#I'd only read the manga and never actually watched the anime until now

[chelacadude]

[rukimakino-heirofheart]

🔥Puella Magi Madoka Magica

🔥Renaruki

🔥 MadoMagi:

The original anime was pretty mediocre and had a mediocre soundtrack. Its fatal flaw is that it tries to center itself around a single main character (Madoka Kaname herself) whose viewpoint we see the world through, but her characterization physically cannot get focus in this format in an anime, because you just don't get to see how deeply screwed up her worldview is if you never know what she's thinking. Consequently, you actively lose information by telling the story in a format other than a novel or VN. (Observant viewers may recognize this as the same ultimate problem behind why adapting FSN for the screen inherently requires getting more exposit-y about Shirou's deal.) Ultimately, I wholeheartedly recommend skipping the MadoMagi TV anime entirely; most of the best parts of the Puella Magi Series are elsewhere and don't expect familiarity with a disappointing TV anime. (The Different Story, Rebellion, and Wraith Arc escape this curse by not being Madoka-centric, instead focusing on more conventional protagonists in Kyouko and Homura.)

Rebellion was a perfectly fine ending in and of itself, and it doesn't need a sequel. The only reason I'm interested in Walpurgis no Kaiten's existence is that it seems to be going so far out of left field that I kind of have to entertain it and find out what the cook is.

Of the "classic" Puella Magi titles (pre-2017, i.e. before Magia Record), I'd rank them like this:

Puella Magi Tart Magica - Masugitsune

Puella Magi Oriko Magica - Kuroe Mura

Extended Puella Magi Madoka Magica Series - Gen Urobuchi (TV, Rebellion, Wraith Arc) & Masaki Hiramatsu (TDS) & Hanokage (Wraith Arc)

Puella Magi Suzune Magica - GAN

Puella Magi Kazumi Magica - Masaki Hiramatsu

Rankings of Tart and Oriko may be swapped depending on how I'm feeling that day.

This is not to say that Suzune and Kazumi are bad manga, but the former quite infamously ran into production troubles and the latter bit off way more than it could chew, and it shows. Kazumi has a lot of cool plot ideas and themes in play but reading it for the first time can feel like being subjected to a plot point firing squad. The original manga run of Suzune was good but not spectacular -- it didn't truly get to shine until the MagiReco crossover events started happening. (It has been 1200 days since the last Suzune event...)

MagiReco fans often describe Arc 2 as "when it gets good," and it's common to write off Arc 1 entirely as an extended prologue, however I do still maintain that Arc 1 is a good story on its own terms. You can feel the weight of the production issues (there's a very noticeable midpoint shift where a major rewrite happened) but it's still a perfectly fine and coherent story. Most of what the fandom writ large likes to call "flaws of Arc 1" are just, intentional foreshadowing.

When AniReco (the companion anime to MagiReco that tells a completely separate story)'s final batch of episodes originally came out that fateful April 3, I gave the production as a whole a massive side-eye (I distinctly remember logging on and asking a chatroom I was in "what is even happening?? Why is the anime Folklore of Zero propaganda all of the sudden?? Wait, Neo Dorothy Motherfucker???? Huh??????"), but I've since warmed up to it. It's its own thing, and you have to have its place in the series' cosmology and the showrunner's goals in writing it explained to you first before you start watching, and it makes some writing decisions I find to be questionable, but it did a remarkably good job for a series that was slashed from 39 episodes down to 25 halfway through.

Apparently this is a hot take now: I like Nagisa Momoe's actual backstory as detailed in MagiReco a hell of a lot better than "dumb idiot child wished for cheese instead of healing her ailing mother." The collected Nagisa cycle of MagiReco stories makes her arguably the single most interesting member of the Holy Quintet.

I want more Kyubey worldbuilding, goddammit! We know precious little -- the Incubators were created by an advanced alien civilization (local expert Touka Satomi, A1C9), and their tissue is analogous to stem cells and can be reconfigured on the fly (Kosane Kiriha, NMG) -- and I need to know more! What were the progenitors like? Did they wipe themselves out? Actually, now that I think about it, are Incubators like Touhou's shikigami where you take fleshy hardware and flash it with your own artificial intelligence? We know a human can control one (Madoka uses LoC-branded pink Incubators for surveillance purposes) and we know a human can have their soul shoved into one losslessly (mokyu!), so like, what are the limitations here? Hell, the Pleiades made their own once! It sucked at its job, but it existed! How did they do that? Tell meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I think that even in the absence of the Automatic Purification System, being a magical girl is just kind of objectively better than being human. You get to opt out of mortality, you get private(-ish) telepathic communication for free, you get a shrunken hitbox -- no more worrying about workplace safety hazards as long as you protect the gem! -- you get a weirdly specific personal magic that varies in effectiveness from Konomi's baton pass to Iroha's localized time reversal, and even if you don't get something useful you still have a magical weapon that you can spawn on command. That's even before we get into the existence of Coordinators, and the logical applications of their Adjustment magic in gender-affirming care. To be quite honest, if Kyubey ever had reason to approach me, my wish would probably just straight-up be "immediately megucify every human who exists right now and every human who will ever exist in the future regardless of energy cost."

I'm scared of the new Magia Exedra mobage's existence because (1) it's very prominently advertised as being Quintet-centric and I'm sick and tired of the Quintet, and (2) there's a nonzero chance it will take resources away from Magia Record to focus instead on what seems, if the credits on the website are to be believed, to be a shitty autobattler. MagiReco is the best thing the Puella Magi Series has ever done and I want it to survive well past its tenth anniversary.

🔥 RenaRuki:

Okay, seriously, did the entire Tamers fandom collectively forget that, past a certain part of the D-Reaper arc, none of the Primary Colors are actually human anymore? Because it feels like I'm the only one who's acknowledging this, despite the fact that "Ruki, alienated from humanity, voluntarily gives it up, while Renamon, aligned with humanity, is a trans woman" seems like a pretty obvious thread to work with, and being turned into a digital life-form offers plenty of opportunities for neat body horror, not even to mention how this affects the ways in which Ruki's Candy timeline counterpart has steadily been getting worse for two decades.

[Side note: I really need better names for the "more canon" movie timeline that's relevant, essential and true, and the "less canon" drama CD timeline that isn't. If I keep calling them Meat and Candy I'm going to get weird looks from the non-Homestucks.]

I swear I had more observations I was going to put here but I got sidetracked. Might add on a reblog later.

[short-black-diamond]

Hi I was wondering if your request are still open and if so are there any of the series listed in your master list list that you no longer write for?

Hellyu,

thank you for asking me that, I should really renew my masterlist...

Also no, requests are not open, and every person who is requesting stuff now stays in my inbox as I'm still looking and writing for the requests I got. But, if you want to, you can request stuff, but you'll have to wait, my love.

I don't know, but I still like to write stuff in some parts, for example my hero academia, where I've written a lotta stuff, and a smut fic with Aizawa will come soon. However, I'd also like to write drabbles or one-shots with the students as well.

I've wanted to write more Haikyuu fics as well, but I dunno, I've actually never watched the anime, only the first few episodes...

Tokyo revengers is also there, and I love when I get requests to write about them. However, I've been reading the mange until chapter 2 hundred something, so I'm not as up to date as some of you guys, but I'll try my best if requests come regarding that anime/mange series.

Nanbaka is such an underrated anime, and the manga is also pretty cool, so I'd love to still write fic then and there.

Obey me will stay, I think, because I have a lot of requests from it, and I still have more to write. Another thing to add is that I really like that game.

I think I'll put Wednesday away, because it just--isn't my favourite, like I didn't really like the show. Maybe the second season will be cooler, but I dunno. So...maybe no more Wednesday content.

I won't stop writing for Marionetta, The greatest Estate Developer or The Tomato Can. They are goated webtoons and I love them very much.

Please also chech out my events at the end of my masterlist, where there are some more webtoons and anime listed which I read and watch.

Thank you for asking me, my love, I actually had time to think about this!

I hope this answered your question, and if you have more, then just ask ahead and I'll try my best to answer you as soon as possible.

-your diamond <3

[yellowocaballero]

hi! i know that i'm fated to read your every work despite not knowing the media half the time. this time i would like to finally be one step ahead. so uhh. where do i read orv? do i go for the webtoon or the novel? to clarify, i did try to search, but got confused by reddit. also i am going to watch trigun. i've been eyeing animorphs too but the 54 (?) books are making me go hmm. thank you for existing you're pretty great. you're like the spiderman of writing but instead you got asbestos rat'd.

