#While there are a ton of songs in the series & you can get a basic understanding of most of the events that happen through listening to them

[hambambi]

hello there :) could you perhaps leave an ask in my inbox and tell me where the song in question in this poll https://www.tumblr.com/hambambi/765605610609852416?source=share is?

I usually don't mind waiting for the reveal nor the guess work but this one has me so stumped that I've spend 2 hours combing through various soundtracks I thought could fit just to find it

Hi! I'm so sorry that I'm just now seeing this ask because Tumblr isn't notifying me about any new notifications recently. 🙇‍♂️ I don't know if you already found out where the song is from but if you haven't it's from a collab event in the mobile rhythm & gacha game called Project Sekai: Colorful Stage. It's a collaboration between the game and Mothy-P's Aku no Taizai (The Deadly Sins of Evil) series, which is a part of the Evillious Chronicles series. The event contained songs from the series, a gacha with cards of six of the characters from the series (played by the Vocaloids Miku, Rin, Len, Luka, Kaito, & Meiko), and a sekai where those characters can appear in. The song is actually the area bgm of the sekai!

If you like rhythm games and/or vocaloid music, then I do recommend the game as it's pretty fun and they have a wide range of songs to play. It is also a gacha game though, and while I don't think the gacha mechanic is as bad compared to other games (coming from someone who is a casual free-to-play player, but is mainly more interested in the vocaloids and a few other characters), it's understandable if that's a deal breaker for you.

If you're not really interested in the game but are open to listening to vocaloid music, then Evillious Chronicles has a lot of good songs listen to. The two most popular songs from the series are The Daughter of Evil and The Servant of Evil. I linked them below if you want to give them a listen

[linghxr]

Why you should watch 乘风破浪 and 披荆斩棘 to learn Chinese

What are these shows?

Both 披荆斩棘 and 乘风破浪 follow the same basic format: 30+ celebrity contestants, mostly actors and singers ages 30+, form teams and compete in singing and dancing over several rounds. Viewers vote on their favorite performances and contestants, and 1-3 contestants are eliminated each round. The top contestants form a temporary "group" and appear on a follow-up reality show.

Why you should watch

1. Exposure to different accents

Contestants come from all over the Chinese-speaking world: Dongbei, Sichuan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and even Malaysia. I can personally say that watching these shows has vastly improved my ability to understand the Hong Kong Mandarin accent.

2. Pop culture knowledge

Because the contestants are celebrities, you'll be introduced to dozens of famous actors, singers, etc. Also, you'll hear the many iconic songs that they cover. I've impressed several native speakers with my with knowledge of pop culture and music.

3. Branch out to new media

These shows serve as a gateway to Chinese music, movies, and TV. if you really like the contestants who are actors, you can check out their shows and movies. If you enjoy a certain song or like a contestant who's a singer, you can explore more music.

4. Casual and formal registers

You’ll get to hear casual, unscripted speech while watching the behind-the-scenes and rehearsal clips. But you’ll also get to hear more formal speech when they’re announcing rules and also from the MC who hosts the actual live performances.

5. Incredible talent

Also, you should watch for the awesome performances and general fun. I love seeing the contestants' friendships, and I’m also obsessed with the amazing sets. There are some incredibly talented performers on these shows, and I love getting to see them shine.

Where to watch

All seasons are free to watch on YouTube! Sometimes clips may be muted or missing, probably due to YouTube's restrictions. But the vast, vast majority is available, and when a clip is missing, you can usually do a separate search and find it. I also pay for a Mango TV subscription, which is $1.99 USD/month.

乘风破浪 full episode playlist links:

乘风破浪的姐姐1

乘风破浪的姐姐2

乘风破浪3

乘风2023

乘风2024

披荆斩棘 full episode playlist links:

披荆斩棘的哥哥1

披荆斩棘2

披荆斩棘3

披荆斩棘4

To help you get started, below is a YouTube playlist of my some of my favorite performances (5 per season, except for the most recent season of each). Cause why not! Also, below the cut I'll put more details along with direct links to my favorite performances.

And if you're a fellow fan emotionally preparing for the 披荆斩棘4 finale 🥲, feel free to message me and commiserate!

See similar posts: I watched all the Chinese idol survival shows so you don’t have to (but you should anyway) Tips for finding Chinese-language media you like

Sisters Who Make Waves

Chinese title: 乘风破浪的姐姐 (S1-2) / 乘风破浪 (S3) / 乘风 (S4-5) English title: Sisters Who Make Waves (S1-3) / Ride the Wind (S4-5) *I call it Sisters for short

This series is the original, having started in 2020. The focus was on female empowerment, particularly of women 30+. A lot of the celebrities had slowed down in their careers, and the show served as their reintroduction to audiences. While female empowerment is still a theme today, I do feel it has lessened in prominence.

Season 1

The original, iconic season. You can tell they had a limited budget and not a ton of space, but it doesn't detract at all thanks to the incredible talent and energy of the contestants. And they had no idea what a phenomenon the show was going to be! Many of my most rewatched performances come from the season.

得不到的爱情

大碗宽面

相爱后动物感伤

FLOW

新物种

Season 2

This season has a special place in my heart as the first one I watched! It's the only one I've seen twice (when it originally aired and rewatched with friends). Compared to season 1, you can definitely tell they had a bigger budget and started to refine the format. Also, some of my all-time favorite contestants are from this season.

现在不跳舞要干嘛

归零

快乐宝贝

给自己的歌

我

Season 3

This season was the first with the show's "modern" and fully-developed format, which remains to this day. For example, they started to include more complex sets and recruited more diverse contestants, such as dancers, an athlete, etc. Also, my favorite performance of the entire series, 雾里, is from this season.

雾里

梦中人

山海

孤独颂歌

有吗炒面

Season 4

This season was the first time I felt there wasn’t improvement over the previous season. I think the stage design took a step backward, and I didn't love the international focus. It was hard to identify my favorite performances because I didn't feel strongly about many. That being said, my friends and I still enjoyed this season.

从头

千里万里

下个，路口，见

归途有风

I'm Not Yours

Season 5

Though this season has already ended, I'm not done yet. I watch with friends, so we move at a slower pace. So far, it seems largely in line with season 4. I'll update this post after we finish.

Call Me By Fire

Chinese title: 披荆斩棘的哥哥 (S1) / 披荆斩棘 (S2-3) English title: Call Me By Fire *I call it Brothers as a nickname

A show about female empowerment gets a male spin off? Out of skepticism, I did not plan to check out this show when it premiered in 2021 (after Sisters S2). But at some point I changed my mind, mostly because I had to run out of other shows. Little did I know I would arguably become a more devoted fan of this show than the original!

Season 1

This season had too many iconic performances to count, and in particular, the Hong Kong contestants really took the world by storm. Due to scandals, they edited out 2 contestants (Huo Zun and Li Yundi), which admittedly does make for an awkward viewing experience at times, but you should totally watch anyway.

凄美地

MMA

飞云之下

达拉崩吧

如果还有明天

Season 2

Looking back, season 2 did not have as many stand out performances as season 1, but it does boast my favorite performances of the entire series, 新地球. It also features a fantastic group of contestants, probably my favorite overall cohort of the show.

新地球

袖手旁观

私人生活

理想

凤毛麟角

Season 3

This was the first season to air after I started watching, though I didn't watch it live because I was still on season 2. While it's probably impossible to top the iconic status of season 1, I think season 3 was an improvement over season 2 in terms of memorable performances. We also got the iconic 0713 (2007快乐男声全国13强) contestants.

行走的鱼

爱人错过

Joker

走麦田

有没有一首歌会让你想起我

Season 4

This season is sadly coming to an end, although I have not started the finale yet. I'll start this weekend and update this post in the future after I've had some time to gather my thoughts.

Now I have to go finish 披荆斩棘4 episode 11 so I can watch the finale. Bye!!!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

When the twisted wonderland anime comes out what are the things you hope they do better then what they could do in the game?

To quickly clarify a few things (so new readers and anyone stumbling across this post doesn't get the wrong idea): firstly, we do not yet have any confirmation on what the Twisted Wonderland anime will be about. Secondly, I have previously expressed that I would prefer the TWST anime to be random slice of life rather than another main story adaptation. If we assume that the anime will be another adaptation of the main story, I don't think the anime staff has a ton of liberty in the alterations they can make to the source material. Book 2 is widely known to be the greatest example of Bad Writing in TWST, and it cannot exactly be swept under the rug since it's in the main story. I doubt anyone would be allowed to make massive rewrites to the script or to the series of events; the biggest changes we get are slightly compacted scenes in the manga and the light novel. For example:

Skipping lines that appear in the game. (Ex: in the Book of Heartslabyul, Ace does not joke about sharing a room with Yuuken.)

