#a long review

[ecargmura]

Tadaima, Okaeri Episode 7 Review - Proof Of Happiness

Hey, the title of the episode is the same title of the show! Title drop! Anyways, the start of the episode is Masaki being consoled by Hiromu after what had transpired the previous episode. To be honest, I found the moment heartwarming. Masaki has a tendency to beat himself up when things don’t go the way he expects. He wants to be proud of his marriage to Hiromu and to show that he’s happy and is deserving of happiness, but his inability to articulate that upsets him. Fortunately, Hiromu keeps proving that he is Masaki’s better half as he consoles him and tells him that he loves everything about him from his flaws and him as a person. Gosh. I am someone who has a jaded viewpoint when it comes to marriage, so to see someone like Hiromu show off how much of a great husband he is to Masaki makes me want to get married, but reality doesn’t work like that. Reality totally doesn’t work like how it does in Tadaima, Okaeri because it’s impossible to have kids as adorable as Hikari and Hinata waking you up with their angelic glory. I get Hiromu. If my kids were as cute as them, I’d be gushing every day.

Fortunately, Kazuhiko does apologize about his hurtful words to Masaki in the previous episode. Hiromu did set him straight. I feel like Kazuhiko’s actions weren’t out of romantic love for Masaki as some may imply, but more out of an overbearing overprotectiveness that came from being forced to watch over him growing up. He said it was like an imprint of sorts? Anyways, Kazuhiko isn’t bad in my eyes. He’s just human at the end of the day. Sure, he’s rude, but he wasn’t saying those words with bad intent. He was just overthinking that Masaki would be alone when he left the countryside and believed that his marriage with his alpha husband was an unhappy one due to his biased thoughts towards him. Fortunately, seeing Hikari’s protectiveness towards Masaki and seeing Masaki smile was reassurance that Masaki’s living a happy life and that he doesn’t need to step in.

The grave scene was gorgeous. The letter that Kazuhiko finally gave to him was voiced through his mother’s words. Honestly, Kazuhiko was right in that he didn’t need it anymore. The letter is about how she wished she could’ve done more for Masaki before he left home and how she wishes he’d find someone who loves him unconditionally and allows him to live unpretentiously and straightforward like his name. The reason Masaki doesn’t need that letter is because he is already living the life his mother wished for him. However, the letter shows that his mother did love Masaki despite being portrayed a bit negatively with how she was hesitant she was during Masaki’s flashbacks of him being pitied by the people around him. I think it was nice to see her true feelings poured out because she was a parent at the end of the day.

It was nice seeing the vow scene with the main couple. Episode 3 revealed that the two never had a wedding, so this is as close to one as they will get. It’s a little bittersweet in a way. The two are so happy, yet they never had a chance to celebrate their marriage as they had family issues.

I got two favorite scenes. My first favorite scene was when Masaki and Hikari returned with the letter. Masaki says “I’m home” (Tadaima) to Hiromu while Hiromu says “Welcome home.” (Okaeri) If you noticed throughout the previous episodes, Hiromu has always been the one to say “Tadaima” and Masaki would respond with “Okaeri”. It’s nice to see the roles reversed for once. My second favorite scene is the Matsuo and Yuuki foot flirting scene. It was super cute and a nice moment between them. I’m definitely like Hiromu when he asked “Did you two make any progress last night?” He’s the captain of this ship. I can also see Matsuo getting interested in Yuuki in that scene, especially when he denied Hiromu’s teasing.

Now let me get to the errand scene. First off, that errand scene with Hikari is actually a bonus chapter in the first volume. Second, LOOK HOW CUTE HIKARI LOOKS IN THAT FROGGY RAINCOAT! I was holding back when he was being all cute with the frog coin purse, but when he showed up with that raincoat, it was game over for me. I legit clutched my heart due to the cuteness. How can the author make Hikari even more adorable than before? It’s a talent to make kids that cute in a consistent manner with one scene upping the next one. Also, people might get worried about Hikari running off alone, but in Japan, getting kids to run errands is an actual thing so that it helps them grow independent. However, Hikari’s technically too young to start his first errand as the normal ages are from 5-7. The scene with Grandpa getting the letter was cute as he was gushing over Hikari’s note and then he read Hiromu’s note which was him taking a jab at Kouji. Man, Hiromu will always find a way to mic drop his dad and I love it.

