#I don’t like the character who is the main tragedy that gets the plot moving because she wanted to break up my favorite ship

[angelicandsanegirl]

L + ratio + don’t ever speak on Claudia again

[atreeinthemoonlight]

A day of pure disgust.The sheer biodiversity of internet species never ceases to amaze me.

We mourn characters who actually deserved better.We rage at how the good die young while the wicked thrive. Their deaths haunt us, their absences leave scars. Meanwhile, the roaches in the gutter snicker behind their hands, delighting in the suffering of those with actual virtue. They mock over Elia and her children’s graves—“You’re dead, your bloodline’s gone, you get no screentime in the main story. But Lyanna? She gets hers.Jon Snow is a main character!And the House Stark too!"

They don’t grieve the cost — they celebrate it.They treat Elia’s annihilation not as a tragedy, but as an inevitable act of stepping aside amd a narrative convenience.To them, history is justified by survival, and survival is sanctified by plot relevance. But glorifying an origin story soaked in blood doesn’t make it noble.It just makes them complicit in the very cruelty they pretend not to see.

Need I remind you why Elia's legacy doesn't live?And whose lives were sacrificed for Lyanna being untouchable far away from battlefield and Jon's safe birth?

The way the show portrayed it was absolutely beyond disgusting which, of course, makes it beloved by those Lyanna stans.Because it was a one-sided annulment and a secret marriage and pregnancy, Elia and her children were still recognized by usurpers as Rhaegar's wife and heirs.Rhaegar and Lyanna shamelessly used Elia and her children as human shields while they played house at the Tower of Joy, leaving them in the Red Keep as live targets for the rebels. Elia and her children bore the full brunt of the rebels' wrath,and they paid in blood for crimes they didn’t commit—they died screaming as the official Targaryen family, while Rhaegar’s real priority—his teen mistress and their song of ice and fire—lived in cozy obscurit.In fact Elia and her children weren’t just abandoned,they were turned into Lyanna and Jon's scapegoats.

It’s obvious that show-Lyanna knew what was going on outside.Isn't this, in a way, a form of sacrifice,a form of blood magic—their suffer and deaths traded for Jon's birth. Even the Old Gods demanded less for miracles. Even Cersei was always trying to protect all her kids,Rhaegar couldn’t even compare with her.Tell me,is she grrm's favourite?your favorite?Lyanna stans are like a bunch of squeaky rubber chickens —the moment you point out that while they was whispering sweet nothings under the moonlight,Westeros was drowning in blood, they start screaming, “Stay away from her!”“Leave her alone!”

Like idol, like fandom.The internet is their perfect camouflage — it hides the cowardice behind the confidence.Lyanna stans shamelessly only mock Elia’s extinguished bloodline and gloated over how Lyanna's son the great Jon became such an important figure in the main story as if that justifies the blood spilled for his existence.I’ve said it before — they’re not Alicent Hightower stans in Lyanna cosplay.What they truly love is the fantasy of replacing the dead wife with their own bloodline,then looking down from above and saying,“She’s dead. This isn’t discrimination, darling — it’s just the truth. She’s dead.I'm here now,dealt with it.”

But who told you Elia’s not important? Don’t forget—Martin gave us Young Griff.A whole rebellion is launched in the name of Rhaegar and Elia’s supposed son. Armies rally behind her legacy, her bloodline. You want to say she doesn’t matter? Her name moves men to war.Her legacy that still shakes thrones.That’s not just important—that’s power.Meanwhile Lyanna? She gets a tower, a tomb, and a tragedy.No rebellion in her name. No armies swearing loyalty to her bloodline. No political legacy, no strategic weight. Her story lives on only through whispers, fanfiction, and the idea that a prince loved her.Elia’s name inspires uprisings and revenge.Lyanna’s inspires romantic speculation. One was a princess of the realm, the other a myth draped in flowers. And somehow, Lyanna stans want us to believe the myth matters more.

So next time you Lyanna stans sneer that Elia “wasn’t important” or that her bloodline “died out”—just remember: it only died out because your beloved soulless heartless silver prince and brave cool girl left her and her children to die.Someone had to die screaming so your favorite fairytale could survive. And maybe, deep down, that’s why you cling so hard to their tragic fairytale—because the only way your favorite ever got a crown was by stepping over a woman who never had the luxury of surviving long enough to become a myth.

[gotskamstuff]

Now I don’t care anymore and I’m gonna get this off my chest ‘cause I’m on a warpath with the OBX writers and I’m gonna hold them accountable for everything I personally find faulty in the show.

I personally think that John B and Sarah are the worst written characters in the whole series which is ironic considering they’re the main ones. MIND YOU before the Jarah shippers come from my throat, I don’t mean them together as a couple, I ship them as well and I find their story beautiful, I think their relationship is actually the best written part about them, I am talking about them as individual characters taken on their own.

When you think of Pope, when you think of Kiara, when you think of JJ, when you think of Cleo, you know EXACTLY who they are and what they are like, you know what their personalities are, you know what they like, you know what they are passionate about, you know their dreams and aspirations, you can clearly tell how they are gonna react to different situations, they’re clearly all strong individuals before being part of a ship.

With John B and Sarah I feel like they built their entire personalities around the fact that they are a couple and that they are victims of the events.

Pope is a bit of a nerd passionate about science and forensics, Kie is passionate about the environment and social justice, JJ is passionate about boats and bike riding and wants to travel the world, Cleo is passionate about cooking. Pope is a levelheaded guy who’s responsible and thinks rationally, Cleo is a street smart girl with a go get it attitude, JJ is an impulsive person who takes matters into his own hands ‘cause he has trust issues and Kiara is a very opinionated and determinate girl who always fights for herself and her friends without sitting and watching.

But…what does Sarah like? What does John B like? (surfing doesn’t count since it’s a group thing you can tell about all of them). What are they passionate about? What distinguish them? What makes them unique? What are they like taken out of context from their adventures? What do they bring in the group’s dynamic?

When they’re taking decisions is often a reflection or a consequence of the reactions of the other Pogues around them and one time they react a certain way taking the lead and another they react differently being sweeped by the others, the only time you see them show up some character is in the midst of action and even then they just go with the flow. The only time you see them showing vulnerability and get a look inside their feelings (outside of their love story) is in front of tragedy and when they’re victims, that’s the only time you get to see what’s going on inside their heads. The only time they talk about their dreams and aspirations in life is still about the couple, getting married, having kid etc.

For the most part it feels like they just go wherever the wind will take them, it’s the main plot about the adventure that makes them interesting but there was not much thought put into their personalities and I think part of it was because they basically became a couple right from the get go, ever since 1x03 they’ve been moving together and evolving together and everything about them was built around the foundations of their relationship, even when they grieved their fathers we barely saw them struggling with that individually, even when Sarah lost Ward the first time they made it about John B not understanding, even when Big John returned and John B started feeling conflicted they made it about Jarah and cheating, there’s not a plot in their story that doesn’t intertwine with their relationship and that doesn’t explore their insecurities as individuals outside of the couple. All their struggles, all their aspirations, all their problems, all their feelings, all their way of reacting to things is always based around the couple and about moving together and having consequences on the relationship.

Taken separately I couldn’t tell what they’re like, I think they are very difficult characters to connect with and for someone to see themselves into them, there’s no depth to them outside the events happening to them and outside their love story, there’s no world built around their personalities. What are they like individually? After 4 seasons I still fatigue to see it.

If you were to ask me “how would you describe Pope/JJ/Kiara/Cleo?” I’d be able to answer in a heartbeat but if I were asked “how do you describe Sarah? How do you describe John B?” I’d genuinely struggle to find something to say.

And to be honest I think this goes deeper into the fact that 1. the writers started off amazingly in season one with building an entire world around the show and characters but they got progressively lost and it got to a point where they don’t even know where they’re going with their stories and characters development 2. these writers generally struggle with writing female characters, Kiara and Cleo were just given the opportunity to be seen for themselves before their ships which helped built their characters and the audience perception of them, but in S4 they also became very much couple dependent in their storylines, something that they tend to do a lot with giving more depth to the boys backstories and minds and “using” the girls for the guys plot getting more layers (I mean, look at Kiara in S4…that was another different person, so passive).

I loved all of the Pogues and I ship all the canon couples, I like John B and Sarah and I LOVE Jarah…but I find them difficult to be taken in consideration as individuals. This is not hate towards the characters who are still good hearted and with beautiful stories, it’s a criticism to the writers who I think could’ve done a better job at giving them depth and characterization.

