#at first i thought you were using the chinese names but i've read enough chinese fanfics to know that some of those aren't quite right

[evilkitten3]

#ngl i was expecting 照美メイ to be in this club too#lemme just cast that into the stars#照美女伊#oh i also want naori on this list

i assure you, i did not forget about them! however while mei became mizukage, there's very little on her outside of that, and we have no idea if she worked her way up through the ranks before taking over (given how chaotic kiri has been for the past. always. wouldn't surprise me if she didn't)

as for naori, she unfortunately didn't meet the criteria for consideration to begin with due to not being a canon manga character. however, even if she had been in the manga, she still wouldn't have made the list bc she was never actually given a rank

there are several female characters who might've made the list but didn't due to simply never having officially been given a rank - most people assume kushina was a jounin, but we actually have no clue about that. we know ame has genin and chuunin but the only confirmed jounin in any naruto canon at all is a filler character named aoi, meaning that not only did konan not qualify, but pain's female chikushoudou body doesn't qualify either (nor would. any of nagato's other bodies or nagato himself if they were girls. no jounin for amegakure)

my criteria was basically this:

-female character that exists in the canon naruto manga ONLY (no anime-only, light novel-only, movie-only, sequel-only, etc. characters allowed)

-character must have, at some point in the generally understood canon timeline, been explicitly established as a jounin (only no movies for this one, except for 'the last'; promotion is permitted to be sequel-exclusive if material in question is a continuation of the main timeline as it moves forward through the sequel; side material for the sequel series that is not officially tied in with the canon timeline is not applicable)

-character must not be a medical ninja, nor can the majority of their known skillset be healing jutsu (use of a single mednin technique is not an immediate disqualifier so long as casual non-mednin usage of that technique is not exclusive to the character nor exclusively used casually by female characters; potential exceptions to be examined on a case-by-case basis)

while mei meets the first and third requirement, she doesn't meet the second, which lands her solidly in the company of characters such as kushina, yuugao, gazeru, mito, konan, and so on.

shoutout to the twelve (12) naruto women who are confirmed to be jounin and are also not medical ninja! (thanks to @tora-the-cat for compiling the naruto women list with me)

yuuhi kurenai

temari

samui

pakura

ringo ameyuri

kurotsuchi

nii yugito

uchiha mikoto

umino kohari

maki

kazamatsuri moegi

hyuuga hanabi

you did it, ladies! you beat sexism!

[thesecretwriter]

LOVED the fanfic about Miguel. I need one with him being feral at the thought of wife!reader leaving him because he is being neglectful and is almost never home with her. Please, please, pleaseeee. I would love to read this.

P.S add smut if you want to😗

home is where you are (part 1) - miguel o’hara

pairing: miguel o’hara x wife!female reader

warnings: angst – reader tells miguel she needs a break from his absence, fluff – I think is it?? , smut – minors dni. smutty undertones, no smut described but miguel is being suggestive.

summary: in which y/n, wife of Miguel O’hara finds herself spending more time in an empty apartment that in the company of the man she chose to spend the rest of her life with.

word count: 1.4k

a/n: thank you for the request anon, I enjoyed writing it. I didn’t write smut bc the fic was already long and I am a bit tired, butttt maybe a part 2??

minors/ageless blogs dni.

masterlists  

part 1, part 2, part 3

"I’m home, mi luz,"

The nickname he has reserved for you tugs at your heart. He explained to you that you were the light in the darkness that consumed his heart within the chaos of being Spiderman.

You look in the direction of Miguel's voice and sigh "well, that's a first," you mutter to yourself before getting off the couch walking towards Miguel.

You had spent the whole day rehearsing what you were going to say to Miguel.

You lean against the counter as Miguel leaves the packet with a logo from a Chinese take away not far from your shared apartment.

Miguel approaches you, his eyes dark and intense. His expression is unreadable, but you can feel a sense of discomfort growing within you.

"Did you miss me mi corazón?" he asks in a low voice, his eyes scanning your body as he comes closer to you.

"Well, for me to answer that question you would have to be around enough for me to miss you. So, no I did not miss you," you say, upset that he had the audacity to question if you miss him when he is not even at home most of the time.

You stay where you are leaning against the counter with your arms folded. Miguel takes this as an opportunity to cage you between his arms as he towers over you.

His eyes are fixed on you. He leans forward till he is a few centimetres away from you.

"You know that's not true mi luz. You miss me. And I miss you too, baby. I've been thinking a lot about you all day." he says, his tone suggestive and a glint of desire in his eyes.

"If you were thinking of me so much, then maybe you would be home more often. I've been wanting to talk to you about something..." you trail off nervous and avoiding eye contact with him. Miguel picks up the change of your attitude and tilts his head to the side in curiosity.

Any other day you would think that it was adorable of him to do such a thing, but now it ticked you off that he was so oblivious.

Miguel notices your nervousness and his expression turns serious. "What is it? What do you want to talk about, y/n?" he asks, his voice firm. The use of your first name is your first warning of Miguel being serious.

He is still leaning in close to you, however, you can now tell that he is tense from your nervousness.

"I want to take some time off... from us," you blurt out, wanting to get this conversation over with. Miguel takes in your words.

You want to take a break from him? the one who has the weight of the world on his shoulders. His brows furrow in confusion, but also anger.

Miguel moves closer to you, his body now pressed against yours. He leans in close to your ear, his breath hot against your skin.

"Why would you want to do that, mi vida? Don't you know how much I love you?" he whispers, his lips dangerously close to your skin.

His taunting is what gets to you. Here you are trying to tell him what you needed, and he is retaliating by trying to seduce you.

"I don't feel your love anymore Miguel. You're barely home. I wake up, you're not here. I go to sleep, you're not here. Sometimes you even leave in the middle of night when I'm asleep. I understand that the spider society is important to you, but once upon a time so was this relationship. I cannot keep living like this by having moments with you." you say, getting angrier as you speak.

Miguel notices the unshed tears in your eyes.

Miguel's expression softens for a moment as he looks into your eyes, seeing the pain and tears hidden behind them.

He knows he's been distant lately, but that's all because he's been putting in more time fighting crime around the city as Spiderman and travelling to other dimensions to help other Spider-Man/women.

"I'm sorry, mi luz. I promise to make it up to you. I'll take some time off, for just the two of us." he says, his voice sincere as he tries to reason with you.

"And then what? while we're spending time together, you'll get called into HQ and will leave me alone. It’s happened before Miguel. I already packed enough clothes for me to spend a week with at a friend’s house," You put your hands on his chest to push him away and go to get your phone to call your friend to pick you up.

Miguel feels his chest tighten at the thought of having you away from him. You're slipping through his fingers, and he must do something about it before he loses you completely.

Miguel takes a step forward, blocking your path to the phone. His eyes flash with anger.

"You're not going anywhere, y/n. You're delusional if you think I'm just going to sit back and let you leave me. We're married, you made a vow to me. Do you know how hard I've been working to protect this city and the people in it? Do you have any idea how much pressure I'm under?" he says, his voice rising in frustration.

Before you can respond, he grabs your wrist and pulls you towards him. He presses himself against you, his hands roaming over your body as he begins to kiss you. You try to resist and push him away, but he's too strong. He continues to kiss you until you finally give in, allowing him to lead you to the bedroom.

You pour all your emotion into the kiss, letting him feel the heartbreak and anguish you have every time he forgets about you.

You're too consumed in the kiss to notice that Miguel is already beginning to take off his clothes. He breaks the kiss to take of your shirt and you see that as an opportunity to interrupt him.

"Miguel stop, not everything can be fixed with-" his lips stop you from speaking as he goes back to kissing you. All you're left in is your bra and panties, which Miguel still feels is too much of clothing.

You feel his lips trailing kisses down your neck as his palms knead at your breasts. His talons poking you ever so lightly, but it’s nothing you haven't felt before.

Your moans only urge Miguel on. He thinks back to the moment he saw the unshed tears in your eyes, the moment you almost left him.

Soon, he comes to the revelation that the only way to keep you here, with him - is to breed you.

It's something you and him have previously discussed. However, with him being away so much, it slipped his mind how he wanted nothing more than to watch you bare his child.

Miguel continues to kiss you passionately, his touch becoming rougher as he begins to undress you completely. He pins you down on the bed, his muscles exposed in the dimly lit room. You can see the taut muscles in his arms as he looms over you.

"Don't fight it, mi luz. I'm giving you what you've always wanted from me," he says, his voice low and husky.

Miguel continues to hold you down and have his way with you. You can't bring yourself to fight resist him anymore, your lips move with his and you feel the spark that is always present within you when Miguel kisses you.

For a moment, you see a glimpse of the caring and loving man you married. He is still there, underneath all the coldness that has consumed him.

[muffinlance]

Wait, what’s going on with Embers???? That fic has been on my read later list since 2021, what’s happened with it???

Brief overview, then I'm likely never touching this topic again, because this is not a Drama Blog:

Context: Embers is a super old AtLA fic that was written during the early fandom days, read widely at the time, and was the origin of the widely-used fanon name of "Wani" for Zuko's ship (kind of by default that it was one of the first popular fics to give his ship a name, I think?), even though most fic writers don't seem to realize it's from there anymore.

"What's Going On": I used to include a link in all my stories to it, because I believe in crediting other writers for borrowed elements, and I was using "Wani" in all my fics. But BOY did I not want to be sending readers that way anymore, so I've adopted a new name for Zuko's ship, and removed all Embers links.

None of the criticisms about Embers itself are new; I'm assuming they date back to when the fic was being written, because this isn't an "it aged badly" thing, this is an "actually yeah this gets worse the longer you think about it and I shouldn't have ignored my bad feelings just because some of the worldbuilding was interesting" thing.

An Incomplete List of Why I Made the Change:

I don't actually like the story that much anymore, and don't want to rec it

I tried to re-read it recently to see if some things were as bad as I remembered and it turns out they were So Much Worse Oh Yikes. More specifically, the treatment of Katara and Aang and their respective cultures has... rather a lot going on. One example: The Fire Nation and Air Nomads are both given multiple backstory elements in an attempt to make the average Fire Nation soldier's participation in the genocide/war in large part the fault of the Avatar and the Air Nomads themselves, and also fully justified from the Fire Nation perspective. And I do mean fully. One of its core tenants is "People from the Fire Nation (and only people from the Fire Nation) who don't follow orders Literally Die, therefore murdering pacifists and babies and continuing the war (and their regularly scheduled war crimes) is the only thing it is physically possible for them to do". I cannot emphasize enough how literal that is.

