#and there's a very fine line between that and queerbaiting

[stimmingandstruggling]

my dream for a modern live action death note:

- it takes itself completely seriously. i want ZERO irony/making fun of itself. i need some actor man to take a potato chip and eat it with total seriousness.

- light and L have an insane amount of tension, i’m talking destiel levels of eye sex and queerbaiting, but they are never allowed to kiss. maybe when L dies they get one ambiguously queer line. but it’s gotta stay at least a little bit ambiguous

- misa isn’t explicitly homophobic anymore but she is like That #ally (just more subtly homophobic) (obviously shes gay but she doesn’t know that yet). instead of “are you on THAT side of the fence ryuzaki” she’s like “it’s FINE if you’re gay but light is MY boyfriends and i just don’t think it’s APPROPRIATE” and L just ignores her completely. she claims L as her Gay Best Friend despite him never confirming if he’s queer and her not really liking him. for Diversity

- she’s like i can’t be homophobic i do a pride month photoshoot and L is like okay. i don’t care

- focus on how the 24 hour news cycle, overwhelming access to information, and constant fearmongering and doomscrolling drives light fucking crazy (sorry i have to be weird about light here)

- instead of a magazine light very blandly watches porn on his laptop. looking actively bored. L doesn’t say explicitly “your son is gay” but he looks over at soichiro and says something like “hm. he’s popular with girls, you said? okay.”

- some awful misa and light sex scene but it cuts between that and light at L’s grave, their months handcuffed together, etc. hannibal style or something idk i’ve never seen it i just got a play by play from a friend

- naomi gets a bigger part because she’s awesome

- light and L are stuck in ambiguously queer purgatory but rem is very explicitly in love with misa. they kiss once before she dies and from then on misa seems a little more subdued with light. like she’s not so sure she really wants him

- when the detectives are talking about L someone mentions how he’s “on the spectrum” and everyone nods seriously. later it’s mentioned again and L overhears and he’s like you can just say autistic. everyone apologizes profusely but he does not give a shit

[ven0moir]

tw; rant. Once again here to remind everyone that byler not being endgame is, at best, negligent queerbaiting

this is the show where one of the producers said "the UD mythos is important but the heart of the show are its characters and their interconnectedness/family dynamics" or something along those lines AND also said that "very few things are coincidences in this show."

i'd have been ( and i bet a lot of other bylers too ) COMPLETELY FINE without byler even being a possible card on the table. i'd HAVE STILL BEEN A FAN OF THE SHOW without byler! in fact, i WAS--i cared more about el and hopper's rs than i did mike and will's. it wasn't until S4 that i REALLY got invested in the show bc of the promise of will's arc, WHICH INCLUDES MIKE. the way they handled the painting arc, if byler isn't endgame, is literally the most underwhelming thing i've seen.

the only difference that byler makes in my case is that if it hadn't come across as a real possibility, then i would've remained a casual viewer and not think about the show again until it came out, like yknow, most people. so this whole "will they won't they" thing going on makes it feel like a marketing technique to keep people who enjoy byler hooked at the promise of something significant developing there.

this isn't about "oh your ship didn't become canon? tough luck" it's legit that they would ruin their show for me FOR. NO. REASONNNNNN. I WAS ALREADY A FAN!!! I HAD NO BYLER EXPECTATIONS!!! not to mention how shitty it is on the lgbt community. and also, the mass hate bylers would get.

and before you say "its ur own fault for being delusional, they didn't queerbait--" I'm sorry but what Noah is doing IS QUEERBAIT even if he doesn't mean to and the duffers should tell him to stop hinting at byler until post s5 or whatever

im not even going to talk about the show IMPLYING BYLER for ages. for example; dustin telling lucas that he saw him and max holding hands and that meant there were feelings between them even if lucas denied it/said she was just scared vs mike holding will's hand AN EPISODE PRIOR

or the song "on the bus" playing during a lumax scene where they connected vs it playing on a byler scene in s4 using very similar phrasing it's like they're subtly winking at the audience.

the shitty way that mileven finally got their 'i love you' like im sorry it feels so rushed and awkward if this was supposed to be the culmination of mike's arc

i could literally go on and on and on and other bylers could as well so yeah. ugh im sorry for the negativity in the tag but i just REALLY need that to be very clear that byler vs mileven isn't an argument that is ocurring on equal ground and that byler isn't 'just a ship that people analyze too much'

if it was never going to be canon, THERE WAS NO NEED TO HINT AT IT **AT ALL** and THAT is what really grinds my gears. most bylers would still love ST bc our favorite character is WILL. we would've been fine if will's whole thing was telling his best friend he was gay and that's it. like, the bar is on the FLOOR ... me personally? i'll be satisfied with will getting a completed arc in the supernatural and having his moment to shine and bringing the story full circle like WE WERE PROMISED ( unless yknow, people want to call us stupid and delusional for expecting will to be important at all )

what i will NOT tolerate is people being mean to bylers for being upset about byler not being endgame in the end bc WE HAVE A RIGHT TO BE. and if you're one of those people sincerely: FUCK YOU. i wish you get exactly what you deserve. thank you for reading and that's it from me

[flock-of-cassowaries]

I’d count myself as a very casual Nandermo shipper, but the way the whole sitcom outtake bit was framed was just… very off-putting.

Spoilers below the cut.

Like, to introduce it, Nadja (in her characteristically condescending tone) says that she’ll just “make them hallucinate the ending they want”.

Which like, yes; Nadja would say that. But to then actually cut away to it, and in the context of a very, very meta episode… it really feels like the writers are just being shitty to the Nandermo enjoyers in the audience.

And the line Nadja says after the conclusion of that rather half-hearted St. Elsewhere reference (TIMELY!) feels similarly disparaging. (She says that the people who imagined that have “lost 15-20 IQ points.”)

Again, it is in character, and the hypnosis-IQ link has been set up previously, but it just felt… mean.

And like…. I get that writers can be annoyed by fan demands shaping the show, but it’s extremely ungracious to be nasty back to fans.

If I’m being really generous, I can see how perhaps they could have written it, and thought “Is it nasty? No, it’s not. It’s fine! It’s a joke. It’s in character.”

Buuuuut… I think maybe they needed to sit with it for a bit longer and reflect on the implicit part, because… it was ugly. And it shouldn’t have been in there.

( Honestly, the whole script felt like it needed a lot more time and care than it received. )

I also thought that the whole “It will be good when the cameras are gone” bit, and the “Climb into my coffin” bit were… like, if those parts weren’t queerbaiting, wtf is?

