#and i dont think it takes away from the tragic aspect of her character

[inamagicalhallucination]

i dont think bsd is poorly written at all

[guawowow]

Going crazy thinking about the complexities of Donatello and his relationship with his emotions in tottmnt just auuaua !!!!

Like, he's outwardly and unabashedly kind in this iteration and I'm SO here for it !!! And it doesn't diminish his ability to be snarky and witty, he still throws jabs at his brothers, but I feel like this donnie is a return to form in the sense that the center of his character, the motivation for his intelligence and penitent for creation, is kindness- more importantly, empathy.

routinely he is described as thoughtful, 'non-threatening', and usually very placid; we see mention of his temper when his computers are messed with, but he's extraordinary patient- polite, even- with the killer robot chasing him, subway security, and the deaf conductor, all while under high-pressure stress. When confronting the Mechazoids for the first time, he keeps them at a distance and straight up complements the engineering ingenuity! Same when confronting bishop in the subway! He talks enthusiastically, respectfully, with her about her system setup! His first instinct is to diffuse the situation, approach her with humility and establish common ground. Dude like even when running away from the Mechazoid he was always thinking of the people around him.. he was telling everyone to get out of the way, waited for cars to clear (his brothers just straight ran through traffic and jumped over moving carsss), tried to usher people away from train cars he was fighting in, etc. And in the narrated recaps between episodes, donnie is the first brother to consider bishops motivations in an empathetic manner, "maybe she has a tragic back story". Of course that serves as thematic foreshadowing buy he was still the first to offer the kindness of reason to bishops character, maybe there's a reason she's doing this, not just anger that she is.

Not to mention he full ass built a robot to protect his brothers and took the extra time to program in impeccable manners. just for funsies heheh. eueueu Metalhead my beloveddddd😭🙏💙💙💙💙

ALL THIS and yet still, in episode 10, donnie considers himself non-emotional. He says he's 'all left brained' and implys that he operates differently from his brothers who he considers more outwardly emotionally expressive. And yet, in the same episode, he spends a majority of it comforting wingnut. He lends his ear and speaks to her kindly even when her panic exasperates their situation, he doesn't get mad when she freaks out, he takes the time to talk things through with her and make her comfortable whenever able. Even when they think Leatherhead has unmutated, he's sad but tries to put himself in her situation and understand her actions. HES SO SWEET IT HURTS DUDE ❗️❗️❗️ main point being, I dont think he considers himself emotional because he operates on a mode of empathy that is reason driven. He's emotionally logical, of that makes sense. It shows an INSANE amount of emotional intelligence and maturity, I just don't think he understands that because to him, this is logical, and his brother are anything but.

For a majority of his life, the only other people he has to compare himself to are his brothers. When up against anxiety riddled Leonardo, chronically angry Raph, and Mikey's carefree disregard, of course he sees himself and goes, 'ah ok. I must be less emotionally prone because I don't react like they do to these situations'.

I think he just understands the whole social song and dance of understanding better than he thinks.

I know the whole thing with tottmnt is the aspect of unreliable narration, but even then! Like if Leo wrote donnie like this then it probably because he routinely displays this kind of understanding behavior. Plus idk bout yall but I kinda consider the events of tottmnt as like a blurry semi-cannon? I think there are nuggest of truth in there, the broad strokes yk? Like the flood arc referenced 'the bishop situation' like it was a thing that actually happened, albiet in passing, and not just something to poke fun at Leo. It's got legs, there's ideas there to work with ajaja

[rocasterum]

Dead Boys Detectives final thoughts

27092024

i finished the show last night at midnight and it left me buzzing! i loved every aspect of it, Crystal's dynamic with Charles, the slow build up of Edwin's coming into the understanding of who he is and who he loves as well as the confession, i havent enjoyed a confession this good in ages where yes it took a lot of courage to get his feelings across but it looked and felt so easy for Charles to understand it and take it all in as it is and accept him and his feelings for what they are ' have forever to figure out what this is between us' just paraphrasing it since everything is all jumbled is the best open ended rejection i've seen and it's so well delivered and would have loved to see them explore it in future seasons but we all know that won't happen sadly. i loved Esther as the final boss she is just so good at delivering her lines and straight up being evil for the sake of it! yes Cat king told us the why she became a witch but that really is just that, it doesnt absolve her of all the horrors she put people through and the pleasure she gets from it. i've missed a good villain who is just that, a villain and goddamn was she a great one.

i love how the show didnt shy away from giving Crystal something to think about other than being a mary sue with powers that just come in handy at any moment but actually make her a flawed character who wasnt really someone good in the past and used her powers for her own gains, that she learnt to accept her past and work on her present as well as showcase her struggle throughout the show in getting her memories, fighting off david and failing a lot of times as well as how she gained her powers back. I was one to hate on any Netflix female lead character because of how they would write them as all powerful righteous quirky female characters who do no harm but no Crystal did harm but she did as much if not more good as she did harm because she's just a teenager! they are all teenagers navigating a chaotic world. and i really love the actress's portrayal of her and just how she delivers her lines with raw emotions, loved her a lot!

this one is personal but call me prude i dont care however i really loved the minimal PDA and sexual actions in the show it really made it feel comfortable to watch and the kissing scenes were there to aid the narration, Crystal and Charles's relationship as well as Monty and Edwin's they werent just kissing scenes for the heck of it for the viewers to take pleasure in but for the characters to develop and grow

now to my favourite characters Niko! i kinda laughed at the understandable lack of proper manga and anime references due to liscening and copyrights issues but they did their best in showing her nerdy shut in style as well as make her a character who grows out of her hikikimori problem into someone who loves to help everyone despite failing at times, they didnt make her stupid comic relief but an actual smart awkward female character, a good friend to Edwin i honestly loved every scene of them both together.

the cat king was a fun watch whenever he came on screen and he had his own goals instead of just 'use him to progress the plot forward', he did what he did and he was the start of the main storyline of the show Locking the boys in the town as well as kickstarting Edwin's journey in self discovery. and his final interaction with Edwin was really lovely and sincere.

Am quite upset knowing that i will never see the cast again because netflix cancelled the show but in another hand am satisfied with this one season, they told everything they had to tell about the characters each one of them was given the spotlight they deserved even Tragic Mick and it ended well for a season. Aside from the ending where they show Niko and the dandelion folks who were funny to me btw, unlikely friendship haha, i could live with just one season.

i would love to see Niko come back and for Edwin to have his friend around, they make a great quadra team with their own respective personalities but i am satisfied with just this one season in fear that netflix would ruin the show like how they did with Umbrella Academy. Honestly if it werent for a tumblr post talking about Dead Boys Detective i would have never given it a chance or had this much fun watching it. Loved it to bits! ps: i also really like how all the actors are adults, they looked like teens so i had to google their ages considering the issue film industry is going through with child actors exploitation and all so am glad they hired adults to act in this. also didnt Finality? i forgot her name the one who came with the Night Nurse in the end to let the boys continue their work say the same sentence Tragic Mick told to Niko before they went to help out the boys at the witch's den? i really loved that tid bit, i loved the dialogue, gosh i love the scriptwriting of this.

[thespokentruth28]

Why do you think people refuse to see Faith Seed as a victim of the cult? I'm asking because you're clearly not too uncomfortable with the canon reality that she was one of many women drawn in by Joseph and in the end she was one if the few he selected and manipulated into becoming Faith Seed.

Hey.

Generally it is simply because a lot of people here are just very biased from what I've seen...

A lot of the players I've seen who are quick to demoralize Faith or blush off the tragedy and victimization to her character are a lot of times "fangirls" of Joseph who at the very same time are very quick to paint him as "misunderstood" by writing several paragraphs pointing out all kinds of flaws and tragedy about him(and John aswell) despite that they in the narrative never are painted as actual victims of this cult or people with a lack of personal agency unlike Faith is... It directly shows off the extreme bias that they just doesn't want to acknowledge Faith's tragedy and victim narrative because it creates some disturbing implications about Joseph and i think that is the main reason they dont like it - that her character and story regarding the "Faith's" shows a fairly disturbing image of Joseph's character.

That's why they have a tendency to attempt to twist Faith into this self motivated femme fatale and almost evil born master manipulator who is exactly where she always wanted to be, completely negating that she is a victim of Joseph/the bliss herself to take away the disturbing implications to him even tho it couldn't be more objectively incorrect. Likewise flawedly attempts to gaslight people who view her as a victim and feel she needed to be saved into thinking that they are manipulated by her or that she "tricked them" which is also very incorrect as she objectively and easily can be termed the most tragic, sympathetic, redeemable and not least youngest antagonist of the whole franchise... Generally just swallows the resistance words about her, dismissing every sympathy aspect or everything she says as a lie or her attempting to manipulate you which is a big misinterpretation and also extremely one sided. The whole point is that Faith is equally manipulated herself, manipulated to do the same to others believing she does good.

The argument that people are tricked or manipulated by her if they want to save her, or the argument that Faith's claims and screams about the Father is an attempt at manipulation also makes no sense as it is very much the other way around and achieves the very opposite: Acknowledging Faith's victimized narrative and thus wanting to help her OUT of the cult and redeeming her is very much the opposite of being manipulated by her and it does the opposite of the purpose assigned to her in the cult - "to make people see the god and savior that Joseph is". Again Faith's whole backstory under the surface kinda only makes the cult and Joseph in particular more disturbing as it really showcases how he grooms these young vulnerable teenage girls into the cult, exposes them to abuse, exploation and brainwashing and then discards them when used up. Wanting to save her or feeling sympathy towards her is literally the opposite of being manipulated by her or tempted to join as her actual job from Joseph is to bring people in trust to the cult and Joseph - not showing him more as a disturbing, abusive victimizer which she indirectly clearly does a lot of times and directly a few times.

All this is why people attempts to twist her more into this evil and self motivated "femme fatale" villain as it takes all the above away from Joseph and demoralize her... The players who negates Faith's victimization in favor of Joseph are clearly the ones manipulated and not looking at things from any objective pov...

People can interpretate media how they want and likewise be as subjective as they want but i think it is disturbing that people with this "fangirl" mentality completely and seriously erase a young(barely an adult) victimized female character in a narrative because they doesn't want the several decades older male character to be responsible for obvious disturbing things and highlighted in the exploitation, abuse and manipulation of this young woman in particular and likewise the murder/removal of several other young women before her who were discarded as toilet paper just as the current one is treated if she disobeys Joseph or derails from her "Faith" role as very definitely explained...

In the end I'm very much into looking at things from an objective and factual viewpoint according to what the game actually says even tho i may still find it disturbing. One have to be either extremely biased, directly ignorant to game evidence, lacking in psychological understanding or manipulated by Joseph to NOT view Faith as a victim of both him and the bliss and generally not viewing her as the tragic character caught up in a bad situation without intentions to become what she became. That she was groomed/indoctrinated into extreme ideologies at a young age through fear, brainwashing and isolation to anything outside of the cult. Her true tragedy and lack of personal agency/motivation in what she got into and became is already very present even before taking all the brainwashing and victimization aspects into her character which happened later on because of her young age and fragile mental state combined which made her a perfect subject for Joseph to carve her into exactly what he wanted.

