#OP comment: Yes I do have a full character background and everything to the point I suppose this is an OC now

[yukipri]

Some photos of my Batuu Bound from my first day on Batuu!

I'm a bounty hunter from Krownest, of True Mandalorian heritage, hoping to work for Boba and Fennec🙏

~~

Photos taken by the phenomenal Photopass photographers at Disneyland Galaxy's Edge on 01/18/2023.

First two are by Asian photographer whose name starts with K I forgot their name sobs. Third is by DaveLPhoto on Instagram! Editing by yours truly

[daisyachain]

Transformers

I knew I could count on you! All right

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most):

Legit I have a new one every time I do a full reread. Sequentially: Cyclonus, Chromedome, Brainstorm, Megatron, Ratchet, Ultra Magnus. If I have to choose it’s CD all the way. Integral part of the plot even when he’s not technically the focus, a living ghost on a ship of dead men walking, a Byronic hero, a serial monogamist, more than anything a character who represents what everyone is running away from. He will always have a failure of conscience and he will always cause irreparable harm to somebody. Single-handedly caused most of the ship fatalities.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped):

Okay there are like 20 cast members and they’re all millions-of-years-old aliens whose sins defy comprehension. It’s Ultra “Minimus Ambus” Magnus.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

Megatron—yes he’s the central plot point of ⅔ of the comic but HEAR me out. Everyone talks about him like he’s some thief of screen time from their fav (Drift, Rodimus) or some point-distorting plot tumor. This is wrong. He’s THE central character and THE most impactful story in the whole comic. The thesis of MTMTE/LL is: what do you do when you’ve gotten everything you ever wanted? Megatron IS the war more than Optimus because he started it in the first place. What was he fighting for? What is left to fight for? How can he be allowed to live with what he’s done? Why should he? The exploration of Megatron’s character and his politics through Shadowplay, Elegant Chaos, Dissolution, and the oneshots forms the backbone of the series even when he’s not on screen! He takes over the entire series and he deserves it. Any amount of appreciation below the maximum is underappreciation.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

Ironically this comic is all about James Roberts’ Glup Shittoes from other series. I’d have to say Impactor (major character in a different series but a ghost in MTMTE) as the anti-Megs more than Mags or OP ever were. Or, Quark for being constantly misinterpreted and being a genuinely very compelling portrait of your Average Citizen. From all his comments he’s…not a revolutionary, but he’s hyperaware of the oppressive structure he lives in and he is very aware of what happens to people who move outside of it. His response is to pass under the radar, never speak up, stay firmly within the structure, and that makes him interesting because he’s not just a shill. He’s a survivor.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

Megatron and Chromedome are controversial and pathetic respectively. Also Ratchet. It’s a popular opinion to like Ratchet but think he’s overly cruel about belief and undeservedly right. Again, wrong, he’s absolutely right in every sense. He should have been proved right, because he was. Drift was using his (genuine) belief as a way of getting out of tough questions. Ratchet was both right in letter and spirit. Doesn’t matter that Drift was a genuine convert because he was still lying about the rest of it.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

Uhhhhhh Rodimus. Thankfully he’s also the writer’s horse plinko.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

Also Rodimus, it’s all because of his stans

[opbackgrounds]

Hi there Sarc' ;) I am sorry if the question has already been asked but I thought it could be interesting to have your opinion about this. While I love most of the female characters in OP and think that most of them are well developed and can be truly good role models for girls I still feel that Oda sometimes has a sexist view on female characters (the jokes about the naked bath scenes for example or Kororo being considered ugly make me really uncomfortable). What do you think about it?

Ah, I wondered when I would get this question. 

When people talk about sexism in One Piece they typically are referring to two different things: How women are drawn, and how they’re treated within the narrative. While there’s some overlap here, there’s enough distinction that I want to address them as two separate points in two separate posts, because I guess I had Opinions, and by god there should be a limit to how much text one tumblr post can be expected to hold. Consider this an introduction.

Buckle up, kiddos. This is gonna be a long one. 

Nami Face Syndrome Isn’t the Problem...

An important thing to remember with Oda’s art and storytelling style is that almost everything is hyper exaggerated for effect. You don’t go into One Piece looking for realism. You don’t go into One Piece expecting the characters to act like normal people. Everything--from the art to the humor to the battles--is stretched and pulled to its absolute limit in hopes of garnering a particular reaction. When a character is sad they cry big bubbly tears with dribbles of snot coming from their nose. When they laugh their mouths take up half their face. 

And when a girl is hot, her tiddies are two great big watermelons stuck to the center of her chest.

What is often dubbed “Nami Face Syndrome” within the fandom is somewhat misleading. After all, why was Wanda, who is a literal dog that walks on two legs, decried as yet another Nami clone at her introduction? I would postulate it’s less to do with her face and more to do with the fact that from the neck down they are virtually identical, something that’s made more obvious because Wanda is literally wearing Nami’s clothes

What makes this frustrating for a lot of people, myself included, is that it’s not that Oda is incapable of drawing more diverse body types, but that he often chooses not to. Take for example the Kuja tribe

or the Charlotte family daughters (thanks to Arthur at Library of Ohara for the resource). It’s pretty clear Oda has the chops to make his women as weird as the men, and he often does! For important characters, even. And yes, as the Kokoro example given above sometimes the gonkness is brought attention to, but for others like Lola and Chiffon it’s...not. 

(more on mermaids later)

But Sarcasticles, one might protest, even Oda’s “ugly” characters have ginormous boobs! Where is my itty bitty titty committee representation >:(

To which I can only shrug. For Oda, boobs on a woman are like abs on men. It doesn’t matter if it makes sense, they’re gonna have ‘em

Seriously, Oda. What the fuck.

...So What Is?

I have a theory that’s impossible to prove, and that the problem isn’t so much Oda’s character design so much as the ratio of his male to female characters in general. It’s not that every female character is a Nami clone, but Oda has a template he uses for attractive female characters ages 16-25, the same way he uses Robin as a template for attractive women ages 26-35, which is how you get cases of mistaken identity like Viola for Robin or scenes during Reverie where one could be forgiven for thinking Nami’s supposed to be an identical triplet

 Oda does this for his men, too. It’s not as obvious because 1) Even men with similar facial features can have a wider variety body types due to Oda having a sliding scale of buffness he’s willing to attach to a pretty face and 2) There are more men. 

