#admittedly i'm not in touch with most of the fanbase. i just live in my own bubble lol

[harrowscore]

Ship game you said? Eh eh. Let's go: ere//mika (or the ultimate meta on way you have so many problem with the pairing) and,to compensate the bitter with the sweeter:riva/mika. I'm particularly curious about this one because since there was the "levi ackermann" reveal almost nobody talk about their dynamic because "yikes,they could be cousin!11!1"

OH MY GOD I'M SO SORRY i left this ask to rot in my box and then forgot all about it I'M SO SORRY fellow salernitana i hope you can forgive me 😭😭😭😭😭

so... starting with why i don't ship e.remika (a serious understatement): it's a horrid potpourri of the tropes i most loathe in the world and that unfortunately seem prevalent in the shonen genre for. some reason i guess. my dislike of ~Girl Obsesses Over Boy (who doesn't care and/or seem to notice her feelings i may add) Until Boy *gasps* Loves Her Back (with no build-up whatsoever. it's all telling and not showing)~ knows no bound. (see also i.chihime from bleach) it's especially annoying to me if the girl has. no fucking goals or aspirations (and sometimes even IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIPS) that don't revolve around the boy, which is mikasa's case. to sum it all up... this dependency is okay (in fiction, i mean!) only if it comes from both sides. think of cathy & heathcliff (e.remika is like. the fucking discount badly written version of WH): both can't function without the other in an exquisitely destructive portrayal of obsession and codependency that borders on narcissism. so that's not healthy at all, like mikasa's love for eren, which is something that i'm not saying as a hater but that gets explicitly acknowledged in-universe with the intentional parallels with ymir the progenitor's '''love''' for king fritz (tho they make a pairing like, idk, joker/harley look like cutesy vanilla relationship goals, and em as straight up austenian romance lmao).

but, back to WH... it's SO well-written. mikasa instead is sadly dependent on eren to the point her entire character arc is about getting over him and moving on with her grief. that's insane, considering he - as the (male!) protagonist - obviously loves her, but he's got so much else to do, has actual goals which are the basis for the whole plot, and interesting, complex relationships with so many other characters. [yes, i said that he loves mikasa, tho i don't buy that he wanted to live with her in la Casetta In Canadà and forget the world because that's SO not eren; that's mikasa's dream, and it's shown as illusory wishful thinking for a reason. but while i think his romantic feelings were portrayed so badly it's kinda laughable ngl, it's always been obvious that he deeply cares for her. she and armin are the most important persons in his life, and idw to imply differently.] mikasa comes VERY close to have her own arc, independently from eren, but her character development seems to round in circles again. and again. and again. letting eren go - which is something that stems from the trauma-imprinting she had on him; she never elaborated her parents' death, and losing him too would mean losing them, feeling that pain, all over again - is something she's shown to do in the early episodes of s1, before eren even turns into a titan. but then we see her choose him over all else again, and then realizes that there are other important things and persons too (that time levi injured himself to save her because she was too focused on getting to her boy, remember?). and then the cycle repeats all over again to peak in the (admittedly tragic but extremely predictable) finale, where he's destroying the fucking world, almost killing her and all their friends, and she still hesitates over taking a fucking stand. she fights against the founder titan, yes, but she never openly condemns eren's actions, she never stands up to him like armin does. mikasa is shown as a strong, sometimes even defiant person to everyone else but eren (see how she gets with levi; especially in the manga, she contradicts him A Lot and doesn't give a shit about his scary reputation - her own is nearly as fearsome after all); she's very passive with him in a way that doesn't suit her. of course she loves eren, but armin loves him too and he fights back and doesn't take any of eren's shit when he insults them both, while mikasa just... stands there crying prettily, i guess. which brings me to the elephant in the room: it's armin who's actually the biggest influence on eren (the latter himself says it was armin showing him the book about the outside world that made him realise he wasn't free, just to list one example); it's to save him who eren sacrifices himself for, which then prompts his first transformation into the attack titan. they're narrative foils (tho the same could be said about him and reiner and to a lesser extent gabi), complementary opposites. he's so physically affectionate towards armin, especially if contrasted with his colder behaviour towards poor mikasa - okay, he's a bit of a tsundere, but one thing is saying that he represses his feelings actually, and another is showing it!