Also the name "Wani" means "Alligator" and is... objectively a pretty lame name for Zuko's ship? Where's the personality, where's the deeper meaning, where's the resonance with Zuko's themes? @tuktukpodfics initially thought I was calling the ship "Wanyi", and that's what I've switched to, because it is Objectively So Much Better. In their words: “Wànyī (萬一): Literally ‘one in ten thousand,’ ‘perchance.’ Used grammatically in Chinese to mean ‘what if’ or ‘just in case.’ I think a ship called ‘The Perchance’ is perfect for a boy clinging to false hope.”

TL:DR; I don't rec Embers anymore, because I don't actually like the story anymore, and there are things about it that get worse the more I think on them. I've removed links to it and renamed Zuko's ship to "Wanyi" ("The Perchance") because our boy deserves a ship name that reflects his character arc.

[blackmoonlightexpress]

About the mixed response in China & why I think TTEOTM will prevail in the end 💪

Saw the "Badly Received in China?" post earlier and thought to share a longer take on the situation in China, why are there so many antis, and my own predictions on its future.

First, a clarification, TTEOTM has been an massive hit in China. The data speaks for itself in every way you can measure commercial success: viewership, platform membership, app downloads, social media heat index, advertisements, merchandise sales, unintended tourism GDP contribution. The drama has shattered records and outperformed all the recent xianxias, which you'd never dare to expect for a drama with no dingliu (顶流) that airs exclusively in the dead April slot on a platform that's 3rd (sometimes 4th) amongst online streamers. (Some day I'll create a master post just on the stats.)

The only area it falls short on is critical response. It's not just the low Douban rating (opened at 6.x and now dropped to 5.6). The three Bs - Douban, Weibo, and Bilibili (which you can think of as China's IMDB, Twitter, and Youtube) were full of attacks against the show. This included trending topics on how the actors looked (LYX too thin, BL looking old/big/overshadowed by CDL, CDL 照骗 not looking as good as in photo) as well as allegations of plagiarism and drama behind the scenes between cast & crew members. A lot of people watched video edits that twisted the facts and had a poor impression of the drama and even left 1/2-star reviews on Douban without ever watching an episode. (This type of brainwashing is more effective than you'd think. I've been reading a lot of negative posts about the Little Mermaid movie and almost caught myself writing something negative about it without ever watching.)

As all of this unfolded, I kept asking myself, why all the smearing? Who is behind it? And why TTEOTM in particular?

A lot of what appears to be normal user activity is driven by water armies, marketing accounts, and "black" hot search ranking, all paid. This is all backed up by photo evidence captured by netizens. It comes down to commercial interests of rival platforms, productions, actors. This actually happens to every drama that is threatening in some way (almost a proof of success), but TTEOTM attracted more anti $$$. Why? For one, it's seen as the secret weapon that could elevate Youku's status as a 3rd/4th player to a close 2nd to rival and even at times overshadow Tencent. It's no coincidence that, Bilibili, which is owned by Tencent and has way more daily active users than Youku, has promoted hate videos and limited the traffic of fan videos - at some point not even recognizing the drama's Chinese title in search results. (Bilibili used to be a haven for LYX fans and a platform LYX has partnered with extensively. This flipped 180 degrees since he no longer has any unaired dramas with Tencent.)

TTEOTM is also a target for rival productions. It's got big name stars with solid acting reputation, one of the hottest IPs, and high anticipation from all the promotional materials - they've been super loud in letting everyone know that they have better costumes, special effects etc Meanwhile, there's a massive pipeline of unaired xianxia dramas that stick to the old formula and will likely feel dated after people have watched TTEOTM. People even started questioning how some productions with bigger rumored budgets ended up with cheaper-looking promotional materials, costumes, CGI (read: embezzling). So if you've invested in xianxia 101, you'd really want to discredit TTEOTM and stop people from watching it.

But there's also rival fandom jealousy, which is almost worse. Someone asked which fandom is behind it, I would say everyone. There are only so many "resources" to go around in the "entertainment winter" and it's a zero sum game. LYX and BL are both already big stars but still not at the top yet. They are big enough to threaten the dinglius, but not big enough to be accepted as having "made it" by other rising stars. E.g. Yang Mi, Yang Zi, Xiao Zhan receive a lot of hate too, but it's less realistic as a prospect to bring them down. In contrast, the smearing of Bai Lu actually kind of worked. (And I'm really talking about the fans. The actors probably leave it to their agencies/companies.)

Other fandoms are especially bitter in this case because TTEOTM really upset the status quo and commonly accepted truths in a way that kind of discredits everyone else. A lot of the below have been used by fans of dinglius as excuses for when a drama doesn't perform:

Youku is a rubbish platform and Youku exclusive web dramas will never have high viewership

It’s impossible for an actor to break out twice within the same genre

An actor can only develop a big dedicated fan base with CP marketing

Breakout hits are always unanticipated dramas that come out of nowhere

Autumn/Spring is a dead slot. Hits can only come out of the summer and winter holidays.

IMHO A lot of the intense hatred comes from long held beliefs being proven wrong. LYX has always been thought of someone who’s borderline A list and B list, yet the opening viewership of TTEOTM is like double that of dramas led by bigger stars. It would have been less threatening if it started low and slowly gained traction because the drama proved to be good. But the initial hype speaks to the market power of a LYX xianxia, so a lot of people wanted to see it fail and looked for faults everywhere.

Moreover, because TTEOTM had an explosive opening, it did not have enough time for word of mouth to develop before people started bashing it. If you look at Douban ratings, shows that fewer people watched tend to have better reviews because only fans bother to rate it. Starry Love and Back from the Brink, both harshly dismissed as flops by the industry, both have >7.0 on Douban. Meanwhile, people love to hate on a show that is receiving a lot of hype - suddenly they are held to completely different standards even if the budget is similar. Why are people more accepting of the rise of Dylan Wang and Esther Yu in LBFAD? In the end because the expectations were pretty low. They were able to build up a fan base while no one was watching.

Finally, TTEOTM does have lots of production problems, some of their own doing and others not their fault. Either way this left the drama less defensible in the face of scrutiny or tucao (吐槽) culture. The production is very ambitious and took risks, but did not deliver everywhere. It's got parts that look like a blockbuster film and parts that look like a B grade TV show. I personally did not like some of the editing, lighting, cinematography, color grading, special effects, makeup. AND this is precisely the type of production details Chinese viewers LOVE to fixate on. Meanwhile, compared to western viewers, they are more forgiving about things like mediocre acting, dubbing, slow pacing, repetitive tropes or storylines, uninteresting characters. (I think this has something to do with cultural differences around rewarding perfect execution over innovation/risk-taking, sum of the parts over parts that carry the sum.)

And then, there are creative choices that are daring and controversial. These are not problems per se - for every viewer that hates it, someone loves it because it's different. But this perhaps explain why its score has dropped further, even in non-Chinese platforms like MDL, even amongst fans of the show. For example... (spoilers ahead)

Opting for a bad/open ending, knowing that it'll upset some fans, but sticking to it because they feel that it protects the overall integrity of the story (no deus ex machina). Of course, most viewers prefer a happy ending. It would have been easy to just give people what they want. The screenwriter doesn't even have to come up with a new ending for god's sake! However, almost every xianxia that has come before has resurrected the lead character after the big climax. Viewers have been making fun of the cop out: What's the significance of life and death if everyone just reincarnates?

Packing lots of details in a fast-paced, highly complicated, non-linear plot, trusting viewers to be engaged enough to use their brain, rewatch, and discuss outside the show (a bit like Christopher Nolan films). The downside of this is that it's hard to edit out a scene. There's also high risk of viewers getting confused and complaining that the plot makes no sense. Even though most things do if you go several layers down, some rightly point out that they just want to be entertained and the drama should stand on its own.

Making this a male lead centric (大男主) drama, which is rare in the xianxia genre that more recently has targeted young women exclusively. The story shifts from focusing on LSS's mission to TTJ overcoming his fate, perhaps at the expense of the romance (a criticism I see a lot from viewers looking for a pure love story). However, for context, viewers in China (including CCTV itself) have been complaining that the xianxia genre has lost the "xia” (heroism). It's gone from Chinese Paladin, which is about ordinary people overcoming odds to become heroes, to stories that are just about pretty people, who happen to be gods, falling in love since the success of Eternal Love and Journey of the Flower. TTEOTM brings the focus back to "zero to hero" character development, so this is also a change that many welcome.

Allocating a crazy portion of budget and screentime to superhero fight sequences. I agree with all the critics who say these scenes don't add much to the story, the B roll looks better without CGI, and they could have kept other scenes instead. BUT guess which scenes I find myself rewatching and showing off to friends the most? Episodes 14, 15, 32. Because it is thrilling and glorious. Plus after enduring so many Marvel films over the years, I'm pleased to see a version that's genuinely Chinese (not some pan-Asian BS), rooted in our philosophy and martial arts tradition, featuring Chinese faces that have real kungfu training.

Going over the top on aesthetics - colorful costumes, hair accessories, and heavy makeup. A violent reaction against the simple pastel aesthetics that have dominated xianxias over the years. Of course, lots of people hated on the eyeliner and found the extravagant visuals distracting.

However, even with all its flaws, I'm glad it aired and did not wait for perfection. (A lot of May dramas did not go live last minute due to "technical problems" i.e. government censorship. These days, airing = success.) In addition, I predict that over time people will come to appreciate TTEOTM more. Here's why:

1) A lot of dramas now widely lauded as classics started out with poor ratings. Over time, the noise will die down and make way for what really matters - compelling acting and story. Empresses in the Palace (2011) opened with a Douban rating of 2.7 out of 10 (yes, this bad). Viewers didn't like the casting choice. They thought the actors looked bad. There were also issues with the costumes. Over time, its rating increased to 9.4. It's now a show rewatched so loyally that data analysts use its viewership to track market size. Similarly, a lot of the issues people have with TTEOTM are superficial. The things that matter most like acting are good, and even if you dislike the story and editing choices, it did manage to keep 70M people watching and engaged till the end, incl. people who don't watch a lot of TV or like this genre.

2) Moreover, when people look back or rewatch, they tend to focus on just the highlights, and TTEOTM is full of memorable scenes. There are also so many standout memes/gags (出圈梗) that will live in our cultural fabric forever. Fans on Douban were surveyed on who they would have chosen as the director instead and still overwhelming "rehired" Kuk Kok Leung. Biases aside, I think people realize that you could have a better executed drama overall - higher production value, greater consistency, more attention to detail, BUT you might also lose a lot of the things we loved. I don't know if another director would have allowed TTJ go full creepy/evil/weak in the first few episodes or filmed all the steamy love scenes without a modesty backlight. TTEOTM feels so different because it breaks ALL the rules (see above) that I'm not sure if dramas in the future will try to replicate. If they do, TTEOTM would have started a trend. If they don't, TTEOTM will remain the only option.