This is a very personal take and my own perception of the show, probably many people don’t agree at all ‘cause they were able to see something I wasn’t able to see in them and I guess that’s the beauty of a story, each person gets different things to take away from it, but I can’t help but feel this way and after 4 seasons when we’re supposed to feel like we know the characters like the back of our hand I still feel the same as the beginning with them.

Don’t hate me, it’s just my humble opinion and it’s ok to disagree with it 💀

[live-from-flaturn]

Here's How Kim Theerapanyakul Qualifies as a Greek Tragic Hero:

I accidentally came up with this thesis statement while chatting with @shou-jpeg (as per usual) and they encouraged me to expand on it... so here's the outcome of my academic fandom ramblings!

From page 17 of “The Poetics of Aristotle”, as translated by S.H. Butcher:

1. A perfect tragedy should, as we have seen, be arranged not on the simple but on the complex plan. It should, moreover, imitate actions which excite pity and fear, this being the distinctive mark of tragic imitation. It follows plainly… that the change of fortune presented must not be the spectacle of a virtuous man brought from prosperity to adversity: for this moves neither pity nor fear; it merely shocks us.

Layman's Translation: The perfect tragedy is complicated. No matter what story is used, the main emotional payout should be pity and fear for the Hero. In order to achieve this, you cannot simply punish a good man for no reason. Shock will not induce catharsis [emotional release].

2. Nor, again, that of a bad man passing from adversity to prosperity: for nothing can be more alien to the spirit of Tragedy; it possesses no single tragic quality; it neither satisfies the moral sense nor calls forth pity or fear. 

Layman's Translation: A bad man cannot receive good fortune. That goes against the entire point of tragedy and will only frustrate the audience further. 

3. Nor, again, should the downfall of the utter villain be exhibited. A plot of this kind would, doubtless, satisfy the moral sense, but it would inspire neither pity nor fear; for pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves. Such an event, therefore, will be neither pitiful nor terrible.

Layman's Translation: The story cannot end with the downfall of an obvious villain. It satisfies the audience’s desire for justice but doesn’t leave them pitying the Hero or fearing the story’s eventual outcome. Once again, this ending would be void of catharsis/emotional release.

4. There remains, then, the character between these two extremes,—that of a man who is not eminently good and just,- yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty. He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous,—a personage like Oedipus, Thyestes, or other illustrious men of such families.

Layman's Translation: 

A good Tragic Hero must: 

Be royalty or nobility (he might also come from a well-known or wealthy family).

Be morally grey (if he is too Good or too Bad it will prevent the audience from projecting onto him and achieving catharsis). 

Cause his own downfall or “catastrophe” by making a mistake (an extension of his Hamartia, or “error” / ”inherent flaw”).

So how does Kim fulfill the requirements of a Tragic Hero?

He is from a well-known family and has an image to keep in check. Because of his role as Wik/an idol, Kim must present himself as a kind or at least pleasant person to the general public. Much like Oedipus or Electra, Kim has an outward persona whose specific responsibilities play a role in his fall to hubris. 

a. As Kimhan Theerapanyakul he is required to do his father’s bidding on some level. We know he’s at least somewhat beholden to Korn from the scene with Tankhun screaming, “I don’t know where they [Porsche and Chay] have gone!”

2. Does it get any more morally grey than a guy willing to kill a dozen men in cold blood (with his bare hands) to protect his pseudo-ex-boyfriend? Or date an underclassman fanboy only to commit minor felonies against him/his family? Or go against his father (rebellion against the family is a BIG no-no in Greek Tragedy!!!) and attempt to escape the fate of his bloodline? 

3. I doubt this part really needs explaining… But trying to protect Chay by lying to his face and destroying their relationship, only to turn around and beg for Chay’s forgiveness via blatant musical plagiarism, is probably Hamartia at its finest.

4. It's Kim! He is "a man who is not eminently good and just,- yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty". His greatest loss is brought about by his own poor decision making and furious need for freedom/independence. His determined self-flagellation only ever hurts the people around him while we as the audience scream for him to stop. He qualifies for the Tragic Sadboy Squad!

[anunkindncss]

Public Service Announcement from the Department of Tough Love:

If you’re out here clutching your pearls because no one’s responding to your posts, while simultaneously scrolling past the five mutuals who have been posting, plotting, and politely waiting for you to notice they exist—congrats, you’ve officially ghosted your own community.

This might sting a bit, but someone has to say it: you can’t sit in the corner like a haunted Victorian doll and then act shocked when no one comes to play.

Yes, we’re all tired. We’re all busy. Some of us are out here trying to survive capitalism with nothing but vibes and caffeine. But that doesn’t make it any less annoying when someone cries about feeling ignored while ignoring everyone else like they’re the main character in a one-act tragedy called "Where’s My Interaction?"

Here’s a wild concept: instead of waiting for the RP fairy to sprinkle attention on your latest post, try engaging with the people already showing up on your dashboard. The ones who post things. The ones you follow. The ones who reblog your memes and get nothing back but tumbleweeds and a ghost of a like.

No one is asking you to become the social butterfly of the century. But if you’ve got enough energy to post your own content, you probably have enough energy to, I don’t know—like, reblog, send a meme, start a conversation, or literally acknowledge that your mutuals are alive.

Interaction is a two-way street. And if you're sitting in the middle of the road blocking traffic because you’re waiting for everyone else to move first? Yeah, that’s on you.

So before you write your next passive-aggressive vent post about how the dash is dead, maybe ask yourself when you last made an effort to be part of the heartbeat.

We’re all out here trying. Don’t be the mutual who only shows up to demand attention and then ghosts like it’s a paid job.

That’s it. That’s the message. Consider this your lovingly sharpened wake-up call.

—Your mutual who noticed, responded, and is now sipping tea out of spite.

[glade-constellation]

Would also love to talk about Solar Flare. Despite the fact that I don’t really talk about him, he is one of my favorites. For being a side character and getting as little screen time as he did, he has always been an important character for other characters plots and stories, and for pushing the overall plot forwards. Also, his relationship with Eclipse has always been extremely interesting. Out of all the characters in all of the shows, Solar Flare was probably the closest to ever truly understanding Eclipse and his motives.

Seeing Solar Flare in one of the most recent MGAFS episodes was such a nice moment, but the implications of why he was stuck in Purgatory was just depressing. Out of all the characters there, he seemed the most aware of his surroundings. Monty’s dad was the only other one who seemed genuinely aware of where he was, but he was trapped in his own room and seemed pretty content on staying in there. Solar Flare was the only one who appeared outside of a room, and seemed to have nothing actually keeping him there. He seemed more like a warden than a prisoner. He helped Vegeta learn the lesson he needed before sending him back home.

Solar Flare mentions that everyone in that place was there because of something keeping them from moving on, and that the others who had died were not there. In that case, why was he there? If there was something personal keeping him there, he didn’t show it. He has no obvious reason for being there. Maybe it was because KC still ended up dying and SF felt he failed his main directive, but that doesn’t feel right, especially since KC died after SF.

My only explanation is that he is currently tied to Eclipse somehow.

Either it has something to do with Eclipse using SF’s body when they died, or SF has some feelings of failure at helping Eclipse, they are stuck together. Since Eclipse can’t move on, neither can Flare. I know there isn’t really evidence for this, but it’s one of the only things that makes sense. Flare is trapped there, until Eclipse moves on. If Eclipse moves on. From the way SF worded things, it doesn’t seem like people ever leave.

It just makes Flare’s story a tragedy. He never really lived for himself, and is still seemingly trying to help others in death. Even after he helped Sun and Moon by giving them the blueprints for the laser to kill Eclipse, they never really questioned what happened to him when Eclipse took over. They just seemed to automatically assume he was already dead. They never checked to see if he was still alive before they destroyed him alongside Eclipse. Everyone always seemed to assume Flare was basic and rudimentary, not quite a true AI that was considered to be alive.

It’s funny how the most emotionless character was one of the only people to understand Eclipse. His conversation with Eclipse before their death is still one of my favorite moments.

“Eclipse. You were not a good man. You were not a good person in any regard. But, you did care. Even if you could never show it. You were just like him. … The first Moon.”

This piece of dialogue, right here. While KC kept comparing Eclipse to himself, Eclipse always told him he was wrong. He didn’t believe he was just the kill code. He believed he was Moon. Solar Flare was the only one to truly acknowledge his identity issues. As they were dying, Flare acknowledged Eclipse in a way no one else had, and was actively trying to help him move on. I think that’s the reason he’s stuck in Purgatory. He’s still trying to help Eclipse move on from what happened.

[jewelzcullen]

My Review of Joker 2

*aka venting my negative feelings about it*

I was skeptical of this film since it was announced and had a very, very bad feeling about it from the beginning. But when I saw the first trailer, I started to have hope that it might not be as bad as I thought and that maybe the creative team knew what they were doing. So, I went into the theater with an open-mind and reserved judgment until I saw the entire film.