Combining scenes to save on time. (Ex: In the light novel, Yuuya and Deuce meet Leona for the first time not in the Botanical Garden, which is the case in the game. Instead, the mob student that broke the eggs meant for Ace's apology chestnut tart is a Savanaclaw kid that Leona shows up to reprimand.)

Adding slight details to fill in logical gaps. (Ex: Yuuya in the light novel is granted a NRC uniform by Crowley; the uniform is described to us, the readers. Yuu getting a uniform is never mentioned in the game.)

Continuing from the last point, new details can also serve to flesh out character motivations, backstories, and lore. (Ex: the Heartslabyul light novel informs us that Riddle faces social repercussions for his OB and almost got expelled from school; the Savanaclaw light novel sheds new light on Leona's motivations, and the same can be said of Riddle.)

So basically, the story (again, if the anime does end up following the plot of the main story) would be the same. What would make the anime different from the manga, game, and light novel is largely the medium in which it is presented. I have talked about this at length in a number of older posts, but here is one example of how the manga, uses visual storytelling (as it is primarily a visual medium). A manga chapter is usually limited in length due to it being physically printed and shared in a magazine alongside other manga; there is therefore a constraint on how long-winded it can be, and its limited pages must be used effectively. We need to think about the strengths and the weaknesses of each individual medium and how those strengths and weaknesses affect how it might slightly change how TWST I presented.

An anime is able to incorporate animation with sound in a 20ish minute time slot to tell a tale. It gets the same benefits of the game, but far more freedom of movement. There is, however, also a time constraint to be considered. One complaint TWST often gets is that despite half of its core gameplay (I'm not going to count reading as gameplay) being rhythm games, the music the game has is NOT memorable. While the anime most likely won't have a ton of original songs, I hope that it can at least creatively incorporate some of TWST's scores as background tracks to fun scenes and make them more enjoyable that way. The anime will also be able to... well, be animated!! We won't get just a static screen where a maximum of three characters are crammed onto the screen at once staring back at you. It's okay to have in the game to save on time and budget, but you have to admit it does get boring to look at after a while. But with an anime production, we can get exciting lighting and camera angles that result in cool animation! I hope that this will really help the TWST characters' stories come to life on the screen ^^ One scene in particular that I hope the anime will adapt well is the VDC/SDC performances of RSA and NRC. The game tells us that RSA's performance is clumsy and amateurish, but it still managed to capture people's hearts. The game also tells us that NRC was not able to perform at their maximum capacity because they were already physically worn down from dealing with OB Vil. I want to see these descriptions actually be realized on screen (the Rhythmic/Twistune alone isn't enough), as it could help us better judge and have an enhanced understanding of the situation. I know a lot of fans who, to this very day, still feel that NRC was cheated of the win and shouldn't have lost to such a lackluster performance from RSA, so I'm hoping that a fully animated version might give us more perspective.

[iamcautiouslyoptimistic]

Deja Vu ~ Russell Adler x Female Reader

{Author's Note} This was inspired by @alypink's recent Adler render where he's leaning against a muscle car AND HOO BOY that put tons of thoughts in my head about a younger Adler before he heads off to Vietnam. Reader in this story dated him before he went off to war and they got together again after the events of the Cold War game. I probably got some timeline stuff wrong but I did my research and tried to keep it consistent lol. A horrendous sinus infection has given me a short break from school as I start some medications to clear it up so that means more time for writing! Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy this! I've got plenty of ideas for a younger Adler x reader series so expect more in the future! And let me know if you'd like to be removed or added to the tag list🫶🏻 I don't know if I managed to include everyone that I wanted to so please let me know! AND YES I'm using a Robert Redford gif because they're basically the same person in my eyes LOL {Tag List} @littlemissclandestine @alypink @mctvsh @adlerboi @deadbranch @a-small-writer-in-a-big-world @ghostlythots @glitterypirateduck

Russell Adler x Female Reader

❌Content Warning: none❌

~ ~ ~

1965

“When are you leaving again?” 

Adler sends you a glance through dark shades as you pass him a bucket full of water. He takes it easily, hefting it with little issue while you had struggled to lift it only moments ago. 

“In a month,” he responds and splashes the bucket’s contents across the windshield of his car. “Higher ups are gettin’ worried about the increased communist presence in Vietnam so they’re sending in some troops. I’ll be going on behalf of the CIA to do some recon and see if we can figure out what’s happening over there.”

You knew that already. He’d told you half a dozen times before but he answered you anyway. He knew how worried you were about the threat of impending war, especially when he was being sent into the midst of it with little choice to refuse. 

All you can manage is a nod as you focus on sponging down the window opposite him. He notices your silence and rounds the car, drying his palms on his already damp tank top. 

“I’ll be fine, sweetheart,” he murmurs softly as he grasps your chin and guides your face to look at him. You blink back tears and he wipes away the few that manage to escape with gentle thumbs. 

“Just gotta make sure the Soviets aren’t meddling in things,” he continues. “It shouldn’t take long.”

You nod as he caresses the curves of your cheeks. “I just want you to be careful.” 

And come back alive, you think to yourself. Come back to me. 

He leans to press a kiss to the crown of your head. “I will. Promise.”

His lips meet yours in a tender kiss, one that makes you smile and clears the mist from your eyes. 

“Now, help me finish cleaning this thing before Sims gets here. He needs to see this baby in all her glory.”

You laugh, feeling your heart lighten as Russ turns up the radio. He bobs his head to The Beach Boys song flowing through the speakers and you promise yourself to commit this moment to memory. The glint of his shades in the sunlight, the shimmer of golden hair as he pushes it off his forehead, the movement of his arms and back as he leans over the hood of his car. The image is imprinted in your mind’s eye for years to come.

~ ~ ~

1982

Adler has changed, though your memories of him have not. He’s still stubborn as a mule with an envy-inducing sense of style and a love for muscle cars. He’s older now, quieter and less open, scarred both physically and mentally after his time in Vietnam. His most recent escapade involved a former Soviet agent who he refuses to talk about so you don’t push the topic. You’re just happy he’s come back to you.

“You gonna keep staring or help me clean this thing?” Russ says with a slight smile. His shades reflect the sun the same way they did all those years ago and you hurry to his side, upping the radio’s volume on the way.

Russ likes to talk about cars and so you let him, enjoying the sound of his voice as he guides you through the inner workings of the machinery before you. He's gentle and careful with his movements, and you notice the serenity in his features. It was one of the few times he was able to relax, a brief moment where he didn't carry the world on his shoulders. You know he's not perfect, far from it, but he deserves this temporary peace and you're thankful that you're present to enjoy it with him.

“Do you know that I love you?” you ask suddenly. The comment makes Russ pause in his work, gaze lifting to yours as he straightens.

"That so?"

You giggle. "You're supposed to say it back, you know," you tease, fully aware of his tendency to play coy with this sort of thing.

He brushes stray strands of hair from your face, the pads of his fingers delicately tracing your features. He was hesitant to touch you these days, fearing you'd be disgusted by his calloused hands, but you made it a point to remind him that such things were a sign that he had survived and kept his promise to you, even if it had taken longer than either of you had anticipated.

"I love you, too," he murmurs, his voice a low whisper, as if he were afraid to release the phrase into the world where it could be taken from him.

You grin and lean to press a kiss to his scarred cheek, hearing his contented sigh as his arms settle around your waist. You promise to commit this moment to memory, just as you had countless times before, adding it to the complicated collection of images and sensations that made up Russell Adler.

[maleyanderecafe]

Hi! I've been craving some yandere content that's not manga, webtoon, manwa, etc. Do you have recommendations that are movies, tv shows, maybe some kdrama too? Just not manga, anime and the sort.

Sorry this one took a kabillion years to answer. Back in October, Cherry and I basically had a yandere movie month where we would just watch a bunch of movies that were labeled as Male Yandere movies because horror month (which is unfortunate for me because I don't really like horro movies). Anyways, besides the short list here that has some TV shows, here's some stuff we watched. Some of this will be later put in as recommendations, probably on Tuesdays.