i know all about characters repressing and outright denying they feel something for their LI, believe me; i love emotionally stunted idiots who can't emote for shit (maybe because i am so emotional and feel things too deeply, i'm drawn to my opposite). but @ yams....... please...... have mercy on me, because that's Now How You Do It, and whoever says otherwise is delusional. if a female character from anything but a shonen/bordering on seinen anime got this kind of characterization there would be so much discourse, so many polarizing opinions, so much hate for the author. i'm not saying western media don't have a sexism problem - quite the contrary!! - but mikasa is. an especially bad case? i haven't seen one so bad in a long ass while, maybe because i'm used to consume media with (generally speaking) well-written female characters. like, c'mon. imagine if mikasa had been the female protagonist of a fantasy book series, or a tv show... oh god. and no, sorry but having her kick ass right and left doesn't make her a Strong Female Character actually. Feminism 101 is founded on women having a life outside their relationship with men, and. mikasa doesn't? not really? at least compared to other female characters in the series. yams made a half-decent job with them (tho giving that backstory to ymir the progenitor was. certainly A Choice, as it was sidelining historia and annie for so many chapters), which makes mikasa's static, repetitive, stale character arc really, really sad, because my girl had so much potential. i mean, even em as a pairing had so much potential! childhood friends turned to enemies, like, hello?? imagine if mikasa had got armin's complexity and relevance and a fucking life outside of eren, for god's sake. imagine if she loved him, really, but she repressed her feelings and wasn't so heavily dependent on him (or they both were. from the beginning), and still stood up to him and called him out on his bullshit without erasing her hidden vulnerability and fragility. imagine if their relationship was between equals and-- ah, imagine her getting a character development a la casca (without all the horrifying shit she endures and the 200 chapters long catatonia and sexualisation, tho, tyvm!!!), since isayama himself said she was the blueprint for mikasa - in general he was heavily inspired by berserk - and it shows because they're basically twins separate at birth *insert spiderman meme*. i mean, yams even said that the scene where eren saves mikasa from the slave traders was based on griffith rescuing casca and her imprinting on him instantly, and god does it show.

........... but then em would just be het e.remin, so. whatever. there's also mikasa's need to grow the fuck up, and for that she needs to see that her wishful thinking, her beliefs about ~Eren Loves Me So Much, He Can't Live Without Me!! even when he gives her the cold shoulder so many times, are wrong. that's how you write a character growing into adulthood: you challenge them, you show that the world is founded on a very different basis than what they believed. (see lucy from fallout - she's an adult but she's in a metaphorical infancy before getting out of her vault and a coming-of-age arc throughout much of the series.) if you reinforce mikasa's beliefs... she just remains static. which brings me to...

r.ivamika: oh, i adore them. they had so much potential in many different ways... unfortunately it's very, very obvious how much yams doesn't give a shit about the ackermans. first thing first: it's not incest. they're not cousins. it's explicitly stated that they're only very distantly related, and well, it's glaring how much they don't consider each other "family" or whatever. they're descendants of the same ancient clan, that's all. (actually, mikasa is eren's foster sister and she says he's her family more than once. but that's something em shippers generally seem to gloss over. not that i think em is incest either, it's not. maybe a very lite version of pseudo-incest like the abovementioned WH, but nothing more.) tbh i always thought of them being "related" a la darkling and mal from the greggrisha trilogy. technically they are but (stealing my brother's words of wisdom about the whole rm insane discourse) "it isn't gross" because it's been too fucking long for a relationship between them to be incestous. i mean, guys... words have meaning. you can dislike it but after many generations (500 years for the darkling and mal) they're really not more than nominally related at best. after six gens the shared blood is 0.01%, let alone... whatever the fuck levi and mikasa are. i mean, this obsession the fandom has with them as ~cousins is ridiculous - okay for a headcanon, obviously, but they're very much not framed like that in-universe. like, they have a professional relationship between a soldier and her superior, between comrades in arms. she loathes him until she doesn't; she thinks he's (and i quote) a "sadistic freak" until she doesn't, and she starts to feel respect for him and even *gasp* CARE FOR HIS WELL-BEING lmao???? but nope, she doesn't think of him as a family member. yams could have easily gone that way with them, but he didn't. it's nice to think about mikasa finally finding a belonging, especially with all her grief and family-issues (see, again, her obsession with eren, as stated above)... but that's exactly the reason why i like levi as a romantic option for her.