Like, the main/only narrative consequence of those sequences was to edge the Nandermo shippers in the audience, and like… for what? If it wasn’t just to be mean, was it to pad the run-time?

It was just… so stupid.

And again, I was never personally in the “If those two don’t kiss, I’m going to riot” camp. But the whole exercise just felt like it was meant as a gratuitous slap in the face to people who really liked this ship.

Like, the episode barely even had a plot. For a minute there, it felt like they were starting to do something with the monster and the Guide*, but instead, they just took a hard left into mocking the Nandermo fans in the audience for, I guess, the crime of being enthusiastic about the relationship between two characters.

*CW for sexual-exploitation / sexual assault implications in the last bit of this post (and no, I cannot believe I need to say this in a post about What We Do In the Shadows, but here we are).

~

~

~

~

~

~

* I did not love the idea that they were contemplating murdering one of their peers to turn her into basically a sex doll, and it was pretty well-established IN THE PILOT that murdering another vampire was a huge crime, but who cares anymore. Whatever. Fuck it.

[certifiablyinsanez]

I am immensely enjoying the attitude I’m seeing from the fans of Dead Boy Detectives. Because the fan base is full of queer people who likely grew up in a world with zero representation aside from queer-coded villains or queerbaiting. As a natural side effect of that, people tended to go feral if a ship didn’t turn out a certain way. It was torture, because it felt like a bunch of hurt kids were trying to hold the hands of those making media; like toddlers trying to steer a giant to just listen to them for once. And it didn’t work for a very long time. The lines between queerbaiting, canon relationships, and all the messes of human interaction in general blurred. It causes some to have knee jerk reactions when it comes to queer media.

But with DBD, everyone seems to be in agreement that it would not only be fine, but still a good show, if Edwin and Charles didn’t end up together. Because after enough years, queer people grew up and started making things themselves, producing, acting, etc. We don’t have to yank and pull. We’ve finally been seen. Sure we love the get togethers and love but in real life things can be messy. Many queer people experience unrequited feelings, something that would usually be painful to watch but DBD handled it so gracefully that we’re all pleased with the outcome. Glorious.

[okaysonny]

so we all know that lookism more about action and fighting and we only have little romance in the webtoon… Do you think that ptj should add more romance in it? as of now we only have 4-5(??) canon ships (warrenxsally, miraxzach, sinuxyeonhui, vivixxiaolung, etc) personally i think i would like to see goo,vinjin and jake with a love interest that’s just for me tho, 😵‍💫😵‍💫what’s your opinion on this (sorry if i sound lanky i don’t know english that much)

Glad u asked. I'll be taking this opportunity to YAP. *hands you an essay*

do i think ptj should add more romance? yes! 😄

do i want him to be the one writing it? 😧 no

jk! (kind of) it's just clear romance isn't his forte. and that's fine! i actually don't think any of the canon ships are bad...aside from one 😑 i just don't feel strongly about them. YES I WILL BE ELABORATING

warren x sally: i don't care about this ship, because i don't care about these characters! cute, but...warren is a plain jane and sally's character got dumbed down after hostel arc imo

zack x mira: awww the first lookism pairing 😄 the library + cinema hang out in the beginning was so adorable ^_^ but 500+ chapters and they're still not official like alr...

also we don't see much of mira's character outside of fuelling zack's development. she went through a lot with the cult and the school camping arc...but we don't really see how she felt? so erm

sinu x yeonhui: honestly, no strong complaints. like that's parents! i would've liked to see how sinu started liking her, but that's if i'm really nitpicking

vivi x xiaolung: 😑 i was mad as HELL when they got a happy ending. even if we take away her diddy parties, he was literally brainwashed + fought to the death to become her guard?? xiaolung worships vivi because he doesn't know anything else! he doesn't know a normal life! so this is already problematic to begin with

and why the fawkkk was jake like "nooo xiaolung you'll make her cry 😠" like why would jake gaf?? ��😭 oh that made me cringe SO BAD! and howww is he saying all that as they're falling off a building i'm crying...i headcanon he just said this so xiaolung would make the fall softer in those 2 seconds so he wouldn't die

bracing myself for a moment where big deal has no strength and xiaolung pulls up and says to the enemy "don't get it twisted...we're not friends, but i have something to repay him for" ptj i'm familiar with your game.

+ mitsuki x ryuhei: looks like it'll become a thing but i HOPE NOT! they're both trash but at least ryuhei is likeable...my pookie deserves better :/

okay sorryyy back to the actual question.

yes i do want romance because it's cute + a change of pace is always good 😄

ptj defo has more romance lined up, just not for the moment.

if i'm thinking of the character closest to getting romance rn...i'm saying eli 🫡 rn he's just chilling with his fruits and is healing because he has that forgiveness from heather's mom

+ i think he just craves love and affection in general </3 ALSO...eli being the one to say he's worried about crystal at the start of busan arc was 🤨 definitely intentional when you remember his crush on her. make of that what you will...

men who i think are getting romance way down the line:

daniel - well...pretty obvious! it's zoe or no one. ptj only uses jay x daniel for queerbaiting ❤️

vasco - still has that thing with leon lee.

jake - ptj can show the contrast between him and gapryong in relation to women. anddd development where he doesn't feel tied to only being #1 + starts to forgive himself for his actions and yada yada. jake getting romance will also give funny scenes of jerry/big deal doing the absolute most + minseon meeting her.

and jake just exudes bf material! everyone wants to see it. ptj knows everyone wants to see it. i think it'll happen 😄

jake is a very big character though. do you make a female character to be his love interest or unexpectedly pair him with an existing one? but i think there's only 2 girls i can see him with. maybe 3 but the last option is very bad.

btw i'm not 100% against making new women and eventually pairing them up with the guys. but i just know ptj will do this in a way that's very CRINGE and OBVIOUS

johan - wheather with lua or someone else. this ship would piss me off less if lua wasn't banished to the sewers of all places ���🤣

anddd johan is also healing + chilling in school. so he's in a better place for all that too. plus cute scenes of her meeting his mom/him asking her for girl advice like c'mon

hudson - i just have a feeling ❤️

and that's...really it imo. too much of anything is never good. not everyone needs a love interest! 😅 will ptj do their love lives justice? i have little faith, but we shall see...

and since you mentioned them anon, i'll give my opinion:

vin jin - he just has too much self growth to do. this the same guy who said he hits girls when they're ugly 🤯 it could happen, but it should happen after he redeems himself by apologising to duke + trying to be a better person.