Later that night, once the movie had fully settled in my mind, I realized I didn’t like it and hated the way it made me feel afterwards. I was disheartened, depressed, and constantly felt like crying (and did cry a lot). I could never watch Arthur suffer that pain and death ever again. If you liked it, good for you, I’m glad you enjoyed it. But for me personally, I can’t watch Arthur be manipulated and tortured for 2 hours.

To me, this movie is pointless, unnecessary, confusing, repetitive, boring, sickening, depressing, hopeless…

The story (or lack thereof) is terrible and unsatisfying in every way. Arthur is locked up in Arkham, miserable and being constantly abused by guards. Meets Lee, who we find out doesn’t love or care about him underneath his persona. Goes to court to be humiliated and belittled while old characters come back to reiterate the plot of the first movie, point out his flaws and yell at him about how terrible he is. Then, gets beaten and violated by guards. Comes back to court to admit that he’s an unimportant nobody and he hates his life. He’s then found guilty, escapes for 15 minutes and is rejected by his love interest. Goes back to Arkham where he is then stabbed to death and dies all alone in a hallway and no one gives a shit about him. The End.

Oh, and there’s random singing and dancing in between.

Um… WTF???

And I know some people will say, you just don’t understand the deeper meaning. I understand the meta stuff, I get it, nobody cares about Arthur, only Joker and he decided to be himself in the end. That’s fine, but it doesn’t make it a good movie to me. And apparently not to the majority of the general audience who gave it the lowest scores and walked the fuck out.

Side note, I think it’s fair for people to be upset when a movie called “Joker” contains nothing relating to traits of the Joker character- that’s just false advertising and improper use of that title. The first movie contained traits of the typical Joker that I saw in Arthur, so to me it wasn’t being disrespectful to the DC property. The sequel, however, was completely disrespectful.

Also, the argument that nobody cares about seeing Arthur is invalid to me. The first movie was 70% Arthur and Joker only appeared in the last 30 minutes, and most everyone loved that movie. Because it was a great, complex, character study story that mixed both comics material and original elements perfectly.

The main problem for me is that, in my opinion, it contradicts so much of the events in the first movie. Arthur transformed into Joker by the end, fully embracing his dark side. He snapped, he broke, he couldn’t take it anymore. He was done with being stepped on, abused by society and the system. So he stopped trying to fit in and fully embraced this other side of himself, which we saw slowly emerge throughout the film. He evolved into Joker, that’s what I saw, unless I’m interpreting it wrong.

It wasn’t what Arthur truly wanted, not at all. I loved Arthur, I wanted him to have a good, happy life. But that isn’t what happened at the end of the first movie, that’s the tragedy of it. He became Joker and embraced his inner madness and now saw his life as a comedy... so why does the sequel act like that didn’t happen or held no significance moving forward?

Also, I believe he was somebody else in the last scene of the first movie- either someone else entirely or Arthur had fully evolved into Joker. His disposition, his attitude, the sinister vibe, the dark look in his eyes... completely different from the Arthur we saw at the beginning. And even if he didn’t kill that psychiatrist, the metaphor with the blood on his shoes seems like it represents how he finds murder and mayhem funny now, as he dances away leaving a trail of blood behind him. He seems like he doesn’t have a care in the world, he’s as light as a feather - he’s happy. Maybe not truly happy, but feels some kind of twisted merriment nonetheless.

So then... the sequel starts with Arthur back to square one. We’ve gone back to the beginning of the first movie... why? Why??? Makes no sense to me. I know he would be more subdued due to being locked up in that hellhole for so long, but you’d think eventually something would make him snap and become Joker again.

Why would he lie down and take the abuse when in the previous movie he said he wasn’t going to anymore, so he would never be hurt anymore? Everything just feels so contradictory.

Why would you go the route of character regression and ultimately assassination instead of progressing the character forward, like sequels are supposed to do?

Don’t even get me started on all the unnecessary, excessive abuse he suffers throughout with no revenge or karma or payback. They didn’t need to include all of that, I didn’t need to see him suffer ten times more in this movie.

I also don’t know why Arthur is acting like he doesn’t know who Joker is. Joker is just his confident, unfiltered self- he became Joker before anyone knew who he was, before he was an infamous person. Yes, of course he didn’t purposefully start the movement, that was propelled by the media and the rioters, but he did purposefully become Joker, who was always there inside of him.

Bottom line is, the way Arthur acts in the sequel does not reflect where we left off with him in the previous movie. IMO, I disagree with their choices and don’t believe he would be acting like that after all he’d been through, all he’d done and after everything he’d said in the last act of the first movie.

I was so disappointed that I didn’t get to see more of his Joker side. I didn’t want him to become a heartless, cold-blooded killer (and I’m glad that didn’t happen), but I wanted to see his confidence and theatricality shine through more in his actions and demeanor (not just in his daydreams and delusions).

And then by the end, if they still wanted to go that route, he could’ve decided to go back to being Arthur and passes Joker onto someone else, WITHOUT getting violently and horrifically stabbed. And even if he didn’t really die, as some people speculate, it was still horrific and traumatizing to see him slowly die like that. And to dig the knife further into my heart, I have to listen to Arthur singing “true love will find you in the end” as I just watched the light leave his eyes moments ago 😭💔 Again, devastating and heartbreaking and hopeless... Why the fuck would they do this??

I loved both Arthur and Joker- because they are both him.

Lee was a terrible, underdeveloped character and their relationship was awkward, manipulative, felt so wrong because it was obviously a fallacy from the start, and only made things worse for Arthur in the end. I wouldn’t want to go back and rewatch a relationship that was never real and never meant a damn thing.

Also, the film basically only has two locations: Arkham and the courthouse. Back and forth, back and forth. So lazy and boring, nothing substantial is ever happening 😒

The musical parts didn’t bother me, but they still felt unnecessary, too long and drawn out at times, which made the pace slow even more. I know Arthur has music in him and that’s one of the things I love about him, but I think it was exaggerated too much in this movie. He can use his words just fine, he did it more and more as he became Joker in the first movie. He literally expresses and articulates all of his feelings and frustrations on the Murray show!

And what’s the overall message? Everything is too corrupt and can’t be fixed, nobody cares about Arthur and if you try to fight back against the system, you’ll be punished harsher and beaten into submission. Wow, that’s great. Don’t stand up for yourself and fight back ever again, got it. You won’t receive any good karma for doing it, even better ☹️

The only positives for me were the great acting and beautiful cinematography. Other than that... I feel nothing but contempt for it. I think it’s a $200 million mistake that should never have been made and should never have existed. And in my mind, it doesn’t exist.

This sequel doesn’t feel like a sequel at all to me. It feels like a cruel joke, a prank, a parody. And that’s what I’m gonna view it as if I ever come across it because I can’t see it any other way.

And again, if you’re one of the few that liked it, that’s great, I’m glad you found enjoyment in it. I wish that I could have, too. Instead, I’m just gonna continue to rewatch the first one and believe that Arthur’s story ends right there as “That’s Life” plays and it says “The End.”

[roguephenon]

I know I have already gushed a lot about your interesting character dynamics but I want to have a special focus over your portrayal of love in this fic both platonic and romantic. Huge spoilers!!

Apologies if I sound insane or ramble-y but a lot of the decisions made by certain characters in this fic reminds me of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice if you’re viewing it from the angle that Orpheus loved her to much to resist turning around to look back at her. I’m fact, Nigel’s refusal to turn his back on his friends and eventually Rachel is what kicks off a lot of the plot! Wally would rather risk everything because he couldn’t stand not being able to have memories to look back on. Numbuh Beyond’s story may be a tragedy but Infinity still looks back because he still cares enough about her and the vision she wanted for the Knd.

Whether it’s love for your chosen people, your cause or just your childhood in general, you also show that one can look back and move forward at the same time. Because if you don’t do one or the other, you end up stuck in place. With an example being the delightful children who want to forget everything so bad but not being able to move forward from the unaddressed hurt and then you have the extreme example in Father who refuses to look back (because it makes him look weak) and move forward (because it would require taking some accountability).