I'm sorry for the wall but this is my detailed take on why some players having a hard time acknowledging her as the victimized character she objectively is.

[legendoftherisingtide]

Let me bring a different perspective. (This is me recontextulizing an old rant)

I didn't like Tallulah at first. (I have warmed up to her since, but this is why | didn't/perspective of why many don't)

She was just there so Wilbur didn’t fuck off because he has other things to do. She is literally Wilbur but as an egg. She looks like him. She likes music because Wilbur likes music. She is just pandering for him and his fans.

She is overly wholesome and cutesy because if she had even an ounce of interesting traits, Wilbur would just leave her behind. She has kind of developed more depth as of late and actually felt more like an actual human but before she had to stay in this uninteresting role because if she wasn't this perfect cutesy baby, Wilbur wouldn't care.

She puts signs down that's says all the right things and only tells him how much he loves him or how much she wants him to stay with her or how he shouldn't leave her for others.

Like holy shit that isn't interesting and is such bait. And lowkey manipulative.

And everyone got caught in it.

(NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT THOUGH IF YOU LIKE SOMETHING DO NOT LET ME TAKE THAT AWAY FROM YOU, SHE IS LITERALLY MEANT TO BE ENDEARING AND LOVED SO DONT LET A RANDO ON THE INTERNET MAKE YOU FEEL BAD.)

I don't much care for the lore of Talullah be like I said before, I didn't care much for her, but ig yeah it is ableist in that context. But tbh it's for fun. This is all for fun. And I don't care about this aspect. I have asthma and I like that they used that as an excuse for why she lags but I don't think people who have a problem with her aren't looking at her as a child but an adult with an admin who is trying to make you feel sorry for her.

Using disability as a tool to make you feel bad when in reality it's a girl on a laptop.

My problem is that because these eggs have communication on their first day (the signs), it makes the endearment to them easier and fast.

But with, for example, Bobby or Juanaflippa, they became fan favourites because their personalities shined through even without communication. We fell in love with them because they had to show us who they really were.

Talullah's admin(s) can speak freely and benefit from updates but in retrospective, it hinders the special bond that became of parent and child. Before, it was a relationship where the parents had to really try to understand their egg and the egg had to show who they were despite the language barrier, that barrier being nonverbal.

Talullah basically guilt trips Wilbur (and his audience) into keeping her and then has to continue this by constantly trying to be endearing.

Like imagine being guilt tripped into staying in a server even though you already have plans doing what you love. And now your entire fandom calls you a deadbeat dad and is upset you don't care for your egg child when you ALREADY HAD PLANS and everyone KNEW THAT and they STILL chose to give him an egg he clearly didn't want but loves anyway. And Tallulah's admin knows all that and still chooses to make Wilbur feel bad for her even though it is literally not Wilbur's fault.

The other eggs, by the time they get signs, are now bonded to their parent and have a dynamic with people. So they can then be funny and be interesting and the signs allow them depth for the actions from before. Now that nonverbal communication is the baseline and when they need to speak, they can.

Tilin for example could now have emotional moments with characters because these people have cared for her even before she could actually tell them that she loved them. They gave flowers to those they loved. He communicated that love without saying a word. And people loved them for them, not because they told you their tragic backstory and constantly told you that they loved you.

They had an uncle and loving caretakers. They had a single parent that didn't seem to care for them. It sounds like a very familiar character.

However, Tilin worked for that. She was interesting and funny through nonverbal communication but also sweet and affectionate. She had bombs and hilarious moments with Quackity and Juanaflippa.

Everything that they put on signs exemplifies these connections she already has. This fits far better and aides the storytelling. Tilin has context to why he says the things he says and when he does say sweet or cute things, they mean far more and actually feel earned.

Dapper is my favourite example of signs done right.

That egg says the funniest things and has an amazing dynamic with their parent. They are not over the top, unless it is appropriate, and you can tell that that egg has characteristics outside of being whatever flat, boring and unrealistic thing everyone wants them to be. Like them and Bobby are probably my favourite sign users because the stuff they say fits into the character they played before they could speak.

l've said it before as a joke but I really mean it, Juanaflippa made her way into her hearts with backflips and water buckets. She didn't need a sign to be fun. She didn't need to talk to be interesting. She could be nonverbal and be loved. I have bias towards her in a way but I also love all of the eggs. They all had their "thing" ya know? Something memorable and unlike anyone else. Like Leo has their camera and building and being a nepo baby, Bobby has their painting and violence, and even Trump got to have characterization before his untimely death. And Tallulah is a carbon copy of Wilbur.

Like Chayanne has their best moments when they're just being themselves which is protecting and prior to that arc, having funny chaotic moments with parents who want to protect him. And they have become such a fan favourite as they've chosen a strong interesting character path to go on.

I really don't like Tallulah's sometimes because she kind of wants to make you to feel bad ya know? Like I remember watching Wilbur's introduction to Tallulah and him continually saying that he can't have time for her and then her insisting that he needs to be her parent and him cracking because of how cute and helpless she is.

However I think she has gotten the nonverbal communication down now. I see clips and her body language is great. I think the initial way she approached people to be endeared to her was... yeah kinda over the top, but I can say she is doing an amazing job with the subtleties now. And l've warmed up to her.

But it just took a while. Just like with the regular eggs.

She falls back into those 'feel bad for me moments’ from time to time: I personally didn't like that she made Forever cry on stream and everyone clipped it and started shouting from the rooftops his own personal story. I don't know if she knew how close to home her lore would be for him but I think it was really upsetting to see someone's pain and past be dredged up like that. Especially since he wasn't comfortable showing it on stream.

I like that Tallulah has started moving away from centering her life around Wilbur because in a lore perspective, it's growth and in a meta perspective, it's taking the burden off of Wilbur and allowing her to move away from making everyone feel bad for her all the time.

I don't care that they have to make accommodations for her. If she was disabled in real life, those accommodations are deserved and rightfully hers just as they are in canon. But what I do care about is the way she makes people feel bad for her for a situation she canonically made. I know I keep coming back to the signs but she literally guilt tripped him into adopting her even though he said she should go with someone else. And now she's sad that he isn't there.

I hate that.

I dislike that they made her look exactly like him. I dislike that she picked the exact interests of Wilbur to make connection. I dislike that she tried so hard to make Wilbur like her. I dislike that she was meant to keep Wilbur on the server when he had important things planned doing what he was passionate about. I dislike that every single thing about her is to make you feel bad or say aww.

Because she doesn't need to do that. Because she can be loved and cared about without that.

I watched her play her flute to blue lobsters and it was the cutest thing. I watched her listen to people talk while she crouches in front. I watched so many cute moments and interactions that weren't pushing in your face how cute or sweet it was. It just was. Which is how actual humans act; how children's cute moments actually are.

Her candidly being her is all she ever needed to be loved.

And there's a reason she wasn't that at the beginning.

i noticed that some ppl in the fandom dislike Tallulah. Which lead me to analyzing that tallulah’s the kind of character that a lot of viewers get annoyed with because she is too nice.

like if I were to give another example of a character like Tallulah, I would say she’s like Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket. And Tohru is a character that was often disliked in the early days of the fandom series bc she was said to be too much of a Mary Sue Character, when in reality her character has just a lot of empathy, and her morals always aligned with actively choosing to be kind to everyone, regardless of their background.

I think it’s interesting that this is a pattern in a lot of media, and it’s so interesting to see when people dislike the nice characters.

[betawooper]

What are your thoughts on the Upper Moons as characters ?

hmm, depends on which ones since they vary drastically in complexity and quality, guess i can give my thoughts on each one?

kokushibou (9/10)

hes a really good character in terms of backstory and motivation, its very clear hes acting through jealousy, and his imposing aura in his first appearance definitely sticks out to the reader as someone you dont want to fuck with, there are aspects of his infinity fortress fight that do make me scratch my head and wonder why the hell it was even brought up (and also the stuff in kai's backstory) but overall, solid guy

douma (9/10)

very stark personality and extremely interesting character as a concept due to how he lacks the love and humanity that koku and akaza possess which is purely from the trauma of his entire upbringing, very fucked up guy, wish he had a creepier vibe though bc of how inhuman he should theoretically present himself as a leader of a literal cult and his own twisted idea of salvation, he had the potential for having just as an imposing aura as koku does but there wasnt enough screentime before his infinity fortress fight to fully realize that part of him

akaza (10/10)

awesome, just awesome, the way he was formally introduced will forever stick out in my mind as one of the best things this manga has ever done, and his backstory really harkens back to a time earlier in the manga where all demons were truly shown to be formerly human, that they loved people but the tragedy and cruelty of the world would swiftly take it away, so fucking good, i do have issues with his infinity fortress fight but thats not relating to akaza's character at all so lol

hantengu (1/10)

hes fucking boring and annoying, only redeeming quality is his clones bc at least they look cool and use cool weapons

gyokko (3/10)

more interesting than hantengu ig? idk hes not as annoying as him for sure, but definitely missing a lot of the scary factor and oomph, just feels like a cartoon villain especially after gyutaro and daki really emphasized how tragic and sympathetic a demon can be

daki and gyutaro (7/10)

amazing, only complaint is how basically every bit of agency daki once had was stripped from her once their backstory was revealed, "oh no, if only i wasnt there, ume wouldve grown up lovely and gentle, its all my fault she ended up this way and she did nothing wrong" ugh when are women ever gonna be truly fucked up and evil and did everything wrong? lmao

nakime (0/10)

she got literally nothing, bad, im starting to think gotouge is afraid of making their female villains complex /s

kaigaku (6/10)

pretty nice, just a bit shallow, the on screen explanation for why hes so cruel and selfish is very ehhh, couldve used a bit more personal examples and connections with how he used people for his own gain, hes got a lot of potential but 90% of it isnt even realized

[kdramachitchat]

The Devil Judge - The Finale

A dystopian law drama w/a good concept that ended up underwhelming due to terrible writing. The star studded cast made up that fault with the likes of Ji Sung and Park Jinyoung.

Min and Jung has a previous conversation about the live show court trial. They team up so that they could stop this madness with the Supreme Court and with the SRF Foundation. Jung request that Min should keep an eye on someone and that someone is Ga-On. He requested Ga-On during their early meetings to be the Judas for Yo-Han. Min hated Yo-Han for ruining the country so he wanted to attack him by revealing his family affairs. He wants to drag Yo-Han down. He affirmed it when he was at the hospital and Jung visited. But Min didnt know how crazy Jung was and killed Soohyun. He said that Soohyun is like a daughter to him. Min said didnt he want to stop Yohan at all cost, that includes Soohyun too. Jung said that there's no going back now and they're close to ending the chaos, and questions if he wants to be remembered.

Min needed to become a monster to stop Yohan. Gaon then calls him a dirty hypocript and Min calls the security. Gaon is in pain that he just let Soohyun die just like that. Gaon was taken away by the security. Gaon tells Jinjoo that the foundation has set this all up and she wants to help.

