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circledemptiness · 1 month ago

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Praying Mantis

Fandom: Batman (Arkham Knight) Pairing: Edward Nigma (The Riddler) x Reader Rating: Explicit +18 Tags: Touch-starved, finger sucking, masturbation, praise kink, submissive Edward ✦ Read on AO3 – Older work (and it shows)

"Where your name used to sound like an insult in his mouth, right now it is a mantra, a broken moan coming from his agonizing ego."

Two emeralds glowing with disdain and pride, his eyes burning holes in your soul; a forked tongue spewing insulting contempt, when his thin lips aren’t twisted in a condescending grin.

There is so much arrogance on Edward Nigma’s face, so much insolence that it makes your core tremble. It wouldn’t be so bad if he wasn’t so dirty; there is something immensely infuriating to be blatantly disrespected by a man caked in a miasma of grease and filth, reeking of motor oil, body odor, blood and fuck knows what else.

The Riddler is loud, so fucking loud when he gloats and reminds you how infinitely superior he is; his ego is blinding, glowing in a shade of toxic green. There’s something undeniably pathetic about him, a man child crying for attention surely.

And the Riddler is even louder when you accidentally brush his shoulder or bump into him. Offended that you touched him, but this time his voice cracks, makes you cock a brow. He’s not annoyed, he’s flustered. That might almost be charming if he wasn’t so aggravating. Instead, it makes you want to touch him more, in a way it’d break him and his aching ego.

You’re glowing, that night. You prepared yourself, performed your own ritual in front of your mirror. Swore you heard a hissing noise somewhere out there as you articulate your body. You look like a praying mantis. Feel like it, too.

All mechanical noises cease when you penetrate his workshop. Two green orbs glare at you, annoyed, impatient and something else, much more miserable, but exquisite to you. The corner of your lips curl almost imperceptibly so, chest raising with anticipation. He furrows his brow and raises from the stool he was sitting on.

“I was not expecting you. However, your presence is not welcome. I am extremely busy working on something of the utmost importance, and I’m afraid you are merely being a distraction here” his words are daggers, meant to hurt, scare you away. You don’t flinch. He’s furious.

His jaw is clenched, while you walk closer to him. You can see more clearly how messy and greasy his hair is, how filthy his clothes are. Soon, you are close enough to smell him —an acrid scent of sweat, coffee, oil and something else that you don’t care to identify. You stare at his frame. Tall, subtly muscular, threatening. He could easily hurt you, you think to yourself. But he won’t. You know he won’t.

“Did you hear me, or should I take you to the door myself?!” he snarls, throwing a hand in the direction of the exit. And as he’s about to growl some more threats, you put a firm hand on his chest, interrupting him. It feels like it sucked the air out of his chest, and he freezes. Not a word escapes his twisted mouth, you only hear the clanging and clattering noises of the machineries.

You push forward, invite him to sit back on the stool. His flesh is burning and sweaty under your palm, his chest hair caressing your delicate skin, his heart is frantically beating under your fingertips. His pulse feels like a frail bird who fell on the ground, disoriented and terrified.There’s a faint anger in his eyes still, but it’s mostly fear and panic now.

“What do you think—

“You speak too much, Mister Nigma”

He silently gasps at your words. Appalled, surprised, appreciative; you don’t know which it is. He could easily push you away, force you out. But he won’t. Maybe he’s been secretly wanting it all this time. Yearning for someone to handle him, break him in a way that would feel good. You wonder, when was the last time the poor thing fucked anything else than his hand? The thought amuses you.

Painfully slowly, you remove your hand from his chest and graze your fingertips against his sunken cheek. His stubble tickles you. You trace his bone structure until your digits reach his chapped lips. Your index finger holds his chin while your thumb rubs on his delicate and thin crimson flesh. He naturally parts his trembling lips, allowing you to feel his quickening warm breath as he’s knitting his brow in a worried look, eyes shining with a confused feeling. A silent plea.

“You always. Speak. Too much.”

Pressing your thumb against his slit, your eyes absorbing his own with a feverish sense of control, you swear you heard a soft whimper. Edward slightly opens his mouth, and your digit invades his warm cavity. His tongue feels velvety and wet against the flesh of your extremity. You smile, as you push your knuckle deeper inside of him. He shivers, and there’s a look in his eyes, a mix of fear, shame and lust. New colors appear on his face, beautiful shades of red, carmine, and rose. Edward closes his mouth around your thumb. You feel his teeth wrapped around it, the wetness surrounding it. Oh . It feels good.

You gently thrust your thumb inside his mouth, caress his tongue, rub his gums, feeling your own breathing deepening, and you hear more pathetic whimpers. He then ceases being passively invaded and timidly sucks on your thumb, swirling his tongue around your extremity. Tasting you. You cock a brow, pleasantly surprised, and smile.

“You’re doing so good, Edward” A whisper, a murmur, a praise that makes him open wide eyes and strangle a soft moan. There’s something intoxicating about the noises he makes, about his vulnerable state.

His body however remains infuriatingly still. Whether he doesn’t dare to touch you or doesn’t want to is unclear. You’re standing between his spread legs, his hands clawing at his thighs, knuckles turning white. Your free hand crawls on his dirty hair, he flinches. You firmly tug his hair, he loudly moans. Delightful sound. Shameful. Your thumb leaves his mouth in a wet sound, and he almost whimpers, missing its absence. Still gripping his hair, you make him look at you. His eyes are pleading with you, a thin veil of lust softening his usually harsh stare. He looks pathetic, in a beautiful way.

Adjusting yourself, you straddle Edward and sit on his lap. He gasps in protest and looks away. Too close, too intimate. He doesn’t relax his grip on his dirty pants. Looks painful. As painful as the erection you can guess through the bulge of his pants. The sweat makes his chest look shiny. You think that he’s quite handsome underneath the filth; under other circumstances you’d lick his torso clean. If he wasn’t such a cunt. His breathing is labored, his skin turned crimson, he’s tense. You put your fingertips on one of his hands, he flinches and looks at your invading touch

“Such big hands…” you run your fingers on his, pull on his hand until he lifts it, looking at you quizzically. You lay your palm flat against his, showing him the clear size difference between the two.

“Much bigger than mine… I wonder how they’d feel…” Edward swallows hard, and hums, unable to form any word. Unusual. But he’s shaking, oh, his whole body is shivering in anticipation. Makes you wonder what happened to the so pretentious Riddler. Yeah, doesn’t look so intimidating now, does he? Rock hard from sucking your thumb, panting under your most simple touch. What a mess.

“Would you like to show me?” you whisper, your eyes glowing like two diamonds. In your head, you hear the buzzing hiss of a praying mantis, and you swear you feel the skin of your back cracking, peeling, revealing a pair of wings. You feel fucking beautiful in the reflection of his eye-balls. Green mirrors, distorted with lust and fear. Edward shyly nods, and you put his hand on one of your covered breasts. He whimpers, and gives the soft flesh a light squeeze. His fingers crawl, rub, massage, explore. Edward moans. Shivers. Pants. Your hand caresses his scalp, and you sigh each time his hand moves. Your body is burning, and you want more.

You rock your hips impatiently against his clothed erection. He groans, loudly.

“Come on, Edward. Give me more…” it’s not quite a plea, not quite an order either. He curses. Lovely. His hand grab the hem of your shirt, lifts it to uncover your breasts. He wraps both of his hands behind your back, fights against the clasp of your bra. He gets impatient, he curses some more, whimpers. He’s shaking. You giggle, run your hand in his hair. Until he succeeds, frees your breasts from the last piece of clothing covering them.

“Good boy…” you praise him, and his eyes sparkle at the validating words, an impossibly big smile on his face. He almost looks cute.

His hands are holding your breasts, thumbs drawing circles over your nipples. A warm touch on your burning skin. Makes you feel dizzy, as you close your eyes and surrender. A light pain shakes you, as he pinches your sensitive nubs. Pulls at them, twists them. They’re fully erect, they look like flushed pistils.

He sinks in, swallows one of your nipples in his warm mouth. The surprise makes you moan, and you grab his hair, encouraging him. He’s sucking at them as if he’s starving –and he most probably was. He’s moaning as he’s sucking, licking, nibbling on your sensitive nubs. Smearing the filth of his face on your clean and soft skin as he’s eating your breast, stroking your collarbone with his tongue, nibbling and sucking on your flesh in a way that will surely leave marks.

You don’t even mind his body odor; he feels like a starved dog grinding against you, panting, drooling on your flesh. In fact, his smell is animalistic, and so is his behavior, groping you, groaning, worshipping you. You’re not even sure anymore who is moaning as he’s sinking his teeth in the tender skin of your neck.

You rock your hips, grind against his painfully hard erection, to encourage him. He moans against your neck, lower his head to give your nipple the same passionate treatment while his hands slip the long of your back and cup your ass, accompanying your rocking movement. His touch, his tongue, his body heat make yours rise, needing more. Soon, he grabs the flesh of your ass hard enough to leave marks, making you grind against him frantically.

Your clit is deliciously stimulated, and God you could fuck him right here, right now, but you don’t want to give in yet. The pressure of his warm clothes shaft rubbing frantically against your swollen folds makes you dizzy.

Where your name used to sound like an insult in his mouth, right now it is a mantra, a broken moan coming from his agonizing ego.

You firmly push him back, he looks at you with a painful look on his crimson face; eyes deformed by lust, need and shame. You tightly grab his hair, he grunts in pain, and you smash your lips on his. It’s not pleasant, it’s passionate. All teeth and wet flesh. You devour his lips, bite them, suck on them.

Force his mouth open, slide your tongue inside. You moan in each other’s throat, chins soon covered in drool, desperately trying to deepen the kiss. He tastes like coffee, his touch feels dirty, but in this instant you embrace it all. Your hands slip down his belts; after a short frantic fight you successfully remove them, unzip his pants. Edward pants and curses, until a faint plea escapes his mouth.

“ Please– ” he chokes on his words, then buries his face in your neck. You tug at his hair tightly, force him to look at you.

“Please what ?” you ask, firmly, coldly. Edward grunts, knits his brow. Feels ashamed. His green eyes turn blurry –are those tears? He whimpers, rocking his hips.

“ Touch me ” Edward whispers, no, sobs. He sobs, and you release your grip. He buries himself back in your neck and shakes. You caresse the back of his neck in a comforting manner, while your other hand lifts his wife-beater to caress his sweaty stomach, tracing along his defined muscles. The touch makes him squirm and gasp miserably.

You follow the dark hair of his stomach, and slide your hand in his underwear. His cock is so painfully hard and drenched in precum, burning and trembling. He lets out a loud moan and sobs some more as you wrap your hand around his shaft.

You pump him passionately, unceremoniously. The noises he makes are the ones of an animal, a loud mix of groans, grunts, moans. You feel him gripping your waist —some more marks tomorrow. A sharp pain —you feel his teeth sinking in your neck, concealing the unholy noises he makes. His hips moves, fucking himself in your hand, encouraging you. Mercifully so, you pump him faster, your grip tightening against his flushed dick.

You love the way he moans your name, begging you to not stop, drooling on your shoulder. It feels so good, you feel so good.

His breathing is labored, his body is drenched in sweat, convulsing and jerking under your torture, and it’s all too much for the Riddler. Running your hand through his disheveled hair, the softness of your caress contrasting with the frenetic rhythm of your other hand, you pull his head closer to your neck. Comforting. Soothing.

“Can you come for me, Edward? Can you be good and come for me?” you whisper in his ear, granting you a low sob.

Yes, God yes , he yells. His voice grows louder in a pleasured crescendo until you feel his grip tensing on your waist, his entire body jerking one last time, one last moan, and then a warm sticky liquid spurting, coating your hand and your stomach. And God, there’s just so much of it, you wonder when was the last time he orgasmed.

His drenched forehead still pressed against your neck, his irregular breath, warm against your flesh, you feel him getting softer in your hand. His body relaxes slightly, as he’s miserably and heavily crumbling against you. Your body is burning still, yearning for a touch, some friction, some release. But as you wipe your soiled hand on his pants and caress his hair almost tenderly, you think that this might be all he could offer you tonight.

Perhaps there will be a next time.

#edward nigma #edward nygma #edward nashton #The riddler #arkham knight riddler #edward nigma x reader #edward nygma x reader #edward nashton x reader #the riddler x reader

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fratricideknight · 2 years ago

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hello sweetie!! i wanted to ask you if you could give us your take on john winchester ? people have very different opinions on him and i’d love to hear yours.

hi!!! thanks so much for this ask. it took me a while to gather my thoughts, so there's a relatively long post ahead.

i think that people in fandom tend to go the route of woobifying a character until they can do no wrong in their eyes, or demonising a character until everything they do is wrong. this not only doesn't allow for nuanced takes, which should be possible to make for any well-written, complex character, but also leads to attempts to push blame onto characters instead of just... accepting that the circumstances themselves are shit.

maybe john and sam are similar after all, considering the way that neither of them are extended any due sympathy whatsoever by certain individuals. john, who knew nothing of the supernatural, on an otherwise normal night during which he fell peacefully asleep in front of the television, witnessed his wife be psychically pinned to the ceiling of his baby's nursery and explode in front of both him and his six-month-old. that's bound to change anyone. blaming john entirely for becoming incredibly paranoid over and controlling of his children, and not acknowledging the role of, i don't know, azazel? prince of hell? who engineered all of this?? is so ridiculous i can't even comprehend it. the circumstances are absolutely dreadful, and john wasn't left with much of a choice in the ways he could respond to it. not only would he most likely be driven partially insane by what he witnessed happen to his wife, he would also be led to worry about the safety of his children. killing azazel wasn't just about avenging mary, it was about extinguishing the threat that, for all john knew, could be out to kill his infant sons! what do you want him to do?? shrug it off and go on like nothing happened? cut his losses and get another mother for the boys?

as for how john specifically responded to this: he became a controlling douchebag, yeah. i have someone in my life who can be the same brand of peremptory dick as john, and there are times when i want nothing more than to punch john winchester in the face. it's one of the reasons i relate to sam so much. however, not once in my viewing of season 1 before i entered fandom spaces, did it occur to me that john might be an irredeemable monster and abuser. john trained his boys like soldiers rather than treating them like the children they were, but it's not like he did it for the hell of it. he thought they would literally die if they weren't prepared to fight off the supernatural threats which he was suddenly, in the worst possible way, made aware of. john was an ex-marine, which would of course influence how he would go about this. i'm not saying that john didn't do horrible things at times and that sam and dean's upbringing wasn't awful. he did, and it was. telling sam to not come back if he went to college, trying to punish him for having dreams of his own? making tween dean feel bad for not staying in a motel room 24/7 to take care of his younger brother? dick moves. the boys' childhood was claustrophobic, toxic, and miserable, and i do not blame either of them in the slightest for wanting to get out. however, it comes down to the matter of circumstance again: it's not like john did any of this for the hell of it! let me repeat myself: he thought. they were going. to be murdered. moving frequently probably wasn't just for the sake of cases, it might also have been because he was scared that they were being pursued by something.

