#also ignore the youtube watermark | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

midnightbears · 10 months ago

Text

✿ tell 'em how the crowds went wild! tell 'em how i hope they shine!

⎯ in which you look back on how grateful you are for the opportunity bestowed upon you. aka: you joined the opla's cast!

#STARRING. iñaki godoy, mackenyu, jacob romero, taz skylar, emily rudd ft. fem!reader [elle fanning 4 faceclaim but u can imagine y/n anyway u wish!].

#TAGS. sfw, kind of context, a bit of smau but its tiny. mentions of covid just in case it's triggering?

#NOTE. pardon my rusty writing but i really wanted to get this out!!! i added an oc from one piece for the sake of the story but she's barely mentioned so uuuh yuh! timeline may be wrong but i work with what i'm given please bear with me. let me know if you would like more fics of this y/n??? ALSO IGNORE THE WATERMARKS ON THE PHOTOS I NEEDED TO MAKE THEM NEATER

In the past, if someone were to come up to you and tell you that you’d be a part of the One Piece Live Action main cast in the future, you would’ve probably laughed in their faces despite your wishful thinking.

At that time, you were content with your work, doing short theatre plays with companies or gaining minor roles in musicals. Everything changed when you landed the role for the one-woman show Fleabag for a limited time on London’s West End after the leading actress underwent emergency surgery for an appendectomy. You only acted as the sex-obsessed mess of a woman for about three weeks, but it was enough time for people to notice you, to really see you.

You believed your career had reached its pinnacle when you were cast as Katherine Howard in Six: The Musical in London. Your name had become somehow well-known in the musical theatre world, and you had a small but dedicated fan base who liked uploading edits of you being a dork during the Megasix on YouTube and TikTok.

Months later, you were bound to play as Fantine for Les Miserables when COVID abruptly struck, and you were dismayed that your job was ripped from you so abruptly. Your best friend, the sweetest person on earth, insisted on you moving in with her in fear that you’d be evicted from your apartment.

Months passed, and you eventually found a small way to help your friend pay rent by offering singing and acting lessons online to musical-aspiring teenagers. Since you had gained many followers from your earlier work on social media, it didn’t surprise you when the classes became sold out.

Your friend also convinced you to create a YouTube channel for you to upload videos of yourself (sometimes joined by her) where you watched and commented shitty movies, followed DIY tutorials just for the fun of it, performed covers of your favorite songs, and just generally vlogged your life (along with reactions to Taylor Swift’s (From The Vault) songs).

At first, you thought it was pretty stupid, but you were delightfully proved wrong when your videos harbored over 200k-300k views on a bad day, so you found no reason to stop as COVID-19 continued, growing to gain a little over five hundred thousand followers. Your reactions were often used for TikTok audios or clips, so you found your popularity growing and evolving during that year.

You believed yourself to be a general, simple woman. People liked you because you were elegant and levelheaded, although you could sometimes be chaotic. You also had a subtle sense of humor that many found charming. But mostly, you grew a steady fan base because your videos and presence comforted countless young adults and teenagers.

You were an optimist and a reassuring one, so during the times when COVID was so prominent, people sought refuge from the monstrosities of the world in your videos, where you seemed to connect with them even though you were on the other side of the screen.

However, everything changed somewhere in 2020-2021. That evening, your best friend got home from work with excitement practically oozing out of her every pore. You and your best friend were avid anime watchers and manga readers, so you couldn’t help the face you made when she told you that One Piece was getting a live-action.

Although you were skeptical, your friend practically insisted you send an audition tape. You grimaced at that. It was well-known that live anime actions were almost always corny and cringeworthy compared to the original work, and people never liked them. You had learned that much from Death Note and a couple of others. However, your best friend convinced you with this argument:

“If it’s that bad, then at least you’ll gain more followers out of the memes that people will make, and if it’s good, you’ll still get famous anyway!”

Eventually, you sent a video of you performing one of the lengthy monologues from Fleabag to your agency and simply hoped for the best. Your friend was practically rooting for you to get the role of Anastasia, one of the first integrants of the Straw Hat crew, joining before Sanji and after Usopp. You adored her as she greatly reminded you of your late mother, although you would be happy with any role.

Somewhere in November 2021, you remember a lot of screaming and crying. When you try to look back on it, all you remember is the happiness you felt when you received confirmation of the role of Anastasia. You were practically over the moon, and you and your friend celebrated inside your small apartment. You were entirely alone, just two drunk girls dancing and cheering, until one of the neighbors knocked on the ceiling with a broom.

liked by inakigo, emilyrudd and 574,949 others

yourusername actually lost for words and filled to the brim with gratitude...... i cannot express how excited i am to play my girl anastasia and bring her to life. from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who has supported me. your faith in me means everything. congrats to iñaki, emily, jacob, mackenyu and taz, thank you to onepiecenetflix, thank you to my best friend for convincing me to audition for the role, and thank you, oda sensei, for putting anastasia's heart in my hands. love u all <3

view all comments

November 10, 2021

y/nsfanclub.02, AAAAAAAA SO EXCITED FOR THIS I ACTUALLY CANT BELIEVE IT

⤷ starl6ighwnb, LIKE FR IM GNAWING AT THE BARS OF MY ENCLOSURE THIS IS INSANE

user8392y3r927y, HELLO YOUR GRACE ANASTASIA

inakigo, Congrats!!!!!!!!

taz_skylar, 🔥🔥🔥

The One Piece fan base dearly loved the character of Anastasia, a well-mannered, bubbly, upbeat, fashion-loving duchess who always spoke in a Transatlantic accent but also had a quick wit and a bit of a sweet tooth. Anastasia’s dream was to become the most dangerous pirate to ever grace the seas and prove everyone who doubted her wrong.

Of course, with a big character came a big responsibility.

