#also don't come for me i'm a casual show-only watcher and i'm tagging for my own organizational purposes only

[maxfieldparrishes]

maybe the first part of bridgerton s3 would have been better if they'd

spent more time developing polin (can't go back in time tho i'm afraid!)

not included and/or created irrelevant subplots (ie the featherington sisters pregnancy bullshit)

not stuck their heads so far up penelope's ass

cast a male lead with even an ounce of charisma

i said what i said

[fatedtime]

@cawsket

SORRRRRRRY for the @, I just have a lot of things to say and enjoy talking about this sort of thing! Also people have left tags kind of akin to this and I figured, why not share my thoughts?

First I'll clarify that this post is very specifically about last season of anime, and was even more specifically made because I had other dunmesh posts of mine get tags with people saying, "I don't usually like watching the most popular anime of the season, but maybe i'll give it a shot" and I wanted to beg people not to get tricked by tumblr, it's not the most popular anime, that honor went to Frieren, please give it a shot because I did the calculation and my favorite character is likely not going to get his best scenes in the current confirmed run, so anything I could do to convince more people to watch it/read it/et, I was going to do. I never once said Dungeon Meshi was unpopular, only that it wasn't the most popular thing that season by a long shot.

That being said.

You're likely getting that impression vis a vis youtubers and such because this season sucks is much more typically popular isekai (please don't come after me konosuba fans I'm happy you got a S3). There's less competition, and Dungeon Meshi is competing better right now. Also, the people who like Dungeon Meshi REALLY LIKE IT, because it is exceedingly unique, so the likers are much more likely to talk about it, proportionally speaking.

Now, Anime Lists like MAL and Aniilist are usually populated by anime fans, it's true, but it's... not like there's some huge demographic divergence between Anime Likers and more casual watchers? Animation is niche. To use Netflix as an example, look at how comfortable it is treating its animated library exceptionally poorly. The Average Person, so much as that even exists, is... like... watching Live Action. Generally speaking, the interests overlap -- while there is going to be stuff that is popular among Hardcore Anime Likers that is not more widely popular among casual fans, stuff that's more popular among casual fans is also likely to be popular among Hardcore Anime Likers, because people who are into anime That Much tend to be watching like. 20+ shows a season. They're gonna watch the stuff that breaks containment too.

Frieren is actually an amazing example of this. I can't quite overstate to you how popular Frieren is. It was a smash hit with casual anime fans, or people who don't really watch anime generally, because of its relatable exploration of grief and it's setting which is easy for your average fantasy liker to get into. It trended on twitter very regularly. Its banger of an OP, by Yaosobi, has over 90M views on Youtube. It's It's also the highest rated show on My Anime List right now. It has overtaken the king, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which is pretty nuts.

Of course, using one source frequented by one demographic of people is bad practice, so I'll prove my point another way -- by comparing other sites. r/Frieren has 3x the users than the Dungeon Meshi sub. The official Frieren twitter has over 5x the number of followers than the Dungeon Meshi twitter. And pixiv… is awash with Frieren's ass, not Marcille. These are ways casual fans would interact with these shows, and fan-content produced is a pretty reliable way of checking the pulse of the market when it comes to anime. Also, being on Netflix does not an automatic success make, alas. This is why I'm biting my handkerchief and begging everyone I know to watch Pluto.

(mentioning this was just an excuse to plug pluto. PLEASE. IF YOU'RE READING THIS. WATCH PLUTO!!!!!!!!! its good.)

Anyway; tl;dr no, Dungeon Meshi wasn't the most popular thing last season, the most popular thing last season was a show that also hit the casual market but features a more conventional storyline + more conventionally attractive characters, which I think is worth noting and talking about. It's not unknown by any means, but quite a few people were under the impression it was ranked #1, which is why I made the post. I could go over the other shows too and make comparisons, but tbh this is already getting long and, y'know. It was a post made about last season's anime. I don't want to bore anyone, and just saying 'well, the anime landscape changes' might have been enough to explain the disconnect.

As an aside... and because tone is hard to convey via text, I mean this as nicely and gently as I can, and you're not the only one who said it, which is why I'm commenting, but...

.....I'm confused by the number of people who bring up 'It's done by Trigger so it must be super popular'? Trigger is pretty infamous for, 'amazing animation and interesting premises absolutely ruined by terrible endings'. I actually asked my group of kind of casual anime enjoyers, 'Hey, have you heard of Kiznaiver' and they were generally like, 'what is that' with one 'WHY DID YOU REMIND ME OF KIZNAIVER.' My GF practically begs people to watch BNA. Obviously, small group sample sizes do not a study make, but... they haven't made many season's smash-hits? Most people know of Trigger, but not a lot of Trigger shows are highly regarded in the long term, because of some issue or another with their plot.