as for some of the abuse claims that people make. ugh. please stop just making stuff up. if you want to take the idea that john was a monster and run with it, whatever. i don't care. but acting like that's actually canon? you're just shouldering your way into spaces where people who actually want to discuss canon can do so, and that's incredibly annoying. there is no canon evidence in the seasons which actually involved john as a character that he beat his children or was homophobic. they literally go out of their way in the episode 'Nightmare' to show that sam and dean know their childhood wasn't like max miller's. as some people have said, he doesn't need to have hit his kids for their childhood to have sucked; it was bad enough already! as for the homophobia claims. ughhhhhhhh. i feel like they come from a... specific sector of the fandom, who want to take any reprehensible trait of dean's and make it someone else's fault. like i said earlier, woobifying a character until they can do no wrong. "oh, dean can be a misogynistic and homophobic douchebag at times? clearly, this is all john's influence. oh, he treats sam badly at times? actually, sam is the one who abuses him!" i can somewhat get behind the idea of john expecting the boys to repress their emotions on some level; he was literally a marine in the vietnam war, and he raised his kids in the eighties and nineties. he expected them to put aside any issues they might have had about giving up an ordinary life and hunting azazel and just follow his orders. but the idea that he's some queerphobic monster who would beat dean upside the head for shedding a single tear is hilarious.

look at this fucking fruit. he never stops tearing up.

as a final point, let me just address that jdm is incredibly sexy. if you have a problem with me liking john, take it up with whichever higher power or force of nature made him so <3

#john winchester #pro john winchester #spn discussion #fandom wank #supernatural #spn #askbox #mine #ginkgo-shaw #thanks lovely <3

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badaziraphaletakes · 9 months ago

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Hi!! (Im so sorry if im annoying u guys, I just like this blog sm ok😭)

I just wanted to say that I have been relatively new to this fandom, since season 1 came out, and it was great! It felt like a space for asexual amd neurodivergent ppl, and I loved all the fanartists and theorists (still do) but after season 2, and I have a confession to make here, I too was on the "anti aziraphale" bus, properly boarded, seated and all. I know I didnt indicate that in the post I made, but I didnt self identify as one, I just "agreed" with what many of the crowd holding those setiments said. Why? My dear fellow, it was simply because of poor self esteem! I related alot to aziraphale, and so seeing those posts, where ppl talked abt traits( he and I share), like his love for his interests, his exaggerated movements, his anxieties, and seeing ppl dismiss them, or make fun of them, or call him "an emotional idiot" as that one lovely person said, well it felt like looking in a mirror, because those were the exact same things I said to myself! I told myself all those things, that I didnt deserve forgiveness from ppl I loved, when I made mistakes, I told myself that I should "tone down" my excitement for my interests, and the rest. I found myself mentally taking notes, and altering my behaviour, after reading those posts, bc hey, I hate myself for having those traits, and it looks like other ppl hate this one character for having those traits too, better "shape up" and "do better" yknow?

I stopped following thise blogs, but I still seeked the posts out. Why? Bc it felt "good". It felt like my negative self talk was being validated. It felt like I "finally" found posts that wouldnt "mince words" and be as mean, and rude as they possibly could be to him, because that was "what he, and anyone else like him deserved." (Im not saying that the ppl who made those posts said that, im saying that I made myself believe that I deserved that)

Maybe I shouldnt have internalized what the posts said. Maybe I shouldnt even care all that much abt a single character, I mean obviously the ppl who made those posts werent thinking about me were they? They werent targetting me, so why did I feel all that much. It didnt matter how much I rationalized it, at the end if the day I was making myself miserable, but it felt familiar, so I kept at it

I found this blog, and it felt.. so surreal. Like ppl were defending aziraphale? Ppl were giving him, grace? What? And then I read the analysis and responses that u guys gave, and realized that I also had biases, and I found myself giving more empathy to aziraphale, and then I found myself extending that same empathy to myself. I also started going to therapy also, and I realzied that no, I made mistakes, but I am human, forgivable, that my interests arent things to hide, but rather things that make me happy, and that I shouldnt be harsh to myself bc of that. It all progressed slowly, but I could feel myself becoming, happier. I didnt hide my excitement, I didnt tone down my "exaggerated" movements. I started treating aziraphale's character with love and lo and behold, I found myself loving myself too.

I have bad days, I still do. But they are lesser in number now. Whats the point of this long ass ask? Well, I want u to know that u guys are essentially teaching ppl to be more empathetic towards others and sometimes towards themselves, by being being empathetic towards aziraphale. U are telling people like me, indirectly ofc, to love who we are, and to give ourselves grace. And that while aziraphale (and ppl like him) maybe flawed, that shouldnt warrant hate, but rather understanding. U guys are wonderful, and I promise u, u guys are helping❤️

Im sorry to whoever that person was that left, im sorry that they were harassed as I am sure, those werent ur intentions. But what I am trying to say is that u are not making this fandom more toxic. U are helping people. U guys are a breath of relief in the fandom. Pls remember that.

(Sorry if this is too long to read, or too emotional, ive been in a bit of a mood I suppose, and being vulnerable like this is terrifying but agsjsgkahsbs what can one do, have a great day!🤗)

My dear, I'm so humbled to read this. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. As an autistic person, watching Aziraphale ever since 2019 has helped me unmask a lot, so I totally understand how the bad criticism towards him may have pushed you into masking yourself. It does hurt 🫂

I'm so happy that we've helped you on your journey and that we even helped you seek therapy (everyone should and every time a friend tells me I helped them get there I feel like I won in life). This is what we aim for here in this space, this is what makes it all worth it.

Thank you for the reassurance, it is very much needed sometimes. We want to fight toxicity, not contribute to it, and feedback like yours is very much needed to know we're on the right path. We hope to bring comfort for those who are feeling harmed by the situation.

And of course thank you SO MUCH for sharing your feelings with us, this is the juice we need to keep going 🩶

And finally: remember that you are and will always be good enough and that you deserve better. And no matter what, be yourself! Good luck and we're glad to have you on our train 🥰

#mod M😇#asks #love

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captnjacksparrow · 3 years ago

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I just got into the fandom and I love it so much. However, there are parts where I just cringe. I’m going to be completely honest when I say I can’t see SS being a thing, a healthy one at that. A rumor said that Sasuke always had feelings for Sakura but he didn’t know how to show them because hatred blinded him. I just... find it utterly bullshit. Hell, even I do ship narusasu, I tried to be open minded and not fall too far off canon or the characters. I don’t understand how Sasuke had those feelings for her when all he did was shown the opposite and it felt genuine. He seem always annoyed and pushes her away. She kept forcing her feelings on him when he makes it clear that he’s not interested. I don’t hate the ship because it’s not my ship but because it’s extremely toxic. It feels one-sided (Sakura’s side) more than anything and it’s makes it hard to believe he had those feelings for her. I mean, on the second episode of season five, she confessed and poured out her heart and he blew it off. I cringed hard and was beyond disappointed because she’s making it about herself. That’s literally how I feel about their damn “relationship”. She made it about her and her only. When he’s hurting, it’s about her. It’s so annoying and it makes me see how self-centered Sakura. When she said she understood Sasuke, I wanted to scream (I nearly did but my family is sleeping and I don’t need a lecture.) She doesn’t know Jackshit about Sasuke besides he’s the only survivor of his decease clan, he’s a loner who cares only about himself, and he’s attractive. She’s just like every other fangirl expect she’s on his team. I’m trying my best not to hate her but Damn she’s really pushing it. Anything that annoyed me was that she made it seem like they were dating, again making it about herself and her feelings. She sent Naruto to get Sasuke for her benefits, so she can keep him. Again, disregarding Sasuke’s feelings and what he wanted. Naruto should’ve said “I’ll bring him back because HE wants too, to keep HIM safe, not for you.” I just can’t with this ship. I’m still wondering why the hell is it even a thing? Also find it beyond pitiful how she stayed with Sasuke in Boruto when he left for 12-13 years?! No note. No checking up. Nothing. Hell, Sarada doesn’t know how her own father looks like or the truth of her mother. Both of them were miserable and I find it absolutely ridiculous when SS shippers still say “they’re in love” or they’re OTP. If that’s what true love looks like (good thing it’s not), then I’d die single. I can’t be the only one who thinks this ship is just as bad as Harley Quinn x Joker.

First off, Thanks for this lovely ask @larrycherry04 ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I've always wanted to write about this and your ask is the perfect timing.

Disclaimer: SS shippers, Sakura fans!!! Don’t read this post!!

Me being an SNS shipper, I am just going to write this from a non-SNS perspective. Meaning, I am going to consider Naruto and Sasuke are just friends or rivals.

Bear with my lengthy answer.

Where do I even begin?

A rumor said that Sasuke always had feelings for Sakura but he didn’t know how to show them because hatred blinded him.

I think this rumor is from a light novel called Akatsuki Hiden or whatever shit. But for me, it looks like a pathetic attempt to convince those horny women shippers who would pay any money to read a romance which mirrors their own love life where they desire an ‘unreachable & handsome’ man who has this ‘cool & overbearing’ aura and carries this ‘bad boy badass’ vibe. They would do anything to get the attention from this boy. Until this point is where the reality ends.

What they really wants to happen and fantasize is somehow that handsome man, one day, will look only them and recognize their love and becomes a ‘soft’ guy who would bring the heavens for them and treats her like a princess. That fantasy led them to buy these novels and believe everything while completely disregarding the canon material. And those novels are aimed at these type of women.

You must have been wondering now, ‘I have seen these type of shit somewhere’!!!!!

That’s right.

50 Shades of Grey, Twilight, Beauty and the Beast, 100′s of K-Drama, C-Drama follow this shit romance trope and it’s regrettably fucking popular.

In other words, Don’t believe anything apart from the canonic resources.

Let’s dissect the canon materials about SS.

TEAM 7

This is how it all started

Does anyone see anything positive here????

Well, I am not.

Sakura wanted to impress Sasuke. Since, Naruto always picks fight with Sasuke, she badmouthed Naruto in the hopes that Sasuke will recognize some common ground with her which may develop into a friendship. But she shot her own foot.

[Regardless, I hated her here and she never redeemed herself, for her being completely insensitive & oblivious towards Sasuke’s life, the boy she loves]

Technically, Sasuke should have said ‘You’re Annoying’ towards Naruto for kissing him before the class and tying him up later. Here, Sakura is simply badmouthing another guy. He, somehow, find this very annoying than anything Naruto did earlier.

Sasuke always had feelings for Sakura but he didn’t know how to show them because hatred blinded him.

Am definitely not seeing any feelings here.

ZABUZA ARC

Alright, much later, somehow Sasuke started to integrate into team 7 and started to see them as a Family. No denial here. He started to care about everyone in his team at some point. Which was evident from the way he thought to himself, ‘That was Sakura’s voice... What is Kakashi doing?’

But does it means he hopelessly fell in love with her??? Nope.

It’s just a team camaraderie where he was worried about his teammate. If he has special feelings towards her, he should have said ‘I must go save Sakura’ or something along the line.

But, later in that episode, he went on to die for Naruto and even at his dying moments he didn’t think about Sakura or Team 7. It was all about someone else.

Even seconds before falling into Naruto’s arms, Sasuke was smiling with no regrets.

It was funny very later that after he got up from his temporary death, rather than consoling her like ‘Sakura, Don’t cry. Am alright’ or anything, he was asking ‘Where’s Naruto?’. LOL.

Even much later, when Sakura was asking him about a date, he bluntly said ‘I refuse’.

So, you’re telling me, throughout this arc, a boy blinded with hatred can able to pout, play childish games, train and die for a boy but when it comes to Sakura he can’t show his feelings???

Sorry, I don’t see romance here. Not in this arc.

Whether you agree or not, every parent has their favorite child, every child has their favorite parent. Even within your family, you always have a special person.

For Sasuke, Itachi was that person in his real family. Sakura was not that person in his Team 7 family. It was Naruto.

CHUNIN EXAMS ARC

This arc is where those SS shippers celebrates a lot and I know why. Remember earlier I talked about that shitty 50 Shades of Grey romantic trope??? The following scene vaguely falls under that pattern.

A guy loses his control because of a cursed seal and beats up the guys who hurt one of his teammates which happens to be a girl and calms down after seeing the girl.

That Infamous back hug.

I understand why SS people lose their mind with that scene. And I don’t blame them. I am going to throw their own proof at them.

So, this First databook, tells us that he finally sees both Naruto and Sakura as comrades and his heart softens from the path of revenge, a little bit.

Definitely, Sakura’s tears or love towards him stopped his rampage. But nothing says about whether Sasuke loves her back.

Much later, Sasuke also stops his cursed seal on his own after thinking about worried Sakura and a screaming Naruto (Who don’t know about this seal thingy at that time).

Well, whatever. That databook has another funny fact, that too in the same page.

LOL. Weird!!!! This accidental kiss unravels Sasuke’s heart ❤️❤️???? 🤣🤣🤣

So, influencing Sasuke’s heart can be attributed to both his teammates,according to this databook. Atleast upto this arc. There are no special feelings for Sakura alone, guys.

Proof?

If Sasuke really considers her in a romantic light (this is after that back hug), he doesn’t have to do this at all. Believe me, Love is all about subconsciously or purposefully enjoying or feeling little touches. Those touches can be through eyes, memories or physical. Sakura is delighted with his touch because she loves him but Sasuke just see her as a comrade and keeping his distance but this time very politely.

If Kishi really likes these couple, he doesn’t have to make this scene at all. It’s not just this one instance, he rejected her twice very bluntly before this saying ‘Don’t cling to me!!!’, ‘Sakura, you’re heavy!!!’.

If you say her back hug is a token of romance, then I can say ‘this’ kiss is also a token of romance. You can’t ignore one while keeping the other.

Anyways, at the end of the arc, Orochimaru is the best judge to identify who can change Sasuke’s heart. And that person is not Sakura.

DEPARTURE

she confessed and poured out her heart and he blew it off. I cringed hard and was beyond disappointed because she’s making it about herself. That’s literally how I feel about their damn “relationship”. She made it about her and her only. When he’s hurting, it’s about her. It’s so annoying and it makes me see how self-centered Sakura. When she said she understood Sasuke, I wanted to scream (I nearly did but my family is sleeping and I don’t need a lecture.) She doesn’t know Jackshit about Sasuke besides he’s the only survivor of his decease clan, he’s a loner who cares only about himself, and he’s attractive.

You know what, Larry??? You are 1000% right.

But, atleast, I thought she was genuine in the first part of the proposal, like saying ‘Revenge is not good’.....bla bla.. Because, Revenge will never satisfy a person completely and I agree. Then she took a 180 degree by saying ‘Take me with you, Sasuke-Kun. I’ll make you happy’. This is where I lost it entirely. ‘Alright Bitch, So you really don’t care about his revenge or health. As long as you have the chance to get inside his pants, you are okay with it. So you are okay with Sasuke going to Orochimaru as long as you are with him..... Fucking Shit!!!!’ This is not okay at all.

How did Sasuke respond?

“Why should I have to tell you anything”

“I’m telling you to keep your nose out of my business”

“Stop bothering me over everything I do”

Ummm..... where I come from, this screams ‘Irritation’ to me. Added to it, throughout the whole conversation he never saw her face. There was evidently no pain or anything from his face. On top the cake, here comes the cherry

“You really are...annoying”

This is where he saw her face throughout that painful confession before knocking her out. Umm... When you love someone or atleast feel for someone, you will look in their eyes and speak some farewell words before you leave. Or atleast show some pain??? There’s visibly nothing from Sasuke’s face.

Alright, I know what SS wankers will pull out here. That Databook 2 with some vague words. I am going to throw this at them.

Again, like I acknowledged before, he considers her as a comrade and part of a family. So, her existence also eased his loneliness. But you have to look at the word choice here. “The one that filled his lonely existence was Sakura”. It’s not the ‘Only’ person. Before he left he said ‘Thanks’. Meaning, Thanks for all these days. That’s all between us.