3) Only dramas that inspire passion will stand the test of time. There are plenty of dramas that score well but don't inspire passion - they will fade away over time. The TTEOTM fan community is intense - there's so much discussion and engagement everywhere. Its Douban group is the #3 most active ever (measured by # of comments). Its MDL page has 68K comments, highest of all aired CDrama. Its Douyin topic has close to 29B views, highest of all costume drama. (Interesting to note that TTEOTM has an excellent reputation on Douyin, the platform with the most active users and least amount of toxic fan activity.) Fans have spent >25M RMB on merchandise, an unprecedented amount - 3M RMB on a character that appears for <10 mins (OG Devil God). It's got to have done something right because this is way more buying power than the fans of LYX and BL combined. And in my N=1, I've not been this excited about a franchise since Game of Thrones and then Harry Potter.

Bottom line, you might have liked it, liked it with regrets, hated it... but if you're spending the time to read this post, all the way till the end, you've become a luna-tic (or 烬神病人)!

[rigelmejo]

Things Read 2023

I thought it'd be kind of fun to do a little collage of some of the things read in 2023. Because pictures entice and maybe one of these will look interesting to you, and maybe I'll just feel slightly more motivated the next time I try to read something.

First row: Easiest novels to read, I highly recommend if you're a beginner. 秃秃大王, 大林和小林, and 笑猫日记 (any book in this series).

Second row: also fairly easy, though maybe not for total beginners? (Unless you want). 小王子 (which was the first non-graded reader novel I read in chinese, and in retrospect I wish I'd started with the books above instead... but this was still readable as a beginner, I read it in paper form to stop myself from looking words up and it was still a doable read), 盗墓笔记重启 （幽默漫画）a very cute domestic side stories for dmbj set during chongqi, extremely easy to read if you know the character names. 他们的故事/Their Story by Tan Jiu, a cute slice of life girls falling in love story, it's setting makes it quite easy to read.

Third row: manhua that are a bit harder, but still probably very readable if you're not looking to work hard and sink into a novel. 19天, bl and funny af, set in school so common vocab but the jokes land better as u understand more, I also love the art. 破云  1 and 2, they're kind of hard to read in that this manhua has a page just for niche word definitions in the front, but it's easier to read than the novel it's based on. I thought it was a fun way to enjoy the story while I waded much more slowly through the novel version. Similarly, I've been reading the 烈火浇愁 manhua (not pictured) on and off since I can get further in the manhua than the novel before running out of steam. There's a lot of manhua on the Bilibili Comics app, and that's definitely an option if you're into manhua too if you like a novel premise but aren't quite ready to tackle the novel (or want to check out the manhua too). Also, sometimes on bilibili.com you can find videos of manhua with voice acting and music, which can be nice.

Fourth row: some novels I'm still in progress with lol. I read 盗墓笔记 books 1, 2, and half of 3 in 2023. I'm continuing along, and maybe eventually I'll get to sha hai. If you plan to read/watch more in the tomb raiding or supernatural genre anyway, I highly recommend reading. dmbj is not that hard to read, new words usually pop up early and then are repeated enough that you learn them within a few chapters, which makes the following chapters easier and easier. By the time I was through book 1, I switched from looking up unknown words to looking up no words and just guessing from context and it went fine. npss also writes in an easy style to read once you get used to a few wordings/slang. A lot of the words I learned from dmbj were helpful with other supernatural genre stuff I read, since I like to read that kind of stuff. 撒野, both harder than I thought it'd be and easier. It is very doable of a read as far as following the main idea of the plot, after you've read a few other novels (like row 1) or gotten comfortable with daily life words. It does some beautiful stuff though with the writing style, and detail, that's more noticeable upon re-reads. I've restarted this novel like 4 times because each time I picked it up again my reading skill had improved, and the writing felt different upon reading. If you can watch chinese shows with chinese subtitles you can read this without looking words up, but if you do encounter unknown words this was a novel I found the unknown words were frequently useful and worth learning. I'd say it's very approachable, it's just the chapters are quite long so it's always a painful reminder of how slow my reading speed is. It's about two teenage guys who meet and fall for each other, and it's also about their families and personal struggles and very character focused which I love. After this novel, I plan to check out the other novels by this author. And of course, still, 镇魂. Look, I keep reading the whole first arc, then taking a break, then re-reading the whole first arc. I need to stop being a perfectionist about understanding and catching every detail, and just move forward. I've read my print version about 2 times to the end of the sundial arc, and the web version about 2 times. I've yet again reached the end of the sundial arc as of December 2023, and hopefully I just move forward at this point. I wont say it's an 'easy' read, but I will say I picked up so much of my initial reading vocabulary from this and Tian Ya Ke, that priest's preferred writing vocabulary and particular way of phrasing sentences is more familiar to me than any other author's. So now I have a much easier time reading priest's other novels. And in the case of Zhen Hun, I know 98% of the words more or less on any given page. So yes, it's a bit silly I keep combing over to try and understand more details. (In my defense, I've been combing over the AUDIO my last read through, to try and get my listening vocabulary comprehension closer to my reading vocabulary level - I figured it was a good novel to do this with since I know nearly every word reading-wise in the sundial arc at this point). Anyway... when will I finish reading Zhen hun? Ask me when the last official english translation book is published. Because I'm waiting to read the english until I finish it in chinese first. So no doubt when the english is totally out I'll probably rush through anything I didn't finish so it's easier for me to compare. (You'd think I'd do that for Sha Po Lang and... lol you're not wrong... that's why I haven't started reading SPLs official english translation yet... I want to dig out my chinese print book and compare). Tldr: Zhen hun is one of the easier priest books to start with, all things considered. Or Tian Ya Ke. I started with both, and they're still easier reads to me than Dage and Sha Po Lang and Can Ci Pin.

Special mention:

I also read 2 pingxie fanfictions, 半夜衣寒 and 寒舍 by 夏灬安兰. The first story is shorter by far, both are around as easy to read as dmbj or a bit easier, and they're supernatural au in everyday life so a lot of the words are applicable to either the real world, or to books in genres like dmbj.

I also read/watched many a voice-acted manhua video on bilibili over the last year. Bilibili algorithm recommends me tons of bl, and supernatural mystery stuff, so I'd click on manhua compilation videos when bored and use the voice acting speed to get myself to read faster than I would if I were just reading the manhua in silence. I found a pretty cool horror manhua, but upon making this post I checked bilibili and the compilation I saved was deleted. If I find it again I'll post a link. It was a college student who just moved to the city, and he meets this ancient guy who may be a demon/guardian sort of thing, and the city is just full of haunting and awful deaths and misfortune going on. It was both scary and full of comedy, which was fun.

[meimi-haneoka]

Thanks for answering Cinzia! No, you are right 😂. I should not be using older art style as any standard of indication of timeline. That was an interesting exposition. I had never read the CCS manga (or doujinshis) as a kid, but the number of *ahem* works which feature junior high aged SS I came across over the past few months is pretty concerning. On a second note, I was also wondering about Akiho's ancestry. As you once suggested, Akiho's clan might be the Reed clan, the clan on Clow Reed's father's side. From what I understand, the Reeds would be (again I am not trying to be politically offensive but still trying to be direct to the point) white-skinned. Clow, from what I understand, was very much biracial. Then if Akiho indeed is from the Reed clan, how was it possible for her resemble Sakura that much, enough for pass off as her twin? Even if we are to assume that Lilie was the Reed (with perhaps white Germanic ancestry) and her husband (who perhaps can be assumed to the one who had Shinomoto name and was thus Japanese in all probability) married into the clan and they had Akiho who was biracial (with presumably German and Japanese ancestry), it is still very unusual. Until and unless of course, one assumes that Sakura herself is not of a fully Japanese ancestry, especially given that her father literally appeared when Clow died (gave up his body?) and Fujitaka (and Eriol) were created from some kind of magical cellular fission (?). So, Sakura (and Touya) are of part-white heritage, that too from the Reed clan, explaining the resemblance. I am just thinking too much, am I not? I should just let it be, at this point. 😰 Also, what ethnicity does Kaito belong to? I originally thought he was some kind of East Asian looking Russian but his real name is of French origin? What even is going on there?

P.S. Dear God, this went into a very different direction from what I originally wanted to write.

Ohohohho this is a topic that has crossed my mind more than once, especially during the "happy sisters" chapters after Kaito activated the forbidden magic!! 😂😂😂

Long story short, the final solution to the dilemma I came up with is: suspension of disbelief! 😂😂😂😂 Yeah, I think this is one of the most prominent cases where you're supposed to look at them literally for what they are "on paper" and not what kind of ethnicity they should represent in the story.

I'll elaborate further; first of all yes, I've always had the theory that "the clan of the most ancient magicians in Europe" might have been the Reed clan, which also Clow came from. I thought it was just the perfect fit for Akiho: it's based in England, and we know the Reeds were an English clan; this clan got rivalry with the Li's in Hong Kong and again it would make sense if they were the Reeds, because those two families have ONE illustrious relative in common: Clow Reed, the most powerful magician of his time! In fact, it's stated in the Clear Card story that the "Squids" do have lots of resentment towards Clow. The reasons are unknown, but if they were the Reeds, we can easily guess them: he ditched that side of the family and decided to get closer to the Chinese side, living in Hong Kong for a time and leaving some of his magical tools with the Li's. And also, it would've made PERFECT sense for Kaito to turn to the Kinomoto family to leave Akiho with them: if Akiho was a Reed, and we know for certain that Sakura in some way does have a little bit of Reed blood in her (she is explicitly indicated as having "Clow's blood" in the story, and that's so important that they made the characters point that out in the anime too, where TECHNICALLY she shouldn't have any blood relations with Clow, since Fujitaka was never confirmed as Eriol's 'other half' of Clow's reincarnation), that would've ALREADY made Akiho a distant relative of Sakura in some way. So it would've felt way less forced and much more reasonable. Everything fit so well that I was almost sure we would've had this confirmation before the end of the story; sadly, we never did.

There's a VERY terrible translation mistake in volume 6 of the English version by Kodansha USA, where they made the Squids say this:

Please be informed that in the JP original the Squids never said "For the blood of Clow Reed...to be bested by the Li Family....is an unbearable disgrace", because that basically made them refer to themselves as "blood of Clow Reed", hence indirectly confirming they are the Reed clan. That's absolute bullsh*t and what they actually said is "THEY are of Clow Reed's lineage. We can't allow to fall behind them" and that connects with what Kaito said in chapter 68: the Squids checked every movement from the Li family because of their resentment towards Clow (and the Li's were connected to him). I know my theory sounded legit, reasonable and could've made everything more interesting and well connected, but a theory remains a theory if canon doesn't confirm it. And translation mistakes should never be so bad that they end up portraying things in a way that makes you believe what it was actually NEVER confirmed in the story.