Sometimes, insecurity nearly got the better of you. You had to fill huge shoes, and there were many people to convince and impress. However, your love for this project was bigger than the gnawing uncertainty on the back of your neck, so you continued strongly until the end of Season One, finding comfort in your cast mates and the countless people who counted on you and, most importantly, believed in you.

Oda handpicked you, and that argument alone was enough to shoot any insecurities away.

Well, needless to say, people loved you!

Critics acclaimed your portrayal of the character, as well as the commendable chemistry you shared with the rest of the cast. The fans found it incredibly funny that your character was the complete opposite of how you actually acted in real life, and you often found yourself blissfully immersed in the fan base's love and praise.

Your channel and social media suddenly grew tenfold. Although you had stopped uploading videos every week due to the recording of season one, your followers were more than happy to wait for your return, and as one would expect, they were thrilled to have you back once you did upload a vlog explaining everything.

Over the course of the six months, you had been recording from time to time for a YouTube video in the set. Previously, you had asked the producers for permission to record some behind-the-scenes for your channel and your usual interactions with the rest of the cast with your personal Sony camera, as you felt it would be a nice way to bring the fans and the cast closer.

The producers gave the okay on the condition that you would wait until the first season aired on Netflix. You happily agreed and carefully began recording some scenes of your dressers and hairdressers as they prepared you, a few shots of your instructor showing you how you were supposed to use the guns that Anastasia employed... simple things.

Back in the day, you were still getting acquainted with the other cast members, and you didn't want to seem rude by forcibly making them appear on your videos, so you waited for a few weeks until you could properly call yourself companions. Then, you invited them to appear in the videos.

Iñaki, Taz, and Jacob liked to take advantage of the little free time they had between scenes they didn't appear in to innocently steal your camera and use it to their heart's content. One day, you got home only to find the memory card was completely full. It was an extensive video of them walking around the set, with Taz recording while Kiki and Jacob pointed out random stuff to the people who lived inside your camera, as Jacob liked to call them.

Mackenyu, being more reserved and introverted, mostly liked to act as a cameraman for you as you showed the props you used and other things, often making comments or turning the camera around whenever you referred to something.

Meanwhile, Emily had a natural knack for being in front of the camera. Whenever you asked her to join in, she effortlessly slipped into the co-host role, bantering with you and adding her own insights into the behind-the-scenes world of the show.

With the first season out of the way, you took the time to carefully pick what videos you wanted to use in the final tape, and it took you a little over a month and a half to properly edit it and turn it into a wonderful thirty-minute-long behind-the-scenes. You even sent it to the producers and your co-stars in case there was a scene they wanted deleted. Fortunately, they all gave you the okay.

You teased the video a bit on your Instagram before uploading it a few days later, and the support it received was out of this world. It gained over two million views and hundreds of thousands of likes.

You were kind of expecting this. While some BTS had already been uploaded on YouTube, yours was different because you were showing it from your perspective. The fans loved every second of it, and even started asking for a second or third part. You even saw new videos on YouTube of recompilations from your video with the titles being silly things like The One Piece Cast Being Chaotic for Seven Minutes.

At that moment, your life felt so full. You were getting contacted by industries who wanted you to appear on their videos and their stages, thousands of fans who loved you, and a feeling so peculiar that this would be eternal.

liked by taz_skylar, morganlogoff and 1,523,199 others

yourusername missing my wig and my gang hours ☹️

view all comments

November 10, 2023

morganlogoff, love love love you💗💗💗

curlikaqy, NO ONE KNOWS I'M YOUR BIGGEST FAN

emilyrudd, GIRL I WANT TO SEE YOU COME BACK TO AMERICA

bookofjacob, missing your camera hours💔

#one piece #one piece live action #one piece la #opla #one piece x reader #one piece x you #one piece live action x reader #one piece live action x you #iñaki godoy #emily rudd #jacob romero gibson #jacob romero #taz skylar #mackenyu #one piece x y/n #opla x reader #opla x you #midnightbears

117 notes · View notes

emioliravioli · 4 months ago

Text

my dtiys entry for @head---ache!!

(PLEASE ignore the watermark i don't have money)

(also on youtube^^)

#aaaaaaaa this took way too long #emmie the hedgehog #ravioliart #animation meme #dtiys entry #sonadow #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonic x shadow #shadow x sonic #sonadow fankid #sonic fandom

36 notes · View notes

snakepitgunner · 22 days ago

Note

About 20% of my disdain comes from her obsession with gaining her own fame. She loves the title of being "Slash's girlfriend" more than she loves anything or anyone else. The other 80% has to do with how she treats/treated her kids. She is a terrible Mother. Seeing her "Mourn" over Lucy makes me sick to my stomach. I hope that at least some of it is real. I want to believe she is capable of some kind of compassion but based on what I've heard, it's far more likely she's just putting on a show. I hate that. I don't care who it is. I hate bad parents. It infuriates me // You just typed a bunch of things with no proof to back it up. Where's the proof she's using slash to get fame, where's the proof she's a bad parent, where's the proof she's putting on a show? I get this is a gossip blog but seriously? It's obvious you don't like her but don't you think it would be better to provide some real concrete stuff before you post stuff like that, especially when the person you're talking about is mourning her dead child? When I say proof, I mean more than just anons and 'people you know' who claim to know something that no one here can be sure of. I watched a couple of Lucy Bleu's (RIP) blogs on youtube before she removed the last two, they seemed pretty close, relationship looked normal and actually quite cute. Slash's brother called her out for the watermark stuff, that's it. He said shit about Axl too. There's nothing else anywhere that would suggest any of the things you claim about her.

"I get this is a gossip blog"

Do you? Do you get it? You sat down and wrote a wall of text about an easily ignorable gossip blog. If you don't like what I post, unfollow. If you don't like seeing my posts in tags, block. It's actually pretty easy to avoid this blog.

Also, please refer to the FAQs the next time you feel the need to a full blown hissy fit in my asks.