This piece was about the Team 7 picture. So he acknowledges, he was not alone during his genin days because of his companions and Kakashi (so it’s not just Sakura to ease his loneliness). Whatever he said to Sakura was real.

So can we safely confirm “You’re annoying” is real????

But what’s really interesting is the way Sasuke projects himself before Naruto. I am going to refrain myself from attaching all those rollercoaster of emotions flowed throughout the fight in VoTE 1. Otherwise, it will become an SNS post.

However, this particular scene caught my attention.

Ummm.... Initially Sasuke walks without looking at Naruto. Then he looks back and answers him.

Naruto was pretty much asking the same question as Sakura. “Why does it come to this?”

But Sasuke pauses and surprised for a moment and asks him pretty much “Why do you care about me?”

Why couldn’t Sasuke do the same with Sakura???? Kishi can pretty much make a panel or two rather than making some insulting panels.

Anyways, If they throw the databook, then I can also throw the same.

Alright, can someone explain the highlighted sentence for me???? Because I want to confirm whether I have a blurry vision.

Here, Sasuke is trying to punctuate Naruto as a different person from the rest of his companions. ‘his companions as well as that with Naruto’, I mean, Come on!!!! Naruto is also one of your companions along with Sakura. Why differentiate????

‘The village, companions, Naruto,....’ . Again....He is differentiating his home (village), companions (his friends), and Naruto. So who is Naruto for him? What is the need to make exception for Naruto? It’s very clear he is placing Naruto at a high pedestal for some unknown reasons.

Before this Databook dissection, remember I said something about saying Goodbye, ‘ When you love someone or at least feel for someone, you will look into that person’s eyes and speak some farewell words before you leave‘

Sasuke is doing exactly that here in this scene without saying anything.

Am sorry SS shippers, you can scream all you want about Sasuke knocked her out and left her on the bench. But there was no emotional distraught when he left her. Sasuke seemingly spent a longer time staring at Naruto than looking at Sakura when she confessed.

OROCHIMARU HIDEOUT

Well, there is nothing I can say about here for SS. He pretty much saw her and said, “Sakura, huh?”.. And that’s all. He didn’t give two shits about her.

His attention was completely on someone else.

UNDER THE BRIDGE

She sent Naruto to get Sasuke for her benefits, so she can keep him. Again, disregarding Sasuke’s feelings and what he wanted. Naruto should’ve said “I’ll bring him back because HE wants too, to keep HIM safe, not for you.”

Naruto pretty much said the same thing in this arc, Larry. Naruto, in part 1, was happy for Sakura feeling the same about Sasuke as him, that is ‘To bring him back’. And also sad that his crush really loves someone else. But after Sakura gave up on Sasuke and faking her confession, Naruto decided, ‘Alright, I want to save him personally. I don’t care about our promise anymore”.

This is where, SS ship goes into a crazy ride and it’s not a positive one.

Sasuke was on a rampage. He lost the ability to differentiate between his friends and foes. He stabbed Karin. And when he find her alive, he was about to Chidori her.

And then comes the pink princess, full of lies and deceit. And Sasuke being impatient and disgusted with her lies, he does this

Well, in part 1, she had a degree of power to change his heart. But not here. He, instead, got riled up more and even tried to kill her without a warning and that too by not looking at her face. Pathetic!!!!

This scene screams ‘Trust issues’ from both sides.

Did it stop here???

Fucking Shit!!!!!! Is there any people who still ship this nonsense?. If you are a Sakura fan, you should hate her for the lack of trust and backstabbing the person she loves,

If you are a Sasuke fan, errrrmmm.....I have nothing to say. You know what to do.

There is nothing positive here, that can make me ship them. He is killing her like a Mosquito.

If you truly loved someone in the past, even in your darkest moments, you will be honest and you cannot fake before that person.

Proof??

Here, Sasuke had a clear resolve to kill his brother, Itachi. He lived for this moment for about 8 years and immersed himself in Darkness for 3 years with Orochimaru. He could have run away, dodge or look away from Itachi. But Sasuke simply couldn’t!!! You know why?? Sasuke loved Itachi once more than anything in this world. At this moment, he is letting all those defense loose and embracing the moment and see what Itachi was about to do. Because somewhere in his heart he trusts Itachi.

But killing Sakura doesn’t make Sasuke feel anything. She is just another victim like Danzo or Karin or all those Samurais or a fucking mosquito!!!!

So you are telling me that Sasuke had feelings for her but kept it hidden all along and still tried to kill her like a pest???

Give me a fucking break!!!!

And you all know, who changed Sasuke’s heart here in this scene. It was not Sakura. There’s absolutely no reason for Sasuke to listen to that person and what’s more, Sasuke even made a promise (despite being in darkness, he had it in his heart to listen to that person) to destroy Konoha only after killing that person ..

WAR ARC

Well, this is the arc where Sakura behaves like a rabid dog on heat waiting for Sasuke and shamelessly trying to wag her tails. But Sasuke didn’t give two shits about her, not once or twice but multiple times.

MOMENT 1

An explosion was about to kill the whole shinobi alliance and this dude wants to save Jugo, his companion and Naruto, the person who will challenge his Revolution, his rival and the one whom he wants to kill. Why only Naruto??? Why not Naruto and Sakura???

Pink cherry Queen doesn’t even crossed Sasuke’s mind. Because he already threw her away in part 1.

MOMENT 2

Alright Bitch!!! The entire shinobi alliance was dying on the other side of the battlefield. And this asshole is doing a clownshow before Madara just to get inside Sasuke’s pants????

I mean, Come On!!!!

Well, if Sasuke truly likes her, he should be the one to have catched her or atleast should have asked her, ‘are you alright??’

I am sorry, where are the romantic feelings???

MOMENT 3

ROFLLLL🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

For the first time, Kishimoto is trolling those Sakutards through Sasuke’s words, what we, readers were right about all along. He is calling her useless here. And still these fake feminazis trying to ship her with him???

Don’t you guys have any self respect??? If so, this should be the moment to jump out of this trash ship.

MOMENT 4

Geez!!! You are still on this ship?????

He clearly doesn’t want to save her at all. The hawk can clearly lift 3 people. Sasuke is not even making an effort here.

And you are still yapping that he is blinded by darkness???

MOMENT 5

This is the moment SS calls it as ‘eyesmex’... While in reality, he was just looking at her and silently thanking her for helping him out. Do you know what is a real ‘eyesmex’??? I will attach it at the end.

If you guys pull this as true love, then he should have stayed in the same love till the end. But Sasuke has other ideas.

This is the one of the funniest thing in this arc. LOLLLLL

Instead of being relieved that Sakura was saved, Sasuke was wondering about Kakashi’s Susanoo.....and Sharingan.

Do people still think he cares about her????

MOMENT 6

Am cackling here, while dissecting the sorry state of this ship guys 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣!!!! If something good happens to me because of SS , it’s just the way you guys are making me laugh by making a clown out of yourself!!!!

Do you guys know something? There was a man named Itachi. Before massacring his clan, the very first person he killed was his ‘supposed’ Girlfriend, named Izumi. I wouldn’t say Itachi loved her like a lover boy. It was just one sided on her part. He just talks to her when he finds a spare time and considers her a good friend.

Do you know how he killed her?

By putting her in a ‘Tsukuyomi’. And what kind of Tsukuyomi, you ask?

Can you see how he fulfilled her dreams gracefully before he was going to kill her???

Why didn’t Sasuke do this???? Why particularly select a murdering genjutsu????

MOMENT 7

He said it, finally.

He don’t love her at all. There was no hidden feelings. He admitted from his own mouth.

One day later, after the final VoTE battle ends.... After exchanging some intense feelings and even crying tears of happiness with Naruto....

Sasuke tells Sakura, ‘Sorry’....

Ummm.... That’s all???

All those negative shits happened before cannot be solved by just simply saying ‘Sorry’ and ‘Thank you’. If someone has an ounce of self-respect, they should know this is not OKAY at all...🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️

Am Sorry, but Sasuke was just being politely blunt, kind of insincere towards Sakura and turned his attention somewhere else in a matter of minutes. He was not even bothered by Sakura’s tears here. Instead staring at someone on his left. Remember I talked about touching the person physically and visually?

Sasuke is subconsciously or purposefully touching someone on his left through his eyes. Definitely it’s not Sakura. You know who it is. Remember SStards’ infamous ‘eyesmex’... I seriously believe this is a perfect example of ‘eyesmex’.

All these intense looks and feeling pain still doesn’t serve Sakura, even after pulled out of darkness. If there is a moment, where SS wants to shine, then this is where it should be. He should have told her, how he missed her all along, how he felt about hurting her, should have wiped her tears and some corny shit. But instead, Sasuke went for a long ass monologue for his friend and talking about sharing his pain.

What about your kween’s pain????

You don’t have to ship SNS. But you should know where Sasuke’s priorities are.

It’s not Sakura.

Sasuke said ‘Sorry’ to Karin too. ‘Thank you’ to Kakashi as well.

And what’s even more pathetic is, still Sakura wants to get inside Sasuke’s pants by accompanying him. Bitch, you can help your village, console your best friend Ino who lost her father, try to surpass Tsunade, improve your skills or whatever... Why bother him???

So, if you really think ‘Thank you’ as a token of love, then I can’t help it but term Sakura as a rabid dog who waits for her master to come home and throw some bones whenever he finds time. Your standards for a romantic love is piss poor and you will suffer just like Sakura in Boruto with just emptiness. All Sasuke did was poke her forehead just like Itachi which symbolizes keeping someone at a distance. He also said the same words to her just like Itachi said to him many times ‘Mata kondo da’ meaning ‘Maybe next time’. And we all knew that next time never came for Sasuke.

Now all we see is a Sasuke as an absentee father in Boruto for which I don’t blame him. He was never a marriage material in the first place. Sakura and the Manga Editors forced him and she is paying for it.

Hell, Sarada doesn’t know how her own father looks like or the truth of her mother. Both of them were miserable and I find it absolutely ridiculous when SS shippers still say “they’re in love” or they’re OTP.

All I want to say to SS shippers is, Your Ship Has Sailed Already. You cannot expect Sasuke to go lovey dovey towards Sakura with a 12 year old daughter around and for fuck’s sake, this is not a romance manga, it’s a battle manga. So stop dreaming about this kind of non-existential romance and pull yourself altogether.

#naruto analysis #ask #sasunaru #sasunarusasu #anti sakura #anti sasusaku

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redxblueihateloveyou · 4 years ago

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I'm surprised people see Tadashi as the victim in his relationship with Ainosuke, when it's Tadashi the one who time and time again takes away Ainosuke's agency, without being able to see that he is throwing him unto unhappiness. I can't help but think that if Tadashi was not working at Shindo's house, Ainosuke would have maybe left or broke with the family. But he can't do that if he wants the relationship with Tadashi going on, seing how Tadashi is set on enforcing the family rules...

Hmm.. I def agree with the fact that Tadashi is not what most fandom makes out of him, my man (I mean, Adam’s man) is a 100% Slytherin. But I disagree with blaming him for this, after all the revealed info. The environment they were both raised in made their situation complicated.

I like Tadashi a lot, he’s probably my fav thing about this anime, bc he’s a dark horse, and I’m once again surprised, that so little ppl see him for who he really is, portraying him as an innocent puppy, which he is definitely not.

Now to why I think both Tadashi and Adam are victims of the dad and aunties in this situation.

We can of course say “if only they told each other how they really feel...”, but like we can say it about any love story really. Every author knows it’s no fun. The truth is that yes, they both hurt each other, and yes, if they were honest about their feelings things would’ve been different, but as I’ve already wrote under that “toxic” commentary on YT, lets look at the whole situation from both of their point of views:

We know that Adam when he was little always treated Tadashi as an equal, he never ever thought of him as someone lower than him and after their fall out, the only reason for this “harsh” treatment (well, besides their confirmed kink) was that Adam tried to get a reaction out of him, so Tadashi would stand up for himself, bc Ainosuke got mad about Tadashi caving to his dad’s wishes and abandoning him, when he needed him the most.

But now, knowing the fact that Tadashi was his dad’s secretary and was under his control, let’s see it from his perspective: Tadashi wanted to stay by Adam’s side, Adam’s dad implied that if Tadashi did say smth, he’s gonna be.. well, dismissed and they won’t see each other ever again. That’s what caused Tadashi to stay silent in that moment. Ainosuke instead saw this as a “he’s not on my side” thing, well, because. Tadashi won’t tell him his problem, bc dad and aunties control everything, so even if he does tell him, what a teen would do really? He didn’t have any powers back then to make his dad do anything.

And that’s when it all gone to shit, since they both were hurt for their own reasons. It’s easy to say leave the family, but 1stly nobody explained to Adam still that he’s physically and psychologically abused by his family, he sees it as them “loving him” and sadly also loves them, bc nobody told him, that love wasn’t supposed to be like that really. He definitely feels that smth is not right and feels emotionally exhausted there bc of this treatment, but did he ever consider leaving? I really don’t think so. He feels obligated to be worthy of a family, who “loves” him.

Do you think, for example, that Akashi Seijuro hates his dad for what he did to him? No. Does he understand that he wasn’t at fault for what happened to him and that his dad instead of comforting his child after his mother’s death, who was his only safe haven, made everything worse? I don’t think he does. Like his mom gave him basketball, an escape from all that family’s obligations and strictness. After her death, it was the only thing left that brought him joy, but his dad ruined even that, saying that if he’s gonna be bad at it/lose, he’d take it away from him too. Does Akashi see this as emotional abuse? No, he sees it like “well, I have to be the best bc I was born in such powerful family, so if my dad says that I must be best at everything, then I must.”

I personally hate such parents a lot. To me it doesn’t matter if Adam’s dad didn’t know about aunties hitting his child. Like if he was too busy to notice this and have no time for his kid and made his childhood miserable, it doesn’t make it any better really.

Same as with Akashi’s dad. Some are like “he was probably also grieving about his wife”. Emm? He was like this from the beginning, bc he treated Akashi not as his son, but as his heir. And yes, that’s different things. Same with Endeavor and Todoroki. Your child is not your post production thing.

2ndly they were too young, even if they knew about each others feelings and he didn’t feel obligated and told everyone to fuck off, they’d be on the streets now, but also Adam’s dad doesn’t seem like a guy who’d leave them alone really. Also eloping seems very romantic, but I don’t think it is, esp when you’re teens. Did you want him to sell some expensive watch and go live on Hawaii or smth? Bc finding a decent job there would be difficult at this age, esp with everyone knowing who your dad is. Chen Ke from “Antidote” survived bc he was 27 and had connections and some great friends. Adam was in high school, where would he go exactly?

Now let’s go back to now. Obviously all this time it didn’t even cross Tadashi’s mind that for Ainosuke he comes first and that he would throw everyone under the bus to make Tadashi stay with him. As we see at the end, he legit believed that Adam was planning to send him to jail and didn’t get that he said it just to shaken he up and that he knew who he’d set up for this from the beginning.

To Adam obviously it doesn’t matter whether they’re in a quarrel or not, he would never him go. Yes, he’s mad at him, he’s angry and hurt, but Tadashi’s still the person he needs the most, he’s still the person who brightens his days, even tho he deliberately behaves like he annoys him. He always looks at him and looks at him and looks at him, but then hisses smth to hurt him. Bc he knows that he needs him, but he also hates that he needs him, bc he thinks it’s unrequited.