Up to this day, we don't have a "name" we can call this clan with: they're simply addressed as "that clan" or "the most ancient magicians in Europe" in THE WHOLE the story (trust me, I've monitored that detail very well, because of my theory). They're NOT the Shinomoto clan, as many people like to report in order to simplify things. I honestly not even believe that Akiho's father's last name was Shinomoto, as Akiho seems c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y foreign to Japanese culture throughout the story. He didn't marry into the clan from "outside", because Lilie specifically says that he's a "distant relative", so he's very much part of this European clan himself. And if we have to go by how awful they are in the story, I'm pretty sure these people would've done anything to keep their blood line as "pure" as possible, without "interventions" from outside, if you know what I mean. Additional to that, Akiho doesn't even remotely mention a possible "tie" she might have with Japan: I know her clan never really answered her questions about her parents, but I'm pretty sure that if she was half Japanese they would've told her and she would've sort of mentioned it along the story. She's portrayed by CLAMP as someone completely foreign to Japan. And with a last name like that, if she was really half Japanese, if would've come up at some point (Sakura doesn't even ask about it, "how come you have a Japanese last and first name if you don't have any connection with Japan?"). I mean, Akiho did "confess" at the end that her true name is Cosmos, and I think that is the only true part of her name that we were allowed to know about her. Just like the rest of her clan, and Kaito, her last name is none of our business, basically 😂 I mean, even Eriol adopted a Japanese last name to fit better, even though he shouldn't really have any tie with Japan (if he's a reincarnation of Clow and got Clow's blood just like Fujitaka, then he should have Caucasian and Chinese traits in himself). As you pointed out, that should be the same with Fujitaka.

As for Kaito, I definitely thought that he could be Chinese at some point: one of my craziest theories was that he was actually a "lost Li", because the shape of his eyes is exactly the same of Yelan. Yeah, check it out if you don't believe me! 😂

The moon power, the fact that he's often portrayed with chinese-style clothes.... Alas, this theory went down the drain too. Or, at least, we were never given concrete hints about it. And then the fact that in his backstory he's potrayed in a cold land with a typical Russian hat made me think that he could've been of Russian's origins too, but that one seems to be even less plausible at this point. His true name is French, so it is legit to infer that at least in part he must have some French genes in him, although it's anyone's guess where exactly he comes from. I do identify him as coming from France, at this point, and that would be reasonable because it would still be in the "area" of the Magic Association, if they operate in the entire Europe (man, CLAMP must think that there's lots of evil people in Europe, wtf 🤣). It wouldn't have been difficult for them to go fetch little Kaito in France, coming from the UK, is what I'm trying to say. But as we never got any other confirmation than his true name (and CLAMP must have chosen a French word instead of an English one for a reason), it's really anyone's guess.

So all of this makes me just conclude that we shouldn't really wonder too much about things like "how is it possible that Akiho and Sakura resemble eachother so much that they could pass as twin sisters, if they're supposedly from two different ethnicities?", because I'm pretty sure that CLAMP didn't go that far in planning all of these details to the situation. 😆 You should just rememember that it's a fictional story (with magic, at that), so we should apply a bit of "suspension of disbelief! 😅

[fourseasonsfigs]

Yuechu Yin Yang Landscape Figures

It's been a while since we spent some time in the Junzhe Extended Universe, so this week is going to be all JZEU!

We're kicking off this week with this incredible fig set. It took some wrangling to assemble, but it was worth it - it's absolutely gorgeous!

The actual name of this fig set is 国风晕��款小道士, which machine translates into something like, small Daoist priests of the national style smudged style. The national style refers to traditional Chinese painting, and the smudged style refers to a painting technique of washes of watercolor paint. The small Daoist priest refers to Gong Jun's character Dong Fang Yuechu from the upcoming Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Yue Hong. Priests is plural, because we get two of them!

This set arrived in an enormous plain white box. I had my China warehouse air column wrap this box before mailing it out. I've been lucky enough that my non-air-wrapped figs have been sailing through sea shipping without damage, so I've been foregoing the air wrapping more and more. But some I still air-wrap! This was definitely one of them. There's just too much going on with this set, and a friend of mine recently had hers break in numerous parts during shipping, so you can't be too careful on something this complex.

And complex it is. We have a yin-yang black-white base, the two figs, and their accessories.

Here is our outstandingly beautiful base. The white side is a mountain, and the other side a beautiful tree. Both landscape elements are permanently affixed to the base (thank goodness).

Here's the tree side. This smudged style is just gorgeous.

Our two little Daoists and their accoutrements. You can see how their feet have pegs to go into the base. You can also see the assembly task ahead of me! If you haven't read my infamous (to my own self) Hanye with Sword post, well, I could just have easily named it Lelanthe Struggles (and then Struggles Some More) with Basic Fig Assembly, Part 1 instead. If fitting Hanye's sword into his little hand was Fig Assembly 101, this seemed very much like 201, or maybe even graduate school 301.

Normally, I rise to a challenge like this by putting it off until a braver date, or at least until I have enough energy, time, and patience to swear endlessly go for the gusto. This time, though, there were a lot of pieces just lying about, and I had a looming business trip ahead of me, so I wanted to have it sorted before I left.

This had no instructions, and if the seller had given any to the group, I had missed it, so I was on my own. First order of business was figuring out the accessories, since I figured I would need to put those on first before I put the figs in the base.

So the sword fit into the Yin-side Yuechu's delicate little hand just fine. I was very pleased, actually - it's nice and secure without being too tight. I was also really happy that the umbrella handle for the Yang-side Yuechu slid very easily in from the bottom up through his hand. What a good sign this is starting so easily!

Before I went any further, I went ahead and took some bottoms-up angles, since those angles wouldn't be available to us when the set was all assembled.

I went ahead and did the same bottoms-up angle on the base too, very, very gently:

Such beautiful detail. I'm impressed by the scope of this fig maker's vision - this is by far the most complex set I've seen before.

Alright! On to the base!

I could see where there were those bubbles in the base, and they matched up to the pegs on the figs, so it made sense that the pegs would fit in the holes hiding under that thin membrane. But what to do without accidentally ripping it?

I got a sharp new blade for my craft knife and very carefully cut an 'X' right in the center of each of those holes. It doesn't look very much like an X, does it? Well, I was very careful.

Too careful, it turned out. It didn't take long before I realized I had a major problem. The pegs were too large for the holes. I thought that perhaps the edges of the membrane that wrapped down the side of the holes were the problem - they were taking up a crucial millimeter or so of space. So I carefully used my craft knife to trim off the membrane around the hole. And the pegs still didn't fit. Like not even close.

Oh no. This was turning out to be more of A Thing than I expected. A Thing that already seemed rapidly outside my very limited capacity.

I was pretty stumped. The accessories had fit so perfectly, I just felt like there had to be something I was missing. The fig engineering had been too good so far. Maybe, I thought, the fig maker / factory had engineered the pegs for exactly the width of the holes, but they hadn't counted on the pegs being painted. So maybe the paint was the critical millimeter that was keeping them from fitting.

So out came my Tamiya file set. And my mask! My fig friend had strictly warned me when I was wrestling with the Hanye with Sword figure to be sure to not inhale the dust particles. It was a good thing she told me too, otherwise I would just have gone to town on that figure and this one with the cheery abandon of the totally ignorant.

So mask on, I carefully filed down the sides, trying to get just the paint off and nothing else. I tried one peg at first, and knew I was on the right track when it went into the hole while the other one still could not. So I filed down the paint on the other peg too. Being mindful of the fact that I had sanded off a little too much of Hanye's fingers, I tried to err on the side of not taking off very much.

It was still a bit of a tight fit when I put the figs on the base, but the pegs went in, and went all the way to the bottom of their boots. Hooray! Flush with my success, I was sure I just needed to put the umbrella top on and be ready to take the full suite of normal pictures.

I took the Yang figure off the base, put a drop of glue on the little umbrella center hole, slid the handle up to the bottom of his hand and prepared to sit there holding it in place for a few minutes while it set.

And then wait a minute. The umbrella handle wasn't long enough. The top of the umbrella angled off his little tufts of hair on his topknot, and slanted down at like a 30 degree angle. I went back and stared at it in disbelief - was the thick part of the umbrella handle supposed to go in his hand? I mean, look at it. There's clearly room there in his middle of his hand, but do you see any space between his pinky finger and his sleeve for that big part of the handle? And also, look at his thumb and finger - it seems to hold the thin part of the handle just perfectly, doesn't it?

Well, clearly it was meant to slide up into his hand somehow, because the umbrella wasn't going to have any prayer of working otherwise. I very gently tried pulling the handle up, pressing the handle up, kind of rotating the handle up... nothing.

Cue the swearing.

It's been a stressful last couple of years! I really, really can't take breaking a fig finger. I tried wiggling it a bit more, and it was not budging for anything. Then suddenly - I kind of angled it a bit to the side, and it slid right in. I could not believe it.

You see how happy he looks? I looked happier than that! But seriously, look how snug his thumb and forefinger are against that handle. No wonder I was sweating, right?

You may notice, though, that the handle is right up against his hair. It does bow out the tiniest bit from that, but there's really nothing to be done about that. It's barely noticeable though - when we do a spin around this set you can see for yourself.

Once the handle was up higher in his hand like that, the top of the umbrella fit just fine. Not a ton of room between it and his head, but enough.

The glue had long dried by now, so I dropped another drop in, and held the umbrella on top of the little tiny handle piece. Now, I've never been able to see all that straight - if I cut a loaf of bread, for example, my cut will be very thin on one side and get really large (or vice versa!) towards the end. So I wasn't convinced I'd be able to get the umbrella top on level without a couple different angles. So I held the two pieces together upside down long enough to get a tacky bond, then flipped it over and carefully poked at the top of the umbrella until the top end lined up with the pole under it, then held that in place for several minutes.

Then, I carefully put the two figs in the holes, and success! I took a few deep breaths to let the adrenaline settle, then took a little video. It's choppy, because my turntable is not motorized, so it only turns on one-handed Lelanthe power.

It's a little hard to see details from a video, so here's some stills:

And now the top of the fig set:

There was no printed box, and no box card (and I'm out of my 30 picture slots!) so that's all the pictures for today. I'll breathe another big sigh of relief that this all worked out so well. I was worried there for a bit, I have to say.