There are a lot more men.

In groups where the male to female ratio is more or less equal (Baroque Works, Big Mom’s kids) you get a wide variety of designs. But there’s only one female Supernova. There’s one female Warlord. CP9 only has one female agent. Only one of the Revolutionary Commanders is a woman. There are very few female background characters in crowd shots, especially among marines. Big Mom might be the only female Emperor, but she’s not young, In fact, when drawing her at age 28, Oda defaults to a much more generic “pretty girl” face before giving her much more striking, memorable features in her 40s

If you look at Oda’s male characters, the ones that are supposed to be hot are often given the same square jawline and the thin-bladed nose that at one point in time was reserved for Robin. Both Coby and Sabo had very distinctive noses before their glowups, while Ace must have had a laser treatment done on his eyebrows sometime between Alabasta and Marineford. 

But the biggest difference on the men has got to be muscle mass. The overgrown noodles of early One Piece are lost to the annals of time. Shanks alone must have gained 30 pounds of pure muscle from the time Luffy got his first bounty to his appearance at Marineford. 

Now, I will acknowledge that there is a difference between the increasing sexualization of female characters and the male power fantasy of giving Zoro bara tiddies post-timeskip. While I do think there are certain male characters specifically designed to be the Hot Dude, what I’m trying to emphasize here is that Oda works with templates for both men and women, and both of those templates have been exaggerated over time. Bigger boobs for women, more muscles for men. And when you’re only slotting for one girl in any given group, and that one girl has to be The Hot One then you’re going to have a lot of ladies that end up looking the same. 

My love for Otohime on this blog is well known, and I want to use her as an example of what Oda can do when he works beyond this template, because it’s really freaking good  

Otohime is neither conventionally attractive nor gonk. She’s dressed in very conservative, traditional clothing and has a narrow waist and small chest. 

There are no sharp edges on Otohime. Not her eyebrows, not her jaw, and most of the time not even her hands, emphasizing her gentle nature. You don’t see it as well in this panel, but Otohime’s head is often drawn wider than her shoulders, emphasizing her frailty. Oda gives her a longer neck to compensate, and the overall effect is a very soft, willowy figure. 

Her headpiece looks like a sunburst. The audience never sees her fins, so Oda gives her a scale patterned kimono-dress-thingy (my knowledge of Japanese clothing is, uh, not good) as a visual reminder that she’s not human. The sash that circles around her head harkens back to Japanese mythology as a symbol of divinity, similar to a halo in Western culture. And fun fact: Otohime is named after a god, just like Neptune, while her goals and ideals are pure enough to be heaven-sent. 

I’m not an artist, but this is a really damn good character design. A lot of Oda’s older female characters are. Dandan, Tsuru, O-Tsuru, Shakky, Kureha, Big Mom, and Nyon are all instantly recognizable and have strong designs, even if a few of them fall into the hourglass figure that Oda often defaults to. It’s just...there aren’t that many of them.

So the question becomes why aren’t there more women, and I think the answer is because, ultimately, One Piece is a series geared at boys. While I wish there were a few more important ladies, I can understand why there aren’t. 

Note, that doesn’t mean I think it’s right or that Oda is obligated to include more women. It’s just one of the facts of the shonen manga industry at this point in time. 

A more important question, I think, is why does every younger woman have to be attractive? And why do the attractive ladies have to wear outfits that are blatant fanservice? This is something I don’t have an answer for. Oda has said on more than one occasion that he writes One Piece with his twelve year old self in mind. It could be that it’s a calculated move to appeal to his audience, in which case it’s certainly worked because said Hot Ladies are constantly used in marketing and merchandising. It’s the Hot Ladies that top the popularity charts (although, to be fair, who’s there for competition?). In the most recent chapter a new Hot Lady was introduced, and the fandom went batshit crazy for her.

Even the fans who are very vocal about how Oda sucks at drawing women. It’s interesting how that works out sometimes.

Or maybe I’m giving Oda too much credit, and he’s just horny. Not having direct access to Oda’s mind, I don’t have an answer. If I had to guess I’d say it’s a little of Column A, a little of Column B, because that’s usually how life is. 

But in a vacuum big tiddies are just a design choice. An exaggerated aesthetic, in a series full of exaggerated aesthetics. It’s when that design choice is paired with in-story comments, actions, and decisions where things really start to get heated. But that’s a whole other ball of wax, and there should be a limit to how much one tumblr post can be expected to hold. I promise I’ll get to the meat of your question next time.

Thank you so much for your patience. I really do think it’s important to start here before diving into everything else, if only because it helps keep my thoughts organized. I hope you’ve found this helpful, and if not, I hope to do better next time. 

[padme-amitabha]

Is Anakin a Mary Sue?

Now it may shock you to learn this but it turns out that Disney Star Wars is kind of a contentious topic. The fandom's been more or less divided between those who like the sequel trilogy and those who like good movies but both groups spend a great deal of time slinging [ __ ] at each other over every form of social media known to man and truly no battleground is more fiercely contested than the protagonist of each trilogy. People who hate the Disney trilogy tend to criticize Rey for being an overpowered, flawless, perfect, invincible and unrelatable character for whom everything just kind of happens with no real struggle or difficulty a Mary Sue if you will.

Meanwhile supporters of the sequel trilogy are quick to leap to her defense usually with one of two potential counter arguments:  1. You just hate strong women 2. So what if she's op as [ __ ] Anakin Skywalker from the prequels was a Mary Sue too and you don't criticize him. You just hate strong women. This argument was brought into sharp focus for me the other day when I was perusing twitter in search of calm, logical, rational discussion about the merits of the sequel trilogy and I chanced upon this little gem of a comment. Ah yes that famously perfect protagonist who wins everything, always makes the right decisions, has a selfless and compassionate personality, and is universally loved and respected by everyone. Well random twitter [ __ ] as it turns out, I am ready to have that conversation right now. So saddle up y'all because the drinker's here to round up this [ __ ] and put an end to this argument once and for all. Let us journey deep into the world of the Star Wars prequels and see if we can figure out whether Anakin Skywalker really is a Mary Sue.