The voice acting was so good in this episode. Atsumi Tanezaki just continues to amaze me with how she portrays Hikari. Now that he’s three, he speaks a lot more and he’s slowly losing that shyness he had from the early episodes. The way he was telling Kazuhiko (who’s technically his uncle) that he can’t have Masaki was so good. I also loved the little tantrum he threw when Hiromu told him that he can’t marry Masaki as he’s married to him was so adorable. The fact that he wanted to marry both Masaki and Hiromu while upset was so cute and hilarious. A fun little fact about Kazuhiko is that his voice actor did an amazing job during the drama CD recording to the point that the author’s editor wanted a side story about him. It’s crazy how good acting can amp up a piece of media. Tadaima, Okaeri is stacked with good voice actors and the watching experience is extremely good because of them.

Speaking of the drama CD, this marks the end of the second volume which got a drama CD adaptation. Volume 3 never got a drama CD, so I’m looking forward to future scenes and characters. Note that there’s an emphasis on the words “Radiant Days” after the couple made their vows. All the Tadaima Okaeri volumes are not numbered, but they have a little subtitle starting with the second volume. Volume 2 is called Kagayaku Hibi, which is translates to Shining Days, or Radiant Days. It’s a nice little touch. As a manga reader, I honestly can’t wait for next week because I feel like my favorite parts of the story will be adapted. I’ll explain more next week. What are your thoughts on this episode?

[8pxl]

my favorite art pieces i've made in 2023 buy a wallpaper or leave a tip / twitter / instagram / shop 

[arimiadev]

*non-vn gaming journalists constantly foaming at the mouth to assert how much they hate visual novels*

(this is for a review of tsukihime)

[johanna-swann]

I actually have sooo many issues with 911 lately that haven't even got much to do with any ships.

Like. They wrote out almost all of the side characters. Chris is gone, Linda and Sue are gone, Athena's kids are gone (even though Harry just moved in with her and Bobby again? Seriously, where is Harry?), Ravi is gone, Carla is gone. I know the GA maybe don't care that much, casual viewers might not even have noticed that this many characters have just vanished from the show, but in my opinion this is one of the things that give a show running as long as 911 life. Having a big cast is a good thing. Otherwise things are going to get very monotonous very soon.

Actually, that's my second point. They keep repeating storylines! Every season Hen and Karen have to fight a custody battle over one of their kids.

Every season Eddie ends up realising he has a lot of repressed trauma and issues which keep him from leading a healthy happy and free life.

Every season Bathena realise that they have communication issues and they fight about it, but then something traumatic happens and they forgive each other without ever really talking things out.

Every season we are reminded that Maddie's most prominent character trait is "traumatised", the writers just alternatingly bring up Doug again and sometimes the ppd arc.

Every season we see Buck being somewhat restless, looking and searching for something that will bring him true happiness and cycling through love interests that never stick around and each time when you think "oh, there it is, he's getting somewhere now" the writers go "BEEEP! WRONG!" and we start all over again. [This is not just about recent events aka Tommy, the break-up and Buck potentially going back to his 1.0 ways, this also happened in season 6 when he had his "it doesn't matter what other people see in me, I'm enough" revelation only to suddenly be like "omg, Natalia just sees me".]

And Chimney- he had his moment last season with the wedding episode, Kenneth Choi really ate that episode up, but his most prominent character trait is "Maddie's supportive husband". There's really not that much going on with him otherwise.

Another point I briefly touched upon above is consistency. Like Harry moving back in with Athena and Bobby and then just vanishing. Or Gerrard being more like a slightly unfriendly grandpa than an actual antagonist in season 8 when he was still spouting slurs in season 7.