THIS ASK IS INSANE. WE'RE REFERENCING MY LORE NOW?

But thank you, you're insane. People ask why I have stupid high standards for the fics i post on AO3 and it is because there are people like you who will just read whatever regardless of whether or not it's good. I have a responsibility.

This ask also made me wonder if I have good taste. Because every time somebody says this my first reaction is "oh god and the source materials aren't even good". I read a lot of trashy stuff (but, like, define trashy), and I consume too many bad things to be able to say I have discerning taste. If I enjoy something I almost never call it bad, because things were made to be enjoyed and I enjoyed them then they had value in at least one aspect. If you were to ask me if my favorite TV show of all time the Incredible Hulk 1974 was actually, unironically, good, then I'd break into a cold sweat. Is somebody bad because it's camp? Is something bad only if it's unintentional camp?

Regardless, I never write fic for something that isn't only like 80% good - there's a sweet spot of 'good enough for me to obsess over' and 'bad enough that I'm rewriting it in my head'. It's rare I write for anything I find completely good. Which is why I feel bad when people say that they're reading this thing I'm writing fic for jalksdf there's better things out there I SWEAR.

ORV is in the sweet spot of "this isn't high literature" and "this has given me brain worms". Definitely for sure start with the webtoon - the webnovel is clunkily translated, you don't read it for the writing at all, and it is also a literal million words. Don't read the webnovel unless you're like "I'm going insane and I need more of this". It starts off kind of slow ("This is a well executed very banal isekai") and you're like a frog in the pot of it slowly going more insane until you're a ways in and you are in a tangle of ridiculously complicated gambits and convoluted storytelling. There is literally no other way to describe it than the Homestuck of webnovels. If you're completely unfamiliar with isekai that's fine, but as a warning - ORV being your first webtoon/webnovel isekai is like your first shoujo manga being Ouran High Schol Host Club, or your first magical girl show being Madoka, or your first mecha anime to be Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's one of the best works in its genre but it's supposed to be viewed in context of the genre. Or maybe it's more like if Homura starred in Evangelion, which was Ouran. I'm just saying words.

Animorphs is kind of like Mother 3 in which everybody who has ever read/played it said that it changed them as a person, it changed their relationship with media and storytelling forever, if you read/play it you will be born again from the world's egg, etc. Works that genuinely become part of your personality. I also never recommend it to people because it is incredibly hit or miss. I remember using a spreadsheet of just "what books are skippable or not" because some of them are incredibly weird and some of them are incredibly weird in the bad way. The only Animorphs fic I've ever written is from 2019 so it's also not that great. Each book only takes an hour to read and the pdfs are free online, so it's incredibly accessible in terms of the reading experience, but it's kinda the Animorphs gestalt that changes you forever and not the individual books. I try not to recommend stuff that's like 25% bad.

Watch Trigun if you like what Trigun is - it's not going to deliver on something it's not. Also watch 98 first. Watch Stampede/read Trimax if you want more Trigun. The Trigun fic is based off Stampede but refer to my "I only write fic for smth that's 80% good and not 100% good" statement.

Also I think being bit by an asbestos rat just means that I probably have mold and drywall in my lungs, which would explain a lot about this blog. Thanks for the ask I love it.

[gwydionae]

Ok, serious question for One Piece fans.

Here's the TL;DR:

I'm at Fishman Island in the anime. I know lots of future spoilers for WCI and Wano. I love pre-time skip Sanji and WCI Sanji. I hate Fishman Island Sanji. The question is, as a Sanji fan, how much disappointment should I prepare for in Punk Hazard/Dressrosa/etc until WCI? Is he going to stay this obnoxious until then?

And here's the rather long explanation rant because sometimes you just gotta vent:

I started reading the manga, like, 20 years ago, but I dropped it during the Fishman Island arc. There were many reasons for this (some unrelated to OP entirely), but a big one was Sanji. He had always been my favorite character, and while there had been moments pre-time skip that I didn't love (see: Clear Clear Fruit and it's improper uses), I found he became downright insufferable after it. I don't have to love everything about a character for them to be my favorite, but FI pushed me past my limit.

I have since skimmed through Whole Cake Island and bits of Wano due to seeing spoilers that made me believe that may have changed over time, and I did really like the parts that I read. Well, most of them, anyway (see: invisibility and it's improper uses, Sanji). So between that and hype over the live action version, I went back and started watching the anime for the first time.

I am once again in the early goings of Fishman Island, and I am STRUGGLING. Every time Sanji is on screen my brain is warring between remembering what I like about his character and what I'm seeing play out currently. He used to be overly fond and protective of woman, to the point that his inability to fight them hindered the crew. Now he's an active pervert drooling in the face of every pretty woman who is hindering the crew simply by bleeding to death at the sight of any woman including his own crewmates. Had this happened, like, once, MAYBE twice, ok, it's a dumb gag, but whatever. But it's not a one off gag. It just keeps going, to the point where it doesn't feel like a gag anymore so much as an actual character trait. It's like his flaws (which can make for interesting character drama, like his inability to physically harm Kalifa) are now his core personality, and everything I liked about him isn't even there anymore. Heck, part of his training was to learn to cook foods to help his crew, and he hasn't even cooked anything yet, and he was separated from his crew for two years!

(Ugh, don't mind me, just unearthing feelings buried real deep a decade ago. ANYWAY)

I know he gets better. He'll never feel quite like his pre-time skip (especially pre-Thriller Bark) self again, but I know that WCI adds in some really interesting layers to his character, and while Wano still has his perviness turned up a bit higher than I'd prefer, there's real depth to his character to keep him from sinking back into the one note gag that is Fishman Island. He will get growth. He will go back to being an enjoyable and rounded character one day.

I just really need to know exactly how long I have to wait for that to happen.

Sanji is (obviously) not the only thing I like about One Piece. I like nearly all of the Straw Hats, I've gotten attached to more than a few side characters over time, and the fact that it's so long and hasn't (to my knowledge) felt like a mad scramble of retcons is highly impressive.

But here on good old tumblr, I expect people to understand about the blorbos. They're different. They're special. And feeling like I wish one of them would finally succumb to death by nosebleed is, to put it mildly, not ideal.

And thus the question at hand. Because if I have to put up with this Sanji all the way until WCI, I might just scream. But at least if I have the warning ahead of time, I'll know to expect it rather than fruitlessly hoping he gets better before then.

Just give it to me straight, doc. How bad is it?

(The one thing I know of him between now and WCI is that his mind/soul/?? gets stuck in Nami's body - not sure for how long or what all he... does... in there, though. So please spoil that for me. I do not want that kind of surprise.)

[mikareo]

HIII HIII DOVE !!! js saw you were doing matchups,, sooo excited cs i’ve never done this before >.<

࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔 fandom: blue lock !!

desired gender/age: a guy pleaseee <3 not really picky on age tbh, 16-17 probably

࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔 personality traits: high achiever & hopeless romantic. really really introverted but chatty and unfiltered around ppl i’m close to ( ngl i say the wildest things ). open minded also a really good listener ‘n really loyal. creative, patient but i can also be pessimistic and mean i think? only happens when i’m overwhelmed tho && i’m an infp and a sagittarius

fave hobbies + activities: drawing, painting, reading books & manga, watching anime, rom-coms and k-dramas, gamingg (literally been on fortnite and valo all week 😭). baking, cooking, listening to music. also love going on runs/walks

࣪˖ ִֶָ𐀔 ideal first date/dream date: all of my first dates are at the cinema which sucks cus you can’t really get to know each other then, so something fun like an arcade or js walking around the mall and looking through bookstores or going to pop-up festivals and getting street food!!

thank youuuu <3 hope this is enough to work with!!

💌 ✮⋆˙ love letter to...y2kuromi!