Now in order to do this, we have to nail down what exactly a Mary Sue is. Well according to the dictionary definition it's a term used to describe a fictional character, usually female, who is seen as too perfect and almost boring for lack of flaws originally written as an idealized version of an author in fanfiction. Now the finer points of what makes a Mary Sue can vary depending on who you talk to but after consulting multiple sources and drawing upon my own experiences as a writer, there's a few common traits that I think most people would generally agree on:

1.      Mary Sues usually possess skills and abilities that are not consistent with their situation and personal history. They can do stuff they shouldn't realistically be able to and they can do it better than anyone else.

2.      They usually possess flawless idealized personalities that no real person could measure up to they never give in to negative emotions like anger, greed, jealousy, selfishness or arrogance.

3.      They're universally loved respected and embraced by every good character they encounter even when there's no logical reason for this to happen.

4.      They never get seriously challenged, fail at anything or get beaten by anyone, success and victory come easily to them.

5.      They always make good decisions and strive to do what's right in any situation so why is this actually a problem.

Well I think the answer should be obvious, Mary Sues are boring as [ __ ]. If a character has got no flaws or weaknesses and never really gets challenged or tested by anything then what is there to get invested in?

It's the flaws and failings of a character that make them interesting in the first place and their struggle to rise above and overcome these flaws that make them so compelling. If these things are missing from a character, then there's nothing for the audience to latch onto or care about. There's nothing to like or root for. That's the essence of a Mary Sue and that's what we're going to be looking at here. So, with that in mind let's see how Anakin stacks up against this list shall we?

Point number one: Being overpowered and having abilities that he shouldn't. Now this more than anything else is what people tend to latch onto when they criticize Anakin and who can blame them really? On the surface it seems pretty ridiculous to see a nine-year-old boy doing stuff like this autopilot but let's put it into a wider context, shall we? When we first meet Anakin in The Phantom Menace, he's a slave living with his mother on Tatooine. He's spent most of his life salvaging junk and using it to make new stuff that can marginally improve their quality of life. As a result, he's become pretty good with technology. Well that makes sense, I guess. He's even applied these technical skills to pod racing where he's been fairly successful despite suffering at least one major crash that we know about. Again, this kind of makes sense when you consider he's strong with the force which would likely give him heightened perception reactions and understanding of the world around him, you know qualities that are important to high performance racing drivers. Anyway, his racing abilities allow the main characters to win an engine part that they need to repair their ship as well as enough money to buy his freedom. Sensing his importance Qui-Gon Jinn takes him under his wing and begins to teach him about the force. Remember when older mentor characters were allowed to teach the protagonist things? I miss that. He also takes part in a space battle that destroys an enemy mothership at the climax of the movie. Now as goofy as this scene is in its execution, it's not actually inconsistent with Anakin’s abilities and experiences. If you've worked around technology vehicles and ships your entire life and you can pilot a racing pod to a high standard then it stands to reason that you could probably operate other types of spacecraft as well, particularly if you have a droid on board to manage most of the ship's systems for you. However, for the sake of argument let's concede the Anakin in The Phantom Menace is indeed more skilled competent and capable than your average person.

So, what kind of effect would this have on a young man from an impoverished background suddenly thrust into a much larger world of power, politics and opportunity? Well that brings me neatly along to point number two: Mary Sues are supposed to have flawless personalities never giving in to anger, jealousy, resentment, vengeance or ambition. All throughout the second and third movies in the prequel trilogy, Anakin displays an increasingly severe set of personality flaws that begin to undermine his position in the world and his relationship with other characters. He's impetuous and hot-headed, frequently rushing into dangerous situations without waiting for backup or considering the risk to himself particularly when someone he cares about is in danger. Keep that one in mind because it'll be important later. He's ambitious but also impatient, feeling like he's been unfairly held back by other characters, particularly Obi-Wan Kenobi, and this resentment causes a growing rift between the two men that eventually spills out into open conflicts. Rather than taking the longer and harder path to wisdom and understanding, Anakin wants everything right away. He also cares deeply about people close to him and this attachment often manifests in explosive bites of anger and jealousy when he feels that they're being threatened like when his mother gets kidnapped and killed by Tusken Raiders, causing Anakin to go on a violent rampage that escalates into wholesale slaughter. Afterwards even he's shocked by what he did or when he believes that Padme has turned against him by Obi-Wan Kenobi, causing him to lash out violently against both of them. By this point he's been totally consumed by uncontrolled jealousy anger resentment and betrayal. All of the emotions that lead to the dark side of the force. The point here is clear: if you [ __ ] with someone he cares about then mercy and compassion go right out the window.

All of his skills, abilities and potential which seemed so overpowered and unnecessary in the first movie in fact serve a very important purpose for his character development. They've generated a sense of superiority, arrogance and overconfidence, and a reluctance to listen to criticism or advice no matter how well intentioned they might be. These are dangerous flaws in his personality all by themselves but combined with his overwhelming emotional attachment to people he cares about it creates a potent cocktail of reckless ambition and deep-seated insecurity that makes him uniquely vulnerable to manipulation something which will later prove disastrous because while Mary Sues are universally loved respected and trusted by everyone, Anakin certainly isn't in the first movie. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu and Yoda are all against training Anakin to become a Jedi despite his obvious potential because they know he's already too old to be inducted. This lack of early discipline in his life would leave a dangerous gap in his personality, making him unpredictable and less able to control his emotions, two factors which are extremely dangerous for Jedi. These misgivings would carry over to the next two movies where Anakin is elevated to the Jedi high council on Palpatine’s orders but the council itself refuses to grant him the rank of master because they feel he hasn't earned it yet. Now a different man would see this as an opportunity to prove himself by working hard and earning their trust eventually winning them over and gaining the recognition he deserves but Anakin takes this as a personal insult from the council which drives a deeper wedge between him and a Jedi order which he believes will never truly respect or accept him. Wow it's almost like Palpatine knew this was going to happen and engineered the whole thing to pull Anakin closer to him portraying himself as the only one who can help Anakin realize his full potential. It's a surprisingly smart piece of characterization that's completely consistent with everything we know about both men. The higher Anakin rises the more it stokes the fire of his ambition and superiority and the more he comes to see anyone who doubts or cautions him as a threat to his success. This arrogance and overconfidence also causes him to test himself against powerful opponents before he's actually ready for them and unlike Mary sues who easily win every battle they have to fight, Anakin’s recklessness causes an escalating series of losses like here where he tries to take on count Dooku all by himself and it ends with Anakin getting his [ __ ] arm sliced off. But his desire for revenge against the man who defeated him ultimately causes a more powerful and better prepared Anakin to execute him in the following movie, again proving his willingness to give into vengeance and anger even against helpless opponents or here in his climactic confrontation with Obi-Wan where his enemy has the advantage but Anakin presses the attack anyway and well I think we know how that turns out. Just as a side note I love how this carries over to Return of the Jedi. See Luke’s taking the high ground here just like Obi-Wan did.