i'll explain why: they have this Pride&Prejudice vibes+mentor/protégée+veteran/talented newcomer+recognition through the other (derogatory) thing going on that i find very interesting. someone once said levi is basically a more evolved and mature version of mikasa, and i agree. but they're also very different, in a way that would both complement the other and challenge them. levi has an almost opposite way of dealing with grief compared to mikasa: she fiercely clings to few close people and does everything in her power to stop them from fading away from her; he has a long history with losing people too, and that's what makes him keep everyone at a distance (and fail spectacularly at it but that's another matter). he's already resigned to letting them go (see how he deals with erwin and hange's deaths, for example) and making hard choices in a merciless, impossible situation. you can't suffer if you don't grow attached to people in a world and a profession where death is an everyday occurrence, right...? right?????? except that he cares and mourns too, of course. he just represses it all, and he's very efficient at it. now, since mikasa's main issue is that she can't let go (especially of eren)... you can see how they both can teach something to each other and grow together. they're very similar personality-wise: both stoic, strong, loyal, excellent fighters, with a cold façade and a (more or less hidden) heart of gold beyond all that ice. they're both the strongest in the world; she's the only one who can keep up with him on the battlefield, the only one who can challenge him (and vice versa). he respects her almost from the very start; she despises him so hard that it blinds her in some occasions, but grows from hating his guts for kicking the shit out of eren to asking his help to kill eren. obviously they're the only ones with their special powers, being the last ackermans and all that. they could really understand each other on a deep level... if only isayama had made them interact!!!!! which he didn't. I MEAN. searching for their clan's roots, bonding over how unique and, for this very same reason, lonely they are? ["there are no others like us, and there never will be" *cough cough*] nope. let's make them never address the elephant in the room!! tbh they could have been descendants of different clans with similar powers and biology, and nothing about their relationship would have changed lmao. like, this girl has serious family-related issues; that's one of the reasons she fixates on eren. why doesn't she go to levi and, idk, ask him about something, anything? that's such a glaring flaw - not a plot hole but a... characterization hole, if you will - i seriously can't even fathom it. all this Carramba Che Sorpresa shit, all this fucking insanity over the poor harmless rm shippers... for that? (with that being: nothing. the void. nietzsche's abyss, maybe.) 😭😭😭😭😭😭 also, there's this persistent headcanon in the fandom that levi would inquire about the ackerlore, but... this only shows how shallow some fans' reading of the characters is. levi WOULD NEVER. levi is afraid of committing himself to someone, to feel so deeply he can't recover from a loss, to have distractions from his long-time goal, and this includes family business. (isayama actually explicitly said it in an interview!) it's mikasa who's so hungry for belonging... and making her curious about their shared heritage, having some kind of bond with levi (even a strictly platonic one), would have helped her step out of eren's shadow. like, a lot. and of course that didn't happen... whatever. 

tl;dr: i love them and i've written about them more than any other pairing so far, which is ridiculous (2 long fics, one of which is sadly unfinished, and a shorter one). I'm not fixated on aot anymore these days - the toxicity in the fandom and my displeasure with some of the manga's storylines were curbing my enthusiasm - but they'll always have a special place in my heart. gotta love a semi-rareship with such a potentially juicy, complex dynamic. 

(e naturalmente se vuoi Passare Al Lato Oscuro e see what all the fuss is about posso linkarti un paio di fic scritte molto bene, oppure umilmente farti leggere le mie, che sono in italiano)

thank you so much for the ask and, again, SORRY for not replying for so. fucking. long ughhhhhhh ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[wiseabsol]

Do you have an ultimate OTP or rankings of OTPs across fandoms? If so, why? I found some of your OTP essays and thought they were quite thoughtful!

I'm glad that you enjoyed those essays, even though they're old as dust now XD

I don't really have any ultimate OTP or rankings of OTPs across fandoms, since my interest in ships tends to be cyclical. When I get in the mood for one, I'll consume fanwork of it for a few weeks, then move on to another and another, until eventually that mood hits me again. Off the top of my head, though, here are a few I revisit on an regular basis:

Shinji Ikari / Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion): I had a weird introduction to Neon Genesis Evangelion in that I started with the manga version by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. I knew nothing about how popular the show was at the time--in fact, because I had such a hard time getting the manga volumes, I assumed it didn't have much a fanbase. It turned out it did, of course, but the manga is considered an inferior, watered down version of the story. I don't agree with that assessment--I think all of the main versions of Eva have something valuable in them, and excluding any of them misses out on something worthwhile--but I do love the manga version the most. Shinji is more thoughtful and proactive in this version of the story, while Rei is much more fleshed out as a character. Their friendship and quasi-romance is touching, especially in how it encourages them both to grow as people. Plus, it leads to a fascinating, if very controversial take, on Kaworu's character.