And that’s how their classic romance goes in hellish circles. No one wants to talk as usual. Adam is mad Tadashi is like that bc his dad turned him into a slave with no opinion, while Tadashi is scared that Adam would be taken away from him bc of his ugly family.

Now I still think that no one and I mean no one can take Tadashi from Adam now, he is his precious. So my plan is... if Tadashi made aunties do smth against him or to get rid of him, aunties will go for sure. The problem is Tadashi still doesn’t get that he comes first, so we’re stuck in this hell still.

So anyways, my point is Adam’s heart basically sings “you got a hold of me, don’t even know your power” to Tadashi, but he doesn’t hear it, bc of his insecurities, the way he was raised and his status. But yes, he holds all the power. He’s both Adam’s sanity and insanity. No matter how cheesy it sounds he was basically his only ray of sunshine in the darkness, if you take it away, that’s what it leads to, that’s why Ainosuke-sama needs more ppl who care for him. I don’t want anyone to die next time, just cause Tadashi and Adam fought about where to put their new couch lmao. I’m kidding, but you know what I mean. And kill the aunties, pls seriously, we need to be free.

Also ppl need to remember that like lots of animes/characters are parcially inspired by some other animes/characters, also the chosen seiyuus are also very important, there are lots of stuff like jokes and references, that creators use, from characters being fully inspired by smth like “Assassination classroom” characters based on KNB, to little stuff like Levi dressed in Akashi’s uniform in chibi AOT bc Hiroshi Kamiya. Utsumi already said before stuff like she sometimes think of a perfect voice for the character and then fully forms him, we also know her clear love for sports animes. So yes, I doubt Tadashi/Kuroko thing is a coincidence and even tho someone was like “zone? is this knb or smth?” I was like no, zone is actually a common thing in sports, even tho most associate it with KNB including me, it’s not like its their invention, but there were things inspired by this for sure, and from other sports animes too and no, I don’t mean the basic sports anime tropes, I mean, like way too specific things, some character designes, too. And yes, Langa appearence and personality wise is a rinharu child for real, I can literally split his scenes in “that’s Haru”, “that’s Rin”.

That’s why I’ve said that this situation in fandom reminds me of Kuroko/Akashi situation a lot, bc same as here in KNB ppl for some reason automatically thought that Kuroko is this innocent sheep and Akashi is the wolf (but also like it was Akashi who chose to dress as red riding hood, while Kuroko was a wolf lmao), not even seeing who is in reality more dangerous and who can easily control who. It just buffles me bc it’s not some deep analisys really. I mean once again there’s a reason for the saying that the sub holds all the power over the dom.

And like just bc someone yells or threatens ppl constantly doesn’t necessarily mean he is a psycopatic killer, and just bc someone is quiet and doe-eyed, doesn’t mean he isn’t. I didn’t think we needed to explain this to someone, but aparently we do?

And it honestly kills me just how superficially ppl are watching things these days. It really gives me war flashbacks to stuff like the last mdzs s1 episode, where ppl started to comment things like “how LZ can be so heartless” lmao. Or that anonymous ask “do you think haru misses rin?”. Like you don’t see thing at all? Grey substance no needed, while watching things?

P.S. I also would die to see Adam vs Tadashi race just bc I for some reason can bet all my money, that it’s the same situation as with Akashi refusing to ankle break Kuroko, no matter how mad he is. I just can’t imagine Ainosuke hitting Tadashi in the face with a board. Like 100% sure he wouldn’t even try tbh.

#answered #anonymous #tadaai #tadashi kikuchi #shindo ainosuke #adam x tadashi #sk8 #sk8 the infinity #anime #this is what i think about these two at least

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dangermousie · 4 years ago

Text

2020 End of Year Post - kdrama edition

You can find my 2020 cdrama post here: dangermousie.tumblr.com/post/638449659546845184/2020-end-of-year-post-cdrama-edition

This is only going to cover kdramas that aired in 2020; if it originally aired another year, it’s not on this list.

It’s been a pretty lackluster kdrama year. There are probably only 5 kdramas I truly loved and only three of them I was really obsessed over. Better luck in 2021!

DRAMAS WATCHED

(In order of liking from least to most as opposed to pure quality; I am including if I’ve seen enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list)

42 Born Again - so bad, so incoherent, so insane, I have no idea why the leads signed up for it (and unlike some of the other watchers, I think it was awful from the very start.) There is literally nothing about this drama that makes sense.

41 Love with Flaws - a bunch of people who should be tried under the Geneva Convention.

40 Sweet Munchies - Jung Il Woo proves his inability to pick a functional script.

39 Meow the Secret Boy - if you ever wanted to bang a cat, this drama is for you. Not being a furry, however...

38 Do Do Sol Sol La Sol - I lost braincells just typing out this title.

37 When I Was the Most Beautiful - the only way it’s not the dumbest, most pointless melo of 2020 is because Born Again considerately came out the same year.

36 Woman of 9.9 Billion - if you want to watch an artsy French movie about miserable people, but only badly made, boy do I have a drama for you.

35 Lies after Lies - screams after screams.

34 Backstreet Rookie - people were up in arms about various problematic plots. I am a survivor of many plots much more problematic but even I couldn’t survive how utterly boring and annoying this drama was and how utterly irritating the leads were. This has taken Ji Chang Wook off my top favorites into “should I even check his latest Lovestruck in the City? Probably not” territory almost single-handedly (Melt Me helped, to be fair.)

33 Men Are Men - boring is boring.

32 Dinner Mate - two beautiful boring people eat out a lot.

31 Was It Love - no it wasn’t.

30 Alice - Joo Won in the shower can make up for a multitude of sins but not plot nonsense of such magnitude. When you find yourself thinking it would be better if he hooked up with the alternate universe version of his mother because at least then something entertaining would happen, you know it’s bad.

29 More than Friends - started out OK, then made me hate basically everyone and kept going.

28 Start-Up - honestly, it’s probably more decent than its place here, but the toxic and batshit fandom for it (the worst this year) made me feel like breaking out in hives any time it’s even mentioned.

27 The Spies who Loved Me - how to take a good cast and waste it.

26 Private Lives - it was good but it never took off with its concept and spent more time on the incoherent plot than the OTP which was its one strength. It’s a decent drama but coming after Heartless City and My Beautiful Bride from the same writer, it’s a disappointment.

25 Record of Youth - as high as it is due to Park Bo Gum hard carrying this entire awful drama on his shoulders and doing it so well I finished it. Alas, while he is in one drama (and that drama is great), the rest of the characters and the entirety of the script are a pointless useless mess.

24 Do You Like Brahms - excellent first third, mediocre middle, and terrible last third. I don’t know what musical term applies to this? Diminuendo, I think.

23 I’ll Go to You When the Weather is Nice - nice and mellow but nothing much happens.

22 Forest - mainly for Park Hae Jin’s excellent and frequently naked bod.

21 The Ballot - I didn’t love it as much as everyone did but it was well-made.

20 Hyena - more romance and less weird law stuff would make it better.

19 365 Repeat the Year - surprisingly solid.

18 The Game Towards Zero - see 365.

17 When My Love Blooms - very old fashioned, very lovely.

16 Chocolate - also very old fashioned and very lovely but also with Yoon Kye Sang performing medical procedures bleeding and shirtless. MMM.

15 (tie) Secret Royal Inspector - a fun if run of the mill sageuk.

15 Find Me In Your Memory - best melo this year.

14 Mystic Pop Up Bar - surprisingly good even though I wasn’t planning to check it out.

13 Where Your Eyes Linger - came out of nowhere but was tender and hopeful and lovely.

12 Itaewon Class - Park Seo Joon hard carries a drama that is already excellent. Love it.

11 Psychopath Diary - Yoon Shi Yoon is such a treat in a hilarious, cynical, dark comedy.

10 Kairos - more like ouroboros.

9 Queen Love and War - in a year where sageuks are very rare, this was solid and surprisingly moving and shippy.

8 The King Eternal Monarch - people didn’t like it but I did. It’s no masterpiece and both the leads and the writers have better dramas, but it was a lovely romantic fairy tale for me.

7 Mr. Queen - sharp, hilarious, and some of my favorite actors.

6 Psycho But It’s OK - healing, sharp cinematography and even sharper chemistry.

5 Crash Landing on You - the last ep pissed me off so much this drama is dead to me but I loved it so much until then I can’t place it lower in good conscience.

4 Train - who knew I would go this hard for an OCN drama or that OCN would do romance so well? But this time-travel mystery romance is just incredible and I shipped the OTP and rooted for the characters and loved every last bit of it.

3 Run On - this is the drama Record of Youth wanted to be but failed. Smart and lived in, you feel like you are peeking at real people, but also even four episodes in, I am so invested in the main characters separately and together, and care for them so much, it’s a little frightening.

1 (tie) Tale of the Nine Tailed - my perfect fantasy romance. I liked it better than Goblin, yeah I said it.

1 Flower of Evil - all the tropes I love in one incredible package. I would rewatch episodes waiting for new ones trying to puzzle the story and to stay withdrawal but it works just as well on rewatch. Lee Jun Ki brings his trademark tortured intensity and for once, both his leading lady and his script back him up and are worthy of that. It’s perfect.

FAVORITE DRAMA

It’s a tie between Tale of the Nine Tailed and Flower of Evil but if I had to pick just one, FoE, because it had me seriously obsessed and guessing about the protagonist and gave me the narrative tropes I love so much and an OTP that statisfied all my hurt/comfort kinks and then some.

WORST DRAMA

Born Again - honestly, this is so bonkers it almost becomes good but alas...

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

Do Hyun Soo/Baek Hee Sung, Flower of Evil - he is so messed up, so on edge, so traumatized. Yet capable of so much warmth and caring even as he himself doesn’t realize his humanity. FoE is basically a story of a man pushed and punished by the world for his entire life who, because of one woman, finds a safe place and peace and slowly comes to life without realizing it, and watching his desperation to keep this small bit of normalcy is so heartbreaking and exciting all at once. Plus, you start the drama thinking he’s a psychopathic serial killer and end it (if you are me) thinking he must be protected at all costs and if anyone even looks at him wrong they must suffer, and that’s quite a change!

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Nam Ji Ah, Tale of the Nine Tailed - she is so funny and tough and smart and loving and amazing that I will totally buy that a literal demi-god will do anything and everything for her and love her for literal eternity.

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

Dad in Record of Youth - yes in a year with serial killers and supernatural demons, I picked a normal character from a mediocre drama. It’s his everyday awfulness to his family that hits so hard and I am sad he never got his comeuppance.

FAVORITE SHIP

Ji Ah x Yeon - a fearless reporter and an immortal demi-god who’s been hoping for his human beloved to reincarnate. A really rare set-up where the OTP is equally ride or die, so compatible and completely BAMF. I got why he waited for her for that long and then fell in love with her all over again. Perfection.

Runner up: Flower of Evil - he is so messed up he literally does not believe he is capable of love or empathy, but he falls in love with her anyway and so utterly she permeates his entire life. She is tough as nails and only believes what she sees and is the sole person who believes in him against the world. She loves him but he needs her. She needs him but he loves her. They are amazing.

FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP

Seo Dan x Gu Seung Jun, Crash Landing on You, North Korean x Conman were so good I shipped them harder than the main OTP and the end of that storyline pissed me off so much I dumped the drama and didn’t finish it for months (and it’s still dead to me.)

NOTP

Record of Youth - it started out and they didn’t have much chemistry but the dialogues were interesting and I thought the chemistry would grow. It didn’t and deteriorated, their dialogues became boring and relationship had zero development (about as much as the supposed female lead.) I think we were supposed to feel bad they broke up and they were going for a bittersweet open ending, instead I found myself happy about the break up of two incompatible, chemistry-less people and hoping for the love of God they never get back together.

FAVORITE SCENE

Yeon and the bridge of knives, Tale of the Nine Tailed - Yeon choosing to undergo the creeptastic bridge of knives for a chance to save Ji Ah, who at that point he is not aware is the reincarnation of his Joseon love because, as he says, he doesn’t care if she is or isn’t, it just would be more horrible to have her die than to undergo the horrific torture he is undergoing, and then the sequence with his catching her, her weeping over him and the fact that she is the original Joseon girl revealed and all the bandaging and his watching her sleep and all that loveliness, is everything for yours truly.

Runner up: Hyun Soo having that break-down at the cliff at the end of ep 15 of Flower of Evil as Ji Won desperately tries to convince him she is alive and he finally stumbles to her.

Runner runner up (it’s my list, I will do what I want): Do Won preparing to blow his brains out to give a chance to Seo Kyung to live in Train.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Seon-Gyeom, Run On. Yeah, I know. Im Siwan is tiny, delicate featured and has a runner’s build, none of which are things that normally appeal to me. But his character is so odd, so honest, so unflinching in pursuing what he thinks is right, so incapable of self-pity despite plenty of reasons for it, and so ridiculously attractive when he smiles, I don’t even care.

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Kim Bum, TotNT - I started out being annoyed by him and ended up looking forward to his scenes and being distraught by his ending.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

Honestly, none. I was fine with all the endings. I wouldn’t mind seeing post-end life of Tale of the Nine Tailed characters or the OTP settling into their literal new world in Train, but I am good.

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

Time jump that solves all the problems off screen or alternatively years pass and everyone is frozen - something that kdramas need to learn and need to learn badly. See Record of Youth, Brahms and Start Up.

FAVORITE TROPE WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF

Men who are ride or die for their OTP - this was a great year for this - the male leads of four of my five dramas were beyond anything on that scale (only exception is Run On because it’s still too early to tell there.) Yes PLEASE.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

This was a banner year for that what with Start Up, Do You Like Brahms, Record of Youth, and Private Lives all starting out well and nosediving off the cliff but winner is Crash Landing on You. I loved it so much for bulk of its run but the last episode pissed me off so much I deleted all my files and called it a day.

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

Flower of Evil - I had no expectations of this drama and wasn’t even planning on watching it despite liking both the lead actors because yet another “look at evil serial killer be evil” drama with no romance was not my thing. Luckily someone convinced me there might be some romance and I peeked curiously. Honestly, their promo campaign was the most misleading and dumbest thing ever.

Runner up Psycho but it’s OK - I have never liked Kim Soo Hyun in anything before and the drama premise seemed WTF but it was shockingly good and KSH totally blew me away.

Hardest Working Lead

Yoon Shi Yoon - he starred in two (!!!) dramas in 2020 playing three characters and not only were both these dramas awesome in a lackluster year, but if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew it was the same actor and the fact that the characters shared a face, I would have never believed that they were played by the same actor. So good!

2020 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

None. Covid Year gave me PLENTY of time

BEST NON-2020 DRAMA I’VE WATCHED IN 2020

My Beautiful Bride and Deserving of the Name - I was obsessed with both of them and honestly, they were much better than the bulk of 2020 kdramas I watched.

MOST ANTICIPATED IN 2021

The Moon That Rises in the Day, Hong Chun Gi, Joseon Exorcist, Island, Frightening Cohabitation, Snowdrop.

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kitkatopinions · 4 years ago

Note

I'm aware of the cross tagging from FNDM in rwde since sometimes I look in it at times, but I think what irks me is about Adam.

The guy is already dead and FNDM just can't let go that anyone that are fans of him just have to shove in there face "See? See? He's ALWAYS been emotional abusive since the beginning, you guys are abuse apologist!" He was charismatic in a degree because he had a lot of loyal followers, and if I remember correctly didn't he not give a shit Blake was in Beacon? Why is the FNDM so keen on people that don't agree with them? It's such a waste of time.