What we have here is a clear pattern of behavior from a man whose ambitions consistently outstrip his abilities. Rather than demonstrating patience and restraint and taking the slower and harder path to lasting wisdom and fulfillment, Anakin’s inherent character flaws cause him to push himself beyond breaking point with increasingly disastrous consequences which brings me neatly along to the final points: whereas Mary Sues consistently make good righteous decisions and always strive to do the correct thing, Anakin on the other hand demonstrates a consistent pattern of mistakes and misjudgments that ultimately cost him everything. As I've already shown you the flaws in his personality are exacerbated by his powers and abilities making him easy prey for a ruthlessly ambitious man that knows exactly how to flatter his ambitions and prey on his weaknesses this eventually causes him to commit terrible crimes like murdering an entire tribe including unarmed civilians murdering children, executing a helpless opponent, helping to kill a jedi master, trying to murder his own wife, trying to kill his mentor and best friend, joining forces with an evil dictator to overthrow the republic, delivering this scene…

What I’m trying to say with all this is that Anakin Skywalker is the very furthest thing from a Mary Sue that you can get. Trying to label him as a Mary Sue for no other reason than because he's good at lots of stuff demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of what a Mary Sue is and also of who Anakin is. The reality is that he's a powerful but deeply flawed man whose unique combination of circumstances and abilities have created a dangerous personality that's vulnerable to manipulation and corruption his greatest strengths ultimately proved to be his most terrible weaknesses with consequences that echo across the entire galaxy. Now I have my own thoughts on the prequel trilogy as a whole and I’d be lying if I said they were great movies but fundamentally I think the story they tell is actually pretty [ __ ] good and I’m just gonna say it: Anakin’s rise to power and fall to the dark side is a damn good piece of character work that Disney would have done well to pay more attention to. Anyway, that's all I’ve got for today. Go away now.

I would argue the prequels are great movies but he makes some very good points. I have seen so many Disney fans claim Anakin is a Mary Sue, when he’s anything but a Mary Sue. 

[mybodyfails]

hi hi hiii. finally back home from berlin, caught a few zzz’s, still sleep deprived, but i’d do it again in a heartbeat!

i‘m gonna ~try to do bullet points here, but you know me... probably not gonna happen. sorry, you have to deal with my longwinded ramblings now, i‘m posting this mostly to remember it all for myself.

let me preface this with a quick disclaimer, these kind of events are usually not really for me, too awkward, too cringy, i’m shy as fuck and socially incompetent in general... but druck has had such an impact on my life, it was a no-brainer for me to go.

biggest shoutout to @lapalooz (with no access to her real tumblr, get on that!) for making the waiting time not only bearable but enjoyable with her engaging presence! aaand i’m pretty sure i wouldn‘t have made it to the meet&greet (aka hi&cry) if i didn‘t have the amazing @matteounterdruck by my side. thank you tina, so much!!! you really kept my spirits high and taught me how to release nervous energy through dancing! lmao ❤️❤️❤️

okay. let’s start at the beginning. the exhibition of and appreciation for all the fanart was one of my favourite things when we walked into that location. druck really said this show is as much about YOU as it is about US and just how lovely is that???

the q&a wasn‘t as bad as it could‘ve been... i just wish it would have been a bit longer though! they seemingly were prepared for the ‚why did amira‘s season end after 7 eps‘ question, but tua being honest and saying fuck yes, i wanted 10 eps for her too... iconic.

surprise surprise, the two people i truly didn‘t expect to be there were milena and michi. and then they were! and they were whispering to each other a lot <3 and michi was the most adorable awkward person to ever exist. you can tell he really is such a shy and private person, and i think seeing that spelled out right in front of us like this made it all the more special that he showed up at all! the things he ~did say were really witty and charming though, so there‘s that. 💕

the bloopers were so good, it was moving to see how much fun they had on set and that their friendships aren’t contrived in the slightest! all i kept thinking was “i can‘t wait to reblog the gifs of that to my tumblr“ haha. SO WHERE‘S THE VIDEO @DRUCK?!

for someone who went in there expecting to have a complete breakdown i was actually okay...ish when we watched the ep (i was so relieved to finally see amira again!) and david‘s film... until the cast went up on stage during anselm‘s second song and mile was stood there, tears streaming down her face, leaning on lukas for comfort. oi, that broke me. :(

quick shoutout to the person behind me who was crying in the club as they say, no, actually it was full on SOBBING. in my mind i just kept going ~SAME~. and, you know, anselm‘s songs didn‘t help the cause either... what a mess.

now on to the meet&greet. if you’re not interested in the people behind druck, or you think meeting them in person is weird or whatever - then this part is not for you and you’ll want to x out of here right now, please spare me the comments, i‘ve already had enough negativity in this fandom for years to come, whew.

i‘ll put this under a cut, just to be extra sure.

you know, i‘ve grown so attached to these characters over the last 1.5 years and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to say thanks to the actresses/actors who made them come to life. for real though, i think really looking them in the eyes and saying THANK YOU was the best thing about the whole experience for me.

this‘ll be chaotic, i’m just gonna list everything i remember off the top of my head, please bear with me.