Hush Little Baby- we're going to start out with some lifetime movies because they're low calorie and turn off brain fun to watch. About a neighbor kid who comes in to babysit the main character's kid only to cause problems to the entire family.

Swim at Your Own Risk- another lifetime movie. About a swim team girl who has a fling with the swim couch after taking a break with her boyfriend. Things go wrong as the swim couch gets obsessed with her.

You Belong to Me - another lifetime movie. About a lady who finds out that someone is stalking her and tries to figure out who it is after they try to murder her boyfriend.

Addicted/Obsessed- Addicted is the korean movie and Obsessed is the English remake. About twins, one of which is married to the female lead, where they both have an accident. The husband dies, however, the other seems to have been possessed by the husband.

LadyHawke - older movie, but the yandere is the main villain. About a main character who escapes prison and finds a couple who is cursed to turn into a wolf and hawk respectively during the day and night, fated to never be together.

Well Intentioned Love- Chinese drama, though the yandere portion only really shows up in the first season. About a girl who has lukemia and has to have a contract marriage with the only person who can give her a doner bone marrow match. Driver is best character.

Disco Pigs- Pretty surreal movie in some cases. About two childhood friends, Pig and Runt who love each other as Pig becomes more and more obsessed with her as the movie goes on.

Labyrinth - I probably won't write a recommendation for this one because the yandere portion really only shows up in the song, but it's still a fun movie with David Bowie. I even read the comic for it just to check but the yandere portion seems to only show up in the song.

The Boy - I actually watched this with another friend that was obsessed with wallmen, but its a pretty fun movie overall. I think most people know this one though. About a lady who moves in and babysits a doll while trying to escape her abusive ex.

Within - also another movie I watched with my wallmen obsessed friend. About a family that moves into a house that turns out to be haunted in one way or another.

What If…Dr. Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands? - Sorcerer Supreme in general in general seems like a yandere since his entire goal is to just bring back Christine at all costs. He also just generally shows up in other episodes of the What If? Series.

Heathers - I heard the movie version isn't nearly as yandere, but the musical version is for sure.

Phantom of the Opera- I'm kind of cheating with this one because it's like one of the OG male yandere stuff, but hey, if you haven't heard or watched it yet, well you know.

That's about it for now since usually Cherry and I don't watch a ton of movies. Might change after a while, but we'll see. Maybe in February we'll try to have a tv drama month to watch stuff.

[msunitedstatesjames]

Frances Hardinge is a criminally underrated author. If you've never heard of her, I'm not surprised. Even though I'm in several fantasy book groups on Facebook with thousands of members, I've only ever seen one or two other members post about her. And yet, since I first read one of her books in 2020, I've bought every book she's published and read most of them.

Frances Hardinge, for those who've missed out, writes fantasy young adult books. Her books are extremely well written, romance free, unfailingly unique, and somewhat dark, all of which are qualities I find to be more and more rare in today's YA fantasy market (not to hate on YA, I've read tons of it). If you need a comparison, I would say aspects of her books remind me of YA/middle grade books by T. Kingfisher or Neil Gaiman.

If I haven't convinced you yet, here's a little preview of some of her books that I've read:

A Face Like Glass (my personal favorite): A girl named Neverfell lives in a world where people have to be taught how to show emotion in their facial expressions. She has to wear a mask at all times because, mysteriously, she naturally shows facial expressions and if people found out they would freak. If that's not unique enough, this society is underground and produces magical artisinal goods, such as cheeses, wines, and perfumes that can do some wild things. If that still hasn't convinced you, the book critiques the privelege of the wealthy, as in this world only the rich can afford to hire Facesmiths to teach them expression, while the poor languish along with one or two facial expressions for their entire lives.

Fly by Night and Fly Trap (these might have different titles depending on where you are in the world): In a world where reading is illegal and seen as revolutionary activity, Mosca Mye escapes her awful life with her aunt and uncle by forcing an infamous conman (Eponymous Clent, this world has cool naming conventions) to take her under his wing. Joining them is Mosca's only friend, Saracen, the murderous goose. Yeah, you read that right. Highlights of the series include a heartwarming found family tale, an accidental revolution, a city that literally changes its population, personality, and shape when day changes to night, and, of course, an extremely violent goose. I mean, if you've read Pratchett, Saracen the goose is basically the Luggage. There's more than one scene in these books where all hope seems lost, and Mosca is like, "I guess it's up to you now Saracen," and she just straight up lobs her goose at the enemy and he utterly wrecks their shit. If I recall correctly, this happens once during a pitched river boat battle over an illegal printing press.

The Lie Tree: Faith's father, who refused to recognize her potential as a scientist, mysteriously dies. Faith discovers a tree he kept hidden that grows when you tell lies and reveals secrets in its fruit. The bigger the lie you tell the world, the bigger the secret that will be revealed. You can imagine the chaos that eventually ensues. This book critiques gender roles and discrimination, and tackles both the dangers and the necessity of telling lies.

Cuckoo Song: When Triss wakes up after apparently falling in a lake, everything seems wrong. She's missing memories, she has an insatiable hunger, dead leaves are mysteriously appearing in her room, and her sister claims she's a monster. Triss must piece together what's happening to her before it's too late. This book deals with the complexities of life with overbearing parents, siblings who've been pitted against one another, and families that have been torn apart by tragedy.

Verdigris Deep (another one that goes by different titles): A group of friends are cursed by a well witch after they take some coins from her well. She forces them to work for her by granting her wishes. Working with the witch gives them powers, but the wishes are getting increasingly complex. Does that guy really want a motorcycle or does he want to be someone else? And if he wants to be someone else, does that mean what he really wants is not to exist at all? This book deals with issues of self worth, power and control, and toxic friendships.

She has a bunch of other great books as well. So if you're looking for a unique fantasy story with adventure and no romance, definitely check some of Frances Hardinge's books out!

[felixcloud6288]

PMMM Episodes 1-4 recap

Before I continue watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica, I want to gather my thoughts so far.

I think it's worth pointing out that I knew the basic premise going into the story and I know it's a deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre. I also know Kyubey is not a benevolent being. But I don't really know anything else.

I've seen a lot of fanart of Madoka in her magical girl attire so I'm genuinely surprised the series isn't her taking the deal on day 1 and going on magical adventures. Instead, the conflict seems to be Kyubey trying to get Madoka to become a Magical Girl while Homura tries to stop her from doing so.

The song that was playing during the cold opening in episode 1 is also the second ending theme, so I'm expecting that scene is near the end of the series and Madoka still hadn't become a magical girl.

I kind of think Kyubey is full of shit when he talks about granting wishes. He made his offer to Mami when she was about to die in a car crash and tried to get Sayaka and Madoka to make a contract when Mami was killed by a witch. These were situations where they had nothing to gain but everything to lose if they didn't accept his contract (By the way, the technical term for this is a Leonine contract).

He does have magical abilities as proven when he healed Kyosuke's arm but he seems to try putting his targets in situations where he effectively doesn't have to do anything for them.

I'm also curious about those soul gems. Anything called a soul gem is obviously bad. And magical girls need to constantly recharge them using grief seeds. So do they have their souls placed in those gems and they die if they run out of magic? Also, the animation when Mami used the grief seed showed something flowing OUT of the soul gem. So does using magic cause some sort of negative buildup in their souls?

I'm kind of curious what those witch runes all say. At the very least, the witches are all using the same alphabet though they're all using different fonts. The witch in episode 4 is exceedingly chatty compared to the previous ones since there's tons of writing during its scene.

But since I don't know what language everything is supposed to be in, it would be hard to transcribe everything. For all I know, everything is in German.

And speaking of the witches, each of them has a different theme about their domains, personalities, etc. But they all seem to have an obsession over something.

The one from episode 2 seems obsessed with flowers and gardening. It got really upset when Mami damaged the flowers.

The one from episode 3 is obsessed with food, especially desserts. Strangely, its familiars look like mice. Not really sure how they tie into the food theme.

The one from episode 4 has the least cohesive theme but I want to say they have an obsession with dolls and games. The gameboy directional pad is a recurring pattern in their domain and several background elements had an NES/SNES sprite design to them.

I guess my last thoughts so far are going to be toward the art and music. PMMM has a very distinct art style. If you know what PMMM is, you'd definitely recognize any screenshots or fanarts that it is PMMM.