The Adam topic is honestly a... Hard one, with a lot of layers. I fully believe he was always meant to be Blake’s abuser and a plain straight villain. But he used to be a much more nuanced character, who let her go and focused on his own goals. He got coerced - yes, full on coerced - into joining Cinder’s plan, but seemed to lean into it and wanted to use it to his advantage. In season three, he delved into much worse territory, stabbing Blake, trying to cut off her head, and maiming Yang. This obviously ought to be considered evil. But he still let Blake run away and continued doing his job rather than chasing her down and killing her and Yang, clearly implying that he cared about a lot more than just Blake.

The treatment of the faunus/racism allegory really damages all of their Faunus characters in the first five season minus maybe Velvet. Adam was no exception to this. He should’ve been a very different character than what we got even in seasons 1-3 because he was a strong voice in their only pro-Faunus rights activist group, and seemingly a leader of one of the branches. CRWBY never should’ve made the only pro-Faunus rights activist group in their story a violent terrorist group that wanted to destroy peace and take out white people non faunus. And one of the leaders of that group being an abuser and a total monster? Not a cute look. That feels like straight up propaganda. Especially after revealing Adam’s brand mark, and dropping details about him being a slave in songs and outside content.

And then the writing staff decided to take a character who seemed to care for his cause and care for his people (he rejected Cinder’s offer for him to join them because it would do nothing for the Faunus, and then only agreed when she threatened his people,) and they stripped him of those two good traits and made him act as though he’d only ever been using the White Fang for power and to get at Blake. He stalked her for days (when he’d willingly let her get away without following two times before,) and he turned into nothing more than an abusive ex. I got tripped up enough on RT’s terrible to choice to make him such a monster in the first place, but stripping him of the few good points he did have just to... Make Blake sadder, maybe? Make him seem less sympathetic? That sucked. And if they were going for trying to make Adam less sympathetic, they shouldn’t have freaking showed us the SDC logo burned into his face! There’s nothing satisfying about watching an oppressed former child slave and allegory to people of color, with a company logo branded onto his face, get murdered due to no real fault from the heroes and die alone after having his character reduced to ‘abusive ex’ by careless white writers who just last season had been shoving ‘people of color should stop hurting themselves and just prove they’ll defend white people from other people of color and then they’ll earn respect’ into their narrative.

Honestly, I’m not an Adam stan. His character didn’t get a lot (and his voice acting wasn’t the best tbh,) and the character he did have was largely unlikable to me personally. The reason for that is the writers’ miserable failure of an allegory that came across as very propaganda-ish and white comfort driven, but I’ve just never really... Liked him all that much. However, a lot of people saw potential in Adam, and liked who he could’ve been a lot. And there were other people who liked Adam as a villain. Both of those things are perfectly valid. I don’t know much about the Adam stan community, but I personally have never once seen anyone in the RWDE tags excusing Adam’s actions in the show or trying to say they were alright. What I have seen is people acknowledging that Adam’s character was severely mishandled, or writing their own, new versions of Adam’s character where they try to handle him well or treat the topics at hand with more respect than the writers did. Other people literally just acknowledge Adam’s pain, and that’s totally valid too.

I’ve dealt with crosstagging in other fandoms and pro tags getting lots of anti people invading and trying to pick fights. And even main character tags, people should realize are going to be used by people who enjoy the character, and attacking them for it or commenting on their posts to try and get a reaction is mad annoying. Antis should use filterable tags. RWBY megafans are always getting mad at RWDE posters if they so much as use the main tag even if they have a drove of filterables, but they refuse to use any proper tags themselves. It can be so frustrating when you’re just trying to share content about a character you like with other people who like that character, and you get people coming into your comments going ‘you know they did A right?’ ‘you know they’re a bad person, right?’ ‘Oh so you love (insert immoral thing here)?!?!’

It’s honestly toxic. Adam - the character - did horrible things no one should excuse. But A. He did those things because he was written to do them, and people ought to be able to look at that writing and see how it’s harmful. And B. Liking a character is not approval of all of their actions. People can stan villains. There are Joker stans and Tom Riddle stans and freaking Moriarty from Sherlock lovers, I think RWBY fans should be able to get past Adam stans. And C. Softening characters for your own personal headcanons is a-okay, and shouldn’t be something you get attacked for. This is especially important to remember in characters that you look at and say ‘this should’ve been done differently because the character they did give us is insulting or a bad portrayal.’ It’s easy to become attached to characters you think were done dirty by their clearly biased writers. I have a long string of characters I just write different in fan fiction, because I got mad at how they were handled, for all sorts of fandoms. People need to understand that not everyone is going to see RWBY and the RWBY characters exactly how they see them. People have different favorites and different interpretations, and even if that interpretation isn’t one hundred percent right in canon, well guess what? Canon isn’t king, people have every right to headcanon whatever they want.

You got me ranting. XD But yeah, I personally think RWBY fans should leave Adam fans alone, so long as they aren’t hurting anyone. Obviously, I don’t know all the details, but yeah. I’m a firm believer in the benefits of ‘pro’ and ‘anti’ tags for character content. I’ve been trying to use ‘pro Ironwood’ for instance in mine. I know it wouldn’t get rid of all the antis, but it’s worth a shot.

And the amount of RWBY megafans who literally go to the RWDE tag and look at posts specifically tagged and marked as anti rwby eight ways to sunday just to pick fights... Astronomical. People who don’t like to see it should filter it out and make their (and our!) experiences much better.

So... Those are my thoughts on that.

#rwde #anti rwby #anti crwby #pro adam taurus #not really but to a certain degree #rwby criticism #rwby bashing #anti fndm

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lemon-boy-stan · 4 years ago

Text

paparazzi problems - kim seokjin x reader

genre: fluff, angst. warnings: none, mentions of anxiety, suicide. also i diss the us the star wars fandom? so sorrynotsorryi’minittoo pairing: kim seokjin x reader. (AU where jin writes ‘Magic Shop’, guys. Also I changed a few lyrics around but you’ll see.)

There was no doubt that there would be many grey aspects to making your relationship public. You’d been dating for two years even though you’d known him for much longer, the year being 2020, and ARMY was expecting it, you were the eighth and only female member of the group, after all, something like this was bound to happen.

Ever since it’d been announced on BTS’ account (you weren’t permitted your own Instagram and you perfectly understood why), the amount of interviews you and Jin had attended multiplied by double the amount more than the six other band members.

Which was fine, just tedious and mainly uncomfortable because these interviews weren’t about music, the rest of the band wasn’t with you, these interviews were about your private life together - your love life.

It was fun at first, just the two of you answering questions and taking photos and being in separate magazines but it soon became pressuring and even a little annoying. Although you didn’t get a lot of hate (mainly because when and if you did BigHit would shut it down or one of the other guys would Tweet something fiery back in return) the problem with not having any drama whatsoever was that people tried to make drama.

If they saw you and Jin together, frowning at each other because you were halfway between sharing a look and rolling your eyes something stupid someone (probably Jungkook) said, someone would put a photo of the frown on the internet and the supposed-to-be-interesting interview the following day or week would be laced with questions about why you were supposedly arguing when everything was going so well.

If people saw you getting too close or touchy with one of the other band members the faces of you and said band member would be all over the internet and said band member would become ARMY’s chosen flavour to hate on, even if Jin would speak up about it and you wouldn’t be able to joke around with said band member for at least a few months until something else blew over.

Pretty soon, the two of you learned to loathe these interviews and you were now sitting with the rest of the band (who were already in pajamas) in your new outfits and makeup. You were the one who brought up the subject, lifting your head up and off it’s resting place on Jin’s lap with a miserable groan as he looked down and blinked at the space where your head had once been before bringing his attention back to whatever you were going to say.

“Can we just say we broke up or something? I’m tired and I want to play Mario Kart, too!” you crossed your arms and made a grouchy face, making Jin frown before remembering why he was in clothes and the others were in pajamas; he agreed lazily with a sheepish noise and shrug.

Jin didn’t seem to be offended about it, in fact, he looked like he completely and genuinely understood why you’d said such a thing. You could not say the same for the rest of the boys; apparently your words had been an instant mood killer because someone muted the TV and their cheery conversation came to a dead end.

The six of them turned around in-sync, staring at you with blank, shocked faces and round open mouths before Namjoon repeated what you’d spoken with a frown, “why would you want to fake break up with each other?” Jungkook, who was still watching the silent TV and had only just started paying attention, choked on his drink and span around. “What?” he turned to Namjoon, using a panicked voice, “Seokjin and Y/N are breaking up?! But, why?”

Everyone, including yourself, groaned, but it was RM who groaned the loudest, shaking his head. “Aiyho, go back to school and take extra classes in paying attention.” He said this in such a serious tone that it was hard for anyone listening and watching not to try and hold back a laugh.

Jungkook scowled as Namjoon continued on like what he said hadn’t been, “Y/N and Jin are just discussing that they want to fake break up.”

“It’s actually a really good idea,” Jin said this with such lust in his voice that the others were also scowling, giving him disapproving and disgusted glares. “What?!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms up. “You guys just don’t get it. We can’t go anywhere without being grumpy, without having photos being taken of us and stories made out of them….”

“Yeah!” you agreed much more loudly than you imagined you would’ve used, “I can’t steal any of Jimin’s noodles without people taking a photo and talking about it and hating -” you began. “You shouldn’t be taking my food in the first place!” Jimin shot back hotly, scowling again.

“Yeah, that’s boyfriend stuff,” Jin grumbled, making you hit his arm loudly. “Really, mister ‘buy your own food’?! If I took a single spoon of your congee you’d drop me like the mic Taehyung was holding in Mic Drop,” you hissed, making Jin grin proudly at this.

“Anyway,” Namjoon cleared his throat, desperate for peace to be restored, “it’s your decision. I’m not saying it’s a good or a bad one but -”

“No, it’s a bad one and even Jesus knows it!” Jungkook contributed to the banter, “ARMY’s going to blame everything on Seokjin because he was the one who kissed her that night at the concert on stage in the song -”

“People didn’t see that, though,” you began desperately, “so no harm done, right?” when you did not get the response you wanted you raised your voice and said, “Right?!” again, leaning over the table to stare down the person who was currently on their phone (Hobi) so that he would scramble to find a clip of the concert, guilty.

“Here’s a bootleg of -” he began, only to be interrupted by yours truly, you’d grabbed his phone from his hands and scrolled the red line down to where you’d imagined the kiss would be. You were right. Jin, the hopeless romantic he turned out to be, had been keeping his eyes on you the entire way through Magic Shop.

You could still hear it, with or without the audio of the video, you could still hear the words. Don’t forget that in the end, I found you, you were standing on the edge of the cliff. It’s my last reason, LIVE. The day you hate being you, the day you want to disappear forever, let’s make a door in your heart. If you open that door and enter, this place will wait.

Then he’d grabbed you, and you were the one crying, not Jimin, you were. Because Jin had told you Jungkook co-wrote that song. But it wasn’t Jungkook, you understood now, as Jin’s lips were against yours, it was Seokjin who’d co-written the song. Who’d co-written...

Magic shop.

And the crowd was screaming, ARMY was screaming, some were crying… because Seokjin had breathed into the kiss, the magnifying screens for those who weren’t in the mosh pit had been zooming in on the kiss, bringing the entire world’s attention to his love, to the two of you.

Even the person who was filming with their phone was screaming.

You were still crying as Jin breathed the words “IloveyoubemygirlfriendI’llalwaysloveyouandneverletyougo,” into the kiss quietly, forgetting that he still had his headset on.

ARMY was screaming again at the words, they were happy that you were happy. Because ARMY was not a toxic fanbase, ARMY was not Star Wars. ARMY could see the kiss and relationship coming from the day you were put in the studio, they’d supported the relationship from the day you were put in the studio together. They didn’t pressure you to break up like how they pressured Rose out of the movies so that Rey and Finn could get together.

“Why do you have to be so romantic, Seokjin?” you slapped his finger away from the tear he’d been trying to wipe, glaring at him. “Because look where it got you, right?” Namjoon rolled his eyes. “But maybe just wait until this interview to decide, ‘kay?” he said this in the same breath and now you were the one who rolled their eyes. “Because you’re gonna be late.”

Namjoon, as usual, was right, the numbers on Hobi’s phone (still in your hands) had flicked from nine twenty-eight to nine twenty-nine, the interview was at ten o’clock and it would take you twenty minutes for the cab to get there in time.

You sighed, rolling your eyes again, slapping (or sliding) Hobi’s phone back across the table, grabbing Jin’s arm violently, getting up, about to hiss a backhand comment at the others before noticing the smirks they were giving your boyfriend, “what?” you nearly growled the words at their stupid smirks before turning to Jin himself, glaring at his blank face.

“Can I - just let me - you still have -” I hadn’t even noticed that tear was there. “Oh,” you breathed, the tension thick. “Yeah. Um.” no-one laughed or snickered even though you didn’t know why, you half expected Namjoon to at least grin but he didn’t. “Thanks.” you muttered, grabbing one of Jin’s scarves from the rack, almost choking yourself gently with it (thankfully RM saved you from it’s deadly clutches, rolling his eyes and loosening it).

“Well,” you said, your earlier words still having no plausible effect on the other boys, you started to stomp out the door, ignoring more of Namjoon’s huffy eye-rolling before Jin took control and ushered you out.

Always early, the drive to the interview had given you a good ten minutes to spare (which you admittedly agreed was enjoyable, you’d made sure to bring your camera, learning your lesson hard, and took photos of Jin with the water fountain.) and soon you were in the studio, spraying silly string at each other in expensive clothes.

Okay, so, maybe when you mentioned interviews being absolutely boring and repetitive or something like that earlier you’d used a very generic term for the word interviews. Because there were very rare occasions where the interviews you and your boyfriend went to were incredible, and today was one of those days.

This interview wasn’t just an interview. It was more like the much more enjoyable activity ones like the group ones you’d done on the Jimmy Fallon Show, Late, Late Show with James Corden, VLive, and other Korean/American channels.

The studio was huge and empty and there were several cans of bright silly-string scattered around the place. The leader of the interview group told you what you’d be doing and you were all of a sudden very pumped up to take part in this.

You’d be answering questions while spraying each other with the neon silly string. Being a mature duo, the studio echoed with laughter and shrieks and snorted replies to the questions (which really weren’t that bad after all).

Except, of course, you always seemed to jinx yourself right when things were getting good. “So, Y/N. BigHit makes a big deal about how you donate a lot to anti-bullying, anxiety and depression organisations. There’s been talk of you having depression, is this true? Or is it all just a plea for attention?”

You blinked, thinking maybe you were in a dream, because there was no way an interviewer would question something like that.

Silence reigned and only when Jin’s sleeve brushed past yours did you realise you were not, in fact, dreaming, you closed your open mouth.

The silly string war had lightened Jin’s foul mood (he’d lost the cap of his camera and didn’t want to buy another one because it was ‘too expensive’.) but now it’d gone back to what it was before. He looked right about to punch the guy in the face and ruin his social life and the rest of his career.

Jin remained calm as always. Instead of losing his cool like one of the other boys would if they were with you, Jin breathed through his nose and a clenched jaw. You shot him a pleading look from the corner of your eye but when he didn’t even register it you knew that there was no stopping whatever would come next.