#Asked and Answered #It's okay if this blog is not for you but what did you think was going to happen when you sent this book length message?#Just go find a blog you like #I can see why you support Meegan of all people

6 notes · View notes

skrunksthatwunk · 2 years ago

Text

ok so. kiwami 2. rooftop scene. the ending. it's a bit of a clusterfuck but i wanna talk about one detail, a problem they bring to your attention by Fucking. Talking About Her.

haruka is watching all of this unfold.

[this post is like 4.5k words long + pretty critical + has spoilers for kiwami and kiwami 2, and really minor/vague ones for a couple others. they're not that bad though, trust me (and i added a warning in the one place it is major)]

ALSO CONTENT WARNING i'm gonna talk about kiryu's passive suicidality a good amount in this one, so stay away from this if you think that might affect you negatively/you'd be better off skipping it. i'll also make a tl;dr (which i will highlight in red) at the very end if you really wanna know what my point is that will exclude those elements <3. i am also going to use a lot of choice-based language in regards to kiryu's contemplation of suicide because i think it's the lens through which the games treat the topic, but i personally don't find it a productive or realistic way to look at suicide or suicidal ideation at all. someone dying by suicide absolutely does not mean they don't care about their loved ones enough to fight on or whatever. i love you, and proceed with caution on this one.

(also i'm using the kiwamis as my point of reference because i uh. don't have a ps2? those are the games that i played, and though the differences are likely slight, i wanna be clear about that. also,, ignore the watermark on these screenshots,, i didn't notice them and i'm not retaking them. we're all gonna have to settle for youtube cutscene comps for now xoxo)

first, we have to talk about the ending of the first game.

[note: i am Really Really Confident kiryu has a conversation earlier in the game about his going to jail in nishiki's stead being him running away and choosing not to resist his two options (go to jail or let nishiki go to jail) and define his own path, fighting his way against fate to make it happen. part of why i'm so confident it exists is because it made such an impression on me at the time. it's pretty important to my interpretation of things but i also can't find it for the life of me, so uh. sorry ✌️ i really tried. this post's takes/analysis will be dependent on this scene existing, so keep that in mind. if anyone knows where to find the scene/screenshots of it, lmk and i'll add a follow-up with it]

kiwami stuff

so as she's dying, yumi tells haruka this:

that she may be dying (painfully, and right as she's getting everything she wanted), but she doesn't regret it, because at least she did something rather than running away from it all. that you shouldn't run away, ever.

shortly thereafter, when the police find kiryu and haruka, this exchange happens between him and date. here's the play by play:

date tells kiryu he can get him out of trouble with this, and that if he doesn't, he'll get life in prison; kiryu declines his help:

kiryu is so devastated (understandably) by the back to back losses of the three people closest to him that he resigns himself to life in prison, and the death-in-effect that would be. he would prefer to waste away rather than struggle through a life without them. prison was monotonous and isolating, but coming back after a decade was overwhelming, and coming back to everything being so warped and twisted, and then losing the corrupted scraps he had anyway, well. he wants to go back to sleep. he doesn't want to be in a world where everything's the same except he's on his own. better to return to safety, to die slowly in a hell he knows well than weather a new one where he has control and agency, and thus one where he has the ability to fail and to lose anything at any time. he explains to date that that loss is why he can accept his death:

date shakes him and asks him if there's really nothing left for him, no reason to keep living at all:

then echoes yumi's advice to haruka:

which makes an impression on kiryu:

date gives him a reason to live in the form of haruka, saying she'll be on her own again if he goes to jail. he hijacks kiryu's tragic protector complex to keep him alive, because she needs him, and because she's someone precious to him:

after the dust has cleared,

kiryu and date also have this exchange, where date tells him to stay away from the cops (and presumably arrest and a return to prison, the aforementioned fate akin to death), and kiryu cites haruka as his reason to stay away, one he holds to with no uncertainty (showing again that he's accepted date's logic, that his reason to keep living even when it's incredibly difficult is to care for the more vulnerable haruka). given the weight of the consequences, to me, it feels like date's telling him not to be alone with his thoughts or something. it's almost frightening:

so, what's our takeaway from kiwami?

kiryu lost everything and hit rock bottom, but he chose to fight, and to live life on his own terms, even when it got difficult. that's the narrative life lesson he had to learn to avoid repeating the events of 1995. he made that choice for haruka's sake. it's seen as growth.

and without him, haruka would've just returned to the orphanage (assuming she could make it back to sunflower at all) with no one who knew or understood what she had been through, no one to mourn with her, and no one to give her the attention, care, and protection she needs. kiryu knows what it's like to be an orphan with a limited parental figure who only checks in every so often (kazama, "aunt" yumi), and what someone will do for attention/affection from that person (via both himself and nishiki swearing up, climbing the ranks, etc. arguably haruka coming to kamurocho by herself to find "mizuki" is similar), and what it's like to lose them anyway (again, kazama, yumi). their situations parallel each others' somewhat, and that binds them further. and after losing everyone (which he blames himself for to some extent, as one can probably assume from this and 2, and something key to his arc in later games), he chooses to protect her. and this time, he won't fail. at least partially because failing would hurt him, too. he'd have nothing left again.

okay. now we get to kiwami 2.

if you forgot, the context is basically:

everybody's fighting on the roof of a building which i'm sure will not be a running theme or anything as the series goes on

there's a bomb that's about to go off and they don't know how to/can't defuse it

ryuji shot the twist villain to death, but took fatal hits to do so

sayama's like hey!! let's get out of here!!! and kiryu and ryuji are like nooo we have to settle this oughh it's punchin time and they stick her on an elevator and send her down so she doesn't have to watch

ryuji loses. sayama returns, they have a cute sibling heart to heart, and ryuji dies in her arms. sad

kiryu is in rough shape as well, and there's like 2 minutes left on the bomb's timer

here's the scene itself:

sayama tells kiryu they have to run, and kiryu says he can't. the gist is "let's run!" "you go without me" "i'm not leaving you!" "i'm in no condition to run" "i'll carry you then!!" sayama: *sees how fucked up kiryu is, realizes he's Going To Die Anyway* "ok, then i'm staying with you!" and then further bickering about that, before they give up and make out (as one does i guess)

date (he's here now) yells this at them from a helicopter:

before someone else in the helicopter tells date this:

we get this shot of haruka calling out to kiryu as the helicopter swerves away:

and kiryu and sayama have this exchange about haruka where they say they let her down, but that she'll understand:

then they hug and the bomb ticks to zero right when the credits hit. in post credits it's revealed that the twist villain defused the bomb when they weren't looking, betraying his co-villain for reasons i truthfully do not remember and am unwilling to look up. it's not about that right now.