I'd see the argument with like... Mappa or Madhouse or something, but honestly, 'made by Studio Trigger' serves as a word of caution, more than praise, for many of their shows imo. That's not to say I wasn't excited about a Studio Trigger adaptation, just that... I wouldn't really call Trigger an industry darling or anything. I mean there's a pretty famous YA novel out now whose main inspiration was 'DARLING IN THE FRANXX HAD A BAD ENDING I'M GONNA WRITE MY OWN VERSION GOD DAMMIT" lol.

I know that it’s easy to forget being on tumblr, which is the Eating Monsters and Elfyuri website, but outside of the gay circles, it is important to know that Dungeon Meshi… isn’t actually that popular.

Yes, it’s doing pretty well! And the per-ep rating is going up, plus stuff like MAL reviews are a dark pit from which no light escapes. But even just seeing the ambient discussion, it’s pretty clear that… Dungeon Meshi is by far from the most popular thing this season. Frieren, Villainess 99, Apothecary Diaries… all of them are beating it out handily in the polls.

So like. Do buy the manga if you can. Watch it, if you’re on the fence. I like all of the shows I mentioned and think they’re good, but you cannot argue that they are more… conventional in many ways with how they depict bodies and relationships, which leads to their greater appeal.

[intheseautumnhands]

Um! Kliego, and.... your favourite other TUA ship (lawd, I'm suddenly hoping that you ship kliego lmaooo, sorry if you don't :'))

Hah, it’s fine! I’m into pretty much every single Hargreeves ship to some extent. Klaus/Diego* is not super high on my list to be honest, but I’m definitely still into it overall! I think it’s just fandom saturation more than anything that puts it lower down, because I do think the dynamic could be of interest.

* (I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I cannot use smushnames. I don’t begrudge anyone else use of them, they don’t bug me *that* much, but typing them feels so awkward.)

Choosing a favorite is honestly harder because I just want to ship all of them but I will... I dunno. Maybe RNG stuff I’ve written lately to pick. XD

Gonna cut since I’m already rambling before I even put in the questions, whoops.

(Also, two-days-later A: Hi I fell asleep in the middle of this and then barely touched my computer yesterday. Sorry!) 

 Klaus/Diego:

when of if I started shipping it: I walked out of my first viewing singing the song of my people at every single combination possible (Not even walked out, I watched over several days, it only took the first. not even half a season.) (The song of my people is, of course, I Ship It by Not Literally.)

my thoughts: Again, it’s not my #1 ship for the show, but I definitely could see it. I like that, of all the possible combos that could have hung out during the time between leaving home and the show, they seem to have the least amount of active vitriol and bitterness. It opens up interesting windows for that time period, as well as means it’s among the ships that need the least foundation work to get to somewhere decent afterwards. It makes it an interesting counterpart to some of the more actively difficult combinations, which I like especially in a poly context (because I am me and everything happens in a poly context).

What makes me happy about them: Again, the possibilities during the time gaps! And the general sense of... friendliness? It does feel like they’d have a lot less to get over than a lot of the pairs and I like it. (granted I think Klaus in general, while he has plenty of issues, seems to have less of them with his siblings specifically than most, so that’s playing into it, but I also see Diego as probably the one with the most after Vanya, so that’s interesting in and of itself.)

What makes me sad about them: I’m just sad for all these children growing up in their shitty, shitty childhood. And by sad I mean I want to read a lot of things that make me want to cry. Either as children but also I’m down for adults unwillingly letting the conversation drag around to their trauma too.

things done in fanfic that annoys me: Klaus is snarkier, more clever, and a lot stronger, mentally and physically, than I feel like a lot of fic gives him credit for. I think that goes for a lot of fic in this fandom, but since it’s one of the biggest ships and he’s in it, I feel like it shows up a lot for K/D. I’m not a big fan of them being really close as kids, either, which comes up a lot; my headcanon for Diego being pretty distant from all his siblings is strong enough that it takes a lot of set-up for me to accept anything else. (Awkwardly getting close in late teens as both of their ‘get me the fuck out of here’ drives get stronger and stronger is easier for me to see than close-as-kids.)

things I look for in fanfic: Tropes! The writers for this ship give me all the tropes. I want to marinate in it. I’m also kind of into general ‘it was casual, then whoops, I caught feelings, now what??????’ for them, because I could see it. Other than that, like... look, if it looks like it’s interestingly written or has an interesting concept, I will read it. I’m not super picky in this fandom, if it’s Hargreeves-centric and doesn’t bitch at shippers in the tags I’m in to at least give it a try.

My kinks: Uhhhh. Hmmm. I haven’t actually read a lot of kink fic for this ship or considered it, but I feel like I want mutual sadism/masochism.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Honestly my hope is for most of the characters to end up without another major romantic plot. I’m here for canon Allison/Luther but hoping the rest of them just... don’t. Especially since I don’t see them going for two sibling ships and that’s really all I’d want to see. If not that, both of them with new characters would be my preference, because there’s no one actually in the show I’d be down for. Maybe if they somehow warp the timelines around enough to bring Patch back, but even then, eh, just let me have family stuff.

