#also op this art is super adorable

[hashtagcaneven]

...okay but "fishmonger" used to be very old slang for "pimp" and now this picture is not only super cute but also funny with the implication that the mermaid pimps out the fish she sells.

"Oh no, I just manage the wharf. My wife here does all the fishmongering."

Is what he would probably say if you asked about the giant mackerel.

[fiapple]

to be totally upfront with you, when it comes to op i am like... 90% just here for the women. like, don't get me wrong, the male characters are fun & i enjoy them! i'm having a blast, even! there are a few upcoming arcs that i'm vaguely aware of which i'm sure will allow some of the men to garner more of my favour!

but also, like... the women are the characters that make me feel like screaming & crying & slowly peeling off my skin layer by layer. they are the characters who haunt me, who harrow me, who's suffering i feel in my very bones. they are the characters who have intellects which fill me with awe, resilience that guts me organ by organ, the characters who are flawed in a manner which ground me & heartens me in equal measure, the characters given a sort of atypical strength which fascinates me, their sense of chaotic whimsy what brings a lightness to my heart. the women are the people carrying the story for me. it wouldn't be anything close to worthwhile without them.

[brucebocchi]

Winter 2024 anime, Pt. 2: Mixed reactions, the bench, and the gems

hey y'all, this is also up on my ko-fi! it's free to read both here and there, but i'm struggling financially rn so i could appreciate if you'd throw a few bucks my way if you liked it! part 1 can be found here.

And we're back for part 2! Here's all the new stuff I finished this season, and one more I'll get back to later. As with before, these are sorted alphabetically within each category and are not ranked as of yet.

Also as before, the OP for each series is linked in the title. Check them all out if the header images aren't giving you the right feel for each show, but also check them out because most of them were actually pretty damn good this season.

[Solo Leveling OP voice] LET'S GET IT!

Mixed Bags:

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!

Your standard, quasi-harem “easily flustered Regular Guy wins over hot girls just by being really nice” shonen romcom. I really don’t have much to say about this one other than if you’ve seen My Dress-Up Darling, you’ve basically seen this already. The only thing that really sets it apart is the setting.

Tsubasa (voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki, in a FAR cry from his turn as Mahito in Jujutsu Kaisen) is a straight-laced Tokyoite whose family situation lands him in a small city in the frozen boonies of Hokkaido. While looking for the bus to his new house, he runs into a gyaru in the snowy wild, the underdressed, hilariously-proportioned Minami, and they hit it off. It turns out they go to the same school, there are other cute girls there who take a shine to him as well, it’s nothing new.

I ultimately don’t have much to say about Hokkaido Gals, but I do have a soft spot for series like this, and after reading ahead in the manga I felt obligated to see it through. This is all junk food, but it’s all stuff you’ve seen done better in other series. I also have a soft spot for gyaru in anime and manga, and while I do like Minami just fine, she isn’t Marin Kitagawa or Rumiko Manbagi. I don’t really have it in me to recommend this show to many, though, at least not until another season rolls around, if that ever happens. The manga genuinely does get a lot better as it goes on, but the really worthwhile stuff may not happen until a third season, and I just don’t see that happening. 

The manga has issues that the anime isn’t willing or able to solve, chief of which being the visuals. The art style of the manga is wildly inconsistent, and getting a mediocre animation team on this didn’t help matters at all. While the colors often pop nicely against the pretty, snowy backdrops, nobody looks all that great overall. The characters are recognizable, but they just plain don’t look great a lot of the time, nor do they look consistent from one cut to the next; I said that Minami’s proportions are hilarious, but just as hilarious is how wildly they vacillate from one scene to the next for the sake of trying to titillate the viewer.

My biggest takeaway from both the manga and anime was everything I learned about Hokkaido in the process, and if the series is taking subsidies from the island’s tourism bureau, then it’s a job well done. I want some goddamn jingisukan now. The OP is a great time, though. I’m shocked it took over a decade for us to get a proper “Uptown Funk” knockoff in an anime.

Metallic Rouge

I’ll be upfront in saying that this was my biggest disappointment of the season by far. This show had so much going for it, and what we got was… ugh.

There was an unbelievable amount of promise from the outset: This was Studio Bones’ commemorative 25th anniversary production, and coming from the studio that gave us all-timer adaptations like Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Mob Psycho 100, not to mention later works from Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe (including the Cowboy Bebop movie), you can’t fault anyone for having high expectations. It looked to be a fitting production as well: Watanabe’s influence shines through immediately in the gorgeous, lived-in cyberpunk off-world locales and racially diverse cast. Action takes the form of dope robo-tokusatsu transformation fisticuffs, and it’s entirely in 2D animation to boot. The first couple of episodes were killer, too; everything looked and sounded amazing, and there were just enough plot threads teased out that I just had to see how they’d unravel.

It brings me no joy, then, to say that Metallic Rouge collapses into a jumbled mess. I don’t even want to bother talking about what happens in the show because I don’t fucking care anymore. There are few media experiences more sobering than to have it dawn on you over a span of several weeks that “oh… this isn’t actually all that good, is it?” Episode after episode piles on with sloppy lore, weak worldbuilding, warring factions whose names you immediately forget, pointless double-crosses, and the most predictable twist you’ve ever seen. For a while I was willing to accept the fact that I didn’t know what was going on half the time and expected things to become clearer, but now I’m not entirely sure the writers knew either. The stakes apparently kept rising and everything just kept getting more claustrophobic. I’m glad it’s over, if only because if I had to hear “Clair de Lune” one more fucking time, I was going to go ballistic. 

There are several attempts at emotional beats, as the story is rife with tragedy and sacrifice, and every single one lands with a wet thud. Nobody gets enough time, motivation, or characterization for any of these things to feel like they actually matter, and that’s especially a shame because the finale might have been able to stick the landing if the previous episodes were less dense and better paced. Emphasis on “almost,” though, because just before the season ends, we get the absolute most pointless fakeout I’ve seen since The Rise of Skywalker, which is the lowest point of comparison you can make for any work of sci-fi.

This is especially frustrating because on paper, there is so much to like here. Rouge and Naomi are likable-enough deuteragonists with a fun dynamic, and they’d make easy yuri bait in a better show. The characters are all pretty and uniquely designed across the board, and the overall aesthetic, almost a pastiche of late-90’s anime futurism, is undeniable. The toku suit designs are neat and several of the action scenes are gorgeous. The score and soundtrack are outstanding (except for the aforementioned Debussy indulgence). I have few complaints about how the show looks and sounds; the style is great! All of my issues lie with the substance.

Metallic Rouge may have had all the ingredients, but it just needed more time to cook; whether that would have been by doubling the episode count or by more carefully planning the pacing and trimming some of the fat from the lore, I’m still not sure. Probably both. It probably needed better writers, too. Maybe it just isn’t as smart as it acts and there was no way to satisfyingly resolve the clumsy civil rights allegories that bring it uncomfortably close to the likes of Detroit: Become Human. So all of the above, I guess. I tend to adore stories that involve artificially-intelligent beings developing their own wills and emotions and learning to cut their own strings (the likes of Blade Runner, Nier Automata, even a couple of character arcs in the Persona series), but this ain’t it. I’m not even mad anymore. I’m just disappointed.

If there are two positives that will stick with me, though, they would be the absolute banger of an OP and, of course, Naomi Orthmann herself (pictured above, left). Outstanding character design. I’m mildly obsessed. She deserved a better show.

The Unwanted Undead Adventurer

This one isn’t even worth talking about, so here’s a brief synopsis, then I’ll add some commentary, and then we’ll all move on with our lives. 

Rentt, a beloved but mediocre adventurer in a fantasy town, gets lost in the mysterious labyrinth that all adventurers explore for personal gain, gets waxed by a dragon, and awakens as a shitty-looking CGI skeleton. He notices, though, that he’s able to level up better as a skeleton than he did as a human, and with the more monsters he defeats, the more he evolves into something closer to human. The rest isn’t really worth discussing.

If I’m being honest, I should’ve dropped this show much sooner. It looks kinda lousy most of the time, the plot (inasmuch as there even is one) is boring, character designs are forgettable (except for Rentt’s closest ally, Lorraine, holy hell) and it seems wholly uninterested in actually building its own setting. If it returns for a second season, I won’t be there, nor will I feel like I’m missing anything. Each episode felt like a chore to watch. I probably only saw it through because 1) I liked looking at Lorraine, I know what I’m about, and 2) I didn’t want to lump it in with the shows I did drop. The Unwanted Undead Adventurer isn’t as patently upsetting or frustrating as those three, but it just plain isn’t a very good show.

The Witch and the Beast

This show could have been so much more. I was drawn in by the gorgeous character designs and intriguing blend of Victorian gothic aesthetics and architecture with modern infrastructure, and very quickly disappointed by just about everything else. The first episode is an exceptional proof of concept, and almost everything that follows is an upsetting showcase of what could have been.

The story centers around Ashaf, a languid, chain-smoking agent of the governing church with a big-ass coffin strapped to his back, and his partner Guideau, a snarling hyena in a young woman’s body, as they investigate abuses of magic across the continent in search of nefarious witches. Guideau in particular has a bone to pick with witches, as the body they presently inhabit is the result of a witch’s curse, and they remain in furious pursuit of the one who cursed them. The curse can be temporarily undone by a kiss with a witch, allowing Guideau’s true body, a hulking brute confined to the coffin, to escape and wreak havoc. Meaning that on a few occasions we get a girl-on-girl kiss followed by a big dude wrecking shit. There’s also other investigations of serial killings, necromancy, and a cursed sword, and here’s hoping you like those, because the coffin breaks are few and far between.