...this was...so hard...like...i rlly rlly hope you like this character LOL it's ok if u don't tho,, he's a little silly sometimes. i hope ur doing well mimi and that ur weekend was fun!!! i rlly wanted this matchup to be perfect for ur personality set,, n i think you'd get along w this chara nicely :)

[ ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹ ᰔ ] your personality matchup results!

congratulations . . .‧₊˚🪩✩REO MIKAGE₊˚🫧⊹♡

⋆⭒˚｡⋆ chemistry analysis . . .

to be so honest, making a decision on who to match you with took me a lot longer than it usually does. i went though so many options— hiori, kunigami, chigiri, nagi— and none of them fit in the way that i wanted them to. whenever i'd try to pair traits and interests, everything felt really forced and that's the last thing i want to when doing a personality pairing; but eventually i landed on reo! i think you and reo fit together very very well, and i'm pretty confident on that!

one thing that you and reo can mutually relate, is your need to achieve. you're both extremely ambitious people and when you have a goal, there's no stopping you until you reach it. reo knows that you understand that obsession and crave for success. he doesn't feel judged when he's overly passionate about something and talks about it for hours on end, knowing that you're listening to every word he says with an open mind. most people think he's crazy for believing he and nagi can be kings of the football world, but you don't think that. you don't think that at all. if anything, you're right next to him cheering him on; while also giving him a few small reality checks along the way.

for the most part, hopeless romance isn't something that reo thinks about. typically, girls fawn over him due to his parent's money, only wanting to become a rich heiress without actually liking reo for his real personality; they prefer his phony one. you, however, introduce him to the truth that there can be love without manipulation or falseness. you show him how little gestures matter and that he shouldn't waste his time on people who aren't patient enough to see him as he really is. there is a potential love story in reo's book and you're the only one who can start the next chapter and help him read on.

now, you have many hobbies that reo isn't necessarily extremely interested in; but that's not an issue. the thing is with reo, is that he loves to get involved in the things his loved ones enjoy— if you have a hyperfixation on a video game, kdrama, or musician, he's right there beside you to listen or watch along. he loves to splurge on you; aka: taking you out on any kind of date your heart desires and buying you anything you have your eye on— and he's such a doting boyfriend that you can't help but love him for his obsession with making you happy. you've taught reo how to love something other than a hobby, and he's going to show you how thankful he is for that every day.

[piracytheorist]

I might do something crazy and ask of any of my followers who are willing to do that to send me non-spoilery screenshots from sxf manga chapters I haven't read.

Now, what do I mean non-spoilery?

The image below is from chapter six, but it's an example of a "spoiler" moment.

We see Yor, Anya, and possibly Loid under the speech bubble. Their clothes are visible (and specific for Yor, since she doesn't wear this combo every day), the dialogue is visible and also important. If you showed it to someone who hasn't read up to that part, it would reveal stuff they weren't supposed to know.

Now, from the exactly previous panel, an example of a "non-spoilery" moment:

We only see Twilight, who wears his usual suit and says something that cannot be pinned to a specific moment or happening. Which means that if you showed this screenshot to someone who hasn't read that part, they wouldn't be able to make any assumptions about what is happening or when.

Even less spoilery is something like this

It's too vague to reveal anything other than Twilight being in shock. We don't see his clothes, nor any speech bubbles, nor the environment, so there is absolutely no context. If the person you show this to doesn't know what's happening, they'll have no chance of guessing what made him so shocked.

In fact, if I hadn't read that chapter, I wouldn't have been able to guess why his face is like that.

Another example of a "spoiler":

We see Loid in very specific clothes, we see the penguin plushie, and can infer that the small hand at the side is Anya's. Not a big spoiler, because it's just the introduction of the plushie, but a spoiler nonetheless.

Now, if you cut and crop this panel:

All we see is that Loid is holding something that looks big. He's wearing one of his usual hats and the cropping is vague enough to hide most details - like the fact that he's not wearing a collared shirt like he usually does. We see one of the penguin's flippers but honestly, without context, I don't think I'd be able to guess that what Loid is holding is just a huge penguin plushie. And considering that this moment is cute and wholesome, if I had seen that cropped panel before actually seeing the scene, it would come as a pleasant surprise that "Oh! That was a huge plushie for Anya! Cute!"

Another example:

Knowing Twilight's habits, before watching the episode I could easily assume he freaked out because of sudden proximity to Yor, who is also visibly drunk, by the way. Spoiler. Let's crop.

A little less revealing, as it's not visible who Twilight is looking at. However, this tie is a little specific. The moment I'd see him with a striped tie in the show

I'd be like wait I know what will happen. Bit of spoiler. Let's edit.

The tie is just a tiny visible, but there are other things happening in the picture that unless I spend a good amount of time analyzing it I won't be able to make the connection until the moment actually happens on my screen. Good.

Imaginings are considered spoilers.

This may be in Nightfall's imagination, but I'd have no way of knowing that, so my mind (especially since I like whump) would immediately go "HE GOT HURT AND IT WAS NOT YOR WHO TOOK CARE OF HIM" and then be disappointed because it was only an imagination and also never appeared in the anime which I'll never forgive them for 😤

However, from the same panel, this

Is not a spoiler, as it's not revealing of anything. It's still Nightfall's imagination but it gives me nothing but amusement.

Similarly, flashbacks and dream sequences are spoilers. What I mostly want is faces and expressions. They can be as expressive as possible but must not reveal anything.

It goes without saying that panels with characters who haven't appeared in the anime yet are considered spoilers, as do panels with characters who appear very rarely. If, for example, Master Swan reappears, a panel that includes him will have me warned about it, and I don't want to know if something like that will happen. In fact, aside from the four Forgers (Bond included) the only characters I'd be interested in seeing "new" panels of would be the Handler, maybe Franky too.

So... yeah. That's kind of a lot to ask so I'll understand if no-one does it, lol. But I thought, just in case someone is interested enough to do this, crop screenshots and censor any spoilery parts and dialogue (I won't mind censoring at all, in fact it's encouraged XD) and send them to me WITHOUT telling me when they happen... and yeah they can be from any chapter, from earlier ones to later ones. I have read up to chapter 38 and I've also read the last chapter from the third volume (you know the one XD) so you can go wild from that point on, as long as nothing suggests when they happen.

I am very serious when I say I don't want to be spoiled. This invitation is only for anyone who is absolutely willing to edit the screenshots enough to hide any revealing details; I won't be mad if no-one does it, and I won't be mad if some do while close mutuals don't. So only do it if you're willing to do all the necessary editing. I also know that new chapters are posted every two weeks, so if you send me panels every two weeks I will unfortunately make the assumption that they're all from the same new chapter, and I don't wanna know when each panel is from. I understand it's a lot to ask, so it's a mere invitation, not a request or a demand. The lengths I'll go to in order to not read the manga XD

[patricia-von-arundel]

It's Friday the 13th! Here's a list of 13 of my favorite scary books.

(If you have any particular triggers you're concerned about, feel free to send me a message about any of these! Please do not risk putting yourself in a bad place! I never mind giving a heads up on this kind of thing.)

General trigger warnings: sexual content, pedophilia, rape/sexual assault, extreme violence, deaths of children, deaths of animals, physical abuse, pregnancy, gore.

1. Let's deal with the reigning monarch first - Stephen King. I'll just let him have one entry for several books, since the guy has written 18 million.

1a. It. I read It, and then immediately read it again, for the first time when I was 12 years old. I carried the book around like a Bible. Not only is it truly scary as hell (the history, the deaths of Edward Corcoran and Patrick Hockstetter, and overall the idea that some things, no matter how far you run, you cannot escape - only try desperately, again, to destroy), it also has some of King's most solid characters, and an ending that isn't a total crap-out. He couldn't write great female characters then or now, but Beverly is far from his worst. And there is that scene near the end, but it's brief and easy enough to skip. 1,200 pages of story managed to work when I was a kid, and they still work now, even looking at the whole differently.

1b. Any of King's short story anthologies. I'd say my favorites are Night Shift, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, and Everything's Eventual, but they're all pretty great. The guy really shines in short form. And I dare you to read "The Jaunt" and not feel at least a little freaked out at the end.

1c. Different Seasons - the stories are far less supernatural, and it works. The four novellas are all tight, and all very different. Apt Pupil is one of the creepiest things I've ever read, and there's nary a ghost or beastie to be found.

1d. Christine, Pet Sematary, Salem's Lot, Desperation/The Regulators - the opposite of the above. These are pure supernatural terror, and a hell of a lot of fun. If Different Seasons is the drama looking for award nominations, these are the slasher flicks you watch with your friends while screaming at the characters and tossing popcorn at the screen. (Cujo's another one, but since it's rabies, it's a little more real-world.)

2. Let the Right One In, John Ajvide Lindqvist - an absolutely terrifying book where the scariest thing is not the vampire. Oscar and Eli are one of the sweetest platonic love stories I've ever read, and the bad guys absolutely get what's coming to them. It's a bleak look at suburban childhood - and desperation for something more.

3. In the Miso Soup, Ryu Murakami - this book sets you up for an uncomfortable time, and only gets worse. Short, tight, and terrifying. Murakami is more well-known for Audition, but I found this one far more disturbing. His stuff generally is not for those with sensitive stomachs.