first of all: best. cast. ever! every single one of them was lovely in their own way... some of them are really high energy people (keep in mind we went in reallllly late, they had been doing this for hours at that point!)... think anselm, tua and mile. they just carried everyone else with their energy!

anselm was as warm and welcoming as i expected, yet it still surprised me how confidently he handled the whole situation (unlike me rip)... i literally blurted out “you‘re such a good host!“ to him and he sounded really flattered when thanking me. he just has the best vibes <3

naomi... oh my god. i was really shocked to even see her at all which was only right before it was our turn with her group. she made a little sarcastic remark about how she “can‘t wait to be tagged in alllll the pictures“ lmao. just leave it up to her to make me fall in love in real life too. :(

i don‘t know if they did it in all of their pictures, but her and hassan were hugging it out in the background of ours like the laura/mohammed crackship that they are. loved that! lmao

speaking of hassan though, i only had the BRIEFEST interaction with him bc how does one cope with all that beauty up close?! one doesn‘t, that‘s how. damn.

i lovelovelove that they kept the five girls together for the photo op, now the pictures ended up looking like we‘re part of their squad!

tua was the life of the party, she made the whole room dance and sing along when ‘geiles leben’ came on (that was when most people had left already bc we went in so late)... it was such a special moment!!! she was also really confused whether to speak german or english to us, bilingual queen!

lea gives the BEST hugs that was so unexpected for such a tiny person, she REALLY goes in wow.

jobel... all i remember is that my face was literally buried in her hair while we were hugging and she smelled amazing!

and lilly omg... lilly! my favourite bean, so easy to talk to, the best aura! she was kinda stretching her legs out when we got to her (l m a o) and kept thanking us for waiting so long (which... a few of them said that... and i always replied with a hä?! thank YOU for doing this for so long!) and rolled her eyes just at the thought of the aftershow party they had planned and told us she‘ll only drink water though! lmao

mile as i mentioned earlier was being so motivational, yelling “we‘re gonna do it! we‘re gonna get through all of you!“ in between again and again, probably more for herself than any of us haha. we did end up talking about food with her, which... you know. foodies amongst each other. ;)

found a whole new appreciation for louis... who poured so much of himself into carlos oh my god. chill. quick witted. hilarious!

so now i left lukas for last. as i briefly mentioned before, i didn’t go up to him after romeo&juliet, but this time i did (there really was no other option when you were there, that would‘ve been rude lol) and i wasn’t let down. at all. he was one of the few people who actually properly introduced himself and that is SO nice, one of the things i’ve always loved about people who are in that kinda position, you know? he is just the sweetest sweetheart, we all know it, he’s proven it over and over. he ran across the room bc some fans forgot their photos at their table, that’s how considerate he is. while we were waiting for our pics to be printed, he came over and hugged us AGAIN and made it a point to say goodbye. MY HEART. 💕

oh, also... we noticed that the mile/flo/louis/lukas group was the most organised with the whole picture situation... they had a ~system going y‘all. lmao

okay. i think this might be it for now. OOF. if anyone actually read all that... you deserve a cookie. i know i promised coherent thoughts, but this is. what you’re gonna get. oops?

if i remember other bits and pieces i‘ll put them in my tags or whatever.

i‘m gonna see myself out now.

[anime-scarves]

Summer 2018

It’s a couple weeks past when the summer season ended, but I got around to finishing the shows I was watching since then. So I’ll do that thing where I write about them.

Boku no Hero Academia

The 3rd season of Boku no Hero finished up and like always it was pretty spectacular. There was necessary character development, training arcs, big fights, game changing moments, some nice fluff along the way to keep things from getting too dark, etc. Really Boku no Hero is the full package. It hasn’t done much of anything that I would consider new or innovative for what is setup to be a long running shounen, but it has executed on existing frameworks almost perfectly. It was the show I looked forward to the most each week. Bones killed it with some of the fight scenes. 

8/10 

Hanebado

Hanebado is a show about badminton which already sets it apart from your average seasonal ‘cause who has every seen an anime about badminton (let alone actually played it). The visuals during the badminton shots were incredible and the studio/animators responsible for it produced some stunning sports animation. Sadly pretty much everything else about the show fell kind of flat for me. The characters were ok, but nothing that interesting; the drama part of the plot was almost nonsensical and definitely didn’t help the show; poor character development or background for some of the sideish characters didn’t do much good either. All in all a very mixed bag. There were bursts of incredible animation unfortunately associated with an otherwise forgettable production. The last two episodes were pretty great though.

5/10

Asobi Asobase

I thought this was going to be just another cute girls doing cute things show, but I was deceived. The show starts with a really cutesy OP that has a bunch of imagery of purity and that kind of nonsense. The show immediately subverts your expectations by presenting the girls as straight up assholes to each other (in that loving high school way) and deliberately uses “ugly” reactions of the girls as part of the punchline. The comedy was pretty good for the most part, but leaned a little too hard on some of the shock value of the faces and what not. Had me laughing quite a bit, and sometimes guffawing out loud. For a comedy it gets my approval. 

6/10 

Hataraku Saibou

This was certainly a unique entry. The story follows a red blood cell (yes in your body) as she goes through her daily life of well being a red blood cell and delivering oxygen to cells and then taking CO2 back to the lungs. David Production (JoJo) did some great work with the art style. The character designs, and particularly the pathogens, were very reminiscent of older character designs and were really quite nostalgic in some ways. What is really remarkable about the show is that it is basically perfectly accurate to how the body works. While it was airing there were threads or videos from doctors commenting on how surprisingly accurate the show was; some have even suggested using parts of it as educational material. To that ends the staff decided to put up some HQ content which can be used free of charge for educational purposes. Part action? part biology lesson, Cells at Work positioned itself in a spot that I haven’t seen a seasonal show do before and the uniqueness of that wins a lot of points in my book. At times it could be a little dry, but overall I had a fun time with it. Also the platelets are soooooo adorable. 