On a lighter unrelated but also kinda related note because while I understand that romance is merely a fun lil side treat and not the main dish, the romantic in me did like what I read like kicking my feet and twirling my hair type of business ☝️. ngl man you could be writing any dynamic and I’d be like ok now hold on…let him COOK. Cuz I was always neutral with 362/1 cuz I do have a softer spot for moonbabes but it narratively made sense within the premise like ok friends to enemies to lovers now that’s some dramaaa. If I had a nickel for every time Nigel has chemistry with a hardworking headstrong spy, I’d have two nickels like ok he definitely has a type lmao. Oh and don’t get me started about the doomed dynamic that haunts the narrative with Infinity and Beyond like HELLO??? I mean people will know of Beyond but will they ever know the full story…I feel so ILL…Alexa play silver springs by fleetwood mac. And how they understood each other but only when it was too late…I’m beyond pained for an infinity (in a good way)…I gotta know what the planning stage was like with this specific relationship cuz it’s one that’s truly spread across the narrative ever so subtly???

Never worry about apologizing! I love your questions and analysis, and every writer/creator loves hearing what people think! There are so many things I’m curious to hear people’s thoughts about so never be afraid to sound too insane or ramble. It’s highly encouraged here!

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is one of my favorites and I love the connection you pointed out. But looking back and moving forward is a big theme of the story so I definitely approve of this comparison :3.

I’m very flattered of your reaction to the romance and very glad to hear you enjoyed it and it came off well! I definitely treat romance as more as a side dish in my writing, but as with everything else, I try and treat it with meticulous attention and care. Becuase if I’m putting it in there, it’s gotta be good and serve the overall plot.

(and thank you for liking the 362/1 ship here. I used to have anxieties about pushing it, but I’ve had a lot of non-362/1 say they’ve really liked the dynamic here so I must be doing something right 😅)

The planning stage for Infinity and Beyond’s relationship was very intense, emotional, and painful. It had to be figured out first because, yes, it is something that turned into a crux of the narrative. One that I took great deal in making sure that it made sense retroactively as well.

I think the last update on CR before chapter 18 was 8 or 9 years ago??? Whenever 2016 was. Back then, Numbuh Beyond didn’t exist, I considered Cold Reception abandoned, and I had no intention of writing any more KND fanfics. Numbuh Beyond came to be sometime in 2023 when I changed my mind.

[paeliae-occasionally]

Writeblr interview!

Thanks for the tags @drchenquill and @theink-stainedfolk.

Short stories, novels or poems?

I am currently only working on novels, but I consistently have to write little short stories when parts of the world come up that aren’t relevant to the story. I haven’t written a poem in a while, I might do that.

What genre do you prefer reading?

I read fantasy, sci-fi, the usual but then the other half of my bookshelf is physics and psychology books. I also read lots of books about Ancient Greece and Rome and have recently purchased one on Venice.

What genre do you prefer writing?

The world I am currently writing starts high fantasy then falls, so in the time of the main plot it is more of a general fantasy.

Are you a planner or a write-as-i-go kind of person?

I do plan because otherwise my vague concept of a story will never become a plot, but the outline can change as I go if I feel like another idea would be better.

What music do you listen to while writing the story?

I can’t listen to music while writing. It distracts me. I do however have a constant internal playlist and while working on Kell in the Xaeren WIP I have she used to be mine playing. It is not consistent.

Fav books/movies

Ooh, ok favourite books include: Strange the dreamer, Babel, Piranesi, The wind singer series and The mistborn series. I don’t really watch many movies.

Any Current WIPs?

Yep, They don’t have titles yet but the two I work on the most are Xaeren and Paeliae.

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you, what would your standard outfit be?

Dark blue cloak with many pockets for runes or spell components. I also hide trinkets in there. I would have a flowy blue starry top and black leggings. It would be very breathable and easy to move in and would blend in well with shadows.

Create a character description of yourself.

You look over to the side of the room, and there was nobody there. It was confusing, like a vacuum in space where you knew person should be but they just weren’t. They didn’t break the silence so you couldn’t hear their offer to join them at the table, yet you accepted all the same and sat down. Despite their absence they filled the chair opposite you and didn’t smile because they weren’t there. Still you could feel the amusement that managed to escape them.

Do you like incorporating people you actually know into your writing?

No. It feels weird to write real people. I do steal names but that is about it.

Are you kill-happy with the characters?

I don’t like killing heroes without good reason. I will do it to show stakes or for tragedy but for it to mean anything you have to use it sparingly.

Coffee or Tea while writing?

Neither. Lemonade sometimes.

Slow or Fast writer?

Depends on my mood. If I can focus I can write quite quickly but if I am not on task it takes ages to write anything.

Where/who/what do you find inspiration from?

daydreams, other people’s writing.

If you were put into a fantasy world, what would you be?

I would have magic even if I have to study for another 10 years to get there. Whoever I have to bribe or kill, I will get magic.

Fave book cliche?

Hmm… I love magic/action prologue then cut to our main character on a farm or in regular life somewhere. I use it all to much just to set a tone but it is a bit cliche.

Least fave book cliche?

I hate miscommunication. It can work in comedy settings but if you want a dramatic story and the threat to the characters could be resolved by a short conversation then I get frustrated.

Fave scenes to write?

Conversations. Especially conversations where something new is implied about a character. I love getting a vibe from a character’s dialogue and then seeing it come true later.

Most productive time of day for writing?

Whenever the motivation hits. I schedule writing for the morning around 8-10 I have to get stuff done.

Reason for writing?

The people have to go somewhere. I have had stories before that I have forgotten and it is so sad, I just want to put them somewhere more long lasting than my mind.

Tagging @illarian-rambling, @phoenixradiant, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @leahnardo-da-veggie and @the-golden-comet

[wuxiaphoenix]

Book Review: Dressed to Kill

Arrrrrgh.

Dressed to Kill, by Crown Fall. I’m giving this a solid 3 out of 5 stars, because despite weird typos in the second half of the book I was enjoying everything up to about the last two chapters. At which point the author very obviously railroaded the characters and apparently forgot the key point of their own worldbuilding.

Warning, there be spoilers ahead.

(Am I salty about this? Yes, yes I am, I was having so much fun. And then....)

The main character is Gwen, a person originally from Earth, reborn into a world with dungeons and a System. This has little effect on the plot besides giving her an outsider’s perspective on how the world works, leading her to try things (almost) no one else would. Like clearing a dungeon without a combat class. Because the village she’s in shrinks and decays every day the dungeon isn’t cleared. The Noble who owns the town as Mayor won’t clear the dungeon; he appears to want the place to collapse, and the inhabitants to move to a larger city. If Gwen wants to save her town, she’s going to have to do it herself. She has a plan. First, if you’re a Seamstress, get a really big needle....

And it works, a step at a time. She finds out along the way that other commoners have had the same idea over the centuries; and in the past, it may have even been common. Something went wrong with the world. But what?

Saving the town takes priority, and for a few pages near the end they actually have-

And then Our Heroes are arrested, chained, and shipped off to the Academy where all those Chosen as Nobles are sent. Because, as the Mayor claims, if they get through that, they’ll legally own the town.

Me: Great. Except according to the rules you already established, if someone isn’t in the dungeons trying to clear them every day, the whole town will decay into the Chaos outside. And you just took everyone who was clearing.

Academy training supposedly takes at least two years. At the established rate of decay, if they’re gone a year - even if they’re gone only a month - there won’t be a town to come back to.

This is not how the story promised to end.

A story like this, with a heroine fighting against incredible odds, should end with a victory. The town should have been saved. At least for the end of the book. If you wanted to have a gloom and doom character observe how many laws they just broke and that there would be Consequences, fine. Use the Consequences to start the next book, and give Our Heroes a time limit, so they’re racing the clock to save the town.

As it is, the ending is a tragedy. And a tragedy is not what was promised by the opening of the book and over forty chapters of struggle and hard-earned success afterward.

This story, in short, did not stick the landing.

Don’t do this to your readers. Check your ending; beta-check your ending. Have another reader, if possible more than one, honestly tell you if the end is consistent with what you promised at the beginning. If you start it as an Adventure, it should end an Adventure. If your desired ending is a Tragedy, then it should begin with the seeds of sorrow clearly sown. Readers remember betrayal. Trust me.

Side note: Given in this world monster meat is not only edible but tasty and good for you, why would anyone stop clearing dungeons? Most humans are pretty relentlessly carnivorous. An endless supply of fresh meat, there for the slaughter every day? That you don’t have to feed, muck out, fence in, nurse when it’s sick, or try to keep pastured? That is worth so much investment to a society! There would be dungeon crawlers everywhere. Guaranteed.

[everygame]

Until Dawn (PS4)

Developed/Published by: Supermassive Games Released: 25/08/2015 Completed: 04/10/2023 Completion: Everyone survived. Trophies / Achievements: 80%

It’s spooky season, so I thought I’d play some scary games and for whatever reason Until Dawn happened to be the one that bubbled to the top first.

