#Heroine's (Love) Diary

[shoujo-dump]

Shujinkou Nikki

[rize-said-so]

Witch Hat Atelier Review (Spoiler Free)

My thoughts from chapter 1 to chapter 70

This was unapologetically queer with a diverse cast in a unique setting.

The Worldbuilding... and one thing about me is I love a detailed setting from the people, animals to culture. I don't need another fantasy realm with magic without rules and here are dragons and other fantastical creatures. I need uniqueness in every book I consume. And this one just raised my expectations for other fantasy mangas. From the animals, power structure, the rules of magic to people, everything about it just caught my attention and engraved itself in my mind.

Then the characters. If I say I love all the characters, I AM NOT EXAGGERATING. But of course, my favorite will always be the tired man who looks like he hasn't slept in decades and pretends to be cold-hearted but takes better care of the kids than the one who is supposed to take care of the kids.

The story... I don't want to go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil it for anyone but you just gotta trust me and check it out for yourself.

The art... Need I say more?

Just trust me and check it out

[andmuzzlethat]

i wonder if my parents knew that their emotional and verbal abuse would just turn me into an old dude fucker. that they’d give me life long obsessions over old men and not life long lessons.

[sscarletvenus]

JUST READ SOME SENSATIONAL INCEST YAOI...

[beastsovrevelation]

I've decided that Ava Silva

despises Spongebob.

Why?

For the plot of her villain annoys heroine until she falls in love with him, of course.

[juodojimirtis]

Because I gave Valak the wings of a black swan (I mean, he's described as having "angel wings" in the Key of Solomon), I imagine Irene smoothing out his feathers for some reason. And it melts my heart.

[nobully]

bruh canon just changed Wang Yi’s POV completely so im like “hmm do i update canon point or wait until this story arc ends”

then again he’s so happy right now it prolly gets awful later he’s dropping flags all over the place and going to fight zombies in the frontlines im sweating for him 😰

i am the sao ling scolding Wang Yi for assuming too hecking much

[toyherb]

oblivion battery feels like it was made for fujoshi to make doujinshi of it

[0range-likethe-sunset]

April 2, 2023 4:08 pm

You took my ring and the cash out of my wallet.

I'm so heart broken. We were supposed to get married tomorrow! Wasn't that important to you?! I'm so tired of this repeating cycle! I have treated people I hated better than you treat me!

I called your mom and she's tired of it too. She says it has to be a choice at this point, but if that's true, why would you choose to make everyone want to avoid you? You hate to be alone. I don't understand and I probably never will. I don't know where to go from here with you.

Your addiction to herion is not my fault, even if you try to convince me that it is. Today, you said you got high because I asked you last night if you were okay. I only asked because you were shaking your leg and biting your nails. It seems to me that the question itself wasn't the cause, but maybe the love behind it.

Do you dislike being loved? Is that your trigger?

No, I don't think that's right because you did herion long before I introduced my love to you. In fact, that's what you told me you were looking for: "I just need love, man. I swear, that's all it would take to get me off this shit. I try to fill the empty space with it, but it doesn't help. I just want to feel loved."

I wish I wasn't so naive.

[shoujo-dump]

Shujinkou Nikki

[neopoint]

i hate most western “otome” games that have an option for a male player because i dont believe in men having nice things but also what the fuck do people think otome means. if youre gonna add a male player just call it a dating sim or visual novel -_-

[nanaosaki3940]

My Fav Shoujo-Josei Manga Recommendation

Currently, I've indulged myself in Korean manhwa/webtoon, so I decided to go back and read some Japanese manga for a change. And I highly recommend checking them out since these are some of my favorites. Most of them are pretty new, and it wasn't that long before they started serializing in various shoujo/josei magazines.

