#I actually had a pretty decently popular series back then lmao.

[chasingcoyotes]

Anyone remember Bitstrips? I used to be obsessed with that site in like 2009 :']

[queenimmadolla]

Babes, i need to know what’s up with heather holloway lmao! Why are you do obsessed with her? Its def not a bad thing, just curious :)

I BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE, here’s why i love Heather :)

One major thing is the injustice and lack of acknowledgment she gets from the fandom. ST3 came out in 2019 when fake feminism was on the edge of retirement, not kept quite as in check as it has been since 2020 *shoutout to drew afualo and the mass of people who decided it was finally time to defend women and female characters*—i know if she had been introduced in st4 she would have gotten the love and defense she deserved like Chrissy has—stemming in this case from the hate Heather and her actress received from billy fans back then because they interpreted her as a possible love interest for him and hated her into pretty much non-existence. Some people had the audacity—and still do—to approach her actress and tell her she looks plain and not very pretty. She’s got a decent amount of screen time, a pretty badass role as an unwilling side villain and I cannot figure out for the life of me why she’s forgotten about. Especially since she was a pretty big part of the plot for ST3. The fandom treated her very much so like the older women at the community pool did.

And it just breaks my heart that two younger girls Heather didn’t know were the only ones in the entire town that noticed she was missing and cared enough to notice something wasn’t right with her (not even her parents noticed she was different, though you can see with their comfortable family portrait that while they might not have known her very well, they still genuinely loved her and she loved them) and when she didn’t show up to work, none of her coworkers gave a fuck about her. So, that tells me she wasn’t really popular.

It wasn’t until after st4 came out and i rewatched the entire series, that i developed my obsession with her because i noticed my absolute favorite thing about her: she’s not anything special, she’s just a teenage girl who wasn’t popular, didn’t grab the attention of her hot co-worker, wasn’t his love interest, sat down with her mom and dad for dinners and was criticized by older women for simply existing. She was a normal teenage girl, just like i was. And it’s kind of self-deprecating to admit it, but there have been plenty of times where i thought if i would have gone missing, no one would notice and it made me really sad to notice that was the case with her.

I also love the symbolism with her being a lifeguard and how she went to Billy’s aide when she thought he was in trouble, even if it got her killed in the end. Don’t even get me started on the fact that her occupation is one that makes people need her (always have to have a lifeguard on duty), makes me think she might have gone for the job because of that. She’s not popular, doesn’t have a whole lot of friends but now she’s needed somewhere, she’s got a place. And the experience i got with Eddie was very similar to the one i got with Heather, I honestly thought she would survive. El and Max were trying to save her and everyone, so surely if the main characters were trying to help her, she’d prevail, right? No. She died a horrible, gruesome death.

And other than a quick name drop in st4, she was forgotten about. There was no Nancy like character to seek revenge on her behalf, no Joy Byers character to mourn her loss, no Murray character in her life to miss her as a friend. She’s just gone.

Naturally, what with me favoring the underdogs, I feel the need to protect and defend her, and maybe give her some justice. Which is why the Reader in Cruel Summer is based ENTIRELY on my interpretation of Heather, I actually debated on just writing a Heather/Eddie fic, but I was pretty sure it’d go largely ignored because it’d be about Heather, and i was afraid more people would hate her if I paired her with Eddie, so I went the Reader route. But all those character traits about Reader in it, Reader’s portrayal, everything, is how I imagine Heather Holloway. She deserved so much freaking better. If you try to scroll through her own damn name tag, you’ll find she’s still somehow barely in it. VERY FEW, and i mean FEW edits, pictures, anything about HER. IN HER OWN TAG! It’s been almost five years and you can still barely find a trace of her. Even KEITH gets more recognition. Fucking Keith who doesn’t have a last name and has less screen time in all of stranger things than she had in one season of it.

YEAH. WHEW, that’s a lot. That is a lot of information. But thank you for letting me rant about her, again lmao. Anyways, everyone pay more attention to Heather.

[hawflake]

not to write an essay on naruto barely a week into 2022 but like...just imagine what the naruto manga could've been like if it had stuck to the grim cynicism it had going on early in the series, the unforgiving critical takes of the shinobi system and consequently what it means to be a ninja in that sort of society, and the nuanced characterization of the land of waves arc, and to a certain extent the chuunin exams in that they are openly acknowledged by hiruzen himself to be a proxy war between prosperous villages as a way to flaunt military prowess. the kind of story it could've been instead of trying to contain it strictly within narrow shounen manga parameters and if it hadn't been hampered by increasingly bad writing/editing decisions that i suspect were largely motivated by business decisions given its popularity and following in jump and the kind of audience the magazine caters to

like...early naruto shows kishi actually has the ability to tell a pretty decent story. i have no idea if what happened later on is solely due to kishi's shortcomings as a writer or if other industry/editor factors had corrupted the story into an ultimately disappointing mess by the end, but. imagine what we could've had if it'd stuck with sobering thought-provoking conversations like this

the waves arc ends on this somber realization of what the shinobi system is after naruto finishes his first big boy mission and his childlike arrogance/naivety is humbled by witnessing firsthand the sheer amount of devastation and trauma other people besides himself have had to deal with in a world that is utterly messed up in ways he couldn't even imagine. ending on this note sets up the expectation that the rest of the series will be devoted to exploring the question of what being a ninja really means and how naruto will fight to change the status quo, but...it's never really addressed again?

like there was even a big opportunity at the end of the pain arc when naruto and nagato are talking for naruto to really examine the shinobi world again and really consider what exactly he's been fighting for this whole time, but kishi does the most disappointing cop out by having naruto sidestep the question nagato is posing to him altogether and pulls out a FICTIONAL BOOK as proof of his commitment to change the world, essentially being like just trust me bro i was named after the guy in this after all and nagato is just like oh damn you're right. huh?????

since i only watched the show the first time around and read the manga this time, manga sasuke is actually so much more bearable than anime sasuke?? though i think his character motivations could've definitely been better conveyed. like.....i think i know the antihero vibe kishi was trying to go for when writing sasuke but.......he really wasn't very good at it lmao. but at least the critical questions sasuke asks are directly related to the question the early series poses at the end of the waves arc:

like kishi keeps doing this weird thing throughout the series where the storylines he writes inevitably end up criticizing konoha/the ninja world at large bc he literally set the world up this way on purpose when creating this series, but then he backs down when it comes to actually implicating konoha (perhaps bc such a prominent jump series can't go full on anti-establishment? 🙃). i think this is why sasuke's characterization suffers because on the one hand kishi wants you to sympathize him but at the same time wants you to think he's wrong for going against konoha despite everything he went through? and that's why it's so easy to write sasuke off as an asshole who refuses to listen to anyone bc kishi couldn't fucking make up his mind about the kind of character he wants sasuke to be and his ultimate role in the story?

the uchiha resentment that's literally embedded in the very fabric of konoha society since its establishment, the clan essentially being relegated into a ghettoed corner of the village and systematically kept from prominent roles of power stemming from tobirama's prejudice and the clear nepotism at play with the village's leadership, the true purpose of the uchihas' role as the village police force...sasuke is one of the few characters to actually make valid points and criticisms but since kishi desperately wanted to shoehorn the yin yang theme into as much of the story as possible partway through, he depicts the naruto/konoha view as morally superior and frames sasuke as merely blindsided by hatred who must be saved from his "darkness" by naruto. it feels like kishi wanted really bad to turn this into an easy good vs evil type of situation so he could wrap it up nicely and made sasuke decide on the childishly stupid goal to kill every konoha citizen that's out of character even for him, since when he was still with orochimaru and when he first formed team taka he pointedly refused to kill anyone who had nothing to do with him. it's like...kishi didn't even try to give sasuke a fighting chance in the story lmao

which is why the final naruto vs sasuke fight that was hyped up for the series' entirety lacks any emotional gravity and is so disappointing because even before they start you know how it's gonna end and sasuke's admittance of his loss to naruto acts narratively to dismiss sasuke's grievances and justified criticisms against the state that wronged him in every possible way as a fight he cannot win

and like?? the series never even gets close to questioning the reverence every konoha shinobi has for the will of fire? like maybe it didn't necessarily start out that way with hashirama when he first co-founded the village with madara in order to steer the world towards peace, but it's never criticized how it evolved to become a form of indoctrination and way of maintaining subservience to a military dictatorship, to the point you see even shikamaru equating it to some kind of pseudo-religion?

like it's held up to be this lofty code of conduct about protecting your comrades and a noble act of self-sacrifice, even your worth as a shinobi equated to how far you are willing to go to uphold this doctrine (and going against it is in many cases an act of treason). but there are so many instances in the story where the hypocrisy of this messaging shows, namely the village's collective treatment and abandonment of naruto, the uchiha massacre, the choices itachi had and what he was ultimately driven (manipulated) to do in order to maintain intra-village peace out of his loyalty to konoha (which overrode even his feelings for family and clan), the village leaving a 7? 8 year old sasuke to his own devices despite his fragile psychological state, the village ostracizing sakumo for putting his comrades above the mission and driving him to suicide...and yet there is not a single discussion about the dangers, shortcomings, and implications of this ideology, all the underhanded and atrocious things the village has swept under the rug in the name of the will of fire.

and the end of the series' answer to the question of what it means to be a ninja, to "endure," rings hollow when the last chapter shows nothing really changes, naruto continues to uphold the status quo as hokage, the five villages are i guess on friendlier terms with each other but the shinobi system is still going strong and 12 year olds are still being treated as soldiers/tools of the state once they graduate ninja school??

imagine if kishi had stuck with this kind of political intrigue and kept exploring the characters' roles and relationships to the society they live in and are conditioned to uphold? instead of doing whatever the hell that was in the war + kaguya arcs that destroyed any agency any naruto antagonist had by reducing the entire series and character decisions to a cheap "gotcha" since all of the shinobi world's grievances were orchestrated by some higher power who is literally an alien? like everyone was manipulated by obito who was manipulated by madara who was ultimately being manipulated by some alien moon goddess' armpit demon? is this even the same person who wrote the land of waves arc lmao

like early naruto was exploring some surprisingly complex and mature ethical, moral, and political themes for a series published in a magazine aimed at like 8-16 year old boys and perhaps that’s why the later manga is so different in tone and story direction as it gained more attention and popularity. like looking back now it’s clear kishi was already able to write like this so early in his career and despite how much i love dunking on him it makes me wonder how accurate his being a bad writer really is, or if it's more that he was prevented from writing what he wanted originally more than any personal writing failings on his part. which he has plenty of, but i wonder how many higher up decisions were made that effectively killed his original vision for this series. i mean naruto was def one of jump's biggest cash cows (and still is; just look at the fact boruto exists) and as a result they probably wanted to pander to a certain audience, effectively sacrificing a compelling story for a lucrative business decision based on what "sells" and keeps people reading without rocking the boat. like part 1 and part 2 naruto are two very different stories with different messages and maybe we'll never know the exact reasons or how much it really had to do with kishi's abilities as a writer. and yet i know the bitter sting of what could've been will eventually fade again and i'll just keep crawling back every few years because i love setting myself up for disappointment 😔

don't even get me started on how these writing shifts impacted the naruto girls...like it wasn't Great obviously but part 1 had nearly all the good character-growth moments for them and it's hard to believe the same person wrote the part 2 girls like that without some outside influence making certain decisions :/ the utter disrespect

[kaleidoscopic-quiddity]

i agree with you about the whole transfemme vs transmasc roxy thing and also about june really not being any more canon than the epilogues and stuff, and people saying june is MORE canon just because hussie was like "ok sure" is pretty stupid, but you didn't even mention the amount of transmasc people who have been so hurt and frustrated by june being "canon" and everyone saying you're a transmisogynyist if you don't like it or hc john as transmasc, etc.

trans masculine people were here FIRST; there are SO many people who, as teens, had relating to john be their "oh maybe i am a boy actually" awakening. people act like it's just dave, but it's not!

you don't actually have to reply to this since you are already under fire for stating your honestly pretty neutral opinions on this, i just wanted to validate you and i think people are stupid

Yeah no I don't think this is an issue of who ever was 'here first'. Its true that lots of transmasc ppl saw themselves in Egbert, but so did a lot of transfemmes (Egbert just has THAT much transgender swag lmao).

I do think agree with you that people getting labelled as transmisogynistic purely because they see John as transmasc (or even just as a cis dude) or just happen to not be all that into June is, well, pretty stupid. However I don't think we can ignore how horrifically transmisogynistic people have been about June either, this is a two way street here and whilst I definitely don't agree with the 'June is canon in any and all contexts and if you disagree with me you're a vitriolic transmisogynist!' crowd, like at all, I also don't blame them for being defensive either, having seen the sheer amount of harassment people get for depicting Egbert as transfemme.

And going back to the issue of 'whoever was here first' lots of homestuck characters are headcanoned as all flavours of trans. Some headcanons are inevitably more popular than others but I've seen transmasc, transfemme, and nonbinary headcanons for almost every popular character. So I definitely don't think the 'issue' with June was that transmasc John as a headcanon 'existed first'. And to be completely fair, whilst transmasc John did and still does exist as a fairly popular headcanon, its nowhere near the close to fanon levels of popularity headcanoning Roxy as transfemme got to, and I'd say that a lot more people, transfemme, transmasc, and nonbinary combined, were hurt by the absolute clusterfuck that was Roxy's 'gender arc' than June being like, a decently popular headcanon/au/interpretation that Hussie weighed in on one time.

I'm not going to disagree with you and say that transmascs weren't hurt by June being made 'canon' because I can't speak for all transmascs in the homestuck fandom but like, I don't think this is an issue of who's been hurt the most in regards to all this Roxy and June stuff, that kind of thing is subjective and impossible to measure in the first place. And also just because one group has been hurt doesn't give them an excuse nor the right to be shitty to another.

Ultimately I think what all this stuff with Roxy and June proves is that retroactively confirming something about a character JKR style is just going to hurt people and cause some of the most terminally online discourse in fandom history. Homestuck characters are supposed to be open to interpretation, they're aracial, most of them have unconfirmed sexualities, physically appearances past a superficial level aren't described, whether or not a character is cis or trans or nonbinary is neither confirmed nor denied. And there are absolutely points to be made about how 'open to interpretation' is not the same as actual diversity but Homestuck began in fuckin 2009. All this shit with John and June is ultimately just a rehashing of the 'Caucasian Jane' discourse. Homestuck, by nature, is a series that lets you apply almost any headcanon to any character, confirming or dismissing those headcanons in any way is bound to hurt someone.

So yeah, thanks for agreeing with me, it's nice to see that someone does, but I think you need to examine some of your own stances, because transfemmes aren't our enemies here.

[makeste]

BnHA 6th Popularity Poll Reaction Post - Risky Spoiler-Dodging Edition

hey guys, so seeing as the results from the 6th popularity poll were leaked today, I figured I would do a separate reaction + analysis post this year, rather than piling it in as an extra on top of the chapter reaction post tomorrow. I figure this makes more sense anyway, since they’re really two completely different things. also this way I can write as much as I want lol.

also, just fyi, I am still completely unspoiled for chapter 293. and probably the smart thing to do to keep it that way would be to log off tumblr and hold off posting this until tomorrow, but I apparently have no impulse control today so oh well. anyway, so I’m hoping you guys will keep this spoiler-free if you don’t mind! as always, I would prefer to just jump right in completely unaware tomorrow like Troy returning to the study room with the pizza boxes lol.

okay so this first part is just going to be my predictions. fyi I am writing this part on Wednesday night, and then I’ll add on the results part on Thursday or Friday (ETA: Thursday, apparently, since I am impatient.)

okay so first of all, just as a refresher, this poll was open to Japanese voters from Aug 3 to Sep 30. meaning chapters 279 through 285. meanwhile last year’s poll took place around the tail end of the MVA arc. so between then and now we had Heroes Rising, the Endeavor Agency arc, and the War arc up to the part where the 1-A kids took on Gigantomachia in Gunga, and started battling Tomura in Jakku. so technically only a couple of arcs, but a LOT of stuff going down in them. oh and season 4 of the anime as well

so! firstly, I predict that my truculent africanized honeybee son will hold on to his crown at #1, coming off a year in which he did some internship-boosted soul searching, borrowed OFA in movie canon, and finished out the voting period as the my-body-moved-on-its-own character development MVP. like CALL ME CRAZY lol, but I’m pretty sure his title is safe. and then after him will be Deku and Shouto as usual

Aizawa should hopefully also have a strong showing because the dude had a banner fucking year. reunited with his old dead friend, took on Tomura with his hopelessly inept hero pals, and then chopped his fucking leg off. he had better be in the top 10. his fucking leg died for this, idk what else he has to do

Endeavor also stands a decent chance of doing well given the internship arc and the final episode of season 4. which I’m sure will go down just swimmingly if that does happen lmao. especially if he somehow manages to rank higher than...