I think when I was a kid who loved graphic adventures, I think this is what I thought video games would be. Cinematic experiences where you’re constantly making choices that have a meaningful (or not) effect on how the story goes forward. With Until Dawn, the tropes of horror are a perfect setting to ensure this kind of design doesn’t get out of hand: you can limit things almost to: who lives? Who dies? 

Of course, there are still, simply, limitations to the form that I don’t think I was thinking about when I was 8 or whatever. Even if you stick close to the traditions of horror and make your cast an interchangeable group of arseholes who the player will be happy to see get offed, there’s only so much branching you can do, and then you also have to put in some stuff the player actually… plays. Which usually means… quick time events.

Isn’t it weird how they’re a thing? They’ve essentially existed since Dragon’s Lair in 1983, where you had to make a (barely) educated guess about which direction to push or which button to hit, and the main (only?) innovation in the last 40 years is that you know get told exactly what to do. And that happened literally about a year after Dragon’s Lair!

Does anyone like them? For me, they’re just an annoying bit where I have to remember which button is where on the controller. In an action game where succeeding at them matters, they are legitimately the worst way to engage me with the action–I’m not watching the cut-scene, I’m waiting for a horrible pop-up–and in a game like this, I think… why not just replace them with more choices? Choose if character A manages to perform the task or not because you want to see the story go one way or the other.

(And while you’re at it, only offer me the choices that are interesting. There’s a hilarious amount of climbing involving QTEs here to stretch things out.)

When I think about QTEs, I think it's telling that this was originally more focused on motion controls; I can imagine QTEs being more successful by actually going back to being more like Dragon’s Lair when played with (say) modern VR controllers. A character leaps to grab something, you throw your hand up and grab. Like Dragon’s Lair, though, that becomes complicated when there’s more than one option (do I do the motion to unsheath his sword, or run away? etc.) and here you just get stuck with Heavy Rain-style “Push R2 to open this door” and then you watch your hero awkwardly move their hand towards the door until you slip off R2 and they stop, creating the world’s most unconvincing human behavior.

Anyway, outside of QTEs, the play here largely features you… walking about slowly, usually following another character, and optionally picking up lore items (if you find them). Also something that feels like it could be almost entirely excised!

The thing about Until Dawn is, though, that the junky plot of “teens go to a cabin in the woods where a tragedy had previously occurred” is easily understandable and, dare I say it, enjoyable. The archetypes and tropes are all on show, and it’s actually fun to try and maneuver through the plot which is never really that surprising, but you don’t really need it to be. In fact, if if wasn’t for all the bits where you actually have to play it rather than making choices it’d be such a breezy wee experience; unfortunately, rather than going for a nice movie length it’s somewhat over-extended into ten episodic chapters, and I was disappointed when I finished it to have absolutely no hunger to play it again to see different things happen.

I suppose also, probably, because seams of the branching become a little too apparent towards the end. There’s a couple of characters who seem destined to die simply because the plot doesn’t do anything with them, and in the final sequences there’s only one character that really matters.

This is still pretty fun for a single run through though, and I imagine it’s much more so if you play it with a group and just see what happens. There’s a lot of jump scares, comedy gore and even a few moments of actual tension. 

Will I ever play it again? I won’t, but I’m already considering running through The Quarry, which isn’t supposed to be as good, but there’s something enjoyable sometimes about playing games which are so “low effort” (well apart from the bloody QTEs.)

Final Thought: I wrote about Supermassive Games’ Hidden Agenda six years ago and gave it an absolute kicking–a game which I did play with a group. Should have played Until Dawn back then instead…

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[the-bird-and-the-flute]

Nightshade - Chojiro's route - Review

warning: mentions of death, incest and suicide

Chojiro’s route has a lot of angst. Not only because MC was unfairly accused of killing Hideyoshi, but Chojiro himself had to deal with his own concept of loyalty throughout his route. Also, lots of their friends died in vain because they had no idea the 5 elders, and Hideyoshi used them as playthings just for political reasons and to entertain some disgusting lords who were probably bored.

He was raised to be a shinobi, he was proud to be one and he didn’t have problems following rules from his master – MC’s father. But, as his feelings for MC grew during their mission, he questioned himself several times about what was he supposed to do: be loyal to MC or to their clan.

He tried his best to do as he was told, but, at some point, he just couldn’t fight against his feelings for her. That’s why he couldn’t kill her. His CG trying to kill her was probably my favorite of his route. When she grabbed his sleeves while he was strangling her, it was very cute and tragic at the same time. She used to do that when they were kids and he was escorting her home after training.

Even though they didn’t have much time to interact with each other during his own route –  MC was trying to escape with some of her friends while he was trying to move on with his life as a shinobi – he did care a lot about her and wanted her to survive, even knowing that maybe they would never see each other.

Chojiro is a kind guy deep inside, he just doesn’t show it much. He is very stoic and strict but has a good sense of justice. He also cared a lot about his disciples.

There is not much romance in this route, to be honest. I don’t know if all routes are like that (that’s my first) but if you are looking for tragedy and some plot twists, this is the one to go.

But I don’t recommend it if you think it’s boring to read routes that the LI doesn’t interact much with MC. Also, you’ll have to deal with incest here as Chojiro is blood-related to MC. Enju’s mother is Chojiro’s aunt.

However, there is no NSFW content. MC is a minor (16) so it would be very unlikely they would write descriptive scenes.

Something I’d like to see in his route was the handkerchief she gave to Chojiro before their lives turned upside down. Chojiro mentioned that he didn’t care about things in general because in his life he was used to losing things that were important to him. They could have used that handkerchief as a symbol of their relationship not only as friends but also as lovers.

I think Chojiro is a great character, but after reading his route I just know he is not going to be my favorite. As for his MC, I didn’t like her personality. I really liked Enju during the prologue and the main route. She was strong, brave, and a hard-working shinobi.

But for some reason, in Chojiro’s route, she was very passive. Unlike other otome MCs, this one can actually fight, but when she could have done something to help her friends, she just stood there as a statue while her friends were killing each other.

Obviously, I understand her being depressive as she was innocent and didn’t know how to get out of that situation, but it seemed out of character for her to just watch her friends dying when she could have intervened.

I think their relationship makes sense to me. In Japan, dating relatives was not a problem back in the day and she admired Chojiro. She wanted to be a shinobi as strong as him.

And they had similar personalities too. I totally agree with Goemon when he said they were very alike not because they wanted to work as shinobi, but due to their pessimism and loyalty to the clan. They were both ready to die for the cause if necessary.

I don’t know if I would choose him as the best boy for Enju as I think she needed someone more enthusiastic about life as Goemon, but I still have all the other routes to explore, so I may change my mind after doing the other LIs.

[z-reads]

The Blue is Where God Lives, Sharon Sochil Washington

Or: The Author of this Book is an Anthropologist, and She Really Really Wants You to Notice

I picked this book up off the New Fiction shelf at my library because the inside cover hit one of my prime buzzwords: “Afro-magical realism ”. I was extremely excited about the supposed shapeshifters and time travel and other miscellaneous magic, and on those points, I will say this novel absolutely delivered. I only wish that was what the book was actually about, rather than sort of the circumstances that the book’s plot happens around.

The Blue is Where God Lives is a time bending, inter generational historical fiction novel, telling the story of Blue, a Black woman who has lived a hard life, and comes from a line of Black women who have lived hard lives, as she reels in the fallout of the unimaginable tragedy of losing her daughter in a gruesome murder. As she processes her trauma and tries to understand how she can possibly move on from it, she tells us (and a priest) the story of her life.

I actually found the storytelling quality of these little flashbacks to be the most enjoyable and interesting aspects of the book. Blue has had a difficult and painful life in a lot of ways, and the honest way she speaks about her relationship with her sense of self and her experience as a mother I think really echoes how easy it is for a lot of women, especially those fighting through poverty, to absolutely lose themselves in the strain of trying to provide for others. And I deeply respect that Washington doesn’t mince words about the messiness of those feelings.

Struggling under the burden of unwanted motherhood is a theme of both of the dual storylines in this novel, as Ismay Riguad, one of the other main characters, struggles with many of the same tensions in the year 1843. Interwoven with Blue’s story are snippets of the story of her great grandparents Amanda and Palmer, and Ismay, the white-passing French Royal they befriend. It’s in the past, in their storyline, that the magic really becomes relevant in this text. But it’s also here where Washington starts to self indulge just a touch too much, and lose me. Amanda and Palmer, both Black and light skinned, are abolitionist revolutionaries, using Amanda’s magic and Palmer’s financial privilege in conjunction with the lightened color of their skin to wield great socio-political power, and to outsmart / kill / escape from the vicious white people that try to enslave them and their friends, while liberating as many other enslaved people as they can along the way.