“When people break an arm,” he began coolly, “you can see the broken arm in the cast. You can see it, you know it’s there. You don’t question it. It’s the same with religion, only different. People don’t know if the gods they believe in really did exist. But they believe the words. They don’t question it. So, if you can see her donating to, talking about, raising awareness for, depression and anxiety, I suggest that you take her word and believe it. Because hypothetically, even if it wasn’t true, if it looked true you’d believe it. It’s just like your company, isn’t it? On the media, it looks like people enjoy themselves in these interviews. You capture the good parts and take out the bad parts, you wash out the black into a grey illusion. We’re all on the same page here; we should keep it that way.”

You looked away and down, trying your best to avoid all forms of eye contact. The tension in the studio had shifted from joivial to awkward and angry. Even after the interview had ended and you’d taken the silly string off the atmosphere was still uncomfortable and you couldn’t bear to be in it any longer so you nodded quickly at the strings of apologies from everyone in the studio with you.

Just like back at the apartment, Jin took full control, ushering you out with a firm hand on your upper back, walking swiftly out the door.

Once you were in the taxi out of earshot away from your paparazzi problems, you exhaled loudly with a sort of groan, resting your head on his shoulder, looking up into Jin’s endless black orbs.

“You didn’t have to do that.” you began softly, making him roll his eyes. “But thank you,” you looked up to him again, “I mean it, Jin. That meant a lot.” now he smiled softly, kissing your head, “Anything for you, Jagi. I love you.” you closed your eyes and said, “I love you too,” quietly back.

BTS MASTERLIST - bts requests are open!

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ordinaryschmuck · 4 years ago

Text

Why I (Want To) Love Amphibia

Salutations random people on the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons. If you've been paying attention to my posts, you would have known that I made a top twenty list of the best-animated series of the 2010s. And if you read my Honorable Mentions list, you would have known that I consider Amphibia one of those shows that, while I like it, I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's one of the best. Don't get me wrong. It's good. But there are issues that I have with Amphibia, and I can't recommend it without being hesitant. I still like it fine, but I doubt some people will be as forgiving as me. So I'm going to explain the quality and faults that the show has, while still being considerate to those who do love it. Because unlike some people who would make a two-hour-long video essay about how much they hate something, I can at least acknowledge that while something doesn't entirely work for me, that doesn't mean it won't work for everyone else. Because there is a reason why this show has such a following...I don't think it's earned, but I won't knock people down when they love something I find passable. And I hope that respect goes both ways as I explain why I (want to) love Amphibia.

Also, this review is going to contain spoilers for the entire series. So if you haven't checked it out yet, I recommend you do it to form your own opinion. Season one is on Disney+, and you're on your own for season two. And I suggest you find a legal way to watch it if you can, because I'm not going to leave a link to a pirating website filled with every animated series and movie you can find. And I'm definitely not going to insert that link into a random letter in this review with the thought that if you have to pirate something, then you might as well work for it. Because that would be crazy.

...

Stop being crazy.

....

Anywho, let's start with:

WHAT I LIKE

The Comedy: Let it be known that this show is funny. Like, really funny. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's funnier than Gravity Falls, which got me chuckling with every episode, but Amphibia definitely hits more than it misses. There are occasions when the jokes aren't really character-oriented and could be said by anybody in the Plantar Family, but if they're still funny, then who am I to complain. Although there is one issue that I have with the comedy. But I'll save that for when I talk about what I don't like. For now, I can assure you that if you're hoping for some laughs, Amphibia has plenty to offer.

Warnings Against Toxic Relationships: But even the best comedies know when to offer some substance. Because I won't lie, when Anne described what is clearly a toxic friendship in the second episode, I was hooked. I love it when kids shows breach topics that can be important for children down the line. And for the most part, I think Amphibia does it well. There are so many instances that the writers' point out the several red flags that a person should avoid when it comes to a friendship and when it's time to either cut that person from your life and stand up for yourself. One of my favorite episodes is "Prison Break," where Sasha explains how she manipulates people and shows zero remorse for it. Then there's the episode "The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers" that shows how a person's influence can affect others and how much it changes perception as Anne and Marcy still believe they need someone like Sasha in their lives...At least I hope that's what the intention is. Because if the writers are trying to say that Anne and Marcy really need someone like Sasha...Well, I'll save that for my dislikes. Because even though it could use a little polishing, warning kids about toxic relationships is what keeps me hooked into seeing what happens next in this series.

It’s Not Afraid to go Dark: On top of breaking borders with morals intended for kids, I just gotta respect a show for playing around with what's considered "too dark." Especially if that show is on the Disney Channel!

The writers are not afraid to imply that death happens in the world of Amphibia, primarily because it is like a swamp ecosystem filled with predators and food chains. And I feel like because the characters are mostly amphibians, the writers can get away with an entire cave filled with the bones of victims as long as they're not humans. But frogs? No one gives a crap about them. There's a reason they're the ones who get dissected in schools.

Plus, a good majority of the monsters that Anne and the Plantars face are pretty horrifying at times. The crew who work on the show do a great job balancing the line of making these creatures look scary, but never go too far that they'll scar kids for life. Except in the Halloween special...How the f**k did they get away with the monsters in the Halloween special? And while they don't ever show what these monsters do, the implications honestly make things much worse, which again, I kind of respect. It's good to have shows like Amphibia that can scare kids a little bit. Getting through something fictitiously dark helps make kids feel braver and prepare them for the real horrors in the world. Especially since most of these creatures are just exaggerated versions of real-life predators...google them.

The Season One Finale: It was "Reunion" that made me realize that Amphibia has the potential to be amazing...it's also the last episode of season one, so let that sink in.

Joking aside, I honestly do love this episode. It's funny, it brings in elements from other episodes, nearly everybody does something useful, and it all ends with a satisfying and equally gut-wrenching climax. A climax, by the way, that is so perfect that I'm going to do a scene breakdown for why it's so good...so, you know, add that to the to-do list (I have so much s**t to make -_-). "Reunion" has so many elements about what makes a season finale so good that I feel like future writers should take notes for their own series that they plan to make. While I wish every episode of Amphibia had this level of quality, the writers know that the last impression is one of the most important. Because I will defend this show if this is the episode people use to trash it.

Marcy: I will also defend this show if someone trashes Marcy. Trust me, the best way to tell that someone is just hating on Amphibia for little to no reason is if they utter the word, "Marcy is a bad character." That is not true. Marcy is a great character, and I'd go so far as to say she's the best character in the series. She's sweet, adorable, and has a story ten times more interesting than Anne's. Anne learns what a sincere relationship is like through the Plantars, where Marcy falls victim to another manipulative relationship through King Andreas. It's her co-dependency that has the chance to get fleshed out more, and I can't wait to see if she has a moment to break out and form her own path.

Also, in the mass expanse of the multiverse, there exists a world where Amphibia is about the adventures that Marcy had in Newtopia as she uses Dungeons and Dragons logic to get by. And I want to see that universe! Because this clumsy nerd is already a blast to watch with the briefest of cameos. Imagine how much fun she would be if she had her own series!

Sprig: I don't know how much love Sprig gets within the fandom, but I got a feeling that it's not enough. He's funny without being annoying (most of the time), there's a whole lot of heart and sincerity to his actions, and above all else, he's the best friend that Anne needed. When Anne explained her very flawed views about friendship in "Best Fronds," it is clear how essential someone like Sprig is as he teaches Anne what friendship really means. It means caring for each other, supporting each other, making equal sacrifices for one another, and just being on the same page as each other. It is genuinely sweet seeing their friendship bloom, and I honestly hope the Amphibia fandom gives Sprig the amount of appreciation he deserves. Sure, he can be annoying sometimes, but for the most part, he's easily up there as one of my favorite characters.

Wally: Same with Wally! Who would have guessed that a character who appears as an dumb source of comic relief has a level of depth and lovability to him? "Wally and Anne" shows that while he is a nonsensical goofball, he doesn't really care what the frogs of Wartwood think of him. What matters is what he thinks of him. And that is just an incredible lesson to teach kids that just makes me love Wally more.

(It also helps that he's probably the funniest character in the show. I know I said that he's dumb, but when he works, he works.)

Kermit the Frog Cameo: ...It's Kermit the Frog, y'all. I physically can't hate him. Especially since this is the perfect show for him to make a cameo in!

WHAT I DON’T LIKE

Anne’s Character: I don't have a problem with Anne. I think she's a serviceable protagonist, and I love the fact that she's Thai, offering a form of Asian representation other than Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. But here's the problem with Anne: After a season and a half, I still don't know what her character is. If you were to ask me to describe a Disney show protagonist within one sentence, I could do it effortlessly. Watch:

Star Butterfly: An adrenaline junky of a warrior princess who slowly learns to be responsible with each passing season.

Luz Noceda: A generous nerd that obsesses about fantasy and fiction, who still understands when to take a step in reality when the moment calls for it.

Scrooge McDuck: An old Scottish miser who has the heart of adventure and is a duck that almost loves his family as he loves his money.

For Anne, I don't know where to start because her personality is so inconsistent. Sometimes she makes friends with others without even trying, and other times, she gets on others' nerves easily. Sometimes she's a thrillseeker with the heart of adventure, and other times, she's a person who prefers to hang back and avoid doing work. And sometimes she's the only sane character with logical advice, and other times she's the most insane character who needs advice. Now, you could argue that these are all character traits that make Anne multidimensional. But if you ask me, it seems like her personality is dependent on what the writers want her to be for the episode. Someone like Luz going back and forth between two traits only works if there is a dominant personality trait that takes over the other. If Luz spends an entire episode being angry and serious, it proves that there's more to her than just a character that's nerdy and optimistic. But it's clear she is still that lovable nerd by having her say a corny line like, "Talk to the glyphs, Witch!" But because Anne has so many personality traits, it's hard to tell which is the norm and what is out of character. Case in point: Having Anne obsess over hang-gliding in one episode and doing a puzzle in the next is off as neither correlates with each other. Nor do they tell me who Anne is, other than the fact that she's clearly a character lacking a singular identity. And seeing how she's the main character, the one audiences are supposed to root for and identify with, it's probably not a good thing.

The Story: For the record, I have no problems with the story itself...the way it's written, however...

First off, there's too much filler. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as filler episodes have the potential to be fun when written well. The problem is that relying on filler instead of telling your story can leave some people (me) uninterested and angry. And the thing is, there is a perfect way to avoid filler that doesn't involve telling the overarching narrative: Introduce personal plotlines. Look at The Owl House, for example. There are several character-oriented narrative threads that get introduced within the first few episodes. Such as Luz learning magic, Eda's curse, her relationship with Lilith, and Amity's redemption. Therefore, The Owl House avoids any filler episodes just as long as it focuses on any of these plotlines and even introduces new ones. Amphibia has the plotlines, but it rarely focuses on them. Especially since the story takes way too long to develop.

Every time I think the show is finally going to start moving forward and we can continue the story, there are like ten more filler episodes where everything comes to a screeching halt. Now, to be fair, there is an explanation why we're forced to wait for the story to move forward, and it's because the characters are forced to wait as well. But, even then, there could have been better ways to pad out that waiting than just adding filler. For example, I may not have been forced into an alternate universe where nearly everything wants to kill me, but if I was, I WOULD SPEND EVERY WAKING MINUTE I HAVE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT A WAY BACK! In the first season, how many episodes does Anne spend trying to figure out the mystery of how she got there and how to go home? Two. There are two whole episodes, out of thirty-nine, where Anne tries to figure things out...That is insane to me. But to be fair, season two is doing a much better job at moving things along...but it doesn't change the fact that the writers are kind of bad at telling their own story.

There are two episodes, "Anne Vs. Wild" and "Lost in Newtopia," where the story continues, but it's only in the last few minutes. The problem is that if you take those endings out, the episodes themselves do not change a bit. BUT because those are significant and essential moments for the plot, you can't take them out. Resulting in scenes that, while intriguing, come across as awkward in the long run. So now, my question is why. Why is the story handled so poorly? And I have one theory.

It Feels Like the Writers Can’t Decide What they Want the Show to be: Sometimes it seems like Amphibia is written as a pure slice of life series like Big City Greens. However, there are times when the show seems like it's intended to mix slice of life with fantasy like Gravity Falls. Now here's the problem: Big City Greens and Gravity Falls are two very different shows in terms of storytelling, tone, and character work. Big City Greens is an episodic comedy series where character development is unimportant, and the adventures rarely go beyond just being wacky. As for Gravity Falls, it is a show that is semi-serialized where the character development is constant, and the fantasy-adventures are always prevalent in every episode. And there are several episodes of Amphibia that could be a part of either show. Episodes like "Stakeout," "Lily Pad Thai," and "Little Frog Town" have plots that I can see being in Big City Greens. Then there are episodes like "The Domino Effect," "Toad Tax," and "Marcy at the Gates" that I could see being in Gravity Falls. These two groups of episodes are vastly different from one another that it causes Amphibia to feel disjointed in the process. Usually, I'm a fan when a series mixes different genres together, but do you want to know why something like Gravity Falls does such a great job at mixing slice of life with fantasy-adventure? Because, as I said, fantasy-adventures are always present in every episode. "Dipper vs. Manliness," "Boss Mabel," and "Roadside Attraction" each have the most basic slice of life plots of the show, but there is always a fantasy element or a monster to fight. There are entire episodes of Amphibia where there is no monster, and even when there is, it doesn't have the same amount of tension and weight that the creatures in Gravity Falls have weekly. A show like Big City Greens doesn't have to worry about monsters or evil villains every week because it doesn't need to. It's a show about the wacky adventures of a family of farmers adjusting to city life. Why would they have to worry about a monster every week when they just have to worry about each other. If Amphibia was the same way then there would be no issue. But because if it wants to be a mix of slice of life with fantasy, then it does need to worry about a monster every week. I usually try to defend shows that try to play both sides, but this show has to be the one occasion where I have to say pick one or the other. Because the writers tried hard to be both, and personally, I don't think they did a good job.

Characters Don’t. Stop. SCREAMING!: It's here we move on from what's objectively wrong with Amphibia to the things that just bother me personally...and this is one of those things. I get it. An over-the-top reaction to something minimal can be funny on occasion...but it's never "on occasion" with this show. Nearly every episode has characters screaming to get a laugh, and most of the time, it's more annoying than it is funny. It's Hop Pop who does this the most, and I just feel so bad for Bill Farmer. That voice already seems like it's hard to do, so being forced to scream and yell with it for the sake of comedy can't do him any favors. Other shows, especially ones on the Disney Channel, have characters overreact for the sake of humor, but it's Amphibia that I feel like it relies on this the most. I'm sure some people aren't bothered by this, but I am, and this is my review, so I'm mentioning it.

Poly: Speaking of things that probably don't bother other people...I feel like I'm making some enemies with this one. Because, boy, do I not like Polly. Her voice is annoying, she mostly causes problems for the family, and to me, her entire character seems pointless. No, really. Think about it. Anne is the main character, Sprigs acts as her emotional support, and Hop Pop acts as the voice of reason. What's Polly's purpose? Because all she adds are unnecessary jokes, character traits that could have gone to anybody, and acting more as a plot device than an actual character. The only justification for her that I can think of is that she adds gender balance to the main cast. Which would be more than acceptable if there was a point to her existence. But I think it's pretty evident with her exclusion from the original pilot pitch for the program that Polly's personality is practically pointless...that is most likely the only alliteration I'll ever do for a review, so you have better appreciated it.

If you like Polly, then more power to you. For me, I just don't enjoy her.