The SRF team congratulates Jung for having Min to their side and Heo is in silence waiting for her instructions. He's literally her dog. They then talk about Yohan's mental mind now that he's in prison, he's out of his game. If he disappears quietly, they assume that everyone would be happy. Jung thinks otherwise, if he continues to say things she threatens him to step down. The SRF team continues to praise Jung. Jung discussses with her righthand woman on how Heo changed his personality completely and finds it fishy. She probably underestimated him and there's something else. She then request to check the status of the moving of the residence to the Dream Village.

Chief Ward meets Yohan to have discussiona t the office. Yohan disrespects the Chief  but the Chief warns him that this is not a live court show and that he's in prison.

Lawyer Ko talks to Gaon and how much of an idiot he is. He doesnt know if he can continue to trust Gaon with what he's done. Gaon is asking for help. Gaon wants to go expose the Dream Village and plans to go alone. Lawyer Ko warns him that there's tone of security but he can go to the Medical Center, but no way he can exit out. Gaon says just let him in. Also warns him that the media is on their eggshells and it's not anymore a free media. Gaon though has come up for something and request to get him 1 thing.

Gaon explains to Elijah in a letter that she didnt do anything wrong and promises that Yohan will return and that it wouldnt take long. He tells her to eat well to not get sick so that Yohan wouldnt worry. She then cries and eats her food to recover.

At the prison, Yohan and Juk breaks out a fight at the courtyard.

Gaon then enters through the Dream village by using the food truck inside a box. He then observes the restricted area and records using a small video device. He sees alot of people lying down sick surrounded by nurses and guards. He goes through the wards and surprisingly sees Ms. Han, the woman who sided with Yohan during the live courtshow. All of a sudden the President arrives at the facility. Theyre testing a new vaccine and the number of people that survived is 182. President requests about the behind payments of all the countries. Clinical trials are in high demand. President tells them when a person dies through the trials they collect all the well organs and export them as byproducts. Nothing goes to waste. Gaon silently watches them laugh maniaclly in disgust. The SRF and Heo talks about Jung behind her back, they plan to outs her. Gaon plans to escape with Han but was got caught with a nurse but saves himself that he's checking her vitals. The nurse recognizes him and actually helps him. She has been waiting for some help and said that their phones have been taken away. Also said that there's some sane people in the center too. She promises to help.

Breaking news that Yohan has been arrested for instigating murder is dead. He was stabbed by a assailant. Both co-judges are left in shock. Same goes to Jung. She's in shock but calms herself that it was done because of her. Jung will be President and Min would now be Chief Justice. He did a press conference instead of a inauguration. Oh was able to catch up with Min and tells him that Jung wants to meet him at her office, this is a set up. Gaon tells her to leave the building and requests her to go. SRF team celebrates at the live court set with Jung at the top of the judges seats. Gaon then captures Min and ties him up at the office with a bomb around his body. Since when did Gaon become so violent. Its a plant and the media will receive news about exposing the Dream Village with his name on it. Yohan suddenly appears and saves Gaon on time. The death news was fake and that Yohan had to dig out to save him. He reminded me of Batman at some point here. Yohan was able to get out by threatening the Chief with his corruption and crimes for the last 30 years. Mentions the Chief that the money is not with him anymore. Yohan tells him to save himself is by doing his specialty for swapping prisoners. Just give him 24 hours. Lawyer Ko enters and tells him that he couldnt tell Gaon everything. Yohan tells him that he was able to return the Chief a favor but not in the form of cash but through charity.

While the SRF is celebrating the lights and the screen suddenly went on with Yohan on the screen. Jung realizes that he is alive and so does the rest of the team. Its revealed as a solemn trial. Yohan starts a live trial and its the final trial with the entire SRF team being exposed with the Dream Home Medical Center. Looks like Jung doesnt know anything about it and asks the team about it. Even the conversation Heo had with the team regarding the citizens. They also show that Jung has killed innocent people in the way to fulfill her ambitions and to attack him. Min is attacked too as a betrayer.  Min is let go by Gaon but tells him that his name is tarnished forever and he will live awfully for the rest of his life. That's a better punishment and more realistically given too. 

There was a proper punishment given and Yohan announced that there's a bomb then leaves to go to the trial set. Yohan reveals that Gaon was the one who helped exposed and will testify to tell the whole truth. The bomb is planned and Yohan will sacrifice himself along with the foundation. Yohan asks them if the moment reminds them of the fire incident. All of them trying to escape. Only the fastest person survives. Jung calmly comes up from her seat with a gun on her hand. Heo complains that he is the President and Jung shots him due to annoyance. She also tries and aims the gun at Yohan. Yohan tells her that its the both of them till the end. Tells her to come with him till death. That's the only way she'll be with him, which is quite tragic. Jung says her final goodbye to Yohan and shockingly shots herself to death, like how Ms. Cha did. Gaon then appears at the end, tells Yohan to stop and think of Elijah. Gaon in the end will be the hero and Yohan pushes him out. Will Yohan survive the bomb explosion? He needs to be alive or Gaon will end up with nothing. Well he still has Judge Oh and Elijah at least. Gaon wents back to the mansion and ses the blueprint of the bomb explosion, there has to be a escape route for Yohan. Yohan tells him that Gaon must do something for him. Housekeeper tells Gaon that Yohan stopped by and tells her she's fired and asks for Elijah. Yohan tells Elijah that they're going to move out to somewhere safe and its a rehabilitation center in Switzerland. Gaon then finds out that Yohan is actually alive.

Gaon was set in a trial with the comittee. Gaon inwardly thinks that nothing has changed at all and is confused on what to do now that the country doesn't need Yohan. Yohan secretly bids goodbye to Gaon and he then quickly realizes it. Captures him on time from afar. The 2 men bid each other goodbye which then ends the drama.

Thoughts: If you like stories like Batman or The Hunger Games this would be the drama for you. The writer seem to took inspiration from both works. I think Yohan is like Batman/Katniss while Gaon is like Peeta. Oddly reminds me of the finale alot with the similarities of the characters. Or sometimes Gaon acts like Katniss/Peeta both. Just remove the whole romance aspect of The Hunger Games. There's quite a few angst moments of Yohan and Gaon. Gaon all of a sudden cares for Yohan. The writer tries to include those similiarities with the 2 characters. Yohan wants nothing more than revenge. Then the rest of the SRF are like the trial players or could be the government too. They try to copy the brutality of the hunger games the games itself with the fire incident and the finale of the drama. All trying to save themselves from death.

Messed up the ending. What I wanted most from this drama was for people to rise up to protect their country, because its the job of people to protect their country not the job of one or two people like Yohan and Ga On. Also they didn't even show the aftermath of the last trial. What happened to that dream house project and what was the people's reaction about the live trial? Assuming the whole time it was filmed. What did they think of Yohan after that? Alot of afterthought was left out.

Rating: Story: 3 (Great until episode 12 onwards) Production: 2 (Locations and the offices were ok but not meant for the dystopian feel they were trying to sell. Could've been more modern looking set) OST: 1 (BGM is spot on and fills the scenes well, dont like the rock portion of the OST) Acting: 4 (Mainly because of Ji Sung) Character Development: .5 (Main cast are 1 sided and no room or little improvement) Overall Enjoyment: 1 (The drama's tone is consistent throughout despite the bad writing) Total Rating: 2.5/6

[creacherkeeper]

How is the cowboi doing? :) I’d love to hear about some of their recent adventures.

OH WELL IT'S ME + ALSO MY DICE HATE(/love) ME SO YOU KNOW THEYRE GETTING WHUMPED CONSTANTLY LMAO

there have certainly been some Events Unfolding so those are under the cut, casey since youre in our campaign now NO PEEKING

fair warning this is .... long ..... you have asked me to talk about my dnd character and you simply CANNOT stop the floodwaters now. enter at your own risk

okay so basically the first arc of the campaign kind of kicked off with them getting a vision from their goddess (the grain goddess/goddess of agriculture) saying that she was trapped in a fey gate and that they needed to come rescue her

so erley immediately Rallied The Posse and set off to do that. they NUMEROUS times tried to pray to her, commune with her, basically just get ANY sort of communication or guidance from her, but the dice like to tell their story so i literally never got above an 11 (paladin with only +2 to religion my beloved) and they never heard from her, which was making them. pretty nervous. when it seemed like everyone else was able to talk to their gods just fine

well we eventually figured out that there was a huge gathering of fey in the woods (me: this might be too big for us to fight. what if its like 30 fey? / my dm, glancing at his notes where he has 2000 fey written down: (: ) and basically the fey like. had captured and were trying to kill what was left of the pantheon so they could bring back gaia as the One True God

we found all this out because it turned out several members of the party had been lying about how much they knew of the fey and had personal connections to the fey they'd kept hidden. and erley, who is ALSO HIDING A LOT from the party like. immediately went on the offense and was just generally very unhappy about this

there had been this fey merchant who kept popping up wherever we were trying to sell us magic weapons that seemed tied to us specifically. erley was always VERY suspicious of her and did everything in their power to stop the others from buying her weapons (which we literally had to buy with -5 to a skill point, not money, v sus) to mixed results. but basically when we got to the fey gathering (we called it gaiapalooza) erley rolled a 1 on their survival check to get through the magic field and like. got teleported to her. and they really wanted information from her so they basically were like LEORA I DONT KNOW WHO TO TRUST I THINK MY PARTY HAS BEEN LYING TO ME, CAN YOU TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT THEM CAN YOU SEE US WHEN YOURE NOT THERE? and basically pretended to need a therapy session in order to milk her for information lmao. she also seemed like. REALLY interested in erley and i was also very nervous about that

and i was RIGHT to be suspicious of her because we found out she WAS ACTUALLY THE BIG BAD and we had to fight her in the arc finale. and several of our party members had rl stuff and were not there, and in game our druid was away casting an 8 hour long spell to try and stop the palooza ceremony, so our party was SUPER nerfed and also as soon as erley realized it WAS actually leora who was behind all of it and she WAS trying to hurt them with those weapons (the weapons were tethers to the gods to be able to kill them basically), they got .... a little angry

and my party found out after irl a year of playing these characters that erley's first level is barbarian :))

so erley raged and did frankly a staggering amount of damage in this fight, and also only stayed up because of rage because they took a LOT of hits. but also. they dont rage FOR A REASON so it sort of took them over and when leora dropped, one of the other pcs ran over to stabilize her as she was making death saves and erley :) maybe :) drove a spear through her heart and killed her :)

and her body immediately just like. overgrew with plants and vines and flowers and basically wrapped the spear in a bed of plants and it was very cinematic and cool

(we have since found out that leora was like. actually an aspect of gaia so. that is. interesting)

of course then erley popped out of rage and was like FUCK this is why i dont do this, i went too far, it always goes too far, THIS is why im ashamed of this, and just got very emo boi about it. so they used their last spell slot to cast restoration on the space they had fought in and reached out to their goddess, having just saved her and the rest of the pantheon like she had asked them to

and i rolled a nat 1!!!