Now, did I enjoy every single scene of these Black people bringing the white slaveholders, murderers and rapists the type of violent, bloody, gruesome justice they deserved? Absolutely. In fact, I would’ve happily read a novel of just Amanda and Palmer doing that for 300 pages. As intense as some of those scenes were, it was sort of comforting to know that the Black people were the heroes of this story, and that despite the violence of the setting, they were going to live to the end.

But here’s where Sharon starts to enjoy herself a little too much: far too many moments of the 19th century plot line feel less like historical fiction and more like historical fanfiction. Just about every famous person who was alive during these time periods gets name dropped in this book, from Karl Marx to Bonnie and Clyde, and they’re always both close personal/influential friends of the main characters and not at all fleshed out as characters themselves. Not to mention, the author puts these characters in the most transparently manufactured settings possible, to provide them an opportunity to dialogue over some specifically anthropological debate. This leaves us with a six page spread of Frederick Douglass and Johann Kant supposedly debating why the enslaved Africans in America don’t just revolt the way they did in Haiti.

It just felt at times like the author was writing a response to a social studies class prompt: “tell a story where three of this unit’s important figures meet for dinner. Be sure to represent each figures point of view accurately, and use at least 5 key words from the word bank”. The arguments she’s making are certainly never wrong, and her primary sources are always used intelligently, but it felt a little aggressively like she needed us to remember her background in anthropology. And it often got in the way of me enjoying her extremely lyrical and poetry like narrative prose, and fantastic storytelling skills.

In the end I stuck it out to the finish for all of the great character work she does with Blue, and the cool magical action with Amanda and Palmer, and because I found the non linear storytelling to be challenging at first but extremely compelling once I got used to it. But it would’ve been less of a chore to get through if it wasn’t trying so hard to teach me something.

Other things…

Whoooollleee lotta sexual assault. Definitely a recurring theme. No graphic descriptions of the act, but almost every woman in the novel is assaulted or at least loses agency over her body at some point or another in her life. There’s also some non trivial mentions of suicide and gore. Good to keep in mind as triggers.

Super Christian, randomly. I mean I know it has God in the title, but for a novel that otherwise leans so heavily into non Western spirituality, bending of reality, and even numerology, it sticks to a pretty prescribed definition of a Christian God.

This author also loooves to repeat herself. Especially that damn simile about memory being like reattaching an arm. Like babes we got it the first three times.

[animebw]

Big Massive Yuri Manga Recommendation List

So, I’ve been reading a lot of yuri manga lately. Like, a lot of yuri manga. Outside of One Piece, yuri manga basically makes up my entire manga diet. And the thought occurred to me: if I’m reading this much yuri manga, and if I’m really loving a lot of them, why don’t I make a big-ass recommendation list so my followers can learn about some titles that might have slipped under their radar? Well, that’s just what I did. Here before you is a list of the best yuri manga I’ve read, the ones that made the biggest impression on me and have stuck with me the most. Give it a read and see if you pick up anything new for your reading list! I’ve also included each manga’s current chapter count, whether they’re finished or ongoing, and how much spice they have going on. It turns out, yuri manga can be veeeeeeeery sexual when it wants to be.

One last thing: don’t expect to see any of the big names on this list. You don’t need me to tell you to check out Bloom Into You, Kase-san, and Adachi and Shimamura. Those manga already have plenty of exposure, not to mention superb anime adaptations (though to be clear, those titles are all fantastic and you should absolutely read/watch them as well). This is a list of more obscure titles, stuff you probably haven’t heard about and likely won’t ever get an anime. I prefer anime over manga as a general rule, so if a manga seems bound to get an anime, I prefer to wait until the anime comes out and experience it in anime form. But I doubt any of these manga will ever get the silver screen treatment, which means it falls on me to be their hypeman. You probably haven’t heard of many of them, if any at all, but they absolutely deserve your attention just as much as the ones you have heard of. Give them a shot, and you might be surprised just how many of them steal your heart away.

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow

On the one hand, I hesitate to list this as a yuri manga because it’s very much operating in the real of frustratingly ambiguous subtext. The main relationship between Konatsu, a girl who moves to a new town by the sea, and Koyuki, the girl who welcomes her to the school’s aquarium club, is deep and intimate and absolutely dripping with unspoken emotions, but the ultimate conclusion leaves it up for you to decide whether it’s simply a very close friendship or something more. If you prefer manga that are actually explicit about depicting WLW love, this might not be for you. On the other hand, if you don’t mind rolling with that ambiguity, I cannot recommend Tropical Fish highly enough. This is a beautiful coming of age tale, both in its serene artwork and the deep, aching sincerity of the emotions it explores. It’s a story about what it means to be alone, how to forge meaningful connections in a world where time is forever marching on, and the tragedy of knowing that nothing can last forever, but that’s no excuse not to hold fast to the things that matter most to you. There are moments in the back half of this manga that will absolutely fucking destroy you, in heartbreak and happiness alike. And it doesn’t need any huge displays of emotions to do it; all it needs is the quiet, understated agony of everyday life, how the most mundane moments can give way to the most overwhelming surges of feeling. It might require a decent set of yuri goggles to technically classify as yuri, but as long as you don’t mind that, it is absolutely worth checking out.

STATUS: Finished, 34 chapters

SPICE LEVEL: Wholesome as can be. Handholding is the lewdest it gets.

Bright and Cheery Amnesia

What happens when the love of your life gets amnesia in an accident and no longer remembers you? Well, in the case of Bright and Cheery Amnesia, that just means you get to fall in love all over again. This is pure fluff, following grown-ups Mari and Arisa as they reforge the relationship that memory loss took from them. Don’t expect much in the way of deep plot, complex characters, or even accurate portrayal of medical amnesia. Just get ready to put a big smile on your face as these adorable lovebird’s antics work their way into your heart.

STATUS: Finished, 69 chapters (nice)

SPICE LEVEL: Pretty high. Characters talk often about sex and do sexy acts to each other on a fairly regular basis, though there’s no explicit nudity.

Can’t Defy the Lonely Girl

So apparently, there’s a subgenre of yuri called “blackmail yuri” where one girl asks another girl for romantic/sexual favors in return for some kind of help. You’d think that would lead to nothing but trash, but to my surprise, that setup has served as the starting point for some of my favorite entries on this list. Case in point? Can’t Defy the Lonely Girl. Top student Ayaka is tasked with making her delinquent classmate Sora stop skipping school. Sora agrees, under one condition: for every day she comes to school, Ayaka must perform one favor Sora asks of her. And the first favor she asks for is a kiss! What follows is a short, streamlined, no-bullshit rollercoaster of a rom-com that spins a far more emotional story from that premise than you might expect at first glance. There’s some fantastic character work exploring the main leads and their various hang-ups, and their dynamic together is solid gold from the very first chapter. Add to that an equally fun supporting cast and a relationship that blossoms swiftly without feeling hurried, and you have yourself the perfect bite-sized treat. This one seems to be approaching its end, with the latest chapter reaching what feels like the story’s big climax, so there’s no better time to check this one out.

STATUS: Almost finished, 16 chapters currently

SPICE LEVEL: No sexual content.

Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon

Some of the yuri I read takes a decent chunk of chapters to get going. This one, in contrast, sunk its claws into me from the first moment and never let go. On the one side, there’s Hinako, a repressed lesbian who throws herself into makeup and fashion and romance with guys to try and turn herself into a “normal” woman, the failure of which only deepens her self-doubt and aching existential loneliness. On the other side, there’s her co-worker Asahi, a sensible woman who devotes so much of herself to taking care of her teenage sister that the thought of having a life for herself barely crosses her mind. When a chance encounter makes them take notice of each other for the first time, they begin to grow closer, first as friends, then increasingly as something more intimate... and more terrifying. This is a fantastic story about two lost souls finding their missing pieces in each other’s company, all the aching emotional serenity (and gorgeous artwork) of Tropical Fish with explicit romantic tension and a powerful focus on the societal pressures faced by women who don’t fit society’s standard of “normal.” It’s heartwarming, delightful, often devastating, at times breathtaking, and nothing short of remarkable at every turn. And considering it’s only just begun, there’s the potential for this to end up an all-time great, so consider checking it out now so you can say you were a fan before it was cool.

STATUS: Ongoing, 12 chapters currently

SPICE LEVEL: No sexual content.