A few vital statistics on this before we go. The figures themselves are standard fig size - 8 cm each, or about 3.2 inches. The entire set itself from top to bottom is 18 cm in height, or about 7 inches. The diameter of the base is 9.5 cm, which is 3.75 inches - but keep in mind the tree extends out past that. The entire fig set weighs about 1 and a half pounds, so it's substantial!

Material: Resin

Fig Count: 207

Scene Count: 29

Rating: Absolutely gorgeous!

[link back to Master Fig Index for more posts]

[pandasmagorica]

First watch mid-watch thoughts: DNA Says Love You

Okay, this isn't a review or even comprehensive. I watched episode 8 this morning and just had to get some thoughts down. The show has been dropping hints about this all the way through so I don't claim any brilliance for reaching this conclusion, but I just want to get my thoughts out before I continue with episode 9.

If you don't want to be spoilered, just know that I have warmed up to this series and I'm pretty sure it's giving us some QL rep that we don't usually get for leads in QL. How well it will ultimately do at it remains for me to see.

Spoilers (if you can call them that) and a clown after the jump

The series has been dropping hints all along that female child Wen-Wen is now adult male Amber, that Amber is desperate to re-establish contact with his childhood friends and in particular with Pu Le Jian aka Le, who he has clearly fallen in love with, if he didn't fall already as child Wen-Wen. And it seems like Le has fallen for Amber as well - if I may steal a line from Gram Pancake Thailand, I don't have to say I love you, I fed you pancake (as seen in Bad Buddy, as Ink and Pa feed each other pancake). There's been a lot of Le feeding Amber going on.

But...we probably have to wait:

Le reacted with what might be considered gay panic to Li's shipping Le and Amber in that video.

Amber hasn't responded to any of Le's "I wonder where Wen-Wen is now" with "He's sitting right in front of you"

Amber panicked when Le almost saw Amber shirtless, which would have - as I expect - revealed Amber's top surgery scars. I was looking for them (if the actor playing Amber is cis, then they could have used makeup) but I couldn't tell from the camera angle.

It's clear that Amber is reticent. In an episode 8 flashback (the Chinese title reads "one year ago" but it's not subtitled) we see Amber have a chance encounter with Le and Yu-He at a playground in Taipei where Amber recognizes them instantly but they are totally unaware of him. It takes him nearly a year afterwards to show up at the cafe.

We also see Wen-Wen being whisked away from Taiwan as a child. Wen-Wen's mother seems determined to get Wen-Wen out of there. My guess is what led to that determination is that Wen-Wen came out to his parents as being male. We'll see.

If so, the positive interpretation would be that they wanted to get him to a place where being transmale was more acceptable and allow him to transition only under their eyes. The negative interpretation would be that they were afraid of losing face. Again, I'm guessing we'll see.

We haven't seen much about the quest to find the mysterious temple, but we do keep getting references to it, so here's my clown:

Li is right that the two temple lovers were actually gay, and the story became heterosexualized over the years.

Le and Amber are the reincarnation of the two temple lovers.

I've got four episodes left. I hope, reincarnated or not, that Le and Amber find themselves as a happy couple.

A couple nitpicks:

Amber is a female name in English - Amber lived in the UK. I would have expected a transman to avoid such a gaffe. Likely the writing team's error.

When Yu-He and Wen-Wen had the discussion about Yu-He getting boy's hand-me-downs and Wen-Wen wearing a dress, I would have expected Wen-Wen to suggest swapping clothes. This might be a victim of the 26-minute run time - not enough time to inject this and the parents' reaction into the plot.

[a-student-out-of-time]

really love the work you put behind your switch theory, now that i’ve actually read through it! i still have a few opinions about j though, especially since in my theory i personally believe her to be the culprit. (btw, i’m pretty sure arei’s implied to be japanese based on the fact that the dev has a japanese name in kanji for her (based on their qna), plus the fact that her sister’s names (natsuko/fuyuko) could basically only be japanese, but whatever works works i guess)

i think the whole ordeal about the “arturo saying he wished he had a brother” also doesn’t make sense in my opinion—and the way you explain that makes sense. however, i’m just going to say there is one other way other than arei dressing up as j and knowing about it that would make sense of this part—what if j overheard the conversation between arturo, arei, and eden? in that case, j would know the context of the secret, all she needs to do is to somehow reveal it without sounding too suspicious. though i do understand the motivations behind your theory and still think they make sense under that context, just wanted to share that with you haha

//Thank you for your support! And of course, I'm always open to alternative explanations, so thank you for sharing ^^

//To be clear on the naming aspect, I'm not saying Arei and her family have no Japanese ancestry. After all, Brazil has the largest population of ethnic Japanese outside of Japan, and there are also huge populations of them elsewhere. Plus, living in another country doesn't mean they wouldn't still be speaking their language or using kanji.

//The whole scene with Hu in the Relaxation Room explaining how she used to use an English name is a good example of this. Her name is Chinese, but it confused a lot of English-speakers, so she went by Julia for a while before deciding she wanted to go by her given name instead. She didn't want to give it up just because other people didn't understand.

//Personally, I think that aspect isn't as important as I made it out to be, but I've had a lot of asks that claimed it was impossible for them to look like each other because of their different ethnicities. I was just explaining how it could still be the case, and the research into it led to me learning that the name "Nageishi" is much more common in Brazil and Kazakhstan than Japan.

//It certainly isn't unusual, as there are English names, first and last, that have almost or completely disappeared in the UK but still exist in places like the United States.

//So, bottom line there, you can kinda take or leave the naming aspects if you want, I just thought it was worth discussing.

//As for J, yeah, that's a fair point to suggest, like maybe she could've stumbled by and heard the common, only to overhear that whole secret thing. I just don't really like making assumptions or stretching character motivations to fit a theory, and it does rely on J being close enough for it to happen.

//We don't know where she or a lot of other people were, so it's really hard to say anything definitive about it. I just find the idea that J would want to be anywhere near Arturo after day one to be a bit unlikely : P

//Still, you present a valid scenario and it would explain why she said something like that and then claimed Arturo told her, which he likely never would on his own.

//Thank you for sharing ^^

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

Short thoughts on the 2023 Hugo Short Stories Finalists

On the Razor's Edge by Jiang Bo: Caveat that it's noted that due to the short time frame the work is AI translated.

Chinese astronauts launch a rescue mission. Feels somewhat reminiscent of golden age SF - men saving lives with their technical knowledge and sheer gumption. A feel good message about how space is for all mankind.

I've only read one other story by this author Face Changing which I enjoyed a lot more. I think the machine translation probably hurt this one but even beside that the characters felt rather simplistic.

D.I.Y. by John Wiswell: The Youth™ find a solution to a drought whern the magical establishment have failed to.

Two years running of Wiswell getting nominated for something that isn't even the best thing he wrote that year. If anything by Wiswell got nominated this year it should have been The Coward who Stole God's name.

I read this when it came out and instantly thought it would get a bunch of award nominations which was accurate. It was too pollyannaish for me but lots of people loved it.

The White Cliff by Lu Ban: SF short story where the central SF conceit is used to explore grief and death. I liked this one!

The translation is awkward in places (I'm not certain whether it's machine translated or just done in a rush) but it's an enjoyable story and the relationship between Yanli and An was compelling enough to keep me interested.

Zhurong on Mars by Regina Kanyu Wan: An AI alone on Mars after humans have abandoned their physical forms.

I appreciated the translators note explaining the choice of pronouns/the Chinese mythology the story is inspired by/scientific background (complete with a footnote linking to a relevant Nature paper).

It's a really engaging story - the type of one you keep reading because you want to find out what happens next. I would have liked to have seen the conflicting viewpoints of Zhurong and Gonggong explored in more depth and I would have liked a little more detail on the new life at the end but other than that it was great.

Resurrection by Ren Qing: Another story using technology to explore grief and death but while The White Cliff was focused exclusively on those Resurrection has a broader scope - war, trauma, politics, societal prejudice.

It's great at quickly establishing characters. We get a sense of the personality of even briefly appearing characters. There's only so much complexity you can build even for the main characters in the small page count but the story makes good use of the space it has to develop them,

It's the only story included which had a line that made me laugh out loud even though it's not in any sense a comedic story which has to count for something.

The ending is haunting and feels as if it is the inevitable conclusion to the story.

Good characters, interesting themes, a sprinkling of humor and a fitting ending. What more could you ask for?

Rabbit Test by Samantha Mills: A story about abortion rights in the USA. Unsurprisingly it resonated in a post Dobbs landscape and has already won a Locus and Nebula. I wouldn't rate it among the best short stories I read in 2022 but it's a solid timely story.

I'm personally tried with SF about American politics which probably makes my judgement a a little harsh. I'd probably have appreciated it more if it was about abortion rights in literally any other country.

My ranking:

Resurrection

Zhurong on Mars

The White Cliff

Rabbit Test

D.I.Y.

On the Razor's Edge

First and second could flip as could third and fourth but otherwise I don't expect these to change much.

It's a reasonably solid list of stories with nothing quite outstandingly good or bad. Most recent years had stories that were worse than everything on the list but also stories that were better than all of them.

[kiragecko]

[Image is the text "literally nobody is asking you to point them all on a blank map or know their capitals." It's been highlighted.

End ID.]

Reasons knowing about other countries can be valuable to YOU:

It makes the world feel different. There's a sense of size and realness that doesn't exist if it's just 'not here'

It can provide a sense of perspective. Your issues are real, but they affect only 2% of the world (by area. 6% of the total landmass. If you're American).

Sometimes just knowing the name and rough location of a country is enough to provide empathy for the people there. It seems ridiculous - you know nothing about them. But humans are really good at using ANYTHING to humanize.

Some countries are REALLY dumb shapes. This is funny. It's also often interesting (or horrific. That's always a possibility) to discover WHY they look like that.

It makes it easier to remember other facts you learn. Something that happens to a lot of people in South-East Asia happens to people in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and/or Myanmar. Potatoes are a New World food, so it makes sense that they were first cultivated in Peru.

It allows you to realize that the world isn't divided into the USA and the Not-USA. That a US state is NOT equivalent to an entire country.† That, shockingly, a US state is closer to equivalent to a Chinese state like Fujian or Henan. This makes you sound much less rude and entitled.

It allows you to make all sorts of connections and guesses. Things like: Pakistan is next door to India and I love Indian food. I wonder if Pakistani food would be similar? Or: Now that I'm thinking about it, the 'Middle East' is the only thing that connects Egypt with Asia and Europe. It kind of makes sense that people have been fighting over the area for all of history. It probably doesn't even have much to do with the people who live there - outsiders would want to control and destabilize things.

