of the aforementioned mistreatment. trigun's misogyny especially eats directly into its screentime; screentime that could have been used to develop our main cast, so that when they go through big emotional moments, it feels deserved: like we, the audience, and the character have worked to get to this point. but it just didn't feel that way to me.

and of course i am well aware that trigun (1998) is only a 26 episode adaptation of a longer manga. ive yet to read the manga, but i am looking into it, and hoping with my entire heart and soul that the pacing is better lol. im also aware of the 2023 anime, which i may check out at some point (although ive heard they get rid of milly. boooo).

but anyway, that's my general thoughts on trigun! i have other thoughts and nitpicks on it, but i don't really have a space for them in this post. would i recommend trigun? yes, but only if you have a high tolerance for the aforementioned bullshit. despite how much longer my complaints were than my praises, like i said, i found it to be an overall enjoyable experience.

now if you'll excuse me, im going to go sit out in the snow and watch vash the stampede scuttle off into the sunset like a scarab beetle. it's really quite a beautiful sight you know

[bonesandthebees]

after barely reading (published) books for the past few years, I finally got back into reading around the end of 2023. I ended up reading 6 books total in the year, which isn't a lot but in total fairness I'd only read two books into november. then I read the other 4 all between november and december.

anyway in case you're curious what I read in 2023 was

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (listened to it as an audiobook when I was driving from New Jersey to Florida, I think McCurdy is an incredible writer and her authorial voice was so unique especially with the way she adjusted the writing style based off her age in the time period being talked about. incredibly raw and painful to listen to)

Game of Thrones by George RR Martin (worked through it so slowly from february all the way to november, I tried watching the first episode of the show while I was reading it and I got so pissed off at how much the show changed and flattened out characters, especially the women)

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (amazing, showstopping, absolutely love the exploration of gender and sexuality in it along with the constant push and pull between morality and ideas of destiny and grandeur. It's set in China during the time when the Mongols ruled and that's a time period I didn't know much about before reading so it was incredibly interesting to learn about, and I cannot wait to read the sequel)

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (definitely still think Gone Girl was better, but I adore Flynn's writing and how she explores incredibly fucked up women and their relationships)

The Poppy War by RF Kuang (wasn't my favorite, I've heard amazing things about RF Kuang as an author and I really like her writing style, but I know this was her first novel and it definitely feels like a new author kind of book. Loved the worldbuilding and thought it was super fascinating and appreciated the grim and brutal depiction of the realities of war. didn't grip me as much as I wanted it to. very excited to eventually read Babel though)

and then

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (one of my new favorite books ever. literally could talk about it for ages. amazing worldbuilding and a plot that takes you all over this incredibly detailed world, a fantastic cast of characters who are all so nuanced, a very deftly woven plot, gorgeous writing style, lovely wlw romance, just such a great epic high fantasy novel) (it's over 800 pages but didn't feel that long at all it's so easy to get into)

my goal for 2024 is to read at least 20 books which might not seem like much to some people but considering reading 5 books in 2023 was more than I've read in the past 3 years combined I think it's a pretty fair goal. probably will ramble about my to read list here soon, I've already started reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes which I'm really enjoying so far. as always I love Suzanne Collins' writing style :)