(Some of them are ongoing, and some have come to completion)

Veil Museru Kurai no Ai o Ageru (Choking on Love)

Firefly Wedding (Hotaru no Yomeiri) Kimi no Yokogao wo Miteita (Looking at Your Profile)

Nijuu to Seijuu (20 and The Beast) Fundari, Kettari, Aishitari

Damenzukon Kono Kekkonha Out Desuka (Getting Married To a Good-For-Nothing -Would This Marriage Work?) Hananoi-kun to Koi no Yamai (A Condition Called Love)

Unmei no Hito ni Deau Hanashi (How I Met My Soulmate) Shujinkou Nikki (Heroine's Love Diary)

Tonari no Stella (Stella Next To Me) Hikaeme ni Itte mo, Kore wa Ai (Love, That's an Understatement)

Kawaii Nante Kiitenai!! (You're My Cutie) Futarijime Romantic

Kimi to Barairo no Hibi Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki (In the Clear Moonlit Dusk)

Higashi Sengoku-san no Make-up Doll (Make Up For You) Isso Anata ga Todome wo Sashite

Gomen ne, Hatsukoi (I'm sorry, First Love) Kekkon Yoteibi (Date of Marriage)

Chorokute Kawaii Kimi ga Suki (I love you, my naive sweetheart!) Narita-kun wo Semetai!!

Dose Koi Shite Shimaunda (Anyway, I'm Falling in Love With You) Studio Cabana

A Sign of Affection (Yubisaki to Renren) Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii (I'd Prefer It If We're Strangers in Our Next Life)

Anata ga shitekurenakute mo (Even if you don't do it) It Takes More than a Pretty Face to Fall in Love (Kao Dake ja Suki ni Narimasen)

Moekare wa Orenji-iro (My Boyfriend in Orange) Na no ni, Chigira-kun ga Amasugiru (And Yet, You Are So Sweet)

Hayaku Shitai Futari (Let's do it already) Daifuku-chan to Ouji-sama (Daifuku-chan and the Prince)

Koiseyo Mayakashi Tenshi-domo (Fall in Love False Angels) Killing Line

Rinko-chan to Himosugara Koi Wazurai no Ellie (Lovesick Ellie)

Pink to Habanero (Pink and Habanero) Honey Lemon Soda

Loving Yamada at Lv999 (Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi wo Suru) The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (The Apothecary Diaries) Skip and Loafer

[see-arcane]

I have been possessed by a stronger than average craving for tinkering with Jonathan Harker's genders (Jonders). Jonathan Harker is undeniably and forever my favorite gothic heroine. But, being that there is so much to chew on regarding his potential fluidity when it comes to gender roles within the story--the classic damsel, the willingly submissive half of the couple, the vengeful berserker, etc--it's got me thinking.

Let's take the metaphor out. What would happen to the Dracula narrative if Jonathan Harker was...

First thing's first--she almost definitely gets shouldered out of the Important Solicitor's position due to reasons of Being Girl. But she still has to get to Transylvania to be menaced by Count Bat Bastard. How?

Hawkins! Johanna is working at the firm as a secretary and personal assistant to a still very paternally mushy old Peter Hawkins. When Dracula's request comes around, he can't give up such a lucrative client over his gout and there's no one he trusts to pass it to. He has to go. And it'd only be right to treat his surrogate daughter to a paid scenic vacation have his aide along on the business trip. Especially when she hunted down Carfax Abbey herself! What a lovely outing they'll have.

...or not.

True to form, Count Dracula is very much not to be trusted around pretty young things of any kind. Considering his canon habits, things aren't about to go any easier for Miss Harker. But at least she has Hawkins watching out for her in-person! It all makes for some very tense talk when discussing anything other than the estate purchase; which Hawkins seems as keen to rush as Dracula is to dawdle over. But at least they'll be out of here soon. What's a couple of awkward nights, right?

One in particular has Johanna nervous as she goes to bed. Hawkins had taken Dracula aside with a hard smile, insisting there was a 'delicate matter' he wished to speak with the Count about. The last time a 'delicate matter' was brought up was when he nearly lobbed a typewriter at one of his ex-solicitor's heads for some distinctly unseemly behavior in her direction. She hopes there isn't a storm brewing under their host's roof. She hopes harder that tomorrow they'll be heading back to the Borgo Pass.

Instead:

Oh.

Oh no.

Between this and one requisite nightmare-week in which the joys of womanhood come and go--let's leave it unspoken whether her set of bloodstained cloths stay in her possession or not--Johanna gets put through the wringer. Per usual. But eventually..!

Yeah. No shock there. Deep calming breaths, Jack. Don't let the wonderful diary concuss you.