and yeahhh you could have a love interest help him realise all that but 🙄 it's way better + more impactful if his redemption is from his own efforts.

goo - i just can't really see it sorry 😭 but we don't know much about goo, so maybe i'll change my mind after seeing his arc + actual goal in the story.

the only thing is figuring out where/when to put romance in lookism when you have that massive genre shift. i know ptj is stressedddd

[evilmafuyu666]

does anyone else feel like regretevator has a problem with tonal mismatch, or am i just getting upset over nothing ?

i feel like the best example of this is the way they handle mark and wallter's divorce. they keep jumping between "haha funny i miss my wife tails mark is sad and cringe" and "this was a deeply traumatic event for both of them and was the culmination of unaddressed problems in both of their lives". obviously i enjoy a good Divorce Joek here and there but it gets to a point where i genuinely can't tell if the writers want us to take it seriously or not. it feels like they're pointing at mark, somebody who is suffering immensely not just because of his divorce, but because of his own trauma related to trying to free himself from a hivemind and form his own identity, and going "lmao get a load of this fucking bozo", when he has plenty of potential for funny interactions that don't revolve around that topic. remember when mark had interactions that weren't about his divorce? i remember. that was nice.

infected and melanie are also good examples. pre-release, melanie was a source of constant jokes along the lines of "MELANIE IS DEAD LOL" and "MELANIE IS NEVER GETTING ADDED TO THE GAME LOL", and it got to a point where it started to. not be funny? and felt more like they were intentionally taunting people who liked her and wanted her to be a real npc. obviously now we know that they'd been working on her the whole time and the jokes were only meant to lead people astray, but her release caused a whole new problem by depicting her as somebody with crippling ptsd and anxiety as a result of what folly did to her, while still adding tons of stickers that make jokes about her being decapitated. like i said, a few japes here and there would be fine, but we've just ended up in another situation where the event that they're joking about is depicted as something very bleak and horrific in-universe, which makes all of the jokes about it feel in poor taste.

aside from wallmark, infected is probably the next worst offender here. they can NOT decide if they want his illness to be treated like a gag or as something genuinely horrifying. it's funny at first when you see the interactions involving people going "ew you're yucky" and him going "n4h m4n 1m n0t yucky -_- l0l mudk1p5", but then you delve deeper into what's really happening with him and. JESUS CHRIST? he's not just some ucky yucky guy, he is somebody whose psyche is rotting away as the result of a parasitic infection that caused him to lose his sense of identity, and if we take the floppies into consideration, is leaving him at risk of eviction and is causing him to scream in agony in his sleep. when you consider all of that, it makes the fact that he seems to be one of the designated comedic relief characters really uncomfortable. he's also a victim of the same jokes they made about melanie pre-release, yeucc and makos both saying things like "KASPER IS DEAD LOL" as a joke like it doesn't have horrific implications in-universe. not to mention everything with poptart, any pet owner can tell you that the idea of their pet being eaten alive and killed is a HORRIFYING THOUGHT, and yet there are dozens of stickers depicting unpleasant either eating poptart, or about to eat poptart. this complaint definitely leans more into the "i am a sensitive weenie baby when it comes to animal death", but i can't imagine i'm the only one who feels this way.

i'm not even gonna get into everything between him and lampert. "skaterlight queerbaiting is dangerously close to no longer being a joke and becoming a valid complaint" could be its own post at this point.

this could all just be the result of autistic empathy cringe, but as regretevator leans more into serious storytelling, i feel like this is becoming more and more of an issue. i have no idea what's supposed to be taken at face value and what's supposed to be taken as a joke, and what are supposed disturbing and upsetting events in the characters' lives are having their narrative weight taken away by the writers treating them like a funny gag, which only serves to annoy the fans of those characters who are invested in their stories without the sense of ironic detachment that the devs seem to have. i think it's possible for regretevator to have a balance of haha funnies and serious writing, but what it's got going on right now? this ain't it chief.

this probably reads like those rants 2010s cartoon reviewers would go on about how modern spongebob is too mean to squidward, but who give a fuck.

[roo-bastmoon]

So privacy has been violated OR...

... a smear campaign has begun.

Let's just get this new dating scandal out of the way so we can get back to buying and streaming...

Listen, I don't share unofficial content, but by now everyone in this tag knows there's a video going around that's supposed to be of JK in his apartment with Bam, walking around back-hugging and perhaps kissing a girl. Folks say there's the same couch, same wall panel, and a mood lamp.

I'm side-eyeing this because it's super grainy footage, the windows are different, the wall panel seems to be in different places in the two videos, the guy is shorter than the girl, and he's wearing a mask indoors. Plus, the account that dropped the videos supposedly posted then promptly closed up shop, which seems like they had the intention for deliberate sabotage instead of clout chasing as a sasaeng.

But people say the apartment set up seems really similar and the man has a similar hairstyle to what JK had in the beginning of 2023. So I guess it's Schrodinger's cat at this point.

(Isn't it curious that apartment-related scandals seem to happen on the day new content drops? Hmm... I digress.)

Look... If Jungkook (or Jimin) ends up dating someone else, I'm still going to support them as individuals. I'll be sad of course, because Jikook had AMAZING chemistry and I was really rooting for them to be together forever and all... but, I want them to be happy and fulfilled more than I want them to fit into any fantasy or ideas of my own.

That being said: at this very moment, half of Jimin's insta feed is about Jungkook. Most of Jungkook's lives for 2023 have JK mentioning Jimin, or even being totally focused on Jimin. There's years of super duper sus history between them. Right up to and including yesterday, where Jimin very heavily implied they are sharing Chuseok together.

It feels really weird to me that Jimin would want to tie JK's hair back neatly, call JK baby, beg JK to stay longer at his rehearsal, and joke that he can handle seeing JK naked -- but JK can't come over to shower and visit b/c Jimin says he just isn't that easy... if JK were in a relationship with someone else.

It also feels really weird to me that JK would light up like a super nova any time Jimin commented on his lives, would beg Jimin to hang out, would sing all of Jimin's songs and memorize Jimin's interview content, would travel with Jimin for his debut, then roll around naked in bed grinning and blushing while flirting with Jimin on live... if JK were in a relationship with someone else.

That would make Jungkook kind of a shitty boyfriend and Jimin kind of a shitty friend.

I know Jungkook is cultivating this cool guy/ladies man image right now and that is kinda baffling. I know friends can play-flirt, too... but to do all that on lives, after all their history together, knowing what half of Korea and ARMY thinks? Hm.