My happily ever after for them: In general as characters, my ideal endgame for both characters is in healthier places than their start point, still clearly working out their shit, and on good terms as a family. As a ship: I feel like both of them would get bored eventually by any kind of ‘and then they went and got a happy domestic place to live and nothing exciting ever happened again’, even if it might be nice for a little while, so... active, somehow. Either they end up somehow finding some kind of active hobby to screw around with together, and enjoy flirting with each other while they do it, or like, I don’t know, get bored one day and accidentally buy a business just to have something to do and find they get weirdly invested in running it. (Maybe, like, a restuarant or something else that’s really high-stress. Or maybe the gym Diego boxes at goes for sale and he doesn’t like the look of the most likely potential buyer and buys it himself before he realizes he has no idea how to run something and has to slink back home and let Klaus laugh at him. Shit, I want that fic now.)

who is the big spoon/little spoon: This assumes either one of them are capable of sleeping totally still which honestly I don’t see. They both seem like the kind of people who flip around in their sleep and wake up five times a night. So, they both take it in turns and also sometimes just end up in weird sprawled positions, either on top of each other or really far from each other.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Honestly, I feel like joking around and talking together would probably be it. I could see road trips, too.

Uhhhh I RNG’d things I’ve written lately and I got Ben/Allison. Nobody else writes that but it’s the tiny ship of my heart so I’m gonna do it anyway. I’m sorry, my random teeny ships are what you sign up for when I get to choose. >>

when of if I started shipping it: On like my third rewatch Allison’s little “I miss him” while she’s watching the cameras burned itself into my brain and I have wanted more for the two of them ever since.

my thoughts: I just! Look it’s pretty much canon that everyone loved Ben, but something about his snarky-but-because-I-want-you-to-do-better-and-I’ve-given-up commentary with Klaus and Allison’s alternating defensive and concerned mode -- I just want them to team up together to despair everyone else’s problems and try to figure out how to help (and often failing; I feel like in a general sense, they’re both better at pointing out the problems than actually fixing them on their own). And I feel like they both get prickly in ways the other would understand and be able to deal with easier than most of the family.

What makes me happy about them: I feel like this just blends into the thoughts above. I love the potential for how they might interact, and the potential for them to call out each other’s shit (and probably everyone else’s).

What makes me sad about them: Everything about Ben in canon is sad! Even the happy things are sad!

things done in fanfic that annoys me: There are exactly two fics for this pairing and one is me and one is PWP smut, which just isn’t super my thing. So uh. there needs to be fic to annoy me. Please write fic specifically to annoy me, oh no, don’t throw me into that briar patch. (That said, in general, I feel like both of them get their sharper points filed down a lot in fic. They both have their pointed sarcasm and their moments of outright lashing out, and I want to see more fic deal with that.)

things I look for in fanfic: Again, I say, please let fic exist. Also, I badly want a proper AU of Ben surviving and running off to Hollywood with Allison. I did not do it justice in my tiny thing.

My kinks: I want switchy powerplay with an emphasis on play -- competitiveness and teasing and wrestling. Also younger or AU Allison who hasn’t yet tried not to use her rumors for everything not trusting anyone but Ben enough to gag her, because her voice is her best weapon. 

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Please please give me an Allison/Luther endgame. Ben I have no feelings on -- I still stand by not wanting any other romantic subplots, really -- but I am rooting for Allison/Luther in canon no matter how many others I ship them with.

My happily ever after for them: Possible in canon, as characters: Allison figures out how to balance ‘not using her rumors at all’ and ‘rumoring everything always’; Ben gets brought back to life and gets to be happy. As a ship: Honestly, connected to the family and both doing their own, fulfilling, non-superheroy things. Allison can act and Ben can get a chance to figure out what he wants to do, because I feel like even if he’d survived that would’ve been hard for him.

who is the big spoon/little spoon: Especially if we’re going with some semblance of canon and Ben’s died and come back, he’s the little spoon, because being wrapped up in someone else is comforting. But also just any kind of cuddling is welcome.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Judging everyone. No, I kid. Sharing and discussing books and movies, maybe. Ben passes along books he liked* and they watch movies together and Allison dissects acting choices and they both debate themes and ending of more ambiguous stories. They are loud movie watchers if they stay home to watch things, and go have loud debates over coffee after if they go out. *(I actually have a whole tangent in a fic that got cut out that I want to reuse for this fact, specifically about Ben having a slightly masochistic Lovecraftian phase in his early teens and passing it on to Allison, and Allison in her 20s thinking that if it fits either of them, it’s her, because she gets in people’s brains and rewires them and they forget what she’s done to them, and if either of them could make people go mad, it’s her.)