so, how does this scene interact with the ending of the previous game?

the short answer is "badly <3" but here's the long answer:

it's about choices.

the thing about fiction is that anything you want to have happen, as a writer, can happen. it may not be effective, internally consistent, or logical, but you can write it regardless. audiences suspend their disbelief for the sake of engaging fully with your fiction, but everyone has a threshold past which they will stop being engaged in a story and either become uninvested or annoyed. writers usually have lines they're unwilling to cross as well. but in almost every story, there's at least a couple of places where they stretch reality a little to make the narrative they want happen. this is not a bad thing at all. that's how stories get told.

now, i'm gonna be real with you. i don't care about how feasible plots are like 95% of the time. it's not something i think about much, nor is it something i prioritize. i am a very character-centric media consumer, so if world building and/or plot are a bit stale or contrived, that doesn't really bother me much so long as i'm invested in the characters involved. some people can't stand plot holes or the ways musicals burst into song or whatever, and that's fine for them. but it's not something i tend to find that all that important.

this is all to say that i have a sorta affection for rgg's flavor of bullshit pulling. and it is a powerful flavor, maybe even an acquired taste, but i can and do rock with it so long as it doesn't damage the characters too much. this is why i'm not making a lengthy post howling into the void about joji kazama or the second joon-gi han or how many secret relatives there are. those things are silly and endearing and a clumsy yet heartfelt part of a series i care about very deeply. i'll joke about it, but i don't consider it much of a flaw. it's more like personality. flaws are texture, and they help a piece's identity. point is i am very, very willing and able to suspend my disbelief for these games in exchange for a good time, particularly via good characters.

(if you want another example of where i draw the line from within rgg, the answer's the YAKUZA 4 SPOILERS INCOMING rubber bullets twist, because i think 1) it's actively horrifically stupid (especially retconning a scene we SAW HAPPEN. WE SAW BLOOD ON EACH IMPACT, AND RUBBER BULLETS DON'T OFTEN BREAK SKIN THAT DEEPLY (THEIR DAMAGE IS MORE PERCUSSIVE THAN PENETRATIVE). THESE EVENTS HAPPEN IN THE SAME GAME YOU DON'T HAVE TO RETCON IT JUST REWRITE IT. OR DON'T SHOW THE HIT AT ALL SO THERE'S MORE PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY. DON'T DO THIS JUST TO HYPE UP YOUR SHITTY VILLAIN NO ONE CARES ABOUT. and 2) (a bit more importantly) i think it actively removes saejima's primary internal conflict for that game, that being his intense guilt over the 18 murders he thinks he committed, one i was invested and interested in. but this isn't a rubber bullets post.)

characters in this series walk off a lot of life threatening injuries. they survive miraculously, they escape in the nick of time, and they pull through in the end. kiryu still somehow hasn't killed anyone. almost every game in his saga ends with an "is kiryu gonna make it out this time?!?" shortly followed by a "yeah lol. lmao" postcredits reveal. kiryu fucking punches a marble statue into dust in the first game. having a story that asks you to suspend your disbelief so much and so often means that when a decision is made, it's not the writers saying, "well, this would have to happen so we are obligated/forced to write it happening" so much as "we wanted this to happen for some reason(s)," because you already know that they're not guided solely by logic. again, this is true of all writers, it's just amplified in stories like these because they've already given you so many hard mode suspension of disbelief moments (they've broken you in like leather, yeah? or like how obvious internet scams allow for self selection by being so obvious that only the most vulnerable people would fall for them. they curate an audience willing to play along with their bullshit flavor so they can tell a story that's more likely to satisfy that audience. in a good way, in a fun way! mass appeal is overrated). there is not much limit to what this series is willing to try and sell you.

so when ryuji takes lethal damage taking out the big bad, that's a choice. when he doesn't die immediately, that's a choice. when ryuji and kiryu send sayama away in the soon-to-be-forgotten elevator so they can settle this like men or whatever despite the literal actual bomb about to go off, that's a choice. when sayama comes back, that's a choice. when ryuji does die, that's a choice. when kiryu determines that he can't escape in time, that's a choice. when sayama is unwilling to leave him, that's a choice. when she says she'll carry him out and there's an elevator right fucking there and then she's like never mind i guess i won't anymore we're dying together right now kiryu like they're not gonna even try?? wouldn't distancing themselves from the blast give themselves a better shot, something that's super possible given the 2 minutes they have with that elevator??? sayama you met him like a week and a half ago why are you ready to die with him that's not a plot hole i just think that's kinda strange whatever anyway, that's a choice. when kiryu stops arguing with her so they can kiss (next to her brother's corpse), that's a choice. when date shows up, that's a choice. when the helicopter can't save them because the bomb was going to go off too soon, that's a choice. when they put haruka in that helicopter and take her away, let her only impact be reminding kiryu and sayama that they can't help her, that's a choice. when they spend their last moments talking as if they're already dead, then simply waiting, that's a choice.

they're all choices that the writers made for the characters, and we are asked to believe them for the sake of achieving the writers' vision, as with any story. the only problem is that the writers' vision here fucking blows.

i'm not saying it would be realistic for kiryu and sayama (and even ryuji) to make it out alive, but it wouldn't be out of character for the series in the slightest. kiryu is suddenly unable to power through here, and that's a choice. so, what is their vision?