This wasn’t great! By the third episode I had the sneaking suspicion that the animation talent on hand just wasn’t enough to support the aesthetic. While the character designs are exceptional, almost everyone looks awful in any shot that isn’t completely focused on them. This is especially true of Guideau, who looks so inconsistently off-model from one shot to the next that I’m still not entirely sure what they’re supposed to look like, and that’s kind of unforgivable when we’re talking about a main character. Everything looks too dim and too shiny at the same time, and action scenes look like shit more often than they look interesting. I can see so many flickers of something excellent (or at least really good-looking) in Witch and the Beast, and everything else that keeps those flickers from actually igniting makes it so much more frustrating to watch. Maybe just read the manga instead; the panels I've seen from it were uniformly gorgeous.

Actually, yeah, you should probably just read the manga, because for a season of anime, the pacing is atrocious too. It’s clearly trying to angle for a monster-of-the-week format, but each of these mini-arcs is a little too dense for a single episode, so multiple episodes are dedicated to these one-off curiosities, most of which do nothing to advance the plot or show off what the show does best. And if one of them isn’t particularly interesting, you’re saddled with it for the next two weeks like you've been stuck munching on a mealy apple. And I know you can only adapt so much in a 12-episode season, but the decision to end the season on a flashback arc and a lore dump was baffling. That’s not world-building, that’s lazy, and it made the show’s existing pacing issues feel that much more inane.

I feel like I was sold a false bill of goods. I can only imagine how the mangaka feels about this. Dull and uninspiring all around. What a waste.

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic

Isekai, unassuming high school boy gains a unique power, impending war with the Demon Lord, yadda yadda yadda. The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic isn’t anything new or special by any means, nor is it particularly well-animated or -paced, but at its best it’s silly and charming enough that it made a nice, brainless palate cleanser on Fridays.

Usato, your standard quiet high schooler, ends up walking home on a rainy evening with the popular, attractive student council president and VP, when an isekai portal happens. It turns out that it was just the seito-kai that was invited along for the ride (and President Suzune, as it turns out, is fucking psyched to get to be in an isekai), and Usato got caught along with them. When tested for magical aptitude, Suzune and VP Kazuki hit the jackpot with electric and light affinities, respectively, but things go awry when Usato’s reading turns up with healing magic. Terror strikes the palace as the intimidating dommy-mommy Captain Rose barges in to spirit Usato away from his new friends and into her squadron of goons to train him as a combat medic.

As character comedy goes, this one is actually pretty solid at times. Shogo Sakata is plenty of fun as the put-upon, lippy Usato (a much louder role than Chainsaw Man’s Aki Hayakawa), and Atsuko Tanaka (Major Kusanagi herself!) is a blast as the terrifying Rose, an uncompromising slave driver of a drill sergeant with a secret soft side. The dynamic between them is great, too; Usato is over Rose’s shit from the beginning and isn’t afraid to talk back to her, but before you know it, this transforms into friendly banter as Rose clearly takes a shine to Usato and knows he can handle any punishment she doles out. Suzune’s also a bunch of fun now that she’s broken away from having to be the competent, popular girl at school and gets to fully lean into being a complete dork.

Wrong Way also works decently as an isekai, because it makes an effort to stay rooted in high fantasy rather than fall back on JRPG mechanics, meaning there are no stat screens! It also avoids the trappings of wish-fulfillment isekai series by having Usato start out as a regular-ass guy; he’s not a Kirito type, just someone Rose sees as a rough gem in need of cutting. There are no cheat skills or OP weapons or anything, just a kid training every day to get stronger so he can protect the people close to him, and that’s the kind of anime protagonist you should want to be.

For better and for worse, I get serious mid-00s vibes from this one; watch the OP if you don’t believe me. Some of the colors pop uncannily in that early-digipaint-era way, and the animation is pretty middling; the most fluid animation we see is whenever Suzune is acting like a creep. Much like those mid-00s anime, though, Wrong Way may have benefited from being weekly (or twice as long) rather than seasonal. There’s a ton of planting with very little payoff, and it doesn’t feel like the actual scope of the story has even been addressed yet. We don’t even learn why the series has the name it does until someone literally says it aloud in the 11th episode. I may have to reevaluate this season after a possible second, if we ever get one, because this doesn’t stand too well on its own.

Of the anime in this “mixed bags” segment, I’d say I enjoyed Wrong Way the most, but it still had enough problems for me to keep it here. It’s not a particularly bad anime, but it’s not especially good either. I guess we can slot it into what Hazel refers to as “good mid.”

On Hold: 

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (three episodes watched)

Man, what a title. That was the main draw for this BL series, which on paper is basically a gay version of the Mel Gibson vehicle What Women Want. 

Adachi (a surname that will always make me laugh thanks to Persona 4), a gloomy salaryman, has hit the big 3-0 without getting any, and now he can somehow read anyone’s thoughts just by making physical contact with them. Just as he laments that this is his life now, he accidentally bumps into his handsome, popular coworker, Kurosawa, whom he learns has been harboring a massive crush on Adachi this whole time. Well dang, what now? Kurosawa’s a really nice, thoughtful dude, but Adachi’s never even thought about being with a man before! And isn’t there something wrong with already knowing this secret? How can he even go into the office and look Kurosawa in those big, handsome eyes… every single day…

What I’ve seen so far has been pretty solid, if not particularly well animated. The visuals are really my only gripe here; I just put it off for way too long and didn’t have it in me to finish it on time to actually get this thing written and published. Yaoi isn’t my forte, which feels like a shortcoming on my end as a fledgling bisexual, and I’ve already remarked on the solid LGBT representation this past season, so I do plan on hopping back on this one.

I gotta say, the co-leading voice actors put in serious work this season. Adachi is voiced by Chiaki Kobayashi, who continued his role as Stark in Frieren, returned to Mashle as Mash Burnedead, and contributed to Metallic Rouge’s cluttered cast as Noid. Kurosawa’s seiyuu, Ryota Suzuki (of whom I’ll always be a fan for his masterful turn as Yu Ishigami in Kaguya-sama), also held down leading roles in Bang Brave Bang Bravern and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer. They’ve been great in the few episodes of Cherry Magic! that I’ve seen so far, and they’ll be a huge part of what brings me back.

The Gems:

Bang Brave Bang Bravern

I feel like the mark of a perfectly audacious piece of media is in the moments where I find myself incredulously shouting “WHAT THE FUCK AM I WATCHING” at the screen, and Bravern made me do that at least once per episode. I have so many things to say about what makes this show great but all of it can be summed up as “it fucks so goddamn hard.”

A joint military exercise in Hawaii between Japanese and American mech pilots goes south as a sudden invasion by metalloid aliens portends certain doom for humanity. Just in the nick of time, though, a bombastic, autonomous mech named Bravern arrives from space and insists that ace pilot Isami Ao take his reins. Isami reluctantly agrees, and to his consternation, Bravern goes full tokusatsu on everyone’s asses, complete with fully-diegetic theme music, and keeps the threat at bay. With Bravern continuing to pester him to act as a pilot, Isami is forced to take up the mantle of a reluctant hero as everyone rallies around Bravern to save Earth. Tagging along is blond-haired, blue-eyed American pilot Lewis Smith, who gets to live out all of his Top Gun fantasies, right down to the latent homosexuality.

That last point isn’t a projection or anything: This show is legitimately gay as hell, and it rules. Bravern’s feelings towards Isami feel far more romantic than what you’d expect from a literal robot, and his description of how it felt to have Isami pilot him for the first time, as relayed to a grim-faced military council, is riddled with hilarious innuendo. Isami struggles not only with shouldering the burden of needing to be a hero to all of humanity, but also being beset on both sides by a loud, insistent mecha and a dewy-eyed gaijin, both of whom very well seem to want to get in his pants. Intricate rituals punctuate Isami and Lewis’ angsty relationship as these broad-shouldered, muscular men grow ever closer. It’s also worth reiterating that Isami is voiced by Ryota Suzuki, who also voiced Kurosawa in Cherry Magic!, and that may not have even been his gayest role this season. I’m not super well-versed in mecha as a genre, but I do know that there’s a lot of Warrior’s Bond-type stuff in these series, and Bravern lays it on thick. And hard.

This show looks killer, by the way. CGI implementation in 2D anime is still a touchy subject, but Bravern features some of the best I’ve ever seen. Simple cel-shading goes a long way to the point where, outside of some uncanny motion, Bravern himself feels perfectly blended into the hand-drawn animation. Mecha designs range from realistic military-style tech to otherworldly sentient robots, and battle sequences run the same gamut as the stakes rise. As goofy as all of the above may sound, it’s committed to being a grandiose, big-time mecha showcase.

This is as good as camp gets in anime; Bravern does for the mecha genre what Akiba Maid War did for yakuza film pastiche (I have also heard positive comparisons to Samurai Flamenco, which I’ll have to get on ASAP). It’s an excellent mecha show in its own right, and wildly hilarious to boot. Bravern himself is very genre-savvy and seemingly a bit of an otaku himself; he loves acting like a mecha hero, to everyone else’s chagrin. Several of the villains (also mechanical beings, voiced by an all-star seiyuu roster that includes Kenjiro Tsuda, the aforementioned Atsuko Tanaka, and Rie Kugimiya) are total dorks themselves. A CIA interrogator tries to waterboard a mecha at one point. Bravern is a deeply silly show, but its heart is planted as firmly on its sleeve as its tongue is in its cheek: For as wacky as it can get, the story still unfolds with a straight face and excellent emotional beats. 