Even if It Was Just Once, I Regret It

Another surprising triumph from the “blackmail yuri” genre, this time focused on adults. Chiyo has lost her job and retreated into a hikkikomori shell, and it’s not until her nineteen-year-old landlord Ritsuka bangs on her door that she realizes she’s desperately behind on rent. Ritsuka’s solution? They’ll live together- and have sex- until Chiyo’s able to get back on her feet. And yes, even with a premise as full of minefields as that, Ichi Dake Demo is an absolute delight. It dives headfirst into adorable character interactions and heavy emotional drama alike, mining real pathos from Chiyo’s depression, Ritsuka’s fear of emotional vulnerability, broader societal prejudice, and the strength it takes to rise above a rotten situation and forge a life worth living for. There are moments in this manga that took me by surprise in so many different ways, and by the time the climax rolled around, I was genuinely close to tears at points. This one’s really fucking good, y’all. So don’t mind the concerning premise and give it a shot; it might just surprise you like it surprised me.

STATUS: Finished, 19 chapters

SPICE LEVEL: High. Sex and nudity are both present in generous dollops.

Failed Princesses

Out of all the manga on this list, Failed Princesses probably took the longest to get its claws into me. The story of a shallow popular girl who suffers a bad breakup and finds solace in the quiet, bookish girl she once turned her nose up at takes a while to shake off the discomfort of feeling like these two just aren’t good for each other. Nanaki is deeply disrespectful of Kanade even after they begin to make nice, and it feels like the narrative is inadvertently embodying the exact kind of shallowness it’s trying to critique. But then around chapter 14, it finally starts leaning into the lesbian side of the equation, and I swear, the quality just fucking skyrockets. It turns out, Failed Princesses was way smarter than I gave it credit for, and it absolutely knew what it was doing with all those uncomfortable moments and ideas. This is a story of genuine transformation, where characters change so radically from the people they used to be that you almost don’t recognize them by the time it’s wrapping up, but every stage of that development makes sense and packs a real, affecting punch. From internalized homophobia to harmful beauty standards, from the bullshit power structure of high school cliques to the way women and girls of all walks of life are hurt by patriarchal expectations, this manga tackles so many weight subjects with precision, thoughtfulness, and above all else, impact. The final chapter is almost upon us, and the most recent developments had me practically shaking with emotions, so there’s no better time to get on board and experience this wild ride for yourself.

STATUS: Almost finished, 33 chapters currently

SPICE LEVEL: No sex or nudity.

Futaribeya

At first, you could be forgiven for thinking that the yuri tag on Futaribeya is misplaced. This manga starts out looking like any generic cute-girls 4-koma, centered on the wacky misadventures of two high school girls who share the same dorm room. Plenty of cute moments, to be sure, but nothing outside the realm of obvious shipteasing. That is, until Sakurano kisses Kasumi out of nowhere in a drunken haze, and that’s when the breaks truly come off. Futaribeya isn’t content to just stay in the never-ending high school bubble; it takes its characters through graduation, college, and even into the world of working adults, maintaining its 4-koma slice-of-life energy all the while but constantly pushing the status quo forward. New characters enter our protagonists’ lives and old characters leave it behind, relationships blossom and develop all around, simple fun-time hijinks start to share the space with deeper, more soul-searching episodes. And at the center of it all is Sakuranoa and Kasumi, two girls fumbling through their feelings in a space that isn’t quite romance yet but sure as hell can’t be classified as friendship. Not with all the kissing, hand-holding, declarations of love and casual intimacy that are springing up between them. This isn’t a manga to go to for rip-roaring romantic development; this is a slow-burn focused on individual snapshots of an expansive life that feels like it’s still only just begun. But if you’re in the mood for something as uniquely expansive as it is adorable, Futaribeya might be worth checking out.

STATUS: Ongoing, 68 chapters currently

SPICE LEVEL: No sex or nudity.

Hino-san no Baka

Score three for the blackmail yuri genre! This one is pure Cute Girls Doing Cute Things, centered on the titular delinquent slacker Hino-san and the goody two shoes Koguma whom she mercilessly teases in return for going to class. It’s not particularly deep or emotional, but my god is it entertaining. The core comedic loop of Hino getting Koguma all hot and bothered, only to reveal her actual request was something far less lewd than she made Koguma believe, makes for a constant stream of hilarious gags and adorable moments. There’s even some nice character development as the two start becoming more aware of how much they mean together and start becoming more honest with their feelings. It’s been running for a long time, but it’s still just as fresh, funny, and squee-inducing as when it started, if not more so. Check it out for a good time, no braincells required.

STATUS: Ongoing, 75 chapters currently

SPICE LEVEL: Surprisingly raunchy. Very little fanservice, but many bawdy gags and sexually charged situations, often with a great deal of embarrassment for poor Koguma.

How Do We Relationship?

Here’s one for the lovers of college romance in the audience. Shy introvert Miwa and loud extrovert Saeko are both lesbians who’ve struggled to accept their identities thanks to heteronormative pressure from all sides. When they meet in college, equally unlucky in love, Saeko suggests they just start dating each other, because hey, not like they’ve got many other options, right? But what starts as a relationship of convenience quickly blossoms into something much more genuine, and soon they both have to content with all the perils and pitfalls of navigating their first real romance, pressures exacerbated by the heteronormative bullshit that refuses to leave them the hell alone. It’s a refreshingly honest look at a lesbian relationship, documenting moments good and bad and everything in between with a frank refusal to shy away from the less pretty sides of love. It’s hilarious and hard-hitting in equal measure, and it’s very well worth your time.

STATUS: Ongoing, 28 chapters currently

SPICE LEVEL: Very high. Sex and nudity are frequent, explicit, and important factors in everyone’s character and development.

I Wanna Be Your Girl

Looking for a yuri that really dives headfirst into tackling the struggle for LGBTQ+ acceptance? Look no further than the story of childhood friends Hime and Akari. Hime’s nursed a crush on Akari pretty much since they met, and not even Akari coming out to her as a trans girl has changed that. But now that they’re in high school, Akari’s decided to take the huge step of living openly as a trans girl, and Hime’s determined to stick up for her friend no matter what prejudice or ignorance they face for it. But Hime’s got baggage of her own to work through, and she very quickly comes to realize how little she understands about what it means to be a good ally, especially when her own romantic feelings are a constant nagging presence in the back of her mind. I Wanna Be Your Girl pulls no punches, exploring heavy topics like transphobia, homophobia, harmful allyship, internalized LGBTQ+ self-loathing, the dehumanizing effect of gendered expectations for girls, and even acephobia. It’s rarely gentle and never compromises, but it wears its heart on its sleeve and always pushes forward towards acceptance and self-love, with kindness and compassion for the curable ignorance in all of us. It’s a hell of a read, and if you can handle the aforementioned content warnings, I highly recommend it.

STATUS: Finished, 50 chapters

SPICE LEVEL: No sexual content, but lots of heavy topics and emotionally taxing moments.

Mage and Demon Queen

Okay, I am absolutely cheating on this pick. I have mentioned M&DQ many times before on this blog, it’s one of the most popular comics currently on Webtoon, it’s already plenty well-known and beloved. But I don’t care, any chance I get to shill Mage and Demon Queen, I will shill Mage and Demon Queen. This isn’t just my favorite yuri manga (or Webtoon, I guess), this is my favorite manga period. At once a tooth-rottingly adorable fantasy rom-com between two disaster gays, a stirring fantasy epic set in the rare JRPG world that actually works as a setting, a deeply compelling character drama between two damaged people learning to be better, and a showcase of the best comedic sensibilities I’ve ever seen in the medium of manga, Mage and Demon Queen is an unqualified triumph on every front. It makes me laugh, it makes me cheer, it makes me squee, and it consistently delivers on a story that’s only getting bigger, better, and braver without ever losing the adorable yuri mushiness at its core. So please, I am begging you, read Mage and Demon Queen. It’s currently on break after the incredible season 2 climax, so this is the perfect time to catch up before season 3 starts up later this year. I promise, you won’t regret it for a second.

STATUS: Ongoing, 126 chapters currently

SPICE LEVEL: Some kinky stuff, but no sex or nudity.

Our Teachers are Dating

This one I don’t have much to say about: it’s just pure fluff and exactly what it says on the tin. Two lady teachers working at the same school fall in love, start dating, and their relationship is the most adorable thing ever. But just because I don’t have much to say about it doesn’t mean it’s not worth checking out. Trust me, it’ll put the biggest smile on your face.

STATUS: Finished, 24 chapters

SPICE LEVEL: Very high. Lots of (cute and fluffy) sex and nudity.

She is Also Cute Today

Welcome to the world of Chinese Manhwa! This is another story about a model student falling for a delinquent slacker who doesn’t fit in with their school’s model of success, albeit without the “blackmail” angle. It’s a very slow burn and takes its sweet time getting anywhere, but it’s packed full of hilarious, heartwarming moments, and it’s even setting up a MLM relationship on the side which promises to be just as adorable as the main ship. Also, the artwork is fucking beautiful and I want to swim in its color palette. Oh, and its reference game is second to none. I’m talking Jojo’s references that put all other Jojo’s references to shame here. Come expecting a good time and you won’t be disappointed.