Dabi, which I don’t think he will btw, but you never know. anyways though, but I’m thinking Dabi’s going to have a stronger showing than in past years (in the last poll he only got 367 votes and was ranked 19th). mostly because of his fight in the Gunga mansion, and his cheekily censored name reveal to...

Hawks, who is also going to rank pretty high here, I think. might be he loses some points for killing off Twice, but his back was basically to the wall there. and he has always been very popular, and I think season 4 will also give him a boost, along with his heavy involvement in the first half of the War arc

Tomura was already in 6th place last year and I think he cracks the top 5 this year. he’s gotten exponentially more popular since the MVA arc, and got a boost in the last poll even though his flashback had only just barely happened, and he hadn’t finished Awakening yet and all that stuff. anyway, so he’s only gotten cooler and more tragic since then so I think he makes a big play here

Kirishima, Momo, Tokoyami, and Mina should also hopefully do well, since the poll opened right in the middle of all that Gigantomachia action, and Toko had just got done being an absolute badass and protecting his birb dad. I don’t think he’ll quite make it to the top ten, but he should

and last but not least, I’m hoping that Mirko will come out and take the polls by storm, although I have no clue how popular she is in Japan lol. she’s clearly Horikoshi’s favorite though. she SHOULD be everyone’s favorite, but I mean, we’ll see how it goes

anyway that’s it as far as predictions! and so now, through the magic of writing stuff at different times, we will fast-forward to the part where we actually find out the results!

OH MY GOD YES, STEAMPUNK KHLKSLLKL. HERE FOR IT. JOLLY GOOD SHOW. 5 STARS

Kacchan looks SO COCKY and SO HAPPY and SO ADORABLE, YES I SAID IT. he is adorable as FUCK. I don’t quite know what it is about this particular Kacchan that just screams “LOOK HOW FUCKING CUTE MY STUPID, LOUD SON IS WITH HIS BIZARRE WINDOWPANE-LOOKING CONVERTIBLE SUNGLASS GOGGLES and his POORLY TIED CRAVAT”, but I think it’s because he looks like if a Digimon character and a FMA character had a baby

anyway, so it looks like most of the people present here are more or less who we expected to see. except that I can’t tell for sure if that’s Dabi or Shindou, and if it’s Shindou I’m going to punch somebody in the face so you will have to excuse me

Iida wearing a TRENCHCOAT and a TOP HAT with ENGINE EXHAUST GOGGLE ACCENTS is my new favorite Iida of all time. take note how there is no possible way he can wear those goggles with them sitting on top of his hat like that. plus he’s already got glasses on. these are just purely for aesthetic and IF THAT AIN’T JUST THE STEAMPUNK WAY

Deku out here speaking softly and carrying a lead pipe. Kacchan you best look out. seems like he’s done watching you take first place year after year while he languishes in the number two spot. your only hope is that he trips while attacking you because his boots are unbuckled

Shouto’s standing over there with the rest of the non-first-and-second-place characters, but what are the odds his results are actually within spitting distance of Deku’s same as always. anyway he doesn’t mind, though. also his outfit is by far the most sensible one here, but if you look closely he’s got some sort of fire extinguisher/jet pack thing strapped to his back that’s got a control switch on his belt. Shouto are you jetpacking or putting out fires

Kirishima out here all “I’m not sure what steampunk is so I’m just going to take off my shirt and pose”

AIZAWA WITH THE EYEPATCH SKLKSDLKFJLSKJLDFKJSLDFFJLDKSJFL:KS. SIR. SIR. also, lowkey furious that Horikoshi refuses to show us the automail leg that he is clearly sporting here but which we just can’t see, SHOUTO MOVE GODDAMMIT

Endeavor has TWO fire extinguisher-slash-jetpacks. THE BETTER TO... WHATEVER. look at you here in the top ten again. you really live for that controversy

HAWKS OUT HERE WITH HIS STEAMPUNK BEATS BY DRE AND HIS WEARING A RING ON EVERY FINGER. nice to see you’ve still got your wings there, kiddo. then again Deku still has both of his arms too so who even knows what is going on

BUT SERIOUSLY THOUGH, IS THIS DABI OR SHINDOU. as if I don’t know the truth deep down in my heart. y’all I am gonna flip lmao. it’s not that I dislike Shindou, strictly speaking. but just... I can’t explain what it is, but if you put him and AFO next to each other and told me “you can only punch one”, I would be having a serious crisis. just, THIS FUCKING GUY, idek. STOP SMILING

Tomura looks like he just wandered onto the set here by mistake and has no idea where he is or what is going on. it’s because you’re wearing a bigass severed hand that’s blocking your entire view, Tomura. just take the hand off your face my sweet murder dumpling

anyway! so I managed to also find a link to the full poll results while somehow managing to avoid spoilers, and then I wanted to compare the results to last year’s poll, and so I made... this

hopefully you can all see this. if you’re on desktop you might be screwed, but on mobile you should be able to click and enlarge it. I mean, assuming you actually give a fuck about boring poll analysis spreadsheets lmao

anyway, so there were actually 13k fewer votes cast this year which is a bit of a surprise. is the series not still growing in popularity? do people apparently have better things to do during their quarantine lol

anyways but despite this, and despite getting 8k fewer votes overall, Kacchan still managed almost twice as many as his closest competitor. well fought, Deku. please put down that pipe

I somehow always underestimate the power of ship popularity to influence these things. but for example, it looks like Present Mic got that Vigilantes Trio bump. ride that wave for all it’s worth my man! hell, you got me on board

Iida fucking Tenya somehow got some sort of POWER BOOST out of NOWHERE which I can’t explain at all lmao, but I’m here for it. NOT BAD FOR AN OLD MAN

Sero managed to get the exact same number of votes in both 2019 and 2020. clearly the most loyal fans in the business

Mirko being all the way down at #20 is, of course, a travesty, and I hereby nominate her to be the one to punch Shindou in the face

ngl though, the lack of a single female character in the top ten hurts just a bit. it’s not overly surprising, but still. the worst part of it is that even if you kicked Shindou to the curb and moved everyone else up one slot, it would still be all dudes since Mic beat out Momo by a margin of a little more than a hundred votes. hard to stay mad at Mic for too long, though. ah well

Tomura actually lost a bunch of votes which is a genuine surprise to me. I know the villain standom isn’t as dominant in Japan as it is in Western fandom, but still. you can go ahead and punch Shindou too I guess

Tokoyami lowkey doubled his vote count over the past year while hiding down there at #18. he is slowly becoming more powerful. biding his time

anyway so I think that’s it! I mean not really, but I’m getting kind of tired lol. so just, you know, insert the usual gripes at Overhaul’s ranking here, although we can be happy about Magne making her way onto the list (r.i.p.), and Mineta and AFO taking a very satisfying slide down (all the way out, in AFO’s case; good riddance you bum). Hadou also got a huge boost which is awesome. Mustard’s persistent ownership of the #36 spot will forever remain a mystery to me, but oh well

anyways, this was fun. and I really do feel like everyone is looking away on purpose so that when Deku brains Kacchan with that pipe in about two seconds from now, there will be no witnesses, oh my fucking god

[katara0524]

Impromptu Ramblings about the NEO:TWEWY Demo

In case y'all weren't aware, I've been a pretty big fan of TWEWY for a couple years now, and with the sequel coming out next month, the excitement I feel for this game is greater than ever :) I played the Demo for the first time yesterday, and following a couple views of some livestreams of others playing it, I felt like sharing my (very ramble-y) thoughts prior to the release of the full game. This post WILL contain spoilers for both TWEWY and NEO:TWEWY, so if you want to avoid those from now on, please block the tags: #twewy spoilers, #ntwewy spoilers, #neo twewy spoilers, #ntwewy, and #neo twewy ^_^ Oh, and if you wanna keep up with any other posts I make about my experience with this game, please refer to the tag "kat plays neo twewy" :)

-First things first: I have not watched the Final Trailer and I don't plan on doing so to avoid spoilers, especially after the pre-release era of KH3 where a lot of the later trailers spoiled a lot of the endgame content. That being said, I've seen some minor screenshots from the final trailer including what many believe to be characters from the original TWEWY, namely Shiki and Joshua. That is all I know about the Final Trailer and I would very much like to remain as blind as possible going into NEO :)

-The very first cutscene was quite ominous in the sense that this game is likely going to be about "changing fate" (a recently common theme in Squeenix games, which I do appreciate), perhaps leading off from the end of A New Day in the OG and trying to stop an Inversion of Shibuya. Also worth noting that A New Day had similar aspects in which the main character experienced "future visions" of tragic events, although in A New Day these events were not able to be changed, while in NEO it seems like one of the main "powers" our protagonist has is specifically to rewrite these events and avoid a "bad ending." Very interesting indeed!

-I really like the revamped comic book style dialogue scenes, it's much more fluid and modern, which is an excellent direction for the series to take!

-I would love to have an actual PokemonGO knockoff of Final Fantasy creatures, please Squeenix that would be incredibleeeeee

-Also the LINE stickers??? Are so cute???

-I would just like to point out that Fret is an absolute treasure throughout this entire demo, he's hilarious and I will protect him with my life

-UHHHH don't like that Fret picked up some Reaper Pins just out of nowhere.....or the fact that they're apparently popular all over Shibuya.............did y'all not learn anything from the OG game or what lmao

-Okay so when I first got the "curry or ramen" scene and heard NPCs talking about the new curry place replacing the old ramen place I became IMMENSELY distressed that Ramen Don was totally cut from the game because....well, Ramen Don is a King okay?? But I'm glad to learn that no, he didn't fall off the face of the earth, he's still in business and he's the one opening the curry restaurant lolol. PHEW, crisis averted!

-.....I don't like the sudden appearance of a Wall Reaper and being able to read NPC thoughts. Wtf happened when they left the ramen place??? Are they playing the Game alive somehow?

-Okay so I have my own theories about this "Swallow" character and what they're up to but considering this is only the Demo and I still Have No Idea What's Happening, I'm just gonna say that I think Swallow intentionally led Rindo and Fret to the Crossing so they could join the Game. I mean, add in the fact that Swallow still communicates with Rindo during the Game and you've got yourself a suspicious character right there lol

-"Hey they're shooting off fireworks!" Fret honey that's not fireworks oof (see also: "*laughs* I'm in danger")

-WOOOOOO way to traumatize Rindo right off the bat like that LMAOO

-The visuals for the intro are VERY GOOD, the song is pretty decent until it gets all "screamo" (which I absolutely cannot stand sorry lol)

-Shoka is every Customer Service employee ever and I respect that

-Susukichi went from being "meh" to "WOW THIS GUY IS FUN" in the span of 10 seconds and I also respect that (he is also built like an Absolute Unit which is hilarious)

-The Wall Reapers (and just Reapers in general) seem.....way nicer and more helpful this time around?? Like in the OG the Wall Reapers were SO RUDE gfhjgjdfkhn and yeah I'm sure we'll get some like that but the juxtaposition of the first Wall Reaper in the OG compared to the first one in NEO is insane.

-The puzzles are quite a bit more entertaining this time around even if it's generally the same "fetch quest" formula lol

-"Rindo's Group" way to go Fret HFKJDGHSDFKJ mans really left the default name in there lmao

-OKAYOKAYOKAY so to those who aren't aware I am a MASSIVE SIMP for Sho Minamimoto, he's my absolute favorite and I think about him daily. HIS INTRODUCTION IS. INCREDIBLE. I LOVE IT SM.

-GOD hearing him actually SPEAK FULL SENTENCES is just SO SURREAL I love this sm

-Also the remix of his theme???? NEO TRANSFORMATION????? IT'S SO GOOD????????? It's like gone from a Boss Theme to a more triumphant sounding theme and I am HERE for it (every version of Transformation is just INCREDIBLE and getting a new one is even better)

-I Love Him, Your Honor

-Also idk how exactly but it's kinda weird seeing Sho in the OG vs NEO, cuz while he's mostly the same Insane Math-Obsessed Catboy, he's.....calmed down quite a bit?? Like OG made a whole point of how poorly he cooperates with others (not to mention just being completely unhinged and trying to kill everyone), whereas here in NEO he's......actually kinda working with others??? HELLO???? Sir what happened to you and Neku during those 3 years I would love to know all about it

-I guarantee you Sho is still probably scheming shite and will likely pull some total insane BS later down the road, and I am very much looking forward to that. Also, is he looking for a certain Pin or something??? Cuz he keeps talking about different Pins and even mentions "this is just another Psych Pin" like he's actively looking for a Pin to do something with. Maybe it also has to do with the "latent powers of Players" thing he mentioned as well??? What is this dude UP TO oml (also is he in contact with Neku at all?? they're both technically fugitives at this point right?? WHAT HAPPENED AFTER A NEW DAY I AM BEGGING YOU)

-I seems like Sho ALSO has an idea of what's going on in this specific game (even if he won't admit it straightforward). Per his quote "The game's 142,857. Factor it out," he's essentially saying, "This game is a neverending cyle, figure out how to get out of it" (or at least that's what I got from his "cyclic number" nonsense lolol)

-I do like how Sho mostly stays out of sight until he's needed for a battle or assisting with a mission, that's kind of on par with his whole "uncooperative" quirk from the OG, plus he might literally have to stay out of sight of other Reapers and Players considering he's likely breaking the rules of the Game (not surprising considering him and Neku broke practically every rule in the book during OG)

-The nicknames for Sho- I can't- They're so FUNNYYYY GFHJSDFKJ

-He goes from being called "Pi-Face" and "Tabooty" in OG to "Mr. Minami" and "M-Teezy" in NEO LMAOO

-(Wowee I just realized I've been mostly talking about Sho oopsies sorry y'all, this is what I meant by thinking about him almost daily he is THAT much of a fav of mine ghfkjsd)

-Okay RIP Fret and Rindo for not getting literally ANY explanation as to how the Game works OOF, that is kinda cringe that whoever gets the Pin earns points, not whoever erases the Noise (which like I understand but also URRRGGHHH I WANNA SEE THE SQUAD SUCCEED)

-"I should be going home now it's getting late" Oh you sweet summer child-

-Also love the mention of parents in this game???? KH you could learn a thing or two from TWEWY (poor Rindo's mom fhgjkdh)

-KUBO IS HILARIOUS I SUPPORT HIM AND HIS GROSS FACE (also thank you Final Trailer thumbnail for spoiling my suspicions about him very cool smh)

-Kaie is a LAD I also support him, go King type those funky texts I believe in you

-FRET PLS STOP SCANNING FHGJKSDHKJFGHFKJ he's like me when I scan in OG during Weeks 2 and 3 and see Taboo Noise coming after me ghfjdshfj

-Also Rindo can you stay off your phone for TWO SECONDS ik you're trying to figure things out but Fret is a jelly boi and I don't want him to be upset with you my guy

-Sho being an actual sorta mentor to the kiddos?? Who are you sir this is so unlike you ghfgskj what happened to the guy who tried shooting children in the face 8 times over LMAO (granted he's probably just using them but it's still nice to see him actually cooperating and sharing knowledge with the kiddos aaaaa)

-EYO EIJI OJI THE TIKTOK INFLUENCER IS BACK LMAO

-hgjkfshgkjf "we aren't glorifying capitalism on my watch" THATS SO FUNNY TO ME GFHJFSDGHJKS (also an all-orange ensemble is disgusting you deserve jail for one thousand years fkn Cheddar Goldfish Cheezit ass woman)

-WICKED TWISTERS NAME DROP EYOOO we love to see it

-gfhsgjf Poor Rindo embarassing himself for the sake of the Game that's incredible

-R e t u r n t o M O N K E. That is all.

-Dialogue during boss battles is HELLA cool i love that

-HHHHH THE KANON SCENE MADE ME A N G E R Y FRET STOP SIMPING MY GUY says the girl with a Literal Simp Encyclopedia and simps for pixels on a screen daily

-Can't wait to see the other Reapers :eyes emoji:

-CAN'T WAIT TO SEE NAGI MY BELOVED YEAHHHH WOOOOOO AAAAND that's about it for the demo lolol, I absolutely CANNOT wait for next month, this game is gonna be INCREDIBLE holy hell Prepare for more simping, more screaming, and more vibing from Yours Truly :) I fully intend on sharing more general thoughts like this on both Tumblr and Twitter so it's not just reblog-retweet-reblog-retweet with the occasional comment fhgskjd

If you wanna witness my insanity up close and personal I have a Square Enix Discord server called Sea Side Dreamers! You can look it up on Disboard, or you can add me on Discord @Katara0524#9244 for a direct link :) We have topics about Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, NieR, and ofc TWEWY (as well as other topics!), so if you want some good ol' chaos and chitchat, you're more than welcome to join!