(the dm was like "you have committed this violent act, you feel so low and so bad and in need of guidance, and reach out to your goddess. and the absolute lack of a response just makes you feel empty inside" and i was like :) oh :) okay cool :) you love to see that with your paladins huh)

at this point the druid came back in and, instead of erley like. examining any of their own shit immediately lashed out at her and was like "why did you lie to me about the fey, why did you lie about why you were here, why ARE you here because i realize now it wasnt to help me"

and at that point ONE OF THE FEY QUEENS WALKED IN and the druid was like "... mother ..." and we were all :O

so it turns out the fey queen is her birth mom but had like? kidnapped one of the children of her firbolg tribe and was holding her hostage and the druid was on a quest to find her and bring her back

so erley :) felt :) even more bad about that :) and very shamedly pledged their help to her, and basically was like "as long as youre on this noble quest i will follow you if you'll have me"

so we're on our second arc now, which is traveling across the country to go meet the fey queen and get this kid back. as we were traveling my dm had me roll religion and a luck check and i got a 21 ON RELIGION FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER and a 6 luck. and he was like "you dont usually dream, but you have a nightmare. you know this nightmare was given to you, it was divinely inspired, but you dont know who sent it" and it was just erley killing leora over and over and over again. so they were like. well fuck

(my dm also messaged me privately and we talked and he was like. yeah you can get rid of your oath of devotion and change it to oath of the ancients, i am not telling you or erley why the subclass has changed and you also might get nerfed later. also level up barbarian for the next fight)

so erley was. feeling PRETTY DANG BAD and very guilty and stressed and all that. they did also realize their barbarian side was getting stronger which, considering their backstory is all tragic barbarian shit they were NOT happy about. i was fully prepared to have them be more ostracized from the party and go into full angst mode, but then the druid actually like. pulled them aside and explained why she had hidden information from them, and had a very sweet conversation with them and held their hand and it was VERY touching (she also had the baller line "you think your goddess can hear you and she's not answering. but maybe you're talking in a whisper and she needs to hear you scream")

we had another fight (we're level 7 and my dm told us after it was a cr 32 fight like. dude??? what the fuck?????) and once again erley didnt go down only because of rage

THEY ALSO UNINTENTIONALLY CAST MISTY STEP (which is an ancients spell they didnt have before) and were like WELL NO TIME TO UNPACK WHAT THAT WAS RIGHT NOW, HAVE TO NOT DIE

after the battle was over i asked to roll a check to figure out why i had access to that spell and got :) yeah you guessed it :) another nat 1 :) so erley has literally no idea how they cast that or what it could mean. we just had a new pc introduced who is a sorcerer so erley is definitely going to talk to her and see if she knows anything. because they are FULLY IN THE DARK about their subclass change or what that means in game

we're also (because of the fucking cr 32 fight) going to be leveling up again soon, and babey you KNOW im leveling barbarian. after rage kept me up and then rolling another nat 1 religion check, and also me the player not knowing whats up with their goddess/magic, i simply cant level paladin rn. so im BETWEEN A FEW SUBCLASS OPTIONS and ive been thinking them over but i think it really depends how the next few games go

my FULL ANGST option was to make them level into zealot barbarian like their awful dad, but i thought that made the least sense in universe rn

secondary angst option is to level into berserker, which i think fits pretty closely with how i've been roleplaying the rage so far. trading off an extra attack for a level of exhaustion fits pretty closely. also whump central

the NICE option is to have them be a totem warrior barbarian, and have both their paladin steed and their totem be a bull :) (they are a cowboi after all) i think thats the closest i can marry their two classes and potentially have some healthy growth for them, let them see that the rage doesnt HAVE to be a bad thing, that being a barbarian isnt something they HAVE to be ashamed of. reskinning the bear totem would give them resistance to all damage but psychic while raging, and im planning on taking the tough feat, so theyd pretty much be ... an unstoppable tank. plus i can still divine smite while in rage so theyd be VERY powerful

and now youre all caught up on my very special boi :))))) bet you didnt expect quite that much of an infodump but. listen. listen im simply obsessed with dnd i cannot help it. any chance to talk about my characters i WILL TAKE IN A HEARTBEAT (thank u for prompting my ramble lmao)

[kyoshi-lesbians]

hi;; can you elaborate on the "ppl who dont have mood disorders dog hc characters as having mood disorders" post? im confused about what "counts" as a mood disorder,,,,, and if you dont mind, what "caused" the post? you dont have 2 answer anything u dont want to!! have a nice day :3

Mood disorder' is an umbrella term for a number of conditions that make your “general emotional state or mood is distorted or inconsistent with your circumstances and interferes with your ability to function” via Mayo Clinic 

In this context I was referring specifically to types of bi-polar. Other frequently overlooked mental illnesses like schizophrenia and BPD face similar stigma, and I dont think characters should be headcanoned w/ these either, except by people who experience these 

The reason I am not including depression or general anxiety in this is because in the past few years there has been huge strides in society valuing general mental health. Although once depression and anxiety are severe enough to be considered disabilities, the desire to support people with them fades. Shocking. Ableism effects the treatment of mental illnesses too. 

So despite mental health being a buzzword, conversations around many mental illnesses have not changed. As in… there isn’t conversation about them, or understanding, or support. I don’t mean that as a criticism of you, I’m glad you are asking this and doing so respectfully, but the fact that you are needing to ask speaks to this fact. 

Concerning mood disorders, about which i made that post, the only place that most people get their “information” is through popular media. And that “representation” is awful. Like I said, the characters w/ forms bi-polar are hopeless, abusive, manipulative, and a key word that I neglected to mention the first time around, but is extremely important, is that they are villains. 

For example, look at this list of fictional characters w/ confirmed bi polar disorder. Of those featured in comics and literature, 5 out of the 9 are villains. Out of the TV characters, almost every single one is featured in a soap opera, which tend to sensationalize any aspect of a character and features their illness most often for a dramatic plot point. 

What I mean about the harm of viewing characters as having these widely misunderstood serious mental illnesses is because 1) they are not portrayed accurately and 2) it’s almost always the antagonist of a story who is viewed as such. 

I saw this be said about Azula and that’s what prompted this. For her specifically it also takes away a key point of her character; she is a product of abuse and neglect. To add this in unnecessarily waters down the ways that abuse caused her emotional and mental collapse. I think the random post I saw intended it as a joke but... jokes arent any better. 

I really just am tired of this in general. On a person level, it’s tiring to see people throw my mental illness into a character when they have no fucking idea what they’re talking about. If the only place you’ve gotten information is from tv shows and/ or  an abnormal psychology textbook, you don’t know shit. You know only the worst parts of the illness. You don’t know about our experiences, so don't project it onto an 'evil' or tragic character because you think that explains why they are evil or adds more layers to their already significant trauma. 

[groundramon]

So curiouscat has stupid short reply lengths so i had to post this here

Tw for: bullying, fatphobia, discussion of sexual harassment (oh it feels good to have enough characters to write a proper tw)

So it might surprise ppl to know that my favorite frontier character is JP, the raging heterosexual. But like, to me...hes so much more than that. JP is a character that I saw so much of myself in. His social isolation from his peers, leading him to push away others to avoid getting hurt...its not that people outwardly bully him, its that no one sees behind his surface and nobody bothers to truly care about him. People only recognize him as the class clown - no one actually wants to hang out with him. And that...that hit me HARD as a kid. It was the experience i had growing up. I wasn't outright bullied, I just felt...excluded. Judged. I wanted friends but was too afraid of being judged or excluded. And sometimes it caused me to be dismissive of genuinely good people. And quite frankly, that's STILL a problem I have, not even a year after an exfriend of 7 years said that our interests were one of the things driving us apart. My intense fear of being ridiculed for my interests drove me as a kid, and sometimes even now as an adult, to completely stop caring what my peers thought about anything. For all intents and purposes, im a bit of a hipster - i hate on what's popular and i tote my more obscure interests. Because I feel like that's the only way. Obviously i have fairly mainstream interests but lemme tell ya, i went to a christian school in the late 2000s/early 2010s - goddamn pokemon was obscure/counter-culture in a setting like that. But despite my desperate attempts not to care, I DO care, just like JP. It fuckin stung. And now i have depression and social anxiety whoops. Honestly ngl, it got so bad that I genuinely projected that it was implied JP was isolated for being fat/not conventionally attracted, until i was like "wait a minute...frontier didnt go that hard"

But what makes JP such a tragic character to me now is that at the end of Frontier nowadays when i watch it, im left asking myself....DID JP make any friends?

I know JP is a raging heterosexual but quite frankly, he is dealt such a shitty, judgemental hand for an innocent crush. JP's most nsfw fantasy is marrying Zoe and holding her hand, like... And yet, despite this, he's accused time and time again of being a perv. JP is, well, a big fuckin guy. As such, he thinks "its probably a good idea to let all my friends climb up this latter before me, so i dont crush them all if i fall - plus ill look chivalrous too!" But he unfortunately forgets that Zoe has a skirt on and, y'know, not pants. I understand Zoe's hesitation completely - i wouldnt trust a man who kept hitting on me either. Her relationship with JP is completely justified. Like, its not like JP doesn't take no for an answer - he just still has a crush on her. Yes he should probably give it a rest but like, he's 13 and his most nsfw fantasy is to hold hands and marry and respect his crush. Inb4 you say "but its a kids show of course it is-" literally everything about Zoe is sexualized so no the fuck its not lol

What gets me the most though is the beach episode... again, not because of Zoe. She thinks someone has peeped on her (understandable but it was a digimon) and confronts them about it. But koji and takuya IMMEDIATELY suspect JP, and only believe his immediate denial when Tommy points out that JP was with them the whole time. Like first of all, YOU FORGOT HE WAS THERE??? it took the baby of the group pointing that out for you to remember???? Second of all, JP has never done anything to warrant not being believed - again for zoe id understand, a bitch has gotta be weary, but not for the guys? And thirdly, and perhaps most importantly of all, YOU GUYS CONSIDER SOMEONE YOU'D EASILY SUSPECT OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT YOUR "FRIEND"???? i would NEVER be friends with someone who i could see sexually harassing another one of my friends!! What the shit!! I realize they're kids but GEEZ. And i know its implied JP only cares about the perpetrator because he likes Zoe but idc, despite being persistent in his crush JP has literally NEVER done ANYTHING to disrespect women. And if the scene where takuya and jp run into Zoe's changing room to see whats wrong after she screams counts - well lol takuya was there too.

Zoe was dealt a terrible hand by the writers (worse than JP imo) so I understand people being weary of JP, but - in the dub at least - he literally did nothing wrong... dont confuse the writers sexualizing zoe and being misogynistic with JP sexualizing zoe and being misogynistic.