put simply, i think they wanted a romantic last stand for kiryu and sayama, a tragic scene of doomed, devoted lovers. and i think they wanted an edge-of-your-seat fake out death. they wanted spectacle.

here's how some specific choices they made undermine all that shit we talked about earlier from the first game.

once again, kiryu is called by date to live, to pick himself up and keep going, no matter how impossible the odds are. he's even reminded by haruka's presence, his one anchor in keeping himself going. the growth he had in the parallel scene in the previous game is challenged, and he fails.

it's not enough this time. and that's a choice.

it's also one i can't think of a good reason for, and that's the real kicker.

characters can have developmental backslide just like people do, and if they're given good reason for it, it can be just as, if not far more compelling that purely linear growth (i am a chimera ant arc enjoyer, and that's all i'll say. sorry if you haven't seen hunter x hunter. uhh. i am also a zuko avatar enjoyer if that helps). but i can't think of anything that happened in that game that would cause this from a character perspective. if anything, kiryu should be less likely to do this intentionally. he's spent around a year raising haruka, and a year has passed since he lost his loved ones. at the very least, the pain should be more dull, though it is established through an early nightmare sequence that his ass is (justifiably) not over it yet. given that their deaths were the initial motivation for his willingness to rot forever, theoretically, he should be more motivated to stay alive than before now that he's got more investment and stability in his life outside of them, particularly when it comes to haruka, his reason for surviving. and if the ongoing nature of the trauma was the motivator for this, then they should've had it affect him more past that nightmare scene (it really serves more as a recap of the last game than anything else) so it didn't come out of nowhere. so the reminder of the lesson that saved his life and then guided it for at least a year afterwards, one that the whole resolution of the previous game relied on heavily falls flat for... some reason.

i think this is a good time to mention that, generally speaking, you don't write arbitrary choices into characters. sure, people in real life are often sporadic, but when analyzing fictional characters, every choice is filed into a portfolio of characterization that can and should be analyzed. going for pure realism can obfuscate their development, motivations, themes, etc. their choices and reactions may be unorthodox, but they must be internally consistent. this is very related to how i view plot contrivance as well. characters drive the plot, not the other way around. stories are about the ways characters affect their worlds/lives and vice versa, and they're the human face to the themes and ideas the writers are trying to explore and express. maybe my stance on this seems hypocritical. i don't know if it is. but to me, plot issues are usually a matter of engagement and investment, while character issues are a matter of substance.

i hope this doesn't feel patronizing explaining all of this, but i want you guys to know where i'm coming from in my analysis. starting at my base philosophy on writing is the easiest way to do that, i feel. defining the terms of the debate, and all that. anyway

and i mean, look. they survive because "it was defused the whole time we just didn't see it happen", so it's not like narrative tension or realism or whatever was THAT big of a priority overall. if it was gonna be a cop-out anyway, they should'nt have ruined kiryu's development too, yeah?. and sayama fucks off to america after this game anyway, so it's not like the doomed lovers thing had much payoff or meaning after this one (though you could argue that's more an issue with yakuza 3 than yk2, which has some merit to it). which means that they chose to sacrifice kiryu's prior development and internal logic for the sake of cheap tension for their finale that was both kinda illogical in and of itself (the elevator!! the elevator!!!) and a romantic climax that neither required nor really benefitted from this staging. (like. you coulda had them make out and then get saved by date, or kiss on the elevator in a "it's moving, but will we make it in time??" way or whatever. look i'm not saying those are great options either but they're SOMETHING okay. it would remove/reduce the amount of time wasted on characters sitting around with their thumbs up their asses for no reason in this finale).

instead the message of this finale is that, actually, sometimes it is impossible to change your circumstances and fight for your own way out of an awful situation. and what should you do about this unfortunate truth? uh. die! i guess. it's the exact opposite of the encouraging, optimistic message of the last game. zetsubou chou pride my ass.

note: i feel i should mention that when suicidality is brought up within the series (particularly in substories), it is always something someone has to overcome themselves through wanting it badly enough. they simply need the inspiration and the motivation to keep going. it's arguably treated as a moral obligation. frankly, the series is broadly very meritocratic (<- bad) when it comes to this topic (and others, but that's a Whole Other Thing. see akiyama's weird loan shark tests as well). sheer will and resolve is enough to conquer any problem, be it physical or mental/emotional, and it's irresponsible to act/feel otherwise. this is the logic the games operating under, and kiryu is often the mouthpiece for this bootstrap-pulling "tough love" sentiment. so when kiryu "chooses" to die, yet faces no emotional fallout from date, haruka, or anyone else, it feels very out of place. it's not just an odd choice; it's specifically, once again, an odd choice to make in context of the game/series/character it appears in.

kiryu's just like eh, haruka'll watch her only family die right as she gets some sense of tentative stability and lets her guard down after a devastating month the year prior (and a relatively dismal upbringing before that) that we trauma bonded over. sure, she likely came to view me as the one who would stay no matter what, who was too strong to be taken out, who she could always rely on, and so i know that dying would hurt her immensely, but she's smart enough to know it'd happen eventually. her eventual recovery means it's okay for me to do this (somehow, in a way it wasn't in the first game). it's an excuse within the narrative's logic, and one it is uncritical of simply because it's kiryu. he gets a pass.