[quidfree]

Ok so it looks like im gonna have to intervene off anon cause im not a PUSSY like SOME of the people here

first of all, to address the “just mediocre” comments - i suppose it depends on what anon’s definition of mediocre is, and to a certain extent, i agree. do i think that jjk is a modern masterpiece that will eventually rival the likes of fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood or sailor moon? no, i dont. do i think jjk is a genre-defying shonen anime that is leaps and bounds above most of its peers? yes. so i suppose i would also consider jjk “just mediocre” in comparison to legendary classics, but i think anyone who calls jjk mediocre in comparison to other popular anime rn, like BNHA (there, i said it), is kidding themselves.

jjk’s plot, while nothing particularly groundbreaking, is pretty compelling. at risk of spoiling anything, im not going to go into specifics, but the world in jjk lends itself to some pretty cool villains and plot points. it’s similar to bnha in that it follows high-school students that have basically magic powers, but unlike bnha it introduces real stakes quickly, so it feels like there’s a real threat that the protagonists face off against from the get-go. and while this isn’t particularly covered in the first season, the manga shows that the show and characters don’t have any real plot-armor, so later seasons will be even more interesting and exciting.

jjk’s real strength comes in its characters. the protagonist himself appears to be a stereotypical goody-happy-go-lucky guy at first, but this is quickly challenged by circumstances that are thrust upon him that challenge his world view at the beginning of the series. and while he does still appear to be the same upbeat character as always, his narrative adds emotional depth that i think is lacking in some other shounen protagonists. and this all happens right at the beginning of the series, so im sure he’ll grow even more as the anime continues. moreover, as some of my comrades have already stated, jjk actually knows how to write women characters!!! amazing!! while BNHA struggles to give any of its female characters compelling motivations beyond a crush (a crush!! are u fucking kidding me) i never felt that JJk neglected its female characters. they all have very different personalities, motivations, and powers. in fact, the show devotes basically a whole episode to just the backstory of two female side-characters, which i cant say i remember many other shounen doing, esp not in one that has only had one season. the series also pretty boldly speaks on how shitty sexism is and addresses it as an issue that will be eventually confronted as part of a particular character’s arc, so that’s pretty exciting (also their school uniform covers basically the same amount of skin as the boy’s uniform and there are never any pervy scenes so yayyyy baby steps i guess). speaking of side characters, jjk actually makes its side characters interesting. BNHA made the mistake of cramming twenty students into class 1-A and expected me to give a shit about most of them despite horikoshi giving the vast majority of them little to no development - at this point im convinced half the reason i even care about any characters is because of fanon (sorry to any bnha stans that im shitting so much on bnha, i actually like bnha i promise it’s just so easy to shit on). meanwhile jjk keeps it’s cast of characters pretty small, allowing all of them to have a decent amount of screen time and interesting backstories and powers.

jjk’s animation is also pretty incontestably amazing. the fight scenes are beautiful and nicely choreographed, and the art style is imo pretty. also, to address the comments about pacing - i will admit that jjk does start with a very quick pace, but i actually prefer faster paced anime, especially action anime, so i guess it’s a matter of personal preference. JJK does also slow down towards the middle before picking back up at the end, so there’s something in there for everybody lol. Also i feel like the fast pace makes the series pretty bingable, and since it’s only 24 episodes at like 25 min each, i think its still actually worth watching, even if you come out of it thinking “that was just ok.” god knows there’s plenty of worse shit out there to watch.

anyways that’s my essay on jjk i cant believe i wrote all of this about an anime lmao how embarrassing am i a reddit gamer bro or something. pls ignore any typos and thumbs up my review please and thank you

i appreciate your courage if nothing else

[trillgutterbug]

Fic Writer Questions!

tagged by @palamedessextus 😊 thanks friend!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

64! only five more to the magic number ayyyyy and then i’m legally obligated to never post another one.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

289,575 apparently??? which seems way way way higher than i ever would have guessed, wow. who knew!

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

31 on ao3, although that’s lumping, eg, all marvel subfandoms together. but i have a ridiculous amount of wips in all kinds of other fandoms that i haven’t/won’t post, soooo.... more than that! and i don’t want to list them all bc that’d be a long boring read!

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

it serenely disdains to destroy us, a magnus archives fic that, i somewhat vainly note, has been orbiting in the top few top kudosed fics in the tag since i posted it womp womp.

concerning flight, because we all thirsty for thor/loki+gender and i for one support us.

untitled porny snippet (yes that’s actually what it’s called), because same as above. (i see u, kudos-to-comment ratio and i aint mad but.... i see u. all you dirty birds out there shamefully yet silently jerking it. kudos to YOU.)

an experiment in posthumous subsistence, a batman/joker zombie au i wrote fucking TEN YEARS AGO ALMOST. why???? why is this fic so popular?? i’m barely a good writer now and i sure as shit wasn’t one a decade ago! the terrible title alone should disqualify it from being read, but i guess the people want what they want. and what they want is batman and joker handcuffed together, trying to escape the zombie apocalypse  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

all good things, some stucky hydra trash party-adjacent smut regarding piercings. i stand by this one 100%, it deserves every kudo(s?) tbh.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

i do, depending on the comment! i don’t think comments like “loved this!” / “thanks for writing!” are written with the intent to receive a response (or at least, when i write them on other people’s fics, i certainly don’t expect one). they’re like an extra kudo(s?), and i appreciate them a lot, but they’re not really an invitation to Discuss. whereas if someone clearly has put a lot of thought into a comment, or asked a question, or made some observations that i jive with, or just seems like they want to engage, then hell yeah i jump in there. love that shit. 

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

i guess arguably thine own self, which is some hydra husbands abo. laugh all you want, it’s one of my fave of all my fics lmao. probably specifically bc of the unpleasant/open ending.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

probably moderation is a memory! since it, unlike 99% of all my other stuff, isn’t just total smut, and the whole point of writing it was to wallow as deep as possible in the sauce of giddy teenage infatuation, it got the opportunity to have an actual emotional arc (more or less). furthermore i could not possibly bring myself to break johnny lawrence’s tender little heart ever, that would hurt me far more than it would hurt him.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

i only realised while answering this question that apparently.... no i don’t write crossovers! which is not at all a deliberate choice, i guess a compelling enough one just hasn’t occurred to me yet! 

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

shockingly no! by some accidental miracle i’ve managed to fly under the radar so far, despite some of the really buckwild stuff i’ve posted. however, considering some of the stuff i’m probably ABOUT to post.... that clean track record might soon come to an end lmao.

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

lmao. uhhhh. almost exclusively, and i guess??? all kinds? this is clearly a question composed by someone who does not write smut.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of, and i wouldn’t really care if i did. 

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

yeah i think a few....? a number of people have asked anyway and i always say yes, so probably there’s at least one floating around out there somewhere.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i have! just once, and we really made it count. it’s called a reptile dysfunction, which should tell you all you need to know. 

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

thorki, probably. i always have and always will come back to it, no matter what. it’s got such a ferociously timeless staying power and so much potential variation, i don’t think i could ever get bored of it, regardless of what level of marvel-exhaustion i might feel at a given time, or what tropes, kinks, or stage of literary pretension i’m at. truly the oh tee pee. 

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

ohhhhh all 836575927 of them, but. there’s this one thorki fic i started almost ten years ago as an experiment with a new-to-me style, which turned out over the intervening years to become my main style, and looking back on that fic, which for many years was a touchstone of writing-to-aspire to for me, it’s actually Not Very Good lol. but i still love the core concept, which is a canon divergence berserker thor au, but not only is it a somewhat inaccessible (admittedly less so since the deadpool movies came out, which was a hilarious pipe dream back when i started writing it) x-force comics crossover, but i wrote myself into a bunch of corners and have yet to dig up the energy to write myself back out of them! i go and reread it every year or so and think “hmm... maybe now...” but tbh it’s just not really good enough to bother! perhaps someday i’ll repurpose the best elements of it into something new.

16) What are your writing strengths?

man, it’s so hard to say. in much the same way that you can spend hours every day staring at yourself in a mirror, yet be utterly incapable of picking yourself out of a lineup, i spend a lot of time eyeballing my writing, but stepping back it seems like a chaotic mass of nonsense with few cohesive throughlines. i’m good at writing smut, i know that much! and in that vein, i think i am good at smut bc i am very good at committing to the bit, as it were. getting into the nitty gritty of experience and sensation (physical or emotional) and rendering largely abstract internal concepts in fairly comprehensible ways. i think my prose is quite decent on a sentence level too.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

utterly incapable of finishing anything! or plotting anything! can’t mange a cohesive emotional arc! write myself into overly structured corners or out onto a vast plain with no structure in sight! all the macro elements of storytelling totally elude me, which is very frustrating when i have all this tasty fleshed out micro-level character stuff, but no narrative skeleton upon which to drape it.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?   don’t! unless you are very sure you know what you’re doing, and the other language bits are a) very few, b) easily contextually understood, and c) actually adding something other than a weird flex that you know google translate exists.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

11yo me wrote spock/kirk/janice rand and thought she invented the concept of a threesome. brand been stronk since day one 🤘. (the vulcan salute is right next to the devil horns in my emoji list, so....)

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

i love the (ongoing) better with you series very much, not least because i’m still absolutely flabbergasted that i wrote something that long. i think it’s actually pretty good all things considered and it’s very dear to me on many many levels. but the fic that i just viscerally adore, that i love the style of, and that i had such a transcendent, invigorating, organic Experience writing, is temper its strength, adding honey until quite cold, which is a terror fic with the inexplicable pairing of edward little/hartnell, featuring crossdressing and gender stuff. it just burst out of me fully formed one day and i don’t think i’ve managed to top it yet! 

lowkey tagging @lingua-mortua @pitcherplant @kaasknot @froggy-babyy @deputychairman @nomercyonlytears @clockheartedcrocodile

[thephantomofthe-internet]

Read into Me Chapter 4: North and South

Steve Harrington x Reader

CATCH UP ON THE SERIES HERE

Words: 4,753

Warnings: Swearing, bullying, i reference the plot of Wuthering Heights and that has some icky stuff in it idk what to tag that though

Author’s Note: How’re you guys liking the series so far? I’m really enjoying it, I’d love to hear what you guys think, good or bad! Also, is over 4k too much for you guys? I used to strive to hit that mark when I first started but the fandom’s changed so much, I feel like an old fart lmao

Tag List: @divinity-deos @thecaptainsgingersnap​ @wolfish-willow​ @scoopsohboi​ @herre-gud-nej​ @clockworkballerina​ @maddie1504​ @i-am-trash-so-much-its-scary​ @buckysarge​ @wildcvltre​ @stanleyyelnatsiii​ @unusuallchild @alwaysstressedout @linkispink1995​ @asharpkniffe​ @a-big-ball-of-idk​ @mochminnie​ @used-avocado​ @sledgy14​ @the-creative-lie​

You didn’t hear from Steve after that, save for him returning your essay with minimal markings and a graded ‘A’ on the top. He’d gone back to his people as quickly as he’d left them, letting Vicki talk his ear off from across the aisle. You didn’t mind too much, her voice was grating on the ear, but her hair was pretty and she actually seemed to ask him questions. You didn’t know why it mattered to you that she seemed genuinely interested in Steve, but you decided that he deserved someone who cared enough to know him. Everyone deserved someone who cared enough to know them. Tina just talked about herself for the whole class when everyone was supposed to be discussing the book at hand, Wuthering Heights, and it got very annoying. You just filled out your discussion questions and did your best to be invisible. No one seemed to notice except for Mr. Lawrence, who’d scolded you twice now for not participating in group discussions.

“I know that you know this stuff, but I can’t give you participation points if you don’t participate with others.” He handed you back your discussion sheet for chapter four. You’d gotten everything right; Mr. Lawrence was lobbing low balls at the class to try to get them to read the book. You didn’t change your tune; you didn’t want to talk to your peers. It didn’t matter anyway, no matter what you said to them you’d still write down the same answers and get the same grade.

You didn’t hear much about your failings to participate after he handed back your first essays. You weren’t surprised that you’d gotten a low ‘A’ on the paper; you hadn’t tried that hard on it. You noted that he’d given you a good grade on your editing, which Mr. Lawrence noted on the page that he could count it for your participation for the class, since you did so well with it. You couldn’t complain because it was a decent way to pass.

When the bell rang, you made your usual break for it, excited to be on your free period and free to sit in the sun for the afternoon. Tracy Lords was in Samantha’s gym class and with the weather so lovely they’d do class outside, giving you a chance to work on front profiles with her flat, pretty features.

Steve was dreading getting his paper back. He didn’t trust himself to get a decent grade and even with your help he was certain he’d pull above a ‘D’. Mr. Lawrence always handed out pairs face down, so no one got their grades till they were ready to flip over the page. This was the moment that he always dreaded. He found that it was easiest to rip it off like a Band-Aid, just flip it and see so it can be over. He never read comments, he just needed to know if he failed, but the bright red writing on the top of the page caught his eye immediately-‘I’m impressed, Mr. Harrington’ with a 81 percent seeping through to the back of the page. He stared at the grade until the bell rang, unsure if it was even real, if he was even awake. Once he woke up from his beautiful dream, he knew he had one thing to do.

He burst in the hallway like a golden retriever out an open gate, searching for you without really knowing where to begin. He spotted you at your locker. “Y/N!” he called. You flinched, your shoulders hunching into your neck. You could feel people looking at you, which turned you beet red, almost purple, from embarrassment. You didn’t move from your space, hoping that the tile under you would pull back into a trap door and make you disappear from the scene. It didn’t, of course, and Steve found you quickly.

“Look at this!” he held up his paper to you, beaming like a child. You looked at the paper slowly, taking in the grade and the note at the top of the page, then his face.

“Oh…that’s great.” You said, unsure how to really respond. How was supposed to respond to someone else’s B?

Steve didn’t take in your uncertainty, continuing on “Thank you,” he said earnestly, lowering his voice to add “This is probably the best grade I’ve ever gotten in that class.”

“I’m glad I could help.” You couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride in how you’d helped him out. Usually, the only people around that you could help was your grandparents with chores or Samantha with getting out of her house for an afternoon and while you enjoyed helping them out, you didn’t get the same joy from it, having done it for so long. Helping Steve made you feel full in a way.

Tommy Hanson had been trying to call the new kid, Billy, over to him when he saw the whole scene go down. And he didn’t like it. Not one bit. There was a hierarchy to Hawkins, rules to follow until you graduated and either solidified your choices or moved the hell out. Steve was popular, the home town hero, the sports star. That kind of power was not something to throw away on a little nobody. Tommy wished he could be that popular, to have that sort of accessibility and he got close when he kept his friends in the right station. Steve had already fucked up once, that little Nancy Wheeler bitch had already demoted him from sex god to weepy heartbroken sad boy, but that was still working for him. And he needed his backup plan to still be cool.

Tommy stalked up to Steve, throwing an arm over his shoulders. “Hey, dude, come over here, Stefanie Tomlinson’s panties are showing, you’ve gotta see this shit.” He whispered at him, loud enough to make you cringe and look away, turning back to your books and the stickers on your locker door.

“Dude, don’t be gross.” Steve said, turning his attention back to you “Like I said, thanks for the help.” Tommy kept trying to pull him away, but Steve was taller than him and harder to move around.

“Yeah, like I said, no biggie.” You kept your gaze firmly locked on your locker door. You refused to be mocked by Tommy Hanson. He practically pulled Steve away from you, looking you over with a sneer as they walked off. Tommy didn’t like you, which you already knew. It wasn’t easy for him to hide his hatred in a small town. You didn’t know why, but he’d always been like this, ever since you were kids. He used to push you into the mud and chase you off the swings in elementary school. Since you’d grown up, his cruelty had mostly subsided, but the animosity remained, especially after your mother had threatened his family with albeit an unrelated law suit, which succeeded in getting the whole family away from yours. That was the last helpful thing your mother had done for you.

Tommy kept his arm locked around his friend’s shoulders, escorting him away from potential social suicide. Steve held up his arms in defeat, laughing all the way. “Come on dude, she’s not anything to waste your time on.” Tommy said in a voice loud enough for you to hear, but quiet enough to seem like a whisper.