6/10

Attack on Titan S3

Initially this was supposed to be back to back 2 cour I think. That’s since been changed and the 2nd part is expected to air in Spring 2019. That aside, this was more of the great show that many of us have come to love. The beginning of the season featured some stunning sakuga shots that absolutely blew me away. This arc of the story is a lot more political intrigue than it was titan slaying, and it worked out pretty well. There was a lot of world building and reveals about the nature of the titans, character back stories, etc. etc. From what I’ve heard the mangaka used the anime as a way to redo a lot of the pacing in this arc and that it was very much for the better. Not too much to say other than that I enjoyed this a lot and I’m looking forward to seeing more of it. The last episode’s ED was something wild and gave us what can only be described as a fiendish glimpse into the future. 

8/10

Shows I dropped or didn’t finish:

Harukana Receive: What I thought was going to be a somewhat interesting show about beach volley ball ended up not being that. It was more about their butts than it was volleyball. At least that’s the impression I got early on. 

Grand Blue: The much anticipated, and hyped, adaption of Grand Blue didn’t really do it for me. I’m not sure why tbh. When I was watching it I was laughing along, but I never really felt like continuing. I’ll probably read the manga at some point. 

Starlight Revue: The first episode can only be described as wild and I very much enjoyed it. However, I got caught up in the rest of the season and the subs from HIDive were pretty miserable. I was waiting for fansubs and I think a group did it, but I just never got back to it. Maybe I’ll pick it up again sometime, but I wouldn’t be surprised it it stays unfinished. 

That one demon lord Isekai: I watched part of the first episode. It is not for me. If you want some mad wish fulfillment isekai then be my guest. Sometimes it can be fun, but this was just not my cup of tea. 

Banana Fish: I watched the first episode and wasn’t really hooked. Nothing seemed bad about the show, and it was kinda interesting. Just never got back to it. Heard it ended up pretty good though. 

Anyways that’s my take on last season. 

[fortnitegiyn7662-blog]

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Story Telling 101: The Justice League vs. The Teen Titans

Now that DC has once again become active in producing stories, there’s been some debate rearing up among the tags. Namely, involving the DCAU animated series and revolving around a certain pair of ships.

Most recently, a post has surfaced in the BBRae tag thanks to negligent use of the ship name in the post that’s very...anti-BBrae. Ironically, it’s essentially a “clap-back” to my dear friend @fireflyxrebel‘s post on why BBRae won’t be canon in the DCAU. Which makes zero sense, considering OP of the post that shall not be named was bashing the ship. Funny, how that works. 

Still, what catches my eye is that the OP seems to not grasp the full realm of storytelling and how it can be used to also analyze a piece of work, hence why I’ve decided to jump on board and discuss it. There’s two reasons for this; one, to help those who want to learn more about storytelling as a craft and two, because I like analyzing stuff.  

So strap in and hang on for the ride, because this is gonna be a long one. 

Read more under the cut!

There’s a few things someone needs to tell a story, regardless of whether or not it’s animated, written, a play script, etc. All of these things are stories, and stories all require the same ingredients;

~Plot

~Characters (Characterization)

~Theme

~Setting (Time, Place, etc.)

~Point Of View (First, Second, Third; Most important in written stories, but applicable in all)

~Tense (Past, Present, Future; typically used in written stories for verbs)

~Camera Angles (Movies and Animation; Yes, this important to story telling.)

These are some of the biggest things stories require, depending on the mode of story telling. But in terms of JL vs TT, there’s three I really want to discuss; plot, characters, and theme. So let’s talk about them, shall we? 

Plot

This is a big one. Stories can’t function without them. They drive things forward, get us from point A to point B. They make things interesting, they give us rising action, conflict, and a climax. This is the meat and potatoes of a story; what makes it tick. 

So what’s the plot of JL vs TT? 

The bare bones; Trigon has possessed the Justice League, and it’s up to the Teen Titans to save the day.

Pretty straightforward, right? 

See, here’s the thing about plot; without the other ingredients, the story would be...boring. Yes, plot is 100% necessary, but so is everything else. Characterization, setting, and all the other aspects listed above is what can set a story apart from the others, and with a story like this that has literally been told numerous times (numerous comic runs, an animated series, and now this movie), you need more than just the plot. 

Which brings me to the next part;

Characters and Characterization

Characters. These guys are pretty important. They’re the eyes through which we see the fictional world around. They are often what keeps us hooked on a story; the way they feel and how that makes us feel. We can relate heavily to characters and the conflicts they find themselves in, and and more often than not, these characters are what makes a story leave a lasting impact on us.  

Why am I making this point? Well, think about it. Why did you watch this movie? Because plots with evil demons are interesting to you? Or was it because certain characters you liked were involved? 

For most, it was probably the latter. Whether your favorite character is Damian, Raven, Beast Boy, Starfire, Blue Beetle, or some of the mainstays of the Justice League, chances are you saw that character and got excited. Maybe the plot intrigued you too. Or, perhaps, a subplot. Still, the reason many people will come back to this story is the characters. 

So, what makes a character?

Well, my friend, that is what we call characterization. 

Characterization is sort of a conglomerate of numerous things; background, personality, voice/diction, appearance, beliefs, political views, etc. Basically, everything that makes up a character is thrown into characterization. And characterization in action, is how you get this character across to the audience. 

So let’s look at an example. 

This is the titular scene in which Raven sees Beast Boy naked. Why am I using this scene, you ask? 

Well, my friend, this is the scene is where the Teen Titans are introduced, so in a storytelling sense, it’s pretty important to characterization. 

So let’s break it down. 

First thing we see is Blue Beetle battling it out with the hologram soldiers. We get to see how he fights, which for those well versed in fighting styles, can clue you into his personality. From what I see, he’s fighting fairly offensively and has quick reflexes. He’s a good fighter, and sure on his feet. He’s got some confidence, though how much of that is the beetle vs Jaime is yet to be determined. 

Then, we meet Raven. She’s fighting more defensively and removed from the field. She’s closed off, and her powers reflect her more defensive personality. 

Whereas Beast Boy is clawing at anything that moves and shifting at his own whimsy. This shows he’s pretty fast on his feet and 100% hands on and offensive. He’s an open book, for the most part. 

But what really lets us see these characters, is how they interact with each other. 

At one point, Beast Boy flattens the holograms as a Rhino and confronts Raven. He says, “You were having a nightmare last night. I was just wondering if everything’s-” 

There’s a lot we can learn from just this line alone. 