And the timeline! We talked about this before ("last March", Mara's fostering to adoption timeline, Tommy tranferring to harbour "5 years ago"), but the newest "Tommy was actually Abby's Tommy" twist just adds to that. Tommy was with Abby for over 2 years. They were engaged. This was at a time when he was still at the 118. Tommy dated Abby presumably because he was in denial or maybe because he was hiding. In either case, wouldn't his team at least have heard about his fiancée, Abby the dispatcher? Wouldn't that have rung a bell when Buck eventually brought her around only a year or two later? Tommy did talk about his private life at least a little at work, even under Gerrard. It just doesn't make sense. (Not to mention this seems wildly out of character for Tommy who around the same time also said about himself "being single is easier".)

Then there's the pacing. This was a huge issue in season 7. They jumped from one personal soap opera drama to the next without taking any breathers, had almost no procedural in their drama the whole season, still somehow decided to spend one third of the entire season just on the opening disaster and also squeezed in a "Bobby begins for the third time now" episode. But okay, it was a shortened season, there were strikes, they switched networks, they were under a lot of pressure - I'll cut them some slack. At least they set up a bunch of interesting stuff for the following season.

But we're in season 8 now. The renewal was announced very early, they had a lot of time to plan this time. Also they have almost double the episodes they had last season, there's really no need to rush any of the major plots. I am done cutting them slack.

They wanna do a 3 part opening disaster again? Okay fine, you have the time now. I feel like they could've easily done it in 2 episodes (especially 8x02 felt a little "eh"), but okay. Better than the breakneck speed you were going at befo- Oh, what's that? 8x04 flying in with a steel chair. You resolved 70% percent of the plots you set up last season in one single episode with no build up, no emotional pay off and no lasting consequences? And you also squeezed in multiple unrelated calls at the same time? Damn, okay then. Good-bye potentially interesting storylines. Fuck me for being invested I guess. I thought there would at least maybe be some follow up in 8x05, but no.

Now that Halloween episode wasn't bad, it was actually the best episode of this season imo, but instead of following up on previously established conflicts and developments they just hit us with new Wilson family trauma and conflict that was also immediately fixed again. And now 8x06 has speedrun and dumped another storyline that had potential to go to deeper and interesting places. Not gonna talk too much about that though because this post is about the show as a whole, not ships.

And I am not yet convinced that there will be much more to come on the only thing that's left from last season: Eddie's deep dive into his trauma and repression. It's totally possible at this point that being told "you deserve nice things" by a random stranger actually solved all of his problems, it would be very in tone with 911's new style.

What are they even gonna do with the rest of this season? Revisiting the Hotshots set sounds fun, but ultimately inconsequential. You know what's great about a regular old procedural drama with ~20 episodes per season that comes on weekly? You have time. You can let the viewers sit with their emotions and thoughts for a week and keep them engaged by stretching things out a little.

But why should I bother getting emotionally invested in problems the characters are gonna solve within the same episode anyway? Or rather, even if I wanted to, how am I supposed to care if you don't give me the time to develop any feelings about anything that's happening? "Henren lost in court and are now completely forbidden from seeing Mara at all!" Damn, that must be so har- "JUST KIDDING! Ortiz is exposed and everything is perfect again now." Oh. Okay then, I guess.

Bottom line: The characters are all stuck in their own hamster wheels, they keep cutting side characters that could bring a breeze of fresh air (I'm honestly surprised they even kept Josh until now), they rush through all the storylines a such a ridiculous speed that I don't even have time to feel any sort of way about it, they don't even try to keep a consistency or sensible timeline going and they seem to strongly prioritise random funny bits that'll entertain the very casual viewers right now in this moment (tiger call, Billy Boils, Bee-nado, the 'Stache tm, "wait, it's the same Abby?", Gerrard being a fangirl at heart) instead of playing the long game and catering to people who actually pay a little attention to the show.

[On that last remark: I'm not talking about hardcore fans who analyse every single frame here, I mean casual fans who've watched the show on and off again for a while and who may not be involved in fandom but genuinely care about the show.]

I mean. What am I even still doing here? The show is treading water and I end up disappointed more often than not. I'm still holding out a little hope that they actually will do something interesting with Eddie and his sea-monkeys, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.