This show also has the most unskippable ED of any anime since Chainsaw Man dropped a new one every week. I will not say what happens. You cannot predict what it is. Just watch it. One of the top YouTube comments on that video says “When I saw this ending after episode 2, I thought I was going crazy.” That’s a ringing endorsement.

Chained Soldier

On the heels of 100 Girlfriends completely rewiring my brain, I was raring for some more good old-fashioned anime trash. I was told that there would be plenty this season, but you can consult the “dropped” section to see how well that worked out for me. Chained Soldier came with some significant hype, and soon enough into the first episode I realized that I’d actually skimmed through this manga before (don’t ask why), so I was on board immediately. Now here’s some nice trashy fun.

The world is in peril thanks to creatures called Shuuki that can advance on our world via portals from another dimension. Women primarily lead the charge against these monsters, as this dimension produces a special fruit that can lend them (and not men) otherworldly powers to help them in the fight. Yuuki, a perfectly normal young man, ends up in grave danger as he stumbles into a portal, where he is saved by the beautiful Kyouka, a commander who is able to subjugate Shuuki at will and use them to fight others. In a bind, she asks Yuuki if she can subjugate him, which he agrees to by licking her finger and transforming into a monster himself, at her beck and call. Because of his utility in battle, Yuuki is enlisted into her squad of baddies (and also an 11-year-old), living in their home as a caretaker and answering directly to Kyouka as her “slave.”

I know. Hear me out.

I put “slave” in scare quotes because Chained Soldier fortunately isn’t going full Shield Hero on us; this arrangement has a give-and-take baked in. See, every time Yuuki completes his service, Kyouka (or whomever else takes advantage of this anomaly) is compelled to carry out whatever suitable “reward” springs from his unconscious, and this is where the ecchi kicks in. Sometimes it’s a kiss, and sometimes it’s something a little more; the reward corresponds to the length and intensity of Yuuki’s contributions to battle, so the heat can turn up in the form of, say, clothed face-sitting, a good scrubbing in the bath, or some nice, casual CBT. All of this is to say that “slave” is a bit of a buzzword here: It’s more of a dom/sub situationship with a lot of extra steps.

Yes, just about everything that isn’t an action setup is full-on harem trash, and Chained Soldier lays it on thick, right down to full-on nudity. Nothing about this show resembles high art, but I can’t help but admire such a high level of commitment to its aesthetic, including the sleaze. It fully commits to the bit and doesn’t even bother lampshading its own trashiness. Chained Soldier knows what it’s about, and I respect that. It also has the good sense not to sexualize the youngest girl, which is a point in its favor that I can’t award a couple other shows previously discussed.

And while this show is plenty fun, the action sequences often excellent, and the character designs usually delightful, there’s not actually a whole lot going on here. As I said with Mashle, I know that battle manga like this can take a minute to really get cooking, and as I said with Witch and the Beast, 12 episodes may not always be a sufficient runtime to adapt enough to break ground, but the debut season feels more like a proof of concept than anything else. That being said, Chained Soldier’s manga has a very effusive audience, and its praises don’t seem to entirely be about the boobs and butts, so I’ll wait patiently for the second season. I think it’s earned that much.

Delicious in Dungeon

This is the one I’m having the hardest time writing about because it so confidently and so completely speaks for itself that anything I could add would feel like scattering sawdust at the beach. Dungeon Meshi (I refuse to call it by its official English title) is a widely beloved manga among those who’ve read it, and for Studio Trigger to do an honest-to-goodness manga adaptation for the first time might as well be front page news among anime fans. 

The story follows Laios, the deeply weird human hero, as he delves back into a bizarre and mysterious dungeon to rescue his sister Falin from the belly of a dragon, along with his misfit party: The neurotic half-elven mage Marcille, the temperamental halfling rogue Chilchuck, and the dwarven warrior-slash-chef Senshi. The party is frequently low on supplies, so to survive the trip they’ll need to subsist on the most abundant resource in the dungeon: Monsters. Senshi’s aptitude in the kitchen helps ensure that everything is edible and sufficiently tasty, regardless of how nasty the monster it came from may have been. With monster obstructions out of the way and their bellies filled, our party delves deeper into the dungeon as the mysteries deepen in kind.

I love the character dynamics in this so goddamn much. Marcille and Chilchuck are frequently put off by the dubious monster food presented to them, but their consternation is worsened by the fact that Laios’ fascination with the monsters it came from annoys the shit out of them. I referred to him as “deeply weird,” but that doesn’t begin to describe his absolute galaxy brain, and I mean it as a term of endearment. Laios is deeply knowledgeable and curious about the fauna in the dungeon, and not just how they taste: He is vocally curious about how certain monster attacks may feel, sings along with siren songs, and even keeps a hardcover bestiary inside his breastplate. He’s one of those people you turn to if you have a question on a hyperspecific subject, but you have to be careful how you ask it or else you’re trapped for the next two hours. And I love him for it.

Even putting the comedy aside, there is a fascinating human element at play in Dungeon Meshi, and I can tell that that surface has barely even been scratched yet. Marcille is just as dogged in her pursuit of saving Falin as Laios is, maybe even moreso (remember what I keep saying about LGBT representation this season?). Chilchuck continues to convince himself that he’s only in the job for his own personal gain, but you can see that mask slipping. And I still wanna know what Senshi’s deal is. Even with the five major players I listed, there’s an increasingly deep roster surrounding them—showcasing a broad spectrum of races and ethnicities, both real and fantastical—each with their own histories and motivations, and I cannot wait to see how they play out and interact with one another. There seem to be much deeper themes at play here as well as we learn more about perceptions and grudges between differing races, oppositional magics, clashing ideologies, and the monetary incentives that drive both the dungeon’s exploration and its very existence. I’m here for it.

I’ve been holding off on reading the manga until the season is up in June (though I could crack any day), but I know a loving adaptation when I see one. Not that Trigger ever slacks off in the animation department, but they absolutely brought their A-game here. Everyone looks bouncy and cartoony in the way only Trigger can pull off while still looking as close as possible to Ryoko Kui’s source material (as far as I can tell). As with Frieren, the action sequences aren’t frequent, nor are they entirely what the show is about, but they look incredible every single time. And the food, of course, looks incredible, no matter how weird. This is practically a cooking anime and a fantasy dungeon anime at the same time, and both aspects are visually on point at all times.

I’m obviously speaking from my own bubble as one of the six people who still use Tumblr in 2024, but I rarely see new anime make a splash like this on social media every single week, and the ones that I do are usually the monster shonen hits like Chainsaw Man or Jujutsu Kaisen. Dungeon Meshi deserves the exposure and success it’s attained, and I’m excited to see it continue. I’d easily slot this right up there with Bravern as one of the best new anime of the season.

A Sign of Affection

I’ve seen a hell of a lot of shonen slice-of-life romances in the past year and change, so a nice fluffy shoujo like this was an excellent palate cleanser. There were a hell of a lot of Big Action Setpieces and panicky teens and grim dungeon crawlers this season, and at the end of the week I wanted to unwind with a bunch of pretty twenty-somethings falling in love with each other.

The show centers on Yuki, a young woman living with congenital hearing loss, making do at a public college after growing up at a school for the deaf. Though she’s able to get by with LINE messages and lip reading, she’s unprepared when a foreigner asks for help, but she’s saved by a handsome and mysterious young man named Itsuomi. He’s able to help out, and takes an interest in her when he realizes his fellow undergrad is deaf, and Yuki takes an interest in kind because he’s really goddamn hot. It turns out that he’s a polyglot and an avid world-traveler, but sign language is not in his purview. This mutual interest sparks the concern of her childhood friend, Oushi, one of the few people in her life who already use sign language, who wants to be sure that nothing untoward is happening. And it isn’t, because this is just a really lovely, low-stakes romance story.

This is pure, unfiltered shoujo at its best. Yuki’s internal monologue is peppered with flowery prose, and everything and everyone looks soft and beautiful. Fashionable, doe-eyed women and pillowy-lipped ikemen abound (seriously, holy shit, the lips on these boys) as the scope widens and the main love interests’ friends explore their own possible love stories. Itsuomi is very much of the “mysterious boy” archetype you’ll find in romance stories in this demographic, but he’s not hiding any sort of dark past like you’d typically expect; he’s just an interesting guy who keeps his personal life close to the vest. He’s a self-appointed world citizen who loves learning about how people of all cultures live their lives, and in Yuki he sees someone within his home turf who happens to live in her own world entirely. And it’s easy to see his forward behavior with Yuki as infantilizing at first (Oushi sure does, and I’ll get back to him in a second), but as they grow closer Itsuomi quickly becomes much more considerate of her boundaries and learns to accommodate her as he studies sign language and gestures that help ensure her comfort. This is a story about Yuki’s horizons broadening just as much as it is about Itsuomi wanting to be let into Yuki’s narrow world, and that sort of synergy makes for some exceptional romance.

A Sign of Affection deserves some credit for refusing to shy away from Yuki’s disability and making a point of depicting her world as one that does little to accommodate her. Very few people in her daily life ever bothered to learn sign language, she relies on a friend to take notes during lectures, and work is hard to come by. It’s an honest depiction that makes an effort not to be exploitative, which is a breath of fresh air. Not only that, but there’s some interesting meta-commentary in there: The only major conflict in the story stems from Oushi’s jealousy, and his reservations about Itsuomi possibly “taking advantage of” Yuki almost feel like he believes that he’s the only one who knows what’s best for her just because he’s done the bare minimum to accommodate her. He thinks he’s coming from a good place, but he winds up accidentally infantilizing her in exactly the way he thinks Itsuomi might. That’s a particularly interesting bit of irony!