4. Battle Royale, Koushon Takami - the movie is good. The book is better. Once you get past the slightly rocky translation, this one's going to have your adrenaline going from the very beginning. There's not going to be any Hunger Games-esque changing of rules: of 42 students, only one can survive. (I do not recommend the manga. It's mostly torture porn - sometimes literally. It's more disgusting than frightening, and while that doesn't automatically make me dislike a book - see just above this one! - I felt here that it was an unnecessary addition that actually draws away from the horror of kids forced to kill one another in favor of shock value.)

5. Ghost Story, Peter Straub - if there's ever been a horror writer who could easily have made the jump to awards-winning literary fiction, it was probably Peter Straub. Don't expect easy answers or easier scares here. Ghost Story is a very, very slow burn, where even as answers start to appear, so does a creeping fear you never even noticed until it already has you in its grip.

6. The Ritual, Adam Nevill - okay, I'm one of those who doesn't like the weird stuff that pops up near the end (you'll know it if you get to it), but the first 2/3 of the book? Holy shit, good luck turning the lights off before bed. It's rare that a book terrifies me. This one did. In the best way. Too bad about that last bit, which I mostly find ridiculous. 🤷‍♀️

7. The Passage, Justin Cronin - another contender for being closer to literary fiction with a veneer of scare. The first part is tighter than the end (and this is only the first part of a trilogy), but the whole is excellent, and the level of character development is as deep as any I've found in horror. When you feel sorrow and kinship even for the monsters (both human and otherwise), you're in good hands. Or bad ones, I suppose! I've read this one, like It, several times despite the extreme length, and it's always a ride.

8. Books of Blood, Clive Barker - short stories from a guy who not only never pulls punches, he'll start hitting harder just when you think you've gotten used to the pain. It has a story called "Midnight Meat Train," for god's sake! Just give it a go. This is pure horror, and you'll find both hardcore splatter and intelligent presentation.

9. The Final Girls Support Group, Grady Hendrix - a lot of fans of Hendrix actually dislike this one, but I found it a ton of fun, even if I also wanted to smack basically all the characters. 😅 It's just dumb fun jumping off of the same dumb fun as the movies that gave us the concept of final girls. If you ever wondered how Laurie or Nancy did after the end of their endless franchises, give this one a go. (If those names mean nothing to you, try Horrorstör instead!)

10. 20th Century Ghosts/Full Throttle/Strange Weather, Joe Hill - like his rather well-known dad, Joe Hill (legally Mr. Joseph Hillstrom King) has the horror gene, and it manifests best in his shorter work. His novels are good, but his quick-punch short stories and novellas are better. (Bonus points that in one story in Strange Weather, his main character is a butch lesbian, and while he clearly tries hard, it's... well. Let's say "a valiant attempt.") If you saw The Black Phone, it's based on one of his stories. (I hear Locke and Key, his comic series, is also amazing, but I haven't read it.)

11. Swan Song, Robert McCammon - Robert McCammon has never gotten much attention outside of horror circles, and I genuinely don't know why! Like Peter Straub and Justin Cronin, McCammon's stuff is more akin to literary fiction than "paperbacks from hell." This one is a take on apocalypse, and it does it amazingly. Many people cite The Stand as one of their favorite Stephen King novels, but I think McCammon did the same idea much, much better. Give it a go! His other books are excellent, too.

12. The Book of Accidents, Chuck Wendig - I went into this one blind, and loved it. It was creepy, the characters are interesting, and it honestly presented twists I never saw coming. Many Wendig fans say Wanderers (and its recent sequel) are better, but I haven't read them yet. They're on my list for this year!

13. The Gone series, Michael Grant (6 volumes, with another 3 in a sequel series) - these are YA, but they hit like a truck. What begins as a veneer of weirdness just gets crazier, bloodier, and darker. It's a quick read, and I swear, once I got past what initially seems like a snooze-fest main character and "meh" plot in the first book, I didn't put them down until I'd finished them all. These books are dark. Grant is also excellent at writing characters often reduced to stereotypes in horror (including female and LGBT+ characters). (As an aside, he [uncredited] helped write the Animorphs books with his wife, so if you liked those, you'll probably enjoy the equally well-developed-but-hard-hitting material in Gone. He and Katherine Applegate are also the parents of a transgender woman that they have fully accepted as a daughter instead of a son, and are vocal advocates of trans rights, as well as the Black Lives Matter movement. Solid people I very much admire!)

Thirteen seems the appropriate number to end on, but if you're looking for more, a few additional names you might seek out: Natsuo Kirino, Scott Thomas, Dan Simmons, Stephen Graham Jones, Nick Cutter*, Otsuichi, Poppy Z. Brite*, Ronald Malfi, Jason Pargin, Shaun Hutson*, Lee Mountford*, Jack Ketchum*, John Saul, Kelly Link, Ramsey Campbell, Alma Katsu, Katherine Dunn, Lee Mandelo, Paul Tremblay, Gretchen Felker-Martin*, Shirley Jackson, Max Brooks, Graham Masterton, Jeff Strand, Lisa Tuttle, Tim Lebbon, James Herbert, Josh Malerman, Catriona Ward, Richard Chizmar, Kealan Patrick Burke, Brian James Freeman, Bentley Little, Simon Clark, William Peter Blatty, Norman Partridge. Also check out the publications of Cemetery Dance and Valancourt Books!

*Extreme content warning

I will not and will never insult your intelligence by recommending Dean Koontz.

Happy chills! 😁

(And if you ever want personalized recommendations based on what scares you - or not! - drop me a message!)

[remimibanana]

Miku's 13th of January Shopping Report!

Today I went shopping with Millie, my friend and I wanted to write out some of the stuff I did!

We went back to the arcade again, and played DDR and Taiko no Tatsujin once again!

DDR!

Song 1: Megalovania

When we found out that Megalovania was on here, we knew we had to do it. I was surprised it was even on there in all honesty but it does make sense, Undertale is really popular after all!

I was Player 1 and Millie was Player 2! I did pretty well actually, mostly due to the fact that I knew the melody by heart lol

The Japanese version of the Sans fight was playing in the background and I found that so cool! I've never seen it before but one day I'd like to try to beat Sans in Japanese! For fun!

Song 2: 妖隠し -あやかしかくし

Aka the song I randomly picked because I ran out of time to choose a song lol

I wanted to do a Touhou song since I like it and they have cool songs. I think I wanted to do Bad Apple but I couldn't find it lol

It sounds really cool! Except we didn't do so well haha, which is understandable.

(but I did manage to read the song name properly, and I'm proud of myself :D)

Song 3: Scarlet Moon

I chose this song because it was very similar to The Heat of My Fingertips that I've heard before! Since I knew it pretty well, I did pretty well haha

I was so happy to see that I got an A-, I was proud of myself.

It was a lot of fun! I really like DDR and I feel like I would spend all my money on it if the machine was more closer to home orz

And now Taiko no Tatsujin!

Song 1: New Genesis

I couldn't believe they had New Genesis! It was a newly added song so the machines do get updates! I was wondering if they would or not but I'm glad they do. I hope they add even more Ado songs, like I want to jam to Tot Musica!

When I saw the name of the song I was like "YES" and so we did it first up. I'm glad that Millie recognised the song, it made me really happy hehe

It was a lot of fun, I of course sang along to it while drumming. I was Player 2 here, the blue one lol

Song 2: 1.2.3!

MY FIRST FULL COMBO WOOOOOO

They had the Pokemon 2019 opening! This was also a newly added song. I love this opening a lot, I remember the lyrics mostly and so I was singing it the whole time haha

I didn't even notice that I hit every single like note until the end but I was so happy to get a full combo! Very proud of myself, I hope I can do it again sometime lol

Song 3: Megalovania

Since we played it on DDR, we played it on here too. It's pretty tricky even on Easy, but loads of fun! And that was it! We also did take photos at the photo booth, which was like Purikura! You could draw on them and put stickers, it was so cool.

I put it inside my photo album and I hope I can take more of them! I remember seeing someone have a whole folder with Purikura and I would like to do that too lol

We went to the bookstore together and we of course went to the Manga section lol

Millie wanted a manga that she could read since she is quite new to the whole manga scene and I was there to help! I recommended Spy x Family, since I really like it and I thought she would enjoy it too! So we both picked up the first two volumes (since I wanted them too, and we would match ^^).

There were only two second volumes left, one that was in good condition and one that had a bit of a crease in the corner. I took the one with the crease since I wanted Millie to have the better one. I care more about what's inside then how it looks lol

Although it does have some print errors inside on a few pages but it's fine!

We also went to watch Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and it was really good! I enjoyed it a lot, the animation and story was pretty cool.

