#anyway happy birth shizun enjoy it

[tempo-takoyaki]

Happy Birthday Shizun! I hope you'll enjoy your gifts!

[mxtxfanatic]

Bing-ge and Victim's Entitlement as Portrayed by MXTX

I was thinking about Bing-ge’s journey as an abuse victim into an abuser and how much the creation of Bing-mei is a critique on both the writing trope that creates Bing-ge as well as the societal expectations that drive it.

In the world of PIDW, one of Shen Yuan’s main critiques was about how terribly the young Luo Binghe is treated by the narrative, so much so that he views it as torture porn. From being abandoned as a baby, to being abused as a servant and watching his adoptive mother wither from sickness and die, to finding his way to Cang Qiong Mountain and suffering under a cruel shizun who then pushes him into hell, Shen Yuan finds all this unnecessarily cruel. However, Shang Qinghua knows that the trauma Luo Binghe suffers directly correlates to the enjoyment readers are meant to get out of the second half of the protagonist’s life when he becomes overpowered and primed for vengeance. Shen Yuan knows this, too, as this is the trope he girds himself with as Shen Qingqiu to work up the nerve to push his disciple into the Endless Abyss, to “earn” his happiness. However, is this a true happiness? Does the trauma justify any and all of Luo Binghe’s actions?

On the surface, Bing-ge seems happy! He is able to enact revenge on Shen Jiu—and demolish Cang Qiong Mountain Sect who acted as accomplices to his abuse—and was given narrative access to any and every woman of marriageable age who crossed his path. He is even able to destroy his world by merging the three realms with no consequences to himself. Bing-ge has seemingly reaped the twisted “reward” that having survived unconscionable abuse and abandonment from the time of his birth had sown for him, and PIDW readers were able to enjoy and defend Bing-ge’s later megalomaniacal actions directly because they had read through hundreds of pages of his ill-treatment beforehand. The worse Luo Binghe’s childhood was, the more they were willing to accept of his actions in adulthood. We see a similar thing take place in the SVSSS fandom: the reveal of Shen Jiu’s past as a child slave is used to justify his later abuse of his child disciples—children who had no hand in his trauma but who he has decided to bear the brunt of it, anyways. But Shen Jiu lived a very unfulfilling adulthood due to his unwarranted actions until his untimely death. Is Luo Binghe any different?

Enter Bing-mei: the revised protagonist who abandons revenge in pursuit of experiencing genuine affection from the only person who gave it unconditionally. No, Bing-mei doesn’t get all the girls or all the power. He does not become the emperor of all three realms and he is not an uncontested leader that all conscious beings bow to. In fact, he is very tame and controlled in comparison to his PIDW counterpart despite not having complete control of his sword that amplifies his negative emotions. But when Bing-ge slips into the world of SVSSS and discovers that, despite all of this, Bing-mei has an intact world, platonic relationships, and a shizun who loves him, he’s willing to throw it all away to experience that same life. Bing-ge is revealed to be the unhappy, unfulfilled one, because the one thing he wanted—genuine unconditional love—was the one thing that he cannot earn or forcibly take. No amount of audience hype can change the fact that Bing-ge must leave behind the happy Bingqiu couple to return to his destroyed world in his unsatisfying reality.

This isn’t just a theme in SVSSS, either; it’s present in all of MXTX’s works in how people—both characters and the irl fandom—react to antagonists and asshole characters who have experienced trauma. In mdzs: a female cultivator tries to say that Jin Ling endangering other cultivators should be forgiven “since he’s an orphan.” Jiang Cheng throws his parents’ and sister’s death around to justify being an unrepentant serial killer. Jin Guangyao cries about how much his father hates him compared to the legitimate Jin heirs that he murdered. In tgcf: Qi Rong escapes discipline at every turn because his mother had to escape with him from his abusive father, and Mu Qing’s transgressions against the marginalized are ignored because “he was poor, once.” All of these characters have their actions whitewashed both in their stories and by their fandoms at large because their defenders believe that their trauma excuses any of their subsequent behavior.