I’ve seen enough shonen-oriented romcoms where an unassuming Regular Guy gets flustered as a way-too-casual girl pushes his buttons (hell, I’ve already reviewed two of those this season), so it’s nice to see the formula flipped for a shoujo as Yuki and her best friend Rin blush and squee over Itsuomi and his coworker Kyouya, respectively. A Sign of Affection isn’t afraid to get a little silly with it, either; plenty of these moments are punctuated by characters’ faces going low-detail or full chibi, and they are cute as shit every single time.

This one was just cozy as hell. If you’re into this sort of thing, swaddle yourself in it and bask.

Solo Leveling

I let this one collect dust after the third episode and didn’t pick it back up until the season was almost up, and honestly, I was kinda dreading it: The trailers didn’t look too promising, the show was slow to start, and it looked like yet another derivative JRPG-style dungeon crawler that managed to get popular. Turns out, nah, this show actually kinda fucks and the web novel series and webtoon it’s based on are popular for a reason. The story is nothing special, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a perfectly serviceable turn-your-brain-off action spectacle with a bit more lying beneath the surface.

In a modern-day South Korea where portals to mysterious dungeons open up and threaten the populace, those who can brave the dungeons, known as hunters, are an invaluable human resource. Once someone is assigned a grade as a hunter, they have that grade for life, barring some rare occurrences. Sung Jinwoo is at the lowest rung on that ladder as an E-rank, incapable of improvement, assigned the epithet “the weakest hunter of all mankind.” He mostly shows up to portal raids as a warm body to fill a quota, and one such job goes haywire as most of the raid party, Jinwoo included, is brutally slaughtered in an arcane secondary dungeon within a portal. He somehow wakes up in a hospital, unharmed, and able to access a digital menu before his eyes that exhorts him to do the One Punch Man workout every day, lest he incur punishment. He gets hilariously chadly in the span of a few days in the hospital, including an inexplicable haircut, and finds access to dungeons only he can enter and levels up within this new system.

This one gets off to a slow start and may have benefited from a longer premiere like Oshi no Ko or Frieren, but once the table is fully set, Solo Leveling really starts to cook. Jinwoo’s titular leveling process is a blast from one fight to the next, and as he moves to work in the dungeons that other hunters can access, it turns out he’s been training with the weights on. He’s suddenly fighting way above his pay grade, and after staving off attacks from hunters taking advantage of portals for nefarious ends, he is recruited by an ambitious corporate scion to make some real coin and establish an independent association of hunters.

While it can feel like there’s a whole bunch of table-setting between portal sequences, it’s some smart worldbuilding on Solo Leveling’s end to establish how portal hunting became a central pillar of this society, and doubly so how political and capitalist interests can leave a wide berth for corruption and bad actors. If there’s money to be made in hunting, of course people will find ways to make even more at the expense of others, both at the corporate and individual levels. There’s a lot of talk in there about “survival of the fittest” and “natural selection” and that… makes me nervous.

Those are terms that can be used to justify immoral actions in the name of money, sure, but Jinwoo also uses them to justify his own process. To what end is he constantly improving himself? Sure, he's doing what he can to provide for his younger sister and their ailing mother, but I see less and less humanity in him as this goes on. There are constant hints at something far more sinister at play than just a dude getting stronger for himself, not the least of which being “the system,” the UI that implores him to keep taking on these “quests.” Something, or someone, seems to be guiding him. Whenever another hunter turns on Jinwoo, of course his self-defense instincts kick in, but system pop-ups instruct him to defeat X number of hostiles like it’s a normal video game scenario. There’s something eerily depersonalized about these encounters, despite them being full-on mortal combat, that gives me serious Ender’s Game vibes. Consider me intrigued.

I’d heard that the Solo Leveling manhwa’s main draw was its visuals, and though I had my doubts early on, I'm sold now. This is a pretty solid presentation! Hiroyuki Sawano turned in yet another banger soundtrack to punctuate all the action setpieces, helping to stitch together a fairly complete tapestry. Said setpieces are exhilarating and almost impressively bloody, and while the animation is nothing impressive in the day-to-day, it goes absolutely batshit when the gloves come off. Movement is inhumanly fluid and the visuals can go into the same loose, psychedelic territories we’ve seen in the likes of Mob Psycho and the second season of Jujutsu Kaisen. If this is the new meta for shonen action, I’m not complaining.

By all rights, this is a pretty decent show, but if I’m being honest, this one just hasn’t stuck with me much. And that’s fine! Sometimes I just wanna see some nutty action stuff and move on with my day. Solo Leveling hits that spot perfectly, and I'll be right back there when it returns for its next season.

‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess

I was surprised to learn that the gag manga this is based on, with such a seemingly simple premise, has been running for well over 200 chapters and counting. As the anime progressed, I was far more pleasantly surprised to learn that it actually works.

In a standard anime fantasy world where the forces of good are fighting the demonic Hellhorde, an unnamed warrior princess and her talking enchanted sword are taken prisoner and subjected to torture as they’re squeezed for intel. Said “torture,” as the title’s scare quotes would suggest, is mildly unconventional, as the demon baddie inquisitor, aptly named Torture Tortura, attempts to ply the princess by presenting her with tantalizingly delicious-looking food that she can only partake in if she coughs up some info. Naturally, the princess caves every single time, but her intel is often inane and useless, so the “torture” continues. It’s not all food, though: The princess is soon held out of arm’s reach of adorable baby animals by a gyaru beastgirl, pampered into submission by a spa-loving giantess, and is faced with a tsundere vampire faildaughter, who… tries. 

And you’d think that would be it; the joke wears thin and you move onto something else. Before you realize it, though, something’s changed: The princess and her captors are quickly becoming friends. The premise almost feels perfunctory: These inquisitors are actual people just doing their jobs, and whatever happens after the princess’ myriad confessions is fair game. There’s no malice or animosity, even during the “torture” sessions themselves: Everyone will have a blast and grow closer as friends, and then the princess will voluntarily go back to her bedless cell. It’s like Sam and Ralph after they clock out, except they’re almost always off the clock. Everyone is genuinely looking out for each other in all directions, and the only thing that keeps the torture going is the need for a status quo to return to, even as it grows more elastic. If anything, Time for "Torture" is a good example of committing to the bit without having to necessarily rely on it.

The real irony in all of this is that it becomes increasingly apparent that the princess is having her needs met in captivity far better than she ever did back home. In her proud proclamations about how she’ll never cave to the temptations before her (shortly before she does just that), the princess often talks about her upbringing and her time as the head of an imperial legion, but these stories often betray her lack of friendship or any of the little things that make life worth living. Her life as royalty was one of isolation and deprivation, to the point where she finds more freedom and fulfillment as a prisoner. She truly lives in a society.

Hellholm, on the other hand, has a surprisingly healthy approach to things like work-life balance, food, and leisure, and its most valuable prisoner is no exception. The Hell-Lord himself is a surprising exemplar of this; for as much as he looks and talks like your standard terrifying JRPG demon king, he’s a surprisingly good dude! He looks after his family, employees, and even the captive princess as if they are all one and the same; he exhibits strong principles and an aversion to conflict, sees to his employees' needs and wants alike, and is a supportive, loving father to his unbelievably precious little daughter (who also serves as a “torturer,” to the princess’ delight). He’s also a big time anime dork, and even bonds with a knight attempting to rescue the princess over their shared otakudom before sending him off peacefully. As “villains” go, he’s top tier.

Time for "Torture" is nothing groundbreaking by any stretch, but it’s a cute, silly time and it plays with anime fantasy tropes in the same way a six-month-old German shepherd “plays” with a cheap stuffed toy. How long the premise holds up is entirely up to you, but I had a lot of fun with it. I have no idea how this ended up being one of the better shows this season, but I guess it just scratched the right itch for me.

[bapple117]

hazbin + undertale thoughts

how many of you currently in the hazbin fandom also existed in the undertale fandom?? I feel like there's so much crossover potential. I feel like the characters would gel really well together, the undertale gang would blend into hell so well TIBIA HONEST

Some of my headcanons if they crossed over:

Mettaton (EX) dancing with Angel Dust and them being fab together

Sans chatting with Husk at the bar as if he's Grillby

Papyrus and Sir Pentious being aspirational goofy weirdos together, making contraptions and being adorable and lame

Undyne and Vaggie comparing spears and bonding over being badass lesbians

Frisk running around with Nifty and Keekee like chaos gremlins

Charlie being mothered by Toriel and healing from it

Alphys sitting awkwardly in a corner and being approached by Lucifer and then them geeking out about special interests together

Alastor watching all of this through narrowed eyes but then being like "hmm all these new sinners are interesting" and then he has like a weird rivalry with Gastor when he eventually shows up lmao

Sans being WAY more OP than Alastor and it being HILARIOUS cause Sans is so sloppy and unrefined and Al hates it but then they eventually team up together in a fight against smth else and it's SUPER FUCKING COOL

Napstablook just floating around the hotel and making Angel jump all the time

I could literally come up with these forever honestly. I wanna so much draw crossover art so bad PLEASE

[roscolate]

NOOOO LUMALEE I KNOW YOU’RE JUST TRYING TO HELP HIM BUT PLEASE DON’T LEAVE HIM 😭😭😰😰

BGM (continued from ACT 2 pt 37)- This is Intolerable - Wolfwalkers

ACT 1

ACT 2 - 1 <<< 42 / 43 / ?