The cinema is so so fancy at the shopping center we went to, I was so surprised! It was my first time going into there and I didn't know how to feel. I also asked if we could buy tickets at the counter since it wasn't like my local cinema lol

We bought tickets and when we got there, there were people already sitting in our seats. But we didn't realise since we assumed our seats would be empty.

So we stood around like weirdos looking for our seats until a lady who was sitting on one of our seats was asking which seats were we in and when we told them, everyone moved and apologized for taking the seats. I felt kind of bad since they were already sitting there but those were our seats we paid for.

I had a lot of fun shopping, and I can't wait to do it again one day!

Thank you for reading all this if you do! ^^

[iwaasfairy]

Heyo Fairy!! I hope your day/night/evening/morning/afternoon is going amazingly, and that you never forget that you are that bitch! (Affectionate, obv) Seriously, I remember when I first started having these "darker" thoughts about characters and I was like 'What the fuck is wrong with me?' and then years later, I find your and Rhi's blog. Y'all let me realize that it's perfectly normal to think these things, even if those who don't, or deny that they do, think otherwise. So, seriously, thank you, y'all mean so, so, SO MUCH to me! Like big sisters that help me see there's nothing wrong with me, even if people I know irl would say "wtf?" 🥹

Ahhh, sorry, that was so fucking sappy! 🫣 I just wanted to ya know that it really does mean a lot to people like me, and your other followers, that y'all are brave enough to post the things you do despite all the little bitches that try and tear y'all down 🥹

... That was sappy again 🤦🏻‍♀️ y'know what, what the fuck ever, I'm just a soft person when it comes to emotions and shit, I'll deal with it 😤

That all being said, I can't belIEVE it took me this long to comment on 2 of Cups! Okay, so, when part 1, and 2, came out, I had no idea who Rin and Sae were. I didn't even know what Blue Lock was, just that it's a manga/anime. I was like oh, okay, cool! I read part one anyway, and was all like "... I gotta watch this. If the anime isn't out yet, I gotta watch it as soon as it DOES come out." (I'm an anime only, because I almost always give characters the exact same voice if I have nothing to go off of 😒 I struggle with it fr fr. anYWAY—) So, I don't... Think? I'd read part 2 yet, tbh I think I completely forgot about it, the memory is NOT good, I'm so sorry! So when the anime DID come out, I wasn't actually aware 😅 until they uploaded episode, like... 10? Or 11? Of the English Dub? AnywAY! THE POINT Is, I started watching because of things I've read, I was TIRED of looking up every single character when I read about them 😭 SO, I watched, got caught up to where it is now, and am waiting for the next episode, and you mention 2 of Cups part 3 is coming out, and I was like "oH SHIT, I REMEMBER READING PART 1!" So, I went back, read parts 1 and 2, absolutely ADORED them, despite the pain 🥹 Like, Rin's pining, but not wanting to do anything because of SAE, that little bitch, that won't admit he's the sAME and keeps being an AsS when Rea-chan and Rin are even remotely affectionate, AaAAAAHHHH! And I was so exCITED for part 3! And then part 3 came out, and... It absolutely bLEW MY IMAGINATION OUT OF THE PARK, LIKE!! !! I dunno, what I was expecting to happen, but I'm so happy it went the way it did! I mean, yeah, sure, it hURT, what with Sae continuing to be an ass, and RIn, poor rIN! Sweet baby, he's so! I can't even begin to espresso how in absolute awe I'm in of this mASTERPIECE! It keeps me up at night, thinking about it, and about what may happen next. Like, did Sae go back to, I think it was... Spain? Did he just go somewhere else for the time being, and he'll be back? Will Rin give in to his fantasies? Will he be soft and gentle if he does? Would he absolutely destroy Rea-chan with his roughness? Would he start off gentle, and then lose it?

So many questions, but I can wait to have them answered; I know you work incredibly hard, and that writing really takes time 🥰 PLUS, we can't have you not sleeping! The Queen of Fairies needs her sleep, she must rest and take care of herself 🥺 Love you much, take care!! 🥰

firST OF ALL,no yOURE THAT BITCH!!!! YOU ARE! YOU ARE! wtfFDSGD thIS IS SO FUCKING SWEET im gonna cry and scREam !!! ♡♡♡ yes iT is totally normal for you to thrive off of taboo, tIS ouR little bug brains,, and alSO IM MASTER OF SAP i doNT MIND YOU BEING SAPPY PLS THIS IS SO SWEEETTTTTT :/ makes me cry. i hope you know i see every like and rb and i get the dumbest fondest grin on my stupid face any time you're in my notifs, or def when you send an ask or a comment or anything i jUST mELT

and stOPPDbhFu MASTERpiECE i??FYFDyd pLS pls pls oml iM SO VERY VERY HAPPY you LIKED thE FIc and iM bery happy i decided to give myself room for a part 4 bc i think iLL need iT im just Too foND of thEm!! and YES oml manY quESTions right??? i! haven't figured them all out yet so i can't exactly tell you everything but i do know that Sae's still in Japan, he's not yet going back to Spain,, i think Sae just can't handle the idea of rea-chan being with Rin and a similar grudge against him,, and :))) heheh for the smut :))) we shall have to wait and see

[quiverpaw]

going to answer all of these for fun

👴 : fav elder? i really really like elder sandstorm! i'm sorry, i just didn't care for her bully personality sandpaw or sadly stereotypical momish sandstorm

❓️ : fav total background character (im not talking minor characters like say. whitewing or moonlight, i mean cats with like...3 lines tops)

oh, absolutely toadstep. undoubtably, he's my profile picture (as of typing). he's birchfall's friend and he so desperately wants to make friends with the other clans but is too much of a code stickler

📖 : fav comic page from any of the mangas and why

this one cuz like. what a fucking liar

👶 : how old were you when you first touched a warriors book? howd it happen

i very explictly remember finding wings of fire first because i've always loved dragons, and my mom randomly picked it up on a shelf! im pretty sure i was watching youtube vids of wof (think frozen gem :)) and i got warrior cats recommended to me. so i'd say, about 7 i read my first warriors book.

💢 : what scene made you the most irrationally angry upon first reading

two scenes come to mind, one serious and another not so much so:

-sandstorm's rampant ableist moment in starclan from squirrelflight's hope. like, what the fuck!!

-flipclaw having a crush on flywhisker. i thought it was almost cute until i fucking remembered they're nephew and aunt!!!

💧 : how many times have you cried over this wretched book series? any favorite memories

i've never once cried to a book series, but i pretty explictly remember being sad when i thought shadowsight died

💋 : is there any ships out there you absolutely hate for genuinely no good reason at all. like its not problematic in the slightest, if anything it's one of the better ones, you jusr cannot bring yourself to enjoy it

a lot actually: blueyellow, talljake, ravenbarley, and i don't care for leopardsasha but i don't hate it

🐾 : have you ever named a cat after a warriors character OR given a cat a warriors styled name? if so, tell us the story

i've had two cats only, both sphynxes which i never gave warrior names, but my grandpa owns a snowshoe-ish moggy. If i remember correctly, i named him Minkwhisker!

1️⃣ : was warriors your first animal based fantasy series? if not, what series was?

wings of fire, and before that 'technically' upside down magic. im glad wc wasn't my first fandom, wof's fanbase is much more tame and children-catered i think...

👑 : when roleplaying (if you ever have roleplayed warrior cats), did you used to power play? be honest.

yeah. yeah i did. i remember a oc of mine having mindreading and animus powers, like the ones from wof. her name was jaystorm and don't you worry she's normaler now

🗺 : first map you ever watched?

hell i don't know!! but it was probably either a sadness runs through him, ready as i'll ever be, or ashscourge supernatural

🖼 : first amv/pmv you ever watched?

i don't know!!!!!! i used to watch animashes of ivypool and hawkfrost

🖌 : when did you make your first warriors oc? (if you say you've never had OCs, i dont believe you)

i was erk, 8 maybe 9. i had a story with season-based clans and a prophecy cat from each clan, leafheart, scorchheart, hailstorm, and paradiseheart. i eventually renamed them all to aldersprout scorchblaze hailstorm and bloomheart, but like...

📝 : if commanded to, without warning, approximately how many paragraphs could you write about your favorite warrior cat before you ran out of things to say

three. tigerheart's not really that special. however, dovewing i could talk about for ages...

💔 : have you ever lost friends over warriors related topics?

yeah, probably. i think it's more so to do with me being a big tigerdove fan and that earning a block moreso then a argument?