Yet, MXTX does not prescribe to this idea. Notice the pattern of how the above characters end their stories. Jiang Cheng tanks his reputation and loses the respect of his only living relative. Jin Guangyao and Qi Rong die. But Jin Ling experiences setback after setback until he adjusts his behavior, and Mu Qing had to earnestly apologize under harrowing circumstances to be forgiven. It is not characters who seek justice for being harmed who are punished in these novels but those who persevere in their entitlement to do whatever they want because they were once harmed, thereby eventually destroy any goodwill others, particularly their loved ones, had towards them. The characters who are able to contain their actions to aim only at those who wronged them or else honestly reflect on their sense of entitlement in order to change for the better become well-liked by their peers. And as for Bing-ge: his inability to change within the narrative of PIDW may have “earned” him all the material things his world could offer and the affections of an unseen audience, besides, but he misses out on true human connection and love. These are the things he can never forcibly take, because in real life, no amount of trauma would entitle him—or anyone—to those things.

[overlooked-gems]

A Look At Stuff You Probably Never Heard Of: Katawa Shoujo

I’ve had this on my mind for a long while and I’ve been wanting to check this out for just as long. I don’t do many visual novels and whenever I do, they’re usually combined with another game-style, like BlazBlue mostly being 2D fighting game with visual novel-style cutscenes or Ace Attorney being more puzzle-based while being a visual novel. The only pure VN games I've played being Helltaker: Second Circle and Higurashi. But anyway, today, we’re taking a look at... Katawa Shoujo!

Katawa Shoujo, which translates into “Disability Girls” is a romantic visual novel game developed and published by Four Clover Studios and was initially released on January 4th, 2012 for all PC devices; Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X and can be downloaded directly from the Katawa Shoujo website for free. The concept itself came from 4chan, spawning from a single image (seen here) by RAITA, the character designer for Valkyrie Chronicles, detailing their idea for a game. Several people from 4chan, as well as people from outside 4chan, came together to bring the idea to life. The release date, January 4th, 2012, was the 5th anniversary of the original idea.

The game follows Hisao Nakai, an 18-year-old third-year high school student meeting with a girl he has a crush on. When she asks him out, he suffers a major heart attack and is rushed to the hospital, where he and his family discover that he has cardiac arrhythmia and congenital heart muscle deficiency, meaning that any anything that causes his heart to race can prove dangerous or even fatal to him and he must take medicine to keep his heart in check. He’s also transferred to Yamaku High School, a school specifically for high school students with some sort of physical disability. The school has a 24/7 medical staff, not to mention its situated very close to a hospital, and it has dorms. Needless to say, Hisao isn’t happy about attending a new school, especially one for people with disabilities. Though regular students can still attend.

While there, the player can pursue a relationship with one of 5 girls. Referring to the image above, the girls from left to right are Lily Satou, Hanako Ikezawa, Rin Tezuka, Shizune Hakamichi, and Emi Ibarazaki.

Lily is blind since birth, but doesn’t let it bother her. She’s always very polite and proper, almost acting very motherly to the people around her. Despite being blind, she can function perfectly fine and is able to do things from cooking food to preparing and serving tea.

Hanako had half of her body burned in a housefire that also killed her parents. With no other family, she was placed in an orphanage where she was bullied and teased for disfigurement, causing her to become shy and develop severe social anxiety. As a result, she self-isolates and tries to hide her scars as much as possible.

Rin had a severe birth defect that affected her arms (the original sketch referred to her as a “Thalidomide Baby”, with Thalidomide being a drug pregnant women used to treat morning sickness, but ended up causing birth defects), causing them to be removed by surgery. As a result, she lacks arms and hands to do anything and instead must use her feet and due to her situation, she rarely wears skirts. She’s often very deadpan and rarely shows emotion, having difficulty expressing herself, but has taken to painting, which allows her to do just that.

Shizune is deaf and mute and she is Lily’s cousin. She is the Student Council President and is often seen with Shiina “Misha” Mikado, who is her friend and interpreter. Of course, being deaf and mute, Shizune can only communicate via sign language, with Misha translating for those who do not speak sign language, either telling Shizune what the person said or telling the person what Shizune said. Shizune is a natural leader and very outgoing, not even bothering to hide her emotions and instead wears them proudly and openly. But at the same time, she enjoys having fun and can even be fiercely competitive.