And im gonna say it - JP is only treated this way cuz hes fat lol. Its not a coincidence that the only MC in the digimon anime who's treated like a perv (despite the fact that they failed in writing one, cuz hes not a perv) is the fat guy. Japan LOVES the fat otaku stereotype (America, look what you did, you made it fatphobic) and in JP's case he's treated completely differently because he's fat. Takuya doesn't have an explicit crush on Zoe but just look at how he treats her vs JP. And which one is demonized lmao? Like, frontier has major problems in general, but to me this isnt a coincidence.

Also, I think JP's crush on zoe is initially just flirting/wanting to impress a girl to fill the void in his heart, but then he genuinely comes to respect her and like her for who she is. He likes that she's kind but stands up for herself and even though he's hopelessly infatuated with her, he just wants her to be happy, even if its not with him. He relates to her struggles to fit in despite not understanding how someone so beautiful and charismatic (in his eyes) could be disliked by her peers.

Hackers Memory discussion coming up, but the spoilers are minor/vague. Frank discussion of sexual harassment and...pedophilia i guess? But its like...ephebophilia, not literal children.

I realize the Story games and the anime are two different beasts entirely, and Cyber Sleuth especially is targeted at an older audience. BUT... compare how JP is treated in Frontier to how Chitose and even Keisuke are treated in HM. Chitose goes after countless women and isn't even reprimanded for going after someone he considers a CHILD. To clarify - Ryuji and Chitose both call Arata a child. Arata is canonically older than Yuuko. Chitose flirts with Yuuko. It is gross. Like he gets the physical embodiment of the cold shoulder and you get to insult him for it, but that's not proper reprimanding. In comparison, yes JP is older than Zoe...by a year/grade. But JP gets accused of SEXUAL HARASSMENT BY HIS "FRIENDS" and Chitose just gets "haha good ol chitose, hes a wild one." Plus i think Chitose and JP get the shit smacked out of each other an equal amount of times in the story, which like...one of these people is worse than the other!

Then there's Keisuke, the protagonist of HM, who's significantly better than Chitose but still gets dirty thoughts about Yuuko and is only reprimanded by Erika. And honestly I love Erika but HM plays up the tsundere heterosexual couple aspect. So imagine the only person who calls you out on your shit is your fucking love interest, who also beat the shit out of you with a plush toy for entering her room without knocking, not knowing anyone was in there (id say hes not a playboy but considering he befriends a stranger to practice "getting chicks" at chitose's recommendation, hes totally a playboy) and yet all she does when you start thinking weird shit about Yuuko is be like "hey. Stop that. Get some help"

Also Erika's best friend is chitose so like, someone save this poor girl PLEASE

But my point is that Chitose is conventionally attractive and...well they play up the idea that Keisuke isn't but hes not conventionally unattractive like JP is.

Gee, i wonder why they're treated differently? /s

TLDR: JP drinks respecting women juice and i kin him

[crowsent]

Can you explain the color switch technique for theater more clearly? I'm going to audition for our high school play and I want a reliable way to act without having to relive my worst memories.

dunno when exactly you sent this anon, but i hope i havent responded too late.

SO. the colour switch technique. dunno if its an official name or whatever BUT its essentially used in theatre or really in any other scenario where you have to lie or assume an emotion that you’re not currently feeling. essentially, you have to play a role. but since you said youre auditioning for a play, we focusin on the theatre aspect of it.

the most common thing i see or hear people do when they need to play an emotion that they just aren’t feeling at that moment, is to think of a personal event in their lives that elicits that specific emotion. it WILL work, or at the very least, elicit a strong emotion that pushes you to make your scene more believable and more alive. now thats great if the memory or event is a happy one. thinking of the first time you ever held your baby sibling, or that time you had your first kiss, or that day your parents surprised you with a new car. genuine happiness, or the memory of genuine happiness can work wonders to make a scene look and feel organic.

but if the emotion is negative, its going to absolutely DECIMATE your mental health.

no matter how much you think that ‘its just for a scene’ or that it wont actually affect you when youre off the stage, using the “relive memory to recreate emotion” method can and will fuck your mental health sideways with a chainsaw. its BAD for you to constantly think of painful or sad memories. there’s rehearsals, the actual performance, and worse, memories of the play itself. associating the memory of a tragic accident or a bad fight to a scene of a play youre participating in IS NOT GOOD FOR YOU.

i did theatre back in highschool. my depression at that stage was also. uh. particularly bad. so the whole “relive traumatic memories to experience pain so you can act better” is TERRIBLE advise. dont listen to anyone who tells you to do it. it WILL negatively impact your mental health AND your memories of the play, and may even discourage you from participating in future plays yourself.

but you still need to find a way to channel those emotions.

in comes colour switch theory. or technique. whatever its called. my theatre directors were GODDESSES. they recommended this technique to EVERYONE and it WORKS.

the trick is to associate a particular colour with a particular emotion, or even facial expression. when you need to keep a stoic face, you picture the colour in your mind and chant it in your head over and over to not break character. when you need to be sad, just repeat the colour you chose for sadness over and over to get yourself in the mindset WITHOUT hurting your mental health. for me, some of the colours i chose were:

blue- sadness/loneliness

red- anger

black- nothingness

grey- fear

there are more, but lets focus on these four. blue is my favourite colour. but thinking of the colour blue it doesnt automatically make me sad, so i can still enjoy it when im off stage. to channel the emotion of sadness or loneliness that i tied with the colour blue, i think of sadness from inside out and her blue motif. i think of the blue colour commonly depicted for tears. i think of cold and i think of a single person all alone, curled up in a blue room, crying.

just talking about this made my body curl up when i was writing that paragraph. i am shaking, and i feel sad, but when i stopped thinking about that imagery, it stopped. because its not a painful or traumatic memory for me, i can just yeet the blue emotion imagery away from me when i dont want it. you cant do that with personal memories and thats what makes the colour switching strategy so good. you can act better but you dont have to hurt yourself to do it.

think of it as constructing a bubble in your head, or a room you go to when you need to feel something. for anger, i think of a red room. i think of that red emoji with the brows scrunched up and the teeth gnashed together. i think of being so angry you lose words. i think of being red-faced because you just cant control it. conveniently, anger from inside out is also red, so i can think of him too. i think of fire in my veins, hot and ready to explode with nowhere to go but loud, violent screaming. and as im writing this, i can picture myself on a stage just shouting at whoeever has done my character wrong.

same goes for black and grey. black is just when i need to keep a straight face. when i need to be stoic or unimpressed. and its just a black room. nothingness. i sometimes picture that black room in real life when i have to not laugh at something funny if the timing is inappropriate, or when i have to keep a strong facade when i want to cry. i picture that room of nothingness and my mind goes blank. and i can keep a stoic face. the grey room is fog and shadows just in the corner of my eye. its something closing in that i cant see because of all the grey swirling around me. i dont know if im alone. i dont know if i am safe because i can only see a foggy room.

all in all, mentally travelling to a room in your mind created for the express purpose of eliciting a specific emotion is better than just retraumatising yourself. and its really simple to create these rooms. you dont even have to use the same colours i did.

maybe you have more trouble with expressing lovey dovery emotions. you can make red your love room. think of red flowers on valentines day, the red heart decals you see on store windows, the red box of chocolate youd give to a lover. red is passion, red is life, and you can associate things like that with your red room if you want. its like a venn diagram. things you associate with red on the left, things you associate with the emotion on the right, and the things they have in common can be used to construct the imagery of the emotion colour switch room.

then you can just chant red red red in your mind and you think of the blush on the fair maidens cheek as her knight comes to rescue her. you can think of a scarlet dress dazzling everyone in the room, but the wearer only has eyes for one man. you can think of lipstick stain against a collar.

you can associate any emotion with any colour. my process was:

pick a colour

pick an emotion/facial expression

picture a small room in your mind

fill that room with things or imagery that match your emotion or expression

be as specific or as generic as you want

you can have a green room dedicated to irritation or envy or just the loose feeling that youre not completely happy. the reasoning can be just bc you thought of the phrase “green with envy” and thought itd be neat. green can be a mother experiencing the joy of holding her child for the first time because green=nature=nurturing=mother.

establish a connection with that colour. fill out your room and create the keyword to get in. im very unoriginal so my keyword was just chanting the colour name over and over in my head. if i say blue enough times i get sad, even if i dont picture the room bc my mind has formed a link to that state of being. and i can break away without much trouble bc the connection is just on the surface.

colour switch is hair chalk. reliving memories is hair dye. at the end of the day, both of them colour hair. but you can wipe off the hair chalk w relative ease but a thorough hair dye that produces vibrant colours cant easily be removed, even when you want to switch to a different colour, or maybe even lose the dye completely.

i would recommend picking an emotion or expression that youre not good at portraying, but dont struggle with as much for your first room. i am not good at expressing sadness, but im worst at expressing upset or anger. so when i first started my colour switch mindset room, i started with sadness. it helps me express an emotion that im not particularly good at expressing, while still being relatively easy for me to get the hang of. maybe try for the second or third worst emotion you express, build a room to channel that emotion, and establish your connection.

make it a well-tread path, essentially. first few times are gon be difficult, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. all i need now to fake-cry is picturing the blue room, saying blue a bunch of times, and making a face. then i cry. completely fake and not damaging to my health.

i hope this makes sense for you. if it doesnt, feel free to send in an ask with more detailed questions abt the parts youre confused about or anything else. same goes for anyone who happens to read this that has an interest in theatre. id rather answer a dozen asks of the same question than have any of yall do something so harmful to your mental health. if anything was at all confusing, please feel free to tell me and ill gladly clarify some more. stay safe and take care of yourselves. and to the anon who asked, i hope your play goes well

[rosequartzakapinkdiamond]

Hey, do you think Spinel would have rejuvenated our gang if they knew about her? I dont think she planned on doing it that soon, but then they said who?? And she kinda snapped

hmm, you make an interesting point!! i think one big aspect of Spinel’s character is how much she needs an outlet for this huge burst of anger and betrayal she’s feeling, and like she says to Steven, she came to Earth to be angry, to punish the Crystal Gems in place of Pink Diamond so as to feel something other than her own pain, and sending them back to factory settings was one thing she thought would really hit Steven where it hurts:  

“What’s the matter, Steven? Miss your friends already?”

she’s trying to find comfort, some kind of catharsis that will distract her from her anguish, and she’s using violence to do so:

“Y’know I came here to take my anger out on a bunch of strangers, but now that I know you, I wanna kill you even more.”

while she knows these people are nothing more than strangers to her, Pink and Spinel had a history, and didn’t that matter? what hurt her so much about the CGs not knowing who she was ladened with this heart wrenching tragic meaning; if they did know who she was, then did they knowingly leave her isolated, or at the very least knowingly not look for her– but then the thought of them not knowing? then that must mean Pink didn’t talk about her, not to her new friends, didn’t share their memories or their jokes, as if Spinel never existed to Pink at all, never mattered:

“What did she say about me? What did she say? What did you do without me? What did you do?”