and i think with the previously mentioned passive suicidality and general series-long mental health issues kiryu displays (i mean. yakuza 5's literally his depression arc), this could be retroactively seen as an interesting choice, like a piece in that particular narrative. i don't even dislike that viewing, especially in terms of fan approach. but (assuming this went down the same in yakuza 2), they likely didn't have that in mind. all they had then was the first game and the movie. and they took the first game's Entire Message and contradicted it for nothing but a scene they wanted to have happen because it'd be suspenseful and/or emotional (without actually doing the work to earn it). and they're not fans trying to analyze his character, they're the ones making choices for him. and they chose to massacre my boy. and if the subject of kiryu's mental health was a priority of theirs, why didn't they explore that? haruka and date's feelings on him not resisting and their words not being enough (whether that blame is justified by the narrative or not (it shouldn't be btw)), the uncomfortable drifting that resigning yourself to death and living afterwards anyway often brings, literally any conversation about it besides the minimal shit we get post credits of date being like "did you know about the bomb not having a fuse?" which like. bad answer either way (which is why they weren't straightforward about it, the cowards). you can't just be like "oh uh. idk he just gave up this time. yeah he was gonna die on purpose for some reason. good thing the bomb was fake lol" and then pack up and go home!! that's stupid!! any merit the idea of kiryu dying by suicide in this scene and in this way could have had from a character-based perspective loses its weight because 1. it didn't happen (for kinda stupid reasons), which makes it fall flat and 2. no one is really affected by the fact that it almost did, including him. they sacrificed his ass and replaced it with nothing, even when there could have been interesting outcomes to it.

so the narrative effectively chose to kill him by making the situation impossible, and this impossibility is ultimately arbitrary, given the series' usual approach to miraculous, illogical escapes. that, or the choice to stay was up to kiryu and sayama, one that 1. doesn't make sense and is actively regressive in context of kiryu's arc in the only other game in the series (as well as his whole saga in retrospect) and 2. one that contradicts how the series sees/treats resignation to death/death by suicide in all other contexts without being addressed, challenged, or condemned in ways it would in all other contexts. because they don't want you to think about it like that. they want you to think he (and the narrative) had no choice, that it made sense to do that. but it didn't. it doesn't.

and look, honestly? if i was bleeding out and had like 2 minutes to live, there's a non zero chance i'd say fuck it and kiss a girl too. i get it. but i am (and this is crucial) not a fucking yakuza character. and i'm certainly not kiryu kazuma.

tl;dr (basically just rephrasing the second to last main paragraph)

there are not sufficient character reasons for kiryu and sayama not trying to escape. additionally, because the narrative regularly facilitates even less likely escapes, it's not so constrained to logic and reality that it couldn't pull this one off. the choice to let their situation be impossible this one time was a cheap and arbitrary way of forcing a scene they thought would be cool and dramatic, and in doing so they chose to cannibalize a key emotional note of the previous finale (namely kiryu's mission to dedicate his life to protecting haruka) for hollow last minute stakes-upping in this one. it is then completely disregarded anyway. god damn.

#got so into this post that i used tumblr on my laptop for the first time to surpass mobile's image limit #i also added transcriptions in the alt text (which i should do more often)#actually thinking about it in the movie kiryu teaches haruka that lesson about stumbling on.. and she's the one to ask to follow him... hm.#just interesting given that the movie came out before 2. i don't think it makes much of a difference to the post it's just neat to me #one of my favorite parts of writing this was skimming through a bunch of yk1/yk2 cutscenes and noticing how often kiryu pats haruka's head #it happens a lot more than i remembered and it's very sweet to me. get bonked little one <3 #another good thing was realizing you can edit tags when you're not on mobile.... fucking life changing. i have lost hours to mobile tag #editing and i'm not even kidding about that #speaking of editing this one took like 6 hours.. my brother used “yakuza autism” (verb) for me earlier and it's so true. source: this post #i did have a short break to get food bc i hadn't eaten all day but that's mostly because i woke up at 3pm. anyway #also if you like kiwami 2's ending you're not even remotely alone. i looked at the comment sections of the scene comps and ppl love it #and more power to you!! i like it when people enjoy things. and tbh i DO have feelings that i'm supposed to about that ending #i just also have feelings you're not supposed to. like. anger. i guess.#rgg #ryu ga gotoku #skrunk meta #aww yeah it's a new tag babeyy #yakuza kiwami 2 #kiwami 2 #yakuza #like a dragon #yk2 #kiryu kazuma #sawamura haruka #sayama kaoru #maybe my thoughts'll change after replaying the games...? it's been like a year and a half since i beat yk2 so i am a bit fuzzy on it #yakuza kiwami spoilers #yakuza kiwami 2 spoilers

39 notes · View notes

cafalla · 1 year ago

Text

Fruits Basket Sticker Collection (2008) Scans

Fruits Basket (FB) is one of my all time favorite shoujo manga, and I was so excited to get my hands on an unused copy of this sticker book from 2008!

This main trio makes me so nostalgic. And the Tokyopop logo is SO iconic.

I've always been more of a digital consumer of manga, so I initially read Fruits Basket entirely online from fan-made and fan-translated scans.

I have very fond memories of coming home from school every night and logging onto the family computer to binge as many chapters of FB as I could before dinner. One day my dad gave me his old laptop, since I was the one mostly hogging the family computer.

I was SO excited.

I immediately made my background Shigure themed.

I liked Shigure a lot since he was the year of the dog, just like me.

And you bet I spent all my free time on my clunky early 2000s hand-me-down laptop binging the FB manga, watching the FB anime (in three parts on YouTube, of course), and consuming every FB fanfic and fanart I could find online.

All that to say, this manga holds a special place in my heart. I find myself going back every couple of years and re-reading it.

It truly is such a quintessential y2k shoujo experience.

。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°

Even though this book is titled as a sticker book, it contains more than stickers. As seen in the tagline on the front page, this book also includes pin-ups and temporary tattoos.

Not sure why they only have stickers in the title, I guess that's just more of an attention grabber than pin-ups or temporary tattoos would be.

This book has a hard cover and spiral-bound pages. Because of this, it was actually a bit tricky to scan.

I was able to crop out the spiral for most of the pages, as it wouldn't interfere with the overall image of the page, but I did keep it visible on the title page scan.

Every time I tried cropping it for this page, I felt it took too much away from Kyo's portrait.

So I just let it be.

The first part of the book consists of "pin-ups" of Tohru and the Sohma family.