Most of the budget probably went into the witches. The animation tends to be a little off-model from time to time. But the animation team knew where to put their focus because motion is wonderfully fluid.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned rewatching .hack//SIGN and realizing that that anime was very formative in the kind of media I like, and this show is hitting the same brain chemicals. If I were ten years younger, I can imagine watching this show and it being what forms the basis of what I like in story-telling media. I love the music (Yuki Kajiura made the music for this and .hack//SIGN), I love the disorienting animation style with the witches, and I love how there's clearly so much more to this story and it would require a second rewatch to fully understand everything.

I get why this is such an iconic anime despite it being so short.

back

[lightflame]

Tagged by @bagadew (Also tagging in @waermeflasche because you tagged me weeks ago and I didn't get back to you)

Last song I listened to: Soap by The Oh Hellos. I burn CDs and listen to them in my car. (The first few I tried to give themes and titles, and select the perfect song orders, but ended up kind of bad and the other was cursed and wouldn't play even though I remade it three times, so I just switched to throwing a ton of songs together on "Random Mixes" and enjoying.) I was listening to my very first random mix on the drive home from work and this one came up. It's a pretty snazzy song. I think Theseus and Hello, My Old Heart are my favourites from the band.

Last book I read: Can I do a couple? I just recently finished Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell. It's the first book of Court of Shadows, the sequel series to his Greatcoats series. Greatcoats is one of my favourite series, filled with swashbuckling action, clever humour, and an absolutely miserable protagonist, Falcio val Mond, who always manages to get back up and keep going anyway. I read everything de Castell writes, and after a string of books with severe pacing problems (check out The Malevolent Seven for a book that doesn't have a second act) and other problems (I have a hard time seeing any book topping Crucible of Chaos as the worst book I've read this year), he finally seems to be back. The book didn't pack quite the emotional punch of some of his other books, but it definitely made me want to jump up and cheer for the heroes at the end.

The other book I just finished is The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden. I liked her Winternight Trilogy (look it up and be prepared for some absolutely gorgeous covers, with prose to match), so I was excited to see something new from her. This book was about World War I, with some fantasy elements used for magic realism. (Portraying a soldier's struggle with addiction and PTSD through the lens of him losing his soul to the devil was a brilliant idea.) I most subsist on a steady diet of fantasy books, but this one had me hungering to read a few more historical books. I might have to pick up some books about the Halifax Explosion.

Last film I watched: I haven't watched much on my own for a while, but my friends do a movie night every Sunday. The last two times I tuned in, we watched Jesus Christ Superstar and Pokemon 3: Spell of the Unown. They were both fairly cute movies. I liked Judas's actor.

Last TV series I watched: I've been making my way through The Office for the first time. I'm on Season 3 and this happened to me, actually. There was some stuff I was like, "Wow, that was funny. I should tell my coworkers about it," but then I realized that I can't be the guy who tells his coworkers about this funny new show called The Office.

Last video game I played: If visual novels count, Umineko. I've been working my way through it slowly for about five and a half years and I'm finally closing in on the end. It's peak fiction and the greatest love story of the twentieth century. It's also funny I picked a game this insanely long for my first visual novel. Other than visual novels, I just finished Pokemon Legends: Arceus, after putting in 104 hours this year. Completing the Dex is my favourite part of any Pokemon game, so having it be more involved and include a big checklist made the game basically crack for me. I've also been casually playing some Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) with my brother. Every time we play it, I'm always amazed by how good it is and how much content it has. I want to take command posts forever.

Last thing I googled: "Dandadan Aira". I just started the manga the other day and I like her best, so I wanted to double check her full name, I think? Other than that I'm mostly looking up when books are available at my local stores. I've been religiously checking when The Book that Broke the World will be available and I'm not even sure if I'm buying it.

Last thing I ate: A few snacks from my snack drawer. I also had a Quaker yogurt bar at work. I bought a big box of them last year, but I had to throw them out because of the Salmonella. (Chewed through a lot of them before that came out, though, including eating three on an airplane.)

Amount of sleep: Supposedly seven hours, since I went to bed right after finishing The Warm Hands of Ghosts last night. The only problem is that if I get to bed at a good time, I sleep fitfully, so I'm either sleeping poorly or sleeping well, but not getting anywhere near enough sleep.

Currently reading: I started Empire of Silence, the first book of The Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio, at work today. I've had the first three books sitting on my shelf for a year or two and I finally got around to starting it. (I'd resolved to do both this series and Kushiel's Legacy this year, after having both for so long, and I got that one done at the start.) I'm not very far in, but I enjoy the writing style a lot, even if a lot of the worldbuilding is obviously cribbed from Dune. (Whoa, look, mentats.) I've heard it picks up a lot in the second book, so I'm excited for what's in store for me.

Passing this on, I'll tag @somerunner @lyssq @soulsinshadow @lunawithsocks and @dancerladyaqua. (They also have currently watching and sweet, salty, or savoury as questions, which I didn't do.)

[moreaulover]

Some law of talos facts and info off the top of my head (by someone who's very hyper fixated and wants people to know more about it!!!!)

Apparently some people just didn't know that law of talos was an oc tournament 😭??? I thought that was basic info but I guess not! I'm not counting it being a tournament as a fact but more people not knowing (also some people didn't know unknown person had comics for before and after each animation??? There's literally YouTube videos with both idk what to tell you guys 💀)

Unknown persons entries are the most popular, but the 5th animation is non canon! The canon ending was by the winner Blacklillian but it's currently lost media :( there's a description of it on the lost media page, a few meantions of plot points on the tv tropes (example)

An ask + drawing related to what happened to Karl after on unknown person's tumblr (unknownpsn) we can also gather a tiny bit from the winner announcement post comments, the main point I've noticed is people talking about their disappointment in the lack of action and badly done Karl but praising the more satisfying ending. There was also apparently an epilogue by Blacklillian but that is also currently lost :(

Blacklillians entrees (along with the majority of others) are lost media! Some info can be gathered/interpreted from the lost media page and the tv tropes page (both linked at the bottom along with the intro/winner post for the contest and the wiki) A few entries are up although it's few and far between but I do encourage you to look for them on competitors' deviant art pages (I'll edit this and add list who's is up in a little while) here's a chart of the tournament though!

Here's chimbley's reference page which is the only known piece for his portion at the moment (please lmk if more has been found) *update you can buy the official chimbley archive on the artist Iris Jay's patreon for just 5 dollars :3 !!!!!

Chimbley's creator does have Twitter+tumblr but no longer makes content for him so savor what we have. We do know from the tv tropes page that chimbley was more flight than fight and all his competitors were disqualified rather than beaten in a combat (makes me giggle really hard ngl 😭)

Climber and Karl (and Rachel + Clarice obviously) are both part of the unreleased.... comic? Series? (Whatever it was going to be!) Called Castle of nations by unknown person (ofc)! There's not a ton known about it as the actual media was never released/finished and unknown person stopped posting in 2016 but there's lots asks + content on his tumblr if you want to look into it some

Karl was not going to wish for Rachel back despite common misconception! According to unknown person he was actually going to wish for an unlimited power supply to escape the amusement park permanently

There's a silly joke cosplay video called "law of talos chimbley vs Karl live action" that's available on the internet archive but someone uploaded the whole thing on tik tok (linked here) chimbley does a heel click at 8:22 i feel it's important everyone see it.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRgK62j8/

People have also been uploading the voice actors singing various Christmas songs in character I haven't seen them all but I know Karl's video (What's this- the nightmare before Christmas) is pretty available and a clip of Chimbley's (little drummer boy) as also recently been uploaded. I think I saw Steffi's at one point but I don't remember it like at all sorry (EDJT I FOUND IT GUYS I'LL LINK IT BECAUSE IT'S HARDER TO FIND THAN THE OTHER TWO I MENTIONED)

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRgw7FhS/

Speaking of Steffi!!!!! She stars in her very own webcomic "Kiwi Blitz"!!! I'll link it here :3

That's all I can think of for rn I'll make another post if I get more info on the lost media or if I think/learn anything else!!! Here are the links to the law of talos intro/winner post, lost media page, wiki, and TV tropes!!! Once again I encourage you to look through them if you haven't!!!