That's not "fanservice;" that's really toeing the line of queerbaiting. And it's really hard for me to imagine Jimin or Jungkook doing something like that. Jimin said he hates fake bromance stuff. (I guess anything is possible. It's a new chapter, after all. Maybe it's par for the course in idol-world.)

Hey, maybe Jikook had an amicable break up but are still really close and are fine teasing each other? Maybe they always liked to flirt but never were together? Maybe I've been reading it all wrong this whole time? Or maybe this is a bullshit video?

Whatever the reality is, I'm prepared to acknowledge it. At any time.

I'm not in a cult. I don't have to convince myself of anything. Jikook's behavior had made me think Jikook were in a relationship. If JK is dating someone else now? Okay then. I will just stop posting Jikook content and continue to help OT7 and celebrate my bias with all my heart.

No need for elaborate conspiracy theories or coping histrionics. If JK is in his Loving Women Era, good for him. Go with god, my brother. (Personally, I'd never recover from losing my chance to be with Thee Park Jimin, but that's me!)

But something about this just doesn't quite feel right. I wonder if he'll address it at all, like he did when folks filmed him in his gym or sent food to his home? Because if this is somehow real, it's a HORRIBLE invasion of privacy; home is supposed to be a safe place, and stalkers are scary.

And if it's not real, then someone is going to an AWFUL lot of trouble to overshadow Jungkook's release and upcoming album and that is unhinged. The kind of trouble that reminds me of apartment break-ins and tampered mail.

In any case, like I said: I'm ready to accept whatever the reality is, once the reality becomes clear.

I really love Jungkook. I really love Jimin. I really love BTS. They were there for me at the darkest, lowest point in my life. So whether I was right or wrong about Jikook, it doesn't really matter. In the end, I support them as far as I can.

But also, I sorta think this video may just be bullshit. So let's let them have their privacy, and focus instead on voting for Jimin and buying and streaming for JK instead, hmm? Eventually the truth will come to light.

No matter what happens, let's behave in a way that would make Jimin and Jungkook proud.

Love, Roo

[yantao-enthusiast]

One thing I've seen people accuse Sabrina Carpenter (and... a million other vocalists of) is queerbaiting and it's so weird because you really, really cannot queerbait with real people. Queerbaiting is a marketing tactic used to gain the viewership of a certain audience while also humiliating them (BBC Sherlock simultaneously teasing and mocking fans for wanting gay characters). It's harmful because it humiliates people for the crime of wanting to be represented. An artist, whose art is based around themselves, cannot do that.

There's also nothing to gain from an artist coming out as queer. Like, Demi Lovato came out as nonbinary and that didn't suddenly turn more artists nonbinary. Chappell Roan didn't turn anyone into a lesbian, nor is she lesbianbaiting like the "Roan is bi and pretending to be leabian for attention" conspiracy theorists claim.

If we're talking about making the art itself more accessible to queer people, that can easily be done by cishet artists. Hozier is well-known for his gender-neutral lyrics.

Idk i just think people feel way too entitled to strangers. The parasociality is real.

I'm a bisexual woman who found the Taste music video hot. Send help.

What do you think? The blurry line between the artist and the art in music make this a more complex topic.

- Manchild anon

sorry i meant to answer this sooner but it's just been mulling in my head this one... i had to think on it a bit like i have my answer but sometimes i gotta let it cook yk

i think you have it right on the money like it's so so so weird to say an artist is "queerbaiting" and frankly it's very fucking harmful. like, let's look at billie eilish for example. before coming out, she had gotten a MASSIVE hate train for the lost cause music video. so many people were saying she was queerbaiting when in reality she just hadn't come out or maybe she didn't even know yet. and even if she didn't come out to be honest, all of it was unwarranted because why does an artist have to explain a girls sleepover to yall. like yeah they're talking shit they're getting real close SO WHAT. why is it owed to you for artists to baby you through every single step. grow up. talk to a real person

like a lot of these people seem a bit too online cuz like... in some of these people's eyes it's like oh being queer is like this hot trendy thing that the internet eats up but in reality like there's still so so SO much hate and discrimination we as a community have yet to overcome and being queer can put a massive target on your head. and people's entitlement of celebrities can go way too fucking far to the point they forget that.

and let's be for real even if they do come out as queer... like they tore demi lovato back into the closet. chappell is CONSTANTLY being scrutinized for ANY SIGNS of not being a lesbian. and even if they are bi, like let's look at doechii for people invalidating her bisexuality, or billie (even though she's unlabelled) for dating a man after coming out.... i think anyone who is perceived as a "woman" by the general public is already being looked at on a microscope but if they're queer. Oh Fucking Boy. that's why it's brave to come out! because it fucking sucks! everyone is looking at you to "prove" your queerness, even if they had bitched at you for acting "gay" (which honestly a lot of "queerbaiting" can come down to just harmful stereotyping) before you came out!

also gonna be so real. i'm like 70 percent sure hozier is queer but i don't follow hozier enough to know for sure. like that's what i thought but now that you say that i'm like. wait. like it's none of my business but if he said it then like i don't wanna be like wooo ally yk.... it's fine anyways the point is yes gender neutral lyrics!!!!! like it's not necessary bc it is the artist's art but i think it's really great cuz it's like a free for all like you can truly project anyone into the song so it's kinda like diversity win by default?

anyways you're so real for the taste mv like well first of all. i love women covered in blood. i love women killing. i love women. that's why i watch yellowjackets. and why are yall complaining. sabrina and jenna are so hot and they KISS!!!! i don't CARE if they're queer or not this is AWESOME and why should being straight stop two beautiful women from kissing???? also they're actresses????? they're telling a story???????? and also they're hot????????? so like exactly. case closed.

anyways in conclusion real people can't queerbait and every time y'all accuse a real person of queerbaiting an angel loses its wings. and honestly some "queerbait" is also just like hot. like taste mv? lost cause mv? ok more for me ig! and thank you again manchild anon <3

[pinchinschlimbah]

Hi, something is bugging me today and I need your input on it. You wrote something about Kyo and drag, and I have the same feeling. I've been back to Dir the last 6 months after almost 15 years gap. During this gap, I came to terms with my queerness, took a deeper interest in queer culture and (tried to) educate myself. I have a sweet spot for drag artistry that tends more to the fraeaky side. Because of my taste in general, let's say I'm more a Dragula entouthiast than a Dragrace one. I'm sorry if this is long and twisted, but I like to provide context... I also have to "hide" this interest at home, because my partner is a transwoman, but she's also stopped hormones and tend more and more on the NB side of transition (long hair, not shaving beard, non gendered clothes, going with "any pronouns is fine" but still using the female name she picked). And she's not really a drag fan, in fact, it's a little transphobic for her. And I get that, some dragqueens (gay cis male ones) do have a little problem portraying female figures... I guess you get what I mean.