And finally, Emi. When she was 11, she was in a car accident that claimed both of her legs, as well as the life of her father, so she now wears prosthetic legs. She’s an avid runner and highly energetic, occasionally causing her to hurt herself or run into others. She lives every day with happiness and joy and is always quick to try new things. She also views her prosthetic legs as a blessing, rather than an obstacle, taking full advantage of them.

As stated, each character has a disability. However, the developers went to great length to portray each disability as accurately as possible and how it would affect a person, as well as how they would deal with it. And as stated above, the player can pursue a relationship with one of the 5 girls. While it is mostly a visual novel, there are choices the player can make that can affect their relationship, for better or worse. And yes, there are bad endings.

Honestly, this is a very charming game. And as stated before, each disability is portrayed as accurately as possible. And I know some people may be concerned that the dating aspect revolves around “fixing” the girls. A lot of them have come to accept where they are in life and accept their disabilities as a part of them. The routes are instead getting to know the girls and seeing what they’re like under the surface. Yes, they share personal details about their past, like Emi talking about the death of her father or Hanako showing the extent of her scars, but it’s never a case of trying to “fix” them, merely getting to know them and just being there for them. I also want to mention that many of the girls absolutely hate the idea of people pitying or feeling sorry for them. In fact, the Bad Ending scene has Hisao say that he’ll protect her causes Hanako to lash out at him, forcibly cutting Hisao out of her life.

And with all that done, it’s time for my Final Recommendation:

Never Let Go Of It||Get It||Hold Onto It||Try It||Consider It||Stay Away From It

I also want to mention that there’s another Bad Ending. Should the player not pursue a romantic relationship at all by Sunday (Hisao arrives at the school on Monday), he’ll go to the roof with Kenji and drink whiskey until Hisao gets drunk and ends up falling off the roof to his death.

By the way, Kenji is another student at the school, being legally blind. But unlike Lily, who can’t see at all, Kenji suffers from extreme near-sightedness; he can only see things that are about an inch in front of him. Kenji is a conspiracy nut and a noticeable misogynistic, even believing that women are dangerous and tends to avoid them whenever possible. He also tends with flip-flop between reclusive and paranoid or sociable (albeit somewhat awkward) and calm. And despite his claims that women are evil, when he accidentally trips over Lily’s cane and takes her down with him, he’s immediately concerned, helping her up and asking if she’s okay.

And one character I briefly mentioned is Shiina. As stated, she’s Shizune’s friend. Both Shizune and Shiina are the first people Hisao meets at the school and they become fast friends. As you may have noticed, Shiina isn’t one of the girls you can romance. The reason being that she has a crush on Shizune, but she doesn’t return those feelings.

Oh, and there are some H-scenes, but it’s just relegated to text boxes with no images. And in case anyone in concerned, all the girls are 18 years old, same as Hisao. With the exception being Emi, who is 19, as she was held back a grade due to her car accident and rehabilitation.

In any case, if you want to play the game for yourself, the website is right here.

[desi-pluto]

Naruto Tag Game

Thank you for tagging me @shannaro-kamo <3 I tag @madara-fate (I really want to know yours Audric!) @shiningscarletmoon @sharinghoe @sharingan-uchiha @aiuchihashadow @porno-4-saku @behindheremeraldeyes @bibi-loves-books @veenia @konoha-hq @stefanies

Favorite

Female Character(s): Sakura Haruno/Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga, Sarada Uchiha

Male Character(s): Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Kakashi Hatake

Team: 7

Sensei: Kakashi 

Hokage: Minato 

Kage: Gaara

Village: Konohagakure or Kirigakure 

Akatsuki: Itachi and Konan

Jutsu: Susanoo, Fireball Jutsu, Kirin, Chidori, Chidori Nagashi, Amaterasu, Kamui, Tsukuyomi, Byakugou, Twin Lion Fists, 64 Palms

Episode/Chapters: Ones that revolved around Team 7, Sakura, Sasuke, and the Uchiha Clan

Fight Scene: Team 7 vs Haku and Zabuza, Naruto vs Sasuke (as Genin), Sakura vs Ino, Hinata vs Neji, Naruto vs Neji, Sakura and Chiyo vs Sasori, Sasuke vs Deidara, Sasuke vs Itachi, Itachi and Sasuke vs Kabuto, Team 7 and Obito vs Kaguya, Naruto vs Sasuke (Final Battle), Madara vs 5 Kage, Naruto and Tsunade vs Kabuto

Fanfiction: I don’t read a lot, but the ones I do read have to be one of  a kind like An Inch of Gold  by @kuriquinn or A Twist in Time by @wolf08 and anything written by SH23 -mainly the canonverse ones that keep Sasuke in character.