You shrunk in place, unable to pull your eyes away from the scene, a silent plea echoing in your mind for him to look back if he wasn’t a dick head like Tommy, left unspoken but felt in the depths of your soul. You didn’t know why it hurt you as badly as it had; you knew in your head that he no better than his friends. But your heart had hoped that he was different, that he could be better than him. You turned away before it hurt too badly, collecting your books in your arms and rushing off towards your spare period, hoping to find a bit of quiet to recover from what you’d just experienced.

Steve turned back to see you walking away, his laughter dying in his throat, what Tommy said bouncing around his mind. As soon as Tommy released him, he smacked the freckle faced boy hard in the ribs. “Can you try to not be a dick for five minutes?” he asked, getting a laugh out of Carol, who’d been filing her nails without much interest in the whole thing.

“What? Who gives a shit about her?” Tommy asked, doubling back with his hand on his chest.

“She’s a nice girl, dude, don’t be an asshole.” Steve replied sternly. That piqued Carol’s attention. She turned up from her chipped red nails to look Steve over with a discerning eye.

“Oh god, don’t tell me that you’re trying to bring in another Wheeler type chick into this.” She groaned, brushing away a strand of red hair from her cheek.

“Jesus Christ…” Steve rubbed the bridge of his nose “I don’t know what Nance did to you, but you need to calm down on that crap.”

“But you’re not dating her, right?” Tommy asked.

“Dude, all she did was help me with an assignment, that’s all.” Steve groaned. He felt like a dick, being so dismissive of you, he did like you, but he didn’t really even know you and neither did his friends. He didn’t like anyone assuming who he was or wasn’t with, and yet he still felt like a shithead. He didn’t know why but he did.

When you came home from school, your grandmother was waiting for you by the front door, red plaid kitchen rag draped on her shoulder, apron hanging low on her hips. “Your mother called when you were at school, wanted to see how you were.” She said, wiping her hands on the apron. She shook her head, obviously annoyed at the thought of her absent daughter.

“What’d you tell her?” you asked, kicking off your sneakers and putting them back onto the rack. You didn’t hide your distaste in your mother’s asking about you.

“That you were at school and to call back for you later. She told me to tell you that she’d be back in June and that she was bringing back someone special.” Your grandmother replied, turning back into the kitchen to return to whatever she was making. Your grandfather was passed out on the couch, his snores emanating from the living room almost comforting to you as you trekked up the stairs. You knew that your mother wouldn’t call again for you. She could never remember to call you at a time when you might be at home. She certainly wouldn’t be able to remember to call back.

Before you could even set your bag down, the phone on your desk blared from your desk. Samantha was at soccer practise, so you didn’t believe it was for you, but with your grandmother busy in the kitchen and your grandfather passed out, you grabbed the phone, asking “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Steve,” from his own room, Steve had thought about talking to you again for most of the day, but he’d only found the confidence what the day was over and he was home, where he didn’t have to look at you to speak to you. “I’m sorry if Tommy was weird to you today, he’s an idiot.”

You frowned, brow furrowing “It’s cool, no worries…” you replied. You didn’t feel like explaining how you already knew how much of an idiot he was.

“Yeah, so I was kind of wondering…if you’re not busy…would you mind maybe helping me with the readings? I don’t get this shit at all.” He chuckled awkwardly. In truth he’d had no plan to actually read the novel they’d been assigned, that’s what Cliff���s Notes was for, but he wanted to be around you more, so if homework was a reason to get to be around, then he’d actually read.

“Um…sure, I guess I could.” You didn’t really know what the right answer was for you. You weren’t sure that you trusted him, especially after what had happened that afternoon with Tommy, but your gut told you to say yes.

“Great! What’re you doing right now? Could you meet me somewhere, the reading for the tenth chapter is due tomorrow and I don’t even know what’s happening.” He felt a tad desperate, which was not a feeling he was used to around girls.

“I mean…where would you wanna meet?” anxiety was creeping up the back of your neck. You tried to wipe it away like sweat, but it was stuck to your brainstem.

“You could come over to my place or like I could meet you at the library or something.” Steve didn’t exactly have an answer to that one, he wasn’t even sure he’d get this far. He looked around his messy room, wondering if he’d made the right choice.

You didn’t exactly want to be in his house, but you didn’t have a car and it would take you forever to walk back into town to get to the public library. With a heavy heart, you accepted your unfortunate fate. “I could come over to your place.” You said, squeezing your eyes shut. You hoped that he wasn’t going to take that the wrong way.

“Yeah?” Steve hoped the panic wasn’t evident in his voice. His mother was still out of town and his father spent more time at his office in Carmel then he spent at home as it was. He’d let the mess pile up a bit and he didn’t want to look disgusting.

“Yeah, sure.” You tried to sound casual, but your blood had run cold and your hands had gone clammy. You gripped the receiver far too tightly, your eyes shifting around your room.

“Alright, cool, yeah cool…” Steve said, trying to sound casual “How long do you think it would take to get here?”

“I mean…you still drive the rust coloured BMW, right?” you asked, pulling your curtains back to peer out your window.

“Yeah?” Steve asked.

“I can see your house from my window, I’ll be there in like a minute.” You said.

Steve’s head turned upward, looking around worriedly. He bid his goodbyes quickly, turning his full attention to his messy bed and dirty floor, trying to get every pair of boxers laying on the floor into a basket. He hadn’t expected you to agree to come to his house, and his stomach churned at the idea of freaking you out. He didn’t want to scare you away because he was messy and gross.

You felt as if you’d swallowed your tongue. You rushed for the door, uttering a quick goodbye to your grandparents and pulling your backpack straps tight on your back. It was only five feet away. Five feet. Cross the street and up the driveway and you’re there. You took in a deep breath through your nose and took the first tripping step down your driveway, your body not co-operating with your mind and trying to escape where you were trying to bring it. You needed to calm down, your palms were starting to sweat and your knees had turned to Jell-O. You stopped in the middle of the empty street, huffing out another breath, trying to remind yourself that nothing could hurt you over there. That you could handle anything thrown at you.

Somehow, you made it to the front door without blacking out. You went to knock on the door, but it opened before you made contact. Steve looked frazzled, his hair flopping into his eyes, his expression panicked. “You’re here!” he said, his body blocking the doorframe.

“Am I not supposed to be?” you asked, your hand coming to clutch the top of your opposite arm.

“Nah, nah you are I just-never mind. I’m going crazy I think, come on in.” Steve stuttered, moving his arm out of the way, letting you inside. He didn’t know why he was nervous, he was never nervous to have a girl over. But you weren’t like the usual girls he would invite to hang out by his pool.

You stepped into his house cautiously, entering the dark space like it was a well-preserved colonial mansion. The Harrington household was cold. Everything was navy blue, steely grey, and white. He’d left the lights off in the entryway and the kitchen, although the lights above the grey brick fireplace were on, three white pot lights lighting the whole space. It made his house look ominous. Nobody was around either, you knew that Steve was an only child, but in your house your grandparents were always milling around; sound and voices were everywhere. Steve’s house was silent. The white vertical blinds were left open, and you could see the pool outside, which hadn’t been cleaned yet that day. The carpeting throughout the downstairs muffled your footsteps, adding to the eerie silence.  Overall, the house looked expensive. They had all the latest technology and aesthetically the house was very stylish, it made you want to not touch anything in fear of breaking something. You shivered involuntarily, letting your eyes wander around the house, taking in the massive TV and the matching stereo. All his money didn’t make the space feel like home.

“My stuff’s just upstairs.” Steve pointed a thumb up the stairwell by the front door. You hadn’t realized that you’d wandered out of the foyer and into his house. You swallowed, nodding hard and bounding up the steps ahead of him. You noticed that there weren’t any photographs around the house. That felt a bit homier to you; your grandmother kept most of the photos in intricate albums, only keeping a singular family photograph on the mantle of the white tiled fireplace. That felt a bit right to you, that it really was a home and not a showcase home.

Steve’s bedroom was also blue and dark. His walls were dark blue plaid, with matching curtains. The colour was only broken up by a few posters and a floating bookshelf, which held a couple small trophies and a couple books held between black metal bookstands. His bedspread was a navy quilt,  and his desk was dark wood and heavy looking. The signs of childhood were clear in the plaid wallpaper and curtains, clearly still remaining from a younger life. But beyond it, the room lacked a bit of personality. The only signs of life were the full laundry hamper and the papers on his desk. Everything else in the room could be in anyone’s room. It looked like a guest room or a hotel room. You dropped your bag on the grey carpeting, unsure where to put yourself in the space. Steve was much more casual, pulling out his desk chair and taking a seat, gesturing for you to sit across from him on the bed. You did so, sitting gingerly on the wrinkled bedspread. It was strange to sit on a boy’s bed, much less it be Steve Harrington’s bed.  

“Alright, um…where to begin?” you asked, more to yourself than him. “I guess we should go over what happened in the chapter, yeah?”

“Yeah sure…” Steve replied, picking up his copy of the novel, flipping it open to the chapter. “Uh…so the main chick is in love with Heath and she loves him and they all live happily ever after?”

“That’s…not the plot of either this chapter or the novel.” You said slowly, not looking down to flip your own copy of the book to the marked chapter.

“I mean…that’s what I got from the Kate Bush song.” Steve muttered awkwardly.

“So, you haven’t read the book? Like nothing at all?” you asked. Steve shook his head. “Cliff’s Notes then?” you guessed, looking back to the shelf to see a few of the black and yellow striped covers of the versions of Little Women, Robinson Crusoe, and King Lear. You’d used the reference guides yourself, albeit not as a replacement for the novels themselves.

“You got me…” Steve muttered. He felt like an idiot. It had only taken a minute for him to get caught in his fib.

“Then what’d you need me for?” you replied, setting your book down on the bed next to you, looking him over carefully. Cliff’s Notes would cover everything he needed, they’d answer the questions for him.

“Look…I’m shit at this stuff. I don’t get it. I don’t get why we’re reading this, the book is so boring, even the notes are boring!” he groaned.

“The book is shit.” You replied, deadpan. “Mr. Lawrence is having us read it because it’s one of like three books the county mandates that we read and they gave us Robinson Crusoe last year.”

“What am I supposed to get from it then if he doesn’t even like it?” Steve chuckled, turning to address you fully.

“Well…it’s a tortured love story.” Steve raised an eyebrow at you. You pressed on “Catherine and Heathcliff are in love, but because Heathcliff’s of a lower station than her, they can never be together. And even though Catherine marries someone else she can’t bear life without him.”

“Aren’t they like siblings or something?” Steve’s lip curled upwards in a disgusted expression.

“Adopted siblings and if Emily Bronte doesn’t think it’s weird then we have to ignore it.” You explained with a shrug. You leaned back on your palms, kicking your feet casually. With the windows open, his room was warm and sunny. It faced the woods behind his side of the road, and they looked beautiful from up near the treetops. You’d heard the rumours of Jonathan Byers taking photos of little Nancy Wheeler on the same bed you sat on from the woods. It made you feel icky at the time and uncomfortable now. You didn’t like the idea that anyone could be watching you.

“Then what is Kate Bush singing about? She makes it sound like they get together.” Steve asked. He watched you with a careful eye, his nerves making it hard to even try to catch your eye. You seemed happy, calmer too, and your hair was catching the sunlight from his window, making a pretty crown of light around your head.

“I mean…Catherine dies trying to return to Heathcliff across the moors, Kate Bush is like being her ghost, trying to come back to her love from beyond the grave.” You said simply. Steve pulled out his notebook, the questions written out in wide, square letters. He quickly began scribbling down what you’d said. He pulled out his copy of the Cliff’s Notes and flipped to chapter ten, filling out the questions. You wondered if you should stay or go, but Steve’s profile was partially shaded by the angle he sat at, and the way his jaw jutted out made him look like the statue of David. You slowly pulled out your sketchbook and flipped to a new page. Graphite in hand, you slowly began drawing out his sharp, angular jaw and strong neck.

“So, when did you find the time to read the whole book?” he asked; only briefly looking up from his notes to look at you. Your hair was still pulled up in the bun you’d put it in that morning and your gaze was focused on whatever was behind that heavy looking spiral bound pad.

“It was on, like, the seventh grade summer reading list.” You replied, not looking up. You could feel his eyes on you and the copy of lips weren’t matching the real life counterpart. You pulled your lip between your teeth, using your thumb to blend out a thin line.

“You remembered all that from middle school?” Steve asked.

“Well…I mean the book is kind of weird. Like, it doesn’t make sense, the narrator keeps changing and the speaker isn’t always made known. It was really hard to read, but the story itself was pretty run of the mill. I don’t really get why we have to read it at all…” You explained quietly, switching to a piece of charcoal to add thin, textured lines to the lower lip.

“It’s really shit, eh?” Steve chuckled, turning his attention back to the thin book. “Who’s Isabella again?”

“It is crap. And Isabella’s Catherine’s sister-in-law. She has a crush on Heathcliff, you can write on that, that’s revealed in this chapter.” You explained. You didn’t blame Steve for not understanding the book, you absolutely hated the book when you read it the first time and it was by no means an easy read.

“She’s in love with him, but he’s in love with Catherine?” Steve was scribbling fast, writing down whatever you said.

“Yes and Catherine’s in love with Heathcliff but married Mr. Linton for status.” You replied. Steve and you worked in silence for awhile. Mr. Lawrence expected answers in full sentences and provide reasoning for everything you sourced. Meanwhile, you set a high standard for your art. While you didn’t expect perfection from yourself, you wanted to try to do good work, even just for yourself.

You’d never drawn Steve Harrington before. You’d done pictures of tons of your classmates, Steve just never seemed like someone who needed to be drawn. He had tons of people looking at him and praising him all the time, to his face and behind his back. He seemed like a little celebrity in Hawkins, but sitting on his head, with the sun hitting half of his face and making pretty shadows in the hollows of his face, you saw the small beauty in his features. You knew that he was attractive, that was a universal truth, but now sat on his bed alone in his room, you understood that he really was beautiful. Maybe not on the inside, you didn’t know if he was a truly good person, but on the outside he was golden. Your hands demanded to recreate his features. You felt as though you were carving one of Greek gods of Hawkins high, the best of the town’s beauty.

Steve finished his work soon after and looked to you with a lopsided grin. “I say, and you can totally disagree, that we work better together than apart.” He said triumphantly, jabbing the cap onto his pen.

You looked up with a smirk from your drawing. It was nearly done and you weren’t mad at the work either. It certainly looked like Steve and the shadows were intriguing.  It would’ve made a better painting, but the little sketch was nothing to sneeze at. “I mean, you certainly do.” You replied easily. Steve chuckled, you weren’t wrong; he knew that you were much smarter than him.

“But sure, if you need the help then I’ll help. No big deal.” The words left your mouth before you’d thought them through. But they were true. Despite not knowing him, despite being freaked out by every phone call and conversation, you found yourself still coming back. Your mind was pulled in two very different directions, between adrenaline laced panic that made your hands go clammy and shake and genuine curiosity and intrigue.

Steve couldn’t hide the surprise on his face. He was certain that you’d already on the porch steps, running towards your house as fast as you could. Something in his gut told him not to expect anything. But you agreed. He broke into a lopsided grin, brushing a piece of long brown hair out of his eyes. “Cool, yeah, that’d be great! So, I’ll call you?” he asked tentatively, trying to still give you an out to his own request.

“You already know the number.” You smirked, a yellow sticky note catching your eye. You could see your name and number written in Steve’s wide handwriting stuck to the wall in front of his desk. It made you smile, the small detail of him even looking you up made you laugh. You’d been across the street from him your whole life, but him trying to find you made you strangely happy. You gathered up your things quickly, heading back across the street as another car came into his driveway, an immaculately made up woman in the front seat. She didn’t look you in the face as you passed, focusing on the opening garage door in front of her. You made a mad dash for your house. Everything felt…calm. Strangely calm. You didn’t know if you liked it.

[connan-l]

All right, so now that I finally digested the final a little I have some random messy thoughts about Fruits Basket 2019. It got really long lol, but this has been stuck in my head for a while so I needed to get it out!