Back to Kyo. Maybe it's because every Kyo fan I met was a problematic person (lol)? Very, very obsessed with him, almost religious to anything he does, like he's the fucking messiah! So I started to pick on him, making jokes, just to piss off these women I used to hang with. Turns out, 15 years later and even if these women are not in my life anymore, he's still the butt of the jokes, my lolcow, the target of my bullying. In a strict circle of choosen people who get my sense of humour and never online or to his face (like I could harrass him IRL lol). I just don't like the guy and he's doing a perfect job at fuelling my despise. He comes off as arrogant, acting like his shit doesn't smell, gathering a circle of followers who will fistfight you if you dare to criticize or question anyhing coming from him.

With that in mind, when I saw this pic https://www.instagram.com/p/C-XoBeES7Wo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== my brow raised... I see wig, fake eyelashes, overdrew lips, everyhting is drag coded! And the MFing lolita headpiece??? After the infamous clip of him and Die poking fun at gothic lolitas! It was too much for me. I don't give a rat's ass it was like 20 years ago and they might have change minds about gothic lolitas, cross dressing or whatever! I felt angry, like, I don't know why but I was pissed. And here is why I'm bothering you on Christmas' eve while I should be working.

Is this bloody cultural appropriation or not? I'll die on the hill that drag is for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, skin color or whatever. But, where do you draw the line between hommage and plunder? Inspiration and deadpan lootering of the art of a discrimlnated community? Artists who takes risks when performing, in clubs targeted by gunmen and bigots? I KNOW Japan has a different aproach to male impersonating females on stage, kabukl and everything. I KNOW "it's not that serious, Mary!" I KNOW it's Japan and Dir will never acknowledge any personal infos. But it's twisting my guts he's only showing and not talking. At least, can he say somewhere he's paying hommage to a culture that inspires him. Somewehere everybody can read it, not in a magazine interview that will only reach japanese speaking people. Just share something on IG. It's getting personal, I need Kyo to tell me he's not the arrogant asshole I think he is since 2000. Because everything he does is sending me redflags, from the day I listened to Mazohist of Decadance I question his opinion on abortion, from the way he acted toward fans I dread he hates women, which is rich considering he built his career on the back and the purse of women. And now he's queerbaiting? Because he's not an idiot and saw where the potential was? Yes, I'm getting too emotional. Sorry for the rant, the mispelling and the bad english. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say, here and if you feel like it answer to my void shooting. But I'd understand this is an overwhelming message and you don't have time or interest in it.

Have a great day, celebrating or not, I'm going to lie in bed with a book and try not to hyperfocus on the crap in my head.

Hello! First of all, thank you for taking the time to write out all of this. I'm going to try my best to answer all the aspects here but if you think there's anything important I've missed, feel free to follow up. Also necessary disclaimer that all of this is just my opinions garnered from my best understanding of following Kyo's work, at the end of the day Kyo is a stranger on the other side of the world speaking a language that I have to rely on third party translations to understand, and I can't ever truly know exactly what's going on in his head.

So first of all, it seems the main question you're asking is, do I think Kyo's usage of drag imagery and culture is appropriation or queerbaiting? Personally, I do not. Based on everything I've seen and heard from him, it's clear to me that he's got a deep appreciation and understanding for the culture of drag, and has done his homework as someone who is looking to be part of the drag community. I myself am someone who is deeply involved in my local drag and queer community, and every drag person I've shown Kyo's recent work to has recognized his appearance and mannerisms as drag, as one of us rather than an inauthentic imitation for some sort of clout. The couple of friends who I've pulled down the diru/vkei hole with me, have felt the same way I have of resonating with Kyo's work in part because the kinds of drag he does reminds us of ourselves and our friends and the drag artists we look up to, and it's exciting to see someone who looks like that and performs like that also making such good music (drag queen music, as a genre, is unfortunately usually uhhhhh not great hahaha) and being so highly recognized for it.

[As a side note, I'm sorry to hear that your partner has had such a difficult time with drag! I think RuPaul in particular has unfortunately had a heavy hand in trying to separate drag from transness in a very ahistorical way, especially in the earlier seasons of Drag Race which then filtered into the popular opinion about what drag was or should be. But luckily I think most people in the community have since come around to the idea that drag is more about an exploration and celebration of all types of gender expression and identity rather than just "men pretending to be women" and while I think you're much more likely to find people with more in-between expressions in more local communities who aren't concerned with being palatable for television, Dragula has been good about showcasing people all over the spectrum and even Drag Race has come around more recently to featuring openly trans, female, and nonbinary people on the show!]

While I do think it would be really cool to see Kyo give acknowledgement to the specific drag artists who he appears to be directly inspired by, I don't think it's accurate to say he hasn't given any acknowledgement to the drag or queer community as a whole. Of course there are the magazine interviews, which yes they are created for a Japanese audience but translations are available online and digital autotranslate features make it infinitely easier for these interviews to be accessible to wider audiences than in previous decades. In these interviews [here and here], he has expressed support for queer rights (something still very controversial in Japan!), repeatedly brings up queerness and his support for it even when it's not super related to the questions asked, stated that he aims to title and write his songs from a place outside of gender, refers to himself as effeminate, said that he names his songs after drag queens and other queer people, that he modeled Candis (song and video) after Showa era gay icon popstars and that his intended primary audience for the song is gay men, that a show he watched when he was younger about a trans woman had a lasting impact on him, and that he has incorporated queer imagery into his shows with the goal of showing support for the queer community and to display queer love as something beautiful and important.

Even outside of magazine interviews...I think Valentina and the media surrounding it is a perfect example of him being as outright as he can without saying the quiet part out loud. (as I've been yelling about recently, the fact that there are so few officially Out queer Japanese musicians is a whole complicated issue but long story short I don't blame him given the oppressive culture there for not outright identifying himself as queer. I think it would be cool if he did, but I'm not holding my breath even if I do believe him to be someone of queer experience) The song is named after a drag queen. The song is from a feminine perspective. Kyo is in undeniably feminine drag in the video and using feminine/draggy mannerisms. He's holding a "Melty-chan" doll which, thanks to Kyo sharing a post about this on his instagram story when the promo photos first dropped, we know this doll is from an art exhibit specifically about navigating life as a queer person. While not exactly textually related, he also posted on his insta story about Catwoman being his girlfriend AND the Joker being his boyfriend, at the same time he was posting teasers for the shoot.