Harry Potter / Hermione Granger (Harry Potter): I shipped them from the very beginning and still get hit in the feels with the concept of them on occasion. Admittedly, the last time I read the books, I thought that Hermione really should have wound up with Krum, because he at least fully appreciates her, while the boys struggle to do the same. Still, it's hard for me to not want these best friends and amateur detectives to be together, especially when their canon ships were poorly developed (Ron is too mean to Hermione for my comfort, and Ginny, while she had a ton of potential, was very underutilized by She Who Must Not Be Named).

Roy Mustang / Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist): Who read or watched Fullmetal Alchemist and didn't ship them? The mutual loyalty is just so good. Also he learned her father's secret flame alchemy from her naked back. Come on!

Madoka Kaname / Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica): Homura went through an endless maze of timeline resetting for Madoka. If that's not an act of devotion, I don't know what is. Madoka's feelings for Homura are less blatant, but I think she definitely has a crush on her "cool" classmate, and learning how much Homura has given for her probably cemented that. I really hope they get a happy ending in the movies (which we didn't need, but I'll still watch the next one).

Ash Ketchum / Misty Waterflower (Pokemon): Baby's first ship, or at least the first one where I was involved in the fandom. I still enjoy it, though I haven't engaged with content for it for years now. Still, if Ash is going to end up with anyone, I hope it's Misty. (I doubt it will be--this boy is staying 10 forever, folks!)

Ichigo Kurosaki / Rukia Kuchiki (Bleach): Baby's first smutty ship. The Bleach fandom was so horny back in the day. I also liked how the friendship between Ichigo and Rukia encouraged them both to grow, and how their involvement with each other changed their lives for the better. I'm also pretty sure the author shipbaited the fandom HARD with these two: the poems, the art spreads, that one super shippy movie! It being a shounen story, I didn't actually think they would get together...and then, when the ending happened and they married other people, I was flabbergasted. I still don't understand it.

Zuko / Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender): So this is tricky, because the trauma of colonialism is very tied into this ship, since Zuko is from the people and culture who committed genocide against Katara's. So intellectually, a part of me doesn't like this. Emotionally, on the other hand, I do enjoy it because of the parallels between their stories, and because out of the members of the Gaang, Katara is most able to be herself around Zuko, rather than a nurturer. Mai also felt underdeveloped to me, and I wondered if she'd be happier away from the machinations of court (maybe with June?!).

Mewtwo / Sabrina (Pokemon): Listen, they're a crack ship, but they're my beautiful crackship. They have a weird amount in common, to the point where I wonder if Sabrina's episodes were a test run for Mewtwo's movie. Also, I adore Beauty and the Beast stories, and this ship would fill that trope nicely. I'm also one of maybe five people that have written this ship (if only I'd done it during my heyday! Then I could have converted so many more readers! Alas, I missed my shot).

Others I'm fond of include:

Naruto Uzamaki / Hinata Hyuuga (Naruto)

Korra / Asami (The Legend of Korra)

Artemis Fowl / Holly Short (Artemis Fowl)

Gideon Nav / Harrowhark Nonagesimus (The Locked Tomb)

Emma Swan / Regina Mills (Once Upon a Time)

Arthur/Morgana (Merlin)

Utena Tenjou / Anthy Himemiya (Revolutionary Girl Utena)

Ahiru/Fakir and Rue/Mytho (Princess Tutu): Has the distinction of being written so well that I abandoned by original ship for the show (Ahiru/Mytho), which is something I never do.

[demetriandelibinaryboyfriends]

when do you think theyll make hawkdemetri canon; in s4 or later (assuming it goes to 6 seasons)? i think the romantic aspects of their relationship will be empathized more clearly in s4 (hawk's jealousy of yasmime, their deep understanding and love for each other, etc) but they won't officially get together until the fifth season, leaving the last one to explore them figuring out how to go public and all that. or or i was thinking they do get together in s4 but due to the cobras threatening demetri or smth like that, they break up shortly after and don't get back together until the s5 or 6 finale. i feel like i'm being bold bc nothings set in stone but w what jon and hayden liked/rted im just ahhh!! so excited!!