I will say, pin-up is a bit of an odd word to use. I think something like 'mini posters' would've worked as a better descriptor for what is actually inside the book.

I think most Western audiences associate the word "pin-up" with the image of a sexualized or risqué photo.

But in this case, I think it's meant innocently as a picture that can be "pinned up" on a wall...even though that's basically the same reason for the name behind the the sexualized photos...

Either way, it's a bit funny when it's brought up in a PG setting.

Anyways, the pin-up photos in the book are all loose inside clear paper protector sheets. I think it's a neat, thoughtful way to make the pictures safe and accessible.

Ignore the cafalla.com watermark - that was from when I had a .com blog! But it is still me, and this is still my photo lol.

It's a bit hard to tell from the photo, but these pictures are in plastic sheet protectors, and you can slide the paper in and out from the side.

If you wanted to take a specific picture out, you needn't worry about ripping or ruining them while trying to remove them from the book.

So I really appreciate that detail.

Because of this, scanning these pages was an easy experience. The front page of the "pin-up" depicts art of the character from the manga, and the back of the page has a little bio about the character.

Here is Tohru's front and back page.

As for the Sohma family, they are the same, except they also show a little drawing of their animal form on the back.

Here are Yuki and Kyo's pages.

The book continues with pages for each member of the Sohma family, plus Akito.

I'm surprised Tohru's friends Arisa and Saki weren't included, as they are also pretty frequently appearing characters...more so than some of the family members.

I'm looking at you, Ritsu.

。°。°。°。°。°��°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°

I really adore that the manga art was used for this whole book. The original anime has that early 2000s charm, but I much prefer the manga artwork for this series.

We're going to see a lot of it with the stickers and temporary tattoos, which follow the pin-up photos.

I'm not sure why, but all the sticker and temporary tattoo pages have a similar layout (which you will see), with the exception of this one sticker page.

Not sure why this one page has a cell phone theme and TONS of tiny stickers, but it's cute!

Again, this was a page where it was hard to cut out the spiral without cutting off parts of the stickers located close to it. So I left it in the scan.

Here are the other sticker sheets!

And here are the temporary tattoo sheets!

So cute!!

And like I said, I love that this is all artwork from the manga.

My favorite is the group sticker on the green sheet, where Tohru is wearing the red plaid skirt.

I vividly remember that chapter spread because I adored her outfit. Black, red, and plaid aren't really colors/patterns Tohru wears, and I think they compliment her so much. I also adored how all the boys' outfits matched the same color scheme and aesthetic.

。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°

There we have it, the Fruits Basket sticker (and pin-up...and temporary tattoo) collection!

The whole book is scanned and available for viewing on my Internet Archive account! So please go check it out if you want to see more.

I've also uploaded just the photo scans on my photoblog: nostalgiahime. So if you like to reblog just the photos, please go check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

#txt #fruits basket #furuba #manga #stickers #stationary #temporary tattoos #pinups #anime pinups #tohru honda #yuki sohma #kyo sohma #2008 #scans #my scans #nostalgia

18 notes · View notes

shivasdarknight · 1 year ago

Text

[Video ID: TikTok from Harvard Gullah professor, YouTuber, and TikTokker, Sunn M'cheaux, that is an edit of a press conference with Biden overlaid with the text from Teen Vogue: "Dozens killed in Rafah as Israel Ignores International Criticism, Attacks Refugee Area.

On February 11th, Israel launched its ground campaign in Rafah, killing dozens, while Americans watched the Super Bowl and President Joe Biden's reelection campaign posted memes." The video is dated February 12, 2024.

Biden, with captions: "The king and I also discussed the situation in Rafah. As I said yesterday, our military operation in Rafah-"

A tiktok reply comment from bazookacamel appears next to Biden's head: ""OUR" military plan?"

Rewind sound.

Biden, slowed down: our military operation in Rafah.

Cut to the Druski meme (Druski, a black sports youtuber and influenfer) of him scratching his chin smugly with captions: "Stop, stop, stop. What do you mean by that?"

Law and Order Dun-Dun sound plays.

Video ends on a shot of the banner "#weoutchea sunnmcheaux.com" which has the hashtag and official website for Sunn M'cheaux. The video also has his website as a watermark all the way through. The description on both TikTok and YouTube is: "What do you mean by that, Joe? 🤔". /End ID.]

oh! so he's being honest! good for him!!

Rafah is still being sieged and no one has anywhere to go. People are being slaughtered and all he can do is flub his way through a press conference, show his hand, and have his press campaign post memes while the refugee site was being carpet bombed????

Fuck off actually. He's enabled the murder of ~30,000 Palestinians as a low estimate, half of that being children, and a terrifying number of those children not even making it to their first birthday.

Is he really the bloody hill y'all wanna die on? That's fucked and fucking sickening.

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Palestinian Red Crescent Society

Islamic Relief USA

Doctors Without Borders

PCRF

ANERA

Defense of Children Palestine

Daily UNRWA click donation site - literally free, there's no excuse not to

UNRWA donation page

Care for Gaza donation PayPal

source+mirror:

#sunn m'cheaux #free palestine #free gaza #rafah #palestine #original #repost #not mine it's clearly sunn m'cheaux's

7 notes · View notes

lan-star · 1 year ago

Text

Sharing this clip from the Sonic Boom Live Read back in 2014 I screen recorded off of YouTube (IGNORE THE MOBIZEN WATERMARK I NEED TO MAKE A POINT IN TIME TO REMOVE IT BEFORE SCREENRECORDING AGAIN)

I might make two (or three) Laserhawk skits off of it

One for Secrets Of Eden with Rosea and Auberon

(These two goobers)

And (maybe) 2 versions with Rosea and Bullfrog (cuz orginally I intended for Scerets Of Eden to have oc x canon stuff with them but now it'll be unrelated brainrot I make just to goof- also maybe out of spite for my twin saying it doesn't make sense cuz Rosea's a mushroom only for them to make a bat oc to ship with Bullfrog when I finally get them to cave and make a Laserhawk oc)