:)

[choochooboss]

Introducing your station master & Magma event host!

Since there's already a lot of passengers visiting this station and I haven't spared much time to get to know my fellow submas fans over Tumbrl yet, an introduction would be in place!

I'm Jun, nice to meet you! *offers a hand for for a shake* I am a devoted submas artist & a monthly Magma event host! I go by ChooChooBoss everywhere (Twitter/Bsky/Twitch/Ko-Fi)!

This will be a long post! I will write a short intro as well which you can just skim through but here is a more in depth view how I got into submas, my other interests and life in general, in case you'd wish to know more about your conductor on this silly train!

How did I get into submas in the first place?

PLA. I met this certain mysterious & cool fellow time traveler and got curious! After the cave scene I went to read his Wiki, found out about Emmet, and... yeah. The emotional impact blasted me right out of a miserable cycle I was going through back then and set my soul on fire!! A month later I set up my first art account on Twitter, and the rest is history. They've become my greatest source of strength and inspiration and I enjoy drawing them every single day!

I love both twins very much! I tend to vibe with Ingo a little more than Emmet, but I draw Emmet more. People say I remind of butler Ingo the most, hehe. I certainly don't mind because I'm a big fan of butlermas!! In fact I got into submas & started playing Pokémon Masters EX in April 2022, a week before butler Ingo banner rolled in, so they truly got a special place in my heart ahah! (pssst draw more butlermas for me pls pls pls-)

However I don't draw warden Ingo as much as I would like to. I still get pretty emotional over his fate ahah, I can't draw him without a single tear! This sweet & kind man leading a good life and being an inspiration to others has been torn from literally everything he had for seemingly no reason apart from his name, clothes and the muscle memory and even those are barely intact. It seems like a miracle he's still standing and breathing after put through everything judging by the wear and tear on his uniform and body. Despite all that he carries a positive attitude, assists everyone in need, and does his best to help people and pokémon understand each other, unconditionally... Oh, my face is wet again...

My other interests besides submas?

Monster Hunter! Zelda! Genshin Impact! Super Mario! Trine! Crash Team Racing! And many many more! My favourite genres are platformers, kart racers, and action games, with a side of rhythm games. I'm a big fan of co-op games! I also watch my sis play JRPGs!

Monster Hunter is the dearest to me out of all. I've been hunting for well over a decade starting from MHFU. The games have charmed me with their incredibly satisfying combat system, world building, creature design, great attention to detail, character customisation and the games being nearly fully co-op!!

Other things I do:

Pokémon is practically the only turn-based game I enjoy, mainly because of the characters and collection aspect. However!! I adore Pokémon Colosseum (the first pkmn game I ever played!) and it's double battle focus, so The Indigo Disc has been a delight after the long starvation for double battles, coming up with different combinations makes the battles much more fun to me!!... I sound like Emmet here do I ahahah! We also share the fact we are both left-handed!

Shuffle dancing, daily pull-ups, and expanding my ever growing VGM collection! I also enjoy traveling and taking photos to keep as a diary! I've played piano in a music school for 9 years, and I can also play kalimba. I've done casual boxing, gymnastics, horse riding and medieval swordfighting. I used to read comics/manga and watch movies and anime but nowadays I barely do that, I just rather use that time for drawing instead of just sitting and watching, unless I have company!

I share the apartment with my anxious brother and our two sweet female cats, Laku (11, stubborn and cuddly) and Kalevi (21, demanding and full of love) in a city center. My parents are both entrepreneurs and run a farm in the countryside & I have 4 siblings with me as the middle kid!

Where can you meet me?

I am a game artist by profession, with 4 yrs of studies and roughly 7 years of EXP in the field doing game art, UI design, character/prop design, in mobile games as well as PC titles, 2D and 3D. At the moment I am looking for work; I keep up the motivation and learn new skills by running my art accounts while looking for new opportunities.

I hail from the land of darkness, snow, salmiakki, metalheads and renownly reserved people, Finland! (UTC+2)

Despite having my roots here I am pretty much the opposite of a typical Finn in almost every sense ahah! I'm a small guy who's not afraid talking to strangers and laughs a lot. And I dislike coffee for the contrary, it's very popular amongst finns.

With the inspiration from submas I've finally stepped into the world of cosplay so you can usually meet this small and excitable Ingo in the biggest local conventions, Desucon and Tracon! Come say hi!

About my social battery:

I'm both social and socially anxious ahah! I love making new friends and talking to all sorts of people and writing comments, and gathering together with my mutuals to do cool stuff together! However my social battery is very small... I often struggle with my AD(H)D and anxiety issues, so my replies can be extremely slow. I'm easily overwhelmed when life gets busy and I deal with it by withdrawing to minimise the the stimuli and then sorting my stuff out one by one. This is a frustrating shortcoming, but I'm working hard to find a balance I can maintain without getting exhausted. Please be patient with me! If you don't hear from me in a while, please don't take it personally! In fact, it makes me really happy if you contact me, for any purpose!

Which pronouns do I go with?

I go by they/them! I am also aroace, so if I appear to show any sort of romantic interest, it's definitely not that. I love meeting new people and am quite interested in people in general so I'm excited to get to know you better, but the thing is... I have been confusing people on several occassions for saying things that could be taken as flirting. I am terribly sorry for that, that's just the way I show how I care!

I don't really identify myself by any specific gender either, but rather by my roles or interests (Magma host, submas fan, game artist etc.). Submas encouraged me to enjoy dressing formally even if I'm just sitting at home, because I love formal clothing in general and wearing them makes me feel confident and stand taller! I usually wear collar shirts and black or white slacks.

More about my AD(H)D:

I don't have an official diagnosis but deal with the same problems as AD(H)D people do; poor work memory, dissociation, hyperfocus (drawing and people), sleep deprivation, impulsiveness (juggling too many things and going with the wind), getting sensory/information overloads, and feeling like I don't fit in. I figured it out after I finished school & lost my job for that I am unable to handle big tasks without anyone giving me directions. It has taken a while but I've figured out things that help me manage my daily life as well as have a medication that mainly boosts my capability to get things started which is another great struggle ahah.

How do I manage to keep myself on track?

I use a Pomodoro timer to keep up a good flow and remember to take breaks! This is what I use the most:

I should set it up on my tablet as well. I think it's really cool to see how many hours I have actually put into drawing! Last year I clocked in well over 3k hours, ahaha!

How to catch me?

Right now I have great difficulty managing replies, but usually you can reach me by DMs! I check Discord and Twitter the most often! However I must ask you to respect my current DNI status. It means I am really overwhelmed so I wish nobody comes asking for my attention until it has been lifted, unless it's really necessary. I really love talking to you all but I also have to accept and deal with my own limits strictly like this or it won't work out.

What am I working on at the moment?

Besides the holiday set I have several short comics under works as well as one big comic (100+ pages!). That one is my personal greatest goal! I started working on it in June 2022 and I have currently 40+ pages sketched and 60+ thumbnailed.

I was afraid of starting any comic projects before submas, but the sheer excitement over them carried me over that personal wall ahah!

The story's beginning and end are looking good and somewhat functional but there's still a lot to work to do and holes to fill in the middle before I dare to start fleshing out the pages. I have little experience in writing or comic making so I hope you forgive if some things don't make sense or the dialogue is a little on the nose so to say ahah!

The story will be packed with action with the overall tone being on the darker side, but it sure won't be lacking in humor! The project's main goal is to make it a celebration of all things submas & to prove to myself I can handle a big scale project despite my shortcomings!

This train has reached the terminal!

Thank you for riding my silly submas train!! I adore reading all your tags and comments! They brighten up my day & fuel my passion even more!! I hope to bring many more fun things for you to look forward to!! See you again soon!

ALL ABOARD!!

[betweenblackberrybranches]

Hi, just wanted to pop in to say I absolutely adore your art! Your forms are so expressive and the shapes! The shapes!! And the outfits you design—oh my goodness, just phenomenal, whether they’re for your automaton au or fae or rlgl. Your art is truly magical. And I think your writing is lovely too!

Also, your rlgl au is my favorite and I just explode every time I see a new drawing or sketch for it. -points at rlgl y/n- I adore them. Also Sun. And also Moon. Just all of them and all of it.

Ope I’ve rambled a bit. Anyways, thank you so much for sharing your art and writing! Really, really thank you.

Yo i know this is like super super late but omg

Hii

Thank you so much im literally bsosvdisnwldvsuskebdkdvsjsksnjdidvslsbskebw

This means a lot coming from you especially because i fucking love! Long road ahead! I found it shortly after making my rlgl au and i enjoyed the simmilar ideas with wildly different ways to work with it. I adore your more grounded outlook on the theme of sexwork with the guys compared to my more romantic comedy kind of thing. I also adore long road ahead y/n!! And the guys too isbslqbwishslsn i am shaking you

Thank you for sharing your writing!

[yandere-sins]

Good Afternoon! If seen your spiels and tales for a while now and may I just say I adore it all, you’re quite talented in your work and you should be proud of yourself! I aspire to write as well and I’m wondering if you have some tips for the long run?

Hey!

Here are my latest posts with links to the ones where I actually went a bit more into details about what I recommend doing.

For the blog

For writing

Honestly, not much has changed, at least for me. It would be interesting to find out whether the tagging rules truly are still the same from the past but from recent experience I can tell you that posting regularly is the key to building a following. But at the same time I know now, more than ever, it's just not doable under normal life circumstances unless you find a rhythm to write and use the queue to schedule your posts.