[aropride]

made on blinkies.cafe, text on the second blinkie from this post

[bowtiepastabitch]

Good Omens Ao3 wrapped is here! It's a bit of a long post but it goes quick:)

Drumroll please!!!

Shoutout to @feiandart for all her work on this piece!

But of course, there's more! It's been a long year for the fandom, and we all processed a lot of feelings about things. Here's how we coped:

Reminder that as a reader, your comments often mean the world to writers! Fandom is a community first and foremost<3

You can click here for a more in depth explanation of the math and the raw data! This assessment is pulled by hand from the Good Omens (TV) fandom category on Archive of Our Own.

Image credits: Unsplash free images for the art and Canva stock images. Image credits in order where available:

Photo by Cassi Josh on Unsplash

Photo by Codioful (Formerly Gradienta) on Unsplash

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Photo by Geordanna Cordero on Unsplash

Photo by Tim Arterbury on Unsplash

Photo by Ahmad Dirini on Unsplash

Photo by Maria Orlova on Unsplash

Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

Photo by MontyLov on Unsplash

Average adult reading rate as cited is 240 wpm found on ScienceDirect.

Please reblog rather than repost, but you're welcome to share to other platforms as long as you credit me!

[wormsdyke]

hey have you guys heard of that movie. yeah the obliterating masterpiece on trans identity

[ivynightshade]

fatima aamer bilal, from being unwanted is a language.

[text id: the world is happening in a room that i can't enter, life is happening in a gathering i am not invited to. / being unwanted is a language i am fluent in.]

[hoshiina]

pairing: hoshina soushirou x gn!reader (no prns)

summary: in which he realizes you were the one for him

warnings: none i think !

wc: 1100

Hoshina wasn't a player. He wasn't one to say yes to everyone who came his way nor was he one to lightly pursue just about anyone who slightly interested him— not to mention he didn’t fall easily to begin with. He was a busy man in a dangerous line of work so having a relationship simply didn’t make sense most of the time.

However, this is not to say he hasn’t had a few relationships here and there. He loved those he dated, he really did. He did not believe in dating for the fun of it nor did he believe in starting a relationship he knew would end at some point, but subconsciously he tried not to get attached. He kept his distance and locked away his heart to keep from getting hurt. Was it unfair? Well yes, but he was scared. Everyone has something that terrifies them greatly, this just so happened to be Hoshina’s.

Yet, recently he could tell that something was different with you. It had only been a few months since you started dating, but he feared the shift in his feelings. He knew what it was— he knew very well, but as soon as he admitted it, it would be over. There’d be no going back for him. He knew he was being rather irrational, he knew that if he sat down and confronted these emotions he’d realize they weren’t that big of a deal, but he couldn’t. He’s never been able to.

However, while fighting this kaiju, it became plain obvious that he was simply in denial. 

It upset him how important you were to him, but more than that it upset him that he knew he was important to you. You had made it so painfully clear that he meant the absolute world to you and that broke him to pieces every single time.

To him it was easy being alone— he just had to make sure his job was complete before he died. If he could ensure everyone’s safety or at least help Mina out, there was nothing more he wished for. Yet while fighting Kaiju no. 10 today, when he saw his life flash before his eyes, his immediate thought was of you. If he died you’d cry. And that alone was going to get him home alive.

He’d rather die than make you cry. Especially not alone.

As he stood up again, he could see his blood dripping from his wounds and immediately it made him chuckle. You’d cry anyways when you see the state he’s in. 

I’ll have to be around to wipe your tears at least, he said to you in his head.

He was incredibly lucky that you didn’t work on the battlefield, his heart simply would not be able to take it. But he did, and for you he’d have to get home safe. Even if no one else cared that much, not even himself, he knew you would.

All of a sudden, it was easy to admit. He was hopelessly in love with you, in a way he didn't know he was capable of. He wished that he would spend the rest of his life with you and he hoped you would spend the rest of yours with him. Perhaps he was just afraid and a little flustered to admit that he was important to someone, especially someone special to him too. He had seen how painful it was for those left behind, a little too often. 