[volkswagonblues]

god i could ask every single q on that ask meme but for the sake of not sounding obsessed. 1, 4, and 11 for let the rock roll?

let the rock roll (Interview with the Vampire)

1. What is a piece of symbolism in your fic?

There's one small thread I amused myself by weaving in, and it's Armand's lowkey reoccurring fascination with blue skies and birds. I think it's one of the many tiny pieces of the original Devil's Minion short story I put in as easter eggs,

For context, the QOTD!Armand gets obsessed with modern technology and the story describes it this way:

“Anything with blue skies enthralled him. Then he must watch news programs, prime time series, documentaries, and finally every film, regardless of merit, ever taped.” (Queen of the Damned)

But for LTRR human!Armand, I liked the idea of the blue sky as a symbol for everything he was denied in his life: being forced to stay in the ship's hold as slave, being turned into a vampire and unable to see the sun for years, etc. And tied up with that image is some stuff about birds too--chap 1's turning scene has Daniel unlocking a rare Arun memory, where he's chasing some birds as a very small child. Birds represent freedom and home for Armand, but he himself doesn't know that. Something like that.

4. What's something you've researched but haven't incorporated into your fic?

OH MY GOD SO MUCH. Daniel's random backstory tidbit where he lived in Paris as young man, because the show really made it sounds like he's very familiar with the city. I wrote a really long conversation between Armand and Daniel that's basically a long bait and switch for 1970s Devils Minion (as in, the fan theory that Armand and Daniel were lovers for a decade before Armand wiped his memories).

Armand says, “It was the late seventies and you were in Paris. The summer of 1979, to be exact. You were sick of America and you thought that Europe would offer you something you lacked, so you joined the many young American artists and writers before you and bought a one-way ticket to Paris. Your money didn’t last as long as you thought, and work was slow. A friend of a friend got you a job as a switchboard operator at the local bureau of the New York Times, working the graveyard shift from 6 pm to 1 am. You didn’t mind. You liked arriving at the Right Bank building when everyone was leaving. You enjoyed being awake when the normal world was asleep. You read books and listened to your pocket radio playing jazz and old French songs you didn’t understand.”

“Yeah,” Daniel says. “I wrote about Paris in my book. That New York Times gig. I walked home every night because the Metro stopped running by that time. Got mugged twice."

"You didn't write about this night."

To be clear, 70s DM absolutely did not happen in LLTR. That would have been just WAY too much to unpack. But I just like 1970s Paris so I might recycle this whole thing for a sequel one day.

Also there's a ton of stuff about Renaissance Italy that I cut. I'm worried the fic has too much "Armand just monologuing about Venice while Daniel goes 'un-huh, and then what?' :)".

11. Is there anything important in your fic you think readers have missed/overlooked?

A lot of stuff about Daniel, I think. He is very fucked up about death. He's terrified of mortality, which I thought was THE defining character trait of the original QOTD Daniel. He's not joking when he keeps offering to turn Armand.

Related to that, he was also a truly terrible father, I think that part of his character is just not as interesting compared to the Armand/Daniel psychosexual mind games, but it's there. From the scraps of info we get about Alice in the show, I got the sense that Daniel's one of those terrible men who's great "when he's in the room"--he can pull off being romantic and charming (he scraps gum off Alice's shoe! He books the perfect table in the bistro!) but he's an addict to drugs and to success and the act inevitably collapses. But there's hope, becoming a vampire at 70 really reconfigures one's life priorities.

And lastly, I also cut the scene that explores this more, but the reason Daniel is like this is that he's repeating patterns of behaviour from his own parents. There's stuff about his Irish-Armenian background I wish I explored more. In 2 separate scenes, he thinks about his curly hair and his green eyes as the only good things his father and mother left him, which to him are just assets to better sell his body--so, that's fucked up!! Also, his father was definitely an alcoholic. The poison drips through....

[saph-y]

Tagged by @dingoat♥ A while ago BUT today I have trouble getting to work grading some students so thank you for the procrastination instead xD

3 ships (did the first that came into my mind !)

Siv(my oc)/Archibald(selkys's oc) : Truly The Ship, at the core of the story I'm rp-ing with Selkys. They fought the plot AND tons of shit in-universe to be together. How to sumarize them... ha, picture an evil genius Sith Lord suddenly switching his whole reason of living from revenge to absolute devotion toward his fiery sunshine smol wife and you get and idea !

Hazel(OC)/Sycamore (Pokemon) : Basically started because I wanted to explore a ship with Sycamore and Hazel was my only Pokemon OC at the time - I didn't even knew much about him except I liked his design and vibes immensely. I actually managed to write a deliciously complicated story around them and I really hope to explore more♥

Willow(OC)/Grimsley(Pokemon) : Willow is my pokemas protag and in a game were you basically meet all pokemon trainers, I do have many ships with her and that is originally why she was created, just a character to be indulgent and explore different stuff. But Grimsley is my fav pairing for her because I imagined such a """fun""" (for me 8D) dynamic between them ! Two word : trust issues.

First Ship

I can't really remember my first FIRST ship, but growing up I wasn't too much into romance stories I think. But I do vividly remember my first "holy shit you can do THAT??" when playing Mass Effect 2 for the first time and discovering you could romance Garrus. Thus, my first "active" ship was born (meaning I was actively searching/producing works around it) Guess I was a monsterfucker all along Thank you Bioware for expanding my imagination 🫶

Last Song

At this very moment I'm listening to Wild Child by The Black Keys (love vibing to this band.)

Currently Reading

Just started Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett and I'm delighted to be finally reunited with the idiots of the city watch♥ I waited for MONTHS to get to a proper library that had it...

Last Film

...Not sure ? A silly spy film I forgot the title I think ? ...If I can offer a serie instead, I'm currently watching Lupin the Third part 4 and 5 ! It's funny how every Lupin thing I watch feels like meeting with long time dear friends even tho it's not a universe I've been aware of for that long... is that weird ? xD But given how fanartists for this fandom influenced my artstyle for years before I even saw a single film (yep, do you understand some stuff about it now ? :p) it might be the reason !

Currently Craving

Hum... idk ? ...Maybe another coffee xD But that would not be a good idea and thus I must resist u_u

[not-poignant]

Hi, Pia.....Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Thanks if you want to answer...

Hi anon!

So... they change and tbh I'm going to forget a ton of characters I love and then scream in my head later like 'oh no but THAT character and THAT character and THAT character' but I'll do my best!

Kiriyama Rei from March Comes in Like a Lion - Probably my favourite character possibly of all time. Introverted, kind of ace-coded right up until the end of the manga when it changes (and since the anime never ended he stays ace-coded throughout that lmao), very human, extremely depressed, and I just think he's a very good depiction of like...what it's like to live with extremely repressive depression and post-trauma while not necessarily knowing you have those things.

Dazai Osamu from Bungou Stray Dogs - He's a brilliant intellect genius with too much ability to know so much about the world that he kind of ends up suicidal all the time due to his upbringing / some of the things he's done and also what he's experienced. I just enjoy him. (Notable runner up here is Nakahara Chuuya but dslkajf)

Felix Harrowgate from the Doctrine of Labyrinths trilogy - Angsty, PTSD, waspish, 'I'm going to hurt you because I was hurt and then hate myself and do very self-destructive things about it but keep that part a secret so I just look like a constant dickhead,' brilliant, very good at magic. Love this dude. Would walk hundreds of miles for this dude, like the song. Would definitely write a long-ass fanfic about him.

Daeshik from Love So Pure - I love this guy SO much. He's a side-story / secondary pairing in the manhwa but I LOVE him because he's so against type. He's dorky but not in a very cute way, he's overbearing, he's SO neurodivergent coded it's painful and sometimes hilarious, he's determined and ambitious, he's not 'hot' in any typical kind of twink way, and I know he's split the fandom between 'god he's so annoying' and 'Daeshik is the BEST.' The whole webtoon is fucking amazing anyway, but Daeshik has my whole heart in his journey from 'dorky annoying overbearing friend' to 'oh I just realised I'm gay and now everything is Pride Pride Pride and I'm definitely crying next to a dildo I bought that was too big for me.'

Presenting Daeshik:

You'll never guess what he's sitting on sdlkjfas (he fails abjectly and then cries about it in a way that's kind of hilarious honestly).