If you want to write yandere stories specifically, personally, for me it's very important to be balanced. Like a super strong yandere is always cool, but it's cooler if they are so delusional that they will end up hurting their darling with their strength. Or a manipulative yandere is fun and tricky, but if it turns out they are deadly afraid of being left alone and are a bit pathetic about it, that's yummy! Also, depending on the darling, the yan's personality might change as well. I guess what I want to say, balance out the parts of the story to keep it more "realistic" and less Mary-Sue-Behavior. Not always possible or necessary because an OP yan has its benefits in certain situations, but it makes for a good story if there are some flaws in everything.

Also use the tropes. As harsh as it is, no idea of yours will ever be completely original. But I love retellings of ideas! And so do others! I don't care how many more times I read the same "chased by a monster only to be pinned down to the dirty ground" I will literally inhale these stories!!!! I love them!!! And you will put new words and new spins to it, so it will never feel dull!! So yeah, absolutely nothing wrong to lean into tropes and cliches. It might even be very beneficial for bringing your writing closer to people.

For warnings, I'd say, depending on if you do requests or your own work, always warn everything you find problematic in your own works before the story starts and add warnings if someone asks for them. For request, do the same if you derail from the original request too much to not warn (like, have sexual acts/gore/etc. suddenly even though it wasn't specifically requested). I'm not a fan of warning if the request is very clearly what the story will be, but do as you are comfortable. It's your blog. In the end, no one can tell you what to do, but of course don't be mean about it.

Doing requests is fine, but doing your own ideas is also fine. Of course, starting out with only your original ideas can be hard if you don't have a community built already, but you can always mix fanworks with OG writing. I know it's tempting to say "others do it too and they manage to just write their own things" or "I don't want to write for fandoms" but it will be very hard if you do. It's just the truth, tumblr isn't for original content in writing, it has always been for fandoms and blogging and art. It got better over the years but it still is.

Following up with this is: don't compare yourself to other writers/artists on here please, honestly, if you keep finding yourself discouraged by how much more likes and interactions they get, you should unfollow them. It's harsh. I love the stories and the writers of some blogs here, but I had to prioritize myself. Sometimes I sneak back to check out what I missed, but it will still get whiplash and compare myself.

In the same notion: If someone is mean or an idiot in your asks just block them and move on. Drama can entice people to interact with you, but it's not the kind of interactions you want constantly. And it honestly ruins you vibes if your blog becomes dramacentral. It's okay to speak out sometimes and make it clear that you don't want certain kinds of interactions, but feeding the trolls will only end in more and more and soon you feel bad and your followers feel bad, while the trolls are thriving. 9/10 cases it's just not worth it. Block and if it was a crossed boundary, let your people know afterwards unrelated to an ask.

And most importantly: pease just have fun. Put your ideas out there for the sole reason that no one will ever put them into your words the way you would. Of course it's impossible to ignore likes and interactions because it really does fuel the motivation. But I wish you two that you can create because it makes you happy. The rest will follow.

[cnwolf-brainrot]

Just got JUMPSCARED by this as I was scrolling through the Nightcrawler tag, I wasn’t even under the weapon by name tag I was just scrolling and read “you ever read a fanfic so good” and I got excited because ooh Kurt fanfic and then got JUMPSCARED by my own name. Thank you for that hahaha that was fun XD

But seriously this art is BEAUTIFUL HOLY COW, I love how you draw him so much!!! Congrats on your first tumblr post, thank you so much for posting this!!!!

You ever read a fanfic so good it makes you post on tumblr for the first time? Weapon by Name by @cnwolf-brainrot makes me wanna sob /pos

[cyborg-franky]

Two Year Aniversary Give Away!

Holy fuckin’ hell. I can’t believe it’s been two years! I almost forgot in fact. I was looking through my old pride posts from last year and saw I had a one year anniversary and was like ‘oh wow’

I have been back in the fandom for TWO years! I’ve been into One Piece for 23-24 years at this point I think? Almost near the start. I found OP by accident but man I am glad I found it <3 

So I started writing canon content all those years ago, came back and did reader x and once again fell back into canon. Sitting on that fence and dabbling in both sides as well as the OC x canon stuff which I adore!

It’s been a blast being here and indulging in everyone's art, fics, cosplays and the rest. Seeing the creative people, being part of that community and getting to be seen. Thank you all for the support, the reblogs, the requests and the messages! I very much appreciate it and love being here.

So I decided I would do a giveaway!

-Rules- - MUST be following - No giveaway blogs. - No blank blog reposts/likes - Reblog is 1 entry - like is 1 entry - BONUS say what you like about my writing or just something you enjoy about my fics <3

- I will draw three names at random when the event ends which will be JULY 7TH.

–Prizes– 1st place: A free Thousand Sunny tote bag! [I will pay for shipping] and a 1k Fic of your choice! 2nd place: 1k fic of your choice 3rd. 500 word drabble of choice.

Here is the tote bag! [Brand new ooooooh]

These bags are lovely! I have a Moby Dick one I use often <3

You can also buy these super cute bags from here! Created and designed by @rosiinante

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group F Round 4: Akiba Maid War vs Hakumei and Mikochi

#F2: Akiba Maid War

90s maid girls with guns

#F3: Hakumei and Mikochi

Daily lives of tiny forest women

Details and poll under the cut!

#F2: Akiba Maid War (Akiba Meido Sensou)

Summary:

The innocent Nagomi Wahira has always admired the cute girls serving at maid cafes. Hoping to fulfill her dream of becoming one, she moves to Akihabara to work at the maid cafe Ton Tokoton.

Nagomi’s first day seems completely normal—until she has to run an “errand” at a rival maid cafe along with her fellow recruit, the mature Ranko Mannen. There, things quickly go south, and Nagomi soon gets her first taste of Akihabara’s violent maid wars. As she watches Ranko calmly battle her way through a horde of gun- and knife-wielding maids, Nagomi realizes that maid cafes are drastically unlike what she had envisioned.

While struggling to reconcile her expectations with the harsh reality she finds herself in, Nagomi searches for the enjoyment she once saw in the lives of maids.

Propaganda:

It was animated by P.A. Works! As far as I know, they also worked on Buddy Daddies, Angel Beats, Ya Boy Kongming, etc. Cygames also contributed to this anime!! The story is creative as well. Who would’ve thought of a cute maid mafia anime? Keep in mind, this is a P. A. Works ORIGINAL. They went SO crazy on this anime. There’s also 12 episodes, which means that you can binge it all on one day and still be satisfied :D The OP and ED are also catchy, creative and unskippable. Despite its dark themes, it can sometimes get a little more “lighthearted” and silly, even in the most violent scenes ;P

Trigger Warnings: Flashing Lights, Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore.

Just like what I explained, it’s violent. A lot of guns. And a lot of blood. Yes, they kill fellow maids in like every episode ever lol. Also, since Akiba is known to have flashy street signs, like every city ever…. And the guns, of course…that’s why I put the Flashing Lights warning.

#F3: Hakumei and Mikochi (Hakumei to Mikochi)

Summary:

In a world inhabited by people only a few inches tall, young women Hakumei and Mikochi live together in a house built into a tree. Hakumei is an energetic and tomboyish carpenter, while Mikochi is a feminine and calm tailor. Despite their differences, they get along well and spend their days having fun living their lives in the woods. The two of them spend their time working, going on sightseeing adventures, and taking shopping trips into Tsumiki Marketplace by the ocean. They make many friends along the way, be they sentient woodland creatures like Iwashi the Weasel or fellow miniature people such as the songstress Konju and the inventor Sen. Hakumei to Mikochi is a relaxing look into the day-to-day lives of its titular characters as they explore and interact with their tiny world which seems to be straight out of a fairy tale.

Propaganda:

It really is super adorable, and the art is gorgeous. Every bit of the world is rendered lovingly with a great level of detail, from the characters to the environments. The anime has this really cool effect where they use paneling to emulate the manga’s style while also making the characters visually smaller on-screen, which works because they’re tiny.

For a slice-of-life show, there’s a good amount of continuity. They introduce the swamp necromancer Sen in one episode, and she keeps showing up later on, helping rebuild their house when it explodes, then Mikochi repays her for that by designing and making a dress for her. The show gets really into the intricacies of everything, like how dying fabric is a multistep process that is similar to chemistry, or how soap is made with aromatics.

Every character is well-realized, with their own set of quirks, profession, the tricks and tools they use in that profession, and they make pretty consistent re-appearances. And the writing is very dry and witty despite the whimsical setting. It’s cute, but it feels very adult, all the characters are adults with jobs who get drunk sometimes. Everyone is very professional and responsible, and it’s a nice change of pace from teen shounen.

Trigger Warnings: None.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form with your revisions, and I’ll consider adapting those changes.

New: Starting round 5, screenshots will be included in the poll post. You can submit screenshots through the form linked above, or through here, via ask or dm.

Guidelines in submitting screenshots:

No NSFW or spoilery images.

Pick some good images please. Don’t send any blurry or pixelated ones.

You may send up to 9 screenshots, but not all may be used.