Story Arc: War Arc

Filler: When we see Kakashi’s face for real!

What is you...

OTP (explain why): SasuSaku - the love is the real deal man, it’s selfless, it’s accepting, it’s forgiving, it’s strong. It’s true Sasuke didn’t romantically love her in in the beginning but he always considered her as someone very dear to him, he always encouraged her to be a better ninja, lifted her spirits up when she was down for the chunin exams, and thanked her for loving him. Sakura did have a puppy love type of crush on him, but it evolved into her just loving him as an individual rather than a romantic partner, all she wanted was for him to not feel lonely again; she did fill his lonely existance, loving Sasuke made her the the strongest Kunoichi ever! It’s not perfect, but it’s beautiful.

NOTP (be nice): SasuKarin - Karin’s favorite thing to do was biting Sasuke, she didn’t stop him from going further to the darkness, he feels uncomfortable around her when she comes close to him, unlike Sakura, Karin enjoyed watching Sasuke kill, while Sakura practically stopped him from the one (Zaku) who beat her up badly. Kishi himself said that Karin’s “love” for him was dangerous.

Crackship(s): Shisui Uchiha x Hana Inuzuka (Idk why, they’d look good together), KakaMei (Both are hopeless romantics xD), Sasori x Shizune

BROTP: SasuNaru and NaruSaku 

OT3: SasuNaruSaku

Crossover Ship: Hmm...none in my mind

Miscellaneous...

Do you have any headcanons: A 3 year old Sarada playing with Papasuke’s hair making Mamakura’s heart melt. Sasuke playing with Sakura’s hair when she’s fast asleep. Sasuke pretending to be a sleep when Sakura whispers sweet things to him. Sasuke being proud of his daughter wanting to become Hokage. Uncle Kakashi showing his face to a little Sarada. 

Are you happy with the ending? What would you have done differently? Definitely happy with the ending! I wouldn’t give Sarada glasses. I wouldn’t make Hinata retire from being a ninja. I also would’ve evolved Inner Sakura too, Sakura use her water and earth style ninjutsu, have her learn more genjutsu from Kurenai, and make certain Ino takes her father’s job. Have Sasuke be Naruto’s best man in The Last.

How do you feel about the new generation? I love Sarada, I just hope the new manga treats her well and that Boruto doesn’t always beg for Sasuke’s attention! I also adore Chouchou! But I still think Boruto is  a sweetie. TBH I think all the new kids are adorable. 

Say something about your favorite character. Good and bad. I’m glad that Sakura was able to see the good in Sasuke and wanting to help him even when he was in deep hatred. I wish Sakura didn’t end her friendship with Ino just because she didn’t want to be seen as Ino’s shadow. 

What would a child between your OTP look like? How would they behave as parents? Sarada is perfect! She may look like Sasuke over all but she has Sakura’s forehead and eye shape. To me she’s the perfect combination of both of them. Sasuke and Sakura being doting parents in general xD

Say something genuinely nice about your NoTP. I’m glad Karin was able to let go, and still deliver Sarada; that’s good character.

Say something negative about your OTP. I wish Sakura would act more cool around Sasuke when she was a genin. Just that really. 

Is there anyway you could be convinced to ship your NoTP? What would make you change your mind about the pairing? NOTHING!

What makes you mad about the series? The dumb fandom.

If you could see anything happen in the series, what would it be? Sasuke and Sakura’s travels, wedding, and Sarada’s birth.

What would you say to Kishimoto if given the chance?  If Sasuke will get his arm back. Why he didn’t sue SP; and I’d thank him for the wonderful story :)

[jacksgreysays]

above the abyss: what it means to be a nara (from the pov of our new baby kinokawa? older maybe)

Ooh… Baby Kino Fic… I am both delighted and wary by this one, anon. He’s literally a newborn so we don’t know anything about him and I don’t want to presume what Silver Queen will do with him.