Honestly, it was a very good adaptation and I’m still in awe I was able able to see the whole manga animated. Fruits Basket is pretty important to me, as I read it for the first time when I was around twelve and it was definitely one of the series that impacted me the most — the way it tackles themes of cycle of abuse, loneliness, grief and moving forward still feel very special to me even now (I briefly wrote a post about it months ago after rereading the manga), so of course I was delighted upon hearing the reboot announced and for the most part, it didn’t disappoint. I’d never truly thought I’d be able to see characters like Rin or Machi actually move on screen in my lifetime so in a way it still feel surreal lmao (RIP to Komaki though). It was really refreshing to revisit the story in that way, especially given amusingly enough I am myself in the middle of some big changes in my life where I have to leave things behind so it felt sort of... well, I won’t say empowering per se, but quite encouraging and satisfying to watch Furuba, and especially its final, at this timing, in a way. It wasn’t perfect, there are certainly a lot of flawed directive choices that I question and unfortunately quite some important cut contents — but even at its lowest it stayed all in all good. I’m genuinely a bit stunned there are people who thinks the entire thing is worthless or a failure, because man, I have seen what a bad anime adaptation looks like, and Fruits Basket 2019 definitely isn’t one. Natsuki Takaya herself was clearly very invested and satisfied in that adaptation — I mean, just the fact she drew arts for every single episodes or for the season 3 ending really shows that I think. And while there’s a part of me who will always have a soft spot for the 2001 anime, there’s no contest that the 2019 one is the superior one and more representative of the original manga as a whole.

I believe some people really don’t realize how... uncommon it is to get such a consistently good-looking and complete anime adaptation for a shojo manga? Shojo really aren’t lucky in that prospect usually; they rarely get animated, and when they do they’re usually very bland or outright bad, or they get one short season of like 13 episodes that never receive any follow-ups — even shojo considered like classics tend to get poor treatment, unless they’re Sailor Moon of course or a long-running magical girls franchise like Precure (and even then we could have a discussion about the way Sailor Moon’s treated compared to say Dragon Ball for example, but that’s another topic entirely). So yeah it is quite awesome we were able to get this kind of anime adaptation that covers the full manga with good quality from start to finish, and I am so, so glad it exists and that it managed to revive and makes the series so popular again. (Hopefully its success means we’ll be able to get more good anime adaptation of shojo manga from now on!)

But yeah, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t problems with it and I also understand why some of the manga fans had issues. We were kind of hyped with the fact this would be a complete adaptation and in the end we only got a... sort-of-complete one lol. The art and animation stayed fine during the run (there certainly were some episodes that were uhhh, lacking in that sense, but that’s just how it is sometimes with productions and budget), but I admit I was a bit letdown regarding the direction, where it often seemed… a bit uncreative or heavy-handed. There was some very beautiful and smart shots here and there, but on the whole I really had an issue with the adaptation failing to actually take more ambitious decisions on its visual aspect, especially compared to the pretty pannelling of the manga — and when it did take these decisions it just was… kind of obnoxious and in-your-face, like the show is trying to hold the watcher’s hand (with unnecessary things like Kyo’s father record player derailing or the whole big ropes symbolizing the curse that often slapped you all over the screen, which usually just made me want to roll my eyes because of how annoying it felt.) Multiple people also pointed out the overdramatization of some scenes like the Kyo and Tohru’s confrontation at the end of season 1 or Akito and Ren’s fight which was, indeed, not very good and a weird choice. Fruits Basket is already a pretty dramatic show and these scenes are already intense, there was no need for such over-the-top theatrical display of emotions that only made them comes off as comedic. I’m probably nitpicking here but it also bothered me some characters’ expressions didn’t feel properly retranscribed (Shigure especially, whose characterization depends a lot on that, really suffered from this), or that odd habit of making some big panorama plans instead of focusing on the faces and bodies, which particularly sucks during emotional scenes (like the backgrounds were pretty I guess, but that’s not what was important here lmao).

Also that might be just a personal thing, but can I point out that the openings were pretty disappointing to me... They're not bad, but they all looked so... bland. The songs are fine but the rest feel so uninspired and it's kind of sad... I dunno, I wasn't asking for much but I just think they could've done more than just scrolling each character looking vaguely melancholic or making them walk randomly one after another :/ The endings have at least pretty illustrations and I'm okay with them (I liked what they did with Kyoko’s photo in season 3 too), but the OPs kind of feel as if they ran out of budget and ideas for them or something. I kind of feel the same with the OST as well, where they’re generally fine but were a bit lackluster, and sometimes… they were kind of played at bad times? I remember the Rin episode in season 2 were the music felt a bit out of place and took me out of the immersion, which is a shame cause it was otherwise a pretty good episode. But that might just be a me-thing here lol. The voice actors were awesome though! (The Japanese ones, at least, I didn’t watch any other dubs). I’ve said it before but special kudos to Maaya Sakamoto cause damn she’s so perfect as Akito, and Shimazaki as Yuki and Toyosaki as Rin truly delivered too. I didn’t know Manaka Iwami at all but I was really impressed by her Tohru, especially in season 3 — she really was good at capturing her character’s subtle emotional turmoils (I think she makes a better Tohru than Yui Horie too, although I admit I missed Horie a little lol.)

Anyway, on the topic of lack of ambition, that might be an unpopular opinion but there’s also the fact that I’m sad they didn’t actually... try to change or add more original scenes. By which I mean, obviously we had some changes, but not ones that were really interesting (when they’re not actively detrimental to the story). For example, I was really hoping that we’d be able to get at least one original episode focused on Ritsu (and Mitsuru too why not) in season 2 or 3, or on Kagura or Kisa; I dunno, it would’ve been a good occasion to give something more to the characters that got sidelined in the original manga, or add some moments that would’ve been nice to develop like about Akito post-cliff confrontation, but we never got that. And well, that makes sense now that we know they seemingly had an episode restriction (at least on season 3), but, yeah, that’s still a shame. Honestly in the end Ritsu’s character made even less sense in the anime, because like, it was nice they tried to adapt his introduction episode so that it feels less “you have to adapt to gender norms to feel better about yourself,” (the gender non-confirmity is definitely one of the bits that aged the less well in FB) but then they still made him cut off his hair and give his feminine clothes to Kagura at the end so why lol. (And speaking of his episode introduction, I dislike that they cut off his conversation with Tohru after the suicide attempt, not only for Ritsu but also for Tohru cause it is one of the small instances bringing up her issues that is set up early on and that is crucial to her, but I’ll come back to this later.)

And now about the biggest problem to me being, the cut content and episodes rearangement. So, just so we’re clear, I definitely don’t think an anime adaptation needs to be a page-by-page adaptation of the manga to be good. Every decent adaptation needs to have changes, and the ones that tries to just follow the source material without any heart often tend to get pretty bad. So changes are good! Cut content are needed sometimes. But in Furuba 19, it really... wasn’t the case.

And the most unfortunate thing being that the one suffering the most from this is the show’s main character herself, Tohru.

So, obviously other characters also got done dirty by this; Yuki and Machi’s relationship was so incredibly shifted in the background and rushed it’s almost funny. I’m one of the people who thinks that, while I do think they’re cute, I definitely agree on the fact their relationship was a bit underdeveloped in the manga — and that Machi’s character especially suffered as a result by being a bit reduced to just "Yuki’s love interest" when she was a character with so much more to offer (and as a whole I also tend to agree with the fact that Yuki probably didn’t need a romance at all and that his arc is more meaningful while focusing on his platonic relationships, but that’s another topic entirely) — but man, if the manga already underdevelopped them, then ohhh boy, the anime just completely dropped the ball. It feels very odd because to me it seemed like season 2 was taking their time with setting them up, so if they knew they had only 13 episodes for season 3 then they should’ve started the changes there; instead we got 1 nice Yuki/Machi/Kakeru episode, and then it’s like "Yep, they’re in love, just trust me." (It does makes me wonder if season 3 wasn’t originally supposed to be longer but then got restrained because of budget or covid or something…) Kakeru also very much suffered because of them cutting off his girlfriend and his complicated relationship with Tohru… Now, to be honest, I’ve always found the Kakeru/Komaki/Tohru subplot pretty... contrived and useless, and Komaki’s not so much a character more than a device for Kakeru’s development, but it does have some good moments relevant to the story’s themes (I like the ‘‘you can’t play suffering olympics with people’s pain’’morale) and it is important to his character (and Komaki is cute, I admit), so it was still sad they shafted it entirely. (Also I kind of like the tense relationship between Tohru and Kakeru. The fact they both seem to not appreciate each other even afterwards feel sort of refreshing even if it’s never explored unfortunately orz.) I was still surprised they didn’t actually try to make a Komaki cameo at the end? Cause I think it would’ve fitted and Kakeru’s girlfriend had already been mentioned in season 2 but... for some reason they... didn’t. (Mayyybe we’ll get an OAV like with Kyoko and Katsuya? Who knows.)

One scene that was skipped/rearranged that I’m very bitter over is the whole Tohru/Kagura confrontation and Kagura/Rin scene — it might not seem like much, but the moment of Tohru refusing to forgive Kagura is very important, and I was pretty annoyed they turned Rin’s trauma response to Kagura’s violence and her subsequent apology/hug to a gag, it legit felt tasteless. The Tohrin scene they removed at the very end too was frustating; it was great they managed to fit in the "Rin doesn’t want to forgive Akito" bit at least (I was afraid they’d cut it off entirely), but it was so essential for her to say to Tohru, not to Haru and Momiji (plus the way they put it in felt very random and awkwardly placed there, when they were initially talking about Tohru before orz). OH AND the Akito/Hana friendship too! Yeah I know it’s not a Big deal but I absolutely love the little glimpses of their friendship and it’s very important to me so I’m disappointed over them not including the ‘Ah-chan’ scene… (It was kind of weird that the show sort-of implied Hana and Kazuma got together too cause that’s… not the vibe at all from the manga… oh well.)

Most people I’ve seen generally only bring up season 3 regarding the cuts/rearangement because it’s the most obvious and the biggest offender, but I personally think there were already problems with season 2 and 1. At first glance I didn’t have much issue with some of the rearrangement, because early Furuba can indeed be pretty episodic, but thinking back on it as a whole I think it might’ve been better to leave some stuff, like Hana and Uo’s episodes for example, to season 2 (I do wonder if they did this specifically so the reboot would offer original content and differ from 2001 early on...) and cut off other not-so-important things from S1 & S2 — because as a result season 2 kind of suffer a bit by being The Yuki Season, which, for as much as I love Yuki, did end up being a bit annoying and made his development feel less natural and gradual, as well as the fact it sidelined the other characters a little and left them with not much conclusion in its final. So this added to how much they ended up cutting in season 3, it makes the show as a whole feels really unequal. I think they did overall a good job in season 3 with what they had, and they really nailed some of the dramatic and Kyoru moments (the sheets scene, cliff confrontation and post-hospital confession were practically perfect), but it is a shame that it ended up as an extremely marathoned emotional roller-caster rather than a more well-paced watch that we would’ve had if it had been 20 or so episodes. (I know others argued that season 3 was what it was because there wasn’t enough content left to cover for 22 or 24 episodes, but I disagree and even if there weren’t, it would’ve been the perfect occasion to add original episodes then. But I think it was more of a budget and Covid issue personally.)

But anyway, all of this isn’t actually what I’m the most annoyed with (and YES that’s a already a lot lmao), those are stuff I can live with, but like I said earlier the most problematic is what they cut off from Tohru’s character. And that indeed includes her parents’ backstory.

So, just so I get this out of the way; yes, I do understand why people were relieved to not see Kyoko and Katsuya’s relationship play out on screen, and yes the age gap and teacher-student thing is creepy and I do kind of wish it hadn’t been written that way. (Though I was a bit amused by people who thought we didn’t get the backstory because of the questionable age gap when, uh... you know I very much doubt the anime industry has an issue with that. Like, to start with, we wouldn’t have had Uo and Kureno’s romance if that was the case (even if Uo and Kureno is less problematic, it’s still the same basis of a underage high school girl/20+ adult man relationship), and second there was a literal romcom anime about a high school girl and an adult man that was broadcasted at the same time as Furuba season 3 lmao. So nah, it wasn’t there the problem to them, it was just time and episode restriction, which was pretty much confirmed with the announcement of the OAV focused on them.)

So, Kyoko and Katsuya is definitely Problematic and I agree on their relationship being uncomfortable; however, I’m a bit baffled that people were literally cheering on not having that part in the show, because it is... it is not just like a small bit of family trivia, it is Extremely important and actively essential to Tohru’s character and Fruits Basket’s themes and narrative as a whole. It’s very important to understand Kyoko’s character, of course; to humanize her and finally present her as a very flawed person and not just the idealized mother that Tohru project upon her, and it is extremely important simply to understand Tohru herself as well; to understand where her way of thinking, her trauma and attitude stems from, and this in a way that just isn’t possible to see with the little fragments of that flashback we got or the bits of Kyo and Kyoko’s interactions.

See, Tohru’s character is principally constructed around two things; her grief over her mother and her almost-pathological selflesness and people-pleaser needs that comes from her abandonment issues and loneliness, and her arc is very much about letting go of both of these things and finally moving forward and letting her life change. There’s this perception of Tohru I see sometimes that she’s not a very interesting character especially compared to others like Yuki or Kyo, or that she ‘‘stays the same kindhearted, naive girl from start to finish,’’ and while I deeply disagree with this I know where it comes from. The thing with Tohru is that she is firstly an extremely emotionally repressed character, and so a lot of her depth and development is made through small, gradual details scattered throughout the manga. It’s done in such a way that except for some obvious scenes those small, apparently insignificant moments are easy to miss or disregarded, and unfortunately it is a lot of these details that the 2019 anime cut, or rearanged in a way that feel less impactful or makes less sense; such as, like I pointed out earlier, her conversation with Ritsu after his suicide attempt. As I’ve seen others point out, this result in altering Tohru’s portrayal and rendering her character mostly about her romance, undercutting and downplaying all of her small, subtle character moments and developments, and miss a bit the second part of the story where the narrative actively challenge the ‘savior/therapist/mom’ that other characters and Tohru herself projected upon her.

And as a result it also means undermining things like her parallel and relationship to Akito, which idealistically should’ve been slowly built up throughout the last season but because of how rushed season 3 was in the end felt a little flat. (Akito’s character in general had some issues also because of the unequal pacing and rearranged scenes, though admittedly I think this was also an issue present in the original manga.) Kyo’s character and his romance with Tohru is the one element that managed to get out of this mostly unscathed (although Kyo also does suffer a bit from it), but because of what was removed from Tohru’s character it still inevitably impacted them by making their characters as individuals lacking. It’s not like it is a complete failure, mind you; I think the anime at least did a decent job at showing Tohru is Not Okay even at the beginning in season 1 (they certainly did a better job at it than the 2001 one lol) and managed to roughly portray her issues well enough overall, but it is just… lacking in the subtlety and nuances that, to me, makes her character and writing really special and unique.

(This post explains what I’ve tried to say here in a much more eloquent and better way that I ever could, and this all put into perspective what I basically love so much about Tohru and Fruits Basket in general.)

And, you know, it would’ve been sad but comprehensible with any other character, but here we’re talking about the story’s literal protagonist, which is why it is the part of the adaptation that makes me feel the most bitter. Tohru and her story is truly amazing and well-written, the thing I was looking forward to the most with this reboot — and while I do understand the episode restriction and I do believe they still did their best with what they had — her arc still deserved to receive a full proper adaptation, not a kind-of-half one.

So, yes, I am at least glad they’ll adapt Kyoko and Katsuya’s story in OAV, but the fact that it will never be included in the actual main narrative is still actively detrimental to it, and it will never have the same effect that if it had been played out before the Kyoru sheets scene where it should’ve been. (I hope they also won’t cut the fact that their story is narrated by Kyo, because that is also a very important detail for both Kyo and the story, but I have the feeling they will…)

Welp, that was quite a long, messy rambling. Not sure if anyone will actually read all of it but if you did then congrats lol. I feel in the end I’ve been really harsh and negative with the reboot… I do love it a lot! If someone asked me I would wholeheartedly recommend it (though I guess I would still argue to read the manga first if you really want to experience the story in all its nuances). I think they truly did an impressive job — even with season 3, which a lot of its episodes were beautifully done and did make me tear up a few times lol. I’m just sad it couldn’t actually offer a better, more nuanced delivery of the story’s depths and of one of my favorite manga protagonists that means a lot to me. But that’s an adaptation that so many fans wanted for years and I’m happy and grateful it’s here cause Fruits Basket deserved at least that much!

[thehoneyedhufflepuff]

2019 Top Five

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2019. Tag as many writers/artists/etc as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

thank you for tagging me @ninemagicks @sourcherrymagiks @f-ing-ruthless-baz @sharkmartini 💜

2019 was the year I found Carry On & this lovely fandom. It was the year I started writing & drawing again after many years of being creatively stagnant (& I wrote a LOT; over 310k published on AO3 & who knows how much is currently sitting unpublished in my Google Drive). It’s been a bit of a bumpy ride—lots of self-doubt & uncomfortable feelings about my own work—but this book ultimately gave me my creativity back, & some wonderful friends, & self-growth, day by day. I’ve been in a bit of a funk since the end of the countdown, & especially these last few weeks, so I think this will be a good opportunity for me to reflect on the things I’m proud of & try to say some nice things about my own work. Let’s get the party started.