Dana Scully from The X-Files - I didn't know it at the time, but this was very much my bisexual awakening. I mean I'm pretty heavily ace now, but I'm mostly not into cishet dudes, and I had pictures of Scully up on my wall like how did I not fucking know. Anyway, scientist, smart, 'so done with your shit' and just wry and witty and *clenches fist* so short and tiny and powerful. I love her. (And Gillian Anderson).

Loki from the MCU - Not necessarily every iteration, but I do love how Tom Hiddleston plays him, and I appreciate the queerer representation. Adore this guy. Look at him, what an absolute dickhead of a god. 10/10 would read him in hurt/comfort fics and PWPs again.

Hyunsoo Seo and Youngchan Baek from Perfect Buddy / XXX Buddy - Possibly my favourite manhwa of all time and I really hope that stays true because it's not finished yet. Idk how to describe these characters because they're both very complex as you get to know them better, but basically 'angry wet cat man with past trauma that he hides exceptionally well vs. Gwyn-dimensioned blond puppy dog who is just pretending to be a puppy dog because he knows exactly how threatening he is and is willing to be to protect the people he loves.'

Murderbot in the Murderbot novella series - I think all of us - or most of us - find Murderbot incredibly relatable and that's refreshing as fuck in any novel series tbh. (ART as runner-up though, love that fucker).

Sebastian Michaelis from Kuroshitsuji / Black Butler - Honestly there were a lot of kind of 'extremely powerful but kind of shitty fuckboys' I wanted to put in this category including Gojou Satoru from JJK, Reigen from MP100, and even Louis from Beastars, but Sebastian's gonna win out because I still don't know if he's going to eat Ciel at the end of that series and I very much love not knowing because he's such a devious fuckhead. Love that not-actually-a-man.

Yuurakutei Yakumo (Kikuhiku) from Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu - I just... *flails* Almost no one has seen this anime series and it kind of kills me because firstly the books were written by someone practiced in writing BL and even though this isn't BL you can still tell the vibes are there. Secondly, one of the most ace-coded characters ever. Gender-fuckery abounds, which is fun. Thirdly just, honestly, more folks should watch this?

There were a lot of characters I know I missed but I'm pretty satisfied with this list.

I've just given myself a bunch of stuff to rewatch and reread because of this anon! :D

[helenofjupiter]

assigning taylor swift songs to bridgerton couples (part 2)

with explanations that no one asked for (proceed with caution)

part 1 for a, b, c and d

eloise & phillip - i hadn’t even read the book and i knew paris was their song. i feel it captures their essence. “no, i didn't see the news 'cause we were somewhere else” while benophie are just as deep in the countryside, i think philoise truly don’t care about anything that goes on in the ton. “i want to brainwash you into loving me forever” i’m not sure why this line in particular stands out to me in context of their relationship. maybe because going into it they both had their agenda. also phillip constantly thinking he has to find a way to make eloise stay forever. “confess my truth in swooping, sloping, cursive letters” i think this one is self explanatory. secondly electric touch, i was hesitant about this one cause i’m just not a fan of this song sonically but the lyrics were too on point. “just breathe, just relax, it'll be okay // just the first time ever hanging out with you” - eloise sitting in her carriage on the way to meet a man who basically proposed to her without meeting once. from phillip’s “i've gotten used to no one callin' my phone” when eloise shows up and the servant’s “hey, we got a caller” and phillip going “wtf no one comes here, you sure about that”. also “i've grown accustomed to sleeping' alone” yeah eight years will do that. “i was thinking, just one time maybe the stars align, just one time and maybe I call you mine” 

francesca & michael - so i have a story regarding this one. as i got to the second half of the book and the spice started flooding in, i felt like the need for some equally sexy music in the background and i remembered (honestly don’t know how i ever forgot) the altarpiece of taylor’s music  false god. truly all the stars aligned, while i read the words “she felt cherished. worshipped. loved” miss taylor swift sang “we'd still worship this love”. other than that it does fall into the vibes category. tho if one day we are blessed enough to actually get their season i am expecting every social media feed to be drowning in edits of  franchel to this song. but also alternatively to don’t blame me. again, sexy. well the spice in this book was just on another level and i also couldn’t figure out if taylor has a song about being in love with your cousins spouse for six years. i think this is more from michael’s perspective. i mean “i've been breaking' hearts a long time” he even broke mine by being fictional. “if you walk away i'd beg you on my knees to stay” michael stirling would absolutely do this and frankly i can’t stop picturing it. if we do get to them in the show some glorious day, this is my official plea to include this song in the soundtrack. 

gregory & lucy - speak now is the somewhat lazy choice but have you read the prologue timed to this song. “i hear the preacher say, "speak now or forever hold your peace"” the church went silent “there's the silence, there's my last chance. i stand up with shaky hands, all eyes on me” the priest stopped his drone, and every spine in every pew twisted until every face was turned to the back. to him. “horrified looks from everyone in the room but i'm only looking at you” she said nothing, but he saw her. // she looked so beautiful. i rest my case. it was really hard to pick a song for them because there’s so many twists and turns in the book so my honourable mentions are haunted (when gregory convinced everything is solved and then lucy goes and marries another man) and daylight. finally i settled with ivy. “my pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand, taking mine but it's been promised to another” i mean lucy has been promised to another man from the start of the book. it just fits them, okay (can you tell i’ve been writing this for four hours at this point).

hyacinth & gareth - dear god, hyacinth is my favourite character in the whole books series. i adore her but for the love of god i could not figure out what songs to choose for hyareth. it was truly a headache and if anyone has any suggestions, please do not hesitate to tell me. because they are such a chaotic and energetic duo, i wanted something that would fit them musically but ended up picking cowboy like me and peace. both are truly in the vibes category, i don’t have much of an explanation. in cowboy like me “and the skeletons in both our closets plotted hard to fuck this up” felt kinda reminiscent of the whole polt line with gareth and his father who wasn’t really his father. peace has a little more substance to it. in my head this is more from hyacinth, she is wild and you will never get bored with her but she can also be a lot and tiring. “you know that i'd swing with you for the fences, sit with you in the trenches. give you my wild, give you a child” this is who hyacinth is, she is a ride or die, and i truly believe she would sit in the trenches with gareth.

[gotjacobian]

Travel journal-type posting, just describing some of the stuff I've gotten to do in Japan.

Day 1: Got off the plane, got through passport control and customs with minimum issues (I fucked up my entry date bc time zones and had to hold up the line while I fixed it whoops). Took the subway to Yokohama, also screwed that up because I was hopped up on benadryl and still only managed to sleep for 2 hours at a time max on the plane. Unscrewed it up with the help of a very patient attendant, made it to the hotel. I bought takoyaki and a highball from a place across the street from the hotel, which reminded me that I don’t actually like takoyaki. It’s too mushy. Then passed out.

Day 2: This was my full day in Yokohama before the conference. I beelined for a 7-11 to get the canned coffee I like and can only get here (and some pastries), then went to a park by the baseball stadium to eat it. Then I took off to try and at least see the (closed :( ) gundam factory exhibit. There was a triathalon in the way, so I spent awhile wandering through parks to get around it and get close enough for a picture. There were tons of beautiful gardens, and lots of people taking photos of their costumed dogs there? Like, 3 dog photoshoots for every presumed child/romantic partner photoshoot. They all seemed very happy to chill in the flowers and get fussed over.

In general Yokohama is really well suited to my kind of travel wandering - going along the harbor coast takes you through a couple different gorgeous parks and past a few museums, and also gives you a great view of the water. I ended up going into the doll museum, and immediately learned I had vastly overestimated the amount of english they’d have on the exhibits based on their website. I speak basically no Japanese, so used an image translate app a lot. That’s wasn’t an option the last time I was in Japan in 2019 - it was really useful! I drained my battery using it on basically every single plaque in the museum. The style of the exhibit captions felt different than I’d expect from a US museum. They were often more anecdotes from an artist or curator than they were descriptions. I’m curious to what extent that was cultural or was something lost in translation? The translations I got definitely weren’t perfect, and seemed to get worse the more anecdotal or conversational the material was.

The exhibit that attracted me to the doll museum was called “Why do we create objects that look like humans?”. It had exhibits of historical dolls and sculptures, as well as installations from modern artist and dollmakers. A lot of it touched on an inherent alienation in recreating the human in the nonhuman, and the ways all depictions of the human form are exaggerated in ways we sort after the fact into “beautiful” or “grotesque.” I liked it, but honestly wanted it to be more like, embodiment philosophy-y. Very much a me problem.