But there was an easy solution to that, he’d just get back to you safe every time. He just won’t make you worry and he’ll be there for you. This was supposed to be a dilemma, something he thought he'd stress over, but in the moment he felt eerily relaxed, definitely not like he was fighting an identified grade kaiju. The rest of the fight was a blur, he couldn't remember much. His head was clear but the fatigue had taken over at that point, but before he knew it, the kaiju laid in front of him still.

He was faintly conscious as they rushed him into an ambulance and patched him up. Once he was properly treated and awake, they had warned him to stay put and take it easy, but all he wanted to do was see you.

As soon as he left his assigned room, he immediately bumped into you. You had been waiting to be let in to see him. You took one look at the way he was patched up and tears welled into your eyes. He could tell you didn't mean to, you didn't want to worry him.

“Please don't cry,” he said softly, wiping your tears away. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of you. “I'm perfectly fine.”

“I'm not crying,” you said with a scowl on your face, but the way your voice cracked was not very convincing. “I'm so glad you're back.”

“Can't live without me?” he teased. He knew you couldn't live without him, but he couldn't either. Yet, now he even hated the thought of you living without him, let alone with someone else, so here he was. And here he always will be.

“Shut up,” you said. “You know I can't.”

He knew, but hearing you say that still made his heart flutter. He reached out with his right hand to grab your left and held it carefully. He leaned in to kiss you, but it was so much sloppier than the careful ones he usually gave you. Forgive him, he was terribly exhausted.

“I can't either,” he said, snuggling his face into your shoulder.

“You can't?” you asked, a little surprised. It broke his heart that he had possibly made you feel such way.

“Not for a second,” he said, still avoiding eye contact. “I'd rather die than wake up without you next to me, actually.”

You wouldn’t reply, so he brought his head back up to look at you.

“Oh, don't cry,” he said and chuckled a little, wiping your tears away as he kissed you again. “I didn't mean to make you cry.”

He hadn't let go of your hand and although he was gentle, he held it firmly. He didn't say anything, but he vowed to himself that he'd put a ring on it someday. He wasn't letting go of you ever.

You were the one for him.

[gudgurkan]

A couple of my favourite drawings from 2024!

First off, one of the last drawings I did last year

And one of the earliest

I've worked a lot on the game Esoteric Ebb in 2024. Nessan is one of my favourites!

Another one for Esoteric Ebb I really like is Akzel!

The coolest character I drew for Esoteric Ebb is a secret one though 👀

My Kickstarter campaign for "The Cult of Dreams" was one of the biggest things happening for me in 2024. Thank you to everyone who backed!

Another one from The Cult of Dreams

Yet another!

I dabbled in sci-fi a bit too (looking to do more sci-fi in 2025)

And this!

Alternative history Sweden with airships

Thanks for enjoying what I've drawn in 2024! Let's have a great 2025 🔥

[zehecatl]

holds your face so fucking gently please leave reviews for indie games. please. every single review legit counts, especially if the game is small enough, and you don't even gotta say much if that's the problem!!

like, anything from a long ramble to a simple 'it was good' matters, because steam (and probably also the Other Ones) uses an algorithm. so the more reviews, the more exposure, the more money the dev team gets. like, please. please. leave a review. throw your small indie dev team a bone

[mizaruwu]

You remember the sound of waves crashing into the shore, you remember the warmth of an embrace, you remember the soft hair on your face and fingertips and nothing more. But still, you miss it.

[setaflow]

People in the comments of the Assassin's Creed: Shadows trailer becoming armchair historians trying to explain why Yasuke shouldn't be a protagonist actually are hilarious. Like besties this is a franchise where people can control eagles with their minds and a good 5% of the population are descended from evil psychic aliens. I THINK we can expand on a story of Japan's only-recorded African koshō without it jumping the shark.

[nocturnalnewsiestrash]

Happy new Quinton Reviews video to all who celebrate

[mizgnomer]

David Tennant Year in Review - 2024

David’s television, film, convention, charity, and other appearances from 2024, all in one convenient photoset - with extra special thanks to Georgia and her excellent Instagram posts

Please see my [ David Tennant Year In Review tag ] for prior year-end posts dating back to 2014