1. Beast Boy is concerned for Raven. This shows that at least on a very loose basis, he considers her a friend. They are on the same team, after all, so this assumption certainly makes sense. Especially given how often Starfire likes to reinforce the idea that they’re a family, as well as the general familial themes that the Teen Titans maintains historically. 

2. Either Beast Boy is a night owl, or he has a room nearby Raven’s. Chances are high that both are accurate. We don’t get a gauge for how late Rae’s nightmare was, but since it was at night, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was late. BB does maintain the entire animal kingdom, as he claims. It’s not a shocker if he has a tendency to stay up later than most. 

3. Beast Boy probably has enhanced hearing. Unless Raven was screaming in her sleep, he probably wouldn’t realize she was specifically having a nightmare unless he has super sharp hearing, even if his room is right next to hers. After all, most people tend to mumble in their sleep, and unless you’re in the room, it can be hard to decipher what they’re saying. So this could be hinting at Beast Boy having enhanced senses. 

4. ‘Last night’ also refers to the night Superman got attacked and possessed by Trigon’s minion. So this line also ties back to the plot, and gives us some hints into Raven’s character. 

Look at that. A single line can build a character and push a plot forward. Who knew. 

So, how exactly can Beast Boy care about Raven if he’s only checking up on her now, you ask. Why couldn’t he have checked up on her last night while she was having said nightmare? 

Well, think about it. 

This Teen Titans team is relatively new. So while BB may think of Rae as a friend, they haven’t been friends long enough for him to feel comfortable about invading the space of her room. I dunno about you, but I certainly don’t go barging over to my new friend’s house and waltz right inside. That’s something I only do after knowing someone for a really, really long time. I’m talking years, here. Not a few short months.  So the fact that BB waited until it was daylight and they were both in a neutral space makes sense. He doesn’t want to make her uncomfortable, he wants to make sure she’s okay. 

And when Raven brushed him off with “It’s just a dream,” he drops it. 

This scene tells us quite a bit about Raven, too. As mentioned above, Beast Boy’s comment about nightmares gives us a little hint that Raven may be involved with the demonic possessions. But we learn a bit more than just that. 

Raven cut Beast Boy off mid sentence. To me, that shows she has no interest in talking about her own personal issues. At all. She shuts him out before he even has a chance to come in. This shows us that Raven does not trust easy. Yes, she and Beast Boy have known each other for awhile, and yes, they’re loosely friends, but she still has not opened up to him or anyone else on the team. She’s distant and reclusive, reluctant to trust anyone. 

However, this doesn’t mean she isn’t comfortable being around her teammates, as can be seen by how...unphased...she is when she sees Beast Boy in his entire glory, as well as when the same shapeshifter hides behind her. This shows that there may be more to Raven’s closed-off nature than just a general mistrust, which ties into her lineage and destiny; aka she feels like she doesn’t deserve their trust, and perhaps they won’t let her stay if they knew the truth.  

There’s a lot more you can learn from the rest of the scene too, and not just about Raven and Beast Boy. It really just comes down to watching the characters and the way they interact with each other and the world around them. In fact, if your story doesn’t offer any insight to your character’s state of mind at any given moment, chances are, you’re doing it wrong. 

Theme

While plot revolves around the mechanics of what a story is a bout, a theme is the underlying message that a story contains. Pretty much every story has some sort of theme, and most tend to come hand-in-hand with the main plot. 

Take for instance The Great Gatsby; Its theme revolved around how money and riches lead to corruption, which tied into the main plot of Gatsby losing himself trying to win over Daisy and ultimately dying. 

As such, themes can be just as important as the plot. It’s essentially the message the author is trying to deliver to their audience through the medium of storytelling. Comics are no exception, and JL vs TT the movie in particular definitely has some themes to it. 

An interesting thing to note, though, is that the themes of JL vs TT seem to butt heads with the plot. How so, you ask? Well, quite simple; the overall theme is Damian learning the meaning of trust and teamwork, while the plot is Raven’s titular arc against her father. 

What do I mean by that? 

Well, this arc of Raven vs Trigon is central to Raven’s character, and is generally recognized as her story. And most of the source material supports this too, both in plot and in theme. 

*Scans provided by @fireflyxrebel

The theme here also revolves around trust, but the story puts Raven in the spotlight and makes things about her. 

She is the one that needs to learn how to trust others and let others trust her. Not anyone else. 

Whereas in JL vs TT, it’s Damian who has to learn this. 

See? Damian is the focal point here. It’s Damian who we see first. Damian, who is introduced to the Titans. Damian, that has to be healed by Raven. Damian, who gets to see into Raven’s mind. Damian, who has to step up and help save Raven and encourage her to defeat Trigon. Damian, who has to defeat his grandfather, and Damian, who ultimately has to learn what it means to be a Titan. 

This is what people refer to when they talk about how Damian stole Raven’s arc. In a way, he did. This story is Damian’s story about learning friendship and comradeship, not Raven’s. Yet in the past, this particular arc was always her time to learn the very same thing. 

See? In this arc, it’s all about Raven. Yes she has her friends, but that’s sort of the point. The theme isn’t about Damian Wayne learning trust; it’s about Raven learning trust. 

And thus, Raven learns the truth and stands her own ground. There is no black haired dude in a Robin suit to save the day for her; just herself and her own newfound confidence. That’s why a lot of people tend to poke and prod at this story. Raven doesn’t get to shine in her own plot, her own arc. 

Damian does. 

And while that isn’t necessarily a bad thing; the development seems to have stuck this time around, it is still incredibly disappointing. There were probably better ways to execute this so that the overall theme of trust and friendship actually extended to the entire team, allowing the story to be more cohesive and feel more genuine. 

Everyone could have had real character development and grown as a team, Raven and Damian’s blossoming romance would have felt more genuine, organic, and less like a damsel in distress story, and the story would have been stronger overall. But alas, that’s not what we got. Instead, we got a story with a theme focused heavily on Damian, and the other characters suffer for it. 

~

So yeah. I wanted to hit on these three points mostly because as I said, it seemed as though some people don’t understand how a story is built to literally be interpreted. In a good story, all of these aspects intertwine together so that at every page or every scene, you can pause and analyze what’s going on from multiple categories. 