Oh man, are we actually doing this now??? Are we actually discussing when Hawkmetri would hypothetically go canon???

EH, FUCK IT

IF SHE-RA WENT THROUGH WITH IT MAYBE IT ISN’T A MERE GAY KARATE PIPE DREAM

I personally see them making Hawk/Demetri an endgame pairing, so they wouldn’t officially get together until close to the end of the series--maybe even IN the series finale (which, as I believe I mentioned in one of my other posts, I would strongly prefer to be the kids’ senior prom, where a giant karate fight breaks out and everyone has to battle in tuxes and dresses because it would be HILARIOUSLY AWESOME). I think they might do it like She-Ra did Catradora, where they don’t confess their love and get together until the last (or close to the last) episode (Ah, She-Ra spoilers, I guess...but anyone who doesn’t know by now that Catra and Adora end up together has been living under a rock XD) but there’s LOTS of ship tease prior and maybe even a stolen kiss/hand-hold or two leading up to that moment. Either way, if they decide to go the Hawkmetri route, it definitely has Endgame Ship vibes to me, which means...good news is, we’re gonna win this bitch, and bad news is, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Hawkmetri proper anytime soon, especially if the show goes on for 6+ seasons D: But hey, we sure as hell have something to look forward to, if our hope isn’t totally misplaced!

I think most likely Demetri and Yasmine will date throughout Season 4, and I can see the writers using this to give Hawk a “green-eyed epiphany” of sorts, where he realizes he’s jealous of Yasmine in slightly more than a you’re-hanging-out-with-my-best-friend-more-than-me kind of way, and he’s just like “...oh fuck, am I gay? Shit shit SHIT” and cue Big Boi Angst! Probably by Season 5 Dem and Yaz will be broken up (because ain’t no one telling me a relationship founded on wedgies lasts more than one goddamn season), and that’s when we’ll start getting a lot more ship tease with Demetri and Hawk--subtle touches, a bit of hand-holding (but, of course, they’d find a way to do it in contexts where they can get away with it lol), “friendship teasing” that’s basically flirting, longing gazes when the other isn’t looking, getting a little TOO contact-happy when they spar--that kinda deal. Maybe at the end of Season 5, they’ll share a kiss, but they won’t want to address it or it’ll come with some complication. Like they’re both drunk, or maybe one kisses the other and then doesn’t want to talk about it afterwards because they’re too embarrassed, etc etc. And they’re both trying to figure out if everyone’s even going to be cool with them being gay anyways.

Season 6 I see as being more or less the same thing, with lots of ship tease and mutual pining and such, but it’s a bit more intense now and kinda complicated by the fact that they’re more directly aware of their affection for each other being romantic and they’re both trying to come to terms with the fact that they’re definitely probably not straight. They’re also slowly realizing they’re full-on in love with each other too, and they’re both trying to work up the courage to just ask the other to be with them. And then at the end of the season they finally do it, and then go to Karate Prom together!!! The madlads!!!

GRANTED, I’m REALLY trying not to get my own hopes up about all this, BUT the fact that one of the show creators liked someone’s tweet asking if Hawk and Demetri were gonna be the LGBT rep and another creator straight-up RETWEETING Hawk x Demetri fanart is...admittedly very promising!!! I’m really really hoping beyond hope that this ship happens!!! But Korrasami happened, Catradora happened...so anything is possible!!! It’s certainly easier to make a gay ship with semi-major characters canon than it used to be. I just hope the homophobic side of the Cobra Kai fanbase doesn’t mess this up for us by bitching about “PC” LGBT representation to the showrunners or something :/ Man...it’s honestly kind of alarming to see the amount of people who seem against shipping Hawk and Demetri solely because...they’re both guys??? Like people really be like “UGH these two guys are PLATONIC FRIENDS why must you make it GAY???” As if anyone in the history of EVER has said “UGH this guy and this girl are PLATONIC FRIENDS why must you make it STRAIGHT???” because...they’re already “defaulted” to be straight :/ Sigh...this is the depressing world we live in, I guess.

Fingers still crossed for Hawk x Demetri, though!!! Let’s make it canon through the Power of Karate!!!

Man I am on a ROLL tonight, I can’t fuckin sleep so instead I’m in my askbox shitposting about the binary boyfriends nonstop XD 3 asks in one night, babeyyyyy!