And also, importantly, the interview where he's wearing lipstick and lingerie begins with the interviewer's shock at Kyo presenting this way, and Kyo responding with "Really? The truth is I wanted to do it earlier, but the timing now ended up being perfect. It's a worldview not possible for DIR EN GREY, but I thought it's fine with sukekiyo." I think a lot of what you're interpreting to be insincere or malicious intent is actually just growth and letting himself be who he always wanted to be but felt he wasn't allowed to explore after a certain point and turned to lashing out at those things instead during that time. It's very very clear looking at Dir en Grey's chronological history that they got caught up in a particularly ugly bout of toxic masculinity/internalized misogyny/queerphobia in the early-mid 2000s, and I don't blame you for being put off by things they said and did during that time- I also bailed around then because I was at best uninterested and at worst actively upset by those versions of themselves. And that's part of why I've found their turnaround so exciting- looking at everything, to me it seems pretty clear it wasn't a sudden pivot as a cash/attention grab now that queerness and drag are trendy to a certain marketable audience. It was a gradual process over the past decade of the whole band learning to love those parts of themselves again that they started with in the early days and then abandoned and admonished, to get to the point of again being as flamboyant and theatrical and feminine as they are now.

I'm curious where you got the impression that present day Kyo is arrogant and full of himself and seeking out mindlessly devoted followers when I've honestly been frustrated with the exact opposite impression reading his interviews. He consistently gives the impression of having incredibly low self-worth, going on repeatedly about how he doesn't think his talents or skills are particularly impressive and he doesn't believe others when they tell him he's amazing or that they're a devoted fan of his and so on. It's made me want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him and tell him to be kinder to himself because his work is, in fact, incredible and he is deserving of love as much as anyone else. I do think he has the tendency to often be intentionally obtuse or annoying in interviews and appearances (such as wearing a bag over his head at the M&Gs on this year's European tour or the infamous film screening appearance from a few months ago where he sat on the floor eating snacks and putting tape on Shinya's shoes instead of answering the questions) which is not going to be everyone's cup of tea and might not be yours! But I personally don't find these actions to be coming from a place of arrogance, I genuinely just think he thinks it's funny and is trying to amuse himself and others when for someone who does those types of appearances often, they can end up feeling redundant and uninspiring after a while just by nature of doing it so many times.

I admittedly have not read many interviews from the toxic masculinity era which may be where your primary impression is coming from, but this one (from a western metal magazine, in I think 2008) stuck out to me as particularly interesting, where the pull quote significantly twists what he actually said and paired with the chosen photo makes him look like a huge dick, but the actual sentiment in the textual quote is that the band is trying to act more tough and "bad" than they actually are because they think they're supposed to, which I feel like really encapsulates what was going on with them at that time and their desperation to be taken seriously as heavy metal musicians outside of the vkei costumes and theatrics.

I do think it says a lot that no one in the industry has had anything bad to say about any of the members (other than poking fun at them for being too shy offstage) and that they've had no personal scandals that I've seen, that they've been able to remain an active and successful band for nearly 30 years with no lineup changes, and that Kyo has two other active bands who he seems to get along very well with. I don't think any of this would be the case if he was actually as miserable and annoying to deal with as he likes to pretend he is, since artistic talent only gets you so far if you're insufferable as a person. I think there's a good chance that under all his bristling, he is actually just a nice guy haha. I hope some of this has been insightful or helpful for you, and as I said at the start, please feel free to circle back if you have more to say!

[jewishdainix]

"Realm of the elderlings is queerbaiting"

Fitz and the Fool literally confessed their love for eachother and merged their souls for eternity after their biological daughter told the Fool that Fitz loved him more than he ever loved anyone else. It's fine.

"But robin hobb said -"

I'm pretty sure she spoke against the homoerotic interpitation of fitzloved was more than a decade ago.

Neil Gaiman too said at one point that he doesn't see Aziraphale and Crowly as a couple and look at Good Omens now.

I think that we as a fandom tend subotage our own experience and analysis (and honestly, our fun) by focusing too much on an opinion that was expressed a long time ago, and never really applied to the text itself. (Which, the thing that happen in the actual place are what matters. Hobb saying Fitz is straight is no different than jk r*wling saying that dumbldore is gay.

(She also wrote a line in AF where after meeting Carson Fitz drops the fact that upon meeting men he sometimes gets a feelling of an "instant connection" of a "deep friendship that could have been" which sounds like the description of attraction/a crush/whatever you'd call this (Idk the difference between these Im aro) by someone who wouldn't know to call it what it.)

"They didn't kiss"

1) By the end Fitz had Jane Prentiss levels of worm infection and was very very weak. Non of them initiating a kiss at that point makes a LOT of sense from a watsonian perspective.

2) Did "I said into his panting mouth" mean NOTHING to you???

3)

[ok-sims]

Good Omens 2 and playing with expectations

so I watched good omens for the first time in like 2020, had a blast but didnt really think about it again until s2 came out.

and now i realize that one of the things that caused me this obssession brain rot this time around is just how the whole season, but specially the ending, completely subverted my expectations, yet everything that happened is extremely coherent with season 1.

crowley has been asking aziraphale to run away with him for quite some time now. and aziraphale has been "choosing" heaven over him.

smaller things are very coherent too. crowley and taking part in nebula/planet/starmaking. aziraphale and forgiveness. crowley being "unforgivable". alpha centauri.

how can such a coherent finale surprise and smite me so much?

I guess part of it is the queerbait that many fandoms have been subjected to, historically (I was very much into sherlock back in 2014-2017, so you can see where I am coming from...)

but another part is how the final fifteen have a very different tone to the rest of the series. of course, there are some heavy moments in both seasons (the Golgotha being the main one), but those were taken from the biblical lore and not directed to aziraphale and crowley. while there is some drama between them in s1, it is never really serious .crowley was devastated when he thought aziraphale was dead, but we (the audience) knew he was fine. soon, they reunited and faced the end of the world together. there was the fight over holy water in the flashbacks, but we see then make up in the very next scene. so our expectations were set to having crowley and aziraphale have their conflits to be: silly and/or quickly resolved.

I guess that, along the fact that their feelings now have an undeniable romantic nuance confirmed to them, was my fall down the rabbit hole.