The other ingredients are important too, of course, but I really wanted to spend my time on the three listed above. However, here’s a few resources for anyone who wants to learn more about each of these things!

Setting:

X  X

Point of View:

X

Tense:

X

Camera Angles:

*This channel is great with this stuff. I’d recommend this if anyone likes learning about the art of film. 

Thanks for giving this a read, and if I missed anything, feel free to let me know! 

-mod vixensheart

[drink-n-watch]

  Genre : Slice of Life, Comedy, Supernatural

Episodes: 26

Studio:

  If you think your job is tough, imagine having to make sure Hell runs smoothly. It’s not exactly a place full of the most dependable people, after all. Keeping everything smooth and on schedule is an impressive feat and you don’t have the courtesy of putting it off. Only the most impressive bureaucracy can survive under those circumstances. But it’s all good. As long as you have the right administration in place, anything is possible. From delicate PR relations to the daily grind of dealing out the appropriate punishment to fit every imaginable crime, to the mundane bookkeeping and manual labor required to keep such a gargantuan operation running, all you need is someone devilishly organized and wickedly rigorous. Luckily Hozuki is here to show us how cooler heads can prevail.

As some of you may know, I have a particular fondness of Japanese mythology (or in fact mythology of all types) which really attracted me to the first season of this series. Because of the episodic structure of the show, it was easy to take a break between seasons without losing track of the story. Now I’m back to see if the second season lived up to the first.

favourite depiction of eternal torment ever!

Hozuki has always been a very interesting looking show. Backgrounds are rendered in classical ink wash painting style, which look like traditional paintings, while character designs are bright and crisp adaptations of folklore creatures. For me, I think everything is really brought together by the beautiful rainbow of colors that contrast hell’s stark panoramas with the surprisingly joyful looking bureaucratic and diplomatic offices that keep the place running.

Basically, it’s fun to look at. Even paring down the screencaps as much as possible, I ended up with a completely unreasonable number of pictures I just liked too much to trash. Don’t worry, I’m not going to dump them all in this post and freeze your computer. OK, I’m going to dump a lot in this post. I’m a simple soul, I like pictures.

I like the little skull, it’s cute

Once again, I want to point out how fantastic Hozuki’s voice actor is. For the record that would be Yasumoto, Hiroki I really think this is one of his greatest performances and it goes a long way towards creating a memorable character. The voice cast in general is really good, but he stands out, alongside Tanezaki, Atsumi as Mustard and Matsuyama, Takashi as the pheasant. Hearing the interaction between these three actors really highlights how important performances are. Although in a vacuum I don’t notice Yusa, Kouji performance as Hakutaku all that much, the interplay between him and Hozuki is also delightful. They make for a very charming comedy duo and I wish they would have shared more scenes this season. Finally, newcomers, the Zashiki Warashi twins have a distinct expressionless delivery which is likely either going to annoy or charm viewers. I was solidly in the latter camp; however, it does take some getting use to.

I rarely go on this much about voice acting. However, as an essentially talkative comedy, voice delivery is particularly important to the enjoyment of a series like Hozuki’s Coolheadedness and I’m happy to report the actors really came through.

As for the story (stories) such as it is, Hozuki continues to be a slice of death anime with very loosely connected vignettes portraying the often mundane daily tasks of an official in hell, and it’s absolutely divine. Ok, that’s an exaggeration. I just wanted to make the pun.

Fact is, whether the writing and cast just found their footing or whether I was just better disposed to the show, I ended up enjoying the second season considerably more than the first. Episodes regularly left me grinning from ear to ear and I found the ritual of watching a couple (or 6) at the end of a long day to be a genuinely comforting experience.

The mix of Japanese mythology and modern sensibilities is still there but the supporting characters are better integrated and somehow the pacing seems more fluid and natural. A lot of irreverent and referential jokes have been added to the mix for quick punchlines, mixed in with the more general humor that comes from the silly treatment of grim situations and old timey theology.

what a pleasant looking river of blood

Basically, it is in many ways just charming. The experience feels tailored to a Japanophile like myself, but is still presented in such a clearly accessible way that you do not feel like your sitting through a lesson of any kind.

I wanted to compare Hozuki to a more popular show to give those who have not seen it an idea of what they would be in for and I’m afraid I’m drawing a blank. If any of my readers have seen another series like this, please let me know in the comments.

In a way, this feels very much like a western workplace sitcom. Realization just dawned on me; this is the adult workplace comedy anime I was looking for. Once you strip away the layers of mysticism and esotericism of the setting (i.e. classical “Japanese” hell, as it is referred to in the series – as opposed to European heel which is also referenced), the actual meat of the show is really just a series of zany interactions and silly situation set in hell. Not unlike The Office if it was full of demons and damned souls. Guys, I’m really happy with this description. I think it’s quite apt.

complete with quirky pretty girl

Do I recommend this show, yes I do! Unless you openly dislike situational workplace comedies, I think you will find something to enjoy in Hozuki’s Coolheadedness.

Favorite character: Hozuki

What this anime taught me:  Taoism is surprisingly close to Voodoo

Carrots could improve your vision but alcohol can double it!

Suggested drink: Gates of Hell

Every time we see goldfish in any form – take a sip

Every time we see peaches or physalis  – take a sip

Every time we see a rabbit – squee

Every time Hozuki wears his hair in a Chinese bun – take a sip

Every time Ichiko and Niko laugh – question your conflicting feelings

Every time anything meows – take a sip

Every time you spot a Ghibli reference – take a sip

Every time anyone sings – clap

Every time there’s a mention or image of pooh – get a snack

Every time Hozuki’s solution is violence – nod

I didn’t know where to add this but I loved the second OP. I couldn’t find the show version,. The closest I managed to dig up was this full version:

I tried to pick out some of my favourite screen captures and as usual, I will be uploading the rest to pinterest.

The second season surprised me in many ways. Hozuki’s Coolheadedness II – Hell is Other People Genre : Slice of Life, Comedy, Supernatural Episodes: 26 Studio: If you think your job is tough, imagine having to make sure Hell runs smoothly.