Pink was Spinel’s only friend, her best friend, she’s desperate for any kind of hint that it wasn’t for nothing. knowing you’ve been left behind by someone you loved is painful and often there’s no closure from something like that, especially if that person makes a lasting effort to pretend they never knew you and is apparently happier in their new life: 

“Oh, I just love that part! Where Pink Diamond spends the rest of her days on this nowhere planet with a bunch of nobodies!”

for Spinel, Pink was her entire purpose, reason to keep going, her everything, and to have that pulled out from under her– well, its agony:

“She doesn’t exist now, survived by her son, and all of her brand new friends. Isn’t that lovely? Isn’t that cool? And isn’t that cruel, and aren’t I a fool to have– happily listened, happy to stay, happily watching her drift, drift, drift… away…”

a loss like that, it cuts jagged and deep, and Spinel, fuelled by misplaced anger and no healthy outlet for her feelings– who could she have talked to, turned to? who could ever relate exactly to how she was feeling?– attacked the next best thing to Pink herself, her remaining legacy and closest friends, and then notably used a tool that stole memories to do it. if Pink didn’t treasure their memories together, then no one was allowed to treasure memories of Pink.

“And Pink Diamond’s Pearl! She took you, with her, isn’t that… just… swell.”

Spinel doesn’t know what she did so wrong that Pink left her behind; she’s suffering and doesn’t know a way to fix it– Pink’s not around anymore to ask, so actually, i think yes, irregardless Spinel would’ve reset the Crystal Gems; she wanted them know how it felt to live without Pink, exist without her, and in some way, i think in her fury she didn’t know what other option she had and was venting through violence:

“I used to be just not good enough! Just not good enough for Pink! But now! Now! I’m not good at all!”

its what makes Spinel such an engaging and tragic character: she’s flawed in a way that’s so melancholic and so horribly knowable:

“You keep on turning pages, for people who don’t care, people who don’t care… about you. And still, it takes you ages to see that no one’s there, see that no one’s there, see that no one’s there… everyone’s gone on without you…”

to feel like you were never known, that you were forgotten or replaced, like you didn’t mean anything to the person (or people) you treasured more than anything, i can’t imagine anything more wretched. who could say that she what she did, though harmful and unhealthy, wasn’t a realistic reaction to her trauma? it’s only salt in the wound, another bullet in the body, and this ways she doesn’t have to admit she’d scared or ashamed. 

no wonder she was so upset– she was so, so lonely.

“What am I doing? Why do I wanna hurt you so bad? I’m supposed to be a friend. I just wanna be a friend.”

[nightfayre]

hi im the anon ! i dont remember what i said >

and I’m alarmed by the fandom mentality. Maybe HT means good - but how would we know? we don’t have access to his thoughts - but we must judge his actions, and his actions are for the least very troubling. It’s always abt coercing Mo and not respecting his boundaries. I see the trope “when she says no, she means yes” here and once again, the fact the fandom swallows it uncritically (bc HT is a poor, hot tortured boy) is alarming. Forcing Mo to wear his gift stinks of “this is my possession, don’t mess wt him” 2/5

Maybe im pessimistic n its actually to protect him by distance, but once again he totally disregards Mo’s will. What if he doesnt want to be protected ? what if he doesnt want to be an object to be pass around between self-entitled psychos ? The first step to protect and help someone is by listening to them. I hope Mo will react strongly and will tell HT that by saying this, he’s no different from She Li. And i hope that would provoke HT to self-reflect a lot - smth he lacks tremendously. 3/5

That being said i love HT and tianshan! And what i love is how realistic and flawed they are. Theyre both hyper violent, distrustful, and severly lacking in communication skills. Im thrilled to see how theyre going to evolve -for the better or the worse, both is good for me. But i’m very disappointed by the fandom reaction like “ooh how cute hes possessive it means love!” or “actually its not bad doing HT doing that bc his intentions are good”. 4/5

And I will be vry, vry disappointed if OX decides to follow this trend and to not show how this kind of actions is detrimental to their reliationship and use the tired and dangerous trope of “being violent means that you care”. I trust them to be more nuanced than that bc until now they are great at drawing grey relationship. So yea i hope next chapter, tianshan plunges (before being better). Anw sry for the rant, and plz continue the good work !! 5/5

phew. there’s a lot to unpack here – but I agree wholeheartedly with you. since this post is already kinda long, I will put my answer/explanation under the cut!

the parts that I bolded in your asks are what I intend to focus on in this answer. strap in, because this is going to be a long one. 

before anything, let me put a disclaimer: I love He Tian. I love Guan Shan. I love Old Xian. I love tianshan, and I love where they are headed in the manhua. does that mean I also love where tianshan are right now? no, it doesn’t. and I’m here to explain why I look forward to their potential rather than their current relationship’s dynamics.  

one of the hardest parts about being in a fandom is being able to separate fiction, reality, and morality. this is especially hard when a fandom is as old and endearing as 19 Days, and when you fall in love with & are rooting for all the characters. furthermore, 19 Days is not a tragedy. of course, when Jian Yi disappears, it will be tragic. but otherwise the majority of the manhua is a comical, romantic slice-of-life plot. as such, it’s easier for what would usually be seen as blaring issues/problems in tragedies to be disregarded for comedy or, in some cases, romance in a comedic, romantic slice-of-life. 

this is exactly the case with tianshan. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: He Tian’s current relationship with Guan Shan is not healthy. he doesn’t listen to Guan Shan. he doesn’t respect his personal space. he doesn’t know where to draw the line. he doesn’t know how to properly communicate with him, and thus resorts to violence or threats. tianshan just have a problem with communication. and, sure, maybe it can be chalked up to the fact that they’re young and stressed and don’t know any better. but that excuse is almost as bad as the “boys will be boys” excuse, and that doesn’t make it any better nor does it justify their actions. 

He Tian’s idea of relationships is so twisted, and as I talked about in a previous answer, it can probably be stemmed back to his trauma with the puppy Cheng took away from him. I won’t get too deep into that since I explained it in detail in that answer, but keep this in mind nonetheless: He Tian grew up in a family of violence, distance, miscommunication, and lies. it’s all he’s ever known, and that’s what he’s applying to his relationship with Guan Shan. does that make it right? no, absolutely not. but he’s learning. 

when Guan Shan had a panic attack at the restaurant, He Tian learned that people aren’t robots/pawns to use at his disposal and rather have their own strong emotions/backgrounds that shape them. thus, he brought Guan Shan home without a word. when he had his night terror and woke up to Guan Shan holding his hands, He Tian realized that there are parts of Guan Shan he still doesn’t know and, potentially, an aspect of their relationship that they’ve only started to uncover. thus, he thanked him without preamble and with a bowed head. 

what I’m trying to say is that He Tian does have good intentions at times, but not always. he’s learning as he goes, because god knows he didn’t have a family to teach him how healthy relationships should be. there probably is a part of He Tian that only wants to protect Guan Shan against She Li, but he certainly doesn’t show it in the right way. he acts possessive because he knows that if he doesn’t, he’ll lose what he loves (*insert flashback to the puppy*). again, does that make it right? hell no. jealousy and possessiveness are not cute and are entirely unhealthy in a relationship. the fandom should view them as such, but should also keep an open mind when considering He Tian’s background. 

and honestly, the reason why I’m focusing so much on He Tian right now rather than Guan Shan is because if it were up to Guan Shan, he would’ve dropped He Tian within the first few days (maybe even hours) of meeting him. but because of He Tian’s persistence, Guan Shan has no choice but to be involved with him and retaliate when He Tian verbally/physically/emotionally attacks him. nonetheless, Guan Shan has tried to walk away from He Tian on multiple occasions when He Tian’s teasing became too much, and on those occasions, He Tian has given in. (ex. I can’t find the exact chapter, but there is a chapter in which Guan Shan refuses to use He Tian’s fork to eat He Tian’s leftovers, and he gets up and says, “I’m going home,” to which He Tian replies, “Fine, fine, I’ll buy you new food.”)

so yes – tianshan certainly have flaws. He Tian holds too much power, and Guan Shan can’t catch a break. the fandom romanticizes their interactions, but if you take a moment to think realistically and recognize that character flaws are essentially bad but also critical for character development, then there is an even balance in the readers’ relationship with the manhua. don’t support He Tian’s violent interactions with Guan Shan and claim “omg He Tian loves Guan Shan sooooo much when he forces Guan Shan to do XYZ,” but rather support the fact that he hasn’t physically manhandled/harmed Guan Shan in many chapters. support and celebrate He Tian’s development, not his flaws. 

and as for what you said about Guan Shan telling He Tian that he’s “no better than She Li”? while I don’t think He Tian is truly as bad as She Li, I actually think that would be a painful, great, and pivotal moment in their relationship. after all, the most consequential scene in tianshan’s relationship thus far has been the kiss. at that moment, Guan Shan had told He Tian outright that he disgusted him and to leave him alone. since then, I don’t think He Tian has ever looked so… taken aback. unsettled. 

and guess what? their relationship has only gotten better since then, and He Tian hasn’t touched him like that again. 

I don’t know, anon. it’s a tough call. I think tianshan have a lot more chapters ahead of them, and I don’t think Old Xian will allow them to end on bad terms. actually, I don’t think Old Xian will allow them to end on the terms that they’re on right now. they can only improve from here on out, but how Old Xian will go about showing that improvement is unknown to us. there are many paths this story can take, but rather than worrying about what might happen, let’s focus on the here and now. let’s focus on the problems at hand, and let’s focus on the development the characters are undergoing. 

don’t ignore the wrongness/cruelty of characters’ actions, but don’t romanticize them either. if you do, you’re only doing a disservice to the character’s personality, existence, and the author’s intentions.

(and as for this newest chapter specifically: I see why people can get excited about He Tian telling Guan Shan to wear the earrings. He Tian wants to verify to both himself and She Li that Guan Shan is with him now. that Guan Shan is no longer under She Li’s control. who doesn’t love a little verification of their OTP’s relationship, especially when it involves an enemy?

but at the same time, it’s unhealthy. Guan Shan doesn’t have a say. he’s being handed around like an object. I don’t think this is pessimistic thinking; I think it’s the truth that no one wants to acknowledge/hear. but I’m not saying that tianshan is wrong in this chapter; I’m saying that He Tian has good intentions, but he’s not showing them correctly. and there will be a chapter in which he does show them correctly, but we must travel this rocky road before we get to that point. patience is key, and I cannot wait until He Tian and Guan Shan reach that moment of clarity. you can’t have light without the dark.)

[zerochanges]

Valentine’s Chocolates and Glass Masks

The romance genre in anime is a little weird, and honestly on the whole the majority of the genre in anime is probably a bit too slow for its own good. “Will they or won’t they” is something most romantic fiction is guilty of, but I think you’d be hard press to come across 150 episode TV series dedicated solely to that premise anywhere else. And this has nothing on the pure silliness that can come with the genre; hand holding, indirect kisses, masked secret admirers, all that good stuff. Really, I’m not here to trash talk romantic anime though, but as I sat down and tried to think about writing a Valentine's Day blog post I just couldn't help but think to myself how romance anime might be the hardest to explain to anyone not in the fandom. I mean, I think I’d have an easier time explaining the plot of any given saga in DBZ than I would explaining “Notice me, senpai” to somebody.