I did not expect the series to acknowledge so clearly, very much on screen, the romantic connection between them. before that, this was really heavy subtext, but the leap to text is still pretty uncommom in similar works. even more rare is having the characters kiss, because it leaves no room for subtext anymore. it changes the dinamic between the characters, as well as the perspective of the audience. tv often runs from this sort of change, because it is a risk, but I'm very glad the show took that risk and went with it without looking back.

the risk of changing the tone (even if just for the final fifteen) is also often avoided. "is this show not a comedy?" "isnt everything fine at the end?" so we were left with our expectations completly subverted in both aspects. and yet it all makes sense with everything good omens has showed us before. we were blindsided by the expectations that were firmly constructed for us, the audience, but the ending played out in consonance with the narrative built all through seasons 1 and 2. aziraphale creates situations just to have an excuse to see crowley. crowley is always coming to aziraphale's rescue, no matter what trouble this may give him in hell. btw, crowley could not care less for hell or heaven. "we can go off together, angel". "listen to yourself".

s1 and s2 are so very much in line. I'm glad good omens had the courage to take the leap and subvert everything we were expecting: be it subtext to remain subtext, or a comedy to have its conflit being easily resolved in time for the credits to roll in. and it did it all while making perfect sense for the narrative, with no last minute ill-planned plot twists. it's no wonder we haven't been normal about it since july: when was the last time you watched something like this?

[iwanthermidnightz]

But we all know Taylor is indeed queer baiting, right? I used to think she was part of the LGBTQ+ community, but I've seen things, I've been here for too long and, even though I really wanted to believed she was with Karlie, every clue pointed out to be just queer baiting, which is sad, you know.

I’m sorry you feel that way but I very much disagree with the queerbaiting argument, and since you’ve been here for too long, you know why most of us feel this way. I don’t want to get into this neverending debate again, respectfully.

I just think there’s a difference between wanting to be seen through art and not wanting to make an official statement. It’s clear she wants to exist between those blurred lines, at least for now. And that’s fine.

It seems a lot of patience has run out for Taylor, waiting for her to make a big move and *some* get fed up with the stunts (which I get) and decide to throw all the other stuff out the window as if it’s not true, but that’s just not how it works.

​The last few months have really done a number on people, I’ll say that. The turning tables has been wild to witness.

[kit-middleton]

Started watching Teen Wolf...

I was between obsessions, digging through what I could watch and wondering if it was worth getting upset at the queerbaiting of Teen Wolf. Then I realized that JR Bourne, who I’d had a crush on since perhaps Stargate SG1, wasn’t just a 2 or 3-episode guest star, but actually part of the main cast? So, yeah I decided to watch it. 

(Btw, anyone remember the television ad for Canadian beer where JR Bourne played up the whole “Canadians are nice” stereotype but every single “nice guy” thing he did was specifically to get laid? My man, you have that face and that voice, scheming is... not necessary. But it was a good ad. And he’s really hot.)

I’m stil on season one and I am too (and too ace) old for high school shenanigans (for fuck’s sake, there is a monster killing people, can you stop thinking “but I can’t be with Allison” for five minute, Scott?!?) but I like it.

As expected, I am seriously crushing on Chris Argent. I feel like I’ll be very into Derek in a season or two when he’s just a bit older. But guys, seriously, both of them need to stop being so inappropriate with the characters who are supposed to be teenage boys. 

Derek practically lives in the high school’s boys locker room. Not to mention the constant appearance in Scott’s or Sriles’ bedrooms. I know you don’t mean anything by it, but that makes you look super creepy, Derek. 

And this keeps happening:

Chris Argent keeps stepping into the boys’ personal space. Chris, buddy, there is a fine line between intimidation and... the opening scenes of a bad porno. And the scene where he traps Jackson with car problems in an empty parking lot, then cross behind him and touches his neck? You’re being weird, Chris.

So far, I’m getting pretty much what I expected from years of gifs. What I did NOT expect was to find evil Peter Hale so fun. He keeps commenting on women’s skin as if he wants to wear it and it’s as hilarious as is it terrifying. 

I haven’t gotten to this yet, whatever it is:

All this to say: wow, you weren’t kidding.  

[wrongcaitlyn]

hi hi! first off I AM SUCH A HUGE FAN LIKE YOU HAVE NO CLUE. I literally shake every time you release a new chapter it’s insane. i’ve been following since… maybe chapter 14 of talk your talk and go viral (i just need this love spiral)? and i have been reading them as soon as they come out and wow. just read the new chapter shaking screaming crying throwing up. But to get to the actual ask i swear on my life that sometime in the og fic will said that he was going to make a solangelo ship account and become the biggest solangelo shipper lol. i just looked and it’s in chapter 21! “Which is a strange concept to think of, obviously, but he’s going to move past that. The only thing that really matters is that he wakes up in Will’s arms, and Will, somehow, finds it all hilarious. He is, however, going undercover on his Kanye West hate account to become the number one Will Solace x Nico di Angelo shipper, and to most of stan twitter, he’s probably coming off as insane and delusional.”

please tell me if will actually went through with that account. cause i was kinda confused in the new chapter when will said the solangelo rumors were getting annoying. since yk. he was egging it on.

sorry for such a long ask but i’ve just been wondering and AAHHHH IM SUCH A HUGE FAN YOU HAVE NO IDEAAAAAA I also made a playlist for this fic that’s probably over 10 hours long at this point most of it consists of songs i think nico would make because i’m insane.

HI omg literally thank u so much😭😭💔💔 it makes me so happy that you like the fic that much!!!

to answer the question, he definitely did, at the beginning - but that was still very early on in nico’s career, and his fan base was pretty small (at least compared to how it skyrocketed later that year). i think there’s a very fine line between joking that “haha these friends would make such a cute couple i ship!” (what will was doing) compared to certain “fans” who will insist on nico coming out and them having a public relationship/trying to find “hints” and “clues” that aren’t there/theorizing abt them having broken up, or them pining, or basically just invading nico (and will’s) privacy (what will is annoyed by/what other ppl are doing).

will ended up abandoning that acc when he got to college (1 bc he didn’t have time and 2 bc of people becoming too invasive). will def was egging it on back in hs, mainly just to counter the piper x nico rumors and bc he thought it’d be funny, but it became clear at some point that people weren’t seeing the joke aspect of the ship, and taking it way too seriously (bc even tho will thought it’d be funny, he didn’t actually want to out either of them).

plus, yk what happened at the grammys. having ppl try to out nico or accuse him of queerbaiting is really not what will wants to encourage! he made a mistake bc he was a teenager and he is not perfect! (tho tbf, nico thought it was funny at first too, and then just kinda forgot abt it when he became less active on social media)

DROP THE PLAYLIST💳💥💳💥 (i literally have 20+ playlists for this fic and will never turn down some more. i have an obsession.)

tysm for the ask!!! this ended up being a very long response lmao but i have way too many thoughts abt this au😭

[alarrytale]

Genuinely asking what’s the fine line between being fame and attention hungry and being obliged to stunt? The more he participates in stunting the less sorry I feel for him and his situation, it seems that it’s his choice and hes fine with it and doesn’t want to change it and cares currently only about his fame and money. I love hl so much but it’s so difficult to accept their priorities and the way they manipulate the fandom

I think you've got to draw your own lines. What you are comfortable with and not, based on how much agency you think they have or not have. Only you can make that decision.