Now, I'm not going to guilt anyone for lack of knowledge. And it IS harder to learn this stuff once you have a bunch of assumptions to unlearn. If you weren't taught this, it sucks and I empathize.

If you want to stay in your community and focus only on its issues, I understand. Some of the best people in the world have done that.

If you do that, the important thing is to be humble and recognize that you don't even know how much you don't know. The world is infinitely more complex than you imagine it to be, because you haven't learned enough to even imagine. And that's YOUR CHOICE.*

Recognize that you have a choice. And that your choice means your assumptions about other countries are probably wrong. You have NO CLUE what's a 'universal truth' or something 'everyone experiences.' You can't really contribute to conversations about the world. Other people aren't being mean and excluding you. You excluded you by not doing the required reading.

-

† And to eventually realize that SOMETIMES, some of them kinda are, but not in the way you thought before.

*There might be reasons it isn't your choice, like a current abusive environment that limits access to information, or learning/memory difficulties. I've been the exception to lots of things, too.

i think that, if youre usamerican and any time someone calls out your lack of knowledge on global geography you start talking about how bad the usa education is and how its actually not your fault that you dont know what continent nigeria is on because you cant look at the google maps bc donald trump will personally shoot you, youre very annoying

[beommiya]

The raven haired man watches Kibum as he gets up from the bench and starts walking closer to the rose bushes, making sure to loosen up the chain so that it wouldn't inconvenience the young man too much. Now that he thought about it, maybe now that Kibum knew the truth and once his mind would've cleared enough, they could ditch the collar and leash altogether. Kibum did look rather appealing with it on, a part of Xuan had to admit it, but he knew that if he wanted to form an actual bond and relationship, of any kind, he couldn't just treat the younger like a puppy on a leash.

But those were thoughts to ponder about maybe later, because now all Xuan could think about was how pretty this guy looked in the moonlight, between the may white petals and fairy lights surrounding the area. Maybe it was the fact that Kibum had rather feminine fine features or something else, but the picture before his eyes felt very natural and pure, like it was meant to be for these elements to come together. For a moment, as if time stood still, Xuan could have sworn he saw a glimpse into the past and in that soft smile he found once more the image of a friend long gone. It made him wonder if that's how he would've looked like if he were to reach adulthood. Xuan shakes his head, trying not to get overwhelmed by nostalgia. He simply couldn't allow himself to fall into that rabbit hole.

Luckily Kibum's question broke him out of his little daydream and the Chinese man came to stand next to him. "I thought you would have figured it out by now, given my name." Xuan chuckles and raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, you've kind of guessed it right, I'm not really from around here and my home is far from here. I was born in mainland China, grew up there and spent my formative years there until some unfortunate events forced me to uproot myself and leave my past behind." There was a hint of sadness in the man's voice, but it was somewhat to be expected. "I wouldn't say that I am necessarily homesick anymore. I've left China when I was 20 to go study abroad at Harvard, in the states, and once I was done with my studies I simply decided to make a name to myself and build my own thing here in Korea. So it's pretty much been 6 years since I've left my home. It's to be expected that after such a long time I should be used to living away from my native lands, so I don't get that homesick anymore. My father, who was my only family, is long gone and all that I've got left back in China is an estranged childhood friend, so not really much to make me sad or miss home, I guess." Xuan shrugs his shoulders and bends down to pick up one of the roses, twirling its stem between it's fingers as he looked at it for a moment.

"Well, this is my home now and I am doing really well, if I might say so myself, so there's no reason I should complain about anything." He smiles and tucks the flower behind Kibum's ear. Xuan then admires him for a few moments, thinking to himself that Bum and the roses do suit each other really well, before he notices that the young man is slightly shivering from the chilly night breeze, so he proceeds to take off his own jacket and places it on Kibum's shoulders. "I guess we should really go back now. It's really getting cold." He concludes and offers his hand to Kibum. "Shall we?"

Eventually, some minutes later, once Kibum have decided to follow Xuan back inside the mansion, they find themselves once again inside Xuan's big chambers. The young mob had instructed his maids to get the bath ready. Now Kibum is waiting for his warm bath to be ready, while Xuan is reading a book, sitting on a sofa his men must've brought into the room while they were having dinner, because it wasn't there the first time Xuan had brought Kibum there to treat his wounds. It probably meant that they were going to share the room and one of them was going to sleep on that sofa. There was also a plate with sandwiches resting on the nightstand, next to Kibum, Xuan had brought in for him in case Bum was still hungry, given he hadn't really ate much during dinner and other than that, there was pretty much silence between them as they waited.

Kibum's question about Xuan's roots was not random at all. His favorite game was playing stupid, even though at times he was a bit more naïve for obvious reasons. He could tell the name was not Korean but Chinese, however, asking that question gave him more time to listen to his voice and make him talk. Kibum himself was not much of a talker, he didn't know what exactly to say to sound interesting in the other's eyes. But Xuan seemed to always have a story for anything and everything. "China, US, now Korea, you traveled a lot" he said with a bittersweet tone in his voice. He never left the country, he had no legal documents to his name as if he never existed. He didn't mention it as he was too embarrassed but he hoped that Xuan would talk more about his travels whenever the occasion arises.

His eyes find Xuan's again when he puts the flower behind his ear. The gesture touches him, almost forgetting everything that happened less than 12 hours ago, at least for a bit. The jacket as well as the hand, both surprise him. Such sweet and subtle gestures, all meant to earn his trust in a way. He was a bit suspicious though, not going to lie. Deep down, he couldn't understand why Xuan was so nice and sweet; they only met and not in the best conditions to say the least. Maybe this was Xuan's way of apologizing for treating him so badly in the beginning? It must be that, otherwise, what else could be the reason? But Kibum didn't complain, not at all. In fact, he started to really enjoy it. "Let's go, yeah..." The jacket smelled like Xuan, obviously, the scent that comforted him not long ago when he was crying his hear out, and the hand was making him feel human again, not being dragged by a metal chain any longer. It was still attached to him but it didn't make him feel like a filthy animal anymore.

To his surprise, the silence was neither deafening nor awkward. As Xuan sat on the sofa, Kibum sat on the edged of the bed. He saw the sandwiches but couldn't eat them. The shyness of eating in front of waters overwhelmed him again, he called it shyness, he didn't know it was an actual problem with him. If Xuan had one he was also going to have one, otherwise no. But he couldn't simply ask Xuan to eat so he could also eat, it was just as embarrassing to ask for such thing. Instead, he distracted himself from the food and soon found himself, twirling the stem of the rose between his fingers. Something in him told him to keep it, find a way to press and dry it and just keep it. "Do you ever get sad in the winter when they die? The flowers I mean? Seeing all your work withering away."

@phoenix-of-jade

[violetsystems]

A Jehovah's Witness sent a letter to the building in Spanish. I translated it and did the forensics in a Columbo-esque sort of way. I think they were a realtor. That is a deadly combination. Like a dual class dnd character. Thief Shaman. Maybe that's too harsh of a conclusion. The letter mentioned proverbs 14:30 which had something to do with envy and rot. So naturally I applied it to Elden Ring which I finished finally with the Ranni, Age of Stars ending. I'm baptized, confirmed and non practicing in terms of Christianity. It doesn't mean I'm not spiritual. But people around here tend to judge you harshly if you don't go to church which is odd for an urban city like Chicago. That's kind of why I moved here from the suburbs to keep my business to myself. But I know enough about the Bible to have read through it once or twice. It's Christmas time anyway so it's good practice to get in the spirit of the holiday. The letter said if the message resonated to call them and since they are probably a realtor I wonder if they would try to witness me out of my apartment. People use religion of all kinds to confidence trick people out of the freedom of their life. That's how cults start. I'm not here to judge anyone's faith which is ironic in this context. But I did get to practice my Spanish. I'm celebrating Christmas with my mom late with Chinese food. We were both raised protestant but she has worked in the Archdiocese as a teacher for a few years. There was even that time growing up that we both had more affinity for Wiccan practices like Tarot. I never really gave up on those kind of ideals but I never really stopped being raised the way I was. Call it upbringing. I've been told I'm going to hell for more things than I can count but that's not really something I take too seriously in context of my own faith. She told me she tells people that I am too nice sometimes. Which isn't really true when I yell at the wall alone in my apartment in frustration with everything. But that niceness comes out sometimes humoring people and situations that don't deserve it. And then there are the people that do deserve it without question. I'm lucky to have those people in my life. But writing letters for me to accept Jesus is kind of redundant at this point. In America it never is good enough if someone asks about your spirituality. They never leave you alone. They expect something out of your faith. And that isn't really religious freedom at all. Imposing your divine will on someone else's like God so you can play it. I thought the concept of unconditional love was unconditional. Beyond all the religious imagery, it is a real important side of the Elden Ring lore. Queen Marika is the figure on the stakes you revive in. She's seemingly impaled on a rune arc. I wonder if the hidden message there is that faith can be a blessing for some and a burden for others. I'm not trying to lecture anybody on religion here at all. Just saying there's a classy way to express you believe in something without imposing your divine order on everybody else. Golden order or otherwise. For everybody who thought I was Satan around this neighborhood? It's not like you ever asked my first name. What's that line about judgement again? I think I read it on a yugioh card once. For the record, it's a little too late for introductions at this point. Nice letter though. Even if it wasn't addressed to me. Yours truly, Mr. Current Resident.

[rigelmejo]

My chinese listening skill may be lower than hoped ;-;

So, if I'm listening to something I already know the plot of, like an audiobook of something I've read? Then I understand bits of main plot and some chunks of details on a first listen, then all of the main plot on a second listen and some full details and some chunks, then eventually all of the main plot and many full details, and then detail understanding keeps increasing with more listens.

If it's a new audiobook? That has a plot I do not know? Then on the first listen, I understand 80%+ of the dialogues, and a ton of random chunks of details but its hit or miss whether that results in me grasping enough chunks of main plot to follow the bigger storyline. Then on a second listen, I pick up More chunks of details and some full details, usually enough to figure out the main overall plot going on. But then it will take a few more listens to grasp the full main plot information, and to understand Many full details instead of just hit or miss chunks/sentence understanding.

Basically, for first listens, I am relying super hard on the dialgoues (which are usually words I know), and key verbs and nouns (smile, drive, run, said, replied, killed, report, left, came, gives, work, school, home, when, where, why, happened, discovered, doorway, car, mom, dad, police, boss, outside, serious, relaxed, relax, case, girl, weird, bitter/painful, soft etc) and a few writing turns of phrase im very familiar with (再说，看了一眼，and just certain things like crossed their arms, nodded, stared a X, gazed at X). But since I'm catching only key words and chunks, and still getting used to the new author's word choices and sentence structurr, I am recognizing everything slower as I hear it and figuring out the basics of whats going on slower. I do eventually get the main plot... but with stuff Ive read before, I get that understanding the first time around.