You know what though, I kind of ironically enjoy all of this. Yeah, pure romance anime can be cheesy, but it’s just the right amount cheese that it’s like, c’mon, how can you not enjoy this? Perhaps the worst (or best!) offender of this are older shoujo titles where they can seem almost downright like a soap opera at times. Shows like these are just so full of bizarre, off-the-walls, and over-the-top melodrama that they manage to suck me completely in. They’re heartbreaking, they’re engaging, and the times when they fail at being those things they are hilarious. 

My most recent experience with an older shoujo title like this would have to be studio Eiken’s 1984 adaptation of Glass Mask. Now Glass Mask (or Glass no Kamen as it is known by some) is a manga that started life in 1976 and to this day has yet to be finished, with the manga creator Suzue Miuchi stating she would like to finish it soon, but hasn't quite figured out when that will be (move over Hunter x Hunter fans). Having been one of the earlier shoujo titles starting back in the mid-70’s the series is full to the brim with pretty much every cliche and trope you can think of for shoujo anime, and to a modern audience it can often be almost hilarious at times to sit through. It is important to remember that for its time Glass Mask was a trend-setter and arguably if not the creator than certainly the reason why a lot of these cliches became cliches in the first place. Over the years Glass Mask has received its fair share of adaptations and even parodies, and currently has 3 different animes as well as a live action drama series and real life stage plays based on it. I heard the most recent anime, the 2005 TMS adaptation of Glass Mask, does a pretty great job at modernizing several aspects of the series, but unfortunately I have yet to watch that to weigh in so all I can say is that I was inundated with more cliches than I could count and laughed a ton while watching the 1984 series and I loved every minute of it. 

Glass Mask is the story of a young 13 year old girl Maya Kitajima, who has a dream to be a great theatre actress. Unfortunately for Maya she’s from a very poor family, and even more unfortunately for her, she is incredibly average looking with no flair--and don’t worry, the anime will remind you of that fact countless times every episode. Despite her damnable curse of “just looking kind of average” Maya will stop at nothing to pursue her dream and eventually runs away from home after getting a scholarship for an acting school. There, the enigmatic Chigusa Tsukikage notices Maya’s talents and takes her on as her protege. Soon, Maya learns that her mentor Tsukikage was once a legendary actress thought to be truly one of the all time greats who due to a tragic Phantom of the Opera style accident had her face hideously scarred and retreated out of the spotlight. 

Tsukikage is looking to pass on her talents to the future generation and eventually pass on her greatest possession, the rights to the elusive Crimson Goddess play--a supposed legendary masterpiece that has not been seen by anyone in decades; not since Tsukikage’s career ruining accident. For some reason the director and creator of the the Crimson Goddess play saw it fit to beseech all the rights to his masterpiece to Tsukikage and thus nobody else has been able to produce this elusive phantom play since. It won’t be easy for Maya and the Tsukikage acting school, as media conglomerate and mega corporation Daito Entertainment will stop at nothing to get the rights to the Crimson Goddess, and isn't afraid to sabotage them at every step of the way. Perhaps Maya’s greatest rival however is the young Ayumi Himekawa, the daughter of an already famous actress who is said to be the favorite to inherit the Crimson Goddess role, and is everything Maya isn't; beautiful, rich, famous and well loved by all, and while not a student of Tsukikage she is more than willing to pass on the rights to Himekawa if Maya fails to prove herself.

It’s easy to already see the cheesiness just from me trying my best to summarize the basic plot, and we haven’t even gotten into the romances yet. Maya’s relationship with the young Yu Sakurakoji is fairly simple at first, as he helped rescue her from a feral dog and despite being in rival acting schools--one affiliated under Daito no less, he’s a pretty chill guy that enjoys spending time with her and doesn't care about all that stuff. It’s only after Maya starts to take off in her career that Sakurakoji starts to spiral into this insane inferiority complex centered around her, where he thinks she has become too good an actress for him to be around anymore and starts to give her the cold shoulder all because of his own make-believe shortcomings. It’s very odd and sudden, and the entire thing is blown out of proportions as Maya clearly does not think that and Sakurakoji eventually has to be lectured by bad boy Masumi of all people to come around and start spending time with Maya again. Even after this however it isn't like the old days anymore and the gap that was created from his own complex still lingers.

And oh boy, don’t get me started on Masumi, he’s quite the character. Masumi Hayami is the 24 year old son of the president of Daito Entertainment and is currently running the corporation in his father’s stead. Masumi serves as both an antagonist and love interest (because of course he can be both) in the early parts of the story and is often behind some (but not all) the sabotage done to Tsukikage’s acting school. Masumi will eventually take a more reasonable approach when it comes to trying to yank the rights of the Crimson Goddess away from Tsukikage’s hands as the anime progresses, often just by having his acting school beating Tsukikage’s students in contest and the like, and it’s here where we usually see Masumi’s employees that work under him being the more underhanded characters instead of Masumi directly engaging in the conflict.

Despite being on different sides, so to speak, Masumi catches one of Maya’s earliest performances, her role as Beth in Little Women, and falls in love with the young girl, impressed by both her potential as an actress and her fortitude for going on with the show despite suffering from a dangerously high fever and immediately being rushed to the doctors after the curtains fall. From this point on her takes the role of “Mr Purple Rose” named for the bouquet of purple roses he sends to her at every show. As her secret admirer and the first fan Maya has ever had he means a lot to her yet as his true identity of Masumi he’s an enemy that Maya cannot stand to breathe the same air as. So in short, Masumi is just your average 24 year old CEO of a mega corporation crushing on a 13 year old girl from a small acting school he is trying to ruin and also her secret admirer. Somehow Masumi is one of the best characters in the series, and is my best boy. Only in shoujo!

So far I've been having some cheap laughs at the expense of the 1984 Glass Mask anime but it’s not all like this. The over-the-top bombardment of old school shoujo cliches and the laughs I got from them may be one of the most memorable component of my viewing but there’s actually a lot more to this anime than that. When you get beyond the silly age gap romances and the flowery melodrama of young teenage love, Glass Mask is a story of artists trying to pursue their passions and dedicating their everything to them. Maya may be cursed to forever be “only average looking” but I really respect her drive to dedicate her entire life to theatre. 

Well, that is to say, the times when she isn't acting like punching bag to the rest of the cast (Glass Mask has a tendency to make Maya into a Cinderella surrounded by tons of wicked stepsisters). When Maya is written not as a Cinderella she’s fiercely determined, and never backs down despite some straight-up abusive behavior she is put through. At times her mentor Tsukikage is absolutely savage, regularly beating Maya and putting her through some training that is definitely highly illegal, at least for today’s standards. For instance she once threw Maya in a shed and locked the door refusing to let her out until she finally understood her character she was assigned. Did I mention it was in the middle of the freezing cold winter and snowing out and Maya only had the clothes on her back for warmth? She was out there for days with no food, water, or even warmth. But don’t worry, she had her script to read and that made it all okay. Like goddamn, somebody call child protective services on this lady.

Speaking about “the art” and everyone’s passions, the more you watch the series the more it becomes obvious that the creator, Suzue Miuchi, really cares for theatre and isn't just using it as a vehicle to propel her own story. There are countless renditions of classic plays shown in Glass Mask, such as the mentioned already Little Women, The Miracle Worker, and Wuthering Heights, just to name a few. Some of these plays are presented without any changes while others may have reinterpretations made to them by the characters who are trying to give their roles a life of their own away from the original source material. Miuchi very much understands theatre and does a great job converting many famous plays into a more compressed and easily digestible form of entertainment that can be viewed on a week by week bases. The analysis characters give about the plays and other characters’ performances, the ways characters interpret their parts, and how the plays that we are privy to see in the series end up all show a deeper understanding of the medium. Watching Glass Mask is almost like taking a beginning course in theatre that covers all the classics, only with way more melodrama and over-the-top romance than you will find in your local theatre group. I hope.

What’s the most impressive however goes beyond just Miuchi’s renditions of other classic works and instead are her own plays that she creates herself. As not only does Glass Mask use pre-existing plays it also has its own original productions that will spring up in-between the real world plays. A lot of these self created plays are very enjoyable too, and some feel way more fleshed out than they have any right to be and you often find yourself regretting that you are only privy to a small part of the performance and not able to just sit there and watch the entire play like the characters in the anime do. Maybe that’s why it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that some of the plays Miuchi has created for her manga have later been adapted into real life plays in Japanese theatres. This is probably the greatest testament to the series’ popularity right there, where its own fictional works are turned real. I can’t think of many examples of something like that happening before.

I’d be remiss not to mention the visual aspect of this series before wrapping up my thoughts on it too. While certainly no powerhouse in animation, Glass Mask 1984 goes for a more picturesque route, and does a great job with tons of beautiful still shots and intricately detailed background images. It’s a humble production but with the right use of lighting a lot of scenes can really shine (pardon the terrible pun it was an accident), especially the night shots which can be pure art. Hang it in a museum, I say. I’m almost surprised we don’t see more “aesthetic” anime blogs mining images from this series. Veteran director Gisaburo Sugii (Dororo, Touch, Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix) leads the production with skilled marksmanship you would expect from his previous (and future) pedigree, and along with legendary animator the late Shingo Araki (Ashita no Joe, Galaxy Express 999, Saint Seiya) the series has a wonderful 80’s flair to it that just fills any retro anime fan full of nostalgia whether or not they have seen the show before.

Studio Eiken’s 1984 Glass Mask adaptation is a short, briskly paced 22 episode series that is easy on the eyes and not hard at all to still sit through for modern audiences. It’s full of tons of laughs (both ironic and sincere) as well as tons of melodrama and over-the-top romance. Most importantly though, it’s a full of passion; lots and lots of passion. During its short episode count the series watches Maya progress as an actress and grow older, with her finishing middle school and beginning high school while also balancing full time acting jobs on the side. The ending is left open--and let’s face it the manga hasn't even ended some 35 years later still--but there’s enough forward momentum in the series to really feel like your time with the characters wasn't wasted and that they were able to accomplish something--not to mention the ending spot is a pretty decent one leaving the viewer wanting more but enjoying a satisfying conclusion to one of the more interesting story arcs adapted. Overall I think anyone who enjoys cheesy anime romance can sit down with this series and have a fun Valentine’s.

[pengiesama]

The Real Library of Alexandria Was the Friends We Made Along the Way (Fic, TOZ/TOB, school AU)

Title: The Real Library of Alexandria Was the Friends We Made Along the Way Series: Tales of Zestiria / Tales of Berseria Pairing: Gen Characters: Laphicet, Mikleo, Sorey, Velvet

Summary: Phi crusades against two Bigger Kids making noise in the library. He winds up discovering some common ground, and becomes leader of the nerdiest gang this side of the hemisphere.

Link: AO3

This was written for After School Heroes ( @ashtaleszine ); a Tales Of zine focusing on school AUs!