1. Between the Lines

Y’all probably aren’t surprised, right? I feel like BTL has really helped me grow as a writer while telling a story that’s very personal & important to me. When I first started this fic, it was meant to be just a little bookshop AU. I’m very proud of what it’s become, & the reception it’s had has blown me away. I appreciate everyone who’s read it/reading it/yet to read it so very, very much. I never would’ve guessed that I’d still be working on this fic, let alone how long it would be. I think it’s probably my best work stylistically & in terms of the story, even if sometimes I cringe when I reread the beginning. (I either cringe or really like my work when I reread it, there’s no in-between.) (I mostly really like this one when I need to go back & study it.)

IDK, I’ve talked about BTL a LOT the last eight months. I’m not sure what else I can say about it right this moment, but I’m sure I’ll think of something eventually, & hopefully y’all aren’t sick of hearing about it because I don’t think I can help it.

🦖💛💙🦖

2. A Pair of Splendid Morons

This fic is still near & dear to my heart. I like to say it was the first fic I finished in the fandom, but it was actually my second (I don’t...like to talk about Merry Gentlemen. At all. I think I’ve been scarred since I got a scathing anon review in the comments [which is why I no longer allow anon comments on AO3, RIP].) (I made some...choices with that fic. ANYWAY.)

So Splendid Morons was the second fic I finished in the fandom (it’ll be a year old on Valentine’s Day; can you believe?!). It’s my second-longest (after BTL, of course, lmao) & I wrote it in just six weeks, which is lightning-fast by my standards. (This set me up to think I was a fast writer. I was sorely disappointed when I discovered that’s not the case.) It’s also my most-read fic, though BTL is super close to taking the crown.

My writing’s improved a lot since I first posted APOSM, I think, but I also think it holds up pretty well! (I do worry sometimes that I wrote Simon too soft, & there are a few mistakes I made by not properly researching [ahem, looking at you, Suitgate].) (One thing I found slightly amusing was the influx of readers this one got after Wayward Son, lmao. This fic is not in the vein of WS at ALL.) (Okay, that might be sort of false? I do mention trauma etc. in the fic, but I guess the main difference is that Simon & Baz really try to face these things together instead of apart. And also they communicate, albeit somewhat awkwardly. It’s a dream come true.)

For anyone who hasn’t read it, it’s a Carry On-era canon first time fic, & it spawned my post-Carry On series that is now an AU. I still have stories to tell on that timeline, but it’s sort of hard to forget Wayward Son completely, you know? When I first started writing this, it was technically still possible. Now it’s only possible as an AU, which is fine. (I’m not really sure where I’m going with this...I just have weird feelings, lol.) OH, also this was the first time I ever wrote a sex scene. I think it’s actually pretty good for a first time (mine & theirs, lmao).

3. Housewarming

Sort of cannot believe I’m picking the smuttiest thing I’ve ever written as one of my top fics of the year, but also??? I’m proud of this fic. It’s super hard to write smut—no euphemism—& I reread this one recently & thought I did a pretty good job. (I was actually slightly ashamed after I posted it, but I got over that once I got some nice comments. Nice comments are always very helpful.) I’ll share one here, which I think is fine since AO3 comments are public anyway:

Your writing just has so much LOVE in it and you write their companionship and connection so beautifully. You know, I wasn't going to read First Bite because that's not my kind of thing and usually grosses me out, but I've loved your other stuff so I gave it a shot. Turns out, it's just that stories like that tend to focus on the kink and grit, but you focus on everything that's good between them instead. And then you show how those good things lead to the perhaps more-than-vanilla coupling.

This fic, too, is grimy and steamy, but it's also sweet because you include the right details... This is not a smut fic of the rough kinky variety. It's a smut fic about two people reveling in a sacred space/act they've created together. Props to you because the difference is palpable. (I have never in my life written so much about sex on a fic review so sorry about this ramble lmao)

Y’all...this comment meant so much to me. This is what it’s really about, you know? I’m trying to show them expressing love, & this just made me so happy. Numbers-wise, stories with a focus on sex seem to get fewer kudos/comments, & I think part of that is the anonymity factor (which I totally understand), but I just want to say that something like this means A TON to those of us who write stuff like this. Many thanks to @sappho-said-i-could ; this comment single-handedly made me much less self-conscious about this particular work. 💜

4. Crashing Through

This is one of my favorite ficlets from the countdown, & also my most popular countdown fic on Tumblr in terms of notes (not that that’s a deciding factor, but it DOES make me happy). It’s a little alternate ending to WS (just a what if? for the beach scene at the end of the book.)

Like many, Wayward Son hit me really hard. I love Wayward Son a lot, but I spent days feeling so emotionally drained, & then weeks just unable to write. This was one of the first things I wrote that even had anything to do with Wayward Son, & fun fact! I wrote it all by hand in the car on a day trip. While it’s obviously not a canon-possible scene at this point, I still really like it. (I reblogged it yesterday as part of my Fandom Anniversary Reblog Thingy that I’m doing, & I read it & thought, Huh. Sometimes I’m decent at this whole writing thing.)

I actually felt stuck when I went to write Be With Me after this, because I didn’t think I could top the way they said I love you in this one (I still...sort of prefer this to the scene in Be With Me but oh well, what’re you gonna do).

5. “Love”

Can y’all tell I don’t normally name my art pieces? I don’t normally name them. I’m super proud of this one; it was the last piece of art I made in 2019, & I think it’s one of my best. It’s one of my least “popular” pieces in terms of notes, but I still really like it a lot & I did a side-by-side comparison of this next to my first fanart last year & it was super encouraging to see my progress. Sharing art has been scarier for me than sharing writing, but seeing how far I’ve come since June was very helpful.

ANYWAY! BTL is super close to my heart, as y’all know, & I had a moment where I just really wanted to draw them in this moment where they’re finally getting some time to just be together & enjoy the newness of their relationship. This was done in copic marker for the most part, though I also used colored pencil for their blushes (my brand 😏) & Baz’s sweater. (At one point I thought I’d completely ruined the whole piece because of how Baz’s sweater was looking, but then @knitbelove gave me some sweater advice & I went back to work & held my breath & everything turned out okay in the end.) This is also the last traditional piece of art I’ve done, & I should probably change that soon. (Please give the original post some love if you’re so compelled. 💜💜💜)

I think I’m a few days late in terms of doing this, so I’m not sure who all has gone yet! I’ll tag @warriorbeeofthesea @krisrix @pipsqueakparker @icarus-n-flames @vkelleyart @singerofsimplesongs @fight-surrender @knitbelove @annabellelux @pitchpatronus @subpar-selkie @neck-mole @cynopoe @gibbarts & anyone else who sees this & wants to do it! Seriously, that means you! 😉

[scnnyfm-old]

chicago’s very own sunshine ‘sunny’ carmichael has been spotted on madison avenue driving a bmw 3 series , welcome ! your resemblance to dua lipa is unreal . according to tmz , you just had your twenty-third birthday bash . your chance of surviving new york is uncertain because you’re sensitive , but being altrustic might help you . i think being a cancer explains that . 3 things that would paint a better picture of you would be the scent of bubblegum, an abundance of house plants, and freshly baked cookies . ( cis female + she/her ) 

helloooooo ghouls, goblins, and everything in between. it’s ya girl aneesa or whatever fun nickname you wanna call me, and this is my child sunny! you can reach me via ims or catch me on discord at 𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐚 🦋☀#5408

* && 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐬

full name — sunshine carhmichael

nicknames — sunny (preferred name actually)

birthday — july 15

height  — 5′ 8″

age  — twenty-three (23)

pronouns — she/her/hers

occupation(s) — singer, record executive, fashion/cosmetics brand ceo, fashion designer, reality show star, & model

languages spoken — english (barely)

orientation — bisexual

* && 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑻𝑶𝑹𝒀 𝑺𝑶 𝑭𝑨𝑹...

sunshine hawthorne grew up in the foster care system, according to the letter her mother left her, she was just a teenager with strict religious parents who threw her out the minute they learned of her pregnancy, and sunshine’s father was nowhere to be seen, and giving sunshine up was easier than living on the streets trying to fend for herself and a child

SEXUAL & PSYCHICAL ABUSE TW growing up in the foster care system was a lot, she bounced from family to family, and the things that happened were unspeakable. sometimes the abuse was physical, emotional, or sexual and it just caused a lot of deep personal trauma for herself that was never resolved

this caused her to become reserved, stuck up for the underdog even if it was at her own expense, just intrinsically unselfish, has always been the mom friend to a fault

she was 10 when she got adopted into an extremely wealthy family, like i’m talking top ten wealthiest families in the states, and suddenly sunny hawthorne became sunny carmichael 

so let’s take a minute to talk about the carmichael’s 

they originate from old money, i’m talking so far back it’s unclear whether or not the money they have was obtained legally or not, this caused her parents to be a little reckless w their spending

her father: sebastian carmichael is the one who inherited the wealth from his father, who inherited it from his father, and the cycle continues, he was addicted to gambling add that to the fact that he was a serial cheater and you have an extremely poor father figure

ALCOHOL & DRUGS TW her mother: davina carmichael was a drug dependent alcoholic who spent all of husband’s money to makeup for the fact that he was cheating on her, started her own billion dollar company from scratch, plans on ‘giving it’ to sunny

the carmichaels were very problematic and all of their scandals were extremely public, in fact the only reason they adopted sunny in the first place was so that they could appear more well-rounded then they were

after that would come give siblings, and it fell upon sunny to take care of all of them, so from a young age she acted extremely mature, learned to fend for herself, and still managed to have a soul flourishing with tender spots

sunny was a gifted kid, not academically, she struggled A LOT, she had trouble paying attention, couldn’t read as well as the other kids. she got teased a lot for being ‘dumb’ and honestly hated it, it’s one of her biggest insecurities to this day. but what she lacked academically she made up for artistically, she was musically inclined, and it was clear that she loved to draw (apparent from all the doodles in the margins of her notebooks)

her family capitalized on this as if she were some sideshow attraction, come see our daughter! look how good she is at painting and doodling! pay us money! and although it made her feel like some trophy the could polish and show off, and this messed up sunshine even more because she knew deep down they didn’t love her

in high school she was the bubbly ditzy popular girl, chewed on enough bubblegum to finance a new mercedes, and just was that stereotypical girl ripped straight out of an early 00′s movie

was on the cheerleading team because again i tell you she was just living her best teen life! having an amazing time! vibing!

although her parents could give her anything they wanted and were decent enough to pay the bills for her and her siblings, she wanted to provide for herself, not have to depend on her parents for anything

she got into modeling! and although t took her a while to find her footing eventually she did, and it was a great time! but eventually parents got jealous and made her quit modeling altogether, because god forbid that she get more attention than they did

eventually (and to everyone’s surprise lmao) she went to college, and somehow got accepted into an ivy league....for art! not as surprising, but her family lied and said she went to business school bc of course they did

she went to harvard and majored in visual arts, she got her degree, and got her her happy ass out of there, mostly stayed focused on her studies, occasional party here and there

she was extremely worried about her siblings and she immediately went back home to them, surprisingly they were in one piece, not surprisingly they were being raised by nannies

she applied her visual arts degree and started designing clothes, then modeling said clothes, because although her parents had enough money to get her company off the ground, she wanted to do it by herself

and she did! finally bringing a decent name to the carmichael family!

was a guest judge on a bunch of modeling/runway shows, occasionally starred in her family’s reality tv show against her will, and was so dynamic she would be offered her own, and of course she jumped at the opportunity! 

her mother tried handing off the company to her, and she declined! instead she opened up her own company selling her designs and was very hands on in learned to make cosmetics, and her company has been doing extremely well so far, it’s set to surpass her family’s company in a couple of years

as if she didn’t have enough on her plate she wanted to pursue her singing career, ended up having a whirlwind romance w a singer that she collaborated with, they were pretty serious and talked about being engaged, but eventually things fizzled out

said romance inspired a lot of her music, and encouraged her to keep going with her music career, she even worked her way up to the title of executive of their label, she’s on top of the world

she’s come a long way from the shy girl from foster care who afraid of her own shadow, but she’s lost none of her softness!

still extremely charitable and even started multiple charities all ranging from helping fund the foster care system to providing more funding for no kill shelters (she’s a vegan!) all of her charities are nation wide and oh boy does she have a lot on her plate

has....literally no time for anything else....still tries to prove to herself that she’s definitely not stressed and has so much free time! sdflksj tries to party and have fun, but mostly craves staying inside and takes baths with scented candles and just watches the same romcom over and over again 

* && 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭

....okay so maybe it’s not completely believable that she got into an ivy league with her own merit, after all she’s not the sharpest tool in the shed and spoiler alert she didn’t

her parents bribed an admissions counselor to let their daughter in their visual arts program, they even donated enough money to renovate the art museum 

all of this happened without sunny’s knowledge and she continues to live in blissful ignorance about the whole thing

* && 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲

zodiac — cancer rising, cancer sun, & scorpio moon

alignment — lawful good

mbti — infp-t

enneagram — type 2 ( the helper )

temperament — phlegmatic

house — hufflepuff

positive traits — ( + ) altruistic , committed , conceptual , curious , courteous , determined , generous , humble , inventive , imaginative , loyal , loving , organized , passionate , playful , reliable , selfless , supportive , thoughtful , and trustworthy

negative traits — ( - ) anxious , cautious , compulsive , critical , disorganized , dogmatic ,, hyperactive , indifferent , insecure , impulsive , logical , oblivious , pedantic , protective , and resilient

* && 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

please don’t feel limited by this list because i have a brain the size of a walnut and this is all i can think of these are almost all ripped off ryker’s intro bc i’m not creative

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ 𝑭𝑨𝑴𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑨𝑳....

family friends  maternal or paternal cousins

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ 𝑹𝑶𝑴𝑨𝑵𝑻𝑰𝑪...

past crush  current crush  flirtationship except she prolly doesn’t realize bc head empty  unrequited love ( on either side )  fwbs  will they? won’t they?  someone her friends are trying to set her up with  forbidden love of some kind idk maybe not  exes on good terms  exes on bad terms  first love high school or college romances  summer romance  childhood crush friends to lovers  pr relationship somebody who leads her on 

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ 𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑻𝑶𝑵𝑰𝑪...

BEST FRIEND / ROOMMATE PLOT BASED ON NEW GIRL OR FRIENDS PLS I WILL GIVE YOU MY EVERYTHING  best friends  confidants  ride or die sibling like friends  close friends  neighbors??  enemies to friends  reunited childhood friends drunk / party friends  someone she’s a good influence on  bad influence  unlikely friends  secret friends, aka friends who do not hang around in the public eye as their family or friends may not get along  #married....just they argue and love each other like a married couple

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ 𝑵𝑬𝑮𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑽𝑬...

enemies  former best friends  frenemies

[purplesurveys]

1017

survey by lets-make-surveys

1 - Are you one of those people who can watch TV shows and movies over and over again without getting bored? Yeah this is pretty much my approach to all of my favorites. if a show or movie is able to join that club, then I automatically have no problem watching it over and over. Case in point, Friends for TV shows and The Proposal for movies.

2 - If you drink coffee, do you like it plain or would you rather have something like a latte or something flavoured? I never take coffee black. I mean I’ve had a few sips of it from friends’ cups before, but it just made me miserable loooool.

3 - How did you used to dress ten years ago? Do you dress in a similar way now? Ten years ago I was 12 and had no fashion sense whatsoever. I just put on whatever hand-me-down I got or whatever my mom would get me when she’d go window shopping. Didn’t really start putting in effort in my outfits until the end of high school.

4 - When you’re grocery shopping, do you buy known brands or are you happy to go with the generic store version? Known brands, because most of the time they end up having a better quality as well. 

5 - Do you have a close relationship with any of your cousins? I’m super close with only one cousin, the eldest one on my mom’s side. He’s pretty much like an older brother to me and my siblings. Everyone else on my mom’s side is too young for me to get truly close with; my cousins on my dad’s side are too shy and also live too far away for me to be able to keep up a close relationship with them.

6 - Who was the last person to sleep over at your house? Does this person stay over often or was it more of a one-off? Gabie, I think. She stayed over a lot before, but obviously not anymore.