🌈 : what's the most 2010s wcforum era esque fandom opinion you still hold onto and will fight people over (things like scourges collar color, dovewings eye color, etc)

dovewings eyes are gold, scourge's collar is red, brambleclaw should have run away in the last hope

🆕️ : are you still up to date / reading the new books? if not, when did you stop?

entirely up to date aside from a few super editions i don't care about

📱 : were you ever on warriors amino? (if you were, i'm terribly sorry)

mhm its where i started in the warriors fandom. i was 9 and severely underaged, if i could turn back time i'd save myself!!!

🏠 : about how much do your family know about warrior cats, if anything?

a LOT. i show my dad maps sometimes and he bought me a warrior cats sweater.

🎶 : give me a song you're surprised you haven't seen turned into a warriors pmv yet - and what character(s) you imagine it to

trees- mccafferty to breezepelt

🎥 : fav warriors related youtuber?

used to be tennelleflowers but now i'd say brightguardianakira or gumiwyrms

❎️ : what's the weirdest crossover au involving warrior cats that you've made? (if you haven't made any, then what's the weirdest one you've seen?)

warrior cats x guardians of ga'hoole

🗳 : if you could make any cat leader of any clan right now, who would you pick?

i want whitewing to lead thunderclan, cloverfoot to lead shadowclan, nightcloud to lead windclan, icewing to lead riverclan, and literally anyone but hawkwing or leafstar to lead skyclan

🌟 : would you hypothetically go to starclan or the dark forest?

i'd probably end up as a border guardian

🤔 : what's the biggest series plothole that's bugged you?

cinderheart having different reincarnation rules then jayfeather, lionblaze and dovewing despite existing at the same time

😱 : how many people have you blocked over innocuous, not at all important warriors related takes?

i block tigerdove haters sometimes 😭😭 its not personal

☯️ : what dynamic between two cats has got you up at night pacing for hours? (romantic, platonic, familial, etc)

leafpool and her children familial, heathertail and lionblaze romantic, squirrelflight and brambleclaw in some weird toxic romantic way

🌫 : what's a cat you genuinely forgot existed until recently?

who's harestar

fuck it. warriors ask game except the questions are all weird and niche as hell

👴 : fav elder?

❓️ : fav total background character (im not talking minor characters like say. whitewing or moonlight, i mean cats with like...3 lines tops)

📖 : fav comic page from any of the mangas and why

👶 : how old were you when you first touched a warriors book? howd it happen

💢 : what scene made you the most irrationally angry upon first reading

💧 : how many times have you cried over this wretched book series? any favorite memories

💋 : is there any ships out there you absolutely hate for genuinely no good reason at all. like its not problematic in the slightest, if anything it's one of the better ones, you jusr cannot bring yourself to enjoy it

🐾 : have you ever named a cat after a warriors character OR given a cat a warriors styled name? if so, tell us the story

1️⃣ : was warriors your first animal based fantasy series? if not, what series was?

👑 : when roleplaying (if you ever have roleplayed warrior cats), did you used to power play? be honest.

🗺 : first map you ever watched?

🖼 : first amv/pmv you ever watched?

🖌 : when did you make your first warriors oc? (if you say you've never had OCs, i dont believe you)

📝 : if commanded to, without warning, approximately how many paragraphs could you write about your favorite warrior cat before you ran out of things to say

💔 : have you ever lost friends over warriors related topics?

🌈 : what's the most 2010s wcforum era esque fandom opinion you still hold onto and will fight people over (things like scourges collar color, dovewings eye color, etc)

🆕️ : are you still up to date / reading the new books? if not, when did you stop?

📱 : were you ever on warriors amino? (if you were, i'm terribly sorry)

🏠 : about how much do your family know about warrior cats, if anything?

🎶 : give me a song you're surprised you haven't seen turned into a warriors pmv yet - and what character(s) you imagine it to

🎥 : fav warriors related youtuber?

❎️ : what's the weirdest crossover au involving warrior cats that you've made? (if you haven't made any, then what's the weirdest one you've seen?)

🗳 : if you could make any cat leader of any clan right now, who would you pick?

🌟 : would you hypothetically go to starclan or the dark forest?

🤔 : what's the biggest series plothole that's bugged you?

😱 : how many people have you blocked over innocuous, not at all important warriors related takes?

☯️ : what dynamic between two cats has got you up at night pacing for hours? (romantic, platonic, familial, etc)

🌫 : what's a cat you genuinely forgot existed until recently?

[rosejacksongallery]

Tribute to Akira Toriyama: Writer’s Block Blog Cafe Chapter 1

Hello and welcome to my corner of the internet, I'm Lex and this my blog covering media topics ranging from animation, comics, games and more. today I wanted to write about a subject personal to me as an aspiring artist.

Two nights ago, I was scrolling on the internet when I heard the news of Akira Toriyama’s passing at the age of 68, which felt like a shock. He was an influential manga creator and character designer for a plethora of RPG games, but I was most familiar with his manga series, Dragon Ball Z. For anyone unfamiliar, that is actually the sequel series to the 1984 Dragon Ball, following the story of the titular Son Goku and adventures to find the ancient dragon balls, a magical item that can summon an ancient dragon granting users their wildest wishes. My bad summary alone is nowhere near enough to encapsulate what an incredible and influential action-packed story Dragon Ball and its more popular sequel truly are (how hard it is for me to express that through words). Although this is my very first blog and was originally saving a portion of this script for a post on my anime/manga experience, I'll never get an opportunity to actually write something this raw to me if I leave it to the corners of my mind. 

I want to share how I got into manga and how much Dragon Ball Z means to me. It was the 2nd manga that I ever read at the time, but also the 1st anime I actively tuned into and paid attention to the storyline. Before I continue, I want to get into how I even discovered both mediums, as they tie directly to my DBZ experience. It’s not easy pinpointing all of the exact moments where I discovered manga or anime. Luckily, I still recollect certain memories that still lingered to this day. Right across from my family’s favorite coffee shop, we had a section dedicated to Chapters where I usually stuck to the kids book sections. However, I would venture once in a while to the teen shelves to check out what literary work was offered. From an extremely early age, before I was even introduced to the concept of manga, I recall observing the comic covers with great fascination, wondering what kind of stories were contained there. Despite the curiosity, I would only briefly glance at them, but never actually bother to read them. The only exposure I had to the comic medium was at Chapters or at my local library, where I was slowly getting into read graphic novels such as Bone, Knights of the Lunch Tables, the Sonic Archie Comics, or library approved comics that involved mystery and even an imitation manga series that involved math(Manga Math Mysteries)? I even read stuff like Redwall of all things which was surprisingly gruesome itself, but maybe I’ll save that for another story.

It wasn’t until I was 8 or 9 where I actually read my first manga, Happy Happy Clover, in my library. It was a fairly simple kids' comic about a bunny rabbit and her animal friends getting into silly, cute, shenanigans. I thought it was the cutest thing ever and I read a majority of the volumes, despite my confusion with its reading system. Although I had not read the comics completely in order, this series had more loose, episodic stories compared to a majority of manga/anime now. Personally, it was as good of an introduction to manga as it could be, only to be blown away three years later by my first anime. 

One day, I recall coming across the Vortexx block on the CW network when browsing for cartoons to watch on TV. By that time, I'd long since stopped watching Treehouse and PBS and lost interest in some of Teletoons’ broadcasting aside from superhero shows. That channel was how I rediscovered Dragon Ball Z and proceeded to secretly watched almost every Saturday morning. Prior to watching, I discovered the first volume of the manga in grade 4. I didn’t think much of it other than how awesome it was. The art was detailed, but with some stylistic qualities that I’ve never seen before and it had tons of beautifully-illustrated action, which fit into my superhero phase at the time. I thought of how cool it would look animated, envisioning it with Disney level 24fps animation (oh, how my imagination ran too wild). When I actually watched the show however, it felt a bit anticlimactic with how it was animated. At the time, any cartoon that wasn't smooth enough or anything choppy looking like Rocky and Bullwinkle or Flintstones, it was an instant drop. DBZ still had animation, but it felt choppier than what I was used to, yet the art itself still looked exactly like from the comic and that kept me watching surprisingly. Admittedly, I eventually grew to appreciate shows with slower frame rates and marvel at their beauty on its own, cause it certainly isn't easy putting such detail into motion unless its a movie that had time and budget to pull it off.