[crossover-enthusiast]

taking a break from the credits art to bring you brainrot hope you dont mind

so art credits to zleepy but i figured i introduce you to the op costume kid!!

he takes bobs place. i think this is how the au started, like "giggle giggle teehee costume kid n bob swap" and it just expanded, but i could be wrong, not my au >.>

ANYWAYS i thought it was would be funny if he tried to kill Radford in his ep, and Radford just-- tazered him. like its radfords first or second introduction in the eps and the audience has gathered 1. hes an author and kind of an asshole and 2. he HAS A FUCKING TAZER AND THE REFLEXES OF A CAT

i ALSO had an idea that the timeline could go backwards a little, and have costume kid be the one possessing happy fella (whose sleepy fella hes adorable) this isnt canon rn just my dumb idea

and i thought, EVEN WHILE POSSESSING HAPPY FELLA radford just DUNKS him still. bring out the Super Smash Bros "GAME" sound effect he just recks his shit. i feel like this could be to establish that Radford is super good at planning ahead and smart, (kinda heartless) guy. like you could see him opening a window in the bg and then strategically hitting the fella with a book JUST in time to throw him out the window perfectly or something. then he just closes the window and cleans his hands

also knowing this fnadom this would turn into "costume kid is constantly trying to kill radford and keeps failing.... they should kiss" JUST-- KNOWING THIS FANDOM.

THATS ALL SORRY FOR THE LONG ASK AUGHIUSADHGIFGU

Oh my god that's perfect

Tbh I really love the fact that the costume kid is the one trying to murder people because like. I'm assuming he's still a teenager/young adult that has somehow gone completely off the rocker and him going after Bob, who's twice his size, is hilarious to me (granted OP Bob is a pushover, but still)

Also oh my god I fuckin. the Idea of there being this sort of running thing with CG and Radford is amazing, and even if he's an asshole you're kind of on his side at first bc CG is a complete lunatic (and then the neglect and attempted murder of Robert happens. Teehee)

Also. YEAH. People would ship them. Probably call the ship name smth like Angel's Thesis or Shockedwing (bc taser)

[mblue-art]

i am looking, i am staring very much even; that gif gives me life

cross stop being cute challenge /j

[gallowsdancer]

Manhua/Manga List, ongoing reads (or dismissed, for their following reasons)

PART 1

Villains are Destined to Die It's very good. There's visceral feels. I revisit this one when I want the hurt ( and some of you know exactly what I mean). Penelope is always invited to my table where she'll promptly be treated like the queen she is, having to deal with all these peasants.

Cooking Sorcerer (COMPLETED) It's cute but not overstated. Also, tatted FMC, who satisfyingly uses her knowledge gleaned from her more "modern" universe to overcome obstacles. The OFC and OMC are super cute together, but never actually get together, because we've been given an open ending. Depressing, I know, but still a nice overall read.

Please Don't Come to The Villainess' Stationary Store The story's decent, though not particularly outstanding, but the child characters are so cute and the art is very good.

The Beloved Fake Saint The peanut gallery of Actual Deities(tm). They are the best part. There are a number of scenes that are extremely funny. The art is okay, the plot is interesting, but some of the turns are either mundane or out-of-pocket.

I Shall Master this Family Girlbossing to the peak. If you want a delightfully badass FMC (and cast) who primarily uses her brain to trounce her adversaries, this is it.

The Broken Ring: This Marriage will Fail Anyway NSFW, and it proves it. The art is fantastic, the plot is satisfying, and gut-wrenching at times. There is a satisfying look into the historical context of mental illness and trauma and a personal one that builds the characters further. It can also get very cute and steamy. This work could also be aptly renamed: You Activated the Wife Guy When You Called Him an Uninteresting Man Whore.

Your Majesty, Please Spare Me this Time (COMPLETED) The art is fantastic, the humor on point, the emotional connect is strong because they've built the characters in you before the initial upheaval caused in the plot. The handsome, crossdressing smug arsehole with a gun is a favorite of mine. They wrapped it up in a bit of a rush, and I don't love the whole of the ending, but my babies are happy so who cares. (That's not a question, no one gets an opinion.)

Let's Hide My Little Brother First Another violent, crossdressing pretty boy who grows up too handsome (maybe I have a type?). There's limited gore, a sword-wielding FMC, and the funniest side-character couple.

How to Win My Husband Over According to some people in the comments, sometimes the FMC is annoying - but I imagine that's because helping someone with actual mental illness is a lot of repetitive struggle. I'm staying because I like the art, but the plot isn't the most interesting. The beginnings of the justified revenge are satisfying to read in the most recent chapters, though.

I Stan the Prince I hate the title, but the art is fantastic and the plot is fascinating. The humor and secondhand embarrassment have prompted IRL reactions that have spooked the unsuspecting bystanders around me. I have only put this one down for fear there won't be enough chapters to immediately satisfy me the next time I pick it up.

The Baengri Clan's Unwanted Granddaughter Girlboss moments with satisfying supporting characters. The small moments of enacted revenge are swift and sweet. I like the way the daughter reflects on the past and the way she's moved forward. She doesn't condemn them all, and actively recruits the grey area characters, so bravo. There are twists that I like that other stories would've differed on, losses that the FL actually has to deal with that typical OP FLs wouldn't. That stands out in this one.

I'm Being Raised by Villains Cute. No large amount of emotional connection on my part, but it's the formula childcare story where the child becomes OP later on. I also like that she feels guilty about being selfish but still does stuff, how very adorably human of her. Altogether, a very reliable comfort read with amusing characters you'll grow fond of.

Too Cute to Handle Repetitive formula childcare tale. Obvious plot, overstated. But! Art is cute. Possible revisit in the future.

Not-Sew-Wicked Stepmother Funny and delightful. The different sub-plot arcs are not drawn out for too long, with wonderful art and humor to punctuate. It stands out with fashion as its particular theme, but has a satisfying and realistic response to different characters' traumas.

Secret Lady/The Lady's Secret This one is more in-depth in politics, or actually is reasonably political for a story based on political hierarchal upheaval. I'm not crapping on the others, but this one does take a somewhat more realistic view of political conflict. (If I had taken a shot for every time I said political-)

Author of My Own Destiny OP FMC, but it does differ some with the fact that the FMC faces a certain amount of guilt and revisits it for the trouble she originally caused being in charge before she transmigrated.

The Strongest Characters are Obsessed with Me I love the art, and the plot line is satisfying. I like the actual variety in the characters, and the slow but sure character development. If you like Who Made Me a Princess? you'll like this one as well.

The Little Lady Behind the Scenes Repetitive formula childcare tale, but with no parents. Drawn out plot, and it's overstated. FMC is kind of aggravating in the miscommunication kind of way.

Can We Become Family? Formula, not outstanding, but satisfying - also I don't think we're far enough in to properly judge the plot as a whole. The art is okay.

Roxanna (CANCELLED) I fucking love this one. So (of course) it may have been permanently cancelled. I think it was a poisonous publisher or editor and the artist's own failing health, in which case, I wish them the best and their (hopefully ex) supervisors the worst. I still revisit this one all the time. The FMC is graceful and vengeful and will receive what she wants. (Edit: It is probably cancelled, so I'm marking out, but I still fully recommend you read it.)

The Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine I really like this one. It's heavy on the figurative fourth wall breaks that happen for transmigrators, and the humor is top notch. If you liked The Beloved Fake Saint and liked it for the deity interactions, you'll like this one too.

Cassmire: The Loyal Sword Fun take on a family obsessed with the op FMC (who deserves the borderline obsession). The male leads are funny and frustrated.

Divorcing my Tyrant Husband You'll not like it going in if you're hellbent on hating the Emperor. I like it okay, and I'm in it for the havoc the FMC wreaks trying (and failing) to be a proper villainess. It's repetitive, and I can see the ending coming from miles off. It'll be a fallback read, maybe - but along the line with the very first thing I've said about it, I won't eagerly recommend it.

The Villainess is a Marionette Level with Roxanna in my love. How dare they. Oof, we love to see an ML turn into a good little boy. Every single one of those men is wrapped around her finger and she is a world-class schemer. I aspire to her strategic greatness.

The Male Lead's Little Lion Daughter The author or the artist is Islamaphobic. Sucks, because the art is good and the plot - while formula - was reasonably interesting. But I'm only mentioning it so you all are warned. I'm not supporting them.

The Falcon Princess It's interesting with a realistic view of Suddenly!Plot. The art and the humor is satisfying. The FMC and her male lead are such cutie patooties.

I Raised my Fiancé with Money Male lead is a big ole (handsomest) teddy bear with the sluttiest little waist - it's actually one-third of his wide-ass shoulders. FMC is a rich girlboss who recovers her self-confidence like we all wish we could.

The Villainess Empress's Attendant The male lead is secondary and kind of uninteresting. I actually wanted it to switch into a GL because the FMC has undeniable chemistry with another character. Update: I despise the ML. May he stub his toe twice a day for the rest of his life.

Charming the Duke of the North Charming and funny. The male lead is a little lamb and the FMC is a wolf (on accident). Very enjoyable unless you suffer excessively from secondhand embarrassment (which I do, but I'm still reading it).

Mother's Contract Marriage The art is basically the definition of "filigree." The color combinations can be actually blinding. It wouldn't be my typical read, but the plot is actually interesting and the POV for it makes it stand out - not the transmigrator, but her daughter.

The Baby Prisoner Formula childcare. The dialogue was frustratingly formula, and while I understand the character is a child, I find myself annoyed by her complete naivety. But I am the person who would hate a literal saint for being saintly. (Human divinity is in its variation. I love when humans, and our fictional counterparts, are messy.)

Betrayal of Dignity Red flag sadist and drama and its so a historical soap opera. The art is good and the tensions are high. I like it.