STATUS: Ongoing, 84 chapters currently

SPICE LEVEL: Very wholesome, no sex or nudity.

Still Sick

This manga combines two of my favorite yuri tropes; working adults, and rediscovering your passion later in life. Office working Makoto writes yuri doujins as a side hobby, a secret she keeps from everyone until her fellow co-worked Maekawa stumbles across her at a con and reveals that she used to be a manga writer herself, before burnout and self-loathing forced her out of the profession. As their relationship develops, they push each other to recommit to the things they love, and watching them blossom together is nothing short of incredible. I also love how to explores the fandom side of yuri, and how many real WLW use yuri as a medium to explore their feelings and understand themselves a little better. It’s short, sweet, and absolutely delightful, so give it a look if you’ve got the time.

STATUS: Finished, 23 chapters.

SPICE LEVEL: Mild. Some steamy bits, but no sex or nudity.

The Two Sides of Seiyuu Radio

This one’s only just gotten started, but I think it has the potential to be something really special. On air, voice actors and radio personalities Yuugure and Utahani are best friends, two high school girls in the same class pursuing their dreams of becoming stars together. Off air, though, the real girls behind those personalities, loner Chika and gyaru Yumiko, are polar opposites that can’t stand each other’s guts. Their chemistry is electrifying; every sparring match and moment of connection hits like a lightning bolt. I could watch them talk about anything, butting heads and slowly coming to understand each other, and it would make for some of the most exciting conversation I’ve read in manga. Add to that some fantastic artwork, hilarious gags, an equally compelling supporting cast, and a fascinating look at the realities of entering the seiyuu industry in Japan, and you’ve got a recipe for one hell of an entertaining read. Climb aboard the bandwagon while it’s still fresh; something tells me this is gonna be one to remember.

STATUS: Ongoing, 8 chapters currently

SPICE LEVEL: Very mild. The most recent chapter has a bath scene, but there’s no sex or explicit nudity... yet.

Their Story (Tamen de Gushi)

If you check out one Chinese manhwa from my list, make it this one. Their Story is Kase-san of the Chinese yuri market, a story so simple and yet so instantly iconic it might as well be the mascot face for the entire damn genre. Sun Jing is reckless, athletic and feisty. Qui Tong is pretty, feminine and sweet. The first time they meet, Sun Jing falls and falls hard. Thus begins, as the title says, their story, as they grow closer together, work through their feelings, eventually make it official and begin to navigate life as a couple. What it lacks in originality, it makes up for in absolutely god-tier execution. There are so many moments from this manhwa that are permanently etched into my mind, whether adorable romantic chemistry or gut-busting comedy, and every chapter has at least one moment that leaves me giggling like an idiot for long after I finish reading. It’s not the best structured story ever, but as a collection of snapshots in the lives of these two girls and the many equally lovable dorks around them, it’s incredible, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

STATUS: Ongoing, 203 chapters currently

SPICE LEVEL: No sex or nudity.

Whisper Me a Love Song

What happens when you take the emotionally intense boy’s-love band show Given and turn it into a cute, fluffy yuri manga? You get Whisper Me a Love Song, and unsurprisingly, it’s pretty damn great. It’s a story of love at first sight between excitable high school freshman Himari and her cool senpai Yori, who gets roped into playing guitar for her friends’ band at the start-of-year talent show and absolutely sweeps Himari off her feet. The artwork is stunning, the romance is tooth-rottingly adorable, and the background plot of Yori discovering her love of songwriting makes for sequences of playing music that you can all but hear, they leap off the page so expressively. Whisper Me a Love Song is a manga that hits you with big, melodramatic emotions and nails them all with fist-pumping joy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up getting an anime of its own eventually. It's so vibrantly realized already that it might as well already have motion and sound. I had a fantastic time with it, and I suspect you will too.

STATUS: Ongoing, 22 chapters currently

SPICE LEVEL: No sex or nudity.

[claire-starsword]

so much shadow discourse nowadays focus on how Sega making him an edgy rival ignores his character development, and while i get that i think the real main point is that his current incarnation is just boring

like i get it, sonic is a 30 year old franchise trying to keep itself open to new and old fans, children and adults. i get not wanting to require everyone knows a whole arc from 2001 beforehand to understand the current plots. Shadow has always been the exception for having a complex backstory. It’s okay to simplify things to “this is guy with a darker worldview than Sonic that frequently butts heads with him for this reason”.

The problem is that without a good reason to butt heads with Sonic it gets ridiculous and boring. It’s funny to see people now going “shadow sucks in IDW”. Shadow’s introduction in IDW was great and i don’t remember seeing anyone say otherwise. Because he was introduced during the Mr. Tinker arc, where there was a moral conflict complex enough to make him interesting. Not wanting to keep a reformed Eggman around was a valid idea and one that was pretty much validated by the end! Shadow wasn’t being an ass for no reason he was just being harsher than Sonic in how to pass judgement on villains. While Sonic bringing up Shadow’s past villainess shows that at the same time, Sonic’s merciful attitude is not meaningless either. This is the kind of story Shadow’s built for, this is a rivalry with Sonic that matters.

Then you get to something like the Chao Race arc which is very straightforward good guys vs. bad guys story, and Shadow’s attitude becomes meaningless. There’s no good reason for him to butt heads with Sonic there, the only way for him to oppose Sonic in this kinda plot is by not being a hero, which is not only an asshole move but also boring and useless, because it essentially means he’s not really in the plot, and just there to hog screentime with an edgy line or two that lead nowhere. Or that he will do some meaningless heroic act offscreen just to not look like a full villain, but we don’t get to see and it doesn’t influence anything so it’s boring. If Shadow isn’t allowed to just be a hero in straightforward times then he shouldn’t be in those plots. And given that a good chunk of the franchise is that, Shadow shouldn’t be a main cast member. Forcing him to be around and then not allowing him to match the lighthearted energy of the series just sucks the fun out of scenes that could be okay otherwise.

An interesting example that I never see people bring up is Sonic Battle too. Shadow starts Sonic Battle in pretty much the same way as IDW, an edgy dude who wants to destroy Emerl because he doesn’t trust Sonic or anyone with that. And then what? He actually reacts to the plot beats and grows around the story, like an actual character. Sonic beat you? Okay, leave things alone for now and trust him to protect the robot. Robot is growing and developing? Okay, try to explain your concerns to them, try to investigate your pasts. Do things! Have reasons to do things! Move the story forward in an interesting way instead of going in circles with a single edgy answer to everything! That’s the main problem with current Shadow, not his backstory or the edginess itself! I played Sonic Battle before SA2 and understood it just fine with only vague knowledge of his backstory, because the only parts that matter are given in the game itself (and even recontexualized i guess)! And he’s still edgy enough to be an eternal loner and collapse at a night club at times and rave on about being a weapon and not repeating past tragedies! None of that is bad when it’s made to work with the story instead of against it.

[radiosandrecordings]

Okay this might be entirely unintentional, but I was thinking about speech patterns in TMA and specifically how Jon is fond of using an analogy or a metaphor to describe something. He mostly uses it to describe his experiences with the Beholding, saying stuff like “You drink the whole contents of a bar, you don’t remember what the Merlot tastes like.”, or the infamous door metaphor “It’s like there’s a, a door, in my mind. And behind it is, is the entire ocean.”

It seems to be a trait primarily given to him, not used at any time I can remember by Martin or Basira or any other main character, maybe besides a statement giver or two. But when I can remember it being used by someone else, it’s by Gerry and Leitner. Gerry has his colours metaphor, and his omelette one. Leitner has his pantheon metaphor, and his anthill one. And the thing that stands out here is A) Gerry and Leitner were both the two most plot-dump characters in the show, because they were the ones who actually knew what was up with the entities and were willing to tell Jon, and B) Both of them were dead by the end of the episode they first appeared in. 

And fuck dude, if that isn’t something! We have two characters who quite literally speak Jon’s language, use the same style of communication and understanding as him, and they’re the two people who can appease his pleas to just find out what the hell is happening around him. That’s all he wants to know. And subtly the audience is told that these people know and Get Him through their use of language, how they convey their thought process in the same way he does when he’s trying to explain what’s going on in his head to other people. Even Martin doesn’t get what Jon is trying to say sometimes, as much as he loves him he doesn’t understand him, not really. And then two people came along who did understand Jon and how his mind works and had all the answers for him, and then the tragedy strikes and he can’t keep them around, always having to move on to being alone in his own head again.