Regardless of such petty nitpicking, I had never seen a show like this before and got me hooked. Although I had a small understanding of what it was about, I understood that it was a fantasy fighting show with some of the buffest, most badass looking dudes that I’ve ever seen, ready to fight for what's right. The rough drawings and rugged appearance of the male characters made Superman and Batman look clean and pretty in comparison. Even the girls and the kids in that series look like they could snap someone like a twig in a heartbeat. The villain looked absolutely terrifying, this tall, unworldly looking figure almost resembling an insect appeared to kill people without a second thought, immediately coming off as this threat that needed to be eliminated without hesitation. Unbenounced to me, I was actually watching the show out of order, starting with the cell saga. On top of that, I later discovered it was a sequel series, which confused me even more. A lot of context had been heavily missed since I had no idea what an overarching story was, but that hadn’t taken away the experience from me until I found out later on. Needless to say, I was ready for more . . . until the Vortexx block was unceremoniously canceled right in the middle of the last episode before the Buu saga! I could be wrong, but I recall it being cut to some news and I felt so cheated!

Dragon Ball Z in particular made such an impression to me that its amongst the main motivators that got me not only into illustration, but also fanworks (albeit a little embarrassing today since I was 11 or 12 when drawing/writing my fanfiction ideas). Dragon Ball Z to this day still reigns in my top 100 anime of all time, but since it has been years since I watched the whole thing in order, I'm looking forward to rewatching once again this spring(And hope to check out Dragon Ball too). It's that perfect blend of action and adventure that I always geared towards. It didn't matter that I wasn't anywhere near as buff as Goku or Gohan to name a few, cause everyone had their charm. Even characters like Chi-Chi or Vegeta I didn't outright hate, although some of their actions did frustrate me at times(But I'll never get the hatred Yamcha had by the fanbase!) As flawed as some characters could be, I admired the perseverance of characters like Goku, Piccolo, amongst many other memorable characters. My favorite ones are Gohan and Mirai Trunks, as they had a level of complexity to their character arcs that really resonated with me, especially moments where the odds are against them and all seems hopeless. Sure, we can’t necessarily time-travel in order to save the past and future, but even attempting to save what we have now is a message I think people my generation and younger need to hear once more. 

If anyone wants more context to Akira Toriyama's works and his impact, I will recommend a few Youtube videos underneath this review that better explains the appeal and influence of his works for the past 40+ years.

Akira Toriyama was a crucial influence to so many viewers, writers, and artists alike, and it brings me joy that people still appreciate his work to this day. It is both incredible yet heartbreaking to read many people’s comments on how much he and his work meant, especially those closest to him. One Piece is another manga I hold in very high regard, and reading Oda’s letter reacting to the situation had my heart feeling heavy. I can’t envision how someone can comprehend the magnitude of their cultural contribution, but I really hope he was proud of it, because it has been truly deserved. Toriyama’s work has helped shape me as the artist I want to become and hope to be someday, and I know that part will never die.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your creative vision, and may your soul rest well.

-Lex

[self-proclaimed-best-blog]

The fear.

The fear of being judged regardless of who you're with is actually crazy. I feel icky just talking about it here. I think I find strangers more comforting than my actual friends because they don't have an expectation of what my interests or personality will be. I could be anything.

But the moment something I'm secretly passionate about comes up in a conversation with some close pals I'm fucking doomed. It's over. Roll the credits already. Put me out of my misery. Because even if it's in positive context; I don't want them to know! WHY DO I WANT THEM TO KNOW???

I want them to know but I don't want them to have certain ideas of me. Ideas consisting of being uncool, or weird. I'm already pretty trashed on at school for being quiet but if I opened up about my interests I'd dig the hole deeper.

I have a mental list of things to say that make me appear awesome without letting them know much. But also trying to make them comfortable to bring those things up around me. I have a list of interests that are okay and not okay for me to share.

Actually, recently I told some of my closest friends for... just about a year now about my interest in a dumbass anime and.

I can't even fucking say it I feel gross.

This one ship in an anime that happened to be gay. And I've liked this anime since I was a little kid and read the mangas at the library. I've never told anyone though. (It was Card Captor Sakura. Sue me for being a boy who thinks magical girls are cool.) And I opened up about Yukito and Touya and how they had so much more potential and all the shit that could possibly be infodumped was definitely infodumped that day... and now I'm scared they think I'm some asian-gay fetishizing weirdo.

I'm pretty sure one of them might genuinely think that which just isn't true. It just so happens the only time I've ever really talked about shit like that was then. You guys don't know what animal it is until you uncover the whole skeleton, right? I was just starting to feel like opening up more too but I'm regressing. So much progress because of paranoia and one dumbass person who barely knows me out of the group. IT'S FUNNY ACTUALLY! NOBODY THERE KNOWS ME. I like them. I guess I trust them. But nobody takes time out of their day to show interest or get talk to me (Except that one person. Shoutout to her). Sure, I make them gifts for events and maybe it's my fault I'm so closed off and ask for nothing in return.

I actually just got over my agro habit of avoiding saying "I love you" to the people I care about the most. BUT I'VE REGRESSED YET AGAIN! This is why they left me bruh. It's so easy to say "I love you" to someone random because I don't mean it that much but when a person is the absolute best thing to ever happen to me: I'm suddenly dodging the three words like my life depends on it.

All because I'm worried to be vulnerable. I haven't talked about... REALLY talked about my interests for years. I always say "Oh, never heard of it." When they come up because I'm so horrified of people seeing me as me. I only want people to think I'm awesome, I'm cool, I make cool art, I make funny comics, and I'm just a great, laid back, chill guy.

But I'm none of those things. I'm some loser nerd who spends all day playing niche video games, watching anime, reading manga, skimming through wiki pages, listening to OST, binging Bobs Burgers, watching shitty 80's movies, sulking, stressing, talking to myself, barely eating and writing a really depressive blog.

I probably imagine and make up conversations more than I actually HAVE them. Horrible habit. I can honestly see why they ghosted my ass now. I'm a fucking loser.

I wish I was somebody else. I wish I was actually cool.

But I can't do shit but fake it until all these lame interests wash away as I get older. God, I hope it's soon.

[courtesanofdeath]

[Black Lagoon Anon. I might have to give myself a nickname, alias, or something until I'm comfortable enough to reveal myself to anyone.]

Anyway.

I'll have to tag you in some of these posts eventually, so you could see these posts. Especially if you might not have seen any rare art before.

If I'm honest... My language preference for anime is English so I know not everyone is tolerant towards English dub. But Black Lagoon really has to be one series I'm adamant about watching in English since the characters speak in accents and languages. That has a lot of diversity for an interesting franchise like this, along with those characters too.

Yes. The anime did change some details from the manga. So... Before the Roberta's Blood Trail arc, the previous arcs only had all very minor details changed. And some arcs were also in different order than how it was in the manga too. But, when the story actually got to Roberta's Blood Trail arc, certain details were changed. Mainly about Roberta in both versions. She doesn't die though. I'm not even sure how you feel about spoilers so I won't say more than that. Unless you want me to.

But! Besides details being changed.. If you do read the manga, than it means you can also catch up on the story too. Just in case they never continue the anime. Because who knows if there's more to the anime.

Yeah. You only have vague details about Chang's backstory right now; a corrupt police officer who's partner died, manipulates people in just doing his dirty work. Has a frienemy relationship with Balalaika - after he almost killed Balalaika, and Dutch saving Balalaika from dying too.

Oh! And the previous chapter had Dutch's backstory too, if you might be curious about his character too. I don't think there is any character I'd hate. No.. Wait. That's a lie. I'm not really a fan of Janet Bhai at all. I think her character always annoyed me. So I don't care for her much.

So for Gangsta., that series is basically the same story concept as the Black Lagoon universe - in a good way - but with some differences so you might like the series. Like I said! Because of their creator's health, the manga is extremely on ongoing at the slowest pace. And there's a season for the anime. Only one season. Because the studio who really did create the first season, they went bankrupt right after that season was released. So who knows if we will ever get more Gangsta. anime.

But Gangsta. is also another really underrated series, in the same way that Black Lagoon is. Oh! And the creaor of Gangsta. is a woman too.

I'll let you know what I make posts for the Black Lagoon casts, if they ever did create the live adaption in the way I'd envision it.. But I would also know that not everyone would agree to my own visions, in ways I can understand. But I try to stuck to the appearances if I actually can.

I'm not surprised to see explicit art of the Black Lagoon characters... I would still love to see art of the women that isn't too sexualized either in my opinion. So I can agree with you on that. And preferably art that isn't stolen or plagiarized by other people. So that is a whole problem.

I don't know? Because every fan I'd see obsessing over Black Lagoon, male and female fans, love that the characters - especially the female characters - are the strong characters. And, technically, both of these characters are the main characters. Rocky slightly more than Revy, in the sense that the story started with his character. But they really are the main characters. If that makes sense. But this series really should have way more recognition though. Hopefully that actually happens.