Sasha: Oh, nelly. I can already see the hateful messages I'm gonna get from this.

Now, as a character, I actually do like Sasha. I think her personality is interesting enough to dissect, and I think she acts as a perfect antagonist to Anne, the Plantars, and even Marcy if you want to get into it. My problem relies on how much the fanbase is already jumping on the "Forgive Sasha" train. Because, "Aw, she's just like Catra and Amity! So sweet, tortured, shippable with the main character, and--" STOP IT! Stop it right now...and think. With Catra and Amity, you see the environment they grew up in, you feel the abuse they deal with, you understand the reasoning of their actions, and you come to forgive them for who they are...At least for Amity, you can. For Catra, it requires more of an argument. But Sasha? Did we see the same cruel mistreatment to her friends? Did we hear the same coldness in her voice as she describes how to manipulate people? Did we witness the same damage she's done to Anne and Marcy in how they perceive healthy relationships? Apparently not! Because while everyone else is already on the same page that Sasha deserves redemption, I'm sitting here thinking that maybe it's for the best to be a little more hesitant. So far, we have yet to see any way to understand her reasoning and have yet to see how she deserves forgiveness. Sure, Sasha was willing to sacrifice herself for Anne, but did Sasha really earn that? It works as a sudden realization that Anne deserves better, but Sasha has yet to do anything that proves she can be better. Especially since the next time we see her, she's trying to help a fascist ruler get back up on his feet...THINK ABOUT THAT!

But, sure, she's meant to be forgiven. That can work. Because while Sasha shows kids the type of people they should avoid, she can also work as a warning for what kids should avoid becoming. That is a great thing to teach...but it can also be potentially dangerous. Because if incorrectly interpreted, Sasha can show kids that every person who seems toxic just needs a chance to change. And that is the last thing you want to teach, given how very few toxic people actually change. You want to know why The Owl House gets away with an equally dangerous lesson about how not every bully is awful? It's because it shows two sides of the spectrum by proving why someone like Amity did the things she's done while also saying that characters like Boscha and Mattholomule are just a-holes for the sake of being a-holes. Sasha has no one to compare to. Sure, there's King Andreas, but he's a government figure. They're built to be manipulative. Sasha needs someone that's on her level of cruelty to prove that while some people can change and have reason to do so, others don't. And seeing how I don't think she deserves to change, at least not yet, that is an issue. It's the biggest issue out of all the issues I have with this show.

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So, yeah, I think it's pretty evident how I feel about Amphibia when I can write paragraphs about the stuff I don't like while barely being able to talk about the things I do like. Because I do enjoy this show. It's funny, most of the characters are enjoyable, and its discussion on toxic relationships still has me hooked to see what happens next. My issue lies with inconsistency. The main protagonist, storytelling, genre, and thematic purposes are all inconsistent. I'm interested enough to watch more, and who knows, maybe I'll make a final verdict review once the series comes to an end. For now, if you had to ask me what I’m excited to make a return, I don't know if I'll be willing to hop to it by saying Amphibia.

(Also, if you're still looking for that link for that pirating website I mentioned, now would probably be a good time to tell you that I really never did put one in. I told you, that would be crazy...That should teach you to try to break the law.)

#amphibia #what i thought about #why i want to love #anne boonchuy #sasha waybright #marcy wu #sprig plantar #polly plantar

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thattimdrakeguy · 5 years ago

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It’s never good to be unhealthily obsessed, or unhealthily emotionally attached to something.

Especially when it turns you into a bully.

Weirdest and most agitating part of the fandom is those type of fans that act like they’re helping their fav run for office or some thing.

Not literaly speaking--

But they’ll find an obscure panel that‘s a little edgy just cuz of the era or that artist maybe, and act like it defines them. Sometimes just a character looking mad, cuz well, they’re mad, as people real life and fiction do, and they use to act like a character is bad and every thing else around them is wrong-- despite being an outlier-- cuz they don’t care.

Yet if their own fav did a bad thing, they’d be doing some mental gymnastics or just plain ignore it.

I mostly see this on twitter, and it‘s insanely baffling that people just-- let it happen.

It‘s the kind of fandom stuff that numbs my mind. Like-- can we not just read some fiction without acting like every thing is a big deal? Damian tried to kill Tim once or twice, and I’ve never freaking cared. I used to even like Damian a lot, maybe that‘s why it never bothered me, but I just stopped liking him because I think he’s a really badly written character. Same with Steph.

But on mainly twitter, they read one bad comic, treat it like truth, and go delusional about some thing being inaccurate in it. they’ll even attack people over it and gaslight them, often in groups.

that is so unhealthy. In a social environment way, and just as a person. that should never be your natural response.

Only times I ever get annoyed at a bad action is when the writing ignores how bad it is to play dumb with it, or is maybe just bad written in-general. Damian’s early time I don’t really care that much, cause you’re supposed to know it‘s bad and nothing more usually, they show you why he’s like that and that‘s enough (although written horrendously inconsistently), while nowadays they’ll barely address it some times, let him get away with it, or remind you of his backstory so much it just feels like they’re really tryna make you feel bad you forget it. to another standard I don’t like Jason beating up Tim, because I just view that as out of character for him, and I honestly prefer anti-hero with an antagonistic relationship to the Bat-Fam Jason, because that‘s how he was built up in utrh, and New 52 just basically ignored the concept of character development being done well, and more or less had people forgive him even if it‘s incredibly unnatural.

Main reason why I don’t like Steph, isn’t because she does bad things, but because she at least roughly gets away with it when she really shouldn’t. She’ll get told off, maybe, but it never feels appropriate. Steph emotionally and briefly physically abuses Tim in an arc-- yet it‘s never really talked about. When she makes an apology to Tim, it‘s when she finds out his identity, and it‘s about only the concept of her wanting to know. Nothing actually about all the abusive behaviors she demonstrated. If anything it feels like she gets rewarded because she gets told Tim's identity and is suddenly, very randomly, unless something in another series, gets allowed access to the Batcave. (I’m also just not a fan of loud mouths that just back talk all the time.)

and that‘s just to explain my logic, because I feel like that‘d do better at explaining why this bizarre slander-esque crap over fictional characters confuses me so much. Because who actually cares a character did a bad thing as long as it‘s written well when you think about it?

the characters are the characters. they are here for our enjoyment. Sometimes characters do bad things, sometimes that’s all they do. It‘s all for the endgame of getting us something that we can hopefully get enjoyment out of (of course we don’t always enjoy something, but usually that‘s still the goal). I just don’t understand why people allow themselves to get so wrapped up in it, that they actually become unhealthy. Unhealthy to be around as well, cuz they tend to group and repeat the same crap. It can’t be healthy to be obsessed with a character that you’d do that .

How do people seem to despise so much of their own favs? Having to deny or deflect any bad behavior from a fictional character in even just a casual context that typically, as far as I’ve seen, not that harsh even to warrant it, feels so-- icky. It is fine to like a character that does bad things. to be so obsessed with a character that you treat them like they’re nearly flawless as you gaslight other people and group bully them for not liking them-- its just a bit weird, it‘s insanely toxic. the characters are here for us to enjoy. If you don’t actually enjoy them so much that you ignore so much of them-- then why are they who you chose to like?

that sudden almost unexplained unhealthily and emotional attachment I feel like is a really bad habit of fandoms. It‘s not behavior that should be encouraged, but more often than not they subtly have been. People wanna be accepted, and joining in on it and spreading so much random propaganda (on a freaking fictional character) is nauseating, but they feel apart of something so of course they do.

they’ll go out of their way to find a panel, often out of context just to make a character they don’t like look bad, and shame people that like that character, at least in some fashion. While often taking panels that make their fav look good to share like it‘s a benign political campaign.

Why is that even a thing people do? It‘s so obsessive and toxic, as well as just making people feel miserable over getting gaslit so much.

Somehow managing to make enjoying something, go too far.

the group aspect is especially annoying, cuz they enjoy gaslighting and bullying people in a group, because it‘ll make em seem more right. I’ve heard about people leaving the fandom because of it. No longer able to enjoy what they did, because they keep being harassed over it. Once seen them even make fun of someone that called them a bully seemingly. Either showing they’re that oblivious, or just that much of a jerk.

If you ever do any thing like that I really feel like you need to get out of the fandom, because it‘s never good to have your own instincts telling yourself to be nasty. Just come back at a better time when you’re better. It‘s fine to admit faults and get better. It‘s honestly a fine thing. We can’t improve ourselves otherwise.

I don’t feel like bizarre propaganda and libel on, may I repeat, fictional characters, is what a fandom’s suppose to be. It certainly at least shouldn’t be.

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phoenix-downer · 5 years ago

Note

Sorry for bothering you again. I wanted to ask you whether or not Sokai is canon. I was under the impression that it was official after viewing several clips from the third game and Remind. But now I'm seeing a lot of people on tumblr and online forums say it's not canon? I'm a bit confused.

Not a bother at all!

This goes for more than just fandom stuff, but it’s a good rule of thumb for fandom, too:

When anyone makes a claim, ask yourself: why are they saying this, and what do they have to gain from saying this? Are they qualified to speak about this topic? Do they have any ulterior motives? What is your gut telling you? Why do they want you to question yourself?

Okay, let’s apply this to the current situation:

When it comes to people claiming So/Kai isn’t canon, who is saying this?

Well… there’s no other way to say it. A certain subset of toxic So/Ri/ku shippers.

Why are they saying this?

They (the subset of toxic So/Ri/ku shippers) don’t like So/Kai, and they want So/Ri/ku to be canon. That’s all there is to it. Some of them have crafted their entire online identities around So/Ri/ku being canon, and they have a lot to lose if it isn’t.

What do they have to gain from saying this?

Gaining clout within the fandom, especially with other toxic So/Ri/ku shippers. The more they can tear down So/Kai and So/Kai shippers, the better they look to their fellow toxic So/Ri/ku shippers, and the more popularity they gain.

While I say this, though, I want to stress that there are plenty of So/Ri/ku shippers who do not do this and find the ship wars horribly toxic. They are not the ones pouring time and energy into tearing a pairing they don’t like down. It’s the toxic So/Ri/ku shippers who are doing that, and they’re the ones whose posts you’re seeing. The live-and-let-live people are not the one harassing So/Kai fans, and it’s not fair to put them into the same box as the people who are being rude and harassing others.

Are they qualified to speak about this topic?

Fandom is a community activity and it’s meant to be something anyone can join in. I don’t want this to turn into gatekeeping, either, because fandom meta and analysis and discussion is one of my favorite things about fandom and I always want to encourage people to do it.

That being said, not everyone who writes an analysis post has any formal training in literary/character/media analysis. Not everyone who translates something has the cultural knowledge and linguistic skills to create a professional-level translation. And while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it encourages people to just have fun with it and get experience doing something they love, it also means that there are a lot of people running around who don’t have the skills, knowledge, or expertise to analyze media texts accurately. It’s a hobby for most people in fandom, and that’s okay. But it also means that you shouldn’t just buy anything someone claims without any evidence, or with very shoddy evidence.

Without knowing someone’s age, education, qualifications, etc., you should be very reluctant to take everything someone says about the “real secret HIDDEN TILL NOW WHEN I OH-SO CONVENIENTLY CAME ALONG TO ENLIGHTEN YOU!!!” interpretation of XYZ at face value.

Do they have any ulterior motives?

Ship wars get nasty and bring out the worst in people. This leads to some people doing whatever they can to “win” a ship war, including tearing other people down. So there are definitely ulterior motives at play here. And keep this in mind: someone who felt secure in their ship would not go to such lengths to tear a rival ship down. They’re lashing out at So/Kai so hard because deep down they know it’s what N/omura is going for, and they’re not happy about it. If they can make So/Kai shippers miserable though, they feel like they get a little something back, a little control back. Don’t give them the satisfaction.

What is your gut telling you?

That So/Kai is canon, right?. Notice how you didn’t have an issue accepting this until someone else told you you were wrong and that you should question yourself. The question is, why are they telling you to question yourself?

Why do they want you to question yourself?

Because if they can “turn” a So/Kai shipper, they feel like they win. If they can get a So/Kai shipper to stop making So/Kai content, or to start making So/Ri/ku content, it feels like a “victory.” Heck, if they can even just silence you, that’s a win in their book because it means one less happy, “pesky” So/Kai shipper to be annoyed by.

So… the moral of the story is, don’t doubt yourself without a good reason. Don’t believe someone unless they have good proof and evidence to back it up. And don’t let the toxic ship wars get to you. Block and mute tags and people as need be. Avoid going into areas that you know will have lots of So/Kai bashing.

And again, this applies to more than just fandom stuff. Always evaluate the credentials of someone making a claim, as well as the validity of the claim itself.

Thanks for the ask!

#salt #kh salt #mademoiseli

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alwaysahiccupandastrid · 6 years ago

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Leta Lestrange is NOT a bad person

First of all, I just want to make it clear that the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own - I’m not saying that everyone has to think this way, this is just what I took from ‘Crimes of Grindelwald’ when I watched it. If you disagree, then I respect that but I just wanted to offer my (pretty much useless) thoughts.

(Under a “Read More” because it’s longer than expected- if it doesn’t work, I’m sorry!)

So: Leta Lestrange.

I’ve seen a bit of negativity going around about her, saying how she was clearly playing around with both of the Scamander brothers’ feelings, how she was manipulative etc. etc. I personally disagree with all of these assumptions about her.

One thing I’ve seen is people saying how Leta shouldn’t have touched Newt’s arm in the photo at the book signing, how she was closer to Newt than Theseus etc. I honestly don’t think there was ANY ill intent or ulterior motive behind it in the slightest; Newt and Leta were best friends at school, neither of them fitted in and so they were each other’s only friends. They clearly cared for one another, and those feelings don’t go away easily. I saw it as Leta knowing Newt was uncomfortable, as well as wanting to offer support - not just as an old friend but his future sister-in-law. The picture shows just one moment from an entire book-signing, so I don’t think we can make too many assumptions based on it.

Next, Leta ‘getting at’/nagging Newt to come to dinner with her and Theseus - I’m baffled that people think she was trying to pressure Newt. Yes, she says “Theseus was disappointed you couldn’t come to dinner any of the nights we asked you” - but she’s clearly trying to make Newt see that Theseus cares for his brother. Perhaps she’s also hoping that Newt coming to dinner might help alleviate some awkwardness between the three of them. I’ll talk more about this in a moment, but I genuinely think that Leta loved both of them in different ways - Theseus as her fiancée, Newt as her only friend when she was an outcast. “He’s your brother, Newt, he cares about you - and so do I” - I don’t think this is manipulation, she’s speaking the truth because she knows Newt might not realize it. Asking her future brother-in-law to dinner is NOT a crime or nasty in any way; it’s her trying to be friendly, because they’re going to be family. It’s not like she forced him to come or demanded it.

Getting engaged to Theseus after her friendship with Newt -- okay, but at no point does it say that Newt and Leta were ANYTHING more than best friends. I’m pretty sure Zoe Kravitz said that she thinks Newt had romantic feelings for Leta, but that it wasn’t requited from Leta’s side/he didn’t make it clear at the time. By CoG, Newt has moved on completely and is hopelessly pining after Tina - his love for Leta is no longer an issue. Yes, at first I thought it was a little weird that Theseus and Leta were engaged - but they actually seem to genuinely care for each other, and she seems to love him (eg. initiating to kisses in the French Ministry and warning him to “be careful”, saying “I love you” to him and Newt). I can’t believe this fandom is getting pissed because GOD FORBID Leta fall in love with her best friend’s brother! For all we know, they met, liked each other and she didn’t realize until later that he was Newt’s brother - who knows?