On the way back, I stopped by Yokohama’s Chinatown. I feel like it was much more of a tourist attraction than the equivalent in Boston or SF - lots of street food stands and people hawking specific restaurants or palm-reading services. Lots of panda-themed merch. It was VERY crowded. I bought a single pork bun for lunch, wandered through a few stores, and then ditched to try and find somewhere calmer.

A friend recommended that I check out Kaganecho, the arts district about a half an hour walk along the canal from where I was staying, so I went that way. I immediately saw a lot of signs advertising an “Art Bazaar” that was supposed to be happening in the area. There were people wandering around with tickets and brochures. It took me an hour to figure out how to get one - I was saved by stumbling on a performance piece that was part of the exhibit, a woman playing a song by hitting a series of bowls with wooden mallets, that just happened to be scheduled right then. It was right under the train line, so you got the loud rumbling drowning her out every few minutes, and also the ambient city sounds of bikes and children and wind under her playing. When she finished, I stalked some people who were watching with me and finally found the office that could sell me a ticket.

The “art bazaar” is a yearly exhibition in a series of apartments converted into studios in the few blocks around a particular train station. You’re given a ticket and a map where some of the buildings were marked. You wander around to find them, go in, and there’s Art there. I’ll probably post separately about this, honestly. It was one of the coolest gallery experiences I’ve ever had. The theme of the exhibits was “The world through no art”, and a lot of the material directly engaged with the history of the area - a neighborhood that housed a lot of bars, brothels, etc starting from the US occupation in the city post WWII, which were forcibly evicted in the 2000s, then later replaced with the studios as part of a city initiative to ‘rejuvenate’ the area. I went to every single exhibit that was open and stayed until I was about to pass out from the combination of walking and art feelings. I chickened out of going to a restaurant alone when I was already exhausted, and instead grabbed a katsu sandwich from 7-11 to eat in my hotel room.

Day 3: Start of the conference. It was raining horribly, and I have big fears about walking in the rain with my laptop, so I skipped the first couple hours until it calmed enough that I felt okay buying and using an umbrella. The conference was in this giant exhibition hall on a peninsula in the city that was all fancy hotels, shopping centers, and an amusement park. My maps app kept trying to get me to walk THROUGH the amusement park to get there, which was a kind of ominous experience when it was empty and raining. I met with some friends and labmates, we got Singaporean food for lunch (chicken and rice), and went to some of the afternoon talks. There was a welcome banquet where a guy performed with Kendamas (japanese toy/prop with a wooden ball attached to a wooden thing with cups and a spike). He did a bunch of poi tricks with them, and seemed to be having the time of his life. They also opened the expo, where I discovered they did at least have the gundam head from the gundam factory exhibit left over (still cannot believe they would close it a month before the robotics conference). Me and one of my former labmates got dinner at a katsu place that claimed to be the oldest in the city. We had to split from the group to get it, since there weren’t any vegetarian options there, but it was really good. I discovered that my hotel is like 1/10th as fancy as any of the other conference hotels, idk what happened. Very jealous of the main venue hotel people who had a room overlooking the harbor.

Day 4: Got there in the morning, did some conference stuff. We got sushi for lunch in this giant mall right next to the venue. I ditched for half an hour in the afternoon to wander through a different park by the harbor, which was also very pretty. All the greenery is very green and the water is very blue. I took another break to try and work some on my paper, since I feel bad for not doing more of that, but finding a place with decent wifi is hard. I meet back up with my labmates to get dinner, at a nearby ramen place with vegan options. I got their signature yuzu shio ramen, which was good, but I still prefer the pork-based styles.

Day 5: Is the day I’m helping present. I go to my coauthor’s presentation and then stand with him at the poster session, and get to talk to a few people. I’m surprised how fast the paper comes back to me, even though I haven’t really thought about it for at least a year at this point. I get lunch with another labmate at a milk-themed restaurant in the mall. I’m weirdly charmed that in Japan, “milk” is a flavor? And that there are prefectures proud of their local milk? The restaurant has both western-style food with cheese or cream as ingredients, and a milk and cheese bar where you can get bread, spreadable cheese, and toppings. I run back to the hotel before the conference banquet, get lost in the other hotel the banquet is in, finally arrive and realize all my labmates are either ditching or got a different banquet venue, so I sit with a very nice person from the university of edinburgh I met at the poster earlier that day. I talk about firespinning and mugs because I’m incapable of not doing so. Every one of the venues has a different style of food and performance - ours performance is actually a lion dance, which is notably… not japanese, put on by students from a school in the local chinatown. It’s still really impressive, especially given that they did it between the tables people were eating at. Like, I’ve attempted to be a base for a cheerleading toss once, and it was hard for 3 people to hold one up - these performers were jumping on each other’s shoulders the whole time, while puppeting the giant lion. They kept having it pretend to eat the heads of the people it walked past, it was a good time.

I spend an hour or two that night on my Quest, which is that I saw some kind of peach jelly drink in exactly one vending machine early in the trip and didn’t buy it. Now I want it, so I’ve been wandering through the city inspecting vending machines to try and find it again. Tonight I wander up and down this shopping center street that has a lot of them, in the rain, but no dice. I buy peach flavored ice cream at the 7-11 instead and reaffirm my mission.

Day 6: I wake up feeling bad, in both a stress and a physical way. I stay at the hotel and work on my paper, then go to a nearby cafe and try to work on my paper, but they don’t have wifi. I go back and end up sleeping, which I feel bad about, but probably needed - I can get disconnected from my own tiredness levels when I’m doing extended crunch time for a project, and I’m trying to be more aware of that. I don’t go to any of the conference stuff, but do leave at one point to get the local kind of ramen from a place I saw recommended online. The style is called ie-kei, and is an emulsified mix of pork broth and shoyu with chicken oil, served with pork, seaweed, short noodles, and spinach on top. I redeem myself by ordering and eating in the restaurant alone. It’s good in a comfort food way. I go back to the hotel and alternate working and sleeping, and end up skipping dinner with my labmates because I still feel gross.

Day 7: I feel better when I wake up, but have already committed to skipping this day of the conference because I’m going to Osaka. I find another cafe that actually has wifi, and eat there to do some work in the morning. Tangent - people really go nuts for the egg salad sandwiches here, and I don’t get it. I tried one and thought it was tasteless and had that bad cooked egg yolk texture. Super not for me.

I check out of the hotel and take the subway to Tokyo station. I get there an hour early because I forgot when my train was, so wander around the station for a while. It is SO crowded and there are SO MANY stores selling train bento, souvenirs, boxes of desserts to give as gifts, etc, and every single one has a designated salesperson shouting into the void. It is the most sensory-overloading, maze-like place I have been in my entire life. I take great pride in managing to eventually actually find the internet-recommended places to get ekibento for the train. I buy one with more traditional food, and one kids one that comes in a fake JR train freight container, because I really want the fake freight container. I also get an apple-custard pastry and a crepe with cream and melon ball topping. And then I am exhausted, and still too early for my train, so I stand by the platform and am extremely confused when someone asks me for directions (correctly assigned english-speaking person who knows where the ekibento are at the tokyo shinkansen station, I guess).

I do get on the train eventually, and eat one of the bento (I save the second because I am worried the person sitting next to me is gonna judge me for eating 2 bento, one of which is definitely meant for children, but I will eat it eventually). I said I was gonna do work but instead I’m writing this and watching out the window of the train. I feel like everyone has their travel fixation - my grandparents laugh about how when my mom and brother would go on trips as kids, they’d get disposable cameras. And when they developed the photos, all of them were of ponds, lakes, coastlines, because they grew up in the west texas desert. I grew up in the flat, flat Texas plains, and now I’m like that about mountains. This train goes straight through them, and right past Mt Fuji. It gets to me how distinctive the landscape in japan is - I’ve looked at a lot of traditional japanese art as like, a precursor to modern styles in comics, because I find it interesting. And I feel like I looked at some elements of that style - atmospheric perspective, depth through stacking flat layers of scenery, the specific abstract-seeming way Mt Fuji gets drawn - and assumed it was entirely an artistic choice. But like… Mt Fuji just looks like that. The landscape just looks like that, with the fog and the layered mountains. The green is such a specific shade of green, and the blue is a specific shade of blue, and the buildings are all such a particular faded palette in a way I feel like must make Japan instantly recognizable on geoguessr, a game I am very bad at. I love looking at the cities and buildings, too - I wish I knew the words to describe the specifics of the style and design. I feel like I'm getting increasing city architecture obsessed these days, despite not having that language. Getting to see it is the bit of travel that really makes me feel like I'm experiencing something I couldn't anywhere else. I'm gonna find my hotel in Osaka once I get there, hunt down some food, then will probably try and do some more work before bed. Then tomorrow, in theory, Osaka castle and whatever else seems compelling.