7 - Does bad weather put you off going out if you’ve got plans to do so? Have you ever cancelled plans due to the weather? Only if a typhoon is really strong; like now, and how they actually had to cancel work today because of the power outages everywhere and because residents in other cities are already being brought to evacuation centers where they can be safe. I had no idea work suspensions were a thing lmao so I was glad to read the message today; I didn’t know how I was going to work with only data and limited battery for both my phone and laptop (power’s been out in our house since 1 AM). :(

8 - When you’re on vacation, do you prefer doing the typical tourist things, or would you rather explore somewhere off the beaten track? I will enjoy a tourist thing or two, but otherwise I’d focus on the less-explored or less-visited attractions. It’s usually the museums or historical landmarks, which is a shame.

9 - Did your family travel a lot when you were younger? From the time I turned 11, which I think was the time my dad got a good promotion and money got a lot better at home. We’d go for vacations locally and abroad every time he was home, which was every 5-6 months.

10 - When was the last time you went shopping for clothes? Did you get anything decent or find any bargains? Around March, I think. Yeah, I found two tops that were both bargains.

11 - Is it true that accessories can make or break an outfit? For sure. With me, it’s bags.

12 - What is your worst memory from high school? What about the best? The absolute worst that I can remember was when we had to role-play as our chosen character in the novel we were taking up in Filipino class; and for some wild reason I chose the most extravagant, bitchiest, flamboyant character...for whom I do not have even the slightest acting chops. When I got to the front of the classroom that’s when I realized my mistake, blanked out, realized I wasn’t going to be able to act as her, and fumbled for the next five minutes. 

My favorite bits from high school were the lunch periods I spent with my friend group. Even if we don’t talk anymore, I’m just grateful I was able to find a home in a group in high school.

13 - Is there any trait in a potential partner that would be a total dealbreaker for you? Right now my biggest dealbreaker is if they aren’t Gabie...lol. Other than that, I imagine being hugely turned off by poor hygiene.

14 - Do you insist people use coasters if they’re putting drinks down in your house? No. I wish we did have coasters as I find them aesthetically pleasing haha, but my mom doesn’t find them necessary

15 - Have you ever been arrested? Were you guilty of whatever it is you were arrested for? Never been.

16 - Name five items on the shelf nearest to you: I don’t have shelves in my room.

17 - After meals, do you wash dishes up right away, or do you leave them in the sink and do a whole days worth at once? I leave them in the sink and soak it with water and dishwashing soap for an hour or so, so that by the time I get back to it it’s easier and quicker to wash. So I do leave them, but I don’t wait until I have 4353894753246 dishes to wash by the end of the day.

18 - What websites do you find yourself spending the most time on? These days I’m primarily on Google Suite, honestly. Work eats up my week.

19 - Do you still download music and TV shows? No. Nearly all media I consume these days is thanks to an online subscription. The only exception is YouTube, I think.

20 - Does your phone have a good battery life? How long does it last before you need to charge it again? I don’t know how it fares compared to other brands, but I’m generally okay with my phone’s battery life. It lasts around 2-3 hours if used continuously, but if I’m out all day and on the go, it can last a whole day with me.

21 - When was the last time you hit snooze? Yesterday.

22 - Did you ever play The Sims? Which expansion pack was your favourite, if you had any? I did play The Sims a lot before – mostly Sims 2 on the PS2, Sims 2 Pets on the PSP, and Sims 4 on the PS4. I never explored the expansion packs too much, though.

23 - Are there any popular film series or TV shows that you just don’t get the appeal of? Game of Thrones and any Marvel movie.

24 - As a child, did you receive pocket money or an allowance? How much did you get? Was it dependent on you doing chores of some kind? Eh, not really. I didn’t receive an allowance of any kind until I was in high school when I started to be given P100 (roughly $2) a day, which was enough for snacks and lunch. No, I didn’t do chores to get the money.

25 - Do you think your parents did a good job of raising you? Would you do anything differently with your own kids? They taught me manners, showing respect, and different values like recognizing my privilege, giving to the poor, understanding my enemies in school, etc. But my childhood seriously lacked emotional maturity, physical affection, and, generally...just being treated like a kid; and I definitely feel the effects from these until today. I was already yelled at from age 5, and that has made me afraid of anyone who ever so slightly raises their voice. I’d do a lot of things differently with my own kid/s.

26 - If something is bothering you, do you have to fix it right away? Not always. Sometimes I run away from it first.

27 - Are there any household jobs you enjoy doing? If so, what’s the reason that you enjoy those things? This isn’t much of a chore as washing dishes or cleaning the bathroom, but I love making my bed. It gives me a sense of productivity and accomplishment, and it’s honestly a form of self-care. I always have the option of letting my bed stay messy and then feeling like shit about it the whole day, so when I do make my bed and fold up my blanket and everything, it gets a little easier to pat myself on the shoulder.

28 - Do you still live in the area you grew up in? Would you like to live somewhere else one day? Where would you go? Yeah, we literally just moved to the village right next to the one I grew up in. I’ve lived here nearly all my life, so I can’t wait to move someplace else. In the city, preferably; with skyscrapers and the constant sound of traffic, construction, and people walking. I feel I’d be happier there.

29 - Do you smoke, drink or do drugs? How old were you the first time you tried those things?  Do you want to quit? I drink, vape, and smoke, but I’m not reliant on any of these. I had my first drink at 18, and I smoked and vaped for the first time when I was 21. No, I don’t have plans to quit.

30 - What’s one thing that really grosses you out? Is it something you have to deal with anyway? How do you cope? Cockroaches. Sometimes we’ll see a cockroach roaming around the house, but it’s super rare so I wouldn’t say I regularly deal with them. I cope by yelling for my mom or dad to come kill it, ha.

[cherryeol04]

Action! | Ch. 4

Genre: Humor, Romance, Slice of life?, Crackheadedness  Pairings: BaekRen, MinRon Work Count: 1.5K Summary:  From the moment he was casted, Ren wasn't sure if he had what it would take to be a pop idol. Losing faith in himself, he was going to give up the future he had always wanted, but one person stood by his side and renewed his faith. After a hot debut and rapid growth of stardom, Ren started to notice that maybe this person, his close friend, was something more. But how could a straight man even remotely think of a homosexual relationship? Warnings: Homophobia, some smut (chapters will be marked) A/N: I wrote this series back in 2012 and used OCs and over the top writing style for arguments. Whoops. Lmao it’s pretty decent though, so I hope you enjoy!

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Ren’s POV

~*~ 1 year Later~*~

Staring at myself in the mirror, I was kicking Noona so hard in my mind. Whose bright idea was it to dye my hair blond? Wasn’t it bad enough I looked feminine with brown hair, now I have to look even more girly?

“It’s what the fans want. They love feminine looking idols. They’re the ones with the biggest fan base. With this new look, you’ll be rocketed to stardom.”

God damn manager-hyung. I knew I shouldn’t have listened to him. I should have just declined. How can I go on like this? I’ll be a laughing stock. I’ll give my mom a heart attack if she sees me like this. Her precious son turned into a woman. I’m probably going to hell for this too. The others…they don’t understand. Well, Minhyun was slightly feminine, but not a lot. And he got to keep his hair the same. Dongho…his hair was blond now, but it made him look stronger. He didn’t look like the cute kid I hung out with during trainee days. He was strong, sexy…

That’s not gay to think right? It was okay to think of another man as sexy?  Not sexy as in ‘I want to date him’, because I certainly do not! But sexy as in I envy his looks and wish I could look like him. I feel the same with Jonghyun. He had this goofy feel about him, but he was sexy, especially when he was posing for pictures.

God, why can’t I be like them? Strong, sexy, handsome? I’m just some girl now. Growling, I swung my leg, kicking the top of the vanity, making make-up noona jump.

“Sorry.” I apologized, blushing. Anger Minki! Anger! I can’t believe how much I’ve changed and we haven’t even debuted yet. I can’t be like this, but I can’t be myself either. I want to be the goofy, happy, playful maknae that I am. But Jonghyun and Dongho, they already have that title. So what am I then? The silent one? The cold one? That’s not an image I want our potential fans to have of me.

Closing my eyes, I leaned back as the make-up was applied. I was so tired. We had been working so hard for the past few months. Our debut was only a week away and dance practice was getting longer and longer. Everything had to be perfect. Teasers for our debut had been released and YouTube was exploding already. All our potential fans were waiting so eagerly to actually see us, to listen to us. Oh, the pressure!

Opening my eyes, I stared at myself once more now that the make-up was put on. Cursing, I swung my leg again and hit the vanity, making others jump. Blushing, I bowed and apologized.  Damn it, now I really was girly. I don’t think I can do this. There was no way I could do this!

“Looking good Minki.” Aron spoke as he walked over. Aron, god I remember the first time I met the other. He hadn’t known a lick of Korean, and now, thanks to Dongho’s help, he was almost fluent. He still stumbled and made a fool of himself, but it was understandable. He was still learning, so we couldn’t hold it against him.

“Not really.” I said as I leaned in, fixing the hairs that fell over my eyes. I had to see it after all. I think they needed to be curled a bit more and lifted a bit higher, or cut shorter. “I look so damn girly.”

“Yeah.” Aron said like it was the most natural thing in the world. “You look good. You’re cute and adorable; you give us a lot of fame. After your teaser was released, the number of views for yours alone was crazy high. It’s going to be okay.” He said and patted my shoulder.

How was this going to be okay? I felt like screaming at the moment. None of them looked like me. I know I’m going to be hit on; it’s just going to be so ridiculous. “I’m going to quit.”  

“Don’t quit. Give it a chance.” Aron said. “Okay? You’ll be fine.” He patted my shoulder once more before leaving my side and I sighed heavily. This is not going to be alright, it’s not. I’m going to die of embarrassment, we’re going to flounder and no one will even know our name.

Leaning forward in the chair, I covered my face with my hands, though I was careful not to smudge the make-up. ‘Breath in, breath out. In. Out. In. Out.’ That was my mantra for the past few weeks now and it worked most of the time like it was now. I just needed to gather my thoughts and think positively. I can do this…I can do this…

“Everyone on set!”

Lifting my head, I stared at the staff member before looking back as the other members stood and headed for the set of our first music video. Following suit, I followed behind them, moving slowly, taking in the set. Staring at the chairs, the backup dancers, the lights, it was overwhelming.

I can’t do this!

Turning on my heel, I started heading back for the dressing room when I felt a hand grabbing my wrist. Stopping, I looked back, staring at the familiar smiling face. “Let go.”

“Where are you going?” Dongho asked.

“To take this make-up off and go home.” I told him, jerking my arm from him.

“Why?” He looked so confused and worried. That’s what I liked about him, he always worried about me. After making our alliance, we stuck close together. Eventually, Aron had been dragged into our small group because of his lack of Korean. We had three members then, and then it was just natural that my friend Minhyun and Dongho’s friend Jonghyun joined us. We were like a perfectly formed group, and the CEO thought the same thing. That’s how Nu’est was formed.

“I can’t do this. I can’t take this look and I know I’ll mess up the dance and what if my voice cracks when we debut?”  All these thoughts were rushing in my head. They were thoughts that I have been trying to repress for weeks now, but now, after seeing the set, they all came rushing back.

“Yes, you can.” Dongho said.

“No, I can’t. Dongho I can’t. This is going to be so easy for you. You have the voice, the talent. What do I have? A feminine look. That’s why I was casted.”  I told him. He started laughing. He was laughing at me, the ungrateful hyung. So I punched him in the arm.

“Ow!” he groaned, rubbing the spot. He stared at me and sighed, resting his hands on my shoulders. “Choi Minki, you have more than just a feminine look. Yeah, manger-hyungs are playing with that to boost our popularity, but you’re more than that.” He told him. “You have a wonderful voice, you can dance well. You were the one that learned all the routine the fastest. You are talented Minki.” He assured me.

Looking away, I shook my head. I can’t look at him, not when he was being so serious and compassionate. This was why Dongho was my best friend. He said the right things that I needed to hear when it mattered.  “Then why do I feel like I’m not?” I asked weakly, my eyes still averted.

“Because you don’t believe in yourself.” His answer was so simple and so true. I felt his fingers gripping my chin and forcing my head to turn, so I looked at him. It was hard, once I saw his face. His eyes, they were shining with such happiness, with such…belief.  “I believe in you Minki. You’ve got this.” He assured me.

“You think so?” I asked. I just had to be sure. I needed to hear the reassurance once more.

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t say so. Besides, we got picked to be in this group. We rose high above all the other trainees that were fighting for this spot.” He said. “We were picked Minki. You were picked. You have what the company is looking for, what the fans want. You may look girly, but you’re very sexy.” He told me and I could feel my cheeks heating up. That sounded so gay coming from him, but it felt nice to be considered sexy when I didn’t think I was.

“Own it Minki. Own your new image. You’re not Choi Minki, the shy little maknae anymore. You’re Ren, the sexy, hot maknae with looks that has every woman green with envy.”

I smiled. He’s right. I have to own my new image. I can’t sit here and point out the flaws, or the flaws I think it has. I’m hot, I’m sexy. I’m Ren, and I’m going to blow them all out of the water. Dongho was right, he was always right and I was so thankful to have him by my side. I don’t think I could live without his encouragement.

“You’re right. I can do this.” I said with a firm nod.

“Great, now let’s go before we get fired.” He teased and headed for the main set, chuckling. Shaking my head, I followed after him. Taking in a deep breath, I calmed my nerves as I took my spot.

I can do this…I can do this…

I.  Am. Ren.

Tags:  @straysrachaa​@lordseochangbin @channiesmixtape @starryseung @felixsanxchatbot @jisungsjheekies (if you want to be added to my tag list, comment here! )

[hell-in-a-b0x]

Hey there! I'm just gonna slide into your ask box, anon style, cuz I'd like to know: 1. Your top 10 fav BNHA characters and Why 2. What are your top 5 BNHA Ships

Oh jeez scoob this is a tough one (it's probably going to be a long post y'all)

My Top 10 Characters are (im so sorry in advance)

10) Aoyama Yuga- Now, it's not a decent number in a top ten, but Aoyama is actually pretty underrated, and (coming from a manga reader) is a really cool character, even if he isn't as popular or has the same amount of depth as other characters

9) Yaoyorozu Momo- I originally planned for good ol Yaomomo to be higher on the list, but anyway, Yaomomo is actually a really neat character in my opinion (yeah she's a little out there for a teenager) but she tries her best and does everything she can to adapt to her surroundings

8) Uraraka Ochako (Ochaco??)- I don't have much to say as to why Uraraka is in my top ten other than she's a cute character, with good character (heh) and some pretty decent morals

7) Sero Hanta- Everybody out here absolutely SLEEPING on the legend that is Sero, I like him because he's deemed a 'plain character' compared to the others in the series, and is actually an all round good guy (he tries his best man, hell going up against Todoroki like that, impressive even though he lost it's the thought that counts)

6) Tokoyami Fumikage- Tokoyami is an absolute unit, with a crackin quirk to boot, but I like him because I relate to his attitude. That's it. He's also an aesthetically pleasing character for my inner edgelord lmao

5) Todoroki Shoto- Now, Todoroki is an op character and is widely a lot of people's favourite, he's a pretty boy with a lot of screen time, of course, but he's got a lot of depth, issues and is a good supporting character. He's goes through some decent development and I think we can all appreciate that

4) Iida Tenya- Iida is widely an underappreciated character and puts a whole different spin on the nerdy jock personality. He is not totally op but makes good use of his quirk, and thinks about what he has to do in order to (win??) get the best outcome. Also can I just say the whole hero killer arc/sport festival arc showcases his character which is almost morally grey but cares a whole lot about those close to him

3) Denki Kaminari- wheeeey- Kaminari is a fantastic character mostly because of the way the fandom perceives him, and hcs him, not to say he's not a great character in canon, he is lmao he wouldn't be 3 in the list if I didn't think that, but I like him because he is an interesting personality, and is portrayed with different layers (like an ONION) to his person (his quirk also makes for very entertaining 2am anime rewatching sprees)

2) Bakugo Katsuki- Ah yes, the worldwide asshole, and seemingly a LOT of people's favourites (y'all seriously smh we're glorifying a BULLY jk) I like Bakugo because his personality is pretty realistic, and being a difficult character has made his reformation much more meaningful. Even after the kamino arc he's still an asshole, which is a good demonstration of a character NOT entirely changing their personality after realising they're actually PRETTY shit

1) Kirishima Eijirou- (I'm half asleep and not coherent enough to fully encapsulate my love for this hard boi, but) Finally, number ONE and it's the absolute unit that is Kirishima Eijirou. my love for Kirishima derives from the personality he shows during the shie hassaikai (overhaul bros I had to look up the actual name of the arc but turns out this is what it is and it's not even official) arc. Kirishima wholly during the first few seasons is portrayed as an upbeat optimistic student with a pretty shallow personality, but in the overhaul arc it's revealed that he's much more and deals with a lot of insecurity and inner turmoil, which I relate to on an otherworldly level. The fact that he decides to change himself, altering his image and attitude to reflect what he sees as 'manly*' (*living without regret man, being courageous) and even applying to UA despite his classmates almost mocking him for it, is really admirable, and gives Kirishima a whole new meaning as a character. He's an internally flawed character with quite a lot of issues, but knows this and does everything he can to improve himself, and also holds an immense amount of respect for his classmates and peers. This is a really disjointed paragraph now that I read back on it but I can't be bothered to change it but just know that Kirishima is literally really important to me lmao someone help me I'm too attached to a fictional character

Also like I don't really wanna get into ships because that's a whole can of beans I don't wanna open but kiribaku is my top ship because they're good for each other

I'm so sorry

[lightsandlostbells]

wtFOCK season 1 reaction

So this is the one Skam remake I did not watch as it was airing! There wasn’t any reason it was this remake in particular, only that I didn’t have time to follow all of them; I was busy and already watching and taking notes on Skam NL, Skam España, and Skam Italia, and wtFOCK happened to be the “surprise” Skam remake that I wasn’t prepared for. And apparently it did very well and connected with the local teen audience, which is fantastic!