The zine's purchase period is now over, but you can check out some of the other fic and art from the zine in the links below.

ASH's Tumblr: http://ashtaleszine.tumblr.com/ ASH's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ashtaleszine/

Read on Tumblr!

“…I’m not saying that you’re wrong. I’m just saying that you’re vastly misinformed.”

“So, really, you’re saying I’m wrong.”

“No, I’m saying that you’re misinformed, and that your flair for the dramatic has led you to an incorrect interpretation of our sources…”

Phi did not mind listening to debates on topics that interested him. And this one did -- he’d always liked Ancient History and was happy to hear someone discussing it with such knowledge and passion. His own class at school was currently covering the period, but...well. When all they were expected to do was to be able to name city-states and list off a handful of gods, trying to engage his classmates in discussions was an exercise in futility. Even his teacher wasn’t much better. Such was the struggle of being ten years old and maybe a bit too well-read.

No, no, the topic wasn’t the issue, nor was the debate. There was just a time and place for this kind of thing, and the public library after school fit neither of those items. There also was a need for one’s indoor voice. Phi peeped over the top of his book, scowling. His baleful stare, full of judgement and righteous fury, went entirely unnoticed. This wasn’t really that surprising, as Phi was halfway across the reading room and half-buried under a pile of heavy books at his table. He thought of clearing his throat in an accusatory tone, but the idea of making a peep in the library was anathema to the very core of his being. Sure, this section of the library was deserted except for Phi and the debaters, but...but it was the principle of the thing, and that principle was what set man apart from beast.

The two intrepid historians were wearing uniforms from a high school across town. Their status as Bigger Kids gave Phi some pause in confronting them. But with the library’s honor to defend, could he ever forgive himself if he let cowardice win? Phi thought briefly about how his babysitter Velvet might handle the issue, then paled, and stopped thinking about it, because it was kind of scary.

“—Sorey, your arguments show a level of understanding that I’d expect from someone whose historical knowledge came from half-remembered edutainment cartoons from ten years ago, not from someone who I thought knew better,” said the white-haired boy wearily.

“Look, Mikleo, I know that attributing the destruction of the Library of Alexandria to a single catastrophic event ignores other things that led to its decline—”

“And leads to more public disinformation about a section of history that’s already rife with it.”

“—but,” said the brown-haired boy (the other boy, Mikleo, had called him Sorey), pressing on. “Even if there were other events which led to its eventual decline, dissolution, destruction, etcetera, what I’m saying is that the most important and impactful of these incidents was it being set ablaze in the Siege. Aurelian’s attack on the city and the destruction of the Serapeum are drops in the bucket in comparison, when the bulk of the collection was already lost at that point!”

“But they were still important events in its final decline, no matter what your little fanfic daydreams of travelling back in time with a magic firetruck to play hero! And all this assumes that the Library even was damaged in the Siege, considering that accounts of the time are contradictory.”

“Ancient accounts from any ancient historian worth their salt all agree that the library was damaged by Caesar’s short-sighted shenanigans! And it’s not a magic firetruck. It’s—”

“Yes, yes, it’s powered by advanced technology made possible by a time loop that hinges on the hero saving the Library from being burned. You act as though I don’t pay attention when I edit your work. But if you really want to be taken seriously, you have to address the other aspects of its decline that can’t be solved by a firetruck falling from the sky.”

Sorey squinted at the ceiling in thought. “...the firetruck could fall from the sky onto Aurelian.”

“Then you’re getting into further divergent history when a Roman Emperor gets killed like a wicked witch from the Land of Oz. And there’s still the Serapeum to consider.”

“The firetruck could fall on Theophilus too.”

Mikleo appeared to be dumbstruck by this statement for a brief moment, then nearly flipped the table in rage.

“You can’t solve every tragic historical event by dropping firetrucks on it!” he all but shrieked.

“It’s called poetic irony!” Sorey shouted back. “And it’s art!”

Phi agreed with both boys on their more intellectual points, and neither of them on their thoughts about art and literature. More importantly, he also agreed with them on the importance of preserving cultural institutions, which meant that he was duty-bound to intervene in this fight before they destroyed this library too. Luckily, he knew the Dewey Decimal System like the back of his hand, and quickly collected a volume of text that might be able to smother the flames of this debate before they spiraled out of control.

Phi marched over to the older boys’ table, and – taking a page out of Velvet’s book on confrontations – slammed the volume down as hard as he could onto the wooden surface. But, as he was still a polite boy, he was sure to scream “excuse me” while he did so.

The two older boys stared at him, wide-eyed and silent, as the bang and scream reverbed off the library’s walls. Taking the opportunity for their undivided attention, Phi opened the book he’d brought over to the appropriate page and tapped a heading.

“Ptolemy VIII’s mass purges of Alexandrian intellectuals who opposed his seizure of the Egyptian throne, and the accompanying political turmoil in the Ptolemaic dynasty at the time, weakened the Library considerably,” Phi began, confidently. “This sent the Library into decline, well before Caesar’s invasion over a century later.”

The shock and confusion melted away from Sorey’s face. He reflected quietly on Phi’s thesis and gave an embarrassed little smile.

“...I guess I really did kind of get hung up on the dramatic events, huh?” he said sheepishly. “Man, with all the craziness going on during that period, it’s kind of a surprise the Library didn’t get set on fire sooner…”

“I don’t think there are enough time-travelling firetrucks in the world to drop on all the troublemakers back then,” Mikleo agreed. “But I’m guilty too, of only looking post-Siege, and at the Roman side of things.”

“And you’re both guilty of yelling in the library,” Phi added. “I could hear you all the way over there.

He pointed accusingly towards his table, which was still piled high with books. The two boys looked abashed.

“I’m so sorry,” Mikleo said. “We...we didn’t see you over there.”

Admittedly, from this table, it was quite hard to see where he’d been sitting, buried behind the books. Sorey, for his part, was already on his way over to Phi’s table. He looked over some of the volumes, interest clear on his face.

“Wow...no wonder you schooled us on this. I’ve been meaning to read some of these!”

“Well, don’t start with that one,” Phi said, gesturing to the volume in Sorey’s hand. “You’re not going to understand it without some background knowledge...”

When the time came for Phi to leave, he had lectured both boys quite thoroughly on history – and what’s more, he had quite completely forgiven them for their sins. Despite their...eccentricities, Sorey and Mikleo were very knowledgeable on ancient topics from around the world, and treated Phi as their equal -- not just some novelty to be humored and “corrected” on topics he knew like the back of his hand. They promised to be here again tomorrow, to talk more, and...and Sorey had talked about making an Ancient History Club, for the three of them, and that would just be too cool…

“It sounds like you had fun,” Velvet observed, after Phi had breathlessly explained to her all the above. “Give me your hand until we’re done crossing the street.”

Idly, Velvet wondered whether she should go through the trouble of inspecting these two new friends of Phi’s – and by “inspecting”, she meant putting the fear of god into them, and by the fear of god, she meant the fear of her.

Phi dutifully grabbed Velvet’s good hand and continued. “We’ll have official meetings once a week and unofficial get-togethers on the other days of the week, except Tuesdays, when Sorey has Track club and Mikleo goes to Home Ec club, but that day I think I can go to the library anyway and just plan our activities for the rest of the week…”

…but, honestly, they seemed like they were a perfect fit for Phi already. Velvet walked with him, hand in hand, and decided to hold off. At least for now.

[pigletsbigmovie]

i finished botw yesterday!!! and by that i mean i defeated ganon i didnt do all the shrines/side quests or anything lol

anyway the game is rly Good so here’s me spitting out my thoughts on it

the final boss was kind of anticlimactic? it was just.... too easy... it probably didnt take me more than 10 minutes at least thats how it felt like. the final form of ganon was rly cool tho.

also the fact that i hadnt planned on fighting ganon when i went to hyrule castle but then was like “WELP im here so might as well!” probably didnt help make the finale feel any less anticlimactic lol

ppl have said this before that the open world gameplay of botw makes it difficult to have a rly solid narrative which i agree with and i think this is one example of the freedom of the gameplay kind of hindering the pacing of the plot.... i dont think it’s Impossible to balance those things tho and i hope they figure it out for the next zelda game since im sure theyre keeping the open world gameplay. bc it’s Good. 

i also did the champions ballad dlc!! which was rly fun! i still wish we got to see more of how theyre relationship w/ link developed tho bc the dlc was kind of just individual looks into their personality which was coool but Please... i want that good found family content im dying

also i didnt occur to me that the photo you get from kass can be displayed in your house so when i got the cutscene with link hanging up the photo and he’s smiles looking up at it iiiim sooooo ;__________;

also in urbosa’s diary when she talks about how zelda, link, revali, and mipha are so young and how theyre hyrule’s future and that she and daruk hope to help them see that future ;_____; IM!!! EMO!!!! 

i understand that sometimes characters need to be Dead but also dont do this i’ll be Sad

and aaaaaalso daruk is so cool... and i wish his diary was less joke-y lol... like i feel like they couldve kept the part of his personality that’s simple and straightforward while also shedding light on the other aspects of his personality bc his diary is kind of just... food + also here’s how i met link! it’s basically him relaying stuff he sees happening but not much about himself

the gorons are a community that are very family-oriented! yknow with the whole brotherhood thing! and it’s reflected in daruk by him basically adopting link as an “official brother” and how willingly he is to die not just for his people but for all of hyrule... yes he’s a warrior but above all he’s a Protector and iDK I JUST THINK THAT’S SO COOL AND I WISH THEY DID MORE WITH THAT BUT WHATEVER!!!

same with mipha... i think she wouldve been a rly interesting foil to zelda... theyre both princesses w/ magic powers but while mipha is so beloved, zelda is kind of the opposite and thats rly interesting but she kind of just serves to be the tragic love interest.... i rly loved in her memory when she tells link “i will always protect you” like the wording of it is Active rather than Passive? her telling the Legendary Hero Who Seals The Darkness that she will protect him is rly cool... 

but then yknow... when you free vah ruta and she talks about how she’s happy to play the role of support and im just... guuuuhhh... thats very typical for characters like her idk. im just tired of characters like her who are relegated to supporting roles and dont have much more to their character other than being timid damsels in love w/ the hero

especially bc i see hints of her being so much More than that especially in her champion’s ballad memory but it’s not enough bc a lot of her character hinges on the fact that she’s in love with link and how sad it is that she died without expressing her love which is rly awkward bc we dont even know how link feels about her at all overall the character writing for the champions couldve been better.... but zelda’s characterization is Really Good. A+. and usually i care more about story than gameplay when it comes to video games but i think botw was the most fun ive ever had playing a video game so theres that one last complaint tho... why didnt link and zelda hug at the end..... please.... theyre Friends....

OH WAIT. at the end when zelda says she thinks the 100 years she spent fighting off ganon probably made her powers fade away.... and how, now, she can accept that and she smiles AND ;____; MY DAUGHTER!!! SHE’S FINALY HAPPY!! IT’S WHAT SHE DESERVES!!