[maririririr]

Here’s a copy and paste rant from months ago!! I did this rant on a discord server so it’s pretty messy…

TW: mentions of su!cide And abuse

I don’t even know how to start but like the representation of mental health in Kagepro is amazing. I’ll start this off with like Jin doesn’t directly tell you “hey this character has this” but you just know the character has it. With Kano you know he has a compulsive lying disorder (along with some other things) because of how his music video represents it and the lyrics to his song + all the events and feelings he went through in the 5th LN. You actually get a representation (at least I haven’t seen this in like any other series) of being abused physically and emotionally, kanos mom used to abuse him physically, but a couple hours later come back crying and apologizing and it would repeat, but he didn’t think it was her fault and he loved her so much. It was only mentioned like twice in the LNs and he was really little when it happened but it’s still such a strong form of a lot of abuse that happens, not just the “I abuse my child, I feel no regret and my child hates me” type thing. Then Kano blaming himself so much for ayanos death he blames someone else for it (this ties in with survivors guilt kinda.) he also deals with getting manipulated….I can rant on abt kano but there’s other characters. We’ll go with Shintaro, obviously it’s known he has depression that’s just like there, but the representation of trauma he gets is SO GOOD. Again Jin doesn’t just go like “hey Shintaro has trauma.” But you just know he does because of the amount of representation. LTM he gets a couple of flashbacks to things, but things that aren’t just like “haha trauma is only abuse and witnessing something horrifying”. LTM and Shintaro represent that perfectly, and also him blaming himself for Ayanos suicide (survivors guilt/just guilt that comes along with trauma). Then also getting nightmares from trauma, like even if a lot of them are just Yaki talking to him in his dreams it’s still such a good representation. Also him pushing everything else away just to not forget Ayano. In the LNR Kano turns into Ayano, all the feelings Shintaro once had when he was with Ayano before came back, and he was afraid she hated him. I can go more on Shintaro but again other characters. Momo having a craving for attention when she was little because Shintaro was so much more intelligent than her. Even though she had parents who loved them both equally, she still felt not good enough, mostly mentioned in mr2, but she directly tells Shintaro she’s going to learn how to swim before him so she can be better than him in something, while not having a hateful feeling towards Shintaro. Then also mentioned in mr2 and the anime she has survivors guilt, thinking it was her fault her dad died. Then Seto in the LN route. Because he wanted to protect someone or not let go of someone so much he ended up trying to neglect and forget everyone else he loves, him thinking what if no one loved him all this time, basically running away from all his problems, and at the end of the route scared everyone would be mad at him for feeling the way he was feeling. In mr2 Seto felt helpless saying it was always like this and he can’t do anything to help, basically blaming himself for not being able to help anyone. He’s such a mess in the LNR I love him sm…..

Hibiya obviously has trauma and survivors guilt. In Otsukimi Recital he has tons of flashbacks even when he’s trying to be cheered up. Going to the park but getting flashbacks to Hiyori at the park, seeing Momo pet a cat and getting flashbacks to Hiyori petting the cat, etc. Blaming himself for not being able to save Hiyori as Hiyoris still “dead” and stuck in a loop.

Ayano with loneliness as seen in additional memory. She’s alone in the daze, and she misses everyone. But she KNOWS she had to do it, she sacrificed her health for everyone else’s even though she had to watch it do nothing in the end.

Ayano So desperately wishes to be the person everyone relies on, she loathes in it. If she can’t save anyone, what’s the point of her being there in the first place?

Haruka and Takane deal with diseases. Takane has a sleeping disorder and it makes her faint randomly, can be fatal. Haruka has a disease (most likely a heart disease) that is very fatal.

Haruka deals with things like wanting to be stronger because of his illness, feeling that sense of loneliness because he can’t physically be strong enough to do certain things, and having to visit the hospital frequently. But he wants to be himself (shown in anime.) In mr2 he deals with loneliness as everyone at school ignores him, he doesn’t have any friends but he still tries to be happy. In the hospital he finally makes a friend, he meets Takane. Takane has to leave but Haruka is stuck in the hospital due to his illness, but later Shintaro is taken to the hospital and Haruka becomes really good friends with him. But he has frequent nightmares abt Takane.

Takane deals with bottling up her emotions and feelings, she also deals with survivors guilt, thinking it’s her fault Haruka died. She was so caught up in her own pride she ignored him, she didn’t notice when he passed out from his illness. In mr2, she also doesn’t have any friends until Haruka. she deals with jealousy as well. She comes back after leaving the hospital to visit Haruka, even bringing gifts with her. But she sees Haruka and Shintaro playing video games together and laughing and stuff (btw she introduced Haruka to video games and played them all the time with him). She ran out of the hospital jealous and ended up committing su!cide

Even tho Ene is the same person as Takane, she deals with way different things in route xx and mr2. In route xx, she does her absolute best to try and not let Shintaro commit suicide, she does her best to distract him and does everything she can. She has to bottle up everything with Haruka, and keep everything from Shintaro. She’s afraid if she even brings up that she used to know Shintaro, it’ll give Shintaro bad memories of Ayano and the past. Yet she STILL tries her best to make Shintaro happy and distract him. She ends up failing, getting deleted and watching Shintaro kill himself. Plus she has to deal with her teacher literally being the one planning their deaths like??? (Even tho it’s technically not her teacher but yeah). Then in mr2 she admits she was running away from all her problems to shintaro, and says that Shintaro saved her as much as she saved him. (Ene and Shintaro stuff makes me AUGH)

[cocomintcat]

fic ideas I may do for Hazbin hotel

First you can request fics of me I don't mind but it may take a while plus I won't do some things

I won't be doing tons of romance (mostly just for lucifer lol, maybe Emily, Carmella or rosie) I try to avoid long or super invested series (my ao3 fic I need to finish but I'm being weirdly a perfectionist with the time lines and voice lines for some goddammit reason)

Absolute Donts for request or content I will never do!! : explicit smut (I may tease it but will not write it), extreme gore (though most the series I write about have some sort of violence and fighting), ANYTHING ILLEGAL SHIP WISE NO NO NO- ESPECIALLY NOT CHILDREN!!!, OK now u know that good, I also won't do too much character x character stuff unless it's background relationship in a fic or cannon in the series (cuz I'm lazy and it's probably already been done <3)

Crossovers (+ ___!reader)

Platonic Husk x Mc! reader (qsmp, hermitcraft, empires I'm not sure but I wanna do an avian cat reader that accidentally dies but instead of responding ends in hell confused, others wonder why a human looks like a Demon but is still alive and well... somewhat human)

Platonic Hotel gang x pokemon trainer! Reader (fairy and psychic trainer that's super cute but quite literally threatens to create a black hole in anger)

Lucifer x magical girl! reader

Platonic Hotel gang x Killua! reader

Platonic hotel gang x L! Reader

Platonic Huskerdust x Diona! Reader

Platonic Hotel gang x Beidou! Reader

Hazbin hotel x Lady nagant! Reader (series??? Cuz maybe some lucifer x reader)

Lucifer x fairytail! Reader (ice dragon slayer ;))

Other ideas

Musical song fics

Lucifer x adams 3rd wife series??

Platonic x Mother of Heaven reader series

Lucifers forgotten oldest daughter Reader (not on purpose but let's say readers mum is a crazy angel and very corrupt like Adam and sera but so much worse)

Hotel gang adopt a hellborn 9 tailed fox (kitsune)

Lucifer x BC Human! Reader (basically another enoch and elijah wisked to heaven to live, one of few humans to basically never die [the only thing i learned from the bible growing up lol- rip the pastors seeing me now]) also Adam tries to get her as a 3rd wife but she don't play around!!

Hazbin hotel x daughter of Adam reader (Cain and Abel's younger sister)

Hazbin hotel x Jane doe! Reader (slightly ride the cyclone inspired)

<3