Then again, given the timeline of canon, baby Kino will only be at most four years old when the final Big Bad clash happens so it’s not exactly as if he’ll have a definitive personality by that point anyway so I could predict anything and it probably won’t contradict much.

Let’s see…

—

Above the Abyss

Kinokawa Nara grows up in the shadow of shadows, knowing his place in the world.

(Or, five times someone was wrong about Kinokawa and one time they were absolutely right)

—

The problem is, I just said five and one because that’s fandom standard but I don’t actually know what the five and one are. It just felt like the right format for this? I mean, a character study for a literal newborn kind of needs some support via formatting.

Here are some vague ideas that I have for this fic:

1) Much like his older siblings, Kinokawa is a very intelligent baby. Shikako possibly suspects too much like her and too intelligent–as in, also reincarnated from the real world. Shikako makes some very oblique references to canon to see if Kino reacts in any way. After several failures to respond, Shikako abandons the idea. Kino’s unusual maturity isn’t because he’s a reincarnated SI!OC–he’s just a super chill, very intelligent baby.  

2) Kinokawa spends a lot of time meditating? He is the most patient child? Calmest child, wisest child, Shikaku has no idea what’s going on. But he knows better than to presume what said child wants to do so he’s kinda like… Kino, did you want to go to the Fire Temple instead of the Academy? Because, I don’t know, maybe his third child wants to be a monk–Shikaku refuses to be surprised at this point. Thankfully(?) Kino is quite satisfied with going to the Academy, so… (One day he will be the equivalent of Kasuga-jiisan, I think. The wise old mystic with complete understanding of the spiritual side of the Nara clan jutsu. But that is several decades in the future)

3) According to @jickysilver, Kino is a precursor for Shikadai in that he’s a Nara boy with pretty eyes (and probably has fangirls). Said fangirls originally assume that he’s dark and mysterious and broody, a tortured soul who needs love to cure his inner sorrow. He is not that at all. Kino is the softest and sweetest child, he probably makes flower crowns with Ino-nee at the shop.  Or he gets free pastries from the Akimichi bakeries for doing easy errands for them. He is so gentle with animals, he probably talks to stray cats–Tora actively seeks him out. So soft. If anything, the truth increases the number of fangirls he has.

4) Shikamaru spends the entirety of Kino’s last year at the Academy overly paranoid that he’ll follow in their sister’s footsteps and end up on a team with awful luck and constant danger. It’s not helped much that there aren’t any Yamanaka or Akimichi in his class? (There’s a set of Akimichi triplets at the Academy but they’re in the year below and the next upcoming Yamanaka is only a second year, damn it). But come team assignments, Kino’s put on Team Six** with a Nohara and a Kurama under Shizune-san and Shikamaru will never admit that he cried tears of relief.

5) @jickysilver made the fantastic suggestion that the day Kino graduates from the Academy, six of the paperwork nin retired. They just couldn’t do it. Oh, they respect the Jounin Commander, but they cannot go through this a third time. Sure, Shikamaru isn’t nowhere near as bad as Shikako and the rest of Team Seven, but still. Their nerves are already frayed. They need hazard pay at this point. But, weirdly enough, not only does Kino not end up on disastrously bizarre missions he turns in fantastic reports. Just. The best reports. Bless this child. He turns them in on time, with everything filled out perfectly and not a coffee circle or grass stain in sight. (Possibly ends up joining the administrative team at least on a part time basis when he becomes a chuunin a la Iruka-sensei, and enjoys it. He finds paperwork soothing. The rest of the paperwork ninja chant one of us, one of us, while bringing him under their easily frazzled wings. His siblings do not understand at all but support whatever makes him happy).

+1) on the day of Kinokawa Nara’s birth, once all the visitors have gone home and only mother and child remain in the hospital room, Yoshino tells the newborn, “You’re going to make us so proud.”

… oh… I guess that’s five and one.

Yeah?

(**My headcanon for the Academy’s team designations/numbering system can be found here, but basically Team Six is the “general support” team unlike the heavy hitters that make up Team Seven. So relatively safer for one’s baby brother’s genin team.)