I agree that Harry the last couple of years have seemed very Hollywood oriented, yachting, living the life of the rich and famous and just generally taking advantage of all his privileges. Hanging around people with questionable morals, making fake friends and helping others with their image rehabs. Launching Pleasing off of his own brand at blood prices for a quick buck. Pricing his tour at ridicous levels during a cost of living crisis. All of this are examples of things that makes it harder to give him any sympathy at all. His current image is a rich, privileged white dude who's faking his way to the top while also trying to make money. He's queerbaiting enough to get that queer dollar, but presenting straight to get the parent dollar too. We thought he was different, had morals and lines he wouldn't cross. I wish he had someone around reminding him of his ankle screw tattoos. He might have, and this is all an image he's selling. Everything he does off stage is such a turn off though. So much of what he's preaching and saying seems hollow. There's become a discrepancy between what he's saying and how he's acting. He's trying to be everything to everyone all at once and nothing seems authentic anymore. I think his current behaviour is pushing people away. At least it should be.

It's all generally worse when he's off tour. It has always been like that. This stunt in particular seems not so bad actually. I just think we all have major stunt fatigue and we are tired of his face. It's also worse for us fans when he looks happy and not miserable. He's majorly overexposed and he's gonna end up like TS, needing an image overhaul if he's not careful.

If you don’t agree with their priorities and manipulation the best thing (and only thing) you can do is to call them out on it and don't buy the things they are selling you. Don't feed the monster.

[psychewritesbs]

Thanks so much for sharing your metas @theanimepsychologist , I learn a lot of things from you...

Sorry for just realizing it now, that you are the writer of one of my favorite 'Soul Eater' meta ever from a few years ago (love it so much).

Now I found your blog again through your JJK metas (new fan here, just got to JJK fandom last year)....

Can I ask something, do you think SatoSugu is queerbaiting? What do you think about Gojo and Geto's relationship as romantic subtext?

(Sorry if you don't ship them, it's just, I want to know objective pov like you that neither love nor hate Gojo and Geto as characters).

If I ask these questions to SatoSugu shipper or anti SatoSugu (Gojo/Geto hater) both of those groups are subjective to their likes and dislikes...

But if you don't want to talk about it, I understand, sorry if I ask too much.

Also, just want to tell you, one of the main reason why I entered the fandom, is because of stsg. The fan arts and fan fictions for SatoSugu are amazing....But I love JJK more and understand more about the story & characters are thanks to you @theanimepsychologist (Sorry again if my main reason for entering JJK fandom is because of shipping).

Well this is awkward... I've since changed my username and perplexed moots and followers alike because of it.

Anyways, is stsg queerbaiting???? HMMMMM let's taco'bout it under the cut.

I think the ship in the manga walks a very fine line between queerbaiting and whatever the opposite is, but imo, it is ultimately not queerbaiting. More about this in a little bit.

If I'm honest though, if we go by the strict definition of queerbaiting as a "marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but do not depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ+ representation," the anime feels by contrast queerbaity.

I say this because MAPPA seems to be very aware it is catering to a very specific target audience...

Like... did they have to go this hard with Nanami?

Similarly, they took creative decisions that were very openly supportive of stsg as a ship while still remaining somewhat ambiguous to all of the people who do not see the romantic undertones.

In other words, MAPPA goes out of their way to make certain aspects of the story more obvious, which can feel like it is very intentionally speaking to an audience that would enjoy such changes.

Honestly tho, I LOVED the creative liberties that the anime took in general.

ANYWAYS.

My thoughts on stsg... I've actually talked about how I do like this ship before. I used to be on camp "they're just friends" and came around because I saw the vision and now I can't unsee it. But the fact that I had to be shown the vision in order to "get it" makes me feel like you have to see the ship through a certain lens in order to appreciate it romantically.

Thing is that I personally find it dissatisfying that a ship is presented to me in little "hints" and "clues" rather than through the dynamic itself. Which is where the queerbaiting allegations come in.

HOWEVER, to me, knowing how Gege writes by subverting tropes, the "queerbaiting" hints are very intentionally placed in the manga to say "these two were lovers" as opposed to doing it for "marketing purposes".

Personally, I much prefer Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle's kurofai because the clues are hidden in the dynamic and their emotional behavior to one another.

Compared to stsg, I can only read romantic subtext in two or three canon stsg panels, but I'm also not sure if it's because of Gege's skill level, lesser focus on emotional intimacy, idk...

That's how I see it at least. And I honestly respect anyone who doesn't think of them as lovers because, again, the ship is somewhat hidden in clues, not in the dynamic. And say a stsg fan reads this, they could very well think "is she blind?!"

And this is where we get into post-modernism and jjk's main theme: no one owns the objective truth. You are reading jjk through your very own unique lens, and any meaning you make out of jjk is always filtered through that lens. Trying to say your truth is absolute is basically power scaling.

At one point or another someone has to agree to disagree.

So yeah, you'll hear me say this bit about not owning the ultimate truth a lot.

Anon, thank you so much for the kind comments 🥲. I am so happy to hear you loved my Soul Eater write up and that you've ran into my jjk rambles too.

Honestly, I love writing about my favorite ships and nothing makes me sadder than the state of shipping in jjk fandom because people won't just mind their own business about who should be shipped with whom.

As a side note, I've been brainrotting about atsumei recently. Might actually write about the breadcrumbs because these two move me the way some of my absolute favorite ships, soma, asucaga, and kurofai move me.

Anyways I'VE RAMBLED WHY DID NO ONE STOP ME?, it looks like you are feeling worried about my thoughts on you starting to read jjk because of stsg. I say it is a wonderful thing that you started reading it and found enjoyment in it.

Thanks for reaching out, and as per usual I apologize on taking forever to answer asks... I have like 50 and I do try to answer most of them.