Part of being one of two (gasp) G I R L S in the Scooby Gang, Van Helsing and company vote Johanna and Mina out of the dirt hunt. Except. Well. Johanna is still necessary to have on the ground here. She's the only one with the location intel--and a surprise willed gift of inheritance and the firm from poor Hawkins, who the Transylvanian locals all vouch for as being 'slain by wolves,' leaving Johanna free of blame--so she's still running around for the crew.

Even so, odds are high that she initially gets sidelined with Mina. Which isn't overly awful. It is good to be side-by-side in this timeline! No needless sequestering from each other! Johanna is already planning to see Mina back to their new house before they have to sleep another night in an asylum.

And then comes the 3rd of October.

Van Helsing: "Madam Harker, is it not somewhat attention-catching to wear trousers in public? We are meant to be unremarkable while we wait on th--"

Johanna, has already smoked through two cigars, kukri in her lap, playing a game of chicken with God: "Do you think I scaled a mountain in three layers of skirts, Professor? No? Then I will not do the same if the rancid bastard tries to escape out the window."

Van Helsing, aside: "Friend John, can you speak sense to her?"

Jack, melting off the side of the bench: "I think I hauve consumption"

Anyway. She very much does get to the Dracula head chopping. And there will be much rejoicing. BUT all that grimdarkness aside, there are other, more hijinks-flavored opportunities to think of with this particular set up. If only because I genuinely believe that Lucy and Art, having two spare best friends on hand and a general vibe that radiates 'ooooh what if triple wedding???', would come up with the following master plan. Some truly Shakespearean folly kind of shit:

Thankfully, Johanna and Mina nix the idea pretty quick. Case in point:

And, last but not least, my final word on the range of Jonders that exist within my very best gothic heroine friend:

ha ha I do that

[beastsovrevelation]

In S1 Ep. 10, Ava should have kissed Adriel. Not because the show would ever intend a romantic arc, or because I ship them. Just for us to witness Mary's reaction, after she blows up the wall, and finds Ava in a liplock with a yet another dude she just met. This time, in a dungeon. Where he spent a thousand years, locked up for suspicious reasons.

[juodojimirtis]

Listen, it's no secret I ship Adreala, but it's eerie how on point Ava was when she wondered if Areala maybe had something shoved into her body that she did not want.

[immediatebreakfast]

Unitentional or not, the importance of the gothic feminine put on Jonathan's shoulders in this part is worthy of many words. There is so much symbolism that is mostly reserved for female gothic characters on Jonathan that it's no wonder some parts of his unwanted survival game with the Count.

Jonathan can't feel, nor believe that he is safe in his room anymore thanks to Dracula being downright daring with his supernatural antics to an almost alarming degree. So, as a good gothic heroine, Jonathan defies the orders given to him, grabs a source of light, and explores the place where he is held captive.

I went back to the room, and taking a lamp, tried all the doors.

The door sequence, and realization of how truly isolated Jonathan is from any kind of human being is painted in strokes of Bluebeard's wife, even calling how a key could change Jonathan's fate, and showing what is beneath the opulent wing of the castle in which he tries to sleep.

However, what comes later is something very important.

Here I am, sitting at a little oak table where in old times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much thought and many blushes, her ill-spelt love-letter, and writing in my diary in shorthand all that has happened since I closed it last.

This is such a eye opening detail for Jonathan's relationship with the feminine, and his role as a gothic heroine. He can't stay in his room, a private place where he is supposed to be safe, because everything is now haunted by Dracula's patriarchal and masculine presence even when he is not there; the room is tainted, and it's a reminder that Dracula will violate Jonathan's boundaries again if he wants to.

So, when Jonathan recognizes the tell tale signs that the only unlocked door in the castle is not only "neutral" ground by how old it is, but also can be seen through feminine lens he is utterly relieved, and thinks that in there he will finally have a moment of peace. Jonathan embraces this thought of that little oak table existing outside a realm that the Count has not touched, one that instead has seen women fall in love as explicitely compares his shorthand diary to a love letter.

Of course, this clear dissobedience of the Count's orders will have consequences, the novel wouldn't be gothic if it didn't. Yet, what matters is how these consequences will affect Jonathan, will they shatter a fundamental view that he has? Or will they make worse his mental downward spiral?