If you are curious about Gangsta., then I'll send you some videos just to see if you might be interested in the series. So here are videos that you could watch. Though I will let you know that it's in English dub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZSmHpMnhgQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y85f_yFx5KY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnELmsLLEwY

hi hi yes feel free to drop a nickname you wanna use !! and yes i'd appreciate it if you could tag me in the posts so i can reblog them, whenever you want to!

i just added the black lagoon manga on my to-read list and i will be reading it asap for sure! and i'll be starting it right from the beginning so i can enjoy it in the right order + with full details of the characters and their backstories! i can't wait to see how the rest of the manga goes!

i feel the same about janet bhai actually lmaaoo i don't necessarily hate her, but she's a character that i didn't interest me all that much. her being benny's love interest is kinda random but funny though lol

and oooh i watched the videos and gangsta looks like a good and fun series! i already dig the main character's vibes just with those clips! it looks really interesting and i see the similarity with black lagoon! i think i'll check out the anime first and see how it is, and then i'll jump to the manga (regardless of whether i like the anime or not) !! thank you for recommending it to me! i'm looking forward to watching and reading it!

[ayamisc]

It's been so long!! :3

(c) James Cameron, Paramount Pictures, Disney

Live journal.. one of the websites I'd forgotten I have an account on. Sorry. :<

But to be fair, with the recent changes in my life and fandoms.. I really thought I'd never go back here. Until.. I remembered again that.. most jdorama subs can be accessed here, really. Even special ARASHI variety shows that I've been longing for, for so long.

Anyhow, I don't really know what to write so I'll just update whoever stumbles upon this journal.. what has been happening in my life since the last time I posted.. which I think was 3 years ago.

Hmmm..

Well.

1. I graduated college. Hurray. With a degree in Chemistry in my country's #1 university (University of the Philippines - Diliman). Yes, I'm somewhat proud I guess. And here is one of the few times I'll ever shout it out loud. Because.. I honestly think that.. yeah.. It's only right that I'm proud of my school.. as to whether my school will be proud of me.. well, I think it's too early to tell... My school's unofficial motto is "Serve the people." And well.. I'm still studying (again).. and not even a taxpayer yet.. so yeah.. definitely too early to tell. :P

2. I was able to return to the following fandoms that I've left behind: watching anime, reading manga, anime fanfiction, jdorama, kdrama, kpop. Well. So yeah. At the moment, it's just the last 4. I dunno when I'll start reading manga again. But eitherway, I always jump from these from time to time. With 1 or all at the same time. It's hard to believe I'm turning 24 this year. HAHA. :P

3. I entered med school. And because of that, I don't really have time for my fandoms once school season starts again (June - April) but anyway.. I still have a month left, so Imma enjoy it till the last minute. :P (Not to mention.. keep enduring until semestral break and Christmas break comes)

3.1 And because of medschool, not just my LJ.. but also my tumblr has been left behind.. -__- I really wanted to start blogging properly there, but alas.. I was only able to blog for a month into medschool until I had to stop for lack of time. Actually, I don't get to watch any jdorama or kdrama too whenever school starts. Of course I can, but I try not to. So really, my only outlet once school starts is kpop. LOL. Watching 3-5 kpop MVs is a lot less time-consuming than watching 1 drama. or anime for that matter. And sadly, I don't really have much time. I actually only sleep during my free time.. and.. well.. in medschool... sleep is a sin. :((

4. I still play on facebook. Just one game though, at the moment. As compared to when I used to play 5 or 6 games there. I play Cafeland at the moment. It's cool.. not time-demanding. Easy too. :P

5. LINE PLAY! Yeah, I play LINE PLAY everyday. It's been a year and a half I think, though my first account got reset because I changed my number. x.x But anyway, the 2nd account, the one i'm using now.. is less than a year old.. but it's all good. I like the way my room and avatar looks. And I also like playing Fruit Monsters. :D :D :D

6. I got an iPAD air! well, more accurately, my dad got me an ipad air. (how shameful for someone turning 24 this year. but. anyway) And.. most of my medicine books are stored there as e-books.. and i have a few games there too.. but mostly.. I have tons of kpop live videos there. :D So yeah, talk about learning and leisure at the same time! :)

And.. well.. I couldn't think of anything to say now. Anyway.

In the 8 years I've been on LJ.. lol... well obviously, I suck at blogging. As I only blog every once in a while. Not to mention.. I think I've commented to someone's post here.. maybe 5 times? In that whole 8 years? usually, when someone is an introvert in real life, they become extroverts in the internet.. but not me.. so sorry for that. :P

Till next time then?

I WILL try to at least post once a month. My goal is to post every week, but at the least, I should post once a month right? -___-

Ja! :3

PS. This blog was originally posted on LiveJournal—

[chrisrin]

YEAAAAH! oh man i have SO many thoughts. so here's my favorite straw hats from most liked -> neutral (i love literally all the straw hats i do not dislike a single guy)

luffy, being the GOAT he is, just has to stay on top. it's crazy because i am not usually a "protagonist is my favorite" kind of guy, in fact usually the protag is my least favorite of the main trio. however. luffy. yeah he's just the best, i love him so dearly.

i am, unfortunately, a sanji stan. i've been through the TRENCHES however i have come out the other end strong. god gives his greatest warriors his toughest characters to love. i have so many thoughts about sanji specifically it makes me deranged. 844 and 851 are two of my favorite chapters.

i'm also obsessed with jinbe an insane amount. i wish he joined the crew earlier just so i could see him more. i need to hang out with him all the time.

and zoro is just, so fucking awesome. again i have so many thoughts between his fight in baratie, nothing happened, and his stuff in wano that i'm nuts about but . Yeah . zoro <3

everyone else below top 4 switches around a lot, i think usopp is probably one of, if not, the most developed character in the straw hats. nami has slowly won me over after being my least favorite. robin has done similarly, esp recently with some of her stuff in egghead. chopper is adorable, i love brook, and franky needs more screentime. he's had time to shine in egghead but i would like more of him pretty please (specifically him and jinbe would be ideal but i will take anything)

outside of straw hats, my favorite other characters are: Law, Coby, Kawamatsu, Mihawk, Crocodile, Tama, Shanks, Shirahoshi, and Yamato.

as far as the island i'd live on, i do have the inklings of a one piece sona forming and he's a shipwright living on water seven! i'd like to mess around with the backstory and stuff more now that i've gotten a better sense of the world, but he uses armament haki instead of hammers or "traditional tools" because it's just easier for him.

thoughts on egghead! spoiler warning (though i'll talk vaguely--but still proceed with caution), but yeah egghead is actually insane. i'm so glad i caught up when i have because i feel like we're in the thick of it and i'm incredibly tense and excited to see where it all goes. the Big Thing (you know the one) was something i WAS mildly spoiled on, however that didn't stop the impact from really hitting. outside that, and a spoiler around marineford (iykyk) that i was aware of going in, i avoided pretty much most other big spoilers. i did know gear 5 existed (from fanart), but i didn't know what it was and was completely surprised by it.

i have watched some of the anime! i actually watched a decent chunk of enies lobby, skypiea, and some of the really early arcs and eps. i also watched The Big Episode in wano and like the last 5 episodes in egghead because the animation has been insanely cracked. i did watch pretty much everything on One Pace outside the post-timeskip stuff because i was trying to avoid filler, but i'll probably go back at some point and just binge the anime for fun. i'll defo end up re-reading chunks of the manga anyways so!

the live action is fun so far! i'm actually watching it with my family, because they're not really animation fans and this was the only way i could convince them to get into it. we've gotten through 2 eps, but i've seen up until episode 4 (watched with some friends). excited for season 2! i think some of the characterization choices they make to luffy and shanks feel a little Weird (shanks would NEVER tell luffy to "be good" and luffy wouldn't make moral distinctions between pirates) but i get they have to . make luffy a more "normal" protagonist, but i think that takes away some of his charm. the way they've managed to squeeze the pacing down is pretty impressive and while i wished we'd get more of the impactful moments, i get why things had to be cut. overall solid and i'm excited to continue watching it!

hi guys. in the past 36 days i have read all 1119 chapters of one piece, catching up to the manga. i read an average of 30.2 chapters a day every day straight.

i do not apologize for the influx of one piece art you will be forced to bear. go read one piece. thank you.

here's my tier list of my favorite arcs (sorted in order within the tiers as well). feel free to ask me about my opinions. i have So many.