#sonic boom #sonic boom 2014 table read #captain laserhawk ocs #laserhawk ocs

2 notes · View notes

songvalle · 13 days ago

Text

Upload Your Album on JioSaavn in 2025: Common Mistakes to Avoid

If you're an independent artist or a music producer looking to make your mark in the industry, you need to distribute your music on major streaming platforms. One of the best platforms for artists in India and beyond is JioSaavn. When you upload your album on JioSaavn in 2025, you get access to a massive audience, potential revenue streams, and valuable insights into your listeners. However, many artists make mistakes during the upload process that can impact their music’s visibility and reach. Whether it’s poor audio quality, incorrect metadata, or lack of promotion, these mistakes can prevent your album from getting the attention it deserves. To help you avoid these pitfalls, here’s a detailed guide on the most common mistakes artists make and how you can ensure a successful release.

Mistake 1: Uploading Low-Quality Audio Files

Why Audio Quality Matters

One of the biggest mistakes artists make when uploading music to JioSaavn is not paying attention to audio quality. Streaming platforms prioritize high-quality music to maintain a great listening experience for users. If your tracks have low bitrate, background noise, or distortion, listeners are more likely to skip them.

How to Fix It

Always record and produce your music in a professional environment.

Use lossless or high-quality compressed audio formats such as WAV, FLAC, or 320kbps MP3.

Work with a professional sound engineer for proper mixing and mastering.

Listen to your tracks on different devices before uploading to ensure consistency.

Mistake 2: Incorrect Metadata and Missing Information

The Role of Metadata in Music Discovery

Metadata includes crucial details such as the artist name, song title, album title, genre, and release date. If you enter incorrect information or leave fields blank, it can affect your album’s discoverability on JioSaavn. Mistakes in metadata can also lead to your music being listed under the wrong artist profile, which confuses listeners and reduces your chances of getting streams.

How to Fix It

Double-check all metadata before submitting your album.

Ensure your artist name matches the one used across all streaming platforms.

Select the correct genre and sub-genre to improve searchability.

Add accurate track titles and avoid unnecessary symbols or typos.

Mistake 3: Using Poor-Quality or Unprofessional Cover Art

First Impressions Matter

Your album cover is the first thing potential listeners see before clicking on your music. If your artwork looks pixelated, poorly designed, or unprofessional, it can turn people away. JioSaavn also has specific requirements for cover art, and failing to meet them may result in delays or rejection.

How to Fix It

Use high-resolution images (at least 3000 x 3000 pixels in JPEG or PNG format).

Avoid blurry, pixelated, or heavily watermarked designs.

Ensure your artwork reflects the theme and mood of your album.

If you're not skilled in graphic design, consider hiring a professional designer.

Mistake 4: Not Promoting Your Album After Uploading

Why Promotion is Essential

Many artists think that once they upload their album on JioSaavn in 2025, their job is done. However, music doesn’t promote itself—you need to actively market it to reach your audience. Without promotion, even the best songs can go unnoticed.

How to Fix It

Announce your album release on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Create short teaser clips or behind-the-scenes content to build hype.

Submit your songs to playlist curators on JioSaavn and other streaming services.

Engage with fans by responding to comments, hosting live sessions, and encouraging shares.

Mistake 5: Ignoring JioSaavn’s Artist Tools

Making the Most of JioSaavn’s Features

JioSaavn offers several tools for artists to track their performance, analyze listener demographics, and optimize their reach. Many artists fail to take advantage of these tools, which means they miss out on valuable insights that could help them grow their audience.

How to Fix It

Use analytics to understand which songs are performing best and why.

Adjust your marketing strategy based on listener engagement metrics.

Mistake 6: Releasing Music Without a Strategy

The Importance of a Release Plan

If you release your album randomly without a proper plan, you might not get the best results. Many artists rush their releases without setting up pre-release marketing, scheduling their drop at the right time, or planning for post-release promotions.

How to Fix It

Set a release date at least a few weeks in advance and start building excitement.

Submit your album early to ensure it gets approved on time.

Collaborate with influencers and bloggers to generate buzz.

Plan a launch event or listening party to engage with fans.

Mistake 7: Not Understanding Copyright and Licensing

Protecting Your Music Rights

Many independent artists upload their music without properly understanding copyright laws. If you don’t have the rights to a beat, sample, or instrumental, your music might get taken down due to copyright claims.

How to Fix It

Only use original compositions or properly licensed beats.

Read and understand JioSaavn’s content guidelines before uploading.

Mistake 8: Expecting Instant Success

Patience and Persistence in the Music Industry

Some artists get discouraged when they don’t see immediate results after uploading their album. The truth is, building an audience takes time, and streaming success doesn’t happen overnight.

How to Fix It

Be consistent in releasing and promoting music.

Engage with your audience and build a loyal fanbase.

Network with other artists and collaborate on projects.

Focus on creating high-quality music rather than chasing quick success.

Conclusion

Uploading your album on JioSaavn in 2025 can be a game-changer for your music career, but it’s important to do it the right way. Avoiding common mistakes like poor audio quality, incorrect metadata, lack of promotion, and ignoring artist tools can help you achieve better results. The key to success on streaming platforms is attention to detail, proper planning, and continuous promotion. Take the time to optimize your album upload process, engage with your audience, and make the most of JioSaavn’s features to maximize your reach.

Have you ever made any of these mistakes while uploading your music? Share your experience in the comments and let’s help each other grow! 🚀

For further reading, explore these related articles:

Upload Your Album on JioSaavn and Earn Money

How to Upload Your Album on JioSaavn as an Independent Artist

Why JioSaavn is a Great Platform for Independent Artists

How to Upload Your Album on JioSaavn with No Upfront Fees

For additional resources on music marketing and distribution, visit DMT Records Private Limited.

0 notes