The Archduke's Adopted Saint Formula childcare with op FMC, with an obvious plot, but it's interesting enough. There's not been too much though so I can't say this is an informed review.

With Vengeance, Sincerely, Your Broken Saint The better Astarte, with a hint of murder-mystery. Stopped reading only because I'm letting it marinate.

Forget My Husband, I'll Go Make Money The FL is so cute, and also so accidentally hilarious. I fully enjoy how the story is going so far, and the art is fine. I need to catch up on the chapters - I left this one to marinate.

Being a Maid is Better than Being a Princess There's not been enough chapters to make any kind of informed review. But it's good so far. (There's also a violent crossdressing hottie. It's confirmed: I have a type.)

The Archvillain's Daughter-in-Law Very nice art, but there's not been enough chapters to make any kind of informed review.

The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy At All Crossdressing hottie (what's this, number fifty-three?) but it's shojo-ai. Two rock meganerds, one with a very hot uncle, to the tune of opposites attract. It's delightful, and its one I frequently revisit and froth at the mouth waiting for updates.

Revolutionary Princess Eve It has okay art (one guy's face gets homogonized when it should definitely not) but the plot is interesting. The romantic plot (the separate emotional story interacting with the original) is fascinating though. I like that there's more interaction with the political repercussions. It's plot is very well thought-out and focused at the same time.

The Fantasy of a Stepmother/A Stepmother's Marchen How much time do you have and are you willing to be lectured with a 198-slide PowerPoint on why this is a fantastic read, why Shuri is my new God(tm), and every reason you should read it before you die? The art, divine; the plot, divine; the emotional connection you have? I will kill and die for Shuri. If she has no fans, there's no one alive on this planet.

I Became a Tyrant's Dishonest Advisor The art is good, the plot is interesting so far, but there's not been enough chapters to make any kind of informed review.

Nan Hao and Shang Feng, The Odd Couple I have never laughed so hard in my life. It could've been gay - it's not - but its funnier because its obvious where it could've been shounen-ai. Constantly revisit this, especially when I need a laugh.

My Dress-Up Darling The art is great, the plot is fantastic as well. I am the biggest fan of our delightful nerd couple, and the satisfying cast of support characters are the whipped cream on my milkshake.

Here Comes the Silver Spoon! Rich girlboss v. white lily sister. The dad is the best because he's absolutely merit-based, and all of the characters have interesting personalities.

Master Villainess the Invincible! It's another op FMC, a bit formula, but the art is good and the plot is relatively interesting. There's a level of respect I have for the FMC for how she treats her adversaries, and the friends the original had spurned.

Screw the Noble Life, I'm Going Home I am no longer reading this. It's just... boring?

The Hero's Savior The FMC is annoying in the miscommunication/oh no! I screwed the plot up! kind of way with very little visible redemption. But can I tell you that the yandere was yandere-ing for a singular heart-stopping panel that I still have in my folder for rotating backgrounds on my phone. (Will post it on request.)

[izvmimi]

okay so i’m pulling my notes app out because i started a list in case i ever needed to give recs out so uhhhhh

if you want sports,

- run with the wind is like haikyuu vibes but for running! it’s like 23 eps and there’s a kageyama in there lol uhhhh what else, idk it’s more like found family than simp material so hopefully?? maybe!!

- daiya no ace/ace of diamond, it sounds like you know of it already but omg the way this had me sobbing (THAT ONE SCENE!!!!!) but rewatching after a long time is always fun :3

- sk8 the infinity because duh i think i’ll need to rewatch this one too actually lol (there’s like 2 simpable characters in the series and i don’t think they’re your type so safe!!! …i hope im not lying ;-;)

- yuri on ice! toeing the line of simp country but it’s fine, who doesn’t love gay men skating lol

maybe sports isn’t what you want rn and you want something else!

- 91 days! idk if you’ve watched this one before but i recently watched it again and i remembered why i marked it as a favorite it’s just so good! it’s set in the states prohibition time period and there might be some tw’s? like guns, death, etc (because gang wars)

- ranking of kings is such a cute anime and the style is so cuteeee i really enjoyed the story and i remember it won an award (like best animation or something) and you can def see why!

- wotakoi, have you watched this one?? it’s full on romance and it’s so CUTEEEEE but god there is a character in there where i’m conflicted on if i want him for myself or support his relationship ;-;

- great pretender! it’s been a while since i’ve seen this one actually but i remember being so like impressed with how good it was!! also more of a plot (and i swear i mean plot) than characters thing???

- millionaire detective, there’s like 2 (or 3, depending how you swing) characters to simp for but everyone simps for them so technically safe! i will always watch this one for the plot (plot being kanbe daisuke <3 LOL)

- school babysitters, IT’S SO CUTE LITERALLY SO CUTE if this doesn’t make you squeal, rolling around in your bed and kicking your feet, i need to resign my list and question my life choices (joking! sort of! but i really enjoyed this one)

- assassination classroom. iconic. need i say more? :3

- spy x family..? have you boarded the spy x family bandwagon and by spy x family i mean LOID FORGER BECAUSE GOD HE IS SO FINE

- disastrous life of saiki k. i think i sent you an ask about this one before…? but it’s so funny, def rewatch worthy lol

- banana fish…….. ooh if you’ve watched this one, are you okay? if you haven’t watched it… i recommend with a giant bag of salt!

- monster is like one of my top 5 all time favs! and so i wanted to share with you in case you haven’t watched!

- detective conan. okay this one i recommend with a grain of salt because it’s… longer than one piece. and has more filler than naruto… BUT the filler i think is fun!! but i’m biased… BUT THE ART STYLE IS SO GOOD!!!

- horimiya! not sure if you’ve watched this one either but super wholesome super cute!!

- oshi no ko! have you watched this one yet?? i really liked it and the op (YOASOBI MY QUEEN) IS LITERALLY SO GOOD it’s so good

- one punch man for the vibes!!

- erased! i don’t remember much of this but i thought it was pretty good..? actually make this a plan z lol

- classroom of the elite! has… fanservice… BUT if you like the overpowered type of character you might like this one!!

- my love story (and not to be confused with the yamada-kun at lv 999 one!) it’s so cute i loved it sm (and i was bawling for some parts of it because of how adorable it was!!)

- natsume’s book of friends! i actually never finished this one because of the influx of new anime but i def didn’t drop it because i thought it was bad! it’s really cute and wholesome and it makes for a good background show too!

okay i went through my lists like many many times to squeeze out anymore recs! I TRIED TO GIVE A LOT IN CASE YOU ALREADY SAW SOME OF THEM BUT AAAHHH i hope at least one is interesting ;-; or inspired you to rewatch something!!

omg 🥺🥺🥺 these are amazing thank you for working so hard on this!! I’ve heard of horimiya and might try erased, i’ve heard great things!

[kkoraki]

get to know me meme

tagged by @jaggededges123 thank you!!

do you make your bed? yes it’s the first thing I do every morning as soon as I get up

what’s your favorite number? 13, 7, 0, 3 and 4

what is your job? running my mouth about very powerful computers to very important people

if you could go back to school would you? yes, probably either for art (ba), spanish (ba), computer engineering (masters), sociology/lgbt history (phd) or business (masters) - honestly if there was a job where you could make bank by going to school your entire life that’s what I would want to do

can you parallel park? yes, pretty well, I wish I was more confident at doing it in super tight spaces

a job you had that would surprise people? I kind of don’t think me having had any job would surprise people. for online friends maybe either pizza delivery driver or recruiter. for irl people it’s usually that my degree & first-ish job were in animation… gets them every time

do you think aliens are real? I think there must be some kind of life outside our solar system, I don’t know if it’s something that humans would describe or understand as intelligent life

can you drive a manual car? no but I could probably figure it out in a pinch

what’s your guilty pleasure? if I enjoy it it’s not guilty… maybe fast food french fries

tattoos? not yet but just because I couldn’t think of anything that had enough personal significance that I felt like I could pull the trigger and get it imprinted on my skin forever. I do finally have something I decided on a year or so ago that I think I’ll get eventually (upper arm/shoulder tattoo of a mourning dove with Texas cedar (juniperus ashei/mexicana) + excerpt from isaiah 11:9). if I like that after getting it, which I have a feeling I will, I’m also reeeally partial to fma scar’s tattoos 👀

favourite color? forest green, all shades of yellow, and gray

favourite type of music? I can’t answer this my taste is too scattered. symphonic metal, 90s rap, new alternative, soundtracks, english covers of anime ops and vocaloid songs ripped directly from youtube, half of taylor swift’s discography but not the other half, etc

do you like puzzles? I love them, my family is always doing puzzles for fun. big fan of recreational puzzles and games.

any phobias? no phobias. pretty strong fear of falling (not heights - the feeling of falling). don’t like to watch large needles or drains being pushed under or removed from skin

favourite childhood sport? was mostly homeschooled and didn’t play a lot of formal sports but probably soccer

do you talk to yourself? yes, it’s funny because I don’t have much of an internal narrative but I have little conversations aloud with myself ALL the time when I’m alone - hyping myself up, discussing things I’m undecided about, talking about whatever I’m doing at the moment, arguing with myself, creating the next great fandom meta, etc.

what movie(s) do you adore? prince of egypt, mad max: fury road, wolfwalkers (+ the rest of the irish folklore trilogy), when marnie was there, lilo and stitch

coffee or tea? coffee - I don’t drink tea very often at all

first thing you wanted to be growing up? veterinarian

if you’d like to, I tag @saltedpin , @iamthepulta , @reconditarmonia , @pyrose-the-flame , @aranov and anybody else who wants to