The carving of “L+N” at Hogwarts could have been done by either Newt or Leta; we know Newt harboured romantic feelings for her, so he could have done it, only for her to see it years later and reflect on their friendship. Leta could have done it because “we’re best friends and he’s my only friend” - like “best friends forever” kind of thing. I guarantee that there’s a desk somewhere in modern day Hogwarts with “F + G” carved into it because of Fred and George being the best pranksters or whatever.

Even if Leta did have romantic feelings for Newt, she was a teenager: people fall in and out of love all the time when they’re young. Feelings change. It doesn’t make Leta a bad person.

Queenie says that Leta was “a taker”, and we all immediately assumed that this must mean she was toxic/nasty/manipulative to him - but now that I’m thinking about it, Leta was brought up by an unloving father, her childhood miserable. When she became friends with Newt, she probably did “take” as it were, without realizing; neither of them had any other friends, Leta was brought up in a toxic environment and filled with fear/misery/guilt over what happened to her brother (and her mother, who died in childbirth giving birth to her), and so it wouldn’t surprise me if she didn’t understand or know how to give back in their friendship.

It’s also important to remember that JK Rowling said that Queenie hears everything constantly “but she’s not that good at interpreting” - just bear that in mind. She could have misinterpreted Newt’s thoughts, especially if he realized she was reading his mind and tried to shut her out.

What happened with Corvus was a complete accident - how was she supposed to know what would happen? She acknowledges it was wrong and she should not have swapped the babies; all she wanted was to be free of her brother - her father’s favourite, the baby who never stopped screaming/crying - for a moment. She was probably hoping to swap them back at some point, for all we know. According to the screenplay, the boat sinking happened in 1901, though the adoption certificate in the Archive of Magic book says Credence was adopted in 1905 - so this makes Leta somewhere between 3-years-old and 8-years-old (given that she was in the same year at Hogwarts as Newt). In the credits, the actress is credited as “Leta Lestrange (3-6 years)” - Leta was only very young, a child, and so this would have seriously messed her up for the rest of her life. Imagine living with that knowledge every day, knowing that you inadvertently caused your brother to drown to his death.

At 3-6 years old, especially with her father being unloving/childhood miserable, it wouldn’t surprise me if she didn’t think about “right” and “wrong” in that moment or even if she in fact didn’t know the difference because her childhood caused her to be emotionally stunted or something.

As I said earlier, the screenplay states that Leta says “I love you” to BOTH Theseus and Newt; I stand by in my opinion that she loved both of them but in different ways.

Newt was her first and only friend, the only person who didn’t talk about her behind her back or think ill of her based on her family name; he’s the reason she wasn’t expelled from school, because Newt couldn’t bear to see her expelled (I can’t remember where I read that - if someone can confirm this then that would be wonderful!) People get annoyed that she let him take the blame, but imagine being 16 and threatened with expulsion - it wouldn’t surprise me if she was scared of her wand being snapped and of her father’s reaction if she was expelled. We know he never loved her - imagine how he would have reacted to her being expelled from Hogwarts and bringing shame on the Lestrange family. Newt made that choice to take the blame - no one made him do it - and she was probably too frightened to tell the truth at the time.

Theseus was her fiancée; from what I can tell, they seemed to genuinely love each other. Theseus was distraught after she sacrificed herself, crying and trying desperately to reach her through the flames; she a) initiated two kisses with him at the French Ministry and b) sacrificed herself so he (and Newt/the others) could escape. I admit, we should have been given more about their relationship, but I do genuinely think they loved each other.

One final thing: Leta didn’t owe Newt or ANY other man anything. She didn’t owe Newt happiness - he should be in charge of his own happiness, and she’s not there to owe him a relationship or anything just because he was nice to her. It’s eerily similar to those people who think the “friendzone” is a thing, who think a guy being nice to a girl means she owes him a relationship/sex - it’s disgusting.

It seems to me that Leta is very misunderstood, both in films and by the fandom; the criticism on her and female characters in this series is unbelievably harsh. I can’t help but wonder if people are harsh on Leta because she’s a WOC - and I do wish I hadn’t seen people say Zoe Kravitz is “too white” to be counted as black. From what I know about Kravitz (which admittedly isn’t a lot), she has African-American, African-Bahamian and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. Leta had a white father and a black mother. STOP saying Kravitz/Leta are “too white”, they’re both beautiful WOC who deserve respect.

(Disclaimer: If I have used an inappropriate phrase/term in this post, let me know so I can edit it!)

#leta lestrange #fantastic beasts: the crimes of grindelwald #fantastic beasts and where to find them #analysis #zoe kravitz #newt scamander #theseus scamander #jk rowling #cinema #film #movie #movies

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the-nysh · 6 years ago

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I find myself unable to think of Bakugou in any way more positive than "dislike", because he reminds me too much of the people who made my life miserable when I was growing up. (Not that it makes him bad; it's just my emotions.) Do you've any advice on how to bend my mind around that? I don't need to LOVE him, just mentally separate "him" and "the people who make grade school suck for me" so I won't irrationally hate him, because I don't LIKE hating characters.

Hi there! I’m glad to see you come forward, especially tosomeone who’s a big fan of him, after happening to see how far you’veventured through my tags already (whoa dedication!) to seek possible answers or further clarity about this,especially if it’s something that’s still bothering you, oraffecting/preventing you from fully enjoying the series. Because of that, I cantell how serious and genuine you feel about this, so I will take this seriouslyas well.

(Below, 1800+ words)

Another thing is that it’s okay to feel this way, your personal experiences are still valid,and there’s no obligation to force your feelings otherwise, or subject yourselfto content that may be uncomfortable for you. Please continue to take all theprecautions needed (blocking/blacklisting) for an enjoyable and productivefandom experience. But understanding that even if the characters may havecoincidental similarities to our pasts, they are not direct projections of us, the people in our lives, or our realities.Their world is not ours. So this awareness is another good step to have, tobegin seeing the story (and characters) more openly, objectively and closer tohow Hori originally intended.

Since you’re willing to learn more, and as you may have already seenfrom my content here, Bakugou (Kacchan)became my definitive fav character of the series, but not for thoselingering resentments mentioned. The compelling character I see is so much morebeyond that first ch’s established baseline, which was narratively placed and designedto contrast against who he becomes later on. As a means to gauge and appreciatehis growth and the journey of how far he’s changed into becoming a proper,well-rounded, better person and inspirationalhero. The kind of emotional narrativefocus that always gains my interest and priority to see develop. Already, theperson he is now at 215+ chs is not the same as who he was at ch1 (neither ishe the flanderized, fanon stereotype many have been misled or indoctrinated tofirmly believe he is), and he will keepon developing as the story marches on. I am fully on board to witness thathappen.

The challenge now, is not letting his initial baseline impression(or the feelings from your own separate –but equally valid– experiences, oreven the vitriol from others) stain or cloud that entire slow-burn progressionof the story going forward. Otherwise the important milestones and insightsinto his character that Hori leaves along the way (which can sometimes bedifficult to see from Deku’s limited pov) end up getting obscured, ignored, oroutright rejected from an internalized feeling of ‘hatred’ that tends to blockout anything newly introduced that would challenge that preconceived perceptionof him. However, to mentally reject such change and prevent the valuedimprovement of a growing person (a learning child in his formative years, forinstance), to otherwise keep the status quo static and unmoving, to permanentlystay rooted exactly the same way as thestart…would in fact be a much more toxic/harmful mindset to have, and actuallydefeats the purpose of telling a proper story as well.

Setbacks to that challenge unfortunately include thewidespread availability of biased mistranslations (even from official sources),poor/oversimplified characterizations from non-canon content(movies/novels/merch, etc) that’s not written directly by Hori, because all thesethings just reinforce and exacerbate the problem of inflating fanon stereotypesand those preconceived notions that people have already solidified in theirminds as true (when they often aren’t). It gets even worse, and ironicallyhypocritical, when those same people start feeling justified they can go out oftheir way to attack others (includingthe author) for how to ‘properly’ enjoy and interpret the series (for beingdifferent or ‘incorrect’ from the perceptions they believe to be right). Butwhat’s happened is they’ve begun to blindly act on feelings multiple levels sofar removed from what actually is (whatexists as presented within canon, vs what they believe in fanon, vs what exists separately that may beplaguing these people’s real lives), that by then, that kind of maladjustedsocial behavior is inexcusable. Stepping back and realizing when things start crossinglines irrationally out of hand, to prevent that kind of behavior from happeningin the first place, (and again, by taking measures to block/blacklist stuff thataggravates or makes you feel uncomfortable), is the much wiser approach toparticipating and enjoying fandom. So that no matter what happens or what otherssay, they can’t impact or ruin what you love about the series.

Which in my case, includes Kacchan’s character. Basedon what Hori has consistently presented in canon, I can conclude and freely admithe’s the only character I can fully trust. Amazing, right? Because he hasabsolutely nothing to hide. Everything he does (not through his harshwords/temperament, but through his genuine actions),is extremely forthright and honest. He does not half-ass things or hide anyother ulterior motives or malicious intent beyond his dedication to become the best hero. And he takes that goal very seriously. Striving for and expectingexcellence from himself (and all themental pressure that self-imposed perfectionism brings) and others. Currently in the manga that includes Deku now too, whomhe willingly goads (showing support in his own way) and checks in on for hisprogress too.

Remember his fights in the sports tournament, how he takesall challengers with equal commitment/opportunity (gender does not matter),provided they give him their best inturn as well, because to do otherwise –to go easy on them or hold back– wouldbe disrespectful and underestimating an opponent. There’s a very just and admirablehonor in that. Remember how he can’tstand anyone looking down on him, which includes how he misinterpreted Deku’sfeelings of admiration for disdain(he could not accurately read Deku’s intentions, and became so perplexed by himthat he assumed the worst: that Deku looked down on him instead). Considering the level of seriousness and effort he alwaysputs forth, to be confronted with the opposite would be personally insulting.

Remember when the villains invited him to join their ranks(because they misread and shallowly judged his character), he stuck to his idealsand outright refused their offer.(Boldly exploding villains in the face~) Risking death over playing it safe andlying to pretend to follow along totheir whims. (How brave and badass is that?!) Kacchan does not lie, cheat theeasy way out, or do things he’s not feeling or doesn’t agree with. Again, honesty. Becoming a villain, a traitor,or betraying those who’ve earned his trust? Absolutely no chance. Afterlearning AM’s secret and finally understanding/rectifying everything that didn’tadd up about Deku, would he go behind their backs by breaking promises? No way.Again, most trustworthy character.

Rereading the story a second time over, but from his perspective, practically doubled myappreciation and enjoyment of the series. Thinking about how the foundations oftheir society impacted his world views at such a young age, to the very betrayal he must have felt thinking achildhood friend lied to him aboutsomething as important/vital as a quirk. (And if we already know how he feelsabout cheating liars…hmm, faithful loyaltynow feels like a valued trait.) Other factors include his relatable giftedchild syndrome, all the complexes born from that, and for how extremely intelligent,competent, and much more calmly calculating he is than his short temper may lead one to believe. How he was oncea ‘big fish in a small pond’, now thrust into the ocean to compete among evenother bigger fish, with the pressure to both succeed and prove himself…all whilehis previous world views are checked and challenged every step of the way.

For years he’d been valued and praised for only the promisingpotential and primary trait of his strong quirk. (The reinforcement for his badbehavior on the other hand? Not valued with the same proper attention.) Alreadythat’s an unfortunate consequence of their quirk-filled, hero-commodified society. Think of justhow shallow/fake groupies would be, or how annoying and hollow it would feel tohave people cling to him just for that (for talent and skills over his meritsas a person), and just how difficult forming genuine, natural bonds would be… (Becomingself-reliant now becomes another added pressure he has to juggle on his own.) Beforequirks had ever entered the picture and complicated things further, Deku was probablyconsidered the closest friend he had. Until…misunderstandings happened, andthen the only thing he wanted was for Deku to stay away from him. (A misconception is that Kacchan actively soughtDeku out, when it’s actually the opposite: Kacchan only reacted if Dekuencroached on him too closely.) Because he feared how Deku made him feel,forcing him to face his own shortcomings, and address perceptions of reality hedid not want to face. Because for someone he perceived as the weakest, to boldly goagainst that and do what Deku did (help him out of concern/kindness, but thatintent only read as pitying to him),made him feel even below that. And what’slower than the low of the weakest/most useless? Pretty ouch, so stop followingand stay back. Yet Deku just kept on coming back no matter what, for reasons hecouldn’t yet understand. (Deku felt genuine care and admiration for him, whichKacchan hadn’t realized, so gah, dramatic irony.) His changing feelings, correctinghis attitude, and clarifying his relationship to Deku, who continually challengesand defies his very worldview and perception of weakness, brings a whole otherfascinating draw to the series, which would take a whole other essay to fully analyze(but which many other fans have thoroughly done so already).

Further considerations include his struggles facing other relatablefeelings. How he confronts the pain and weight of experiencing loss, survivor’sguilt, and assessing powerlessness and the inability to save situations beyondhis control. Internalizing self-doubt, hatred, failure, and inferiority…because‘if only he were stronger.’ What Isee is a child overburdened by expectations and responsibilities beyond hisyears…who has to learn to process and overcome many of those same feelings I’vealready gone through and had to come to terms with growing up. (The very reasonhe’s often and endearingly referred to as a ‘son.’) The majority of adults inhis life assumed he was already ‘strong enough’ and ‘fine’ on his own, theyneglected to give him proper mental guidance going forward (AM even admitsthis). And we unfortunately see the tragic consequences of that. But fortunately,things are getting better, and Hori’s story for him still isn’t over yet.

Overall, what I see is the chance for an excellent,multi-layered, and well-written character to become even better. And that’s why his narrative is so particularly engaging. Doeshe remind me of the kids that once made certain social aspects of grade schoolinsufferable? No, because that’s not who he is; he’s so far removed and beyond them, that they’ve become extras whono longer matter anymore. Instead of lingering on such negatives, it’s insteadthe positive aspects about him that shine through even stronger. The fact heisn’t perfect, but deeply flawed and learning to address his shortcomings in nowmore productive ways. This progression and growth makes him interesting, and combinedwith the many other traits I’ve mentioned above, favored and loved bymany. Although ultimately I can’t change your opinion about him (that’s stillup to you to decide, and it’s ok to still dislike characters), hopefully I’veintroduced new ways of perceiving and appreciating his character for you. Tohelp see some of the positives that Deku always valued in him as a drivingsource of inspiration too: to strive hard despite life’s setbacks, and win. ‘He may be a jerk, but he’s amazing.’

#pomrania #replies #bnha #kacchan #meta #manga spoilers #long post #speaking from the perspective of him as my fav #hopefully this sheds some new light #(and i think i covered everything i wanted to say)#this is also why i mentioned before that the message of mp100’s mogami arc is important #and what i mean when i say minori’s ‘imcomparable levels of cruelty’#because kacchan is definitely not that #but the ability to change; grow; and forgive even the worst of who people used to be #is multitudes more valuable; stronger; and daresay heroic #than regressing into a hateful vestige of a non-functioning human like mogami #that kind of message still rings true here #the fact deku still cares despite seeing the worst from him is testament to how genuine his feelings are for him too #so instead of focusing on the worst...here i explain those cherished positives too

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