Anyway, I did want to watch it when I had time. I’m not going to do recaps for this season per episode, though I might for future seasons, but here are some thoughts about it.

wtFOCK season 1

I had heard that this remake was on the cringe-worthy side, and … yeah, I can see how people would say that. The acting isn’t the strongest, there are moments that I found exaggerated in a way that felt corny. That said, I did enjoy it overall.

Perhaps the biggest thing in its favor is its authenticity, especially with the characters. These feel like real kids. Because, well, they are real kids. The casting is age-appropriate from what I can tell. One reaction that struck me strongly was watching the scene with Jana and Robbe (Eva and Isak) after the gossip gets out at school about Jana cheating and Robbe comforts her, because I just had this big sense of wow, these are really teenagers, and that youthful vulnerability helps deliver the material. With that in mind, I’m much more willing to forgive shakier acting, because they aren’t professionals as far as I know. They’re teenagers representing themselves. The actors do not look or act like 23-year-old Instagram models, and that’s a big plus in my books.

On that note, I love that Jana had braces! Now that’s something you barely see in films and TV unless it’s like a plot point, practically, or a way to signpost that a character is young and awkward. Here it’s just a fact of life. 

In a way I’m glad I didn’t do episode by episode recaps, because some of the scenes were so similar to the original series that I really had nothing to say about them. On the other hand, there were some completely original scenes, and I liked a lot of them!

A lot of the best new material had to do with Jana and her mom. Loved that awkward scene where they run into Britt and Jana’s mom has no idea that they’re no longer friends - give Britt some credit for not ratting out Jana about the cabin trip. And I adored that Sinterklaas scene where Jana came downstairs and found all the goodies on the table, and Jana’s mom said that even though Jana forgot to place her shoe, she must still be in his good books. What a lovely scene to show that Jana’s mom still thinks her daughter is a good kid despite the fight and her bad grades. It was a different detail that Jana had lost her dad at a young age, although I wish that had been brought up a little more as to maybe how it affected her character, since it’s not the same set of circumstances as being distant from a parent who’s moved on to a new family. Touching to show her and her mom visiting her dad’s grave, though.

I also really liked that scene where Jana was eyeing Amber and Luca, and Jens was encouraging her to go talk to them. That was sweet and showed that he knew she was holding back on making new friends, making the post-cabin talk about her not having friends stronger.

Another good addition: Jana jumping straight to the worst conclusion when Jens doesn’t show up at the movies, showing her growing distrust of him, and foreshadowing that the thing with Britt is all a misunderstanding (since him not arriving to the cinema was, too).

The direction on the show is pretty standard. There’s not much ambition or #aesthetic and sometimes scenes are blocked clumsily or paced strangely. However, I could always tell what the main point of a scene was supposed to be, I wasn’t struggling to understand Jana’s emotional state, it wasn’t style over substance. So in that way, it was efficient. When it comes down to it, the characters are the most important to any version of Skam.

FreeFest was a decent way to adapt the russ storyline, although now I want to see if they continue to develop it across seasons or if it’ll fizzle out or fade into the background like I think the russ equivalent is going to with several of the remakes. One big challenge, I’ve realized, is that Skam could easily develop russ throughout the entire show, since it wouldn’t happen until graduation. However, the remakes have introduced various parties and trips and events that have less of a reason to go on indefinitely. FreeFest seemed like a lot of work, so I’m curious if it’ll continue into the second season. I didn’t catch when it was supposed to happen.

I was curious what was the point of Keisha, too, since she basically just showed up to be a red herring friend for Jana and then she disappeared. To demonstrate Jana really hates drugs? I did like her intro scene where Jana was obviously reading a little bit more into that interaction than intended, she was looking for a social connection and Keisha just kept on passing out flyers. They kept updating her IG throughout the season and even into the new year, so maybe she’ll be returning for S2, as someone working on her own FreeFest team.

Jana was great. She was a realistic teenage girl, with lots of insecurity and some bouts of confidence, and I appreciate that. She really hated drugs and smoking of all kinds in this version, it felt even more pronounced than with Eva. At times it felt a tad after-school-special but it also strengthened why Jens would hide his big secret from her.

After the cabin trip, Jens said that he thought having friends was important to Jana, and she said it was, just that Jens was more important, which I thought was a nice line, considering she had chosen Jens over Britt and established her mindset at that point.

Jens was clearly the best-looking dude around, to the point where I easily would have bought if he were the William character. Like the actual William and P-Chris characters had nothing on the Jonas (no offense to those actors, it’s not a comment on their performances) although I know their popularity is also a matter of personality and status and Jens/Jonas is supposed to be more an edgy non-conformist type. No wonder Jana didn’t know who Senne was, compared to her own boyfriend.

Loved Zoë a hell of a lot. Loved that she was so unimpressed with a lot of the guys’ bullshit. Loved that she had no time for any man’s fuckery, from Senne to Luka to Jens. She was probably kindest to Robbe, all things considering.

Also loved how they showed Jana and Zoë’s friendship in this version, such as seeing Jana having video chats with Zoë, or that they were so frequently seen together.

When Amber asked whether Zoë got turned out by guys, Zoë’s “...Yes?” felt like the least convincing thing ever. That girl does not care about dudes in the slightest. I mean, I know she does, buuuuut ... nah.

I think Zoë is the first Noora to come from Oslo, and in a way it’s kind of amazing that it took so long.

She had a pic of Laura Palmer on IG, so like Noora, she is also a Twin Peaks fan.

Yasmina was missing from the party scenes, which I guess was the actress’ choice, and I respect that. However, I did feel that it ended up undermining her character. The big moment of Sana throwing water in Ingrid’s face on behalf of Vilde was changed to Luca doing it, because Yasmina wasn’t at the party. And that was a pretty crucial moment in the Sana-Vilde relationship. I don’t think Yasmina and Amber had anything like that to make up for it. When Amber says some Islamophobic crap in the later part of the season, Yasmina doesn’t even get to counter to point out that she’s defended Amber. And I don’t think they ever explained why Luca threw the water in Britt’s face, that it was on behalf of Amber, so it ended up being some random event.

Also, because Yasmina wasn’t at the party where Amber passes out, it was Luca who stuck her fingers down Amber’s throat and helped her throw up, so that Sana-Vilde moment was gone, another one that felt pretty significant to their relationship. Again, not blaming the actress, just too bad we couldn’t get some big Amber-Yasmina moments to make up for that.

Yasmina was present when Amber was talking about her plans to sleep with Senne, and I wish they’d given her more to do in the scene, or had her speak up more, because later on she’s so blunt about Senne not being into Amber. When she’s in the scene listening to Amber talk about sleeping with him before it happens, it makes you wonder why she let it happen or didn’t say much in the first place. I guess she thought Amber was gonna Amber.

I did like Yasmina from what we did see of her. Her having all the girls breathe in and out after they get the party invite, her showing up for Amber the morning after she passes out even while not being at the party herself. I hope she gets more attention in S2. (Also? She’s gorgeous and I adore her camel coat.)

Also, having Luca throw water in Britt’s face rather than Yasmina also meant Amber was talking about getting rid of both Yasmina and Luca at some point, and that made her seem more like Cersei Lannister, lmao, like she was ready to ax people all over the place. 

I don’t think Amber’s topless pics ever came back into play, though there was more emphasis on them in this version than others, with Jana’s own topless pic serving as a parallel and Amber wondering if Senne had shown the other guys. I thought it was implied that he did, but we didn’t hear the actual conversation between Jana and Luka, just saw Amber’s sad face. I really hope he didn’t because that would make that situation even uglier, and I would need Zoë to drag Senne thoroughly for it in S2.

I believe Amber said it was Luca’s mom who had the wine tasting party, so are they eliminating that part of Amber’s background? There is the scene where they’re talking about getting alcohol and Amber starts rambling about why she doesn’t have the money, and that made me think she might have some financial problems.

I like that they made Luca kind of an unrepentant weirdo, although I wish they’d cut back on some of the Robbe flirting as it was too over the top. Although I had to laugh that one time she blatantly hit on him and he just flat-out ignored her and was like “Jana can we talk (save me plz)”

Luka was so sleazy. He was even more of a teen movie antagonist than the Chris character is usually. The most endearing thing about him was his extremely dorky vampire Halloween costume.

However, LOVED the extra scenes with him, such as Jana leaving her phone at his place. Adored that Zoë accompanied her to get it back and handled the matter completely businesslike, even though Luka was obviously disappointed when he saw that Jana didn’t arrive alone. She’s a true pal. And loved Jana going off at him when she knocked into him! Even if she wasn’t right about him spilling the beans, it was cathartic, it was Jana’s own Zoë vs Senne moment. 

Also ended up liking Robbe. They were going for a more wise-cracking, comic relief version of Isak in some ways, it felt like Robbe made more actual jokes than Isak did, but then he ended up being surprisingly more vulnerable than I expected toward the end. I thought they were leaning harder on the Jana/Robbe hints for the misdirection, but at the same time, it felt like there were some extra wink-wink nudge-nudge ironic moments about his sexuality as well, like Jens telling Robbe he’d understand acting like a lovesick puppy once he got a girlfriend, and some extra moments showing how he was affected by homophobia, like Moyo backing away from a hug at the end of the trip, telling Robbe to watch himself. Robbe didn’t even try to tell Jana he had feelings for her at first, it was Zoë who came up with that idea. It seemed very likely that he was going to confess the real truth to Jana on two separate occasions.

I also liked that his explanation of why he betrayed Jana was about feeling Jens had no time for him anymore, and even when Jana wasn’t there, Jens was still talking about her. Because that’s not a lie, that’s the truth, Robbe must have been miserable feeling unable to escape the guy he likes talking about his girlfriend, or them acting lovey-dovey, just no respite, not that it excuses his actions, obviously.

The Jana-Robbe dynamic as a whole was pretty good, I liked that he was pretty efficiently snaky - for instance, he basically coaxes her into telling him her secret about kissing Luka, and plays on their close friendship, that she can trust him, they’ve known each other a long time.

George Michael’s “Faith” being the big reveal music was an A+++ choice.

The music. Oh boy. Some of the remakes aren’t that good in their use of music; Skam’s use of music always felt purposeful and usually well-chosen, and the editing and soundtrack complemented each other. That’s not always the case with the remakes, some of which use music in perfunctory, expected ways: a pop/indie song opens the clip, a pop/indie song closes the clip, maybe a song somewhere in between. But it feels like songs are enforced because God forbid we have silence opening or ending a clip, or have scenes transition without music. And I would be willing to bet there’s some network/Powers That Be influence at play, like they want a hip teenage soundtrack to promote various artists and get the kids to follow the official playlist on Spotify, so the production teams have to use music. Skam France was guilty of this a lot. Druck is doing this more in its second season. But wtFOCK is possibly the worst offender. Too much music, used in a way that often didn’t complement the tone or editing of the scene - especially the editing, some of the songs just felt slapped over the clip rather than working with it. In the full episodes, there were some moments where a clip ended with a song and then another clip started with a completely different song in a way that was very jarring. There are some great choices, like “Faith,” but I just want the remakes to calm down and stop feeling the need to push music in every clip. Plenty of Skam scenes do not have music and they work wonderfully.

Also, disappointed that they used the exact same song for the fight scene. The fight scene wasn’t edited or choreographed that well, though I liked the guy returning Zoë’s hat at the end. And someone was actually filming the fight! I’m trying to remember if we’ve seen anyone else film the fight before, because that is something that would definitely happen in this day and age.

Another random thing I like: the characters talk about school a lot. As in, exams and homework, not just personal drama that happens while at school. Because yeah, this is a school, and teenagers are going to be concerned with passing their classes. It’s always been a thread in Eva’s season and her character overall that she’s not a great student, so I was proud that Jana ended up doing well on her biology exam! Maybe her academic performance can improve once she’s worked out some of the personal stress weighing on her.

That Mexican-themed party … not a great choice! For a moment I wondered if this party was supposed to be read as offensive since Zoë was not in costume and she’s a more “woke” character, like maybe the Beat Boys and Girls crowd (or whoever were throwing that party, I don’t recall) were supposed to be seen as clueless, but nah, I think it was just poor taste. 

It’s interesting how different versions portray the Eva/Chris kiss. In some the Eva character is the initiator, in some it’s the Chris character, in some it’s more mutual. In some it happens quickly and some Eva slowly gives in. In wtFOCK Luka was definitely initiating it and Jana was more hesitant. 

I had to laugh when Zoë was explaining the bracelets to Amber and all the girls she pointed out were conveniently displaying or showing off their bracelets at that moment, I guess because they’re much harder to notice at a glance than hoodies.

However, I liked Amber saying that she feels like it’s her fault every time and not his, because that paralleled Jana’s situation too - Jana is the one who receives the hate and blame even though Jens/Luka cheated, too. I’m glad they brought up the boys’ culpability at various points.

Zoë was keeping that period letter in her backpack and I mean, it was in a plastic bag and all, but I dearly hope she got rid of the tampon before carrying it around all day. It’s gross enough as it is.

So different that Marie didn’t come bursting out of the stall to interrupt the Jana-Britt heart-to-heart! Instead she came out after they left, and she seemed emotionally affected, like she was crying too. Maybe because she really felt like Jana was a person in that moment, and not just a nebulous boyfriend-stealer. Marie did seem to be pretty defensive when Jana confronted her later, but she quickly backed down when it was revealed what a lying cheater Luka was, and she could no longer be in denial. Jana seemed hesitant about accepting Marie wanted to be friendly with her afterwards, which was an interesting and believable touch.

A good scene when Senne was texting Zoë and Zoë lied to Amber that it was her parents asking how her exam went, and Jana covered for her by being like, I know the feeling, doesn’t your mom do that? And Amber was like, yeah, constantly. Which made me :( because I bet Amber’s mom doesn’t do that too often.

I laughed when Jana was like “That dude (Senne) is stalking you” to Zoë, so Zoë looked his way, and that got Senne’s attention and he IMMEDIATELY went up to Zoë, like good job breaking it, Jana.

I loved that Zoë learned psychological tricks from Dr Phil, but now I have this burning question: is Dr Phil like some beloved international icon?? First Eva and now Zoë turn to him for wisdom. I have seen maybe one episode of Dr Phil in my lifetime so I find it wild that the youthz are getting life advice from him. 

FINALLY we saw some characters on Skam playing a video game besides FIFA (and I guess on Skam France we saw them playing a racing game once). Jens, Robbe, and Moyo were playing Fortnite.

I am actually very eager to see Zoë’s and Robbe’s seasons because I liked their characters. Yasmina’s, too, even though I didn’t get as much of her as I would’ve liked in this season.

There weren’t a ton of text messages in the season, were there? I looked for them and only saw a few, and most of them didn’t seem to add much to the story or develop characterization. That’s something they can improve on for S2 (unless I just missed out on all the texts).

However, there was considerable effort put into the Instagram accounts, as many of them were consistently updated and they’ve maintained IG accounts even for minor characters to the present. I wonder if they’re going to keep a lot of those characters around in S2 and beyond, because that’s more work than necessary just to maintain realism, heh. But still, big props for that.

I apologize if I misinterpreted or missed something. Feel free to clarify anything!