Anyway. I just read some SCI, and compared it to the 1 hour I listened to yesterday and what I thought I heard. I totally did not realize 4 things were names when listening! And somehow confused Bai YuTang with his brother Bai JinTang, as if they were 1 person (i should've caught that). I also had thought Bai YuTang was the psychologist, but reading the book its Zhan Zhao so I did not hear the psychologist stuff well apparently... and I figured out a lot of places/emotions in the plot, but I also made a lot of guesses of what was going on that was wrong (I assumed in the opening bai yutang and zhan zhao were fighting in elevator, and then boss summoned them to tell the two of them to work on a case... but reading SCI it was Wang and another character in the elevator? So im not sure what happened, except maybe i was guessing some names were adjectives or something.)

Anyway. Want to practice listening? I'm listening to 木马 today! No idea what it's about, I'm making a guess its BL since bilibili recommended it to me. It's definitely a crime mystery story, because I keep picking that kind of story since I know more words in crime mystery genre. This one has chinese subtitles, if you want to practice reading too. But I'm just listening.

[zeichannnnn]

This is inregards to @i-am-doing-my-best-orz’s questions in the comment section which I will be answering here

So we shouldn't call out hoyo because of ccp? We can't talk about controversy and colorism/racism about a billion dollar company?

We can call out MiHoYo regarding the lack of representation, however, perpetuating hatred towards MiHoYo because of that is what I think should not be done. Continuing that thought, calling it racism is also a stretch because the definition of racism is:

And MiHoYo has done none of that, in fact, they support equality and equity! If you look back into the main story arc of Sumeru, that is the overarching theme and plot.

Why did hoyo combine South American and African cultures as if they were interchangeable?

I do not know much about the culture of Latin America and Africa nor can I speak on the behalf of people from Latin America and Africa. However, I’ve read this very informative thread on Twitter that covers on the possible reason as to why MiHoYo decided to mix it written by a Nigerian themselves! source.

Here’s also an additional more in-depth explanation to it on Reddit post r/Genshin_Lore linked by the creator of the thread as well: source.

I hope those two posts I linked will give you a proper explanation that I can’t give because it’s outside my field of knowledge. If you have any question regarding it, you can probably ask the OP of the thread in the comment section or open a discussion on r/Genshin_Lore citing the post I’ve linked.

Why so many enemies darker skin than playable characters? When they could have of made them any other color?

I think that’s because the NPCs aren’t needed to be changed because they’re not what’s being advertised and that’s what the CCP is particular about. Also, I think it’s MiHoYo’s way of giving us POC characters without having to worry about the CCP’s eyes because they generally don’t care about anything that isn’t in the spotlight. Even if the NPC enemies are coloured skins, that’s just because that’s the natural skin of the region they’re from or what the playable characters from that region are probably suppose to look like if there wasn’t any censorship.

There are incredible POC characters that MiHoYo has shown us as NPCs and even let us experience; like the story of Jeht and Tadhla (my favourite Sumeru NPCs that I WISH we had more time with) or the grandpa near Aaru Village that I sometimes visit when I’m bored or the woman in also Aaru Village that’s trying to grow Sumeru Roses and make perfume out of it or something (I’m sorry but I forgot their names；；) those are examples of characters outside of the main story that I can think of at the top of my head.

Essentially what I’m trying to say is: the reason behind as to why enemies (and I’m putting NPCs in general by proxy) have representation with darker skin is because they weren’t subject to change or weren’t deemed important enough to change by the CCP so they didn’t undergo whitewashing like the main cast does. This is because the CCP is only concerned about what’s being advertised in Genshin Impact and does not care about the other minor details. Because the playable characters are the main attraction to Genshin Impact, and gacha (gambling) for them creates an exclusivity towards said characters, the CCP doesn't want anything that doesn't conform to being "Chinese" (as I've stated in the first reblog and in the section "In relation to Genshin's design choices and how China's beauty standard influences it") being advertised, commercialised, and especially made exclusive, and that sadly includes POC.

Why did hoyo make South America and African cultures into one place as if they're interchangeable?

This question has been discussed and explained by the thread and reddit post I've linked. They are not interchangeable, they are not "basically the same culture", they just have similar roots and is just a branch of the culture, like how cultures in the world are usually created, cultivated, and spread. Hope this clears things up^^

⚠️ In regards to the natlan controversy (and Sumeru by proxy)

Do NOT accuse people of being racist just because your skin colour cannot be found in a game. Learn to know that people don't live in the same situation as you.

Please read this fully for the reality of things I'm sorry for getting political, skip if you don't want to interact

I’m kinda sad at the fact that a lot of people are quick to hate, judge, and scrutinise Hoyo without understanding the situation.

With recent teaser of Natlan characters, people are rightfully upset at the fact that the characters shown to hail from Natlan… don’t exactly look the part. With characters lighter than my own skin tone (I’m a Chinese Southeast Asian by the way, heya) people are calling hoyo bullshit and accusing them of being a racist for failing time and time again at giving us characters with POC shades of skin. Now I’m not here to defend Mihoyo for their actions, or to tell you to stop being mad at the situation being the way they are. No, I’m here to shed you some light of how life is as a game company under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Xin Jin Ping (XJP cause I won’t be bothered to type his whole ass name)

I've highlighted points of each section

Any pages that requires translations, I recommend using DeepL instead of google translate because you can check the meanings of specific words and it's translation are better (imo)

Skip to the last part if you just want a summarised version

Before we get into the nitty gritty that is Genshin drama, I'll give you a run-down on what and how China works.

check the part "In relation to Genshin's design choices and how China's beauty standard influences it" if you want to go straight on to the point

People’s Republic of China

is a Unitary Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic. This means that China is under a one-party (Chinese Communist Party) rule with communism ideology on how they rule and govern the country and socialist standards for how they manage their economy and everything else. [.]

The CCP holds a very nationalistic view

[.] which is commonly used as propaganda [.] for them to garner either sympathy or control over the people of China. These nationalistic view, in its raw and most rudest form, simply states that Chinese people are pure by upholding traditional Chinese culture (that's not even traditionally Chinese, more or less more catered towards communism and the CCP's ideologies which are that they're great and everyone else is wrong) and not mixing themselves or tainting themselves with things that are not pure (i.e. anything that isn't Chinese, from China, belongs to China) This nationalistic views, which glorifies China and detests anything foreign (i.e. culture, language, people, etc.) have led to a lot of xenophobia being built and nurtured inside of China's society [1] [2] [3]

Aside from the CCP's nationalistic views,

China's society is very censored and monitored by the CCP

[.] Google, YouTube, or more specifically, the internet itself is heavily banned by the government, electing the people to use the CCP's private internet that allows them to be monitored 24/7 through IP location and private information. [1] [2] [3] [4] Aside from heavily monitored and controlled internet access, people in the real world are also actively being watched and monitored through CCTV with facial recognition features and an AI that can predict people's action (yes, exactly like the akasha, and yes, Sumeru arc is based on reality, I won't talk about it here but feel free to read between the lines and compare it with the sources and news articles I'm about to drop on you) [1] [2. Behind paywall] [3] [4] [5]

With its censorship in mind, let us talk about what brings us all here:

the gaming censorship in China.

In order for a game to be published in China, whether it's made by an indie or a multi-billion dollar company, the game has to go through a complicated preliminary test made and assigned by the CCP to play, test, and go through your game before publishing it anywhere in Chinese media [.] This test includes you company's paperwork, your game's paperwork, the things you're displaying in your game, and the story it's trying to tell. There are not that many rules on what should and should not appear inside of your game, such as: polyamory, the undead (in both graphic and non-graphic manner), etc. That should be considered tame and should cause no problem, however, we do have a problem with one of the rule given which is: Emphasizing Cultural Sensitivity.

Emphasizing Cultural Sensitivity

in the article I've mentioned before, describes it as "Games should impart “correct” information on politics, law, and history, as interpreted by the authorizing agency." Now what does "correct" information entail? Who fucking knows because truth is relative. Facts, when in the eyes of the CCP, are relative to what they believe is to be right and what they want us to believe is right.

Now with that out of the way, let us get into the main deal.

MiHoYo

(not to be confused with Hoyoverse/Cognosphere which is their international branch) is a is a Chinese video game development and publishing company, founded by three classmates from university Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei, and Luo Yuhao [.] That means that Genshin Impact's development, ever since it was at its infancy, first-established days, and updates until the near future, are all subjected onto that game censorship law that I mentioned earlier. Now you might all be wondering, what does all of those rules have to do with genshin characters having dark skins? To that I point you towards the fact that MiHoYo and the CCP are and have been actively working together ever since around September 2021. [1] [2]

Cooperation between MiHoYo and the CCP

Ever since Genshin Impact's massive hit both nationally and internationally, its massive fanbase has hit the internet no one has ever seen before. It is the first ever Chinese game that has gotten world wide acclaim and with that, new eyes begin to look upon China. It is no surprise to anyone that Genshin is very particular about showing and promoting Chinese culture to the outside world. Genshin has somehow become the face to Chinese culture in just a year, with limited events such as Lantern Rite and Moonchase festival to showcase China's cultural beauty. With world-wide acclaim comes a price, wherein the CCP no longer treats Genshin as "another game" but a tool that they can use to promote and advertise themselves into the global population.

Begin the censorship and micro-manipulation of things in Genshin

New gaming censorship dropped after the Genshin Impact became a hit in the industry, with even Venti and Gorou as examples of characters that should not appear in media published in China (effeminate man) [.] In additional to the list I've linked in the "the gaming censorship in China" section, a lot more additional rules have been added to that list, such as: queer representation, morally grey character, but I what I want you to look at more is the section where "historical elements, including characters, maps and clothing, should conform with mainstream accounts." in addition to that, a self-regulation pact was made between game companies and the CCP that bans any and all content that is deemed "politically harmful" and "historically nihilistic." Now focus more onto that "historically nihilistic" point, what does that mean?

Historical nihilism

is a term used by the CCP and many Chinese scholars to describe research or discussions deemed to contradict an official state version of history in a manner perceived to question or challenge the legitimacy of the CCP [.] TLDR; it's a term used for when what you're saying clashes or goes against what the CCP said. Why is this important you may ask? It's because that now, at this point, if anything Genshin does something—whether that'd be plotline, design etc.—that the CCP thinks shouldn't exist or be represented, they have the lawful right to block or stop it from reaching the final product. Now this, this is what happened to Genshin's Sumeru and Natlan cast.

In relation to Genshin's design choices and how China's beauty standard influences it

white has always been a predominant part of modern Chinese beauty culture, for some reason (I don't know and I'm not going to go that deep into it, research it on your own if you're curious) In fact, it's not only China but also Asian culture in general. White skin has always been hailed as pure and beautiful here in Asia, where the line "as pale as the moon" is a common compliment to give to someone. Skin colour that are tan or even darker are connected to being dirty or stinky. Despite the younger generation not really adhering to that view, the older generation (calling out the CCP here) upholds that standard till this day. Pin straight hair, round eyes, pale white skin, and a thin figure are the standards put upon those born as female. Their male counterpart are not that different, with lean and fit being the preferred body type rather than big muscles or bulky forms.

The reason behind why this is the case is because of Asia's strict social code in rules and appearances. We must appear prim and clean, that means no dyed hair, no tattoos, no piercings, and minimal make-up. Anyone that goes against those rules are regarded as delinquents or deviants that usually break the rules and do criminal activities (despite it not being the case) Having a bulky stature also applies to that list, regardless of what gender you are, and especially for men. You're regarded as dangerous, criminal, bad influence if you look like that in public (this is why we don't have that much bulky characters gang and why we were robbed of heavy muscles Itto orz) (he deffo was very bulky in the original design, probably similar to the Nobushi but it got nerfed in final product)

Given all of that in mind, it's no wonder that Sumeru's and and Natlan's casts are mostly white... but were they always that way?

The original skin colour design for Natlan cast might've been darker than what we have in the final product.

As a lot of people have mentioned (especially with the many beautiful edits I'm very fond of) the character designs for Natlan's new up-coming rosters looks better with darker skin tone. Take for examples this edit right here:

taken from @ rarepairz on twitter [source]

Their designs (with darker skin tones) seem to pop more, giving highlights onto their clothes and accessories in comparison to the original design. Here are more examples of this happening:

taken from @ Wabs_nabs on twitter [source]

It is especially clear to anyone with basic colour theory that the colour used for designing the clothes and accessories and highlights in the hair look better with darker skin colour. There is *intent* on making it this way in comparison to woeful ignorance of making them look white as hell. If they were to intentionally to make the characters look white, they would've chosen a better colour for the clothes, less bolder ones and eye-popping ones to contrast with the already luminescent light that's emitting from the skin.

And this is not the case for only Natlan, by the way! The same thing happened when the Sumeru cast was first leaked. Case in point this:

taken from @ animuswonder on twitter [source]

and my personal art of Cyno and Nari:

Look at how much contrast there is between their colour palette or how much resonance there is, with Cyno his more cold-colour attire and hair, in comparison to his deep dark warm skin or Tighnari that's the epitome of a "spring girl" like come on man. There's INTENT in those designs, to have more darker shades than they are in the game. Sadly, they just can't do it due to censorships. Why? Because, as I have mentioned before, darker shades of skin are represented as dirt here in Asia as we glorify pale skin more.

The representation of uniqueness and differences in Chinese game is not common due the fact that most Asian countries are homogenous, which means they prefer everyone and everything to be the same, to look the same, and follow and do the same things. They do not advocate for uniqueness, they do not advocate for individuality, they advocate for us to conform and to follow like a sheep in a herd. Because of that, most people spend their whole life trying to whiten up their skin, keeping them light, and those who are darker than most are shown prejudiced and scrutinised.

Mentioning again the fact that MiHoYo and the CCP are working closely together, Genshin Impact is currently being used as a cultural weapon by the government. With MiHoYo showing numerous time that they've donate and support Chinese cultural heritage, the CCP is using that fact and holding control over Genshin as a way to promote and advertise sympathy towards Chinese culture and the Communist regime by proxy. It's like how your parents are getting you to eat broccoli brownies in hopes that you'd eat normal broccolis and other vegetables by proxy. Everything and anything that Genshin shows in its game are now under close inspections of the CCP and colourism especially will not fly-by their radar.

In conclusion

Your anger and hatred towards the new characters’ designs are justified, however the person you aim those anger and hatred should not be towards Mihoyo, or Liu Wei, or any of the staff members but towards the situation and the laws and the local government MiHoYo has to adhere to.

We're already lucky to have MiHoYo even wanting to represent and shpw different cultures from different parts of the world, telling us engaging stories, and incentivising us to think more and to be be more of us instead of following the crowd and to judge those in power (if you are literate and have the ability of a 6th grader, you know the theme Genshin Impact is showing in its story). In a world where they aren't able to live as freely as people outside of mainland do, they shouldn't have to put their life at risk by creating a game that goes against the CCP's laws that will lead to a deduction to their social points (yes, those actually exist, WAKE UP). Yet they do, they update every month, telling stories, creating characters with many characteristics that goes against Chinese gaming laws, just for us to enjoy.

You should be grateful because they, whose lives are at stake if they dare to oppose the government, should not have to risk everything to cater towards you, who lives in freedom free from such harm.

Do NOT accuse people of being racist just because your skin colour cannot be found in a game. Learn to know that people don't live in the same situation as you.

You are right to be mad, you are right to be upset, but do not condemn them for something they hold no power to. It's between their lives and your fantasies and if you choose to value your delusion over their livelihood then that just shows what kind of a person you are.

Where's this conviction towards other game companies aside from MiHoYo? Where's the rightful air when it comes to companies that breathe much fresher air? Do they not have the same responsibility? Or is it because you actually do not care and merely want to point your unbridled emotions towards something or someone? If so, you're pointing at the wrong person.

[fandoms-writings]

Without a Doubt

Pairing: tfaws!Bucky x Reader

Summary: Pt 2 to Stromatolite - The first date

Warnings: None? really just fluff. 

Word Count: 1.1K

Bucky Masterlist || Main Masterpost

"Hey," The word left your lips in a sigh. You were worried he wouldn't show, he was a man that had the kind of life where he could be called away at any moment. Yet, here he was - on your doorstep with a rose in his hand and a shy grin on his lips - just when he said he would. 

"This - uh - this is for you," He nervously holds the rose for you to take and you smile, wrapping your hand around his as you pull it from his fingers. 

You thank him before inviting him inside so you can pull out a small vase for the rose. After filling it with water and placing it on the kitchen counter, you turn to face him. He looked like he wanted to look around, but he was too nervous to do so - the way his fingers fidgeted with the hem of his jacket giving it away. You giggle as you step towards him, 

"Ready to go?" He gives you a smile and nods, following you out your front door and into the warm evening air. 

Once you've locked the door, he offers his elbow for you to hold on to, and you more than willingly wrap your hand around his arm. The fabric of his shirt was soft under the pads of your fingers, but you could feel the solidity and warmth of his muscle underneath. 

He led you down the street, only a block away to a cute little hole in the wall chinese spot. "I hope you don't mind chinese. . ." He mumbled, realizing he never even asked what kind of food you liked. 

"I love it," You laughed and watched as he pulled the door open for you. 

After you were seated and had your orders taken, he cleared his throat."I just realized I don't even know your name," He scratched the back of his neck with his metal hand, the gold catching the light from above you. Another small laugh left your lips as you told him your name, and you saw his lips testing it on his tongue - hearing the small whisper of your name in his voice making your stomach flutter. 

"Are you gonna tell me your name?" You tease and his eyebrows arch up in surprise. 

"You know it already don't you?"

"Does that matter? I've only ever read it or heard it at the museum. I don't know what you prefer to be called." His lips parted as he went to say something but was cut off by the waiter bringing your drinks. He watched you thank the waiter with a gentle smile before turning back to him. 

"I'm James, but you can call me Bucky."

"Bucky, huh? I like that," He laughs at that, pulling a giggle from you. 

Before you know it, the food is brought out and you were sharing stories of your childhood as you ate. You told him of the time you stole your mom's car to go to the fair with your friends in high school, and how she grounded you for a month after. You told him of the nice girl in college who got you into jewelry making in the first place - she had been your roommate and constantly sat up making jewelry, until you asked her to show you how. 

He told you how times had changed, how he used to be in the 40's and how sometimes he wished he was still that charming ladies man - earning a giggle from you. You told him you liked him how he was, and that was enough for him to drop the subject and focus on telling you stories of him and Sam fixing that damn boat.

Once you finish, and he pays for the meal, after arguing with you because you were the one who asked him to take you so you thought you'd pay but he just can't let a pretty girl like you pay for him. On the walk back, you stand closer to one another than you did on the walk over, shoulder to shoulder. Your hands were down at your sides, your knuckles brushing against his every so often, making your stomach do a flip every time. 

It had been awhile since you'd gotten the jitters like this on a first date, but Bucky was different from the other guys you dated. He was sweet and charming, in a quiet way. He didn't go above and beyond to make sure you knew he liked you. He kept to himself and was broody with everyone else you noticed. It made those little smiles he gave you and the laughs he hid under his hand feel like they were moments just for you. You'd only known him a week, and he already had your mind clouded with thoughts of him and he made your heart flutter. 

"So," His voice pulled you out of your thoughts, "why'd you pick this for me?" He gestured to the necklace you made, sitting on top of his shirt. 

"Well, I heard about Steve Rogers, and he was your friend, right?" His eyes widened, but he nodded silently, "And I've been to the museum, I know you were a prisoner of war," You looked up to him to see him watching the pavement under your feet as you walked. You reached for his hand, interlocking your fingers and squeezing his palm, "I figured, for someone who's been through so much, and who has lost so much, you could use a little help. Even if it's just a rock and you don't believe in it." 

He looked up from the ground to meet your eyes, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. "You're something else, you know that?" He whispered, as he brought up his metal hand to caress your cheek. 

"What? Because I want to help?" 

"Yes, no one wants to help me. . . to help who I used to be. . ." His hand dropped from your face, and you reached to hold it in your own. 

"You're not that man on the bridge anymore. Anyone with common sense can tell that from a mile away." You smiled up at him, and his frown slightly cracked at its edges. 

Your hands dropped his and reached up to the sides of his neck. His eyes flickered between your eyes and your lips as you leaned in, lightly brushing his nose with yours before pressing your lips to his. His hands were hesitant, but they eventually settled on your back, pulling you closer. 

It was that moment that he knew. He knew he wouldn't be able to let you go. If you'd have him, he'd make sure he gave you everything he could offer. He was, without a doubt, yours. 

Thank you for reading! As always likes, comments, and reblogs are always appreciated <3 

Taglist: @spid3rgwen​